Harry Potter - After the Epilogue
by PotterFanSteve
Summary: Continuing the storyline from 'After the War', this book focuses on the Hogwarts years and beyond for Albus and Lily Potter, Rose, and Hugo Weasley, and their family and friends. I hope you will enjoy this imagining of what happens in the Harry Potter universe - After the Epilogue!
1. Hogwarts - Express and Impress

**A/N: Harry Potter – After the Epilogue continues the storyline from the Harry Potter – After the War fan fiction adventure. Beginning with Albus and Rose's first trip on the Hogwarts Express, we'll be going along with them on their magical journey at Hogwarts and beyond!**

 **I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I continue to have fun with imagining what life is – and will be – like for Harry Potter, his family, their friends, and the rest of the Wizarding World!**

 **As always, all thanks and appreciation to J.K. Rowling for creating the Harry Potter universe that we all love to come and play in so much!**

 ****ATE Yr1 - Chapters 1-12; Yr2 - Chapters 13-24(Dec 2016); Yr3 - Chapters 25-36(July 2017); Yr4 - Chapters 37-48(Dec 2017); Yr5 - Chapters 49-60(July, 2018);  
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 **Chapter One – Hogwarts – Express and Impress**

"I'm free!" James declared enthusiastically once their family and platform nine and three-quarters was out of sight. He stood up and started walking toward the door. "I'm going to meet up with Ollie and the rest of our mates, so you're on your own, Al." He was already stepping out into the aisle, but grinned as he shot his parting comment at his brother. "If I don't see you again before the sorting ceremony; have fun in Slytherin!" With that, he was gone; deciding not to wait for Al to respond to his favorite jibe of the day – make that jibe of the month; at least when it came to his brother.

"Don't let him get you riled up," Rose told Al once James was gone. "Has he been doing that to you all morning?"

"Only before breakfast, while we ate, while we cleaned up and loaded the car, during the entire drive to the station, and a couple or three times since then," Al answered with a sigh that was more of an expression of annoyance than of sadness or regret. He was actually relieved that James had blown him off instead of hanging out for the entire trip as Ginny had suggested at breakfast. "How was your trip here?"

He actually directed that question to all of his travel companions; and the three Witches smiled at him. Rose had picked the compartment because she'd recognized one of the other Witches – and they'd still had enough room for three more. She knew Gwendolyn McCormack through Al and his family – and Ginny's close friendship with Gwendolyn's parents. Rose didn't know Bristol Wagtail, but Al had met her several times before through Gwendolyn because Bristol's father was one of Kirley McCormack's Weird Sisters band mates. They'd already learned that Gwendolyn and Bristol had come to the station together, and while Al and Rose hadn't seen their parents on the platform; Gwenog wouldn't have been there for sure since she'd have been at the Harpies' practice pitch with her team. It was a bit strange for Al to see that Gwendolyn and Bristol were good friends too; but then they'd known each other all of their lives too – just as he'd known Gwendolyn and her brother, Jonah, for as long as he could remember.

"Dad managed to get us to London in one piece," Rose answered first. "Other than the ride being a bit wild, and Hugo doing some mildly annoying whining about not getting to go to Hogwarts too; it was alright." She turned to Gwendolyn and waited for her to go next.

"I came with Dad and Jonah," Gwendolyn advised them. "We took the Floo to the Leaky; met up with Bristol and her family there; and then we all took a bus to King's Cross since our parents don't have cars."

Bristol laughed. "Could you even imagine either of my parents driving one? I can't."

"The Floo would have been loads faster than driving anyway," Rose said as Gwendolyn shook her head in response to Bristol's question. "Did you take a Muggle bus or the Knight Bus?"

"The Knight Bus," Bristol answered. "Mum says that the Muggles get freaked out if we get on one of their buses with our trunks and cages."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Rose admitted. "Muggle-repelling charms probably don't work very well on a crowded bus either; and we got stared at quite a bit just with gettting my things out of the car at the station."

"Mum shrunk our trunks so we could carry them on the Floo easy-enough; but we did take up quite a bit of space on the Knight Bus," Bristol said next; and then added – "we included my two older brothers; so we had eight spots on the bus plus all of our things." She smiled at Al. "At least your brother stayed with you until your parents were out of sight. Mine flat-out refused to mess up their precious reps by hanging out with a pair of firsties."

"Have they been bugging you about the sorting ceremony?" Al asked; and Bristol shook her head and laughed again.

"Lee went through that with Ron last year, so he didn't try it with me; and Ron must've gotten bored with it after last year. That wouldn't work for me anyway; since I know I'll be Gryffindor."

"I don't care what house I'm in as long as I can play Quidditch and it isn't Slytherin," Gwendolyn declared; and smiled at Al. "Gryffindor would be great, but they already have loads of really good Quidditch players; so I might not get to play every year on their teams."

"At least they have the junior and senior teams now," Rose pointed out. "Uncle Harry got to play from first year, but Dad and Aunt Ginny had to wait for years before getting their chance to play."

"It was like that for my Mom too," Gwendolyn said with a nod, "though since she was a Beater; that isn't surprising."

"Are you going to start talking Quidditch for the entire trip?" Bristol asked. "I might need to go for a walk around the train if you are."

"We can do that later," Al offered; though he'd have been happy to talk Quidditch with Rose and Gwendolyn. "What would you like to talk about instead – music?"

All three girls laughed, and Bristol shook her head. "I get loads of that every day at home, Al – especially now that Ron's starting to do so well with the Graves Robbers. We've got the weekend off before classes start on Monday, so what will we do over the next two days; and what do you think our classes will be like?"

"Some of us will have Quidditch tryouts tomorrow," Gwendolyn advised her friend with a grin. "The Junior teams are always picked on the first Saturday, and the Senior team tryouts are the second weekend; since they have until November for their first matches."

"I wish we did have at least one day of classes first," Rose told them. "Then we'd have had some assignments to do on the weekend."

"Are you kidding?' Bristol asked. "Why, in Merlin's name, would you want homework instead of a free weekend?"

"So we can practice the magic," Al answered before Rose could. "We'll be at Hogwarts, Rose. We can practice magic anyway – and you've already read at least as far into our textbooks as I have – and tried a few spells at home too."

"You have?" Gwendolyn exclaimed; feigning wide-eyed shock. "Did your Dad arrest you?"

"No, he didn't, and if you haven't tried a few spells from the books too; you might be one of the few kids that haven't."

"The Ministry doesn't make a big deal of that anymore if you're only practicing your lessons – unless the underage Witch or Wizard does something around Muggles; or that's dangerous," Rose pointed out.

"Using some of Uncle George's wheezes are a bigger deal than practicing something like levitation or color-change charms," Al offered. "James got in more trouble for trying to sneak a headless hat into our cousins' house one time we were visiting them than he would have for practicing magic at home – not that he was interested in studying during his holidays from Hogwarts last year."

"Or anytime he's at school either from what we heard of his first year," Rose added with a grin. "The cousins he's talking about are Muggles on his Dad's side of the family," Rose explained to Bristol when she looked confused at Al's comment. "Only his Dad's first cousin knows about them being Wizards and Witches. His wife and kids don't know anything about our world."

Bristol nodded. "The cousin that your Dad grew up with. I read about that somewhere. Could you even imagine growing up and not knowing you're a Wizard or Witch?"

"We'll have Muggle-born classmates," Gwendolyn pointed out; "so you can ask them what it's like; though I've heard the stories for both Al's Dad and Rose's Mum; so it doesn't seem that weird to me."

"I guess," Bristol conceded; "but it must still be hard to deal with the magic without anyone to help you with it."

"Mum had a happy childhood," Rose told them. "I don't know how often it goes badly for Muggle-born kids the way it did for Uncle Harry; but then it's not always very good for kids in normal magical families either."

"True, which is why none of us want to be in Slytherin," Bristol suggested. "They're the worst of the worst at Hogwarts – and everywhere else."

"Not all of them are," Al said quietly and sincerely. "There are some good ones now and then."

"You sound like your Dad, while mine was just telling me to beat Scorpius Malfoy on every test and not get too friendly with him," Rose teased with a laugh. "What did you think about that?"

Al shrugged. "I doubt it'll be a problem for either of us – unless he ends up in the same house with us."

"From what I've heard about the Malfoy's, he'll have a tough time in whatever house he's sorted to," Bristol suggested. "Their old buddies are either in prison or dead; none of those surviving families on their side of the war will have anything to do with them; and nobody on our side will ever trust them."

"Suddenly I'm feeling so much better that we'll only have all of the kids of the bad guys hating on us," Rose joked. "All of our cousins have had to deal with that at school."

"Maybe we should switch to another compartment," Gwendolyn suggested to Bristol; though she was grinning at Rose. "Hanging out with Auror kids could be bad for our health this year."

"Let's just see how it goes," Bristol suggested. "We can always disown them later if things get tough." She was grinning too; but might have been half-serious – it was hard for Rose or Al to tell.

The conversation moved along, and they settled in for the long trip. Bristol and Gwendolyn did go for a walk about an hour into the journey, but Rose and Al stayed in the compartment and instead had cousins visiting them. Dominique and Lucy were the first to check in on them; Victoire and Molly visited while taking a turn patroling the train; and Louis stopped by while doing the rounds to check in with all of his Quidditch mates. He was the Junior team Captain and Keeper this year; so he was also checking out the firstie talent both for Gryffindor and the competition – even before the sorting ceremony. Louis also had fun teasing Al during his little visit about being the only Wizard in a compartment with three beautiful Witches, but Al didn't mind the jokes; and preferred to be sharing the trip with Rose – and with Gwendolyn; since she was one of the handful of friends he had grown up with – in her case; thanks to their mothers' close friendship.

When the trolley stopped at their compartment, they each picked out some treats and drinks to go along with the lunches they'd brought; and then they had a bit of a pot-luck lunch so that they could share the different candies – and the food from home where those choices were particularly good. That, and a lot of talk about what it was going to be like for them at Hogwarts, kept them busy for quite a while; but the trip began to drag on and on by late-afternoon as the novelty wore off and they began to get restless and were past-ready to get to Hogsmeade station.

They knew when they were getting close to Hogsmeade when more and more of the students could be seen walking around the train wearing their school robes; and they eventually put theirs on too. For Rose, that meant putting it on again; though it had taken her a while to realize that it was going to be too uncomfortable to wear it for the entire trip. It was dusk by the time they arrived, and the train aisles were soon clogged with a swarm of students as they rushed to get off of the train. Instead of trying to rush for the exits too; Al and the girls waited for the first mad dash to wind down before getting in line as the chaos calmed a bit. That's why they were barely out on the platform when Hagrid called for the first-year students to follow him down to the boats while the rest of the students lined up for the carriage rides.

"Hello Albus, Rose," Hagrid said in welcome when he saw them. The kids were already well-along in getting loaded into the boats by then; and he waved their little group into the boat next to the one he would be in.

"Hi, Professor Hagrid," Rose answered for them; smiling and happy to see him again. "Our Mums and Dads send their love – even if James and Al have to be too cool to tell you."

"James said that, not me," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed.

"Okay, but I beat you to it."

They didn't have time to talk with Hagrid right then as he continued to get the rest of the firsties into the boats; and Al guessed that there were eighty or ninety in their class; most of them looking wide-eyed and amazed as they kept one eye on Hagrid while also taking in everything else around them. Since they'd been closer to the back of the pack than the front, it wasn't long before they moved out across the lake; torches flickering in the breeze and barely lighting their way in the darkness. When the castle came into view; there was a collective gasp of wonder; and while Al was as impressed as his classmates; he also noticed Hagrid's look of amusement mixed in with pride for his school. He'd known how much Hagrid loved Hogwarts, but experiencing the moment made it more real – and helped him understand a bit better why his father felt so strongly about Hogwarts too – despite all of the bad that had happened to him back then.

Once they were docked at the landing, Al and the group in the first few boats were among the first to disembark; and then they moved toward the stairs leading up to the castle to make room for all of their fellow first year students. Hagrid made sure that he had all of the kids out ofthe boats first; and then led the way until waving them through the doors into the school. There was another flight of stairs to climb; and one of their Professors waited for them at the top.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor Clearwater told them; her tone warm and welcoming. "I am Professor Clearwater, Head of Ravenclaw; and one of your Transfiguration teachers. In a few moments, we will be entering the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony; where you will each be placed in one of the four Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your House will be your home and the students will be your family while you are here at Hogwarts." She smiled while taking a moment to look around at the kids lining the stairs below her. "Many of you may already know that the four Houses compete each year for the House Cup, and through your good deeds and accomplishments; you may earn points that aid your House to be awarded that worthy honor – or lose points instead through your misdeeds." She looked at her watch and nodded. "Wait here for a moment, and when I return; we will begin the processional into the Great Hall."

"Professor Clearwater dated our Uncle Percy when they were students at Hogwarts," Rose whispered to Gwendolyn and Bristol once the Professor was out of earshot; and both girls grinned at her.

"That could be good or bad for you in Transfiguration," Bristol suggested. "If they had a bad break-up; that might not work out very well for you."

"James did okay in her class; so we should be okay if she's teaching the first-years again this year," Al suggested.

"It's a wonder James did well at anything when he doesn't try very hard with his studies – except maybe for DADA," Rose added with a nod of agreement.

That was the last comment they had time for before Professor Clearwater returned and encouraged all of the firsties to follow her. Their first experience in the Great Hall was thrilling and enchanting. Al and Rose were as impressed as most firsties always were each year; and they walked in silence toward the front of the cavernous room. The candles, magical ceiling, and everything else about the place kept them busy while looking around and trying to take it all in. Getting lined up at the front took a couple of minutes, and since they'd been near the front of the group; Al and Rose were in the front row with a full view of the Professors' table. There were now eighteen Professors, though only sixteen were at the table. Al knew that Firence didn't come to the Great Hall for meals; though he could if he chose to do so. Other than making eye contact with the Professors he did know, like Neville; Al didn't have time for more than that before Professor Clearwater was ready to go; and Professor McGonagall stood up. The buzz of conversations dimmed to near-silence almost immediately.

"Good evening," she began; her voice easily resonating throughout the room; her tone clipped and concise. "To our newest students – welcome; and for all those returning – welcome back!" She'd glanced around the room and along each of the four long rows of tables; and then returned her attention to the students standing at the front of the hall.

"For those of you who do not yet know me, I am Professor McGonagall; Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before we begin the sorting ceremony; I have a few announcements to make."

Al half tuned-out as Professor McGonagall advised – or reminded – her students of some of the rules at Hogwarts. He knew all of them because his cousins, brother, and Teddy had all talked about them before; and none were a surprise. There was the Forbidden Forest rule and the ban on using any of the various types of magical mirrors in classrooms or the library were just two of them; so it took a few minutes to get through all of that before Professor Clearwater was asked to begin the sorting ceremony. She already had the stool in place; and then set the sorting hat on it so that it could sing its song.

Welcome home, young Wizards true;

And our lovely Witches too!

At Hogwarts you will find your place;

Learn a magical thing or two.

While this castle is your home away from home;

Your House is your family.

So my job tonight, if I do it right;

Is to take a look at you and see.

If you have the nerve, are daring, and chivalrous at heart;

Then brave Gryffindor may be the place for you to start.

The just and true and loyal;

In Hufflepuff may toil;

But if you are keen for learning, and have a witty mind;

Then fair Ravenclaw will surely be where you will find your kind.

Finally, in Slytherin, the cunning will find a friend;

So let's get started, try me on, for this song is at and end!

Professor Clearwater opened a scroll and called for the first student to be sorted. Al knew that he had a while to wait, and that Rose would be near to the last firstie called to be sorted; but he watched as avidly as any of the kids while the first half-dozen kids were sorted. There weren't any long pauses for any of those kids, and they all seemed happy-enough with the choices the sorting hat made for them; so hd began to relax just a little. He thought about the song that the sorting hat had come up with this year, and wondered whether the hat was a bit biased toward Gryffindor; since it seemed to give that House more weight in the song. He knew from the stories he'd heard from his family that the sorting hat did have a connection to the Sword of Gryffindor; so maybe there was something to that; though maybe it really was just the way the song turned out this year.

Al's focus and interest returned to the sorting ceremony each time that one of the kids he at least knew of or had met through his parents' friends and co-workers were called to be sorted. While those Quidditch, Auror, and Ministry of Magic kids were sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw; the only kid that Al knew of through Quidditch to be sorted into Gryffindor was Andy Kirke. That wasn't exactly promising for the Quidditch team prospects, since his father, Andrew, had been a Beater for the Cannons – and, according to Uncle Ron; he and his partner, Jack Sloper, were the worst Beater duo ever to play the game.

They were about half-way through the ceremony when Scorpius Malfoy was called forward; and that name seemed to bring a short pause to the buzz of quiet conversations that had been going on as the sorting dragged on with so many students. Scorpius seemed to just ignore everything around him as he stepped up and sat on the stool; and he seemed to be confident and self-assured. The hat didn't even touch his head before shouting out "Slytherin!" To Al it almost seemed as though the hat didn't want to touch the boy; but that had to just be his imagination and a few too many stories about the Malfoy family taking him there. He wasn't the only one having a reaction to Scorpius, though; and his welcome to the Slytherin table was just one step above the silent treatment. That had Al feeling a bit guilty over his own thoughts; but that didn't really do anything to change his first impression of the other boy.

It wasn't much longer before Gwendolyn was invited to come and sit on the stool; and she smiled at Al before stepping forward to do that. By then there had been a few pauses in the action as the sorting hat seemed to need extra time to choose the right House for the student; so it wasn't really a surprise when Gwendolyn seemed to have a little conversation with the hat. Finally, after long moments; the hat shouted out – "Ravenclaw!" Gwendolyn received a loud round of cheers from her new House mates; and happily hurried over to join the other new Ravenclaw firsties.

"Gryffindor's loss there," Rose whispered to Al; and he nodded.

"Let's just hope that won't mean losses in the games too," Al whispered back – "especially if we're playing in those matches."

"We can hope to be," Rose had time to add before the next sorting choice was made. Al was the next of their little foursome to be called; and he squeezed his cousin's hand before letting go and a bit hesitantly walking up to the stool and turning to sit down. The students had gone quiet again, just as they had for Scorpius; but this time there was a definite sensation of anticipation – along with an undercurrent of ungly anger coming from many of the students at the Slytherin table. Al wondered that he sensed all of that; but then his attention was all for the sorting hat as it was placed on his head and it spoke to him.

"Well, well – another Potter this year! Welcome, my boy! Let's see what we have here." There was a pause that was only accompanied by a few 'hmms'; a 'quite like your father', and a 'with a touch or two of your grandmother and mother too' before the hat seemed ready to make a decision. "With great hope and honor, I choose for you to be," the hat said only to him before shouting – "Gryffindor!"

Al stood as soon as Professor Clearwater lifted the hat from his head, and felt a bit dazed as he walked over to the Gryffindor table. All of the students there were cheering for him; though he did catch James mouth – 'must've made a mistake' to him before having a laugh about it with his friends. Victoire greeted him with a hug and kiss on the cheek that had the other firsties even more amazed than those who didn't yet know him already were; and then he sat down next to Andy Kirke and tried to keep enough space there for Rose to sit with him – while hoping with all of his heart that she would be in Gryffindor too.

Rose liked her last name just fine, but it was a pain when it came to alphabetical order. For the ceremony, that was a physical pain; since all of the students at the tail-end of the group were stuck standing still for a long time while waiting for all of the other firsties to be sorted ahead of them. She smiled when Bristol was finally called; and the other girl sighed in relief; ready to just get it over and done with instead of worried about it – despite professing a certainty that she'd be sorted to Gryffindor. That assertion soon proved to be spot-on; and the sorting hat was barely on her head before it sent her off to join Al and the other firsties at the Gryffindor table. While the sorting was supposed to be done based on what was best for each student, Rose had still been keeping track of the number of kids being sorted to each House; and wondered how often there was a big mis-match – or if that ever happened. This year, Hufflepuff had a slight lead over the other Houses; Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were in the middle; and Slytherin had the fewest so far. That didn't exactly worry her; but it did have her thinking a bit too much about James razzing Al so much about being in Slytherin. Her name was called; and it was time to move.

"A Weasley!" the hat told her, sounding quite pleased. "We have so many this year, maybe we should just change the name of the school to Weasley's School for Witchcraft, Wizardry, and Wheezes, eh?" it joked; and Rose laughed. The hat paused for a moment. "Your mind shines as brightly as your mother's my dear; but your heart is destined to be brave – Gryffindor!" Only the last word had been shouted out for all to hear; and there was another loud round of applause as Rose hurried over to join her cousins at the Gryffindor table. She got her hug and kiss from Victoire first; and then sat down between Al and Bristol as they managed to nudge their neighbors into making enough room for her.

"It talked to you too?" Al whispered once she was sitting down; and Rose nodded; her smile bright and happy. "What was so funny?"

"It joked with me about having to rename the school with so many Weasleys here this year. Weasley's School for Witchcraft, Wizardry, and Wheezes does have a nice ring to it; don't you think?"

"Did it say anything else?" Al asked next after they'd both laughed; and Rose shrugged.

"It told me my mind shines as brightly as Mum's; but that my heart is destined to be brave Gryffindor. You?"

"I'm like my Dad with a touch of my Grandmother and Mum mixed in," he answered; and decided to skip telling her the part about the hope and honor.

"Did you ask which Grandmother?" Rose teased; and Al laughed again.

"No, but either would be a compliment."

"True," Rose agreed before their attention was brought back to the sorting ceremony.

Madison Whitby was the daughter of Quidditch stars Kevin Whitby and Laura Madley; and the Hufflepuff students seemed to be very happy to get her in their House; and shortly after that, Ray Wood was sorted to Gryffindor. Al knew Ray through Ginny and the Harpies; since his mother was the Harpies' Keeper for Ginny's first three seasons – and their World Cup championship run. Oliver Wood was his uncle too; so there was a lot of Quidditch background in Ray's family – even if his side of the Wood family wasn't quite as famous.

The last student standing this year was Davis Zabini. The older students didn't pay any attention to him, since he had older siblings at Hogwarts and it wasn't a big deal anymore; but Al paid attention to him because it was the first time he'd seen one of the 'Azkaban kids' in person. He did know from James and his cousins that all of the kids of parents in the prison hated the Potters and Weasleys; but hearing about that wasn't at all the same as experiencing it – which he did when Davis looked right at him with an expression of contempt while walking toward the Slytherin table once he'd been sorted to that House. For Al, it wasn't simply the expression on the boy's face; he sensed the dark animosity from the other boy – just as he was still sensing a dark emnity directed his way anytime certain Slytherins looked his way – or maybe even just thought about him. That was new for him; and Al expected that it would take some time to figure out those feelings and sensations, but since he could also sense a lot of good feelings in the room; it wasn't entirely unpleasant or worrisome.

With the sorting ceremony finished, Professor Clearwater took the stool and hat with her and went to sit with the other Professors and school staff at the head table. Professor McGonagall waited for her; and then called for the feast to begin. The tables were suddenly loaded down with platters and bowls of food; and the noise level rose dramatically as the students were free to fill their plates; enjoy the meal; and, for the firsties, get to know their table mates. The House ghosts entered the Great Hall then too; and Sir Nicolas came along the Gryffindor table beginning at the back end of the room; welcoming 'his' students.

"You're Nearly-Headless Nick!" Andy exclaimed; and Al groaned silently; suspecting what was coming next.

"Why are you called Nearly-Headless?" one of the other boys Al hadn't yet met asked.

"I prefer to be called Sir Nicolas," the spectre said with an impatient sigh, but if you must know – this is why I have been given that other, unwanted name."

On the 'this' he showed all of the firsties why he was nearly headless; and the reactions ranged from gagging to fascination. The fact that he continued to talk while his head was tilted far to the side had a few of the older Gryffindors closest to them laughing at the ghost and the firsties. Sir Nicolas moved on then; and Al tried not to think about what they'd just seen while trying to enjoy the amazing food.

"One of these years, he's going to be shocked when none of the kids ask him about that," Rose suggested; earning laughs from Al, Bristol, and a couple of the other kids that overheard her.

"Wasn't your Mum the one to ask in her first year?" Al asked; and Rose nodded.

"Yeah, and she still wishes she hadn't. Now we know why."

While Al mostly talked with Rose and Bristol; they did begin to meet the kids sitting closest to them. The boy who had asked Sir Nicolas why he was nearly headless was Romeo Remilard, a Muggle-born Wizard; and he was already becoming mates with Dave Wilson – another Muggle-born student. Anna Donaldson and Fiona Birch rounded out the group across the table from them; Al spent a bit of time talking with Andy Kirke; and Rose and Bristol were also able to talk with Amelia Hart; who was sitting next to Bristol's right side. The only other kids that Al did know, Ray Wood and Sonny Towler, were sitting at the end of the table; and too far away to talk with them.

The feast continued for quite a while, until most students were stuffed beyond all reason; and then it was time for the Prefects of each House to lead their fellow students up to their Common rooms and dorms. For the Gryffindors, that meant a long trek up to the seventh floor; and that was quite a feat for some after over-indulging during the meal. Victoire was Head Girl, so she led the way with the other Gryffindor Prefects; and she explained how to get into the Common room through the hole behind the portrait of the Fat Lady to her cousins and the other firsties.

"Password, please," the Fat Lady requested; and Victoire smiled.

"Purple Pygmy Puffs."

"Correct – and aren't they the cutest things?" the Fat Lady said with a nod before the portrait swung open to reveal the large hole that led into the Gryffindor common room.

The room had obviously been made to be magically larger than the physical tower allowed; and all of the firsties looked around in amazement at what was basically the sitting room of their home away from home for the next seven years. Victoire had a few more instructions and announcements for the firsties before setting them free; and Al and Rose did the same thing that most of the other firsties did – went to meet up with family members and older friends.

While the sorting hat had just been teasing Rose, they did have a lot of cousins to check in with. Dominique and Lucy were together, since they were also best friends and Quidditch team mates; so Al and Rose had a little visit with them; but kept it short so they didn't get in the way of their cousns' reunion with other friends. Al and Rose did get hugs from both girls, along with congratulations for being in Gryffindor; but Al was the sole recipient of the teasing from the other girls with his cousins – either for getting the hugs; or for not hugging them too. Louis was talking Quidditch with his buddies when they crossed paths with him, and while there weren't any hugs between the guys; Louis was happy to share a hug with Rose; have both of them in his House; and hoped they'd each do well at the Junior team tryouts in the morning. Molly was as busy with her Prefect duties as Victoire was with Head Girl responsibilities, so they didn't talk with her for more than a moment or two, but then of all of their older cousins; Molly was the least-close to Al and Rose anyway.

There were quite a few friends that they knew through their parents' friends; and they didn't get to visit with all of them before Daniella Rivers and Jensen Scott called for the first year girls and boys respectively so that they could take them to their dorm rooms. Since they were five years younger, Al and Rose didn't know Daniella and Jensen as well as some of their cousins did; but they had been at family parties for the Aurors with them at least once a year; so the two teens greeted them by name and welcomed them as they gathered their groups and headed for the two seperate staircases.

When Jensen led the firstie boys into their dorm room; they could see that it was magically expanded beyond what would be the actual size of the tower to make room for the ten beds needed for their group. Since their trunks had already been delivered to the foot of each four-poster bed; they obviously did not get to choose their neighbors. Al guessed that some care had been taken for that, though; since some of the boys who were already making new friends were also neighbors too.

He hadn't really done that yet, though it amused him to think they might have paired him up with Rose and Bristol if they had co-ed dorms. Since it was a round room, everyone had two neighbors – except for the two boys on each side of the doorway. Al's bed was at the other end of the room from the door, and his neighbors were Ray Wood on his left and Romeo Remilard on his right – from a sitting in bed perspective. As they each went to check out their beds and relax before getting ready to go to sleep; Romeo had nodded at Al; but continued to talk with his other neighbor and new friend; Dave Wilson. Ray had the same issue with his neighbor; so that pretty much paired them up so they'd each have someone to chat with about their first experiences at the school.

"This is better than my bed at home," Ray told Al as he hopped up on it and checked it out; "but it's going to be weird not having my own room."

"I was just thinking that too," Al admitted. "This will be a lot different than home." He smiled as he thought of Lily. "My sister will be thinking the same thing now that she'll be an only child for the next two school years. She wanted to come here with James and me so much; I wish she could have."

"My sister is happy to have our parents to herself," Ray advised Al with a nod and laugh. "If Lily's starting here in two years; they'll be in the same year too." He looked around the room and then smiled as he turned back to Al. "Do all of those stares bug you?" he asked quietly. "You get that way worse than my cousins ever do – even when we're at one of Uncle Oliver's games."

"It just seems weird to me, but they'll get over it soon enough," Al answered with a shrug. "James likes the attention and milks it for all he can."

"No wonder he's best mates with Ollie," Ray said with a nod. "They're both show-offs and like to have fun – usually while playing pranks or goofing around."

"At least you get to send your cousin home if you've had enough of him," Al pointed out. "I'm stuck with James – at least until we're adults."

"We'll be stuck with both of them while we're here," Ray reminded him. "I know I'll be watching out for the wheezes and pranks from Ollie this year."

"Same here with James," Al agreed with a nod. "He'll be trying to prank me for sure. Are you trying out for the team tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Rose and I both are. She wants to be a Keeper like her Dad, but will be trying out for Chaser with me; since Louis is Captain; so the Keeper spot isn't open. She might try out for the reserve Keeper if she doesn't make the team as a Chaser."

"Then I guess we'll be going after the same spots – unless you're going to try and beat James out at Seeker."

"I don't want to do that," Al said seriously. "My brother is a bad winner when it comes to Lily and me; and an even worse loser. It just isn't worth it either way; but then I prefer playing as a Chaser anyway – even if everyone else in my family thinks that being a Seeker is the best job on the team."

"Well, it won't bother me at all if the three of us beat Ollie out for the Chaser jobs," Ray suggested. "He's gotten quite a bit better this summer, though, so that probably isn't going to happen."

"Did you play Quidditch with him much over the holidays?" Al aasked. "I'm pretty sure that we had at least a few of my cousins at our house nearly every week day to play on our pitch all summer – except when we were away on vacation. Ollie was over for the practices Louis set up for the players that were on the team last year too, but I tried to avoid James and Ollie as much as possible whenever they were together."

"Melissa and I went to hang out with our cousins once or twice a week; and they stayed with us the week training camp opened this year too. Sometimes Mum wishes that she still played for the Harpies; but changes her mind when she sees my uncle and her friends looking sore and beat up for the first few weeks of the season."

"My Mum might still give it a go if she gets the chance; though Aunt Gabrielle isn't in any hurry to retire to make room for Mum on the Harpies' team – and I seriously doubt that she'd ever play for anyone else."

"At least you got to see your Mum play for the Harpies when she covered for your Aunt Gabrielle," Ray said. "My Mum couldn't try to do that 'cause she was having Melissa and me too close to when Mrs. Summers took time off to have her kids."

"Mum says she only did that because it was easier than reporting on the Harpies games would have been if she'd done that instead for those seasons," Al said with a laugh. "I remember the last season she played better than that first one, and it was really cool; but I don't know how I'd feel about it if she played while we're here at Hogwarts."

"My cousins don't seem to mind – even when the girls put up posters of my uncle in the girls' orms. They might not feel the same way about that if it was our Mums, though."

"One of the guys in James' dorm did bring in an old poster of Mum after Christmas last year; but he thought it was a great joke."

"Thanks for the good idea," Ray teased; and Al laughed.

"Go ahead," he offered. "I'm sure that Mum could find one of your Mum's posters for me if I asked her." He looked at his watch. "Speaking of talking to someone, I promised Lily that I'd have a mirror chat with her tonight; so I'd better do that before it's too late."

He hopped off of his bed and went to open his trunk. He'd left his mirror in there; since he hadn't expected to use it while on the train or during the feast; and smiled when Ray got out his own mirror; apparently planning on making a call home too – and looking relieved that he hadn't been first to suggest it.

"Hello, Lily," Al said quietly as he sat on his bed again. His mirror chimed softly three times before his sister's smiling face appeared in his mirror. She certainly looked much happier than she had when they'd left on the train.

"Hi, Al," she said happily. "I knew you wouldn't forget to call like James did last year – not that he really forgot us that fast like he said he did. Tell me about everything."

"Hi back; I miss you; and it's nice to see you looking happy again," Al said first; and Lily laughed.

"I miss you too, and Mum and Dad took me out for a play day to help cheer me up. I guess being an only child until Christmas won't be so bad after all."

"What did you do today that was so much fun?"

While Lily had wanted to hear all about his day too; she did give him her report first before prompting him to tell her all about his trip, the sorting ceremony, and the feast. She also wanted to say hello to Ray; and they all had a laugh when she also had a little chat with Ray's sister while the two brothers just looked on while holding their mirrors so that the girls could see each other. Both calls were ended when Al noticed that a couple of the guys were getting ready to change into night clothes; though Lily teased him about that before wishing him good night – and good luck at the tryouts on Saturday.

Al and Ray both got changed then; went to the washrooms; and then climbed into their beds and settled in for the night. All of the boys seemed to be waiting for the first to take the big step of dousing the bedside lights; so Al was first to do that after getting a nod of agreement from Ray. Since he was tired out by then, and had a Quidditch tryout in the morning; Al didn't wait for any of the other guys to follow his lead; and he was soon sleeping soundly – and dreaming of what he hoped would be a great start to his first year at Hogwarts.

When he woke in the early, pre-dawn light of morning; it took Al a moment to realize where he was; and then he was fully-awake and sitting up in bed. None of the other guys were awake yet, so he tried to be quiet as he grabbed his bathroom kit and a change of clothes before heading for the shower – wanting to beat the pre-breakfast rush that his cousins and Teddy had assured him happened most mornings. He wasn't alone when he got there, but didn't know any of the older boys; and tried to ignore the fact that he really was just a kid compared to the taller teens. He had returned the smiles and nods they'd directed toward him; but then they'd all just mostly ignored him as he got ready for his shower. That first experience had been uncomfortable, but he survived it – even after there were quite a few more guys in the room by the time he was ready to get dressed. Ray had been there too by then; so at least he had company in that club and they could joke about it a bit as they crossed paths.

Once he was ready to go, he went back to his dorm room, where half of the guys were still sleeping; and put his things away. He followed the instructions for dealing with laundry too; though leaving that for the school House Elves to do for him seemed weird too. The last thing he did before heading to the common room was to check the Wizarding Wireless Web for the weather forecast; and then he grabbed his Quidditch gear bag and quietly left the room. He still had lots of time before needing to move on to the Great Hall for breakfast; but he was hoping to have time to talk with Rose before going there with her – and then on to the Gryffindor Junior Team tryouts.

The comparative quiet in the common room seemed almost shocking compared to the noise level from the previous night; but Al wasn't alone in the room either as he picked an armchair not far from the stairway to the girls' dorms so that Rose would see him when she came into the room. He was already becoming sure that he was going to miss having someplace to go to be alone when he wanted to do that; as he could do at home. Louis was the first familiar face he saw in the room, but he was with a couple of his mates, and only stopped to wish Al a good morning and nod approvingly when seeing that Al had his Quidditch gear with him too. They'd gone out into the hall right away, but Al continued to wait as several of his cousins and a few friends passed through the room before Rose made her appearance. By then, Ray had caught up with him; and they both stood as Rose and Bristol walked over to them.

"Good morning, Al," Rose said cheerfully; leaving her Quidditch bag over her shoulder and expecting that they'd all head for the Great Hall. "Hi, Ray. Have you met Bristol Wagtail before? No? Bristol, this is Ray Wood. His Mum played Keeper for the Harpies with Al's Mum for the first three seasons she was in the league. How many years was she with the Harpies before that, Ray?"

"For ten years total," Ray answered. "She always says that the last three were the best, though."

"No doubt, with three League Championships and a Quidditch World Cup," Bristol suggested. She smiled at Rose. "Don't look so surprised – most of the Weird Sisters' kids are either Harpies fans or Prides faithful. I've probably heard as many Harpies stories from Aunt Gwenog as you've heard from Al's Mum." She laughed at the look of confusion on Ray's face. "The band members and their wives are all our unofficial aunts and uncles for their kids," she explained. "Don't the Harpies' kids do that too?"

"Not in my case," Ray answered first; and Rose and Al both laughed.

"Technically, yes for us – at least for some of the Harpies," Rose said; speaking for both of them. "Aunt Gabrielle is our real Aunt Fleur's sister, though, so that one probably doesn't count the same; and you both know that Aunt Angelina is actually our Aunt for real too." She paused for a moment and then continued. "We call Alicia our aunt because she's such good friends with Aunt Angelina; but I guess that's it for the current players – at leat for me. Aunt Gwenog might turn us into wood lice if we called her Mrs. McCormack, but then I don't see her nearly as often as Al does; so that's a bigger deal for him than me anyway."

"Now that sounds familiar," Bristol agreed with another laugh and nod. "We should get going in case we get lost finding our way to the Great Hall – unless you want to wait and follow some older teens there."

"We can find our way," Al said confidently; picking up his bag and settling the strap onto his shoulder. "Ladies first," he offered with a wave and half-bow.

"Practicing the Gryffindor chivalry already?" Rose teased; and Al grinned.

"Minding my manners as ordered," he countered. "Put in a good word for me next time you talk to my Mum – you never know when I'll need that to make up for when she's cross with me."

"James has that covered for you every day," Rose suggested as they reached the portrait hole and took turns climbing out. "Most of the trouble you do get into is thanks to him too."

"True, but I usually went along with his schemes; so I can't complain about sharing the consequences." Al didn't mention that when he did go along with James' schemes that it was usually because that was easier than refusing and then dealing with the consequences of defying James when he really wanted something; but then that really was still ultimately his own choice.

Those comments gave them a topic for the walk to the Great Hall; and kept them entertained until they sat down near the front end of the table. Al was happy to make sure that he left James lots of space between them and the second year group; though he knew his brother would be among the last to get to the hall. He was definitely not a morning person; but could stay up half the night watching WWMN shows, playing his favorite mirror games, or surfing on the Wireless Web. James hadn't even stopped in to see Al after getting to the common room after the feast, but he did check in with him when he got to the Great Hall with Ollie Wood and a group of guys that were all carrying Quidditch bags. They dropped their bags off where they were going to sit, and only James and Ollie continued on to where Al was sitting with Ray and the girls.

"Did you have to call Mum and cry yourself to sleep last night?" James said with a coarse laugh instead of starting with any pleasantries. "I see you've brought your gear. That's probably a waste of time. You know that Louis won't give you a break just because you're his cousin, but if you cry when you mess up your tryout; maybe he'll take pity and offer you a job cleaning up the locker room for us after practices and games." He turned to Rose next and smiled. "Are you trying out to be Louis' back-up? You might have a shot at that, if only a really slim one – and only because there won't be much competition when there's no chance to actually play in real games for Gryffindor."

"I might; but I'm trying out for Chaser first," Rose advised him.

"You'll have a lot of competition for that today," James said; shaking his head. "Try not to embarrass the entire family when you don't even make the practice team; since I doubt you've got any chance at all against the rest of our mates."

"Ditto that for you, Ray," Ollie told his cousin with a grin. "If Louis gives Al that job in the locker room; you'll be totally out of luck!" He laughed and looked at James for a moment before continuing. "Maybe Ray and Al think that they'll be like you and me last year if they hang out together."

"Not going to happen," James declared; "but you can't blame them for wanting to imitate us – even if they don't have a chance of measuring up."

"Wow, thanks for all of that love and encouragement," Rose told him sarcastically. "Best of luck at the tryouts to you too, James."

"We are the best," James shot back glibly. "Luck is for copycats and losers like Al and Ray here." With that, the two boys sauntered off; leaving Al, Rose, and Ray all more than a bit annoyed.

"Why does he do that?" Rose demanded quietly so that only Al, Ray, and Bristol would hear her. "He knows that we're fair Quidditch players; so it's just stupid to razz us like that."

"He thinks it's funny," Al answered; trying to just shrug it off as he usually did. "Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup last year, but he doesn't seem to remember that was thanks to Victoire and the Senior team; not the Junior team. His team only won one match, while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each had two wins."

"But their team had the most points," Ray reminded them. "Ollie must've told me that a hundred times or more this summer."

"That's what James kept telling us too," Al said with a nod; "but that only matters for a tie-breaker; and those extra points didn't matter in the end anyway." He shrugged and smiled. "James did practice hard all summer, though; so he's bound to do better against the other Seekers this year."

"And with that, I think it's time to change the subject," Bristol told them.

"Okay," Rose agreed amiably. "Are you going to the tryouts to cheer us on?"

"Not if we're going to be talking sports all through breakfast too," Bristol countered. "I'd rather hear about what it was like in the boys' dorms last night; or talk about nearly anything else."

Rose, Al, and Ray helped her out with that; and it wasn't long before the food appeared on the tables and they were kept busy filling their plates and enjoying their first Hogwarts breakfast. Gryffindor had the first time slot for their tryouts; and Rose, Al, and Ray went there early to get ready for them. They were among the first to get to the stadium; and had their gear on and were waiting for the rest of the hopefuls to arrive when Mr. Peakes cmae onto the pitch to meet with Louis. After speaking with the junior team Captain for a few moments, Louis got Al's attention and waved him over. Rose and Ray came with him; and Louis did the introductions.

"Mr. Peakes is our flying instructor, Quidditch coach, and referee," he told them – and introduced. "Mr. Peakes, my cousins, Albus Potter and Rose Weasley; and Ray Wood – Ollie's cousin." He smiled at the three younger kids. "Mr. Peakes would like to get the flying tests out of the way; and he might be able to save some time with that if he has a few really good fliers to test first – and maybe discourage those firsties that aren't as ready as they might think they are for playing Quidditch. Would you like to volunteer?"

"Sure," Al agreed; as Rose and Ray nodded their willingnoess to help with that too.

"Good," Mr. Peakes told them. He eyed the Firestorm 250's that Rose and Al were holding. "I'll guess that your parents made sure that you know how to use those safely before letting you fly them; but let's do this by the book before I set you loose to show us what you can do."

By the book meant demonstrating safe take-offs, hovering near the ground; and landings before they moved on to low-level flying and turns. Finally; Mr. Peakes let Al, Rose, and Ray have some fun; and Al led the way while Rose and Ray tried to keep up as he sped around the stadium and tried to lose them with sharp turns, steep dives, and blasts of speed while going vertical and soaring high above the stadium. They'd passed their tests long before landing again; and Mr. Peakes seemed very happy as he pretended not to notice that half of the first year prospects had gone to sit in the stands with the other Gryffindors that were watching the action instead of lining up to be next for the flying tests.

Louis was happy too, since Mr. Peakes was able to do just one more batch of firstie tests; and then he was able to get the tryouts started once three more of Al and Rose's classmates passed their tests too – if not with flying colors as Al, Rose, and Ray had. Once Mr. Peakes left the pitch to watch over the tryouts from the bleachers; Louis called all of his player-candidates to gather around him. He had twenty-six teens and tweens; and everyone looked excited and hopeful.

"All right, boys and girls, welcome to the tryouts for Gryffindor's Junior Quidditch team! If we haven't yet met; I'm Louis Weasley, your Captain and team Keeper. Including the places on the reserve squad, we have thirteen positions available; and I wish all of you the best of luck! We'll start with the Beater tryouts; follow that up with the Chasers; and wrap up with the reserve Keeper and both Seeker positions. We don't have much time to get all of that done; so let's get to it. Where are my Beater candidates?"

Five Wizards and one Witch stepped forward to answer that call; and Louis gave them their instructions and then sent them up with the bludgers to duel it out. Rose, Al, and Ray had seen the McClaggen brothers, Tiberius and Brock, play Quidditch while practicing with Louis and the other guys during the summer; so they weren't surprised when they defended their spots on the Junior team; while the lone Witch and one of the other boys earned the reserve team spots. Louis had selected his Beaters first so that they could test the Chasers as they took their shots against him; and that had the other three firsties looking very worried when they found out that they'd be facing bludgers as well as trying to score goals on their team Captain.

Al was a bit surprised when both of the Beater hopefuls that hadn't made the cut stayed for the Chaser tryouts; so there were sixteen candidates competing for the six spots. Louis advised them that each Chaser would get five shots against him; and they'd do extra rounds if there were ties – though he reserved the right to cut players if they had troubles with dodging the bludgers. He had Ollie Wood lead off; and Al, Rose, and Ray were near the bottom of the pack. There was catching the quaffle as part of the test too; though that was just making an easy catch as a quaffle was tossed to each player when it was their turn to go in one-on-one against Louis.

To be fair, Al and Rose did have a slight advantage over many of the teens, since they had played Quidditch with Louis fairly regularly; though it had only been this past summer that their parents had let them play full-out with their older cousins. Al actually wound up in first place with four goals on his five shots; while Rose and Ollie tied with three each. There were four more teens with two goals each, including Ray; but Louis cut one of them because he'd been hit by bludgers two times during his five scoring attempts. That also saved another round with the Chasers; so Louis moved on to the reserve team Keeper tryouts. There were only two candidates interested in being Louis' back-up; and he had Ollie, Al, and Rose test them with three shots each. They did that using both sets of goals; so it didn't take long; and a second-year boy won that little duel with just two of nine saves while the other teen only managed to stop Rose once while Ollie and Al scored on every attempt.

Finally, it was time for the Seeker duels; and James looked fired up and very confident as he stepped forward along with three more boys – two older, and one firstie.

"Should I even bother asking what James' chances are?" Ray asked. "I would have liked to make the team with you too; but it was still fun watching Ollie when he realized you'd out-scored him, Al – and that he'd only managed a tie with Rose for second."

"James had Mum and Dad work with him whenever they could all summer," Al advised him. "He's got a really big advantage there."

"And that's not even including the practices he's done with Aunt Gabrielle," Rose added; and then smiled at Ray. "Al and I have gotten a lot of help from them – and from our cousins too; so we can't say much about that."

"And you actually know how to use those brooms," Ray pointed out. "I didn't think that'd be a big deal until we did our flying tests. I can't complain, since Mum is letting me use her Firestorm; but your brooms definitely are better than mine."

"Maybe, but you're using a more famous broom; since your Mum won those championships with it," Al said; and Ray laughed.

"I guess, but my cousins are all flying brooms with those kinds of stories – not that Uncle Oliver is using that as an excuse to buy new brooms so he can pass the old ones along to his kids."

"No – that's just an added bonus," Rose mimicked; trying to sound parental.

Louis was just sending the Snitch into the air then, so they turned their attention to the Seeker duel. James and his three competitors took off together, but the McClaggens were already airborne with the bludgers; and sent them scattering to avoid their two-pronged attack. It was watching out for the Beaters and bludgers as much as the other Seekers that kept the competition close; but James still managed to catch the snitch at just-past the ten minute mark to defend his spot on the team. He then stood next to Louis as the other three boys took to the air again and battled it out for the reserve team spot. Dante Cole, one of James' room mates, managed to make the catch after another seventeen minutes, though by then, Louis had waved off the McClaggen's to make that easier for the Seekers – mostly because they were running out of time by then.

"Congratulations to everyone who mad the team and reserve squad," Louis told everyone once the last five players had landed and they had the bludgers and snitch back in the case. "Thanks to everyone who tried out or came to watch and support us. We need to make way for Hufflepuff now; but I'd like the team to head back to the school with me; and we'll have a short team meeting before I'll let you get on with the rest of your day."

With that, tryouts were over, and all of the players hurriedly packed up their gear and brooms; and Al, Rose, and Ray went with Louis and the rest of their team to the school. Louis led them to an empty classroom on the second floor; and they sat down around three worktables for the meeting. Louis began by handing out the practice schedules; moved on to talk about what he wanted to try and do with the team this season; and tried, with mixed success, to talk down the big egos in the room that he didn't think they deserved to have coming off of a one-win season – despite the fact that the Gryffindor teams were also reigning Quidditch Cup Champions. They still had more than an hour left before lunch when he set them free; so they all headed for the Gryffindor common room before splitting up.

"That was nice of James to congratulate us," Rose told Al after James and Ollie had run on ahead so that they could get a jump on spreading the news that they'd defended their places on the team.

"Did he actually do that?" Al asked. "I couldn't really tell for sure."

"If there was a congratulations in there, it must have been hiding out with the compliments that I didn't hear either," Ray offered; smiling at Rose and Al. "At least Ollie was happy that I only made the reserve squad."

"You scored two goals, and have never practiced against Louis," Rose reminded him. "Ollie practiced with him all last year and only managed one more."

"I'm okay with that, Rose," Ray assured her. "I'd only have been mad if I hadn't done my best – and I did do that. What are you guys doing for the rest of the day – and weekend, for that matter? Now that tryouts are done; we don't have anything on the schedule except meals until Monday morning."

"We don't have much time for it before lunch, but I'd like to explore the castle and go for a walk outside too," Rose told them.

"That'll help us get around to our classes next week," Al agreed with a nod. "I'm good with that plan. Is there anyone else you'd like to invite to go along?"

"Bristol will want to come, and maybe I'll ask Cora too," Rose answered. "She's our new Beater team mates' sister," she added. "Bristol and Cora are my dorm neighbors."

"That must be weird for you," Al suggested.

"Why weird?" Ray asked; and Rose and Al both laughed.

"Because my Mum and Cora's Dad dated for a while when they were at Hogwarts," Rose explained.

"Maybe you'd have been sisters if that had gone better for your parents," Ray suggested slyly; earning more laughs.

"Most of Rose's cousins think that it's even funnier that her Mum dated Viktor Krum too," Al advised Ray; and grinned at the change in expressions on his new friend's face.

"Seriously?"

"Yep," Al confirmed. "They went to the Yule Ball together the year of the last Tri-Wizard Tourney. Viktor was his shcool's Champion."

"Wow, and I thought that my Mum had stories – not that I want to hear them. Melissa's the one who pesters her to hear about all the Wizards that were in love with Mum when she was playing for the Harpies."

"Let's move on and not go there," Al told them. "Rose might like those stories too; but I prefer not to even think about either of my parents like that."

Rose was tempted to tease her cousin for a while; but gave him a break – mostly because she knew he'd be dealing with James at least for the first couple of weeks until the novelty of having Al around to bug and prank wore off. Her cousins did usually get along well-enough when James wasn't trying to impress anyone or in the mood to try and rile Al up; but that was going to be a problem for Al when James was always going to have people around – and he loved to show off.

When they reached their common room, they split up long enough to put their bags away; and Rose had Bristol and Cora with her when she rejoined Al and Ray. While they didn't have time for a full tour of the school, they did get a start on that; and covered parts of each floor on their way down to the Great Hall. Once there, they went to sit at the same places they'd been at for breakfast; and that was likely to be where they'd sit for most of their meals for the rest of the year; since everyone else seemed to automatically do the same thing. They still had a while to wait for lunch, but kept themselves entertained easily-enough; and they had help with that from the handful of relatives or friends stopping by to check in with them before going to sit down at one of the tables too.

"Congratulations," Gwendolyn told Al and Rose when she came over to see them. "I already heard that you made your team. I hope that I'll get to be on my team this year too." She'd been on Al's side of the table; and had given him a hug. "Congrats on making it on the Reserve team, Ray," she added; though she didn't hug him too.

"How'd you find out so fast?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Peter and Pauline are keeping an eye on how tryouts are going for the other teams; and got the scoop from some of their Gryffindor friends. You know them?"

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "We don't see them much, but their parents get together with ours and the rest of their old Hogwarts gang once or twice a year; and they do that with the kids sometimes. Their Dad's an Auror, so we've got that connection with our fathers too."

Gwendolyn nodded. "I wasn't thinking about that for them," she admitted. "What are you guys doing after lunch? We've got the last tryout spot; so I've got a bit of time if you want to hang out for a while."

"We're just going to tour the school and then go outside and take a look around," Rose answered. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like – though the boys will be outnumbered."

"That sounds good; and they'll survive," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "I'll meet up with you after we're all done eating; and do that until I'll need to get to the Quidditch pitch."

She left then, and Al, Rose, and Ray were soon diverted with questions from the kids closest to them. A few of them had been at the tryouts; but the others wanted to hear all about it – and they were impressed that Al and Rose had both made the team. While the feast had been amazing and their first breakfast had likely been special too; the lunch menu was more normal, so while the food was still good; it wasn't a major meal and they were able to get started on their exploration of the castle fairly quickly. Al and Ray ended up doing that with six girls because Gwendolyn brought along two of her room mates – Toni Hopkins and Renee Bradley. Al and Rose knew both girls through their parents' jobs at the Ministry of Magic; though, as usual with those connections, they hadn't seen them more than once or twice a year unless it was just in passing in Diagon Alley or at the Ministry.

"We heard that the Hufflepuff tryouts were a bit of a mess," Gwendolyn reported as they climbed the stairs up to the first floor. "They've got two firsties on the team this year too – Madison Whitby at Seeker and Tory Summers is one of their Chasers."

"That doesn't surprise me," Rose told her. "Why was it a mess?"

"Some of the second and third year boys gave Myra a hard time over picking two first-year Witches; and didn't think the tryouts had been fair."

"Three out of four of their parents are Professional Quidditch players – or were," Ray pointed out. "Why would those guys be surprised? That sounds more like sour grapes to me."

"It is," Gwendolyn agreed with a shrug; "but those guys were hoping to finally get a chance to play now that two of their best junior team players are in fourth year."

"Francine and Alex," Al said with a nod. "They are really good; but so are Madison and Tory."

"Are we going to be talking Quidditch all of the time when we're around you?" Bristol asked a bit plaintively. "How about we talk about which secret passages we've each heard about and see if we can find them instead?"

Her suggestion was readily agreed to; though that didn't keep Gwendolyn, Rose, Al, and Ray from talking about Quidditch a bit more too. They made sure that they wrapped up their tour near to Ravenclaw tower so that Gwendolyn could stop in and get her Quidditch gear; and then she had time to walk with them around one side of the school grounds on her way to the stadium before leaving them to go to her tryouts. Renee and Toni went along to cheer her on, but since tryouts were only open to House students; Al, Ray, and the girls continued on their walk after wishing Gwendolyn good luck.

"Did you see Scorpius Malfoy leaving the pitch?" Rose asked Al quietly as they walked away from the stadium. "He was all by himself; but I think he must've made the Slytherin team." She paused for a moment while thinking about that. "I wouldn't say he looked happy; but he did seem very proud of himself."

"I saw, and you're probably right," Al agreed. "Should we scare our parents and try making friends with him so he isn't lonely here?"

Rose laughed. "No, but if he's getting the cold shoulder in his own House; we're not going to do anything to make it worse for him." She shook her head and sighed. "It might be nice if we could get along with the Slytherins; but you know that half or more of them have lots of reasons to hate our family – from their perspective. We'll need to be careful around here if we want to stay out of trouble with them."

"All true," Al said; and then nodded ahead of them. They'd fallen a dozen paces behind the rest of their friends while having that little chat. "Let's catch up; and not think about stuff like that unless we have no other choice about dealing with that lot."

They did that, and enjoyed spending the late afternoon outdoors. They walked along the edge of the lake; wandered past Professor Dumbledore's tomb; and eventually worked their way back to the Quidditch stadium in time to meet up with Gwendolyn after the Ravenclaw tryouts. They didn't need to ask her how it went; since her smile was brilliant as she temporarily left the group she was with to meet up with them and share hugs with Rose and Al.

"Congratulations," Al told her enthusiastically. "We knew you'd make your team too."

"So did I; but that was still amazing – and Landon Graves made the team too. It's been a good Quidditch day for firsties!"

"Yes it has," Rose agreed. "Landon's one of Lysa's kids, right? Al knows all of them a bit better than I do; so I get the Quidditch and Weird Sisters' Graves mixed up sometimes."

"He is Lysa's second son," Gwendolyn confirmed. She looked over her shoulder and nodded toward one of the kids in the group who was watching her. "We've got a short team meeting before dinner; so I'd better catch up with them." She smiled at Al. "If I don't see you later after dinner, have a good night. Maybe we can all do something together tomorrow."

"We can do that," Al agreed; and then smiled when Gwendolyn hugged him again before hurrying off to catch up with the other Ravenclaw players.

"Has Gwendolyn always hugged you that often?" Rose asked Al; smiling a bit slyly. "I don't seem to remember her doing that so often anytime I've been around the two of you. Is there something we should know?"

Al laughed. "I can't say that I've really thought about that, Rose; but you can't actually be surprised that hugs and kisses go along with pretty much every friends and family get-together when Mum and Dad are around. James is the only one of us who seems to have a problem with that – and I doubt that he minds nearly as much as he pretends to hate them."

"Did he actually answer your question or dodge it?" Ray teased; and it was Rose's turn to laugh.

"Let's give him a both on that one; and let him off the hook," she suggested. "Aunt Ginny even managed to make a hugging convert out of Gwenog Jones – McCormack – so he probably has a hereditary issue with them."

"Sure," Bristol agreed; "because those green eyes of his aren't a pair of hugs and kisses magnets anyway." She grinned at Rose and the other girls. "Did I say that last part out loud?"

"Yes, and I'd say that it worked as planned by the looks of Al blushing like that," Cora told her.

"Is this a good time to change the subject back to Quidditch?" Al joked; and laughed when Cora and Bristol answered that question with an emphatic – "No!"

The girls did move on from teasing him to talk about what they could do on Sunday to keep busy. When they got back into the castle, the girls wanted to freshen up before dinner; and teased Al about doing the same – just in case they did meet up with Gwendolyn after dinner for a while. Though the girls had him blushing again over that, Al and Ray had still gone on to their dorm room too and done washroom breaks before going back to the common room to wait to go on to dinner once the girls were ready too. James and Ollie passed them on the way out of the common room; and James detoured close enough to slap Al on the back of the head and offer yet another round of razzing that was intentionally meant to embarrass Al in public.

"Waiting for your girlfriends again?" he asked; and then laughing along with Ollie. "We haven't seen either of you hanging out with any other guys all day."

"Maybe their best mates are going to be Witches," Ollie suggested. "I could write Mum and see if she can send some of Belinda's and Olivia's old dolls here if you think you'll need them so you can play with the other girls, Ray." The two boys snorted with laughter at his offer.

"Thanks, but I won't need them," Ray answered; looking as annoyed as Ollie had hoped he would be. "What have you guys been doing all afternoon – or have you just been following us around and working on your bad jokes?"

Ollie laughed again. "The jokes are a gift – we don't need to work on 'em; and we've been having fun while you've been trying to figure out how to get around this place without getting lost."

"Yeah, we pranked a couple of Slytherin firsties; got one of your Muggleborn room mates to try a wheezes-gone-bad chocolate; and hid Lacey's Pygmy Puff under a headless hat for a half hour or so before she noticed it was missing."

"Slow afternoon," Al muttered; and James and Ollie laughed again.

"We've still got the rest of the weekend to get warmed up before we start classes on Monday," Ollie told him. "Let's go, James. Maybe we can catch a lone firstie or two on the way to dinner and have some more fun." Al and Ray watched them leave before saying anything they might overhear.

"I wish James wouldn't do that," Al said quietly. "He always takes his pranks too far; and I really don't get why he thinks that's funny."

"I know what you mean," Ray agreed. "We'd better be even more careful now, though; since I have a feeling they won't be happy until they pull some pranks on us."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "James brought a lot of wheezes with him; and he can always get our cousins to get more for him on Hogsmeade weekends – or mail-order them if they won't do that for him."

"That's a not-so-cheery thought," Ray told him. "I love your uncle's store as much as the next Wizard; but I'd never use half of those wheezes on anyone."

"Me either," Al said with a nod. "Here come the girls."

"Good. Let's get out of here and hope that James and Ollie aren't actually waiting somewhere along the way to ambush us."

"I doubt they are. We haven't gone to the Great Hall the same way even once yet. They wouldn't know for sure where to set that up."

"Set what up?" Rose asked them as she, Cora, and Bristol joined them.

"James and Ollie have been pulling some pranks this afternoon," Al explained. "Ray and I are probably high on their hit list; but I don't think they'll try anything while we're on the way to dinner."

"Not unless we go to the Great Hall the same way every time," Rose agreed. "What'd they do?"

Al and Ray told them what little they knew about the pranks that James and Ollie had so enthusiastically bragged about to them; and that they were hoping to catch a lone firstie or two on the way to dinner. The news that they were supposedly just getting warmed up for the start of classes on Monday had all five of them deciding that they'd be careful; though Rose and Al didn't think that Cora and Bristol would have much to worry about from James. They both had older brothers, and unless Cora's brothers either helped or approved of the pranks; James and Ollie would likely avoid getting their team Beaters mad at them.

They made it to the Great Hall early again; and had a few more chats with cousins and friends while waiting for the food to appear on the table. That meal was definitely a few steps down from the feast on Friday night; but still really good. Depending on the perspective of the student, the reviews would have ranged from way better than at home to barely-edible – though there were only a few, rich-family snobs at that end of the spectrum. Al, Rose, and the rest of their little group enjoyed the meal and chat time with their room mates; and then they went back to their common room with most of the students in their House. The older teens could do other things until later in the evening; but the first and second-year kids were mostly expected to be in their common rooms or dorms after dinner – at least until they'd need to be at the library, Astronomy tower, or elsewhere for evening studies or night classes.

The Gryffindor common room was very busy, and while there were other things to do; quite a few of the teens were watching a show on the large WWMN mirror that was on the wall across the room from the fireplace. There weren't enough chairs available anywhere near it for Al, Ray, and the girls to watch the show and hear much of it over the buzz of conversation in the room; so they didn't even try to do that.

"Wow, this is exciting!" Bristol said with feigned enthusiasm. "What exactly are we supposed to do until bedtime?"

"We could surf the Wizarding World Web or play a game," Al suggested.

"You have one of those portable gaming mirrors?" Cora asked him; and Al nodded.

"Rose and I both do," he confirmed; reaching into his pocket to get his and holding it out to her. "Have you used one before?"

"We have the game system and mirror network on the mirror in our sitting room at home," Cora answered. "Is it much different?"

"No, but there are a few tricks I can show you," Rose said as she got her mirror out too. "Anyone else want to link up for some gaming?"

Bristol and Ray wanted to do that, but they both needed to go to their dorm rooms to get their mirrors first; and they both had older models than the integrated versions that Al and Rose had. Cora was especially impressed; and they eventually had a few more of their room mates hanging out with them – including Romeo and Dave. Since those two boys were both Muggleborn, the mirrors were all-new to them; though they baffled some of the kids with their talk of the Muggle gaming systems. That wasn't an issue for Al and Rose, since they each had one or more of those gaming systems at home; and Al had played them with his Muggle cousins on nearly every one of their annual visits to seen them; and that earned them some bonus points with Romeo and Dave.

The gaming and hanging out together did keep them entertained until it was time to head for their dorms; and Al pretty much got ready for bed shortly after getting there. Once he was in bed, he did another quick mirror chat with Lily; and let her know that he and Rose had made the Junior team with James and the rest of the returning players from last year's team. He'd introduced her to Romeo and Dave too; since they'd been interested in finding out about the communicator abilities of his mirror when they saw him using it again. Once he'd ended his chat with Lily, Al settled back and was soon well on his way off to sleep.

He woke suddenly in the darkened room; instantly awake as he lay still and listened. His room mates were all sleeping; but he heard the stifled laughter coming from the stairway landing for their dorm room; and then heard the sound of something rolling across the floor toward his bed. Seeing what it was wasn't necessary; since a little flash of insight told him exactly what was happening. Grabbing his wand from the nightstand; he pointed it toward the sound and whispered "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Al knew that his charm had worked because the rolling sound stopped; and he somehow knew where the object was as he levitated it back out of the room and into the stairway. "Colloportus!" he whispered next; closing and locking the door to their room. When he heard the sound of gagging coming from the other side of the door, he knew that he'd acted just in time; and tried not to laugh as he was sure that his brother and Ollie were not having as much fun with their late-night prank as they'd expected.

Tucking his wand under the covers, laying back, and closing his eyes; he pretended to be asleep for a long time; half-expecting James to open the door and try to figure out who had put a stop to their prank. That didn't happen, so he eventually held up his wand again and whispered "Alohomora!" to unseal the door again. He didn't try to open it; knowing that the dungbomb smell would linger for quite some time. Putting his wand back onto the night table; he lay back down again and let his mind drift while waiting for sleep to come again.

They hadn't started classes yet, and though he had read quite a bit of his textbooks since getting them the day after he and James had gotten their letters – and he'd gotten his wand; he hadn't actually tried to do many spells yet. As he considered that, though, he found that he wasn't really surprised that he was able to do those three spells correctly – and that they'd worked to stop James' prank. The revelation did have him feeling pretty good about starting classes on Monday, and even happier that he wouldn't be spending the rest of the night trying to get the smell of dungbomb off of himself and his things either. When he did eventually get back to sleep, there were happy dreams waiting for him; and he was in a great mood when he woke up – once again with the pre-dawn light just barely putting its blush on the windows of their room.

While having his shower, Al decided not to say anything about the dungbomb incident to anyone – not even Rose. Pretending that he had no idea that anything had happened at all seemed the best course; and word would likely get back to James if he started talking about it with anyone else. None of his room mates had woken then; so they'd have nothing to talk about either. He was sure that James and Ollie wouldn't be bragging about a prank-gone-bad; and maybe that'd have them thinking twice before trying anything on him or Ray again – at least for a while.

Since he had lots of time after getting ready before needing to go for breakfast; he went down to the common room; wrote a letter to his parents and Lily; and had that done by the time Rose met up with him at the table he'd been working at.

"Good morning, Rose. How are you today?"

"Good so far," she answered. "Writing home?"

"Yes, and if you'd like to send a letter home too; Winter could take both of them for us – and Mum or Dad would get yours on to your Mum."

"Thanks, Al. I'll do that in time for you to send her off tonight. Winter and Blizzard seemed happy enough when we stopped by the Owlry on our tour yesterday; though I guess that Blizzard is used to it after last year."

"Probably too used to it," Al agreed. "James didn't send a lot of letters during the winter or spring unless he was just sending a note back with Mum and Dad's owls."

"Are you going to offer to send a letter for him too?" Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"I could, but then if he sent one; he'd have to admit that he's been lying to me about only being allowed to send one letter home every month or so."

"I doubt he's even had a mirror chat with your parents – or Lily."

"Lily and I had another chat last night; but I haven't talked with Mum and Dad yet. I'll probably do that tonight; since we'll want to get to bed early."

"Definitely," Rose agreed. "I've talked with Mum and Hugo once already; but Dad was busy doing something with Uncle George."

"Maybe they're already getting ready for the first Hogsmeade weekend here," Al suggested.

"Or trying to get a new wheeze ready for then," Rose offered. "Dad really likes doing that – even when the testing doesn't work out so well for them."

That had Al thinking about James and the dungbomb; but he managed to resist the urge to spill his guts to his favorite cousin. Rose sat with him while they waited for Ray and Bristol; but Cora went on ahead to the Great Hall with a few of the other girls in their dorm. James and Ollie came through the common room, but other than exchanging nods and good morning wishes; they didn't stop to talk with them. The only problem that Al had with that first time crossing paths with James was being able to hide the grin when he smelled the very strong scent of soap and shampoo on both boys – a testament to just how hard they must've needed to scrub to get the smell of the dungbomb off of themselves. He suspected that the House Elves doing the laundry would not be impressed with the smell of their clothes either whenever they got around to doing that job. If James was suspicious of Al, he didn't show any signs of that while he and Ollie were in sight; and Al let out a silent sigh once they were gone.

"Is James feeling alright?" Rose asked. "He didn't even try to pick on you."

"Either he's waiting for a bigger audience; or is just tired from staying up half the night playing games with Ollie on their mirrors."

"Or both," Rose agreed with a shrug. "He must be loads of fun for the Professors in all of his first classes of the day."

"He'd like his classes a lot more if they started at noon," Al said with a nod and smile."

"And then ended for the day at one," Rose added. "I guess he did well-enough last year – considering that he hardly ever studied."

"I guess that works for him; though his Hogwarts letter was the worst of all of our cousins."

"Our Dads can't say much about that to him; but I'd really like to do as well as Victoire and the rest of the girls."

"Me too," Al agreed; "though keeping up with Victoire is a tall order. I'm not sure I'd even want to try being Head Boy and Quidditch team Captain on top of taking all of those NEWT classes."

"If we could do that, at least we'll get to see how she does it this year," Rose pointed out. "Speaking of Victoire, we haven't talked at all about what James told us about before we got on the train. What do you think about her and Teddy?"

"I don't," Al admitted. "Mum would probably say that Teddy's even denser than Dad was; and that she's glad that Victoire finally caught her Wizard."

Rose laughed. "He just needed to spend some time without her around to realize how much she meant to him." She laughed again at Al's expression. "Okay, we'll change the subject; but you get that better than you're willing to admit."

They didn't need to wait much longer for their room mates to catch up with them; and breakfast was served shortly after they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Qidditch news from the junior tryouts was still big news, but they also talked about everything from what their classes would be like to the latest fashion and fads – though it was mostly the Witches in their group carrying that part of the conversation. For some reason, Al and the other guys didn't want to discuss the fashion choices of any Wizards – and especially not each other.

After breakfast, Gwendolyn, Renee, and Toni met up with them; and Al and Ray again had six girls with them as they all went outside to hang out and enjoy a nice day. They went for a walk, and then sat down by the lake and ended up doing a bit of experimenting with their wands and fledgling knowledge of the spells that some of them had read about in their textbooks. That was fun, and more than a little comical sometimes; but they had fun and it kept them entertained for a while.

In the afternoon, they went to the practice pitch to watch Victoire lead a bunch of the older players through a mini-workout and scrimmage that was mostly meant as a warm-up ahead of the Senior Team tryouts on Saturday. Gwendolyn and Rose joined Al and Ray for that, but the other girls decided to do 'anything else' instead; though they only ended up watching a group of guys play fanged Frisbee instead. The Quidditch watching took up an hour and a half of their afternoon; but that still left lots of time; so they went for another walk outside; did a bit more exploring around the castle; and checked out the library for a while too before splitting up to go back to their dorm rooms and get ready for dinner.

The last part of that was a bigger deal for the girls than it was for Al and Ray; but the guys didn't have to wait for long this time before Rose and her room mates were ready to go with them to the Great Hall. While having dinner, they heard all about a couple of new pranks that James and Ollie had pulled off on a total of three Slytherins; and it was news to Al and Rose when Scorpius was pointed out to them as one of James' victims. That didn't surprise them, since they'd yet to see him walking around with any of the other Slytherin students; but it definitely made Al and Rose feel uncomfortable – especially when James knew all of the same stories about his father and Draco Malfoy; and still decided to prank Scorpius anyway.

Once dinner was finished, it was straight back to the Gryffindor common room again – or almost straight back for Al and Rose. They went to the Owlry first so that Al could send Winter off on her trip home; and then they caught up with their friends again. They spent an hour or so hanging out in the common room; but then Al, then Rose, decided to head for their dorm rooms. Al was the only kid in the room when he got there, and he got his bookbag ready for the morning before getting ready for bed. He'd done both by the time Ray and a couple of the other guys joined him; and everyone was in the room by the time he'd finished having a mirror chat with his parents and Lily. That had been fun, but by then, Al was ready to get to sleep, so he did that; and left his room mates to stay up and talk as long as they wanted.

Getting up early was never a problem for Al, but for the first time so far; there were more than just a few guys in the washroom when he went to have his shower. He followed the older boys' lead and made it a quick shower; and that was aparently necessary on weekday mornings when there were around one hundred boys trying to get ready for the day. He didn't bump into James or Ollie; but then he hadn't expected to – unless Ollie started his day earlier than James ever did at home.

Once he was ready to go, Al grabbed his bookbag and headed for the common room. Ray assured him that he'd catch up soon; and Al didn't end up waiting for very long before Ray, Rose, and five other girls joined him there; and they walked to the Great Hall together. For all of the firsties in the hall, breakfast was just something to do while waiting for the Professors to begin handing out schedules. They began doing that when there was still nearly an hour to go before first class; and they started with the first and fourth-year groups at each table. Since the only difference in first year class schedules was the class times, and which Houses they would share classes with; it didn't take Professor Longbottom very long to pass out the firstie schedules. He stayed with them long enough to answer a few quick questions, but then sent them on to get the textbooks they'd need for their first morning classes – including his first period Herbology class.

"Herbology will be okay," Rose told Al as they headed for Gryffindor tower, "but we've got Professor Dawlish for Charms instead of Professor Flitwick. You know he's given most of our cousins – and James – a hard time of it 'cause of our Dads."

"I know," Al said with a nod. "You'll just have to win him over with your charm and talent; and I'll try to survive."

"We've got Professor Perks for Potions," Rose continued; and then grinned at Al. "I guess we can't be in the Slug Club this year. He only invites students he's teaching."

"I'll manage to survive that disappointment too," Al joked. "That study period for the end of the day will be nice on Monday – and we have Wednesday afternoons off."

"Works out great for two of our Quidditch practices," Rose agreed. "We'll only have to rush to get to our Friday afternoon practices."

"Which should be fun after double potions," Al suggested.

"Won't that be your favorite class?" Rose asked; and Al laughed at the look on her face.

"Funny, but just because Gwendolyn will be in that class with us does not mean it'll be my favorite. I expect that DADA will be – like it is for most of us."

"Funny, our double DADA class will be with Ravenclaw too," Rose said; pretending to be surprised. "How convenient for you!"

"You're scaring the kids, Rose," he warned; while laughing too. "I like our schedule. Hopefully we'll like the classes just as much."

They had time to make the trip to their dorms for books and get to the Herbology greenhouse; so everyone in their class was there early and ready to go by the time Professor Longbottom joined them. He began by checking attendance; and then he gave them a quick summary of what they'd be doing in their first year classes. He then proceeded to do a hands-on lesson about basic handling of plants, soil, and the tools they'd be using to work with the plants they'd be permitted to handle. They would only be getting lectures about dangerous plants; though Neville – Professor Longbottom – promised to show them at least some of those specimens.

Professor Longbottom awarded five points each to Al and Rose during the class for answering two of the more challenging questions he posed to his students; so they were in a great mood when he set them free to hurry on to their Charms class. There had been a fun, easy-going air in the greenhouse for Herbology; but that wasn't the case at all when Professor Dawlish walked into the Charms classroom and quite curtly demanded his student's undivided attention. He took attendance first too; scowled at Al and Rose in turn as he looked up at them for a moment after calling their names; and then advised them that he was going to be a very demanding teacher. He went on to give them a long list of rules and expectations for his classes and assignments; and only after all of that did he finally get around to their first lesson.

While he seemed to be out to prove just how demanding he was going to be, that didn't work out for him when he picked on Al and Rose for two of his first four questions; and they each answered them correctly. They went on to answer three more between them – once he'd successfully picked students that were unable to answer them; and it was obvious to Al and Rose that he was annoyed by their success. He didn't award points to any student; and ended the class by piling quite a load of work on them that they'd need to have completed, and the assignment handed in, for their Double Charms class on Friday.

"Are we still having fun?" Rose joked as she and Al walked toward Gryffindor Tower to switch out their textbooks before going for lunch. "Now I know exactly what Dad's meant the few times he's told us some of their early Auror days stories."

"Professor Dawlish was an Auror when our Dads – and Professor Longbottom – joined up after the war," Al added for their friends' benefit.

"I didn't know that," Bristol told them. "The way you're talking about those stories doesn't sound good, though, so maybe I won't ask for the details."

"That's probably a good idea," Rose agreed. "Al and I don't need to do anything to get on his bad side; so we should just leave it there and move on."

"Since it's lunchtime next; I'm all for that," Ray said enthusiastically. "You guys did great in those classes; but my brain is on overload."

"At least we answered the questions he threw at us," Cora pointed out. "The kids that couldn't are probably wishing they'd at least read the first chapter of our Charms book before class."

"I thought that nearly every first year Witch and Wizard would," Rose said with a nod. "Even James opened his texts a few times before starting last year – and he's about the least-enthusiastic student I know."

"Which is why he was probably still doing his summer revision last night for second year," Al suggested with a grin. "He told Mum and Dad he had it covered, but I don't think that they actually checked."

The rest of that conversation as they walked was more like story time as they took turns relaying sibling or relative study horror stories – though none of them were actually scary at all. They didn't wait around to go as a group to the Great Hall for lunch, but Rose, Bristol, Al, and Ray did stick together for that walk too – mostly because they were sticking with the safety in numbers plan for getting around the school without worrying about bullying or pranks from James, Ollie, or anyone else. Lunch was quick and easy; and then they had extra time left to get to the Potions dungeon.

For that trip, they had to cross paths with quite a few Slytherin students that had been going to and from their common room and dorms; so Al and Rose definitely got an up-close-and-personal taste of the animosity that so many Slytherin teens felt for them – and everyone in their family. Nothing was said to them directly, but they could overhear some nasty comments; and the glares and scowls were venomous enough. Compared to that, the Potions dungeon seemed downright cheery!

Professor Perks was very cheerful too; and she was as interested in her new students as she was in the subject. She made quick work of checking attendance; handed out her class overview for them to read over later; and jumped right into their first potions lesson. Since she'd been in their parents' year at Hogwarts, Professor Perks knew Al's and Rose's parents; though they hadn't been friends at school or in the same House. While that connection got them noticed, it also didn't seem to be a factor when she was soon impressed by them; and she awarded them a total of fifteen points by the end of the class – five each for questions they'd answered; and five for Al's potion. Rose had correctly made the potion too; but he'd finished his about a minute sooner to earn those points first.

"You guys are two for three on the day," Ray told Al and Rose as they left the Potions dungeon. "Good thing for Gryffindor that you're in our House. What are you going to do until we have our first Quidditch practice?"

"Get started on our homework?" Al suggested with a grin for his friend. "Yes, we know that your brain is still on overload, and we have until Friday to get our Charms and Potions work done; but Herbology is due first thing Wednesday morning and we'll get more work dumped on us all day tomorrow."

"Then if those are our only choices; I vote for getting right to the Potions homework – before everything we just learned dribbles out of my head," Ray decided with a sigh. "We can study the Herbology and Charms after dinner."

Al and the girls were okay with doing that; and they went back to their common room to sit at a pair of tables with some of their fellow firsties while the others opted to have some fun instead. While they mostly worked with Ray, Bristol, and Cora; Al and Rose joined in to help when Romeo, Dave, and Marla Cattermole – the fourth girl at theirtable – needed them. For Romeo and Dave, that was mostly because of their limited experience so far with the Wizarding World. They seemed to catch on quickly-enough, though, and it was fun getting a look at their start to the study of magic from a very different perspective. That was particularly interesting for Al; since it gave him a glimpse of what it might have been like for his father during Harry's first days at Hogwarts when all things magical were new and unfamiliar to him.

"What a surprise – Al and Rose are actually studying during study break!"

He had to turn around in response to the snidely-spoken comment, but Al had already known that James was in the room – even though he didn't even think about why he knew that. His brother was with Ollie, as usual, and most of the guys from his dorm room.

"Hi James," he said as easily as he could while ignoring the tone of the remark. "How's your first day been?"

"We just finished double DADA with Slytherin; so that was great for us – not so hot for them," James answered with a laugh. "Did someone forget to tell you that study periods are for goofing off?"

"You can do enough of that for all three of us," Rose told him before Al could answer; smiling sweetly at him. "Since you're back from class, though, I guess we need to pack up, get our Quidditch gear, and head for the pitch."

"You do," James agreed. "Don't be late – not that I expect that the rest of us will even notice you're there half the time."

"Unless they're getting hit by a bludger or have the quaffle bounce off them," Ollie added with a snort. "At least they'll be good practice for our Beaters."

"Sure – they can pretend that Al, Rose, and Ray are Slytherins," James agreed. "If they try their very best, they might even be able to suck as bad as the Slytherin players do," he added; laughing too before the boys moved on and headed for the stairs to the boys' dorms.

"I guess you were right about James saving up for a bigger audience," Rose told Al as they both started packing up; and Ray did the same. "Maybe we should have tried out for Beater instead just so we'd have an excuse to bash bludgers at his head."

Al laughed quietly. "You might've done well-enough at that, Rose; but I'm lousy at Beater."

"Only because you're too nice to really try and hurt anyone with a bludger," Rose countered. "I'd make an exception for James when he's acting like that, and with a head as big as his; he'd be an easy target for any Beater."

"You mean he doesn't act like that all of the time?" Ray joked; and earned a few more laughs from the others at the table.

"My brothers get like that too," Cora advised them; and then smiled at Al. "That was worse this past summer; so maybe it's because of the company they were keeping last year at school."

"Maybe," Al agreed; smiling too as he stood up and picked up his bag. "Meet you back here?" he aske Rose; and she nodded.

"Okay," she agreed; and was already standing too. "I'll hurry."

She did that, and beat Al and Ray back to the common room by about ten seconds. They hurried out to the practice pitch; and actually made it there before James and Ollie. Louis, and some of the other players were there and getting ready to go; and he nodded in welcome as they put their bags down and started to get their gear on too.

"I heard that you've had a good first day in your classes," Louis told Al and Rose. "Nice job getting those points for Gryffindor. You'll give Victoire a run for it if you keep that up."

"Thanks," Rose said with a bright smile at his compliment. "How was your day?"

"We start with DADA and end the day with Care of Magical Creatures, so that's good; but then I have Arithmancy and Herbology stuck in the middle on each side of our lunch break," Louis answered.

"You've only got that problem because you let your Mum badger you into taking Arithmancy," Tiberius told him. "I don't know why you're bothering with it."

"Aunt Ginny used her Arithmancy for playing Quidditch," Rose told him. "She had my Mum help her with that too back when she first started playing for the Harpies. I'd think that'd help Beaters a lot too – working out all of the angles between you and where the other players will be when you hit the bludgers at them."

"Now you sound like Victoire," Louis teased; "though that is the main reason I didn't fight my Mum about taking Arithmancy. It should help with my Potions work too."

"Not having Potions first thing in the morning would have helped me more," Tiberius interjected; "but no – we've got it first thing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll still be half-asleep for them."

"Only until the first explosion of the day," Louis predicted with a grin. "Let's hope it won't be your potion blowing up; since we sit at the same table."

They continued to chat as they got ready; James, Ollie, and the rest of their team mates quickly joining them and getting ready too. Louis got their training started with a physical warm-up and exercises on the ground; followed that up with a flying warm-up that he had James lead; and then they got to work on some actual Quidditch training. Louis worked with his reserve team Keeper and all six Chasers on learning some offensive and defensive plays. Tiberiuus led the other three Beaters for their training session; and their two Seekers pretty much just had fun while trying to catch the snitch.

Starting next Monday, they were only going to have an hour to practice before needing to give up the pitch to the senior team, but that time slot was open this week; and they could work a bit longer. Mr. Peakes was with them for about half of their practice; and had been at the stadium with the junior Hufflepuff team for the first half hour. After they were finished with the position training, Louis had them play a twenty-minute long scrimmage; and then wrapped up their practice by handing out a homework assignment.

"Did you get hit in the head with a bludger?" James asked him when Louis dropped that news flash on his team. "What's up with the homework? We get enough of that from our Professors."

"Get used to it," Louis advised him seriously. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to have a better season than we did last year; and if doing a little studying will give us an edge; then that's what we'll do." He grinned then before adding – "We can't all just have a mirror chat with our Mum to get Quidditch advice from a professional."

"Yeah, you'd have to call one of your aunts instead," James shot back. "Too bad that doesn't seem to help Al and Rose."

"Says you," Louis said; shaking his head. "I'm one of the Keepers; so I know exactly how many goals all of our Chasers scored today – and they were one and two."

"No way," Ollie exclaimed; and Louis laughed.

"Way, so keep that little news flash in mind for Wednesday," he suggested. "They're working together to do that; and you need to work with them if we're going to have a chance to do well this year."

They still had lots of time to get to the Great Hall for dinner, so Al decided to grab a shower and get changed after getting back to his dorm room and putting his gear and broom away. Most of the other guys didn't do that; but he knew that Rose had when they met up in the common room to head for the Great Hall together. The rest of their friends had gone on ahead without them; so they were on their own for that walk.

"I like what Louis is doing with our team so far," Rose told Al once they were in the seventh-floor hallway. "James was being a pain; but we'll just have to ignore him."

"He won't do that during games either," Al said with a nod. "Even James wouln't try to mess with us while we're trying to win a match."

"Let's hope so," Rose agreed; and then grinned. "Tiberius and Brock don't seem to be much like we've been told their father was when he played that match on your Dad's team."

Al laughed. "Maybe I was thinking about that; since I had an itch at the back of my head all through that practice."

"I don't think that we'll have to worry about getting hit in the head by them," Rose suggested. "They are pretty good – even if they're a bit too sure of themselves."

"Which is why they get along so great with James and Ollie," Al added with a nod. "We'll need to figure out how to fit in with them; though I'll never be like James."

"Me either," Rose agreed; and then laughed. "Maybe we're exactly what the team needs this year – a couple of players that aren't completely full of themselves."

"Louis isn't like that either," Al pointed out. "He's somewhere between James and Ollie, and you and me."

They were making their way down one of the flights of stairs by then, and as they reached the second floor; they fell silent and things got awkward when they met up with Scorpius Malfoy as he joined them on the stairs and followed just a couple of steps behind them. They'd looked at each other in surprise; but none of them said anything for a long, drawn-out moment. Finally, Rose took a soft breath and broke the silence.

"We should just get this over with," she said as much to Al as to Scorpius. "Hi, Scorpius. I'm Rose Weasley, and I'm sure you know that this is my cousin, Albus – Al – Potter." She stopped, turned, and held out her hand to the other boy. For a moment, she wasn't sure if Scorpius would do anything; but then he took her hand and shook it for a brief moment before letting go and then shaking Al's hand just as briefly.

"Hello," he said quietly; the greeting nearly as clipped as the handshakes. He seemed to be as uncomfortable as they were.

"Are you out exploring the castle?" Rose asked; trying to keep things going. "Al and I did that a lot on the weekend; but we had our first team practice after classes today. We heard that you made your house team too. What position do you play?"

"Chaser," Scorpius answered; "and I was just going for a walk." He looked around; and Al sensed he was suspicious – even though Scorpius didn't let that show.

"You're braver than we are then," Rose told him with a smile. "We're usually with at least a few of our new friends when we're out of our common room."

"Yeah, and that's just because we're worried about my brother and his buddies pranking us," Al added. "I'm one of his favorite targets for pranks and jokes." He'd said that to try and help relieve Scorpius' suspicion, but they'd started walking again, and if it had helped at all; the effect of his effort didn't last long.

"We've hit the firstie jackpot!" Al had been looking back at Scorpius; and turned his head in time to see James and Ollie step in to block their way from the first floor hallway. "I'd say that you're at least top two, if not number one, Al; and it was nice of you to save us the time and be out here with your main competition for those spots – and one of my new favorite Slytherin firstie targets."

He glanced at Ollie; and then both boys suddenly threw something – directly at Al and Scorpius. Al's wand was in hand before he even thought about it; and he shouted – "Protego!" His shield blazed to life; and the two little pouches hit the shield and released two puffs of powder. James and Ollie jumped back out of the way; and they all watched as the powder quickly drifted to the ground. Al waited until that had happened before dropping his shield.

"What is that stuff? Bulbadox powder?" Al asked James. "You're such a git!"

"And then some," rose agreed. "Thanks, Al."

"You're welcome," he said with a nod. "You okay, Scorpius?"

"I'm fine," Scorpius answered curtly. He looked angry; and Al sensed that he was as mad at Al for stopping the prank as he was at James and Ollie for trying to pull it on him. Al moved closer to Rose to let Scorpius pass when he started down the stairs again; and James and Ollie let him pass too.

"How'd you do that?" James demanded. "You haven't even taken a DADA class yet.

"I've read ahead, and seen it done before," Al told him. "That's a lousy prank to try and play on anyone, James."

"It would have been hilarious for us," James disagreed, "but we're out of time now; so run along; and we'll try to do better next time."

"Thanks so much," Rose said sarcastically; taking Al's hand and tugging it to get him moving. "Come on, Al. Let's get out of here."

"Isn't that cute?" Ollie asked James. "Are they kissing cousins too; or just into holding hands?"

"I have seen them kiss before," James offered after laughing at Ollie's jibe; "so I guess that's a yes, they are."

"Make that a pair of hippogriff-sized gits," Rose told Al; ignoring James and Ollie when they both thought that was hilarious. Getting their prank targets so annoyed with them was almost as good for them as the prank would have been. They didn't follow Al and Rose, though, or at least not right away; so the rest of the walk to the Great Hall was quiet and uneventful.

"We thought you were going to be late," Ray told them when they sat down in the two spots their friends had saved for them. "Did you get lost?"

"We had a little run-in with James and Ollie," Al explained – "and Scorpius Malfoy had crossed paths with us just before that happened; so James and Ollie tried to prank all three of us."

"Al stopped them," Rose added. "He got a shield charm to work, which was really good for us; since our cousins had thrown pouches of Bulbadox powder at us."

"What a pair of gits," Bristol said emphatically.

"That's what we said," Rose agreed with a laugh. "I wouldn't wish anything bad on them; but it might be good for someone to teach them a lesson or two." She shook her head. "I'd say that my uncles never meant for their wheezes to get used like that; but they were probably as bad or worse than James when they went to school here and were learning to become prank masters."

That comment gave them a launching point for their dinner conversation; and Romeo and Dave were particularly interested in hearing about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from two of the family members of the store owners. The two boys had already been introduced to some of the basic wheezes, and tried a few of them; but they were amazed at nearly everything that Al, Rose, and the other kids told them about magical pranks and jokes products.

Getting back to their studies after dinner took a bit of effort for some of them, and this time; they had to deal with finding a place to do that in the croweded, noisy common room. They ended up at the worst tables, closest to the WWMN mirror that was playing music videos too loudly; and that also had them furthest away from the warmth of the fireplace. It was still barely the start of autumn, but the nights could be chilly in the castle.

This time, Al and Rose mostly just worked through their own assighments, and only offered a bit of help here and there when one of their friends asked for it. Since they'd both read much further into their textbooks than what was needed for the reading assigned to them in Herbology, Charms, and Potions; they could get to work on the assignments right away while more than half of their classmates needed to do the reading first. That was why they had all three of their assignments finished by the time they were all ready to head for bed; and they were feeling pretty good about getting that done instead of having the work pile up on them as it probably would for many of the students in all seven years.

James was likely in that minority group; since he didn't seem to be taking his studies all that seriously and it looked as though he was doing more goofing off than work anytime Al saw him. He'd still managed to be a solid 'E' student in his first year, though; so Al didn't worry about that at all. He was just glad that James didn't try taking any of his brand of fun to the firsties in the room – himself and Rose included.

Al and Ray eventually led the charge for their dorm room, but the other guys weren't far behind them; and they were all getting ready for bed at the same time. A lot of the younger teens and tweens were doing the same then, so the bathrooms were a bit crowded; but it wasn't as bad as in the mornings because most of the older teens stayed up later and had more homework to do – or needed more play time. Al didn't have any bedtime mirror chats, but he and Ray did talk for a while once they were settled into their beds for the night before turning out the light and trying to get to sleep.

His early-morning routine was already becoming set by Tuesday; and Al preferred what he was doing over the mad dash that most of the guys had to deal with – even if that meant having a bit of extra time between when he was ready to go and when they all needed to be in the Great Hall for breakfast. With three of their classes covered on Monday; they were going to have had at least a taste of all of them except for Astronomy by the end of the day; and Al was particularly excited about getting his first experiences with Transfiguration and DADA – especially since their DADA was the double-period version; and they'd be taking that class with Ravenclaw.

They had their morning meal in the Great Hall first, and Al's day got off to a great start when Winter arrived with the other Owls; bringing a letter and a small package of treats from home. His parents had sent a letter; Lily had written one for him too that included some art for him to decorate his dorm room with – if he wanted; and the treats were a little selection of his favorite chocolates and candy. He advised Rose that his parents and sister had sent their love and congratulations; and that his Dad had forwarded her letter to her parents at work on Monday. That post, and a couple of others that arrived for their classmates, provided the main entertainment while they ate; so that had nearly everyone in as good a mood as Al was in by the time he'd finished reading those letters and sharing a few of the treats with Rose and their new friends.

After breakfast, they needed to get through History first before getting to the fun classes; and that was a combined class with Slytherin. Al, Rose, and their new little gang were in the classroom early; so they were able to watch as most of the Slytherin kids arrived – along with the other three-quarters of the Gryffindor firsties. The two groups did not mingle; and there was an obvious split down the middle of the classroom; with the Gryffindors on the left and the Slytherins on the right.

"At least he isn't sitting at a table by himself," Rose leaned close and told Al quietly. She didn't have to say his name for Al to Know she was talking about Scorpius.

"That's Davis Zabini," Al reminded her. "He might be getting a hard time from the other Slytherins too." He glanced over to where the two boys were sitting. They weren't talking to each other or anyone else around them, and while Scorpius seemed unaffected by that; Davis looked as though he'd rather be anywhere else other than Hogwarts. "I expect that all of the prison kids have had it tough growing up – and while they're here at Hogwarts."

"Probably," Rose agreed; as they both kept their voices low. "From the looks I've seen us getting from them; it's obvious that they don't like us much either."

"No," Al agreed; "though that list of haters for our family is long and distinguished in Slytherin."

Professor Binns floated into the room through the blackboard then, and promptly got his class underway; so Al and Rose focused on that – or at least they did as much as was possible considering the Professor's incredibly boring teaching style. His was the second class so far where it appeared there was no chance of earning House points; but it seemed that some of their fellowstudents thought that it was a great time to catch up on sleep with short morning naps.

When the Professor set them free and again floated through the blackboard and out of the room; the Gryffindors needed to hurry to get to their first-ever Transfiguration class. That worked for Al and Rose; since the Slytherins had another class to get to as well; so they only had to deal with some glares and a few nasty comments muttered between some of the other kids as they went their separate ways. Al didn't expect his luck to last with that, knowing the problems his cousins had all experienced with certain Slytherins; but he'd deal with any of those problems when needed.

Professor Clearwater was teaching their Transfiguration class; and she was already there as her students began filing in. While she was around the same age as many of their parents, she was also vibrant and attractive; and Al could tell that some of the other boys – including Ray – were interested in her for more than her subject knowledge. He thought that was funny; but then since his own relatives included Veelas and other beautiful women; his perspective on that was probably just a lot different than it was for most Wizards.

While he wasn't one of her newest group of smitten, junior admirers, it didn't take long for Al – and Rose – to become Professor Clearwater's favorite Gryffindor firsties. By the end of the class, they'd earned ten points each for their House; answered every question she threw at them along with several that none of their classmates could answer; and they'd both managed to successfully accomplish the first Transfiguration she taught them. They were the only two students to do that before the end of class; though the most fun for all of them had been with the attempts gone wrong instead of the two that had gone right.

Those Transfiguration mess-ups had given them one of their lunchtime chat topics, and they enjoyed the break and meal; but it was their first DADA class that had all of the Gryffindors fired up and ready to start their afternoon adventure into Defense Against the Dark Arts. Gwendolyn, Renee, Toni, and Landon Graves met up with them after lunch for the walk to the DADA classroom, and the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws mixed and mingled before class – unlike the total segregation that had happened in their History of Magic class.

Professor Proudfoot came into the room a few minutes before his class was to start, and while Al and Rose knew him through their fathers and the Aurors, he'd retired from that job in twenty-oh-six to take the teaching job with Hogwarts; so they didn't know him nearly as well as they knew many of the current Aurors. When he made eye contact with them while taking attendance, they each received warm, welcoming smiles, and he obviously remembered them despite being just two of many Auror kids; so being Harry's and Ron's children did count for something with the Professor. He didn't waste any more time than needed on the attendance, introduction, and course overview; and then he had his large group of kids get right to work on their first lesson – the Protego shield charm.

That lesson began with a mini-lecture about the theory behind the magic and protection charms that they sat at the work tables for and took notes on; and then Professor Proudfoot had them pair up to practice and attempt to produce the shield charm. Al only needed to see the grin on Rose's face when she quickly paired up with Cora McClaggen to know that she was having some fun with him; but he didn't try to avoid being paired with Gwendolyn – and didn't mind either; since they were friends. With more than forty kids in the combined class, they needed to spread out around the room for that practice; so Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Cora, and most of the others in their regular group ended up at the far end of the room from the work tables.

"I heard that you did this charm once already," Gwendolyn said softly to Al; smiling at him brightly. "You go first so that I can see how; and then you can help me learn it too."

"Okay," Al agreed; smiling too. She watched as he raised his wand and said – "Protego!"

Nothing happened.

"If that worked; I missed it," Gwendolyn joked; and Al laughed.

"It didn't. Let me think about it for a moment." He closed his eyes; picturing the scene with James and Ollie throwing the pouches of Bulbadox powder at him, Scorpius, and Rose. He could summon how he'd felt, and what his reaction had been; and he was smiling again when he opened his eyes and looked at Gwendolyn. "I didn't do it right – you have to want it to happen; not just say the word and wave your wand correctly." Raising his wand again; he said – "Protego!" again; this time with more force both in the word and his thoughts and emotion. His shield instantly appeared; shimmering a brilliant blue about two feet in front of his wand point and about four feet in diameter. It was basically round too; though he intuitively understood that the shape had been of his own imagining instead of a constraint of the charm.

"Well done!" Professor Proudfoot called out from the other side of the room. "Ten points for Gryffindor!"

Al lost his shield instantly when Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him; and he was grinning while the rest of their friends – and a few others around the room laughed at them. Gwendolyn stepped back again; and laughed too.

"Way to go, Al," she told him. "Help me with it now?"

"Definitely," he agreed.

Doing that wasn't quite as easy as it sounded, but Gwendolyn was smart and fiery; and she earned five points for Ravenclaw when she was the second student to produce a visible, fully-formed shield. Al hadn't messed that up for her with a hug, but she had another one for him once her shield had winked out on its own after about ten seconds. There'd been more laughs directed at them for that; and yet another round when Rose teased Al about helping Ravenclaw to earn those points instead of helping out his fellow Gryffindors. He didn't think that was fair, considering the fact that she'd been angling to have him paired up with Gwendolyn anyway; but he didn't say anything to her about that. He and Gwendolyn did keep practicing, though, and they helped their friends too; so their little group had the most success during the class.

Gwendolyn and Landon needed to hurry to get to their Quidditch practice after class, so they'd rushed off to do that while Al, Rose, and the rest of their friends headed for their common rooms at a slower pace. Many of their classmates were going to just hang out and play until dinnertime, but Al and Rose talked Ray and Bristol into going with them to the library so that they could study in relative quiet instead of trying to work in the noisy common room.

"Do you guys ever take time off to just have fun?" Ray asked after they'd met up again after visits to their dorm rooms and started walking toward the library.

"We took most of the weekend off," Rose reminded him; "and we haven't even got two full days of school done with to be able to answer that question for what we'll have time for during the weekdays."

"I've had fun today," Al declared seriously while making it sound as though he was joking; and the others laughed.

"You're just saying that 'cause of those hugs from Gwendolyn in DADA," Ray shot back. "I'm not complaining, Rose," he added; getting back on topic. "I just hope that it won't be all work and no free time around here."

"We'll figure that out once we know how much time it'll take each week to keep up with our assignments," Rose suggested. "Our first Astronomy class is tomorrow afternoon instead of at night, but we won't have classes on Wednesday afternoons starting next week; so that'll give us more time to get our work done – and maybe leave us with at least one free evening to play too."

"Which we can use to play nap time before getting up for that eleven o'clock Astronomy class," Bristol reminded them with a smile. "Maybe I should have taken Mum up on her offer to home school me."

"Did she really offer to do that?" Ray asked suspiciously. "My Mum offered to help pack my bags about a minute after I got my Hogwarts letter; and have me camp out on platform nine and three-quarters until the first."

"We're both making that up – or at least your mother was just teasing about that," Bristol said after laughing at his little tale along with Al and Rose.

"Mum might not have actually let me do that," Ray conceded; "but she definitely teased me about doing it."

They had time to exchange a couple of related parent-kid-Hogwarts stories; but dropped that when they got to the library. They'd already done a tour of the place while exploring on the weekend; so they just went to find an empty work table and then got set up and started on their assignments – beginning with DADA. While Ray had been the most reluctant of them to get going on their work early; he was happy later when, after dinner, they finished up their last assignment after only another half hour or so of work; and were able to goof off for the rest of the night while most of their fellow Gryffindor firsties still had most of their work left to get done. The four of them spent the rest of the evening playing games and chatting about anything and everything; and then they headed for their dorm rooms when they were ready to have some quieter time before going off to sleep.

Starting the educational part of their Wednesday with a double dose of Herbology was something that maybe less than half of the Gryffindors were at all excited about; though they were all interested in their first combined class with Hufflepuff. The highlight of the morning before that was the Owl Post at breakfast; and this time, it was Rose on the receiving end of a letter and package from her parents. Lily had sent another letter to Al with that post; but Rose kept that quiet just in case James caught sight of it and started razzing Al about getting two letters from home already. As far as Al knew, James hadn't even sent Blizzard out on his first delivery yet; though he hadn't actually ben to the Owlery to check since sending Winter out on Sunday night.

Al, Rose, and their regular group were in the greenhouse early, so they again got to watch most of the rest of their classmates arrive while waiting for Professor Longbottom. They knew some of the Hufflepuff kids, but Al really only knew Tory Summers very well out of the entire group of Hufflepuff firsties. Their mothers were still good friends from their years with the Harpies, though in Vicky's case; she still played for the Harpies and managed to continue to be one of the top Keepers in the league. Tory stopped to chat with him and Rose when she first got to class; but then went to hang out with her Hufflepuff friends after that.

While he really liked Professor Longbottom a lot, Al had to admit to himself that Herbology was not going to be one of his favorite subjects; their second class just re-enforcing his low expectations from their first class. He didn't have any trouble with the lesson that was taught to them during the first period of the double class, or with working with the plants after that until shortly before lunchtime; but he just didn't find it all that interesting. Sure, that would change as they got into working with more dangerous plants over the years, and maybe he'd like it better then; but plants just weren't his thing. Rose enjoyed the class more, and she happily went above and beyond to earn five points for Gryffindor for her work with the plants; so she was a happy camper when they were set free for lunch.

"It's no wonder we have our study afteroons scheduled on Wednesday," Ray said as they walked toward the castle from the greenhouses. "We'll need the time off to recover from that class."

"I liked it," Rose told him. "Weren't you having fun?"

Ray laughed. "I had that kind of fun all spring and summer helping out with the gardens and lawn at home. This isn't much different – except I don't get paid an allowance to do the work."

"Would you be happier if you did?" Rose asked curiously; and Ray laughed again.

"I always feel better when I have money, but that wouldn't happen anyway; so I won't get to find out if it would matter or not."

"Maybe Rose could pay you in hugs," Bristol suggested. "That seemed to work for Al in DADA yesterday." She'd directed that at Rose; but had been grinning slyly at Al.

"Is there any chance that you could all just stop doing that?" Al asked hopefully.

"Don't you like Gwendolyn?" Bristol asked innocently; and it was Al's turn to laugh.

"In case you don't know, Ray, that's a very good example of a no-win question for Wizards," he said first before answering Bristol. "Of course I like her – we've known each other since we were babies; and her Mum is one of my Mum's very best friends." He laughed again. "Ask Rose sometime about my Dad's infamously lousy dating record at Hogwarts; and maybe you'll understand why I'm not in any hurry to go there – just in case being a really lousy boyfriend is hereditary."

He earned some laughs for that; and the girls let him off the hook in thanks for his entertaining answer. They went to their dorms first to drop off their Herbology books and pick up Astronomy; and then they headed for the Great Hall to have lunch. As they got used to the school day routine, their midday meal didn't take as long to eat; so they had time to do a bit of wandering around the grounds before going to the Astronomy tower for the only day-time class they'd have for the year. As with most of the core classes, there were now two Professors teaching Astronomy, and they'd gotten Professor Sinistra for their first year class.

That introduction to Astronomy lesson was mostly about getting the kids ready for what they'd be doing in their classes; along with passing on a list of rules and an assignment that would have them ready to do the practical work that would include using telescopes and other tools of the trade. Professor Sinistra didn't need the entire class time; so the Gryffindor firsties were left with more than half of their couble study period remaining when she set them free for the day.

Al and Rose still had Ray and Bristol with them for studying in the common room when they got back to Gryffindor tower; but the rest of their classmates apparently felt the need to again take that time off to relax and recover from their classes. They got all of their Herbology assignment finished; and then Al, Ray, and Rose needed to pack up; get their Quidditch gear; and head for the pitch for their second practice of the week. They were there early again; and Al was especially happy to get ready to go before Jaems and Ollie joined them. He, Rose, and Ray joined Louis and a few others to do a bit of flying while waiting for everyone to be ready to start their workout; so they were fired up and smiling by the time Louis ordered them to land and get on with the physical part of their workout.

Louis switched that up a bit so that it wasn't just a dull repeat of the same workout they'd done on Monday; and then they moved on to the real flying warmups before taking a quick break. That was when James finally managed to successfully prank Al; and he and Ollie were rolling on the pitch with laughter the moment Al put his water bottle to his mouth and then couldn't remove it. Al growled in disgust; and that got Rose's attention.

"What is it, Al?" she asked.

"Lip-lock lipstick," he managed to garble out around the bottle. "Cherry flavor." He sighed. "Better get Louis."

Rose did that; explained what had happened so that Al didn't have to try talking around the bottle any more than necessary; and Louis earned bonus cousin points for not laughing at Al's predicament. He also immediately called Victoire using his mirror to get advice; and she ended up coming out to the pitch – by herself – to help Al with getting un-stuck. The whole process took about twenty minutes; and that would have really pretty much ruined their practice for the day if they hadn't had the option of staying and working late. That wouldn't be an option starting next week when the senior team had the second afternoon practice time; which was probably the only reason that Louis didn't let James have it for screwing up their practice.

"How are we ever supposed to play as a team if James and Ollie are going to keep doing things like that?" Rose asked Al and Ray when they were walking back toward the castle. They'd been the last to leave after offering to deal with the Quidditch set for Louis – since it was already becoming obvious to them that Louis would be stuck doing that after every practice if they didn't step up to take turns. James and Ollie had been first-out – just as they'd been near-to-last to get to the practice.

"We won't," Al admitted with a shrug. "Ollie's really good; but his idea of working with us amounts to telling us to pass him the quaffle and then stay out of his way."

"That's how he plays with us at home," Ray advised him – "though Belinda and Olivia don't put up with him when he tries to do that with them."

"Then we should work on ways to play while dealing with that," Rose suggested thoughtfully; and then grinned at Ray. "If we did some extra practices; do you think that you could pretend to be your cousin for us?"

"I can try," Ray agreed, "but if I turn into a total git like he is; it's your fault for asking me to do that for you."

"Hopefully you'll be able to help us without taking the acting that far," Rose told him. "I'm not even sure how to try and work that kind of attitude into our game play."

"Once he has the quaffle, about all we can do is try to run interference," Al suggested. "If we know the moves he's going to try every time; we can try to block the defense before they can get to him. He only passed to one of us when he had nowhere else to go; and that might be something we can work on too."

"Especially since we weren't in a position to deal with those passes when he made them," Rose added. "I don't mind taking the heat if I make a mistake; but it sucked to get razzed by James and Ollie when we couldn't do anything with those bad passes."

"I don't know if you'll get much more of that," Ray told them. "The few times I saw Louis when they were giving you a hard time; I get the feeling that he's about ready to have a little privat chat about that with James and Ollie."

"You think so?" Rose asked hopefully; and Ray nodded.

"Yes, but that's really just the feeling I got; so don't quote me on it."

Rose nodded; and then turned to Al. "You probably don't want to talk about the prank; but are you going to want to hide somewhere after dinner? You know that James will be shooting his mouth off about it to anyone who will listen."

"That's tempting, but let's just work in the common room as planned," Al decided. "He'll just razz me more if I try to avoid his moment of glory – annoying as that's going to be for me."

"My Mum would lose it on me if I tried to prank my sister like that," Ray told him. "Does he get away with stuff like that at home?"

"Yes," Al admitted – "unless he gets caught by Mum or Dad. He doesn't pick on Lily too often, but I've given up on saying anything to Mum and Dad."

"Because he makes it worse for you if you rat him out?" Ray guessed; and Al nodded.

"Pretty much. Let's change the subject to anything that isn't about my brother and his stupid pranks and jokes."

Rose and Ray were good with doing that for him; and they managed to get to their dorm rooms and into the Great Hall for dinner before Al was on the receiving end of a lot of jokes and razzing over James' prank. Whether that was guys pretending to have their mouths stuck on their glasses, food, or utensils; or a litany of made-up one-liners; Al did his best to have fun with it while privately wishing that he could do anything to stop James from being such a git without stooping to his level and retaliating. He'd never done that before; and had no intention of going there; since he didn't want anyone to feel the way he did right now – not even James.

While he didn't expect another prank attempt so soon after his big success; Al was on the lookout for James for the rest of the evening. He'd keep doing that from now on; though James had managed to pull one off even though he'd been watchful all along. James did leave him alone; but two of his cousins couldn't resist teasing him just a bit. Dominique and Lucy stopped by the table he was working at with Rose and the others; leaned in on each side to kiss him; and then pretended to be stuck there for a few long moments while his friends laughed at them. Since he knew that they loved him; he laughed too; but then that started an entire new round of jokes at his expense – along with several offers to trade his two beautiful cousins for other boys' relatives.

Other than a short visit to the Owlery to see Winter and give her – and Blizzard – some treats; Al was in the common room until he and Rose had their homework done; and then he opted to head for his dorm room then instead of just hanging around and chatting or watching the WWMN. He instead ended his night with a mirror chat with Lily that included telling her about James' prank along with the rest of his news for the day; and then he did some bonus reading in his Transfiguration text – even though he was ready for their class in the morning.

He was still awake when Ray and some of the other guys caught up with him and started getting ready for bed; and he was grateful that they seemed to be finished with the jokes for the day and let the prank entertainment come to an end.

Now that they had been to at least one class for each subject, the only additions to their class schedule for the last two week days was the start of their flying lessons for Thursday during last period; and three of their double-classes – in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions. Those three classes were with Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw respectively; and Al was looking forward to all of them – even Charms with Professor Dawlish. First up on Thursday morning was Transfiguration, though, and most of the Gryffindor firsties seemed excited about that class while having breakfast.

While the combined classes were fairly large, that didn't make a difference for the lectures; and though it was a bit more difficult during the practical work time when they were encouraged to attempt the spells and charms they were being taught; the Professors seemed to be able to manage that well-enough too – at least for Al's limited experience so far. Professor Clearwater kept her lecture interesting and mostly entertaining; and then set her students free to practice the Transfigurations she'd taught for the second-half of the class. Al and Rose each earned some more points for their House during that class; and then Al earned five more in their afternoon DADA class with Professor Proudfoot.

The only little glitch in their day came during last period, when Mr. Peakes exempted Al, Rose, Ray, and the other three firsties that had tried out for their Quidditch team from flying lessons; since they'd already proven the skills required to pass the flying test that all of the firstie students would eventually need to pass too. They'd split up when leaving the courtyard where the flying lessons were taught, and while their classmates opted for some outdoor play time; Al, Rose, and Ray had been on the way to their dorms to get their books for studying when they were confronted by Mr. Jigger. Jerry Jigger was Mr. Filch's protégé, and while the old caretaker was still technically in charge, he was slowing down in his old age to the point where Mr. Jigger did most of the work that Mr. Filch had once done on his own. The younger man wasn't as mean as Filch, but he was slowly working on it – and had just as much personal baggage when it came to dealing with Wizards and Witches in a world where squibs were still held in fairly low regard.

"Ah, and what would three firsties be doing out and about when they should be in class?" Jigger asked as he blocked Rose and the boys from continuing through the entrance hall. "Getting into trouble, I'm sure."

"We're just coming from Flying lessons," Rose told him. "Mr. Peakes gave us exemptions from the lessons because we passed our tests last Saturday morning before being allowed to try out for our Quidditch team. We're just on our way to our dorms to get our books so that we can study instead."

"A likely story," Jigger declared derisively; "and you're foolish to attempt such a ruse with me that is easy-enough to prove false." He grabbed Al and Ray by the shoulders; and nodded curtly for Rose to lead the way back to the courtyard as if he couldn't trust having her at his back or thought that she'd just run off if given the chance. "Let's just see about this, and when I'm done with this lesson; you'll know better than to try lying your way out of trouble with me!"

Mr. Jigger seemed quite happy as he dragged them back to where the flying lessons were still just getting started; and then he was chargrined to find out that Rose had, in fact, been telling him the truth; and that there were three other students that had also been exempted from the flying lessons that Mr. Jigger did not need to be concerned over for being out of class. Mr. Peakes had been polite about it, but that didn't help the three kids with how the caretaker now felt about them. Mr. Jigger had followed them back to the entrance hall; and then he'd left them with the ominous warning that he'd be keeping an eye on them.

"I may have to go and hang out with some of the other guys, Al," Ray told him once Jigger was gone. "You seem to be a trouble magnet."

"Not compared to our parents," Al joked; including Rose in that 'our' part of the comment.

"Let's hope that our Hogwarts years go quite a bit better than it did for them," Rose said more seriously. "Having James and Ollie as the worst bad guys in our lives really isn't so bad by comparison."

"For us," Al agreed. "I don't know if we can say that for other kids and teens they pick on – especially when they seem to make a point of going after Slytherins like Scorpius."

"This is way too serious," Ray told them. "Let's talk about something else – like how the Harpies will do this wekeend; or the buzz around the common room about the senior team tryouts on Saturday."

"They got stuck with the last spot of the day this year," Al said. "Victoire and our other cousins probably won't even catch much of the Harpies' game."

"I'd wonder if we'll be able to watch the game in the common room; but then we'll be at the tryouts to support our cousins and House mates anyway," Rose advised them.

"We will?" Ray asked; and Rose laughed.

"Okay, Al and I will be because we should and want to see how well our cousins and their friends do. You can stay and watch your Harpies' game – and borrow one of our mirrors if the game isn't on the big mirror in the common room."

"You can use my mirror as long as you don't spend the entire time talking with my sister, Lily, instead of watching the game," Al ammended. "She'll likely be at the game with Mum – and Dad, if he isn't stuck at work."

"He's the boss at Auror Headquarters," Ray pointed out. "Can't he take a day off whenever he wants?"

"Technically, yes," Al agreed with a nod; "but he doesn't – and is there anytime one of the other Aurors needs him."

"Which is why I have no intention of ever being an Auror – or working for the Ministry of Magic at any job," Ray promised fervently.

Ray's pronouncement led to a chat about jobs that he would like to do instead until they split up to go to their dorm rooms and get their books. They decided to do their work in the library until dinnertime, so Rose left a note for Bristol and Cora in case they wanted to join them there; and then they were off and soon working on their Transfiguration and DADA assignments. Bristol met up with them, but Cora didn't; and the four kids managed to get all of their assignments finished by the time they needed to go to the Great Hall for dinner; so they had the rest of the evening off.

"Don't look so glum," Al counseled Ray as they walked to their dorm room to get rid of their books before going to dinner. Ray had been frowning as they walked through the common room and saw most of the other firsties having fun and laughing it up. "We'll only have the Charms and Potions assignments we'll get tomorrow left to do for the whole weekend."

"That's true," Ray admitted; "but nearly everyone else seems to be having way more fun than we are."

Al laughed. "They are, but Rose and I are planning on having fun when we can really enjoy it – like when our Hogwarts letters come out."

"That's what you get for having over-achiever parents with high expectations," Ray joked; and Al laughed again.

"My Dad didn't take his NEWT year, and while that does apply to my Mum; her expectations came down quite a way after James' first report."

"Then you do at least have him to thank for that," Ray suggested. "He's helped me a lot with appreciating my little sister since we've been here," he added with a grin. "Don't tell her I said that, though. I'll deny it if you try."

Al appreciated having a night off to just take it easy, and James and Ollie were busy annoying some of the second-year girls with obvious success; so they didn't give Al a hard time either. After dinner, he hung out in the common room with Rose, Ray, and Bristol for a while; went up to his dorm room early; and ended his night with some extra reading and a mirror chat with his parents and Lily – mostly to get the latest news from the outside world and hear about their plans for the weekend. Getting to sleep took a while, especially after the rest of his room mates arrived and didn't seem to be in any hurry to turn in; but Al did eventually sleep; and was up and ready to go, as usual, before dawn.

The morning had started out great, and had continued to be fun through until the start of Charms class. While the subject was alrady a favorite for Al and Rose, they soon found out that their Friday morning version of the class was going to also be very annoying. Professor Dawlish began to make a point of ignoring them whenever they raised their hands in response to his questions – unless no other kids did the same. That only happened once, since Scorpius Malfoy was able to answer all of the other questions that their classmates couldn't; and he was instantly Professor Dawlish's favorite student.

During the practice half of their double class, when they were allowed to work on the charms they'd been taught in the first half; Al and Rose each correctly performed each of those new charms long-before any of their Gryffindor and Slytherin classmates. Those successes were completely ignored by their Professor as he pretended not to notice; and then he enthusiastically awarded points to Scorpius and Slytherin when he eventually learned how to do those charms too – with lots of one-on-one help from their teacher. For his part, Scorpius seemed to take the praise quite humbly, and didn't even look toward Al or Rose even once; but he did have a small smirk on his face and a look of pride and superiority that mostly shone in his eyes.

"Now I know exactly how Mum felt in Professor Snape's class," Rose said; and then smiled at Al. "No offense meant, Al."

"You lost me on part two of that one," Bristol told her; and Rose laughed.

"Al's named after Professors Dumbledore and Snape," she explained. "Professor Snape was even worse with most of our parents – and probably all Gryffindors – than Professor Dawlish was in there with us today. Some of the stories are pretty awful."

Bristol laughed too. "Then I'm even more confused about why Al would be named after him," she admitted.

Rose shrugged. "That's a longer story, but my personal short version of it is that sometimes bad people do good things; and Al's Dad chose this way to thank Professor Snape."

"You should be fun to have around when we get to the more recent events in History of Magic," Bristol told Rose. "Have you read that part of the textbook yet?"

"Yeah, and it's amazing that Hogwarts teaches that rubbish," Rose answered. "Half or more of the current Professors were here; yet that text is full of half-truths – and that's being kind. Half the time while I was reading that, it seemed as though Vodemort and his Death Eaters were the good guys."

"Geez, Rose – don't say his name!" Ray exclaimed; and Rose laughed again.

"He's been dead for more than nineteen years; and even that History of Magic textbook confirms he did die at the Battle of Hogwarts – though some of us do have the advantage of first-hand accounts from members of our own families. When will people get over being afraid of his name? I'd call him Tom Riddle like Al's Dad usually does the rare time he even talks about the war; but hardly anyone makes the connection to the Dark Lord."

"Most of the grown-ups in my family will never say the 'V' name," Ray answered seriously. "I didn't know he had that other name either; so I guess you're right about that." He shook his head as if to clear it. "We have got to stop talking about such serious stuff. We've got Potions this afternoon with Ravenclaw. That'll be more fun than Charms was; but I still need a fun break before we spend the afternoon in a dungeon."

"Maybe Professor Perks will teach us how to make love potions," Bristol suggested; grinning at Al. "That'd be fun for Al and Gwendolyn to work on together!"

"Teasing them about that would be fun," Rose told her, "but if you're suggesting that they use it too; I think that it's already too late for them."

Al rolled his eyes and groaned while Bristol, Rose, Cora, and Ray all laughed. "You are seriously scaring the kids," he stated while blushing a bit and trying not to laugh along with them. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope," Bristol assured him glibly; and then went on to prove that with some willing help from Rose and Cora. That kept them entertained straight through lunchtime and until Professor Perks got their afternoon class started.

Potions had not been a favorite subject for their fathers, but Al and Rose loved the class a lot. Having a Professor that didn't hate them probably helped with that a lot; but they also just really liked the subject. Getting to make the potions they'd read about, and were just starting to be taught, was a blast that would hopefully never be a literal or physical description of their potions work. This class was again practically an opposite of the Charms class; and Al and Rose managed to earn fifteen more points for their House between them for the questions they answered correctly and successfully creating their potions. Gwendolyn earned five points for Ravenclaw along the way too; and she was also one of the handful of kids to finish a proper batch of their potion. Bristol had made sure that Al and Gwendolyn were paired together for the class despite her disappointment over not learning about love potions yet, and though Al wished that he wasn't getting razzed about that so much; he and Gwendolyn did work well together – at least as well as he and Rose did.

They were set free for the weekend once they'd all finished cleaning up from their potions work, and then Al, Rose, and Ray had to hurry to get to their dorms; grab their Quidditch gear; and get to the practice pitch. Despite the fact that the second-year Gryffindors had a dobule study period for their afternoon classes on Friday, Al, Rose, and Ray still made it to their practice before James and Ollie did. Al was keeping an eye on James from the moment he'd arrived; but Louis hopefully dealt with that worry before getting their workout started.

"Effective right now," Louis announced, "I want everyone here to know that pulling any pranks like we had on Wednesday during practices or games is not allowed on my team!"

"Don't you mean 'our' team?" James asked with a grin; and Louis turned his attention fully on his cousin.

"I mean my team," he advised James. "If you want to keep playing on it; then you will not mess up any practices or games by pulling pranks on your team mates." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Just to be clear on how serious I am about this, if anyone actually wants to find out the hard way; they'll sit out the next match we play – or just flat-out be off the team."

"No way!" James protested; his expression one of total disbelief. "You wouldn't do that!"

"I would do it; and will," Louis promised seriously. "The other Houses all have talented players and decent teams this year; and we can't be distracted from our training just to have a bit of that kind of fun. Let's have our fun out on the pitch winning our games this season." He smiled at James. "You've got some Seeker rematches this year that will hopefully go better for us than they did last season. Put a bit of effort into that instead of messing with your team mates. We can't learn to play as a team that way; and we won't win if we don't work together."

"Aye Aye, Captain," James said a bit petulantly while saluting with a one-finger salute that Louis decided to ignore – or possibly didn't know the meaning of the gesture; since his experience in the Muggle world was small compared to James, Al, and Rose.

Louis put them to work then, and they actually had a fairly good practice. Ollie still wasn't really working at all with Al and Rose, other than to try and get them to throw the quaffle to him anytime they had it in hand; and Ray in particular took advantage of that on the reserve squad by getting a few interceptions. Despite the complete lack of help from their 'lead' Chaser, Al and Rose each got their scoring and play-making chances; and they did well-enough playing against Louis. James was a happy camper because he caught the snitch several times and his back-up didn't even come close to catching it even once. The only problem that Al saw with that, though, was that James wasn't really trying his hardest; and he was doing a lot of showing off. While James would probably live with Louis' ban on pranks during practices and games; that didn't stop him from buzzing Al whenever he felt like it; and he usually added some put-dwon or joke on the way past. He also made one attempt to keep Al from seeing a bludger that was hit at him, but Al sensed the imminent danger in time and dodged out of the way even before he saw the bludger.

After practice, Al and Rose packed up their gear and headed over to Hagrid's cabin. They'd adjusted the time for Hagrid's invitation after finding out what their Quidditch training schedule was going to be, and they weren't going to have as much time for the visit; but they hadn't wanted to disappoint Hagrid by canceling. It didn't take long to cross the school grounds; and Hagrid had obviously been waiting for them because he came outside to grett them while they were still fifty yards away from his home.

"Welcome!" he said enthusiastically when they finally reached him. "Come in, come in! How's your first week of school been? You're likely ready for the weekend, I'll wager."

"Thank-you," Rose answered as she preceded Al into the cabin and passed Hagrid. "We've mostly had a really good week; and we're happy to have the weekend off – though we have our assignments to do too."

"Of course you do," Hagrid agreed; smiling happily as he followed Al into his home. He closed the door behind him; and walked past his two guests when they both stopped to look around with wide eyes and amazed expressions on their faces. "Come and sit down. I have fresh-made rock cakes and cold drinks; and can't wait to hear all about your first week here at Hogwarts – not that I haven't heard lots about the two of you from the other Professors. You've done well to make the Gryffindor Quidditch team too; though I wasn't surprised to hear that." He glanced over toward the fireplace and shook his head. "Some guard dog you are, Fang. Come over here and say hello to Al and Rose."

Hagrid's dog wasn't the same Fang that had been his faithful companion when Al's and Rose's parents had been at hogwarts; but they knew that Hagrid had chosen his new pet because of it's resemblance to the first Fang. The dog grudgingly obeyed; allowed Al and Rose to take turns scratching him for a few moments; and then he retrieved the treat that Hagrid offered before returning to his spot by the fire and settled down to enjoy his snack while watching them incuriously.

"I like your cabin," Al said as he and Rose both sat down at the table that was sized for their host; and required climbing up to get onto the chairs. While they'd heard the stories about their parents' years at Hogwarts; it was obvious from first sight that there were lots of little details missing from those tales – or Hagrid had changed his cabin a lot over the past nineteen years.

"Thank-you," Hagrid answered. "It's not much even compared to your homes; but I can't imagine living anywhere else."

"It's brilliant here," Rose declared. She pointed toward one wall that was fairly covered in pictures. "Are those pictures of Norbert, Aragog, and all of the other animals we've heard about?"

Hagrid bobbed his head; and his smile broadened. "They are," he confirmed. "Your Uncle Charlie sent me that picture of Norbert from his dragon reserve. I've taken a couple of trips there during the summers, and seen him myself; but I still miss him."

"You'd need a bigger place if he still lived here," Rose teased; "so it's probably for the best that he's at the reserve instead."

"He's happy there," Hagrid told her; and then changed the subject. "We can talk about my animal friends another day. There's not very much time before we'll be needed at the castle for dinner; and you both must have loads to tell me. Have you had any problems with bullies?"

"Not unless you include James, Ollie, and their pranks," Al answered. "We're mostly staying in groups when we're not in our tower or classes; and haven't had any other problems."

"Your brother reminds me too much of your Uncles Fred and George," Hagrid said with a nod. "They were always in trouble too; and usually it was for taking their pranks too far. James should take more care – especially with your father the Head of the Aurors and all."

"Uncle Harry was the Ministry's undesireable number one before he was an Auror," Rose pointed out with a grin she directed at Al. "Maybe James wants to grow up to be exactly like his father."

Hagrid and Al both laughed. "Well, if that's so; he's off to a good start here – when it comes to detentions and getting into trouble,' Hagrid offered. "The two of you won't have that sort of trouble; and I hope you'll visit me more often than James does. Neville – Profesor Longbottom – tells me that he's too cool to hang out with Professors – even if we are old family friends."

"He's too cool to hang out with younger brothers too, so don't feel too bad about that," Al advised him. "We will come for regular visits; and don't worry about our reputations nearly as much as James does. How was your first week of teaching?"

Al's question sent Hagrid off on an entertaining chat about his Care of Magical Creatures classes. He was disappointed that he didn't have any NEWT students this year, but his third-year students had found their introduction into magical creatures wilder than they'd apparently expected; while his older students wereused to his teaching methods; so they weren't suprised by his somewhat extreme start to their school year. He was quite proud to report that there'd only been one student injury in his classes this week; and that was apparently a record for a first week of school. While Al had successfully turned the conversation away from their own adventures, Hagrid did get back to that eventually; and they managed to cover the basics on both sides by the time they needed to get to the Great Hall. They walked there together; but Hagrid left them and went into the Hall through the entrance that the Professors and staff normally used. They weren't the last to arrive; but also didn't have to wait long before the food appeared on the tables and they could dig in.

Dinner was good; Al and Rose were the main entertainment; and they told their friends all about their visit with Hagrid while enjoying their meal. They had fun with that, and their friends had mostly been amazed; but it was time to get to their Charms and Potions assignments after that – especially for Al and Rose after they'd missed all of the after-school study opportunities while they'd been busy with Quidditch practice and their visit with Hagrid. That hadn't been a problem for the rest of their friends. They hadn't studied at all either; yet had still opted to take the rest of the evening off and get their assignments done on Saturday and Sunday instead. That left Al and Rose as two of just a couple of dozen students actually doing homework in the common room while most of their fellow Gryffindor played and had fun. It was too noisy, and James felt the need to stop by three times just to razz them; but they still managed to get their Potions assignment completed before conceding defeat and packing up their books for the night. Al decided to just go up to his dorm room then; while Rose went to hang out with Bristol, Cora, and the other girls.

That choice turned out to be good and bad when James and Ollie walked into the room about ten minutes later as Al was sitting on his bed and quietly surfing the Wizarding World Web on his portable mirror. The two boys had stopped for a surprised moment or two; obviously expecting to find the room empty; and then James grinned at his brother as he crossed the room to stand at the foot of the bed; Ollie just a step behind him.

"Did you need to be alone to call home to Mum and cry about how much you miss her and want to go home?" he taunted; and Al just turned his mirror so that James could see the Quidditch site he was looking at.

"Nope. I'm good. This is the first time you've stopped by in a week. Is there something you'd like?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that just because we've been banned from pranks while we're doing Quidditch with the team doesn't mean that you're off the hook from them."

"I didn't expect to be, but thanks so much for the heads up on that," Al said dryly. "Since you didn't expect me to be here, I'll guess that you were going to share that news with me by example. Leaving notes just isn't your style."

"That was the plan," James admitted easily; "but it'll be more fun for us now anyway; right, Ollie?"

"Definitely," Ollie agreed. He pulled out his wand; while James took something else out of his pocket.

"Petrificus Totalis!" Ollie shouted.

Al was already jumping off of his bed by then; grabbing his wand from the night table; and said "Protego!" His shield deflected Ollie's spell harmlessly into the wall; but James laughed as he immediately dropped what he'd been holding onto Al's bed and it turned into a swamp.

"Nicely done, Ollie," James complimented his friend. It would have been better if he'd been bound and stuck neck-deep in it too; but this works better than what we had planned anyway." He wrinkled his nose. "We'd have never been able to mask the smell enough that he'd have just climbed on the bed and fallen in later."

"Probably not," Ollie agreed; and grinned at Al. "Our work here is done. Have fun trying to get any sleep tonight, Al."

"Maybe Ray will let Al bunk with him," James suggested with a snort. "I'll come and get that back from you – in a day or three; or maybe a week at most."

Al just glared at his brother.

"He's speechless," Ollie declared. "You don't think he'll start crying right here in front of us, do you?"

"No, I won't," Al said shortly; and then turned and pointed his wand at his bed. He spoke quietly enough that the other two boys couldn't hear him; but their eyes went wide when the swamp disappeared and Al's bed was again as clean and tidy as it had been before their prank. Picking up the little box that was the container for the swamp; Al tossed it to his brother. "Nice catch," he complimented when James snatched it out of the air easily. "Maybe I'll tell you how to unlock it again – in a day or three or a week at most." He climbed back onto his bed and got ready to return to his Wizarding World Web play time. "You're a git, James. Why don't you just go bug someone else and leave me alone?"

"How'd you do that?" James demanded instead; and Al shook his head.

"Instead of asking me that, maybe you should be really glad that I'm not just like you, James. It would have been just as easy to move that swamp – and drop it into the floor underneath the both of you. One of us doesn't find stuff like that funny, though; so just get out of here and have a good rest of the night anywhere that isn't close to me. I've had enough of your kind of brotherly love to last for quite a while."

"You're no fun at all," James accused; and Al shrugged.

"If by that you mean that I'm sick of just letting you prank me all of the time without doing anything about it, then yeah, I'm no fun anymore. You're more fun when you're not trying to impress your friends at my expense; but getting you to just leave me alone is probably too much to expect."

"Definitely," James agreed; grinning again and not even remotely sorry over his attempt to humiliate his brother and make him look bad with his room mates and new friends. "We love a good challenge."

"Yes we do," Ollie agreed; now undeterred too. "Catch you later, Al."

"When he least expects it," James added; both boys laughing as they headed for the door.

Once they were gone, Al put his mirror in his lap and thought about what had just happened for a while. He tried to remember where he would have learned how to deal with the portable swamp with magic, but couldn't picture anything – and couldn't explain how he not only knew that but was also able to pull it off. That seemed to be true for all of the magic he'd tried to do so far, and while that was exciting; it made him a bit nervous too. He wasn't surprised, since he was his parent's son; but he also sensed that this was different for him that it was for James. His brother had talked to him a lot about his first year at Hogwarts, and while a lot of that had been bragging about getting to learn about magic and use it while Al couldn't; he'd never mentioned having things happen to him that Al had already experienced in just his first week. While he mused about that for quite a while, he didn't gain any major insights before eventually going to sleep; and he wasn't thinking about any of that at all by morning.

Whether students were in their dorms, at the Great Hall for meals, or anywhere else around the school or grounds; Quidditch was the word of the day thanks mostly to the senior team tryouts. The buzz at breakfast centered around the Slytherin and Ravenclaw players; since their tryouts were in the morning; and then the school grapevine was on overload at noon as those results were passed along; and the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tryouts in the afternoon were speculated about in light of the morning news.

Some players, including Victoire, had spent half the morning outdoors; trying to learn what they could about this season's versions of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw team; but Al and Rose managed to convince some of their friends to either get their assignments finished in the morning or at least get a start on them before taking the afternoon off to watch Qudditch – whether that was going to the tryouts or watching one or more of the pro games. Al and Rose did get their weekend assignments finished by lunchtime; and they were happy to join in on the Quidditch chat time while they ate that meal.

"Victoire must be happy that none of the fourth year Slytherins made it on the Senior team this year," Rose suggested to Al after they'd heard that the Slytherin team from last year had stayed intact. "I wonder how close that competition was this year?"

"I don't know," Al answered; "but we heard the stories from last season; and the other teams will have their work cut out for them against Slytherin. They did come in second to Victoire's team last year; and it might have been closer for the Quidditch Cup if their Junior team had done a bit better."

"Or if Hufflepuff hadn't gone for the snitch catch and closer loss instead of letting Slytherin get the blowout," Ray added. "That was a tough choice for them. I think they learned it from the Harpies."

"Probably," Rose agreed. "There are more pro teams using that strategy when needed now too; so it does happen a lot more often than it used to before our team turned that into a winning game plan."

"At least the Ravenclaw fourth years have changed things up for their team," Al said; moving on to the more interesting of the two tryouts of the morning.

"They've got a good trio of Chasers now," Ray said with a nod; "but we'll hopefully have the edge at Seeker and Keeper."

"We'll have some pretty good Chasers too," Rose reminded him. "Victoire's biggest problem might be having too many good ones to choose from this year with Lucy and Olivia trying out for the Senior team this year."

"That'll be tough," Ray agreed – "especially when their team won all three games last year; and they only lost one NEWT year player."

"Would you like to make any predictions?" Rose asked her friends; and Al was the only one in their group to take the bait.

"I wouldn't bet against Lucy and Olivia. They were playing great every time we saw them play at our house this summer – and they both want to play in the show after graduating."

"Then that'd be even tougher for Victoire if they win a spot of the team over Heather or Dominique." She paused for a moment and then laughed at herself. "Okay, make that winning a spot from Heather. They won't beat Dominique – she's just too good."

They had to wait until nearly the end of the afternoon to find out the results of the Gryffindor tryouts; but after lunch; Al and Ray went outside for the afternoon with a group of five girls and two other guys to hang out and have a bit of fun while waiting for the team tryouts. Ray brought a fanged Frisbee to toss around; they played with some of the charms and spells they'd been learning; and just happened to be between the castle and Quidditch stadium when the Hufflepuff team left the pitch after their tryouts.

"I do believe that we have our first major Quidditch upset of the day," Al whispered to Rose, Bristol, Cora, and Ray. "The way that Alex is smiling right now; he must've won the Seeker duel."

"Do you think so?" Rose asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes, and that's too bad for Meghan; but I'm happy for Alex." Since Rose and Al knew Alex Jordan and Meghan Crumb, if not as well as some of the kids that were a bit closer in age to them; Rose felt the same way.

"Did you get any other news flashes just at a glance?" Ray joked; and Al laughed.

"I don't know all of them, but Alice Longbottom made the team for sure too, and the way they're chumming around; I'd say that Tina and Calvin Johnson are the new Beater team for Hufflepuff."

"They're our Aunt Angelina's niece and nephew," Rose explained for Ray and Bristol. "We see them now and then at Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's house."

"I'd ask if there are any kids or teens you don't know; but Al just told us he doesn't know all of the Hufflepuff players."

"Not by sight, anyway," Al confirmed. "We hear about most of the other House players from our cousins, though." He looked over to where the group of Hufflepuffs were already well on the way to the castle. "I'd say they've got yet another good team this year – and they've had lots of them pretty much since Teddy started playing for Hufflepuff in his second year."

"Teddy?" Cora asked; and Al nodded.

"Teddy Lupin. He's my Dad's Godson – and in his second year of Auror training."

"And the best Chaser Hufflepuff's had in twenty years," Rose added – "not that I'm biased or anything."

"They have some really good ones right now," Al reminded her; "but Teddy could play professionally if he wasn't set on being an Auror."

"I could picture Teddy and Victoire playing on a team together; except that the Harpies don't hire Wizards," Rose joked; earning a round of laughs.

Al and Rose only had Ray, Bristol, and Cora go with them to watch the tryouts while the others decided to go back to their common room to hang out and play games. There were quite a few teens gathering to try out for the team; but a fairly small group of spectators. They were the only firsties there; and there weren't very many second or third-year Gryffindors either. The stadium seemed practically empty; and the sounds and voices echoed around the pitch. Victoire eventually decided that everyone who had signed up for tryouts had arrived; and got right to work – starting with the Beater positions.

Six players stepped forward, and they all looked confident enough for the job; but it didn't take Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins long to prove that they were still the best Beaters in Gryffindor House; and Victoire only had two uninjured players to choose from for her reserve squad. With that out of the way, Victoire changed things up and surprised some of the teens when she called for the Seeker tryouts next.

"We're doing the Seeker tryouts first this year because we need the best Seeker possible for our team," she explained after the minor buzz died down. "Some of you know that I'd much rather play Chaser for our team, so I'm actually pulling for the rest of you to beat me, but I will still try my very best; so you'll need to earn the spot to get it." She smiled at the three boys and one girl who had stepped forward when she'd made the call for Seekers while getting ready to fly on her Lightningbolt 300. "When we're ready, Belinda, could you please release the snitch for us?"

A few moments later, they were off; and the chase was on! Unfortunately for Victoire, none of her competitors even gave her much of a challenge. Her Lightningbolt was just too fast; Scott and Stanley made that even worse as they batted bludgers at all of the Seekers; and she was flat-out just too good. She caught the snitch in less than five minutes; and then sent the others up again to choose her reserve team Seeker. Al understood why she'd set up her tryout that way; but that choice led to a delay while the other four teens battled it out for the reserve team job that messed up the flow of the tryouts. Brandon Starkey had been James' back-up Seeker on the junior team last season; and he eventually earned that same job on the senior team – and seemed very happy to get it.

With that done, and her own position on the team rather emphatically decided; Victoire put her Chaser prospects up against Belinda Wood and let them battle it out with her – and their Beaters – for the six spots on the team and reserve squad. Al's prediction with Rose's addendum about Dominique proved out; and Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy took the top three spots in that order. Victoire looked upset when her friend Heather only managed to make the reserve team; but Heather either wasn't too disappointed, or hid it well. Victoire was happy for her sister and cousin, and the difference between the top three and next-best trio had been obvious to everyone – not to mention how many of the Chaser-prospects that hadn't been able to score even a single goal against Belinda.

Keeper tryouts were next, and though three hopefuls stepped up to have a go at it with Belinda; they were at least slightly delusional if they thought they'd have a chance of beating her out for that job on the team. She went on to prove that as convincingly as Victoire had won the Seeker job; and a NEWT year Wizard ended up as her back-up on the reserve team and making it even that far for the first time.

"That went well for our families," Ray said happily as they got up and headed for the exit. "Five of seven players between the Weasley and Wood families."

"We're five for seven on the junior team too," Rose reminded him; "and the McClaggens have the other two spots."

Ray laughed. "I guess we can include those pesky Potter boys in your clan if you insist," he conceded; and then smiled at Cora. "Why didn't you try out for the team this year? Rose would've loved having another Witch on the team – even if that would have meant that Al was out of luck."

"I doubt that I could have played better than any of you, but I didn't try out because my brothers are Beaters; and I'm totally against playing a game where they have an excuse to hit me with bludgers," Cora answered. "In fact, I'm good with never getting hit by one; so you won't see me playing Quidditch – even if my Dad and brothers are nuts about the game."

"Like some others we know," Bristol added meaningfully. "I'll keep you company here on the ground while our slightly-insane friends have fun with that game."

"My Mum would agree with you on that," Rose assured Bristol. "She thinks I'm nuts to play – even though Dad thinks it's brilliant."

"Which is funny, considering that your Mum only dated Quidditch players at Hogwarts," Cora chimed in with a laugh – "including my Dad. Have we mentioned that before?"

"Yes, we have," Rose confirmed. "I've always thought that was funny too, though; so I'm sure we can milk the story for a long time. Dad wasn't technically playing Quidditch for a team by the time they started dating after the war; but I think that it still counts; since they did like each other before that and just never got around to the dating."

"Yeah, well they did have that whole war thing to deal with at the time," Al pointed out with a grin. "That messed things up for a lot of couples – my parents included."

The girls were happy to take that topic and run with it; but Al and Ray stayed out of that chat as much as was possible; and the excitement for the day had pretty much ended with the conclusion of the Gryffindor tryouts. Sure, there was a lot more Quidditch talk going on at dinner and in the common rooms of all four Houses after that, but while Al and Rose had a fun, quiet night hanging out with their friends; their play time hadn't been anything even remotely extreme on the fun scale. They also made time to write letters to send home; Al took them to the Owlery so that he could get Winter on her way; and he wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily.

Their first week at Hogwarts had been amazing; with the really great moments far out-weighing the handful of not-so-fun experiences. Al was sure that the non-stop action wouldn't last, or at least they'd get settled into a routine that would feel more normal. That didn't mean that their magical education adventure would get boring; since he was certain that learning about magic would always be fun. Add in the Quidditch matches and practices to go along with the magic study and play opportunities; and they all had a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. It was too soon to even be thinking about Halloween yet with so much to look forward to between now and then, but as he went off to sleep; Al was in a really great mood and enthusiastically looking forward to his continuing Hogwarts adventures. While it had been just over a week since coming to school; it was as though he was already a different person than the shy, nervous kid that had been so afraid of even being sorted before getting on the Hogwarts Express. Regardless of the reeason for the quick changes in him, the new, more-confident Albus Potter was quite certain that whatever happened to him next; he was ready to handle it – and that he and Rose were going to have a brilliant first year at school with their cousins and friends!


	2. Hogwarts, Home, and Halloween

**Chapter Two – Hogwarts; Home; and Halloween**

Al, Rose, and a few of their friends had the entire day on Sunday to just enjoy themselves and have fun. After breakfast, Al, Rose, and Ray went to the practice pitch to have an extra Chaser workout. Ray pretended to be his cousin; and they came up with some plays that would hopefully help Al and Rose to work with Ollie better than they had in their first week of team practices. The Quidditch side of their play time was serious, but Ray went all-out with his acting; and had them all laughing a fair bit too as he tried to razz his friends and yell at them exactly as Ollie had done while working out with them. The only thing missing was having a stand-in for James to add to the annoyances and distractions for Al and Rose; but they managed to get by without that – and could only wish that they didn't have to deal with James during their team practices.

After that, they met up with Bristol, Cora, and some other friends; and spent the rest of the morning goofing off by the lake. The afternoon fun was indoors except for a short walk because they had some rain move into the area; so they wandered around the castle and split the rest of their time between the common room and the library. Dinner in the Great Hall was followed by more hang-out time in the common room; and then Al went up to his dorm room early so that he could wind down with some reading and a bedtime chat with Lily before going to sleep.

"Are you ready for another exciting week?" Rose asked Al as she met up with him in the common room.

"For the week, yes," Al agreed; "but not so much for our morning classes today."

"Charms isn't going to be much fun if Professor Dawlish is going to keep acting like such a git toward us," Rose agreed. "I'm not even going to bother raising my hand in that class anymore."

"Maybe if we do that, he'll ignore us completely; and we'll just hope for the best with our marks on assignments and tests."

"We can do that and see what happens," Rose agreed. "If he tries to mess with me on marks, though, I won't sit and take that from him."

"Me either," Al assured her. "Are we waiting for the others this morning or going on to the Great Hall without them?"

"Let's just go on ahead," Rose decided. "We haven't had much of a chance to talk on our own; and I'm still getting used to the whole no-privacy thing around here."

"Me too," Al said with a nod of agreement as they headed for the portrait hole. "Did you want to talk about anything in particular this morning?"

"How about birthdays?" Rose suggested. "Lily's is this week; and my Mum's is next week."

"I've got Lily's covered, except for sending Winter on Wednesday to take her a card and letter. You can send something too if you want. It's going to be weird to not be there for their birthdays for the first time."

"Yeah, it is," Rose agreed. "I have a gift and card for Lily, but the gift is small; so Winter can handle it. You left yours with you Mum and Dad?"

Al shook his head. "No, but they are at home; and finding them will be part of the fun for Lily. Do you want to borrow Winter to send a gift to your Mum next week?"

"If you don't mind," Rose said with a nod of thanks. "I should send a letter to Dad this week too. He can't remember birthdays at all – not that he tries very hard."

"It is funny that he can remember the tiniest details about the Cannons but can't remember important dates. Dad will likely remind him about your Mum's birthday anyway, but it never hurts to be sure about that."

"It hurts a lot if he forgets," Rose joked, "so maybe I'll send that note for Dad along with the gift and card for Lily. Did she have any news from home last night when you talked with her?"

"Not really. Mum and Dad tried to spend some extra time with her last week; but she's already getting bored without James and me around."

Rose grinned at him. "Good – let's send James home to keep her company. That'll make it a lot better for us around here."

"At least he isn't trying to prank you much so far," Al pointed out.

"True, but he's still bugging me every time he sees me; and tries to embarrass me in front of our new friends with his stupid jokes and put-downs. I'm already sick of it."

"I'm there too; but Mum and Dad have their hearts set on us graduating from Hogwarts some day; so I doubt they'd take him back and home school him instead."

Rose sighed. "Probably not," she conceded – "not to mention that if they did want to do that with any of their kids; it'd be with you or Lily; and I'd guess they'd pick you because she'd throw a fit if they tried it with her."

Al laughed. "She definitely would. I'm pretty sure that Lily has her entire life planned out already; and being a Hogwarts Quidditch star is a big part of her master plan to grow up to be as amazing as our Mum."

"Shhh!" Rose warned conspiratorially. "Someone might overhear you talking like that about her; and that kind of thing can mess up a reputation for life!"

"Only if I was delusional about that – and I'm not. We totally lucked out in the parent department."

"We did," Rose agreed; "but I'll still keep that quiet around here."

"Sure, 'cause nobody here has ever heard of our parents before," Al joked with another laugh.

They continued to enjoy the time together until they got to the Great Hall; and then it was back to what passed for reality at Hogwarts. Breakfast with their friends was as entertaining as usual; they moved on to Herbology after that; and then it was time to get to work. Professor Longbottom kept them busy with a lecture that was followed by a practical, hands-on lesson; and Al and Rose were two of his favorite students. Charms was more of the same for them with Professor Dawlish; with just one small change. When Al and Rose stopped attempting to answer any questions; Professor Dawlish decided to pick on them with the toughest questions of the lecture. He may have thought that they'd come unprepared and he would catch them messing up, but if he was hoping to get some weird satisfaction out of besting a pair of eleven-year old kids; he found out, to his chagrin, that they quietly and concisely answered each question perfectly without hesitation – and as politely as possible. That just seemed to leave him even more annoyed with them when he couldn't even find the tiniest flaw in their answers; and he once again completely ignored them when they successfully produced their charms during the practical work part of their class – the only two in the class to do that perfectly too. No Gryffindors were awarded any points.

"I don't think that was an improvement at all," Rose decided as she and Al walked with some of their classmates toward Gryffindor Tower to drop off their morning books and get their Potions books, equipment, and supplies before heading to the Great Hall for lunch.

"No, it wasn't," Al agreed; "but we only did what we were told; so I don't know what else we could have done. I'm not going to play dumb or anything just to make Professor Dawlish feel better – especially when it wouldn't change how he feels about us anyway."

"He doesn't seem to like any of us Gryffindors," Ray pointed out. "The rest of us are just lucky that he prefers to dislike the two of you most."

"Glad we can help you out with that," Al deadpanned with a wry smile. "At least we're done with the no-fun part of our day now."

"Says the Wizard that loves Potions," Ray countered. "That is still an improvement to Dawlish's class, though, and then we have our study period; so I guess we do have it pretty good on Monday afternoons."

For Al, Rose, and their Gryffindor friends, they had it pretty good for the next few days. Professor Perks got that rolling with a fairly entertaining Potions class; and then the studying, Quidditch, and classes that followed through until the end of the day on Wednesday were nearly all good too. James didn't pull any pranks on them; only razzed Al or Rose a couple of dozen times in passing; and he and Ollie seemed more interested in two of their other favorite pursuits – bugging the girls in their year; and going Slytherin hunting. On Wednesday evening, Al wrapped up another good day by writing his letter to Lily and getting Winter on her way with it – and Rose's card and gift for his sister. His Thursday was hopefully going to be more of the same routine at school, and that was okay with him; but he wished that he could be there for Lily's big day too. That wasn't possible, though, so he made his own wish for her to have a brilliant tenth birthday as he sent Winter on her way; and hoped for that to be true for his very favorite sister in the whole world.

"Happy Birthday to me!" Lily sang softly to herself as she woke early on Thursday morning and lay in her bed; warm, comfortable, and in no big hurry to get up.

It was still quiet in the house, so her parents weren't up yet. They'd be awake soon, since they were always up early on work days, but even knowing that; it still felt too quiet to Lily – even after nearly two weeks of it being just the three of them at home since James and Al had gone on to Hogwarts without her. She didn't blame them for that, and it wasn't all bad having James and his never-ending pranks and practical jokes out of the house; but she missed them a lot – as much as she wished she could be there with them.

"Don't go there today," she chided herself; rolling over on her side and reaching out for Poofy – her Pygmy Puff. "We're going to have a really great day even without Al and James, aren't we, Poofy?"

Her favorite little puffball seemed to agree; though that could have just been a happy reaction to the hugs and affection. Lily waited contentedly until she heard her father get up; and then she got out of bed too and started to get ready for the day – and whatever adventures her parents had in store for her. They hadn't given her any hints, and since it was a work day; she had no idea what to expect. She was downstairs in the kitchen by the time that Harry got there; and she loved to see his eyes and smile light up when he first saw her and then wrapped her up for an enthusiastic hug. She thought that he was probably better at that than any Dad ever!

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," he told her; kissing the top of her head and then squeezing one last time before letting her go again. "You must be fired up – I was hoping to have breakfast nearly ready by the time you and your mother got down here."

Lily smiled and shrugged. "It's a lot easier to get ready when I don't have to fight for bathroom time with my brothers."

"True," Harry agreed. "Speaking of, you should check in the other room to see whether Winter or Blizzard are here with posts for you from James and Al."

"I didn't even think of that!" Lily exclaimed; hopping up out of the chair she'd barely sat on after the hug and she ran for the back room where the Owl cages were kept. Her shout of excitement advised Harry that at least one of the boys' owls had been sent, and if it was only one of them; he'd guess that Al had sent Winter.

"They're both here!" Lily called out; and was soon back with several envelopes and a small box that she carried to the kitchen table before sitting down again. "James, Al, and Rose all sent me something!"

"So now you just have to decide which to start with," Harry said; smiling, since Lily had already begun to open the envelope from Al. There was a card and letter; and she read the card out loud to her father first – at least until she got to the part where Al advised her that the letter was the key to finding her birthday gifts from him.

"He set up a treasure hunt for me!" she exclaimed excitedly. She opened the folded sheet of parchment; and then laughed happily. "I have to go find them! Be back soon!"

With that, she was off and running; and Harry was glad that she had something to do while he cooked for his two favorite girls and Ginny was upstairs and taking her turn to get ready for the day. He could hear Lily running around the house as she followed the clues that eventually led to her gifts that Al had hidden in two different places; and it was about fifteen minutes later by the time that Lily returned to the kitchen.

"He got me this sweater and a new game for my mirror," Lily anounced; but then her attention was diverted to the table; where the envelope from James was flopping around on the table as if trying to get her attention. She put her gifts on the table too and picked up the envelope. Opening it; she shouted in surprise when she pulled out the bright red envelope that had been intentionally-hidden inside the plain-looking outer envelope.

"It's a Howler!" she squeaked out in shock even as Harry had spun around from what he'd been working on to see why she'd yelled. He couldn't decide whether to laugh or pop over to Hogwarts and have a few words with his eldest son; so he settled for just trying to deal with the situation as best he could.

"Better open it," he advised Lily. "They're far worse if you try and ingnore them." He closed the gap between them, sat down, and pulled Lily into his lap for support. She hesitated a moment; and then bravely unsealed the envelope and let the card inside of it escape.

"LILY POTTER – HOW DARE YOU GO OFF AND TTURN TEN YEARS OLD WHILE YOUR BIG BROTHER IS STUCK AT HOGWARTS! DO YOU THINK THAT IT'S FAIR FOR YOU TO BE SITTING THERE IN THE KITCHEN, WATCHING DAD MAKE YOU A SPECIAL BREAKFAST WHILE I'M STUCK EATING THE GRUEL THEY CALL FOOD HERE? I DON'T THINK SO! YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE A BRILLIANTLY FUN DAY NOW WHILE I HAVE TO SLAVE AWAY IN MY CLASSES AND STAY UP STUDYING HALF THE NIGHT. JUST FOR THAT, I'VE USED THE MONEY I HAD FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY GIFT ON WHEEZES THAT i'M GOING TO USE ON UNSUSPECTING KIDS AROUND HERE WHILE THINKING OF YOU! GO AHEAD; HAVE YOUR VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY – I'M SURE IT WILL BE VERY HAPPY INDEED!"

With that, the card exploded in a flash of light; the concussion of sound deafening in the kitchen. Ginny was in the room by then too; and it only took a glance for Harry to know she was as conflicted as he was about James' choice of birthday surprises for his sister. Lily didn't have the same problem, though, and she laughed.

"That was awful!" she declared while grinning at her parents. She waved toward Al's gifts. "Are you absolutely sure that James and Al are related? They're so different; you'd never know it."

"They are," Ginny agreed; "both different, and definitely related. You only need to look at them to see that." She did laugh then. "The funny thing is that Al's gifts are very nice; but it'll likely be that Howler 'gift' that we'll remember most for this birthday."

"No doubt," Harry confirmed. He hugged Lily, and then stood up and sat her on the chair he'd just vacated so that he could get back to making breakfast for them. "I'm very glad that we didn't decide to take Lily out for breakfast, though. That would not have been good if we'd been at the Leaky or some other restaurant instead when she opened that Howler."

"That wouldn't have been fun," Lily agreed; wrinkling her nose. "We'd make the front page of the Prophet with something like that – and Rita Skeeter would be all over it too."

"We've mostly managed to keep you and your brothers out of the news," Ginny told her with a smile; "though that might be tougher to do if James keeps on with his mission to be as great a prankster as your uncles were at Hogwarts."

"At the rate he's going, James could end up on an Auror Most-Wanted poster," Lily joked; and her parents both laughed.

"That's possible," Ginny agreed – "his father made it all the way to undesirable number one until shortly before he signed up for the Aurors after teh war."

Lily laughed too. "I wasn't even thinking about that as James trying to follow in Dad's footsteps," she admitted. "When you do go there, it's funny that James tries so hard to be different than Dad while also wanting to be the Gryffindor star Seeker just like you both were; and he gets into a lot of trouble at school just like Dad did too."

"That does seem inconsistent of James," Ginny concurred; "but aren't you more interested in birthday-related things right now? This might be the longest you've ever gone without asking about your gifts."

"It was probably the Howler throwing me off," Lily decided. "Anytime you want to bring on the gifts; I'm ready to open them!"

Ginny waved her wand and a small stack of gifts appeared on the table in front of Lily; next to the little gift that she still needed to open from Rose. While she happily sent wrapping paper flying everywhere as she opened them; Harry finished the cooking and had the plates on the table; and Ginny had alternated between helping himm taking a few pictures, and sitting next to Lily while she had her fun. Having their meal and then cleaning up didn't take long; and then it was time for Harry to get to work.

"I'll see you at lunchtime," he told Lily as she hugged and kissed him goodbye; and then laughed when she hugged him again.

"We're going out for lunch together?"

"We are, but I'll let your Mum give you the birthday fun details. I'll barely make it to Auror Headquarters in time for the morning workout – and wont' if the atrium is already packed."

"We'll see you at the Leaky," Ginny promised as she took her turn to see him off; and then she smiled and hugged Lily as he left and headed outside before apparating to London.

"So, what are we doing today?" Lily asked excitedly.

"We're going to have a little mother-daughter Seeker duel this morning while the Auror in the family is away; and then we'll get ready to go out for a play afternoon in London. We'll collect your non-Hogwarts cousins at the Burrow; and Grandma's going to help me out with kid control while we're hanging out in Diagon Alley after lunch. Your birthday dinner is going to be back here; and I've arranged for a sleepover for you with Roxanne and Denise. There will be no school work for you at all today; and your cousins will only have one lesson this morning with your Grandmother; so they'll be happy about that too."

"Yeah for all of the above!" Lily exclaimed enthusiastically. "That plan is so approved!"

"Good. Grab your broom; and let's go out and have some fun. It won't be that long before it'll be winter and we won't want to play Quidditch."

"I'll play all winter if it will help me get good enough to play for Gryffindor my first year – just like James, Rose, and Al."

Ginny laughed. "You're welcome to do that. We'll make sure that you have hot drinks and warm snacks waiting for you when you get back inside again."

"I could get Hugo to practice with me in the winter instead," Lily suggested; and Ginny nodded.

"Yes, you could; and we'll have him come over a bit more often this year too – or you can stay there when Ron and Hermione aren't too busy."

They talked about that and a few other random topics the Lily thought about as they first walked out to the pitch with their brooms and got ready to play. Once they were both ready to fly, Lily released the snitch, and they played for an hour and a half. There'd be no way for Lily to seriously compete with her mother's Lightningbolt, so Ginny just limited her own speed to what Lily's Firefly broom was capable of – which was still fast enough to catch the snitch if you were good enough. One thing that Ginny didn't do was hold back with how hard she played. Harry always did that with the kids; but Lily wanted her mother to push her – and wanted to earn the few snitch catches she did rarely make whenever they played. Getting one of those catches for her birthday was mostly due to her own level of enthusiasm, and she was also sure that Ginny hadn't cut her any slack because she was also out-raced to the snitch six times in that hour and a half of extreme fun.

After they'd had enough Quidditch action for the morning, they went inside; got dressed up a bit, including taking extra time doing their hair; and then they headed for the Burrow. Molly had Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne all ready to go by the time they arrived using the Floo Network; so they only had a short round of hugs, kisses, and best birthday wishes before taking the Floo again and moving on to Diagon Alley.

The four youngest Weasley family cousins had less than two years seperating them between oldest and youngest. Lily was nearly exactly in the middle between Fred, who would be turning eleven in the spring and going to Hogwarts next September; and Hugo, who was five months younger than Lily. Roxanne, the youngest, was eight going on nine; and she was about ten months younger than Hugo. In addition to being cousins, they were all friends too; though Fred would normally hang out with James instead of Al or Lily whenever he was around – and willing to put up with the younger boy.

Once they were in Diagon Alley, the two boys automatically paired up, and while Lily was given the choice for what to do until lunchtime, she let the boys decide; and happily went along while hanging out with Roxanne. Molly and Ginny were not at all surprised when the boys picked Quidditch, animals, and wheezes stores over everything else; and they had time to visit all of them before moving on to the Leaky Cauldron. They picked up a few treats for all of the kids along the way; so they were all fired up by the time that they reached the Leaky and were welcomed there by Hannah.

"Teddy, Dennis, Natalie, and Denise are here already," she advised them; "but the rest of your guests should be along soon too."

"Okay," Ginny acknowledged. "How are you doing?"

"Probably the same as you are," Hannah answered with a smile. "The first couple of weeks without the kids is always tough; and Neville's putting in long hours at the school before coming home for the night – at least during the weekdays."

While Most Professors lived at Hogwarts during the school year, Professor McGonagall had made some exceptions to that over the years; and Neville was one of the Professors that did take the Floo Network home from his quarters at Hogwarts most nights. He'd stay there if needed; but that hadn't been necessary very often. Ginny hadn't talked much with Hannah lately, so while Molly went with the kids to meet up with Teddy and the Creeveys; she took the time to catch up on the latest with Hannah. That little chat broke up when her father, Percy, and Audrey arrived from the Ministry; and Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't far behind them.

Most of Lily's aunts and uncles weren't able to go to her birthday dinner, so the special lunch was multi-tasking so that they could see her and deliver gifts; and so that Ginny didn't need to try and do two meals at home while keeping track of five kids. That ended up being six kids when she couldn't just leave Colin Creevey the odd kid out after lunch; and invited him along to spend the afternoon with them and stay for the dinner party too. Dennis and Natalie's son was as small for his age as his namesake had been when Ginny went to school with him, and he was also very shy; so he wasn't as close to Lily and Hugo as his big sister was. Fred and Hugo did make an effort to include him both at lunch and during the afternoon, though, so that worked out okay for the younger boy.

Celebrating Lily's birthday was the top priority, but Ginny's favorite moments at lunchtime were actually when Ron and George had some fun with Teddy over dating Victoire. Teddy had fun with that too, and though the men tried to get him going; Ginny deduced that Teddy and Victoire had obviously worked out their plans for dealing with being apart for the school year much more carefully than she and Harry – and Ron and Hermoine – had done for the year that she and Hermoine had spent at Hogwarts after the war. They also had more Quidditch match visit opportunities now that there were junior and senior teams playing a total of twelve games over the school year; so they actually only had a couple of three-week separations during the entire year. Ron tried messing with that by promising to get Teddy on weekend duty with the Aurors for every one of the Hogsmeade and Quidditch match weekends; but the women in the family warned him not to actually try that if he knew what was good for him.

Since they had three boys with them, shopping all afternoon wasn't going to work for them even if Lily would have loved that, so after lunch; Ginny and Molly took the six kids to the Quidditch Museum for a couple of hours before doing a bit more shopping in Diagon Alley. That second round included stops at the bookstores; picking up some sweets; and just a little bit of clothes shopping for the girls. They had an ice cream break at one of the cafes too; though Ginny and Molly opted for hot drinks instead of ice cream while sitting outdoors with the kids with the weather a bit on the cool side for ice cream snacks.

When they went back to Harry and Ginny's place, the kids were set free to go out and play or stay indoors; and Lily chose more Quidditch. Her cousins were happy to do that with her, and Denise and Colin went along with the majority. Since they did have a lot of cousins, and the only Quidditch pitch in the family; Harry and Ginny had collected quite a few of the kids' Firefly brooms over the years since they'd first gone on sale; so they had enough of them around for all of the kids to use. They decided to play three-on-three with two Chasers and one Keeper on each team; so they only took the quaffle out of the set with them when they went out to the pitch. Molly and Ginny got started on making dinner then; and they were both ready for a little break from keeping up with the kids.

"She reminds me so much of you," Molly told Ginny as they both worked at the kitchen counter where they could watch the kids from the windows. "The only difference is that Lily doesn't need to sneak out to the orchard with a broom to practice her flying."

"I was thinking about that earlier today – the first part of that; not the sneaking out to fly thing. I was her age the first time I – we – met Harry at King's Cross. So much has changed since then; yet I felt like I was looking in a mirror and seeing myself back then this morning when I was doing Lily's hair before we met up with you at the Burrow."

"There are some differences between you; but she's just as special as I always knew that you were."

Ginny laughed. "I had six amazing brothers to try and stand out from. That was all of the motivation I ever needed."

"So trying to impress Harry was never a part of that?" Molly teased; and Ginny laughed again.

"Okay, that was a factor once I was at Hogwarts; but Bill and Charlie set the bar high for the rest of us – and very early for me." She smiled softly as she watched her daughter with her cousins and friends. "I'm glad that things are better for all of us – and we can do more for our kids; but you and Dad made sure that we had a really good childhood too."

"We did the best we could, all things considered," Molly said modestly. "Are we baking a cake too? We should get at that soon if we are."

Ginny shook her head. "We ordered one; and Harry will pick it up on the way home – unless he gets stuck at work late. Hermione will stop and get it if that happens."

"Well, if we don't have that, is there anything else you need done to get ready for that sleepover? The cooking won't take long once we've got this work done."

"Harry and I took care of that last night," Ginny answered. "When we're done this; we'll have time to relax and catch our breath before the kids will be back in here and looking for snacks, drinks, and probably some mirror gaming action."

That's pretty much how their next hour or so went. They had a nice mother-daughter chat; took care of the kids' needs when they first came indoors again; and then sent them off to the sitting room to play games that ended up being on the Muggle LED television and game system because Fred, Hugo, and Colin all knew how to play those games; but Fred and Colin didn't get to do that nearly as often as Hugo, James, and Al did.

Harry got home from work early, with the cake in hand too; and he was sent off to help out with the gaming and kid entertainment while waiting for the rest of their guests to arrive. Arthur, Ron, and Hermione came together from the Ministry; and Dennis and Natalie made a short detour home first to pick up Denise's overnight bag before joining the party. The last guests were the McCormacks and Scamanders. While Luna and Rolf were beginning to travel more again now that their twin boys were five going on six, they were home after being on an expidition for most of the summer; and had accepted Ginny's invitation.

Gwenog and Kirley brought their son, Jonah, with them, and though he'd be going to school with Lily and Hugo in two years; Jonah hadn't been invited to the play time in London too because Lily wsn't quite ready for co-ed birthday parties – or at least her parents weren't even if she secretly might be. While Ginny was happy to have a house full of kids; she was also glad to get an evening with three of her very best friends. They got started on the girl chat right away; and did that in the kitchen while their boys hung out in the sitting room with the kids until dinner was ready. That hadn't specifically been scheduled as a social hour, but ended up being exactly that as Ginny and Molly puttered around the kitchen and the other women enjoyed glasses of wine and the conversation entertainment.

Luna told them all about her adventures with the twins and where she and Rolf were going to be taking them for their fall expedition; Hermoine's news from the Ministry was mostly only news for Luna; and Gwenog always had fun stories about life with the Harpies. Talking about all of their kids was high on the list too; and Ginny and Gwenog had a bit of extra fun while discussing Gwendolyn and Al – and the reports coming home about some shared hugs and Al being teased about Gwendolyn – and set up a few times by Rose and some of the other Gryffindor girls. Ginny's own updates were mostly for Luna; and about her reporting for the Quidditch News Network and the Prophet; which was one job now that the sports section of the Prophet was created by the Quidditch News Network.

That little reprieve from parental responsibility ended when it was time to start rounding up the troops and get the birthday dinner started. While Ginny and Harry got the food on the table; the Mums and Grandmothers took care of getting the kids washed up; and the rest of the men straightened up the sitting room. When they sat down to eat, the kids were mostly together; so the parents and grandparents were split up – and Harry and Ginny were surrounded by kids on both sides.

"How was the gaming?" Ginny asked Lily and Denise once they all had their plates filled and passing bowls and platters wasn't necessary for a while.

"The boys did most of that, but we won a couple of games," Lily answered. "We've been playing with our action figures and dragons with Lorcan and Lysander since they got here."

"That was more fun than the video games anyway," Denise offered. She wasn't nearly as shy as her younger brother; but was somewhere in the middle of the personality range between him and Lily. "The twins say they've actually seen real dragons on one of their expeditions. Lily's seen them too; but I haven't – and it would be really cool if I could some day."

"Not if they're looking at you as their next snack," Harry joked. "I prefer to leave dragons to the experts – like Lily's Uncle Charlie."

"Maybe you could come with us for a visit to Uncle Charlie's Dragon Reserve sometime," Lily suggested; smiling hopefully at her parents.

"We'll see," Ginny said without making any commitments. "That's something we'd need to discuss with your parents; and then work out with my brother too."

"That means yes, but not today," Lily advised Denise with a grin.

"I must have misunderstood; since that isn't what I heard at all," Harry teased; and both girls laughed.

"It's the kid-speak translation," Lily told him impishly. "We might have to bring out the hugs, kisses, and dimples before the trip is booked; but Denise is going to get to see a dragon or two."

"Getting to watch you grow up from your parents' perspective is a lot of fun," Harry told Ginny – "and just a bit scary."

The kids moved on to talk about different things, and Harry and Ginny mostly enjoyed the show while having their meal. There was work to do too, and they took care of keeping the dinner, dessert, and birthday fun rolling along. Lily opened her gifts between dinner and dessert; and then the kids were set free again to go and play while some of the adults joined in for the clean-up and others supervised the kids. It was a work night for the parents, so the play time began to wrap up for everyone except Lily and her sleepover buddies about an hour after the clean-up work was finished. All of the goodbyes took a while; and then Harry and Ginny left the girls to watch the WWMN in the sitting room for a while and went to do a bit of work in the office.

With the adults, boys, and parents either gone home or giving them some space: Lily, Denise, and Roxanne were free to choose their own fun and talk together without either being teased by the boys or overheard by the parents. Lily and Denise were particularly happy about that; though Roxanne had fun doing a lot of giggling – and loved being included for the sleepover with the two older girls. They first tuned in to Lily's favorite kid and teen show channel on the mirror network, and then watched a couple of their favorite Thursday night shows while talking about their day and other important things.

"Is it just me, or is Jonah getting even cuter than the last time I saw him?" Denise asked Lily; grinning at her friend while Roxanne blushed a bit and giggled.

"It's just you. He looks exactly the same as he did last time I saw him. Do you have a thing for younger men?" Lily teased; and Denise laughed.

"You probably saw him last weekend at the Harpies' game," Denise pointed out. "He'll be in our year at school; isn't much younger than we are; and it's a bit early to tell, but he shows a lot of promise as future boyfriend material."

"And he'll look like his Dad when he grows up," Roxanne said quietly; and then blushed again. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yep, you did," Lily confirmed with a laugh and hugged her cousin. "Nice timing; and so true too. You're as close to Jonah's age as we are; so he can be on the future potential boyfriend list for all of us."

"That'd just be weird for you if your brother and his sister end up dating too," Denise pointed out. "Speaking of, why didn't you tell me that Al has a girlfriend? I didn't hear about it until tonight when the parents were talking about it at dinner."

"He doesn't have a girlfriend," Lily said with a shrug and smile. "Gwendolyn would take the job; but Al isn't really interested in girls that way yet – though it probably won't be much longer before he is. James certainly goes all goofy over them now – or he did all summer."

"I noticed that a few times this summer when I was here," Denise agreed; "though James is goofy all of the time so is that really any different than normal for him?"

"Yeah, it is," Lily said with a nod. "What's really amazing, though, is that there are some Witches his age that actually find the way he acts attractive."

"They're probably not looking at the way he acts," Denise suggested. "You just don't see that because he's your brother."

"Maybe not, but I'll take a wild guess that getting a Valentine's Day Howler won't be at the top of any girl's gift list if he tries that on any of the Witches he likes," Lily suggested. "I can barely even imagine James dating anyone without laughing at the mental picture of it."

"Then I should probably scratch him off of my potential future boyfriend list," Denise teased; feigning deep regret and earning another pair of laughs from Lily and Roxanne.

"You'll be Gryffindor for sure if you're brave enough to even have his name on your list," Lily declared. "If he's still on your list when we get older, I'll have Mum teach you her Bat-Bogey hex – you'd need it if you dated James for more than an hour."

"I thought that we were going to get her to teach us that for self-defense anyway," Denise pointed out; and Lily nodded.

"Good point; and we'll do that before we'd be old enough for James to be potential boyfriend material for you anyway."

"Or the other way around for me," Denise suggested. "Three years is a lot at our ages."

"True, but it's not too soon to start looking," Lily advised the other two girls with a grin. "Mum had her sights set on Dad when she was my age – about a second after she saw him for the first time at King's Cross Station."

"Have you picked your Wizard already then?" Denise asked. "You want to do everything else just like your Mum."

Lily laughed. "Not yet; but I am working on my list."

That gave Denise and Roxanne some chat ammunition; and the girls happily enjoyed the shows and hanging out together. Al called Lily from Hogwarts, and added a bit more entertainment for the girls before he wrapped up that little mirror chat and turned in for the night. They were sent up to bed at eleven; but the pre-sleeping part of their sleepover continued on until well-past midnight – and long after Harry and Ginny had gone to bed. When they did finally get to sleep, Lily's tenth birthday was officially over, and while they would still have a bit more fun to look forward to in the morning at breakfast; it would be back to life as normal after that for all of them.

The students at Hogwarts didn't need to get back to normal on Friday, since Thursday hadn't been special for most of them anyway. Al would have liked to have a bit of special on Friday morning instead of the impending double Charms class with Professor Dawlish and the Slytherin firsties; but he was still in a good mood when he met up with Rose in the common room and they headed for the Great Hall together.

"How'd Lily's birthday go?" she asked after exchanging a hug and the usual pleasantries.

"It sounded as though she had a great day; though it started out with a birthday Howler from James instead of a card or gift."

"Are you serious?" Rose exclaimed; and Al nodded. "I'm not surprised, and Lily thought it was funny in a warped sort of way; but I really don't get why James does stuff like that – or some of the things he's done around here."

"And that's just the things we hear about," Rose added. "I'm sure there are some we don't – or even James and Ollie wouldn't be dumb enough to admit to doing."

"No doubt," Al agreed; and then shrugged. "Anyway, Lily had a Seeker play time with Mum yesterday morning; they went out for some shopping, lunch at the Leaky, and a visit to the Quidditch Museum; and then had her birthday dinner at home. Denise and Roxanne had a sleepover with her last night, and just in case you weren't sure that the grapevine to home is working just fine; they teased me about Gwendolyn for a bit when Lily and I had our mirror chat last night. The parents apparently had some fun with that during dinner too; which is scary in our family."

Rose laughed. "I wonder if they heard that from my Mum or Gwendolyn's?"

"Let's not go there so early in the morning," Al pled. "I'm already trying to brace myself for Charms class; and it doesn't really matter how the news got to our parents."

"Okay, but I thought that we were going to try to ignore the annoying parts of that class and just try to have fun anyway."

"That was the plan – even if it isn't working very well for me so far. We won't likely have enough assignments to keep us busy all weekend. Is there anything you want to do with our spare time?"

Rose nodded. "Yes. We've got two weeks to our first game. I want to have at least one extra workout – or maybe just a play game with some of our friends." She grinned; and Al laughed because he knew what she wasn't adding to that thought.

"Thanks so much for not going there anyway," he told her; and Rose laughed again.

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to – I know where you were going with that; and so do you."

"We should invite Gwendolyn and some of the others to play too – and I really don't mean that to be a set-up. We don't play Ravenclaw until April; and we could use the competition."

"Okay, I agree with that," Al said with a nod. "Try not to have too much fun setting that up with the other girls."

"I guess that means you don't want to ask her yourself during our Potions class this afternoon," Rose teased; and then laughed as she held up her hands in mock surrender. "Sorry – I couldn't resist."

"Try harder to do that – and I mean resist those urges," Al suggested; though he laughed too.

Rose changed the subject, and they enjoyed the rest of their walk time – and then their mornning meal while hanging out with their friends. While Al hadn't been looking forward to their Charms class, and nothing had changed in a week with how they were treated by their Professor or the Slytherin students; they managed to get through the class without any trouble – and actually had some fun playing with the charms practical lesson too. Sure, they didn't get any credit for their successes, but it was getting easier to just ignore Professor Dawlish's scowls, mutters, and basically all of the dark looks and snide, whispered comments about them from certain Slytherins.

With Charms out of the way and better than expected, the rest of the day just kept getting better. They had fun at lunch; had time for a quick little walk outdoors; and then wrapped up their school week with their double Potions class with Ravenclaw. While Rose and the other girls didn't attempt to pair Al with Gwendolyn again, she was with them when they went into the Potions dungeon; and sat with Al anyway while Ray ended up with Bristol; and Rose and Cora paired up. While that didn't really make any difference during the lecture part of their class, other than having a bit of competition between Houses for answering the questions; it did make a difference when actually making the Potions – especially whenever that meant being close together while discussing what they were doing or sharing the jobs.

Getting hugged rather enthusiastically near to the end of class when their potions came out perfectly was a fun bonus – even though he did then get teased about that for a while after class. Fortunately for him, Quidditch practice was up next; so Al, Rose, and Ray all needed to hurry to get out to the pitch on time with a trip all the way up to their dorm rooms from the dungeons along the way. Rose and Ray were nice enough to stop their jokes before getting to the pitch so that James didn't get more ammunition to use against his brother; though that didn't keep James and Ollie from razzing Al and Ray at every opportunity. Dealing with that badgering wasn't fun, but the three friends still had a really good workout; and Louis was much happier with them than he was with his Seeker and third Chaser. That wasn't to say that James and Ollie weren't good, because they were. They just continued to rely on their raw talent while putting in the minimum effort. Most of the other teens and tweens on the team and reserve squad were working hard, though; and really trying to make the entire team better – or be ready if needed to play due to injury or other reasons.

Now that the senior team was picked and practicing too, they needed to vacate the practice pitch when Victoire and her players were ready to get to work; though there was some overlap of the two practices. They were able to stay in the air while Victoire led her team through the hysical warm-ups; and then they got out of their gear and pack up while watching the older team doing their flying practice – a wild ride for the teens that Victoire also led as their fastest flier. Their training was more advanced, but Louis had learned from his sisters – and aunts – so his own training was really just an easier version that the younger kids and teens could handle. Al, Rose, and Ray were among the last junior team members to leave the pitch; and Louis seemed to approve of them doing that too. Trying to learn from watching some of the best Hogwarts players was definitely a good thing in his books.

Doing that didn't leave them enough time for any serious studying between practice and dinnertime, so they took their gear back to their dorms; met up in the common room with some of their friends; and pretty much just goofed off until it was time to head for the Great Hall. The novelty of having meals in the Great Hall had worn off, but it was still a bit of an adventure each time; and never boring. The buzz of conversation was loud; there were regular incidents that ranged from dining mishaps to pranks and practical jokes that provided bonus excitement; and there were always lots of news stories floating around on the gossip network to keep the conversations from ever getting dull. Friday evening after dinner was definitely play time for most students – at least in Gryffindor; but Al and Rose wanted to get started on their weekend assignments; and Bristol and Ray decided to try and do that with them despite the noise and action all around them in the common room. They weren't the only kids or teens studying; but they were the only firsties – and it was mostly just a handful of OWL and NEWT year students trying to work too.

"Did you get an open time for one of the pitches for us?" Rose asked Al once they were set up and starting in on their Potions assignment.

"We've got the one-to-three block for the practice pitch," Al answered. "There weren't very many slots taken for tomorrow, so we had lots of options; but I thought that we could study tomorrow morning; get that out of the way; and then play for the rest of the day. Most of the slots were already booked for Sunday, though; so we'll need to book times earlier in the week if we want to practice on Sundays too."

"Most Quidditch players want to watch the pro games tomorrow instead," Ray suggested; and Al nodded.

"Probably, but the Harpies aren't playing tomorrow; so the afternoon time works for Rose and me."

"And for most of the kids we invited to join us," Rose added.

"Half or more of you are relatives of past or present Harpies," Bristol pointed out. "That isn't a surprise. Do you need help coming up with fun things to do this weekend that aren't Quidditch-related? I can help you out with that."

"Do you mean 'me' you, or did you mean that for Al or Ray?" Rose asked; trying to sound as if she wasn't sure about that.

"That was for you; though we don't need to pick girls-only activities." She paused for a moment, and then continued. "We haven't had much girl-time except in the mornings or at bedtime, though, so some hang-out time doing something without the boys now and then would be good too." She smiled at Ray and Al. "No offense meant, guys; but sometimes Witches need a break from even the nicest Wizards."

"And extended vacations from other, not-so-nice ones," Rose muttered as she caught sight of James and Ollie heading their way.

Fortunately, they were just doing a walk-by razzing on the way to having more fun with their buddies; but they still managed to annoy Rose, Al, and Ray before deciding that their side-mission was accomplished and they could move on to more entertaining pursuits – like bugging their favorite second-year girls. Once they were gone again, the four friends got focused on their studies; and managed to wrap up their Potions assingment by the time they were ready to head for bed. Al was first to head for his dorm room ahead of the others; and he wrapped up his Friday night with some light reading before going to sleep not long after the other guys were mostly in the room and their beds too.

The Saturday adventures began with an Owl Post from home that Winter delivered at breakfast. There had been a pair of thank-you notes from Lily for Al and Rose; and a letter from Harry and Ginny that had included a bit of minor teasing from his mother about Gwendolyn. Blizzard had been sent with notes and a package for James too, but the only thing that Al knew about that was because Lily mentioned in her note to him that she'd been tempted to get their parents to help with sending a Howler back to James; but opted for sending him a pack of tongue-tied toffee instead. After enjoying that fun and their breakfast; it was time for the morning study session for Al, Rose, and a half-dozen of their friends. They went to the library instead of the common room so that they could get the work done in relative quiet, and since the library was practically empty; they had lots of quiet and their pick of the work tables. Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray finished their work for the weekend by lunchtime; and that included practicing the Charms they'd researched and written about for their assignments. They'd needed to use an empty classroom for that; and they were just finishing that up and getting ready to go back to their dorms to drop off their books before lunchtime when Peeves found them there.

"Looky, looky; what have we here! Itty-bitty firsties; with Peeves here to fear!"

"Good morning, Peeves," Rose said conversationally; smiling at the poltergeist. "How are you today?"

Peeves cackled and made a face at her. "Sweet-talking Peeves will not work, you'll see; but if one of you sets your pants on fire; I might just set you free!" With that pronouncement, the door to the classroom slammed shut with a crash; and Peeves hovered in front of it; cackling in glee.

"Great!" Ray exclaimed. "Now what do we do?"

"We leave," Al told him; before turning to Peeves. "Dad asked me to watch out for you," he told Peeves, "so I'll ask you to go and leave us alone – even though that wasn't exactly the kind of watching out for you he meant. Go find someone else to bother and leave us alone."

"Watch out for Peeves, Daddy-Potty say; so I will prove it to you – it's time to pay!"

Way to go, Al," Ray had time to say before Peeves flew up to near the ceiling; toward them; and then dropped two pouches directly above the four kids while howling and hooting expectantly. "Look out below!" he added; and then stared in open-mouthed disbelief as he saw Al's shield blaze into place just a foot or so above their heads in time to stop the pouches from landing on or near them. They burst when they struck the shield, and the putrid-smelling slime would have run off the edges of Al's shield and onto everything around them; but he expanded and shaped it while Rose joined in and used her wand to levitate a garbage can to a spot where he could let the slime safely slide off into it. With Peeves now away from the door, Rose then used her wand again to unlock and open it; and waved for the others to get out while Al kept his shield between them and Peeves. She closed the door behind them once they were in the hall and sighed with relief.

"Thanks, Al," she told her cousin gratefully. "We've survived our first encounter with Peeves. Daddy will be so proud!" There was a lound crash coming from the room accompanied by Peeves screeching some nasty comments at them; and they all hurried a bit to get out of sight in case Peeves decided to give chase once he was finished his little temper-tantrum.

"Thanks right back," Al answered; "though I'll guess that trying to save the rest of the room from getting slimed didn't end up mattering at all."

"It mattered for us getting out of there without walking through that slime. What do you think was in that stuff?" Bristol asked. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"I have no idea," Rose answered; "but I'm glad that we didn't get any of it on us. Who knows how long it'd take to get rid of that smell?"

"Jigger's likely to find out when he has to get that classroom cleaned," Ray suggested. "You could ask him about it next week if you'd like."

Bristol laughed. "Sure, that'd be the smart thing to do – if we want detention until the Christmas holidays. Thanks, but no thanks."

Even with their little encounter with Peeves, they still had lots of time to go to their dorms to drop off their bookbags; and Al, Ray, and Rose grabbed their Quidditch gear before heading for the Great Hall so that they didn't have to trudge all the way back up to the seventh floor to do that after they'd eaten. Rose and Bristol had decided that it would be prudent to keep quiet about what had happened with Peeves; so none of them mentioned it around their friends. Peeves swooped in along the Gryffindor table and razzed the firsties; but didn't try anything more serious than that with most of the Professors watching over their students from the head table. He didn't single out Al and Rose either; but they were still sure that his visit had been because of them – and that they'd need to watch out for him – at least until something else came along to distract him. With Peeves, that could happen in ten minutes or a month; so they hoped for something closer to the first option.

Gwendolyn had been one of the first kids invited to the extra Quidditch play time, but Rose, Al, and Ray had invited others; and those kids had done the same so that they had enough players for two teams. Some of the kids had to settle for positions on the team that they didn't normally play; but that was mostly because they needed to fill the four Beater spots while having too many Chasers and Keepers. They actually ended up with more players from the other Houses; though Al and Rose were both good with that since it gave them a chance to see some of their competition in action. Gwendolyn brought Landon Graves with her; and his older brother, Brandon, came along – and he was half of the Ravenclaw Beater duo for their junior team. Madison Whitby and Tory Summers were the Quiddtich team mebers from Hufflepuff; and the other six volunteers were either from the practice squads or kids getting to join in for the fun of it.

While they'd originally planned on working on their Chaser jobs, having a scrimmage had given Rose a chance to play her favorite position instead; so she was Keeper for one team; with Al, Ray, and Tory Summers playing Chaser in front of her. They had two of the three novice Beaters on their team; and one of the extra Chasers for their Seeker. On the other side of the pitch, Brandon Graves 'captained' his temporary squad. Madison Whitby gave them a big advantage at Seeker, and he was the only team Beater of the four, so even if their Keeper, and Gwendolyn and Landon were an even match at those positions; he likely expected at the start that the two teams were a bit mismatched. That wasn't at all true, though; as he soon discovered once they got the game started.

"Nice save, cousin," Al complimented Rose as he flew behind her and accepted the pass. He laughed and dodged when Gwendolyn swooped in and tried for the steal after Rose had stopped her scoring attempt. Gwendolyn smiled victoriously for a brief moment when Al's dodge also had him losing his grip on the quaffle; but then he spun his broom and used the tail-whip to bat it to Ray and out of her reach. He laughed again when she stuck her tongue out at him and blasted off after Tory – since Ray had already passed the quaffle on to her.

"Right back at you," Rose called with a grin as Al took off too and quickly caught up to the developing offensive play.

That had been one of the first plays of the match; and Al, Ray, and Tory had followed that up with a successful scoring attempt. Both teams were loaded with professional Quidditch player kids, and Brandon really did have advantages at Beater and Seeker; but Rose quickly proved to be a much better Keeper than her opponent; and that showed up in the scoring despite the fact that Gwendolyn and her Chaser partners out-shot Al, Ray, and Tory.

"Quit grinning like that," Ray admonished Al. "You got beat clean on that play; and have Rose to thank for making the save."

"It was a great move – and save," Al told him unapologetically – "and we're just playing for fun; so smiling ought to be allowed."

"As if a real game ever stopped your Mum from smiling most of the time," Rose suggested as both boys flew around behind the goals and got ready to go on the attack again. "Al just can't help himself either."

"You're being way easier on him than Louis will be if he plays like that during our practices," Ray told her; but then he and Al were off again; with Tory leading the way and looking to set up the next play.

While they were all playing hard, the name of the game was to have fun; and there were dozens of those litle cameo chat moments to help keep the entertainment level as high as the flying. While there hadn't been an obvious set-up; Gwendolyn chose to match up against Al more often than not whenever she could choose to do that; and they had a blast competing against each other. When Gwendolyn was defending him, Al only scored a couple of goals, but he earned a lot of assists on plays that he set up for Ray or Tory; and they appreciated that a lot. When that match-up didn't work out for other plays, though, Al scored another dozen goals; and he ended up with the most goals out of the six Chasers before Madison caught the snitch to end the match. She earned the come-from-behind win with that catch, but it was very close; and all fourteen kids were happy when they landed after an hour and a half of extreme fun.

"Congratulations," Al told Gwendolyn when she came over after a mini-celebration with her own team mates. "You played a great game."

"I'd say good compared to you and Rose; but it was fun," she said before hugging him; her smile bright and fiery. "Should our team be glad that Louis is your Keeper – or worried?"

"He's our Captain, so Rose didn't try out against him," Al advised her. "We can't really help you out more than that with the question, though. I'm sure you understand."

"Sure," Gwendolyn agreed; pretending to pout. "You don't love me."

"Uh-oh," Ray said; grinning at Al. "Now what do you do? Run?"

Al laughed. "We're Gryffindor; I think that's against the rules."

"For both the brave and too dumb to know when to run," Ray countered; still grinning – and waiting.

"Possibly," Al conceded, "but Gwendolyn already knows that I love her – and that doesn't change the fact that I'm not going to help Ravenclaw out with any inside info on our team."

"Do I know that?" Gwendolyn asked; feigning astonishment and ignoring the second half of Al's answer.

"Yes, you do," Al agreed; "and you've spent enough time with my family to know why I'm not afraid to admit to things like that for the people I love."

Gwendolyn smiled and nodded. "I do; and that's one of the reasons why my family loves yours so much right back."

"Cut that out," Ray told them. "You're scaring the kids."

"You sounded just like my Dad with that one," Rose advised him – "and he says that to Al's Dad fairly regularly."

"I wonder why – not," Ray countered. "What do you guys want to do next?"

"Hit the showers," Al answered first; sniffing and wrinkling his nose meaningfully. "After that, it doesn't matter to me what we do until dinnertime."

"Let's see if Bristol, Cora, and any of the others want to do something once we've done that," Rose suggested. "They may already be doing something that we could join in on." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "We could meet with you somewhere to let you know what we're doing if you'd like to join us."

Gwendolyn shook her head. "I've got some studying to do for the rest of the afternoon," she advised them. "I don't want to be stuck doing it tomorrow."

They continued to chat while getting out of their gear and packing up; and then they walked back to the castle together before splitting up when it was time to head for their respective Houses. Al, Rose, and Ray split up to go to their dorms, grab showers, and get changed; and then they ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the common room watching Quidditch and playing mirror games with their friends. Dinner in the Great Hall was lively and entertaining; but then the rest of the evening was a wind-down time as they all took it easy during those hours between dinner and bedtime.

On Sunday, while many of their fellow firsties were busy with their homework assignments; Al, Ray, Bristol, and Rose had a bit of magical play time in one of the classrooms after breakfast. They went outside and stopped for a visit with Hagrid next; spent a bit of time in the library picking out some fiction books to borrow and read; and wrapped up their morning with a bit of chat time with some of their cousins in the common room not long before lunchtime. Bristol had talked Rose and some of the other girls into hanging out together for the afternoon without a bunch of boys around to get in the way of their fun, and while Ray joined in for some mirror gaming with the guys in the common room; Al decided to go for a walk outside and see if he could find someplace where there weren't crowds of kids and teens – or too much noise. He had made it most of the way to the lake when Gwendolyn met up with him; and they both smiled as she waved for him to continue and fell into step beside him.

"Great minds think alike," she offered in greeting. "It's not as if I'm not used to noise, since there's always lots of music going on at my house; but it never seems to stop around here – even at night."

"Plus it isn't as nice to listen to as the music," Al added with a nod. "Did you bring any of your instruments here?"

"Just my guitar; and I haven't even had it out of the case yet. Some of the band kids closer to my age and Jonah's have talked about trying to start up a band of our own the way the older kids have with their bands; but that isn't for me. I want to play Quidditch like Mum, Grandma, and Aunt Meghan."

"Maybe that'll be Jonah's thing," Al suggested; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Maybe. He changes his mind about what he wants to be when he grows up every other week or so – and Quidditch and music are only two options. Broom racer and dragon rider are recent possibilities too; if not very likely. Were you walking anywhere in particular?"

"Just looking for some quiet and whatever kind of privacy I can find around here – which has been close to zero so far."

"I can go somewhere else," she offered; sounding a bit hurt; and Al smiled and quickly reached out to take her hand in his before she could move away from him.

"That's not what I meant," he assured her sincerely. "Let's see if we can find someplace by the lake to sit, enjoy the view, and talk." He'd have let go of her hand then, but she held on; and smiled brightly at him.

"Okay – if you're sure and not just saying that to be nice," she agreed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I'm sure; the what we talk about doesn't really matter to me," Al answered. "School, Quidditch, home – whatever."

"That could take a while," she joked; and laughed. "Are you missing home a lot?"

"Yeah, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be." He smiled self-conciously. "I could probably say that about a lot of what's going on here – except maybe for how much James has been bugging me. That's about as bad as I expected – and he'd promised it would be while bugging me about being a firstie while he was home all summer."

Gwendolyn shook her head. "I think that he's heard too many school stories about your uncles," she suggested. "He's trying to make a name for himself – and succeeding. He's pranked quite a few first-year Ravenclaws already too – with Ollie's help."

"Nice to know they're equal-opportunity pranking," Al half-joked; "though I'm still a favorite target – along with any Slytherin."

"I've heard that too," Gwendolyn admitted. "It's a wonder that they don't get blasted regularly, but if they do; I haven't heard of it."

"Me either," Al agreed. "How about over there?" he suggested; pointing to a bench about a hundred feet ahead that overlooked the lake and was partially-hidden by a few trees.

"Works for me," Gwendolyn agreed. "How are the rest of your classes going? You're obviously doing great in DADA and Potions."

"We've already talked about the problems Rose and I are having in Charms class, and Herbology isn't going to be one of my favorites; but everything else is going good." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Doing the magic is happening a lot easier than I expected. Is it like that for you?"

"Not compared to what I've seen for you. Potions is a bit different, and we're both good at that; but you just seem to know how to do things in DADA. I'm doing good with that class because you explain it to me – and show me." Gwendolyn laughed. "Too bad we can't have all of the same classes. I'd probably do a lot better in Charms and Transfiguration if we did."

"You're probably better off not being around me in Charms," Al disagreed. "Professor Dawlish might decide not to like you just for associating with Rose and me."

"I'd take my chances if it meant catching on to the lessons faster, and Professor Dawlish might be really smart; but I don't understand half of what he's saying when teaching our lessons."

"We could study together a few times a week if you'd like – and when it fits into our schedules; since we don't have the same Quidditch practice times or study periods. We probably get the same assignments in charms and transfigurations, so I can help you with those subjects too," Al offered.

"The studying together sounds good," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I'd rather just take a break from the work this afternoon. We'll be right back at all of that again tomorrow. Have you thought much about why you're finding the magic so easy to do?" She grinned at him. "Maybe it's just because you're the son of the most powerful Wizard in the world."

Al laughed. "He's just Dad to us; and wouldn't agree with that – even if he might be one of the best." He paused for a moment, deciding how to really answer her question; and then continued. "I have thought about it; but don't know if I can explain it very well – even to myself." He paused again; but Gwendolyn just waited for him to go on; smiling at him encouragingly. "I've read ahead in all of our textbooks, and that helps; but when I try the spells for the first time; it sort of feels as though I already know how to do them. You've seen me mess them up, and I've done that in other classes too; but that always seems to be because I lose focus – or don't concentrate and want it to happen enough. I don't think that I've had any problems happen from saying something wrong or using my wand the wrong way."

"Maybe you have a really great memory and can picture what you're supposed to do each time."

Al thought about that and nodded. "That could be part of it," he agreed – "and the rest of it I inherited;" he added with a grin. "You want a break from school work, though, so why don't you tell me about what's going on around home instead?"

"Well, Mom, Dad, and Jonah went to a birthday dinner party on Thursday night," Gwendolyn said; smiling too. "That might have been the most fun of the week for Mum compared to Quidditch practices; and Jonah had fun with the other guys from what Mom told me last time we talked."

"How's he handling being an only child? Lily's bored sometimes; but likes the bonuses – like not needing to share the bathroom with James and me."

"That isn't a problem at our house, and Jonah likes having Mum and Dad all to himself; but he's definitely bored when Mum's at work and Dad's busy with his music."

"If he's that bored, maybe he really should start a band," Al joked. "Maybe they'd be the next big thing by the time he gets to Hogwarts."

"Dad would love that; since most of the other guys in the band have at least one kid in the Weird Kids on the Block or Graves Robbers bands. I could teach you how to play guitar by the time Jonah comes to Hogwarts. If you think that starting a band is such a good idea; just imagine how popular it'd be with one or two Potter kids in the group!"

"Learning to play guitar might be fun, and maybe we could do that anyway; but you wouldn't be able to get me up on stage even if the only thing I had to play was one of the music channels on my WWMN mirror."

Gwendolyn had laughed at that; and they sat and enjoyed hanging out together without being bothered by anyone else for the next hour and a half or so. They headed back to the castle when it looked as though rain was moving in fast and imminent; and split up to go back to their respective common rooms until dinnertime. Al had liked the parting hug from Gwendolyn as much as he'd enjoyed spending the rest of their time together; and he was a happy camper when he got back to the Gryffindor common room. Ray and the other guys were still hanging out there, so he joined them and played games until Rose and Bristol came looking for them when it was time to walk to the Great Hall.

"Did you have a nice afternoon with Gwendolyn?" Rose asked Al once the four of them were in the hallway – and away from the other guys.

"What?" Ray exclaimed. "You didn't say a word about that. All you told us is that you went out for a walk!"

"I did," Al confirmed, "and that answer applies to both questions:" he added with a grin for the girls. "You and the other guys would've razzed me if I'd told you that I'd met up with Gwendolyn while on that walk – which is why Rose waited until we were away from them to ask me about it. How'd you hear about it?" he asked Rose.

"You were seen sitting together out by the lake; and the grapevine took care of passing the news flash along to us – probably before you even got back to the common room."

"Oh good – at least we weren't holding hands then or you'd have really had something to talk about with the other girls," Al said; and laughed at the expressions on the girls' faces. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did; and meant to," Rose confirmed and added. "I'm surprised to hear you actually offer that little tidbit."

Al shrugged. "I'm just getting ahead of the grapevine, since there were witnesses to that too; so the news will get around eventually. Don't make anything of it that isn't there. I said something that didn't come out right; took her hand before she could leave and I could explain; and she didn't let go until we sat down on that bench. No big deal."

"Sure, and that's why you look so happy right now – because hanging out with her was no big deal."

"I have other Witches for friends," Al pointed out. "Why are you making a bigger deal of it anytime I'm around Gwendolyn?"

Rose laughed. "Maybe you should answer that question yourself instead of letting me do that for you," she suggested. "The answer wouldn't be any more or less honest; but you'd believe it more."

"Maybe," Bristol agreed; "though it might take him years to work it out that way."

"That's possible," Rose said with a nod. "He is his father's son; and Uncle Harry was more than a bit dense when it came to Witches when he went to school here."

"Okay, it's definitely time to change the subject before I hear anything about things like that when it comes to any of our parents," Ray declared emphatically; and then shook his head at Bristol's grin. "I'm serious. Go there; and I'm out of here."

"I guess we'd better not do it," Bristol decided with a sigh; directing the comment at Rose. "What would that do to Al's reputation if he was seen walking out with one girl this afternoon and then with two others just a couple of hours later?"

"Keep that up and it'll be Ray getting the reputation instead of me," Al warned; "though maybe he wouldn't mind that at all."

Ray groaned. "Yes, you definitely are spending too much time with Witches, mate. Move along before I have to take a stand and hex you."

The girls did that for them after only a couple of bonus jokes; but then it wasn't long before they were in the Great Hall and having dinner with the rest of their friends. After their meal, it was back to their common room for the rest of the evening. While a surprising number of students still had assignments to get finished for Monday; Al wasn't surprised to see that James and Ollie were in one of those groups. The best part of that, from his perspective, was that the two boys didn't have time to bug him while doing that after spending most of the weekend goofing around with their buddies. He and Rose hung out with their friends and classmates, but they also took care of a few other things too – including writing letters and getting cards ready for Hermione's birthday on Tuesday. They weren't sending Winter out until Monday evening; but didn't want to try and get that done on top of their Quidditch practice and whatever assignments they'd have by the end of the school day.

Winding down and getting ready for another busy week was easier after mostly having a play day – and no major problems with James and Ollie. Al had Ray and a couple of the other guys with him when he was ready to head for their dorm room; though that meant getting razzed along the way after Rose hugged him goodnight when she was ready to go to her dorm room too. He had Ray with him for part of his bedtime chat with Lily; she gave them the weekend wrap-up from home; and then Al eventually fell asleep after reading a book for an hour or so until he was finally ready to get the rest.

Their third week of classes was filled with what felt like non-stop action. While classes and assignments filled most of their days; Quidditch was becoming a bigger deal as Gryffindor's first match against Slytherin drew ever-closer. Hermione's thirty-eighth birthday was an event for her family and friends outside of Hogwarts, but other than a short mirror chat that Rose and Al had with her at breakfast so that Rose could watch as she opened their gifts; the Hogwarts members of the family weren't involved in her big day at all. The bigger news story of the day was actually the Harpies-United match on Tuesday night. Hermione was there with the rest of the usual family group after going out for her birthday dinner; though the Harpies weren't able to give her a bonus birthday gift because the United Seeker won the duel with Gabrielle to give United the big win.

One of the best things that happened to Rose and Al during the week happened in their Charms classes. Professor Dawlish continued to ignore them most of the time, but he also awarded them top marks for their assignments, quizzes, and the one larger test they'd had so far. He obviously did that grudgingly; but leaving them alone allowed Al and Rose to have more fun in class – particularly when it came to practicing the Charms. They still had to deal with scowls and the nasty, whispered comments about them or their family from the usual group of Slytherin kids; but that was getting easier to ignore by the day too.

The biggest event of the week had absolutely nothing to do with the first and second year students; and that was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. All of the third year students were fired up about getting to do that for the first time; but most of the teens were happy about getting to escape Hogwarts for the day on Saturday. That was especially true for Victoire, because Teddy was going to spend the day with her; though her enthusiasm over that didn't keep her from getting her sister, brother, and cousins to make sure that their younger cousins were taken care of – and that anything they needed from Hogsmeade would be picked up for them. Dominique and Molly were assigned Al and Rose; and had their shopping lists by mid-week.

Getting to the weekend really didn't seem to take long; and the routine for Al and Rose was all but becoming set in stone. They studied first and played later every day with Quidditch practices being the sole exception to that general rule. Study periods were for work sessions too; including the Thursday afternoon study time that Rose, Al, and Ray had while their classmates were busy with flying lessons. One little change for the work was that they had a few of their classmates begin to join them for the early-study program – and the extra help with their lessons. Cora was first to do that more often than she had the first two weeks; and Dave and Romeo joined them for nearly half of the study sessions they had through Friday evening. Both of the boys had been having issues with learning magic that was mostly due to their lack of knowledge of the magical world; and Al and Rose were happy to help them out with those little problems.

On the home front, Al got most of his updates during three mirror chats with his parents or Lily; but he and Rose only had one Owl Post from home – and Winter had been sent back with letters for them; along with one each for James, Bill and Fleur's kids; and for Molly and Lucy. Winter had made it back to them on Thursday morning; and that had been Al's last contact with home until Sunday night.

Hogwarts seemed empty by comparison on Saturday morning after breakfast. Al and Rose made a really smart decision to spend the rest of the morning having a study session in a classroom that they pretty much just randomly picked to use once they'd met up with Gwendolyn, Toni, and Renee after breakfast. Ray, Bristol, Cora, Dave, and Romeo did that with them too, and they all found out the bonus reason for why it had been such a smart decision at lunchtime when they heard through the grapevine that James and Ollie had spent their morning on the hunt to prank any kids they came across – along with managing to annoy pretty much every first and second-year Gryffindor girl that had opted to hang out in the common room or elsewhere within range of their silly antics. Finishing their weekend assignments and having some magical play time had been a lot more fun compared to that – and had the added bonus of getting the rest of the weekend off to play while most of the other students still had most or all of their work left to do on Sunday.

Rose had done most of the work to set up another Quidditch scrimmage for Saturday afternoon. They had nearly the same group of first and second-year kids doing that with them; and they'd had just as much fun playing together for an hour and a half or so – not including the pre and post-game action on the ground. Getting to play Keeper again had been the highlight of the afternoon for Rose, while for Al; it had been competing against Gwendolyn that had kept him smiling pretty much the entire time they were on their brooms. He really didn't want to think about the comparison too seriously; but was fairly sure that what he was feeling was a lot like what his parents felt when they had their Seeker duels out on the pitch in their back yard – without the occassional mid-air snogging that could send James into fits of retching if he was there to witness any of that kind of aerial action.

The older students had begun to return from Hogsmeade by the time their practice had ended; so Al and Rose had ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the common room with some of their friends. They all got to hear about some of the Hogsmeade adventures; Dominique and Molly dropped off their requested supplies when they got back; and most of their cousins stopped by for short visits – including Victoire. She was both happy to have gotten to spend the day with Teddy, and sad that it was over; so Al and Rose tried to help her out with hugs, kisses, and one of the chocolates that had been picked up for Rose.

"Would you like to make a prediction on how soon after Victoire graduates that we get a new cousin-in-law?" Rose asked Al after Victoire had gone on to her dorm room to put her own supplies away.

Al laughed. "You want me to answer that with other guys hanging around?" he joked. "I have no idea, but wouldn't dream of betting against the fact that it will happen. It's fairly obvious that Victoire is very happy that she's finally caught her Wizard."

"You knew the risks and went ahead and answered her anyway?" Ray asked Al. "Maybe you should've been Hufflepuff."

"Or Ravenclaw," Bristol offered helpfully; grinning at Al. "I'm sure that he could put all of that sentimentality to good use there."

"I'd say that the sorting hat chose just right for the both of you," Al countered. "Gryffindor does seem to get more than its fair share of comedians."

"You called?" James asked as he and Ollie walked up to them. "Saw you over here hugging and kissing a Veela and wanted to check in and see whether you needed help getting your brains dribbled back into your head." He grinned wehn Ollie laughed; but Al didn't miss seeing the other boy's slight blush at the mere reference to Victoire.

"I'm fine; thanks for checking in," Al told James. "That line would be funnier on guys that actually do go all mental over our cousin – or cousins, if you include Dominique."

"Maybe," james conceded with a shrug, "but from what we've been hearing around here; your lack of response to Veelas is because you've been spending a lot of your free time hanging out with another young Witch." His grin widened as he saw that his barb had hit the mark with Al; and James and Ollie both laughed.

"So the rumors are true," James crowed. "I should go and have a little chat with Gwendolyn. She obviously doesn't have any idea about what a loser she's been hanging around with; and that kind of thing can ruin a Witch's reputation with real Wizards forever."

Al stood, his eyes flashing with anger; and James just stood there, grinning; and enjoying the fact that he had achieved his goal of getting Al riled up. Pausing for a long moment as if struggling to decide what to do next, Al simply chose to say nothing and walk away; heading for the portrait hole and not looking back.

"Albie's got a girlfriend, Albie's got a girlfriend," James taunted as Al left while Ollie sniggered and laughed.

"Shut it, James," Rose told him crossly. "You're a git, and one of these days; you're going to push him too far and regret it."

James laughed derisively. "In his dreams," he shot back. "I'll be happy to put him in his place if he ever tries just as easily as I beat him at everything else – except being a bookworm; and I'm happy to let him have that title; since that just proves his total loser status."

Rose stood then too. "In my books, a loser is someone who treats their family and friends the way you do, James." She stormed off then; heading for the Portrait hole too – even though there was a good chance that she wouldn't be able to find Al and catch up wtih him.

"That cut deep," Ollie told James; snorting another laugh. "Do you need medical attention? Should I rush you to the Hospital wing?"

James pretended to pat himself down. "Nope, not even a scratch," he declared. "I guess that's what happens when you try to stab someone with a dull blade."

Rose heard both boys' comments but ignored them as she left the room. Their friends hadn't followed her; but then she hadn't expected them to – not because they didn't care; but because that would have just caused a scene and given James and Ollie even more ammunition to use against them. While she hadn't expected to find Al, she took a guess; and did end up finding him outside and not yet too far from the castle for her to catch up with him.

"Did you try sticking up for me?" Al asked after slowing so that she could join him and then they could walk together. "That'll just put you in his sights too if you did."

"I don't get why you don't blast him yourself," Rose said; and then smiled and shook her head. "Okay, that's not true, since I do get it; but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it. Your parents would not be happy to find out just how miserable he's being to you here."

Al laughed. "They'd be mad if they knew how he treated me at home a lot of the time too." He shrugged and sighed. "Rose, I don't know if doing anything differently would make a difference. You've heard the same stories I have about things that our uncles did to kids around here. They could be fairly nasty to your Dad too, but they turned out alright; and we love Uncle George even when he's playing his pranks."

"I get all of that too," Rose told him, "but you'll eventually need to do something about what James is doing – or end up being his favorite punching bag until you do."

"Maybe, Rose," Al agreed; "but I'm not sure what worries me most about that idea. If I tried and couldn't stop him, that'd be bad for me; but if I tried and beat him; it could make things even worse."

"Or either way things could get better for you just from having James know that you'll stand up to him instead of just taking it and walking away," Rose countered. "I'm not pretending to have the right answer for you, Al; but I do think that this isn't working for you – and James is treating you worse than he ever did at home – if for no other reason than there isn't anyone here trying to keep him under control."

"Would you like the job?" Al joked; and Rose laughed.

"Maybe, but then I'll find my own way to deal with him if he keeps bugging me – or just get someone to teach me your Mom's Bat-Bogey hex so that I can use it on him."

"There's an idea," Al said with a nod and just a hint of a smile. "It might be against the rules for a mother to teach that to someone who wants to use it on one of her own kids, though, so Mum might not want to help you out with that – even if she is your Godmother."

"Grandma let her use it on my Dad," Rose pointed out. "It might not be against the rules at all."

Her comment sent them off on a little conversational side-trip as they went for a long walk; and then they headed into the castle again when it was time for dinner. After his earlier success, James made a point of continuing to badger Al – including meeting up with Gwendolyn after dinner and supposedly having that little talk with her about the reputational dangers that would come from hanging out with his loser brother. Al didn't stay around for that scene; and then he moved on from the common room to his dorm after James' second razzing cameo of the evening. He read a half-dozen chapters in his textbooks; had a bedtime mirror chat with Lily; and then just went off to sleep long before the other guys even got back to the room after staying up late watching shows on the WWMN mirror in the common room.

On Sunday, Al spent the morning between breakfast and lunch hanging out with Rose, Bristol, Cora, and Ray. He also did his best to stay away from James; but didn't completely avoid him – including his brother's well-timed appearance outside of the Great Hall after lunch just as Gwendolyn was asking him if he'd like to go for another Sunday afternoon walk with her. She'd been as annoyed as he was by that; but had no trouble telling James exactly what she thought of him before taking Al's hand and leading him outside with James and Ollie continuing to call out snide remarks and jokes at them.

"While I'd really like to say a few things about your brother, let's just let all of that drop and talk about anything else," Gwendolyn suggested once they were outside and away from the taunts that had followed them all the way through the entrance hall.

Al smiled at her. "I don't have a problem with that; though I'm surprised you even want to associate with me if he had the chat with you last night after dinner that he told me he was going to have with you."

"He was just making small talk with me until you left," Gwendolyn advised him; "though he was then happy to tell me why he was talking to me at all. I wanted to smack him with one of my Mum's Beater bats; but didn't bring one here with me."

"Rose is leaning toward getting someone to teach her my Mum's bat-bogey hex; but that isn't getting us moving on to talking about anything other than James. How was the rest of your day after Quiditch yesterday?"

"I didn't do much of anything," Gwendolyn answered. "You probably got to hear all of the Hogsmeade stories from the older kids the same as we did; and I pretty much just hung around with the other girls after dinner while we watched WWMN. We stayed up a bit too late, but didn't want to disturb the snogging couples by heading to bed in the middle of one of the shows; so we waited until the end of the one we shouldn't have stayed up to watch."

"That was considerate of you. I try to be in my dorm room before the late-evening snogging gets started. I used to think that it was just weird if I caught Mum and Dad snogging at home; but I'm fairly sure now that I just don't think that snogging should be a spectator sport."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I'm trying to picture Lee Jordan doing the play-by-play for those games if it was," she explained; and Al laughed too.

"He'd probably figure out a way to do that and make it funny; but I don't want to picture that kind of show either."

"Especially if he had your parents on as celebrity contestants," Gwendolyn teased; earning another laugh from Al.

"Definitely," he agreed. "Wouldn't you feel the same way?"

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "It wouldn't bother me at all if your parents were on a show like that – not that I'd want to watch it. I don't think that snogging should be a spectator sport either." Her smile brightened several notches. "I'll remember that we have that in common for future reference." She laughed when he started blushing; and let go of his hand long enough to give him a quick, one-armed hug before taking his hand again. "Where to today? We should enjoy the nice days when we get them. It won't be that long before we'll be stuck indoors all winter – or at least not able to walk around the school grounds."

Al shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me – unless you're thinking about a walk out into the Forbidden Forest."

"I'd like to see all of the magical creatures in there some day," Gwendolyn admitted; "but let's not try doing that until we know how to visit them without having to worry about being invited to be dinner for one of them."

"Sounds like a plan," Al agreed.

Spending time with Gwendolyn was admittedly different than it was when he hung around with Rose, Bristol, or any of the other girls. Al was honest-enough with himself to admit that; but he also genuinely wasn't thinking about her in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of way – and she didn't seem to be doing that either. They just got along really well; and Al found it even easier to talk with Gwendolyn than it was with Rose – and he was very close to his favorite cousin. They walked out and around the Quidditch stadium and pitch; along nearly as much of the lake as was possible; and then out almost to the main gates before heading back into the castle and splitting up for the rest of the afternoon. James was soon in his face and razzing him again, and that wasn't much fun for Al; but that also didn't change the fact that he'd enjoyed his walk with Gwendolyn; and he didn't plan on allowing James' antics to affect how he felt about one of the best parts of his weekend.

During the last week of September, Quidditch was a top priority around Hogwarts – especially for the two junior teams involved in the first match of the season. Louis had his team working extra-hard for their Monday and Wednesday practices; the senior team gave up their practice time on Wednesday for the junior team; and then Louis just had a planning meeting on Friday instead of a tough practice the day before the game; leaving the pitch open for Victoire to do a double-practice with her team instead. For Al and Rose, their classes and studies still took up most of their weekday time; but that didn't keep them from getting focused and ready for the game too.

There were some benefits to the imminent match; with the top one being that James mostly ignored Al except for firing jokes at him during their practices and a couple of walk-by razzings per day. Louis may have had something to do with that; but Al couldn't confirm whether his cousin had tried ordering James to tone it down until after the game – it was just a guess. Other highlights for the week included having fun in their favorite classes and a couple of bonus study sessions that included a few Ravenclaw students. It was probably just a coincidence that Gwendolyn was there for most of those favorite classes and the extra studying too; but it really had been a good week; and Al was feeling great when he woke up on Saturday morning. He was ready for his first Hogwarts Quidditch match; and didn't really feel at all nervous.

"You don't look worried or scared at all," Rose told Al as she met up with him in the Gryffindor common room. "I'm scared half to death."

"You're a bit scared," Al countered as he stood to welcome his cousin. "Don't be. We're going to go out there and have fun today."

"Don't you mean that we're going to go out there and win?"

Al shrugged; hugged her; and then picked up his Qudditch gear bag. "That'd be nice too; but I'd be okay with playing our best and having fun."

"Tell that to James," she suggested. "I don't even want to think about what he'll be like around us if we lose – especially if it's our fault."

"That's a no-win for us with James regardless of what happens. If we win, he'll take all of the credit; and if we lose, he'll blame us no matter who's at fault. We've done all we can to get ready, and more than he or Ollie have by a long shot," Al reminded her. "Besides, if you want to worry about stuff like that; worry about what your Dad will say if Scorpius beats you today. He did tell you to beat him at everything."

Rose laughed. "Well, I've already failed at that, since he seems to be Professor Dawlish's favorite. We don't know anything about how well or poorly he plays Quidditch, though, so I guess we'll find out soon if he's any good or not."

"I'll guess that he's a fair player," Al said seriously. "He made the Slytherin team despite how the other pureblood families treat his. Avery, Mulciber, and the others would have found a way to keep him off the team if the tryouts had been close."

"I guess that might be the same for Davis Zabini," Rose mused thoughtfully with a nod. "He's not much more popular than Scorpius is with the other Slytherins – though his brother is on the team too."

They'd already made it out into the hallway by then; and Al nodded as they continued to walk toward the Great Hall. "Having both brothers at Chaser could be good for their team – unless they're like James and me. I doubt that'd work for us at all – unless James just had the quaffle all of the time and had me around to blame whenever his plays didn't work."

"That sounds exactly like what he'd do," Rose agreed with a laugh. "I'm glad that he isn't a Chaser, though, since I'm not sure whether we'd both be on the team too if he was."

Al grinned at her. "Wouldn't you have tried your luck at Seeker?"

"Only if it looked as though the other candidates were even worse than me. Victoire does it because she can. I wouldn't be very good; so let's just be glad that James is decent at the job – even if it's a wonder that he can fly very fast at all with that giant head of his."

Their chat time before breakfast went a long way toward helping Rose to get relaxed before the game. Al was happy to help her out with that; and they were finished breakfast early and heading for the stadium before most of their fellow students were even half-way through their meals. The timing for that wasn't the best for Al, since Gwendolyn waved them over and gave him a good luck hug that had James and Ollie whistling at them from the Gryffindor table; but that just prompted her to one-up that and give him a kiss on the cheek too before sending him off with a bright smile and laugh that Rose and some of the other girls had shared with her.

Going to the stadium without Ray seemed a bit strange, but he didn't need to be there; since he wasn't playing. Al and Rose were in the locker room the Gryffindors were using first; and were already getting their gear on when Louis caught up with them – along with Tiberius and Brock McLaggen. They weren't surprised when James and Ollie, as usual, were the last two members of their team to arrive; getting to the locker room less than a minute ahead of when Louis had wanted them there for the pre-game meeting and warm-ups. While Al wasn't worried or nervous, he definitely felt a lot of pride as he finished up getting ready for the game by putting on his scarlet team robe with the golden lion blazon. His parents had worn them for Gryffindor; as had many of the members of his family; and so there was definitely some pride involved in becoming part of that legacy. The fact that he was just one of four members of his family on the team, and quite possibly the least of them, didn't make any difference for how he was feeling; though that did motivate him to want to play his best.

When everyone was ready; Louis took them out for a quick warm-up; and then they had a team meeting while waiting for the stadium to fill with spectators that included Professors, students, and visitors that were mostly residents of Hogsmeade. There was at least one exception, since Al and Rose knew that Teddy had come to the game so that he could spend the time with Victoire; and she'd passed on the message from him requesting that they shoot for a marathon game so that they could make that a long visit. Al didn't know if that was a good idea, since even the junior Slytherin team had a reputation for playing dirty, tough games; but Louis didn't even mention that during his meeting and probably wasn't worried about what his big sister and her boyfriend wanted. He was totally focused on the game at hand; and his own jobs playing Keeper and being captain and leader for his team. Finally, it was time for the teams to be introduced; and they lined up at the entrance to the stadium that was closest to their locker room while the Slytherin team was doing the same at the other player entrance.

"This is it," Louis told his team mates. "Let's get out there and find out if we're as good as I hope we are this year!"

"Don't blow it for us," James leaned back and whispered to Al; his tone low and derisive. He and Ollie and Brock were in the middle row of three, with Louis and Tiberius leading the way and Al and Rose bringing up the rear as the firsties.

Al didn't have time to answer, since their team was called out by the announcer then; and they took off in quick succession. He let that small irritation pass; and smiled brightly as he took in the experience. The stadium was nearly full; the Gryffindor section cheered loudly for them; and there was a thrilling rush of excitement as he flew next to Rose while they did a full circle of the stadium before landing. Rose was just as fired up; her smile equally bright; and she looked to be as ready to play as he was – all nervousness and worry seemingly gone now that it was time for action.

Slytherin was called out as soon as they'd landed; and Al watched as their opponents flew out and high overhead. All of the players had been pointed out to him over the past month; but he had only talked with Scorpius before; and been in classes with Davis Zabini. While the old days when Slytherin never had Witches on their team had been gone for quite a while, and there were two Witches on the senior team this year; they only had Wizards on their current junior team. They looked fierce and proud as they flew around in their green robes with the silver serpent blazon; though the word fierce was relative depending on whether you were looking at their two third-year Beaters or firsties Scorpius and Davis. They landed too; Mr. Peakes gave them the usual pre-game speech; the Captains shook hands for the briefest of moments; and then they got ready to play.

"The bludgers and snitch are let loose; there goes the quaffle; and the game is on!" The announcer this year for the junior matches was Teresa Thomas – third-year Ravenclaw and daughter of Dean and Parvatti Thomas. "Blaise Zabini and Ollie Wood are after the quaffle; and Wood reaches it first. He turns away to pass to – and no, he circles and heads straight in on the Slytherin goal. He shoots; and Avery makes the save!"

With that, the game was on; and the action was fierce. While they'd had their own picks for pairing up Chasers for the match, Al and Rose soon realized that what Louis had wanted for their best-case seemed to be exactly what the Slytherins wanted too – if for different reasons. They put Scorpius on Ollie; had Davis Zabini on Al; and had put his older brother, Blaise, up against Rose once that take-off play had been completed. The obvious reason for that choice for Slytherin was that they expected the older, bigger boy would be able to push Rose around. She was, after all, the only Witch in the game and a firstie too.

The one thing that they apparently didn't take into consideration was that five out of seven Gryffindors were flying Firestorm 250's, and while there were four Slytherin players with the same broom; the mis-matches were at two of the Chaser spots. The Zabinis were usuing comparatively new Nimbus brooms; but they were no match for the Firestorms – and that showed up fairly quickly as Al and Rose competed very successfully against them. Al suspected that Scorpius had been paired against Ollie for a different reason by his Captain, Rupert Avery; but he soon proved that was the best Chaser match-up of the game – for Slytherin.

Ollie did score the first goal of the match at about ten minutes in, and got the Gryffindor faithful fired up; but then it was time for Al and Rose to shine for a while. Rose earned the second goal of the match for Gryffindor; Al got the next two; and Rose and Ollie each added one more before Scorpius stole the quaffle from Ollie while the older boy had tried another scoring drive on his own and then cleanly beat Louis with a pretty good fake. That six-to-one ratio didn't hold, but Ollie, Al, and Rose did manage to score about three goals for every one that the Slytherin Chasers got past Louis.

Despite that scoring difference, the momentum for the match went back and forth as the game went on and on. After that first six goals, and once Scorpius had his first behind him; the Slytherin Chasers pushed back hard; keeping pace with the Gryffindor scoring and temporarily closing the gap by a couple of goals. Attempts at dirty tricks were frequent, particularly against Al and Rose; but never successful as the two youngest Gryffindor players avoided the cheap shots with speed and manouverability combined with always being aware of everything going on around them. Having the Slytherin Beaters key in on them was likely part of the game plan too; but the McClaggens were a match for their Slytherin counterparts so they mostly kept the bludgers off of their team mates.

Gryffindor was up eight to four – or eighty to forty – after the first hour. Out-scoring Gryffindor after spotting them the six-to-one lead had at least some of the Slytherin players thinking that they had Gryffindor right where they wanted them; but that was just wishful thinking. Conditioning, or lack of it, began to show up after that; and Gryffindor had the advantage there too. At two hours, Gryffindor had increased their lead to eighty points with a one-fifty to seventy score; and it was two hundred and twenty to one hundred at the three hour mark.

The all-important one hundred and sixty point lead milestone was passed by the end of the fourth hour; and that was a big deal for James from that point on because he'd been in tough with Gerard Mulciber; Slytherin's second-year Seeker and James' Quidditch nemesis. Going into the start of the fifth hour, James was able to relax a bit with his team comfortably in the lead with a score of three hundred to one-twenty. By then, the Zabini brothers were pretty much gassed from trying to keep up with Al and Rose. They'd only managed to score five goals between them; and hadn't gotten a single goal in the fourth hour while Scorpius had put two past Louis and kept scoring pace with Ollie – at least for that hour.

Through to the end of the match, Al, Rose, and Ollie scored eight more goals; Scorpius could only manage two in return; and then James put the game away by finally beating G-Air – Gerard Mulciber – to the snitch when the other boy made a mistake that left James with a fairly easy, if spectacularly showboated, catch.

Final score – Gryffindor five hundred and thirty; Slytherin one hundred and forty.

"That was fun," Rose told Al quietly as they shared a hug after landing on the pitch. They were the first Gryffindor players on the ground; but Louis and Tiberius were right behind them. "Can we have a nap now?"

Al laughed. "Yes it was; and probably not anytime soon. We'll be having a late lunch; and then there's likely to be a party in our common room after that. Our attendance at that is probably mandatory."

"Tough choice – have a nap or eat," she said with a nod. "I guess I'll have to go with the food; since I'm really hungry too."

"What's all the hugging about?" James asked as he and Ollie landed after their extended victory laps. "Ollie and I would've won the game today without our sixth and seventh-best players. Ollie probably out-scored all three of those Slytherin Chasers on his own."

"Only managed to tie them today," Ollie advised him; "and only ten points behind your one-fifty – so watch out next time or I'll be top scorer instead of you."

James laughed. "That's at least something to shoot for; since the rest of your competition seems a bit lacking this year – including on our team."

"Come on, guys," Louis told them as he put an arm around Rose for a quick hug. "Let's go and congratulate Slytherin for a well-played match."

"Well-played by us," James said under his breath to Ollie along with a snort of laughter.

James and Ollie weren't very gracious in victory; but then most of the Slytherin players didn't handle the loss very well either. Most of them conveniently avoided James, Al, and Rose altogether; but Al and Rose did get brief handshakes and offers of congratulations from Scorpius and Davis – after they'd made a point of approaching and congratulating their fellow firsties. Louis and the McClaggen brothers were at least given a moment or two with all of the Slytherin players; but even that was barely civil and very brief.

The two teams moved apart after doing that; and each group of players were soon surrounded by friends and fans that all wanted to personally offer their congratulations or condolences. Al and Rose were lifted up, metaphorically, by their cousins and friends; and Teddy was there with Victoire to help out with that while also getting to have just a little more time with Victoire before he'd need to leave the school grounds with the rest of the visitors. A few Hufflepuff students stopped by to say hello to Teddy – or tease him about fraternizing with the 'enemy'; but the post-game entertainment was all fun for everyone.

"Great game, Al," Gwendolyn told him as she stepped close and gave him an enthusiastic hug. She stepped back and hugged Rose next. "Both of you played great."

"At least sixth and seventh-best, according to James," Rose advised her with a smile. "Thanks. We had a lot of fun up there today."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod. "I can hardly wait until my team gets to play in three weeks. Maybe we'll even do as well as you have today."

"You'll be brilliant," Al predicted; and that earned him another hug.

"Let's hope so. You're going to be busy for the rest of today. Do you want to get together to study tomorrow morning; and maybe go for a walk in the afternoon again?"

"Sure," Al agreed. "Let's meet up after breakfast and find a classroom to work in. Rose and I got our Charms assignment done last night; but we'll still have Potions to do tomorrow – unless we get started on that later tonight."

"We probably won't if the common room is a madhouse," Rose suggested. "Feel free to invite others, Gwendolyn. It's more fun when there's a bigger group of us sharing the pain."

Gwendolyn nodded again; but laughed too. "That isn't a problem for you; though I guess we all share the pain when one of the potions go bad."

James and Ollie came over then after seeing Gwendolyn with Al and Rose; and Al groaned silently.

"If you've come to congratulate the winners; we're right here," he told Gwendolyn. "You should stay clear of the B-team here – unless you want their inner loser to rub off on you."

Gwendolyn laughed and shook her head. "You guys played a good game, James; but it's obvious that you're giving yourselves more than enough congratulations without any help – deserved or not."

"I'd say we deserve all of the congratulations. We basically won the game without much help at all; so if we need to congratulate ourselves; that works for us too," James told her; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Were you playing in the same game I was watching?" she asked; and James shrugged.

"That depends on whether you were watching the best players or the other players that were up there too. Two of us played brilliantly."

"Louis had seventy-four saves," she advised him. "Al and Rose scored twenty-four goals between them; they had all thirty-four assists; and only gave up five goals on defense. Your Beaters battled to a near-draw against a pretty good pair of Slytherin Beaters – and one of their Beaters was flying a Firestorm 250 while the McClaggens have Nimbus 2200's." Focusing her attention on Ollie for a moment, she said – "You score the most goals; but gave up nine goals on defense for a net of just five goals to the nineteen net that Al and Rose had today – plus ten for Al and plus nine for Rose." She smiled at the two older boys sweetly and enjoyed the expressions on their faces. "I'd say that I saw way more of the game than either of you did, but if you don't believe me; you should. I've learned a lot about things like that from my Mum."

"She's just messing with us," Ollie told James; working up his bravado again quickly. "We both out-scored them; and wouldn't have needed their points to get the win."

Gwendolyn laughed again. "That's true, but you could say the same for Al and Rose," she pointed out; "and it didn't matter if James caught the snitch – except that the extra points will help in the Quidditch Cup race. Slytherin should've gone for the snitch catch sooner – while you were slacking off and waiting for an easy catch. That would have at least saved them from the big points spread."

"Make that an attempt at protecting her loser boyfriend," James told Ollie dismissively. "Come on – we'll have some more fun with Al later – when his girlfriend isn't around to do all of the talking for him." He waved at Al as he started to walk away. "Later, loser."

Al was smiling as he turned his attention back to Gwendolyn after watching his brother swagger away; but didn't have time to say anything before Louis joined them – which was just a matter of turning around and away from the group he'd been visiting with.

"Thanks for that quick game analysis," he told Gwendolyn with a smile. "I'd have gotten there soon enough once I'd had a chance to look over the game stats; but you're welcome to help us out with that anytime." He turned to Al and Rose next. "Don't let James and Ollie get to you – it's just the way they are; and we have to take the bad with the good. You guys played great and you should be proud of that."

"Thanks, Louis," Rose said gratefully. He turned back to his sisters, Teddy, and the other teens hanging out with him; and Rose smiled at Gwendolyn. "Thanks to you too. James and Ollie might be having troubles matching up reality with their big-headed perceptions; but Al and I really appreciate you at least trying to help them out with that."

"You're welcome," Gwendolyn assured her; "though Al might not want to thank me too if James makes good on that promise."

"He'll try, but I'll thank you anyway," Al told her sincerely. "You should keep an eye out for him too – just in case he decides to add you to his favorite targets list just because he knows how much I'd hate being responsible for that if he did."

"You wonldn't be," Gwendolyn disagreed; "and he'd better not try. He isn't my brother; and I wouldn't put up with his bullying or pranks."

Rose grinned at her. "Are you sure about that? After all, if Al's your boyfriend as James was just claiming; then you could be saying that about a future brother-in-law."

Gwendolyn laughed; and Al blushed. She hugged him affectionately before answering Rose's question and comments. "For the record, Al and I are not dating – we're friends. Even if we were, though, that wouldn't stop me from blasting James if he had it coming to him anymore than he'd stop acting the way he does if he thought that I was a future member of his family."

They continued to talk together for a while, but started to have other interruptions then; and Gwendolyn needed to share Al and Rose with other friends and well-wishers. Teddy said goodbye to them when it was time for him to leave; and then it wasn't long after that before it was time to head for the locker room to get changed and then move on to the Great Hall for the late lunch that was being served there. Gwendolyn moved on when Al and Rose went to the locker room; and Al didn't get a chance to even talk with her for the rest of the day.

Lunch was more like a major snack break that included sandwiches and veggies to go along with drinks and munchies; and then most of the Gryffindors went back to their tower for a victory celebration that lasted until dinnertime; and then picked up again after that for the rest of the evening – at least for some of the students. The entire experience had been very different for the junior team players. James and Ollie loved being in the spotlight and played the celebrity for all it was worth. Louis was gracious and easy-going; the McClaggen brothers were somewhere in between; and Al and Rose were happy to stay out of the way of the main celebration as much as they could and just have a bit of fun with their friends.

While some of the teens had been happy to keep the party going after dinner, there were also lots of the older students that needed to get back to their studies instead of taking an entire day off. Though they'd booked the study session with Gwendolyn and others in the morning, Al and Rose took that opportunity to step away from the party scene and get some work done too. That kept them busy until they were ready to head for their dorms; and then Al wrapped up his night with a mirror chat with his parents and Lily and some light reading in bed until he was ready to fall asleep.

The Gryffindor Quidditch victory was still news on Sunday around Hogwarts; but most students were ready to move on by then – both to newly-blooming stories on the grapevine and to other activities – whether that meant studying or playing. Quidditch was still one of the chat topics for Al, Rose, and their study group on Sunday morning; but that was about professional Quidditch – and specifically about the games on Saturday. That had included the Harpies-Falcons match; and Gwendolyn had the inside scoop for them thanks to a mirror chat on Saturday night with her mother. The Harpies had won that game, but even though Gabrielle had caught the snitch in about an hour and a quarter; that had still given the Falcons time to beat up on the Harpies more than Gwenog would have liked.

Some actual studying had gone on then too, and that had been as much fun as work; since they had gotten to play with making potions and doing a bit of magic practicing in addition to the written assignments. For Al, though, the best part of his day started after lunch when he met up with Gwendolyn and they went out to the practice pitch to play on their brooms and have a one-on-one Chaser battle. That had been her idea; and Al had been happy to do that with her instead of going for another walk or finding somewhere to sit and talk.

"You don't want to get the bludgers out too?" Gwendolyn asked Al when he only picked out a quaffle instead of grabbing a box with the entire set. "That won't be very challenging for me."

Al laughed. "I'll try to give you a bit of competition, but I thought that we could work on some plays and tricks; and that's tough to do while dodging bludgers – at least until you're ready to test those tricks while dodging the bludgers too. Doing that works better with a Beater or two helping out anyway."

"That sounds good," Gwendolyn agreed. "We learn new plays at every practice, but don't work on flying tricks with my team – at least not so far."

"We don't either," Al said with a nod; "but Mum and Dad still practice like this sometimes; and I guess they used to practice Mum's flying tricks a lot when she played for the Harpies. It doesn't sound as though she ever tried anything in a game that they hadn't completely worked out at home first."

"Then I'm good with giving this a try," Gwendolyn assured him. "It would be a great compliment if we could be compared to our Mums for things like that some day – or your Dad, for that matter. Mum says he could've played Seeker for any team in the league too."

"Except the Harpies," Al added with a grin. "She has told us – James, Lily, and me – that he'd have done alright in the show despite being a Wizard."

"True," Gwendolyn agreed. "I think that you've got some potential too." Al got the distinct impression that she'd meant that in more than one way, and she paused for a moment as if thinking about adding more; but then she changed tracks with her next comment and moved on. "Mum wouldn't have been happy to watch the game yesterday with just one Witch playing. We only have two girls on the Ravenclaw junior team; and Hufflepuff has three Witches. Six out of twenty-eight team players isn't very many."

"The Senior teams have a better mix," Al pointed out, "but for our junior team; I guess we'll have to blame my family and the McClaggens for not having enough Witches our age – and interested in playing Quidditch; since Cora could have tried out for the team if she'd wanted to do that. We've done fairly well this year for the family Witches on the senior team, though."

"Yes, you have," Gwendolyn agreed. "They're all really good players too; though that isn't a good thing for my Ravenclaw senior team."

They were out on the pitch by then; got their gear on; and were soon in the air and having fun. Starting with a flying warm-up; Gwendolyn led and Al gave chase. He led a few times too, but they were well-matched for skill; so it didn't really matter which of them was in the lead – it was the having fun that mattered most for both of them. When they did start playing one-on-one with the quaffle; their competition was more intense. They switched back and forth from offense to defense as needed, and while Gwendolyn was willing to take more risks on either side of that battle; Al balanced that with a more conservative approach that usually resulted in saves – and sometimes gave him easy scoring chances when Gwendolyn's risks didn't work out for her.

Finally, they spent the last half-hour of their play time working on tricks – both moves that they'd seen their parents or others do; and others that they made up as they went along. Those last tricks were mostly just variations on flying moves they'd seen before; but they each had a couple of original tricks of their own that they showed each other and worked on perfecting together too. Al had an advantage with all of those tricks thanks to years of flying practices with his parents and some of the best Qidditch players to ever play at Hogwarts or in the pro league, but Gwendolyn happily worked on everything with him; and she was definitely not afraid to try even the wildest tricks.

"We so need to do that again sometime soon," Gwendolyn told Al after they landed. "I had more fun doing that than any of our team practices so far; or even the scrimmages we've been doing with the others."

"You might not have much time for hanging out with me while you're getting ready for your game; but we can do this again anytime you do have time."

Gwendolyn smiled while also trying to give him some kind of 'you're in trouble' look. "You forgot the part where you were supposed to tell me that you've just had the most fun ever doing this too."

Al laughed; but then answered her seriously. "I loved doing this with you today, but I'd just be lying if I told you that my first match playing for Gryffidnor didn't rank higher on my best Quidditch moments of the weekend; let alone ever."

"I'm crushed," Gwendolyn teased. "It's a wonder you have any Witches for friends when you go around telling the truth like that instead of just telling us what we want to hear."

Al laughed again and shrugged as he started taking his pads off and putting them in his Quidditch gear bag. "I'll likely mess up a fair bit by doing that; but being honest is just one of those pesky little morals that I either inherited or learned from my parents."

"I can probably work with you on that, Al, but if you're always going to be honest with me; I am never going to take you along when I go shopping for clothes."

"That's a good idea," he agreed with another laugh; "but only because I don't know anything about fashion at all; and don't even want to think about how stupid I'd look if Mum and Lily didn't help me out with my own shopping."

Gwendolyn laughed too. "Now that really is too much honesty. I wouldn't advise admitting that to any of the guys or your reputation is going to be toast."

"I'll try to remember that," Al promised; "though I'm not embarrassed about it either and don't really see what the big deal is. It would be way weirder if I got other guys to help me out with that."

"True," Gwendolyn agreed; "though I'm fairly sure you're still allowed to make an exception for your Dad."

"He came along for our school shopping trips; but James may have already worn him out when it comes to shopping for clothes for us."

"It's a wonder he hasn't just plain worn both of your parents out," Gwendolyn suggested with a smile. "Instead of going there, though; what are you doing for the rest of the day?"

Al shrugged. "Not much. I'll stop in to see Winter in the Owlery sometime, but other than that; I'll likely just end up hanging out in the common room with Rose and the others until bedtime. You?"

"I'll go to see Winter with you on the way back if you'd like," she offered. "That reminds me that I'll need to order an Owl Post so that I can send Mum the card and gift I have for her birthday on Wednesday."I'm really going to miss being there for it; but then it's a weekday and she'll be working most of the day anyway."

"You're welcome to borrow Winter for that," Al offered. "She'd like the extra trip and change from just going to my house or Rose's too."

Gwenog smiled and hugged him. "Thanks, Al." She lifted her bag and put it over her shoulder. "Ready to go?"

He was, so they took the quaffle with them and put it away before heading for the castle and the Owlery. Al gave Winter and Blizzard some treats; Gwendolyn helped with that; and they both spent some time with the owls before needing to split up and head for their dorms so that they could drop of their gear and get ready for dinner. The rest of the evening was quiet for Al by comparison; and he even turned in early after getting razzed one too many times by James – though he was tired of the noise in the common room by then anyway.

The next couple of weeks at Hogwarts were fairly uneventful for Al, Rose, and their friends. Other than helping her with getting Winter sent on her way to Gwendolyn's home with the gift and cards for her mother's birthday and having a couple of study sessions together; Al didn't spend much time with Gwendolyn at all. Most of her free time was spent getting ready for the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match; and that included extra practices on the weekends. While she was busier; Al, Rose, and Ray found their workload easing a bit. Getting to play the first junior Quidditch match of the year was great; but they now had until March before they'd play next and that meant that they didn't really need to push it at their practices for a while.

James and Ollie were good with that – not that they ever really pushed themselves at anything except their pranks and practical jokes efforts. They worked even harder on that; and Al, Ray, Rose, and their friends were favorite targets – especially at times of the day when they couldn't pick on vulnerable younger Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws. Al kept trying to deal with that as best he could without making waves; but that was getting tougher to do as the insults and attempted or successful pranks added up – and escalated.

Away from school, the first couple of weeks of October weren't all that exciting either. Gwenog didn't let anyone make a big deal of her forty-ninth birthday because she was focused on the Harpies' training and upcoming matches. Kirley did have a small dinner party for her that Harry, Ginny, and Lily attended; but then she'd insisted on getting back to work – and only let Ginny stay and hang out with her because she offered to help out with the game planning while Harry and Lily played with Kirley and Jonah.

Lily had a second birthday to help celebrate during that second week; and happily surprised Denise with a birthday trip to her Uncle Charlie's dragon reserve; where they got to see several dragons and get a short tour before heading home again in time for the birthday dinner party that started after the parents were all finished work for the day. The dinner and birthday fun made for a great end to the day for Denise; but then she also got to keep Lily for a sleepover so that the two girls could have the extra time together before getting back to their usual routines.

The second Hogsmeade weekend of the school year was on that second Saturday, and while that was more exciting for the students allowed to go to town for the day; Al and Rose spent their day studying with their friends and trying to dodge James and Ollie while they were out on 'prank patrol' and looking for stray firsties to terrorize. They had a few Ravenclaw kids in their study group, including Gwendolyn; but then she spent most of the afternoon practicing Quidditch with the other first and second-year players on the junior team. Since the Hufflepuff players were doing the same thing, the pitches were both booked; and that meant that Al, Rose, and Ray couldn't have a scrimmage match – so they opted for just hanging out together and playing a few games like fanged Frisbee instead.

Victoire and Teddy were among the happiest Witches and Wizards in Hogsmeade, and while their dating status was comparatively new; the weeks of separation were bringing them even closer together. While they spent some time with her sister, brother, and their friends; they also went for a long walk by the lake on their own; and had a picnic lunch instead of fighting the crowds at the Three Broomsticks. They were so focused on being together that they didn't even think about watching the Harpies' match on their mirrors; though Victoire was happy to find out later that her Aunt had helped the Harpies to another win. Saying goodbye was tough; but at least they only had to wait a week to see each other again at the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game.

Having the day off with nothing to do on Sunday was fairly boring for Al and Rose; though she had some fun with the other girls while he enjoyed some outdoor time on his own instead of playing mirror games with the other guys or just hanging out in the busy, noisy common room. By Monday, they were glad to get back to their classes; and that kept them busy through until Saturday – when all students at Hogwarts went into Quidditch mode again for the second junior teams' match of the season. Though he would only be one of the spectators for the game today, Al was still awake as early as usual on Saturday morning; fired up; and looking forward to what he hoped would be a really good day. He was daydreaming about that when Rose met up with him in the common room for their usual morning walk to the Great Hall.

"Are you that fired up about the game; or hoping that you'll get to spend more time with Gwendolyn once it's over – or at least starting tomorrow if they win and she has a party to go to for the rest of today?" Rose asked; grinning at Al as they walked along the seventh-floor hallway.

"I've missed getting to hang out with her," Al admitted candidly, "but I'm looking forward to getting to see the rest of our Quidditch competition in action too; and it'll be nice to see Teddy here when we're not playing in the game. Maybe we'll even get a chance to talk with him a bit."

"If he's not just off somewhere snogging Victoire during the entire match," Rose joked; and Al laughed.

"I hope they don't do that. James and Ollie are on a roll this week; and might think about pranking them."

Rose shook her head. "They might think about it; but do you really think that they'd try messing with an Auror-trainee – not to mention what Victoire might do to them? Pranking the Head Girl might be a very dumb idea."

"That'd just be a challenge for James; but this is just hypothetical anyway; since I don't expect that Victoire and Teddy will just go off somewhere to snog each other during the game. The school grounds aren't open just for casual visits; and Teddy wouldn't mess that up for them – or risk getting asked to leave."

"Okay, then, so what would you like to talk with Teddy about? Cross-House dating etiquette?"

"I don't think he actually did that while he was here," he reminded Rose; "and I was thinking more along the lines of what he's been up to at work and for fun while we're here. I know he's at our house at least a couple of times a week; but we don't get to hear those regular updates anymore while we're here."

"I wasn't in on that at home like you were," Rose pointed out. "Teddy doesn't come over to our house very often unless Mum and Dad are hosting one of the family gatherings or parties. You might not see him as often from now on if he'll be spending all of his free time with Victoire – especially after she graduates."

"True, but I'll wager that Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur will see him around their cottage a lot," Al predicted. "We could always go and visit him there if Teddy and Victoire don't come over to our house very often."

His comment led to talking about their family until they got to the Great Hall; and then they were soon both busy with their friends – and enjoying their breakfast. It was no surprise that Quidditch was at the top of the chat topic list; though there was gossip and other related news that fit in with the sports theme. The weather was noticeably colder than it had been for the first junior match-up, but while it was a bit breezy and overcast; it wasn't supposed to rain – at least for most of the day. There were a couple of teen drama stories that might impact the game too; though boyfriend or girlfriend issues weren't usually much of a problem with the junior teams. While Al had been happy to have fun with Rose and their friends, he also finished eating early; and made sure that he was waiting in the entrance hall when Gwedonlyn left the Great Hall for the Quidditch stadium. His smile flashed to life too when he saw her reaction to finding him there and waiting; and Gwendolyn quickly closed the gap and then hugged him happily.

"I wanted to wish you good luck before the game," Al told her once she'd stepped away from him again. "You remind me of Mum before a game or even just playing at home. I feel sorry for Myra; since she's likely to have a bad day out there." Myra Graves was the Hufflepuff Keeper and team Captain – and a fellow Weird Sister's kid with Gwendolyn.

"We can hope, and I'll feel a bit bad about it if that happens; but I'll manage to get over that – if we win."

"If you win the day over Myra; you'll have earned it," Al pointed out. "She might not be quite as good as Louis; but she is really good."

"I have to get going, Al. Thanks for wishing me luck." She hugged him again; and smiled. "Win or lose; let's talk later about getting back to spending Sunday afternoons together. I've missed having time to talk with you – and going for walks or playing Quidditch."

"Me too; and we can do that," Al promised. "Have fun out there. You'll have at least a couple of Gryffindors cheering for you – even if the rest probably won't."

"Thanks for that too," Gwendolyn said; and then she was off and running – wanting to catch up with her team Captain and a couple of team mates that were on the way to the stadium too.

Al went for a little walk out to and along the lake for a while first; and then he met up with Rose, Ray, Bristol, Cora, and a few other friends to hang out with them until it was time to head for the stadium. While he'd hoped to spend some time with Teddy, he and Victoire had met up as early as they could; they'd picked out seats in the Gryffidor section while the stadium had still basically been empty; and they were already surrpounded by other teens – including all of the members of Victoire's team and some of their friends. There wasn't room for a group of firsties too; so Al and Rose had to settle for a quick round of hugs with Teddy before moving on to sit with most of the other first-year Gryffindors.

"Well, so much for that plan," Rose whispered to Al once they were sitting down. "I guess we need to get a bit older before we'll fit in – not that we haven't been waiting for that since we were babies."

"That might not change much until we're adults too," Al suggested with a nod. "What do you think that Victoire's doing having her team together with her for the game?"

Rose shrugged. "Maybe she's scouting for next year; though it could just be that they all want to hang out with her – and with Teddy."

"Victoire won't be here," Al pointed out; "but I guess that's a good idea for whoever is Captain next year."

"Is that even a big deal?" Ray asked. "There aren't that many fourth-years that make the Senior teams anyway. They usually play on the reserve squads for a year or two first."

"That hasn't been the case for very long," Rose told him; "and that'll change back again after the number of post-war baby boom kids per year starts dropping off again. We're somewhere in the middle of that, though; so it'll be a while before that happens."

"Even if we don't get to play every year; we'll hopefully get to play more than our parents did when they were at school here," Al offered. "Most kids back then didn't even get to play at all until third or fourth year."

Rose laughed. "Your Dad missed two or three years worth of games too – he just had other reasons for doing that than not being good enough to make the teams."

"Yeah, but I think he's turned out okay despite being such a trouble-maker here," Al joked. "Who knows? Maybe that means that James will turn out alright eventually too."

"Optimist," Rose teased before taking their chat in a different direction.

They didn't have a lot of time left by then to talk before the teams were introduced; and then it wasn't long before Mr. Peakes sent the quaffle high into the air and the game was on!

Hufflepuff had fielded some of the best teams at the school over the past five or six years, and they had some talented players; but it was soon obvious that Ravenclaw had some big advantages – with the top two being their third-year Captain and Seeker, Pauline Boot; and her twin brother, Peter, at Keeper. Mark Goldstein was their second-year Chaser, so he led the way for their Chaser trio; but that really only meant that it took a while for Gwendolyn to really get into the game and start showing everyone just how talented she was – after many of the 'scripted' offensive plays had been used up with marginal results.

"Quit grinning like that, Al," Rose leaned in and told him after they'd just watched Gwendolyn score a particularly great goal. "Take notes, too; because we'll be playing a real game against her next April – and one of us is likely going to be assigned to stop her from scoring goals like that one."

"I can do that and still appreciate a really good goal – and game," Al countered.

"That'd be more believable if you smiled like that for any of the other players."

"I'm fairly sure that I was smiling this much for all of your goals in our game," Al hedged; and Rose laughed.

"Nice try, but no, you didn't – not quite the same way as you're doing while watching Gwendolyn today. Instead of teasing you about that, though; how would you have defended that play? Hufflepuff obviously didn't do that very well."

"He'd flash that smile at her and hope that it distracted Gwendolyn," Ray joked; earning laughs from his friends.

"If it'd work; I might try it," Al admitted easily; "but just in case that brilliant plan 'A' didn't work; I'd have just gotten out of Louis' way and let him do his job." He nodded toward one of the Hufflepuff Chasers. "Gwendolyn is using their defense for cover. They're allowing their defense to get too close to Myra; getting in her way; and giving Gwendolyn chances to make moves toward goals that Myra can't get to while her own Chasers are blocking the angles she needs to defend the goals."

Rose nodded. "I was thinking the same thing; though some of the Ravenclaw passes early in each offensive play could maybe be intercepted too. Gwendolyn's the only one of their Chasers mixing that up much. The boys look fairly predictable."

"That'd be a good thing for our Beaters to work on too," Ray offered. "If you know where the pass is going; it's hard to catch it when there's a bludger right there too."

While they enjoyed watching the game; Al, Rose, and Ray had fun breaking the game down too and talking about everything that was happening both in the air and around the stadium. The girls had particular fun chatting about the social aspects of attending a game; though the boys weren't particularly interested in discussing who was at the game with whom; what so-and-so was wearing; or which couples were fighting, making up, or hooking up. Rose was happy to join in for that with the girls, but while Al stayed out of those discussions as much as possible; he did really love watching Gwendolyn as she really did shine as one of the best players in the game. Pauline eventually caught the snitch to end the game and give Ravenclaw the three hundred and forty to one hundred victory; but Gwendolyn scored twelve of her team's nineteen goals – two more than all of the Hufflepuff Chasers managed against Peter. Myra might have been second-best Keeper in the match, but that was relative; she'd faced more shots on goal than Peter had; and scoring twelve goals on her had really said more about Gwendolyn's skill than anything else.

This game hadn't lasted nearly as long as the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, so the post-game entertainment didn't need to be rushed at all before it would be time for the students to head into the castle for lunch – and for the guests to leave the school grounds. Gwendolyn was busy with her team mates and fellow Ravenclaws for a while, but she was still fired up and enthusiastic when Al, Rose, and the rest of their little group finally got a chance to congratulate her – and she had another big, enthusiastic hug for Al before talking much with any of them.

"You were brilliant up there," Al told her; and she laughed happily.

"Thanks, Al. That was so amazing! I wish we could have played longer."

"We're glad that you didn't," Ray told her with a grin. "Gryffindor's still in first place on points for the Quidditch Cup – even if we're tied with your team for wins."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Now why didn't we think about that before Pauline ended the game?" she asked in mock astonishment. "Now I'm really wishing that Slytherin had tried to catch the snitch for the loss in your game to keep the score closer than it was."

"As if there was any chance of G-Airhead ever beating me to the snitch," James said with a snort as he and Ollie joined them. Both boys were grinning; Ollie laughed at James' use of their version of Gerard Mulciber's nickname; and Al was instantly on edge and wondering what his brother had up his sleeve. "I told you to stop hanging around with Al, and now see where that's gotten you – stuck with the rest of the Quidditch also-rans."

"Shut it, James," Al told him angrily; but James just laughed; his expression gleeful as his insult so obviously hit the mark.

"What will you do if I don't?," he taunted dismissively. "Will you have your girlfriend give me a good talking to?" He laughed again. "I'm so scared. How about you, Ollie?"

Ollie paused dramatically before answering. "Sorry, mate. Not even mildly concerned here." He and James both laughed at that. "Didn't see anything scary during the game either, but that's not surprising when the best today would barely rate a spot on our practice team."

"Would you like to try a one-on-one Chaser duel tomorrow afternoon and prove that load of hippogriff dung?" Gwendolyn offered; and Ollie laughed again.

"If I was looking for some one-on-one action with a Witch tomorrow afternoon it wouldn't be with a firstie; and a Chaser duel would just be embarrassing for you." His smile turned to something closer to a leer; and he looked her up and down suggestively. "Check back with me in a couple of years when you've, um, developed a bit; and maybe I'll change my mind about that."

"And maybe she'll be ready to spend time with a real boy by then too instead of these walking, talking tween-witch dolls," James added with a snort and derisive grin aimed at Al. "Do you let her put you in dresses like Lily does with the Wizard dolls when you play dollies with her at home, Al?"

Al gave him a hard look and then turned to Gwendolyn. "Congratulations. I'm sorry that my brother is being such a git; but I'll get out of here so he's got no reason to keep being so nasty to you."

With that, and the sound of James and Ollie laughing at him and adding a few more snide remarks that were loud-enough for a lot of the teens around them to overhear despite the noise of the crowd; Al left the stadium and didn't even try to find Teddy to say goodbye to him. He went straight to his dorm room, and stayed there; skipping lunch altogether in favor of being alone for a while so that he could get a handle on the anger that was boiling hot and threatened to escape. He didn't want to let that happen at all; and definitely hadn't wanted to lose it on James in front of Gwendolyn and a stadium full of family, friends, students, Professors, and visitors. He was thinking about it in those terms too; because he was more than a little afraid of what he might be capable of if he did lose his temper.

Sure, he'd been mad at James lots of times before, and they'd had fights just as most brothers do. That could get quite interesting with little Wizards, but he'd never done anything even by accident that had hurt James; and little kids' fights were very different from what he could do even now with his wand and admittedly limited knowledge of charms and spells. He'd always held back in those fights when he was younger too – even knowing that doing so either allowed James to win those fights - or end in a draw at best. The risks were higher now; and he sensed that he would need to be very cautious if he ever attempted to use his magic against anyone.

Taking out his wand, he studied it for a moment; and then tried to channel some of that pent-up emotion so that it wasn't just eating him up. He started by creating a shield that covered half of the room. Then he bent it into a dome that expanded as it formed and protected the entire room. While leaving that in place, he levitated all of the furniture, including his own bed; keeping everything suspended about half-way between the floor and the top of the shield-dome. He continued to play with other feats of magic; and eventually felt calm enough to let it all go and put his wand away.

It had been a surprise to realize that he'd spent more than an hour doing that, and he didn't want to still be anywhere in Gryffindor tower when everyone started to get back there from lunch; so he grabbed his bookbag; added a snack and drink; and headed outside to find somewhere he could study on his own for the afternoon. Doing that hadn't been as successful as getting calmed down had been; but then he hadn't ended up minding at all when Rose, Bristol, and Ray eventually tracked him down and joined the outdoor study session. Rose in particular had a few choice things to say about James, but when Al made it obviuos that he didn't want to talk about his brother; she let it drop and they concentrated on their work instead while talking about anything else but James and Ollie.

Studying ended up being the name of the game for Al on Sunday too; though that was because he and Rose ended up hanging out with Gwendolyn and her Ravenclaw study buddies as they all played catch-up on their homework after taking Friday night and Saturday off for Quidditch and the victory party. That meant no afternoon walks, Chaser duels, or anything else; but they managed to have a bit of fun here and there anyway while they worked. The studying was finished by dinnertime; and then Al wrapped up his weeekend by writing letters to his parents and Lily; sending them off with Winter; and then having a bedtime mirror chat with Lily before turning in early.

The last full week of October could best be described as bipolar for Al. When he was in classes, studying with his friends, or having a cameo bit of fun here and there; life was good. On the downside, James and Ollie took their Halloween pranking to another level as one of James' favorite days of the year loomed ever-nearer; and they spent even more time than usual on targeting Al and Ray – and Rose and the others to a lesser extent. They certainly weren't the only targets for the self-declared prankmasters of Hogwarts; but that didn't really help when they were trying to avoid everything from boobytraps to random acts of hexing.

Outside of Hogwarts, there was a family birthday on Tuesday. Some Witches might consider their fortieth birthday Halloween-scary, but Angelina didn't think so; and barely paid attention to it as she got ready for the next Harpies' Quidditch match. Now that game on the Saturday before Halloween had been scary, but only because they lost the match; and that loss dropped their team to a five and three record on the season – along with losing spots in the standings over the other top teams. There wasn't anything scary going on at home with Al's parents or sister; though that was mostly because his parents were too busy with work and Lily was moderately bored but getting excited about Halloween – and the party that Grandma and Grandpa Weasley were hosting for the cousins and a few friends while the parents went out to other Halloween parties on Halloween night.

Back at Hogwarts, Al had a tough time trying to enjoy the genuine Halloween fun at all as he had to constantly be looking out for James or Ollie. They weren't safe from them on Saturday morning in the classroom they'd picked for their study session; the washrooms and showers were a risky place for any Gryffindor Wizard to visit; and anything that you ate or drank at meals came with the definite possibility that something had been added that would come back to haunt you sooner or later. While using their favorite wheezes was a big part of that; they weren't the only pranks in the tool kit for James and Ollie; and they continued to get worse over the last few days of the month – or better; from their own, seriously warped perspective.

Al and Gwendolyn had attempted to spend time together on Sunday, but James and Ollie messed that up for them too; and Al wasn't much in the mood for being sociable after that – even though Gwendolyn had been willing to hang out with him despite his temporary, wheeze-induced affliction. He spent most of the afternoon and evening in his dorm room, and other than having dinner with Rose and their friends; the only time he was out of his dorm room was while he and Rose went to the Owlery to send Winter off with their cards and gifts for Grandma Weasley's sixty-seventh birthday on Monday. That was their only involvement in her happy day except for a brief mirror chat after their last morning class on Monday, and from what she told them; Molly wasn't doing anything special to celebrate her big day anyway – other than a dinner out with Grandpa Weasley.

Halloween had always been an emotional day for Al. Nobody else even knew why, since he'd never even told his parents about it; but that had been true since his first Halloween – when Harry and Ginny had taken him along to the cemetery at sunrise to comemmorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of his grandparent's deaths. He had no idea why he remembered that scene, considering that he hadn't been quite six months old then; but he could recall every detail – including the tears, sadness, and even the story-telling; though it had been years later before he'd understood those words when replaying the memories. While it wasn't at all the same for him, Al still felt a sense of loss over never having known his father's parents, and beyond that; he empathized with his father's loss. They'd rarely returned to the cemetery after that, though they did visit occasionally; but Al still thought about it a lot every Halloween – especially first thing Halloween morning.

That had been true again on Tuesday morning when he woke and got ready for the day; but then he'd also had more immediate concerns to deal with for the rest of the day. He had no doubt that all of the effort James and Ollie had put into their pranks and practical jokes over the past week were leading up to a grand finale on Halloween; so he'd been on the lookout for them right from the moment he got out of bed. Nothing happened in his dorm room or anytime before breakfast, and an Owl Post from home helped to get the day off to a better-than-expected start – especially when the Happy Halloween cards also came with gifts of chocolates and candy. James and Ollie were out and around the school sharing their scary and warped version of Halloween happiness; but they didn't try anything on Al, Ray, Rose, or the others in their usual group of friends. That just made Al more nervous as the day went on; and he and Ray were both very watchful anytime they weren't somewhere safe – like in one of their classes.

They studied in the library between last class and dinnertime since that was another safe place from James and Ollie – and not just because they avoided books whenever possible. When they went back to their dorms to drop off their books and get ready for the Halloween feast; Al and Ray found out that their prank-less luck had run out. Their beds had been tossed; anything that hadn't been locked up was strewn around the room; and while their trunks had been locked; that hadn't kept James and Ollie from covering them in what looked like porcupine needles.

"I knew it was too good to be true," Al said with a sigh. He pulled out his mirror and called Rose. "James and Ollie left us a nasty little surprise here in our room," he advised her. "Go ahead without us; and we'll catch up when we can."

"What'd they do?" Rose asked; and then gasped as Al swung his mirror around to show her. "Don't touch those needles," she suggested. "They might be coated with something nasty."

"We won't," Al promised. "Hopefully, we won't be too far behind you."

"Maybe we should wait," Rose said; and Al shook his head.

"Why should you miss out on any of the fun? If we can't finish up here soon enough; we'll just go to the feast and deal with the rest when we get back."

"Okay, but be careful."

"You too," Al warned. "I doubt that they're done with the pranking for today quite yet."

He ended the call and then sighed in frustration. "Where should we start?"

"With blasting your brother and my cousin?" Ray suggested; earning an unenthusiastic laugh from his friend.

"Let's just settle for cleaning up this mess and then we can hope that they'll be pranked out for a while by tomorrow."

"That'd be nice, but isn't very likely," Ray told him. "I have no idea what to do about those needles; so I'll start with cleaning up the rest of the mess."

They both did that, and using their wands; that didn't really take very long. After studying their trunks for quite a while, Al noticed something about how the needles had been attached to their trunks that turned out to be a much simpler fix than either boy had expected. They quickly had the needles literally peeling off as Al was able to magically scrape off the thin film that James and Ollie had used to stick the needles to the trunks; and then Ray helped him out with cleaning up that little mess and throwing everything out. That took longer than cleaning the trunks had because they made sure that none of the needles could be a problem for anyone else; and then they hurried to get ready for the feast before heading for the Great Hall.

By then, the hallways were basically empty except for a few stragglers that they could hear, but didn't see along the way; and they were making good time until they slid to a stop at the second-floor landing for the set of stairs they'd been on; just noticing in time that they'd been transformed into a thick, smelly, oozing mudslide.

"Don't stop now – you're going to be late for the feast if you don't hurry!"

James had already given Al a hard push from behind even as he shouted that; while Ollie had done the same to Ray. With their feet sliding in the mud; Al and Ray helplessly went over the edge. James had pushed Al high; and he went down the stairs head first while Ray had been hit low and landed on his back before making the high-speed slide feet-first. They could hear James and Ollie laughing raucously as they then ran off and presumably headed for the Great Hall; but where the two older boys were going next was the least of their worries at the moment. The stairs were a noxious mudslide, but that ended abruptly at the next landing; so Al and Ray hit the stone floor hard. They were covered in the horrid-smelling mud, so they didn't immediately stop sliding; but the 'ride' did come to a crashing, abrupt end – when they hit the wall.

Al had covered his head with both arms as he crashed; and yelled in pain as one of his arms took the brunt of the impact. Ray had an easier time of it because he could flex his legs to absorb the impact; but the coating of muck made his feet slip and he grunted in pain too as he turned sideways and still hit the wall fairly soundly along his side. They'd both picked up scrapes and bruises along the way down the stairs that proved to them that the mudslide hadn't been quite deep enough to avoid those hits; and the only difference between them was whether they'd taken those hits on their front or back.

"You okay?" Al asked; his voice pinched with pain; and his ears ringing as much with anger as from the hits he'd taken to it on the way down.

"Just great," Ray answered. "Most fun I've had in forever. You?"

"Been better," Al answered honestly. "My arm and head hurt quite a lot." He rolled over onto his back; cradling the sore arm and groaning. He took a moment to catch his breath; and then moved to sit up; pushing off of the floor with his good arm. He closed his eyes as a wave of nausea hit him that might have been from the smell as much as the pain. He looked at Ray and then down at himself; and groaned again. "What part of any of this is supposed to be funny for James?" he asked angrily. "Is he expecting us to make a grand entrance to the feast looking and smelling like this; or was the goal to make us miss the feast altogether?"

Ray shook his head. "They're probably hoping for the first; and will settle for the second – or they'd have made the mudslide on the stairs down into the entrance hall and straight into the Great Hall."

"They'd have never been able to do that with so many people around there," Al suggested; "but I guess we'd better deal with our own troubles right now – and get out of here before we run into anyone."

Ray looked down at their feet as they both stood up. "We'll be leaving a trail for anyone to follow," he pointed out; and Al nodded.

"Let's take our shoes, socks, and robes off; turn the robes inside out; and carry everything with us. That should take care of the worst of it."

"Good thinking," Ray approved; and they both did that while being careful not to get into any more of the mud.

Getting back to their common room took a while, but they managed to get there without running into anyone. Once there, they still had to deal with getting cleaned up; and while the mud wasn't all that tough to wash off; the smell was another matter. Then there was the problem of cleaning shoes, dress robes, and the rest of their clothes; since they hadn't wanted to leave evidence that would lead back to them when the Professors went looking for the students responsible for the mess on those stairs. The feast was probably nearing an end by the time they'd finished; and both boys were tired out from the effort.

"Do you want to try and go to the Great Hall and see if there's anything left to eat, Al?" Ray asked; and Al shook his head.

"You can do that if you want, mate. I think that I'd better go and see Madam Pomfrey about my arm. It still hurts a lot; and I might have done more than just banged it up."

"Jeez, Al; why didn't you say something sooner?" Ray demanded; and Al shrugged.

"Because neither one of us wants to be embarrassed the way we would be if we'd gone to the hospital wing looking like we did after that prank." He smiled ruefully. "Maybe it's that kind of thing that got us sorted into Gryffindor."

"Maybe," Ray agreed, "but I'll go with you. What will you tell Madam Pomfrey?"

"That I fell and hit my arm. It's sort of the truth."

Ray snorted. "Sure it is – if you don't include the tiny little detail about your brother being the one pushing you into that fall. Is this a new low; or have I just not seen him at his worst yet? It's the worst I've heard of for Ollie for sure."

Al thought about that for a moment before saying anything; and they were heading for the common room when he did answer. "He's done some crazy things, so this isn't the worst; but then he honestly doesn't think that there's anything wrong with his pranks." He touched his sore arm lightly with the other hand. "I'll have to say that this one hurts the most, though; and it's way different to be doing these pranks here where it's so easy to embarrass us in front of everyone. That part of all of this is just nasty – and really wrong of them to do it to anyone."

"Especially us," Ray half-joked. "Seriously, though, this is getting way out of hand. What are they going to do to top this prank?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted; "but I'm definitely all the way fed up with them now. What I don't know is what to do about that."

Ray had some suggestions for him to consider as they walked over to the hospital wing; and then Al was busy for a while. Madam Pomfrey confirmed that he had indeed broken his arm, but that it was a clean break; and easily fixed. He didn't mention the sore head that he suspected was at least a mild concussion and didn't show her any of the cuts, scrapes, and bruises that weren't obvious for her to see on his face and the broken arm; so she soon had him fixed up and on his way again. He knew that reports would eventually get to Professor McGonagal and his parents; but as far as they were all concerned; it was just another of the minor little injuries that happened all of the time at Hogwarts.

They went back to Gryffindor Tower after that, and the common room was filling up by then as the students returned from the Halloween feast. There was an informal Halloween party starting up, and though quite a few students were joining in for that; others were already settling in for a long evening of studying after getting a late start to their work. Rose had been on the lookout for them; and she hurried over and hugged each of them when she saw them come into the room.

"What happened?" she asked them quietly. "You missed the feast; and didn't answer when I tried to call your mirror."

"James and Ollie happened," Al answered just as quietly. "We can't tell you about it here; so we'll tell you the rest of the story when we can. We're okay; but it hasn't been fun for us tonight."

"That explains why James and Ollie looked so happy at dinner," she told them. "I've got some Halloween candy I can share if you're hungry. Just making it so you missed out on our first Halloween feast here was a horrid thing to do to you."

"Yes, it was, and thanks, Rose; but I'll share what Mum and Dad sent me this morning with Ray tonight. Give us a minute to go and get our books; and then we'll meet you back here so that we can finish our studying."

"And then we'll mooch from your stash of treats later in the week after Al runs out," Ray added; grinning at Rose.

"Okay to both," she answered; smiling too. "Don't be late, or I'll send a search party this time."

They didn't have any other problems during the round-trip to and from their dorm room; and then they sat at one of the work tables furthest from the fire and tried to get focused on their assignments. That wasn't easy with a party going on in the room – or when James and Ollie sauntered over to gloat a bit while not being able to admit to anything; since Al and Ray hadn't told anyone about what had happened and they couldn't admit to the prank without risking getting caught for causing the mess on those stairs and getting in trouble for it. Getting their work done took longer than it normally would, but by then; all Al was interested in doing was going to bed. His first Hogwarts Halloween had been terrible; and he just wanted to switch off for the rest of the night and forget about it.

Doing that for a few hours had been something that Al had needed to do; but forgetting about what had happened was impossible; and James and Ollie made sure of that during the first few days of November. Al and Ray had only confided in Rose about what had happened, and while she'd urged them to talk to their Professors or parents before James and Ollie had a chance to do something even worse to them; both boys had emphatically decided not to do either. Rose was right, and that was just a stupid guy thing; but it was also a simple fact of school life that they had to live with. Ratting James and Ollie out would just make things worse for them in the end, and while they didn't like it much; getting James and Ollie in trouble over their prank was the kind of thing that could stick to a Wizard all the way through school and beyond. Knowing that James would make sure that happened for Al was enough motivation to keep him quiet; but James didn't cut him any slack for supposedly doing the right thing.

Having the two older boys gloating and treating them so miserably had Al out of sorts every day, and while he didn't let that affect his classwork, studies, or Quidditch practices; he also wasn't himself either. Outwardly, he was quiet and a bit distant and withdrawn; but for at least two people that understood him better; it was clear that he had a white-hot anger boiling just under the surface that he was fighting to control. Rose talked with him every morning during their walks to the Great Hall before breakfast, and she tried to help him as best she could; but Gwendolyn just waited and watched him – her support silent and understanding. They hadn't been able to spend much time together anyway outside of classes because of their respective Quidditch practices and schedules; so it wasn't until Friday evening after dinner that Gwendolyn tried to actually talk with Al about what was bothering him.

"Hi Al," she said; smiling as she caught up with him as he, Rose, and the rest of their usual dinner group were heading out of the Great Hall. "Can you walk me home tonight? I'd like to talk to you about what we're doing this weekend."

"Sure," Al agreed with a half-smile and nod. "Keep a chair for me at our study table," Al asked Rose. "I shouldn't be too far behind you."

"Unless you're lucky," Bristol teased; earning laughs from the others – including Gwendolyn. Al couldn't bring himself to laugh too.

He followed Gwendolyn as she led him up to the first floor using the main stairs; but then she headed down a hallway instead of continuing up toward the entrance for Ravenclaw Tower. She didn't say anything until they had some space and a bit of privacy; and then she took his hand and squeezed it before looking at him with a sideways glance as they continued to walk.

"You're going to have to let all of that mad out soon," she told him gently. "I know that something happened to you and Ray on Halloween night, and it's okay if you don't want to talk about that, but if you try to keep a lid on your anger; it's going to blow up when you least expect it – and when you can't control it."

"Does that mean you didn't really want to talk about what we're doing this weekend?" he asked evasively; and Gwendolyn smiled.

"We've already booked the study session and Quidditch scrimmage for tomorrow; and I was already planning on spending lots of time with you on Sunday whether we have all of our work done or not; but this is more important, Al. That anger is really bad for you; and it's especially bad because we both know that you're a rather extraordinary Wizard."

"You must have me mixed up with some other Wizard," Al suggested; and Gwendolyn stopped and turned to face him.

"I don't, and you know it – which is why you're so afraid of that anger; and what you might be able to do if you ever lost it on someone you were mad at."

Al sighed. "Okay, so if that's all true; what do I do about it? Let it out and find out how bad it can get?"

Gwendolyn shook her head. "You're the gentlest person I know, Al, and to be blunt; James takes advantage of that – even though he probably thinks that you're weaker too." She shrugged. "I don't know why he thinks that it's cool to pick on anyone who actually is weaker than he is; but you could stand up for yourself, Al. There's nothing wrong with doing that."

"There is to me if someone else gets hurt just so that I don't," Al answered sincerely.

"Whatever you might do about what's got you so angry can't be near as bad as what could happen if you just blow up some day – and you're assuming that doing nothing doesn't have consequences too." She paused for a long moment while also getting them walking again. "Tell me what happened, Al. Please?" Crumbling like a cookie under her gentle, earnest request; he told her all about the pranks that James and Ollie had pulled on them – including the fact that he'd broken his arm in that fall down the mudslide. She hadn't been totally shocked; but she was angry now too.

"No wonder you're so mad," she said when he'd finished. "If you won't ask for help with this, though, then you really do need to defend yourself, Al. What they did is way over the top wrong; and you know it."

"Yes, I do," Al agreed; "but I don't want to stop them by becoming an even worse bully than they are."

"You'd never do that." She shook her head vigorously at the expression she saw on his face. "You wouldn't!" she insisted. "I don't know exactly what you should do, Al – I just know that you should take a stand and stop James now before he either goes too far or you lose the grip you have on that anger and do something you might actually feel sorry about."

"I don't know, Gwendolyn. I wish I did; but i don't – and I'm not even sure that anything I do would even matter in the end to James."

"You know your brother," she pointed out. "I'll guess that you also know what it'll take to get him to leave you and Ray alone from now on. Figure that out; do it; and then hurry back to being the normal you that I've really missed seeing over the past few days. This you just feels all wrong."

"That might be because everything does feel wrong. I'll think about all of this; and at least try to be more myself than I have been this week."

"I'd feel better if you'd just agree to go and knock some sense into your brother's thick skull; but you really do need to work that out for yourself. You're ready for a break from all of that, though; so let's talk about what we can do on Sunday. What's the weather supposed to be like?"

With that, they moved on to talk about lighter, easier things; and then took a long loop around to Ravenclaw Tower. Gwendolyn had a long hug for Al before sending him on his way, and then he went back to his own House; got his books from his dorm room; and joined Rose and the others and got to work on his Charms assignment. The time with Gwendolyn had calmed him down quite a bit, but then James and Ollie couldn't resist the urges to razz him some more. Their first visit had included not-very-subtle references to their mudslide prank. That had been bad enough, but their second visit had been all about picking on Al after they'd found out that he'd walked Gwendolyn to Ravenclaw Tower after dinner. Bugging him had been bad enough; but he was seeing red again after they'd tossed out a handful of insults that were as much a back-handed insult to Gwendolyn as they were straight-up insults to him. After that, he'd lost interest in studying; packed up his things; and silently stormed off to his dorm room.

While he was pretending to sleep by the time that Ray and the rest of his room mates came to bed too; Al didn't actually get to sleep for a very long time. He was far too wound up for that, and while the fiery anger was part of that; it was thinking about the counselling he'd been given by Gwendolyn – and Rose – that kept intruding on his darker thoughts; and helped to eventually calm him down again. The few hours of rest he'd managed to get by morning had not been very helpful; and he didn't really feel any better at all as he got up; ready for the day; and then went to the common room to wait for Rose.

She tried her best to distract him while they walked to the Great Hall, but he was not very sociable; and their chat was mostly one-sided. He was quiet during breakfast too; and focused on his food more than anything else that was going on around him. That changed after yet another encoutnter with James and Ollie as they were all getting ready to leave the Great Hall. That wasn't because of the razzing and insults that they so casually tossed at him, though that did have his inner anger flaring again – it was their parting announcement that they were off to spend the morning on prank patrol that had Al making a decision on how he was going to handle his problems with his older brother and Ray's cousin.

By then, the teens that were allowed to go to Hogsmeade for the day were either on the way or in line to head out as Filch and Jigger watched over them with their usual stern hawkishness and distrust. Al, Rose, and the rest of their Gryffindor study mates met up with Gwenodlyn and the other Ravenclaws; and headed for what was becoming the classroom that they usually used for weekend study sessions. Al waited until they were getting set up to work before making an excuse about forgetting something in his dorm room and then he left the others to get started while he went to supposedly retrieve it. He was sure that Gwendolyn didn't believe him, and Rose was supsicious; but the others were busy chatting while they got ready to work and barely even noticed when he left the room.

Finding James and Ollie proved easier than he'd hoped. The sounds of running feet had been the first clue to tracking them down. He followed the sound until he was in the same hallway with a frightened, lone Hufflepuff firstie that Al didn't yet know by name but had seen in their joint classes. The boy managed to wheeze out a warning to Al while running past him as if his life depended on it; but didn't stop or look back as he rushed on. Both boys could hear James and Ollie laughing as they chased him; and the nearness of the sound spurred the Hufflepuff boy to run even faster.

That gave Al an opportunity to both do what he'd come to take care of and keep James and Ollie from catching their current prank target. He was ready a moment later when James and Ollie came into sight around the corner, so all they saw was a glimpse of legs and shoes as he 'ran' into the classroom that had been closest to him. The other boy had turned the next corner already; but Al hoped that James and Ollie would follow what they saw and ignore what they could all still hear. His on-the-fly plan worked, and by the time that he was across the room; James and Ollie came skidding to a stop as they slid in through the doorway. Al had his wand out, and both boys jumped as the door slammed closed behind them. Once James realized whom they'd corenered in the room, his smile became broad and victorious.

"Looks as though we've just traded up," he told Ollie. "Haven't you had enough humiliation yet, Al; or did your girlfriend dump you and you needed to find someplace to hide and have yourself a nice little cry?"

"We can help him out with something to cry about," Ollie suggested. "It's just too bad that Ray isn't here to share the pain again."

"Actually, I came looking for you," Al answered seriously. "I think that it's time for us to have a little talk."

"About what?" James said with a snort of a laugh. "Oh wait, don't tell me – you're going to ask me to stop picking on you because it's not nice and I'm hurting your feelings."

"Maybe he's going to threaten to tell your Mum on us," Ollie said derisively; but James shook his head.

"He wouldn't dare. Al knows I'd just make it ten times worse for him – just like I did when we were little and he tried that."

"I do know that," Al agreed; "but I'm not asking you to stop this time, James – I'm telling you to stop. That's it; I've had it; and you are not going to prank me – or Rose, Ray, or any of our friends anymore."

James laughed. "You're delusional. We're having way too much fun – and speaking of fun; we're going to have some with you right now."

"What should we do with him?" Ollie asked enthusiastically. "Push him down another set of mudslide stairs?"

"Been there, done that," James answered; but then he laughed when he saw Al raise his wand and point it at him. "Put that away before you hurt yourself."

"I told you, James – I've had it with your stupid, nasty pranks and jokes. You're not going to do anything to me now or ever again."

"He's gone mental," James told Ollie. He drew his wand then too and pointed it at Al. "Did you hit your head when you fell down the stairs? You must have to be acting this crazy."

"Yes, I did," Al confirmed. "Got a concussion and broke my arm too. I've been trying very hard not to just let you have it in front of everyone; but I didn't want to do that to you and mess up your precious reputation."

"You broke your arm?" James asked; and then laughed. "You're just messing with us."

"Not yet, I'm not," Al disagreed. "Maybe you'd like me to return the favor." He shouted "REDUCTO!" and James jumped back and looked stunned as Al blasted a big chunk out of the back of a desk chair that had been next to his left hand. Al had only moved his wand at the very last moment or that would have hit that hand and arm full on. It had been too late by then already; but James then yelled "PROTEGO!" and his shield flashed a shimmering blue in front of him. It was only about three feet in diameter; and Al could sense the differences between it and what he could do with his own shields.

"You want a duel, Al? You've got it!"

"Won't be much of a duel when his aim is that bad," Ollie interjected with a derisive snort.

"I didn't miss," Al advised Ollie without looking away from his brother; "and I want you to leave me alone, James. Will you?"

James laughed scornfully and shook his head emphatically. "After that? No way. I'm going to make your life here as miserable as I possibly can – and there's nothing you can do about it." He followed up that declaration with a hex; dropping his shield to do that; and laughing again until he saw Al easily stop it and then counter-attack. He got his shield up again in time to stop that spell, but not by much – and it barely held. "Nice try, loser," he taunted. "You've hardly learned anything yet; and think that you can win a duel with me?"

"Yes, I can," Al agreed. His next attack blasted through James' shield and knocked his big brother back into the wall next to the door – which had been about eight feet behind him by then so he'd hit it rather hard.

Ollie had his wand in hand by then and he pointed it at Al. "PETRIFICUS TOTALIS!" he shouted, but Al already had his shield in place again; and the spell hit it harmlessly.

Al counter-attacked; disarmed Ray; and then hit him with the same body-bind that Ollie had tried to use on him. James was on his feet again by then; and looked angry now too. He attacked again, firing a series of hexes and charms at Al; and he was making some nasty choices that would be very painful if they'd succedded in hitting Al. Fortunately, they didn't; but they did have the effect of making Al even angrier and more determined.

"You're the one who has lost it, James," Al told him. "What are you trying to do – be the opposite of everything that Mum and Dad want us to be?"

"They want us to do what we want and be happy," James retorted. "I'm the happiest guy at this school!" He fired off more hexes and jinxes; and tried moving around the room to find a better opportunity to get past his brother's shield.

"So all of this makes you happy?" Al asked. "Making life miserable for kids you don't like or are weaker than you makes you feel special? Pushing me down the stairs and breaking my arm brought you so much joy that you don't care what it meant for me – or how awful that was for Ray too?" His eyes blazed with hot anger; and he shouted "EXPELLIARMUS!"

James had his shield up; but Al's spell destroyed it; and James watched in astonishment as his wand flew across the room and into Al's outstretched hand.

"Give that back!" James demanded.

"Eventually," Al agreed. "Before I do that, though, you're going to swear that you'll leave me alone from now on."

"In your dreams, Al."

"You'll leave me alone," Al repeated; "and you'll leave Rose, Ray, and everyone else I care about alone, James." He punctuated that by pointing his wand at his brother and blasting him back across the room; pinning him against the wall so that he couldn't budge.

"I won't," James retorted hotly and defiantly.

"You will," Al disagreed with an edge to his voice that James hadn't ever heard from his brother before. "You're my brother, and I love you; but you are going to do what I'm telling you to do or the next time I have to deal with you like this it won't be nice and private like I'm doing with you now."

"You'll never get the jump on me like this again," James shot back; and this time, Al was the one laughing.

"I'm fairly sure that even the Ministry of Magic waits more than five minutes to start revising history; but I have to get back to my friends and our study session; so I'd like that pledge now."

"Not gonna happen," James retorted stubbornly; and Al sighed.

"How about now?" he asked; and watched as James gaped when he saw that Al had Transfigured his clotes into a frilly dress.

"I'll kill you!" he bellowed; and Al just shrugged.

"While you're working out ways to do that; take a look in the mirror." He held up his own mirror and enjoyed seeing James' eyes bug out when he saw the long hair that was suddenly there and then soon done up with lovely ribbons and bows that went beautifully with the dress. "Would you like glass slippers to go with the dress or are you a high heels kind of Wizard?"

"After I kill you, I'll feed you to Aragog's brood,' James warned. "Cut it out, Al!"

"Okay," Al agreed; suddenly seeming to give in. "I guess I can't get that promise out of you after all; but keep in mind that I am not going to put up with it anymore if you try messing with me again."

"Give me back my wand," James demanded. Al had released him; and he held out his hand angrily. "This is not over."

"You're right about that," Al agreed. "You can get your wand back from me at lunchtime – in the Great Hall. So can Ollie." He pointed his wand at the still-bound boy and he was soon wearing a lovely lavender dress with ballet slippers and long hair that was in braided pigtails instead of bows and ribbons. "Have a nice morning." James lunged for Al's wand; and found himself flying through the air again. This time, he hit the wall hard enough to see stars for a moment.

"Sorry abut that," Al said apologetically. "You probably shouldn't try surprising me like that again; though you've got to admit that my reaction time is pretty good."

"You can't leave us like this," James told him.

"This is nothing compared to some of the things you and Ollie have done to me – and to lots of other kids. Isn't this funny for you anymore? Aren't you still the happiest Wizard at Hogwarts?" He sighed. "Everything you've been doing to me has really hurt, James. You know that, and should know that I really don't want to do this at all; but it seems to be the only way to get through to you. I'm not weak or defensless and never have been. I'm just different than you." He locked gazes with James then. "I'll see you at lunchtime, but pledge or not; you really don't want to mess with me anymore."

He started walking toward the door, and had his hand on the doorknob when James said – "Wait!" he turned around and looked back at his brother; who seemed to be strugling with himself.

"I swear," he finally spat out grudgingly. "I swear we'll leave you – all of you – alone. Now change us back and let Ollie out of that body-bind." The last of that was a demand instead of a request; but Al knew that James would keep his pledge; so he did that for them. Then he tossed them their wands.

"You should really think about cutting back on the nastier pranks you're pulling on the other kids and teens too," he suggested to them. "It really is wrong, but even if you can't see that; do you really want so many of the kids our age hating you? Especially you, James. We already have enough of that coming from all of the Slytherin kids and teens that hate our family. I really don't get why you can't find a way to have fun without hurting others."

"Just shut up and get out of here before I change my mind, Al," James warned; and Al shrugged and nodded.

He didn't attempt to say anything else; and left James and Ollie in the room. While he didn't celebrate or even give any outward sign of how he was feeling; he was elated, fired up, and happier than he'd been in days. James would be leaving him alone from now on; and he could move on and try to actually enjoy himself again. James would certainly have somthing derisive to say about the fact that Al was on his way to a study session that he planned on enjoying quite a lot, but then they really were different; and Al realized that he didn't care anymore about what James thought of him – if he ever really had cared in the past. What mattered now was that he'd taken control of his own life back; and he planned on getting right back to being the Wizard that Gwendolyn had wanted to see again.


	3. Quidditch Rules Hogwarts School

**Chapter Three– Quidditch Rules Hogwarts School**

"Welcome back," Gwendolyn told Al with a sunny smile that warmed him up as he sat down next to her. Al knew without hearing it that she'd meant that in more than one way; and he smiled too.

"Thanks. Have I missed much?"

"Just all of the latest gossip," Ray answered before any of the girls could. "Thanks so much for leaving that for me."

Al laughed. "Sounds as though my timing is perfect – for me."

"Yes it was, since we were about to send out a search party," Rose told him. "I was getting worried when you were gone so long – especially when we knew that James and Ollie are out on their stupid prank patrol."

"I ran into them," Al advised her; "and it seemed as though they'd had enough of that for the day by the time I left them and came back here."

"You ran into James and Ollie and are back here in one piece?" Ray exclaimed. "Was there a Professor there to keep them off of you?"

Al laughed again and shook his head. "No, but I managed to convince them to leave me alone; and I'm fairly sure they won't be bugging any of us anymore."

"You wish – we wish," Ray said doubtfully. "They've made it fairly clear that we're going to be their favorite prank targets this year."

"Not anymore," Al assured his friend. "James and I had a nice little brotherly chat; and he's promised not to bother us anymore."

Rose had been watching him steadily; and now she was smiling at him warmly. "Well, if that's true, then we can believe it," she said; half-directing that comment at Ray. "James may be a lot of things that we don't like, but he'll keep a pledge; since that'd mess up his all-important reputation if he didn't."

Al knew that Rose and Gwendolyn at least had a lot of questions for him; but they moved the conversation on from there and he joined in on the studying in progress. The happy feelings really did help to make the work more fun; and his good mood seemed contagious as they all had a fairly entertaining morning.

"What in Merlin's name just happened to us?" Ollie asked James once they were alone. "We did not just get bested by your pathetic, loser baby brother."

James turned to face his friend; and his expression was angry and grim. "Yeah, we did," he admitted; though the taste of those words in his own mouth was bitter.

"So what are we going to do about that?" Ollie asked next; and James shook his head.

"Nothing. I swore to leave him alone – and the rest of them too." He held up a hand when Ollie opened his mouth to say something. "Would you have rather us have to walk into the Great Hall at lunch in those dresses to get our wands back? Do you even know what it'd mean if he didn't choose to give them back?"

"What are you talking about?" Ollie demanded; looking confused now. "I get that you made the pledge to get us out of that; but what about our wands?"

"He defeated us in a true duel," James explained. "Our wands became his, and if he hadn't voluntarily given them back to us the way he did; they'd have just continued to recognize him as their new owner. Even if we stole them back; they'd have never worked the same for us again." He shook his head again in disgust. "The only good thing about all of this is that he'll keep his mouth shut about what happened in here – just as he did about the mudslide stairs."

"There is that," Ollie admitted; "though I'd rather go find him and blast him into next year."

James laughed bitterly. "I'd have agreed with you on that, mate, but after what just happened; do you really think that we could pull it off? Even if we could; Al wasn't joking about fighting back now – or about the fact that he wouldn't try keeping that private next time."

"Okay, so if that's out; what do we do now?"

James tried shaking off the unpleasantness of his defeat; and pasted a smile on his face. "We promote favorite prank targets number two to number one and take it out on them."

Ollie smiled too. "That sounds like a great plan – and we have been neglecting our favorite Slytherin firsties while having our fun with Al and Ray. Shall we go hunting for them?"

James thought about that for a minute and then shook his head. "Not right now. They know enough by now to hide on Hogsmeade days; and it's too late to catch them now." He paused for a moment; and then added – "we'll get them after lunch instead!"

The elation over successfully dealing with James had worn off for Al by lunchtime, but the happy stayed with him; and his day kept getting better as he, Rose, and their friends moved on from getting their assignments finished to enjoying their lunch break in the Great Hall; and then going on from there to their afternoon Quidditch scrimmage. He hadn't known for sure what to expect from James and Ollie the next time he saw them or they crossed paths, but the two boys completely ignored him at lunch; seemed to be back to their usual, boisterous selves as they goofed around with their mates; and didn't go near him at all.

So far, so good!

The Quidditch play time had been a blast, and while Al thought that the extra practice time was great for all of the firstie team players; it was even better for the non-players – including Ray. Sure, the matches weren't as good as playing on a House team; but it was fun – and they were getting to play against or with some of the best junior players in the school even if they needed to tone it down a bit for the less-experienced players. While the game part of the action was exciting; Al especially felt amazing because of having that play time with his new friends. All of that felt just a bit different to him than it had for any of their other practices, and while he didn't dwell on the why; he understood that he really had changed just a little because of standing up to James. That had definitely been a change for the better, and while they didn't say anything to him about it; Gwendolyn and Rose definitely noticed and approved.

Quidditch fun and games ended at about the same time that the day in Hogsmeade ended for the older students. Al, Rose, and about half of their Quidditch gang just happened to be on the way back into the castle when Victoire was getting back; so they – Al and Rose – tried to cheer her up a bit with hugs and smiles that didn't help all that much; but that she'd appreciated a lot. She assured them that she'd had a nice day with Teddy, but even though he planned on coming to the Quidditch game next weekend; Victoire was playing and they wouldn't get to spend much time together. Victoire went on ahead to the Gryffindor common room while Al and Rose were a bit longer saying goodbye to their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends; but then they all got on with the rest of their Saturday – and that mostly meant hanging out in their own Houses – including while they were all at dinner in the Great Hall.

Hogsmeade stories were high on the list of chat topics through until after dinner; Al, Rose, and their friends sat in the cheap seats and watched a couple of shows on the mirror network in the evening; and then they all headed for bed after that. On Sunday morning, Al's day started out with a different kind of morning chat with Rose; and she'd insisted that he finally give her the rest of the story about what had happened to him on Saturday morning with James and Ollie. She'd been proud of him; only slightly amazed; and wished that he'd taken pictures of James and Ollie in their dresses and girly hairstyles so she could have seen how ridiculous they'd looked.

While that chat had gotten the day off to an entertaining start; Al's favorite parts of an already great weekend began after breakfast – when he met up with Gwendolyn and they went outside to the practice pitch to have their first Chaser duel in weeks. They'd needed to do that early because the stadium and practice pitch were booked for the rest of the day with practices for the senior Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw teams as they all put in extra training to get ready for their first matches of the year. They'd picked the practice pitch because Slytherin had the first time slot at the stadium; and they didn't want to be there if any of the players arrived early. Things may have changed a lot at Hogwarts since the war, but firsties from the other Houses did not go looking for trouble with the older Slytherin students – and Al had more incentive to stay away from them than most since several of the players on the senior team were among those with a deep hatred of his family. He was more than happy to leave those battles to his talented older cousins – at least until he was able to take care of himself.

Gwendolyn won their Chaser duel; they watched part of the Gryffindor practice – after Gwendolyn had been teased about being there and then sworn to secrecy to be allowed to stay; and then they spent the rest of the morning taking a walk while Al repeated his James and Ollie story for her. Once he'd finished the story time, Gwendolyn had wanted to talk about how he had felt at the time and whether he was feeling any different about it a day later; and then she seemed satisfied with his self-analysis. Why that had been important to her wasn't clear to Al, but she was also very proud of him; and happy that he'd finally stood up for himself. They went back to the castle for lunch; and then spent the afternoon together in the library – mostly because a chilly, but decent morning had turned colder as rain moved into the area. Surfing the Wizarding World Web on one off the library mirrors kept them entertained for a while; and then they just relaxed in a couple of chairs and read books while talking quietly and simply enjoying being together until dinnertime.

Al readily admitted that wanting to hang out with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other Witches they were all friends with was different for him than it was for most of the other guys at school; but he also didn't think of it as strange or weird. His Aunt Hermione had basically had two Wizards for her best friends; and he didn't actually think that he could do better than Rose and Gwendolyn for best friends. Ray was becoming a good friend too, but that friendship was somewhere between how he felt about the two girls and the rest of their friends. Rose and Gwendolyn spent lots of time with their girlfriends too, so that was different for them; but then Al didn't have a problem with Bristol, Cora, and the other girls taking care of the girl-time needs that his best friends didn't want or need or want him to share with them.

Thanks to all of the extra team practices, Quidditch was a top chat topic at dinner; and the Gryffindor and Slytherin students were especially getting excited about the start of the 'real' Quidditch season. The junior players didn't feel that way; but the senior teams were still the big league when it came to school sports. That wasn't the only news flying around on the grapevine, though, and that was how Al found out that James and Ollie were still having their warped kind of fun with their prank patrols. They never took credit for a prank unless caught in the act; but Al knew it had been them after hearing about a prank that had been pulled on Scorpius Malfoy and Davis Zabini on Saturday afternoon and another prank that a Hufflepuff firstie had been hit with sometime earlier in the day on Sunday.

He hadn't been happy about that, and those pranks might have been worse because James and Ollie were taking their defeat out on other kids; but didn't think that he should push his luck with James by having another confrontation with him about it. James might be avoiding him and acting like nothing was wrong, but Al knew his brother; and he was going to need some time to get over what had happened – and probably figure out a way to convince himself that he hadn't really been defeated in a duel by his little brother. Al didn't care how James eventually worked that out in his own mind – as long as he kept his oath; and left him alone.

Though he did think about all of that quite a bit, Al didn't let those musings get in the way of wrapping up his weekend with an hour or so of mirror gaming in the common room after dinner; hanging out with Rose and their friends; and then having an entertaining bedtime that included a mirror chat with Lily and some goofiness with the other guys until they were all ready to get some sleep.

The first full week of classes in November sped by rather uneventfully for Al compared to pretty much his entire Hogwarts experience to that point – and he thought that was great. James and Ollie continued to leave him alone; they didn't bug Rose, Ray, or any of their friends; and James even started talking to them again in passing or at their Quidditch practices. Those chats weren't much more than basic pleasantries at first, but it was a start back toward a normal that would hopefully be an improvement over their recent past. On the Quidditch front, Louis had returned the favor with Victoire and her team; and they'd switched practices so that the senior team could have more time after classes on Monday and Wednesday to get ready for their game. The junior team still did some training both days, but they just did their physical workouts and some light flying out over the school grounds instead of using the practice pitch.

When they weren't in classes or busy with Quidditch; Al, Rose, and various combinations of their friends kept busy with the unending supply of assignments that their Professors happily gave them during every class, and while that was often entertaining as they got to play with magic; it didn't leave a lot of spare time for playing. Al got to see Gwendolyn during the two study sessions that she and her usual group of Ravenclaws joined their Gryffindor friends for; but they were both too busy to just hang out together for a while during the week. By Friday, Quidditch fever had infected most of the students in the school; and everyone was fired up about the game on Saturday.

That was true for Al, Rose, and their gang too; but their unofficial study leaders managed to convince their friends to work on their assignments on Friday evening instead of just hanging out in the common room with the rest of the kids and teens that just wanted to talk Quidditch and play. They didn't get all of their weekend work finished, but they did get enough done that they wouldn't be spending the entire day on Sunday catching up – even if they did lose most of Saturday with watching the match and going to the party that would be happening in the Gryffindor common room if their team managed a second win of the season over Slytherin.

The weather on Saturday morning was cold, and the skies were overcast; but there was a good chance that there wouldn't be rain – at least during the game. In Gryffindor Tower, Al found that he had a lot more early-morning competition for shower time, though that hadn't slowed him down at all; and he'd still been in the common room with time to spare before meeting up with Rose for their walk to the Great Hall. Breakfast had been great, and the chat time with their friends entertaining; but Al's day really kicked up a few levels on the fun scale after breakfast when Gwendolyn met up with him – along with some of her Ravenclaw friends – and they collectively decided to go to the stadium a bit early so that they could pick out seats that straddled the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections so that they'd be able to hang out together during the match.

That meant being out in the cold longer too, but they were all dressed accordingly; and there was a lot going on around them to help keep them entertained. They also had the added bonus of getting to spend some time with Teddy when he came to the game early so that he could see Victoire for a few minutes before she had to be with her team and get ready for the game; and then he had lots of time left to visit with his 'cousins' and some younger friends while waiting for the game to start. Al's favorite part of the pre-game fun was having Gwendolyn sitting next to him; close enough that they helped each other with staying warm. That earned both of them some teasing, but since all of that was good-natured instead of the mean-spirited jibes that James and Ollie always preferred; they just had fun with all of that and it was nothing more than one little part of their morning entertainment.

"I guess this isn't the same as being around him at your house, mine, or some party somewhere; but Teddy seems a lot different to me now that he's an Auror-trainee," Gwendolyn told Al after Teddy had moved on to sit with Louis and a few older teens to watch the game. He wasn't far away from them; but not close enough to talk with him anymore.

"You probably notice that more than I do, since he visits us a lot," Al suggested with a nod of agreement. "I doubt that anyone could work for the Aurors and not be changed by what they have to deal with."

"I know why Teddy wanted to join the Aurors," Gwendolyn said next. "Will you have to join up too?" She smiled at him then. "For some reason, I can't picture James as an Auror without laughing; and Lily's always said she's going to be a famous Harpies Seeker like your Mum."

Al did laugh; since he couldn't picture his older brother as an Auror either. Becoming a future member of Club Azkaban seemed quite possible; but he couldn't envision a scenario where James would have a career with the Aurors – especially if their father was still in charge of them in that impossible-to-imagine future. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I've thought about it, but don't think that I've ever felt they way Teddy always has about the job – or that I have to join up when I'm finished school." He grinned at her. "Lily could follow Mum and join the Harpies when she grows up, so you might get to play on the same team with her some day; but that won't be an option for me." He laughed again. "James would probably tell me that I couldn't make the Cannons' reserve sqaud let alone one of the top teams in the league."

"I heard that," Rose told him. "The Cannons aren't that bad this season; and maybe that's exactly what we should do when we grow up. Dad would love it; and how cool would it be to be one of the players to win the first League Championship for the Cannons in over a century?"

Al looked back at his cousin and smiled while the friends around them that heard her comments laughed. "That actually would be fairly amazing, Rose, but not very likely if we'd be trying to do that at the same time that Gwendolyn and Lily are playing for the Harpies – and if Puddlemere United gets an entire team of players from the Wood family."

Rose grinned at him. "Did you think that I've been trying to set you up with Gwendolyn just for the entertainment? That's all part of my master plan to get her to come and play for the Cannons with us after we graduate."

"You have a master plan to win a championship with the Cannons?" Gwendolyn asked in amusement. "I had no idea that you had such amazing, impossible dreams. Who will you get for the rest of that unbeatable team?"

"Ray could be our third Chaser," Rose suggested first; smiling at him. "The three of you could be great, though if he's got his heart set on United; I have other options – like Victoire, Dominique, or Lucy."

"Victoire might not want to sign up with the Cannons and then have to wallow in mediocrity for six more years while waiting for us to join her," Al pointed out; and Rose nodded.

"True, which is why she isn't my first choice – and she'll likely get scooped up by the Harpies anyway for next season. They'd be nuts not to hire her when she's such an awesome Chaser that could also step in at Seeker if needed and be great doing that job too."

"I'm sure you're right about that; and I can tell you that the Harpies are keeping an eye on all of the NEWT Quidditch Witches," Gwendolyn told her. "Getting back to your championship Cannons team, though;that only brings you to four players so far. What about Beaters and a Seeker? If Lily's playing for a future Harpies team and James is too cool to play for the Cannons; who will you get?"

"Aunt Ginny for Seeker," Rose answered immediately; managing to keep a straight face for about two seconds before laughing along with Gwendolyn, Al, and their friends.

"She'd think about doing that just for the fun of playing with us," Al suggested half-seriously, "and I'd wager she'd still be able to do it; but who do you really have in mind for the Seeker job – and Beaters? I'd want one of the best Beater duos on that team before coming to work for you."

"Actually, I'd try to talk Lily into it just so that we could play together," Rose admitted; "but there are some other really good options – Pauline Boot, for instance. As for our Beaters, I'll keep an eye on that while we're at school and see how it goes. Cora's brothers might be good enough for the show by the time they graduate, but you know that our cousin Fred wants to be a Beater like his Dad; and he could turn out to be a good one too."

"Would you ask Uncle George to team up with him?" Al teased. "You think that my mother could play for the Cannons; so maybe he could too."

"That's a great idea," Rose agreed enthusiastically. "Can players use wheezes during a game?"

"No, but it might be fun if they were allowed," Gwendolyn answered first. "It sounds as though you've got this all worked out, Rose; but I still can't picture that Cannons' championship wihtout laughing."

"Rose's Mum had a big dream when she was here at school too," Al told her. "I'm not sure that we could say that yours is bigger than hers was; but I do think that it's awesome."

"What was your Mum's dream when she was our age?" Gwendolyn asked Rose.

"To free all of the house elves from slavery," Rose answered proudly. "She hasn't totally given up on it; but has conceded that it's going to take a lot longer than she'd hoped for back then. She had no idea when she started her first campaign that her biggest problem with that would come from the house elves; and the vast majority of them still can't even imagine wanting to be free elves." She smiled and shook her head. "I don't get that either; but at least Mum's done fairly well with making things better for them."

"Yes, she has," Gwendolyn agreed. "As for your dream, Rose; thanks for letting me know about your ulterior motive. I'll miss hanging out with Al, but I can't take the chance that you'll succeed and mess up my dream of playing for the Harpies when I grow up." She grinned at Al. "I'm sure that whomever she gets to replace me will be good too – though I'm hoping that my Harpies' team will still be better than that future Cannons team."

"Weren't you supposed to finish that off by getting up and moving to sit somewhere else?" Bristol asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Yes, but it's cold out; Al's warm; and I don't want to freeze just to make a statement. I can always stop hanging out with him tomorrow."

"The next game is going to be even colder," Bristol pointed out. "Should we find a replacement for you to cuddle with Al and take your spot on Rose's ultimate Cannons team?"

"I could see if Tory Summers would be interested," Rose offered. "She probably wants to play for the Harpies some day too; but maybe she'd find the boyfriend – I mean Cannons – bonus worth that little change in career plans."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Be glad that I'm not the jealous type, Rose. It's very difficult to play professional Quidditch when you're a woodlouse."

"As your Mum has proven to other Quidditch players on occasion," Rose agreed; laughing too. "Since you're not the jealous type, though; why don't you help us out with picking Al's new Quidditch match cuddle buddy?"

The girls had a bit of fun with that for a while; and then the teams were called out into the stadium by the senior game announcer, charlotte Entwhistle. She was a seventh-year Gryffindor, and one of Victoire's friends, but while she was definitely biased in favor of her own House; she tried her best not to let that show as she began her announcing. It didn't sound like that at first, but she was just stating facts and recent team records; and it wasn't her fault that Victoire's team had the better recent record.

"Witches and Wizards – welcome to the first senior team match of the season!" she said enthusiastically. "First up today, just because they always get alphabetically stuck at the tail-end of the list of Houses here at Hogwarts; we have Slytherin!" The seven players flew into the air and began a wide circle around the stadium. "This year's team is led by fifth-year Captain and Chaser Victor Avery. He's flanked on either side by sixth and seventh-year veteran Beaters, Theo and Gregor Nott. Victor's fellow Chasers are next. Lacey Zabini and Rachel Rosier are also sixth and seventh-year students respectively; and are both experienced team veterans. Finally, we have fifth-year players Vince Vaisey, Slytherin's Keeper; and Brand Bletchley at Seeker." She paused for a moment; and then continued her introduction.

"The senior Slytherin team improved quite a bit last season; helping Slytherin House to second-place finishes for both the senior team and Quidditch Cup standings; an excellent showing after last-place finishes in the season before last. Slytherin is, I'm sure, hoping to show us that they're ready to take the next step and move up to number one this year!" She paused again as the Slytherin faithful cheered that comment; and then introduced Gryffindor.

"And now, we have our defending Quidditch Cup Champions, and last season's only undefeated team – Gryffindor! They're led by Captain and Seeker, Victoire Weasley; with sixth-year Keeper, Belinda Wood at her side. They're followed by this year's Chaser trio – cousins Dominique and Lucy Weasley; and Olivia Wood – reunited for the first time since last playing together on the junior team two seasons ago. Backing up these five talented Witches at Beater, we have sixth-year veterans Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins. Gryffindor's senior team made improvements last season too; taking over the Quidditch Cup crown from Hufflepuff last season after finishing in second place to them the year before. They're hoping to be repeat champions this season; and the Gryffindor junior team has gotten that endeavour off to a great start with their victory in the season opener at the end of September." By the time she finished with that summary, both teams had landed on the pitch; and Mr. Peakes was ready for his usual pre-game instructions. "Let's wish both teams luck; and then allow Mr. Peakes, our game referee, to get this match started!"

"How come that defending Quidditch Cup Champions thing wasn't mentioned for our match?" Rose leaned in and whispered to Al. "Someone needs to have a talk with our junior team matches announcer."

"Charlotte probably wasn't this good back when she first started announcing games either," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I'd rather play Quidditch any day over talking like that in front of a crowd this big."

"Me either," Al agreed; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Cut that out. I don't want to hear anything about more things that we have in common from you. That kind of thing plays right into Rose's master plan for her Cannons' Quidditch miracle."

"It does," Rose agreed; laughing too. "Keep up the good work, Al."

"Thanks," Al answered, "but if you keep saying stuff like that; I'm going to start suspecting that your entire Cannons master plan story is just some reverse-psychology matchmaking trick."

"Would I do that to my very favorite cousin in the whole world?" Rose asked sweetly; and Al laughed too.

"You've enough of your Dad and Uncles in you for that, yes; though I do actually believe you about at least thinking that playing for a championship Cannons team would be amazing – with the added bonus of making your Dad very proud of his little girl."

Mr. Peakes was nearly finished with his pre-game talk; they watched as Victoire and Victor shook hands and he apparently attempted to hurt her with the handshake; and then Charlotte was announcing the take-off and race for the quaffle.

"Dominique Weasley and Victor Avery are off and battling to reach the quaffle first," Charlotte said excitedly. Victor bumps Domique hard and reches out to grab it – and Victoire blasts past and tail-whips the quaffle straight to Olivia Wood! Wow! Those Lightningbolts sure are fast; and so is the start to this match! Olivia passes to Lucy Weasley; she passes it on to Dominique – and she scores!"

"Moral of that story – don't try pushing Victoire's sister around," Gwendolyn told Al with a grin. "Slytherin is going to be in for a bad day if Victoire's so much faster than everyone else that she can play Chaser too."

"She'd love that if she could," Al suggested; "but she'll be in for a tough match without trying to do that. The Slytherin Beaters are going to need to try to slow her down if they can, and Brand is a lot bigger than she is; so he'll be trying to push her around just as Victor just did with Dominique."

"Teddy won't like that," Gwendolyn predicted. "Maybe he should think about that a bit more seriously before he does something stupid and gets on the naughty list with our favorite Auror-trainee." Al nodded his agreement and laughed quietly.

"If any of the Slytherins try playing dirty against my cousins they'll end up on my naughty list too; though I doubt that'll bother any of them."

They both settled in to watch the match; the pace of the action non-stop and often fairly extreme. Al didn't know how that compared to the old days when his parents played at Hogwarts, but while the brooms had gotten faster since then; this game gave him at least an idea of just how good his father must have been to make the Gryffindor team as a firstie. This game was much faster than the two junior matches so far this season had been – and much tougher. The bigger, tougher, and flat-out meaner Slytherin players tried brute force and a lot of nasty tricks to impose their game plan on their Gryffindor rivals; and did their best to inflict as many injuries as they could – keying in almost exclusively on the five Witches.

That was their plan, but Victoire had her team ready for all of that, including the dirty tricks; and the Slytherin attacks missed far more often than they hit. Those infrequent hits did begin to add up as the game went on, and had some effect on each of the five Gryffindor Witches; but Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia also got to have a lot of chances to score thanks to all of those Slytherin mistakes and misses. Slytherin got their scoring chances too, but Belinda Wood was putting on a Keeper clinic; and the Slytherin goals did not come easily for them. While Belinda let her Quidditch skills speak for her out above the pitch, Vince Vaisey had all but declared himself the best Keeper in the school this year; and that might have had something to do with why the Gryffindor Chasers were so motivated to give him every possible opportunity to prove his self-aggrandizing claims.

Gryffindor out-scored Slytherin by more than four to one, though the scoring attempts were much closer than the scoring might have suggested to anyone just reading the stats later without seeing the match. While her Chasers and Keeper were having an amazing match; Victoire was quietly playing a great game too. The Slytherin Beaters did indeed try to key in on her a lot, and Brand Bletchley was a brute of a player for a Seeker. The three Wizards even managed to get a cheap shot in on Victoire now and then; but she mostly just ran them ragged and made them look stupid with all of the misses – especially when so many of their attacks were of the dirty trick variety. Some of those attacks were so blatant that the Slytherin players were penalized for them by Mr. Peakes, which said a lot; since he was a fairly tolerant referee who was generally willing to let the teams play and intervene as little as possible.

Victoire ended the game at the three hour and twenty-eight minute mark, and while Gryffindor already had the game out of reach for any Slytherin comeback; catching the snitch for the four hundred nd ten to sixty victory was a great bonus – and kept Gryffindor firmly in first place for the Quidditch Cup standings. Getting both wins over Slytherin for the season was a bonus; but the senior team players weren't even thinking about that immediately after the game as they celebrated their win.

"What a match!" Charlotte announced as everyone watched the two teams land on the pitch; with the Gryffindors celebrating and the Slytherin players looking angry nd unhappy as they waited unenthusiastically for Victoire and her team mates to be ready for the usual post-game niceties that they only put up with because Professor McGonagall insisted on the show of good sportsmanship. "As I've already said, the final score is four-ten to sixty," Charlotte continued. "Gryffindor scored twenty-six goals; had ninety-two shots on goals; and Victoire Weasley caught the snitch to end the match at three hours and twenty-eight minutes. Slytherin scored six goals on seventy-eight shots; and had six penalties during the match to none for Gryffindor." She took a moment; and then wrapped up her 'show'.

"Finally, our next senior team match is three weeks from today. Hufflepuff will be looking to earn their first House win of the season; while Ravenclaw will want the win to keep pace with Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup competition. Hopefully that game will be as great a match-up as this one has been. Let's hear it once more for both of our teams and all of the Slytherin and Gryffindor players!"

Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group got up and cheered along with most of the spectators, and they stayed standing while gathering their things and getting ready to walk out onto the pitch so that they could congratulate their cousins and team. He didn't even think about it when Gwendolyn held his hand as they did that; but then he wouldn't have done anything differently even if he had. Their involvement in that round of congratulations was fairly short and limited because their older cousins had team mates and friends that they wanted to celebrate with too; and didn't have much time for a group of firsties. Al and Rose only took a moment to say goodbye to Teddy when they had an opening to do that; since he was really only interested in spending what little time he had left with Victoire before he'd need to leave the school grounds with the rest of the visitors.

By then, they were ready to head into the castle to warm up and have lunch anyway, so they walked there together; and Al and Gwendolyn didn't split up until they went to their respective towers to get out of their cold-weather gear before moving on to the Great Hall for lunch. There was an afternoon party in the Gryffindor common room after lunch, so Al and Rose took that time off to celebrate with the rest of the Gryffindors. They caught parts of the Harpies-Magpies match on the mirror network too, and enjoyed watching their team win that game rather convincingly with a very good all-round effort; but then they opted to do some studying after dinner while the party continued on around them through until long after they went to bed for the night.

Sunday was a fairly miserable weather day, so after having a joint Gryffindor-Ravenclaw study session all morning to finish up with their weekend assignments; Al and Gwendolyn ended up spending another afternoon together in the library – and with Rose, Ray, and a handful of other firstie friends from three out of four Houses. That was a very quiet, unexciting way to spend those hours, but it was the hanging out together that was fun for all of them; and it did give them a chance to wind down the weekend and get ready for another busy week of magic classes and studies.

While they were having a quiet end to what had been a rather brilliant weekend for Gryffindor House with their friends; Al and Rose were completely unaware of the fact that they – and their family – were being talked about in a very private conversation that was going on right there at Hogwarts while they were in the library. It wasn't unusual for the Potters and Weasleys to be talked about, or even that those discussions could include some nasty comments about them, but in this case; it would have been the identity of one of the participants that would have been shocking to Al, Rose, or anyone else in their family. That most-unusual and unimaginable meeting was taking place in the Room of Requirements, and though the two participants were virtually assured that they wouldn't be overheard; they spoke quietly – if not at all cautiously.

"I'm sorry that it's taken so long to do this with you, Thomas," Scorpius said as he slid a small, painted portrait out of his bag and set it on the table in front of him; propping it up against the wall. Once he'd done that; he sat down in the reasonably comfortable armchair that the room of requirements had created for him in response to his unspoken need for a place to sit and relax. He smiled, but looked a bit annoyed as he regarded the handsome young Wizard in the painting.

"Are you still having problems getting around the school?" the painted image of Tom Riddle as a young adult asked solicitously; his expression one of friendly concern.

"Not so far this weekend. I haven't even seen Potter and Wood around except for at the game yesterday. I couldn't get away from my new best mate until now – and I still had to dodge him to come here at all."

"That's annoyng, but you'll need friends; and have to start somewhere. How'd the big game go?"

"About as badly as I'd expected," Scorpius answered with a disgusted shake of his head. "Our team got trounced by a bunch of Gryffindor Witches. Avery and the rest of our team looked like a bunch of incompetent fools out there – and that was all the worse for them after bragging about how great they all supposedly were in the weeks leading up to the game. Our best Keeper in the school gave up twenty-six goals – and let one in for about every four shots on goal. I'd say that my junior team would've had a better chance in that game if it wasn't for the fact that most of my team mates are just as useless."

"Don't let that bother you," Thomas counseled. "Playing Quidditch is part of the plan for you; and winning or losing is immaterial. Leave it to the Potters, Weasleys, and their lot to obsess over stupid games while you stay focused on your goals and future."

"I'll do that; but it sickens me how far Slytherin has fallen – since the war; and I can't stand knowing that my family name is now counted among the least of the true purebloods. How my father and grandparents could allow that to happen is beyond understanding!"

"They've proved too weak of spirit to be worthy of your family names – just as was true for my own family, Scorpius. Be patient. These injustices will only continue for a little while longer, my young friend. You will change that first; and then do and become much, much more!"

"With your help," Scorpius agreed fervently; his eyes now intense and focused. "I do not know how well I could deal with everything here without your help."

"You are strong, and could manage well-enough without me; but I am happy to help – and you did rescue me from what might have been a never-ending existence of dark nothingness had you not found my portrait in that dusty old trunk."

"That was a fortunate day for both of us. You have already taught me so much, Thomas – and understand me better than anyone."

"That is because we are alike, you and I; and there is much, much more that I can – and will – teach to you; and I will do that – just as I've promised."

"Can we do another lesson now?" Scorpius asked hopefully; and watched expectantly as Thomas nodded.

"Soon," he agreed. "Before we do that, though; I'd like to hear about what's been going on around the school and elsewhere since last we talked."

"There's basically no news of any interest from the Ministry of Magic or with the Aurors. Maybe they're getting ready to hibernate for the winter."

Thomas laughed, and while there was an undertone of darkness in the sound of it; Scorpius didn't notice. "That well may be," he agreed. "From what you've told me, it's a wonder that the Aurors haven't been disbanded by now for what little they do these days."

"I doubt that'll happen as long as Minister Shacklebolt is in charge – and everyone either loves Auror Potter or they're afraid of him."

"All of those Witches and Wizards in both groups are weak; and weak-minded fools. Fortunately, you can use those weakness to great advantage. What of the other pureblood families? Are you hearing anything of value there?"

"I'm usually playing dodge the Slytherin bullies with most of that lot, as I have been for months now; but what news I hear of them through others or when I can listen in wihtout being seen doesn't seem very useful. The major pureblood families continue to work together when they can; but they don't seem to accomplish anything with their little schemes and petty crimes."

"That is no surprise with the best and strongest of them wasting away in Azkaban," Thomas said. "Weak enemies weaken the Aurors too, though, so that could be a good thing as well. You need look no further than the Potter and Wood boys for proof of that. Their antics would have never been allowed by any older Slytherin in the past; yet none of your fellow Slytherin seem to be capable of stopping their crude pranks and practical jokes."

"They'd be more likely to join in and help than to try and stop them for my benefit," Scorpius pointed out. "I'll need to learn to defend myself."

"Yes, you will; and I will continue to help you with that as well," Thomas promised. "The Potters have always been trouble – and far too full of themselves; but you will be more than a match for this one soon enough."

"Al Potter does not seem to be anything at all like his older brother," Scorpius offered next. "I don't know what to make of him, and from what I've heard; James treats him as badly as he treats me."

"Don't let the younger Potter fool you – and don't forget about the mudblood in them," Thomas reminded him. "If the boy favors that side of his family, and is more like his grandmother; she turned out to be more dangerous than any of the Potters ever were – in more ways than I could ever have expected at the time."

Scorpius looked thoughtful and distant for a few moments before saying anything to that. "You've told me the truth about your life, and everything that happened back then; but I still don't fully understand it all – especially when it comes to Harry Potter and his parents."

"In time, I expect that you will," Thomas said seriously. "What matters with this for the younger Potter is that you should be even more wary of him than his older brother. Do not underestimate the strength that can be hidden beneath the softest exterior. His grandmother stole the hearts of many a Wizard in her short life."

"He does seem to be quite popular with the girls from what I've seen," Scorpius said thoughtfully; and then laughed. That won't be a danger for me as it was for those foolish Wizards with his grandmother, though; so that won't be anything for you to worry over."

Thomas laughed too. "True enough; but then she was formiddable for more than her looks and charm – and was under-estimated by many because of both – including, though I hate to admit it; by me."

"I will not make those same mistakes," Scorpius declared; his tone more serious again. "It's interesting that you speak of this when I was thinking something very similar to that about the older Weasley girls yesterday at the game. Victoire and Dominique are part Veela, and while I hadn't really noticed it before the game; they certainly manage to turn a lot of Wizards around here into blubbering idiots just by being nearby. They are beautiful, but don't have that effect on me."

"Your mind is strong enough to overcome the baser instincts that Veelas exploit. Considering what you've told me of their parents, and what I remember of them from the past; those girls are likely very talented Witches too; so it is good that you are not affected by their physical charms – though be aware that might change as you grow a bit older. This is all interesting, but a destraction from what we should be focusing on today. Tell me of your most recent classes. You're still doing well? Best in your year?"

"Best in my House for certain. I cannot say for how I stand compared to most students in the other Houses; since they don't talk to me – or really to any Slytherins. I'm still Professor Dawlish's top student in Charms – according to him."

"That fool hates the Potters and Weasleys as much as we do, so keep playing that up; but don't believe half of what he tells you. He may well turn out to be a useful pawn, though; as will some of the other, equally pathetic Professors here that teach because they're too useless to do anything else."

"Most of the other Professors either ignore me completely, or worse; they treat me as if I'm some kind of pitiable charity case," Scorpius said; his tone dripping with contempt toward the end of his assertion. "I think that I hate being treated either way more than I hate being picked on. To those Professors, I'm too loathesome to deserve to exist at all; or collateral damage of my family's miss-deeds needing coddling and caring to save me from my poor, horrid life."

"Trust me when I tell you that your Professors will not be able to just ignore you for much longer; and you can sue those do-gooders to great advantage – just as easily as you can use that fool, Dawlish. That's enough talk for today. Let's move on and get started on a new lesson that will help you to deal with your bullying problems – both with your fellow Slytherins and the Potter and Wood boys. While the Wizard I learned this from proved to be untrustworthy and an enemy, he was quite brilliant; so we will use his inventiveness to your advantage – and to the detriment of your enemies."

That had been what Scorpius had been most-interested in doing, as always; and Thomas did not disappoint his avid pupil. He taught with enthusiasm that didn't need to be feigned, and Scorpius soaked up the information like a sponge. While still young, Thomas believed that Scorpius had all of the potential for greatness that any master could hope for in a protégé. Helping the boy to strive for that greatness had given him new purpose, and while he could have never even imagined the situation in which he now found himself; it was exciting to discover that it might yet be possible to achieve great things – even if doing so required living vicariously through another.

Avenging his own death on his enemies would just be a really brilliant bonus!

By Monday morning, the Gryffindor-Slytherin match news was fading fast from the school grapevine, and while the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams were gearing up for their upcoming game; that wasn't yet a top story either. General teen gossip was always buzzing, and there was no shortage of drama; but it was actually their classwork and a ramp up in the assignment load that kept Al, Rose, and their friends occupied. Even the Quidditch practices for Gryffindor slacked off a bit since both teams had until February or March to get ready for their next matches.

Al and Rose were among the minority of students that actually enjoyed most of the studying that went into learning magic, and while most of their friends weren't as enthusiastic about all of the work; they usually managed to have fun together even when the work was challenging. While all of that was going fairly well for them; life at Hogwarts wasn't perfect by any means – and that was even more apparent in the first week after the big game. They'd had their Slytherin haters right from the start of school, but the scowls were darker and the snide comments a bit louder now. The lack of love was coming from more sources now too; and that was mostly directed at the Weasleys and Potters – and to the Wood siblings and cousins to a lesser degree. While Al and Rose hadn't yet had a single confrontation with any Slytherins since coming to Hogwarts; that changed for them too – beginning on Monday afternoon.

They'd had a fairly good day in their classes; gotten a good start on their assignments between last class and the start of their Quidditch practice; and had fun playing with their team mates because Louis was having them spend more time on developing new plays and less on the drills that were meant to improve their speed and reaction time. When the senior team took over the pitch, Al and Rose took their time getting out of their gear and packing up. They watched the practice for a while too; so they'd been the last junior team players to leave the pitch. It was while they were walking back to the castle to meet up with their friends that they crossed paths with a group of Slytherin teens that were on their way to the castle too; but getting to that meeting point from a different direction.

"What is that foul stench?" Victor Avery, the leader of the little band of Slytherins asked loudly; sniffing the air and pretending that he could smell something putrid in the air.

"I don't know, Vic, but it's coming from these Gryffindor firsties," Raban Lestrange answered with a sneer for Al and Rose.

"It smells like weasel and potty to me," Rupert Avery told the other boys; a sneer in his voice as well as on his face too. "One or the other at a time is bad-enough; but together it's enough to make you spew."

"Maybe that's why Gryffindor won on Saturday," Raban suggested to Victor with a snort of coarse laughter. "Our team was too busy trying not to puke to play our best."

"Victor and the rest of the team didn't have to face any potty players," Rupert pointed out. "Our team had to deal with two of them – and two weasels too."

"They were all in the stadium, though," G-Air Mulciber reminded his friend and team mate. "I could smell them all the way from the other side of the stadium, so that could well have been enough to make anyone flying above the stadium feel sick – especially with all of the extra weasels in the air with them."

By then, Al and Rose had needed to stop walking because the boys had blocked their way instead of just shooting their mouths off and moving on as the Slytherins usually did up to then. They were both as annoyed as usual by the nasty comments and petty nicknames for their families, and more than a little angry about being forced into a scene that they wanted no part of; but Al wasn't afraid and Rose was only slightly worried and nervous. That was definitely a change for both of them, but particularly for Al; since he definitely would have been afraid of facing a group of second through fifth-year Slytherins only a short couple of months ago. The Slytherins spread out a bit so that they faced Al and Rose in something of a ragged semi-circle; but did nothing else that was overtly threatening – other than the simple fact that about half of the boys were quite a bit bigger than the two Gryffindors.

"Excuse us," Al said evenly after a pause when it became obvious that Victor and the other boys were going to insist on getting in their way.

"Can't do that – there's no excuse for the likes of you," Victor answered; earning a round of laughs from his brother and their mates. "What's the matter, potty? Are you afraid of us – or does the truth hurt?"

"Your insults are stupid and annoying," Al admitted candidly, "and while I don't get why putting others down makes some Witches and Wizards feel better about themselves; calling us names doesn't hurt – and we're not afraid of you either."

"Sounds like potty needs us to train him to know his proper place around here – and be afraid of us by putting a hurt on him that he'll never forget," Monty Crabbe, one of the junior team Beaters, snarled; taking a menacing step toward Al and Rose. His Beater partner, Don Rosier, stepped up next to him; nodding in agreement.

"Geez, Al, I really hope you're not planning on a career in politics," Rose told her cousin as she drew her wand and took a step back. "Your Dad has nothing on you for sucking at diplomacy." Al already had his hand on his wand; but hadn't drawn it out of his pocket – and he didn't step back. He did laugh at Rose's comments; but didn't answer because he wasn't given the chance to do that before Rosier responded to Rose's actions. He did have time to be amused as he thought that the Slytherin boy was not at all rosier than his adorable cousin; but that didn't keep him from staying focused on the seriousness of the situation.

"Look at the brave, stupid Gryffindor firstie!" Don said with a sneer; drawing his wand and pointing it at Rose. "Outnumbered three-to-one; and she draws her wand on us!"

"That does give us the right to defend ourselves, though," Monty pointed out. "Let's turn weasel into a weasel, and potty into a toilet."

"Or the other way around," Don suggested with a snort. "Now that'd be funny – especially if we then stick the potty-weasel into the weasel-potty and seal it in there."

"I don't see anyone around," Rupert told the other guys as he drew his wand too. "Can you actually do those transfigurations, Vic?"

"Sure can," Victor agreed; sounding arrogant, "but why bother? The stench would be just as bad."

"Why?" Raban asked rhetorically; and then answered his own question. "Because we can; and it's long-past time for some of us to put the potties and weasels in their place."

"And once you're done with them, we could leave them at the entrance to the Gryffindor tower," G-Air suggested. "Nobody'd notice the smell there anyway; so they might sit there for months before anyone would notice."

"That does sound like fun," Victor decided; and pointed his wand at Al. "You turn the weasel into the potty, Raban; I'll take care of the potty-weasel; and the rest of you can put the weasel in the potty and deal with sneaking it into the castle. Just try not to touch them or you'll get the stench of them on you; and then I'll have nothing to do with you until you get it off of you again."

"That plan doesn't work for me at all," Al said calmly; his voice soft and serious. "Are you this stupid with our older cousins too; or are you only brave enough to pick on firsties when, as your mate there pointed out, it's three-to-one odds? I won't bust him over the math for that, since there are seven of you; and fractions are really hard when you don't have even numbers." He was ready when his taunts goaded Victor and Raban into action; he deflected Victor's transfiguration attack; and Rose did the same against Raban.

"You said it wrong," Rose advised Raban as she watched his attempted transfiguration hit a rock and do nothing at all after she'd directed it safely there with her shield. Victor's spell boomeranged in an arc because Al's shield had been parabolic; and it hit his younger brother, Rupert, full-on before he could do more than look shocked before it struck him. "I'd suggest that you should have left both spells to Victor; but his transfiguration isn't working out so well for you either."

"Sorry about that,' Al told Rupert-the-weasel; though he didn't quite manage to sound as though he really meant it. "I haven't actually tried that shield out in a real duel before now; but it does seem to show some promise if I can get the angles worked out."

"You half-blood freaks – I'll get you for that!" Victor threatened; real hatred now blazing in his eyes.

"Maybe you should worry about getting your brother first," Rose suggested; nodding to where Rupert was now racing off after the mouse she'd just created; the weasel instincts taking over. "You wouldn't want him to spoil his dinner by snacking so close to meal time."

Victor pointed his wand at his brother and shouted – "Stupefy!" He missed; and then swore. "Help me, Raban. The rest of you; don't let them get away."

"We've got you covered," Don promised; but then whipped his head around when he heard loud laughter coming from a group of students that had come into view from one side of the castle. They'd seen the weasel, and the two Slytherin boys chasing it; but hadn't yet noticed that there was a confrontation going on between the remaining Slytherins and Al and Rose.

"I'd say that you don't," Al told him. He lowered his wand; but didn't put it away. "Come on, Rose. They won't try anything else in front of a bunch of witnesses."

"You think not?" Monty spat; and Al shook his head.

"If you want to prove me wrong about that, go ahead – if you think you can fare better with that against us than Victor and Raban did; and somehow manage to get away with it without getting into trouble."

"It'll be worth the trouble to put you in your place," Monty sneered; and then fired a hex at Al.

Reacting without thought; Al threw up his shield again. Rose did the same; and their combined effort blazed out brilliantly, one pushing the other to a point beyond the remaining four Slytherin boys; which had the effect of blasting them from their feet and tossing them back a dozen paces where they landed hard and slid to a stop on their backs. That got the attention of the other students that had been busy laughing at Victor and Raban; and there was an upswing in the volume of those laughs.

"Let's get out of here," Rose suggested quietly to Al. "We'll be spending hours explaining this to one or more of the Professors if we stay much longer."

"Lead the way; and I'll watch our backs," Al agreed with a nod.

That didn't end up being necessary, since Monty's hex had rebounded back on him thanks to the double shield; and his mates were trying to deal with that problem while the boy spewed venomous curses. Victor and Raban were still chasing down Rupert; so they were able to get to the castle with nothing more serious thrown at them than a few dozen shouted threats and insults. There were some happier-sounding shouts from the growing group of teen spectators; but they ingnored all of that too and were glad to just get into the school and away from that ongoing scene and the confrontation they'd have rather never had with any Slytherins.

"I guess that was inevitable," Rose said as they headed up toward Gryffindor tower; "but it would have been nice to be left alone a while longer – like years longer." She smiled at Al. "We didn't make any new friends with that lot; but I guess we did well-enough when they decided to get nasty with us."

"And then some," Al agreed. "What we did with our shields like that was amazing. Did you know that could happen?"

Rose shook her head. "No, and it was probably lucky timing. We could have just as easily knocked each other's shields out of the way instead of having them work together like that."

"That wouldn't have been fun if that hex had gotten through and hit me," Al said; "so I'll just be glad that the luck was with us. Did you recognize anyone in the group that caught the last parts of the show? Either way, I suppose it's too much to hope that word won't be on the school grapevine by dinnertime."

"A few that I've seen around, but nobody we know," Rose answered; "and yeah, I'm sure that's too much to hope for. Let's just settle for hoping that nothing comes of it with the Professors or Heads."

"You seem more worried over that than you were about those gits getting in our way and threatening us," Al pointed out; and Rose shrugged.

"I did have one of the sons of the most powerful Wizard in the world with me," she teased. "That might have felt different if you weren't there too."

"Maybe," Al conceded; "but since that lot is going to be fairly mad at us now; I think we'd best hang out with our friends a bit more so they don't have too many chances to get back at us for a while."

"We can do that," Rose said agreeably. "How long do you think they'll need before cooling off?"

Al laughed. "Probably only another half-dozen generations; give or take a century," he joked. "Our Dads have already started on a fourth generation of purebloods that hate them; and they don't seem to be mellowing at all yet – even though we keep hoping they will."

"That's a cheery thought – not!" She looked at her watch and shook her head. "We've pretty much missed our chance to study again before dinner now between all of that and staying late to watch part of the senior team practice. Ray, Bristol, and the others probably haven't done any extra studying while we've been gone, or since Ray got back from practice; so I guess it won't matter and we can catch up after dinner."

"Even if they did get some work done without us, we'll still manage to catch up later," Al said confidently.

"Unless we get hauled into the Head's office – or Professor McGonagall's office," Rose added.

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Al disagreed seriously. "If we don't say much about it, then it isn't very likely that those guys are going to say anything to any of the Professors either; since that'd mean admitting that the seven of them were out-dueled by a pair of Gryffindor firsties. Just dealing with the rumors tonight will be bad enough for them without adding to it."

"I suppose," Rose conceded, "though Rupert probably thinks that being turned into a weasel by his brother was bad too; and Monty didn't look as though he was enjoying getting hit by his own hex like that either."

"I'd feel bad about that," Al admitted; "but not bad enough to be taking their places for either."

Rose had agreed with that, but then they'd let the matter drop and moved on to talk about the rest of the assignments they needed to get done for the day and how they wanted to re-arrange their usual Monday evening study time to make up for the time they'd lost between Quidditch practice and dinner. While word of what had happened hadn't reached anyone in Gryffindor tower before they all went to the Great Hall for dinner; the rumors were flying by the time the meal was served and it wasn't long before Al and Rose were being pestered for the details once they'd been identified as the Gryffindor firsties involved in the confrontation. They chose not to talk about it at all; though that just seemed to fuel the speculation and add to the rumors that were already growing well-beyond what had actually happened.

There were more attempts to get the scoop on the story once they were back in their Common room; but they tried their best to ignore all of that too – and were eventually left alone again by their fellow Gryffindors. Al noticed that Victoire had shown more interest in him – nd Rose – while working with her usual group of friends; but she didn't try to talk with them about the rumors. Neither did James; but Al caught him looking their way a few times too; his expression speculative, but also unhappy. Al got the distinct feeling that James would have cheered for the Slytherins if their plan for Al and Rose had actually worked; and that he didn't like finding out that his little brother and cousin could best an entire group of Slytherin Wizards.

As always, the gossip network moved on to other stories; and they were already well on the way to being old news by bedtime. Victoire had a quiet little girl chat with Rose about what had happened to them after Rose had gone up to her dorm room, but that was only to make sure that she had their side of the story in case it became an issue for her as Head Girl. Al and Rose each eventually got the chances to tell their best friends about what had really happened too; but the real fallout over the confrontation with the Averys and their mates was that they were soon getting much more attention from quite a few Slytherins by Tuesday morning – and none of that interest was wanted; or even remotely meant to be good for them.

There were more insults and glares directed their way too, particularly during their joint classes with the Slytherin firsties; but the Averys and their buddies started going out of their way to try and intimidate them. That didn't include any more direct contact, since Al and Rose did try their best to be with a group anytime they were moving around the castle; but there were lots of snide insults, nasty jokes, and crude visual, but unspoken promises of future payback. Ignoring all of that was impossible; but Al and Rose did try their best to stay focused on their studies, Quidditch, and having some fun here and there with their friends.

There wasn't much time for much of the goofing off kind of fun during the rest of the week, but there wasn't anything major happening on the weekend; so getting their assignments out of the way with lots of time left over to play was an option. It was rainy and cold all weekend too, and that kept them indoors most of the time; but Al, Rose, and their friends managed to keep entertained with a combination of magic play time; some mirror gaming; two library visits; and watching the mirror network in the common room each evening on Saturday and Sunday. Al didn't spend any time hanging out with Gwendolyn on their own; but they were together with other friends for a Saturday morning study session, the library visits, and the magic play time that included some dueling and practicing charms and transfigurations that they were working on in classes – or just wanted to experiment with.

The upcoming Hogsmeade weekend – the last one before the Christmas holiday – had all of the eligible students fired up for most of that school week; and the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match was getting more attention too as the students in those Houses got more excited about the game. Neither of those stories had much of an impact for Al, Rose, and their friends; though Gwendolyn and her fellow Ravenclaws were happy to talk Quidditch with their Gryffindor study mates when they got together for joint study sessions. Since they didn't have Hogsmeade visits, Quidditch, or even any teen or tween drama to deal with; it was a fairly quiet week of classes and studying. Al and Rose had some minor issues with various Slytherin a few times a day too; but even that was calming down as at least some of those teens got bored with razzing them – particularly when their efforts were pretty much ignored by Al and Rose.

While most first and second-year students seemed to take the Hogsmeade weekends as an opportunity to goof off on Saturday; Al, Rose, and their usual groups of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends again put in the extra study time on Friday night and Saturday to get their weekend work done first so that they'd have the rest of the weekend to play and have fun. That's why they were completely unaware of a very different kind of Gryffindor-Slytherin confrontation that happened on Saturday morning – and they would not have been happy to find out that it was the Gryffindors that were doing the bullying.

Scorpius was in a great mood as he hurried along the hallway; randomly working his way up from Slytherin House toward the Room of Requirements. He'd managed to fairly easily escape his 'best friend', Davis Zabini; and he was looking forward to spending the morning talking with Thomas – and having another long lesson in what he thought of as his true magical training that was so much more than anything he was taught in his first-year classes. He smiled as he thought about that; and his thoughts drifted back to the day he'd found the portrait of Thomas in an old trunk that had been stuffed into a storage room at Malfoy Manor that hadn't been used in a decade or more.

He'd been exploring – a favorite game when he was younger; and the trunk he'd found had been filled with personal items that had once belonged to his Aunt Bellatrix. Though he'd never dared to ask his Grandmother about it; he presumed that she had been given her sister's belongings sometime after her death at the Battle of Hogwarts. There hadn't been any valuables such as jewelry or money in the trunk; but the treasure he had discovered was far more valuable than any gold or precious stone. The small portrait he'd found hadn't seemed at all extraordinary as he'd pulled it out of the trunk; but then Thomas had spoken to him; and soon had Scorpius shocked and amazed as he revealed his true identity.

That hadn't happen right away, since Thomas was very cautious at first. Scorpius had been cautious too; and that had served them both well in the two years since that first meeting. Thomas did not want anyone to find out about his portrait; and Scorpius did not want to share it with anyone else – especially not anyone in his family. They'd already betrayed Thomas in the past; and he had no idea what they'd do with his portrait – or to it – if they ever got their hands on it. While he'd already known by then that his family was despised by nearly all Wizarding families regardless of which side of the war they'd been on, it hadn't been until Thomas had told him the truth of what had happened during the war that he'd understood – and found out the half-truths he'd been told by his parents and grandparents for the lies they were.

Thomas had confided in him; told him his own life story without holding back on his failings as well as telling of his successes; and he'd also offered Scorpius a vision of his own future that would be far-brighter than that of a pureblood outcast. Just as Thomas had been – was – the true heir of Slytherin, Scorpius was the heir of two of the greatest of the pureblood Wizarding families; and he would overcome the mediocrity of his family – just as Thomas had needed to do with his family. He still had so much to learn before that time of glory and redemption could happen, but if he'd learned anything from Thoms; it was that a talented, driven Wizard could accomplish anything if he was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.

Preoccupied with those thoughts, it was already far too late when he walked right into the trap that James and Ollie sprung on him near one of the stairways on the fourth floor.

"Yes!" James shouted enthusiastically as Scorpius fell over and hit the ground hard; the leg-lock jinx doing its job to stop him in his tracks. "Bombs away, Ollie!"

Scorpius flipped over and drew his wand; but froze when he barely had time to glimpse what had been dropped on him before it hit him hard – and covered his entire body. Then he was coughing and yelling while trying to get out from under the huge pile of hippogriff dung; the sound of the other two boys' laughter muffled until he had his head clear of the putrid mess.

"Direct hit!" James crowed as he and Ollie stepped into the hallway from the classroom they'd been hiding in. "Thanks for making our prank patrol so easy today, Malfoy," he told Scorpius.

Ollie sniffed the air; and laughed. "You should call him Smellfoy," he suggested.

"Stinkpius Smellfoy," James added. "I like it!"

"Levicorpus!" Scorpius shouted; pointing his wand at James. He was furious; but thrilled too when James shouted in surprise as he flipped upside-down and found himself hanging in the air by one foot; his head about level with Ollie's. "Levicorpus!" he shouted again; hitting Ollie while he was still gaping at James in astonishment. It took a little while to finally get up from the floor by the time he pulled himself out of the disgusting muck and countered the leg-lock; and he was more than a bit surprised that James and Ollie just hung there and let him do that. They were even laughiug about their predicament.

"Nice one," James finally told him conversationally. "Where'd you learn this little trick?"

"None of your business," Scorpius told him bluntly. He looked down at himself and shook his head in disgust. "I hope you hang there all weekend. Maybe you won't find it funny anymore if you do."

"Well, it isn't as funny as seeing you covered in that mess, Stinkpius," James answered; "but we can appreciate a good jinx or hex even when the joke's on us."

"Well, if that's the case; then you'll love this," Scorpius suggested with a sneer. Waving his wand; he said – "Wingardium Leviosa!" Most of the pile of dung on the floor lifted into the air; and he was smiling as he then threw it at the two boys.

"Protego!" James shouted; and laughed again as the shield protected him from Scorpius' attempt at payback. Unfortunately for Ollie, his shield wasn't large enough to protect both of them; and he did get hit with a fair bit of the muck while most of the dung blob dropped to the floor as both boys released the spells they were using. Ollie spluttered and spat while wiping his face; and then he glared at James when his best mate just continued to laugh.

"Thanks so much, James," Ollie told his friend derisively. "Couldn't you have made that shield a bit bigger; or did you just forget that I was here too?"

"You could have put up a shield too," James pointed out; still laughing. He pointed his wand at his friend and said "Tergio!" Ollie was soon smiling again as James' spell cleaned the hippogriff dung from him; and he was even able to laugh again too.

"Okay, that's better. Can you get us down from here now too?"

"Good luck with that," Scorpius told them with a cold smile; pointing to the floor beneath them. "Go ahead and get out of it. The landings will stink – if you actually do manage to get free." He smirked then; said "Tergio!" while pointing his wand at himself; and then repeated the spell to clean his bookbag before slinging it over a shoulder and looking up at James and Ollie again. "Leave me alone. I'm not going to put up with your crap anymore – bad pun intended."

James laughed again. "You've just made the hunt more fun and interesting," he advised Scorpius. "I'd start running right now – if I was a chicken-hearted Slytherin like you." Scorpius was about to respond to that suggestion and insult with a derisive barb of his own; but paused when James pointed his wand toward the floor and said – "Reducio!"

The pile shrank down to just a small piece of dung; but it was the next word out of James' mouth that had Scorpius turning and running. "Liberacorpus!" James said as he next pointed his wand at Ollie. There was a thump as the other boy dropped and hit the floor; but Scorpius didn't turn around to watch. He did hear James repeating the counter-jinx, presumably while pointing his wand at himself; he heard the second thump, a squishing noise that hopefully meant that James had landed on that small piece of hippogriff dung; and the groans and laughter coming from both boys. He was at full speed and halfway to the fifth floor by then – and didn't stop running until he was outside of the Room of Requirements. He had no idea whether James and Ollie actually tried to chase him or not; but he was soon safe within the Room of Requirements and out of their reach.

Breathing hard, he dropped into the armchair that was there for him as always; along with the table he used for the painting. He just sat there for a few long moments while calming down and catching his breath. When he felt ready, he opened his bag; took out the painting; and set it up on the table. Thomas was looking at him expectantly; and Scorpius smiled – though his expression was a mixture of emotions ranging from pride to frustration and an anger that was close to hatred.

"The good news is that the jinx you taught me worked great," he began. "The bad is that Potter and Wood hit me with their prank before I could use it on them; and then Potter knew the counter-jinx."

"I heard," Thomas said with a nod. "What's most important is that you stood up to them successfully, and regardless of what Potter told you; bullies don't like picking on anyone that can fight back – and win as you did today!"

"It doesn't feel like a win to me," Scorpius disagreed. "Winners don't need to run away."

"That choice was the right one to make," Thomas declared; "and you will know when you are ready to stand and defend yourself – just as you knew not to do that today. Trust your instincts." He held up a hand when Scorpius opened his mouth to respond. "Be content with what you did do so well today and let go of the rest. I'd like to hear the latest news; and then we'll work on your next lesson. Did you find out anything more about that incident between those Avery boys and their mates and the younger Potter and Weasley kids?"

"Nothing that sheds any light onto the truth of it," Scorpius answered; beginning with the answer he knew that Thomas would want to hear about the most. "Potter and Weasley aren't saying anything that I'm hearing about; and the things that the Averys' and their mates are saying to explain away what happened to them don't fit with the original rumors and stories. Those witnesses weren't there to see everything; so the story has become half rumors and some combination of truth and lies."

"Are you certain that the boys are lying?" Thomas asked next; and Scorpius nodded.

"I believe so," he confirmed. "Their claims might have more merit if they'd been dealing with James and Ollie; but Al and Rose were likely only defending themselves. There has never been even a rumor or hint of those two instigating anything with Slytherins – or any other students." He shook his head. "My best guess is still that Al and Rose simply defended themselves – just as Al did that one time I was with them when James and Ollie tried to prank us. The Averys probably started it, and the problems they had were likely all caused by rebounded spells."

"That is likely what happened," Thomas agreed; "though we shouldn't entirely discount the possibility that our fellow Slytherins were provoked first. You should also learn well the lesson that those who may one day follow you will lie and obsfucate for no greater reason than vanity – and that being deceived by them can lead to your undoing." He smiled at Scorpius. "I will teach you how to discern truth from lies when you are ready, but let's move on; you can tell me what's been going on since we last spoke; and then I have another lesson that will help you with defending yourself against Potter, Wood, and the Slytherins that are still causing you trouble."

While James and Ollie moved on from their prank patrol to other amusements and Scorpius was busy with learning lessons in magic that would never be taught by any Hogwarts Professor; Al, Rose, and the rest of their study buddy friends worked hard on their assignments and had their weekend studies wrapped up by lunchtime. Though the next senior team Quidditch match was only a week away now, the Quidditch pitches weren't booked for the afternoon because the Hogsmeade weekend trumped practicing for the day; so a Quidditch scrimmage after lunch was an option. The only difference to most previous Quidditch play times for them was that they ddin't have even a single spectator-friend willing to go out in the cold and just sit there on the bleachers to watch the game at the practice pitch. They didn't even have two full teams, but played two Chasers a side; and had their two Beaters play against both teams instead of one on each team.

That had been fun for Al, and so had the warm-up break that followed back at the castle; but it was also the last chance he had to hang out with Gwendolyn for the day as they split up to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in their own common rooms and dorms. For the Gryffindor firsties, that time had included watching a bit of professional Quidditch until dinnertime; and then they played games and watched a few WWMN shows after dinner before going to bed for the night. The fun highlights of the weekend, at least for Al, were on Sunday; starting with meeting up with Gwendolyn after breakfast with plans to spend most of the day together.

"Maybe having a Chaser duel this morning was a bad idea," Al suggested as he and Gwendolyn stepped outside and the cold air hit them full-on and was a bit shocking compared to the comparative warmth they'd just left behind in the castle entrance hall.

"We could make snow and build snow sculptures instead," Ggwendolyn offered with a laugh; and smiled as Al shook his head.

"We'll be able to do that more than we'll want for most of the winter. There's no point in getting an early start on that – not to mention that starting some snow fun could get out of hand around here if too many teens decide to join in on the fun."

"I'd be okay with a snowball fight too; but not if it meant a trade-off for the you and me time. It seems as though we haven't had a chance to talk without a gang around in ages."

"Is there anything in particular you'd like to talk about today?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Not specifically. I just like talking with you about anything. I like the way you see things differently than most Wizards and Witches – and that you like hearing about things that I'd never tell anyone else."

"Thanks, but I might be a total bore for talking today; since I'm not really thinking about much of anything right now," Al offered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I doubt that, but I'll get us started, and if you really don't have anything to talk about; we'll at least have some fun with our Chaser duel for a while."

Over the next hour or so, they did both, and as much fun as the Chaser duel was for both of them; it really was the private talk time that meant the most to them. They were eventually both too cold to enjoy the Quidditch challenge anymore; went inside to have a hot chocolate and snacks break together; and then went for a walk around the school and spent some time together in the library until they needed to split up for a while and have lunch with their own House mates. They got together again after that, but this time; they had a bunch of their friends along – and the fun was a magic play time in an empty classroom that wasn't far from Ravenclaw Tower. While having a bit of harmless dueling practice was part of that; it was actually playing around with charms and transfigurations that they all enjoyed the most. Being as creative as possible had a lot to do with that, and while Al and Rose were among the most creative members of their group; most of the others could be very inventive too – if not as regularly successful. In fact, it was sometimes the mess-ups that were most entertaining!

Al wrapped up his weekend with another evening hanging out with Rose and their Gryffindor friends in the common room again after dinner on Sunday night, but he also wrote a letter to his parents and sister; sent it off with Winter – along with a letter from Rose that would get passed on to her parents. He went to bed early as well; read for an hour or so; and then was off to sleep before even half of his room mates managed to make their way up to their dorm room for the night.

The fun level of that last weekend of November dropped quite a bit by Monday; and it seemed as though all of the Professors decided that they needed to end the month with an academic push that kept all of their students very busy ahead of the inevitable distractions that would come with December and the Christmas holiday season. Having that jump in workload was tough enough for students without any extra-curricular activity; but it was especially daunting for the senior team players for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as they also worked hard every day to get ready for their big match. Quidditch was definitely a top topic on the school grapevine too; though all things Christmas moved up the chat topic list very quickly by Friday – the first day of December.

Quidditch was still number one through until Saturday morning, though; and Al, Rose, and their friends were as fired up about the match when the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw members of their group met up in the Great Hall after breakfast to head out to the stadium together. They picked seats that were on the border of the sections for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw again; and got settled in to wait for the game to start. It was very cold; the ground was frost-covered; and there'd been a few flakes of snow in the air; so they were all dressed for the cold and also had blankets with them to huddle under. They weren't using the blankets yet as the stadium filled with Professors, visitors, and students. Teddy was there too, and had stopped by to say hello to Al and Rose on his way to sit with Victoire and the other members of the senior Gryffindor team. For this match, Victoire was working with her team to learn everything they could about the two teams they'd still be facing this season, so while spending the time with Teddy was a big deal for her too; the game-watching was nearly as important to her.

Al, Rose, and a lot of other Quidditch players around the stadium would be watching the game for more than just pure entertainment too; with their interests being less personal and more about continuing to learn new things about the game from the perspective of other talented players. The senior Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams had their fair share of talented players too, and while Gwendolyn got to watch her fellow Ravenclaws practice regularly; she was as interested in watching the Hufflepuff players as Al, Rose, and Ray were about watching both teams.

"Do you have any pre-game predictions?" Al asked Gwendolyn when it was nearly game time; most of the stadium was filled; and it looked as though the game announcer, Charlotte Entwhistle, was nearly ready to start her pre-game 'show'.

"Ravenclaw in a blow-out?" she joked; smiling at him. "You don't expect me to pick Hufflepuff to win, do you?"

"You might do that if you know something you haven't told us about your team," Al suggested. "This won't be a blow-out game either unless some players get hurt."

"I don't know about that," Gwendolyn disagreed. "Both teams have decent-enough Keepers; but they're not as good as the Chasers are. That could end up being a big mismatch today."

Al shrugged. "True, but a high-scoring game can still be close, and to be honest; I'd probably give Hufflepuff the advantage for their Chaser trio."

"No wonder you're Gryffindor; saying something like that with so many Ravenclaws around you right before the game," Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed along with Rose, Ray, and the few other friends that had overheard her.

"Well, at least you can't accuse him of picking the beautiful Witches on Hufflepuff's team," Rose offered. "Two out of three of the Ravenclaw Chasers are girls too."

"Witches are the best Quidditch players," Gwendolyn said with a grin for Rose. "Slytherins don't get that; but the rest of us do." She smiled at Al. "Do you think that the Witches on the Hufflepuff team are beautiful?"

"Yes, I do," Al confirmed; grinning at her unapologetically; and then laughing when she scowled at him.

"Brave enough for Gryffindor, but obviously too dumb to be in Ravenclaw," Ray said; laughing and shaking his head. "Good luck getting out of the hole you just dug for yourself."

"Gwendolyn isn't really mad at me for that, and even if she was; I'd rather be honest instead of trying to sit here and lie about something that obvious and then sound like an even bigger idiot," Al answered. "You wouldn't tell me I was dumb if I'd said that my Witch cousins are beautiful – and that's obvious too."

Ray laughed again. "No, I'd call you a suck-up instead; since one of your cousins is sitting right here with us."

"Do you think that means that he thinks that you are or are not beautiful?" Bristol asked Rose innocently. "I couldn't tell for sure, but if he thinks that Al's a suck-up for saying that; it could definitely be the 'not'."

"Don't try to turn this around on me," Ray told her; and then nodded toward the announcer booth. "That line was strictly about razzing Al, and lucky for him; he's about to be saved by the start of the game."

"Good morning, Quidditch fans!" Charlotte exclamed even before Ray had finished his comment. "Today we should be in for an exciting match between perennial, friendly rivals Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. In the junior team match-up earlier this season, Ravenclaw came out with the win. They're looking to keep up with Gryffindor in the race for the Qudditch Cup by winning today; while Hufflepuff is looking to even things up in their rivalry this season – and get into the win column for the Quidditch Cup race too."

"Boo Gryffindor," Gwendolyn whispered to Al; leaning a bit closer to him and then staying there for the extra warmth.

"It's cold out here, so instead of dragging this out; let's just introduce our teams and get the match started!" Charlotte continued. "First up – let's hear it for Hufflepuff!"

There was a roar of approval from the spectators; and Charlotte needed to wait a few moments before introducing the players. Al focused his attention on the players that he knew best – Alice and Francine Longbottom; and Alex Jordan. Alice was the Hufflepuff team Captain, and Francine and Alex were both new, forth-year additions to the senior team. Alex had won his spot as Seeker on the team over a very good seventh-year Seeker that had helped Hufflepuff to win several Quidditch Cups, and while that had been a surprise; Francine's inclusion on the team had been all about the fact that she and Alice were an especially talented pair of Chasers when working together.

The Hufflepuff players kept their flight around the stadium short and low; and they were on the ground before Charlotte finished the individual introductions. She went on to immediately introduce Ravenclaw next; and Gwendolyn was on her feet along with the rest of her fellow Ravenclaws as they watched their team fly around the place in an equally-short flight that had them all on the pitch within a minute. Unlike with the Hufflepuff team, or the Ravenclaw junior team; Al didn't actually know any of the senior Ravenclaw players very well at all; though he had at least met some of them at least once before coming to Hogwarts and seeing them around the school. He did wish Gwendolyn's team the best; but it was those personal connections he did have that had him silently cheering for Hufflepuff. He wasn't the only Gryffindor doing that; though the reasons for that ranged from wanting to keep Ravenclaw a win behind Gryffindor in the run for the Quidditch Cup to cheering for good friends. His cousin, Lucy, was also now dating Alex Jordan; so she was cheering for him too as well as for Hufflepuff.

The game got started as soon as Mr. Peakes wrapped up his pre-game instructions and fair-play speech; and the Gryffindor fans soon had something to cheer about as Alice and Francine teamed up to earn Hufflepuff's first goal within the first couple of minutes of the match. They then scored two more goals in fairly quick succession before the Ravenclaw players picked up their game a notch or two and really got into the match too.

"Maybe we should have sat between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin sections," Gwendolyn told Al after that third round of cheers from a lot of the Gryffindors. "I don't hear any cheering going on from them for Hufflepuff."

Al laughed. "I'd be surprised if there was. They don't generally cheer for any of the other teams; but especially not for Hufflepuff."

"I'd have said that last part about Slytherins and Gryffindors – and your House never cheers for them either."

"That does seem very unfair. Would you like us to start doing that with your games against them this year?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but it might be fun to see you try and get your fellow Gryffindors to do that – and the Slytherins would be baffled over it if you succeeded."

"Maybe that'd work to mess up their team," Rose offered; leaning in and smiling at them. "Your turn," she added as they all watched Miya Davies score Ravenclaw's first goal on the Hufflepuff Keeper, Kirby Crumb.

Gwendolyn did dutifully jump up and cheer for her team, and the battle was truly on after that, but while Ravenclaw fought valiently and never gave up; the Hufflepuff team never gave up that small, early lead and they slowly built it up by out-scoring Ravenclaw by nearly two goals to one. It took them until they were into the fourth hour of the match, but Ravenclaw was in real trouble once Hufflepuff was more than one hundred and fifty points ahead of them. Their Seeker, Jared Davies, opted to back off from trying to catch the snitch after that, and as team Captain; that was solely his decision to make. He was surely hoping that his own Chasers could close that gap and then give him a chance for the come-from-behind win, but easing up on the Seeker duel was risky too; since Alex Jordan had backed off too with his team in the lead and he was just waiting around to jump on any good opportunities to catch the snitch.

The two teams continued to trade goals through that fourth hour and into the fifth; but Ravenclaw still only continued to slowly lose ground on the scoreboard – even if that was only done very slowly with each addtional goal a hard-fought accomplishment for the Hufflepuff Chasers. Cold was becoming a real problem for both teams by then, and while there had been a few flurries earlier in the game; the weather became a much bigger problem when a light rain began falling; adding a very unpleasant wet to go with the freezing cold.

"Jared should be going for a catch for the loss," Gwendolyn whispered to Al. Her comment came in those early minutes of the fifth hour; and Al nodded his agreement.

"Yes he should; but I don't think that he will. Your team isn't going to out-last Hufflepuff in this weather; so closing that points gap and taking the loss makes more sense for your team's chances in the Quidditch Cup race. I do get why that's a really hard choice to make; but it's the right one for this situation today." He put a hand to his face and wiped away some droplets of water. "This isn't going to be fun for any of us if this rain really starts coming down – and it'll make finding the snitch even harder for both Seekers."

That statement would have proved true had the game gone on very much longer, but it was only about twelve minutes later when Alex got his best chance of the game to catch the snitch thanks to some well-timed help from his Beaters that temporarily got Jared out of his way. He took full advantage of the chance; caught the snitch; and handed his team the five hundred and sixty to two hundred and twenty point victory. By then, all of the players were more than half-frozen, wet, and exhausted; so they all landed fairly quickly while the Hufflepuff faithful cheered for their team with some slightly-less enthusiastic support for the Gryffindor fans that appreciated the help with keeping their team firmly in first place for the Quidditch Cup championship standings.

Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group were quickly on their feet and moving toward the pitch. That was mostly because they wanted to get back to the castle, though they did meet up with Teddy for a minute to say goodbye to him; and they also managed to offer their congratulations or condolences to a few members of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams before all of the players had gone on to the change rooms to get cleaned up, changed, and warm again. There was also a late lunch to get to in the Great Hall with hot food and drinks; so that was another motivation that had them – and most students and Professors – back in the school much more quickly than normal for warmer-weather matches.

The group of firstie Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends needed to split up while having lunch; but they were getting back together again to have an afternoon study session in their usual classroom. Quidditch at Hogwarts was done with until the New Year, but Christmas was on-deck; and that was particularly obvious because the school decorating had begun even while most of the Witches and Wizards at the school had been at the game. With just less than three weeks to go until they'd be set free for the Christmas holidays, there was still a lot of studying and work ahead; but there was also sure to be a lot of fun happening too.

That fun at school was going to be all-new for Al, Rose, and their friends, and they had no idea what would be going on at home over the holidays; but Al didn't need the details about any of that. Even as he mentally began to make the switch from Quidditch to Christmas right then while they had lunch, and he and Rose talked about Christmas with their friends as much as they talked about the just-ended Quidditch match; he began to get the very strong feeling that they were going to have an amazing December and Christmas season – one that would be filled with the remember-forever kind of fun and adventure!


	4. A December to Remember - Part One

**Chapter Four– A December to Remember – Part One**

"What's the commotion all about?" Rose asked Al when she met up with him on Sunday morning for their usual walk to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were usually among the first to head out of the Gryffindor common room; but there was a not-so-small crowd of students gathered around the bulletin board – a group that was mostly comprised of excited young Witches.

"Oh, nothing major," Al answered; shooting for a tone of casual indifference. "There's going to be a Christmas dinner and dance on the Saturday night before we head home for the holidays – on the sixteenth."

"A dance!" Rose exclaimed; her voice rising and her face lighting up with enthusiasm. "That's brilliant!" She then laughed at the grin she saw on Al's face; and pretended to punch his arm. "Do we have time for me to go and read all about it; or do you need to get straight to the Great Hall so that you can get your date lined up for the dance right away?"

"There's no hurry for that, since I'm sure you'll work on that for me with some help from certain friends of ours anyway," Al pointed out, "and you can go and talk about the dance with the girls over there if you want; but I can tell you the details while we walk anyway if you just want to get going now."

"You already got the scoop from the girls while you were waiting for me?" Rose teased; and Al shook his head.

"I was early; and read the poster before most of that gang got here. You'll be most interested in knowing that the Weird Kids on the Block will be the headline band; and the Graves Robbers are the warm-up act."

Rose's smile brightened a few notches and she looked thrilled again. "That'll be amazing too!"

"So who are you going to aske to go to the dance with you?" Al asked her as they headed toward the portrait hole.

"Nobody. Wizards are supposed to do the asking for things like this."

"That's a stupid rule, but in that case; whom would you like to have asking you to the dance?"

Rose grinned at him. "How about Martin Barbary? I just heard that he's going to be there."

"The drummer for the Weird Kids on the Block?" Al asked in amusement. "Isn't he a little old for you – just a bit younger than Teddy?"

"That's not even as big a difference as there was between your Mum and the Weird Sisters when she had crushes on them," Rose pointed out; and Al nodded.

"That's true. Would you like me to put in a good word for you on that with Gwendolyn? She does know Martin – and the rest of the Weird Sisters' kids – fairly well. Maybe she'd be willing to help set that up for you."

"Don't you dare!" Rose exclaimed; blushing and looking at him with a mix of shock and fear.

"If you're really sure about that, I won't, but if you change your mind; just let me know – or ask Bristol; since she could do that for you just as easily as Gwendolyn could."

"Just you never mind," Rose told him seriously. "Forget that I even tried to make a joke about it."

"That's probably for the best," Al agreed. "You wouldn't want to go and disappoint every firstie guy in the school by going to this dance with an older guy like that. It just wouldn't be fair to them at all."

Rose laughed dismissively. "You must have me mixed up with Gwendolyn – or one of the other really popular girls. I don't even get noticed by comparison."

"You get noticed a lot," Al assured her; "but I won't name names unless you want to know about one or two specific guys."

"Nice try, but that's not happening – even if I did actually believe you about that," Rose told him; and Al just smiled at his adorable, occasionally-oblivious cousin.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about potential dates, then what should we talk about? What we're going to wear to the dance?"

Rose laughed again; this time sounding bemused. "You're in a strange mood today, Al. What's up with that?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe I'm catching the Christmas spirit early this year and feel like having a goofy, fun day."

"Well, if that's your goal; you are well on the way to making that happen," Rose assured him with a smile. "For the record; no, I don't want to talk with you about what I'm going to wear to the dance – or about what you'll wear either."

Their conversation moved along from there, but Al also spent some time thinking about Rose's comments – and the fact that he really was feeling a bit off to his normal self – or at least what had been normal of late over the past few weeks. Trying to pinpoint the why, or even the when it started to hit him didn't lead to any specific moments that explained his change in mood; but it had definitely been a very real transistion that had been happening since sometime on Saturday – and was still ongoing.

By the time breakfast was served in the Great Hall, the only story on the school grapevine was the Christmas dance news, and though that certainly wasn't as exciting for most of the boys in the room; most of the girls were very excited. Rose, Bristol, Cora, and the rest of the firstie Gryffindor Witches were fired up; and kept the boys around them entertained as they talked about all things dance-related. Al, Ray, and the other guys pretty much stayed out of that conversation except for the jokes and teasing that was interjected here and there, and while most of the firstie guys might not be very enthusiastic about the dance compared to the girls; Al wa sure that they also paid attention to a lot of what the girls were talking about.

Even eleven and twelve-year old Wizards were aware that life could get fairly unpleasant if the Witches in their lives were unhappy – especially around holidays!

While Rose and their friends were entertaining him during breakfast, Al didn't really get involved in the conversation and instead settled for listening in and watching everything that was going on around them. His whimsical mood had continued, and he did join in when he was being teased about the dance and getting a date for it; but he was mostly interested in meeting up with Gwendolyn and spending the rest of the morning with her – even though they didn't really have anything specific planned for the day. The dance news likely had a lot to do with why Gwendolyn greeted him with an enthusiastic hug and brilliant smile as she met up with Al at the Gryffindor table, but before Rose, Bristol, and the other girls could get started on teasing them; he pre-empted their half-planned, comedic matchmaking opportunity with his first comment to Gwendolyn.

"Is that a yes?" he asked; smiling brightly too. She knew exactly what he was asking; laughed happily and hugged him again before playing along.

"I don't know. What was the question?"

"Will you go to the Christmas dance with me?" he both answered and asked. He laughed too when she hugged him for a third time.

"That's definitely a yes," she assured him. She turned her attention toward Rose, Bristol, and Cora next. "Have you been teasing Al a lot about asking me to the dance?"

"Not too much," Rose answered; "and we're terribly disappointed that he's just managed to mess up all of that fun for us already." She smiled at Al. "That is why you came right out and asked her now, isn't it?"

"Danger! Danger! Danger!" Ray warned before Al could answer.

"That was an added bonus," Al told his cousin; "but I asked Gwendolyn because I want to go to the dance with her. I'm really glad that she didn't already have a date."

"Did you have any other offers?" Bristol asked; grinning at Al but directing the question at Gwendolyn.

"No, and it's mostly only been the Witches that already have boyfriends in our House getting asked so far this morning. I haven't heard of any single, first or second-year Ravenclaw girls getting asked out yet. Gryffindors are supposed to be braver, though; so maybe that's different in your House."

Rose laughed. "We've only heard of one so far; and that one just happened. We'll keep you posted, but normal Gryffindor rules about bravery might not apply for dances."

"Well, then I'm at least glad that Al asked me to it," Gwendolyn told her. "Let's get out of here and decide what we're going to do for the rest of the morning, Al."

He was good with that suggestion, and it didn't take too long to say goodbye to Rose and the rest of their Gryffindor friends as they all left the Great Hall together. Since they hadn't wanted to stay in a pack, Al and Gwendolyn headed off away from pretty much all of the usual routes to the four common rooms or the library; and were soon wandering along an empty hallway on the first floor with no destination beyond anywhere they could hang out together without being surrounded by other students.

"Did you know about the band choices for the dance before the posters went up?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"No, but I'm not surprised. The Weird Kids can't do any band work while the younger members are here at Hogwarts anyway, so any gig is good for them; and this dance could be a test to see whether the Graves Robbers can be the opening act for the Weird Kids on the Block next summer – assuming they're planning on another tour."

"It's a Quidditch World Cup summer," Al pointed out. "Maybe they'll match a tour with some of those games."

"That's a great idea," Gwendolyn said with a nod; "though I'd rather take trips to see as many of the World Cup games as I could if it was possible to do that. It's one of the few chances we have of seeing the best players in the other professional leagues around the world – not that I got to see many matches during the last two World Cups."

"We got to go to both Championship games," Al reminded her. "If your Mum gets named to the National team; maybe you could go along with her to those games – unless you'd rather tour around with the Scotland team."

"I'd love to do either, but if Mum does get asked to manage or co-manage the National team; she won't want to have Jonah or me along to get in the way of concentrating on the job."

"That'd be the same for my Mum if she gets sent out to report on the games," Al said with a nod. "I hadn't really thought about that yet; but we could both be in for a strange summer."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed, "but that's more than a half-year away; and I'd rather talk about more current events." She smiled at him. "Did you mean it before when you told the other girls that you really want to take me to the Christmas dance? I don't want you to feel as though you have to ask me just because they keep razzing you about hanging out with me."

"I really meant it, Gwendolyn, and I don't care that they tease me about you either; because I really like spending time with you." He smiled when she stopped and hugged him.

"Thanks, Al. I really like being with you too." They started walking again; and were both smiling as she took his hand and held it as they continued to wander around the less-traveled parts of the school. "Do you know how to dance?" That question had been a bit tentative; and Al laughed.

"Will you change your mind about going with me if I can't?"

Gwendolyn laughed too. "No, but I might offer to do some lessons with you – and it'd give us something to do today and next weekend."

"Mom and Lily have taught me the basics so I don't embarrass them at weddings or parties," he answered; "but I haven't actually done a lot of dancing – which you know already since we've been at some of those parties together."

"I'd have danced with you if you'd asked me," she advised him; and Al nodded.

"There isn't anything I can do to change the fact that I was oblivious to things like that until fairly recently; but I'll try to make up for being such a guy by asking you to dance with me whenever we get the chance to do that from now on."

"I'm going to remember that promise," Gwendolyn advised him. "Let's go and find an empty classroom and at least have a bit of a dance practice if not a lesson. I have my portable mirror with me; so we'll have music; and can get done with the awkward parts of learning to dance together without witnesses."

Al especially liked the last part of that plan, since he wasn't interested in making a fool of himself in public anymore than any other normal teen or tween; but it was the actual dancing with Gwendolyn that soon had his spirit soaring and had his heart filling with emotions that neither of them were ready to openly deal with yet. There were a handful of dancing gaffes too, and while most of those were Al's; that shared experience just helped to deepen their growing friendship in new and fun ways. While they started out with dances that Al knew; Gwendolyn taught him some new dances too; and he was happy to have yet another bonus that went along with inviting her to the dance – a partner from a music and entertainment family that was plugged into all of the latest trends.

Though it was a bit surprising to Al, they had fun with the dancing until it was nearly time to go to the Great Hall for lunch. There were some breaks mixed in when they just sat and talked for a while too, and they discussed everything from music to school and dorm issues to holiday hopes and expectations for their first trip home from school. They split up for visits to their respective dorms and for that meal too; and then got together with their usual group of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends for some afternoon magical play time. As always, getting to experiment with their magical abilities and new spells they'd learned in classes was thrilling and entertaining; and even some of their least-enthusiastic study buddies were happy to do that with them over other options such as gaming or watching the mirror network in their common rooms.

Dancing and magic weren't the only activities going on around them on Sunday – or during the first full week of December. The appearance of Christmas decorations around the school also brought out the first uses of Christmas wheezes by the usual groups of jokesters. James and Ollie led the charge for that with the Gryffindors, but their pranking fun hadn't been at all malicious – at least as far as Al, Rose, and their friends knew; and even the teens being pranked seemed to be having fun right along with them.

Their classes during the week seemed more fun too, though that was relative and a view that wasn't shared by all of the students – especially since they also got into some testing in pretty much every subject as they got into the last few weeks before the Christmas break. Quidditch practices were cold, uncomfortable, and often short now that all teams had until the New Year to get ready for the next round of matches. It was the mid-week Harpies' game that was the Quidditch highlight for Al, Rose, and the rest of the Harpies fans at Hogwarts and everywhere else, and while they'd needed to keep studying too; they watched the game on their portable mirrors while writing up their assignments.

The Harpies were up against the Wanderers; the game was at Ilkley Stadium; and it was a cold, wet, and windy night. Fortunately for their fans, the Harpies didn't let the weather bother them at all; and the entire team was in top form and playing very well together. The Wanderers played hard too, but that didn't show up on the scoreboard; and they only managed to score four goals against Vicky while the Harpies' Chasers put sixteen goals past the Wanderers' Keeper before Gabrielle ended the game with a fairly dramatic catch of the snitch. With one game left to play for the first half of the season, the win gave the Harpies an eight-win, three-loss record; and would probably move them up a notch in the standings too – depending on the results of the other matches over the next week and a half.

Though the Harpies' mid-week match had only been a minor entertainment diversion that didn't even keep Al, Rose, and their friends from getting their assignments for the day finished; there was one, ongoing event happening at Hogwarts heading into the weekend that did get the attention of nearly all of the students – the arrival of the first snowfalls that were heavy enough to accumulate and offer up the required materials needed for the usual kid and teen snow activities. There were a few opportunities for that kind of outdoor fun on Thursday and Friday after school – or between classes for some of the teens; but the more serious outdoor play time happened on the weekend. While studying on Saturday morning had been the plan for Al, Rose, and their friends, the extra overnight snow, along with the fact that a lot of students were heading out to play after breakfast, had them changing their plans for the day and going out to play for a while too.

"What is going on out here?"Dave Wilson asked incredulously as he looked around at all of the action already in progress by then.

Rose grinned at him as she pulled out her wand. "We can use magic here," she reminded him; grinning as she waved her wand and then tossed the snowball she'd just made directly at him with a flick of her wand. "My Mum and Dad hardly ever do stuff like this with my brother and me at home; but Al's parents sometimes use their wands while playing with us in the snow – and now we can try doing all of this stuff using our wands too!" She laughed when her snowball hit Dave full on the front of his winter cloak; and he was grinning too as he bent down to grab some snow with his hands instead of drawing his wand too.

"Maybe, but since I have no idea how you just did that; I'll have to settle for doing this the old-fashioned way until someone can teach me." He threw his hastily-made snowball at Rose; and she laughed again while using a shield to protect herself from his counter-attack.

"Actually, I'd suggest that using magic for snowball fights, making snow sculptures, and building forts is the old-fashioned way," Rose countered; "and we'll be happy to help you out with learning how."

"Yes we will," Gwendolyn agreed; laughing as she tossed her own snowball – at Al. "Witches versus Wizards!"

Al had sensed the attack coming from the side, but let the snowball hit him on the shoulder; catching some of the snow in that ear and on his face as it splattered. The bit of discomfort as some of that snow got under his cloak and shirt was worth it just to see the brilliant smile on his friend's face and hear her musical laughter as she and the other girls happily took the snowball fight to the boys. Letting her get that first shot in didn't mean that he was going to let Gwendolyn and the other girls use him for target practice, but while he happily defended himself and helped the other guys too; he mostly left the offense to his temporary team mates. The snowballs that he did throw were for show; and the challenge for him was to make that look good without hurting anyone. That might have fooled some of his friends; but it didn't fool Gwendolyn or Rose.

"You do know that we play Quidditch with steel bludgers," Rose told Al as they called a truce and took a break from the snowball fight to have some fun with creating magical or hand-crafted snow sculptures for a while. "Gwendolyn and I won't break from getting hit by a snowball."

"True," Al agreed; "but then that might be why I've never wanted to play Beater."

"Not to mention that those one-on-one duels with Gwendolyn would be a lot more painful if you were both Beaters instead and you were as bad at that as you are at snowball fights," Ray suggested with a grin for Gwendolyn. "She'd probably put you in the hospital wing every time."

"Maybe we'll try that sometime if Al ever slacks off and doesn't try his best in those duels," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't like it much when he wins; but would hate it if he just started to let me win."

"I thought that you won most of those duels," Bristol said; sounding a bit surprised. "Al hardly ever says anything about winning."

"Maybe he just doesn't notice whether he wins or loses," Cora offered; earning a round of laughs from the girls while Al tried not to blush – not that it mattered when they all had cold-reddened faces by then anyway.

"Or believes that he wins every time whether he, um, scores with Gwendolyn or not," Bristol added.

"Oh look – a dragon!" Al said excitedly – right after he'd waved his wand and whispered the spells to create it right behind Bristol and Cora. Both girls turned around and jumped back in surprise because it was so close to them – and the head had been slightly above eye level. They both laughed too.

"Nice diversion," Gwendolyn complimented him, "though for the record; I'd be okay with it if any of those suggestions were even partly true – and I really would be mad if you didn't try your best in our Chaser duels; so don't ever try to do that."

"That's what Mom always tells Dad when they're having their Seeker duels if he slacks off," Al advised her. "Don't tell anyone, but I actually learn a lot from my parents; which is why I won't ever need to worry about having a Beater duel with you."

Gwendolyn laughed – and so did the other members of their group that had overheard him. "That's scarier than that dragon for most of us, Al."

"Way scary," Cora agreed; "though not as scary as the stories about my Dad dating Rose's Mum when they were at Hogwarts."

"Is that ever going to get old for you; or are we going to hear about it regularly for years?" Ray asked her.

"I'll guess it'll be years," Cora declared; grinning at Rose. "We should be able to have lots of fun with it at holidays too. What would your Dad say if you went to the Christmas dance with one of my brothers?" She asked Rose. "Your Mum took my Dad to Slughorn's Christmas party. Maybe history really does repeat. I could ask them and see if one of them would like to go with you."

"I am so glad that I already have a date and it wouldn't matter if you did try to set me up!" Rose told her. "In my family, something like that would come back to haunt me forever. Mum still gets teased about her dating at Hogwarts."

"You have a date?" Bristol asked. "For how long; and why didn't you tell us?" Before she answered, Rose looked over at Landon Graves; and he shrugged and nodded slightly.

"Landon asked me to go with him; and I didn't say anything because we didn't want to get razzed about it the way Al and Gwendolyn have been teased all week."

"Well, we still have a week left before the dance to tease you anyway," Cora told her; "but try to remember next time that it's against the rules to hold out about things like this with your girlfriends." She laughed then before continuing. "If the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch players are pairing up for the dance, I guess that would work out okay for James if he takes Pauline; but not so well for Ollie and Mark Goldstein as the odd-Chasers-out – or for the Beaters or Keepers." She smiled at Ray. "Are there any Witches on the practice team for Ravenclaw that you can invite?"

"I think that you lost all of us with that mental picture of Ollie and Mark going to the dance together," Bristol suggested to Cora when Ray didn't answer – and was busy laughing along with everyone else at Cora's comments.

"That might be where I lost Ray," Cora agreed; "but it seems that Rose just figured out that she and Al are likely going to get teased a lot by their family for going to the dance with two of the Ravenclaw Chasers."

"With James leading the charge as soon as he finds out," Al confirmed.

"We'll all get razzed about that by our families," Gwendolyn predicted – "not to mention that three out of four of us have the Harpies' player connections for our Mums."

"That only counts for you and Al," Rose told her – "not that it'll matter for me; since facts never seem to keep the jokesters in my family from having their fun."

"And your Godmother is one of those Mums, so they can make it work anyway," Al added helpfully. He then laughed when Rose sent a snowball his way, and while he deflected it with a shield; the fight was on again for a while.

They were having fun with that when Al suddenly sensed danger; whirled around; and felt a surge of anger as he stopped a snowball that had been directed at the back of his head by Victor Avery. The other boy was about fifty yards away from him with his brother and usual group of friends around him; and they were all watching him with vicious smiles that turned to disappointment when Victor's sneak attack was thwarted. He was hit in the back with a snowball that had already been in the air and heading his way from Gwendolyn; but all of his friends stopped playing too when they saw him standing there with that snowball hovering just a few feet in front of his face. Al's eyes were blazing with anger and power as he studied the snowball that was solid ice around a fist-sized rock; and then he looked beyond it to Victor.

"Nice one, Vic – proving what a coward you are," Al shouted out; getting the attention of quite a few of the teens around them. "Throwing ice-covered rocks at the back of someone's head might be okay for Slytherins, but in Gryffindor; we prefer to play fair. Get ready, Vic; 'cause here it comes right back to you!"

With that, Al waved his wand; hurled the snowball back at Victor; and aimed it chest-high. Victor sneered at Al as he threw up his shield; and everyone that was now watching seemed to pause and hold their breath while waiting fo rthe impact. Victor was likely expecting the ice to shatter and the rock to fall harmlessly to the ground after crashing into his shield, but Al had sent a little extra surprise as part of his coutner-attack; and the results were even a bit shocking to him. The snowball hit the shield so hard that it threw Victor – and the three Slytherin boys closest to him – off the ground and blasted them backward at least ten yards before they hit the ground again. Landing on their backs, they slid another few yards before coming to a stop; and Al quietly enjoyed the scene for a moment – though he didn't let that show outwardly as he turned back to his friends.

"Speaking for all of your friends, I've decided that we're okay with you holding back on us for snowball fights," Gwendolyn told him as she took the last couple of steps toward him so that she could hug him for a moment. "That was brilliant," she added in a whisper that only he would hear. That likely wouldn't have been an issue anyway, since a roar of laughter had risen from all of the teens that had seen Victor and his friends get blasted by a Gryffindor firstie.

"I second that," Ray told them. He wasn't looking at Al; but over to where the Slytherins that had still been standing had gone to help their mates to get up. "You might want to turn around again, Al. They're on their feet again; and don't look too happy."

"Good for them," Al said indifferently. "They're not going to try and hit me from behind again with everyone watching them; and I'm not going to let them mess up our fun anymore than they already have."

"I'm still having fun," Cora assured him with a grin. "Maybe it's too bad that you aren't a Beater. That was a really great hit!"

Al laughed. "We can't use magic in Quidditch," he reminded her. "I'm really not that good with a Beater bat."

"They're coming our way, Al," Rose advised him. She'd still been watching the Slytherins – as had Ray; about half of their friends; and dozens of the spectators for what had just been a short confrontation so far.

"Don't worry about it," Al told her with a small smile. He didn't know why he felt that he wasn't going to have any further problems with Victor Avery and his gang – at least for the rest of the day, but he was learning to trust his senses; and they were telling him that his part in that little drama was over.

"Sure, because there's nothing to worry about when you've got eight or ten angry Slytherins stomping through the snow in your direction with wands drawn and out for revenge," Ray offered with a shake of his head.

"I think that Al's right," Gwendolyn said; and her attention and gaze had turned to her left; where she was watching a group of older teens hurrying toward an intercept point with the Slytherin boys that was more than half-way between them. "That's our Head Boy, Ewan Matheson, leading the way. "He's not going to let this go any further."

She was right about that, and though there was a short stand-off and a bit of yelling; Ewan had a growing group of Wizards and Witches backing him up; enough of them had seen what had happened to keep Victor from trying to talk it up to something it wasn't; and he was left no other choice but to back off and walk away.

"You brewed up a batch of luck, didn't you?" Ray joked as he turned back to Al after watching that little show. "What's the name of that stuff?"

"Felix Felicis," Rose supplied; smiling at Al. "I doubt that he has, and the more interesting questions to me are how did he know that there was nothing to worry about from those Slytherins; and how he knew that ice-rock snowball was about to hit him in the head."

"I did miss the one that Gwendolyn hit me with right after that," Al reminded her; and then grinned at Gwendolyn. "I owe you one for that," he added; and there was suddenly a snowball bouncing in the air in front of him as if he was tossing it up and down in a hand. "Time-in in five, four, three, two, one!"

The snowball battle was on again as they scattered and got back to playing in the snow. That snowball fight didn't really last long before they went back to making snow and ice sculptures while chatting together; and they continued to have fun with that until deciding that they were cold and ready to go back into the castle. By then, the grounds were dotted with snow-ice creations ranging from small castles that had been 'fought' over to exquisite statues of Witches, Wizards, or magical creatures. How long any of them remained would depend on the strength of the magic used – or whether they were lost as collateral damage during those magical snowball battles.

Once they'd all gotten changed and warmed up; Al, Rose, and their usual study buddies spent the rest of the day on Saturday doing their assignments and having some magical play time as they practiced their magic – and taught themselves new spells as they worked ahead. For Al, the top highlight for the rest of his weekend was the alone time he had with Gwendolyn on Sunday. They worked on their – his – dancing skills for more than an hour; went for a long walk in the castle; and spent part of the afternoon in the library. The one change from normal for spending that time together didn't have anything to do with what they did all day. The difference from most other weekends was that Al didn't get teased about it very much by his Gryffindor friends at meals or in the evening when they were hanging out in the common room.

The reason for that had nothing to do with him or Gwendolyn either – it was simply because there was more interesting gossip going on – and almost all of it was dance and date-related. Although it was the Witches that were most interested in talking about who was going to the dance with whom; the guys had their own issues that ranged from worrying about how they were going to survive taking a date to the dance to worrying about finding a date for the dance from a rapidly dwindling pool of available Witches. Al certainly didn't gossip about it, or talk with James either; but he knew from overhearing Rose and the other girls that his brother had not asked anyone to the dance yet as of Sunday night. There were both Witches and Wizards that had no intention of going to the dance with a date, and Al knew that James might have been okay with 'going stag' too – except that Ollie did have a date.

Sometimes, caring so much about peer pressure and your reputation really sucked!

While he didn't want to spend any time thinking about it, Al knew that James' continuing single status was of interest to several of the firstie Gryffindor Witches. That was scary enough; but probably not as weird for him as it was for Rose. She was right in the middle of all of the girl chat; and probably heard way more than she wanted to about what her girlfriends thought about her most-annoying cousin. He was certainly glad that his mates didn't talk about Rose – or any of his other cousins – the way he was sure that the girls talked with each other about boys. That wasn't actually a guess or anything on his part. He'd been around his mother and her best friends and wished that he hadn't overheard parts of their girl chats to have a good idea of what girls talk about while also knowing that he didn't want to know the details. It was bad enough for him whenever his friends went completely mental just being in the vicinity of Victoire or Dominique – and that still happened regularly even after nearly four months of seeing them around school or the common room every day.

The dance and date scene remained the top story for that entire week leading up to the dance, and Al heard more about that than he wanted or needed to hear; but all of the students were also busy with their classes and studies – whether that was getting ready for and writing tests or finishing up projects and assignments ahead of the Christmas break. While he enjoyed most of the work and did well on all of the tests; Al didn't get to spend any time at all with Gwendolyn except when the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors got together for a couple of joint study sessions and during the classes they had together.

While Al, Rose, and some of their friends were among the small group of students that worked to keep ahead of the studying game; they were getting just as excited as most teens by the time they were finished classes for the day on Friday. The dance-date scramble was pretty much done with by then too, and while it wasn't a school-wide story; James did get some attention with his last-minute date choice. Daphne Peakes had been thrilled to accept his invitation, since while she was pretty and well-liked; none of the other boys had asked her to the dance because her parents were not only one of their Professors and the flying instructor and Quidditch coach, but they'd also be chaperoning the dance with most of the other Professors. For some reason, most of those boys were afraid of her former professional Quidditch Beater father! James certainly earned some bonus points with his mates for bravery; though Al suspected that his brother chose the prettiest girl still available by the time he got around to asking her – and expected that James would be a perfect gentleman with Daphne to make sure he didn't mess up his Hogwarts Quidditch future by getting into trouble with her father.

Al, Rose, and their usual study group friends worked on their weekend assignments on Friday night and Saturday morning so that they'd have all of that work out of the way early. Getting that done wasn't really that hard because their Professors had been winding things down by Friday and they were giving their students a chance to get all assignments done and handed in before the holidays – including catching up on late assignments and projects. They wrapped up everything by lunchtime and even had time for some magic play and practice; but then the guys were pretty much left to fend for themselves after lunch while the girls spent a lot of the afternoon getting ready for the dinner and dance.

While Rose and Gwendolyn were busy with their friends, Al spent most of that time hanging out with Ray and the other Gryffindor firstie Wizards; they played mirror games; watched some Quidditch on the mirror network; and then went to their dorm room to get ready for the dinner and dance too. Ray was going with Bristol, so once they were ready to go, he stayed in the common room with the other guys that were waiting for their Gryffindor dates; but Al only stopped in the common room long enough to wish Ray and a few of the other guys luck before he headed out and over to the hallway outside of the entrance stairway for Ravenclaw tower to wait for Gwendolyn. They could have met up in the Great Hall, but Al wanted to escort her there – and not have an entire hall full of teens around if he messed up the start of their first date.

There were other Gryffindor and Hufflepuff boys wating there for their dates too; though Al was among the first to arrive. It felt a bit weird to be standing around in the hallway with the other guys, but most of them seemed used to it; and they managed to keep themselves entertained until the girls started to meet up with them. Al guessed that Gwendolyn was probably somewhere in the middle of that procession, judging by the number of Ravenclaws that had come out ahead of her; and her timing was mostly because she came out of the common room with a few of the other firstie girls and their dates. She smiled brilliantly at seeing his first reaction to her; and he smiled happily in return – even as he felt more than a little dazed and he tried to collect his scattering thoughts as she quickly closed the gap between them.

"You look beautiful," he managed to tell her quietly – and without any major stuttering. Gwendolyn had her long, sandy-blonde hair done up in curls with a pair of thin braids for accents. Her dress was festive, colorful, and looked amazing on her; and her midnight-blue eyes sparkled with a happiness that touched Al to the core of his spirit. She hugged him enthusiastically before responding.

"Thank-you; and you look great too, Al." He held out the corsage he'd brought for her; and she took it. "Thank-you again – they're beautiful; and the color is perfect for my dress too."

"You're welcome," Al assured her. "Rose helped me out with ordering the right flowers, so I can't take any credit for that; and she deserves all of the thanks."

"You can take credit for being smart enough to ask a Witch for help," Renee Bradley told him. She'd given Gwendolyn a bit of space for that first moment with Al; but had then led her date, second-year Ravenclaw Hugh McDougall, up to them as Al handed the corsage to Gwendolyn. "Would you like help with that?" she asked Gwendolyn.

"Yes, please," Gwendolyn agreed; handing her the flowers and turning toward her friend. It only took a moment for Renee to pin it to her dress; and then they were ready to head for the Great Hall together. Al knew Renee through their Auror parents, and he and Hugh were both nephews of their Aunt Angelina; though they hadn't met many times before coming to Hogwarts – and James knew Hugh better through their shared second-year classes and mutual friends.

"Did I keep you waiting very long?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they started walking; and she took hold of his hand.

"I was here early; and it wouldn't have mattered to me if you were the last girls leaving Ravenclaw tower. Hugh and I are two of the luckiest Wizards in the school today."

"Luck didn't have anything to do with it for either of you," Renee advised him; "but thanks for including me in that compliment."

"And we'll talk later about why you think that Hugh's so lucky to be taking one of my best friends to the dance," Gwendolyn teased; earning laughs from Renee and Hugh. "What'd you do all afternoon while we were busy?"

Al shrugged. "Watched a bit of Quidditch and played games. Nothing too exciting."

"Good, then you should be rested up and ready for a very exciting night," she told him with a laugh. "Was there anything new and exciting going on in your House this afternoon that Renee and I will want to hear about?"

"Not that I know of," Al answered; "but I'm sure that Rose and the other girls will have something for you; since I haven't gotten an update from them since they disappeared into their dorm room a few hours ago."

"Guys can be so oblivious," Renee suggested. Al smiled and nodded.

"Yes we can be; but how weird would it be if our guy chats were anything like what you do with your friends?"

"Scary-weird," Gwendolyn suggested. "I sure can't picture Ray helping you out with your hair or picking out clothes – or at least I can't do that without laughing about it."

They continued to chat as they walked to the Great Hall; and then met up with Rose, Bristol, Cora, and their dates for the night. The seating for dinner was already more than half-filled; and they ended up picking an open space at what was normally the Ravenclaw table because there wasn't enough room for all of them in one place where they normally sat at the Gryffindor table. That change in location felt weird for the Gryffindors; but Al was happy to be getting to have dinner with Gwendolyn. He had Ray and Bristol next to him; Renee and Hugh were next to Gwendolyn; and Rose and Landon were across the table and directly in front of them. Rounding out the dozen firsties that had ended up in their little group was Cora and Romeo next to Rose; and Michael Chang and Toni Hopkins next to Landon.

While they waited for dinner to start, the girls happily talked about the latest gossip they'd respectively heard while getting ready for the dance; along with discussing everything from fashion to some of the action going on around them in the Great Hall. Al was happy to sit back and enjoy the show; while also taking in everything that was going on around him. James didn't even look his way as far as Al knew; but seemed to be having fun with Daphne, Ollie, and Ollie's date for the night, Alexa Johnson. His only real interest in what James was doing was solely to watch out for the use of Christmas wheezes, since even though James had promised not to prank him anymore; he was sure that concession would not extend to the use of the wheezes that James was sure to have with him for the dinner and dance. He wasn't the only Wizard or Witch in the hall armed with wheezes; and that kind of fun had already been going on even by the time they'd gotten to the Great Hall.

He also noticed the date choices for the rest of his cousins and other teens that he knew – though Victoire noticeably did not have a date and was instead hanging out with some of her NEWT year friends. As for the rest of his cousins, Dominique was with Jensen Scott; they were sitting with Lucy and Alex Jordan; Molly was with Alexa's older brother, Calvin; and Louis was on a first date with Amanda Lawson – a fellow third-year Gryffindor. While this wasn't Al's first experience being around his cousins and their boyfriends or girlfriends; it was a first outside of family events or weddings – and a first where he had a date too. Those firsts didn't exactly feel strange – it was more of a change in perspective.

"Are we boring you with all of the gossip?" Gwendolyn whispered to Al; leaning close to do that and smiling when Al turned his attention to her and she could see that he hadn't missed anything while he'd also been looking around and seemed to be lost in thought. He didn't even miss the small frown he saw on Landon's face as he tried not to be obvious about watching Gwendolyn; and it was just as easy for Al to see that Landon didn't like seeing her move nearer to him. He knew how Landon felt about Gwendolyn, but ignored the attention the other boy seemed to always have for her; and focused his attention on his date.

"I'm impressed that you collectively seem to know about everything that's going on around the school today – at least when it comes to everything to do with this dinner and dance."

"We're a bit out of the loop for the Slytherin quarter of the teens here; but it's really hard to get good gossip when the sources won't talk to you." She squeezed his hand before continuing. She looked over toward the Slytherin table and shook her head. "It's too bad that most of them don't even try to get along with the rest of us."

"It is," Al agreed; "but that goes both ways – and I'm as guilty of that as anyone when it comes to not even trying to be friends with any Slytherin kids."

"You'd have a tough time finding any that don't already hate your family, so that's a big stumbling block for you; but let's not go there. We're supposed to have fun tonight; not sit around talking about such serious things."

Al laughed. "I'm probably better at that than I am at picking best and worst dresses or suits," he joked; and Gwendolyn laughed too.

"Probably true, but I'm sure that we can find something else to talk about instead."

Gwendolyn drew Al into the still-ongoing chat with their friends after that; dinner was served once everyone had arrived in the hall; and they spent more than an hour enjoying a really spectacular meal with lots of entertainment on the side. Christmas wheezes were a big part of that fun; several Magic Mistletoe had been set loose; and there was always something fun to see or be part of – whether that was within their little dinner group or elsewhere around the hall. Once everyone had finished dessert, there was a break in the action while the hall was set up for the dance part of the night and the stage was readied for the lead-off band. Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends spent part of that time visiting other friends and relatives; taking washroom breaks; and then reclaiming their seats when it was nearly time for the dance to start.

Professor McGonagall made a few announcements once everything was ready to go; she introduced the bands for the night; and then invited the Graves Robbers to get the dance started. Gwendolyn was particularly enthusiastic as she cheered for the teens that were all fellow children of Weird Sisters' fathers; so Al stood and cheered with her as the four Wizards and one Witch took to the stage and launched into their first song, 'Can You Dig It?'; the title track from their debut album.

Gwendolyn took Al's hand then and led him out onto the dance floor. They were among the first couples to do that; but it wasn't long before there were a lot of teens up and dancing to the fast-paced music. It was loud too, so talking to each other wasn't easy; but they were having a blast with their friends; and there'd be time to talk during the ballads – or while taking breaks between dance sets. Al liked music, but wasn't as avid a listener as a lot of teens – or compared to Lily and her interest in all of the latest trends. While Gwendolyn had told him that she wasn't interested in a career in music, she did seem to know all of the songs that the Graves Robbers were performing; and Al thought that she had an amazing voice whenever he heard her singing along. That was particularly obvious to him with the first ballad of the night; but then he wasn't even aware that he was amazing her right back as they held each other close and danced to the beautiful, if simple little love song.

"You can sing!" she whispered; suddenly stopping her own soft singing and leaning back a bit so that she could look into his eyes.

"Can't everyone?" he countered; smiling too, and then laughing when she hugged him.

"Yes, but not as beautifully as you can," she advised him. "You were singing that harmony perfectly; and I love the sound of your singing voice."

"Honestly, I didn't even notice; since I was busy listening to you – and the band. Your Dad and his band mates must be really proud to have such an amazing group of kids."

"They are," Gwendolyn agreed; looking up at the stage and smiling too. The group members were all between three and five years older than she was, but they were all also more like older cousins than friends; and she was very proud of them too. "You know that I don't want to get into music, but even if I did; these guys – and the Weird Kids on the Block – would be a hard act to follow."

"Maybe, but if you change your mind about that some day; I'll be first in line to buy your albums."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "You might want to hope that I don't change my mind now that I know you can sing too. You'd be the first member of the new group that I'd recruit."

"Have you seen Victoire around?"

"No, and you've lost me. Why are you suddenly looking for her?"

"I might need her to use a memory charm on you to make sure that you don't remember my singing," he joked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I wouldn't want to forget that, Al; and you really don't have to worry about me trying to get you to join a band with me. We could have some music play time this winter, though. That'd be a lot warmer than playing Quidditch in January and February."

The song was ending then, and when the second ballad began; they returned to focusing on their dancing and the music that Gwendolyn nudged Al into singing along with her again. While the slow songs had been particularly special, all of the dancing had been great; and Al had been very glad that their practice time had paid off. Dancing wasn't going nearly as well for some of their friends, and since that was mostly a problem for the guys; there were some unhappy Witches. He noticed most of the dancing flops around him, and while that was tough for the boys involved and likely painful for the girls; the non-dancer issues might have been even worse for the Wizards that were attempting to completely avoid going dancing at all. There were other date problems that weren't dance-related – like Landon's continuing, not-very-subtle attention for Gwendolyn that had him ignoring Rose, but while Al noticed everything; none of what was going on around them got in the way of him having a brilliant time with Gwendolyn.

While he danced with Gwendolyn most of the time, he also danced with Victoire for one slow song after basically being ordered to do that by Rose and Gwendolyn. She'd been amused by his invitation and her friends had teased him about it – including threatening to tell her Auror-trainee boyfriend on him; but that was all fun too – and he was glad that the effort had been appreciated by his beautiful cousin. Louis danced with her too, but other than that; Victoire sat out most of the slow songs and only danced with groups of her friends for the up-tempo songs.

While the Graves Robbers had released their first album in the summer, they were really just beginning to make a name for themselves locally. The Weird Kids on the Block, however, were currently one of the hottest music groups in the Wizarding World and the dance and fun really kicked up a few notches when they took over the stage from their younger, Weird Sisters' family 'cousins'. They were also the oldest of the 'kids' with the youngest of them in their NEWT year – which was the main reason that they were even available to work at the dance.

The Weird Kids started their set out with a few high-energy songs too; and nearly every teen in the hall danced along – the area set up for dancing too-packed and a bit uncomfortable – at least for Al and many of the less-aggressive dancers. By the time that the band launched into their first ballad of the night; Al and Gwendolyn were both feeling a bit battered; and they were grateful for the change of pace – even if they were still a bit too packed in among the other couples as they paired up for the slow dances. That first ballad was called 'Weird Love Song'; and it was one of the band's biggest hits that was also really a funny parody of ballads.

"Do you know the story behind the Weird Love Songs?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they danced. She'd meant the plural for songs because there were, so far, three of them on three of the Weird Kids on the Block albums.

Al nodded. "Yes. Lily told me all about it – and even played those Muggle Hanukkah songs for me on our computer. There isn't really anything in common with the songs; so it's just an interesting trivia fact about the inspiration for the songs – and one that some Wizards and Witches wouldn't like very much."

"Those Wizards and Witches miss out on so much that's wonderful in the Muggle world," Gwendolyn suggested; "though Mum and Dad don't have much to do with Muggles, so Jonah and I haven't either – at least nothing like what you and Rose have done with your families."

"Rose and Hugo do that more than James, Lily, and I do because of their Mum's parents; but I'm glad that Mum and Dad do a lot with us." He smiled ruefully. "Our cousins still think that we're weirdos, and our great-aunt and uncle would likely be horrified if they ever met us; but we only see our cousins once a year anyway – unless we bump into them in London when we're at a Muggle mall or something."

"I don't really think about the Muggle side of your family," Gwendolyn admitted. "Everyone knows about your Dad being raised by his Muggle aunt and uncle, but that's just something we learn in History of Magic for most of us."

"That's true for all of us kids now that we're here at Hogwarts," Al joked; "and I don't really know much more about Dad's childhood than any other kid. He doesn't like to talk about it. James doesn't care one way or the other about that, but Lily and I have figured out that he didn't have a very good childhood – even if we don't know the details."

"Then it's a good thing that you're all having such a great life now to make up for that," Gwendolyn declared with a bright smile while pulling him closer for a moment. "We should do what we can from now on to help your Dad out with being happy and having fun too."

"We?" Al asked, smiling too; and Gwendolyn laughed and squeezed again.

"Definitely," she agreed; without elaborating at all.

The dance continued until twelve-thirty or so by the time that the second encore was performed; and then the students had less than a half-hour to get back to their respective Houses for the night – which didn't leave the guys much time to walk their dates 'home' for those, like Al, with dates from other Houses. He and Gwendolyn had even less time, because she took time to visit with her friends in the band – or at least the friends that weren't still going to school with them this year. That had one advantage for them – they didn't have time for a drawn-out, awkward goodnight scene before Al would need to be on the move toward Gryffindor Tower to get back there on time. They walked from the Great Hall to Ravenclaw Tower; passed a dozen or more couples busy with their own goodnight embraces along the hallway; and Gwendolyn hugged Al tightly when they reached a spot just a few feet away from the stairs leading to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Thanks for taking me to the dance," she told him quietly and seriously while also smiling happily. "This was my best-ever dance so far."

"You're welcome," Al assured her. "Thanks for making this one of my best-ever days too."

They looked at each other for a long moment; Al left the goodnight kiss decision up to her; and Gwendolyn proved that she was definitely her mother's daughter when she leaned in and kissed him – the contact sweet and thrilling at first; and then deeper and heart-pounding. It was also long-enough to earn some whistles and laughter from a few of the older teens as they passed them on the way into the Ravenclaw common room; and that had Al blushing a bit while also looking dazed when Gwendolyn leaned back and smiled brilliantly at him.

"Make that a best-ever day for me too," she declared quietly with a happy laugh. She kissed him again – a short, tender touching of their lips; and then stepped away. "Goodnight, Al. Have a really good night's sleep. I know that I will!"

"You too," he managed to say; still dazed and dazzled. "I love you;" he added without even realizing that he'd whispered that thought aloud.

Gwendolyn was taking the step to turn toward the stairs; but then her eyes widened and she turned back to face him. "What?" she asked, and then laughed happily while throwing her arms around him again for a fierce, joyous hug.

"Did I say that last part out loud?" he joked; blushing again but not at all regretting the admission. He did love her; and seeing her happy response only had him wishing that he'd admitted it to her sooner. They both understood that what he was saying was meant to be much more than the friends kind of love he had openly admitted to with their other friends earlier in the year; and Al was also suddenly sure what had changed in him the day of the last Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw Quidditch match – the day before he'd asked Gwendolyn to the dance. He'd fallen in love with her; and had obviously needed a bit of time to consciously get to that realisation.

"I love you too, Al," she whispered in his ear before kissing him again. "Now get out of here before I start crying or something – and you end up getting caught out of your House after curfew." She laughed again when her 'I love you' had him looking even more dazed; nudged him into motion; and then turned and joined the line of Ravenclaws making their way into their common room.

Al took his first few steps backwards and watched her until she was out of sight; turned; and headed toward Gryffindor tower. Landon Graves was not fast enough to escape Al's notice when he ducked back in behind a door about forty feet away from him, but finding out that he and Gwendolyn had been watched for at least part of their goodnight hugs and kisses wasn't something that Al could bring himself to be bothered about. He walked right past the room Landon was in and didn't turn around when he heard the other boy step out of the room and start walking toward his own House.

There were still other couples in the hallways, or hiding in classrooms along the way. Judging by what he heard and sensed from some of those rooms, Al didn't want to know any of those specific goodnight stories; and he definitely didn't feel any urge to go exploring to find out what was going on! He passed some guys walking toward the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff houses; and there were other Gryffindor Wizards making their way 'home' too, but the other Gryffindors were spread out along the hallways and stairwells; so he didn't walk with anyone else – and was glad to have the time to recover from that anazing end to his first date. That gave him time to get his brain working again; lose the blush; and bring his emotions under control.

He was still smiling brilliantly when he got back to the common room – not that any of the couples in the room noticed him at all. They were preoccupied and in their own little snogging worlds, and while Al discovered that he had a new perspective on that, along with a mental picture that had Gwendolyn in a starring role; he did not want to hang around and be a spectator. He hurried through the room as unobtrusively as possible; and then hurried up to his dorm room. His room mates definitely did notice his smile and happily dazzled expression. Only half of them were there ahead of him; and they all turned to look at him when he walked through the open doorway.

"Somebody got a goodnight kiss," Romeo teased as Al approached his own bed. Romeo looked happy too; while Ray didn't seem very happy at all.

"I'd say it was a great goodnight kiss; and make that kisses," Al answered with a laugh. "Your date must've been good too."

Romeo nodded. "Yes, and that was despite my lack of dancing skill. I'm fairly sure that Cora was only joking about needing to soak her sore feet before bed or she'd have likely hexed me instead of kissing me goodnight."

"Probably," Al agreed; and then he turned his attention to Ray while hopping onto his bed. "I take it that you and Bristol didn't have as much fun tonight."

"No, we didn't; and it's apparently all my fault," Ray told him; his tone sounding more annoyed than disappointed. "There were definitely no goodnight kisses for me tonight – and I seriously doubt that there ever will be between me and Bristol."

"We didn't see you much after the dance started; but you seemed to be getting along just fine during dinner," Al said. "What happened?"

"I didn't want to dance," Ray began. "Bristol eventually dragged me out there so that I could prove that I suck at it. That was bad, since she loves to dance; so everything about our date went downhill from there." He sighed, and then laughed at himself. "Serves me right for not figuring out that actually dancing – and not sucking at it – would be expected of me by any Witch I invited to go with me."

"You could always learn to dance and try again," Romeo suggested; and Ray laughed again.

"I don't think that Bristol will want to give me a second chance for that; but then we also found out that we don't like each other that way as much as we thought that we would – and that wasn't just because of my horrible dancing." He sighed again and shrugged. "Maybe that's for the best anyway. I'd have been as clueless about goodnight kisses as I am about dancing anyway."

Al laughed at that; and Ray looked at him quizically. "Ditto that for me, Ray," he explained. "If Gwendolyn hadn't kissed me first; I'd have stood there just staring at her like an idiot." He laughed again as another mental picture involving Gwendolyn hit him. "I'd been all for it when Gwendolyn had suggested that we have a couple of dance practices; but I have no idea what I'd have done if she'd suggested that we practice for goodnight kisses too."

"I'd have panicked if Bristol had suggested either," Ray declared; and then he looked past Al to Romeo, inviting him to comment; and the other boy grinned and shrugged.

"What can I say? I wouldn't have a problem with an invitation to a snogging practice from a girl I like. I wasn't too shy to try for a goodnight kiss with Cora; and she didn't have a problem with kissing me back. If you are going to ask for any more details than that, though; you guys seriously need to start spending less time with Witches."

"That won't be a problem for me," Ray assured him, "but from what you've each just said; I'd have thought you'd both be interested in spending more time with girls." Ray's joke would have worked better if he hadn't been trying so hard to sound more cheerful than he obviously felt; but Al and Romeo laughed anyway – and didn't disagree with him.

Al got up from his bed; grabbed a set of the Medi-Wizard scrub pants and t-shirt that he normally wore to bed; and tossed a chocolate frog packet to Ray before starting to get changed. "Have some chocolate – it'll help," he suggested.

"It can't hurt," Ray said as he unwrapped the frog and sat it on top of the wrapper while waiting for it to hop. Thanks, Al."

The other two boys hadn't been in any hurry to get changed too, but while he was wound up and happy; Al was also tired. After getting changed, he went to the washroom to finish getting ready for bed; and then rejoined the dance recap and chat that had continued with the other boys while he was gone; and included a few more room mates by the time he was back. By then, Ray was a bit happier; but that wasn't thanks to the chocolate frog snack. His improving mood mostly came from finding out that he hadn't been the only Wizard in the room to have a date that didn't go well – and his wasn't the worst by a long shot. That was especially obvious when the last trio of boys arrived – and one of them had been late because he'd needed to get help with the jinx he'd been hit with by his date for trying to kiss her goodnight despite the fact that their date had not been a good one to that point. Al didn't have much sympathy for that room mate, since it was too-easy for him to picture Lily in that scene; and he'd expect the same from her if any Wizard tried for an unwelcomed kiss with her.

Then again, he fully expected that their mother would teach Lily her famous bat-bogey hexes so that she could take care of herself in any situation.

While the conversation in the room continued, Al settled into his bed; let his thoughts wander mostly with a looping replay of the dance and goodnight kisses highlights; and let the other guys do all of the talking unless he was asked questions. He wasn't sure when he fell asleep, but those happy thoughts became even happier dreams, and even though he didn't get nearly as much sleep as normal; he was in a great mood when he woke in the morning and went to get showered and ready for the day while all of the other guys slept in. He was in the common room early; sat in one of the big armchairs by the fire; and read a book while waiting for Rose to meet up with him for the walk to the Great Hall. He didn't have to wait long, since she was up early too; and he offered her an extra-warm hug when it was obvious that her date with Landon had gone about as badly as he'd suspected it had from what he'd observed at the dance.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly as they headed toward the portrait hole.

"Sure – and let's begin with blaming you for my first-date disaster," she told him seriously; though she was smiling too as she tried to sound as though she was cross with him.

"I can guess why you're telling me that, and I'm sorry that your date didn't work out; but not at all sorry that Gwendolyn went to the dance with me."

Rose waited to say more until they were in the hallway. "Landon's twice the idiot for not seeing the obvious with you and Gwendolyn; and then for messing up with me by spending the whole night obsessing about the two of you while pretty much ignoring me." She shook her head and laughed. "I should've known better. It's not as if I haven't seen the way he watches Gwendolyn whenever we're studying together or hanging out and playing – and especially anytime you're around her. Did you guys even notice all of that extra attention from him last night? If you did; you hid it well."

"We did, but didn't talk about it; and I was having too much fun to care."

"I hate you," Rose told him bluntly; and they both laughed.

"You don't, but tell me all about your night; and then I won't tell you about mine or you might actually change your mind about that."

"As if I need the details to know that your first-ever date went brilliantly. That perma-smile is one fairly obvious clue, but I didn't even need to see that; since I got to watch you having a blast with Gwendolyn while Landon kept as close to you as possible all evening." She shrugged and shook her head. "My date wasn't all bad. We did talk Quidditch a lot; he can dance half-decently; and is cute-enough; so it was just the having it bad for another Witch that was the major turn-off for me."

"He should get over that as soon as possible," Al suggested. "I love Gwendolyn; and she loves me."

"What?" Rose exclaimed; stopping and turning to stare at her cousin with wide eyes and a look of shock on her face.

"That's exactly what Gwendolyn said when I told her I love her last night," he said with a grin; and then laughed when Rose hugged him impulsively. "She hugged me too, but let's stop there; since we probably shouldn't kiss too – that'd be weird."

Rose laughed too; kissed his cheek anyway; and then stepped away from him. "That was fun, and took my mind off of last night; so thank-you." They started walking again; and it was a few moments before either of them spoke again. "You've known Gwendolyn your whole life, Al. Have you always felt that way about her; or has something changed since we've started at Hogwarts?"

"Both, I think," Al answered seriously. "I've always felt a connection with Gwendolyn, but that's been changing since we got here – just as we've all been changing since starting to use our wands land learn magic." He thought about that for a moment before continuing. "I hope that I'll never be like James; but I'm not the same, too-shy little brother anymore either."

"No doubt about that last part," Rose agreed; "but then we knew that thanks to your problems with Avery and those other Slytherin boys – and when you stood up to James and Ollie too." She grinned at him then. "Just don't do anything stupid and break Gwendolyn's heart. I'd hate to see you live out the rest of your life as a woodlouse."

They both laughed; and then changed the subject as they took the last flight of stairs down to the Great Hall. Breakfast was quick; the conversation with their friends was entertaining; and then they met up with some of their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends to go and have some magic play time in an empty classroom. While using magic had been the excuse to get together, the girls had also wanted to continue their dance post-mortem chat time – and get the latest gossip – news from the girls in two out of three of the other Houses. Since they all had their weekend homework out of the way, the spellwork really was just play time. They stayed together through until lunchtime, but while some of their friends were getting together again in the afternoon; Al and Gwendolyn made their own plans. Wanting to spend a few hours together without the rest of their friends had nothing to do with taking those first kisses to the next level; and everything to do with just wanting to have fun together. It was Gwendolyn's idea to bring her guitar along; and she had it with her already when they met up after lunch outside of the Great Hall.

"If you've changed your mind since last night and are thinking about starting a band; I'm going to go and talk to Victoire about that memory charm after we're done here," Al teased as Gwendolyn led him into the same classroom they'd used all morning. She laughed and smiled brilliantly at him.

"I haven't; so you have nothing to worry about, Al – or at least you have nothing to worry about from a music perspective." She looked at him quizzically when he laughed.

"It's funny that you say that when Rose warned me this morning that I wouldn't want to mess up with you and risk spending the rest of my life as a woodlouse," he explained; and Gwendolyn laughed too.

"My Mum is never going to live that down," She said first. "I have a feeling that you won't need to worry about that either, though I am a Witch; and reserve the right to change my mind about that anytime."

"Then I'll just try not to mess up so that you won't need to change your mind," Al promised. Gwendolyn was getting her guitar out of the case by then, and while Al didn't know much about musical instruments; hers looked to be as nice as any of the guitars he'd seen last night. "Is your guitar a really good one – like our brooms are compared to Cleansweeps and other brooms?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "This isn't the Lightningbolt or even a Firestorm of guitars; but Dad did give me one of his good concert guitars." She laughed again and was obviously remembering something. "Mum didn't exactly give me her old broom so that she could buy a new one; but Dad still used it as an excuse to buy himself a new guitar anyway. I'd rather have this one just because it was his." She tuned it quickly; and then turned her attention back to Al. "Any requests?"

"We can try any songs you like," he answered with a shrug. "If it's one that I know; I'll try and sing along."

"Well, I've already heard you sing some of the Grave Robbers and the Weird Kids on the Block songs; so let's start with some of those," she suggested while already starting to play one of the Weird Kids' hit ballads.

For the next hour, she played and they sang together; enjoying the simple joy that came with the music; knowing that they'd discovered one more thing that they both loved to do and that they did well together too. The music mix included pop songs and a half-dozen, currently popular Christmas tunes that added a bit of holiday magic to their play time. After that, Gwendolyn encouraged Al to pluck away at her guitar for a while; they talked about everything from the dance to school and their respective plans for the holidays. They went for a walk around the castle for nearly another hour; and then Al walked Gwendolyn to the Ravenclaw tower before they split up and he went back to Gryffindor tower until dinnertime. The rest of Al's day was fairly uneventful, and except for dinner in the Great Hall and a bit of gaming time in the common room with some of the other guys; Al went to bed early and enjoyed some peace and quiet while reading for a couple of hours before going off to sleep early too – before any of the other guys even came up to bed for the night.

The last four days of classes were fun for most of the students and Professors. Lessons were holiday themed; the only assignments handed out weren't due back until after the Christmas break; and the fun outside of the classroom kicked up several notches too. Whether that fun meant Christmas music or shows on the mirror network, playing games, exchanging gifts with friends, or playing holiday pranks and using Christmas wheezes; nearly everyone was having a great time as they all counted down the days and hours until most of them would be heading home.

As always, there were some students staying behind, and that meant that some of the staff needed to stay too, but since none of their closest friends were in that group; Al and Rose didn't really pay any attention to that at all. They were too busy enjoying themselves with their friends – and did that even when they were on the receiving end of the occasional wheeze or holiday prank. Al in particular had to keep an eye out for the Magic Mistletoes that seemed to be flying around nearly every time he was anywhere near to Gwendolyn – especially the version of them that set off a puff of stinky-toe smell each time the silly thing caught a couple kissing. Uncle George had outdone himself with that Christmas wheeze; not to mention making more money on them by selling the stinky-toe liquid refills that kept the fun going all season long for the pranksters.

There were Christmas parties going on around the school all week too, and whether that was Slughorn's major Slug Club party or all of the little club or team parties; there was probably at least one party for every teen in the castle to attend. For Al and Rose, that small party was for the Gryffindor Quidditch team; and Victoire and Louis put the party on for their teams in the common room. They had snacks and drinks; handed out little gifts to everyone; and then they pretty much just hung out together – and with everyone else that was in the common room too; since they couldn't have the room to themselves. While that was the only official party, Al and Rose stopped in for a holidy visit with Hagrid after Quidditch on Monday; and had an unofficial party and study session for their full study group too. They did that on Thursday afternoon before dinner; had gifts to hand out then; and actually did some studying so that they'd all have less to do over the holidays.

Their last Hogwarts dinner of the year wasn't a feast; but it was a bit more than the usual evening fare. While the meal didn't really take any longer than usual; the post-dinner mingling and chat time did drag on for a while; and Al was among the tardy so that he could spend that time with Gwendolyn before they both needed to be back in their dorms to pack for the trip home. They were still going to be able to hang out together on the train, but while they'd each avoided thinking about it until then; they weren't sure how they were going to handle not seeing each other every day while on holidays after spending at least some time together every day since September first. While Al was thinking about that a lot for the rest of the night, he was also as excited as anyone about going home; and he joined in on the fun in the Gryffindor common room and his dorm room for the rest of the evening after walking Gwendolyn to her House.

Christmas wheezes and treats were obviously being used up now that re-stocking would be as easy as a visit to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade during the holidays; and there were lots of Christmas sweets to be had too. Al offered some donations to both causes; but didn't actually pull any pranks with the wheezes himself. Ray, Bristol, and their other friends were happy to help him out though; whether that meant pranking someone else or using the wheezes on themselves. The common room stayed packed until late, but Al went up to bed comparatively early; packed his things; and got ready for bed when there waas still only a couple of other guys in the room with him. He was only taking two bags home with him instead of his trunk; and he was only hauling his Quidditch gear home because there were sure to be some practices going on during the holidays. He'd already sent Winter home with a letter on Monday because it had been the best weather night they were going to have for the week; so he wasn't going to have too much to haul back and forth on the train.

Finally, the last activity of the day was the bedtime chat with the other guys as they all eventually returned to their dorm from the common room. While they still mostly had fun, there wre awkward moments too as they dealt with the fact that they'd soon be home and woldn't see each other again until they returned to Hogwarts in January. For Al, that wasn't as difficult to deal with as his thoughts of Gwendolyn were; but it was still going to feel strange to be back at home in his own room again on Friday night – and he was going to miss hanging out with Ray and the other guys. Of course they were all far too cool to admit that to each other; so they cracked jokes and made fun of how mushy the girls had been earlier instead and pretended that they didn't feel the same way too.

Al was one of the first in the room to get to sleep; and he wasn't surprised to be the first to wake in the morning. He managed to get showered and ready for the day ahead of the usual morning crush that started earlier than usual so that they could all be ready for the early breakfast ahead of the ride to Hogsmeade Station. He still met up with Rose in the common room for their walk to the Great Hall; they hurried through breakfast; and then they were among the first groups of students getting carriage rides to the station – along with Gwendolyn, Ray, Bristol, and about half of their study group friends. That made finding compartments to sit in easier; and Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Rose, Ray, Renee, and Hugh with them while the rest of their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends split up into three more compartments – two of them across the aisle from theirs; and the one next to them so that they had a block of four with room for the rest of their friends.

"The good news is that we had our pick of compartments," Renee said as they all settled into their seats after storing their things; "and the bad is that we'll have a bit of a wait before the train's full and we can get going."

"I thought that the good – and the bad – for Rose and me is that we're the third wheels in this compartment with the two happy couples.

"You could pair up with Rose and we could make room for you over here with us," Renee offered helpfully; and Ray laughed.

"I've messed up with one Witch recently enough that I don't want to do that again already – especially right before Christmas." He smiled at Rose. "No offense; and you probably aren't interested in having another Wizard mess up your holidays either."

"None taken; and I'm not," Rose assured him; smiling too. "The other good news for us, though, is that we'll have less Christmas gift shopping to do than some of our friends will have – with all of the risks that go along with that."

"We're not going to see each other at home until after Christmas – if we can even work that out at all with our parents," Renee told Rose; "so that won't be a problem for us – and we already did a little gift exchange last night."

"And a Christmas snogging session in the common room," Gwendolyn added; smiling at her friend. She also squeezed Al's hand – the one she'd been holding most of the time since they'd sat down close to each other and next to Ray. "Al and I will get to see each other at the Harpies' game tomorrow; and I'm sure we'll get together a few times over the holidays too. Our families usually get together once or twice anyway; and I'm sure that we can come up with other excuses to hang out together."

"If that was a summer game, I'd be asking you to think about me while you're at the game," Renee told her, "but since it'll be freezing in the stadium tomorrow; I'll think about you while I'm watching it from the comfort of our sitting room at home – if we're even watching it at all."

"I won't be," Cora interjected. She'd stepped into the dorrway of their compartment and was smiling at them. "We'll be out Christmas shopping all day – not to mention that Dad doesn't like the Harpies at all." She'd sometimes additionally joked about why her father hated the Harpies so much with Rose and Al; but didn't bring that up again too with Hugh and Renee around. Even after so many years, Cora believed that her father blamed the Harpies for how abruptly his fledgling professional Quidditch career had ended; which also meant that he didn't have anything good to say about the members of the Weasleys and Potters that had been on that Harpies'team – or about Gwendolyn's mother either. She'd have been worried about his reaction to her friendships with Al and Gwendolyn; but he'd already gone through that with her brothers last year when they'd become friends and team mates with James.

"We'll be shopping today and tomorrow morning too," Rose told her with a smile and nod. "That's the only bad part about getting out of school so close to Christmas. There isn't much time to shop – and our family Christmas is on Sunday too; so we have to get everything done by tomorrow night."

"That's not a problem," Ray told her with a grin. "Just get all of your gifts at your Uncle's store. Problem solved with one stop."

"James will likely do exactly that," Rose suggested, "but we have a big family; and we can't all just exchange wheezes for every holiday or birthday."

"Do you actually do that?" Renee asked Ray curiously. "Do the girls in your family appreciate those gifts if you do?"

"Yes, I do, and can't answer part two of that; since none of the girls in my family have talked to me since last Christmas," Ray joked. "It's been very peaceful around the house."

"You're making that up," Cora declared. "We might believe it if you told us that you've been hexed every day since last Christmas for messing up, though."

"Except if he had been hexed every day since then – at least until we left for Hogwarts; he wouldn't be joking about buying wheezes for all of his gifts this year," Al pointed out with a grin for his friend.

"Your Mom's the one with the reputation for hexes," Ray shot back; "not mine."

"True," Al agreed amiably; "and that's why I don't buy wheezes for her. James only gets away with it because he's the oldest, crazy, and so much like our uncles."

"I thought it was the younger kids in the family that get away with everything," Cora told him. "That's what my brothers always tell me."

"Hugo does," Rose agreed; and smiled at Al. "So does Lily; but then that's easy to do when you have the Head of the Aurors wrapped around your little finger like she does. Who's gonna mess with a Witch who has that going for her?"

"Not me," Ray answered; "and that's why Al will never need to worry about me trying to date his baby sister."

That comment earned him a round of laughs; and then there was a pause in the converstation while they all watched and listened as the train was prepared for departure and then they began moving out of the station. Cora left them and returned to the compartment she was sharing with Romeo and four other friends; and the conversation moved on to talk of home and things they'd like to do over the holidays. The trip home didn't seem any longer or shorter than the trip to school had been in September; but it wasn't quite as exciting – at least for most of them.

Al had a different perspective, and thought that this trip was just as exciting as his first ride on the Hogwarts Express. It was a different kind of fun; and that had everything to do with sitting next to Gwendolyn and holding her hand for most of the journey. Everything about those hours on the train was more fun together; whether that was sitting and talking with their friends, playing games on their portable mirrors, munching on treats from the snack trolley, or going for a walk and visiting with some of their friends and cousins. It also helped to make the time seem to go faster, and before they knew it; they were slowing down for the approach into King's Cross station. Al's emotions were mixed and overwhelming then as he was both excited to be home again while also already missing Gwendolyn before they'd even gotten around the saying goodbye.

"I'm going to miss you a lot too," she leaned in and whispered while squeezing his hand and smiling knowingly at him. "We can use our mirrors to talk to each other every day – if you want to do that; and will get together a few times after Christmas too if we're not both too busy to do that."

"I wasn't even thinking about using our mirrors," Al admitted.

"That's because you mostly only use it to talk to your parents and Lily while I use mine with my girlfriends and some cousins too," Gwendolyn suggested. "We'll need to get them set up so that we can do that, though; so a bedtime chat tonight might be out."

"Mum could do that for us," Al said with a nod after laughing at the last of her comment while also thinking that bedtime chats with her would be a great way to end the day. "That'll be easier than trying to meet up at one of the stores that sell them to get it done."

"Must be nice having a co-inventor of the mirrors in the house," Gwendolyn joked; keeping that comment quiet too because she didn't know how many of their friends knew that Ginny and Hermione had created the original mirror communicators, the mirror network, the wizarding wireless web, and the mirror gaming systems. She hadn't even known about it for years; and that only happened because she put it all together from the bits and pieces she overheard in conversations between their mothers.

"It does come in handy," Al admitted. "James will razz me about it for the next two weeks, but I'll survive; and it'll be worth it to be able to talk to each other whenever we can."

Gwendolyn hugged him happily. "We'll be able to talk in our dorm rooms after we're back at school too," she pointed out. "There's the station," she said as they rounded the last corner and continued to slow down. "Are you ready for the welcome home hug-fest?"

"Definitely," he agreed. "I've really missed my family a lot – present company excluded," he added when he noticed Rose looking his way while overhearing his answer.

"Won't you miss me while we're home too?" she asked winsomely; trying to look devastated.

"I'll likely see you nearly every day," Al reminded her. "We don't know all of the details, but we always do a lot together over the holidays. Louis wants to do at least two practices with the team too, so with everything we're doing together this weekend and probably for the New Year's Day weekend too; that's already more than half of the holiday."

"That's actually a bit scary," Rose told him, "and at the risk of being even scarier; we'll need a couple of study dates too."

"Did I hear someone talking about dates?" Cora interjected enthusiastically; stepping into their compartment this time because the aisles were already beginning to fill with students wanting to be first off the train. "Who's dating whom?"

"Study dates," Rose answered; stressing the first word; and smiling when Cora shook her head.

"Don't go there, Rose. We're just getting home now; and don't need to worry about revision until a day or two before we have to head back to Hogwarts."

"Does that mean that you won't be getting together with Romeo for a study session or two?"

Cora laughed. "Sure, I'll just have Mum or Dad fly me over to his place on a broom. That wouldn't totally freak out his Muggle family and neighbors."

"My grandparents are Muggles," Rose reminded her friend. "We manage to visit them regularly without messing things up for them with the neighbors – or the rest of Mum's side of the family."

"Your parents are more open than mine when it comes to Muggles – or Muggle-born Witches and Wizards for that matter," Cora said seriously. "I'd have as much trouble at home as Romeo might at his house if we try to get together over the holidays." She laughed; and then nodded toward Al and Gwendolyn to include them in her next comment. "I'll be pushing my luck with Dad already for associating with the offspring of evil Harpies' players. I'm hoping that being friends with a former girlfriend's daughter will offset that for me; but I'll let you know how that goes."

"Is he going to be here to meet you and your brothers?" Rose asked; grinning suddenly. "It's really too bad that Mum's likely stuck at work; but we could re-introduce him to Aunt Ginny."

"He won't be; part two of that is scary; and maybe we can do that if Dad comes along to bring us back to King's Cross for the trip back to Hogwarts," Cora suggested. "That'd be even funnier if my Mum and your Dad were there too." She glanced behind her and nodded toward something she saw in the compartment across the aisle from them. "I'd better get back over there and grab my things. Have a great holiday everyone!"

They were gliding into the station by then, and while Cora found an opening in the gathering crush of students in the aisle to hop across it; Al, Rose, and their friends all started to grab their things before joining the packed line of students all trying to get off of the train at the same time. Just getting into the aisle took a while, and though it took a bit longer to hold back and go with the flow; that was easier than trying to push against the mostly bigger teens when doing that likely wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Al was okay with having those extra minutes with Gwendolyn while they waited, and it really was just a matter of minutes; so all of the extra effort that other teens put into their escape from the Hogwarts Express wasn't at all effective.

Wanting to stay with Gwendolyn didn't keep him from happily hugging his mother for a long minute once they were able to find each other in the crowd on the platform; and then Lily had a big hug and kiss for him too. Gwendolyn's father and brother had been with Ginny, Grandma Weasley, and the rest of their group; so she hadn't gone far from Al; and was on the receiving end of some hugs and kisses from Ginny and Lily too once she'd finished hugging Kirley and Jonah. When Gwendolyn again took Al's hand in hers, Ginny and Lily both grinned at them; Kirley looked surprised; and James sneered at Al and mouthed a little barb at him that he pointedly ignored.

"Before we forget, Al and I were hoping that we could get the spells added to our mirrors so that we can talk to each other with them over the holidays. Can you do that for us, Aunt Ginny?" Gwendolyn asked; smiling hopefully at her. Ginny laughed and held out her hand for the mirror that Gwendolyn already had ready to give to her.

"I can do that," she agreed; pulling out her wand while taking Gwendolyn's mirror. Al got his out of his cloak pocket and handed it to her too; and then they watched as Ginny silently made the changes to each mirror so that they were added to the limited group of contacts that each of them were allowed to have. She put her wand away and handed the mirrors back to them; earning bonus hugs from both kids.

"Thank-you," Gwendolyn said happily while taking Al's hand again.

"You're welcome," Ginny assured her; and then grinned as she turned her attention to Kirley. "It's okay, Dad. Just pretend that your little girl isn't growing up on you; and this won't be so scary."

"She's her mother's daughter," Kirley countered with a laugh. "I've been scared since the day she was born."

"You don't really have to worry about Gwendolyn anymore than Harry needs to worry about Lily," Ginny told him with a smile for her daughter, "but since those lines seem to keep both of you entertained; have fun with it."

"Sure, nothing to worry about at all says the Witch who was dueling Death Eaters as a teen," Kirley teased; earning laughs all around.

"I had my Mommy there to protect me for the toughest fights," Ginny reminded him; ad they both smiled at Molly.

"Which just proves that it runs in the family and Harry has reason to be afraid," Kirley added with a nod. "We need to get going, honey," he told Gwendolyn next. "Are you ready?"

"Almost," Gwendolyn answered; and then turned to face Al. "I'll see you tomorrow at the game," she said quietly; similing at him brightly before stepping close and hugging him tightly. Al hugged her back.

"Okay. Have a good first night back home. I love you." The last of that was said in a whisper that was meant only for Gwendolyn; and Al felt a surge of joy as she hugged him more tightly in response.

"I love you too," she whispered back before leaning away just enough so that she could share a chaste little kiss with him. They stepped apart again; and Al blushed when he saw the reactions from the adults in the group.

"We so need to talk later," Lily told him quietly. "You've been holding out on me."

Al didn't answer; but then they were all busy gathering their things and heading toward the platform exit. Instead of bringing cars to London, Ginny, Molly, and the kids had taken the floo network to Diagon Alley and then they'd taken Muggle transit to King's Cross station. After one last round of goodbyes with the McCormacks; they headed back to Diagon Alley; they left their luggage with Hannah at the Leaky; and then headed out for some shopping while waiting for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Arthur to finish work for the day at the Ministry of Magic.

Diagon Alley was a beehive of activity; with the streets and shops full of Witches and Wizards of all ages happily doing their holiday shopping. While they hadn't gotten together at the station for a visit or at the Leaky either; they did meet up with most of their cousins while shopping – all of them happy to spend a minute or two with Molly, Ginny, Lily, and Hugo before continuing on with their own shopping fun. Victoire was the lone exception; but when Rose commented on that; Ginny advised the kids that Harry had planned on setting Teddy free from work early to meet Victoire at the station; and that the young couple likely had better things to do than wander around Diagon Alley – at least until they went to have dinner with Bill, Fleur, Dominique, and Louis.

James was only interested in going to Quality Quidditch and Uncle George's store, and he managed to complain enough for Ginny to allow him to go off and do that with Ollie after they conveniently bumped into each other on the street. Since Al and Rose both wanted to get a start on their Christmas shopping, that worked for them; and they had more fun going from store-to-store without James' complaints about how boring it was to do that. Flourish and Blotts was one of Al's favorite stores, and a favorite for most of the girls in their group too; so they took their time wandering around in there. Al was looking for a specific gift for Gwendolyn, and had wandered off on his own to look for it; and had found what he was looking for when Lily caught up with him.

"We really need to talk later if you've started reading those books," Lily teased quietly as she stepped up next to him and saw the book he was holding. "You've changed even more than I thought you had from our chats and your letters, Al; but I didn't think that you'd changed so much that you've gotten into Teen Witch mystery-romance books."

Al laughed and reached out to hug his sister. "I love you, Lily; and I've really missed you a lot." He glanced at the book and smiled. "This one is going to be a gift." He turned his attention back to Lily. "If that scared you, though; wait until I ask you and Mum for some help with the other gift I want to get for Gwendolyn."

"You could have asked me to do that before now," Lily pointed out; but Al shook his head.

"I'll get your advice; but I want to get her gifts myself."

Lily nodded and smiled too. "Okay. Speaking of Gwendolyn; are you ready to get teased about her the entire time you're here?"

"I'm hoping you'll run out of material by early next week," Al joked; and Lily laughed.

"Not a chance; but you know what I mean – and I'll be the least of your worries for that."

"I'm probably not ready," Al admitted; "but I wouldn't change anything either, Lily." His smile was soft and happy as he picked up another book in the same series as the one in his hand; trying to remember if Gwendolyn had that one yet. After searching his memory; he was fairly sure that she didn't so he decided to get that one too. "What's going on between us isn't anything I expected to have happen to me for a long time; and so brilliant that I can't believe I'm this lucky."

"You really are," Lily agreed with a teasing tone in her voice, "but you have the Mum and sister seals of approval; so keep up the good work."

"You didn't say 'Mums',' Al pointed out. "Should I be worried about Gwendolyn's Mum?"

"Definitely," Lily agreed with a laugh. "If you do mess up and end up as a woodlouse, though; I'll make a nice home for you to live in and keep you company."

Al laughed too. "I really appreciate that, Lily. Thanks."

That little conversation was a cameo moment among many for Al as they all wandered through the stores until it was time to meet up with the rest of the adults and kids they were having dinner with. They weren't having dinner as one big group; but they did meet at the Leaky; made plans to meet up again for some more holiday shopping after they ate; and then headed for their respective homes. The Potters got to have Arthur and Molly with them for that meal; mostly because they wanted to have some time to talk and make plans for the family Christmas they were having on Sunday at the Burrow. Ginny had drafted her own family for the work crew for that meal; which was also why they'd be busy helping with that on Sunday morning instead of having that extra shopping time.

Al and James were allowed to take their bags up to their rooms and unpack once they were home while Ginny and Molly got started on making a quick, easy dinner. Lily helped Al, and they actually unpacked his things; but James just threw his bags into his room and went downstairs again so that he could play games in the sitting room and talk with his father and grandfather. They didn't have a lot of time, but Al enjoyed being in his room; and he was especially glad to have that bit of quiet time with Lily.

"Aren't you going to carry your wand around with you?" Lily asked; picking up Al's wand not long after he'd set it down on the table next to his bed. "James always seems to have his with him even though you can't use magic outside of school."

"Except for some of our revision and practice," Al added; while also shaking his head. "The novelty of having it has worn off for me; so i don't need to carry it around all of the time."

"Yours feels different than James' wand. Did you know that?"

Al shrugged. "They are different; but yeah, I know what you mean."

"It probably has something to do with the wand choosing the Witch or Wizard," Lily mused. "I wonder if the wand has a personality that matches too."

"That thought is a bit scary," Al said; and Lily smiled at him.

"Only for James' wand," she suggested. "If your wand really is like you; then I'm glad that it chose you."

"Have you made any plans for the holidays with your friends?" Al asked; changing the subject.

Lily grinned at him. "Why? Would you like me to invite Gwendolyn for a sleepover or three?"

"There's a rather brilliant idea," Al agreed with a bright smile too; "but maybe we'd better save that suggestion for next summer. "I don't want to scare the parents too much – or risk spending the holidays as a woodlouse."

"If we invite Jonah too they might just think that we're trying to give their parents a kid-free night," Lily offered; "but we can just wing that – and I don't know about everything that Mum and Dad have planned for the holidays anyway. We might not have time for any extra sleepovers."

"Mum and Dad will still both be working," Al reminded his sister. "There are extra Quidditch matches over the holidays; and Dad almost always works extra so that the other Aurors can have more time off."

"I suppose," Lily conceded; "but it'd be nice if they could spend more time with us while you're home."

"Let's just have as much fun as we can while we're here; and not worry about anything," Al suggested. He was putting his text books on his desk; and waved one at her. "Would you like to borrow any of these for some light bedtime reading?"

Lily laughed. "Maybe. Can I borrow your wand too?"

"Sure, but if the Head of the Aurors catches you doing magic with it; you're on your own for the consequences."

"Getting into trouble might be worth it; but I'll be good," Lily promised. "Speaking of, I don't know if I should be proud of you or annoyed that you haven't gotten into any trouble at school yet. Mum and Dad are happy about that, and James managed to get into enough trouble with Ollie to help me out a bit; but you could be a tough act to follow when I do get to go to Hogwarts too; and I don't think that I like that at all."

"All we need to do at school is do better than Dad; and even James is managing to do that despite all of the trouble he gets into," Al pointed out. "You probably hear more about the trouble James gets into than I did at school; since he and Ollie try to keep that quiet when they do get caught. Don't rush getting to Hogwarts either. Being an only child for another year and a half while James and I are at school is going to be great. I almost wish that I was the youngest when you tell me about some of the things you've gotten to do with Mum and Dad so far this year."

"As if you'd trade that for getting to play with magic; Quidditch; or being Gwendolyn's boyfriend," Lily countered. "She's probably glad that you're not two years younger than she is."

"We're both glad of that," Al assured her. His bag was empty, so he put it in his closet; and smiled as he turned back to face Lily. "Let's go downstairs. Maybe Dad will have some time to talk with me now that James has had some time with him while I've been out of the way."

"James is acting even weirder than usual since getting home," Lily said as she hopped to the floor and they both walked toward the doorway. "He barely hugged Mum and me at the station, and didn't want to hang out with us in Diagon Alley; yet he's been trying to hog all of the attention with Dad and Grandpa. He's barely said a word to you; and has only teased me three times so far and pranked me once. Should I be scared that he's saving up?"

"Possibly,' Al agreed – "especially if he re-stocked his wheezes while he was hagning out with Ollie earlier."

They contined to chat while walking downstairs and into the sitting room; Lily stayed for a while and they talked with Harry and Arthur; and then she went on to the kitchen to hang out with Ginny and Molly when she lost interest in the Ministry of Magic and work discussion that her father and grandfather were having while Harry continued to play Muggle video games with James. Al mostly sat back and enjoyed being home again, but James didn't want him to join in for the gaming; and he stayed out of the work-related talk time. Harry talked with both boys about school and Quidditch a bit too; but James jumped in ahead of Al's answers enough of the time that Harry eventually left that alone and indicated to Al that they'd find some alone time to talk later. It wasn't long before they sat down in the dining room for dinner; and the talk turned to the family Christmas dinner plans for Sunday.

"We're going to have twenty-eight for dinner," Molly advised Ginny and Harry. "I'm including Teddy, but while Andromeda and Mark will be stopping in; they have dinner plans with his family and couldn't work out doing both meals."

"I expect we'll be sharing Teddy and Victoire with Mark's family by next Christmas," Ginny said with a nod and smile. "They've all but adopted Teddy already; and he's really come to love them right back."

"Sure he has," Harry agreed. "Teddy hasn't had to cook a meal for himself in months between visits at dinnertime to our house, Mark and Andromeda's place, and going to have meals with the other MacDonald 'grandkids' and their families. It's a wonder that he hasn't gained fifty pounds."

"Not much chance of that if he's doing those Auror workouts of yours every day," Arthur disagreed. "He still plays Quidditch nearly every week with his mates too, from what he's told me when he stops by for visits at the Ministry."

"He'd have been here for dinner tonight like he was last year if he hadn't gone all mental over Victoire," James declared; and then grinned at Al. "Shouldn't you be at Gwendolyn's house – or have you missed your Mommy too much to do that instead?"

"I have really missed Mum," Al admitted easily. "I've only had the one date with Gwendolyn; so it might be a while yet before we're getting together for family dinners. If we do set one up for here, though, would you like to invite Daphne to come too?"

James laughed and shook his head. "Nice try, but I'll leave it to you and Teddy to lose your minds over Witches and mess up your lives. I've better things to do than be some Witch's lap dog." He was grinning at his father as he said that last part; and earned a round of laughs for his efforts.

"I've been happy with your Mum; so don't knock it until you try it," Harry suggested.

"Not gonna happen," James said fervently.

"You sound like your Uncle Ron," Molly told him. "We'll see how long it takes you to change your mind about things like that." She smiled at his reaction to her comment. "Would you rather talk about what you'll be doing on Sunday morning? Number one on the list for you and Al will be de-gnoming the garden."

"I'd rather help Grandpa play with his toys – I mean work in the shed," James suggested; earning more laughs.

"You can do that too," Molly assured him – "after the real work is done." The last of that was meant as much for Arthur as for James; and she laughed when both boys grinned at her. "I mean it," she declared; while also knowing that they'd try to get out of at least some of the work anyway – and that Harry and Ginny would likely pick up the slack when they succeeded.

They needed to meet up with Ron, Hermione, and the kids, so they had a fairly quick meal; had their plans for Sunday worked out; and had cleaned up the kitchen and dining room with a little time to spare before taking the floo network back to Diagon Alley. Ron and Hermione were already there with Rose and Hugo; so they headed out from the Leaky into Muggle London to go shopping at one of their favorite malls – mostly because those stores would be open much later than the stores in Diagon Alley would be. When they got to the Mall, Arthur and Ron were happy to go with James and Hugo to do the fun shopping while Harry and Al stayed with the girls; and Al wanted to actually get as much of his Christmas shopping finished as he could while he knew that James would be goofing off most of the night.

"You're not looking for a sweater for Gwendolyn," Lily accused when Al asked for help with picking one out. "We might as well wrap it up and put it under the tree for you."

"I thought you'd be looking for jewelry," Rose told him; "but I like the idea – and the cuddle factor will only be a bonus for you if Gwendolyn likes your gifts too."

"I'll need a bigger allowance or a part-time job before gold and diamonds will be in my gift-buying budget," Al told them; "and we've all heard some of the Hogwarts horror stories to stay far away from cheap, gaudy gifts."

"I could see if Dad's still got that sweetheart necklace," Rose offered helpfully. "He might be willing to sell it to you cheap if he does."

"Thanks, but no," Al declined. "I would like help with picking out a nice sweater though; and hope you'll resist the urge to prank me by picking out something awful that Gwendolyn would hate."

"That'd be fun," Lily admitted; "but we like Gwendolyn and won't do that to her."

"Picking out a clashing sweater to give Al for Christmas might be an option, though," Rose suggested to Lily.

"Anything in Cannons' orange would do it," Lily teased right back; and Rose laughed while also trying to frown at her cousin.

"I'd file a complaint about that if it wasn't actually true."

"you think that orange would clash for me with Gwendolyn; yet want to get us to play for the Cannons with you some day?" Al asked; laughing too. "That seems very inconsistent."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked.

"It's just something we were talking about at one of the Quidditch games at Hogwarts," Rose answered. "I was suggesting that it'd be cool to play for the Cannons and win the first league championship for them in over a century."

"You said it was your master plan," Al reminded her. "She wants to lure you and Gwendolyn away from your future, brilliant careers with the Harpies to help her out with that dream," he advised Lily.

"That might actually be the one thing that could convince me to play for any team other than the Harpies," Lily said; surprising Al and Rose. "It probably won't work; but that would be really awesome – as long as you didn't beat my Harpies to get that championship. You will have a couple of years between when you graduate and I'm done school, though; so I guess you might have a chance to do that before I'm in the show too and the Harpies are unbeatable again."

"I'm not suggesting that the Cannons should win every championship," Rose told Lily. "I'd be good with the Harpies and Cannons taking turns as champions."

"That's fun to think about, but we are talking about the Cannons here," Lily pointed out. "Have you told your Dad about this plan of yours? I'd hate for him to get his hopes up yet again just to have them dashed when you can't get anyone to come and play with you for the worst pay in the league."

"Maybe Rose has a plan for that too," Al suggested.

"Actually, I don't," Rose admitted; "but I'll work on that – and no, I haven't said anything to Dad. It'd be way more fun if I could surprise him."

"That shouldn't be tough to do," Lily offered. "Your Dad's surprised when the Cannons have a five-win season."

"We all are," Ginny said as she and Hermione joined them. "What's up?"

"We're looking for a sweater to give Al for Christmas – I mean for Al to give Gwendolyn," Lily answered with a bright grin. "Al wants help picking out the color and getting the size right; but can check for the cuddle-worthiness himself."

Ginny laughed and put her arm around Al. "I think that's a lovely idea for a gift; and we can help you with that. I just happen to know Gwendolyn's sizes too; since Gwenog and I went shopping for Christmas gifts a couple of weeks ago."

"You did?" Lily asked. "How come I didn't get to go?"

"Do you really need more than one guess to answer that question?" Hermione asked. "We have a lot of shopping to get done tonight, though, so get on with picking out that sweater so we can get everything done."

They did that, moved on to other clothing, toy, and tech stores. Al also picked up a couple of Muggle teen mystery-romance books for Gwendolyn that he thought she might like to try reading; but he also picked up gifts for his mother and Lily with some help from his father; and a new Muggle video game for James. He decided to wait until they went shopping in Diagon Alley again in the morning to get magical gifts for his grandparents, Rose, and a few others. Ginny had advised him that he'd drawn Roxanne's name for the family Christmas gift exchange; so he'd need to find something nice for her too – and planned on drafting Lily to help him out with that since she knew a lot more about what Roxanne liked than he did. Al had really enjoyed the shopping time he'd had with his father, since they got to have a bit of alone time while he picked out gifts for some of their favorite girls; but all of the shopping was fun – even if James was bored again already by the time he and Hugo had finished visiting all of the games, toys, or tech stores.

They stayed at the Mall until shortly before it was closing for the night; went out for a snack and hot drinks after that; and then split up and headed for their respective homes. James went back to gaming as soon as he got home; he allowed Lily to play with him; and Al went up to his room to wrap the gifts he'd picked up so that he wouldn't need to do all of that on Saturday night whenever they got home from the game and everything else they had going on for the day. After helping Ginny with some work first; Harry came into Al's room and sat on the floor with Al.

"You've had quite the start to your school year," he said quietly; smiling fondly at his son. "We've only had the one report sent to us over that broken arm; but Neville's passed on a few stories as well. I don't like it that you're having problems with those Slytherin boys; but you've apparently handled it well-enough."

"I wish they'd just leave me alone; but it's been easier to deal with that than I ever expected it would be, Dad. I'm not scared over any of the things that I was worried about before I went to Hogwarts."

"That's good, Al; but don't go looking for trouble the way your brother does. I'm not sure that your mother and I could handle two of you doing that."

Al smiled at that. "You already know that I won't, but I've learned that I can't let myself get pushed around either; and seem to have some talent for defending myself. I wonder where I got that from?"

"Your mother and grandmothers," Harry joked; and they both laughed. "Was your broken arm part of learning that you needed to stick up for yourself? It's not as if you've ever been prone to accidents; so your mother and I knew that there had to be more to the story that you didn't tell Madam Pomfrey."

"There was," Al admitted without offering any details. "I've worked it out now, though; so no harm done."

Harry waited for a long moment; and then nodded. "You do seem to have survived everything so far; but I am here if you do have any problems that you need help with – unless it's girl troubles," he added with a grin. "I probably can't save you if you run into troubles with your mother or Gwenog. Are you really sure that you want to date the daughter of a former professional Quidditch Beater?"

"You married the daughter of a dueling master," Al reminded his father; grinning too. "I'll try not to mess up with our mothers or Gwendolyn, but if I do; Lily's already offered to make a nice home for me if I get turned into a woodlouse."

Harry laughed. "Good enough, then. Do you want any help with the wrapping?"

"You're welcome to stay and talk, butt i'd like to do the wrapping myself. It doesn't feel the same when I just have someone else do it."

Harry stayed and they talked for a while longer; and then he went downstairs again to the sitting room where Ginny had joined in for the gaming and they'd switched from Muggle video games to mirror games. She and James were having fun with that while Lily mostly watched on; but once he was there too; they took turns playing until Al arrived and they decided to watch a Christmas show instead until bedtime. It was late by the time they headed up to their rooms, but Al took a chance and called Gwendolyn on his mirror once he was changed and in his bed – the feeling of being in his own room and alone seeming strange after months of sharing a room with a bunch of guys. Gwendolyn answered his call on the second ring.

"Hi Gwendolyn. I was worried that I might wake you up," Al told her quietly; his smile as bright as hers. "Have you had a good night?"

"I've been talking with Mum and waiting for your call," she answered; turning the mirror a bit so that he could see Gwenog sitting on the bed next to her.

"Hi, Al," Gwenog said; smiling at him too. "We're just planning your wedding, and have lots of time to work on that; so I'll go now and let you have some privacy."

"She's just joking about that – mostly," Gwendolyn told Al as her mother leaned in to hug and kiss her.

"You wish," Gwenog told her. "As far as I'm concerned now, it's either a wedding or life as a woodlouse for someone."

"Then I'll pick option one," Al told them. "If it's alright with you, though, I'd really like to finish school and get a job first."

"We can probably work with you on that," Gwenog agreed with a laugh. "Have a good night kids. I'll see you after the game sometime tomorrow, Al. Have a good night." She left the room then; and Gwendolyn waited until she'd closed the door to her room before speaking again.

"Have you been getting teased as much as I have been tonight?"

"It hasn't been too much so far; and I've mostly had fun with it. Even James' jokes were funny. He thought that I should have been at your house for dinner because Teddy was having dinner with Victoire instead of at our house like he did when James came home from Hogwarts for Christmas last year."

"Maybe we can book that for next Christmas," Gwendolyn suggested. "I like the idea of sharing Christmas with you a lot."

"Then you'll likely love Lily's suggestion that she invite you over for a sleepover or three while we're home for the holidays. She thinks that we could get away with it if we invite Jonah too and tell your parents that it's to give them some kid-free nights."

"They wouldn't believe that for a second; but might agree anyway just to get those nights off from parenting. If the Harpies win tomorrow, they get an extra day off for Christmas, but then Mum will only have the three day weekend for New Year's Day and work the rest of the time to get ready for the game on the Saturday before we head back to Hogwarts. We probably could have at least one sleepover; and I love the idea a lot."

"I'll let Lily know, and you can talk about it with her tomorrow," Al suggested. "What have you been doing since leaving the station?"

Gwendolyn was happy to tell him all about her day; got him to tell her about the parts of his shopping trip that he could tell her about; and they wrapped up their chat and he was soon off to sleep for the night. Waking to the smell of breakfast already cooking in the kitchen was enough to have Al up and moving again; and it was the latest he'd been awake in the morning in months. That worked out okay, since Lily was just finishing up in the bathroom; so he was able to take a turn and be out of there before James was alive and grumpily looking to use the washroom next. James didn't have time to grab a shower then too; and he was the only member of the family still in his night clothes when they sat down to eat.

"We'll spend the morning in Diagon Alley," Ginny advised them. "We'll have lunch at the Leaky before going on to Ellis stadium; and then we'll be doing some holiday visiting after the game. How many visits we can do will depend on how long the game is; and we'll just wing it for dinner."

"Gwendolyn told me last night that the Harpies get an extra day off for Christmas if they win today," Al said. "The Tornadoes could be in for a bad day."

"The Tornadoes have played well-enough, but they're a bit inconsistent," Ginny told him. "It'll depend on which team shows up today; but they do seem to do better against the top teams and do poorly against the teams at the bottom of the standings."

"Then maybe the Cannons will have a shot a two wins this year," James joked. "Uncle Ron will be over the moon if that happens."

"Look at the bottom of the team standings once in a while," Harry suggested; and then laughed. "You knew that; since Ron would've mentioned it at least a dozen times when you were shopping with him last night."

"You'd think they had a shot at the championship this season to hear him talk. Maybe they'll pick the entire Cannons team for our Quidditch World Cup national team this year too!" That last part was suggested with deeply insincere enthusiasm that had Harry and Ginny both laughing.

"You told us that you were already a better Seeker than Santini is for the Cannons," Lily told him. "Wouldn't that mean they'd need to pick you over him?"

"He'll play for Spain if they pick him," James reminded her; "and I am better than he is."

"Your ego's at least a match for him," Ginny teased.

"Not to mention that it'd be easier to stake that claim if you were able to beat your Mum to the snitch," Harry added; earning a laugh from James.

"I win some of those duels," James reminded his father. "Santini can't say that he's ever won a game against Mom."

"Not many Seekers can," Harry agreed, "but if you think that you could win against Ginny in a real game right now; you've obviously been hit in the head with too many bludgers."

"I haven't been hit by any," James said; "and you can't possibly expect me to answer that comment honestly this close to Christmas. Al's the one who's gone mental over a Witch; not me. Maybe he'll be dumb enough to fall for a trap like that."

That launched them down a side road for their breakfast chat; and they had fun while enjoying their meal. James was set free to go and get ready for the day, and while Al and Lily stayed in the kitchen; Harry and Ginny took care of the clean-up with a little help from their wands instead of having the kids do the work by hand. Al brought a bag along with Gwendolyn's gifts in it when they left for Diagon Alley; and they were there well-ahead of Ron, Hermione, and the kids this time so they did some shopping first while waiting for them to catch up with them.

While Al loved to shop for Christmas gifts every year, this was the first year that he didn't have that done before the last minute; and he didn't find the holiday weekend crowds in Diagon Alley much fun at all when he was also stuck dealing with line-ups and half-empty store shelves instead of just getting to wander around and enjoy the scene the way they normally did when visiting Diagon Alley this close to Christmas in other years. He and Rose still managed to finish their shopping by lunchtime; but James didn't – and that was despite quite literally doing a lot of his shopping at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Lunch at the Leaky was with everyone that Harry and Ginny had invited to the Harpies' game, and Al, Rose, and Lily had fun together while James and Hugo were busy with some holiday pranking and the adults and older teens talked about everything from work and school to Quidditch and holiday plans. Bill and fleur were there with their kids, and Arthur and Molly had lunch with everyone too; and they were taking care of Fred and Roxanne while Angelina was playing with the Harpies and George was busy running the store on one of the busiest days of the year. While the family lunchtime fun was great; Al was really getting fired up by the time they took the floo network to Ellis stadium.

It didn't take long for them to meet upw with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah, and while Gwendolyn took a minute to welcome Al with an enthusiastic hug and a little kiss; they then needed to hurry to stock up on drinks and snacks before getting to their seats in the Harpies' season's tickets holders section of the stadium shortly before game time. Kirley and Gwenog had begun buying their tickets with the same block that Harry and Ginny had for years now, so it was easy-enough to switch up their seats so that Gwendolyn could sit with Al – and the other kids and teens could sit together as they wanted too.

"This stadium seems as huge to me today as it used to when we were little after our games at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn told Al as they settled into their seats under one of the blankets that had been brought along to help everyone in their group to stay warm during the game.

"I doubt we'd get this many Witches and Wizards coming to our matches even if we did have this much seating," Al suggested with a nod. "The pitches are the same size, though, so it really is just the seating and the outer sections of this stadium that make it look so much bigger. You'll be ready to play here when it's your turn to join the Harpies."

"You mean when she plays for the Cannons," Rose leaned in and whispered so that she wouldn't be overheard; and Al and Gwendolyn both laughed. She was sitting next to Al; and Lily was her blanket buddy for the game.

"Keep dreaming," Gwendolyn told her. "With all of the joking you've done about that; I wish the Cannons were playing our Harpies today. That would have been more fun."

"For you," Rose agreed easily. "It wouldn't be so hot for the Cannons fans in the family."

"The Cannons are going to keep having problems with the Harpies until they either get another Seeker or Santini gets over your Aunt Gabrielle," Gwendolyn suggested. "They're never going to out-score our Chasers by more than one-fifty to win that way."

"You'd think he'd have given up by now," Rose said in disgust. "Aunt Gabrielle's been married for more than ten years and has two kids. She's not going to dump Uncle Casey and the kids to go run off with him and live happily ever after."

"Says the Witch with her own impossible dream," Gwendolyn teased; and Rose laughed.

"At least my dream has a chance of happening. Santini is just delusional."

"Careful, you're possibly talking about a future team mate," Al joked quietly.

"He won't be on my dream team for sure," Rose assured him with another laugh. "Don't you guys have anything better to talk about than the Cannons' Seeker?"

Gwendolyn and Al were able to move the conversation along; but it wasn't long before the Harpies and Tornadoes were introduced; there was a cold-weather, short version of the usual pre-game action on the pitch; and then the game was on! While the Harpies' players were definitely motivated to play their best; the Tornadoes' players were fired up too – and kept right up with the Harpies. The battle above the pitch was fierce; and the two teams traded goals – and the lead – a half-dozen times in the first hour alone. The goals came slowly too, but there were a lot of shots on goal; and both Keepers were playing great. Gabrielle was in a serious Seeker duel too; and by the time they began the second hour of the match; the spectators had all settled in to watch the show while staying in their seats instead of jumping up and cheering for every big save or spectacular goal.

Al really loved watching the game while huddled under the blanket with Gwendolyn, and while the game was brilliant too; one of the highlights of his afternoon was when he and Gwendolyn decided to exchange their Christmas gifts while taking a break for visits to the washrooms and food booths for more hot drinks. They found a relatively quiet place to sit where it was also warm; and took turns opening their gifts – with Gwendolyn starting first.

"How did you know that I read these books?" Gwendolyn asked in surprise; and Al smiled at her. "I've seen them tucked into your bookbag. You didn't have those two already did you?"

"No, and I would've picked them up while we're home," she said happily. "Thanks, Al. I can't believe you even noticed something like that – and I'd never get them out and read them around any of the other guys. They'd razz me about it as much as Jonah does at home."

Al shrugged. "They're probably better than some of the books that teen guys like to read – not that I'd know that for sure or anything."

"If you do, your secret's safe with me," Gwendolyn promised with a happy little laugh. "Your turn."

Al opened the first of the two gifts she'd given to him already; and then hugged her when he saw the Owl Post case she'd picked out for him while also thinking about Winter. "Thank-you. It's brilliant, Gwendolyn; and Winter will love it!"

"I'm glad you like it, Al. i thought that it was a strange shape; but the Witch at Eyelops told me that it makes it easier for the owl to fly with the package once they've taken off."

"I'll send Winter with a post for you soon and we'll find out," Al suggested. "Your turn again."

Gwendolyn laughed and happily opened gift number two – the Muggle mystery-romance books. "I don't have any Muggle books. What are they like?"

"I haven't read any of those, and the fiction stories about magical worlds can be hilarious and ridiculous; but I like lots of the different Muggle books that I've read. If you like those; we can always get more of them."

Gwendolyn flipped through a few pages of one of the books, but then set it aside and got Al to open the other gift she'd bought for him – a pair of winter-weather Chaser gloves. "I didn't want to get you a pair that'd help you for our game in April; but those will hopefully help to keep you warmer during your winter practices."

"They're great too," Al assured her enthusiastically. "Back to you; and then we'd better get back to the game. The way that's going so far; it'll be a mistake by someone that'll end the game – or some kind of lucky break."

Gwendolyn was happy to open her last gift; and loved the sweater best of all – a fact that Al was sure of by the time she'd finished hugging and kissing him. He had known that the girls had helped him to pick out a really good sweater; but hadn't known at the time that it would be the nicest one that Gwendolyn had ever owned. They'd picked up fresh hot drinks when they were ready to go back to their seats; brought a half-dozen more to share with the first six takers in their group; and then settled into their seats and under the blanket again as the cold quickly set in again.

The game lead continued to switch between the Harpies and Tornadoes until near to the end of the fourth hour, when the Harpies took the lead for the last time and held the slightest advantage until Gabrielle caught the snitch at the four hour and thirty-six minute mark to earn the four-forty to two-seventy victory for her team. While that was a fair number of goals by then; each team also had well-over one hundred shots on goal too; so every player on both teams was exhausted and frozen by the time they landed. The Harpies were happier; but the Tornadoes were glad that they game had ended and they could all get indoors and warmed up. The post-game time out on the pitch was only minutes-long; and the reporters were happy to be told that the interviews would be held indoors too – after the players had a chance to get warm, cleaned up, and changed.

Clearing the stadium happened in record time too, and Al was a bit sorry for that because it also meant saying goodbye to Gwendolyn. Now that her mother was off work until Wednesday for sure; he didn't expect to see her again before then. They were sharing a long hug goodbye, and holding up both families until Ginny intervened.

"We'll be stopping in for a visit to the McCormack's house later tonight, Al. You can say goodbye to Gwendolyn then when we're not all half-freezing while waiting around for you to do that."

"We are?" Al asked as Gwendolyn let go of him and proceeded to hug Ginny happily instead.

"Harry and I want to have a Christmas visit with Gwenog; and she won't be available until later – for a little while between work and the Harpies' Christmas party later tonight. We won't be able to stay long."

"That's still way better than not seeing Al again at all," Gwendolyn assured her. "I'm ready to go now, Dad," she added; smiling at her father. "What are we doing until Mom's done work?"

Al didn't hear the answer to that because they split up then and he went on to the Leaky Cauldron with his parents, James, and Lily. The rest of their family had already left for other destinations by then; and their first visit with friends was to see the Longbottoms because the game had been so long; and they needed to have dinner too. Hannah was having a fairly large Christmas party at the Leaky, but they were there in time to have a really quick dinner before having a short visit with Neville, Alice, and Francine. They were all helping Hannah out with the party; so that chat time was more like a break for the girls and their father; and then they needed to get back to work while Harry and Ginny took the kids in tow and moved on to the Campbell house.

The back-from-school parties on the Saturdays after the kids returned from Hogwarts in December and June had ended after Kate had graduated, so there wasn't a gang over at Christine and Bryce's – but there were eight grandchildren; and four of their parents were still there and in the process of dropping them off before heading out to a team Christmas party for the Wasps. The grandkids ranged in age from eight down to one and a half; so Christine and Bryce were happy to have three older kids arrive to help out with entertainment for a while. Jeremy, Pauline, Kate, and Aaron needed to get going to their party by then; but stayed for a bit longer to visit with Harry and Ginny. Kate was back at work again, and saw Harry every day; but they were more likely to see Jeremy and Aaron while watching a Wasps' game than anywhere else; and Pauline was always busy with the kids – including helping out with daycare for her nieces and nephews while the rest of the parents were either working with their Quidditch teams or with the Aurors.

"This could be your life in another fifteen or twenty years," Bryce told Harry as the four remaining adults sat down on two sofas in the sitting room after the four 'kid' parents had left for their night out.

"We'll love it if we're as lucky as you are," Harry assured him as he smiled at his own kids playing with Bryce's grandchildren. Even James was having a blast with the boys thanks to some Christmas wheezes, a headless hat, and the mirror gaming system that he was a master at compared to the younger, easily-impressed boys. Lily played with the girls; and Al kept the two youngest kids entertained with toys that were appropriate for them.

"The Harpies had a tough game today," Christine said to Ginny. "I'm glad that we didn't have to freeze out in tthe cold with our game as long as you did for yours."

"Thanks to Aaron," Bryce added. "Hopefully he'll do as well against Gabrielle and the Harpies when we play your team in two weeks."

"Or not," Ginny countered with a laugh. "We want that win as much as your Wasps do. Gabrielle and Aaron do always have a fun Seeker duel, though, so it'll be a great game to watch either way."

"Aaron does have the best record against Gabrielle," Harry offered. "Give it another couple of seasons and he might even work up to a tie for their battles."

"He'd love that," Bryce said; "though he'd prefer to help the Wasps to more championships; and doesn't worry about the individual stats so much."

"Neither does Gabrielle, but then they're two of the best right now because they both like to win." Ginny was biased for the Harpies for obvious reasons; but appreciated the skills of all of the league's top Seekers too – even when they out-dueled her Harpies' replacement and friend.

Bryce reached behind the sofa that he and Christine were sitting on; grabbed a handful of nothing; and lifted until the head of Dawn and Jonathan's oldest, eight-year old Christopher, appeared out of nowhere. "Boo!" he shouted; and Bryce laughed.

"Wrong holiday, Chris. Halloween was a couple of months ago." He put the hat back on the boy's head; and smiled fondly as Christopher then stood up and they could see his headless upper body, and then the rest of him as he walked back over to where James was waiting, watching, and ready to give him a high-five for a job well-done.

"Do you have another future Auror in the family practicing his stealth techniques?" Harry asked; and Bryce laughed.

"More likely a comedian and prankster like James; though he does think that his grandmother and Aunt Kate have cool jobs too."

"He wants to play Quidditch in the show," Christine said with a smile for Ginny. "It seems as though every kid wants to grow up to do that now. We'll need to expand the league to make room for all of them."

"That could happen some day," Ginny agreed; "but I don't want to see that happen unless we have enough really talented players. We wouldn't want to end up with a half-dozen or more mediocre teams. Believe it or not, though, I've had enough Quidditch for one day; so let's hear some grandkid adventures stories or something else that isn't work-related either."

Getting Bryce and Christine to talk about their kids and grandkids was easy-enough, and they also played with the kids too until Ginny got the message from Gwenog that she'd be ready soon for their little visit with them before the McCormacks would be moving on to the Harpies' party. By then, three out of eight of the Campbell grandchildren were ready for bed, so James, Al, and Lily had succeeded in helping out with that; and were ready to move on. Gwendolyn welcomed them at the dining room fireplace that was linked to the floo network and had enthusiastic hugs for all of them – except for James because he managed to 'dodge the bludger' before it was too late. Jonah was happy to take him in tow and go to the sitting room for some mirror gaming; and Lily went along with them while Harry and Ginny went into the kitchen to visit with Kirley and Gwenog and Gwendolyn took temporary custody of Al. She wasn't wearing her new sweater, but had already advised him that she was going to wear it for one of her family Christmas parties – either with the McCormacks or the Jones' families on Sunday and Monday. They went up to her room for a while first, and while they didn't live in one of the old Wizarding family mansions; Gwendolyn's house was quite a bit larger than Al's; and her bedroom was much larger too.

"What are you doing tonight while your parents are away at the party?" Al asked as he sat down on her desk chair while she hopped up onto her bed.

"Grandma Catriona is coming over to stay with us; and we'll likely just watch Christmas shows until she sends us off to bed sometime shortly before Mum and Dad get home. How's the visiting going?"

"We've had fun, but it feels like we've just been bouncing around from house to house – or Inn for our visit with Professor Longbottom and his family at the Leaky. That's where we had dinner too. The Campbells had all eight of their grandkids there while their kids were at the parties for the Wasps and United teams; so we played with them while we were there."

"That would have been more fun than we've had around here. Mum was late getting home, so by the time we had dinner; it was practically time for her to start getting ready for their party." She smiled at him then before adding – "it's a good thing that I had some new books to start reading; or I'd have been petrificus totalis bored."

Al waved around at her room, which was filled with lots of entertainment options – including a dozen musical instruments. "Is it actually possible to be bored here? There always seems to be Quidditch or music going on around here anytime we've visited."

"Or both," Gwendolyn added with a nod. "I liked spending the quiet time with Dad, but he was busy with some work for a while too; so I really did do some reading for an hour or so. I'm not complaining or anything. The next couple of days are going to be too busy with everything we have going on. Your family is as big as mine; but you're lucky to have them all on one side." She smiled ruefully. "You know what I mean, right?"

He knew what she hadn't meant her comment to be; and nodded. "I know; but sometimes I wonder if it isn't easier to have all of that fun spread out over more than one sitting like we'll be having tomorrow afternoon. We'll play with our cousins a lot; but won't get to spend much time at all with our aunts, uncles, and grandparents – or the older teens like Victoire and Teddy either." He smiled as he thought about that. "Teddy's going to have a very busy Christmas this year now that he's got Grandma Andromeda's new family and Victoire's family to have Christmas with too."

"Isn't Victoire's family yours too? Teddy always spends time with you at Christmas anyway; so that shouldnn't be much of a change."

"He'll have the Delacour side of Victoire's family," Al reminded her. "They usually do at least one visit at Christmas with his Tonks' relatives too, but that isn't always right at Christmas; so he might have already done that sometime over the past couple of weeks. We haven't exactly talked much yet this weekend."

"I think that we only said hello and goodbye at the game this afternoon," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "They were too busy to hang out with us at all."

"We'll be too busy to hang out with us for the next couple or three days," Al joked. "Speaking of that, shouldn't we go downstairs again and hang out with our families? It didn't sound as though we'll be here long before your Mum needs to get to that party."

"I suppose," Gwendolyn agreed a bit reluctantly. She got off of her bed and Al was standing too by the time she walked over to him. They were both smiling as she put her arms around his neck. Leaning closer; she kissed him – and they both jumped when sirens started blaring and there was a soft puffing sound that Al knew the meaning off far too well. He pulled Gwendolyn with him as quickly as he could; and got both of them out of the way before the stinky mistletoe mist could hit either of them. They could hear laughter out in the hallway and coming from the main floor too; and Al groaned while Gwendolyn laughed.

"There is one good thing about this," she advised him with a smile. "We've already set the silly thing off; so it won't be a problem again until James gets it reset." Al laughed for a moment too before she kissed him again and they had something better to do for a while.

The sirens had continued, though; so trying to share a long kiss with the racket going on didn't really work for them. James and Jonah had hidden the mistletoe in a headless hat, which is why they hadn't seen it; but it wasn't tough to find with the sirens blaring. Al retrieved both the hat and the mistletoe; they went downstairs again; and put up with five or ten minutes of teasing from their families before the comedians in the group were ready to move on. Everyone was in the sitting room by then; there were some gifts to exchange and open; and then it was time for Harry and Ginny to take their kids home when Grandma Catriona arrived for her grandkids-sitting duty and Kirley and Gwenog needed to get to the Harpies' party. Though James and Jonah both made fun of them; Gwendolyn still took the extra time to say goodnight to Al with hugs and a kiss before letting him leave; and Al didn't have a problem with ending his evening that brilliantly.

That really was the end of the day for him too because he was ready to head for bed after they got home. James stayed up to watch Christmas shows on the mirror network in the sitting room, but Lily wanted to go to bed then too; and Harry and Ginny only stayed up long enough to take care of a few chores before they turned in for the night too and left James to stay up as late as he wanted – with the warning that the early morning wake-up call and work time at the Burrow would not be optional for him even if he stayed up all night. Since he already knew that Gwendolyn was having a Christmas show evening with her grandmother and brother; Al didn't try to have a mirror chat with her. He got ready for bed; started to read a book; and fell asleep before he'd reached the bottom of the second page.

Al and Lily were both up early on Sunday morning. She let him take a shower first and get ready for a work morning at the Burrow; and then he kept Harry company in the kitchen while she took her turn and James slept on until he was ordered out of bed. The fact that it was Christmas Eve Day didn't make a difference for their breakfast, but Harry did make up a hot meal because at least some of them would be spending time outdoors in the cold while doing some of the work to get ready for the family Christmas. Four out of five of them ate quickly; and James didn't have any choice but to be done as the last dishes were cleaned because his plate, cup, and utensils floated away the moment he'd finished his second plate full of food – and before he could try and drag it out longer by filling it again. Trying to procrastinate while getting cleaned up and dressed didn't work; but it only took the threat of having his mommy help him out with that to get him hurrying and finishing the job on his own.

They took the floo network over to the Burrow once Hmaes was ready to go; and they pretty much got to work right away. For James and Al, that really had meant starting out with de-gnoming the garden; so they bundled up and headed out into the cold. James was finally about ready to join the world of the living by then; though he wasn't happy about being stuck with their first job of the day. While Al got started by coaxing his first gnome to make an appearance, and then spun around before tossing it over the fence and into the field. The other gnomes started to pop their heads out of the ground to see what was going on; and Al kept grabbing them and then tossing them out into the field while James leaned up against one of the fence posts and apparently decided to supervise.

"That one will be back before you're done wit the rest of them," he advised Al. "That wasn't much of a spin or toss."

"Feel free to show me up anytime you'd like to join in," Al told him while grabbing the next gnome and getting ready to spin and toss again.

"That'd be too easy; and you already know I'm better at it than you are – just as I am with everything." Al laughed at that; and James scowled at him.

"You know that isn't true," he told James: "and I don't get why that bugs you – or why you hate it when I do well at something. I'm proud of you when you do well at anything – except for a lot of your pranks."

"How could I forget? You're the best bookworm in the family and biggest loser," James said derisively with a snort of laughter. "You can have those titles; but don't expect me to be proud of you for them."

"Can't you even take a break from that for Christmas?" Al aasked. He'd already tossed his third gnome by then and was grabbing number four. It was nice to have them so helpful as they all came up out of the ground to see what was going on.

"You used to laugh with me until you started at Hogwarts. Now you're an old, wet sock with a ball and chain around your neck."

"I've never liked most of your jokes and pranks on me," Al advised him. "The only thing that changed was that you pushed me too far and I found out that I can stop you without being just like you – or worse."

"You got lucky and surprised me," James shot back. "I won't make that same mistake with our next duel – and I'm going to want a rematch."

"I know you will," Al agreed with a shrug. "We can even put that pledge of yours on the line, since I know you'll want that too; but I don't know why you expect another duel to turn out differently."

"I can think of lots of reasons; but what's that supposed to mean?"

Al smiled at him. "You've already conceded that I'm a bookworm. I read a lot more than you do; study harder; and get better grades. I think that I have a fair bit of talent for magic too; so you shouldn't be surprised that I'm really good at it."

"You're not better at it than me," James declared stubbornly. "I've been at it a year longer; and learned a lot more – even if you are a total suck-up and get better grades."

Al sighed. "There you go again with the insults. Let's just drop it; and you can find out which of us is right whenever you get around to challenging me to that next duel."

"And I'll be off the hook for that no-pranking pledge if I win?" James said; his expression hopeful.

"Yes,' Al agreed with a nod. "If you're not going to help; why don't you go look at Grandpa's airplanes and helicopters or something. I'll get this done faster without you standing there bugging me."

"Tempting, but Mom would blast me if I do that. She's already giving me the evil eye from the window over there."

"Mom doesn't have an evil eye," Al told him; and James laughed.

"Not for you," he agreed. "You're the perfect, good son."

Al stopped and looked at him for a long moment. James had just tossed that out there as another back-handed insult; but he realized that his brother actually believed that. Suddenly, he saw all of the insults and pranks from a different perspective; and realized that James actively disliked him and that the way he treated Al wasn't at all about just having some fun. As he thought about that, he wasn't really surprised; and it made him feel a bit less uncomfortable about how much he didn't like James right back – at least when it came to the mean-spirited and careless prankster side of his brother.

"Okay, so what does Mom's evil eye look like? Does it roll around like Mad-Eye Moody's did in all of those stories we've been told about him?"

James laughed and shook his head. Al's comment worked to divert him; they both got to work on tossing the gnomes out of the garden; and they actually managed to get along for a while – at least until tthey went indoors again; and James had to go back to putting on a show for everyone around him. That was only mildly annoying for the rest of the morning; and fairly irritating pretty much from the time that Uncle George and Aunt Angelina arrived with Fred and Roxanne. From then on; James did his very best to prove to everyone that he was worthy of being his Uncle George's nephew – while also trying to impress Hugo and Fred. Once that started, Al tried his best to stay out of James' way – and he also had to worry about getting teased by the usual comedians in the family; random acts of wheezes; and other pranks or practical jokes.

The rest of their family had begun arriving at one o'clock. The work – except for the ongoing cooking – was done by then; they'd had a quick lunch; and James was playing mirror games in the sitting room with supervision from Arthur and Harry while Al and Lily had stayed in the kitchen with Molly and Ginny to chat with them while waiting for everyone to arrive. Lily happily led the way on the welcoming committee; and Al helped out with the work that went along with the arrivals – including taking gifts into the sitting room and putting winter weather gear into the back room. Bill, Fleur, and the kids were there first; Charlie, Julianne, and their kids were last; and everyone was there by one-thirty – though George needed to go back to the store for about half of the afternoon and only stayed for most of the gift exchange before doing that and dealing with the Christmas shopping crush until the store closed for the day and he returned to catch the tail-end of dinner.

While James, Ron, and George led the way when it came to taking their fun with Al too far, at least from his own perspective, there was some teasing that was fun for him too; and more than enough good moments to make up for the bad. During that meet and greet, one of those furst fun moments came shortly after Teddy arrived with Andromeda and Mark; and he was quickly reunited with Victoire. They'd spent part of the morning together wandering around Diagon Alley and visiting with a few friends; but had split up for lunch before meeting up again at the Burrow. They got teased about that hug and kiss; and that led to Teddy teasing him a bit about Gwendolyn.

"Why are you grinning like that, Al?" he asked. "From what I've heard; you've been discovering that hugs and kisses with the right Witch can be rather brilliant too – and with Gwenog and Kirley's daughter, no less! Could you pick a girl any more famous than her for a girlfriend?"

"Not without dating his own sister," Victoire joked while smiling fondly at Al. "The same goes for Gwendolyn with Al, though; so that works for them. I think that it's refreshing to see that at least one Wizard in this family is bright-enough to see what's right in front of his face sooner instead of way, way later like some boys I won't mention."

"I resemble that comment," Harry told her; smiling as he joined their little group and went on to hug Teddy enthusiastically. "Merry Christmas, Teddy. Feel free to blame me for your inclusion in that club. I was probably a bad influence on you in that department."

Teddy and Victoire both laughed before he answered. "That one is all on me; but I do plan on trying to learn from you when it comes to making it up to Victoire for being so dense."

"That's a good plan; but I wouldn't try for a wedding the weekend before Quidditch training camp. There's a Quidditch Cup this year; and some of your favorite people – like Gabrielle – will likely be busy with that instead."

"We could always elope like Grandma and Grandpa did," Victoire suggested; earning laughs from both Grandmothers; since they were both nearby as Molly and Arthur were welcoming Andromeda and Mark.

"We didn't elope," Andromeda joked. "You were there for our wedding with Teddy and know that."

"True, but you know that Grandma and Grandpa Weasley eloped; and that's worked out well-enough for them. Teddy and I would be lucky to be as happy as all four of you are when we're older."

"You will not be eloping," Fleur told her daughter as she and Bill joined them. "I want to have proper weddings for all of our kids; and it isn't as though you need to run off and do that because your families don't approve."

"Sorry, Teddy. Mum says that our Plan 'A' is out," Victoire said; though the teasing part of that was meant for her parents. "We'll have to find something else to do for the weekend after I get home from Hogwarts in June."

"With the good part of that change in plans being that Teddy won't need to be on the run from an angry, curse-breaker father and his brothers," Bill tried to threaten without much success.

"Now I do have an excuse for being so dense about Victoire," Teddy declared triumphantly. "Fear of her father and uncles." He grinned at Al then. "You really are smarter than your Dad and me. What's the worst Kirley could do to you? Write a nasty hit song about you?"

"It's funny that you say that," Al answered once everyone around them had finished laughing. "Everyone's been teasing me about what Gwendolyn's Mom will do to me if I mess up; and never say a word about her Dad the way you get teased about our Uncles. That's even funnier when you think about it – and realize that you have more to worry about from the Moms and Grandmothers in our family."

"As if you don't," Teddy countered with another laugh. "Do you think that your Mom will go easier on you if you mess up with Gwenodlyn than she was with Uncle Ron? I was still pretty young back then; but I remember what happened to him – even if I wasn't there to see the actual hexing."

"Can you use Bat-Bogey hexes on a woodlouse?" Lily asked; having joined them after returning from a trip to the sitting room. "They'd have to be really, really small bats."

Her question continued the entertainment for a few more minutes; but then Al was free of any teasing for a while when Aunt Muriel arrived and took over the show in her usual, unstoppable force of nature sort of way. Al was barely noticed among all of the grandchildren by his oldest living relative, and Rose arrived minutes later with her family; so they went off to hang out together and talk for the time htey had until everyone was called into the sitting room for the gift exchange. There wasn't nearly enough seating for everyone even with some chairs that had been brought in from the kitchen table; so most of the younger teens and all of the kids sat on the floor while the adults and older teens satin the chairs and on the sofas. Al and Rose sat with Lily, Roxanne, and Charlie and Julianne's daughter, Charlene, and while she was a year and a half older than Al and in second year at her school; she preferred to hang out with them over her brother, Aiden, and James because she didn't enjoy their pranks and teasing either – and was more like her younger cousins.

While growing up next to a dragon reserve made for a very different childhood for Charlene and Aiden compared to all of their cousins in England; they still had a lot in common – especially when it came to things like Quidditch and current teen trends and activities. Aiden and Charlene both played Quidditch at their school too; though they didn't have Junior and Senior teams; so Aiden was only in his second year on one of their school teams and Charlene had earned her spot a year sooner; but on a different team. Aiden was a Seeker, like his father had been for Gryffindor; and Charlene played Chaser. Their Quidditch competition was different than at Hogwarts because the teams were clubs instead of House teams – and that was mostly because dorms were set up differently at their school too.

"We heard James razzing Aiden earlier about your team having two wins while his only has one and a loss," Rose told Charlene quietly as they settled in and Dominique, Molly, and Lucy were drafted to start handing out the gifts. "Since we've only had the one game so far; I don't know why James is acting like that – especially since he's only got two wins and two losses for his own Quidditch career so far – and can't take credit for how great the senior team has been the last couple of years."

"Aiden's not really upset about how his team is doing," Charlene said with a shrug and glance at her brother. "He got beat by a really good, seventh-year Seeker in that loss; and that team is the avorite this year – and the other team with two wins so far this season. My team's ahead a tiny bit on points, but I don't mind admitting that we've had the easiest schedule so far. Our furst tough game is in January; and we play Aiden's team in March."

"Too bad you're not playing Seeker too," Rose suggested with a grin. "That'd be a fun match to see."

Charlene laughed. "Not really. He's way better than me at Seeker. I'm a better Chaser than he is, though; and we're both playing the positions we like the best." She looked over at James next. "He's not saying anything good about how you and Al have been playing; but I'll guess that you've done better than he's making it sound since I have played against both of you when we've visited in the summers."

"We do prefer Gwendolyn's assessment of our game better than the version James has been telling everyone. She ranked Louis, Al, and me at the top while James and Ollie ranked us sixth and seventh – and only that high because they wouldn't rank any of the Slytherin players above us."

"Gwendolyn's the girlfriend I've been hearing about?" Charlene asked Al with a smile; and he nodded.

"Yes. You've met her a couple of times. Gwenog and Kirley's daughter. She's a Chaser too." He thought about that for a moment. "You played a Quidditch game with her once the summer before last – you and Rose were on the girls' team with her for that game."

Charlene nodded. "I remember. She has really dark blue eyes – way darker than mine. I hope that goes better for you than it went for me with my first boyfriend. That git is lucky that Aiden didn't go through with feeding him to one of the dragons."

"His first date went way better than mine did at the Christmas dance," Rose said after she and Al had both laughed. "He did well-enough with Christmas presents too when we saw Gwendolyn at the Harpies' game yesterday too. Are you dating anyone now?"

Rose's question moved their conversation along, and Al was mostly out of the loop for the girl chat topics; but then they were all soon busy opening gifts. While the cousins all drew names now, and the aunts and uncles did not buy gifts for all of their nieces and nephews anymore; the kids and teens still all had at least three or four gifts to open – including from their Grandparents, and in some cases; from Godparents. Aunt Muriel had little gifts for each of the kids and teens; and cards for everyone else. Al thought that she seemed slightly astonished each Christmas when she had the most gifts to open from her family; but he was also glad that everyone made such an effort for her – even as he hoped to hide among his cousins and avoid being singled-out for his Aunt's not-particularly-great commentary or advice. Prior bad experiences with that had been thanks to being on the receiving end of pranks by James that had gotten her attention; and his brother had really enjoyed the bonus entertainment.

Those thoughts had Al keeping an eye on his brother despite his pledge; but he wasn't the target for any of the nasty variety of pranks. Magic Mistletoe and other wheezes were regularly in use, though; and nobody in the family was safe from them. Disguising those wheezes was part of the fun for the pranksters, and Al spent five minutes or so with a glowing red nose from the Muggle Edition of the Christmas Wheezes line thanks to eating a perfectly normal-looking Christmas cookie. Uncle George had left for his store again before the gifts had all been opened, so he couldn't be blamed for most of the successfully deployed wheezes; though he was still ultimately responsible – and would have been proud of the young – and not-so-young – pranksters.

Andromeda and Mark left by mid-afternoon for the Christmas dinner they needed to attend with one side of his family; and the time between the gift exchange and when dinner was ready was filled with music, mirror gaming, and other family fun. Al and Rose mostly played with their younger siblings and cousins, and while they were nearing the end of their dolls, action figures, and dragons-type toys phase; they did still play with them – and Al and Rose had fun with them while ignoring the razzing that was mostly from James. He was having a great afternoon with Louis and Aiden; somehow managed to walk the fine line between amusing and annoying the majority of his family without getting into any trouble; and even soaked up the adoration of Hugo and Fred – which worked for him today; but often would annoy him at other family functions when they just got in the way of his fun.

George was still at work when they sat down to dinner, but it was Christmas Eve; and they didn't want to start dinner as late as they'd have needed to for him. Al was again with Rose and Lily for their places at the table; and they were near to the middle on one side of the table while the adults were split up at each end with the kids and teens between them. The start of the meal was a bit chaotic as everyone filled plates and passed the bowls and platters around. The noise level didn't go down all that much after that because they were generally a very enthusiastic, noisy group when they got together; but Al was one of the few quiet ones; and he enjoyed both having his meal without a lot of interruptions and soaking up everything that was going on around him.

That was likely why, toward the end of the meal and before dessert was served; he noticed a small change in James. He was grinning for no apparent reason; and he kept making furtive little glances toward one end of the table and the clock. Al's internal alarm started going off then; and he kept a closer watch on his brother. Those glances toward the clock increased after about ten minutes, and when Al realized that it was also when the stores in Diagon Alley were to close for the holiday; he knew that James had set up something to happen when their Uncle George returned from his store. He had no idea where the next insight came from, but he trusted his senses; and leapt into action.

He immediately started getting attention from the others at the table; particularly as he hurried past them and rounded the end of the table. Stopping behind his Aunt Muriel's chair; he leaned over; looked under it; and then reached in and grabbed the dung bomb that was stuck to the bottom of her seat. With the inner warning now urging him to hurry, and a glance at his grandmother's special clock advising him that his uncle was already moving between his store and the Burrow; he ran for the door. Since he'd apparated from Diagon Alley, George was opening the door by the time Al reached it; he walked into the room; and then quickly needed to step aside to avoid a collision as Al rushed past him.

"Excuse me," Al said as he sped past his surprised uncle; and George stared after him as he ran outside a few strides with only his socks on his feet. Sliding to a stop, he threw the dung bomb as far away from the Burrow as he could; and it went off with a pop and released the compressed, horrid smelling gas while still in mid-air.

"Did you say it was a dung bomb?" Aunt Muriel shouted at someone. Al turned around quickly and saw the grin on his uncle's face that he then had hidden by the time that Al was in the house again and he'd turned around after closing the door. Frail old Aunt Muriel was on her feet by then; her hands were on her hips; and she turned her gaze and force of will on Al. "What did you try to do to me?" she demanded; her voice quite possibly loud-enough to be heard for miles around. "Did you have last-minute regrets about one of the pranks you young hooligans are so fond of and decided to stop it?" Nearly everyone in the room was watching him now – though he noticed that his father and Rose were both looking between him and where James was sitting with a sudden expression of pious innocence.

"I didn't put it there, Aunt Muriel," Al began to assure her; but she shouted at him again before he could explain further.

"Were you trying to impress your uncle? The timing is more than a little suspicious." She directed a hard look at George next. "See what you've done to the children these days with all of your wheezes – and the stories too? They all want to be hooligans just as you were as a child!"

"That's true, Aunt Muriel," George agreed easily as he put an arm around Al and they walked back toward the table together. "Al here is a terrible disappointment to me, though, and since he doesn't like using my wheezes on others at all; I'll guess that he discovered the attempted prank somehow and decided to help you out." He squeezed Al's shoulder and smiled down at him. "As I said; he's quite the disappointment to me. It should be against the law to stop a good practical joke from going off; but I've only managed to convince one Auror of that; and he's not having any luck getting that law in place at the Ministry of Magic."

Aunt Muriel had let him talk while looking between George and Al with an unreadable expression on her face that no longer looked outraged; and then she surprised everyone by letting out a roar of laughter.

"That's so completely outlandish; I believe you – about all of it!" she eventually managed to hoot out. "I suppose there's no point in asking for who was responsible. Even I still remember the kid code of silence from my youth – impossible as that might be for these children to believe." She smiled then at Molly. "Whatever else you might say about your brood, my dear; every visit here is always an adventure!"

"Too much of one at times," Molly added. "If the kids are finished playing now, though; let's get back to dinner. Come and sit down, George. We've kept your dinner warm for you. How were things at the store?"

Everything pretty much returned to normal then – or what passed for normal in their unique family. Al was out of the loop for the rest of that conversation between his uncle and grandmother, but he'd needed to go and wash his hands to clean up from handling the dung bomb; and he changed socks too since they'd gotten wet and dirty from his run and slide in the yard. Once he was cleaned up again, Al returned to his chair and sat down; his return only acknowledged by a few of the parents at the table – and only a couple of the kids. Rose smiled at him and gave him a little shoulder bump of approval.

"Nicely done," she whispered. "Tell me the rest of the story later?"

"Sure," Al agreed with a nod and he returned her smile. "Just give me some time to get over being crushed to find out that I'm a terrible disappointment to Uncle George first. I had no idea until just now."

"That was a surprise," Rose told him with a soft laugh. "I'm likely at the top of that list with you, but if I don't ask; i won't have to be crushed too."

They'd both been finished eating by then and talked quietly together while waiting for most of the others to be ready for dessert. Molly had lots of help with that little blast of work; the pies and other treats disappeared faster than the best-loved dishes from dinner had been emptied; and then it was time for the over-age members of the family to get to work on the clean-up. Molly, Arthur, Harry, and Ginny were exempt from that because they'd worked all day; and Harry and Ginny only stayed for after-dinner drinks before deciding to say goodnight to everyone and head home for the night. Al didn't think that was a good sign for the immediate future; and he wasn't wrong about that when he and Lily were summarily told to get lost by Ginny just moments after they arrived home through the floo network. They knew that tone in their mother's voice, and the dark expression she directed at James as they were dismissed; and hurried up to Al's room to hang out there until the storm was over.

"Our brother can be such an idiot!" Lily exclaimed quietly as she hopped onto Al's bed. "We should be having fun with Mum and Dad instead of sitting up here while he's busy denying what we all know to be true; and messing Christmas Eve up for all of us."

"He thinks that a prank like that is fun," Al reminded her with a sigh and shrug. "James is likely really happy right now; and I doubt Mum will do anything except yell at him anyway – just because it is Christmas; and we're only home for two weeks."

"He has you to thank for that," Lily said while also nodding her agreement. "If that thing had gone off in the kitchen instead; it would have been the worse for him."

"Do you think that Aunt Muriel would write him out of her will?" Al asked; and Lily laughed.

"I doubt that we're in it at all, and if she has included all of us kids; I doubt it'd add up to much of anything for each of us so he wouldn't care. I'll guess that he is happy about what Uncle George said about you being such a terrible disappointment to him; since that implies that he'd be our uncle's favorite."

"As if we don't know that already," Al offered. "James is his favorite for sure – and a really good customer too."

They continued to chat and moved on from talking about James and the dungbomb; but it wasn't long before James was set free and sent up to Al's room to let them know that they could go downstairs again. As usual, their parents had put a privacy shield up around the room while talking with their son; so nothing of what went on between them could be overheard. James had a jaunty smirk on his face when he came into Al's room, though; and he stayed there after Lily went on ahead of Al after James advised her that they were going to watch a Christmas show together before bedtime. He turned to face Al after she was gone.

"I'm supposed to thank you for getting that dungbomb out of the house before it went off – even though I have no idea how it got there. Thanks so much for messing up what would have been a brilliant prank for whomever was the genius behind it."

"You got what you wanted out of that without hurting anyone, James; so don't bother playing innocent with me. How do you think I figured out what was going on in the first place?"

James shook his head; and his expression darkened. "You didn't see anyone doing anything with a dungbomb; or you'd have done something about it long before you did."

"You started watching Grandma's clock, and something at that end of the table," Al advised him. "It took me a while to figure out that you were waiting to see that Uncle George was on the move from his store; and that's when I realised that you'd set up a prank that would go off when he arrived. The rest was a good guess."

"You should have left it alone," James told him; looking annoyed now. "It was none of your business."

"It would be a waste of breath to try and explain why I couldn't do that; so I'll just go downstairs and try to enjoy the rest of the night."

"You don't have a clue how to have fun," James retorted with a scornful laugh. "I'd try to explain that to you; but it'd be a waste of my breath."

Al laughed. "You're right about that. When it comes to your idea of fun, there's no explanation anyway."

"No wonder you're such a disappointment to Uncle George," James sneered; and Al laughed again.

"Compared to what you think of me, that's easy-enough to deal with; and I love both of you anyway."

"Cut that out – you're making me want to puke."

They both went down to the sitting room then; they watched the mirror network – a show that Lily picked; and then James, Al, and Lily were sent up to their rooms for the night. Al got ready for bed; but didn't go off to sleep. He waited for Harry and Ginny to finish putting their gifts out under the tree; gave them time to get ready for bed too; and then retrieved the box of gifts he had for his parents, brother, and sister before leaving his room. Lily was just coming out of her room then too; and they grinned at each other as he followed her dowstairs and into the sitting room. It didn't take long to add their gifts to the pile under the tree; Lily shook a few of her gifts and tried to guess at the contents of the boxes; and then they headed back up to their rooms again after wishing each other a Happy Christmas. Al was off to sleep soon after that; and then he was awake early too – when Lily enthusiastically gave him his wake-up call an hour before dawn.

"Merry Christmas, Al!" she said enthusiastically as she hopped onto his bed and hugged him happily before he'd even opened his eyes. "Are you ready for a best-ever Christmas so far?"

"Don't we need to go back to sleep for a few more hours if we're shooting for a best-ever Christmas?" Al teased; and Lily laughed and hugged him again.

"Uh-uh," she answered. "We have to get up early so that we have extra time for all of the fun!"

"Then let James sleep in," Al suggested. "We don't want him to have more time for his kind of fun."

Lily laughed; hopped off of his bed again after one more hug; and headed for the door. "Come on! I'll wake Mum and Dad next – and let them decide what to do about James."

"Okay. I'll meet you downstairs."

He got up; dressed; and made a stop in the bathroom before going down to the sitting room; and Lily was already there and waiting expectantly for her parents and brothers to arrive. She was on the floor next to the tree; her red hair glowing softly in the dim, colored lighting next to her; and her eyes sparkling with excitement. While he had his usual spot on one of the sofas; he opted to sit on the floor with Lily; on the other side of her from the tree and gifts. Ginny was next into the room while Harry went to the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on to brew. He still made it to the sitting room before James did; and that included waiting for the coffee to be ready. Lily didn't notice because she was momentarily distracted by their parents; but Al did see the extra gift that suddenly appeared next to the tree; and smiled at his father when Harry noticed that his minor feat of wandless magic had been observed. James didn't look happy about being woken so early, but he was interested enough in Christmas gifts to at least show up and keep his usual morning grumblings to himself.

"I think that we should have Lily open a gift first," Ginny said casually; smiling at her daughter. "She'll be busy handing out the gifts after that; so it only seems fair."

Lily was good with that, and when she turned to the tree to pick one out; she finally noticed the added gift; saw that it had her name on it; and laughed as she reached out to pick it up and pull it into her lap.

"This wasn't here before!" she exclaimed; and then laughed again and hurriedly tore into the wrapping paper. There were holes in the paper, and in the box it was covering; and she'd guessed at what her best Christmas gift ever-so-far was before the box was opened and she could lift the fuzzy little kneazle kitten and hold it close to her chest with both arms. "She's beautiful! Thank-you, Mum and Dad. I love her! She is a she, isn't she?" Laughing, she lifted the kitten to look in her eyes; as if that would give her the answer – or the kneazle itself would tell her.

"She is a girl," Ginny confirmed. "Her birthday was October fifteenth; and she's ten weeks old now."

"That'll be easy for me to remember," Lily told the cat. "A month and a day after mine; and ten years younger than me!" She hugged the cat again; and they could all hear its contented purr. "I'm going to call her Holly," Lily advised them with a bright smile. "For Christmas, and for the Holyhead Harpies."

Ginny laughed. "I love that, sweetie. Welcome to the family, Holly!"

Lily needed a couple of minutes with her new, furry friend, but then she took the kitten over to Ginny and set her down on her mother's lap before going back to the tree and beginning to deliver gifts to her parents and brothers – starting with James because he'd begun to grumble over the delay. She handed out several gifts to each of them before taking a break and sitting again to open a few more of her own. Holly sat in her lap and helped out with that by batting at the wrapping paper too before deciding that it was more fun to roll around with a bow and bat it around for a while. Their parents always managed to pick out gifts that each of their kids wanted most – within reason. There wasn't a Lightningbolt 300 under the tree for James, but then he hadn't truly expected that there would be; regardless of his protests otherwise after the gifts had all been opened.

This year wasn't any different for that kind of thing with James. He thought it was funny – just as he thought that all of the gift's he picked out were brilliant too. In Al's case, he might actually have managed to fool their parents into believing that the Teen Witch doll had been chosen for its resemblance to Gwendolyn, and Al didn't call him on it; but knew the 'playing with dollies' insult for what it had been truly meant to be. Harry was given an invisible ink quill that was supposed to help him out of tight paperwork jams at the Ministry of Magic; James thought that Ginny really needed a bottle of perfume that smelled horrid-enough that it might keep his parents from snogging each other so much; and Lily was given a lovely box of chocolates that she rightfully suspected were not simply her favorites; but wheezes in disguise. She bravely tried one anyway; laughed along with James when the baby-talk wheeze kicked in; and then had to put up with talking like a baby until it wore off about five minutes later.

Once the gifts were opened, Harry went back to the kitchen to start in on making breakfast for them; Ginny sat on the sofa with Lily and Holly so that they could cuddle and play; and Al took his gifts up to his room with plans to grab a shower while everyone else was busy and the bathroom was available. He was in his room and getting ready to head into the bathroom next when his mirror chimed with an incoming call. He picked it up from his bedside table; Gwendolyn's smiling face appeared; and he smiled brightly in return.

"Merry Christmas, Al," she said happily. "I knew that Lily would have you and your family awake early too. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Merry Christmas to you too," Al answered first. "I was about to go and have a shower; but I have time. Dad's just started to cook breakfast. Are you having a good morning?"

"It's been really great," Gwendolyn assured him. "We're going to be heading out in a while and having a brunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house; but Mum had some snacks for us to munch on while we opened gifts." She grinned at him. "If I were as honest as you are, I'd admit that she did that more for me than Dad or Jonah; but I'm not."

"We've been snacking on the chocolates and candy gifts we each got – including one baby-talk wheeze disguised as a chocolate that James gave Lily."

"He gave her chocolate wheezes? I'm afraid to ask what he gave you then."

Al lifted the doll out of the box he'd used to carry his gifts upstairs and held it in front of him so that she could see it. "Supposedly he got it for me because it looks like you; but I know he chose it because of those jokes he kept throwing in my face about hanging out with girls and playing with dolls."

"What'd you get him?"

Al shrugged and put the doll down again. "Games for his mirror and Muggle game systems. Prank gifts are his normal; so we're used to them. Mum, Dad, and Lily all got me nice things. Lily's favorite gift is her new kneazle kitten. She's named her Holly after the Holyhead Harpies and Christmas."

Gwendolyn laughed. "that's so cute! Maybe I can use that as an excuse to come over for a visit sometime this week."

"Rose and I were talking about getting together with anyone that can come for a study session on Wednesday. She's going to ask around, but we know that your Mum has tomorrow off, and we're going to the Cannons' Quidditch game on Thursday; so she thinks that might be a good day to get started on our holiday revision."

"We already started that before we came home; but I'll talk to Mum and Dad and see what they think about me doing that. What time would we do that – and where?"

"Anytime after breakfast, and here; since Rose's parents will be working. Mum will be here. She's only reporting on four games over the holidays so that she can spend more time with James and me while we're home. We may be having a Gryffindor Quidditch practice in the afternoon too; so you could stay for that too if you want."

"They'll allow enemies to watch?" Gwendolyn teased/ and Al laughed.

"We play Hufflepuff next; so you won't learn anything that will help you out for when we play your team."

"Do you think that Lily would like me to bring Jonah along; or would that be too much for your Mum?"

"I think it's a good idea," Al answered. "Hugo will likely be here too; and Louis might even let them play a bit of Quidditch with us – especially if he doesn't have our reserve team coming to our holiday practices."

"That'd be fun too. Speaking of Quidditch, and backing up to your earlier comment; is Rose going to the Cannons' game to do research for her brilliant master plan?"

"Uncle Ron has season's tickets. He's taking Rose and Hugo. James, Lily, and I will be going with Mum; but it's work for her; and we won't be in the same section with them. I doubt she'll be doing any work on that master plan, but then I'm starting to scare myself about that because the more I think about it; the more brilliant I think her plan really is."

"Including the part where she gets us together so I'll play for the Cannons instead of the Harpies?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.

"We'll see how that works out for the Cannons; but I think it's brilliant for you and me so far."

Gwendolyn agreed with him, and they shared a few more comments about the Cannons and Rose before moving on; and talked for another five minutes before she told Al to go have his shower while he could and they ended the mirror chat with more best holiday wishes and the 'I love you' goodbyes. Breakfast was nearly ready by the time he reached the kitchen; Ginny, James, and Lily were all there by then; so he sat down next to Lily and mostly listened to the conversation in progress.

"Your father and I will need to get started on making dinner after breakfast," Ginny told them. "Helping out is optional; but we'd like you to make sure that your rooms and the bathrooms are neat and clean. Try not to mess up the sitting room too much either if you can manage that as well." She looked at James then; and he pretended not to notice – not an easy task when Ginny was employing that particular motherly talent on any of her children. "There will be no wheezes of any kind being used around here while your Grandparents and Aunt Muriel are here – including the apparently newly released in time for Christmas, magically-appearing out of thin air dungbombs." Harry had been about to turn around from the kitchen counter with a pair of platters in his hands, but apparently needed to set them down again to cover his mouth for a minor coughing fit. Al had caught sight of the smile, though; and was amazed that his mother was able to complete that sentence without laughing too. She hadn't even cracked a smile.

"The right answer here would be 'Yes, Mum," Lily prompted; not trying to hide her smile; but pretending to direct her comment at James and Al by looking at each of them.

"Yes, Mum," James said dutifully while speaking to her instead of Ginny. He wasn't trying to hide his smile either; and he actually seemed to be pleased with himself for apparently attempting a prank so good that it had generated a rare wheezes ban. Al was sure that James would attempt to find some small way to test their mother on that; but his parents knew that as well as he did; and would be watching.

Ginny did smile when she turned her attention to Lily next. "You might want to have Holly hang out in your room while Aunt Muriel is here; though you're welcome to show her to everyone first. It might be a bit loud around here for her after that."

"Can I hide in my room too?" James muttered under his breath while not really trying to keep from being overheard.

"No, you can't," Harry told him while putting a bowl of eggs on the table in front of his son. "You're quite the actor, though; so we're confident that you can fake being happy for a few hours."

"Clean up, don't make a mess, and pretend to be as boring and nice as Al," James said; ticking off fingers as he listed his orders. "What part of our day is supposed to be fun?"

"All of it; if you give it a chance," Ginny told him.

"Teddy will be stopping in later this morning too," Harry added – "along with Victoire." He laughed as james' expression went from thrilled to annoyed.

"Teddy wasn't any fun at all yesterday," he complained. "All he wanted to do was moon over Victoire the whole time they were there."

"I think that it's lovely," Lily told him. "They're going to get married. I just know they are!"

"Probably," James groused; "and he'll be as bad as Dad before we know it. He used to be so great to hang out with; and she's gone and ruined him."

"Weren't you the one offering to give up your room for him to come and live here with us just a few months ago?" Ginny asked; and Harry laughed.

"Yeah, but that was before he went all mental over Victoire."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure he already was by then, since you were also complaining about him snogging her at King's Cross," Harry reminded him. "Since you've made it clear how you feel about such things, though, at least your mother and I can rest easy knowing that you won't be snogging any Witches at Hogwarts anytime soon. I hope that your date for the Christmas dance wasn't too disappointed." Harry had been sitting down next to Ginny by then; and she laughed as James suddenly needed to focus all of his attention on filling his plate and not looking at anyone for a few moments. He recovered quickly, though; and was ready with a comeback.

"You'll have enough of that sort of thing to worry about with Al. He's already gone completely mental over Gwendolyn; and Merlon only knows what she sees in him."

Ginny laughed and smiled at Al. "I could take a guess or two; and I'm happy to see that at least one Wizard in our collective family isn't as dense as the rest of you either were or still are."

"Your Dad was fairly bright," Harry pointed out, "and my father and I came around sooner than most of your brothers did; but I'll concede that Al's way ahead of where any of us were at his age. I just hope he doesn't mess up now and end up as a woodlouse with a Bat-Bogey hex affliction."

James laughed loudest at that, but Al joined in with his parents and sister; and then the conversation moved on while they enjoyed their breakfast. Once they'd finished, Ginny sent her kids off so that two of them could get cleaned up and ready for the day; and all three of them could take care of their mini list of chores. It didn't take Al long to straighten up his usually-neat room; he collected a load of dirty clothes and towels to take down to the laundry room next; and then helped out in the kitchen with getting some vegetables ready while waiting for James and Lily to finish with using the washroom before going upstairs again to deal with that while Lily cleaned her own room and James likely just shoved the mess into his closet or under his bed – or both; if needed. He did at least do some actual work, since there was another load of laundry for Al to carry downstairs after he'd cleaned up the bathroom, but then some of them looked as though they'd been used for cleaning the floor before being tossed into the hamper.

All three of them had been in the sitting room for a while when Teddy and Victoire arrived for their Christmas Day visit. Teddy wasn't with them every year on Christmas Day, and had been busier over the holidays since his Grandmother had started dating Mark MacDonald four years ago; but he did at least try to stop in for a visit with them in the years since he'd become old enough that he didn't need Harry to pick him up or have Andromeda drop him off for visits. Despite James' goofiness around Teddy and Victoire, it wasn't as if they hadn't known that they'd started going out during the past summer. Victoire had been his date for Andromeda and Mark's wedding, and they'd been at Harry and Ginny's house fairly often at the same time, if not maybe officially as boyfriend and girlfriend; but this visit was a bit different because they were definitely there as a couple. Four out of five Potters thought that was brilliant; while James looked as though his hero had suddenly grown three heads and turned evil.

"Should I search the room for Dungbombs before we sit down or have you already done that, Uncle Harry?" Teddy teased once the welcome and Merry Christmas hugs and kisses were finished and they all moved into the sitting room.

"You can check if you want; but I doubt that'll be a problem around here today," Harry answered; and Teddy laughed.

"I'd have said that yesterday afternoon, but if you're wrong about that; we do at least have Al around to help out if there is another emergency." He smiled at Al. "Are you starting your training for the Aurors early? Now that I'm thinking about that; did you sign up for the tour and lunch with the Aurors? I've been so busy lately, I forgot that you're able to do that this year."

"I didn't," Al answered. "There were other guys interested in doing that; and I didn't want to take a spot – especially since I probably won't join the Aurors when I'm done school."

"Let me guess – you want to be a famous Quidditch player like your Mum too," Teddy said with a dramatic sigh. "It's a good thing that there are only thirteen teams in the league; or the Ministry would never have anyone to hire. Every kid these days either wants to play Quidditch or work for your Uncle George."

"I resemble that comment," Victoire told him with a smile that was as much for Ginny as for him. "At least Al and I want to be Chasers instead of Seekers."

"Says the best Seeker at Hogwarts this year," Lily countered; and then grinned at the expression on James' face. "Go ahead and say it. Maybe Victoire could take the time to prove that to you while she's here – or Mum and I could join in and prove that you're not even top three in this house right now."

"It's too cold out, and Teddy and Victoire can't stay so long that I want to waste their entire visit to prove the obvious – at least when it comes to how good she is," Ginny told them before James could answer his precocious little sister's challenge. "What have the two of you been doing since leaving the Burrow last night?"

"Staying up too late and then waking up too early," Victoire answered as they all began to sit on the sofas and chairs. Lily and Holly sat next to Victoire; Al was with his parents; and James flopped into a recliner. "We went for a visit with Grandpa Mark's family; got home to the cottage late; and then sat up and talked with Mum and Dad for an hour before going to bed. Dominique gave us our wake-up calls; we did the gifts and breakfast thing; and then we all went over to Aunt Gabrielle's house. Grandma and Grandpa Delacour stayed with them last night; and everyone else will be there for the rest of the day. You already know that Teddy and I have another family meal with Grandma Andromeda and Grandpa Mark; and then we'll be back for dinner with my family after that."

"You could hide here with us all day instead of doing all of that," James suggested to Teddy. "We're going to play all day; and only have Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Muriel coming over for dinner later."

Teddy laughed. "That really sounds great, James, and I wish that we could hang out together more today; but we want to see everyone else today too; and there isn't enough time for everything we'd like to do. We could play some video games right now while we're just sitting around and talking. Do you want to play mirror games or use one of the Muggle systems?"

That offer cheered James up immediately; he got one of his new games out; and he and Teddy immersed themselves in a battle to save some mythical world from evil, monstrous aliens; and Teddy managed to do that while chatting with Harry, Ginny, Victoire, and Lily. Al mostly stayed quiet and enjoyed sitting close to his parents and listening in as they talked about work and home and family. It was nice to spend the time with Teddy and Victoire when there wasn't a big crowd around as there had been both at the family dinner and the Harpies' game. James was affected by Teddy's ongoing transition from teen to adult since graduating from Hogwarts, and being with Victoire was the next step in that process, but as he sat there quietly enjoying the family time; Al didn't feel any sense of loss in himself because of that. Teddy and Victoire were the oldest in the family for their generation, but there had been kids of friends that Al had seen grow up too; so he didn't really get why it was such a big deal for his brother.

When he looked at Teddy and Victoire, he saw a brilliant future ahead; and he was happy for them. Exploring those thoughts, there were what felt like momentary glimpses into that future; but nothing that he could hold onto and take a close look at or even fully understand. That kind of thing had happened to him often-enough that he just went with the flow and didn't worry about it; but they were at least partly responsible for the good feelings he sensed with the happy young couple. As for the content of their conversation, it seemed that he'd been kept in the loop more than he'd thought; or it was just that the highlights they talked about were also what his parents and Lily had considered most important to write about in their letters or talk about during their mirror chats.

James was disappointed when Teddy advised him that he couldn't stay for just one more match when it was already past-time for them to go; the goodbyes didn't take long; and then Harry and Ginny went back to work in the kitchen for a while and left the kids to do whatever they wanted until Grandma and Grandpa Weasley arrived with Aunt Muriel. Al knew that James didn't really want to play video games with him at all and would rather do that on his own instead – or online with some Muggle gamers; so he opted to grab one of his new books and read for a while. Lily played with Holly and some of her new toys and games; she watched James as he played his games too; and had a couple of short chats with Al when he took a break from his reading to have a snack or get a drink.

Having snacks was the name of the game instead of a meal at lunch; though Harry and Ginny did join their kids in the sitting room and had a tray of treats for them to share while they took a break from their work in the kitchen and dining room. Arthur, Molly, and Aunt Muriel came over at one o'clock; and Aunt Muriel happily took over the show for the rest of the afternoon while keeping everyone else entertained. Being part of a smaller group meant that it was impossible for Al to escape his great-great-aunt's attention – particularly after the dungbomb incident on Sunday. He was not immune to being embarrassed by her blunt pronunciations, but when he thought about it, while her statements and opinions often sounded harsh; she was also usually spot-on with her observations. After all, he was a bit scrawny for Quidditch compared to older, full-grown teens; he probably was too young to be 'dallying with Witches'; and he did often speak too softly – though for that one; her hearing seemed to be excellent when she wanted it to be and spotty when that suited her needs better.

They had a couple of hours to visit before dinner; the meal was great; and then Aunt Muriel was in charge of the kids while Molly and Arthur helped out with the clean-up before they all sat down to watch a Muggle Christmas movie – the one that had become Aunt Muriel's secret holiday favorite – a fact that Molly and Ginny knew but never commented on. While Aunt Muriel still generally had nothing good to say about Muggles in general; she was always willing to accept a dinner and Muggle movie invitation from her favorite great-niece.

It was still fairly early when their grandparents left to take Aunt Muriel home on their way back to the Burrow, but Al was tired out by then and ready to head for bed. The goodnight hugs and kisses didn't take long because everyone else was staying up later, and once he was changed and in his bed; he began his wind-down time by writing a letter for Gwendolyn. He put it into the new owl post carrier she'd gotten him; added a couple of foil-wrapped Christmas chocolates; and then he went downstairs so that he could send Winter off with the package and get it to her by morning. Winter seemed quite pleased with her new accessory; and was happy to be going out for a flight too if the affectionate nips she gave him were any indication. After getting back to his room again, he was content to lay back in his bed and read for a while. He was already starting to doze off when his mirror chimed; and he was smiling happily even before he saw Gwendolyn's image smiling back at him in the mirror once he'd answered it.

"You're in bed already?" she asked; and Al nodded.

"It's been a long day; and we were awake rather early. How are you?"

"I'm good. We just got home, and I'm glad that I didn't wait a while to call you. Mum said she'll check with your Mum first; but she's okay with Jonah and me coming over on Wednesday. She can drop us off on the way to work and pick us up after she's done if that's okay."

"That's great; and I'm sure it will be fine," Al assured her enthusiastically. "I'm really glad that you can come!"

"Me too. I've missed you a lot, Al. It seems like way more than two days since you were here with your family."

Al grinned at her. "Try a couple of afternoons with my Aunt Muriel and two days will feel like a month."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I'd say something about that not being a very nice thing to say, but I have been around her; and she's quite the formiddable Witch. She's especially fun at Quidditch games."

"She is," Al agreed; "though I've never heard of her having a lot of visitors; so it's a bit hard to believe that she knows the grandmothers of every lousy, cheating player in the league."

"And all of the deaf and blind officials," Gwendolyn added. "The Harpies should send her a ticket for every game they play against the Falcons. I hear that they really don't like her very much."

"I've heard that too," Al said with a nod. "You do know the Assistant Manager for the Harpies fairly well; so you could always suggest it to her."

"I'll do that. Did you need to save your aunt from any dungbombs today?"

"No. We were under a wheezes ban today. Mum let James get away with one little wheeze that he slipped to Lily's new kneazle; but he didn't try to test her beyond that bit of rebellion. Holly was a bit freaked out by her temporary Muggle reindeer antlers; but got over it quickly-enough. I don't think she trusts James anymore; but we'll see whether she gets over that or not."

"Kneazles are very sensitive to good and bad," Gwendolyn told him. "She won't like James at all if he isn't nice to her. I'll guess that she's already fallen in love with Lily. Does she get along with Poofy too?"

"I haven't seen Poofy in hours; but then that's not unusual. She's usually happy to just hang out in Lily's room. They seemed to be getting along okay when they first met this morning."

"Holly is a kitten, so maybe she'll be fine with Pygmy Puffs if she grows up with one around. Some of the kneazles in Ravenclaw think that Pygmy Puffs are either snacks or toys to play with."

"That could be why Uncle George doesn't sell kneazles in his stores," Al suggested. "he has enough trouble keeping up with the Pygmy Puff demand without worrying about his inventory being eaten."

"that would be a problem," Gwendolyn agreed. "I'm supposed to meet up with Mum, Dad, and Jonah soon, so tell me about what you've been doing since we talked this morning; I'll do the same; and then I'll let you get back to reading or napping or whatever you're going to do for the rest of the night."

They did that; talked for what ended up being another ten minutes – until they both heard Gwenog calling for her daughter to say goodnight to him and join her family so they could get on with their entertainment plans for the evening. Once she'd ended the call, Al went back to his book; drifted off to sleep shortly after that; and wrapped up his Christmas with some merry dreams – all of them featuring Gwendolyn McCormack as his amazing, talented, and beautiful co-star! While he didn't think about it at all as he slept and dreamed, it had only been three days since they'd gotten home from Hogwarts; and they still had most of their holiday ahead of them. Al was hopeful that there was as much fun ahead for them as they'd had during the holiday weekend, and if he got to spend a lot of that time with Gwendolyn; he was sure that the next two weeks would be brilliant!


	5. A December to Remember - Part Two

**Chapter Five – A December to Remember – Part Two**

The early bedtime made it easy for Al to wake up at his normal time in the morning; and he was showered, dressed, and downstairs a full five minutes ahead of his father. He had a pot of coffee brewing by then too; and Harry hugged him in thanks as well as to wish him a good morning.

"You must be really excited about going shopping with your mother and sister this morning," Harry joked as he started rounding up what he needed for making breakfast. "That'll be a lot of fun compared to what my day will be like at the Ministry; but that isn't saying much."

"It's year-end meeting week," Al said with a nod. "Teddy jokes about Mum being responsible for having most of the kids in our family wanting to do anything other than working for the Ministry of Magic; but it's really the paperwork and politics horror stories that scare us off."

Harry laughed. "I never liked any of it either; and ended up there anyway. Maybe you will too."

"It's going to be different for me once I'm grown up," Al said seriously. "I wish that you could have chosen to do anything you wanted to do when you grew up too; but I'm really grateful that you've helped to make that possible for me – and a lot of other kids too."

"Those are deep thoughts for the day after Christmas. I'm not ready for something like that when my last kid conversation was about how to best get to level five in whatever game James was playing last night before we left him in the sitting room to try and do that while your mother, sister, and I headed for bed."

"Isn't saving the universe from aliens way bigger than what I might want to be when I grow up?" Al joked; and Harry laughed again. "If you're in meetings all week, will you be skipping the kids' day tour and training this year?"

Harry shook his head. "I'll be at the luncheon, and if Minister Shacklebolt doesn't have anything pressing come up; he's going to join us for that – and for the training this year."

Al grinned at him. "I might have signed up after all if I'd known that – and brought my camera."

"Kingsley was an Auror," Harry reminded him. "I think that the teens are going to be in for a surprise when they see him in action."

"So he won't have the usual gang of Witches and Wizards following him around while he's doing that?" Al asked; still grinning. "That's what I was hoping for – pictures of them all trying to do the training too."

Harry laughed at that. "I wasn't even thinking about that. They won't do the workout with us for sure, but since you're obviously way more with it than I am so far this morning; maybe I should just send you to do my job today and I'll go shopping with your mother and sister – and help Ginny out with keeping James entertained."

"We can do that," Al agreed amiably. "Just don't blame me when you go back to work tomorrow and find out that the bad guys are in control of the Ministry of Magic because they found out I was in charge, but can't use magic to defend the place while I'm out on holiday from Hogwarts."

"You're in quite the mood this morning, Al. Is there any reason for that?"

"I found out last night that Gwendolyn and Jonah are going to be allowed to come over on Wednesday for the day so that she can study with Rose and me – and anyone else that Rose can have join us from our usual study group. They might join in for part of the Quidditch practice that Louis is doing with our team in the afternoon too; but we'll see if Louis will let them do that with us."

"I didn't expect to see you having a girlfriend so soon after starting at Hogwarts," Harry told him; "though that's likely just because I was so dense when it came to Witches when I was your age. Then again, I was fairly dense about a lot of things back then."

"It wasn't something that I expected either," Al admitted, "but since you put it that way; I wanted to ask you about theings that I've been seeing. Sensing is probably more accurate; and it's happening more often since I've started using my wand and learning about magic."

"What kinds of things are you sensing?" Harry asked. He was starting to cook by then; but Al knew his father was still giving him his full attention too.

"I seem to know things are going to happen right before they do. Not always; just once in a while. When I'm doing a lot of the magic, I seem to know how to do it even before the first time I try a spell of any kind. Gwendolyn thinks that part of the reason for being able to do the spells so easily is that I just have a really, really good memory. That's part of it; but I think that there's more to it than that. Was it at all like that at school for you?"

"Not for the most part," Harry answered. "You already know that there are times when I sense things before they happen too, so you've likely inherited that talent; but I don't know about the other part of that." He paused for a few moments while thinking about it; and then shrugged. "That might be something that your Aunt Hermione could help you out with if you'd like to figure it out – or maybe she has the same thing; since she was always able to learn new spells a lot more easily than Ron or I could."

"Being able to do the spells we're learning so easily is great; so I'm really just curious about the why for that. Being able to sense things before they happen makes me nervous – especially now that it seems to be getting stronger."

"That's come in handy for me now and then," Harry offered – "both to warn me of danger or to let me know that I didn't need to get involved in something. Can you give me an example or two?"

"I sensed a snow and ice covered rock being thrown at the back of my head by one of the Avery boys when we were out playing in the snow. Then I was able to stop it a couple of feet before it would have hit me; and throw it back at him a few moments later – hitting his shield hard enough to knock three boys off of their feet and toss them backward about ten or fifteen yards."

Harry turned and took a long look at his son; then smiled as he returned to the cooking. "By the time Neville heard that story, it was six Slytherin boys; but we thought it was just exaggerated."

"There were more than six guys there," Al said with a nod. "Only two others were physically behind the shield that Avery put up when I offered him the chance to do that before tossing that rock back at him. I won't pretend that I didn't expect what happened next, because I sensed that too; but if he'd just angled that shield a bit he could have deflected the rock instead of taking the full hit."

"A lot of Witches and Wizards don't seem to be able to think like that. Getting back to these premonitions, though; I don't see a problem with them right now. They're obviously serving you well; so I'd just suggest that you don't talk about it with anyone you're not sure that you can trust. You can write or we can do mirror chats if you have other problems with it or it gets a lot stronger."

There were footsteps on the stairs then – Lily's by the sound of them; so they dropped the subject and were soon busy with more good morning hugs and kisses. Lily was happy to talk about-Christmas sales and shopping with them after that; and she kept her father and brother entertained while they waited for Ginny and James to join them. James arrived just in time to dig into the food; he was at a slightly-higher than normal level of grumpy due to staying up too late and being forced to wake up before noon even though he was on holiday. Add to that the impending foray into London to shop; and he was just plain at odds with the world over the injustice of it all.

"Money!" Ginny finally said after tiring of his muttered complaints.

"What?" James asked; perking up but looking confused. Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"I don't know why you're so annoyed about our shopping trip," Ginny continued. "You did receive a fair bit of money for some of your gifts. Usually you're all for going out and spending it; and it's not as though we'll be doing much shopping from now until you head back to Hogwarts. I'm only expecting to do this trip and one sometime next week to stock up your supplies for school."

"The sales today will help us to get more with that money too," Lily added enthusiastically. "Cheer up, James! You'll have a great day if you just give it a chance."

"I'd be cheerier if you'd let me sleep until noon and go out after that," James complained; and Lily laughed.

"They don't have unlimited supplies at those sales for the really good stuff," she reminded him. "We did suggest that you go to bed when we did so that you'd be ready to go this morning."

"I was hoping that you'd all forget about me and go on without me," James told her half-seriously. "You could leave me here, Mum. I'm almost thirteen."

"You're also only home for two weeks; and your father and I both want to spend time with you while we can; so that's a no to staying here all day and sleeping."

James complained about that for a while, but Ginny pretty much ignored those comments after that; and enjoyed plotting their shopping plan of attack with Lily while they all ate and then four out of five of them took care of the clean-up while James went to grab a shower and get dressed. Harry was on his way to work before the clean-up was finished; James was dressed to annoy his mother when he finally reappeared in the kitchen; and then he'd needed to go and change again when Ginny just laughed at him and was willing to let him come along looking as ridiculous as he did. When his ploy had again failed, though, James was not going to ruin his own reputation by risking being seen by any of his friends in clothes that he'd never actually wear in public.

They took the floo network to Diagon Alley; and the streets were already filling up fast with Witches and Wizards of all ages looking to get in on the big sales that were on in every store – just as they were in the Muggle stores. James was soon in a great mood when he met up with a couple of classmates and Ginny gave her blessing to letting him go and hang out with them for an hour or so while Al and Lily stayed with her and enjoyed hanging out together while wandering through some of their favorite stores. Unlike James, they stayed away from George's store and Quality Quidditch; since they were both packed with kids and teens. Ginny and Lily each bought some clothes; Al and Lily each picked out a couple of discouted mirror games; and they all bought at least one book. Al crossed paths with a few friends from school, but didn't see Ray, Gwendolyn, or any of their closest friends while they were there – though it would have been easy to miss one or two of them in the crowds. James was five minutes late meeting up with them; and it appeared that he'd handed over most of his gift money to his Uncle George in exchange for bags full of wheezes.

"We'll need to pop home again before heading to the Mall," Ginny decided after taking one look at everything that James was carrying. "I'd shrink all of it, but don't want anything blowing up on us if I do that with some of the wheezes you've likely bought."

"That might be for the best," James agreed with an unapologetic grin. "It's a long time between now and the Easter break. I don't want to run out of anything I might need while I'm at school."

"Stocking up on a bit of common sense would have taken up less space – and been cheaper," Ginny offered, but said it quietly-enough that James didn't hear her while distracted by something he saw in the store closest to him. Al heard, though, and they exchanged grins. "Let's get going," Ginny said loudly so that James did hear her over the noise of the crowd around them. "If we hurry, there'll be time for a bit more shopping before we stop for lunch."

"At the food court?" Lily asked hopefully; and Ginny nodded.

"Definitely," she agreed. "Then we'll work off all of that bad-for-us food with a bit of Quidditch back at home this afternoon."

"That so works for me," Lily assured her happily; and hugged her mother impulsively. "Lead the way, Mum!"

Even James didn't have a problem with the food part of the plan, and when they did get to the Mall; he was good with some video game shopping too. He'd grudgingly accepted taking Al along for that because Ginny wouldn't let him go off on his own; and Al went along to keep the peace and give his mother and sister some alone time – if that was possible in a Mall filled to overflowing with shoppers. Ginny had likely been worried about James trying to pull a prank or two if he was off on his own; but Al thought that she might have been as worried when her sons found themselves being followed by a small group of appropriately-aged Muggle girls. Once James actually got around to noticing the attention they were directing his way, he hammed it up and flirted with them; while Al was actually happy to let his brother entertain them and stay in the background. He knew that didn't totally work, since a couple of the girls still watched him a lot; but that was as far as it went with him. James, on the other hand, could have had a date or two by lunchtime if he'd asked one of the girls out; and he seemed very pleased with the attention and mini-competition over him that seemed to be going on among a few of the girls.

Al was a bit surprised that James didn't offer to have lunch with one of the girls, but then he wasn't exactly a fan of spending his own money on others; and their mother would be buying if he stuck with her at least for the meal. James did get an email address, though, and while the girls thought it was strange that they didn't have phones; James went with the same story they used with their cousins – that they didn't need them at home; and their school had a wireless network that they used instead to talk with their friends. Hermione and Ginny had made sure that all of their kids were reasonably capable when using Muggle computers and the internet; none of them used email much. In Al's case, that was mostly because he just found all of the junk emails annoying and a waste of time to deal with. He hadn't even checked his account since getting home from school; which meant he hadn't checked it since a few days before they'd left for school in September.

Those girls didn't immediately move on after James and Al met up again with Ginny and Lily in the food court. Al was sure that all of the girls had been quite interested in their mother; and liked what they saw. They didn't sit down and have lunch then too; but moved on and probably back to their shopping not long after Lily and James had picked two different lunch options; and they'd split up to get in those line-ups – Al with Lily this time; and Ginny with James. Their mother and sister had noticed the girls, and happily teased them about it while they ate; they followed lunch up with another hour of shopping; and then they went home for the rest of the day.

Lily was ready for some Quidditch by then, but with three out of four of them wanting to play Seeker; Al just offered to do his own thing while they battled it out for as many snitch catches as they could manage in the hour or so it took Lily to concede that it really was cold out and that hot drinks and snacks would be a nice way to thaw out. Al had taken a quaffle up with him and worked on some of his tricks while the three-way Seeker duel was going on, and while James occasionally felt the need to razz him about tricks that didn't work out as Al practiced them; Ginny encouraged him; and stopped her hunt for the snitch a couple of times to help him out with those aerial acrobatics when she saw him working on one that she thought was cool to try out too.

Once they were inside again and had finished their hot chocolate and snack break; James went off to do his own thing; which, Al suspected, included an email check to see if the Muggle girl had sent him a message yet. Lily went to hang out with Holly and Poofy; and ended up in her room so that she could listen to music where it wouldn't irritate James and get in the way of his gaming in the sitting room. Ginny wanted to do a bit of work before starting to cook dinner; so while she was doing that in the office; Al went up to his room and did a bit of studying that was mostly getting ready and organized for their study session in the morning. He called Rose and had a short mirror chat with her; confirmed that they'd have Gwendolyn, Ray, and Bristol coming over for the studying; and traded Christmas and Boxing Day stories before he eventually went downstairs again and helped Ginny in the kitchen until Harry got home from work.

After several days of food overload, their dinner was fairly light – and mostly made up of leftovers. Lily led the dinner conversation with her shopping and Quidditch report for her father; the kids were responsible for the clean-up; and it was obvious that life for the parents was returning to normal for a few days when Harry and Ginny both needed to work in the office for the evening while James, Al, and Lily had to entertain themselves. Al went to bed early again; and the highlight of his evening was another mirror chat with Gwendolyn. She'd been thrilled to get his Owl Post that morning; had sent Winter back to him already; and while they hadn't been in Diagon Alley at the same time; she'd been there with her parents and brother for a while too. They were both turning in early so they'd be ready for a big day of studying and Quidditch; but still talked for nearly an hour before they were each ready to sleep. Al was sure he'd have been up early even if he'd stayed up as late as James had again, and he was fired up and smiling the entire time as he got showered and ready for the day. He had his books and supplies ready to go in the dining room by the time his father made it to the kitchen to throw breakfast together; and he wasn't surprised when Harry teased him about why he might be so excited and motivated.

That was fun, but the bonus of their early morning, for Al, was that his parents had opted to let James sleep in instead of making him get up. They'd also decided to have oatmeal, and since James professed to hate 'gruel' regardless of what was mixed in with it; avoiding that battle was an added bonus. Ginny and Lily were happy to tease Al about Gwendolyn's imminent arrival while they ate too; but Lily was nearly as fired up about having Hugo and Jonah coming over; and then she'd been thrilled when Ray's younger sister, Melissa, was dropped off with him and she found out that Melissa was getting to spend the day with them too. Ginny had only connected with their mother by mirror chat so that Trish could be sure that the kids arrived safely using the floo network; but Lily still made sure that both Witches knew that she really loved their little surprise.

"This is going to be so great!" Lily told Melissa enthusiastically. "Hugo and Jonah are coming over too, so I won't be outnumbered; and we could play some Quidditch this morning too while Al and Ray are busy studying all morning."

"I didn't bring my broom along," Melissa told her. "Do you still keep extras here?"

"We have even more of the extra Firefly brooms now that Al, Rose, and James all have their Firestorms instead. There's extra equipment too; but we probably won't get the bludgers out anyway and won't need them."

"Maybe I should go out and play and you can do my homework," Ray offered; earning laughs from both girls.

"Would your Professors believe that you did the work when we'd get straight O's for you on all of those assignments?" Lily asked audaciously; and it was Ray's turn to laugh.

"Not a chance; so you'd need to hold back and just earn E's instead."

"Consider that plan vetoed," Ginny advised them. "No cheating is allowed for doing revision in this house."

"I knew we should have studied at my house instead," Ray whispered to Al; but loudly-enough that the girls heard him too.

"We'll have fun too," Al assured him. "Let's take your things into the dining room and get you set up while we wait for Rose, Gwendolyn, and Bristol."

"Shouldn't you have Gwendolyn first in that list now?" Ray asked with a sly grin; and Al laughed.

"Would you believe that I was listing them by reeverse alphabet?"

"No, but that was at least a quick comeback. When will the girls get here?"

"Any minute now. I'm a bit surprised that Rose and Hugo didn't get here first. Gwendolyn and Jonah are getting dropped off before their Mum heads over to the Harpies' practice pitch."

Rose, Hugo, and Bristol arrived together while they were still in the dining room; and the delay had been because they'd met up at the Ministry of Magic and been sent on by floo from there. While they were still being welcomed, Gwenog arrived with Gwendolyn and Jonah. She and Ginny had some fun with their kids once Gwendolyn had rather enthusiastically hugged Al and added a short but sweet kiss. While Gwenog couldn't stay for a visit with Ginny; she did promise to have a chat with her after work when she came back for the kids; and then she went outside to apparate to the Harpies' practice pitch while Ginny was left with a house full of kids.

Having the full gang there was only temporary, since Lily soon had her cousin and friends bundling up to go outside and play Quidditch while Al and Rose led the way into the dining room for their study session. Al and Gwendolyn had to deal with a bit more teasing while the girls picked their chairs at the table and Gwendolyn had to 'fight' for the spot next to Al before Rose and Bristol eventually took two of the places across the table from Al and Gwendolyn while Ray was already set up at the end to Al's left.

"What do you guys want to start with?" Rose asked. "We probably can't get it all done in one morning – unless you've worked ahead."

"At the risk of sounding a bit too much like you and Al, I vote for doing Herbology first," Bristol answered first. "You love it, and can help the rest of us; but I'll just be glad to get that assignment out of the way."

"At least we don't have to grow anything for that assignment," Gwendolyn told her with a smile while also nodding her agreement at the suggestion. "I wonder how our Muggleborn classmates will handle the Potions assignment – especially if there are any explosions while they try to make the potion."

"Al and I helped a few of our Gryffindor classmates with doing that Potion before we came home," Rose advised her. "Romeo and Dave didn't want to attempt anything like that at their homes – especially when they both have Muggle friends that they'll hang out with over the holidays."

"That's got to be really strange for them now that they've been at Hogwarts since September," Ray suggested. "Melissa and I don't have any Muggle friends. Do any of you?"

"Not really for me," Al answered because Ray looked to him first. "James, Lily, and I will play with some of the kids in town now and then when we're there, but since we were home schooled; we don't have any Muggle friends in Godric's Hollow. We've met some of our cousins' friends too, but not very many of them. Dad's cousin doesn't want too many people knowing about us; so that's only happened when some of their friends just happened to show up while we were there."

"Your cousins likely set those surprise visits up with their mates," Rose offered; and Al nodded.

"Probably, but I didn't think it was a big deal. We always managed to get through those visits without saying or doing anything we shouldn't; so our cousins think we're weird for totally normal reasons – like that we're country bumpkins."

Ray prompted the girls to answer the question too as they got started on their Herbology assignment; and they settled in to get as much of their revision done as possible. Ginny went outside with Lily and the other kids for a while; came back in when they were ready for hot chocolate, snacks, and some indoor play time; and then did some work in the office to get ready for the Cannons' game on Thursday. Even when she was just reporting on games; she still did her research on both teams so that she didn't need to do that when writing her articles and reports after the games. The noise from the gaming in the sitting room intruded on their studies more than the sights and sounds of the Quidditch had from the back yard; and that must have been true for the one person in the house that had still been in bed up to that point.

James finally came to life, and judging by the noises coming from his room; he was doing that grudgingly despite the fact that the morning was more than half-over by then. He was still in his night clothes; probably pretending to be only half-awake; and fairly grumpy. He had his late breakfast in the kitchen, and once that basic need had been met; he wandered into the dining room to razz everyone there for being boring bookworms with nothing better to do on their holidays than to study all of the time. A warning glare from Al was enough to get him to move on, and he joined the gaming in the sitting room until Ginny stopped by and strongly suggested to him that he might want to get cleaned up and dressed for the day before his friends and team mates arrived for their practice – especially when he wouldn't be able to do that while they were having lunch.

Ginny wanted to use the dining room table for lunch, so the study session was wrapped up in time for Al to help out with getting the table set while Ray and the girls joined the younger kids in the sitting room until the food was ready for them. Since most of them were going to be outdoors for at least a couple of hours after lunch; Ginny went with hot food and drinks for them; Al had the dining room ready by the time she was ready to float the dishes onto the table from the kitchen; and then the boys led the way from the sitting room. Al was not surprised when he and Gwendolyn were teased again; but he was annoyed when James again tested the limits of both his pledge and Al's patience by joining in for that.

"I've saved a seat for you right next to mine," he told Gwendolyn while patting the seat of the chair next to him. "You seem to be desperately in need of an escape from all of the boring in your life so far today."

"Thanks so much for the offer," Gwendolyn answered as sweetly as she could manage, "but your side of the table seems to be meant for the Seekers and Keepers. I'll sit over here with Al, Ray, Rose, and Melissa." She smiled at Ginny. "You've played both, so maybe you can sit at one end and Bristol can referee at the other."

"Maybe Bristol would like to referee if we play a scrimmage later too," Lily suggested enthusiastically.

"That sounds cold and uncomfortable," Bristol told her. "Could I be in charge of keeping Holly and Poofy entertained instead?"

"If you'd like," Lily agreed. "There may be extra kids and teens around here this afternoon, though; so you might want to play outside too – even if you don't want to join in on the Quidditch."

"Are we expecting anyone else today, Aunt Ginny?" Rose asked; and Ginny nodded.

"I invited Kathryn to come along with Ollie. Their Mum didn't confirm it with me yet; but she'll llikely be here. Victoire and Dominique will probably be here later and use the pitch after your team is finished with it. I haven't heard whether they'll have everyone on their team here or not; but I might go out to play with them for a while."

"The other Hogwarts Seekers don't stand a chance against Victoire when she gets to practice with you and Aunt Gabrielle," Rose said next.

"I'm hoping that our Seeker will have a chance against her," Gwendolyn told her with a laugh.

James snorted derisively. "He got beat by Alex Jordan. You can't seriously believe he has a chance against Victoire on her Lightningbolt!"

"You know that Jared was trying to give our team a chance to get back into the game; and he got beat on a really good play by the Hufflepuff Beaters," she shot back. "I'll agree that Victoire is better; but Jared can win with a bit of luck."

"He'd need a miracle," James disagreed derisively. "Only one win in seven games on the Senior team."

"Jared did better with the Junior team – and better than you did for your respective first-year seasons."

"Only one of us has won a Quidditch Cup," James reminded her; bristling with annoyance now. "Remind me again - was that my House or yours?"

"Gryffindor did," Gwendolyn agreed candidly," but my junior team won two of our games last season; and it isn't as though either of our Houses have a lot to brag about before last season. Hufflepuff owned the Quidditch Cup for years before that."

"Which is all in the family for us," James reminded her with a grin that suggested that he believed he'd won their little verbal duel. "Teddy should've been Gryffindor – and then all of those wins would've been ours instead."

"He had some really good players helping him out," Al interjected quietly. "I think Teddy won those Quidditch Cups because he was really good a building teams that could work together – even when the other Houses had some better players."

"Spoken like a truly mediocre player," James declared with another snort of laughter. "It's a good thing that you guys will have Ollie and me around on most of your Quidditch teams. You'll only have to be the total losers you really are for your third and seventh years."

"That's enough, James," Ginny said quietly and firmly. "How'd the studying go?" she asked; directing that question at Al, Rose, and their friends. "Do you still have a lot left to do?"

"We have either two or three assignments left," Rose answered. "If we get together for another morning next week sometime; we'll get everything done."

"You're welcome to do this again next Wednesday," Ginny offered. "Louis wants to do another practice then too, doesn't he, James?"

"Yeah. We don't need it; but Louis won't listen to reason." He grinned at Gwendolyn. "Maybe your team should hire him as Manager. He might be able to help you to have a shot at being second-best this year." He grinned slyly at Al before adding – "I guess you are on the right side of the table after all."

"James!" Ginny said; a note of exasperation in her voice now. "That's quite enough."

"Yes, Mum," he confirmed unapologetically while still grinning victoriously at Al and Gwendolyn.

"How do you think my Cannons will do tomorrow, Aunt Ginny?" Rose asked to try and help out with the awkward moment. "Did you find out anything with your research that'll favor my team?"

Ginny smiled at her apologetically. "You'll need to hope that Ricardo can get the win for you. The Kestrels' Chasers are likely going to make it a long day for your Keeper tomorrow."

"Maybe you should offer to play Keeper for them instead," James suggested. "Hugo would likely do better too – or even your Dad."

"He's said that at nearly every game I can remember," Rose reminded James. "I think it's too bad that he never gave it a try. The Cannons would've gotten a lot of ticket sales if they'd put their number one fan in at Keeper for one of their games."

"That'd be perfect – for a game against the Harpies," James suggested. "I'm sure that Aunt Angelina would love a chance to play against your Dad in a real match instead of the play games they have here."

"I'd buy a few extra tickets for that game," Ginny admitted with a smile for Rose. "That's strictly a brother-sister thing that I'm sure you understand; not a rap against the Cannons."

"Yes, I do," Rose admitted after glancing over at her own brother. "Hugo is Dad's son, after all."

"And proud of it," Hugo added. "Maybe I'll play for the Cannons after I graduate from Hogwarts."

"You should aim a bit higher than that if you want to play in the show someday," James told him. "I'd rather be on the reserve squad for any of the top teams and at least have a chance to play for a winner over being a star on the Cannons."

"Maybe the Cannons could be a top team if I played Keeper for them," Hugo countered; and James laughed.

"If you played for them with the Beaters they have now; you'd just spend most of the season in a bed at St. Mungo's."

"Do you ever talk about anything other than Quidditch around here?" Bristol asked; her question more of a complaint.

"Sure," Ginny answered with a smile and nod. "Sometimes we talk about what the Aurors are doing and what's going on around the Ministry of Magic instead."

"Mum and I talk about lots of other stuff," Lily assured Bristol. "Did you go to Diagon Alley yesterday? The sales were really great – and we had fun at our favorite Muggle Mall for a couple of hours too."

"You go shopping at Muggle Malls?" Bristol asked; and Lily nodded enthusiastically.

With the conversation diverted to something that all of the girls could get interested in; Al sat back and enjoyed the rest of his lunch. He and Ray talked together a bit too, and Gwendolyn had a couple of little side-chats with him; but it wasn't long before everyone was finished and it was time to clean up. James got out of that by declaring that he needed to get everything ready for the practice out on the pitch; and Ginny let him do that because it was easier than having a battle over the work when she had enough volunteer help anyway. Louis was the first of the remaining members of the Gryffindor junior team to arrive at the house; and Victoire brought him with plans to hang out with Ginny while he was busy working with his team – and while Teddy was busy at work anyway. The McClaggens were next; and Ollie and Kathryn were last – getting to the house by floo just a few minutes before the practice was to start.

Louis had everyone else on the team warming up by then; and did a full workout with them before moving on to a scrimmage match. While they were busy with that, Lily had the rest of the kids and teens outside and playing in the snow. They had a snowball fight; ran around; and basically goofed off until Louis let them know that he was ready to let them play with – or against – his team for a while. He hadn't thought that it'd be much of a game to just have his team play against the mostly-younger kids; so he decided to play Keeper against Ollie, Al, and Rose. He had James play Seeker on that team with Hugo as their Keeper. Lily and Jonah agreed to take turns at Seeker against James; and Gwendolyn and Ray shared Chaser sopts with Melissa and Kathryn. Finally, Louis pitted the McClaggen brothers against all of them; but quietly ordered them to leave the younger kids alone – and protect them from the bludgers if needed.

Gwendolyn, Ray, Jonah, and Kathryn started the game with Louis; and they were all fired up as Lily tossed the quaffle into the air for them and both teams took off. Despite having two players on Firefly brooms, having Louis in goal for them made the two teams quite evenly matched – and Louis wasn't all that happy with some of his Gryffindor team mates. James and Ollie in particular were so busy showing off and trying to fly circles around Jonah and Kathryn that they weren't trying to actually catch the snitch or score goals. James did catch the snitch, and Jonah and Lily traded places each time the snitch was caught; but then Lily caught the snitch next during her first turn at Seeker. Kathryn couldn't outrace her brother on the slower broom, but Gwendolyn and Ray were happy to take advantage of Ollie's showing off to feed passes to Kathryn off of Louis' saves – and she scored several goals before giving Melissa a turn at Chaser.

Rose and Ray were a competitive match-up, and they traded goals; but each did better as playmakers for their respective trio of Chasers. Al and Gwendolyn were likely having the most fun as they competed against each other, and while Gwendolyn had the advantage against Hugo anytime she got past Al; she only managed to out-score him by five goals because Al was able to put nine goals past Louis. That was more than Ollie and Rose had against Louis together; but Ollie was oblivious to that fact because he so obviously out-played Kathryn and Melissa; and Rose was happy that she dueled Ray to a draw when he'd had the Keeper advantage too. James caought the snitch six times, but Lily caught it twice; and Louis called an end to the scrimmage after her second catch.

"Okay, that's it!" he shouted loudly. "I can't take it anymore!"

"What's the problem?" Ollie asked; and Louis laughed.

"Our team Seeker just got beat out for the second time by a ten-year old Witch on a Firefly. He's either too frozen to play anymore; or he's losing it." He smiled grimly at Ollie next. "While you were having fun flying circles around your little sister and cousin; did you happen to notice that they both out-scored you?"

"They were up against Hugo," Ollie protested. "It wouldn't have been close if you'd played on our side."

"Hugo did well-enough today. Gwendolyn scored fourteen on him; but he saved at least twenty of her shots."

"Twenty-three," Gwendolyn offered helpfully; smiling encouragingly at Hugo. I'd say that's brilliant while flying a Firefly. If we do this again next week; maybe we should all use those brooms and see how it goes."

Louis laughed again. "Now why didn't I think of that today?"

"Because it's a lousy idea?" James suggested dismissively. "How could a broom downgrade possibly help us to get better?"

"Maybe we will try that next week so you can find out," Louis said seriously. "Lily beat you to the snitch twice even though you were on a much faster broom."

"I let her get those catches," James declared emphatically; and Ollie shook his head.

"That's not what I saw. You were showboating; and she snuck up on you and caught the snitch both times." He looked back toward Ollie. "You kept making the exact same kind of mistake against Kathryn and Melissa. They couldn't keep up with you, so while you were far ahead of them; they were behind the plays and Gwendolyn and Ray only needed to toss the quaffle up to them for way too many one-on-one chances against Hugo. It's called defense; and your side could've used more of it today."

"We were just playing around," James said stubbornly. "This wouldn't have been a challenge at all if we'd really been trying our best."

"I was trying my hardest," Louis advised him. So were Tiberius, Brock, Rose, and Al."

James laughed at that. "You just told us that Al let Gwendolyn get thirty-seven shots on goal and she scored fourteen. I'd say that he was too busy mooning over his girlfriend to play very well at all."

"That's true, but he scored nine on me on twenty shots; and that was against me – and the best Chaser on my temporary team."

"If she outplays him that badly in our game against Ravenclaw; you'll have to hope that I catch the snitch for the win before Al loses the game for us," James stated emphatically; and Ollie nodded his agreement.

"Maybe we'd be better off putting Ray in for that game – or one of the other reserve Chasers."

Louis shook his head in disbelief. "it's too cold out here to keep going on about this. Let's get inside; and hope that Aunt Ginny will have some hot drinks and snacks for us."

They were all on the ground by then; it didn't take long to be ready to head into the house; and Ginny had hot chocolate and still-warm cookies waiting for them. Victoire and Bristol had helped out with the baking; and there was quite a gang in the house by then because Victoire had most of her team there and ready to go out to play for a while. She didn't have a team to practice against, but Ginny went out with them to have a Seeker duel with Victoire; and Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia just took turns playing offense or defense against or with Belinda while their Beaters tried to keep all of them dodging bludgers.

James, Ollie, and nearly everyone else went to hang out in the sitting room and play games; but Al and Gwendolyn went outside again to watch the Quidditch action once they'd first thawed out and were ready to brave the cold again. They went for a walk around the yard to help keep warm while doing that; and enjoyed their first chance of the day to talk together when they didn't have others around to listen in on their conversation.

"We'd have been warmer watching this practice from your bedroom window – or in the dining room; but I suppose James would've just bugged us the entire time."

Al nodded. "Probably. He sure wasn't being very nice at lunch or during our practice. I'm trying to cut him some slack on that while we're home, and he hasn't tried to prank me at all except for the usual Christmas wheezes, but if he doesn't cut it out when we get back to Hogwarts; I'm going to have to remind him about his promise to leave us alone."

"Can I come along next time if you need to do that?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.

"I don't think I'll actually need to do that. We're stuck together in the house right now. He can avoid me at school a lot more easily without looking bad around his mates."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I still don't like it when he treats you so horridly."

"I feel the same way about the things he says to you. Let's talk about anything else. What are you going to be doing over the next few days? You know already that Mum is taking James, Lily, and me to the Cannons game with her, but we don't have anything going on for Friday; and Mum's working on Saturday so we'll be hanging out with Dad while she's busy with the United game."

Gwendolyn looked around before answering. "I don't want to say anything to the others, but I have one of the invitations to the Harpies' practice on Friday."

Al laughed and stopped for a moment to hug her. "That's brilliant, Gwendolyn! You'll have a really great time with your Mum and everyone else!"

"It will be amazing," she agreed. "I feel a bit guilty, since there are only fourteen spots; and a lot of girls that want to go to that practice every year – including most of our Quidditch-playing Witch cousins."

"You only think that because your Mum is the assistant manager," Al pointed out. "Most of the other girls that get to go have some connection to the players too. I sure hope that Lily gets invited once she's old enough too."

"The Harpies aren't the only team to do that by invitation only, but did you think about signing up for one of the teams that do their kid day that way?"

Al shrugged. "I thought about it, but to be honest; I just didn't want to be the only kid to sign up for that day with the Cannons."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Rose would've signed up too; but maybe two days of Cannons Quidditch in a row would be too much even for her to take."

"Maybe their manager will offer them the day off on Friday if they win tomorrow like your Mum did with the Harpies for their match last Saturday."

"If they have three wins in the first half of the season; their manager might faint dead-away on the spot. I'd like it if Mum had more time off while we're home; but we do at least get to see two Harpies' games. Nearly half of the teams only play once during the holidays."

"I'd say that's a good thing for some of the teams," Al suggested with a grin. "It's tough to be cheery at Christmas or have a Happy New Year if you lose two matches over the holidays."

"That's true, but it's tough to be up for two games too with so many distractions." She nodded toward the battles going on above the pitch. "Your Mum really could still play in the show if she wanted to. Look at her go against Victoire! Your cousin has been practicing five days a week or more since September; I think she's the best player at our school this year; and your Mum is more than a match for her."

"She has been training against Lily quite a bit this year," Al half-joked. "We drive her bonkers sometimes, but Mum has liked being home with us instead of needing to be gone all of the time like Aunt Angelina and some of her friends have done while having families and still playing Quidditch too." He smiled as he watched her flying fiercely; her smile bright and excited. "Maybe she'll think about playing again after Lily starts at Hogwarts and we're all there most of the year from September to June."

"Gabrielle doesn't seem to be in any hurry to retire," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al nodded.

"True, but there are other teams in desperate need of a good Seeker – or maybe she could just work as the reserve team Seeker for the Harpies. That would keep Aunt Gabrielle on her toes and give them a great back-up for anytime she gets hurt." He smiled as he thought about that. "If I were your Mum, I'd try to hire my Mum for that job; and maybe even have her play some of the games just to keep Aunt Gabrielle rested and healthy. It is a long season; and our team has run out of steam by the playoffs some years."

"They have," Gwendolyn agreed. "Next season could be one of those years if many of our players make the National teams for the Quidditch World Cup. We know that your Aunt Gabrielle will for sure. France is lucky to have her for their team."

"We've had some luck with our Seekers too," Al reminded her. "I wish that we could have been around to see Mum's Quidditch Cup run. That must've been something to see from everything we've been told about that season."

"Maybe we'll get to be part of a team like that one some day," Gwendolyn sugested; and then laughed. "Oh wait – you can't play for the Harpies; so that wouldn't work if my Harpies' team was able to repeat what our Mums' team did that year."

"That has always seemed really unfair to me until fairly recently. I've begun to discover that there are some really great benefits to being ineligible to play for the Harpies, though; so I'm okay with that now."

Gwendolyn laughed and it was her turn to stop them for a hug. "We could still play for the National team some day – if we're both lucky enough to make one of the teams." She laughed again as she thought about that. "You might want to keep that in mind before signing on with Rose and her master plan for the Cannons. Not many players ever make it to the Quidditch World Cup competitions from the ranks of the worst teams in the professional leagues."

"I know, but don't forget that her plan includes winning a league championship with the Cannons; so they wouldn't be at the bottom anymore."

"If Rose is actually serious about that, I wish her the best; but still can't imagine that future without laughing. The Cannons haven't even won a single game against our Harpies in decades. Ditto that for most of the top teams in the league. I just can't see that happening no matter how hard I try. Can you?"

Al shrugged and smiled. "Actually, I can; but maybe the reason I am seeing that is because I'm picturing my Aunt Hermione applying her force of will to Quidditch and can see that being Rose with the Cannons after we're grown up. Look at everything my aunt has done at the Ministry and imagine what she could have done if she'd been into Quidditch instead."

Gwendolyn did think about that for a few long moments; and then started to laugh again. "Okay, that wasn't where I thought that mental picture was going to end up; but now I'm picturing the new professional Quidditch league where bludgers are made out of cotton instead of steel; no contact is allowed between players; and Merlon only knows what other changes that would be needed to make the game more civilized."

"Aunt Hermione will never like the dangerous parts of the game," Al admitted, "and that's funny; but you get my point anyway. I think that Rose can do anything she sets her mind to, so if she really is serious about it; the rest of us might want to get used to the idea of not having the Cannons as the biggest joke in the league anymore."

They continued to chat happily as they walked and watched the practice above the pitch. It was still cold out, though, so once they'd finished a loop of the yard with pauses here and there to watch the Quidditch action; they went back inside and joined everyone else in the sitting room. It wasn't very long after that when the first of their friends began heading home. The McClaggens, Bristol, Ray, and Melissa were among the first; Louis went home with his sisters after they'd finished their practice and warmed up with their own round of hot drinks and snacks; and Gwendolyn and Jonah were the last kids remaining by the time Gwenog arrived to pick them up once she was finished work with the Harpies. She stayed for a half hour or so for the promised chat with Ginny; and then took her kids home with her shortly after Harry got home from another long day of year-end meetings at the Ministry of Magic.

Compared to a day with their friends that had included an afternoon of Quidditch and play time, their dinner and evening at home was quiet and dull by comparison – especially when Harry and Ginny both had homework to do while James, Al, and Lily were left to entertain themselves for most of the evening. The only break in that relative quiet over through until Friday was the Cannons' game on Thursday afternoon, and for the Cannons' fans; even that change only happened right at the end of the match when Santini caught the snitch for the come-from-behind win. Right up to that somewhat shocking and unlikely conclusion, the Kestrels had been out-scoring the Cannons three to one, and likely wouldn't have needed much longer to be up by more than one-fifty; so Santini's catch saved the day for his team – and made Ron's day in the process.

Ron, Hermione, and the kids had dinner with the Potters to celebrate the Cannons' third win of the season, and while it was fun to listen to his Uncle's assertions that the Cannons might make the playoffs if they kept playing so well; Al didn't need to learn Divination to predict that Ron would end up disappointed again this year by the end of the season. They didn't have a late night on Thursday because Harry needed to be at work early for the kids' day with the Aurors on Friday morning; and James was going to be with Ollie for the day too – and both boys were going to be at the kids' day with Puddlemere United. James happily razzed Al about that, since United was one of the teams, like the Harpies, that invited kids to the event instead of having open sign-ups; and Al hadn't been invited to go too – or invited to any of the other team events either. Since he hadn't cared about that at all, the razzing hadn't bothered Al in the slightest; and he was mostly happy to have the day off from James while his brother spent the day with his best mate and Ollie's family.

Once Harry and James had left on Friday morning, Al and Lily were both happy to spend the morning with Ginny. They took care of the kitchen clean-up first; went out to pick up groceries and supplies; and then spent the rest of the morning working around the house. None of that would have been fun to James, and maybe wasn't compared to a play morning with a professional Quidditch team or the Aurors; but Ginny, Al, and Lily did have fun together; and getting the weekly chores out of the way was just an added bonus. They had a quick lunch, and then Al and Lily waited expectantly for Gwendolyn and Jonah to be dropped off for the afternoon to hang out with them while Gwenog went back to work with the Harpies after their luncheon. Victoire and Dominique brought them over at a bit after one o'clock; and Victoire was bursting with some amazing, if still-confidential news.

"I've been hired by the Harpies!" she told Ginny before even getting to the greetings, hugs, or kisses; and Ginny laughed happily as they both closed the gap and got on with those hugs and kisses. "That won't be announced until sometime after I'm done school, so we can't talk about it; but you're one of the Harpies; and Gwenog said it was okay to tell you – and Mum, Dad, and Teddy."

"That means you're all automatically sworn to secrecy too, then," Ginny told the kids. "Congratulations, Victoire. I was sure they were going to hire you; though I'm a bit surprised they did that now instead of after you graduate."

Victoire laughed. "They wanted to get me signed before the other offers start coming in. I laughed when they told me that, but now that I've had time to think about it; I don't believe they were joking." She laughed again. "It wouldn't have mattered what the other offers were anyway. I'm going to get to play Quidditch with Aunt Gabrielle and the best team in the league."

"One of the best, anyway," Ginny ammended with a smile. "I'm biased too; but there are a few teams ahead of us in the standings right now. Every player is trying hard right now because they want a shot at making one of the national teams."

"I'd love that too," Victoire admitted; "but there isn't much chance of that for me when I'm not even playing Chaser this season – and I'm not even close to being the best Seeker available for our national team."

"You'd be up against some fair Chasers this year too," Ginny reminded her with a smile. "Would you really want to be spending the summer traveling all over the world instead of staying closer to home and spending that time with Teddy before you start work with the Harpies?"

"Yes," Victoire admitted honestly; "though I'd be okay with it if Teddy could come along with me to all of those games. Our team will have a real shot at winning the Quidditch World Cup again this year; and who knows how often I'll get a chance to be on our team."

"That's true," Ginny agreed; "though I expect that you're going to get lots of chances to play in Quidditch World Cups."

"I can hope," Victoire told ginny while glancing at her sister, cousins, and their friends; "but we could end up with a lot of talented Chasers and Seekers just with the group you have here in this room – and we can't all play for the national team at the same time."

"Witches are the best Quidditch players," Lily told her with a grin. "There'd be room on the team for you, Dominique, and Gwendolyn at Chaser; I'll be your Seeker; and Rose can be our Keeper. Now we just need a couple of Beaters for that team and we'll be all set!"

"Maybe they'll let us play on the reserve team," Al suggested to Jonah – "unless you'll be in a famous band by then instead; and then you can play pre-game concerts instead for all of those Quidditch World Cup Championship matches the girls are going to win for our country."

"Maybe I'll do both – except I'll be the Seeker for those teams," Jonah countered with a grin for Lily.

"You can play for Scotland like your aunt does instead," Lily told him. "I'll only be eligible to play for England."

"Just move to Scotland or ireland," Jonah suggested. "Then you'd have more options too."

"Did we have our lives planned out that well when we were ten, Aunt Ginny?" Victoire asked; and Ginny laughed.

"You planned on playing for the Harpies and marrying a certain Auror-trainee when you grew up, so yes; I'd say you had big dreams back then."

"Do you know who you're going to marry too, Lily?" Dominique asked; grinning at her precocious, most-adorable cousin.

"No, but I am making a list and checking it twice."

"Okay, but when you get to the part where you find out which Wizards are naughty or nice; stay away from the naughty ones," Dominique warned. "They might seem to be more fun; but usually just end up being trouble."

"That sounds like something that we can talk about once the kids go out to play Quidditch," Ginny suggested.

"And the perfect time for the Wizards in the room to escape," Al added. "Come on, Jonah. Let's get a broom and some equipent for you; and then Lily's going to want to prove that she's the better Seeker while Gwendolyn can show me everything she learned with the Harpies this morning – unless that's confidential information too."

"It isn't," Gwendolyn assured him. "We can have a Chaser duel while Lily and Jonah are having a Seeker duel."

"Yeah!" Lily said enthusiastically. "Wizards versus Wizards! What do we get if we win?"

"You just finished telling us that Witches are the best Quidditch players," Victoire teased. "Why would there be any doubt over whether you and Gwendolyn will win?"

"Witches are the best," Lily confirmed; "but we're not unbeatable – or the Harpies would win every match and championship." She grinned at Al and Jonah. "We have to let the boys win now and then or they'd just stop playing with us."

"At Quidditch, anyway," Ginny murmured; and then laughed at the expressions on most of the kids' faces. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Nope, didn't hear a thing, Mum,' Al joked; earning another laugh from Ginny. "Let's get out of here before it gets any weirder, Jonah."

They did that, and Gwendolyn and Lily went along. Once Jonah was set up with a broom and pads; they all trudged out to the pitch and sat on the benches to get their gear on before moving on to a quick warm-up that was mostly just stretches and a bit of light exercise so that they were ready for some extreme flying. While Ginny had a visit with Victoire nd Dominique until they left for home an hour later; Al and Gwendolyn had a blast with their Chaser duel; and Lily and Jonah were having nearly as much fun – though without any mid-air hugs after snitch catches. Even though she'd already had one very tough Quidditch workout, Gwendolyn was happy to play until Lily and Jonah were both cold and ready to go inside for the rest of the afternoon. She was also happy to use the morning workout to explain why Al won their Chaser duel while Lily won her battle with Jonah by catching the snitch four times to just two for Jonah. From start to finish, including a minor snowball fight on the way back into the house, they were outside for nearly two hours; and ready for the hot drinks and snack that Ginny had waiting for them when they were inside again and out of their cold and damp cloaks and boots.

"Victoire and Dominique told me that you were their third Chaser in your scrimmage today," Ginny told Gwendolyn once they were all sitting down with cups of hot chocolate. "They're wishing that you were in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw – and we were all impressed with what we saw you and Al doing out there earlier."

"I had fun playing with them, Aunt Ginny; but there's a good chance that I wouldn't have been able to play on the team this year if I was in Gryffoindor – or Al or Rose wouldn't have been able to play instead; so this has likely been for the best. James doesn't give my team any chance against Gryffindor this year, but I think we'll do well-enough."

"To be blunt, James better check his ego at the stadium gate for that game; or Pauline will win their duel again this year," Ginny told them. "He's got the talent, and maybe more of it than most kids his age; but still needs to learn that it takes the work too if you want to be the best."

"Then I hope he never learns that," Lily said with a bright smile for her mother. "He wants to play in the show when he grows up too; and it'll be much easier for me, Gwendolyn, and the Harpies to beat his team if he's still exactly like he is right now."

"What about Jonah?" Al asked. "He won one in three catches today; and you've been training all fall with a champion Seeker."

"I'm hoping he'll pick music over Quidditch," Lily joked. "There are more than enough younger Weird Sisters' cousins for a third band."

"Jonah was talking about doing both earlier," Ginny reminded Lily. "I don't see why he can't do that. I managed to do two jobs while playing for the Harpies when Gabrielle was off with her kids."

"You wrote about your experiences with the Harpies," Lily pointed out. "What's Jonah going to do? Sing songs about Quidditch?"

"That might work," Jonah said with a grin. "The Graves Robbers use their band names to make up song titles and lyrics. That might work for Quidditch too."

"I scored a goal on you; and now you're mine,"Gwendolyn sang; earning a roud of laughs from an audience that actually recognized the Muggle song she was adapting the lyrics from.

"Can't stop the things I do; when I'm up here flying," Al added; surprising everyone except Gwendolyn. "It's been a century and more, since they last won the day," Al continued; grinning now; "but the Cannons are back, and they're ready to play!"

"I scored a goal on you; and now you're mine!" Gwendolyn finished before happily sharing a hug with Al. "That's hilarious," she told him enthusiastically. "I think that we could have a hit with that one!"

"I'm writing that one down," Jonah told them. "If the Cannons ever put a real team together; it'll be pure gold!"

Lily laughed. "There you go, then," she told him. "Play Quidditch for them; record the song; and you'll be doing both jobs – just like Mum did for the Harpies and Quidditch News."

"That song might be a hit, but we'd need to change it a bit if I was going to sing it; and music and a good Seeker won't be enough to fix the Cannons," Jonah declared. "If I do play Quidditch; I'll want to win as much as you do."

"I'm sure you would like that," Lily agreed; "but you can't play for the Harpies; so you'll have to set your goals a bit lower if you do play in the show too."

"With attitude like that; Mum will be offering you a contract sometime during your first year at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn teased; and Lily smiled brilliantly at her.

"Do you think so? I'd sign it for sure if she did."

"And I'd let you," Ginny assured her daughter. "Just don't get too far ahead of your plans for the future, sweetie. You'll have a lot of competition for that job – even if Jonah can't be in the running too."

That bit of fun continued until they finished their drinks and snacks, and then the four kids moved into the sitting room for some video gaming and to just hang out together until Gwenog came over to collect Gwendolyn and Jonah after she'd finished work for the day. James wasn't home by then; and ended up staying to have dinner with Ollie and his family; so Al and Lily got to have Harry and Ginny to themselves during dinner and for the first part of the evening before James did eventually get home – and immediately started to mess with Al while telling them all about his amazingly brilliant day. He wasn't very far into his report when the insults of various kinds began cropping up in his near-monologue.

"It's a good thing that you didn't get invited too, Al," James advised him smugly. "Ollie's the best Chaser on our team; and he got beat bad by the senior team players that were there today too. I'd have needed to pretend I didn't know you if you'd been trying to play too."

"The United players and managers aren't expecting the kids your age to be as good as the older teens," Ginny told him. "Al would've done well-enough – just as I've heard that Gwendolyn did with the Harpies."

James snorted. "If she makes their team some day; I'll be glad that I can't play for the Harpies." He smirked at Al. "It's probably not totally her fault. Look at the company – and competition – she's hanging out with."

"How did you do playing with the other Seekers?" Harry asked; and James shrugged.

"I only caught the snitch once – against their reserve Seeker. They had Alex duel their Seeker. He didn't get any catches; so I wish they'd given me a chance too."

"I'm sure they will if you go back for other kids' days," Ginny assured him; and James shrugged again.

"I don't know if we will do that. Ollie wasn't at all happy today; and thinks that there won't be any places for us on his Dad's team by the time we're done at Hogwarts. He might be right about that. I heard his older sisters talking about convincing Dominique that she'd rather play Quidditch with them – and Lucy – than for the Harpies with Victoire and Aunt Gabrielle. That wouldn't leave any spots of the team for Ollie; so we might have to think about checking out the other top teams – just to keep our options open."

"That's a good idea regardless," Harry told him with a nod. "United is righta the top now, and we can't know what the league will be like by the time you graduate; so you should keep your options open for whatever is best for you."

James looked at him suspiciously. "You never tell Lily that when she talks about being a superstar for the Harpies. Harry laughed.

"You're right – I don't. That's totally unfair, but then she's my little girl; and I'm a Harpies fan. Maybe I just don't want to see you playing for a team that might be able to beat mine."

"Any team I'm on will beat yours if Lily's their Seeker," James predicted pompously.

"You'd better hope I get sorted to Gryffindor," Lily warned him. "If I'm in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff; I'm going to remember that when I have the chance to play against you."

"The best you could hope for with that is in my NEWT year," James reminded her. "You'd have zero chance of beating me."

"Keep telling yourself that," Lily countered. "It'll be even better for me when I prove you wrong about that some day."

"I'm happy to see that you have a rich fantasy life. Maybe you should switch and be a Chaser. The standards for being the best for that position are a lot lower in our family."

Ginny laughed at that. "I'm sure that Angelina, and your Chaser-playing cousins will find that observation fascinating."

"I'm talking about the only person in this room that picked being a Chaser for obvious reasons; not commenting on anyone else in the family – even if that might apply to them too. At least some of our cousins were invited to one or more of the Quidditch practices and luncheons this morning – unlike Al and Rose."

"Rose wants to be a Keeper," Al reminded him. "She'll get invitations once she does get to show off what she can do next season – and she's a fair Chaser too."

"Sure she is," James scoffed. "That's why she wants the one job on a Quidditch team that requires the least amount of flying skill."

"How do you manage to even get through a practice without offending everyone on your team?" Harry asked; and James grinned at him.

"Sometimes the truth hurts. My team puts up with me because they know I'm the best player. It's a tough job; but somebody has to do it."

"You're a bit scary when you're like this," Ginny told him. "It's going to be fun to watch and see whether your skills will catch up with that ego or not."

"Either way, Quidditch is going to be a lot of fun with this next generation of players," Harry predicted. "It's amazing just how many really great young players there are now."

"There was a war going on when our parents were having kids," Ginny reminded him. "There weren't as many children around – even if my Mum and Dad did their best to make up for that."

"And they've doubled that in grandkids," Harry added with a smile. "Molly isn't interested in playing Quidditch at all; so we'll need to add at least one Quidditch player by marriage to have enough for two full teams."

"Al's on that one for you already," James said with a snort of laughter. "You're still three or four Beaters short for positions, though, so you'll need to tell my cousins to be more selective when choosing their boyfriends from now on."

"Will you help them out with that?" Ginny asked; and James laughed again.

"Not my problem – this is Dad's train of thought; not mine."

The conversation moved along from there, and James eventually ran out of stories to tell them. He didn't ask, and wasn't interested in what everyone else had been doing; and started playing video games once he'd finished talking about himself and how great his day away from home had been. They didn't have any major plans for Saturday, but Al decided to head up to bed early; got razzed by James over that; and then he eventually ended his night with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. He was first in the house to be sleeping; the first one up in the morning; and Al even managed to have a cup of coffee ready for his father by the time Harry joined him in the kitchen on Saturday morning.

Having those morning chats with his father weren't new for them, but Al's perception and appreciation of them had changed after not having them at all while he'd been at Hogwarts. Sure, Rose had stepped in and those morning chats and walks to the Great Hall were something that Al liked a lot too; but it wasn't the same either. That wasn't really something he spent much time thinking about while enjoying the quiet time with Harry. They both enjoyed that start to their day, though; and then it was time to move on once Ginny, Lily, and James eventually all joined them and they had breakfast together. Al and Lily took care of the clean-up while James 'supervised' and their parents were busy with other chores; and then they had some family play time outdoors until Ginny needed to get ready and leave for work a couple of hours ahead of the start of the United Quidditch match.

Harry was on his own with the kids for lunch; they stayed in for most of the afternoon; and watching Puddlemere United win their match on the mirror network was part of their entertainment – along with some video gaming that could be multi-tasked using the Muggle television and gaming system while the mirror was being used for the Quidditch game. James led the gaming; Al only joined in when Harry nudged the boys to play together for a while; and Lily was happiest when she cuddled with her father and Holly on one of the sofas while watching the game. All three kids were drafted to help Harry with making dinner; and they had that ready to go by the time Ginny got home from work. It was her turn for story time while they ate; and then they wrapped up their day with another quiet evening at home as four out of five of them were ready to rest up ahead of New Year's Eve and what was sure to be a long day and late night. Al had another bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn to end his day; and he was again the first in the house to be sleeping too.

Sunday morning wasn't a repeat of Saturday for Al because his parents and sister were all awake early too, and while they didn't arrive in the kitchen at the same time; it was the girls that were there first – getting started on the cooking while Harry and Al took their turns grabbing showers and getting ready for the day. There was one bonus for Al, though, when Ginny opted to let James sleep in instead of waking the bear after he'd stayed up late with his gaming again. Once the food was ready, they sat down to eat; and Ginny had a list next to her plate on the table that she started going over with Al and Lily.

"I know you're excited about the party we're hosting tonight for the kids," she began; "but we'll all need to do a bit of work around here this morning to be ready for your cousins and friends – and do a bit of running around too."

"Can I volunteer for the shopping?" Lily asked hopefully; and Ginny laughed.

"Yes, but I've already scheduled you to help your father with that job. Before you can go and do that, though; you'll need to make sure that your room is ready for your sleepover guests. You'll have Roxanne and Denise with you. Rose, Bristol, and Gwendolyn will camp in the sitting room; and we'll split the boys between James' and Al's rooms."

"You don't want Gwendolyn bunking with Al?" Lily teased; her eyes going wide as she tried to look surprised.

"Are you hoping that Al will set some early precedents for you?" Ginny countered; and Lily laughed.

"Maybe; but that wasn't the point of my question."

"No, it wasn't," Ginny agreed; "and I'm a bit worried to see that Al isn't blushing much right now. He would've been as red as your hair over a joke like that not so very long ago. For the record, though, there are not going to be any co-ed sleepovers for kids in this house for a while yet."

"That's okay," Lily said with a nod and smile. "Gwendolyn can stay with me when she's here for sleepovers – and then sneak into your room after Mum and Dad have gone to bed." That last part was whispered conspiratorially to Al; but loudly-enough for their parents to overhear. They both laughed; and Al did blush this time while grinning at his sister too.

"We are so going to need to home school her instead of sending her to Hogwarts," Harry declared; and Lily laughed.

"You won't do that," she disagreed. "There aren't enough Aurors to keep me from going to Hogwarts; and I would not be any fun to be around if you tried to make me stay here."

"I think that you're underestimating the Aurors just a bit there," Ginny told her daughter, "but we concede part two of that; and won't be keeping you from going to Hogwarts – in a year and a half or so."

"Why couldn't I have been born just a couple of weeks sooner?" Lily complained; and Ginny laughed.

"At the time; I was wondering the same thing. That last couple of weeks of my pregnancy with you was not much fun at all."

"I don't remember the first few months after Lily was born as being all fun and games either," Harry offered; and Ginny laughed again.

"We didn't get much sleep, but Lily was a lot of fun – and you loved all of those late-night cuddle sessions with her when she wanted to stay awake instead of sleeping after her feedings."

"That was really great," Harry admitted easily; "but that made it tough to keep up with work – and then with James and Al too."

"Let's get back to the schedule for today," Ginny said after nodding at Harry's comments. "If we start in on the James and Al stories from after Lily was born; we'll never get started on the work part of the day."

They did that, and while Ginny had kept food for James that she could re-heat later; he actually made a comparatively early appearance and arrived just as everyone else was finishing their meals. From his perspective, the timing was near-perfect; since he got to eat while most of the clean-up was done; and then he managed to get out of doing his own dishes by a sudden need to go to the bathroom. He didn't escape from cleaning his room; though Ginny didn't attempt to enforce a true clean-up. That could wait for after he left for school – when it'd then be months before he was home again and could complain about the parental invasion of his space. Harry and Lily went out to pick up everything on their grocery list along with some bonus treats that were all for the party, sleepover, and New Year's Day meals; but they were home again by lunchtime; and they were all free to play for the rest of the afternoon – and welcome their early arrival party guests.

Harry and Ginny were taking their turn at hosting the kids' New Year's Eve party, and while they enjoyed going out with their friends and family for parties now and then too; Harry did not at all mind missing out on the party being hosted by the Ministry of Magic at the Magick Hall. It was politically incorrect for any department Head to miss those parties, but he hated the politics side of his job anyway; and definitely didn't miss that aspect of the parties at all either when he could make an excuse not to attend. When the 'aunts and uncles' had first started taking turns with babysitting the cousins on New Year's Eve, there weren't very many of them. Now, the oldest didn't need babysitters and were going to parties too. James was the oldest 'kid' now; though this was going to be Louis' first time going to a party with friends instead of spending the night with his cousins. James, Al, Lily, and Rose had all been allowed to invite one friend, and alhtough that offer had been extended to the other cousins; Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne didn't ask anyone to come with them.

Ollie Wood was the first kid to be dropped off; which worked for James – and the two boys went up to James' room first for a while, Al suspected, to plot some of their favorite kind of fun for New Year's Eve. Over the next couple of hours, Denise Creevey, Bristol Wagtail, Ray Wood, Gwendolyn and Jonah, and Rose and Hugo were all dropped off or sent by floo network. Fred and Roxanne were last to arrive; mostly because Angelina hadn't been in a hurry to get ready for her night out when George was busy at the store anyway. The kids spent the afternoon playing games in the sitting room; a short, but too-cold Quidditch adventure was attempted; and there was a lot of snack and chat time that kept everyone entertained thorugh until Harry and Ginny fed their troops a finger foods dinner in the dining room.

The sitting room was a bit crowded with thirteen kids and two adults when they were all there together, but cards and board games were an option in the dining room and kitchen after dinner too; and Al and Lily each had some friends' time in their rooms off and on during the evening too – usually when they needed a break from James and Ollie. Al was sure that James hadn't forgotten his pledge to leave him alone; but he had apparently decided that exceptions should be allowed for special occasions. Al wasn't happy about that, but counted on his parents keeping the pranks, wheezes, and generally rude behaviour from getting too out of hand. He did think that was a downside to the general rule against underage magic. James could get away with his pranks and wheezes; but Al couldn't blast him in return if James went too far. Unfortunately for everyone else in the house, James was also quite happy to push the boundaries of parental patience as far as he could too – even at the risk of crossing that line and getting into trouble with them.

"I'm starting to develop a serious dislike for your uncle's wheezes, Al," Ray told him as he walked into Al's room. He'd just returned from cleaning up from a wheeze that Ollie had hit him with – at the same time that James had hit Al with the same wheeze. Al had already finished his own clean-up; and was sitting on his bed with Gwendolyn and Rose while Bristol sat on his desk chair. "Let's have this party somewhere else next year – and not invite James or Ollie."

"That's an idea," Gwendolyn agreed. "I'd suggest that we just leave them at Hogwarts over the holidays; but I really wish that kids never had to stay there at Christmas; and it's usually just the NEWT and OWL students that stay over the Easter break."

"I'll bet that James and Ollie don't stay there for Easter when it's their turn for OWL's and NEWT's," Rose predicted. "Has James even started his holiday revision yet?"

"I doubt it," Al answered with a shrug. "he'll likely start it sometime next weekend – like while we're on the train back to school."

"Let's not spend any more time on James or Ollie," Bristol suggested. "Rose, Gwendolyn, and I are way overdue to spend some time chatting about what the rest of our girlfriends are up to tonight."

"But not the boys?" Ray teased; earning a round of laughs.

"Some of them are involved with what our girlfriends are doing," Bristol advised him; "but I'm not as connected with the boys – unless you are; and can fill in the blanks for us."

"I can tell you what Al's doing tonight; but that probably doesn't help much."

"No, it doesn't; and I doubt you'd want to gossip about Al even if it did," Bristol said; smiling at Al and Gwendolyn. They were sitting close together and holding hands. "I do know that some of our friends are going to be at the party the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are playing at tonight. That party is more for older teens and young adults – which is why I wanted to come here instead."

"Some of our cousins are at that dance," Rose told her with a nod and smile. "Victoire and Teddy would probably have had more fun there too; but they're at the Ministry party instead."

"You know that we can watch either when it's closer to midnight, right?" Gwendolyn reminded them. "Both parties are going to be on the mirror network ahead of the countdown to midnight – and for an hour or two after that."

"I knew that," Bristol agreed. "The Graves Robbers might not be on stage for any of that part of the night; but they're hoping to get to play at least one or two songs for the mirror network show. It'd be a big deal for them."

"Ron wouldn't be nervous about that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Bristol shrugged.

"Probably, but Myra wouldn't be; and she'd keep him from wigging out."

"So when will you be starting up your band?" Ray asked her.

"Either the day after Gwendolyn does or the first of never-gonna-happen; whichever comes last. I'm sure my Dad will be terribly disappointed; but music fans the world over will be thrilled."

"Don't believe her," Gwendolyn said; smiling at Bristol. "She can sing and plays three different instruments that I know about; so she could be in a band if she wanted to do that."

"Which I seriously don't," Bristol added quickly. "I'll leave it to my brothers – and Weird Sisters cousins' – to be the music and Quidditch superstars while I find some other job that isn't in the spotlight when I grow up."

"Minister of Magic?" Rose suggested mildly; her expression as innocent as she could manage.

Bristol shuddered. "I'd rather go back to talking about James and Ollie than think about something that awful!"

Rose laughed. "My first thought was that a career as James' wife would be even more awful; but then maybe that's just coming from a cousin's perspective and you wouldn't feel the same way."

"Cut that out, or I'm going to talk to Cora bout setting you up with one of her brothers."

"That would be a funnier joke on your parents if you save it for at least a few years," Al offered. "Better yet, maybe you'll get invited to join the Slug Club sometime and you could pull that one on them at the party. Mum and Dad would likely help you out with a joke like that one."

"Our parents do get an invite every year," Rose said thoughtfully; smiling too. "I can probably talk Cora into saving that up for a better time – assuming one of her brothers would play along in the first place."

"That's fairly devious," James said from the doorway as he pushed it open. "Not as much fun as this; but not bad, Rose." The word 'this' was accompanied by James and Ollie each tossing a handful of whiz-bang wheezes into the room. The lights went out; James slammed the door closed just after he finished his sentence; and the fireworks started going off. The concussion of sound and flashing lights were bad enough in the confined space; but James had done something to the whiz-bangs too. Along with the blasts of sound and light, there was a cloud of some kind of fog that smelled horrid and was soon so thick that Al and Gwendolyn couldn't even see each other once the last flashes of light went off and faded into the blackness of the room.

"Have I mentioned that I hate your uncle's wheezes lately?" Ray asked; his voice disembodied and just seeming to hang there in the blackness.

"Is everyone okay?" Al asked instead of answering his friend.

"Sure, but I'm wishing I was over there with the rest of you instead of here all by myself," Bristol answered. "It's dark in here, and I'm scared."

"It won't be for long," Al assured her. They could all hear the running footsteps on the stairs then; and it was only another moment before the door was opened.

"What in the world is this?" Ginny demanded. "James Potter – get out here right now!"

"I think we'll need to open a window," Harry said, and while they couldn't see anything; everyone could hear the window open and feel the blast of frigid air. A moment later, and the fog seemed to be drawn out of the open window. Ginny had the lights on again by then, so as Harry drew the fog outside; they could see again too. The smell wasn't dissipating as quickly; but it was at least more-tolerable. When all of the fog was gone, Harry closed the window again; and smiled at the kids. "Better?"

"Yes, thanks," Al agreed and answered. "I thought we still had more than an hour to go before the New Year. Did my watch stop?" Harry laughed, but turned around when they all heard James answering his mother's command.

"You yelled for me, Mum?"

"Don't go trying to look all innocent with me, James!" Ginny told him sharply. "What, in Merlin's name, do you think you're doing setting off fireworks in the house – and what did you do to them to make that fog and the stink?"

"I don't know what you mean, Mum," James declared ridiculously. "Ollie and I were just hanging out in my room playing mirror games. Al's the one making all the noise with his friends." He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. "That's gross. What is it?"

"As if you don't know," Ginny shot back in annoyance. She looked into Al's room again. "What are the chances that any of you are going to tell me what I do already know?"

"I would," Gwendolyn answered with a hard look at James before turning her attention and a smile on Ginny; "but that'd be an awful thing for me to say about one of your kids – and way too impolite when I'm your guest tonight."

Harry and Ginny both laughed; along with most of the kids – which by then included all of the younger kids too as they'd come upstairs to watch the show too.

"I love you, sweetie," Ginny told her; and then turned to James again. "You, I'm not so thrilled with right now. Be glad that your brother isn't like me; or you'd be on the way to St. Mungo's with a very bad case of bat-bogeys instead of back to your room to your supposedly-innocent hanging out with Ollie." She took a deep, calming breath. "If ther are any more pranks tonight; you might be making that trip anyway. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mum," James agreed; "though I don't know why you're always looking at me when these things happen."

"Leave it," Harry warned; and he looked as though he'd had enough of James' act. "This is way-past not funny; and you really don't want to test your mother or me again tonight."

"Exit stage right it is," James told Ollie; his tone not even remotely contrite. "Try to keep the noise down, Al. It's hard to play our mirror games with all of that racket you've been making in there."

"What is the penalty for underage use of magic anyway?" Al asked quietly-enough that the kids and parents in the hall wouldn't hear him; and Gwendolyn, Rose, Bristol, and Ray all laughed at him.

"You're the Head of the Aurors' son," Gwendolyn whispered back. "Don't you know?"

"I'd be more worried about Mum than the Aurors," Al answered; and then grinned when he saw that his mother had overheard at least his own answer.

"Including Ron, I had three brothers like that growing up," she told him. "Consider yourself lucky to only have the one."

"I'll try to remember that," Al promised, and to be honest; he hadn't really considered his problems with James from his mother's perspective on brothers. He drew in a deep breath and then stood up. "Let's go downstairs again," he suggested to his cousin and their friends. "It'll be a while before that smell wears off in here; and we can watch something on the mirror network instead."

While James and Ollie stayed upstairs for a while, everyone else went downstairs; went back to playing and chatting; and had fun together. The two pranksters eventually returned to the sitting room; looking very pleased with themselves; and ready to have some more fun despite Ginny's warnings for James. He was more cautious for the rest of the evening; and his jokes, razzing, and just a few wheezes were carefully-timed to avoid parental witnesses.

Since he was one of the targets of James' amusements, Al was not happy with those moments of extreme annoyance; but he loved spending the time with Gwendolyn – and with everyone else except James and Ollie. As it neared midnight, there was even some dancing while they watched the mirror network show that was covering the party that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were playing at instead of the Ministry of Magic party. Harry and Ginny didn't have a problem with that choice, and they danced to several songs too. Al and Gwendolyn weren't the only other dancers; but they were the only other couple. Most of the girls wanted to dance, and while Ray managed to avoid doing any dancing at all; James and Ollie both were drafted at least once; and Hugo, Fred, and Jonah all danced a few times each – though that usually required at bit of persuasion from Lily and the other girls to get them up and moving.

The countdown to midnight arrived; and holding hands with Gwendolyn as they counted down to the New Year along with everyone in the room and the hundreds of young Witches and Wizards at the party was new, thrilling, and special for Al. Gwendolyn's nearness didn't keep him from noticing everything else that was going on around him. He ignored the mimes that James directed his way; discovered that he had a new perspective as he saw his parents hold each other close in anticipation of their first kiss of the New Year; and was amused by Lily and the other younger girls. He wasn't quite sure whether they were jostling for positions close to the boys or pushing each other toward certain boys; but whichever it was; they were having fun and doing a lot of giggling about it. When the clock struck midnight, Al noted that Lily ended up closest to Jonah; but then he didn't have time to think about anything else as he happily shared his own first New Year's kiss with Gwendolyn.

Al had his wand out; stepped back from Gwendolyn; and spun while shouting – "PROTEGO!" – just as everyone heard the loud sounds of wretching that he already knew by then was coming from James and Ollie. They'd tried to time their move perfectly, and that worked out badly for them as Al's shield blazed out to a point beyond where they'd been ready to puke all over his back – and ended up being knocked off of their feet and tossed backwards through the air. Fortunately for them, their landing was broken by the sofa behind them; but then it wasn't so much fun when the shield also repelled a lot of their puke back onto them – and they ended up fairly soaked in it.

"You can't use magic outside of school!" James spluttered – and it was spluttering too as the words were mixed in with the mess that was the tail-end of the effects from the puking pastille he'd obviously used for the prank attempt. He grinned then. "You are so busted!"

"And just what do you think you are?" Ginny asked ominously; though Al sensed that she was having a tough time trying to sound angry while looking from James and Ollie to him and back again.

"I didn't do anything," James protested. "It's not my fault that seeing Al and Gwendolyn snogging each other made me puke – and I wasn't the only one they had that effect on either."

"It was really gross," Ollie offered; but he didn't look at Ginny as he said it and looked uncomfortable.

"I see," Ginny said; her tone cool. "Considering how much you've both eaten tonight; it's a wonder that your stomachs are so sensitive to seeing a kiss that couldn't have lasted more than about three seconds before it made you throw up."

"All of those sweets might have been part of the problem," James offered; and Ginny nodded.

"So you're saying that it's also our fault for having too many sweets available." She turned to Al and Gwendolyn; and now she was having a tough time not grinning openly. "What do you have to say for yourself, Al?"

"I'm guilty as charged; and not sorry about it," he answered simply. "Since I've already been caught by the Head of the Aurors anyway, though; let me take care of this mess too." He pointed his wand at James and Ollie, and said "Tergio!" He returned his attention to his parents once he'd done that; and smiled because Gwendolyn was openly grinning and had squeezed his hand tightly in silent support. "Will you need to take me in tonight; or can we do that after the holiday?"

"Let's start with putting you under house arrest in your room," Harry told him, and while he hid the smile well-enough; his eyes sparkled with amusement. "Gwendolyn, would you mind going with him to make sure he doesn't escape before Ginny and I can get up there to deal with this?"

"I can do that," Gwendolyn agreed. "Do you want to put a binding spell on him first?"

Harry and Ginny both laughed at that – or more specifically at the expression on Gwendolyn's face and the look in her eyes. "I don't think that'll be necessary," Harry told her. "I have a feeling that Al won't be a serious escape risk with you on the job."

"Come along, Al," Gwendolyn said while nodding to Harry. "Don't give me any trouble – or I might end up under house arrest too if I have to try and stop you from doing anything you shouldn't."

"Have fun with home schooling after you get booted out of Hogwarts," James said as Gwendolyn led Al past him. They ignored him, but James turned to look at Lily when she laughed – and obviously was laughing at him. "What's so funny?"

"You are," she answered with another laugh. "Dad just sent Al to his room with Gwendolyn, where they'll be alone until he and Mum go up there; and you think that he has to worry about being expelled!"

"He used his wand outside of school – and not for studying," James said stubbornly. "Maybe Dad's just giving them a chance to say goodbye; since Gwendolyn won't want anything to do with a Wizard that's been expelled. Do you think they'll break his wand too – like they did with Hagrid?"

"I'll have to decide what to do with Al," Harry told him; "though I doubt that we'll need to involve Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic in this. It seems to me that he was defending himself – and Gwendolyn. That doesn't totally excuse using magic considering what he was up against; but it is a factor." He smiled at James and Ollie. "You told us that you both got sick from seeing them kissing. If you'd like to let me take a look at your memories of what happened; I'm sure that'll give me a much clearer picture of what happened – and then I'll know exactly what I should do with Al."

James looked at his father for a long moment; and then his expression darkened. "You're not going to do anything to Al," he declared. "If the law really applies to everyone like you always tell us; then you shouldn't be able to make an exception for him. You wouldn't let me off the hook if I'd blasted him like he just blasted Ollie and me just now."

"Al cleaned up your mess," Lily told him. "If I'd been busted for using magic already anyway; I'd have hit the pair of you with bat-bogey hexes and left you sitting there covered in your own puke." She shook her head in disgust. "You don't deserve to have a brother as nice as ours." She walked over to Harry and Ginny and hugged each of them. "Happy New Year! I've decided to send myself to my room before I give you a reason to do it."

"We'll come along," Denise told her; motioning for Roxanne to come with them.

"Well, I guess we won't have as much trouble getting the kids off to bed tomight as we thought," Ginny joked. "Just in case you forgot, Lily, you might want to at least wander into the kitchen first to get in on some of that midnight buffet bedtime snack we have ready for everyone out there."

"Race you there!" Hugo offered; and his challenge cleared the room of every kid unter the age of eleven. Rose, Bristol, and Ray waited a moment longer; but then followed when Rose caught the hint that was a simple glance from her favorite aunt. Harry waited until they were alone before speaking to James again.

"Your mother and I will deal with your brother as we see fit," he said quietly. "Don't think for a moment that we don't really know what went on here, though, so be glad that your mother is cutting you so much slack despite the fact that you completely ignored her earlier warning to end the pranks."

"Don't even think about it," Ginny told him seriously when James looked ready to offer a retort. "Go and get some food before Hugo and the other boys demolish it all – unless your recent illness has left you uninterested in more sweets and treats. We'll make sure that everything is in order out there; and then go have that talk with Al."

"Yeah, and take him a plate of treats and give him a pass on breaking the law," James grumbled in a whisper that he thought that only Ollie would hear – though he was wrong about that.

He and Ollie did get up and go into the kitchen for the food, though, and Harry and Ginny followed them; made sure that all of the kids had everything they needed; and then headed upstairs – without plates of food for Al and Gwendolyn. They were both grinning when Harry knocked on the door and then waited for their son to invite them in. Both kids were sitting on the bed and holding hands; but didn't look as though they'd just been interrupted mid-snog. Ginny went and sat on the bed with them while Harry grabbed Al's desk chair and moved it closer to the bed before sitting down too.

"Before you give me the bad news; I'd just like you to know that I'm in bigger trouble right now with Gwendolyn," Al told his parents with a rueful smile. "I've been advised that a Wizard is supposed to pay more attention to a first New Year's kiss than I obviously did – even if that meant ignoring an imminent prank."

"That could be why I didn't notice the problem before you did," Harry admitted after he and Ginny had both laughed. "I was impressed with what I did see – not that I'm condoning using your wand when you know you're not supposed to do that." He studied Al for a moment before continuing. "You know how difficult that was?" He smiled at Gwendolyn's confused expression; so he elaborated. "That shield missed the kids on either side of James and Ollie. If Al had put it up even a couple of feet further away; the boys would have been thrown across the room instead of into that sofa. A lot of adult Witches and Wizards don't have that much control – especially when reacting to a surprise like that."

Gwendolyn nodded. "I get that now that you've told me. Al did the same thing with the rock-snowball that Avery threw at him – just not with a shield." She smiled at Harry. "Does that talent at using his shield help his case?"

"Actually, in a way, it does," Harry agreed. "Nobody was hurt; Al cleaned up the mess that wasn't his fault anyway; and the incident was obviously not witnessed by any Muggles." He was still smiling; but shook his head and sighed. "What's really unfair for you, Al, is that James is right about one thing – I can't let this pass and do nothing at all."

"Even though I'm not tracked by the Ministry," Al stated instead of asking; and smiled too at the look of surprise on the faces of his parents and girlfriend.

"What?" Gwendolyn exclaimed; and Al laughed and squeezed her hand even as Ginny added – "How did you know that?"

"A letter from the Ministry hasn't arrived," Al answered; "but I knew that anyway." He turned to look at Gwendolyn. "My guess is that we don't get tracked by the Ministry because it could be accessed and used fairly easily by the bad guys to find us – and maybe get to us."

"That's why," Harry agreed; "and we'll trust Gwendolyn to keep that little secret." He switched his attention from her to Al again after getting a solemn nod in answer. "Part of my deal for that with Minister Shacklebolt is that I don't hide anything like this from him; so I'm stuck with that promise."

"James is going to love this," Al predicted. "He and Ollie try to puke on me; and you don't have a choice but to punish me for using my wand to stop him. What kind of sentence am I looking at, judge?"

"I'm voting for a suspended one," Ginny told him; but this one really hs to be up to your father."

"I hate it when it's my turn to play the tough parent," Harry said before getting on with the bad news. "Okay, this is what we're going to do. You're grounded until Easter. That includes staying home until you head back to school – except for the shopping trip for supplies." He paused for a moment before continuing. "That also means that you won't be going anywhere while you're at Hogwarts between now and Easter, and, finally; you won't be playing any Quidditch matches for Gryffindor until after Easter." Al stared at his father in open-mouthed shock for a long moment; and then he suddenly started laughing.

"That isn't the reaction I'm having to that news," Gwendolyn told him. "Have you just lost it; or is there a reason for why you think that a Quidditch ban is a good thing for you."

"I shouldn't be laughing," Al admitted; "but I can't help it – and will take the deal before Dad adds anything to that 'finally'. Missing the Harpies game on Saturday will suck; but I guess I can watch it from home – and be warmer."

"You will be," Gwendolyn told him. "I don't think it's fair that I get punished too by losing my cuddle buddy for that game."

"That isn't fair," Ginny agreed. "Maybe you should think about coming over here instead. We will need someone to watch Al while we're at the game."

"We can see what Mum says about that," Gwendolyn agreed; smiling at Ginny before returning her attention to Al. "So if missing the Harpies' game is the worst of all of that; why is everything else so funny?"

"We can't leave Hogwarts except for holidays anyway as firsties," Al reminded her; "so that's no big deal at all. I'd rather play Quidditch, and hope that Louis won't just toss me off the team for the rest of the season over this, but if I have to miss a match; the one in the winter would be my best choice." He looked at Harry inquiringly. "I can still practice with the team?"

"That's up to Louis," Harry decided. "I'll let him know about the game and deal with that at Hogwarts if needed too." He stood up then and put the chair back next to Al's desk. "I'm sorry, Al. This feels wrong to me; but it's the way it has to be."

"It's okay, Dad," Al assured him. "Even if Gwendolyn ends up going to the game on Saturday without me; I'll be able to make it up to her by being her cuddle buddy at the game in March."

"Why am I getting a tiny bit suspicious over how well you're taking this?" Ginny asked him. "I usually only get that with James."

"Maybe because you have reason to be?" Al teased; earning laughs from Ginny and Gwendolyn. "You've already guessed why, though, so we don't really have to say it out loud, do we?"

Gwendolyn suddenly laughed again and hugged him. "No, we don't," she agreed. "I think that your Dad is brilliant; but don't tell him I said that."

"I won't," Al promised; grinning as his parents then pretended that they hadn't heard her comment.

Ginny was standing then too; and she held out her hand for Harry. "Let's go downstairs and see if there's any food left." She nodded to Al and Gwendolyn. "Stay here if you'd like a few minutes to talk; but then come downstairs for a bedtime snack too." She paused and then shrugged to herself. "We won't say anything to the rest of the kids about this and leave it up to you to tell them as much or little of it as you want tonight."

"Alright," Al agreed. "We won't be far behind you."

Harry and Ginny left; closed the door behind them; and Al turned to look at Gwendolyn – and had time to laugh for a moment before she kissed him rather exuberantly. She was smiling happily when she leaned back again so that they could look at each other.

"I thought that was terrible at first; and now you've got me seeing your punishment so differently that I want to keep laughing about it too." She did laugh again then. "How long do you think it'll take James to figure out that your being grounded and banned from Quidditch will be worse for him?"

"We'll see if it actually ends up being worse for him," Al said; and Gwendolyn shook her head while still smiling brightly at him.

"You're thinking the same thing that I am about that game in March," she told him. "If it works out the way it might; I should send your Dad a thank-you card at the end of the season to thank him for helping out my team."

"I do hope that Louis will still let me play in that game against Ravenclaw," Al reminded her. "Don't count on winning the season for the junior teams quite yet."

"I won't, and at worst; Louis would make you win back your spot on the team – which you would definitely be able to do."

Al thought about that before responding. "That actually is a really good idea. It might even keep everyone on their toes if reserve players could make challenges for spots on the team."

"Speaking as one of those team players, I'm not sure that I like that idea at all; but Gryffindor is welcome to test it out and see how well or poorly it works." She put her arms around Al. "We have orders to head downstairs soon; and I'd rather have you try to make up for that New Year's kiss that didn't get to go as brilliantly as it should have."

She didn't give Al a chance to answer – at least not verbally. They were only eleven, though, and that kiss wasn't the start of a major snogging session – though they did stay there and talk for another five minutes before going down to the kitchen. Nobody was in there at first; but they'd barely grabbed plates before James and Ollie sauntered into the room. Their mouths were full and they carried empty plates; suggesting that they'd emptied them once they heard Al and Gwendolyn on the stairs to have an excuse to go into the kitchen for refills.

"I knew that you'd get off with nothing," James accused as soon as he saw Al's smile and the expression on his face. "Heaven forbid that the perfect little angel get punished for breaking the flipping law."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm grounded until Easter – thanks to your stupid attempt at pranking me yet again. Too bad for me that your oaths don't seem to mean much anymore."

James scoffed at that. "You're grounded until Easter? What does that mean? That you can't go back to Hogwarts?"

"No, I'll be going back," Al answered; and James laughed derisively again.

"Great, so you're actually only grounded for less than a week. Big deal."

"To you," Al shot back. "Have fun at the game on Saturday while I'm left home, and here's the part you'll really love – my grounding includes playing any Quidditch matches for Gryffindor between now and Easter. Dad's leaving it up to Louis whether I can still practice with the team or not."

James looked at him suspiciously. "I don't believe you. If Dad's doing that; you wouldn't be smiling the way you are."

Al laughed. "I'd tell you why I'm smiling; but that might just make you puke again – and I'd rather not risk getting grounded until the end of June or next September by having to stop you again." Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him happily.

"I don't believe you," James repeated; and Al shrugged.

"That doesn't change the fact that it is all true; and you'll know for sure soon-enough – once Dad gives Louis the bad news – or by Wednesday at the latest when Louis will have to decide what to do with me about practices – and probably the rest of the season too."

"Louis is going to want to throw us off the team when he finds out," Ollie told James worriedly; and James shook his head dismissively.

"For what? It isn't our fault that Al used his wand tonight. That's all on him." He turned when Al laughed at that.

"You have a short memory, James. I'll take the blame I'm due; but don't think that I'll only tell half of the story – or that anyone will believe that you weren't trying to prank me when I used my shield."

"He won't say anything to anyone," James told Ollie, "and even if he is that stupid; Louis is not going to throw his two best players off of the team – unless he wants to lose the Quidditch Cup for our House."

Ollie nodded, but still looked worried. "Okay, he probably won't boot us off; but you won't be the one trying to get used to a new Chaser partner by March – and Merlin help us if that's Ray."

"I'd say you'll be better off," James told him dismissively. "Al and Rose mess up your game." He grinned viciously at Al. "When we prove that we're better off without Al; Louis will likely just keep him off the team for the rest of the season. Maybe you'll end up with that Chaser duel with Gwendolyn after all during our game against Ravenclaw – and you'll get your chance to win the scoring title for that game instead of just handing it to me."

"Good luck with all of that," Al told them. He and Gwendolyn had both finished filling their plates while James and Ollie had just stood there; the mission to refill plates forgotten. "I'm not feeling much brotherly love or, Merlin help us, a twinge of regret over me being punished for stopping your stupid prank; so we'll head into the sitting room now – unless you need to gloat a bit more than you already have." He shook his head. "I expect that you'll have decided that this worked out even better than you'd hoped by morning – even without getting puke all over me."

"I'm thinking that right now," James confirmed with a sneer. "Run along, Albie. Just don't go too far."

Al laughed. "No chance of that; thanks to you. Uncle George will be so proud of you – and impressed that you got away with all of your pranks tonight too."

"That's a great bonus," James agreed enthusiastically. "I'll be sure to tell him all about it when he comes for Fred and Roxanne tomorrow."

"Sure," Al agreed amiably. "Then he'll have even more reason to be disappointed in me for stopping yet another wheezed from happening." He and Gwendolyn lef the kitchen then; and she leaned in close to him once they were in the hallway.

"You're setting him up," she accused softly; and Al grinned at her.

"He's getting most of the way there without any help from me. The bad news is that I'll get the blame if things don't go as well as he imagines they will over the next few months."

"That is so not fair; but it doesn't seem to matter what you do when he's going to treat you like this all of the time anyway."

"That's exactly what I've been thinking tonight." He took a deep breath and smiled again as they were about to enter thesitting room. "Should I just make a big announcement, or drag it out with a bunch of mini-chats with my cousins nd our friends?"

Gwendolyn grinned too. "I'd leave it for James to bring up – and he will," she suggested; earning another laugh from Al.

"That might be fun too," he agreed. "Let's go with that and see what happens."

While they'd been joking about the entertainment value for that, James had been true to form and made sure that everyone knew about Al's punishment – starting with getting the news confirmed by Harry. The reactions from the kids had mostly been uncomfortable for Al; and James just laughed off the blame that was directed his way – mostly by Lily and Rose. The one thing that saved him from the entire scene becoming too much to deal with was the time of night – and the fact that everyone except James and Ollie was getting tired by then. By one o'clock, the younger kids were taking turns in the washrooms and got ready for bed. The Hogwarts students let them do that first; and then took their turns. James and Ollie went up to James' room to play games when Ginny kicked them out of the sitting room so that Rose, Gwendolyn, and Bristol could get the room ready for their sleepover; and Al was busy for a while getting his room ready for Ray, Fred, Hugo, and Jonah. Ginny had wanted James to have more than one boy in his room; but all of the boys were happy to be with Al instead – even if it was a bit crowded.

Once Hugo, Fred, and Jonah were comfortable; Al and Ray went downstairs again to say goodnight to the girls and have a little bedtime chat with them. Things were a bit weird between the two boys because of Al's effective one-game suspension from Quidditch; but that was just on Ray's side of their friendship. The bad news for Al did mean that there was a chance that Ray would get to play in that game regardless of what James and Ollie said; and that was both exciting and scary for Ray even as he felt bad for Al too. He was being quieter than normal, so when they joined the girls in the sitting room; Al did most of the talking with Rose, Bristol, and Gwendolyn.

"Are the other boys having a bedtime visit with Lily and the girls in her room?" Rose teased.

"No, but I wouldn't put it past Lily to lead a visit to my room while we're down here," Al answered with a laugh. "Are you going to stay up late and play video games or watch the mirror network?"

"We might listen to music for a while; but I won't be awake much longer – even if Bristol and Gwendolyn want to keep the party going for another hour or two."

"So much for your plan to hang out down here until dawn," Ray joked; grinning at Al.

"Was that your plan?" Gwendolyn asked. "I like it – even if none of us would manage to stay awake that long."

"Or maybe you like it especially for that," Bristol added with a meaningful little laugh. "Would it be worth the trouble you'd be in after getting caught together in the morning?" She laughed again. "It isn't as though Al can get in much more trouble than he already has tonight anyway; so it'd just be what your Mum would do to you that'd matter."

"My Mum might just be proud of me," Gwendolyn suggested; laughing too. "I'd better not risk it, though – just in case Al actually could get into more trouble."

"I suppose," Al agreed with a nod. "Being grounded for three months would seem like forever if I ended up doing that as a woodlouse."

"That would be lousy – and worse," Bristol told him. "You'd best just forget about that idea." She looked toward the stairs. "Do you think that James and Ollie will try anything else tonight? I've had enough of them to last me until forever."

"I think we all feel that way," Rose suggested seriously. She turned her attention to Al. "You've been cutting him a lot of slack over the holidays so far. Don't do that when we get back to school again. He made you a promise and should have stuck to it while we've been home too."

Al shrugged. "Let's hope that isn't a problem; but let's talk about anything else. I've had enough of James and Ollie too. We haven't talked much about what the rest of you will be doing for the rest of the week while I'm here at home – other than I know you'll all be here for studying and Quidditch on Wednesday." He smiled at Ray then. "Maybe you'll play on the team with Ollie and Rose for that practice; since there isn't much point of me practicing with them for the Hufflepuff game."

"That'd be brilliant!" Gwendolyn declared enthusiastically; and she hugged Al happily too. "You'll be able to play on my team for that practice – and any extra practices we do with Rose and Ray once we're back at Hogwarts too!"

"At the rate you're going, Al; you'll be trying to get permanently grounded by Easter just to keep the perks that go with it." Rose had been joking about that; but Al actually was fairly happy about those bonuses so far. He couldn't even be upset about the biggest downside of his punishment; since he sensed that was going to turn out well for him too – even if he could only speculate on the why behind that feeling.

The girls did change the subject for their conversation; he enjoyed cuddling with Gwendolyn for a while longer; and then he and Ray headed up to his room again. Hugo, Fred, and Jonah were all still awake; so there was some more talk time to go along with some portable mirror gaming before they each started drifting off to sleep. Al was one of the first to do that; and he was the first one in the house to wake in the morning. None of their guests were being picked up until shortly before noon, so there was no hurry to have breakfast or do anything else; but he got ready for the day; went down to the kitchen; and got coffee brewing for his parents. Rounding up some snacks for any other early risers to munch on before the planned brunch was next on his list; and then he checked in with the owls to offer them treats and some attention before he made a cup of hot chocolate for himself and sat down at the kitchen table to just relax and have a bit of quiet time to think while waiting for company.

His thoughts were hardly about anything profound or deep – really just a series of meandering musings where the only serious pondering was a barely-conscious wondering over why he wasn't concerned about the things that had happened to him over the holidays so far – or between him and James. There weren't any answers forthcoming for that; but then he didn't really try very hard to discern any either. He was happy; at peace with himself; and ready to get on with the rest of their holiday adventures – even when that meant being stuck at home and putting up with the inevitable razzing he'd be getting from James at every opportunity.

That last point wasn't even an issue for most of the morning, and everyone in the house got to have extra time without James and Ollie adding their antics to the mix because they happily slept in until their morning meal was ready at around ten-thirty. The kitchen and sitting room were where most of the fun and entertainment was to be found; though it was fairly low-key and relaxing compared to New Year's Eve. Al started to have less fun once James was there to toss in as many jokes and one-liners as he could come up with while avoiding any parental troubles; and then the one really bad bit of news for him came when Gwenog and Kirley came to collect Gwendolyn and Jonah – and invited him and Lily to spend the day at their house on Tuesday. Gwendolyn made Lily's day by inviting her to come over anyway, but she was disappointed too; and Al hated that more than he didn't like having to miss out on that for his own, selfish reasons.

James had razzed him about that too, but then Al eventually just went to his room once all of their guests had been picked up by one or more parent; and he spent most of the afternoon there – cleaning up at first; and then reading further ahead into his textbooks. He did a lot of reading over the next day or so – and spent a lot of time in his room. Lily coaxed him outdoors for one Quidditch and snow play break on Monday afternoon; and he went out for some fresh air on Tuesday with Ginny while Harry was at work; Lily was at the McCormacks' house; and James had gone over to Ollie's place. Getting to have some alone time with his mother had been nice; but he mostly enjoyed the reprieve from James more than anything else.

While not getting to spend the day with Gwendolyn hadn't been fun, he loved the surprise that his mother and sister had for him when Ginny came home from going to get Lily shortly before dinnertime; and they had Gwendolyn and Jonah with them – and planned on keeping them for a second sleepover – supposedly because that would save Gwenog an extra trip in the morning before work. James wasn't back yet, and wasn't going to be back until after dinner; so they even got to enjoy the next few hours together without any razzing or jokes from the eldest-brother peanut gallery. James did his best to make up for that once he was home, but since he did not have an appreciative audience to his comedic brilliance; he wasn't able to have nearly as much as he wanted to have at Al's expense.

James was even more annoying on Wednesday morning while Al and Gwendolyn finished up their holiday revision with Rose, Ray, and Bristol; and he was getting more worked up as the morning went along in anticipation of seeing how the other guys on the team reacted to Al's Quidditch ban news. Al knew that Harry had already spoken with Louis about it, so it wouldn't be a surprise for their team Captain; but he had no idea whether the McClaggens knew ahead of time or not until the three boys arrived for their practice shortly after they finished having lunch. He wasn't nervous about seeing them, since there wasn't anything he could do about it one way or the other; but Al was happy when Victoire and Dominique both had warm hugs for him and Louis smiled when he punched him lightly on the shoulder in greeting after they all arrived together.

"That's for messing up what I'd hoped would be a great final season with the junior team," he told Al gruffly; but unable to keep the grin from his face even for a moment. "I left it to my sisters to take care of the hugs to thank you for doing what everyone that's ever been pranked by James would have liked to do to him but were afraid to try – for apparently good reason."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James demanded. He looked terribly disappointed that Louis wasn't blasting Al – even after spending so much effort telling his brother how much better the team was going to be without him anyway.

Louis laughed, but it wasn't with amusement; and his smile was not as happy when he turned his attention on James. "You've pranked nearly everyone you know, James. Does it actually surprise you that we can all relate to Al over this – even when it seriously messes up our junior team? That's at least as much your fault as Al's from where I'm looking at it. He wouldn't have needed to try and stop you."

"It's not my fault that Ollie and I got sick from seeing Al snogging Gwendolyn," James protested; and Louis gave him a hard look.

"Try that load of hippogriff dung with someone who might believe you – if there actually are any Witches or Wizards around that would be duped by that pitiful story." He shook his head. "Uncle Harry told me about everything that happened New Year's Eve. If this wasn't already bad-enough for us; I'd seriously think about tossing you and Ollie off the team too."

"We didn't do anything wrong – and Al's the only one who broke the law," James declared stubbornly; not at all happy with how this was going for him. "Don't blame us because he's got no self-control."

"That's not the way I heard it – at least when it came to how good that shield was; but whatever. Right now I'm mostly going to have to decide how to deal with losing one of my Chasers."

James shrugged. "No big deal there. Ollie will be able to work with Magnus or Eric a lot better than he ever could with Al messing up his game; so we'll be well-rid of him for the rest of the season anyway."

"It's one match," Louis told him; sounding more than a little annoyed now. "We'll be practically starting from scratch now; and Hufflepuff will have three good Chasers that have been working together since September – not to mention that Myra Graves is a really good Keeper."

"She's not nearly as good as you are; Ravenclaw scored a lot on her; and we'll do even better," James predicted. "Don't worry so much. I can win the game for us anyway. They've got a firstie Seeker; and she didn't do very well against Ravenclaw either."

"Neither did you last year," Louis pointed out. "Pauline's definitely the best until you prove otherwise; so don't get so over-confident. You can make all of the jokes you want about it, James, but Al's one of the three best Chasers we have in our House – or he wouldn't be on my team. We're less than we could be without him – and that's going to be thanks to you as far as I'm concerned." He shook his head when James just started to get worked up over his assertions. "Leave it, cousin. We'll deal with it as best we can and hope for the best. We've a practice to get to, though, so let's get out there and to it."

"Do you want me to practice with the reserve team – or with Gwendolyn and the others?" Al asked. "Ray could take my spot for the training today and you could see how that works out with Rose and Ollie." He glanced at James, but didn't say anything directly to him. "You've got a bit of time to pick my replacement if you want to try to find out whether Magnus, Eric, or Ray will work best with Ollie and Rose."

"Not much time," Louis countered; "but that works for today; and Ray can at least start to learn the plays we're working on for hufflepuff."

"So does that mean I can still train with the team too?" Al asked next; and Louis smiled at him.

"Of course – on the reserve team. Did you think I was going to let you off from all of the winter training? I'm thinking about having you do double workouts and help out the senior team too."

"Me and my big mouth," Al pretended to grouse. "I should've just stayed in and hoped that you wouldn't notice I wasn't there."

"If you're late; I'll have you doing extra bludger practice or something," Louis warned.

By then, they were in the kitchen; where Victoire and Dominique were already visiting with Ginny. Louis stopped to hug his aunt; and then went outside to head for the pitch and get ready for their practice. Most of the other kids and teens were outside by then; and it wasn't long before the McClaggens and Ollie joined them and they were all ready for the warm-ups and physical workout parts of their training. While they didn't all work together; Louis didn't mind having Gwendolyn, Lily, and the others spread out and follow along. They didn't let them do the flying workout or the practice time they put into learning the plays they were working up for the Hufflepuff game; but Louis allowed extra time for the scrimmage.

"Since there was a complaint unofficially filed with me about the team match-ups last week, and because I want our team to train together today anyway; the only change I'll be leaving the same today is that we'll have our Beaters play against both teams," Louis told everyone as they gathered on the pitch to get the scrimmage started. He smiled at Hugo. "Are you up for a challenge against our Chasers?"

"Definitely," Hugo agreed. "I'll try not to be too hard on them."

"Give them all you've got," Louis encouraged with a laugh. "You'll have Gwendolyn and Al on your side too; and let's have Kathryn and Melissa take turns as third Chaser again; since that worked out fairly well last week." He turned his attention to Lily and Jonah next. "Same deal as last week? Switch after every snitch catch – whether one of you catch it or not?" Finally, he looked to James. "To make it fair, and since someone suggested it last week – use a Firefly for the scrimmage against Lily and Jonah."

"Are you joking?" James said with a snort; and then frowned when Louis not only shook his head, but held out a Firefly for him to take.

"What's the problem, James?" Lily asked him sweetly. "You're not afraid that Jonah and I will beat you without your precious Firestorm, are you?"

"I think that if Louis really thought this was such a good idea; he'd be using a Firefly against Hugo too," James shot back.

"That's true," Louis agreed; and James finally noticed that he'd switched his own broom too. "Let's find out if we're actually as good as you think we are with a real challenge."

"You'll be up against..." James began; and then clamped his mouth shut – not willing to even suggest that Al and Gwendolyn might be able to beat Louis on their Firestorms. He took the Firefly from Louis and stalked off to put his own broom back in his equipment bag.

"Okay, the last instruction I have is for our Beaters." He smiled at the McClaggen brothers. "Be careful with those of us who are on Fireflies. Aunt Ginny will not be happy with us if we end up sending anyone to St. Mungo's this afternoon."

"Those things aren't all that much slower than our brooms," Tiberius pointed out; and Louis nodded.

"True, but you know what I mean. We'll get back to full-out practices next week when we're back at school."

It only took a few moments for them to get into the air and the game was on after that! Jonah took the first turn playing against James – and took advantage of his opponent's mental state to win the first snitch catch of the day. James started to get surly when Lily then beat him to the second catch. He wasn't much happier when he caught the next one over Jonah, but he was too full of himself and looked ready to blow his top when Lily caught her second of the match – in under ten minutes. While that Seeker battle was going great for Lily, Jonah, and their team; the Chaser battle was just as shocking – to Ollie. He went up against Al; put rose on Gwendolyn; and had Ray play against his younger sister and cousin as Melissa and Kathryn took turns – in their case; after every third goal.

"Look at them go!" Dominique exclaimed as she watched the Quidditch action from the comfort of the kitchen. Victoire and Ginny were watching too; and they both nodded their agreement. "I've heard that Al and Gwendolyn have been having some Chaser duels; but I had no idea they could play like that together. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it before."

"That's saying a lot; since i think that the two of you are pretty good together," Ginny told them; "and you've got a great trio on your team this year too."

Dominique pointed out the window to where Gwendolyn had just taken a pass from Al and scored another goal on Louis before she could say anything. "We don't play like that, Aunt Ginny. I don't even know how Al knew where she was before making that pass. It's as though they know where the other one is going to be three or four moves ahead of the play."

"Al's a lot better on defense than I realized too," Victoire said as they then watched him block Ollie's attack; force a bad pass attempt; and then use his broom to bat it over to Kathryn – who was behind the play because of her slower Firefly. Ten seconds later, and she scored her own goal on Louis – her smile brilliant as she successfully faked him out for the fairly easy goal. "Louis won't like that one," she added with a soft laugh as they watched Kathryn speed toward the ground while tagging Melissa as she took over and jumped into the defensive play as best she could.

"I'm not happy about that," Dominique joked. "We're going to have very short professional careers once all of these kids are old enough to play in the show too."

"You don't have anything to worry about," Ginny told her with a grin. "Al can't play for the Harpies; and I could definitely see the two of you being unbeatable with Gwendolyn as your third Chaser."

"That'd be brilliant," Victoire agreed, "but if Teddy had wanted to play Quidditch instead of being an Auror, and we played like that; I don't know if I'd want to trade that just to play for my favorite team."

Ginny laughed. "If Harry had wanted to play professional Quidditch; I'd have loved the challenge of our Seeker duels; but that is a bit different for Chasers." She watched as Al and Gwendolyn traded passes and he went in on Louis and scored a great goal that had her cheering for her younger son. "They are a sight up there; though they do have an advantage over Rose, Ollie, nd Ray. Rose is a good Chaser, but a better Keeper, and while Ray seems to have some potential; he's getting no help at all from Ollie."

"Louis has had trouble with that all season," Victoire told her. "Ollie and James both think that they don't need the rest of their team mates; and try to do it all on their own." She smiled at Ginny. "I think that they both have issues with wanting to be as amazing as their parents are."

"That's normal," Ginny said; "but the attitudes don't work very well for teams – as too many hotshots find out when they do get a chance to play in the big leagues."

"Unless you play for the Falcons. That lot never learns anything," Dominique suggested with a nod. "Merlin! Now that's just ridiculous!"

"Did he stay far enough away from the goals with that one?" Victoire asked; looking incredulous. "It was close."

"Who cares?" Dominique countered with a laugh. "That was an inverted one-eighty flip and Al made that pass to Gwendolyn for the goal! I want to learn how to do that one for our team!"

"We can go out when they start wrapping up and get them to show it to us again," Victoire suggested; and then smiled at Ginny. "I wonder where he might have seen something like that before?"

"Nowhere around here with a quaffle in hand; let alone using the momentum of the flip for the pass – and there was a half-twist in that flip too. Louis didn't have a chance with that one."

"I am so glad that I'll graduate before Al can play on the senior team," Dominique declared. "It'd be so hard to get any job offers with the pro teams if I was on the reserve squad in my NEWT year."

While their audience in the house watched a bit more of the show before going to sit down at the kitchen table again; Al and Gwendolyn were having as brilliant a time playing together as they appeared to be having. What was even more amazing was that it was really the first time that they'd played on the same side in a semi-serious scrimmage; so it was amazing to discover just how great they played together. They were both smiling all of the time; and didn't worry about how their play was affecting everyone else – though Al was acutely aware of everything going on around them. The offensive plays were the most fun for them; but they played fairly brilliantly on defense too – especially considering that their third Chaser was behind the plays at every turn and switch betwwen offense and defense.

Ollie had tried to take advantage of that mismatch – and advantage; but couldn't do that effectively because he wouldn't use Ray and Rose to do that unless they were passing to him. He'd expected to have an easy time of it with Hugo too; but Al knew that it was his own fault that he didn't do well. Playing Keeper was a lot simpler if you could be sure that the Chaser with the quaffle in hand would always take the shot – and had a Chaser defense that knew that as well. In the end, while the final score didn't matter, and more than half of the players didn't even know what it was; everyone did know for sure that the 'kids' had won the day. Al really hadn't cared about the score even though he did know what it had been; but Louis apparently did think that it was important to give his own team the bad news as part of their lesson for the day once he'd called an end to the match and had them all land.

"For the record, I've decided that that idea for using Fireflies sucks after all," he began; smiling at Hugo. "Congratulations, cousin. I am so glad that I won't have to worry about going up against you in tryouts once you're at Hogwarts too. That would suck to be me if you were a year or three older." He then looked around at everyone before continuing.

"Total goals against me for that little disaster was thirty-four on sixty-two shots – my worst save percentage ever; and why I'm never going to try that again on a Firefly. Al and Gwendolyn had fourteen each; and, even scarier than that for me was Kathryn and Melissa with three goals each." He paused again for a moment and smiled at Hugo. "My Keeper opponent won our battle with just sixteen goals on forty-eight shots – though I might have missed coutning a shot or two. Rose led our chasers with nine goals; Ray had five; and Ollie had four."

"No way!" Ollie complained; and Louis just smiled and nodded.

"I'd agree, but in this case; it wasn't tough to keep count. We'll skip the Beater analysis, since Tiberius and Brock were under orders not to kill any of us; and they probably could have knocked me out on this broom if they'd tried. Finally, to complete our total rout; we lost the Seeker duel five catches to four."

"I won the Seeker duel," James interjected hotly. "Four for me; three for Lily; and two for Jonah."

"Lily and Jonah are on the same team," Louis reminded him. If you'd prefer, I'll concede that you tied Jonah two-to-two and Lily beat you three-to-two. Is that better?"

"No, it isn't – and it isn't right either," James said in disgust.

"I'd say it's as fair as counting all of the goals for four Chasers against me is," Louis countered unsympathetically. "Instead of being sore over it, though; some of us need to learn from this. The best team in the game isn't necessarily the one with the best players – it's the team that plays best together. To be blunt and obvious; we weren't that team today."

"Did you take it easy on Al and the girls to make that point?" James asked suspiciously.

"For Merlin's sake, James, when have you ever known me to hold back when I'm playing? Were you too busy with your Seeker duels to even notice the rest of the match? Al and Gwendolyn took us to school on how to really play as a Chaser team; and Kathryn and Melissa were happy to help them out with that every way they could – despite being a lot slower than the other five Chasers." He grinned at Gwendolyn. "If I could figure out a way to get Gwendolyn transferred to our House; I'd do it in a second."

"Time to give up the pitch to us," Victoire called out as she led her team as far as the benches before putting her bag down and opening it to get her gear and broom out. "If Al and Gwendolyn don't mind staying; Dominique and I saw a couple of plays they used in your scrimmage that we want them to show us again." She flashed a bright smile at them next. "You might want to hold off on getting Gwendolyn transferred to Gryffindor, Louis. If you did that; I might have to think about putting the pair of them on my team for the rest of the season instead of yours."

James snorted. "Why would you want the downgrade from the best Chasers in the school? Al can't play until after Easter anyway; so that's even crazier."

"I heard he was banned from playing on the junior team," Victoire pointed out easily; "though I'm not actually expecting that Ravenclaw would give up their best Chaser to help us out anyway."

"Oh good," Lucy told her. "I was starting to get worried about my job security with all of that talk."

"Wait until you see those plays we want Al and Gwendolyn to show us," Dominique advised her cousin. "I'm more than a little jealous of how great they play together."

The girls didn't have to wait long for that, since Al and Gwendolyn flew back up into the air with the quaffle, then – after getting Dominique to tell them which plays she wanted to see again. They had time to demonstrate both while their cousins and the rest of the senior team players got ready for their workout; and then Victoire, Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia Wood went to work on learning the plays while Belinda Wood defended the goals against them – or tried to do that. Al or Gwendolyn scored on four out of six attempts despite Belinda knowing by then what they were going to do; and partly because they also showed the older teens how to switch up the play on the fly and turn it into something else. All of the younger kids and teens had stayed to watch; but only Louis, Rose, and Ray stayed behind when Al and Gwendolyn were ready to land and Victoire got on with the rest of her practice.

"I feel a lot better now," Louis told them with a smile once they'd reached the benches. "If you can beat Belinda too; then my afternoon wasn't a total disaster after all. Nicely done."

"Thank-you," Gwendolyn said before taking a moment to hug Al. "That really was brilliantly fun!"

"No doubt," Louis agreed. "It was fun just to watch. How come you haven't used some of those moves in our practices, Al?"

"They're mostly works in progress," Al answered with a shrug. "You're welcome to work on them for our next game; but Gwendolyn and I haven't tested them with bludgers in the mix yet. You'd want to be ready to deal with bludgers too – or risk getting knocked out of the game if you had one meet you at the wrong moment in those flips. Mum and Dad used to get Uncle George to help them out with that part of the new tricks and plays they'd work on together. We haven't tried to get any help for that yet with our Chaser duels."

"That'd mess up one of your rare chances at any alone time," Rose pointed out. "Maybe Gwendolyn doesn't want to invite a third wheel along."

"I don't; but we can always do that during our extra scrimmages."

"don't count on us having many of them between now and spring," Rose warned. "That isn't likely going to happen."

"And I'm not sure you should have those inter-House scrimmages once we're close to the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match in April," Louis added.

"Pauline will likely say the sme thing," Gwendolyn suggested. "Just don't expect to have any luck with getting us to stop our Chaser duels too – especially if we have a really nice spring."

"Other couples manage to survive cross-House dating and Quidditch. I don't expect that to be a problem with you either," Louis said as he waved a hand dismissively. "I'm ready to go and get warmed up now, though; so I'll see you inside. Rose and Ray stayed after Louis headed for the house; and Al andGwendolyn started taking their pads off and packing up their equipment bags. Once Louis was far enough away; Rose smiled at Al and Gwendolyn.

"It looks to me as though my master plan is working great today. I'm not happy about you winning the Chaser battle over us; but I can forgive you if you agree to sign up for my Cannons' team."

"This was all part of your master plan?" Ray asked in amusement. "Does that include the pranks; getting Al grounded and off the team for a match; and everything else that put Al on Gwendolyn's team today instead of me?"

"No, but it is all helping me out; and Gwendolyn won't ever have that much fun playing for the Harpies."

"Sure, because it couldn't possibly be fun playing Quidditch with your cousins and aunt," Gwendolyn offered with a dash or two of insincerity. She smiled at Al again. "I'll concede that the hugs and kisses won't be as much fun; but then I could just re-arrange the rest of my schedule to make up for that once we're adults."

That comment gave Rose and Gwendolyn a topic to have a bit of fun with until they were all indoors again and with the rest of the kids. Snack time was good; and Al enjoyed the getting warmed up again part of the next hour or so they had left in the afternoon before Gwendolyn and Jonah were picked up by Kirley and went home. Once their cousins and friends were gone, the rest of Al's day wasn't all that much fun because James was not happy about how his own afternoon had gone – particularly when his expectations for seeing Al have a really bad day didn't work out for him. Lily didn't help at all when she happily razzed James about being the better Seeker when they were both using a Firefly, and while Al couldn't blame her for doing that with their abrasive and arrogant brother; that just added fuel to the fire for James when it came to racheting up the anger he directed at Al – since there wasn't anyone else in the house that he could use as a verbal punching bag.

That blast of fun with their cousins and friends turned out to be one of the last times that Al saw Gwendolyn – or any of their other friends – until Sunday. The had a quiet night at home on Wednesday; his only outting for the rest of the week was a fairly short trip to Diagon Alley to pick up their back-to-school supplies; and then he was quite literally grounded for the rest of the week – except for two Quidditch play breaks with Lily on Thursday and Friday afternoons. James started to get his enthusiasm back again by Thursday; was in fine form by Friday when he was allowed to go and spend the day with Ollie again; and razzed Al mercilessly on Saturday morning through until Harry and Ginny took him and Lily to Diagon Alley to do some shopping before meeting up with everyone that was going to the Harpies' game for lunch at the Leaky while Al stayed home. Gwendolyn did not come over because her parents had wanted her to spend that time with Kirley and Jonah while she could before going back to school; so Molly only ended up having Al to watch for the afternoon – and she was happy to do that instead of going to the game and sitting outside in a cold stadium with her sister and cousins.

Al was actually okay with that too – even though he would have rather spent the day with Gwendolyn. Having that time off from James was very close to being a fair trade, and while Molly was the cousin he knew least-well; she was as happy as he was to watch parts of the match on the mirror network and read books. She was happy to cuddle with Holly too while Lily was out; so they all had a really good afternoon together. Ginny had made sure that they were well-supplied for lunch, snacks, and dinner too if the game went long and they were on their own for that meal too. While watching Quidditch on the mirror network wasn't as exciting as seeing the games live, Lee Jordan was always entertaining while announcing the matches; and being warm and cozy was another bonus. The only part of the afternoon that didn't go well for Al – or for the Harpies and all of their fans – was that the Wasps managed to get the win.

It had been a close game, but high-scoring; and the Harpies seemed to be playing catch-up all afternoon. The Wasps only had a narrow thirty point lead when Aaron out-dueled Gabrielle to catch the snitch at the four hour, twenty-seven minute mark of the match; and he was quite possibly the happiest Wizard or Witch anywhere after getting that victory in the ongoing contest between them that Gabrielle still comfortably led even after the loss.

While the game hadn't gone on too long, Molly and Al still ended up having dinner on their own anyway – after Molly assured Ginny that it was not a problem for them to do that while his parents, brother, and their sisters went out for dinner with most of the rest of their family so that they could all spend time with the kids before they headed back to school in the morning. Missing out on that family gathering didn't really bother either of them – though that was for different reasons. Al was simply glad that he wasn't there to have James – or Uncle George and Uncle Ron – publicly make fun of him for getting hit by the New year's Eve pranks and then being the only one to get punished because of them. Molly was happy to talk school, magic, and books with Al instead of listening to their family talk about Quidditch during dinner – even when that meant missing out on a restaurant meal.

When James did eventually get home with their parents and Lily, Al was sure he'd been right about what would have been in store for him had he been at that family dinner; since his brother was in a great mood – and then happily proceeded to tell him how impressed their Uncles had been with him. He started right in on Al after that – even before Ginny took Molly home; and that included razzing him about having to stay at home all day with a babysitter since he obviously couldn't be trusted to be left alone even for a few hours. It would have been nice to spend a quiet evening with his family after Ginny got home again, but James made that impossible for Al; and he went up to his room instead of getting into another argument or fight with him and just make the evening miserable for everyone. He packed his bag; read for a while; had chat visits from his parents and Lily when they went to bed; and wrapped up his last day at home with a fairly brilliant bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn that had him smiling and forgetting all about his troubles with James. When he went off to sleep; he was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts – and to getting to spend time with Gwendolyn every day!

Scorpius was in his suite of rooms at Malfoy Manor on Saturday evening too; and he'd also been trying to escape family issues – though in his case; it was his parents and grandparents that were driving him crazy. It'd be fair to say that they'd done that for most of the past two weeks; and he was just as glad to be going back to Hogwarts as Al was – if not for the same reasons. His life in Slytherin House was hardly an improvement from home; but at least he was generally left alone there – and he'd be able to get back to his lessons with Thomas again. That thought had him going to his bag and retrieving the painting. Sitting down on his huge bed, he held the picture in his hands and smiled at Thomas.

"One more day and we'll be back at Hogwarts," he said enthusiastically. "if every holiday is going to be like this one; I'd rather be left there instead of coming home."

"I felt the same way when I was a boy," Thomas assured him; "though your rooms here are a much nicer prison than my orphanage dorm room was for me – and you have nicer things."

"We do have that here," Scorpius agreed; "and my parents and grandparents have become experts at collecting things – as they have nothing better to do with their time; and contribute nothing to the cause that had once been their passion – and should have been your legacy."

"I have great hope that will still come to pass – through you," Thomas told him. "Do not entirely dismiss what your family is doing, Scorpius. Your father's prized collection of Dark Arts books and aritfacts, for instance, will be very useful to you once you have learned enough to use them safely."

"My father plays at being an expert and collector; yet is too weak and cowardly to ever do anything," Scorpius said derisively. "You've revealed all of their lies to me, and while I hate it for myself; they deserve to be shunned by the other true purebloods for their cowardice and deceit."

"They do," Thomas agreed; "but you don't – just as I didn't deserve to be judged as I was as an orphan child. You will also prove yourself, though; and perhaps even restore your family name and honor. Instead of dwelling on such weighty matters, though; tell me of your day and any news you may have heard."

Scorpius was happy to do that – and just have the time to talk with the Wizard that he considered both his mentor and best friend. Their time together would have been better if they'd been able to do a lesson too; but that wasn't possible outside of Hogwarts – and was another reason for Scorpius to be happy about going back there in the morning. Their chat was cut short by a visit from his parents when they were ready to retire for the evening, and while Thomas had counseled him to play the happy, content child; it was becoming more difficult for him to do that as his disdain for their weaknesses grew in equal measure with his own burgeoning magical abilities.

Once he was again left alone, he did not get Thomas' picture out again because he wanted to be alone with his own thoughts while waiting to be ready to sleep. So much had changed since starting at Hogwarts in September; and that had affected how he perceived everything around him over the holidays. Before going to school, he'd known that there were things that were missing from his life; but it wasn't until he was able to watch the daily interaction of other, 'normal' Witches and Wizards that he began to understand what was wrong at home. Looking back now at the past two weeks of his life in that new lens of awareness left a burning desire in Scorpius to bring about the future that Thomas promised him was possible.

He did not want to settle for the near-hermit life that was all his parents and grandparents now aspired to as they lived out their pathetic lives in luxury that was devoid of any purpose. They'd walked away from what should have been their own greatness and their proud family heritages; dishonored their ancestors; and stolen the legacy that should have been left to him to continue. Thomas' family had done exactly the same thing – and worse! If he could overcome those obstacles; Scorpius knew that he could deal with his own problems; especially when he had Thomas guiding him every step of the way. The path back to greatness was still just beginning, but he would be patient – even as he was also impatient and excited about getting back to Hogwarts so that he could continue to learn all of the magic and mundane lessons that Thomas would teach him to achieve all of his dreams!


	6. Cold Quidditch Warm Hearts

**Chapter Six – Cold Quidditch; Warm Hearts**

"You made it!" Gwendolyn told Al happily as she welcomed him into the compartment that she'd picked for them; and Al was the last to arrive.

"We did – barely," Al agreed. "Hi. How are you today? I missed you a lot." Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him again.

"I missed you too," she assured him. "Come and sit down; and you can tell us why you almost missed the train." The Hogwarts Express had already been moving for several minutes by then; and Al and James had literally been the last two students to board it before it left King's Cross station. They'd gotten on at the nearest door; and then Al had needed to then go and find Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends – most of them sitting in two pairs of compartments across the aisle from each other.

"James happened," Al answered simply as he stowed his bags and then sat down next to Gwendolyn and Rose. Ray, Toni Hopkins, and Landon Graves were with them; and Al was only a little surprised that Landon had chosen to sit with them instead of with some of their other friends. The other boy did not look happy to see him – or at least he wasn'thappy to see him still 'with' Gwendolyn.

"He supposedly stayed up late doing his revision, though there weren't any books or anything else out of his bag when I was sent to wake him up this morning; he took forever to get ready for the day and have breakfast; and then he wasted more than a half-hour looking for one of his Christmas gifts that he just had to take with him only to eventually find that he'd already packed it."

"That must've made the trip to London fun for you," Rose guessed; and Al shrugged.

"I'm sure that we can come up with anything else to talk about other than what a git my brother can be – and was this morning – or have you covered all of the holiday gossip already?"

"We've barely begun," Toni assured him with a bright smile. "You're not going to get out of talking about James quite yet, though; since some of us have already heard that you have what is sure to be one of the top gossip stories of the holidays. Did you really blast your brother and Ollie Wood right in front of the Head of the Aurors? Isn't that like trying to rob Gringotts while the goblins are standing around the vault door?"

"Are you just using that comparison because of my Dad?" Al joked; and laughed when Toni's eyes went wide with realization about what he'd meant.

"I wasn't thinking about that!" she exclaimed.

"That's okay," Al assured her. "I wasn't thinking about Dad being Head of the Aurors when I used my shield on James and Ollie – not that I'd have likely done anything differently if I had." He smiled at Gwendolyn when she squeezed his hand fairly hard; and then shrugged. "Yes, I'm still saying that even after getting in trouble with you for not taking our first New Year's kiss seriously enough. It would have ended either way – we just didn't get thrown up on; and I still think that I made the right choice."

"Even with getting into that much trouble over it?" Toni asked; and Al shrugged again and nodded.

"It hasn't been that bad so far. I couldn't go to the Harpies game yesterday and didn't get to spend a day with Lily at Gwendolyn's earlier in the week; but Louis is letting me practice with the team because Dad left that up to him; and I'll only miss playing in the Hufflepuff game in March."

"Will you be taking Al's spot on the team?" Landon asked Ray. "You've worked with Rose more than the other Chasers on your reserve team – and with Ollie."

"I don't know," Ray answered. "Louis will decide soon; but he might try each of us out and see which of us is best for the job. Ollie and James have already made it clear to us that they don't want me to take Al's place."

"Don't take this the wrong way; but you might not want the job," Landon told him; and then smiled a bit uncomfortably. "I'm sure that you want to play for your team as much as any of us do, but that game doesn't go well for Gryffindor; Al's replacement won't want to be responsible for that loss – even if Al gets a lot of the blame too."

"He shouldn't get any of it," Rose challenged; and Landon shrugged uncomfortably.

"You know it won't matter whether it's right or not," he told her. "Getting on any team that way is tough; and it isn't just the risk of losing the game to worry about. It'd be great to jump in and play brilliantly; but then what does Louis do after that? Keep that player or put Al back on the team instead?" He nodded to Ray. "In your case; that'd mean replacing your best friend for the rest of the season."

Ray grinned at him. "Oh, I'm not Al's best mate – Gwendolyn has that job." That earned him a round of laughs from everyone except Landon. "You do have some really good points," Ray admitted to Landon; being serious again. "I'd still want to play, though; and think that I'd do better that our other reserve team Chasers would do." He smiled at Al then. "If I got to play for our team for the rest of the season, I might lose a friend; but then he's been a trouble magnet all year so far anyway."

"We're barely a week into the year," Gwendolyn reminded him; "and he hasn't gotten into any more trouble since New Year's Eve."

"My point exactly," Ray countered. "Al didn't even make it a full minute into the New Year before getting into trouble. Merlin only knows what kind of problems he'll have between now and the end of this year?"

"That's true," Al agreed. "If I were all of you; I'd think about staying far away from me."

"That's not going to happen with me," Gwendolyn assured him; "and you know that Ray's just having some fun with that – mostly."

"Mostly," Ray confirmed. "Al will hear too much about all of that once we're at Hogwarts, though; so let's find something else to talk about."

"We can do that," Toni agreed. "We haven't even started in on the back-to-school fashion review yet. I don't even need to leave this compartment to see that some Witches were given some very nice Christmas gifts."

With a new chat topic picked, the girls settled in to enjoy the entertainment as they sped toward Hogsmeade while Al, Ray, and Landon either listened in or talked together about anything other than fashion or all of the holiday gossip that was making the rounds on the train at amazing speed. They had visitors stop by, and many of them wanted to talk with Al about his little problem on New Year's Eve. Dealing with that was easier with Gwendolyn's support. Rose and Ray helped out as witnesses, and while he didn't do more than answer the questions with simple honesty; he was glad that nobody really gave him a hard time about it – everyone was mostly just curious. When he thought about that, it wasn't really surprising at all. He hadn't known any Hogwarts students that had gotten into trouble for using magic at home; so that did, unfortunately, make him a minor celebrity – if not in a good way.

All of that bonus activity helped to make the trip to Hogsmeade go more quickly for all of them, and while Al only ventured out for one short walk to stretch his legs; everyone else left the compartment several times – either for walks or to visit their friends in the other three compartments closest to them. There was more fun to be had once they were at the station in Hogsmeade; and that was thanks to all of the firsties getting to have their first experience with riding in the thestral-drawn carriages. A handful of their fellow firsties claimed to be able to see the animals, but Al was certain that wasn't true – at least for the kids he overheard making that claim. He also noticed several older teens that he was sure could see the thestrals; and one boy went up to where one of them presumably stood in front of a carriage and stroked it's neck. He'd been grinning, and was heckled for supposedly just pretending to do that, but if it was an act; he had Al – and his inner senses – convinced.

While the ride to the school was a first, it really wasn't especially thrilling – and it was very cold out. Al loved getting to share that ride with Gwendolyn; but they were also both glad to get into the castle where it was warm and the welcome back feast would soon begin. The only downside with that was needing to say goodbye to each other when it was time to split up and sit at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. Gwendolyn had a long hug for Al before going on to sit with her Ravenclaw friends while he went with Rose and Ray to their usual seats; and then they were all busy with more reunions; the ongoing holiday story sharing; and even more school gossip. The food was pretty good too; and that blast of dining fun seemed to be over too fast despite the fact that they'd been in the Great Hall for well-over an hour before any of the students started heading for their Houses.

Al met up with Gwendolyn for a quick chat and goodnight hug and kiss before they each needed to move on to their respective Houses; and they were both annoyed when James and Ollie caught them at that goodnight kiss with one of the Stinky Magic Mistletoe. They'd again avoided being sprayed by it, but hadn't avoided the attention and laughter; and James and Ollie had happily razzed them about it - and in Al's case; they'd continued to do that while following him back to the common room. That's where Al confronted them.

"Have you forgotten your pledge to me?" he asked James once they were in the common room; and he nudged James to the side of the room so they wouldn't be in the way of the Gryffindors that were following them in through the portrait hole. "I let that slide during the holidays because I didn't want to get into it with you at home; but you've promised to leave me alone – and all of my friends. I expect you to keep your word."

"You agreed to let me off of that pledge," James told him with a sneer. "Didn't you mean that?"

"I agreed to put your pledge on the line for the duel re-match you want to have with me," Al corrected. "We haven't had that duel; and you'll only be free from the pledge if you win."

"Well that's a certainty; so I'd say we're done here," James declared victoriously; and moved to walk past Al. he didn't get far.

"If you believe that; then let's get to it right here and now," Al offered. "I'm sure that everyone here will be very impressed when you prove that load of hippogriff dung to me." He smiled when James looked around the room and realized what it'd mean for him if he dueled Al and lost. "That's what I thought," Al told him before James could say anything. "Keep your pledge, James. The next time either of you prank any of us again, or bug me anymore with your stupid jokes and insults; I'm going to defend myself – and you won't like it if I do that." He turned and walked away; leaving James and Ollie both standing there glaring at him. He got about half-way over to where Rose and the rest of their usual group of friends were sitting and chatting when he sensed the jinx being flung at his back.

Turning around with his wand already in hand, Al muttered the counter-jinx for the trip jinx that he knew had come from Ollie despite the fact that the other boy was trying to hide his wand already. That was a mistake, because Al immediately counter-attacked; and Ollie was hit with the bat-bogey hex before he could react and attempt to defend himself. The first bat was already working its way out of Ollie's nose by the time Al turned around again and continued on to join Rose and their friends; but he didn't stay with them for long.

"I'd better just head up to my dorm room," he told Rose. "If James and Ollie want to come after me again; at least we won't have a room full of people around for me to worry about getting hurt in the crossfire."

"When did you learn the bat-bogey hex? Did your Mum teach it to you?"

"I looked it up a while ago," Al answered. "That one isn't the same as what Mum does, but we have heard a bit about the twists she's put into hers; and I'm planning on experimenting with mine." He smiled wryly. "Ollie apparently didn't believe me when I reminded them that I wasn't going to put up with their stupid pranks anymore." They all heard the laughter as it built on the other side of the room as more teens saw Ollie and his bat-bogey problem. "Time to exit stage dorm room. Have a good night, girls. See you later, Ray."

"Have a good night, Al," Rose told him while sharing a quick hug. "Try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the night."

"Good luck with that one," Ray joked. "You'll need to figure out how to reverse the polarity on that magnet he's got built into him."

"I'd really appreciate it if you do find a way to do that," Al told them; laughing softly as he then headed for the stairs and his dorm room.

It took longer than he expected for James and Ollie to come looking for him, but they did come; and they brought their sixth-year House Prefect, Jensen Scott, along with them. Ollie looked furious; James looked smug; and Jensen seemed to be doing his best to keep from laughing while also putting on his best, serious Prefect face. Al had been sitting in his bed by then; put his mirror down; and focused his attention on Jensen while making a point of ignoring his brother and Ollie.

"I've been told that you used a bat-bogey hex on Ollie in the common room," Jensen said without preamble. The only hint of tightly held amusement was easy for Al to see in his eyes. He smiled amiably and nodded his agreement.

"I did do that, Jensen. Ollie tried to hit me from behind with a trip jinx, so I countered it and then let him have it."

"James and Ollie claim that your attack was unprovoked," jensen advised him. "Several students confirmed seeing you using your wand; and nobody saw Ollie or James using theirs."

Al shrugged. "I saw Ollie using his; and that's easy-enough for you to check his wand for the last spell he used it for."

"That's true," Jensen agreed. "Would you be okay with me doing that, Ollie?"

Ollie and James were both smirking now. "Sure," he agreed; pulling his wand out of his pocket and holding it out to Jensen. "You'll see that I haven't used it for any jinxes; and only for my revision work over the holidays – unlike some Wizards I could name sitting in the room with us."

Jensen took the wand and pointed his own toward it. "That's not Ollie's wand," Al told him before he'd used the spell to check the wand. "it's James'."

"What?" Jensen asked. Al managed not to laugh – both at the sense of repetitiveness from getting asked that simple question a lot over the past month or so; and from the expressions of chagrin on James' and Ollie's faces.

"That's James' wand," Al repeated. He lifted his own wand. "Accio Ollie Wood's wand!" he said with a commanding tone of voice; and smiled when a wand flew out of James' back pocket and sped into his outstretched hand. "Do you still want Jensen to bother with checking your wand, Ollie?"

"That's not my wand," Ollie said stupidly; and Al laughed.

"Sure it isn't. That's why it answered my summons for your wand."

Jensen couldn't keep from laughing too. "Well, Ollie? I'm going to guess that this would be a very good time to drop the matter. I'd really hate to take points away from both of you over this, and if we take it to Victoire; you'll likely both end up with detention for flinging spells around a room full of innocent bystanders that could of been hurt if either of you had missed."

"Fine," Ollie growled while glaring at Al; and Jensen nodded.

"Good choice. Have a good night, guys." With that, he returned the two wands; left the room; and Al was left alone with James and Ollie.

"You think that you're so bloody smart," Ollie snarled at him once they were alone. "We're going to make you pay for that."

"I just finished warning you that I wasnt' going to put up with your crap anymore,' Al reminded him. "You didn't believe me; and left me no choice but to prove I wasn't bluffing." He turned his attention to James next. "We can have that duel re-match anytime you're ready for it, but as I told you over the holidays – even if you do manage to win that duel and get out of your pledge; that doesn't mean that I'll just sit back and take your pranks and the rest of the things you try to do to me – or to Rose, Gwendolyn, and the others. Either way, do you really want these little battles between us? I don't want any of this."

"You should have thought about that before giving us so many reasons to put you back at the top of our hit list," Ollie told him with a sneer. "James can do whatever he wants with that stupid pledge, but I didn't make one to you, and as far as I'm concerned; this is war, loser."

Al shook his head. "That's too bad, and it's going to be tough playing Quidditch with you when you're mad at me all of the time; but I can deal with that if you can."

Ollie snorted out a laugh. "When James and I finish crushing Hufflepuff without you; we won't have to worry about playing Quidditch with you again. Even Louis will see what a loser you are after that and just boot you off of the team like you deserve."

"Thanks for the heads up on that," Al told him and then turned to James. "So – what's it going to be with us? I guess that you actually have three choices. We can have that duel whenever you want it; you can just forget about it and keep your pledge; or you can decide that your word doesn't mean anything and just continue to break your promise."

"As I told you; I've already won that duel," James told him. "The pledge is over; and we'll make that official a week from Saturday – while the older students are in Hogsmeade. That'll give Ollie and me time to soften you up a bit between now and then."

"So you've picked option one and three," Al retorted. "Justify it all you want, James; but you know that you've decided to break your promise. Thanks for giving me time to get ready for that duel. Go ahead and waste your time trying to soften me up. I'll be busy working on my dueling – just in case it won't be quite so easy for you to win as you think that it will be."

"That will be how I'll practice," James promised. "I'd suggest that you watch your back; but we're going to make sure you don't see us coming until it's too late."

"Whatever," Al said with a dismissive wave of his hand and a sigh. "Goodnight, James. I love you – even when you're being such a gigantic git."

"Cut it out – you're making me want to puke again," James retorted; earning a laugh from Ollie.

"I did warn you not to have that third helping of dessert; but you wouldn't listen."

"Don't you have some revision to get done by morning or something?" Al asked; tired of having them around and ready to be left alone for a while.

"I do," James agreed; "but that won't take long. Some of us are smart-enough that we don't need to study day and night to keep up with our assignments – or pucker up to kiss our Professors' butts to get better grades."

"Try to be more consistent with your insults," Al suggested. "I can't be a brainiac bookworm and so dumb that I have to study all of the time just to get the work done and have to suck up to the Professors for marks. I really have had enough of the two of you for one night, though; so please get out of here."

"Make us," Ollie said derisively; and Al just nodded and lifted his wand and pointed it at them.

"If you insist. Protego!"

James and Ollie both laughed when Al's shield appeared half-way between them; but then lost all amusement when it pushed toward them. James pulled out his wand and put up a shield too while stepping back several paces – toward the door. He stopped then; and watched as Al's shield bumped into his and stopped. He smiled victoriously; and Ollie laughed again – until they both saw Al's shield flare brighter and begin to move again while pushing James' shield ahead of it. James didn't seem to have an answer for that; so Ollie raised his wand and tried to add his own shield to the mix. Unfortunately for him; it just hit James' shield at an angle and moved it to the side a bit – putting both shields on an angle to Al's shield. That mistake allowed Al to push his shield along more quickly; and James and Ollie were forced to retreat – all the way into the doorway.

"Don't make me slam the door in your faces," Al told them. "I don't want to be that rude unless you don't leave me any other choice."

He dropped his shield then; watched as James fought an inner battle over what to do; and then picked up his mirror again when they opted to leave. When the door slammed shut a moment later, he let James have that non-verbal last word even though he could have stopped it; and then he went back to his play time on the Wizarding Wireless Web until Gwendolyn called to have a bedtime mirror chat with him. That minor little first for them had been fun; and Gwendolyn had helped a lot with lightening Al's mood with her commentary about James and Ollie after hearing about his problems with them in the short time since they'd split up for the night.

That happier mood continued for Al on Monday morning. Harry, Ginny, and Lily had sent Blizzard and Winter back to James and Al with short letters and welcome back to Hogwarts treats. James and Ollie didn't try bothering him at all before or during breakfast; but then they seemed to be busy with some last minute revision they were trying to get done before their first classes of the New Year. They weren't the only students in the castle with that problem, but even though they hadn't all been able to get together over the holidays; everyone in Al and Rose's usual study group had their assignments done and ready to hand in before getting on the train in London. The highlight of the early morning for Al was the few minutes he got to spend with Gwendolyn before they each had to get to first classes; and he earned a bonus hug for having a little good luck treat for her that Lily had sent along with his Owl Post.

Professor Longbottom got their first class off to a scary start for some of the kids in the class with a pop quiz that was meant to test them on the material they should have learned with their holiday revision. It was simple and only took a couple of minutes to complete; but still managed to stress the few, least-prepared Gryffindor firsties. Rose, on the other hand, was Professor Longbottom's best pupil in first year; and earned five points for her House by the end of the class – something that was no longer a daily normal – and required exceptional classwork to earn.

Their Charms class wasn't as much fun when dealing with Professor Dawlish; but the second pop quiz of the day had gone perfectly; and the lesson and successfully learned new charms had been great. By lunchtime, Al, Rose, and their friends began to hear a bit of gossip about James and Ollie both getting into some trouble over missing or shoddy holiday assignments. Those stories were easy to believe when they saw both boys working all through the lunch break; and Al was simply glad that they were too busy to bother him. Instead of worrying about them, he instead ate quickly; and then he spent the rest of the lunch break with Gwendolyn until they each needed to get to their first afternoon class.

A third consecutive quiz of the day hadn't done anything to bring down the fun level for Al even if some of his classmates were getting a bit surly about the way their New Year was starting; and he and Rose had fun splitting ten more points for Gryffindor for their completed potion at the end of the class. They had their Monday afternoon study period after that, and while most of their classmates went to the common room to play for the rest of the day until dinnertime; Al and Rose had Ray, Romeo, Dave, Bristol, and Cora with them when they found a classroom near Gryffindor tower that they could use to work on their Charms assignment. They picked that over the library because they wanted to be able to practice the new charms too as well as writing up the reports; and their friends were particularly glad to have Al and Rose helping them with that part of the work.

Their Quidditch practice was next on the schedule, so after getting their Charms assignment finished; Al, Rose, and Ray stopped in to switch book bags for equipment bags; and then they headed out to the practice pitch. It was a very cold afternoon; there'd been a fair bit of snow over the holidays; and while paths were kept clear, there was too much snow for any shortcuts across the grounds. It took a bit longer to get out to the pitch, but they'd left early-enough to still be there with time to spare; and Louis, Tiberius, and Brock were the only other teens there when they arrived and started to get ready to play. By then, everyone on the team, including the players on the practice squad, knew about Al's ban from their next game; and their three reserve team Chasers were very interested in what Louis was going to do about choosing his replacement. When everyone was there and ready to go; Louis gathered them together for a quick meeting on that before getting them started on their workout.

"You all know that we're going to have a change at Chaser for our next match," he began; smiling at Al. "Other than my promise to put my juvenile delinquent cousin through the wringer while he's on the reserve squad between now and Easter; that's the start and end of the issue for me – and should be for all of you too. Al's our team mate; and Gryffindors stick together." He looked at his three reserve squad Chasers next. "I've decided to basically hold tryouts with the three of you this week. Do your best during all of the workouts; and I'll be having you take turns working with Ollie and Rose during our scrimmages and the playmaking exercises; and then I'll make my decision over the weekend so that whichever one of you gets the job will still have as muchtime as possible to get used to playing with your new Chaser partners – and they can get used to playing with you."

"That sounds fair to me," Magnus Finnegan told him with an approving nod. "Do you want us to take turns at each practice; or just have us each do one full practice with Ollie and Rose."

Louis thought about that for a moment before deciding. "Let's go with option two there – though I'll look at what you each do for the rest of the workouts that we all do together too. Let's go with seniority for picking which day you want to have. Would you like to be first, middle, or last, Magnus?"

"I'll go last, and hope that you have a short memory," he joked; earning some laughs.

Al wasn't surprised when Ray ended up with the workout they were about to start; and he and Rose both tried their best to make the sudden pressure easier for him as they got started on their warm-ups. For Al, being on the reserve squad felt pretty good. James and Ollie were as annoying to him as usual; but he especially enjoyed competing against Rose in the playmaking part of their practice and the scrimmage game. He'd actually expected to be up against Ollie for both, but Louis had paired him up with Rose and had Ollie and Ray take turns playing against Magnus and Eric Talbot – his temporary Chaser partners for the day. That made sense for Louis to evaluate how Ray stacked up against the other two boys; but Al would have been more of a challenge for Ollie. It was fair to admit that he'd have liked the chance to out-play Ollie too; but he didn't let that bit of selfishness get in the way of trying his best – especially when the scrimmage flow did put him up against Ollie – and he won every one of those mini-battles. Then again he won the day against Rose and Ray too; and was the top scorer among the six Chasers. That wasn't helpful for Ray; but he wouldn't have slacked off for his friend; and was sure that James and Ollie would have called him out on it if he had. They couldn't say that about Magnus and Eric either, but then Ray was fairly evenly matched with them for their abilities. On the positive side for Ray, he and Rose worked well together; while the bad news was that Ollie went out of his way to make his cousin look bad – with too much success.

Once their practice was over; everyone hurried to get their gear packed up so that they could get indoors again while the senior team took over the pitch; but Al, Rose and Ray went for a walk together once they were in the castle again so that they could talk about the practice – and so that Rose and Al could do what they could to help their friend with his disappointment and certainty that Ollie had well and truly put him out of the running for the Chaser job.

"I don't even know why I'd want to play on the team with Ollie after that, but I do," Ray admitted dejectedly. "He did everything he could to make me look like an idiot out there – and I couldn't figure out a way to stop him from doing a great job of it."

"We still have two more practices," Rose pointed out; "and Louis will get to see you play against us – and against Eric on Wednesday and Magnus on Friday."

"That's true," Ray conceded; "but that won't help much if Ollie keeps messing things up for me."

"I'll help you out with that as much as I can," Al promised; and Ray laughed.

"You mean the way you helped me out today?" he joked. "I should just cocede defeat now."

"I'll be on your side for these next two practices," Al reminded him. "We'll play our best; and hope that'll be enough."

"That's great for you and Ray," Rose told him; "but I'm not having much fun playing against you."

"Yes, you are," Al disagreed with a warm smile for his cousin. "We make a good team; but competing against each other is going to make both of us better."

"Maybe," Rose conceded; "but I had more fun when it was you and me against Ollie. He wasn't any nicer to me out there today."

"That's going to be the hardest part of the choice for Louis," Al told them sadly. "I'm biased, and think that Ray's the best choice; but Louis has to try and keep the peace with Ollie and James too. Magnus and Eric won't be as good a match-up for Rose."

"Why do you say that?" Rose asked him; sincerely curious.

"Eric would do whatever Ollie wanted if he's playing with you – including ignoring you as much as possible. Magnus is more assertive; but his style of play is closer to Ollie's than yours. They'll happily work together and go for high-risk plays – and leave you out of it as much as they can."

"Do you think that Louis would let me play on the practice squad with you until aftr the Hufflepuff game?"

"No, but whatever happens; Ray and I are going to be there for you – even if a couple of our team mates will be trying to make life tough for all of us."

They only took a longer route to their common room to have that chat, and they needed to drop off their equipment and winter clothing before going on to hang out with their friends until they all headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Ray was at the center of the Quidditch chat that their friends wanted to have when they first sat down, and while he tried to be more upbeat with everyone else; Al knew that Ray had revised his expectations a lot lower – and didn't expect to be playing with Ollie and Rose in March. While Al would have liked to offer more hope; he suspected that Ray was right about that. The rest of the dinner conversation revolved around yet more gossip for the girls; another round of fashion reviews; and at least another dozen holiday stories that had still needed to be shared.

After dinner, they were making one big change to what had been their normal evening routine – and that was starting a daily study session with their Ravenclaw friends. While firsties were generally encouraged to stick to their Houses after dinner, students were allowed to be out and about the castle until curfew; and the older students often were with their friends from other Houses – and working in the library or various classrooms. Gwendolyn had suggested the extra joint study sessions, and while they didn't have the same classes or assignments every day; they did all have the same core classes and Professors. Renee and Toni had been happy to sign on with Gwendolyn, and while Landon hadn't been happy about the change at all; he'd gone along for his own reasons.

They met up in the Great Hall once they'd all finished eating; and decided to study in the library so that they could do some research as needed for one or more of their assignments. The only part of the plan that didn't work out for Al and Gwendolyn was that they did need to be in separate groups when they worked on different assignments. They did the best they could with that by sitting at the corners of two worktables that had them sitting next to each other with just the walk space between the tables separating them. Holding hands wouldn't have worked out anyway, since they were studying; but they could talk to each other easily-enough; and Al helped Gwendolyn with her assignments even when he was doing something else with his own group. That kept Al busy; but he was happy to take that trade-off for the bonus time with Gwendolyn that kept him smiling all evening.

Scorpius Malfoy was smiling too as he sat in 'his' special place in the Room of Requirements to have his first chat with Thomas. He was venturing out of Slytherin House after dinner for the first time too for weekday nights; though he didn't plan on staying out until curfew when he still had assignments to work on with Davis. His only 'friend' so far in Slytherin House might be a pain too much of the time; but at least he was bright-enough to keep up with Scorpius when they studied together. This visit with Thomas had been important to him, though; so he'd made up an excuse to meet up with Davis later; and had gone from the Great Hall up to the Room of Requirements – though indirectly to avoid getting caught or followed.

"I didn't expect to speak with you until sometime this weekend," Thomas told him. "Something must have happened to have you this excited."

"Albus Potter got nailed for using magic outside of school over the holidays," Scorpius informed his painted friend enthusiastically. "It was a hot topic for the Slytherins on the train and last night after we got back here to Hogwarts."

"That is quite interesting," Thomas said with a smile. "Do you have any real details; or just rumors?"

"I think we have most of the true details," Scorpius answered. "It happened New Year's Eve at his house. His parents were hosting a kids' party; James and Ollie apparently tried to prank Albus at midnight; and he stopped them using a shield charm – right in front of his parents. As Head of the Aurors, it seems that Albus' father was forced to take the matter quite seriously despite the fact that nobody was hurt; and it could be seen as self-defense."

"How seriously?" Thomas asked next.

"Albus was grounded until Easter and won't be allowed to play Quidditch for Gryffindor until then either. That's only one missed game; but it could be a big deal for the team. Despite what Ollie Wood tells everyone; I think that Al's their best Chaser."

"While that might be something for the Quidditch fans in the other three Houses to cheer about; the punishment doesn't seem to be all that serious."

"The fact that he's being punished at all is what has most students talking about it," Scorpius admitted. "What I find most interesting are the rumors that James and Ollie are getting most of the blame from their fellow Gryffindor – even though they apparently didn't even get in trouble for their attempted prank that night. The few times I've watched James; he does not appear to be very happy with his younger brother."

"A rift between the Potter boys could definitely be worth keeping an eye on," Thomas suggested thoughtfully. "It may well turn out that one or the other of them will be useful to you in the future."

"I can't imagine how," Scorpius admitted; and Thomas laughed with easy-going amusement.

"Their grandparents couldn't imagine being betrayed by one of their closest friends," he reminded Scorpius. "Any rift among your enemies is a potential opportunity to further your own plans. Who can say what might be in the future? Where I failed with my attempts to draw the father to our side; you might well succeed with one of the sons."

"You did tell me once that my father tried to befriend Harry Potter; but botched it. Albus seemed willing-enough to be friendly with me the few times we've spoken; but James is arrogant, crude, and seems to hate all Slytherins as much as most of us hate him and his family."

"Hate is an easy emotion to exploit," Thomas taught patiently. "Possibly the easiet; though I've come to understnad that love is quite possibly equal to it in power if used to control and not to be controlled by it." He waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not suggesting that you become best mates with either of them right now; but you should remain open to all possibilities for the future – no matter how unlikely they seem to be today."

"I will do that," Scorpius promised. "My study partner is expecting me to return to our common room soon; but do you think that we could do a quick lesson before I need to leave? I have really missed being able to do them with you – and whether Albus has proved how the Ministry of Magic will respond to even the smallest infractions for that law or not; I know that we can't risk doing my lessons at home."

Thomas laughed at that. "I'm certain that the Ministry watches all of the kids on our side very carefully, and we will always be cautious around your family too; but we will still be able to have you keep learning by next summer too – even if you can't practice the magic when you are away from here until you are seventeen." He paused for a moment and then smiled. "I have just the quick little lesson you need for tonight. Considering the nature of our chat this evening; learing about the Revulsion Jinx seems quite appropriate!"

While Al continued to be unaware of the interest that Scorpius and Thomas had for him and his family; the Monday evening study session with his Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends was yet another blast of fun that had him feeling great about being back at school. Life was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination because he did have James and Ollie to deal with – and watch out for all of the time; but everything else in his life just seemed to be brilliant!

Settling into the daily school routine was easy; the bonus joint study group sessions after dinner each evening were soon one of Al's favorite parts of the day; and he was even enjoying their Quidditch practices on Wednesday and Friday afternoons while playing on the reseve squad with Ray. On Wednesday, Eric had his turn playing with Ollie and Rose, and despite Ollie's claims otherwise; Al knew that the second-year teen had not played better than Ray despite a lot of help from Ollie. He knew that because Eric ended the scrimmage at negative-eight for his personal goals for and against. He'd scored nine of those 'against' goals; Ray had five more; and Magnus had three – mostly because he didn't try to work very much with Ray while also feeling the need to compete against him.

Their Friday afternoon practice wasn't just cold, but the weather was tough too with snow and windy conditions that affected all of them. Al still managed to smile throughout their workout and scrimmage; at least partly because he had the warm fuzzies helping him out every time he thought about the Witch that had given him the gloves he was wearing while blasting around in the fristy, snow-filled air above the pitch. It was Magnus' turn to work with Ollie and Rose; the two boys were up against Eric and Ray; and they won that battle at the expense of losing the scrimmage match. Al wasn't the top Chaser again because of anything Rose did or didn't do – he was best because Eric and Ray had nowhere else to go with their own playmaking other that to pass to Al, and with Ollie and Rose ignoring Rose; he didn't need to work very hard on defense against her and helped out Ray or Eric instead when he could.

Al, Rose, and their usual Gryffindor and Ravenclaw study mates had plans for a study morning together on Saturday. Their Friday night session had been optional; which meant that less than half of their group opted for the studying. They had to adjust their morning plans when Al, Rose, and Ray were advised that Louis had called a short team meeting for after breakfast. That was the top conversation topic during that meal; and everyone expected that Magnus, Eric, and Ray were going to find out which of them would be replacing Al for the Hufflepuff match – and possibly for the rest of the season if Ollie and James got their way. After talking it over with Gwendolyn and the other Ravenclaws, everyone else went on to their usual study classroom to get started on their work; while Al, Rose, and Ray went straight from the Great Hall to the classrmoom that Louis had picked for their little meeting. He didn't waste any time getting started once everyone was there; though there was a delay while they waited for James and Ollie to join them. From the grins on their faces; Al was sure that their delay had been prank-related – which had him on guard in case that was to get ready for a prank on him after the meeting.

"I know that three of us are only interested in finding out who is going to be our third Chaser for the Hufflepuff match," Louis began after thanking everyone for coming to the meeting. He smiled at each of his three candidates. "You each had strengths and weaknesses, and I took that into account as much for how that would compare to our Hufflepuff competition as I did for how well each of you worked with Ollie and Rose. Finally, I talked with everyone on the team before making my decision last night."

Al looked over at Rose and she nodded slightly at his unspoken question; but didn't smile. He wasn't smiling either, since he'd overheard the few snide comments that James and Ollie had whispered to each other as Louis had been talking. Magnus was linked with 'strengths'; Ray with 'weaknesses'; and Rose and Ray were both branded as 'losers'. The two boys also looked smug; so Al was sure that Ray wasn't going to be the new team Chaser before Louis made it official.

"So, Magnus, I've picked you to join Ollie and Rose on the team; and we'll start working to get ready for playing Hufflepuff on Monday. I want to thank Eric and Ray for putting in so much extra effort this past week too, and while you're likely disappointed right now; I hope that you'll keep helping our team to get better – just as you have been all season so far."

"Congratulations, Magnus," Eric said; speaking up first and shaking Magnus' hand; since they'd been sitting next to each other. Ray needed to stand and go over to them; but he congratulated Magnus too before the rest of the team joined in to do that.

"I should warn you that I'm going to try to keep your job for the rest of the season," Magnus told Al with a smile while being totally serious after Al took his turn congratulating him.

Al smiled too and shrugged. "If you can do that, then our team would be all the better for it; so I'd be okay with that." His answer seemed to surprise Magnus; which just proved that the other boy hadn't gotten to know his team mate very well yet – even after practicing together three days a week for the past four months. The meeting wasn't quite over yet, so once the congratulations were taken care of; Louis got on with the two remaining issues he wanted to cover.

"As I mentioned, I took the Hufflepuff Chasers into consideration when picking Magnus to be our third Chaser, and while we'll get to work on that on Monday; I'd like each of you to start thinking about the best ways to play against Hufflepuff. Ollie, I want to put you up against Roman Smith this year. That's going to be a tough one for you; so don't underestimate him just because your sister did so well against him last season."

"He got schooled by my sister," Ollie said with a laugh. "Just put me up against Ray in our practices; and I'll be all set to handle anything a loser like Roman can throw at me."

"I haven't decided on our training pairings yet," Louis advised him; but I wouln't underestimate your cousin either if I were you." He looked to Magnus next. "You'll be up against Jonah Finch-Fletchley. If you want them, I have some notes that I took on each of the Chasers from their game against Ravenclaw that I can give you to study."

"Second-best of the losers," James told Magnus. "That's all you need to know."

Louis ignored him. "Finally, Rose, you'll be up against Tory Summers."

"The worst against the worst," Ollie interjected; and Louis turned to look at him; and seemed to be genuinely angry now.

"Will you shut it, Ollie? If you would actually pay attention and watch the games instead of spending all of your time cracking jokes about how lousy everyone else is compared to you and James; you might have noticed that Tory's their best Chaser."

"Then why don't you have me playing against her?" Ollie asked; his tone sarcastic and disbelieving.

"Because you'd underestimate her; and Rose is better on defense than you are," Louis answered. I'm also trying to set up the best match-ups I can – and we all have to remember that what we want in a game won't necessarily be the match-ups we end up with. Hufflepuff may want to try and get completely different pairings – and we were lucky that Slytherin wanted the same thing we did – though they couldn't pull off their game plan."

"Rose is not a better anything compared to me," Ollie disputed as if not hearing anything else that Louis had just told him.

Louis grinned at him. "Well, I'd love to see you prove that you're the better Witch, Ollie; but let's not go there and just move this meeting along so that we can all get on with the rest of our weekend."

He'd earned some laughs over that, and Ollie had grumbled a bit; but then they'd gotten back to talking Quidditch. While Louis hadn't decided which of his reserve team Chasers would practice against Ollie, Magnus, and Rose; he did have homework for them – to study and think about how they could best help their team to get ready to play against the Huffleputt Chasers. James, Tiberius, and Brock were all given homework too; and then Louis adjourned the meeting and set them free. James and Ollie were first out the door while Al, Rose, and Ray were the last to leave. They headed off in a different direction from Louis and Tiberius when they left the classroom because they needed to go and meet up with their study group. James and Ollie apparently knew that; and were waiting to spring a surprise on them when they were about half-way to their usual study classroom.

"Levicorpus!" James shouted; pointing his wand at Al's back after stepping out of a hidden passageway just moments after Al, Rose, and Ray had passed it.

"Liberacorpus!" Al said even as he was flipped upside-down – the momentum of the counter-spell helping him to flip acrobatically and then land easily on his feet; facing James and Ollie.

"Levicorpus!" Ollie shouted; his attack aimed at Ray. Al had still been in the air then; but had a shield charm in the way of that spell – and curved it so that the hex rebounded back toward their attackers. It hit James; and his brother tried to mimick what Al had done.

"Liberacorpus!" he exclaimed – or he tried to do that. The momentum of his flip had him putting the wrong inflections on the counter; and it didn't work. "Liberacorpus!" he repeated; getting it right the second time – but apparently forgetting that he was head-down while busy trying to prove that he was a better Wizard than his loser baby brother. Al used a cushioning charm to keep him from cracking his head open on the stone floor; and then needed to put up his shield again when James and Ollie both fired jinxes at him.

"I'd love to have a dueling practice with you now; but we've got a study group to get to," Al told them conversationally; though his eyes and expression were far from amused. "Would you like to move on now that you've lost the chance to surprise us; or will you be hounding us the rest of the way to our study classroom?"

"I think you'll just end up needing to cancel your plans," James declared; smiling darkly as he pointed his wand at Al again and fired three more hexes at him – including a bat-bogey hex. He and Ollie also split up; and while Al was busy with those hexes and the two that Ollie fired at him too; the boys then switched tactics and tried to attack Rose and Ray on each side of Al.

He smiled when Rose laughed. "Did you think that we'd just stand here and let Al do all of the work and just let you blast us?" she asked James. She had her shield up to defend herself; and then she counter-attacked. Al happily helped her out with that by attacking James' shield from the side and knocking it out of the way so that her bat-bogey hex hit him full-on.

"You've been holding out on me," he told her; laughing too when he saw the first little bat coming out of James' nose.

"Maybe," she admitted with a grin. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," Al assured her; but then he turned his full attention on Ollie when the other boy resumed attacking him – probably expecting that Al was too distracted to notice his attack coming. "That's not a very nice hex to wish on your best mate's only brother," he told Ollie after he countered it. Do you really want to keep this up now that James is busy with those bat bogeys?"

"Why should he?" James demanded; his voice sounding rather funny with his nose filled with the little bats. "I haven't." He pointed his wand at himself; and Rose shouted – "Don't!"

It was already too late; and James' attempt at countering the bat-bogey hex went horribly wrong as instead of stopping it; the bats doubled in size. Rose pointed her wand at him again; and James threw up a shield between them.

"Don't be an idiot," she told him. "Those things will break your nose if you don't let me help you now!"

Al didn't wait for James to decide. He knocked the shield out of the way again so that Rose could counter her own hex before it was too late. James wasn't amused or grateful. He glowered at them; and raised his wand to point it at Rose.

"Let's find out what you're about to regret more – hitting me with that hex; or stopping it."

"Leave her alone!" Al demanded; and then he threw up a shield that blocked the entire hallway between them even as James and Ollie both fired hexes - one at Rose and another at Al. They both hit his shield and didn't even cause a ripple in it. "This is stupid, James. I've promised you the re-match; so leave Rose, Ray, and everyone else out of it."

"I'm not going to let her get away with blasting me like that!" James declared; and Al shook his head.

"Yes, you are. Rose was just defending herself from your attack. Deal with it."

"I plan on it," James promised; firing another pair of hexes at Al's shield. "Come on, loser. Are you going to hide behind a shield all day like any good Slytherin coward would? You're just proving what a mistake the sorting hat made with you."

"Says one of the Wizards that thinks that sneak attacks are brave and honorable," Ray shot back angrily; though Al noted a spark of pride in his friend's eyes because he'd successfully defended himself against Ollie – even if he hadn't tried a counter-attack like Rose had with James.

"Shut it, cousin; or I'll shut it for you," Ollie threatened.

"Go around and then blast them," James told Ollie. "I'll wait here and do the same if Al can't manage to hold that shield until you get there." He smiled darkly at Al. "One way or the other; this isn't going to end well for the three of you."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Al agreed easily; and his smile was amused now. "It'll be three against one for us with you once Ollie leaves; or we can wait and it'll be two against one for him with Rose and Ray when he gets here. Are you sure that you don't want to just get on with your day and we can decide this during our duel next weekend?"

James laughed derisively, but Ollie didn't look nearly as sure of himself as he had a moment earlier. "Big talk from the coward hiding behind the shield charm instead of fighting like a real Wizard," he taunted.

"I don't want to hurt you – and neither does Rose or Ray – which is why she countered that hex when you botched the job yourself."

James smirked at him. "Well if that's the case, then you should drop that shield; since Ollie and I are really hurt that you don't want to keep playing with us – and we're totally crushed that you actually think that you could hurt us at all."

Ollie laughed. "Speak for yourself. I'm not hurt – I'm ticked off and want some payback!" He turned his attention to Al next. "Drop the shield, loser. You're just delaying the inevitable."

Al sighed and nodded. "You're likely right about that," he agreed; and then suprised Rose and Ray when he did drop the shield. Then the surprise was on James and Ollie as he then blasted them off of their feet and down the hallway about twenty feet before either boy could complete the hexes they'd immediately tried to fire at him. A moment later, their wands were another thirty feet away; and they were in partial body-binds. Al had knocked the wands away while Rose and Ray had done the bindings.

"Don't try to bother us again today," Al warned them. "I've had enough of your fun to last me a while – as usual." He smiled at Rose and Ray. "Let's go. They'll be able to counter those body-binds once they crawl over to their wands – and might even manage to do that before anyone sees them like that if they hurry."

"I am so tempted to put James into a full body-bind instead so that he can't; but I guess that'd be wrong," Rose suggested.

"It'd be something they'd do, though," Ray pointed out. "Maybe we should do it."

"Or not," Al told them – though they'd already started to leave anyway; and James and Ollie were already starting to drag themselves in the other direction toward their wands. They were saying some nasty things about Al, but keeping quiet too so that they didn't attract any unwanted attention. "We've already misssed too much of our study session; and I don't want to end up missing out on any of the weekend fun with our friends if they get finished their work and we're stuck doing ours while they're having the kind of play time that we actually like."

"I might learn to like that kind of play time too if it ends this way instead of the way it did for some of our other meetings with James and Ollie have up until now," Ray told him with a grin. "Maybe Rose can teach us that bat-bogey hex too. Did your Mum teach you that over the holidays?"

"No comment on the where I learned it," Rose answered; "and I swore not to use it except in an emergency – or to teach it to anyone until we're a bit older."

"No wonder there," Al said with a nod and understanding smile. The look in his cousin's eyes strongly suggested that his own mother might have taught it to her if her mother hadn't done so instead. "You wouldn't want to botch that counter-hex if the bats double in size every time you try and get it wrong."

"James should've found that out the hard way," Ray suggested. "Rose helped him out and he still tried to keep attacking her. He should've been grateful."

"He's letting his ego and pride get in the way of common sense – and decency," Rose said with a shake of her head and sigh. "The problem we have is that he'll likely treat us badly whether we win these little battles with him or lose them."

"In that case; I'll pick winning them," Ray joked. "It totally sucks to be on the losing side of their pranks and hexes."

"Maybe they'll leave us alone after next weekend," Rose suggested; directing that at Al.

"We can hope," Al agreed. "I have no idea whether that'll make a difference. When he promised to leave us alone, I was sure he'd keep his word; but that didn't end up being the case."

"He believes you gave him an out on that," Rose pointed out. "Sure, he's justifying going back on his promise by telling himself he's already won that duel; but he might go back to keeping that promise if you win that re-match."

"Let's just see how it goes after next weekend," Al offered. "I'm not going to worry about it either way." He smiled then as he looked at his cousin and friend. "It is nice to know that we're definitely a match for them now – even when they try a sneak attack like that."

"Thanks to you," Rose added. "You must have super hearing or something to have reacted that fast to them coming out of that hidden passage."

"That's not going to helpus anytime he's not around," Ray pointed out. "I'm not sure what's scarier – hanging around with a trouble magnet like Al or not having him around on the day that James and Ollie decide to prank or hex us if they can't beat him."

"I'll pick option two for most-scary," Rose told him. "The three of us apparently make a fair dueling team."

"We do," Al agreed with a nod and smile. "Try not to worry about James and Ollie too much," he suggested to Ray. "I do think that we should go back to changing up our routine for getting around the school again. We might have avoided this confrontation completely if we nadn't just taken the most direct route to our study classroom."

That suggestion launched them into a little chat about that while they walked the rest of the way to that classroom; and then it was time to join in on fht studying in-progress with their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends. Gwendolyn had known just by looking at them that something had happened to them; but waited until they wrapped up for lunch to go for a walk with Al and get the full report for both the parts of the team meeting he could talk with her about and the little duel with James and Ollie. He walked her to Ravenclaw tower; moved on to drop his bookbag off in his common room; and then went to the Great Hall for lunch with Rose, Ray, and several of their friends – all of them recruited by Rose to make sure that James and Ollie didn't have another opportunity to try another prank or sneak attack on them.

They didn't end up needing to worry about that because James and Ollie both had a different kind of diversion by then – Lacey Finnegan. She'd found out after the meeting that not only had her brother been given Al's spot on the team, but that James and Ollie had both picked him – and been a big influence on Louis' decision. While Al and Rose actually had no idea how true that was, all that mattered was that Lacey believed it; and she was happy-enough about it to forgive the two boys for recent annoyances and give them another chance. Al was mostly amused by the gossip, since James and Ollie were known for talking themselves up well-beyond reality; but there was no doubt that they were both pleased with Lacey's change in attitude – and they also seemed to be competing for her attention while having lunch together along with a few of her friends.

Rose thought that was particularly amusing considering her father's history with Lacey's mother; but commenting on that offered their friends the lunchtime entertainment opportunity of teasing her about the possibilities for her with dating Magnus. While she did agree with the joke potential for that with her parents; Rose was less-amused by the fact that her girlfriends now had three of her fellow Quidditch team mates to tease her about as potential boyfriend material – particularly when two out of six of the guys were her cousins; and not dating material for her. Bristol and Cora spent a bit of bonus time trying to make a case for adding Ollie to the list for Rose; but couldn't make a case for it – at least in the context they were using for the other three Wizards.

While all of that helped to make their lunch break fun, Al was glad to get back together with Gwendolyn and spend the afternoon with her. They started out with some play time with their friends – both outdoors and then back in the castle that included snow play; magic play time in their study classroom; and an afternoon snack and hot drinks break. After the break, Gwendolyn did a music lesson with Al that included some more singing in addition to the guitar playing and practice. That kept them busy until dinnertime; and then they were back with their own House mates for the rest of the day. For Al, that meant dinner with Rose and their usual group of Gryffindor firsties; an evening in the common room that included finishing up the last bit of their weekend assignments that they hadn't gotten done in the morning; and an early bedtime mirror chat with Lily before reading himself to sleep.

Sunday was a free play day for Al, Rose, and most of their friends. The girls wanted some Wizard-free time in the morning, so Al and Ray went outside for a snowball fight with some of the other guys and spent the rest of the morning in the common room playing mirror games. The lunch reunion with the girls was entertaining as they traded stories about what they'd been doing all morning; and then Al and Gwendolyn did their own thing for the afternoon. That included more music and a long visit to the library; followed by some magic play time for two until they needed to be in the Great Hall for dinner. The magic fun included trying to learn some new spells for Al to use, if needed, in his upcoming duel; and he thought that Gwendolyn was a very good choice for a dueling partner to get ready for his re-match against James.

Compared to their afternoon together, Al thought that the rest of his Sunday night was quiet; and he was okay with that. He wrote a pair of letters for home; he and Rose went to the Owlery to send Winter on her way with them – and with letters that she sent home too. They were both in bed early, and his Sunday night bedtime mirror chat was with his parents. Lily was with them, but was into a mirror network show; and didn't talk with him much. Gwendolyn called for a quick goodnight mirror chat too; but they only talked for a few minutes because her room mates were there too; and some of them started to get ready for bed – something that Al did not want to accidentally witness through his mirror.

The school week began with a blast of bad weather that made getting around the school grounds tough; and Quidditch practices were not any fun at all – at least from a comfort standpoint. There was one change for Al and Rose in their Charms class that started on Monday. Professor Dawlish actually asked each of them one of the toughest questions; and awarded them a few points for those answers; along with Al's correctly completed potion when he was first in the class to do that successfully. They suspected that there had been some Headmistress intervention for that to happen – or Professor Dawlish had at least been questioned about how his two best students had managed to go half the year without earning a single point for their House in his class.

While that had been a nice surprise, it didn't really change anything in the class. Professor Dawlish still ignored them the rest of the time; and he obviously gave out both his attention and the points grudgingly. On the Qudditch front, the weather was the most uncomfortable part of their practices; But Al also had issues with the training and scrimmages too. That was entirely because he was put up against Magnus for the scrimmages; Ray was paired with Ollie; and they won those Chaser duels by working together and out-playing Ollie and Magnus by a lot. On the Gryffindor team side of those games, Rose was the only bright spot; and she beat Eric in their duel. Her biggest problem, though, was that Ollie and Magnus almost totally ignored her; so those wins were mostly defensive with only a handful of offensive chances. That was also partly why the duel was so easy for Al and Ray. They didn't have to worry about Ollie or Magnus passing to Rose; and that made their own defense very easy.

Classes, Quidditch, and studying wasn't all that was going on around the school or the Wizarding World. On Tuesday, the Harpies won their evening match in weather that was bad-enough to make Gabrielle's snitch catch at least as much luck as it was from skill. Bristol's twelfth birthday was on Thursday, and while her friends helped her to celebrate all day, including during their meals; they also had a little party for her after dinner while doing their evening study session. Al also enjoyed a total reprieve from James and Ollie pranks or hexes attempts because the two boys were more interested in Lacey Finnegan – and in competing for her attention – and affection. Al couldn't relate to that, since he'd never even think about having that kind of competition with Ray – or any other close friend – for a Witch.

Watching glimpses of what James and Ollie did around Lacey during the week did have Al thinking about Landon's interest in Gwendolyn, and considering what he'd do if Landon decided to compete with him for her; but he couldn't really picture that working out for the other boy when he knew exactly how Gwendolyn felt about him. That didn't stop him from imagining hypotheticals that ranged from him doing nothing while Gwendolyn went out with Landon to find out whether she liked him or not to him dueling Landon to win the right to be Gwendolyn's boyfriend. The funniest scenario was when Gwendolyn turned both of them into woodlice for not knowing that the choice was hers – not theirs – to make.

Those five days weren't just time to count down to the duel re-match; but that was something that Al was thinking about a lot all week – and getting ready for too – both with practice and just mental preparation. When he woke up on Saturday morning, he wasn't nervous or worried. Mostly he just wanted to get it over with and then hope that James and Ollie would leave him alone after that. More important than that; he hoped that they'd leave Rose and their friends alone too. He was not at all sure that they would this time because James was sure to be even more angry with him if he won their second duel; but he didn't think that losing on purpose was an option either. After getting ready for the day, he headed for the common room to wait for Rose; and smiled when he saw that she was already there – and obviously worried about his impedning duel.

"Good morning," he told her cheerfully. "Is there something going on today that has you up early and ready to play?"

"If you'd let me come along with you this morning; I'd say yes to that," she answered; hugging him tightly for a long moment before grabbing her bookbag and leading the way to the portrait hole. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're some kind of extreme action junkie or something. You do know that it's quite normal to be nervous and scared ahead of a real duel, right?"

"I've heard that; but I'm not – nervous, scared, or an extreme action junkie – at least when it comes to duels. We are into Quidditch, flying our brooms fast, and Muggle amusement parks; so I'd say that we both have some tendancies in that direction."

"I'll give you that one," Rose conceded; "but I'd be freaking out right now if I was about to go up against James – especially when he's bound to have a bag full of dirty tricks ready to try on you."

"That doesn't sound like fun when you put it like that," Al joked; "but I can't exactly back out now anyway. Speaking of James, though; he hasn't shown up yet, has he? I don't want to be on the lookout for any warm-up pranks or hexes on our way to the Great Hall."

"I haven't seen them since I got to the common room; and doubt they were up earlier than that. They might not even be awake now."

"Maybe, but I'll guess that they are up – and plotting my dueling defeat," Al suggested; punctuating his comment with an attempt at an evil laugh that just didn't work with his smile and nice-guy cuteness. He did get a laugh from Rose for the effort, though; and reached out to take her hand once they were in the hallway and on their way to the Great Hall.

Rose wanted to talk about her worries for his duel, and while he tried to assure her that he'd be fine whatever happened; he didn't make her feel much better. They were among the first students in the Great Hall, but there were other Ravenclaws at the table; so they dropped the duel chat and moved on to talk about studying, Hogsmeade weekends, and their plans for the rest of the weekend. Their friends joined in on their conversation as they sat down for breakfast too, and while only a few of them knew about his immenent duel; their worry didn't keep Al from having fun while they ate. He was finished early, and took the opportunity to make his escape – though he didn't go straight to the classroom that James had picked for their re-match. He detoured to the Ravenclaw table to wish Gwendolyn a good morning and to get a good luck hug and kiss from her; and then he went for a walk around the school while waiting for the castle to empty of all of the older teens as they left for Hogsmeade before making his way to the classroom that he suspected Jame would have readied by then with some traps that he could use in their duel.

"What took you so long?" James asked; his tone taunting and an ugly smirk on his face. "We've been here for ages and thought you'd decided to chicken out."

"Good morning, James; Ollie," Al said convesationally; smiling at them as the door slammed and locked behind him. The noise didn't make him jump; and James looked annoyed when doing that hadn't gotten the reaction from Al that he'd expected. "I'm still a few minutes early; and you didn't really expect me to chicken out and just let you out of your pledge the easy way."

"This is going to be easy – for us," James shot back; and Al laughed.

"You mean it'll be easy for you, right? Please don't tell me that you're going to make this a two-on-one duel. That just wouldn't be fair."

"As if you were being fair setting us up last time," James said; his voice and expression now tinged with anger. "For all we know, you even used that other kid to set us up for that ambush."

"That's a creative revision of history," Al complimented while shaking his head. "It's also why I didn't come here earlier – so that you can't complain later that I set you up or cheated in any way for this duel."

"That'd only matter if you cheated and still lost," James told him with a derisive laugh. "We've checked this room out; and you won't be able to mess with us this time."

"I'm so glad to hear that," Al admitted; still smiling. He was at the far end of the room from James and Ollie by then; and using all of his senses to take in everything around him. He had no idea whether James and Ollie had actually checked the room or not; but they'd definitely set up some traps and back-up tricks to use against him – all of them against the rules for true duels. "Let's have you start our duel when we're ready too; since you probably think that I started the last one."

"You did start it," James told him. "You tried to blast me and hit that chair instead."

"I told you that I didn't miss," Al reminded him. "I didn't want to hurt you, and if you'd taken the hint and just agreed to leave me alone; then everything that's followed since then didn't need to happen – and that includes this duel. We're brothers; I love you; and it doesn't have to be like this just because you're mad at me over winning that duel and getting you to make that pledge."

"Shut it!" James yelled. "You set me up last time; and I'm going to prove it!" With that; he attacked; foregoing the pre-duel formalities. The curse was aimed about knee-high – or where Al's head would have been if he'd fallen into the portable swamp that opened up beneath where he'd been as the attack was launched. He wasn't there anymore, though; and had timed his leap out of the way just a fraction of a second before the floor became a stinking cesspool of muck. His shield was up by then too; but he didn't try to stop the curse that was already passing next to him on its way to hitting the wall.

"The Babbling curse?" Al asked; his question more of a statement. "That's an interesting first choice considering that you just told me to shut it." Ollie laughed; and James scowled.

"That probably is just redundant for you," James declared; "but I thought it'd be fun to watch you babble your way into a mouth full of swamp muck." His follow-up attack was an attempt to hit Al from the side and knock him into the swamp. Al didn't budge as his shield was hit hard; and he smiled at James – a reaction that just helped to fuel his brother's anger.

"Is there some reason why you keep trying to get me covered in mud and muck?" Al asked next; and this time he really was curious. James had, after all, picked some very messy choices for his pranks over the past four and a half months. He pointed his wand at the portable swamp; whispered a few spells; and then it was gone.

"Sure – because it's funny," James answered with a snort of derisive laughter. "If you weren't such a loser; you'd get that." He went on the attack again; and Al continued to defend himself.

"Those insults are getting really tedious, James," Al said with a sigh. "The funny thing, for me, is that I probably half-believed them for a long time." He locked gazes with James. "I don't anymore, though; so you're wasting your breath if you think that you can intimidate me with mere words."

"I've got more than words to blast you with," James offered; and then tried to prove it by firing a pair of hexes at him. Al countered both of them easily; and he could see the growing frustration on James' face.

"So do I," Al said before launching his first counter-attack – and blasting James off of his feet. Then he threw his shield up over his head in a dome to protect himself from the potion that was being poured on him from a large bottle near the ceiling.

He could see without looking directly at Ollie that the boy had helped out with that little trick; but he didn't take his attention away from James. His brother was on his feet again; and moving as he fired a flurry of hexes and jinxes at him. Defending himself from that attack didn't keep Al from noticing the effects that potion was having on things around him; but it did keep him from being able to entirely escape those effects when he stepped into a small puddle of it on the floor – and that shoe began to swell up and become huge compared to the other one. He managed to keep the other shoe dry, but it was now awkward to move around as he limped out of the way of both the potion puddles and the desks and chairs that were also now swollen and deformed where the potion had splattered on them. James and Ollie both laughed at him; but he ignored that and focused on the duel.

"That's not a very nice potion to use on anyone – especially someone in your own family," he told James. "it does seem to work well-enough, though, so I'm sure that Mum and Dad will be glad to hear that you're actually learning something in your Potions classes." He smiled at the expression on James' face. "You got it from someone else in your class?" he guessed; and then laughed when James confirmed that without answering. "That's okay. I'm sure that your friend would be proud of what you're using it for this morning."

"When I'm done with you; I'm going to roll you around in that potion so that the rest of you will match that club foot you've got."

Al laughed again. "My foot is perfectly fine," he assured James. "The shoe is going to need a deflating draught to fix; but I didn't get enough on me to soak through to my sock or foot." He shielded again as James went on the attack with a growl of anger and dark expression on his face; but then he counter-attacked again too. This time, he blasted James' shield and knocked him over a desk and onto the floor. "Swamps, potions, and a little nudge of help here and there from Ollie," he said while watching James fire another hex at him from behind the desk and then countering it with a sharp wave of his wand. "What's next?"

"The big finale," James answered. "Now!" he shouted; and Al cocooned himself in a wrap-around shield as whizz-bang fireworks started going off from under dozens of chairs and desks around him; the sound deafening in the classroom. James and Ollie both launched attacks on him; and his shield was soon glowing red from the barrage that continued for more than a minute while the whizz-bangs continued to explode around them. When the cacophony of lught and sound finally dimmed; Al struck back against both boys with two shouts of "EXPELLIARMUS!" that obliterated the hastily-raised shields that James and Ollie had put up; and sent both wands flying across the room and into Al's hand.

"Accio wand!" James yelled; but nothing happened; and he glared at Al with fury plain to see on his face and in his eyes.

"It's over, James," Al said quietly.

"Says you," James spat back even as he jumped into a run toward Al.

While he could have stopped him, Al didn't; and allowed James to grab onto the two wands in his left hand and his right forearm. He didn't budge either, though; and he didn't let go of the wands. They locked gazes again, and the mecurial anger in James' eyes was matched by blazing emerald fire in Al's. When James finally realized that he couldn't just physically yank the wands out of Al's grip, he opened his mouth to attempt a magical attack; and that's when Al blasted him with a Revulsion jinx that knocked him half-way back across the classroom – without the wands he'd tried to retrieve. Al turned to face Ollie when the other boy lunged at him from the side after trying to sneak up on him while he'd been busy wrestling for the wands with James; and he stopped when Al pointed his wand at him.

"This duel was supposed to be between James and me. If you want to challenge me too; get in line."

"I'm not dueling you," Ollie declared with a sneer. "It's just a coincidence that you're having a duel while I'm pranking and hexing you. Get used to it; since I plan on doing that to you, Ray, and your pathetic loser friends a lot from now on. We'll see how long any of them stick with you once they've been blasted a few times – especially your little girlfriend. I'm really going to have some fun with her."

"We'll have fun with her," James corrected. There was a note of triumph in his voice as Al turned to look at him; but the smile on his face was gone as soon as he realized that Al had seen the little glass bottle he'd thrown; and it smashed against the wall after Al deflected it away from himself with a flick of his wand and muttered spell. Ollie grabbed for the wands; and Al again used the revulsion jinx to send him flying – and Ollie landed on top of one of the desks that had been doused with some of the swelling potion.

"I'd get that sweater off fast before any of that gets on your skin," Al warned as Ollie managed to roll off of the desk and land on his feet. His shoes were in one of the potion puddles; and they both began to swell even as the back of his sweater began to bulge in reaction with the potion. Ollie jumped back and started to pull his sweater off in a hurry – too much of a hurry when the back of it brushed against the back of his head – and it began to swell too.

"Do something, James!" Ollie demanded. He'd stumbled back away from the puddles and desks; but he was close to panic now.

"Relax, mate," James ordered. "You've got the bloody antidote in your bag. Use it."

Ollie gaped at him stupidly for a moment; and then stumbled his way over to where he and James had put the bookbags they'd brought along with them – and that likely didn't currently have any books in them. Al saw him start to rummage around in the bag; but then had to deal with James again as his brother stepped in closer and took a swing at him. He cried out in pain when his hand struck Al's shield instead of his face; but then he spun around and grabbed at the two wands again. He shouted – "Protego!" and was knocked back again as their shields collided; but the wands went with him when Al was forced to let go of them – or allow them to be broken by the force of the magic.

"I've got them!" James advised Ollie; kept his shield up; and moved over next to his friend.

"Great job," Ollie said with a nod and smile. "I've dealt with the swelling potion too – for me." He turned his grin toward Al; though it was more of a sneer by then. He held up the bottle that had the antidote in it at arm's length and upended it. "Too bad so sad for you, loser."

James laughed and handed Ollie his wand. "Have you had enough fun yet? We'd better finish him off soon or we'll miss out on all of the other pranking we want to get done before lunch – starting with everyone stupid enough to be in Al's study group. It's convenient for us that they'll all be in one place and we can blast the lot of them all at once."

"Let's do it," Ollie agreed; and both boys pointed their wands at Al. "REDUCTO!" they both bellowed, and this time; their combined attack did hit Al's shield hard enough to blast him backwards – about three sliding steps. It didn't break through his shield, though; and Al counter-attacked before he'd stopped moving.

James and Ollie had been close to the wall; so they each hit it very hard as Al's binding spells smashed through their own shields; and then he disarmed them again. When he had their wands in hand for the second time; he put his own wand away and walked up to them. Both boys glared at him in impotent fury. Before speaking to them, he tapped his swollen, deforemed shoe into the puddle of antidote that Ollie had been so nice to leave there for him; and then he was smiling as he looked up at them again once his shoe was retunred to normal size again.

"Okay, it's definitely over now, James," he told his brother. "Do I need to come up with another incentive to convince you to go back to keeping your promise again; or will you just concede that you shouldn't have broken your pledge in the first place and leave me, Rose, Gwendolyn, and the rest of our friends alone?"

"Promise what you want," Ollie told James. "I'll still be free to take care of the lot of them for you."

Al sighed. "You're making it very hard for me to be nice about this," he advised Ollie. "You're my brother's bes friend and one of my Quidditch team mates."

"You were," Ollie shot back with a sneer. "Now you're just bludger fodder on the practice squad, loser."

"I'm not promising anything," James told him next. "You set me up and tricked me into that pledge; so it means nothing."

"You should go into politics when you grow up with skills like that for justifying breaking your word," Al told him; and then shrugged to himself. "That's totally up to both of you, though, and I've already told you that I'll fight back now; so I guess we'll find out how that works out for you."

"Yes we will," James agreed. "Now let us go and give us our wands back."

"No."

"What?" James demanded; and Al smiled at him.

"Get out of those spells yourself. Why should I help you at all?" He smiled then. "I will leave your wands here for you, though; so maybe you'll figure out how to do that – eventually." He walked across the room and then intentionally dropped the wands into one of the swelling potion puddles. James and Ollie were gaping at him when he returned to them after seeing their wands swell crotesquely. Al had his own wand out again; and pointed it at the puddle of deflating draught. "Tergio," he said quietly; and the potion was cleaned from the floor and soon gone. "How did you put that, Ollie – too bad, so sad for you; wasn't it?"

"You are so dead when we get out of here," James threatened; and Al shook his head sadly. The fire in his eyes said something else; though James and Ollie didn't appear to notice.

"Leave me alone," he told them; pointing his wand at each of them and turning them into a pair of canaries. "Don't even think about messing with Gwendolyn," he continued; punctuating that by blasting a chunk of stone out of the wall between their heads. Finally, as James has been so fond of telling me; whatever you try to do to any of us; I'm going to pay you back ten times over – so think about that before you come after me again!" That statement was emphasized when James' portable swamp appeared directly below where the two boys were suspended against the wall just a few inches above the floor. Stepping back several paces; Al expanded the swamp by moving a puddle of the swelling charm and dropping it into the portable swamp.

He went to grab his bookbag; slung it over his shoulder; and walked to the door. He released the lock James or Ollie had put on it and opened it before turning to face the other two boys again.

"I warned you this wouldn't end well, James. You're mad at me right now, but get over it – and yourself. Once you've done that; we'll at least be able to get along around here – and at home."

James glowered at him; but didn't say anything. Al left the room; closed the door behind him; and headed for the classroom where Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends were already studying. He wasn't happy with what he'd done beyond being glad that he won the duel; and he had no idea what James and Ollie would decide to do once they managed to get out of the mess they were now in. He also had no idea that someone had been watching as he left that classroom; and had been there because James and Ollie had been followed there.

"I'm seriously beginning to hate your loser brother," Ollie growled at James. Al hadn't put them in full body-binds; but being able to move their heads, hands, and feet didn't give them much to work with.

"He's not exactly my favorite person right now either," James answered. "Let's get out of this before..." The door opened; and both boys gaped when Scorpius Malfoy stepped into the room and began laughing when he saw them.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" he asked rhetorically. "Have the self-declared prank masters of Hogwarts finally been bested?"

"Get out of here, Smelfoy," James snarled. "You do not want to mess with us right now."

Scorpius laughed again; but nodded too. "You're likely right about that," he agreed. "Have fun getting out of this mess." He turned as if to leave; but then stopped and reached into his bag to get something out of it before turning back to James and Ollie. "I really can't go without getting a few pictures. I'm sure you understand." He began taking pictures of James, Ollie, and a couple of extras that took in the entire room – including all of the deformed desks, chairs, and the two wands. He was smiling confidently when he returned his attention to the other two boys again.

"I think that it would be a very good idea for you to leave me alone from now on," he advised them.

"Just like a Slytherin to try to blackmail us," Ollie said derisively. "We have pictures too – or did you forget that already?"

"I didn't," Scorpius assured him; "and I've heard that you've shown them around a bit too." His smile and expression hardened then. "I don't have a reputation to protect the way you do, though, so as long as you leave me alone; these pictures won't get passed around – or maybe sent anonymously to someone who could have a lot of fun with them." He smiled again. "Rita Skeeter, for instance, would have a field day with something like this."

"Keep it up, Smelfoy, and we might decide to kill you first," James threatened.

"I didn't do any of this to you," Scorpius pointed out with a wave of his hand; "so I'll guess that Al will remain first on your hit list." He nodded at James' reaction to that. "Yeah, I've been here for a while," he confirmed.

"Spying on us, no doubt," Ollie scoffed; and Scorpius shrugged.

"Following you to find out where you'll be on your prank patrols seemed like a good idea to me. I was just trying to avoid one of your traps, though; and had no idea how well this would work out for me."

"Enjoy yourself while you can – which won't be for much longer," James told him grimly; and Scorpius had another laugh over that threat.

"Suit yourself. I'm sure that everyone will love seeing a son of the Head of the Aurors like this on the front page of the Prophet." He laughed again as he put the camera back in his bag. "Maybe I'll even send along a hint that a Slytherin was responsible. I couldn't take credit, of course, since that'd be a lie; but a few no comments and well-timed smirks once that rumor was out would probably have some of the dumber kids around here making the right assuptions." That thought had him laughing again. "It's not as though either of you would be able to admit what really happened; and Al's not going to say anything either."

"You've got it all figured out, don't you?" James spat; and Scorpius nodded.

"I do; but then I also think that you're both smart enough to choose to leave me alone now so that none of that happens at all." He smiled a bit ruefully now. "It's probably wrong for me to hope – just a little bit – that you will try something. Embarrassing the great Harry Potter would earn me a lot of points with most of my fellow Slytherin."

"Now there's a goal to aspire to," James scoffed; "but I suppose tht is a step up from where you are now, isn't it?"

"I'm crushed," Scorpius told him. "I was going to offer to help you out; but then I'm sure that you'd really hate owing me a debt too." His smile was back when he backed out into the hallway again. "Have a really great rest of the morning, guys; and good luck – you're going to need it!" He closed the door; and walked away – heading for the Room of Requirements and his own plans for a study session with Thomas.

"Accio wand!" James said once Scorpius was gone; and his wand obediently flew across the room and into his hand – or against it would be more accurate; since it was too large to hold. He ground his teeth together when his hand began swelling too – a price he'd expected to pay to get out of the binding spells. That did at least allow him to hold the wand awkwardly; and he next tried to turn off the swamp. It didn't work; and he swore. "He must've locked it again," he spat; and Ollie swore too while nodding his agreement.

"Do it anyway," he spat in disgust. "I'm not going to stay here for someone else to find – or have Smelfoy decide to invite some of the other Slytherins to come here and mess with us while we can't do anything about it."

"Let's try something else first," James suggested. "Wingardium Leviosa" he said; pointing his wand at one of the desks and floating it over to a spot directly below Ollie. "If it starts to sink; jump."

"Okay," Ollie agreed; and then needed to do just that when James released him from the binding spell and the desk plopped into the swamp. He managed to make it most of the way to the edge; but still got his feet and lower legs dunked in the muck as the rest of his body sprawled out on the floor. "Better than swimming out," he told James. "Thanks."

James tried to repeat the process for himself, but his desk flipped when he landed on it too far to one side; and he went into the swamp with a splat. Ollie was there to grab onto his hands and pull him out; but he was already covered from head to foot in the smelly muck. Ollie was also suddnely cursing again as one of his hands began to swell – the one that had grabbed James' wand hand.

"If it takes me the rest of my life; Al is going to pay for this – over and over again," Ollie vowed. "I don't know how he managed all of this, but I'll find out; and then it'll be payback time."

"That's something worth talking about later," James suggested; "but we've still got a mess to deal with here." He looked down at his deformed hand and wand. "I really wish that you hadn't dumped the rest of that potion out."

"I have another bottle," Ollie advised him; grinning now for the first time – though it was grim and he wasn't amused. "You did say that we might need enough to fix a few things around Al if needed. I was just messing with Al – not that I would have offered him some anyway."

"Get it out, and let's fix our hands and wands first," James said with an approving nod. "Shouldn't these feathers have molted by now?"

Ollie looked down at himself and swore again. "Should have. Is there even a counter for it?"

"Not that I know of," James anwered. "it normally doesn't last more than a few minutes; so it's possible that mobody bothered to try and make one." He shook his head. "Let's deal with what we can; and hopefully this won't last much longer."

Ollie got the second bottle of deflating draught out of his bag; fixed their hands and James' wand; and then James levitated Ollie's wand over to them so that it could be fixed too without needing to touch it. They worked together on fixing up the rest of the room; mostly because they didn't want to risk getting in trouble over a lot of damage. After that, they ended up waiting nearly another hour before their feathery little problem went away; and it took most of that time for James to come up with a way to deal with his portable swamp. They only had enough time after that to go to their dorm room for a few minutes before heading to the Great Hall for lunch; and they stocked up on the supplies they'd need for what they planned on making an afternoon of misery for any kids they could prank while most of the older teens were still in Hogsmeade – even if they did reluctantly agree that Al, his friends, and Stinkpius Smelfoy were all temporarily off-limits.

Al was already in the Great Hall with Rose, Ray, and the rest of their Gryffindor study mates when James and Ollie arrived for lunch; and he sighed in relief. If they hadn't made it to lunch; he'd planned on going back to the classroom to check up on them; but hadn't wanted to do that unless absolutely necessary. The two boys ignored him completely, which was fine with Al; but then something else caught his attention – his senses drawing his focus toward the Slytherin table – where he saw Scorpius Malfoy watching James and Ollie too. There was a small smirk on his face; and Al knew that Scorpius was aware of what had happened to James and Ollie. He didn't know how he'd reached that insight; but was sure it was truth. Looking back at James and Ollie, he didn't see any signs of problems, so whatever had happened between them and Scorpius; it didn't appear to be anything he should worry about.

Rose, Ray, and Gwendolyn had all been interested in James and Ollie then too, but Al hadn't been able to talk with any of them about what had happened yet; and they planned on doing that after lunch – if they could get away to have that little chat somewhere private. Al wasn't actually looking forward to that at all, since he didn't feel as though he had anything to be bragging about or be praised for; but he knew that his closest friends wouldn't settle for anything less than most of the truth. He didn't have to worry about that during lunch, and he was happy to let his friends chat about everything from the Hogsmeade weekend in progress to the big Ravenclaw-Slytherin senior Quidditch teams match-up that was now just a week away. Gwendolyn and her friends would obviously be supporting their team, and Al planned on cheering for them too; but the quiet consensus among the Gryffindor firstie Quidditch fans was that Slytherin likely had the advantage going into the game – though weather was always a wild card in winter matches.

Winter weather was also part of the reason that most of the students stayed indoors for the rest of the weekend – including having a lot of teens come back to the castle early as the weather turned blustery outside. Al had that talk with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray after lunch; they had some magical play time together after that; and then Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for the rest of the afternoon – or as alone as you could be in the library on a wintry Saturday afternoon. The dule had easily been the most adventurous part of Al's day; but the time with Gwendolyn was the best. That was true on Sunday too; and included some music time and a long walk around the castle hallways in addition to the library time that included sitting close together and reading books for the hour and a half or so before dinner.

The last full week of January was the quietest so far since getting back to Hogwarts for Al. James and Ollie left him alone, and even ignored him as much as they could at Quidditch practices. They weren't sitting around doing nothing, since there were probably more stories floating around than usual about their pranks on other kids, and while Al didn't like hearing about any of that; he was still happy to have the break from James' kind of 'fun' – and especially glad that they hadn't tried to bother Rose, Gwendolyn, or any of their other friends either. He still didn't know if it would last; but he was tentatively hopeful that they'd make the right choices about that now. Just in case they didn't, though, he was quietly spending a bit of extra time here and there helping his friends with DADA-related spells and practice time; and hoped that they'd be ready to take care of themselves too if James and Ollie did decide to get at him through his friends.

For their Quidditch practices, he didn't think that the duel had anything to do with Louis changing up the Chaser pairings, but he did do that on Monday. Al was paired up with Rose for the week; Ray was with Magnus; and Ollie was up against Eric. Those pairings were actually better from a competitive point of view, but Ollie and Magnus didn't change up their game play – they were just a bit more successful at it against Eric and Ray than they had been with Al. Rose had the same problem, but it was tougher for her against Al when he didn't have to worry about Ollie or Magnus passing to her. She also ended up passing back to one of the boys more often because she couldn't beat Al's defense on her own. He was still the top scorer for every scrimmage of the week because he could get past her at least half of the time; and he joined in to set up steals and take-aways from Ollie or Magnus because of not needing to worry about Rose getting in on the plays. The reserve squad again won every scrimmage Chaser battle – even if James won all of the Seeker duels against his less-talented reserve Seeker.

Their classes and Quidditch came in second and third on the fun list every day for Al because every study session that Gwendolyn could do with him always topped the list. Their meal breaks were usually good too, and Al, Rose, Bristol, Cora, and Ray spent some time every evening in their common room playing games or watching the mirror network after wrapping up their study sessions. Al ended each night with mirror chats with his parents, Lily, Gwendolyn, or some combination of all of them with a couple of seperate chats; and that was a favorite part of every day for him too. Bad weather was an on-and-off thing all week; and they woke on Saturday morning to a miserably cold and snowy day. The game must go on, though, and while some students would stay away from the stadium because of the weather; the die-hard fans, and most of the students from Ravenclaw and Slytherin went to the game anyway.

"Are you positive that you don't want to break up with Al?" Bristol asked Gwendolyn as the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends met up in the entrance hall before going out to eht stadium. "You are still risking getting caught up in Rose's master plan for her future; and I think you'd look terrible in Cannons' orange."

"You're just looking for a cuddle buddy for the game," Rose told her with a laugh. "Quit trying to mess up my plans with stuff like that. I'm very happy with how that's working out so far with Gwendolyn and Al."

"Maybe you could just cuddle with them," Cora suggested. "Would that be okay with you, Al?"

"No, it wouldn't be," Gwendolyn answered before he could. She smiled at Romeo. "I wonder why Cora didn't suggest that Bristol join the two of you under your blanket?"

"Because he'd love that," Cora told her with a laugh while Romeo grinned. "That wouldn't have been nearly as funny."

They continued to chat until they were all together and outside; and then it was too cold and snowy to do much more than trudge out to the stadium and go in search of seats on the border between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections. The pitch and seating had been cleared of snow, but with it continuing to fall; they'd needed to brush off their seats before sitting down. They huddled under blankets in pairs or trios, but even with heavy winter clothes, hats, and gloves; they were all still uncomfortable and cold. Most of the students, Professors, and the few visitors had waited until the last minute to get to the stadium, so there was a bit of a rush to find seats and get as comfortable as possible. Teddy was there to see Victoire while watching the game; but didn't stop to see Al and Rose before going to sit down with the rest of her team mates so that Victoire could work with them on their game analysis. They'd need that more for Ravenclaw than Slytherin; but Al knew that they'd also keep notes for Slytherin that she could pass on to whomever ended up being the team captain next year.

"I am so glad that the junior teams don't have the January and February matches," Gwendolyn told Al as they waited for the pre-game announcements to start. "This is not going to be fun for any of the players."

"Or the referee and spectators," Al added with a nod. "Catching the snitch in this weather is likely to be more luck than anything else; and scoring goals is going to be tough with this wind."

"We've had that problem in our practices this week," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "I'm getting better at using the wind; but it's still really unpredictable. The goals look spectacular when you get them right."

"I love trying those shots; but Louis has been doing a good job of defending the goals against those plays so far. Maybe his Arithmancy is already paying off for stuff like that."

Charlotte Entwhistle started her pre-game 'show' right then; so Al and Gwendolyn stopped to listen – and then watch as the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams were introduced and each team did a lap around the stadium. As usual, she introduced each of the players; but Charlotte kept everything else short and sweet instead of dragging out the facts and figures for both teams. She didn't even mention the Quidditch Cup standings or anything else until she could fit it in during the game. Al had expected the weather to be a big factor in the game; but he hadn't considered how that would actually play out – and he learned an important lesson about the Slytherin teams.

"They're cheating!" Gwendolyn exclaimed while pointing toward two of the Chasers. Al had seen the foul too; and nodded.

"They are; but Mr. Peakes is too far away to see it through the snow. I doubt that Susan even saw it coming before it was too late." Susan Cornfoot was a fifth-year Ravenclaw, and while Al didn't really know her, or her younger brother, and fellow Chaser, Lee, but as a fellow Chaser; he could feel her pain from the cheap shot, and be angry with the Slytherin players.

"We're not likely seeing all of the cheap shots either," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't get how anyone can feel good about playing a game if they have to cheat to try and win." She smiled at Al and looked away from the action in the air above them for just a moment. "Even my Mum figured that out eventually."

"That didn't keep the other team players from being afraid of her," Al offered; smiling too. "I guess this isn't really any different now than it has always been with Quidditch; but it would be nice if we'd learn from history instead of repeating it."

"That's true, but I guess there is one good thing about playing against cheating players. They'll help us to learn how to play against teams like the Falcons."

"Most of your senior team players aren't looking to play in the show," Al pointed out; "so they aren't going to appreciate the value of the unintended training." He winced when they saw Miya Davies take a hard hit from Gregor Nott; Slytherin's seventh-year Beater. He'd missed her with a bludger hit; so he'd run into her instead – leading with his Beater bat and forearm; and hitting her in the back and left side.

"Would you have my back if I pick a fight with that jerk after the game?"

Al laughed. "Yes, but maybe you should think about taking your anger out on the Slytherin junior team instead; since hexing him right here in front of everyone might get you booted off your team for that match."

"You're not going to warn me that I wouldn't have a chance in a duel against a seventh-year bully like Nott?" she asked; and Al shook his head.

"I think you could take him; but that doesn't mean we should try. I've got enough Slytherins mad at me right now for the both of us without adding more to the list."

"You know they're already on that list," Gwendolyn countered; and then glared at Theo Nott when he took his turn hitting Miya – again leading with his bat when she dodged his bludger hit. "Our team isn't going to last an hour at this rate. What the heck are our Beaters doing while Miya and Susan are getting pounded?"

The answer to her question was that the Ravenclaw Beaters were being successfully distracted – and had their own problems as the bigger Slytherin Wizards took turns fouling them and singling out the younger Ravenclaws to soften them up by using every dirty trick they could throw at them. Ravenclaw bravely fought on, but nearly every player was dealing with painful injuries within the first hour in addition to the bad weather; and Slytherin was out-scoring them – though the goals were coming slowly at first while they were more focused on injuring their most-vulnerable opponents. The Ravenclaw Keeper was more seriously injured not long into the second hour; and things went downhill from there for Ravenclaw. Al and Gwendolyn didn't see the play at all when Brand Bletchley caught the snitch for Slytherin to end the game and give them the win, but by then; they were just glad that the match was over and the Slytherin guys couldn't continue to pound the Ravenclaw players. The final score was two-eighty to seventy, and while the Slytherin faithful cheered loudly for their victorious team; pretty much everyone else in the stadium walked away from the game feeling, at a minimum, unsatisfied; and disgusted and angry at the extreme end of the emotional scale.

Al went along with Gwendolyn and the other Ravenclaws to see the senior players on the pitch before heading to the castle for lunch, but the post-game action was already nearly over by then; and Miya, Susan, and their Keeper were all heading to the Hospital Wing to get checked out by Madam Pomfrey. They hadn't been there for the razzing that some of the Slytherin players had heaped onto the Ravenclaw team either; and that was probably a good thing – both for them and those Slytherin boys. When Gwendolyn heard about some of their comments; she'd been ready to risk being tossed off of her team to teach 'those cheating gits' a lesson that might have involved some time as wood lice.

Instead of doing that, she and Al went back to the castle; they split up for lunch; and then got together with the rest of their friends for an afternoon study session that included an extended DADA practice time to help her with working off some of her frustration and anger. With that added bit of fun, they'd needed the entire afternoon to get their weekend assignments finished; but then they had the rest of the weekend off from dinnertime on Saturday. The Quidditch match was still a top story during that meal; and the Slytherin students were both celebrating and offering not-at-all good-natured razzing to any Ravenclaw they crossed paths with. Since they made an effort to do that; they soon had a lot of the Ravenclaw students annoyed with them.

While Gwendolyn was one of those annoyed students, she did at least have something positive to balance out the bad – a Harpies' win over the Kestrels. That game had been at Ilkley stadium, and while the weather there had been lousy too; the Harpies also had the biggest sports news story of the day because Gabrielle caught the snitch in just forty-one minutes despite the awful conditions. The Harpies had only scored one goal by then, but the Kestrels hadn't even managed to do that; so the Harpies also earned the shutout.

Since they hadn't spent any time alone to that point, Al and Gwendolyn went for a walk after dinner and spent an hour or so in the library before he walked her 'home' and then headed back to the Gryffindor common room. There'd been a few hugs and kisses along the way, so he was in a good mood by the time he rejoined Rose and their Gryffindor friends and finished watching a mirror network show with them; and then he wrapped up his night with a mirror chat with Lily before going to sleep – and being the first guy in his dorm room to do that while his mates sat up and talked or played games.

Interest in Quidditch didn't end by Sunday morning, but it did move down the top chat topic rankings thanks to the first hints from some of the Witches in the school that Valentine's Day was the next big event on the Hogwarts calendar – and that the boys should start thinking about what they were going to do for their favorite Valentines. As far as Al knew, Bristol didn't have a current guy that she was getting particularly close to; but she was still happy to lead a short breakfast discussion about Valentine's Day – along with a few teen drama news flashes about rumored break-ups that seemed suspiciously too close to Valentine's Day to be a coincidence. The guys sitting around Rose, Bristol, and Cora learned that Witches apparently have a not-so-special place in their hearts for cheapskate Wizards that break up with their girlfriends just to avoid the need to buy them gifts – with Christmas, Valentine's Day, and birthdays topping the list of special occasions.

Al didn't plan on getting into trouble for that kind of thing; but then that was a lesson he'd learned through his father – and not by any bad examples. Gwendolyn didn't even bring up Valentine's Day at all as they spent most of Sunday together. They had some magic play time with their friends after breakfast; went out to play in the snow for an hour or so before lunch; and then the afternoon was just for the two of them. They had some music fun; wandered the castle to get some exercise; and then had a bit more magic play time in a classroom until dinnertime that was all about DADA dueling because Gwendolyn wanted to do that. Al suspected that she secretly hoped to be around the next time Al had a run-in with the Averys and their mates; though she only joked about being able to defend herself against bullies – or against James and Ollie if they decided to start going after them again. They didn't get together again after dinner except for a goodnight chat, hug, and kiss before they each went back to their own common rooms; and Al wrapped up his weekend with more mirror chats with his parents and Lily; and a visit to the Owlery to see Winter and Blizzard to give them treats and make sure they were okay.

Scorpius Malfoy was in a great mood as he went into the Room of Requirements and quickly got Thomas' picture out of his bag and set up on the table on Sunday afternoon after lunch. He was smiling and Thomas smiled in return as Scorpius then sat down so that he'd be close to eye level with the portrait – something that he knew Thomas preferred.

"I take it that Slytherin won the game," Thonas said; and Scorpius nodded.

"They won – and rather soundly beat up on Ravenclaw," he confirmed. "I'm glad of that, but the really good news right now is that I crossed paths with James and Ollie on the way here – and they left me alone – even though it was obvious that they were on one of their prank patrols."

"I'd say that's great news," Thomas told him enthusiastically. "While I know how tempting it is to show everyone those pictures you have on them; keeping them as leverage will serve you better right now – and keep them from being a problem for you anymore."

"It is nice to be able to walk around the castle and not always be on the lookout for the next prank or sneak attack," Scorpius added with a nod. "From what I heard last night, Al Potter won't be able to say that. Victor Avery and his mates are looking for some revenge; and only held off since getting back here because they were focused on getting ready for the game."

"Did you get any hints about what they're planning?"

"Nothing specific yet," Scorpius answered. "They were talking big last night – especially the guys that got into the firewhiskey that some of the older guys let them have. For all I know, they don't even remember shooting their mouths off last night and it was all talk."

"I doubt that," Thomas disagreed. "Your fellow Slytherin are quite predictable; and they're almost certainly going to go after Potter again. It's pathetic that they have gone this long without being able to best a firstie – no matter how talented the younger Potter may be."

"You saw the pictures I took of James and Ollie," Scorpius pointed out. "I doubt that I could have managed to win a duel against them – if our guess is right about what they'd been doing in there."

Thomas shook his head in disagreement. "It is only your doubt that holds you back, Scorpius. You already know more about magic than most second or third-year students. Don't show that off the way Al Potter flaunts his abilities; but you should have confidence in your growing power!"

"I'm working on that; and having the Averys obsessing about Al Potter does keep them from bugging me most of the time now."

"It won't be long before they'll be looking up to you," Thomas predicted. "Tell me of any other news that's happened since we spoke last; and then we'll do another lesson – or two; if we have the time."

"Do you want to start with the latest gossip and the start of the gushing over Valentine's Day that has the Witches around here going crazy?" Scorpius joked; laughing along with Thomas.

"Not really, no," Thomas answered. "Do you have a special Valentine that I should know about?"

"You must know that there isn't a Witch in this school that would even think about me that way," Scorpius scoffed; and Thomas laughed again.

"I doubt that, my young friend. I'll agree that they might not be able to admit it to anyone, but you are exceptionally good-looking; wealthy; brilliant; and the best player on your Quidditch team. That is an advantage that you should learn to use – and one that I should have used when I was a teen and young man; but rarely did. I realized far too late the power that could have been mine had I done so; and that's another of my mistakes that you should learn from."

"Even if that first part is true; I don't see the other pureblood families allowing me to have anything to do with their daughters – even if I wanted that. My father is a perfect example of that."

"This is not something for you to worry overmuch about now, Scorpius, but do not think like that about what will be for your future; because we are going to change what might have been your fate and create a future in which your family will again be honored and revered – and you will be able to have your pick of Witches. Just remain open to the idea; and be willing to take advantage of the opportunities that are sure to come your way."

They continued to talk for a while; followed that up with their magical lessons; and then Scorpius needed to leave the Room of Requirements again when it was time to return to his House and get ready for dinner in the Great Hall. He wrapped up his weekend hanging out with Davis and Blaise Zabini, and while their friendship was still usually more annoying to Scorpius than helpful; he was happy to make use of the advantages that having the back-up and company gave him when it came to dealing with the bullies in Slytherin House that now mostly needed to leave them alone when they were together because they were no longer easy targets. They still had to deal with the insults and scorn that were regularly directed at all three of them; but even that seemed to be less than it had been at the first of the year – unless they were all just getting used to it; or the older boys just didn't find it entertaining anymore. Whatever the reason; life at Hogwarts was actually becoming fairly good for Scorpius – even if it wasn't yet what he dreamed his life should have been; and would be some day with Thomas' help!

The school week that transitioned between the end of January and the start of February began and ended with family birthdays. Al and Rose had no involvement at all with their cousin Aiden's fifteenth birthday on Monday – other than sending cards and gifts along with the posts that their parents sent to him at his school. None of the Weasley clan could go to see him while he was at school anyway; but Al did eventually hear that Charlene and Aiden's friends did their best to make his day special. On Friday, it was James' turn to be in the spotlight for his thirteenth birthday, and while Al and Rose were around for parts of his birthday fun; they both wished that they hadn't been because James was rude to them the few times he did actually talk with them; and ignored them the rest of the time while having fun with Ollie and his friends.

Those less-than-fun moments included an ingracious acceptance of what had been a pair of fairly cool birthday gifts that they gave him at breakfast; and he also basically told them to get lost instead of letting them stay to see what Harry, Ginny, and Lily had sent him by Owl Post for his birthday. The rudeness continued after school during Quidditch practice; and he didn't want anything to do with them at his birthday party in the common room after dinner. Al wasn't really surprised by that, since James and Ollie had been unpleasant to be around every day since their duel; but it would have been nice to have them take a day off from that and at least pretend to be nice.

James was happy to bask in the glow of the attention from his friends and the rest of his cousins; accept all other gifts; and enjoy the party that included cake, ice cream, and lots of treats to go along with some mirror gaming and a mirror network show that he watched while half-cuddled with Lacey Finnegan. She'd gotten him a nice little gift too; though Al suspected that James didn't appreciate it – or Lacey's interest in him – as much as he should. It wasn't as if he hadn't been aware of how self-centered James usually was; but it was vividly on display all day on Friday – or at least whenever Al was around.

After dealing with that on Friday, Al was ready for the weekend by Saturday morning – and ready to spend some quality time without James in his life. They started the weekend out with another family birthday – this time for Aunt Audrey. Al and Rose had sent gifts and cards to her with Winter; had a short mirror chat with her at breakfast; and had Molly and Lucy thank them for helping to make their mother's birthday a bit more special; but that was the full extent of their birthday fun for the day. Their morning was spent studying with their friends; they had a play afternoon that included some snow play outdoors and a magical play time between their warm up break and dinnertime. Sunday was another play day that included more morning magic fun. Al and Gwendolyn spent the afternoon together and on their own; and he spent both Saturday and Sunday evenings playing in the common room with Rose and their Gryffindor friends.

For the second week in a row, they started out their school week with a family birthday. Grandpa Weasley turned sixty-seven on Monday, and Al and Rose basically repeated the birthday gifts, cards, and mirror chat that they'd done on Saturday with their aunt; except that Winter had only needed to move on from Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey's to the Burrow – and had gotten there on Sunday morning. Grandma Weasley had kept their gifts and cards for their Grandfather until Monday morning; so he'd opened them while chatting with Al and Rose. That had needed to be another short chat because most of the grandkids were calling him before the start of classes – or his leaving for work at the Ministry of Magic; so he was very busy with all of that birthday fun.

They missed out on a family luncheon while stuck at school; but were okay with getting no details about the dinner and night out that their grandparents were doing without kids or grandkids. With less than a week and a half to go until Valentine's Day; their grandfather's birthday wasn't even a big deal compared to the action going on around Hogwarts all week as the students practically had a full-time job just keeping up with the news on the gossip network. While Al was less-interested in that than Rose and the other girls in their group; it was impossible to avoid hearing about the teen drama going on around them. For the older teens, some of that drama included plans – or lack of them – for the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday; and there were at least some boys that wouldn't need to wait until Valentine's Day to mess up with their girlfriends if they didn't try to make the Saturday away from school memorable and special too.

Al didn't have to worry about that; but then he wasn't worried about Valentine's Day either. He was busy-enough with his classes, Quidditch, and studying during the week; and with studying and family and friends play time on the weekend. There was also a Harpies game on Thursday night that they won; but Al, Rose, and the rest of the Hapries' fans in their study group only caught parts of the game while studying in their usual classroom after dinner. On Saturday, while the older students were all in Hogsmeade; it was a study morning for Al, Rose, and their friends; and then they played all afternoon and evening. Dominique's sixteenth birthday was on Sunday, so the family fun part of their weekend was at breakfast and durning the little party that Victoire, Louis, and Domiquie's friends put on for her in the afternoon; so Al mixed that in with his usual Sunday play time with Gwendolyn – and some magic play time with most of their friends too.

Sunday also marked a ramp-up in the use of Valentine's Day wheezes because of the purchases that had been made at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes on Saturday. James and Ollie had still, so far, left Al alone; but that didn't keep them from including all firsties in their holiday wheezes distribution. They just took a bit of extra pleasure in having Al, Rose, Ray, or any of their closest friends getting caught up in one of their wheezes pranks. Fortunately for them, James and Ollie didn't get to have that many opportunities to bother them at all because they were away from the common room and doing their own thing all day on Sunday; and then again on Monday and Tuesday when they weren't in classes or at Quidditch practice. Meals in the Great Hall were a problem for wheezes that could be slipped into food or drinks; and there were always pranks going on around the common room whenever they were there before bedtime or first thing in the morning. Everything going on around Hogwarts over those three days were just the lead-up to the main event of the school week – Valentine's Day!

Al was awake a bit earlier than usual on Wednesday morning; used the extra time to get ready for the day; and then went to the common room to wait for Rose to join him for their usual morning walk and talk before breakfast. He was smiling warmly when she joined him; and handed her a gift that earned him a happy hug and bright smile in return.

"Thank-you; but aren't you getting your Witches mixed up this morning?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"No, I haven't," he assured her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rose."

"It's looking up," she decided. "I was only expecting a card and maybe some sweets from Mom and Dad today."

"I'm sure there will be an Owl Post for you too," Al agreed. "Why don't you let me carry your bookbag so that you can open your gift while we walk?"

"Are we in a hurry this morning for some reason?"

"Only to make sure we don't get hit by any wheezes before breakfast. I haven't exactly had the best of luck with James and Ollie on any holiday so far this year; so I won't be surprised if they try something today – even if they have mostly left us alone for the past few weeks."

"I'd suggest that they might be too busy trying to impress Lacey today, but they'd likely think that pranking you would impress her." She smiled and shrugged. "I don't know her well-enough to say whether that'd work or not, but she does hate the pranks they pull on her and her friends; so I doubt that it would."

"Let's not go there and just hope that they leave me – us – alone today." They were out in the hallway by then; and Al looked around at the decorations that had appeared overnight. "This looks a lot nicer than the stories we've heard about from when our parents were here. I can't say that I've ever asked about the Valentine's Day decorations here with Teddy or any of our older cousins; so I'm glad to see that the place isn't filled with the ugly pink hearts that Mum's talked about a few times."

"If the rest of the school looks this nice, it's definitely a big improvement," Rose agreed. She was opening her little gift; and stopped Al to hug him again after finding the pair of small gold hoop earrings in the box. "Thank-you, Al. They're lovely!"

"You're welcome," Al assured her. "Thanks for being such a great cousin and best friend."

Rose laughed. "I thought that Gwendolyn was your best friend. Are you sure that you're not befuddled or something this morning?"

"I'm lucky to have both of you for best friends; not befuddled." He smiled at her. "You should be more interested in how many Wizards you'll befuddle today looking so great."

Rose laughed again. "I look exactly the same as I do every school day, Al. I'm wearing one of my normal school robes, and if anything; I took less time than usual getting my hair done. I definitely won't be befuddling any Wizards today or any other day – at least in the near future."

"We can just disagree on that one," Al suggested with a shrug. "Is there any Valentine's Day news I should know about from the gossip network last night or this morning?"

That question gave them a diversion that kept them entertained until they got to the Great Hall. They were among the first students to arrive, so they sat down and continued to chat while waiting for their friends to join them and the food to appear on the tables. The Valentine's Day entertainment began to kick up several notches as the hall began filling rapidly with teens that were mostly happy and excited; and the fun ranged from the sweet and heart-felt to the kind of fun that was more to the liking of kids like James and Ollie. One particular tradition that Al didn't like to see at all was the singing Valentines that were delivered by dwarves that obviously hated being pressed into that service. The first of those deliveries started shortly after Al and Rose sat down, and he noted that most of the recipients didn't like them either; while there seemed to be a lot of Wizards around the hall that thought the dwarves and songs were hilarious. Thankfully, Al was diverted from watching any of that for a while when Gwendolyn stopped by to see him on her way to her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" she said first while he stood to welcome her with a hug and kiss.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too," Al said; and then his smile brightened at her reaction to the gift he handed her from out of his book bag. He laughed too when she immediately started tearing into the wrapping paper; sending it flying around them as she quickly had the box free of the paper; and then opened the lid of the purple velvet case. She hugged him fiercely then for a long moment; kissed him rather enthusiastically; and then stepped back again.

"I think she likes it," Ray deadpanned as he joined them – along with Bristol, Cora, and a half-dozen other Gryffindor firsties. "Your name is Albus Potter, you're in the Great Hall at Hogwarts; and it's Valentine's Day."

"Thanks, mate," Al said with a grin that told all of his friends that Gwendolyn had rather successfully rocked his world with that kiss and hug.

"I love it," Gwendolyn assured him; smiling happily too. 'It' was a beautiful gold, heart-shaped locket; and she had another hug and kiss for him after opening it to find their pictures already put into it. She laughed while watching the two miniature pictures of them waving and smiling at her, and once she was finished with the bonus hugs and kisses; she had Rose help her out with putting the locket on while chatting with all of the girls.

Al thought that had gone brilliantly; bu then his soaring spirits nose-dived when he saw one of the angry-looking dwarves approaching them; and he knew before it reached them that his brother had decided to try and mess up the day for him. He had time to feel relieved for a second when the dwarf came to a stop in front of him instead of Gwendolyn; but then the dwarf gave him a hard shove that slammed him onto the bench and he hit his back hard against the edge of the table.

"I know that you're a crimminal, and a total loser too," the dwarf sang in a snarling growl; "but since I can't do better yet; I guess you will have to do." The card the dwarf had been holding was thrown into Al's face; and then it stomped off to deliver it's next singing Valentine.

"Don't open that," Gwendolyn told him, but it was already too late, because as soon as he grabbed it; the card popped open; and they were both hit with a puff of mist that they couldn't avoid.

Al's temper flared as he watched Gwendolyn's transfiguration into a cupid-dwarf; knew that it was happening to him too; and then he lost it when he looked over to James and Ollie and saw them laughing at him while watching their prank attempt pay off. He pulled out his wand; pointed it at them; and began firing spells at them while storming toward them.

"Silencio! Incarcerous! Levicorpus! Revulsio!"

All of those shouts were doubled in quick succession, and since his first spells hit the two boys before they'd even thought to pull their wands; they were far too slow to have any chance of stopping everything that followed. The ropes bound James and Ollie very tightly; they flipped upside down and hung by an ankle; and the Revulsion jinxes sent them flying across the hall away from Al and right out the door. They didn't stop there, and Al didn't let up on those last two spells, but by then; nearly every eye in the room was on him – and more than half of the students were laughing at him.

"That's enough, Al," Rose told him as she and Gwendolyn caught up to him; and she put a hand on his wand arm.

"I'd say it's not nearly enough," Al retorted; still furious. He felt like crying when he saw Gwendolyn's dwarf-like face; and the fire in his eyes blazed anew. "They can float off to London like that for all I care."

"What are you doing, Al?"

He turned around to find Victoire taking the last few steps toward him; and she looked upset.

"I'm dealing with my idiot brother and his prankster sidekick," he answered unapologetically. "I don't care about me, but is there any chance you can do anything to help Gwendolyn?"

Victoire sighed and shook her head. "They used Valentine wheezes, Al. You know it'll just need to run its course."

"Then so can they," Al decided. "Do you know how long these transfigurations will last?"

"Fifteen minutes or so," Louis told him as he joined their little group along with Dominique, Lucy, and Molly. "Depends on how much of the stuff got in or on you."

"It was a puff of mist that hit us when the card popped open," Rose advised them. "Is Al in trouble now?"

Victoire sighed again, and nodded. "Yeah, and I'll guess that you can't actually prove that James and Ollie did this to you either, right?"

"No, but I don't need proof," Al said. "Do what you have to do, Victoire. It's worth it to not let them get away with this stupid prank."

"You might not think so by the time you're done with the detention I'll have to give you for something like this," Victoire told him seriously. "Couldn't you have thought about waiting to go after them until you weren't in a room full of witnesses that included most of the Professors and the Headmistress?"

Al shook his head. "I'm sorry to mess up your Valentine's Day breakfast, but I was only thinking about one thing; and I'm still not going to be sorry regardless of the punishment for doing it here."

"Well, at least you've got something to keep your mind off of missing Teddy this morning," Dominique told Victoire; grinning at Al. "Would you like me to go and track down James and Ollie and help them out?"

"I'll do it," Louis told his sisters; and smiled at Al too. "Any chance you want to give me a hint on where they might be?"

"Would you want to do that if James had done something like this to you and your girlfriend?" Al countered. "Stay and enjoy breakfast. They don't deserve your help – or anyone else's."

"Come with me, Al," Victoire told him. "The rest of you can go and have breakfast. I'll deal with finding James and Ollie myself – once I've dealt with Al in the Head's office."

Al nodded, but turned to Gwendolyn first. "I'm sorry," he told her simply. "So much for making our first Valentine's Day a great one for you."

"Don't be sorry," she told him. "This wasn't your fault; and you were doing brilliantly until those two gits messed it up for us. Now get out of here. I don't want you to see me like this anymore. I'm hideous!"

"You're amazing and beautiful," Al disagreed. "I'll see you later – at lunch; if I'm not stuck in detention by then."

The first roar of laughter had subsided by then, but there was still laughing going on as Al followed Victoire out of the Great Hall; and quite a few jeers were directed his way. Al ignored all of that, and didn't look around; but he held his head high as he looked straight ahead; and he honestly didn't care what anyone else thought of him at that moment. He did what he felt he had to do, and while James and Ollie were going to love seeing him get in trouble because of them again; they'd at least know for sure now that there was a price to pay for their attacks on him.

Victoire walked with him to the Heads' office; had him sit down in one of the chairs; and quickly filled out the report she'd need to send to the Headmistress. Forty hours of detention chores was a fairly hefty punishment; but Al knew that Victoire wouldn't take it easy on him for the same reason his father hadn't on New Year's Eve. The fifty points she took from Gryffindor actually hurt him more, since he hadn't wanted to hurt their House too; yet that just had him feeling angrier with James instead of mad at himself. There was a good chance that he was the only student she'd punished all year that she also hugged when she set him free again; but that didn't make him feel any better – especially when he saw James and Ollie floating toward the office as he stepped out into the hallway.

"Don't do it, Al," Victoire warned as Al was already reaching for his wand. "You've gotten into enough trouble for one day; and I'd really hate to have to stop you."

Al suspected that she couldn't actually do that if he did blast his brother and Ollie again; but reluctantly decided not to force her to try. Leaving his wand in his pocket; he settled for glaring up at the other two boys.

"Congratulations. I'm sure you're very proud of yourselves for messing up yet another holiday for me – and for Gwendolyn this time too." He stepped up to James until they were just a couple of feet apart. "Stay away from me for a while. I'm really angry with you right now; and neither of us want to find out what I might do if you keep bugging me." Without warning, he lashed out and punched James in the face – hard enough that his brother floated away from him a good five feet; his body swinging like a pendulum as Al then started walking and quickly passed him. He turned around and focused his attention on Victoire. "Put that one on my detention tab if you want. I'll get started on that tomorrow."

With that said, he turned around again and walked away without looking back again. Sure, that sucker punch had been petty and unfair; but he didn't regret it either – and it had felt really good to smack the grin off of his brother's face. By then, it was too late to have time to eat breakfast even if he had been hungry; so he instead decided to go for a long walk to try and cool down on his way to his double Herbology class. Unfortunately, that impromptu plan was interrupted – just as his dark train of thoughts was – when the alarm bells started going off in his head as he sensed the sudden danger when he was turning a corner into an adjoining hallway. He had his wand out and a shield up even as a trio of curses and hexes were shouted out and the spells crasheed against that shield; and the still-boiling anger within him flared anew as he faced a trio of his least-favorite Slytherins.

"This is a really bad time for you to pick for trying to mess with me," he warned them. Victor Avery was in the middle of the little group with Rupert to his left and G-Air Mulciber to his right; and all three boys sneered at him maliciously.

"I'd say it's the perfect time," Victor disagreed. "Nobody will even notice you're missing at least until lunchtime; since we all saw you getting dragged off out of the Great Hall by our pathetic excuse for a Head Girl. We'll be able to do what we want with you between now and whenever we decide that we've had enough fun with you – or until they find you."

"Which they won't," Rupert added with a coarse laugh. Al hadn't needed to see him look beyond him with an expectant expression on his face to know that he had enemies at his back; and he had his shield wrapped around himself before the next dozen or more curses, hexes, and jinxes were hurled at him – from four Wizards behind him and the three in front of him.

"You've obviously never been really mad at my brother before," Al said angrily; "or you'd get why this little ambush is such an incredibly stupid idea."

Victor laughed. "Your brother just finished making you look like an idiot in front of the whole school; and now we're going to make sure that everyone knows just how pathetic you reall are."

"I thought that he made him look like a Valentine dwarf," Rupert joked derisively; - "and I don't think that his little girlfriend has ever looked better." His sneer faltered when he saw Al's eyes blaze with hot, emerald fire; and he took an involuntary step back – htough it was already far too late for him by then as Al lashed out at all seven of the boys.

He needed to continue to defend himself at first as the Slytherins dueled him as a group, but he used multiple, moving shields to do that even as he blasted and disarmed them one at a time – or they blasted each other in the crossfire as their spells were deflected, rebounded, or missed Al altogether and hit them instead. The fight was short and ugly, and while Al didn't escape unscathed; neither did any of the Slytherins. The worst of their injuries were caused by their own curses and hexes, but Al had been responsible for some of those injuries too as his ocunter-attacks blasted them into walls or his bindings were too tight and caused rope burns or made other injuries worse. When it was over, he had seven wands in his pocket; and felt no sympathy whatsoever for the Averys and their buddies as they were either pinned to walls or bound and flat-out on the ground.

"I told you this was stupid," he reminded them. "Since I should probably thank you for giving me a chance to blow off some of the anger I'm feeling right now, instead of inviting you to see me at lunchtime in the Great Hall to get your wands back; I'll save you that embarrassment and leave them at the end of the hallway when I leave. I'm sure that at least one of you will be able to summon your wand and get all of you out of this bind; but I'm not feeling generous-enough to help you out with that – or with your injuries."

"Go ahead and run off, coward," Victor spat acidly. "We'll remember this for the next time; so you'd better watch your back."

"I'm not running away," Al pointed out; "and you should probably shut it right now before I change my mind and keep your wands after all." He looked up when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and speeding up as they closed the gap. He was smiling ruefully when Victoire frounded the corner and came up short when she saw the entire scene.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" she demanded.

"I'll tell you what happened," Victor said before Al pointed his wand at him and said – "Silencio!" He then turned back to Victoire and wasn't smiling anymore.

"That was just to give Victor a minute or two to think about what he's going to tell you before doing something even dumber than he already has," heexplained while grabbing the seven wands from his pocket and holding them out to his cousin. "If he's dumb-enough to try blaming this on me, then you're welcome to come and get me from Herbology class – if you need to do that after getting their stories – though I'd recommend doing that with each of them individually – and before they can work that out together; since I seriously doubt that they'll want to let you or the Headmistress take a look at their memories or check their wands." He looked over his shoulder at Victor; and the other boy was glaring at him with murderous fury in his eyes now. "I'm sure that you'll be happy to help them out now; so I'm going to get to class now and leave you to it."

"Al, you can't just leave," Victoire told him; and he shook his head in disagreement.

"Yes, I can," he said bluntly. "As of right now, I have no idea what happened here, and unless these guys want to drag me into it, I didn't see anything; so you've no reason to keep me here." He glanced back at Victor again meaningfully. "If that changes; you know where to find me – though I really hope for their sake that doesn't happen."

"That isn't good enough," Victoire told him; and Al felt his anger rising again – a fact that Victoire noticed right away too as he locked gazes with her.

"Yes, it is," he said flatly. "I've had a fairly rotten morning so far, so I'm going to walk away from this; and you're not going to stop me. It looks to me as though some of these gits need your help a lot more than you need to sit here and argue with me – especially when you really can deal with me later if that's even an issue at all by the time you've helped them out." He sighed then when Victoire didn't appear willing to budge. "Fine," he said before pointing his wand at Victor again and reversing the silencing spell. "Go ahead, Victor. Tell our Head Girl all about what happened here; since she won't be satisfied until she hears it from you."

Victor glared at him for a long moment before looking at Victoire. "Unbind us and return our wands," he demanded.

"What happened to you?" she countered; and Victor glared at Al again before answering.

"Nothing that concerns you," he answered. "Now free us or give us our wands so we can take care of that ourselves. Some of us have classes to get to and we don't want to be late."

Victoire took a moment to look at each of the boys; and then shook her head. "If that's the way you all want it; I've better things to do than deal with yet another mess. She dropped the seven wands she'd still been holding; took hold of Al's arm; and unbound Victor as she led Al past him. "I'll leave it to you to help the rest of your mates," she told him – "unless you'd like me to stay and help you with that?"

"Just go away, Weasel," Victor said scathingly as he stood up and went to retrieve his wand; "and take Potty with you. The stench is making me want to puke."

"That's incredibly rude, but have it your way," Victoire told him. "Have a Happy Valentine's Day, guys."

With that, the second lousy scene of the day was finished for Al; and he allowed Victoire to lead him down the hallway and into the next stairway before she let go of his arm and they continued to walk side-by-side as they descended the stairs.

"I really don't like this, Al," she told him seriously. "If you're still having problems with that lot; we should deal with it before they try something that's too much for you to handle."

"That didn't work out for me so well when I just tried to do that with James and Ollie," Al joked before getting serious again. "They all hat me, and nothing I do is going to change that; but embarrassing them or getting them into trouble will just make it worse. I'll try not to do either unless they leave me with no other choice."

Victoire sighed. "Okay, Al. I'll leave it alone this time; though I still don't think it's the right thing to do."

They only stayed together until they reached the next floor down; and then they split up so that Al could head toward the greenhouses while Victoire went to her first class of the day. Even after that little duel, he still expected to be in the greenhouse before anyone else in the class, but Rose, Ray, and Bristol were all there and waiting for him when he arrived.

"Gwednolyn asked me to pass on a hug and her thanks for the flowers and chocolates," Rose told him as she hugged him. "That Transfiguration messed up her hair; so she's wishing that you'd left James and Ollie hanging in the Great Hall so that she could've blasted them too."

Al laughed. "And here I was thinking that their worst mistake was messing with my girlfriend. I'm glad that she couldn't do that and get into trouble too. I'll be spending most of my spare time doing detention chores for a while."

"How long is a while?" Ray asked; and Al shrugged.

"Forty hours. I'll start them tomorrow, and it also means that I can't do things like going to see the Quidditch game on Saturday until I'm done with the detention. What'd I miss at breakfast?"

"Eating, for one thing," Rose told him. She pulled a pair of buns our of her bag and handed them to him. "Eat while you can. I'd have brough more; but pancakes and syrup would've made a mess of my book bag."

"James and Ollie weren't back in the Great Hallwhen we left," Bristol told him. "Did you really make it that hard for them to be found?"

"Victoire used some kind of summoning charm to get them to her office by the time she was done with me." Al grinned then; though not really with amusement. "She probably should have waited until I was gone. They were still bound, silenced, and upside-down, but James had a really smug grin on his face; so I smacked it off on my way past him."

"You slapped him?" Rose asked incredulously; and Al shook his head.

"No, I punched him – hard. Don't feel too bad for him. I'm sure that Victoire will heal him – or have Madam Pomfrey help him. My hand will likely be sore for longer than James' face will be."

"That doesn't sound like you at all, Al," Rose told him with a shake of her head. "You've reason to be mad at them; but getting in this much trouble over it isn't good for you."

"James probably thought the same thing – right up until I blasted them," Al countered; "but I'll guess that everyone will agree with you on that – especially when word gets out that I lost fifty points for Gryffindor too."

"Fifty points!" Bristol exclaimed. "Victoire took fifty points from her own House over this?"

"Don't blame her," Al said quickly. "She did what she thought she had to do – and she made sure that nobody could acuse her of taking it easy on one of her cousins."

"It's one thing not to play favorites; and something else to be harder on you than the Heads would be on anyone else," Ray suggested. "Just because you can't prove that James and Ollie sent that singing Valentine doesn't mean they didn't deserve what you did. That should've counted for something too."

"True," Rose agreed, "but you'd better find a better way to deal with these problems, Al; or James is going to start trying to get you in trouble now that you've been punished twice for retaliating or defending yourself."

"Well, I did manage to stay out of trouble when Victoire ran into me again as I was about to leave after having a little duel with seven of my favorite Slytherins while on my way from the Heads' office to here," he told her; and then laughed at the expression on her face. "They tried to ambush me – and failed."

He looked and nodded toward the greenhouse door; where a group of students were about to come in. "We can talk about that some other time," he suggested. "I am not going to talk about that with anyone else except Gwendolyn, but you guys can answer any questions about what happened with James and Ollie honestly; and I don't want anyone else to know about that other little problem I've had this morning. Word will be getting around about my punishment for blasting James and Ollie anyway; so I don't expect to have much fun for the rest of the day – even without adding more fuel to the gossip fire I'm stuck with right now."

That proved to mostly be true while he was in classes or in the Great Hall for lunch and dinner; but Rose, Ray, Gwendolyn, and a few other friends tried to help Al out as much as possible during their study breaks. James and Ollie didn't try going after him again directly, and stayed away from Gwendolyn too after she pulled her wand on them the first time they tried to approach her; but they had fun talking about Al with anyone who would listen – and loudly-enough to be overheard by Al whenever he was nearby. The jokes, razzing, and everything else that was directed at him made it all but impossible to enjoy the Valentine's Day dinner, so Al just ate both of those meals as quickly as possible; skipped dessert; and left the Hall to get away from all of those annoyances.

The highlights of his evening were the study time after dinner with Gwendolyn sitting next to him; and their Valentine's Day goodnight hugs and kisses that they took care of before he walked her 'home' to the Ravenclaw tower entrance. He went straight to his dorm room after getting back to Gryffidnor tower because James and Ollie welcomed him into the common room with some loud, rude comments that were made to their friends but directed at him; and he ended his day with some reading in bed and a mirror chat with Lily. He would have had a chat with his parents too, and given them the bad news that Lily advised him they hadn't heard about as of the time they'd left for the Valentine's Day dinner and dance at the Magick Hall; but they were, obviously, out for the night.

Having his first Valentine's Day with Gwendolyn turn into such a mess actually made the rest of his week better – despite starting his detention chores. Filch and Jigger were both very happy to have another Potter in detention that they got to order around, but then Jigger soon looked disappointed when Al was not only polite with him; but thorough and very productive with his cleaning and polishing chores. For Al, those chores just allowed him to burn off the anger that continued to leave him with the urge to blast James and Ollie every time he saw them; and the long days he started putting in with the added work left him exhausted by the end of each day on Thursday and Friday. There was again a bit of fun mixed in here and there with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends, and he was soon a non-story on the school gossip network; so that helped to make things a bit better too.

Al's problems and detention were an issue for him – and for Gwendolyn and a few of their friends; but life went on both at Hogwarts and out in the real world. He and Rose sent Winter with gifts and cards for Roxanne's ninth birthday on Friday, and while that was the extent of their involvement in her happy day; Lily and Hugo went to her birthday party, and Lily stayed for a sleepover with their cousin and a couple of Roxanne's friends. On the Quidditch front, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Senior teams put in extra time getting ready for their game on Saturday, and since the Harpies had a match on Saturday too; they were in the news too – and a hot topic on the school grapevine by Thursday. That game, along with some Valentine's Day crime issues kept Al's parents busy – and helped to make his little problem comparatively unimportant to them – though they did have a long mirror chat with him about it on Thursday night.

On Saturday morning, with the weather bitterly cold, Al wasn't all that upset about having to miss the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match; though he wasn't happy to be missing out on the cuddle opportunity with Gwendolyn – and she didn't like that either. He'd wanted to talk with her after breakfast and try to smooth things over with her, but that wasn't an option when Mr. Jiggers was waiting for him in the Entrance Hall and all but dragged him off to put him to work while nearly everyone else began trudging out to the stadium – or stayed in the Great Hall as long as they could before going to watch the game at the last minute.

Since his detention also meant missing Quidditch matches until he was finished his punishment, and Al definitely didn't want to miss Gwendolyn's match in March; he planned on putting in two full days of work on the weekend. Mr. Jigger was happy to load him down with a long list of chores before going out to watch the game too; and Al moved from task to task; working almost mindlessly on the menial chores while letting his mind wander. Whether he was pondering his problems with James, thinking about Quidditch and the cuddling he wasn't doing with Gwendolyn, or mentally working on some of his weekend assignments; he mostly enjoyed the solitude and felt pretty good by the time he went to the Great Hall for lunch. By then, the Quidditch match was over; and he knew before getting to the hall that Gryffindor had won – just from the happy expressions he'd seen on the faces of the Gryffindors he'd passed in the hallway.

"Two-hundred to forty!" Ray advised him when Al was still a handful of steps away from his usual seat at the Gryffindor table. "Alex Jordan gave Victoire quite a go; but she made a great catch to win it for us."

"Al's likely more interested in finding out who was cuddling with Gwendolyn while he couldn't," Cora suggested; grinning at him. Rose gave her a dark look; and that caught his interest more than the comment. A look over at the Ravenclaw table gave him the answer; but he wasn't surprised.

"That was nice of Landon to step up and offer to help," he said sarcastically. "If you're hoping that I'll lose it for a second time in a week in front of everyone, though; I'll have to disappoint you this time."

"He sat beside her too," Rose advised him; "but Gwendolyn was under a blanket with me – not Landon."

Al smiled at her. "I'm not worried," he assured her. "It's a bit annoying; but I'd better get used to having other Wizards finding Gwendolyn as amazing as I do – and hope that she won't trade me in on a better guy anytime soon."

"She's a bit of a daredevil, and you've got the whole bad boy thing going on this week; so you'll likely be safe for a while," Cora teased; earning a round of laughs from her friends.

"You'd never guess at that to just look at him," Rose added, "but let's move on and give Al the rest of the Quidditch recap instead of teasing him again all through lunch."

"I'd appreciate that a lot," Al said with a grateful smile and nod for Rose. "Fifty-to-forty is a really close score. Kirby Crmb must've played a great match to keep pace with Belinda against our Chasers."

"He did," Rose agreed; "though Calvin and Tina Johnson had a lot to do with that too. They did a great job against our Chasers; and helped out with attacks on Belinda for a couple of those goals."

"I'd give them the win for the Beater duel," Ray added; nodding at Rose's assessment. "Belinda's still the better Keeper, and I'll call it a draw for the Chasers; but I think that Alex was actually the better Seeker today – even though Victoire beat him. Her broom was the difference today; and the game wouldn't have gone on as long as it did if Alex hadn't done such a great job despite having the slower broom."

"Victoire doesn't want to be a Seeker," Al reminded his friend. "Don't forget to give her bonus points for playing Seeker despite being a better Chaser."

"Not to mention that she did pretty well last year without her new broom," Rose added; "and I think she'd have had a good chance to win today even if she didn't have her Lightningbolt."

"That might be fun to find out one way or the other; but let's take the win and be glad for it," Ray offered. "We're the only House with three wins half-way through the season, and the other Houses only have one each; so we could all but win the cup if we win our junior team game against Hufflepuff next month."

Al and Rose had agreed that was true, but then Al also thought that wasn't a good thing for their team to know because they already had an issue with some ridiculously over-confident players. Though he still wasn't talking with James unless absolutely necessary; some of the things that he did overhear or learn about through the grapevine had him sure that James and Ollie were definitely too sure of themselves – and annoying their Hufflepuff competition with their bragging. He stayed out of all of that, but then he was out of the loop for the rest of the day anyway – including missing the Gryffindor celebration in the common room. Missing that didn't bother him at all, and he was actually glad to be doing the detention chores instead through until dinnertime. The evening study session was optional for their group, and most of the Gryffindors except for Rose, Ray, and Bristol took the night off; but all of their Ravenclaw study mates met up with them in their usual study classroom. Al was really glad to spend that time with Gwendolyn, and though his detention was messing up their usual weekend play time too; she'd agreed with his plan to work hard to get the forty hours of punishment out of the way as soon as possible so that it wouldn't mess things up for them later – especially once the weather started to improve again and they'd want to spend more time outdoors again.

While Al ended the first half of the weekend with that study session, a fun but too short bit of alone time with Gwendolyn while walking her 'home', and a bedtime mirror chat with Lily that included hearing all about her birthday adventures with Roxanne; he was once again one of the top news chat topics for Scorpius Malfoy as he spent the evening in the Room of Requirements with his favorite portrait friend.

"Let me guess – the top news you'll have for me today is about Quidditch, right?" Thomas asked once Scorpius had set his portrait on the table and sat down in the armchair.

"Actually, Albus Potter getting in trouble on Valentine's Day is my top story since the last time we spoke," Scorpius answered; smiling and sounding enthusiastic. "He blasted James and Ollie before breakfast in the Great Hall – right in front of everyone."

"Really? Maybe there's more to that trouble he had over the holidays than we know after all."

"Probably not," Scorpius disagreed. "I didn't see everything, but it sure looked as though he was provoked by a James and Ollie prank that hit Albus and his girlfriend too. The prank was a transfiguration charm that turned them into Valentine dwarves, and while I only didn't see that happen; I did see his retaliation. Albus lost fifty points for his House; and got forty hours of detention chores – and that was given to him by his cousin, Victoire. He was in detention during the game today; and I heard that he won't be allowed to attend any games or other school events until he's finished that detention."

"Did the other boys get into trouble too?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shook his head.

"No. Everyone knows they were behind the prank; but proving it is something else entirely. The transfiguration prank, by the way, was apparently delivered to them by one of the dwarf singing Valentines using a card that popped open and hit Albus and Gwendolyn with a misted version of a Transfiguration wheeze."

"That sounds childishly amusing – and just the sort of thing a Potter or Weasley would find funny. I'm only surprised that Albus didn't just laugh it off."

"I'm not. This could be showing us that Albus has had a true falling out with his brother – and isn't going to put up with even the smallest prank anymore. He bound James and Ollie in ropes, silenced them so they couldn't counter-attack; suspended them in the air; and then blasted them out of the Great Hall to float around the castle until our Head Girl rescued them." He was smiling again at that. "I don't mind admitting to finding all of that much more amusing than the prank had been."

"It's also quite impressive for a firstie to manage against two Wizards before either could defend themselves," Thomas said thoughtfully. "Keep an eye on both of those Potter brothers. I have a feeling that this animosity between them will be something that you can use some day in your own plans."

"I can do that," Scorpius agreed, and that's the only thing that Albus got into trouble for; but I suspect that he had a confrontation with the Averys and their mates that morning too."

"Wasn't the prank scene in the Great Hall enough for him?" Thomas joked; and Scorpius laughed.

"I'm sure that it was, but if I'm right about this; he didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Okay," Thomas said with a nod. "What do you think happened?"

"That's something that I don't know any of the details for, but Victor and Rupert Avery left the Great Hall with their usual gang not long after Albus was led off by his cousin, and the next time I saw them at lunchtime; they were sporting some injuries and looked very, very angry – and regularly stared daggers at Albus – though he completely ignored them." He smiled at the skeptical expression on Thomas' face. "I know that isn't much to go on, but it's also what I haven't heard from them since then – and that's any talk at all about Albus. They're not making fun of the prank; his retaliation; or his punishment. Taking off like that without having breakfast was odd too – especially when that got some of them in trouble with girlfriends for ignoring them on Valentine's Day. Finally, while I didn't see many of the injuries; I did see enough to be sure they'd been in a fight – and they must've lost to be as mad as they still were at lunchtime."

"But you're suggesting that Albus Potter defeated the Averys and their mates in a duel?" Thomas countered. "Did he appear to be injured too?"

"He didn't have a scratch on him from what I saw. James and Ollie were obviously out of the Great Hall at the time too, but none of the guys were glaring at them at lunchtime; so I don't think that anything happened with them." He shrugged. "They're not talking about what happened to them even though it's being whispered about around our House, and I'm not hearing anything from students in the other Houses during our joint classes; but I still think that I'm right – and it wouldn't be the first time that Albus has bested them."

"True, but he wasn't alone for the first confrontation you told me about; and the second was a snowball fight," Thomas pointed out. "Still, if you're right; that gives you even more reason to keep an eye on him."

They talked about that for just a bit longer; Scorpius gave Thomas the Quidditch report; and once they'd covered the rest of the news from the past few days; they spent the rest of the evening working on several new spells that were all meant to help Scorpius to better take care of himself around the school. Those lessons were again, as always, the highlight of the week for Scorpius; and Thomas helped him to feel better and better about everything in his life – and particularly about how amazing his future was going to be.

With the senior Quidditch matches done until May, and Valentine's Day over with too; many of the students at Hogwarts were looking ahead to the Easter break that was still six weeks away. There were two Hogsmeade weekends and two junior team Quidditch matches happening during those weeks; but every kid and teen knew that the school work was going to get tougher as their Professors took advantage of the winter weather and lack of distractions to get as much work done as possible.

That could be a recipe for a very dull month and a half to get through before the Easter holiday fun; and Al's detention and Quidditch ban wouldn't help that at all. He did still have Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends with him, though, so whatever happened; they'd make the best of it together – and have as much fun as possible along the way.

*A/N* If you're enjoying this story; check out my original series - Heirs of the Magi! Google 'Heirs of the Magi' to quickly find the blog or links to the e-retailers that carry my books!


	7. Quidditch Fun and Easter Adventures

**Chapter Seven – Quidditch Fun and Easter Adventures**

The eight days that were anchored by the last two Sundays in February were long and tough for Al as he pushed hard to keep up with his classes, assignments, Quidditch practices, and detention chores. With Gwendolyn's next Quidditch match on the first Saturday of March; he was determined to finish his detention as soon as possible so that he'd be able to watch the game. To make sure that happened, he worked for eight hours on that first Sunday; put in two hours a day during the school week; and worked off the remaining ten hours by doing chores for five hours a day on the last Saturday and Sunday of February.

Getting his detention finished so quickly had annoyed James, but the funniest part of having Jiggers declare his punishment completed was having the caretaker half-seriously ask him to get into trouble again soon because he'd done such a good job with all of his chores. Al didn't plan on helping him out with that, but didn't suggest that he was going to stay out of trouble; since he fully expected James and Ollie to try and get him into trouble again. That wasn't a vision of the future or anything; he'd just heard enough either personally or through the grapevine to know that the two pranksters had decided that their best chance of revenge on Al was to get him mad enough to do something that would again get him in hot water.

While he was being as watchful as possible for that next prank or attack, Al was more interested in Quidditch during that last week leading up to the Ravenclaw-Slytherin match – as were a lot of the students at the school. That wasn't all good, since Gwendolyn was busier with her team and extra practicing just as Al was free of his detention; and they didn't get to spend any extra time together. Some of the Slytherin players spent that week talking trash about how badly they were going to beat Ravenclaw, and they seemed to believe it, but Al thought that was stupid; and all of their snide comments just helped to motivate Gwendolyn and the rest of her team. For Gwendolyn, she was especially offended by Rupert Avery's bragging about how badly the Ravenclaw Chasers were going to do against a great Keeper; which was especially dumb considering that Gwendolyn had done pretty well against Myra Graves – and the Hufflepuff Keeper and Captain was certainly a much better Keeper than her Slytherin counterpart.

Quidditch wasn't just a big deal at Hogwarts during that transition week between February and March; and there were also two family birthdays going on back at home - Hugo's tenth; and Ron's thirty-eighth. Since Hugo was born on February twenty-ninth, and it wasn't a leap year, he celebrated his birthday on the twenty-eighth and the first; while his father only got to have the one day – and had his birthday celebrated during Hugo's birthday dinner on Wednesday so that they didn't have a second party on Thursday. They did also get to watch the Harpies game against the Prides on Wednesday evening, and even though both boys were loyal Cannons fans; the Harpies gave them a win to help make their special day even better.

Gabrielle got that win for her team with another Seeker duel over Erin Connelly. That was an especially tough battle because both Witches were playing their best in the hopes of getting picked for their respective national teams, and even though Erin lost that duel; she still proved that she was one of the best Seekers in the game. With a final score of twn-thirty to one-forty, the entire Prides team proved that they were a match for the Harpies, and from what Al heard from Gwendolyn on Thursday; her mother and the rest of the Harpies had all felt lucky to escape Yorkshire stadium with that win.

Rose had borrowed Winter to send cards and gifts for her father and brother; Al had sent gifts too; and they'd had mirror chats with them on Wednesday and Thursday morning; but that had been the extent of their involvement with the birthday fun at home. They'd watched parts of the Harpies' game on Wednesday night using a pair of portable mirrors, but they'd needed to study too; so they'd needed to concentrate on their assignments more than the game for most of the evening.

Not getting to spend much time with Gwendolyn hadn't been fun for Al, and it seemed as though the only time they did spend together that was more than a cameo moment before and after meals in the Great Hall was when they studied together every evening. After two weeks of that, including his detention time; Al was in a great mood on Saturday morning when he got up and ready to go for the day. He was showered, dressed, and in the common room nearly a half-hour early for his usual meet-up with Rose for their morning walk to the Great Hall. He sat down to wait for her in a chair by the fire; and used his portable mirror to catch up on the latest professional Quidditch news – including reading his mother's column and look ahead at the weekend matches.

"I knew you'd be here early," Rose told him; smiling as she walked over to him. Al stood; smiled too; and shared a hug with her before dropping his mirror into his bag. Picking up the bag, he pulled the strap over his shoulder; and they both started walking toward the portrait hole.

"There's not much reason for it, since Gwendolyn's likely to be busy all day with the game and a party in Ravenclaw tower; but I couldn't sleep anyway. How are you this morning?"

"I'm good. Why do you think she'll have a party to go to after the game? Avery and Mulciber have all but guaranteed that Slytherin will win today; so Gwendolyn should be able to come and study with us this afternoon and evening."

Al laughed. "While spending that time with Gwendolyn would be really great, I'd never trade that for a win for her team."

"Not even when they play us next month?" Rose teased; and Al laughed again.

"I'll be happy for her if she wins that game too, but what we're talking about doesn't apply; since one of us will have a House party to go to regardless of who wins."

"Let's hope that it's our win and party for that match; since I'd rather feel bad for Gwendolyn and have the win."

"I'd rather have Gwendolyn in our House so we didn't have to worry about that at all. I want to win that game too, but I think it's going to be tough on me – especially when it comes to dealing with our Beaters trying to bash Gwendolyn with bludgers."

"Don't worry about that too much during that game; or it'll be you getting hit by bludgers instead of Gwendolyn. That's all stuff that we can deal with next month, though; so let's talk about the game today instead – unless you'd like to hear about the latest gossip about who is going to the game with whom today."

"With all of the good and bad drama stories from Valentine's Day, I'm not surprised that there are new stories for this weekend, but I can live without the details; so let's stick to Quidditch. I'd just finished reading Mom's column with her assessments for the games today. Why don't you take a shot at our game here; since I should probably say nothing ahead of time and stay out of potential trouble with Gwendolyn."

"She'd probably like to hear your assessment – and get it ahead of the game in case there's anything she can use."

"That'd be easier to do if we knew the match-ups they'll have at Chaser; and I'm sure she'd like to hear yours too. Tell me what you think; and I'll pass it on to her if you're okay with me doing that too."

Rose was happy to do that, and she was pretty good at doing those assessments – even without knowing the details of the game plans for either team. She did make some guesses, though; and based her guesses on how each team and player would do from that. Al agreed with her on most points, and despite his comment to the contrary; added in a few suggestions of his own. That kept them entertained until their friends started meeting up with them in the Great Hall; and then the conversation during breakfast included Quidditch and the latest teen drama gossip. Al got teased a bit about getting a cuddle buddy for the game too, but he just politely turned down all offers and suggestions while his friends had fun with him. He finished eating early, and went to meet up with Gwendolyn so that they could spend a few minutes together before she needed to get to the Quidditch pitch; and soon found out that his game day cuddle buddy options had been a chat topic among her friends too.

"I'm supposed to find out who you're cuddling with today so that it makes me mad enough to take my anger out on Slytherin," she told him with a smile before sharing a first hug of the day with him.

"In that case, I'm going to be cuddling with Tory Summers and Madison Whitby; and I won't tell you that it's because I'm supposed to try that as a pre-game strategy for our match against Hufflepuff."

Gwendolyn laughed; hugged him again; and kissed him. "It's a good thing that I know you're joking about that – even if it might actually be a good strategy for messing up their game."

"I'm not going to be playing in that game," Al reminded her. "The Gryffindor comedians weren't thinking about that when coming up with those suggestions – not that I'd try it anyway. That kind of thing would be more like something James would try."

"Remind me to warm Pauline about that," Gwendolyn said with another laugh. "Do you have any last-minute suggestions for the game today?"

Not really. We've talked about each of the Slytherin players over the past few weeks; so there's not much more to cover. Rose and I both think your team will be in tough against their Beaters; your Keepers are fairly closely matched; and we give Pauline the edge at Seeker. Your toughest match-up would be against Scorpius, but we think you'll end up matched against Blaise Zabini."

"That's one of our best-case match-ups; but only because Pauline thinks that I can do better against either of the Zabini brothers than Scorpius will do against Landon or Mark. I'd rather be up against Scorpius and find out which of us is better; but that probably isn't going to happen today."

Al grinned at her. "I don't really want to think about you being up against Scorpius Malfoy in any context, so let me give you a good luck gift and wish you luck instead of going there." Gwendolyn laughed as he held out the little, gift-wrapped box to her; and she hugged him again before quickly opening it. She had a hug and kiss for him when she saw the earrings with the small emeralds sparkling up at her; and then she switched them with the pair she'd been wearing before hugging him again for a long minute.

"You're going to have a really great game today," Al told her seriously. "Watch out for their Beaters; score lots of goals on Avery for being such a braggart; and have fun out there." He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, Gwendolyn."

"I love you too, Al," she assured him. "Thanks for such a great start to my morning. I really feel good about the game now."

"Good – my plan's working then," Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Let me guess – Gryffindor wants Slytherin to lose because you think that both of their teams have a better shot at winning their final games of the season than our teams will have against your teams."

"We both want you to win today; so my plan works with yours anyway. It could get weird if I need to start cheering for Slytherin over Hufflepuff; but I'll deal with that if needed next month."

"You'd just mess them up if you did cheer for them," Gwendolyn said with another laugh. "I need to get going. Will I see you after the game?"

"Hopefully, but if it looks as though James and Ollie are going to try something; I'll congratulate you after lunch instead. I don't want them doing anything to hurt you today – and preferably not ever again."

"I don't like that, but understand, Al. If they try to bug me anyway; I'll likely be the one spending some time in detention."

"Let's try not to do that. I've really missed spending time with you over the past couple of weeks; and we'll lose some more chances for that while I'm helping my team get ready for the Hufflepuff game."

"They won't practice next Saturday while the older teens are in Hogsmeade; and we'll be able to sit together for that game too; so I'll be a happy camper. We'll find some me and you time tomorrow too – even if I have to stay up late tonight doing some of my weekend assignments." She looked at her watch and shook her head. "I really need to go. Have fun watching the game – but not too much fun."

"I will and won't," Al promised.

They shared another quick hug and kiss; and then Gwendolyn was off and running for the Quidditch stadium while Al went for a walk around the castle so that he could have a bit of alone time before meeting up with Rose and the rest of their friends when it was time to walk out to the stadium too. He and Rose made a little side-trip to say hello to Teddy where he was sitting with Victoire, her team mates, and some of their friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends. As with the other junior games, she was still having her team work together on watching the game – and taking notes on each of the players. Louis was doing that with the junior team too, which is why Al sat with Rose; but as far away from James and Ollie as they could get and still be part of the team group. Since they didn't go outside until they really needed to be there; it wasn't much of a wait until Teresa Thomas got her pre-game show started.

"Welcome to the first junior team match of twenty-eighteen!" she told the spectators enthusiastically. "Game time temperature today is freezing and a bit windy; but we're not expecting to have any rain or snow unless we have a very long game. This is a big game for both teams because their Houses each have one win so far this season in the race for the Quidditch Cup; and the winner today will pull to within one win of Cup leader, Gryffindor – the only House that is still unbeaten as we move into the second half of the season."

"Just as we'll be by the end of the season," James declared loudly-enough for everyone around him to hear – and probably quite a few of the Hufflepuff players in the section next to theirs.

"He's such an idiot," Rose whispered to Al; and he nodded his agreement.

"Let's get this game going; and start by introducing our teams!" Teresa continued. "First up, let's hear it for Ravenclaw!" She went on to introduce each player; do the same for Slytherin; and then Mr. Peakes took care of the usual pre-game formalities before getting the teams lined up and ready to take off; releasing the bludgers and snitch; and finally tossing the quaffle high into the air.

"Blaise Zabini and Gwendolyn McCormack take off after the quaffle!" Teresa shouted excitedly. "Zabini knocks into McCormack just as she reached out to grab it – she misses; flips around; and bats the quaffle away from Zabini and over to Landon Graves. Nice play that!"

With that opening to her play-by-play, Teresa enthusiastically called the plays while everyone watched the action above the pitch. Al and Rose huddled under their blanket while she took notes and they talked quietly about the plays and strategies that each team was using. One thing that had changed for Ravenclaw since their first match was that Gwendolyn was much more involved in their first, 'scripted' plays; and that had Slytherin off-balance as she quickly helped her team out to an early thirty point lead before Scorpius answered for Slytherin and put a goal past Peter Boot. The game was on from there; and both teams battled hard.

For Slytherin, that meant pounding bludgers at the Ravenclaw players – particularly against Gwendolyn and Pauline; physically hitting them as often as possible; and using more than a few dirty tricks. They were given a few penalties when caught by Mr. Peakes; but got away with most of those cheating attempts. Al was angry over every hit or attempted hit on Gwendolyn, but his girlfriend was playing an amazing match; and managed to deflect or avoid most of the hits – including what would have surely been injury-causing bludger hits if they'd hit her full-on. Pauline wasn't so lucky; and within an hour; she was playing injured – and still giving 'G-Air' Mulciber all he could handle and then some.

The Seeker duel was a great defensive battle, and Slytherin was definitely winning the Beater battle, but the Chasers were winning their battle with the Keepers – and Gwendolyn and Scorpius were leading the way for their teams. Gwendolyn did end up battling against Blaise Zabini for most of the game; and that proved to be a terrible pairing for Slytherin. The same could be said in the other direction for Scorpius and Landon; but Gwendolyn's advantage was more obvious because Blaise was soon trying too hard and making a lot of mistakes. By the end of the first hour, Gwendolyn had scored six goals and hadn't given up any to Blaise. The only goal he scored in that first hour had been on a play when he'd been up against Mark Goldstein instead.

During the second hour, Gwendolyn outscored Blaise five-to-one, and by then; Scorpius had scored nine goals while giving up just four goals to Lance. All of the Ravenclaw players were getting bruised and battered by then, but the speed of the game was taking a toll on the Slytherin players too – even though they weren't getting hit nearly as often; and never with any cheap shots or fouls. The battle raged on through the third hour, and Ravenclaw went into the start of the fourth hour with a slim three-forty to two-ninety lead.

"This game is going to start leaning in Slytherin's favor if it goes on much longer," Rose told Al quietly. She was watching Pauline and G-Air battle for the snitch again; with Pauline holding off the Slytherin Seeker yet again; but Al didn't agree with her assessment.

"I think that Gwendolyn has been holding back a bit lately," he said; and smiled at Rose's reaction. "If I'm right, we'll see her put a new push on anytime now; and that'll get Pauline going too – even if the guys on both teams are starting to run out of steam now."

Rose turned her attention to Gwendolyn and just watched her for a few minutes. When she turned back to Al; she smiled at him. "You really have to pay attention to see it; so I doubt that any of the Slytherin players notice anything. Maybe Gwendolyn should think about going into acting if the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for her. I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything."

"Noticed what?" Ray asked; overhearing her and leaning in to talk with them. He and Bristol were sharing a blanket – as friends – so she leaned closer to them too.

"Gwendolyn isn't as worn out as she seems to be," Rose answered. "Al thinks she'll be kicking her game up a few notches soon."

"Everyone up there looks tired to me," Ray said; "including Mr. Peakes."

"She's looking tired, but if you watch her flying; her control is way too good for being tired out." She nodded to where Gwendolyn was going in on goal; made a hard direction change that Rupert Avery didn't react to until it was far too late; and scored a goal into the left hoop. "Does that look like someone who is practically too tired to stay on her broom to you?"

"No," Ray conceded; and then smiled at Al. "Maybe you should get banned from our game against Ravenclaw too. It'd be embarrassing to have your girlfriend kick your butt all over the pitch during that game."

"She could win a Chaser duel with me," Al agreed amiably; "but it wouldn't be by much if she did. We're fairly closely matched."

"In more ways than one," Bristol teased with a small laugh. "I hope that you aren't in a duel against Gwendolyn for that game; since I'd really feel bad about cheering for her and against you."

"You wouldn't!" Ray said; pretending to be shocked.

"I'm not just cheering for Gwendolyn and Pauline because they're on Ravenclaw," Bristol advised him. "Witches need all the help they can get in Quidditch; and I'll be cheering for them over my brothers when we play Ravenclaw too."

Bristol's comments gave them something to chat about while they continued to watch the game, and Gwendolyn's goal had been the first of seven more that she scored, along with one more each from Mark and Landon before Pauline took quite a bit of a risk against G-Air that paid off when she caught the snitch while also taking a glancing, but hard hit from a bludger that left her gasping for air but victoriously holding the snitch in her hand. Slytherin had managed to score six more goals; so the final score was five-eighty for Ravenclaw to three-fifty for Slytherin.

Al, Rose, and the rest of their friends started to fold up their blankets and gahter their things while Teresa did her post-game report and the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams met on the pitch; and then they headed out onto the pitch to congratulate their friends. Al saw James and Ollie start making their way out toward center pitch too; and put a hand on Rose's arm to get her attention.

"James and Ollie are heading our way," he said quietly. "I'm not going to give them the chance to prank me again in front of everyone; so tell Gwendolyn congratulations for me." He used his peripheral vision to watch his brother; and the expression on his face was all Al needed to see to know that they were up to something. "Stay close to him and feel free to let him have it if he tries something on Gwendolyn anyway."

"He'd better not," Rose said seriously. "You'll meet up with Gwendolyn later?"

Al nodded. "Yeah. We'll figure that out – or she can call my mirror if she has time to see me before lunch. This game went long, though; so lunch will be in the Great Hall soon."

"Okay, Al. They're catching up; so you'd better get out of here."

Al did that, joining the exodus of students heading out of the stadium; and only managing to catch Gwendolyn's eye for a moment to let her know with a glance that he'd need to congratulate her later before she was busy with other friends and he was out of sight. Rose continued on with the rest of their friends, though; and got in line to congratulate Gwendolyn and Landon on their win. They talked to Landon first, since Gwendolyn was still busy; and then they did a quick round of hugs with her – which was all they had time for before James and Ollie cut in; both boys smiling but looking smug too.

"Congratulations, Gwendolyn," James told her. "Looks like you won the game and ditched your loser boyfriend. Good for you!"

"Go away, James," Gwendolyn told him shortly. "You're not any funnier today than you were with that stupid prank on Valentine's Day."

"She didn't deny dumping Al," Ollie told James. "Should we send him a sympathy card; or go offer our condolences in person?"

"Hi, Rose," Gwendolyn told Rose; ignoring Ollie and turning to her friend. "Did you have fun watching the game? Why don't you walk with me to the locker rooms and we can talk without being distracted by any pests."

"Do you see any pests around, Ollie?" James asked; glancing in all directions as if looking for them.

"I see a pair of wannabe wood lice," Rose told him. "Get the hint that Gwendolyn was giving you and leave us alone."

"As if a firstie could pull off an animal transfiguration," James scoffed dismissively. "We, on the other hand are fairly talented at transfigurations, and while we were going to give you a victory gift by improving Al for you, since you've dumped him anyway; we'll give it to you and Rose instead."

James and Ollie both tossed something small that they'd each been holding already toward the two girls; but Rose had her wand out; and shouted "Protego!" Her shield blazed to life in front of both girls, and because the boys were so close to them; they were knocked off of their feet and the dual puffs of mist that would have hit Gwendolyn and Rose hit them instead.

"Goblin head transfigurations?" Gwendolyn asked as she watched the changes in the appearances of the two boys. "You make me sick." She smiled at Rose. "Thank-you. That wouldn't have been any more fun than it was to be a cupid-dwarf after Al and I got hit with their last prank."

"You're welcome," Rose assured her friend.

"And you've got some explaining to do, James," Victoire said as she and Teddy joined them – along with quite a few of their cousins and some friends. Most of the older teens were either laughing or trying hard not to; but still grinning in amusement.

"We were just offering our congratulations to Gwendolyn, and I have no idea why Rose blasted us; so you'll have to ask her why she attacked us."

"Are you actually going to try that line looking the way you do right now?" Victoire asked; and James grinned at her – a hideous expression on a goblin.

"We always have some wheezes on us for special occasions. A couple of them must've busted open when we were hit by Rose's shield."

"That's funny," Teddy said; "since from where I was standing and watching, it looked as though you and Ollie tossed something at the girls; and Rose was simply defending herself." He looked down at the pitch and nodded. "I'd say that your evidence is right there, Victoire; unless James is going to suggest that those wheezes fell out of their cloaks too instead of just being broken open in their pockets."

"You just had to become an Auror-trainee, didn't you?' James complained. "Dad's gone and corrupted you; and now you're no fun at all."

Teddy laughed. "I'm having fun; though I wouldn't have been if that prank had worked, James. You might want to take another look at Uncle George's guidelines for successful pranks. Gwendolyn deserves to enjoy her win today; not have it ruined by an ill-timed prank. There's nothing funny about that at all – and you should know that without needing me to tell you."

"I want both of you to meet me in the Head's office after lunch," Victoire told James and Ollie. "We'll have a little chat about this then. Get out of here and Leave Gwendolyn alone."

"For this?" James demanded. "Nothing happened to the girls. What's the big deal?"

"And we're the ones getting laughed at," Ollie added. "I'd say that should be the end of it."

"I wouldn't," Victoire told him seriously. "Be there, and don't be late. Louis is already upset enough over losing one of his best players for your game against Hufflepuff. He'd be really cross with me should he lsoe two more."

"Yes I would be," Louis agreed. "Do me a favor guys. Shut up and do what she tells you to do – and be glad that this prank didn't work. You might've gotten yourselves an automatic suspension for our Ravenclaw match for pranking one of their players – and Victoire wouldn't have had any choice in the matter at all."

"The lot of you need to collectively get a sense of humor," James groused. "Come on, Ollie. Let's get out of here before we catch a case of the dull and boring that they've all obviously come down with today." They walked away without even saying goodbye to Teddy or anyone else; and Rose waited for a couple of moments before hugging Teddy enthusiastically.

"Thank-you," she told him gratefully. "I'm so glad that you were watching out for us."

"Not that you needed the help. Maybe you should think about joining the Aurors when you graduate too. I'm pretty sure you're faster with your wand than your father is with his."

"He's probably just slowing down in his old age," Rose joked. "I was expecting them to try something; so I was ready when they did. Were you heading our way to congratulate Gwendolyn – or thank her for a long match?"

"Both," Teddy said easily; smiling at Gwendolyn. "Your Mum would be proud of the way you played today. "I've had a few games against Slytherin like that; and you'll likely be really sore tomorrow."

"I'm really sore right now," Gwendolyn admitted; "but Pauline was beat up a lot more than I was today. She's going to see Madam Pomfrey after we're finished here. She's pretty sure that she has a cracked rib or two along with being banged up nearly everywhere."

"I'd believe that," Teddy agreed. "We'll let you get on with your celebration. Thanks for helping me get to have so much time with Victoire today. We both really appreciate it a lot."

"Yes we do," Victoire agreed. I can't give you House points for that, but let's give you and Rose twenty points each for taking care of each other for that little problem with James and Ollie without letting it get out of hand."

"I didn't do anything," Gwendolyn told her. That was all thanks to Rose."

Victoire shook her head. "i can guess what went on before they tried to prank you – and why Al didn't stay to congratulate you too. You definitely earned those points for not blasting my misguided cousin and his mate." She smiled at Teddy. "You need to get going, so let's get out of here so that we can find someplace a little less crowded for our goodbye hugs and kisses."

"Been nice talking to you, but i gotta go," Teddy joked. He did a quick round of hugs with Rose, Dominique, Molly, and Lucy; and then he and Victoire headed off on their own.

"She'll likely end up walking him to the gate," Louis suggested. "Congratulations, Gwendolyn. That twenty-four goals of yours is scaring me a bit; but I'll have to wait until after the Hufflepuff game to worry about getting ready to play against you in April."

"You should be worried," Dominique advised him. "I'm glad that it'll be you playing against her instead of us this year."

"You won't have to play against her at all – unless you're both in the show some day," Lucy told Dominique. "We should all get going too. Lunch will be on in the Great Hall anytime now; and Gwendolyn should get out of the cold before all of those sore muscles kick in and she's too sore to walk anywhere."

While Gwendolyn had loved the praise from the older girls; she was as ready as the rest of her team mates to get indoors by then; so it wasn't long before she was heading for the locker room and the rest of her Gryffindor friends were on the way over to the castle. Al had gone to his dorm room after leaving Rose and the others; dropped off his winter gear and everything else he'd taken to the game; and then he'd packed his bag with everything he'd need for an afternoon study session. There'd still been time to go for a walk before lunch, so he'd done that too; and hadn't worked his way to the Great Hall until he'd been sure that it was mostly filled with students and lunch was served. Rose, Ray, and the rest of their usual group of firsties were there already too, so he sat down after getting a quick hug from Rose; and started filling his plate.

"It's too bad that you missed the post-game show," Ray advised him before Rose could begin to tell him about what had happened in the stadium after he'd left. "James and Ollie were going to prank you; tried to prank Gwendolyn and Rose instead; and your cousin stopped them with a shield charm that knocked them down and had their prank back-firing on them."

"You and Gwendolyn are both okay?" Al asked first; and Rose nodded.

"We're fine – though Gwendolyn's a bit banged up from the game. James and Ollie tried to do the same thing to us that they did to you on Valentine's Day; except it was a goblin transfiguration instead of the cupid-dwarf."

"They made rather hideous-looking goblins," Cora added; grinning at Al and then glanceing along the table to where James and Ollie were hanging out with the rest of their friends and goofing off as if nothing had happened at all – or that they had an appointment with the Head Girl over their very public prank.

"That was good to see," Ray told Al, "but the best part for me was when Victoire, Teddy, and everyone with them came over to us and we found out that Teddy had seen the whole thing. James and Ollie tried to talk their way out of it until our new-favorite Auror-trainee told Victoire exactly what had really happened. They've got to go and see Victoire after lunch in the Head's office over it."

"Maybe I should just hire Rose to protect me from now on," Al suggested with a warm smile for his favorite cousin. "I have no idea what would have happened if I'd been there too, but I'm fairly sure that it wouldn't have ended so well for me; and I'm really glad that it won't be me having that meeting with Victoire today."

"We can talk about that job idea some other time," Rose told him, "and for the record, Ray; Teddy's been our favorite Auror-trainee since he started there the summer before last."

"Who was your favorite before that?" Bristol asked with a sly grin that had Rose laughing.

"Would you like to take that one first, Al?" Rose offered; and Al laughed.

"You know that Kate Campbell was my favorite before Teddy. She'd play with us when we were little and our families were at the same parties or get-togethers."

"Kate is one of my favorites too; but I thought you were sweet on Erica Davis because she has green eyes like yours," Rose countered; and Al laughed.

"I like her too; but Kate really was my favorite before Teddy. Your turn."

Rose smiled and shrugged. "I liked Dyson Aubrey," she advised Bristol. "If you don't know who he is, he's about five years older than Teddy; and they're quite a bit alike. His Dad was an Auror that was killed on the job in the year after the war ended – when he was about six. He wanted to be an Auror like his father had been – just as Teddy's doing it because of his Mum."

"Is that why he was your favorite?" Cora asked; "or is he hot too?"

That earned a round of laughs from the other girls; and steered the conversation off in a direction that was away from Quidditch and the post-game trouble that James and Ollie had tried to make for Gwendolyn and Rose – and would have made for Al had he stayed at the stadium instead of leaving. The two boys had returend to normal by then, so Al hadn't gotten to see them looking like goblins, but he didn't care about that. While the girls continued to carry the lunchtime conversation, Al sat and thought about the news that Ray and Rose had brought with them. He was sure that he didn't have the entire story yet, but even with what he did know; he suspected that the scene really wouldn't have turned out as well had he been there – even though he wished now that he had been to protect his girlfriend and cousin instead of leaving it to Rose.

Since his cousin had handled the situation better than he likely would have, that feeling didn't make sense; and both girls would also likely tell him he was an idiot to think that they needed him to be their protector in the first place. The more he thought about their run-in with James and Ollie, the more he came to realize that his own reactions to his brother had gone from one extreme to another. He needed to find a middle ground between his former, non-confrontational ways and his more recent aggressive and retaliatory actions. The trick was going to be in finding that balance while also standing up to James when needed. The answers for his problems didn't come during that lunch break; but Al did still feel a bit better as he and his Gryffindor friends moved on to their afternoon of studying and magic practice.

Gwendolyn had needed to go to the party in her common room after lunch, and none of the Ravenclaw members of their study group came to that afternoon session; but she did meet up with Al before dinner and set up an evening study session that they made optional for everyone else. Al was happy with that, since he hadn't expected to spend any time with her until Sunday, and while he also hoped just a little that everyone else would take the night off so they'd also be on their own; they ended up with about half of their group agreeing to the evening study time – to either finish their work for the weekend and get all of Sunday off; or to get started on their work so they wouldn't have to work all day on Sunday. They met up after dinner in their usual classroom – after going to pick up the books and supplies they needed for the subjects they wanted to work on; and then they got to work and began catching up on what they'd all been doing since the end of the game.

"Have you heard anything in Gryffindor about what Victoire did with James and Ollie?" Gwendolyn asked Al and Rose.

"Not a word," Rose answered. "We normally don't because they don't talk about it when they get in trouble; so we don't even always hear about it at all if they're careful not to be seen during their detentions." She paused for a moment; and then added – "I'll guess that Victoire gave them at least a small detention just because they don't get caught very often compared to the amount of trouble they cause around here. I didn't notice any change in Gryffindor's House points at dinnertime either; so they may have lost the points that Victoire gave me. Yours helped Ravenclaw for the House Cup race."

"We're both still behind Hufflepuff right now," Gwendolyn noted; "but nobody noticed the points anyway while we were busy celebrating the Quidditch win."

"You didn't tell me about getting those points," Al told Rose; and she shrugged.

"I didn't think about it when we were talking about that at lunch; and then we were busy working for the rest of the afternoon. Victoire gave Gwendolyn and me twenty points each for how we handled things with James and Ollie. She smiled at him then. "At the time, I thought it was a nice way to make up a bit for the points you lost last month; but Victoire might have just been using it as an excuse to make up for the points she was going to need to take away from us for that prank."

"Is there anything else I should know that you haven't told me yet?" Al asked; and smiled when the girls exchanged a look that was easy to read. "Let me guess – I was insulted; and James suggested that Gwendolyn had finally gotten smart and dumped me – and that's why I wasn't there with you after the game."

"Were you eavesdropping somehow?" Gwendolyn teased; and they all laughed.

"No, but Rose was likely trying to keep me from getting even more angry with James and Ollie at lunchtime. I already wanted to blast him for trying to prank you."

"And now?" That question was from Gwendolyn; and her full attention was on him as she waited for the answer.

He smiled and reached out to squeeze her arm. "I'd still like to blast him, but I've also spent a lot of time this afternoon thinking about everything that's been going on between James and me; and it's pretty obvious now that I've gone too far to the other extreme for dealing with his pranks and jokes. I haven't figured out where the middle should be; but I hope that Valentine's Day will be the last time that I blast him first and think about it later."

"I sure hope not," Gwendolyn said; and then grinned at him. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Rose assured her; laughing along with Al and the friends closest to them that had been listening in on the quiet conversation.

"Ditto that for me too," Bristol told Gwendolyn. "I'm sure there will be lots of times that James and Ollie will deserve to get blasted; since nothing seems to get in the way of their mission to be the prank masters of Hogwarts."

"Probably," Al agreed; "but I really don't want to be the one to try and stop them every time – and I didn't love all of the cleaning and polishing so much that I want to be in detention anymore if I can avoid that too."

That comment had them changing topics a bit as they got on with their studies; and Al had a really good evening that ended with a sweet goodnight kiss or three with Gwendolyn after he walked her 'home' to Ravenclaw tower. That wasn't quite the end of his night because he also had a mirror chat with Lily; talked with Ray, Romeo, and a few of the other guys as they all wound down before being ready to sleep; and finished up his day by reading a book until he did finally crash for the night. While helping to earn her team's second Quidditch win of the season was likely the highlight of the weekend for Gwendolyn, and watching her do that had been pretty good for Al; he was also sure that all of the time he got to spend with Gwendolyn on Sunday was the best part of his weekend. They had another study and magic play time session in the morning with their friends; were on their own for the entire afternoon; and spent part of their evening together after dinner before needing to split up and return to their respective Houses for the night.

Their alone time on Sunday – which had included a music practice, a long walk around the castle, and a visit to the library – ended up being the most time they had to spend together for the entire following week. The Professors continued to pile on the assignment load and teach at a faster pace; more study time was needed to keep up with that; and Al, Rose, and Ray also had to deal with tougher, longer Quidditch practices. Al and Ray both did their best to help Louis get his team ready for the game, and a big part of that help was off the pitch because Rose needed them; and they tried to help her with the biggest problem she had with getting ready for the game – her Chaser partners' continuing to exclude her from their game play and refusal to work with her at all. Even Lousi had given up on trying to force Ollie and Magnus to play as a trio with her; deciding that Rose was doing the best she could with the ego problem that Ollie had – and that Magnus went along with out of thanks for getting James and Ollie to support him over the other guys for the spot on the team.

James and Ollie continued to be rude and obnoxious with their younger team mates; though they did tone it down during practices – one of the few successes Louis had with getting them to actually do what he asked of them. Off the pitch was another matter, and that got worse as the week went on because Ollie was angry with Al and Ray most of the time for making him look bad during the practices because their practice squad won every Chaser duel during the scrimmages – even if James continued to win every Seeker duel without giving up a single catch to his opponent. That, Al thought, was also potentially bad for their team. James was so confident that he was the best Seeker among the junior Seekers that Al was sure he was going to be in for a surprise if he didn't start training more seriously instead of just embarrassing and taunting their reserve team Seeker at every turn.

While all of that made for a very busy school week without much fun outside of the school work and Quidditch; the weekend between the two junior Quidditch games was another matter. For the older students, it was a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday; and they happily trudged off through the snow to spend the day in town. Victoire was especially happy about that because she was getting to spend time with Teddy again for the second of three weekends in a row. The fun level for Al, Rose, and their usual group of study buddies didn't start out very high on Saturday morning because they had an all-morning study session that allowed them to finish all of the weekend assignments that they'd started to do on Friday night after dinner. Being free to play after that for the rest of the weekend was worth the effort; though they didn't stay together for the afternoon play time because most of them didn't want to go outside and freeze while playing Quidditch.

Rose really wanted to have an extra practice, though, so Al and Ray helped her out with that; and Gwendolyn, Landon, and a few of their first and second-year Quidditch friends joined them out at the practice pitch – including a couple of Hufflepuff players. They met up after lunch in the Great Hall; Al and Gwendolyn used a hug and kiss to warm up before heading out into the cold; and then they all headed for the pitch after bundling up as warmly as possible.

"It doesn't look as though we'll get any snow or rain for a while," Rose commented as she scanned the sky. It was overcast, but the clouds were light-enough; and Al nodded as his senses agreed with his cousin's assessment.

"Probably not, and it's a bit warmer than our last couple of practices too – even if none of our fair-weather Quidditch friends don't want to come out and play too."

"Don't blame them," Gwendolyn said with a smile. "We're all tired of winter now. Spring can't get here soon enough for me."

"Does that mean that you're already tired of having Al for a cuddle buddy at those cold winter games?" Rose teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but we can cuddle when it's warm out too," she conceded easily. "Is there anything in particular you'd like to work on?"

Rose looked over toward their Hufflepuff friends before answering. "Not really. I'd just like to get out there and play for a while without having James and Ollie around to annoy me."

"Can you arrange that for our game next weekend too?" Tory Summers asked hopefully. "Madison and I would really enjoy the game a lot more if they weren't there."

"Yes we would," Madison agreed with a bob of her head. "If you can't manage that; we'd settle for having them play with their mouths stuck shut."

"More than half the students and Professors around here would like that every day," Ray suggested. "I might even be willing to trade an extra month of winter to get that."

"Don't get too attached to that idea," Al told him. "The rest of us really do want to see spring sooner instead of later."

That comment gave them a chat topic to keep them busy until they got to the pitch; they all got ready to play fairly quickly; and then it was game on! Al, Rose, and Ray were on the 'Gryffindor team; Gwendolyn, Landon, and Tory were their Chaser competition; Madison had a Seeker duel against her House reserve team Seeker; and they had two non-team Keepers that were both way out of their league against any of the Chasers. While that didn't help Rose with getting ready for her game, they did get both sets of Beaters from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams, and while they took it easy on the two novice Keepers; they did a great job testing everyone else for the hour and a half they played. There was a lot of scoring on both sides; and Madison won the game for Gwendolyn's team with her fifth snitch catch of the afternoon – something that her team had apparently been doing in their practice scrimmages; while counting each catch as thirty points to eventually split the normal one hundred and fifty points over those five catches.

"Which one of you won the Chaser duel today?" Rose asked Al and Gwendolyn after they'd landed and begun to take off their pads and gear. "I lost track with all of that scoring."

"Al won," Gwendolyn answered before Al could; feigning a frown in his direction that didn't at all match up with the fire and happiness in her eyes. "I'd be very annoyed if any of our reserve team players won our duels at every practice."

"I don't win anywhere near all of our duels," Al protested. "We haven't even had many duels since December."

"With Gwendolyn, yes," Rose agreed; "but you win all of your practice scrimmages against me – or against Ollie and Magnus the few times you've been up against them." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "I can promise you that it really is annoying, but I know he's just trying to help me get better, and I love him; so he gets away with it every time."

"You can get away with that because you want to be a Keeper," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I can't be the best new rookie in the show the year we graduate if he's always a bit better than me."

"You can be the best rookie Chaser," Rose corrected with a grin. "I'm planning on being the best rookie Keeper."

"Nothing but the best for your future Cannons team, right?" Gwendolyn teased in return; and both girls laughed.

"Absolutely, so keep falling for Al so that I'll have at least two of the best new Chasers to be on that team with me. I want to make sure that by the time you have to pick between my team and your Mum's that you make the right choice."

"Your Mum might turn you into a woodlouse if you don't play for the harpies when you grow up," Landon suggested. He was smiling, but there was a hint of an edge to his voice that told Al that his comment wasn't meant to only be a bit of fun. He did not like the idea of Al and Gwendolyn being together on a Quidditch team – or doing anything else.

"It wouldn't be the first time that happened to someone she was mad at," Gwendolyn admitted; "but I'm fairly sure that Mum loves me enough not to turn me into a bug no matter how mad she gets at me." She grinned slyly at Al and added – "though I can't be sure what she'd do to the boy responsible for stealing her little girl away from the Harpies."

"That'd be a tough one," Rose said thoughtfully. "She loves Al's Mum quite a lot too; and Aunt Ginny wouldn't like having one of her kids end up as a woodlouse. I'll stick with my plan 'A' and hope for the best."

"Easy for you to say," Al pretended to grouse. "You're not the one in danger of being turned into a bug."

With that little exchange, their friends were happy to join in on the somewhat-silly discussion; and then they headed indoors to get warmed up with cups of hot chocolate and snacks before splitting up to move on to other entertainments until dinnertime. For Al and Gwendolyn, that meant some music time for two in an empty classroom near Ravenclaw tower after they both dropped off their Quidditch gear and Gwendolyn picked up her guitar. She taught Al another lesson; they took turns playing the songs they sang together; and then they wrapped up their afternoon with a minor snogging session that was really nothing more serious than a handful of kisses and some quality cuddle time.

They split up for dinner in the Great Hall, but then they got back together again to go for a walk and hang out in the library until it was time to be back in their Houses for the night. Al wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Harry, Ginny, and Lily; they told him all about their day and going to see the Harpies play – and lose – their match; and he and Lily ended that chat without the parents so that they could each talk about a few things that their parents didn't need to hear. Sunday was a play day that pretty much went as usual for Al and Gwendolyn. They played with their friends in the morning and mostly goofed around with magic in their usual study classroom; the afternoon was for just the two of them; and then they spent the evening with Rose, Ray, and a few others and split their time between a long walk and hanging out together in the library. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn all wrote letters that Al then sent off with Winter to his house; and then he walked Gwendolyn back to her House for another goodnight kiss before heading back to Gryffindor tower for the night.

The week leading up to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game was a very strange one for Al – and often really annoying thanks to James and Ollie; though he was in good company for that even if their razzing was much more personal for him. He was also able to be amused because James obviously had no clue that Al really didn't mind missing the game; and getting to watch it with Gwendolyn was a really great bonus. That's why he took all of the jokes and nasty comments with a smile and shrug of indifference – which was very different from the reactions James and Ollie got from the Hufflepuff players they bugged. Louis kept trying to get them to just shut up and not keep giving their opponents any motivation to play their best; but nothing he said got through to them. Their final few practices went fairly well all things considered, but while everyone else on the team was confident; Louis and Rose were both more than a bit worried about the game by Saturday morning.

"Good morning, Rose," Al said softly as he watched his cousin walk across the common room to meet him. He'd been sitting by the fire and reading a book while waiting for her to join him for their morning walk to the Great Hall.

"That remains to be seen," she answered; smiling ruefully as they shared a hug. "I was nervous before our first game; but this feels very different – and not in a good way."

Al smiled too and handed her a small gift. "Then let's see if this will help you out a bit; since there isn't much I can say about the things you've a right to be worried about today."

"Gwendolyn's going to get jealous if you start giving pre-game gifts to every Witch in the school," Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"She'll make an exception for you – and for Lily too when she gets to play Quidditch here too."

"The good news there for me is that you're expecting to still be together with Gwendolyn then." Rose opened her gift; and then hugged Al again. "Thank-you! This is lovely."

"You're welcome," Al assured her as he watched her put the silver bracelet on her wrist. He grabbed her Quidditch bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"

"No, but let's go anyway. I don't want to be anywhere near James and Ollie until I absolutely have to be. They're so insufferable right now that it's a wonder they can stand to be around themselves."

"I've noticed that," Al deadpanned. "Let's go over your game plan for today instead; and not worry about them."

They did that while walking to the Great Hall; had time to sit and chat while waiting for their Gryffindor friends to join them; and only had to deal with James and Ollie once when the two boys went out of their way to razz Al again about being right where he belonged for the game – watching it from the bleachers with the rest of the no-talent Quidditch players. For his part, Al wished them luck that they assured him they weren't going to need; and then he ignored them while they all had breakfast – a true feat considering how loudly they were bragging with their friends while devouring three plates-full of food.

"It's going to be tough to decide whether it'll be all of that food or the big heads that will be their problem when it's time to fly," Rose joked as she and Al headed out of the Great Hall when it was time for her to get to the stadium. James and Ollie didn't appear to be in any hurry, but Rose got up as soon as she saw Louis getting ready to go.

"If they can manage to squeeze through the locker room door; I think they'll manage to get off the ground too," Al offered. "You're going to have a good game today, Rose. Have fun; try not to worry about Ollie and Magnus; and play your best. That's about all you can do today; and we can hope that it'll be enough – with some help from Louis and the McClaggens."

"You skipped assuring me that we're going to win today," she pointed out; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I really hope you win."

"You're too polite to say what we're both thinking," Rose accused mildly; but smiled too. "Are you going to walk me out to the stadium?"

"Hi, Gwendolyn," Al said; turning around to welcome her with a smile and hug before they both turned back to Rose. "Nice try; and that's a no – unless you'd like both of us to walk with you."

Rose shook her head. "Stay here where it's warm until you have to get out there forthe game. I'll be warm in the locker room once I'm there; so there's no need for either of you to sit out there and freeze."

"I doubt that Victoire will have a problem with doing that if Teddy's here early again," Gwendolyn offered.

"Is there any doubt about whether he will be here the moment the school is opened to visitors?" Rose asked. "he probably waits at the gates for a while."

"I would," Al told them; and both girls laughed.

"You'd come here early and wait at the gates to see Victoire?" Gwendolyn teased. "I thought that Rose was your favorite cousin."

"She is, and you both know what I meant; so quit grinning at me like that."

Rose and Gwendolyn still needed to tease him a bit more first, but then they shared a round of hugs; and Rose headed out to the stadium while Al and Gwendolyn wandered around the castle until it was time to meet up with their friends and go to the game too. Teddy and Victoire were already there by then, so Al and Gwendolyn stopped for a short visit with them before moving on to the seats that their friends picked out between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections. There was time to chat for a while; and then Teresa Thomas got her pre-game 'show' started.

"Good morning, Quidditch fans!" she shouted out enthusiastically. "Today we should be in for a great match-up between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff! Gryffindor House is still undefeated on the season coming into this match, and Hufflepuff House only has one victory in their first three games; but with three games left in the season; they're looking to turn things around today!"

"And shut James and Ollie up," Gwendolyn added in a whisper to Al that had him smiling.

"Our game time temperature is a balmy few degrees above freezing – even if it might not feel that way with the chilly winds. You're all here to watch Quidditch, though; so let's get things going by welcoming our teams! First up, we have Gryffindor, and for those of you who have been living out the past few months as an animal or bug; there's one change in the roster today. Magnus Finnegan joins Ollie Wood and Rose Weasley at Chaser, and as you can see; Captain and Keeper Louis Weasley leads his team with the McClaggen brothers, Tiberius and Brock, looking ready to protect their team mates at Beater. Finally, we have Gryffindor's Seeker, James Potter, and while I wouldn't dream of spreading any rumors; James personally assured me that he has, indeed, guaranteed that his team will win today – and win big." Teresa had to wait for a round of boos to fade away as James smiled wolfishly and waved jauntily at the crowd. "I'm impressed as I'm sure you all are at his confidence, but we'll soon find out whether our Hufflepuff team will have something to say about that."

She'd obviously set up that introduction, because the Hufflepuff players flew out into the stadium and began their lap around the pitch as the Gryffindor players landed. "Madison Whitby will be leading the Hufflepuff effort to keep James from his guaranteed win as they duel it out for the snitch. Myra Graves is Louis' counterpart at Keeper and Captain; and her Beaters are Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes. Finally, we have Hufflepuff Chasers Tory Summers, Roman Smith, and Jonah Finch-Fletchley. That, by the way isn't a reverse-alphabet introduction – I'm just cheering more for the Witches on both teams today!"

"She's getting better at this with every game," Al told Gwendolyn as Teresa wrapped things up so that Mr. Peakes could do the usual pre-game formalities with the two teams.

"Teresa's definitely trying to sound more like Charlotte – while still doing her own thing. I like it so far."

"Me too," Al agreed. "I didn't think to ask before now, but are you doing a game analysis for your team today?"

Gwendolyn nodded and smiled at him. "Yes. Do you want to help me?"

"I can do that for Hufflepuff; but you're on your own for Gryffindor."

"That's okay. I'm hoping that the Chaser I'll be up against next month is the same one I'm up against right now."

"That would be fun," Al assured her; "but we'll see what happens. Louis won't start working on that with us until Monday – if I'm even back on the team again by then."

"You will be," Gwendolyn said confidently. "James and Ollie will hate that, but win or lose today; Louis isn't going to keep his best Chaser off the team for our match. That'd be something that James would be fool-enough to do."

"He likely would do that for me," Al confirmed. "I'd like to think that he would be fair to anyone else though."

"They're off!" Teresa called out then; and the game was on. "Ollie and Roman race for the quaffle; Ollie grabs it first; and passes to Magnus as they both turn toward the Hufflepuff goals. Magnus passes back – and it's intercepted by Tory Summers! She's already going the other way, picking up speed as she heads toward Louis. Rose closes the gap; blocks her toward the left goal; Tory shoots – and Louis makes the save!"

"Yeah Rose!" Al said quietly as most of the Gryffindors cheered the save.

Louis hadn't caught the quaffle, but just deflected it. Rose won the race over Tory to grab it; and she quickly passed it on to Ollie as he blasted around the goals from the other direction and passed her. He didn't acknowledge her effort at all; and just headed toward the other end of the pitch with Magnus trying to catch up to the play. They managed two successful passes; Ollie took the shot; and Myra made a good save. Those first two plays quickly had all of the players fired up; and the game was truly on. Louis didn't get the best Chaser match-up that he'd hoped for, but Hufflepuff did a better job keeping Ollie matched up against Roman; Magnus against Jonah; and Rose against Tory. All of those pairings were quite competitive at first; but there was one exception. Hufflepuff's Chasers worked as a trio while Ollie and Magnus always excluded Rose from their plays.

They also had a plan for their Beaters; and that strategy was soon obvious to everyone watching the game. James was their top target, and the extra attention toward him made up for Madison's comparative inexperience at Seeker. They only had one serious secondary target; and that was Magnus. While they worked to soften him up, the scoring stayed close – though that was entirely thanks to Rose. By the end of the first hour, she had three of the four Gryffindor goals; Tory had only gotten past both Rose and Louis to score two goals; and that mostly made up for the four goals that Roman and Jonah had scored while only giving up one to Magnus.

Magnus really was in a tough situation, and by the end of the second hour; he'd taken several hard bludger hits; and hadn't managed another goal. Ollie did score one, but Roman and Jonah scored three more each. Rose and Tory exchanged a goal each, but while Tory wasn't having any luck scoring many goals against Rose; she earned four assists on the other Hufflepuff goals. The third hour was when the tide really turned in Hufflepuff's favor. Magnus took two hard bludger hits that made it hard for him to even keep flying, and while he kept trying his best; he wasn't able to help Ollie very much at all – and could barely handle defense against Jonah. That made it easy for the Hufflepuff Chasers to mix things up and really push hard against Gryffindor.

"Your team is in trouble now," Gwendolyn told Al, and while she was stating the obvious by then; it had really just been an opening line to renew their ongoing conversation that had trailed off while they'd watched the action in the air above them.

"We are," Al agreed with a nod. "If James can't catch the snitch soon; we're not going to be able to close the gap to under one-fifty with just two of our Chasers still able to play well."

By then, Hufflepuff had a two hundred to eighty lead. Ollie still insisted on trying to play without any help from Rose, and since that reduced both of them to mostly trying to earn goals on their own; that didn't work at all against the coordinated Hufflepuff defense. Rose still managed to keep Tory from scoring more goals, but she couldn't stop her from making some great passes to Roman and Jonah so that they had some outstanding scoring chances against Louis. The score was two-fifty to ninety as they moved deeper into the fourth hour of the game. Rose had managed to score one brilliant goal against Myra, but that was shortly before Hufflepuff took the lead by one-sixty – and Madison was then able to back off and just wait for a good chance to catch the snitch.

"Louis is ordering James to go for the catch," Al leaned close and whispered to Gwendolyn; and she turned to stare at him.

"For the loss?"

"It's the right thing to do," Al said with a nod toward James. His brother was glaring at Louis and vigorously shaking his head. "We can deal with a loss, but a big points run-up could seriously mess with our run for the Quidditch Cup."

"But James guaranteed a win!" Gwendolyn reminded him; her eyes wide with feigned shock. "Louis wouldn't do that to him!"

"He definitely will," Al said; "and James better get on board with that order soon – and catch up with Madison before she ends it anyway."

They both watched as James realized the danger and blasted off to do just that. Madison didn't catch the snitch, but that was thanks to a well-timed bludger from Tiberius that she had to dodge than because of anything James did. He looked furious by then, but he did get back to work. Hufflepuff scored two more goals on Louis before James caught sight of the snitch and made a showboating catch that Madison sat back and watched him make – following her own Captain's orders.

"I don't get that," Gwendolyn said as James caught the snitch and the Hufflepuff players and fans began to cheer and celebrate.

"Hufflepuff has to play again in four weeks," Al reminded her. "Myra's making sure that her team doesn't risk injuries just to run it up on us – especially when that Seeker battle was so close and could go on for hours."

"They might wish for those extra points if Hufflepuff wins both of their games against Slytherin – and we win ours against your team."

"If that happens, you'll be glad they didn't; since that'd be four wins each for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"There is that," Gwendolyn agreed, "and I will hope for the best; but won't be betting against Victoire's team for the senior team game. They've already beaten the two teams that won in their games over us."

"Anything can happen in Quidditch," Al said; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Supposedly; but not usually." She grinned at him. "I'd be okay with an undefeated junior team if we can't win the cup too; so you'll definitely want to start getitng ready for our match now."

"We could start with a Chaser duel tomorrow afternoon if you'd like," Al offered.

"I'd love that – if the weather isn't miserable. Are you going down to the pitch to talk with your team mates?"

"Some of them," Al agreed. "I'll try to stay out of James' way. He's sure to be in a foul mood now."

"Especially if any of the Hufflepuff guys razz him about that guarantee."

"He'll blame that on Louis," Al suggested – "and me if he can figure out a way to do that too."

"You weren't even playing. That won't be easy – especially when everyone knows what he thinks about your Quidditch skills."

"Or lack of them," Al added with a nod. They both stopped talking to listen to Teresa's post-game stats report.

"The final score is two-seventy to two-forty," she declared. "Gryffindor scored nine goals on fifty-three shots and caught the snitch for the loss. Hufflepuff scored twenty-seven goals on one hundred and twenty-four shots. Let's hear one more round of applause for both of our teams for a well-played match. That's all for today; and I'll see you here again in four weeks when Hufflepuff will be up against Slytherin in the last game of the season for both junior teams!"

"What's the rest of the story for the stats?" Al asked Gwendolyn as they made their way toward the center of the pitch.

"James will be happy to be the top scorer for the match," Gwendolyn began; nodding toward where James seemed to be having an argument with Louis. "Roman had twelve goals, Jonah had ten, and Tory scored five; but earned twelve assists on the other twenty-two goals. Roman and Jonah split the other fifteen assists six-to-nine; so that shows just how well they played together as a team today."

"They did do that," Al agreed. "Our side of the scoring wasn't very complicated. Rose had seven goals and one assist; Ollie had one goal; and Magnus had one goal and the assist on Ollie's goal."

"Don't forget that Louis had two assists on Rose's goals – and the other five were unassisted."

"I doubt he'll think that makes up for giving up twenty-seven goals or losing the game; but it's something."

"I didn't even know that Louis had any assists," Ray told them. He and Bristol were walking with Al and Gwendolyn while most of their friends either went on toward the castle or were walking to the center of the pitch with other groups.

"That doesn't happen all that often," Gwendolyn explained. "Rose wasn't getting any other help, though; so I'm not surprised."

Rose came to meet them away from the rest of the team; and Al wrapped her into a hug and held on tightly. "You were brilliant today, Rose," he told her gently. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks, Al," she said gratefully; tears in her eyes now as he continued to hold her. "Some of that was even fun – until it wasn't anymore. The losing thing really sucks – and I should probably be mad at you for not having that loss on your Quidditch record too."

"I love you," Al assured her; earning a wan smaile from Rose and a playful punch on the arm from Gwendolyn. "That's strictly in a favorite cousin sort of way," he amended; earning laughs from his cousin and friends.

"Ditto that for us," Teddy told them as he and Victoire joined them for a minute.

"Is Rose your favorite cousin too?" Al teased; and they both laughed.

"That's a loaded question. I love all of our cousins, so let's leave it at that; and not get me into any trouble."

"We can do that," Rose agreed as Al gave her up so that she could hug Teddy and Victoire. "What did you think of the game? I've decided that I really hate losing."

Victoire laughed and hugged her again. "I've felt the same way after some of my games against hufflepuff," she assured Rose while smiling meaningfully at Teddy. "They always know how to play well as a team; while Gryffindors have been known to have issues with big egos."

"Speaking of egos, I'd say that your brother could use an intervention to get James off of his back," Teddy suggested to Victoire.

"James needs to shut it," Victoire said in a low voice so that only their little group could hear. "That decision was a no-brainer in this case, and if James wanted to back up his guarantee; he had more than three and a half hours before then to catch the snitch and end it before it was too late. He definitely should have tried harder once he saw that Magnus was injured." She shook her head and smiled. "Let's go and rescue Louis. He's too nice to just tell James to sod off – even when that's what he really, really should do."

Al, Rose, and their friends watched the older teens leave for a moment; talked together for a while longer; and then they split up to continue the post-game visits with other friends and cousins. Al and Gwendolyn had cameo chats with Louis, Tiberius, Brock, and Magnus; but avoided James and Ollie. They were relieved when both boys chose to ignore them; though Al suspected that had more to do with a lack of material to use against him now that they wouldn't be able to use whatever they'd come up with if they'd won the match. Their visits with the Hufflepuff players were shorter because they were busy with their House mates and friends; but they did make sure to congratulate all of them; and spent an extra minute or two with Tory, Madison, and Myra.

After that, it was time to head back to the castle for a late lunch. They split up to do that, but since there wasn't going to be a party for Gryffindor; most of their study group decided to get together for an afternoon session that allowed them to get most of their weekend assignments done so that they could still have Sunday off for a play day. While he felt bad for Rose and the rest of the Gryffindor team over the loss; that didn't keep Al from being happy about geting to spend that extra time with Gwendolyn – and he enjoyed getting to play with their magic more than going to victory parties anyway. Being away from the Gryffindor common room and any chance of a run-in with James and Ollie was a bonus, and while Al saw them at dinner in the Great Hall; it wasn't until he was on an after-dinner walk with Gwendolyn that he had his first post-game encounter – one that James and Ollie tracked them down to initiate.

"Hello James; Ollie," Al said in a subdued voice as he stopped about ten feet away from where James and Ollie appeared in the hallway from one of the secret passageways and were waiting for them. Both boys were smiling darkly; and Al squeezed Gwendolyn's hand in re-assurance as she stopped too and stood close to him.

"What've you been up to?" James asked; a sneer in his voice. "We're crushed that you haven't even bothered to talk with us since the game – offer us your condolences and all that."

"You wouldn't have wanted them from me," Al told them; stating the obvious, "and to be honest; I only feel bad for everyone else on the team – not either of you."

"I'm surprised that any of them will even talk to you; since that loss is all on you," James declared; and then he scowled as Al just laughed at him.

"Even you have to find that funny considering everything you've declared about me since New Year's Day," Al explained once he could talk again. "Feel free to tell me how losing the game is my fault when my punishment for defending Gwendolyn and me from your stupid prank attempt was also the best thing that could have ever happened to the team. I'm all ears!"

"It's your fault that Ollie and Magnus had such lousy competition to practice against compared to the Hufflepuff Chasers," James retorted.

"I was paired up against Rose for most of our practices," Al reminded him mildly; nodding toward Ollie. "You didn't want to practice against me; so that's not my fault. Next?"

"You turned Rose against us," James declared; now sounding more than a little stupid to Al and Gwendolyn. "We basically had two Chasers out there while she didn't try to help Ollie and Magnus at all."

"That's funny," Gwendolyn said before Al could respond. "Rose scored seven of your nine goals; and was plus-two against Tory Summers. She did that despite never getting a single pass from Ollie or Magnus, and in addition to feeding them passes; she had the assist on Magnus' only goal." She smiled at the two boys sweetly; but there was a fire in her eyes that was far from sweet. "Magnus was minus-nine against Jonah for the match; and you, Ollie, won the worst of the Chasers title with a stellar minus-eleven against Roman."

"That just proves that Rose could barely handle herself against the worst Chaser on their team," Ollie retorted. He grinned maliciously at Al. "Since you've already pointed out that you were her main competition during our training; I guess the fact that Rose sucked today is definitely on you."

Al sighed. "This is pointless, so if all you've come to do is blame the loss on me and toss your insults; consider that done and move on. I'm not interested in listening to anything else you have to say about it."

James pulled his wand out and fired two quick jinxes at Al and Gwendolyn. His expression now was closer to vicious than simply sneering; but that didn't last long. Al used a new defense he'd been working on to 'bounce' the jinxes back at James and Ollie, and not only did they get hit with them before being able to get shields up in defense; the jinxes that Ollie had sent did the same; and then each boy was hit by one of the two spells that Gwendolyn had counter-attacked with while she'd trusted Al to defend her. The triple-hit ended the mini-duel right there – particularly because James and Ollie couldn't hold their wands thanks to the jelly-fingers jinxes that James had thought to open with so that Al couldn't hold his own wand. Al sent both wands skittering down the hallway away from all of them; and stepped up closer to his brother and Ollie.

"The good news is that now you have something to blame me for that really is my fault," he told them as they lay on the floor and stared up at him with livid anger in their eyes. He smiled at Gwendolyn. "Make that a 'blame us'; since Gwendolyn deserves just as much credit. Thank-you."

"You're welcome," she assured him. She watched James and Ollie too, and while they were on the floor; they weren't bound or frozen; and she tried not to laugh as their jelly-like legs flopped around and their wand-hands did the same. The jelly-legs jinxes had been Ollie's; and Gwendolyn had gone with a stinging hex that didn't really hurt either boy; but added to their discomfort – even if the distraction she'd intended didn't end up being needed.

"One of these days, you're going to get what's coming to you," James spat. "That goes for both of you."

"Threatening Gwendolyn is a really bad idea," Al told him quietly; his voice serious and tinged with anger now too. "Do you really want to make me as mad at you as I was on Valentine's Day?" He shook his head. "Come on, Gwendolyn. I was thinking about helping them to get back on their feet again; but now I'm happy to just let them crawl over to get their wands." They decided to turn around and return the way they'd come, but neither of them had let go of their wands; and they were ready when James summoned his own wand; and then attempted to attack them again from behind.

They both turned to defend themselves, and this time; Al met the attack by shouting "EXPELLIARMUS!" The point where the two spells met was much closer to Al and Gwendolyn than to James and Ollie, but Al's power flared; and he was ready when James' wand was ripped from his brother's left hand and flew into his own. Gwendolyn's counter-attack this time had been a bat-bogey hex; and then she'd followed that up with another one that hit Ollie a moment after he'd summoned his own wand – and before he'd had a chance to point it at her – or Al.

"Have you and Rose been having some magic play time without me around?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"We don't just sit around talking about boys during our girl chats," she advised him; "though that's usually fun too – unless we're talking about gits like your brother."

"He is that and then some when he's acting like this," Al agreed. He looked at James' wand, and then back at his brother and Ollie. With a shrug; he tossed it back toward the two boys. "I guess we'll be out of range by the time they get rid of those bat-bogeys. Let's go to the library and hang out there. I don't feel much like walking around here anymore."

They did that, and didn't look back again as James and Ollie dealt with their hex and jinxes problems.

Using magic was a big part of the evening plans for Scorpius Malfoy; though his magic play time didn't involve dueling with James, Ollie, or anyone else. He was in the Room of Requirements with the portrait of Thomas, and while they were going to do a long lesson too; they'd begun their visit with the usual chat time.

"You'll be as happy as I am to learn that Gryffindor lost their game today to Hufflepuff," Scorpius reported first once he had the portrait propped up on the table. "Potter caught the snitch for the loss, and from what I saw after the match; his cousin had ordered him to do it to keep the score close. The boy that replaced Albus for the match got hurt; and Hufflepuff was starting to pile up the points."

"That is good news," Thomas agreed with a nod and smile. "You're likely wishing they'd had those problems during your match last fall."

Scorpius shrugged. "Maybe; though I'd rather just have a better team and beat them on merit alone. Despite all of the bragging that James and Ollie did; Hufflepuff was not up against Gryffindor's best today."

"As I've told you before, it's just a game," Thomas said with a nod to Scorpius' comment. "Your wish to win against your opponent's best effort is admirable, but keep in mind that it is in discovering your foe's weaknesses that you discover your best chances at defeating them. From that perspective, you want them at their weakest – and preferably by taking advantage of weaknesses they aren't even aware that they have." He paused and smiled at Scorpius. "When it's time for you to earn victories where they truly matter; it is going to be winning that matters – not whether or not your foes tried their very best while you defeat them."

"I suppose," Scorpius conceded – "though I would not want those future victories to appear tainted and derided by others the way that some students around here are talking about Hufflepuff today."

"That will not be an issue," Thomas assured him. "When your family honor and rightful place in the Wizarding World is restored; you will be raised up by your fellow purebloods; and you will be given the respect that you deserve."

They continued to talk about events at school and elsewhere for a while; Thomas then taught Scorpius new lessons that delved into the Dark Arts; and Scorpius eventually packed his bag again and returned to his House with time to spare before curfew. Once there, he spent the rest of the evening with Davis Zabini and some of the other Slytherin firsties, and though he didn't find the show they watched on the mirror network particularly interesting; he was glad that he could now sit with the other kids and be accepted as part of the group. That was quite an improvement since September, and the changes had come slowly, but Thomas was helping Scorpius with that too; and assured his young protege that his peers would eventually not only accept him, but they'd eventually follow him as their leader – and do it gladly!

As he mostly watched and listened to them, he wasn't quite sure whether that would be a good thing or not, since he had a fairly low regard for most of the other students, but Thomas had never once given him reason to doubt his counsel or training; so Scorpius decided to just wait and hope for the best.

Wait; hope; and do everything in his power to prove Thomas' faith in him to rise to the greatness that his painted friend assured him was his destiny!

While most of the OWL and NEWT year students weren't getting excited about the Easter break because they were planning on staying at Hogwarts anyway; nearly every other student in the castle was looking forward to the holiday. The two weeks between the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game and Easter either dragged out or sped past for those tweens and teens, and for Al, Rose, and their friends; it was the latter as they kept busy every day.

During the first of those two weeks, the studying was mostly about getting assignments and projects finished that were due in before the holiday break. The Gryffindor-Ravenclaw study group that Al and Rose led got together as often as they could, and other than breaks here and there for Quidditch; their studies were the top priority during each school day. The Quidditch practices for all four House teams were fairly intense too, and though Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had six weeks until their junior team match; they were already working just as hard as the Slytherin and Hufflepuff players were to get ready for their match that was only four weeks away.

For the Gryffindor team, Al was back on the team while Magnus returned to the reserve squad, and while James and Ollie insulted him at every opportunity; Rose and Louis were happy to have him back; and Magnus wasn't really all that disappointed over the change. He'd loved getting a chance to play for their team, but hadn't had so much fun getting beat up by the Hufflepuff Beaters that he wanted to go right back out there again and risk getting pounded again. There was one other Quidditch event during the week that had the attention of Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray – the Harpies' mid-week game on Wednesday evening. They watched parts of the match while studying, but their support didn't help the Harpies; and they watched them lose a though match that was particularly important as the countdown continued to the deadline for choosing the National team players was quickly approaching.

The weekend before Easter included a bit of play time for Al and Gwendolyn – and their friends; but they also put in extra study time too so that they could keep ahead of the workload – and hopefully be able to get a head start on their holiday revision during the four school days leading up to the holiday. Their fun included a Saturday afternoon Quidditch scrimmage that most of their usual group of players came out to enjoy; and Al and Gwendolyn spent most of Sunday afternoon together doing their own thing – which included some music play time and a one-on-one Chaser duel. Al wrapped up his weekend by writing a pair of letters to send home with Winter; Rose and Gwendolyn had letters for her to take too; and all three of them went to the Owlery to take care of that – and send Winter home; where Al planned on having her stay until after the holidays.

During the last four days of school before the trip home on the Hogwarts Express, the only changes in the action from the previous week were that the studying was all holiday revision work; and they had Rose's twelfth birthday to celebrate on Wednesday. That was a particularly important event for Al, and he recruited his cousins and friends to help him out with celebrating Rose's big day. He was also up early on Wednesday morning; got ready for the day; and then went to the common room to wait for Rose to join him for their walk to the Great Hall.

"Happy Birthday!" he told her enthusiastically when she eventually joined him in the common room. She'd been up early too; and they were still among the first Gryffindor students to leave the dorm rooms to either hang out in the common room or head straight down to the Great Hall. He handed her a gift once she was close enough; and Rose smiled brilliantly as she first hugged him before opening her first gift of the day.

"Thanks, Al," she said while still unwrapping it. Al's second hug of the morning was even more enthusiastic than the first; and that was more than enough to assure him that his cousin loved the Cannons' watch that was orange and black with a tiny quaffle at tthe tip of the hour hand; a bludger at the end of the minute hand; and an even tinier golden snitch making the circuit around the edge of the watch face every sixty seconds.

"Look at the back," he suggested once she had it out of the box and was about to put it on. Rose did that; and then laughed again.

"League Champions – 202?-202?," she read aloud. "Well, at least you're predicting a championship before the twenty-thirties," she joked; and Al laughed.

"Actually, if I didn't mess up the charm; the numbers will just change if the Canons don't win by then," he admitted. "The question marks will change to the correct years if they do."

"You mena 'when', right?" Rose corrected; and Al laughed again.

"Okay – when," he agreed. "Let's clean up the paper and get going,' he suggested next. "You're sure to be busy during breakfast this morning with all of the well-wishers and Merlin only knows how many Owl Posts."

"That's going to be so different this year," Rose said as they both cleaned up the paper she'd torn and allowed to fall to the floor. "The couple of times my birthday has been this close to Easter seemed less-exciting than usual; and it's going to really feel weird not to spend any of it with Mom, Dad, and Hugo."

"The good news for you is that they'll be missing that too; and probably make up for it with bonuses on the gifts." He picked up both of their book bags; and nodded for Rose to lead the way.

"I'd rather get to spend some time with them today – not that I'll send the gifts back or anything; and we will be home on Friday."

"We're both looking forward to that," Al said with a nod and smile. "Even if our parents have to work next week while we're home it's going to be so great to be there."

Rose smiled; her eyes bright with amusement. "Won't you miss Gwendolyn too much to have any fun at all?" she teased; "or do you have that worked out for the entire week so that you can see each other every day."

"We have the Harpies' games on both Saturdays; our study sessions next week; and I'll hope for a bonus visit or two at my house or hers," Al answered. "I suppose we can manage to muddle through for the one day we definitely can't spend together while we're with our own families on Easter Sunday."

"I suppose," Rose agreed. "I guess it's a bit early for you to start splitting up the holidays so you can be together for those big family events. We'll all need to get used to Teddy and Victoire for that kind of thing; and they have even more family than most with Teddy's new in-laws."

"Our parents won't likely be ready for us to join that club for a long time yet," Al offered; and then grinned. "Your Dad might never be ready for that with you."

"No doubt," Rose said with a nod; and she smiled too. "I'd say the same thing about your Dad and Lily; but I can't picture Lily putting up with that for more than about two seconds before telling him to shut it and learn to deal with reality."

"No doubt. We've gotten off-track from you and your birthday. Sould we start the roasting now; or would you rather have me save the best stories for when we're with all of our friends?"

That question launched them into a mini-roast that Rose had fervently told Al she didn't want; but they both still had fun with anyway. Rose had fun with nearly everything during the rest of the day. Most of her cousins and all of her closest friends did their best to entertain her during breakfast with best birthday wishes and a couple of gifts. She had five Owl Posts that included gifts and cards from her grandparents, parents, brother, and some aunts, uncles, and cousins – including Harry, Ginny, and Lily. Their morning meal wasn't special too, but the usual school day fare was still good; and included a couple of her favorites anyway.

Their school day wasn't changed at all for her birthday either, but it was Wednesday; so double Herbology with Hufflepuff was one of Rose's favorite classes anyway; and they had the afternoon off for their study periods. That allowed them to work ahead on their Easter holiday revision after lunch; and then they moved on to their Quidditch practice. James and Ollie were not interested in offering Rose any best birthday wishes, but while everyone else did at least wish her a happy birthday; they didn't have a mini-party or anything – and spent all of their practice time with the workout and scrimmage game as Louis tried to keep everyone focused on their next game. That wasn't easy, since everyone was more interested in the Easter holiday, but having Louis push them worked out for Rose because James and Ollie didn't get to have many opportunities to bug her while they worked.

Dinner was fun too, but the birthday highlight of the day for Rose was the surprise birthday party the Al set up for her with help from their cousins, Gwendolyn, and a few other friends. They put that on in their usual study classroom so that their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends could come – along with boyfriends or girlfriends for the cousins. Al and Gwendolyn had gone ahead to the classroom after dinner while Bristol, Cora, and a few others delayed Rose. With some help from Victoire and Molly, they had everything set up in no time; including decorations, a cake, snacks, and drinks; and the rest of Rose's gifts from their collective family were ready to go by the time that Rose was led into the room by her little group of co-conspirator friends.

"Happy Birthday!" everyone shouted as she walked into the room; and then there was a round of laughter as they watched her stop and stare in surprise and pleasure.

"Thank-you!" she said simply once she recovered from the shock; and her smile was bright with happiness and excitement. "This is such a great surprise!"

"You're welcome," Victoire assured her; and she was first in line for the hugs. "Some of us have a lot of homework to get to, so we'll need to rush this a bit; but we wanted to make sure that your first birthday away from home is a good one."

"It's been really good; thanks to all of you," Rose responded happily.

The birthday party really was a short blast of fun before all of the older teens left to get on with their own studies and left Rose, Al, and their friends to work in the classroom – and snack on the leftovers. Rose opened her gifts; they sang the birthday song to her; and then they cut up the birthday cake and ate most of it despite the fact that they'd only finished dinner a short time earlier. Compared to that, the studying wasn't exciting at all, and while they did have a break after they'd wrapped up their studying for the night; Al, Rose, and their Gryffindor classmates only had time for a short rest before needing to get to the Astronomy tower for their Astronomy class.

With that party out of the way, it was mostly all work from the start of Astronomy class thorugh until Friday morning when it was time to head for home on the Hogwarts Express after an early breakfast in the Great Hall. Al and Rose had fewer friends interested in the study group time after classes on Thursday, but they did have some friends along – including Gwendolyn – so that they could work ahead on their holiday revision. As with the rest of the week, their Thursday classes were all about getting those holiday assignments – along with the occasional quick lesson to cover material they hadn't learned yet but would need for the homework.

By the time they made it onto the train and found seats in a total of four compartments, Al, Rose and their friends were all just ready to get home and started on their holiday. For this trip, Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Rose, Renee, Toni, and Ray. While he was generally happy to sit and talk with any of the members of their study group and wider circle of friends; Al was glad that they didn't have Landon sitting with them for the trip. He knew that Landon wasn't happy about that, since he'd caught sight of a glare or three from the other boy; but he preferred that to having Landon surreptitiously watch Gwendolyn's every move while pretending not to do that for hours without caring at all that her boyfriend was sitting right next to her.

Though the Quidditch players outnumbered the non-players in their compartment, the girls outnumbered the boys; and they ruled the conversation with minimal chat time allowed for sports, studies, or any other non-fun topics. While that could occasionally get weird for Al and Ray, they managed to survive; and Al wouldn't really have cared what they did as long as he got to spend the time holding Gwendolyn's hand or cuddling with her. The excitement over the train ride had completely worn off now that they were on their fourth trip; but that didn't keep them from being very happy to get home – or at least home to London and the loved ones waiting for them at the station. For James, Al, and Rose, their welcoming committee included Ginny, Hermione, Lily, and Hugo. Gwendolyn stayed with Al and Rose after they exited the train – mostly because she didn't see her father and brother right away.

"You came!" Rose told her mother as she hurried ahead of Al and Gwendolyn and then hugged Hermione enthusiastically.

"Your Aunt Ginny talked me in to skipping out from work early," Hermione answered; smiling at Ginny for a moment while hugging Rose tightly. "How was your trip home?"

"Good, but we're glad to be done with it." Rose moved on to hug her brother and Lily while waiting for a turn to hug Ginny too. "What have you guys been doing all day?" she asked Hugo and Lily.

"We've been doing chores to get ready for Easter," Hugo answered at the same time as Lily said – "helping Grandma at the Burrow."

"We had lunch in Diagon Alley and did some shopping too," Ginny added; "so it wasn't all work and no fun."

"We only did boring shopping," Hugo protested; and Ginny laughed.

"You think that all shopping is boring except for when we're at stores that sell Quidditch gear, mirror games, or wheezes," Lily told him. "You could have stayed at the Burrow while we went out for lunch and shopped. We didn't get all of the work done there today."

Hugo laughed. "The shopping was boring, but I'll pick it over de-gnoming the garden every time."

"The shopping is cleaner, and you only have to worry about getting bit if you go to one of the Herbology or pet shops; so that isn't really a tough choice at all," Al suggested to Hugo with a smile.

"Add the book store to that list if they have any copies of that textbook that Hagrid likes so much for his classes," Lily added; smiling too. "Hi Victoire; Teddy. Did Daddy kick you out of Auror Headquarters again to come and meet Victoire at the station?" Both teens laughed as they took the last few steps that closed the gap between them; and then they were each on the receiving end of Lily's enthusiastic hugs. "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow," she told Victoire.

"Natalie set me free early," Teddy said first, "and since we saw that you were this close to us; Victoire wanted to see you before we head over to her house."

"You used to come and spend the first night back from school with us until going all mental over Victoire," James told him as he joined their group too; scowling at Teddy and Victoire. "She's messed everything up now; and you're not any fun at all anymore."

"James!" Ginny chided; giving her eldest child 'the look' – and he pointedly ignored her. "Apologize to Teddy and Victoire right now!"

"I'm sorry that you've gone mental over Victoire, Teddy; and that you've sucked all of the fun out of life for him, Victoire."

"If that's true, then you should be very happy," Victoire offered; smiling and un-fazed by James' insults. "You did tell me to stop sucking all of the fun out of life for you and Ollie the last time the two of you were in my office. You'll be safe from me as long as Teddy's around to keep me distracted."

"Don't say another word if you're going to keep being rude," Ginny warned James ominously while stepping in to hug Victoire. "Some of us are glad that you are home this week instead of staying at Hogwarts to study with the rest of the NEWT students," she advised Victoire. "I'd suggest that my grocery bill will go down a bit too while Teddy's hanging out with you next week; but James and Albus will make up for that and then some."

"No doubt," Victoire agreed. "Hi, Aunt Hermione," she added when Hermione stepped forward to hug her too. "I didn't expect to see you here today. Did the Wizengamot finally solve all of the problems in the Wizarding World so that you could go home early?"

Hermione laughed. "Most would tell you that we cause most of the problems instead of fixing any of them," she joked. "Your Aunt Ginny convinced me that getting to have a bit of extra time with Rose was more important than what I was working on at the Ministry; so here I am."

"She does have a knack for getting people to do what she wants," Victoire said with a smile for Ginny. "Teddy and I need to round up Dominique and Louis; so we'll see all of you at lunch tomorrow. Have a good night."

"You too," Ginny told them; and then Teddy and Victoire moved on while she and Hermione finished the welcome home hugs and kisses – and waited for Kirley and Jonah to find Gwendolyn in the still-teeming throng of students and their respective welcoming committees.

That took a few minutes because Kirley had arrived a bit late and had been stuck at the other end of the platform; but he and Jonah did reach them after fighting the flow of traffic leaving the platform – and that started another round of hugs and kisses before they were ready to head out too. They stayed together in one big group until they were ready to split up to go their own ways, so Al and Gwendolyn had continued to hold hands until then; and needed to say goodbye to each other once it was time to go home with their own families.

For Merlin's sake; cut that out so we can get out of here!" James told Al and Gwendolyn after putting up with watching their goodbye hugs and a kiss for about five seconds. "You'll see each other at the game tomorrow, so give the rest of us a break; and quit sucking face."

"Have you been this much of a grump all day?" Ginny asked James. "I thought that you'd be happy to be home for a week."

"I don't get to see my friends this weekend; Teddy isn't going to hang out with us anymore; and Dad will be working most of the time we're home," James told her with a mildly derisive snort. "Add in putting up with that kind of thing too," he added, waving at Al and Gwendolyn; "and this holiday is looking worse every minute."

"I think that they're cute – and that you needed an afternoon nap," Lily told him; and then smiled. "Here – have some chocolate. It'll make you feel better."

James took the offered treat; popped it into his mouth; and then started to laugh when smoke began shooting out of his ears.

"You're welcome," Lily assured him happily after laughing too. "Now stop being such a grump so that we can have fun tonight."

Her intervention did help out for a while, but once they got home; James took his bags up to his room and then stayed there while Al only dropped off his gear before heading downstairs again to hang out with his mother and sister in the kitchen – and help out with the early stages of getting dinner for five ready to go. Al was happy to let his mother and sister tell him stories that he hadn't heard through Owl Posts or mirror chats; their grilling for details about Gwendolyn was a bit scary; and then it was back to fun again when they told him a bit more about their plans for the holidays. Dinner was nearly ready by the time Harry got home, and while James had made an appearance from his room by then; he'd also spent most of that time playing mirror games in the sitting room instead of hanging out with Al. Since he'd come in through the back door, Harry did the welcome home thing with Ginny, Al, and Lily first; but then he'd gone into the sitting room to see James right after that first round of hugs and kisses.

"Welcome home, James," Harry said enthusiastically as he sat down on the sofa next to his son. James was into his mirror game; and didn't pause to offer or receive any hugs. "How was your trip home – and your day so far?"

"Mom told you that I've been a grump and sent you in here to talk with me," James declared while not even taking his eyes off of the mirror as he played on.

"Apparently with good reason," Harry confirmed easily. "We've missed you and Al a lot while you've been away, though; so it'd be nice if you get over whatever's bugging you instead of stewing over it all week while you're home."

James snorted. "You've been missing us so much that you worked even later than normal; you're likely on call for the holiday weekend; and will be working all next week while we're here – right? Mom will be working two or three of the games this week; and then she'll probably spend the rest of the time harping on me to help with the chores or do my revision. I'd have more fun at Hogwarts this week."

"I'm not going to apologize to you or anyone else for doing my job, James, and you've managed to have fun on all of your school holidays so far despite the fact that your mother and I have to work for a living and you have a few chores and responsibilities around here; so I'll guess that something else is bugging you. Care to share?"

"No," James said flatly; his expression clouding over when he caught sight of his father's smile in response to that answer. Harry nodded and stood up.

"Okay. Dinner's in five, so hurry up and save the Wizarding World so you aren't late – unless you think that your mother's food will add to your holiday misery too."

"I'm playing the bad guys," James advised him. "I'll be there as soon as I've finished taking over the Ministry of Magic."

Harry laughed and sat down again. "That's what you think," he declared; joining in on the game in progress and taking control of the Aurors that James had been fighting against. "Nobody takes over the Ministry of Magic on my watch – not even my own son!"

Father and son battled for ten minute s before Ginny literally pulled the plug on their game before the battle could be won or lost by either of them; and they were both in trouble for not being at the table on time for dinner. The gaming and shared scolding only temporarily improved James' mood; and he was back to being sullen and uncooperative within minutes of sitting down to eat. Nothing about that was different than any other meal at home, but sitting across from Al and Lily apparently annoyed him – just as pretty much everything about Al annoyed him. He didn't want to hear about Al's academic awesomeness; how wonderful Gwendolyn was; or even about Al's dubious contributions to their Quidditch team. Harry and Ginny wanted to talk about his last few months at Hogwarts too, but that just emphasised the differences between the brothers – and not in James' favor from any other perspective other than his own. By the time they were having dessert, James was barely managing to offer one-word answers to questions; and those were only given up grudgingly.

"Maybe it's the start of James' teen phase," Ginny suggested to Harry after another of the long line of non-answers from James that had been in response to a question from Lily. "This is the first time that we've seen him since before he turned thirteen."

"If it is, then let's hope that Al and Lily don't follow his lead," Harry suggested with a laugh. "The next ten years or so will be very scary for us if they do."

"I'm sure you'll have nothing to worry about from your perfect little clone over there," James retorted; "but maybe Lily will be lucky and be more like me than him. Since I'm obviously getting in the way of your perfect homecoming with your perfect family, though; I'll just go up to my room and leave you to it." He stood while saying that and then stalked out of the room and stomped up the stairs. He slammed the door to his room once inside; and Harry and Ginny both looked to Al for any insight he might offer to them.

"Do you think that he's a bit mad at me?" he joked; earning a giggle and hug from Lily.

"Is there more going on between you than we know about?" Ginny asked him; and Al shrugged.

"Probably," he agreed; "but it'll just make things worse if I tell you everything. He's mostly mad at me because I won't let him mess with me anymore; and because he and Ollie ended up getting most of the blame for our team losing that last game when they expected that to land on me instead."

"Do you have any suggestions on what we can do to make this holiday better for all of us?" Harry asked next; and Al grinned at him.

"You could send me away for the week," he offered. "Do you think that Gwendolyn's parents would keep me for the week?" He smiled at Lily. 'Maybe you could come too so that James could have Mum and Dad to himself all week. That might make him happy."

"That would work," Ginny agreed; "but we want to spend time with you; so we'll need to come up with something else that'll work better."

"Like away sleepover nights for us while James has a buddy or two over here – or the other way around," Lily said enthusiastically. "We should avoid any double-team prank opportunities for James and Ollie; since we wouldn't want Al to end up missing another Quidditch match – or end up in Azkaban or something."

"It's funny that you should say that when I was just thinking about how strange it is that James is so much like George and Fred were at his age for so many things; yet he's like Percy too when it comes to Al – exactly as Percy was toward Harry back then." Ginny's expression was an odd mix of frown and smile that turned into a full smile when Harry laughed.

"Could you imagine how much fun the Ministry of Magic would have been if you'd had a brother there that was a mix of Percy and George?"

"I think it'd be brilliant," Lily declared enthusiastically. "Minister Shacklebolt should hire Uncle George to decorate and liven the place up with his best wheezes."

"If he goes for that, I can hardly wait to see what the new Auror field kit looks like," Ginny teased.

"We already have extendable ears and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder in our kits," Harry pointed out. "What would you suggest that we add to the kits?"

That question gave them something to have fun with while they finished dessert and started in on the clean-up. Al and Lily helped with that, but Harry and Ginny did most of the work magically so that they'd still have lots of time left to hang out in the sitting room for the rest of the evening. Playing games and watching a show on the mirror network provided some of the entertainment; James was grudgingly brought out of his cave for some of the gaming; and they eventually wrapped up their day early so that they'd all be ready for a busy weekend – even if James thought that they were lame for going to bed on a Friday night before eleven o'clock. Al was ready to get some sleep by then, but first ended his night with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. She'd had more fun with her first night at home; though that was mostly because there wasn't any teen drama going on there. She'd been amused to learn that James had been cranky all evening; and pointed out the advantages for Al with that – including a total lack of prank attempts.

Harry was the first to wake on Saturday morning, but Al wasn't far behind him; and Al made it downstairs to the kitchen ahead of his father – and already had a pot of coffee brewing by the time Harry caught up with him. It was damp and heavily overcast outside, which didn't bode well for the afternoon Quidditch match; but they were both in high spirits as Harry hugged Al and then moved on to start rounding up everything he'd need for making breakfast. Al had started to boil a kettle of water too, so once that was ready; he made a cup of hot chocolate for himself and then sat down at the table to keep his father company while he cooked.

"Would you like to make any predictions for the game today?" Harry asked Al after they'd finished with the usual morning pleasantries; and Al laughed.

"The Harpies are going to win is the only right answer to that question for me at school too, Dad," he joked. "James might be able to get away with cheering for United because he's best mates with Ollie; but we're generally equal-opportunity Quidditch fans with my friends – even if the Harpies fans do include more than half of our group."

"Does Rose have any Cannons' fans on her side?"

"Not yet, but she's trying to get converts," Al answered with another laugh. "That'd be easier for her if they didn't have such an awful team; and the girls don't seem interested in the team colors as a fashion statement either."

"That's definitely a Witch thing," Harry observed. "Orange is just so hard to accessorize; and it clashes with everything." He'd tried to sound like some kind of fashionista for that last part, and since Lily joined them then; that had her laughing as she first hugged Al and then her father.

"Especially with red hair," she agreed and added. "It's a good thing for Mom and me that the Harpies' colors are so much nicer!"

"I have no doubt that you'll be as good as your mother some day, sweetie; but what will you do if your Aunt Gabrielle still wants to play for the Harpies once you're finished school?"

"I'll feel bad for her when I win the spot on the team from her," Lily declared; earning laughs from Harry and Al.

"I'm going to tell her you said that the next time we see her," Al warned; and it was Lily's turn to laugh.

"Go ahead – it'll give her time to get used to the idea."

"There's a good chance that you won't see Gabrielle today, but we will have Casey and the kids with us at lunch and for the game; so you could always pass that challenge to her through them."

"Speaking of the game, Dad, I was thinking that we could do a kid trade today with the Woods' family – especially if James is still in a bad mood this morning."

"Permanent or temporary?" Harry teased; and Lily smiled brightly at him.

"If their Mum is okay with it, we could take Kathryn with us and James could hang out with Ollie during the game." She looked outside and nodded toward the window. "If it's a rainy afternoon, James will really be annoyed by all of the cuddling couples – especially Teddy and Victoire, and Al and Gwendolyn."

"Will you be annoyed too; or do you have a cuddle buddy set up for the game?" Al asked.

"I can cuddle with Mum and Dad if needed, and Dad and I both don't want you going there; so don't."

"There's no good comment for me on that when Al has a girlfriend already; so I'll leave that topic in your capable little hands, Lily," Harry told her with a wry smile. "If James likes the kid-swap idea; I'll give Katie a call and see if we can set that up – unless Kathryn doesn't want to hang out with you in the enemy camp today."

That didn't actually end up being a problem, but Kathryn had wanted to spend time with her big sisters while they were home from Hogwarts, so while they agreed to meet up at the stadium to talk about it before the game; no kid switches were set up ahead of time – and James was more than a little put out by that after enthusiastically endorsing Lily's suggestion. Fortunately for the rest of his family, that news hadn't arrived until after breakfast and the clean-up was done; but the morning went downhill from there – at least whenever James was involved in the action.

James' attitude downgrade had a lot to do with Harry and Ginny deciding to head for Diagon Alley early – simply because their hopefully temporarily volatile son would at least be civil while in public – and diverted by visits to his favorite stores. They started out at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and had George to thank for cheering James up for a while; and then Harry and Ginny managed to keep him entertained with visits to Quality Quidditch and a few of James' other favorite places while Al helped out by splitting up with them and going to spend most of that time in the bookstore. They had most of their Quidditch spectator gang meeting for lunch at the Leaky; so they arrived there early so that they could do the meet and greetfirst while also helping Hannah and her staff out with getting their meal orders together as quickly as possible.

With so many teens and kids in the group, James played nice during lunch, but while Al noticed; he was more interested in hanging out with Gwendolyn once she arrived at the Leaky with her father and brother. He did try to stay out of James' way by sitting with Gwendolyn and her family at a table that was almost as far away from where James sat with Louis and some of the other guys in their group; but he was also sure that James wouldn't be grateful – not that he'd likely even notice the effort. While he'd been having fun in Diagon Alley, Gwendolyn had spent her morning at home – playing music with Kirley and Jonah while her mother was busy getting ready for the Harpies' game. Talking music instead of Quidditch during lunch was a change from the usual for Al, but he was okay with that; and so were the rest of their table mates for the hour or so they were at the Inn and enjoying the pre-game food and fun.

There was another blast of busy when it was time to round up everyone for the Floo Network hop over to the stadium; and then they split up for a while to wander around the concessions booths before moving on to find their seats. Al was again with Gwendolyn for that, so he missed out on the short meeting with the Wood clan, and while Kathryn hadn't wanted to miss out on spending the game time with Belinda and Olivia; they solved that problem by trading all three sisters for James, Louis, and Hugo – and then added one adult exchange with Katie and Ron so that she wouldn't be stuck with five boys – and could hang out with her girls too.

"We're going to be in trouble with Mum if all of these United fans out-cheer us in our own season's ticketholders section of the stadium today," Gwendolyn warned Al; while really directing that comment at Kathryn and her mother – the two Witches in the big trade that were sitting closest to her.

"I'm hoping that Dad won't give you much to cheer about at all," Kathryn shot back gamely. "The National team is going to be chosen soon; and my Dad is going to be the Keepr for our team this summer."

Gwendolyn laughed; and then raised a hand when Kathryn glared at her. "I was laughing because I agree with you – no matter how much I'd rather see another all-Harpies National team. Picking the team Keeper might be the easiest pick this year for the committee. The Chasers will be toughest; since there are so many good ones this season."

"This will be a good game for those auditions too," Lily suggested; and then grinned at Kathryn while adding – "or not; if your Dad and Vicky both have a great game today."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Gwendolyn told the other two girls. "Chasers do not like low-scoring matches."

"I make an exception for Dad – and for Belinda," Kathryn advised her; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Even when you're playing against them?"

"They usually pick me to play on their teams; so that isn't a problem for me very often."

"I'd rather play against the best Keepers than on the same team when we're just playing around or practicing," Gwendolyn told her seriously – "even if I'd rather have Belinda playing Keeper for Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor in either of the games we have coming up against each other in April and May."

"Maybe when I'm older and a bit better it'll be fun to play against Dad or Belinda; but it isn't any fun to never score a goal – especially with Ollie razzing me the whole time," Kathryn countered. "He's been such a git since getting home I'm wishing that he'd stayed at Hogwarts. He pranked me three times already – and it took Mum twenty minutes to fix my hair after he messed with my shampoo."

"James hasn't been pranking us, but he's been in a lousy mood," Lily told her. "I'm glad that you're here and he's over there with your brother." She nodded toward the United team section of the stadium where they could see the two boys sitting with the rest of their group; but none of them noticed the attention being directed their way. "I'm not sure which is worse – when he's cranky and obnoxious; or when he's happy but annoying us with his pranks."

"You wouldn't have any doubts about that if your hair had looked like mine this morning," Kathryn predicted, "but we have a perfectly good Quidditch game to talk about instead; so let's not talk about our brothers."

"I don't mind talking about one of Lily's brothers," Gwendolyn joked; her smile brightening as Lily and Kathryn both laughed.

"Let's not go there either," Lily suggested. "Al definitely doesn't want us talking about him; and that'd just be weird for me anyway."

Al agreed with her on that, but was saved by the announcer introducing the teams and getting the game started. While they all settled in to watch the game, and he really enjoyed doing that while sitting next to Gwendolyn and holding hands with her; Al also let his mind wander – with that pre-game conversation a launching point for his thoughts. He'd been glad that James was hanging out with Ollie, and Lily liked Kathryn and was happy with the switch too; yet their friendship was still fairly new because the Potter and wood families hadn't really spent any time together until after James and Ollie became best mates – and still didn't do anything together as a group. That was more because they all had too many other commitments; though they did occasionally joke about the team rivalry being the real problem.

As he thought about that, Al realised that their family friendships and connections were yet another issue that annoyed James – and was also a strike against Al in his eyes. It didn't matter to James that the McCormacks and Potters were at the game together in support of 'their' team. To him, his parents picked Al's girlfriend and her family over him and his best friend. With Ollie's mother and sisters hanging out with them because of the swap, James' feelings on that didn't make much sense; but Al knew it was truth anyway. While he wished that there was something he could do to fix things with his brother, Al also knew that there really wasn't anything he was willing to do to make things better with James. Going back to the way things had been before he'd started at Hogwarts wasn't going to happen; and most of James' problems were self-inflicted or flat-out imagined nonsense.

One thing that he wasn't sure about was why James was being so rude and obnoxious since getting home for the holiday. That was something new for him – at least when it came to their parents and sister. Acting that way toward a mother with a reputation for bat-bogey hexes and their Head of the Aurors father seemed incredibly stupid to Al; but then he'd never be that disrespectful to anyone he loved. That thought had him laughing to himself as he acknowledged that he was proving James' point about him being the 'good son' for him. He was okay with that, and didn't even have a problem with James' desire to be different; but he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to put up with James' attempts at verbally hurting their parents. He definitely wouldn't put up with James picking on Lily; but then that wasn't really anything new. The difference there was that he was no longer willing to allow himself to be the more-entertaining target for James' pranks and jokes.

There was a pretty good Quidditch match going on, and while his thoughts continued to roam; Al got into the game too – even as the Harpies' fans didn't have a lot to cheer about. Kathryn and the rest of her family and the United fans got to enjoy a stellar Keeper performance from her Dad, and while Vicky was playing well too; the trio of Madley Chasers were still able to out-score the Harpies' Chasers by more than four-to-one. It simply took them hours to do that and build their lead. Al cheered for their team as vocally as Gwendolyn and the rest of their gang, and even though his Aunt Angelina, Alicia, and Candice Starkey only managed to score four goals; the scoring chances against Oliver were still exciting – even if he won that duel between Keeper and Chasers.

The score was one-eighty to forty for United when the game came to an abrupt, somewhat shocking end; and it was the Harpies' fans that got to cheer last and loudest when Gabrielle successfully pulled off a desperation attempt at catching the snitch that earned her the come-from-behind win for her team with a final score of one-ninety to one-eighty. The United Seeker hadn't been happy about giving up the loss; but then he'd also been impressed by the all-or-nothing play that Gabrielle had needed a bit of luck with her to get away with when a miss would have given him an easy chance at catching the snitch instead.

"Maybe I should have wished a little harder for the win instead of for Dad to have a great match," Kathryn joked to Lily as they all watched the players for both teams land on the pitch and begin the usual post-game festivities.

"Maybe," Lily agreed; "but I'd say that your Dad did all but lock up his spot on the National team today – even if your team didn't get the win."

"So did Gabrielle – for France's National team," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'd say that it's too bad that she won't play for our team; but then we've got a pretty good Seeker too."

"Do you know something that we don't about that?" Lily asked; smiling innocently at Gwendolyn; and earning a few laughs.

"Yes, I think that he's hot too; but there can't be anyone doubting that Aaron Lynch will be our Seeker again this year. He's the best available to play for us."

"Probably," Lily agreed; "but anything can happen in Quidditch. I hear that Hogwarts has a pretty good Seeker on the Gryffindor team – and that'd be a fun match-up to see if England ended up playing France." She'd directed that comment to be overheard by Victoire; and got the expected laughs.

"You might love that – right up until Aunt Gabrielle beat me and our team was out of the running," Victoire told her. "I do hope that I'll make the team someday as a Chaser, but since I'm not even playing that position this year; I doubt the committee will recruit me for this World Cup."

"It's too bad for them that they won't," Ginny told her seriously. "There might be a lot more competition for those spots on the team this year; but you'd do a great job if they did give you the chance."

"I could say the same thing about you," Victoire told Ginny; smiling brilliantly at the compliment she'd just been given.

"Thanks, but my playing days are over," Ginny assured her; smiling too – and then turning her smile toward Harry when he laughed.

"I've heard that before," he reminded her; and Ginny laughed too.

"Yes you have; but I don't expect to come out of retirement for the Harpies between now and when Lily's ready to try and take over from Gabrielle after she's done school."

"I won't just try," Lily promised; her smile a match for her mother's. "Maybe you'll be able to find a job for Aunt Gabrielle – or she can work for Uncle Lee and be a reporter on the mirror network."

That comment gave most of Al's favorite girls something fun to continue talking about as they watched the action on the pitch and began making their way out of the stadium. The McCormacks had invited the Potters to their house for dinner and the evening, and since the game had been very long; they headed straight there once they'd collected James and could take the Floo Network to Gwendolyn's house. While Gwenog was still busy with the team, Harry and Ginny ehlped Kirley with all of the pre-dinner work and cooking; and left the kids to keep themselves entertained. For James, despite getting to spend the afternoon with Ollie; his idea of fun was to revert to being sullen and obnoxious – though he waited until the parents were out of sight before going there.

"No wonder the two of you like coming here – you get to hang out with your girlfriend and boyfriend while I'm stuck being bored to death by the lot of you. Will you start singing love songs next?" He smirked darkly at Al. "I've heard that Gwendolyn's teaching Al how to play guitar. Maybe he won't suck at that as badly as he does a playing Quidditch; but that's probably too much to expect of such a loser."

"I do not have a boyfriend," Lily told him crossly; "and Gwendolyn and Jonah have been our friends forever; so quit being such a git, James."

"He's a boy, and you've just said he's your friend; so that makes him your boyfriend," James said; sounding more than a bit childish now as he continued to sneer at them.

Lily shook her head angrily. "I don't know what's gotten into you, James; but quit taking it out on us – and especially not on Gwendolyn and Jonah."

"That's right – protect your boyfriend," James taunted. "Al's always protecting his girlfriend too; so no surprise there."

"I've heard that Gwendolyn can protect herself just fine," Lily said crossly as she stomped over and stood in front of James – "and so can I." With that; she hauled off and punched him in the stomach; earning a satisfying whoosh of air and a grunt from James before he quickly recovered. She didn't move when he balled a fist and cocked his arm back to retaliate, but Al leapt forward; grabbed his brother's wrist mid-way twoard Lily's face; and stopped the blow from landing.

"Stay out of this, loser," James snarled. He yanked his arm back, but couldn't break free; and Al didn't let go.

"No," Al answered simply; his voice low and calm. "Be mad at me all you want, James, but if you think that I'm going to stand here and let you hit Lily – or any other kid; then you've clearly lost your mind."

"As if you can stop.." James stopped before finishing the retort because Al had begun squeezing his wrist more tightly; and it was all he could do to stop himself from crying out in pain. Al let go then; and James took two quick steps back; glaring at all of them as Gwendolyn and Jonah had stepped up next to Al and Lily too.

"Why don't you go and play video games," Gwendolyn suggested to James; "and we'll go somewhere else and leave you alone."

"I wanted to play video games," Jonah told her; and Gwendolyn smiled at him.

"You can use your portable mirror; and I'll lend mine to Lily if she didn't bring hers."

"Sure – get rid of me and the kids so that you and Al can sit around snogging each other sensless," James declared with a snort; and Gwendolyn chose to smile at him instead of acting annoyed and giving him the kind of reaction he wanted.

"What a brilliant idea!" she told him enthusiastically. "I wasn't going to try and get Al alone somewhere until later; but late-afternoon snogging sessions are fun too!"

"Cut it out before you make me puke," James told her in disgust. He glared at Lily. "I'm outta here; but don't think that I've forgotten that punch – or plan on letting you get away with it." Lily chose to let him leave with the bonus of getting the last word; but was only a bit worried about what James would try to do for his promised revenge. Wherever he went, it wasn't the kids' play room; so Jonah led the way there and invited Lily to play mirror games with him while Gwendolyn and Al sat on one of the sofas and opted to watch the action and talk instead of joining in to play too.

That kept them busy until dinnertime, and while James didn't bother them again for the rest of the time that they were together at the McCormack's home, and he put on a half-decent act of being civil whenever the parents were around them; it was also obvious that he wasn't happy – and the long stretches of silence from him were definitely not normal. While it wasn't always easy to ignore the lack of interaction with James during dinner, everyone else still managed to have fun; and Gwenog's insider view of the Harpies' game was very entertaining. So was the main after-dinner fun for the night; though Al was a bit self-conscious about being one-half of the main reason that music time at the McCormacks was especially great for the parents and four out of five of the kids. After the meal and clean-up; Kirley invited everyone to the music room for some play time, and then, after some goofing around with her father; Gwendolyn talked Al into offering a small demonstration of the music they'd been learning and practicing while at school. He suspected that James' earlier razzing had prompted her to do that, but while he'd gone along with it; he hadn't been prepared for Kirley's reaction to hearing their little duet.

"You've been keeping secrets from us," Kirley told Gwendolyn after they'd finished the little pop ballad that she'd picked out to sing with Al. "Why didn't you tell us that you and Al make such an amazing duo? We could record that right now and you'd have a huge hit!"

Gwenodlyn laughed and smiled brightly. "Maybe because I knew that you'd have that exact reaction, Dad. You know that I'm not interested in being a professional musician; and neither is Al. We're going to play professional Quidditch when we grow up."

"That's my girl," Gwenog said proudly; smiling too. "I've already got your spot on the team penciled in for the season after you graduate."

"That's still more than six years away," Kirley pointed out. "They could have a pretty good run in music between now and then."

"Not if we want to put in all of the work we'll need to do to be great Chasers," Gwendolyn told him unapologetically. "Jonah still hasn't decided for sure whether he'll go into music or Quidditch, though; so you've still got a chance for a protégé with him."

"Gee, thanks a lot, Gwendolyn," Jonah said with a wry smile and shake of his head. "No pressure on me now."

"I'd love that too," Kirley assured his son; "but I'm not ready to just give up on Gwendolyn and Al so easily. You really do have something special – even if Gwenog won't admit that and risk messing up her dreams of having Gwendolyn play for the Harpies when she grows up."

"I don't have a problem with admitting that was wonderful," Ginny told him; and Gwenog laughed.

"Would you say that if he was trying to recruit Lily instead? Al can't ever play for the Harpies."

"Or any other team," James said under his breath. Al heard him anyway; and ignored the jibe.

"That's an interesting question," Kirley said enthusiastically. "Let's have Lily and Jonah sing something for us; and find out if the two of you would switch opinions."

"You can do that if you want," Ginny assured Lily; "but don't take my compliment for Gwendolyn and Al the wrong way, Kirley. I love their music; but wouldn't want any of our kids in the kind of spotlight that they'd be dealing with if they tried to start a music career right now."

"Translation – they'd embarrass the entire family to death," James muttered; still saying that quietly-enough that only Al overheard him – and Al was sure that James didn't know that he could hear those insults; or he'd have given that away in his facial expressions. Al did wonder a bit how it was that he could hear James when it appeared that nobody else could, but he wasn't surprised because his awareness of everything around him seemed to be getting better all of the time since he'd started at Hogwarts – or more specifically; really started using his magic. That's also why his musings didn't get in the way of keeping up with the conversation and action going on around him even as he again ignored James' not-silent-enough razzing.

"Will you teach me how to play a guitar too?" Lily had asked Kirley; and he'd smiled at her.

"Not in one night, but we could play around with that later if you'd like," he offiered. "If you and Jonah would like to take a turn singing for us now, though, I'll play for you."

Lily was all for that idea, and Jonah went along because he couldn't resist her hopeful smile and excitement anymore than the rest of her family and friends could. They'd never really done any serious singing as a duo before, so their song wasn't as enchanting as Gwendolyn and Al had been, but Lily and Jonah had fun with it; and did still sound pretty good together. The music play time continued for more than another hour; Kirley did a short guitar lesson with Lily as part of that fun; and then they moved on to the sitting room for a mix of mirror gaming and chat time until Harry and Ginny decided that it was time to take their kids home for the night. Gwendolyn didn't get the chance to take Al somewhere for a major snogging session, but they did wander off to say goodnight to each other in a partially non-verbal way before he went home for the night.

With the need to at least be cordial if not social no longer a problem for him, James rather rudely headed for his room once they were home; though Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily all headed for their own rooms not long after that anyway. Al didn't head straight off to sleep because he wanted to do some reading first; and then wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. He'd been looking forward to that because he'd left an Easter gift behind for her to find; and she'd loved both the little hunt to find it and the cute little silver bunny earrings he'd picked out for her. It was late by the time they wrapped up that chat; so Al was still a bit tired when he woke in the morning – even though he did that later than usual; and Lily had already been up and long-since ready for the day by the time he hit the shower.

Lily hadn't waited for her brothers to open her Easter gifts, and while she'd obviously been enjoying some of her chocolate eggs and candies by the time Al joined his parents and sister in the kitchen; the best news for all of them for the morning was that James apparently couldn't remain surly while enjoying the benefits of Easter when he did finally join them too. That didn't mean that he was suddenly nice to Al, and he didn't actually say anything to him beyond returning the Happy Easter greeting; but at least he was playing nice with Lily and their parents. While sweets were at least sampled by all of them, there was 'real' food to have for breakfast too; and they ate quickly because they were due to help out at the Burrow again ahead of the family dinner that Arthur and Molly were hosting.

That few hours of work wasn't particularly exciting for Al, since he didn't exactly get the best jobs to do around the house and yard, but he couldn't complain much either; since Lily and Hugo had also been drafted to help out on Friday too. He was glad that Ginny made sure that James didn't work with Al at all; and that apparently made James happy too – especially when his jobs were 'better' than Al's assignments. That was actually true, but Al preferred that over the complaining that James would have surely done had he been asked to check the garden for gnomes just in case any were back already from the last de-gnoming; or the other messier jobs that Al rarely complained about – even if he didn't like the work either.

They were skipping lunch because of the early dinner plan that was mostly so that Charlie and his family didn't end up getting home late with the time change to Romania; so they also wrapped up all of the work except the cooking by noon; and the rest of their family began arriving then too. Ron, Hermione, and the kids were first; and nobody was surprised when Percy and his family were last – getting to the Burrow just fifteen minutes before they sat down to eat because he'd been busy with Ministry of Magic work. Al always thought that was amusing, since the Ministry of Transportation always seemed to have critical issues that needed the personal attention of the Head of the Department's attention; not to mention that the Wizarding World well-might fall apart should any of those problems not be addressed immediately. It wasn't as if Al wasn't used to his own father having major issues to deal with as Head of the Aurors, but he also didn't believe that a bad batch of Floo powder or a problem with broom incidents were nearly as important as dealing with Dark Arts crimes.

You'd never know that from Percy's perspective; which was one reason that Al had for spending as little time as possible with his least-favorite uncle. He did get along great with Ron, though; and he was happy to hang out with Rose too once the fun part of the day got started. Al had already cleaned up and changed by the time that Rose found him outside wandering around the orchard while trying to stay out of James' way. They'd used the Floo Network instead of driving over; and Al welcomed her with a warm hug and bright smile.

"You look great, Rose," he told her. "Is the dress an Easter gift; or something you picked up yesterday?"

"Mom and I both got new dresses Friday night. We went shopping for a while after having a visit with Grandma and Grandpa Granger."

"How are they doing?"

"They're great; but I think they'd have rather stayed in Australia longer this time."

"Easter is a bit early this year," Al said with a nod. "They'll be glad to see you this week instead of having to wait until we're out for the summer in June."

"They are, and Hugo and I might do a sleepover with them sometime next week too. James looked happy just now. Did your Mum dose him with a potion to keep him from being miserable again today?"

Al laughed. "not that I know of; but I suppose she could have slipped something into his Easter treats. He hasn't been talking with me at all, but he's being nice with everyone else so far; so let's hope it stays that way for the rest of the day."

"I'd rather have a day with no pranks," Rose suggested. "That's too much to ask in our family; which is why I'm out here with you."

"Not that we're necessarily safe from that here. I'm hoping to see the danger coming."

"That'd be nice if we could," Rose agreed. "Are we doing anything else out here other than staying away from James?"

Al shrugged. "Not really. It's nice enough out, and I expect that Grandpa will get his toys out for a while soon, so we can watch him fly his planes and helicopters; but I really am just trying to stay out of the way and keep the peace."

"Then I'll keep you company for a while. How was your night at the McCormacks' house?"

That question launched a trade of updates about what they'd each been doing since the end of the Harpies' game on Saturday; and kept them busy until they joined a growing group of spectators that had come outside to enjoy the weather and watch Arthur play with his airplanes and a helicopter. Some of the cousins, including James and Hugo were allowed to fly them too; but Al and Rose stayed on the edges of the group and just watched the show while talking with Ron, Harry, and some of their cousins. While all of their cousins talked with them for at least a couple of minutes, Al and Rose were also in a bit of a middle limbo between their teen cousins and the younger kids. Most of the older cousins hung out together; Lily played with Roxanne; and since James was with Aiden, Louis, Fred, and Hugo; they didn't hang out with them either. Charlene talked Quidditch with them for fifteen minutes or so and gave them the latest news from her school; but then she was also more interested in hanging out with Molly, Lucy, and Dominique – and with her favorite aunts – including Ginny and Angelina.

Their mid-afternoon dinner was a rowdy affair, and while they'd avoided being pranked and even getting teased very much to that point; that reprieve ended shortly after they sat down to eat. For Al, the teasing began with Aunt Muriel loudly asking him to check her chair for dung bombs or other dangers, and once he was in the spotlight; it was downhill from there – from his perspective. He was teased about Gwendolyn; his emerging 'brainiac' status; the new news for most of the family about his apparent music talent; and his responsibility for the Gryffindor junior team loss in March. He also got nailed by two wheezes pranks; and Rose was caught by the second one too – as were several of their cousins because the transfiguration gag had been hidden in one of the pitchers of juice that had been for the kids at the table.

Dinner wasn't all bad, since they were also celebrating George's – and Fred's – birthday. George was roasted a bit; celebrated with some birthday wheezes pranks of his own; and the meal wrapped up with a really great birthday cake and ice cream dessert. Al and Rose also had a reasonably entertaining chat about Quidditch with Ron, Charlie, and Charlene, and while the pranks and jokes weren't much fun; they were at least at the opposite end of the table from James. He was very likely responsible for both pranks on Al, but managed to avoid being caught; and that always earned bonus points with the wheezes and pranks fans in the family. Magic was used for the clean-up, so the under-age Witches and Wizards were set free after dessert. Aiden, Louis, and James wanted to have a Quidditch game, and while he was happy to hang out with Rose instead; Al was also just a bit annoyed that James went out of his way to make sure that he and Rose weren't even invited to join in. He instead set up a parents against the kids match; and then filled his own team with the older cousins – including Louis, Aiden, Lucy, Dominique, and Victoire. Fred was the only younger cousin exception; and he was invited because he was one of the few cousins interested in playing Beater – and he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps for that when he started at Hogwarts in September.

While he was glad to miss out on playing Quidditch with James; Al would have liked to play against his parents. Harry and Ginny were both drafted for the adult team that James 'hired' Teddy to choose and Captain. While he had a former World Cup and League Champion Seeker available; Teddy made Harry his Seeker; and had Angelina and Ginny for his Chaser partners. Ron played Keeper for them, and while he hadn't been a Beater when he played Quidditch at school; Charlie was happy to pair up with George to play Beater against Aiden and Fred. More than half of the rest of the family went out to the orchard to watch the game; and Al and Rose were part of that group – along with Lily, Hugo, Charlene, and Roxanne.

"I'd have picked Aiden to play Seeker," Charlene told them as they watched the fourteen players warm up with some flying exercises before getting the game started. "It probably won't make a difference anyway; but Aiden might have at least had a chance against Uncle Harry."

"James should stop razzing Dad – and Teddy," Al offered. "Maybe he's forgotten that Mom's a fair Chaser – and definitely a better one than Dad. If our parents don't hold back; I doubt this will even be close."

"Even with Victoire on the kids' team?" Charlene asked; and Al nodded.

"Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy are a pretty good trio, but Uncle Ron's still a better Keeper than Louis; and they're not better than Mum, Aunt Angelina, and Teddy."

"That will be the closest match-up, though," Rose added with a nod and smile. "If James wanted a close match, then he should have picked the parents' team too."

Charlene laughed. "Sure, because I'm sure that my Mum, yours, Uncle Percy, Aunt Audrey, and Aunt Fleur feel so left out because they never get picked to play."

"Mum doesn't even like to fly brooms," Hugo reminded his cousin; laughing too. "If you do ever get that game set up, though; let me know ahead of time so that I can bring my camera."

"Since that'll happen the day after never; I don't think you'll have to keep your camera ready to go," Rose offered. "Al's already predicted a big win for the parents. Does anyone else want to take the other side of that bet?"

"I didn't offer a bet," Al pointed out; "but I guess that I could put a few Easter treats on the line if any of you actually think that our cousins will win this game."

"Cue the crickets," Charlene teased when nobody took that bet. "We'd be okay with you sharing some of those treats with us while we watch the game, Al. Aiden and I left our chocolate eggs and toffee at home." She smiled when Al pulled a handful of little eggs out of his jacket pocket and passed them around to his sister and cousins.

The game was about to start then, so while they snacked on sweets and continued to chat together; the main entertainment for the next hour was Quidditch – with the Seekers playing to best-of-three catches and fifty points per catch. The good news for the start of the game was that James seemed to be entirely back to his normal self. The bad news was exactly the same for his team and their supporters because that also meant that he continually shot his mouth off with the taunts and insults that he hurled at the members of the parents' team. That didn't keep most of the parents from taking it easy on the kids – particularly for Charlie and George as they played Beater; but it did lead to Harry making all three snitch catches without giving up any to James. Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy only managed to score four goals against Ron while Teddy, Ginny, and Angelina scored eleven against Louis even with taking it easy on him; so the final score was two-sixty to forty for the parents' team.

"Maybe you should've tried putting a rocking chair on your Dad's broom to see if that'd slow him down," Teddy suggested to James once they'd all landed after Harry had made the final snitch catch. "I'd say that he's proven that he isn't quite ready to sit in one and just watch the games quite yet." He smiled at Harry. "Thanks for getting the win for us. We'd have needed at least another couple of hours to get enough goals against Louis to be more than one-fifty ahead – assuming Uncle Ron wouldn't need to stop for a nap the way James kept suggesting he would."

"You're welcome," Harry assured him; "though we should be thanking James for giving us all of the motivation we needed to play our best."

"You've got a better broom than I do," James complained. "Let's switch brooms and try that again."

"Charlie and Julianne are going to want to head home soon; and most of us old folks have to work tomorrow, James," Harry told him. "As for flying a Lightningbolt; you'll be allowed to do that when your Mother and I decide that you're ready to handle one."

"Don't go there," Ginny warned before James could say anything in response to Harry's comment. "This has been fun even with all of the razzing you've been giving us; so don't spoil it by starting a fight with us."

"You should make a run for it too," Victoire told James with a brilliant smile. "I need to congratulate Teddy for the win; and you probably don't want to be here to witness us doing that."

"I'm outta here," James declared quickly and then he did turn away and head for the Burrow.

"You're scaring the parents a bit too,' Bill advised Victoire; "so I'll head back to the house now too."

"I'm not scared," Fleur assured him; her smile as bright as Victoire's had just been. "It is funny that you're pretending to be worried about Teddy; yet didn't say a word about your brothers trying to knock her off her broom with bludgers during the game."

"That is inconsistant," Bill agreed; "but then Victoire doesn't want to catch a bludger – and does want to catch Teddy."

"I've already caught him, Dad. Get used to it," Victoire told him seriously; though her smile was again brilliant and happy. Teddy was smiling too as she turned her attention to him and proceeded to congratulate him for a long moment in a non-verbal way.

"Let me help you with whatever you want to do at the house," Louis offered to his father. "I might never get used to that with Victoire or Dominique."

"You won't have to with me," Domique assured him. "Victoire would hex me if I tried to snog her boyfriend."

That earned a round of laughs; and Louis shook his head. "Funny, and more than a bit gross to think about you sharing Teddy with Victoire; but you know what I meant. I am glad that you don't sit around the common room snogging Jensen like some of the couples do there; so I'll just shut-up now and count my blessings."

"Would one of those blessings be Amanda Lawson?" Dominique asked him sweetly; and Louis laughed.

"I so obviously did not shut my mouth soon enough, but for the record; no, I wouldn't say that about Amanda. We're eventually going to figure out that we make better friends without the dating attempts messing that up for us."

"That's probably true," Dominique conceded easily; "though I'm surprised that you've figured that out already."

Louis grinned at her. "See – I'm not as dim as I look after all," he joked.

"That's not saying much," Dominique shot back; and the banter was definitely on for them then – with lots of help from their family.

Charlie and Julianne really did want to head for home soon after the Qudditch match ended; so a long, drawn-out round of goodbyes began not long after they got back to the Burrow. Since they'd helped out for most of the morning, Harry, Ginny, and the kids didn't need to stay late to help with the post-family clean-up. Al went with Harry to see Aunt Muriel home, though; and that was as much of an adventure as always for them. Al had carried the box of leftovers and Easter gifts while Harry had helped Muriel; and then they stayed for nearly ten minutes while making sure that she was settled in and had everything she needed. Her verbal sparring with Harry was always entertaining; but what Al liked the most was seeing and hearing the obvious love that had developed between his father and great-aunt over the years.

They got home before Ginny, James, and Lily did; and they ended up having enough time to get started on some of the work around the house – including starting loads of laundry and cleaning the bathrooms, Al's bedroom, and the sitting room by the time the rest of their gang returned to the house too. When he saw the work going on, James disappeared into his room for a while; and only returned to hang out with his parents, Al, and Lily when snacks were offered instead of having another meal. After that, they watched the mirror network for an hour or so; and then everyone except James headed for bed while he stayed up late to play video games. Al did a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn; but neither of them stayed up late because they were having their first study morning and afternoon Quidditch practice of the holidays on Monday; and they wanted to be ready for a busy day of revision and Quidditch.

Al was awake early the next morning; was first to shower and get ready for the day; and even beat his father to the kitchen after dropping off his book bag in the dining room and getting his things out on the table and ready to go for when Rose, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends arrived for their study session. He put a pot of coffee on to brew; and poured himself a glass of juice before sitting down to wait for the rest of his family to join him in the kitchen. Harry soon caught up with him; he joined in to help his father with making breakfast; and they had the food ready by the time that Ginny and Lily joined them. James had told Lily to go away and leave him alone; so they let him go back to sleep and went ahead with having breakfast without him.

While they saved leftovers for James, the breakfast clean-up was nearly done by the time Al's first study buddies arrived using the Floo Network. Gwendolyn and Jonah were dropped off first by Kirley; Rose and Hugo were next; and then Cora and Bristol came over within a minute of Ray and Melissa – the two girls meeting up at Bristol's house first before coming over with Bristol's mother. All of the younger sisters and brothers came along to hang out with Lily for the day; and they stayed in the sitting room to play there while their firstie sibs were busy studying. They'd all brought their Quidditch gear along too, and planned on playing on the pitch too; but wanted to wait for it to warm up a bit before going outside to do that. Al wasn't thinking about Quidditch then, and while spending time with Gwendolyn was part of the reason for that; they all really needed to work on the load of revision that had been dumped on them for the holidays too.

"Witches' choice for first study subject,"Al declared as he sat down next to Gwendolyn; with Ray at the end of the table to his left; Cora at the other end; and Rose and Bristol across from him.

"Then I vote for studying the latest gossip that we've heard about with our families and friends," Bristol suggested half-seriously.

"We can multi-task that," Rose assured her; "but my vote is for Charms or Potions. Those are the toughest two assignments we were given last week."

"That's fine with me as long as you make time for Herbology too," Cora told her. "I do not want to do that one on my own."

"Let's start with Charms then," Gwendolyn offered. "Al's Mum might want us to take our Potions assignment outside in case we blow something up; and it's too cool out to do that now."

"The potions we're supposed to make won't blow up," Al advised her; and then grinned. "They could seriously smell up the house if we mess them up, though; so we probably should do that outside."

"Or in James' room," Rose suggested with a grin that had her cousin and friends laughing.

"I'd rather not give him any new reasons to be mad at me; but that was funny," Al assured her. "We apparently have a subject, so let's get our Charms textbooks out and get started."

"Yes, sir," Gwendolyn agreed with a mock salute. "You lead; we'll follow; and Cora can start giving us her gossip report."

"Just don't mess me up while doing that," Ray told the girls. "My assignment will be a mess if I get that gossip mixed up with the research."

"Too bad that you couldn't write your report on the charms used in the pranks and wheezes that we had to deal with at our family Easter dinner yesterday," Rose said with a laugh. "The gossip would be part of the research for that."

"Then let's start with your story first," Cora offered. "Did your Uncle George try out some new wheezes on you yesterday?"

Rose was happy to give her weekend report first, but they did also get started on the work too. Their Charms assignment and the follow-up practice took nearly two hours; so they decided to work on Herbology after that until lunchtime; and save their Potions revision for their Wednesday study morning. James wandered through the room twice – on his way to the kitchen to have breakfast; and then on his way back up to his room where he was supposedly going to do his own studying. Al knew that wasn't going to happen, but since James didn't bother them much – other than the fact that Cora and Bristol were quite interested in watching him walk around in his medi-wizard scrub pants and t-shirt. He'd offered a few half-hearted insults too, but compared to normal; that was very mild for James. Ginny dropped off snacks and drinks mid-morning, and Lily and her gang stopped in long enough to say hello on their way out to the Quidditch pitch; but none of those interruptions slowed them down at all. Al and Rose were both happy with the work they did get done by the time they wrapped up when the call for lunch came; and they had their bags packed up by the time Ginny was ready to put lunch on the dining room table.

Ollie and Kathryn arrived early for the Gryffindor Quidditch practice, so lunch was even busier than Ginny had expected; and Al and Gwendolyn were also on the front line for having to deal with James and Ollie as the duo apparently decided that they needed to be their normal, annoying selves while they had a gang of younger kids to impress with their witty jokes, insults, and prank attempts. In a way, that was a return to normal, but that wasn't better for Al; and he was soon sure that he preferred James when he was sullen and hiding in his room. He did manage to make it through lunch without any permanent damage; and then it was time to head outside and get ready for the Gryffindor junior Quidditch team practice. The rest of the guys were arriving by then, but the one change from the practices at Christmas wa sthat Victoire and her team didn't come to the house early to hang out with Ginny because they were busy studying instead. They were still going to come over for a practice too; but Victoire and her friends needed to study all week to have any chance of getting their NEWT revision finished on time.

Even after playing Quidditch for half the morning, Lily was still fired up to get to play on Louis' reserve squad for the holiday practices; and her friends were just as enthusiastic. That was fun for Al too, but it was having Gwendolyn out there with them that was most fun for him – even though James and Ollie protested that they shouldn't have 'the enemy' at one of their practices now that they were just weeks away from their game against Ravenclaw. Louis leaned toward agreeing with them on that, but decided to compromise by just not working on anything specific that they were planning for the Ravenclaw game – and he knew that the warm-ups and most of the work-out didn't help Gwendolyn or Ravenclaw anyway. He also split the team for the scrimmages they did so that he was up against his own Chasers while Hugo played against Gwendolyn, Ray, Melissa, and Kathryn – with the two younger girls again taking turns as the third Chaser with every third goal. Lily and Jonah took turns playing against James again too, and while he won the overall Seeker duel; Lily still managed two catches and Jonah had one.

The Chaser battle was close too, but it shouldn't have been; and that was once again entirely thanks to Ollie's ongoing refusal to work with Al and Rose as a trio. He hadn't learned from the Christmas holiday practices; so Louis, Gwendolyn, and Ray were happy to take advantage of his total lack of teamwork. From his own perspective, Ollie believed he was running circles around Kathryn and Melissa as he intentionally matched up against them with every chance he got to do that. What he didn't seem to even notice was that Gwendolyn, Ray, and Louis were able to feed passes on to each of the two younger girls every time they were left behind on plays – and then they'd often end up with one-on-one chances against Hugo. Al and Rose tried to deal with that both on offense and defense as best they could – even while taking abuse and the blame from Ollie and James every time one of those plays led to a goal against Hugo. Al, Rose, and Ollie did still managed to slightly out-score their quartet of Chaser opponents, so their team won the main scrimmage match; but it wasn't a victory that either Al or Rose felt good about. They also didn't like the total lack of sportsmanship that James and Ollie showed Gwendolyn, Ray, and their younger siblings – especially when it wasn't at all deserved.

"Will the two of you just shut it?" Louis finally told his cousin and Ollie after putting up with nearly five minutes of their razzing of pretty much everyone else except Louis and the McClaggen brothers. "Half of the team players you were up against were on Firefly brooms; and your team still didn't manage to win by very much. You should be thanking them for showing us that we're not ready for our game against Ravenclaw – unless Gwendolyn wants to talk her team mates into playing that game on Firefly brooms too."

Gwendolyn laughed. "That's not going to happen," she assured him; and then she smiled at James and Ollie. "I agree with you," she advised them. "You're the best Seeker and Chaser at the school; and my team doesn't stand a chance against you."

"Quit trying to psych my guys out," Louis told her with a laugh. "You don't believe that at all."

"She should," James retorted – "especially since it's all true; and we're going to prove it at that game."

Louis rolled his eyes and groaned. "Way to go giving Ravenclaw some ammunition that'll help them get fired up for our match."

"That works for me," James said unapologetically. "That way they won't be able to make excuses about not trying their best when we beat them."

"I'm already crushed," Gwendolyn assured him; feigning disappointment so badly that even James and Ollie laughed along with everyone else.

The conversation moved on after a few more jokes; and it wasn't much longer before they'd all packed up their gear and headed into the house for snacks and drinks. Victoire had her team there by then, but while Al, Rose, Ray, and Gwendolyn planned on going back outside to watch that practice; most of their friends and cousins were heading home after the snack break – or wanted to stay indoors to play mirror or video games instead. When James and Ollie began razzing them again, Al and Gwendolyn took their snacks and drinks to go and went back outside early – even though they only had the team warm-ups to watch while they sat on the benches and enjoyed the comparative quiet without James and Ollie shooting their mouths off.

While watching Quidditch practices could get boring, Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn were always looking to learn more about the game, and while Ray wasn't with them for the same reason; he didn't mind watching some of their most-beautiful older cousins as they flew around and above the pitch. The entertainment level went up quite a bit when Ginny joined Victoire for a Seeker duel during the wscrimmage part of their practice; and went on to win that duel three catches to two – with her best-of-five win also ending the little game. The players and spectators all had fun with that, and then, after most of the kids and teens had gone home for the night; James, Al, and Lily found out that their fun wasn't done for the day when Victoire stayed; and Teddy came home with Harry so that the two teens could join them for dinner.

"First I had to put up with Gwendolyn snogging Al goodbye when she left, and it's always scary to be around when Mum snogs Dad every day when he gets home from work; but now I've got to put up with Victoire snogging Teddy too?" James groused when Harry and Teddy were both welcomed home rather enthusiastically. "I should've gotten Ollie to invite me over to his house for the night."

"One little kiss goodbye does not constitute snogging for Al and Gwendolyn," Ginny told him, "and if you keep that up; I'll be happy to show you what it looks like when I do snog your father."

"That sounds like fun anyway," Harry said with a grin while James rolled his eyes and groaned noisily.

"Don't – you'll spoil my dinner – for the rest of the month."

"How hot are your snogging sessions if you can burn dinner a month out at Hogwarts all the way from here?" Teddy asked; and then laughed. "On second thought; forget I asked that one."

James threw up his hands. "I'll be in the sitting room playing mirror games and pretending that everyone else in the house hasn't gone mental."

"Don't get too into that," Ginny warned. "Dinner will be on the table in fifteen."

"At least that'll be fifteen minutes in a snogging-free zone," James retorted on his way out of the room.

"Would you like to go into the sitting room with me?" Victoire asked Teddy. "We've apparently got fifteen minutes until dinner's ready; and it'd be more comfortable for us if I snog you in there instead of here in the kitchen."

"Don't even think about it," James yelled back toward them. Victoire had been speaking loudly-enough for him to hear; and everyone in the kitchen laughed.

"I wonder how long it'll be before he gets used to us being together?" Victoire asked more quietly. She led Teddy to the kitchen table; and they both sat down with Al and Lily while Harry went to get a chilled bottle of wine out and poured four glasses.

"Possibly until he has his first serious girlfriend," Ginny suggested with a smile and shrug as she got back to the cooking in progress. "A different perspective on life would be good for him about quite a few things right now."

"I don't remember giving you – or Grandma – a hard time about things like this," Teddy told Harry and Ginny; and then he smiled at Victoire. "Did you act like James at all with your parents when you were his age?"

Victoire laughed. "Not like this; but I might have had a talk or a thousand with Mum and Aunt Ginny about a certain oblivious Wizard that I was fond of during the years when he didn't notice me the way he should have."

"Anytime you've had enough of the teasing about Gwendolyn, Al, just remember that your Dad and I will probably always have it worse for being too dense when it came to Witches."

"You've had more time to mess up – and then make it right," Al offered with a laugh. "Check back with me in six or seven years and see how I'm doing by then."

"That'll give us time to learn to speak with wood lice," Lily teased – "just in case we need to be able to do that, of course."

"I didn't know that wood lice could talk at all," Victoire countered; "but I don't think we'll really need to worry about that with Al anyway."

"He's a Wizard," Lily reminded her cousin with another laugh and a shrug. "The odds are against him."

"That's a fascinating observation, Lily," Ginny said; "but let's trade work and play adventure stories for a while instead of teasing Al or Teddy. "Would you like to start with the Quidditch report?"

Lily didn't choose to do that because she was sure that James would need to put his two cents' worth in for that recap; but they did move on and get Harry and Teddy to tell them about their day with the Aurors. For Teddy, that meant the parts of his day that he could talk about, since he was on a job with Dennis and Natalie that he couldn't give the details about; but Harry could tell them about most of his political dealings at the Ministry. They all helped to move the show into the dining room when the food was ready; James joined them for the meal; and he enthusiastically joined in for the Quidditch conversation with his usual, self-biased view of both the junior team practices. His commentary on the senior team work-out was particularly special considering that he hadn't even watched them play at all. Somehow he still knew that Victoire had taken it easy on her beloved Aunt Ginny so that she wouldn't embarrass the aging ex-star; but stopped short of offering to give Victoire better competition for the next practices on Wednesday and Friday.

He was much happier when Teddy was set free to go and play video games with him after dinner; and that helped to make for a reasonably pleasant evening for everyone. Teddy and Victoire stayed until nearly ten o'clock before heading back to her house, and while that had still felt like a too-short visit; Teddy had to work in the morning; and Victoire had a busy study and play day booked with her friends. After his own busy day, Al was ready to turn in and wind down with some reading and a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then he was out for the count by eleven-thirty.

On Tuesday, Ginny had another holiday surprise for James, Al, and Lily. Al had been up as early as usual; Lily hadn't been far behind; and James had tried to sleep in until he grudgingly got up long enough to find out what Ginny's surprise was – and then decided that it was worth staying awake to go along on the outing. They didn't leave until the work around the house was dealt with first; but they still had most of the day ahead of them when they arrived at Shell Cottage and met up with most of their cousins for a play day at the beach and cottage. Fleur had taken the day off from work; Molly had brought her usual group of cousins along – including Rose while she was on holiday and Ron and Hermione were busy with work. Victoire also had all of her NEWT year friends and study buddies for the week at the cottage, and while they studied all day too; they did some of that work on the beach; and joined in for the picnic lunch and some play breaks that helped them to avoid frying their brains with all of the revision they needed to get done.

While Al would have had more fun with Gwendolyn there too, that hadn't apparently been an option; and he'd still had a really great day with Lily and their cousins. James had a fun day too; and he even managed to do that without pranking anyone or setting off any wheezes. The water was far too cold for swimming, but they had an especially warm spring-weather day for so early in April; and playing around on the sand was a comfortable and fun option. Some of the guys splashed around in the frigid water a bit too, though James was the only one crazy enough to get himself fairly soaked; and then he'd needed quite a while to get dry and warm again. The beach games were all of the Muggle variety, and while that wasn't as exciting as a game of Quidditch; most of the kids and teens in their family had learned to appreciate games such as Frisbee or beach volleyball.

After a day at the beach, Ginny was not even remotely interested in cooking and cleaning when they got home again, so take-out food was ordered; and Harry picked it up on the way home from Auror Headquarters. That worked for him too because he and Ginny both had homework to do in the evening; so they were glad for the easy-meal that they could also let the kids clean up from while they moved on and spent most of their evening in the office. James managed to supervise his way out of that clean-up, but Al and Lily were okay with doing that work on their own anyway; and then they all spent most of the evening in the sitting room playing games and watching shows on the mirror network. When Lily started dozing off, she decided to go up to bed; Al went up to his room then too after they'd both said goodnight to their parents; and James again stayed up late playing mirror games while linked up for the gaming with Ollie.

Wednesday was another study and Quidditch day at home. Al was up early because he was excited about spending another day with Gwendolyn; and he even had coffee brewed and all of the usual, 'normal' weekday breakfast fare set out on the table and ready to go for everyone by the time Harry and Lily joined him in the kitchen. That gave them time to have a little chat while they waited for Ginny; they had breakfast together without waiting for James to come to life; and then Harry headed off to Auror Headquarters while Ginny and Lily cleaned up and Al got the dining room ready for his study session. Gwendolyn and Jonah were early, but Rose, Hugo, Ray, Melissa, Bristol, and Cora all made it there ahead of schedule; so they were able to get the study or play time started early too. For Al, Ray, and the girls, that meant beginning their revision for the day with their Potions assignment. The chat time that kept them entertained while they worked began with the Tuesday recaps for everyone.

"It sounds as though you and Al win the top prize for most holiday fun for yesterday," Bristol told Rose after hearing their day at the beach story. "Maybe we should have booked this study session a day early and gone along."

"Victoire studied with her friends all day," Rose advised her; "and they didn't have nearly as much fun as we did. They have loads more work to get done than we do, and if Victoire's stressed about getting it all done; I can't imagine how the average NEWT student is dealing with the workload."

Ray laughed. "That's easy – they're not trying to get straight O's like Victoire and the other brainiacs." He grinned at Rose. "I think that runs in your family, but it doesn't in mine; so I'm impressing my parents just by doing better than I would without hanging around with you and Al."

"Ditto that for me," Cora told them; smiling too. "I'd say the same about the day at the beach; but I prefer going there when it's hot – and the water's warm-enough for swimming."

"You prefer being at the beach when the boys are in swimsuits and preferably not wearing shirts," Bristol countered; and then laughed. "Oh wait – that's me."

"That's true for me too," Cora assured her; laughing along with the other girls. "The boys our age will likely start catching up to us on that this coming summer – for watching girls in swimsuits."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed; "but if Al's in that group, he'd better only be interested in watching one Witch."

"Can we talk about that later?" Al asked in response to the unspoken part of that challenge. "You know that I'm always going to be honest with you; and it's so hard to write reports when you're a woodlouse."

"Unless Gwendolyn is going to never look at any other guy; I'd say she shouldn't expect you to never look at any other girl," Ray interjected; and then laughed when Gwendolyn wasn't the only Witch to turn their attention on him. "Did I say that out loud?" he tried joking lamely.

"Yes, and here's a newsflash for you – Witches are not required to be fair with Wizards for things like this," Bristol advised him. "Get used to it."

"Maybe, but what I'd really like to know is how Al got away with that back-handed, but honest answer to Gwendolyn; yet I get the evil eye from all of the girls at the table for being just as honest?"

"You're assuming he's not in trouble," Gwendolyn told him. "Al and I are definitely going to talk about this later."

"When are you going to get the poles on that trouble magnet of yours reversed – or just have the silly thing surgically removed or something?" Ray asked Al next. "Do you even go an entire day without getting into some kind of trouble?"

"We'll all be in trouble if we don't get serious about this revision," Rose said; trying to change the subject more than actually get everyone back to work. "I'd really like to get everything done today if I can – especially since our Quidditch practice on Friday is in the morning."

Her comment did help to move both the conversation and the studying along; and they had as much fun as they could with the work. Making the assigned Potion was the most fun, and writing the reports wasn't; but the work was always easier to do together. James did a round-trip pair of appearances when he eventually needed to get some food, and he razzed them for a couple of minutes each time he wandered through the dining room; but he spent the rest of the morning in his room. Lily and her friends played in the sitting room; and then went outside for some Quidditch during the hour or so leading up to lunchtime. They didn't have any early arrivals for Quidditch; but they did finish lunch early; so Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and Ray went out to the pitch early too and had some play time while waiting for the rest of the Gryffindor team to arrive. For that, Rose and Ray teamed up for a Chaser duel against Al and Gwendolyn; and the action above the pitch soon had the attention of pretty much everyone else at the house – including all of the arriving teens as they came over for the afternoon practices. Ginny had stayed inside while cleaning up from lunch and to be there for the kids arriving by Floo Network; but she joined the spectators outside along with Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, and Belinda once all of the other kids were there too.

"Have I mentioned before that I'm jealous of Gwendolyn?" Dominique asked Ginny; and they both laughed.

"Yes, and I might be too; except it's exactly like that for me when Harry and I do our Seeker duels."

"That is always awesome whenever I've seen you do that," Dominique agreed; "but you're battling against each other – not playing as a duo." She nodded up at Al and Gwendolyn; and they watched as he dodged Ray, spun his broom around, and had the pass on the way to Gwendolyn before he could have possibly seen where she was flying – and already open and past Rose. The pass was perfect; and Gwendolyn scored yet another easy goal – though the play had not been easy at all. "Could you pull off a move like that one? I know that I can't."

"I don't know; but it'd be fun to give it a try if you'd like to do that later," Ginny offered.

"Can you play Quidditch with us again today?" Dominique asked. "I thought you'd be busy getting ready for working the Cannons' game tonight."

"I finished all of the prep work for that last night. Victoire wants me to work with her again. She's worried that she's not getting enough competition with your reserve Seeker to be ready for your match against Ravenclaw next month."

"I've been thinking the same about James," Louis told her; stepping back and closer to his aunt and sister. "Would it be too much to ask you to help us out too? Lily might not be happy about that; but James never loses against our reserve Seeker."

"Why don't we all play in your scrimmage match?" Dominique suggested – "as long as you don't mind having your team lose that game."

"We need the better competition more than we need the ego boost from a win," Louis said while looking over to where James and Ollie were busy making fun of the four Chasers in the air; alternating between shouting out insults and cracking jokes to Hugo and Jonah. "A couple of us could use some ego deflating."

"Not to mention a reality check," Dominique agreed. "You really need to have blinders on not to see just how amazing Al and Gwendolyn are, and while Rose might not be as good; she's an awesome defensive Chaser."

"She's done well-enough scoring goals so far this season too," Lucy pointed out – "especially when she's actually best at Keeper."

"Let's pretend that we don't know that," Louis suggested with a grin. "I'd hate to have to admit that the team captain should fire his Keeper and put Rose in instead."

"That wouldn't work for your team," Dominique told him. "She is one of your top three Chasers; and you might not be top six."

"That's true," he agreed amiably – "and why I wanted to be the best Keeper in our family instead of the third-best Chaser behind you and Victoire."

Ginny laughed. "I wonder if that's why Ron played Keeper? The rest of your uncles, except for Percy, were all really good players too."

"You were playing then, so maybe he was worried about you too," Dominique suggested. "Louis and I will be lucky if we can do as well as you and Uncle Ron did compared to your older brothers."

"I'd be happy with a winning season for my team," Louis only half-joked. "The practice help today would be great too; though I doubt we'll see James and Ollie lose near-enough of that hot air their currently full of right now."

"We'll see if you still think so once Lily finds out," Ginny suggested. "I'll go and grab my gear while you're busy with the warm-ups."

Louis moved on to round up his team, and though Lily wasn't the only disappointed kid over the change in plans for the team scrimmage; they did at least expect to watch an exciting mini-match. Gwendolyn, Lily, and the rest of the younger Quidditch-playing kids did still do parts of the warm-up and work-out, but when Louis was ready for the scrimmage; his team was up against five very talented Witches – and most of the spectators cheered for them instead of the Gryffindor team. While being razzed by James wasn't anything new for Ginny, she did put a bit of extra effort into helping Louis out with giving James a serious challenge. She was five-for-five for their Seeker duel, and while that sealed the win for her team; Belinda only let in five goals while Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia scored fourteen against Louis. Since Ollie didn't score any of those goals, the two biggest egos on the team were blanked; and neither of them were happy as they all landed after Ginny's final catch – which she'd managed to do in just under an hour.

Victoire was there with the senior team Beaters, Jensen and Stanley; so they cleared the pitch right away too so that Victoire could get her warm-ups started. Ginny took a break to do snacks and drinks with all of the younger kids and the junior team players; and then left her kids and their cousins and friends to entertain themselves while she went back to playing Quidditch – and gave Victoire an even tougher workout than she'd had with James. Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their friends stayed outside while James, Ollie, and the McClaggen brothers played mirror games in the sitting room. Lily, Hugo, and the other younger kids played outside; but they went exploring and goofed around instead of just watching more Quidditch.

For Al, watching his mother play with Victoire was the best part of that second practice; though that was actually mostly because the rest of the team practice was fairly tame by comparison to the scrimmage that they'd just had. Sure, he'd only scored three goals, and Rose only had two; but he thought they'd actually done pretty well against three of the best Chasers at Hogwarts – and the best Keeper. When the players took a short break after Ginny's second catch; Victoire must have been thinking the same thing because she called a time-out; and then invited Rose, Ray, Al, and Gwendolyn to join Ginny and be their impromptu practice squad.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Gwendolyn said enthusiastically before anyone else could answer. "Can we play best-of-three snitch catches for the win?"

Victoire laughed. "Since Aunt Ginny already has the first two; I'm good with the reprieve. Will it be fifty points a catch; or should we keep it at thirty?"

"Go with thirty," Dominique suggested with a laugh. "We don't want to spot Gwendolyn and Al too many points; or we might lose."

"Fifty it is, then," Victoire declared; laughing too. "Thanks so much for the vote of confidence in your own sister and Seeker."

"I have a lot of confidence in you, sis," Dominique assured her – "just not against one of the best professional Seekers ever."

"Let's see which one of us has the tougher challenge – you get to play against Gwendolyn."

"Me and my big mouth," Dominique joked; and then nodded her agreement. "I was going to suggest putting Lucy and Olivia up against Al and Gwendolyn; but Olivia probably knows how to play against Ray better anyway."

That was true-enough, but then so was her worry about spotting Al and Gwendolyn too many points. It took a few minutes for them to get their gear on – or on again for Al and Rose; but then the game was on; and the competition was far closer than even Victoire and Dominique had expected. Rose only allowed six goals, and while that was partly because Al and Gwendolyn stopped Dominique and Lucy from even getting a shot on goal more than half the time; she also made some great saves too. Gwendolyn and Al had three goals each against Belinda; but their biggest surprises came from them setting up Ray for three more goals thanks to Olivia and Belinda both paying more atention to the anazing moves that Al and Gwendolyn were using – and trying to come up with ways of defending them. Ginny won the best-of-three Seeker duel with two catches; but Victoire was genuinely happy to get the one catch – and with the loss that reminded her team that they were beatable.

"Let's have our practice on Friday at my house," Belinda suggested to Victoire – "and don't invite them to stop by to help us out anymore." She smiled when Ginny laughed. "I'm including you for that," she added; laughing too. "We need our Seeker to actually believe she can win; and that's tough to do when you're one-for-five."

"You don't mean that," Olivia told her sister; "and before we wrap up for the day I want to work on a few of those plays with Al, Gwendolyn, and Ray." She turned her attention and smile on her cousin. "Maybe I've spent too much time listening to Ollie, and it's easy to get caught up watching Al and Gwendolyn; but that's no excuse for me getting beat three goals to one today. We could switch our usual plays up a bit to do the same thing the three of you were just doing to us."

"We can do that for maybe another ten or fifteen," Belinda agreed; "but then we're due home to help Mum with dinner."

"And I need to go work on that for my gang right now," Ginny advised them. "This has been fun; but I have to work tonight and can't be late for the game."

"The Cannons lose – your job's done," Lucy joked; earning laughs from everyone except Rose.

"One of these years, you're not going to be able to pick on my team like that anymore," she declared; and couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else when that was the response to her claim.

"You can say centuries instead of years and be just as right for the Cannons," Ray told her; "but we are in awe of your dedication to them."

"She feels sorry for Uncle Ron," Dominique suggested. "Keep playing like that at Keeper, Rose, and the Harpies are going to want to hire you – and they pay way better than the Cannons do."

"Some of us hope," Lucy added with a laugh. "Belinda might have her heart set on putting her Dad out of a job; but I'm willing to negotiate for the best deal."

"Good for you," Ginny said approvingly; "but don't forget to include having fun as part of your best deal. The money won't mean much to you if the game isn't fun for you too."

"Says the Witch that wanted to play for the Harpies ever since she was a baby," Al told his mother. "It's a good thing for you that you broke the family drought on having baby Witches or you'd have been out of luck."

"You should be fairly happy about that too," Gwendolyn told him with a laugh – "I know that I am."

"Not that any of us wonder why," Rose added. "Dad's taking Hugo and me to that Cannons' game too, though; so I need to get ready to go home now too – and then probably drag Hugo away from the mirror gaming if he's doing that with the other guys now. Have fun with that bonus Quidditch time."

Gwendolyn and Al did have fun with that; they eventually spent a bit of time alone in his room so they could talk and say goodbye to each other without the entire gang around; and then Ginny was down to having just her own three kids in the house by the time Harry got home from work and they sat down to have dinner. That was a quick meal, and then she headed out to the Cannons' game while Harry took care of the clean-up. Taking the kids to the game had been an option, but he'd decided to take them out to a Muggle movie instead; and they took the Floo Network to the Leaky before moving out into Muggle London from there and taking a cab to the usual cinema they went to for their infrequent movie outings. James picked an alien disaster movie – though that was also the best he could negotiate when Harry refused to confund all of the Muggles around them so that they could watch a movie that wasn't open to kids.

The movie proved to be a better entertainment choice even though it wasn't exactly an award-winner for anything. It wasn't scarier than the Cannons' loss was for their few but faithful fans. Not only was the movie better; it was a lot shorter too; so the post-movie snack and drinks break before going home was great too – even though Ginny wasn't able to join them for that. Harry followed that up by watching the rest of the Cannons' match on the mirror network while doing some work in the office; and James was actually happy-enough to play video games with Al and Lily for a while before two out of three of them headed for bed not long after Ginny got home from the drawn-out disaster that ended up being a blow-out loss for the Cannons by the time the snitch was caught to end the debacle. Ginny had needed to stay up to write her news report and have it ready for both the Wizarding Wireless Website and the morning Daily Prophet paper, so Harry continued to work while she did that; and James stayed up even later with his ongoing video gaming.

That made the shopping trip on Thursday morning tougher for Ginny and James, but the back-to-school supply shopping needed to be done; and James and Al both needed some new clothes after growing an inch or two since their last clothes shopping trip in August. Rose went with them for part of the day, but then her Granger grandparents met up with them and took her for the rest of the day and a sleepover with them. While James had gotten the day off to a grumpy start, his mood had temporarily improved while they went to his favorite stores; and then went downhill steadily after that as Ginny tried to get new outfits for him and he did not want to be bothered with the chore. Al's own far-too-helpful attitude toward his own clothes shopping had just annoyed James even more; so he was on his way toward a fairly foul mood by the time Ginny pretty much gave up and they went home.

Taking the mood level down even further at dinnertime hadn't been Harry's plan when he brought up the subject of choosing alternates for James' third year, but someone at work had mentioned it; and he soon found out that James had been avoiding that little issue with his parents on purpose – despite the fact that they needed to sign off on his choices. Unfortunately, the battle was almost instantly on when he declared that he was only going to take Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies for his optionals – and only because the first was cool and the second was an easy-O fluff class. Ginny had a problem with James' choices – or more specifically his flat-out refusal to even discuss adding Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, or Divination to his third-year schedule.

"You're far too smart not to take one or two of the more challenging optionals," Ginny told him in frustration as the argument escalated.

"I'm going to play Quidditch, Mum," James retorted dismissively. "I won't need Divination to know that I'll win a lot of games and championships; the scoreboard isn't written in Ancient Runes; and I'll be rich-enough to hire some brainiac like Al to do the Arithmancy for my millions of galleons."

"What will you do if that brilliant Quidditch career doesn't work out for you?" Ginny shot back. "In case you've never noticed; a lot of very good players go out with career-ending injuries. A decent education might mean the difference for you between a really great second career or an awful job that you'd hate."

"That's not going to happen to me," James assured her stubbornly – "and I won't be cutting my career short by quitting to have a family like you did before you could play long enough to get rich."

Ginny laughed. "You'd have never been more than a good idea if I'd followed that advice," she pointed out; "and your father and I don't believe that money is even close to being one of the most important things in life. As for your optionals; I want you to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes too. Go with all four; or don't take Muggle Studies."

"No," James declared defiantly. "I won't do it."

"Then your father and I won't sign off on your picks," Ginny shot back. "Would you like to try again with this negotiation?"

James pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'm only going to take Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. Feel free to add any classes you want, but I won't show up for the classes; won't study the subjects; and won't write the tests. You can't make me do any of that; so good luck if you give it a try." With that, he stormed out; ran up to his room; and slammed the door once he was inside.

"I wonder if he'd reconsider after a month or so of dealing with non-stop bat-bogeys," Ginny mused after blowing out a long breath of frustration.

"Unfortunately, I doubt it," Harry told her seriously. "A big bribe might work; but then he'd likely still not try very hard and flunk out of those classes."

"Will I get into a lot of trouble if I tell you that I agree with James?" Lily asked; and smiled winsomely-enough to make her parents laugh when they turned their attention toward her.

"No, and I'm willing to listen to the why behind that too," Ginny assured her.

"First of all, Dad's done pretty well with the Aurors; and he didn't even take his NEWT year – or even do very well in some of his classes. Yes, we know he had other problems, and did do three years of Auror training; but he would've done well at a lot of other jobs too – including Quidditch."

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Ginny conceded; "but we'll never know what your father could have done at school if he hadn't spent a lot of every year fighting bad guys."

"Aunt Hermione fought those bad guys with him," Lily pointed out easily; "and she was still the top student in her year. All I'm saying is that James is smart; but he's also more like Dad or Uncle George than you or Aunt Hermione – or Al, for that matter."

"Quit trying to make sense of this for James when I'm trying to be mad at him," Ginny told her daughter. "You're not just trying to set things up for when it's your turn for this, are you?"

Lily laughed. "Definitely, but if it'll make you feel better; I'm willing to pre-negotiate Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures for my optionals. Unlike James, I get why Arithmancy will be good for my Quidditch career; and I'll need Care of Magical Creatures for my back-up job on Uncle Charlie's dragon reserve."

"Now you're scaring your parents," Harry told her with a smile.

"You haven't offered your opinion yet," Ginny observed; and Harry turned his smile toward her.

"That's because I have no idea what to say or do about this one," he admitted candidly. "You're right, but I think that Lily is too. James is being a git about the whole thing, and I'm not at all happy about that; but we can't decide this based on his lousy attitude. Maybe we should get an expert opinion or two and then decide."

Ginny laughed. "Should I go with the expert that had to deal with this sort of thing times two with my twin brothers; or Fleur and find out how she managed to get all of her kids to do what she wanted of them?"

"Go with both," Harry suggested; "but I'll guess that Fleur would have had the same problem if James was hers instead of ours."

"Is that an option?" Lily asked hopefully. "Al and I would be willing to trade Louis for James for the next few years if he's going to be like this for all of his teen years."

"I'll ask Fleur about that for you when we talk later; but I seriously doubt she'll take that trade."

"Ask her before you tell her why you're calling," Lily suggested impishly; earning more laughs. She smiled at Al next. "Don't you want to offer an opinion on this?"

"I get into enough trouble with James without adding to it when I can just stay out of it – and let's wait to do my optional picks until I have to do that; or he'll just get mad at me about that too."

"Great," Ginny said with a sigh and smile for Al. "Now I'll just have to wonder for the next year whether you want to try and get away with no optionals at all or something else that I won't like any better."

Lily laughed and shook her head. "That's silly, Mum. You'll be more likely to need to worry about Al taking on too many optionals – and then using a time turner to make time for snogging Gwendolyn when he's too busy with all of the studying."

"I wonder if Hermione ever used hers for that?" Harry asked; and laughed at Al's reaction.

"There are some things that nieces and nephews do not need to know about their aunts, Dad. Quit scaring the kids."

Those last comments sent the rest of the dinner conversation off on a different track, and while James stayed in his room and simmered; the rest of his family actually enjoyed the rest of their meal. Harry cleaned up with help from Al and Lily while Ginny went off to have a couple of mirror chats with her mother and Fleur; and then she and Harry went upstairs to have a long talk with James while Al and Lily watched the mirror network in the sitting room. James did eventually join his brother and sister in the sitting room, and looked very smug; but his subsequent, fairly quiet bragging over his 'victory' along with some fairly obvious gaps in the information he was willing to relay about his chat with their parents stronly suggested that it hadn't all gone as perfectly as he implied. That deduction seemed to prove out when James' mood swing only lasted for about a half-hour before heading downhill again – and dropped off into obnoxious again when Al made the mistake of winning the video game they'd started to play. That always annoyed James, so Al usually tried to keep the games close and then lose them; but he had forgotten to keep an eye on the score; and that put an end to his gaming for the night.

Instead of getting into it with James; Al opted to just go up to bed; he did some textbook reading to get even further ahead on his classes; and then wrapped up his night with a long mirror chat with Gwendolyn that included trading recaps for their respective adventures for the day. While that had helped to make for a good end to his day; Friday didn't start out nearly as well because James was forced to get up early and ready for their Quidditch practice; and that had him in a foul mood – or it had just carried over from Thursday. He complained about the food; hated that it was raining and cool out; and blasted his parents for spoiling his already awful breakfast with their goodbye hug and kisses. Fortunately for Al and Gwendolyn, he wasn't around for their welcoming hug and kiss; but he more than made up for that with the ongoing razzing that he and Ollie heaped on them before and during the practice.

Life did not get better for James during their scrimmage game. He came up with a lot of excuses to explain away the Seeker duel results with Lily and Jonah; but both of the younger kids won their duels against him. Lily and Jonah each caught the snitch twice; James only caught it once against Jonah; and those points helped Lily and Jonah's team to win the scrimmage. Ollie hadn't fared any better, and if anything, the extra training that Gwendolyn and Ray had done with the senior team helped them out with their play against Ollie, Rose, and Al. Louis did have a better match against his own team Chasers, so that made a difference too; but Al still won the top Chaser spot for the game with a plus-four goals scored over goals given up; and had scored seven goals against Louis. That had only been one better than Gwendolyn's plus-three and six goals scored; but then she'd had more assists on goals that Melissa and Kathryn continued to score from behind the plays when Ollie continued to leave them far back on his own offensive attempts. That was also why he had the worst Chaser rating on the day – and why he was as angry as James was by the time Louis had finished giving everyone the good or bad news from his own game recap.

"I think they took that pretty well," Lily teased after James and Ollie had stormed off into the house without taking the time to get their gear off, dried, and put away into their bags. "Let's get an overage Wizard or Witch to use water spells over the pitch for all of our practice games this summer. The rain really helps my game against James."

"The rain wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't been in such a bad mood," Louis told her – "or at least I sure hope it wasn't. We'll be in trouble against Ravenclaw if he really does have a problem finding and catching the snitch in the rain and we have lousy weather for that match."

"Too bad Mr. Peakes likely wouldn't let us get away with using a water spell and finding out," Gwendolyn joked. "I've seen Pauline practice in the rain; and it definitely doesn't slow her down very much."

"Just snog Al in fromt of James right before your game," Jonah suggested – "or do anything else to gethim mad."

"Quit offering that kind of help from the peanut gallery," Louis told him; but laughed along with everyone else anyway. "That is one bit of information that I'm hoping that Gwendolyn won't try to use against us that she's learned today."

"I wouldn't do anything like that," Gwendolyn assured him seriously. "If we win; it'll be because we deserve to; not from any kind of cheating at all. Ravenclaws leave that sort of thing for Slytherins."

"So do we; and I appreciate that a lot." Louis grinned as he turned his attention to Al. "Now if only I could get my cousin to stop getting James and Ollie riled up; we'll have that game half-won."

"Good luck with that – unless you can trade him to Ravenclaw for the rest of the year," Lily joked.

"Are you going to be a team manager instead of a player?" Louis countered. "Mum told us about your offer to trade James for me during the rest of his teen years yesterday."

"Was she open to the idea? I'll bet that Gwendolyn would be okay with having Al in Ravenclaw."

"Definitely," Gwendolyn agreed enthusiastically at the same time that Louis answered – "no, she wasn't; but after this morning I do get why you'd ask. I did think that you loved Victoire and Dominique more than that; but I am glad that you at least chose me instead of my sisters for that swap offer."

"That wouldn't be fair to Dominique now that I think about it, but Victoire won't likely be at home much longer anyway; and I'd have had the added entertainment of watching James deal with his issues over Victoire and Teddy."

"That's mildly devious," Louis decided with a laugh. "James should just get over that anyway. Teddy's well and truly caught now; so they'll be together forever whether he approves or not."

"That's really not at all fascinating, and in case you've stopped noticing; it's still raining out," Brock McClaggen told them. "Let's wrap this up ang get inside. Hopefully Lily's Mum will have hot drinks and snacks for us so that we can warm up before heading home."

They all followed his lead; there were snacks and drinks waiting for them; and while the rest of their team moved into the sittin groom; Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn went upstairs to get into dry clothes and then moved into the dining room and set up for their final holiday study session. Bristol had come over while they were still outside, and stayed with Ginny until they were ready to study; but Cora had other family and friends plans and couldn't be there too. While they didn't have a lot of work left, getting it done proved tougher thanks to the kid and teen traffic in the house; and the distractions that came along with cameo visits from their cousins on the way to and from Quidditch practice or when they headed home shortly before lunchtime. The work did still get done by a bit after noon, though, and by then; Ginny only had Rose, Hugo, Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Bristol left to feed along with James, Al, and Lily.

James wasn't in a better mood by then; groused about the food, company, and lack of interesting conversation; and then he eventually gave up and left the room with his food half-eaten. Bristol, Rose, and Hugo went home after lunch – or to the Burrow for Rose and Hugo so that Rose could spend some time with Molly before heading back to school on Sunday. Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed for the afternoon, and while that added more irritation to James' day; he was seriously fed up when he found out that the McCormacks were going to be over for dinner and the evening – and that Gwendolyn and Jonah were staying for the night – and until they all went to the Harpies' game on Saturday.

"Why couldn't you have told me this yesterday?" James demanded of Ginny after hearing the news. "I could've gotten an invite to spend the rest of the weekend at Ollie's."

"His Dad has a game tomorrow too; they don't need an extra kid there to make that harder for him; and your father and I want to spend time with you this weekend before you head back to Hogwarts."

"You mean that you want to spend time with Al, his girlfriend, and her family," James countered derisively. "If you really do want to hang out with me; I'll be available for that all night – in my room."

"We've always had fun with the McCormacks – and so did you before getting so upset about Al and Gwendolyn," Ginny observed. "Why does that have to change for you? Nothing's changed for Gwenog, Kirley, or Jonah at all."

"Except that I'm figuring out just how unimportant I am around here compared to Al and Lily," James retorted. "Don't worry – I'll try not to mess up your plans for tonight. Merlin forbid that I try to have any fun around here when everyone else would rather sit arond and be bored senseless."

With that, he left the kitchen and went up to his room as noisily as possible. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been there for the argument; but they did hurry into the kitchen from the sitting room once James was upstairs. Al went over and hugged his mother; and she smiled ruefully at him.

"Another day; another teen crisis. Your father and I had best come up with a better plan by the time you're home again in June or it's going to be a very long, unpleasant summer."

"You could sign up to work all of the Quidditch World Cup matches," Al suggested. "That'd have you out of the house for a bit more than half the summer."

"Tempting, but then who would take care of you, James, and Lily?"

"We could take turns going along with you; and we could work out the babysitting and maybe some kid exchanges."

"Then I guess our original plan to have Gwendolyn and Jonah stay here with us while Gwenog's away if she's one of the National team managers doesn't work for you?"

Al and Gwendolyn both laughed. "You just made that up, and we'd definitely love that; but it also wouldn't make things better for us with James," Al answered. "I wish that I did have some suggestions, Mum; but I really don't. he really is temporarily losing it if he thinks that you and Dad should blow off twenty-year friendships and start hanging out with the parents of his friends instead." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "It might be fun to invite the McClaggens over sometime; though I'm not sure whether that would be more fun with a gang of Harpies here or Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione."

"We like Cora and her brothers just fine, Al, and while we're not exactly Cormac's favorite family; we knew their Mum at Hogwarts too and got along with Mandy just fine." She laughed then. "Just don't expect your father to invite Cormac to play Quidditch with him. That didn't work out so well for him the last time they did that – not that Harry remembers getting his head bashed in by that bludger."

Ginny had gotten back to work on making dinner, so Al offered to help out while they talked; and Gwendolyn joined in too. Harry came home from work a bit early; took over in the kitchen so that Ginny could have some time to freshen up and get changed before Kirley and Gwenog arrived. There was time for a bit of socializing once everyone was there; though James didn't join them until shortly before they sat down for dinner. He was not happy to be there, but his choice of method for rebellion was aimed squarely at irritating Al. That was because he proceeded to act as if he was his younger brother – if Al was a sickly-sweet total suck-up. It wasn't funny to begin with; and he went on to take the idiocy beyond the patience of pretty much everyone in the house before he eventually went back up to his room after polishing off three desserts.

"You didn't tell us that you had a dinner-theatre planned for us tonight," Gwenog told Ginny as the four adults got up and began clearing the table. "James seemed to be amused enough for all of us, but I'd have a very different opinion of Gwendolyn's new boyfriend if he actually was like that."

"No doubt," Ginny agreed; "but that would have been a perfect imitation if he'd only been trying to act like half of the sycophants that Minister Shacklebolt has to put up with all of the time. We're really hoping that this will be a very short phase for James that he'll be done with by the time the kids are back home again for the summer."

"I shouldn't comment on James at all," Kirley told them with a smile. "Mum would likely tell you that he's a joy compared to me when my friends and I wanted to start a band and be famous musicians. We drove her mental trying to make that happen – and from being the rebels we thought we needed to be for the job."

"Don't grin like that, Jonah," Gwenog warned. "Your grandmother was too nice to turn your Dad into a woodlouse. I'm not."

"You'll turn Uncle Kirley into a woodlouse if Jonah tries acting out?" Lily asked innocently. "That doesn't seem fair at all."

"That's funny, sweetheart; but do you really want to mess with your future boss?" Ginny asked; and Lily laughed.

"Shall we talk about a certain Christmas gift you sent your boss?" she countered. "I'm just practicing to be just like you when I grow up."

"You'd better warn your future team Captains about that if you do hire her some day," Ginny suggested to Gwenog.

"Especially if that's Gwendolyn at the time," Harry offered. "Al might have a problem with his sister sending single Wizards to spend Christmas Eve with his wife."

"Do you know something the rest of us don't?" Kirley asked him; and Harry laughed.

"Well, yes, but not related to this; and don't worry – I was dreadful in Divination at Hogwarts."

That comment led their chat off in a new direction, and while Harry and Ginny would have preferred that James join them; he only made one appearance for a snack break and to rather pompously wish Gwenog and Kirley a wonderful kid-free night; and then he returned to his room again until everyone else headed for bed and he could have the sittin groom and gaming systems to himself. Once they were all ready for bed, Lily and Gwendolyn joined Al and Jonah in Al's room for a long kid chat. Lily and Jonah made excuses that gave Al and Gwendolyn a few minutes alone to say goodnight to each other; and then they all got some sleep so that they'd be ready for the busy final full day of holidays that Al and Gwendolyn would have before heading back to school on Sunday.

With Gwendolyn there in the morning, Saturday started out great for Al, and Harry, Ginny, and Jonah were all happy campers too; but James' mood had not improved overnight; and he growled and complained about everything – whether that was sharing bathroom time or the under-done or over-cooked food that apparently was only messed up for him. The day improved a bit with their trip into Muggle London for the morning; and that was especially fun to do with Gwendolyn and Jonah thanks to their limited experience around Muggles. They played at a park; wandered through some quirky little shops; and eventually made their way to the Leaky in time to have lunch with most of the group they were going to the Harpies' game with – including Kirley; Ron, Hermione, and the kids; and Bill, Fleur, and their gang.

When he saw that Teddy was with Victoire again instead of them; James turned grouchy again; but kept most of his grumbling under his breath – or took his annoyances out on Al and Gwendolyn whenever he got a chance to do that. Fortunately, he didn't get many chances to do that at the Leaky, and after a few mini run-ins with him; Al and Gwendolyn just made sure that they weren't around him before and during the Harpies' game. The Arrows were the competition for their second match of the holidays, and with the regular season winding down; every game was important to the teams still in the running for a spot in the playoffs. The Arrows were one of those teams, and they played hard too; but the Harpies put together a solid team effort to go along with Gabrielle's fairly brilliant snitch catch that ended the game and gave her team a three hundred to eighty, well-deserved victory.

With all of the students heading back to school on Sunday, the goodbyes after the game took a while; and then it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to split up until they'd meet up again on the Hogwarts Express. While she went home with her father and brother, Harry and Ginny took their kids over to the Burrow to have dinner with Arthur and Molly. The game had been fairly short, so they still had a bit of time to play before dinner; and Arthur was happy to keep James entertained by flying one of his helicopters with the kids until they were called in to eat. That couple of hours with their grandparents had gone well for all of them; and then it was time to head home and have a quiet evening there with just the five of them.

Thanks to their mercurial eldest son, that quiet evening plan lasted right up until he was asked about his holiday revision and how much time he expected to need to get packed again for the trip back to Hogwarts. Harry's question had James taking a dive off the deep end into a big pool of beligerence; he stomped off to his room; and was then supposedly too busy to have time for anything else for the rest of the night. While that hadn't impressed his parents; it was mostly quiet in the rest of the house after that. They watched a couple of shows on the mirror network; Al went up to his room and packed his own bags while Lily kept him entertained; and then they had a bedtime snack before calling it a night once they'd all decided that they'd had enough fun for the day.

Al wrapped up his Easter holiday with one last mirror chat with Gwendolyn. The rest of her day had been a lot like his – some time with her grandparents; and then a quiet evening at home with her parents and brother. The lack of teen drama had been a nice bonus for her; but then Al was hopeful that would get better for him once they were back at school and James could avoid him most of the time if he chose to do that. There was no way for him to predict how that would work out for him; but then there were lots of reasons to be happy about getting back to school again.

Having just eight weeks to go until their exams wasn't one of those reasons, but the final four Quidditch games were a big deal – especially the two games between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The arrival of Spring was going to mean more outdoor fun; there were several birthdays coming up that were very important to Al – including Gwendolyn's and hisown; and there was a fairly significant anniversary approaching – the twentieth anniversary of the final Battle at Hogwarts that ended the war against Voldemort and his minions. All of that along with their regular classes, studying, and Quidditch practices were going to add up to a very busy, exciting couple of months, and as he fell asleep on Saturday night; Al was really looking forward to everything – and was brilliantly happy that he was going to be able to share all of those adventures with Gwendolyn!


	8. Time to Play in April and May

**Chapter Eight – Time to play in April and May**

"I'm free!" Al joked; intentionally mimicking his brother from back on September first as he stepped into the compartment where Gwendolyn, Rose, and their travel mates for the day had all been sitting and waiting for him to join them. Gwendolyn and Rose had both gotten up to welcome him; and they laughed.

"We were worried that you'd miss the train," Gwendolyn said as she hugged him. The kiss that followed was short and sweet; and then she gave Rose a chance to hug Al too before taking his hand and leading him to their seats.

"For all I know, James was hoping for that just to annoy Mum and Dad even more than he already has today. By now, I'm sure he's telling Ollie and the rest of their mates just how horrid his holidays have been, but if he keeps acting as miserably as he has all morning; they'll want to pitch him off the train before we're a quarter-way to Hogsmeade."

"And you'd be happy to help them," Rose added with a grin. "Do you expect to be watching your back from now until June?"

Al shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. I do know that I've had enough of James for a while; so let's talk about anything else." He turned his attention to the other three kids with them. "Are we having some kind of a cross-House Quidditch brainstorming session on our trip today?" He was a bit surprised to see that Tory Summers and Madison Whitby were there with Ray; but the two Hufflepuff Witches did work with their study group fairly regularly; and they had Harpies' or United Quidditch connections too.

"Tory and I might have been thinking about Quidditch when we joined Gwendolyn here," Madison admitted easily. "three of you have played against Slytherin; and we'd be happy to get any advice you have to help out with our game against them next weekend."

"I'm glad that we have the extra time to get ready for our game," Gwendolyn told them. "Louis likely wouldn't have let me practice with the Gryffindor team while we were on holidays; and that would have messed up a lot of the fun that Al and I had last week."

"Didn't you have team practices too?" Tory asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"No, but that was because four out of seven of us were going away from home for the holidays. We do have the extra time to get ready for our game, though; so we'll just work a bit harder between now and then to make up for it."

Tory laughed. "As if Louis won't have his team working hard too – especially after losing their match against us."

"Are you trying to get us to forget about getting your answers about things we could do to be ready for Slytherin?" Madison asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Start with wearing extra padding and watch out for the cheap shots," Gwendolyn suggested. "If the weather's decent, they'll need to be more careful about cheating; but a few of them are sure to try anything to win – especially if you have the lead." She thought about that for a moment before continuing. "You have to worry about that most with their Beaters and Blaise Zabini; but Avery can't do much in goal unless you get too close to him. I don't know if it's surprising or not, but Malfoy played a clean game – unless he did a few things that I didn't see during either of their first two matches."

"We're worried about them cheating," Tory said with a grim nod – "especially if they try some of the things their senior team did against Ravenclaw back in January."

"The bad weather let them get away with too many of those shots," Rose offered. "It'll be tough to do that against Hufflepuff when they play them in May."

"Not to mention potentially really stupid," Al added with a smile. "Would any of those Slytherins really think that it's a good idea to beat up on the daughters of one of our former-Auror Professors?"

He earned a round of laughs for that; and Madison jumped in for the first response. "I never even think about that with Professor Longbottom. Maybe that's because he's so different from Professor Proudfoot."

"At least you can still picture ProfessorLongbottom as and Auror," Tory said with a nod of agreement. "I can't see that with Professor Dawlish."

Al sat back then and enjoyed the chat time that continued around him – though it was holding hands with Gwendolyn and being close to her that he loved the most. The girls carried most of the conversation during the entire trip, though they all went for walks and visits with other friends; and had cousins and friends stop in to visit with them too. While Tory and Madison eventually spent more than a half-hour learning everything they could about the Slytherin team and players from Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn; the girls also talked shopping and fashion, caught up on the latest gossip and teen drama stories; and even added in a very small dash of talk about their holiday revision. By the time they arrived at Hogsmeade Station; they were all ready to just be done with the traveling and get back to the school, but the firstie wait for carriage rides added nearly another hour to their trip time before they were dropped off in front of the school and could hurry into the Great Hall. The one good part of that for Al was that he got to spend that time with Gwendolyn, and since they were among the last firsties to catch a ride to the school; they also didn't have to wait very long at their tables before Professor McGonagall welcomed them back and the tables filled with food.

Other than spending a few minutes together after dinner so that they could say goodnight to each other, Al didn't see Gwendolyn again until Monday morning; but he did keep busy with his Gryffindor friends as they exchanged holiday stories and he and Rose both helped a few of their classmates with some last-minute holiday revision issues. There were a surprisingly large number of students working furiously on the revisions that were due in the morning, and since James and Ollie were part of that group; Al was also able to enjoy the evening without having any problems from his brother. He eventually wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily; heard all about her much more exciting day as a single child again; and then turned in early so that he'd be ready for their first day of classes that would begin the big push through to their final exams.

During their entire first week back at Hogwarts; Al's days were almost entirely filled with really great moments. He and Rose did so well with their revision, the quizzes, and answering questions from their Professors that they earned nearly one hundred points between the two of them just in the first two days thanks to easily being the best-prepared students in their classes. Even Professor Dawlish awarded them fifteen points and didn't even seem to be annoyed by the need to do that. Every minute that Al could spend with Gwendolyn was good – especially when their respective Quidditch practices got in the way of the number of opportunities they had to do that. While James and Ollie did their best to make Quidditch practices miserable for Al and Rose, those efforts didn't keep the two younger cousins from really doing well in their practices; and they were the top two players for every scrimmage – according to Louis.

James, on the other hand, was not having a good week at all. Al, Rose, and their friends only heard bits and pieces about James' problems, and it was the girls in their group getting most of that news; but it was obvious-enough that both James and Ollie were having issues with their Professors over shoddy revisions and because they did poorly on the same round of quizzes that most of the students at the school were dealing with. James continued to win all of his Seeker duels in their practices, but his attitude while doing that was so ppor that he was almost always at odds with Louis; and was even managing to become fairly unpopular with the reserve team players. His problems did at least have the advantage for Al that James was too busy to bother him outside of their Quidditch practices; so that too worked out well for Al, Rose, and their friends.

The school gossip network was full of holiday news and teen drama for the first couple of days of the week; but Quidditch took over beginning on Monday evening as news of the Quidditch World Cup team selections began to spread both around the Wizarding World and at Hogwarts too. For Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and Ray; the top stories were about the members of the Harpies and United teams that were invited to play on several different National teams – along with some other friends of their parents or family members.

Puddlemere United ended up with the most players picked for England's National team. Oliver Wood was the easy choice for their Keeper; Dawn and Jonathan earned two of the Chaser spots; and Laura was selected to be one of the reserve squad Chasers. The Harpies' Beaters were both picked for the team; and Angelina and Alicia were invited to be the other two reserve Chasers with Laura. The best news for Gwendolyn was that her mother was picked to be team manager despite being an Assistant Manager for the Harpies. Aaron Lynch from the Wasps was chosen to be the team Seeker again, along with his team's top Chaser, Jeremy Campbell. With Dawn, Jonathan, Jeremy, and Aaron all named to the team; Bryce and Christine took home the title for parents with the most kids on the National team – including both of their daughters' husbands.

While their own National team was very important to them, Al and Rose were happy for Gabrielle when they heard that she was going to be both the Seeker and team Captain for France; and Gwendolyn was thrilled that her Aunt Meghan was going to get yet another chance to play Keeper for her beloved Scotland. There were other big stories for all of the National teams around the world, and some of that news got some attention at Hogwarts, but for Al; the only other stories he paid any real attention to was that Erin Connely was again going to be Ireland's Seeker; and Viktor Krum would lead Bulgaria again too. Since Erin had been one of Ginny's top rivals, he knew that his mother would keep track of her World Cup run; and Viktor had been both a rival and friend to his family; and he'd surely get some attention again this summer – especially if Bulgaria played against either England or France.

The Quidditch World Cup news remained a top story for a day or so; and then it was school Quidditch and the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match coming up on Saturday that had the attention of most Quidditch fans at the school. While the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw members of Al's study group heard a bit about how the practices were going for their Hufflepuff study mates; the only thing they heard from the Slytherin team was the usual bragging. Since they'd lost their first two matches, their claims sounded silly to most of the students in the other Houses; but then they'd have only truly been surprised if the Slytherins had kept silent all week – the way that the more sportsman-like Hufflepuff players did.

All of the classwork, Quidditch, and studying during the week had Al ready to take a break and watch that match with Gwendolyn. They'd studied on Friday night to make up for the study session they wouldn't have time for because of the game; but then they'd both gone to bed early so that they'd be ready for a long, busy Saturday. Al was up early Saturday morning; got ready for the day; and then waited for Rose before going to the Great Hall for breakfast. Quidditch was the only chat topic while they ate; and then Al met up with Gwendolyn and they went for a walk outside before eventually meeting up with the rest of their friends at the stadium about twenty minutes before the game was to start. Teddy was already there with Victoire, so they talked with him for a couple of minutes before going to sit down; but then they had just seen him several times over the holidays; so that hadn't been as big of a deal as it had been for the games in March. They were all settled into their seats and ready to go when Teresa Thomas began her pre-game warm-up.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Quidditch fans!" she declared enthusiastically. "I hope that everyone had an excellent Easter break; and that our two teams today are ready to play so soon after all of that holiday fun and adventure!" Teresa paused to wait for the cheers to subside; and then continued. "We'll have decent weather for the game, so I'm sure we'll all enjoy that, though after our winter games; I'll guess that the players will be the happiest Witches and Wizards in the stadium now that they won't freeze or get snowed on while they play."

"Some of us will miss the cuddling under blankets too," Rose leaned in and said quietly to Al and Gwendolyn; earning laughs before they all continued to watch and listen to their game announcer.

"Before I bring out our teams today; let's take a quick look at the Quidditch Cup standings," she suggested. "In first place, we have Gryffindor with three wins to just one loss. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each have two wins; and Hufflepuff will need this win to try and catch up to Gryffindor before the end of the season – and gain at least a temporary advantage over Ravenclaw. Finally, Slytherin only has one win so far this season, but a win today could put them back into the running for the cup despite the odds for the right combination of wins and losses with the other teams being stacked against them."

"More like impossible," Ray said with a snort. "If we win out, Gryffindor has five wins; if Ravenclaw does, they have four; and if we split our matches and Slytherin does win both of their games; we still win the cup."

"The Slytherin players would be happy if they helped to knock us out of top spot," Al offered; and smiled when Gwendolyn laughed.

"Go, Slytherin!" she only half-joked.

"Now, for our junior teams playing today, Slytherin is looking to end their season on a high note with their first win of the year, and as I've already said; Hufflepuff needs this win to keep their hopes alive for the Quidditch Cup; and they would also like to have a two-win season after starting out the year with a tough loss to Ravenclaw." Teresa smiled as she took a short break to breathe. "Finally, I can assure you that I have no skills in Divination to help you out with any hints on which team will win, I do hope that we'll all be in for an excellent, fun match; so let's invite our teams out here and get the game started! First up – Hufflepuff!"

Myra Graves led her team out into the stadium on cue; and Teresa introduced each player. For their last game with the junior team, Myra only had Roman Smith lead off with her; she had Tory, Madison, and Jonah Finch-Fletchley follow them; and their Beaters, Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes brought up the rear. The Slytherin team were led out by their Captain and Beaters; with Rupert Avery looking very confident with his two enforcers, Monty Crabbe and Don Rosier, flanking him on each side and doing their best to look intimidating. They were followed by second-year players, 'G-Air' Mulciber and Blaise Zabini; leaving firsties Scorpius and Davis Zabini to follow in their wake. Once both teams had landed at center pitch, it didn't take long for Mr. Peakes to do his pre-game fair play speech; and then the game was on as the two teams took off and Hufflepuff ended up with the quaffle and the first offensive opportunity.

"Hufflepuff looks good so far," Gwendolyn told Al when the game had been going for about ten minutes. Tory had opened the scoring with a great goal against Avery that had also made Blaise Zabini look a bit silly; and Slytherin hadn't managed a decent shot on Myra to that point.

"They do," he agreed with a nod; and they were both smiling when Tory feigned the same play she'd scored on and then made a quick pass to Roman Smith so that he could get what ended up being an easy goal. "Madison's in for a tough match against G-Air; but their game plan is likely to try and get more than one-fifty ahead and then count on Myra to keep them there until the snitch gets caught by one of them."

"That was our plan against them," Gwendolyn said as the action above the pitch moved toward the Hufflepuff goals. "Pauline's a better Seeker than Madison, though; so she'll need to play her very best to hold Mulciber off until then."

Unfortunately for their friends and the Hufflepuff faithful; it wasn't long before that probable game plan went off the rails for Hufflepuff. They'd scored four goals to just one for Slytherin when Don Rosier fouled Myra with a vicious hit from behind that left her with a rather serious injury to her ribs. Mr. Peakes had called the foul, and Tory had scored a goal on that penalty; but the damage had already been done and the tide turned to Slytherin's favor. Myra was no longer able to play near her best; she took three bludger hits that added more injuries to her ribs, an arm, and her right hip; and then the Slytherin Beaters went to work on softening up Tory and Madison both with fouls and bludger hits that left them nearly as incapacitated as Myra was by then. To add insult to the injuries, G-Air stopped trying to catch the snitch at all; and their Chasers began piling up the points as they took full advantage of the incredibly brave, but ineffective play that Myra and Tory were able to manage by the second hour of the match.

"What on earth do they think they're doing?" Rose asked in disgust as the third hour of the game began. "They're more than one-fifty ahead; Madison's barely able to stay on her broom; and running up the score is pointless for the Quidditch Cup race since that'll make no difference regardless of whether Gryffidnor or Ravenclaw wins."

"I think this is all about really hurting the girls – and getting revenge for how poorly Slytherin's done against Hufflepuff for quite a while now."

"At least since Teddy started playing for Hufflepuff," Rose agreed; "but none of those guys played against him; and it's just wrong to make Myra, Tory, and Madison keep playing when the game could've been over an hour ago." She looked around the stadium and nodded to herself. "Nobody's having fun with this anymore. Maybe if we all left; Avery and his thugs would get the hint."

"That's actually a brilliant suggestion," Gwendolyn told her approvingly; and she emphasised that by standing up and tugging on Al's hand. "Spread the word on your way out; and let's meet outside the school doors so we can watch and find out if your plan works!"

Bristol, Ray, and a few other friends had overheard them and got up when Rose did; and they all began to quietly talk with other friends and cousins as they split up and made their way to the nearest exits. Their departure had at first barely been noticed by anyone, but word had been spreading by the time that they reached the school and found a nice place to sit and watch the action that followed even as they could still catch glimpses of the match in progress from above the top of the stadium walls. It took about twenty minutes for the trickle of students to grow into a minor exodus; but then more than half of the stadium cleared out as all of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students apparently decided that they agreed with Rose and made their opinion obvious by their departures. They didn't see a single Slytherin leave, but the Hufflepuff students and visiting fans had a tougher decision over whether to stay and support their players or try to help them out by leaving the stadium too. By the time the largest swarm of students had left and moved on to either go into the castle or spread out around the grounds between the stadium and castle; Al guessed that about half of the Hufflepuff students had chosen to leave.

"They're still playing on," Gwendolyn said as another cheer went up from the Slytherin section to indicate that another goal had been scored – probably by Scorpius Malfoy; since he'd been scoring close to half of their goals since Myra's first rib injury.

"It's not as though we don't know that kind of thing can happen, and there's nothing Mr. Peakes or the Professors can do about it; but I am wondering what Slytherin is trying to get out of doing this – except to make everyone in the other Houses mad at them."

"The only guess I have for that would be if they're trying to get their net points on the season above zero," Al suggested. "To me, that means nothing when you only have one win, but if it isn't that; then they're just trying to pad their personal stats – goals scored or save percentage."

"Either way, they're a bunch of hippogriff-sized gits," Bristol declared. "Myra, Tory, and Madison are likely going to end up in the hospital wing whenever the match does end. Is anyone interested in making donations if I put together treat baskets for them?"

That question soon had most of her friends offering to donate some of their stashes of chocolates and sweets – and one offer to send a box of wheezes gone bad to the Slytherin players. While they were proud of the statement they'd initiated, it was disappointing to have the Slytherin players and students decide that they collectively didn't care about the well-being of their fellow students or good sportsmanship; and hard to sit by and know that some of their friends were taking the brunt of those decisions. The fourth hour had just started when everyone outside o the stadium heard the loudest cheer that had been shouted out in a while; and then the referee whistle confirmed that the snitch had finally been caught and the game was over. They hadn't been able to overhear the play-by-play for most of the hour since they'd left the stadium because Teresa had toned it down as she didn't need to shout to be heard about the crowd noise anymore, and while the students sitting closest to the stadium likely could still hear everything; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends were okay with waiting to hear the details of the bad news from the gossip network whenever they ended up having lunch in the Great Hall.

"Should we head inside now?" Romeo asked uncertainly; and smiled at Al. "The way you look right now; maybe we should keep you far away from any Slytherins when they start heading for the castle."

"He just looks the way most of us feel right now," Cora advised him. "If my brothers ever did anything like those Slytherin Beaters did to our friends; Mum would probably ban them from Quidditch for life – after turning them into the weasels they'd be for being such rotters."

"We should've invited her to the game then," Romeo teased; earning the expected laughs; and then he laughed too. "I've heard that the older Avery brother is pretty good at that Transfiguration; but it's probably too much to ask him to help us out for that with his brother again – or their Beater buddies."

The dark humor continued to be tossed around for a while as some of their group stayed and waited while others headed into the castle. When Myra, Tory, and Madison were all helped out of the stadium by one or two of their Hufflepuff friends much sooner than expected; their mood became somber as it was soon obvious that the three Witches weren't even well-enough to get changed and grab showers before going to see Madam Pomfrey. Gwendolyn was elected to be their group spokesperson instead of having all of them bother their friends, and she went to intercept them when they got close enough; but that was also after a subdued, respectful round of applause was taken up by all of the students that were still outside in support of the girls' bravery and determination. Gwendolyn eventually spent less than thirty seconds with her Hufflepuff friends, and when she rejoined Al; he had a long hug for her before she gave them the initial, first-hand report.

"Myra's hurt the worst – though I'm only surprised that she can still walk at all with that hit she took to her hip. Madison thinks she has a broken arm and at least a sprained wrist; and Tory only told me that it hurts everywhere." She shook her head angrily. "Final score was seven-fifty to one-twenty."

"That puts Slytherin at plus ten – for the junior team," Al said; smiling as Rose chimed in in time to say "ten" too.

"An achievement that they can be so proud of after cheating and beating up a few Witches to earn," Ray retorted; sounding as disgusted as they all felt. "While I'm tempted to wait and boo them whenever they do show their faces from the locker room; let's just get out of here."

"They don't deserve that much attention anyway," Gwendolyn offered – "and we can always boo them if they show their faces in the Great Hall at all today."

Lunch in the Great Hall started about a half-hour after the end of the Quidditch match; and there was a lot going on around the room. While everyone wanted to get all of the details from the parts of the game they'd missed; a lot of students wanted to personally let the Slytherin students know exactly what they thought of the way they'd collectively acted during the game. Al didn't get involved in any of that, and was only a bit surprised to note that James and Ollie didn't either. He suspected that even though the two boys had left the stadium with the rest of their second-year friends; they quite likely didn't see anything wrong with how the Slytherin team had decided to play the match – and successfully pull off their plan.

There was a loud chorus of boos and jeers that greeted the seven Slytherin players when they finally made their grand entrance, but instead of shaming them in any way; the reception had the opposite effect. Rupert Avery even stood on the bench and took a grandiose bow. While there were some Slytherins that tried to stay out of it and at least looked embarassed; their team supporters were very vocal – and as unapologetic as the players all appeared to be. None of the Hufflepuff players came to lunch at all; and Al was sure that if the boys hadn't needed some treatment too that they'd still be at the hospital wing for their team mates. Other than joining in to jeer the Slytherins along with the rest of the students, the tweens and teens at the Hufflepuff table were very subdued and angry during lunch; and didn't stay any longer than needed to eat enough to hold them over until dinner before heading to their common room or elsewhere around the castle and grounds.

Al would have liked to meet up with Gwendolyn for the afternoon, but she had a bonus Quidditch practice with her team after the delayed lunch break; so he instead stopped in to grab his book bag and his donations for Bristol's get-well-soon gift baskets; and met up with Rose, Ray, and a few other friends to study for a couple of hours. They did that in their usual classroom; he wrapped up his afternoon by going for a pre-dinner walk with Gwendolyn after she was finished the work-out with her team; and then they followed up their dinner break with another study session that had been enough to allow Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray to finish the rest of their weekend assignments. He wrapped up his evening by walking Gwendolyn to her House entrance; a mirror chat with his parents and Lily that included the Quidditch game report; and an hour or so of reading for fun instead of study that eventually put him to sleep.

While Al was spending his evening studying, Scorpius Malfoy had left his happy team mates behind when he left the Great Hall after dinner; and headed for the Room of Requirements. As always, he was careful about making his way there to avoid any problems from James and Ollie, any of his fellow Slytherins, or even from being seen by anyone else. That always took a while; but he was still in a great mood when he could finally take Thomas' painting from his bag and talk with him about everything that had happened during one of his best-ever days at Hogwarts.

"I was already able to hear enough to know that you won the big match today," Thomas said as he watched Scorpius sit down. "Congratulations."

"We crushed them," Scorpius said enthusiastically. "Rosier and Nott put all three of those Hufflepuff Witches on their team in the hospital wing; and it was a blowout once they were too hurt to do much more than watch me score goals – all twenty-eight of them. That was nearly half of the sixty that Avery let us score before getting Mulciber to catch the snitch."

"Well done!" Thomas told him with a nod and smile. "Maybe your team will be a force next season."

"That might be possible if we get decent players to replace the third-year boys that won't be able to play on my team next year," Scorpius said without as much conviction and more seriously. "Getting the win is great, but as you've told me; winning at a game isn't very important; and I'm not sure that the averys' plans for these last two games is very smart. If you didn't pick up on it at dinner; Slytherin House has collectively gotten everyone else at Hogwarts mad at us for running it up on Hufflepuff when their injured players continued to play through to the end. There's more to the plan the Averys have to try and bring down the Gryffindor teams that I don't know about; but it could all be a very big mistake if it motivates all of the other Houses against us to an even greater degree than they already are."

"You could be quite right about that," Thomas concurred approvingly. "It is easy to be scornful of your soft-hearted fellow students; but anger over what they see as injustices can become a formiddable force. I am pleased to see that you understand that lesson."

"It is difficult to keep that in mind," Scorpius admitted. "While I understand that risk, I also cannot help but to be happy to know that I'll be the top scorer this season for the junior team players; and that wouldn't have happened without playing exactly as we did today. It may be petty and simply a personal honor, but James Potter can't beat me even if he catches the snitch in his last match; Albus missed a game and has no chance at all; and nobody else is any closer to my fifty-seven goals."

Thomas laughed. "That is petty, but knowing that is half the battle, my friend; and you will be fine as long as you don't let your pride control you. Is there anything else I should know from the game?"

"Only that our trouncing of Hufflepuff bothered so many students from the other Houses that nearly two-thirds of the spectators walked out in protest shortly after the start of the third hour. Only the Slytherins and about half of the Hufflepuffs stayed to the end. Someone in Gryffindor started it, and I've heard rumors that they were awarded fifty points for it."

"That is actually quite interesting," Thomas said thoughtfully. "The question is whether that's a sign of weakness in your enemies or a potential for strength?"

"Why do you say that?" Scorpius asked; looking truly interested now. "I thought that they were just too squeamish to handle watching a bunch of Witches finding out that they ought to leave Quidditch for Wizards."

"Some of my fiercest fighters were Witches," Thomas reminded him. "Do not ever underestimate them or it will surely lead to your undoing. As to my meaning, while the majority likely just became a herd; the initiator would have needed to have some nerve to take the lead and risk looking foolish if no-one followed."

Scorpius nodded. "I understand. If you'd like, I can try to find out who that was."

"That could be useful to know; and you'd do well to find out more about the rest of that plan you've mentioned the Averys are hatching. While bringing Gryffindor down a notch or three is a worthy goal, they could have other more personal reasons, or even if their plans succeed as well as this first part may have; that might not bode well for your own goals for the future."

"I'll try to learn more, Thomas; but they do not trust me; and only tolerate me on their Quidditch team because I'm the best they have."

"Do what you can," Thomas encouraged. "Tell me of everything else that's been going on since we spoke last; and then, if you have the time; we should celebrate your victory with a special lesson."

Scorpius was happy to do both; they spent nearly an hour and a half in the Room of Requirements; and then it was time to head back to his House again. The lesson had, as usual, been the highlight of his time with Thomas; and he stepped out into the hall after putting the painting away in his bag feeling stronger than ever and infused with the incredible power that he was learning to use and control in extraorddinary ways. At those moments, he was sure that all of the promises for his future that Thomas assured him could come to pass seemed not only possible; but absolutely certain!

After the lousy Quidditch match on Saturday, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends were ready to both have some fun and do a bit of constructive venting by the time they met up after breakfast to decide what they wanted to do for the day. Since it was cool and damp outside, they decided to go to their usual classroom and have some fun with magic – including practicing their dueling for DADA. That kept them busy for most of the morning except for a break that they took at mid-morning when Tory and Madison stopped in for a visit and to thenk them for their collective get-well gifts. Both Witches were healed; but were also to take it easy for at least a few days while their bodies recovered from the game and the energy that their healing took out of them. That was going better for them than dealing with losing the match; but that was only because they knew that Hufflepuff would have done well-enough if Slytherin hadn't cheated and intentionally taken out three of their best players.

While the morning magical play time had been a lot of fun; the best part of the day for Al and Gwendolyn was their afternoon Chaser duel. They went off to the stadium to do that and have a bit more privacy than they got at the practice pitch; and took their flying and Chaser skills as far as they were willing to dare for a couple of brilliant hours of extreme flying and Quidditch. They followed that up with a long walk and some outdoor play time with Rose, Ray, and some of their other friends; had to split up for dinner in the Great Hall; and then wrapped up their night with some quiet time in the library and a visit to the Owlry to send Winter home with some letters for their parents, brother, sister, and from Rose to her parents and Hugo. Al pretty much went straight to bed after getting back to Gryffindor tower; another busy weekend at Hogwarts finished and final exams now just seven weeks away.

Life went on at Hogwarts, as always, and while Slytherins were still on the receiving end of the spite of nearly every other student in the school; it wasn't long before classwork, studies, and the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend became more important to everyone than Quidditch. Other teen drama stories replaced Quidditch on the gossip network too; and even the players on both teams needed to move on and deal with their normal student responsibilities. The one change for those players that was Quidditch-related was that they no longer needed to practice anymore now that they'd played the last match of their season. Their senior teams took over the extra practice time, though; so in that way they were still able to help their Houses in the race for the Quidditch Cup.

Their second week back at Hogwarts after Easter really didn't change much at all for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends and classmates. Work int the classroom picked up a bit more as their Professors made the big push toward the end of the school year; they had a bit more revision piled on; and for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch players, their practices got longer and tougher. When they weren't in classes or playing Quidditch during the week, they either studied in the library or their favorite study classroom. The only change in that between Monday and Friday was on Thursday night when they kept track of the Harpies' game on Gwendolyn's portable mirror so that they could at least catch some of the highlights of the Harpies' win while continuing to study. Al and Rose talked their group into studying on Friday evening too; and then they expected to get the rest of their weekend assignments done by lunchtime on Saturday. Al and Rose were both up early on Saturday; met in the common room as usual; and headed for the Great Hall together – their morning chats still a highlight of the day for each of them.

"It's the first Hogsmeade weekend since Easter," Rose said as they left the common room and started walking along the hallway. "Are you worried about having any trouble with james and Ollie today? They've been way too quiet toward us over the past two weeks – if you don't include the way they act at our Quidditch practices."

"I have no idea; but we'll keep an eye out for them just in case they want to try anything while most of the older teens are in Hogsmeade."

"Maybe they've just decided to leave us alone – or can't figure out a way to get to us without getting blasted first."

"That would be fine with me either way; but I don't really expect them to give up their pranking ways without more of a fight."

"Then it's a really good thing that we're spending so much more time on learning our magic than they do. We'll need to try and keep a step or two ahead. I'm sure that you'd rather talk about anything else other than James. Are you and Gwendolyn going to have another Chaser duel or do anything else fun this weekend?"

"Her team practice is after lunch today, so we won't be able to hang out together until after that – once we're done our studying this morning. As long as the weather's decent; we'll have another Chaser duel tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm surprised that Louis doesn't want to do an extra practice this weekend; but maybe he's either worried about some of us burning out – or he's as sick and tired of James and Ollie as we are."

"I'll guess both," Al joked. "That didn't take long to get back to James and Ollie. Maybe we should try talking birthdays. Unless I've missed one, Fred's eleventh, Teddy's twentieth, and Victoire's eighteenth are up next."

"And it's the twentieth anniversary for the end of the war on Victoire's birthday," Rose added. "They'll likely have something special going on here for that; so I hope that Dominique and Louis take that into account when making their plans for Victoire's birthday."

"I'm sure that they will. If Professor McGonagall is going to have a big anniversary ceremony, I hope that they don't drag our parents and the other war veterans here and parade them around for the publicity. Dad would really hate that – and it'd be weird for us."

"Sometimes I wonder why just being here doesn't feel strange because of the war and everything our parents went through while they went to school here," Rose admitted. "I guess all of the kids of the battle veterans could say that, though; and it isn't as if I think about any of that at other places either."

Al laughed. "Do you think that our parents would let us skip ever going to the Ministry of Magic again if we told them that it feels strange to go there after everything the Dark Wizards did there?"

"Probably not. My Mum and your Dad are probably hoping that we'll eventually decide to go work there instead of playing Quidditch."

"I'm hoping that Dad will have all of the bad guys rounded up by the time we have to go out and work in the real world so that we don't have to think about doing anything except jobs that we'd love doing."

"I hope that we can do that too," Rose agreed, "but if we can't; then I know for sure that you and I will do what's needed – just as our parents did and still do. We might hate it; but we'll do it."

Al sighed. "That's true, so let's hope that it won't suck to be us someday."

"Is that a vampire joke?" Rose teased; and Al laughed.

That joke also sent their conversation on to less-serious topics; and then it wasn't long before they were having breakfast with their friends and having fun with that. Their morning study session went as planned; and most of their friends managed to finish their weekend revision by lunchtime too. While Gwendolyn was busy at her afternoon team practice, Al and Rose ended up spending the afternoon hanging out with just Bristol and Ray while the rest of their friends did other things. While they saw James and Ollie around the school and outdoors a few times, they seemed to be busy with other entertainments; and didn't even try to talk with them let alone attempt any pranks or sneak attacks. When Gwendolyn was finished her practice, she met up with them; they found a place to sit and talk by the lake; and stayed outside until shortly before they needed to be in the Great Hall again for dinner.

While most of their friends returned to their respective common room after dinner, Al and Gwendolyn used an empty classroom near Ravenclaw Tower for some music time. Gwendolyn continued Al's guitar lessons; they sang duets for more than an hour; and then wrapped up their time together with a very minor, sweet little snogging session that was definitely only tween rated while being just the right amount of fun for them. After walking Gwendolyn home, Al had a bedtime mirror chat with Lily; surfed the Wizarding Wireless Web for a while; and then again turned in early. Sunday was a near-repeat of a week ago with magical play time with their friends in the morning and Al and Gwendolyn's afternoon Chaser battle – right up until it was suddenly not the same at all; and the change was not a welcome one. That happened as Al and Gwendolyn were packing up after their duel.

"You've won this duel and the last one; so it's my turn for the next one," Gwendolyn told Al with a bright smile.

"Are we having another duel between now and our game on Saturday? If not, then that'll only be a yes to you winning our next duel if you actually do beat me. You know that I won't hold back and try to lose on purpose – and you wouldn't want to win that way either."

"i wouldn't," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I really hate losing; so maybe I should hope that I end up playing against Ollie next weekend."

"As long as you don't hug or kiss him after every one of your best goals; I'm okay with that – even if it would be more fun to duel against you."

"What's really too bad is that we can't play on the same team," Gwendolyn suggested; and then laughed at her own comment. "I'm starting to play right into Rose's master plan with comments like that. Maybe you should think about being an Auror instead of playing Qudditch so that i won't have to worry about my future as a Harpies star getting messed up by your cousin."

"That whole thing seems to be taking on a life of its own when Rose really was just half-joking about that at first."

"Maybe that's why I'm worried about it," Gwendolyn suggested. "If Rose has that plan of hers even further along by the end of next year; I'll go from being worried about it to very afraid."

"By the end of next year, I'll likely be more worried about taking Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid in third-year than Rose's plans for us with the Cannons," Al said; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'm not sure that I want to take that subject. The risk of having parts of your hand becoming finger food for magical beasts is doubly-scary when your both a musician and Quidditch player."

"Can't you still play bass guitar with four fingers?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn slapped his shoulder.

"I suppose, but it makes it tough to play keyboards or most musical instruments without all ten – unless you charm them; and that just isn't the same at all."

They were just about ready to go by then, and Al had just finished closing his gear bag when he was hit hard by the sense of danger just moments before they both heard the sound of approaching feet – and quite a few of them. They were both facing the stadium entrance from where that noise was coming; and then watched as Victor Avery led his usual gang into the stadium and onto the edge of the pitch across from where they'd been sitting.

"This can't be good," Gwendolyn whispered while putting a hand on her wand; and Al nodded his agreement while never taking his eyes off of the seven Slytherin boys.

"Hey, Potty," Victor called out. "Have you finished stinking up the stadium yet? We'd like to defumigate the place and play for a while."

"You're welcome to it," Al answered; "though since none of you brought your gear along; we all know you're just making small talk before getting around to why you're really here." He sighed inwardly as his still-developing senses and insights continued to shout silent warnings at him.

"Maybe Summoning Charms are too much for itty bitty Potties; but they do save some of us from having to bother hauling all of our gear around with us," Victor shot back. Al laughed; and that just had the older boy glowering at him.

"That line would work better if I didn't notice that all of you do carry your gear bags to and from games and practices just as the rest of us do. I guess that I've never actually thought about asking Victoire; but I'm fairly sure that she's never even considered using a Summoning Charm on her new Lightningbolt even though I'm sure that she could."

"She does apparate with her gear bag, though," Gwendolyn reminded him; "and she usually side-along apparates Dominique, Louis, and their gear too. That's fairly impressive to do that all the way from their house to yours when you think about it."

"Too bad she isn't here to apparate you out of the stadium right now," Rupert retorted with a sneer; and then scowled too when Gwendolyn and Al both laughed at him.

"You can't apparate anywhere at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn reminded him; "and I guess that must mean that we've got a good reason for why you think that we'd like to be anywhere else right now too."

"You've got nothing to worry about," Victor told her. "In fact, we're here to help you – and the rest of your Ravenclaw team."

"I find that impossible to believe," Gwendolyn scoffed. "Your brother hasn't exactly been a fan of mine since our match against his team; and I seriously doubt that G-Air would be interested in helping Pauline to win another match – even if he does hate James more than he hates her."

"We just want to make sure that you'll have a fair match," Victor claimed. "One Potty in the stadium at a time is horrid-enough for anyone; but it just isn't right for your team to have to try and play next weekend with the stench from two of them making your eyes water and making you gag from the stench."

"Your sense of sportsmanship is admirable," Al retorted. "Too bad your brother and his team didn't think like that when they cheated and bullied their way into that win over Hufflepuff." He shook his head in disgust. "Why don't you just try and get on with it - or do you need to talk yourselves into a rage first before you attack me?"

"Wouldn't you rather have us let your girlfriend leave first?" Victor asked.

"She wouldn't go; and you'll soon wish that you had better odds."

"Does Potty always speak for you?" Victor asked Gwendolyn. "Maybe you should come over here and help us out with teaching him who's really the boss in your delusional little relationship."

"Al wasn't speaking for me – he was stating a fact. I have no idea what you really want to accomplish here; but you should just leave us alone and go away."

Victor sighed dramatically and the other boys laughed. "I did try to help her out, Rupert, but if she insists on staying; it won't be our fault if she can't play Quidditch next weekend either."

"They'll likely still win without her," Rupert said with a shrug. The smile he then directed at Gwendolyn was a menacing leer. "I can handle keeping her out of your way while the rest of you give Potty something else to do for the next month or two instead of playing Quidditch."

"Just ignore her unless she gets in our way," Victor countered. "We'll be done with Potty before she can do help him anyway."

Al had already been warned by all of his senses and awareness of the new danger; so when he spun around and his blazing shield blocked the pair of curses that had been fired at his back by Gregor and Theo Nott; the surprise was immediately on the Slytherins instead of on him and Gwendolyn. She had been surprised by his defense, but then she also reacted instantly; counter-attacking and blasting Theo with a bat-bogey hex. The battle was truly on then; and she and Al both turned back to face the Averys and their mates; meeting the attacks that all seven of them launched and defending themselves with shields and counter-spells when they could use them on the jinxes, hexes, or curses.

While Gwendolyn chose to block or deflect the attacks she was dealing with; Al's shielding rebounded more than half of the spells being fired at them; and a few of them made it through the Slytherin defenses. Neither Gwendolyn or Al turned when they heard the crack and shout of pain from Theo because they'd both guessed that Gregor had attempted to counter the bat-bogey hex and found out about the fun little twist that Rose had taught to Gwendolyn. The crack had surely been Theo's nose being broken by the bats; and he continued to yell as the bats kept painfully wriggling their way out of his nose.

Gregor shouted a curse at Gwendolyn; Al spun to throw up another shield to deflect it; and when that had still just barely missed her; he shouted – "Revulsio!" while pointing his wand at the Nott brothers. The two big teens were blasted off of their feet and crashed hard into the bleachers. Al didn't have time to think about it as he turned back to face the onslaught that continued from Victor and the other Slytherins still standing; but he knew that both boys had hit their heads very hard when they landed and were unconscious. He didn't have time to be amazed by that – or do more than notice that the curse from Gregor that he'd deflected away from Gwendolyn had blasted Raban Lestrange off of his feet and left him writhing in pain on the ground.

After blocking another flurry of curses, hexes, and jinxes; the effects of the rebounding spells had all but taken two more of their atackers out of the fight. Al finally had a chance to counter-attack.

"Levicorpus! Revulsio!" he shouted in quick succession; and Vince Vaisey yelped in surprise when he first flipped upside down and hung there by an ankle; and then was pushed through the air until he hit one of the goal posts fairly hard and was pinned against it.

"Incarcerous! Expelliarmus!"

Al couldn't resist the urge to laugh when Gwendolyn's assistance left Vaisey upside-down and roped to the goal post as his wand flew through the air and into her hand. The remaining Slytherins weren't done with the fight yet, though; so that laugh was short-lived before they were both back on the defensive again. Victor and Rupert Avery, and G-Air Mulciber were the last three Slytherins still uninjured, and while they continued to blast away at Al and Gwendolyn; they took their defense more seriously too; so it took nearly five more minutes of battling before another rebounding spell got through to Rupert and put him on the ground with the other boys.

Victor lost it then; had G-Air try to help him; and they both tried to blast Gwendolyn. When Al saw just how horrid the curses they chose would have been if they'd hit his girlfriend; his temper flared and his eyes blazed with true anger.

"Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus! REVULSIO!"

Two hastily-raised shields were obliterated. Two wands raced across the pitch to land at Al's feet. He and Gwendolyn were able to watch as the expressions on Victor's and G-Air's faces went from dark anger to stunned shock as they were both blasted backward – and then high up into the air. They couldn't see them for long after that as they cleared the top of the stadium and disappeared out of sight. They could hear the yelling that had started before they were out of the stadium; but that soon trailed off too.

"That landing is really going to hurt from that high up, unless you know something that I don't, Al," Gwendolyn told him; and Al laughed.

"Would you like a hint?" he asked; and Gwendolyn smiled and nodded.

"Sure."

"How long can Slytherins tread water?"

Gwendolyn laughed too and then hugged him fiercely with joy and pride. "I don't know, but I will guess that they can do that better than they can fly without brooms." She looked around the stadium and laughed again. "No, this isn't funny; but I can't help it – we were brilliant!"

"We were," Al agreed more modestly. "The next question is – what do we do now?"

"My first thought is to exit stage right; but I guess the right thing to do is call for help for this lot." She looked behind them toward the two still-unconscious Nott brothers. "Collecting the rest of their wands too might be prudent to avoid any other problems before that help gets here."

Al nodded and handed her his mirror. "If you can call Victoire; I'll take care of that. By the time that Gwendolyn had said "Call Victoire;" Al had Gregor's and Theo's wands flying toward his free hand; and he pocketed them before turning toward the still-bound Vince Vaisey. Vince glared at him, but as Al remembered that Gwendolyn had already disarmed him; that was about all the other boy could do. He paused when Victoire answered Gwendolyn's call so that he could listen in; and Gwendolyn turned the mirror a bit so that he could see his cousin too – even though she probably couldn't see him.

"Al, I love what you've done with your hair," she teased; "but while that's a lovely eye color too; I prefer the green."

"So do I," Gwendolyn agreed with a laugh efore getting serious. "Al and I have had a bit of trouble here at the stadium. There are some injured Slytherins; and we need some help with them."

"How many injured? Any guesses on how seriously?"

"Six out of seven injured here. Two of them are unconscious; and I'm not sure what is wrong with the rest of them. Most of their injuries are from their own spells. If you haven't heard yet, there are two more either still in the lake or they're out by now, but since they'd jumped in the lake from here; they might be hurt too."

Victoire stared at her for just one shocked moment or two; and then shook her head as if to clear it. "Okay, I'm on the way and will bring help. Don't do anything that might aggrevate the injuries."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "See you soon."

By then, Al had returned to collecting wands. Gwendolyn helped him out with the last two; handed them to him; and then he picked up the two wands that he'd allowed to land on the pitch after disarming Victor and G-Air. Once that was done, Gwendolyn hugged him again for a long minute; they shared a soft kiss; and then they sat down and waited for Victoire to arrive with help for the Slytherin boys.

"Should we unbind him?" Gwendolyn asked; waving a hand toward Vince Vaisey. Al shrugged and shook his head.

"Victoire won't be long. Let's not do anything that might make all of this tougher to explain to everyone. If this does end up messing up Quidditch for either of us next weekend, though, then I'm going to wish that I could've blasted all of these gits all the way to London."

"I'm trying to get a grip on the fact that you blasted two of them all the way to the lake – not that I need to see it to believe it." She turned her attention to studying the boys that were prone on the ground. Two of them were still writhing in pain while the other two just lay there; awake, but dazed and out of it. "That could've been us if any of those spells had hit us."

"I'm glad that it wasn't. This was all so stupid too. We were having such a great day; and now they've come along and messed it up for us."

"Probably," Gwendolyn agreed; "though the part where we won the fight was still brilliant even if we are going to be stuck with the fallout for the rest of the day. Since the alternative might well have been an extended stay in the hospital wing, though, I'll take the 'we win' scenario and be glad for it."

They were both watching the stadium entrance when Victoire rushed in with several Professors and a few of her best friends. They all quickly assessed the situation and Professor Jones stopped to work on the four boys on the ground while Professor Flitwick crossed the pitch and passed Al and Gwendolyn on his way to tend to Gregor and Theo. Professor Clearwater took care of releasing Vince Vaisey; getting him safely to the ground; and then tending to the rope burns and the damage from one of the rebounding hexes that Al and Gwendolyn hadn't even noticed hitting him earlier in the fight. Victoire directed three of her friends to help the Professors if needed; and then she only had Heather Barbary with her when she walked over to talk with Al and Gwendolyn.

"What in Merlin's name happened here?" she asked them quietly.

"I'm sure that you can guess; knowing the run-ins I've already had with Victor, Rupert, and the rest of their buddies," Al suggested. "What I'm not sure of is whether we should say anything beyond that right now."

"We didn't do anything except defend ourselves from this bunch of gits, Al," Gwendolyn told him.

Al laughed. "I've managed to get into a fair bit of trouble this year for defending myself," he reminded her. "At least we are somewhere that we can use magic without getting into trouble just for that."

"That's true," Victoire agreed; "but you definitely could get into trouble over all of these injuries; so maybe it is best that you wait for Headmistress McGonagall so that there are no misunderstandings over what has really happened to those guys."

Al and Gwendolyn both nodded; and Al started to pull the extra wands out of his pocket. "Okay. Would you like to take their wands? I don't know whether they can be tested for recent spells without permission; but I'm sure doing that would help to give you a very good idea of which wands were responsible for the nastier injuries." He glanced down at his own wand and then smiled at his cousin. "you're welcome to check mine later too, but I'll keep it a while longer if that's okay with you."

"That's fine, Al; but you won't need it again for this sort of thing today," Victoire assured him. She'd been pocketing the wands he'd continued to hand her one or two at a time; and couldn't help but to be impressed.

"The two of you disarmed nine Wizards?"

"Only three during the fight," Gwendolyn answered before Al could. "It seemed like a good idea to gather up the rest of the wands after it was over in case any of the boys recovered before you got here with help."

"Only three," Heather mimicked with a roll of her eyes. "No big deal for a couple of firsties up against nine Wizards that are anywhere between one and seven years older."

"We were motivated," Gwendolyn assured them.

"No doubt," Heather agreed; and then grinned at her fellow Weird Sisters' cousin. "If you think that's scary; wait until you hear the song I'm going to write about this later. I think it's going to be another hit for my band."

"That's only scary because we won't get a piece of the royalties from your song just for inspiring it," Gwendolyn lamented. "I'd be willing to co-write if you need a hand with that."

"Don't mess with us; don't fire that curse," Al sang softly; earning laughs from Heather and Gwendolyn.

"Don't try a jinx; or something worse," Gwendolyn added ehtnusiastically.

"In Merlin's name; we'll kick your aaa – butts," Heather continued; "So don't go there; unless you're nuts – Don't mess with us!"

Victoire laughed and then stifled it with a hand while Gwendolyn and Heather were happy to join in on the laughter unapologetically and Al grinned a bit self-consciously.

"That's awesome!" Heather told them excitedly; "and I can totally work with it too."

"Speaking of work; we'd better see if the Professors need help," Victoire told her friend. "Stay here, guys; and then we'll likely be going to Headmistress McGonagall's office from here – along with any of these guys that don't need to go to see Madam Pomfrey."

Al and Gwendolyn had nodded; sat down again; and waited while Victoire first went to talk with Professor Flitwick first; and then with Professor Jones. By then, Gregor and Theo Nott were sitting up, conscious, and looking furious; Rupert Avery and Raban Lestrange were still obviously having problems; but Vince Vaisey, Don Rosier, and Monty Crabbe all seemed to be doing well-enough after being aided by the Professor and her Gryffidnor student assistant. Professor Jones had decided to have Rupert and Raban taken to the hospital wing by then; but then there was a delay as Victor and G-Air returned to the stadium with Mr. Peakes; and they had quite a group of interested followers – some of them brave enough to follow them into the stadium.

Both boys were soaking wet, so it was obvious that nobody had helped to get them dried off – or they'd refused the help. G-Air was limping, cradling his left arm with his right hand; and looked pale and a bit bewildered as if he'd maybe taken a knock on the head too. Victor looked furious again, and when he caught sight of Al and Gwendolyn; he began to storm over to them. He got most of the way there before Mr. Peakes and Victoire caught up with him; and their Quidditch coach then needed to physically stop the boy.

"I'm going to get you for this, Potty," he declared. "Where's my wand?"

"I have it," Victoire advised him; "and you won't be getting it back until Headmistress McGonagall has had time to sort this mess out."

"Accio wand!" he bellowed without warning; and smiled viciously when his wand flew into his hand. He pointed it at Al. "REDUCTO!"

"REVULSIO!" Al shouted at the same time; already certain of what would happen just as he'd known to be ready for the attack.

Victor's cruel smile was gone in an instant because the collision of spells put his lights out even as he was once again thrown backward and high into the air. This time, Al followed up his counter-attack with a cushioning spell that kept Victor from sailing out of the stadium again; and disarmed him while settling the uncounscious boy to the ground. He held out the wand to Victoire as soon as it was in his hand; and put his own back into his pocket.

"He's really hurt this time," he advised her seriously. "The rebound from his own spell may have broken a lot of bones or even caused some internal injuries." He shook his head; but didn't look apologetic because he wasn't sorry. "If I'd used my shield; all three of you would have likely been hurt instead of just him."

"Professor Jones is already on the way," Victoire observed. She looked around at all of the gawkers and sighed. "Mr. Peakes, I should stay here to help; but maybe it would be best if you escort Al and Gwendolyn to Headmistress McGonagall's office before anything else can happen – unless you'd prefer to stay and have me do that?"

"I'll take them," Mr. Peakes decided. "You're likely to have more talent for healing than I do; so I'll be of no help there anyway."

"Thank-you, sir," Victoire said gratefully before turning her attention to her cousin. "Try not to get into any more fights between here and there, Al. Madam Pomfrey is already going to be busy enough, and in case you've forgotten; the Heads have to write reports for everything that happens around here. At the rate you're going; I'll be doing that for a week now."

"I should be able to keep them out of trouble for that long," Mr. Peakes told her. "Come along. I'm sure that Minerva can't wait to hear this story."

Mr. Peakes wasn't wrong about that, and the news that there'd been a student duel at the stadium had reached her by the time that Mr. Peakes dropped Al and Gwendolyn off outside of her office and they were then told to wait at the bottom of the magical staircase while he talked with her. The waiting dragged on after that while Mr. Peakes left again; Victoire arrived and had a meeting with the Headmistress; and then she left for a quick round-trip and returned with Professor Jones and four out of nine of the Slytherin teens. The boys all glared at Al and Gwendolyn as they passed them; and Victoire stayed behind for a moment while Professor Jones led them up to McGonagall's office.

"The Headmistress has decided to hear their side of the story first," she advised Al and Gwendolyn. "I need to be there too; so continue to wait here; and hopefully it won't be too much longer before she'll be ready to see you too."

"Thanks, Victoire," Al said with a nod and sigh. "I'm sorry that this has messed up your day – especially when you've likely still got loads of revision to get done after spending the day with Teddy yesterday."

"It's okay, Al," she assured him. "This wasn't your fault; and I've no idea what you might have done differently to avoid what happened – unless you'd like to consider a transfer to Beauxbatons."

"No way!" Gwendolyn told her. "I've heard stories about the Witches at that school; and he's not going anywhere near it!"

Victoire laughed. "I resemble one or two of those Witches," she teased; and then left them and headed up the stairs for the meeting with the Slytherins.

Unfortunately for them; not long turned into more than an hour. Professors Slughorn and Clearwater arrived just minutes after Victoire had left them, and while they'd each nodded to the two kids; they didn't stop and speak with them. They chose not to do anything other than talk with each other while they waited in case playing mirror games or surfing the Wizarding Web might annoy their Professors; but one thing they didn't have a problem with was too-curious spectators. While the too-long wait might have been reason for concern, none of the Slytherin boys looked any happier than they'd been going in when they left again with Professor Jones; so Al and Gwendolyn didn't feel worried at all as Victoire then invited them to go up to McGonagall's office with her. The Headmistress was sitting behind her desk, and in addition to Professors Slughorn and Clearwater; Professor Longbottom was there – and had likely arrived by Floo Network. Since it was their first visit to the Headmistress' office, Al and Gwendolyn stopped and looked around the room; and Al took particular note of the portraits hanging on the walls – and wasn't surprised to see every former Headmaster and Headmistress present and watching them with great interest.

"Come in and sit down," McGonagall invited. Her expression was serious, but her eyes were kind; and Al sensed that they had nothing to worry about with her. She waited while they sat in two of the chairs directly in front of her desk; and Victoire took the third chair. Al guessed that the Professors conjured as many chairs as they needed – and that three chairs had disappeared after the last meeting.

"Let's begin by having you each tell us what happened at the stadium," she said next. "Begin with what you were doing there in the first place; and then continue through until when Mr. Peakes took charge of you and brought you here."

"We were at the stadium for a Chaser duel," Gwendolyn began; and hadn't even looked at Al before taking the lead. "Mr. Peakes will be able to confirm that we signed up for the time slot – as we do as often as we can."

"Mr. Peakes has already confirmed that with me," McGongall advised her; and Gwendolyn nodded as the Headmistress also waved a hand to prompt her to continue.

"Nobody else had signed up to use the pitch, so we were able to play for nearly two hours." She smiled at Al. "The extra time didn't help me; and Al still won our duel."

"Apparently the start of a trend for the day," Albus Dumbledore murmured; and then smiled when McGonagall turned and looked up at him. "My apologies," he added. Would you like a lemon drop?" he offered. McGonagall chose to ignore that and return her attention to Gwendolyn.

"Please continue," she instructed.

"We were finished our play time and had just packed up our gear and brooms when Victor Avery and six of the other boys walked into the stadium." She stopped for a moment; and Al saw that she'd stopped because her attention had been caught by the pensieve that was sitting on McGonagall's desk. "Everything that was said will only be they-said-we-said," she told the Headmistress next. "Wouldn't it be easier for us to let you retrieve our memories and just see what happened for yourself?"

"You are underage," McGonagall answered. "We do plan on asking you for that; but it will require parental approval before that can be done."

Gwendolyn shrugged and smiled. "If you'll allow us to use our mirrors for a moment; I'm sure we can get that for you easily-enough."

"Says the kid in the room that isn't the child of the Head of the Aurors," Al said; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Your Dad will allow it; and hold off on that long talk with you until later," she predicted.

"We may as well do that," Professor Longbottom suggested. "Why spend another hour or two on this when we can have the truth much more easily?"

"Very well, then," McGongall decided. "Getting to the bottom of this has been drawn-out long enough already."

Gwendolyn and Al got their mirrors out; they each chose to call their mothers; and connected with all four parents. After giving them the briefest of explanations; they took turns handing their mirrors over to their Headmistress so that she could speak with them and get their approvals for the memory retrievals. Harry and Ginny were concerned for the boys that had been injured and promised to talk with Al later; but it was Gwenog's reaction that had all of the adults able to overhear her fighting hard to keep from laughing despite the seriousness of the situation.

"You have our permission to get Gwendolyn's memories and check her wand too if needed; and to deal with her as you should if they're at fault," Gwenog told McGonagall. "If they've simply defended themselves, then all I have to say about that is – that's my girl!" Professor Dumbledore didn't try to hold back the laughter; but quieted again after a hard glance from McGonagall.

She thanked Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley in turn as she was finished speaking with them; promised to send them reports once she'd completed her investigation and decided how to deal with the matter; and then she had Professor Clearwater retrieve the memories from Gwendolyn and Al.

"When you get to the part where I kiss Al after the duel; pretend that you didn't see that part," Gwendolyn told Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn after he was chosen to go into the pensieve and watch the memories. "I was fairly happy that we were still standing and unhurt at the time."

"We'll keep that in mind," McGonagall assured her; and Al thought that she was having a tough time resisting Gwendolyn's rather feisty and obviously unapologetic atitude.

McGonagall and Slughorn went into the pensieve then; and Al and Gwendolyn sat back in their chairs to wait for them to finish reviewing both sets of memories. Depending on how much detail they wanted to get out of that viewing; it could be done fairly soon or take a while.

"Why don't we check your wands while we're waiting," Professor Longbottom suggested. "That will only take a few moments for each of them."

"Maybe you should check Miss McCormack's wand while I check Mr. Potter's," Professor Clearwater suggested. "We wouldn't want anyone involved suggesting that we aren't being fair with our own students."

Neville smiled and nodded. "That's a good idea," he agreed easily. "May I have your wand for a few moments, Gwendolyn?"

"Yes, sir," she agreed; and Al handed his over to Penelope at the same time.

It shouldn't have really mattered who checked the wands, since they could all watch the spell in action as the two wands were checked; and there really wasn't anything that either of them did that was particularly surprising – except for the extreme power behind each of Al's spells. That wasn't actually something that was revealed through those checks; but the two Professors did know what had happend to the Slytherin boys for some of those spells. Once their wands were returned to them, they all waited patiently for the Headmistress and Professor Slughorn to rejoin them from their visit in the pensieve. Victoire chatted easily with Neville and Penelope while Al and Gwendolyn mostly just stayed quiet and listened to the conversation.

"That was extraordinary!" Slughorn exclaimed as he and Professor McGonagall completed their memory viewing. He had everyone's attention with that; and smiled ruefully at McGonagall. "Well, it was, Minerva – and there is, unfortunately for my House and students, no doubt that Mr. Potter and Miss McCormack were acting in self-defense."

"It seems so," McGongall concurred; directing that comment more to Al and Gwendolyn than to Horace. "We do not condone this sort of dueling at Hogwarts, and you would both do well to learn better ways for dealing with conflicts with other students; but you did extraordinarily better than could be expected for any first-year students while dealing with such an extreme situation." She paused for a moment before seeming to come to a decision; and then continued.

"While I am concerned about the problems you're having with certain Slytherin students, it hasn't been unexpected; and you will need to continue to be careful whenever you're here – even as it appears you are quite capable of defending yourselves when called to do so." She paused again and then added – "fifty points each for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. You are dismissed."

Al and Gwendolyn both stood quickly, as did Victoire; and Gwendolyn hugged Al rather enthusiastically. Once she'd stepped back again; Al returned his attention to their Headmistress.

"Would it be alright to make a request about this?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter," she agreed.

"I don't know what the truth really is behind what Victor and the others truly wanted, but since they claimed to want to affect the outcome of the Quidditch Cup race by putting me out of the game; I'd ask that nothing is done that would affect the Slytherin team and their game next month. Our House teams wouldn't feel right about winning the cup if that happened unfairly."

"I will consider your request," McGonagall promised. "Will there be anything else?"

Al suddenly grinned. "Not unless Professor Dumbledore can actually give us lemon drops from that jar. We'd be impressed if he could."

"Alas, my boy, that is a trick that is beyond me now," Albus told the young boy that had been given his name by a best-loved student and friend.

"That's alright," Al assured him. "It's still a fun joke." He looked around the room again and then back to Professor Dumbledore. "I really hope that I won't need to visit Headmistress McGonagall's office very often, so in case I don't get the chance; thanks for helping to save my Mum, Dad, and our family. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't."

"You're quite welcome – Albus," Dumbledore said; his voice thick and his eyes suddenly just a bit misty.

His weren't the only eyes tearing up, but Al pretended not to notice; took Gwendolyn's hand; and nodded to Professor McGonagall before turning and leaving the room. Though she'd stood up too, Victoire had apparently been invited to stay behind; so they were on their own as they walked along the hallway away from McGonagall's office. It wasn't until then that they realized that they still had time to get to the Great Hall for dinner; so their first decision was whether they wanted to do that or not.

"You know that it'll be crazy for us if we do go," Gwendolyn told Al; and he nodded.

"True, but are we better off getting it out of the way now; or wait until morning? I have snacks in my trunk that we can eat instead if you don't want to go to the Great Hall tonight."

"Having a snack picnic with you somewhere sounds like more fun, but I guess we'd better just try and get the worst of it over with tonight. If we wait until tomorrow that will just mess up another day for us; and we need to put this behind us and get focused on our classes – and the Quidditch game on Saturday."

"We're closer to my common room," Al said with a nod. "Let's go there together; I'll get someone to hang out with you while I drop off my gear; and then we'll walk you to your House. I don't think that either of us should wander around the school alone at least for the rest of today – and maybe for the rest of the year."

"I'm not going to have our friends babysitting us for weeks, Al; but I'm okay with that for tonight and maybe a day or two just to be safe."

Getting someone to hang out with Gwendolyn when they got to Gryffindor Tower wasn't a problem since all of their Gryffindor friends were there and waiting for Al to get back from McGonagall's office. The girls all happily went out into the hall to wait with Gwendolyn; Ray, Romeo, and Dave went up to their dorm room with Al to try and get some of the fight details; and then they all went to Ravenclaw tower for a stop there on the way to the Great Hall for dinner. The walk time didn't really end up preparing Al or Gwendolyn for the buzz of noise in the Great Hall that welcomed them; and that was even stranger for Al because he was used to being among the first students in the hall before most meals. Nearly all of the students, though, had apparently decided that they needed to get together to share rumors about the fight between Houses – or at least to do that for three of the Houses while the Slytherin students generally did not look happy and only talked among themselves.

With a lot of teens and probably most of the Professors all watching them, Al was more than a little self-conscious about the hug and kiss that Gwendolyn shared with him before they split up to go and sit at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. Rose stepped up to his side after that, though; and she sat next to him while Ray made sure that he was a buffer for Al's left side. The rest of their friends had split up to both sides of the table; and Romeo, Cora, and Bristol ended up in the seats directly across from Ray, Al, and Rose. While he hadn't known whether Professor McGonagall and the other Professors would make it to the Great Hall for dinner or not; everyone except their Headmistress was there – including Victoire. After scanning the Slytherin table, Al noted that the boys that had been in the meeting with Professor McGonagall were also there for dinner; but he didn't even attempt to make eye contact. He didn't need to do that to know that if he did; they'd be glaring at him with hate and loathing.

"We've been pestering you and Gwendolyn about what happened at the stadium," Rose told Al. "Would you like to hear about what you couldn't have seen from there after you sent Avery and Mulciber over the top of the stadium wall?" She smiled at Bristol. "some of us were lucky-enough to see what happened."

Al shrugged. "I know they ended up in the lake, and I'm sure that the hang time was fun to watch, but to be honest; I'm sick of the whole thing already."

"What's hang time?" Cora asked; and Romeo answered for her.

"It's the amount of time a player stays airborne before scoring a goal in a Muggle game called basketball," he explained; and then grinned. "I'm guessing that G-Air has taken on a whole new meaning aftrr today."

"Gryffindor'd-Air?" Ray suggested; earning some laughs.

"Maybe Gyser-Air," Bristol countered. "They did make quite a splash when they landed."

Al was happy when his friends took those jokes and ran with them for a while. It gave him a chance to talk quietly with Rose while they ate their meal. He continued to have a lot of teens watching him regularly, and there was no doubt that everyone in the school had heard that he and Gwendolyn had dueled a group of Slytherins – and had won that fight. He wasn't happy about that, but the more he thought about it; the more he was sure that he wasn't sorry for anything he'd done. He didn't have time to explore those feelings; so he didn't take that any further; and instead focused his attention on doing what he could to get through the uncomfortable situation without saying any more than he absolutely needed to; and hopefully avoiding saying or doing anything that would just get blown up into Merlin-only-knows what as every bit of information was passed along on the gossip network. He was really glad to get back together with Gwendolyn after dinner; and she had another hug and kiss for him that had them both smiling.

"Did you know that your Dad fought a thousand Death Eaters and a hundred trolls in his first year here?" she asked; her eyes going wide and innocent. "Our fight was nothing compared to that."

Al laughed. "Give it another week on the gossip network; and get back to me on that one," he suggested. "I'm ready to go and hide somewhere for a while. Would you like to come along?"

"You can do that," Rose told them, "and we'll even leave you alone later too if you'd like us to do that; but your best friends want to finish getting the entire story out of you before we'll be willing to think about moving on."

"So that we can help the legend grow," Bristol added with a grin that had everyone in their group laughing.

"We can do that for a while," Gwendolyn agreed; "but then Al and I both have bedtime mirror chats with our parents to deal with after that so we can't stay out late."

"As if we could do that with the school curfew anyway," Rose reminded her. "The good news for both of you is that those chats will be a lot more fun than they would have been if you'd ended up in trouble with the Headmistress."

"Even if we had been; it's not as if Al's Dad can say much if his detention record is any indication," Gwendolyn said with a grin. "My Dad was a rebel; and Mum got into trouble a fair bit too; so Al's Mum is the only one of our parents that can take the high road for that sort of thing."

"Except for her year here while the Death Eaters were in charge of the school," Rose reminded her. "I'm pretty sure that she spent a lot of time getting in trouble that year – and then didn't come back after Easter either."

"Not going back to Hogwarts then sounds like a bigger deal than it really was," Al said quietly. "The Easter break was in mid-April that year; and it was only a couple of weeks between when the students went back to school and the Battle of Hogwarts."

"It couldn't have been that short," Bristol told him; trying to look astonished. "Rita Skeeter still insists that your Mum was off school because she was having a baby."

"Victoire better hope that she's wrong about that," Al shot back. "That'd mean she's been dating her oldest first cousin since last summer."

Bristol laughed. "I wasn't even thinking about Teddy being the baby that Rita insists is really your Mum and Dad's – and your oldest brother."

"The really dumb thing is that there's no mistaking the resemplance to his parents – or the fact that he doesn't look anything like a Weasley or Potter."

"Unless he morphs," Rose amended. "Victoire won't ever be bored with her boyfriend. All he has to do is change his appearance and she's got a brand new one to hang out with."

"Too bad for you that Al isn't a metamorphmagus too," Renee told Gwendolyn. She and Toni had stayed with their friend after dinner too; and earned the laughs for her comment.

"She might be okay if Al becomes an Animagus like his Dad and Grandfather," Rose suggested. "That could make dating interesting; depending on what his Animagus would be."

Rose had likely intended for their conversation to take that little side-trip; and their friends had fun with the topic while they walked to their usual study classroom. Once there, Al and Gwendolyn were invited to tell everyone the full story, and while Al would have rather not done that; Gwendolyn was happy to deal with most of the story time except for the parts that he was asked about directly for the details or his own perspective. When they'd finished and Rose pretty much ordered everyone, including herself, to move on and let Al and Gwendolyn have some alone time; they were still able to spend nearly a half-hour together before it was time to head back to their Houses for the night. A minor bit of snogging was involved as part of that time together; but they mostly just talked and enjoyed being together before Al walked Gwendolyn to Ravenclaw tower and then continued on to his own common room – with Rose for his escort because she'd anticipated that; and spent the half hour hanging out with Renee, Toni, and a few other Ravenclaws that had joined them out in the hallway after noticing Rose and hoping to find out more of the juicy duel details from her.

That had been a fun little interlude with his cousin, but he was getting way too much attention directed toward him when they reached the common room; so except for saying goodnight to the girls in their group and checking in with his cousins; Al went up to his dorm room and got ready for bed. The mirror chat with his parents and Lily took a while, and he quietly gave them the full story as modestly as possible; but not at the expense of the full truth. Harry and Ginny continued to be concerned about the escalation in the confrontations with the Averys and their buddies, but the Professors at Hogwarts were aware of that too; and there wasn't much that any of them could do except to hope for the Slytherin boys to come to their senses and leave Al alone – as they'd mostly learned to do with James.

After wrapping up that call; Al read a book for a while; had a short chat with Ray and Romeo as the other two boys got ready for bed; and then he went to sleep – ready to put his most-recent Slytherin troubles behind him; and begin the new school week where he could devout all of his effort and attention to his studies and his final Quidditch match of the school year.

"Well, everyone in the school found out what the next part of the Averys' brilliant plan was today," Scorpius told Thomas as he pulled the small portrait from his bag. "Nine of them went up against Albus Potter and his girlfriend, Gwendolyn McCormack; and their plan was apparently to hurt Potter badly-enough that he wouldn't be able to play in the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match this coming Saturday."

"I take it that didn't work out for them," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius laughed his agreement.

"It didn't, and while they've barely even tolerated having me around; what Potter and McCormack did to them worries me more – and I doubt we've heard the full story yet – at least among the Slytherins. The guys that aren't still in the hospital wing are saying everything and anything to try and explain how two firsties bested nine Slytherin Wizards. They're not having much luck with that, since not even their friends believe that they were just minding their own business and were caught up in a sneak attack."

"Potter and this young Witch caused injuries severe-enough to leave your House mates needing extended medical care?" Thomas asked in surprise; and Scorpius nodded.

"Both sets of Avery and Nott brothers, and Raban lestrange are spending the night there. The injury details are a bit sketchy still; but it once again seems that many of the injuries are due to rebounded spells. There were quite a few witnesses to what happened to Victor Avery to put him in the hospital wing because that happened later – when he tried to hurt Potter in front of several Professors, the Head Girl, and dozens of students that had gathered at the edge of the stadium pitch – where the original duel happened." He shook his head and his expression turned scornful.

"Potter had apparently disarmed Victor earlier; but have given his wand to the Head Girl – his cousin, Victoire Weasley."

"I remember who your Head Girl is," Thomas advised him; and Scorpius nodded.

"Okay, well Victor apparently summoned his wand to get it back from her; pointed it at Potter; and tried to hit him with the Reducto spell. Pretty much everyone there saw that; and Al counter-attacked with a revulsion spell. Victor was blasted across the pitch; his own spell rebounded on him; and then Potter apparently needed to use a cushioning charm to keep Victor from sailing out of the stadium again."

"Again?" Thomas exclaimed; and Scorpius laughed again.

"This story is getting a bit jumbled, but yes – and that's how so many students ended up at the stadium. During the duel, Al did something that blasted both Victor and G-Air Mulciber all the way from the stadium to where they landed in the lake – after being hurled clear over the stadium wall. There were a lot of students out by the lake that got to watch their landing. Knowing what happened to Victor later; it's likely a safe guess that Al used the same spell on them for that; though he might have added something else to help them travel that far."

"Either way, that does seem remarkable," Thomas said thoughtfully. "Might it be possible that the Witch aided him? I'm not saying that it's impossible for Potter to manage such a feat on his own; but it's more likely that she was able to aid him – or that there were extenuating circumstances – such as another case of rebounding spells magnifying the effect of Potter's spells."

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted candidly. "I'll tell you about anything else that I find out about it, but since Avery and Mulciber might have been the only two Slytherin witnesses by then, and Potter isn't likely to confide in me anytime soon; we might not be able to learn the entire truth."

"Actually you will be able to do that some day, but it'll be some years yet before I'll be able to help you to become an accomplished-enough Legilemens to take that kind of information from others. Start from the beginning for what you do know of this duel and tell me the entire story; and then we'll do a lesson if you have the time for one."

Scorpius was happy to do that, and while he didn't like that it had been a Potter to take down the Averys and their mates; Thomas pointed out that their loss of status among their fellow Slytherin could prove to be a boon for Scorpius if he handled the situation deftly-enough. What they needed to do next was determine how best to make sure that Scorpius could be in a position to eventually fill that obvious power void – whether the social lack of a strong leader; or for power of the magical or wealth variety. The duel recap had one other bonus for Scorpius. Thomas taught him two of the curses that had likely been used in the fight based on the injuries that the Slytherins had heard about. That time with Thomas had been a great way to end his weekend, and while he didn't consciously think about it that way; he had Albus Potter to thank for the fact that the coming week would be very good for him – if for no other reason than that the Averys and their buddies would be too busy to bother him while they recuperated – and then likely would end up dealing with whatever punishment McGonagall handed out to them for their attack on Al and Gwendolyn.

James and Ollie were in their dorm room much earlier than usual – and had the place to themselves while their room mates were busy in the common room or elsewhere. They'd wanted a chance to talk about what had happened with Al and Gwendolyn; though it'd be more accurate to state that they wanted some alone time so that they could vent their frustrations somewhere that they wouldn't just be shot down by one or more of their fellowe Gryffindors that seemed to be universally in awe of James' loser baby brother.

"We should whip up a large batch of love potion to douse the lot of them with," Ollie told James. "Who could we have them all fall in love with that would get them to stop yapping about your idiot brother all of the time?"

"How about Aragog?" James suggested with a snort. "They'd all trudge off into the forbidden forest; and then all of Aragog's family would be quite happy to have them for dinner."

"there's an idea; though maybe we should've thought about that for Al and Ray. Feeding all of them to the spiders would make it a bit lonely around here."

"We'd only be lonely until September; and then we'd have a new batch of Gryffindors that we could train to be our pets or something." He thought about that for a minute; and then addd – "though we should probably keep Lacey and a few of the other Witches. Our families might have a problem with us if our cousins and your sisters disappeared too."

Ollie sighed. "I suppose." He looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked directly at James. "We're just avoiding what we're both really thinking about; so let's get it over with." He sighed again. "You know that I want to get your brother as much as you do, but after what happened today; I'm pretty much forced to admit that he's a much stronger Wizard than I am. He's still a total loser; but let's face the facts. He and Gwendolyn bested nine Wizards – and half of them were fifth-year or higher!"

"They did," James conceded grudgingly; hating to be forced to make that admission and accept the reality of it. "We saw Avery and Mulciber get blasted all the way into the lake ourselves." He shook his head. "That just makes me hate Al more."

"So what do we do about him now?" Ollie asked; that question a bit tentative. "Even if we do manage to hit him with a prank or two – or even succeed in a fight; he'd just fight back; and Merlin only knows what he might be able to do to us."

"So we won't do that anymore," James decided; and then grinned at his best mate. "There are other things that we can do to mess with my pathetic suck-up of a brother. I've got some new ideas about that; so let's talk it over and come up with a new plan."

"Yeah – Operation Destroy Albus Potter!" Ollie said enthusiastically. "I'm in!"

"Good morning," Harry told his two favorite Witches on Monday morning as they joined him in the kitchen. They'd been having fun playing dress-up and doing their hair while he cooked breakfast; and Lily 'won' the race to first hug and kiss of the day.

"Good morning, Dad!" Lily said enthusiastically. "How are you today?"

"I'm good," he had time to say before Ginny shared a hug and kiss with him next. "Make that great," he ammended with a smile that had Lily giggling. "There's an Owl Post from Minerva on the table," he advised Ginny. "You'll want to read it."

"Is it about Al and Gwendolyn?" Lily asked; and Harry nodded.

"Yes, and if you weren't already amazed after our chat with Al last night; you will be."

"I'm not amazed," Lily told him seriously. "Al's your son – and Mum's. The only thing that's surprising is that those Slytherin boys are stupid-enough not to realise how dumb it is to underestimate Al just because he's a firstie." She thought about that for a moment. "Nobody even thinks about age with adult Wizards and Witches. They just understand that magical power is different for all of us; yet that isn't the same for kids. I've known forever that Al's way stronger than James or me." She grinned at her parents then before adding – "there's a very good chance that he's stronger than either of you too."

"Then maybe I'll need to get Minister Shacklebolt to make an exception for Al and draft him into the Aurors after he's done school – if he doesn't want to join voluntarily."

"He doesn't want to join the Aurors," Lily assured him; now temporarily looking solemn and serious. "You know that he must feel the pressure to do that, and he'd probably join if you asked him to; but please don't do that, Dad. When they're home for the summer, make the time to watch Al and Gwendolyn play Chaser together sometime. They're brilliant together." She laughed then; and her smile returned. "Apparently they're rather brilliant when it comes to dueling too; but Gwendolyn doesn't want to be an Auror either."

"Your mother and I decided from the start that we wouldn't try to make any of you join the Aurors or work at the Ministry of Magic." He smiled at Ginny. "I can't say the same about your mother wanting her little girl to play for the Harpies; but then what Quidditch fan parent wouldn't want that for their daughters?"

"Then it's a good thing that I want that too," Lily said; laughing happily and hugging her mother. "Can I read that letter after you're done with it, Mum?"

Ginny looked at Harry first and got a nod from him before answering. "Sure, sweetie. Let's get drinks and food first; and then we can sit down and do that."

Lily did read the letter after Ginny did; but she also already had most of the details before doing that because her parents discussed it as Ginny read the letter first.

"Do you believe that the Averys were only trying to hurt Al because of Quidditch?" Ginny asked Harry; and he shook his head.

"That's likely just an excuse. If that was what they really wanted; it would make more sense for them to go after James and take out the Gryffindor Seeker instead of one Chaser. I'll guess that they're mad at Al for how much they've been embarassed by their previous confrontations. Let's hope that they aren't doing the bidding of their families."

"Draco's son wasn't one of those boys," Ginny mused thoughtfully; "but I guess that he's just the one kid of the Death Eaters that you had the most trouble with when we were kids. It's been a while since they've tried to come after us personally, Harry. I really hope that this isn't the start of a new plot – and really is just a bunch of kids acting on their own."

"So do I," Harry agreed; "but I'm also going to have the Aurors keep a closer eye on the parents of those kids in case there is more to it and this is a warning that we should heed." There was a pause in the conversation then as they all continued to eat and Ginny read the last parts of the letter and then handed it to Lily. Tears had welled up in her eyes because McGonagall had concluded the letter by relaying the exchange that their son had with Dumbledore; and she smiled at Harry.

"I'd say that we're doing something right with our kids just from reading that last bit."

"Your brother apparently took the opportunity of being in the Headmistresses' office to thank Professor Dumbledore for helping to save your Mum and me – and the rest of our family – during the war," Harry explained; and then grinned. "he might be a bit too optomistic to think that he won't be back there again; considering the trouble he's had in his first year; but I suppose that is something to shoot for – unless you're also hoping to be Head Boy some day too."

"James would be more likely than Al to want that – except he wouldn't like all of the responsibility that goes along with being a Prefect or Head Boy," Lily said; smiling too. "Could either of you imagine Uncle George as Head Boy?"

"Not without laughing," Harry answered first. "Your uncles would've needed to haul themselves into the Heads' office more ofthen than anyone else if either of them had been given the job."

"Not to mention that they'd have been more likely to hand out punishments for being too good instead of bad," Ginny added. "Speaking of that; Minerva didn't include much about what she'll be doing for that with those Slytherin boys – just the part about Al requesting that she doesn't punish the Slytherin Quidditch team while doing it; and a promise to deal with the boys appropriately."

"That doesn't surprise me," Harry said with a shrug. "You can bet that word will get around the school for this; so I'm sure that we'll find out eventually."

"I'd say there isn't much more she can do to them that Al and Gwendolyn didn't already take care of themselves," Lily offered. "Being bested by two firsties in a nine-against-two duel might ruin whatever reputation they have for being the big shots in their House. Polishing armor or trophies won't be nearly as bad as healing from those injuries is either; so punishing them at all might just be pointless – and only get them to hate Al even more than they already do."

"You're probably right, honey," Ginny agreed; "but then by that logic; your father should set most of the prisoners free that he's put in Azkaban."

Lily laughed. "He might need to make the room there if that lot of gits grow up to be a bunch of Dark Wizard bad guys."

"Are there any Dark Wizard good guys?" Harry asked; and Lily laughed again.

"No, not that I've heard of; but you know what I meant." She finished reading the letter while they continued to chat about the events at Hogwarts on Sunday; and then she changed subjects to talk about their plans for the day.

"We'll head over to the Burrow this morning," Ginny advised Lily in answer to her question. "You'll study this morning with your cousins; and then we're taking Fred out to Diagon Alley for a birthday lunch. We'll come over here after that, since he's going to want to play on the new broom that he's likely getting for his birthday right now from your aunt and uncle; and then we'll be going over to George and Angelina's place for his birthday dinner party."

"That all sounds great. Will some of his friends be spending the day with us too?"

"Yes, but your Grandmother took care of that with Angelina; and I didn't ask how many or which friends would be coming. He is having a sleepover with some of his mates too, so if you'd like; maybe we'll bring Roxanne home with us after the party so that she isn't stuck at her house with a bunch of annoying little Wizards."

"Angelina might want to come too," Harry joked. "It sounds as though your day is going to be more fun than mine." He looked at his watch and stood up. "Speaking of that – I need to get to the work parts of my day. Can you handle giving your mother a hand with the clean-up, sweetie? I can't be late today. Minister Shacklebolt's current assistant is even more prickly about keeping on schedule than your Uncle Percy ever was; and I've got a meeting with the Minister of Magic right after the morning workout."

Lily assured him that she'd help; both Witches sent him off with hugs and kisses; and then they all got on with their day.

While the big duel on Sunday was still news on Monday morning; Al was glad to see that his own life was returning to normal. He was able to enjoy his usual morning walk to the Great Hall with Rose; the only change from the normal at breakfast was the bonus glares of hatred from the Slytherin table; and their Professors made sure that they were too busy for idle gossip during their classes during the day. Rose had him do a quick mirror chat with her so that they could wish Fred a happy eleventh birthday and then dutifully admire his new broom and congratulate him for joining the Firestorm club with them. By lunchtime, the gossip network was moving on to new stories and ongoing teen drama updates; and the only part of Al's day that he wished would have changed from the normal was instead annoyingly the same as always.

Louis was ready to push his team hard for their Monday and Wednesday practices; and Victoire gave up most of the senior team practice time to him for both days so that he could work longer with his team. For Al and Rose, that also meant more time being razzed by Ollie and James, and since they also had more time to play great during their scrimmage; that just egged the two boys on to be even harsher with them than usual to try and mess up their plays. There was one more bit of mischief they made for Al that he wasn't happy about; but only because he knew that it wouldn't be good for their team. Louis gave Al, Rose, and the rest of their team that news at the start of their practice on Wednesday.

"I've decided on the final player match-ups that I want to try and get on Saturday with the Ravenclaw players," he began; smiling slightly, but looking serious and focused. "Tiberius, I want you to try and battle against Brandon Graves. He's likely going to be defending hardest for his brother and Gwendolyn, since he does have the family connection to the Weird Sisters – even if their Dad is only a cousin of one of the band members."

"Does that mean that you want me to win that battle and blast Landon and Gwendolyn; or do something else?" Tiberius asked.

Louis smiled ruefully at Al before answering. "I want you to win that battle. Sorry, Al, but that's part of the game; and we need to try and stop their best Chaser."

"And don't worry about what her boyfriend will do to you if you succeed," Brock joked; earning a few laughs.

"I'm a fair swimmer, so I'll be alright," Tiberius shot back; "but thanks for the concern, bro."

"That means that you'll play against Seth Bradley," Louis told Brock next. "If I'm right, and Brandon is to defend their Chasers; you'll need to focus on Peter and Pauline while Tiberius softens up the Chasers."

"I'd rather just focus on Pauline," Brock joked; "but then so would Tiberius."

"And quite a few other second and third-year Wizards," Louis told him. "Daydream about snogging her next week. Between now and Saturday; get ready to try and knock her out of the game – or at least help James out with getting more chances to catch the snitch."

"I won't need the help," James retorted; and Louis shook his head.

"Until you prove otherwise; Pauline is the best junior Seeker at Hogwarts," he told James bluntly. "If you want to be number one; take all of the help you can get from your team mates – you can bet that she will." He took a breath that seemed to be to help him calm down a bit. "I'm going to have Tiberius and Brock play on the reserve team today. We need them to give us a game-day challenge; and they need to be up against the speed that the rest of us have on our Firestorms."

"Works for me," Tiberius answered with a grin; "though I suppose we're not to put any of you in the hospital wing today. That'd mess up this brilliant game plan of yours."

Louis laughed. "All of the usual team practice rules apply," he confirmed. He glanced at Al again; and Al didn't miss the slight change in demeanor as he moved on to the Chaser pairings. "Ollie, we're going to try and put you up against Gwendolyn."

"Strictly in a Quidditch sort of way," James said with a mocking sneer for Al.

"Maybe she'll be more interesting for that sort of thing by next year," Ollie suggested with a leer; "but I won't have the same problem on Saturday as Brock's apparently worried about for himself with Pauline."

"You'll have enough to worry about with trying to keep Gwendolyn from getting too many clean shots in on me," Louis told him; and Ollie laughed.

"I've already promised you that I can handle her easily-enough."

"Why in Merlin's name wouldn't you match Al with Gwendolyn?" Rose asked Louis.

"Because I'm betting on Al doing better against Landon than Gwendolyn will do against Ollie," Louis answered. Al could see that he was only half-convinced of that being the right choice; but then he also wasn't necessarily wrong.

"That makes sense," Rose conceded, "but if it doesn't work out the way you hope for our side; you're going to get a lot of goals scored on you, Louis."

He laughed. "Thanks so much for the vote of confidence, Rose," he teased; and she laughed.

"You've seen Gwendolyn score goals on Belinda," she reminded him. "Since Al didn't play in our last game, though, there's a good chance that Peter won't have a problem with your Chaser match-ups. He definitely won't be ready for Al."

James snorted. "Wands aren't allowed in Quidditch. Al will be lucky to score more than a goal or two."

Rose laughed again. "Let's talk about that brilliant prediction after the game," she suggested; and then turned her attention back to Louis while James scowled at her. "I'm being assigned Mark Goldstein?" she asked him; and Louis nodded.

"Yes, and if Ollie and Tiberius can keep Gwendolyn off of her game; you and al should do pretty well against Mark and Landon." He looked around at his team mates before continuing. "We won't know until Saturday whether what I want will work out in the match, but even if we get everything we want; I'll change things up on the fly if anything isn't working out for us. We'll all also adapt the each play as needed – and try to take adantage of any opportunities that come up." He smiled ruefully. "I'm willing to admt that I think our advantages against Ravenclaw are at Beater and Chaser. If we're going to win; it'll likely e up to you to get us there. Peter and I, and Pauline and James are just too evenly matched; and I'd rather not leave the outcome to luck or some fluke play."

"Gee, thanks for having so much confidence in your best player," James said with a sneer. "I guess that I'll once again have to go out there and prove it to you."

Louis smiled and nodded. "Feel free to do that, but to be clear; my big picture plan is for us to get ahead by more than one-fifty so that it won't matter whether you catch the snitch or Pauline does. Then I'm putting all of my faith in my sisters and the senior team to close the deal on our Quidditch Cup championship."

There was a bit more to talk about and some more bantering; but then they got to work and spent nearly two hours doing what they hoped would be enough to get ready for their game on Saturday. Getting through those last two school days of the week to get to game day seemed to take far longer than it should have for Al and Rose. While Thursday morning began with a bit of birthday fun; that was only a cameo moment where they joined victoire, Dominique, and Louis for the mirror chat that their cousins were having with Teddy to wish him a happy twentieth birthday. He was beginning his special day with a birthday breakfast with Al's parents and sister; so they got to talk with them for a minute too; but then Victoire was eventually left alone so that she could talk with her boyfriend without all of the distractions.

The classwork on Thursday and Friday continued to be intense as the Professors were trying to get through all of the material they needed to cover for each year and also begin getting their students ready for final exams. That was particularly important for the OWL and NEWT year students, since those tests made a huge difference for those students' future; but it was still a big deal for the rest of the tweens and teens – even if maybe a few too many of the younger kids didn't take their school work seriously-enough. Al, Rose, and their group studied as late as they could on Thursday night; could only work until Louis' imposed team curfew for the night before the big game; but still managed to get nearly as much of their weekend work done early as they normally would. Al and Rose were both in bed ahead of curfew; sleeping not long after that; and fired up and ready to go by the time they met up in the common room in the morning for their walk and talk trip to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"It's cloudy out and looks damp," Rose suggested as they passed a window in the hallway.

"We're not supposed to get much rain today, though," Al said with a nod. "If we're lucky; it'll be dry for most of the game too; since it's more likely that the rain they're calling for won't get here until later this afternoon."

"That'd be great. I feel pretty good this morning. Maybe I'm geting over the pre-game jitters already."

"You are a three-game veteran now," Al joked. "This is only my second match; so I'm behind the rest of you for that."

"Sure you are. Other than wishing that Louis had paired you up against Gwendolyn; you're feeling good about our chances today too."

Al grinned at her. "It's totally wrong of me; but I'm also feeling pretty good about how my girlfriend is going to do in that battle against Ollie today."

"She will," Rose agreed. "Let's hope that Louis is right, though, and you have a better game against Landon."

"And that you do well against Mark," Al added. "He's being awfully optomistic about us scoring more than one-fifty more than Gwendolyn and her Chasers, but if we end up having a shoot-out; that isn't impossible."

"Have faith in your big brother," Rose teased. "He's all but guaranteed that he'll win the day for us."

"Just as Ollie is going to demolish Gwendolyn," Al countered. "My biggest problem today is that I want to win; but won't mind watching the Ravenclaw Witches if they take James and Ollie to school today."

"Just don't forget that Ravenclaw will have three wins on the season if we lose, and while Victoire's team is better than Ravenclaw's senior team; anything can happen in Quidditch."

"That's too true," Al agreed; "but let's also hope that none of those Quidditch surprises today include Ollie having a brilliant match against Gwendolyn or James catching the snitch in under a minute for a one-fifty to naught win."

Rose pretended to shudder. "That'd be horrid – and they'd be insufferable after that for months." She followed up the act with a bright smile. "Fortunately for us; we have way more faith in Gwendolyn – and Pauline too if we're being honest."

"James is really good too," Al said; "but he keeps letting his ego blind him to anyone's talent except his own and his best mates."

"Let's change the subject before I stop feeling so good about our chances. How will you handle things with Gwendolyn when we win today?"

"Hug her so that she doesn't have a free wand arm to turn me into a woodlouse," he joked. "We'll be fine as long as it's a good game. One of us will have a party to go to after the game; but I'm hoping that we can still get together after dinner."

"I'd rather have a study session than sit around at a party and listen to James and Ollie brag all night to anyone willing to listen."

"Then let's do that anyway regarless of what happens, and if Gwendolyn and some of our Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends can join us; that's even better."

They talked about that and then moved their chat along to other topics. The Great Hall was just beginning to fill up by then; so they had time to hang out with their friends while waiting for breakfast to appear on the tables. Gwendolyn stopped by on her way to the Ravenclaw table to say good morning to them and share a hug and kiss with Al; and they had quite a few well-wishers stop by to offer their support. Their best friends kept them entertained and relaxed while they all ate; and then Al and Rose met up with Gwendolyn so that they could walk out to the stadium together. Some of the other Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players were heading there at the same time, and Al and Gwendolyn were teased about their good luck hugs and kisses, but Gwendolyn just played that up; and Al was a very happy camper when he followed Rose into the locker rooms that their team was using for the day.

Louis and Tiberius had been among the other players with them, so the four of them got ready together; Brock was only a few minutes behind them; and they were all ready to go by the time that James and Ollie arrived. Louis began his pre-game meeting while they got their pads, gear, and robes on; and then they all went through a warm-up before relaxing again and going over their game plan one more time while they waited for game time. While Al paid attention to Louis and the rest of his team mates too; that break also gave him a bit of time for his own silent musings.

While missing the game against Hufflepuff had turned out to be more good than bad for him, they had still lost that match; and might really need this win. He really was conflicted over that, since a win would mean a big disappointment for Gwendolyn; and yet he was somehow sure that they were both going to have an awesome day. Looking over at James and Ollie, he focused on his inner senses; and didn't get that same feeling about them. Testing that out, he did the same for Rose, Louis, and the McClaggen brothers. The results seemed interesting because he had a good feeling about Rose and Brock; not much one way or the other for Tiberius; and what he sensed with Louis was too mixed to make sense of it. It seemed to take a long time for the stadium to fill with students, Professors, and visitors; but then it was suddenly time to jump into action and head out to 'their' player entrance once it was nearly time for them to be introduced.

"Try not to blow it for us before I catch the snitch," James muttered to Al and Rose; turning his head and speaking quietly-enough that only Ollie, Al, and Rose could hear him.

"Good luck to you too," Al offered; smiling even as James snorted derisively.

"Luck's for losers," he retorted. "You've got Ollie and me to save you even if all of your luck is bad today."

That was the end of the exchange because they were called out into the stadium then; and Louis, Tiberius, and Brock led them out. Although it was overcast, it was decent out; and the stadium was nearly-full. Flying around the stadium next to Rose was as thrilling for Al as it had been the first time; and they had fun as they'd first pass sections where they'd be jeered and then experience the roar of support along the Gryffindor section of the bleachers. That had been brilliant, but then he'd loved getting to stand at center pitch as Gwendolyn took to the air with her team. He thought that she looked amazing; but it was the joy and fierceness in her eyes and the brilliant smile that had his heart leaping with happiness.

Teresa Thomas had been having fun with her pre-game warm-up and introducing the two teams. She'd commented on Al and Gwendolyn, including making a little joke about them; and Al suspected that was why Gwendolyn boldly walked over and shared a quick little hug and kiss with him right there in front of everyone before lining up with her fellow Chasers. That had earned a round of laughs and cat-calls; and even Mr. Peakes was grinning as he started his fair-play speech. That didn't take long; and then they all got ready to take off.

When Mr. Peakes threw the quaffle into the air, Al pushed off quickly; waiting to see whether Ollie or Mark would get to the quaffle first. James buzzed him on his way up; and Al had to swerve to avoid getting a face full of his brother's broomtail. That didn't become a problem for him because he'd been heading toward Landon while Rose covered Gwendolyn until Ollie could, so when Mark used a flip and tail-whip to bat the quaffle to Gwendolyn; he was in position in time to go on defense. That wasn't necesarry for long either because Rose did a flip of her own and used a foot to kick the quaffle to Al. that flip had them both heading in the right direction toward the Ravenclaw goals while Landon, Mark, and Ollie had all made the mistake of assuming Mark's play would work and they'd be heading toward Louois and the Gryffindor goals. Gwendolyn had been right next to Rose, though; so she was right there with them as they blasted toward Peter Boot.

A two-on-one is never easy for the defender, but Gwendolyn made a simple choice – defend against a pass to Rose and let her Keeper deal with Al. He would have done the same thing instead of risking becoming part of the problem for his own Keeper; but then that just made the play that much more fun for him as he flew in closer to both Witches; flanked Gwendolyn's right side as they all swerved toward the left side of the center goals; and then as soon as Peter moved to his own right to stay between them and the goals; Rose rolled and dove under both Gwendolyn and Al while he did a drop pass that she grabbed on the way past going hard to the right while he blocked Gwendolyn from following. Al knew before the quaffle sailed through the right-side goal that Rose would score – and so did Gwendolyn because she stuck out her tongue at him before peeling off behind her own goals to chase after the quaffle before it had even gone through. They'd both laughed, but the game was truly on then; and they each had a job to do.

"Rose Weasley scores the first goal of the match for Gryffindor!" Teresa announced enthusiastically despite the fact that the goal had been against her own House team. "Well done! Gwendolyn McCormack gets to the quaffle first and races away from her own team goals. Ollie Wood comes in to block; she dodges – and passes to Mark Goldstein! She dodges Wood's block; Mark passes back to her; and she's off again with Wood trying to catch up. She closes in on Gryffindor Keeper and Captain Louis Weasley; turns hard left; passes to – No, it's a fake; aa she keeps the quaffle and dives under Wood's broom going the other way. She shoots – and Louis makes the save! He directs the deflection to Rose; and we're off going the other way again! If we get any breaks in the plays; I'll tell you that I'll be using first names for the brothers, sisters, and cousins playing in this game so that we don't all just get confused with which Weasley, Potter, McClaggen, or Boot is doing out there above the pitch – and Rose passes to Wood; he tries to knock McCormack out of the way; and she one-hands her broom while punching the quaffle out of his had – and Al snags it before Landon Graves can get to it! He passes it on to Rose; and Gryffindor keeps the offensive play going!"

A few moments later, Peter Boot made a very good save on Al; and the frenetic pace continued as both teams began to settle into a rhythm. Al didn't know whether Pauline had wanted the same match-ups as Louis did, but as he, Rose, and Ollie tried to keep their Chaser pairings and Tiberius and Brock did the same while still also playing as a proper Beater duo should; the Ravenclaw players didn't try to do very much to change up those pairings. That first quick goal stood as the lone goal for nearly fifteen minutes as Peter and Louis each managed to stop the shots that did get through to them. Al scored the second goal of the game on a stop-and-go play that Rose hit the brakes for to stay out of the goal zone so that Al could take a near hand-off while going the other way while she and Mark effectively blocked Landon from staying with him on the play.

After getting that twenty-point lead; Gryffindor and Ravenclaw then traded two more goals each in the first hour while Louis and Peter put on quite a pair of Keeper duels against their respective Chaser opponents. Rose was the only Chaser with two goals to that point, and while the Seeker battle was fiery; neither James or Pauline actually had any decent shots at catching the snitch. The pace of the game remained blistering throught the second hour, and while the Keepers were still battling hard – and to a tie for that hour; they each gave up 5 goals that favored the Chasers just a bit while keeping Gryffindor's slim lead at just twenty points. At the end of the third hour, both Captains agreed to having a time out so that all of the players could grab power snacks and rehydrate. Once again, they ended that hour with Gryffindor fiercely defending their little lead; but the Keepers again gave up more goals each in that hour than they had in the second hour. That put the score at one-sixty to one-forty; and Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and Ollie were all close together for goals scored each while Al and Rose each had a small edge in assists over the other four Chasers.

The game spectators were never bored as the game rolled along. Teresa was being worn out even faster than the players were, though, so Professor Clearwater recruited Charlotte Entwhistle to help her junior game announcer counerpart by spelling her for a break at about half-way through the fourth hour. That change didn't affect the game at all; and while Ravenclaw closed to within one goal a couple of times and Gryffindor had a three goal lead for all of about two minutes; the fourth hour ended in another deadlock with the same twonty-point lead that Gryffindor had been holding since the first quarter-hour. This time, Louis and Peter gave up nine goals each, though; and the crazy pace of the match was starting to wear out some of the players.

Exhaustion began to set in more quickly for some of the players than others in the fifth hour, and fortunately for Gryffindor; Al and Rose were still going strong while Gwendolyn was the only Ravenclaw Chaser that was able to keep pace with them. Gryffindor scored twelve goals in that hour; with Al earning six of them and Rose getting five. While Ollie had done fairly well against Ravenclaw to that point, if not quite as well against Gwendolyn; she scored six of Ravenclaw's seven goals as her team finally began to fall behind Gryffindor by another fifty points.

All of the players will still going as hard as they could, and with no hint of a major break by either team; Headmistress McGonagall had tables conjured outside of the stadium; and a buffet lunch was served there that all of the game spectators were invited to take breaks so that they could eat instead of waiting until whenever the game did eventually end. That didn't happen in during the sixth hour. After losing the Chaser battle for the fifth hour, Mark and Landon redoubled their efforts during that next hour, but Gryffindor still managed to score six goals to only five for Ravenclaw while Louis and Peter had also turned up their efforts defending the goals. One thing that became clear in that hour was that Ollie wasn't able to keep up with Gwendolyn anymore; and he didn't score any goals while Al and Rose had three each and Gwendolyn had four for her team.

Another time-out was agreed to a few minutes into the seventh hour, and while the players had food and drinks brought to them; that break might have actually broken more than half of the players on both teams. When the game resumed, most of the spectators loved watching Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn put on a show for them, and they were all having a blast as Al and Rose scored seven out of eight of Gryffindor's goals; and Gwendolyn had all six for Ravenclaw. Ollie scored one, but that was thanks to a blown play by Landon near his own goals that allowed Al to throw the quaffle straight to Ollie for an easy, open-goal score while Peter was still getting back into goal after a really great save on Al.

Teddy and Victoire were surely loving the chance to spend nearly the entire day together thanks to her brother, cousins, and their friends; but even the spectators were getting tired as the game blasted into the eighth hour. That was when Al and Gwendolyn both proved that all of the hours they'd spent all year with their extra practices and Chaser duels paid off. Gryffindor started that hour out with a five-hundred-and-ten to three-ninety point score; and their one-twenty lead was getting dangerously close to putting them too far ahead for a snitch catch to matter for Ravenclaw – exactly as Louis had hoped.

Al and Gwendolyn both knew that; and they both kicked their game up several notches. Rose kept up as best she could, but even her extra conditioning wasn't helping anymore; so her contribution to the cause was to go as hard as she could and then pass the quaffle to Al so that he could finish the job against Peter. Landon and Mark tried their best to do the same for Gwendolyn; but their biggest help there was in blocking Al or Rose from getting too many chances to go on defense directly against Gwendolyn. With the other Chasers all gassed and Louis and Peter in equally-bad shape by then; the scoring was frenetic – one goal scored about every two and a half minutes!

Half-way through the eighth hour, Al had scored five goals, he'd managed to set Rose up for two more; and Gwendolyn had scored four of five for Ravenclaw – all of that meaning that Gryffindor was one-forty ahead. Pauline was getting desperate; knowing that her team was running out of time as well as out of gas to keep up the fight at all. The Seeker duel had been just as fierce as the Chaser battles with the Keepers, but Pauline had gotten nearly all of the best chances and James had managed to block her each time; frustrating her to the point of wanting to smack him a few times – especially when he continually badgered her with pointless attempts at distracting her with insults or even a couple of lewd offers that she'd felt were quite inappropriate.

When she suddenly caught sight of the snitch again; she spun around and began racing toward it. James was yet again right there next to her; and he was in a good position to either block her or just simply bump her for the miss. Knowing that she might not get even one more shot before it was too late; she changed angles and began to set up what would be a seriously risky catch attempt. All of her focus was on the snitch and James; and then her spirit soared as he suddenly wasn't there anymore! There wasn't time to wonder whether he'd needed to dodge a bludger or something else happened because she was closing her hand around the snitch less than five seconds later.

"Yes!" she shouted victoriously as she also pulled hard on her broom to turn before getting within crashing distance of the spectators in front of her – the Hufflepuff section; she managed to notice before she was turned back toward the pitch. It took a moment for her to register hearing James shout – "We Win!" even as she saw him speeding right at her; his expression both haughty and elated.

"Thanks for catching that for the loss, loser," he said with a sneer; and she stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"Pauline catches the snitch – for the TIE" they both heard Teresa exclaim as loudly as her hoarse, worn-out voice would allow.

"What!" James roared; wheeling his broom to face the announcer's booth and looking up at the scoreboard in dumbfounded shock.

"That's right, folks," Teresa continued. "For those of you who might have missed it; Al's goal put Gryffindor up by one-fifty; so Pauline's catch ends this match in a tie!"

The roar of the crowd was defeaning in response to that news; but the reactions from the players was wide-ranging, and in one case; the cause for a round of laughter, cheers, and whistles from three sides of the stadium as Gwendolyn celebrated the tie by sharing a fairly long, mid-air hug and kiss with Al. They were around mid-pitch then because Gwendolyn had already been trying to score another goal to cut the lead below one-fifty; so all of the spectators had a very good view of the kiss between the adorable pair.

"Did we win?" Al asked after Gwendolyn let him go while staying close and taking hold of his hand.

"Yes, we did," she confirmed with a happy laugh. "The game ended in a tie; so I'm okay with that too."

"I suppose we need to go and celebrate with our own teams for a bit," he suggested half-heartedly; and Gwendolyn laughed again and squeezed his hand.

"Let's start a new trend; land first; and let our team mates come to us," she suggested. "We're all tired; and I'm ready to get off of this broom right now."

"I love you," Al said quietly; leaned in to hug her one more time; and then they went back to holding hands while flying down to the pitch.

Teresa continued her announcing as the rest of the players on both teams began to make their way to the pitch; though some of them met mid-air first before joining Al and Gwendolyn.

"Final score is five-ninety to five-ninety," Teresa said; her voice now still hoarse; but also at a normal speaking volume. The snitch was caught at the seven hour, thirty-three minute mark by Ravenclaw's Seeker and Captain, Pauline Boot. Gryffindor scored fifty-nine goals; Ravenclaw had forty-four. Gryffindor's Keeper, Louis Weasley faced one hundred and eighty-three shots on goal while Ravenclaw's Keeper, Peter Boot, had two hundred and one shots on goal." Teresa stopped for a moment and took a long drink before continuing.

"With this tie, and the final two Senior team matches still ahead of us; here's the current standings for the Quidditch Cup. Gryffindor is in first place with three wins, one loss, and a tie. Ravenclaw is in second place with two wins, two losses, and the other half of this tie. Hufflepuff and Slytherin each have two-win, three-loss records, so for the sake of the standings, Slytherin is in third place with a minus one-thiry net points while Hufflepuff is in fourth place with a minus six-sixty."

Teresa smiled tiredly. "It's been a very long day and match, so I'm going to leave it up to all of you to have fun with working out the possibilites for the cup race while I go back to my dorm room and have a nap! Charlotte Entwhistle will take over the announcing for the final two senior team matches of the season, and thanks to her for helping me out today, but that's it for me until next season; so have a great rest of the school year and summer; and I'll see all of you again next fall!"

By the time Teresa wrapped up her announcing season, all fourteen players had landed; and the spectators were either heading for the exits or coming out onto the pitch to congratulate their favorite players. While Al and Gwendolyn had been first to land, Rose soon joined them; followed by Landon, Mark, and the two Ravenclaw Beaters, Seth and Brandon. After the shock of the tie had sunk in, James flew over to Louis at the Gryffindor goals to talk wtih him; and Ollie, Tiberius, and Brock joined them there for quite a while before eventually landing – all five boys looking exhausted; though Louis seemed happy-enough while James and Ollie both looked angry and disgusted. On the Ravenclaw side of the pitch, Pauline had met her brother for a mid-air hug and chat before joining their team mates at center pitch for a long round of hugs.

"Would you mind much if I hexed your boyfriend – just a little tiny bit?" Pauline asked Gwendolyn after their shared hug. She was smiling tiredly as Al and Gwendolyn both laughed. "I know that it's my own fault for not hearing that goal being announced or anything else while I was concentrating on trying to catch the snitch; but couldn't you have waited ten bloody seconds to make that shot?"

Al laughed again. "Maybe, but none of us will ever know whether your catch would have worked out if I hadn't scored."

Pauline shook her head as if too clear it. "I'm sure that'll make sense once I'm not so exhausted; though that's another reason why someone ought to blast you. Players are not supposed to get faster the longer a game goes."

"Then it's a good thing that everyone that might want to do that is too tired to bother," Gwendolyn said; still smiling brilliantly."

"Says the only Witch that kept up with Al for the entire match," Rose said. "Congratulations, Pauline. It feels really strange right now to play for this long and end in a tie; but I think that most of us are going to feel really good about it once we've had time to rest up a bit."

"It's pretty great that you've won both of your Seeker duels against James too – and haven't lost a game to him either," Gwendolyn observed quietly; earning grins or laughs from Pauline, Al, and Rose.

"There is that," Pauline agreed. "Considering all of the trash-talking I've put up with for the entire game; it serves him right – especially since his mistake there at the end was even dumber than mine."

"If that's true, then it doesn't seem quite fair that you want to hex Al 'just a little bit' just for scoring a goal and you haven't said anything about doing that to James," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Pauline let out a short, quiet laugh.

"I'm too tired to make sense – or hex anyone for real anyway. We can talk later. Let's get all of this post-game stuff out of the way so that we can go and hit the showers soon."

Pauline moved on, and the team, family, friends, and fans social time continued. All of that was a lot of fun for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; though all of the cameo moments began to blur together. Some of the highlights included Victoire and Teddy happily thanking them for giving them the chance to spend more than eight hours together; and they'd even apparently had a picnic lunch by the lake – not that any of the players had noticed their absence. Al's and Rose's older cousins had all stopped by to congratulate them; and the chats with all of their best friends had been great too as they happily shared the joy with them. There wasn't a single Slytherin to be found anywhere on the pitch, but all of the Hufflepuff players on both the junior and senior teams stopped by to congratulate their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw rivals.

While Teresa had announced the usual top-line stats at the end of the game, and the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players hadn't even thought about working out all of the personal stats; they had lots of fan-friends willing to do that – and pass on those bits of news to them. For the match, Gwendolyn was top scorer with twenty-six goals to Al's twenty-four, and Rose's nineteen as the top three Chasers. While Gwendolyn was happy about that, Al was tops for scorer rating at plus-fifteen against Landon; while Rose and Gwendolyn tied for second at plus-ten. Because Gwendolyn scored more than half of the Ravenclaw goals; Al and Rose were both far ahead of her for assists on goals with twenty-nine for Al and twenty-six for Rose. There was one other stat for the entire season that was great news to both Al and Gwendolyn, and while it was still unofficial, she'd scored sixty-two goals over her three matches; and that was going to be enough to give her the scoring title for the junior teams – fifty points ahead of Scorpius Malfoy; according to Tory Summers.

The post-game fun out on the pitch did eventually wrap up; which meant that Al and Gwendolyn had to split up to go to their respective locker rooms. Up to that point, James and Ollie had completely ignored Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose – and stayed about as far away from them as they could without just leaving the pitch. Unfortunately for Al and Rose, though; they couldn't avoid them anymore while getting out of their team robes and Quidditch gear.

"You're such a loser," James told Al as he and Ollie flopped down onto the bench across from where Al and Rose had left their gear bags. Since the two boys had needed to move their bags; sitting there had obviously been intentional. "Only a true loser would look that happy about not winning a match."

"Why shouldn't most of us be happy?" Al countered. "A tie's nearly as good as a win in the race for the Qudditch Cup for Gryffindor."

James snorted derisively. "Sure, unless we lose that last game." He stopped and glared at Al. "What'd you mean by 'most of us?"

Al shrugged. "I doubt that you're happy about Pauline beating you to the snitch, and while Ollie had a pretty good game, once he got tired out; Gwendolyn pretty much ran circles around him for the last two and a half hours."

"It's your fault that Pauline caught the snitch," james retorted angrily; and that had Al and Rose both laughing at him.

"Sure, because it's Al's fault that you can't count," Rose shot back. "That is what happened, right? You thought that you could back off and somehow forgot that you needed to keep fighting until we were at one-sixty; not one-fifty."

"You're one to talk. What were you – the seventh-best Chaser out there today? Maybe if you'd played a bit better; we wouldn't have to worry about whether Victoire's team can win their game or not."

Rose shook her head and just looked disgusted and tired now. "Go get some sleep, James. You just sound like a total idiot now."

"Does the truth hurt?" Ollie asked. "Will you go and cry to your Mommy and tell them that your big, mean cousin is hurting your feelings?"

"She just doesn't want to brag," Al told them. "For the record, though, she was third-best for scoring; tied for second with Gwendolyn for net-scoring at plus-ten; and second for assists on goals with twenty-six." He had a smile for Rose before returning his attention to James and Ollie. "Rose thinks you're being an idiot, James, because Gryffindor is currently at plus eight-seventy for net points. Ravenclaw is at minus-eighty. Even if they win and tie us with a three-win, two-loss, and one-tie record; do either of you seriously believe that they could out-score Victoire's team by more than four hundred and seventy-five points to swing the tie-breaker in their favor? Against your sister, Ollie?"

"Anything can happen in Quidditch," James declared stubbornly; and even Ollie gave him a side-long look for that one.

It was Al's turn to shake his head. He stood up; and so did Rose. "Let's go and hit the showers," he suggested to her; though that's what Rose was already grabbing towels, a change of clothes, and her bathroom kit to go and do.

"Are you going to do that together in the Witches' shower room?" James asked.

"Whatever will your girlfriend say when she finds out about that?" Ollie added with a leer for Rose.

"She'll say that you're a pair of gits for even suggesting something that absurd," Rose answered before Al could offer a similar opinion. "Just in case I'm lucky enough not to have to talk to either of you again today; congratulations. I think that everyone on both teams played a really great game today – including both of you." She smiled at Ollie. "Gwendolyn might have out-lasted you, but you did get sixteen goals; and that's your best game of the season." Turning her attention to James, she added – "and you battled a really good Seeker for seven and a half hours. You and Pauline both played your best; we've done our part to put Gryffindor in a great place for the Quidditch Cup race; and I honestly don't get why you can't be happy with that for yourselves – and for the rest of us."

James laughed scornfully. "How about because if the two of you hadn't messed up the entire season for us; Gryffindor would've had five wins right now instead of three and a tie; and we'd be celebrating our Quidditch Cup win without needing the last match at all. Do Ollie and me a favor and retire from Quidditch right now. You both suck at it."

"You tried," Al told Rose with a wry smile and shrug before turning to look at James and Ollie. "Leave us alone for the rest of the day – or week – or until we head home after exams in June. We're seriously sick of the both of you."

"And what'll you do if we don't?" Ollie said with a sneer that just had Al grinning at them.

"Here's a hint – how long can you tread water?"

With that said, and as Rose laughed happily; they walked away toward the shower rooms – and ignored the glares and insults that James and Ollie hurled at them as they left. Al was first in to grab a shower; James and Ollie were just heading in when he was leaving after making his shower a short one; and that worked for him because he was able to finish packing up his gear bag and dealing with his laundry in time to leave before either boy was back from taking much longer showers. Rose had done the same thing, though her hair took a bit longer to take care of before she joined Al in the main locker room again. When they left, they went around to the other locker room and waited for Gwendolyn to meet up with them. She must have expected that al and Rose would want to make a quick getaway from James and Ollie because they only had to wait about five minutes; and Gwendolyn and Landon were the first two Ravenclaws out.

"This hug should be nicer for both of us," Gwendolyn teased as she stepped up close to Al. "We were all a bit fragrant right after the game. It's a wonder we didn't scare everyone off just from the smell."

"I thought that the mid-air hugs and kissses were brilliant," Al told her; and then grinned. "Were you downwind and only wanted the hug to protect your nose?"

"No comment," she teased. "Let's get going. I'm seriously ready to get some food now. There's no way I can wait until dinnertime." Al reached into an outer pocket on his gear bag and pulled out a chocolate bar that he handed to her.

"Would you like one too, Landon?" he asked; and then got another one out when he nodded and said – "Yes, thanks."

"Aren't you going to offer one to Rose?" Gwendolyn asked. "If you only had the two; we can share."

"He's already given me two of them," Rose advised her. "James and Ollie were being their normal selves in our locker room. The chocolate helped make it easier to swallow all of their idiocies."

"Two bars would've only been enough to deal with them form me if they'd been large-enough to smack them up the side of the head with," Gwendolyn told them. "Pauline let me know about a few of the things James said to her during their Seeker duel; and he's not just a total git – he's a hippogriff-sized pig."

"Do we even want to know?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"No, you don't; but I can tell you that Pauline said that he was even worse than the Slytherins were with both of us during our match with them. The only real difference is that he didn't try to cheat with a bunch of cheap shots or fouls."

Al shook his head. "We'd better change the subject. How are your team mates doing?"

Gwendolyn smiled. "Good, but probably not as good as all of the Gryffindor players on both teams should be doing now." She laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Were you hoping that we wouldn't do the Arithmancy yet for the Quidditch Cup race? Our senior team will try their very best anyway; but we know that we're not going to get a blow-out against Belinda even if we do manage an underdog win."

"Your junior team is tops for our half of the race," Rose pointed out; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"True, and that does feel pretty good; but our House would really like to win a Quidditch Cup some year soon. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor have been hogging it just a bit lately."

"That's probably true," Rose conceded; "but Al and I do plan on trying to keep the Quidditch Cup with Gryffindor while we're here."

They continued to talk Quidditch while they walked back to the castle; Al and Gwendolyn shared a short goodbye hug and kiss when it was time to split up for their own Houses; and then Al and Rose took their gear bags up to their dorm rooms before joining their friends in the common room for the party already in progress. They likely should have waited for the rest of their team and arrived together, but since they really didn't want to be around James and Ollie; they didn't feel bad about doing that – and didn't mind being hidden in the crowd when Louis did eventually lead James, Ollie, and the McClaggens into the common room. They were greeted with a roar of cheers that was Gryffindor lion-worthy; and then the party kicked up several notches as they celebrated both a really awesome Quidditch match and their all-but-certain Quidditch Cup victory.

After playing Quidditch for nearly the entire day, Al and Rose weren't really able to get into the mood to party; and they were glad that the first part of the fun didn't last long before they all needed to be in the Great Hall for dinner. Since they returned to their dorm rooms to grab their book bags for the post-dinner study session with their friends, they were able to avoid even more of the partying; and they were also past-ready to eat a real meal by the time the food arrived on the tables in the Great Hall.

Since they really were more interested in eating than anything else for most of that meal; Al and Rose were good with letting their friends provide most of the entertainment for them. While their dinner chat began with a discussion of the Harpies' blowout win over the Cannons; most of their dinnertime entertainment came from the stories about everything that had gone on at the stadium and around the school grounds during the game. Rose was particularly happy to hear about all of the teen drama-type gossip that players never get to witness or hear about until after the games. That was all fun; and then Al was even happier when Gwendolyn met up with them after they'd all finished having dessert so that they could go to their usual study classroom and spend the evening together with the few friends that decided to join them instead of going back to the parties in either the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw common rooms.

That couple of hours was both productive and entertaining; Al and Gwendolyn went for a slightly extended walk when it was time to head back to their Houses; and then they wrapped up their day with a long goodnight hug and several kisses. When Al got back to his House, he checked in with Rose and their friends; talked with them for ten minutes or so; and then headed up to his dorm room. He then got ready for bed; had a bedtime mirror chat with Lily that included trading Quidditch stories for both his game and tha Harpies-Cannons match that she'd apparently watched with Hugo in the Cannons section; and then he crashed into unconsciousness for the rest of the night.

Scorpius Malfoy had studying on his mind when he went to the Room of Requirements on Saturday night – though that wasn't so that he could work on his weekend revision. What he did want was a chance to blow off some steam and preferrably do that while learning new ways to destroy things.

"I suppose that you'll be reporting that Gryffindor won the Quidditch match today; and that the Potter boys played brilliantly," Thomas offered once Scorpius had his portrait on the table and Thomas could see his face. "You look as though you're ready to explode; and not with happiness and joy."

"Actually, Gryffindor didn't win; and the Ravenclaw Seeker beat James Potter to the snitch," Scorpius answered. "What was truly ridiculous is that they played for seven and a half hours only to end the match in a tie after both Seekers made stupid mistakes. Potter thought that a goal that had just been scored finally put them far-enough ahead that it didn't matter anymore which of them caught the snitch; and the Ravenclaw Seeker, Pauline Boot, apparently didn't hear the goal announcement while racing for the snitch; and went ahead anyway to make the catch after Potter peeled away and gave up the chase."

"After that long, mistakes are to be expected," Thomas counselled. "Sitting in that stadium for so long would have been uncomfortable, but the match was likely interesting if it was that competitive; so there must be something else bothering you tonight."

"Albus Potter had an excellent match, so you can imagine how well that's going over in my House today," Scorpius said next, "but I'm fairly annoyed that Gwendolyn McCormack played so well for Ravenclaw, and scored so many goals that she's won the junior teams' scoring title when I was so certain that I would earn that one award – and at least be a small consolation for playing on a team that hasn't fared well despite my efforts." Thomas laughed; and Scorpius scowled at him darkly.

"I mean no offense," Thomas assured him; "but do you not see a lesson there that ought to be one that you must learn – and that I, unfortunately, learned far too late?"

Scorpius sighed and allowed his shoulders to slump as he relaxed after tensing in reaction to the laughter. "Over-confidence can lead to unexpected defeat."

"Exactly," Thomas agreed, "and in this case; that happened from a direction that you didn't even anticipate. That, by the way, was a lesson that your aunt learned too late as well."

"My parents and grandparents have contempt for the Weasleys too; but I do not understand that. All of the Weasley cousins here are top students, and while I've only witnessed Rose Weasley using magic in our Charms class; they must all be reasonably talented."

"Your Mother and Aunt both forgot one small detail that I do recall – that particular part of the Weasley family are cousins of yours through the Black family."

"What?" Scorpius exclaimed; and Thomas smiled and nodded.

"You obviously did not know this. Have your parents told you that you're the last of both the Black and Malfoy families?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Is that yet another lie?"

"One of ommision, I suspect," Thomas answered. "For them, that is absolutely true – but only because the Weasley kids that you attend Hogwarts with are descended from a Black family cousin that was disowned by her family."

"Her?" Scorpius asked; changing tracks when he was about to say something else. "I thought that my Grandmother's cousin, Sirius, was the only member of the Black family to be disowned – and I've only been told about him because of his involvement in the war. My Grandparents believe that his death was a greatt victory for their side – your side."

"In this case, for you, the cousin connection goes back five or six generations to the root; though the Black family cousin in question here was part of your Great-Great-Grandfather's generation for you and their Great-Grandmother was one of the youngest cousins. Sirius Black was not the only member of the family to be disowned."

"But that would make James and Albus my cousins too – through their mother!" Scorpius exclaimed; and Thomas nodded.

"Does that put new light on some of the things that have happened since last September?"

"They're also direct descendants from two of the oldest pureblood families," Scorpius said thoughtfully; his furstration and anger from earlier now forgotten. "It's really no wonder at all why they'd have strong magical talent."

"Remember that the same can be said for you," Thomas reminded him, "and while raw power is not everything; it does count for much." He smiled again. "Since we are speaking of these things, and to make certain that you are aware of the full truth; these Weasleys and Potters are not your only surviving Black cousins."

"There are more?" Scorpius exclaimed. "What else have my parents not told me about this?"

You have a great-aunt – your grandmother's other sister; Andromeda. She too was disowned; in her case for marrying a Mudblood. Her daughter was an Auror during the war, and while I don't know the child's name; we did learn that she had a child with her husband, Remus Lupin, before they died here at the Battle of Hogwarts while defending the castle against my army."

"Lupin?" Scorpius asked. "That's the name I've heard for Victoire Weasley's boyfriend. Teddy Lupin. He's an Auror-trainee; and was apparently a very good Quidditch player for Hufflepuff while he was a student here."

"If he is still an Auror-trainee, then that would make him about the right age," Thomas advised him."

"He was at the game today; and apparently just turned twenty sometime last week." Scorpius stopped then and stared at Thomas; his eyes widening. "The twentieth anniversary of the end of the Battle of Hogwarts is in four days!"

"Is it?" Thomas asked. "I haven't really felt the need to keep track of time lately." That last part was said with a wry smile; and Scorpius laughed; and then seemed to regret doing that. "It is quite alright," Thomas assured him. "I no longer have any feelings at all about the date of my demise. That sort of thing is something for the living."

"I'll hopefully get to just take your word for that for very long time," Scorpius said; "but the Professors are likely to make a big deal of the anniversary, so if you'd like; I'll try to come here that night and let you know what happens."

Thomas shrugged. "You can do that if anything interesting happens; but I'm always happy to spend time with you. We've been talking for quite a while now. Do you still have time for a lesson; or should you be getting back to your House soon?"

His reminder of what Scorpius had most-wanted to do immediately grabbed his attention, and while he no longer had a lot of time for that lesson; they both enjoyed moving on to do that for as long as they could before Scorpius needed to leave the Room of Requirements – and Thomas was again left in darkness until whenever they'd next be able to get together for their next visit.

Even though their Quidditch season was finished, it was a really decent day on Sunday, so one of the highlights of the day for Al and Gwendolyn was a Chaser duel that they followed up with some quiet music time that combined to keep them busy and having fun all afternoon. Their morning was pretty good too; but they also joined their friends for a study session to help out with a bit of tutoring even though they'd pretty much finished all of their work by then. They were able to use some of that time to play with their magic; and their friends really appreciated the tutoring help when they needed it most. Compared to the excitement on Saturday, the last half of their weekend was quiet; and their Sunday night ended that way too because Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went to the library after dinner; wrote letters for home; and then they stopped in to the Owlry to send them off with Winter.

"How long has it been since James has even visited with Storm, let alone sent him out anywhere?" Rose asked as she fed the beautiful owl some treats. "I know that they get to fly and have some exercise; but that isn't the same as going on longer trips – and getting the attention and love they need." She smiled at Storm. "If I reach in and try to give you some love, will you play nice; or do you really only love me back because Al, Gwendolyn, and I bring you treats way more often than James does?"

"I don't know how long it's been since James has sent a post with Winter," Al answered as he and Gwendolyn were spending time with Winter while getting her ready to go – and before sending her out. "Would you like to talk to him and offer to borrow Storm for a trip?"

Rose laughed. "After yesterday; I'd rather not talk to James until he gets over himself – however long that takes." She jerked her hand back and laughed again when Storm gave her a little nip. "If you'd been there yesterday; you wouldn't be defending him," she told the owl. "You still have nearly two more months to go; but then we'll be home for the summer; and I'm sure that Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny will make sure that you have more fun than you've likely been having around here."

"I guess you're ready to go, Winter," Al told his owl once he had the post case that Gwendolyn had given him attached securely. "Give Mum, Dad, and Lily our love; and we'll see you again sometime later this week. You don't have to hurry back if you want to go out and play for a few days."

"Don't tell her that around Storm – he'll get jealous," Rose warned.

"I'm jealous," Gwendolyn joked. "It's so not fair that owls get to have all of that freedom; yet firsties can't even leave the school grounds unless it's for holidays or an emergency."

"Aren't you getting enough excitement around here to keep you busy?" Rose teased. "I'm not saying that I wish we could stay here year-round; but I am really going to miss being able to do magic whenever I want while we're at home for holidays until we're seventeen."

"At least you won't be stuck with someone like James or Ollie around your house all summer," Gwendolyn offered with a smile for Al. "Al could end up being grounded and banned from Quidditch for life if James keeps actiing the way he has been the whole time we're home."

"This is where you tell us that you're not going to do anything like that ever again," Rose advised Al after he didn't respond at all.

"Maybe, but I'd be lying if I said that. When it comes to James, the odds are stacked against me; since I feel like blasting him nearly every time he talks to any of us."

"He has that effect on a lot of Witches and Wizards," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement. "I'm getting tired, so if you don't mind; let's get out of here and call it a night."

While it probably felt a bit awkward to Rose, they all walked to the Ravenclaw entrance; Al and Gwendolyn shared a short little goodbye hug and kiss; and then he and Rose went on to their own House. They spent a bit of time in the common room with their friends; and then split up to head for their own dorm rooms. After getting ready for bed, Al had every intention of having a mirror chat with his parents and Lily, but he closed his eyes to rest for a few minutes first; and was out for the count until morning.

Monday was the last day of April, and while most of the students at Hogwarts very likely hadn't paid any attention at all to the approach of the anniversary for the Battle of Hogwarts; they were all aware of it first thing in the morning because announcements were posted around the school that notified them of a sunrise memorial service that was being held in the Great Hall on Wednesday. The reactions to that news was mixed to be sure for the teens; but they soon found out that their Professors were generally all in a very somber mood. That was especially true for the veterans of that battle, and while the classwork and lessons continued as normal; the main change was in the atmosphere.

That news and the change of mood among their Professors had a big impact on Al, Rose, and their cousins – including James; though most of their friends likely didn't notice that with him. Al was particularly sensitive and more observant; so he knew that nearly every kid of a war veteran at the school was spending time thinking about what had happened there twenty years ago; and likely wondering what that must have been like for their parents and loved ones. With Quidditch season finished for them, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their Quidditch playing friends had more time on their hands now too; though that only gave Al and Rose more time to wrestle with their feelings and thoughts. On both Monday and Tuesday, they did afternoon study sessions with their full usual group; worked again after dinner on Monday night too; but took Tuesday night off. Al and Gwendolyn went to spend the early evening after dinner on their own; and Rose got together with some of her girlfriends and spent a quiet evening in her dorm room. While she was doing that, Al and Gwendolyn ended up going to their study classroom; where they sat at one of the work tables; held hands; and talked quietly about a past that they were too young to have personally witnessed.

"This whole day has felt surreal to me," Al said quietly; smiling just a bit as he looked at Gwendolyn. "Twenty years ago tonight, this castle was at the heart of a war zone. People that our parents and families knew and loved died right here fighting Voldemort and his army; yet you'd never know that from walking around here today."

"Your Mum lost a brother; and you lost an Uncle that you never even got to meet," Gwendolyn commiserated gently.

"And Teddy lost both parents," Al added. "The list goes on and on for the losses that must have been devastating for people that we know and love. I'd say that I can't imagine what it must've been like; but that's all I've been doing for the past day or two – imagining what it would be like if that war was happening right now with us instead of with our parents and grandparents." Gwendolyn let out a laugh that was startling in volume compared to their quiet conversation to that point; she leaned in for a quick hug; and then smiled ruefully.

"Sorry, but the first thing that popped into my head when you said that was a picture of you confronting Voldemort and asking him if he knew how long he could tread water."

"I've had my share of strange thoughts too," Al volunteered. "For instance, last night I was wondering why there aren't any new ghosts at the castle – or at least there aren't any that I've heard about."

"That's a really good question," Gwendolyn said thoughtfully. "Is Moaning Myrtle the only ghost residing here that also died here? For the fighters on our side; I'd like to hope that all of them were able to find peace in the light; but that doesn't explain why there isn't even one ghost from Voldemort's side – or Merlin forbid it; the Dark Lord himself. He died in the Great Hall." She smiled when she saw the expression on Al's face. "You have an idea for why there aren't any ghosts from that battle."

"I did come up with an idea as I thought about it – and it's the same one that you just mentioned."

Gwendolyn looked confused for a moment; and then she smiled and hugged him again. "The sacrifices for the light," she said confidently. "It's an interesting idea; though I have no idea whether something like that can affect the spirit world or not."

"Me either," Al admitted; "but it is nice to think that Teddy's parents, my Uncle Fred, and the others are somehow watching over us and keeping us safe."

"Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff students would agree with you on that; but I've also been wondering what most of the Slytherins are thinking about the anniversary tomorrow. For them, having our side win the war was the beginning of the downfall for their families – at least for the families that fought with Voldemort."

"I can guess," Al answered; "but let's not go there – it's a very dark and scary place."

"Let's not," Gwendolyn agreed. "It's too easy to have dark thoughts tonight." She pause for a moment of hesitation. "You must be planning on talking with your parents tonight. Could we do that now? I'd really like to help you out with reminding them that the bad things that happened to them that they're surely thinking about tonight were worth enduring for what we all have now."

"I'd like that a lot," Al said approvingly. "Let's do that."

He got his mirror out of his robe pocket; made the call; and then they had a really amazing mirror chat with Harry, Ginny, and Lily. They shared some tears, a few laughs, and a lot of love; Harry and Ginny told them a couple of stories from the Battle of Hogwarts; and then they wrapped up their chat not long before it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to get back to their Houses for the night. Al walked her 'home'; they shared a long hug and just one short, sweet kiss; and then he hurried back to the Gryffindor common room. He was ready for bed by then, but before going up to his dorm room to get some sleep; he made sure that he checked in with all of his cousins to make sure that they each knew that he loved them. That sometimes got him teased by their friends, but surprisingly; most of them seemed to understand – especially the friends that had come to know their parents; or had their own family connections to the war and Battle of Hogwarts.

The memorial service was actually beginning about a half-hour before sunrise, so Al was up quite a bit earlier than even his usually-early start to his weekdays on Wednesday morning. He was first up in his room, but there were already some of the older boys in the washrooms grabbing showers by the time he was there. Knowing that most of the Gryffindor students would be going to the service, he took a very short shower; spent extra time getting dressed up for the occasion; and then headed down to the common room to wait for Rose and any of their friends that were ready to go to the Great Hall whenever she was ready too. That ended up being nobody else because, for a change, she beat him there and wanted to get going as soon as he joined her there so that they could still have their usual morning walk and talk.

While Al was good with doing that, it really didn't feel as if anything was normal as they left the common room. When Rose didn't head for the Great Hall the way that they'd normally been going there lately as the risks from James and Ollie trying to prank them had dropped; he knew where she wanted to go first. All of their Uncle Fred's nieces and nephews had been told the stories about the uncle they'd lost at the battle, and as far as Al knew; they'd all found out one way or another the spot where he'd been killed. That was where Rose led him; and they talked about the mirror chats they'd each had with their respective parents along the way.

"I knew that there'd be flowers here," Rose said with an approving nod when they reached the place and they saw the bouquet of flowers that had been set onto the nearest window alcove. She stepped closer; and then Al was there and hugged her when he sensed the emotions overwhelming her. "In loving memory of Fred Weasley," she said aloud in a tear-choked voice; reading the simple message on the thank-you card. "It doesn't say who sent them – or put them here."

"I'll guess that the Professors did this; though they might have had donations from the families too. Let's keep an eye out for other flowers. If they put these here; then there are likely flowers set out for other memorials in the places where they know any of the other fighters were killed."

"Then ther'll be lots of flowers in the Great Hall; the entrance; and even out around the grounds," Rose suggested. "I feel so sad today. I suppose that doesn't make any sense, since I didn't know any of the Witches and Wizards that died here; but I feel it all the same."

"I feel that way too," Al assured her; and then smiled. "Gwendolyn reminded me last night that we're a part of the better lives that everyone fought for here, and even though we lost out on some things too – like never getting to know our Uncle Fred; everything that was sacrificed here did lead to exactly the kind of future that our families hoped to make fur us."

Rose had teared up again; and she hugged Al tightly for a long minute. "Your girlfriend is really quite amazing. You should seriously think about keeping her."

Al laughed happily. "I am a Wizard, so there's a high risk that I'll mess up with her now and then; but I'll do my best to do just that," he promised.

"Your best will likely be enough – even when you do mess up," Rose predicted. "Let's get going. We don't want to be late for the Memorial service."

They did that, but hadn't needed to worry about being late. There were some students in the Great Hall already, along with a few Professors; but then it really didn't take long before the hall began to fill very quickly as most of the students arrived in one steady wave that almost seemed like a processional. The dining tables were all in their normal places; but there were extra tables set up at the front of the hall; and a small lecturn had been placed a few feet in front of the Professors' tables. As Rose had suggested, there were flower arrangements set up around the hall; and the room was lit by candle light with just a hint of the pre-dawn light visible through the windows.

Al and Rose were the first of their group of friends to take their usual seats; so they were also the unofficial welcoming committee as Ray, Bristol, and the rest of the firsties caught up with them. While some of the Professors had been in and around the hall when they'd first arrived; they all left a few minutes before the service was to start; and the students soon found out that was because they were all part of a processional that Minister of Magic Shacklebolt led; and included all of the Professors, a small contingent of Witches and Wizards from the Ministry of Magic, and a handful of veterans from the war and the Battle of Hogwarts.

That slow walk down the center aisle from the main doors to the front of the hall took about five minutes – including having all of the participants except Headmistress McGonagall take their seats; and then she stepped up to the lecturn and began the service. After welcoming everyone, McGonagall began the service by telling her students about the Battle of Hogwarts; her version of the story subtly different from the one written in their History textbooks thanks to her own personal experiences. Professor Longbottom took over after that and read out the names of every fighter that was lost at the Battle of Hogwarts – for those that fought against Voldemort and his army. Those solemnly-spoken names evoked tears from most of his cousins; and Al kept an arm around Rose for most of that part of the service while she leaned against him and mostly wept for the losses and sadness that their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles had endured.

Losing loved ones had just been part of that, and as Al watched Professor Longbottom and some of the other veterans; he found that he could sense what felt like varying degrees of pain from them. As he focused on that, it wasn't memories in any sense of that word; but he found that he could distinguish between physical, mental, and spiritual pain – and knew that almost all of the veterans in the room had been left with scars from each one of those groups – and that all of them were very real injuries. Some of those injuries hadn't healed, and might always be with them; but one other thing that he sensed was that nearly all of these war heroes carried those scars with quiet dignity and honor.

Professor Longbottom gave up the lecturn to Minister Shacklebolt, and his contribution to the ceremony was a message of hope that rose to a finale that coincided with the first rays of sunrise brightening the hall – just as that had happened twenty years ago when Al's father ended the war with his victory over Voldemort. The awesome truth of that fact hit Al hard at that moment too, and while there was still sadness too; he felt a fierce pride for his parents, grandparents, and the rest of his amazing family. There was a strong sense of duty that went along with that realisation; though he'd felt that way about his own place in his family for as long as he could remember.

Minister Shacklebolt finished his message; and then Headmistress McGonagall shared a few closing comments with everyone before the Minister of Magic led the recessional out of the hall; and the students were free to leave again until it was time for breakfast. Nearly everyone had dressed up in their best dress robes, and didn't bring book bags along to the service; so there was an exodus to the four Houses; and Al and Rose stayed with their friends as they went to get changed and grab everything they needed for their Wednesday morning classes. Al had been able to see Gwendolyn for a minute as they crossed paths on the way out of the Great Hall, but they only shared a short hug and promises to meet up and talk before breakfast instead of trying to do that so soon after the mostly-solemn Memorial service had ended.

Getting changed and grabbing book bags hadn't taken long, and the mood of the students was still fairly somber when Al met up with Gwendolyn in the entrance hall; but it did feel okay to share a hug and short kiss as they stepped away from the main traffic area between the stairways and entrance to the Great Hall so that they could talk for a few minutes. Rose, Bristol, and Ray stayed with them for that; while the rest of their friends went on ahead of them to take their seats at the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw tables. It wasn't as though they had a lot to talk about, but Gwendolyn wanted to make sure that Al and Rose were okay. When they saw Victoire head into the Great Hall with her friends; they collectively decided to go and wish her a Happy Birthday, and though Al again had mixed feelings about that; it also felt like the right thing to do despite the solemnity of the day – something that Victoire had dealt with on her birthday every year.

"Happy Birthday, Victoire!" all five of them chorused softly once they'd caught up with her. She was sitting down already; and smiled as she turned to face them and receive the pair of small gifts that Al and Rose had out of their bags and ready to give to her by then.

"Thanks, guys," she answered just as quietly. "How are you doing?"

"Better, now that we have a chance to spend a minute or two with the one person in our entire family that gives us a reason to be happy today," Al answered; smiling as he thought about how true his grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles believed that sentiment to be.

Victoire laughed. "You sound like your father – and Teddy; since he basically told me nearly the same thing when I talked with him a little while ago before the Memorial service." She looked down at the gifts she was now holding. "Would you mind if I save these and open them a bit later? It feels a bit strange to do that now."

"Sure," Al agreed, "but if you get an Owl Post from James; be very careful with it. He's been known to send Howlers for birthday gifts."

Victoire had another quiet laugh; but shook her head. "Not even James would do something like that today," she disagreed.

"We can hope," Rose said doubtfully. "How's Teddy? We saw him last year on the anniversary; and it seemed to be as hard on him as it is for Grandma and Grandpa – and all of our Mums and Dads." She looked sad. "I'm sure that Al and I had seen him on other anniversaries before he started at Hogwarts, but we were too young then; and I don't remember any of those anniversaries at all."

Victoire smiled. "I know that he was at least half-lying to me; but Teddy assured me that today has been the best one ever-so-far because of me."

"Your boyfriend lies to you?" Gwendolyn asked with wide eyes and a pretend frown for Al. "Should I get him to have a talk with Al about that; or get Al to have a talk with him?"

This time, Victoire's laugh was happy, heart-felt, and loud-enough to get the attention of quite a few of the teens around them. "Thanks so much, Gwendolyn. That laugh might just be one of the best gifts I'll get today."

"You're welcome," Gwendolyn assured her; "though I really hope that Teddy one-ups me on that with the gifts he sends for you."

Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn each had hugs for Victoire before moving on and letting her get back to talking with her friends; and then Gwendolyn went over to the Ravenclaw table while Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray joined their friends and waited for breakfast to be served. That little birthday moment with Victoire was pretty much the only part of their morning that could be considered fun; and they had yet another fairly somber day while in classes and studying. Dominique, Louis, and some of Victoire's friends put on a very modest birthday party for her in the Gryffindor common room that Al and Rose attended with their cousins and the rest of the well-wishers, but to make sure that there wasn't a big, noisy party; they did that shortly before dinner instead of in the evening when something like that could get inappropriately out of hand.

Life began to return to normal at Hogwarts on Thursday, and that was partly because the first round of the playoffs for the Quidditch league championships was on Saturday; and the Quidditch fans for the eight teams to make the playoffs were all getting very excited about the four matches that could be a first step toward winning a championship or the end of the line for their favorite teams – at least for this season. Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and Ray were as excited about the playoffs as any other Quidditch fan; and they made plans on Thursday and Friday to watch the Harpies' game together instead of doing that seperately in their own common rooms. All of their friends were invited to join them if they were willing to watch the game on the portable mirrors that they'd be able to use in their usual study classroom instead of on the big mirrors in the common rooms.

All of the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor Harpies' fans accepted the invitations; so the next job they had for setting up their little game-watching party was to round up enough snacks and drinks for everyone while also putting in extra study time on Thursday and Friday nights so that they could get their weekend assignments finished on Saturday morning and be able to take the rest of the day and weekend off. With Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose coordinating all of that, they did accomplish all of those tasks; so they had a very happy group of firsties – along with a few second-year friends – when they gathered in their study classroom after lunch and got ready to watch the Harpies' game against the fifth-place Tutshill Tornadoes. They were going to keep an eye on the other matches too; but they only used one of the portable mirrors for that; and they kept the volume on that one turned down so that it didn't get in the way of the main event.

Puddlemere United, the Wasps, and the Prides had all ended the season ahead of the Harpies; but Al and Gwendolyn both believed that their team had drawn one of the better match-ups against the Tornadoes while United probably had the worst one against the eighth-place Falcons. The Falmouth team was bad-enough during the regular season, but they had a reputation for playing even harder and dirtier during the playoffs; and that was an even bigger problem for the teams that faced them because they didn't even always care if they had the top score at the end of the match. For the Falcons; they could still win even in a loss if they beat up the other team badly-enough to all but take them out of the playoffs with them if they couldn't actually come out on top on the scoreboard too.

The Harpies' match ended up being a strange one; mostly because of how it came to an abrupt, unexpected end. While Gabrielle had been in a very tough Seeker duel, her Chasers had fairly steadily been building up a lead over the Tornadoes. The Harpies had been leading by a score of two-eighty to just one-twenty for the Tornadoes when their Seeker apparently temporarily lost his mind while battling Gabrielle for the snitch. Instead of simply defending the play when she'd made an attempt to catch it, he instead went full-out and won their duel by catching the snitch; and then earned a roar of disapporval from his team mates and the Tornadoes fans when they all realized that his brilliant catch had lost them the match and put them out of the playoffs.

"I'll guess that James feels a lot better now if he's been watching the game," Gwendolyn said quietly to Al; and she earned laughs from Al, Rose, and the other friends closest to them.

"The Harpies will be playing next Saturday," Rose said; "so I think that it was a brilliant move!"

"It was for us," Tory Summers agreed; "but that guy had better go and hide from the Tornadoes fans somewhere or he'll need his bed at St. Mungo's when they're done with him."

"Assuming he still has that bed – and a job – by the end of the day," Ray offered. "He wouldn't be the first Seeker to get sacked over a blunder that big."

"I'd suggest that it's too bad that Gryffindor couldn't sack James," Tory added with a smile for Al and Rose, "but he'll likely still be the best Seeker available for your junior team next year too; so you're likely stuck with him."

"Even though some of us cannot figure out how he can even get around on his broom without having that gigantic head of his throwing him off-balance," Madison declared; earning more laughs.

"Pauline won't be playing for the Ravenclaw junior team next season," Tory reminded her friend and team mate; "but maybe you'll be able to take over the job of trying to deflate that ego."

"I don't even get why he acts that way," Landon told them. "What's his record so far for his first two seasons? Two wins, a tie, and three losses? Sure, he caught the snitch for that one loss, but Madison let him do that because Hufflepuff was going to win anyway. To me, it looks as though he's only actually won two out of six Seeker duels – and his one win this season didn't happen until well-after Gryffindor had a big lead. Did his catch win the match for Gryffindor in that other game?"

"Let's see," Rose said; taking on answering Landon's questions. "You're right about his record so far; some of us actually appreciate what Madison and our Hufflepuff friends did for us in that game instead of running the score up on us the way Slytherin did to them in their match; and yes, his catch did with that game against Slytherin last season – which is why none of us understand why he's so full of himself either. Pauline has a better record just with this season than he does in two years."

"Pauline might have the best junior team Seeker record since we started having junior teams here at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn suggested. "She has six wins and a tie for her nine matches; and she's seven-for-nine in her Seeker duels." She smiled at Al and gave him a shoulder bump. "Our House might have even won some Quidditch Cups for Pauline if not for those pesky Gryffindor players on the senior teams."

"Don't forget about the pesky Hufflepuff players," Al reminded her. "They ruled the school for most of the seasons that Teddy was on their team."

"Which is why you shouldn't get too used to winning the cup with Gryffindor," Madison challenged with a grin. "We want to bring that cup back home to Hufflepuff where it belongs."

"Good luck with that," Gwendolyn told her. "Landon and I will do the best we can to disappoint the other Houses by winning the cup next season."

"That might be tough," Rose told her seriously. "Pauline and Peter are going to be a tough act to follow next year – and they'll need to be great to play against Witches like Madison, Tory, and me."

"But just okay to keep up with Landon, Ray, and me?" Al teased. "If that's your theory, then Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had best recruit more Witches; or it will be Hufflepuff winning the cup again next year – or at least they'll get the win for the junior teams. I guess we'll still have enough Witches on our senior team after Victoire graduates."

"We will," Rose agreed; "but what we won't have is a brilliant player on a Lightningbolt at Seeker. That's going to make things interesting for the senior team competition too."

"Only if the other teams can catch the snitch before your Chasers have Gryffindor up by more than one-fifty," Tory suggested. "I can't be the only Chaser in the room that is glad that I'll never have to play against Belinda while we're at Hogwarts. There's no doubt that she's her father's daughter – and then some. He wasn't that good when he went here from what I've heard."

That comment sent the conversation off on a new tangent, and while the Harpies' match was over; they stayed together and watched the post-game show along with watching the other games in progress through until it was time to pack up and go to the Great Hall for dinner. The four Quidditch matches were split up with two early games and two that started in the late afternoon. The United-Falcons gaem was the other early match, and while United eventually won the game, it was quite a bit longer than the Harpies' match; and the United players definitely looked beat up by the time their Seeker caught the snitch for the win.

They didn't all get together after dinner, but Al and Gwendolyn did; and they watched Quidditch on their mirrors until the Wasps and Prides earned the other two spots for the semi-final round over the sixth and seventh-place Arrows and Catapults. With the top four teams all winning their matches; that meant that the Harpies were going to have to beat the number one United team in the semi-final round if they wanted a shot at winning another league championship this season. Thanks to all of the early work on their weekend revision, taking Sunday off was an option for everyone in their study group; and that was an especially good thing for Al because Sunday was also his twelfth birthday.

He'd asked Rose and Gwendolyn to keep any birthday fun plans low-key for him, but he also knew that it would be impossible to keep the news from hitting the school gossip network – especially when the Owl Posts from home arrived on Sunday morning; and all of his cousins stopped by to wish him a happy birthday before or after they ate. When one of his Owl Post gifts turned out to be a Howler, Al hadn't been surprised; but James – and everyone else in the Great Hall – was amazed when he simply opened it; put a shield around it; and let the Howler run it's course while the sound was nearly completely muffled and unintelligible outside of the spherical shield. The contained explosion of light was impressive, but once it was over, Al dropped the shield; and cleaned up the mess that was left behind before it could even hit the floor or table.

After all of that, Al was really happy to go outside and have a Chaser duel with Gwendolyn. They were only able to get a morning time slot on the practice pitch for that blast of birthday play time because all four of the senior teams had booked all of the slots for the day in the stadium and the afternoon slots on the practice pitch too for bonus practices to get ready for their final matches of the season. Gwendolyn gave Al his gifts and several birthday hugs and kisses while they were out there on their own; teased him about letting him win their duel as a bonus gift; and then they wrapped up their morning by going for a walk by the lake until it was time to go back to the castle for lunch.

After getting too much attention at breakfast because of his birthday, the change from their normal afternoon Quidditch time ended up being a great way to keep him out of the spotlight. Having the afternoon freed up for other activities worked out even better for them because they ended up having some really great spring weather roll in that was perfect for going outside and playing with their friends after lunch. Rose and Gwendolyn picked out a spot near the lake for them to hang out that was about as secluded as you could get on a day when most of the students were outdoors. That was mostly so that they could have exactly the low-key kind of birthday party that Al had hoped for; and the only visible signs that there was a party going on at all was the decorated cupcakes that they snacked on between games of fanged Frisbee and a fairly entertaining round of outdoor magic play and practice.

That kept them busy until dinnertime; Al and Gwendolyn needed to split up while they were having that meal in the Great Hall; and then they went off to do their own thing for the rest of the evening until they needed to be back in their Houses for the night. They went for an early-evening walk by the lake; had an outdoor music play time that ended when they began to attract some attention; nd then they wrapped up Al's birthday with a long goonight hug and kiss in a classroom near the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room before splitting up for the night. Al pretty much went straight up to his dorm room after getting back to Gryffindor tower; though he did stop by to wish Rose and their other friends a good night. Once he was changed and ready for bed, he had a long birthday wrap-up mirror chat with his parents and sister than included thanking them for their gifts and telling them all about his day; and then he colsed his eyes and contentedly crashed for the night.

Turning twelve did not change Al's life at all; and that was obvious to him right from the start of the day on Monday. Getting ready for exams was a priority for nearly all OWL and NEWT-year students as they began the first full week of May, and that was true for Al and Rose as they tried to encourage their best friends to join them in that effort with varying degrees of success; but Quidditch ruled the school for the majority of the students in the other grades. There were a few exceptions, like Victoire and Dominique, but while they tried to find a balance between their studies and Quidditch; they also had extra time to get ready for their Quidditch match – a luxury that the Huflepuff and Slytherin players on their respective senior teams didn't have as they got ready for their match on Saturday. As with their first week since the last junior team match of the year, Al and Rose did bonus study sessions that were open to all of their friends in all three Houses during the normal junior team practice times each day, and while they did not have all of their friends on-board with that; Al would have been okay with it if Gwendolyn had been the only other friend to make it to those afternoon study group times.

Whether it was Quidditch, exams, or both on the minds of the tweens and teens at Hogwarts, every day of that week was filled with non-stop action. Sure, the 'brainiacs' were getting more accomplished, and didn't have as much fun; but it was just as easy to keep busy talking about Quidditch; pretending to play those semi-final matches on gaming mirrors; or reading every scrap of news in the Daily Prophet and on the Wizarding Wireless Web that could be found about the quarter-finals post-mortem and predictions and analyses for the upcoming matches. The predictions and analyses for the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game had to mostly be done in-castle, and varied a lot depending on the House; but that kept a lot of students entertined too straight through until game time on Saturday morning.

Game day dawned wet and cloudy when Al woke up on Saturday, but it wasn't stormy; and it was forecast to be fairly warm even though they could end up getting rain off and on all day too. With that in mind, Al dressed accordingly before grabbing the bag he wanted to take along for the game and his wet-weather cloak on his way to the common room. He'd waited quite a while for Rose to join him because she'd opted to take extra time to do her hair so that the rain wouldn't turn it into a damp mess while they were at the game, and since she and Bristol had taken turns helping each other out with that; he had two companions for the walk to the Great Hall. The breakfast chat time was fun, and so were the good morning hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn, but for Al, the top entertainment in the Great Hall was when he stopped by the Hufflepuff table to offer his best wishes to his favorite players on their senior team.

Gwendolyn had been with him for that because it had been just after they'd met up outside the Great Hall before breakfast; and she was a big part of why that cameo moment had been so entertaining. All of the Hufflepuff players were sitting together for the meal so they could talk about the game while they ate; and Al and Gwendolyn approached the side of the table that Alice and Francine Longbottom were on – along with fellow Chaser, Nikki Tremlett, and their Keeper, Kirby Crumb. Their brother and sister Beater duo, Tina and Calvin Johnson, and Seeker, Alex Jordan, faced them from across the table. Al wanted to wish all three of them the best too; he didn't plan on offering good luck hugs to either of the boys.

"Hey, Al," Alice said with a smile as she and Francine both turned to look at him when they saw Al and Gwendolyn approaching them. "Are you stopping by to wish us luck; or offer to give us a hand with a few of those Slytherin bullies if they get out of hand today?"

"Possibly both if they try anything and your former-Auror Dad doesn't blast them first," Al offered; smiling too as Gwendolyn and everyone around them laughed at Alice's question. He took a step closer and Alice accepted his quick hug. "We really do want to wish all of you the best," he continued before taking a step to the side and offering a hug to Francine too. "Gwendolyn and I think that you're going to have a brilliant match today."

"Yes, we do," Gwendolyn agreed; "though maybe I shouldn't cheer for any Witches that Al feels the need to hug before games."

Francine commented on that before Alice could while all of the older teens laughed. "Our favorite Wizards might have a problem with that too; but we make a special exception for that in our families – though for some reason; Al does seem to be the only Wizard in the group willing to risk his reputation on public hugs."

"Hugo, Lysander, and Lorcan are a bit young," Alice pointed out; "and they were okay with hugs from us when they were babies. I'm okay with not geting hugs from James; since he's likely to have a prank for us to go along with any hugs and best wishes."

"Lorcan and Lysander are Luna and Rolf's twins," Al explained when he saw a few blank looks – including Gwendolyn's until his comment reminded her of the kids that he wasn't sure she'd ever met; but had heard about before.

"Would being seen hugging either of you be bad for his rep?" Nikki asked Alice and Francine. "He might have good reason to worry about making Gwenog's daughter mad, but since it is raining out there; being a woodlouse in a nice warm and dry jar might be a great way to watch the game today."

Gwendolyn laughed and offered her first hug of the exchange. Al hadn't really thought about it at the time, but when Gwendolyn then hugged Kirby too; he rmembered that both Nikki and Kirby were two of Gwendolyn's 'Weird Sisters' cousins. Nikki was also a music star as a member of the Weird Kids on the Block; and Kirby was a rising star as the keyboards player for the Graves Robbers. He smiled when Gwendolyn looked at him expectantly after hugging Kirby – and the older boy grinned at him.

"You didn't really expect me to be jealous," Al told her; and Gwendolyn pretended to frown at him.

"Why do you say that?" she countered; and Al laughed.

"Because you want Hufflepuff to win today as much as I do; so you wouldn't want Kirby to catch a chill from a pre-game swim in the lake," he joked; earning a small roar of laughter from the nearest Hufflepuffs that had overheard him. He laughed again too when Gwendolyn hugged him enthusiastically.

"You win that round," she advised him. "We need to get to our tables soon, so let's get going. Good luck, guys," she added for their Hufflepuff friends. "We really will be cheering for you today."

"Thanks," Alice answered for her team. "We'll do our best."

Al and Gwendolyn walked to the nearest end of the tables together before splitting up to join their Ravenclaw or Gryffindor friends; they enjoyed the meal; and then met up again for the walk to the stadium. There was still lots of time before the game, but the rain had stopped for a while; and they'd wanted to stake out seats on the border between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor sections. That worked out great for them when Teddy and Victoire got to the stadium early; and they were able to talk with him for nearly five minutes before they moved on to sit in the section where the senior Gryffindor students usually gathered for the matches – which were some of the best, goal-high, center-pitch seats during the matches that Gryffindor wasn't playing in. They didn't have all of their Ravenclaw friends join them as game time approached, since about half of them wanted to sit in the Ravenclaw section; but they did have nearly all of their Hufflepuff friends decide to join them as they arrived – along with some additional friends, boyfriends, or girlfriends. When there was still nearly about ten minutes left until the game was to start; Charlotte Entwhistle got everyone's attention and began her pre-game 'show'.

"Welcome to the final match of the season – for our contenders today; Hufflepuff and Slytherin!" she opened and declared excitedly. "Our Quidditch season so far has been exceptional, and while this game won't be a factor in determining which House will win the Quidditch Cup this year; both teams will still be playing for House pride as well as for a chance at a winning season. The senior Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams each have one win and one loss; so the victor today will earn that winning season consolation prize while the other team could wind up in third or fouth place among the senior teams depending on the outcome of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match in two weeks." Pausing for a moment; Charlotte smiled wrylng before continuing.

"Unfortunately for my Gryffindor Quidditch friends, since both of those Hufflepuff and Slytherin losses were to them; there's a very good chance that all three of the other Houses will be cheering for Ravenclaw in that match."

"Yeah for us!" Gwendolyn exclaimed softly; grinning at Al. "We'll need all of the help we can get."

"Your team will need it," Ray told her with a grin; though his challenge didn't really get Gwendolyn worked up the way it would have if he'd said that about their junior teams.

"I'm more interested in knowing whether Al will sit with Gwendolyn for that game or if she'll sit with us," Bristol asked; her comment definitely doing a better job of getting Gwendolyn's attention.

"We'll work something out," Al offered. "Maybe we could switch back and forth between sitting with our Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends."

Rose looked around the stadium and then shook her head. "That's a nice idea; but I seriously doubt that we'll be able to keep the extra seats for you in both sections, Al."

"We'll likely have to sit in our own sections," Gwendolyn admitted as much to herself as for Al's benefit. "Maybe that'll be good for us – unless I see you cuddling with another Witch during the game. If that happens; you might find yourself trying to figure out how to write your exams while holding a quill with your tiny little woodlouse legs."

That warning gave their friends something to talk about, but Charlotte had continued her pre-game show too while they did that. She did a re-cap of the season-so-far; talked about the blow-out Hufflepuff loss against Slytherin with the junior teams; and eventually got around to calling the two teams out into the stadium and introducing the players. Mr. Peakes took care of the pre-game formalities; and then the game was on!

Captains Victor Avery and Alice Longbottom raced after the quaffle while the rest of the players on their teams took to the air too. Victor attempted to knock Alice out of the way and into a planned cheap short by one of his Beaters, but Alice dodged him; he nearly got hammered by his own guy; and Alice immediately threw the quaffle to Nikki Tremlett before all three Hufflepuff Chaser Witches took off toward the Slytherin goals. Three passes later, and they scored their first goal of the match against the Slytherin Keeper, Vince Vaisey. That opening series of plays quickly set the tone for the game; and it was clear that Slytherin's game plan was to beat up on the Hufflepuff Chasers and Seeker to wear them down or flat-out injure them so they couldn't play at all.

"Okay, Victor Avery and his mates are officially idiots," Gwendolyn told Al after watching the Slytherin Captain attempt yet another cheap shot on Alice while they were still barely fifteen minutes into the match – and she once again dodged him so that he completely missed her. She nodded toward where Professor Longbottom was watching the game with the rest of the Professors and a few VIP's; and then shook her head. "Victor and the other OWL and NEWT-year Slytherins might not have to worry about their Herbology grades with Professor Longbottom because it'll be their OWL and NEWT exams that count most; but that's not the case for the sixth-year players on his team."

"Maybe that's why he has Theo keying in on Alex and Nikki instead of Alice or Francine," Al suggested; "and Lacey's mostly been playing fair from what I've seen so far. It's been Victor, Vince, and Gregor trying to put the hurt on Alice and Francine." Gwendolyn watched the action above the pitch for a while before commenting on his assessment.

"You're right," she conceded with a smile. "I wasn't keeping track of which players were trying to bash specific Hufflepuffs." She looked over at Neville again and shook her head. "I'm not sure that Professor Longbottom is going to care about those specifics."

Al nodded. "I don't either, but Alice, Francine, and Nikki seem to have the problem under control; so I probably won't need to blast Victor or any of his idiot friends today."

"That's too bad – I mean that's a relief!" Gwendolyn joked.

Nikki put the quaffle through the center goal against Vaisey then after faking out both the Slytherin Keeper and Rachel Rosier – Slytherin's NEWT-year Chaser and perennial adversary of Nikki's. Gwendolyn was on her feet and cheering that goal; and she and Al both got back to focusing on the action above the pitch again. As the game rolled on, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Keepers proved to be fairly closely matched, but despite the nearly non-stop attempts by the Slytherin Wizards to cheat and injure the Hufflepuff Chasers and Seeker; Hufflepuff had the advantage at all four of those positions.

Yes, Slytherin's Chasers scored goals against Kirby Crumb too, and a lot of them as the pace of the game was frenetic; but Alice, Francine, and Nikki were scoring three goals for every two by Slytherin. Tina and Calvin Johnson were also more than a match for the Slytherin Beaters, Gregor and Theo Nott, despite giving up quite a bit of size to the brothers; and they were actually doing better for their team because their game plan was to use the bludgers to get in the way of Slytherin plays instead of trying to injure anyone. Hufflepuff was ahead by one-twenty, and the Slytherin Seeker, Brand Bletchley, was getting desperate to catch the snitch for the come-from-behind win when he made a run for the snitch that was high-risk; but one that Alex Jordan couldn't defend properly.

"He's going to miss," Al said quietly so that only Gwendolyn could hear him.

"What?" she asked; and then turned her attention to where the two Seekers were racing toward the far side of the pitch from them, and behind the Slytherin goals.

"Bletchley's botched the angle of attack," Al elaborated. "He's going to miss, and might even crash if he doesn't pull out of that dive in time."

Both predictions came true before Gwendolyn could say anything else, and then, while Brand Bletchley crashed into the Slytherin section of the stadium and smashed into the fellow students that were too slow to get out of his way; Alex Jordan buzzed the Slytherins on his way past them while catching the snitch after taking a very different angle of attack. Three out of four sections of fans in the stadium roared their collective approval and drowned out Charlotte's attempt to announce the catch and end of the match. Gwendolyn had jumped up along with most of the stuents around them; but Al remained sitting and focused his attention on the Slytherin Seeker and the other students that had been caught up in the crash. While he could see and sense that there had been some injuries; he relaxed after deciding that none of those injuries were serious – just some broken bones, cuts, scrapes, and bruises that would keep Madam Pomfrey busy for a while; but that she could handle easily-enough.

"Hufflepuff wins five-thirty to two-sixty!"

That was the first thing that Charlotte had said since Alex caught the snitch that could be heard by everyone in the stadium; and the noise level continued to drop as the spectators either sat down again or began gathering their things and heading for the pitch or exits – even before the Hufflepuff and Slytherin players were ready to land. A warning went off in Al's head then, and he grabbed his wand while turning his attention toward Alex; but then he relaxed when the bludger that Theo Nott had just bashed at Alex's head stopped about ten feet away from him and quivered in place there for a long moment before floating harmlessly over to Mr. Peakes so that he could put it back into the case.

"Did you see that?" Gwendolyn asked Al; though she knew from the expression on his face – and the wand in his hadn – that he had. "Did you stop it? I didn't hear you say any spells."

"Professor Longbottom did," Al answered with a nod toward the Professors' section of the bleachers. They could both see him still pointing his wand at the bludger as it meared Mr. Peakes; and the expression on his face showed that he was angry. He was also saying something to the Professors around him; and Professor Slughorn didn't look happy either as he turned his own attention toward Theo Nott.

"It's so nice to see that poor sportsmanship is still alive and well in Slytherin House," Gwendolyn told Al; sounding disgusted.

"They're not apparently concerned with their own Seeker or fellow Slytherins caught up in that crash either," Rose added; having overheard Gwendolyn.

"That might have happened – if Bletchley had caught the snitch," Ray offered. "Now he'll likely get all of the blame for the loss and get shunned for the rest of the year by Avery and the rest of their mates."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing for most Witches or Wizards?" Cora joked. She was getting ready to go; and stood up. "Let's get out of here," she suggested; looking up at the rain-heavy clouds. "We've had a bit of a break from the rain, but that isn't going to last; and some of us want to get some food before we go and watch the Harpies-United game."

"You mean the United-Harpies game," Romeo said with a grin. "United is number one in the league this season."

"Maybe for a few more hours," Cora conceded; smiling too. "The Harpies are going to change that this afternoon."

Cora's prediction did eventually come true; though her timing for that was off by hours. They'd all agreed with her suggestion to get back to the castle and have lunch ahead of the start of the Harpies' game; though Al, Gwendolyn, and about half of their friends went out onto the pitch first to congratulate their Hufflepuff friends. That delay meant that they got reained on again while the rest of their friends were dry when they got to the Great Hall, but then the rain also helped to clear the stadium fairly quickly once it began to fall. Their lunch break was festive at three of the House tables; and then the Quidditch fun resumed for all of the fans of the game as students gathered in common rooms or elsewhere to watch the two semi-final matches. The United-Harpies game was up first, and while the two teams battled fiercely for more than five hours before Gabrielle gave her Harpies the come-from-behind win; the real factor that decided the game was the pounding that the United players had taken in their match against the Falcons. That, combined with a long, grueling match left most of the United players too sore and tired out to keep up with the fresher, faster Harpies.

Oliver Wood had still played a stellar match, and held the Harpies' Chasers to just six goals in the five hours and ten minutes that it had taken Gabrielle to finally win the Seeker duel. Dawn, Jonathan, and Laura scored eighteen goals, but they'd been running out of steam by then too; and that lead hadn't grown at all during the last hour and a half or so of the match as the two teams mostly just traded goals through to the end. Since the game had gone on so long, all of the students at Hogwarts were in the Great Hall having dinner when it ended, so the rest of that meal was very entertaining as the fans of each team had a lot to talk about – along with lots of jokes and mostly good-natured banter.

While Al and Gwendolyn had needed to split up while having their dinner, they got back together again so that they could watch the Wasps out-duel the Prides to earn the other spot in the League Championship match. That game didn't take as long as the first one because Aaron Lynch out-dueled Erin Connelly to the snitch and seal the win for his team. This time, they'd had company for the evening Quidditch-watching; but they still had some time to hang out together after the game – and ended their evening with a lengthy round of goodbye hugs and kisses that they took care of in the classroom before Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House on his way back to the Gryffindor common room.

Sunday couldn't be a duplicate of their play day from a week ago because Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends all still had a lot of their weekend assignments to get finished. They spent the entire morning working in their classeroom; took their studies outdoors in the afternoon; and only had time to play for the last hour or so before dinner. That didn't include any Quidditch time for Al and Gwendolyn because the pitches were booked by the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams all afternoon; but they did play some fanged Frisbee for a while with their friends and enjoyed an after-dinner walk by the lake before splitting up for the night so that they could each get ready for the coming school week and turn in early to catch up on the sleep that Gwendolyn didn't get on Saturday night after staying up late and celebrating the Harpies' win with the rest of the Ravenclaw Harpies' fans.

Those five weekdays leading up to the championship match were also a third of the fifteen school days left before the start of final exams; and the Professors piled on the review work, and in some cases; crammed extra lessons in for material that would be covered on those all-important tests. While they were as excited about the biggest professional league Quidditch game of the year as every other Harpies' or Wasps' fan was; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose and their study buddies also worked extra hard all week too as even the least enthusiastic members of their group got serious about their exams. That attitude was the norm for the OWL and NEWT students, and for the rest of the most serious students in the other years; but it was far from universal. James and Ollie were among the minority that wasn't at all worried about their exams, and while in their case that was mostly because they were bright-enough to coast their way into half-decent grades; that distinction put them into an even smaller sub-category of the minority – the teens that could do brilliantly but intentionally didn't try to do their best. They did have more fun, though, and for James and Ollie; that fun included trying to mess things up for other students – especially Slytherins.

Other than the occasional walk-by razzing and the annoyances that came along with being around the common room or Great Hall when their pranks went off; James and Ollie left Al, Rose, and their friends alone while picking on others and goofing off most of the time. While he would have liked to do something about that too, Al didn't see any way that he could stop his brother and Ollie short of causing even more trouble for all of them – and create nearly as much disruption as the pranks. Staying away and studying in their usual classroom or the library helped a lot for their own study group, though, and by game time on Saturday afternoon; they had all of their weekend work finished so that they could take the rest of the weekend off if they chose to do that.

Saturday was also a Hogsmeade weekend, so nearly all of the eligible teens had gone into town for the morning; but they were also all back by lunchtime so that they wouldn't miss any of the Championship match. Victoire didn't stay in Hogsmeade all day either even though she could have spent the time with Teddy; but she wouldn't let him give up his ticket for the game just to spend a few extra hours with her. The big game was the only show in every common room for the afternoon; and there were game-watching parties too that made the games more fun for the Quidditch fans that didn't have their favorite team playing in that game. Al and Gwendolyn had talked about watching the game together using one of their portable mirrors, but eventually agreed to watch the game with their Gryffindor or Ravenclaw friends so that they could catch all of the action on the big mirrors; and then meet up after the game to either celebrate or lament the outcome. That was why Al wa ssitting next to Rose and Ray in seats fairly far away from the mirror as the game started and the Harpies and Wasps took to the air.

"Here we go," Rose breathed excitedly; and Al smiled at her.

"You'd think that your Cannons were playing today from the sound of that."

"I'm cheering for our Aunts and your Mum's friends today," Rose advised him; smiling too. "Now that some of the Harpies' kids are starting to graduate from here, if the Harpies hire all of them; then we might not get to watch Aunt Angelina, Aunt Gabrielle, and the rest of our favorite Harpies play for much longer."

"That's also why I think they're going to win today," Al told her seriously; getting the attention of some of their friends too. "The Wasps might think that having the younger team is an advantage for them, but our players know that they might not get many more chances to win another Championship."

"I think that the Harpies will win too," Cora said with a nod; "but I wasn't thinking about it like that; and you could be right."

"He's just saying that because the post-game meet-up with Gwendolyn will be more fun for him if the Harpies win," Ray teased.

"There is that," Al agreed easily after laughing along with his friends.

"As if you wouldn't have fun consoling Gwendolyn if the Wasps win," Bristol said with a snort. "You're always happy when you're around her."

"We've had a couple of exceptions," Al disagreed meaningfully; and he smiled when his friends just laughed.

"As if you haven't had fun with all of your duels," Bristol scoffed. "Sure, there might have been scary moments; but you're both thrill junkies anyway."

"Isn't that trait a pre-requisite for playing Quidditch?" Cora asked innocently.

"Definitely," Al confirmed. "Rose's Mum would add that being a bit nuts helps too."

"Then there's a good chance that I'm a bit of both," Romeo told them. "I'd like to give it a go next season; though that might be tough to do. It's not as if I can train all summer back at home the way that most of the players here can because they're from Wizarding families."

"Al's Dad had that same problem; and he's a fair Quidditch player," Rose reminded him. "We should definitely work out a way for you to hear all about the Quidditch World Cup matches this summer – unless you can make regular trips to Diagon Alley to pick up copies of the Daily Prophet."

"I won't be able to do that," Romeo told her; looking sad; and then he smiled. "Let's change the subject. I don't want to think about being home and back in the Muggle world until we take the train home – if I can come up with a way to do that."

Watching the game – even from the worst seats in the common room – was the easiest way to help Romeo out with that; though they also changed the subject while most of them got to enjoy watching the Harpies jump out to a small lead. They slowly built on that at first; and then the game play seemed to get easier for the Harpies as the Wasps' Chasers began to take more risks to try and catch up. Gabrielle and Aaron were having a great Seeker duel too; but Gabrielle was taking her game from great to brilliant as it was soon all that Aaron could do to keep up and block her attempts to catch the snitch. The Harpies were ahead by a score of two-thirty to one-fifty when Gabrielle finally out-raced Aaron and caught the snitch; and the Gryffindor common room erupted with a mix of cheers and boos. There was some grumbling from the Wasps' fans too; and that had Rose laughing with derision.

"There was nothing lucky about that catch," she told Al and their friends. "The Harpies also beat three of the top five teams in the playoffs to win the League Championship – including the top two teams. Since the Wasps also beat out the number three team fairly easily; I'd say that our team deserves the win." She smiled at Al. "Okay, your team deserves the win; and our Aunt Angelina and Aunt Gabrielle deserve it too."

"I'm surprised that he's even still here for you to talk with him at all," Bristol teased; smiling at Al too. "Don't you have a post-game snogging session to get to or something?"

Al looked at his watch and stood up before answering. "We have enough time before dinner, so we're going outside for a Chaser duel. There might be a couple of hugs and kisses mixed in with the Quidditch too; but no plans for a major snogging session."

"Well then you didn't plan that out very well, did you?" Cora joked.

"Maybe not; but it works for us. Have fun with the victory party. I'll see you at dinner."

The 'you' had been meant to be Rose and all of his friends, and a few of them wished him well or offered a parting joke or two; and then he went to get his Quidditch gear before leaving Gryffindor tower and going to meet up with Gwendolyn. She'd had good reason to be thrilled for her mother and their favorite team; she showed that with the celebration hugs and kisses she greeted Al with; and then went on to win their Chaser duel with ten goals to his eight. When she was finished sharing more hugs and kisses with him while celebrating that, Al didn't feel as though he'd lost the duel at all; but then it had been the play time when they'd worked on new aerial tricks that had been the best part of that blast of fun together.

Dinner in the Great Hall was fun as the Harpies' fans celebrated and the Wasps' fans tried to have as much fun with their rivals as was possible while also being disappointed over the loss. They did at least have one consolation, and that was having two of their players on England's National team; and a total of four members of the Wasps' team playing for Quidditch World Cup National teams. The Quidditch World Cup competition didn't get much time on the gossip network on Saturday; but it would mean that there wouldn't be a break from talking Quidditch because there wasn't going to be an off-season this summer.

Al and Gwendolyn got back together after dinner for an evening walk, but then her girlfriends had advised her that she needed to spend more time with them; so she did that for the rest of the evening; and not-even-Merlin-would-want-to-know what she was up to with her girlfriends. While she was busy, Al spent most of his evening in his dorm room; he had a mirror chat with his parents and Lily after they got home from a post-game celebration dinner with most of the other members of the group that went with them to the Championship game; and then he surfed the Wizarding Wireless Web until he was ready to call it a night and get some extra sleep.

While they had all of their must-do studying finished for the weekend, Al and Rose convinced most of their friends to do some bonus studying on Sunday morning. With only two teams left with a Quidditch match still to play, Rose was able to book the practice pitch for the early-afternoon time slot; and she set up a scrimmage game for their afternoon entertainment. After studying all morning, that was a great way to blow off some steam; and they even ended up having quite a few spectators watching the show while they really just played around for a couple of hours. Some of the plays were spectacular to watch, since Al and Gwendolyn played on the same team with Rose as their Keeper and Ray as their third Chaser; and they used quite a few of the tricks they'd been working on to score a lot of goals for their team – and help them to win the match.

They'd all be glad for what ended up being a play afternoon and evening on Sunday because their second-to-last week of regular classes that kept them busy between the League Championship game and the final Hogwarts Quidditch match of the school year was even more difficult than the first few weeks of May had been. The only good news about that for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their closest friends was that the extra work they'd been doing for weeks was starting to pay off. Instead of being overwhelmed the way a lot of students were, they were simply busier – and far-enough along with their exam preparations that all of the bits and pieces of new material fit right in with what they already knew and made total sense. Sure, that was more true for Al and Rose than for a few of their less-talented friends; but they were also all better students for working together.

With just over a week to go until the start of exams, taking a day off for a Quidditch match was very likely a bad idea for a lot of the students at Hogwarts, but Al wasn't worried about that for himself or his friends as he got ready for the day on Saturday and then waited in the commom room for Rose. He also wasn't worried about how well Victoire's team would do against Ravenclaw. Even Gwendolyn could only half-heartedly offer the usual 'anything can happen in Quidditch' types of platitudes for her senior team's chances – and she didn't personally believe them at all. Reality didn't keep some of the more-delusional Quidditch fans from predicting the upset win for Ravenclaw, but even those obviously crazy Witches and Wizards didn't suggest that Ravenclaw would somehow both win and do that by enough to overtake Gryffindor to with the Quidditch Cup.

Al had fun talking about all of that with Rose during their usual pre-breakfast walk to the Great Hall; they kept the fun rolling during and after breakfast with their friends; and then they even had some bonus entertainment in the stadium before the game when they got to spend some time not only with Teddy, but with their Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur too when they decided to come and watch Victoire's last Quidditch match as a Hogwarts student. They didn't sit with Al, Rose, and their friends because they were with Teddy, Louis, and some of their son's best mates; but they did talk with Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn for nearly ten minutes before going on to take their seats when Louis arrived at the stadium and found out about the surprise that they hadn't told any of their kids about.

Gwendolyn only stayed with Al until about ten minutes before the game was to start, and when Charlotte Entwhistle began her pre-game show; they wished each other luck; and then she went to join her friends in the Ravenclaw section and support her team. One of the highlights of the morning for Al was when the Gryffindor team was called out into the stadium and Victoire and Dominique each saw their parents standing and cheering for them with Teddy – and they both were immediately fired up even more than they already had been for the game. That had also shown up right from the start of the match as Dominique was easily first to the quaffle; worked a perfect, quick play with Lucy and Olivia; and scored the first goal of the game in less than twenty seconds.

The Gryffindor side of the action above the pitch was brilliant from that moment on, but if Al was honest; the season finale match was really not competitive at all – which was why he was grateful that it didn't last long. Belinda was unbeatable in goal; Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia scored a goal practically on every other shot against an overwhelmed Ravenclaw Keeper; and they had a one-sixty to naught lead practically before the Ravenclaw players knew what hit them. When that happened, their Captain and Seeker, Jared Davies, had a momentary let-down from the disappointment; and that was the final mistake of the game as Victoire ended the game with a fairly spectacular catch of the snitch. Jared hadn't even seen the snitch; reacted far too late to Victoire's race toward it; and with the Ravenclaw Beaters nowhere near being in a position to help their Captain; Victoire's biggest challenge with that catch had been doing it while dodging the goal post that she'd needed to spin around while making the catch in mid-spin.

The short game allowed for more post-game fun, and Al enjoyed that more than the game because he got to do that with Gwendolyn. They met on the pitch; congratulated his cousins and the other senior Gryffindor players; and then offered condolences to her friends on the Ravenclaw team. Neither Al nor Rose got to spend much time after the game with their aunt, uncle, or Teddy because they were busy with Victoire, Dominique, and Louis; but they did say goodbye to them before they left – with the 'they' being Al, Rose, and their friends when they moved on to give their older cousins the space to celebrate with their own friends. They left the stadium early, but spent the rest of the time until lunch was served in the Great Hall hanging around outside by the lake and taking it easy.

Their lunch meal entertainment was all about Quidditch, and while the official awards would be made at the end-of-year banquet; most of the team and individual stats were known and discussed by the students in all four Houses as part of the season and match post-mortem. The overall standings ended up being simple. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup with four wins and a tie. Hufflepuff was second with a three-win, three-loss record. Ravenclaw's third-place finish was entirely thanks to their junior team's undefeated, two-win, one-tie season; while Slytherin wound up in last place with two wins and four losses. The junior team individual player stats were known already, and the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match didn't change very much for the senior team stats other than what was already expected ahead of time anyway. Belinda was top Keeper; and Victoire was both top Seeker and top scorer with her four hundred and fifty points. With the comparatively low-scoring match, none of the Chasers caught Alice Longbottom for best Chaser; and she was also runner-up to Victoire for most points. The best Beater duo was technically still up for grabs, but most of the students predicted that Calvin and Tina Johnson would win that honor for Hufflepuff after their stellar performance against Slytherin in their final match.

After lunch, the party was on in Gryffindor Tower, and while Al made a brief appearance with the rest of the junior team, he escaped soon after the party started and met up with Gwendolyn so that they could spend most of the rest of the day together. They started out their afternoon with some studying for exams that was more about the practical side of the testing they were going to face and only included a bit of written revision and research. They followed that up with some outdoor play time above the practice pitch where they strictly worked on their flying tricks and working together instead of having a Chaser duel. A walk by the lake and around the school grounds wrapped up their afternoon; and then they spent their evening playing music and wrapping up their day with a minor snogging session before splitting up again when it was time for both of them to be back in their own Houses for the rest of the night.

Quidditch season at Hogwarts was done with for another school year, but when Al went off to sleep shortly before midnight on Saturday, there were still four weeks to go until the end of the school year. Only having one week left until exams was sure to have the least-prepared students freaking out, but Al was looking forward to his last month as a Hogwarts firstie. While he was excited about his first experience with end-of-year exams too; there were also other events to look forward too as well – like Gwendolyn's twelfth birthday a week from Sunday.

Wrapping up their school year with three intense weeks of exams was going to test the limits of all of the Hogwarts students, and while Al had no idea of how that would turn out for all of his friends; he was sure that whatever challenges he faced over the coming weeks that he was definitely ready to handle anything!


	9. Testing, Testing, and More Testing

**Chapter Nine – Testing, Testing, and More Testing**

"Good morning, Thomas," Scorpius said quietly as he set the portrait on the table before sitting down and smiling at his painted mentor. "I hope that I didn't wake you."

"It must be early morning if you're saying that; but then you know that time no longer has any meaning for me."

"I do, and it is early," Scorpius agreed and explained. "It's barely dawn, but I may not be able to get away from our exams studies to meet with you later; so I came here before breakfast."

"We could have done the game report some other time if you're busy," Thomas told him. "You do want to make sure that your academic record is exceptional – even as a firstie. It will be important for your future reputation."

"I am ready for my exams right now," Scorpius assured him. "It's working with my classmates that is consuming so much of my time. Some of them are unbelievably dense."

"Even the dimmest Wizard or Witch can have some value to you," Thomas counseled. "Right now, it is simply important for you to establish those connections so that you may continue to overcome your family history. Eventually, these classmates of yours will get used to following your instructions; and that will in turn lead to them following your commands. Do you have any new members in your study group since we spoke last?"

"No, but we'll see what happens after we've written our first couple of exams. I know that a couple of the Witches are staying away from me because they have orders to do so from older siblings – or from their parents."

"That is of no matter," Thomas decided with a dismissive wave of a hand. "You will gain respect from others simply by continuing what you're doing so well so far."

"I do not wish to seetle for doing well," Scorpius told him seriously. "Yesterday, I watched Victoire Weasley prove that she is an exceptional Quidditch player in addition to being Head Girl and quite possibly the top student at Hogwarts this year – and she did that playing Seeker when she's apparently an even better Chaser."

"That sounds almost as if you've grown sweet on her," Thomas teased; though Scorpius knew the comment for the joke it was meant to be.

"The Veela in victoire has not affected me, Thomas. I want to be that exceptional – and believe that I can be with your help."

"Being exceptional is a worthy goal, Scorpius. Just be cautious of the lure of accolades that can blind you through desire and pride; yet are still simply measures that other, weaker Witches and Wizards use in petty efforts to measure worth. The truly exceptional are beyond such trappings; and instead of caring about what others think of them; they create their own destiny."

"You already know my heart for the destiny I am choosing for myself," Scorpius said with a nod; his expression still serious. "I believe that earning that kind of recognition will aid me in making those dreams come true – just as being a leader here aided you."

"Did they help me?" Thomas questioned. "Does anyone even remember my accomplishments at Hogwarts. More likely, that part of my life is a long-forgotten footnote in History. In addition, History is written by the victors; so even my extensive accomplishments are mostly lost as well – except through you now."

"An honor you've given me that I will repay when our family legacies are revived; and the Wizarding World is restored to the true Witches and Wizards that are meant to rule it – with all other creatures here only to serve us as was meant to be."

That declaration was a launching point for Thomas and Scorpius that took them down another track from what Scorpius had originally expected to talk about. They did eventually talk about the Quidditch game and the side observations that Scorpius had made while watching everything going on around the stadium as well as the Quidditch action; and then Scorpius needed to head for the Great Hall to have breakfast with his small group of friends. His relationship with Thomas was the most important one in his life, and he truly wished that he could spend more time studying under his true mentor, but he also understood Thomas' counsel to create a public image that would help him to greatness; so he would do what he must – even if that meant spending pointless hours tutoring magical imbeciles so that they could possibly rise to the lofty goal of mediocrity.

"I'd ask if you're the last partyer still standing," Rose told Al in greeting; "but I know that you went to bed before I did last night – and basically skipped the entire party."

"James and Ollie more than made up for my lack of interest in partying," Al guessed; and Rose laughed.

"They did and then some," she confirmed. "Listening to the bragging was annoying, but I will give them credit for the Quidditch World Cup wheezes that they modified to be for Gryffindor Quidditch Cup Champions." She laughed again. "Unfortunately for them, they took their fun too far; and managed to tick off most of the second-year Witches by the time I headed for bed last night."

"Did they bug you and any of our friends too?"

Rose shook her head. "No, and while I'm glad of that; it does worry me. Are they truly going to leave us alone; or are they just trying to set us up for something really big. Our uncles used to like pulling pranks during exams – and messing things up for their targets. I don't want to see James and Ollie doing that to anyone – and especially not to us."

"Let's hope for the best on that one; and be as ready as we can be if they do try anything. Did you get much interest for another Quidditch scrimmage this afternoon?"

"The usual girls," Rose answered with a nod. "We might have an extra study buddy or two this morning too. Some of the other girls want to join our group and get some tutoring."

Al sighed. "We'll do what we can, but we're already stretched pretty thin for helping our friends; so adding more isn't going to be easy."

"Maybe we should just take turns teaching extra lessons," Rose suggested with a laugh. "Do you think that the Professors would mind if they caught us doing that?"

"They might not even notice with the conversion of the lesson into teen talk," Al joked. "If they could understand us, then maybe we wouldn't be talking about the need for lesson translations for our friends."

"That isn't totally a joke," Rose mused. "Do you ever wonder why that isn't a problem for us?"

"Not really," al answered with a smile and shrug. "For us, I think that it's simply that we can actually talk with our parents. You do realise that we're among the exceptions for that, right?"

"We are?" Rose asked; feigning astonishment.

"Yes, we are; though there's a very good chance that James has kicked himself out of that minority, reverted to the norm, or done whatever you call it when teens stop listening to their parents and decide that they're obviously just too dim to comprehend reality as they know it to be."

"I'm going to remember that line if you get like that too in a year or two," Rose promised; and Al laughed.

"You know that's not going to happen with me – or with you either. Since we're going to have extra friends studying with us, though; let's talk about what we are going to do to deal with that."

They were already well on the way to the Great Hall by then; so that kept them busy until they were joined by the rest of their friends and breakfast was served. While Al always enjoyed his morning walks to the Great Hall with Rose, the daily good morning hug and kiss with Gwendolyn was a highlight too; and spending the morning sitting next to Gwendolyn while they worked made the studying a lot more fun. Between the three Houses, they had five extra friends in their study group; and would likely have all of them doing that for at least some of their study group meetings straight through until exams were finished. With the extra tutoring needs, it was easy for Al and Rose to keep busy until lunchtime; though Gwendolyn and some of their friends helped out when they could too. Their work for the day was done when they packed up and took their book bags back to their rooms before lunch – and so that the Quidditch players could grab their brooms and gear for their afternoon scrimmage match.

The stadium and practice pitch weren't left completely unused now that Quidditch season was done, but they also weren't booked all day either. They used the practice pitch for their match; Gwendolyn and Al played against Rose for the game; and had Tory Summers with them at Chaser instead of Ray. While most of those changes had been intended to make the game a bit closer than the last one had been, and it worked to do that; Al and Gwendolyn still led their team to the win. After the game, they still had time to play outdoors with their friends; and their entertainment included some magic fun as well as the usual games of Fanged Frisbee and a bit of broom flying that had nothing to do with Quidditch, but was still a lot of fun to do as they had a couple of little races that their non-Quidditch friends could join in on. That was especially fun for the friends that normally only got to fly school brooms because their Quidditch-player friends let them try out the faster brooms; and a couple of the non-players even did pretty well in their little races – though none of them won against their more experienced friends.

An afternoon of not-much-sun and fun had been great, but the highlight of the day for Al and Gwendolyn was their music play time after dinner. They'd both been ready to have some alone time by then, and while a bit of minor snogging was involved too; it was the music and Al's ongoing guitar lessons that were the most fun for them. They visited the Owlery to send letters off with Winter again too and give Storm some treats and attention; but then they still got back to their dorm rooms in time to have bedtime chats with their parents and friends while still turning in early to get ready for the big push to the start of exams.

While getting ready for those end-of-year tests was the priority for most students during the last week of May, Al and Gwendolyn made one little change to their personal schedule – they added a daily Chaser duel to their afternoon activities. That was solely to allow them to blow off a bit of steam and give them a short break from all of the studying, and they intentionally didn't invite any of their friends to join in so that their play time actually did help them with de-stressing. Al had made the suggestion to Gwendolyn on Sunday night, and by the time they'd finished the mini-workout on Monday afternoon; she was convinced that he'd been right about the idea.

"I was in last night because doing this meant some bonus you and me time," Gwendolyn told Al after they'd landed and she'd hugged him enthusiastically. "We can keep doing this now because I really do feel more relaxed and ready to get back to work again."

"And here I was really just trying to come up with a good excuse to have some alone time with you every day," Al joked. He smiled a bit ruefully then. "I don't actually feel stressed about exams or the studying at all, but if I'm being honest; I am getting tired of all of the tutoring. I'm really glad that we can help our friends, and I even like most of our classmates that have just started to join our study group; but we both know that they'll be done wanting to be besties with us about a minute after we're finished our last exam."

"Until exam time next year," Gwendolyn agreed – "unless we have any tough tests or assignments they need help from us with between now and then." She shrugged and smiled. "If we're being totally honest, I don't find all of the extra studying we do very much fun either. I only come to our study sessions to hang out with you, and if I didn't do that; I'd likely be in the same boat with the rest of our less-prepared classmates."

"Then I should probably find a way to thank you for deciding to study with me; since all of this work wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you," Al decided. "Would you like to go out on a date with me sometime after we get home for the summer? Except for the Christmas dance, we haven't exactly been able to do anything like that here."

Gwendolyn laughed and gave him a happy hug and kiss. "I'd love that," she agreed enthusiastically. "When?"

Al shrugged. "We'll have to figure that out once we're home – unless we find out more about what our mothers' schedules will be for the Quidditch World Cup matches before then. I do have an idea for the what, though. Would you like to spend a day at a Muggle amusement park?"

"I'd love that – if Mum and Dad will let me. That's a brilliant idea for a date!"

"Witches and Wizards can say all of the bad things they want about Muggles, and some of it is definitely deserved; but we've got nothing on them when it comes to dating options – especially for underage kids. Muggle teens have movie theaters, sports play centers, malls, fast food, and so many other things to do. We can't even take our brooms for a fly unless we're behind Muggle-repelling charms at home."

"Then maybe we'll just need to go on some of those Muggle-type dates – if my parents will let me do that."

"I think they will – especially since we'd have adult supervision." Gwendolyn frowned suddenly; and Al laughed. "I really want to take you out on some real dates this summer, Gwendolyn, and it might be nice to do that alone; but my Mum and Dad are not going to let me wander around London or anywhere else on my own. Dad has way too many enemies for them to let us do that until we're overage and can defend ourselves."

Gwendolyn laughed too. "Honestly, I didn't even think about that," she admitted. "Mum and Dad protect Jonah and me too; but I've never really asked to be allowed to go off and do my own thing without any adults or babysitters around."

"You knew that James started doing trips to Godric's Hollow on his own last summer, and Mum and Dad weren't happy about that the first time; but I think they'd conceded defeat on that one by the end of the summer – especially if Ollie was over for a visit too."

"With the only real surprise there being that they'd be willing to ride those Muggle bikes of yours that far. It's what – twenty miles round-trip to Godric's Hollow from your house?"

"About that," Al confirmed. "We have biked there with Mum and Dad before. James thinks that it's goofy sometimes; but I love getting to play with all of the cool Muggle toys just because Dad never got to do any of that stuff when he was a kid."

"We both lucked out in the parent department; but don't you dare tell them – or any of our friends – that I said that."

"I won't; but our friends think that our parents are cool too; so it isn't really a big deal."

They'd pretty much finished packing up their gear by then, so they continued to talk as they headed for the castle; split up to trade Quidditch gear for book bags; and met up with the rest of their study group in their usual classmroom so that they could work until dinnertime. While nearly everyone else had gotten to work after only a short break, Gwendolyn's Chaser duel recap had quite a few of their friends deciding that they'd take those afternoon breaks between last class and their pre-dinner study sessions for the rest of the week. Al was happy with that by Tuesday night because doing that worked to lift everyone's spirits – and that helped to make the work go a lot better.

Getting through those last four days of regular classes for the school year kept them busy; but the actual assignment workload basically ended because all assignments that were going to be graded needed to be in by the end of the week – and Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and most of their friends were finished with all of them by mid-week. They did still have loads of studying to do for their exams, practice exams they could work on; and a lot of practicing to do for the practical exams that would include making a potion; demonstrating Charms and Transfigurations; and having a duel to demonstrate their skills in DADA on both offense and defense. Sure, none of that would be as intense as the exams would be for the OWL and NEWT exams; but even firstie exams were meant to begin preparing the kids for those more-advanced and all-important tests.

Even though studying was the top priority for the majority of the Hogwarts students, by the end of the week, the third to seventh-year teens were also looking forward to the final Hogsmeade weekend of the school year. That wasn't a big deal for the first and second-year students, but Al and Rose did put in final orders with their cousins for sweets and supplies to get them through the three weeks of exams; and Gwendolyn was helped out with that by Al's cousins too because they'd apparently decided that she was part of the family now too. That last trip into town also meant that basically every eligible teen was away from the school on Saturday morning; so the younger kids had their picks for best spots in common rooms, the library, or outside for their studying – or for the goofing off that a few of the kids were still doing despite the imminent arrival of their first exams on Monday. Rose, Gwendolyn, and the girls decided on studying outdoors for the morning while the grounds were fairly empty; though they did start that work with some herbology practice in the greenhouse before moving on to the practice pitch so that they could spread their books and study material out around them on the bleachers while enjoying the fresh air.

"This was a great idea," Romeo said as he leaned back, stretched, and enjoyed the view – which for him meant appriciatively watching the Witches around him. "I might not remember a single thing we study this morning; but it's worth it to be out of that classroom."

"You won't think so at all if you keep checking out the other girls while I'm right here too and can see you doing it," Cora warned; and Romeo just laughed instead of looking guilty.

"That warning might worry me – except that doesn't really work when I haven't missed you checking out other guys."

"If you noticed, then why didn't you file a complaint?"

Romeo laughed again. "That's easy. If I'd done that; then there's no way I could get away with checking out other Witches." He smiled and shrugged while Cora tried to looked annoyed while also not really pulling off a hard glare either. "You're not really mad – just as I know that you won't sit around and never even look at another Wizard all summer while we're home and won't be able to see each other at all."

"Aren't you going to get together with your parents when they pick you up at King's Cross and work out play dates and other visits?" Renee asked; smiling at them. "I wanted to see that and take pictures."

Cora and Romeo both laughed. "No, that isn't going to happen," Cora assured her. "Maybe there actually are other Witches and Wizards that can work out the same problems that we have with our families, but if that happens for us; I seriously doubt it'll be before we're over seventeen and our parents wouldn't be able to stop us from getting together even if they wanted to do that."

"I'm already counting down the days," Romeo half-joked. "As far as I know, there aren't even any other Wizard or Witch students living anywhere near my home. None of you do, and when you're using Muggle-repelling charms when you're out and about; I'm not even sure what'd happen if I was with my parents too."

"You'd see us," Al answered, "and if you talked with us; your family might or might not see us depending on how hard they tried to focus on the Witch or Wizard using the charm. Underage kids can't use magic like that outside of Hogwarts; so youd only have that problem with the adults that do that – and some, like my parents, usually don't bother."

"Your Dad grew up as a Muggle," Cora told him. "Nearly everyone in my family would get gawked at by Muggles if we didn't use Mugle-repelling charms."

"That's fascinating," Rose said with a smile, "but our Charms exam isn't until a week from Tuesday. We should get started with History, since we've spent enough time on Herbology for the morning already; and then we can do a bit of Astronomy if we have time before lunch."

"I've been studying celestial bodies," Romeo joked. "That's way more fun than boring old history. That'll just put me to sleep."

"Which is why you really should pay attention," Rose countered. "You've a lot to catch up on for everything you missed during your naps in History class all year."

Rose's assertion wasn't really even a joke, and since Romeo hadn't been the only student in Professor Binns' class to have a nap now and then; getting ready for that exam really was fairly important for them. Al was sure that History was their first exam so that they'd be eased into the experience. It was also the only exam they had that didn't require a practical exam to go along with the written one. Despite Romeo's professed worries about studying History at all, they managed to have fun with it; and being outdoors really did make the subject a bit less dry than it always seemed to be when they were cooped up in a classroom or the library.

They didn't get any studying done for their Astronomy exam before lunch, and then after they had that meal; Al and Gwendolyn ended up having a Quidditch scrimmage instead of a Chaser duel for their exercise break before getting back to work for the afternoon. The school grounds and castle were much more crowded again by early afternoon as more and more of the older teens returned from Hogsmeade early so that they could study too; but Al and Rose found out at dinnertime that Victoire had spent the entire day with Teddy before they'd be apart for the next three weeks. The good news for the young couple, though, was that it would likely be the last three weeks they spent apart for the rest of their lives.

While most of their studying was done for the day by dinnertime; a clear night sky had Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and a fair number of other students of all ages deciding to spend some time on the Astronomy tower getting ready for the practical part of that exam after dark. That had been quite a bit of fun for Al and Gwendolyn, with some of that fun being totally unrelated to Astronomy; but then the music play time they'd had between dinner and going to meet up with Rose and the few other friends that had decided to do that bonus study session had been great too. The other bonus that went along with the Astronomy was that Al and Gwendolyn were able to spend more time together than they'd normally be allowed because they could work on that past the normal curfew. They didn't stay up too late, though, since they did still have one more day of studying to get through ahead of the start of exams; and they also had a pair of birthdays to celebrate – including Gwendolyn's twelfth.

"Happy Birthday!" Al told Gwendolyn; smiling as he surprised her as she reached the hallway at the foot of the Ravenclaw tower stairs. He laughed when she launched herself into his arms for an enthusiastic hug; and then they shared a rather brilliant birthday kiss.

"I didn't expect to see you until we got to the Great Hall," Gwendolyn said as she accepted the small gift that Al handed to her. The 'we' included Renee, Toni, and a few of the other Ravenclaw firsties; and they gathered around Gwendolyn once she'd finished with the hugs and kisses for Al. She was already opening her gift by then; and it wasn't long before she was hugging and kissing Al again while her friends looked on with bright smiles and obvious amusement.

"It's a charm bracelet," Gwendolyn told her friends while turning around to show it to them. "Can you help me put it on?" she asked Renee.

"Sure," Renee agreed as she took the bracelet from Gwendolyn and fastened it around her wrist. "Is it from a Muggle store?" she asked Al. "I've never seen one like it in Diagon Alley. Is there some significance for choosing those specific charms for the first charms on it?"

"It is from a jewelry store at the Muggle Mall that my Mum and Dad usually go to in London," he confirmed; and we should probably start walking toward the Great Hall for the rest; since it'll take a few minutes to explain the charms."

"There are only six of them," Renee said; smiling at him. "The golden eagle and lion are obviously for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor; the guitar is for Gwendolyn's music; and the broom and snitch are for Quidditch – though you couldn't have gotten that snitch charm from a Muggle store even if there might have been a broom from some Halloween or Witch collection."

"It's a Lightningbolt," Gwendolyn advised her friend. "That one didn't come from a Muggle store either."

"It isn't what the charms represent that will take the explaining," Al said as they all began walking along the hallway. He smiled at Gwendolyn. "It might be easier to just show you. Touch the snitch charm; and focus your attention on an opcn space a few paces ahead of us." She did that; and Al was ready to stop when everyone else did; their mouths hanging open in amazement when a shield charm appeared exactly where Gwendolyn had focused her attention. It winked out the moment she let go of the intricate little snitch and threw here arms around Al for yet another hug and kiss.

"You had the charms charmed?" she exclaimed excitedly. "What do the rest of them do?"

" The broom has a locomotion charm," he answered and began. "Same deal – hold the charm and think about what you want to move and where. The golden eagle has a super-seeker charm that I thought might come in handy around here for keeping an eye and ear out for James and Ollie or Slytherins that might not be happy with us right now. The guitar has a freezing charm; and while this one might sound really boring; the book has a scouring charm."

"Why in Merlin's name would you give Gwendolyn a scouring charm?" Toni asked incredulously; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Because he knows that Mum and Dad make Jonah and I do chores at home; and now I'll be able to wash dishes with magic even though we can't use our wands for things like that while we're at home."

"That's brilliant!" Renee told them. "Is there any chance that I can borrow that bracelet – or your boyfriend?"

"No, you can't – for either," Gwendolyn answered with a laugh. "I'm keeping them forever."

"You skipped telling us what the lion charm is for," Toni observed. "Is that one secret or something?"

Al smiled a bit shyly now. "It's a memory charm – with one of my all-time favorite memories," he explained while looking at Gwendolyn. He wasn't surprised when she touched that one next; she lost focus for a moment; and then threw her arms around his neck again.

"I love you too," she assured him; and then smiled at their friends. "It's Al's memory of the first time he told me that he loves me the night of the Christmas dance."

"Don't say any more about that bracelet," Renee told Gwendolyn. "There's already a very good chance that Al's just gone and spoiled first birthday gifts from boyfriends for the rest of us forever with that gift."

"Is there a maybe about that?" Toni asked. "Well-done, Al. We hate you."

"You don't," Gwendolyn disagreed. They were on the move again by then; and she held Al's hand tightly. "Thank-you, Al. I really love the bracelet. It's a wonder that they don't sell something like it in Diagon Alley. Your Uncle George sells all sorts of charmed objects and memory charms; yet nobody's apparently thought about doing something like this."

"Probably because it's always adults running those stores," Renee suggested. "They don't think about making charmed charms because they can do all of that with their wands – and they might not want kids being able to do this kind of magic at home."

"Then I'll need to thank Al's Mum for helping him out with the charms – especially if she doesn't think it's a good idea," Gwendolyn said; and turned her attention on Al when he laughed.

"Mum and Lily helped me with picking out your gifts when we were at home for Easter; but she didn't help with the charms."

"Maybe that's the other reason they don't sell them in Diagon Alley," Toni suggested. "If Al needed his Dad to do the charms; then it's probably too hard for most Witches and Wizards to do at all."

"Well, the good news for us is that the most powerful Wizard in the world does still have one single son available," Renee joked. "The bad news is that he's a total git; but I suppose there's a chance he'll turn out okay some day."

"That's apparently how things worked out for my grandmother with my grandpa James," Al told her; and then laughed at her reaction to that comment. "It's not a secret that my grandfather was a lot like my brother is now when he was here – until my grandmother convinced him that he could be a better Wizard than that."

That comment sent their chat in a new direction; but then it also wasn't long before they were in the Great Hall; and Al needed to split up with Gwendolyn and go to have breakfast with Rose, Ray, and the rest of their friends. The birthday fun didn't stop for Gwendolyn during breakfast, and in addition to the roses that Al sent to her by Owl Post; there were also several posts from her family; and one from Harry, Ginny, and Lily. Al would have liked to share all of that with her; but he was still happy when they were reunited after eating and got to share another little blast of birthday fun – this time to go along with Rose and deliver a pair of birthday gifts for their cousin Lucy. She was born exactly three years earlier than Gwendolyn, and while her sister, Dominique, and some of her friends had some birthday plans for her; they didn't have a major party planned when everyone was more worried about their first exams on Monday.

Al, Rose, Renee, and Toni made sure that Gwendolyn's birthday fun didn't end there either, but they also had to fit in little cameo moments for that around their studying and an after-lunch Chaser duel that Al and Gwendolyn did on their own – while being watched by dozens of teens that were studying in the bleachers at the practice pitch and were happy to have the bonus entertainment. Gwendolyn didn't like Al's Chaser duel gift of trying his hardest and winning the duel, but she did love the summer outfit that Ginny and Lily had helped Al to pick out for her; and she thought that the Muggle pop hits music book he'd chosen himself had been great too. They even made time for a short music practice after dinner to try out a few of the songsin that book; though it was getting to do that on their own that was most-special for both of them.

"That was fun," Gwendolyn told Al as she put her guitar in its case after they'd decided that it was time to pack up and head back to their common rooms early. "This charm bracelet is still my best gift today; but the music is brilliant too." She smiled at him then, and Al knew what she was going to say next before she did; so he smiled too. "Your Dad didn't put the spells on those charms did he? You did them yourself."

"I did," he confirmed modestly. "Our friends don't necessarily need to know this; but the reversal charms are on the charms that need them. It wouldn't work for you very well if you couldn't reverse the freezing or scouring charms."

"You do realise that's quite extraordinary, right?" Gwendolyn asked next; and then laughed. "Have you made a charm bracelet for yourself too?"

"No, but I might have something else to help me out while I'm home this summer; and I'm thinking about making one for Lily for her birthday in September if Mum will let me do that for her."

"That might seriously mess with James if he's planning anything for you this summer to try and get you in trouble," Gwendolyn offered; and they both laughed.

"I'm not hoping that he'll try anything; but I should probably give him – and Ollie – credit for the imspiration for the charms. The idea started with trying to think of a way that you could have extra protection around here if they try messing with you."

"James won't likely appreciate the credit he's due if you mess up any of his plans for the summer; but I'm already feeeling better knowing that you will be able to deal with him – and do that without worrying about getting kicked out of Hogwarts or sent off to Azkaban. I seriously doubt that Mum and Dad would let me visit you there." She looked down at her bracelet and frowned. "Using these charms won't be a problem with the Ministry, will it?"

"I don't think so – unless you used them around Muggles or for something bad. Your braceletisn't any different than dozens of different wheezes as far as the magic goes. For instance, when I figure out how to do it; I want to make an invisibility charm for you that would basically be the same as the headless hat or no-body robes. My Uncles sold all sorts of defensive products during the war too; and the Ministry of Magic only had a problem with that when the bad guys were in charge."

"That's true; and some of the wheezes are more trouble than any of these charms could possibly be just because they attract so much attention – and don't have counter-spells or reversals." They'd been sitting down to sing and play; and she stood up then and held out her hands to him. "We'd better get started on the goodnight hugs and kisses now. We both need to be sleeping early if we want to be ready for our exam in the morning."

Al was happy to do that with her; Gwendolyn spent some time assuring him that he'd helped to make her birthday one of the best ever even though they'd needed to study a lot too; and then he eventually walked her back to her House on the way back to Gryffindor tower. There'd ben one last hug and kiss as they parted ways; and then Al pretty much went straight up to his dorm room once he was 'home' with just the briefest stop to say goodnight to Rose and their friends on his way up to bed. He wrapped up his weekend with a bedtime mirror chat with his parents and Lily; and then he was sleeping by the time the rest of the guys in his room even came up to bed.

For the firsties, all of the written exams were being done with all four houses; so Al and Gwendolyn had the same exam schedule for that. They'd have some different times for the practical exams; but then many of them also had time slots for each student or for smaller groups. That was mostly going to be an issue to work around during the second week of exams; and wasn't a problem for the first week at all. After turning in so early on Sunday night, Al was awake early in the morning – early-enough that he was the first Gryffindor student to wake-up and make it to the showers. There were two OWL year boys that he talked with that were there ahead of him; but they'd advised him that they'd been up all night getting ready for their first exam. Judging by how tired they looked; Al suspected that getting some sleep would have done more to help them with that exam; but he'd likely never even find out how they'd end up doing at all. He was in the common room early too – before any of his room mates had gotten out of bed; but then Rose was awake early too; so they were on their way to the Great Hall with lots of time left to go before they'd need to be there for breakfast.

"I'm wondering if I should be worried," Rose told Al as they stepped out into the hallway through the portrait hole. "Dad's always told us stories about how mental Mum went worrying over her exams; but I'm sure we're going to do brilliantly."

"We've also heard that she had no reason to worry," Al reminded her. "Maybe it's because we're in this together – and you're not stuck with a pair of study buddy Wizards that would be as much trouble as our Dads were for your Mum when they were here. Merlin only knows how much time she spent helping them and even doing their revision instead of doing her own work." He grinned at her then. "If you really feel bad about how unfair that was for your Mum, we could see if James and Ollie would like some tutoring; and you could help them out with that."

"That's okay – and I've been even gladder this year than ever before that I'm not the same age as James. It's been bad enough being in the same House with him. Being in the same classes every day would've been a horror."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "What would you like to work on for our studies for the rest of the day after the History exam? We'll have until Wednesday to get ready for Astronomy; and none of us really need an entire day and a half more studying to be ready for that one."

"We can see what everyone else wants to do, but I'd pick some more Herbology practice in the greenhouse after lunch and then studying for the written part of that exam after that. Some of our friends have the Astronomy practical on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday; so they might want to work on that after dinner – and on the Astornomy tower after dark." She laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Fine – you can go with Gwendolyn and the others to help with that tonight; and maybe I'll take a turn with the rest of our friends tomorrow night – though we'll need to do that both nights before the exams start for other classes."

"That'd be fun, but let's talk about that later. Gwendolyn might be better off not having me around for a distraction this close to her exam."

Rose laughed again. "Maybe, since there isn't likely to be even a single question on those exams about the benefits of snogging on the Astronomy tower after dark – though it'd be funny if there were questions like that one."

"Not for the Witches and Wizards that could answer that question but haven't done that with their own boyfriend or girlfriend before," Al joked.

Rose took that joke and ran with it pretty much until they reached the Great Hall; and then they had fun while trying to stay relaxed ahead of their first-ever Hogwarts exam. Al wasn't even slightly worried about it either, but quite a few of their friends were stressing – just as the stress level in the Great Hall was palpable to him – and quite likely to everyone. Trying to cram last bits of information into too-tired brains during breakfast seemed pointless to Al and Rose; but they couldn't even avoid that with their own friends because several of them kept asking History questions – and expected them to have the answers whenever nobody else did. That worked against them in their efforts to stay relaxed; but they were both still ready to get that exam started after meeting up with Gwendolyn and some of their Ravenclaw friends and walking to the exam hall together.

The actual exam almost seemed to be a let down to Al after the weeks of preparation. He worked through it quickly and easily; knew he had every question right; and was certain that his essay questions were all answered to a point that was way above and beyond what would ensure that his Outstanding mark for the year so far was assured to stay there. There was no arrogance in that certainty. It was just a fact; and one that he did not brag about with anyone – not even Rose or Gwendolyn. He was also finished early; waited until Rose was done too a few minutes later; and then they both handed in their exams and left the room to wait for Gwenodolyn and the rest of their friends to catch up with them.

"Okay, now I'm sure that I have no idea why Mum would get so stressed about these exams," Rose decided with a smile and shake of her head. "That was easy."

"We both have fair memories," Al reminded her. "I'm sure that test isn't as easy for anyone that can't memorize the entire text book – along with everything else we've done this year."

"That's true, but we've also worked hardest too; so having good memories is only part of it. Do you want to work on anything while we wait? There's still more than a half-hour to go before time will be up for the morning exams."

"Let's just relax – though we can check out the latest Quidditch news on the Wireless Web if you'd like to do that too. Most of the National teams start training to get ready for the first round matches this week."

"That's going to be strange for our National team. Most of the players are from the United and Wasps teams; and our Harpies won the League Championship, but have more players on the reserve squad – except for their Beaters."

"Aunt Angelina and Alicia will help the team with getting ready to play, though; and they'll be pretty good back-ups if needed too."

With Quidditch to chat about, and feeling great about how they'd done with the exam; they had no problem passing that time until their friends began joining them in the hallway. They compared notes; helped friends that weren't feeling nearly as confident with how they'd done; and eventually moved on to have lunch in the Great Hall. Studying was the name of the game again after that, and it was only strange because it felt as though they had a lot of free time now that classes were done for the year. Rose's greenhouse study suggestion was approved by her friends; they did that for an hour after lunch; and then took a break that included a Chaser duel for Al and Gwendolyn that she won before they got back to work getting ready for their Herbology exam on Friday.

The rest of Al's day went pretty much exactly as Rose had suggested it should. They studied Herbology until dinnertime; and then spent the evening studying for Astronomy – including the practical work on the Astronomy tower after dark that Al helped Gwendolyn and the other Ravenclaw members of their study group to do until they had to give up the tower for the first of the practical exams that started at eleven o'clock. They had the entire day off on Tuesday, so they studied Herbology all morning; and then worked on Astronomy for the rest of the day except for breaks that included a nap time for the members of their group that had to take their Astronomy practical on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday night.

While Al couldn't share doing that with Gwendolyn on Tuesday night, he did enjoy the thank-you hugs and kisses that she had for him on Wednesday morning; and Gwendollyn wa sure that she'd aced that part of the exam while a few of her Ravenclaw classmates had either panicked or messed up for one reason or another. They were both sure that they aced the written exam when they were done with it by late morning too; and they were both happy to learn that Rose wasn't the only friend to join them in that club of positive thinkers. After lunch, their study group split up so that everyone that was finished with Astronomy could focus on Herbology while Al and Rose helped the rest of their friends with getting ready for their Astronomy practical exam. Nap time was optional for them too; but Al and Rose both went for naps after dinner; and Al still had a Chaser duel with Gwendolyn for a mid-afternoon break. He hadn't a doubt that he and Rose would ace the second part of their Astronomy exam; and they didn't disappoint their Professor either when they each did everything she asked of them perfectly.

Staying up late for that exam meant a bit less sleep going into Thursday morning and the final day they had to get ready for Herbology, but by then; even the least-enthusiastic members of their study group were feeling pretty good about being ready for their first really tough exam. That was why in addition to two work sessions in the greenhouse and more work to get ready for the written exam; they also felt good-enough about how they were doing to take an afternoon break to have a Quidditch scrimmage that allowed all of the Quidditch players in their group to blow off some steam. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose also took the evening off to relax and have an early night, and while not everyone followed their lead for that one; more than half did – a fact that earned some attention from other students in their respective Houses; and seriously annoyed some of them. James and Ollie were definitely among the Gryffindors that were annoyed with Al and Rose; but they were also too busy trying to cram for their own exams to do anything more than glare and offer the occasional walk-by insult.

Spending the entire school day on Friday immersed in Herbology was a lot of fun for Rose; but not really any fun for the rest of her classmates – Al included. Sure, he wrote a perfect exam just as she did; and they didn't have even the slightest problem with their practical exams in the afternoon; but Al still didn't really like Herbology at all; and Rose still loved it a lot. That was surely why she was also Professor Longbottom's favorite firstie student while Al was simply well-liked for being an apt, if disinterested student. As with their first two written exams, Al and Rose were finished early; and their afternoon exam was short and early; so they had a lot of time to wait for their friends because those exams were done in groups that rotated in and out of the greenhouse in half-hour intervals. That did mean that they could still visit with some friends while they waited for their turn to take the practical exam and compare notes with others as they finished up too; but it also meant that they didn't get started on studying for the three exams they'd be writing during the second week of testing.

Their successes during that first week of exams helped everyone in their study group as they headed into the weekend, but Charms was next up on Monday; and most of them were at least a little worried over what Professor Dawlish would throw at them – especially when the practical Charms would be individual and his choice. That uncertainty did also have the effect of having all of them motivated to study hard all weekend; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had no problem with keeping their study buddies focused on the work – even when the weather was way too nice for studying on Saturday.

Al and Rose were happy about the weather on Saturday for an entirely different reason. They weren't able to celebrate with their aunt at all, and didn't even end up having a mirror chat with her; but the beautiful weather was perfect for Fleur to celebrate her forty-first birthday with her husband, family, and some friends – even if her kids couldn't be there to celebrate too. A day at the beach and playing in the water followed by a cookout dinner at their house was surely more fun than studying exams was for their kids, nieces, and nephews; but then that could be said about pretty much anything else and be just as true!

Charms really was the only study focus for the firsties. That was different from their first week, but that was because DADA was going to be their Wednesday exam; and that one didn't really worry any of them at all. Their weekend wasn't non-stop studying; though Al and Gwendolyn did their own thing for most of the breaks that they took each day – except for a Sunday afternoon Quidditch scrimmage. They had music time on Saturday and Sunday evenings and a Chaser duel on Saturday afternoon; and while everyone in their group studied most of Friday evening; Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up a bit early then so that they could have a bit of alone time before splitting up for the night. Taking Sunday evening off again hadn't been as universally welcomed by their friends this time, and the members of their study group that decided to work instead had wanted more tutoring help; but even Rose wouldn't agree to doing that when she knew that she was ready and needed the rest and down time more than their friends needed to be spoon-fed the answers so that they didn't have to bother looking them up in their notes or textbooks.

Week two of exams arrived along with a somewhat stormy day, and while Al was getting ready for the day as early as usual; he hoped that the weather wouldn't be any kind of omen for their exams. As he focused on that, he didn't sense anything either way, and he wasn't more than a bit nervous about what Professor Dawlish would do with both exams; but he wasn't feeling totally confident either they way he had for the first three exams. This time, Rose wasn't ready to go as early as he was, so he had a bit of a wait until she joined him in the common room; but then they still had lots of time for their morning walk and talk anyway. Rose was more worried than Al was, which said something considering how ready they both were for the exams; so they spent that time together trying to lighten the mood for each other instead of worrying about what would happen.

They continued to try and do that with their mostly-worried Gryffindor friends during breakfast; Al's mood definitely improved after some good morning and good luck hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn between breakfast and the start of the written exam; and then the first exam ordeal of the year for the firsties began. Professor Dawlish put together a grueling, incredibly thorough exam that might have scared an OWL student, and beyond that; he tossed in a handful of tricks that were meant to make the exam harder for his students; and then added a few bonus questions that a firstie would only be able to answer if they'd already begun working on second-year charms. Those bonus questions could also only be attempted if the student completed the rest of the exam; so by the time he'd finished writing the exam; Al was fairly sure that there wouldn't have been many students even able to do that; let alone get the coreect answers to those questions. He did get there, but he also needed to use nearly all of the allowed time to get the exam done to his own satisfaction; and he expected that the only students that left early did so because they gave up on the questions they couldn't answer. That did mean that their entire study group left the room together; and they stayed together in the hallway for a while to do the post-mortem for the exam.

"Okay, maybe I get now why Mum might have gotten stressed about her exams here," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn as they gathered near one of the window alcoves. The rain pelted against the window; and seemed appropriate for the mood among most of their friends. "That exam was ridiculously hard compared to the others we've had so far."

"More like worse than all of them from last week combined," Dave offered glumly. "I've likely bombed it – though at least I did get to all of the sections with the most marks. I've had Muggle teachers try that one on me before."

"Try what?" Bristol asked him.

"There was a whole section in the middle of that exam full of half-mark and one mark questions," he explained. "They can take forever to do; and then you run out of time before getting to the end or near the end where they stick a few really high mark questions."

"I didn't get to the end of it," Janine Ashton said. She was one of Rose's room mates; but also one of the recent additions to their study group. "Everything seemed to be going well-enough right up until I ran out of time, but if I missed a lot of marks at the end; I'll be in trouble too."

"How'd you do?" Al asked Gwendolyn quietly while the rest of their friends talked some more about what several of them thought were sneaky tricks if ont outright dirty ones.

"I finished and got to one of the bonus questions," she answered. "You?"

"I finished too," he answered; and then smiled. "Let's leave it at that," he added even more quietly. "We still have the practical exam to take this afternoon; and we'll need to get everyone focused on that soon. Worrying about what's done will just mess us up; and we don't want to have anything go wrong during our charm work."

"Definitely not," Gwendolyn agreed. I might be borderline on an O right now; and don't want to push it down to an E when I'm pretty good at doing the charms."

"I'd say that you're great at it," Al amended with a smile. "The only thing we don't know is what Professor Dawlish will ask of us."

"He can't ask us to do anything we haven't learned this year," Gwendolyn pointed out; "though I suppose there isn't anything to stop him from changing up what we have to charm as long as we've learned the charms."

"We won't have a problem if all Professor Dawlish does is ask us to make bananas dance instead of pineaples," Al joked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Unless your banana slips on its peel – or your choice of dance doesn't have any appeal."

"How bad was your exam if you're resorting to such terrible puns?" Rose asked as she turned to get in on their conversation while the rest of their friends continued to mostly complain about their just-finished exam.

"We're just trying to lighten the mood so we won't be messed up for our practical exams," Gwendolyn explained. "You and Al have more to worry about than I do; though I'll never understand why any Professors would take out how they feel about any student's parents on their kids."

"I'd like to think that most of our Professors are pretty good about that," Rose told her. "When you think about it, the war veteran Professors have a lot of reasons to dislike nearly all of the families with kids in Slytherin; yet they seem to try very hard to be fair with them – maybe even more fair than they deserve – or is allowed for the rest of us in the other Houses."

"Would there be any Slytherin students here at all if not for doing that?" Gwendolyn asked. Looking out the window at the rain, she shook her head dismissively. "Maybe it's the weather," she added more to herself than for Al and Rose. "If you think that my sense of humor has slipped; then maybe you've got better puns to cheer us up with, Rose."

"I'd help you out with that, but we need to get to the Great Hall for lunch; so it's time to make like a banana and split," Rose teased. "Let's get going; and we can try to cheer the rest of our friends up between now and whenever we each have our practical exams."

They did that; mostly managed to enjoy their lunches; and then they played the waiting game – or got their practical Charms exam out of the way early. That wasn't the case for Al and Rose. They'd been booked nearly to the end of the schedule while Gwendolyn had been among the earlier groups. Since they got to watch nearly every Slytherin student go in early too; Al and Rose were sure that their placement wasn't random. As they heard about the Charms that the rest of their friends were asked to produce, they also found that what Professor Dawlish demanded from each of them varied quite a bit. There wasn't anything extreme there – or at least there wasn't until they were called in with the second-to-last group.

Even within their group, Professor Dawlish demanded much more from Al and Rose, and he pushed harder with each success they had – especially when they went above and beyond what he requested – though that was simply because he kept using vague terms meant to intentionally give him reason to take marks away from them if they'd skipped any of those little details or extras. They were eventually each asked to produce five charms – more than anyone else they'd talked with; and after completing everything; they were dismissed without comment.

"I wonder if his golden boy was tested like that?" Rose asked once she and Al were out of the room and away from any other students.

"Scorpius might have been given as tough a test," Al offered with a nod; and then grinned. "Of course, he also likely would have been offered hints or even tutoring in advance; but then that's nothing new for him. It's really too bad that he hates us, though; since he seems to be very smart and loves Quidditch as much as we do."

"Do you think that he hates us?" Rose asked. "He ignores us, and hasn't been at all friendly the few times we've been in contact with him; but he doesn't act like the Averys and the rest of their lot."

"I think that he does hate us; though that's just what I feel when we're around him." He thought about that for a moment before continuing. "It's different from the other Slytherins; but I'm not certain how." That was true, but Al also thought that his best guess would be that Scorpius Malfoy was also jealous of them – or at least of their families. The fact that Scorpius Malfoy had never even got into trouble all year and seemed to be a model student didn't change what Al sensed in the other boy; but there was no point in trying to push his opinions on anyone else – including Rose.

"Well, then maybe we'll just have to win him over some day so that he doesn't hate us anymore," Rose suggested; and Al grinned at her.

"You could invite him to be your date for Teddy and Victoire's wedding," he suggested.

"Are Teddy and Victoire getting married and nobody told me? I didn't even know they were engaged."

"They'll be engaged before we go back to school; and probably get married next summer – so you'll have lots of time to get around to asking Scorpius to go with you."

"You seem to be very sure about that engagement, but before you explain that, and just so you can't think I'm dodging that last part; I'd never ask Scorpius to go on a date with me for anything – and especially not to a family party. Could you imagine what a row that would cause?"

"Yes, but I was only suggesting it for a joke," Al assured her. "As for Teddy and Victoire, I am sure that Teddy will make sure that he never spends any time apart from Victoire again. If her birthday wasn't the same day as the Battle of Hogwarts anniversary; I'd have guessed that he'd have proposed then."

"Really?" Rose asked; and Al nodded.

"He's had a harder time saying goodbye to her after every one of the last four or five Quidditch matches. We may not have gotten to see him much; but I did notice."

"Maybe it's your perspective that's changed," Rose offered. "Will you miss Gwendolyn that much whenever you can't get together this summer?"

"I'm trying not to think about that until we're done exams; and then I'll hope that we'll get to see each other a lot every week."

"You will at least have your mirrors and be able to chat every day," Rose reminded him. "What's going to be toughest for you this summer might be having to put up with James every day while your parents are busy with work – especially if your Mum is away a lot for Quidditch World Cup matches."

"Unless we spend those days at the Burrow when Mum's working; I'll be more worried for whomever gets stuck staying with us and has to deal with James if he keeps acting up."

"He wouldn't do that with Grandma," Rose predicted; "though it might be fun to watch if he tried."

"Not for him," Al joked; "but he was fighting that last summer; so it'll likely be worse this year – especially when Mum might not get much time off from work at all. He's going to tell Mum and Dad that he's old enough to stay at home by himself."

"But not to take care of you and Lily too?"

"Now that would be a nightmare," Al said half-seriously. "I think that I'd rather spend a day at the Azkaban daycare than with James in charge at home."

Rose laughed. "Thanks for that mental picture of you as a toddler playing with some of the Azkaban kids at the prison while your Dad was busy rounding up their parents and grandparents."

"This conversation is taking a really strange turn," Al said first; "but that does have me thinking about the kids of other Azkaban prisoners that grew up without one or both parents but weren't born there like the Azkaban kids were. That must've been tough for them too."

"I think that Gwendolyn's right – it must be the rain messing with our moods today to have us thinking and talking about these things. If you're thinking about getting your Mum and Dad to offer a summer babysitting job to one of those kids, though; I'd think about that one a bit longer before suggesting it to her."

Al laughed. "I definitely hadn't taken my thoughts in that direction; but thanks for the laugh. Do you want to have a DADA practice tonight? I'm not feeling very motivated right now to just sit and study our notes and textbooks after dinner; and Gwendolyn and I aren't going to have a Chaser duel today with all of that rain out there."

"We can do that," Rose agreed. "After the Charms exams, I expect that everyone in our study group will be ready to blow off a bit of steam. We've still got all day tomorrow to get ready for the DADA written exam."

That's what they eventually ended up doing both on Monday evening and all day on Tuesday, but before they got back to work; Al and Gwendolyn had just a bit of birthday fun when they met up to hang out for a while before dinner. While they'd been focused on their Charms exams, Jonah had been spending the day celebrating his tenth birthday with his parents, family, and some friends – incluidng Lily and Hugo. Al and Gwendolyn had a mirror chat with him – and with Kirley, Gwenog, Ginny, and Lily – while they were getting ready to have dinner after spending most of the day playing. Gwenog hadn't been able to play all day with them, but Kirley and Ginny had taken the kids for an outing to have lunch with her – and with the National team; so she had been with Jonah for one of the highlight moments of his day. Jonah had already opened Gwendolyn's gifts for him at breakfast, and they weren't doing the friends and family gifts until after dinner, so Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to watch any of that fun; but they did still have an entertaining chat; and were glad that they could at least have those few moments with their families before it was time to move on and get back to their friends and studies.

The storm blew out of the area overnight, but it took most of Tuesday before it was dry-enough outside to sit around anywhere and study or hang out; so they were indoors for most of the day – except for the Chaser duel that Al and Gwendolyn could do without getting wet while flying above the still-damp practice pitch and bleachers. There was no doubt that getting ready for their DADA exams was the most fun for everyone in their group, and since Al and Gwendolyn always paired up to practice; that was especially entertaining for them. In addition to their dueling practice on Monday night, they had another practice for their practical exam on Tuesday afternoon; and then one last blast of play time after dinner on Tuesday night before ending the night early so that they'd all be rested for the exams. While Al and Rose assured their friends of how important that was for every exam; they tried to make even more of a point of that for DADA; since making tired-out mistakes with jinxes and hexes could be painful as well as bad for your grades.

Wednesday was another wet, if not stormy, day at Hogwarts, but unlike Monday; that didn't seem to have any effect on the mood around the school – at least for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends. The DADA written exam was Al's favorite so far; he finished it early; and was sure that he aced it. Rose and Gwendolyn took a bit longer to write it; but they were confident too; and by the time they'd done the exam post-mortem with their friends; they knew that all of their study mates were happy with how they did – though most of their friends also had their goals for marks set a bit lower. That lunch break was the most-relaxed so far for an exam day too; and Al thought that was a good thing for his friends as they all got ready for the practical part of the DADA exam. He and Gwendolyn had a mid-afternoon time slot for their test, but Rose and Bristol had an early one; so they all headed to the DADA classroom where Professor Proudfoot would be testing his students on the skills he'd taught them over the past nine and a half months.

The waiting was the tough part for Al and Gwendolyn; but they did have enough entertainment to keep them busy as they alternated between helping their friends before they took their exams and talking with them about how they did after finishing their tests. Rose and Bristol were sure that they'd done well-enough, if not as perfectly for Bristol as it had gone for Rose. Finding out what each pair of students was tested on didn't really help anyone because Professor Proudfoot changed that up with each group. Al wasn't positive, but as that information added up; he thought that their Professor might have been picking at least some spells for his students that he knew they were particularly good at while avoiding spells that they had trouble with. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, since in a way, doing that wasn't really any different than Professor Dawlish making his exams far more difficult than seemed fair; but at least in this case it was to the benefit of the students. When it was finally their turn, Gwendolyn took Al's hand and they walked into the classroom together; earning a sneer from the pair of Slytherin students they passed as they left.

"Good afternoon," Professor Proudfoot said; smiling at them. "Please take up positions within the two circles to your left and right; and we will begin when you're ready."

The places he'd indicated were about twenty-five feet apart to the edge of each circle; and the circlcs were about ten feet in diameter. Professor Proudfoot had done this set-up with his students in the weeks leading up to their exams so that they'd know what to expect and be prepared for the tests. They wouldn't technically be having a duel; but they would have some interaction as they demonstrated different spells and counter-spells or other defenses. Gwendolyn shared a quick hug with Al before they split up and walked to the center of the two circles; and then they faced Professor Proudfoot when ready.

"Begin with your showing me your shield charms," he told them. "Bonus points for size, shape, and forming it on the line of your circle."

Al and Gwendolyn had been working on a bit of a surprise for their Professor for their shields; and he actually stood up and walked over to take a look at each of them when they finished producing them – a pair of formiddable shields that were right on their respective circle lines – and encircled each of them. For Gwendolyn, hers was a wall; and Al's shield was a dome.

"Well done!" Professor Proudfoot exclaimed. "Spreading your shields over such a large area could make them weaker, and your shield, Gwendolyn, would be susceptible to attack by filling it with water from the top; but I am impressed."

"Our shields are stronger," Al disagreed respectfully. "As long as we can maintain the shape; the integrity and strength is similar to an egg."

"But then that would suggest that a hard, focused hit would crack them," Professor Proudfoot countered; and Al nodded.

"Yes, and we're still working on that; but then the same is true for any other shield shape."

"I'll look forward to seeing what you do come up with in the future," Professor Proudfoot said with a nod and smile. "Let's move along. Drop your shields and demonstrate the revulsion jinx on these stone blocks. Bonus marks if you can push them precisely into the squares marked on the floor behind them."

The stone blocks he'd inidcated had been behind his chair to the left and right; and about twenty feet beyond the circles that Al and Gwendolyn stood in. They'd need to push the blocks away from them about ten feet to hit the marked spot on the far side of the stones from them. For Al, his biggest problem with the revulsion jinx was pushing too hard; so he began with the lightest of touches; and then pushed harder until the block began to move. Control was the key for him; and he kept his power tightly contained so that he wouldn't mess up and accidentally shove the block through the wall or something. Gwendolyn worked a bit faster because of that; and he and Professor Proudfoot both laughed when she shouted out a victorious "YES!" after completing her task first – and having her block stop perfectly in the square on the floor. That shout did nearly mess up Al's attempt to do the same; but he managed to hold on until his stone was in place too.

From there, the rest of their exam was easy. They took turns demonstrating jinxes, hexes, and the couters for both; and Al and Gwendolyn both got to demonstrate Al's parabolic, spell-deflecting shields that could either deflect a spell harmlessly out of the way or rebound it on an attacker. By the time they were finished, Professor Proudfoot was so impressed that he awarded them ten points each for their Houses in addition to implying that they'd both receive top marks for their outstanding performance.

Taking time to celebrate that accomplishment wasn't really an option because their study group was already working to get ready for their Transfiguration exams; but Al and Gwendolyn did take a short break to have drinks and a snack before going to meet up with Rose and anyone else in their group that wasn't still waiting to take thir DADA practical. Transfiguration was one of the toughest subjects for a lot of students, but as with Charms; it was also a favorite because some of the coolest magic was used in performing the transfigurations. Since his father was an Animagus, Al wasn't surprised that he was good at Transfiguration, but he had to really work at it too; and raw power and talent was only part of the equation for doing well in the subject.

While the work to get ready for the written exam was generally tough for their overall group, practicing the transfiguration spells was a lot of fun – even when things didn't quite go as planned for some of their friends. Those mistakes were always entertaining, but then those practices were all about fixing those problems; and they worked together to do that for each other. Since Transfiguration really was tough for a lot of his friends, Al stayed up late on Wednesday night helping some of the guys long after the end of their group study session; and they even worked in their dorm room until after midnight. He and Rose both helped their friends all day on Thursday until about an hour after dinner; but then they drew the line there and took the rest of the evening off so that they could rest, relax and be ready for their exams on Friday.

For the relax part of their plan, Rose went along with Al and Gwendolyn for their Chaser duel and played Keeper for the contest – on both sides. That made it much more challenging for Al and Gwendolyn, since they'd still need to try and get past Rose if they managed to get close enough to the goals to take a shot; but that just made the match more fun for all of them. When they wrapped their play time up near-dark, Rose was declared the winner; and Gwendolyn was runner-up based on her three goals scored to just two for Al. They split up for the night after Al and Rose walked Gwendolyn to her House; and then they all pretty much just headed for bed after that.

The written exam for Transfiguration wasn't as tough as their Charms exam had been, but it was tough, and while Al still managed to be done first; he only handed it in to Professor Clearwater with about ten minutes to spare. He was confident with how he'd done, and was sure that he'd earned all of the bonus points too; but he was also wrung out from the hours of intense concentration. That actually felt worse than after the Charms exam; but he expected that was simply because they were now two weeks into their exams and all of the effort and work was catching up to him. When he was together with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends after the exam was over, the one thing that was much better than it had been for the Charms exam was how everyone felt about how they did. Sure there were some jokes about that being because Professor Clearwater was much nicer to look at while not having a clue how to answer the questions on the exam compared to Professor Dawlish; but those really were just jokes for their friends – even if it might be true for the least-prepared of the rest of their classmates.

The lunch break helped them all to recover from the morning exam ordeal, and while Al was sure that the afternoon schedule for the practical exams really was random; he was very happy to be in the first group with Rose; and even happier that Gwendolyn was booked for the third group. Walking into the classroom, he pushed aside thoughts of spending the rest of the afternoon having fun with Gwendolyn while the rest of their friends waited their turn to take their practical exam; but he was still smiling as he and Rose stood in front of two of the work tables that were each set up with everything they'd need for their tests. Professor Clearwater gave them their instructions as they worked through each required Transfiguration; she checked over each of them as they were completed; and then moved on to the next one. The big finale was to turn a mouse into any inanimate object of the student's choosing; with extra points awarded for appearance – or taken off if whiskers, tails, ears, or feet were still visible after the spell was completed.

"That's a very nice replica of the Burrow," Professor Clearwater told Al once he'd finished Transfiguring his mouse; "but I'm disappointed that you didn't add anything to spruce it up a bit for the bonus marks."

Al grinned at her. "It's an exact replica," he advised her. "Look in through the windows and doors."

She did that; and he enjoyed watching her smile brighten as she realised that he'd duplicated his Grandparents' home with as much detail as his memory would allow – which was good-enough to include details as intricate as knobs on cupboards and dressors. There had certainly been lots of changes since she'd visited the place while dating his Uncle Percy; but Al had picked the Burrow because she would recognize the extra effort he'd put into his Transfiguration. Professor Clearwater took a long time examining his replica house – so long that Rose and the other students were left to watch on while waiting for their turn to have their final Transfigurations looked at and marked.

"I take it back," Professor Clearwater finally told Al. Your Transfiguration is remarkable. Well done!" She began to move over to Rose's table then before adding – "Change it back to the mouse for the next round of tests; and then you may leave."

Al did that; but stayed long-enough to find out that Rose's Transfiguration of her mouse impressed their Professor too. She'd chosen to make a replica of her family's sedan, and while it was complete in every detail; she also dressed it up to look like an advert for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes including a Magenta paint job that had Professor Clearwater laughing at the mental picture of Rose's father actually driving around in the thing. Once he was sure that Rose had aced her practical too, Al left the room; reunited with Gwendolyn; and had time to cover the first part of his exam recap before Rose joined them and they gave their friends the full report. Rose decided to go back to her dorm room to get changed and ready for a play afternoon then, but Al stayed with Gwendolyn while she waited for the second group to take their tests – and then remained there in the hallway while she did her exam. He wasn't worried about how well she'd do, since they'd worked together while practicing; but he was still relieved to see her brilliant smile when she came out of the classroom again. The hug and kiss was pretty good too; and Gwendolyn was sure that she had reason to celebrate.

"Your replica of the Burrow might have been more impressive than my miniature guitar; but Professor Clearwater was impressed that my guitar actually played music and could even be tuned." She laughed then. "She was going to take marks off from me for leaving whiskers behind; but then gave me bonus marks when I explained that I Transfigured the whiskers into the guitar strings; and the bits hanging out from the pegs was normal for guitars."

"I thought that you should get bonus points just form being able to play a song on that tiny little guitar when you worked on that with us," Al told her. "I guess that it helps to be able to play the chords by feel instead of needing to look; but that was still awesome. I'm really glad that your exam went as great as you hoped."

"Me too," Gwendolyn assured him. "Now we just have Potions left on Monday; and I'm not worried about that one at all – especially when we've got two days to finish getting ready for it."

That fact was also why they weren't worried about taking the afternoon off from their studies. They split up to get changed and grab their Quidditch gear; met up with Rose and some of their other friends at the practice pitch; and played a scrimmage match that started out three a side and eventually had full teams – though they'd stopped playing by then so that other friends could have a chance to play – and blow off some steam after a busy week of testing. Al and Gweondolyn also had a mirror chat with Kirley and Jonah. Kirley was celebrating his forty-seventh birthday, but Gwendolyn had been under orders not to get distracted from her Transfiguration exams; so she'd waited until then to be able to wish her father a happy birthday – and he'd saved opening her gift until she called too. They didn't get to talk with Gwenog because she'd still been busy with the National team; but Gwendolyn had needed to call then because she didn't want to miss them before they headed out for a weekend birthday away from home that she really wished that she could join her family for instead of spending the weekend working on getting ready for her Potions exam.

Playing Quidditch and their birthday mirror chat with Kirley were just two of the fun activities for the rest of the day on Friday for Al and Gwendolyn. They played Fanged Frisbee with their friends; went for a long evening walk after dinner; and had some music play time by the lake that was apparently entertaining enough that the giant squid swam by them for a listen; and one of the merpeople might have come near them to check out too – though they couldn't be sure of that with the lake shadowed in twilight when Gwendolyn thought she caught a glimpse of one. The goodnight hugs and kisses were great too; and then Al ended his day by hanging out with Rose and a few of their friends in the common room before heading to bed at around the same time that the teen couples began pairing up to watch the mirror network, and in too many cases; snog each other senseless. While some of his fellow Gryffindor might find watching that kind of action entertaining, even after nearly an entire school year of experience living in dorms and sharing the common room with all types of teens; Al was still sure that he didn't believe that snogging should be a spectator sport.

Getting back to their studies again on Saturday morning required some coaxing for the less-enthusiastic members of their study group; but knowing that they only had one exam left to go did help – along with reminding everyone that they'd have three full days off to just play and goof off once they finished their Potions exams on Monday. The realisation that this was their last weekend before summer holidays began to hit home too; with wide-ranging reactions that also generally included mixed feelings for everyone. For Al, he was looking forward to being home for the summer while wishing he could do that and see Gwendolyn every day. Like pretty much all underage Witches and Wizards, he was going to really miss getting to use magic whenever he wanted to do that except for working on his holiday revision assignments, but he also knew that law wasn't going to change anytime soon; and his own opinion on the matter wasn't going to make a difference – or at least it wouldn't while it mattered for him during the five years he had left before turning seventeen.

The actual weekend work and play time wasn't really particularly memorable for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends. Potions was not a favorite subject for most of their study group friends; so it was just work that they had to do and didn't have to like doing it. Taking a couple of play time breaks each day helped a bit, but even for that; the weather only cooperated on Sunday morning while the rest of the weekend ranged from damp and dreary to windy and wet. That didn't get in the way of some music time for Al and Gwendolyn, but they didn't play much Quidditch; and their limited exercise involved going for walks inside the castle instead of out and around the school grounds.

Their weekend that at times seemed as though it would never end finally did, and for the best first-year Potions students; the exams were anticlimactic compared to all of the work they put into getting ready for the tests. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn were all very confident that they'd aced Professor Perks' written exam. They all finished early too; and then used that extra time to go for a long walk by the lake before lunch instead of waiting around for the usual exam post-mortem with the rest of their friends. For the practical part of their exam, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students had drawn the second of the two exam times while Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had the first. That meant that they had more time to sit around after lunch while waiting to go into their dungeon classroom, and though they were able to spend some of that time outdoors; most of them would have rather just gotten their last test of the school year over and done with – whether they expected to do well or not.

One thing about the Potions practical exam that was different than most was that they all started together and ended together too; since it took almost exactly the same amount of time to create the potions whether they were perfect or went horribly wrong. Sure, there were a couple of exceptions where disaster struck the potion maker mid-way through the process; but that basically just left those unfortunate students with a mess to clean-up. This year, they were asked to produce two potions that covered quite a lot of the techniques they'd learned over the year along with handling a number of ingredients that required a thorough knowledge of the care and use of those materials; so making those potions required a lot of concentration – and not much extra time to spare if you were unsure of what to do. That wasn't a problem for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and they once again were confident when they were set free that they'd earn top marks for their potions.

Then again, in the case of making the forgetfulness potion; it was always possible that they messed it up and just forgot that was what had really happened!

That joke was more popular among the members of their study group that were hoping for the best from their potions and expecting the worst, though the line actually worked better that way; since a failed attempt at a forgetfulness potion would mean that it didn't work at all. While all of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw members of their study group were together after the exam, they didn't really bother with another exam post-mortem; mostly because they were finished with exams and it was time to get to the fun and games for the last few days they had left before they'd be hopping on the Hogwarts Express for the trip home.

Al and Gwendolyn were more than ready to get started on sharing all of the fun they hoped to have; but couldn't do that right away because their Potions exam time slot didn't leave them with much time to spare before dinner – and they couldn't do that together even though they did each have fun. Having that three days ahead of them with no classes or exams was great for the first and second-year students; but exams continued on Tuesday and Wednesday for the third-to-seventh-year students; and the studying for exams continued for all of those older students at least until Tuesday; depending on which optionals they'd taken and the exam schedules for each of the classes. Helping them out wasn't really part of the decision-making process for Al and Gwendolyn when they made their after-dinner plans; but staying out of the way of the still-busy students was a bonus – if anyone even noticed their absence from their common rooms while they went outside to play Quidditch and then follow that up with some music time in their usual classroom.

Quidditch and music were part of their play plans on Tuesday and Wednesday; though they also played with Rose, Ray, and the rest of their best friends a lot too. They had a Quidditch scrimmage both mornings; swam in the lake in the afternoons; and generally goofed around and played. Nearly all of those two days were happy and filled with great moments for Al and Gwendolyn; but that changed for them on Wednesday evening when they discovered that the little band of Slytherins that were currently their favorite haters had been watching and plotting for their revenge. They were playing and singing in their usual classroom when the door was opened; something was thrown into the room; and then the door was slammed shut again.

"What is that?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they both watched what looked like a dung bomb roll across the floor toward them. Al didn't wait to find out or even answer her before first grabbing his wand and creating bubble-head charms for each of them just a moment before the canister detonated and some kind of smoky gas began spurting out of it. The room quickly filled with the smoke, and whatever it was; it would have overwhelmed Al and Gwendolyn if he hadn't protected them from it so quickly.

"I don't know," he answered as they watched the fog all around them. "We probably don't want to know either."

"Probably not," she agreed. "What should we do now? Whoever threw that in here must have more than this planned for us."

"You're likely right, but I think we're better off in here than we would be trying to get out through that door if we have a welcoming committee waiting for us in the hallway."

"Good point," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's at least move away from here. There's no point in making it easy for them to find us again if they saw us when throwing that thing in here."

"We can do that," Al agreed; and they walked hand-in-hand to the opposite side of the room from where they'd been sitting.

"What do we do now? Wait to see what they do next?" Gwendolyn asked; smiling at Al. "I suppose that we can keep practicing that last song while we wait to find out what our unwanted playmates have planned for us next."

"We should wait, but while I'd love to keep playing music with you; we'd better hold off on that and be ready when they do come in here – and they will once they decide that we aren't coming out."

The waiting seemed to drag on, but was likely less than a couple of minutes. When the door opened again, they couldn't see it through the smoke, but the could hear it; and they could hear what was being said by at least two of the Wizards outside of the room.

"The bubble-head charms will protect you. Potty and McCormack must be out cold by now; so just go in there; drag them out; and then we'll have some fun with them."

"You said they'd come out on their own," the second Wizard complained; and the first one snorted derisively.

"We obviously overestimated how long it would take for the potion to overwhelm them. Quit complaining. This way you don't have to worry about getting blasted before we capture them."

"You'd better be right, Vic. Let's go, G-Air. You can even get McCormack; but only because I'm going to make sure that Potter hits his head on every table leg on the way out of there."

Al and Gwendolyn exchanged smiles, but managed to keep from laughing. By then, they'd recognized Victor and Rupert Avery's voices; and could guess at the rest of the Slytherins waiting outside for them.

"It's nice to know that you picked the right defense for us, but bubble-head charms aren't much good if they're popped," Gwendolyn suggested in a whisper; her smile brightening. "Maybe we can find out what that stuff does without learning the hard way."

"Do you think that you could find something in the room that's sharp enough to help us out with that?" Al asked just as softly; and Gwendolyn nodded while holding up the arm with her new charm bracelet on it.

She then proceeded to use the super-sensory charm; located a couple of quills that would have normally been out of sight in the smoke; and then used her wand to float them into the air and then shoot them directly at the bubbles that surrounded the heads of Rupert Avery and G-Air Mulciber. She'd been able to see the two boys with her still-active super-seeker senses, and they'd been close to reaching the spot where they'd been at the start of the attack; but they were still unseen without the magical help – though Al could pinpoint them when they shouted in surprise and panic – right before they both began coughing as they sucked the smoke into their lungs. Al and Gwendolyn then listened to them as they turned and tried to run back toward the door; and Gwendolyn could see them both as G-Air slammed into one of the work benches before collapsing to the floor; while Rupert did better right up until he slammed face-first into the wall about four feet to the left of the door.

"What's going on?" Victor Avery demanded; but the only response he got – if he could hear it at all – was a soft moan from G-Air. Rupert didn't make a sound; and Gwendolyn suspected that he'd knocked himself out cold.

"Answer me, Rupert!" Victor demanded. Gwendolyn looked at Al meaningfully, and he shrugged; leaving the choice for her unspoken question up to her.

"He can't," she called out loudly-enough to carry out into the hall. "I can't really say that I hated to burst their bubbles; but I'll guess that they'll hate me for it – once they wake up from whatever you put in this smoke."

"Big talk, McCormack," Victor spat. "Why don't you come out here and we'll explain to you why that was the dumbest thing you've done since agreeing to go out with a Potty?"

"You'd try," Gweondolyn countered; "but since you probably also want your brother and G-air back again fairly soon so that you can help them out with whatever's happened to them; I think that we have room to negotiate here."

While she spoke; she motioned to her charm bracelet; silently communicating an idea and question to Al that he caught on to right away. With a wave of his wand and whispered revulsion spell, he 'pushed' on some of the smoke and sent a puff of it wafting out of the open door. They heard a chorus of alarmed shouts; and then the door slammed shut again.

"Nice try – not!" Avery shouted with a sneer in his voice. "Even if you're using bubble-head charms too; you're sure to run out of air soon. We can wait – and that'll be all the worse for you!"

Gwendolyn was already working on clearing out the smoke with her scouring charm the moment the door had been slammed shut and locked. Al helped by opening a window; and that seemed to speed up the process. They waited for a while after the room seemed to be clear; and then he took a chance and dropped his own bubble-head charm. After taking a few deep breaths and sensing no problems; he dropped the charm he'd put around Gwendolyn too.

"Okay, that seems to have worked," Gwendolyn said quietly. "Now what do we do with the gamg of Slytherins waiting for us in the hall?"

"Can you hear anything out there with your super-sensory charm?" He watched as Gwendolyn checked; listened for a few long moments; and then began to give Al what must have been a running commentary.

"They've decided to wait a while longer. Victor is trying to talk two of his mates into coming in after us." She smiled at Al. "For some reason, they're not liking his plan at all." She paused another moment. "Vaisey's suggesting that Victor get the smoke out of the room instead; and then they can rush us whether we're conscious or not."

"Then I think that I should hit them with a revulsion jinx the moment they open that door again; and then we could jump out into the hall and try freezing charms to the left and right."

"I'll hold the door for you so they can't slam it in our faces," Gwendolyn offered; and Al laughed.

"Normally, I'd want to be the one holding doors open for you; but we can make an exception this time."

Thanks to her super-sensory charm, Gwendolyn knew exactly when Victor reached out and flung the door open. Al shouted "Revulsio!" while Gwendolyn simply used her body to hold the door. That didn't end up being a problem as Victor Avery and Monty Crabbe were both in front of the open doorway; and got blasted across the hall and into the wall behind them hard-enough to knock them out. Jumping out into the hall, Al turned left, Gwendolyn turned right; and they both fired off freezing charms. To that point, their plan went perfectly, but before Al could put up his shield around them; he was hit a glancing blow from a reductor curse that broke his left arm between the elbow and shoulder; and knocked him toward the far wall where Victor and Monty were on the ground. He spun around at the sound of Gwendolyn's shout while still getting his shield up around them; but was relieved when her shout had been one of anger at seeing him get hurt.

"I'm fine – sort of," he assured her.

Looking each way down the hallway; he surveyed the situation. On 'his' end of the hallway; Raban Lestrange stood frozen in place; and Don Rosier had jumped behind a suit of armor and was now watching him warily. There was only one Wizard on Gwendolyn's side; and Vince Vaisey was frozen in place too. With just Rosier left to deal with; Al turned his attention on the third-year Slytherin.

"I'm a bit annoyed with you for breaking my arm," he said conversationally, "but since I doubt that any of you have been hurt; I'd suggest that you just let us leave so that you can help your mates before someone comes along and finds them all like this."

"Or I could just finish the job we came here to do; and then we'll all have a fun night messing with you and your girl," Rosier shot back. He gave Gwendolyn a lewd once-over. "If you'd like; I'd be happy to take care of her personally."

"Wrong answer," Al told him; the insult and insinuation about Gwendolyn seriously angering him. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted; and dropped his shield in time to catch Rosier's wand. He laughed when Gwendolyn then put him in a full-body bind before then hitting him with a bat-bogey hex.

"Try taking care of those bats, you crude, obnoxious git!" she told him before turning to Al. "How bad is your arm?"

His smile was half-grimmace. "It sucks, but I don't want to spend half the night bothering anyone over all of this. You can fix it for me."

Gwendolyn stared at him. "You want me to try fixing a broken arm?"

"I doubt that Madam Pomfrey will buy it if I tell her that I fell down again. It's a clean break. Aunt Hermione had to fix my Dad's broken glasses all the time when they were firsties. This can't really be any harder than that, can it? I trust you, so let's just do it and get it over with so that we can get out of here and on with the rest of our night."

Gwendolyn took a moment to think about it; and then nodded as she pointed her wand at the spot he'd already indicated with a hand. "Reparo!" she said; and then jumped when they both heard the loud snap as the broken bone was fixed. Al couldn't hold back the cry of pain; but he did still muffle it as best he could; and then he smiled weakly at Gwendolyn once the wave of pain and a bit of nausea passed.

"See? You could be a future Healer or Medi-Witch with skills like that!"

"I love you," she told him before wrapping her arms around him for a hug. "Let's get out of here."

"We need to get your guitar and our bags," he reminded her; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Okay. Do you want to just leave them here this time? Since you didn't want to go to the hospital wing for your arm; you must not want to start another mess with them either." She was already heading back into the classroom; so Al followed her.

"I don't," he agreed. "We'll unfreeze Vaisey right before we get out of here. Maybe he's got enough sense to take it from there, but either way; he must know how much trouble they'd be in for trying this after the last duel we had with them." Grabbing his bag, he waited for Gwendolyn to put her guitar away; and then he took that from her too while she packed up the music book she'd had out and put it in her book bag before they were both ready to leave again.

"Except that they weren't smart-enough not to try this in the first place knowing how much trouble it could be for them." She shook her head in disgust. "I guess there's no point in trying to understand. Sometimes there is just no explanation for stupid."

They both looked down at G-Air and Rupert as they walked out of the classroom again, and could tell that they were both breathing; but neither boy moved at all. None of the boys in the hallway were moving either; but as they turned to walk past Vince Vaisey, they heard a groan coming from Victor Avery. Al drew his wand and sent Victor's and Monty's wands skittering far down the hallway just to be on the safe side; and then Gwendolyn waited until they were ready to turn a corner far down the hallway before she reversed the freezing charm she'd placed on Vaisey. They didn't want to find out what happened next; and didn't look back. They'd have been out of sight by the time the freed Slytherin could have gotten his bearings and even thought to turn around.

"So, what should we do for an encore for that peformance?" Gwendolyn joked. "I don't feel like playing music anymore, and it's a bit late to start a walk outside."

"Let's go up to the Owlry," al suggested. "I was thinking about sending Winter home tonight instead of tomorrow night – or leaving her stuck taking the train with us on Friday."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Is that in case word of this does get out, and you can pretend that you couldn't send a post about it because Winter was already gone?"

"No, but thanks for the idea if that does end up being a problem. I really don't hink that it will be, but as you said – sometimes there's no explanation for stupid."

Without any other ideas, they went to the Owlry; spent some time with Winter and Storm; jotted a few quick notes to send along with Winter; and then had her on the way home while they still had lots of time to spare before curfew to spend a bit of time saying goodnight to each other in a mostly non-verbal sort of way. They did that before Al walked Gwendolyn back to Ravenclaw tower; they shared another hug and kiss there; and then he went back to Gryffindor tower. He took Rose aside to have a quiet little chat and let her know about what had happened with the Slytherins; they'd both spent a bit more time with their friends; and then Al went up to his dorm room to do a bit more packing so that he didn't have a lot of work to do for that on Thursday night and Friday morning. With only one more day at Hogwarts to go before they'd be leaving, he stayed up fairly late talking to Ray, Romeo, Dave, and a couple of the other guys that hadn't stayed in the common room to watch the mirror network or play games all night – or he did that until he fell asleep sometime around one o'clock.

That time with his friends had been good for Al, since he didn't expect to see any of his room mates except for Ray over the summer holidays; but it made it a bit tougher to wake up in the morning and get motivated for his last day as a Hogwarts firstie. Staying in bed and dozing for an extra five or ten minutes didn't mees up the rest of his morning routine because the shower room was still basically empty when he got there and started getting ready for the day. He was still in the common room ahead of Rose too; so he sat down and surfed the Wireless Web on his mirror while waiting for her. The top news story around the Wizarding World was the imminent start of the Quidditch World Cup; and the stories Al read were all about the first-round match-up predictions. His morning reading included his mother's latest report for England's National team; and she seemed to be very positive about their team's chances in their first-round match-up against Germany.

There were sixty-four first-round matches being played around the world on Saturday, and Al was interested in a handful of them; but the only other team he planned on following avidly was France – and only because Gabrielle was playing for them instead of England. Their first-round match was going to be against the South African team; and France was the overwhelming favorite for that game. To a lesser extent, he was interested in the teams from Scotland and Ireland; and planned on following some of the usually top-tier Quidditch World Cup teams like Bulgaria and Peru; but he'd only be cheering for England and France – and hoping that if his two favorite teams did end up meeting in the Quidditch World Cup that it'd be in the Championship match.

"Are you checking out local Wizarding Inns and attractions in case you get to go along to watch any of the matches this summer?" Rose teased as she stepped up next to Al. He stood up and shared a quick hug with her before putting his mirror away.

"No, but it'd be brilliant if we do get to go to some of the games."

"Mum and Dad aren't telling us anything; but Hugo thinks that they're planning at least some trips for us this summer. I think that Mum wants to take some extra time off this summer and next before Hugo starts at Hogwarts; but we'll see if that happens or not. I doubt she'll ever run out of things that she wants to get done at the Ministry of Magic."

Al laughed. "Not unless she can find a way to get rid of half of the Wizards and Witches working there that spend all of their time fighting everything she wants to do. That'd be great if your Mum can take the extra time off. My Mum won't be able to do that; and Dad's always on-call even when he's on holidays."

"That's true," Rose agreed; "but I still have a feeling that we're going to have a brilliant summer."

"I do too," Al admitted with a smile; "though I have no idea why I feel that way."

It was Rose's turn to laugh. "I could answer that one with one guess," she teased. "The only way you won't find your summer brilliant would be if you don't get to see Gwendolyn a lot."

"That would be a pre-requisite for a brilliant summer," Al agreed easily. "We still have time if you'd like to work on finding a boyfriend to hang out with for the summer. That way we could go on double dates to those Quidditch matches that we'll hopefully get to go and see."

"But if we do get to go on all of those trips, maybe I'd rather be single in case I meet any cute Wizards from other countries," Rose countered. "That could be a lot of fun too."

"I wouldn't count on that if your Dad is around for those matches. It is likely going to suck for you and Lily having Aurors for fathers during your teen years."

"As if it's any better for our Witch cousins. Victoire and Dominique have a curse breaker Dad; Charlene's Dad can always sick his dragons on any boys that mess with his little girl; and Uncle George might just be the scariest father ever for anyone interested in dating Roxanne some day in the not-that-distant future."

"I'm sure you're right about that for Uncle George," Al agreed with a laugh. "For all we know; he's already worked up a new line of Wizard-repelling wheezes for Roxanne."

"If he has, then maybe you should ask if he can adapt them for Slytherin bullies for us to use next year."

"That's an idea – for the Averys and their lot; and for James and Ollie."

"It is – except that we wouldn't really use any wheezes – unless they didn't do anything to hurt or embarrass anyone."

That was true, but they didn't keep talking about that and moved on to discussing what they wanted to do with the rest of their day. Their Gryffindor friends eventually joined them in the Great Hall, and were happy to help out with making those plans; but some of Al's attention during breakfast was on the Slytherin table; and specifically on Rupert Avery and G-Air Mulciber. He didn't make that obvious; but couldn't help but watch them because they both looked ill and exhausted. They also weren't talking with any of their mates; and he got the definite impression that they were both fairly put-out with Rupert's brother. That opinion was based on vibes he was sensing even from the distance between them; and from catching a few dark glances directed toward Victor Avery and the other, older members of their little gang of Potter-haters.

"Whatever it was they wanted to knock you and Gwendolyn out with must've been nasty for them to look that ill this morning," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al. "Serves them right for wanting to do that to anyone else."

"Maybe," Al agreed; "but I am feeling just a little bit sorry for them now. That's a lousy way to spend the last day of the school year; and the trip home will probably really suck for them if they don't feel better by tomorrow."

"Don't feel bad for them," Rose said unsympathetically. "How would you have felt if that was Gwendolyn this morning? For that matter, if their plan had worked; you don't even know what kind of shape you'd have both been in this morning; but we can guess that it'd be much worse than that."

"Let's not go there; or I might start getting mad at them again."

Rose laughed. "That might be fun to watch; but we can move on before that happens. Do you have any predictions for the big awards at the end-of-year feast tonight?"

"Not for the awards we don't know about already," Al answered. "Are you hoping to win a few awards?"

"I'd like it a lot if Gryffindor wins the House Cup, but we've got the Potter boys in our House; so our chances of winning might be pretty low."

"I have tried to make up for all of the points I lost," Al said defensively; "though I have no idea whether I've helped or not this year."

"With your memory, I seriously doubt that you don't know," Rose disagreed; "and I'm sure that you've more than made up for the lost points with all of the points you've earned – even if you've done that a few points at a time."

Al didn't really want to talk about himself for that or anything else; so he changed the subject; and they went back to chatting with the rest of their Gryffindor friends as they finished breakfast. The fun level for his day kicked up a couple of notches when he met up with Gwendolyn after they'd finished eating; and they headed outside while negotiating their final play plans for the day with their combined group of Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors. It wasn't a beautiful, sunny morning out, but it wasn't raining either; and the forecast was for a pretty good weather day that would be decent-enough for spending the day outdoors. With all of the teens now finished their exams, it wasn't long before most of the students of Hogwarts were outdoors and enjoying a play day with their friends.

The fun included Quidditch, swimming in the lake, and the rest of the usual outdoor Wizarding games. Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends joined in to play as many different games as they could; with one of the highlights of the day being a Quidditch scrimmage that Victoire and Belinda invited them to join – the only two firsties in that game – the last one that Victoire would ever play at Hogwarts. There were a lot of spectators watching that match, including Rose and most of their friends; and many were amazed to find out that Al and Gwendolyn could actually play with all of the older teens – and still be two of the best. Al didn't think about any of that while playing. He just had a blast playing Chaser with Gwendolyn; and doing well-enough that they scored seven goals against Belinda. That helped their team to the win, though to be fair; Victoire and Dominique probably didn't play their hardest against Louis while they really did try their best against Belinda.

Swimming in the lake in the afternoon was a great way to cool off from all of the gaming, and Al didn't have a problem with spending some quality time with Gwendolyn in a swimsuit; but the fun did eventually have to come to an end when it was time to head into the castle and get cleaned up and ready for the feast. The girls wanted extra time for that, so the guys had too much time to get ready; and Al used that extra time to finish packing for the trip home. By the time he went to the common room to wait for Rose; the only things he'd need to pack in the morning would be the night clothes he'd sleep in and his bathroom kit bag. Most of his room mates waited in the common room with him for Rose and the other girls; and Al thought that it was worth the wait when they finally joined them from the girls' dorms. He was totally biased, since he thought that all of the Witches in his family were especially beautiful, but it only took a look at his friends to have him sure that he wasn't the only Wizard in the room to think that Rose was definitely at the top of the list for most-beautiful Gryffindor firstie.

"Either something weird happened and you somehow ended up being part Veela, or you've confunded some of my mates," Al whispered as he welcomed Rose with a warm hug. "You look beautiful tonight, cousin," he added in his normal speaking voice. She smiled brilliantly at him; and his own smile brightened in return.

"Thanks, Al. You look pretty good too. I guess we'd better get going. We don't want to be late."

"I'd file a complaint over why that's even a concern for any of us; but we've collectively decided that you're worth the wait," Romeo said; and then smiled when Cora smacked him on the arm. "That's an all-inclusive you," he assured her quickly. "Shall we go?"

"We can do that – now that you've got that foot out of your mouth so quickly," Cora teased.

"Because hopping all the way to the Great Hall with Cora hexing you along the way would've taken all night," Ray added with a grin. "Nice recovery, mate."

The walk to the Great Hall was entertaining as they talked about what to expect for their first end-of-term feast, but Al's best moment to that point was meeting up with Gwendolyn along the way; and making her day with his reaction to seeing her dressed up for the feast and looking amazing. The hugs and kisses were pretty good too; and they were both very happy by the time they split up to sit at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. They weren't nearly the last to arrive, but the Great Hall was probably two-thirds filled by then; and it didn't take very much longer before all of the students were there; and Professor McGonagall stood up and began the awards ceremony that would culminate in the awarding of the House Cup before the feast would begin.

"Welcome to the end-of-term feast!" she declared. "We have had another wonderful year here at Hogwarts; and on behalf of all of the teachers and staff; I would like to thank all of you for helping to make this one of our best-ever academically – and with everything else we do here. While we applaud every student's efforts to do their very best; we will begin the awards presentations with the individual academic awards. The top student in each year for each subject will win an award and ten points for their House. The runner-up for each of these categories will also receive an award and five points for their House. Finally, the top overall student for each year will be awarded fifty points; with the runner-up earning twenty-five. Your Professors will begin by announcing the subject awards. Each student should stand when their name is called; and your award will appear on the table in front of you. Please hold your applause until each Professor has announced all of the award winners for their classes. Professor Dawlish; would you be so kind as to begin the presentations for your Charms classes?"

Professor Dawlish stood; held up a piece of parchment; and began with the first-year awards. "Top student, first-year Charms is Scorpius Malfoy for Slytherin!" he declared; sounding rather pompous; and smiling at Scorpius as the boy stood and a small trophy appeared in front of him. "First-year Charms runner-up – Albus Potter for Gryffindor." Dawlish barely glanced at him as Al stood; and a rolled up certificate tied with a golden ribbon appeared on the table in front of him. Al and Scorpius both remained standing while Professor Dawlish continued to announce the top students for his remaining classes; there was a polite round of applause when he was finished; and then all of the students sat down again – as did Professor Dawlish.

"Congratulations, Al; but I wonder if Malfoy really did beat you," Rose whispered while giving him a one-armed hug. "Too bad we'll likely never know."

Al shrugged and smiled. "I would've said the same for you; since our marks were so close all year."

"True, but your Dad didn't tell you to beat Scorpius at everything," she reminded him. "Whatever am I going to tell him about this?"

"That you won where it counted most for him – in the Quidditch cup race," Al offered with a grin. "Well done, you!"

The rest of the Charms awards were being announced then as Professor Flitwick took his turn, but other than having the Professors from each subject announce their awards in succession; there wasn't any obvious order for the subjects – except that the seven core subjects were done ahead of the optionals that the third-to-seventh-year students could take. Most of the Professors made their announcements quickly, so while there were a lot of awards to be handed out; it really didn't take long to do that for each Professor and group. There was one thing that became obvious for the first-year students before they were half-way through the seven pairs of awards for their classes – and that was that Albus Potter had done very well in nearly every subject. By the time the Professors moved on to the optional subjects; there was no doubt at all when Al had a neat row of five little trophies in front of him to go along with the certificate for being the Charms runner-up. He'd won for Astronomy, DADA, History, Potions, and Transfiguration; while Herbology was the only subject that he didn't place first or second.

Rose still kept that award in the family by winning for Herbology. She was also runner-up to Al for Astronomy, History, and Transfiguration; so she'd done very well too – and Al knew that they were really so close for most subjects that he likely didn't win by very much for any of those first and second place subjects. While that had been fun for them; Al especially loved finding out that Gwendolyn was his runner-up in DADA and Potions. Once again, Rose was likely right there with them on marks; but she was happy-enough to share the awards with one of their best friends.

That did mean that the points that went with those awards began to pile up for Gryffindor; and that wasn't just with the firsties. Victoire was easily the top NEWT year student, and Molly and Louis were both among the best for their years. Dominique and Lucy won an award or two each too; and James managed to win one award as runner-up for his second-year DADA class. That added up to a lot of points just from the Weasley clan, and while that was a new experience for Al and Rose; none of their cousins' friends seemed even remotely surprised that they'd each done so well. When the last of the subject awards had been presented, Professor McGonagall stood again to personally announce the next awards – the top academic student for each year.

"The top student for each year will be awarded fifty points for their House while the runner-up will receive twenty-five points," she reiterated; and then paused for a moment before announcing the first awards. Top overall first-year student is Albus Potter; and runner-up is Rose Weasley!"

Rose pretended to smack her cousin as they both stood; but then hugged him too as a pair of small trophies appeared on the table – his gold and hers silver; but otherwise identical. This time there was a short round of applause for them; and then Professor McGonagall continued to announce the rest of the awards.

For the Weasley clan, the big news was that Louis, Molly, and Victoire won that top honor for their respective years; so they won five of the fourteen awards for their family! While that was the end of the academic awards; it wasn't the end of the fun for the Weasleys and Potters – or for all of the Quidditch fans in the school. Mr. Peaks had the best job of the night for that as he got to announce all of the individual and team awards for the Quidditch season. As with the academic awards, there was a winner and runner-up for each category; and they earned ten or five points for their Houses as part of those awards. Mr. Peakes also began his presentation with the awards for the junior teams; followed that up with the senior team awards; and wrapped up with the Quidditch Cup award.

"For the individual player awards, please hold your applause until I have announced all of them," Mr. Peakes requested when he was ready to go. "Top junior Seeker is Pauline Boote for Ravenclaw. Runner-up is James Potter for Gryffindor." Al smiled and nodded his congratulations to James as he and Pauling stood; but then turned away when James just sneered at him and mouthed something that wasn't clear; but was probably "bookworm loser."

"Our Keeper awards are based on save percentage; and the top junior Keeper this year is Louis Weasley for Gryffindor; with runner-up Peter Boot for Ravenclaw!"

"Even trade for the first two," Rose whispered; and Al nodded.

"This year, our top two Chasers are also our top scorers for the junior teams; and Gwendolyn McCormack wins both awards for Ravenclaw with an astounding sixty-two goals this season; while Scorpius Malfoy is runner-up for both awards with an equally-impressive fifty-seven goals for Slytherin!" Despite his request, he still had to wait a few moments while Ravenclaw and Slytherin celebrated; and then he continued with the final two junior team individual awards.

"While scoring goals and catching the snitch gets all of the glory for Quidditch players; that doesn't happen without the support of your team mates. To acknowledge those contributions; our final two awards are for top Beater duo and assists on goals; which is an award that Chasers and Keepers are eligible to win." He smiled then. "Since Beaters are my personal favorite Quidditch players; I am pleased to award the top Beater duo award to Tiberius and Brock McClaggen for Gryffindor; and the runner-up duo this season is Monty Crabbe and Don Rosier for Slytherin." His smile and attention then turned toward Al and Rose before he wrapped up the junior individual awards. "Finally, but certainly not least, we have a tie for assists on goals this year; so I declare Rose Weasley and Albus Potter co-winners for Gryffindor. Fortunately for us, they're in the same House; so we won't need to try and split that fifteen points between two Houses. Well done, all; and again, congratulations to each of you!"

This time there was a loud, enthusiastic round of applause for all of the junior players; and it was nearly a minute before they could sit down and Mr. Peakes could get on with the individual awards for the senior teams. He did that in the same order; and Victoire added two more awards to the growing pile for the Weasley family for top Seeker and top scorer for the senior teams. Alex Jordan was the runner-up Seeker for Hufflepuff; and Alice Longbottom was runner-up to Victoire for top scorer with thirty-eight goals or three hundred and eighty points to the four-fifty that Victoire earned with her three snitch catches. Alice and Francine Longbottom took top honors for Chasers and assists on goal respectively; and took the runner-up spots to each other for the title they didn't win.

The Gryffindor Chasers were second as a group; but Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia split both the goals and assists almost equally among them; and Hufflepuff scored a lot more total goals on the year. Gryffindor did win the top spot for Keeper with Belinda; and her runner-up was another win for Hufflepuff as Kirby Crumb came in just ahead of their Slytherin and Ravenclaw counterparts. Finally, Tina and Calvin Johnson won the top Beater duo award; and being named runner-up Beaters did not console Gregor and Theo Nott at all as they stood and glared daggers at their hated Hufflepuff rivals. After another round of aplause for those players; there were just three team awards remaining. None of them were a surprise; but it was still a big deal for the players.

"Finally, though the results are already well-known; our junior team champion this year is Ravenclaw; and Gryffindor wins both the senior team title and the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup! Congratulations to all teams and players for what has been an outstanding season of Quidditch!"

All of the Gryffindor players stood, as did the players on the Ravenclaw junior team; and the Quidditch Cup and senior team trophies appeared in front of team Captain, Victoire; while the junior team trophy appeared in front of Pauline Boot. The cheers were loudest at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables; but then the noise level in the room dropped as the twenty-one players sat and Professor McGonagall stood.

"Now that all of the awards have been presented, the points earned from all of them have been added to each House; and we can announce the winner of the House Cup for this year." She paused, and then turned toward the Hufflepuff table. "In fourth place, with one thousand and ten points – Hufflepuff!" Moving on to look next at the Slytherin students; she added – "and in third place with one thousand and thirty points – Slytherin!" She paused between and after those announcements for the low applause; and then tried her best not to give away the big prize until the last moment.

"Our top two Houses earned a remarkable seventeen-hundred and twenty points and fourteen-hundred and sixty points respectively; so let's all offer our warmest congratulations to our House Cup Champions, Gryffindor; and this year's runner-up, Ravenclaw!"

This time the cheers were a roar from two of the tables; appreciative applause and some shouts out to friends in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw from the Hufflepuff table; and a very muted and short-lived applause from the Slytherin students. The ceiling changed to the Gryffindor Scarlet and Gold with the golden lion blazon in the center; and then Headmistress McGonagall announced the start of the feast and the tables filled with bowls and platters filled with an amazing selection of mouth-watering food.

"How much of that is thanks to the two of you?" Ray leaned in and asked Rose and Al while nodding toward the other end of the table where the House Cup sat next to Victoire and the other seventh-year Gryffindors. "Quidditch and House Cups for Gryffindor!"

"Thank Rose for that," Al suggested with a grin. "For me, this just makes up for all of the points I lost at Valentine's Day."

"And then some," Rose teased. "I'd say that our entire first year class of Gryffindors did well." She grinned at Al as she returned her attention to him. "Al and I will need to talk later about how much he helped Ravenclaw by putting all of that extra time in with Gwendolyn on both her studies and Quidditch instead of helping our House, but we did win; so I guess there isn't too much I can complain about with that."

Ray laughed. "Now I'm almost wishing we'd lost to Ravenclaw – and by no more than the points that Gwendolyn earned tonight. We could've had fun with that for years!"

"James would likely agree with you on that one," Al suggested with a laugh. "He'll definitely blame me for Ravenclaw getting th junior team title and Gwendolyn winning for top Chaser and scorer."

"Don't forget that you messed him up by scoring that goal at the end of the last match," Ray reminded him. "Subtraction while flying that fast is really hard; so it's your fault for not waiting until they were in between races for the snitch."

"If that summer job you don't want working around your house and yard doesn't work out for you; I think that you have a future in politics," Al told him half-seriously. "The Ministry of Magic can always use a Wizard with that kind of talent for spinning reality into pure fiction."

"Maybe he could write books," Rose suggested. "At least that way, people would know that his stories are just made up."

"I'd rather have either job than be stuck mowing the lawn and weeding gardens all day," Ray assured them. "Keep razzing me about it, though; and I'll invite you over to help me out with all of that work for a week or two."

"Do you mean me or Rose?" Al asked innocently; and Ray laughed.

"I mean both of you; so don't go there. Rose could always bunk with Melissa."

"We have those same chores at our homes," Rose advised him. "Grandma always has work for us at her house too; and we'll likely be there a lot this summer whenever our parents are working."

None of them really wanted to talk about summer chores, but discussing how each of the Houses had done in the Quidditch Cup race and for earning awards was one of the chat topics as they enjoyed the feast. While Al had eaten too much at several of the special meals, he didn't do that this time; mostly because he'd now witnessed a couple of return train rides that weren't fun for a few students that had gone way overboard at the meals the night before the trip home – or even at breakfast right before hopping on the train. He also wanted to be able to spend a bit of time with Gwendolyn before they each needed to be back in their dorm rooms for the night.

He wasn't the only student in the school wanting to do something else instead of hanging out in the Great Hall and pigging out all evening; and almost nobody even noticed when Scorpius Malfoy left the feast early and did not return.

"I didn't expect to talk with you until sometime after you got home," Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was placed on the table and Scorpius flopped into the armchair next to the table.

"I'd had enough of the Gryffindor love fest tonight to last me for a year or two. It's a wonder any Slytherin was even able to eat at all by the time the Professors and Headmistress McGonagall finished fawning all over the Gryffindors – and the Weasleys and Albus Potter in particular."

"Gryffindor won the House Cup then?" Thomas asked; though it wasn't a question that really needed answering.

"Yes, and Albus Potter was named top student for the first years – along with apparently being top student in five of seven subjects; along with runner-up to me for Charms."

"You did win that award," Thomas pointed out; "and that's an accomplishment when the odds here are stacked against Slytherin students – and that's even more true for you because of your family."

"I'm a better Wizard than Potter," Scorpius declared with a scowl; "yet not only did Potter win a bag full of awards, but his cousin, Rose, won half of the rest of the first-year awards; and the Weasleys had three more top students our of the other six years. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that the Weasleys and Potters were given a quarter or more of all of the awards handed out tonight."

"Calm yourself," Thomas counseled. "This should come as no surprise to you; and not only because the Weasley family is friends with many of your Professors and Headmistress. They are also your cousins, and by all accounts; most of the parents of this generation of cousins were all quite accomplished students and powerful Wizards and Witches. Do not dismiss and underestimate their talents as your father, grandparents, and their friends did – as I too did when they fought against me."

Scorpius nodded. "I understand, thomas, but can't help but be infuriated that they're even allowed to be here at all; let alone counted among the best here. It is an affront to any true pureblood's senses."

"It is, but you will change that for the betterment of all purebloods one day, so take heart in your small successes; ignore the rest; and be content knowing that you are much more than your myopic peers and teachers may ever be able to realise."

"If only that day could be today," Scorpius groused; and Thomas laughed.

"I remember thinking that very same thing – every day for decades. You will have your chance too, my young friend, and when you do; I hope that I will have in some small way aided you so that you will achieve all that I was not able to do for the Wizarding World in my own lifetime."

"Of that, I have no doubt at all, Thomas. Thank-you. I feel much better now that we have spoken."

"Then I am glad to have been able to do that for you. If you've skipped most of the feast; would you like to do one more lesson together before we must take the summer off from them?"

"Yes, please," Scorpius agreed enthusiastically. "That would be a much better way to end my school year here than getting fat on the gruel that passes for food around here while listening to my table mates whine and complain all night."

The fact that he'd basically just finished doing a fair bit of his own whining and complaining wasn't an irony that was lost on Thomas, but he accepted that his young protege was still very young; and would outgrow his childish ways in due time. He, on the other hand, was learning to have infinite patience, and if needed; he had eternity to get his revenge – whether that happened in Harry Potter's lifetime; or would wait to be exacted on his current or future progeny. The when did not matter overmuch to Thomas because he was certain that it would happen; and that was all that truly mattered!

"Congratulations!" Gwendolyn told Al as they met up after they each finished their desserts quickly so that they could have that extra time together. She smiled as she looked at the bag he was carrying. "That doesn't really go with your outfit," she teased; and Al laughed.

"Congratulations to you too. You know it's Rose's bag. I didn't bring my book bag along; so she lent it to me because being runner up does not mean that she's going to haul my tropies around; but she also didn't want to make me try to carry them around in my arms."

"I should get one of those undetectable expansion bags," Gwendolyn mused. "You're carrying her trophies in there too?"

"Along with Merlin-only-knows-what else. "How was the feast at your table? You had a lot to celebrate too."

"I'd say that most of the Ravenclaws are happy – even though we didn't do quite as well as usual for the academic awards. You and your over-achiever cousins messed that up for us this year."

"As if Victoire, Molly, and Louis haven't been messing that up for your House every year they've been here."

"Don't you know the answer to that for sure?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al thought about that for a few moments before answering.

"That'd be a yes for Victoire and Louis. I haven't heard the details about Molly's awards – other than that she does well; and is one of the top students in her year every year." He smiled again and shrugged. "We just don't see Molly much except at the big family events; and Lucy's only been around more often since she started playing Quidditch with Dominique and Olivia."

"We're losing our junior team captain this year, but I'm thinking about seeing if I can get some of our first and second year players to get together for some practices this summer."

"Sign me up for that," Al said; and Gwendolyn laughed at the expression on his face.

"There are some Witches I can invite; so it wouldn't be all Wizards."

"True, but Rose, Hugo, Lily, Jonah, and I could give your team some scrimmage competition, and if James and Ollie set up anything for Gryffindor; I don't think that Rose and I will be invited – even if he might still be willing to play when it's just us at home – or when we have cousins over using the pitch."

"I like the first part of that – even if you don't have anything to worry about with me when it comes to any other Wizard. Let's not talk about James and Ollie. You'll be sure to get more than you want of them this summer."

Al was sure that she'd be right about that, and they were happy to talk about anything else – including talking about ways that they might be able to get together during the summer – though they couldn't really work on any of that until they found out what they'd each be doing with their families first. They found a nice quiet place to share a minor, private snogging session; and Al eventually walked Gwendolyn to her house before heading for his common room ad a round of good night best wishes for Rose and the other girls. He went up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and then ended his night having a mirror chat with Lily.

"I can hardly wait until you're home," Lily told him excitedly. "It's been even more boring than usual now that Mum's busy with covering the Quidditch World Cup."

"Have you heard anything yet about what Mum and Dad have planned for the summer?"

Lily frowned and shook her head. "No, and I'm very put out with Dad for not caving in and spilling the beans like he normally does for me."

"Maybe you've just already reached that in-between time between cute and adorable and the beautiful young Witch stages," Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"I haven't; but thanks for the laugh. How is James doing tonight? Is he going to be a pain again when he gets home the way he was at Easter?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted. "He's definitely not happy with me tonight. I won a lot of the first-year awards; so I'm sure that you can guess his reaction to that. You already know that Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup; and we also won the House Cup."

"That's brilliant!" Lily exclaimed. "Did Rose and Gwendolyn win some awards too? How about our cousins?"

Al was happy to chat with her and pass along the details from the feast. Lily then told him about what she'd been doing since they'd last talked; and then they wrapped up the call nearly forty minutes later when Al was ready to get some sleep so that he'd be ready for the extra-early wake-up call that all of the students at Hogwarts would be getting so that they could make it to the train on time for the trip back to King's Cross Station and the start of their summer holidays.

As he drifted off to sleep, Al was hoping that everyone he loved most was going to have an amazing summer, but even in his wildest dreams; he wouldn't have dreamed of the adventures and excitement that lay ahead for his family and friends – with the start of all of that fun now just hours away!


	10. Quidditch World Cup Summer - Part One

**Chapter Ten – Quidditch World Cup Summer Part One**

The start of their summer holidays did not look all that promising as the students of Hogwarts woke to a rainy, cool morning. That didn't matter as they got ready to leave for home or while they enjoyed a last, early breakfast before taking carriage rides to the Hogsmeade train station; but they did get a bit damp during that little trip; and it didn't make for a very pleasant start to the train ride as they dried out. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and a handful of their friends were among the first to leave the school; and they'd volunteered to get a block of compartments with enough room for all of their friends while the less-organized members of their group stayed behind to get some food before joining them on the Hogwarts Express.

Getting onto the train early meant a longer wait before it was ready to leave the station, but that mostly just allowed Al and Gwendolyn some quiet time in one of the compartments while Rose and Ray each took care of holding other compartments for their group. By the time they did hit the rails for London; they ended up with Rose, Cora, Romeo, and Toni in their compartment; and the four Witches began to happily chat about the latest gossip that was apparently an end-of-term tradition or norm as teen couples either broke up for the summer holidays; or tried to work out often-improbable ways to see each other while they were home from school.

Some of those stories were over-the-top, but then Al could relate to the sentiment; and he'd mused over ways that he and Gwendolyn might be able to see each other whenever they wanted. When he was making her charm bracelet; he'd considered the idea of making a summoning and banishing charm that she could use to summon him to her and then send him home later, but then those charms weren't really meant for transporting living beings; and he'd had no idea how long it would take him to learn the advanced charms. Since that wasn't an option for this summer; he'd likely need to get some help from Lily to arrange some sleepovers, and while they might not go on any holidays because of their mothers' work with Quidditch; Al was also hoping that they'd get a chance for a couple of overnight camping adventures if they got to go to some of the World Cup matches.

This trip was the sixth for most of the first-year students, and while most of the fun and entertainment was the same as other trips; the one difference this time was that they had a lot of teens stopping by for little cameo visits that wer also to say goodbye until September. The same was true for the visits that Al and Gwendolyn made when they went for their walk along the train when they were restless and needed to move around and stretch their legs for a while. Some of those visits became a bit maudlin; but they had fun with pretty much everything else that they did – including the cuddle time in their compartment while chatting with their friends. Even with all of the entertainment, it was still a long trip; and they were all very happy when the train began to slow down for the approach into King's Cross Station, and because they were on the platform side of the train this time; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all able to look for their welcoming committee. For Al and Rose, that would have normally been as easy as looking for his mother's red hair; but they foudn out about one of their welcome home surprises early when it was their fathers waiting for them on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters – along with Gwendolyn's Dad, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah. Teddy was there with them at first too, but they saw him move off toward where the Prefect car would end up so that he could welcome Victoire as soon as she got off of the train.

"Your Mum must be busy with the National team, and mine might have had a last-minute problem at the Ministry," Rose suggested to Al. We already knew that Gwendolyn's Mum is in France with the team getting ready for their match tomorrow."

"I was expecting Mum and Grandma," Al told her; but he was smiling. "Maybe our Dads just decided to skip work today."

"If they did, then I'll remember this in case we ever want to skip at day at school," Rose promised; earning a round of laughs. "If the Head of the Aurors can get away with skipping out of work; we ought to be able to take a day off now and then too."

"That does seem fair," Romeo agreed; "but I can't picture you or Al doing that." His smile faded a bit when he looked at Cora. "Have you seen your family yet? I guess that we'd better say our goodbyes here on the train. We don't want your parents – or mine – freaking out on us right here at the start of our holidays."

Al grinned at them. "That reminds me that I have something for you, Romeo," he told his room mate. "My Mum and Dad have a Muggle post office box so they can get Muggle mail when needed. If you'd like to send posts to Cora, send them there; and I can send them on to her with Winter. I've included my Muggle email address too, but if you're going to send any notes to Cora that way; don't include anything you don't want me to see since I would have to print them first."

"Thanks, Al; but what's the chocolate frog for?" Romeo asked when he opened the envelope and saw the chocolate treat in there with the sheet of parchment.

"Just in case you needed some chocolate," Al answered; and then laughed. "Cut that out," he told the girls. "It's just a chocolate frog. Don't try to make a big deal of it."

By then, it was time to grab their things and get in line to exit the train. That took a while, since everyone was in a hurry; and the pushing and shoving really just slowed the whole process down. That delay did give Cora and Romeo a bit of time to say goodbye to each other, and while they both looked a bit sad; Al didn't get the sense from either of them that they were as upset as he'd be if he was about to say goodbye to Gwendolyn and not see her for ten weeks. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn stayed together; so they were each able to hug their respective fathers at nearly the same time – and were close-enough to hear everything that was being said.

"How did you manage to get out of work to be here to meet us?" Rose asked her father as he wrapped her in his arms. "This is such a great surprise!"

"Your Uncle Hary fired me," Ron told her; and his tone was so serious; that Rose let go of him and stepped back so that she could look up at him. "What?"

"I did not fire your Dad," Harry told her; and then grinned. "He did quit, though. We had a lovely retirement lunch for him at the Leaky with gifts and everything."

"You quit?" Rose demanded; and then laughed. "Mum must not know, or you'd be in St. Mungo's. Don't expect me to tell her; and I'd like to go and live with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny until she does know."

Harry, Ron, and Kirley all laughed too. "Your Mum knows," Ron assured her; "and I do have another job already. I'm now a partner in the wheezes stores with your Uncle George."

"Say what!" James demanded as he joined them; his trunk and cage in tow. Storm was in his cage; and didn't seem to be happy about being stuck there all day on the train when he could have been set free and flown home instead.

"Dad's quit the Aurors and is going to work with Uncle George," Rose summarized; still smiling at her father. "How long did it take you to convince Mum of what a brilliant idea this is?"

"You do know that she's never been thrilled with me being an Auror, right?" Ron asked her. "She's decided that we can get by on what she makes with her job if your uncle and I don't do well-enough to support both of our families; and your Aunt Angelina's promised to do the same."

"You must be hoping this works out for Dad," Rose told Hugo next. "If he doesn't; he might end up doing your home schooling next year instead of Grandma."

"You know they'll do brilliantly," Hugo countered; "and before you ask – no, I didn't know until today. This does explain why Dad's been so ridiculously happy lately."

"Then Mum really must be okay with it; or you'd have known something was up," Rose decided. "Congratulations, Dad. I know you'll love getting to play at work every day from now on."

"It won't be every day," Ron assured her. "That's part of the plan – for George and I to both be able to cut back a bit and not work six and seven days a week like we have been for the past twenty years."

"Do you have any surprises for us too?" Al asked his father. "You and Uncle Ron joined the Aurors together. Are you leaving too?"

"I'm staying," Harry assured him; "but then I don't have to go out in the field or work outdoors in the winter very much. I might think about it if I did."

"You'll likely still be an Auror when you're a wrinkled up old geezer," James scoffed. "At least Uncle Ron's smart enough to get out of the Ministry of Magic and have some fun while he still can."

"We're still in our thirties," Ron reminded him. "I don't think we'll be too old for anything for a very long time."

James snorted. "Keep telling yourselves that."

"Careful, James," Harry warned with a smile. "Ron's going to be working at your favorite store; and I'm not going to up your allowance if he starts charging you double."

"He'd never..." James began; and then laughed. "Hi, Uncle Ron. How've you been? I hear you've quit the Aurors and are going to work with Uncle George. Congratulations! Have I told you lately that you're one of my favorite uncles?"

"And he keeps calling me a suck-up," Al whispered to Gwendolyn. Lily and Hugo overheard him too; and they all laughed.

"We've gotten side-tracked with Ron's news," Harry said; getting everyone's attention. "Let's make our way out of the station so that we can all head to our homes and get your trunks, bags, and cages home too."

"Are we driving home?" Al aasked; and Harry shook his head.

"You've all spent enough time on the road. We'll head over to the Leaky and take the Floo Network instead."

"Are we going there with them?" Gwendolyn asked her father; and he smiled at her knowingly.

"Yes, but you are going to have to say goodbye to Al when it's time for us to go home from there."

"Well, at least they can get a room if needed," James joked; earning a round of laughs that Al and Gwendolyn joined in for – though Al blushed a bit too.

"Don't give Gwendolyn any ideas," Kirley told James. "She's her mother's daughter; and that's already scary-enough for any father." He smiled at Lily and she laughed. "I'm sure that your father can relate to me on that one."

"Definitely," Harry agreed. He looked at everything that James and Al had with them; and pulled out his wand. "I just don't feel like hauling all of that around with us between here and the Leaky." Waving his wand toward James' things; they suddenly disappeared; he repeated the process with Al's trunk and cage; and then smiled at Ron and Kirley. "Would you like me to take care of that for Rose and Gwendolyn too? I don't remember Gwendolyn's room well-enough to send her things there; but I could put them in your sitting room or front hall."

"That works for me, Kirley answered first; "and the sitting room is fine."

"Fire away," Ron added with a nod and smile. "Don't try this one at home, kids. It can go terribly wrong if you don't have the knack for it."

Harry took care of those two deliveries too; and then they could move on withouth all of the baggage much more easily. Harry had a Ministry of Magic car waiting to take them to the Leaky; they had a visit there with Hannah, Neville, Alice, and Molly; Gwendolyn and Al spent part of that time saying goodbye; and then Harry took his three kids home while Ron and Kirley went on to their homes with their kids. Once back at the house, Harry invited James, Al, and Lily to join him in the kitchen for a snack break and chat. He took care of the drink orders; put out a plate with chocolate squares on it; and then sat down in his usual seat.

"Lily and I want to hear all about your exams and everything else you've been doing at Hogwarts since the Easter break, but your Mum and I have some plans for all of you this weekend." He smiled at Lily. "We didn't tell you, but when your Mum left for work this morning; she was going along with our National team to France. The three of you will need to pack bags after we're finished our snack; because we're going to meet up with her there; camp for the weekend; and catch the big game tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed; though she was already out of her chair and hugging Harry before he'd finished giving them the surprise news. "I knew you'd take us to some of the matches – I knew it!"

"Is anyone else in the family going too?" Al asked. "Rose and Hugo?"

"They're going away this weekend to see a game – but not the same one," Harry answered. "Ron isn't finished with the Aurors today by coincidence. He'll be running some of the Quidditch World Cup wheezes booths all summer. Don't try any mirror chats with them right away in case they're still getting the news – or haven't been told yet. Rose and Hugo will be going along for most of Ron's work trips. This weekend, Ron's working the game between France and South Africa that's being held in Senegal."

"They'll get to see Aunt Gabrielle play!" Lily said happily. "That's the game I'd want to see if we weren't getting to see our team play instead."

"You won't just be stuck with your Mum and me," Harry advised them next. "George is running the wheezes booth in France; and he'll have Fred and Roxanne with him." He smiled at Al next. "Would this be a good time to tell you that Kirley's going to be there with the kids too? They'll be there for Gwenog; but Kirley's apparently got some work to do too."

"Of course they'll be there," James muttered; but then shrugged when Harry gave him his undivided attention. 'Never mind. It's a brilliant surprise. Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome," Harry assured all of his kids. "When you pack your bags, include swimsuits too. There's a lake that you can swim in at the campground; and you might get time to go for a swim on Saturday or Sunday morning."

"Will there be anything else that we'll need?" Lily asked.

Harry smiled at her. "We'll need to go out to eat a couple of times, so you might want to pack a couple of sundresses or nicer outfits."

"Will we get a chance for some sightseeing on Sunday too?" Lily asked next; and Harry shrugged.

"I'm not sure. That might depend on Ginny's work – and whether our team wins."

They talked about what Harry could tell them about their trip while finishing their snacks; the three kids went up to their rooms to pack after that; and then they eventually met up with Harry outside. He had an international Portkey ready for them to use by then, so they all grabbed on to it; and were soon on their way to France. Their arrival point was near the entrance to the campground that had been set up for the Quidditch World Cup match, and since all three kids were veterans at using Portkeys; they all landed smoothly – though Al had also made sure that he wasn't next to James so that his brother couldn't try to knock him off-balance at the last moment as he'd been known to do pretty much every time he got the chance.

Harry and Ginny had already taken care of their tent and campsite set-up earlier, so they were able to go right in to the campground; and Harry led them to the spot Ginny had picked near the lake. James, Al, and Lily put their bags away in their usual bedrooms in the tent; and then Harry let them wander around the place and explore while he was busy with a few chores – including checking in with Ginny to let her know they'd arrived. He knew that she wasn't finished her work for the day with the National team; but they did plan on spending the evening with the kids – and had one more surprise for them.

For Al, the great, surprise start to his summer holidays just kept getting better from the moment they'd arrived at the campground. Once they'd dropped their bags off, James went off on his own, but he and Lily had been happy to explore the campground together – including checking out the lake and the booths that had been set up for the Quidditch World Cup – including the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes booth. Their Uncle George wasn't there when they stopped by, but he did have a couple of teens from Beauxbatons working there; and they advised Al and Lily that their Uncle was at the stadium getting a couple of booths set up to be ready for the game. That first tour of the campground had been fairly quick because Al wanted to make sure that they were back at their tent when Gwendolyn arrived with her Dad and Jonah, and Lily was okay with that plan too; since she was sure they'd have more fun with the McCormacks.

"Is this a great way to start the holidays or what?" Gwendolyn exclaimed quietly as she hugged Al enthusiastically.

"The best, now that you're here too," Al agreed; earning another hug and a soft kiss for that answer. "Are you guys free to wander around with us for a while; or do you have something to get to with your Mum?"

"We've got time for a tour; and maybe a swim too if Mum gets held up at the stadium."

"When I talked with Ginny, she expected to be back here in about an hour," Harry advised them. "That leaves you with about a half hour; and I expect that she'll have Gwenog and Angelina with her – if not most of the Witches on the team." James and Ollie came running up to them then; and Harry grinned at them. "Surprise!" he told James. "If this is a run-by check-in, and you didn't hear what I just said; you've got about a half-hour before you'll need to be back here so that we can go and have dinner with your mother and the rest of our group."

"Can't I do that with Ollie?" James asked; and Harry shook his head.

"Not tonight – and don't argue. Ginny's missed you and Al a lot, and if you actually haven't missed her too; fake it for at least a few hours – or else."

"Maybe you can have dinner with us," James suggested to Ollie; and then shook his head before answering his own question. "I'll take that look on your face as a no – and try not to razz you about missing your mommy and daddy."

"I just want to hear all of Dad's stories about training with our National team," Ollie said defensively, "and I won't get to see him much tomorrow; while you'll have the whole day to spend with your parents."

"Don't remind me," James said; his tone and expression one of long-suffering angst that was only half-acting. "If we can hang out together tomorrow; you're welcome to borrow my Dad for a while if you start missing yours too much."

"Twenty-eight minutes," Harry told them; and James laughed.

"We're out of here."

"Us too," Lily advised Harry and Kirley. "Come on, guys. You're going to love this place!"

Gwendolyn and Jonah did enjoy their tour with Lily as their enthusiastic guide, but it was getting to spend the weekend together that Al and Gwendolyn loved the most about their surprise weekend getaway to see the first-round Quidditch World Cup match for their team. The half-hour they'd been allotted had only been enough time to do a loop around the campground; along the lake; and through the center of the rows of booths before they needed to be back at their tents. By the time they got back there, it became obvious to the four kids that their tents were in a block of campsites that had been reserved for the National team, the reserve squad players, and their families. They were there before Ginny or any of the players and managers arrived; but they did recognize the kids and spouses of the players that were gathering around some of the nearby tents. Uncle George was there with Fred and Roxanne; the Jordan kids were there on their own while their parents were both still busy with work; and the Campbells were there with Kate, Pauline, and all of their grandkids.

"Rose and Hugo are going to have fun this weekend too; but it looks as though we'll have a lot of kids and teens to hang out with here," Gwendolyn said as they reached Al's and Lily's tent. She and Jonah had been told what little Al and Lily knew about what Rose and Hugo were doing for the weekend in Senegal, and while they had no idea who else would be at that game with them – other than a lot of fans for the teams from France and South Africa; they were sure that the gang they were obviously going to be hanging out with was going to be a lot of fun.

"Uncle Casey will be at that game ," Lily told them; "so Rose and Hugo will at least have Riley and Caylee to hang out with." She looked around before continuing. "I haven't seen any of your friends yet, but since Ollie is here; then Kathryn and her sisters must be around here somewhere too."

"I'd suggest that you might have Denise here to hang out with too," Al told her, "but with Dad and Christine here, and if Uncle Casey is at the other game; her parents might be working this weekend."

"Dad didn't actually tell us that he wasn't working this weekend," Lily reminded him. "Maybe he and Christine are on loan for game security or something."

"We're not," Harry told them; and all four kids had to turn around to see him. Ginny was with him; and smiled when Al took the two steps that put them close enough for a hug. "I am always on call, though; and we'd help out if needed for an emergency. Would you believe that all of the Aurors have the weekend off; and we left the trainees in charge?"

"No," Lily answered first; "and I'm not just saying that because all of the Witches in our family would've hexed you for doing that to Victoire if you'd tried."

"Especially now that they're engaged," Ginny said casually; and then laughed when Lily joined in on the hug.

"Teddy proposed?" she asked; and Ginny nodded.

"Yes – sometime between when he met Victoire at the station and when Bill and Fleur got home from work. Details are still coming in; but I can tell you that Victoire said yes; and that they were on the beach near the cottage when he asked her."

"That's so romantic!" Lily gushed happily. "Victoire just gets home from school; and Teddy jumps right in and basically tells her that he never wants to be apart from her again!" She hugged Ginny again; and then hugged Harry. "You guys did good with helping to raise Teddy."

"Thanks, sweetie," Ginny said before turning her atention to Al and Gwendolyn. "Welcome home. I've missed you so much since the Easter holidays." She hugged Gwendolyn next; and they were both smiling brilliantly.

"We've missed you too," Al assured her. "Thanks for starting our holidays out with such a great surprise."

"You're welcome," Ginny assured him. "Congratulations on doing so well this year – to both of you."

Al shrugged self-conciously. "There's a handful of us at the top of every class; so maybe they should've just done group awards for our year."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed; "but then it was mostly you and Rose helping the rest of that handful to get up there with you – except for Scorpius Malfoy."

"You could always invite him to join your study group next year," Ginny teased; and Al and Gwendolyn both laughed.

"I doubt he'd accept," Gwendolyn told her – "especially after I won the awards for the top junior Chaser and scorer; and with how well Al did for our classes and Quidditch."

"If the sorting hat hadn't messed up and put him in Slytherin where he belongs; they'd have been best mates, I'm sure," James said as he joined them. "Reporting on-time as ordered, Auror Potter."

"Welcome home, James," Ginny told him; ignoring the jibe he'd directed at Al. "You look well. Harry said that you were out and about with Ollie. Did you lose him?"

"His Mum and Dad sent his sisters after him while we were on our way here. Will I at least be able to hang out with him later; or will I be stuck doing family stuff all night?"

"That'll likely be both; since we'll be hanging out around here tonight after dinner," Ginny advised him. "We'll try not to cramp your style too much. Let's take ten to get ready to go; and then we'll head out to dinner."

"Dress-up or casual?" Lily asked; and Ginny smiled at ther.

"Casual, but you're welcome to wear a sundress if you'd like."

Gwendolyn went to her tent to get ready to go out too, but Al had dressed expecting the dinner outing; so he just sat down in one of the chairs that Harry had put outside of their tent and waited. James wandered off again; and Al just watched the action going on around him – and the campground was bustling and busy as Wizards and Witches of all ages arrived early for the big game. In addition to having their tent in a section that seemed to be entirely for family and maybe a few friends of the National team players, managers, and support staff, from what Al could see; he guessed that they were also in a larger section set up for fans of their team while the fans for Germany were on the other side of the campground.

"This is small compared to the campgrounds for the Quidditch World Cup; but most of the spectators will likely be from around France and maybe a few neighboring countries," Harry told Al as he sat down in the chair next to him. "That's one thing that's changing as more families get at least one of the bigger mirrors and can watch these matches at home."

"I want to watch the match on my portable miror too," Al said seriously – "or at least listen to Uncle Lee's commentary. Even with an any-language spell over the stadium; his show will be better than what the stadium announcers do."

"Probably," Harry agreed; "but it might be too loud in the stadium to hear your mirror a lot of the time. The match is sold out."

"That doesn't surprise me. This should be one of the better first-round matches. It'd be more fun for us if we could have cheered for Aunt Angelina too, but I guess we'll still have fun cheering for Dawn, Jonathan, Jeremy, and Aaron. Will you want us to help out with keeping their kids entertained this weekend?"

Harry shook his head. "No. You're welcome to play with the younger kids if you'd like; but Bryce and Christine have all the help they need to keep up with their grandkids. Just enjoy the weekend and have fun."

"If you wanted Al to do that; you should've brought along a couple of my second-year textbooks so that he could do what makes all bookworms happy," James told them with a sneer-smirk for Al. "He wouldn't know real fun if it bit him in the butt."

"Funny you should put it that way when you'll have the fun of dealing with the Monser Book of Monsters for your Care of Magical Creatures class. Mine liked to hide under my bed; steal my socks; and try to bite my feet and ankles." He laughed then. "I'm not even going to give you any ideas about what some of the guys used to do with their books to mess with other students."

James laughed. "That's okay. I'm sure that Uncle George or Uncle Ron will be happy to tell me instead – not that I'll really need the help to figure that out for myself. Will Mum and Lily be much longer? I'm starving."

"You're thirteen and growing like a weed. That's your default state right now," Harry countered. "They'll be ready when they are. You will need to get used to that reality some day."

"I'd rather just have Witches in general learn that it doesn't eend to take an hour just to be ready to go to the grocery store – or out to wherever we're going to dinner."

"I suspect that you've already learned to appreciate the efforts that Witches put into such things – even if you're pretending to be in denial."

"You're getting me mixed up with Al again," James retorted. "He's the idiot that would sit here all night waiting for Gwendolyn just so that he could adore her for a minute or two before bedtime – which for him is about nine o'clock most days."

"Eleven," Al countered with a half-smile, "and while Gwendolyn wouldn't do that; I'd be okay with that plan because she'd look amazing when she was done."

"Good answer," Gwendolyn told him; and she smiled sweetly at James. "Nice try at messing with Al; but you should've known that he wouldn't say anything to get himself in trouble over with me."

"Probably not," James conceded; "but only because he's a spineless slug."

"Enough with the insults, James," Ginny told him as she and Lily stepped out of the tent. "We get to have a couple of play days with our family and friends; so see what you can do about having fun without doing it at anyone else's expense."

"Yes, Mum," James agreed with total insincerity. "Are you finally ready to go out for dinner?"

"We are," she confirmed; deciding to ignore the implied intention to ignore her request. "Let's meet up with the rest of our group and get going."

They collected the rest of Gwendolyn's family; and then ended up meeting everyone else in front of the Jordan's tent – included George, Angelina, and their kids. They walked out to the front entrance; took a bus that was similar to the Knight Bus on a wild ride to an Inn that wasn't really anything like the Leaky Cauldron at all; but was part of the nearest Wizarding community to the campground – and had a private dining room big enough to accommodate their group. Al and Gwendolyn sat together with both sets of their parents, Lily, and Jonah; while James managed to end up at the same table with Alex Jordan and some of the other guys. The food options were varied-enough that the more-adventurous among them could try something new; while the pickiest kids and teens could still choose basic favorites. There was a fair bit of socializing going on between the tables as orders wre placed and until drinks and appetizers were delivered; but then Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley got to spend some time actually talking with four out of five of their kids.

"How was the team looking today, Mum?" Gwendolyn asked Gwenog once their mothers had finished asking them for some of the details from their weeks of exams and the end-of-year feast. "Did you get a look at the players for Germany?"

"We're looking pretty good for tomorrow," Gwenog answered, "and we had a meet and greet press conference earlier today that both teams were there for; but I have no idea how well they've come together as a team. Do you have anything, Ginny?"

"Not that I'm allowed to talk about," She answered with a smile. "You wouldn't want any reporters blabbing out anything about your team to the other team's manager either, though; so I'm sure you understand."

"Too bad we don't have Rose here," Al said quietly. "She's pretty good at breaking down other teams and players."

"So are you," Gwendolyn advised him. "Do you know anything about their team?"

"Just what I've read about on the Wireless Web. Their players are from more league teams than ours, but they kept a Beater duo together; and they have better stats than ours do." He smiled at Gwenog and looked a bit apologetic, but then he moved on; since she seemed truly interested. "Their Keeper isn't as good as ours, and our Chasers look better on paper; but theirs might surprise you."

"Why do you say that?" Gwenog asked; and Al shrugged.

"They chose two top scorers, but also chose a Chaser that wasn't that high in the league for goals. He was tops for assists, though, and if they work well together; that could be a good combination."

Gwenog laughed. "Somebody on my research team missed that one," she explained. "My report on him was that he was probably a political pick – or because he's hot, and a fan favorite in their league. Anything else, Al?"

"Mum's said that Seeker stats vary too much from league to league to be worth much. Theirs is likely one of the best in their country, but then so is Aaron; and we do at least know that he's won games against some of the very best Seekers in the world – like Aunt Gabrielle."

"Except for during their last match-up," Gwendolyn added with a grin. "that worked out rather well for our Harpies this season."

"Yes, it did," Gwenog agreed, "but don't forget that he's on our side for the National team; so no booing him during the game tomorrow. Did you want to add anything about the players from Germany?" she asked Gwendolyn.

"No. I haven't read up on them the way Al has; and he's better at that than I am anyway."

"You're better at picking up all of the details from a match, though," Al countered. "Louis wasimpressed enough to invite you to help him with that for our team. Speaking of Louis; you haven't said anything to us about whether they're coming here, or to Aunt Gabrielle's match, or doing something else altogether." Al directed that comment toward his parents. "While I'm wondering about that; what about Grandma and Granpa; and Uncle Charlie, Uncle Percy, and their families?"

"Bill, Fleur, and the kids – including Teddy – are in Senegal this weekend too," Ginny answered. "Your grandparents are coming to the game tomorrow; but decided that they'd rather sleep in their own bed instead of roughing it in a tent. With all of the international travel going on this weekend; Percy's apparently too busy to get away this weekend; and Charlie, Julianne, and the kids are staying home this weekend; but are planning on catching a second-round game next weekend."

Ginny's family report led to Gwenog telling her daughter about what the members of the McCormack and Jones families were doing for the weekend; and then the conversation moved on to other topics – with about half of the questions coming from Lily and Jonah. After his brief moment in the conversational spotlight, Al was happy to slide into the background; enjoy his meal; and occasionally have quiet little side-conversations with Gwendolyn. They were at the Inn for about an hour and a half; and then they hopped a ride back to the campground – where they found out about the next surprise of the night that was also a surprise for everyone in the campground.

"The Weird Kids on the Block are doing a concert tonight?" Gwendolyn asked her father as they arrived at the campground and they could all see a stage that was set up in the empty field next to the campground. It hadn't been there when they left; and very well could have appeared out of nowhere – whether it was conjured or summoned.

"The Graves Robbers are here too," Kirley advised her with a smile. "They're the work I was telling you I'd be doing this weekend. The other guys need help keeping up with all of their kids for the concert tour they're doing this summer."

"Then you'd better get to that work," Gwenog suggested. "It looks as though you've missed out on the heavy lifting part of the show."

"They didn't need me for that; and the kids deal with their own gear – just as we do for our band." He had hugs and kisses for Gwenog and Gwendolyn; but then he did leave them and head over toward the stage."

"Are the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are doing that tour around the Quidditch World Cup matches?" Gwendolyn asked her mother as they continued on toward their tents. "That might not work out very well if they just follow our team around and the Quidditch fans get bored from seeing them every weekend."

"I've been too busy with the team to get many of the details," Gwenog admitted; "but I don't think they're doing that. The bands are here tonight; but they'll be in Senegal tomorrow night for a concert there after the game between France and South Africa. Your music cousins – and Kirley – are going to do a lot of Portkey traveling this summer."

"Do Jonah and I want to know what you'll be doing with us if you and Dad will be away every weekend?" Gwendolyn asked next; and then grinned. "Better yet, do we get to help pick where we'll stay while you're gone?"

"Not if your vote is for with Al in his room," Gwenog answered; laughing when Al started blushing. "We can talk about that after we get home, and that concert will be starting fairly soon; so we should probably grab some chairs, blankets, and some drinks and treats; and then head over there to find someplace to watch the show from before that entire field is packed full."

"I'm surprised that it isn't already," Al admitted.

"Word is likely still getting around," Gwendolyn suggested. "I recognized the gear. Most Witches and Wizards wouldn't have; so there might still not be many people that know which bands will be playing tonight."

"Do you know who's playing?" That question came from one of two teen Witches they'd been passing; and Gwendolyn smiled at them.

"The Weird Kids on the Block and the Graves Robbers," she answered conspiratorially.

"Really?" the other teen asked excitedly. "How do you know that? We've been trying to find out since the stage appeared."

"They played at our school for the Christmas dance we had; and I recognize their gear," Gwendolyn answered; choosing not to tell the two Witches how she really knew that. Unfortunately for them, James had taken notice of the girls; and he joined them.

"Don't be so modest," he told Gwendolyn; smiling at the girls. "Gwendolyn knows all of the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers," he advised them; "and we go to school with all of the younger teens in both bands – though Nikki just graduated; and she was the last of the Weird Kids still at Hogwarts." His smile brightened even more then as he held out his hand to them. "James Potter. You're obviously not from England, since I'd have never missed seeing two Witches as pretty as you at Hogwarts; so where are you from?"

"Potter? As in..." the Witch who had asked Gwendolyn the first question asked; and James' grin turned wolfish as he waved a hand toward his parents.

"I just call him Dad," he jumped in and told the girls as they both turned to stare at Harry and Ginny. "Once you get to know them; they're as annoying as everyone else's parents. Would you be interested in going to watch the concert with me? My best mate, Ollie Wood, could join us too – if we can rescue him from his parents and the rest of the team player-parents."

The small teen whirlwind of drama that followed James as he swept the two Witches off their feet and then escaped with them in search of Ollie once they'd met his parents had been very strange for Al; but then he was also glad that James had a diversion for the night that would keep him busy – and doing anything that didn't include messing with him – or with Gwendolyn, Lily, or Jonah. He didn't like how his brother used his name-fame and their friends and family connections to impress the girls. It didn't surprise him that James did that, since he'd done it before while meeting new kids – though not quite as thoroughly as he'd done it this time. That did emphasize another difference between them, though; and that was simply that Al didn't care at all about fame while James liked the notoriety that came from having famous parents – and eventually wanted to be more famous.

"Would anyone like to take a guess how long it'll take those girls to see through all of that nonsense to the real James?" Lily asked after he was gone; earning a round of laughs that included their parents.

"We'll only be here for two days," Ginny reminded her. "Your brother can likely fool them at least that long – and they might manage dto keep him out of trouble."

"I'd say it's more likely that he and Ollie will get them in trouble; but we can hope," Lily offered.

"That's a particularly scary thought for me; but let's not go there," Harry suggested with a grin. "Should we bring along an extra few chairs or set up and extra blanket; or will James managed to convince those girls that we really are just your average, annoying parents and they should do anything else except hang out with us?" he asked Ginny.

"Let's not take along anything extra," she decided. "We can always summon more chairs or blankets if we need them later – and we'll all likely do some visiting and go dancing too."

They split up as they reached their tents so that they could collect chairs, blankets, and anything else that the mothers wanted to take along to the concert; they wandered past the food booths to get drinks and snacks; and then staked out a spot about thirty-five yards away from the stage. The kids wanted to be close-enough to see the bands; while the parents mostly wanted to be far-enough away for the music not to be too loud for them to even think let alone talk to each other. Gwendolyn and Lily wanted to wander around for a while, so Al and Jonah went along; and they got to have some fun moments with their families – and with some friends too. One of those entertaining little cameo moments was with Bristol, and while she couldn't hang out with Al and Gwendolyn, she was there with her family for the night; and was going to be at the game on Saturday too before they needed to move on to Senegal for the concert the bands were doing there. She didn't have many details yet either; but Bristol was expecting to be tagging along with her brother and his band all summer.

"Maybe you'll get to go along for some of those trips too," Al suggested to Gwendolyn after their visit with Bristol. "You and Jonah could go with your Mum and the team one weekend; and then with your Dad every other weekend."

"That'd only be brilliant if they'd let me bring you along, and we might get to do another trip or two; but I don't think that they'll want Jonah and me distracting them from their work every weekend. It's more likely that we'll spend most of those weekends with our grandparents or aunts and uncles."

Al grinned at her. "Mum will be working too, but maybe you'll get to spend at least one of those wekeends with your Uncle Harry," he joked; earning a laugh and hug.

"We should set our tent up in the back yard and have a lot of camping nights too," Lily told them seriously. "I'd go camping all summer if we could do that."

"You wouldn't want to do that all summer – unless Mum and Dad pitched the tent next to a Quidditch stadium so that you could still practice every day too."

"That's true," Lily agreed. "I'll need all of the practice time I can get to catch up to you and James by the end of next summer."

"Will you be shooting for a spot on the team for the next Quidditch World Cup too?" Gwendolyn teased; and Lily laughed.

"The one after that – though I'd play in the next one if they'd actually consider giving the Seeker job to a fourteen-year old."

"Getting named to the team the summer after you graduate from Hogwarts would be a big-enough deal," Gwendolyn reminded her; and then grinned. "That'd be even better for you if it meant beating James out for that spot too."

"That'd be brilliant," Lily agreed enthusiastically; "but don't say anything about that to him. I'd really hate to spoil the surprise for him."

"We can do that for you," Al promised. "Let's get back with Mum and Dad. The concert will be starting soon; and it might be tough to get around after that."

While the campground only had a fraction of the Witches and Wizards that would be at the game on Saturday, that was still thousands; and that was definitely the biggest audience ever-so-far for the Graves Robbers. They took to the stage to fairly muted applause, but soon had nearly all of the kids and teens up and dancing as they earned a lot of new fans with their first set of upbeat, fun dance songs. Al and Gwendolyn had fun dancing too; though they stayed close to Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and the rest of their group. The Graves Robbers played for an hour; there was a fifteen minute break while the Weird Kids on the Block took over; and then the older 'kids' rocked the campground for nearly an hour and a half. James, Ollie, and the two young Witches that had apparently become enamoured with them stopped by during that break; and stayed for about a half-hour of rubbing elbows with some of the most-famous adults that James and Ollie could brag about knowing or being related to; and then they went off to go dancing again by the stage for the rest of the concert.

The Weird Kids wrapped up their show with three up-tempo songs and then two encore somgs; and then the field around the stage quickly emptied as their satisfied audience headed back to the campground and their tents. By then, it was already past the curfew that Gwenog had set for her team, and since she led by example; she'd left early to head for bed while leaving it up to Harry and Ginny to get Gwendolyn and Jonah back to their tents too – and eventually reunited with Kirley once he was finished work with the bands. Once back at their tent and after helping out with putting the chairs, blankets, and the rest of their things away; the four kids went for a walk and to pick up some bedtime drinks and snacks from the food booths. When they got back to their tents, Kirley was there with Harry and Ginny; he was ready to call it a night; and took Gwendolyn and Jonah 'home' with him. With too much company around them, the goodnight hug and kiss was short and sweet for Al and Gwendolyn, but they were getting to spend the weekend together; so that wasn't exactly a big deal when everything else about their day had been brilliant.

James was still out with Ollie and the girls, but Ginny had to work in the morning; so Harry sent her off to bed and offered to wait up for their son. Lily went to bed then too; but Al stayed up and kept his father company. They sat in two chairs in front of the tent; and enjoyed the comparative quiet time as the level of noise and activity in the campground dropped. They didn't really talk about anything important at all, and while they exchanged some nods or an occasional greeting with people passing their tent; nobody stopped to sit and chat with them. If James was expecting trouble when he did eventually return nearly an hour later; he didn't get it. Harry simply hugged each of them goodnight and went to join his wife in bed. Al thought that James seemed almost disappointed by that reaction, but then James also made it obvious that he didn't want to talk or hang out with his loser brother; so Al went to bed while James took over the chair that Harry had been in and apparently planned on staying up even later.

Despite sleeping on a camp cot in a sleeping bag, Al didn't have any problem with sleeping; and he was up early-enough to be second in the washroom to grab a quick shower before getting ready for the day. Ginny had been first while Harry got the extra sleep he'd lost the night before; and she was off to work at the stadium early because she was covering a VIP breakfast with the teams. They hadn't tried to get tickets for that because they were very limited; and it was a bigger deal for fans that didn't get to hang out with the players at family and friends events fairly regularly every year. Al was okay with that because he and Gwendolyn got to have breakfast together with their fathers, James, Lily, and Jonah – and they also went to pick up that meal for everyone from the food booths while Harry and Kirley took care of other chores that included getting ready for their outing to the Quidditch stadium.

After breakfast, they still had lots of time before the game to play, so while James went off to hook up with Ollie – and possibly the two Witches they'd spent the evening with; Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah played and went for a long swim in the lake. They met and chatted with some other kids, but didn't get to spend time with any cousins or friends because they were all busy doing other things for the morning. They were back together with Harry and Kirley with lots of time to spare before heading over to the stadium, but Harry needed to track down James to get him back because he was having too much fun to pay attention to the time. They didn't have lunch because they'd be snacking during the game anyway; so running the gauntlet of food and souvenir booths at the stadium was the first thing they did once they got into the building.

They picked up the game programs and a few other souvenirs, but then they lost James when they stopped by to see George and the kids – and George was busy-enough that he offered James a part-time job helping him with the two booths he was running with help from both some teen workers from his stores back home and more teens from Beauxbatons. James had jumped at the chance; and Harry had let him do it. With one less teen in their group, they moved on to get drinks and food; and then they went to find their seats. They were in a section that had been reserved for fans of the England team at mid-pitch; and they were directly across the pitch from an equally large block of seats that were for the Germany team fans. The stadium seats filled up rapidly; and the noise level climbed quickly too. While they had specific seats, the parents had bought a block of tickets; so switching up seats so that the kids and teens – and the adults – could sit together was an option; and Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Lily, Jonah, Bristol, and Kathryn Wood closest to them as they all settled in to wait for the start of the game.

Normally, for league matches, just getting through the concession booths and to your seats takes longer than the pre-game action on the pitch; but that wasn't the case for Quidditch World Cup matches. For the England-Germany match; the pre-game ceremony dragged on for more than a half-hour by the time the speeches and introductions were done. That drawn-out blast of boredom had most of the kids and teens in the stadium restless; so it was a good thing that the game that started shortly after the last pompous political windbag ran out of air and sat down was really great! Al and Gwendolyn couldn't claim that this was the first time they'd gone to a Quidditch World Cup match together; but it was the first time they watched one as a couple. That made the afternoon even better for them; and they had the added bonus that James sat with Ollie when he did get to his seat after helping George out until shortly after the game started; so he was far-enough away not to be able to bother them at all.

Out on the pitch, the action was fierce; and the two teams were even more closely matched than even the least-decisive experts predicted while waffling over picking a winner in advance. While Oliver was the better Keeper, the German Beaters made life difficult for him; and their Chasers had some very cool plays that he hadn't seen before. The goals didn't come easily for either team; and they pretty much traded goals throughout the match. When Aaron caught the snitch to end the match at the three hour and nine minute mark; Germany had been leading by just one goal. That proved that having the better Seeker had been the difference, and while Germany could be proud of their effort in the two-seventy to one-thirty loss; that wasn't much comfort in a competition that was a win-or-you're-out format.

"Yeah for us!" Lily declared happily as they all celebrated with their team and the rest of the fans of their National team. "That's going to be me someday – winning World Dup matches for our team!"

"Quiet," Gwendolyn whispered conspiratorially. "James is right over there; and you'll mess up that surprise making promises like that one in public."

"Not to mention that you woudn't want those kinds of guarantees to work out the way James' did against Hufflepuff back in March," Al added with a grin that had both girls laughing.

"No, I definitely wouldn't want that," Lily agreed – "especially when James would never let me live something like that down." She looked down at the mirror that Al was still holding. "Any news from Aunt Gabrielle's match?"

"France still has the same lead. South Africa is either better than advertised; or Aunt Gabrielle's team hasn't come together to play their best yet."

"She'll still win the Seeker duel," Lily predicted. "There is no way that her team is going out in the first round."

"That'll be good news for Bill, Fleur, and the kids," Ginny leaned in and told her with a smile. "They're planning on ending their vacation next weekend going to whatever match Gabrielle has in the second round."

"They would be able to pick the game for our team now if that doesn't work out for them," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Hopefully we won't be up against her team in any of the early rounds. She's likely got a psychological advantage over Aaron right now after winning the League Championship last month."

"Or she could just have the advantage anyway because Witches are better Quidditch players than Wizards," Lily offered; grinning challengingly at her father.

"There is that," Gwendolyn agreed with a laugh; "though that line is a bit harder to sell when we only have three Witches on our National team this year."

"That only works because they've got your Mum managing them and making up the difference," Lily countered quickly; "and France will be counting on Aunt Gabrielle to get the wins for them."

"Aren't you going to offer an opinion?" Gwendolyn asked Al; and he shook his head while smiling back at her.

"Not a chance," he assured her. "One wrong word from me now; and I'd end up having Lily kick my butt around the Quidditch pitch at home all summer."

"Then go for it; 'cause that sounds like a lot of fun," Lily encouraged; grinning at him impishly. "You'd thank me for all of the help with getting ready to play for Gryffindor next season."

"That's the last thing that I want for my Ravenclaw team," Gwendolyn told Lily. "Why don't you spend the summer helping him to play worse instead?"

"Are you going to do that in your Chaser duels too?" Lily asked; and then laughed. "I didn't think so. Ditto that for me for when we play Quidditch."

Gwendolyn sighed. "Well, then I'll just have to find some other way to mess with Al's game – at least for our matches against Gryffindor."

"Look at the time!" Kirley exclaimed. "We need to get back to the campground so that I can get ready to head for Senegal with the Braves Robbers and Weird Kids for their concert tonight."

"We're keeping you and Jonah with us until your Mum's done with the post-game stuff with the team," Ginny advised Gwendolyn. "Going for another swim is an option when we get back – and Harry and I might even join you for that."

"You'd better," Kirley told her, "and feel free to use your bat-bogey hex on any young Wizards that spend too much time checking out my daughter while I'm away – or my wife; if she gets back in time to go swimming with you too."

"Would you like to get that bat-bogey hex over with now; or save it for later?" Lily asked Al; earning laughs from their parents, Kirley, and Gwendolyn.

"I'll hope that Dad distracts Mumenough that she doesn't notice – or hex me," Al answered. "She is welcome to hex all of the other boys; since I've already had enough trouble over using magic outside of Hogwarts to last me for a while."

That comment led their chat off in a new direction, and after rounding up James and Ollie; they made their way out of the stadium – and eventually back to the campground. By then, Kirley really did need to get going; so Gwendolyn and Jonah only stopped in to their tent long enough to grab swimsuits, towels, and a change of clothes before going to hang out with Al and Lily for the rest of the afternoon. While they did go swimming with Harry and Ginny; James and Ollie left almost immediately in search of their weekend girlfriends. They were at the lake for a swim later too; but didn't hang out together. While swimming and enjoying a hot, early-summer day; they also watched parts of the rest of the match between France and South Africa that Gabrielle did win for her team; and Ginny wrote and filed her reports for the Quidditch News Network website and the next edition of the Daily Prophet. She didn't need to hex any teen boys, but if she did even think about doing that for any reason; she probably would have hexed James for the goofing around that he and Ollie were doing in their effort to impress their girls.

Gwenog ended up being stuck accepting a can't-refuse dinner invitation, so Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed with Harry and Ginny – though the only change to their own dinner plans was that Gwenog couldn't go with them – and James badgered his way out of going along so that he could stay at the campground with Ollie and the girls instead. They left the campground again for that meal, but went to a different restaurant; and did that with a smaller group this time too. The food was just as good, though; and Al and Gwendolyn were both happy to try new dishes while Lily and Jonah both stuck to their usual favorites. There weren't any special events planned at the campground for Saturday night; so they all enjoyed a fairly quiet evening around a campfire along with one more swim in the lake at sunset and a bit of play time with a glow-in-the-dark fanged Frisbee that some of their cousins and friends joined in to do with them – including James, Ollie, and their girls.

The campfire fun included some sing-alongs, and Gwendolyn and Jonah took turns playing guitar for that; but she didn't try to get Al to do any public duets with her; and he was glad that Kirley wasn't there to try and push them into doing that. They didn't have anything specific planned for Sunday morning, so staying up late and celebrating was an option; and they did that up until Weasley's Wizard Wheezes put on a small fireworks show and celebration for England's win at midnight. After that, the campground again began to settle down for the night; so everyone in the Potter family except for James turned in shortly after the fireworks ended. He and Ollie took over the campfire along with their cuddle buddies for the night; and Harry and Ginny let them do that at least until some time after Al went to sleep and was beyond noticing anything else going on around him.

On Sunday morning, Harry and Ginny only had two kids for breakfast while James slept in. Al and Lily went to get food at the booths for them while Harry and Ginny made coffee and she did some morning-after-the-game work that included checking out the results from the rest of the first-round matches. She knew about the match-ups for the next round by the time Al and Lily got back to their tent with the food; and that was the top chat topic while they ate.

"I don't want her to win next Saturday, but I can't help but feel just a bit sorry for Erin Connelly," Lily told her mother after finding out that France would be playing against Ireland in the second round – and that their match would be played in Russia. "She is a really good Seeker; so it's ironic that she never seems to have the luck of the Irish with her at the Quidditch World Cup."

"Gabrielle better not think that match-up is an easy one; or it'll be France going home after that game," Ginny warned. "Erin could have one of her really brilliant games; and she'll never give up no matter how well or badly the game is going for her team."

"I'm with Lily on that game," Al offered with a smile for his sister. "It'll be a tough one; but Aunt Gabrielle is really playing great right now – and at exactly the right time to be at her best. What do you think of the England-Portugal match-up, Mum?"

"I haven't taken a close look at Portugal yet. I'll have to let you know once I've done that. Getting to visit Greece again next weekend will be great; though that would be more fun if I could do that with your father."

"But not with us too?" Lily teased. "Al and I are crushed."

"You could still do that and ship us off to stay with someone else," Al offered; but Harry shook his head.

"I'm on-duty next weekend," he advised them. "We'll be taking turns with that this summer because of the World Cup; but also because of rotating vacations. We'll talk more about our plans for the next few weeks once we're home later today or tonight." He focused his attention on Lily and smiled. "You wanted to do some sightseeing while we're in France. Do you have a preference; or should we just go to Paris and check out the major Muggle attractions and go shopping in the Wizarding section of the city?"

That suggestion had Lily's full support, so after eating and eventually getting James up and half-alive; they worked together to pack up their gear and tent; Harry sent everything back to their house; and then they opted to take a Portkey to Paris. Al would have liked to do that with Gwendolyn, but she had other plans with her parents and family; so they'd parted ways when it was time for him to go. Visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were both amazing; though they couldn't even come close to seeing everything at the museum during their short time there. James wasn't all that impressed, but then he'd been grumpy since leaving the campground – and his cute new girlfriend; so he was fairly annoying for the rest of the day anyway. He really hated the shopping that they ended their afternoon with; complained nearly the entire time they were wandering the shops; and went off to his room the moment they got home. His parents, brother, and sister were okay with that choice by then; and the temporary peace that followed was near-bliss for them while it lasted. Unfortunately fo rthem; it also ended at dinnertime when they started talking about their summer plans for work and play.

"So what you're telling us is that I'd have mre fun if I was left at Hogwarts this summer – in all day detention – than I'm going to have around here," James declared after Harry and Ginny had talked about their own schedules; and what they'd be doing with the three kids while they were busy with their jobs.

"We're not asking you to do nothing but chores around here all day – just the same chores you've always had when you're home. You'll have as much free time to play as always."

"As long as we stay here and do nothing – when we're not at the Burrow with Grandma. I'm thirteen; and don't need or want a babysitter! Go ahead and send the babies to the Burrow and leave me here – or let me leave and do my own thing or go and hang out with my friends."

"You'll all be able to set up some visits with your friends," Harry advised them, "but the chores come first; and we're not going to be able to have gangs of kids and teens over here every day when your mother and I are already going to be too busy with everything we have on the go right now. Staying home on your own is not an option; and I'd advise you not to try giving your grandmother a hard time when you do need to be at the Burrow – and you don't need me to tell you why that'd be a really bad idea." He grinned then. "There's a reason why your dragon-trainer and curse-breaker uncles don't mess with your grandmother."

"Yeah," James agreed with a snort – "they're afraid of what Aunt Fleur and Aunt Julianne would do to them if they did."

"Then if you're really saying that you're not worried about your grandmother at all; then be afraid of what I'll do to you if you mess with my Mum," Ginny warned him seriously. "Getting back to what we're actually talking about, though; what is your problem? We've already told you that we'll do some outings when we can; you will be able to get together with your friends; and you never used to have any problems with spending time at the Burrow with your cousins before now. So what's the real problem?"

"Why don't you stay here day and night with nothing but chores to do – except for a visit or two a week to the Burrow where you get to do more chores while putting up with a bunch of babies; and I'll go out and travel the world and have fun while you're doing that?" he offered. "I could write those reports as well as you could – probably better." Al laughed at that; and James scowled at him. "What?" he demanded.

"That's funny – if you actually believe it."

"What do you know?" James shot back; and Al smiled at him.

"I know that what you're likely mad about is that Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne are going to be going on a lot of those weekend trips with Uncle Ron and Uncle George; and that's what you're mostly mad about because we're not doing that too. That's funny too; since they'll probably work harder than we will running those booths at the campgrounds and stadiums."

"Says the loser that wouldn't know fun if it bit him in the arse," James spat angrily. "You're happy doing chores half the day and reading your books and doing summer revision the rest of the time."

"Add in some play time with Lily and our friends and some Quidditch; and I'm good with that," Al agreed enthusiastically. "Going to the World Cup matches would be fun, but then it'll be fun watching them at home too – and we can be more comfortable here."

James shook his head. "You're so oblivious it's pathetic."

"That's enough," Harry told James. "We are going to have as much fun as we can this summer – we just won't be able to make many plans when we won't know from week-to-week what your Mum will be doing with her job."

"You can find out about things with your friends that we might need to plan for – like birthdays," Ginny told them.

"Okay – mine's August 31st this year," Lily told her with a bright smile that even managed to get a smirk from James as her parents and Al laughed. "Can you let Hogwarts know in enough time that my letter will get here when the rest of them go out in August?"

"That's funny, but you're stuck with another school year at home," Ginny told her. "Don't rush trying to grow up on us so fast. Your father and I aren't ready for that."

"Tell me about it," James groused. "Al's obviously okay with being a good little baby for you, but Lily and I are not going to put up with you holding us back from growing up for very much longer before we'll just move on without you."

Harry sighed. "Well, since this isn't going well with you anyway; I guess we'd better get the summer rules out of the way. I'm sure that you'll hate them too."

"No doubt," James agreed rudely. "Don't worry, though; since I'm sure that your perfect, boring, loser son, Al, will love all of your rules as much as I hate them."

"Rule number one – don't badger and insult each other day and night," Ginny joked with a grin; though James wasn't amused.

Harry and Ginny did then go over the rules that they had adjusted as their kids grew up despite James' assertion otherwise. That wasn't to say that he didn't have some valid points from the perspective of a teen, but then James, Al, and Lily weren't the kids of just any average Witch and Wizard; and they didn't want their kids to find out the hard way that there really was a good reason for them to always have at least one or two over-age Witches or Wizards around just in case their father's enemies tried to get at Harry through them. The catch-22 that Harry and Ginny had came from trying to protect their kids as best they could while shielding them as much as possible from the worst that came along with being famous – and from having so many enemies. While James' rebellion had begun during his first summer home from Hogwarts; it was becoming fairly obvious that he was going to continue to push the boundaries – and his parents' patience. He did at least wait until finishing his dessert this time before stomping off to his room; but that likely had more to do with a low supply of personal treats that hadn't yet been replenished since getting home than because he was trying to keep his mother happy.

While James stayed in his room and didn't even seem to get the irony of the self-imposed restriction that went way beyond the rules; Harry and Ginny cleaned up and went to do some work in the office; and Al and Lily grabbed their brooms and the snitch nd went outside to play until dark. James couldn't watch them from his bedroom windows, but he would have heard them; so even the call of some Quidditch and flying fun didn't get him out of his room. Lily won the Seeker duel three catches to one, and she expected to do that against Al; which was why he hoped that she never found out that he could play that position better than he ever actually did around her – or anyone else. That was simply because he didn't want to be a Seeker like his parents, brother, and sister – even if he really did want to be a professional player some day too.

"Do you really think that James is just mad because we aren't going to go on trips to all of the World Cup games?" Lily asked Al as they sat down on one of the benches at the edge of the pitch to have drinks of water and wind down after their play time. "That would be brilliant; but I didn't really expect to go to any of the games except the Championship match in August. This weekend has just been a really great bonus for me."

"He's definitely mad about that; he's likely sure that we'll spend the entire summer with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and that he won't have any fun while stuck hanging out with me while we're home."

"Well, if he's going to be such a pain all of the time, he likely will have a miserable summer," Lily suggested. "Let's hope that we can still have fun even if he doesn't want to do anything with us."

"He might be happy to hang out with you," Al told her seriously; and then grinned. "Maybe not if you win your Seeker duels against him the way you beat me tonight; but then I'll be cheering for you to do exactly that every time. His ego could use the deflating; and potions apparently don't work on such things."

"That's true," Lily agreed, "but that won't happen very often because he doesn't play fair if I get ahead of him on catches. He just starts flying faster than my broom will go whenever that happens." She shrugged and smiled. "Since we do know where we'll be for the next couple of weeks; what do you want to do around here and at the Burrow?"

"I'll wait to find out what Gwendolyn will be doing when we have our mirror chat tonight; but I'd like to get together with her at least a couple of times a week either here or at her house; and I'm going to talk with Mum and Dad about a day at Dad's favorite Muggle amusement park because I asked Gwendolyn to go on a date with me to do that sometime this summer. Louis won't be our Quidditch captain next year, and since James or Ollie likely will be; i don't expect them to invite me to practice with them this summer. If I'm right about that; I'd like to do something else with you, Rose, Hugo, and some of our friends. Fred's starting at Hogwarts in September, so maybe he and Roxanne would like to work out with us this summer too. We could do some of those practices if we're all at the Burrow together; or once a week here."

"Mum and Dad said they don't want gangs of kids and teens here," Lily reminded him; and Al nodded.

"True," he agreed; "so I'll count on your hugs, kisses, and dimples to convince them to make some exceptions to that. If we keep up with all of our chores and promise to deal with all of the work that goes along with having our friends and cousins hang out with us here; that could make a difference too. Are there things that you'd like to do this summer?"

"I wish that we could go swimming more often; and we could maybe do more biking and hiking this summer too."

"James has tried to dunk me in his portable swamp a lot this past year," Al reminded her. "He'd likely be more than happy to let you swim in it anytime you want."

Lily laughed. "I'd prefer a pool, swimming hole, or more visits to the beach and ocean; but I'll pass on the swamp swims. It's too bad that those swamps can't be cleaned up so they're just full of fresh water – or that Uncle George has never thought about making a pool version of them."

"It's likely never occurred to him," Al offered. "There wouldn't be anything funny about a portable pool – at least compared to the swamps and other wheezes."

"They sell things that aren't for pranks or jokes – like their Pygmy Puffs or most of the Wonder Witch products. I'd buy a portable pool."

"So suggest it to him," Al said with a smile and shrug. "Just make sure that you get a cut of the profits if he does make them and then sells millions of them."

"I'm going to go and call Roxanne right now so that I can ask Uncle George about that." She grabbed her broom and headed for the house. "Are you coming?"

"In a bit," Al answered. "It's nice out; and i think that I'll watch the stars as they come out for a while."

While watching the darkening night sky was nice; Al had just been ready to have a bit of alone time to think. He hadn't been able to do that much since getting home; and he had a lot to think about – whether that was his problems with James; wondering how he and Gwendolyn would work out getting to spend lots of time together all summer; or things that didn't really involve him at all – like Teddy and Victoire's engagement and the vacation they were on for the coming week with Victoire's parents, sister, and brother. That news was bugging James too, since he'd barely even seen Teddy since getting home again, and while Al missed seeing Teddy too; it wasn't as though he was expecting Teddy to come over and play every day either now that he was an adult with a job and growing responsibilities. He didn't solve any major Wizarding World issues during that quiet time, but Al was sure that his summer was going to be great; and thought that James could have a lot of fun too – if he'd just get over himself and simply try to have fun with his family and friends.

Then again, James' idea of fun wasn't necessarily the same kid of fun that he wanted to see around the house or burrow anyway; so maybe having James hide in his room all summer would be a good thing!

Whether James had fun or not didn't really end up being much of a story for Al for the rest of the evening – or the next couple of days. By the time he went inside again, Lily was bouncing off the walls with the news that George had thought that her pool idea was a rather brilliant one – even though he also thought that just filling one with plain old water would be boring. While their uncle promised to get right on that new product development; Al also wrapped up his weekend with a fun mirror chat with Gwendolyn that included comparing schedules and making what plans they could for the upcoming week. On Monday morning, Al was a happy camper when a tentative play date was approved for Gwendolyn and Jonah to spend the day with them on Wednesday; though he had to wait until the end of the day to get the final approval on that – after Ginny worked that out with Gwenog while they were both working at the stadium the National team was using for practices.

James, Al, and Lily were at the Burrow for the day on Monday – along with Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne. While James had still been surly first thing in the morning, he had his full, cool teen persona on by the time they got to the Burrow; and he had Fred and Hugo there to impress with his stories from school and all of his overwhelming teen awesomeness. Although impressing his younger cousins included escaping or hiding from Molly anytime she was looking for draftees to help with the chores around the house or garden, and that meant more work for Al and Rose; they were willing to trade the extra chores for being left alone by the other three boys. Lily and Roxanne helped them a bit too; but they spent more time in the kitchen with Molly having fun with some baking and doing some of the easier, indoors chores.

There was still lots of play time around the Burrow too, including some Quidditch fun in the orchard and even some airplane fun with Grandpa when he came home a bit early from work and was happy to share his favorite toys with James, Fred, and Hugo while they waited to be picked up by one of their parents. While Al had enjoyed his day at the Burrow, and getting to hang out with Rose; the fun level really kicked up a few notches for him after going home with Ginny. Finding out that Gwendolyn and Jonah were confirmed for a play day on Wednesday had been great; but even James was excited when they found out that George had sent an empty, already modified portable swamp to Ginny through Angelina for them to experiment with at home. Ginny did make them wait until Harry was home and for all of them to have dinner and clean up from the meal before they went outside to set it up in the back yard and then fill it with water and try it out for an hour or so.

"This really is a good idea that Lily had," Harry told Ginny quietly as they sat in lawn chairs and watched their kids in the pool after going for a short swim with them. "Filling it with water will take a while for the average Witch or Wizard, though; and keeping the water fresh for re-use could be a problem too."

"That isn't an issue for the swamps," Ginny said thoughtfully. "For them, getting smellier over time just makes them better – from the perspective of the pranksters."

"Muggles use chlorine and other chemicals in their pools," Harry offered. "That might be an option; or maybe salt water would be something to try too."

Ginny laughed. "Maybe James is right and we are boring. From what Angelina told us today; George is thinking more along the lines of other fillings for the swamps that would still work for pranks."

"This is deeper and bigger than the swamps," Harry pointed out. "He might want to think about that a bit more before choosing fillings that could lead to accidents, injuries, or worse."

"I'm sure that whatever he comes up with; there will be all of the usual disclaimers to protect the company. Getting back to the pool idea, though; we can test how easy it is to just clean the water."

"Making the pool self-cleaning would be better," Harry suggested; "but maybe that's too much to add for something that size."

"Maybe, but I like the idea a lot," Ginny told him. "I'll ask Hermione about it. She might have some ideas."

"If Ron took one home with him too; they might be working on it right now too."

"That's likely what George is hoping for. It's barely the start of summer holidays, so if he can get something worked out soon; he could sell a lot of these things – especially while doing all of the Quidditch World Cup booths."

Harry nodded; and then laughed. "If he does get that done, and then needs to start making a lot of them; Ron'll be wishing that he held off on returing from the Aurors if they both need to start working night and day to keep up with business at the stores and booths."

"I wasn't thinking about that today, but I did ask Angelina to see if George might be interested in having James help him out on the weekends," Ginny told Harry; lowering her voice so that the kids wouldn't overhear her. "Mum said he was good for her today, and this pool might help for a day or two; but he might be easier for us to handle if he can do at least a few of those trips. He might find out that the work isn't as much fun as he thinks it will be."

"Or not, since his uncles have so much fun with their jobs," Harry added with a smile. "You'll be at those games a day ro two early, depending on where they're being played; but if George wants the help; I'm sure we can find someone for James to tag along with for Portkey trips."

"He could go along with me this weekend; since I'm just going to go back and forth each day instead of staying there overnight; but we'll deal with that once we find out whether George even wants the added trouble."

While that was a work in progress for the next couple of days, and James remained uncooperative and testy; having the pool to swim and play in on Tuesday, along with some Quidditch play time with Ginny, helped to smooth over the rough spots that came with insisting that chores and yard work get done before the play time on Tuesday. Ginny also needed to keep working even though she did that from home; so she really needed the help with the lawn, garden, and normal household chores that included jobs like cleaning the owl cages and dealing with loads of laundry. Al and Lily were happy to help out, but James wasn't; and then he was back to being angry and obnoxious from the moment that Gwendolyn and Jonah were dropped off for the day on Wednesday morning.

James began his complaining as soon as he was supposedly forced to witness Al and Gwendolyn "sucking face" for the few seconds that they shared a hug and kiss; and he just got worse as he decided that he was going to share his misery with everyone instead of just hiding in his room. He fought Ginny about everything from his chores to snacks, drinks, and lunch choices. While he hadn't said a word on Tuesday about the pool, there was nothing good about it even when he had it to himself for one reason or another – with his favorite being that it had "Al slime" in it. He didn't want to play Quidditch with Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah when they had some fun with Seeker and Chaser duels; and he didn't want to play any other games with them. When James finally decided to do something a bit more drastic that he likely expected would get Al into trouble; he wasn't prepared for what happened to him as he sprang his prank attempt.

"How's the water?" James asked; and the pleasant tone of his voice immediately had Al and Gwendolyn wary.

"Same as it's been all day," Al answered.

He put a warning hand on Gwendolyn's wrist and silently tapped her charm bracelet meaningfully. James turned around and tossed his towel onto a chair while putting a toe in the water; but Al didn't miss it when he popped something into his mouth that he quickly chewed and swallowed. Gwendolyn didn't miss it either; and used her shield charm as James turned back to them and tried to puke all over her. As her shield blazed out and not only blocked the mess but hurled James up into the air; Al had grabbed something out of his swimsuit pocket that he pointed at his brother – and James found himself frozen in a stasis as strong as any body-bind. Since his arms and legs had been flailing by then, the pose he was frozen into was comical; and the landing when he hit the ground without being able to break his fall was painful. Al's freezing charm had only affected some of the puke that had been blasted away from them by Gwendolyn's shield; and what hadn't been frozen with James rained down all over him while he was unable to even cover his face or close his eyes.

"What in Merlin's name is going on over there?" Ginny shouted as she jumped up and came running toward them from where she'd been working at a table she'd conjured so that she could keep working and still keep an eye on the kids in the pool or around the back yard.

"James tried to use a puking pastille on me," Gwendolyn answered as she and Al both hopped out of the pool. "We stopped him." She smiled at Al. "Was that a freezing charm?"

"Yes," he agreed; and Ginny looked from them to James and back again before managing to say anything.

"You don't have your wands with you," she said next; and Al and Gwendolyn both grinned at her.

"I used my charm bracelet," Gwendolyn explained in a tone that was whimsical-enough to earn a laugh from Ginny before she realised that it wasn't just meant to be a joke. "I don't know what Al used."

"You charmed your charm bracelet?" Ginny asked next.

"Al charmed it for me. I thought it was rather brilliant; and now I'm sure of it."

"Mum?" Lily interrupted. "I think James wants to be set free now. He's turning a rather ugly shade of red and might be on the way to purple."

"Oh dear," Ginny said; turning her attention back to James. She reached for her wand, but by then; Al was holding his hand out toward his brother and James was suddenly free again – and spluttering and retching as the puking pastille ran its course. When he could finally catch his breath, he jumped to his feet and glared at Al with a look of triumphant hatred on his face.

"That's twice you've been caught doing magic outside of school," he crowed with a scathing sneer. "Dad won't have any choice but to have you expelled now! Way to go, loser!"

"You tried to do this to Gwendolyn to get Al expelled?" Ginny demanded; and James shook his head.

"I didn't do anything," he denied glibly. "Haven't I told you all morning that there's something wrong with the pool? Al's been stinking it up; and that's likely what made me sick." When he looked back at Al; his grin turned vicious. "I bet they'll break your wand too – just like they did to Hagrid when he was expelled. If Gwendolyn gets the same punishment as you did the first time; then I'm going to see about her suspension from Quidditch being put toward her game against Gryffindor next year. She did, after all, attack a Gryffindor player; so that only seems fair to me."

"We didn't use our wands outside of school," Al told him; and that assertion brought James up short for a moment.

"What?"

"Gwendolyn used her charm bracelet for that shield; and I used this shell." He held up a rather plain looking seashell that was only distinct in that it was a light shade of blue. "We didn't break any laws – just as you didn't do anything illegal by eating that charmed puking pastille."

Ginny, Lily, and Jonah all began to laugh then; and James glared at them.

"This isn't funny, Mum. They used magic on me outside of school; blasted me off of my feet; and used a freezing charm on me. Al's obviously a menace to the Wizarding World and should never be allowed to use magic again!"

Ginny stopped laughing; but couldn't hide her amusement. "Give it a rest, James," she told him. "Al's right this time, and while I've never thought about doing what they've done before; you can't seriously be suggesting that underage kids and teens should be banned from using charmed objects outside of school."

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" James interrupted; earning another round of laughs from everyone else that just had him glaring with rage.

"You're an idiot," Lily interjected before Ginny could say anything. "That'd mean no brooms; any of the mirror communicators, games, or mirror network; most wheezes; and anything else we have that's charmed or magicked in any way. It stinks for you that Gwendolyn and Al figured out a way to defend themselves from you – in more ways than one; but I think they're brilliant."

"Go ahead – side with them," James snarled. "We'll see what Dad has to say about this – or the Minister of Magic if Dad won't do the right thing!"

"Enough, James!" Ginny told him; finally getting annoyed too. "Go in and get cleaned up; and then we're going to have a talk about what you tried to do to Al and Gwendolyn."

"Sure, because it's all my fault that Al stunk up the pool and made me puke," James declared petulantly. He stomped past them; and then jumped into the pool and swam to the far end before getting out – and leaving a trail of grossness in his wake. "There you go – I'm all cleaned up now. Meet you inside."

He was already stalking toward the house by then, but turned around at the sound of laughter – and swore when he saw Al and Gwendolyn already cleaning up the mess he'd left in the pool. Al had another, different seashell; and Gwendolyn was using her charm bracelet again; and they had the pool in pristine condition again faster than James had messed it up.

"We'll see who gets the last laugh," he shouted angrily; and then stormed off into the house.

"You guys are brilliant," Lily told Al and Gwendolyn. "What I want to know, though, is why haven't you given me one of those charm bracelets before, Al?"

"Because I didn't know how to make them until recently," he answered. "Now that Mum knows that I can, though, I'd better get something like that approved before giving you one for your next birthday."

"We'll talk about that some other time," Ginny told him first; though that comment was meant as much for Lily. "Since I already know that you gave Gwendolyn that bracelet for her birthday; then I'll take it that you did all of that charm work at school, right?"

"I did," Al confirmed. "James might hate it; but I did do a bit of research while coming up with the idea. "Lily's right, and using my shells or Gwendolyn's charm bracelet is only a problem if we break other laws while using them – like using magic around Muggles."

"Lily's right about you being brilliant too," Ginny said quietly with a smile; and then she took a moment to hug Al and Gwendolyn in turn. "I want the full list later of the charms you've put on those shells; and Gwendolyn needs to tell Gwenog all about her bracelet too; since I'm sure that I'd have heard about it already if she'd done that before now."

"Yes, Mum," Al agreed. "Is it okay if we go swimming again while we can before Gwendolyn and Jonah have to go home?"

"Sure; but I don't want anyone in there alone while I'm in the house talking with James. He needs to get rid of whatever it is that's gotten into him lately. Nithing he's been trying to do to the two of you is even remotely funny anymore; and it needs to stop."

"That would be nice," Gwendolyn told her; "but probably too much to hope for while he's so mad at us."

"Probably," Ginny agreed with a sigh; "but Harry and I will try to convince him to leave you alone anyway." She headed for the house then too; and Al and Gwendolyn hopped into the pool again – along with Lily and Jonah.

"Remind me to be cross with you later," Lily told Al once Ginny was in the house. "I get why you've kept those seashells quiet; but you could've used them for a lot of our chores since Monday instead of doing everything the hard way."

I'll do that, but you still won't be angry anyway," Al predicted with a grin. "Even if Mum and Dad don't want to let me make a bracelet for you after I get back to school, if James doesn't know that; you'd still be safe from him just by wearing a normal bracelet – or carrying around some seashells with you for the rest of this summer."

"That might work if he didn't try testing me on it," Lily agreed; "but I won't be surprised if he leaves us alone now anyway."

"Give him time," Gwendolyn suggested. "He'll come up with all-new ways to bug us – or mess with Al. This will just be another reason for him to be mad at us."

"Maybe we should stop hanging out with them," Jonah suggested to Lily. "Getting caught up in whatever James does come up with won't be any fun at all."

"It will be if that turns out badly for James again like it did today," Lily disagreed. "Did you see the way that mess landed on him while he couldn't do anything to stop it? Serves him right for trying to puke all over Gwendolyn – and in the pool. He must not even remember what those puking pastilles were originally invented to do."

"I thought that they were for things like that," Jonah admitted; and smiled when Lily shook her head.

"They were for kids to use to pretend they were sick so they could get out of classes at Hogwarts," she explained. "I'm sure they got slipped into food for other students for a laugh too; but I'm fairly sure that Uncle George didn't expect that kids would use them to puke on other people. I don't even think that's funny at all."

"Why am I suddenly getting a mental picture of Professor Binns teaching a lecture on the History of wheezes?" Gwendolyn asked; earning some laughs.

"That lecture might keep his students awake," Al offered. "I'm not sure that we had everyone stay awake through even one class all last year – including the final exam."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Since I was one of the students dozing off in a few of his classes; I'll guess that you're right about that."

Their conversation moved on; and they enjoyed the swim; and a bit more play time in the back yard before Gwenog stopped by to collect her kids and head home. Al and Lily didn't find out whether James was given any punishment for trying to mess with Al and Gwendolyn, but they were around for his confrontation with Harry once he got home from the Ministry of Magic. By then, he'd likely figured out that Al had won that little battle; but he went ahead with his rant and demands to have the book thrown at Al anyway. He was furious when their father sided with Al; and stormed off to his room after Harry finally got fed up, summoned his copy of the huge lawbook with all of the laws pertaining to underage use of magic, and dropped it into James' hands so that he could read it and then prove to the Head of the Aurors that he was wrong. As soon as James could do that; he'd promised to take the matter directly to the Minister of Magic and let him deal with Al personally.

James apparently attempted to do that for a while, because the next time he came out of his room a half-hour or so later; it was so that he could hurl the book down the stairs and bellow something unintelligble but obviously insulting and directed at Al. That round of teen drama had delayed dinner, but then that wasn't particularly pleasant for anyone in the room anyway. James took off on his bike after another big drama moment at the end of dinner that likely had more to do with getting out of the clean-up than anything else. Harry and Ginny let him go; and then had fun with Al and Lily as Al was drafted to do all of the work – and show off a few more of his seashell charms while Harry, Ginny, and Lily had after-dinner drinks and had a nice chat about their day at home or work. Harry eventually took his motorcycle out for a drive so that he could go and get James from Godric's Hollow; and they went out for a ride after that before returning home again for the night.

Having that play time with his father didn't noticeably improve James' mood – at least around Al; but that wasn't really a problem because Al and Lily had stayed outside most of the evening going swimming and playing Quidditch; and then Al wrapped up his night reading in his room and having a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. James' prank attempt and subsequent meltdown did lead to a couple of changes. The first was that Ginny drafted her 'wheezes' brothers to help out with James and put him to work at their World Cup booths; and the second was that James began to leave Al alone – as in he stopped insulting him at every opportunity. He didn't try to be best mates instead; but Al welcomed the apparent truce. Since that happened before James found out about his new part-time job helping out at wheezes booths on at least some Saturdays, James' change in attitude wasn't directly related to that, but whatever the reason; life at home and at the Burrow got easier on Thursday and Friday.

Spending the day at the Burrow with their cousins on Thursday was a lot better when the seven cousins could hang out together without any major tension moments. They worked together on the chores that Molly needed help with; played Quidditch; and even had a fun little trip into town for an afternoon ice cream snack break. Friday was one of the best days of the week because while Ginny needed to be in Greece for the day; Harry took the day off and played with his kids all day. They went for motorcycle rides; swam; played Quidditch; and went into town to pick up groceries and supplies that included way too many snacks and treats and not enough 'real' food. They wrapped up the day with a barbeque dinner that they ate at a table in the back yard; followed by an evening of more swimming and Quidditch until Ginny got home and they went inside to either relax and chat or head for bed early.

While Harry and Ginny were both working on Saturday, and Ginny took James along with her so that she could then leave him with George for the day; Al and Lily found out one of the really great advantages to being left at home – and on their own with their grandparents – they could watch any or all of the Quidditch World Cup matches that were going on all over the world. There were matches happening already before they'd even woken up for games being played in the Far East; and the matches continued until late into the night on Saturday for the matches being played in North and South America. That didn't keep them from playing too; but they did have one or two portable mirrors with them – even when they were out flying airplanes and helicopters after they got their morning chores done.

France's match against Ireland was in Russia, and started earlier than England's match in Greece, but with the time changes; they also both started in the morning. That meant that they watched their favorite teams while finishing up their chores; having lunch; and playing all afternoon. Ireland kept a lead over France all the way to the end of their match, and Gabrielle had as tough a Seeker duel with Erin Connelly as always; but she also once again proved that she was the slightly better player. France needed her to get that catch because Ireland was winning the match-ups against her team mates; and the three-sixty to three-hundred score was a bit too close for comfort for France as they came that close to losing and being knocked out of the competition.

That turned out to be the exact same problem in England's game – except it was Portugal that was in trouble as England slowly built up a big lead that took them more than four hours – and that Oliver Wood helped his Chasers with thanks to an outstanding Keeper performance. The difference between the two results, though, was that Portugal's Seeker took a desperate shot at catching the snitch when his team was down by one-forty – and missed spectacularly. Aaron was quite happy to make the easy catch not long after his adversary's crash; and England won by a score of three-fifty to sixty.

Ginny and James tayed in Greece for quite a while on Saturday, but the time change helped them too; so they weren't too late getting home – though they were both tired out by then. Harry, Al, and Lily were tired too; but that had as much to do with their play time all evening as it was because of the work or chores from earlier in the day. Ginny was able to be home for most of Sunday while Harry was at work, but she had a lot of research work to do all day too once she found out that England would be up against Mexico in the third round and that France had drawn Argentina. That was two teams she wasn't familiar with; so she had a lot to learn before being able to write about the match-ups with any level of competence. While that meant that James, Al, and Lily had to entertain themselves for most of the day; Sunday was a pretty good day because they also were able to make some fun plans for the coming week.

That part of the fun for their day began at breakfast when James talked to Harry and Ginny about the plans that he and Ollie wanted to make for doing Quidditch workouts together. All of Victoire's Gryffindor team mates were sure that Belinda would be their next Captain, and while Dominique and Louis hadn't been available to practice during the first week of summer; she'd set up practices for the senior team starting on the first Tuesday in July. James told his parents because he and Ollie weren't sure which of them would be Captain; that they wanted to do practices at Ollie's house too – which was where Belinda was doing her workouts. He got tentative approval for that pending parental confirmation on both sides; but then he nearly lost it when he had to admit that Al, Rose, and Ray were not going to be invited there too. Al was sure that James didn't appreciate his help with that; but it was Al's suggestion that he'd rather set something else up with Lily and some of their friends and cousins anyway that allowed James to get away with his little plan.

Getting their own Quidditch play day set up for Tuesday kept Al and Lily busy for a while; but then they did that while swimming and playing in the back yard too. Since breakfast ended up being a bit of a planning session anyway, Al had asked about a amusement park trip too; and that became a confirmed part of the fun for the week by the end of the day too – though not all invitations had even been extended yet. For Al and Lily, what was most-important to them was that they had a Quidditch play date set up for Tuesday; Gwendolyn and Jonah were spending the night with them; and then they were going to spend a day at Harry's favorite Muggle amusement park on Wednesday while he and Ginny both took the day off to do that with them. Add in the dinner on Monday night that Ginny set up with Teddy and Victoire so that they could see them for the first time since they got engaged; and the first half of their week was looking amazing!

After getting to go to Greece on Saturday while Al and Lily were left at home, and then getting pretty much everything he wanted on Sunday too; James was a fairly happy camper on Monday. Al was happy about that, since it also meant that James continued to leave him alone; and that made spending the day with their cousins and grandmother a lot more fun for everyone. James was still his normal self as far as his confidence and swagger; so the one thing that was very noticeable between him and Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne was his version of their travel stories from the weekend. Being put in charge of the booth he was working at with George for five or ten minutes while his uncle went to check out how things were going at the other booth, according to James, was the same as practically running the booth by himself all day and single-handedly making a success of it. Since they were there too, James' boasting had Fred and Roxanne looking at James in a new light; but they didn't risk messing things up with him by offering a reality check for him. The World Cup stories from Rose and Hugo were more fun – and more believable; and Al and Lily weren't surprised to find out that their four cousins were all already becoming bored with the all-day work that went along with the traveling and camping.

The work and play time at the Burrow didn't change much for the seven cousins – and likely wouldn't all summer. Al and Rose spent extra time together doing their own thing, and this time; that included having a long talk about what James and Ollie were doing by excluding them – and Ray – from the practices they wanted to do all summer; and the fun they planned on having with their cousins and friends instead. They also spent a bit of time planning for their day at the amusement park on Wednesday – and deciding which favorite rides they wanted to make sure that they shared with Gwendolyn and Jonah. Some rain in the afternoon meant playing indoors for a couple of hours too; but then the fun level climbed a few notches again once James, Al, and Lily got home with Ginny and they were soon joined there by Harry, Teddy, and Victoire.

"Congratulations!" Ginny told Teddy and Victoire as she took turns hugging each of them. "We are so happy for you. I can't believe it's already been more than a week now and we're just getting to see you now. Did you have a great holiday?"

Victoire and Teddy both laughed. "Considering the way it started for me; I'll say it's been a best-ever-so-far for me," Victoire answered first; and then smiled at Teddy.

"She said yes; and the rest has been a really amazing blur of fun since then."

"Except for getting back to work today, of course," Harry added. "I think that Teddy needed more breaks during our morning workout today than he normally needs in a month."

"You likely should just have me do nothing but workouts all day for the rest of the week. I ate way too much while we were away – not that I'll be taking it easy with dinner tonight; since whatever we're having smells great!"

"We can make up for that later with some Quidditch and maybe a swim," Victoire told him; glancing out the back window. "We really should help Uncle George out with that experiment. Rose and Hugo told us that they're great when we saw them on the weekend in russia."

"Funny – they told us that they didn't see you at all because you were too busy snogging each other senseless at both games," James told them as he came into the kitchen. "Congratulations on..."

"James," Ginny warned; but James pretended to ignore her while adding "...on your engagement."

"Thank-you, James," Teddy said sincerely. James couldn't totally hide how he was really feeling about it; but at least he seemed to truly be making an effort to be civil. "The pool is great so far – even if it was Lily's idea; but won't you get enough Quidditch at Ollie's house tomorrow?"

"I won't be there," Victoire advised him. "Belinda needs to make the senior Gryffindor team hers now – just as you'll need to do the same wth the junior team if you're named Captain."

"Ollie could get the job instead if they don't want to make another member of our family Captain again next season," James offered; though it was clear to everyone that he believed that he'd be the new Captain – and deserved the job over his best mate.

"You would be the first Potter with the job in quite a while, though," Teddy pointed out. "If you do get the job, though; try not to get into as much trouble as your Dad did when he was Gryffindor's Captain."

"That'd be nice," Harry agreed with a laugh. "Fortunately for us; your mother was there to save the season for the team. It's a wonder I was ever put in charge of anything ever again."

"As you're so fond of saying – nobody else was crazy-enough to take the jobs," Ginny told him. "There's a chilled bottle of wine ready if you'd like to get drinks poured. Dinner will be ready in about a half-hour; so you've even got time for a walk around the yard if you don't want to stay cooped up in the kitchen until then."

Harry, Teddy, and James ended up going outside while Victoire stayed in and talked with Ginny and Lily. Al went outside too; but didn't wander around with the other guys. He instead got the Quidditch set out and ready to go; and then quietly gave the pool a quick cleaning after his father, Teddy, and James had moved on from checking it out and talking about it. From there, he went back inside; helped Lily with setting the dining room table; and then went to get washed up before they all sat down to eat.

"Okay," Ginny said enthusiastically once everyone had pretty much finished filling their plates; "let's hear all about your holiday and Gabrielle's matches from your perspective."

"I doubt there's anything we could add about those matches that hasn't already been reported in the news," Victoire told her. "Unless her team mates start playing a lot better; it's fairly clear that winning their matches is going to be up to Aunt Gabrielle."

"France is a bit light on scoring power," Ginny agreed. "Their Keeper is pretty good too; but you're going to give up goals no matter how good you are if the Chaser defense gives up a lot of chances."

"That'll put a lot of pressure on Gabrielle," Harry suggested, "but if she ends up with some shorter games because of that; it could make a big difference if France makes it into the last few rounds. Any teams playing really long games every weekend are going to wear out."

"Gwenog's worried about having most of her Harpies' players too worn out for the start of next season," Ginny advised them – "especially if France and England could both make it to the Championship match. That isn't a very likely possibility; but only because they're more likely to end up playing each other in an earlier match. There would need to be a lot of upset wins to change that."

"I might not be feeling well to even say this; but can we hear about the rest of Teddy and Victoire's trip instead of talking Quidditch?" Lily asked. "We're all keeping up with the Quidditch World Cup all of the time; and I'd like to hear about their visit to Romania and everything else they did in Africa, Europe, and Russia."

"We went on a safari in Africa; took a detour to see the pyramids in Egypt; played with our aunt, uncle, cousins, and some dragons in Romania; and spent an amazing day at the beach on the Black Sea between the Quidditch matches," Teddy summarized with a grin. "Shall we get back to the quidditch now?"

"Victoire had more details for us about your proposal," Lily advised him. "Did you get chased by any lions, tigers, or dragons? Did Uncle Bill have to deal with any Mummy curses while you were in Egypt? Did Victoire need to go shopping for the perfect swimsuit for that day at the beach?"

Lily's quick-fire round of questions turned their dinner conversation in the direction she wanted it to go; and Teddy and Victoire took turns answering her questions. In addition to their travels; Harry, Ginny, and the kids found out that they had a tentative date for the wedding picked out too – the last weekend of June – June twenty-ninth, twenty-nineteen. Teddy had tried for the twenty-second so it'd be on the anniversary of their engagement; but the girls in the loop for making that decision vetoed trying to do a wedding the day after some of the bridesmaids and groomsmen would be getting home from Hogwarts. They were still going to have time for a honeymoon before the start of Harpies' training camp, though; so he was good with the slight compromise.

They didn't have a big, fancy meal, so even with dessert and the clean-up; they still had lots of evening left for playing Quidditch and swimming. They didn't have enough players for two teams, but they did have a scrimmage match with Harry and Ginny playing Chaser against Victoire and Teddy while Al played Keeper at one end; and James and Lily had a Seeker duel that James won four-to-one. Harry and Ginny won their duel too; but only because they spent a bit less time having fun with their Caser partner than Teddy and Victoire did – to the ongoing nausea for James that supposedly led to Lily's one and only catch. The Qudditch was first; and then they all went for a long swim in the pool. Finally, since it was a work night for Harry and Teddy; they wrapped up their night with a little snack break before Teddy went home with Victoire – which was quite a detour along the way to his own flat in Diagon Alley.

Al headed up to his room not long after they left, and he was ready to just relax; read for a while; and end his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. Having two days of fun ahead of them had a lot to do with why Al and Gwendolyn both went to sleep fairly early for a summer holiday night; but that did have them ready for the two days they were getting to spend together on Tuesday and Wednesday. For Al, not only was he fully-charged by morning and having a great start to his day; but that got even better when James was up early too – and off to Ollie's house before Gwendolyn and Jonah arrived. Despite James' recent change to what was near-normal for him before Al had started at Hogwarts; there was no way to know anymore what might set him off into a rage. That wasn't a problem when he wasn't around at all; and Al wasn't the only kid in the house to be happy that he wasn't there for their play day.

Gwendolyn and Jonah were at the house first. Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne all came over together from the store in London; and Ray and Melissa were last – getting there by a bit after nin o'clock. Al had sent an invitation along with James for Kathryn to join them too while James was there with Ollie, but they didn't hear back from her; and he had no idea whether James even delivered the invitation – or whether Kathryn had wanted to stay home with her sisters to watch the senior team practice instead. They didn't have two full teams for Quidditch, but they did have ten kids that included two Seekers and two Keepers; so they were able to put together a decent scrimmage match. After talking it over, what they ended up doing for the two teams was to have Al and Gwendolyn play Chaser in front of Hugo; Ray, Melissa, and Roxanne played Chaser for Rose; Fred played Beater against all of them; and Lily had her Seeker duel against Jonah on Rose's team while he played for Hugo, Al, and Gwendolyn.

They'd finished getting ready to play and had done a quick warm-up too by the time they were ready to see how well-matched the two teams would be; and then Roxanne got the game started by tossing the quaffle in the air for the other four Chasers to go after; and then she joined Ray and Melissa as they went on defense against Al and Gwendolyn. They played to a best-of-five snitch catches; and that took a bit more than two hours because Lily and Jonah had a brilliantly fun, tough duel that went down to the fifth and final catch before Jonah won the day – something that happened rarely-enough that Lily couldn't even pretend to be mad at him over the loss. Jonah had been on the winning team for the day too; though his extra points hadn't mattered much for the final score. Al and Gwendolyn might have been playing with one fewer Chaser; but they were just so good together as a duo that they still out-shot and out-scored Ray, Melissa, and Roxanne. Ginny had drinks and snacks ready for them when they landed; but she didn't stay for the post-game recap because she was working all morning on new articles and the research she was doing for the upcoming World Cup matches.

"I am so glad that James and Ollie didn't want to play Quidditch with you this summer!" Gwendolyn told Al, Rose, and Ray enthusiastically after they were all sitting on or in front of one of the benches next to the pitch.

"They should've wanted the competition from us," Rose said with a shake of her head. "We know that they both have talent, but they're not going to get to be as good as they could be by playing against the best competition they can find."

"Do you even know who they did invite?" Ray asked them. "Ollie didn't say a word to me – not that he's talked to me at all yet this summer. Uncle Oliver has been too busy to do anything with our family so far – which seems weird; since this is usually the time of the summer when he can do that before training camp opens. I didn't even know that James and Ollie were going to have team practices until Al called and invited me to do this instead."

"They're not having team practices," Al reminded him with a smile. "That wouldn't be fair to all of the other candidates wanting to try out in September."

Rose laughed. "Right, and I'm sure they're just going to play Seeker and Chaser against themselves all summer."

"They'll have Brock there with them for sure," Al pointed out. "Maybe they're going to practice with Louis, Tiberius, and a few others against Belinda and her team."

"Depending on who Belinda invites to play Seeker for her team this summer; that could be an ego boost for James," Gwendolyn offered; "but not so hot for Ollie against Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy."

"Speaking of competition, are you going to have practices with your Ravenclaw team?" Rose asked Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn smiled apologetically at Al before answering. "Landon's already asked me about doing that a half-dozen times; but none of the other guys have tried to put anything together yet; and I'm not interested in doing Chaser duels with Landon while his brother pounds bludgers at us."

"Or doesn't if Brandon just happens to conveniently need to be somewhere else during those practices," Ray suggested with a sly grin for Al that just had his friend laughing.

"That's not going to work for me," he advised Ray before turning his attention to Gwendolyn. "If Mark, Seth, and Brandon don't want to step up and take over from Pauline and Peter; then maybe you should do it – if you want to have practices with your team this summer."

"Even if that means inviting Landon to play Quidditch with me?" she teased; and Al laughed again.

"Well, we could see about doing that here or somewhere else and Rose, Ray, and I could put together a team to play against you - just for the competition; not so that I can keep an eye on Landon."

"Of course not," Ray scoffed with a snort. "That does sound like fun, though. We've more than enough players for a team right now – even if Gwendolyn plays for her team instead."

"James would hate the idea," Rose pointed out. "To him, we'd be conspiring with the enemy or helping to train the next Ravenclaw team."

"I'd like to have fun this summer," al countered. "Mum won't want to have a big gang of kids over here every week; but she'd take one or two practices if the trade-off was some kid-free days during other weeks. I like the idea a lot."

"It was your idea," Gwendolyn reminded him with a smile. "You wouldn't have suggested it if you hated it."

"He might have done that anyway to keep an eye on Landon if you do end up having practices with Ravenclaw anyway," Ray offered – "and because it'll bug James."

"Everything I do bugs James these days," Al pointed out; "and I'm not worried about Gwendolyn and Landon – even though I wish he'd get a clue."

"Getting back to your idea; where else could we have those practices if not here?" Rose asked seriously. "Grandma might let us have one at the Burrow; but I doubt that Mum and Dad will let us have a practice at our house."

"Our house would be out for that too," Ray said first. "We don't have the room for a match like you do here."

"We've got the room at my house," Gwendolyn said; "and I'll ask Dad about it; since he'd be the one stuck with us for at least a morning or afternoon. Landon might hate the idea, but they have room too; and Brandon would probably like having a team to play against. Their biggest problem might be whether their parents would want a gang at their house on a weekday while they're at work – unless we have some over-age support to help with kid control and the boring little details for Quidditch like Muggle-repelling charms. We'd need to come up with two more players for our team too."

"You've already got Jonah for a Seeker," Lily reminded her; "and we'll lend Hugo to your team too if you don't have a Keeper in mind."

"We'll be lucky if he's in our House when you guys start at Hogwarts in a year."

"I'm going to be Gryffindor like Mum and Dad," Hugo declared quickly; and then grinned at Rose. "Hopefully Rose won't be team captain that year so that I'll be able to win the junior team Keeper job over her in my first year fair and square."

"She could do a tryout for that job too – just as Victoire did for Seeker last year," Lily suggested; grinning too.

"Victoire wanted to play Chaser," Rose reminded her. "She won and lost that Seeker duel; and the comparison would only be fair if I tried out at Chaser – which I might actually think about doing if I didn't think that we had three really great Chasers."

"Would you do that too, Al?" Gwendolyn asked; and laughed at the expression on his face.

"Don't get scared, but I'd probably have every spot on the team open – including mine. If I'm not good enough to earn a spot on the team; then I'm not good enough to be team Captain either."

"Being the best player doesn't make you a good Captain either," Rose pointed out; and Al nodded his agreement.

"True, and the best players don't always play well on a team; but my point here is about being fair – and I do think that I could win in this theoretical tryout – except maybe if I tried out for Seeker against Lily. That one might be a problem for me."

"Might?" Lily challenged. "Grab your broom and let's find out about that right now!"

Al laughed. "Thanks for the offer; but I'm ready to go for a swim and cool off instead."

"Chicken," Lily taunted; complete with some clucking and wing flapping.

"Jonah won today in your duel. I do not want to be your next opponent, sis. Maybe he'll accept a re-match this afternoon if we have another scrimmage later."

"I should quit while I'm ahead – but won't," Jonah said; grinning at Lily and earning an enthusiastic hug for his answer.

"All you'd need is for Landon to have a younger sister of appropriate age; and you'd be a matched set with them," Ray teased; grinning at Lily and Jonah.

"I'm guessing that you've heard that they have a little sister," Gwendolyn told him with a laugh. "Alyssa's the same age as Jonah and Lily; and yes; Jonah and Alyssa have played together before when we've seen them either through the Harpies for their Mum or through the musical side of the Graves family. Do all three of them a favor and forget about making jokes about it with them."

"You're asking a lot for that one," Ray told her half-seriously.

"That warning was as much for you as to be nice to them," Gwendolyn advised him. "Do you really want to tease Lily and Alyssa? One of them has a mother with a famous bat-bogey hex talent; and the other is the daughter of a professional Quidditch Beater."

"I'll give you that one," Ray conceded, "but if you think they're so dangerous; shouldn't you be warning Jonah instead of me?"

"Danger is his middle name," she joked. "Seriously, though, I think that Lily and Alyssa are both awesome; and Jonah could do a lot worse in picking a future girlfriend."

"Do you think that Al and Landon are both awesome too?" Ray asked; jumping on her comment; and earning a round of laughs.

"Landon is a great guy," Gwendolyn agreed easily; "but he also isn't the Wizard for me – just as you aren't; and I think you're a great guy too."

"I'm crushed." Now Ray was shooting for a pose of hurt and disappointment that he failed at; while getting a few more laughs for his effort.

"You're not, and I'm ready to go for a swim now; so let's go and do that. We can still talk while we float around in the pool."

That worked for all of them; and they played in the water until Ginny called them to the picnic lunch she set out for them on a patio table. They sat on blankets next to the pool to eat; helped with the clean-up; and then split the rest of their afternoon between playing in the pool and having fun on their brooms. Gwendolyn and Jonah were the only kids left at the house by the time Harry got home for dinner; and Harry and Ginny both really enjoyed having that meal with just the four kids. When James came home with Ollie so that his best mate would be there too for their early start to the day for their amusement park adventure; they actually surprised everyone by being on their best behavior all evening – and joining in on the back yard play time that included more Quidditch and swimming with Harry and Ginny. Going to bed early was optional, but while they were warned about the early departure time; James and Ollie still stayed up late playing mirror games and Muggle video games while everyone else went to bed.

The main reason for getting up early was because they were driving to the amusement park near London instead of using the Floo Network to London and then taking Muggle transit. Ron and Hermione were doing the same thing with their kids – and they had Fred and Roxanne with them too. Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Ollie also found out that their day in the Muggle world was full-immersion; and included picking up a fast food breakfast before getting on the highway and heading toward London instead of eating at home first. They mostly found the drive time boring by comparison to travel in the Wizarding World; but then James, Al, and Lily did still have their Muggle travel toys along – including two portable game systems and two iPads that helped to keep all of the kids and teens entertained. Ginny and Hermione kept in touch during the trip; and they were able to get to the amusement park within ten minutes of each other – and even park close to each other too.

Getting into the park took a little while by the time they got through tht queue – even with Hermione getitng their tickets through the Muggle internet in advance. Once they were in the park, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione set the kids up in pairs or trios that needed to stay together – with each group of kids getting one Muggle cell phone so that they could keep in touch with them instead of through the mirrors that they hadn't even been allowed to bring along with them. James and Ollie took off right away, and although Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Fred expected to spend parts of the day doing their own thing too; they stayed with the parents, Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and Roxanne at first so that they could all go on a few rides together. First up was one of the best rollercoasters in the park, and not only were the newbies in their group thrilled by the action; but they were more than a little shocked to find out that Hermione was a thrill ride enthusiast.

"Who is that Witch; and what did you do with your Mum?" Gwendolyn asked Rose as they began the walk along the exit chute with Al and Fred closest to them. "I've never even seen her on a broom let alone playing Quidditch; yet she loved that ride as much as we did."

Rose looked around them and saw that Gwendolyn's comments had earned the attention of several Muggle teens; and then smiled when they all looked away and she knew that one of the parents had just helped the kids to forget what they'd heard. She leaned close to Gwendolyn and Al and whispered – "Don't forget to be careful about what you say around here. Muggle mothers get called much worse than a Witch by some teens and kids; but the rest would just sound crazy to them." She looked over her shoulder at the four parents following all eight kids; and could guess that it had been Harry taking care of the Muggle memory wipe. "You can thank Al's Dad later for making those kids forget what they heard."

"That's going to take some getting used to," Gwendolyn admitted apologetically. "Maybe we'd better stay with your parents for a while longer so that we don't have any problems."

"If you think that's tough; imagine what it's like for some of our classmates," Al suggested. "They can't even talk about what they did at school all year with their friends and most of their family while they're home."

"I can't really imagine what that's like," Gwendolyn admitted; "but it must be nice to visit places like this and not feel like you're in an alternate universe."

"It's funny that we didn't really think about it being like that for our newer friends from school that didn't grow up the way we did," Rose offered. "Then again, have any of us spent much time with them anywhere other than at school? I've never seen Romeo, Dave, or any of the others at any of our favorite stores or restaurants in London."

Gwendolyn laughed. "You're really good at that. How do you handle talking about our favorite sport or school? Oh, and no, I haven't met up with any of our new friends in London or elsewhere either."

"Usually, we don't talk about school or sports at all," Rose answered seriously, "and we've got way too many fun things to do today to be talking about stuff like that anyway."

They didn't talk about Hogwarts or Quidditch, but they did have lots of time to talk – particularly while waiting in the line-ups for all of the rides. There weren't any types of rides that Gwendolyn and Jonah didn't love as much as their friends; and they tried as many of the rides as they could fit into the day. The rollercoasters were at the top of their collective favorites list, but they loved all of the other thrill rides – including the wild water rides that usually left you soaked. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Fred ended up spending nearly half the day with the parents and younger kids; but that included everyone when they got together for lunch; and while they did most of the water play fun that helped to keep them all cool in the afternoon. While doing some exploring on their own was great too, and Al felt the need to do that as part of his promised date with Gwendolyn; being on their own didn't really make much of a difference for going on most of the rides since they were in pairs for most of them anyway.

Their play day wasn't quite over when the park closed. After rounding up James and Ollie, which took a while because they were among the last park visitors to leave; they drove to a Muggle restaurant that wasn't far from the park and had dinner there before splitting up for the drive home. James and Ollie were on some kind of fun overload by then, so they weren't a lot of fun to be around for Al and Gwendolyn as they cracked jokes at their expense most of the way home, but then Ollie was soon on his way to his own housewhile Kirley and Gwenog came over for a short visit before taking Gwendolyn and Jonah home with them. Al ended his day by going for a short swim with Lily; and then they both went to bed while their parents stayed up late and did some work before turning in too.

Compared to Tuesday and Wednesday, the rest of the work week was fairly quiet for Al and Lily. That wasn't the same for James because he was recruited to help George and Ron with getting stock ready for their World Cup booths on the weekend; and then they all left for America or Mexico by mid-afternoon on Friday so they'd be at the two stadiums and campgrounds in the morning local time to get the booths set up for the weekend. When they left with Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne too; Al and Lily were left behind at the Burrow until Harry was finished work for the day after spending most of Thursday and Friday hanging out with their cousins and either helping out around the Burrow or playing with them.

With the England and France matches in the Americas on Saturday, everyone interested in watching the games at home had most of the day open to them because both matches didn't even start until after dinner home time. That meant that Al and Lily were put to work doing chores and yard work around home for quite a bit of the day on Saturday; partly because they needed to do the extra work that Ginny and James weren't there to help with that they'd normally do when they were home. There was time for a couple of cool-down swims too; and they all went out for the grocery shopping run; but the real play time didn't start until they sat down to watch the Quidditch matches after eating an easy-dinner out in the back yard.

England's game was actually not very exciting for any Quidditch fans that liked to see a lot of scoring – because there wasn't any until the very end of the game when Aaron caught the snitch to give England the one-fifty to naught win in just under two hours. Oliver and his counterpart on the team from Mexico were both too much for any of the Chasers, and while it had still taken that long for Aaron to out-duel his Seeker rival; that extra time had really had more to do with the Beaters on both teams – theirs for helping to block Aaron from catches; and his team mates for slowing down the Mexican Seeker with a couple of fairly serious bludger hits.

Gabrielle's match was more exciting, and they were able to watch most of it too thanks to the time change to where their match was being played in Mexico. Argentina had one of the top-ranked teams too; and they proved that by out-playing France at every position except Seeker. That wasn't by a lot, since Argentina only had an eighty point lead when Gabrielle did eventually catch the snitch for the come-from-behind win; but they still definitely had the slight edge at Keeper, Chaser, and Beater as they put together a very impressive team effort. Still, that wasn't enough to make it through to the next round; and Gabrielle really began proving to the world that there was a reason she was considered one of the best Seekers in the world.

Ginny and James stayed in America on Saturday night at the campground instead of coming home; so Harry, Al, and Lily were on their own for the night – and for breakfast and the morning on Sunday too. That decision had entirely been about the time change; and not wanting to get home and wake everyone in the wee hours of Sunday morning; though getting to stay and celebrate with their team – or work the campground wheezes booth – was fun too. Al and Lily didn't mind getting to have that extra time with their father; and then they still got to spend the rest of the day with Ginny once she and James got home – and because she was ready to take a break before getting started on her work for the next Quidditch World Cup round. Taking the afternoon off to lay out by the pool; wim now and then with Harry and the kids; and enjoy some quiet chat time made for a pretty good afternoon; watching anything other than Quidditch on the mirror network after dinner was nice too, and while their kids didn't want to know the details; Harry and Ginny ended their weekend by making some rather brilliant and intimate memories after going to bed for the night.

By Monday, Al was really missing Gwendolyn a lot, so spending the day at the Burrow was just a way to get from Sunday to Tuesday – and their next Quidditch play day. He did still have fun with Lily and their cousins, and kept up with the latest Quidditch World Cup news; but Gwendolyn was never out of his thoughts regardless of what he was doing. Ginny was especially busy on Monday because England had drawn China in the fourth round; France was going to be up against Australia; and the games were being played in India for England and the Philippines for France. The extra work was because she was going to leave for India on Thursday with the team so that they'd have an extra day to deal with the time change issues; and she was only working part of the day on Tuesday because it was Harry and Ginny's nineteenth anniversary. It was because of that anniversary that Al was busy on Tuesday morning helping out with a birthday breakfast celebration and having fun with that instead of just pacing the floor waiting for Gwendolyn and Jonah to arrive. He and Lily had helped their father with cooking dinner; and even James made it down to the kitchen in time to join them for the meal. There were only a few gifts and envelopes set out on the table between Harry and Ginny; and James wanted them to open the card from him first.

"There'd better not be a Howler hiding inside," Ginny warned him; earning a giggle from Lily.

"No Howler," James agreed even as Ginny pulled the card from the envelope. "You all laughed over Lily's birthday Howler, though; so I don't see why you wouldn't love getting one too."

"We laughed because that was better than getting mad at you for sending your sister such a horrid gift," Harry told him. "Your mother seems amused without being mad; so I'll guess you've done better today."

Ginny handed him the card and then leaned over to hug James. "He's giving us two nights and three days without him around," she said; mostly for the benefit of Al and Lily. "Has that gift been approved by Ollie's parents?"

"Yes," James assured her. "We'll be camping in their back yard and staying out of his parents' way as much as possible. If Uncle George is going to India early too like the team is; then I could go along and help him – so that nobody else has to take me there on Friday or come back for me."

"Last I heard yesterday, he's planning on going there very early Friday morning; but we'll decide that later in the week," Ginny told him. "Thank-you for the card and gift – even though I'll guess that's more for you than for us."

"When you check on that with Ollie's Mum, could you see if Kathryn wants to come here for the day with us?" Lily asked Ginny. "If she can play Quidditch with us; we'll have six Chasers this week for our practice."

"You guys should've canceled your practice today and given Mum a break too," James told Al and Lily. "I don't even know why Al, Rose, and Ray even bother at all. If they can't keep up with a bunch of kids on Fireflies; they won't have a chance with keeping up with Ollie, Brock, and me in September."

"I'm happy to have your cousins, and Al's and Lily's friends over here for a day," Ginny told James. "I've also watched them play; and you'd be lucky to have any of them on your team next year – including Lily, Hugo, and all of the younger kids. They're all better players than your father and I were at their ages."

Harry laughed. "That isn't fair for me – I'd never even heard of Quidditch before I started at Hogwarts – and I did make the team the same day I flew a broom for the first time."

"Okay, we'll give you that one," Ginny conceded; laughing too. "I don't want to get into this with you, James; but I do wish that you'd quit insulting Al, Rose, and their friends about their Quidditch playing – especially when they are all at least as talented as you are."

"Without the big, fat ego," Lily murmered; and then smiled sweetly at James. "Oops – did I say that out loud?"

"Yes," James assured her; smiling too; "and I don't think there's anything wrong with being self-confident anymore than you do, Ms-Future-Harpies-Quidditch-Star-Seeker."

Lily laughed. "I wasn't including myself for that; but then I also don't think that I'll be the only future Quidditch star in the league – even if I will be the only kid in our little family to be a future Harpies superstar."

"Well, if you do make it to the show some day; I'll be there to make sure that the Harpies wish they'd made an exception and hired me instead."

"Let's not get into a fight," Harry suggested. "I have to get to work soon; and your mother would rather spend that time opening the rest of the gifts."

"Yes, I would," Ginny agreed; picking up the gift from Lily and opening the card.

While Lily and Al didn't manage to come up with gifts as awesome and creative as moving away from home for a few days; Ginny and Harry did like their gifts too – a summer-weight, but still cuddly sweater in Ginny's size but meant for both of them; a new chick flick movie to have a reason for the cuddling; and an assortment of sweets and treats so they'd have snacks for the movie night. Harry really did need to hurry off to work once they'd finished eating, but while James went to pack before leaving for Ollie's house; Al and Lily took care of the clean-up while Ginny was set free to do whatever she wanted. Al used his charmed seashells as much as possible; so that work didn't really take very long; and then they even had time to get a load of laundry started before Gwendolyn and Jonah arrived. Rose and Hugo got there too before James left; Ginny went along with him long-enough to bring Kathryn back with her; and then Fred, Roxanne, Ray, and Melissa were dropped off just minutes later.

While Ginny received a few best wishes and cards for her anniversary, and had a longer visit with Trish after Ray and Melissa went outside with the rest of the kids; the rest of the morning was all about playing Quidditch, swimming, and having fun for Al, Lily, their cousins, and friends. For Al and Gwendolyn, that fun had started out with a long reunion hug and kiss; and continued with a lot of hand-holding and staying close together after being apart for five days. They weren't off in their own little world because they did have nine other kids around them; but that just added to the fun as they all got ready to play their first scrimmage match of the day.

"I'm glad that you invited me, Lily," Kathryn told her as they sat on one of the benches with Melissa and Jonah; and were busy putting on their pads and helmets. "It was great being at home for Belinda and Olivia's practice; but no fun at all to be around James, Ollie, and the rest of their friends."

"Who else was there?" Lily asked. "James didn't tell us anything – except that Brock was practicing with them."

"They've mostly invited other guys in their year – except they also invited Cyndia Finnegan." The last part of that was said with a note of disgust.

"Why do you say it that way?" Lily asked. "Is Cyndia a really bad Quidditch player?"

"She's okay, though I'm better; and they wouldn't let me play too. What really bugs me is that I overheard James and Ollie talking; and they only invited her for an in with Lacey. Most of the guys invited at least one Witch to either come and play or to sit around and moon over them for their awesomeness." She shook her head. "I can't believe that any of them are impressed at all – especially with your brother or mine."

"I could tell you," Gwendolyn offered with a smile; "but then I'd only mean that to apply to one of Lily's brothers."

"Which one?" Rose teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"the one I'm still holding hands with because we've missed each other so much. If you like the idea of inviting some guy friends over so they can moon over you; we could talk about which boys you'd like us to invite later."

"No thanks," Rose said firmly, "and getting back to what Kathryn was talking about; I'm glad she's here today. We'll love having the challenge; and James and Ollie are even more the idiots for not wanting the competition. How's our senior team looking so far?" she asked Kathryn. "We haven't even seen Dominique and Lucy play since we got home from school. They've been too busy with holidays and summer jobs to hang out with us."

"Belinda's hoping for a surprise at tryouts in September for a new Seeker; but don't spread that around. Brandon Starkey is decent-enough, but he isn't nearly as good as Victoire; and she's worried that the other teams will have the advantage."

"I'd agree with that for Ravenclaw if Pauline makes the team," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod; "and Alex might be the best next season for Hufflepuff."

"That's what Belinda and Olivia thing too," Kathryn said; and then smiled at Gwendolyn. "They're worried about you for the Quidditch Cup race too."

"I won't be playing against them next season."

"No, but you will be playing against Gryffindor's junior team; and they weren't happy with what they've seen from James, Ollie, and their mates last week."

"The Quidditch Cup race could be very interesting next season," Gwendolyn suggested; "but I really think that it's going to be the year after that'll really be fun – especially if Ravenclaw gets most of your little group of Quidditch overachievers."

"Rose, Ray, and I are hoping that we get most of them," Al countered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Would you like to tell us which of Lily's friends or cousins you don't want to have?" she challenged; and Al laughed too.

"Well, for one, we don't want two of the best firstie Seekers that year; and we won't want too many Chasers that might put Ray and me off the team – even if Rose would love to have three or four Witches on her team."

"That would be fun," Rose agreed – "as long as Hugo didn't beat me out for the Keeper job during those tryouts."

"Al did say 'your team'," Llily reminded her. 'Maybe he's predicting that you'll be Captain; so that won't be a problem."

"More likely he's been listening to James; and doesn't want to be Captain after the brilliant season he's going to have as Captain this year,"Rose offered; earning some laughs. "Maybe you should put your name in for the job early. I don't think any firsties have been named Captain since the junior teams were set up."

"That's a brilliant idea!" Lily said enthusiastically. "you guys wouldn't mind?"

"It wouldn't be a change for me – I do what you tell me to around here already," Al teased. "If everyone's nearly ready, though; let's get up there playing instead of just talking Quidditch."

"Don't you want to pick teams?" Ray asked. "I'll go first if you want; and pick Gwendolyn for my team."

Al sighed. "I hate that idea, but if that's the way you want it today; then I vote for Lily to be our other Captain. Let's find out how good she'll be at the job."

"Yes!" Lily agreed enthusiastically. "I pick Rose. Now what do you do, Ray?"

"Wish I'd kept my mouth shut; and then pick Kathryn now that I've botched the whole joke anyway."

"Then I guess we get Al, Melissa, and Roxanne," Lily said happily. "You get Hugo and Jonah – unless you really wanted to pick someone else for Seeker or Keeper."

Ray laughed. "Darn – I could've still picked Al and had him play Seeker against you. Why didn't I think of that first?"

"Let's just not answer that one for you," Lily offered. "Fred, can you get us started before you start bashing bludgers at us, please?"

"Sure," he agreed with a nod and smile. "Thanks for finally letting me get a word in – just as we're ready to play."

They were all ready to play by then, so Fred got the game started; and they were all off and flying. While Al and Gwendolyn loved playing together and creating their own unique form of Quidditch magic, it was still fun competing against each other too; and they had a blast as they spent a couple of hours having a rather brilliant Chaser duel. While Al had two younger Chasers for partners, that was fairly off-set with the advantage of having Rose for their Keeper; so the team match-ups were very good. The match was close, but Al won his duel with Gwendolyn by three goals, and while Ray made up for two of them against his sister; Lily won the Seeker duel with Jonah to seal the narrow win for their team. Winning their duel earned Al a punch from Gwendolyn after they all landed that she followed up with a hug and kiss for him, but they were all smiling; and nobody actually cared about who won or lost anyway – it had been the fun that had mattered most.

Swimming, playing in the yard, and more Quidditch in the afternoon all helped to make for a really great day, and while that wasn't exactly anniversary celebration kind of fun for Ginny; her husband and two remaining kids had a surprise that they didn't spring on her until after all of the kids except for Gwendolyn and Jonah left for the day and Harry came home a bit earlier than usual from work. The four remaining kids had been swimming in the pool when Harry got home, but they got out of the pool and went inside – after giving him a bit of time to 'properly' do an anniversary-worthy welcome home with Ginny. She got her first hint of the surprise when Al and Lily returned from getting changed out of their swimsuits and they each had an overnight bag packed and ready to go.

"Going somewhere?" she asked them; and laughed as Harry and the kids all grinned at her.

"We're going home with Gwendolyn and Jonah," Lily advised her. "I'm sure that you'll appreciate the sacrifice Al's making for you and Dad by spending an extra day with Gwendolyn; and Jonah and I will manage to have fun too while we're at their place."

"Just in case you get bored; take this along with you," Harry told them; handing a small pouch to her.

"What is it?" Lily asked as she took it.

"The portable pool. Let's find out how portable it is for your Uncle George."

"I didn't even notice it wasn't out there anymore," Ginny told him with another laugh. "How did you manage that when I wasn't looking?"

"The kids don't want to hear the answer for that," Harry joked. "We've got dinner reservations, though, so if you'll say goodbye to the kids and go get ready for our night out; I'll get Kirley to help me with taking the kids over to their house."

That plan worked for Ginny, and since Kirley had already been given the heads up before Harry had gotten home; he was ready to pop over and then he and Harry took two kids each and used the Floo Network to move them between homes. Harry didn't stay long after that, since he needed to get ready for his anniversary celebration too; and then he left Al and Lily in Kirley's capable hands and apparated home again. Gwendolyn and Jonah led Al and Lily to the guest rooms they'd be using for the night, and while that wasn't a first for them; it was still something that was different compared to home – having guest rooms to stay in instead of doing sleepovers in their own rooms or camping in the back yard. Once they'd dropped off their bags, Lily had Kirley help them set up the portable pool; and then he was happy to have a little chat with George about how that had worked out for them while the four kids got changed and went for another swim.

"How did you know to pack swimsuits?" Gwendolyn asked Al and Lily as they floated around in the sparkling, warm water. "You'd already packed your bags before your Dad gave you the pool to bring along."

"Al told me I'd need mine," Lily answered first; and then looked at Al. "Did Dad tell you; or was it just another one of those feelings you get?"

"I had a feeling that we'd need them. We could have just added them to our bags before we left; so it wasn't a big deal."

"Sure – no big deal that you know stuff before it happens," Lily teased.

"You have that happen sometimes too," Al pointed out; and Lily nodded and shrugged.

"Yes, but I don't think that happens for me the same way it does for you. I sometimes wish that it did; though I'd miss the fun surprises that you wouldn't have if you knew about them ahead of time."

"I still get surprised," Al assured her with a smile. "Just because I thought we'd need swimsuits doesn't mean that finding out that Dad was sending the pool along wasn't a surprise – or we could have needed them for an entirely different reason that would have been just as surprising to me."

"Would you be surprised if I suggested that we toss around a fanged Frisbee and see how tough that is to do while swimming instead of talking about stuff that should be saved for Divination class?"

"No, and that sounds like fun; but we probably shouldn't do it. I don't know what would happen to the portable pool if the fangs cut into the sides or bottom."

"That's a good question to ask Uncle George," Lily told them. "I doubt he's ever had that issue with anyone trying to use fanged Frisbees with the swamps."

While they decided against testing the pool out with a fanged Frisbee, they did get a beach ball and toss it around for a while. When Gwenog got home, they got out of the pool and had fun chatting with her and Kirley through until after they'd finished having dinner and cleaning up. They followed that up with some Quidditch and a late evening swim; and then moved indoors for a bit of music play time. Once Kirley and Gwendolyn were set up with guitars; he had a fun little surprise for them – a draft of the new song that Heather Barbary and some of the other Weird Kids on the Block had written based on the little chorus that Al and Gwendolyn had done with her after their battle with the Slytherins in the stadium. Heather's father had sent it to Kirley to get his opinion on it and to offer suggestions to polish it into what they hoped would be a hit; so he played and sang it for Al and Gwendolyn before asking them to work on it with him.

"The chorus is exactly what we were goofing around with at school," Gwendolyn advised her father. "I like the idea they've got for making the verses personal for each band member; but they're a bit of a mess." She started plucking away at her guitar; and re-wrote the first line on the fly to demonstrate what she meant.

"I'm that kid singing my music; to an audience of none," she sang softly; and then smiled when Al jumped in with the next line.

"While my guitar playing used to send my parents on the run," he continued; and then let Gwendolyn take the next line.

"So I know how it feels; to cry myself to sleep."

"You use to tell me I was horrid; that I couldn't keep a beat," Al sang next; earning laughs from everyone else as he and Gwendolyn continued to sing as if they were doing an old favorite instead of something they were making up as they went along.

"You always laughed at how I dressed," Gwendolyn sang; and then Al was grinning as he added – "and those wheezes weren't a treat" to complete the rhyme.

They then harmonized, and kept Heather's lyrics for the lead-in to the chorus. "You don't have to be my friend; but is it too much to ask – Don't mess with us; Don't fire that curse; Don't try a jinx; Or something worse; In Merlin's name; We'll kick your aaa- butts; So don't go there; Unless you're nuts; Don't mess with us!"

Gwenog, Lily, and Jonah were having fun too; but Kirley looked as though he'd won musician of the year and the Quidditch World Cup on the same day as he began playing a guitar harmony to go along with the melody that Gwendolyn continued to play while inviting Al to take a shot at re-writing the start of the next verse.

"I used to blow up every potion; All my classmates laughed at me; Those pranks and insults really hurt; though I could never make you see."

"Is it really bad at all; That I'm different from you?" Gwendolyn added; and then kept going as Al joined in. They must have been thinking the exact same thing as they adjusted the lyrics they'd been working with exactly the same way while adding a harmony that hadn't been there in Kirley's version. "We're those kids you love to pick on; Call us names like git and freak; Next time you try; You'll find that we won't turn the other cheek." Al and Gwendolyn both laughed softly at coming up with that same rhyme; and then they once again kept the last line that Heather had already written. "Cause with our friends and fans around; We're gonna stand our ground; Don't mess with us!"

From there, they went off the music altogether as Gwendolyn began to ad lib an instrumental bridge; and they she was laughing too as Al added in some more lyrics to go along with her msic.

"I'm Muggle-born, half-blood, or more; I don't get why you're keeping score."

"Don't mess with us; Don't fire that curse; Don't try a jinx; Or something worse; In Merlin's name; We'll kick your aaa- butts; So don't go there; Unless you're nuts; Don't mess with us!" After singing that round of the chorus; Gwendolyn played a key change; but then stopped playing her guitar as she and Al sang the chorus again A Capella. "Don't mess with us; Don't fire that curse; Don't try a jinx; Or something worse; In Merlin's name; We'll kick your aaa- butts; So don't go there; Unless you're nuts; Don't mess with us!"

There was a round of applause to go with the laughter as Gwendolyn rather enthusiastically hugged and kissed Al once they'd finished singing; and then she was smiling brilliantly at her father.

"What do you think?"

"I think that the two of you should record it," Kirley told them seriously. "That was brilliant – and you took that song from having some potential to being a sure hit."

"We don't want to go into music,' Gwendolyn reminded him gently; "and those lyrics only work with the Weird Kids on the Block – though I have no idea which one of them used to blow up all of their potions at school."

Kirley looked down at a sheet of parchment that had been part of the package of sheet music. "Looks like that line was for Don Tremlett," he told them with a laugh. "I could see that. His Dad wasn't good at Potions either. You re-wrote that entire song in one shot, and while it will work for the Weird Kids; I still think you'd be a huge hit if you'd just try recording some songs as a duo and going for it."

"Cute rhyme; still not gonna happen, Dad," Gwendolyn tol dhim. "Feel free to ask us to play with other songs for you, though. That was a lot of fun!"

"Martin and Meghan will likely think so too if they end that song with hugs and kisses every time too," Gwenog joked. "Your father better stop doing stuff like this with you, though; or I might start thinking he's right about how great you'd be doing music together – if only until you're done school and are ready to come and play for the Harpies."

"You'd only feel that way until you saw that I wasn't getting good enough to play for the Harpies after putting all of my time into music instead," Gwendolyn predicted. "Do you see any of the Weird Kids on the Block playing professional Quidditch too?"

"They didn't want to do that," Kirley protested; and then groaned when Gwendolyn grinned at him triumphantly.

"Thanks for making my point for me," she said before getting up and going over to hug him. "I'm really glad that you've taught us to love music, and that Jonah and I both inherited some talent for it; but Quidditch is going to be what I want to do when I grow up."

Kirley sighed. "Sucks for me; but your mother, aunt, and grandmother all love that."

"Yes, we do," Gwenog agreed, "but I love your music too; so let's hear something else – from all of you."

"Don't you want to sing with us?" Lily asked; and Gwenog laughed.

"No – and you wouldn't want that either if I tried."

They did play music for another three-quarters of an hour or so, but then Gwenog needed to head for bed so that she'd be ready for another busy day getting the National team ready for their match against China; and Kirley went along with her. The four kids stayed up for a while and watched a couple of shows on the mirror network; they had a nice long bedtime snack and chat time after that; and then Lily and Jonah left Al and Gwendolyn alone in the sitting room so that they could end their night with a minor snogging session before they eventually went off to their seperate rooms when it was time to get some sleep.

Now that he'd been away from home and at school for most of the past ten months, Al didn't find it as strange to start his day at Gwendolyn's house as he had always found his rare sleepovers to be even a year ago; but then there was a lot to like about staying with the McCormacks – like the good morning hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn that didn't include any razzing from James. Breakfast with Kirley and Gwenog was very entertaining; and then Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah pretty much had the rest of the day to just have fun and play while Gwenog was away at work and Kirley watched over them and worked from home. They played Quidditch, went swimming, and Gwendolyn did a guitar lesson with Al after lunch when they just wanted to take it easy for a while. They were all put to work a few times too; and they were helping out with making dinner when Harry got there after work; and Gwenog and Ginny joined them not long after he arrived so that they could all have dinner together.

With Quidditch, a kid-rated anniversary recap, and play day and work reports to share; they had a lot to talk about when they did sit down to eat. That was as much fun for the parents as it was for the kids; though Gwendolyn probably enjoyed it most because she loved getting teased by Ginny about everything from her duets with Al that Kirley was so happy to tell Harry and Ginny about to the frequent hugs and kisses she shared with Al that were apparently scaring at least one of her parents. Al thought that was at least a little unfair, but he didn't make an issue of it; since he really didn't want or need to know what his parents were up to while celebrating their anniversary during all of the hours that they spent alone but didn't have anything to talk about while giving their recap to their kids and friends.

Kirley's talk about their music did require Al and Gwendolyn to do an encore performance of the new song that Kirley had already presented to the Weird Kids on the Block that morning; but the best part of their evening was the family swim that they all joined in for as one last blast of fun before Harry and Ginny took their kids home for the night early-enough that Gwenog and Ginny could both get some sleep before they'd need to be up before dawn and head for India with the National team. After a couple of brilliant play days with their friends; Al and Lily didn't have a problem with turning in early too; and then that also had the bonus of being able to get enough sleep and still see Ginny off on her trip in the morning.

With Ginny in India, Al and Lily were at the Burrow during the day on Thursday and Friday. There were two bonuses that came along with that part of the kid-care plans for the end of the week. The first of those was that James wasn't with them. Instead of being returned home, he spent most of Thursday helping George with getting ready for the wheezes booth he was running in India; and then they left for India in the afternoon so that they could haul everything there during the day instead of doing it before dawn home time on Friday. That made for a pretty good work and play day around the Burrow with Rose and Hugo – and with Fred and Roxanne while they were there too before heading to India with their father and James. The second bonus was that Gwendolyn and Jonah spent the day with them at the Burrow on Friday after they were dropped off by Kirley when he left for the weekend to help out with the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids on the Block concerts that they were doing at two more of the Quidditch World Cup venues on Friday and Saturday night. Harry had offered to take the kids for the weekend when setting up the anniversary surprise for Ginny; and Al and Gwendolyn were especially happy to have three bonus days together.

While their play day at the Burrow on Friday was fun – and more fun than it might have been if Al and Lily had been their on their own while Rose and Hugo were away for the weekend too; it was game day on Saturday that every Quidditch fan in the Wizarding World was looking forward to most. There were only going to be eight teams left standing in the battle for the championship by the end of the day, and because their two favorite teams were playing in India and the Philippines; the game-watching fun started early for Harry and the four kids he had with him on Saturday morning. That was very early on Saturday too – as in Harry started cooking breakfast as the game started because there was an eight hour time difference between England and the island in the Philippines where the match between France and Australia was being played. All four kids were up and in the kitchen with him by then too; and they were all fired up despite the early hour.

"I read that the island they're on for this game is for Wizards and Witches only," Lily said as they half-watched the end of the pre-game ceremony. "It's protected from Muggles just like Diagon Alley or Hogwarts is here – except that it's the entire island that's hidden from them."

"The Muggles might notice if we tried to do that with our island," Harry joked. "If the island isn't much bigger than Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, then that might not be that tough to do – and maybe even fairly easy if there aren't any nearby islands that are inhabited by Muggles."

"If they don't let any Muggles see the place; I wonder what they do for Muggle-born Witches and Wizards?" Al mused. "That could be tough on families."

"I'm sure they have their own way of dealing with things like that," Harry said with a shrug. "You could ask your Aunt Hermione about it. She's more familiar with how other Wizarding World governments work for things like that than I am." He smiled and shrugged again. "When I get together with Aurors from other countries; we have more fun trading stories about how we deal with the bad guys. Talking about boring stuff like the differences between laws and rules just isn't very entertaining at all."

"You do talk with them about training too," Al reminded him. "Half of your Auror workout now is stuff you learned from other Aurors – especially the martial arts training."

"That's true," Harry agreed; "though it took quite a while to convince my Aurors that I was right about that." He nodded toward the medium-size mirror network mirror on the wall. "Game's about to start. Any predictions?"

"France with the easy win," Lily said confidently; and then laughed. "Seriously. Hasn't anyone else noticed the vapid look on the face of the Australian Seeker? I'll guess that he's never played Quidditch against a Veela before – and maybe never even met one before today."

"Maybe it's an act," Jonah offered. "It's possible that he's just trying to get your Aunt Gabrielle to underestimate him."

"If that's an act; he should be in theatre instead," Lily said with a shake of her head and another laugh. "I've seen that look way too many times with Aunt Fleur, Aunt Gabrielle, Victoire, and Dominique not to recognize it. Grandma Apolline still has that happen to her; though I'll concede that she's also the youngest-looking grandmother I've ever seen."

It wasn't long before Lily was proven right about the Australian Seeker, and while he managed to do fairly-well when he didn't look directly at Gabrielle; she'd noticed the advantage she had over him; and went out of her way to make eye contact with him; smile brillaintly all of the time; and turn the poor guy into a drooling, incapacitated imbecile every time he looked directly at her. The only reason that the game lasted more than ten minutes was because the Austrailian team Beaters managed to slow Gabrielle a bit and keep her from catching the snitch even when their own Seeker was left far behind her as he flew around looking dazed and dazzled while watching her instead of battling against her. For the first time during their run so far in the Quidditch World Cup, France even managed to earn an eighty to twenty lead by the time Gabrielle did end the match in under two hours; though that was also mostly because of how distracted most of the Australian players were because of the problems with their Seeker.

"That was nice of your Aunt Gabrielle to wrap that match up before our team even starts playing today," Gwendolyn told Al and Lily as they watched Gabrielle celebrating with her team mates in the air above the pitch. "France might have the easiest win of the day for this round."

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Do you want to watch this post-game show; or switch over to the pre-game show for the England-China match?"

"Let's switch – and go outside," Al offered first. "We've got some time until that game starts; and I want to get some of my chores out of the way while I can instead of leaving them all until after the game."

"That doesn't sound like fun at all," Lily protested. "Maybe we should have kept James here this weekend and sent you off to India instead."

"We could try that next weekend and you can let me know how that works out for you," Harry offered; and Lily laughed.

"I'd rather have you send me with Mum for a weekend away if we're going to change things up – especially if she's going somewhere as awesome as India next weekend."

"There are only four matches next weekend," Jonah reminded her. "Do we know where they're being held already?"

"China, Australia, Poland, and Canada," Harry advised them. "I got the memo on that last week in case England wins again and we need to send some Aurors or Hit Wizards to help out with security at the match."

"I didn't even know that we did that," Jonah admitted; and Harry nodded.

"We do when asked for the help. Not every country needs us to do that; though I don't have any problems getting volunteers to help out when they do make those requests."

They talked about that and other Quidditch World Cup topics as they switched to the pregame show for the England-China match and then took the game-watching show outdoors. Harry took the medium-size mirror from the kitchen and set it up on a table near the portable pool. There wasn't a lot of time to work before the start of the game, but Harry had four helpers, and with a bit of magical help – including from Al's seashells and Gwendolyn's charm bracelet; they still managed to get quite a bit done before sitting down again to watch the game – or do that while swimming in the pool.

England came out with all of their players fired up and playing brilliantly. Oliver Wood was at the top of the list for that with all of the players; and he stopped everything that the Chasers on the China team could throw at him while his Chasers managed to score a couple of quick, early goals. It was soon obvious that the Seeker duel was going to be a tough one for Aaron – espeicially when he barely held off his Chinese counterpart during early attempts to catch the snitch. The pace of the match was furious during the first hour, but then both teams settled in at a still-fast, but less-frenetic pace as the heat of the day in India began to grind on them.

As the game rolled through the second and third hours, the only difference between China and England was that Oliver was slowly winning the Keeper duel. He didn't even give up his first goal until near the end of that third hour while Dawn, Jonathan, and Jeremy scored six goals. The long hours of non-stop action and the extreme summer heat began to drain all of the players as the match dragged into the fourth hour; and that's when mistakes began to happen on both sides. Fortunately for England; those mistakes happend with their opponents more often that with them; and they continued to build their lead with excruciating slowness. The Seeker battle raged on, and Aaron even managed to start getting a few chances of his own; but he was still defending more than going on offense.

Harry and the kids had been watching Quidditch for a long time as the match rolled into the fifth hour – including the first match of the day. By then, they needed to take more breaks to do anything else; while still trying to make sure that they didn't miss anything important. That wasnt' really possible; but there was always someone close-enough to the mirror to let everyone else know about any goals scored – or to call them over to check out a particularly good replay. The match was becoming draining on the fans watching it as the seventh hour rolled along; but it was also starting to look better and better for England too. Two quick goals by Dawn and Jeremy gave their team a one-ninety to seventy lead as they made a push toward earning a one-sixty lead. The Chinese Chasers appeared to be out of gas compared to Dawn, Jonathan, and Jeremy; and those goals had their fans getting very excited.

That's why it was such a shock when the game came to an abrupt, unhappy end.

"No!" Lily shouted at the same time that Jonah yelled – "He caught it!"

"That doesn't sound good for us," Al said quietly to Gwendolyn as they both turned toward the pool and where Lily and Jonah were now hanging from the end closest to the table with the mirror network mirror.

"Maybe Lily's mad that we didn't get the one-sixty lead first?" Gwendolyn tried joking; and Al laughed.

"If that had been you or me, I might buy that; but she's a Seeker. They root for their fellow Seekers to make the catches for the win every time."

"That's true," she agreed with a nod. "The good news for me is that Mum's done with the world travel except for going to the championship match. The bad is that our team is out; and she'll just switch to Harpies' training camp a few weeks earlier than she'd hoped."

"I wish I could say that for my Mum; but she'll likely just be assigned to follow Aunt Gabrielle's team."

"That's better than having to write about China's team for however long they stay in the running."

"Which could be to the end now; since they just proved that they can beat one of the best teams in the world."

"They did; though there's a good chance that it's the heat that was the biggest difference today. I feel bad for our team, but if you're going to go out of the Quidditch World Cup; a nearly seven-hour battle is a pretty good way for that to happen – especially when you were in the lead the entire time."

"I doubt that Aaron will feel that way about it," Lily offered. Al and Gwendolyn had made it over to the pool as she'd said that; and Lily smiled up at them. "You missed a great catch, guys. Aaron was totally sucked in by a funny-looking fake; he had to dodge a bludger right after that; and then it was too late to get into the play."

"That's too bad for Aaron," Harry said; "but it was a great move by China's Seeker – and perfect timing for that bludger hit too. Pulling that off that late in a match is brilliant."

"Only if our team does it," Lily disagreed with a smile. "When the bad guys do it; we're supposed to come up with some other names for it."

"China's players aren't the bad guys," Al told her. "I'd say they played with as much honor as they're famed for – unlike a few teams I could name in our league."

"Fine, they're not bad guys – but I'm still not going to cheer for them next week," Lily declared. "Speaking of that, let's see how some of the other games are going. I don't really want to watch the post-game show for this match. That'll likely just make me cry for our favorite National team players – and manager."

Before doing that, Lily did let Harry, Al, and Gwendolyn catch a replay of the game-ending snitch catch; but then Lily was really the only person in their group that was still interested in avidly watching any of the other games that continued on the mirror network until the early hours of Sunday morning. She did get talked into a Seeker duel with Jonah while Al and Gwendolyn had a Chaser duel before dinner; and they all did a lot of swimming both before and after dinner while mixing all of that in with another hour and a half or so of chore time that was now really needed because Harry and Ginny were going to host a family picnic on Sunday afternoon that would include some of their friends from the National team and reserve squad now that they didn't need to immediately start getting ready for the next round matches.

The time change to India would have allowed Ginny to come home on Saturday night, but after talking with Harry about it; she decided to stay there with James for another night and come home in time for the picnic on Sunday. That was partly so that James could stay and help with the campground wheezes booth; but also so that she could mostly relax for the rest of the night and not have to worry about doing any work at home after three very long, busy work days. Harry missed her a lot, but he had fun with Al, Lily, and their friends; and they did have the bonus of going to bed early instead of staying up late to watch the last of the Quidditch matches – even if a reunion with Ginny would have been more fun than sleeping alone was for him.

Al and Gwendolyn did end their Saturday night with some quality cuddle time in the sitting room after being left there alone once Harry, Lily, and Jonah had been ready to call it a night. That was a great way to end their evening – even if they were as disappointed as their National team and every other fan that their Quidditch World Cup run was over. They definitely weren't thinking about the fact that the Quidditch World Cup competition was now more than half-done or that they were wrapping up their third week of summer holidays already. They did still have seven more weeks left to September first; three more weeks of Quidditch World Cup fun to look forward to; the start of the Quidditch League season after that; and Merlin only knew what other holiday fun and adventures that were still ahead for them. If the first three weeks were any indication; the rest of their summer was sure to be brilliant – starting with a major family picnic event that was less than a half-day away by the time Al and Gwendolyn did finally say goodnight and go up to bed.


	11. Quidditch World Cup Summer - Part Two

**Chapter Eleven – Quidditch World Cup Summer Part Two**

Harry was up early on Sunday morning; he cooked breakfast for five; and after feeding his work crew and cleaning up; they all got busy with getting the house and yard ready for a family and friends picnic that was still morphing into a major event as more people were invited and agreed to join in on the fun. That was going to include a bit more than half of the Weasley clan; the McCormacks; the Campbells; and a couple of dozen expected drop-in visitors that wanted to be there but had other commitments too. Ginny and James got home shortly before eleven o'clock – just ahead of their first guests; and Ginny brought the top Quidditch and family news tories of the day with her.

"Aunt Angelina and Aunt Alicia have officially retired?" Lily asked after hearing the news; and then grinned at Ginny. "Were they worried about keeping their jobs with Victoire joining the team?"

"No, but they have joked about that," Ginny answered. "They've decided to go out with the championship and give the younger kids a chance to play. Mostly, I think that they've finally gotten tired of all of the work that they need to do to keep up with the younger players."

"Half of the younger players would likely say that they're tired out from trying to keep up with them," Al offered. "If Aunt Angelina is going to take some time off now, maybe you could work a bit less this year too; and then you could both have some play time with Lily and Roxanne before they'll be off to Hogwarts."

"I love that idea," Lily assured him enthusiastically. "We should definitely talk about that sometime soon, Mum."

"We'll see," Ginny said without any hint of a promise; and then she smiled at Gwendolyn. "You aren't surprised. Did you overhear something about this at home? I've tried to be careful around here."

"I didn't hear anything," Gwendolyn assured her; "but I did see some paperwork that Mum left out on her desk a couple of weeks ago. She doesn't even know that I found out early."

"There wasn't anything on the mirror network about it yesterday. Was this going to be a big story for tomorrow that got leaked somehow?" Al asked; and Ginny nodded.

"That was the plan. Nobody asked the right questions after the game yesterday, but one of the reporters hanging out at the campground early this morning asked Angelina a question that she couldn't answer vaguely-enough without being a lie; so she admitted that she wouldn't be at the Harpies' training camp because she was retiring. After that; Gwenog just went ahead and made a semi-official statement since we were hanging out together at the time anyway. They'll still do the full team announcements tomorrow."

Hearing about that news was great, and they did talk about it for a little while longer, but there was still work to be done; and the first guests began arriving too – most of them bearing contributions for the picnic. George and Ron brought two more portable pools that they set up in the back yard to have lots of swimming space available; and that was news too because those pools were also the first-generation portable pools that they were going to start selling in their stores on Monday. There weren't going to be a lot of them available at first, and they weren't going to be cheap either; but George was sure they'd likely have backorders for them at least until the end of summer. Al and Gwendolyn continued to help out with the work with short breaks for visits with her parents; his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins; and some of their friends as they each arrived. Harry had other support for the work too; and he eventually fired Al and Gwendolyn when they were still about an hour away from having their picnic and barbeque lunch.

After that, it was all play and fun for them. Swimming and Quidditch were a big part of that, but, for a change; Al also got to spend some time with his older cousins – including Victoire and Teddy. He and Gwendolyn got to hear about Victoire's pre-season work with the Harpies that had all been on the marketing and product preparations that went along with the job; and they also got to hear about how the Gryffindor senior team was doing so far with getting ready for their next season from Dominique and Louis. Going from being team Captain last year to back-up Keeper on the senior team was taking Louis a while to get used to, and he was sick of hearing James and Ollie razz him about it; but then he was willing to admit to Al and Gwendolyn that he was learning a lot from Belinda. Teddy couldn't talk much about what he was doing at work, and Al wasn't all that interested in hearing the latest wedding news; but Gwendolyn had fun talking about that with Victoire, Dominique, Rose, and some of the other girls.

They just did the one big meal in the early afternoon, and while a lot of people stayed until well into the evening; most of the food options for the rest of the day were leftovers and snacks with the barbeques available for an hour or so to grill-your-own-food – though younger kids needed help with that from a couple of designated parents. There was far too much going on around the yard for anyone to keep up with, but then the goal had simply been to have a really fun day with family and friends after weeks of being too busy to do anything together; and that mission was definitely accomplished by everyone there by the time the party wrapped up at dusk – or sooner for anyone that needed to be home for things like team curfews.

Gwendolyn needed to go home early with her parents and brother, but after getting to spend three days together; she and Al were happy campers when it came time for the goodbye hugs and kisses – especially since they'd be seeing each other on Monday and Tuesday anyway. Once the McCormacks left, Al drafted himself to help with the rest of the work that needed to be done as things were slowly packed up and the yard and house were cleaned up – help that his parents appreciated as they also tried to spend a little time with each of their guests as they headed home in small groups. By the time the work was done about a half-hour after dark, Al was ready to call it a night; and went up to bed. He was sleeping not long after that; and was the first person in the house to get up in the morning – though he chose to pretend that he didn't know why his parents might have needed a bit more rest in the morning when he'd heard them head for bed early too.

"You're fired up this morning," Harry observed as he walked into the kitchen and saw that Al had breakfast half-cooked already; coffee was brewed; and the table was set for five. "Is that because of opening day for training camp; or because you'll get to spend some time with Gwendolyn?"

"I can hardly wait to find out if the Cannons are finally going to come up with the team to beat this season," Al joked.

"That'd be a nice change from being the team that everyone beats. Your mother hasn't heard anything new for their team; so they're probably not changing anything – not that they have many options when they're losing money every season. It's tough to recruit the best talent when they have the worst pay in the league – and I mean that for overall money; since they don't sell very much merchandise compared to the top teams."

"Then it's a good thing that we don't have that problem with our Harpies," Al said with a nod of agreement for Harry's comments. "The other teams might be thinking that our team won't be as good this season without Aunt Angelina and Aunt Alicia; but they're going to be wrong about that. I think we'll have a better team – especially since Aunt Gabrielle is going to love playing with Victoire."

"Are you making predictions?" Harry teased; and Al shrugged.

"I think that Victoire is going to get underestimated because none of the team scouts even saw her play Chaser last season; the part-Veela thing is going to be a factor; and Candice Starkey and Hailey Horton are going to be better with Victoire than anyone will expect."

"I didn't know that Hailey had that third Chaser job. What about Amber Flume? She played on some of Teddy's teams at Hogwarts too."

"I don't know that for sure; but I do remember that it was close last season between Hailey and Candice for getting that last team spot; and then there's the fun little side-story with Hailey being one of Teddy's former girlfriends. Having her play on the Chaser team with his fiancee should be entertaining for those of us that know about it."

Harry laughed. "I hadn't even thought about that," he admitted. "It's a good thing that Hailey's gotten over Teddy; or that could have been a really bad match-up."

"I'd say that would be more true for Teddy than Hailey and Victoire," Lily offered as she joined them in the kitchen. "If Teddy had still been dating Hailey now; Victoire would have turned him into a radish or something." She smiled at Harry as she hugged him. "I'd blame how dense Teddy was on you; but then we have heard that his father was incredibly thick when it came to Witches too."

"You guys could try something new and not blame the previous generations for your own choices," Harry suggested. "I get razzed when my kids do things the same way I did when I was young; and I still get teased if they don't – like with Al and Gwendolyn."

Lily laughed. "When have facts ever gotten in the way of that kind of thing with our family, Dad? We can drop that, though, and get back to talking about the Harpies. I think that Hailey has the third Chaser job too. She's better than Amber; though that's mostly because she wants to play in the show more than Amber does. She'll handle the pressure better too."

"Has Gwenog got you doing player assessments?" Harry asked; and Lily laughed again as she sat down on her usual chair at the table.

"No, but I do pay attention when Mom takes me along for her visits to the Harpies' training pitch; and Hailey was good-enough to play last year – if she hadn't been with one of the best teams in the league."

"Now that's something we don't know about yet," Al said thoughtfully. "Or at least I haven't heard anything about the reserve team for the Harpies this year. That's something that could make a difference this season if we have a weak reserve squad for our team to practice against."

His comment sent their little chat off on a tangent; and then they changed the subject when Ginny and James joined them – though Quidditch was still part of the breakfast conversation. Since Harry had to leave for work right after they ate, and Al had done most of the work getting the food ready; Ginny ordered James and Lily to help her with the clean-up. That didn't keep Al from helping her out anyway – he just used that time to straighten his room; haul dirty laundry downstairs; and get the first load in the washer. That earned him some razzing from James that he ignored; though that was also a welcomed kind of normal for them that was a lot easier to deal with than when James was having one of his teen drama meltdown moments.

They had lots of time before needing to be at the stadium for the opening day of training camp press conference and luncheon; but Ginny still needed to be there early; so James, Al, and Lily went along – and then had more time to just wander around the stadium while waiting for the show to start with the team introductions. James took off when he was able to meet up with Ollie; and Al and Lily stuck together – even when they did stop to talk with some of the friends they saw while wandering around until they were able to meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah about ten minutes before the team presentations began. They hadn't expected the player introductions to be all that exciting for them except for when Victoire was called out for the Harpies; but there were some surprises for Al and Gwendolyn – beginning with the introductions for the Falcons.

"New to our team this year; I am pleased to introduce the best new Beater duo in the league – Gregor and Theo Nott!"

"Say what?" Gwendolyn exclaimed quietly as everyone in the stadium watched the two brothers fly a lap above the pitch before landing on the stage. "I didn't know that anyone except Victoire had been recruited this year."

"I guess they must've impressed the Falcons during that game when they beat up on the senior Ravenclaw team," Al suggested. "That kind of cheating is just the kind of thing the Falcons like to see in their players."

"We'll see how well that works for them when they're up against the other top Beaters in the league," Gwendolyn suggested. Gregor and Theo had apparently been coached to try and look fierce and dangerous; though that didn't entirely work because it was obvious that they were very happy to be in the show now – and enjoyed the attention that came with their new jobs.

"I'm a bit surprised that Theo isn't going back to Hogwarts for his NEWT year," Al said; and Gwendolyn turned to look at him in surprise.

"I wasn't even thinking about that. Do you think that they got into even more trouble than we heard about? They were the only two over-age Wizards that were part of the ambush on us at the stadium."

Al shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll guess that this had more to do with money and the chance to play in the show."

By then, the Falcons' manager had moved on to the next introduction; and it wasn't too much longer before it was the Harpies' turn. Glynnis and Gwenog did their player introductions together, and while Victoire and Hailey earned a bit more attention than Gregor and Theo Nott had; it was Candice Starkey's introduction as team Captain that earned the most attention. Al and Gwendolyn both knew why she'd been picked over Gabrielle and the other, more-senior players; but that news had created a buzz among the reporters and spectators that weren't in the know on that decision – especially after Gabrielle was introduced in-absentia because she was busy training with her National team; and everyone knew she was also the team Captain for France.

"Maybe Mum should've just told everyone that Candice was the only player dumb enough to take the job," Gwendolyn joked to Al as the crowd was still buzzing with that news.

"That might have worked," Al agreed. "Most of them wouldn't likely believe that Candice got the job because she has a talent for it – and not just because a couple of her team mates didn't want the job."

"Can you blame them?" Lily asked seriously. "Aunt Gwenog set the bar really high for being Captain; and it's a lot of extra work."

"You'd take the job," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Lily laughed.

"True, but then i won't have to worry about that; because you'll be on the team before me – and your Mum will have a say in the matter when you get stuck with the job instead."

"Your Mums will both love that if Gwendolyn is team Captain some day and Lily is the Harpies' star Seeker – even if Gwendolyn doesn't want to be a Beater." That comment was from Kirley; and both girls smiled at him.

"That will be fun," Lily agreed; "though it's going to be a bit crowded on the team with all of the Chaser kids. I don't know what the other girls will do. It's so hard to be a Harpies fan if you're playing on one of the other teams."

"Especially during the games you play against them," Kirley agreed. "Don't you have that problem with too many Seekers?"

"If she isn't worried about taking the job from Gabrielle; I doubt that she's worried about any of the other kids," Jonah said; and then laughed. "It helps that some of us kids can't play for the Harpies even if we wanted to do that."

"You might have wanted to save the second part of that comment for another day," Al suggested. "I have a feeling that Lily's going to keep that in mind for your Seeker duel tomorrow."

Jonah shrugged and smiled at Lily. "That's okay. If I win that duel tomorrow; she won't be able to pretend that she wasn't trying her best."

"Keep that up and you'll be sorted into Gryffindor – and then get to be my back-up Seeker for seven years," Lily warned; earning a round of laughs.

Once the Harpies' introductions were done, their little group was mostly just interested in the players on the other teams that were either friends ro family. Al and Gwendolyn had one more surprise when Rachel Rosier was introduced as the new rookie Chaser for the Tutshill Tornadoes. That was partly because it felt strange to know the other Hogwarts rookies from watching them play at school; but Rachel was a surprise because it was unusual for members of one of the wealthiest pureblood elitist families to go into professional Quidditch. One thing that Al sensed that didn't surprise him was that Rachel wanted to play in the show because she still wanted to prove that she was better than Victoire. If that sense he got from watching her during her introduction wasn't enough; the glances she made toward where Victoire was sitting with her Harpies' team mates was a fairly obvious clue too. The Tornadoes did have a good team, so whatever happened with their rivalry; those matches were likely going to be very interesting!

That couldn't be said for the rest of the team introductions, though they did enjoy watching Jeremy and Aaron with the Wasps as that part of the event wrapped up. Picking up some toys and gifts was fun too, and in addition to getting several of Victoire's new action figures, her posters, and a few other team toys and souvenirs; Al couldn't resist getting the action figures for the three former Slytherin players too. Every good toy collection did need some bad guys for the heroes to win the day over, and while Rachel didn't exactly look like your typical arch-nemesis; Gregor and Theo definitely fit the bill perfectly.

Kirley kept the four kids with him during the meet and greet luncheon, but they didn't spend any time with the Harpies. They did get to visit with a few members of the Prides, and Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan made a point of visiting with them too; but Ginny was busy working; and James spent all of his time with Ollie – and both boys were more interested in flirting with some of the girls their age than in talking with any of the players or managers. They did eventually meet up with Molly and Arthur after lunch, since they'd been there to see their grand-daughtter in her first official appearance with her new team, but instead of going home with them as originally planned; Molly, Arthur, and Kirley instead decided to take all of the kids – including James and Ollie – back to Harry and Ginny's house so that the kids could go swimming and play Quidditch for the afternoon while Ginny was busy for the rest of the day with her work. That was easier to do because Molly didn't have any of the other cousins for the day; and it also saved Harry and Ginny a bit of extra travel time when they did eventually finish work.

The play afternoon at home also led to another dinner that Harry and Ginny hosted with the McCormacks but that Molly and Arthur took care of putting together with some help from some of the kids. Since all of that meant getting to spend nearly the entire day together, Al and Gwendolyn were happy to do whatever it took for that to happen. They also both loved getting to hear all about the rest of the training afternoon for the Harpies from Gwenog and Ginny – especially since Gwenog wanted Ginny's feedback on what she'd seen while watching the light afternoon workout. Gwenog was fairly happy, so that was a good sign for Harpies fans everywhere; and while Ginny had some suggestions for her; she was excited about their team too – even though she was admittedly biased; and they didn't practice with their star Seeker.

Gwenog had work to do at home after dinner, so the McCormacks headed out not long after they finished eating, but Molly and Arthur stayed for a visit before heading home too. James ended up going home with Ollie for a sleepover since he was going to be there on Tuesday anyway; so Al and Lily got to spend the rest of the evening with their parents – which included going for a swim before heading into the house for the night. Ginny was working every day of the work week while training camps were on to keep up with both the league and Quidditch World Cup action, and she and Harry both did some work after that, but they worked in the sitting room and were still able to have fun with Al and Lily – and watch a mirror network sports show that kept them entertained – even if they thought that the sports experts on the show were clueless as they tried their very best to analyze the league teams based solely on what they'd seen during the morning introductions and luncheon.

With Ginny working all week, and even though that had been a last-minute change that hadn't been made until after England was out of the running for the Quidditch World Cup; Gwendolyn made sure that they could still have their Tuesday Quidditch workout. She got her father to agree to host it at their house; and then she also invited four of her Ravenclaw team mates to join them for the morning workout. Al and Lily were both happy with that plan; and they were fired up and ready to go when Ginny took them over to the McCormack's house Tuesday morning on her way to work. They were the first kids to arrive, and Gwendolyn was still getting things set up for the morning; so Al joined in to help her outside while Lily and Jonah kept Kirley company in the kitchen while he took care of the breakfast clean-up and getting snacks and drinks ready for the kids to have later after their workout.

The next half-hour or so was entertaining, but a bit strange too as the rest of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor kids arrived – along with some of the younger siblings and cousins that had been invited to come along to either hang out with them or join in for the practice. Rose and Ray brought Hugo and Melissa with them; Angelina dropped off Fred and Roxanne; Brandon and Landon Graves were sent using the Floo Network; and brought their younger sister, Alyssa, along. Renee came with her brother, Seth Bradley, so that she could hang out with Gwendolyn; and Mark Goldstein brought his younger sister, Jillian, with him after Gwendolyn assured him that there would be quite a few kids her age at her house for the day.

While not all of the kids and teens were there for Quidditch, most of them were; and they ended up having more than two teams worth of Chasers. The Ravenclaw team ended up with Jonah at Seeker, Hugo for Keeper, Brandon and Seth at Beater, and Gwendolyn, Landon, and Mark playing Chaser with back-up help from Alyssa. Al had Ray and Melissa for his Chaser partners, Rose for their Keeper, Lily at Seeker, and Fred was their lone Beater. Roxanne and Jillian were the extra Chasers for the Gryffindor team; and all three of the 'extra' players were given some air time during the scrimmage match. Gwendolyn had everyone do a full warm-up and training workout first that took about an hour; and then they started the scrimmage match – and played for another two hours before Jonah won the best-of-five duel with Lily three catches to her two.

"Nice catch!" Lily complimented him enthusiastically as she caught up to him and they began flying toward the pitch – along with everyone else.

"Thanks, but why are you saying it like that?" he asked suspiciously; earning a laugh from Lily.

"Because Al scored the last two goals, if you weren't keeping track, so you win our duel; but my team won the match – by ten points."

"Is that true?" Jonah asked Gwendolyn as they landed next to where she and Al were already on the ground – and happily sharing a hug and kiss.

"Is what true?" Gwendolyn countered; smiling at Al. "I was distracted; and must've missed something there."

"Did Lily's team win?" Jonah prompted; and Gwendolyn laughed after thinking about that for a moment.

"Yes, but I was having so much fun; who cares?"

"I do,' Lily assured her. "I don't like losing. It's probably something I inherited from Mum and Dad."

"Probably," Gwendolyn agreed, "but in this case; I'd say that we all won. This was our best workout of the summer so far; and we should definitely do it again soon."

"That sounds like fun – unless by soon you mean this afternoon," Seth told her. "I seriously need to get out on my broom more often between now and September. You've gotten even faster than you were back in April and May, and if I don't get with the program; I'll be lucky to make the team again this year."

"You'll be okay," Brandon predicted. "We've never been as fast as Gwendolyn – and I wouldn't be faster than Alyssa if she wasn't using a Firefly." He grinned at his little sister. "I'm so glad that I'll be on the Senior team by the time she starts at Hogwarts next year. It'd just be embarrassing to be the third-best player in our family – let alone whatever that would put me at for the Ravenclaw team."

"Beaters don't need to be the fastest," Gwendolyn told them, "but if you want something to worry about; I don't know whether you should hope that Fred ends up in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. What would you prefer – competing against him for a spot on our team; or playing against him in our match next year with Gryffindor?"

"That's a no-win for us," Seth decided. "I can't even suggest that we might be okay if he ends up in Hufflepuff; since they're likely going to have another really great team too. We were hoping for an easier go of it this season with just one McClaggen brother on Gryffindor; but it's fairly obvious we won't be that lucky. Has there ever been a Weasley that didn't end up in Gryffindor?"

"Not that we've heard of," Fred admitted easily. "Maybe one of our ancestors put a charm on the sorting hat or something."

"Maybe," Rose agreed. "When you think about it; that really shouldn't happen when we have so many cousins – even if there aren't any of our extended cousins our age."

"As if you don't have enough first cousins without adding in the rest," Landon told her; and Rose laughed.

"That's not a surprise when our Weasley parents had six siblings. We have two more cousins in Romania. They're really good Quidditch players too."

"That Uncle is a Dragon Handler at the Romanian Dragon Reserve," Gwendolyn explained for their friends that didn't know anything about Charlie and his family. Their cousins' school doesn't have House teams for Quidditch because they do their dormitories differently than we do. They have club teams that the kids can try out for instead; and it seems to be more like our professional league teams for how it works."

That last comment gave them something to talk about as they got out of their Quidditch gear and packed up. Kirley had the snacks and drinks outside for them by then, so they had the snack break; and then went swimming – since Ginny had sent the portable pool along with Al and Lily. Most of the kids went home at lunchtime, but Al, Lily, Rose, Hugo, and Renee stayed for the rest of the day. They played in the yard; went swimming a few more times; and basically had a lazy afternoon before packing up when parents stopped by to pick them up and take them home. Al and Lily were first for that because Ginny wrapped up her work a bit earlier than expected. She didn't take Rose and Hugo with her because she couldn't reach Ron on his mirror to change their original plan; but then they were okay with staying and hanging out with Gwendolyn, Renee, and Jonah anyway. While Ginny had done the pick-up at the McCormacks; Harry eventually collected James on his way home from work; and James, Al, and Lily were together a lot for the rest of the week.

Al missed not geting to see Gwendolyn, but she was busy while he spent the last three days of the work week at the Burrow with James, Lily, Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne. Their time at the Burrow was pretty much the same as always. They helped Molly with the chores in the mornings; played all afternoon; and made one trip into town for ice cream treats on Thursday. James, Fred, and Roxanne were able to be at the Burrow for most of the day on Friday because George was running the booths for the Quidditch World Cup match that was in Canada; so the time change allowed them to still get there on Friday morning local time even with leaving in the late afternoon from home. Rose and Hugo had to leave earlier than that when they went to Poland with Ron; but they didn't head there until late morning – while Ginny had gone there before dawn home time so that she'd be at the stadium when the teams from France and Bulgaria arrived.

There wasn't quite as much excitement in England for the Quidditch World Cup matches on Saturday with their National team out of the running, but Harpies fans still had Gabrielle to cheer for; and that was especially true for the Weasley clan. Al and Lily were as ready as anyone else int their family was to the all-day Quidditch fun on Saturday; and that started for them before breakfast because two of the final four matches were in China and Australia; so the big time changes between those matches and the last game that wouldn't even begin until more than a half-day after the first game ensured that they would have a lot of Quidditch to watch all day and evening.

This weekend, Harry was working at Auror Headquarters while other Aurors were either off for the weekend or on vacation; so after having breakfast with him on Saturday morning; Al and Lily went to spend the day at the Burrow – and continue watching the matches with Molly and Arthur. The matches being played in China and Australia were both good, but the Quidditch fans at the Burrow were not really excited about seeing Chile win in China or Japan win in Australia. That was entirely because they didn't know much about either team; so the only interest they had would only matter if one of the teams ended up playing against Gabrielle and her team. It was that match between France and Bulgaria that they were most looking forward to watching; and Molly had them set up with an early, mini-buffet luncheon in time for them to all sit down and watch that match – starting with Lee's pre-game show. He did a fairly thorough review of both teams, and decided not to try and pick a winner because he believed it was too close to call just based on what they knew of the two teams and all of the players.

"He's wrong about that," Lily declared after Lee's non-pick for the match. "Aunt Gabrielle is going to win today."

"Viktor Krum has been one of the best Seekers in the world for a long time now," Arthur suggested. "You're not saying that just because he's older than Gabrielle, are you? He's about the same age as your Aunt Fleur – and only a few years older than your parents."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "I'm saying it because I don't think that Aunt Gabrielle is going to let any Seeker beat her this summer. Even if the rest of her team messes up; she'll still find a way to win today." She laughed then. "She won't have many more chances to win a Quidditch World Cup between now and when I graduate and take her job on the Harpies."

"So you're planning on winning the Seeker job with the Harpies from the same Witch you're telling us is unbeatable this summer?" Molly asked in amusement. "That's even more precocious than Ginny was at your age."

Lily laughed again. "Sure, because deciding that she was going to marry Harry Potter was such a minor dream compared to mine – not to mention her own dreams for playing with the Harpies too."

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Molly decided; joining in for the laughs with Arthur and Al. "Your grandfather seems to agree with Lee for the game. Do you want to make a prediction too, Al?"

"I'll pick France too," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "France really does match up well with Bulgaria, so it will probably be a long game – which is why I think that Aunt Gabrielle will have the advantage over Viktor Krum."

"So you do think the old guy will wear out first?" Arthur asked; and Al shook his head.

"Not because he's older," he disagreed. "It may not have always been this way for him; but I did read up on Viktor's past two seasons; and he usually wins games early – or loses them if they drag on too long or his team falls way behind. He's a fairly big guy for a Seeker; and I think that's why he slows down in long matches."

Al's predictions proved to be fairly accurate. Not everything happening in the game was fun to watch. The Bulgarian Beaters tried their best to put Gabrielle and her team mates into hospital beds instead of just trying to play the game clean; and the two Keepers weren't exactly having a stellar match either; but the six Chasers put on a really great show that was both on offense and defense as they battled back and forth above the pitch. Viktor and Gabrielle were having the toughest duel of the Quidditch World Cup for either of them so far, and while all of Gabrielle's fans were thrilled when she caught the snitch and helped her team to the four-eighty to three-sixty victory; that didn't keep those fans from feeling bad for Viktor Krum after he'd played his best for more than five and a half hours before Gabrielle finally made a spectacular catch that he couldn't block despite being right there on the play.

Harry stopped in to get Al and Lily not long after that game ended; he'd picked up pizza on the way there; and they stayed for that quick, fast-food dinner with Molly and Arthur before heading home for the evening. With Ginny in Poland until later; they played around the pool; watched China win the fourth and final spot during what ended up being one of the shorter matches of the day in Canada; and then they had a fun little bedtime swim after dark when Ginny got home. By then, they also already knew that France would be playing against China for the chance to be in the Championship match; and that their game would be played in Egypt. That left Chile to play against Japan in the other match; and that match was going to be played in Brazil – though the local National team rivalry meant that Chile couldn't count on any kind of home pitch advantage.

While Ginny had been able to come home once she was done work in Poland, the time zone worked the other way for George and his group of wheezes helpers in Canada; and they not only stayed the night; but ended up staying in Canada until Monday so that they could do a bit of sightseeing while they were there anyway. James and George came home by Monday evening, but Angelina took Fred and Roxanne with her; and they began making their way to Brazil while George needed to work at his stores and get ready for the booths they'd be running in Egypt and Brazil. With James away for those two days – and on Tuesday too while he was at Ollie's house for Quidditch practice; Al and Lily had a lot of fun without him there. On Sunday, that included a play day with Ginny while Harry was at work; a dinner with Teddy and Victoire that included some Quidditch fun in the evening; and then a quiet Sunday evening taking it easy in the sitting room.

They were at the Burrow on Monday, and only had Rose and Hugo there with them; so that made for a comparatively quiet and fun day, but by Monday night; Al was mostly just looking forward to spending Tuesday with Gwendolyn after only being able to have mirror chats while being apart for six days. They were having that Quidditch practice at Gwendolyn's house again; and the only changes from their last practice was that Fred and Roxanne were away and couldn't practice with them this time. Since they were short a Beater, Gwendolyn just had Seth and Brandon play against everyone. Those changes didn't affect the results of their scrimmage, though this time, being on the winning team did not make Lily feel better about losing two Seeker duels in a row to Jonah; and she was no longer sure that having the practices at his house was a good idea at all.

Saying goodbye to Gwendolyn wasn't as tough for Al when he and Lily went home on Tuesday. They were going to be at the Burrow every day for the rest of the week again, but Harry had the weekend off, and he was taking Gwendolyn and Jonah for Friday night and Saturday so that Gwenog could go along with Kirley for the weekend concerts that the Wierd Kids and Graves Robbers were putting on – the first in Brazil on Friday night and the second on Saturday in Egypt. They even managed to get through spending two days with James on Wednesday and Thursday because he actually managed to be civil with them both at home and at the Burrow. He was off to Egypt with George, Fred, and Roxanne on Friday; so that added the bonus of having him away while Gwendolyn and Jonah were at the house.

Ginny left for Egypt on Friday too, and the dual jobs of working on the league training camps and Quidditch World Cup was wearing on her by then. Having too much work to do wasn't a problem for Harry and the four kids he was taking care of for the weekend, and while the game between France and China started early because of the time change to Egypt; they still had time to get the house and yard chores out of the way before sitting down by – or in – the pool to watch the match when it started at around a half-past eleven – once the pre-game ceremony was finished.

"The Chinese Seeker outplayed Aaron in their match against England," Gwendolyn said as she and Al floated near the edge of the pool and watched the team line up for the quaffle toss. "How do you think Gabrielle will do today?"

"I think that everyone will be in for a surprise," Harry answered first. "Ginny didn't say anything to me, but I've been getting the distinct feeling that she knows something about what France has planned for today – and likes their chances in this game."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Mum thought that she had a pretty good plan for them with our team; but that didn't work out for us."

"France might have a bit of an advantage because China had a tough time change to deal with for their game last weekend," Al pointed out; and Aunt Gabrielle has one advantage that Aaron didn't have – a long game that she could watch and re-watch for the battle that Aaron had with the Chinese Seeker."

"He might have done the same thing for Gabrielle's games," Harry pointed out; and Al nodded.

"True, but that might just mess him up. Aunt Gabrielle's had different strategies for nearly every match. Besides, if Mum's got that look going on; then I'd never think about betting against France today."

"I'll mention that one to my Mum," Gwendolyn told him. "If you could take a picture of your Mum the next time she has that expression on her face that you're talking about; that'd help a lot too – so Mum knows what to look for whenever your Mum's around before all of our games."

"Gwenog knows that look very well," Harry advised her seriously. "Hasn't she ever told you that before? She's always told me that she knew they were going to win Ginny's first league championship right before that match; and the same thing happened at Ginny's only Quidditch World Cup win in oh-two."

"I remember the story Aunt Ginny told us about distracting Viktor Krum with her story about you from that wedding you were at with him," Gwendolyn said; grinning at Harry. "That's one of the few stories I've ever heard about where you've lied to someone."

Harry laughed. "Depends on who you talk to for that," he reminded her. "In some circles; I have a towering reputation for telling lies about everything."

"We still hear stuff like that at school," Gwendolyn said. "That's usually coming from Slytherin kids and teens, and it doesn't seem to matter to them just how stupid it sounds to spout off like that – especially when they have to deny a lot of history to even make the claim that you lied about everything during the war."

"Oh look, guys – there's a Quidditch match on!" Lily exclaimed as excitedly as possible. "Let's watch it and leave deep dark discussions like that one for some day in the distant never-future!"

"That works for me," Harry agreed easily. "It's too nice a day for that kind of chat too. Why don't you guys tell me about your plans for quidditch practices for the next couple of weeks. We've heard that they're thinking about doing two practices a week at the Woods' house starting the week after next. Are you going to do that with your Ravenclaw team, Gwendolyn?"

"Lily doesn't want to have practices at our house anymore," Gwendolyn reported first while smiling at Lily. "Since she won the Seeker duel with Jonah last night; I'll guess that she still feels that way now; so I don't know what we'll do if Aunt Ginny is too busy for us to do any practices here."

"Your Dad's had the last two practices," Harry said thoughtfully; and then there was a break as they watched France score their first goal of the match. "Lucy's busy with her Gryffindor Quidditch practices, but I could see if Molly would be interested in keeping an eye on things here for a day or two over the next couple of weeks – your cousin; not your grandmother," he added for Al and Lily. "She's been doing a few summer jobs, including helping out with some of the wheezes booths; but she might have the time to help us out too."

"That'd be great," Lily said first. "We've hardly seen Molly or Lucy at all so far this summer – though that's not really much different from every summer. Does Uncle Percy ever take holidays?"

"Now and then," Harry agreed; "though his idea of holiday fun is a bit different from most Witches and Wizards."

"You'd think that the person in charge of the Department for Magical Transportation would actually get out there and travel the world," Lily joked; and then shook her head. "That topic isn't much better than the last one I didn't want to talk about. We culd talk about going flying later – or maybe taking the bikes out for a spin after lunch – unless this ends up being another marathon match."

They talked about alternate entertainment options for the rest of the day, and then had lots of time to go and play after Gabrielle shocked the Chinese team and their Seeker by catching the snitch at the forty-eight minute mark to win the game for France. Al was one of what was likely only a few spectators to actually notice that Gabrielle had taken advantage of something her Seeker opponent was doing to get the advantage over him; and he suspected that she'd discovered that weakness thanks to Aaron's match against China. The final score was just one-ninety to twenty, and while the players and fans for France were thrilled that their team was going to the championship game; having such a short match was a bit of a let-down compared to some of the really tough matches that had happened so far in the race for the Quidditch World Cup.

That did leave the fans at home with a lot of time between the that match and the one in Brazil that didn't start until shortly before dinnertime at home; and Harry was happy to play with Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. They had a picnic lunch; went for a bike ride; had some Quidditch fun; Harry took Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah for rides on his motorcycle in the sidecar; and they had swim breaks anytime they wanted to cool off in the pool. Ginny came home in time for dinner while letting James spend another night with George, Angelina, and the kids so that he could work the wheezes booth at the stadium and campground in Brazil while Ron, Rose, and Hugo stayed in Egypt to run the wheezes booth at the campground there. Harry, Ginny, and the four kids eventually spent a couple of hours in the late evening with Gwenog and Kirley when they stopped in after he was finished helping out with the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers in Egypt so that they could collect Gwendolyn and Jonah on their way home. They kept an eye on the match between Chile and Japan too, but Chile seemed to have the match well in hand early; and Japan eventually lost the match after being down by more than one hundred and sixty points for long-enough that the Chile Seeker finally got a good chance to make the snitch catch over his Japanese opponent.

With just the one World Cup match to get ready for along with her league training camp work; Ginny took most of Sunday off for a play day with Harry and the kids. They had some drop-in visitors too; but mostly just had a lazy day around the house and yard that included a lot of swimming; a bit of Quidditch; and a dinner date at home with Molly and Arthur so that Ginny could spend some time with them that wasn't just the cameo moments she'd had before or after work over the past week or two. While spending that comparatively-quiet time with their parents and grandparents had been fun for Al and Lily; the next big event in their lives wasn't the Quidditch World Cup championship match – it was Harry's thirty-eighth birthday on Tuesday.

Monday was just another work day for Harry and Ginny; though they did have a birthday luncheon to go to at the Leaky for Neville that didn't include any kids or teens except for his own girls and their boyfriends. Since there were as many Professors at that meal as there were Aurors and other friends, though; that wasn't a major disappointment for the kids. Al and Lily had long-since taken care of birthday gifts for their father, but James hadn't; so part of their day with Grandma and their cousins was spent doing a bit of shopping in Diagon Alley so that he could deal with that. Molly picked up some supplies while there anyway, and Rose, Al, and Lily each picked up a new book or two; but Hugo was happy just to wander around some of his favorite shops; and they didn't have Fred and Roxanne with them for the day because they were with Angelina instead.

Ginny had a lot of work to do on Monday night because she was planning on working as little as possible on Tuesday; yet still had a lot to get done before heading to Bulgaria on Friday for the Quidditch World Cup Championship match on Saturday. Harry decided to work in the evening too; so that left James, Al, and Lily free to do their own thing – which meant hanging out in their rooms or the sitting room because they'd ended up getting a late-afternoon rain that continued well-into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Al had chosen reading the new book in his room and doing a bit of studying too – though his summer revision was already done and ready to hand in to whichever Professors he ended up with for his second-year classes. The rain had ended by morning when he woke up, and while it was still cloudy; the forecast had been for decent weather; and he was in a great mood as he got ready for the day and then went downstairs to the kitchen to start working on his father's birthday breakfast.

"Happy Birthday, Dad!" Al and Lily both told Harry as he and Ginny walked into the kitchen together about a half-hour or so after Al had gotten there. Al was busy cooking, but Lily dropped what she was doing so that she could get started on the birthday and morning hugs and kisses with her parents. Harry and Ginny were both smiling; and neither of their kids really wanted to know why they were so happy after taking a lot longer than usual with their morning routine – and the fact that they were ready to go at the same time.

"Thanks, guys," Harry told them. "The food smells great. Can we do anything to help?"

"Yes," Lily told him with a grin. "You guys can let Al make me one of those charm bracelets when he gets back to school. I am so jealous that he can use those little seashells of his to do all of that cool magic even when he's here at home. Somebody should have thought about doing that for kids centuries ago!"

"They did for lots of things, honey," Ginny reminded her. "Al's just applied his charmed objects differently than other Witches and Wizards. As long as he keeps using those seashells responsibly, we'll be okay with letting him do that – just as you all need to be careful with your brooms, toys, and wheezes." That last example was timed for when James walked into the room; and he grinned at her.

"Is there such a thing as using wheezes responsibly?" he asked. "Wouldn't that just defeat the purpose of them?"

"You know what I mean," Ginny countered; smiling too and hugging him for the briefest second that he allowed her to do that.

"Yes, but I don't have to agree with you," James told her half-seriously. "It seems very unfair to deprive anyone of having fun with wheezes just because they're Muggles – or worse; Witches and Wizards like Al that don't have a sense of humor at all."

"I thought that making your pancakes with slugs was funny," Al said as he turned and put a platter of pancakes on the table. "Let me know if I'm wrong about that when you've finished with them. Yours are the ones on that side that are wiggling around." He'd used one of his seashells to make a few of the pancakes wiggle around a bit; and earned a round of laughs for his effort.

"You are cooking, so slugs might just improve the taste," James shot back as he sat down; grabbed a fork; and stabbed at the still-flopping pancakes. They stopped wiggling once he pulled them onto his own plate; and he didn't wait for anyone else to sit before splashing some syrup on them and beginning to eat.

"They must taste better if you're devouring them like that," Harry joked. "Did you miss out on your third or fourth snack break last night to be this hungry now?"

"I slept through the middle-of-the-night munchies," James said with a shrug. "It happens now and then."

"Sure – when you've stayed up playing video games until three or four," Ginny offered. "Your Dad and I need to get to work soon, though, so let's eat – and get him to open his birthday gifts before Molly gets here to watch you while we're gone."

"You mean watch the babies," James declared with a sneer for Al. "I'll be out of here and hanging out with my friends while they're here in daycare with the other kids."

"I should've made a slug-vomiting seashell charm," Al muttered under his breath; earning a grin from his father as he stood next to him and was pouring cups of coffee.

Ginny changed the chat subject then, though, and they were soon all sitting down at the table and enjoying the pancakes and sausages that Al and Lily had made – still a favorite of Harry's despite his advancing years. While he'd have more gifts from family and friends to open at dinnertime, Ginny and the kids had him open all of their presents while they ate. According to James, he was the only person to give Harry anything useful; since everyone else just got him practical, boring things; but Harry didn't plan on using his new wheezes at the office or for particularly boring meetings as James suggested he should. After they really had taken longer than normal with getting ready for the day, and the extra time at breakfast too; Harry and Ginny needed to run off to work as soon as they'd finished eating – and Molly arrived – along with her boyfriend, Calvin Johnson.

That surprise was great for the Quidditch players in their group for the morning because Calvin was happy to join in for their practice – and work with Fred on his Beater game. Al almost never even thought about it, but Calvin and Fred were first cousins through Calvin's Dad and Fred's Mum, and they saw each other regularly through the Johnson side of their families. Fred learned a lot about being a Beater from his father, but then Calvin and his sister, Tina, probably did as well; which surely helped to explain why they were the best Beater duo at Hogwarts last year for the senior teams. Having Molly and Calvin there was fun for Al, but spending the day with Gwendolyn was great – and they were getting to have a camping night in the back yard too – along with Lily, Jonah, James, Ollie, Rose, and Hugo.

While their Quidditch workout in the morning was the main play event of the day, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't mind helping out with the work that needed to be done after that – including setting up two tents for the camping adventure. They set them up on the far side of the pitch near the back of the yard, and while Harry wasn't getting a kid-free night for his birthday; they would be out of the way and he and Ginny would have the house to themselves. Calvin and Molly helped with the work, with Calvin using magic when that was faster; but then they had bonus help when Grandma Weasley came over by mid-afternoon; Ginny was back not long after that; and other adults began arriving as they finished work early or came over to join the work crew ahead of the barbeque birthday dinner that was going to be one of the larger family gatherings of the summer-so-far – at least until everyone in the family went to the World Cup match on the weekend to hopefully watch Gabrielle win the championship with her team.

As the workload transitioned from kids and teens to the adults; Al and Gwendolyn took a swim break with some of the other kids. When James and Ollie got to the house, they'd skipped helping with the work in favor of swimming and then hiding in one of the tents for a while as they supposedly worked on getting ready for their camping night despite the fact that the work for that had long-since been done. When more of the teen cousins began arriving, they'd started a Quidditch scrimmage; so Al and Gwendolyn only had Rose, Lily, and Jonah in the pool with them when they took that late break.

"I know we haven't been to all of your Dad's birthday parties, but he seems to have more of these larger parties than any other adults we know," Gwendolyn suggested to Al and Lily. "That seems even stranger to me considering how much he doesn't like being in the spotlight."

"I think he's conceded defeat when it comes to his birthday," Al said with a smile and shrug. "He'll also pretend that this party is as much for Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's anniversary tomorrow, since we're not doing another big party for that; but everyone else knows that's just a bonus. We've done big anniversary parties too – like the one last year for Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's twentieth anniversary."

"Which is why we didn't do a big party for Dad last year," Lily added with a nod. "Mum's birthday is on opening day for the Quidditch season this year; so we'll likely do something like this again a week from Saturday – unless the Harpies and Wasps decide to play one of those marathon matches."

"That one might be a very short match if your Aunt Gabrielle is tired out by then after playing seven matches in seven weeks for France," Jonah suggested. "Aaron could have the advantage now that he's had a few weeks off to rest up."

"Sure, because training camp is such a breeze by comparison," Lily said with a laugh. "I know the Wasps will be motivated after losing to our Harpies in the League Championship match; but I'm still picking the Harpies for teh win."

"We're Harpies' fans – that's a given," Jonah told her; and Lily laughed.

"Okay, but I'm basing my prediction on Aunt Gabrielle being fired up about playing her first professional game with her niece on the team – and Victoire will be just as fired up. Add in that none of the scouts from the other teams got to see Victoire play Chaser last season; and I don't think that the Wasps are going to be ready."

"We can hope," Gwendolyn agreed. "How do you think France will do against Chile – or do you have to pick your aunt's team automatically for that match too?"

"France had the easier match last weekend," Lily offered first; "but Chile could beat them if they can get ahead by more than one-fifty before Aunt Gabrielle can catch the snitch."

"I'd like to see the rest of her team pick up their game a few notches," Al told them. "Chile's done more traveling for their matches, and if they get pushed hard early; they might get tired and make mistakes – even if their Keeper and Chasers have looked better in their matches so far."

"That would have been a fun match against Oliver Wood and our National team Chasers," Gwendolyn predicted. "Too bad we didn't draw their team instead of China in that round."

"Chile won some big games too," Al reminded her. "I'd rather have France win on Saturday and then pretend that our team might've been third-best this year to China and France – even if our actual ranking will end up being a lot lower than that."

"England can't be ranked in the top eight because we didn't make it into that round," Lily said with a nod; "but we should be ninth or tenth compared to the next-best eight – and definitely not fifteenth or sixteenth."

"I would have loved for our team to be in the game this weekend; but that isn't all bad for those of us who want to be future Quidditch stars," Gwendolyn said; her tone half-musing. "It would be awesome to bring a Quidditch World Cup home for England – and likely a lot easier to do if we're not trying to defend the title too – or don't even get a chance to play for a team because the veteran champions get all of the spots on the team."

"Wouldn't you play for Scotland like your grandmother and aunt have?" Rose asked her. "They haven't won in a long time; so that'd work for you too."

Gwendolyn shrugged. "I probably could play for either team, but Mum played for England; so I'd pick that first." She grinned then before adding – "I guess that you won't have to worry about things like that for quite a while if you're going to play for the Cannons. You might need fifty or a hundred years for that plan of yours to work – and before the players have a shot at making our National team."

"I do not plan on it taking nearly that long for my Cannons to win a league championship," Rose protested. "There's still a lot of work for us to do before that'll happen; but we're young and have time."

"We?" Jonah asked; and Rose grinned at him. "That we might include you too," she advised him. "Didn't Gwendolyn let you know that you're on my short list for Seeker on my future championship Cannons' team?"

"I didn't think she was serious – anymore than she was serious about you hiring Aunt Ginny for the job. Would you hire Mum as one of your Beaters too?"

"The Cannons likely couldn't afford her," Rose said seriously; "and she'd never quit the Harpies to do that."

"But my Mum would?" Lily asked; and Rose grinned at her.

"She might for the chance to play with Al, Gwendolyn, and me."

"I'm going to play for the Harpies," Gwendolyn reminded her; and Rose laughed.

"Feel free to keep telling yourself that – right up until you and Al sign your contracts with the Cannons."

Rose had fun with that for a few more minutes, but then they had some company in the pool with them; and the conversation moved on to important teen Witch topics – like the latest news about who was dating whom this summer – or had broken up while school was out. Al and Gwendolyn stayed together most of the time, including when they were at one of the kid tables for dinner that kept them on the fringe of the birthday party fun while Harry was roasted by his family and friends. They were eventually put on the work crew for the clean-up after they'd all had cake and ice cream for dessert; and then they spent the rest of the evening swimming and playing Quidditch – including one moonlight swim after everyone that wasn't spending the night headed home.

After hours of having too much of an audience around for their jokes and pranks, James and Ollie were in peak-annoyance mode. Harry and Ginny tried to help the rest of the kids out with that by setting up a small campfire for them – along with diversionary snacks and drinks; but then they headed indoors for the rest of the night so that they could celebrate the rest of Harry's birthday without any contributions from anyone else. Al and Gwendolyn stayed in the pool for a while after James and Ollie finally left them alone and goofed around by the fire and tents instead, but the water was cooling off by then; and they eventually needed to get out, changed, and by the fire to warm up again. Jonah was playing his guitar by then; and had Rose, Hugo, and Lily singing along to some favorite campfire songs.

"The Weird Kids have nothing to worry about from this lot," James told Ollie after they'd happily heckled the singers – taking that up several notches once Al and Gwendolyn had joined in for the first song when they'd sat down by the fire. "They could give a baby mandrake a run for it at most-horrid noise."

"Too bad we didn't bring our earmuffs," Ollie addied helpfully with a snort of laughter. "Al will probably faint when he starts working with them this year."

"No doubt," James agreed. He sneered at Al when he saw his brother pull a seashell out of his pocket and then bounce it on his palm a few times. "Go ahead – use one of your stupid charmed seashells on me just for telling the truth. Then maybe Mum and Dad will realize they should've blasted you for that the first time you used them against me."

"But isn't that exactly why you've been goading me all evening?" Al asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James said without managing to pull off an act of innocence at all. "Ollie and I have just been having fun – and everyone else except you thought we were funny."

"Losers never know what funny is," Ollie declared. "Go ahead and blast us, Al – I dare you!"

"Maybe he's just waiting for his girlfriend to defend his honor instead," James suggested. "He's been hiding behind Witches' skirts since he learned to walk a couple of years ago."

"Maybe that's why Gwendolyn likes him so much," Ollie offered. "She can still play with baby dolls without getting laughed at for actually carrying her dolls around with her anymore. Do you feed him bottles, burp him, and change his diapers too, Gwendolyn?"

"You guys must be really jealous of Al to put so much effort into insulting us," Gwendolyn told them. "What's really funny is that you haven't figured out that when you say stupid things like that; everyone is laughing at you – not your supposedly-witty jokes and insults."

"We're going to laugh a lot the day that you finally get around to figuring out that you're wasting your breath defending my loser brother," James told her derisively. "If you dump the dolt before we go back to school; maybe you can even salvage your reputation – or as much as that's possible for a Cravenclaw."

"Leave her alone," Al warned quietly. "I've had enough of your crap tonight; and you really don't want to go there."

"Oh, I'm so..." James said; and then he stopped talking as Al pointed the seashell at him. His mouth was still moving; but the silencing charm kept the rest of the retort from being spoken aloud.

"Cut that..." Ollie started to say before Al turned the seashell on him; and he was suddenly silenced next."

"You are so..." James spluttered before he was again cut off; and then Ollie added – "dead, los..."

"...er," James finished; and then started a laugh that Ollie continued as Al switched back and forth – and both boys tried to continue starting and finishing the follow-up insults.

"Had enough yet?" Al asked after a few more minutes of that silliness. "I have, but if you still want to sit around and keep insulting Gwendolyn; I'll just leave the silencing charm on one of you and then you can go off somewhere and play charades for the rest of the night."

James held up his hands, and since he was the one that currrently was speechless; Al released the charm again. "We'll leave Gwendolyn alone – for tonight," he promised; and Al nodded and put the seashell back in his pocket. He knew that James had only specified Gwendolyn to leave his other options open; but the silencing charm seashell wasn't the only one he had with him; and he could admit to himself that he wouldn't be all that disappointed if James and Ollie did try some pranks later.

The two older boys did let them get back to their campfire and music fun without causing any more trouble; and the rest of the time they spent around the campfire was pretty good for everyone. James and Ollie stayed up when Al and Gwendolyn led the charge to head into the tents to get some sleep, and while he was ready for them; Al didn't sense any problems or get any warning wake-up calls during the night. He did find out in the morning that James and Ollie had set up a prank for him, but he did get the extra-sensory warning in time; and quickly put his own counter-prank into play. When he had everything ready, and had changed into his swimsuit; he stepped out of the tent – and 'fell' into the portable pool with a loud splash and shout of surprise.

"What's all the racket out there?" James yelled from inside the tent that he and Ollie were sharing. Al could hear both boys snorting with laughter that approached him as they were likely running for the tent door; and then it was his turn to laugh as they ran straight out and fell into the pool too – except they were dressed in their night clothes; and James had been carrying his camera.

When their grins and laughs turned to shouts and splutters; Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah ran out of the tent and jumped into the pool too.

"A surnrise swim – what a great idea, guys!" Rose said happily. "Who's idea was it to put the pool right here between the tents like this? I'm surprised the water's this warm already this morning. It was a cool night."

"I warmed the water a bit before hopping in," Al answered first. "It was pretty cold before that; so I'm glad that I noticed it before falling in when I first got up. We'd all be half-frozen if I'd left it the way it was."

"How did you?" James asked him; and then clamped his mouth shut when Al turned and grinned at him.

"Move your tent?" Al added. "I'm sure you can guess. If you hadn't been up so late setting up this surprise for us; you'd have likely figured out that the splash and shout came from the wrong direction too."

"Well, whatever the original plan, this is a fun way to start the day," Lily told her brothers; "so thanks for helping us out with that." By then, she'd floated over close to James; gave him a wet hug and kiss on the cheek that he couldn't resist; so he gave in and joined in for a bit of water play time before they all needed to get out of the pool and move on to getting ready for the day before packing up and heading into the house for breakfast.

They were kept busy while having breakfast and then getting ready to head out for the day. Harry and Ginny were both working, so they were even busier than usual while getting all of the kids fed; their gear rounded up; and then taking them on to the Burrow or to their homes before going on to the Ministry of Magic for Harry and the training pitch for France's team for Ginny. James, Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo were all dropped off at the Burrow after Harry took Ollie home first; and Ginny took care of getting Gwendolyn and Jonah home. Al and Gwendolyn didn't try for any kind of significant goodbye hugs and kisses with James and Ollie nearby and ready to pounce on any opportunity to razz them; but then they were only going to be apart for two days until they'd all be heading for Bulgaria and the Quidditch World Cup campground for a three day weekend with their families.

Wednesday and Thursday were really just the two days they needed to get through ahead of the quadrennial Quidditch event that every fan of the game in the Wizarding World wished they could be there to watch in person; though Molly made sure that they had enough to do to keep busy while doing all of that waiting. Since she and Arthur were going to the game too; she had the cousins help out with all of the usual weekend chores around the Burrow; and then James, Al, and Lily had even more work to do each evening to help Harry and Ginny with getting ready for the camping side of their weekend plans. By the time Al woke up on Friday morning; he was seriously ready for a few days of play time; and was fired up about getting to spend a lot of that time with Gwendolyn. He helped Harry with making breakfast after being first to grab a shower; even James managed to get up early and be ready for the early breakfast they had before doing one last clean-up around the house; and then they took their International Portkey to Bulgaria after grabbing all of their bags and camping gear.

"Wow!" Lily exclaimed as they all took a first look at the sprawling campground that was ahead of them – and a bit below them in a valley that was split by a river with a small lake that was to their left that already had some swimmers playing in it. The campground was just beginning to fill up; but it was obviously far-larger than the campground they'd been at for the first-round match in France.

"And then some," Ginny agreed. "It's definitely going to be a buddy system weekend for the three of you. Keep your mirrors handy; and don't take off anywhere on your own."

"I am not going to be stuck hanging out with Al and Lily all weekend," James declared stubbornly. "I'm old-enough to go around here on my own – even if they're still too little to go anywhere without someone to hold their hands."

"Al won't mind that – as long as it's Gwendolyn holding his hand," Lily teased; and then smiled at James. "you could try going around with me for a while this morning and see how that works out for you. Girls like guys that are willing to risk their precious reputations to take care of their cute, adorable little sisters. Pets work even better; but I seriously doubt that Mum will let Dad go Animagus just to help you pick up teen Witches."

"You're just trying to mess with me," James accused; though he did laugh along with his parents and brother at the suggestion that he take Paddy for a walk to pick up girls.

"She's probably not," Harry disagreed; "but then you and Ollie didn't have any problem with meeting girls in France; so I doubt you'll need the help."

"What you will need to do, though, is help your father with setting up our tent and campsite; and then meet up with George and Ron to help them out with getting their booths ready to go," Ginny told him. "I need to get to work as soon as we've got our campsite assigned and everything there."

"I should've taken the weekend off from helping out with the wheezes booths," James said; half to himself.

"From what I've heard, George brought a lot of help here this weekend – partly to thank a lot of the teens that helped out at all of the booths," Harry advised him. "George and Ron will work a lot, but most of their workers will only have to work a few hours – after all of the booths are set up here and at the stadium."

"How many booths do they want here?" James asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know about here; but Ron said they'll have four at the stadium. They will have more than one-hundred thousand Witches and Wizards there. That's a lot of potential customers – not to mention what it'll do for their mail-order business for the rest of the year. That always grows a lot after every Quidditch World Cup summer since George started doing the booths after the war."

There was a pause in their conversation as they checked into the campground; left the campground attendants at the entrance looking a bit stunned after meeting Harry and Ginny Potter in person; and then they walked to the far side of the lake where their campsite was located in a prime section that had been set up for VIP ticketholders for the World Cup match – with that side of the lake for the supporters of France's team. There was a corresponding section across the lake for the fans of the Chilean team; with the lake and river apparently meant to be a buffer between the rival camps. They'd speculated over whether France had been put on the far side of the valley because they'd defeated the Bulgarian team, but while it was a longer walk to get out of the campground; it was also quieter and away from the section on the main path where all of the concessions booths were lined up in several long rows that split the campsites on that side of the river into two sections – with the worst campsites being the ones closest to those booths and all of the customer and supply traffic that went along with them.

Ginny did leave them as soon as they got to their campsite; and Harry put James, Al, and Lily to work. They weren't the first members of their family to arrive, and they were a bit amused to find that Percy, Audrey, and their kids had gotten there quite a bit earlier – so that Percy could help with any International Portkey issues for the thousands of Witches and Wizards coming to bulgaria from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ron was there with Rose and Hugo, but Hermione was stuck at work for a while; and would join them sometime by mid-afternoon. Kirley needed to be there to help his mates with the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids; but Gwenog wasn't giving her team a break when they were just a bit over a week away from the start of their Quidditch season; so she was working with the Harpies all day and wouldn't get to the campground until after dinner sometime. Kirley got to the campground with Gwendolyn and Jonah shortly after Harry and the kids had finished setting up their tent and getting all of their gear put away; so Harry left Al and Lily to help them with their campsite set-up; and took James to meet up with George or Ron so that he could help them out while Harry was going to be in charge of Al, Lily, Gwendolyn, and Jonah through until dinnertime while Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley were all busy.

"You work fast," Harry complimented Kirley and the four kids when he rejoined them.

"We had two more kids and one less supervisor," Al told him with a smile. James had been that 'supervisor' for their campsite set-up; and he'd only managed to slow them down with his monologue critique of their efforts. "What are we doing next?"

"I thought that we could walk over to the other end of the campground with Kirley and check out where the stage and entertainment is going to be tonight and tomorrow; do a tour of the rest of the campground; and then maybe go for a swim in the lake before lunch."

"That sounds like fun," Lily approved first; taking a moment to hug her father. "We saw Uncle Casey, Riley, and Caylee when they went past us while you were gone." She waved to her left. "They're camping with the other player-families for Aunt Gabrielle's team. Maybe they'd like to come along for that tour and swim if they're not too busy."

"You can go and invite them," Harry told her; "but don't be surprised if they need to be at the stadium instead. The families will be invited to quite a few events today and tomorrow." He laughed when Lily turned and headed in that direction. "Don't forget to take a buddy," he reminded her; and then he and Kirley both laughed when she hooked Jonah with an arm and drafted him to go along with her.

"I'm not surprised that Casey would be here early too; but will you have any Aurors left back home this weekend?" Kirley asked; and Harry laughed and nodded.

"Yes, we will; though they'd all volunteer to be here to help out if that was an option. Teddy's taking some heat about getting to be here, but his future aunt-in-law is playing in the game; so I approved his request even though he should have pulled the weekend shift."

"Is that why Aurors try to marry Quidditch players?" Kirley joked. "He'll have that going for him with his fiancée all season too."

"That didn't always work out for me with Ginny; but I'll guess that has more to do with the company the Aurors have been keeping since Ron, Neville, and I started with them in ninety-eight."

"Or that Quidditch-playing Witches need a certain type of crazy Wizard to keep up with them," Kirley countered.

"There's that," Harry agreed easily. "It's a good thing for you that world-famous musicians are on that career short-list for those Witches too."

"So who's in charge at Auror Headquarters while you're here?" Kirley asked; returning to the original subject again.

"Christine and Nathan are splitting the weekend; though, as always; I'm on call for emergencies."

"With the good news there being that you haven't had too many of those really bad emergencies in a few years." Kirley looked at his watch. "I'd better grab my equipment bag and get ready to go as soon as Lily and Jonah get back."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Do you want to meet us for lunch?"

Kirley shook his head. "I'd better just plan on doing my own thing. There's no way I can be sure that I can take a break at the same time the kids want to be fed. I'll definitely have dinner with Gwendolyn and Jonah though – and with your gang too if that works out for us."

Lily and Jonah were back again by the time that Kirley was ready to go, and they did have Casey and the kids with them; though they were only going to do the camp tour with them before heading on to the stadium for the team families and VIP luncheon that was being put on for the players and some lucky fans. Al and Lily didn't see Riley and Caylee as often as they saw most of their Weasley cousins, but they did see them a handful of times a year – especially when family parties were at Shell Cottage and Bill and Fleur had the Delacour side of their family attending too. The nine and six-year old kids were really fired up; kept Lily and Jonah busy the entire time they were together; and after a half-hour or so of touring the campground and checking out the concessions booths; they were off and running to the stadium with their ever-patient father in tow.

Casey had parted ways with them while they were still around the food and souvenir booths, so Harry finished the campground tour with the four remaining kids; they crossed the river using a bridge at the far end of the lake; and then completed the campground loop back to their campsites. They all got changed into swimsuits after that; went for a swim that included some play time with a few cousins and friends; and then they went back to their tents to get changed again before heading to the food booths to pick up food for lunch. There was an area set up with picnic tables near the majority of the food booths, but that was already crowded; so they took their food to go and went back to their campsites to sit and eat their meal there.

That worked out for getting to do some more visiting with members of their family and some friends as they passed by or arrived and began setting up their own tents on nearby campsites. Harry and Al helped out when Molly arrived early to set up the tent that she and Arthur would be using for the weekend; but he wouldn't be coming until he was finished work. Al and Gwendolyn had a short visit with Bristol when she had a few minutes to talk with them before needing to get back with her own family for the rest of the day; but they hoped to be able to sit together at the game on Saturday; and promised to try and get together other times if they could work that out too.

While a lot of the adults in their family had to work all afternoon, playing was an option for Harry and his four charges; and they were all happy to do just that. More swimming was involved; they had some cameo play moments with other friends and cousins – usually as they arrived at the campground and were just getting settled in; and they joined in for a game of fanged Frisbee that was being played in the field that was being used for the entertainment venue. Kirley was one of the Witches and Wizards working at the far end of the field setting up the stage and equipment there; but they didn't try to bother him while he was busy – and it was a field that was large-enough to accommodate tens of thousands for the shows that would be going on not only on Friday and Saturday night; but apparently during the mornings on Saturday and Sunday too – with those morning programs geared toward entertaining the kids.

Everyone that could get together for dinner did that at the cluster of campsites that included the Potters', Weasleys', nd McCormacks' sites. Small groups of parents and kids were put together to do a food booth run to pick up everything they'd need to feed the large gang; and Al and Gwendolyn were sent with kirley to pick up cases of drinks of various types – an easy job for the two kids with handy-dandy levitation charms available to them at the touch of a seashell or charm bracelet charm. Since they had one of the easier food fetching jobs, they were back to the campsites in time to help Harry and Ginny with setting up buffet tables and the blankets and lawn chairs that they set up around six of the adjoining campsites so that they'd have room for everyone. Once all of the trays of food were delivered and ready to go; the kids were set up with their meals first; and then sent off to hang out with cousins and friends while the parents and older teens took their turn at the buffet tables.

"The restaurants we went to in France were great, but I'm glad that we're doing this tonight instead," Lily told her dinner companions. She had Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, and Roxanne with her; and they were all sitting on one of the blankets. "I loved the food, but we'll have a lot more time to play tonight."

"And what would you like to play at?" Rose asked her before munching on a couple of fries.

"I'd like to go to the stadium and play a pretend Quidditch World Cup match. Would you like be play Keeper for France or Chile?"

"For France; since you'd want to pretend to be Aunt Gabrielle. Would you want Al and Gwendolyn on our team; or go for some of our older cousins – like Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy?"

"If they'd actually let you do that at the stadium; they'd agree to play with you," Al suggested; "so I'd pick them if I were you, Lily."

"Are you just saying that because you'd rather play Chaser against me instead of Louis?" Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"Gwendolyn and I would have fun playing Chaser against either of you, but I might not even get an invitation; since you seem to be putting together all-Witch teams so far – except for Louis. I won't have a chance at playing Chaser at all if you invite Aunt Angelina and Roxanne to play on the Chilean team with Gwendolyn."

"That is a brilliant suggestion," Lily told him enthusiastically. "Gwendolyn's Mum could play Beater for our side; and I'm sure that we can get Mum to play Seeker against me if Aunt Gabrielle is too busy tonight."

Lily was happy to run with that story despite the tiny little problem on not actually being able to use the stadium for her hypothetical match. That did keep them entertained while they ate, though; and then it was time to clean-up before going out around the campground to play with their family and friends for the evening. By then there were games set up that could be played – some of them free; and others at booths where prizes could be won – just as at a Muggle fair or other similar community event. The first band of the night hit the stage at seven o'clock, and while Kirley wasn't working all night, or helping with the first couple of bands; he did have to leave to get to work shortly after dark. Gwenog had been there for a couple of hours by then, so she took over from him helping with kid control; and she was part of a group of parents that mostly stayed at the little area they'd staked out in the field for watching the on-stage entertainment by then.

They were about fifty yards from the stage, and a bit too far away for James and some of the other teens; but in a really good spot to still be able to see everything without needing sound muffling charms to avoid hearing damage. Al and Gwendolyn spent some time there when they first set up the chairs and blankets, but then they also went dancing for a while; and spent some time with Bristol and a few of Gwendolyn's Weird Sisters' cousins. All of that was a lot of fun, but the highlight and surprise of the night for Al – and a lot of Witches and Wizards in the camproud – was when they found out that the Weird Sisters were the headline act of the night!

"Surprise," Gwendolyn said to Al; leaning closer to be heard over the roar of the crowd as her father ran out onto the stage with his band mates.

"I thought that they might have a Bulgarian group headlining tonight and the Weird Kids doing that tomorrow night," Al told her; smiling brilliantly. "This is going to be amazing!"

"Let's hope so," she said; her smile bright too even as she shrugged. "The good news for Jonah and me is that if they're as over the hill as some of the guys have been saying around Dad; then we'll be able to pretend that we're part of your family and don't know them."

"Every parent here is likely a huge fan," Al reminded her; "and the kids and teens grew up listening to their 'oldies' on the WWN and the wireless mirror network. They are going to rock the stage tonight."

He was right about that, though the Weird Sisters were older; and didn't jump around anymore the way they had when they'd been in their teens and early twenties. Their musical sound was a bit different too; though those changes really just helped to put new life in their old hit songs. That helped to get the teens up and dancing along with the 'old folks' as they played a set of high-energy songs. Al and Gwendolyn were among those dancers; had fun dancing with their friends and cousins; and loved the slow dances even more when the band slowed things down for a while to make sure that they didn't put any of their original fans in danger of needing medical attention from the over-exertion. Kirley and his friends played for an hour and a half; took a short break; and then returned for a three-song encore before wrapping up the show for the night.

After that, sitting out around campfires was the top entertainment choice for most of the Wizards and Witches in the campground. They had far too many people in their group to do that with everyone; so Harry and Ginny only had a small group with them – including Molly and Arthur; but not James or Lily. James was off playing games with Louis and a couple of Witches they'd met earlier in the evening; and Lily was at one of the other family campfires with Hugo, Jonah, and Roxanne. Al and Gwendolyn were with his parents and grandparents, and while Gwenog and Kirley didn't join them right away; they did do that once Kirley had finished with the post-concert autographs and packing up their gear for the night.

"Maybe you guys should go back to doing more of these big shows," Ginny suggested to Kirley once he and Gwenog had been served drinks and were sitting in camp chairs. Al and Gwendolyn were sitting on a blanket between the two sets of parents; and Molly and Arthur were on the far side of the small fire from them.

"That was a lot of fun," Kirley admitted easily, "but playing at pubs and Inns is really great too; and we've all had enough of the crazy band travel life."

"Says the Wizard that's been doing that with the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids all summer," Gwenog teased.

"I'm just helping out for the summer; and you were already busy anyway," Kirley reminded her. "The Weird Kids are going to be busier this year now that they're all finished at Hogwarts; but it was the younger kids they needed help keeping up with; and that won't be a problem for the guys once they're all a bit older – or at all while they're back in school in September."

"Well, if you're not going back out on tour, you should at least do a new album," Ginny insisted. "I love the way you've re-worked your hits; and you'd likely do well with a new mirror network special or two too."

"The new album might happen this fall or winter," Kirley advised her; "but we haven't really thought much about doing anything new on the mirror network. That's nearly as much work as one of these big shows; and this one wasn't much extra work since we were already doing everything for the kids' bands."

"Maybe you should think about it," Harry suggested with a grin for Al and Gwendolyn. "If your kids want to have the new Lightningbolts as much as ours do; you might want to start working on that soon."

"That's a great idea," Kirley said; suddenly looking enthusiastic. "If Al and Gwendolyn want to have those brooms in a few years; they should record an album; go out on tour next summer; and maybe put together a mirror network special or three!"

"Nice try, Dad – still not going to happen," Gwendolyn assured him after laughing along with everyone else.

"That's too bed," he lamented; still smiling. "I know how much you love those brooms."

Gwendolyn laughed again. "I might have to wait until I get hired by the Harpies; but I will have one of those brooms sooner or later – or whatever broom is the newest and fastest by the time we graduate."

"What about Al?" Kirley persisted. "Don't you want to help your boyfriend out with that? He can't play for the Harpies."

"Rose is going to get him to play for the Cannons," Gwendolyn told him; and it was Kirley's turn to laugh.

"They'll have him flying a Nimbus 2000,' he joked.

"I'd at least be able to keep my Firestorm," Al countered easily, "but Lily and I are currently hoping that we'll get to upgrade whenever the next new brooms come out and Mum and Dad want to get them – especially if they need to blow the entire kid brooms budget on James when he turns seventeen."

"We'd need to blow the entire budget we had for raising our kids to do that," Ginny advised him.

"And then some," Harry added. "I wouldn't count on any new brooms coming out soon that are better than the Lightningbolt, Al. They only came out three years ago, and while that was only five years after the Firestorm 250; that broom was really just a minor upgrade; so it was really fourteen years between the first Firestorm and the Lightningbolt."

"Either way, you might still want to think about part-time jobs," Kirley told Al and Gwendolyn. "Music would be way more fun than gardening, yard work, and babysitting – and pays quite a bit better too."

Gwendolyn sighed. "Can we change the subject, Dad?" she asked seriously. "You've had an awesome night; and I really don't want to disappoint you over and over again."

Kirley sighed too. "Okay, sweetheart; but it really is a shame to let all of that talent go to waste."

Gwendolyn laughed at that. "Now where have I heard that before?" she asked whimsically. "Oh yeah – from Grandma Catriona when she talks about you deciding not to play Quidditch."

That comment sent the conversation off in a fun new direction; and they spent an hour or so talking and toasting snacks over the fire. Some visitors stopped by for cameo moments of fun that added to the entertainment; but they were all eventually ready to head into their tents and get some sleep. Kirley and Harry went to round up James, Lily, and Jonah while Ginny and Gwenog took care of putting the fire out and cleaning up with help from Al and Gwendolyn. There were some goodnight hugs and kisses to share after that; and then it wasn't long before Al was in his bed and sound asleep for the rest of the night.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was every family for themselves; but most of them had the same early-morning entertainment – the arrival of the Hogwarts letters for all of the students. While the arrival of school letters exactly four weeks ahead of September First wasn't done by most Wizarding schools; there were still quite a few Owl Posts being delivered to the campground from Hogwarts. One owl arrived with the letters for James and Al before James even made it out of his room, but Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily had already started to eat breakfast by then; and Harry took care of the owl before sending it on its way after giving it some treats to go.

"How'd you do?" Lily asked as Al opened and quickly read over his letter."

"Seven O's," he answered; smiling happily when Ginny got up and came around the table to hug him proudly.

"Way to go!" she said enthusiastically. "We knew you'd done well winning all of those awards; but you didn't mention that you expected to earn straight-O's."

Al shrugged self-consciously. "Will you believe it if I plead not being sure?" he asked; and Ginny laughed.

"I'll believe it if you plead being modest. You're obviously not at all surprised."

"Don't forget to add that he's also a pain in the butt," Lily told her mother while pretending to scowl at Al. "How am I supposed to deal with that kind of brilliant report when it's my turn next year?"

"Don't," James told her as he sauntered into the room. "Let me guess – brainiac has seven O's. He'll need them for that future job as a quill-pusher in the Centaur Liason office."

"You've worked on that one," Al guessed. "I like it – even though that isn't going to happen."

"Well, it won't last long once the Centaurs are done with you," James conceded with a snort; "but then nobody lasts long in that department." He grabbed his own Owl Post and tore the envelope open without sitting down. He shouted triumphantly and pulled out the Captain's badge that was in the envelope with his Hogwarts letter; and then just tossed the envelope onto the table again. 'Yes!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I knew they'd make me Captain!"

"Congratulations!" Ginny told him; and he let her hug him too – which said a lot about how happy he was. "Let's see how you did on your report."

"Who cares?" James declared indifferently. "I'm going to play in the show when i'm done school; and being team Captain is more important than any grades are."

"Your father and I care a lot about your marks, James," Ginny admonished him; "and you'll care too if you don't do well-enough to stay at Hogwarts past your OWL year. It's a bit hard to show off for the scouts at games that you aren't there for – not to mention really tough to use magic if you don't earn your OWL's."

"I'm sure that I did okay," James told her. "Look if you want; but I've gotta go and call Ollie to let him know that I won the job."

"Do you think he'll even notice if Ollie's feeling bad about not being named Captain?" Al mused quietly as James ran off to his room again.

"He probably will feel bad," Lily said with a nod. "Belinda and Olivia were both junior team Captains when they were each in thir year; so he'll be the first kid in his family that isn't. Belinda's likely the senior team captain this year too; so that might make it feel even worse for him."

"Don't worry – he'll likely blame Rose and me for that," Al suggested. "We messed that up for him by being such lousy Chaser partners for him that he didn't get the attention he deserved."

"Probably," Harry agreed; "but let's not go there. How did James do?" he asked Ginny. She was sitting down again by then; and reached over to retrieve the envelope. She pulled out the three letters that were inside; put the letters about being team Captain and permission form for Hogsmeade weekends back on the table; and opened the parchment with James' second-year results.

"One O; four E's; and two A's," she advised Harry. "The A's are in Herbology and Astronomy."

"Well, that's nearly as good as the best I managed at Hogwarts; but way down the list for everyone in your family," Harry offered; earning a laugh from Ginny.

"True, and I'd be happy to cut him some slack if he had the same problems you did at school; but he doesn't have any excuses." She sighed; folded the parchment again; and put both letters back into the envelope. "He did pass everything; so there's no point in going on about it with him. That won't work with James anymore than it worked for Mum with Fred and George."

"Probably not," Harry agreed. "Do you need to run back to your room and call Gwendolyn?" he asked Al; and they both laughed.

"No, but I won't be surprised if Rose comes over soon to compare reports. I really hope she has straight-O's too; or she'll be as annoyed at me for real as Lily is only pretending to be."

"I won't be pretending when I get my frist report and I get in trouble for not doing as well as you did," she assured him. "If Rose did do as well, though, I'll at least have Hugo in the same boat with me."

"Dominique and Louis have survived going through that with Victoire," Ginny reminded her; and Lily nodded.

"Sure, but then they still mostly have O's with only one or two E's on their reports. That'd be brilliant for most other parents – including Dad and Uncle Ron. It's the rest of our over-achieving parents that make it such a problem for us kids."

"You're a good student too," Ginny reminded her; "and you won't know until you get to Hogwarts how well you'll do with the magic. I think you'll be brilliant too."

Lily shrugged. "That'd be okay – as long as it doesn't get in the way of my brilliant future as the Harpies' star Seeker."

"Now you sound like James," Harry told her. "He was so excited about the Captain's badge that he didn't even think about the permission form for Hogsmeade weekends."

"Yeah – something brand new for him to razz me about for the next year," Al said; feigning enthusiasm that had his parents and sister laughing at him.

"What's so funny?" James asked as he came back into the main room of the tent that held both the kitchen and sitting room in one large space.

"I was just wondering how long it'll take you to remember that your Owl Post came with the Hogsmeade weekend permission form and start razzing me about it," Al answered. "You must've worked on some material for that too."

"And you can save it for another day," Ginny interjected firmly – "unless you're interested in spending some quality time talking with me about your grades on that report before I even agree to sign that permission form."

"Shutting up now," James promised as he sat down and got the letters out of the envelope again. He ignored the report; read the permission form first; and then read over the letter congratulating him for being named junior team Captain. "Ollie told me that Belinda was named senior team Captain – no surprise there. We're sure that the Avery brothers will still be team Captains for Slytherin, and Alice will be senior captain for Hufflepuff; so we'll just need to find out who will be the team Captains for Ravenclaw and the junior Hufflepuff team." He grinned then. "I wonder if Jared Davies will do an open tryout for Seeker if he's Captain? That'd suck to be him if he did and Pauline beat him."

"I'd think it'd suck for the other senior teams if they do that and she wins," Harry joked. "Wouldn't it be a good thing to not have the best Seeker in Ravenclaw on the team?"

"She won't be on the junior team; so it isn't my problem this year," James declared with a grin. "It might suck for Belinda if she doesn't have a better Seeker." He turned his grin on Al next; and it turned into a sneer. "Maybe Gwendolyn will need to play Seeker for Ravenclaw instead. That'd be good for Gryffindor and bad for her – once I've shown her what it's like to be up against a real Wizard – if you know what I mean."

"James!" Ginny exclaimed; and then shook her head. "Two words – permission form."

"Shutting up again," james said quickly; while still grinning viciously at Al as he enjoyed the reaction his barb had earned him. Al stood up and left the tent without saying or doing anything he probably wouldn't regret.

"You're a hippogriff-sized git," Lily told James when Al was gone. She stood up and punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could. "Al's really too nice to deserve a brother as rotten as you can be sometimes." She hugged each of her parents then. "I'll go out too and make sure that Al doesn't get in trouble for breaking your buddy rule."

"Don't even think about it," Harry warned when James jumped to his feet; and looked about to retaliate.

"She hit me first," he protested. "I don't have to take that; and you're obviously not going to do anything about it."

"Lily, you shouldn't have hit your brother," Harry told her. "Go outside and stay with Al until furthur notice."

James snorted. "Sure, that'll teach her," he said derisively; and Harry laughed.

"Wouldn't you think that was a horrid punishment?" Harry countered; and James just glared at him.

"That isn't funny; and this isn't the first time she's hit me and gotten away with it."

"Maybe," Ginny agreed; "but instead of being mad about that; be glad that she doesn't have a wand yet – or you're at school where she could use it on you. I've done worse to Ron for less."

"And I've heard all of those stories," Lily reminded James. "Keep that in mind starting in a year or so before shooting your mouth off. The first thing I'm goinna learn to do with my wand is Bat-Bogey hexes."

"How original," James said scathingly. "I'm so scared."

Lily grinned at him. She was near the tent entrance; so she'd turned around to face him. "I've got some ideas for that; but would hate to spoil that future surprise for you. Eat your breakfast and leave Al and me alone for a while. I love you a lot, James; but sometimes I don't like you very much."

Al was sitting in a lawn chair next to the cold fire pit, and since he had a second chair there; Lily was sure he'd expected the company. She leaned over; hugged him; and then sat down in the other chair. "Are we waiting for Rose and Gwendolyn? I thought I'd have to catch up with you."

"You know me – always the good, obedient kid," he joked. "We can go for a walk if you'd like; but I don't expect it'll be long before Rose does get here." He looked away from Lily and smiled. "Or maybe she'll be here any second now."

"You got straight-O's too!" Rose exclaimed as she hurried up to them. "That grin isn't just because you're happy to see me."

"Congratulations," Al said happily as he and Lily both stood up to hug her. "I am happy to see you too – especially after James just finished razzing me beyond what I was willing to take for one morning. He's the new junior team Captain."

"Great!" Rose said sarcastically. "Do you think we'd be allowed to go and play for Ravenclaw this year? I really want to play again; but not if it's going to be even worse than last year with James and Ollie."

"I know the feeling," Al agreed; "but then the Captain gets to make those decisions; so i won't be surprised if I don't make the team no matter how well I do at tryouts. He'd be an idiot not to want you for his Keeper, though."

"He'd be an idiot not to want the best available players at every spot," Lily amended. "The good news for me is that I'll only have to worry about playing on the same team with James once in my fourth year; and I'll guess that he won't give me a shot at being Seeker if he's Captain that year. You'll have problems with him playing on teams with you for three out of the next four years."

"Did you come out here to cheer me up?" Al teased. "You're not doing very well at it so far if that was the plan."

"If I promise to win three games a season for the junior team to help out your senior team during two of those years so that we can still win the Quidditch Cup will that cheer you up?"

"No, but it'll make us laugh," Rose assured her as she and Al did laugh. "I'm not doubting that you'll be Gryffindor; but six wins in two seasons in a row is a lot to hope for – especially if your competition is as good as Jonah on all of the other teams."

"I'm hoping for nine wins in three seasons including your third year," Lily advised her seriously. "Jonah is welcome to win his other six matches; and that'll still be better than the best James can hope for with is first three seasons."

"That's true," Rose agreed. "The best he can do now is five wins and a tie if he wins all three matches this year."

"Which is why he'd better have the two of you on his team – and not make it hard for you to play your best," Lily said with a nod and bright smile. "Have you heard about any of the other team Captains yet? James told us Belinda got it for the senior team; he and Ollie are sure that Alice will have the job for the senior Hufflepuff team; and they think that the Avery brothers will be the Captains for Slytherin."

"Those picks will only be a surprise if they don't happen like that," Rose answered. "I haven't heard about the other team Captains yet, but I'd expect it to be Jared Davies for the Ravenclaw senior team; and maybe Jonah Finch-Fletchley for the Hufflepuff junior team – though Tory would be better if they'd give her the chance."

"What about Gwendolyn's team?" Lily asked next; and Rose grinned.

"I'd pick Gwendolyn, since she's not only their best returning player; but the smartest at Quidditch too. They do have three third-year guys, though; so it could go to Brandon Graves or Mark Goldstein. Seth's a decent Beater; but not better than Brandon."

Ten minutes or so later, they found out that Rose's first choice for Ravenclaw was something that the powers that be at Hogwarts agreed with. Gwendolyn had a very enthusiastic hug and kiss for Al when they met outside of her tent and she happily gave them the news. Jonah had come out of the tent with her; and they all started walking toward the concessions booths for something to do while Kirley and Gwenog were going to be busy for a while and Harry and Ginny had advised Al and Lily that they had some time to do whatever they wanted while they did some work around the tent and campsite – and got ready for their afternoon at the stadium.

"Mum and Dad were floored by my report too," Gwendolyn advised Al and Rose. "Five O's and two E's is way better than either of them ever did at Hogwarts. Mum's thrilled that I'm team Captain too; but I'm a bit worried about how the guys will take that news – especially Brandon, Mark, and Seth."

"Maybe they'll love it as much as we do," Rose told her seriously. "I wish they'd made Al Captain for our team instead of James. "James and Ollie will make playing on the team miserable for Al, but they try to mess things up for him all of the time anyway; and Al would've been a better pick."

"You'd be as good – or better," Al said; and Rose smiled and shrugged.

"I might do okay at it too; but wouldn't do as well as you because my Seeker and one of my Chasers would spend half the year fighting off Bat Bogeys after bugging me too often. I don't know how Louis had the patience for James and Ollie."

"Now you just have me wanting to send a letter and ask Mr. Peakes and whomever else makes the Captain decisions to reconsider," Al told her with a laugh. "Then again, there's no law that says you need to be team Captain to do that to them."

Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose wanted to run with that idea for a few minutes; but they were soon having more fun playing games and enjoying the action going on around the campground until it was time to meet up with their parents again. The campground fun didn't end there, since they still had hours to go before it was time to head for the stadium; but the play time was with their families for the next few hours. They caught one of the morning stage shows – a puppet theatre that included interaction with Witches and Wizards on-stage – as well as a few adversaries for the puppets to deal with; such as the always-dangerous-for-puppets pygmy puffs and a puppet-eating plant. Al and Gwendolyn were part of the group that went swimming after the show; they played more games; and then had another family and friends lunch together that all helped to keep them entertained until they headed for the stadium in time to be there when the gates opened.

Along with the play time, Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn also eventually got to hear most of the Hogwarts letters news from their cousins – along with more Quidditch and school news as the older cousins began to hear more from their friends through mirror chats. Within the family, Al and Rose technically had top marks; though they weren't the only students with seven O's – and Molly and Louis each had eight O's to go along with two E's for their OWL and third-year classes. Dominique had seven O's and two E's, and Lucy earned six O's and three E's; so James ended up with the dubious distinction of having the worst report in the family for the year.

Molly was also a Prefect again, and she had a lot of the Prefect and Head Boy and Girl news for everyone. Jared Davies was named Head Boy as well as Ravenclaw's Quidditch Captain for the senior team. Some kids were surprised to find out that Ashley Greengrass had been named Head Girl, since that hadn't happened for Slytherin all that often since the war; but they decided that she must just be the best choice the Professors had seen from Slytherin in a while and decided to give them a turn. The only other Prefect news that was of interest to the Weasley kids was that their new fifth-year Gryffindor Prefects were Brandon Starkey and Savannah Scott. There wasn't a surprise there, and though Lucy and Olivia were good students too; Savannah was a bit better – and had wanted to match her big brother, Jensen, with being a Prefect at least as much as Lucy and Olivia wanted to play Quidditch. Finally, the last Quidditch Captain news came from Bristol when she crossed paths with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose and let them know that the Hufflepuff junior team Captain was Jonah Finch-Fletchley.

James had loved hearing that news later nearly as much as he'd been happy to find out about Gwendolyn being named Captain for Ravenclaw. By lunchtime he'd pretty much guaranteed to everyone who would listen that his team was sure to win all three games – and do that big in every match. Those assertions were mostly met with general amusement, but Gwendolyn was happy to listen to all of his bragging and keep the information for future reference and use with her team. She wasn't the only Witch that wasn't amused by James' lofty and pompous predictions, but while Gwendolyn kept her mouth shut; Dominique and Lucy were happy to fire back when James assured them that it would be okay this year if they didn't do very well without Victoire on their team and no decent Seeker prospect around for their team until he could play with them in another year.

While Hogwarts letters ans school Quidditch were hot topics all morning, that was all but forgotten when they headed over to the stadium – along with the other first few thousand Witches and Wizards making the short trip there in the first wave that would eventually have the campground all-but-empty by game time. They had to split up into smaller groups to wander around the outer ring of the stadium where the food and souvenir booths were set up. They bought the official programs; a few toys; a couple of World Cup wheezes; and quite a few different World Cup souvenirs ranging from hats and banners to pins and earrings. Crossing paths with people they knew was always fun; with one particular highlight for their group happening when they bumped into Viktor Krum and his family.

Harry and Ginny didn't see Viktor very often, but their shared history did make it easy to renew their very casual frienship. Ginny had hugs for him, his wife, and their kids; and she led the micro chat they had time for before moving on again. Since Viktor was the most-talkative member of his family; that made it easy for Harry and Al to stay in the bacground and enjoy the show. Viktor's wife, Anna, was anything like Ginny, Hermione, or Fleur; though she was beautiful too; at least in Al's opinion as he and Gwendolyn mostly stayed out of the way and only exchanged a few words with Viktor's kids. The biggest difference was that Anna was very quiet and gentle – something that his fiery mother was never accused of being – even though she could be both with the people she loved the most. Their kids were younger, with nine-year old Victoria the oldest; followed by her six-year old brother, Nikolas; and their baby sister, three-year old Elsa.

They didn't ask, but Al did wonder if the youngest girl had been named after the Muggle Disney movie or fairytale; and thought it was cute to have mother and daughter named that way if they actually had done that. The movie, Frozen, was still one of Lily's favorites, and she definitely would have asked if she'd been with them; but she'd gone with Roxanne and one of the other groups instead. The highlight of the actual conversation prt of the little visit was Viktor pretending to be mad at Ginny for not only beating him in their one and only World Cup match, but then also training her replacement and protege to be too good too. He was still cheering for Gabrielle and her team to win the day; but only because she was Fleur's sister – and he could at least know that he was beat by the best Seeker in the world this year if she did win the championship for France.

Other fun moments that were more kid-friendly for Al and Gwendolyn were visits with some of Gwendolyn's Weird Sisters' cousins; watching Harry and Ginny catch James and Louis flirting with a group of young Witches; and a few more chats with other students they knew from school. While they only had two visual encounters with Slytherin students that were at the game with their families, they didn't run into any of Al's biggest haters, so while they didn't speak with those teens; it also wasn't too uncomfortable for them either.

They didn't pick up drinks and snacks until right before they were ready to go to their seats; and then the game of musical seats was on as they worked out who was going to sit where and with whom. It was a given that Al and Gwendolyn would sit together, but they also managed to make room for Bristol and Rose with them; Lily, Hugo, Jonah, and Roxanne ended up in the seats directly in front of them; and Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley ended up behind them. The rest of the gang that had bought tickets in one huge block worked out the rest of the seating, and while Bill, Fleur, Casey, and their kids weren't far away; they were actually sitting in the section that had been reserved for the players' families for France. Teddy was with Victoire, and while Al and Gwendolyn had talked to them a couple of times since they'd arrived at the campground after work on Friday evening; they were too far apart to do that at all during the game – not that you could talk to anyone from very far away with the level of noise that more than one hundred thousand Witches and Wizards could make in a stadium.

From the time the gates had opened, they had an hour and a half to go until the start of the pre-game show. Wandering around the souvenir booths had taken up a lot of that time; but there was also a lot of action happening on the pitch that kept spectators entertained even if they went straight to their seats. Add in the fun from crowd-watching; and even sitting in your seat and doing nothing wasn't at all boring. Al and Gwendolyn also got to be around for the always-expected fans that wanted to get autographs or just introduce themselves to their parents and the other famous members of their group. As always, Ginny and Kirley were best at handling all visitors; Gwenog deftly weilded her tough Beater-Manager persona; and Harry muddled through as best he could while trying to let Ginny have the spotlight as much as possible. Since he looked so much like his father, Al got some attention too, and he and Gwendolyn talked with some of the kids while their parents were all busy; but they were more than ready to enjoy the pre-game show when the apparent Master of Ceremony stepped up to a microphone at the front of the stage.

The pre-game show began with two bands – one from Chile and the other from France. While none of the spectators watching them perform understood more than a few words unless they spoke Spanish or French; the music was still upbeat and fun; and that was all that was needed to get the crowd fired up. Each group played just three songs; and then it was time for the dignitaries from Bulgaria, France, and Chile to do their very best to bore their audience into a stupor as effective as any draught of living death could hope to manage. Fortunately, that only dragged on for a half-hour or so after the teams were introduced; and then the game was finally on!

"Finally!" Gwendolyn whispered to Al as one of the Chilean Chasers reached the quaffle first and turned immediately toward the French team's goals. "I was about ready to ask you to use your silencing seashell on those pompous gits."

"That'd be funny, but probably a bad idea; considering how that would end for me – and for Dad. Let's hope that the game is a bit livelier."

"It won't be if that Chaser is going to try to do it all on his own for Chile today," Gwendolyn predicted. "That solo shot was so predictable; I could've stopped it."

"He'd have never gotten the shot at all if you'd been on that defense," Al suggested with a smile. "I'm surprised he managed to get that far in the first place." They watched as France's Keeper made the easy save and passed it back to one of his Chasers behind the goals. The same Chilean Chaser sped past and deflected the next attempted throw; sending the quaffle far off-course of the intended target.

"Well, he does seem to have some skills on defense – unless that was part of the opening play plan too."

"If it was; it didn't work as planned," Al said as the quaffle was eventually grabbed by another French Chaser.

While the speed of the action was fairly high, it wasn't as wild as some of the matches they'd seen so far during the summer; and it seemed that both teams were feeling each other out before taking any risks at all. Gabrielle was the one exception; and she pushed the Chilean Seeker right from the start of the match. It didn't matter to her whether she had a glimpse of the snitch or not – her game plan seemed to be to run her opponent ragged just trying to keep up with her. It was also possible that she was trying to keep the guy too busy to even have time to look for the snitch too; but then that worked both ways and it made her job tougher too.

France scored the first goal of the match, and once that happened; the six Chasers seemed to loosen up a bit and start playing with more enthusiasm. While the scoring chances kicked up a few notches; there weren't many goals scored in the first hour – only three for France and one for Chile. Gabrielle and her Seeker rival battled to a stalemate; but Gabrielle had gotten one good catch chance that had been blocked with as much luck ans skill by her opponent and a desperately-hit bludger. During the second hour, France managed to keep the lead; and both trios of Chasers did better as the score rose to ninety to fifty as theymoved into the third hour. Unlike most of their World Cup matches, France continued to build their lead through that third hour. It wasn't happening fast; but they were ahead by one-seventy to one-ten as the fourth hour began; and the Chilean Keeper seemed to be having some problems.

For her part, Gabrielle wasn't having any problems. She was putting on a Seeker clinic; and the Chilean Seeker was simply reduced to battling his hardest just to keep her from catching the snitch. Without help from his Beaters at least a dozen times; he'd have lost that duel much sooner. Many of the spectators watching the match might not even realise what they were seeing for that duel; but Al and Gwendolyn did, and when they saw what was about to be the last play of the match when there was about ten minutes left in the fourth hour; they were on their feet and cheering for Gabrielle as she pulled out an old Ginny Potter play to make a spectacular catch that gave her team the three-seventy to one-forty Quidditch World Cup Championship victory.

"How much would you like to wager that she did that one for you?" Harry asked Ginny as they all stood and cheered for Gabrielle. "I haven't even seen her use that move in at least five or six years."

"Which is why it worked," Ginny said; her smile brilliant and happy. "Sometimes I wish I was still out there playing when I see games like this one."

"I could talk to one of the Harpies' Managers and see if she'd consider letting you duel Gabrielle for the job next week," Harry offered; speaking loudly-enough for Gwenog and Kirley to hear him too. Both Witches laughed; and Gwenog smiled too.

"I'd love that; but we can't afford to keep two top Seekers on the payroll – especially when if I really needed Ginny; we already know she'd jump at the chance to play a game if Gabrielle has to miss one for any reason."

"Well, if that won't work; I could try to get Ginny's name on the short list for the next National team," Harry suggested next. "She might get quite a few votes with that one being the twentieth anniversary of your championship in oh-two."

"How awesome would it be to have a reunion team for that?" Ginny said enthusiastically; and Gwenog laughed again.

"My first guess would be painfully awesome for most of us. "You're welcome to get back in the game; but I'll stick to living vicariously through my players – and through our kids when it's their turn to shine."

"I'd say they're doing that already," Kirley interjected. "Gwendolyn had more O's on her first report than I probably had on any three of mine, and while they didn't have junior teams when we went to Hogwarts; we already have a Hogwarts team Captain in the family."

"That is really great," Gwenog agreed; "but that isn't all good for us. She did tell us that she wouldn't have done nearly as well in her classes without Al; so that means she'll likely want to keep dating him even though you didn't want her to discover Wizards until she was thirty or forty."

"I definitely never expected that dating boys would help with her grades," Kirley admitted; "but then there's a good chance that dating was part of my problems at school."

"With your band and music being the number one problem," Ginny added with a nod. "That sounds exactly like Fred and George – except they put all of their effort into their wheezes."

By then, the cheering was beginning to wind down; and they all sat and settled in again to watch the post-game action that led eventually into the awards presentations. The Chilean players and managers were presented with medals and flowers as runner-up team; there were medals and a trophy for Gabrielle and everyone else on her team; and then she was awarded the Most Valuable Player award for the Quidditch World Cup. While that was still going on, Ginny left and began to make her way toward the pitch to join the press pool that would be allowed out onto the pitch once the ceremony ended to do the post-game interviews. Kirley left then too because he wanted to get back to the campground and begin getting everything ready for the concert there. There were other bands involved in the show too, but the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids would be the final two acts on stage, so it was their magical sound system being used all weekend; and Kirley and his mates needed to coordinate everything with all of the other acts.

Harry, Gwenog, and the kids stayed until the press conference started; and then they joined the slow-moving exodus out of the stadium – along with most of the members of their family and the friends that were in the same block of seats with them. It took nearly an hour to get back to the campground, and by then; everyone was ready to go for a swim. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case for way too many of the campers; and the lake was packed with swimmers. The small strip of beach that edged the lake was too crowded too; so their swim time was more of a jump in the lake; cool off; and then get out again splash of fun – and then they headed back to their campsites and tents again. Whether you were a fan of France or Chile; it seemed as though everyone was ready to let loose and party now that the game was over; and all of the common areas of the campground were crowded with Witches and Wizards of all ages looking to have fun.

That was why Al and Lily had strict orders to stay in groups of family and friends as much as possible. James didn't have that problem for a while because he was working his three-hour shift at one of the campground wheezes booths; and then he had dinner plans with Louis and two of the Witches they'd been trying to impress at the stadium. Since Al and Gwendolyn were happy to hang out with Rose, Bristol, and anyone else that wanted to do the same things they did until they all got together for a late dinner; that part of their day was as much fun as everything else had been. Dinner was late because they wanted to wait for Ginny and some of the other working members of their family to be able to do that with them. Gabrielle was very busy with her team and their victory celebration; but she did stop by when she got back to the campground and spent a few minutes being enthusiastically congratulated by her 'adopted' Weasley family.

The entertainment highlight of the night was the massive concert on the stage, and while the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids were booked to wrap up the show; there were three other bands playing too – one each from Bulgaria, France, and Chile. Al and Gwendolyn didn't catch the entire show because of their late dinner; but they did head over earlier than most of the parents did – and went with most of their cousins so that they could try and stake out a spot in the field for their family. The field was already more than half-filled by the time they got there; so the place they eventually chose to set up their chairs and blankets wasn't nearly as good as the place they'd had on Friday night.

While the parents didn't have a problem with having that extra space between them and the stage; most of the teens worked their way closer once they had parental support for keeping their concert-watching base from being over-run by other music enthusiasts. Al and Gwendolyn stayed there while waiting for the Graves Robbers to take the stage, and by then; they were ready for the comparative break in the action. That didn't last long, though; and they did still get up and dance to some songs they liked – even if they couldn't understand the words. Doing that while still close to their parents, though, made it easier and kept them out of the crush that made dancing nearly impossible for a fifteen or twenty-yard arc around the front of the stage.

"Thanks for sticking around with us," Harry told them as he handed them drinks when they returned from the edges of their little area after one set of dance tunes. "We don't feel nearly as old when some of the teens need to take it easy already too."

"You're not old," Gwendolyn told him. I wouldn't even call my grandparents old – if I know what's good for me."

"Me either," Al agreed fervently. "You do not mess with a dueling master grandmother if you have any sense at all." That earned him some laughs because Molly and Arthur were there with some of their kids and Gwenog.

"You have nothing to worry about from me," Molly assured her grandson. "James and some of your other cousins can't say that for sure; but you've always been one of the best with me."

"We have so got to work on your reputation," Gwendolyn teased.

"Don't suggest that around your father," Gwenog warned. "That kind of thing sounds way too ominous and scary to parents." She grinned then before adding – "we'll talk later about how you think that you and Al should do that."

"Oh look, I think that band is done now. We should go and try to find some of the others before the Graves Robbers start their set," Al declared; and then laughed when Gwendolyn wouldn't budge when he tried to stand and help her to her feet.

"Let's just finish our drinks and stay around here," she told him. "When we do dance, I'd rather be able to actually do that instead of just being squished together and moving around with the crowd."

"Translation – working on your reputation can wait until later," Harry joked. "I'm okay with you putting that off indefinitely; since I can tell you for sure that bad reputations really aren't that much fun to have for most of us – even if that works for Gwenog and Kirley."

"Kirley had the bad-boy reputation," Gwenog said piously. "I have a reputation for being tough."

"Well, it's never too late to work on something like that," Ginny teased. "Would you like to grab a couple of random Wizards and go dancing?"

"No, but you and Harry can go and have fun. I'm tough-enough to defend the fort by myself if needed."

Harry and Ginny didn't go and do that until after the Graves Robbers were on-stage and enthusiastically geting the crowd fired up. When they did do that; they didn't head into the fray; but stayed out on the edges with the other, older partiers while the teens ruled the area nearest the stage. Al and Gwendolyn didn't end up dancing alone because Rose, Bristol, and a handful of the younger kids decided to escape the crush and hang out with them for the end of the night after a few of them had been bumped around a bit too much by the bigger, older teens. The Graves Robbers put on a great show, and the crowd was loud and enthusiastic already; but they managed to take that up to a new level of crazy when the Weird Kids on the block took the stage after their younger 'cousins' were finished their last set. Al and Gwendolyn dance to every song – both the rock-pop songs and the ballads. The Weird Kids were about an hour into their show when they hit Al and Gwendolyn with a little surprise – and Heather Barbary did the honors.

"Thank-you!" she yelled out after they'd finished one of their top hits and the teens had roared their approval. "I am really excited to let you know that our new album is coming out tomorrow!" She had to wait for another loud cheer from the crowd. "It will also be available here at the campground after the concert at most of the souvenir booths for a special price that's only available here for the rest of the weekend!" the cheers were even louder; and it took nearly a minute before Heather could be heard again.

"We're now going to play a few of the songs from that new album, and I'm especially happy to introduce this first one because it was a very special writing collaboration that I got to do with a couple of very talented young friends of ours. We hope that you love it as much as we do; and here's a special shout-out of thanks to my co-songwriters – my Weird Sisters' cousin, Gwendolyn McCormack; and her boyfriend, Al Potter!"

The crowd response was so polarized it was almost funny as the kids and teens cheered; and many of the adults seemed stunned for a minute as what Heather said sank in and they realized that she was talking about Kirley Duke's daughter and one of Harry Potter's sons.

"Well, you wanted to work on Al's reputation," Gwenog teased. She'd stepped up behind Al and Gwendolyn; and must have known what was coming early because Kirley was with her and they were both grinning at the two kids. "Nicely done, guys!"

The Weird Kids had put their own stamp on the 'Don't Mess With Us!" song; but the lyrics were almost exactly the same as what Al and Gwendolyn had come up with when they re-wrote half of the original draft of the song. They made it a lot funnier too as they hammed it up; and the teens in the crowd didn't have a problem with completing the unfinished word in the chorus instead of changing it to 'butts' the way the Weird Kids did to keep the rhyme intact with the next line. It was definitely strange for Al and Gwendolyn to dance to the song that they'd helped Heather to write; but it was really thrilling too – even if Al wished that he hadn't been given that recognition. The Weird Kids did appear to have another hit in the making; and likely more than one as they played more of their new favorite songs from the 'Way, Way Weirder' Weird Kids on the Block album.

Al was happy when their family and most friends didnt' make a big deal of the song news with him; but they did get more attention directed their way than he liked; and was ready to get back to their tents as soon as the Weird Kids finished their last encore song of the night. They did need to stop along the way back to pick up some of those new albums and another stop for more drinks and some bedtime snacks; but then it was once again campfire time for anyone still able to stay awake for that. Cuddling with Gwendolyn for a while was Al's only motivation for not just going to bed, and they had fun with that and a bit of music play time that Kirley led with his guitar; but Gwendolyn let Al call it a night when James and Louis joined their campfire with the two girls they'd spent the evening with; and James had started right in on him about being the boyfriend sidekick for Gwendolyn and Heather – and suggesting which words he might have contributed to the lyrics. Al didn't want to brag and didn't want to mess things up for James and Louis with the girls either; so he instead walked Gwendolyn to her tent; they shared a long goodnight hug and kiss there; and then he went to bed.

It was already the early hours of Sunday morning by then, so they now had just under four weeks to go until they'd head back to school. The Quidditch World Cup race was over; and they'd celebrate Gabrielle's win a bit more on Sunday; but then she'd need to get back to work with the Harpies to get ready for their first league match of the season that was now less than a week away too; and most of the parents would be getting back to work on Monday as well. James was done helping George out with his wheezes booths, so Al wasn't all that thrilled that he'd be around home more; but then there'd be lots to do over the next month. That action would start again in the morning, but Al wasn't really thinking about anything at all by the time he fell asleep; ready to just enjoy a handful of hours of blissful nothingness.

"Five O's and two E's," Scorpius declared; his voice cold and angry as he paced his room without even looking at Thomas' portrait.

"Shall I guess that your Hogwarts letter arrived this morning?" Thomas dead-panned; and Scorpius barked out a derisive laugh.

"Yes, and that idiot, Professor Longbottom obviously has it in for me even if he pretended all year as if he liked me. There's no way I only deserved an 'E' for Herbology!"

"Five O's is quite an accomplishment," Thomas told him; "and you can't do anything about the teachers that don't treat you fairly. Every student has to deal with that."

"Would you like to place any wagers on that before I find out how Al Potter and Rose Weasley did?" Scorpius asked, and Thomas laughed.

"No, but even if they did better than you did, don't worry about it; since there's always someone smarter than you somewhere. That doesn't make them the best – or make you any less than you are."

"You were the smartest in your time," Scorpius protested; and Thomas laughed again and shook his head.

"All evidence proves that wasn't so," he disagreed. "I also knew almost nothing about the Wizarding World when I started at Hogwarts; and it took time to become a good student. You will do better as your abilities progress too."

"Not if I have to keep learning from incompetents like Longbottom and Synistra," Scorpius countered. "That Witch must be night-blind or too dim to mark assigments and exams properly – unless she just secretly hates my family too."

"You need to stop thinking like your parents and grandparents," Thomas chided firmly. "Do not assume that your political foes have the same feelings or motivations as your family. They certainly have the capacity for hate and anger, and that can at times be exploited; but it is more likely that they pity you."

"I don't need or want anyone's pity!" Scorpius raged; and Thomas paused before responding.

"You shouldn't want that, my friend; but what I'm talking about here is understanding your enemies. You cannot do that properly if you don't try to understand that they actually do think and feel differently than we do. Finding out that Harry Potter pitied me at the end was enraging for me too, but if you truly want to lead the true purebloods to a new and better future; then that is yet another mistake of mine that you need to learn from and not repeat!"

Scorpius paced and thought about that for a while. "But if they aren't marking me more harshly out of hate for my family; then it makes no sense at all," he finally said and then flung himself into the armchair next to where he'd placed Thomas' painting.

"Well, it might mean exploring the possibility that you actually didn't do quite as well in those subjects as you believed," Thomas suggested. "You are talking about Herbology and Astronomy – and those are two subjects that you liked least all last year; judging by how often you complained about them. You were exceptional in the subjects that matter most of the seven core classes; but if you want to do better in those two as well; then make that happen next year – though you'll need to decide if doing that is worth the trade-off for whatever you won't be able to do instead."

"I wish that you could do some lessons with me right now," Scorpius said seriously. "We still have four weeks until we'll be back at Hogwarts and can do that again. This entire summer has been a waste of my time."

"You have been doing some traveling; saw some Quidditch World Cup matches; and did some sightseeing," Thomas pointed out. "My summers in the orphanage were nothing even close to that exciting."

"We didn't go to any of the best matches because Dad and Grandfather wouldn't have anything to do with supporting our National team or France because of their Seeker's connection to the Potters and Weasleys. They won the championship today, by the way; and she won the MVP award. I went outside and watched the game on my mirror, and I don't care if her sister was – and is – the enemy. That Witch is one of the best Quidditch players I've ever seen; and she's proved that to everyone with a league and World Cup championship in the same year."

"There is nothing wrong with admiring talent in others," Thomas assured him. "Just don't let that get in the way for anyone that might stand against you some day when you're ready to retake what is rightfully yours."

"I won't; though sometimes I do wish that our side had as much talent as their side seems to have in abundance."

"There is more than enough talent among the purebloods," Thomas assured him. "They just waste it on ill-formed plans and short-sighted goals. Is there any other news today?"

Scorpius thought about that. "We don't hear much from anyone else, but Mum did find out that one of my Greengrass cousins, Ashley, was named Head Girl this year. That's a first in a while for Slytherin. I don't know her at all; mostly because her mother is a Rosier; and her family is aligned with them instead of Mum's family."

"She must have talent," Thomas mused – "the kind that you'll be looking for. Keep an eye on her. The Rosiers might not want to have anything to do with your parents and grandparents anymore, but you're going to change that with all of those families; and you'll want the most talented among them to help you."

"I doubt she'll even notice me for years to come; but I will do that," Scorpius promised.

While they couldn't do any magic lessons, Scorpius enjoyed at least being able to talk with Thomas most nights when he was home; so he stayed up late doing that before eventually being ready to get some sleep. Receiving his Hogwarts letter did mean that the four-week countdown was on, and once he picked up his second-year books; he'd be able to work on getting ready for those classes – even if he couldn't risk doing any magic that wasn't part of his summer revision or a look ahead at the second-year material. His parents had other plans that would get in the way of what he thought was most-important, but he'd deal with that as best he could; and count down the days until he could be back at school and able to have Thomas teach him new lessons throughout the entire school year.

Not everything was going as well as he'd dreamed that it should, but he was hopeful that his life would keep getting better – just as Thomas promised him that it would. He was willing to put in the work to make his dreams a reality, and if there was one bright spot to be found when everything wasn't already perfect; it was that there was lots of room to grow from good to great!


	12. Holidays&Home B4 the Back-to-SchoolStorm

**Chapter Twelve – Holidays and Home Before the Back-to-School Storm**

Al was up at his normal time on Sunday morning while everyone else slept in. He grabbed a shower; got ready for the day; and packed his bag for whenever they'd be heading home. He wore his swimsuit-shorts, and could change later if needed; but could also just get one of his parents to help out if he needed a quick-dry after a swim. When he was ready, he grabbed a bottle of juice; went outside; and sat down in one of the chairs that were still out there from the campfire – probably because it never occurred to James to put them away. He was a bit surprised when Rose joined him there five minutes later; but then she'd probably turned in early too.

"I knew you'd be awake," she said quietly as she sat down next to him. She had a drink in hand too; and set it down on the ground next to her chair. "It's so quiet now. What a difference to the madhouse it was around here last night. I have no idea what time Dad got back from his wheezes booth; but it must have been really late."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "Did you have fun for the rest of the night after the concert?"

"Bristol and I picked up the new album and played one of the booth games for a while on the way back to our tents; she stayed with Mum, Hugo, and me around our fire for a while; and then we both went to bed early compared to everyone else. It took me quite a while to get to sleep with all of the noise."

"That didn't bother me at all," Al admitted; "but James apparently needed to impress the girl he brought back to our campfire and needed to use me to help out with that. Gwendolyn and I called it a night then; and I have no idea how long he and Louis stayed up – or whether they spent all of that time with the girls around the campfire or not."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing today?" Rose asked next. "Dad will be dealing with his wheezes booth most of the day; so I doubt we'll be doing much – and will probably be drafted to help him when it's time to pack up and haul everything that isn't sold yet back to one of the stores."

"Mum probably has a bit of work to do too; but they were talking about doing some sightseeing before we go home. Consider yourself invited if that'll help you out today."

Rose laughed quietly. "That's a tough one – go sightseeing but have to put up with James; or stay here and probably get put to work with Dad."

Al laughed too. "Is it that tough? I'm actually wondering if I should be the one getting you to invite me to stay."

"I'll guess that you won't think that for long if Gwendolyn is going on that sightseeing trip with you."

"Probably not," Al agreed; "but I don't know if her Dad has to help out with the bands today or if he's done for the rest of the weekend."

"Speaking of that, did you see that you and Gwendolyn are in the album credits for your song?"

"Yes, and I wish that I wasn't – even if Gwendolyn loves it. It was bad enough to have Heather mention me last night – proven by how much fun James was having razzing me about it. Did you know that I'm so dim that my contributions to the lyrics was probably the 'aaa...' because I couldn't come up with a rhyme or even finish an entire word without help?"

"He's going to be insufferable again now that he's team Captain, isn't he?"

"Probably," Al agreed. "The good news for me is that tryouts are voluntary."

"You're not really thinking about not playing are you?"

"Yes, I am," Al admitted seriously. "I can imagine how miserable he'd make the practices for me; and I don't think that I want any part of it." He smiled at Rose and shrugged. "I haven't decided anything yet; but I am going to have to think about it a lot between now and when we go to school."

"If you don't play on the team; he'll blame you if we lose any games," Rose pointed out; and Al nodded his agreement.

"True, but if you're playing Keeper; I seriously doubt that I'd have any fun playing Chaser with Ollie – even if Ray makes the team this year too."

"Do you think he wouldn't?" Rose asked. "I thought that he's been doing pretty well this summer."

"He is geting better, but if James picks his Keeper first; I don't know how he'd do against you in one-on-one duels. It's not as though you'd slack off and give him an unfair advantage."

"No, but I will likely try a bit harder against Ollie," Rose told him seriously. "Do you think that James would put him on the team even if he doesn't score any goals against me?"

Al laughed. "Now that's a fun thought. I'll take that possibility into consideration before deciding what I'm going to do about Quidditch this year. If you could keep Ollie off the team and we only had James to deal with; we might be okay."

They had fun chatting about that until Harry came outside to wish them a good morning; and then it was time for Rose to head back to her tent while Al helped his father with getting breakfast for five ready to go. They cooked that meal; four of them ate while James procrastinated as long as possible before deciding that he should eat before the food was no longer there for him to have and the tent was being packed up. They didn't go swimming in the lake or do anything else around the campground once their campsite had been cleaned up and Harry had quietly sent their gear home – something that not even James seemed to notice was a remarkable feat of Magic to send all of that gear from Bulgaria to their house.

After that, they got together with the McCormacks and some of the other members of their family; and ended up with a small gang that wanted to go sightseeing for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, and Jonah were in their group along with a few other cousins, and while Kirley did need to do some work first, Gwenog came along; and he joined them later once he'd helped with getting all of the band equipment home by hauling everything back there using Portkeys and making several trips. They only picked two places to go for their mini tour – Sofia and Sunny Beach. The capitol city stop was a whirlwind of a tour of both Muggle and Wizarding Sofia; with the Wizarding section of town also a place to do a bit of shopping. The Sunny Beach visit was all about some water play time on the Black Sea coast; and they all loved spending a few hours at the beach and playing games. Some of them went to a Muggle waterpark for some bonus fun; but then it was eventually time to head home and end their amazing weekend with some fairly dull but necessary chores ahead of a busy work week.

Al and Gwendolyn had to say goodbye shortly after getting home; though the McCormacks had taken the same Portkey with the Potters; and Gwenog and Kirley did stay long enough to have one last little chat with Harry and Ginny before taking their kids home. That wasn't a tough parting because they'd already planned to meet in Diagon Alley on Monday to shop for their school books and supplies now that they had their letters and knew what to get; so it was really going to be just a matter of hours before they'd be together again for a while. Once the McCormacks were gone, there was still a fair bit of time left for doing all of the chores because of the time change from Bulgaria to home. Al and Lily were happy to help; and James found every excuse he could to hide from the work. Al was actually okay with that, since if James was hiding; he wasn't around to insult him.

The time difference had helped them when it came to the late night fun, but it worked against Al after his early start to the day; so he ended up crashing into bed for the night about five minutes after he was finished with the chores that Harry and Ginny had given him to do. That did allow him to stay on his normal schedule, though; and he was up early on Monday morning and again ready to have a great day – even if that included a back-to-school shopping day with his Grandmother, Aunt Angelina, all of the younger cousins; and three out of four of the McCormacks. Breakfast wasn't anything fancy, but he took care of getting everything ready; and the biggest problem of the morning was getting James moving in time for Ginny to get her kids to the Burrow before going on to work at the Harpies' training camp. Molly wanted to get to Diagon Alley as soon as the stores were open to hopefully get a jump on the back-to-school crowds that were sure to keep the stores there busy for the next four weeks; so they took the Floo Network there as soon as Rose and Hugo were there too – and met up with Angelina and the kids at George's store. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah caught up with them soon after they arrived; and the shopping adventure began in earnest!

"Great, we're starting with the books," James said scathingly. "Why don't you go on ahead with that; and I'll take Hugo, Lily, and Roxanne and wander around Quality Quidditch while you're busy doing that?"

"You won't do that because you are going to get your own books," Molly told him firmly. You'll be fittied for your own robes after that, and then, if you're good; I'll consider letting you off the hook for picking up your potions supplies, inks, and quills; and let you go and have some fun with your younger cousins instead."

"Come on, James," Fred told him. "You can help me find my first-year books too. The faster we get the boring stuff done; the sooner we'll be able to go to the fun stores."

"I think that the book store is fun," Al told Gwendolyn quietly. "Considering how little he uses his textbooks; it's a wonder that I still need to get five-of-seven of our second-year books – and only two of them are new this year. I don't know what he used his textbooks for instead; but three of them were mangled beyond repair when Mum took a look at them last night while making my list for Grandma."

"Merlin only knows with James," Gwendolyn answered philosophically. "Jonah's already got my first-year books and has been reading them. He likes that I wrote in a lot of notes from our lectures and practical work."

"I didn't write in my books as much as you did; but I gave Lily all of my notes as well as the textbooks. She's been reading them too; but gets bored with it because she can't try out any of the spells or potions yet."

"I'll be glad to get back to school so that we can do more too," Gwendolyn admitted. "The charm bracelet has helped make my summer easier than I expected it would be; but I miss getting to do magic for more than just our school work."

"We'll work on your charm bracelet so that it'll be able to do even more by the Christmas holidays," Al promised. "I'd suggest that we just try and get the law for that changed, but with the Ministry of Magic; something like that could take centuries."

"You'll likely need to work on some new seashells or something else too," Gwendolyn suggested. "James will surely try to charm some things for him to use at home from now on too now that he's found out that he can. Being ready for that could take some planning."

"We can do that too, but Mum and Dad did make it clear to us that all other underage rules apply; so he wouldn't be able to do anything that wouldn't be allowed."

"True, but that's only a problem if he's caught," she pointed out. "We know that using my charm bracelet doesn't set off any alarms at the Ministry; so you'll need to be ready for anything he can throw at you."

"Literally, if he has a levitation charm," Al joked. "Let's talk about our second-year classes instead. Is there anything you're especially looking forward to learning this year?"

That question got them talking about some of the magic they'd be learning about starting in just another four weeks as they rounded up their textbooks and all of the other supplies they could get at Flourish and Blotts. They each picked up a couple of fiction books to read during the rest of the summer too; and still managed to be first through the checkout. Rose had gone around with Lily to give Al and Gwendolyn some time together without a third wheel; but they were next to meet up with them; and James and Fred were last – mostly because they'd been goofing off and causing a bit of mischief while getting their books by setting a few of the Monster Book of Monsters books loose to terrorize some of the customers until a couple of the book store employees could get them rounded up again.

From there, it was on to their robe fittings. At twelve and thirteen, they'd all grown by inches since getting their robes last summer; and it took a while to get all of the older kids fitted for the regular robes they wore to classes and one or two dress robes for special occasions. James annoyed everyone by complaining most of the time they were doing that, and while Molly had only offered the fun shopping carrot if he was good, by the time they were done with getting the robes; she was just ready to let him go with Hugo, Jonah, Lily, and Roxanne and have a break from him for the hour or so that it took to finish up the rest of their supply shopping. That included getting Fred's wand; though he did that with Angelina while Molly had Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose with her to help out with picking up the potions supplies for all of the kids. That wasn't too much trouble, since the shop had starter kits for each year; and they only added a few extra potions supplies that they knew they'd need more of than was included in those kits.

The rest of the supply shopping was wrapped up in time for lunch; so they stayed in Diagon Alley and ate at one of the cafes; and then Kirley took his kids home while Molly headed back to the Burrow with her gang and their bags full of books, clothes, and supplies. Angelina helped her with that, but then left Fred and Roxanne behind; and went to take care of some other errands that she needed to deal with during the rest of the afternoon. Molly had work to do around the Burrow that had been put on hold for the shopping trip; and she put as many of the cousins to work to help her with that as she could – not including James, Fred, and Hugo because they took off and disappeared before she could assign any work to them. If Gwendolyn had been there, Al might have been tempted to try an escape too, but she wasn't; so he didn't have a problem with keeping busy and helping his grandmother out with some gardening and de-gnoming for a few hours.

While that wasn't fun by comparison to their long weekend in Bulgaria or the shopping trip; helping out with the work did earn Al, Rose, Lily, and Roxanne their grandmother's heart-felt gratitude. Ginny was finished her work a bit early, so she had a visit with her mother before taking the kids home; and Al and Rose sat in to hear the latest from the Harpies training camp. The only news that mattered there was that Gabrielle didn't look tired out at all, and unlike some of the Seekers that might still be getting back in shape after having the usual off-season break in June and July; she was still playing in top form – and even more fired up to be playing with Victoire on her team. Ginny had the kids home in time to make dinner and have it ready when Harry was done work; and Al and Lily helped her out with that.

A light rain had begun by then, so they were indoors for the evening, but Al was good with that too; since it allowed him to spend the evening in his room getting a start on reading his second-year textbooks. While he did that, Harry and Ginny worked in the office; James mostly goofed off; and Lily played with Holly. Lily and Holly spent some time with Al too, but he was being too boring; so she played some video games with James too. She was helping Al out by doing that too; since keeping James distracted had the added bonus of keeping him from delivering any drop-in insults to Al on his way to or from his own room the way he had been doing since Al had gone to his room after dinner. James had also used every opportunity he could to stick his Captain's badge in Al's face, and he'd pinned it to his favorite jacket so that he could show it off. That didn't surprise Al, but it was already annoying; and he was sure that James would keep acting the way he was straight through until they went back to school – and then for however much longer he could milk it once they were at Hogwarts again.

Turning in early was an option again for Al, and he did that; but ended his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn first. They had their Quidditch practice to look forward to in the morning; and Gwendolyn had her same group of Ravenclaws coming to that workout at Al's house; but then they were also going to be at Ray's house for the afternoon to help their friend celebrate his twelfth birthday. Getting enough sleep to be ready for all of that had been Al's main motivation for going to bed early again, but then since that didn't stop James from sticking his head in the door and calling out an insult or two even after he'd turned out the lights; he didn't end up getting the side-bonus he'd hoped for – an extended break from James.

Tuesday morning was a near-repeat of Monday through until Harry left for work; James took off for Ollie's house; and Al's cousins and friends began arriving for their Quidditch practice. This time, Gwendolyn and Jonah weren't among the first to get there; so Al and Lily were already out at the pitch with more than half of the kids and teens and they were all gearing up for their workout when Gwendolyn and Jonah joined them there. That didn't keep Gwendolyn from sharing an enthusiastic hug and kiss with Al; but it did mean that the in-person congratulations began for Gwendolyn – and she found out that the guys on her team were all happy that she'd been named Captain. Al wasn't sure how to take the joking about at least one of the reasons they gave Gwendolyn for that, but then he couldn't disagree that Gwendolyn was hotter than any of the guys; so he decided to just be grateful that she was still happy to let him be her boyfriend and not think about all of the time she'd be spending with those other guys while practicing with her Ravenclaw team.

They went with the same teams this week for their scrimmage; and that was proving to be an awesome match-up for them. Gwendolyn, Landon, and Mark had worked together for nearly a year now, and played well together; but Al was a match for Gwendolyn; Ray could keep up with either Mark or Landon; and since Roxanne and Melissa took turns as third Chaser for Al and Ray; they were always rested and got some great scoring chances on Hugo whenever they could catch Mark or Landon out of position because they'd forget to keep an eye on the slower players; leaving them open behind the play to take passes from Al or Ray whenever that happened. Lily won the Seeker duel with Jonah, and since the Chaser scoring was a duel to just a slight lead for the Ravenclaw team; she won the game for her team with her third of five catch that broke the two-two tie that she and Jonah had battled to at up until then. By then, they'd been playing for nearly two hours; so they were all ready to land; get out of their equipment; and go for a cool-down swim.

"It must be nice to have the owner of the company that makes these things for an Uncle," Brandon told Al and Lily once they were all in the pool and floating around. "Mum and Dad said they're willing to get one for us if they come down in price a bit next summer; but then they've been sold out every time we've been in the store anyway. Did you get a big family discount on yours? Maybe Mum should talk to your Mum about making a deal for one."

"I think we got it for free because it was Lily's idea; and then we helped out with figuring out how best to get them to work," Al answered. "By we, the experimenting was mostly Mum and Dad doing the magic; but we had some ideas for them too – from a kids' perspective."

"The pools were your idea?" Brandon exclaimed; smiling at Lily; and she grinned happily and nodded.

"We've always gone on trips to the beach on really hot days in the summer – usually to our aunt and uncle's cottage; but I thought it'd be great if Uncle George's portable swamps could be made into pools instead. He liked the idea a lot; and now we have them."

"The pools they'll have ready by next year might be better anyway," Al suggested to Brandon. "Uncle George is working on a version that's fanged Frisbee friendly – or at least one that won't get damaged if you do play with one in the pool."

"I'd be more worried about one of them taking a chomp out of me and then getting blood in the water," Landon told them; and Al laughed.

"That's a very good point," he said approvingly. "I'll pass that on to Uncle George. Maybe it's just a bad idea to use fanged Frisbees in pools. They are working on other improvements, though – like self-heating and self-cleaning options. There might be a salt-water model available next year too."

"Just as long as he doesn't come up with prank pools that have things like disappearing water, sea monsters, or kid-eating water-plants," Gwendolyn told him; earning a round of laughs.

"I wouldn't put any of that past our Uncle," Al warned; "but he'll likely hold off on that until there are a lot of portable pools out there first. That way, it'll be easier to prank people with those other pools – not that I'd rush out and suggest those ideas to him."

"It's also a bit scary to find out that our new team Captain appears to have a knack for dangerous wheezes ideas," Mark added. "Maybe we should get you to stop hanging out with these Potters and Weasleys. They seem to be a bad influence on you."

"Don't be too hasty about that," Brandon disagreed. "Let's at least hang out with them for the rest of the practices Gwendolyn wants to do this summer. The competition is good for us; and it could help us with our games this season too."

"It'll help Gryffindor too," Landon pointed out. "They get as much of an advantage with that as we do."

Brandon laughed. "Gwendolyn will play Quidditch with Al and Rose anyway – and you'll all likely keep doing that when we're back at Hogwarts on weekends just as you did last year. I'm okay with that, since no reserve squad can ever be better than the House team players or they'd be on the team. When you put those games together this year; I'd like to see if we can get some of the other team Beaters to play with us so that Seth and I can have the better competition too – the way you and Gwendolyn do with Al, Ray, and Tory Summers."

"Do you expect to have time for extra Quidditch now that we'll have the extra classes this year?" Seth asked Brandon. "I expect to be studying whenever I'm not in classes or at team practices."

"We should get the Monday-Wednesday-Friday times this year," Brandon reminded him. "One scrimmage on the weekends wouldn't be a problem – except maybe on Hogsmeade weekends. I won't be staying at school to play Quidditch instead of doing that this year now that we can finally go too."

Those comments sent their conversation off in a new direction, but by then; Al was pretty much out of the loop and just having fun with Gwendolyn as they paddled around in the pool. While most of the Ravenclaws headed home by lunchtime, Ginny still had a small gang to feed before it was time for her to get to work; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose to go home with Ray and Melissa for Ray's birthday party; and for Rose, Hugo, Fred, Roxanne, and Lily to get dropped off at the Burrow. Ray's father was working all day, but his mother had some adult support for his party – mostly from grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Ray's mother was one of the former Harpies' players that Al knew least-well; mostly because Trish Wood had not gone to work in a Quidditch-related job after retiring from the Harpies. Marrying into the Wood family had meant spending more time with the families and friends of the Puddlemere United players too; so she had also become closer friends with them – though she did still keep some of her Harpies' friendships too.

Al hadn't been at Ray's house very often either, but he liked their house and Ray's parents; and Ray was really glad to have Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose there with him for the afternoon. Some of his cousins were already there by the time they got there through the Floo Network; though that was only because their parents had helped Trish with getting everything set up for the party. Those cousins were mostly on the Murray side, and while Ray's Aunt Katie came to the party with Kathryn; Ollie was too busy with Gryffindor Quidditch to make an appearance. Melissa was happy to have Kathryn there to hang out with, though; and Ray wasn't at all disappointed that his aunt couldn't get Ollie to come along. He wasn't as happy to find out through Kathryn that James and Ollie now had more than a full team coming to practices with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there were two sides to that; since he also wasn't really interested in being at those practices and having to put up with James and Ollie bossing him around.

Ray's friends didn't let him have time to think about stuff like that for long because they were there to celebrate his big day. He'd invited some other friends too, and while they had friends that couldn't come for various reasons – particularly their Muggle-born friends; Cora and Bristol were able to attend; and so were two of Ray and Al's Hogwarts roomates, Artemis Kettleburn and Scott Holden. Niether of the boys were in their study group, but they were slowly becoming friends with Ray; and Artemis had gotten together with Ray a handful of times so far during the summer because they lived relatively close – or at least close-enough that Art could get a ride to Ray's house for visits.

For the just-less-than four hours they spent at Ray's house, they played games; got to catch up on a lot of news about other friends that they hadn't seen at all; and demolished a fair bit of snack food, cake, and ice cream before parents began picking their kids up and taking them home. Ray had loved his gifts and having that blast of fun for the afternoon; but then his birthday fun wasn't over because his parents were having a family birthday dinner for him that would include most of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. After a busy day, Al was glad to head home; though he was also going to miss Gwendolyn; since they weren't going to see each other again until they went to the Harpies' game on Saturday.

He wasn't bored during the rest of the work week; but it was sometimes trying to be around James as he alternately gloated about what a great team Captain he was going to be while bringing Quidditch glory back to the Gryffindor junior team; and razzing Al about anything he could come up with to taunt him over. Those barbs included being a bookworm anytime Al was reading his second-year textbooks; mocking him everytime they heard 'Don't Mess With Us!' on the mirror network or WWN; or making fun of him for anything he did outside – whether that was swimming, riding his bike, or playing Quidditch with Lily or their cousins.

There was fun to be had, and though work was involved for the top event they had to look forward to; Al and Lily were both happy to help out with getting ready for the vacation they were going on beginning on Sunday; and with the work they needed to do around the house to get ready for the rest of the weekend fun plans. First up for that was the sleepover they were having with Rose and Hugo on Friday while Ron and Hermione went out to celebrate their sixteenth anniversary; and then they were going to be hosting a birthday dinner after the Harpies' game on Saturday for Ginny's thirty-seventh birthday. Those two celebrations were the only reason that their holiday trip wasn't starting until Sunday; but a sleepover, getting to see the Harpies' match against the Wasps on opening day, and a major birthday party were worth that little sacrifice.

Ginny had to work all day on Wednesday, so James, Al, and Lily were at the Burrow during the day; and the vacation trip work happened after dinner. Ginny worked from home on Thursday; and that was better for Al and Lily because James was at Ollie's for their Quidditch practice – and stayed there all day. That made getting the work done around the house and yard easier; so they pretty much had everything ready to go for the weekend by the time Harry and James got home – except for James' personal packing for their trip and the cleaning of his room that probably wasn't going to happen at all. Having all of his own work done allowed Al to spend Thursday evening immersed in his Charms textbook; and he had it half-read by the time he did his bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn.

"Have you seen that our song is top ten on all of the top mirror network music channels already?" Gwendolyn asked after they'd exchanged the usual pleasantries.

"No, but I try not to watch them because James starts bugging me every time he hears it."

"He's jealous," Gwendolyn declared. "It's tough for him to keep calling you a loser when you do so well at everything; and he hates that."

Al shrugged. "I know, but he's the one that keeps making such a big deal of it. I really just wish that I could do my thing and not worry about what anyone else thinks of me one way or the other."

"That's not totally true," she disagreed with a smile, "but it's one thing to care about doing your best; and something else to be obsessed about competing with you the way James is or bragging about being so great – even when that's not true."

"I guess; but let's not talk about James anymore. He was gone all day and I've been in my room most of the night; yet he's still managed to hit his quota for annoying me."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "How's the studying ahead going? I've gotten quite a bit done over the past two days; and will be way ahead of where I was for our first-year classes last year."

"I'm getting a lot of reading done too. Tonight I've been reading the Charms textbook. We've already taught ourselves some of those Charms; but then we knew that because we'd borrowed those textbooks from the library. I really hope that we get Professor Flitwick this year."

"I really hope that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have our double Charms class together," Gwendolyn said seriously; though she was smiling too. "We won't get to take all of our classes together; and probably won't get DADA and Potions together two years in a row; but if I have to pick two other classes; it'd be Charms and Transfiguration to take with you."

"Maybe you should think about trading one of those for Herbology to get Rose's help. You're already really great at Charms and Transfiguration."

"If you're suggesting that because of my marks in Herbology, then I'd rather take Astronomy with you – not that either of us would do very well if we had that class together and got to spend a lot of time on the Astronomy tower in the dark."

"We managed to do that while studying for the exam," Al reminded her; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"A fact that was terribly disappointing for me," she teased. "You did not make very good use of that time from my perspective."

"Then we definitely don't want to have that class together," Al said with a laugh. "I don't want to disappoint you; but don't want to fail the class either."

Gwendolyn laughed too. "There are worse things to be sent to the Heads' office for than getting caught snogging in Astronomy class," she teased. "At least you won't have to worry about having to explain something like that to your cousin this year."

"No, we wouldn't; but it would likely be worse to do that with a Slytherin Head Girl. She'd probably have that kind of news passed along to every Slytherin in the school within an hour of seeing us in her office. I'm going to do my best to stay far away from any trouble this year."

"I hadn't thought about that," Gwendolyn admitted. "I'm not suggesting that you should go out of your way to get into trouble; but it might be interesting to find out whether Victoire was harder on you for the problem you had with James and Ollie on Valentine's Day; or whether a Slytherin Head would be even worse."

"I really don't want to find out," Al said seriously. "Mum told us that the Harpies are really looking great today. Is your Mum and Glynnis as happy with how the team is coming together with two new Chasers?"

"Yes, and they're really hopeful that the Wasps won't be as ready for some payback as they think they are. I hope they're right; since I really hope that Victoire gets her first season off to a really great start."

"Me too," Al agreed. "I wonder if the Veela factor will make a difference on Saturday too. Aaron's played against Aunt Gabrielle a lot, and the other guys on the Wasps' team have been in lots of games against her; but that might not be the same as battling in close contact with Victoire at Chaser – or facing her at Keeper."

"I don't know," Gwendolyn admitted. "I guess we'll find out on Saturday for that too; but Mum really thinks our advantage is going to be that the other teams haven't seen our two new Chasers play; and Victoire's brought quite a few new plays and moves to the Harpies' game – including a few that she's borrowed from you and me."

Al groaned. "I hope she doesn't thank us for any of them with the reporters. The last thing I need is for James to have even more ammunition to use against me over the next three weeks."

Gwendolyn couldn't assure him that wouldn't happen, but they moved the conversation along; and just enjoyed being able to do that through their mirrors when they couldn't be together. They stayed up and talked later than usual too; but Al still got a good night of rest and was up at his normal time in the morning on Friday. It was another Burrow day for the kids; so breakfast was quick and easy; and then they were all off and running for the rest of the day. Rose and Hugo were the only other cousins at the Burrow for the day and they were late getting there because they'd had an anniversary birthday breakfast with their parents; and then they'd needed to help Ron with the clean-up before he dropped them off at the Burrow on his way to the store. Fred and Roxanne were spending the day with Angelina; so that left James with too much time on his hands to annoy Al while trying to be cool for Hugo.

That trend continued when they got home and James found out that they were going to have 'babysitters' – though he was half-mollified when he then was told that it was Dominique and Louis coming to stay with them while Harry and Ginny were out; and that James and Louis would be keeping themselves entertained while Dominique kept an eye on the rest of the kids. Having new material from that to razz Al about helped James to make the full round-trip from teen meltdown to his own, unique version of happy; so Al put up with it for a while so that their parents could have some peace while getting ready for their night out. Bill and Fleur brought Dominique and Louis with them; and then the two sets of parents wished Dominique luck and escaped – apparated – to London.

"Let's take Dad's motorcycle for a spin," James told Louis about a second after their parents were gone; and Louis laughed.

"Are you nuts?" Dominique demanded. "You are not taking that thing anywhere! Your Dad would kill you!"

"He and Uncle Ron took Grandpa's flying car from London to Hogwarts at the start of their second-year," James reminded his audience. "What could he possibly say to us?" He grinned then. "Don't worry about getting into trouble too, Dominique. Mum told me that Louis and I are allowed to take care of ourselves."

"Then I'll start doing that by not taking your Dad's motorcycle anywhere," Louis told James seriously. "Have you forgotten the rest of the stories about how much trouble they got into – and that they got Grandpa into at the Ministry? Then there's the whole thing about Grandpa never getting his car back again."

"I hope that we get to see it in the forbidden forest this year during our Care of Magical Creatures classes," James said enthusiastically. "It must be a mess after all of these years."

"You'd better hope that you don't see it," Louis suggested. "You look enough like your Dad that it might mistake you for him and try to run you over or something."

"It did save Dad and Uncle Ron from Aragog's brood," James reminded him. "Maybe it'd let me take it for a spin around the forest."

"That sounds suicidal to me; but let me know how that works out for you if you do run across that old Ford Anglia," Louis told him. "Instead of trying to get me into trouble with you, though, let's go for a swim; and then figure out what we're going to have for dinner."

Jame shrugged. "That sounds boring compared to flying motorcycle rides, but it's your loss, and dinner is easy – we'll just have whatever Dominique's making for the kids."

"Did you already forget about the part where we're supposed to take care of ourselves?" Louis asked in amusement. "Dominique might be willing to collaborate on making dinner; but she's not here to cook and clean up after us. That was her end of the deal for giving up a Friday night to be stuck with all of us."

"We could invite Jensen to come over," James offered slyly. "Let's make a deal!"

Dominique laughed. "He had better plans that I couldn't do with him while doing this," she advised James. "We're having burgers, hot dogs, and fries; so if you want to get in on that; then you and Louis can fire up the grill after we go for that swim – and I vote for doing that before dinner too; since it feels way hotter here than it was back at home. We had a lovely breeze coming in off of the ocean today."

They'd all gone for that swim together, but Al didn't have much fun with that as he was James' favorite target while trying to prove how witty and brilliant he was to Louis and Hugo. That's why he was first out of the pool; and how he managed to get a lot of the pre-dinner work done before Dominique even took a look at what Ginny had picked up for them before getting the five kids from the Burrow. That gave him a way of venting that was probably better than drowning his brother would be, if not as satisfying; and had the bonus of making his cousin happy when she walked into the kitchen with Rose and Lily and found the table filled with the cold salads, snacks, drinks, and everything they'd need for the burgers and hot dogs; and two pans of fries already cooking.

"You've been using those seashells of yours again," Dominique said; and then laughed. "Let's all just hide in here and pretend that we're working while Louis and James do the cooking."

"If we take the burgers and hot dogs out to them; they'd never know," Lily suggested; grinning too.

"I'll take care of that," Rose offered. "It's the least I can do for Al so that he can have a few more James-less minutes."

"He is being even more annoying toward you than usual – and worse than this time last summer when he kept bugging you about being in Slytherin. I wonder if Louis would've done stuff like that if he'd been the oldest – or had younger brothers? James doesn't do that to Lily – or at least not as often."

"That's because he knows I'll hit him; and Mum and Dad won't let him pound me back," Lily said with a smirk. "He thinks that's terribly unfair."

"Dad feels the same way for that with your Mum," Rose told her as she grabbed the platter of burgers and hot dogs that Al had ready to go on the counter. "Your Dad always stepped in to stop him from blasting your Mum too – even before they started dating."

"Maybe that has something to do with how he feels about certain Witches after he's saved their lives," Lily offered. "He's very protective of Aunt Gabrielle, Aunt Hermione, Christine, and quite a few other Witches too."

"That'd be a very long list," Dominique reminded her. "I think that he just has a problem with Wizards trying to hurt Witches. It's old-fashioned; but then I don't think that should happen either."

"And sometimes Wizards deserve to get punched or blasted," Lily added with a laugh. "A girl shouldn't be blamed for that when they've got it coming to them."

Al didn't disagree with any of that, but kept his mouth shut; and tried not to smirk or laugh. He let Dominique take over watching the fries until they were ready; went upstairs to get cleaned up and put on a clean top while keeping the swimsuit-shorts; and then made it back downstairs in time to fill his plate with food after James had already been back inside; done that; and gone back out again because they'd decided to eat outdoors instead of in the dining room. Since James was still full of insulting one-liners; Al, Rose, and Lily walked out to the Quidditch pitch and sat on the benches there to have their meal without that annoyance. Dominique stayed with the boys; but that was more to help them out with keeping James distracted than because she preferred to be with them – or more specifically; with James.

They took their time eating, so James, Louis, and Hugo had already been back for seconds and two rounds of desserts by the time they went back inside to find out that most of the desserts were already gone. Rose and Lily weren't happy about that until Al cheered them up by miraculously finding a plate with eight assorted treats on it that somehow hadn't made it onto the table with the rest of the desserts. He'd done that because of having a feeling while doing the pre-dinner work; but it had still been amazing that the other boys had been able to demolish so much food. Dominique had been able to snag one dessert because Louis had made sure of that before James had tried his best to deprive Al of any sweets; but she was happy to have another one; and saved the second for a late-night snack.

While they didn't have enough kids and teens for a full Quidditch match; they did go out to play after everyone except James pitched in for the clean-up. He'd disappeared for a while, but when Al caught sight of him around the storage barn that now also doubled as the garage for their van and Harry's motorcycle, and then he looked annoyed for a while when they first gathered out at the pitch; Al had a pretty good idea about what he'd been doing – and was amused that James had even bothered to try to mess around with the motorcycle. It didn't take james long to cheer up again once they started playing Quidditch. He and Lily had the Seeker duel; Hugo and Rose played Keeper; and while it was totally unfair; Al and Louis played Chaser against Dominique and Rose for a guys-against-the-girls match.

When that Chaser miss-match was soon too obviously not going to work out, they made a slight change so that Rose played Chaser and Keeper with Dominique; and the boys didn't go onto any offensive plays until Rose had time to get back to her goals. That worked out better; and Al and Louis only won that battle by thirty points after re-setting the score and starting the match again. James, however, didn't want to play fair with Lily. He blasted around the pitch at full-speed while she was limited to Firefly speed; and he showboated the entire time. Part two of that was why he only won their duel four-to-one; but then he claimed that he was taking pity on Lily and let her make one catch just so she wouldn't cry herself to sleep over being such a lousy Seeker by comparison to her big brother. By the end of the game, Al and Lily were both sick of James; and Louis helped them out by getting Hugo and James to go for a quick swim and then head inside to play mirror games and Muggle video games in the sitting room.

"I so wish that Mum and Dad would give me my eleventh birthday broom a bit early so that I could show that git just how good I'll be once I have a broom that's as fast as his own," Lily declared once the three boys were inside. "He drives me crazy with all of that big talk – and it doesn't even make sense when he's only won two of six games for Gryffindor so far."

"Don't go and expect facts like that to get in the way of a big ego," Rose joked. "Now that he's the Captain; we've already won the Quidditch Cup this year. The other teams should just save themselves the heartbreak and forfeit their matches to us – at least for the junior teams." She smiled at Dominique. "Your brother deserves a medal or something. I doubt that James even realises all of the back-handed insults he was flinging at Louis while razzing Al and Lily – and insulting you too by suggesting that it'll be the junior tean that'll win the Quidditch Cup for our House this year."

"I can't believe that he seriously thinks that your team won't still be really good, Dominique,' Lily told her. "We haven't seen Belinda play this summer; but she will still be the best Keeper at Hogwarts, right?"

"She will be," Dominique said confidently. "I think we'll have one of the best Chaser trios too – even though that'll be really competitive. The good news for us, though, is that we won't be up against Belinda in those games; so we should do better than the other teams." She shrugged and then added – "James is probably going to be right about us having a disadvantage at Seeker; so we'll need to try and get the big leads before a snitch catch can still win our matches for our opponents."

"Maybe you'll get a late-bloomer at tryouts," Lily suggested; and Dominique laughed.

"That'd be nice; but basically never happens. By fourth-year, the best we can hope for is that one of the reserve team players can step up – and we're already in that position for Seeker. Victoire was good-enough to step up to the job last year, but Lucy, Olivia, and I don't have that talent – even if we might be fast-enough to keep up with the other Seekers."

They stayed and swam for quite a while before heading inside too, and then Al and Rose went up to his room to hang out while Lily stayed downstairs so that she and Holly could keep Dominique company instead of leaving her alone with Louis, James, and Hugo. Al didn't have plans to do anything specific other than to stay out of James' way; but Rose was happy to talk about their second-year textbooks and compare notes about what they'd each been studying so far in the four days and change since they'd gotten them. He'd read a bit farther so far, but not by much; and they were both getting excited about being able to practice all of the new spells once they got back to school in three weeks and a bit less than a day.

Talking about their textbook pre-reading could only last so long, and there wasn't really anything that either of them felt like doing; so Al and Rose eventually went outside again to go for a walk and at least enjoy a beautiful, starlit night. They eventually ended up out on the benches next to the pitch; and they each stretched out on one of them so that they could watch the sky while talking quietly about whatever came to mind.

"I hate to bring James up, but did you notice that he seemed mad about something when we were first getting ready to play Quidditch?" Rose asked. She couldn't see Al's nod; but he answered her vocally too.

"Yes, I saw; and I noticed him lurking around the storage barn when he disappeared while we were cleaning up after dinner. I think he was mad because he found out that he couldn't just fire up Dad's motorcycle and mess with it on his own."

"Did you know that he couldn't do that?" Rose asked next.

"I did," he confirmed. "James hears all of those old stories; but it apparently never occurs to him that our parents might have learned from those mistakes when they were kids. He should give them more credit than that; since our parents are rather brilliant."

"Careful, or you'll undo all of the reputation points you've earned with co-writing a hit song with saying nice things like that about your parents."

"Maybe I'll just start a new teen trend where kids are proud of their parents – when they deserve it; of course."

"Wow, and our Dads thought that Mum was nuts to start SPEW," Rose teased. "All you want to do is convince teens that parents really aren't horrid creatures put on this earth to make our lives miserable. You're a true revolutionary!"

"How did we get to here from you asking me about why James seemed to be mad after dinner?"

Rose laughed. "I have no idea; but I'm having fun with it. Do you know what we'll be doing in the morning before we meet up with everyone for lunch and the game?"

"I'll be starting out by helping Dad with making a birthday breakfast for Mum. He hasn't said anything about the rest of the morning, but we'll need to set up the yard for the birthday dinner; so maybe he'll send you and Lily off with Mum to the Mall or something to play for the morning while he drafts James, Hugo, and me to help with the work."

"I'd suggest that he should send James along for the shopping too; but that just wouldn't be fair to your Mum on her birthday." She sat up; then stood and walked the few steps to the bench he was on and held out her hand to him. "If you're going to be up early; we should go in and get some sleep. James will likely try to keep Hugo up half the night; but he can join you in your room whenever he's had enough – or just pass out on one of the sofas in the sitting room. If a shopping morning is going to be part of what's already going to be a long day; then I definitely want to be ready to keep up with all of the fun."

Al was okay with that plan, and while they did get razzed by James when they checked in with Dominique; and Lily decided to go up to bed too while leaving Holly to keep Dominique company; that small annoyance only lasted a moment before James went back to his gaming and Al was free to go up to bed in peace. He didn't go to sleep right away, but he did get into bed and read until Gwendolyn called for a bedtime chat that they kept short because she had a busy day ahead of her too with her mother's first Quidditch match of the season. He was sleeping by the time Harry and Ginny got home and Bill and Fleur were with them so that they could take Dominique and Louis home with them. Al didn't hear Hugo come up to bed long-past when he should have; wouldn't have wanted to be awake for the early birthday celebration that his parents had in their room behind a bunch of wards and shields; and woke up fully rested and ready to have a great day with his family and their friends while celebrating his mother's thirty-seventh birthday.

"Good morning, Rose," Al said cheerfully as his favorite cousin walked into the kitchen. "Would you like to be drafted to help out with making breakfast?"

"Sure, and you've just reminded me that I've missed having such a cheerful start to my day since we've been home."

"We've seen each other lots of mornings," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed.

"True, but I'm talking about getting the day started. I felt better in the mornings last weekend too; I just wasn't thinking that it might be from missing our pre-breakfast walks and talks instead of the camping and Quidditch excitement."

"I've missed our morning routine too; and can relate to mornings being a bit less fun – at least when it comes to James usually being a bear."

"Which he's sure to be this morning," Rose advised him. "I heard him come up to bed; and he'll be lucky to get three hours of sleep – if he dropped off right away."

"Thanks for the warning," Al said with a nod. "Dad will be here any minute, but would you like to give charmed pancake flipping a try?" He held up his seashell and demonstrated. "You'll have to figure out what works best for you, but I just think about what it looks like when a pancake is flipped; do the motion with the shell in my hand; and start and stop the levitation charm at the bottom and top of the flip."

"It sounds easier to use the flipper," Rose said; and Al shrugged.

"You're welcome to do that instead; but I'm sure that you can do it this way – even if you have one or two of them flop instead of flip. I'll eat any that don't work out for you."

"Okay, but stay close for the first batch I try," she told him.

Al did that after they'd also exchanged a quick hug; but wasn't surprised when she did her first flips perfectly. If you'd cooked pancakes before and knew what it felt and looked like to do the flips right; it was easy to use the magic and visualise what you wanted – and the magic worked every time if you kept focused on what you were doing. Harry joined them before Rose started to cook her second pan full of pancakes; and joined in to cook sausages; a batch of Ginny's favorite cinnamon buns; and some croissants. He rarely ever kicked his magic into high gear around anyone, but did that with just Al and Rose in the room; and both kids had fun with watching his virtual blizzard of multi-tasking magic use that even looked a bit like a blizzard as flour, sugar, and the other ingredients literally flew through the air. He had that work done by the time Lily joined them in the kitchen; and they all had most of the food ready when Ginny caught up with them.

"Happy Birthday, Mum – Ginny – Aunt Ginny!" they collectively greeted her. Lily was first to the birthday hugs and kisses – if they didn't include Harry's birthday wake-up call for his wife right before he was ready to come downstairs to get started on making breakfast.

"Thanks, guys," Ginny told them as she continued with the round of hugs and kisses. "The food smells wonderful. When can we eat? I'm really hungry – even after eating too much at dinner last night."

"You probably worked all of that off with the dancing," Lily suggested with a grin. "No additional birthday celebration details are required by the kids, though; so don't go there."

"Okay, I won't," Ginny promised with a laugh and knowing smile that was directed at Harry.

"Breakfast is almost ready," he answered. "Who would like to risk going upstairs to wake the bear – and Hugo too if he's not up yet?"

"I'll do it," Lily offered. "James woke Rose and me when he came up to bed; so it's the least I can do for him – unless Mum would rather actually have a happy birthday breakfast. That would require letting him sleep until we head to London for lunch."

"That's a tough one," Ginny said; hugging Lily again. "I'll tell you what – let's make it his choice. We can save the leftovers for him if he wants to sleep in."

Lily was good with that plan; she ran upstairs; happily pounced, hugged, and kissed her cousin awake; and then they all heard James' loud, emphatic answer when she woke him and he rather explicitly threatened her if she didn't get lost and leave him alone. She was grinning happily when she came downstairs again; and they had something fun to talk about while they waited for the food to be ready and for Hugo to join them once he was ready to go for the day too.

"That wasn't a very nice thing for James to threaten you with," he told Lily as he sat at the table next to her once he'd been hugged by all of the Witches in the room and his Uncle Harry. "I'd be in for it with Mum for even saying some of those words let alone directing them at Rose."

"We think that he's extra-cranky now that he's a teen," Lily advised him. "Maybe he's doing all of his growing while he sleeps; so it's particularly painful first thing in the morning."

"Especially when you only get two or three hours of sleep to do that in," Hugo agreed. "I should've gone to bed when you did."

"i could make up a restorative for you," Ginny offered; and Hugo laughed tiredly.

"Not if it's Grandma's recipe, thanks anyway. I've long-since learned my lesson for that." He pasted a big, bright smile on his face. "See, I'm all better now!"

"He really has been dosed with it," Ginny told Harry with a laugh – "and looks exactly like Ron when he does that."

"I'd say he's got a better act than Ron ever did; but yes, it's obvious that they're closely-related."

They were all filling their plates by then, and the conversation moved on to birthdays, the upcoming game, and what they all wanted to do while they were on vacation over the next week. Rose wanted a few details about her parents' anniversary dinner and night out; but stopped Ginny when she started to tell them that Ron and Hermione were planning on staying in bed until they had to get ready to meet them for lunch. Ginny also opened the gifts that Harry, Al, Lily, and Rose and Hugo had for her; and then the girls found out that Harry's plans for Ginny's morning were exactly what Al had expected when they were sent off to go shopping in London for the morning; and there just happened to be a gift of Muggle money for them to use while at their favorite Mall. Once they were gone, Harry let Al help him with the kitchen clean-up because he could use his seashells; but had Hugo sit at the table and supervise.

James did wake up sometime during the next few hours, since the leftover food didn't just disappear from the fridge and counter, but he took that food up to his room and then pretended that he wasn't awake and stayed there while Harry, Al, and Hugo did all of the work that was mostly out in the yard to get everything ready for Ginny's birthday dinner party. Harry did make him get up at eleven o'clock, though, and he stomped around upstairs while getting showered and dressed for the day despite the fact that by then he had no reason to do any of that – especially since Harry, Al, and Hugo waited for him outside. They were meeting Ginny, Rose, Lily, and the rest of their lunch and game-watching group at the Leaky, and since James dragged out his teen drama act; they were closer to the last to get there and needed to place their food orders right away because nearly everyone else was already sitting down with drinks and had placed their orders with Hannah or Alice.

"What's the rush?" James demanded; still apparently in need of keeping the act going for a while longer before he'd inevitably transition into cool-teen mode by game time.

"It's opening day, and we're going to the Championship re-match game," Lily reminded him as if explaining it to a toddler. "The stadium is sold-out; and it'll take a lot of extra time to get to our seats. Some of us knew that and were here twenty minutes ago."

"Some of us don't need an hour before the game to decide on what we're going to get for drinks, snacks, and souvenirs," James shot back despite the fact that he knew that Lily was right and that there'd be line-ups at every booth and it'd be slow going along the aisles to get to their seats. "I'm going to go and sit with Louis and the other guys."

"Have fun," Ginny told him with a wave. "Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mum. Have you been having a good day so far?" she added in a whisper once he was far-enough away not to overhear. She smiled ruefully at Harry. "Don't say anything to him. It's just a phase."

"Let's hope so," Harry said with a shake of his head. "It's probably just my perspective on things like this. He didn't need to add any details for that comment with Ginny; and she leaned over and hugged him for a second time.

"Don't worry about James – or me. I grew up seeing far worse from some of my brothers. If you see any Owl Posts trying to deliver a Howler to me while we're here or at the game, though, feel free to take steps."

That comment earned a round of laughs; and then the pre-game luncheon fun was truly on again as they had fun and enjoyed another great meal thanks to Hannah and her staff. Al and Gwendolyn were particularly happy to be able to have that fun together; though he'd missed out on her birthday moment with Ginny thanks to James holding them back from getting there on-time. They did get to sit with Harry, Ginny, Arthur, Molly, Lily, and Roxanne; and they really enjoyed spending that time together until it was time to get to the stadium. Alice and Francine had been working with their mother during the lunch rush, but they were going to the game with the Weasley clan and their friends; so they were rounded up along with the rest of their gang when Harry took care of their bill. They were two of the additions to the guest list that they had room for with this game because so many of their friends were going to be at the game on the Wasps' side of the stadium, and while Neville had been invited too; he'd decided to stay and help Hannah instead while her two very favorite employees were away and she could use the extra help around the Inn for the lunch clean-up and to get ready for what was sure to be a busy dinner rush starting shortly after the four games of the day ended.

The packed dining room at the Leaky had been loud because of the confined space, and because Aunt Muriel was there too and in fine form, but the Exmoor stadium noise level was even higher with thousands of Witches and Wizards flocking there to watch what they hoped would be the best match of opening day. Some were surely hoping to see last season's league champions go down to defeat – and that would be especially sweet for them if Aaron could win the Seeker duel over the reigning Quidditch World Cup champion and MVP Seeker! While Al wouldn't discount the possibility that Gabrielle would run out of steam at some point during the season, and he hadn't even seen her often-enough to take a guess at how she was feeling after seven grueling weeks of World Cup Quidditch; he still believed that the entire Harpies team would be at their best for this first match.

Before they could get to the Quidditch part of the day, though, they needed to first get into the stadium; then explore all of the concession booths while picking up some new league season souvenirs, drinks, and snacks; and then eventually get to their seats in the Harpies' season tickets section of the stadium. Al and Gwendolyn stayed with Harry, Ginny, and Kirley to do all of that; but Lily and James went with other groups when they split up for the booth-hopping part of the adventure. One of the most entertaining changes from previous seasons for this game was that Angelina was at the game with Fred and Roxanne; and George wasn't with them because she wasn't playing for the Harpies anymore; and he decided to work at the store now that they were just three weeks away from the start of school – and while Ron was on vacation with Hermione and the kids for a week. Angelina sat with Harry, Ginny, and Kirley; so Al and Gwendolyn were close to her too; and sitting next to Lily and Roxanne in their row on Gwendolyn's side; while Rose and Hugo were next to Al with their parents in the row behind them.

"Yeah, another boring opening ceremony!" Gwendolyn said quietly to Al when the Ministry and league officials stepped forward at center pitch to begin the annual festivities that politicians seemed to find so necessary to life while apparently remaining oblivious to the fact that nobody really wanted to hear their speeches or platitudes.

"Would you prefer having our team playing in one of the also-ran matches – or worse; not even a top-eight team?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Go, Minister Shacklebolt, go!" she said with feigned enthusiasm. "At least he usually keeps his speeches for things like this short – unlike some of the other old windbags."

"They're not all old," Harry leaned forward and teased. "Some of them are young windbags."

"They should get you to do these pre-game ceremonies," Gwendolyn countered. "They'd last about a minute."

"Or less if I could manage that," Harry agreed with a nod and smile. "I don't like speaking in front of big crowds."

"Or to reporters – other than Ginny and maybe Lee Jordan," Angelina added. "That's really too bad; since these things would be more fun – and shorter." She paused while getting a few laughs for her comments. "This is more comfortable to watch from the seats than it is to be stuck standing on the pitch with nothing to do but hold your broom and sweat while in all of that Quidditch gear while those officials drone on for a half-hour or more. I could get used to being on this end of the game very easily."

"Just as soon as you stop wishing that you were out there with the team," Ginny added.

"How long did it take you?" Angelina asked; and they both laughed.

"I'll let you know when I stop getting the itch to play again pretty much every day when I'm reporting on the games and teams. We could be Aunt Muriel's age and I'll still wish that I was playing."

"Aunt Muriel probably could still play," Harry said half-seriously. "I could picture her out there on a broom bashing the opposing team players – and not needing a Beater bat to do it."

He'd said that loudly-enough for their Aunt Muriel, Molly, and Arthur to overhear; and he got the expected laughs for his effort.

"If those Wasps don't play fair with our Victoire; I might just get on a broom and do that," Aunt Muriel told him; her declaration quite possibly loud-enough for those Wasps players to hear even over the crowd noise and the amplified voice of the League official that was currently droning on about the grand history of Quidditch.

"We won't have to worry about that today," Molly assured her. "The Wasps and Harpies have a friendly rivalry these days with Jeremy and Aaron on their team."

"As if Christine would let them get away with cheating or playing dirty," Harry said with a smile as he looked across the pitch to where one of his favorite Aurors sat with her husband, family, and Wasps' fans friends.

"Good for her," Aunt Muriel boomed out in approval. "You've watched them in practice," she told Ginny. "How's our girl looking for this game?"

"Great; but we'll have to see whether she has any problems with rookie and first-match nerves today. There are a lot more spectators here than at any Hogwarts match – not to mention the millions that are likely watching this particular match on the mirror network. I expect that Gabrielle earned a lot of new fans for the Harpies with her World Cup win."

"It's too bad that was for France instead of our team," Muriel said quietly – meaning only half the people in the stadium heard her.

Al had grinned at that, and surreptitiously directed Gwendolyn's attention to the pitch where Aaron had looked up in their direction and then leaned in to whisper something to Gabrielle because they were standing next to each other as the two teams were lined up side-by-side for the ceremony.

"I'd say they heard that one for sure," he whispered; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Yes, and I hope that your Aunt doesn't single-handedly motivate the Wasps to a win today."

Aunt Muriel offered her usual, direct, and sometimes uncomfortable wit to their afternoon entertainment; but there was also a pretty good Quidditch match to watch once the game finally got started. Okay, it was a brilliant game for Harpies' players and fans; but not quite as exciting for the Wasps and their faithful. On a designed play, Victoire scored the first goal within the first two minutes; and the Harpies never looked back from there. Over the next two hours and forty minutes; Victoire, Candice, and Hailey scored thirty-three goals; and Victoire scored eighteen of those goals while assisting on six more. While they were doing that, Jeremy and his fellow Wasps' Chasers only managed to score eleven against Vicky; and they were behind by one-sixty before the second hour had ended. That didn't make Gabrielle's job easier because the scoring had been so fast and lopsided, that Aaron had been given the early signal to keep trying to catch the snitch for the loss. Gabrielle wasn't interested in letting him do that; and she won their duel to give the Harpies the four-eighty to one-ten victory.

"That's the way I'm going to want to start my professional Quidditch career!" Gwendolyn told Al enthusiastically after they'd finished cheering for their team and for Gabrielle. "Victoire gets the win; and is even top scorer just ahead of her Aunt Gabrielle. Could it possibly get any better than that?"

"As good, yes; but probably not better," Al agreed. "The scary part of this game for you is that Victoire, Candice, and Hailey are all really young – and they're obviously coming together as a really well-matched trio."

"That could be a problem," she agreed. "Should I have a talk with Rose and find out if this is part of her master plan too?"

Al laughed. "If she has that much control over the Quidditch world right now; we should probably just get used to the idea that we'll be playing for the Cannons when we grow up."

"Even after joking about that for quite a while now; I still can't picture it without laughing," Gwendolyn said after she'd finished laughing at his comment. She smiled as they watched Gabrielle and Victoire share an enthusiastic hug once they'd both landed on the pitch. "I want to have those kinds of moments when I do make it to the show, though, so I really hope that Mum will have room for me on the team."

"For us," Lily leaned back and said cheerfully. "That'll be you and me in about eight years from today."

"That would be awesome," Gwendolyn agreed. "Will it be a week after I win a Quidditch World Cup too?"

"A week after we win it," Lily amended. "The National team will pick me for the team after my brilliant NEWT year with the Gryffindor team – instead of James."

Gwendolyn and Al weren't the only members of their group to hear that prediction and laugh; and Lily grinned at all of them impishly. "It could happen; though I might have to wait until twenty-thirty for my shot at winning the World Cup."

"She's definitely your little girl, Ginny," Muriel declared in her booming voice. "You go right ahead and do all of that, Lily. You've convinced me that you can!"

"Then I'm half-way there," Lily said happily. "Thanks, Aunt Muriel. I love you."

Those last three words had Muriel tearing up a bit; then blaming it on the dusty old stadium that wasn't really that old at all; but her family pretended not to notice that she loved all of them right back and had a special place in her heart for Ginny's little girl. This time, Ginny was not doing the post-game interviews because she was celebrating her birthday and left that job to other reporters; so they soon made their way out of the stadium and headed for home and the birthday party and dinner that Harry was hosting for Ginny. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah came home with them – as did most of the group that had been at the stadium with them – and about half of the gang that had been with Christine and Bryce on the Wasps' side of the stadium.

Since there was lots of adult and over-age support for Harry, Al wasn't drafted to work when they got back to the house; so going for a swim with Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily and the other kids and younger teens was an option. They played some Quidditch after that too; and that was even more fun for Al and Gwendolyn because they played their one scrimmage match on the same team with Rose, Fred, Dominique, and Lily; and won the match against James, Louis, George, Lucy, Angelina, and Roxanne. Lily didn't win the Seeker duel with James, but she did have two of five catches despite his faster broom thanks to Fred helping her out a lot; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Dominiuqe out-scored their Chaser opponents by eight goals thanks to a very good Keeper defense from Rose while Louis had a lot of trouble dealing with his sister, Al, and Gwendolyn.

Ginny was being roasted by her family and friends during dinner, so the kids were on the sidelines for that; and Al and Gwendolyn had their meal with Rose, Lily, Jonah, and three of Christine and Bryce's grandkids so that they could help out with kid control. That was entertaining and a bit scary; but then most of the kids and teens just wanted to get through dinner and then get back to playing and swimming for the rest of the evening. Al and Gwendolyn didn't play Quidditch again, but they did watch a short match that Ginny and Harry played in – and had a very entertaining Seeker duel. Ginny cheated outrageously to get the three-to-two win; but Harry didn't have a problem with losing when that involved some mid-air snogging with his wife.

The party began to wind down at dusk; partly because some of the guests needed to be other places – whether that was to take grandchildren home to Saturday babysitting services or to go to other parties or weekend plans. Gwenog and Kirley took their kids home by shortly before ten; though they took some extra time saying goodbye to Harry and Ginny so that Al and Gwendolyn could have a proper goodbye too before he'd be away on holidays for a week; and they'd yet to work out any visits for her to the cottage they'd be staying at on the coast not far from Bill and Fleur's place. Ron and Hermione took their kids home early too; but they'd be back together again in the morning because they were renting a cottage for the week too. The last guests left by eleven o'clock or so, and by then; Al was ready to head for bed; did just that; and was soon out cold for the rest of the night.

Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily were all up before dawn; they got to work packing the van; and put together a picnic breakfast to take along with them when they were ready to hit the road. James would normally have groused about getting up that early, but Harry solved that potential meltdown from happening at all by advising his elder son that he'd be riding shotgun in the motorcycle sidecar instead of going in the van with Ginny, Al, and Lily. That made the trip particularly pleasant for everyone, and while Al and Lily would have enjoyed some time with their father; they'd get chances to go for rides with him while they were away instead. Making the entire trip with minimal teen drama was worth that little sacrifice.

Driving to the coast took a lot longer, but they were renting the cottages from a Muggle agency; so it was a bit tough to explain arriving by apparating or Floo Network with all of their gear for a week away from home. It didn't take long to get the keys for their cottage and then drive over to it from the rental office; but then they did need to take some time to unload the van and get everything into the cottage and put away or at least moved into bedrooms, the kitchen, bathrooms, and sitting room. The two cottages that Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had rented for the week were next to each other, but still relatively secluded. They overlooked the ocean; there were paths down from the bluffs to the beach; and there was a less-used path through the small stand of trees between the cottages that they could use to walk between the two places. By the time their work was done until lunchtime, they could hear that Ron, Hermione, and the kids had arrived too; so Al and Lily walked over there to see Rose and Hugo – and help out with the work too if they could do that.

"How was your drive?" Rose asked after hugging her cousins in welcome. "Ours would've been a bit shorter; so Dad thought we'd get here first."

"Dad brought the motorcycle," Al advised her with a smile. "He might've gone a bit faster than he should; and Mum was happy to keep up with him in the van. We were up really early too."

"Then I'm surprised you look so happy – unless you're just happy to be out of the van and away from James."

Al laughed. "We're happy about both of those things too, but James wasn't a problem. He went with Dad; so Lily and I had fun with Mum."

Rose nodded and handed him a couple of suitcases before grabbing a bag that she threw the strap over her shoulder to carry it and then she pulled two boxes out of the trunk of their sedan to carry inside too. "Now that you're here, we'll have this done in no time; and then maybe we'll be allowed to go exploring until lunchtime."

"James is already doing that," Lily said. By then, she'd picked up two bags; Hugo had boxes to carry; and they were all ready to head into the cottage. "Your place is a bit different than ours; but they're both really nice. Mum and Dad have an awesome view of the ocean from their bedroom windows; but Al and I have the rooms at the back with nothing to see but trees and rocks."

"We'll only be in them to sleep," Al reminded her; "and we both hope that Mum and Dad don't plan on spending the entire week in their bedroom."

"That might not be all bad," Lily teased. "It would keep them too busy to keep a close eye on us."

"Are you planning any major trouble kind of fun while we're here?" Hugo asked in amusement. "Compared to James; they'd never notice if they were standing next to you at the time."

"He's toned the pranks down a lot since Al and Gwendolyn blew up his big prank attempt on them at the first of the summer," Lily reminded them. "Maybe he'll be good all week while we're here too."

"If he doesn't do any major pranks for the rest of the summer; I'll feel sorry for anyone in his way when we're back at Hogwarts," Rose offered. "He'll be ready to make up for not having that kind of fun while we're home."

"Well, if he does that, at least you'll pretty much be caught up with him when it comes to learning magic," Lily observed. "You and Al will have your second-year books half-memorized by then; and James hasn't likely learned anything new this summer so far – unless he's been plotting all-new pranks and practical jokes to use at school with Ollie."

"You can be sure he's doing that," Al said seriously. "We have some really great weather today, though; so let's talk about what we can do today – unless you've heard about anything we're doing that we haven't been told about yet."

Rose and Hugo had no news on that because there wasn't anything to tell. The first day at their cottages was a settle in and relax day; and the four parents were in need of the break after a busy week and first two-thirds of the weekend – including their Sunday so far. Once the initial work at 'the Weasley's' cottage was done; the kids were set free to go exploring; though they all walked over to 'the Potter's' cottage first so that Ron and Hermione could hang out with their best friends while the kids wandered the yards, walked the beach in each direction for a while to see what else was around them; and then eventually went for a short swim in the ocean while at least one adult used a super-sensory charm to keep an eye on them at all times. James spent some time with them; wandered off again with Hugo in tow for more advanced exploring; and swam with them too before deciding that he was starving and in desperate need of food.

Lunch was at the Potters' cottage for everyone, and after cleaning up; the parents headed for the beach too; ready to enjoy some sun and water fun – though by then it was more cloudy than sunny while still being a beautifully hot summer afternoon. They had no plans to go anywhere, but Bill, Fleur, and the kids stopped in for a visit – and Victoire had Teddy with her; so they got to spend a bit of time with him too. Shell Cottage was only a couple of miles down the road from their temporary homes for the week, and they were going to have some play days together; but Bill and Fleur were only taking a couple of days off for that – mostly because Victoire and Teddy were working anyway; and Dominiuqe and Louis still had their Quidditch workouts booked for Tuesday and Thursday – just as James and Ollie did with their friends.

Bill, Fleur, and their gang went home in time for all three families to split up and do their own thing for dinner; and then the Potters and Weasleys eventually wrapped up their evening with a small campfire that Ron and Hermione hosted after they'd either gone for a sunset stroll along the beach or done whatever else they'd wanted to do during the last couple of hours before dark. Al only stayed for about the first hour of the campfire because James was in fine form by then and doing his best to impress Ron and Hugo; and he tried to do that at Al's expense as often as possible. He was ready to get some sleep by then anyway; and being in an unfamiliar house, room, and bed didn't keep him from going off to sleep within minutes as he was lulled into nap mode by the ocean waves and the night sounds of nature from outside his window.

Monday was a true adventure day; and it was also one of the days that Bill and Fleur took off from work so that they could take Dominique and Louis along for the boating and diving excursion that Ginny and Hermione had set up for them. They'd rented a boat for the day, and while they'd needed to confund a few Muggles when they took the boat out in the morning; that had been easier than all of the work they'd need to do had they gone with a chartered crew that wouldn't have been able to watch them go diving with the help of some bubble-head charms and other swimming enhancements. They'd gotten up early, met at Bill and Fleur's house; and then gone on to the Muggle marina with all of the supplies they'd need for a day out on the water – including a massive picnic lunch for thirteen.

Now that was a lucky number to take out on a deep sea dive!

Once they'd chugged their way out of the marina, it took an hour to navigate their way out to the reef and shipwreck that Hermione had researched for them to visit – one that was unknown to Muggles because it had been an ill-fated Wizard and his crew that had gone down with their ship in a storm. Most of them, of course, had been able to apparate to safety, but the Captain had apparently taken heart to the old Muggle addage that the Captain must go down with his ship – and did. James had at first been hopeful that he'd gone down with a treasure too, but Hermione had to break it to him that the Wizard's first mate and crew had been happy to take everything of value with them when they abandoned ship; and the remaining cargo would have long-since been spoiled by the centuries at the bottom of the sea.

That little fact didn't keep them from having a brilliant day, and as always; Hermione was a fount of information and made everything about their two dives much more fun as she taught them about everything from the shipwreck to the reefs, marine plants and animals, and even about a few sea monsters that occasionally visited the area. They didn't see any of those monsters on their morning or afternoon dives, but the stories were still fun; and their underwater play time was filled with remember-forever moments. The picnic on the boat; a bit of fishing; and the trip back to the Marina were all great too; and then they wrapped up their play day by going out to dinner at Bill and Fleur's favorite local restaurant before splitting up and heading back to their cottages for the night.

Harry and Ginny only had their own kids with them for the rest of the evening, and while James was still ready to party for a while longer; Al and Lily headed for bed before they'd been back at the cottage for an hour. Al wrapped up his day with a long mirror chat with Gwendolyn, and while they weren't getting together for the Quidditch practice that she was still going ahead with for her Ravenclaw team mates; they both knew by then that Gwendolyn and Jonah were going to be spendning a couple of days at the cottage starting on Tuesday afternoon; and they were both looking forward to being back together again – especially when that was going to include two sleepovers. Having that to look forward to on Tuesday along with the bonus of having James at his practice all morning made it easy for Al to be in a great mood when he fell asleep on Monday night; and he was just as happy and a lot more enthusiastic when he got up in the morning and ready for the day.

Breakfast was light, easy, and out on the deck that was on the ocean side of their cottage. Harry gave james a ride over to Shell Cottage so that he could take the Floo Network to his practice along with Dominique and Louis; and then the remaining four Potters got together with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo for a play morning at the beach. There was a bit of work to do too, including setting up the tent that Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were going to use for the next two nights; but the rest of the morning was all about having fun together for a few hours. The fun level for Al jumped a few notches when Kirley brought Gwendolyn and Jonah over in time for lunch instead of sometime after lunch as the kids had expected; and sharing a fairly enthusiastic hug and kiss with his girlfriend was just the beginning.

"I missed you too," he assured Gwendolyn after she let go of him; and they were both smiling happily. "Have you had a good day so far? How'd the Ravenclaw practice go?"

"I've had a good day so far, but it's getting better every minute now; and our practice was okay but not as much fun as the rest of them have been this summer."

"Unless you found some Seekers and Keepers; that's not a surprise," Al said with a nod. "Have you heard anything about firstie prospects for those jobs yet?"

"Nothing new. You already know that Peter and Pauline's younger sister wants to play Quidditch too, and she could get sorted into Ravenclaw; but I don't know how good she is. I'm sure we'll have lots of kids trying out for Seeker and Keeper; since it isn't very likely that the rest of us will have a problem keeping our spots on the team."

"You won't for sure," Al joked – "umless you're going to keep all spots on the team open."

Gwendolyn smiled. "I actually liked that idea of yours," she told him seriously. "If the Captain can't earn his or her own spot on the team; then they probably don't deserve the job."

"Do you think that James will do that?" Al asked; and she laughed again.

"No, but it is fun to think about that – especially if he did and lost."

I'd better not comment on that; since I really should always support my big brother." Gwendolyn laughed again; since he didn't sound very sincere at all.

They also had to drop that chat topic because Harry returned from Shell Cottage then with James and Ollie in the van with him. He and Ginny were hosting the lunch that Kirley stayed for and that Ron, Hermione, and the kids joined them for too; and then Kirley apparated home while everyone else went to spend the afternoon playing together – or doing whatever they wanted to do in smaller groups. For James and Ollie, that meant exploring the area and trying to pick up a couple of Muggle girls they crossed paths with while wandering the beaches and bluffs that stretched out along the coast in the opposite direction from Shell Cottage. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose spent most of their afternoon play time with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo; and they all encouraged the four parents to join in on the fun – at least when they weren't just content to relax on the beach and enjoy the show while trying to actually get some rest while on vacation.

Dinner was another full-group event; they took a drive into town to wander around and get some ice cream treats; and then they eventually ended the evening with another campfire that started after some of them enjoyed watching the sunset from the bluff or beach. Gwendolyn and Jonah had brought their guitars with them, so campfire music was an option, and while James and Ollie had fun with razzing Al and Gwendolyn, and Lily and Jonah, about that; they were ignored while everyone else enjoyed singing along or listening to the sometimes bad and occassionally wonderful music. They toasted snacks over the fire; the parents enjoyed some adult beverages; and the time passed so quickly that most of them were surprised at how late it had gotten when Ginny and Hermione advised them that it was past-midnight and time to turn in so that they could still be rested and ready for the hiking and caving adventure they were all doing for the day on Wednesday.

Harry and Ginny only had James and Ollie in the cottage with them for the night; so there was a long round of goodnight hugs and kisses when they went in; Ron and Hermione went over to their cottage; and the remaining six kids went into their tent for the night once the fire had been doused. Al and Gwendolyn were on the receiving end of some entertaining teasing about making sure that they knew for sure which room was Al's; and which was Gwendolyn's – strictly to make sure that they didn't accidentally end up in the wrong room later in the night if they got turned around and lost in the tent or went sleepwalking or something. Lily pretended to be more worried about that for herself, Jonah, and their cousins, but once they'd had their bit of bedtime fun; they did split up and go off to bed.

Getting to sleep with happy little thoughts of Gwendolyn sneaking into his room kept Al awake for a while, but that didn't happen; he didn't try sneaking into her room; and he did eventually get a decent night of rest before waking up at sunrise and getting ready for the day while everyone else in the tent continued to sleep. He left the tent once he was ready to go; walked down to the beach and wandered around for a bit; and then went up to the cottage when he saw Harry sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee in hand; enjoying the early morning quiet too. He could hear movement in the tent when he passed it; but didn't stop in. He greeted his father with a quick hug; and then sat down in the chair next to him.

"It looks like we'll have a good day for hiking," Al said after they'd exchanged the usual good morning pleasantries. "I guess that doesn't matter much for going caving; but that wouldn't be as much fun if we got rained on getting to and from the caves."

"Are you predicting the weather for the entire day?" Harry asked; his tone teasing and amused; and then laughed when Al nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Al thought about that for a few moments. "I'll try to keep track of that for a while, but I don't sense any rain ahead of us for the day; and I'm not talking about here at the cottage. I don't sense that for where we're going to be for the hiking and caving either."

"How far into the future can you sense that? Beyond today?"

Al closed his eyes and concentrated for more than a minute while Harry watched on in silence. "I don't get any strong feelings one way or the other beyond later tonight. I don't know if that's my limitation or other factors."

"That's still very interesting – if your senses prove accurate," Harry told him seriously; and then grinned. "If that does prove out; you could have quite a career on the mirror network predicting the weather."

Al laughed. "Great – I'm so glad to have a back-up plan now in case the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for me."

"I'd take you on with the Aurors in a second," Harry reminded him with a smile. "No pressure there; but we could have fun trying to wrap up the work we've been trying to get done since the war ended."

"Probably, but then we'd feel terrible about putting all of your friends out of work after doing that; since we wouldn't need any Aurors once all of the bad guys were dealt with," Al offered with a grin. "Teddy's likely hoping that he'll have a job for more than nine or ten years too – especially now that he's getting married next year."

"There will always be more Dark Wizards and Witches," Harry said with a smile that was grimmer and more serious. "I'd be happy if we can just keep them from starting any new wars for a long time to come. Maybe if we can have a century or three of peace; the bad guys will start to realise that we're all better off without all of the fighting we've done in the past."

"That'd be nice. Could you start working on that with the current lot of Slytherins at Hogwarts? With a Slytherin Head Girl; it'd be nice to avoid any problems with her House mates so that I don't find out how badly that might turn out for me."

"The scariest part of a comment like that for your parents is that you're more worried about what punishment the Head Girl might dole out; while not apparently being worried at all about the Slytherin bullies."

Al laughed. "That's because I can defend myself against them. I can't do anything about Prefects or Heads picking on me if they choose to do so."

"Actually, you can go to your Professors or Headmistress McGonagall," Harry reminded him. "I know it's a new concept for you; but you don't have to try and go it alone when you have problems at school – or here at home for that matter."

"You know that's only partly true, Dad," Al disagreed. "I'd have as many problems or more if I started ratting other students out – even Slytherins."

"Or brothers?" Harry added; and Al laughed.

"Especially brothers," Al agreed. "I'd say more; but that'd just get me into trouble."

" Then it's a good thing that you're about to be saved from continuing this chat by Gwendolyn," Harry said; though Al already knew she was on the way toward them from the tent – and had been aware of her before she'd even left the tent.

He stood up in time to walk over and welcome her at the edge of the deck; they shared a good morning hug and kiss; and then Gwendolyn had a hug for Harry too because he'd stood too; ready to go inside and get started on making breakfast for everyone. Al and Gwendolyn went with him; they helped out with all of the work; and had fun as the rest of their little gang of campers and cottagers gathered in the kitchen to enjoy that meal. James and Ollie were the last to get there; demolished a few helpings of everything; and then disappeared again before they could be drafted for any clean-up work. Since Al and Gwendolyn were both becoming fairly accomplished with their charmed charms or seashells, they were happy to help with the work; and that gave the other kids time to pack bags and load the van with everything they'd need for their day trip. Rose and Hugo had needed to go over to their cottage to do some of that, and when they were all ready; Ron and Hermione brought their sedan with them over to the Potter's cottage to meet up with them before they all headed out together.

Their drive time to their hiking and caving destination was short, but Al and Gwendolyn were still sent with Rose and her parents while Hugo went in the van with eveyrone else so that the young couple wouldn't be stuck putting up with the razzing that James and Ollie continued to annoy them with at every opportunity. Hiking was up first because the parents in the group didn't want to be doing that during the hottest part of the day. Once they all had backpacks ready to go with lots of drinks and snacks for their trek; they headed out on a loop that Hermione had mapped out for them that went cross-country to another spot on the coast to the east of where they started. After that first leg of their trek; they were going to hike along the coast back to where they had the van and sedan parked. With a map in hand and a Muggle cell phone for back-up; James and Ollie took off ahead of the rest of their group; but everyone else stayed together as they walked in pairs and smaller groups – with both being an option at first as they began waling along a narrow, winding road that would lead to the first of the trails they'd be hiking.

"We need to get out and do things like this more often, Ron," Hermione said as they held hands and walked with Harry and Ginny. They were bringing up the rear of their group; the younger kids led the way; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were walking just in front of them.

"It's nice out here," Ron said with a shrug; "but let me know if you still feel the same by the time we're back at the sedan again. I haven't done an Auror workout since retiring in June; and might need to stop for naps along the way – or just apparate back to the car and have a nap there until you all get back."

"The fact that you don't have daily workouts is an even better reason for us to hike or do some other activities," Hermione told him seriously.

"You can swim now that we have a portable pool," Rose reminded her parents; "and Hugo would ride bikes with you now that you actually might have time to do that with him this fall, Dad."

"We'd play Quidditch more, but we're missing our only Chaser when you're at school," Ron teasked. "It's not much of a game when you've only got two Keepers playing."

"I'm a Keeper too – even if you guys usually want me to play Chaser for you; but Keepers can score goals," Rose reminded him. "You never see it anymore; but Keepers are allowed to jump in as a fourth Chaser."

"You could invite Roxanne and Aunt Angelina to help out with that now too," Al added. "If you get Lily and Hugo to invite some of their Quidditch friends over; you'd nearly have two full teams – not including Beaters."

"I'd love that," Lily assured them; looking back and them and smiling brightly. "Jonah and I can do Seeker duels, and if Aunt Angelina is there; we'd have no trouble getting Melissa and Kathryn to come over to play too."

"That sounds like fun for all of you; but could we possibly enjoy at least some of this walk without talking Quidditch?" Hermione asked them. "Look around! There's so much to see and enjoy that we shouldn't need to look elsewhere for entertainment."

Her question-request and comment was enough to end the Quidditch talk for a while; and some of them even paid a fair bit of attention to the scenery around them as they settled into an easy rhythm for their walk. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose talked together as they made their way along back roads and trails; joined in for chats with the parents and younger kids; and really just enjoyed the quiet, only moderately-challenging exercise and adventure. The best part of the hike was the trail along the coast that sometimes had wonderful fiews from the tops of cliffs and others that were along the beaches. They caught up with James and Ollie once at one of those beach sections of the trail because they'd stopped for a swim and break; but then the two boys had quickly gone on ahead again and they didn't see them again until they got back to the van and sedan. Their hike took most of the morning; so they headed into the nearest town to have lunch at a seaside cafe; the girls did a bit of play shopping; and then they drove out to the caves that Hermione had picked for them to explore.

James and Ollie were not allowed to just take off this time, but even though they complained about that; both boys really did understand the dangers of wandering off in caves where they truly could get lost and where finding them again could be difficult even for Witches and Wizards as talented as the parents in their group were. Then there was the whole thing about having light while in the caves while they were there. Muggle flashlights were only as good as the batteries; so staying close to the adults in case of a problem with that seemed for the best too. Al and Gwendolyn didn't have that problem because he brought along a couple of handy seashells for them to use for light if needed; but then they had more fun staying in the shadows away from everyone else now and then where sharing a few kisses here and there was an option.

"I've decided that I like exploring caves quite a lot," Gwendolyn whispered to Al after one of those fun little mini-snogging moments. "We should definitely do this again sometime soon."

"I doubt we'll be able to do that between now and when we head back to school," Al pointed out; "but there are always the secret passageways at the school."

Gwendolyn laughed and shook her head. "Thanks, but I'd rather not join that club with the rest of the snogging couples that try to hide in them."

"Look out – Inferi!"

"Ahhhh – one of them's got me!"

"James; Ollie – don't even joke about that!" Ginny admonished. "Relax, kids," she added; mostly for the benefit of Jonah and Hugo.

"Too bad for you," James told Ollie. "I guess the Inferi would get you long before Mum would believe us."

"Would you have liked it better if I'd gone ahead and blasted the area around you with fire just now?" Ginny asked them as the two boys stepped back into the circle of light from the shadows where they'd attempted their silly prank.

"Sure. That'd at least have taken the chill off," James agreed. "Would've livened this place up a bit too. Couldn't we have gone to any caves that do have some cool monsters in them? This is so boring!"

"It wouldn't have been if you'd let me set off those whizz-bangs," Ollie offered; and James snorted.

"That would've been a real blast – right up until you started the cave-in with them," James retorted. "I'm not so bored that I'd like to spend the rest of our holidays digging our way back out of here."

"Note to me – add a do-not-set-off-in-caves disclaimer for the whizz-bangs," Ron deadpanned; earning laughs from James and Ollie. "I'm pretty sure that George never thought that might be a potential problem for our customers."

"Your brother is surprised every time someone comes up with a new use for his wheezes," Hermione pointed out, "but in this case; let's hope that nobody ever finds out what a bad idea using them in caves would be."

"I still think they'd look cool going off in a cave," Ollie protested; "and the sound would echo for a long time."

"Which you wouldn't get to enjoy much if the roof fell in on you," Ginny pointed out with a smile. "Send your creative little minds off in a new, less-dangerous direction."

They got back to exploring the caves they were in; spent a couple of hours doing that; and then headed back to their cottages so that they could all go for a swim before it was time for the parents to start making dinner for everyone. Ron managed to get himself drafted to watch the kids instead of helping out with the cooking; but he likely had the tougher job for that – or would have if he hadn't been having so much fun with the two trouble-makers in the group. James and Ollie were feeling the need to show off around him and the other boys by then in a big way, and once they could get away with that more easily while Harry and ginny weren't there to deliver their admonishments every time they tried to bug or prank the other kids; they were ready and willing to let loose and shoot for the best of their worst.

When it was immediately obvious that Ron was enjoying the pranks and gags as much as James and Ollie were, and that he had no intention of helping the younger kids at all; Al and Gwendolyn headed back up to the cottage early – the leaders of the little exodus from the beach that continued as the two boys continued to irritate the rest of the kids instead of letting them play and have fun. Lily reached her limit when Ollie blew up her sand castle with the whizz-bangs he'd still been trying to find a good use for; and she hadn't found his non-apology funny either as he attempted to claim that he'd only been trying to help her to celebrate her achievement in sand castle engineering. Ron had made matters worse when he'd just laughed over the prank that had destroyed her sandy work of art, and while Lily had been beyond angry by then, Rose had been quietly fed up by then too; and went along with Lily when she stormed off.

Jonah and Hugo hadn't laughed too, probably because they were at least temporarily the two brightest Wizards still standing on the beach by then; but they didn't leave with the girls. That was a mistake, and it wasn't long before they wished that they had escaped when they'd had the chance; since they became the prime prank targets the moment that James and Ollie only had them left to pick on. Hugo tried to play along and have fun anyway, but he didn't carry wheezes around with him the way that James and Ollie did; so that didn't work out very well for him – and Jonah didn't have any fun with the 'games' the older boys wanted to play. When Jonah left the beach after needing to go for a swim to clean off from the last prank he was willing to put up with from James and Ollie, Hugo went along; leaving the three prank-happy kids with he entire beach to themselves until dinnertime.

By the time they made it up to the cottage, dinner was close to being ready; so they went into the tent to get changed and finish cleaning up before joining everone else on the deck. Harry didn't stay there long because he was drafted to go and get Ron, James, and Ollie after Ginny and Hermione discovered that Ron and James didn't have their mirrors with them; and all of the kids refused to run that little errand and risk another prank from the boys. The food was ready by the time he returned with them, but while James and Ollie didn't immediately try any pranks; they did go right back to razzing the other kids – with Al and Gwendolyn again their primary targets.

That wasn't fun for anyone else, and instead of having a nice family dinner together; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took their food and drinks and went to sit in chairs by the tent instead of putting up with yet even more nastiness from the two boys. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo soon joined them; leaving their parents stuck with James and Ollie. That was something that James was apparently happy about, and the teen-kid drama level dropped a bit for a while; but that reprieve only lasted until James and Ollie were bored again – after eating three or four plates full of food and demolishing as many of the desserts as they could get away with before being chased off by Ginny and Hermione. When that just sent them off in the direction of another bad scene with the other kids; Harry and Ron were both drafted to give them something else to do while Hermione and Ginny took care of the clean-up and kept an eye on the rest of their gang. When that 'something' ended up being a trip to town for a mostly-made-up reason, it said a lot about how tired the other kids were of James and Ollie when not even the other boys wanted to go along for the ride. Lily simply asked her father to take James and Ollie to town and leave them there.

Once they were gone, Al and Gwendolyn relieved Ginny and Hermione of clean-up duty; sent them to have some fun with Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah; and then they took care of the work using charm bracelet and seashells to get most of that done – which was also the only reason that Rose didn't stay to help them. That didn't exactly give them any real alone time, but they still had fun; and the play time in the yard kept them entertained while they worked. The prankster break helped a bit, but unfortunately didn't give James and Ollie time to decide to stop being such a pair of gits; so they were right back at it within minutes of getting back to the cottage from their trip to town. Parental intervention only seemed to challenge them, and with six kids to pick on and only three out of four parents actually trying to keep them under control; it wasn't tough for them to figure out ways to divide and conquer.

What their antics eventually led to was a campfire for two thirteen-year old boys after all of the other kids gave up any hope of having any fun with it; and the four parents headed into the cottage to have drinks and hang out together there once six out of eight of their kids had gone to bed anyway. James and Ollie thought that they'd orchestrated a great end to their day; and didn't care that nobody else agreed with them on that. While Al and Gwendolyn had gone into the tent first, they hadn't gone straight to bed; and neither did any of the other kids as they joined them after leaving the campfire. They sat up in the sitting room and talked for a couple of hours; played some mirror games or surfed the Wireless Web; and had what fun they could together – after also needing to do a bit of venting that didn't include saying anything nice about James and Ollie.

Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Ollie were all going home again on Thursday; so ending their last campfire that way had been a downer, but while James and Ollie were going to be gone early on Thursday for their Quidditch practice; Gwendolyn and Jonah were getting to spend the day at the cottage while their parents were both busy with work. That was something that Al and Gwendolyn were looking forward to when they woke up on Thursday morning, but before they could get to the James-and-Ollie-free fun; they had to endure one more round of razzing and a prank attempt that didn't go well for Ollie when Al used one of his seashells to defend himself – and Gwendolyn and Rose – from yet another attempt to hit them with a transfiguration wheeze that he tried to spray on them using a Muggle water gun that he and James had apparently picked up while in town. This time, he'd tried to temporarily turn them into werewolves, but Al proved that the charmed seashell was faster than the water gun; and Ollie ended up getting hit – and knocked backwards out of his chair. Al's shield control even with his shells was so good that he didn't even knock over Ollie's glass of juice while doing that; though Ollie didn't have any appreciation for that – even though it did mean that he didn't end up wearing his breakfast too.

Then again, he did end up being quite a mess when his attempts at continuing to eat and drink while dealing with a werewolf muzzle was very messy; but that was entirely of his own doing.

Al hadn't felt any satisfaction at all over his little victory at breakfast; but he and Gwendolyn were both happy and relieved when Harry gave James and Ollie a ride over to Shell Cottage so that they could go on to Ollie's house with Dominique and Louis. There was still a bit of work to do after that; but then it was time to play for the rest of the day. There were no plans at all other than having a lazy day around the cottages and at the beach. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny had all extended some play invitations to some friends and their families, so they had visitors stopping in to join in on the fun for stays that varied from as short as a half-hour to the entire afternoon and evening. The kids had as much fun with that as the parents did; and swimming in the ocean; playing games on the beach; and hanging out around the cottages for meals and other fun breaks turned out to be a perfect way to spend the day. For Al and Gwendolyn, the highlights of the day were the swimming; play time with the visiting kids and teens; and the bonus time they got to spend with Kirley and Gwenog when they came over after work and stayed for the evening – at least until Gwenog needed to be home for the team curfew that didn't technically need to apply to her too but that she followed so that she set the example for her team.

Saying goodbye to Gwendolyn and knowing that he wasn't going to see her for at least a few days was tough for Al, but that didn't keep him from enjoying the rest of the night at the cottage; or the family play day that was booked for them on Friday. They spent a second day playing around the cottages and at the beach, but this time; it was all about having a play day with their collective family – or as many of them as they could get to come and spend all or part of the day with them. Bill and Fleur took the day off from work; Dominique and Louis came over with them; and Teddy and Victoire joined in after getting done work for the day with the Harpies and Aurors. Molly was there for most of the day along with Angelina, Fred, and Roxanne; but George and Arthur worked too; they didn't come over until dinnertime; and George went back to the store in Diagon Alley again because they were very busy with back-to-school shopping that was above and beyond the usual Friday evening business.

Since Friday was also the last full vacation day at the cottages before they'd be heading home on Saturday; the big family barbeque was followed by a play evening and major campfire event to wrap up the week. Everyone stayed for that; there was music, scary stories, and a few too many pranks; but overall, it was one of those really great days for nearly everyone. It was past-one by the time that the family guests began heading for their homes, and by then; it was the parents that were worn out more than most of the kids and teens. Harry and Ron needed to do one trip to Shell Cottage with the kids and underage teens so that they could take the Floo Network home from there, and by the time that all of their guests were gone and the campfire clean-up was dealt with; it was well-past two o'clock by the time that Harry and Ginny took their three kids with them and walked over to their cottage after saying goodnight to Ron, Hermione, and their kids.

Saturday morning was all about packing up for the trip home, and it took most of the morning to do that; though going for one last swim in the ocean and having a bit of fun while doing that work helped to make the morning go fairly well for everyone except James. He'd stayed up for a couple of hours after Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily had gone to bed; and he was in a foul mood straight through until they left the cottages and drove over to Bill and Fleur's house to have lunch with them, Teddy, and the rest of their kids. That had been meant to be one last little blast of quieter family fun before they needed to drive home and get back to their normal lives again; but it also felt more like a cameo visit that was more like an eat-and-run break compared to the hours of work in the morning; the long drives home; and then the unpacking and chores that needed to be done once they were home again.

After a week away, a handful of hours in the late afternoon and early evening wasn't nearly enough time to deal with the backlog of chores around the house and yard; so the first day of the last two weeks of their summer holidays was spent doing chores too – or at least that was true for Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily. James avoided most of the work thanks to his non-stop complaining; volatile mood swings; and mostly because anything that Ginny managed to badger him into doing just ended up being worse than if he'd done nothing at all. Eventually, he stormed off on his bike by late morning; and Harry and Ginny let him go off on his own – though Harry did still keep track of him while he biked to Godric's Hollow and hung out there for a couple of hours before biking home again.

The return to normal continued on Monday when James, Al, and Lily spent the day at the Burrow while Harry and Ginny got back to work; but then the fun level kicked up again on Tuesday with an all-day Quidditch adventure. That started with a Quidditch practice at the McCormacks that Gwendolyn was hosting for her Ravenclaw team mates; and Al and Lily were the first two guests and players to arrive after being dropped off early by Ginny before she went on to the Harpies' training pitch with Gwenog so that they could both get ready for the Harpies-United match that Kirley would eventually be taking all of the kids to see – with some help from Molly and other volunteer parents and teens. Ginny planned on joining them to watch the match; but expected to be working both before and after the game that was again putting the Harpies up against one of the pre-season favorites to be among the top teams for the coming year. That game wasn't on Al's mind at all as Gwendolyn welcomed him with an enthusiastic hug and kiss; and they had everyone around them grinning or laughing at them by the time they stepped apart again.

"I am so glad that we need to leave now – and that you have a gang of kids coming over to play Quidditch with you this morning," Gwenog told Gwendolyn. "We don't want to find out what your welcomes would be like for Al if you actually spent a lot of time apart instead of just four days." She laughed at the grin on her daughter's face. "Cut that out. You're scaring your mother – and that takes some doing."

"It really does," Ginny assured the kids; though she was laughing too. "Be good for Kirley," she told Al and Lily; knowing that wasn't necessary for her two youngest kids. "I'll see you at the game; so save me a seat somewhere close to you if you can do that with all of your extra friends coming along today."

"We'll do that," Lily promised while hugging her goodbye. "Don't worry about Al – I'm sure it won't be too much longer before he remembers his name and where we are right now."

"Are those important things to know?" Al joked. "It doesn't seem so to me right now."

"Good answer," Gwendolyn approved with a happy laugh and bonus hug and kiss. "Let's go outside and get things set up for the practice; unless Mum needs me to stick around so that she can get teased about her goodbye hugs and kisses with Dad before she goes."

That comment earned laughs and an order to get lost; so Gwendolyn took Al's hand and they headed toward the back of the house with Lily and Jonah following them out of the sitting room. Once outside, they went to the storage barn to retrieve the Quidditch set and some extra gear; and then carried everything out to the pitch. After that, Kirley called them in to carry out a couple of boxes filled with drinks and snacks, and by then; the other kids and teens began arriving for the practice. It was another forty minutes before everyone was there, including Fred, Roxanne, Rose, and Hugo; and then fifteen more by the time they all had their gear on and were ready to play. Gwendolyn began this practice with a little meeting.

"We're down to two weeks until some of us head back to school – or to Hogwarts for the first time," she said; the second half of that meant for Fred; since he was the only soon-to-be Hogwarts firstie in their group. "This is the last practice we'll be doing here, but Aunt Ginny has invited us to Al and Lily's house next Tuesday for a practice and end-of-summer lunch party for all of the kids and teens that have been practicing with us this summer. If you can let me know today or sometime later this week if you can come to that; she only wants to know those numbers to make sure there's enough food for everyone there – and yes, she does know how scary that can be with a gang of boys around."

"Really scary," Lily added with a grin. "Swimming and playing all afternoon is an option for next Tuesday too, so if you're coming; bring swimsuits."

"Too bad we can't do that today," Brandon told her. "It's already hot out here and we haven't even gotten started on our workout yet."

"The pool would be a bit crowded if we set it up in the middle of the stadium pitch today," Lily joked. "They're not really built to hold twenty or thirty thousand swimmers."

"Getting back on track here, I'd like to do a full workout this morning; and then I thought we'd just have a play day next week – and maybe even mix up the teams for a change too," Gwendolyn told them.

"Meaning that she wants to play on the same teaim with Al again before the end of the summer," Ray offered with a grin. "That never ends well for the other team."

"Maybe not," Mark agreed, "but working out with all of you has helped most of us get better this summer; so I'm okay with doing that for Gwendolyn. It's just too bad that we couldn't have all of you on our practice team at school too."

"That might work for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor," Seth suggested; "but could you even imagine that happening with Slytherin and any other House without laughing at the thought?"

"No, and I wouldn't want that either," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "It's bad enough to have them try and beat up on us for one game a year. Doing that every day at practice would be awful – and painful."

"Good point," Seth conceded. "Let's just stick with the way we do things now instead and be happy."

There were a few more things that Gwendolyn wanted to say that was mostly for her Ravenclaw friends; and then they got started on the full workout that included warm-ups; conditioning exercises; a flying workout; and then the usual parts of the overall workout that included things like practicing new Chaser plays; working on Keeper techniques; and bludger practice for the Beaters where they tried to hit the bludgers into targets – some stationary; and others that were on the move. The scrimmage was the best part of the day for everyone, and while the team that Al, Rose, Lily, Ray, Melissa, and Roxanne were on won the day; that result didn't really matter to most of them anyway. They didn't really even have time to enjoy much of a post-practice social time anyway, since they all needed to go inside and take turns getting ready to go out for the afternoon.

Kirley had changed his mind about lunch; rounded up his chaperones a bit early; and they took their little gang to Diagon Alley. Splitting up into smaller groups; they had lunch at several cafes; and then got back together again to head over to the stadium with lots of time to spare so that the kids that didn't go to many of the professional matches could pick up souvenirs and they could all get drinks and snacks to take with them when they were ready to go to their seats. Al and Gwendolyn stayed together for all of that; and they ended up having Ray, Landon, and Rose with them most of the time too. That was a bit strange for Al because Landon managed to walk next to Gwendolyn as often as possible even as she was obviously 'with' Al; and he spent far too much time trying to get and keep Gwendolyn's attention – whether that was from chatting with her a lot or just doing things that were sure to attract her attention to him.

He tried to sit next to Gwendolyn for the game too, but Rose politely advised him that Witches needed to sit together with at least one other Witch so that they could have someone interesting to talk with during long Quidditch matches when they were tired of listening to the boys around them – and that she was Gwendolyn's designated buddy for this game. Landon didn't buy that line for a moment, but he'd been moved along by then already; and didn't have a choice but to find another seat. They had time to settle into their seats before the game started; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose kept themselves entertained by talking with the other kids and parents closest to them; watching the fan action going on around the stadium; and even while watching James and Ollie goofing around together on the other side of the stadium with Ollie's family and the usual group of season's ticket holders that were with them to hopefully watch Puddlemere United win the day over the Harpies.

"Your brother is wearing one of those World Cup Hero to Seeker Zero buttons," Gwendolyn pointed out to Al when they first spotted James and Ollie. "Has he decided to stop being a Harpies fan now too?"

"I have no idea," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "It's no surprise that he'd wear one of those buttons; since he'll think they're funny – just as I'm sure that Uncle George and Uncle Ron thought they were funny when they came up with the idea for them."

"Aunt Gabrielle likely agrees with them; and maybe even hopes that a few of the other Seekers start believing that too," Rose offered. "That won't happen today, but then the big story for this match might be how well our Chasers do against Oliver Wood and the United Chasers. The Harpies may have won the championship last year; but United still had the best team of Chasers and Keeper."

"That might not be true for their Chasers this year," Gwendolyn said seriously. "Candice, Victoire, and Hailey should still have the element of surprise for a while longer before the other teams can start adapting to their new style – especially since it's quite a bit different compared to last year."

While talking Quidditch was fun for the three kids; they were soon immersed in watching the action above the pitch once the game started – thankfully without any of the pomp and ceremony they'd had to endure before the Harpies' first match. Both teams came out playing hard, but it was also obvious from the moment the quaffle was tossed into the air that the Harpies were able to put United off their game plan. When they tried putting pressure on Victoire; she just fed passes off to Candace or Hailey; or just flat-out did something the United players couldn't anticipate to win those little battles. The Harpies scored the first two goals; and then had to fight hard for every goal they earned while growing that lead very, very slowly. Doing that against Ollie said a lot, though; and he was not happy about giving up so many goals – especially to the rookie on the Harpies' team. Victoire scored seven goals; the Harpies had thirteen in total; and they did that in just two hours and sixteen minutes – all the time they had before Gabrielle caught the snitch to end the game. A two-eighty to ninety loss did prove how close the game had been to that point, but it was a tougher loss for United because they were usually in the lead even for games that they lost over the past several seasons.

That was the last league Quidditch match the Hogwarts students in their group would get to watch live until the Christmas break – or longer for some of them, but with a fairly short game; they still had a couple of play hours available to them before the parents would be expecting their kids back at home or would be coming to pick them up. After talking it over, the group decision was to head from Ilkley stadium over to the Potters' house so that the kids could go for a swim. Ginny had needed to get to work with the post-game press conference, but Molly agreed to go and help Kirley and a few others with kid control while they did that; and then they needed to work their way out to where they could take the Floo Network there before they could get started on the water play fun.

James had come home with them, and without Ollie, but with the extra kids and teens around; he had enough of an audience that he was happy to try and make life miserable for Al and Gwendolyn. That didn't work out for him nearly as well when half of the kids were Gwendolyn's friends; and they weren't amused by his antics around her. That didn't deter him, but his grandmother stepped in and put an end to his antics rather firmly. Though dealing with James wasn't fun for Al and Gwendolyn, they made the best of the time they had left together until Kirley took his kids home shortly after Ginny got back from the stadium – and after most of the other kids had been picked up or delivered to their homes too. By then, Al was ready for a quiet night at home; helped out where he could with the work before and after dinner; and then spent most of the evening in his room reading his second-year textbooks and happy to have a few hours of alone time.

The last three days of the work week were all comparatively quiet too. Percy's forty-second birthday was on Wednesday, but they didn't have a family party or even a luncheon for him because he didn't want one and was too busy at work to do more than have a little celebration with Audrey and the kids. While they didn't celebrate Percy's birthday, Ginny was home with the kids on Wednesday; and they had a lazy day just hanging out around the house – or at least it was that kind of a day once the house and yard chores were out of the way first. For Al, that meant more reading; swimming with Ginny, James, and Lily; and one bit of Quidditch fun where Ginny and Lily both played around with him as they tried to come up with new flying moves that he could use as a Chaser or that they could use when playing Seeker. James didn't want to do that with them, and did his own thing a lot during the rest of the day too; but he also left Al alone with just a few insults tossed out at him now and then.

Al was good with that reprieve; and it even lasted most of the time on Thursday and Friday while they were at the Burrow during the days while Harry and Ginny were working. The chores and play time with their cousins was all good, but by Friday; Al was spending a lot of time thinking about the annual, token visit that he'd be going along on to London on Saturday. He didn't dislike going to see his Dursley cousins; but those visits were still always awkward and uncomfortable. Part of that was because he didn't like lying even while understanding the need for it when it came to his Muggle cousins; but he also didn't really like any of the Dursleys either. Harry assured his kids that Dudley and his family had come a long way since they were kids, but that didn't really help at all when what they were was still really pretty awful.

Preparing for that trip was mostly a mental thing for all of the Potters; and it explained why their Friday night was fairly somber. Lily wanted to spend some time with Al, and he was there for her too; but he also spent a lot of time alone in his room or wandering around outside. James went for a bike ride and spent a lot of time in his room too; though that was partly because he was angry after losing the battle to try and get out of going along this year. Al could candidly admit that he didn't want to go either; but would keep doing it if for no other reason than because his father wanted them to know his mother's family – even if they were all a bunch of hippogriff-sized gits. He knew that his mother and sister were only in it for the same reason; and that was the main reason that he was up early on Saturday morning and got to work on making a special breakfast once he'd showered and gotten ready for the day. He soon had help for that when Harry joined him in the kitchen; and they worked together to cook up some of Ginny's and Lily's favorites.

As Lily and Ginny joined them, they did their best to lighten the mood and have fun; but that only worked until James stomped into the kitchen in full grouch mode; and began complaining about everything. That made getting through breakfast a trial for everyone else in the room; and then Harry and Ginny had to both work on James to get him ready to go and in the van on time to hit the road for London while also dealing with the kitchen clean-up and getting the van packed for the day trip. Al and Lily helped whenever they could, but they stayed away from James; since he'd yell first and not ask questions at all anytime they tried to talk with him. The drive to London wasn't any better, and even though James could play his video games too; that didn't keep him from complaining regularly and loudly over everything that he decided was a problem for him. Finally, when they were close to the Dursley's house, Harry stopped in the parking lot for a plaza; and had a chat with his oldest son that was brief and to the point.

"Okay, James," he said; turning around in his seat to face him – "how much?"

"What?" James snapped; though his sudden attention for his father clearly showed that he had heard the question.

"We're nearly there, I don't have the time or patience to deal with this anymore; so how much is it going to cost me to have you play nice with your cousins for the few bloody hours you'll have to spend with them until sometime next summer?"

"A hundred galleons," James stated; probably expecting the number to shock Harry.

"Done. Now suck it up and quit being such a git."

"Yes, sir," James agreed; the unexpected boon having exactly the effect on him that Harry had wanted – and more than he'd have ever hoped to achieve any other way.

Al hadn't been surprised, but then he'd also been watching everything going on around him during that little exchange; so he was sure that his parents had cooked that plan up in advance. He had no idea whether that hundred galleons would come out of James' school budget somewhere else – as in less money for his Hogsmeade weekends or not; but then he wasn't oblivious when it came to their parents the way that James truly seemed to be – at least when it came to things like money. He and Lily had been sitting in the back seats so that neither of them had to sit next to James; and they were grinning at each other as Harry started the van again and they were soon on the way back out of the little parking lot.

"We have got to get better at negotiating for things like this," Lily whispered to Al. "I'm pretty sure that I paid extra hugs and kisses for this trip; and you cooked breakfast and cleaned up to pay your way. Who knew that being an obnoxious git for a few hours could pay so well?" She said that last part loudly-enough for their parents and James to overhear; and earned a round of laughs for her effort.

"I keep telling you to be more like me," James told her with a grin. "Stick with Al the way you've done all summer; and you'll be doomed to be a loser too – and poorer for it in more ways than one."

"Would you really want me to be like you?" Lily asked. "One of you in the family is scary-enough; and a Witch version of you might be terrifying."

"Why would that make a difference?" James asked; and Lily and Ginny both laughed.

"If you can't figure that out; then Mum must've flunked you when you were taught about human anatomy and the birds and the bees," Lily told him with a grin.

James did not want to take their chat in that direction, and Al was okay with that too; but then it was really just that change in mood and attitudes that was most-important right then. While James might only be on-board now for the money; they were all ready to endure their annual Dursley visit together by the time Harry pulled the van into the drive of Dudley and Pearl's large home on Magnolia Crescent in Little Whinging. There was a shiny, immaculately-kept SUV in the drive too, and both the house and vehicle shouted out to the neighborhood that the Dursleys were doing quite well for themselves. They quickly got out of the van, but that was entirely because they all wanted to stretch out after the long drive; and not out of any urgency to reunite with their cousins. The Dursleys were never happy to see them, and so it wasn't a surprise when nobody came out to greet them as Harry and Ginny grabbed a few things out of the van before heading up to the front door. Al and Lily helped with carrying the gifts they'd brought; but James only led the way and apparently decided that his deal with Harry didn't include manual labor.

"Hello, welcome, come in," Pearl Dursley said in quick succession the moment she opened the door. She was looking past the Potters as she spoke; and seemed to be in a hurry to get them inside before the neighbors took notice.

"Hello, Pearl," Harry greeted her with a warm smile. "It's good to see you again. You're looking well."

"Thank-you," Pearl answered without offering any compliments in return. "Dudley and the kids are waiting for us in the sitting room. Please, come in, come in."

Pearl didn't quite slam the door behind Al and Lily once they were in the front hallway; but she did close it quickly. The front entrance for the Dursley's house was quite large – possibly a requirement to have enough room for the three big Dursley men to arrive or depart at the same time. They all slipped their shoes off on the mat before following Pearl to the sitting room; and that first view of the rest of their cousins was always eye-opening – even for Harry and Ginny. Dudley was no longer nearly as obese as he'd been as a youth; but he was still a very large man; and he more than filled the huge recliner that was 'his' chair. Their oldest son, Vernon, was now fifteen; and well on his way to matching his father's size. He took up nearly half of a leather sofa; which was quite a contrast to his sister, Margie. The thirteen-year old princess of the family was growing up to be a lovely girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes, and while the Dursleys might never admit it; Margie had inherited some of the best Evans' features – which meant that she got them from her Great-Aunt Lily.

Margie didn't even look up as her cousins entered the room; her focus entirely on the smartphone in her hands. Vernon did watch them with an air of bored indifference; and the expression on his face was arrogant and superior. His younger brother, eleven-year old Pierce, tried to imitate his big brother and hero, but that didn't work quite as well on him – especially when he saw Lily for the first time in a year and couldn't help but smile at her when they made eye contact and she smiled brilliantly at him. Though he was four years younger than his brother, there was no doubt that Pierce was his father's son too; and he was quite a bit bigger than James and Al – though James was probably a couple of inches taller. That wasn't easy to judge while the boys were sitting down; but then it would hardly be noticeable anyway when James and Al were so small by comparison in every other physical way.

"Hello, Harry," Dudley said; his voice strong and forceful; but not unpleasantly so. "Ginny," he added with a nod. "It's good to see you."

"You too," Harry said as he walked across the room and offered his hand to Dudley. "Hello, Vernon. Good grip you've got there," he continued; smiling as he shook the boy's hand and Vernon apparently needed to attempt to crush Harry's hand. "I see all of that wrestling at Smeltings is paying off." Harry moved on to Margie next; and she still didn't look up; but did lift a hand for the briefest of handshakes. "You look wonderful, Margie. Don't tell Lily where you got that outfit; or she'll be dragging us off to that store before letting us head out of the city again later today." Finally, he shook hands with Pierce, since he'd been furthest from Dudley. "I see you've got your knobbly stick. Are you looking forward to starting at Smeltings next weekend?"

"Yes; though the summer break hasn't been long enough."

"They never are," Harry agreed with a smile. Ginny had followed behind him with the greetings; he took her hand; and they sat down on the sofa that was on the other side of the large coffee table from the one that Vernon and Margie were sitting in. Pearl sat in a small wooden rocker next to Dudley; there was enough room on the sofa for Al and Lily to sit with Harry and Ginny; and James flopped onto the chair next to the one that Pierce was sitting in at the far end of the room from Dudley and Pearl.

The next fifteen minutes were filled with excruciatingly polite conversation where nothing important was said; and the four adults put on a show of playing nice for the benefit of the kids. Vernon had had enough of that by then; escaped by inviting his cousins to go with him to the kids' game room; and Margie and Pierce were happy to go along as soon as they had the parental approval and dismissal – not that Vernon's demand to be excused could be interpreted by anyone as a request.

"Grab a controller if you want to play too," Vernon said to nobody in particular; "but prepare to be destroyed. My mates and I are the best." He was already sitting down on the big leather sofa; put a headset on; and apparently rejoined a game already in progress.

"You wish," James declared; grabbing the other headset and a controller before Pierce or Al could do that.

While Vernon and James got into the game, Margie had gone to sit in a window alcove; still texting on her phone; and ignoring her cousins. That left Pierce with Al and Lily; and he at least seemed to be genuinely interested in hanging out with Lily if not Al too. There was a table with four chairs in one corner of the room that was apparently for hanging out with friends – or maybe for studying at when the kids went to the local school instead of the private schools they now attended – or would starting in September in Pierce's case.

"Have you had a good summer, Pierce?" Lily asked him once they'd sat down.

"It's been okay. Our holiday in Majorca with Grandma and Grandpa Dursley was the best, but other than that; we only did some weekend or day trips the rest of the summer. Dad was working a lot; and Vernon's had a summer job at Grunnings this year too. You?"

"Mum and Dad have been busy with work too, but we did spend a week at a cottage by the ocean. We went on two weekend camping trips too, but that was partly for work for Mum too."

"Margie'd never go camping," Pierce advised her with a laugh. "Her idea of roughing it is staying at a hotel that doesn't have a spa."

"A girl has to have her standards," Margie said primly. "Why on earth would anyone choose to try living like cavemen when there's no need for such foolishness?"

"I love camping," Lily told her unapologetically. "It's fun to meet new people and explore new places; but then we like putting up a tent and camping in the back yard sometimes too."

"Says the girl that still doesn't have her own phone," Margie countered with a sniff if disdain. "You'd have been an outcast around here by the time you were eight without one."

Lily shrugged. "I don't need one. My friends and I can chat online; and I can use my iPad if I want to do that around the house or when we're out in the yard."

"My entire life is on this phone," Margie explained. "It's not just about texting my friends. I'd be lost without it."

"Literally," Pierce added with a grin. "She's got no sense of direction at all."

"I have an app for that," Margie told him derisively. "Girls don't have a problem with asking for directions – unlike some brothers I could name. You'd rather wander around all day than admit you're lost."

"You'd need a map here," Lily told them. "That's not ever a problem for us. There's only two directions to go from our house for miles in both directions – toward town; and away from it."

Margie snorted. "I don't know how you can stand it living out in the boonies like that. I'd go mental in a minute flat."

"It's a lot different than here," Lily admitted; "but I don't know if I'd like living in a city with so many people so close together." She grinned then. "I do like coming here to go shopping though, and since Dad mentioned it to you; where did you get that outfit? Mum and I should really stop at that store or Mall on the way home and take a look around."

Her comment actually earned her a glance from Margie, and the two girls talked shopping for a few minutes; but Margie didn't seem very enthusiastic about it; and didn't think that her country bumpkin cousin should shop at the same stores that she frequented with her friends and mother. After that, she went back to ignoring her cousins; and Pierce eventually invited Al and Lily to go outside with him. They wandered around the yard; he showed off his new bike, electric scooter, and skateboard while not actually using any of them; and then they walked through the back yard and out into the park that was directly behind their house. Dudley and Pearl's home was on Magnolia Crescent, just blocks away from their childhood homes; so it always felt a bit strange to Al when they walked around the neighborhood or at the park that his father spent time in while growing up in Little Whinging.

Being there felt different to Al this year because of his heightened senses; and that felt true to him simply because they were in the middle of a fairly large community of homes – something that he hadn't experienced since starting at Hogwarts. He could sense the collectivity of people around him; and suspected that he could pick out individuals if he tried to do that – though he didn't. He wasn't very comfortable with what he was sensing from all five of his cousins; and getting outside had helped with that too. There were other kids and teens at the park, and two of Pierce's friends just happened to be there too. Mark-E and Blaine were both closer to Al's size than Pierce's; but they were also shooting for the tough guy personna – and Pierce had his own game face on by the time he reached them.

"Hey," he told them. "Whazzup?"

"Not much," Mark-E answered. He was looking Lily up and down speculatively; and Al didn't like what he was sensing from either boy as they checked out his sister. "Things are looking up, though. Is this your cousin?"

"You know she is," Pierce stated. "Lily, Al, you remember Mark-E and Blaine? You saw them last summer when you were here too."

"I remember," Lily answered with a nod and smile for the boys. "It's busier here than the last time we were here, but I suppose that's because families are getting together for last visits before their kids head off to school next weekend. Will you guys be going away to school too?"

"I am," Blaine said proudly; "but Mark-E's staying home with his Mommmy and going to the local school while Pierce and I are at our Academies."

Mark-E snorted. "Yeah – all-boys schools. I'd rather stay here and be at a school that has girls, and with the two of you gone all school year; that's just more of them for me."

"More of the leftovers," Blaine shot back. "All the best girls around here will be at the private girls' schools – the schools that pair up with our academies for dances, parties, and other get-togethers."

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Lily told him. "If you believe that, then you believe that Mark-E isn't as good as you and Pierce just because he isn't going to some fancy school – and that'd include Al and me too."

Blaine grinned at her unapologetically. "That's all true," he agreed; "but Mark-E knows that we let him hang out with us anyway 'cause he's the best of the rest. Maybe the reality of life in the rest of the world doesn't affect you back at home in nowheresville; but we have to deal with it every day around here."

"Then go over to Pierce's house and moon over Margie and her fellow princesses the way you normally do," Mark-E told him. "I'm okay with getting to know Lily a bit better while you're trying to hang out with the right kind of girl – and it's too nice out to sit around listening to your snobbery."

"You're just jealous that older girls like me better than you," Blaine accused.

Pierce laughed. "You've been out here in the sun too long if you think that Margie and her friends even notice us as more than pests."

"They're just being coy," Blaine disagreed; and earned more laughs from his mates. "You just wait and see. I'll have my pick of the girls when we're a bit older."

That statement had Pierce and Mark-E razzing him for a while, but then they moved on when Lily wandered off to check out the play ground and swings. There was a lot of different things to do that was mostly geared toward kids; though there were other tweens and younger teens hanging out there too. While Pierce, Blaine, and Mark-E all needed to show off for Lily, after playing with his sister for a while; Al left the four of them to it and went to sit on one of the benches that ringed the main play fort and climbers. There was a nice shade tree nearby; and he mostly just wanted to sit and think – and process all of the sensory input that continued to bombard him. The weirdest of those sensations continued to be what he was picking up from Pierce and his friends around Lily; but there was varying types of tension among the teens too; and he noted that there were subtle differences to what he'd begun feeling at Hogwarts around his fellow students. That might simply be the added element of magic among those teeens; but that was just a guess; since he didn't even know for shure what the difference was – just that it existed.

"Hello. Mind if I sit down here?"

Al smiled as the pretty girl sat down next to him without waiting for an answer. When he turned to look directly at her; the girl's eyes widened in recognition; and what was apparently shock.

"Hi, Willow," Al said; his smile brightening as he tried not to laugh at what he was sensing from her. "It's been a while. How've you been?"

"Uh, fine," she stammered while returning the smile and momentarily being captured by a pair of intense, mesmerizing emerald eyes despite the emotional recoil that Al could feel so strongly. "I didn't expect, didn't know, didn't think..." she said before trailing off; and then she stood up again quickly. "I was just on my way over to Margie's – your cousin's – house. Maybe I'll see you over there later, um, James?"

"Okay," Al agreed easily; still smiling as he looked up at her. "I'm Al. James is my older brother. He and Vernon were playing video games when we left; so you'll likely see him when you get there."

"You're the geeky one?" she blurted out; and Al couldn't hold bakc the laugh this time.

"Yeah, but my girlfriend has been getting me to work on my reputation for a while now; and thinks there's hope for me yet."

"Uh, yeah, okay, um, sorry," Willow said; and then she pretty much just fled at that point and made a beeline for the Dursley's house.

"Good seeing you again too," Al whispered to himself; still grinning. He suspected that Willow's day was going to get even more interesting once she was in the same room with James. His brother would find her very attractive; and would very likely be flirting with her within minutes. He didn't want to be there to watch any of that; but he was amused to find out that at least one of Margie's friends was appalled at herself over being attracted to her friend's country bumpkin cousin.

While he did miss out on most of the action back at the Dursley's house, when Pierce led them back there again once he was ready for a snack and drink; there was quite a little party going on in the game room. Willow was still there, Margie's other best friend, Rachel, had joined them; and so had three of Vernon's friends – Sebastian, Andy, and Garrett. Even in that fairly large room, adding in five more was too much; so they only had a cameo visit before moving on to the kitchen; and then they went out to the back yard with their drinks and snacks. Willow had intentionally pretended not to see Al again, but then the girls ignored the younger kids anyway; and the five boys were focused on the gaming – or flirting with the three girls. Part two of that was a bit of a news flash for Al, since Vernon's friends hadn't been interested in Margie and her friends a year ago; but they were now apparently interesting-enough at thirteen to have the three fifteen-year old boys competing with James for their attention.

That scene had Al imagining a not-too-distant future where his own friends would be interested in Lily, but then that potential future was no stranger than the current reality as Mark-E and Blaine tried to impress his sister while Pierce was half-jealous of them while not being able to join in because Lily was, after all, related. Fortunately, their visit was nearing an end by then; and it wasn't much longer before Ginny and Pearl rounded up their kids for the big goodbye in the sitting room. As usual, by then, Al knew that their fathers would have long-since run out of anything to talk about; and they'd likely sat there in near-silence while watching a game on the television. With their friends still in the game room, Vernon, Margie, and Pierce made quick work of those farewells; and they were back with their friends before the Potter family was out the front door and Pearl was closing it behind them. None of them said anything until they were all in the van and Harry had pulled out of the drive and headed down the street; but they were all relieved that the visit was over – and that they wouldn't be back again for another year.

"I've got the name of that Mall if you'd like to go straight there now," Lily told her parents with a grin; "though I hope you weren't serious about me wearing an outfit like Margie had on today. I wouldn't be able to keep something like that clean for five minutes unless I sat around in a chair and did nothing all day."

"You just wish that you could wear something like that and look as good as Margie and her friends do," James retorted. "Some of the Witches at Hogwarts could sure learn a thing or three from them."

"You'd think so," Lily shot back. "You like your Witches vapid and clueless – as long as they fawn all over you."

"Which they'll do even more this year now that I'm Captain of our Quidditch team."

"Too bad you couldn't tell Margie's friends about that," Lily pretended to lament. "They'd have been impressed too; I'm sure."

"They were impressed anyway," James declared with a grin. "I've got the email addresses to prove that."

"Which I'm sure they'll be thrilled about when you can't email them at all starting a week from now," Lily countered – "not that you're interested in writing email back and forth with them anyway."

"That's true," James agreed easily; "but that'll just make our next visit here more interesting."

"Does that mean you actually had fun?" Harry asked him; and James laughed.

"I did as ordered; so don't think that you're getting out of our deal just because it didn't totally suck to be there. I did still have to put up with all of the usual crap from Vernon and Margie. They sure don't think much of their country bumpkin cousins. One of these days, I'd really like to show them just how little they know about us."

"Dudley does know about us, and that doesn't make a difference," Harry reminded him. "I wish that you could have relationships with your Dursley cousins the way you do with your Mum's side of the family, but since they can't know the truth about us; that'll likely never happen."

"That's partly your cousin's fault," Ginny told him. "he could have come up with a story for us that was a bit more flattering; but now we're stuck with the one we have."

Harry shrugged. "It's not as if we'd have done very well pretending to be rich Muggles. For as often as we use this van, it'd be silly to drive around in something fancier just to show off to our cousins once a year."

Ginny nodded. "That wouldn't likely work if your Aunt and Uncle have ever talked about you around the kids either." She shrugged then and smiled. "It doesn't really matter to me anyway; but I don't think I'll ever get used to these visits." She looked back at Al and Lily. "How did your visit go? I saw that you spent most of the time with Pierce and his friends. Didn't Margie want to hang out with you at all today, Lily?"

"I don't know how anyone notices if she is hanging out with them when she's on her phone all of the time," Lily answered. "Finding out which store she'd gotten that outfit from was as close as we came to a polite conversation. We don't have anything in common; so I'm just as glad that al and I didn't have to sit around and hear all about her fancy school and stuck-up friends. Pierce's friend, Blaine is nearly as bad as Margie; but Mark-E wasn't too annoying – for a boy."

"We'll be leaving you behind for these trips if you ever start liking those boys too much," Harry joked; and James laughed.

"Then you should know that she was falling all over them today," he told his parents. "I'll stay home next year and babysit her while you're gone."

"Nice try, but you'll both be going along again next year," Ginny told them; since Lily was grinning by then too. "Now, do you really want to go shopping; or should we start for home and stop for dinner somewhere along the way?"

"Let's go to Diagon Alley; shop there; and then take the Floo Network home," James suggested. "Dad and Al could drive the van back home from there – or just leave it parked here in the city somewhere until sometime next week."

"That would give us a chance to have a visit with Neville, Hannah, and the kids before the girls head back to school," Harry suggested thoughfully. "Would it save you a trip there next week too?" he asked Ginny.

"If the boys don't mind getting their sweets a few days earlier than I'd planned," she agreed. "We've already picked up everything else they need for Hogwarts. You're not thinking about leaving the van here, though, are you?"

"No, but James is right that we don't all have to put up with the long drive. If Al or Lily want to come with me, that's fine too; or I can do the drive on my own."

"I'll go with you," Al said quietly; earning a sneer from James.

"Of course you will, loser," he whispered; though probably not quietly-enough not to be heard by everyone in the van – even though his comment was ignored.

Harry drove over to a parking lot that wasn't far from the Leaky; parked; and then they started the rest of their afternoon with a visit with the Longbottoms because Hannah was in between the lunch and dinner rushes and could take a break with Neville and the girls. After that, they wandered around Diagon Alley; James happily spent some of his one hundred galleons on some new wheezes; all three kids picked up some chocolates and sweets; and then they went back to the Leaky to have dinner. Ginny eventually took James and Lily home using the Floo Network while Harry and Al did the long drive back in the van – both of them okay with having the father-son alone time even if that meant getting home after dark – and missing out on some swim time and three-way Seeker duel while they were on the road. Al still went for a swim before heading up to bed that Lily joined him for; and then he wrapped up his day with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn that included a fairly extensive recap of the visit with his Muggle cousins and their friends.

Al was up early on Sunday and fired up because he was going to get to see Gwendolyn for the first time since Tuesday – even if that was only going to be a fairly short visit at her house. Molly and Arthur were hosting a family day at the Burrow too, but after helping out around the Burrow while they were there with the rest of the younger cousins; the Potters weren't on the morning work crew there so they could have the extra visit with the McCormacks. James wasn't happy about that, but stopped complaining immediately when Ginny offered to drop him off at the Burrow first so that he didn't have to go along – deciding that the morning plans weren't so bad after all. Harry and Al had cooked breakfast; Ginny and Lily helped them with the clean-up; and then they headed over to the McCormacks after doing a few other small chores – like cleaning the portable pool and taking care of the Owls. While their arrival and welcome wasn't the same because they did arrive by Floo Network; but the welcome was a lot more fun and genuine with the McCormacks than the Potters had experienced just a day earlier with their own family.

"I think they've missed each other," Gwenog teased as Gwendolyn welcomed Al as enthusiastically as usual after they'd been apart for a few days. "Should we be glad that they'll be back to seeing each other every day starting in less than a week; or worried?"

"Worried," James told her. "You should keep both of them back and home school them."

"You're just worried about playing against my team this year," Gwendolyn told him; and James laughed.

"For all you know; you won't have a decent Seeker or Keeper to replace Pauline and Peter. Gryffindor's always loaded with talent; so I'll have my pick."

"Says the Wizard who didn't even know who the best players on his own team were last season," Gwendolyn shot back, "but let's not go there; since I'd rather do my Quidditch talking out on the pitch, and it's not as if I don't think you'll have a good team too – unless you mess things up with Al and Rose before you play against my team." She smiled at Al. "No offense; but I'm hoping for that more than a little; since it'd give my team a better chance in that game."

"None taken," Al assured her with a smile at the same time that James said – "I doubt they'll even be good enough to make the reserve squad this year."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Thanks for proving my point – you're still clueless – at least when it comes to your own brother and cousin."

"As if you'd know," James said with a snort. "You've spent the entire summer playing Quidditch with kids and the second-rate players you've got left now that Pauline and Peter have moved up and will be Reserve players for your senior team – if they manage to do that well."

"Is it okay if we go outside, Mum?" Gwendolyn asked. "I think that Al and I need some fresh air. It's getting a bit thick in here."

"Say hello to Harry and Ginny first; and then fly and be free," Gwenog answered. "The rest of you are welcome to go outside too, or go and play mirror games. We'll be outside in a bit too – once we've gotten drinks and I've finished what I'm doing in the kitchen."

Gwendolyn had hugs for Al's parents before taking his hand and leading him outside. They went for a walk around the yard, which took a while because the McCormack's house was on a twenty-acre lot; and they were both happy to do that on their own when Jonah and Lily decided to go out too but have a Seeker duel instead of going along. James stayed indoors and played mirror games on his own; and the parents eventually sat at a patio table with cups of coffee and a plate of snacks while having a chat that was mostly about the Harpies and the latest back-to-school news. Al and Gwendolyn mostly talked about what they wanted to do on the train ride to Hogwarts and when they had the free day on Sunday before starting classes a week from Monday; they followed up their walk by joining in for some parent chat time; and then they had a Chaser duel while Lily and Jonah were still having fun with their Seeker battle. All of that was fun, but then Harry and Ginny needed to round up their kids and head for the Burrow too soon – or at least too soon for Al's liking. Gwendolyn and her family had other commitments too, so it wasn't as if Al and Gwendolyn could have stayed together anyway; but they both still wished that they could have spent the entire day together.

Those goodbyes had been fairly short despite the extra hugs and kisses that Al shared with Gwendolyn; and then there was another round of hugs and kisses to get started on as soon as they arrived at the Burrow; where nearly half of their family had already gathered by then – led by the two oldest Weasley brothers and their families. Charlie, Julianne, and the kids had come for the weekend; stayed at the Burrow; and split their Saturday between spending time with Molly and Arthur and an outing with Bill, Fleur, and the kids. By then, Arthur had his planes and helicopters out; and he had Louis and Aiden happily playing with him as they flew the different aircraft around above the field and orchard. Fred was watching the show too – along with some of the parents and girls; but was either in between turns; or was giving his cousins a chance to do that with their grandfather instead; since he was able to do that a lot more often than Louis or Aiden could. Al didn't try to join in either for the same reason; but James jumped in right away; and soon had one of Arthur's newer quad-copters in the air and buzzing around.

Lunch was still an hour or so away when the Potters arrived, but everyone was going to be there for that; and it wasn't long before Ron, Hermione, and the kids got there. Rose immediately met up with Al as soon as she was done the first round of greetings with everyone else; and she sat in the chair next to him – chairs that were on the outer edge of the line of chairs that had been set up for watching the flying action. They'd shared a quick hug; and Al smiled and focused his attention on her.

"You're especially happy about something," he said seriously. "Is there some good news to share from your house; or have you just had a really awesome weekend so far?"

Rose laughed. "Both, but the news will have to wait for later; since that's a surprise. I'll guess that our day with the Muggle side of my family was better than yours was yesterday. We had a really good play day with Grandma and Grandpa Granger. You look happier than I expected you to be today."

Al laughed. "We were at Gwendolyn's house this morning before coming here," he explained. "Our visit didn't actually go all that badly yesterday – at least for James, Lily, and me."

"I'm surprised that you're including James for that. Didn't he fight your parents all the way to London and back?"

"Dad bribed him to play nice; and then we did our last trip to Diagon Alley and James and Lily got to go home with Mum using the Floo Network so that they didn't have to to the long drive home too. He's been a bit of a git today; but not too horrid."

"That's good for you. Maybe he'll be too busy with Aiden and Louis to bug us today too."

"We can hope," Al agreed. "Do you know who's going to get Aunt Muriel? I only know that it wasn't supposed to be Mum and Dad today – though we might be on-duty for the return trip."

"It wasn't us either," Rose said with a shrug. "Maybe it's Uncle Percy this time – or Uncle George; and he'll get her on the way here from the store."

"Speaking of that, is your Dad working today too? If the store was as busy as it was yesterday; they'll be packed with teens trying to get their back-to-school wheezes. We didn't see your Dad when we were there yesterday either."

"He was there all morning yesterday; and he'll be helping out later today too; so he'll likely be there whenever Uncle George is here."

"Well, at least they'll be able to take a break once we're back at school," Al offered. "So what's the big news you can't tell me about? Did your Mum and Dad have too much fun during those two kid-free nights they had while we were camping in the tent at the cottages; and you're going to have a new baby in the family sometime next May?"

"That's not funny, Al," Rose said; looking both amused and horrified. "I really can't tell you; but it's definitely nothing like that! You'll find out soon-enough."

"Okay, but you'd better work on your gossip skills a bit over the next week. Your girlfriends will not be happy if you keep secrets from them once we're back to school."

"As if they cut me any slack while we're home. Cora yelled at me for not telling her that I'd been playing Quidditch with Gwendolyn's Ravenclaw team mates."

"I didn't know that you were keeping in touch," Al admitted. "I've passsed on a couple of letters each way between her and Romeo with Winter; but that's about it – and she hasn't talked with me."

"We haven't been, but she invited me to her birthday party this coming Thursday; so I called her to confirm that I was going. She'd heard about our practices from her brothers; and wanted to know if I was getting cozy with any of the boys."

"That sounds as though I've arrived at the perfect time," Charlene said as she joined them; and she smiled brightly at Rose. "So, have you gotten cozy with one of those as-yet un-named boys?"

Rose laughed. "No, but then one of them was my Christmas dance date-gone-bad; I don't plan on dating his older brother; and I'm not interested in the other two boys at all. Cora's interested in most boys, though, so she doesn't get how it's possible that I wouldn't find at least one or two of them worth getting to know better."

Charlene nodded. "Been there, have some friends like that. Are you guys looking forward to getting back to school? I am; though I'll miss Mum and Dad too. Aiden and I are both looking forward to Quidditch too; since we'll hopefully both end up on two of the best teams again this year." She smiled at Al. "I don't know if I'd be as thrilled if James was going to be my Captain. He's rather full of himself today – even worse than at the World Cup match."

"I'm glad to be going back – especially since I'll get to see Gwendolyn every day," Al said first; "and I'm trying not to think about what it'd be like playing Quidditch on James' team. It won't be good if last year is any indication – and we won't have Louis around to run interference for us."

"I'm excited about going back too," Rose added. "Ditto the last part of that for me. We're definitely not as excited about Quidditch as we were last year."

"That's too bad. I guess that I've been lucky so far to have team mates that all really like to have fun together when we play. I hope that we'll get a chance to play together later too; though we've got more players than spots on the teams; so some of us are bound to get left out."

"Maybe we should set up mini tournaments next time," Rose suggested. "We could all bring a friend or two along; have a couple of matches; and then a championship game between the winners."

"I love that idea," Charlene said enthusiastically. "Let's see about doing that sometime next summer – and maybe we'll have boyfriends to invite by then. From what Aunt Ginny's said, Al will either still be with Gwendolyn then – or he'll be living out his life as a woodlouse; so I'll guess that he can bring Gwendolyn along."

"Or she can bring him – in a jar," Rose teased. "I take it that things didn't work out with that Wizard you met at the World Cup campground."

Charlene laughed. "I didn't expect it to. We did have fun for a couple of days, and I really like him; but long-distance relationships just don't work out – especially when you're under-age."

The girls ran with that chat topic for a while; and then Charlene moved on to visit with Molly and Lucy when they arrived with their parents and Aunt Muriel. While he wasn't trying to avoid her, Al did make himself scarce after he and Rose joined in for the group welcome for Aunt Muriel – when they'd be least-likely to be singled out for her attention. He wandered out in the orchard; stayed on the fringes of the family until lunchtime; and then had that meal with Rose, Lily, and some of the younger cousins at a table that was both away from most of the parents and not too close to James either. The big news of the day for the family was Hermione's to share; and it was also going to be a big news story for the Ministry of Magic on Monday. She made the announcement just before they had dessert; and she looked very happy as she stood and got everyone's attention.

"Ron and I wanted to give all of you the heads-up about a new job that I'll be starting soon. The announcement will be made at the Ministry of Magic tomorrow; so there's likely to be a bit of a splash in the news over it."

"Are they finally making you Minister of Magic?" Bill called out; and Hermione laughed along with everyone else.

"No, but I am to be the Deputy Head for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she advised them. She smiled at Ron. "Emma's been trying to get me to come and work for her for years, but Ron's never wanted me to be his boss; so I've always turned her down. Now that he's retired; I think that I can do a lot of good there – especially with getting laws changed that are unfair to some Witches and Wizards – or to other Magical Creatures."

"So you'll be Harry's boss! Good for you – we need someone we can trust to keep an eye on him when Ginny can't." That was from Bill again; and he earned another round of laughs.

"I think that it's wonderful that the Ministry of Magic is putting more Witches in charge of things," Fleur told her husband. "Gringotts could learn a thing or two from Minister Shacklebolt."

"I doubt you'll ever convince the Goblins of that; but maybe George would think about putting Angelina in charge of their stores and let her boss Ron around."

"Tempting, but no thanks," Angelina told him. "I haven't decided what I'm going to do next; but it isn't going to be cooped up in a store all day six or seven days a week." She smiled at Hermione, "Congratulations. You'll be as brilliant in this job as you've been in all the rest. Will you keep your seat on the Wizengamot and do both?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. There's still a lot I want to do through the Wizengamot too. I thought about holding off on this for another year until Hugo starts at Hogwarts; but Emma's getting tired of a revolving door of Deputy-Heads; and thinks that I'll stick it out – and can put up with Harry and the other Heads."

"She should blame Kingsley," Harry told her. "He's the one that keeps scooping her best people because she trains them better than anyone else."

"He's not doing his job if he doesn't promote the best and brightest," Percy interjected. "You should take one of the promotions he's offered you and make room for others to move up too, Harry – the way Hermione did with her staff in House-Elf Liason."

Harry shrugged and smiled. "I'm happy where I am; and Emma – and now Hermione – are welcome to promote my Aurors past me whenever they want to do that – though that isn't quite the same for us as it is in other departments."

"Kingsley would prove himself a fool to move Harry out of the Aurors," Aunt Muriel declared; "and the whole department will be better for having our Hermione as Deputy-Head!"

With that pronouncement, the conversation rolled on; and Hermione gave up the spotlight to Aunt Muriel as she got on a roll and kept her family entertained while they had dessert and then collectively cleaned up before moving on to spend the afternoon playing together. That included more flying time with Arthur's toys, but also an extended Quidditch match that Rose did get to play in but that Al ended up being one of the odd Chasers out for – which he was okay with; since it meant that he could spend some time with Lily, other cousins when they weren't playing Quidditch, and some of their aunts and uncles that he wouldn't see again until the Christmas holidays. With so much going on and so many people there, the afternoon sped by in a series of cameo moments that all seemed too short; but did mostly allow Al to spend a bit of time with nearly everyone. They stayed together for dinner too, but then the party wrapped up after that; and Harry and Ginny were among the first to leave this time – partly because they also took care of getting Aunt Muriel home.

When they eventually made it back to their own house, it was time to get some more work done. Al and Lily helped with that; wrapped up their evening with a bedtime swim; and then Al did some bonus studying and reading in his room until Gwendolyn called him for their bedtime mirror chat after she got home from her day with the McCormack clan. She'd had a good day too, and while they were both tired out by then; they stayed awake and talked for nearly an hour before deciding to turn in for the night and get some sleep.

Monday was a work day for Harry and Ginny, so it meant spending the day at the Burrow again for James, Al, and Lily; but then it was really just a day they needed to get through ahead of the fun that they had booked for Tuesday – whether that was at home for Al and Lily; or away for James and his Quidditch and play day at Ollie's house. They did still have some fun with their cousins and grandmother along with doing some chores too; but then Rose and Hugo were looking forward to spending the day with their friends on Tuesday too; so that was also one of the things they spent a lot of time talking about on Monday – even if a kid play day was not very important compared to the big news at the Ministry of Magic that was all over the news by dinnertime. Harry had a few stories about that when he got home from work, and his friends all had fun with teasing him about his new boss; but Harry was as happy about hermione's new job as she was – and knew that she'd do brilliantly as Emma's second-in-command.

While that was the top dinner conversation topic, Al and Lily spent the rest of their evening helping Ginny with getting everything ready for their play day on Tuesday. That included cleaning; getting everything ready for Quidditch and a gang of swimmers; and some pre-cooking for the lunch they were hosting for their gang. That kept them busy pretty much until bedtime – especially since James didn't help; and declared that he shouldn't need to do that because it wasn't his friends coming over; and he wasn't going to be at home all day either. Al and Lily were just as happy not to have his help anyway; but would have liked it better if he'd also skipped razzing them about all of th work and just completely left them alone. Al had another bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn, but they kept that one short; and he went off to sleep early so that he'd be ready for what he expected would be the best day of the week for them – at least until Saturday when they'd be heading off to Hogwarts again!

He was awake before dawn; grabbed a shower; and was downstairs cooking breakfast for five by the time that Harry joined him and helped out with the rest of the work from that point on. Lily supervised for the last bit of work; Ginny was there in time to sit down and eat while the food was still hot; and James didn't join them until everyone else was nearly finished eating – and he was running out of time to get ready to go so that Harry could go with him over to Ollie's house on his way to work. When motivated, James could demolish food at a scary pace, and he emptied two plates full of food in minutes before running off again to finish getting ready and grab his Quidditch gear. From Al's perspective, having James out of the way before Gwenog dropped off Gwendolyn and Jonah was a bonus; though they weren't alone by then either because Rose, Hugo, Ray, Melissa, and Kathryn were all there already by the time that Gwendolyn and Jonah arrived. The rest of their friends followed in quick succession as the Floo Network got a bit jammed as their friends needed to wait for each arrival; but then that also meant that they didn't have to wait around for everyone before starting their practice.

Once they were all ready to go, Gwendolyn led them through warm-ups and a flying workout; and then Rose and Hugo were made team Captains for their play scrimmage; and they picked their teams. Though they had some fun with that; Al and Gwendolyn did get to play on the same team – for Rose, while Hugo ended up with Mark, Landon, Ray, and Melissa; and Al and Gwendolyn had Kathryn and Roxanne with them for a four-against-four Chaser battle that allowed everyone to play for the entire scrimmage this time. Hugo got Lily and both Ravenclaw Beaters to even up the odds while Jonah and Fred rounded out Rose's team; but that didn't end up working out for Hugo anyway when Jonah won the Seeker duel three catches to Lily's two; and Al and Gwendolyn were too much for Mark and Landon while Ray and Melissa only had a slight edge over Kathryn and Roxanne. The final score didn't really matter, though; since having fun had been the name of the game; and they all won that contest with a couple of hours of brilliant Quidditch play time.

Everyone was ready to go for a swim by the time Jonah had made the last snitch catch; and most of the kids and teens rushed through getting out of their gear and downing cool-off drinks before going to do that. Al and Gwendolyn were two exceptions; but only because they were content to take the extra time to relax and wind down from the match before hopping in the pool and getting back to playing with the rest of their friends. Kathryn had been one of the first into the pool, but she came back to the pitch when she saw that Al and Gwendolyn were alone; and sat down on the bench next to Gwendolyn.

"I wanted to talk to you guys about something that I heard last week at my house," she began; her expression and tone serious. "Belinda thinks that Ollie and James are just trying to set me up for a prank, and that I should just ignore it; but I've decided to tell you anyway – and I hope that it is a prank."

"Okay," Al said with a nod, "and whatever it is; we'll keep it quiet either way. Then if it is a prank; they'll never need to know that they got you – or us – with it."

Kathryn smiled and nodded too. "That sounds good," she agreed; and then took a deep breath. "I heard James and Ollie talking about making the Gryffindor junior team tryouts invitation-only – and that you, Al, and Rose and Ray, will not be sent any of those invitations; or they'll purposely send them late so that you don't get them in time. It didn't sound as though they've decided on that yet. Belinda insists that even James and Ollie wouldn't be that stupid, but I've heard them talking about you all summer; and I think they'd do it. They really believe that they're so good compared to everyone else that it doesn't really matter who plays with them on the team – and they really don't want to play with any of you." She shook her head. "Like I said, I really hope it is some dumb prank; but thought that you should know – especially if it's what they really are going to do when you get back to school."

"You think Kathryn's overheard their true plan," Gwendolyn stated. She'd been watching Al as much as she'd been paying close attention to Kathryn; and had seen his reactions.

"It makes sense of some of the jibes he's been throwing at us pretty much since we got our Hogwarts letters. We'd definitely have no chance of even making the reserve team if we're not even to be invited to tryouts. For all we know; they've been hatching this plan since April."

"Then they really are idiots," Kathryn declared. "I'm sure there are other good players; but not any as good or better than Al, Rose, and Ray."

Al shrugged. "I'd like to think that's true, but if that's what they have planned, and I think it is; we won't get to find out this year." He smiled at the two girls. "I'll let Lily know how that goes after we're back; and she can pass the news on to you, Kathryn. Thanks for telling us. It'll give us a few days to get used to the idea before we're suprised by it once we're back at Hogwarts."

"You're not going to try and do anything about it before you leave?" Kathryn asked in surprise; and Al shook his head.

"If we say anything now, they can just deny it; scrap the idea; and come up with another plan – if they don't have one already. I'd like to play Quidditch for Gryffindor again this year, and we all know that Rose and Ray feel the same way, but we weren't sure that we were going to like playing for James anyway; so this could even be best for all of us."

"That's not true," Gwendolyn disagreed. "The best for all of you, and for your Gryffindor team, would be if James and Ollie got over themselves and put their team and House ahead of their bruised egos."

"Okay, that's true," Al conceded; "but they're not going to do that; and we both know it."

"It isn't right," Kathryn declared; "and it'll be really wrong if they do this and it messes up Belinda's chances to win another Quidditch Cup before she graduates this year. She's already got a tough-enough act following Victoire as team captain – not to mention going undefeated the past two seasons."

"The odds are against her too," Al added seriously; "but I would've liked to try and help to win a third Cup in a row for our House." He smiled and shrugged. "Maybe I'm the one in need of an attitude adjustment. James and Ollie are good; and maybe this will really work out for them."

Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him. "Not if I can help it," she told him enthusiastically. "Let's not convict him before they've officially done anything, but if James messes with us for what I'd hoped would be a great rematch next April; I am not going to be happy about that – or that he's messed things up for my boyfriend."

"I'll bet he didn't think about that while cooking up this plan," Kathryn suggested with a grin. "Maybe I'll be able to talk Mum into taking me to see that game."

"It would be Ollie's last as a junior player," Gwendolyn offered helpfully. "That'd be really nice of you to support your brother like that."

The two girls took that line and ran with it for another few minutes; but then they let the matter drop; Al and Gwendolyn finished putting their gear and brooms away; and then they all went swimming. Ginny had lunch ready about a half-hour later; she joined in for that blast of food and fun; and then the kids and teens had up to the rest of the afternoon available to play – until they were either picked up by parents or headed for home on their own through the Floo Network. Al and Gwendolyn eventually had a long chat with Rose and Ray about Kathryn's news, and while they all agreed to wait and see what would happen once they were at school again; they also agreed to just roll with whatever James and Ollie did with the Quidditch team – even if that meant not playing for Gryffindor this year. That was going to be especially unfair for Ray, but like Al and Rose; he'd been as worried about what he'd do if he did earn a spot on the team with James and Ollie; so they all had very mixed feelings about the news.

While everyone else went home by dinnertime, Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed with Al and Lily; and spent part of the evening with them too before Kirley picked them up and took them home. Al and Gwendolyn weren't going to see each other again before Saturday, so they were glad to have that extra time together; and spent some of it alone in Al's room where they could talk privately and end their day with a minor snogging session. They did need to say goodbye eventually, though; and then it was back to life as normal for Al – especially after James got home from Ollie's and had needed to spend some quality time annoying Al and Lily before they got sick of him and just went up to their rooms for the night.

The last three days of the week, month, and summer holidays actually felt like a true wind-down for Al. Sure, he needed to wrap up a few things to finish getting ready to head back to Hogwarts; but he and Lily really didn't have much going on at home or at the Burrow when they were there for parts of the days on Wednesday and Friday. While they mostly just enjoyed three quiet play days that also included some chores every day; there weren't any outings or adventures for either of them. James had another day at Ollie's on Thursday, and Rose went to Cora's twelfth birthday party on Thursday – and did her last trip to Diagon Alley before going back to school too; but Al was very happy to get to have that entire day on Thursday to spend with Lily – and with Ginny when she could play with them while working from home and getting ready for the weekend Quidditch games she was working on Saturday – after James and Al were gone and on their way to Hogwarts.

While those three days really were anticlimactic compared to most of their summer holidays, the break helped Al to get ready for his second year at Hogwarts. By Friday night, he was sure that he was ready for the school year ahead of him. Sure there were quite a few unknowns – like whether he'd be able to play Quidditch for Gryffindor or whether he'd continue to have problems with a certain group of Slytherins, but Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends would be there too; and they could handle anything that Hogwarts could throw at them! Gwendolyn all but assured him of that during their bedtime chat on Friday night, and when he eventually went to sleep after staying up later than usual to read and think; Al believed her – and had the very strong sense that their Hogwarts adventures were just going to keep on being as amazing as their first year had been!

**A/N** This is the end of ATE Yr1! Year 2 will be posted when I've completed writing the entire year. While you're waiting for that to be ready; please check out my original series - Heirs of the Magi by Goggling 'Heirs of the Magi' and following the links to the Heirs of the Magi blog or to the e-retailer websites where those books are available for download in most popular e-book formats!


	13. Home to Hogwarts with Seconds to Spare

A/N: Merry Christmas 2016! My Gift to you this year is the 12 Chapters of After the Epilogue – Year 2! Happy Holiday Reading! ;^)

Chapter Thirteen – Home to Hogwarts with Seconds to Spare!

Al waved at his parents, Lily, and the rest of the gang of parents and kids standing on the platform with them as the Hogwarts Express began to move out toward Hogsmeade. Ginny was hugging Lily; Harry had an arm around her; and Al had to push back against the tears that brimmed in his eyes at the sight of them – the last he'd have of them in person until the Christmas holidays.

"They'll be okay without us for a few months," Gwendolyn teased gently, and Al smiled; but didn't turn his attention to her again until their families were out of sight.

"I know. Thanks for getting seats for us with the best view for watching the platform on the way out of the station. It wouldn't feel the same not to get to have that last bit of time for goodbyes."

"It's the least we can do when you're the one stuck with James," Gwendolyn said half-seriously. "I'm amazed that you manage to get here on time with your brother slowing you down and making the trip to London so miserable."

"From what I saw this morning; it'll be a month or more before he finds everything in his trunk – though he insists he knows exactly where everything is in that mess."

"Well, at least he'll have a full day to find his summer revision before he'll need to hand it in," Rose offered. "I'm sure that Al doesn't want to talk about James right now, though; so why don't the rest of us entertain him with our morning reports instead? Who would like to go first?"

For this trip, Ray was the only other friend sitting with them because Rose had Fred with her; and Gwendolyn had her cousin, Ryan Rivers, with her. Al had met Ryan a handful of times over the years while they were both at Gwendolyn's house; but didn't really know him very well at all because his family had their circle of friends through his Mother, Meghan, and the Prides. Gwenolyn's Aunt Meghan – and the Prides – had a game to play too just as the Harpies did; and Al and Rose soon found out that Ryan and Gwendolyn had come to King's Cross together with their fathers, Jonah, and the rest of Gwendolyn's cousins while Gwenog and Meghan were busy with their respective teams. As Fred and Ryan started to get to know each other, they also found out that Ryan played Keeper like his mother. That was a news flash that had Al wondering if Gwendolyn had avoided telling them very much about her cousin on purpose – and that she was hoping that he'd be sorted into Ravenclaw as a potential replacement for Peter Boot now that he and Pauline would be moving on to the senior team.

"I'm surprised that you didn't invite Ryan to play with us this summer," Al told Gwendolyn in a whisper while Fred, Rose, Ray, and Ryan were busy talking Quidditch.

Gwendolyn smiled at him; and he didn't need to wonder anymore about why she hadn't said anything about Ryan sooner – or extended that invitation. "We already had two good Keepers; and my cousins have lots of other friends to play Quidditch with anyway."

"Including you and Jonah?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"We play most times when our families get together; though we didn't do that as much this summer while we were all so busy."

"Do you have another possible Quidditch surprise for your team Seeker too?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Maybe; but let's wait and see how the sorting goes. I hope that Ryan doesn't end up in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff; but that really is as much because I think he'll have a better chance of playing on the Ravenclaw team most years. Gryffindor has Louis and Rose after Belinda graduates this year; and Hufflepuff has Myra and some other really good player yet to be discovered that isn't my cousin."

Al laughed too. "That was quick; if not very convincing for that last part. Have you decided what you'll be doing for your tryouts next weekend? Ravenclaw should get one of the Monday-Wednesday-Friday practice time slots this year; so I suppose you could even do your tryouts during the week if you wanted to split them up – or do them some other way altogether."

"I've thought about that," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "I'm going to talk with Mr. Peakes about doing the firstie flying tests on Monday and then maybe having a couple of workouts for everyone on Wednesday and Friday ahead of tryouts on Saturday. That'd give me more time to watch everyone play; and give some of the kids that don't get to play as often as we do a better chance."

"I like the idea," Al approved. "Too bad you're not Captain for Gryffindor."

"You'd love that," Rose said with a laugh as she overheard that and turned her attention to Al and Gwendolyn. "Do you think that Ravenclaw would trade us Gwendolyn for James?"

"Not a chance," Gwendolyn assured her – "even if I'd like to play on the same team with you and Al." She laughed at the sudden grin on Rose's face. "Cut that out. I'm going to play for the Harpies after we're done school."

"Whatever you say," Rose agreed easily. "Have you guys been making plans for our day off tomorrow? Since some of us don't have charm bracelets or charmed seashells; I'd like to have a magic play time if anyone else is interested in doing that."

"That sounds like fun," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "The charm bracelet is awesome, but it still isn't the same as doing the magic yourself. I'd love to try out more of the spells I've mostly just been reading about in our new textbooks."

With a new topic to chat about, they settled in for the long train ride. Unlike other trips, they didn't have their usual gang in the compartments immediately around them, but they did have friends and family stop by for visits as they went for walks along the train. They all went out for a walk or two too when they felt the need to get up and moving for a while; but Al and Gwendolyn weren't away from their compartment for very long. They had lunch together; and timed that for the start of the Harpies' match against the Falcons. They used four mirrors for the game-watching; though two of the mirrors were so they could either watch or keep an eye on the Prides' game that Gwendolyn and Ryan were both interested in watching too. There was a lot of interest among most of the students on the train for the Harpies-Falcons match; with most of that interest thanks to the first professional battle between Victoire for the Harpies and Gregor and Theo Nott for the Falcons.

There were likely a lot of Slytherins hoping that the Nott brothers and the Falcons would put Victoire and some of her team mates into their beds at St. Mungo's, and it was immediately obvious that the Falcons were playing with that exact goal in mind; but the Harpies had a very different game plan – and one that they successfully pulled off in just thirty-one minutes. That plan was simple – catch the snitch as quickly as possible. To that end, while the Falcons were flying around trying to inflict injuries on the Harpies' players, Gabrielle put all of her effort into catching the snitch; and she had help with that from everyone on her team – though Vicky's contribution was to deal with the extra scoring attempts the Falcons had while their Chasers took turns helping Gabrielle whenever they could. A half-hour was still long-enough for the Falcons to get some hits in on the Witches that they loved to hate the most, but there weren't any serious injuries; and Victoire not only managed to score both of the Harpies' goals; she also ran interference for Gabrielle's game-winning snitch catch by blasting a path between her aunt and the Falcons' Seeker that gave Gabrielle the seperation she needed to make the catch.

While they had fun talking about that match long after it was over, they also watched the rest of the Prides' game too. That game was a longer match, if not tougher, so it provided them with lots of entertainment as the train rolled along toward Hogsmeade. They had a snack break when the trolley eventually made it back to their end of the train, and while they talked about Quidditch a lot; the chat fun also included telling Fred and Ryan some favorite stories about Hogwarts. For their part, neither of the boys seemed at all worried about their upcoming sorting ceremony. Fred was sure he'd be Gryffindor; and Ryan was sure that he wouldn't be Slytherin and was okay with any of the other three Houses. The gossip network was firing up quickly too; and the grapevine was soon filled with teen drama stories that ranged from sweet Hogwarts Express reunions to bitter summer break-ups. Al wasn't interested in any of that news, but Rose and Gwendolyn had a lot of fun with their girlfriends when they got together for little cameo chats.

Though the train ride was mostly fun, pretty much everyone on-board was ready to escape once they were at Hogsmeade Station. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose made sure that Fred and Ryan were safely with Hagrid and the other firsties before they went on to get in line for the carriage rides to the castle; and then they had a couple of rounds of hurry up and wait as they made their way to Hogwarts and eventually into the Great Hall. They were among the last to arrive there, so the only differences from a year ago was that Gwendolyn had a goodbye hug and kiss for Al before they split up to sit down at the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables; and their seats were now in the section that was unofficially reserved for second-year students. Al, Rose, and Ray sat with their usual group of Gryffindor friends; and the one good thing about waiting until near the end for carriage rides was that they didn't have to wait long before the firsties were brought in and the sorting ceremony began.

This year, Professor Peakes, the Head of Hufflepuff, was in charge of the first-year students; and she led them into the Great Hall in the annual processional that was very different to watch from the Gryffindor table compared to a year ago when Al, Rose, and their friends had been among the firsties. Al saw that Fred and Ryan had stayed together after going off with Hagrid and the other firsties. They were about a third of the way down the line from the front; and ended up in the second row as they lined up at the front of the hall. Professor McGonagall did her welcoming speech next; it was a near-repeat of her speech last year; and then Professor Peakes was invited to begin the sorting ceremony. She put the sorting hat on the stool; and it began to sing this year's version of its annual song.

Come hither and yon to hear my song;

Firsties need not fear; for I'm never wrong!

Whether you'll be Gryffindor or Slytherin;

Fair Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff;

I'll know which House is right for you;

And be sure you have the right stuff!

Let's help each House get what they need;

To do their best; really succeed!

So put on a grin – let's begin;

And as always; may the best House win!

"Not bad, but maybe the sorting hat should ask you and Gwendolyn for a bit of help next year," Rose teased; leaning in and whispering that to Al. He grinned, but managed not to laugh out loud as Professor Peakes was already calling the first name on her list.

"Maybe the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers should hire the hat to write songs for them instead. It does have a fair bit of time on its hands the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year."

The sorting ceremony was definitely different from the perspective of the older students, and while Al and Rose watched the action at the front of the hall; they talked quietly together too – and with their closest neighbors. Stephanie Boot was the first firstie called to be sorted that really caught their eye, and while Al didn't know her very well; he saw that Gwendolyn was very happy when Stephanie was sorted to Ravenclaw; and suspected that his girlfriend's House had just gotten another really good Quidditch player. Al looked over at James to see if he had any reaction, but his brother didn't even appear to take notice of Stephanie at all; and didn't even look toward the front as the next name was called. Keeping an eye on James, it wasn't until the next Gryffindor was announced that James reacted at all; so it was then obvious that he was only interested in the kids being placed in their own House – and even then; James dismissed that Witch at a glance as being of any interest to him.

"He really is an idiot," Al murmured; and Rose turned to look at him.

"James?" she asked; and he nodded.

"He's ingoring all of the firsties in the other Houses; and sizing up ours at a glance without knowing anything about them. That's practically the opposite of what Louis did last year. He went around meeting firsties on the train before he even knew what Houses they'd be in; and then he went around and talked to most of the Gryffindor firsties to find out if he had any Quidditch talent among them – or at least let them know about the tryouts even if they weren't interested."

"That is fairly dumb," Rose agreed; "but not at all surprising. He really does think that it doesn't matter who else is on the team – and I think that James might even say that includes Ollie if he was being honest with himself."

"Honest delusion?" Al offered with a grin. "That's an interesting concept."

They continued to chat as the ceremony rolled on; and that included talking about some of the kids being sorted that they either knew, had met, or speculated about if they were younger siblings of students they knew. Cyndia Finnegan, for instance, had their attention both because they'd met her before; and because she was the first firstie to earn any serious attention from James – though that seemed to mostly be for Lacey's benefit. Though she was two years younger than James and Ollie, Al suspected that it didn't hurt Cyndia's chances for playing Quidditch that she was as pretty as her big sister either.

For other Houses, Al and Rose speculated over whether Justine Finch-Fletchley would be a Quidditch player like her older brother; but didn't need to guess at that for Leanne Jordan because they knew she could play – even if they hadn't even had the chance to play with her or Alex over the past summer. It was fun to watch Professor Peakes preside over her son Ricky's sorting into Hufflepuff; though he seemed to have mixed feelings about being placed there when his mother was Head of the House. When Ryan Rivers was sorted to Ravenclaw, Al looked over to see Gwendolyn get up and go to welcome her cousin, and while his name hadn't earned any extra attention; her welcome for him sure did – and earned Al a bit of teasing from a couple of his Gryffindor friends when they saw her doing that.

"Ryan's her cousin," Rose explained to the jokesters; "and Gwendolyn is happy because he's apparently a fair Quidditch player – like his Mum." She grinned then. "You may have heard of her before – Meghan McCormack Rivers?"

"I think they recognize the name," Cora joked; leaning acros the table so that she could talk without interrupting the ceremony. "He's easy on the eyes too. Maybe you should have Gwendolyn invite him to study with us this year."

"He's cute," Bristol agreed; "but a bit short yet for boyfriend material. Maybe you should think about waiting a year or two before adding younger men to your pool of eligible Wizards."

"Maybe," Cora conceded with a shrug and smile; "but some of the good ones are already caught by the end of first-year; so we might need to reconsider that before deciding to exclude them."

"For all we know, Gwendolyn had Al caught while they were still in cribs," Bristol pointed out with a soft laugh as she and Cora both grinned at him. "He's a fair bit of trouble too, so there's always the chance that she'll throw him back in the lake eventually anyway."

"I doubt that; but we don't need to let reality get in the way of having fu with that," Cora decided.

The girls mostly led the chat time as the sorting wound down. Gryffindor added some other Quidditch family kids to their ranks; though Jackie Sloper and Kira Kirke didn't get much attention from their fellow Gryffindors. They were both only given a passing, dismissive glance by James – just as he'd done for most of the Gryffindor firsties; and that had Al wondering whether his brother didn't remember much of anything from the Quidditch stories they'd been told about their parents' Hogwarts years. When Fred was eventually placed in Gryffindor, James clapped and cheered along with the rest of Fred's cousins and family friends' kids; but Rose was the only person to get up and congratulate him with a hug and kiss on the cheek – a bit of a déjà vu moment for Al as he remembered Victoire doing that with them a year ago. The last Gryffindor firstie of the year was Wendy Wintringham, and while Al and Rose didn't know her; Bristol advised them that she was one of her Weird Sisters' cousins – and like her; not at all interested in playing Quidditch. While there weren't any other Gryffindors, there had still been a handful of students to be sorted after Wendy; and then it was time for the feast to begin!

As the tables filled with platters and bowls piled high with an amazing selection of foods, Al filled his plate as enthusiastically as everyone else around him, but he also continued to take in everything around him with all of his senses; and his mind almost seemed to meander aimlessly as he processed everything. Whether that was taking a bit of time to ponder the animosity and even real hatred he could sense from a number of Slytherins or the much more enjoyable feelings he could sense whenever Gwendolyn's attention was focused on him; it was all interesting to him – and kept him occupied while Rose and their friends were busy for a while with simply enjoying the food. The House ghosts entered the Great Hall, and while he didn't watch the entire scene; Al knew when Fred and the other firsties were introduced to Nearly-Headless Nick and the inevitable question was asked and graphically answered.

While the feast wasn't much different from a year ago, and most of the students ate too much; there were a couple of changes for Al from his first-year experience. The best was getting together with Gwendolyn a bit early so that he could walk her to Ravenclaw tower and share a goodnight hug and kiss; and the other was that they didn't have to wait for the Heads or Prefects to round them up before leaving the Great Hall. After walking Gwendolyn 'home', Al went straight to the Gryffindor common room; was still among the first to get there; and helped a couple of other Gryffindors that hadn't thought to get the new password before leaving the Great Hall. "Gryffindor Roar" was okay for a password; but Al decided that he was going to miss the more entertaining passwords that Victoire had set last year for their House.

Rose was in the common room by then along with a few of their best friends, but the rest of their second-year classmates wandered in over the next half-hour or so – with more than half of them arriving along with the Prefects that were in charge of the firsties this year. Al and Rose spent most of that time checking in with some of their cousins. Molly was busy with her Prefect duties, but Dominique, Lucy, and Louis each talked with them for a few minutes; and they spent some time with Fred and some of the other firsties too before eventually hanging out with their friends again for an hour or so until they were ready to split up and check out their second-year dorms.

Al did that with Ray and a few of the other guys; though the only thing that changed from a year ago was that they had a bit further to walk on the stairs now that they were one floor farther away from the common room. The room was identical; and they soon found out that their bed locations were the same too – with Al at the far end of the room from the door; and Ray and Romeo to the beds to his left and right. Familiarity with their dorm mates made the rest of the evening easier and more fun for all of the boys; and Al found that he could switch into dorm room life easily-enough even after having his own room again for most of the summer. The two highlights for the rest of his evening were the mirror chats he had with Lily and Gwendolyn, and he called Lily first so that she wouldn't have to stay up too late while waiting for him to check in with her.

"HiAl," she said happily after answering on the first chime. "How are you tonight? I miss you. Have you had a good trip and feast?"

Al laughed. "I'm fine; miss you too; and we've had a really good day. Should I get right to the report; or would you like to tell me about your day first?"

"Get right to the report this time," Lily decided. "Fred's in your House? Anyone else we know?"

"He is; Cyndia Finnegan is too; and while there are a few others we know of; there weren't any other friends sorted to Gryffindor. Stephanie Boot and Ryan Rivers are in Ravenclaw, and Leanne Jordan's in Hufflepuff; but those aren't surprises."

"No, they aren't," Lily agreed. "Before i forget, say hi to Ray, Romeo, and the other guys for me – and then tell me about the train ride and feast."

Al just turned his mirror around and let Lily do her own shout out to the guys while panning the mirror around the room; and then he went on to spend a half-hour talking with Lily about his day – and hers. She'd gotten to watch the Harpies' quick win over the Falcons, and had more details about the match than they'd seen on their mirrors while watching it on the train. For instance, Al hadn't seen just how riled up the Nott brothers had apparently been after they'd lost their first big opportunity to professionally try to put a hurt on Victoire and the other Harpies. He'd known that the two former Slytherins had already been making a name for themselves in their first matches – and not in a good way; but then that was exactly the kind of reputations the Falcons wanted for all of their players. When they wrapped up that call, Al took a break to get ready for bed, and then once he was in bed for the night; he wrapped up his day with a shorter mirror chat with Gwendolyn. After that, it was lights out in more ways than one; and he was out of it through until he woke up at dawn on Sunday morning.

Since he was up early, Al was also ready to go and in the common room ahead of nearly everyone; so he was among the first Gryffindors to find the notice that James had posted on the board for the Gryffindor Junior Quidditch tem tryouts; so he had the scoop on that before the minor furor erupted – mostly among the first-to-third-year tweens and teens. The fact that those tryouts would be invitation-only wasn't a surprise thanks to Kathryn's warning and his own senses backing up what she'd overheard; but then James surely expected the surprise to come when Al, Rose, and Ray were somehow missed when those invitations were delivered. He was mildly interested to find out that James had invited firsties to speak with him or Ollie if they believed that they should have an invitation extended to them; but Al suspected that James likely had a bag full of excuses to discourage those kids – or too many hurdles for them to overcome. They'd all need to wait and see how that played out; but he was even less worried about whether he'd play or not than he'd expected to be before coming to Hogwarts.

"Will I need two guesses for what that's all about?" Rose asked when she met up with Al about ten minutes later. She was on her own; so he was sure that she'd come early too so that they could have a private chat while walking to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Only if you're going to guess that the Christmas dance postings went up a few months early with the first one," Al joked. "Let's get out of here; and we can talk about it along the way."

Rose sighed. "There isn't really much to talk about if James is going ahead with that invitation-only tryout plan. Did he post a list; or are we supposed to be embarrassed in public with some grand display of invitation deliveries?"

"There's no list; but I don't know if there will be a big show or not for the invitations. They are supposed to be delivered today, though – supposedly so that anyone that doesn't get invited has a chance to plead their case with James to get an invitation."

Rose laughed. "If he thinks I'm going to go to him and grovel; he's delusional. I really want to play this year, but you're right; and we'd have both hated playing for James anyway – even if he'd let us play. I expect that the only thing that would happen if we went begging to him for invitations is that he'd still find some reason to keep us off the team. I could think of a dozen ways or more for him to disqualify us during tryouts regardless of how well we would actually do compared to everyone else."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "We'll wait and see; but the only way I'll be surprised is if we do get invitations."

Rose laughed again. "Yeah – and then what would we do? That'd totally mess up being able to put this all on James – and the tough decision would be ours."

"The funny thing about you comment is that James would be better off doing it that way; putting us on the team; and then doing everything in his power to get us to quit. That way, if our season sucks this year he could blame us. This way, he won't be able to do that – at least to the point where anyone else would believe it except for him and Ollie."

"Then let's hope that he doesn't figure that out," Rose told him seriously. "If I made the team, I'd never quit, Al; but I would blast James and Ollie if they push me too far. I'm as done with all of that as you are."

Al thought about that before responding. "You know, this could be their answer to that," he suggested. "They've decided that, at least for now, they can't get away with their pranks and attacks; so they're getting back at us by taking Quidditch away from us instead."

"Well good for them!" Rose said sarcastically. "Yes, I hate this, and it messes with my Quidditch career plans; but it's hardly all bad for us. Look at all of the time we'll have to do other things; and we'll still be able to play Quidditch with our friends even if we're not on the team."

They talked about some of those things that they could do instead for a while, and then they were the first second-year students in the Great Hall; so they had time to keep chatting while eventually welcoming all of their friends as they joined them – or stopped by to say good morning on their way to the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff tables. The highlight for Al was his good morning hug and kiss with Gwendolyn; though she wasn't happy to hear their Gryffindor Quidditch news. That was the top story with their friends too; and that kicked up a notch when Ollie dropped off two small stacks of envelopes onto the table while on his way to sit with the other third-year boys. The first was left in front of Cyndia Finnegan; and was obviously the invitations for the firsties; and the seond was dropped in front of Al and Rose – accompanied by a malicious grin from Ollie. He didn't say anything to them; but he was laughing coarsely as he walked away.

"I guess we're supposed to pass them out," Al decided; picking up the small stack of envelopes; and looking at the first name. "Anna Donaldson – you're invited to the tryouts!" he announced cheerfully; passing the envelope across the table so that it could be passed down to her. "Andy Kirke! Patricia Parker! Roger Johnson! Romeo Remillard! Scott Holden!" he announced in quick succession while passing the envelopes to the left, right, or across the table as needed. "That's all there is, folks! Congratulations to the six lucky second-years!"

"What about you, Rose, and Ray?" Romeo asked; ignoring his own envelope for a moment as he looked across the table toward Al and Rose. "Do the players from last year have automatic invitations?"

"Not according to the notice in the common room," Al said with a shrug and wry smile. "I'm sure that James knows what he wants to do with the team this year; and he must be sure that at least some of you have what he needs for this season."

"Sure, that's probably it," Bristol said sarcastically. "Did James miss anyone else in our year who wants to try out for the team?" she asked her fellow second-years. Nobody answered with a 'yes'; and she nodded in satisfaction. "I rest my case."

"Were you making a case for something?" Rose teased; and Bristol laughed.

"I don't have to say it out loud; since we all know why you guys don't have invitations too – and it stinks that James and Ollie would do that to their own brother and cousins."

"But good for the rest of us," Romeo said; and then grinned. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Cora assured him. "It's okay to be honest with us about that, though; so don't worry about it – not that you actually were worried anyway."

The Quidditch talk focused on the invitees after that. Al was glad to be out of the spotlight again; and almost entirely out of the loop too – except for two requests to borrow his Firestorm for the tryouts that he politely declined. Al and Rose soon found out that Fred had been given an invitation; as had fellow firsties Cyndia, Kira Kirke, Jackie Sloper, and Orlando Hooper. They suspected that at least some of those invitations were meant to be intentionally insulting to them; but then Al also started to get the feeling that James and Ollie were putting together a group that would mostly do whatever they wanted – and also make each of them look brilliant by comparison – at least at practices.

Al didn't even try looking at James and Ollie; though he could sense that they were waiting expectatntly for a reaction from him – and from Rose and Ray – that didn't come. Word was beginning to spread about them being left out of the invitations by the end of breakfast, though; so Al, Rose, and Ray were also ready to escape the Great Hall by then so that they could avoid the inevitable questions – at least for a while. Bristol went with them when they left; they met up with Gwendolyn and a few of her Ravenclaw friends. Since they couldn't avoid those questions with them, they went to their favorite study classroom; had that chat; and then had some magic play time that helped Al, Rose, and Ray to work off a bit of their frustrations by working on some of the new spells they'd be learning in second year. After that, they went outside and wandered around until lunchtime; played a bit while they were out there; and then split up while having lunch.

By then, the Gryffindor Quidditch news for the junior team had gotten around to the other Houses; and Al, Rose, and Ray were on the receiving end of too much attention for their liking. That was mostly through stares and whispered converstations instead of personal confrontations; but there seemed to be a lot of students with opinions to share that ranged from dark glee from the Slytherins that hated Al the most to wonder over what many expected was a stupid move by James – if the rumors proved true; and he excluded two of the returning players from last year's team. For their part, James and Ollie seemed to be playing some game of their own; but since Al didn't go anywhere near them or pay any attention to them at all; he could only guess at what they were saying to their closest friends – or anyone else that was willing to ask them about it directly.

He didn't even care about any of that during the afternoon because he spent those hours with Gwendolyn. They grabbed their gear and went out to the Quidditch stadium for a Chaser duel, and while their extreme play time attracted a bit of attention from some other students; that didn't get out of hand; and they still had fun despite having a few handfuls of spectators watching some or most of the action above the pitch. They followed that up with a snack and drinks break by the lake; and then they went into the castle and wrapped up their afternoon with some music time for two that was a perfect way to spend that remaining bit of free time; and Al was in a really great mood when they split up to have dinner.

"You missed out on our visit from James while we were in the common room this afternoon," Rose advised Al when he sat down next to her in his new-usual spot at the Gryffindor table. "Would you like to guess at what happened?"

Al shrugged and smiled. "Not really; and I'm glad I mssied it. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine; and it's what they didn't say or ask that was the thousand-pound Hippogriff in the room. They didn't say anything about James' invitations; Ray and I didn't ask or say anything about them either; and they seemed to be both happy and annoyed by that when they left again." She shrugged too. "I can guess what they were hoping for; but have no idea why they thought that getting in our faces like that would have worked when we hadn't approached them about it on our own."

"We'll likely be dealing with this off and on for the next week – until they're done with tryouts and have the team picked," Al suggested. "I don't know if James and Ollie will keep trying to get us riled up or not; but I'm just going to do my best to stay away from them and out of the whole mess if I can."

"Well, at least we'll be starting classes tomorrow; and we might get lucky and not see them much after that," Ray offered. "I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something to them this afternoon; so I'd better stay away from them if I can too."

That ended up being fairly easy to do for the rest of the day – and that was mostly because James and Ollie were busy after dinner with the last-minute summer revision they still didn't have done by then. Since they couldn't be sure of their third-year schedules before getting them; they couldn't even take the cnace of picking and choosing what to have done; though Al expected that all of James' work would be the bare minimum anyway. While they were busy with that, Al spent some time with Rose and their friends in the common room – after walking Gwendolyn back to her House first; and then he ended his day with a mirror chat with his parents and sister; a bit of textbook reading; and one last, short mirror chat with Gwendolyn just before she was ready to go to sleep for the night.

"Twice in one day?" Thomas asked as Scorpius put his portrait on the table in the Room of Requirements; and then sat down in the armchair. "You've really missed our lessons, haven't you?"

Scorpius laughed. "Yes, but I also wanted to talk about something we're hearing through the grapevine about the Potters. James is apparently doing his junior team tryouts by invitation-only; and the big news around her at lunch is that he didn't invite Albus, Rose, or Ray Wood to those tryouts."

"Really?" Thomas said with obvious interest. "That would suggest that their animosity continued throughout the summer. I suppose that bodes well for your team as well."

"Maybe," Scorpius agreed. "Al and Rose would have likely been their best players, and it is just a rumor for now; but it rings of truth – especially when Albus and Rose don't appear to be saying anything about the matter. I'll try to keep an eye on that, but then I'll need to concentrate on my studies and making it onto my own House team too."

"That won't be a problem," Thomas predicted. "You'll be more worried about who will end up on the team with you."

"True; and we won't be any better than Gryffindor if we don't get some better players this year – though it's probably too much to hope that we'll have firsties beating out the third-year players – and we're stuck with Rupert Avery; since he'd never allow an open tryout for his spot on the team or give up being Captain. I'll have to hope that he and G-Air have somehow managed to get better over the summer."

"Have you heard anything else of interest?" Thomas asked next; and Scorpius shook his head.

"Not really. Albus Potter's still together with the McCormack Witch, and nothing else much has apparently changed unless there is news that hasn't made the gossip network yet; but I'll keep you posted on that."

Thomas nodded. "Okay, then let's do another lesson; and we'll hopefully have you ready to deal with any problems you might have with other Slytherins – or anyone else – this year."

That worked for Scorpius; and he really was happy to spend the extra time with Thomas – and be able to do lessons with his mentor again too. He'd had lots of time to read ahead in his second-year textbooks, and while he was looking forward to starting classes on Monday too; he was also certain that he'd be learning far more from Thomas as his lessons became more advanced than anything he'd learn from his idiot Professors. The best news, though, was that he was going to be able to learn; play with his magic; and continue to work toward making all of his hopes and dreams come true!

Thanks to to having such a good day on Sunday despite the Quidditch drama, and a really good night of sleep; Al was in a great mood when he woke up on Monday morning; and that kept improving over the next few hours. Getting ready for the day without much competition for the showers that early was good; the walk and talk with Rose when they went to the Great Hall was better; and then he was an even happier camper when they eventually got their schedules; and he found out that he'd get to spend the first class of every week – History – with Gwendolyn because it was one of the classes they'd be taking together. That was only part of the good news too. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had double Herbology together; that was on Friday mornings; and then they had Friday afternoons off together too with the same study periods. Finally, while they weren't technically in the same class; they had Astronomy at the same time slot on Thursday nights at eleven o'clock. That class could very well end up being a lot of fun for Al and Gwendolyn; so they were very happy campers once they'd finished comparing schedules!

"Your schedule's a bit better than mine; but I'm still pretty happy – and mine works out better for my Quidditch practices than yours would on Mondays and Wednesdays," Gwendolyn told Al as they walked to History class together – and along with most of their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends. "Having three of your double classes in the mornings is great; and you get the other two out of the way on Monday and Tuesday afternoon."

"That's mostly good – except that I'm not looking forward to spending every Monday afternoon with Slytherins in DADA or Wednesday mornings with them in Transfiguration."

Gwendolyn laughed. "We've done fairly well against Slytherins in DADA so far," she reminded him; "and I've had fun with that; so maybe you'll like that class more than you expect."

She'd handed his schedule back to him by then; and he glanced down at it. "I'll guess that Professor Jones won't have me dueling our Slytherin classmates very often – if at all. I know they're supposed to do that; but it's not really a good idea for me when so many of the Slytherins truly hate my family – and me. I'm sure that Davis Zabini would love to have a legitimate excuse to try blasting me in class."

Gwendolyn shrugged and smiled. "Maybe, but that wouldn't work out for him – or any of the others. You're the best DADA student in our year; and it might help for the Slytherins to get to see that in person. So far, they've only had a handful of their mates with first-hand experience; and I doubt they've been telling the truth about what's happened in any of those confrontations or duels."

"Well, if you're worried about him dueling with Slytherin Wizards; maybe he should pair up with one of the Witches – like Lysandra Lestrange," Bristol suggested; trying to look innocent as she smiled at Gwendolyn. "She seems to be the leader of the pack for the Slytherin Witches in our year; and I've heard she's a fair student too."

"Keep that up, and you'd better start hoping that we don't start learning human-to-animal Transfigurations this year," Gwendolyn teased. "If we do; I'll be asking you to be my practice partner for our study groups all year."

"I thought you weren't the jealous type," Bristol countered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'm a Witch; and reserve to right to change my mind about anything, anytime."

"You'd have more to worry about with Al getting blasted because he'd never want to hurt a Witch," Rose advised her. "Fortunately, he does have us to watch his back for things like that; if needed."

"Yes, he does," Gwendolyn agreed; "though you should get over that, Al. The Slytherin Witches won't have a problem with blasting you."

Al smiled and shrugged. "I might not be able to hurt a Witch; but that doesn't mean that I won't defend myself from them. It's not as if I've tried to hurt any of the guys we've dueled with either."

"That's true," Rose agreed with a nod; "but I doubt you'd use the same defenses – or let rebounded spells hit Witches if you could avoid it."

"You guys do know that we're heading to History class, right?" Ray asked; and then laughed at himself. "Never mind – I have no idea what I was thinking; since I definitely don't want to talk History when we don't have to do that. Carry on."

He earned a round of laughs for that, and then they continue to chat while getting to their classroom, finding seats, and then waiting for Professor Binns to arrive. Their ghostly teacher floated into the room right on time, as always; and got the class started without any of the usual first day of classes formalities that the other Professors would do with each of their new classes. Al sat next to Gwendolyn; they held hands when they weren't taking notes; and they were both soon sure that they were going to love History class a lot more this year than either of them had during first year. Their parting hug and kiss was pretty good too; but then Al needed to hurry off with Rose and the other Gryffindors to their first Transfiguration class with Professor MacDonald. She was already in that classroom when her students ariived; so it wasn't long before she got their class tarted by taking attendance.

That was a bit strange for Al and Rose because, while they didn't know her very well, she was Teddy's Great-Aunt by marriage now that her brother was married to Grandma Andromeda. They'd met Professor MacDonald a few times, and had obviously seen her around the castle during their first year; but then that wasn't the only family history with her – at least for Al. Harry had never talked about it with him, but Al had learned from others in their fmily that Mary MacDonald had gone to school with his Potter grandparents; and had some sort of relationship with his grandmother that had included Lily Evans defending her over troubles she'd had with some Slytherin boys. Their Professor didn't single them out for attention as she called attendance, but she did smile and nod at Al and Rose when it was their turns; and she did certainly recognize them. When she was finished taking attendance; she began her lecutre.

"This year, we'll be continuing to learn animal to inanimate object transfigurations," she advised her students. "The techniques and spells you'll learn are very important stepping stones toward the most difficult Transfigurations, and while I know that most younger students are fascinated with human Transfigurations, working with animals is much safer until you are ready for the more advnaced studies; and your friends will be glad that you're not practicing on them this year!"

That last statement earned some laughs, and Al had been even more amused than most of his friends because he'd immediately thought about Gwendolyn's pseudo-threats about Transfiguration with Bristol before History class. He could also admit to himself that he was one of the students that was fascinated by human Transfigurations – and that it was a bit disappointing to know for sure that they wouldn't be working on them this year – even though he knew from reading their textbook that they would at least be learning some theory about it that tied in with the animal Transfigurations they'd be doing. Professor MacDonald had a few more comments that were mostly about their course outline for the year; and then she launched into her first lesson.

Since Transfiguration was one of Al's favorite classes, that made for a really great wrap-up for his morning, and when he and Rose earned a total of twenty-five points for Gryffindor for correct answers and his perfect first Transfiguration; they were both fired up when they left the classroom and headed for their dorms so that they could switch out their books before going on to the Great Hall for lunch. Gwendolyn checked in with him before lunch, so that bonus hug and kiss kept the fun going – and not just because his Gryffindor friends started out their lunch chat by teasing him about that – and talking about working on hugs and kisses buddies for the rest of them. He expected that he'd need all of the good feelings that had been built up all morning for their afternoon of DADA with Slytherin; but Al was still feeling great when he arrived in the DADA classroom with Rose, most of their classmates, and about half of the Slytherins. Professor Hestia Jones was their teacher for second year; she was already there by then; and welcomed them into the class.

As they took their seats along House lines just as they'd done in their first-year classes with Slytherin; Al's senses were bombarded with animosity that was coming from more than half of the Slytherins. Since the girls had talked about her in the morning too; Al focused his senses on Lysandra Lestrange for a moment; and knew that she had a fairly-strong hatred of him too; but he stopped focusing on her at all when he also picked up another sensation that was as uncomfortable for him as it obviously was for her when she'd glanced his way and apparently liked what she saw while hating her own reaction to him. The strongest sense of hatred came from Davis Zabini, which was hardly a surprise, but while Al didn't sense the same level of hatred with Scorpius Malfoy; he did sense a much-darker aura from the other boy that he pulled back from as quickly as he'd done with Lysandra. Fortunately, he didn't have time to dwell on any of that for too long before Professor Jones began their class by taking attendance and covering the course outline. She didn't drag that out, so once those annual formalities were out of the way; she enthusiastically got on with their lesson.

While he'd been teased about dueling Slytherins in DADA, that wasn't actually going to be an issue for the first weeks of their class because they began learning about how to deal with protecting themselves from magical creatures. Professor Jones also spent a bit more than half of their first double class doing the theory part of the lesson, and half of the remaining time demonstrating the safe handling of three different magical creatures before letting them pair up for a short practice with each of the creatures. Al and Rose worked together for that, and during the entire class; they piled up an impressive forty points between them for answering questions and their noteworthy work with each of the creatures that included saving Romeo and Dave from a pixie gone wild. Al didn't expect that Professor Jones would be as liberal with points for the rest of the year, but she did give out quite a few of them – including ten for Scorpius Malfoy and twenty-five in total for Slytherin. While it would be a safe wager that the Slytherin students would think that it was unfair for Gryffindor to get more than twice as many points, Al didn't worry about that; and was simply thankful that the only problem he had in that class was the unpleasant vibes he had to deal with – and he had that problem anywhere there were Slytherins nearby.

Then again, he had that problem around James too, though that was different; and far more personal.

Al and Rose only had Ray and Bristol decide to study with them until dinnertime, and since they had their DADA books with them anyway; they went to their usual study classroom and got right to work instead of going to their dorms first. Gwendolyn was busy with her first Quidditch pre-tryout practice; and had decided to go with her plan to do firstie flying tests and three workouts ahead of the official tryouts on Saturday morning. That meant that Al didn't get to see her until they met up for a couple of minutes before dinner, but then the Ravenclaw students didn't have DADA homework yet anyway; and he was glad to get that out of the way before they got together for their first evening study group. That was different for them too because they lost most of the gang they'd been working with during exams at the end of first year; and that included more of their friends that had, at least for now, decided to make other study plans.

"Is it wrong for me to be okay with this smaller group?" Gwendolyn asked as they gathered around just two worktables in their usual study classroom after dinner. Al, Rose, Ray, and Bristol were again the only Gryffindors; and Gwendolyn only had Toni Hopkins, and a bit surprisingly, Michael Chang with her while Renee had chosen to study with her boyfriend and a group of second and third-year teens. They didn't have any Hufflepuffs with them for the first night; but Al expected that they would once Gryffindor began to have classes with them on Tuesday.

"If it is, then I should be in trouble for thinking that too," Rose advised her with a smile. "I do really love all of our friends; but some of them do slow us down when we're studying."

Ray laughed. "I resemble that comment; but you're all stuck with me anyway."

"You do just fine – as long as you don't get too distracted," Rose told him seriously. "Are we starting with History? How'd your workout go with your Quidditch prospects, Gwendolyn? Any surprises with the firsties?"

"I'm good with getting the History out of the way first," Gwendolyn agreed; and then smiled. "Ryan, Stephanie Boot, and four other firsties passed their flying tests this afternoon; and I'm really happy with how our first workout went too. I'd say that four of those six firsties have a real shot at making the team or reserve squad – though we'll see if the second and third-year hopefuls pick up their game by Saturday."

"You do remember that you're talking about that with the enemy, right?" Michael asked Gwendolyn quietly. He was generally a fairly quiet guy; but had a sense of humor that could be very entertaining in his understated way.

"We don't expect that Al, Rose, and Ray are going to get to be the enemy this season anyway, but even if James is just messing with them and they do get to play for Gryffindor, we'd still be friendly rivals – and they'd never use anything we talk about against our team."

"If they're not playing for Gryffindor, you should hire them to help train your team," Toni suggested. "There's probably some House rules against that sort of thing; but our team could be even better if they did help us."

"They would, and it likely is against the rules," Gwendolyn agreed. "As tempting as that really is, though; they wouldn't need even more trouble with James and Ollie than they already have."

"We don't need that, but if we aren't playing for Gryffindor; we will be putting together scrimmages every weekend," Rose advised her. "Consider yourself automatically signed up for them."

They continued to talk Quidditch for a while longer as they got to work on their History assignment. Since they really did mostly have some of the best students from the two Houses in their little group; it didn't take long to do that – or to get the rest of their work done. For Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray; that was their Transfiguration assignment while the Ravenclaws had two more assignments to get done. Though they hadn't even taken tose classes yet; Al and Rose helped Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael with that work – especially after they were finished their own work for the night. When they were all finished, Al walked Gwendolyn to her House, and while they walked there with Toni and Michael; Gwendolyn stayed with Al for a while so that they could share a goodnight hug and kiss – and have a quiet chat that was mostly uninterrupted before she went up to the Ravenclaw common room and he went on to his own House. He'd managed to avoid James and Ollie all day, but when he got back to the common room; the two boys were with Rose, Ray, Bristol, and some of their other friends – and obviously annoying Rose and Ray.

"Back so soon?" James asked with a rude snort. "Must not have been much of a goodnight snog. I'd offer to show Gwendolyn what a snogging session is like with a real Wizard; but she's still a bit under-developed for my taste."

"You shouldn't go there anyway," Ollie warned with a smirk for Al. "She's kissed that,' he continued; pointing at Al. "Merlin only knows what you might catch from her – like an incurable case of loser."

"That's so true," James agreed with another snort of laughter. "It's too bad; but he's likely gone and ruined her for any other Wizard; and the poor girl will eventually wind up an old spinster hag with a house full of kneazle cats."

"Is there something you want, James; or are you just here to throw some insults at me?" Al asked. "If that's all you want, consider that done and get lost – or I'll just leave if you insist on hanging out with the rest of my friends – assuming they can stand having you around for long."

"Razzing you is just an added bonus," James advised him. "We're making the rounds to check in with all of the students we've invited to tryouts and reminding them that we're doing them over three days – starting after classes tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah, and we wouldn't want to miss anyone, since if they don't show up; they're automatically out of the running," Ollie added; his smile turing to a sneer as he looked specifically at Al and Ray while saying that.

"Well, then you should get on with that," Rose suggested shortly while Al ignored Ollie. "Have a good rest of the night."

"Are you leaving?" James asked her. "We're also taking the time to answer any questions about the tryouts." He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Rose and Bristol. "i want to make sure that everyone knows what to expect; where to get equipment and brooms if they don't have their own; or anything else they want to know."

Rose stood up and forced a smile on her face. "Okay, have fun with that. I'm heading up to my dorm room."

Al didn't even bother to say goodbye to James or Ollie; walked with Rose to the stairs for the girls' dorms; and hugged her goodnight while they both ignored the razzing that James and Ollie directed their way loudly-enough for them to overhear.

"Gee, I wonder where that was going?" Al joked as he hugged Rose. "If you want to vent later; call my mirror and we'll talk."

Rose laughed. "Will you have time for me in addition to your chats with Lily and Gwendolyn?"

"Yes, if you need me," he assured her. "The best news for you is that you'll never have to worry about James and Ollie coming to your dorm room to annoy you there too. I wish that I could be so lucky."

"No doubt," Rose agreed. "We did learn one thing just now, though; and we should be done with the worst of it by tomorrow night."

Al grinned and nodded. "Yeah – and James didn't think that one out very well if he was hoping to milk this all week. Anyone that isn't at tryouts tomorrow is out of the running – and everyone around them heard that just now; so they can't change it later."

"We're still being watched," Rose advised him. "I'll call your mirror in a few minutes and we can talk with a bit of privacy."

They shared another quick hug; went to their own dorm rooms; and had that mirror chat that mostly ended up being a joke-fest about how silly the entire Quidditch drama was turning out to be for them. Having James and Ollie trying to get them to react to not receiving invitations without coming out and admitting that they hadn't extended one to them or to Ray – especially when every student at Hogwarts had heard the news that they had to pretend to ignore to keep their silly game goin just made Al and Rose even happier that they weren't going to have to deal with them at Quidditch practices all year. Al hadn't said anything about it to his parents or Lily yet either; but expected that he would be able to do that on Tuesday night. He had fun talking about it with Gwendolyn while they did their bedtime mirror chat shortly before he went off to sleep; and all of that helped to keep him in good spirits when he woke up and started getting ready for the day on Tuesday morning.

James and Ollie did a walk-by razzing in the Great Hall before breakfast, but other than that, Al's morning was good; and his first second-year Charms class got the school part of the day off to a great start too – and that was mostly thanks to having Professor Flitwick for the class instead of Professor Dawlish. Their Professor was soon very happy to have a pair of exceptional students in his class; he awarded Al and Rose a total of thirty points for their answers and first successful charms; and then sent them on their way with a farily modest homework assignment that was a hopeful sign that everyone in the class would have a decent chance to do well in Professor Flitwick's class.

While Charms was looking good for their second year, their first Herbology class became very important for Al in a completely unexpected way. All of the Gryffindors had needed to hurry to get from Charms class out to the greenhouses on time; Professor Longbottom was already there; and he had everything ready for their first lesson – beginning to work with baby mandrakes. The reason that class was suddenly so important to Al had almost nothing to do with Herbology – though it was finding out that they'd be starting the year working with the mandrakes that was the key that unlocked a deep-seated need within him to become an Animagus. When that fact hit him while Professor Longbottom was beginning his lecture, Al managed to continue to pay attention and even answer two questions; but his mind raced off with the Animagus idea.

As he thought about it, while the Mandrakes had been the key; the chats over the past day or so all seemed to lead him in that direction too. Whether that was the girls talking about human to animal Transfiguration or discussions about what he and Rose would do with the free time they wouldn't have tied up with Quidditch; it all added up to a perfect opportunity for Al to begin working on his desire to be an Animagus like his father. He'd first read about it not long after he'd learned to read because he'd wanted to know about it beyond just seeing his father playing with James, Al, and Lily in his Animagus form when they were little. He'd read more later on – including reading the Auror training manual that included the section on Animagus – though not even his father knew that he'd borrowed the copy from their home office to do that. What he'd read in that book should have scared him off from even thinking about trying it – and had when he'd first read it; but he didn't feel any fear at all as he considered doing it now.

The fact that he was only twelve wasn't a factor for him either. He knew from the family stories that his grandfather and friends had begun trying to become Animagi in their second year. Sure, it had taken them about three years to figure it out and succeed, but he had advantages that they probably didn't – and he was certain that it wouldn't take him nearly that long. Having an exceptional memory helped, and so did working with mandrakes; because he was able to acquire one of the first things he'd need in his pursuit of becoming an Animagus – a Mandrake leaf. He hadn't even needed to prune one from the Mandrake that he and Rose worked with during the class because by the end of the lesson; there were leaves all around on the benches and floors thanks to the battles that some of their fellow students had with their baby Mandrakes. He only needed one, but pocketed several of them without anyone noticing as they cleaned up before heading to the Great Hall for lunch.

Thinking about everything he'd need to do to become an Animagus helped Al to get through another visit from James and Ollie at lunchtime and hearing the Quidditch talk from some of the guys and girls that did have invitations, but then he ate quickly and left the Great Hall early so that he could have time for a quick visit with Gwendolyn and a trip to his dorm room to drop off his Charms and Herbology books and pick up everything he'd need for their first Potions class. Since he was alone in his dorm room while doing part two of that, he went ahead and put the Mandrake leaf in his mouth, where it would need to stay for a month; and added a bag of candies to his book bag so that he'd have something to dull the faint smell and reasonably unpleasant taste.

After all – he definitely didn't want something as trivial as trying to become an Animagus to get in the way of his relationship with Gwendolyn – and Mandrake leaf breath might be a real turn-off!

Their double Potions class was with Hufflepuff this year, and while the girls teased him a bit about paring him up with Tory Summers or Madison Whitby for the year since he couldn't partner with Gwendolyn again; he didn't let that happen and sat with Rose before any of their friends could seriously try to get him into trouble with his girlfriend. They had Professor Perks again this year, so the lessons and Potions work felt like a continuation from where they'd left off in June; and Al and Rose resumed impressing their teacher – and earned twenty-five points while doing that. Al earned the points for the first successful Potion of the school year, which Rose pretended to be annoyed about because she'd only been a minute or two behind him; but then she hadn't really been upset – and he'd helped her with the Potion thanks to a little trick that he'd remembered reading somewhere for handling one of the ingredients.

After class, Al, Rose, Ray, and Bristol met up with Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael in their study classroom, and while Madison and Tory planned on studying with them after dinner; they were both busy with their Quidditch team – and the Hufflepuff team was apparently doing the same thing that Gwendolyn was doing with her team – having some pre-tryouts practices and firstie flying tests ahead of their tryouts on Saturday. Since they were going to study with them after dinner, the first study subject of choice was Herbology; and they could all work on that because Ravenclaw already had their first Herbology class of the year too – and would be taking the double class with Gryffindor on Friday mornings. Doing that also allowed them to compare notes between the two classes; and pick up a few things that had been talked about in one class or the other; but not in both. That helped to make their completed assignments better; and they were all in a good mood when they got to the Great Hall and split up to have dinner. Al, Rose, and Ray needed all of that happy because it wasn't long before James and Ollie pounced on them and attempted to mess up their day.

"How come you guys weren't at tryouts?" James demanded loudly; pretending to look cross but failing miserably because he couldn't keep the vicious grin from showing on his face. "Ollie and I specifically went around yesterday and told everyone that they had to be there for every day of tryouts or they'd be disqualified. Now I've no choice but to do that with the three of you!" He'd been yelling by then; and had gotten a lot of attention from everyone around them – or basically everyone in the Great Hall; which was about half of the students in the school.

"We didn't go because it was invitation-only; we weren't extended any invitations – and you know that very well; since you sent out the invitations," Al told him. It took an effort to do so; but he managed to keep his voice calm and low despite his anger over James' attempt at a ridiculously-staged public dressing-down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James said with a frown that was just as fake as the faux-anger. "Of course you were invited. I gave the invitations to Ollie myself; and he handed them out to the firsties and second-years while I took care of the third-years. Right, Ollie?"

"Right, James," he agreed; and then opened a pocket in his book bag. "I put them right in here when you gave them to me; and then..." he frowned as he reached into the pocket; and then pulled out three envelopes. "Well, look what I found!" Al refused to take them when Ollie tried to hand them to him. "I guess they got stuck in my book bag. You guys should have said something sooner. James did tell anyone to talk to him if they didn't get an invitation but thought that they should. Now it's too late."

"Way too late," James agreed. "I can't believe you didn't come and ask me about this, Al. We're brothers; and you should've known that I'd never intentionally try to..."

"Oh shut it, James," Al said; deciding that he'd had enough and standing up to face James and Ollie. "We don't want to hear that load of Hippogriff dung you're spewing. We all know that you and Ollie don't want us on your team; cooked up this stupid invitation-only scheme so that you could make that happen; and if you thought that we were going to come running and beg you to let us play on your team or jump through hoops for a week or more for your entertainment; you're delusional. You're also an idiot, because Rose is probably the best junior Keeper in this school; and I'll modestly suggest that Ray and I are two of the best Chasers." He smiled then as both James and Ollie looked angry now for real. "I really hope that our team has a great season, guys, and I hope that you're happy to have gotten exactly what you wanted – except for whatever twisted games you were hoping to keep playing with us; but don't try to pretend that this is something it wasn't because nobody will believe you."

"It's just as well that I have to disqualify you anyway,' James shouted. "I made the rules for tryouts this year very clear and simple, and when you apparently couldn't even comprehend them and miss the first day of tryouts; you try to blame it on me!"

Al laughed at him. "Look around, James. Do you see anyone who looks as though they believe you?" He laughed again and nodded toward Ollie. "Even your best mate knows you're full of it, but then he would; since you did work this out together. Leave me alone. I'm not interested in playing your childish little games."

He turned to sit down; and James grabbed his arm and tried to stop him. Al faced him; and James let go when he saw the emerald fire blazing brilliantly in his brother's eyes. "I'd leave right now if I were you," Al said in a deadly-serious, hushed voice. "We're done here, James." He pinned Ollie with a glare when the other boy was about to shoot off his mouth instead. "That goes for you too," he warned just as quietly and seriously. "If you want to insist on playing this out; I'll be happy to go someplace private with both of you and we can settle our differences the old-fashioned way."

"Let's go," James told Ollie while sneering at Al. "We're well-rid of the lot of them. Don't go crying to Mum and Dad about not playing Quidditch this year."

Al ignored him; turned again and sat down. Rose, Ray, and pretty much every student in the Great Hall was watching him – or James and Ollie; and he groaned silently. James and Ollie offered some parting idiocies; but did leave and go to sit with their friends – some of them looking very uncomfortable. Rose waited until they'd sat down before leaning in to hug Al; and then she smiled wryly as she let go of him.

"See – that wasn't so bad!" she joked; and earned laughs from everyone close –enough to hear her. "Now we'll have a day or so of top billing on the gossip network; and then that'll be the end of it."

"We hope," Al agreed; smiling too. "If I'm still detention-free by the end of the week; I'll believe that we're past the worst of it."

Rose laughed and hugged him again. "That'd be funnier if you did get in trouble – and your punishment was that you couldn't play Quidditch for Gryffindor this year."

"With my luck, that'd be detention during every Quidditch game for the season. I'm going to try to avoid any trouble like that this year."

"That's something to shoot for," Bristol teased. "I'd say more, but if my brothers were like yours; I'd likely be in detention every week or two for blasting them."

Al grinned at her. "Would you like to borrow mine for a couple of months? I'd be okay with that."

That bit of levity was a launching point for the girls; and they ran with it while trying to entertain Al and take his mind off of the little confrontation with James and Ollie. While he'd been very tempted to leave the Great Hall, Al had decided that he wanted to have dinner more – and didn't want to give James even that small satisfaction. The funny thing, at least for him, was that he really wasn't upset over not playing Quidditch for Gryffindor – or more specifically; playing Quidditch with James and Ollie. He was annoyed about how the two boys were trying to spin the whole thing – especially when they were trying to tear down Rose and Ray along with him. Deciding not to stew about it, Al returned to his Animagus musings; and by the time they'd finished having dinner and it was time to meet up with the rest of their study group; he'd worked out a plan to fit that extra studying and research he'd need to do to learn how to become an Animagus into his schedule.

"Did I miss something?" Gwendolyn asked as they met for a hug and kiss in the entrance hall. "You seem a lot happier than I expected after that little scene with James and Ollie. I nearly blasted those idiots for trying to do that to you right there in front of half the school."

Al smiled and shrugged. "Rose, Bristol, and the other girls cheered me up, though after hearing about some of the things they'd do to James if he was their brother; I'm terribly disappointed that none of them would actually agree to borrow him for a month or two."

"If he ever stops being such a total git, some of the girls might change their minds about that, but for right now; it just wouldn't be worth it – even if they could get away with hexing and jinxing him whenever they wanted."

"That is pretty much what we decided," Bristol agreed; and then grinned before adding – "for all of that."

"Now you're scaring me," Al joked.

"Don't forget that in part one of that; you're brother isn't a total git anymore," Rose reminded him. "That might not seem possible today; but it could happen eventually."

"Maybe, but for now, some of us want to hear the rest of the story from before dinner," Gwendolyn told them – "the parts that everyone didn't hear because Al was trying to be nice despite the fact that James and Ollie didn't deserve that."

"We'll do that for you," Bristol offered. "Al's terrible at storytelling when it's about him."

"That's because I'd rather not make a big deal of it," Al said seriously. "Tory and Madison are on their way over, though, so if you must do that; at least wait for them so that I don't have to hear the embellished version twice."

As soon as their Hufflepuff friends caught up with them, they walked to their usual study classroom; Bristol and Rose took care of story time while they walked; and then they got to work on their assignments – starting with Potions for the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. They worked together until they all had their homework for the day finished; Al and Gwendolyn had time to walk to the Owlry and send posts with Winter for their families – and from Rose too; and then he walked her back to her House before going on to Gryffindor tower. He didn't try to hang out in the common room, so other than saying goodnight to Rose and the rest of the girls she was hagning out with; he went up to his dorm room for the rest of the night. None of the other guys were there, so he sat on his bed; got his mirror out; and called Lily to have a chat with her – and pass on the Quidditch news that was now basically official thanks to James' rather public and loud declaration in the Great Hall.

"Hi, Al," Lily said as her image appeared in his mirror. "You're calling earlier than I expected. How was day two?"

"Mostly pretty good," he answered. "You'll want today's Quidditch report first; since it's big news around here."

"Yeah? Did something happen with your team; or with one of the other Houses?"

"Our junior team – and the news is that it won't be my team – or Rose's or Ray's either."

"What!" Lily exclaimed loudly-enough to get their parents' attention; since they were in the sitting room with her.

"Tryouts were invitation-only – and our invitations accidentally got lost until after the first day of tryouts that James did after school today," Al explained. "Ollie found them in his book bag while he and James were yelling at us in the Great Hall before dinner for missing the tryout – and now he has no choice but to disqualify us for not being there."

Lily stared at him for a few long moments before saying anything. "James did that on purpose – and you're not upset about being kept off the team," she declared.

"Yes, and no," Al agreed. "James doesn't want us on his team; we doubt he'd have been fair about tryouts even if we had tried to insist on being included; and we don't think we'd have had any fun if he had played with James and Ollie this year."

"You could have if James wasn't being such a git toward you," Lily protested. "I can't believe that he'd rather have a weaker team this year just to stick it to you."

"It's more unfair for Rose and Ray. She should be getting the chance to prove what a great Keeper she is; and Ray's good-enough now that he'd have made the team for sure – and likely do better than Ollie."

"How long have you known about this?" Ginny called out; and Al smiled.

"Officialy, since Sunday morning. Unoficially, we had an advance warning while we were still home."

"Why didn't you say anything to us?" Ginny asked next; and then laughed. "Never mind. You're your father's son; and decided that it'd just be worse if we got involved."

"Yes, though until they went through with it; James could've just denied it and done something else instead. Regardless of how he went about it, Mum; we're sure he'd have found a way to keep us off the team. To be blunt; this seemed like the least-humiliating way for him to do that – even after he tried to rake us over the coals in front of half the students here."

"Should we expect another letter from the Headmistress in the morning?" Harry joked; and earned three laughs.

"No; and I really am going to try and stay out of trouble this year – even if everyone doubts that I'll be able to do that."

"Says the Wizard that just got himself disqualified from his House Quidditch team," Lily teased. "How's that going for you so far?"

"Pretty good, actually," Al assured her. "I'll have loads more time for other things without Quidditch; and there are some other great bonuses – like getting to watch two out of three of those games with Gwendolyn."

"Well, when I'm team Captain next year; I'll have you on my team," Lily advised him; her smile now brilliant again. "I wouldn't dream of wishing James and his team ill luck; but I'll be okay with it if he messes up this year. That'll make our comeback next season even more brilliant!"

"That sounds great, Lily, but since I'm not playing this year either; I have no idea who might end up being Captain next year. The out-going Captain probably has a say in it; and I'll guess that James wouldn't recommend either of us."

"Maybe you should ask Louis about the first part of that," Lily suggested. "I'd be surprised if he recommended James or Ollie to be Captain this year."

"I wouldn't do that; but only because I wouldn't want the answer getting out if Louis didn't recommend James. They'll be on the same team again starting next season for three more years; and Louis doesn't need to have any extra problems between him and James or Ollie."

"I guess," Lily conceded. "You don't want to keep talking about this, though, so tell me about the rest of your day. You've had at least one of all of your classes now except for Astronomy, right?"

Al proceeded to answer Lily's barrage of questions for twenty minutes or so; wrapped up that call once Ray and a few of the other guys joined him in their room; and then had a chat with the guys before getting ready for bed. Ray was doing pretty well too; though he was more disappointed than Al was about not playing Quidditch – something that Al saw clearly despite his friend's best efforts to hide that fact. His bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn was fairly short because she was tired by then and wanted to get the extra rest so that she'd be ready for a long dya that would include another Quidditch workout with her Ravenclaw team prospects. Al was the first guy in his dorm room to go to sleep; and then he was first up too – though that was proving to be normal again this year.

Al liked his schedule for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; and having double classes every morning was a big part of that. Having Transfiguration with Slytherin on Wednesday morning had some potential for problems, but other than the usual vibes of animosity and hatred; Al actually had a lot of fun in the class. He and Rose sat together as far away from any of the Slytherins as possible; they earned another twenty points for their House from Professor MacDonald; and were the only two students to successfully perform the Transfiguration they'd begun to learn about during the lecture part of their class; and then attempted during the last half of the class time. Al didn't think that the Mandrake leaf he had wedged between his gums and cheek had anything to do with his successes in the class; but he was sure that he had a true talent for the subject – and his confidence in his magic continued to grow – though he kept that quiet; and didn't really even talk about it with Gwendolyn or Rose.

By lunchtime, the gossip network was moving on from the Quidditch story that had still been one of the tops stories at breakfast. The second-year Gryffindors had a study period between lunch and their afternoon DADA class; so Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray did their Transfiguration assignment then while most of their classmates did anything else that was more fun. Their DADA class was easier for Al without the Slytherin students there with them; but then most of the class was taken up by a lecture that included a couple of small demonstrations but no practical play time because Professor Jones ran out of time for doing that too. Since Gwendolyn was busy with Quidditch after last class, Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray decided to get their DADA assignment done then – and then three out of four of them were going to take the rest of the night off and enjoy some play time. Al opted to spend the evening helping Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael with their assignments, though that was all about spending that time with Gwendolyn; and he did some other studying ahead when he wasn't helping out.

Thursday was the longest school day of the week for both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw second-year students; but it was also one of the best for Al. Charms class all morning with Hufflepuff was brilliant – especially since it was so much more fun to do that with Professor Flitwick. Their Potions class immediately after lunch was another class that was all lesson and not any time for practical work; and then the Gryffindors had a Study period that allowed them to work on their assignments straight through until dinnertime – or at least that was true for Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray. Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael joined them for that studying after last class; but Madison and Tory had their Hufflepuff Quidditch workout instead. Since they only had their Charms and Potions assignments to do; the Gryffindors got everything done by dinnertime again; which worked out great for Rose, Bristol, and Ray because they could go for naps after dinner ahead of their Astronomy class.

That wasn't part of Al's plan for the night, since he wanted to hang out with Gwendolyn again, and while he had his assignments finished; he was still there for Madison and Tory too – at least until Gwendolyn was finished her work for the night. After that, they split up long enough to get what they'd need for Astronomy; and then had time to go for a long walk and talk before heading up to the top of the Astronomy tower in time for their class. While Gryffindor had Professor Wilson Waffling for Astronomy this year, and Ravenclaw had Professor Sinistra; their Professors were trying out what was basically a joint class. Professor Waffling taught their first lesson after attendance was done for both classes; and then the two Professors worked with all of the kids for the practical work with their telescopes. That allowed Al and Gwendolyn to work together; so Astronomy was suddenly a favorite subject for both ot them!

Al didn't mind missing out on a bit of sleep for that either, and since he was getting to spend most of the day on Friday with Gwendolyn too; he was still up at his normal time and fired up as he got ready for the day. Having Gwendolyn for his Friday morning Herbology partner didn't suddenly make that subject a favorite, and while not being able to sneak a kiss or three during class under cover of darkness might have something to do with that; it really was more about the subject. The stars and moon didn't try to chomp on your fingers; and telescopes were only dangerous if you didn't notice that yours had been switched for a Weasley's wheezes' punching telescope. Al was still good at Herbology even though he didn't enjoy it the way that Rose and a few others did, and Gwendolyn was glad of that; but what was truly great about their schedule for Friday was having the afternoon double study period together.

That translated into play time for most of their fellow Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but Al and Rose had a different plan for their weekend studies that was very simple – to get their Astronomy and Herbology assignments done on Friday afternoons and then have the weekend free to play and do whatever they wanted for two entire days! Gwendolyn was an enthusiastic supporter of that because it also meant that she could spend a lot of that time with Al – including their Friday evenings. She'd still have her Quidditch workouts on Friday afternoons, and her team tryouts for the first Saturday; but that still left a lot of free time for playing together – or with ttheir friends. Whether that would work out for them every weekend was doubtful, but they did get both assignments done by the time that Gwendolyn needed to leave for her Quidditch practice; and that meant that everyone else could get an early start to their weekend. For Al and Rose, that meant dropping their bags off in their dorm room; grabbing sweaters; and going outside for a walk and some quiet chat time.

"This is working out so great for us," Rose said enthusiastically. "I might be bored sometimes on the weekends; but I love having everything done already."

"Me too," Al agreed. "We can still have magic play time on the weekends, and we've got the practice pitch booked for Sunday afternoon; so that scrimmage should be fun."

"If we get enough players," Rose agreed. "We'll see how many still want to play again on Sunday after practices this week and tryouts tomorrow." She sighed then and Al put an arm around her waist for a half-hug. "I was so excited about Quidditch a year ago; and now I just feel nothing this time." She smiled at Al's epxression of doubt. 'Okay, I'm disappointed too; but that's only half-true too. I'd only truly be disappointed if we were being kept off of a team that would've been fun to play on. That won't be true for us with James' team – at least for us. I hope that won't be true for everyone that does play this season."

"Me too," Al agreed. "Have you heard anything from Fred about how he's doing at the tryouts so far? I should've asked him; but didn't."

"No surprise, since he's been hanging out with James, Ollie, and Brock as often as he's been around the other firsties," Rose said first. "I talked to him before going for my nap last night, and he thinks that he's got a good shot at being Brock's new Beater partner. I wished him the best from us, but then I think he'll be okay playing with James anyway. It's not as if your brother will risk messing things up with Uncle George by giving Fred a hard time."

"Not to mention that Fred would likely be happy to help out with any pranking that James and Ollie want to do – and he has an unlimited supply of wheezes at his disposal."

"Maybe not unlimited; but that is a scary thought. Do you think we'll need to worry about them this year?"

"I'll only be surprised if they don't at least try to spring a few traps on us. They've had the entire summer to work on that; and I doubt they're satisfied with how things have worked out so far with their Quidditch scheme so they'll have even more motivation."

"I'll hope that they don't drag Fred into that with them, but it's likely inevitable. He wants to make his Dad proud of him at least as much as James wants to build his reputation for being a prank master."

"I'd like to stop them from doing that," Al admitted; and then smiled at Rose. "No, I'm not going to do that. It'd practically be a full-time job to keep an eye on all three of them – if that was even possible to do at all."

"You don't want to start the Anti-Prank Patrol?" Rose teased; and then laughed. "Uncle George would have to disown you or something if you did that."

"Probably," Al agreed, "and I'm not interested in the job; but that's actually not a bad idea. Maybe you should suggest it to some of the students that are thinking about being future Aurors."

"We've already got Heads and Prefects," Rose reminded him. "It might not be a good idea to start another group to fight bullies – especially if the troublemakers decide to band together and start a group of their own."

"You mean like what happened with our parents and Dumbledore's Army?" Al asked; and Rose nodded.

"Exactly like that. We don't need to repeat that bit of Hogwarts' History."

"No, we don't," Al agreed; "though we're still doing enough of that anyway."

"We are, but that also isn't with every Slytherin family; so some things are changing. That's too somber a topic to chat about on a nice Friday afternoon, though, so let's not go there. Tory and Madison seem to be happy with how things are going for their Hufflepuff team. Do you think that they'll do well this year?"

Al laughed. "Now that's a tough one for me to answer. I don't want Hufflepuff to do well against Gwendolyn's team, and we shouldn't cheer for Madison to beat James in their match against our House; so we should be hoping that they don't do better than one win and two losses."

"Except that we're both hoping that Madison does beat James," Rose admitted easily. "I'm not sure whether I should cheer for either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw in their game. Both Houses could end up with really good junior and senior teams; and that might not be good for our House if we get caught in the middle of that."

"The Seeker duels could be a big deal for the senior teams this year," Al offered thoughtfully. "Gryffindor is likely to have a big disadvantage with that – especially if Pauline is Ravenclaw's senior team Seeker. Belinda's going to need to hope that our team gets ahead by more than one-fifty in our games to put the advantage back with our team."

"What about for the juniors?" Rose prompted; and Al shrugged.

"That could be different for every match this year. We know that Ravenclaw has a good trio of Chasers that have worked together for a year now – assuming that Landon and Mark win their spots on the team again. Seth and Brandon are decent Beaters too; so it's just the unknowns at Keeper and Seeker for them."

"I guess we don't know much about Ryan and Stephanie," Rose admitted; "but I think that Gwendolyn is even happier with them than she's admitting even to you. I am willing to concede that they could be the scoring powerhouse team this year, though. What about the other teams?"

Al grinned at her. "James better catch the snitch soon-enough to win in every game. You're hearing more than I am from our friends about the first two days of tryouts; but it doesn't sound as though they're working very hard. If that's how it's going to be for their practices this season; our matches against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw might be very scary for Gryffindor fans. I've got nothing to suggest for Slytherin, other than to suggest that Scorpius beats Ollie easily in that match-up; but then their team might go all-out with the cheating this year after having success with it last year against Hufflepuff's junior team. That will be a game-changer if they take out our players with cheap shots."

"And Hufflepuff?"

"We'll see if they stack up very well against Ravenclaw once we know who makes those two teams; but I think that Madison and Tory will surprise this year against Gryffindor and Slytherin. Have you noticed that they're acting really confident compared to last year? They're quiet about it; but I can see it in them."

"Yeah, they are – and maybe we'll get the chance to see why if they play with us on Sunday. I guess that's enough Quidditch for now. What are you and Gwendolyn going to do tonight – or am I too young and single to know?"

That question led to some teasing before their chat moved on to other, mostly-random topics. They stayed together until Gwendolyn was finished her workout; and then Rose moved on while Al spent the rest of the time they had left before dinner with Gwendolyn. They stayed outside for that; sat by the lake; and mostly just relaxed while Gwendolyn told Al about her practice and what she was going to do for the team tryouts in the morning. He helped her out with those plans a bit; but that was mostly through encouragement instead of offering his opinion. When it was time for dinner, they walked to the Great Hall together; split up while having the meal; and then got back together again so that they could go and have some music play time and enjoy spending the rest of the evening together – at least until they needed to be back in their own Houses in time for curfew. Al loved the guitar lesson and singing duets with Gwendolyn, they watched a show on his mirror after that, and wrapped up their evening with a minor, but brilliant, snogging session before Al walked her to Ravenclaw tower and then had to hurry to get back to the Gryffindor common room in time.

Not having Quidditch tryouts to look forward to didn't keep Al from being in a really great mood when he woke up on Saturday morning. He was awake at his normal time; was showered, dressed, and waiting for Rose in the common room before most of the guys in his dorm room were even awake; and then he had fun with Gwendolyn before breakfast as he gave her a good luck gift for her tryouts – a new charm for her bracelet that had a silencing charm – just in case she needed to shut anyone up while trying to Captain her team. The hugs and kisses were fun too; but then Al had some time on his hands after breakfast while Gwendolyn was busy with her team – and they had the first tryout time slot this year. He could have spent that time with Rose, but she'd decided to hang out with the gang of friends that wanted to be outside and keep an eye on the tryouts. He didn't want to do that; and that did give him a chance to go to the library instead and do some research for becoming an Animagus. Since the place was all-but-empty, Al could do that with reasonable privacy, and he got lost in the work for a while; but didn't get so wrapped up that he forgot to go outside in time to meet up with Gwendolyn after her tryouts.

"I take it that you made the team," Al joked after Gwendolyn finished sharing a rather enthusiastic hug and kiss with him; and she laughed and hugged him again.

"I think we've got a really great team this year," she said happily. "Ryan had an even better save percentage than the best I'd been hoping for; and Stephanie absolutely crushed her Seeker competition – and caught the snitch in under eight minutes."

"That's impressive," Al said with a smile and nod. "Did the rest of the guys make the team?"

Gwendolyn nodded. "Yes, but the Chaser battle was closer than I expected it to be. That was mostly because of Ryan stopping nearly everything."

"Good for him. Are you going to bring him along for our scrimmage tomorrow?"

"I invited everyone on the team. We'll see how many want to put in the extra play time – or how many have their weekend assignments done and can do that." She looked around and smiled. "Did Rose go with the rest of our Gryffindor friends to the tryouts?"

"She hadn't decided for sure the last time we talked. You didn't see her on the way out of the stadium?"

"No, but we were done a bit early; so I was in the locker room before James got there with his Gryffindor prospects. Didn't you notice that I wasn't in desperate need of a shower?"

Al laughed. "I noticed; but you can't possibly expect me to comment on something like that."

"You've promised to always be honest with me," Gwendolyn reminded him; and Al laughed again.

"True, but that doesn't mean I have to offer unsolicited honesty. I can honestly tell you that I don't want to sit around here and wait to find out what happens with the Gryffindor tryouts. Is there anything you'd like to do instead?"

"Let's go and sit out by the lake," she suggested. She smiled when Al held out a hand for her Quidditch gear bag; and she gave it to him to carry for her. "I'm really glad that tryouts are done, and I'll want to talk Quidditch with you as I get going on our team training next week; but we can talk about anything else for the rest of the morning." She grinned at thim then. "Maybe you could tell me about whatever it is that you've started working on and are so excited about. It must be interesting for you to keep it to yourself like this."

"Am I that obvious?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"You are to me – and probably to Rose too. I don't want to badger you into telling me about it, though; so it's okay if you're not ready to do that yet."

"I was going to talk with you about it sometime soon anyway," Al advised her with a smile and shrug. He looked around to make sure nobody else was nearby before continuing as they walked toward the lake. "I'm going to learn how to be an Animagus."

"That's a bigger surprise than I expected," Gwendolyn said. She squeezed his hand and smiled. "Would you like me to tell you that you're nuts to even think about doing that when we're only twelve; or tell you that I think it's brilliant?"

"I'd say you've just done both," Al joked; and Gwendolyn laughed. "This isn't crazy for me; though I can't really explain why I feel that way – I just know it's true."

"Some things don't need more than that – like with you and me." She laughed again. "I really hope that your Animagus is a cute little doggie like your Dad. That'd be so much more fun for me than if you end up being a porcupine or skunk or something. Has anyone ever been a shark or fish? I've heard of birds, but never sea creatures."

"None that I've read about yet," Al answered. "It should be possible; but you wouldn't want to make that change too far away from water."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I was thinking that you wouldn't want to make that change too close to a fishing boat."

"There's that too," Al agreed; laughing too. "I wonder if hunters were ever a problem for my Grandfather. His Animagus would've been quite a prize for a deer hunter. At least the worst that Dad has to worry about is dog catchers and cute little kids wanting to take him home and adopt him."

"Lily went through that phase when she wanted him to stay in his Animagus form and be her puppy," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I'd say more, but just in case you do end up having a cute and adorable Animagus form; I won't do that and possibly mess up any future cuddle time with you."

"The books I've read so far suggest that the Wizard and Witch might not have all that much control over what their Animagus is; though that seems to mostly be theory. Since you seem to have your heart set on cute and cuddly, though, if I can have any control over it; I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Well in that case; we should make a list of the animals that'd be best for that," Gwendolyn suggested. "Puppies and Kneazles would be good; but there are others that'd be cute and cuddly – at least when they're younger. A lion cub would be cute; but I might not like you as a full-grown lion – especially if you were hungry."

"Animagi are supposed to have full control of themselves while in animal form," Al assured her. "A lion would be cool, but you might think that a snow leopard was softer."

They talked about that for a while, though they needed to pause now and then when other students wandered close to them. Once Gwendolyn had run out of suggestions for Al, they moved on to talk about other things; and mostly just enjoyed being together until it was time to head into the Great Hall for lunch. Al had suspected that he'd need the calm that came along with that time with Gwendolyn; and he was right about that when he joined Rose and the rest of their friends at the Gryffindor table and heard all about the Gryffindor tryouts. Since there were some minor changes from the normal seating, Al knew that a few things had happened with his friends; and it was easy-enough to make some educated guesses about that when five out of six of the second-year tryout invitees were sitting together.

"Andy Kirke made the team as our Keeper," Rose reported quietly. "He's the only second-year to make the team. Anna Donaldson and Romeo made the reserve squad at Chaser; Scott Holden is the reserve Keeper; and Patricia Parker is James' new back-up at Seeker." She looked down along the table beyond Al toward Roger Johnson. He wasn't sitting with the others; and looked unhappy. "Roger's the only second-year invitee not to make the cut."

"Did Fred make the team?" Al asked; and Rose nodded.

"He did; and so did Cyndia Finnegan at Chaser. You'll find this a bit of a surprise, but James picked three more firsties for the Reserve team – Kira Kirke at Chaser; and Jackie Sloper and Orlando Hooper at Beater."

"No third-years on the reserve team at all?" Al asked; and he was surprised.

"Nope," Rose confirmed. "Eric Talbot's their third Chaser, and it's no surprise that Brock's our other Beater with Fred, but that's it for the third-years; and some of the third-year guys aren't happy about that."

"Especially when there were a lot of tryout ties today," Ray added; speaking as quietly as Rose had been. "There was an eight-way tie for second-best Chaser."

"That wasn't as funny as the Seeker duel," Rose added. "There was a three-way tie for the reserve spot – with zero catches. They ran out of time; so James just picked Patricia over the others – supposedly based on how she'd done compared to the others at all three parts of the tryouts."

"Is that what he did with the Chasers too?" Al asked; and Rose and Ray both nodded.

"Pretty much," Ray answered. "Ollie looked good out there and scored on all but one shot against the Keepers; but then all of the Chasers scored a lot of goals."

"That was the difference for Andy winning the Keeper spot," Rose added. "Scott did as well; but couldn't stop Ollie even once."

"I'm glad that I wasn't there," Al admitted; his smile a bit sad. "Let's hope that our friends can have fun this season; but you're not exactly inspiring confidence in our team with that report."

"That depends on what you want to have confidence about," Ray suggested meaningfully without elaborating. "We missed seeing Gwendolyn after her tryouts. How'd they go?"

"Same team as last year with Ryan Rivers winning the Keeper job and Stephanie Boot taking over at Seeker from her big sister," Al reported simply. "Stephanie apparently caught the snitch in under eight minutes."

"Wow!" Ray exclaimed. "That's impressive – and scary for the other teams."

"Nobody should be surprised to find out that Pauline and Peter's sister is a fair player too," Rose told them. "Stephanie likely had Seeker duels with Pauline all summer too – just as Lily did with everyone she could talk into doing that with her. Was Ryan really good too; or the best they have this year."

Al shrugged. "Gwendolyn said his save percentage was better than she'd hoped for; but I don't know for sure. We might get to see for ourselves at the scrimmage tomorrow; since she's invited both of them."

"Madison will love that," Rose predicted. "She didn't get much Seeker competition for our scrimmages last year."

"It'll be good if you've got some real competition at Keeper too," Ray told her with a grin. "We've never had that problem at Chaser with Al and Gwendolyn around to show the rest of us up – especially when they play together."

"We'll all be happy about that – especially when we won't be playing on the House team," Al offered. "Those scrimmages might even be more fun if we have really good players at every position."

Rose laughed. "For us, I don't think that there's any 'might' about that."

They'd nearly talked their fill of Quidditch by then, and moved the conversation along as they had lunch together. Their non-Quidditch friends were happy to help them out with that instead of talking sports with the new members of the team and reserve squad; but Al was far from done with Quidditch after that. He eventually made sure that he congratulated all of their second-year friends; did the same with Fred and Cyndia while crossing paths on the way out of the Great Hall; and then there were still two more rounds of team tryouts in the afternoon that Gwendolyn wanted to keep an eye on – which is why they spent most of the afternoon outdoors; and usually within sight of the stadium so they'd see the Hufflepuff and Slytherin students as they went into and out of the stadium before and after their respective tryouts.

Hufflepuff had the first afternoon time slot; and there weren't really any major surprises for their team. Firstie Justine Finch-Fletchley joined her big brother and Tory Summers at Chaser; and Alex Jordan's sister was the only other first-year to make the team – and she was their replacement for their former Keeper and Captain, Myra Graves. Gwendolyn had gotten that news from Tory and Madison; and both of their friends seemed to be as happy as Gwendolyn was with her new team. Getting the details from the Slytherin practice wasn't as easy, since they didn't have any Slytherin friends to ask about it; but Al and Gwendolyn were fairly sure that they saw all fourteen players on the new Slytherin team and reserve squad because team Captain Rupert Avery had thirteen tweens and teens with him when he left the stadium – including all of the returning players from last year's team. They'd have to wait to find out for sure, but since the Slytherin team had only lost their Beater duo; Al guessed that one of the reserve Beaters from last season, Caleb Harper, and his firstie brother, Dave, were the new Slytherin Beaters.

While finding out as much as she could about the competition this year had been important for Gwendolyn; they had fun too. Some outdoor magic play time kept them busy for an hour or so; there was an entertaining game of Fanged Frisbee with three of the Frisbees on the go most of the time; and a few of their friends even hopped inot the lake for a fairly chilly and short swim. Al and Gwendolyn stayed together all afternoon, but Rose, Ray, and the rest of their friends wandered around and did other things too – even if that was just going to visit other friends and relatives. The Harpies weren't playing, but there was some game watching on portable mirrors for some of the other professional Quidditch matches; though Al and Gwendolyn just kept an eye on some of those games on the Wireless Web. When the tryouts were finished; they all headed into the castle; split up so that the girls could freshen up before dinner; and then they enjoyed another meal that included a lot of Quidditch talk as word got around about the results from the afternoon tryouts.

Al and Gwendolyn had another quiet evening together; played more music; and watched a couple of mirror network shows before splitting up for the night once it was time to be back in their own Houses. He wrapped up his Saturday night with a mirror chat with his parents and sister that included the school Quidditch report; and the work and play day recap from home. After that, Al read himself to sleep; and then he was out for the night – and that happened before even half of his room mates made it up to the dorms after hanging out in the common room while playing mirror games or watching the mirror network. As usual, Al was first to wake; was showered and dressed for the day before most of his friends were even awake; and then he hung out in the common room and surfed the Wireless Web while waiting for Rose to join him for their morning walk to the Great Hall.

Rose was ready early too, so they took a longer than usual walk while she mostly entertained him with some stories from the girls' chat time she'd been part of after going up to her dorm room. Gwendolyn stopped by the Gryffindor table for a good morning hug nd kiss with Al that was pretty good too; and then breakfast was just the time it took to eat some food before they could get back together again for the rest of the morning. Their Sunday play plan included some magic fun with their friends in their usual study classroom after brekfast; Al and Gwendolyn followed that up with a walk that Rose and Ray went along with them for; and then they joined in on another game of Fanged Frisbee until it was time to go back inside for lunch. They did that with enough time to go to their dorms and get their Quidditch gear first, and as with breakfast; lunch was just another food and drinks break for Al between play time with Gwendolyn and their friends. They had a great turnout for their scrimmage game; and Gwendolyn had her entire team for one squad. Al and Ray had Tory Summers for their third Chaser in front of Rose at Keeper; Madison was their Seeker; and Fred brought Jackie Sloper with him to be Al's Beater duo.

"What's the name of the game today?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they all got ready to take off. "First snitch catch wins; or best-of-three or five?"

"Let's go with best-of-three and fifty points a catch," Al suggested; directing that mostly at Madison and Stephanie. "If we still have time left after that; we could just have some play time – work on our flying or new tricks."

"I'd like to have time for that anyway," Gwendolyn agreed. "Is everyone else good with that?"

She received a round of nods or other indications of agreement; Bristol got the game started for them; and then the players were off and flying! While there'd only been a few changes from last year; the differences in the match were soon obvious – and attention getting as students began stopping by to watch the action above the pitch. Rose proved to be the better Keeper, but not by a lot; and Ryan did a fair job against Al, Ray, and Tory as they battled against Gwendolyn, Landon, and Mark. Al's team had the slight advantage at Chaser too, and that made a difference for the score; but the lead that they built came very slowly – and was all-but-blanked once when Stephanie made the first snitch catch of the game at the forty-six minute mark. Madison got those fifty points back with the next catch; and then she backed off and waited for her chances after her Chasers had their team up by more than sixty points – and kept them at least that far ahead through until Stephanie made a mistake defending against a snitch catch and Madison won their fairly brilliant Seeker duel to end the match after a bit more than two and a quarter hours of extreme fun.

"Maybe I should've given you the green light for the catch for the close loss," Gwendolyn told Stephanie. "I kept hoping that we'd catch up; but we just couldn't get that done for you today."

Stephanie laughed. "I hate losing, but that's okay. This was brilliant – and I'm used to only catching one in three against Pauline; when I get that lucky."

"I doubt that luck's involved," Madison assured her. "You've got as much talent as Pauline. If we hadn't had the lead; our little dule could've gone either way today."

"I had fun; and don't care who won," Al told them; and all threee girls laughed.

"Let us know if you still feel the same after we've lost one of these matches," Madison suggested; and then laughed again. "Never mind – you will feel that way."

"True, but our team will be happier," Gwendolyn predicted." She looked at her watch; smiled; and shook her head. "I guess we don't have time left to play around with our flying or tricks after all; but maybe we can do that first next weekend."

"Sounds great to me – both the play time and another scrimmage," Madison said enthusiastically. "Same time?"

Gwendolyn shrugged. "We'll let you know. Al or Rose will book it for us when the next sign-up sheet gets posted for the open slots for the weekend."

They talked about that, and about their favorite parts of the just-finished match while getting their gear off and put away again. Their game spectators moved on then too; so the fourteen players were on their own when they were ready to leave. Al and Ray took care of putting the Quidditch set away, and Gwendolyn and Rose went with them; but they split up when they got back to the castle because most of them wanted to grab a shower before dinner. Al and Ray were finished their showers and in their dorm room when James and Ollie tracked them down. Both boys looked ready to pick a fight; so Al and Ray faced off with them; instantly ready for anything.

"I want you to stay away from my players," James told Al. "We heard about your match this afternoon; and you should've checked with me before inviting any of my guys to play too. If you had' I'd have told you that nobody on my team will be allowed to consort with the enemy."

Al laughed; and earned a pair of dark scowls. "Then it's a good thing that I'm not on your team; or I'd tell you to stuff it – and Gwendolyn and the rest of our Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends are not the enemy." He shrugged then. "I invited one of our cousins, not your team mate; and he invited a new friend to come along. As far as I'm concerned, that's none of your business, but if you want to make that a team rule – have at it. Fred ought to tell you to sod off over something like that too; but that's his call – not mine."

"You're trying to undermine me; and help the other Houses against us," James retorted. "It's a wonder you didn't invite a bunch of Slytherins to play too."

"Sure, because Rupert Avery and his lot are such good buddies with me," Al said with another laugh. "As for the rest, we're not doing anything differently from last year; we're not on your team; and I don't care what you think of us playing Quidditch with our friends."

"You're traitors to your House," James declared angrily. "Not only am I going to ban playing Quidditch with any of the other House players; I'm going to ban my players from hanging out with you losers, Rose, and anyone else that you hang with."

"Will you ask the Headmistress to move your second-year players out of our dorm room too?" Ray asked incredulously.

"I'd be more interested in finding out what the guys think of that when it will mean not hanging out with half of the Gryffindor girls." He grinned at James and Ollie. "Will all of the Witches in the enemy Houses be off-limits for your team too – or the Wizards for the girls? You've already said the other team players are off limits; so that's forty-two – including the Slytherins."

"They probably shouldn't allow it," Ray offered with a grin. "Anything they say to a boyfriend or girlfriend could get back to the other teams. It's likely best not to risk it."

"Shut it; or I'll do that for you," Ollie warned; pulling out his wand and pointing it at Ray. "We're telling you to stay away from everyone on our team – and warn you that we'll blast you if you don't stop helping the other teams right now."

"We'll hang out with whomever we want," Al told him firmly; his expression no longer amused. "I've already said that it's up to you – and your team mates – if you choose not to hang out with us; but you can't make us do anything. We're also going to keep playing Quidditch with our friends; and there's nothing you can do about that either."

"Says you," Ollie said; and then pointed his wand at Al and fired a hex without warning.

Al rebounded it; added some zip to it; and Ollie flew across the room. He bounced off of the bed closest to the door on the right; flipped over; and landed face-down on the floor. "Don't even think about it," he warned James. "Ollie might not have learned anything from our fights last year; but I think that you have."

"I'll kill you!" Ollie bellowed. He was on his feet again, but there was blood running from his nose and a scrape on his face; and he fired another pair of hexes at Al.

"You can't die from those hexes," Al said conversationally after shielding and diverting them to hit harmlessly against the wall. "I think that you should leave now – especially when we've just heard that hanging out with us is now against the team rules. James would probably hate having to throw you off the team to make an example of you."

"So that means that they can't even talk to us anymore for the rest of the season?" Ray asked; and then he laughed. "That's brilliant! Thanks so much for that, James!"

James glared at him; but Al was laughing too. "Put your wand away, Ollie," James said; putting his own wand in his pocket.

"Forget it," Ollie said. "I'm not letting that loser get away with blasting me again." He fired a flurry of hexes and jinxes; waving his wand wildly and looking half-mad.

Al had to extend his shield beyond James when one of those hexes would've hit him in the back; protected himself and Ray too; and then counter-attacked by disarming Ollie and pushing him out of the room. With that done, he handed Ollie's wand to James; and then dropped his shields. James was not grateful for being saved from the hex; and he glared at Al.

"We'll see how funny you think all of this is when you're left with just your loser friends to talk to for the rest of the year,' he snarled. "this isn't over either. One of these days, when you least expect it; we're going to make sure that you get paid back a hundred times over for everything you've done to us."

Al shook his head. "Let it go, James. You've got what you wanted for the Quidditch team this year, and it's ridiculous to believe that I'm owed any payback for defending myself from you – or defending my friends."

James started walking away from Al and Ray then; but he turned around when he reached the doorway. "You're clueless, Al; and I'm going to make your life as miserable as I possibly can."

"You won't be able to do that no matter how hard you try,' Al advised him seriously; shaking his head again. "I'd normally say that I'll talk to you later, but I guess that we won't; since that won't be allowed anymore – unless you're planning on breaking your own team rules."

James looked ready to offer another retort, but then clamped his mouth shut; handed Ollie his wand; and walked away. Ollie stood and glared daggers at Al for a long handful of moments, and his wand quivered as he held it; but then he walked away without another word too.

"Well, that was fun," Ray said cheerfully. "I think that I'm starting to like your brother. A whole year without talking to him – or Ollie – really is going to be brilliant!"

"James wasn't likely thinking that part of it through before shooting his mouth off," Al suggested; "but I don't know how this will play out with our mates. It'll get a bit weird around here if Romeo, Andy, and Scott all stop talking to us at all."

"Especially for you with Romeo right next to you," Ray agreed. "You don't have to worry much about the Witches on the team; but the guys on the team won't be the only Wizards with fewer options if I can't talk with any of the girls on the team."

"That really sucks for you when they're all cute and love Quidditch too," Al teased. "You will have less competition for the Witches on the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams." He laughed at the expression on Ray's face. "That's funny; but don't go there. You'd have as much to worry about from Gwendolyn as me if you tried."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Ray assured him. "Ollie and James might think it's okay to compete over the same Witches; but I don't think that best mates should do things like that to each other."

"They're the exception to that general rule," Al said with a shake of his head. "Some of the Witches seem to like it when they're competing over them; but I can't see that working out for them with any Witches that only like one of them – and doesn't want the attention from the other."

"I'd be good with having one Witch interested in me even a little bit right now," Ray lamented; and Al grinned at him.

"Are you thinking about trying your luck again?"

"Maybe," Ray agreed. "I'd like to think that one bad date won't mess things up for me for the next six years."

"I don't think that you needed to wait this long. Don't look at me for any help with this, but if you do have any specific Witches in mind; this is a good time to invite her to do something with you – even if it's just going outside for a walk; or maybe to watch the first Quidditch match with you at the end of the month."

"That's an idea," Ray said thoughtfully – "and the good news is that we can actually do that for this game."

"I've already got a date for that game," Al said a bit whimsically. He looked at his watch and nodded to himself. "We should get going. Rose is likely already waiting for us – and she'll want to hear the James and Ollie news."

Rose had definitely wanted to hear about that; she'd been amused to find out that James and Ollie might have backed themselves into a corner with their pronouncement that they were going to ban anyone on the team from associating with them; and wasn't particularly worried about that with the girls in her dorm. Gwendolyn had pretty much the same reaction when Al talked with her about it after dinner, but they only went for a long walk on the way back to their Houses instead of hanging out together because she'd been advised that she was again overdue for spending time with her girlfriends; and needed to go and hang out with them for the rest of the evening. While she was busy with that, Al was in the Gryffindor common room; and faced the first few incidents – or lack of them – with James, Ollie, and the other twelve members of the Gryffindor team and reserve squad. James and Ollie stayed away from him; Fred returned his greeting when they crossed paths once, but looked uncomfortable and didn't try to stop for a visit; and the second-year players would answer questions from Al, Rose, or Ray; but distanced themselves from them too – including doing that physically.

That wasn't an option for the guys – particularly Romeo – in their dorm room, but Romeo didn't go up to bed until later; Al was already sleeping by then; and that avoided any potential for breaking team rules on Romeo's part. Al had gone up to bed early-enough to have a mirror chat with Lily; get ready for bed while the washrooms were still fairly empty; and wrap up his night with some reading, a bit of tinkering on Lily's charm bracelet birthday gift, and a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn once she was done with her girls-only chat and play time. Al didn't have any problems with the guys first thing on Monday morning, since he was ready to go before most of them were even awake, but the gossip network had gotten the story by then; so it was getting talked about around the tables at all four Houses by morning – except for around Al, Rose, and Ray. That wasn't happening because the team players didn't sit close-enough to them to talk at all; and the friends that were closest to them felt too uncomfortable about it to discuss one of the hottest gossip stories with them – so they didn't. Al was fine with that, and it wasn't a problem for first class either; since he was able to sit with Gwendolyn during History – and she made sure that his week started out great despite the drama.

The fallout from James' actions with his team mates wasn't of no consequence to Al, Rose, and Ray, but while there was some strain with a few of their friends – and between Al, Rose, and Fred; it really wasn't nearly the impact that James and Ollie likely hoped it would be. Beginning to settle into a daily routine was a bigger deal, and thanks to not having team Quidditch; that was working out great for Al. Gwendolyn had her Quidditch after last class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but the rest of her schedule worked out really great with Al's; and he also had time available for working on his Animagus studies and preparation that he might not have had with Quidditch. Then again, he might not have even thought about being an Animagus if he'd been focused more on Quidditch instead – not to mention that they wouldn't have even had any conversations about what he and Rose and Ray could do with all of the spare time instead. That was a moot point, since he wasn't playing Quidditch; but Al did still find it interesting to think about how little choices could have such a big impact on how the future unfolds.

The new team ban on playing Quidditch or associating with 'enemies of the team' did have one side-effect that was both bad and good for Al, Rose, and Ray – not getting any Gryffindor additions to their study group. The bad part of that was really a bigger deal for their friends, since they wouldn't have the support of the best students in their year, but while they would help their friends if needed; Al and Rose in particular could admit that getting their own work done more quickly without having their attention diverted so much of the time while they studied was really great. For the second week of classes, that meant getting their assignments done early every day; though Al stayed and studied later with their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends every day from Monday through Thursday as needed even when he had his own work finished.

Their school week wasn't all work and no play. Since they didn't have Quidditch on Tuesday, Al and Gwendolyn were both done their homework early – even with helping their Hufflepuff friends after dinner for a while. That left them with lots of time for Al to finish working on Lily's charm bracelet for her birthday on Friday; they followed that up with a music practice and play time that included a minor snogging session; and they managed to be back in their own Houses ahead of curfew. On Wednesday night, they studied late; but also watched a lot of the Harpies' match against the Cannons. That game didn't end well for the Cannons, Rose, or the rest of the Cannons' faithful; but even Rose loved getting to watch Victoire play an awesome game; scoring half of the thirty-eight goals that the Harpies scored before Gabrielle ended the game with a fairly brilliant catch of the snitch; and the Harpies were really looking great so far with four straight wins.

Thursday was again one of Al's favorite days because it started with their double-Charms class; they had the last-class study period that helped Al, Rose, Ray, and Bristol to get all of their assignments for the day finished by dinnertime; and since Gwendolyn was able to study with them between last class and dinner too; she didn't need a lot of time after dinner to finish up her work for the day either. That left Al and Gwendolyn with lots of time to hang out together until their Astronomy class started at eleven, so they went to the Owlery to send Winter off with letters and gifts for Lily's birthday; followed that up with their second music play time of the week; and wrapped up that free time with an extended walk on their way to the Astronomy tower. Astronomy continued to be a new favorite subject for both of them as they were able to partner for the class and have a lot of fun together whether that meant cuddling during the lecture or sneaking a few kisses while watching the stars through their telescopes. Since it was past-midnight by the time that Al got to his dorm room with the rest of the guys after walking back from the Astronomy tower, it was too late to call Lily and have a mirror chat but he was thinking about her as he went to sleep; and was sure that her eleventh birthday was going to be her best-ever-birthday-so-far.

"Happy birthday to me!" Lily exclaimed as she woke up and the first thing she saw was the only gift that mattered to her leaning against her night table with a big bow and card attached to it. She checked the time; laughed as she jumped out of bed; grabbed her new broom; and ran to her parents' room. She managed to hold back and knock first before just running in, though she laughed at that; since her parents had long-since learned the value of locking the door to avoid any weirdness with their kids at inconvenient moments.

"I love you!" she told Harry and Ginny enthusiastically when she had the all-clear to come into their room. She was running again by then; pounced on their bed; and shared some enthusiastic hugs and kisses with them before snuggling between them on the bed while still hugging her new Firestorm two-fifty.

"The card isn't opened," Ginny pointed out with a smile. "How do you know that's from us?"

Lily laughed as she pulled the card off of the broom and opened it. "Because we have two eleventh birthday precedents – and that's just in our little family. It's just too bad that James can't be here so that I can show him how good I am at Seeker now that we have the same brooms."

"You might like having the time between now and Christmas to practice with your new broom first," Ginny suggested seriously. "It will take a while to get used to it – and James has been flying his for two and a half years now. That still gives him some advantage."

"I'm still going to be better than James," Lily predicted. "Let's not talk about him right now, though; since I'm still mad at him over what he's been doing to Al, Rose, and Ray – especially now that he's trying to stop everyone on the team from even talking to them. The whole thing is just crazy."

"James isn't crazy," Harry assured Lily, "but you don't want to talk about him anyway; so let's talk about what I'll be cooking you for breakfast while you and your mother play dress-up and get ready for your day. You'll want to look your best when your cousins and friends get here to play Quidditch with you this morning."

Those comments had earned Harry a hug and kiss, but then he'd left the girls in bed while going to grab a quick shower; got the breakfast order from Lily when he was ready to go and start cooking; and then Ginny and Lily started getting ready for the day too while he was busy doing that. By the time that Lily made it to the kitchen, Harry had also retrieved the letters, cards, and gifts that had arrived with Winter and Storm. Lily was still carrying her broom; and Harry grinned at her.

"You didn't shower with it too, did you?"

"No, but it was in the room with me,' Lily admitted. She eyed the envelopes on the table. "Do you think that James sent me another Howler this year?"

"He didn't if he knows what's good for him," Ginny said as she joined them and leaned over to share another quick hug with Lily. "That doesn't mean that whatever he did send won't be just as scary, though; so you might want to go ahead and get that one out of the way so that you can get back to having fun for the rest of the day."

"I seem to remember her having fun with that birthday Howler – in a scary-Halloween sort of way," Harry reminded them. "Maybe Lily will like this one too."

"I didn't like that Howler," Lily assured him; "but how can you not laugh at such a horrid gift?" She took a deep breath and picked up the envelope with James' messy handwriting on it; and then opened it and pulled out the card. She laughed when she saw it; and so did Harry and Ginny. "Well, he did it again," she declared while beginning to stroke a finger along the spine of the card with big monster eyes looking up at her and the edges of the card lined with crooked, ugly-looking teeth. When the card began to purr contentedly; she opened it.

"I got you a really brilliant gift, but your card ate it," she read. "Have a monstrously happy birthday!"

"When your uncles see that thing; they're going to want to start an entire line of monster cards," Ginny predicted. "You'd better tuck that thing back into the envelope – just in case it really can eat birthday gifts."

"And keep it away from my broom," Lily added with a laugh; though she offered the card to her mother to look at first instead of putting it away.

She also opened the cards and gifts from Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; loved her new charm bracelet a lot even if her broom was still her best-ever-so-far birthday gift; and then she was allowed to have a bit of fun with her charms while helping to put the food on the table before they all sat down to eat. Ginny was mostly taking the day off except for doing some work from home, but Harry had to go to work for most of the day; and headed out for the Ministry after they finished eating while Ginny took care of the clean-up – again with some charm bracelet-powered help from Lily. They had that done by the time Lily's cousins and friends began arriving; all of them getting dropped off through the Floo Network by at least one parent. Hugo and Roxanne were first to arrive; Gwenog brought Jonah while on her way to work; and Kathryn and Melissa Wood were the last two Quidditch players to arrive. Denise Creevey was spending the day with them too; but didn't play Quidditch with the rest of the tweens.

While Denise didn't like playing, Quidditch was the name of the game for the day; and Lily was happy to have Seeker duels with Jonah – especially when he was allowed to use a Firestorm for the day too – and with her mother when Jonah wanted a break. Harry took a turn too when he came home from work early so that he could help Ginny with the birthday dinner; and Gabrielle was drafted for a quick duel when she stopped in with Victoire after work to drop off birthday gifts for Lily. Harry and Ginny hadn't invited the entire family for the dinner, but Molly, Arthur, Ron, Hermione, George, and Angelina all came over – with part of the invitations being set up so that Lily would have a Quidditch team to play against for an after-dinner scrimmage.

That bit of bonus entertainment had a lot to do with why she was happy to speed through dinner, opening gifts, and her birthday cake dessert so that she could get back to the play time on her new broom; and it was also the excuse the parents used when Lily's team won their scrimmage – and she won her duel with Ginny two catches to one. The parents still had a blast in the loss; Hugo and Ron especially had a fun Keeper duel; and Roxanne, Melissa, and Kathryn had a blast playing against Angelina – even if Harry had more fun pretending to be a fairly awful Chaser partner for Angelina in the three-against-two match-up.

The grandparents, parents, and boys went home after a post-Quidditch snack break; and Lily was set free for the rest of the evening to do what she wanted with Denise, Roxanne, Melissa, and Kathryn. They watched shows on the mirror network first; talked a lot about Quidditch, boys, fashion, and shopping; and had a fun little mirror chat with Al and Gwendolyn when they called to wish her a happy birthday and find out all about her amazing day. After that, it was time to wind down the party; they stayed in the sitting room because they were camping there so they wouldn't be crowded in Lily's room; and eventually started falling asleep by a bit after one o'clock – long after Harry and Ginny went to bed. They had bonus birthday play time booked for Saturday too, but Ginny was also working; so Harry was going to be in charge of most of that fun – starting with breakfast for seven. Lily wasn't thinking about that when she eventually fell asleep; but she was sure that her family and friends had once again managed to make her special day another best-ever-so-far birthday.

Friday wasn't birthday celebration brilliant for Al, but it was just as great as it had been a week ago for him despite the late night on Thursday and not getting as much sleep as usual. Starting the day with double Herbology was only great because he got to have Gwendolyn for his partner. That was a brilliant way to spend the morning, and while their friends had more play-type fun after lunch; they were happy-enough while actually studying all afternoon during their study perions – especially when that meant that they were able to get their Astronomy and Herbology assignments finished by dinnertime. Sure, going outside to play or pretending to study in the common room while goofing off and really doing something else would have been more fun, but they had another entire weekend off instead – and there weren't many students in any grade with that bonus to look forward to when they went to dinner in the Great Hall.

That was even better for the second weekend of the school year from Al's perspective because Gwendolyn also didn't have team Quidditch to deal with on Saturday. They were both interested in what would happen with the senior team tryouts, though that was about his cousins for Al; while Gwendolyn was hoping for a better senior team that might give Ravenclaw a real chance at winning the Quidditch Cup this year. Quidditch was the big gossip topic around the school on Friday, but before getting to the tryouts on Saturday, Al and Gwendolyn were more interested in their own Friday evening plans once they were finished their studying; her Quidditch practice; and dinner. Rose had offered to study with their Hufflepuff friends if Tory and Madison wanted the help; so Al and Gwendolyn were free to do their own thing all evening.

They decided to skip music; go for a walk outside; watch the sunset by the lake; and then they wrapped up their pre-curfew time with some cuddling and quiet reading in the library – mostly because that was more comfortable than the chairs in the classrooms were. They had to give up the privacy they could have in a classroom to do that, and they couldn't use their mirrors to watch a show or play games; but it was a change of pace that worked for them. The last bit of fun they did together was to leave the library early-enough so that they could have a birthday mirror chat with Lily. Getting to do that when they could hear all about Lily's amazing day had bee great; and Gwendolyn had loved talking with Lily and her sleepover buddies – even when they wanted to tease her about being stuck hanging out with Al instead of having as much fun as they were having at Lily's party.

They were running out of time ahead of curfew by the time that Lily ended the mirror chat with them, so Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House; their goodnight hugs and kisses were short and sweet; and then he hurrined to get back to his House – getting there with just minutes to spare. He went straight up to his dorm room once there because the couples' snogging time had already begun in the common room; and he did not want to hang around to watch the show – or what most of the teens weren't watching on the mirror network. He was tired by then anyway, so it wasn't as if he needed bonus entertainment; and he didn't even stay up much longer before crashing for the night once he was changed and ready for bed. After only getting a handful of hours of sleep on Thursday night, that was exactly what he needed most; and he was fully-charged by the time he woke again at dawn on Saturday.

"Good morning, Al," Rose said cheerfully as she caught up with him in the common room on Saturday morning. "Have you been waiting long?"

"A while," Al admitted as he put his mirror away and stood up to share a hug with her. "How are you this morning?"

"Good. I'm geting teased about going to sleep so early on Friday nights; but I don't know how our friends aren't tired out too when we have such a long day on Thursday."

"Maybe we'd do better if we have a nap after dinner on Thursdays," Al suggested; and Rose laughed.

"I did have a little nap before Astronomy; but that didn't seem to help me at all. If that works for others, more power to them; but I don't think it'll work for me – and I'd rather get the studying done like we're doing on Friday afternoons instead of nanpping like a couple of the girls did after lunch yesterday."

"Well, at least we're rested and ready for the weekend. Did you and Bristol make any plans or talk about what you'd like to do today?"

"Just the usual," Rose answered. "We'd like to do some magic play time; and spend the afternoon outside if it turns out to be as nice as the forecast predicts." She smiled at him. "I know you want to spend the day with Gwendolyn, but you should come with us to the Gryffindor tryouts this morning to support our cousins; and she should definitely go to the Ravenclaw tryouts since she's junior team Captain."

"I know we should; but hate the idea of losing all of that time for hanging out together. We didn't really talk about it last night; but I suppose we'll end up doing that even if there won't likely be anything to see at our tryouts."

"True, but there could be some fireworks at the Ravenclaw tryouts," Rose pointed out. "It'll be interesting to see what Jared does with his team. He's Captain and their Seeker; so Pauline might be out of luck – even though I think she's better than he is by quite a bit. Peter could have a good shot at the Keeper job – and that'd help their team a lot too coming off of a pretty bad season."

"I'd rather get to watch those tryouts – or the tryouts for Hufflepuff."

"They only need a Chaser to replace Nikki – unless you think that Myra's got a shot at beating Kirby Crumb at Keeper. Hufflepuff doesn't have anyone in fourth year to give Alex a run for it at Seeker; they've already got the best Beater duo with Tina and Calvin Johnson; and nobody at the school is better than Alice and Francine at Chaser – even if there are a few that are about as good – including our cousins."

"Myra might give Kirby a run for it; but I really just meant that it'd be more interesting because I don't think there will be any surprises with our team."

"But you didn't suggest that you'd rather watch the Slytherin tryouts," Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"They'd likely postpone it due to the opportunity to gang up on me instead if I showed up alone for their tryouts."

"Interesting choice for how you said that," Rose said seriously. "I'd expect to be spending the next year or more at St. Mungo's if I tried that; yet you don't seem to think that having thirty, fifty, or maybe a hundred or more Slytherins ganging up on you as particularly bothersome."

"I'd feel better about something like that with you and Gwendolyn along; but we wouldn't really do that anyway. We're not allowed at other House tryouts or practices, and if I was going to get into trouble for anything this year; it wouldn't be for trying to crash the Slytherin tryouts – or getting into a major duel with them."

Rose grinned at him. "Well, since you've gone there; what would be worth getting into trouble over?"

While Al hadn't wanted to take their conversation in that direction; Rose had fun with it until they were in the Great Hall. Breakfast with their friends was fun, and so was the time that Al spent with Gwendolyn after breakfast; but then he did go on to the stadium to watch the Gryffindor tryouts. Amazingly to him, Rose, and some others; James and Ollie didn't show up to support James' cousins and Ollie's sisters. That was okay with Al, since it meant that he didn't have to deal with any drama between them; but then there wasn't any drama at all for the tryouts this year. Victoire was replaced by her back-up Seeker from last season, sixth-year student Brandon Starkey. Tiberius might have been hoping to earn one of the Beater jobs from Jensen or Stanley, but that didn't happen, and while Louis was the best Keeper trying out to be Belinda's back-up, she was team Captain; so the Keeper job wasn't available. Unlike Rose, Louis didn't try to earn a spot on the team at Chaser; since he knew he'd have no chance at all of doing that against Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia. Nobody else had a chance at that either; though a half-dozen teens did try.

The Gryffindor tryouts didn't really take that long either; and they'd cleared the stadium of players and spectators with twenty minutes to spare before Slytherin was scheduled to take over for their tryouts. Al was glad to meet up with Gwendolyn again; and they went to their usual study classrom with Rose, Bristol, Ray, and a handful of other friends for the magic playtime that Rose and Bristol had wanted to do. That mostly ended up being a practice for their Charms; with a bit of Transfiguration mixed in. They played until lunchtime; went to the Great Hall to eat; and the top gossip was all about Quidditch – both for the results from the morning tryouts and what was expected for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in the afternoon.

While there hadn't been any surprises at the Gryffindor tryouts; there was a very good chance that there had been more than a bit of drama for the Slytherin team. With Theo Nott skipping his NEWT year to play professional Quidditch with his brother; Slytherin had lost a total of three players – each of them good-enough to get hired by professional teams. That left Victor Avery with quite a hole to plug; and there were apparently a lot of Slytherins interested in competing for all of the open spots on the team. Vince Vaisey, Brand Bletchley, and Lacey Zabini defended their positions, but while the gossip out of Slytherin was usually harder to come by than in the other Houses; there were rumors that Victor wasn't happy about having Lacey on the team again. That apparently got worse for him when Licentia Nott earned the other Chaser spot – with both Witches out-playing ten Slytherin Wizards to earn their spots on the team. There might have been some drama with the Beater battle, but the only news to reach the gossip network was that Raban Lestrange and Don Rosier won the Beater jobs while Don's junior team Beater partner, Monty Crabbe, ended up on the reserve squad.

While the Quidditch talk kept them entertained while they had lunch, Al needed to find something else to do after lunch while Gwendolyn was busy watching the senior team tryouts for Ravenclaw. He did walk with her to the stadium first, and then he could have gone to hang out with Rose and some of their other friends; but decided to do his own thing again – which was to work on his Animagus studies and training. As he got more serious about that, he decided that training really was a good word to describe the process. Sure, there were steps to take along the way, but Al was discovering that everything boiled down to training the mind and, for lack of a better term, the spirit to handle the Transfiguration. Sure, a botched Animagus Transfiguration could literally go monstrously wrong; but it was as likely that the unprepared mind wouldn't have sufficient ability to maintain control over the animal form – which would also mean not having the ability to change back.

Intentionally taking on a very difficult study project in addition to their classes wouldn't be fun for most students at Hogwarts, but Al loved the challenge; and really enjoyed that couple of hours of studying in the library. He was still back out near the stadium in time to reunite with Gwendolyn when the Ravenclaw tryouts were over; and she was just one of a lot of seriously fired-up Ravenclaws because their tryouts had been very exciting. That meant that Gwendolyn's hug and kiss with Al was fairly exuberant too; so he was as happy about that as he was interested in finding out the big news for the senior team.

"Jared opened up the tryouts for Seeker to everyone," Gwendolyn reported first. "Pauline wasn't the only Ravenclaw to try to beat Jared for that job; but everyone knows for sure now that he did that because he was sure she's a better Seeker than he is." She smiled brilliantly at Al. "You're not the only Wizard around here willing to do something like that for their team."

Al laughed. "There is one big difference. I think I could win the Chaser duel. Jared's a really good guy to do that knowing he'd likely get beat – and not be team Seeker for his NEWT year. I'll guess that's another reason why he was named Head Boy too – he's basically doing the opposite of what Victoire did last year; and it's just as big of a deal for your team this year."

"It is," Gwendolyn agreed; "and Jared really is a great guy. They did the Seeker battle first, and Pauline won the job fairly easily; and then Jared opted to play Beater instead. What's even more awesome is that he went on to earn that spot on the team. I'd have never guessed he had a talent for Beater, and he isn't as good as some of the other senior team Beaters in the other Houses; but he was second-best today for our House."

"Who was the best?" Al asked curiously. "Your Beaters from last season graduated."

"Chuck Chambers won the other spot," Gwendolyn reported. "That was a bit of a surprise. He's fifth-year with Miya and Lee, but hasn't even made the reserve squad before now. He's gotten a lot better, and I'll guess that's a combination of getting physically bigger and working hard to catch up to the other best players in our House."

"Good for him," Al said approvingly. "I like those stories – even if the guys or girls he beat out for that job likely weren't happy about it."

"Actually, he's fairly popular right now for doing that," Gwendolyn advised him. "Miya, and Lee and Susan Cornfoot kept their Chaser trio together again this year; so the only other news was that Peter won the Keeper job. That battle wasn't as close as I thought it might be with him trying out against some sixth and seventh-year students; but he is the best we've got this year."

"That won't be a good match against Belinda, but he'll likely be as good as Vince Vaisey for Slytherin," Al offered thoughtfully. "We'll have to see what happens for Hufflepuff, but I'll give Kirby the slight edge if he's still the Hufflepuff Keeper; and call it a tie if Myra beats Kirby for the job today."

Gwendolyn laughed. "That doesn't seem at all fair to me. If Myra wins the Keeper job today; she's better than Kirby. How do you figure that she'd only rate a tie with Peter?"

Al laughed too. "You do realize that you're trying to suggest that the Hufflepuff Keeper will be better than yours regardless of how the tryouts go today, right?" he teased. "I'm saying that because Peter has played against Myra and hasn't been up against Kirby – or against both Alice and Francine Longbottom playing together. Kirby has played against Miya, Susan, and Lee; so that gives him an advantage too – including over Myra."

"Then I'd better cheer for Myra to win today," Gwendolyn said half-seriously.

"You'll cheer for the Witches anyway," Al pointed out; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.

"That's true; but you're likely right about Kirby being better – though Myra will likely be the better Keeper by the time she's a NEWT student."

"Probably sooner," Al amended. "I wonder if she'll choose music or Quidditch after she graduates?"

Gwendolyn shrugged. "Right now, I'll say she'll pick music; but only because I know she's not a big fan of getting beat up by bludgers and cheating Slytherin players. She wouldn't like it any better playing against teams like the Falcons."

"Which really just proves that she's smarter than we are – not that I'm suggesting that we start a band or anything."

"Well, you do have a lot of extra time on your hands this year," Gwendolyn teased. "I'm surprised that Dad hasn't suggested it again by now. I have told him that you're not playing Quidditch for Gryffindor."

"He knows that you are playing for Ravenclaw, though; so I should be safe as long as you keep playing Quidditch – even if I can't."

"Not if he thinks you could do well with a solo career," Gwendolyn teased.

"Music wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you, and even though I can't have a career with the Harpies too; I do still want to play in the show – not in the pubs and Inns that I'd likely end up in if I did actually give music a try."

They continued to talk together as they went to meet up with Rose and some of their other friends so that they could hang out together for the rest of the afternoon. While they played, Quidditch was the opening topic of a conversation going on in the Room of Requirements that started about a half-hour after the end of the Ravenclaw tryouts. Scorpius had wanted to spend the entire afternoon with Thomas, but had ended up hanging out with the Averys and their mates because he and the Zabini brothers were being allowed to hang out with the other Slytherin Quidditch players – even though that was really only as subservient members of the group. Scorpius played the game, but wasn't happy about the change in status when he knew he was better than everyone else in Victor Avery's little gang. It was also obvious that the Avery brothers had decided that they needed new recruits because they were losing credibility with their fellow Slytherins; so they needed numbers to remain intimidating to the Slytherin sheep.

"You don't look any happier than you've been for the past week," Thomas told Scorpius once his portrait had been set down on the table and Scorpius had flopped into the armchair with a sigh. "Bad day so far?"

"Hours of putting up with Avery stupidity. Victor Avery is all put out because Lacey Zabini and Licentia Nott won the two open Chaser spots on his team today. He hates that, but they won fairly convincingly; and they're likely better than he is too – though Victor would never believe that either."

"How's your senior team going to stack up against the other Houses? You're not happy with your junior team."

"Victor and Raban are sure they'll crush the other teams. I think they're delusional to believe that. You know that the Nott brothers and Rachel Rosier are all playing in the show now, and while that might say more about how bad things are for our professional league these days; it also means that Victor probably lost his three best players from last season too. From what we've heard, Gryffindor hasn't got much of a Seeker this year, but they do have the best Keeper at our school; one of the best Chaser trios; and a decent pair of experienced Beaters. We just heard that Pauline and Peter Boot won the Seeker and Keeper jobs for Ravenclaw, and while Victor thinks that our team will be able to beat up on them; I think that they're better than Brand Bletchley and Vince Vaisey." He laughed then. "Victor didn't even want to bother finding out what happens with the Hufflepuff tryouts that are going on right now; since there won't likely be much of a change in their team. He's probably right about that, but he's wrong to think that his team is better than theirs this year – especially when I don't think his team is as good as it was last season – or that they'll have the three brilliant wins that he's already predicting for our House."

"It's good that you can see beyond such delusions," Thomas said approvingly; "but don't forget to see what's happening around you with an open mind. I wonder if you have a tendancy to underestimate your fellow Slytherin – and overestimate the abilities of those you deem your foes."

Scorpius thought about that before answering. "Maybe, but then the difference might simply be that I'm around my fellow Slytherin all of the time here; and don't spend much time with any of the teens in the other Houses – except for the classes we have with the other second-year students. Even then, we're segregated by choice; and have very little interaction with them."

Thomas nodded. "I'd advise you to work on forming relationships with students in other Houses, but I was never good at that; and have no suggestions on how to do that – especially when that could be a problem with your fellow Slytherin if you tried."

"It's a problem just from having so few pureblood teens left," Scorpius pointed out. "If I'm going to return the true purebloods to our rightful place ruling the Wizarding World; I can't exactly befriend every mudblood, half-blood, and blood traitor along the way."

"That's true," Thomas agreed; "but I'm not really suggestiong that you befriend them. You might be able to find a way to exploit them, though; and that would mean pretending to get along with them. There were many Wizards and Witches doing my bidding while I lived that either never realised they did so – or simply believed the lies we told them to get them to do as we wished. You will often be astounded at what some Witches and Wizards are willing to do to protect their own interests – right up until they discover that they're just expendable tools too."

"Making them reusable tools might be a worthy goal," Scorpius suggested; and Thomas laughed.

"You're right about that, but no Wizard has the kind of power it would require to Imperius legions of followers indefinitely, and while my Death Eaters and I used that curse liberally; it often proved much less-effective than I'd expected – and failed at the worst-possible moments."

"I don't have any ideas about how to do it," Scorpius admitted; "but it would be helpful to have those legions of loyal servants to do our bidding – just as we should have all of the magical creatures at our disposal to serve us."

"Well, it's something that's worth at least studying; though I wouldn't get too wrapped up in an idea that's so unlikely to prove possible," Thomas offered. Is there any other news to talk about; or would you like to move on and do your next lesson?"

Scorpius definitely wanted to do the lesson too; but finished giving Thomas the latest news from around school and the Wizarding World in general. All of that was fun for him – and a far better use of his time than hanging out with the Averys and their gang – especially when their idea of fun was to harass anyone weaker than them; act like idiots around the Witches they liked best; and plot revenge against Al Potter. It wasn't that he couldn't understand why they wanted to do part three of that, but Victor and Rupert Avery really were delusional when it came to Al Potter and their chances of defeating him. They weren't the only Slytherins with that delusion; since he also got to listen to Davis Zabini shoot his mouth off about how he was going to blast Albus Potter if he ever got the chance for a cross-House duel with him during their DADA class. Davis had been disappointed that they'd only been learning defense against magical creatures sor far, but the funniest part of that for Scorpius was the fact that Davis had been bested by several of those creatures already; yet the fool believed that he was a more powerful Wizard than Potter.

From his perspective, Scorpius believed that those delusions would help him someday – once those fools had failed often-enough; and were ready to follow someone with the vision and power to bring about the defeat of their most-hated enemies – and usher in a brilliant future for all true purebloods!

Al and Gwendolyn had spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their friends except for a short pre-dinner break when the girls wanted to take time to get ready for dinner. By then, the Hufflepuff tryouts were finished, and as expected; there hadn't been any surprises. Zack Smith earned Nikki's Chaser spot on the team, and while Myra did well earning the reserve team Keeper job; that was the only close contest for the six returning players that kept their jobs for another year. By dinnertime, Quidditch wasn't the only news on the gossip network; but the other top story wasn't something that Al and Rose were happy to hear about because it involved James, Ollie, and a wave of pranks and traps that had been set off around the school – with most of them happening to unsuspecting firsties. The victims included some Slytherins too; but what really bothered Al was the rumor that Al and Ollie had one or two new prank apprentices. Names weren't out on the grapevine for that yet, but all Al had needed to do was open up his senses and mentally take a look at the Gryffindor firsties to get the answer – though he'd immediately suspected that Fred would be one of the new pranksters before confirming that. One of his new firstie friends, Orlando Hooper was the other; though Al had no actual proof of that – just a certainty that what he was feeling was truth. Al didn't talk about that with anyone during dinner, but did invite Rose and Ray to stay with him when he met up with Gwendolyn after dinner – and then they all went to the classroom that Al and Gwendolyn were going to use for their music practice plans.

"What's up?" rose asked once they were alone in the room. "I hope you're not looking to start a quartet with Ray and me; 'cause music is not my thing."

"Ditto that for me," Ray added seriously; though he was grinning too.

"I thought that we should have a little group chat about the rumors going around the Great Hall at dinnertime. The pranks have apparently picked up a few notches today," Al explained, "and while you all know that James and Ollie are behind most of them; I can also tell you that Fred, and one of his new firstie mates, Orlando Hooper, are the new pranksters that were being talked about for some of those stories too."

"They weren't named – and nobody seemed to be sure of it," Gwendolyn pointed out. "You're certain, though; and it isn't a surprise that Fred would want to be a prank master like his Dad too."

"There's something else you're worried about, though," Rose surmised. "Do you expect them to try coming after us?"

"I think so," he agreed. "The when or how isn't something I can predict; but I do think that we'd do well to stick together – or with our friends – for now until we know more about what they're doing. Some of these pranks are all-new; and they even managed to hit a small group of firsties for that one trap. That's something new for James; since they've always picked on only one or two kids at a time."

"Do you think that Fred has a new bag of tricks from home?" Rose asked. "Maybe he's brought along some prototype wheezes."

"Maybe," Al agreed. "Mostly, I just wanted to warn you; and want all of us to be careful."

"Does that mean that you want us to meet you outside of Ravenclaw tower to walk you back to our House after you walk Gwendolyn to hers?" Ray asked. "That'll be a bit awkward for us."

"I'm going to take my chances with that walk on my own," Al answered seriously; "but Rose can call me on my mirror if she sees James, Ollie, and their new prank partners leave the common room shortly before curfew. That would at least give me a heads up that they're a possible danger to me."

"I can do that," Rose agreed with a nod. "The rest of us will stick with groups of our friends too – if we're not hanging out with you. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Al smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Let's start working on some charmed objects for you and Ray. Lily's got the charm bracelet that I was making for her birthday – even though she barely noticed getting anything other than her new broom yesterday; so we could start working on some protections for you to have on-hand if you need them."

"That sounds like fun," Rose agreed; smiling too. "Would you like me to have my Mum get a second charm bracelet for you when I ask her to pick one up for me?" Rose asked Ray.

"Thanks anyway, but no," Ray answered emphatically. "We should come up with something a bit cooler than seashells for guys, though, Al."

"I suppose," Al conceded; "but I didn't have a lot of choices in my trunk last year when I decided to try doing this."

"And we won't razz you about why you had a seashell collection in your trunk," Gwendolyn added with a laugh. "I like the idea of making those protections for Rose and Ray; but maybe we should work on more of those shield defenses that you're so good at too, Al. If James and Ollie do try to single one of us out, I'd rather be able to shield myself and then use my mirror and call for help."

"That's a good idea too," Rose said approvingly. "Are you guys busy right now?"

"Yes," Gwendolyn answered before Al could; "but we can do a bit of magic play time first before Al and I start his music lesson."

They all agreed to do that; ended up practicing shielding for an hour; and then Rose and Ray left to head back to the Gryffindor common room while Al and Gwendolyn ended their evening with music and a bit of quality snogging time before going back to their Houses ahead of curfew. After that, Al wrapped up his night with a mirror chat with his parents and sister; and some Animagus-related reading that he wrapped up when Ray and some of the other guys came up to bed too. There was still one day left in their weekend, but the senior team tryouts seemed to mark an ending and beginning for Al – even though he wasn't involved in the House Quidditch season as anything other than a spectator. The end of tryouts did mean that the real work to get ready for the first round of Quidditch matches would begin in earnest, and now that they were two weeks into the school year; that would be as true for the students with their classes and studies. Add in the start of the Hogsmeade weekends that was now less than a week away; and it was all going to add up to the beginning of the school routine that they'd all be following through until the Christmas holidays that were still three months or so away.

Al thought about all of that a lot as he wound down from a fun, busy day, and while his school year was shaping up to be very different than he'd expected or hoped that it would; he was also hopeful that it would be amazing in ways that were just as unexpected. Then again, with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends around to share the fun with him; Al sensed that they were all in for a brilliant adventure!


	14. A Fall Full of Fun

Chapter Fourteen – A Fall Full of Fun

Sunday morning started out quietly-enough for Al, but then warmed up in more ways than one as he moved from getting up and ready for the day through to breakfast in the Great Hall and beyond. He and Rose enjoyed their usual morning walk; a good morning hug and kiss with Gwendolyn when she stopped by on her way to the Ravenclaw table was fun too; and then an Owl Post from home helped to make their breakfast time entertaining – especially since Harry, Ginny, and Lily had each included birthday and post-birthday stories about what they'd been doing on Friday and Saturday. Rose hadn't heard more than the basics from Al for Lily's birthday, so that was especially fun for her, but there were letters from home for her too; and the treats that were sent for both of them were popular with their friends. While all of that was really great; Al was glad to get together with Gwendolyn after breakfast and have most of the day open ahead of them to just have fun – starting with the magical play time with their friends that they went to their usual study classroom to do with all of their usual Gryffindor and Ravenclaw study group friends.

"So, what do you want to play with today?" Toni asked as they gathered around one of the work tables. "The next Charms we'll be doing; Transfiguration; or DADA?"

"We'd have to sign out some of the magical creatures to do that last one," Michael Chang pointed out; and Toni smiled at him.

"True – unless we worked on jinxes, hexes, and the counter-spells for them instead."

"That's what I want to do," Rose told them. "We've heard that James and Ollie have recruited some help for their prank patrol this year; and we're going to work on being ready to defend ourselves – particularly if we need to do that when Al isn't with us."

"Gwendolyn told me about that," Toni said with a nod. "Didn't they cause enough trouble on their own last year? The last thing we need around here is an entire gang wandering the halls on prank patrol. For as much trouble as they make, the Heads ought to think about just putting a couple of Prefects to following James and Ollie around all day to keep them out of trouble."

"That's an idea," Rose agreed with a laugh. "I'm sure the Slytherin Prefects would love that assignment; though I expect that James and Ollie would wear them out trying to keep up with them in under a week." She smiled at Al next. "Let's start with some shielding that we can use to deflect wheezes getting tossed or sprayed at us. I don't want to do anything that might hurt Fred or his misguided new buddy, but if they're actually willing to mess with us; I won't feel too badly if their pranks backfire on them."

"It'd be nice if we had a way of dealing with James' portable swamp too," Michael suggested. "We've heard that they've already caught a few firsties in it."

"Using it all of the time would be a pain, but I could show you what to watch for using a super-sensory charm," Al advised him.

"How would that help?" Toni asked skeptically; and Al laughed.

"Well, it's a bit gross, but you do it by enhancing your sense of smell. Even packed up, there's a bit of an odour from the swamps, so once you know what to smell for; it's fairly easy to locate one even before it's opened."

"That isn't as gross as falling into one is," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I don't plan on wandering around the castle on my own very much anyway, since James and Ollie aren't the only teens we have to worry about; so that super-sensory charm will be easy-enough to use whenever I do need to do that."

"Can you use it to sniff out Slytherins too?" Ray asked and half-joked. "That might be helpful too."

"If you worked on it, you could learn to use it to pick out specific people by smell," Al answered, "but that would take a lot of practice; and it'd still be really difficult to pinpoint any specific smell from everything you'd normally be able to smell all around you. By the time you did that; you'd likely already be able to see them by then anyway."

"That sounds as though doing that would stink either way," Ray decided; earning the laughs he'd hoped for. "Okay, I'm in for playing with shields for now; but any other ideas for prank-proofing ourselves would be appreciated."

They played with shields for a while, including practicing them by having Al toss things at the rest of them while they tried to not only simply stop the different things but rebound them back against him. That didn't always work out very well for Al, but Rose or Gwendolyn helped to clean him up after when needed as he was hit by everything from sprayed drinks and potion ingredients powders to fruit and some plant fertilizer from the greenhouses that nobody else really wanted to know why Rose had a small pouch of in her bag. After that, they practiced counter-jinxes and counter-hexes; and then wrapped up their magical play time with some magic practice that was all for fun – like working on their next batch of Transfiguration lessons.

While it wasn't a hot, summer day out, it was warm-enough by then to go outside until lunchtime. They ended up hanging out with a group of Ravenclaws; played a few games together; and then they eventually split up so that they could grab their Quidditch gear before going to the Great Hall for lunch. The food break was just a segue to the Quidditch scrimmage for Al, and he and Gwendolyn were both finished early; reunited; and out at the Quidditch pitch ahead of everyone else. They got their gear on right away too; and then they had some play time that was all about practicing their tricks while waiting for everyone else to arrive. Despite the fact that the scrimmage match hadn't even started yet, their aerial acrobatics began attracting some spectators; including some senior team Quidditch players and a couple of Al's cousins. When the rest of their scrimmage players were there, Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their play time with a mid-air hug and kiss that was short, but still earned some whistles; while Al hoped that the applause was strictly for the flying entertainment.

"I am so glad that you guys aren't on the same team," Tory told them as they landed and joined the rest of the group. Some of the kids were stillgetting their gear on; so Al and Gwendolyn had time to get drinks and rest a bit before getting the game started.

"Me too," Gwendolyn agreed – "especially if I'd been Gryffindor and we'd have both been off the team this year."

Tory laughed. "I wasn't thinking about that – or the fact that having the pair of you on my team would be really awesome." She smiled at the two new additions to the group that she'd invited to join them for the scrimmage. "I don't think we really need to mention that to Jonah and Justine, do we?" she asked them; and then turned her attention back to Al and Gwendolyn. "Before I forget, you guys know Eldon and Calvin? Rose told me it was a good idea to invite them to play Beater for us against Gwendolyn's team." Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes were the third-year Beaters for Hufflepuff, and while Al didn't really know them at all except for through Quidditch; he did know them. Tory didn't elaborate on why they needed the Beaters; but then they all knew why they were down to just three Gryffindors.

"That works out great for us," Al assured her; "but Rose, Ray, and I would appreciate it if you'll let us keep playing too. If you invite Jonah, Justine, and Leanne too; these scrimmages will just be Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff matches – and we'll be out of luck."

"Or finding more players for a new scrimmage," Rose offered.

"Then we won't do that," Tory promised. "More than half the players here would go with that other scrimmage instead – right Gwendolyn?"

"Definitely for me," she agreed. "We might need to change this up a week or two ahead of our match; but I'm sure we can come up with something that won't also either give away what we each have planned for that game or mess up our own games by playing differently."

"Or with other team mates," Tory said with a nod. "We don't need to worry about that today, though, and for all we know; there won't even be pitches available those weekends anyway. Teams get first shot; and the senior teams will be putting in extra practices by then too."

"We do have a team Captain in the group," Madison reminded them as she stood up; ready to play. "She could probably help us out with that, but if you're done chatting; let's get this scrimmage going!"

They did that; and the next nearly two hours of Quidditch was a blast of fun for the players; and very entertaining for the fifty or so spectators that watched most of the show. Al loved battling against Gwendolyn for most of the match, and despite the fact that he was top Chaser for the match; Gwendolyn loved it too. On the scoring side, they both did better pretty much every time they weren't able to match up on the plays; but then they both earned a lot of assists instead of goals when they were matched up. Rose and Ryan didn't exactly have their best matches ever-so-far, but then they faced a lot of shots on goals too; and did well-enough considering the barrage they faced from the six talented Chasers. Madison and Stephanie had another tough Seeker duel, and Stephanie won two-of-three this time because Gwendolyn gave her the green light to keep trying for the catches regardless of the score. That meant that Al's team won; but only by twenty points.

"It still sucks to lose – even though I won the Seeker duel," Stephanie declared after everyone had landed and started to take off their pads and gear. "Are you sure that these scrimmages are a good idea, Gwendolyn? If all we're doing is conditioning ourselves to lose; then I don't like it at all."

Tory laughed. "Yeah, these scrimmages are brilliant!" she said enthusiastically. "Keep up the good work!"

Gwendolyn laughed too; smiling at Tory; and then turned her attention back to Stephanie. "You don't have to worry about that, and I hate to lose even more than most; but these matches are all about having fun – and you did have fun today." She looked around at the rest of their friends before continuing. "This is what Quidditch is all about for me, Stephanie. I'll quit playing the day that I stop feeling like this when I'm playing – or if I ever let the winning and losing get in the way of how much I love Quidditch."

"Then all of the Cannons players must keep going for love of the game," Ray joked; directing that comment at Rose. "If they let the losing get to them; they'd go through a lot more players than they already do."

"That's what contracts are for," Madison offered. "You're stuck with the job win or lose."

"Laugh it up," Rose encouraged. "That'll be more fun for me when my Cannons win their next league Championship."

"You'll need to haunt the Quidditch World Cup stadium before you'll see that happen," Calvin suggested with a snort; and earning a round of laughs.

"Careful," Gwendolyn warned him. "Rose is still looking to recruit Beaters for her future League-Champion Cannons team. Keep that up; and she might decide that you'd be perfect for one of those jobs."

"What a great idea!" Rose said with a bright smile for Calvin. "That's one of the fun things about these scrimmages too. I get to keep an eye on some of the best talent in the school that we'll have available for when we graduate."

"How does your Dad feel about you spending this time checking out guys?" Tory asked her.

"What's he going to say about it when he's such a big Cannons fan?" Gwendolyn offered. "She's doing it for the team."

"That's funny; but you might want to think about re-phrasing that before using the line again," Madison suggested. "The grapevine would take a rumor like that and have Rose's reputation ruined in a day or two."

"That is so not funny," Rose protested as she blushed furiously.

"It's a little funny," Al disagreed; "but we'll keep that to ourselves. None of us want to find out just how good your bat-bogey hex is – not that we'd want to mess with your reputation anyway."

"And for the guys in this group that might be suddenly daydreaming about Cannons' team tryouts with Rose; remember that bat-bogey hex thing – and that her Dad's an Auror."

"Former Auror," Gwendolyn corrected, "but he did just retire; and Rose's Uncle is the Head of the Aurors and the most-powerful Wizard in the world."

"Is that supposed to help me?" Rose asked. "How did the lot of you manage to swing that from one extreme to the other so fast?"

"It's a gift," Gwendolyn answered modestly with a grin. "Don't worry. That last part won't really be a problem for you. Lily won't likely get a single date the entire time she's here at Hogwarts starting next September; but you'll be okay."

"If that actually happened; Lily would just go out and get her own dates instead," Al predicted with a laugh.

"No doubt," Rose agreed, "but now you have me wondering why Gwendolyn isn't worried about that while dating you."

Al laughed again. "Probably because my Dad might decide to help our Mums out if I mess up with Gwendolyn," he joked. "She definitely doesn't have anything to worry about from him."

His comment gave the girls something to talk about while they finished getting their gear packed up; and then they all walked back to the castle together before splitting up to take their bags back to their dorm rooms. Al grabbed a quick shower and got changed while he was there too; but then he met up with Gwendolyn outside of Ravenclaw tower and they went for a walk by the lake until dinnertime that included sitting out on the dock and having a quiet chat for nearly an hour. Dinner was the food and drinks intake break between that and an evening of music play time for two. They also did a visit to the Owlery to check in on Winter and Blizzard, but Al didn't send Winter out because he was lending her to Rose so that she'd be able to send cards and gifts to her Mother for her birthday on Wednesday. They wrapped up their evening with an extended walk and talk on their way to the Ravenclaw tower entrance; and then Al went on to his common room and spent a bit of time with Rose, Ray, and some of their friends before going on up to his dorm room for the rest of the night.

It really did start feeling like they were getting into a daily routine during the third week of classes. That was more true for the students that didn't play Quidditch, or that were starting to get into other school activities like choir or the Slug club; but Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray were into more of a routine than most already. On Monday and Tuesday, that meant a full day of classes followed by studying until dinnertime and again after dinner. The only changes between the days were the subjects; and they had their Hufflepuff study mates with them after last class on Monday; and the Ravenclaw members on Tuesday. They were all together both evenings. They began to have larger projects assigned to them that couldn't be done with just one or two study sessions; but they just planned out those projects over the time they had until the due dates; and worked that into their study sessions too.

Hermione's birthday only added a minor cameo moment to the schedule for Al and Rose when they had a mirror chat with her before breakfast, but Rose didn't even try to call her mother again later after finding out that Hugo was staying with Lily for the night so that their parents could have a kid-free night; so that was the only time she talked with Hermione all day. Having the first afternoon class time for their study period on Wednesday helped a lot with getting their Transfiguration assignment done and out of the way, and while Al still worked with Gwendolyn and some of their other Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends; Rose, Bristol, and Ray were really getting to like having Wednesday evenings free to take a mid-week break from all of the work. By Thursday, all of the older teens that were going to be in Hogsmeade on Saturday were focused on that more than anything else, but it was business as usual for Al and the rest of his study group. Thursday and Friday were near-repeats of the previous two weeks; Al loved everything he did both days; and they had all of their regular work finished by the time they went to dinner on Friday. They were going to add some project studying to their weekend schedule, but then those projects were mostly about the most-fun magic they were learning too; so they were okay with that.

The first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year was a big deal at breakfast – even for the first and second-year students that wouldn't be going to town. There were only a couple of things about the Hogsmeade fun that got Al's attention; and neither had anything to do with the fun he wasn't going to get to experience for another year. The first was trying not to watch James as his brother tried to razz him about not being able to go to town too while also not talking to him at all. That meant that he needed to make jokes or nasty comments that were directed at him but spoken to Ollie and their friends while close-enough to Al to be overheard. It was completely ridiculous; but James tried a half-dozen times before it was time to line up and head out for the day. The second issue was that all of the morning time slots were open for the pitches because none of the teams were having practices. That didn't really surprise Al, since that was normal for Hogsmeade weekends, but he was surprised that James hadn't tried to book a time slot for Sunday to make up for that missed practice. Slytherin had booked an extra practice for Sunday – and they'd already had their normal three practices during the week. He was glad that he'd been able to get a pitch for some Quidditch play time on Saturday morning, though; and that's what they went to do after breakfast – though they didn't have any of their usual third-year friends along for that scrimmage.

That worked for Al, since it meant that he could replace Mark and play Chaser with Gwendolyn instead of against her, and while they weren't able to replace their third-year Beaters; they were able to get Justine Finch-Fletchley to play Chaser with Tory and Ray. Unfortunately for them, that didn't end up being a very good match-up against Al, Gwendolyn, and Landon. Madison tried to make up for that in the Seeker duel with Stephanie, and that looked good for a while when she caught the first two snitches; but then Al and Gwendolyn eventually put the game out of reach for Rose's team; and Stephanie made the third snitch catch to seal the win for her team. They'd all had a lot of fun with that, and Al was in a great mood as they split up to put their gear away – and for him to grab a shower before going to meet up with Gwendolyn again so that they could hang out together for the rest of the morning. That's why he was more than a bit annoyed when a prank attempt interrupted his otherwise great day. He was walking from Gryffindor tower to the Ravenclaw entrance when the warning alarms went off in his head; and then had lots of time to discover where the problem was – and be ready to defend himself.

"Petrificus Totalis!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Both spells rebounded against the massive shield that Al put up in front of himself as he turned the corner – and it needed to be large-enough to also seal him off from the cloud of Peruvian Instant Darkness that had also been released just ahead of the shouted spells. Al stopped, but he pushed his shield along – and also moved the portable swamp that it was meant to hide from him. One of his attackers shouted in surprise as the Peruvian Instant Darkness was pushed back on them; but then that shout turned into some kind of screeching cackle that was all Al needed to hear to deduce that the powder likely had a Transfiguration twist mixed in with it – unless something else had been thrown into the air too. He also sensed that there had only been one shout because the rebounding body-bind spell had hit one of the attackers; and that was all but confirmed when a loud splat that had to be someone falling into the swamp wasn't accompanied by any other noises. That wasn't the case when the second splash came; and the screech was horrid to listen to.

"Help us! Fred's fallen in face-first and can't move!"

Al hadn't found the prank and sneak attack funny at all, but he instantly went to his cousin's aid at hearing Orlando's croak for help. Pushing the Peruvian Instant Darkness powder out of the way was tricky with obstacles and two pranksters to work around, but once he had it pushed beyond the swamp; Al wrapped his shield around it and then ignored it while focusing his attention on the two boys in the swamp. Fred was his first priority; so he simply levitated him out of the swamp and dropped him onto the hallway floor. Countering the body-bind next, he was relieved when Fred immediately began coughing and spitting the swamp muck out of his mouth – not that his cousin looked at all like himself. He and Orlando both looked like old hags, complete with long, crooked noses and warts. Orlando was still floundering around in the swamp, so Al gave him a magical boost out of the muck too – but didn't try to touch either of them and risk getting caught up in one or more wheeze surprises.

"Are you alright?" Al asked Fred when he'd finished coughing and spluttering.

"No," Fred croaked; his voice as hag-like as his appearance. "How'd you do that?"

"I've had a fair bit of practice over the past year or so with pranks and ambushes," Al answered with a shrug. "You've put together a new combination I haven't seen before, but if you're going to try pranking me; you'd best be ready to defend yourselves too. If James and Ollie put you up to this; they should've warned you." Fred didn't say anything; and Al laughed.

"Let me guess – they told you this would be easy because they're in Hogsmeade and I wouldn't be expecting anything. They were wrong about that." When Fred and Orlando both continued to stay silent; Al shook his head. "Watch and learn," he suggested to them.

He started with the shield ball of the instant darkness powder; compressing the shield smaller and smaller until he could fit it into the pouch that he found on the floor. Once inside, he dropped the shield and sealed the pouch again before letting it drop to the floor. He then packed up the swamp; cleaned up both boys; and cleaned the mess from the floor and walls that had been splattered around or left there from where Fred and Orlando had been laying or standing while coated in the swamp muck.

"You know that I can't do anything about those Transfigurations; so it's up to you if you want to hide somewhere until they wear off." The two boys still didn't say anything; and Al shook his head. "I'd say that's taking not talking to me a bit too far all things considered; but you should be glad that I'm not James. He'd have likely taken pictures and posted them all over the school." He laughed when Fred suddenly looked guilty – and toward the camera sitting on the floor next to his book bag.

"I'm not surprised," he advised Fred. "James would've wanted pictures for proof since he couldn't be here." He noticed something else on the floor next to Fred's book bag too; but pretended that he didn't see it – especially when Fred hurried over and started shoving everything back into his bag – including the pouch of instant darkness powder. "Since you're obviously going to keep giving me the silent treatment, and we might not get the chance to talk for a while; I'd like to suggest to both of you that you leave me alone – and leave Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of my friends alone too. James and Ollie might think that this is a good idea; but you'll all find out that it isn't – and you really don't want to find out what I might be willing to do if you try messing with Gwendolyn, Rose, or anyone else I care about."

Orlando cackled derisively at that; and Al couldn't help but laugh at the sound of it.

"I'd offer you a demonstration, but if I'd wanted to be a jerk about this; I could've just flipped Fred in the swamp so he could still breathe and left the both of you there in the dark. Consider this your one and only warning. I'd believe me if I was you; but if you try something like this against me again; you'll know for sure." He waited for a few drawn-out moments; but Fred and Orlando stayed silent.

"Well, you're welcome anyway. Say hello to your Mum, Dad, and sister for me next time you have a mirror chat with them – unless that's against the team rules too," he told Fred. "You'll have to ask James to do that for you with my family, since you can't talk to me; and I wouldn't dream of presuming that you'd want me to do that for you." He laughed at the expression on his cousin's face. "Try not to hate me as much as James does right now. I still like you as much as I did fifteen minutes ago despite what you just tried to do here; and you shouldn't blame me for defending myself." Fred turned and started walking away; and Orlando followed him.

"I guess this is goodbye then," Al said mostly to himself; though Fred and Orlando would have still been able to hear him easily-enough. "Good talking with you. Have a great rest of the weekend – oh, and in case we don't get the chance to talk again between now and then; good luck with your game next weekend, Fred!"

There was no response to that, and Al waited a few moments before following them; since they'd gone the same direction he needed to go to get to the Ravenclaw tower entrance. He heard a classroom door open and close ahead of him; sensed them in the room as he passed; and then kept a watch out for them until he was reunited with Gwendolyn. She was already waiting for him in the hallway; and looked surprised that he was later than expected.

"I was sure you'd be here before I was ready to go. Did you have some trouble along the way?" she asked; and Al had time to nod before she shared a quick hug and kiss with him.

"Yes. Let's find somewhere quiet to talk; and I'll tell you all about it."

"Okay, but can you give me a hint or three along the way?"

Al laughed. "Two words – junior pranksters."

"I should've been able to guess that one," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Leave it to James to try and get someone to do his dirty work when he can't get it done himself."

"I really want to keep this one quiet," Al said seriously; "but only because I do think that Fred's feeling the pressure to be like his Dad – and James is using that against him."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed; "but that doesn't mean he can't learn to stand up for himself. It's not as if most of us don't have parent and peer pressures too. If I caved in like that with Dad; you and I would have our first album out by now and be on our first tour next summer."

"Would that mean that we'd get to spend the entire summer together?" Al asked; and then laughed. "Remind me again about why that's such a bad idea?"

Gwendolyn laughed too; and stopped to hug him again. "Because we want to play Quidditch when we grow up," she reminded him, "and before you say anything about that; you'll need to spend more time playing Quidditch next summer to make up for missing out on the season this year."

"Then we should set up some Quidditch camps," Al offered. "Two or three weeks of Quidditch and camping together would be brilliant."

"As long as that didn't also mean spending two or three weeks with James," Gwendolyn countered. "I'd suggest that the Harpies should offer a camp like that during the off-season; but then you wouldn't be invited to something like that."

"You'd still love it if they did start up a Quidditch camp," Al pointed out – "not to mention that I won't be able to play for the Harpies when you do that after school either."

"True, but it also means I'll never have to play Quidditch on the same team with James," Gwendolyn declared; and Al laughed again.

"Rose would tell you that'd be true with the Cannons too."

"Stop helping her with that plan," Gwendolyn chided; but she laughed again too. "Maybe I should hope that James is named team Captain a lot over the next five years so that I won't even need to worry about you or Rose getting offered a job with the Cannons. She can't get me to sign up if she isn't on that future dream team of hers."

"For all I know; she's got a contingency plan for that too. You'd have a spot on the Harpies for sure, but some of the other Harpies' kids will need a plan 'B' if they want to play in the show too – especially if Dominique and Lucy get offered jobs to play with Victoire."

"Mum wants me to play for the Harpies as much as I want to do that; but I don't have a guaranteed job on the team. I'll need to be good-enough; and maybe even have to earn a spot on the team. Candice and Hailey won't exactly be over-the-hill in another six years. Dominique and Lucy will have that same problem – though we'll see what happens there; since we know that Belinda and Olivia want them to play for United with them."

"Sure, because Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan are such Chaser has-beens and need to be put out to pasture," Al joked.

"That's true; but they might be ready to retire when Oliver does; and I think he does want to retire and let Belinda take over next year."

"Then the other teams better watch out," Al offered. "He'll want to go out with a League Championship if possible too."

"No doubt; but we'll see what happens. Our Harpies are looking really great so far this season – and I think we'll do pretty well today against the Magpies."

Her comment gave them something to talk about until they found a quiet spot by the lake where they could sit and Al could tell her about the pranks and ambush that Fred and Orlando had tried to spring on him. That took a while to cover everything – including the details from his one-sided conversation with the two younger boys. He waited until he'd finished doing all of that before getting to the real news that he'd learned from that confrontation.

"We're going to need to talk with Rose, Ray, and Bristol about this, but Fred had something with him that gives him quite an advantage for setting up traps and pranks."

"What's that?" Gwendolyn asked.

"He had the Marauder's Map with him – and obviously used it to know where to set up that trap for me." Al smiled at Gwendolyn's reaction. "You've heard a story or two about it."

"Yes, I have," she confirmed. "Do you think that his Dad gave it to him – or did your Dad give it to James; and Fred was just borrowing it?"

Al hadn't thought about that possibility, but as he did that; he realized that James could have had the map all along – and would explain how he and Ollie had been so successful with their pranks and ambushes since starting at Hogwarts – including the successes they'd had against Al, Rose, and their friends. "James could have had it all along," he suggested. "I know for sure that Dad didn't give it to James, but he might have given it to Teddy when he started at Hogwarts; since his Dad was one of the Marauders too. Teddy could have passed it on to James in his first year; since they were still getting along famously back then."

"That was before Victoire got her hooks into Teddy and messed him up," Gwendolyn joked. "I think you might be right about that, though if your Dad suspects that James has it; I'm a bit surprised that he hasn't asked him to return it – considering the trouble he's caused around here."

"I don't know if Dad would do that even if he does know," Al said with a shrug. "That map would help James a lot with any Slytherin problems he might have had without it – even if that happened because he earned a reputation for the pranks instead of just using the map to avoid getting trapped by any Slytherin bullies. Dad might not like what James uses the map for, but then we're only guessing right now anyway; so I guess all we can do right now is try to deal with the problem – now that we know it's a problem for us."

"It's no wonder now why they've always been able to find us so easily," Gwendolyn said seriously, "but I have no ideas for how we can do anything about this when they can know exactly where we are at any time. We can't all be blessed with built-in early-warning systems like you have."

"I'm not sure what we can do either," Al admitted. "Let's talk about it after lunch with Rose, Bristol, and Ray before we go to watch the Harpies' game – or invite them to do that with us instead of watching it in the Gryffindor common room."

That suggestion worked for Gwendolyn, so they moved their conversation along and enjoyed being outdoors together until it was time to go inside for lunch. Since it really was nice out, they decided to do their game watching by the lake too; though this time they found a different spot that offered even more privacy for them as they settled in with drinks, snacks, and four portable mirrors. Rose, Bristol, and Ray had been happy to come along, and while they half-watched Lee's pre-game show; Al and Gweondolyn explained to them why they'd wanted to get together instead of watching the game on their own.

"My first suggestion is that we make our own maps," Rose offered once Al was finished. "We've heard about how special the Marauder's Map is – mostly from my Dad's stories; but would that really be so much tougher to do than the charms that Al's going to help us make?"

"I love that idea," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "We could look up how to make magical maps in the library – and your Mum might have a pretty good idea how to make one too – even if she diesn't know how the Marauder's Map was made by Al's Grandfather and his mates."

"Mum might decide to go and have a chat with Uncle Harry instead if I tell her about this," Rose advised them. "Let's try doing our own research first and see what we can come up with. Any other ideas? Even if we could make maps, we'd still have a problem getting around the school if the prank squad is trying to set up their ambushes and we're running around trying to avoid them."

"Yeah – let's all stick with Al anytime we don't know exactly where James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando are," Bristol suggested; and then grinned at Gwendolyn. "That's going to make your snogging sessions really weired from now on; but maybe you'll get used to it eventually."

"Al and I don't think that snogging is a spectator sport," Gwendolyn advised her. "You'll need to come up with another idea for when we want to do our own thing. Maybe you and Rose could start hanging out with Dominique, Molly, and Lucy more often."

"What about me?" Ray protested; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Wouldn't you like to hang out with Rose's cousins too? They are all beautiful; and two out of three of them love Quidditch."

"Sure," Ray agreed – "and all three of them have boyfriends that might help James and Ollie out if I started hanging out with their girlfriends."

"Well, in that particular scenario, only three out of four of my cousins have boyfriends," Al pointed out with a grin; "but I'm a guy and can't take that line any farther without getting into trouble."

"I'd say it's too late for that already," Rose teased; but she did laugh along with Bristol and Gwendolyn while Ray was suddenly, suspiciously silent – and blushing slightly. "Instead of going there, though; let's get back to talking about what we can do to be ready for one of these prank ambushes. You obviously think they're going to try to get at you through one or more of us; or you wouldn't be telling us about this – though you might be wrong about that; since their first prank attempt of the year so far was against you."

"Unless you count the whole keep us off the Quidditch team and then ban everyone on the team from associating with us as a couple of big pranks too," Ray offered. "I'm glad that Fred and Orlando didn't try that ambush on us this morning. It might have worked."

"Were you and Rose out walking after Quidditch too?" Gwendolyn asked innocently; and laughed at the pair of glares that Rose and Ray both directed her way. "I'll take that as a no," she decided; while still grinning at them. "Al won't take it the wrong way when he finds out that we're all glad that the prank attempt was on him instead of any of us, but the chances that they'll try something against us is high-enough that we'd better do what we can to be ready for them – even if that's just sticking with groups of our friends all of the time when we're not in our own Houses."

"Except I'll have to worry about them day and night," Ray pointed out. "Rose and Bristol will have to worry aobut them anytime they're not in the girls' dorms."

"That's not a cheery thought at all," Bristol interjected. "Maybe I should come up with my own plan – like having my big brothers threaten to bash James and Ollie if anything happens to me."

"You could give that a try," Rose agreed; "though James would probably just take that as a challenge – especially if he doesn't think your brothers could back up that threat."

"Cue the music jokes now," Bristol said with a laugh. "It just isn't fair that the music family kids get dismissed as magical weaklings."

Their conversation rolled with that for a while; and then they got into watching the Harpies-Magpies match. They were playing at Exmoor stadium and had a sold-out crowd watching what turned out to be a really great, hard-fought game. The Harpies scored twenty goals, and Victoire earned twelve of them before Gabrielle caught the snitch for the win; but the Magpies scored one hundred and eighty points in the loss. While the Harpies remained undefeated on the season so far, it was obvious that the Magpies at least were learning how to play against the new Harpies' Chaser trio; and it was a safe bet that the other teams would learn more from watching that match too.

By the time the game was over, the students were returning from Hogsmeade; and the school grounds were getting a lot busier as a lot of the teens stayed outside until dinnertime. James and Ollie must have needed to search for them before doing a dramatic walk-by while eating treats they'd picked up in town and carrying the bags with their purchases. They looked very happy as they silently gloated; so Al guessed that they hadn't gone looking for Fred and Orlando first, though if they found out about the pranking disaster before dinner; they hid the disappointment well. Fred and Orlando stayed far away from him, but Al could sense that they weren't happy; though they tried to hide that while goofing around with their friends before and during dinner. Al was aware of all of that going on around him, but he didn't let that get in the way of his fun during dinner – or the music time with Gwendolyn after dinner.

Gwendolyn did a guitar lesson with him first; they sang some duets together after that; and then wrapped up their evening by watching a couple of shows on the mirror network until they needed to be in their own Houses ahead of curfew. The snogging was already going on in the Gryffindor common room by the time Al got there after walking Gwendolyn to her House; so he went straight up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and then ended his day with a mirror chat with Lily and some reading until he fell asleep.

Rain had begun falling overnight, and the clouds were still heavy and thick with promise of more to come, but it was warm-enough on Sunday morning, and it had stopped raining for a while; so Al and Gwendolyn started their Sunday out with a visit with Hagrid after breakfast. To be honest, Al timed that specifically so that they'd have a legitimate reason to beg off from eating Hagrid's rock cakes so soon after breakfast, and to his relief; Hagrid settled for sending some along with him – with extras for Rose, their cousins, and friends. The visits with Hagrid were always entertaining, and Al did really like his father's old friend as much as any of his parent's friends; but those visits were made out of a sense of duty. After all, it wasn't as though he visited with Professor Longbottom or any of the other Professors that had connections with his family too.

"What's so funny?" Gwendolyn asked. They were walking toward the practice pitch from Hagrid's cabin; and his thoughts about visits with parental friends had gotten him laughing about it. They were heading to the practice pitch because he'd been able to book the second morning time slot so that they could have a Chaser duel until lunchtime after their visit with Hagrid.

"I was thinking about how Rose and I do these visits with Hagrid, but not with other Professors that Mum and Dad are friends with; and the laugh came when I tried to picture Molly and Lucy doing regular visits with Professor Clearwater – and couldn't do that without laughing."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Aren't you glad that you don't have any Professors that are former boyfriends or girlfriends of your parents? Worse than that; it'd suck to have a Professor that still held a grudge from a bad break-up and held it against you."

"Would that be worse than having a former Auror dislike me because of Dad?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"That's pretty bad, but at least he's a Wizard. A Witch with a broken heart is unpredictable and dangerous."

"I love you," Al said; smiling when Gwendolyn laughed again.

"You don't have to worry about breaking my heart, Al," she assured him. "Wood lice don't have worries."

"I suppose that's true as long as you or Lily kept me safe in a jar," Al decided. "They likely have everything to worry about out in the wild."

"Speaking of animal Transfigurations; how's your special project going?"

"Okay. There isn't really anything new to tell you about. There seems to be a lot of steps that need to be done in order, and I can't do much except keep reading and researching right now. I keep getting the feeling that a lot of those steps aren't needed at all, but I'd better follow them; since it might end badly if it turns out that I'd be wrong about that."

"I'd adopt you if you end up being permanently cute and cuddly," Gwendolyn promised with a grin. "Do you know why you feel that way?"

That question gave them something to talk about while they finished the walk to the practice pitch; they got ready to play; and then hopped on their brooms and took to the air. They practiced flying tricks for more than a half-hour; followed that up with a Chaser duel that Al won by four goals; and then wrapped up with practicing a few more tricks that Al had used against Gwendolyn in their duel and she'd wanted to work on for her own game. When it was time to head into the castle with enough time left to grab showers and drop off their gear before going on to the Great Hall for lunch; they landed and started packing up their gear.

"That was nice of James not to book a time for his team today," Gwendolyn told Al. "We wouldn't have been able to play at all if he'd booked this time slot."

"I don't get that when their game is next weekend; but then that's just one more thing that doesn't make sense with James and his team. We'll find out soon-enough how that's going to work out for him – at least for the first match."

"We can't exactly go to the game and cheer for Slytherin, but I don't know what'll be worse for us – Slytherin winning; or Gryffindor."

"Hopefully it won't matter," Al said with a smile and shrug. "James isn't supposed to talk with us; so he shouldn't be able to blame us or brag about winning without Rose, Ray, and me on the team. I won't deny that there's a little part of me hoping he'll totally mess up for doing this to me; but I still mostly hope for the best for him – and for Fred and the rest of the players on the team."

"True, but then you wish that for your friends on my team and the Hufflepuff team too," Gwendolyn pointed out. "As to whether James will razz you; he'll find a way to do that even without talking to you – probably the same way he was being such a git to you yesterday."

Al didn't have anything to say about that, so their conversation moved on; and they continued to enjoy the time together until they split up outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance; and then Al hurried on to his own dorm room so that he could get cleaned up before lunch – and be ready for the study afternoon in the library. Al dutifully handed out the extra rock cakes before lunch too, so he was one of the last second-year students to sit down; and then he had fun with the lunchtime chat with Rose and the rest of their friends that included a lot of talk about Quidditch – even though Bristol and Cora kept trying to get them to change the subject and talk about anything else. The projects they were working on for the afternoon were only in the subjects that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were taking together, but Tory and Madison joined them after lunch anyway because they had the same projects – and worked as a team in most of their classes anyway. Rose and Al also did a bit of research on magical map making; but the available books on the subject were surprisingly not very helpful.

"You never hear much about it, but I'm wondering if your grandfather and his mates were far more brilliant than they seem to get credit for," Rose told Al after closing one of the books she'd hunted down about maps. "Some of the things they did when they were just kids was extraordinary."

"That's saying a lot when you could say that and then some about your Mum," Al told her with a smile. "Making a magical map seems easy-enough; but we haven't found anything about how to have one show where all of the people are on a map while also identifying them by name."

"If we could figure out how to do that, though, we don't need maps that can locate everyone – we only need to know where four Wizards are," Gwendolyn pointed out. "That might be easier."

"We'll keep studying it," Rose promised; "but I don't think that it's going to be easy at all."

"Which is probably why we've only ever heard about the one map," Al pointed out. "Let's get back to our projects, though; and then maybe we'll have time to do something else before dinner that's more fun – like some magic play time."

They did both; and had fun together for all of the work and play time; but then Gwendolyn had other plans for the evening with her Ravenclaw girlfriends that left Al with an entire evening on his hands with nothing specific to do. He did walk her home after dinner; and then he went to check in with Winter and Blizzard in the Owlery; but instead of hanging out in the common room after that; he decided to have some magical play time on his own in an empty classroom near the Owlery that included playing with spells that were well-beyond second-year studies – and that he didn't ever practice even with Gwendolyn or rose around. He also worked on some of the mental exercises that were part of the process toward becoming an Animagus, but that was something he did regularly; and not a new step toward that goal. He eventually went back to his dorm room well-ahead of curfew; had a mirror chat with Harry, Ginny, and Lily; and then he read a book until he was ready to get some sleep not long after the rest of the guys began returning to their dorm room too.

Quidditch was the top story on the gossip network at Hogwarts for the entire last week of September. That included a lot of bragging from the Captains and some of the other players on both the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams; along with a lot of speculation over which team would prove to be better by everyone else – or at least a lot of the Quidditch fans in the school. Being on the outside of that ongoing drama felt odd to Al and Rose, but they were happy about it too; since they didn't like what they were hearing from James and Ollie in particular as they attempted to taunt and intimidate the Slytherin players. Louis hadn't had much success in keeping James from saying anything stupid ahead of their games last year; but he had at least tried. James was as bad or worse than Rupert Avery and his mates; and Al thought that it made the Gryffindor team – and their House – look bad.

Fortunately, he was able to keep his own focus on his classes and studies; and their routine for the week was basically identical to the past couple of weeks. Since that meant getting to spend as much time as he could with Gwendolyn; Al was a happy camper pretty much all of the time – and he was in an especially great mood by dinnertime on Friday when they had their assignments done for the weekend and only had ongoing project research left to mostly play with on the weekend. Spending the evening playing music and watching some shows on the mirror network with Gwendolyn was great too, and since Lily had had an even better day while helping Kathryn Wood to celebrate her eleventh birthday; his school week had ended with a long mirror chat with his sister that was very entertaining as he heard all about how much fun she'd had playing Quidditch with Kathryn and the other kids – especially now that Kathryn had her own Firestorm too.

Al needed all of those good feelings on Saturday morning as he got up and ready for the day. He couldn't help but wish that he was going to be playing Quidditch for Gryffindor even while being glad that he wasn't doing that on his brother's team; but then the real annoyances started much earlier than he'd expected when James and Ollie were in the washrooms to get showered and ready for their big game while Al was still in there too – and they happily shot their mouths off to the other guys while directing their idiocies at him. They proceeded to do that three more times between then and when they needed to head for the stadium. The first time was in the common room; and timed for just after Rose met up with him for their usual walk to the Great Hall. They did another round of walk-by insults before breakfast; and one more after they'd finished eating – when Gwendolyn had met up with Al so that they could hang out together while waiting to go to the stadium. None of that was fun, but Al still managed to be happy once James and Ollie were out of the way at least until after the game; and maybe even for the rest of the day if Al could possibly be that lucky.

There was a small group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws with Al and Gwendolyn when they went outside for their pre-game walk. They headed out to the lake; walked along the shore; and then took the long way around the castle to get to the stadium. They were still a bit early; but weren't the first students there. The main reason they wanted to be there early was so that they could choose their seats on the border between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections. That didn't end up being as big of a deal as it was for games last year because they didn't end up having many Gryffindor friends sit with them. That was entirely because their friends had to choose between sitting with the second-year reserve team players like Romeo; or with them. Since the reserve team players sat together and practically on the other side of the Gryffindor section from Al, Rose, and Ray; they only ended up with Bristol and two others while the majority of their friends were with the other group. Gwendolyn had more friends with her – including all of the members of her team because they were all taking notes while watching the game to help them with getting ready for the matches they'd eventually be playing against Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"Would you like to help us out with a pre-game analysis?" Gwendolyn asked Al; and he laughed.

"Sure – I have no idea. I haven't seen either team practice; and you already know as much as I do about the returning players on both teams from what you saw last season."

"We're not going to help you out with getting ready for your game against Gryffindor either," Rose added. "I am willing to offer my help for your break-down of Slytherin, though – even if James would tell us that's enough to be considered aiding the enemy."

"He's a git," Stephanie told her; and then smiled at Al. "No offense, Al; but your brother's rules about associating or even talking with the enemy is so stupid. Our joint classes with Gryffindor are nearly as bad as they are with Slytherin because a few of them can't even sit with us in class; so their friends don't talk with us either. I've heard it's the same with the Hufflepuff players in their classes."

"It isn't fair for any of you," Rose offered; "but I hope that James will back off from that once he figures out that he's not just messing things up for everyone on all three teams; but he loses the chance to get to know more about the other team players when they hang out together – not to mention that the Quidditch players are also the teens with the most in common with each other."

"So you're suggesting that the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff players should try everything they can to mess with James' rule by trying to hang out with the Gryffindor players?" Bristol asked. "Which players should Gwendolyn work on getting to know better?"

"The one I'm already dating that will be back on the team next year," Gwendolyn told her while squeezing Al's hand.

Her assertion didn't keep the girls from making other suggestions, and that kept them entertained for a while; but then they moved on to mostly just chat while waiting for the game to Thomas was in fourth year now, so the new announcer for the junior team matches was second-year Hufflepuff, Kylie Cootes. She nervously did a very short pre-game show that was mostly a quick recap of last season and a few announcements; and then she introduced the teams; beginning with Gryffindor. James and Ollie led the way when they flew out into the stadium. They had their Beaters, Brock and Fred, in the middle row; and then left Cyndia Finnegan and Eric Talbot to flank their Keeper, Andy Kirke, and bring up the rear. James and Ollie looked arrogant and self-assured as they flew their lap around the stadium; while most of the others looked excited, but nervous too. Slytherin was called next; and they were led by Captain Rupert Avery and G-Air Mulciber; Scorpius Malfoy and Blaise and Davis Zabini followed them; and their new Beater duo, brothers Caleb and Dave Harper; didn't manage to look all that menacing as they completed the two-three-two flying formation. Mr. Peakes did his pre-game fair play speech; the Captains shook hands for a micro-second; and then the game was on.

"The quaffle is in the air; and so are the players!" Kylie announced. "Blaise Zabini reaches the quaffle first and passes to his brother, Davis. He heads toward the Gryffindor goals; dodges past Eric Talbot; and passes across to Scorpius Malfoy. He dodges an attempted steal by Ollie Wood; goes in on goal; veers hard left – no, it's a fake; and he shoots and scores into the center goal before Gryffindor Keeper, Andy Kirke, can get back into the play! Slytherin takes the quick lead ten-to-naught!"

With that, the game was on; and the Slytherin fans had a lot to cheer about right from the start – though not all of that was for good reasons. The Slytherin Beaters started out right away trying to take Cyndia out of the game; and they were willing to use cheap shots to do that. Fred took offense to that, and began to spend a lot of time protecting his fellow firstie; but that also threw off the Gryffindor game plan – not that it was actually easy to figure out what James and Ollie had put together for their team. For the Chasers, the plan seemed to be for Cyndia and Eric to eventually get the quaffle to Ollie so that he could take all of the shots – or most of them. Eric and Cyndia rarely took the shot; and that made defending against them fairly easy for the Slytherin Chasers – and for Rupert Avery in goal for his team.

"Al might want to cover his ears," Mark suggested to Gwendolyn. "He might not want to hear us talk about the Gryffindor Chasers today."

Gwendolyn laughed. "He won't hear anything he hasn't already figured out for himself," she answered; "so go ahead. What are you seeing?"

"Nothing good," Mark answered; and then smiled. "Okay, it's good for us – and for Slytherin today. All Chaser plays end up with Ollie on offense. Slytherin sees that already too; but only Scorpius seems to be taking advantage of the opportunities – and he's got two steals so far. I'd say that their Beaters are making a mistake too. Instead of going after Cyndia; they ought to go after Ollie. If he won't pass off; that'd be an easy way to drop the Gryffindor shots on goal to near-zero – even though they've yet to get a goal on those shots."

"Maybe," Brandon said; "but then they have managed to tie up one Gryffindor Beater to defend Cyndia. That might be better for them than having him free to bash bludgers at the rest of their players."

"I'm giving the early lead to the Gryffindor Beaters for their battle against the Harpers," Gwendolyn advised them. "Fred's definitely a lot better than Dave Harper; and Brock is better this year than he was last season."

Al only listened in as Gwendolyn talked with her team mates and they continually broke down the game in progress. Almost nothing happening above the pitch was going well for Gryffindor. The Beaters basically battled to a stalemate, and while Cyndia took a few hard hits and several cheap shots; Fred was mostly successful in protecting her after the first couple of hits; but she was still nervous after that and not playing her best. The Chaser and Keeper battles were both being won by Slytherin; and it wasn't really close – and Slytherin began to steadily build a lead. By the end of the first hour, Gryffindor had only managed one goal while Slytherin had eight. That got worse in the second hour, and as they closed in on the start of the third hour; Slytherin had built a formiddable one-sixty to twenty lead – and they were on the verge of putting the game out of reach for the Gryffindor Chasers.

That's why it was such a shock when the game came to an abrupt end – and the shock was as much for the Gryffindor fans as the Slytherin team and faithful when James caught the snitch to earn the come-from-behind victory. That happened because Fred hit G-Air with a bludger that knocked him away from James while they'd been battling for the snitch – though you'd have never known that from the way that James then flew around the stadium doing high-speed, self-congratulating victory laps. He ignored his team mates while doing that; taunted the Slytherin players and even the students in the Slytherin section as he buzzed them while waving the snitch in their faces; and he kept flying around even after the rest of the players on both teams had landed.

"That's enough for me," Rose said as she stood up. "I think that he's an even worse winner than the Slytherins usually are. You're all welcome to come with me or stay and watch that idiocy; but I'm out of here."

"Me too," Al agreed; standing too. "You've got time still before lunch," he told Gwendolyn. "Are you going to do a team meeting while the game is still fresh in your minds?"

"Yes, but we'll walk back to the castle with you and Rose, Normally, we'd go and congratulate the winners, but since we're not allowed to associate with the Gryffindor players; we don't need to do that today."

"Too bad for James," Mark suggested. "He'll miss out on all of that gloating with you."

"He'll find a way to do that anyway," Gwendolyn said with a shrug; "but what we need to do is make sure he can't gloat after our match next April; and the one thing that the end of this match should teach us is that James is good-enough to win games for his team – even if he's too dense to realise that Fred got him that chance to catch the snitch today and deserves most of the credit for the win."

"Yeah – the Beaters finally get some credit where it's due," Brandon said enthusiastically. "That's why you're our favorite team Captain ever."

"Suck up," Mark told him bluntly while grinning too. "You'd better make sure that you're ready to play against that Beater she's giving all of the credit to; or some of us will be looking like G-Air does right now. I'll wager he's cracked a rib or two."

"Maybe Bristol should round up donations for a get well soon basket," Ray suggested with a grin that he directed at Bristol. "You did that once last year."

"Considering the way most of those Slytherins played today; I'd say that he got what was coming to him," Bristol retorted. "Let his fellow Slytherin take care of helping him with his recovery; since I don't have any sympathy at all for cheaters."

They were nearly at the nearest stadium exit by the time James landed, and Al was glad to be out of there so that he didn't witness what was sure to be an epic display of bad sportsmanship from his brother – though he expected that most of the Slytherin players would be just as unpleasant in defeat. Kylie Cootes had started her post-game report by then, and that was a strange counter-point to James' antics above and on the pitch; considering that the game stats did not look very good for Gryffindor – except for the fact that they won by ten points. They talked about the game while walking to the castle, but then Gwendolyn went off with her team mates to have their meeting until lunchtime while Al, Rose, Ray, and Bristol went back to their dorm rooms to drop off the things they'd taken with them to the game before meeting up again in the common room. By then, the first groups of celebrating Gryffindors were arriving from the stadium, and while they'd have rather gone and done something else; they stayed to be there when their junior team players arrived to the inevitable cheers of their House mates.

They had to wait quite a while, and as more of the teens arrived in the common room; they found out that was because James was dragging out every moment of glory and milking it for all it was worth. That didn't keep their fellow Gryffindors from getting the party started anyway; which was why James had to announce his arrival when most of the students didn't even notice when he arrived with Ollie and the rest of his team mates. Other than directing a vicious, victorious smirk at Al, James ignored him; and Al was okay with that. Once they'd done their duty by being there for the arrival; he and Rose didn't stay long; and Ray was happy to go along with them when they left – though Bristol decided to stay for the party – at least until lunchtime.

"It's a wonder that our conquering hero was able to arrive at all," Ray said once they were out in the hallway. "How did he get that hippogriff-sized head through the portrait hole?"

"I'm wondering how much longer his team mates are going to put up with him," Rose countered. "They all looked more annoyed than happy just now."

Ray snorted. "No wonder there with James basically telling everyone he won the game single-handed – and I don't doubt that's what he's been telling everyone."

"That isn't true; but they wouldn't have won it without him today," Al offered; and smiled when Rose laughed.

"We might have won if he wasn't on the team – and we were instead," she pointed out. "Slytherin wouldn't have scored sixteen goals on me; and you and Ray would've scored a lot more than two – especially if you had Cyndia as your third Chaser instead of Ollie. She didn't score any goals today, and had problems with the Slytherins trying to beat up on her; but she's got some real potential – and probably quite a bit more talent than her big brother."

"We won't tell him you said that," Ray promised; "though you're right about that." He smiled at the expression he saw on Al's face. "You don't agree?"

"I agree that she's got talent; but don't think she's ready to play on the team this year. She might not have any experience with bludgers from what I saw today."

"She practiced with James, Ollie, and Brock all summer," Rose reminded him; and Al nodded.

"True, but we have no idea whether Brock even hit a bludger at her, but if he did and they had a near-injury; I'll bet he didn't do it again. Brock and Fred are both good; which suggests to me that they don't play full-out against Cyndia – and probaby not against any of the Witches on the reserve team either. That's going to get Cyndia hurt if they don't start teaching her how to play against Beaters at game speed."

"You're right about that last part," Rose conceded with a nod. "Cyndia did do well-enough against Blaise – once Fred convinced him that he should stop trying to hurt Cyndia with cheap shots. He only scored four goals; and she was only defending him on two of them. He beat Ollie and Eric for the other two."

"I wasn't surprised that Scorpius was their best Chaser again today," Al said. "He'd have been on his way to another big game if James hadn't ended it when he did. Ten goals in under two hours is really great – and he's the only Slytherin that I didn't see trying any dirty tricks or cheap shots."

"Ollie's quite a bit bigger than he is," Rose reminded him. "Cheap shots wouldn't work for him – not that he needs them when he's a better player than Ollie by quite a bit anyway."

"He is better," Ray agreed; "but I don't think that Slytherin is as good as they looked against our team today. If we're being honest, Andy isn't a very good Keeper, so if it wasn't for Brock and Fred helping him out; the score would've been even more lopsided a lot sooner." He sighed and shrugged to himself. "I don't want to bash our team; so let's not do that. They played their best, and even if James is going to be insufferable now; I'm glad that our team won."

Al and Rose could agree with him on that, and in case it hadn't already been obvious to everyone that James was the hero of the day – and insufferable; he made sure that everyone knew it during lunch, dinner, and the rest of the afternoon and evening when he wanted to party on long after everyone else in the common room was sick of him. Bristol had the lunchtime entertainment as she told them all about the game that James had apparently played in that she though would have been brilliant to watch – if she'd been at that game too. In his version, the rest of his team was in dire straights right from the start; he was the primary target for every bludger hit and cheap shot; and it was only through his superior talent, cunning, and bravery that he overcame all odds to win the day out of the maw of imminent defeat. He was even sure that he caught the snitch just a nano-second ahead of what would have been the Slytherin goal that would've lost the game for Gryffindor; though the fact that Slytherin would have needed two goals for that to happen didn't seem to matter for his version of the story.

James and Ollie did two more walk-by razzings for Al, Rose, and Ray before and after lunch; with the second one including Gwendolyn after she met up with them to decide what they were going to do for the afternoon. By then, their win was so extraordinary that they believed that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw should just forfeit their matches against Gryffindor and concede defeat that way instead of through the embarrassment of losing to James' unbeatable perfection. Those minor annoyances gave Al all of the incentive he needed to decide to skip the Gryffindor party that was going to resume in the common room after lunch; so they set up a study session in the library with Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael; and then split up long enough to get their books and supplies before meeting up again in the library. Focusing on a couple of their projects and doing a bit more research into magical maps was a welcome diversion from Quidditch; they worked for a couple of hours; and then went outside to get some fresh air until dinnertime.

"I'll take it from the look on your face that the victory party never happened," Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was set on the table in the Room of Requirements and he watched as Scorpius flung himself into the arm chair.

"No – thanks to our incompetent Seeker," Scorpius answered derisively. "Ten more minutes – fifteen at most – and I'd have had our team ahead by one-sixty or more; but G-Air got hit by a bludger that he was apparently too busy to notice coming at him; and Potter caught the snitch to win the match by ten points." He laughed then; but it was without any humor at all. "Then we had to watch that fool fly around for nearly five minutes while he congratulated himself; he razzed us on the pitch for ten minutes after that; and then shot his mouth off to anyone who would listen to his idiocies for another half-hour or more while the Gryffindor faithful fawned all over him. That was especially annoying when the rest of his team played so badly – except for their Beaters. I'll concede that they played well-enough."

"Feel better?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius snorted out another laugh.

"No. I don't like losing; and I especially hate losing to that pompous idiot, James Potter. Ollie Wood was shooting his mouth off too, but didn't have anything to brag about. He only scored two goals – and none against me when I was defending against him. I had ten goals against him – and would've had more if their Beaters hadn't kept me fairly busy dodging bludgers whenever they got the chance to do that."

"Well, it sounds as though you played well," Thomas offered.

"I did, but what good is that if I'm stuck playing with incompetents like Mulciber? He hates the nickname that James gave him; but G-Airhead is sometimes more than appropriate when describing him."

"That's petty, Scorpius," Thomas admonished. "Instead of going there; let's see if there are any bright spots for you to look at instead."

"Such as what?" Scorpius asked petulantly.

"James won the day," Thomas pointed out. "From everything you've told me; I'd expect that he's throwing that in his younger brother's face as proof that he doesn't need him on the team – or that it doesn't matter who he plays with because he's just that much better than everyone else."

"Albus didn't look happy at lunchtime; but I wasn't near-enough to know whether James was giving him a hard time or not. He couldn't do that directly anyway without breaking his own team rules against fraternizing with the enemy."

"That didn't keep him from taunting you after the game, though, right?" Thomas said; and Scorpius nodded.

"No, it didn't," he agreed. "I should've asked him if he was going to kick himself off of his own team for doing that today."

Thomas laughed. "I'm sure he'd come up with an excuse for the exception. You do like that he's leaving you and the other players alone, though, so those team rules are mostly working out for you."

"They are," Scorpius confirmed; "though James and Ollie would have left me alone anyway – unless they want me to use those pictures I have of them."

"With egos as large as theirs; those pictures will likely work to keep them off your back forever. Is there any other news from the game or elsewhere you'd like to talk about; or should we get right to another lesson to take your mind off of Quidditch for a while?"

Thomas wasn't surprised at Scorpius' answer to that question; and they spent most of the afternoon working on the latest lessons that Thomas was teaching his young friend. He wasn't told that Scorpius blew off hanging out with his team mates to do that, or that his school work was being neglected too; but then Scorpius didn't really care about any of that when what Thomas was teaching him was so much more interesting and amazing than anything he was learning from his Hogwarts Professors.

September ended fairly quietly for Al. James attempted to taunt him without talking to him at all whenever he saw Al on Saturday and Sunday, but other than that; Al mostly had fun – and Gwendolyn helped him with the best parts of his weekend. On Saturday evening, that was more music and mirror network watching time, and on Sunday; they had a Quidditch scrimmage in the morning with their friends; and some magical play time in the afternoon. They wrapped up their weekend and the last day of September with a quiet evening in the library that included writing letters for home before sending them with Winter – along with gifts for Gwenog's birthday on Thursday that Ginny could forward to Kirley with lots of time to spare so that he could give them to her on her big day. Al ended his night with a mirror chat with his parents and sister; and then went to sleep early so he'd be ready for a busy first week of October.

There were only a few events that happened during the week that were of particular importance – especially since the school and study part of Al's life was all smooth sailing for him. On Tuesday, that news was the Harpies' first loss of the season. They weren't able to give Gwenog an early birthday gift because the Arrows' Seeker tried a desperation attempt at catching the snitch before the Harpies could get the one-fifty lead – and made an amazing catch that was pure luck and no skill at all. He'd actually missed the catch; had the snitch hit him in the chin; and then it ricocheted into his cloak where he was able to trap it and then fish it out once he'd gotten control of his broom again and avoided a crash by mere feet. The score for that game had been a bit higher, and James had legitimately caught the snitch for the Gryffindor win; but the similarities for the two matches were obvious – even if it was the 'bad guys' that won the Harpies-Arrows game.

Al and Gwendolyn had a pre-breakfast mirror chat with Gwenog, Kirley, and Jonah on Thursday morning for her fiftieth birthday, but Gwenog was ignoring her birthday in favor of focusing on her team after that loss; so they didn't really have much of a celebration. Kirley still had a dinner party for Gwenog after she was done work; but Al found out later that she'd still insisted on that being short and sweet so that she could get back to work again after dinner. Gwendolyn didn't find out any other birthday details; but did know that Jonah went home with his aunt, uncle, and cousins after the dinner party – and then he stayed with them through until Sunday afternoon. Gwenog didn't find out about her surprise birthday weekend away until after work on Friday; but then Gwendolyn didn't get many details about that from her parents either – and didn't really want to know what they were doing anyway.

The only bit of news that involved Al directly was that he finished up his month of keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth on Friday. He went an extra day with it because the books hadn't specified the number of days; so he went thirty-one days just to be sure. With that done, he was able to start working on the next steps; but didn't do much of that on the weekend because he was more interested in hanging out with Gwendolyn and the rest of their friends. There was some project research and work to do too; but they were still able to play most of the time – including having a Chaser duel on Saturday and a Quidditch scrimmage on Sunday. That play time on Sunday doubled as a bonus workout for Gwendolyn and her team; though she also pretended that she wasn't happy that Al and his team played too well and won the match.

With just two weeks left until her first match of the season, Gwendolyn was busier with her team and with doing extra work outside of her practices to get ready for that game during the second week of October. All of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff junior team players were busier; so that meant that Al had more time on his hands – and he needed to make himself available to help his study group friends when they could fit their study sessions into their schedules. That wasn't fun for them either, because rainy, stormy weather ruled the area around Hogwarts most of the week; so their practices were very unpleasant. In fact, the weather had James cancelling the only two practices he'd planned for the week due to the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday. Al couldn't really fault him for that decision when they didn't have their next game until March; but Louis had them play during bad weather last year; and Belinda took advantage of James' decision to start her practices early and work her team longer both days – which did make up for taking Saturday off to go to Hogsmeade.

Al worked on his Animagus studies a bit during a couple of breaks when he couldn't do anything with Gwendolyn; but he also began experimenting with magical map making with Rose – starting with creating a map of the castle and school grounds. Doing that took time and a fair bit of magical effort; but they did slowly make progress on it. They put that away for the weekend, and while the older students were all focused on spending the day in Hogsmeade on Saturday; Al and Gwendolyn had a play night on Friday after dinner; they spent the first half of Saturday morning having a Chaser duel at the practice pitch; and then they worked on one of their projects in the library with most of their study group until lunch time. The afternoon plans were all about Quidditch, which for the Gryffindors meant watching the entire Harpies-Bats match; but Gwendolyn could only watch the first couple of hours of it with Al because she had an optional team practice for the second-half of the afternoon.

She'd booked that late time slot so that her third-year team mates could still spend most of the day in Hogsmeade, and while they still didn't have to be at the practice; they were – and Gwendolyn was very happy with how her team was coming along with getting ready for their match. The Harpies and their fans were happy by the end of the day on Saturday too as Victoire scored twenty of the Harpies' thirty-four goals before Gabrielle put the game away for her team after a tough, long Seeker duel with her Bats' counterpart. The four-ninety to one-sixty win proved that the Harpies were still playing great after the tough loss to the Arrows; though hoping that wouldn't be the case was mostly wishful thinking – for their upcoming opponents. On Sunday, Al and Gwendolyn had another study session for projects in the library; followed that up with some magic play time in their usual classroom until lunchtime; and then they had another afternoon scrimmage match that Al's team once again won. That victory was only by twenty points, and Madison won the Seeker duel to help him out with that; but they'd all had so much fun that nobody cared who'd won and lost anyway.

The final school week leading up to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match for the junior teams was even busier because the workload for their classes and assignments got heavier. Their Professors all seemed to be making a push to get more done that likely had a lot to do with the lack of work they expected to get done once their students started to get focused on Halloween as that favorite day approached. Al had more time for Animagus and mapping fun when Gwendolyn was busy with Quidditch; and he and Rose managed to get about half of the castle mapped by the end of the week. Al was having fun most of the time every day, and the only minor exception to that was thanks to James and Ollie as they started doing walk-by razzings when they could time them to insult Gwendolyn about her upcoming Quidditch match. She thought that was stupid if they actually believed that they could mess with her game so easily; but then Al knew that Gwendolyn was quietly very confident about her team – though she didn't do or say anything that might reveal that to anyone.

While she was putting in the extra time on her Quidditch, Al made sure that Gwendolyn kept up with her studies too; and they still managed to get all of their weekend work done by the time she needed to be at her last Quidditch practice of the week on Friday afternoon. He then followed that up with some quiet music time after dinner that was meant to give Gwendolyn something else to do instead of thinking about Quidditch for a while; but then they split up for the night early too because she was leading by example for her Quidditch game curfew with her team. That left Al with lots of time for a mirror chat with Lily; a run-through of some exercises he was doing for his Animagus preparation; and some bonus reading on the Wireless Web that included catching up on his mother's latest articles ahead of the weekend Quidditch matches she was covering this week.

The Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match was the top story at Hogwarts on Saturday morning, but it was also Louis' fifteenth birthday; so Al and Rose helped out with getting his day off to a great start by waiting for him in the common room so that they could give him their birthday cards, gifts, and best wishes before heading to the Great Hall. While they really had wanted to help him with a happy start to his day; they'd also wanted to do that in the morning in case that wouldn't be as easy for them later in the day when James and Ollie were likely to be around at the birthday party that Dominique and Louis' friends were sure to have for him sometime after the Quidditch match or after dinner. Surprising Louis had been a bonus; and they'd all enjoyed having that little cameo moment without any family drama getting in the way.

While that had been fun for Al, and he'd enjoyed the entertainment going on while they had breakfast too; his favorite part of the early morning was getting together with Gwendolyn after breakfast. He left the Great Hall early to do that; and met Gwendolyn outside so that he could walk with her to the stadium – and avoid James and Ollie in the process. She'd skipped stopping by to see Al before breakfast when James and Ollie had tried to time their arrival to catch her there with Al, but she'd seen them coming; and gone straight to her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table. When they met up outside, she made up for that with an extended hug and kiss; and then had another hug and kiss for him when Al handed her the good luck gift.

"I don't think you'll need luck today," he told her as they began walking to the stadium and she unwrapped the little gift. "You're sure that your team is going to do well today."

"I'm hoping," Gwendolyn said modestly. "Anything can happen in Quidditch." Her smile brightened when she opened the box and found a new charm for her bracelet. "What does this one do?" she asked; picking up the cute little ghost.

Al grinned at her. "Can't you guess?"

Gwendolyn looked at him curiously; and then threw her arms around him for another, enthusiastic hug. "It's an invisibility charm?" she asked and stated. "Al, how did you manage to do that?"

"Uncle George does it all of the time with the robes and hats he sells. We'll want to try it out later to make sure it completely hides you, and you might need to have your bracelet close to the middle of your body for that, but if it works; it could help to protect you from James and the rest of his prank squad."

"It's brilliant," Gwendolyn told him; and then grinned. "Too bad you can't use magic in Quidditch matches – not even if they're charmed bracelets. Being invisible would make it way easier to score goals!"

"It would, but then if everyone could do that; there'd likely just be a lot of mid-air crashes – and it would really suck to have invisible bludgers in the game. Look how badly it went when they tried to have an invisible stadium. Even when the Witches and Wizards managed to find the place; they couldn't find their seats."

"All good points," Gwendolyn agreed. "I guess we'll just have to play this game the normal way."

"Well, you will," he agreed. "I'll settle for watching you play a brilliant match – which will also be a lot easier to do if you're not invisible."

"I wish that you could be out there playing too," Gwendolyn said seriously. "It's always more fun when we're playing together – or competing against each other."

"Don't let Rose hear you say that," Al warned; earning a laugh from Gwendolyn.

"We could still have fun playing Quidditch against each other after we're done at Hogwarts – and I'd have even more fun if you were on the Cannons."

"Maybe not if Rose actually comes up with a plan for that Cannons' championship that works."

"She'll have a spot in the Quidditch museum if she manages to do that," Gwendolyn predicted. "I'd better not get side-tracked thinking about anything except the game today, though; so let's not talk about Rose's wish list for her future Cannons' team."

Al was good with doing that for her, and though the walk was over too quickly; they were both still in a really great mood when they parted after a couple of good luck hugs and kisses. There was still lots of time before the game was to start, so while Gwendolyn was busy with her team; Al went for a walk that was basically a loop of the school grounds – not including the Forbidden Forest. He did that on his own instead of meeting up with Rose or any of their friends; and they were already at the stadium by the time he returned there. Rose and Bristol had already picked seats on the border between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections; and they had Toni, Michael, and a handful of their Ravenclaw friends sitting with them and a half-dozen Gryffindors.

"Well, I guess Gwendolyn didn't let him hang out with our team during the pre-game warm-ups and whatever else Quidditch players do before a game," Toni teased as Al sat down next to Rose.

"I went for a walk," Al answered simply with a shrug and smile. "Did I miss anything exciting?"

"Nothing exciting," Rose assured him. "James and Ollie needed to do another walk-by razzing after breakfast; but that didn't work for them when you and Gwendolyn weren't there for it."

"I'm glad that I missed it – and don't need the details."

"Maybe not, but this should be the most amazing Quidditch match in the history of the school," Bristol advised him. "Somehow, even though they aren't playing today; Gryffindor is going to win while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff will both lose."

"Is that even possible?" Toni asked.

"Technically – if the game was cancelled; or if both teams forfeited at exactly the same time," Rose offered. "Either way, there wouldn't be any wins, losses, or ties recorded; but then that isn't going to happen. I'm not going to pick a winner; but I do think that Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw will be in first place for the Quidditch Cup standings by the end of the game; since the win will likely be by more than ten points."

Ray snorted with laughter. "As if that would keep James from declaring that our team is still the best in the school. He's already counting a three-win season; so our senior team can take it easy this year."

"Rose might not want to predict a winner; but I'm sure that Gwendolyn will lead our team to the win today," Toni told them; and then smiled at Al. "Would you like to pick Hufflepuff for me? I've still got time to run to the locker room and let Gwendolyn and the rest of our players know that if you would."

"If that would work to motivate them, I might think about doing that for you," Al admitted with a grin, "but they don't need the help; and I think they'll win too."

"Hufflepuff has a lot of good players too," Rose reminded him. "I'd give them the edge at Seeker with Madison; and their Beaters should be better too."

"They do have a good team," Al agred; "but they won't be the best team today."

Nobody actually disagreed with Al as they continued to talk Quidditch, but he was soon distracted when James and Ollie led their team and reserve squad over toward them; and then they all sat down in a block of seats that started three rows behind Al and Rose; and there was just one row seperating Ray and Bristol from the front row of James' group. James made a big, loud show of getting his team ready to analyse the game; he irritated all of the Ravenclaws that were near-enough to hear his predictions that their team would suck worse than Hufflepuff; and he spent a lot of time ridiculing Gwendolyn. All of that made Al mad, but he kept his mouth shut; and waited for his girlfriend to come out and show everyone just how much of an idiot James was with his stupid insults and ridiculous predictions. James kept up his near-rant even after Kylie began her pre-game announcing; and kicked it up a few notches as she welcomed and introduced the Hufflepuff players.

"Jonah Finch-Fletchley, his kid sister, Justine, and Tory Summers," James said; basically repeated Kylie's introduction. "Ollie would win even if it was three-against-one; so don't expect much from them today – unless Ravenclaw's Keeper sucks even worse than I expect he will."

"He is Gwendolyn's cousin; so that's possible," Ollie offered with a derisive laugh.

"Next up, Jonah's got Madison Whitby and Leanne Jordan – the best that Hufflepuff could get at Seeker and Keeper. I'm sure they're in the second row because they suck even worse than the Chasers." Ollie laughed at that; but none of the other Gryffindor players did – a fact that James didn't even seem to notice.

"Finally, bringing up the rear – as they should – are Beaters Calvin Cootes and Eldon Cadwallader. They're the worst players on a lousy team." Al didn't need to look to know that James was smiling viciously as Kylie invited the Ravenclaw team into the stadium; and he continued his running commentary.

"And here comes Gwendolyn McCormack – Captain of the Ravenclaw team because the third-year guys are too weak for the job; though I've heard a rumor that her Mum stepped in to get her the job."

"I heard she threatened to turn Mr. Peakes and a Professor or three into wood lice if Gwendolyn wasn't made Captain," Ollie added in a loud, conspiratorial non-whisper.

"Gwendolyn's decided to suck up to her family; and has her firstie cousin, Ryan Rivers, flying next to her today,' James continued. "Isn't that sweet? She'll likely earn a bonus Christmas gift or two for that brilliant move!"

"Maybe they're kissing cousins too," Ollie suggested.

"They wouldn't be the only cousins we know that are like that," James said with a sneer in the tone of his voice. "Our pathetic excuse for a Quidditch Captain is using the classic two-three-two flying formation; and has her fellow Chasers, Mark Goldstein and Landon Graves flanking firstie Seeker, Stephanie Boot. With two of the three worst Seekers in the school playing today, I'll have a tough time watching their duel; but I have heard that Stephanie is not only a twin short compared to her older brother and sister; but that she's got less than half the talent too."

"With the funny part of that being that she still has more talent than Mark and Landon combined," Ollie declared derisively.

"You can see the pattern here for the Beaters," James continued. "Ravenclaw has also put the worst of the really bad in the rear; and Brandon Graves and Seth Bradley will be in a tough battle today – to decide which Beater duo will be the worst."

It wasn't possible for Al, Rose, and dozens of students around James to avoid listening to his loud pronouncements. James kept on shooting his mouth off while Mr. Peakes did his usual pre-game speech with the two teams; he had insults ready to share with everyone for everything from the Captains' handshake to predictions that Gwendolyn and Jonah would both miss the quaffle when the game started. He then had his own version of a game play-by-play that he called out loudly-enough for Al to still hear over Kylie's game announcing. What was really amazing about that was his ability to spin that commentary into something that didn't sound anything like what was actually happening above the pitch.

Gwendolyn won that take-off race for the quaffle; Ravenclaw had their first scoring chance just three passes later; and Leanne Jordan made a great save on a shot from Mark Goldstein. Anyone listening to James would believe that the offensive series and the save were all achieved through random luck and without any Quidditch skill at all. Ravenclaw got the next two shots on goal too before Tory got her first shot of the game for Hufflepuff; and Ryan earned the first save of his Hogwarts Quidditch career. While he couldn't and didn't really try to tune out James' taunts, Al was able to really enjoy the game anyway; and the battle between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw really was brilliant.

The battle was won by the defenses in the first hour as Ryan and Leanne each made dozens of really great saves. James loved that, because he concluded that all six Chasers really sucked while being out-played by a pair of firstie Keepers. Ravenclaw only managed to score three goals in that first hour; and Tory Summers had the lone goal for Hufflepuff. When the tide of the game began to turn in favor of the Chasers in the second hour, James' assessment was that the firsties were already running out of gas; which was why the score climbed to eighty to thirty with Ravenclaw in the lead. He didn't even talk about the fact that Ryan and Leanne were still putting on a show – and they each were still keeping a high save percentage as they faced even more shots on goal as the Chasers opened up the game and played even harder.

Gwendolyn kept getting better as the game rolled on; and even the least-knowledgeable Quidditch spectator could see that she was the best player in the game by the end of the third hour. James didn't agree with that, but with the score at one-seventy for Ravenclaw to sixty for Hufflepuff; Gwendolyn had scored twelve of those twenty-three total goals. That didn't keep James from ridiculing her – and all of the other players; but he did begin to spend more time insulting Madison and Stephanie for being in a worst-ever Seeker battle because they both apparently sucked so badly that neither of them could find the snitch let alone catch it. James needed to talk about the Seeker duel more because Gwendolyn was really putting on a show in the fourth hour. By then, most of the players on both teams were nearing exhaustion, and while Ravenclaw had been in the lead throughout the game to that point; Gwendolyn scored eight more goals in the fourth hour; and had her team ahead by two-eighty to one-twenty as the fifth hour began – which had them up by one-sixty. That score was close-enough that Madison had to back off on trying to catch the snitch during the fifth hour in the hopes that her Chasers could close the gap to one-fifty or less; and that gave Stephanie a big advantage as she was able to focus on trying to get a best-chance at a snitch catch and not have to worry about defending against Madison.

James didn't see it that way, and continued his derisive comments about both Seekers. Gwendolyn was also suddenly a quaffle-hog, and she was also apparently trying to run up the score on Hufflepuff; despite the fact that he also declared that the game might go on for days when the two Seekers were so awful. Ravenclaw did score nine more goals in the fifth hour to just three for Hufflepuff, but the shots on goal for each team were almost identical; and while Ryan and Leanne were both still playing well-enough despite being exhausted; Gwendolyn's defense made sure that Ryan didn't face nearly as many difficult saves compared to the goals she was scoring against Leanne.

Jonah Finch-Fletchley gave Madison the go-ahead to resume trying to catch the snitch again even though it'd be for the loss somewhere around when Ravenclaw went up by one-ninety or two hundred. That meant conceding that he didn't believe that they could make up those points against Gwendolyn, Mark, and Landon; but Madison was also exhausted by then after playing non-stop defense against Stephanie for nearly an hour – and doing that in the fifth hour of a long match. That certainly had everything to do with why the game ended with Stephanie finally catching the snitch at the five hour and twenty minute mark; giving Ravenclaw the huge five hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty point victory. Al was on his feet and cheering before Stephanie had her hand closed around the snitch; and he smiled brilliantly while watching Gwendolyn as she immediately flew over to congratulate her Seeker with a mid-air hug.

"That's right – thank her for sucking so badly that even a bunch of terrible Chasers can manage to score a lot of goals against a couple of firsties," James called out loudly-enough for Al to hear him over the roar of the crowd. "We spotted Slytherin a hundred and forty points and still beat them, but these guys are all so bad we might need to give them two hundred or more just to make a game of it when we play them."

"We can't do that," Ollie advised him. "Now that Captain quaffle-hog has run it up on Hufflepuff; we'll need to run it up on both teams to make up those points."

James laughed and shook his head. "Points don't matter when you win all three matches." Al hadn't even looked around at James even once during the entire game, but that comment had him laughing; and he turned to look back at his brother. James glared at him; but didn't say anything directly to him – even though it was obvious that he wanted to know why Al was laughing at him.

"It is funny how things change," Rose said mildly to Al. "Points mattered in their first year even though they only won one match." She laughed too. "I won't comment on that promised undefeated season, since I would love to see Gryffindor win another Quidditch Cup; but I'm having a tough time picturing our team running the score up on Leanne or Ryan. They both played brilliantly today."

James couldn't hear her, but Al smiled at her and laughed again. "With the scary part of that for you being that we'll hopefully get to play against them next season."

"Isn't that scary for you too?" she asked; and Al shrugged.

"It'll be a challenge; but not scary for me." His smile brightened as he turned to watch Gwendolyn again as she landed on the pitch and was surrounded by her team mates. "Playing against Gwendolyn might be challenging and scary for you."

"As if it isn't when we play during our scrimmages now," Rose teased. "Our team does do well-enough against them though; so I like our chances most weeks."

"As long as Al and Gwendolyn aren't both playing against us," Ray added. "I think we should consider making up a rule against letting them do that at all."

Rose laughed. "I can't do that if I want them to be playing on my Cannons team some day," she reminded him; "and you'll want that too if you're the third Chaser on that team."

"Sure, because it's every Wizard's dream to be the third-best Chaser on a Cannons team," Ray said with a snort of laughter that had Rose laughing again too.

"That'd be third-best Chaser on the League Champion Cannons team," she reminded him. "I'm sure that you could learn to like that a lot."

"Well, while you guys talk about that; I'm going to get out to the pitch and congratulate Gwendolyn – and the rest of our friends," Al told them. He already had his book bag in hand; and didn't wait for the rest of his friends to join him.

By then, the two teams were exchanging handshakes and some hugs; so by the time Al reached center-pitch; he was among the first non-team students there to join in on the fun. It was fun right away too; since Gwendolyn immediately hugged and kissed him for long moments after barely giving him time to congratulate her. That had her team mates laughing at them; there were some whistles from other teens; and they were oblivious to all of that for the duration of that first kiss. They stayed close together aftrr that, but Al congratulated everyone else on Gwendolyn's team; offered his condolences and congratulations for a great game to Tory, Madison, and most of their team mates too; and then he and Gwendolyn got to have a few minutes to talk with Rose, Ray, and their group of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends. That was fun for all of them – until James and Ollie strolled up to them with their little gang.

"Way to go, Captain Ravenclaw!" James declared loudly; holding out his hand to Gwendolyn. "Nice job hogging all the glory and running it up on Hufflepuff!" He looked around the stadium and shook his head. "It's funny that three-quarters of the students left the stadium in protest when Slytherin did that to Hufflepuff last year; but I guess you get a pass because everyone's afraid of your Mum or something."

"Didn't you ban everyone on yur team from talking or associating with the enemy?" Gwendolyn countered. "I guess you'll be kicking yourself off the team now."

"I'm making an exception for the sake of good sportsmanship," James advised her loftily. "You wouldn't know what that is; since you didn't bother to congratulate us when we won a real Quidditch match instead of this bit of theatre you played in today."

"If this is what you call being a good sport; I'd say that you're the one who doesn't know what it means to be one," Rose told him bluntly.

"Did you hear something?" Ollie asked James.

"Only the wind whistling through the empty heads around here," James answered; acting as if he was ignoring Rose too. "We still need to congratulate Hufflepuff for sucking even worse than Ravenclaw, though; so let's move along. The enemy ban for Ravenclaw is back on in five, four, three, two, one, now!"

With that, James led his entourage over to where Jonah Finch-Fletchley was standing with some of his team mates and their friends. He proceeded to be just as obnoxious to the Hufflepuff players for about a minute; and then strutted his way out of the stadium after successfully irritating a lot of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. Gwendolyn had hugged Al after James had moved on; since he'd needed the cheering up more than she did. That had helped Al to cool off quickly; and they were both smiling again as they returned to talking quietly with their friends.

"Raise your hand if you're Gryffindor and secretly hope that Stephanie and Madison both win their Seeker duels against James this year," Bristol said; earning a round of laughs – and a bunch of raised hands.

"I'd add that it would be nice if they made those catches while still losing those games," Rose suggested; "but I'd be lying if I didn't secretly want James to lose those games too." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "Remind us tomorrow to tell you all about James' play-by-play today. You'll find it fascinating, I'm sure."

"I can help with that too," Toni offered. "He gave us lots of insult ammunition – with heaps of it for every player on our team. The only way he could actually believe anything he was saying during the game is if he's delusional."

"That sounds like we'll have some bonus entertainment tomorrow," Gwendolyn said with a smile and nod. "I'm okay with James deluding himself. That'll just help us in our game against Gryffindor next April."

"Well, if that's the case; then let's invite Tory and Madison to that little bit of fun too," Bristol suggested. "James had just as much to say about their team."

"He'll definitely brand us as traitors to our House if he hears about that," Ray warned; and Bristol laughed.

"Then we'll just need to make sure he doesn't hear about it," she joked.

Al suspected that there wasn't much chance of that happening; but he was more interested in spending what time he could with Gwendolyn before she needed to spend the rest of the day with her team and fellow Ravenclaw. Since the game had gone so long, they didn't have much time before a late, snack-lunch was being served in the Great Hall; and Gwendolyn needed to say goodbye to Al before going on to the locker room to get cleaned up after the long, tough match. He went to the Great Hall with Rose and the rest of their group of friends; they mostly had fun while having that food break; and then he was able to spend a few minutes with Gwendolyn again before she headed to her common room for the party that the Ravenclaw students were putting on for their victorious junior team.

While she was busy with that, Al and Rose went to a party in their own common room that Dominique and some of Louis' friends were putting on for his birthday. They didn't stay long because James and Ollie were there for it too; and started tossing out crude and rude comments about them. They didn't want to let that mess up Louis' fun, so even though they'd planned on taking the weekend off from working on it; they decided to go and work on their magical map. Al had been keeping it in his book bag, so after going to his dorm room to get his bag, he met up with Rose again in the common room; and then they went on to their usual study classroom so that they could do that without being bothered by anyone.

"I wouldn't dream of making light of the map your grandfather made, Al; but I can't help but think that making it shouldn't really be that complicated. It isn't as though there aren't other ways that Witches and Wizards are tracked." Rose told Al as they began working on their map again. It was spread out on the work table; and they stood on each long side of the table – across from each other. There was still a lot of work to do on it, but they did have the outline of the school grounds with the bigger features like the castle, lake, stadium, and practice pitch; and then they also had a floor-by-floor plan of the inside of the castle. They still needed to add a lot of detail to those floor plans; but they had drawn up pretty much every room, hallway, and secret passage that they knew about in the place. "Grandma has her clock that tells her where everyone is; and the Ministry tracks underage kids and teens – at least for use of magic."

"We could do some research and find out how the clock and the underage tracking works," Al offered; "but I was also wondering if there might be more than one way to get it to work. My grandfather and his mates figured out some way for the map to locate every Witch and Wizard on the school grounds – though we can't actually be sure of how that works without being able to study the Marauder's Map – if we could even figure that out anyway."

"That's true," Rose agreed. "Do you have any ideas for what we could do that will work?"

Al smiled and nodded. "Actually, I do," he confirmed. Looking down at the map, he located the room they were in; and pointed to it. They hadn't yet plotted any of the contents of most rooms in the castle; and had barely even begun with places like their common room, dorms, and the Great Hall; but he had a simple idea for an experiment. "Let's plot all of the desks and stools in this room; and then we'll find out if what I'm thinking about is possible."

"Okay, but we've already done this for other rooms; so I don't see why this would be any different," Rose told him as they both pointed their wands at the map and got to work plotting out the work tables, stools, and even the cupboards that were located against two of the walls. When they were done; Rose looked up at Al and waited expectantly. He smiled, but didn't say anything as he picked up the stools on his side of the work table and moved them out into the aisle to his left. Returning to the table, he looked down; his smile brightened into a wide grin; and he threw his arms up into the air.

"Yes!" he declared; laughing happily. "I was right!"

Rose was laughing and amazed now as she looked at the map, the stools, and at Al in turn. "Once we've plotted something; it can keep track of it if it gets moved!" she said enthusiastically. "You think we can do the same thing with Witches and Wizards." That was a statement instead of a question; and Al nodded his agreement.

"I do. Let's find out,' he offered even as he then pointed his wand at the map and plotted Rose's location next. A little dot appeared on the map next to the work table they stood at; and he laughed again. "Go for a walk. I'll let you know if it works," he suggested; and Rose laughed too even as she went for a walk around the work table so that she could still watch the map – and see that the dot moved around on the map too. She stopped to hug Al when she got to that side of the table.

"It's not as good as having the map figure out where everyone is automatically; but this is brilliant, Al." She looked down at the map and frowned. She was lost in thought for a few long moments; but then she suddenly grinned and pointed her own wand at the map – and drew a label that she then tied to the dot with a thin line.

"That works," Al told her as he watched the map that now identified the dot simply as 'Rose'; and she moved on to walk around the room. "Why don't you go out into the hall and maybe into another classroom to see if the map still tracks you outside of this room. If it does; I'd say that it'll do the same anywhere on the grounds."

Rose did that; Al watched as the dot on the map went out of the room; down the hallway two doors; and into the classroom across the hall instead of the one on the same side. He laughed when his mirror chimed; and he pulled it out of his cloak pocked and answered.

"You're two doors down and across the hall," he said; and then joined Rose as they both laughed happily. "Come on back here; we'll add me to the map; and then give it another test or two before doing anything more."

Rose did that; they spent nearly a half-hour doing tests and having fun playing with their map; and then they sat down across from each other again with the map again on the table between them.

"It could take us all year to plot everyone on the map," Rose told Al; "but we only need to add our four pranksters and our friends. That shouldn't take too long."

"I'd like to add our favorite Slytherin haters too," Al said with a nod; "but the only problem we'll have with that is getting it done when each Wizard or Witch is somewhere we can see them. That's easy for Gwendolyn, Bristol, Ray, and any other friends we want to add to the map; but we don't want to be seen doing this by James, Ollie, or any of the Slytherins."

"Definitely not," Rose agreed. "The easiest way for doing that without being seen might be finding somewhere to sit outside before or after the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch practices next week. That might take several tries, since we can't likely plot all of them including the labels fast-enough in one shot without getting the dots mixed up; but i wouldn't want to try doing it in the Great Hall. Someone would be sure to notice no matter how hard we tried to hide it."

"I like your suggestion to catch them before or after Quidditch," Al agreed; "and we might even be able to do that from the castle windows or one of the towers instead of going outside. If we each took one Wizard or Witch at a time; we could get that done in a week or two – though it'd mean missing some study time to do that."

"We can share that work with Gwendolyn, Bristol, and Ray," Rose reminded him. "It doesn't need to be all that tough for us – and they'd love to help out too."

Al nodded. "Okay. I'd still like to know some day how the Marauder's Map works too; but this will give you what you need to watch out for James - once we've got it done."

"You mean once we have it done with all of the copies we'll need," Rose amended; and Al grinned at her.

"I'm already working on that," he assured her. "If I get the doubling charm mastered by the time we have the map ready to go; it'll be easy to make exact copies – and I think they'll all work exactly the same too."

"You're a bit scary sometimes," Rose teased. "I love you, and if I was going to trust any kid our age with spells like that, it'd be you; but that's still scary." She laughed then. "Don't mess that up, either; since I definitely wouldn't want there to suddenly be two real copies of everything on the map."

"Especially if that included two sets of James and Ollie," Al agreed; laughing too.

"It's too bad that we couldn't just get our hands on the Marauder's Map and make a copy of it if you can do that," Rose suggested next; "but I suppose that James wouldn't be interested in lending it to us to give that a try."

"Probably not," Al agreed; "but then even if he did agree; we'd lose the element of surprise we're going to have from doing it this way." He smiled at Rose then; reached into his bag; and pulled out a little box that he handed to her. "Speaking of surprises, I had to wait until after I gave Gwendolyn her good luck gift this morning; but I made the same charm for you too."

"What is it?" Rose asked as she took the lid off and looked at the little ghost charm.

"An invisibility charm," he explained. "Put it in your hand; hold it against your stomach; and think about being invisible." Rose did that; and Al laughed when she was suddenly gone. He looked down at the map and laughed again. "You're still showing on the map," he advised her; and then turned and opened his arms to accept the hug she was trying to sneak up on him to surprise him with.

"The map gave me away?" Rose asked. She was visible again by then because she'd lost focus and the charm had stopped working for her.

"Yes, but I sensed you too," Al admitted. "Can you try the charm again? I'd like to see how much you can move it around before parts of your body aren't concealed by the charm anymore. I think it'll work best holding it close to your stomach; but it might have more range than that."

Rose was happy to experiment with her new charm for a while, and there was a range where she could move her hand and the charm still protected her; but it stopped covering all of her at arm's length – whether that meant that her legs or upper body were visible while the rest was invisible – or even one side or the other if she held the charm out to her side. Al was happy with those results, though; and Rose was sure that it was a brilliant addition to their growing bag of defensive tricks. They still had a bit of time before dinner, so they went back to working on the map for a while longer; packed up when it was time to go to the Great Hall; and then headed there together without stopping at Gryffindor tower along the way.

After their mapping success, the rest of their evening was quiet and uneventful. Al went for a short walk with Gwendolyn after dinner that was really nothing more than a slightly-longer than usual walk to her House before she needed to get back to having fun with her fellow Ravenclaw for the rest of the night. While she did that; he went to the library to do a bit of quiet research; went on to his dorm room after that instead of doing anything in the common room first; and then wrapped up his day with a long mirror chat with Lily and Holly – though Holly didn't have much to say to him; and was more interested in having a nap on Lily's lap. Ray came up to their dorm room early too, and caught the tail-end of Al's mirror chat; but he'd mostly done that because he and Rose had both gotten sick of James and Ollie as the two boys tried to find new ways to annoy them while not talking directly to them or hanging out around them.

Sunday ended up being a fairly quiet day too. Al had been happy to spend the day with Gwendolyn, but it had rained all day, so they'd cancelled their Quidditch plans; and instead spent the entire day inside the castle. Their fun had included some magic play time in the morning to go along with a bit of project work in the library; Al and Gwendolyn then spent the afternoon with Rose, Ray, and a few other friends where they mostly just hung out together and didn't do much of anything; and then they wrapped up their weekend with some music play time for two after dinner before turning in early to get a bit of extra rest before starting the last full week of October.

They only had three weeks to go until the Gryffindor and Slytherin senior teams would be playing their first match of the season, but it was Halloween that had top billing on the gossip network at school – and in real life for most of the students. Wheezes and pranks were a big part of the fun going on around the school; though not everyone was having fun – especially when James, Ollie, and their two junior pranksters were involved. Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their gang didn't have immunity from wheezes or pranks, but they also weren't on the receiving end of any ambushes or major pranks. They were constantly on the look-out for them, though; and that made getting around the castle a bit stressful for all of them – especially anytime they weren't doing that in groups.

Not including that worry, the school week went really well for Al and Gwendolyn – and for pretty much everyone in their study group. All of their classes were going great – including the ones that Gryffindor had with Slytherin. Their study routine continued to work out great for all of them, and while they worked harder than most of their friends; it was worth the extra effort to have all of their 'normal' assignments and studying done by dinnertime on Friday. Getting to spend most of that last weekend of October playing and having fun was so much better than spending half of both days studying.

Outside of Hogwarts, Al and Rose missed out on Angelina's forty-first birthday on Wednesday, and didn't even get to do a mirror chat with her; but then George took her – and Roxanne – away on a mini-vacation for the rest of the week anyway. That was the first time he'd been able to do anything like that for her – not just because Angelina wasn't playing for the Harpies; but also because Ron was now able to run the stores for him while he was away. He'd have never been able to go away during the week before Halloween before when it was one of the busiest times of the year for selling wheezes!

They couldn't be at the Harpies' game on Saturday, but Al and Gwendolyn did watch the game together on his portable mirror. Since they were also trying to avoid any problems with James, they'd been using random classrooms for their studies and other fun during the entire past week; and they were in yet another empty classroom after lunch on Saturday when they settled in to watch the Harpies play the Wanderers at the Yorkshire stadium. Depending on your perspective, it was a good game for as long as it lasted. For the Wanderers, they did pretty well against Vicky; and scored seven goals against her before the game came to an abrupt end. They also held Victoire to just three goals, and the Harpies only had six goals on the game; so the Wanderers had that to be happy about too. Unfortunately for them, though, Gabrielle was playing brilliantly; and she helped her team to the win with a fairly spectacular play that left the Wanderers on the losing end of the match – and their Seeker wondering how she'd so thoroughly out-played him.

The Harpies' match wasn't the only Quidditch of the weekend for Al and Gwendolyn. They had a Chaser duel on Sunday morning because that was the only time slot they could get for the weekend with the senior teams putting in extra practices to get ready for their upcoming matches. Al won that duel, but then they'd actually spent more time just playing around and working on tricks than they'd spent on the duel part of their play time. There was also play time both days with their friends; a couple of hours of project studying in the library; an hour of map making; and two evenings of music play time for Al and Gwendolyn that didn't include any of their friends.

Having that play time on the weekend helped a lot during the last three days of October. Halloween didn't keep their Professors from keeping them busy during their classes, and while some of them did themed lessons to make that a bit more fun for their students; they didn't ease up at all on the assignments either. That didn't work out for a lot of teens because they chose to get in on as much of the Halloween fun that was going on around the school as they could instead of keeping up with the work. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group didn't do that too; so Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal for them – except for the Halloween entertainment that they were around for at meals or in their common room and dorms.

There was one change for them on Wednesday, and that was because Gwendolyn cancelled her Quidditch practice for the day so that her team mates could, if they chose to, get their assignments for the day out of the way before dinner instead of having to work all evening after the Halloween feast. Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray had their usual Wednesday afternoon study period after lunch too, so they had half of their work done before going to their DADA class; and Al was in a great mood as they met up with Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael after last class – and then went in search of a random empty classroom. With the Halloween feast to look forward to – and the first one that Al and Ray were going to actually be attending; they were all having fun as they settled in and got to work on their assignments.

Unfortunately for them; the good times came to a screeching halt – and that was quite literally for Al when the alarm bells started clanging in his head with the warning of imminent danger. It was already too late by then, though; and Al was able to sense the magic in use as the door and windows in the room were sealed.

"What's wrong, Al?" Gwendolyn asked; looking worried as she stood up and turned to face the door – just as Al had already done.

"Our prank-free luck has run out," he told her quietly and grimly.

"Look out! It's the attack of the killer slime!"

That shout came from the hallway, and while there was a feeble attempt at disguising his voice; it was also obviously James shouting out that warning. There were also screeches and screams to go along with that; and enough laughter to ruin the effect. It was the slime that began oozing in from under the door, though, that got the attention of everyone in the room.

"Pack up your things," Al ordered; turning back to the table and doing that with his own things. The slime seemed to be moving slowly, but he'd already done the math; and knew that the start of it just seemed slow. He had his bag packed again in moments, and by then; they were all able to smell the noxious odor coming from the slime. "Help me to flip one of these work tables," Al said next. "I need it upside down on one of the other tables."

"What for?" Rose asked even as she went along to help him with that – as did Gwendolyn and Ray. Bristol, Toni, and Michael were still packing their bags; and looked more than a bit shocked.

"I'm going to make a boat," Al explained. "Let's hurry – we don't have much time."

Flipping the table took some effort, but as soon as they had that done; Al had everyone 'climb in'; and keep all of their belongings with them. They'd all needed to stand close together to do that, and despite the danger approaching them; that situation was still funny – especially when they needed to put arms around each other to stay that way while Al began a fairly impressive transfiguration that had the table turning into a boat that wasn't pretty; but would be able to float.

"Can I get some help?" Al asked as he lengthened and widened the boat. "Hold up the ends until they reach the next tables. We wouldn't want to fall off of the table underneath us."

"Got it," Gwendolyn and Rose both said at the same time; and then they both laughed too. "You take the front; I'll take the back," Rose said next; and then she and Gwendolyn did that.

"That slime's already almost to us," Bristol warned; and put a hand over her mouth and nose. "Merlin, that smells terrible!"

"Let's hope that Al's boat can float," Ray told her. "I'll guess that swimming in it would be even worse."

"Why don't we just blast our way out of here – or go out a window?" Michael asked; finally looking as if the shock was wearing off.

"They've sealed the room,' Al advised him, "and even if we could get out the window; we're on the sixth floor. I don't want to try lifting all of us – and all of our things – from this high up and find out that we can't do it." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "The fall wouldn't be so bad; but the landing would suck."

"Going for a boat ride it is," She told him half-whimsically. "This should be big-enough; don't you think?" she asked. Their little boat was now sitting on three work tables; and there was enough room for them to stand in pairs now.

"I need it a bit bigger," Al answered. "Whatever's in that slime, we won't be able to breathe it for long; so I need to have enough room for the air we'll need to breathe when I put a shield around it."

"How much slime do you think James is going to use?" Rose asked him; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know, but at the rate it's coming in; they'll fill this room before we know it – or try to do that."

Michael, Toni, Bristol, and Ray all gaped at him. "Are you joking?" Ray asked; and Al shook his head.

"I know it doesn't look like it yet; but we'll be floating on that slime soon."

"How long can you tread water – I mean slime?" James taunted derisively; his question accompanied by a chorus of laughter.

"Wow, he's so funny," Rose said sarcastically. "I don't even need to know what's in this stuff to know that this is way too dangerous a prank if the slime is too deep. The smell alone is already too much to handle."

"Which is why it's time for the shield," Al told her. He waved his wand in an arc above them; and shouted – "Protego!" His shield formed above them; several feet above their heads; and spread out around them. Another wave of his wand that nobody else in the boat even noticed was an exact match the the edge of the boat had the shield meeting the wood tightly-enough to form an airtight seal.

"How long will we have air before that becomes a problem?" Gwendolyn asked him. "Should we be making a mirror call for help now?"

"Probably, but I get the feeling that we shouldn't do that," Al answered. "That's not for us," he added. "This could be very bad for anyone out in the hallway if they come and just try to open the door."

"It's barely covering the floor," Toni said; and Al shook his head.

"It's nearly a foot deep already," he advised her. "If I had to guess; they're using an engorgement charm or swelling solution to make it expand faster. By the time we could get some help here; we'll be floating for sure – and that much slime going back out the door in a rush could really hurt someone."

"Then I'm going to hope that the door blows out soon – while James is out there," Bristol told him; and then grinned. "Yeah, you'd feel bad about that; but I wouldn't."

"Neither would the rest of us," Rose assured her; "but I'll guess that James and Ollie plan on being long gone before this prank is done." She looked to Al next. "Okay, we're protected from the slime; but what do we do now?"

Al grinned at her. "We wait; and get to watch what happens when science meets a quartet of unprepared Wizards."

Rose started to grin then too; but everyone else didn't get what Al meant; so she elaborated. "All of this slime weighs a lot," she explained. "I'll guess that Al didn't just try to blast their seal on the door because he'd have hurt them to do that if they're all focusing their magic on doing that; but the pressure on the door and windows when the slime gets deep-enough is going to be like trying to lift something very heavy with a levitation charm."

"Something heavy like a house," Gwendolyn added; starting to laugh.

They got to watch that prediction of Al's in action much more quickly than most of them expected. The slime was at the top of the work tables within a few minutes; and then it wasn't much longer before their boat was floating. If James and Ollie were still taunting them; they couldn't hear from inside of Al's shield. The next milestone for the slime was reaching the level of the windows; and yet they rose higher and higher; with the speed of that increasing. There was one other bit of science that Al was coutning on working for them; and that was when the slime began to hit resistance from the air itself. Whatever James had come up with to seal the room didn't leave an escape for the air in the room; so as the slime continued to take up more space; all of the air in the room except within Al's shield became more and more compressed – adding to the pressure on those seals.

Al's shield bumped against the ceiling; and then the boat was pinned between the ceiling and the slime. When the slime still continued to rise to near the top of the boat; some of Al's friends started to worry; but Rose and Gwendolyn had faith in him; and he wasn't concerned because he sensed the imminent failure of the magic sealing them into the room. He suspected that James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando must have been able to feel the pressure on their magic too. He didn't know what they did, but suspected that they must have decided that they needed to run for it; because the seals suddenly began to weaken much faster – and then the door and windows blew out from the pressure the moment the magic collapsed.

"Hang on!" Al had time to warn as the slime gushed out of the room into the hallway and out of the windows.

While that caused a flood in the hallway; their boat first began moving toward the nearest window once it was no longer pinned to the ceiling; so they had a great view of the temporary waterfall that quickly had the wall of the castle below them covered in the slime. The windows were higher than the door, so while they'd been drawn in that direction first; when the flow going outside slowed as the slime reached the bottom of the window; their boat turned toward the door – and headed straight for it. They couldn't even see the doorway at first; but knew where it was because of the flow of the slime. The levels in the hallway and classroom were trying to equalize, so they bumped across a few of the work tables that were still on the floor, but they'd been moved by the slime into the room and away from the door; so they had smooth sailing once they were past the tables – right up until the bow of their boat got stuck in the doorway. Their forward motion stopped then; and they settled toward the floor until the keel bottomed out.

"Well, the doorway is keeping us from tipping over," Rose said with a laugh. "Should we make one of those mirror calls now, Al? We're still stuck in the middle of this slime swamp."

"I don't think we'll need to wait long for help," Gwendolyn advised her. She and Al were up near the bow; and could look out into the hallway. "We can't hear them through Al's shield; but there's a group of students down at the far end of the hallway to the left – and I mean down; as in down in the slime. If they're not yelling; I'd be very surprised. Two of them are Witches, and if they're dressed up for the feast; they'll be very, very mad right now."

"If?" Bristol asked. "You can't tell that from looking at them?"

"They're covered in the slime," Gwendolyn explained while still watching them. "Oh no! There's something in that slime, guys. I think they're getting sick now."

"Then keep the shield up," Toni told Al. "You can do that, right?"

"Yes," he agreed simply. While he was still extending his senses, and knew that the four teens really were getting sick from the slime; he couldn't work out anything beyond sensing their anger and that they were feeling really un-well. The use of magic from both directions warned him of approaching help; and it wasn't much longer before he and Gwendolyn could see the two Professors rushing to the aid of the four teens.

"Professors Flitwick and Dawlish are here," Gwendolyn advised her friends. They're helping the four teens – and Professor Flitwick's just spotted us."

"How are they helping those other students if this slime is making them so sick?" Michael asked; and Al answered that question.

"They're using bubble-head charms; gloves; and have done something else to allow them to walk there without going through the slime – though I can't see what they're doing for that from here."

"I wish we could hear what was going on," Rose lamented; "but i guess we'd better just wait and be safe."

Gwendolyn and Al were able to watch as the Professors were apparently doing triage on the four teens. Whatever they were doing to get around without being slimed too made that slow-going; but when they were ready to start moving the sickened, messy students; they must have had help waiting for them around the corner; because Professor Dawlish moved them one at a time; but wasn't gone for long before coming back for the next one. With their attention on the action at that end of the hallway; it took a flash of light from a wand on the other side of the boat for Al and Gwendolyn to turn in the other direction – and see that two more Professors were now closing in on their boat and trying to get their attention.

"How many?" Professor Jones asked; though they had to read her lips to figure that out.

"Seven," Al answered; holding up his hands to help with the silent communication. Professor Perks was with Professor Jones; they were using bubble-head charms to protect themselves too; and Professor Perks was sprinkling some kind of potion onto the slime ahead of them so that they could walk on top of it. Professor Jones had nodded at Al; pointed to her own bubble-head charm; and looked at Al questioningly.

"Professor Jones wants to know if we can use bubble-head charms so that they can get us out of here," Gwendolyn told the others. "They're walking on top of the slime using some potion; so I'll guess that the plan is to walk us out of here."

"I can't do that charm," Toni told her; and then she laughed and grinned at Al. "Let me guess – you can, right?"

Al shrugged modestly. "Yeah, so let's do that and get out of here. The air's getting a bit stale under the shield; so we'll need to do something sooner than later anyway."

He and Gwendolyn didn't try to communicate with the Professors; since they'd be able to see the bubble-head charms in action as Al did that for each of his friends before protecting himself. Once that was done; he dropped the shield around the boat; and then they were able to hear the Professors – and the rest of the commotion going on around them. There was a lot of shouting going on out of sight of them; but the seven friends were focused on Professors Jones and Perks – and mostly interested in getting out of the mess James had put them in.

"You can hear me now?" Professor Jones asked first; and Al and Gwendolyn both nodded. "Good. Professor Perks will have the area at the edge of your boat ready in a moment; but you'll need to step down very, very carefully – one at a time. That'll take longer to get all of you out of here; but from what we've seen so far; you do not want to get this stuff on you – or breathe the air above it for very long."

"We'd guessed as much," Gwendolyn told her with a nod; and then grinned at Al. "I suppose that you'll insist on Witches first; so I guess that means me. Give me a hand, please?"

Al laughed; nodded; and then did that. Professor Jones stayed by the boat; and once Gwendolyn was standing safely on the little walkway they'd made on top of the slime; Professor Perks took Gwendolyn's hand and led her to safety while Al then helped Bristol out of the boat next. It really did take a while to do it that way; but as each of them got out of the boat, they realized that was because their escape route was a bit tenuous – and like walking on some kind of suspended foot bridge that moved and swayed as you walked on it. The need for caution was then obvious; since too much pressure or a miss-step would likely send you sliding into the slime. Rose invited Toni to go third; she was the last Witch out of the boat; and then Al helped Michael and Ray out of the boat in turn before leaving last. Professor Jones led him out after giving Professor Perks and Ray a chance to get ahead of them so they wouldn't be crowded together; and she smiled at him without any humor in her expression.

"I'd say this one is definitely the stickiest mess you've gotten yourself into so far – including your problems last year," she told him; and Al nodded.

"It is," he agreed. "Have you heard how those four students are that we saw at the other end of the hallway? Was anyone else hurt?"

"I haven't heard how they are, or whether there have been any other injuries; but from what we could hear earlier; they're quite ill – and you and your friends are very lucky to be well and safe now. Would you like to give me the short version now; or wait to speak with the Headmistress?"

"We were just starting our usual after-school study session in that classroom when the room was sealed and that slime started to ooze in from unter the door," Al answered. "We didn't see who was doing it, but could tell right away that it wasn't going to be good for us; so we transfigured a work table into the boat; used the shield so we wouldn't breathe whatever vapor that slime is giving off; and waited it out."

"This much slime must've filled that room," Professor Jones said; and Al nodded again.

"Within about four or five feet of the ceiling," he agreed. "The room was sealed very well, though, so the air pressure started to work against the slime by then – and I think it was the combination of that and the weight of the slime that broke the magical seals."

"And the door and windows," Professor Jones agreed with a nod. They were around the corner by then; and Al could see that the slime had traveled the path of least-resistance and not only continued along that hallway; but also into the stairway that was at that corner.

"How far did this stuff get?" he asked.

"We have it contained to the next landing down; and you can see where we've got the barrier down the hallway there," she answered – indicating where Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of his friends were waiting for the Professors, Ray, and him to catch up with them.

Al sighed. "I'm sorry, Professor. We did the best we could to deal with this prank; but I wish that we could have done something differently to keep all of this from happening."

"This isn't your fault – though you do seem to attract more than your fair share of trouble."

Ray laughed when he heard that; since they were practically all together again by then at the edge of the slime. "I've told him that he's a trouble magnet, but then he's also handy to have around when trouble does find us; so we let him hang out with us anyway despite the risks."

"And don't start beating yourself up over this," Rose warned. "We did the best we could; and the rest of it is all on whoever pulled this prank on us."

"This is way beyond a harmless prank," Professor Perks told them. She was about to say more, but stopped and took a deep, calming breath. "The important thing right now is that you're safe. Let's get away from this slime so that we can drop the bubble-head charms; and then Professor Jones and I will take you to the Headmistress' office."

"We're going to miss our second Halloween feast too, aren't we?" Ray asked Al.

"Possibly," Al agreed; "but at least we won't be spending that time cleaning ourselves up and getting any broken bones fixed by Madam Pomfrey this time around."

"What's this all about?" Professor Perks asked him; and Al smiled ruefully.

"Oops," he said in embarrassment. "Would you mind pretending that you didn't hear that?"

Professor Jones laughed. "We can do that, though you should give your Headmistress more credit; since it isn't as though some of us didn't put two and two together last Halloween, Al – even if you weren't asked about it."

Professor Perks nodded as she obviously remembered now too. "The mudslide stairs," she said. "The students responsible for that one got away with the prank. I hope that won't be the case this time."

"Al's already told me that they were sealed into the room and didn't see who did this," Professor Jones advised her fellow teacher. Al sensed that she was sure that he knew more than he was telling her; but either didn't want to push it; or was leaving it up to Professor McGonagall to sort out.

"They obviously couldn't hear anything behind that shield either," Professor Perks said thoughtfully, "but maybe those teens in the hallway saw or heard something – considering how close they obviously were when the slime blew out of that classroom."

Her suggestion proved to be true, and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends knew that for sure when they arrived outside of the Headmistress' office and saw that James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando were sitting there and waiting under the stern, unhappy watch of Professor Longbottom. Al had been surprised to see them there, but when James saw them; he looked furious; and mouthed the words – "rat fink" at Al before refusing to even look at him again.

"Are these the boys responsible for that slime prank?" Professor Perks asked Neville.

"That remains to be seen," he answered. "The four students that were injured in the hallway told Professor Flitwick that they saw James, Ollie, and two other boys running away from the scene just before they were caught up in the slime; and the younger boys are here because they were seen returning to the Gryffindor common room together." He glanced at the four boys; his expression turning even a bit sterner. "Is it as bad up there as I've heard?"

"Bad enough," Professor Jones agreed. "That classroom was apparently nearly-filled with the stuff; and it's now an inch or two deep where we have it contained in the hallways and two stairways between the sixth and fifth floors."

"Then I'll guess that this little group has quite a story about how they managed to escape unhurt," Neville suggested; and Professors Jones and Perks both laughed.

"They built an ark and rode out the flood in it," Professor Jones told him. "That was a fairly impressive Transfiguration; but the shield they used to keep from breathing in the toxic air was so good that it even blocked out sound."

"Which is why we're glad that there were apparently other witnesses," Professor Perks added. "They were sealed into the room and didn't see who was pranking them either."

Professor Longbottom looked as skeptical about that as Professor Jones was; but he didn't try arguing the point. They also didn't have time to talk about it anymore either; because Professor Flitwick came down the magical staircase then; and immediately had everyone's attention.

"The Headmistress wants to see the four boys with you," he told Neville. "You may take them up to her office now."

Neville had nodded and waved James and the other three boys to follow him; but Professor Flitwick waited until they were gone to speak with the rest of them.

Professor McGonagall will want to speak with all of you too," he advised them; "but she's also decided that the Halloween feast will go on as planned. We will all be there for it; and then she will continue her investigation after it is over." He smiled at the seven students. "Please return here a half-hour after the feast ends. That should give the Headmistress time to be ready to speak with you."

"Is there any word on how the students are doing that you were helping in the hallway, sir?" Al asked him; and Professor Flitwick nodded sadly.

"Yes, though it isn't good news. Madam Pomfrey is still trying to help them, but it appears that the combination of ingredients in that slime has produced some kind of combination she's never seen before that has made all of the students quite ill. All six of them may need quite some time to recover – though she believes that they all will get well again."

"There are six students affected by it?" Rose exclaimed; and Professor Flitwick nodded again.

"Two students made the mistake of investigating the slime that went out of the windows," he explained. "They're not as ill as the others, but their hands are in bad shape; and they have some internal damage from breathing in the vapor. The seven of you did very well indeed to keep yourselves safe from that stuff."

"We've got Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose to thank for most of that," Toni advised him. "I mostly just stood there and quietly panicked."

"Well, then you've reason to go and enjoy the Halloween feast as much as is possible tonight all things considered," he told her. "Go on, now; and be back here as instructed after the feast."

The three Professors stayed together while watching the seven kids leave, so once they were on their own; Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends could talk freely.

"Merlin!" Rose breathed; looking as though she was in shock. "Six really sick students from that slime – and it could've been us!"

"And if the two that were hurt outside have their hands in bad shape from touching the slime; how much worse must it be for the four in the hallway?' Gwendolyn added and asked. "They were covered in the stuff from head-to-toe."

"Do you know any of them?" Toni asked. "Anyone from our Houses?"

"I couldn't see them well-enough through the slime to recognize them at all. Whether we know them or not, though; let's hope that they'll all be okay soon." She put an arm around Al and squeezed. "You're not likely going to listen to us; but you really should try not to blame yourself for any of this."

"I can't help but wonder what I might have done differently," he said seriously. "The problem is that I don't see any other choices that wouldn't have been as bad or worse – either for us or others."

"We also can't go back in time and change anything," Rose pointed out. "If we could, then nothing bad would ever happen because someone would just use a time-turner and go back and fix every problem and mistake. There is a reason why the Ministry of Magic has so many restrictions on using them."

"That's too deep for me right now," Ray told her. "How much time do we have left before the feast? I don't even know how long we were in that boat or dealing with everything else."

"Over an hour," Rose answered; "so we've got time to stop in our dorms if you want to do that first. I don't; since the rumors are probably all over the school already. It'll be bad-enough for us at the feast."

"Well I need to stop in to our dorm room," Toni advised Gwendolyn with a smile. "I need to freshen up and get changed. Word might have gotten around about the slime and injured students; but I'll hope that nobody knows about our involvement in it yet."

"You could be right about that," Rose conceded. "I guess I'd better go and do that too – especially if we'll be spending much time with Professor McGonagall – not to mention that we'll still have our assignments to get done after that too."

"So much for having a play night," Ray said with a sigh. "Even when we stop their pranks and ambushes; James and Ollie still manage to mess things up for us."

"You will be at the feast this year," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Maybe you'll even get to enjoy one Halloween by seventh-year."

"Yeah – because James and Ollie won't be here for our NEWT year," Ray shot back with a short, half-bitter laugh. "Even then, I won't be surprised if they find a way to mess with us anyway."

"That's not a cheery thought," Toni told him. "Remind me to avoid hanging out with Al and Ray on Halloween from now on," she told Michael; and he grinned at her.

"I'll be able to remember to do that," he assured her. "We're all going to remember this Halloween for quite a while."

"No doubt," Bristol agreed. "I'm in for the stop in our dorm room, Rose," she added. "The boys must be playing it cool or something; since I can't believe that they weren't sweating that out as much as we were."

"I'll save up being scared for when we find out the rest of the slime story," Michael told her. "For now, ignorance is bliss."

They continued to talk about it until they reached the spot where the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors needed to split up to go to their own Houses; and then there was a quick round of hugs and some kisses before they did that. Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray got noticed when they arrived in their common room, but word apparently hadn't reached their fellow Gryffindor that they'd been involved in the slime story that was all the rage, and since they didn't appear to look the worse for wear; they were soon out of the spotlight as they split up to go to their respective dorm rooms. Al and Ray had the room to themselves; and Ray flopped onto his bed and sighed in relief.

"Okay, we're alone now. Am I the only Witch or Wizard in our group in need of a change of underwear?" Ray joked; and Al laughed.

"We'd have noticed long before now if that was true for you – or any of the rest of us," Al pointed out. "I am going to go and have a quick wash up and get changed, though – even if I'm mostly feeling gross from the thought of all of that slime."

"Do you think that James and Ollie will figure out a way to get out of this one?" Ray asked as Al opened his trunk and grabbed his bathroom kit and a change of clothes.

"I don't know," Al answered with a shrug. "If they are well and truly caught, though; that'll be bad four our House as well as for them. If what I did last Valentine's Day was worth fifty points against our House; what will something like this be worth – especially with six serious injuries involved?"

"Victoire threw the book at you; and it shouldn't have been that harsh," Ray reminded him. "This could be that bad for them, though; so maybe we should hope they do get out of it – strictly for the sake of our House."

"We still don't know everything, but I don't agree with that," Al told him seriously. "They really messed up with this prank. Whatever they were trying for ended up being way more dangerous than they could have expected if Madam Pomfrey is dealing with something she's never seen before." He shook his head. "James will decide that it's just like one of Uncle George's wheezes when his experiments don't work out the way he expects; but he'd never try his experiments on this kind of scale – or especially where someone could get seriously hurt – or worse."

"It's that 'or worse' that's scariest for me," Ray admitted. "Let's not go there, though, and I guess we'd better get ready quickly too; since the girls will be waiting for us in the common room – and not happy with us if we're late."

"Keep that up, and the Witches will be lining up to go with you to the Christmas dance this year – if they have one again."

"I still can't dance," Ray advised him. "If there's another dance; I'm not taking a date."

"There are some Witches that don't dance either," Al pointed out; "but it's probably a better idea for you to just get around to learning how." He grinned at his friend then. "Maybe Bristol would help you out with some lessons."

Ray laughed. "Sure, because I haven't already messed things up with her enough already."

"She might consider helping a friend out – for the sake of the other Witches you might get involved with around here. She is friends with most of them; so it could work."

They talked about that for a couple of minutes, but then moved on as they went to the washroom; got cleaned up and dressed; and then grabbed their book bags again on the way out before going to meet up with Rose and Bristol. The girls weren't in the common room yet; and they had to wait for nearly fifteen minutes before they did catch up with them. The reason for the delay was obvious when they had Cora and two other roommates with them; and the other three Witches were obviously in the loop now about their involvement in the slime prank. There were quite a few Gryffindor heading to the Great Hall then, so they didn't talk about the slime prank except indirectly; but then that's what most of the teens were talking about. While some of the Gryffindors took a route to the Great Hall that took them near the site of the slime prank; those stairways between the seventh and fourth floors were closed off; so they couldn't actually see anything. Al and Rose led the way for their little group; and they didn't go anywhere near that section of the castle. When they got to the Great Hall, Al took a short detour to check in with Gwendolyn and make sure she was still okay, but other than exchanging a quick hug, kiss, and a few words; that was the only interaction they had until after the Halloween feast.

The Great Hall was nearly full by the time he sat down next to Rose, and while that definitely had a lot to do with students in all four Houses wanting to hear every rumor about the slime prank; it also meant that James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando had a lot of attention when they arrived together. They were among the last students to arrive, and while James and Ollie were trying their best to look as if nothing was wrong; Fred and Orlando were both white-faced – and they looked both scared and very unhappy. James and Ollie only walked as far as their usual seats; so Fred and Orlando were on their own as they walked past Al, Rose, and their friends. Neither boy even looked at them; but then they didn't try to look directly at anyone until they were sitting down and with their firstie friends. Then, they were the center of attention; and weren't happy about that either.

"I'd say we've got at least two students feeling guilty," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al.

"Yeah, but not the two that should feel terrible right now," Al whispered back. "I really want to go over there and smack them. They must know by now that there are six teens in the hospital wing because of their stupid prank; and they're acting as if their still having a great time."

"That's the way they are," Rose said with a sigh of regret. "It would be nice if this would convince them to change their ways; but I doubt it will." She had been looking toward James and Ollie; and her eyes widened in surprise. "They've gone bonkers," she breathed in amazement. "What kind of idiot would start right in on Halloween wheezes when they're being investigated for something as serious as that slime prank?"

"Only the very best kind," Al joked. He didn't look in that direction too; but didn't need to do that to sense what was going on around James and Ollie.

His friends were also happy to talk about those Halloween wheezes and everything else that was going on around the Great Hall; but Al was relieved when the feast was served; and everyone in the room was busy filling plates for a while – though the conversations continued while they did that and then began eating. Al was very quiet during the meal; and he decided that Ray was right – and that James had still managed to ruin the Halloween feast for him. He couldn't feel happy or have fun knowing that there were students in the hospital wing or that there was a huge mess that was all collateral damage from a prank that was meant to hurt him. Feeling guilty for escaping that prank unscathed was part of that too; but that didn't mean that he'd have felt better if he was the one in the hospital wing instead. He ate everything on that first plate full of food he'd gotten, but then he'd had all he could take of the festivities by then; so he didn't wait for the desserts; and instead decided to leave the Great Hall and go for a walk.

He still likely had more than an hour to go before he needed to be outside of Professor McGonagall's office; but with basically everyone in the Great Hall; he had the rest of the castle to himself – except for the hospital wing. That was the first destination for his walk; because he couldn't just wait to find out second or third-hand how the six students were doing. When he walked in through the door, he could immediately see the six teens in their beds; but Madam Pomfrey was in her office and apparently busy with something because she didn't even notice his arrival at first. When she did spot him, she frowned; he heard her say something that wasn't loud-enough for him to understand; and guessed that she was on a mirror chat with someone. She stood up and came into the main room then, though; and walked over to him.

"I'm rather busy right now, Mr. Potter," she said curtly. "Is there something you need; or are you simply more curious than the rest of your fellow students? If it's the latter; then please leave now."

"Some of my friends and I were the target of that prank," Al explained quietly and earnestly. "It's my faoult that they've been hurt," he added; waving a hand at the row of beds. "How are they?"

Madam Pomfrey's expression softened. "Sleeping," she answered. "It's best for them right now; since their injuries and ilness are quite painful for them. I am currently discussing a course of treatment for them, though; so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me get back to that and let me help your fellow students."

"Yes, ma'am," Al agreed; "but is it okay if I stay for a few minutes? I'll be quiet and won't disturb your patients."

"Very well – for a few minutes," she agreed with a bob of her head. Returning to her office, she hesitated for a moment; and then closed the door behind her so that he wouldn't be able to hear her ongoing conversation. From what she'd just told him, he expected that she was consulting with other Healers, so if she was closing the door; then it was serious indeed.

Walking closer to the beds, Al saw that there were four Wizards and two Witches. He hadn't been able to determine who the teens in the hallway had been anymore than Gwendolyn had been able to do that; and he couldn't do that now because their heads were wrapped in bandages. He couldn't see the rest of them because they were covered to their necks by sheets and blankets; but he could also hear the labored breathing that was common to all six teens. Two of the boys did not have their heads bandaged, and his memory identified them as fifth or sixth-year Hufflepuff students that he'd seen around but didn't know even by name. Their hands were bandaged, and the only reason he knew that was because they each had both hands resting at their sides on top of their blankets – suggesting to Al that the other four teens were quite possibly bandaged from head to foot.

His jaw clenched as he thought about how his own brother and one of his cousins were responsible for this; and the anger flared inside of him in a nearly uncontrollable wave. Instead of venting, though, Al channeled that energy; opened all of his senses up to the six teens in front of him; and took in everything he could learn from them. Without even thinking about it, his wand was in his hand; and he was letting the power of his magic flare out. Without having a conscious clue about what he was doing; he allowed his instincts to lead him; and he did what he felt he needed to do to help them. That he could do that was something to deal with later, but when he was done and looked over toward Madam Pomfrey's office and saw that she hadn't noticed anything; he was sure that he had just made sure that her new patients' recoveries would practically be miraculous.

The anger still raged in him as he quietly left the hospital wing; so Al knew where he needed to go next – the scene of the crime. Getting there didn't take him long, though the area was blocked off; and he could only get as close as the far-end of the hall from the edge of the slime mess. Letting his anger and power flare out again, he began by putting up a privacy shield that basically protected the entire slime blob area. Then he pointed his wand at the edge of the slime and roared – "REDUCIO!" while letting his power flare incandescent. Using that spell on tons of slime brought Al to his knees as the magic raced out of him, but his senses let him know what was happening; and when the spell had run its course; he stepped over the barrier that had been put up to keep students out of the area; went to where there was now just two or three buckets-full of slime left in the classroom; and stopped just a few yards away from it. The smell was still awful; but the mess was manageable now; and he took care of that too by rounding up several garbage cans and then using levitation charms to fill them with the still-dangerous slime. He decided to leave it up to the Professors to deal with disposing of the stuff; mostly because he had no idea how to safely do that. He didn't try to fix the rest of the mess in the classroom, but the last bit of magic that he did take care of was turning their temporary boat back into the worktable; which he left just inside the doorway because the rest of the tables, stools, and furniture had been scattered around the room anyway.

All of that effort did work to burn off his anger, though, and he felt better to have done what he could to make up for James' stupidity; so he was feeling pretty good as he moved on and eventually made his way to the hallway outside of Professor McGonagall's office. Gwendolyn and Rose were waiting there for him; and looked relieved when they saw him. He smiled at them; and couldn't tell if that put them at ease or not.

"Did you at least stay for dessert before leaving the feast?" he asked them.

"Yes, but we've been worried about you," Gwendolyn told him. "Where have you been? You didn't answer your mirror when we tried calling."

Al got his mirror out of his cloak pocket; and shrugged after looking at it. "I still had it turned off from being in classes today," he explained. "I just went for a walk to cool off. The more I thought about all of this; the madder I was getting at James."

"And what happened while you were out on that walk?" Rose asked suspiciously. Al laughed and hugged her – after hugging Gwendolyn first once he was near-enough to do that.

"Let's just say that I've done what I can to clean up my brother's mess," he said quietly so that Gwendolyn and Rose would hopefully be the only recipients of that bit of news – not that he was sure that was possible when they were this close to Professor McGonagall's office and the statues guarding the magical staircase.

Gwendolyn hugged him again; but then stepped back and stared at him. "Al, if you were able to do what you're implying; why didn't you just do that when the prank was sprung on us?"

"I don't want to answer that because it'll make me look like an idiot," Al joked; but then got serious again. "Honestly, I don't know, Gwendolyn. I don't know if I could have stopped the prank while it was in progress; or whether I could have done more damage if I'd tried – just as I don't know for sure what might have happened if we'd done other things differently. Maybe there was no right way to deal with it at all – other than if James had decided not to do the prank at all."

"We don't know what's in that stuff," Rose pointed out. "Merlin only knows what a clash of magic might have done with an unstable mixture like that – and having that much stuff blow up wouldn't have ended well for sure."

"I didn't think about that," Gwendolyn admitted. "We should just stop second-guessing ourselves – no matter how tough that is to do."

"For us," Rose agreed. "Did you see any of the things that James and Ollie were doing at the feast? They just pranked their friends with Halloween wheezes; but I still can't believe they kept doing stuff like that right after seeing the Headmistress over their slime prank."

"I didn't see anything – but then I was ignoring them on purpose," Gwendolyn answered. "Al isn't the only one of us that wanted to blast his brother. Al doesn't know yet, but three out of six of those teens were Ravenclaws. They aren't friends of mine; but I do know them – and from what we've heard; they were really hurt fairly badly."

"They were," Al agreed. "That was my first stop on my walk. They've all been put to sleep so they don't have to deal with the pain, and while Madam Pomfrey talked with me for a minute to give me the update, she was also busy working on their treatment; so I was only allowed to stay for a few minutes. I'm sure we'll know more by tomorrow – and I think they'll be okay."

They sat down then and continued to talk. Ray, Bristol, Toni, and Michael were together when they joined them; and they still had another fifteen-minute wait before Professors McGonagall and Longbottom arrived – and invited them to follow as they went up the magical staircase to the Headmistress' office. There weren't enough chairs there when they walked into the room, but there were by the time Professor McGonagall invited them to sit down. She looked very serious; but Neville seemed to be fighting to hide a grin as he sat down too.

"Before I ask you about what happened this afternoon, Professor Longbottom and I went to take a look at the damage to the school from this prank just now; and discovered that most of the mess has already been cleaned up. Would any of you happen to know anything about that?" She was looking steadily at Al as she asked that question; and he met her gaze without flinching – despite having the urge to do just that.

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered; surprising four of his friends. When he didn't say anything else; the silent tension seemed to hang in the air between them.

"Would you care to elaborate?" she finally asked; and Al shook his head.

"No, ma'am."

"I see," Professor McGonagall said while Neville was now trying not to laugh out loud. "That will apparently remain a mystery – for now," she decided. "I have spoken with Professors Perks and Jones already, so I'd like to hear what happened from you now; and then I'll let you get to the studying that I expect you'll still want to get done tonight – and couldn't do earlier. Which one of you would like to begin?"

"I'll go," Gwendolyn decided and answered first. "Al's obviously a terrible story-teller – even if he is rather handy to have around at other times."

She then proceeded to tell their story with help from Rose, Bristol, Toni, and the boys – though Al contributed as little as possible; and tried to play down his efforts toward protecting them. Their story didn't take as long as the actual events, but it did take nearly a half-hour by the time Professor McGonagall had finished asking all of her questions – or at least the questions she expected to get them to answer. Neither of the Professors believed that they didn't know more about the identity of the pranksters beyond what they were hearing on the gossip network, but since that meant incriminating a sibling and three cousins; they didn't push the issue.

They were dismissed then; headed for their usual study classroom now that it was obvious that their efforts to switch things up had been pointless; and then they settled in to do the studying that had been interrupted by the slime prank. Getting focused on their work wasn't easy, but they were sure to be part of the slime prank gossip story in all of the Houses now; so they were also glad to have an excuse to be out of their Houses and away from everyone else until they'd have to go back ahead of curfew. Talking about everything that had happened to them was something that some of them needed to do more than others, but they did that as well; and still managed to get their assignments finished. Once the work was out of the way, some of them had to move on to mirror chats with their parents; so they split up to do that – or move on to do other things in their common rooms or dorms.

The need for a mirror chat was a high priority for Al, since his parents would have been contacted already by Professor McGonagall – and possibly by Neville too; so making that call home was the first thing that Al did after getting to his dorm room. He'd needed to run the gauntlet of the common room first; but he mostly let Rose, Ray, and Bristol deal with that; and only stopped for some hugs with Dominique, Molly, and Lucy; and just a few words with Louis to assure him that he was okay and unhurt. Harry, Ginny, and Lily were glad to know for sure that he was okay too; and Al wasn't surprised to find out that they were not at all happy with James. He did learn some details from them that he hadn't known – such as the fact that Professor McGonagall had been given parental approval for a search of the boys' bags and trunks – and that she'd then found evidence in two of the book bags – containers that had been emptied; but still had slime residue. They didn't specify which book bags, so Al suspected that it was the junior members of James' little band of pranksters that were caught with the evidence; and he hoped that Fred and Orlando wouldn't be left holding the bag for the prank – though he wouldn't put it past James to do exactly that – and think that he was brilliant for doing it.

After his mirror chat home, Al got ready for bed; read for a while until Ray joined him in their room; and then they talked for a while too – including with some of their room mates; though the team players didn't join in on those chats no matter how much Al was sure they wanted to do just that. Gwendolyn called Al for a mirror chat when she was ready for bed; they compared notes for their respective mirror chats with their parents; and then they ended that chat when Gwendolyn was ready to get some sleep. Al was tired by then too, but it was quite a while before he was able to sleep.

While he waited for that to happen, he had a lot to think about – not the least of which was trying to understand how he did some of the magic he was able to make happen in the hospital wing and on the sixth floor. He did know that those feats were quite extraordinary, and he was particularly glad that he could help the sickened students; but it was a bit unsettling too – if not flat-out scary. Then again, as he thought about that, flat-out scary would actually be if James could do that kind of magic with his complete disregard for anyone but himself. That was certainly a Halloween-worthy direction for his thoughts, but Halloween was over by the time he did eventually get to sleep; and Al hoped that November would start out better than October had ended.

He hoped, but didn't expect that to happen – especially if James ended up getting into a lot of trouble for his slime prank and didn't get out of it this time. If that happened; he expected that James would be out to get him no matter what – and he'd try to do that any way he could do it. Whatever happened, though; Al promised himself that he'd do whatever was necessary to protect himself, Gwendolyn, Rose, and all of their friends from his brother and prankster crew – no matter what it took to do that right back!


	15. Good and Bad Sports

Chapter Fifteen – Good and Bad Sports

"Merlin!" Rose said to Al as they were heading down the last set of stairs to the entrance hall. "Look at the House points hourglasses! We've basically lost all of ours!"

"Wow!" That was all that Al could manage; and he felt the hit from that as much as he was sure that every Gryffindor would as they found out about it. There were a handful of students standing around in the entrance hall and obviously talking about it, but while they were watched as they passed and went on to the Great Hall; they weren't asked any questions; and didn't stop to join any of those conversations.

"We were likely first or second yesterday," Rose continued once they were able to talk again without being easily overheard. "I guess that at least one Gryffindor got punished for that prank."

"We'll know when we see the four pranksters this morning," Al offered. "If James gives me the 'I'm gonna kill you' look; then he didn't get out of it."

"And if Fred looks miserable and is also mad at James; then he and Orlando likely took the blame on their own," Rose offered; and then shook her head. "Either way; this sucks for our House. We might not even be able to catch up for the House Cup race after falling this far behind."

"That won't be easy," Al agreed. "It's a good thing that James has the Quidditch Cup wrapped up for us already; or our House will be in for a tough year."

Rose laughed. "That's so wrong – and funny. The bad news for us, though, is that he'll blame us if we lose either – or both."

"He will," Al agreed, "but we can't do anything about that; so let's not worry about it."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "It's a Hogsmeade weekend. Have you booked a scrimmage or Chaser duel? We were so busy with Halloween and everything else before now; I haven't even thought about it."

"I booked a slot so that Gwendolyn and I can have a Chaser duel; but didn't think we'd have enough interest for a scrimmage because it's supposed to be cold this weekend – and maybe a bit wet too. If it rains; I doubt we'll do the Chaser duel either."

"Well, we can always do extra work on our projects – and could probably get them all done this weekend if we put in the extra time."

"We can do that," Al agreed; "but I want to work on our special project too – and maybe even get it mostly done."

"That's fairly hopeful," Rose said; "but we should make time for that too." She grinned at him then. "Would you like to work on that during the times you normally spend alone with Gwendolyn?"

"Maybe for some of that time, if we need to do that too," Al agreed. "Let's talk about that with Gwendolyn later today or tomorrow."

They still had some time to chat before the rest of their Gryffindor friends arrived, and Gwendolyn stopped by for a hug and kiss with Al that was mostly in sympathy for the hit their House took in the House Cup points standings that now had them in a very distant fourth place. It wasn't long after that before Al also knew for sure that James and Ollie had gotten into trouble for the slime prank – along with Fred and Orlando. The grapevine was humming with rumors; and none of it was good news for the four pranksters. They heard that each of the boys were docked fifty points and given fifty hours of chores detention with Jigger. They also wouldn't be allowed to attend any school functions like Quidditch matches until their detentions were completed. James and Ollie had one additional restriction – no Hogsmeade weekends either until their detention time was served – starting with the trip to town that was now just two days away.

Al didn't need to see James to sense the hatred being directed his way from his brother – and from Ollie. He didn't like that; and was even more certain that they would redouble their efforts to make his life miserable – or find other ways to hurt him. Facts wouldn't matter to James about this anymore than they'd mattered for everything else that he blamed Al for; but he did now understand that James needed to find blame for everything in anyone and anything except himself. With that drama going on in the Great Hall throughout breakfast, Al was glad to leave early and go on to his Charms class; where he and Rose played around with the Charms they were working on in class while waiting for Professor Flitwick and the rest of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students to join them.

Playing with Charms all morning went a long way toward moving the fun level up a few notches for Al, and while he was not part of the top story at lunchtime; that was simply because nobody knew that he was involved – though there was a chance that at least one or two Witches might suspect that he had something to do with it. The remarkable, unexplained recovery of the six students hurt by the slime prank was news at lunchtime because they were all in the Great Hall for that meal – after spending the morning being thoroughly checked out by Madam Pomfrey to make sure that they truly were healed. The miraculous part of the story was that the six teens had found out that they were healed already when Madam Pomfrey woke them in the morning and wanted to begin the treatment she'd come up with; only to discover that they were already well again.

That news had both been good and bad for James; though Al didn't hear about those stories until later in the day. James had apparently decided that the slime had obviously not been nearly as dangerous as Madam Pomfrey had initially claimed; and was soon happy to tell everyone who would listen that his slime had, in fact, been harmless – a fact that was proven by the quick recovery of the injured students. He also apparently requested that the punishments be rescinded – or at least reduced; since the students were fine and the school was fixed already too. Professor Longbottom refused his request, though, and while that was the main bad for James; it did also give him the opportunity to complain about how unfairly he was being treated by the Professors.

While the lunch gossip was full of entertainment that kept them occupied and distracted; the rest of Al's day mostly returned to near-normal. He and Rose had fun in their Potions class – partly because Professor Perks had them play around with a hardening Potion that was a beginner-level version of the Potion she'd used on the slime to help them get out of the classroom they'd been stuck in. Their afternoon study period combined with the after-school study group time allowed them to get their Charms and Potions assignments finished by dinnertime; though Al worked with Gwendolyn and the rest of their friends after dinner while Rose, Bristol, and Ray had some fun and a nap between dinner and their Astronomy class.

It was during that class that Al found out from Rose and Ray that James had some of his third year friends mad at him. That was because he'd decided to go ahead with the junior team Quidditch practice on Saturday that he'd cancelled on the other Hogsmeade weekends. Al was sure that was so that he and Ollie could avoid some detention time on Saturday, but Brock and Eric were not happy when James declared that his team needed to stick together; and the practice was mandatory. Since that decision didn't just affect his third-year players; James had a half-dozen friends mad at him. Ray speculated that maybe James and Ollie were also trying to push Brock and Eric out in favor of Orlando at Beater and someone else to play with Ollie and Cyndia at Chaser; but that really was just speculation on his part.

News that James had found yet another new way to irritate the people closest to him was the main entertainment before the start of their Astronomy class; but spending that time on the Astronomy tower with Gwendolyn was definitely a highlight of the day for Al – and for Gwendolyn. Having other classes in the dark wouldn't work out very well for the actual work; but they both thought that those classes would be a lot more fun if they could sneak hugs and kisses during them too! That nighttime fun had everything to do with why Al's Thursdays always ended so well; and the happy carried into his Friday mornings thanks to getting to spend most of the day with Gwendolyn too – even without getting enough sleep compared to most other nights.

Life was very much back to normal on Friday for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group. The top news was simply that there was no news. They had their studying for the weekend finished by dinnertime – even with Gwendolyn's break in the study time while she was busy with her Quidditch practice. While she was busy with that, Al and Rose finished their studying; and then spent the rest of the time working on the map. While Rose teased them about going back to mapping after dinner; Al and Gwendolyn 'blew her off' and had a music play time evening – along with a snogging session that made for a great end to their school week. Al also had a bedtime mirror chat with Lily after getting back to his dorm room just before curfew; but then he still went to bed early so that he'd be ready for a busy play weekend.

Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Bristol, and Ray got together after breakfast on Saturday morning with plans to try and complete their magical map – or at least to get it done to a level that made it usable for keeping track of James, Ollie, Fred, Orlando, and the Slytherins that hated them the most – even though there hadn't been any problems with the Slytherins so far this year. That had been true last year too until November; and Al and Rose were sure that they'd need that help on their maps sooner or later even if they did get left alone by the Averys and their buddies for a while. Al had gotten up early; was ready early; and had an extended walk with Rose before breakfast when she was ready to go early too. The breakfast entertainment was mostly about the Hogsmeade weekend; though there was other gossip on the network that was mostly teen couple drama that the girls were more interested in than the guys were. While they were going to work on the map in their usual study classroom; they went for a walk first after breakfast because they wanted to add a few Wizards and Witches to the list; and decided that the departing older students offered a perfect opportunity to do that. They found some first-floor windows with a good view of the road out to the castle gates; and kept a look-out for their Slytherin targets.

"This was a great idea," Gwendolyn told Rose. "We really should be able to get the map done now – especially with five of us able to do the new plotting and labels."

"I wish we were going to Hogsmeade instead," Ray lamented; and then grinned. "At least James and Ollie couldn't stick it in our faces today. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll still be serving detention for the rest of the Hogsmeade weekends for the entire year."

"They won't do that," Rose assured him. "There's a really good chance that they'll miss the Gryffindor-Slyterin game for the senior team; but I doubt they'll still be serving this detention for the next Hogsmeade weekend." She nodded out the window. "There's Raban and Victor. Let's get them added."

"I'll do Victor," Gwendolyn said; "and don't go there, Ray. That isn't funny."

"It is; but okay," he answered while grinning wolfishly. "We've already got Rupert and G-Air; but there's Monty and Don. We should add them too."

"You and Bristol can take care of that," Rose said as she was already busy plotting Raban Lestrange and labeling 'his' dot. When she had that done, she went back to watching the students leaving the castle. "Have you thought about plotting Winter and Blizzard, Al? It isn't really a big deal to keep track of them, since you see them when they arrive with posts and you send Winter out yourself, but if it works; that would mean we can track animals here too."

"That'd be cool; but you get to do the plotting for Aragog and her brood," Al told her with a laugh. "That'd take about a century – assuming you could do that without getting invited to be dinner for them."

"Funny, but I was thinking about other pets – like Holly; and that was mostly for the future. I don't even know how many times I've seen other students trying to find missing kneazles or other pets."

"Are you thinking about making some money on the side with a pet finder service?" Bristol joked; and then laughed. "We might be able to make more by keeping track of certain Wizards and Witches instead."

"I do not want to get in the middle of any of that kind of teen drama," Gwendolyn told her seriously; though she'd laughed too. "Sitting around watching out for cheating boyfriends or girlfriends is a bit too voyeuristic too – even if you're just doing that on a map."

"And way more than any of us need to know about teens that we know,' Al added. "I don't even want to witness the snogging that goes on in our common room; so count me out for that business if you do decide to start it up."

"That's Brock!" Bristol said suddenly; and that exclamation got everyone's attention focused on the line of students below them.

"Where?" Ray asked; and Bristol pointed.

"There with Magnus and some of their friends," she answered. "I thought that James' practice this morning was mandatory!"

"That's what the guys in our dorm told us," Ray said with a nod. "He's got a bit of time before the practice starts. Maybe he's trying to run to town and back before it starts."

"You can't walk there and back that fast," Rose told him. "Do you think he'd flip James off and go to Hogsmeade anyway?"

"If he is doing that; he's not alone," Al said quietly. "There's Eric too – with Kendall Towler and a few other third-years."

"That's not good," Rose said solemnly; "but I guess we'd better not just jump to conclusions about it. I didn't notice James and Ollie acting any weirder than normal at breakfast."

"Let's hope it is nothing," Al agreed. "Brock and Eric will find out just how stubborn James can be if they are defying him and expect he'll cave in."

"We'll know if there's a story there by lunchtime," Gwendolyn predicted; "but there's another pair of Slytherins that we need to map – and it's your turn, Al."

The exodus for Hogsmeade never took very long, so once they'd done all they could there; they headed for their study classroom and continued to work on the map. Doing that sometimes required little field trips to check on certain rooms they wanted to add more detail to, so they had fun with that; and then decided that they at least had a working map ready to go when there was still about an hour until lunchtime. That's when Al got to be in charge of the next step – making copies for everyone in their study group. That proved to be fairly easy for him; but they also tested each copy to make sure that they 'worked' by taking those copies in pairs; heading out in opposite directions; and then eventually 'find' each other again by using the maps to do that. Bristol and Gwendolyn paired up to do that while Al stayed and continued to work on more copies; but Rose had a tougher time doing that with Ray because he kept running away from her every time she got close until she gave up and just went back to the classroom to wait for him to rejoin them again. By lunchtime, they were done; and Al felt a lot better about how safe everyone else would now be for however long James was going to be a problem.

While there were mostly only first and second-year students in the Great Hall for lunch; that just made the gossip network more efficient with fewer students to pass news on to; and the big story was from the Gryffindor junior Quidditch team. Brock and Eric didn't even know it yet, but James had apparently been furious when the two boys hadn't shown up for their practice; and he'd summarily replaced them – with Fred's firstie mate and co-prankster, Orlando Hooper, at Beater; and second-year Anna Donaldson at Chaser. Al, Rose, and Ray didn't hear about other details until later; but those picks had upset other players on the reserve squad that thought they should have been picked for those spots instead. That whole scene hadn't been fun for Al; so he'd been glad to get out of the Great Hall after lunch – and go outside to have a Chaser duel with Gwendolyn at the practice pitch. That was still the top chat topic for them as they left the castle and headed for the pitch.

"James sniffed too much of that slime while making it, didn't he?" Gwendolyn declared after Al had given her the Gryffindor version of the gossip.

"Possibly, but this is exactly what I'd expect him to do," Al answered. "He hates any rules at home or anywhere else – except for when they're his rules. Then it's his way or you're out. He's done that for as long as I can remember – even when we were playing games as toddlers."

"Brock and Eric will be mad, but I could see them just going along with it – and expecting James to come begging sometime ahead of the Hufflepuff match in March."

Al nodded. "I can see that too – and then they'll find out that James won't do that. His ego wouldn't let him; and then there's the fact that he doesn't believe that he needs anyone else to win the games."

"He can't really believe that," Gwendolyn disagreed; and Al laughed.

"I'm sure that he thinks that he could win games with any other six players – even if they were all lousy."

Gwendolyn laughed too. "At the rate he's going; James is going to get to find that out for sure. That's all the better for my team if he does keep doing stuff like this." She smiled then before continuing. "Can you tell me anything about how good Orlando and Anna are?"

"No, but it seems that you'll get to see them in action before you play against them; so that'll work out for you."

"I was joking about that; but it's weird to remember that you really don't know much about the players on your reserve team – and not much more than I do about some of the new team players. Not having you and Rose playing this year is such a waste of talent."

"But not with Ray?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"He's getting better, and would have likely made your team; but we won't know how he'll do in real games until he gets the chance to play."

"That doesn't exactly sound like a vote of confidence for one of your future Cannons' team mates," Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Ray might play for Rose's team some day; but it won't be with me on the team – so stop trying to help her out with that."

Their conversation moved on from there; and they were soon having more fun working on their flying and Quidditch tricks, and then a fairly brilliant Chaser duel; which was even better because it was chilly-enough out that they didn't have any spectators willing to just sit out in the cold to watch them play. With the Hogsmeade weekend going on too, they didn't have to give up the pitch at the start of the second time slot because nobody booked it. They didn't play too much longer anyway because they were ready to go in and get warmed up with hot drinks by then; but it was nice not to have to rush. The drinks and snack break was followed by some quiet time in the library; and then they split up about an hour before dinnertime so that Gwendolyn could get ready for dinner and their evening plans; and they could both get the first reports from Hogsmeade – which for Al was mostly just a visit with the cousin in charge of his supply pick-up this weekend. Molly and Lucy had drawn that job for Al and Rose, and that could get weirder for Al than Rose; but then the girls never picked Louis to do Rose's shopping for her – and he could always ask Louis for help if he didn't want the girls to help him with something.

None of that turned out to be of much interest by the time that Al got back to the common room anyway; and it was the things that were and weren't happening around Hogwarts that was getting the most attention with the Gryffindors.

Scorpius sighed with relief as he closed the door to 'his' special place in the Room of Requirements. He strode over to the table and arm chair; opened up his book bag; and pulled out Thomas' portrait. Once he had it set up on the table; he sat down in the chair and smiled at Thomas.

"I've a lot to tell you about what's been going on around here since we spoke last," Scorpius said. "I'd have done this sooner; but have had some trouble getting away from my friends and team mates – in part because of what's been happening."

"Sounds interesting," Thomas said; smiling too. "I can't tell from your appearance if this is good or bad news."

"That would depend on your perspective," Scorpius answered. "I haven't really thought about any of it in terms of good or bad for me – and it could easily be neither when it comes to any effect on me."

"Okay, so what's the big news?"

"James, Ollie, ad two other first-year Gryffindors tried to pull a prank on Albus and the other members of his study group after last class on Halloween afternoon – a fairly large prank."

"Since you said they tried it; the prank didn't work out as planned," Thomas stated; and Scorpius nodded.

"It didn't – but not because it didn't work as they wanted. They sealed the classroom that Al and the others were in; and began filling the room with some kind of slime – and by fill it; I mean near to the ceiling."

"That would be messy, but far more than necessary to simply prank some students. Were they trying to drown them?"

"I have no idea; but we do know that the slime was quite dangerous. Six students needed to be put in the hospital wing after coming into contact with the stuff."

"Let me guess – sealing the room wasn't enough to keep that much liquid contained," Thomas said; and Scorpius laughed.

"Exactly; and the windows and door in the classroom were all blown out. That classroom was on the sixth floor, so that wall of the castle below the windows was covered in the stuff; and from what we heard; about a quarter of the entire sixth floor hallways were covered in it too – an inch or two deep by the time some Professors managed to contain it. Four students were in the hallway and got caught up in it; and two more went to investigate outside and got hurt from touching it and breathing in whatever vapors it was giving off."

"That must mean that the younger Potter and his friends found a way to protect themselves from the stuff," Thomas deduced.

"They transfigured a work table into a boat; shielded it; and rode it out until the door and windows blew out," Scorpius explained. "If there are more details available to the students in the other Houses; it hasn't made it to any Slytherins. "We did know that two Professors still needed to rescue them from the middle of the slime pool that covered the classroom and hallway; but they did get out unscathed. What's more interesting for the Potters, though, is the fact that we know who pulled the prank at all. Albus isn't talking about it himself – though some of the students with him are; but James and the other boys got caught because they were seen by the four students in the hallway that were also hit by the slime and were injured and sickened. The Headmistress apparently uncovered other evidence too; and the four Gryffindors are being punished rather severely."

"You're happy about that," Thomas said; smiling when Scorpius laughed.

"They lost a total of two hundred points for their House – which could put them out of the running for the House Cup even this early in the school year; and got fifty hours of chores detention each along with the usual restrictions that go with that. James and Ollie couldn't go to Hogsmeade today – which brings me to another bit of news from Gryffindor. He ordered a mandatory team practice for today since he couldn't go to town, but two of his third-year team mates didn't show up and went to Hogsmeade instead; so the news around here at lunchtime was that he's booted them off the team and replaced them with a firstie at Beater and a second-year Witch at Chaser. I'm sure that James is mad that Al escaped that prank – and that he got caught; but he's losing it to do something this stupid with his team."

"It's not wrong to deal with insubordination as a leader; but then there might be other issues involved that you're not aware of – reasons he has for doing this. Don't jump to the most-obvious conclusion; since his actions might be quite rational when viewed in hindsight."

"In this case, I believe it's just a matter of a bruised ego – and trying to get control of everything around him after losing that over the past few days," Scorpius suggested. "There's more to the prank story aftermath that I should tell you about first; and that'll likely be of more interest to you too."

"Is that still an ongoing problem?"

"No, and that's where we've got some mystery over what happened. As I already said, about a quarter of the sixth floor was covered in the stuff; and it was apparently still toxic to the touch or to breathe in; so that entire area was blocked off to students. What nobody seems to know, though, is how it got cleaned up – and it was cleaned up before morning; including repairing the door and windows. In addition to that, while we've heard that the six students were quite seriously injured and ill; they too made a miraculous, unexplained recovery."

"Maybe they were miss-diagnosed," Thomas offered.

"Possibly, but the students themselves insist that they were in such pain that Madam Pomfrey put them to sleep overnight – and four of them were also bandaged pretty much from head-to-toe due to the burns and boils caused by being covered by the slime while the other two boys that had only touched it with their hands had the same burns and boils – and bandages – on their hands. Whatever they breathed in apparently caused severe internal injuries too; and here's the really strange part – they discovered that they were healed when Madam Pomfrey woke them and began removing bandages so that she could begin the treatment she'd come up with to try on their injuries."

"She hadn't even begun to treat them yet?"

"Madam Pomfrey didn't know what was in the slime or how to treat them. I even heard that from Professor Dawlish. He was one of the Professors that rescued those four, worst-injured students. He also told me he'd never seen anything like the slime before – and that it truly was dangerous. His guess was that whatever Potter had created; the mixture had gone wrong and the ingredients had become something unexpected and toxic."

"Obviously not as toxic as first believed," Thomas countered. "If the students healed on their own without treatment; then there must be some other explanation."

"But what about the unexplained clean-up?" Scorpius asked. "Professor Dawlish told me that most of the clean-up wasn't done by the staff – though they did do the repairs after the slime was gone."

"Could it have been conjured?" Thomas offered while thinking about it. "That would be quite a feat for a couple of third-years; but would explain why it disappeared so miraculously."

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted. "Is it possible to do that – and have something that's conjured cause injuries?"

"That's an interesting question," Thomas told him approvingly. "A conjured weapon is just as deadly as a real one; but then the wounds don't suddenly heal when the weapon is allowed to disappear. That wouldn't explain the disappearance of real injuries – unless they really weren't injuries; but merely something like hallucinations or something that sent pain signals through the nerves until the conjured slime disappeared." Thomas pondered that idea for long moments. "I can envision such a thing; but it's much more difficult to see how such young students could accomplish it."

"One of the firsties involved was James' cousin, Fred Weasley," Scorpius advised him. "His father is the owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Maybe that slime is some sort of experimental wheeze – one that isn't working yet; or maybe was botched and discarded. My father has always told me that the twin Weasleys were terrible students; but brilliant when it came to their wheezes and the other products they sold when first starting out."

"That might well explain all of the mystery," Thomas agreed; "though that would also suggest something other than conjuring; since you're proposing that it's something they've had here with them since the first of September."

"True," Scorpius agreed; "but for all I know, having that stuff disappear is as easy as the disappearing ink they sell at their stores."

"There's quite a difference when you're talking about a classroom full of the stuff, Scorpius; but your suggestion is as good as mine – and you'll likely never know if this was something that the boys took from home. They'd never admit to it – and neither would the parents."

"Probably not, but either explanation is more likely than any of the rumors going around here to explain away those supposed miracles."

"That's the nature of rumors – even when they begin with facts and truths. Is there anything else going on that you think that I should know about; or is it time to start your next lesson?"

This time, Scorpius did have other things to talk about with Thomas first, including wanting some advice for dealing with his life in Slytherin House. They spent most of the afternoon playing with magic – or at least Scorpius played while Thomas taught; and they were both glad to have something to do that was more interesting than the tedium of student life for Scorpius and unending , horrendously unbearable eternity of darkness for Thomas.

The news that James had tossed Brock and Eric off of the team had reached the two boys by the time Al returned to the Gryffindor common room from spending the afternoon with Gwendolyn. All of the older students knew of it by then too; and the news was causing quite the commotion. James and Ollie were in the middle of that storm – and in the common room; surrounded by a group of students that either wanted to argue with him about it – or try to talk some sense into him. Al didn't try to get involved at all; but he did go and sit down with Rose, Ray, and some of their other friends. That group did not include any of the team players; since they wouldn't dare associate with Rose and Ray with James and Ollie in the room too – especially after he'd just tossed two friends and fellow third-years off of the team.

"Are we having fun this afternoon?" Al asked Rose.

"I'll guess that you had more fun with Gwendolyn," Rose answered. "It's been crap around here for the past hour or more."

"But we can't help but stay and watch the train wreck anyway," Bristol added with a grin. "Brock and Eric can't believe James has tossed them. Believe it or not, there are a few Witches and Wizards on James' side; but most think he's gone completely daft."

"Us included for that," Ray agreed. "We've also heard that Fred and Orlando spent hours in detention today; but James and Ollie haven't done much – if anything. They've been in here for at least a couple of hours now."

"Pretty much since the older students started getting back from Hogsmeade," Rose told Al. "Speaking of that, before I forget; here's the stuff that Lucy picked up for you – and I'll skip telling you the jokes she made about how weird it was to pick up your personal, intimate supplies."

Al laughed. "I'll guess that picking up toothpaste for me isn't as scary for her as shopping for you would be for Louis – even though he has grown up with two older sisters."

"We'd both feel weird about that," Rose declared; "and it's not going to happen." She smiled at Al then. "The good news for you, though, is that I'll repay our cousins by taking care of that sort of thing for Lily and Roxanne when it's their turn to need the help during their first and second years here – so that you won't have to do that for them instead."

"And I'll appreciate that as much as Louis does," Al promised. "Is there any news from town; or is that the only story right now?"

"That's the only story," Bristol answered first. "There were some post-Halloween sales that we've heard about; but that was mostly just cheap sweets and leftover Halloween wheezes that the stores don't want to be stuck with – or have to throw out."

"I thought that they just took the leftover Halloween sweets and repackaged them for Christmas," Ray said more seriously than not.

That comment sent their chat in a new direction that was thankfully not about James and his ongoing dramas. Al eventually went up to his dorm room to get cleaned up and ready for dinner and an evening with Gwendolyn; and then he met up with Rose for an early walk to the Great Hall while their friends were off doing other things either in the common room with other friends or in their dorm rooms. Rose had some fun while they did that testing her map some more; though there wasn't much to see while most of the students they'd plotted on the map were in their own Houses. The gossip network was still buzing at dinnertime with the Gryffindor Quidditch story, and they were tired of it long before the meal was done and they could move on.

While Rose was going to hang out with Bristol and some of the other girls, Al and Gwendolyn went to their usual classroom for playing music; and then had fun for the next few hours while they played, sang, and then watched some shows on the mirror network. They also used Gwendolyn's map to keep track of things with James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando; though none of the boys came anywhere near them – and weren't even out of their House once they'd gone back to the common room after dinner. They didn't have a problem when it was time for Al to walk Gwendolyn back to her House before curfew either – unless you included the need for a short goodnight hug and kiss because there were three snogging couples outside of the Ravenclaw entrance; and they didn't want to join the public snog-fest. Snogging was a popular activity in the Gryffindor common room too when Al got back there; so he went straight up to his dorm room – and Rose hadn't been in the common room by then either; so he missed out on saying goodnight to her along the way. He did wrap up his day with a mirror chat with Lily, but they kept that short; and he was asleep a bit earlier than usual thanks to an attempt to read a book he'd borrowed from the library for research on one of their projects. That material had him in a half-doze before he'd reached the bottom of the first page, and if he managed to turn to the next page; it happened without him remembering doing it before falling fully asleep.

By Sunday morning, the only reason that the Gryffindor Quidditch news was still on the gossip network at all was because Brock and Eric had decided that they weren't going to argue with James about being kicked off of the team anymore – and didn't have a problem with telling that to anyone who asked – along with the assertions that they were okay with not having to do winter practices and that they expected James to come begging for their help sometime before the Hufflepuff match – or after; if he was stubborn-enough to risk losing that game just to prove he was in charge of the team.

Al tried to ignore all of that drama; and was glad that they had a magic play time set up for most of the morning so that he didn't need to be anywhere near to James or Ollie. Getting to do that with Gwendolyn was even better; and they even had a larger-than-normal group of friends meeting up with them after breakfast – including one or two extras from Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration fun ensued for the next few hours, and while they kept themselves entertained; Al was glad to see his friends also getting better at their magic too. That didn't mean that there weren't still the usual mistakes that just helped out with the fun; but there were also more successes too – and the extra practice time helped all of them to get better.

Gwendolyn didn't need to put any of her DADA practice into effect, but she did have to deal with James and Ollie shortly before lunchtime – and do that on her own. They'd split up to return to their own Houses with time to get ready for lunch and for their afternoon plans, and while Gwendolyn had gone back to Ravenclaw tower with her friends, she was ready to go first; which is why she was alone while checking out her new map – and discovered that James and Ollie were hanging out in a spot between Ravenclaw tower and the Great Hall. That had her getting suspicious, so she decided to head for the Great Hall on her own; and find out if they might be out on prank patrol looking to ambush certain Ravenclaw members of Al's study group. She had no doubt that her boyfriend and friends would tell her she was nuts to do that on her own, and they might be right about that, but Gwendolyn was just as sick of James and Ollie as Al, Rose, and Ray were; and she felt a deep need to do something about it – even if it was something small.

It didn't take long for her to see that James and Ollie were up to something because as soon as she was on the move toward the Great Hall, but not directly heading toward them; they were on the move too. That told her that they knew where she was, so James was obviously using the Marauder's Map; and they'd picked her as their next ambush target. She did a wandering route while keeping an eye on James and Ollie with her own map; and then put hers away once she was on an intercept course with them that couldn't be changed – and they'd taken up a position that they likely thought was perfect for their ambush. She thought that it was perfect too, and with nobody else in the hallway within sight; she activated her invisibility charm and then began moving as silently as possible. She nearly laughed when James and Ollie jumped out into the hallway when she was only a half-dozen paces away from their hiding spot; wands drawn and pointed at where they expected to see her.

"Petrificus... what the heck?" James shouted. His mouth dropped open; and Ollie looked equally stunned. They both looked down the hall the other way; and saw that it was empty too.

"Where is she?" Ollie demanded.

"I don't know," James retorted; now sounding angry. He reached into his cloak and pulled out the Marauder's Map. While he was doing that, Gwendolyn was still on the move; and she silently stepped around and past them while James unfolded the parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said; and then he and Ollie both looked down at it. Gwendolyn would have liked to take a look too, but she kept moving; and she was already near to the next connecting hallway by the time James and Ollie were apparently able to locate where they were on the map again. She suspected that was because their map had a lot more names on it; though that was only a guess.

"It says she's there now," James said; pointing toward wendolyn; "but the hallway's empty."

"That thing is pretty old," Ollie told him. "Could it be messing up?"

"It shows us right here," James answered. "I can see you just fine."

"Okay, so where is she then?"

James didn't answer for a moment; but then he swore. "She must be using an invisibility robe or something! Go after her!"

Gwendolyn was on the move at full speed by the time James said 'invisibility' and she was half-way down the nearest flight of stairs before the two boys even started to run after her. She'd been tempted to stand and fight them; but the sound of a group of students reaching her from the stairway had given her another idea that was sure to irritate James and Ollie a lot more – without any risks. Her run had been silent compared to the talkative group of teens, so they hadn't heard anything as she joined them and then just continued to walk behind them. James and Ollie did catch up a few moments later, and she loved seeing the expressions on their faces when they saw the other students; and had to quickly pocket both their wands and the map. That's what Gwendolyn was waiting for, and she had to fight to hold back on another laugh as she side-stepped behind a suit of armor even as James started to grin and nudged Ollie to follow him as they closed the gap between them and the other teens.

"She can't get around them," James was whispering to Ollie as they passed Gwendolyn. "Once we're close-enough; we're sure to bump into her – and then we'll have some fun!"

"Not as much as we'd have had if we'd blasted her like we planned," Ollie whispered back: "but that'll be better than nothing."

Gwendolyn felt like blasting them from behind, but didn't do that; and instead headed the other way back toward the stairs. That's when she saw Al and Rose standing on the landing. Rose had her map in hand; and they were both smiling as they looked toward her. Al nodded his head to the stairs leading down to the next floor; nudged Rose to go with him; and then they were out of sight until Gwendolyn turned the corner and saw them waiting for her a few steps down.

"Are we having fun?" Al asked; and then Laughed when Gwendolyn suddenly appeared the moment she let go of her charm bracelet so that she could hug him enthusiastically. Somehow he'd known exactly where she was; and had his arms open and ready to hug her right back. "You scared Rose half to death when she saw you out here alone with James and Ollie trying to set up an ambush."

"You're crazier than Al," Rose told her; "though I'm glad to see that the charm worked for you."

"It did and didn't," Gwwendolyn advised her. "James guessed that I was invisible – though he thinks I'm using one of your uncle's invisible robes." She laughed quietly then. "They might be second-guessing that soon, since they're trying to bump into me while I'm supposedly hiding and walking behind that group of teens; so we might still be able to use them for future ambush attempts."

"I think you were brilliant – and crazy," Al told her; his smile bright and proud of her. "You're brilliant too. They'll either start doubting the Marauder's Map or be furious that you out-smarted them. Either way, it's a big win for you – and nobody got hurt."

"We might be able to help them out with doubting the map," Rose suggested. "If they have a few more incidents where the map isn't working for them; they might give up on it. I doubt that'll stop them from trying to get us; but it would take away that advantage from them."

"Let's talk about that later," Gwendolyn suggested. "Right now, I'd really like to get to the Great Hall so that I can pretend not to watch James and Ollie when they get there." She laughed then. "When they don't bump into me with that group of students; they'll stop and try to figure out what happened; so we should also hurry and try to mess with them some more when they check the map again and see us together."

"That's brilliant too," Rose approved; laughing too. "Let's do that!"

They ran down the stairs to the first floor; cut across so that they were then on a normal walking route they'd used between the Great Hall and Ravenclaw tower – as if they'd met up and were walking the rest of the way together; and joined a crowd of students going to the Great Hall too – just to make it a bit tougher for James and Ollie to find Gwendolyn. She had another hug and kiss for Al when they split up to sit at their own House tables; and then had almost ten minutes to wait before James and Ollie made it there too – both of them looking angry while also trying to act normal – or what passed for normal with them.

"Mission accomplished," Rose whispered to Al; her grin amused and happy. "Ten points for Ravenclaw!"

"Too bad you can't actually do that," Al said with a laugh. "We should talk later, though, since none of us should like what we learned from them today."

"Definitely," Rose agreed. "Let's do that before we go to the library to work on our projects."

They couldn't talk freely while having lunch, but they managed to stay entertained while they ate; and then Rose, Bristol, and Gwendolyn took care of rounding up their study group for a pre-study meeting where they could have some privacy. Madison and Tory were included for that; and they met up in their usual study classroom. Al and Gwendolyn were there first because they'd left the Great Hall early so that they could talk on their own first; but everyone was there within fifteen minutes of their arrival in the classroom.

"For those of you who haven't heard yet, James and Ollie tried to ambush me before lunch," Gwendolyn reported; and then laughed at the reactions from some of their friends. "I have to confess that I checked my map and helped them out by being alone when they tried to do that, but I've already been advised that I'm crazy; so let's just move on and I'll agree with that consensus view."

"Are we supposed to feel better just because you think you're crazy too?" Bristol asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but you are going to love this story." Gwendolyn then proceeded to tell them what happened; and was sure that all of her friends thought that she was brilliant as well as crazy by the time she was finished.

"We wanted to talk about this because we know for sure now that James and Ollie are going to try to get back at me through at least some of you – and maybe all of you," Al said once Gwendolyn was done. "The invisibility charm worked this time, and Rose and Gwendolyn think that we might be able to still use them if we can get James and Ollie to start doubting their map; but we should all start using our maps before we go anywhere so that we can keep an eye on them – and on Fred and Orlando. They weren't in on it today; but I doubt that they've decided to quit the prank patrol."

"Especially now that James has put Orlando on the team," Rose added. "He owes him for that now, and while I really don't think that Fred is as malicious as James is with these pranks; he is his father's son."

"Okay, so we watch our maps and try to be careful," Toni said with a nod. "What else can we do?"

"Watch out for each other too," Rose told her. "That's how Al and I knew about Gwendolyn. We might not have made it to her on time if James and Ollie had attacked her; but we'd have been there in time to stop them before they could hurt her."

"We won't have to worry about that between most classes," Michael offered; "so it shouldn't be too hard to do that after school, in the evenings, and on the weekends – though we might want to take turns watching the maps when we can do that."

"Al and Ray can watch each other's backs in their dorms too; since that's the one place that the rest of us can't help them," Gwendolyn added. "Would your roommates on James' team help you if he tried anything; or stay out of it?"

"I have no idea," Ray answered; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know either. We wouldn't want to drag them into it if we can help it, but even if they won't help; I don't think they'd join in to gang up on us."

"That's good to know," Ray deadpanned. "They don't seem to want witnesses, though, so my current plan is simply to not be alone anywhere in our dorms – and we can hope that'll be enough."

"I don't plan on being as crazy as Gwendolyn and go anywhere on my own," Toni told them. "If we're using our maps to watch out for them; then I also don't have a problem with running away from them."

"As long as that doesn't mess up our lives too much, I'm okay with that plan too," Bristol assured her. "If this really starts being a problem, though, we should think about taking a stand against them."

"Let's see how things go over the next few weeks," Gwendolyn suggested. "We do still have the advantage of our maps – and the fact that they don't know we have them; so we need to keep that quiet and not be obvious about using them. While we know they're out to get us, they do have other problems right now too – like their detentions; so we'll also have times when we won't need to worry about them at all."

"Okay, but since you mentioned time; it might help some of us to have the first and third-year class schedules for Gryffindor," Madison suggested; speaking for the first time since she and Tory had first joined them. "Unless they're going to try cutting classes; we'll know where they are and when we won't have anything to worry about – even if the risk is less between classes."

"Are you sure that this isn't about knowing were other third-year Gryffindor boys are that you might like to keep an eye on too?" Tory teased; and Madison laughed.

"Not at the moment; but I won't suggest that'll never happen if I do get interested in any of them." She grinned then. "I hear that Brock and Eric are off the team now and don't have to worry about associating with the enemy anymore. Maybe we should ask them out – strictly to mess with James, of course."

Bristol laughed. "I wasn't even thinking about that! Rose, you should totally ask Brock to go to the Gryffindor-Slytherin game next weekend. James would throw a fit over it; and you'd have the bonus entertainment of going out with your Mum's old boyfriend's son!"

"He might go along with that just to bug James too," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Right up until the girl he's currently fancying hexes him for going to the game with another Witch," Rose pointed out; though she'd laughed too. "That would be funny, though, so let's keep that in mind for future reference if he is single sometime later in the year."

"Look at the time," Ray said; feigning surprise. "We'd better get to the library and working on our projects or we won't be able to get everything done by dinnertime!"

"Okay, but if you just don't want to talk about Rose going out with Brock; we can change the subject for you."

"Yes, we can," Tory agreed with a grin. "Who are you going to the game with next weekend, Ray? If you don't have a date lined up, we could help you out with that."

"That depends on who you mean by 'we'; and whether you're talking about some of us being his date," Madison joked. "Ray might like that; but I'm a one-Wizard kind of girl."

Those comments had Ray blushing; the girls then went on to tease him for a while; and they did that while heading to the library – after checking the map and finding that James and Ollie were in the Gryffindor common room and not an immediate threat to them. Al had fun studying and doing research with Gwendolyn and their friends; but then he found out that he was on his own for Sunday evening while Gwendolyn was having another girls' only night with her Ravenclaw roommates. They'd even been given a very short time limit for a goodnight hug and kiss after dinner before her friends pretended to drag her off; and Al was free to do his own thing after that. He and Rose went for a walk; wrote letters for home; and visited the Owlery to send their posts with Winter – and to give Blizzard some treats and attention. After that, Rose went to hang out with her girlfriends too; and Al went up to his dorm room where he spent some time working on his Animagus studies and preparation before wrapping up his day with a mirror chat with his parents and sister.

Quidditch was back in the news around school by Monday, but this time; it was all about the start of the season for the senior teams – with the Gryffindor-Slytherin game at the center of the gossip. There was one very big difference between the two teams that hadn't been the case with their junior team counterparts; and that was the levels of bragging and bravado. Belinda didn't allow anyone on her team to do any of that; while Victor Avery encouraged his team to brag about how great they were; and taunt the Gryffindor players. If you believed the Slytherins, the result was already in the bag; and the Gryffindor Witches in particular were in for a world of hurt on Saturday. Since he had two cousins playing in that game, Al hoped they'd be wrong about that; but he still worried a bit for Dominique and Lucy because the Slytherins might also try to take it to them because they were mad at him. There wasn't anything Al could do about that, though; so he instead focused his attention on his classes, studies, and friends – including helping to keep an eye out for James and Ollie.

Doing that made it easy for Al to have a pretty good week – and a much better one than James and Ollie were having; if the rmors that swirled around them were even half true. Since he'd taken some heat from most of the senior team players for booting Brock and Eric off of his team; he refused to help them out by giving up some practice time to them for getting ready for their game; which just annoyed more of his cousins and friends. He and Ollie weren't trying very hard to work on their detention hours, but that wasn't going well either with Mr. Jigger refusing to give them credit for shoddy work – or to allow for all time worked if they took longer to do jobs than necessary. Add in some stress with their practices and problems with their classes and assignments; and they were having a bad week all around.

Heading into the weekend, the good in Al's life continued, and he was ready to enjoy the Quidditch and weekend with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends. The not-so-great kept on rolling for James and Ollie, and while they hadn't expected to have their detention finished in time for the match anyway; they were not happy about not just missing the game, but also being directed into mandatory chores for the morning on Saturday while nearly everyone else in the scool was at the game. Fred and Orlando were in the same boat, but they'd been working much harder to get through their detention – as well as keeping up with their school work and Quidditch while James and Ollie did as little as possible with everything – except for continually plotting their revenge on Al. The fact that he still hadn't done anything except defend himself and his friends from them was irrelevant, since as far as James was concerned; Al was responsible for every bad thing that happened in his life.

Saturday morning started out wet, windy, and cold, and while it wasn't storming; it was forecast to be a damp, unpleasant weather day. When he got up and ready for the day, Al dressed appropriately for watching a Quidditch match in the rain; he eventually met up with Rose; and then they had a fairly uneventful time of it through until they finished having breakfast and got together with Gwendolyn and the rest of their Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends to hang out together until they went out to the stadium as near to game time as they could. They went and had a bit of magic play time while they waited; still managed to get to the stadium when they could get seats together on the border of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections; and huddled in pairs or groups while trying to stay as warm as possible – since staying dry too wasn't as easy.

"Well, it's that time, boys and girls," Rose said; feigning more enthusiasm than she actually had. "Who would like to take a shot at pre-game predictions?"

"Go ahead, Al," Ray suggested. "You don't seem to mind going out on a limb – even if your prediction won't play well with anyone around you."

Al laughed along with everyone else in their group. "Then I'll start by saying that I think that Slytherin could win today," he said; and then laughed again before adding – "if they catch the snitch before our team is up by more than one-fifty." He looked up into the rain and shook his head. "Brand Bletchley is better than Brandon Starkey, but the rain and wind is going to make it tougher to catch the snitch at all; so that's in our favor too."

"Aren't you forgetting that Avery and his mates are going to crush the Gryffindor Witches today?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head again.

"No, because I don't think that they can. They got away with that once last season, but they don't have a pair of experienced Beaters; and Raban and Don are not going to be pushing Jensen and Stanley around. Add in the wind factor too; and they're not likely going to do well against us at all." He smiled then. "I said that Slytherin has the advantage at Seeker. Our team has the advantage at every other position – and we'll prove that if we have enough time to do that."

After that bit of analysis, Al let Gwendolyn, Rose, and the others continue the chat time for the few minutes they had left before Teresa Thomas got her pre-game announcing started; and then they all mostly just listened to her.

"Welcome to the first senior team match of the season, Quidditch fans!" Teresa called out cheerfully. "We're in for a bit of a wet, messy day; but let's not have that get in the way of what will hopefully be a brilliant match!" She had to wait for a round of cheers that were far from as enthusiastic as would be normal in better weather; and then she continued.

"After our first two junior team matches of the year, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have the wins in those games; and have their Houses in first and second-place for the Quidditch Cup standings. Ravenclaw leads comfortably on points, and while Slytherin and Hufflepuff lost those two games; Slytherin has that same points advantage in reverse for third place while Hufflepuff is currently a distant fourth." She paused again when needed while there were cheers and boos; though those reactions were muted too.

"Today's match is between Gryffindor and Slytherin; and both teams will want this win. For Gryffindor, a second win would put them back into first place in the Quidditch Cup race; while Slytherin has the chance to move up to first or second-place with a win; depending on how the points tie-breaker would work out for a three-way tie." There were more cheers and boos for those points; and then she was ready to wrap up and introduce the teams.

"The only way we'll know how that works out is to get this game going and have our teams decide that for us; so let's do that! First up, we have last season's senior team and Quidditch Cup champions – Gryffindor!"

Even after watching and playing in games for a season, Al still felt the rush of pride as his House team – and two of his cousins, flew out into the stadium while Teresa introduced them. The only change was Brandon Starkey playing Seeker instead of Victoire – and Teresa enjoyed reminding everyone that Gryffindor's Seeker and Captain from last season was now doing quite well with the Harpies; and in first place for the top scorer race too. The Slytherin team and players took a bit longer to introduce because Teresa also took time to acknowledge the three players from last season that were now in the professional league too; and then told everyone about the new Slytherin Beaters and Chaser; since they'd either been on the reserve team or junior team over the past few years – not that they weren't well-known among the Hogwarts students anyway; though that was mostly for non-Quidditch reasons. Mr. Peakes then took care of his usual pre-game talk; he got the game started; and the fourteen players raced up into the air.

"Something's missing," Rose leaned in and told Al and Gwendolyn; "but I can't put my finger on it."

Al laughed; while Gwendolyn just looked at Rose blankly. "What would that be? A Wizard cuddle buddy for you? We keep trying to help you out with that; but you won't let us set you up with any of the guys we've suggested so far."

"She's talking about not having James here doing the same kind of sarcastic commentary he did during your last match," Al explained; and then smiled at Rose. "Did you notice anything else that isn't going on?"

"A few things," she answered. "Anything specific?"

"Our junior team isn't sitting together – or taking notes."

"Neither is my team," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al nodded. "True, but your senior team is watching the game and will be doing their own analysis – and you'll offer your opinion if you see something they might not. Our team is playing; so we should be breaking down the game to help Belinda out."

"Louis will do that," Rose reminded him; and Al nodded again.

"He will, and Louis is a really good Keeper; but game analysis isn't a strength for him."

"You don't think so?" Rose said in surprise. "I haven't really thought about it; but believed that he was good at it."

"Louis listens and uses the information," Al explained, "but if you think about it; you'll realise that the good ideas and analysis came from others – like his sisters, you, and me last season."

"Speaking of analysis; what do you make of that?" Gwendolyn asked Al; nodding her head toward where Victor Avery had just totally whiffed while trying to run into Olivia Wood.

"I think that Victor would do better if he'd just focus on trying to play well with his own Chasers instead of attempting cheap shots against ours. Lacey and Licentia are decent-enough; and he's just messing them up by putting so much of his focus on trying to hurt our Chasers."

"That kind of thing will get him noticed by the Falcons, though," Gwendolyn said. "Maybe that's all he cares about."

"I had no idea he wants to play in the show," Al said; and Gwendolyn smiled.

"Okay, I don't actually know that either, but then I'm probably just trying to explain why anyone would feel okay with cheating to get a win; since I'd really hate to win that way."

Victor, and the other four guys on the Slytherin team, didn't agree with Gwendolyn on that; though they didn't have much success with their strategy to beat up on the Gryffindor Witches. That was partly thanks to Jensen and Stanley playing a great match at Beater for Gryffindor and keeping Raban and Don from doing any damage at all; but Belinda, Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia were also more than ready to handle the attempted cheap shots. Al had been right about Lacey and Licentia, and while Belinda was playing great; the two Witches still managed to get a lot of shots on goal while Victor was too busy trying to bash Dominique, Lucy, or Olivia; and they managed to score some goals too. Unfortunately for Slytherin, Vince Vaisey was not having a good day in goal for them; and the Gryffindor Chasers were out-scoring their opponents three-to-one despite the fact that the shots on goal weren't nearly that lopsided between the teams.

That difference was true right from the beginning of the match, and the harder the Slytherin Wizards tried to impose their will on Gryffindor; the worse it got for them. After the first hour, Gryffindor was up eighty-to-thirty. By the end of the second hour; it was two-hundred to seventy; and Slytherin was already in danger of losing their Seeker advantage as Brand wasn't having any luck by then with catching the snitch. It wasn't much longer after that when Gryffindor was up by one-sixty; and Belinda had Brandon back off in his Seeker duel. While a close win might be a problem in the Quidditch Cup race; Belinda also didn't want to purposely drag out the game and risk having anyone on her team getting injured for no reason. Victor Avery wasn't ready to give up that easily; but redoubling his efforts to beat up on the Gryffindor Witches just made matters worse for his team. Gryffindor was up by a score of three-fifty to one-ten when he finally decided that his team wasn't going to outplay Belinda and her team; and he grudgingly gave Brand the signal to try for the snitch catch for the loss.

That didn't keep him from spending the rest of the game doing nothing but trying to hit and hurt the Gryffindor Witches – including Belinda; but he failed miserably at that too. Gryffindor scored three more goals to just one more for Slytherin that Licentia Nott scored on Belinda before Brand finally caught the snitch despite the fact that Brandon didn't even try to stop him and he wasn't pestered by the Gryffindor Beaters either. The final score was three-eighty for Gryffindor and two-seventy for Slytherin. Winning by the bigger margin was a bonus for Gryffindor; and a stupid decision by Victor Avery – especially when the game had already been so decisively in Gryffindor's favor at the point when they'd reached that one-sixty lead.

While they still had lots of time left before lunch would be served in the Great Hall, the post-game fun was kept short because of the rain. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and about half of their game-watching group went out onto the pitch to congratulate the Gryffindor players, but once they'd done that; Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own to wander around before he walked her back to her House; and everyone else mostly split up too. Rose and Bristol were together, and the last to leave the pitch after spending a bit of extra time talking with Dominique, Lucy, and a few other Witches that were mostly friends of the two older teens. Since they were on their own, the first thing they did once they were indoors and dry was stop to take a look at Rose's map. They found the rest of their friends easily-enough, and they were all okay; but they also found James and Ollie together – and in a classroom between them and Gryffindor tower. That wasn't somewhere they'd be doing detention chores, and they weren't stalking Al and Gwendolyn, Ray, or any of the others; so they kept the map handy and started to make an indirect trip up to their House.

"I don't know whether to feel honored that they're picking on us today; or insulted if they think we're the easiest marks compared to everyone else," Bristol told Rose as they walked and kept an eye on James and Ollie. "Any suggestions?"

Rose thought about that for a moment before answering; and she was grinning when she did that. "I have to go to the bathroom," she said meaningfully. "That one," she added; pointing to one that was in an area of the castle that wouldn't have much traffic.

"You want to corner ourselves and make their ambush easier for them?"

"I want to control where they do it," Rose amended. "We can defend ourselves; and maybe even turn the tables on them."

"Do you have a portable swamp or other wheezes on you?" Bristol asked hopefully; grinning now too.

"No, but we do have our invisibility charms; our wands; and a few other tricks available to us. We also have the advantage that they have no reason to expect that we know what they're up to either. It's so hard to pull off an ambush if the victims know about it already."

"Okay, we'll do it your way," Bristol decided, "and if we have any troubles; we'll hope that some of our friends have our backs."

Rose laughed. "I didn't think about that." She looked down at the map, looking for the rest of their friends; and laughed again. "I'd say we've got that going for us – though I really hope they don't just spring the trap. That would make it fairly obvious to James and Ollie that we've figured out a way to watch out for them."

"Or at least that we're watching out for each other somehow."

They didn't hurry, but kept a steady pace while getting to the bathroom Rose had picked. Once there, they had time to talk over a plan while waiting for James and Ollie to get there – and then have time to set up their ambush. When they guessed that the boys were ready; they went invisible; Rose opened the door; and Bristol stayed on the other side as a stream of hexes and jinxes were fired into the bathroom. While they both shielded in case of rebounding spells; they also screamed; pretended to run away; and then Rose slammed all of the doors on the stalls shut.

"We got 'em!" Ollie crowed from out in the hallway. "Yes!"

"I told you they'd be an easy target," James told him. "Let's go in and finish them off. When we're done with them; they'll never want to have anything to do with Al again – and he'll feel so guilty that he won't want them anywhere around them either."

"You want to go into a girls' washroom?" Ollie asked; and James laughed.

"Are you scared?" he taunted. "You've grown up with three sisters – and won't see anything in there that you haven't seen at home."

"But why not just wait for them to come out?" Ollie countered; and James shook his head.

"Because they can use their mirrors and call for help if we give them too much time. Let's finish them off before they can do that!"

"Fine, but you go first. They may be hurt; but they still have wands."

"You heard the stall doors slam too," James reminded him. "I'll shield us; and you blast them if they try anything."

That's exactly what they did, but while they jumped into the room and Ollie fired a pair of hexes toward that side of the bathroom even though they weren't attacked; Bristol stepped out into the hallway once they were past her; Rose went around the door and followed her friend as soon as James and Ollie ventured warily toward the bathroom stalls; and then they simply walked away as quietly as possible until they were far enough away that hurrying and making more noise was an option. Al, Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael met up with them at the end of the Hall; and they were all grinning as Al hugged Rose.

"How long do you think you have before they'll figure out that you're not in there?" Al asked quietly; and Rose shrugged.

"I don't know. We locked the stall doors; so they might try huffing and puffing and blowing each of them in," she suggested; and then laughed when they all heard a loud crash coming from the bathroom.

"That won't take long," Gwendolyn suggested, "but a pair of Witches that find boys in one of the girls' bathrooms would have every right to take offense and lock them in," she suggested; grinning at Toni meaningfully.

"And there's another girls' bathroom two floors down," Bristol added. "If you and I were there by the time they check that Marauder's Map of theirs; they might think that it's messing up."

"That doesn't explain the bathroom door opening when they first tried to ambush us," Rose said; but it can't hurt to give it a try – as long as we're on the move again whenever they are – and with a group before they can catch up to us."

"Gwendolyn and I can just happen to need that bathroom by then too," Toni offered. "Especially after we find out that there are boys in this one."

With the girls deciding all of that, the only thing left for Al and Michael to do was watch their backs until Gwendolyn and Toni slammed and jammed the bathroom door; Gwendolyn improvised her best Moaning Myrtle screeching shout of alarm at having boys in one of the girls' washrooms; and then she and Toni took off to do a loop that would take them away toward Ravenclaw tower and then back to the bathroom two floors down. They met up with Rose and Bristol while Al and Michael hurried back to their own dorm rooms and hoped to get there before James and Ollie got around to checking their map; and then the four girls didn't end up waiting too long to leave that bathrrom again when James and Ollie didn't leave the girls' bathroom nearly as soon as they'd expected them to do that. They stayed together and went to the Great Hall even though they were still a bit early by then; and sat together at the Gryffindor table until Al, Ray, and some of the other second-year Gryffindors got there too.

"What did you do to that door?" Al asked Gwendolyn quietly as he hugged her. "Last I checked; they're still in there."

"Really?" she whispered back. "We didn't do anything they shouldn't have been able to get out of without too much trouble." She grinned then as they leaned away from the hug. "Maybe they're still looking for Rose and Bristol in there."

Rose leaned in close to them too. "We don't have everyone on our maps," she reminded them. "If they've been caught in there, and did a lot of damage trying to find us; they could be in trouble again."

"That'd be bad for our House," Al reminded her; since both girls were grinning and happy about that suggestion. "We haven't earned many points since the slime prank. Is it possible to go into negative points?"

"Probably just to zero," Rose said with a shrug. "I've never asked our parents if that happened when they were here, and if it ever has; that'd likely be when. Our family is just full-up with troublemakers."

"Uncle Bill, Uncle Charlie, and Uncle Percy balanced that out for the rest of them," Al joked; "but I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what happened with James and Ollie."

They had to wait a little while for that because the two boys were late getting to the Great Hall – as were two Prefects and their Head Girl. While James and Ollie both acted as if nothing was wrong; a couple of glances at Rose and Bristol from them had Al sure that whatever had gone on after they'd left them stuck in the bathroom hadn't been good. If looks could hex; then Rose and Bristol would be in big trouble – or busy shielding themselves and counter-attacking. James and Ollie might be mad, but they were also lucky to get through lunch before students began to notice another drop in the points for Gryffindor – something that was fairly obvious when it was at zero by the time they all started leaving the Great Hall. Once word of that started to get around; the Gryffindor Quidditch win didn't mean nearly as much – and it put a huge damper on the celebration that started after lunch in their common room.

Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray were in the common room for the start of the party even though Al wasn't going to stay for long; so they were also there to hear about the story that James and Ollie spun to explain why they'd lost another twenty points for Gryffindor. They tried their best, but didn't gain many believers – though a few actually did believe that a Slytherin Prefect and the Head Girl punished them without any proof and despite the fact that they'd just been innocent bystanders that had come running when they'd heard screams and crashes – and got blamed for the mess in one of the girls' bathrooms just because they were there. Rose couldn't take much of that when their friends wanted to talk about that as much as they wanted to talk about the Quidditch win; so she went up to her dorm room to watch the Harpies' game on her mirror when Al left to meet up with Gwendolyn to watch that same game. He met her outside of her House; they went to one of their usual classrooms to be alone; and started watching the game already in progress by then while cuddling together as best they could while also sitting at one of the work tables.

"I can't believe that anyone would buy that load of crap," Gwendolyn told Al after he'd let her know how James and Ollie were trying to spin losing another twenty points. "Did they get more detention chores time too?"

"They probably did; but aren't saying. I am sure that they're furious with Rose and Bristol, though. It's too bad we likely won't ever know what they think happened there – or if the rest of the stuff you tried worked or not."

"That would be nice to know," Gwendolyn agreed. "It'd be nice if having them mad at Rose and Bristol would take some of the heat off of you too; but that probably won't happen either."

"It won't," Al agreed with a shrug. "Let's talk about anything else other than James. I've had enough of him for one day."

"Or a year," Gwendolyn agreed. "How's the Animagus thing going? We haven't talked about that in a bit."

Al was happy to talk about that with her while they watched the Harpies' game. That match was going great for the Harpies and their fans – right up until it wasn't anymore. The Harpies were up against the Prides at Exmoor stadium, but while Erin and Gabrielle were having their usually-tough Seeker duel; the rest of Erin's team weren't having nearly as good a day against the Harpies. Victoire was the main reason for that because the Prides couldn't seem to find a way to stop her, so the Harpies kept on with what was working; and she scored twenty-one goals. The score was two-eighty for the Harpies to one-fifty for the Prides, and Erin was getting desperate to win her duel over Gabrielle before her team was down by more than one-fifty. The bad news for the Harpies and their fans was that Erin's risk-taking paid off for her when she managed to catch the snitch with a fairly brilliant and dangerous play that won the day for the Prides. Gabrielle wasn't happy about losing, but she had played her best; and at least the loss wasn't by enough points to do any serious damage to their place in the standings.

The game watching had filled up their afternoon, so they split up when Gwendolyn wanted to stop in to her dorm room for a while before dinner; and then they eventually met up again after dinner for some more music play time. Playing and having fun was what most of the second-half of the weekend was all about; though there was some project studying on Sunday morning that was work too. Al and Gwendolyn had another Chaser duel on Sunday afternoon, but they cut that short when a blast of rain rolled into the area around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade; and they spent most of the rest of the day with their friends. James and Ollie took a break from trying to get at any of them; though that might have simply been because they were too busy with other things – like studying and detention.

Molly Weasley's seventeenth birthday was the only addition to the normal schedule for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and their only involvement in helping her to celebrate that all-important milestone of becoming an adult in the Wizarding World was a visit with her before breakfast. They had a couple of gifts for her; visited for less than five minutes; and then got on with the rest of their day. Her boyfriend, Calvin Johnson, Lucy, Dominique, and some of Molly's friends put on a small birthday party for her after dinner, but they did that on their own; away from the common room; and were busy with their studies all evening too.

Other than that little blip of birthday action, the rest of the week was uneventful for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group. They had a lot of fun even with so much of their time taken up with classes and studying – and Quidditch for Gwendolyn, Tory, and Madison; but getting all of the must-do work out of the way by dinnertime on Friday was still something that they all loved a lot. Some of their friends were actually starting to notice the pattern, but the responses leaned more toward being jealous; with no real interest in joining, imitating, or putting in the extra time among the rest of the second-year students. That wasn't to say that there weren't other really good students too; but only that nobody else tried to get all of the work done during the school week.

While that was the priority for Al, he was still able to have time for other things – particularly when Gwendolyn was busy with other things too. He worked on more charms – including starting to work on Christmas gifts. Most of his Animagus work happened in the mornings before breakfast or after he was in his dorm room for the night; but he did some of the exercises at other times because he needed to be somewhere he could do that without being bothered by anyone. He and Gwendolyn also had one bit of music play time on Tuesday night after they were finished their studying for the night – and after helping Madison and Tory with a bit of tutoring help; and they had a bit of alone time after studying and before Astronomy class on Thursday too.

Al and Gwendolyn got their weekend off to a great start by spending their Friday evening with another music practice; followed by watching some shows on the mirror network; and adding in some snogging here and there until they needed to be back in their Houses ahead of curfew. Saturday morning was booked for magical play time for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and any other friends that wanted to join in. That was a blast of fun; they split up for lunch in the Great Hall; and then Al and Gwendolyn went outside for a Chaser duel. That was when James and Ollie decided to strike next – and they attempted to do that against Rose, Ray, and Bristol while they were on their way from the Great Hall to their common room with plans to hang out there and watch whatever Quidditch match was on the big mirror there.

"That explains why James and Ollie left early," Rose told Ray and Bristol as they stopped in the entrance hall and away from the traffic flow of students so that they could check her map. "I thought that they might have been setting something up for Al and Gwendolyn; but they're between us and the common room – though they could be hunting for Toni and Michael too; since they're still in the Great Hall."

"We'll know soon-enough," Bristol suggested; and then grinned at Ray. "Would you like to split off from us and see if they follow you instead of us? Maybe visit one of the boys' bathrooms and see if they set up an ambush for you too?"

Ray laughed. "No, but let's stick together and see what happens – or do you and Rose really want to try to set them up like that again?"

"It wouldn't work twice," Rose predicted. "Let's just go on toward our common room; have our wands ready; and see what happens. They might not think so, and we might feel better when we're with Al for things like this, but we've been practicing a lot; and I think we're more than a matchfor them – in a fair duel. They won't be able to ambush us; so we'll be able to react faster than they expect."

"Do you really believe that?" Bristol asked; and Rose smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I really do – and you and Ray should believe that too."

The good news was that they soon found out that they were right about that. James and Ollie used a secret passage to cross paths with them; and then they each attacked them with three shouted hexes or jinxes while only poking their wands out from behind the tapestry that covered the passage opening. Rose, Bristol, and Ray all had shields up that were layered to protect all three of them as they'd practiced with Al and the rest of their friends for weeks now; so none of the hexes and jinxes got through to them. What was surprising about the attack, though, was that James and Ollie ran off as soon as they shouted out the spells; and didn't even stay long enough to see if any of them hit their marks.

"What are they doing?" Bristol asked when James and Ollie didn't jump out; continue the attack; or give them any targets for counter-attacks. Rose grabbed her map while still keeping her shield up; and looked at it to find them.

"They've gone," she answered while dropping her shield and putting her wand away. "This is new for them – a hit and run ambush."

"This probably works great when they do have the element of surprise in their favor," Bristol said thoughtfully.

"Maybe they're trying to find a way to blast us without getting caught if if goes wrong for them," Ray offered. "If they get much more detention time; they won't be going to games or Hogsmeade weekends for the rest of the year – or maybe not even once we're back after the Christmas holidays. I've heard they've barely done any of their detention yet while Fred and Orlando are doing chores a lot to try and get their fifty hours done as fast as they can."

"That's actually a good idea for them," Rose said; implying her agreement with Ray's assessment. "If they've been testing it out on their prank patrols; I'll guess that's been bad for the kids that do get surprised."

"Do you thnk they're off to go after any of the others?" Bristol asked; and Rose shrugged.

"I don't know. We can keep an eye on them for a bit, though, and if they head outside; I'll call Al and warn him."

That decision worked for Bristol and Ray; though Al and Gwendolyn didn't have anything to worry about – at least for the moment. While their friends were watching Quidditch, hanging out in common rooms, or doing other things; they had a brilliant bit of play time with their Chaser duel and about forty-five minutes of practicing new plays and tricks. With just one match left before the Christmas break, and the weather getting colder and wetter; they were the only students to book a pitch for the afternoon and could play as long as they wanted. They still went inside with time for a hot drink and snacks; and a bit of quiet time in the library after that before splitting up to get ready for dinner; but then that was the end of their time together for the day anyway.

The girls had booked a multi-House girls' night, so except for a quick goodnight hug and kiss after dinner; Al was on his own for the rest of the night. The guys did not organize a group night too, but Al likely would have skipped it if they had. Instead of hanging out with Ray and the rest of their friends and roommates; Al went off on his own to work on his Animagus exercises; and then he went to check up on Winter and Blizzard. He was in the Owlery when James and Ollie launched their second hit and run ambush of the night. Al had kept an eye on his map and knew when they were lurking around and trying to find an opportunity to blast him; but then he had other warnings blaring at him too before they struck.

His biggest problem was that he was in a room full of owls, so when James and Ollie started tossing around a bunch of hexes and jinxes; he had to protect them too. That required multiple shields and really careful deflection angles to make sure that the spells didn't hit him – or hurt any of the birds. He managed to do that, but by the time he was done; James and Ollie were long gone. He was really mad, though, and after taking care of Winter and Blizzard; and getting the rest of the owls calmed down again too; he headed for the commom room – and surprised quite a few of the students in the room – including Ray and some of the other guys – when he went straight over to James and Ollie to confront them about the attempted ambush.

"You're an idiot," he told James bluntly. "Next time you want to throw hexes and jinxes at me; don't do it when I'm in the Owlery."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James retorted; grinning wolfishly. "Did something happen to you tonight?"

"I'm not talking to you about this for me, James. Did you happen to remember that your own owl – and mine – are in that room? When you tried to blast me; didn't you even think for a second that I might be standing in front of Winter and Blizzard?" He took a breath to try and calm himself a bit. "Now that I've brought that to your attention; think for a minute about what those hexes and jinxes would have done to an owl if any of them had hit one of the birds."

James lost his smile then. "Did something happen to Blizzard? What'd you do to him?" He jumped to his feet and grabbed Al roughly. Al grabbed his wrists and twisted until James dropped back into his chair with a grunt of pain.

"I protected all of the owls," Al answered between clenched teeth while still putting pressure on James' wrists. "If you'd actually listened to what I'd just said; you'd have known that. I calmed all of the birds down after dealing with all of those hexes and jinxes that you and Ollie fired into the room. All of the birds were freaking out, so that took a little while; and then I fed our owls some treats before coming here so that we could have this little talk. You'll be happy to know that I ddin't tell Blizzard that you fired those spells at us; and I don't care if you want to sit here and deny that it was you and Ollie to everyone else. I am telling you not to do it again. Pick somewhere else to play these stupid games. Even you can't think that it's okay to torture defenseless animals with the kind of spells that were used up in the Owlery tonight."

With that; he let go of James and walked away. He made it two steps before turning around and glaring at his brother. "Don't even think about drawing your wand on me, James. In case I'm not being obvious-enough, I'm fairly angry about that stupid attack; and you won't like what happens next if you try to mess with me again tonight."

Everyone around them had been watching the show by then – and saw James' hand freeze about an inch away from the wand he'd been about to pull out of his pocket. There was anger flaring in his eyes, but when Al turned away again; he didn't follow through. That just made him angrier; and it didn't get better when Lacey Finnegan and some of the other girls they'd been sitting with started in on him; and then got up and left when he and Ollie denied that it had been them. As was becoming normal; they were finding fewer and fewer Gryffindors willing to believe them. That shouldn't have been a surprise for them, since they had been caught in a lot of lies; but then that just had them even madder at Al for the public confrontation that again made them look bad. Right then, Al didn't care. He also didn't leave the room; but instead went to sit down next to Ray and with the few other guys with him – that didn't include any of the Quidditch team players.

"They tried to blast you in the Owlery?" Ray said; and then laughed at his own question. "Okay, that was dumb. You're obviously ticked to actually confront them about it right here in front of everyone."

"What they tried to do up there was too stupid for words," Al said seriously. "James will be mad, and he'll blame this on me, but it's out in the public now; so I doubt he'll try it again."

"And if any owls do get hurt from now on; they'll be at the top of the suspects list," Ray added; and Al grinned.

"There is that little bonus. James might neglect Blizzard, but he does care about him; so I hope he'll actually think about that before doing anything he'll regret later – even if that makes him mad at me too just for being right about something."

"I can't believe they didn't think about that the first time. Are you going to head up to our dorm room now?"

"Not yet. This is one time that I'm not just going to back down, get lost, and make it easier on James – though maybe I should do him a favor this time."

Ray laughed at him. "How did you get to that from where you started?"

Al grinned ruefully. "Well, I was just thinking that if they had hurt any of those owls, I'd have come here and blasted them; and then likely ended up in detention for doing that with no proof that they'd done the ambush in the Owlery. Serving a detention alongside them would have sucked; and our House can't afford to lose any more points – not that we have many to lose right now anyway."

"The rest of us would be okay with losing those points to see James and Ollie get blasted," Art said; and then grinned too. "Did I say that out loud?" Al still didn't know Art Kettleburn very well yet, but he was getting to be a pretty good friend of Ray's because they often hung out together when Al was busy hanging out with Gwendolyn.

"You're just saying what the rest of us were thinking," Ray assured him. "The detention thing really would have been awful for Al, though, so I'm glad it didn't happen that way."

Al stayed and talked with the guys; did a bit of gaming; and listened to the music videos playing on the mirror network for almost an hour; and then he went up to bed to have a mirror chat with Lily before turning in for the night. Rose hadn't been back from her girls' night yet, but they could talk during their morning walk; and he hadn't expected to do a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn either. Getting to sleep early meant that he was in better shape than most of his classmates and friends first thing on Sunday morning, but they were just having a project study morning in the library anyway; so it wasn't as if any of them needed to be at full speed right away – and weren't. They still had ongoing projects with various due dates in all of their classes; but only one that was due in the coming week; and they got that finished by lunchtime.

They split up for stops in dorm rooms; which for the Quidditch players was also so that they could get their gear and be ready to go outside for the afternoon scrimmage they'd booked. While they were on the lookout for them, James and Ollie didn't bother any of them before or after lunch; so Al was in a great mood when he and Gwendolyn walked out to the practice pitch with Rose and Ray. They were the first players there; so they greeted everyone else as they joined them – and there was one big surprise for Al, Gwendolyn, and some of the others when Brock McClaggen came to the pitch with Seth Bradley and Brandon Graves.

"Cora promised me that you wouldn't hold a grudge if I showed up," Brock said when he stepped up in front of Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray. "This is supposed to be the best game outside of the House team matches, and since I don't have to worry about breaking team rules; I was hoping that you'd be okay with letting me play too."

"We don't hold grudges; and you're welcome to play too," Rose assured him with a brilliant smile. "You'll be the only Beater on our team; but I'm sure that Seth and Brandon will like that better than just playing against all of us."

"Yeah, and we promise not to gang up on you," Brandon joked. "We play with practice rules for these scrimmages anyway – no trying to seriously injure anyone."

"I expected that," Brock said with a nod. "Gwendolyn would have to cancel these scrimmages if she started losing her team players to injury."

"We're just trying to have some fun – and help out some of our favorite Gryffindor Quidditch players while they can't play for their House team."

"Am I one of your favorites?" Brock teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Not lately, no; but we're starting to like you a bit better today. I am surprised that you want to be here and risk the wrath of the prankmaster."

"I'm not on the team; so there's no reason for him to be mad at all." Al laughed at that; and Brock joined in – along with most of the others. "Okay, maybe James will be mad anyway; but he'd better not mess with me."

Brock might have really expected that James wouldn't dare to try to do anything to him; but he was wrong about that. None of the teens and tweens playing in that scrimmage thought about James or anything else beyond having fun while they warmed up and then played Quidditch for nearly two hours – until Madison won her Seeker duel with Stephanie two catches to one. They followed that up with a group hot drinks and snack break; and then they split up to do their own thing until dinnertime. For Al and Gwendolyn, that was another visit to the library; which was why they didn't hear about Brock getting hit by several hexes while on his way back to the Gryffindor common room. He knew that James and Ollie had been responsible, but couldn't prove it; and had barely made it to dinner after getting treated by Madam Pomfrey for some rope burns and a few other injuries that were mostly from when he fell over thanks to the jelly-legs jinx that either James or Ollie had hit him with.

Brock's news hit the gossip network right away during dinner because he told everyone around him what had happened; and blamed it on James and Ollie while admitting that he had no proof of that. The timing was suspicious for everyone, since it had been right after going to his first scrimmage with Al, Rose, and Ray; so while James and Ollie denied knowing anything about what had happened to Brock; they once again had few believers. They didn't seem to care that they were getting several of their former team mates and friends even more angry with them either; but then that really just seemed to be a measure for exactly how little they valued those friendships.

Al and Rose had felt bad for Brock, but didn't try to make things worse for him than they already were by going to talk with him after dinner. They did go to the library with Gwendolyn and a handful of their friends; but that was mostly because those friends wanted to hang out with them while Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose wrote letters for home and did a bit of research for some spells that they weren't learning in class but were interested in learning early to help them with protecting themselves from James and Ollie – and Fred and Orlando if they got back into the act again too. Al and Gwendolyn took care of the visit to the Owlery after that; sent Winter on her way with all of the letters; and then went for a walk before Al said goodnight to Gwendolyn outside of Ravenclaw tower and then went straight to his dorm room from there. He had a bedtime mirror chat with his parents and Lily; and then went off to sleep early again so that he could be ready for another busy school week.

Now that they were in the second-half of November, it was definitely feeling like winter was on the way as the temperatures dropped; and they had more rain and stormy weather. That made the Quidditch practices unpleasant for the players; and while Al commiserated with Gwendolyn, Madison, and Tory for that; he found it fairly easy to be missing the Gryffindor team practices – what there were of them anyway. James and Ollie started cutting their practices short; and even cancelled one. It wasn't as though that didn't happen with other teams too; but that usually required fairly extreme circumstances – and there weren't any other dropped practices by any of the other teams on the day James cancelled the one for his team.

Quidditch was on the gossip network all week because the Harpies and Tornadoes were playing for the first time this season – and it was news at Hogwarts because Victoire and Rachel Rosier would be having their first professional Quidditch confrontation on Saturday. Some of the Slytherins were bragging about Rachel and razzing the Gryffindors about how badly she was going to prove that she was the better player, but while Rachel was helping the Tornadoes to have a decent season so far; most of the students in the other Houses thought that the bragging was silly. Victoire was having a brilliant rookie season and was in first place for the scoring title; not to mention that she'd out-played Rachel in every Hogwarts match between Slytherin and Gryffindor that they'd both been in – though Victoire had played Seekerin some of those games.

The Hogsmeade weekend was the other top news story. Some of the gossip was much more interesting to the girls than the guys, since there was always teen drama over who was going to town with whom; but James and Ollie were in the news for that too – because they were going to be missing their second trip to town because of their ongoing detention. They weren't happy about that, but tried to play it cool anyway; and James and Ollie booked another mandatory team practice instead. That was definitely to get out of spending the entire morning doing detention chores, and while they tried to make it sound like team dedication; that was hard to pull off after cancelling a practice earlier in the week.

Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group mostly had a normal school week of classes and studying – with Quidditch for some. They kept a close watch out for James and Ollie; but the two boys left them alone – until Thursday evening. That was when they apparently decided that it was time to get back to their hit and run ambushes – with Al and Gwendolyn as their first targets of the week. Up to that point, Al had been having a really good week. In addition to the usual classroom time and studying; he'd had time to work on his Animagus exercises; started to work on Christmas presents for some of his favorite Witches; and had a music lesson and singging session with Gwendolyn after they were done their studying on Tuesday evening. That made dealing with another incident with James and Ollie even more annoying to him; but they did at least have the heads-up that they were out there when they checked the map before leaving their study classroom after finishing their study session for the night.

They still had a couple of hours to go before their Astronomy class, and hadn't decided what to do with all of the time; but were going to start out with a visit to the Owlery. The rest of their friends had left first, and in a group; so they weren't surprised when James and Ollie didn't go after them. Without having any plan in mind; Al and Gwendolyn decided to just go to the Owlery anyway; and deal with whatever was thrown at them. They didn't end up needing to wait long for that to happen, but they were ready when the ambush was sprung on them. Al had his usual advance warning too, and actually saw the mirror that James and Ollie used to spot them from around the corner before reaching around with their wands and firing their hexes and jinxes. This time, they added a bonus twist to their ambush when they tossed a dung bomb and some actual hippogriff dung that one of them then hit with an engorgement charm to turn it into a huge pile of the stuff before they ran off.

"Okay, this is just ridiculous," Gwendolyn said as she watched the hallway fill up with the horrid-smelling gas from the dung bomb through the blue haze of Al's shield. It blocked the entire area from floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall; protecting them from both the dung bomb and the hippogriff dung. While the entire pile of that stuff had hit the shield, it hadn't left a trail as it fell to the ground with a loud splat that they weren't able to hear on their side of the shield.

"It is," Al agreed. "You were brilliant, Gwendolyn. Nice job with those deflection shields."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I didn't want to let you have all of the fun; but didn't expect to get the first shield up ahead of you either."

"I was distracted for a second trying to figure out what I was smelling," he explained; and nodded toward the two-foot high pile on the floor. "That was what warned me to get the bigger shield up fast once we'd handled the hexes and jinxes. I didn't get any hints about that dung bomb, though; so they might have had more luck if they'd just thrown that instead – if it got too close to us before I could shield from it."

"The combination is a pain," Gwendolyn pointed out. "We can't deal with the hippogriff dung from behind your shield; but you can't drop it without us getting caught up in the dung bomb gas – and Merlin only knows if they've done something nasty to it for a bonus bit of their kind of fun."

"If we head down the hallway to the other end, I can drop the shield and at least return that pile of dung to original size."

"Don't you want to clean up the rest of the mess too?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al smiled and shook his head.

"I'm not feeling very generous toward James and Ollie right now. Let someone else find this stuff. Maybe they've left some evidence behind that'll point to them for this; though I'll guess they were careful."

"These hit and run ambushes wouldn't work out very well for them if they did leave any evidence pointing to them," Gwendolyn agreed. "We haven't heard of them trying this on anyone else, but if the jinxes worked; you'd end up on the floor with that pile of Hippogriff dung on top of you."

"James and Ollie can't be faulted for lack of creativity. It's just too bad that they only seem to want to direct that toward pranking other students – and trying to hurt us for having the audacity to stand up to them."

"If they're going to keep trying these new attacks on us; I'm going to start trying to learn how to get spells to rebound around corners," Gwendolyn said seriously; though she was grinning too.

"You're getting the hang of multiple shields," Al reminded her. "There's no reason at all why one of those shields couldn't be placed further ahead of us to do that – or you could set up one and I could do the other to make that happen."

"Sounds like something fun to do at our next magical play time this weekend. Let's do that."

By then, they'd walked back along the hall the way they'd come far enough that Al could drop the shield that was still in the same place he'd originally put it; and then he reduced the pile of dung back to the single piece it had been before being enlarged. The dung bomb gas still hung in the air and began moving their way, but it was already dissipating; and they moved on long before any of it could reach them – though it didn't likely get that far anyway before being too spread out to do anything regardless of what James and Ollie might have put into it. They went on to the Owlery; followed that up with some early stargazing on the Astronomy tower while waiting for the rest of their classmates to join them; and then it was back to life as normal for that class – and the rest of the night. The same was true on Friday, including getting their assignments for the week finished by dinnertime; and Al and Gwendolyn's music play time and mirror network show watching for two after dinner.

The next James and Ollie ambush nearly was a success and surprise because it happened first thing on Saturday morning – while Al and Rose were doing their usual walk and talk before breakfast. Al and Rose hadn't checked one of their maps before heading out, since James and Ollie weren't usually even awake by the time they left the common room; and they were enjoying their chat while taking a wandering route around the castle on their way to the Great Hall. Fortunately for them, the alarm bells and whistles started going off in Al's head before the ambush was sprung on them. This time, it was an attack from two directions. Ollie attacked them from a secret passage while James blasted them from behind – while mostly hidden by a headless hat and invisibility robe. Running and pointing his wand at them allowed Al to see enough to recognize his brother; but then he was around the corner and running down the intersecting hallway that Al and Rose had just left.

This time, he didn't do that before Rose hit him with another Bat-Bogey hex, though with Ollie hidden in the secret passage; he was able to escape without catching any counter-attacks or rebounding spells. Al had handled most of the shielding in both directions, and that's what had given Rose the chance for her counter-attack; so they were both smiling when they heard the cursing start from somewhere down that hallway. They could still hear the running feet too, so James hadn't stopped; but he was obviously not happy either.

"He could have shielded himself too," Al told Rose as he put his wand away. "Do you really think he expected to be completely-hidden while wearing that robe and running? Did you put any twists on that hex this time?"

Rose laughed. "He probably did; and no, I didn't. That was just your standard everyday Bat-Bogey hex. We'll see if he tries to fix it himself or get help with it."

"That's rather brilliant of you," Al complimented before sharing a quick hug and laugh. "I'd feel bad for him if he missed his mandatory practice while dealing with that; but maybe it's okay for the Captain to be late or miss it if he has a good reason for it."

"I should've put the twist on just to make sure that happened," Rose pretended to lament. "Why didn't I think about that first?"

"Because this really is more brilliant," Al answered with another laugh. "He could counter it himself; so he'll be even more embarrassed if he asks for help and finds out that the twist this time was psyching him out."

"Then I'd better watch my back for the rest of the weekend," Rose decided. "And we'll apparently need to start checking our maps in the morning to make sure they're still in their beds before we head for the Great Hall."

"We'd better warn everyone else about the two-pronged attack too – and using the invisibility robe and headless hat. If James had been a bit smarter about that; he might have gotten his hexes off and stayed hidden from us."

They resumed their walk and talk; and eventually got back to what they'd been talking about before the ambush. It wasn'tsomething they wanted to discuss at breakfast; but they started their morning magic play time with a long chat about James and Ollie with their friends. Since Gwendolyn had wanted to work on her idea for bouncing rebound spells around corners; that was part of their play time; but they also worked on Charms and Transfigurations that some of them wanted to master – or improve on so they'd earn better marks for those practical assignments or tests. When they were ready to split up so that they could make stops to there respective Houses before lunch, and checked their maps before leaving; they discovered that James and Ollie were hanging around in an area between their classroom and Ravenclaw tower.

While Al was sure that they were supposed to be busy with their detention between the end of their Quidditch practice and lunch, they were obviously dodging that; and looking to set up an ambush for the Ravenclaw members of their study group.

After quickly talking it over, Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael left on their own, but while the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students headed out as if they were going on to their Houses too, they watched their own maps; and adjusted their routes so that they could help their Ravenclaw friends if needed. Al didn't really like that, but knew that Gwendolyn and Rose were right about them not doing anything that would mess up the map advantage that they still had over the prankmasters. Knowing that wouldn't help if Gwendolyn got hurt, but then if she did; that would end badly for James and Ollie too – even if that did get Al in trouble again. He didn't end up having to worry about that this time; but someone did get injured when James and Ollie launched their ambush – a third-year Hufflepuff Witch who was in the hallway with another friend – and too close to Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael when the spells started flying. She was hit by a Bat-Bogey hex that James or Ollie had included with the rest of the batch of hexes and jinxes they had planned before running off again.

"We'll watch our backs," Toni told Gwendolyn. "You'd better go and help that girl if you can."

"Okay, but that's likely it for this little ambush," Gwendolyn said even as she was hurrying the half-dozen paces to the other two Witches.

"Don't try to counter it yet," Gwendolyn said as the girl that hadn't been hexed was about to try and do that for her friend. "We've had some experience with these prank attempts; and those Bat-Bogey hexes sometimes come with nasty little twists."

"We'd better go and see Madam Pomfrey then, Cordelia," the girl said as she lowered her wand again. "I've heard about those twists – like the bats doubling in size if you get the counter-hex wrong."

Gwendolyn grinned at them. "I can help you out with that. My boyfriend's Mum has quite the reputation for these hexes – and has taught me a few tricks for dealing with them."

Both girls' eyes widened when they realised who she was talking about; and Gwendolyn laughed. "Let's take care of your little problem; and then I've got a few minutes if you'd like to learn how to check for those twists."

She took care of countering what ended up being a normal Bat-Bogey hex after all; did the formal introductions with Cordelia and Karen; and then taught them the spell to check for twists on that hex. While they'd been busy, Toni had checked her map and knew that James and Ollie were long gone by then; so they'd rejoined Gwendolyn.

"Did any of you see who did that?" Karen asked once Gwendolyn was finished.

"I didn't; but we don't really need to take more than one guess," Cordelia answered; scowling toward the opening for the secret passage that James and Ollie had hidden in while attacking them. "We've heard enough stories about James Potter and Ollie Wood from other Hufflepuffs – even though we haven't been pranked by them since our first year. I am so wishing that we hadn't decided to come back from Hogsmeade early to get a jump on our weekend assignments."

"Me too," Karen assured her friend; "and I'm sorry – since it was my idea to do that."

"We're sorry you got hit too," Gwendolyn told Cordelia seriously; though she smiled at their banter too. "This little ambush was obviously meant for us. I'm sure you've heard that we're at the top of their prank patrol hit list lately."

"We have heard that," Karen agreed; smiling sardonically now. "If you see us run away next time we see you in empty hallways; don't take it personally."

They all laughed; and Gwendlyn nodded. "I won't; and that's probably a good idea – at least until James and Ollie stop being mad at Al and me. We're hoping that'll happen sometime before they graduate; but I'm sure the gossip network will have the story whenever it does happen."

They had a few parting comments, but then they all moved on. Al and Rose met up with them outside of Ravenclaw tower after Gwendolyn had picked up her Quidditch gear. Their scrimmage wasn't until later in the afternoon, but since she and Al were going to watch the Harpies game together; they both had their gear with them so that they wouldn't have to go and get it when it was time to head out to the practice pitch. Gwendolyn and Toni took care of telling Al and Rose most of the ambush story on the way to the Great Hall; and then split up while having lunch. With most of the older teens in Hogsmeade, James and Ollie were fairly conspicuous sitting in their usual spots; which was also why a lot of the students noticed when Cordelia and Karen walked up to James, and after exchanging a few words; Cordelia smacked him across the face – wiping the stupid grin off of his face.

"Ouch," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al. "Do you think there are now two fewer girls in the dating pool for James and Ollie?"

"It seems so," he agreed. He hadn't been looking at James, but when he sensed the danger that wasn't directed at him, he was on his feet with his wand in hand without thinking about it.

His shield blazed into existence between James and the two Hufflepuff girls; James' trip jinx was rebounded, but while it hit James; nothing happened because he was still sitting down. The girls had been heading toward Al; they'd stopped in shock when he'd jumped up and pointed his wand in their direction; and then turned to glare at James once they'd realised what had happened. He ignored them; and was now glaring at Al. Then something caught his eye from behind Al; and he suddenly shoved his wand back into his pocket and turned back to face the table and Ollie. Cordelia and Karen turned away from James too; murmured their thanks to Al on the way past him; and walked quietly over to the other side of the Hufflepuff table under the steady, intense scrutiny of their Headmistress. Since Cordelia had smacked James in front of everyone, that wasn't unexpected; but Professor McGonagall didn't say anything; and only had a moment of eye contact with Al that was just as intense; but not worrisome to him.

"Nicely done, cousin," Rose told Al once he was sitting down again. "You've likely saved us losing more points." She shook her head then. "James is losing all self-control to do something like that right in front of the Headmistress."

"He's definitely losing it," Al agreed. "James better get a grip on that temper; or he'll be in detention for the rest of the year."

"And we can forget about any chance at the House Cup again this year – if it isn't already too late for us."

Al suspected she was right about part two of that anyway; but they stopped talking about James and joined the chat in progress with the rest of their closest table mates. with that bit of excitement out of the way, the remainder of their lunch break was quiet; Al met up with Gwendolyn after they'd both finished eating; and they really enjoyed watching the Harpies-Tornadoes match because it was all good for the Harpies. The Slytherin bragging was soon proved to be as stupid as most students had thought it was. In a game that didn't last much more than two hours; Victoire scored nineteen of the Harpies' thirty-two goals; and Gabrielle won the Seeker duel against a Tornadoes Seeker that refused to attempt catching the snitch for the loss after doing that by mistake in their playoff match against the Harpies back in May. While the Harpies' Chasers overwhelmed the Tornadoes and lit up their Keeper for all of those goals; Rachel Rosier only managed to score two goals on Vicky; and her team only managed six goals before Gabrielle put them out of their misery.

The short match gave Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their scrimmage teammates lots of time for their little play match. They had one change in the teams when Eric came back to the school a bit early with Brock so that they could play; while Mark opted to skip the scrimmage and hang out with his girlfriend instead. That allowed Al to play on Gwendolyn's team while Eric took his spot with Ray and Tory. Al loved that, but Eric found out just how good Al had gotten since the last time they'd practiced against each other; and Al and Gwendolyn put on a show – though that wasn't fun for Rose either. Their play had the rest of their team fired up too; and Stephanie won her Seeker duel with Madison. Picking the second afternoon time slot meant that they needed to wrap up in time to go back to the castle and get cleaned up before dinner; so they did that.

Al, Rose, Ray, and Gwendolyn were the last to leave the pitch by the time they took the Quidditch set back to the storage room in the stadium. That was one of the reasons they had for checking one of their maps before heading into the castle – and how they discovered that Eric and Brock were heading into another James and Ollie ambush. They could actually only see Brock approaching James and Ollie because they'd added him to the maps after he'd joined their scrimmage last week and then been ambushed, but since the two friends had left together; it was a safe bet that Eric was still with him. Watching that happen right on the map was strange, but it was too late by then to do anything to warn the two boys.

There was also no way for them to know exactly what was happening; since all they could see was the dot representing Brock meet up with the dots for James and Ollie; there was a pause when they were close together; and then the James and Ollie dots began to move away. Brock's dot stayed mostly motionless for quite a while; so they started hurrying toward the castle in case Brock or Eric needed help. That didn't end up being necessary when they saw Brock on the move again shortly after they were inside the castle too; so Al walked Gwendolyn to her House before going on to his own House. Rose and Ray were still in the common room and had their gear; so Al knew they hadn't been to their dorms yet. They were hanging around Brock and Eric, though, and the boys had a fairly large group of Gryffindors gathered around them.

"What's up?" Al whispered to Rose as he stepped up behind her.

"Brock and Eric got ambushed on their way here from the practice pitch," she whispered back; and grinned at him. "They didn't see their attackers, but even though they both got hit; they went after them in the secret passage; and are sure that they blasted both of them before they escaped by blocking the other end of the passage with a shield they couldn't blast out of the way until they were gone."

"Are we supposed to be on the lookout for any specific hex or jinx injuries?" Al asked next; and Rose nodded.

"There might be an issue with burned clothing or even burned backsides," she said with a soft giggle. "If you notice anyone having trouble sitting down at dinner; Brock and Eric would like to know about it."

"I'll watch out for that," Al promised. "We don't have much time until dinner, though; so I'd better grab a shower – or my problem will be that nobody want's to sit near me."

"I need to get going to do that too," Rose said; picking up her gear bag. "Two of the Chasers on the other team made my job way too hard today. It's too bad we're not Prefects. A soak in a tub tonight would be really great."

"Maybe you should ask Uncle George to adapt the pools and make portable tubs," Al suggested; and Rose laughed.

"That might seem like a great idea – right up until someone walked in on you wherever you set the tub up. Thanks, but I'll pass on that one."

James and Ollie hadn't come into the common room while Al and Rose were busy – as far as they knew. They were also late getting to dinner; which strongly suggested that they'd waited to go to their dorms until all or most of their fellow Gryffindor were already gone. If they were having any problems from fire damage, they hid it well, but even though they were acting as normal as usual for them; Al sensed that they were not having a good day at all – and that they were dealing with some kind of pain and discomfort – even if he couldn't sense anything more specific than that. As usual for a Hogsmeade day, the news from town was at the top of the gossip chat list, so Rose and Bristol had fun with that during dinner while Al mostly stayed out of it and enjoyed eating his meal.

The day wound down from there for Al and Gwendolyn; and the rest of the weekend ended up being quiet too – with James and Ollie leaving them alone. Whether that was so they could recover from their ambush of Eric and Brock or for some other reason; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends were glad to have the reprieve. Saturday evening was another music, mirror network shows, and snogging time for Al and Gwendolyn. A storm rolled in overnight, so they spent the entire day indoors on Sunday. They worked in the library on their outstanding projects all morning; had a play afternoon together in their study classroom that included everything from magic play to listening to music on the mirror network and just goofing around and chatting. After dinner, while the girls weren't all getting together; they were having girls' night in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; so Al was on his own again. He sent Winter out with letters for home; worked on his Animagus exercises; and had a mirror chat with Lily before going to bed early again. That was fairly boring; but he was happy to have a bit of that in his life to off-set his problems with James and the sometimes too-busy schedule that kept them going day and night during the school week.

Getting the sleep was good for Al, but the non-action with James and Ollie continued all through the last week of November. While he had no idea why that was – or wasn't – happening; Al was okay with having James leave him alone – even as he was also sure it was only temporary. Not having to deal with the ambushes made every day a bit nicer; and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their gang could enjoy some of the entertainment that was going on around the school. Most of that centered around the upcoming Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff; and Al's favorite bit of fun with that was having an extra study session with Gwendolyn when she cancelled her own team practice on Wednesday so that her senior team could have the pitch for both practice times ahead of their big match on Saturday. That was a trade-off to get both practice times on Friday while the Ravenclaw senior team only had a meeting and warm-up exercises instead of a full work-out; but Gwendolyn didn't use all of that time; and started her Friday practice a half-hour late so that she still had her weekend homework done before practicing until shortly before dinnertime.

By dinnertime on Friday, Quidditch was practically the only conversation topic in the Great Hall. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff senior teams weren't the only teams in the school that showed good sportsmanship, and the match between their junior teams had been friendly too; but it was nice to again have the pre-game action fun and good-natured – even when there was a bit of competitive teasing between members of the two Houses. That wasn't true for some of the Slytherins, and James and Ollie had done some razzing and belittling too; but Al and Gwendolyn ignored all of that – and enjoyed the bonus fun moments. They also had fun with their Friday evening play night for two; stayed together until right before curfew; and then they both headed for bed with plans to get together right after breakfast and hang out together for a while before heading out to the stadium for the big game. Before Al could do that on Saturday morning, he got up early; got ready for a cold game day; and got the first day of December off to a great start with his morning walk with Rose.

"You missed some fun around the common room last night," Rose advised him once they were out in the hall and on their way for an extended walk.

"That sounds like a James and Ollie lead-in."

Rose laughed. "It is; though Fred and Orlando had a minor role too – for being a couple of suck-ups and getting their fifty hours of detention done last weekend. Someone who is not happy with them right now overheard them being ordered into mandatory detention this morning because they're doing their detention so slowly. They're apparently barely half-way done."

"I'm not really surprised," Al admitted with a shrug. "They might be more serious about getting their detentions done ahead of the next Hogsmeade weekend – especially if there's another Christmas dinner and dance that weekend too."

"Do you think that there will be?" Rose asked hopefully; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I have no idea; but wouldn't be surprised about that either. It was very popular last year."

"For some of us," she agreed. "Maybe I shouldn't like the idea of another dance very much at all."

"Or maybe you should expect that your next dance will be brilliant," Al suggested. "Either way, we'll likely know by tomorrow if they announce it the same way as last year too."

"Well, then we'll have something to talk about for our walk tomorrow. We should be talking Quidditch today, though; so what do you think about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. There don't seem to be a lot of students expecting much from Ravenclaw today, but with Peter and Pauline on the team; I'm a bit surprised that they're not being taken more seriously just because they had a bad season last year."

With that launching point, they had fun talking about their favorite sport until they eventually made it to the Great Hall; and then there was more sports talk with their Gryffindor friends while they ate. Some of their friends wanted a break from that after breakfast, and since they had time; a little bit of magic play time kept them busy until they needed to be in the stadium with enough time to again get a block of seats on the border of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw sections of the bleachers. The temperature was around freezing, there were some flakes of snow flying around; and cuddling or huddling under warm, thick blankets was necessary to stay warm. After talking about a dance with Rose, Al was sure that she was thinking about Wizard cuddle buddy options, but while he wouldn't have a problem with any Wizard that Rose picked for that job; he didn't want to think too much about it either – especially since all of the single guys in his dorm room were potential candidates for the job. The cold weather meant that the stadium filled quickly right before game time; so they didn't have to wait long before Teresa started her pre-game announcing.

"Welcome to our final Qudditch match of the season before the Christmas holidays that are now just a day less than three weeks away!" She had to wait for the round of cheers to subside before continuing. "After our first three matches of the season, Gryffindor is in first place for the Quidditch Cup standings with two wins; Ravenclaw is in second place with the only other win; and Hufflepuff and Slytherin are in third and fourth place respectively – though that's temporarily because Slytherin has two losses to just one for Hufflepuff. For our match today, Ravenclaw needs the win to keep pace with Gryffindor; and Hufflepuff is hoping for a repeat of their match-up from last season so that they can get into the win column and catch up to Ravenclaw." There were more cheers and some boos where expected; and then Teresa got straight to the team introductions.

Hufflepuff was introduced first, and the only change for their team from last season was sixth-year Chaser Zack Smith taking over Nikki Tremlett's spot on the team. Alice Longbottom was still Captain for her NEWT year; and she and Francine were still sure to be two of the best Chasers in the school. Ravenclaw's big changes were adding Pauline and Peter Boot to their team at Seeker and Keeper; along with the big unknown about how good Jared Davies would be at Beater after Pauline won the Seeker job from him. Hufflepuff was expected to have a big advantage at Chaser and Beater; and a slight advantage at Seeker and Keeper; though the last part of that was an unknown because this was the first time that Peter and Kirby Crumb had faced each other – even though that prediction was mostly being based on Kirby's extra four years of experience. Once the teams were on the pitch, Mr. Peakes made quick work of his fair play speech; and then he got the match started.

"So, are you going to break our poor Ravenclaw hearts and predict another Hufflepuff win this year?" Gwendolyn teased as she and Al happily cuddled together and watched Alice win the race for the quaffle over Susan Cornfoot.

"I'm not," Al answered; and then laughed when Gwendolyn squeezed the arm he had around her. "I'm not picking Ravenclaw either; but this match-up is going to be closer than most students around here seem to be expecting."

"Okay, then what should we watch out for?" Gwendolyn asked next.

"If I was Jared, I'd just play Beater defense against Calvin and Tina. They aren't going to be bested today; but keeping the bludgers off of the rest of your team might be enough. I'll watch the match-up that Miya gets. If she's up against Zack Smith; it's a win for your team. If they go with Susan and Miya against Alice and Francine; that might not work out for your side – even if Lee is better than Zack." He smiled then as they watched Peter make a great save on Francine. "Peter could be the surprise today. Alice hasn't played against him, and he was only a firstie when Francine played against him for one match. The Keeper advantage might actually be his; since Susan, Lee, and Miya all know how Kirby plays pretty well now."

"I hope you're right," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Alice and Francine are so good that Peter will have to be brilliant in goal to best them – no matter which Chasers on our team are up against them."

Peter started out very successfully fulfilling Gwendolyn's hope as he put on a stellar Keeper performance. In the first hour, Hufflepuff's Chasers out-shot their Ravenclaw counterparts by more than two-to-one; but only managed to score one goal on Peter while Ravenclaw scored six against Kirby – and he was playing really well too. In the second hour, Alice and Francine each managed to score a goal, and the shots on goal were still just as lop-sided; but Ravenclaw had a one-twenty to thirty lead going into the third hour. While that was going on, Pauline and Alex were having an incredible Seeker duel. They both had great chances that were blocked, and if the smiles were any indication; they were having a brilliant time of it with their battle.

That battle became more desperate for Alex as the third hour ended and Ravenclaw had increased their lead to one-eighty to forty; but then he had to switch to defense only less than twenty minutes into the fourth hour when Ravenclaw pulled ahead by one-sixty. The advantage was Pauline's after that because she could wait too; and Alice didn't make a decision to try a catch for the loss – possibly because she was hoping that they'd wear Peter down in a long game and be able to get back into it again. While her strategy might have worked with more time; Hufflepuff didn't get the chance to find out. Ravenclaw had continued to outscore Hufflepuff for more than an hour; and had a two-sixty to sixty lead when Pauline finally got a chance to catch the snitch that Alex wasn't able to react to fast enough to stop her. The final score of four-ten to sixty didn't really reflect just how close the match had been, but it was definitely a huge win for Ravenclaw – and put them firmly in first place for the Quidditch Cup standings thanks to a big points lead in the tie-breaker over Gryffindor.

"Okay, that was awesome!" Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "Let's go and congratulate or offer condolences to our friends; and then get inside. My feet froze solid about three hours ago."

"Race you there," Bristol said while only half-pretending that her teeth were chattering and causing a stutter. "Rose wouldn't hold me like Al's been holding you; so some of us are half-frozen from head-to-toe."

"Then we really need to work on getting cuddle buddies for you and Rose before the next match," Gwendolyn told her.

"None of the Wizards around here are exactly chasing us around the school asking us out," Bristol advised her. "Then there's that whole thing about being off-limits to half the Gryffindor guys while Rose is considered an enemy of the team."

"Maybe you should talk all of the other Gryffindor girls into not talking with any of the junior team boys," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "Let's see how long it takes James and Ollie to change that stupid rule if all of the Witches in your House start ignoring them."

"That'd be fun; but isn't likely to happen," Bristol advised her. "Rumor has it that they're currently making the moves on Anna Donaldson for Ollie and Patricia Parker for James. Since Anna and Patricia think that they're all that and then some; they'd nevergo along with a protest shunning like that."

"If you're going to start talking about James' love life; would you mind saving that until later?" Al asked them. "I really don't want to be around for that conversation."

"And it's too cold to sit around talking," Rose added. "Let's make the rounds out on the pitch and get back to the castle. I don't expect the post-game fun to last long anyway. The players would have been warmer whileworking hard; but they'll start freezing soon now that they've stopped."

Rose was right about that, and they barely had time to say a few words with each of their favorite Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs before they wanted to be in the locker rooms and getting cleaned up and warm again too. Lunch was being served late, but most of the students only stopped into their dorm rooms long-enough to drop off their cold-weather gear before going on to the Great Hall to get hot drinks while they waited for lunch to be served. While they kept an eye out for James and Ollie, they again didn't have any problems with them; and didn't for the rest of the day. The late lunch entertainment was all about the Quidditch match, and while Pauline earned a lot of attention for her Seeker duel win over Alex; Peter was definitely the star of the day.

Gwendolyn had a party to go to after lunch, so Al spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Rose and doing a bit of work on her charm bracelet. Each charm took a while to make, so they'd been working on it when they had the spare time; and Al was sure they'd have it nearly as complete as Gwendolyn's before they went home for Christmas. The upcoming holiday began to creep into the chats and gossip at dinnertime, and while the decorating would take most of a week or more; the arrival of the first decorations in the Great Hall and around the castle while they'd been at the game had a lot to do with the transition from Quidditch to holiday mode for at least some of the students. While she could have returned to the Ravenclaw common room for some more partying after dinner, Gwendolyn wanted to spend the evening with Al instead; so they met up after dinner and headed for their usual classroom. Gwendolyn had brought her guitar, but before getting to that; they sat down and exchanged updates about what they'd each been doing since lunchtime.

"I am so glad that Ravenclaw won today," Gwendolyn began enthusiastically. "Our junior team has been doing so well since before I started here; it's easy to forget that most of our senior players haven't had nearly as much luck; and hardly any wins with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff hogging all of the Quidditch Cups. Jared Davies looked so happy this afternoon, and while he wasn't getting the attention that Pauline and Peter were; he is still team Captain – and this is a great start to his final season with the team."

"It is," Al agreed; "and Jared should get more credit. Hufflepuff usually gets the nod for best teamwork every year; but his team had that going for them today too – and they did it better than Hufflepuff."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I told Jared about what you'd said as the game started; and he wanted to know if you'd been spying on their practices and meetings or something."

Al smiled and shrugged. "Someone on their team has a talent for working out game strategy. If it's Jared, then maybe he should consider a career on the professional league sidelines; since he might make a great manager someday. If it's someone else; you should hope that person gets named Captain next season."

"For all I know, that's a team effort too. Getting back to the party, though; I was amazed at how many teens in our own House are surprised that we won today. Nobody's talking Quidditch Cup champions or anything; but there is suddenly a lot more excitement for our chances in the competition now."

"If Pauline can manage to survive her Seeker duel with Brand without him putting her in the hospital wing; I'll jump on that bandwagon," Al said seriously. "He's a lot bigger; and we can be sure he'll try to put her out of the match any way he can. It isn't right; but it will be her reality for that game."

"What would you do?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed.

"I'd seriously consider being too sick to play that day if I was Seeker, but I'm not; so I'd just let Brand have at James and hope for the worst," he joked. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, and that's funny, but I suppose we shouldn't joke about that in case James is up against Brand next season. Do you have any ideas for what Pauline could do?"

Al thought about that for a moment before answering. "I'm probably not the right person to ask about this; but my first thought is to have Pauline follow Brand around instead of playing side-by-side like normal for Seeker duels. There's some risk with doing that if he gets too much of a lead on a run for the snitch, but if he's always in front of her; he can't blindside her with any cheap shots. He's also big and not the fastest flyer out there, so if she's right behind him; she could use the draft to shoot past him and try for the snitch that way. If she sees the snitch first; then she might get the jump on the play that way too if he doesn't see her make a run for the snitch and get turned around fast enough."

""I've never seen that strategy in a professional game," Gwendolyn said.

"Neither have I, but even the bigger Seekers are fast in the show; so it probably wouldn't work. Doing that might drive Brand bonkers too; since his game plan is sure to include bashing Pauline every chance he gets. If he can't do that; then the game won't be any fun for him at all."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I could actually see that part of the plan working for Pauline; and the Slytherins wouldn't be able to box her in for any bludger hits either."

"Well, if she tries it and it works, don't tell anyone it was my idea; or I'll have Belinda and her team mad at me too."

"I won't say a word about where I got the idea from to anyone," Gwendolyn promised. "How did your afternoon go? Do anything exciting?"

"Rose and I worked on a couple of the charms for her bracelet. We want to get it done before we head home for Christmas. We're going to make up a few charms for Hugo too; since he's apparently been wishing that he had some too after seeing Lily helping Grandma out around the Burrow with her charm bracelet."

"That's a great idea for me to give Jonah," Gwendolyn said. "What are you going to use for Hugo's charms? Maybe I could get Mum or Dad to send some to me so we can charm them too."

"Rose is going to use a Cannons' medallion set. It should get here sometime next week."

"That won't work for Jonah; but I could get the Harpies' set instead and go with that – if you think we'll have time to do all of that in just a couple of weeks."

"If you'll go to the Christmas dance wtih me again this year; I'll stay up late as much as I need to so that gets done for Jonah," Al said; and laughed when Gwendolyn leaned close and hugged him.

"Is there going to be a Christmas dance that I havent' heard about yet?"

"I hope so," Al answered. "We should know by morning. I just thought I'd ask you before any of those Ravenclaw guys can beat me to it before breakfast tomorrow."

"They'd be told no if they tried; and it's definitely a yes for you – though I'm going to be disappointed now if they don't have a dance."

"If they don't, then maybe we'll put on our own dance with some friends," Al offered with a grin. "How much do the Graves Robbers charge to play for a night?"

"More than we can afford on our allowances," Gwendolyn assured him. "Let's hope the school puts on the dance – though a little party with our friends does sound pretty good too."

They didn't talk for much longer before getting started on Al's guitar lesson; and then they followed that up with some duet time before packing up the guitar and moving on to some cuddling while watching a show on the mirror network. Some snogging was involved with that; they went for a long walk when heading back to Ravenclaw tower; and then ended their time together with a short goodnight hug and kiss because the hallway outside of her House was a bit too crowded; and they didn't want to be one of those snogging couples. Al went straight to his dorm room after getting back to his House because there was more snogging going on in the common room. He sat up and talked with Ray and some of the other guys for a while; had a mirror chat with Lily; and then got ready for bed and went off to sleep.

With school Quidditch done until the New Year, and just three weeks left to the Christmas holidays; Al was starting to feel as excited as he always did in December. He had some hints from his always-expanding senses and glimpses of his future that this Christmas season was going to be brilliant; so he was looking forward to finding out just how amazing the rest of December was going to be!


	16. The Heart of Christmas

Chapter Sixteen – The Heart of Christmas

Al was early getting to the common room on Sunday morning; so he got to watch the show as the first handful of Gryffindor Witches arrived and discovered the poster for the Christmas dance. While this was the second dance in two years, he knew through older cousins and friends that they hadn't happened every year; so it was a big news story again. There were more than a few Witches around the bulletin board by the time Rose joined him; and she was grinning at him long before she reached him and they shared a good morning hug.

"Do we need to swing by Ravenclaw tower and wait for Gwendolyn?" she teased. "I'd feel bad for you if Gwendolyn gets asked to the dance first thing and you end up out of luck."

"I asked her to be my date last night," Al advised her; and then laughed when she smacked him on the shoulder.

"You told me that you didn't know whether there was going to be a dance or not," she reminded him; and he nodded.

"True, but then I promised Gwendolyn that we'd have a Christmas dance with our friends if the school didn't put one on this year – though she advised me that our allowances aren't big enough to cover hiring the Graves Robbers. It's a good thing that the school has a bigger budget for their dances."

"The Graves Robbers are going to play again this year?"

"Yeah, but we'll have a D.J. between sets," Al advised her. "There won't be a second band."

"That's okay – and it'll give the bandmembers a chance to enjoy the dance too instead of working all night. Let's get going. I need to stretch my legs and get some exercise. I think it was all of those hours sitting out in the cold that has me feeling stiff this morning."

"You don't just want to get to the Great Hall early so that all of the single guys of appropriate age can find you easily?" Al joked; and Rose slapped his arm again.

"Cut that out," she warned. "You're getting to be nearly as bad as the girls in my dorm room for that."

Al laughed. "I hope not!" he said emphatically. "We can get out of here, though, and I do need to meet up with Gwendolyn before breakfast too."

"What for?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"It's Francine's sixteenth birthday. I have a little gift that Gwendolyn and I can give her before breakfast."

"No wonder Ray keeps telling you that you spend too much time with Witches," Rose teased. "Maybe I should've done something for her too."

"You're welcome to sign the card too," Al offered; "and I don't have a problem with my best friends being Witches. Your Mum managed to do well-enough with our Dads for best mates."

"They also drove her half-mad," Rose reminded him. "I might have the only Mum around that blames her grey hairs on her husband instead of her kids."

"Your Mum doesn't have any grey hairs," Al told her; and Rose laughed.

"None that she can't fix with color-change charms," she whispered conspiratorially. "Don't you dare tell her I said that."

"I wouldn't – and won't," Al promised. "Speaking of your Mum, I'm sending Winter out again tonight, so if you want to send a letter along; I can do that. If your Mum has picked up those medallions for you too; she could send them back with Winter instead of sending an extra Owl Post."

"Dad picked them up yesterday," Rose advised him. "I'll ask when I talk to Mum tonight; but they might be sending an Owl Post anyway – and I'd like the medallions here as soon as I can get them anyway. We'll be pushing it to get all of the charms done in less than three weeks."

"We'll have a second set of medallions to charm too," Al advised her. "Gwendolyn loved your gift idea for Hugo and wants to make a set for Jonah – except using Harpies' medallions."

"At this rate; you'll need to go into business," Rose suggested. "I wonder how much these charm bracelets and charms would go for if we sold them?"

"Are you looking to supplement your allowance?" Al asked – "or raise money to hire the Graves Robbers for a Christmas dance next year?"

"Maybe I'm saving up to buy the Cannons," Rose told him; looking as serious as she could even with the grin and playful look in her eyes. "It would be way easier to win that championship if the team had new owners and management."

"I've heard that they're losing a bit of money every season right now; so saving up most of your allowance over the next five and a half years might give you enough to buy them. Don't you think that being the star Keeper for a championship-winning Cannons team is a big enough dream? Now you want to own the team too?"

"I'd be okay with co-owning it if you'd like to invest your allowance too, Al. Maybe I've just inherited the family entrepreneurial trait like Uncle George did."

"Weren't he and Uncle Fred the only entrepreneurs in the family?" Al countered. "You do seem to have that trait, though; since you've been talking about starting two businesses in just the past few minutes."

They'd been walking most of the time while talking about that; and enjoyed the quiet time together as much as always. When they got to the Great Hall, they went and sat down instead of waiting in the entrance hall for Gwendolyn. Some of their friends arrived before Gwendolyn got there; so Rose had company when Al went to meet up with his girlfriend and then head over to the Hufflepuff table. Alice and Francine were sitting together, along with some of their team mates and a few of Francine's best friends; and Gwendolyn got as much attention as Al did when they stepped up next to Francine.

"Does dating a Gryffindor count the same as being one?" Alice teased. "It takes a brave Ravenclaw to stop for a visit at the Hufflepuff table after her team beat ours yesterday."

"We come bearing a gift and Happy Birthday best wishes for your sister," Al told her with a grin; "so hopefully you can give Gwendolyn a break – at least for this morning." He handed the small gift and card to Francine. "Happy sixteenth. We really hope that you'll have a great day!"

Francine laughed. "I'll shoot for good. Great would've been possible if I'd gotten a win in that game yesterday for my birthday; but some of Gwendolyn's House mates didn't want to help me out with that little birthday wish."

"Did you try having your birthday party and cake on Friday night so you could blow out the candles and make your wish then?" Gwendolyn asked; and earned a round of laughs for that.

"No, and maybe I should have tried that," Francine answered. She quickly read the card and then opened the gift. She was smiling as she looked to Al again. "We've heard about the charms you've given to Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily," she told him. "What do these do?"

Al grinned at her. "They're really boring, but since you help your Mum out at the Leaky and can't use magic for any of that for another year; the broom charm is levitation and the other one is a scouring charm."

Francine laughed again and hugged him enthusiastically. "That's brilliant, Al! Thank you!"

"You'll be thanking him every day while we're home," Alice predicted. "We'll be helping out at a lot of parties over those two weeks."

Gwendolyn got a hug too, and they stayed and talked for another couple of minutes; but then Al and Gwendolyn moved on; he walked with her to her usual place at the Ravenclaw table; and then went on to rejoin Rose with time to spare before breakfast was served. While Francine was celebrating her birthday too; the Christmas dance was the top gossip network story; and continued to be what the girls in their study group wanted to talk about when they all met up and headed to the library for a morning project research and work session. Al, Ray, and Michael mostly stayed out of that; though the girls did have some dance tips for Ray that he joked with them about being a year too late in coming. They got a lot of work done; finished one of the projects that wasn't due for more than another week; and then they split up to drop off books and the rest of their study gear in their dorm rooms. Al and Gwendolyn also picked up their Quidditch gear bags because they had the early afternoon time slot for the practice pitch; and were going to have a Chaser duel instead of a scrimmage with the rest of their friends.

Al was with Rose when they reached the Great Hall – and she was intercepted by a second-year Hufflepuff boy. They didn't really know him at all, but he had been in their joint classes for nearly a year and a half; so they did know his name – Shane Snyder; though not much more than that. He fairly-nervously asked to talk with Rose alone, and that put a grin on Al's face as he went on into the Great Hall without Rose – and his extended senses told him for sure what anyone might have guessed just from the other boy's nervousness and body language. What he sensed from Rose advised him that there was a very good chance that she was going to have a date for the dance – unless Shane totally botched it while asking her to go to it with him. He hadn't been sitting down for long when Rose and Shane walked into the Great Hall together, and though they split up to head for their own tables; the pair of smiles was all Al needed to see to know that a Christmas dance date had been offered and accepted.

"He ought to be Gryffindor," Al told Rose quietly as she sat down beside him. "I don't know him at all, but since he's always been really quiet in our classes; I'd have guessed that he's very shy."

Rose laughed. "He is," she assured him. "I might have said yes just for the cute factor; but I was convinced when he told me that he'd been more afraid of not asking the only girl he wanted to take to the dance before it was too late than he was about asking me out."

"I can't comment on the first part of that; but part two of that has me liking him a lot already. Congratulations."

"Congratulations for what?" That question came from Bristol; and she sat down on the other side of Rose while Ray, Cora, and a few others took their usual seats too.

"I have a date for the dance," Rose advised her happily; her smile brilliant and her eyes bright with excitement. "Shane Snyder just asked me to go with him."

Bristol looked at her blankly. "Who?"

Rose laughed. "Shane Snyder. Second year Hufflepuff. Black hair; blue eyes; quiet; usually sits in the first or second row in our joint classes."

Bristol smiled at her. "Why don't you just point him out to me; since that didn't help at all." Rose tried to do that without being obvious; so Al leaned in and helped her. "Look for the only Hufflepuff in the second year section with black hair, blue eyes, and a gigantic perma-smile on his face," he suggested; earning laughs from most of the girls closest to them.

"Okay, that worked," Bristol said as she located him; and then she smiled when she returned her attention to Rose. "How is it possible that I didn't notice him before now? He's seriously cute!"

"I've noticed him," Rose assured her; "but I'll guess that you haven't because he's probably the quietest boy in the classes we have with him."

Bristol glanced over at Shane again; and then laughed while shaking her head. "I have so got to take another look around our joint classes next week – looking for the wallflowers."

"I'm pretty sure that no guy is going to want to be called that," Ray told her. "Wallflowers are supposed to be girls."

"So what do shy guys want to be called instead?" Bristol asked him; and Ray grinned at her.

"They're too shy to have Witches calling them at all," he joked.

"Well, whatever you call them, Rose and I are going to need to have a chat with some of our Hufflepuff girlfriends to get the scoop on Shane; and Rose should invite him to hang out with us a few times between now and the dance so they can get to know a bit about each other."

"And take dance lessons if needed," Ray added with a self-mocking laugh. "Maybe Al could get Gwendolyn to lead a couple of group dance lessons."

"Are you going to sign up if she does do that?' Bristol asked; and Ray laughed again.

"I might, but don't expect me to ask you to this dance too. We already found out last year that you kiss like my sister."

"I didn't kiss you last year," Bristol reminded him; and Ray grinned at her.

"Neither did my sister," he answered quickly; happy when his joke caught her by surprise and earned another round of laughs from the girls.

"We definitely shouldn't try going on another date," Bristol said seriously; "but I might be willing to help you out with those dance lessons you want Gwendolyn to teach so that you won't mess up at least that part of your date this time around."

That comment led their lunchtime chat in that direction for a while; and Al was free to mostly enjoy the meal without getting too involved in the conversation. They did have a slight change in afternoon plans after Rose and Bristol talked with Gwendolyn; so their Chaser duel was followed by a first dance lesson that included Rose and Shane, Bristol and Ray, Toni and Michael, and Al and Gwendolyn. Both the Chaser duel and the dancing had been fun for Al, but while the Quidditch had been more exciting; the dancing was more entertaining. Ray and Bristol had offered the most comedic moments; but he had fun getting to know Shane too. While the other boy was shy, and a bit overwhelmed to spend a couple of hours with kids from some of the most-famous Wizarding World families; Al's first impressions were good and Shane got along well with all of them. Rose was also happy to find out that he was already a decent dance partner; and a quick learner as Gwendolyn taught them some of the latest dances.

After their dance lesson, Al and Gwendolyn split up to take their Quidditch gear back to their dorms; and didn't meet up again until after dinner. They had Rose, Bristol, and a few other friends with them when they went to the library again; but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were only there to have a quiet place to write letters for home; Al and Gwendolyn took care of getting Winter on her way; and spent some extra time with Blizzard – even though the owl took out his frustration on Al for being stuck in the Owlery for weeks without even a visit from James. Once Winter was happily winging her way toward home; Al and Gwendolyn went for a walk; returned to their own Houses early; and ended their day and weekend with mirror chats with their respective parents and sister or brother. Al had a short chat with Ray too when he came up to their room early; but then he was also sleeping before most of the other guys even had their weekend assignments done – the price they paid for having too much fun during the rest of the week and weekend.

There was a lot going on for Al during the first school week of December. While he was good with having James and Ollie continue to leave him alone; he had more on the go every day; and keeping up with everything meant staying up later most nights so that he could do some of the work or studying while in his bed. Rose got her Cannons' medallion set on Monday; so Al started helping her with getting them charmed for Hugo. When Winter returned to Hogwarts on Wednesday, she had the Harpies medallions with her that Gwendolyn had requested; so Al doubled down on that work. Since he also had other charms he was making for some of his favorite Witches; and everything needed to be done in less than three weeks; he tried to get at least two or three of them done every day. While the actual exercises didn't take that long, and could often be done while he was doing other things; his Animagus studies were in his thoughts a lot all week too as he continued to work toward that goal too.

The Christmas dance teen drama added lots of entertainment to the mix, but while the girls were happy to keep up with every bit of news; the guys tried to stay out of the news – or at least out of the news if it was for something bad – like not asking the right girl out; asking the wrong one; not asking anyone; or for getting turned down. For their little group, the dates were all set up in the first week, and while Al was far from oblivious to what was going on around him; that didn't mean that there weren't any surprises. While Al knew that Ray liked Tory Summers; he was a bit surprised when he asked her to the dance on Monday; but not that she accepted. Bristol was asked to the dance by third-year Gryffindor, Chris Cauldwell; Cora accepted a date with third-year Ravenclaw and Gwendolyn's team mate, Seth Bradley; and one of the big gossip news stories happened when Madison Whitby agreed to go to the dance with Scott Holden.

Actually, that became a big story on Tuesday when James kicked Scott off of the Gryffindor junior team reserve squad for daring to break a team rule by associating with the enemy. For his part, Scott didn't seem very disappointed to be off the team; and Al and Ray were happy to have another roommate that could talk to them again without risking their fledgling Quidditch careers. The girls generally blasted James' decision and applauded Scott for picking the Witch he liked best over Quidditch. Since Toni and Michael were already a couple just as Al and Gwendolyn were; that meant that the date set-ups for their group were done with early; but the effects of those choices lingered on as each of the new couples started spending more time together.

For Ray, that was simply a change in seating for some of their study sessions. After getting the heave-ho from James at practice on Tuesday; Scott joined Madison for their evening study session and one other during the rest of the week; but still needed to work with his usual study group and project partner the rest of the time. That wasn't an option for Bristol, but then she was able to spend some of her free time with Chris when she wasn't studying with them. Rose invited Shane to hang out with them a few times, and he joined them a couple of those times when Madison and Tory were there too; but had his own study group and friends; and did most of his work with them. All of those new interactions were fun for Al and Gwendolyn – and for the rest of their friends too; so that helped to make their incredibly busy week a lot more fun.

By the time they finished up all of their regular assignments by dinnertime on Friday, Al was more than ready for a break – though they weren't going to get as much of one as normal because they were going to work on their remaining projects – and get all of the projects that were due before the Christmas break finished. While they did want to keep up with their extra work plans too; Al and Gwendolyn still took Friday evening off; had their usual music and mirror network entertainment and alone time; and then got back to work on Saturday morning. They finished a bit more than half of their remaining projects work before going to lunch in the Great Hall; and then Al and Gwendolyn had Rose and Shane with them for an afternoon of Harpies' Quidditch on their portable mirrors.

The Harpies were playing the Kestrels at Exmoor stadium; and they were happy to not only spend a fairly quiet, fun afternoon together; but they got to watch one of the best matches of the season so far for the Harpies. Victoire seemed to be especially fired up; and scored twenty-five goals – an impressive total in just a couple of minutes over four hours. The Harpies scored a total of forty-four goals; so it was not a great day for the Kestrels' Keeper. Vicky wasn't having a great match either, but the twenty-four goals that the Kestrels' Chasers scored on her weren't nearly enough to keep pace with Victoire and her team. Gabrielle had been in a tough Seeker duel until the Harpies were up by one-sixty, but once the advantage was hers and the Kestrels' Seeker wasn't battling for the catch while hoping for his team to make a comeback; it was just a matter of time before she got a great chance to end the match – and did just that. Winning by a score of five-ninety to two-forty helped them in the league standings; and Victoire's big game helped to extend her lead in the scoring race too.

Rose and Gwendolyn wanted to freshen up before dinner; so they split up after the game – though not before Al made sure that Gwendolyn got back to her House safely; and Shane walked with Rose to Gryffindor tower before moving on too. When Al met up with Rose again for the walk to the Great Hall, she had some gossip news to pass on; with the top story being that James had asked Patricia Parker to the dance; Ollie had invited Anna Donaldson; and both boys were busy with detention chores so that they could get them done in time to actually go to the dance – and the next Hogsmeade weekend. They were both amused to hear that Patricia and Anna thought that James and Ollie were wonderful for working themselves half to death so that they'd be able to take them to the dance – especially when their detentions had been so unfair in the first place. Rose heard that directly from the other two girls; but only because they pretended to ignore her while talking about James and Ollie; and insulting Rose and Al along the way while they were supposedly having a private chat with some of the other girls in their dorm room.

The Harpies-Kestrels match wasn't the only Quidditch match of the day; so talking about the professional matches was part of the dinnertime entertainment. With just a week left until the dance; so was any dance-related news; so the girls around Al were quite happy to keep him up to speed on all of the latest teen drama for that – whether he wanted to know or not. He did still enjoy the food and the time with his friends, but he was ready to get back together with Gwendolyn after dinner so that they could do their own thing again for the rest of the evening. That was particularly important for Al because he had a special surprise to share with Gwendolyn. She'd brought her guitar along when she came to the Great Hall, so Al carried it for her while they walked to a classroom that he picked – and that was different than the normal classrooms they used; so shewas already wondering what was up when he led her inside and closed the door behind them. She was certain that he was up to something when he then used an imperturbable charm on the entire room – sealing them in and ensuring they wouldn't be overheard.

"Your guitar playing is getting a lot better," she teased. "I don't think that anyone will file a noise complaint with the Prefects or Heads."

Al laughed; and then smiled at her; his eyes intense and enthusiastic. "I'm ready." He said meaningfully; "and can't imagine giving something this big a try without you here to watch me."

"You want to try turning into your Animagus already?" Gwendolyn exclaimed; and then laughed and hugged him fiercely. "Thank-you!" she added happily. She grinned then. "Do you have to take your clothes off or anything the first time – just to be on the safe side?"

Al laughed again too and blushed a bit. "No, and you'll be very glad of that if you ever decide to try being an Animagus too."

"I'd be okay with that if it was just you and me in the room," Gwendolyn countered; and hugged Al again when he blushed even more. "Don't go there. You're going to need all of your concentration to do this right – and I definitely don't want to wind up explaining why you're permanently an animal because you were distracted by thinking about you and me without any clothes on."

Al was still blushing; but he grinned too. "Well, if I do get this right; you will see me naked," he reminded her; and Gwendolyn laughed in delight.

"That's so unexpected when you do that – and I love it." She hugged him one more time and then stepped away from him. "Okay, what do we need to do to get ready for this?"

"We need to start by clearing a large, open area of the room," Al answered seriously. "Since I won't know what animal I'll be until I try; it's a good idea to be ready for big instead of busting up furniture – or possibly hurting myself."

"I so hope you're not a dragon or hippogriff," Gwendolyn offered. "Yeah, I know you can't be a magical creature; but the same goes for elephants and crocodiles."

"Neither of those would be very useful for me; though I guess that's true for being an Animagus anyway; since it isn't exactly a useful talent in Quidditch."

Gwendolyn started to laugh again; and then grinned at him. "Sorry, but I was just getting a mental picture of a crocodile on a broom eating the Slytherin players."

"I'm fairly sure that would get me kicked off the team – assuming I even get to play next season." They used their wands and started moving work tables and chairs out against the walls until the entire center of the room was open. When that was done; Gwendolyn waited to find out what Al needed to do next.

"This next part is going to be really boring for you, so feel free to surf the wireless web or something while I'm doing it," Al told her. "There's a series of mental exercises I'm supposed to go through before trying my first Animagus Transfiguration. I don't actually think they're necessary, but I'll go with being safe instead of taking the risk that I might end up as your pet instead of your boyfriend later tonight."

"How long do those exercises take?"

"Twenty minutes or so. I'm going to do the physical warm-ups at the same time; so that'll speed this up a bit."

"You have to do physical exercises too? What for?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted. "It's possible that the Wizards and Witches writing about becoming an Animagus have no idea either. For all we know, some long-ago Animagus came out of his or her animal form with a leg cramp and then came up with the brilliant idea of exercising first when that had nothing to do with the problem."

"It sounds as though you should write a book on it when you do get all of it figured out," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Maybe, but I also get the feeling that this is different for me – just as I think it was for Dad." He grinned then. "Mum's likely glad that his Animagus is small."

"Why?"

"Because he did his first Transfiguration in our home office," Al explained; still grinning. "He'd have made a bit of a mess if he'd been a hippo or elephant."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I didn't know that; though I wouldn't be surprised if your Dad did know that wouldn't be a problem for him."

She got her mirror out and started doing something with it while sitting on top of one of the work tables. Al sat on the floor to start the stretching exercises; began meticulously going through every mental exercise that was meant to get the Wizard or Witch focused and determined – as well as confident. Doubt was definitely considered incredibly dangerous, though he wasn't able to find anything explaining how anyone could know that; since it wasn't as if they could ask anyone who had tried and failed to tell them what had gone wrong. He stood up twenty-two minutes later; and turned to face Gwendolyn. She was already watching him by then; and she smiled at him.

"You're running two minutes behind," she teased.

"Then we'll have to keep running late," Al said with a shrug. "This next part is the all-or-nothing Animagus change; so I won't rush it. The good news, though, is that rushing it is relative; since the change should only take seconds."

Gwendolyn hopped off of the work table and walked over to him. "Then I need to give you a hug and kiss – for luck; not in case it'll be your last one as a human." She did that; but didn't get too enthusiastic about it and risk mesing him up by doing that. "Is there anything else I should know before you do this?"

"Whatever animal I am; I won't be able to talk to you; but will be able to understand you. If I do try to talk; don't laugh too much when whatever I say comes out in whatever sound my animal can make."

"I probably can't promise that with any honesty," Gwendolyn admitted. "Since you'll be able to understand me, though, if you're not ready to change back after five minutes; I'll tell you that time's up; since we won't know for sure that you've done it until you change back."

"That sounds like a good idea," Al agreed. "I can always change back and forth a few times after that – unless I'm some animal that you hate or are afraid of and don't ever want to see again."

"I never even thought of that," she admitted. "If I scream; change back right away!"

Al laughed and nodded. "Okay, but if I'm a scary animal; I'll be all set for Halloween every year."

Gwendolyn went back over by the work tables again so that she didn't have to worry about being underfoot of a big, heavy animal; and watched with obvious anticipation and excitement. Al looked right at her too as he took a deep breath and set the internal Transfiguration into motion. Doing that was fascinating! At first, they were looking at each other at eye level; but then he was able to watch as his form blurred while he could still see and sense everything around him. When he needed to start looking up toward Gwendolyn's face; he knew that he was going to be smaller – or at least lower to the ground; but he also took all of that in very quickly – and then it was done.

Gwendolyn laughed in delight; ran over to him; and kneltdown so that she could wrap her arms around his neck while he wagged his tail and nuzzled her neck.

"Al, you're gorgeous!" she exclaimed; continuing to hug him and then stroking his fur. Leaning back; she laughed again. "Would you like me to show you what you look like; or would you rather take a few guesses first?" Al leaned closer and then licked just the tip of her nose before she could react and get out of the way of his long, wet tongue.

"You're lucky that you didn't just try slobbering all over me," she advised him; though she was grinning too. "One of us still has a wand and can use it."

Al laughed too; and then watched as Gwendolyn laughed at the strange sounds coming out of his muzzle. "I'm so glad that I didn't make that promise," she advised him. "If you were trying to laugh; what's so funny?"

Al's tongue lolled out of his mouth as he grinned at her; and then he levitated one of the stools across the room and left it floating in the air next to him and in front of her. Gwendolyn's eyes went wide; and Al turned his head to look meaningfully at the door. She followed his gaze; and her eyes opened even wider as she realized what he was telling her without words.

"Merlin!" she breathed. "The imperturbable charm is still in place – and you can do magic in your Animagus form!" She leaned in and hugged him again; and then laughed when the stool dropped to the floor with a loud thump. "I love you, Al," she told him. "This is so brilliant. Thank you." She moved away from him again; and got her mirror out of her pocket. "Here – take a look at yourself," she suggested. "I'm not a dog expert or anything, but I'm pretty sure your breed is a Samoyed husky – and you're of the pure-white variety." She smiled as Al looked at himself; and then turned side-to-side to get as much of the whole picture as he could. "I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't be an adult dog; but maybe Animagi don't have control over that either. You've kept your eye color; so you and your Dad have that in common too. Why don't you try wandering around the room and see if it takes time to get used to being in your animal form?"

Al thought that was a good idea; and was surprised at how naturally walking and then running around came to him. He could jump from the floor up onto the work tables with ease; get back down again; and he ran around and played with Gwendolyn until his five minute time limit was up. There'd been a list of exercises to do to prepare for the return to human form, but after doing the first transfiguration; Al knew that those exercises were just silly – at least for him. It was necessary to focus his will and magic with intensity and purpose; but the change back to his 'normal' self was as smooth and simple as changing into a Samoyed husky had been. Being on the receiving end of another hug and kiss from Gwendolyn was great too – especially when he could hug and kiss her back without getting in trouble for slobbering on her.

"So, what was it like?" she asked after stepping back from him again.

"Brilliant," he assured her with a big smile and enthusiasm. "I knew it would be that great. Now that we know what my Animagus is; were you hoping for something else?"

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "I'm good with this one, but it might have been fun if you'd been a horse instead. We could've gone riding together and had a lot of fun with that." She grinned then. "Would you like to try and see if you can sneak into my dorm room before you get registered? It's been cold at night; and you'd do a great job keeping me warm in my bed."

"Dogs aren't allowed here," Al reminded her. "I'm fairly sure that your fellow Ravenclaw would notice one following you around – not to mention wondering what was going on when I sat on your bed with my paws over my eyes anytime you or one of your roommates was getting changed."

"I'll bet that James wouldn't have a problem with looking while stuff like that was going on if he was an Animagus, but then since your animal is so adorable; I wouldn't want all of the other girls fawning all over you either. When will you get registered? Will you have to report it to the Headmistress?"

"I have a bit of time to deal with that," Al answered. "You need to be able to reliably and easily change back and forth without all of the prep work I did tonight; and do it without having anything weird happen. If I keep practicing when I can until we go home for the holidays, I'll be able to show it to Mum and Dad first; and get them to help me to do what's best from there."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Are you hoping to start out as a state secret like your Dad did?" she teased; and Al laughed too.

"I don't think that Minister Shacklebolt will go there for a second-year Hogwarts student – unless they need an undercover agent here for some reason."

"They could use one to keep an eye on James and Ollie," she suggested; and then laughed again. "Too bad you couldn't keep this a secret. You could have a lot of fun running around here with James trying to keep up. I don't know how fast a husky can run; but I'm sure it's way faster than James can go."

"Probably; but it would be tough to get around without someone seeing me."

Gwendolyn shrugged and kept grinning. "So make yourself a dog tag with an invisibility charm built in," she suggested. "We've still got lots of time before curfew, and you wanted to try changing back and forth a few times; so why don't you do that; and we can talk later?"

Al didn't do that right away, but it wasn't long before he was back in his animal form; and experimenting a bit with what he could still do with his magic. He didn't think about how he was doing that; but Gwendolyn was – though they didn't talk about it until they were finished playing first. Only having the classroom to run around in limited what he could try doing; but then he had a bit of an obstacle course to run around as he also moved all of the stools, work tables, and the rest of the furniture back where it belonged. Gwendolyn had lots of hugs for him while in doggie mode; and one of the tests of his abilities was doing mid-air catches of a few different things that Gwendolyn got out of her book bag or guitar case and tossed at him. That was amazing for both of them; so there were more hugs and kisses when he'd had enough for one night before they sat down to have drinks and talk about it.

"You do realise that what you're doing with your magic while in Animagus form is impossible, right?" Gwendolyn asked him with a sardonic smile. "Not only because it's wandless; but because we won't even start to learn non-verbal spell casting until sixth year."

"Dad can do magic when he's in animal form too," Al told her first. "I've done non-verbals before without really thinking about it; though I haven't ever tried to do it intentionally. The other times have all been when I've just needed to do something. As for being wandless, nobody seems to actually know what happens to our things while we're in animal form. Sure, they talk about Wizarding space, but it isn't explained where that is; so it might still be part of us too – and the magic wouldn't actually be wandless at all – I'm just holding it somehow in a different way."

"So you're suggesting that you carry you stuff with you - like in some kind of a doggie bag?" Gwendolyn teased; and then laughed again. "We'll need to pick out a cool name for your Animagus like your Dad has."

"You can work on that as long as I get to approve of the name too," Al offered. "Try not to come up with anything that James can have too much fun with. He'll have no problem coming up with as many dog jokes for me as he has for Dad."

Gwendolyn didn't try to come up with any names right then, but they did talk about Al's Animagus for a while before moving on to a bit of music play time and a minor snogging session until it was time for Al to walk Gwendolyn back to her House. He went straight up to his dorm room after that; had a short mirror chat with his parents and Lily that didn't include any mention of his Animagus success; and then he crashed for the night – discovering that the magical effort he'd used all evening had worn him out much more than he'd realized.

There was no snogging involved, but Sunday morning started out great for Al when his walk with Rose included a stop for a little Animagus show and tell with her. This time, he didn't tell her everything – at least not yet; but she was still impressed and thought that his animal form was adorable too. Rose had lots of questions for him after that, and while they resumed their walk; but they only had time for some of them before there were other teens in the hallways heading for the Great Hall too; and then they couldn't talk about it at all – and wouldn't be able to do that openly until after he was registered at the Ministry of Magic. That didn't keep Al from thinking about it a lot; and he had time to do that during breakfast while the girls had fun talking about the ongoing dance and teen drama swirling around the big event. After that, Al was busy all morning with their second project study session of the weekend in the library. That really was work because they kept pushing hard until they had everything done; so all they'd have left to do over the next two weeks before the holidays would be regular daily assignments, test studying, and working ahead on the holiday revision they were sure to get during the last four days of school before they headed home.

When they headed to the Great Hall for lunch, they were all in a great mood despite all of the work – or thanks to getting all of it done. There was more gossip for the girls to talk about while they enjoyed that meal; and then it was time to have some fun for a while – with a surprise birthday party. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Bristol, and Ray were all drafted to help with getting that set up fast in their usual study classroom after lunch; and they had help from some Ravenclaws that they didn't normally spend any time with; but they were friends of Michael's and were there to help out with both the work and celebrating his big day. While they did the work, Toni was in charge of keeping her boyfriend distracted, but even though some of the girls had fun discussing how she might be doing that while they set up for the party, Al and the other guys did not really want to know what Toni was actually doing to keep Michael busy.

She did get him to the party on time, and with his friends there too; they had eighteen teens and tweens in the classroom – with Michael being the newest official member of the teen section of their group. He'd been surprised and happy, and while the party wasn't wild and crazy; they did have fun listening to music videos on a pair of portable mirrors; there were snacks and drinks; a birthday cake; and a handful of gifts for Michael to open – including a couple of extra gifts that his family had sent to Toni to give him at the party in addition to the Owl Posts he'd received at breakfast. Al hadn't known at the first of the school year that Michael would end up being a friend that he'd spend time with every day in their study group, but while James would certainly make fun of him for it; he'd come to Hogwarts prepared for birthdays with generic boys and girls gifts; so he and Gwendolyn had been all set for Michael's birthday; and he'd even had some spares to offer to Rose and Ray to help them out too.

The party lasted for a couple of hours; and then most of the students needed to move on to do other things – like getting their weekend assignments finished. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were on the clean-up crew; and then they stayed in the classroom on their own so that they could work on the charms for their Christmas gifts. That kept them busy until dinnertime, but they made progress with them; and Rose and Gwendolyn both felt more confident that they'd get the gifts for Hugo and Jonah finished before they headed home. Dinner in the Great Hall was another blast of food and dance gossip; and then Al was on his own for the evening while Gwendolyn was again busy with a girls' night with her Ravenclaw friends. He was okay with that, since he'd been thinking about all things Animagus for most of the day – even while busy with everything else; so that gave him time to work on that. He went to the Owlery first and sent Winter off with a package of letters; spent some time with Blizzard; and then headed for the same classroom that he'd used with Gwendolyn for his first Animagus attempt.

Being there on his own felt different, but then he'd felt different all day too. That was sure to be at least partly because of becoming an Animagus; but Al sensed that it was more than that – just as he was following his instincts and insights as he got ready to attempt another Animagus Transfiguration. This time, he had a very good reason to want to do that on his own – because he really was going to try to do something believed to be impossible. As he put up the imperturbable charm around the room, that thought had him smiling; since there was a good chance that even Gwendolyn might think that he was crazy to be thinking about trying what he'd had going through his mind all day. Maybe he was; but that didn't change the fact that he believed he could do it – and had what was almost a compulsion to try.

"Stop trying to over-think it; and just do it," he chided himself aloud and mentally.

Taking a deep breath, he focused entirely on the task at hand; let his magic loose – and turned into a snowy owl!

"Well, I should've thought about setting out a mirror," Al thought to himself; and then laughed when it occurred to him that he could just fly around and look at his reflection in the window!

He did that; was amazed when he could launch himself into flight and seemed to naturally know how to do it; and loved the feeling of flying – just as he always did when on his broom. It wasn't possible to test the limits of his flying abilities in a classroom; but then he wanted to keep experimenting with other Animagus Transfigurations while he could – or until he started to tire out from the effort. He changed back to normal; took a little break for a drink and snack to keep his energy level up; moved the work tables and stools so he'd have more room; and then his next Animagus form was a young, satiny-black stallion – partly to see if he could do it; and mostly because Gwendolyn had admitted that she'd have thought that was an awesome Animagus form for him to have. He experimented while in that form for a while; but couldn't push the limits of that animal in the classroom either. Taking himself out for a run wasn't an option, though; so he took another break and then moved on to what ended up being just one other new animal form – at least for the night.

Discovering that he had control over what animal form he took was amazing, but he took that to the next level when he changed himself into an exact – except for being male – copy of Lily's kneazle, Holly. He'd set up his mirror this time so that he could confirm that; and then he had some fun running around and discovering just how athletic and talented cats could be – especially when guided by a human mind that could take advantage of those natural talents. By the time he was finished playing, he didn't have a lot of time to return the room to normal and then get back to Gryffindor tower; but he made it there before curfew; and was still one of the first guys in his dorm room. By then he was getting tired, but he had another mirror chat with Lily after getting changed and into bed. He started talking with Ray after that, but drifted off to sleep sometime not long after that chat started; and then he was out for the night.

After having such a brilliant weekend, Al expected that there might be a bit of a let-down for a few days until things picked up again leading into the weekend and the Christmas dance fun; but that didn't happen. While they were busy with their classes and studies; the highlight of the day on Monday was when he showed Gwendolyn about his apparently-unlimited Animagus abilities after they were finished studying for the night – and made her day by taking her for a short little horseback ride around the classroom. He didn't tell Rose about that, and didn't plan to do that until at least sometime after he talked with his parents about it; but he had fun with her too. They had another Christmas gift work session on Tuesday evening while also helping their Hufflepuff study mates with a bit of tutoring; and then worked on the gifts some more on Wednesday before Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for a bit of music and Animagus play time.

Everything Al was doing seemed to be fun, but while he was busy with all of that; he was also aware that James and Ollie weren't having nearly as much fun. While they had known they were running out of time, James and Ollie had still only managed to finish twelve more hours of their detention by the end of the weekend, despite assuring their dates that they were slaving away to get their detentions finished; so they still had eight hours each to get done before Saturday. With Jigger watching over their work like a hawk, that meant actually doing hours of work every day – on top of everything else they had on the go. Rose and Bristol heard most of the James and Ollie rumors from the other girls in their dorm room; though some of that news needed to be interpreted to remove the rose-color tint put on anything from Anna and Patricia.

For instance, from their perspective, the Professors were out to get 'their' Wizards, which was ridiculous; since it was so obvious that both boys were brilliant. Rose's translation for that was that handing in shoddy assignments earned the boys exactly what they deserved. James and Ollie did finish their detentions by curfew on Thursday night; and that earned them a lot of bonus points with their dates for the dance. They would also now be able to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday morning; so they were happy about that as well. Being able to stock up on Christmas wheezes in time for the dance was a bit scary for every other student in the school; but Al was sure that he'd been left alone so that they didn't risk more detention time just as they were about to be set free again after a month and a half of spending too much time with Jigger bossing them around.

While James and Ollie were impressing their dates for the dance and doing the opposite for their teachers; the only other non-studying fun for the school week for Al – at least until they were done their work for the week by dinnertime on Friday – was one last dance lesson with Gwendolyn and their 'dance class' after they were finished their homework on Thursday. Dancing with Gwendolyn had been great; but he was most-happy to see that the other guys were all now proficient-enough that they would be able to have fun at the dance too – and not embarrass themselves or their dates. He did have to put up with the guys – and the girls – hugging Gwendolyn to thank her when it was time to wrap things up for the night; but they did still have their Astronomy class; and could make up for some of that lost snogging time by sneaking a few kisses here and there during the practical part of that class.

By Friday morning, the Hogsmeade weekend and the Christmas dance were the only topics on the gossip network. The girls never managed to tire of the teen drama – and there was lots of it to be had around the school. Al managed to stay on the fringe for all of that; though he did still hear all of the stories – and saw too much of the drama playing out too; since that was unavoidable in the Great Hall, common room, and even their classrooms. He wasn't in the news either, which was a good thing; since that meant he wasn't messing up with Gwendolyn. Being an Animagus was fun; but he really wasn't interested in becoming a woodlouse – though that might make for a very funny prank that he and Gwendolyn could play on their families and friends sometime.

When they wrapped up their assignments by the time Gwendolyn needed to get to her Quidditch practice on Friday, they were all happy to have the entire weekend off – and they really did have absolutely no school work to do. The Professors would hand out holiday revision during the last four days before they headed home; but hadn't done that early – not that Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, or the rest of their friends would have wanted to spend the weekend studying anyway. One thing that Al and Gwendolyn did want to do was avoid as many Christmas wheezes as possible. Playing with them on their own terms was one thing; but getting pranked with them wasn't fun – even though they faked being amused too anytime they ate something that messed with them or were caught under a magic mistletoe.

That's why they went to do their own thing after dinner on Friday evening, and while that was normal for them; instead of having a music lesson or watching shows on the mirror network; they finished up making Jonah's Christmas gift; and made up a couple of bonus charms for three of Gwendolyn's Ravenclaw friends so she could exchange gifts with them sometime before they were home and then wouldn't see them for two weeks. While the charm work took most of the evening to get done, they still had time for a minor snogging session, and had listened and sung along to Christmas music too; so they were both tired and happy when they went back to their dorm rooms for the night just shortly before curfew.

Finally, it was the day of the Christmas dance – and the last Hogsmeade weekend before the Christmas holiday. Al was awake a bit earlier than usual; he was showered and ready for the day nearly a half-hour earlier than normal; and then he sat in the common room waiting for Rose and surfing the Wireless Web for twenty minutes; since Rose was running ahead of schedule too. She was smiling brightly when she sw him; they shared and quick hug; and then headed out for their morning walk and talk.

"We're going to wish that we slept in by later tonight," Rose predicted; "but I couldn't get back to sleep after waking up early."

"I didn't even try," Al said with a nod. "Maybe it's a good thing for us that Shane and Gwendolyn are in different Houses. If you think we'll be tired; then all of those couples staying up late snogging in the common room will be sleeping by the time we're halfway through the dance."

Rose laughed. "I doubt that; since they'll be back at the snogging by the time we get to the common room again tonight after the dance," she predicted. Gwendolyn and Shane might even have a different opinion about doing that, but I'm sure that you and I wouldn't be among the snoggers in our common room even if they were Gryffindor too."

"That's for sure," Al agreed with a grin for his cousin. "Gwendolyn would hex me into next year if she caught us snogging you in the common room – not to mention that we're cousins; and that'd just be weird."

Rose laughed again and gave him a shoulder bump. "Nice timing. Too bad James doesn't have that kind of sense of humor. Speaking of him; did you check the map for him this morning? I forgot to do that before going down to the common room."

"I did; and they were still in their dorm room at the time; so I'd have seen them if they'd left ahead of us."

"Unless they were using invisibility robes and hats again," Rose offered; and Al shook his head.

"I think that I'd still notice. They seem to forget that the hats and robes don't mask things like sound – or even smell for that matter."

"You can recognize them by their smell?" Rose asked in amusement. "I'm not sure if that's strange or gross."

Al laughed. "Depends on the day. Sometimes it's really gross."

"I'll keep that in mind for myself – just in case you'd say the same thing about me."

"I wouldn't say it – anymore than I'd tell James or anyone else about something like that."

"This is getting weird, and I wouldn't want any public declarations, Al, but for the record; I actually would rather have you warn me if I've gotten fragrant and don't notice it on my own."

"You're right – that's weird," Al joked, "but since that hasn't been a problem so far; I'll just hope that I never have to deal with a scene like that with you – or with Gwendolyn."

"Me too," Rose agreed. "Since we won't be in Hogsmeade today, and still have a lot of time until the dinner starts; let's talk about what we're going to do today instead."

Al was happy to follow her lead on that one; they enjoyed the extended walk and talk while wandering their way toward the Great Hall; and then Rose was soon back in gossip mode with the other girls as dance drama stories continued to fly – and usually get so distorted by the end of the trip that they were unrecognizable from the original bits of news. The older students were as fired up about their trip to town as most of the girls were about the dance; so the exodus from the Great Hall was in a rush that started about ten minutes before they'd be allowed to leave. That caused a bit of a traffic jam in the entrance hall; which was why Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their usual study group friends waited in the Great Hall for that mad dash to wind down before leaving.

After that, they went to their usual study classroom and spent most of the morning playing with magic. Whether that was having play duels or experimenting with charms and Transfiguration spells, it was all fun; and kept them busy until lunchtime. Some of the older teens were back from town already by then; but fewer than normal because there was apparently a lot going on in Hogsmeade – including special Christmas sales and holiday-themed lunch specials at the restaurants. After eating, Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for a while. They didn't have long to hang out together because the girls needed half the afternoon to get ready for their dates; so they went for a walk; checked in with Winter and Blizzard in the Owlery; and then spent the rest of the time surfing the Wireless Web and getting updates on the Quidditch matches. The Harpies weren't playing; but there were a couple of games going on that might affect the league standings; so they were interested in that – even if the dance was still at the top of their chat list too – except without the gossip.

Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House when she needed to be there to get started on whatever rituals Witches went through for a major date transformation. From there, he went to their study classroom and worked on his Christmas gifts for an hour or so; and then he went back to his dorm room so that he could grab a shower before the inevitable rush began; since even the dimmest Wizard knew better than to go on a date while smelling bad; or worse – looking scuzzy. That still left him with lots of time to get dressed up; so he just wore a pair of khaki pants and a tee while hanging out in the dorm room and using his mirror until it was time to put on his good clothes and best school robe and then go and pick up his date. Ray had to go and get his date too this year; so they were together when Al checked his map to look for James and Ollie before leaving; and Al was disappointed, but not really surprised when they saw James, Ollie, Fred, and Orlando all together – and lurking about halfway between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers.

"Well, it looks as though I'm good to go," Ray joked; grinning at Al. "You might want to use your mirror and change your plans with Gwendolyn, though."

"We're Gryffindor," Al reminded him. "That's against the rules or something – not to mention that if they've planned something for me; I wouldn't want them to just set it up for Gwendolyn too – or decide to try and hit someone else instead. Rose wouldn't thank me if they messed with her – and they might have that planned too for all we know."

"Okay, then what can I do to help you?" Ray asked.

"Go enjoy your date, but keep an eye on your map until you get to the Great Hall. If you see that I'm somewhere between here and Ravenclaw tower; not moving for very long; and am surrounded by the prank patrol; come to my rescue – and bring help."

Ray shook his head. "I'll guess that it'll be that lot in trouble if it comes to a fight with you; but I guess anything is possible. Are you sure you don't want me to go along?"

"I'm positive," Al assured his friend. "James is not going to mess things up for Gwendolyn and me tonight; and I'll try to make sure he doesn't mess things up for himself, the rest of the prank patrol, or their dates either. That might be harder to do if we have a gang with us too."

"Okay, but you know that I'm still at risk – if anything happens to you and Gwendolyn finds out that I let you go off on your own knowing an ambush was waiting for you."

"Then I'd really better make sure that I don't mess up," Al offered with a laugh. "Tory would turn around and blast me right back if she ends up going to the Christmas dance with a woodlouse."

That conversation had been done in whispers so that the other guys in the room didn't overhear; and they headed out then while changing the subject and talking normally. Al didn't need to fake that, because while he didn't yet know what James had planned for him; he could multi-task as he considered the options for what he was going to do to try and deal with the imminent ambush from his brother, cousin, and their best friends. Ray went a different direction to go to Hufflepuff House; and Al went the way he usually did to Ravenclaw tower. Once he was alone; Al needed to quickly decide what he was going to do as he walked toward the danger he could now sense lurking ahead of him. His first thought had been to go Animagus as something very small; he also instantly saw a near-future where James would ad dthat supposed injustice to the long list of things he already blamed Al for once he found out about Al's new talent. While he still loved the idea, he discarded it; and came up with another plan.

He took off his robe; temporarily petrified and levitated it; and then climbed on – lying down as if he was on some kind of magical surfboard. Once he had his balance, he then used an invisibility charm to hide behind; checked to make sure he was completely invisible by looking at his non-existent reflection in a suit of armor; and then he floated to a spot near the ceiling and moved along the hallway again at as close to a normal walking speed as possible. The sense of danger grew stronger as he approached the corner that he knew was where the ambush was about to be launched, but he couldn't help but feel excited too as he closed the gap – and then rounded that corner.

The hexes and jinxes were blasted at him immediately, but they were all well-below him as he floated safely high above the attacks; so he didn't even come close to getting hit by any of the spells. That certainly surprised the other four boys when he didn't need to shield either; and they all looked dumbfounded when they didn't hit him – and he didn't defend himself or counter-attack. Being above the danger and out of the way of the initial attack allowed Al to see the real trap that was waiting for him on the ground; and since he'd also kept moving and sped up as he rounded the corner; he was able to pass over the portable swamp or pool that he could tell just by the smell was filled with wet cement. Despite the obvious danger, Al couldn't keep from feeling the thrill of the moment as he cleared the cement trap right over the heads of his attackers while three of them continued to fire spells despite the fact that they didn't have a target that they could see to hit.

"Where is he?" James demanded. "You said he was right there, Orlando!"

"He was!" Orlando said; sounding a bit panicked. "The map says he's passing us right now!"

"You think that you can sneak past like a cowardly Slytherin, Al?" James shouted. "I don't think so!"

"Keep telling us where he is," Ollie shouted at Orlando before joining James and firing hexes and jinxes indiscrimminately – all of them at least four or five feet below Al – and well-behind his current position.

"He's past the swamp already,' Orlando shouted back. "It looks as though he's running straight up the middle of the hallway – and fast!"

Orlando and Fred both stepped away from the wall and next to James and Ollie as they all turned around and the three boys using their wands continued to fire spells down the hallway in the other direction while Orlando held the map and watched on expectantly. Al was nearly to the end of the hallway by then, so he slowed down and stopped while floating near the ceiling so that he didn't get hit by any rebounding spells as they passed beneath him and hit the wall at the end of the hallway. He turned sideways to watch the action below him in both directions; and had to fight hard not to laugh. Unfortunately for the two younger pranksters; theyweren't having as much fun as Al was; and hadn't thought about the fact that they were between the swamp and James and Ollie when they'd stepped up beside them. That's why they weren't ready for it when their older and bigger co-conspirators pushed them out of the way while trying to get better-positioned to blast Al – and knocked Fred and Orlando into the cement while trying to do that.

"James – help!" Fred hollered as he flailed his arms wildly and tried to grab onto anything, but it was already too late; and he fell and sank into the cement up to his shoulders. He'd put his hands down for balance, but while he managed to pull his wand and that hand and arm back out again; the other dipped too far into the cement; and he didn't have the strength to pull it out too. Orlando went in less than two feet behind him; and the only thing that saved the map from going in and under too was the back of Fred's head and his shoulders as his friend held onto the map but tried to use Fred to keep his balance too.

"Get up here and help us!" James shot back; still walking away from the cement swamp and firing more spells. "Where is he, Orlando?"

"Who cares?" Orlando yelled back. "You shoved us into the cement. Get back here and help us!" That demand finally got James' attention; and he turned back to stare down at Fred and Orlando.

"We didn't..." James began to say; and then stopped and swore. "There's nothing we can do," he spat out to Fred and Orlando. "You know that we made the stuff to quick-dry on contact."

"Then go and get help for us!" Fred demanded. "You can't just leave us here."

James walked over to the side of the cement swamp; leaned over; and snatched the Marauder's Map out of Orlando's hands. "That's exactly what we have to do," he advised them. What do you want us to do – go get a Professor and then take the blame for pranking you? Maybe you'd like all four of us to get another forty or fifty hours of detention."

"You knocked us in here," Fred reminded him. "This is your fault; and you need to fix it."

"I am going to fix it – for Ollie and me," James advised him. "We're going to get out of here and take all of the evidence with us. Someone should be along and spot you eventually, and when they do; the two of you are going to tell your rescuers that you're the victims of this dirty rotten prank."

"That's brilliant!" Ollie said enthusiastically. "Let's hurry so we can get back in time to meet up with our dates in the common room. They'll give us a perfect alibi too – especially if it's a while before Fred and Orlando are found and they can claim this prank happened later than it did."

"It isn't brilliant at all," Fred told them angrily. "We've got dates tonight too; and you're okay with just leaving us here. That's just wrong, James; and you know it."

"Maybe, but we've no choice," James shot back while already grabbing their bags filled with the wheezes and other holiday treats they'd planned to use on Al once he was stuck fast in the cement. "Next time we set up one of these pranks; try not to be so clumsy."

"You're the ones that were clumsy and shoved us in," Orlando complained; though it was almost a whine and he looked ready to cry. "If you try leaving us; I'll tell the Professors everything and the heck with the consequences for me."

James stopped and pointed his wand at Orlando's face. "Would you like to reconsider that?" he asked in a deadly-serious tone of voice. "If you dare to rat out the rest of us; I promise that we'll make your life around here a hell so bad that you'll want to quit school. Gryffindors do not rat on each other."

"They're also supposed to stick together," Fred added; glaring at his cousin. "I can't believe you're just going to leave us like this."

"I'd tell you to do the same if our places were reversed," James assured him; though he didn't even believe that himself. "Suck it up. This didn't work out for us, but I promise that next time; we're gonna get Al – and add this to the list for the payback he's got coming to him."

"There won't be a next time for me," Fred told him. "We'll keep our mouths shut, James; but I'm done with your stupid vendetta against Al, Rose, and their friends."

"You'll change your mind once you've had time to get mad at Al over this instead of blaming Ollie and me."

"Or we can all be mad at Orlando," Ollie added. "There's no way that Al could have dodged all of those spells whether he was invisible or not, and we all saw that there weren't any shields being used either; so I'll guess that he read the map wrong. In fact, I'd say that Orlando's right where he belongs for being such an incompetent."

"Come on, Ollie," James said as he slung two bags over his shoulder. "We'll see you later tonight – or tomorrow if you're stuck here for a while until someone figures out how to get you out of that stuff again."

"Maybe you should've thought about that before coming up with this plan," Fred suggested derisively. "What were you going to do – leave Al in here forever?"

"That would've been great," James said with a laugh. "I would've been happy to come around here regularly and re-decorated Al for other holidays and special occasions, but I expect that our Professors will know a way to deal with getting you out of the cement without causing too much damage to you – and would have done the same for the loser too."

"Damage?" Orlando exclaimed with widening, frightened eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry about it," James said with a dismissive wave as he nodded to Ollie to follow and started walking away. "I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about."

With that parting bit of non-comfort, James and Ollie left Fred and Orlando behind and didn't look back as the two younger tweens glared after them impotently. For Orlando, that required looking over one of Fred's shoulders as best he could; though that didn't give him much of a view anyway. Al was still there in the hallway; and he watched James and Ollie as they obliviously passed below him. He was mad at them; and felt angrier when he saw the smirks and heard them deriding the two younger boys for being wusses and not acting very brave at all. Though he was tempted to follow and blast them; he was more worried about Fred and Orlando; so once James and Ollie were gone; he headed toward Ravenclaw tower again; floated into an empty classroom where he could land, drop the invisibility charm, and fix his dress robe before putting it on again; and then he finished the rest of the walk to Ravenclaw tower on foot. He knew that Gwendolyn must have been watching her map because she was walking down the stairs as he arrived; and she smiled at him brilliantly.

"Great timing," she told him. "I was sure you'd be out here waiting for me again."

"I had a bit of a delay along the way," he explained. "You look beautiful, Gwendolyn." They shared a hug and kiss; he gave her the corsage that had survived the ambush attempt unscathed; and then he helped her put it on her wrist; since he'd picked that style of corsage this time. There were lots of other teens around them because the rush to the Great Hall was on by then; so he couldn't tell her about what had happened. Leading her away; they went off in a different direction from everyone else – and towards Gryffindor tower and where Fred and Orlando were stuck in the cement-filled swamp.

"We'll need to talk about the rest of the story later," he whispered as they walked close together; "but we need to get help for Fred and Orlando right away – right after we discover them; if nobody else has done that already."

"Where are they?" Gwendolyn asked.

"At the corner of two of the hallways about halfway between here and Gryffindor tower. They're shoulders-deep in what's apparently some kind of quick-drying cement that they put into a portable swamp."

"And that's what they had planned for you?" Gwendolyn asked.

"That, a nasty swarm of hexes and jinxes; and then a bag or three full of wheezes and other nastiness that they were going to dump on me once I was stuck in the cement. I don't know most of the details for that; but decorating me with a holiday theme was apparently part of the the plan for sure."

"We ought to leave them there," Gwendolyn declared; and Al shook his head.

"That's exactly what James and Ollie did – after pushing them out of their way and into the cement while trying to blast me. I won't do that to my cousin – even when he's being a total git."

Once they could hurry; they did; though Gwendolyn was wearing a dress and dress shoes; so they couldn't exactly run. It was still only minutes before they were in the hallway with Fred and Orlando; and the two boys looked shocked when they saw Al and Gwendolyn walking along the hallway toward them. Fred's expression darkened; and he glared at Al as they came to a stop a couple of steps away from the cement swamp.

"You were here," Fred accused bitterly. "There's no reason for you to come this way to get to the Great Hall from Ravenclaw tower."

"I'd say that there are two very good reasons for us to do that," Al disagreed after nodding at Fred's first assertion.

"So you're here to rescue us?" Orlando asked hopefully.

"We're going to call for help," Al assured him.

"You can't help us yourselves?" Orlando coutnered; and Al shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but we haven't learned how to deal with something like this yet. I don't even know if they'll teach anything that would help with this even in NEWT year. It's not as if there's usually a need for getting a Witch or Wizard out of concrete."

"Great. The whole school will find out about this," Fred groused; and Al's expression hardened just a bit.

"That wasn't a concern when you wanted to do this to me," he reminded his cousin. "I'll be surprised if anyone believes that idiotic story James suggested for you; but I won't say anything about what I know – which is why I'm back here with Gwendolyn instead of alone. They might believe that we found you – if I mention that I forgot something in my dorm room or something." He smiled at Gwendolyn and handed her his mirror. "Could you give Molly a call for me? Tell her what we've found; and ask her to get a Professor or two to come and help us – preferably with some expertise in cement."

"I can do that; though she isn't going to be happy if we mess up her date tonight too."

"You could just leave us here too," Fred offered; and Al shook his head.

"No, I couldn't," Al assured him. I'm not very happy with you right now, but you're my cousin; and we're going to help you whether you're happy about that or not. We won't be leaving you until we know your out, safe, and well."

Gwendolyn was already connecting with Molly by then; explained what was happening; and showed her where they were as well as telling her. She had already met up with her boyfriend, Calvin Johnson, and they were on the way to the Great Hall; so she promised to get help and come to them as soon as they could. Fred wasn't happy about that, since Calvin was a fellow Beater; but he was really unhappy when the first group of teens heading for the Great Hall and going that way to get there arrived on the scene. Some stayed to talk with them for a while; others merely side-stepped the cement swamp; and all of them laughed at Fred and Orlando. When Molly and Calvin arrived with Professors Flitwick and Slughorn after hurrying to the Great Hall to get help; the gawkers soon dispersed while other students detoured further down either hallway to take outher routes to the Christmas dinner and dance.

"Well, this is quite the little problem you have for us tonight," Professor Flitwick told Fred and Orlando. "How, in Merlin's name, did you end up in there?"

"We were shoved in," Fred answered honestly; but respectfully. "Can you help us? This stuff hardened almost as soon as we were in it. He used the hand that was still holding his want to touch the other one. "I couldn't even pull this arm back out again before it got stuck."

"What do you think, Horace?" Flitwick asked; and Professor Slughorn looked thoughtful – while also looking amused.

"I don't have anything prepared; but I could certainly make up a potion that would soften this up. Unfortunately, that might take all night to brew up a batch – maybe longer for as much as I'd need for this."

"You're not going to leave us in here all night, are you?" Orlando asked; looking and sounding panicked.

"Well, we could cut you out in blocks and move you over to the Potions classroom while I do that," Slughorn suggested; having a tough time hiding a grin. "I wouldn't mind the company while I work. That softening potion is very tedious to make."

"I think we can try other options first before going there if we've no other choice," Professor Flitwick told everyone. He'd been looking at the boys and the cement as if calculating and assessing; and then he nodded to himself. "A breaking charm might just be what we need here," he decided; and then smiled reassuringly at the two boys when they both suddenly looked scared.

"Don't worry, my boys," he told them. "I'll try this at one end of this thing first to make sure this cement doesn't react differently than I expect it will." Looking up at Al, Gwendolyn, Molly, and Calvin, he added – "don't try this at home. You definitely wouldn't want to break someone you care about by accident."

"Some of us are underage and couldn't do that anyway," Gwendolyn offered; and earned a few laughs.

"I've heard that little restriction hasn't meant much on occasion," Slughorn murmered; looking meaningfully at Al and grinning openly now. Then he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "If you break them out; won't that still leave them stuck in blocks of cement?"

"Let's find out if it's even possible first," Flitwick suggested; and then smiled when Al suddenly laughed. "Something amusing – or you have a different suggestion?"

"A different suggestion, sir," Al agreed. "Can't you just make Fred and Orlando smaller?" He grinned when that suggestion had Gwendolyn laughing too. "If the cement is truly dried; an animal transfiguration would allow them to just climb out and then you can return them to normal."

"Well done!" Professor Flitwick declared enthusiastically. "Ten points for Gryffindor!" He smiled at Professor Slughorn. "You're better at that sort of thing than I am, Horace. Why don't you do that – unless you'd prefer that I send for one of our Transfiguration experts."

Slughorn laughed and took out his wand. "I can manage it well-enough," he assured Flitwick before turning to the boys. "Which of you would like to prove you're Gryffindor by going first?"

"I will," Fred told him before directing his next comment at his cousins and their dates. "Whatever I'm turned into for this; please don't take pictures."

"We wouldn't dream of it," Molly assured him with an understanding smile. "The hole he'll be in will be about four feet or so deep depending on whether Fred ends up at the very bottom," she told the Professors. "I don't care for them much; but turning them into spiders might make it easiest for them to climb out – unless you want to just levitate them out instead."

"I think that's an excellent idea too," Professor Slughorn agreed. "This will all be over soon," he assured the two stuck boys. You first, Mr. Weasley," he added before pointing his wand and turning Fred into a spider.

They didn't actually see that work until after Fred climbed out of the imprint hole left behind when his body had been transfigured. Once he was on the hallway floor; Slughorn turned him back; and then repeated the process with Orlando. Fred's friend took longer figuring out how to get out of the cement; and then his animal instinct took over when he tried to run away; but Slughorn transfigured him again before he could get very far; and he skidded to a stop once he was himself again.

"Good," Flitwick said approvingly. "You're both still quite the mess; but a shower and change of clothes; and you'll be just fine." He looked at his watch. "The Christmas dinner has started by now, so the rest of you should go on now; and I'll see what I can do about this so that nobody gets hurt by falling into those holes."

"I might be able to help you with that," Al advised him; taking out his wand and walking over to the swamp. "I've never tried this when they're filled with cement; so it might not work." He didn't actually think it would matter what was in the swamp; and they all saw a moment later that he was right about that when the swamp was 'packed up' again. Picking it up; he hefted it in his hand. "I don't think that it even weighs any more than normal," he mused. He grinned then. "Fred might not think so right this minute; but his Dad really is quite brilliant. The charms that take care of all of that weight are fairly extraordinary."

"Maybe if you tell Uncle George that; you won't be such a disappointment to him anymore," Molly deadpanned; surprising Al and Fred; since she rarely joked about anything around them. She earned a hearty round of laughs for her effort – including from Fred.

Al grinned at her while he handed the swamp to Professor Flitwick. "That would be offset by helping out – even if that didn't happen until after the prank was sprung. I still get teased about stopping that dung bomb from going off under Aunt Muriel's chair at our family Christmas dinner last year."

"That sounds like a family matter," Professor Flitwick told them. He looked at the small cube curiously and then pocketed it. "As for getting to the bottom of what's happened here, I'd like to see Mr. Hooper and Mr. Weasley in my office tomorrow morning at eleven o'clock. We'll all be late, but can still make it to dinner with time to enjoy most of the fun. You're both well-enough now; so we can sort all of this out tomorrow – and maybe even discover who was behind such a dangerous prank."

"I'll make sure that plates of food are kept for you," Molly told Fred and Orlando. Go and get cleaned up; and then hurry to join us."

"We'll let your dates know that you will make it there soon," Al offered; and smiled when Fred and Orlando both looked worried.

"It won't be too late to make it up to them for not being there to escort them to the Great Hall," Al assured them.

"Easy for you to say," Fred grumbled. "You weren't late picking up your date."

"I have some experience with messing up with Witches," Calvin told Fred; speaking to him directly for the first time. "Compliment your dates a lot; beg for forgiveness; and try to make the rest of their night brilliant. If you can manage that; you'll be forgiven."

They split up then and headed for the Great Hall or the Gryffindor dorms. The Professors led the way; Molly and Calvin followed them; and Al and Gwendolyn brought up the rear.

"Is there any chance that you know what actually happened and want to tell me?" Molly asked Al. She didn't try to speak quietly-enough not to be overheard by Flitwick and Slughorn; so Al didn't either.

"No," he answered; and was sure that her question had been phrased specifically so he could answer her honestly. "We found them exactly the way you first saw them. I think that Fred was telling the truth when he said they got shoved in too; since he looked fairly annoyed when he said that."

"I think you're right about that," Molly agreed; "but this hallway is a bit out of the way for the walk from Ravenclaw tower to the Great Hall."

Al shrugged and smiled. "I forgot something in my dorm room and we were going to swing by to get it." He shrugged again. "It doesn't seem important in hindsight, and we don't want to be even later getting to dinner; but I'm glad we went that way now – and could help Fred and Orlando."

"I'm sure they're glad of that too, and that you had a great idea for how to get them out, Al," Calvin told him; "but could we set that cement swamp up again tomorrow? I'd really love to see if Professor Flitwick's idea would have worked."

"Al's suggestion was much more practical," Professor Flitwick told them. Sometimes even your Professors get caught up in our own little specialties and don't look beyond that for better solutions to problems."

Slughorn laughed. "True, but I'm with Mr. Johnson on this one. Using breaking charms so precisely would be quite an accomplishment."

"I think it would be best that we keep this bit of evidence intact for now," Professor Flitwick told them. "Though it turned out well-enough, this really was a nasty prank to pull on anyone; and I'd like to find out who was responsible if that's at all possible."

"And I'll hope that it wasn't one of my boys," Slughorn told him; "though it likely isn't; since I've never had anything like this happen with the usual troublemakers in my House."

"I suspect you're right about that," Flitwick agreed.

He didn't say more on that, and while there was some small talk as they walked the rest of the way to the Great Hall; they didn't say anything else about the cement swamp prank. When they entered the Great Hall together, their arrival earned quite a bit of attention, but when the watching students recognized the four students with Slughorn and Flitwick; they presumed that if there had been trouble that it hadn't come from them. Al and Gwendolyn walked along the Gryffindor table with Molly and Calvin until they stopped and sat with Dominique, Lucy, and their dates; and then they continued on to the far end of the table – and past Rose, Shane, and the rest of their group. When they reached the spot whre Wendy Wintringham and Kira Kirke were sitting together, they stopped; and already had their attention because they'd watched them the entire time. Al leaned in close to them so that he could talk and not be overheard by anyone except them and Gwendolyn.

"Fred and Orlando have had some trouble," he told them seriously. "They're okay now, but it took a while to help them; and they've gone back to the dorms to get cleaned up. They'll get here as soon as they can."

"What happened?" Wendy asked; her expression softening from frustrated and angry to one of concern.

"The only thing we know for sure is that they got shoved into a portable swamp filled with quick-drying cement," Al answered. "Professors Flitwick and Slughorn got them out, but decided to investigate what happened tomorrow instead of ruining the dinner and dance for all of us tonight. You'll have to ask Fred and Orlando for more details – though I wouldn't be surprised if they don't want to talk about it at all tonight. That wasn't any fun for them at all."

"Does that mean that we can't still hex them straight into the New Year?" Kira asked Wendy.

"Did I mention that they were neck-deep in the stuff?" Al asked them. "If they could have let you know they'd be late; I'm sure they would have."

"Are you joking?" Kira asked him in return; and Al shook his head.

"I'm only exaggerating a tiny bit. I guess the tops of their shoulders were out of the stuff." He looked at Gwendolyn and smiled. "We'd better get to our seats and eat before the food disappears. Molly told Fred and Orlando that she'd make sure that plates were kept for them; so you shouldn't have to worry about that."

"Okay," Wendy agreed with a nod. "Thanks for letting us know. It's nice to find out that we weren't jilted by our dates after all."

"I don't know Orlando very well, but Fred would never do that after being lucky-enough to get a yes from you," Al assured her with a smile; and then laughed when Gwendolyn pretended to glare at him.

"That's one of my Weird Sisters' cousins you're telling us that Fred is lucky to have a date with tonight. Let's get out of here before I start getting jealous." She smiled at Wendy and Kira. "Try to have a great rest of the night – even if it hasn't started out as any of us hoped it would."

With that, she led Al back along the table to the two seats that Rose had saved for them between her and where Ray was sitting with Tory. They sat down, with Gwendolyn next to Rose; and had all of their friends watching them expectantly.

"It's a long story that should mostly wait for tomorrow," Gwendolyn told them even as she started filling her plate. "The condensed version is that Al and I found Fred and Orlando stuck up to their necks in a portable swamp filled with cement that had already hardened. We called Molly to get help; you saw all four of the emergency responders with us when we got here; and Professor Slughorn got Fred and Orlando out of their cement prison by transfiguring them into spiders and then changing them back once they'd each crawled out to safety."

"Did she say all of that in one breath or two?" Ray joked.

"Two, but that story is a bit too condensed for my liking," Rose said; directing most of that to Gwendolyn and Al.

"That is pretty much the highlights," Al advised her. "Fred did tell us that they were shoved into it; but that's all we know from them about what happened before we got there. Professor Flitwick didn't want to mess up the rest of the dinner and dance for any of us; so he's going to start investigating what happened tomorrow morning. Fred and Orlando needed to go get cleaned up and changed; but they'll likely get here as fast as they can."

"If they know what's good for them," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod. "Kira and Wendy might go back to their plan 'A' if they don't get here soon."

"Did they come up with that plan when the boys didn't show up on time for their date?" Madison asked. She was sitting across the table from Tory and Ray with Scott Holden.

"Yes," Gwendolyn agreed; "though I'm not sure exactly how they planned on hexing them clear into the New Year."

"Maybe they meant that they'd be in the hospital wing until the New Year," Toni suggested. "We'd better let Al and Gwendolyn eat, though, or they'll end up snacking on desserts once the main meal disappears."

Al and Gwendolwn were well on the way to having their plates filled by then, but they did hurry a bit to catch up with everyone else – which wasn't a problem for the guys that were on second or third helpings. Fred and Orlando were in the room before dessert was served, and as promised; Molly made sure that two plates of food were saved for them and ready by the time they sat down with their dates – and then needed to tell them all about why they'd been so late for their date. While he had no idea what the two boys told the girls, Al could tell that they were at least being given the benefit of the doubt for the night. That might not last if Professor Flitwick discovered any part of the truth for what happened, but then Al had his own date to have fun with; so he pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on doing that with Gwendolyn and the rest of their friends.

They'd missed out on some of the early-dinner entertainment, but getting there late also meant that they missed out on the food wheezes pranks because they'd pretty much all been discovered by then by other students. Since Al didn't find most of those pranks funny; he was happy about that – though there were still wheezes being used throughout the night; and magic mistletoe were let loose on a regular basis too. While they'd rushed getting through dinner a bit, they had more time to enjoy the wonderful desserts; and then had a break where they could do a bit of socializing and take washroom breaks before the dance started. Al and Gwendolyn wandered around to do that because some of their friends were sitting at other tables, or in Bristol's case; with Chris Cauldwell and his third-year friends. Gwendolyn checked in with all of her team mates and other dorm room friends; and Al spent a lot of that time keeping his mouth shut and just enjoying Gwendolyn's outgoing, friendly banter that reminded him a lot of his mother and sister.

"I know that I haven't heard the story yet, but I can guess who pushed Fred and Orlando into that cement; and it's ridiculous to see James and Ollie acting that way after what they did to your cousin and friend." Gwendolyn had leaned in to say that to Al as they'd started walking back to their seats from the Ravenclaw table. They'd both seen James and Ollie laughing it up – when they weren't hanging all over their dates or showing off to impress them.

"That would've surprised me a year ago," Al said just as quietly. "Now I know just how much of a poser he is; and he's proven before now that he'll cut friends loose to get what he wants – or simply to try and save face."

"Cousins too, apparently," Gwendolyn added. "I'd better not go there tonight. There'd be a long line-up if everyone that wanted to blast them right now all tried to do that at the same time; so I wouldn't want to have to wait all night for my turn – even if that is exactly the sort of thing they deserve for what they've done just so far tonight."

"That wouldn't be fair to their dates, though," Al pointed out. "They haven't been very nice to Rose lately; but don't deserve to have their night ruined – especially when they're saving every other Witch around our age from having to spend the evening with James and Ollie."

Gwendolyn laughed. "When you put it like that; one of your Prefects should give them points."

"Normally, I'd agree with you; but Gryffindor doesn't deserve any today – including the points that Professor Flitwick gave me tonight."

"That was a really great idea," she reminded him. "I wonder how you came up with it?"

Al didn't have time to do more than grin in answer to that before they were stopped to talk with a few Gryffindor friends; and then they were busy again with the chat entertainment that kept them busy until the Graves Robbers were introduced and began playing their first set. Gwendolyn led Al out onto the dance floor right away; and they stayed out there dancing and having fun during that entire first hour or so of live music before her musical cousins took their first break and the D.J. took over. He started out with some pop Christmas songs, and while there were still lots of teens out dancing; Al and Gwendolyn were far from the only students to take a break then. Rose and Shane were among the friends back at their table then; so they sat down next to them; poured their own drinks; and then relaxed for a while.

"You both look like you're having fun so far," Al told Rose and Shane once he'd gotten comfortable. "We've been knocked around a bit by the older dancers during the upbeat songs, but other than that; it's been really great."

"Sounds about the same as what we've had to deal with too," Rose agreed with a nod and smile. "I'm having a lot of fun; so hopefully Shane is too."

"I am," he assured her. "Let's hope that'll be the case for the rest of the night. Some of the pranks we've seen tonight wouldn't be any fun for us; and definitely haven't been funny for the couples caught up in them."

"We haven't seen very much of that," Gwendolyn told them. "Have you?"

"There has been some problems we've seen with a few Slytherins getting hit with pranks," Rose answered. "Shane saw one couple fall that he's sure was because of a trip jinx. A couple of the wheezes that we've seen aren't of the fun, holiday variety; and it isn't entertaining for the couples that have to wait for those wheezes to wear off or go and get cleaned up or deal with minor injuries."

"Don't forget to tell them about the rogue magic mistletoe with the transfiguration mist instead of the stinky toe smell," Shane said; and Rose grimaced.

"That one was really unkind," she told Al and Gwendolyn. "The couple we saw get hit didn't get out of the way fast enough; and their heads were turned into what looked to me like garden gnome tree ornaments."

Al caught what she didn't say but wanted him to get by reading between the lines; so he knew she was sure that James and Ollie had been behind at least that prank – if not more of the others too. Knowing that they'd had bags full of tricks meant for him; he didn't like to think about what James and Ollie were going to keep doing tonight instead of using them as originally planned. While the blame for some of those pranks still belonged solely with James and Ollie; Al still felt bad for any students hurt by them. It really bugged him that James always seemed to need to hurt or embarrass other people to boost his own ego and supposedly have fun; but he didn't see any way to get him to stop – short of tying him up and stuffing him in a closet or trunk somewhere for the rest of the night.

Trying not to think or worry about James was easier said than done, but there was a lot of really good going on at the dance too. It was great to see the rest of his cousins having fun – and that was even true for Fred now that the worst of his night was over. Dominique, Molly, and Lucy were all at the dance with the same boyfriends they'd been dating a year ago; but Louis was now dating fellow fourth-year Gryffindor, Noel Stebbins. Louis got teased about her being the perfectly named date for a Christmas dance, but they had been spending time together since before Halloween – and had been going to games and Hogsmeade weekends together since then. As he listened to Rose and Gwendolyn chat, Al enjoyed watching the action around him; and was glad to see that their study group friends were all having a good night too. That wasn't true for all of his second-year classmates or some of the other teens and tweens he knew; but that would be too much to expect for any large group of teens anyway.

"...and then Cora's date turned into a giant and ate her," Rose said; smiling when Al turned to look at her in response to that last bit of her ongoing chat.

"I'd have noticed a giant in the room," Al assured her; and Cora isn't here because she and Seth stepped out of the hall about five minutes ago. You didn't say it; but think that they've gone off somewhere to snog each other senseless for a while."

"So you're saying that Seth didn't eat her; but might be nibbling?" Gwendolyn teased; earning a round of laughs. "You must know that Al only looks distracted when he's doing that, right?" she asked Rose.

"I do; but why should that get in the way of having a bit of fun with him?"

"I'm just glad that Cora and Seth went off somewhere for that," Al told them. "There's definitely too much public snogging going on around here tonight."

"Including with your brother," Rose agreed with a nod. "Maybe he ate a piece of tongue-tied toffee and got his tongue tied with Patricia's earlier."

"That's already too much info, thanks anyway; but keep that in mind fo rthe next time he complains about snogging parents, Teddy and Victoire, or any of us."

"Has James been doing a lot of complaining about you and Shane snogging each other in front of him?" Gwendolyn asked Rose innocently. "I hadn't heard about that."

"You haven't heard about us snogging anywhere either," Rose reminded her; and then grinned before adding – "check back with me on that tomorrow; and I'll let you know if there are any updates."

"I love this song," Al said enthusiastically. "Let's get back to dancing!"

"It's almost over; and do you even know it?" Gwendolyn asked. "We can get out there soon; but can change the subject if that's your only motivation for doing that."

"We'll change the subject; and you can go back to looking lost in thought," Rose offered.

Al actually did that as the girls went back to talking about things like fashion and some teen drama observations that were mostly just unimportant; but occasionally entertaining for them. Both couples were out dancing again not long after that; Al and Gwendolyn were dancing for all of the Graves Robbers' second set; and then they took another break while the D.J. played more canned music. Up until that point, they'd been left alone by James and Ollie, but Al had been keeping his extended senses on alert; so he was ready when he and Gwendolyn walked out of the Great Hall with Rose and Shane to go for washroom breaks; and the prank was literally dropped on them. He had his wand out; pointed up; and the dome shield protecting all four of them before the deluge of liquid hit them.

"What the he... heck?" Shane exclaimed. He went to take a step; but Rose wrapped an arm around him quickly and pulled him close to her instead.

"You don't want to bump into Al's shield," she warned him. "What is that stuff?"

"I have no idea," Gwendolyn answered; "but I'll take care of the extra hugs and kisses with Al to thank him for sparing us from getting soaked in it." She looked around the entrance hall and then up the main stairway. "The slime-balls responsible for this are sneaking away up there," she added; pointing toward a spot where they could all see the tops of two heads that were obviously ducked down in an attempt to hide while the pranksters were trying to make their escape. "Drop your shield, Al, and let Rose and me blast them."

"I can't do that yet," Al apologized. "We've still got a fairly-large pool of that stuff on the floor around us. If I drop the shield; we'll be finding out what it does to shoes – even if we avoided the drenching."

"I don't think that we'll get the chance anyway," Rose advised her; and she was now looking toward another part of the entrance hall – where Molly and Calvin were standing with their wands pointed toward that same section of the stairs. They couldn't hear anything from their side of the shield; but they could see the spells being cast. They had no idea what happened to the two targets except that they suddenly couldn't see the tops of their heads anymore.

"It seems that one of our cousins had our backs tonight," Al suggested. "When we go Christmas shopping next weekend; remind me to pick up a special gift for Molly," he added; directing that at Rose.

"We'll do that," Rose agreed. After stopping the escape attempt; Molly turned her attention to them; summoned a large container or conjured one; and then cleaned up the mess and filled the container with it. Once that was done; Al dropped his shield; and all four of them went over to Molly while Calvin was already on his way up the stairs to deal with the apparent pranksters.

"Thank-you," Al told Molly before hugging her for just a moment. She'd never been big on hugs around them; but didn't seem to mind this time. Rose hugged her too; and smiled brightly at her.

"And thanks for being here for us too," she added. "That wouldn't have been fun at all if you and Al hadn't been there for us."

"We've had a few problems tonight," Molly advised them; now looking serious even as she smiled faintly at Rose too. "Even trying to keep an eye on things; Al was faster than Calvin and I were when that prank was set off." She looked up to the area above where the liquid had been dumped on them and shook her head. "There wasn't even a hint that there was anything up there; and we – the Prefects – have been patrolling for a couple of hours now."

"Molly – you'd better come up here," Calvin called out. "I should've used a different binding spell. One of our suspects has a broken nose now."

"Oh dear," Molly said at the same time that Gwendolyn said – "serves them right for being such gigantic gits."

"Maybe, but Prefects are supposed to avoid injuries – even when we have to take action like this."

"Well, if you don't need us, Molly, I really did need a washroom break; and all of that running water didn't help matters," Rose joked.

"You don't need to stick around," Molly assured her. "Calvin and I saw everything – and heard a couple of things you wouldn't have heard while under the shield."

"Like what?" Gwendolyn asked; and then shook her head before Molly could answer. "Never mind. What we don't know won't bug me for the rest of the night."

"That's likely for the best," Molly agreed. "I'd better go and deal with the rest of this mess. Calvin's a great guy; but has no talent at all for healing."

With that, she left them and headed up the stairs to where Calvin was waiting and apparently next to their still-unseen captives. Al didn't need to look at them to know that James and Ollie had been well and truly caught again; and he didn't want to see them after yet another stupid nasty ambush attempt – especially when they'd tried to hurt Gwendolyn and Rose too. They went on to the bathrooms; ignored the students that had gathered to watch the aftermath and get the rumors started; and they split up while taking their washroom breaks. Al and Shane were both waiting for the girls by the time they were ready to go back into the Great Hall; and they were still getting some attention from other teens as they went in – even though Molly and Calvin were no longer there. They didn't get far once back in the Great Hall because Al had two angry young Witches hurry up to him and block his path.

"Thanks so much for ruining our dates, loser!" Patricia spat at him vehemently. "Why are you and your cousins always out to get James and Ollie? Couldn't you leave him alone for one night?"

"I guess we know who Molly and Calvin caught out in the entrance hall now," Gwendolyn said; and Patricia and Anna both turned their glares on her for a moment.

"As if you're surprised," Patricia half-screeched at her. "You're as bad as Al – acting all perfect when you're really just a snake in the grass loser too."

"Oh go out and get a clue," Gwendolyn told her; getting angry now too. "For your information, all that we've done is protected ourselves from a prank that was literally dumped on us when we walked out into the entrance hall. Al took care of that with a shield for us; and Molly and Calvin caught the pranksters and cleaned up the mess so that we could get on with our night. We didn't even see who did it; though we're not surprised to find out that it was James and Ollie. They've tried ambushing and pranking us more times than we want to think about – and for James; that's been since we were little kids."

"He's told us all about both of you," Patricia shot back; and as far as I'm concerned; neither of you should even be allowed to be here at Hogwarts."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I'm sorry, but you must really have it bad for James to believe that for even a second. I'd invite you to come and sit with us so we can talk; but aren't you both already risking getting thrown off the team just for talking to us this much? Al, Rose, and I are all enemies of the team; and you know that James already threw Scott off of the team for daring to take Madison to the dance tonight."

"James and Ollie love us," Anna told them; speaking for the first time. "I think it's horrid that his own brother and cousins keep ganging up on him – and turning his parents against him is just cruel."

"He's told you that?" Rose demanded incredulously. "Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny love him – even when he's being a complete git."

"Let it be, Rose," Al said quietly; and then turned his attention back to Patricia and Anna. "I'm sorry the dance isn't ending very well for you, but I didn't do anything to James or Ollie. I'm sure that I can't convince you of that, but I would like to make you an offer, Patricia."

"Yeah, what's that?" she demanded.

"Come and spend the day with us – our families – next Saturday. We'll likely be going Christmas shopping Saturday morning; we usually have lunch at the Leaky; and then go to the Harpies' game in the afternoon."

"You're trying to mess with me," Patricia spat; and Al shook his head.

"I'm not." He pulled out his mirror and smiled. "Would you like me to call Mum right now and set it up with her while you're here?"

Patricia glared and him and then sneered. "You're bluffing," she decided. "Go right ahead and do it."

"Call Mum," Al said loudly enough for the mirror to hear him over the crowd noise. Ginny picked up on the second chime; and was smiling brightly at Al.

"Aren't you supposed to be too busy dancing and having fun with Gwendolyn right now? To what do we owe this nice little surprise?"

"Gwendolyn's right here," Al assured her; though Ginny could see her by then because Gwendolyn had leaned close to him to smile and wave. "We were just talking with James' girlfriend; and I thought it'd be nice to invite her to hang out with us next Saturday for the shopping, lunch, and game. Is there any chance that we could come up with the extra ticket for the game?"

"And you're interrupting the dancing to ask that tonight?" Ginny countered.

"We're in the middle of a break," Al explained. "I'm sure that Patricia will need a bit of notice for her parents; though I'd hope they'll think she's safe with the Head of the Aurors for a day." He laughed. "Sorry, Mum. Have you met Patricia Parker yet? She's also the reserve Seeker for our Gryffindor junior team this season." He'd already turned the mirror around to point it at Patricia; and the girl was staring with wide eyes at Ginny now.

"Patricia Parker, I'd like you to meet Mum – Ginny Potter. Mum; this is Patricia."

"Hello, Patricia," Ginny said; still smiling brightly at the wide-eyed teen. "You're a Seeker too? We'll need to have you over for some Quidditch play time too – though I guess that you will be coming here if James has his team practices at our house over the holidays."

"Um, Hi, Mrs. Potter," Patricia said politely; all hints of her attitude from moments ago completely gone now.

"Call me Ginny," Ginny told her. "Harry and I aren't big on formalities with family and friends. If you'd like to come and spend the day with us next Saturday, we'd love to get to know you; and we can shuffle things around to get you a seat next to James at the game. Do you need to work that out with your parents first?"

"I'll tell them about it tomorrow; but we were just going to be shopping next Saturday too; so they won't mind – though they'll likely want to meet you too."

"Okay, and we'll be glad to meet them too," Ginny assured her. "We'll go ahead and set that up, but if there's a problem; just let Al know and he can call."

"James could do that," Patricia said; frowning suddenly; and Ginny laughed.

"That's fine too; but I was only suggesting that because James doesn't always remember to do things like that five minutes after he's asked. "Before I talk to Al again; congratulations."

"For what?" Patricia asked in confusion.

"For being the first girlfriend of James' that we get to meet," Ginny explained with a laugh. "Wizards don't pay much attention to things like that; but it's a big deal for a mother."

Patricia laughed too. "I'll ask Mum about that next weekend – after she meets James," she said. "Thank-you for agreeing to let me come and spend the day with James."

"You're welcome," Ginny assured her. "Have a good rest of the night at the dance." Since that seemed to be the end of their chat; Al turned the mirror around again; and smiled at his mother.

"Thank you. Are you and Dad and Lily having a good night?"

"Your father and I are," Ginny agreed. "Lily likely is too; but she's at a sleepover with Denise tonight."

Al laughed. "I don't know what's scarier – my first thought that I'm amazed that you answered this call; or that you did on a kid-free night."

"I can't answer that one for you, but if you don't want scary at all tonight; then don't call again later – or you'll know exactly why I don't answer."

"Oh look, I think the Graves Robbers are about to do their final set! Gotta go, Mum. We love you. Give Dad and Lily hugs for us."

"Good night, Al," Ginny answered after a short, amused laugh. Maybe Patricia could handle the return hugs for James for me; since he'd pound you if you tried."

Al looked up for a moment to see Patricia and Anna both laughing at that. "She heard," Al advised his mother. "See you next Friday – though I'm sure we'll have a mirror chat or two between now and then too."

"Without the details for your Mum and Dad's kid-free night at the next one," Gwendolyn added; earning another laugh from Ginny.

"We don't ask Al for details about your snogging sessions either, Gwendolyn; so that goes both ways."

"It'd be weird if it didn't," Gwendolyn said. "Have a good night, Aunt Ginny. I love you too." Al ended the call a moment later and put his mirror away while smiling at Patricia.

"I guess we'll see you next Saturday," Al told her. "If the team ban on talking to us is still in effect over the holidays; we won't try to mess that up for you, but James might have to make an exception to that for a couple of weeks; since we do spend a lot of time together when we're home – and with Fred, Rose, and the rest of our cousins too."

Patricia and Anna both looked confused, a bit dazed, and conflicted now. "Um, okay," Patricia said after hesitating for a moment; and then looked petulant again. "Don't think that this changes anything. We're still mad at you for messing up our dates tonight."

"Yeah," Anna added. "We'd blast you if we weren't sure your cousins would just go after us too."

"That's okay," Al assured them with a smile. "It doesn't seem fair to me to invite Patricia without doing something for you too, though, so unless you've already got a date for it with Ollie; I was going to suggest that you could go with him to the Harpies-United match the Saturday before we come back here from the Christmas holidays. Our parents usually have a spare ticket or two for our season's tickets section; so if you wanted to do that, I could get Lily to invite Kathryn to come and hang out with her for that match; and you'd be able to take her spot with Ollie and his family in the United team section of the stadium."

"Really?" Anna asked; and then she scowled in a near-exact mimic of what Patricia had done in response to his first offer. "Thanks, but if Ollie wants to invite me to do something like that with him; he doesn't need you or his Daddy's girls sisters to do that for him."

"Al shrugged. "Alright, but if you change your mind; I'm sure that Lily won't mind. She's getting to be pretty good friends with Kathryn since last summer; and doesn't even mind when Kathryn cheers for United while sitting with us in the Harpies' section of the stadium."

"She doesn't," Gwendolyn told him; "but then your Mum isn't one of the team managers."

"Let's get out of here," Anna told Patricia. "If I have to look at them much longer, I'm going to blast them anyway; and the heck with what their cousins and our stupid Professors do to me for it."

She didn't really wait for Patricia before storming off; but Patricia followed right behind her without saying another word to Al or Gwendolyn. Once they were gone; Gwendolyn hugged Al fiercely.

"Nicely done," she whispered; grinning as she stepped back again. "Is there any chance that'll be the last of the drama for us tonight?" she asked more loudly. "This has been the busiest dance break I've ever had."

"This has been more drama than I've had in my first year and a half here," Shane stated; earning laughs even though he wasn't joking.

"Then you're definitely with the right Witch tonight if you're looking to add a bit of excitement to your life," Gwendolyn assured him with a bright smile for Rose. "Life is never dull when you're hanging out with the Weasley clan."

"We have boring days now and then too," Rose only half-protested; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Why don't you invite Shane to that game next Saturday too; and then I'll ask him whether he believes that or not," she suggested.

"I won't be at that game," Rose advised her. "We'll be at the Cannons match instead."

"The Cannons get one of the good game slots for the holidays?" Gwendolyn asked in surprise. "I didn't even bother to look; since that practically never happens."

"It's been a while," Rose admitted; "but it does happen now and then. "They're not playing the weekend we come back, though. They play on the Thursday afternoon instead."

"Well, Shane wouldn't think that I like him much if I suggest you take him to see a Cannons game; so I'll retract the suggestion."

"I am really going to have fun with the payback when my Cannons win their next League Championship," Rose promised – "and I hope we win it against the Harpies."

"Don't get scared, Shane," Gwendolyn said; turning her attention to him. "Rose isn't delusional – she just has a rich fantasy life."

"Before any of you take that line anywhere it shouldn't go with one of Rose's cousins in the group; I'd say it's definitely time to go dancing again," Al interjected.

"I'm glad to see you so enthusiastic about dancing tonight; but your timing for that interest is very suspicious," Gwendolyn told him. "That is still a good idea, though; so let's go."

Gwendolyn's hope for an end to their personal drama was exactly what she got for the tail-end of the dance. While Al had joked with his mother about the band getting back on stage; they did that after just two more songs; and played a shortened set that was really just an extended encore that also marked the end of the dance. This time, since all of her band 'cousins' were all still at school anyway, Gwendolyn didn't need to hang around to say goodnight to any of them; and that gave her more time to spend on saying goodnight to Al. They didn't want to stand out in the hallway by the Ravenclaw tower entrance, and didn't want to use a classroom either; so they went for a walk along some barely-traveled hallways; shared a few hugs and kisses along the way; and then their last goodnight hug and kiss was short and sweet before she went up to her common room and Al walked back to his House.

Patricia and Anna had reunited with James and Ollie by then, but both couples were busy in their own little snogging worlds, and Al didn't expect that any of them would want to talk with him anyway; so he went straight up to his dorm room – and discovered that he was the first to arrive there. By the time he got changed and went to the washroom to finish getting ready for bed; two of the guys had gotten back, including Romeo, but they were both on the team; and didn't talk to him. He had to wait fifteen minutes for Ray to get there too; and was glad to see his friend smiling as he walked over to his bed and hopped up on the side of it so that he was facing Al.

"I'm glad that your night went a lot better than last year," Al told him; and Ray laughed.

"The odds were in my favor; though it's weird that I partly have Bristol to thank for helping me with those dance lessons."

Al laughed. "You also could say that she helped you last year with learning what not to do on a date."

"There's that too. I heard you had a couple of scary moments tonight. Would you like to tell me about them first; or should I tell you the rumors first so that you can hear how wild the story has gotten in just a couple of hours."

"It's late; so let's just go with my report – it'll be a lot shorter; I'm sure."

"No doubt," Ray agreed; waving for Al to go ahead.

"Gwendolyn, Rose, Shane, and I were on our way to the washrooms while taking a break from the dancing," Al began. "Once we'd stepped into the entrance hall; some kind of liquid – a lot of it – was dumped on us. I got a shield up over us just as it hit, so we stayed dry; but we had a small pond of the stuff on the floor around us." He paused to take a breath; and then continued. "Molly and Calvin were there; saw everything; and caught the pranksters. Molly cleaned up the mess and put it into some kind of container she summoned or conjured; and then let us go on our way after talking to us for a couple of minutes."

"Do you know what that stuff was?" Ray asked; and Al shook his head.

"No idea. We didn't see the pranksters either; but Patricia and Anna made it clear that it was James and Ollie that Molly and Calvin caught when they confronted me after we got back from the washrooms. They're not very happy with me for messing up their dates tonight; though they seemed happier when I saw them in the common room on my way up here."

"I'm surprised that you could see anything if they were doing the same thing they were doing when I was down there a few minutes ago," Ray said with a laugh. "Maybe we should have snogging cubicles or something. There are some things that a guy just doesn't need to witness any member of his family doing – and snogging a Witch's brains out is one of them." Those comments earned a laugh from Romeo that advised Al and Ray that he was listening to them even if he wouldn't talk to them unless absolutely necessary – and only for can't-avoid issues that happened when you lived in the same dorm with someone.

"They must've been mad at you to risk breaking team rules to talk to you at all," Ray continued; and Al nodded.

"Let's hope there's an exception when it comes to blasting one of us – even when that's just verbally. They want to hex me too; but don't want to get into trouble with the rest of my cousins or the Professors that are out to get James and Ollie."

"That's an interesting spin on what happened if James and Ollie did try drenching the four of you in something pranky. You're still in one piece, though, so that's good for you – and probably made it easier to do the goodnight hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn after the dance."

"I'm just glad that we didn't get blasted with the prank attempt on us," Al said seriously. "We've heard that there were quite a few other students that weren't so lucky."

"Tory and I heard that too – and saw a couple of the pranks when they happened too." He shook his head. "I really do love your uncle's store as much as the next guy; but I might have to think about not shopping there anymore in protest. It's just flat-out wrong to mess up something like a Christmas dance for anyone – even Slytherins. What part of seeing an eleven or twelve-year old Witch run off crying from a dance is funny? Tory would've blasted the jerk or jerks if we'd been able to figure out who had pranked the one couple that we witnessed getting hit."

Al shook his head. "Uncle George loves it when he gets blamed for what happens with his wheezes; but he's also not wrong when he just tells people that he's not responsible for what Witches and Wizards do with his products. If he didn't sell them; someone else would – just as Zonko's used to do that before he opened his stores."

"I suppose," Ray conceded. "I didn't see Fred and Orlando downstairs when I came through. They didn't have any other problems after they got to the dinner, did they?"

"Not that I know of," Al answered. "I'm sure their trouble from before dinner was more than enough for them."

"Did something happen to Fred and Orlando?" Romeo asked; and Al and Ray both turned their attention on him.

"You didn't hear?" Ray asked; and Romeo shook his head. "They got shoved into a portable swamp filled with cement and got stuck fast in the stuff right up to their necks – quick-drying or something. Al and Gwendolyn found them and called for help – and then Professor Slughorn got them out by turning them into spiders so they weren't stuck anymore and could climb out of the holes left by their bodies. He changed them back; but they were still really late because they needed to go and get cleaned up; and they weren't able to escort their dates to the dinner."

"You say that happened before dinner?" Romeo asked next; and Al and Ray both nodded. "I saw them not long before that with..." his eyes widened then; but he closed his mouth. "Never mind – it was probably nothing." He then pretended to be busy with something that needed doing just then; so Al turned back to face Ray again; not doing a very good job of hiding a grin.

"Getting back to what's turning out to be a not-so-short story; Patricia and Anna yelled at me a bit; apparently came back here to our common room early; and Gwendolyn and I stayed for the rest of the dance before going for an extended walk on the way back to Ravenclaw tower."

"With the last part of that so you could snog her goodnight without an audience," Ray guessed; and then laughed when Al's grin looked more wolfish than amused.

"Did Tory kiss you goodnight?" Al asked; and it was Ray's turn to grin.

"Yes, but let's not talk about any details for either of us. We had a fun night; and I'm just glad that I didn't mess anything up this year."

"We're Wizards," Al reminded him. "When it comes to Witches; that should be our daily mantra."

They talked for a while; Ray went to get ready for bed; and they were in on some story-sharing with some of the other guys too as they returned to the dorm room. That was sooner for all of the guys that had dates from other Houses; and much later for the guys that weren't back until long after Al was asleep. Some of the date stories were good or bad or funny, but they didn't hear about all of them; and Al guessed that at least one had been a disaster; since that roommate didn't talk to anyone and went straight to bed without even bothering to get changed. He was fairly sure that Romeo hadn't had a good date either, but that was just a guess too; since he didn't even talk to Dave about it – and they were best mates.

With the dance now recent history, by Sunday morning; the upcoming Christmas holiday began to move up the rankings for the gossip network. The dance post-mortem was a big deal too; though that was mostly during breakfast and throughout the morning before winding down by lunchtime. Though they'd been up later than normal for the dance, Al and Rose were both still up early; and Al only beat her to the common room by about five minutes. Though he knew that her date with Shane had gone a lot better than the one a year ago with Landon; he was still glad to see her bright smile as she joined him and they shared a quick good morning hug.

"Let's get out of here," Rose told him. "We have quite a bit to talk about for our walk this morning; so we should get right at that."

"Should I have left early?" Al joked; and Rose laughed.

"Only if you want me to mess up your morning plans to hang out with Gwendolyn so we can talk after breakfast." She took his hand and led him toward the portrait hole. "I have some stories that you'll want to hear too," she advised him. "You'd be amazed at what you hear when your roommates think everyone else is asleep in the middle of the night."

"Now I am a bit scared," Al only half-joked. "How are you today? Did you have a good rest of the night since I saw you last?"

"If you're really asking whether I kissed Shane goodnight after he walked me back here; the answer is yes – even though it's none of your business."

"No details are required," Al assured her. "I'm just glad tat you're happy."

"I am," she assured him as they stepped out into the hallway one at a time. "You know the story I want to hear first; so feel free to get started on it."

"Did you catch any of the show on your map?" Al asked first; and Rose nodded.

"Yes, but I wasn't really worried about you. James is an idiot to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting it to end better for him every time."

"Well, you'll like how I got out of that little jam," Al promised; and then proceeded to tell her the entire story. He had to stop a couple of times when they passed other students; but it still took about ten minutes to get through everything.

"The way you dealt with the ambush is amazing," Rose told him when he'd finished his report. "I've never even thought about it, but our maps are only two-dimensional; so maybe we should have been thinking about defending ourselves in three dimensions like you did last night."

"I wasn't thinking about the maps at the time," Al admitted; "but that's a good point. Orlando was obviously able to see where I was on the Marauder's Map; but couldn't tell that I was near the ceiling instead of on the floor."

"That's pretty awesome. Next time you should try to do that in your Animagus form – if you can use an invisibility charm while doing that. Do you think that your seashells would still work if you activated it before changing forms?"

"That's something worth trying sometime soon – though if I can do that; you'll be making up jokes about how James and Ollie's spells are all over my head," Al suggested; and Rose laughed.

"There is a pun in there that I wouldn't be able to resist – not to mention that you'd have another great tail – I mean tale to go along with the rest of our adventures with James, Ollie, and the prank patrol," she told him. "Getting back to the actual ambush, though, what they did really was horrid. We don't even know very much about what they had planned if you'd been caught in that cement; but I think the worst of what James and Ollie did do last night really might have been just walking away and leaving Fred and Orlando stuck like that."

"It could have been a really big problem if it had been just a bit later and everyone had been in the Great Hall already," Al suggested. "Fred and Orlando were still doing okay when Gwendolyn and I got there, but when I had time to think about it last night, they probably lost their breath when they went in; the cement would've pressed in on them; and they likely couldn't breathe at anything near full capacity after that. I don't know how long it would've taken; but they'd have likely tired of the effort to breathe against that pressure eventually."

"I didn't think of that at all," Rose admitted. "That's the same as with certain binding spells – and we get warned about that in our lessons. I was really just thinking that it's really wrong to abandon your family and friends like that – and simply because James didn't want to get into trouble again."

"There's no point in going there, Rose. We don't get it; and James obviously doesn't think there's anything wrong with it – as long as he's on the winning side of decisions like that."

"Which sort of brings us to some of my late night news," Rose said with a nod of agreement. "According to two of my roommates, James and Ollie are being railroaded again. Molly sent them back to our House for the rest of the night; they have to meet with her and one or both of the Heads tomorrow; and they expect that our cousin will make sure that they get punished for the prank – even though it was just a harmless hair-removing potion that they had nothing at all to do with. Molly and Calvin apparently just misunterstood them shouting out – "Yes!" and "They got 'em!" for an admission of guilt when they were simply innocent bystanders appreciating a good prank."

"We didn't know what that stuff was," Al pointed out. "It didn't occur to them that James and Ollie shouldn't know either?"

"They are prank experts," Rose reminded him. "I'm sure they know everything about every prank just by sight, sound, and smell."

"Of course," Al agreed; slapping his forehead. "How silly of me not to think of that. Were those two girls also okay with the idea of leaving two Witches completely bald and soaked to the bone at a Christmas dance too?"

"They didn't comment on that," Rose answered. "What you might find particularly interesting is that they also didn't talk with James and Ollie about your invitation or that Patricia talked to your Mum last night and will be spending the day with James next Saturday. Patricia isn't sure if she should talk to James first or make it a holiday surprise for him; since she's sure there is no way that you'll tell him about it."

"She's right about that," Al agreed. "I think it'd be a brilliant surprise; but she's forgetting that Mum is sure to talk about it with James on Friday after we're home or Saturday morning even if he doesn't have a mirror chat with her between now and then."

"Which he might not if he gets another detention and tries dodging her calls." She grinned at him then. "That really was a brilliant move; but not one that James is going to like; and he'll find a way to spin it with Patricia no matter what happens."

"He will, and that might even work for a while," Al agreed. "Eventually he'll do something stupid, though, and then she'll figure out the truth. I'm not trying to be a jerk, though, Rose. It just isn't right for my own brother to be spreading lies about Mum and Dad – and then they get spread around by his friends until you have an entire new batch of untruths gone wild again. This seemed better than getting into an argument when Patricia and Anna wouldn't believe anything I told them anyway."

"Well, we will get to see how that plays out – though I wish I was going to be at that game instead of watching the Cannons."

"You'll be there for the shopping and lunch, though," Al reminded her. "I'll let you know how the game goes with them when we go shopping again on Sunday."

"Now that your Mum has mentioned it; James might have to invite Patricia to the team Quidditch practices too – even though we didn't include reserve team players last season."

"We didn't, but could he really have Anna come without inviting Patricia too?"

"That's a really great point," Rose agreed with a grin. "Should we book our study days and times to match up with those practices?"

Al laughed. "Sure – and let's have them at your house so we won't be around if James and Ollie are at my house with their girlfriends. It would be way too tempting to complain about them snogging around us after all the razzing he's given Gwendolyn and me since last Christmas holiday."

"And I'd want to borrow all of Dad's magic mistletoe," Rose agreed. "We should get those study dates set up this week, though. The main Christmas and New Year's Day action is on the Mondays and Tuesdays this week; so we'll only have three week days each week to choose from; and we're already booked both weekends – or at least I am even if you might have the second Sunday off."

"I'm hoping that we'll get a jump on the holiday revision this week after classes," Al said seriously. "If we could book two study days right after Christmas; we could likely be done it all and have the next week off to do whatever we want."

"What about the Boxing Day sales?" Rose asked; and Al laughed.

"Okay, maybe that won't work out for us; but I'd still be okay with studying that Thursday nd Friday. Gwendolyn might have some problems with that too, since she'll likely have at least a couple of team practices too."

Rose grinned at him. "Yeah! Study and Quidditch days at the McCormacks with her favorite holiday practice squad to play against!"

"That might work for her – unless she's inviting her reserve squad to play too. I'll ask her about it after breakfast."

"What are you guys doing this morning? It's too cold and miserable out for Quidditch; you must have had enough music and dancing for one weekend last night; and it's mostly boring shows on the mirror network on Sunday mornings too."

"We'll be playing with our magic, and I want to do a bit more experimenting with my special project; since i might not be able to do that during the rest of the week with everything else going on around here."

"You and I aren't going to have any parties to go to this week," Rose reminded him. "Gwendolyn's doing one for her team; but we're on the outs this year."

"That's true," Al agreed easily with a smile, "but we will have to juggle our studies around the parties the rest of our group has – and we have Astronomy on Thursday night; so we'll need to be packed for the trip home before then. Speaking of home, I'll be sending Winter on her last trip home tonight until after the holidays; so if you have any letters you want to send home two; have them ready by dinnertime."

Rose assured him that she wanted to do that, and they had other things to talk about before getting to the Great Hall for breakfast; but then it was time to do the post-mortem for the dance with their friends and catch up on all of the latest gossip as it made the rounds of the students in all four Houses. Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own as planned after they finished eating; and then spent the morning playing with magic and experimenting with Al's Animagus abilities. All of that was entertaining, but it was also brilliant and amazing as Al tried out all sorts of different animal forms. He was always amazed at how easy it was for him to use all of those different animal abilities by instinct; and Gwendolyn had fun playing with many of those animals too.

When they went for lunch, there wasn't any news on the gossip network about either of the prank investigations that were going on while Al and Gwendolyn were playing, but he noticed that Fred and Orlando were upset – and likely due to their meeting with Professor Flitwick; and James, Ollie, Patricia, and Anna all looked angry; so the morning likely hadn't gone well for James and Ollie either. They hadn't thought to look, but Rose advised them that Gryffindor had lost some more points again – though their total was still so low that nobody in any of the Houses really bothered to keep track for Gryffindor anymore. The lunchtime chat was transitioning from post-dance teen drama to a look ahead at their last four days of classes that would almost entirely be used for finishing up projects that were due before the holidays and getting the revision assignments they'd need to get done while at home – or at school for the students that were staying behind. Al was happy to mostly listen in on the chat with Rose and the rest of their Gryffindor friends; he enjoyed the meal; and then was glad to get back together with Gwendolyn again for an afternoon of quiet time in the library.

Scorpius put Thomas' portrait on the table as always once he was safely in his special place in the Room of Requirements; flopped into the arm chair; and sighed tiredly.

"Tough day?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius smiled ruefully.

"Long night that went fairly well; but now I have another obstacle to work around before I can come here for our visits."

Thomas laughed. "Have you enchanted your young lady?" he teased; and Scorpius laughed.

"You couldn't possibly want the details; but I'd say that Terri had fun last night; and I did too – though now she wants to start spending a lot of time together."

"I definitely do not want the details," Thomas assured him; "but your expression suggests that you don't think that spending time with young Ms. Timms is all bad. She's a member of a fairly-well connected family within the Ministry of Magic too; so that's a friendship worth developing for your future. Is there much news from your big dance?"

Scorpius sat up straighter and nodded. "Yes, there is. A lot of pranking was going on last night, and quite a few Slytherins were on the receiving end of them; but the bigger stories and rumors are from Gryffindor. The best one is about Fred Weasley and his best mate and Beater partner. Word is that they were knocked into a portable swamp that was filled with cement that immediately hardened around them – up to their necks in the stuff."

"That sounds potentially fatal; not a prank," Thomas mused. "They must be okay, though; or you wouldn't be amused.

"They are," Scorpius confirmed. "What's amusing is that Albus and Gwendolyn found them and had to call for help. Slughorn might be a puffed up fool, but he was apparently the one to get them out – by transfiguring them into spiders so that they weren't stuck anymore; and could climb out of the holes left by their human forms. He changed them back, which is a pity; but at least that prank obviously backfired on them."

"You believe they ended up in their own trap? What makes you say that?"

"I believe that James and Ollie were with them; the prank went bad; they fell or really did get knocked into the cement; and then James and Ollie left them stuck there to stay out of trouble. They still got in trouble later; but that was for another failed prank attempt. When I was on my way here, I noticed that Gryffindor has lost more points in the House Cup race again today; so there's a good chance that all four of them are back in detention – or will be after the holidays."

"What happened with the other prank?" Thomas asked curiously.

"That prank had quite a few witnesses – including a couple of Slytherins," Scorpius said first. "Buckets-full worth of some unknown liquid was dumped on Albus, Gwendolyn, Rose, and her date for the dance as they stepped out into the entrance hall from the Great Hall."

"What did the stuff do to them?" Thomas asked.

"Nothing. Al managed to shield all four of them just before it hit them. That's why nobody knows what it was – since we didn't get to find out what it would have done to them. James and Ollie were caught, though; and that was by one of James' cousins – Molly Weasley. She's a Prefect, and was out on patrol in the entrance hall when it happened."

"You've told me that she's one of Percy Weasley's kids," Thomas said thoughtfully. "If she's like her father, that isn't a surprise – and she might be worth keeping an eye on. He was certainly easy-enough to manipulate. You'll be amazed at how easy that is to do with the particularly bright Witches and Wizards. They believe they're the smartest person in any room; and that kind of vanity is easy to exploit."

Scorpius laughed. "That might be true, but in her case; I'll stay far away from her – at least while she's dating one of the best Beaters in our school."

Thomas laughed too. "There's no hurry," he assured Scorpius. "Tell me the rest of the news you have, and then we can do a lesson or two; since you won't be able to do them with me very often before you're home for Christmas."

"It's too bad that my parents insist that I come home," Scorpius said; frowning now. "Why can't they take off for the holidays and leave me here the way a few of the other pureblood families do with their kids? Except for a couple of trips to Diagon Alley, all we do is sit around at home and pretend that we're not laughed at or hated by everyone in the Wizarding World."

"Invite some friends over," Thomas suggested.

"What?" Scorpius asked; Thomas' question totally throwing him off.

"You heard me the first time," Thomas said instead of repeating himself. "If you don't like the way things are when you're home for the holidays; start making changes until you are happy."

"As if I could get anyone to come for a visit," Scorpius said bitterly.

"Really? You don't think that Davis and Blaise would jump at the chance? What about Ms. Timms? If she was willing to go to the dance with you; she might love spending time with you over the holidays. If you don't want to stay home all of the time; then go out with your friends too. You'll be happier, and some of your friends will be very impressed if you can do things with them that they can't do on their own – like maybe taking them to Quidditch matches."

"I don't know," Scorpius said doubtfully even as his imagination ran with the ideas.

"And you never will unless you try," Thomas pointed out. "You still have time to try and set up some visits or outtings – and since you're sure the holidays will be terrible anyway; you don't have much to lose if things don't work out – though I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Scorpius didn't talk about that with Thomas for much longer; he got back to telling him the latest news from earlier in the weekend; and then he happily and avidly immersed himself into the Dark Arts lessons that Thomas taught him. There was a chance that he wouldn't get to spend any time with Thomas during the rest of the week, since he had a couple of parties to go to in addition to his Quidditch practices and the normal daily school routine; so he stayed and played straight through until shortly before dinnertime; when he had to meet up with Terri so that they could walk to the Great Hall and sit together for that meal too – just as she'd wanted to do at breakfast and lunch.

He actually liked spending the time with her quite a bit more than he minded the downside that came with the new relationship; and he felt even better when he tested the waters for Thomas' suggestion and Terri was quite enthusiastic about spending time with him over the holidays. The idea of snogging sessions with her at Malfoy Manor gave him some reason for holiday cheer; but then having her cuddle with him in the common room all evening while talking with some of their friends and watching Christmas shows on the mirror network was great too.

Maybe, just maybe, Thomas was on to something!

Their Sunday afternoon in the library didn't ent up being quite as quiet for Al and Gwendolyn as they'd expected. Rose and Shane joined them there, and some letter writing kept them busy; but then a few other friends tracked them down thanks to their maps; advised them that some snow play was being organized because the snowy, windy conditions had calmed at least for a while; and they were drafted to go out and play too. Since getting to do that hadn't even really been an option so far due to lack of enough snow to make that fun – or the weather had been too lousy for that to be fun anyway; they didn't need to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the library – though they had been very tempted to stay warm and dry instead.

Quite a few teens had decided to do the same thing during the calm in the weather that really didn't last very long; so there were snowball fights; sculptures being magically created; and even a few, simple, old-fashioned snowmen – or snowpersons where gender was difficult to determine just by looking at them. There still wasn't enough snow for making forts to battle over, but it was still early-winter; so they'd eventually have lots of time for doing things like that once the snow was piled high as it usually was by mid-winter. Al had as much fun as Gwendolyn and the rest of their gang; and he was also glad to get through the afternoon without any teen drama or fights with James and Ollie or any Slytherins.

He actually ended up getting through the entire day without any personal drama – unless you counted a few dark, angry looks from James and Ollie when they were all in the Gryffindor common room or the Great Hall for dinner. After playing in the snow, their group needed to split up to get changed and cleaned up before dinner; and then Al was on his own for the evening while Gwendolyn was busy with another Ravenclaw girls' night – the last one they'd be able to have until after the holidays. While his girlfriend was busy, Al went to the Owlery to send Winter on her way home – and to an early start for her own holidays; he spent nearly a half-hour with Blizzard; and then hung out with Ray, Scott, and a few other guys in the common room before going up to his dorm room for the rest of the evening so that he could do some work on his Christmas gift charms. Rose and Gwendolyn both had their charmed gifts ready by then, so it was just his own that needed to get done; and he managed to finish them up before getting ready for bed and ending his night with a mirror chat with his parents and sister.

While the Christmas fun rolled on for a lot of students at school, there was actually a lull in that action for Al, Rose, and a few of their friends. There was a bit of a lull in the studying too; but that worked out for them quite well because they were able to work on their holiday revision assignments during classes while other classmates were trying to use that time to hand in due or late assignments; and they could work on those assignments during their normal study group sessions. The Quidditch-playing members of their group still had practices and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw team Christmas parties to fit into their schedules; but Al and Rose worked around their friends' schedules to still offer help when needed for studying and working ahead so they'd all get to take more time off at Christmas.

Al didn't get to spend quite as much time as normal with Gwendolyn, but he had a bit more time to play with his Animagus abilities – and more time for that than he'd expected to have. There was lots of gossip going on around the school too, with news from the parties at the top of the list; and on the low side, the annual pre-Christmas break-ups that always got the Witches in the school fired up when Wizards did that because they were too cheap or unwilling to buy gifts for the girls they were happy to snog any other time of the year when the costs were lower. James and Ollie weren't in the news for that, but they did get mentioned for throwing the worst Christmas party on Tuesday afternoon. They did that instead of their team practice, and it was lousy for most of the attendees because they randomly spiked the treats and drinks with wheezes that they thought were hilarious; but didn't impress their team mate victims of those pranks.

Whether the students were busy with studies or play time during those four days, by Thursday night; nearly everyone was ready to pack up and get ready for the trip home on Friday. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and most of their friends did that packing after dinner on Thursday night; though Al then met up with Gwendolyn to hang out for a while until their Astronomy class. While that class had been a favorite for them so far, and they had fun with it again too; it really didn't work out very well for them when it came to getting sleep ahead of the early wake-up call for all of the departing students on Friday morning. That lack of rest didn't keep Al from being fired up when he woke after just a handful of hours of sleep; and he was still awake before most of the guys in their House. He showered, got ready for the day, and grabbed the two bags he was taking home with him; and then had some time to wait for Rose in the common room before they headed to the Great Hall together for the early breakfast.

The mad dash was on by then, so they were glad to be out of the way as the usual group of procrastinating students needed to rush around to get packed for the trip home; and then had to rush through breakfast – or skip it completely if they didn't get to the Great Hall in time. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and most of their study group friends missed the tail-end of that action too because they took some of the earliest carriage rides to Hogsmeade station; and they pretty much had their pick of compartments when they reserved a block of them for all of their friends. Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Ray, Tory, Michael, and Toni with them; but Rose was only in another compartment so that she and Shane could sit with some of his friends for a change instead. Once they'd stowed their bags and sat down; it was time to relax and enjoy themselves as they waited for the train to fill and the trip home to get underway.

"What should we talk about first?" Tory asked; directing that question mostly at the other two girls. "Christmas; shopping; Quidditch; or the latest gossip this morning?"

"Can we start with the gossip?" Ray asked in return; trying to sound and look enthusiastic. "We haven't heard nearly-enough of that this week."

"Gossip it is," Tory agreed amiably; pretending in return that she didn't recognize the sarcasm. "Did the rest of you hear that the Gryffindor junior team skipped their practice yesterday? We saw that they weren't out there while doing our practice; but then I heard last night that Belinda was mad that James didn't tell her when she could have had her practice early and gotten it out of the way."

"We'd heard about the first part of that from our roommates," Al said; "but not that Belinda had been mad. It doesn't really help to find out at the last minute either; since she'd still need to round up her team and they'd all need to get their gear first."

"She'll be glad that she doesn't have to deal with James and Ollie on her team next year," Tory suggested. "I've heard that the players on United are much nicer; and she'll only have to deal with gits like all of the Falcons' players twice a season."

"Plus for every team that has one or more of those guys," Gwendolyn added. "Too bad she doesn't want to play for the Harpies with Victoire." She'd said that with a wide grin; and Tory laughed.

"Mum isn't quite ready to retire yet; and I think she's still doing pretty well – even if Victoire and Gabrielle are getting all of the attention right now."

"I'm just teasing; and your Mum is playing great," Gwendolyn assured her. "You and Ray could be in for some teasing over the holidays – especially if you're both at the Harpies-United match."

"Mum's already been teasing me," Tory advised them. "That's really just silly when the real jokes should be because of Ray's uncle playing for United."

Gwendolyn laughed. "You're right – it should be about your Mums – and any related jokes that we can come up with that involves the word 'keeper' or about your Mum replacing Ray's with the Harpies' team."

"Would that make both of them keepers for each other just for the entertainment?" Toni suggested; earning a round of laughs. "Don't forget that there should be more jokes because they're both Chasers instead of Keepers like their Mums."

"And Chasers that caught Keeper kids," Michael added.

"It's a bit early to suggest that we're caught – or that we'll be keepers for each other," Tory said; "but we'll survive the jokes while we're home – just as Al and Gwendolyn do."

"I wonder if Rose will get teased much while we're home," Gwendolyn mused. "Shane doesn't have any famous family connections."

Al laughed. "She is her Daddy's littel girl though; since they've now both gone out with Muggleborn students."

"That isn't much to work with; but I'm sure if anyone can do that; it'll be the jokesters in your family," Gwendolyn offered with a laugh. "We should be out of the joke entertainment this Christmas anyway."

Al didn't comment on that, but only because he couldn't talk openly with Gwendolyn about his Animagus; and the guaranteed jokes that would be coming their way once word got out about it. Their chat time was interupted now and then by cameo visits from other friends as they wandered past in search of somewhere to sit as the train filled up; and then they were finally underway and heading for London. Their long travel day was still just starting then, but there was lots to do to keep entertained – and more than usual for most trips this year for Al and Gwendolyn. They didn't spend much time with Louis and Noel because having a surprise birthday party for Noel was tricky to do on a train when you couldn't exactly crowd everyone into one compartment; but they did take a gift and card for her – again thanks to Al keeping his eyes and ears open to know about the party; and being prepared with small gifts for unexpected occasions.

The rest of the trip wasn't birthday-party fun, but they did keep entertained. A walk around the train gave them a chance to visit with some friends that they wouldn't see over the holidays; lunch and trolley snacks and drinks took care of the munchies; and playing mirror games or surfing the Wireless Web kept them busy some of the time while they were sitting in their compartment. There were some couple swaps for parts of the trip too, so Al and Gwendolyn spent an hour with Rose and Shane while Ray and Tory were off visiting other Hufflepuff friends; and there were shorter visits with other couples when Toni and Michael were elsewhere – and for the others when Al and Gwendolyn were away too. By the time the train started to slow for the approach into King's Cross station, they were all ready to be reunited with their families; and they began gathering their things even before the station was in sight.

Since their compartment was on the platform side of the train, Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends were able to look for their respective welcoming committees as the train pulled up alongside of it and stopped. Al and Gwendolyn found their group easily-enough because George was there with Angelina and Roxanne to meet Fred; Ginny and Molly were with them – and with Hugo and Lily; and Kirley and Jonah were there too. Getting to see them helped a bit with the delay that came while waiting for the worst of the initial crush to get off of the train; and then they joined the line-up in the aisle and eventually were able to get off of the train. From there, they still needed to get over to their families, and by the time they did that; Fred and Rose were already there; but James was still either on the train or somewhere else on the platform.

"Welcome home," Ginny told them as she hugged Al for a long minute. "You've had a good trip?"

"We managed to have fun," Al agreed; "but we're really glad to be done with it now. Have you been working today; or playing with Lily?"

"Both," Ginny said with a laugh. We had a Seeker duel this morning that was way too cold; I worked until we went out to lunch with Mum and Hugo; and then we went Christmas shopping until it was time to come here."

Lily had been hugging Al by then; and Gwendolyn had gotten in line for hugs with Ginny and Lily after being welcome by her father and brother first. Kirley hugged Al too; Jonah settled for a fist bump; and Al eventually got around to hugging his grandmother once she was finished doing that with Rose and Fred. He was still doing that when James finally joined them; and had a very odd expression on his face that was likely because he was trying to put on a good face while battling some anger issues that Al could sense – and that likely had everything to do with him having Patricia and a woman that had to be her mother with him.

"Hello, James!" Ginny said with a smile that was as bright for him as it had been for Al. "I was beginning to think we'd need to send out a search party." He let her draw him into a hard, happy hug; and she was still smiling as she looked past him to Patricia. "It's nice to meet you in person, Patricia," she continued in her usual way that was why she was so good with people. "How are you today?"

"Really good, thanks," Patricia said as James pulled away from his mother and she shook hands with his girlfriend. "Ginny, this is my Mum, Cicelia Parker; Mum, this is James' Mum, Ginny Potter." The two Witches were already shaking hands by then; and seemed happy with first impressions.

"Patricia thought that we should meet now instead of doing that for the first time in diagon Alley tomorrow," Cicelia said. "I'm glad that we didn't have any major plans for tomorrow; since telling her she couldn't accept your invitation wouldn't have been a popular option."

"We might have been able to work things out for the next Harpies' match instead – though finding extra seats anytime they're playing United is a bit tougher."

"We were surprised you could do that for the match tomorrow," Cicelia said; and Ginny shrugged and smiled.

"That was easy this time because a few members of our family are misguided Cannons' fans and they have a game tomorrow too; so they can't be at both stadiums."

"I should start making one galleon bets with everyone that teases me about my Cannons so that when they win their next League Championship; I'll be rich," Rose said as she stepped up next to Al and Gwendolyn.

"If you make that bet to happen in your lifetime; nobody would be able to collect when it doesn't happen – unless you set the money aside in your will," James said with a snort.

"Fair enough," Rose agreed. "I can do that."

Ginny laughed. "Then put me down for ten galleons," she told Rose seriously. "I might have to make one of our future grandchildren the beneficiary; since you'll hopefully outlive me by quite a bit; but that should also give your Cannons another century and more to do that for you."

"Put me down for a thousand," James told her grandly.

"Do you have that kind of money?" Rose asked; and James laughed.

"I won't need it anytime soon; so I'll be good for it soon – once I'm the star Seeker for whatever League team is lucky-enough to get me."

"Wow, I'm already well on my way to being rich; and I've only just started!" Rose declared; earning a round of laughs.

"You mean that you're well on the way to giving away your estate after you're gone," James countered derisively. "I'd quit while you're behind if I were you."

"We'll see," Rose said with a smile and shrug; "but I'd say that the odds of winning one championship in more than two hundred years is in my favor – if you iclude how long it's been since the last one for the Cannons."

"I'm sure that Patricia and her Mum don't want to listen to our ongoing family banter between the Harpies and Cannons fans," Ginny interjected before James could offer another retort. "Are we all set for meeting up in Diagon Alley at nine o'clock?" she asked Cicelia.

"That's fine," she answered. "We were planning on being there by then anyway for our own shopping."

Ginny smiled and focused her attention on James and Patricia again. "Do you need your mirrors linked so that you can call each other while you're home? That was the first thing that Al and Gwendolyn wanted me to do last Christmas after they started dating."

"We don't have time right now to go to one of the stores to have that done," Cicelia answered before Patricia or James could – and James looked relieved.

"I can take care of it right here if you're okay with it – and they are too," Ginny offered; and then smiled at Cicelia's look of surprise. "We know some of the people that make them," she explained without adding that she was one of the co-creators along with Hermione. I've learned how to do the linking spells."

"It's up to the two of you; but that's fine with me."

"James?" Patricia asked hopefully; and he put on his best fake smile and nodded.

"Sure," he agreed; "but no calling me at bedtime after we're back at school just so you and Anna can watch all of my roommates get changed," he joked; earning laughs from nearly everyone except for Patricia's mother.

"I promise," Patricia said; though Al noticed that she didn't specifically promise that she wouldn't do it.

Getting the mirrors linked didn't take long; Patricia hugged and kissed James before moving on with her mother; and then James needed to share short hugs with his grandmother, aunt, and sister before hanging out with George and Fred – and ignoring Al except for two very dark glares.

"Are we all going somewhere together?" Gwendolyn asked as they all headed toward the exit from the platform.

"Only until we get to the Leaky," Kirley answered. "We'll go home from there; make dinner to be ready for when your mother gets home; and then we'll be staying home for the night."

"Sounds normal for a game night," Gwendolyn said with a nod of approval. "Does Mum get an extra day off if the Harpies win tomorrow again this year too?"

"Partly; except they'll take their half-day off on New Year's Eve day instead – if they win. For some reason, your mother would not let the girls talk her into a two-day work week after Christmas."

"That's too bad for them," Gwendolyn said with a dramatic sigh while smiling at Ginny. "Maybe Aunt Ginny will take me shopping on Boxing Day with Lily while Mum's stuck working."

"We can do that if you're not busy doing anything else," Ginny agreed. "We'll need to take Al and James along with us whether they want to go or not, but James can wander off and do his own thing as usual; and you won't likely mind having Al there too."

"Having guys along does come in handy too – for carrying all of those heavy bags," Gwendolyn teased. "I'd be okay with that."

The girls talked shopping for a while longer as they made their way from the train station to the Leaky. From there, Kirley took Gwendolyn and Jonah home using the Floo Network; and the Weasley-Potter group went into Diagon Alley so that they could escort George back to the store that was already getting very busy. Ron took a break then so that he could spend a few minutes with Rose and say hello to his returning nephews too. Jame s did a bit of shopping while that was going on; and then they all went back out into Diagon Alley to wander through some of the stores while working their way back to the Leaky. Once there again, Molly took Rose and Hugo out into the city and over to their Granger grandparents so that they could spend time with them – and eventually have Hermione join them for dinner after work while Ron was busy at the store. Angelina took Fred and Roxanne home; and Ginny did the same with her kids.

"Go and put your things away," Ginny told the boys once they were all in the sitting room after taking the Floo Network home. "I'll go and get started on making dinner while you do that. Lily, you can hang out with your brothers until they're finished that; but then I'd like a bit of help with dinner."

"That's what I get for asking Al for a charm bracelet like Gwendolyn's," Lily pretended to complain. "Now I hardly ever get out of helping with the work around here like I did when it was just easier for Mom and Dad to do it without me."

"You could help out without using your bracelet if you don't like the way things are now," Ginny offered; and Lily laughed.

"Going now. Forget I said anything." She smiled at her brothers. "I'll go with James first," she told Al. "He'll be done his unpacking in about a minute or two; and then I'll come see you so that I don't have to just rush right back down here again when James comes down here to play video games."

"You could just carry my bags upstairs and save me the trip," James offered. "Put them in the usual spots; and I'm unpacked."

"I'll carry a bag to help you out," she offered, "but I know you, so the least you can do is take out all of the dirty clothes that you didn't have the House Elves at school clean for you; and put them in the laundry so that we can get them washed up tonight. I don't want you embarrassing me tomorrow – especially when your girlfriend is going to be spending the day with us."

That comment had James sending another nasty glare at Al, but he ignored it; followed his brother and sister upstairs; and then went into his room to get started on unpacking the bag he'd filled with just a few clothes because he knew he'd be getting more for Christmas and had lots of other clothes at home too; and everything he'd need for finishing his holiday revision. It was more like five minutes later when Lily joined him; and she was grinning as she closed the door again.

"James wasn't there when you set things up for tomorrow with Mom and Patricia, was he?" she asked. "He practically stabbed you with that glare after I mentioned her spedning the day with us tomorrow."

"You probably know more about what he was doing at the time than I do," Al suggested. "We didn't hear what their punishment was either – other than Gryffindor lost some more points on the Sunday morning after the dance."

"They got ten points and ten hours of detention each," Lily advised him. "Mum and Dad got the letter on Monday morning. Aunt Angelina told Mum that Fred and Orlando got the same thing – and that it was only that light because they got caught up in their own prank." She laughed then. "You'll be happy to know that even though you're still a big disappointment to Uncle George; you're at least temporarily Aunt Angelina's favorite nephew for helping Fred out of that mess – especially when we can all guess that the boys – and James and Ollie – had set that prank up to catch you."

"No comment," Al said with a smile. "It's so great to be home again. I've really missed you a lot."

"I've missed you a lot too," she assured him – "even though we've both had fun while you've been at school."

"Did that start for you the minute you got your Firestorm for your birthday?" Al asked; and Lily laughed.

"A bit before that; but I have done a lot of flying since then – even when the weather is lousy."

"You've likely played more Quidditch than I have since September. The best I've done is twice in a week."

"And I've been up against Mum, Dad, Aunt Gabrielle, and Victoire when I play. You'll be left in my dust when we play over the holidays."

"Maybe, but you'll get a chance to play against Ravenclaw's Seeker a couple of times. We're going to help Gwendolyn out with two team workouts. She won her first Seeker duel of the school year against Madison Whitby; so that should be a fun challenge for you and Jonah."

"If we're going to take turns; I might lend him my broom to make that more challenging for Gwendolyn's Seeker."

"Stephanie Boot," Al supplied. "We've met her a couple of times through Mum and Dad's old school buddies when they've all gotten together with all of the families."

Lily shrugged. "I don't remember her specifically; but then there are a lot of kids at those things. She'd better be good, though, 'cause Mum says I'm good enough to play for a House team right now."

"I've no doubt about that," Al assured her. "From what we saw from Slytherin in their first match against our team, though, you should work on your bludger practice and watching out for cheap shots. They were really out to try and hurt our players – just as they did with Hufflepuff last spring."

"What'll you do if they try that with your girlfriend in that match?" she asked; and Al laughed.

"Nothing – because they'll fail and look like complete dunces if they try. Gwendolyn is way better than any of the guys on Slytherin; and she'll have her team ready for them too – especially since they're sure to go after Stephanie; and probably after Ryan too."

Lily was happy to talk Quidditch with Al while he finished his unpacking; he carried the load of laundry downstairs that was filled with James' extremely fragrant clothes; and then he put the first load in to wash while Lily got to work helping Ginny with cleaning and cutting up vegetables. Al helped too; and he had fun chatting with his mother and sister while they worked – and James stayed away from him except for stopping in for a snack and drink to take back into the sitting room with him. Harry came home early; split his time between the kitchen and some video gaming action with James; and then they all gathered in the dining room when it was time to sit down and eat.

"We want to hear all about what you've been doing at school," Ginny told James and Al once they were all seated and had filled their plates, "but before we start – or get back to – that; let's go over a few details for what we'll be doing this weekend."

"Shopping; Quidditch; more shopping; and some breaks for food and sleeping here and there," James said with a smirk. "What's next?"

"Well, you forgot the part where your father and I have a Ministry of Magic Christmas party to go to tomorrow night," Ginny answered. "I'd have thought that might be news for you; and I thought that you might be more excited about spending the day with Patricia tomorrow. You didn't even mention spending the day with your girlfriend in your version."

"What are you doing with us tomorrow night?" James demanded; ignoring her comment about Patricia. "If you're going to stick us with a babysitter; then I'm going to find somewhere else to be instead."

"That's one of the things we want to talk about," Ginny advised him. "You're going to be fourteen soon, and your father and I are willing to give you a shot at being in charge while we're away – but there are some very important conditions."

"Like what?" James asked suspiciously. His expression had gone from victorious with a glint of maliciousness to wary in a heartbeat.

"If you don't want babysitters anymore, then you have to prove we can trust you," Ginny explained easily. "That means no pranks whatsoever when we're out and you're in charge; no getting into it with Al or Lily or trying to make their lives miserable; and no bossing them around – except for whatever instructions we leave for all three of you." She turned her attention to al and Lily. "For your part, you have to be good; follow the usual house rules; and don't try to instigate any problems with James."

"We're going to let you try this out tomorrow night if you agree to all of that," Harry told them seriously, "but if any of you mess it up; it'll be a while before we give you another chance at getting to the no babysitter level of this little real-life game."

"I'll be good," Lily promised. "I don't mind babysitters, since we always have fun, but if James doesn't want to agree to the rules, when he's done finding somewhere else to be tomorrow night; can we ask Patricia to babysit me when we see her tomorrow? I'd really like to find out how fast James would change his mind about babysitters at that point."

"That won't be happening," Ginny told her; "and none of you will be having friends over for times when your father and I are both out either until we can be sure that you can be responsible on your own first."

"Hiring your brother's girlfriends as your babysitters wouldn't be much fun for you either," Harry pointed out – "unless you think it'd be entertaining to watch James and Patricia snogging each other all night."

"That's a very good point," Lily conceded with a laugh that was mostly because of the grin on James' face. "forget I suggested it."

"We do have a back-up plan for tomorrow night," Ginny said; getting back to what she'd been talking about with them. "What's it going to be, guys?"

"What's the back-up plan?" James asked; and Ginny grinned at him.

"Aunt Muriel," she answered; earning laughs from everyone except James. "If you think that's funny, wait until you see her at the family Christmas and find out I'm not joking."

"I agree," Al said quickly even as James followed him a moment later with – "Okay, I'll do it."

"Good," Ginny said with a smile and nod. "Don't let us down. If you do well-enough with taking care of yourselves and each other now; we'll see about letting you do that more often next summer too."

"Is that supposed to be an incentive?" James asked. "I want to have fun next summer – not be your babysitting slave and be stuck with the two 'L's." He grinned then before adding – "Lily and the Loser."

"You need to stop that," Ginny admonished. "It wouldn't be nice even if it was true – and especially when it isn't. As to the slavery issue; we pay all of our babysitters; and we'll pay you too."

"How much?" James demanded; his expression greedy and calculating now.

"The going rate – the same as we paid Molly, Teddy, or any of your other cousins or older friends when they've done the job. You won't get rich at it – which is why most older teens get other jobs instead of babysitting or doing yard and garden work."

"We'll also fire you if things don't work out," Harry promised. "That's getting a bit ahead of what we're trying with you this weekend, though; so let's not get hung up on that. There are other things we need to talk about – like whether we'll need to change up anything to make sure that your girlfriend has a good day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" James asked suspiciously; and Harry laughed.

"You do want to make a good impression, don't you? We weren't planning on going out into Muggle London tomorrow morning for our shopping, but if you think she'd like that better; we can change things up. Does she have any food issues we should know about? We'll just be at the Leaky for lunch, but we could work something else out if she doesn't like it there."

"I don't know if she's ever even been to a Muggle Mall or anything," James told him; "and everyone goes to the Leaky now and then for a meal. It isn't as though most Wizards and Witches have that many options."

"He's such a guy," Lily declared with a sigh. "We'll talk to Patricia in the morning," she told Ginny next. "Either way, there are sure to be stores she'll want to check out that James won't want to go anywhere near. Have you exchanged Christmas gifts with her yet; or are you doing that tomorrow?" she asked her older brother next.

"I hadn't planned on doing anything," James told her. "We've only had the one real date so far."

"Two including tomorrow," Lily amended. "You'd better think about it; since I'm sure she has, is, and will have a gift for you." She smiled then. "Oh, and when you do think about it; wheezes are not appropriate Christmas gifts for most Witches."

"You and Mum always say you like my gifts," James protested; and Lily and Ginny both laughed – and answered in unison with – "we lied."

James didn't want to talk about Christmas gifts or Patricia; so the conversation moved on; and they talked about the rest of their plans for the weekend before Al and James were prompted to talk about what they were having fun with at school; and James quickly got quiet and unresponsive. By the time they'd finished dessert, he wanted to escape and go to the sitting room and play video games again. Al and Lily helped with the clean-up and continuing to get the laundry done – mostly so that James would have clean clothes to wear on the weekend. When they were nearly finished; Al asked to talk with his parents in private for a while, so after getting a round of drinks and some snacks to leave in the sitting room for later – or in under a minute; depending on how long it would be before James was hungry; they went into the sitting room first to advise James that he and Lily would be on their own for a bit while they went to have that chat.

"What's up with all of the secrecy?" James asked; glaring at Al, but directing the question at their parents. "If Al wants to talk to you about me; he can do it to my face."

Al laughed. "Sometimes I need to talk to Mum and Ad about me. This has nothing to do with you; but it is something I don't want everyone knowing for a while longer."

"Did you get Gwendolyn pregnant?" James sneered. "I thought that she's been looking a bit fat lately."

"James Potter – that is going way too far!"

"I'd say that if it's the big secret that Al wants to talk to you about; it's them that have gone way too far," James retorted unapologetically.

"You're a jerk," Al told him; and then walked out of the room and toward the office.

"He didn't deny it," James called out so that he'd still overhear him.

"Enough, James," Harry warned. "If this is how you're planning on being good tomorrow night while we're away; your Mum should just go ahead and call Aunt Muriel right now."

"And then you can forget about getting any other chances to avoid babysitters until you start showing us that you can even manage to be civil to your brother and sister," Ginny added. "You should also know how especially-offensive that particular kind of insult is to your father and me considering the kinds of rumors that were spread about us when we were still teens – and not much older than you are now."

"Only an idiot would believe that Teddy's your kid," James retorted scornfully.

"I could say the same thing about what you just suggested about Al and Gwendolyn," Ginny shot back; right on the edge of true anger with her oldest son. "How is what you just said any different than what those supposed sources told Rita Skeeter about how I had been a 'right fat ugly cow' when I left Hogwarts at Easter and then didn't go back while Voldemort and his lackeys were busy trying to kill everyone in my family?" She waved him off curtly. "The right answer is that it isn't different at all. Youshouldn't talk about anyone like that, James – and especially not do that about people that I love. That's sure to go badly for you every time."

"Nobody in this family can take a joke anymore," James groused; still obviously not at all sorry.

"You're trying to be hurtful; not funny," Ginny disagreed. "Be glad that your brother asked to talk with us first; or I might just spend some time trying to convince you that an atitude adjustment is in order."

With that, she and Harry both left the room; James went back to his gaming; and Lily joined in even though what she wanted to do was smack him – and be in the room with Al to find out what was actually so important that he needed to talk with their parents in private. That basically never happened with him; so she was naturally curious. So were Harry and Ginny, and though they were both still annoyed with James; they were smiling at Al when they joined him in the office and closed the door.

"You'll want to seal the room for this," Al said without preamble. "It isn't bad, though, and no, Gwendolyn and I are not in a family way."

"We didn't think that you were," Ginny assured him and went over to hug him. "How bad have things gotten with you and James?"

"Pretty bad," Al admitted, "but I told James this wasn't about him; and what I do need to talk to you about might take a while so we'd better get on with it."

"That sounds ominous," Ginny joked; "but you did say it isn't anything bad."

"Well, I don't think that it is," Al amended. "You and Dad will have to decide what you think about it – and advise me on what to do too."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "The room is sealed and warded. We're as ready as we can be for whatever you have to tell us."

"I've become an Animagus," Al said simply; though it was an obviously unexpected bombshell for his parents; so he couldn't help but laugh at their reaction. "Maybe I should've worked up to it instead; but you did say that you were ready for whatever I had to tell you. Are you okay?"

"No," Ginny decided. "I'm not. How long have you been working on this shocker?"

"Since September," Al answered honestly; and then grinned. "I found myself with some extra time since I couldn't play Quidditch for Gryffindor; Gwendolyn and some of our friends were talking about human-to-animal transfigurations one day for some reason; and I just knew right then that I wanted to learn how."

"So then you just went on from there and learned how to do one of the most difficult and dangerous transfigurations there is in less than four months," Ginny added; laughing when Al nodded his agreement.

"It was actually just a bit over three months," he amended. "I tried it for the first time the weekend before last." He laughed then too at Ginny's reaction. "It's done with now anyway, Mum, but I wasn't alone. Gwendolyn was there; and she promised to keep me for a pet if I messed up – as long as I wasn't some really awful animal."

Ginny took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "it's not often that I wonder which of our sons is scarier," she told Harry. "You're right, and it's done; so I guess the first thing you should do is show us."

Al grinned then. "Okay, stand back; and prepare to be amazed – and amused." Ginny and Harry both laughed; but Al was already making the transformation by then; and then his mother was kneeling and hugging him enthusiastically.

"That is funny; amazing; and you're adorable," she told him.

"And I'm jealous that your Animagus is bigger than mine," Harry teased. He looked at Al speculatively. "You said this could take a while. Have you discovered that you can do more while in this form?"

Al's tongue lolled as he grinned at his parents and then levitated two of the chairs in the office. "Woof," he said; earning more laughs from his parents.

"Okay," Harry said with a nod. "Set the chairs down first and then change back so we can talk." Al did both; and then he was hugged by his parents for a long minute each.

"Have you picked a name like we have for your father?" Ginny asked; and Al nodded.

"Gwendolyn picked it for me. She's named my Animagus Sabre."

Ginny nodded. "I like it. Have you been experimenting with how much you can do with your magic while in your animal form?"

"Yes, but there's a couple of other things I need to show you first before I'll need to get your advice," Al answered; and Ginny laughed.

"This isn't enough for one night?" she teased; and Al smiled.

"This next part is maybe a bit more serious," Al told them. "I read everything I could find about becoming an Animagus in the school library, and while I've never told you about this before; I read your Auror book about it years ago too when I wanted to know more about your Animagus." The last part of that was directed at Harry; and his father nodded. "Once I succeeded, I realised that a lot of what was written about Animagus was useless information – at least for me. Dad doesn't talk about it, but I knew he could do magic when he was Paddy because he's done stuff around here – even if it's just changing his eye color."

"I wouldn't have thought that you'd be able to do that yet because it requires using non-verbals and wandless magic," Ginny told him. "You haven't been doing non-verbal magic in your human form, have you?"

"A few times when i've been under pressure," Al admitted; "but that's one of the things that I think the books have wrong. Yes, the magic has to be non-verbal; but I don't think it's entirely wandless. Part of the reason I believe that is because I've tried using my seashells while in Animagus form. I activated them first; and they were still working after the change. We know that our clothes and everything with us goes somewhere – into Wizarding space; but nobody knows exactly where that is; and I think that we're still connected to all of that stuff while we're in our animal forms – even if I can't explain how that works."

"So what do you think is the reason why you and I are the only Animagi to be able to use our magic?" Harry asked; and Al smiled at him.

"You've come to the same answer for that as I have," he guessed. "We're stronger than any other Witches and Wizards."

"Did you bump into James earlier today and have some of his ego rub off on you?" Ginny asked him; and Al laughed.

"No, but then I'm not trying to brag about anything. This time, I'm trying to help you with getting ready for my next demonstration."

"Then take your time; because I'm not sure I'm ready for more yet," Ginny warned.

"Okay,' Al said agreeably. "Let's just go with the theory that natural magical talent is important – and why some Witches and Wizards could never hope to master being an Animagus. Then take Dad's case, where he can do magic and change things like the eye color of his Animagus." He focused his attention on his mother then. "What if I then told you that an even stronger Wizard could take the Animagus Transfiguration beyond the supposedly-known limits; and that Wizard could choose the animal form?"

"You can choose which animal form you take?" Ginny asked in both shock and wonder; and Al nodded. Then he blurred into his snowy owl form; flew around the room; and then landed on the floor before turning back again.

"Not only that; but I can basically duplicate any animal I've seen and can picture accuratly in my memory." With that statement; he changed into what he knew was an identical copy of Holly – except for being male. This time, he rubbed up against Ginny's legs; purred; and then meowed when she laughed and picked him up for a hug and cuddle. After she put him down again, he stepped away from her; and changed back for what he expected would be the last time of the night.

"Okay, we're officially blown away," Ginny assured him.

"Yes, we are," Harry agreed. "Let's sit down. I think I need my drink now."

They did that; with Harry going around to the chair behind the desk while Ginny and Al sat next to each other in two of the chairs across the desk from him. Ginny took a solid swallow of her drink too; but laughed when Harry all but drained his.

"You've already said that Gwendolyn was there for your first transfiguration," Harry said; and Al nodded. "How much of the rest does she know? Have you told anyone else? That could be a problem when we go to get you registered."

"Gwendolyn knows everything," Al answered. "We're like you and Mum," he continued when Harry frowned at that. "I'll never hide anything from her – anything important," he quickly amended. "I don't think she needs to know what James said about her earlier. Rose knows that I'm an Animagus and has seen by true Animagus form; but I didn't tell her anything else. I probably will at some point; but wanted to talk to both of you about it first. Nobody else knows; though everyone will know about me being an Animagus within a day of my registration."

"That's true," Harry agreed; "but it's the rest of it that we need to decide how to handle. There aren't any laws covering Animagi use of magic, and since it's thought to be impossible; no requirements about registering more than one animal form. In Al's case, if it turns out that he can change into any animal of any shape and color; then trying to register all of them would be pointless and impossible anyway."

"So what else, if anything, should I do after I register?" Al asked. "When do you want me to do that?"

"We can wait until after Christmas," Harry said; answering that last question first. "Do you have any suggestions for the rest, Ginny?"

"My first thought is to do nothing else," Ginny admitted, but that's likely the wrong thing to do for Al – or for us and the rest of our family. Keeping your secret made sense at the time, Harry; but that isn't really the case here. If Al can truly change into any animal form, and I'm only saying 'if' because it'll take a lot of experimenting to test those limits, then you're right; and it doesn't matter if everyone knows or not – even if he was to become an Auror someday. Everyone knows that Teddy's a Metamorphmagus; yet there's no way to detect his disguises when he does make changes." She thought about that for a minute. "Maybe you should talk with Kingsley about how to get that information out there with as little impact on Al as possible – like after he's back at school."

"I think that we should talk with Kingsley too," Harry agreed; "but I'm not sure that Al should reveal everything publicly."

Ginny laughed. "It's funny that I'm the reporter and pushing for being open about this; and the secrets guy in the family wants to keep more secrets," she explained. "What do you think, Al?"

"I think I'm with you on this one – and not just because Gwendolyn would love it if I could take her horseback riding in the spring." He laughed along with his parents. "She was a bit disappointed when my true Animagus wasn't a horse; but was much happier when she found out that I could change into other animals once I'd figured that out."

"Well, Sabre is a great name for a stallion too," Ginny mused while still chuckling. "Will you be able to handle the attention if you reveal everything you can do?"

"I won't like it; but I'll deal with it – though I don't think that I should say anything about being able to use magic too."

"That's not exactly well-known about me, since lots of people think that those stories aren't true; but I guess that it doesn't hurt to keep that quiet – especially since nobody would believe that a second-year Hogwarts student could do non-verbals anyway." He smiled at Al then. "I'm jealous. It took me ages to figure out how to do them."

"You had other, rather serious issues distracting you," Al reminded him easily. "I think that using magic is different for me too; but I'm still trying to figure all of that out. Part of it seems to be thanks to having a really good memory and being able to picture exactly how something is supposed to be done; but there's also something going on with how strongly I can focus my desire to have the spell work – whether I don't say anything or shout it out."

"That's definitely something worth studying," Harry agreed – "some other time. I think the Animagus thing is enough for one night." He smiled at Ginny. "You'll be shopping with the girls on Boxing Day, so why don't we get James shipped off somewhere for the day; and I'll take Al to work with me. We can talk to Kingsley; get Al registered, and then, if we're not going to wait until after he goes back to Hogwarts to do the announcement about everything; Kingsley can do a press conference or something to get it out of the way in one blast."

"If you do that; then I'm going to ask Gwenog to take Al overnight so that he's away from here if the reporters try to hound him," Ginny said; and laughed when Al smiled enthusiastically at that suggestion.

"We're having a Quidditch practice and study session on Thursday anyway," he reminded her. "Maybe Lily could go too; since we'll be there for the day on Thursday anyway – and that'd give you a night with James."

"Sure, since when he finds out about this; he'll be so much fun to be around," Ginny deadpanned.

"That's one more really great reason for me not to be here that night," Al pointed out; "but I'm sure he'd be okay with a sleepover at Ollie's too – or you could have them here if you don't want to do that to Ollie's parents."

"And then we can hide in here or send ourselves to our room," Harry added with a laugh. "We'll figure that out later – and Kingsley might have other ideas anyway. I will get that meeting set up wtih him when we're at the party tomorrow night; though is current assistant won't like that much. He's even worse than Percy ever was about keeping Kingsley on-schedule; and he really hates it when that gets messed up for any reason."

"Percy still hates having his schedules messed up," Ginny reminded him. "You just don't see it anymore now that he's having fun trying to schedule things like the Knight Bus instead of Kingsley's workdays. He'll be busy all through the holidays trying to personally deal with every issue in his department – which is mostly stupid incidents like drinking and Flooing or Flying. Not even the dimmest of Wizards will try drinking and apparating. It's so hard to go out and do that again the next night if you've splinched an arm or two off."

"He'd have an easier time if he could just let his staff do their jobs," Harry suggested; "but it's just the way he is – and he has gotten that department running better than it ever has before."

"You've done that and more with the Aurors – without being a total control freak." Harry laughed at that.

"Ask around – not everyone would agree with you. I hope that I'm not as by-the-book about things as Percy is; but I do still get what I want most of the time."

Ginny nodded. "True, but you also trust your Aurors to do their jobs without micro-managing them. We should be having fun with the kids instead of talking shop, though, so unless Al has even more news for us; let's go and do that."

"I was pretty sure that the Animagus news would be enough for one night," Al told her with a smile. "I'll tell you all about Rose's plan to have us buy the Cannons so that she can do what she wants with the team to get that League Championship another day."

"Rose wants to buy the Cannons?" Harry asked in amusement; and Al shrugged.

"Some of our friends think we can probably do that if we save most of our allowances between now and then; but I have no idea if Rose was actually serious about that – though she did sound serious about the Cannons needing new owners before they'd have a chance at winning a championship."

"I think you'd need a bit more than your allowance and Rose's to buy a League team," Harry advised him – "even the worst team in the show."

"We know that. The allowance thing was just part of the fun while Rose was getting teased about how bad the Cannons are again this season – though if they do lose money every season; the owners might consider any offer."

"Rose might be joking about all of that," Ginny said as she stood up; "but I'm still getting the mental picture of you in Cannons orange every time we hear about any of her supposed plans."

"Then be very afraid; since you're still on her list for possible Seekers," Al said; and laughed when she hugged him.

"Now that's quite possibly something that would actually scare James – in a horror movie sort of way."

"Speaking of movies; maybe he'd give up the gaming so we can watch a Christmas movie before going to bed," Harry suggested. "Let's find out."

"Right after I get another glass of wine," Ginny told him; holding up her empty glass for emphasis. "We might be done with the big surprises tonight; but the last one was definitely at least a two-glass event."

Harry took care of drink refills; they negotiated a pause in the Muggle video gaming to watch a movie on the television while James kept the volume down and continued to play games on the mirror system instead; and they managed to have a reasonably good evening together. James had been annoyed when his parents wouldn't tell him what the big meeting with Al was all about; but then they wouldn't tell Lily either; so they both eventually just moved on when not even Lily's hugs, kisses, and dimples could budge Harry or Ginny. James went back to his video games after the movie while everyone else went up to bed. Lily had a chat with Al on his bed that still didn't help her get the answers to what she was most-curious about; but they still enjoyed the time together until Gwendolyn called for a bedtime chat with Al and Lily went on to her own room for the rest of the night.

Al and Gwendolyn didn't talk for too long because they'd be back together again in the morning for the day anyway. She was interested in hearing about his chat with his parents and the plans for what they were going to do after Christmas; though she wasn't as happy to find out that he wouldn't be going shopping on Wednesday when she was almost positive that she was going to get to spend the day with his mother and sister. The possibility of a sleepover request helped to make up for that, but since all of that was still tentative pending the set-up for all of the plans; they didn't waste too much time on talking about it – or discussing what they'd do with their time together. They talked about the rest of the news for both of them without getting into the details; and then they wrapped up their chat and went off to sleep for the rest of the night.

On Saturday morning, Al was first up; showered; and he was in the kitchen getting started on breakfast when Harry joined him there. They worked together to cook up a big meal; had everything ready by the time James finally dragged himself downstairs after being reminded that he didn't want to be late for meeting up with his girlfriend in Diagon Alley; and then they ate fairly quickly while discussing shopping options that they'd finalize after talking it over with Patricia. James still needed to hit the shower and get dressed for the day; so that got him out of the clean-up work too; but Al preferred helping out with that too instead of listening to James complain as he always did when forced to help out in the kitchen. They took the Floo Network to the Leaky with fifteen minutes to spare; had a very short chat with Hannah on the way through to Diagon Alley because she was very busy with the breakfast rush; and then they met up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah first before Patricia caught up with James – and had her family in tow too.

The ensuing introductions were fun as Patricia's family was introduced to the three most-famous people they'd ever met personally. James was in show-off mode for that; and the Parkers seemed to be just as impressed that their daughter was dating him. When he turned on the charm like that, Al knew that James could impress pretty much anyone; but then that was part of what he'd wanted Patricia to see – the contrast between how he acted around his parents and talked about them in public; and what he'd been apparently telling her in private. After talking about what they all wanted to do; they decided to stay in Diagon Alley and shop there for the morning; mostly because Patricia had almost no experience with Muggle Malls; so she also didn't have any Christmas shopping plans to buy any Muggle gifts for her family and friends. Since they were at the Leaky Cauldron end of Diagon Alley; they started working their way along the street on one side; and planned on doing the full loop to the far end and back so they'd be where they needed to be again in time for lunch.

"You're welcome to stay with us or go out on your own," Ginny told James and Patricia after the rest of her family moved on. "James won't want to go into half of the stores that the rest of us will visit; but you're also welcome to shop with the girls in our group too, Patricia; since James isn't likely to be much help when it comes to gifts for your favorite Witches."

"Unless you like giving wheezes for Christmas gifts as much as he does," Lily added.

"Wheezes are usually popular with the guys on my gift-buying list," Patricia pointed out. "They're not nearly as impressed if they get clothes or anything else practical."

"Well, I guess I did like the wheezes I got for Christmas from James last year better than the Howler he sent for my tenth birthday," Lily conceded; "but maybe you can convince him to try something different this year."

"I've already got your gift," James advised her with a smirk; "and don't bother asking – you'll just have to wait and find out what it is on Christmas morning."

"Be afraid," Ginny told Lily. "Be very afraid."

Patricia wanted to stay and get to know Harry and Ginny better for a while, but she pointedly ignored Al and Gwendolyn. Hermione, Rose, and Hugo caught up with them about a half-hour into their shopping adventure; so Rose and Hugo hung out with Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah while James was trying his very best to impress Patricia – even as he wasn't happy that she was soon an adoring fan of Ginny's and thought that Lily was charming and adorable. Al was aware of the quiet drama going on around him with James and Patricia as they interacted with his family; but he also was happy to do his own thing with Gwendolyn and the rest of their little group of shoppers; they had lots of fun together; and even managed to get a pretty good start on his Christmas shopping list. Sure, he'd worked on quite a few of the gifts he'd be giving to his favorite people at school; but he still took care of pretty much all of his magical gift buying – and would get his Muggle-gift buying done on Sunday when they went to their favorite Muggle Mall and stores.

James and Patricia went off on their own after the first hour or so; crossed paths with them while on their way back to the Inn; and Patricia was dragged off with the girls for a half-hour that included Ginny getting her a Christmas gift dress that was supposedly to thank her for putting up with James for the past four months. James went off to do his own thing; which Al suspected might be picking up some trinket gift for Patricia; though that was only a guess because James was still avoiding talking to him unless he had no other choice. He went off with Patricia again as soon as she was out of the clothing store; and then Al didn't see them again until they got to the Leaky exactly on time to sit down for lunch.

"I'm crushed that James and Patricia didn't want to sit with us," Gwendolyn told Al and Rose quietly. They were sitting with Kirley, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny; and they were about as far away from James as he could manage. He and Patricia were sitting with Louis, Noel, and about half of the teens in their game-watching lunch group; and Patricia looked like she was enjoying herself a lot with some of the most-popular older teens at Hogwarts.

"You're not," Al countered with a smile; "but then you should be over there with the popular kids anyway – even if Rose and I are out of luck for that."

"Only because you're always getting into trouble," Rose teased. "We're better off over here and under strong parental supervision." That was said loudly-enough for the adults to hear; and she earned a round of laughs for her joke.

"There's a big difference between attracting trouble and getting into trouble," Hermione reminded her daughter with a smile. "Al hasn't gotten any detentions or lost points for Gryffindor – unless you know something that I haven't heard about yet."

"Our kids are on the verge of being teens," Kirley pointed out. "Isn't there always going to be something we haven't heard about yet – and might hope that we never will?"

"Probably," Hermione agreed; "but we do get reports from Hogwarts when they're caught doing something wrong – though Ron and I haven't had a problem with that so far with Rose."

"Considering the parents she has; it's a wonder we haven't had those kinds of letters coming from Hogwarts for Gwendolyn," Kirley joked. "Gwenog and I weren't exactly model students when we were there."

"That'd be against the rules for any rebels with a band," Ginny suggested; "and Gwenog likely had a tough time trying to be taken seriously as a Beater when she was a teen. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that she needed to knock some sense into a Wizard or twenty before that happened."

"Why do you think that Rose and I hang out with Al?" Gwendolyn asked them with a grin. "Everyone keeps saying we should stay away from him because he's such a trouble magnet, but we're likely safer right next to him; so that he gets caught by anything bad that might hit us if we were farther away."

"You could go into politics with logic like that," Hermione told her with a laugh; and then smiled at Harry. "Trust someone who did spend all of her Hogwarts years around a trouble magnet – sometimes you get caught up in the trouble too, and when that happens; it is not usually any fun at all."

"You always seem to have fun every time I see you together – and for as long as I can remember," Gwendolyn pointed out; and smiled when Harry laughed at that first.

"Maybe that's because there's been a stronger trouble magnet in our house since around the time that you started coming over for visits."

That comment sent the chat off in a slightly different direction; food was soon delivered; and they enjoyed an entertaining hour of parent-kid time while they ate. When it was time to head out, Hermione and Rose rounded up Hugo and went to get Ron on their way to the Cannons' match while the Harpies' family and friends fans headed out to Exmoor stadium using the Floo Network. Harry and Ginny stayed at the Leaky to settle the bill and make sure that everyone that was supposed to get to the game with their group got to the stadium safely – and with chaperones as needed for the younger kids. James hadn't been happy that he and Patricia had been ordered to wait for them and then stay with them when they went to pick up drinks and snacks before going to their seats; but he didn't have a problem with them paying for everything – including programs and three souvenirs for Patricia.

When they did get to their seats, Al was a bit surprised when Harry and Ginny had James and Patricia sit right in front of them, since that was sure to annoy James too; but they simply told Patricia that they'd been with Al and Gweondolyn during lunch and for most of the morning; so it was James' turn to be stuck with them. Al and Gwendolyn ended up sitting with Kirley and Jonah on one side; and Lily, Roxanne, Fred, and Angelina in the row behind them – at the other end of their block of seats from James and Patricia. They hadn't gotten to their seats with a lot of time to spare; so it wasn't long before the Harpies and Catapults were introduced. The pre-game show seemed a bit long for a winter game, but then the Hogwarts students were used to short versions for their school matches; so that might have just been their perspective on that. It really wasn't long before the match started; and Al and Gwendolyn happily snuggled under their blanket while watching the action above the pitch.

"The Catapults look terrible," Al said not long after the start of the match – moments after Victoire scored the fourth Harpies' goal – and they'd only been playing for about fifteen minutes. "They don't even look like the same team that ended up in sixth place last season."

"They aren't the same team," Gwendolyn reminded him. "The owners weren't happy when they went out in the first round; and decided that their highest-paid players weren't worth the money. Since they didn't get top jobs with any other team, I'd say they were right about that; but then the Catapults also weren't able to replace them with better players – only cheaper ones."

"Well, the Cannons will be happy about that," Al joked. "The Catapults' fans won't be so thrilled."

Gwendolyn laughed. "All you need to to is look across the stadium from us to see that. It's looking pretty good for us right now, though."

"The Catapults have usually made the playoffs every season," Al said as they watched Candice put yet another goal past the overwhelmed Catapults' Keeper. "They can likely get away with a rebuilding phase for a season or two before the fans will get too restless." He and Gwendolyn both turned to look at Kirley when he laughed at that comment.

"Gwenog always finds that amusing," he explained. "Other teams seem to forget that you need to reach a bottom starting point for rebuilding; and that bottom can be far deeper in the hole than expected – which is why the Harpies prefer to get the best players they can; and then replace them with better players if possible."

"It seems they've done pretty well with Victoire," Gwendolyn said with a nod and smile. "I wouldn't say that Candice, Hailey, and Victoire are the best Chaser trio the Harpies have ever had, but they have become a better team than I expected; and could be one of the best if they keep playing like this for years – the way Aunt Angelina, Alicia, and Demelza did."

"Dominique and some of the other Witches that want to be Harpies' Chasers in the not-so-distant future won't like that idea," Al predicted. "Even if they're better players, that doesn't always matter when a Chaser trio has chemistry."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed, "but then I think that Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia have that kind of chemistry right now on your senior team." She nodded toward the Catapults goals. "There's a team that would be lucky to hire the three of them as they graduate – and they could build a great team around them."

"You know what Rose would say if she was here and heard you say that," Al said; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.

"We still have five and a half years to go at Hogwarts, and while the Harpies have a young group of Chasers right now; I'm still fairly sure there will be a spot on the team for me by the time we graduate – and I'd love playing Chaser with Victoire if we can have as much fun as she's having right now."

They both smiled and looked at her when Lily leaned in close to them from behind. "I heard that, and while I really don't want to help Rose out at all; you're not going to find anything more special than what you already have when you're playing Chaser with Al, Gwendolyn. Everyone that sees you play together knows that right away."

"I'm sure that Victoire, Al, and I could be a brilliant Chaser trio too," Gwendolyn told Lily; and the Harpies would be unbeatable with you and Rose on our team too; but Mum will not toss away centuries of tradition and hire a Wizard – even if he can play pretty well for a guy."

"He might be the quiet brother," Lily told her; "but you do know that Al likes to win as much as any of us, right?"

"I have noticed that now and then," Gwendolyn agreed easily. "That's okay with me; since I'm becoming a better player because of that – just as you get better at Seeker even when James annoys you during your Seeker duels."

"We'll see if I can't turn that around with him now that I have a Firestorm too," Lily countered with a grin. "Mum's still winning all of our duels; but I'm catching the snitch a lot more often now than ever before."

"The Catapults might start hoping that Aunt Gabrielle catches the snitch soon," Al told them with a nod toward the main Chaser action above them. "This match is getting ugly for them fast."

He was right about that, and while it was a really fun, entertaining game for the Harpies' fans; the Catapults' fans likely were thankful when Gabrielle ended the match by catching the snitch in under two hours. That had still given Victoire time to score seventeen goals; the Harpies scored thirty-one; and the Catapults only managed a paltry four goals against Vicky. With such a short game, they still had time left before Patricia needed to be home again, so while Al and Gwendolyn had to say goodbye at the stadium when she went home with Kirley and Jonah; Ginny invited Patricia to come home with them so that she could see James' home and spend a bit more time with him. Al didn't think that James was happy about that, but he acted as if he was; and Al stayed out of their way once they were home so that he didn't do anything that might put James in a mood when they were going to be spending the evening on their own and with Lily while their parents were at the Ministry of Magic Christmas party.

Staying out of the way was easy-enough once James had finished the tour of the yard and house; though Al would have thought that taking any new guest into his room should have scared James. Once they'd gone into the sitting room, Al went up to his room and stayed there until he heard the change in noise level that told him that the play time was over and Patricia was likely about to head home. Even after he went downstairs to be polite and see her out along with the rest of his family; he stayed as far out of the way as possible. He was technically included in the group goodbye that Patricia offered when she left; but she also didn't speak directly with him either – just as she'd said almost nothing to him all day. James shared a short goodbye hug and kiss with her that he seemed to do because he felt that he had to instead of because he wanted to do that, but Patricia didn't seem to notice; and Al was glad to see that she was really happy as she left using the Floo Network with Ginny going along just long-enough to make sure she got back home safely.

"Well, I'd say you did well-enough with Patricia for your first girlfriend with your family day," Lily told James approvingly. "She liked your Christmas gift too – and I'm really glad that you didn't get her a prank gift. What did Patricia get you? You put it away before I got into the sitting room after you exchanged your gifts – and took care of the Christmas snogging."

"She got me a game for my mirror," he answered with a shrug. "It's an older one; but I didn't have it yet."

"I hope you both had fun today," Harry told James. "I'm going to go and get dinner started for the three of you so that it will be nearly-ready by the time your Mum and I need to leave for our party. Would anyone like to volunteer to help – and keep an eye on things while I'm also getting ready for my date?"

"Al will," James said before Al could offer. "Lily can hang out with me and play video games if she wants."

"Okay," Harry agreed; smiling at Al. "You'll thank James later for volunteering you when the food isn't extra-crispy or burned because he got distracted by his mirror games and forgot about the cooking."

"I know I will," Lily stated.

Harry and Al were already in the kitchen by the time Ginny got back after having a little chat with Patricia and her parents. She only checked in with them before going upstairs to start getting ready for her night out; and Harry gave her time to grab a shower first. He and Al had the dinner for three baking by the time he went upstairs too; and Al sat at the kitchen table and surfed the Wireless Web while keeping an eye on the food – which really only meant checking the oven once and putting a second pan in to cook at the right time so that all of the food would be ready to serve at the same time. He was still doing that when the news hit the web that the Cannons had lost a longer, tougher match. He knew that Rose wouldn't be happy about that – or being out in the cold watching the match for so long; but he didn't expect to talk to her about that until Sunday morning when they met up to go shopping. Her parents were going to the party at the Magick Hall too; and she and Hugo were spending the night in London with their Granger grandparents.

Harry and Ginny were eventually ready to go; didn't make a big deal of it with their kids when they were being left at home on their own for the first time; and headed outside before apparating to London. James didn't make a big deal of it either; stayed in the sitting room after they were gone; and kept playing his video game – even after Lily opted to go into the kitchen with Al after hugging and kissing their parents and seeing them out. Al was actively working on their dinner again by then; and had the food ready about fifteen minutes later. James still basically ignored him; but that was when the first obvious change from normal happened. James took a break from his gaming when Lily let him know that dinner was ready; but he didn't sit down at the kitchen table. He stood and started filling his plate to go.

"We're not allowed to have dinner in the living room except for special occasions," Lily reminded him; and James snorted.

"Consider this a special occasion. Join me, or eat out here with the loser. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other."

"Stop calling him that," Lily demanded. "It isn't true; and it definitely isn't funny."

"It is true – even if Al's got most of you suckered into his perfect son act," James retorted. "None of us want to have babysitters anymore, though, so just stay away from me, Al; and we wont' have any problems tonight. I'm still mad at you for trying to mess things up for me with Patricia with that inviting her to spend the day with us stunt; but I want to be done with babysitters more than I want to blast you tonight – and I'll pay you back for that some other time – when you least expect it."

"I invited her because she said something nasty about Mum and Dad when she and Anna blasted me at the Christmas dance after you tried to prank Gwendolyn, Rose, Shane, and me," Al told him. "I don't have to guess where that came from because she told me; so I suggested spending the day with us so that she could find out that our parents aren't the horrors she thought they were."

James snorted. "Says the loser that can do no wrong with them. They're not so great for the one of us that is never going to be an obedient little nobody hiding in their shadows and trying to be just as pathetic as they are."

"It's funny that you talk about them like that now, James. I don't remember you saying anything like that about them around Patricia and her family earlier today when you were happy to use Mum and Dad to impress the Parkers," Al said; his tone becoming scornful now. He sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. We'll just get mad at each other if we keep this up. I'll stay out here for dinner; clean up when we're done; and then go and hang out in my room for the rest of the night and stay out of your way."

"Fine," James spat.

He finished getting his food and a drink; and then stalked out of the kitchen. Lily stayed with Al; but they didn't talk much while eating; and she went into the sitting room after James returned for seconds so that she could watch Christmas shows on the mirror network or television; depending on which one James was using for his gaming. Al cleaned up as promised; went up to his room; and spent the evening reading and doing a bit of his holiday revision. Gwendolyn was busy all evening, so he didn't talk to her, and while Lily did come up for a visit with him, he didn't want to be in the sitting room with James; so she couldn't talk him into watching a Christmas movie with her. Eventually, he got ready for bed early and went to sleep long before Lily went to bed; and hours before Harry and Ginny got home from the Christmas party.

That's why he was up earlier than anyone else; and how he managed to have breakfast cooked and on the table before his parents and sister made it to the kitchen too. James didn't join them until the rest of his family had eaten; and he'd only gotten up at all because Ginny hadn't given him a choice – and because he did want to go and spend the day in London so that he could check out all of the latest Muggle toys and games that were out for Christmas this year. He wasn't as thrilled about parting with any of his own money when it came to buying gifts for others; but Ginny would make sure that he did that shopping too. They met up with Hermione, Rose, and Hugo at the Leaky; and then headed for their favorite Muggle Mall so that they could spend the morning shopping there and then have a fast food lunch in the food court when they were ready to stop for that meal. After a mostly-solitary evening, Al was really glad to spend the day with Rose; and they were allowed to start their shopping in the Mall on their own while looking for gifts for their parents and siblings. James had taken off on his own too; and Al was hoping that they wouldn't see him again until lunchtime.

"You seem to have survived your first night with James in charge and no babysitter," Rose told Al once they were on their own and could talk relatively-freely.

"We agreed that I'd stay out of the way all night and do most of the work," Al answered. "It was a win-win – even though James wants to blast me for setting things up with Patricia for yesterday. He's promised to do that sometime when I least expect it."

Rose grinned at him. "Then he should wait a century or so and give it a go. That'd be when you least expect it – not sometime after we're back at school."

"That might even be funny," Al admitted, "but if he can't remember something he's been told to do between the kitchen and getting upstairs to his room; I seriously doubt he'd remember something like that for a century."

"We could get him a Remembrall for Christmas. He might even admit it was funny too – though not publicly."

"That's tempting, but he'd lose it in his room or trunk long before it would remind him of his promised payback for me. Besides, I'm actually thinking about getting him one of those micro quadcopters or drones."

"What a great idea!" Rose said; feigning enthusiasm. "Give him a nice new Muggle tool that's perfect for setting up his pranks by looking around corners or maybe even carrying little payloads of wheezes fun that he could drop on unsuspecting kids."

"We know he doesn't need a drone to drop stuff on us already; and he can use a super-sensory charm for the other if needed," Al pointed out. "He likes flying Grandpa's toys, though, and if he did try using it; we'd at least hear them coming."

"I suppose," Rose conceded; "but I was really only shooting for the laughs on that one. Are you looking for Muggle gifts for anyone else on your list?"

"I want to get some more books for Gwendolyn. I found out that she likes horses; so I thought she might like to try one or two of the teen series based on horse ranches."

"That sounds good," Rose agreed. "Are you looking for clothes for her too?"

Al shook his head. "I have a few more charms for her bracelet; and I was thinking about looking for earrings or a necklace instead of clothes."

"Did your allowance get bumped up? You told me that jewelry wasn't in your budget last year."

"No, but I did make a bit of extra money for chores around the house and Burrow last summer – just as you did; and Mum and Dad do give us a Christmas gift budget that went up a bit this year too – though they do ask each of us about what we want to do for gifts before deciding how much they're willing to help out with that."

Rose grinned. "Have you thought about asking them to get you his and hers Lightningbolts?" she teased; and Al did laugh at that.

"No, but I'm sure they would – a few galleons at a time until we're seventeen."

While in a Mall full of Muggles, parts of that chat had needed to be half-whispered, but then they got serious about the shopping – starting with a jewelry store where Al bought a sivler necklace with a small, prancing horse pendant that would go great with the books he wanted to get for her; and Rose picked up a pair of earrings for her mother. From there, they went on to the book store and a toy store that carried a decent selection of radio-controlled toys so that Al could pick out his gift for James. They managed to find gifts for all four of their parents; Al got a gift from the pet store for Holly; and then they met up with Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Lily, and Hugo for the last hour or so of shopping before they stopped to have lunch. James joined them for that too so that he didn't have to pay for food out of his own money; but he didn't do that before Al noticed him saying goodbye to a very pretty girl that he'd obviously met while shopping and had definitely been flirting with. He was likely given some kind of contact information too, since he was grinning when he joined them, but since they were heading back to Diagon Alley after lunch; there was a good chance that James wouldn't see her again – unless they hooked up for a future shopping visit sometime before they headed back to school.

While he enjoyed their lunch as much as everyone else, and the ongoing shopping was fun; Al was also done his gift-buying by mid-afternoon and then he just hung around with Rose, Lily, and Hugo while they continued to play in the stores. Diagon Alley was as busy as the Mall had been in the morning, so getting around took some time; and the Witches in their group wanted to visit nearly every store. James was not interested in doing that, so he was allowed to go and hang out with Ron and George; and was even happier when he was 'hired' to help out with some shelf re-stocking work that not only kept him busy and out of trouble; but earned him a bit of money too. Al didn't get offered a part-time job too, but he did go home a bit early with Harry so that they could take a load of gifts home with them and get started on making dinner for five while Ginny stayed and shopped with Hermione, Lily, and Hugo. Harry and Al were working in the kitchen after delivering bags to the appropriate rooms, and since that was the first time they'd been alone all day; Harry gave Al an update about their plans for dealing with his Animagus registration.

"I talked to Kingsley at the party last night and we have a meeting with him at eight o'clock. It had to be that early because he's got meetings starting at nine and lasting all day."

"As usual for year-end," Al agreed with a nod and smile. "I take it you couldn't tell him why with a room full of people."

"No, and I'm sure he's wondering what could possibly be so important; but I doubt he'll be expecting what you have to tell him. I won't make an appointment for your actual registration; since that'd be news all over the Ministry within an hour. It still amazes me that we have people at the Ministry doing full-time jobs like that when you'll be the first Animagus in a decade or more; and only the second since me. I have no idea what that person does the rest of the time."

"Well, she wrote a couple of the books on Animagi," Al advised him. "They were awful, and it was obvious that she wasn't writing from experience; but I've noticed that the Ministry is generally happy to publish any books or papers from their employees – even when the information is useless or flat-out wrong."

Harry laughed. "I've written some of those books for the Aurors and more reports than I can count," he reminded Al – "not that I disagree with you when I know how much wasted parchment there is at the Ministry. Getting back to the Animagus thing, though, we'll do your registration; and I think that'll likely just be done with your true form; since anything else would be pointless." He paused and looked at Al speculatively. "How do you know that the Samoyed husky is your true animal form?"

Al shrugged. "That's the one that happened when I followed all of the instructions and didn't try to choose the animal myself. I don't have any other reason to call it that; since I feel just as comfortable in every other animal form I've tried so far – and like some of them better because of what I can do with those different animal talents. Maybe it doesn't matter for me – just as it doesn't matter what Teddy does as a Metamorphmagus."

"That could be, but I am still worried about how this will go over in the media – and that does make a big difference for what a lot of Witches and Wizards decide to believe about things like this."

"Rita Skeeter is sure to have a field day with it," Al agreed. "Mum really is right that I'll be better off getting it all out in the open now, though; and we can hope that it'll be a non-story by next summer."

"I've said something to that effect on many occasions; but that doesn't even work in our own family," Harry reminded him with a laugh. "If we were going to deal with this before Christmas; we'd both be getting razzed all day on Christmas with father and son dog jokes – especially since your Animagus isn't just bigger – Gwendolyn picked a cooler name for you than Ginny picked for me."

"I think that Paddy is a cool name – especially when it also has the connection to your Godfather."

"Your Mum picked it for me, so I wouldn't change it even if I didn't like it too – just as you won't change yours now that Gwendolyn's picked it. We'll see what Kingsley has to say, but I expect that we'll likely end up doing some kind of press conference once the news hits the fan; but I don't plan on letting you anywhere near the pack of wolves that call themselves reporters."

"Unless I changed into a wolf first," Al joked. "That might be fun."

Harry laughed. "Yes it would be; but that would just get people worried about you; not help them to feel at ease. Teens are already scary-enough for most adults without having one that can change into any animal he wants."

"I honestly don't think that's even as scary as having a Metamorphmagus teen should have been for you; but then Teddy never abused his talent – as far as we know."

"No, but he did have fun with it often-enough – as I'm sure you will with your new talent. I know that's why you're on your mother's side for not keeping it secret. Now you'll be able to play with it openly at school and here at home too."

"That will work out nicely for me," Al admitted with a grin; "but I won't do anything with it that I shouldn't."

"I know you won't," Harry agreed. "What are you going to do tonight? Wrap presents and hide in your room all night?"

"I'll try to spend some time with you, Mum, and Lily too; but James and I are getting along best when we're not in the same room."

"Or the same castle from what we've heard," Harry only half-joked. "I know it isn't fun for you, but I hope James gets around to learning some very important lessons sooner instead of later."

"I'll be okay, Dad; but I don't think James is going to change for the better anytime soon – and if you think he's mad at me; wait until Lily gets to Hogwarts and starts showing him up at Seeker."

"She does have something special – just as you do," Harry agreed with a nod. "James has more potential than he realizes; though you might not believe that considering how big his ego is and the way he talks. He coasts along on the natural talent that you all have; but doesn't even seem to see how much harder you, Lily, and your cousins work compared to him." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you know whether Patricia is any good – as a Seeker?"

Al shook his head. "I have no idea – except we do know that some of the other teens at the tryouts weren't happy with how James picked some of the players – including Patricia."

"She seems nice-enough," Harry said next; "but I kept getting very strange vibes from her – and from James – when they were together yesterday. They're definitely not a match – though I hope James doesn't hurt her too much when he's ready to move on – and yes, I saw the girl he was with this morning at the Mall. That reminded me just a bit too much of your Uncle Ron; though that's a series of stories you definitely don't want to hear."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "It's time to move on anyway. Mum, James, and Lily are on the way home."

Harry stopped what he was doing and looked at Al. "How do you know that?" he asked even as James arrived in the sitting room.

"I sensed it – the activation of the Floo Network, I think."

"You're just full of surprises so far this holiday," Harry told him with a laugh; "but we'll have to talk about that some other time now that we have the rest of the gang home again."

Ginny and Lily stopped in to the kitchen to see them before hauling more bags up to their rooms, but James went straight up to his room and stayed there until dinnertime – supposedly because he was busy wrapping gifts. Dinner was mostly-fun for everyone with only a few insults for Al from James; and then he was back to video gaming as soon as he was finished dessert and away from Al while the clean-up was taken care of by the rest of his family. Al went to his room after that and really did wrap gifts until he had all of them done; he went down to the sitting room to watch a Christmas show with everyone; and then was first to head for bed so that he'd be rested and ready for a busy Christmas Eve Day. Gwendolyn had been busy with family Christmas fun all day, but she did call for a bedtime mirror chat with Al that took quite a while by the time they'd traded recaps for their respective adventures; and then Al was still off to dreamland before anyone else in the house even turned in for the night.

Monday was a work day for Harry, but while Ginny was taking the day off; none of them were going to be bored. Molly had requested volunteers to help with getting the Burrow ready for the family Christmas on Tuesday, since they couldn't do all of the work on Christmas morning; and most of her kids had drafted one teen volunteer. Al was the Potter draftee; so Harry dropped him off at the Burrow on his way to work. James got out of helping out at home by being a pain and insisting that he'd continue to be one if he wasn't allowed to go over to Ollie's for a visit and gift exchange. Ginny and Lily stayed home; had some visitors stop in to see them; and did the work there to get ready for a lunch visit from the McCormacks after Gwenog finished working with the Harpies all morning; and for their own Christmas Eve and Morning plans for their own family. While he had to work hard all morning, Al had fun with Rose, Louis, Fred, and Lucy – though Lucy worked with Molly the entire time; so Al didn't actually do anything with her except for their group snack break. Harry picked him up again on his way home for lunch with the McCormacks; and the only problem he had was that he was in desperate need of a shower and clean clothes by then.

"I love you," Gwendolyn told Al when she saw him; "but I am not going anywhere near you until you get cleaned up! I thought your Mum said you went to help out at the Burrow; not help dig one."

Al laughed. "Fred and I wrapped up our work with de-gnoming the garden. Digging a burrow might be cleaner."

"Well lunch is ready, so run upstairs and get cleaned up as quickly as you can," Ginny told him. Your Dad has to go back to work after lunch too; so we don't have much time to spare."

"I'm on my way," Al said even as he already was.

Getting clean fast took a lot of hard scrubbing in the shower, but he managed to do that; get dressed; and be back downstairs in less than fifteen minutes. Everyone else was sitting down around the dining room table by then, but Gwendolyn got up; and shared a warm hug and kiss with him before they both sat down and James was set free to start devouring his lunch while the rest of them took their time and were as interested in the chat time together as the food. They mostly talked about Quidditch and Christmas, and while that was fun; the best part of the day so far for Al was when he and Gwendolyn were set free to go up to his room so that they could exchange Christmas gifts in private while Harry went back to work and Ginny had other helpers for the lunch clean-up.

"I am so glad that your Mum told us to get lost," Gwendolyn told Al as she hugged him once they were in his room and the door was closed. "No wonder you're staying away from James as much as possible. Even on his best behaviour; he's still acting like a git toward us." They shared a kiss, and then Al led Gwendolyn over to his bed. She sat down; and he went over to his desk to retrieve her gifts before sitting down on the bed with her.

"You have other plans with your family that you'll be getting to soon," he told her. "Let's not waste any of our time talking about my brother." He handed her the first gift; she gave him one; and they both opened them at the same time because she told him to do that with her.

While Al had been sure that Gwendolyn would love her necklace and be amused by the gift theme for that and the Muggle books; her first gift had been meant in fun too – a dog collar with a tag that had his Animagus name on it and her 'owner' information on the back. That wasn't a gift he could tell anyone about until after he registered as an animagus; but they'd had fun with it before moving on to open the rest of their gifts. Gwendolyn had especially loved the new charms for her bracelet; and he'd thought that the guitar she'd given him so he'd have one of his own was brilliant too. A minor snogging session was in order after that; but then they needed to head downstairs again so that they could have a bit more time with three out of four of their parents before Kirley and Gwenog needed to move on to their next adventure of the day; and took Gwendolyn and Jonah with them.

After the McCormacks left, the afternoon fun continued with a couple of drop in visits; but Al also played his new guitar for a while and sang a couple of Christmas songs with Lily; and he helped out with making dinner when it was time to do that. It never bothered Al that he only had one side of an extended family when it came to holidays and family fun, since they were part of a really amazing family; but it did sometimes seem strange when his cousins and friends were busy with multiple family commitments that left his family without any plans for the 'away' family days. Getting to have more quiet days during the holidays was even more appreciated now that he was away at school for so much of the year; though he did miss seeing Gwendolyn every day while she was busy with her McCormack or Jones families.

Ginny didn't cook up a major meal for dinner since they had done a large lunch. Harry was late getting home despite his plan to get away from work early; so they ate late; and then everyone except James was ready to just take it easy and watch a couple of Christmas movies before going to bed. James had opted to play video games in his room; which likely meant that he also needed to wrap gifts now that he was out of time for both Christmas morning and the family Christmas that they'd be heading to by mid-morning. Al enjoyed the time with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Holly; his sister and her cat cuddled with him; and they laughed their way through a Christmas comedy before winding down with a Christmas chick flick romance with a happily ever after ending thanks to some Christmas magic. James wasn't visited by three ghosts; but he did have the rest of his family wish him a Merry Christmas on their way to bed. They then eventually took turns putting gifts under the tree; four out of five of them went to sleep; and James stayed up for hours playing video games in the sitting room after dropping off his stack of gifts until he fell asleep on the sofa until Lily woke everyone up in the morning.

Christmas morning was still amazing and fun for Al, but it was changing now too; so it was no longer more about the gifts than anything else. He'd always had as much fun with the gifts he gave as the ones he received; but it was the moments of happiness and joy that he enjoyed most as he gathered in the sitting room with his family and they kept themselves entertained with the gift exchange. He'd actually only asked for one gift this year, and his parents had done a bit more than he'd expected by giving him a larger mirror network mirror than he'd requested; and then hidden it in an undetectable expansion case that his mother had made for him knowing why he'd wanted the extra mirror when he'd already had an only-slightly smaller one in his room. Lily had been most fired-up about all of her gifts; including the charms and other gifts that Al had gotten for her. James had made his gift for Lily too, but while he hadn't given her any wheezes; she was not amused by the memory charm that was a daydream of a life without Al in their family. She didn't tell Harry and Ginny about that little detail; but did blast James for it when she had time to do that later while Harry and Al were making breakfast and Ginny was upstairs getting ready for the day.

Lily had gotten them up early, so they didn't need to rush through breakfast and the clean-up; and they still managed to get to the Burrow early too – which was when the real fun started. Sure, there was work to do too for their Christmas dinner, but there was also one fairly spectacular Christmas gift being given that was the main reason why not only the Potters; but Bill and Fleur were there early with their family; and Andromeda and Mark came over even though they had several family events to juggle all day. When they had everyone there, Harry and Ginny advised Teddy and Victoire that they were going on a little trip to get their special Christmas gift; Andromeda, Mark, Bill, and Fleur were going along; and the rest of the 'kids' were being left at the Burrow with their grandparents – though they were promised that they'd get to see the big suprise gift soon enough once Teddy and Victoire got to open it first.

Where are we?" Victoire asked when she arrived with Ginny. Teddy was with Harry; and the others had apparated in pairs too.

"This is the Christmas present that we have for you and Teddy," Ginny answered; her smile brilliant. "Go ahead and open it."

"Okay," Victoire agreed enthusiastically. She was holding Teddy's hand again by then; but then stopped when she saw a very different expression on his face. "What's wrong, Teddy?"

"This is number twelve Grimmauld Place," he told her; and now it was Victoire's turn to stare at the townhouse in front of them. "I've come by here before to see the place."

"It is," Harry agreed; "but let's go inside and take a look around. I promise that this is not the worst Christmas gift you've ever been given."

Victoire laughed. "I want to see it anyway," she said; her smile bright again. "Come on, Teddy. If it's truly as horrid as we've heard in the stories; we'll just re-gift it to someone else."

"There isn't anyone I dislike enough to do that to them," Teddy said; but he'd laughed at Victoire's suggestion along with everyone else. "Okay, I think I'm ready now."

Harry and Ginny let Teddy and Victoire go ahead of them; they went up to the front door; and Victoire opened it when Teddy hesitated. The door swung in; and they both gaped at what they saw before Victoire then rushed in and literally dragged Teddy along with her.

"It's stunning!" she exclaimed. "Merlin! Have you ever seen anything like it before?"

"Well, yes," Ginny teased. "the rest of us have been here a time or twenty recently while the place was being finished up for you."

"This can't be the same place," Teddy said in amazement. "Did you use a switching spell and trade this place for the old one?"

Harry laughed. "No, but it's been a work in progress since shortly after Kreacher passed away."

"The whole place looks this gorgeous?" Victoire asked next; and was assured that it did. "But then why wouldn't you move your own family here?"

"Because I've always planned on giving this house to Teddy; and I love being in my own family home – even if it isn't as grand as this house once was – and now will be again with the two of you to care for it."

"I knew there had to be a catch," Teddy said with a laugh. "How long does it take just to polish that chandalier?"

"The first time took quite a while," Harry admitted; but there were worse jobs around here back then."

"Way worse," Ginny agreed. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Victoire asured her happily. She'd started distributing some hugs and kisses by then; and Teddy followed behind her to do the same.

"I'm still in shock," he said in answer to Ginny's question. "Is this entrance hall bigger than my apartment?"

"No, but each floor is – and there are six including the basement," Harry advised him.

"We could all move in here with that much room," Victoire declared; and earned a round of laughs for that.

"Maybe," Bill agreed; "but I serously doubt that a pair of newlyweds would like having their extended family living with them – and that would be just as weird for us."

"Why don't the rest of you get started on the tour, and maybe Mark could give me a hand bringing the kids over using the Floo Network. I'm sure that Dominique and Louis are going to be particularly interested in seeing Teddy and Victoire's new home."

"They'll want to come and live with them when they're home on holidays," Fleur joked.

"That'd work out nicely for you and Bill," Ginny offered with a grin; "but they'll likely have to settle for visits."

"This would be great for them the night before trips back to Hogwarts," Teddy told Victoire. It can't be more than a twenty minute walk to King's Cross from here."

"I expect that you'll be more interested in talking about things like decorating today," Fleur told Teddy and Victoire. "That's the main reason why Harry and Ginny are giving this gift to you now – so you'll have time to get it ready for living here after the wedding."

"We can't move in now?" Victoire teased; and Fleur laughed.

"Technically, we can't stop you from doing that; but I'd like you to wait."

"We can talk about that later too," Victoire promised. "Where should we start?"

"The dining room is right here," Andromeda said; heading into that room. "I was never here when it looked this beautiful. My aunt and uncle really let the place go by the time I was old enough to remember coming here – though that could have started before it was their home."

"What happened to all of the awful stuff that we've heard all about in the stories?" Teddy asked; directing that question at Harry.

"Gone or put safely away in one of the storage rooms in the basement. Nothing that's been put away is anything for you to be concerned with; but also isn't anything you'll want to use or maybe even keep. Bill took care of anything we found that was particularly dangerous and needed his expertise."

"This is all just so incredible," Victoire said. She'd wandered over to the cupboard that held the fine chna and silverware; and stopped to look at the plates that were on display. "Always Pure," she translated; and then turned to look at Andromeda. "Why is the Black family crest written in French?"

"Our family tree has roots in France," Andromeda answered. "Our family motto is actually 'Always Pure of Heart' – a truth that was amended and twisted to mean something else by most of the members of my family."

"But not all," Harry said quietly and with a thin smile. "I think that if Sirius was here with us right now; he'd say that we're finally getting it right."

"He might also find himself fighting off bat-bogeys for putting a hippogriff up in the master bedroom," Ginny suggested; but then he might not have done that if the place had looked this good back then."

They continued to chat as the tour progressed; but Ginny and Mark went outside and apparated to the Burrow so that they could get the five kids and bring them to the townhouse using the Floo Network. Dominique and Louis went first; and then James, Al, and Lily followed them with Ginny. They stepped out of the fireplace in the dining room and all three kids looked around curiously. Dominique, Louis, and Mark had already gone in search of the rest of the group by then; so there wasn't anyone else in the room.

"Where are we; and what's the big surprise gift that we all need to see?" James demanded.

"You're standing in the gift," Ginny told him with a grin. Lily had already been wandering around; and her eyes were wide when she turned back to face her mother.

"This is Grimmauld Place! You've given Teddy and Victoire Grimmauld Place! That's brilliant, Mum!"

"This can't be Grimmauld Place," James scoffed. "That place is a horror from all we've ever been told of it."

"That's the Black family crest," Lily advised him; pointing at one of the plates. "Mum and Dad have obviously had the place fixed up a bit."

"That's an understatement," Ginny assured her with a laugh. "Your father has had people working on this for a long time now."

"And now he's just giving it to Teddy?" James demanded incredulously. "Why wouldn't we move here if the whole place looks like this? It'd be brilliant living in London!"

"Because we love our house; and your father has always planned on giving this home to Teddy. It's his heritage; not your father's."

"Besides, would you really want to give up all of the space we have?" Lily asked James. "there can't possibly be any room for a Quidditch pitch here – if there's even much of a yard at all."

James laughed. "This place is big-enough to play a game indoors, and if you and Dad don't want it; you should've given it to me – not Teddy."

"You can stop that right now," Ginny told him firmly. "This is to be Teddy and Victoire's home. Think and feel however you want about that, but if you must; fake being happy for them. Christmas Day or not, if you try to mess this up for them – or for your father; I'll make sure that you regret it for a very long time."

"Then maybe you'd better just send me back to the Burrow," James said seriously. "I am not going to be able to fake being happy when it's obvious that even Teddy is more important to you and Dad than I am." He looked around and scowled. "I can't believe that you've just given this place away and our house is a dump by comparison."

Ginny pulled out her mirror; and she looked truly angry at him as she said – "Call Mum." Molly answered on the first ring. "Hi, Mum," Ginny said shortly. "James is not interested in staying here and touring the townhome with us. I'm going to send him back to you, okay?"

"Alright," Molly agreed; looking grave in reaction to Ginny's obvious anger. "Send him along."

"He'll be there shortly," Ginny promised and then ended the call. "Okay, James," she said next; holding out a pouch of Floo powder and walking over to the fireplace again. "Go back to the Burrow; be good for your grandparents; and get over yourself."

"Fine – I'm out of here," James spat back unapologetically. He grabbed some of the powder; stepped into the fireplace; and shouted – "Leaky Cauldron!"

"Son of a..." Ginny said without completing the swearing; and then she spun and was gone.

"Our brother is an idiot," Lily declared. "We'd better go and find Dad."

"He is that," Al agreed; "but this is all about being jealous. I just don't get why he can't be happy when good things happen for the rest of us."

"Or why he thinks that he somehow deserves this house more than Teddy and Victoire – especially when that has absolutely nothing to do with why Dad is doing this for them."

"What's going on?" Harry called out to them. They'd already reached the bottom of the grand staircase in the entrance hall; and he was jogging down the stairs.

"James wasn't taking the news about this house well, so Mom sent him back to the Burrow – except he sent himself to the Leaky instead of doing as he was told," Lily said in a rush. "Mum apparated away – probably to the Leaky too; or somewhere outside of the Inn."

Harry's expression turned grim. "I was worried that he'd take it like this; but we didn't want to take the chance that he'd ruin the surprise if we'd talked to him first." He got his mirror out and called Ginny.

"I've got him," she said without preamble; and her tone was as angry as her expression. "We'll be going on to the Burrow now; and I'll return when I can."

"Do you want me to meet you there?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. I'll deal with this one myself." She ended the call then; and Harry shook his head.

"It is not a good sign when there isn't even a goodbye or an I love you," he said seriously. "James didn't think that one through very well. The Leaky is closed today; but still has people staying there over the holidays; so there are Witches and Wizards around; and Hannah still has to feed some of her guests. There's no way he'd have gotten far even if Ginny didn't catch up to him that quickly."

"He wasn't thinking at all," Lily said with a shake of her head. "It might be best if we take the express tour and get back to the Burrow. James might just be mad enough right now to push Mum too far – if he hasn't already done that."

Harry shook his head. "Ginny told us that she'd come here when she can," he reminded her. "She'll call if she changes her mind; but I have no intention of doing anything other than what I'm told."

"You're the Head of the Aurors," Lily reminded him.

"Which should tell you all you need to know about why you shouldn't cross your mother. If I'm afraid; then you should be too."

Lily laughed and hugged him. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too," he assured her. "Let's go and catch up with the others. They're on the second or third floor by now; but we can do the rest of the tour on the way back downstairs."

They did that; Lily and Al were happy to help Teddy and Victoire with enjoying their first tour of an extremely awesome Christmas gift; and they had Louis help them with the parts of the tour they missed on the way back to the ground floor. Ginny caught up with them there; they wrapped up the tour with a look into the basement that was mostly just checking out the kitchen; and then they either took the Floo Network or apparated back to the Burrow. James was nowhere in sight, and Molly looked unhappy when she waved Harry and Ginny over to talk with her. They left after a few moments; headed for the stairs; and then they were gone again.

Harry and Ginny walked into her old bedroom and he closed the door behind them. James was on the bed and didn't move in response to their arrival – because he couldn't while in the full-body bind that his Grandmother had needed to use after he'd again tried to take off while spewing some fairly-nasty comments that he probably shouldn't have said about Molly's daughter to her face.

"What in Merlin's name is the matter with you, James?" Ginny demanded as Harry released their son from the binding spell and he sat up on the bed and glared at them spitefully. "A half-hour ago, you didn't care at all about Grimmauld Place; would've made jokes about it if we'd even mentioned it; and you certainly have no need of it when you're only thirteen – almost fourteen. Why do you care about it now? Just because we've given it to Teddy and Victoire?"

"I'd have been mad about this long ago – if you'd bothered to tell us that we could have been living in a mansion in the city instead of a shack in the boonies," James spat. "Then, when you do finally decide to tell me; it's after you've given it away – without even considering the fact that your own son might want to live somewhere like that – even if you'd rather hide us away in Nowheresville. You've told me often-enough that you don't care about money, but let's also add the fact that you're apparently both so bloody clueless about the stuff that you'd give away what's probably three-quarters or more of my future inheritance to Teddy just because you feel guilty that his parents died – and because you love him more than your own son." He snorted at that; but wasn't quite done yet. "Before you give me that nonsense about that place being Teddy's birthright, you can just save it; since I know that I've as much right to claim Sirius as my cousin as Teddy does – if not more."

"Merry Christmas to you too," Harry told him, and while James seemed oblivious to the danger signs; Ginny was all too aware that their eldest son had gone too far. "You sit there and hurl insults at us like a spoiled-rotten, petulant child. Your mother and I loved you enough to give you my father's and Godfather's names as your own – both of them Wizards that were murdered so that we could have this life that you so caustically belittle. That shack in the boonies is our family home; and we loved you enough to want you to grow up there – in the house that was home to both of those men you're named for because Sirius was better-loved by your grandfather and his parents than he was by his own family." Harry only paused long enough to take a breath that did nothing at all to calm him down – though he wasn't shouting at all. The deadly quiet tone of his voice should have been more frightening to James than being yelled at by either of his parents.

"I do love Teddy, and it's fair to say that I love him as much as I love you, Al, and Lily too; but then I thought that you love him too. How are you showing that right now – or have you just decided to let envy and greed replace love in your life?"

"I'm not jealous – or greedy," James spat.

"You've just finished telling us that we should've kept Grimmauld Place for you – or moved in there ourselves," Harry shot back. "What would you call that – and being this mad because we instead gave the place to Teddy and Victoire? In the world according to you; I'm doing that because I feel guilty that Teddy's parents – two people I loved more than my own life – were murdered at the Battle of Hogwarts. In my books, that would be reason-enough to do everything I can for Teddy – just as I'd have hoped that my friends would do the same for you if things had tuurned out differently back then – not that you'd even be here if that had happened."

"So the hell with what's best for me as long as you can feel less-guilty over your dead friends," James retorted. His head snapped back and his eyes widened in shock when Harry slapped him hard-enough to finally get his full attention.

"That's enough, James," he said; and James shrank back from the anger and power flashing brilliantly in Harry's eyes. "Grimmauld Place belongs to Teddy and Victoire now – just as I've had planned since before you were even a good idea. Believe whatever you want about it, but you're done with talking like this to your mother, me, or anyone else – are we clear on that?"

"No," James practically snarled; refusing to back down. "We are not clear. You can be a control freak about everything else; but you will not keep me from saying whatever I want."

"That's quite true," Harry agreed; "but there are consequences for everything we choose to do; so here's a few for you to consider before you go downstairs and rejoin our family for all of the Christmas fun. Act however you want, and spout off all you want; but if you do anything to hurt any of us for the rest of today; you'll be grounded for the rest of the holidays; and you'll be playing the rest of the Quidditch season at Hogwarts on a school broom."

"You can't do that!" James shouted; and Harry pinned him with a stare that even managed to get through to James. Holding out his hand; he summoned James' broom from home and it appeared in his hand.

"Would you like to test me on that one? I could just as easily bury this thing at the north pole when I banish it again as put it back in your equipment bag."

"You're bluffing," James declared with a snort; and Harry stared at him for a moment but then simply dragged his son to his feet; they disappeared broom and all for about thirty seconds; and then returned again – covered in snow and without the broom. James was shivering uncontrollably and then threw up into the bucket that Harry conjured just in time. He did not do anything about the snow that James was caked in – though he did dry himself out.

"Here's the bottom line, son of mine. This idiocy ends right now. If you want that broom back tonight; get over yourself and come and enjoy the day with your family. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm the Head of the Aurors for a very good reason. You have gone way too far today; and I'm done with trying to be nice with you about it. Until you're seventeen, we're the parents; you're our child; and if you can't be kind to everyone out of love and a sense of common decency; you'll do it because that's one of the simple social graces we demand of our kids. You will come downstairs once you've cleaned up and calmed down, and when you get there; you'll be good for the rest of the day."

"Or else what?" James demanded; though it wasn't very convincing when his face was white and his voice trembled violently.

"How would you like to go back there and spend the rest of your holidays hanging out with your broom?"

"I could fly it out of there," James retorted; and Harry laughed.

"It's buried a thousand feet deep," he advised James; and wasn't apologetic when James started to shake more violently. "Yes, so were we," he confirmed – "not that you'd be able to fly that far before you froze to death anyway; but that's a moot point. I'd never allow that to happen; and we're not going to run around in circles here. Do what you're told James. You can choose to have fun while doing that or just sit somewhere, be quiet, and play nice with everyone. Now that you have an idea of the consequences – and that I'm not bluffing; I hope that you'll do the right thing." He looked over at Ginny and smiled grimly. "I'm going to go downstairs now before I do something I might regret while I'm still this mad – like make our son a nice ice cave in the arctic and leave him there for the rest of the holidays."

"Okay," Ginny agreed; and stayed while he left. She waited until the door closed again before speaking to James.

"I love you with all of my heart, James; but I don't like you very much right now. You're not only being ridiculous; but intentionally cruel."

"I've been honest – which is more than I can say for you and Dad with keeping secrets like this from me," James declared stubbornly.

"News flash, James – it's possible to be honest and wrong. You can also be honest in a dignified way without tossing around cruel insults and speaking dishonorably about the dead. Whatever you feel about our decisions on this, there is also no reason at all to take it out on Teddy, Victoire, or anyone else. You should be happy for them; but you certainly have no reason to hate them just because we've given them a home. If you're going to do that; will you start hating everyone your father and I have ever given gifts to? The only difference here is the size and value – and you claim that this isn't about greed or jealousy on your part."

"This isn't the same at all," James insisted; and Ginny laughed.

"Okay, then would you feel differently about it if we had a million galleons and gave that to Teddy and Victoire for Christmas so that they could buy a house that nice instead?"

"Now you're just talking crazy," James snorted; "and none of this changes the way I feel. You and Dad have picked Teddy over your own son. I don't hope that you'll all be very happy for doing that to me; and I won't ever forget that the lot of you screwed me today."

Ginny's expression hardened then. "Get cleaned up and come downstairs," she ordered. "When you get there, you can do as you're told and take the easy way. At the rate you're going right now, the hard way is going to be an arctic vacation with a bat-bogey hex affliction."

Al had gone back to helping his grandmother in the kitchen after getting back from Grimmauld Place while his parents had gone upstairs to talk with James. He knew that hadn't gone well when his father had come downstairs alone and looked ready to vent a fair bit of pent-up anger. He'd poured a glass of wine for himself; drained it; and then politely suggested to Al that he should go and play with his sister and cousins while he took over helping in the kitchen. Pretty much every sharp knife in the room was being used to slice and dice vegetables before he'd left, and that was yet another easy-to-see sign that Harry was upset; since he rarely let anyone see him do that kind of magical multi-tasking. While they were still waiting for George, Charlie, Percy, and their families to arrive; Ron, Hermione, and the kids had gotten there while Harry and Ginny had both been upstairs; so Al went to sit next to Rose. She was watching as Hugo and Lily played a mirror network game; and gave him a half-smile as he joined her.

"Bad?"

"That'd be my guess," Al agreed. They'd both whispered; though it wasn't as if everyone in the room didn't know that Harry and Ginny were having problems with James – or that it had something to do with Grimmauld Place.

"Just how nice is Grimmauld Place now?" Rose asked next, and this time; Al grinned at her.

"Nicest home I've ever been in. I'm sure they'll be offering tours to everyone sometime today. It's worth showing off – and probably took all of the last twenty years or so to spruce up."

"Told ya," Lily leaned back and said to Rose with a grin. "Didn't you believe me?"

Rose laughed. "Yes, but since James room normally looks like what we've been told Grimmauld Place used to look like; I don't get why he's freaking out about it."

"Because he's an idiot," Lily answered with a shrug. "What's even dumber is that I can imagine very well just how much work it'll take to keep up with that place – and James is forever avoiding the chores at our house. He'd have ten times as many if we'd lived there."

"You're absolutely right," Teddy said as he and Victoire came over to them and he sat on the back of the sofa behind Al and Rose while Victoire stood close to him and he put an arm around her. "Your Mum and Dad have given us a wonderful gift; but we should re-gift it to James and let him try to keep up with all of that work by himself."

"Until he's done at Hogwarts, that'd mean starting as soon as he got home for holidays and probably not having it all done by the time he went back," Victoire joked; and then smiled at Teddy. "We'll need to hire help for that if we do keep it. Do you think he'd take the job?"

"I'm guessing no on that one," Teddy decided after joining in for the laugh. "He might consider coming for sleepovers once he's done being mad about this – in a year or three. I do wish that he wasn't upset; but I'm not going to pretend that I don't love this for Victoire and me; and we're really grateful that your parents did that for us."

"Well I think that it's brilliant too – even if James doesn't," Lily told them. "I might even be interested in the cleaning job – though Al will need to make a few more charms for my bracelet if I'm going to help you out with that. I definitely wouldn't want to scrub that place from top to bottom by hand."

Teddy and Victoire could only stay for a cameo visit before moving on; and the wind-up into the full-blown family Christmas event rolled along from there. With the stores closed for the day, George and Angelina came over much earlier than normal; and they brought Aunt Muriel with them – though when she found out about Teddy and Victoire's big Christmas gift; she'd insisted on checking the place out for them and had Ginny take her there along with Teddy, Victoire, and another group of willing tourists that included Rose nd Hugo. They were not having lunch, but did have snacks available to get them through until the mid-afternoon meal time that Molly had planned. Everyone was there by noon, and while another tour of Grimmauld place was done with George, Percy, and their families; the fun and games were in full swing by then too.

James had eventually come downstairs as ordered, but he stayed in a corner of the sitting room by himself and played on his portable mirror while pointedly ignoring everyone else. He did keep his mouth shut too, though; and didn't cause any scenes with Teddy and Victoire. George led him off for a chat while there was a lull in the action during the third tour of Teddy and Victoire's new home, and while nobody else had any idea what they talked about while wandering around outside; James started to hang out with Fred, Aiden, Louis, and Hugo not long after they returned. Within an hour; he was practically back to normal – or better than normal because he was doing that without also pulling pranks or insulting anyone.

When the tours were finished, they gathered in the sitting room to exchange gifts; and while there weren't any more homes given away; they managed to keep themselves entertained for a couple of hours; and the gifts were just part of the fun – not the reason for the season. Al spent most of that time with Rose and Charlene; but he was also glad to see that James even managed to get through that part of the day without losing it again – and even seemed to have fun with the other guys. Their grandfather was given a mini quadcopter for Christmas too, so while Molly wasn't happy with them for it; part of the afternoon entertainment included James and Arthur having a short duel with their new toys. Al hadn't even known that James had brought his along; since he'd barely even acknowledged that he'd liked it when they'd exchanged gifts before breakfast. He certainly didn't hear James admit to anyone that Al had been the one to pick it out for him – not that he cared about that. The only thing that Al was concerned with for James was whether he'd get through the rest of the family Christmas without another mercurial mood swing.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. They sat down for their Christmas feast after the gift exchange and play time; Aunt Muriel ruled the table and her family, and while Andromeda and Mark hadn't been able to stay all day; everyone else was there for the meal. An hour and a half of too much food along with their fill of the usual Weasley clan dinnertime entertainment; and it was time for some members of their family to head home or on to other commitments while Bill, Fleur, Harry, and Ginny stayed to help with the clean-up. Teddy and Victoire hurried off to get to another Christmas event with Mark's family; George, Angelina, and the kids were doing the same with her family; and Ron and Hermione took care of getting Aunt Muriel home this year before taking their kids on to their own home after that. Audrey and the girls stayed for a while so that Molly and Lucy could hang out with Dominique while she was still there too, but Percy decided that he needed to check in at the Ministry of Magic – even though there hadn't been any calls about problems in his department. Charlie took his family home after a long round of goodbyes; but they did that mostly because of the time change – and because he was working in the morning.

Al ended up helping with the clean-up too – though that wasn't requested or required of him. He preferred to do that instead of hanging out with James even when he was being civil to everyone else; since he still basically didn't talk directly to him at all. Lily was good with hanging out with the girls, but then she was getting tired by then; and ready to wind down after a very long, busy day of holiday fun. Even using magic, it took a while to clean everything and return Molly's kitchen to normal again. The work crew then went into the sitting room for drinks and a break; the party really did wind down after that; and when Lily started dozing off while happily cuddling with Dominique; Harry and Ginny decided that it was time to take their kids and head home for the night. Surprisingly, James hadn't even argued about that and started to gather his things even before Bill and Fleur advised Dominique and Louis that they wanted to get going too. Though they'd been first for the decision, Harry and Ginny were last to leave after they needed longer to get everything ready to go; so they did the goodbyes with Audry, Molly, and Lucy; and then with Bill, Fleur, and two out of three of their kids before being the last to say goodnight to Arthur and Molly.

While their grandparents were likely heading straight up to bed once they were alone; James, Al, and Lily were all put to work once they were home – even if that was simply to take their own gifts up to their rooms – and in Lily's case; get ready for bed before she crashed for the night. Al was beginning to wonder if his Uncle George had used a copying spell on James that had left them with a 'good' version with them while the 'bad' James was somewhere else wreaking havoc on the Wizarding World; but Harry and Ginny were happy, and while Al didn't know anything about it; James' broom had already been returned to his gear bag from its day in the arctic. James didn't go so far as to help out beyond taking care of his own things, but he didn't change back to monster teen; and was even moderately-polite when he wished his parents a good night and went up to his room.

"All I'm going to say is that if George bribed him with something that I won't like; I might actually be okay with it," Ginny joked after James had reached his room and closed the door. She was in the kitchen with Harry and Al; and they were dealing with putting away their allotment of leftovers and the dishes that they'd taken with them to the Burrow that were now empty and clean.

"You're sure that a bribe was involved?" Harry asked; and Ginny shrugged.

"I suspect it. Let's just hope that George hasnt' given him a year's supply of free wheezes or something. The kids at Hogwarts would not thank him for that."

"Including Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, and me," Al agreed with a smile and nod. "If they did make a deal, though, I like the timing; since it could make tomorrow easier for both of you than I expected it would be – even if Ollie will be here too."

Ginny laughed. "I wasn't thinking about that at all," she admitted. "Let's hope that you're right about that. Speaking of tomorrow, though, I'd better check in on Lily; and then we should all get some sleep. Whether we're at the Ministry of Magic or out shopping; it's going to be a long, busy day!" She smiled at Al then. "Don't you have a bedtime mirror chat to do with Gwendolyn too?"

"She expected to be home later than me; so she'll call when she can – and I'll answer if I'm not sleeping by then."

"You won't be," Ginny assured him. "Have you forgotten that Gwenog will be home before team curfew? I suppose that Kirley could stay late with the kids; but probably won't do that."

"Why don't you go and check in on Lily right now," Harry told her. "Al and I will finish up here."

"Sounds good," she agreed; and then shared two quick hugs and kisses before going to do that. Harry and Al kept working; and were quiet until she was upstairs.

"I'm ready for tomorrow," Al assured his father; sensing the need to talk about that.

Harry laughed. "I'm beginning to get why being able to do that can feel so weird to other Witches and Wizards," he joked. "You might want to take it easy with that little talent if it develops to the point where you can tell everyone what they're about to say next."

"That probably won't work very well if I tried," Al said seriously; though he was smiling too. "You were going to say that you weren't ready for tomorrow; but changed your mind."

"I was," Harry agreed; "and I'm not. It's possible that I'm never going to stop expecting the worst from reporters and even from most Witches and Wizards; but it's worse for me when it comes to you and your brother and sister."

"That's your job to worry about us, but since all three of us want to play in the show after we're done school; we're going to need to get used to dealing with reporters and all of the bad that goes along with the good for professional Quidditch players. This will just be an introduction for me tomorrow."

"Do you expect to have a knack for publicity that we just haven't seen or suspected of you before now?"

"Probably not," Al admitted; "but I guess that we won't know until we try."

"That's true; but I'll still hope that we can get you in and out of the Ministry tomorrow without needing to find that out sooner instead of later."

Al suspected they weren't going to be that lucky; since his registration would likely hit the Ministry gossip network before the office door closed behind them. While they conitnued to talk; Al changed the subject; and they were soon done the work and ready to go upstairs too. He got ready for bed; read a book until Gwendolyn called; and then they talked for nearly an hour before they decided that it was time to get some sleep – mostly because she wanted him to be rested and at his best for his Animagus photos. They were only four days into their holidays, and the adventures were sure to get even more interesting over the next few days, but as Al went off to sleep; he was hopeful that the last week and a half of their Christmas break would be brilliant and filled with fun too!


	17. A Heartfelt Holiday and Happy New Year

Chapter Seventeen – A Heartfelt Holiday and Happy New Year

"We've set up some surprises for you today," Ginny advised her kids after they sat down to have breakfast on Wednesday morning. "Who would like to get their news first?"

"Aren't we all going shopping – except for Dad?" Lily asked; and Ginny shook her head.

"No, but since you answered first; we're going shopping with the girls today – or at least with the girls that are available today. That includes some of your cousins, Gwendolyn, and a few other friends – including Katie Wood and her girls."

"Oh great," James said with a roll of his eyes. "That sounds like so much fun!"

"I did say that Lily and I are doing that with the girls," she reminded him. "You are, biologically, excluded from that group." She grinned when Lily giggled.

"Okay, then what am I doing instead?"

"You're going shopping – with Ollie," she answered. "Lunch with us is an option; but you can do your own thing for that too if you don't want to be seen with your Mums and sisters."

"We'll be bored with shopping by noon; but at least we won't have to follow you around all day."

"You'll also get to keep Ollie here overnight. You've set up a team practice for Thursday; so that'll save Katie some extra work – and she'll be busy with Belinda's team at their house anyway."

"James and Ollie here all night?" Lily asked; and then grinned at her mother. "You're sending me and Al to the McCormacks overnight too; aren't you? We're having our practice there tomorrow with Gwendolyn's team – and Al has his study session in the morning with most of their study group."

"Good guess," Ginny agreed. "Al's going to the Ministry of Magic with Harry on a secret mission; but if he gets done early; we'll kick Gwendolyn out of our shopping group and let her go and hang out with him instead."

"You could let him join," James suggested. "He plays Quidditch like a girl."

Ginny laughed. "That's quite a compliment; since Witches are better Quidditch players than Wizards."

"I should've seen that one coming," James grumbled; half-conceding his mother's verbal win. "Let me guess – you can't tell us what the mission is because it's secret."

"Maybe it's what Al needed to talk to Mum and Dad about last Friday night," Lily suggested. "He's uncovered a plot against the Minister of Magic at Hogwarts; and now he's going to do secret junior Auror training and go undercover to help nab the bad guys!"

James snorted out a laugh while choking on his food for a moment. "This is Al we're talking about here," James told her derisively. "If he's going into work with Dad today; it's probably because Mum and Dad feel bad that he didn't get any invitations to the team training camps or any of the spots at the Ministry for take-a-loser-to-work day either." He snorted out another laugh. "Al's a double-O-zero; not a teen spy for the Aurors."

"Did you get an invitation to the United teen day again this year?" Lily asked him. "You haven't said anything about it to me."

"I did; but Ollie and I are going to the one for the Arrows this year instead," James answered. "We might give United another chance in a few years – if they haven't become an all-Witches team like the Harpies by then. That's what they'll be if Belinda has her way with them."

"That would be brilliant!" Lily said enthusiastically; and James rolled his eyes. "If you think that's so great; go start up a Witches-only league – and leave the real Quidditch to the Wizards the way it should be."

"Wow! Let's hear you tell Patricia that; and see how long she stays your girlfriend," Lily suggested. "Better yet; let's go outside after breakfast and see if you can still back that up now that I have a Firestorm too."

"You'll have to do that another day," Ginny interjected before James and Lily could really get each other riled up. "We have shopping to get to; and we don't want to be late for the start of the sales. Why don't we talk about which stores we should get to first once we're at the Mall?"

Lily was quite happy to do that, and while Al had stayed out of the banter even when James was insulting him; he was glad to see that his brother was still being nicer to their parents. Having James make fun of him suggested that if some kind of deal had been struck between them; it hadn't included a change in attitude toward Al or Lily. That was even more obvious when James managed to avoid talking directly to Al from the time he reached the kitchen until they all left for either Diagon Alley or the Ministry of Magic. By then, Al was really looking forward to getting nearly two full days away from his brother – along with getting to spend quite a bit of that time with Gwendolyn. He'd been to the Ministry quite a few times, so he was a bit surprised to realize that it had been quite a while since the last time that he'd been there for more than a quick stop to meet up with his father or drop him off on their way to somewhere else. Using the washroom entrances; the atrium; and the security routines were all everyday-normal to him; though he hadn't needed to have his wand checked all that often since getting it less than a year and a half ago.

Once they'd cleared security, Harry led them to Auror Headquarters first; he checked in with his assistant to deal with anything that might need his immediate attention before their meeting with Minister Shacklebolt; they looked in on the morning training session that was just getting to the warm-up stage; and then they headed for the Minister of Magic's office. They were ten minutes early, but Kingsley was already there with his current Junior Undersecretary, and since this was a meeting that had been added to an already-full schedule; they were both happy to get it started early.

"Isn't Al here a bit early for our student day at the Ministry?" Kingsley joked; and Harry and Al both laughed while Nolan stood to the right side of Kingsley's desk with no expression on his face to indicate that he had any sense of humor.

"Al's the reason I asked for this meeting," Harry told him.

"So he's looking to be Minister of Magic someday and wants an invitation from me for next Monday," Kingsley declared jovially. "I'd have approved that on Saturday night without the meeting."

Harry only smiled at that; and shook his head. "I think that you'll find this a bit more interesting than a request like that. I'm going to seal the room now; with your permission?" Kingsley nodded; waved his approval; and Harry took care of that with a series of spells that Al was quite interested in learning everything he could about them by using all of his extended senses. "That should do it," he said when he was done. "Minister Shacklebolt, I'd like you to meet the newest member of the Animagi club."

"What!" Kingsley exclaimed; staring at Al in amazement. "Harry, he's only – twelve, right?"

"Going on thirteen," Harry agreed with a grin for Al. "I won't bore you with the details, but Al isn't playing Quidditch for his House team this year, and he apparently found something else to do to keep himself entertained. He succeeded with his first transformation shortly before the start of the Christmas break; and advised Ginny and me of it last Friday night. I didn't want to mess up the Christmas weekend for anyone; so that's why I set this meeting up with you for today."

"I'll admit that this is quite unique to have someone so young become an Animagus, but we have an office and staff that deals with this issue; and it hardly seems necessary to waste the Minister's time." That comment was from Nolan; and he looked put out over what he believed to be a waste of his – and Kingsley's – time.

"Relax, Nolan," Kingsley told him easily. "Since you've started working with me, have you ever known Harry to request a special meeting without good cause?"

"Well, no," Nolan admitted grudgingly; and Kingsley nodded his agreement.

"Then let's find out why he's done so today. Why don't you start by showing us your Animagus, Al," he suggested.

"Yes, sir," Al agreed even as Harry gave him the nod to do so. He stood up; stepped into an open area of the office; and quickly transformed without any fanfare or dramatic pause. His tongue lolled out when he smiled at hearing Kingsley's amused laugh.

"Are you jealous, Harry?" he asked as he stood and walked around his desk – and then around Al too. "You're a handsome-looking Samoyed, Al."

"I am a bit envious," Harry agreed; "but you haven't seen anything yet."

Kingsley looked at Harry sharply; and Al caught the silent communication between them; but neither of them spoke about that silent question and confirmation in front of the Junior Undersecretary. Al changed back; but didn't move as Kingsley stepped away from him.

"Okay, so that must mean that what's coming next is the reason you've brought Al to me," Kingsley surmised.

"It is," Harry agreed. "Show him Al – your choice."

Since he expected to be invited to do several changes; Al picked the snowy owl again – though there was the added bonus that he got to fly around in the Minister of Magic's office. He changed; launched himself into the air; and had one fun little circuit around the room and above the heads of the three men before landing again and changing back.

"That's impossible!" Nolan stammered out. "What are you doing, Mr. Potter? Showing us some new trick that you've come up with for the Aurors?"

"No," Harry disagreed. "Al's showing you that his Animagus can be any animal form – though the Samoyed husky form was the one that happened with his first transfiguration – before he attempted to choose his forms after that."

"I'd say that's very good cause for bringing this directly to me," Kingsley joked.

"I don't believe it," Nolan insisted stubbornly. "The Animagus form cannot be controlled by the Wizard or Witch. It's impossible."

"Pick an animal," Al suggested to him simply; and Nolan stared at him in consternation. "Minister Shacklebolt can watch Dad to make sure he doesn't use magic on me," Al explained. "The room is sealed, so nobody else outside of the room can do that either, and if you choose the animal randomly; then I don't see what else we could do to convince you that I can, in fact, change into any animal form – or at least all of the forms I've tried so far."

"Fine," Nolan agreed curtly. "Change into a goldfish." Al didn't miss the look in the young man's eyes that told him that the Minister might want to watch his back with his undersecretary; but he simply smiled and nodded.

"Okay, could someone conjure a bowl and fill it with water for me, please? You might want to make it a glass one so that you can see me better."

Kingsley laughed and did that personally while Nolan stood stiffly and still disbelieving. Al hadn't tried a transfiguration into any aquatic creatures, but he had no doubt that he could do it; which was why he literally jumped into it – and was in goldfish mode by the time he hit the water. He swam around the bowl a handful of times while the three Wizards in the room put their faces close to the bowl and watched him; and then he swam up and jumped out of the bowl. He did what he thought was a fairly impressive leap and flip that ended with him landing on his feet in his human form; and the laughs from two of the members of his little audience suggested that they agreed with him.

"There was definitely no other use of magic in the room while Al did that," Kingsley advised Nolan; "though I was convinced after the dog and owl."

"It seems so," Nolan conceded grudgingly; and Al sensed that he was angry with him over that forced admission – if for no other reason than that he'd been proved wrong in front of the Minister.

"Good," Kinsley said with a nod as he got rid of the temporary fishbowl and then went to sit at his desk again. "Now we need to decide how to deal with this amazing little surprise."

"Young Mr. Potter here must register as an Animagus," Nolan declared immediately. "It's the law."

"I'll guess that our Head of the Aurors knows that better than most," Kingsley joked; and now Al noticed that the Minister seemed to enjoy doing that in part because it annoyed his stuffy, puffed-up assistant. "The issue isn't getting Albus registered, Nolan. It's how to manage the news that we have an Animagus that can change into any animal." He smiled at Harry knowingly. "You've certainly at least considered asking me to have Al register his first Animagus form and keep the rest a state secret; but decided against that – or Nolan wouldn't be in the room with us."

"You can't..." Nolan began; but Kingsley cut him off.

"Actually, I could, but as I've just said, it's a moot point; since Harry isn't going to make that request."

"I'm not," Harry agreed; "and yes, I did consider that – until Ginny pointed out that it doesn't really matter whether everyone knows that Al can change into any animal. Even if he does join the Aurors some day – which he doesn't want to do because he wants to be a Quidditch player like his Mum; knowing about his abilities wouldn't help the bad guys at all. It would be a pointless state secret to keep."

"I was thinking the same thing just now," Kingsley agreed; "but this is sure to start a feeding frenzy once word gets out – about a minute after Albus has finished registering."

"That is the main reason we're here – other than to give you the heads-up too," Harry said with a nod of agreement. "If you have any ideas for dealing with the reporters and trying to minimize the inevitable attempts to twist the facts here; Ginny and I would appreciate anything you can do to help us to protect Al from the vultures."

"I'll have to hold a press conference," Kingsley decided. He looked at Al speculatively. "Your parents are hoping to keep you out of the spotlight, Al, but if you don't demonstrate your abilities at least once in public; the rumors will start flying; and there will be many willing to believe anything they hear or read – not that there won't be some of that regardless of what we do."

"I hate that idea," Harry told him; and Kingsley smiled at him.

"No doubt, but can you think of a more expedient way to reveal this news; have it believed; and not have any reporters attempt to create a panic?"

"That seemes extremely unlikely to me, Minister," Nolan told him.

"You've been around here long-enough to know what reporters are capable of doing," Kingsley countered. "Can you honestly not picture Rita Skeeter declaring a teenager with the ability to be any animal as a threat to the Wizarding World?"

"She's more likely to insist it's a hoax," Nolan disagreed; "but then I'd say that you've just made a valid point."

Kingsley stared at him in amazement. "You're serious!" he decided. "Nolan, he's twelve! If you actually believe him to be a risk; what would you have us do? Send him off to Azkaban just in case he might do something wrong? Might as well send the Metamorphmagi there too while we're at it; since they can change their appearance to be anything too. Where would something like that end?"

"I'm not suggesting any of that," Nolan blustered defensively. "That still doesn't mean that you don't have a valid point – and Mr. Potter here won't be twelve forever."

"What I believe to be more important is that Albus is dealing with this as he should." He smiled when Nolan's first reaction was to look at Harry. "Yes, I'm sure that Harry and Ginny had something to say about this too, Nolan; but Al did have to tell them about it first. An unknown talent like this held by someone willing to risk serious consequences to remain unregistered would be much more concerning to me than someone being honest and open with us will ever be." He shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. "We cannot control what people choose to believe – only offer them the facts; and try to do that before the media runs wild with the story. I think that the best way to do that at a press conference will be with a demonstration; but that is still your choice to make."

"If you're sure that we should throw Al to the sharks, can you at least make him a bigger fishbowl next time?" Harry joked; and Al laughed.

"I'm okay with that if Dad is," Al decided; "but I don't want to be in the spotlight for long; so would it be okay if we keep it to no more than three animal changes? I haven't really tested my limits; but changing back and forth does tire me out."

"That sounds reasonable to me," Kingsley agreed. "Harry?"

"I'd still prefer to just keep Al away from the reporters completely; but you're likely right. If they don't see him do some changes in person; they won't believe it – and still might not even then."

"Alright," Kingsley said with a nod. "Set up a press conference for noon – and cancel my lunch meeting," he told Nolan. "Harry, if you take Al to get registered now; you'll be done by then – even though it might take our Animagus expert an hour to find the forms she hasn't needed in a decade or so." He laughed then. "Try to be gentle with her when you have to explain to her that registering all of Al's animal forms would be impossible."

"She could always just start adding pictures of every animal in the world," Al suggested; and then grinned sheepishly. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, and that's quite inappropriate," Nolan declared.

"Maybe, but it's still funny," Kingsley added with a grin and wink for Al. "You don't have any other surprises for us; do you?"

"Not today, sir," Al agreed. "This seemed to be more than enough for one holiday visit home – or at least Mum and Dad thought so."

"No doubt," Kingsley said with a nod. "Okay, then let's get on with our day; Nolan will let you know where we'll hold that press conference; and I'll see you again at noon."

Harry and Al left the office then; went on to the small office for Animagus Registration; and then spent more than two hours getting that done. Most of that time was needed because the Witch doing the registration needed even more convincing than Nolan had because she was an expert on Animagi; and therefore knew that what Al was showing her was absolutely impossible. Eventually, Harry had simply told her to write up her registration however she wanted and send copies on to him and the Minister of Magic. She hadn't been happy, but the forms had been filled out; she'd photographed each of the animal forms Al had taken while there; and she had no reason to keep them there. Al went back to Auror Headquarters with Harry after that; he decided to do a workout in the training room while Harry did some work in his office; and then they went on to meet up with Minister Shacklebolt when it was time for the press conference.

"Word is out already if you haven't heard that too," Kingsley advised them. "There's a full house in the hall – and Nolan had to up-size to make room for them all."

"Oh great," Harry said dryly. "It's a good thing that you'll be doing the talking. If things get out of hand, though; I'll take Al with me and walk out."

"We'll be fine," Kingsley assured him. "Some of the mirror network channels are covering this; so I seriously doubt that any of the reporters will risk looking like fools by trying to play hardball with a kid. That kind of thing just doesn't play well on the noon or evening news."

"Why don't you just hire an adorable kid to be your press secretary from now on?" Harry suggested; and Kingsley laughed.

"Because I can see that working great – right up until the kid tries something like announcing that the Ministry of Magic is implementing a minimum allowance and unlimited cake and ice cream for every underage kid and teen in the Wizarding World; and then I'm the bad guys when I fire him or her."

"Or you'd win the support of an entire generation of kids if you then went ahead and did those things," Al offered. "You could be Minister of Magic forever with policies like those."

"Nobody would want my job forever – including me," Kingsley assured him, but we've a press conference to start on time; so let's get to it."

He motioned for Nolan to lead the way; the Junior Undersecretary called the press conference to order; and then introduced the Minister of Magic. The buzz in the room quieted to near-silence as Kingsley stepped to the lecturn in the center of the low, small stage; Nolan was to his right; and Al and Harry were to his left. He smiled as he took a moment to scan the room with a glance; and then he began to speak.

"Thank-you for coming today," he began; smiling easily as he saw that most of the reporters were watching, photographing, and assessing Al instead of watching him. "I can see that the news I'm here to talk with you about today has already preceded us; so let's just get right to it; shall we?" He turned toward Al; and continued. "This young man is Albus Severus Potter; one of Harry and Ginny Potter's sons. He is twelve years old; and a second-year student at Hogwarts. He is now also, as many of you have heard; our newest – and youngest-ever – Animagus."

That statement created a loud buzz; the picture-taking became a noisy affair; and Kingsley waited for the noise level to drop again a bit before continuing. While that is extraordinary in and of itself; the reason I decided to call this press conference is to announce that Albus is not only the youngest Animagus ever registered with the Ministry of Magic; he is also the only Animagus that is able to choose any animal form!"

That revelation caused a roar of exclamations and shouts from the crowd; much of it shocked disbelief. Kingsley again needed to wait for the furor to subside before he could continue; and Al smiled up at his father when Harry placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. Some of the reporters tried shouting out questions or demands; but Kingsley ignored all of them and simply held up his hands until it was again quiet-enough that he could be heard easily by everyone in the room.

"Albus will be demonstrating his abilities in a moment, but before I have him do that; I'd like to address the main concern that many Witches and Wizards might have with an Animagus that can be any animal he chooses. I've thought about this quite a lot since finding out about Albus, and I don't see this as being all that much different than it is for a Metamorphmagus. I guess we could say that Albus Potter is our first Animorphmagus, and while it is truly an amazing talent; there is no need fur any of us to be concerned about his abilities – just as we never worry about our Metamorphmagi." He paused as his 'Animorphmagus' name for Al took hold of the imaginations for many of the reporters; and then continued. "We will take questions after the demonstration; but I'm sure that you will all want to see what this amazing young man can do before we open the floor up to questions. Albus; if you would be so kind?"

Al smiled, nodded, and stepped up to the lectern when Kingsley indicated that he should do that. He nearly laughed when the lectern magically resized to work for him instead of the much-taller Minister of Magic.

"Hello," he said clearly; and didn't need to fight to be heard over the noise level that was now close to zero. "I'll begin with the first Animagus Transfiguration that I tried; and which I believe is my true Animagus form because I was following the instructions and didn't try to choose the form. After that, I will do two other changes to show that I can choose any animal form with this Transfiguration."

"How do we know that this isn't just some hoax?"

Rita Skeeter. What a surprise! Al smiled at her. "It isn't a hoax," he promised her, "but since you've brought that up, and if everyone else agrees; why don't you choose what my third animal form demonstration will be? I am quite sure that nobody will accuse you of colluding on such a deception." There was a ripple of laughter at that when some of the brighter reporters caught the double meaning; but he just waited patiently for her answer.

"Very well," Rita said airily; "but I will wait until the last moment to tell you my choice so that you will not have time to work out a way to still trick us."

"That's fine with me," Al agreed amiably. "If you're ready; I'll begin."

There was a buzz of assent; so Al stepped away from the lectern; changed into his samoyed husky form, and then, just for fun; he walked up to where Rita Skeeter had been allowed to move up to the edge of the stage; and leaned in and pretended to try and lick her face. He offered a cute little 'woof' too; and then backed up before returning to his normal form.

"I tried this next animal form because I love flying, and since Minister Shacklebolt has us in such a nice big room; I hope you won't mind if I go for a little fly this time."

With that said; Al shimmered into his snowy owl form; launched into the air; and flew around the room two times while mirror network cameras followed his flight and photographers snapped hundreds of pictures. He threw in a few fun little aerial acrobatics too; and then he was smiling brilliantly when he was himself again.

"Ms. Skeeter; what form would you choose for me to demonstrate?"

"A Phoenix," she said loudly; smiling triumphantly at him; and Al couldn't keep himself from laughing.

"That's a really interesting choice," he told her. "Since you're an Animagus too, I'm sure that you know it's supposed to be impossible to become any magical animal."

"I do, but we've been told that you can be any animal; so why not a magical one as well?"

"I can change into every normal animal I've tried so far," Al told her seriously, "but I only attempted one magical creature change – and nothing happened."

"So it can't be done – this is a hoax!" Rita declared; and Al shook his head.

"No, I just told you that I can't change into magical creatures. For all I know, that may be possible – it just isn't something that I can do."

"And what magical creature did you try to become?" Rita retorted scathingly. "A dragon?"

Al grinned at her. "Actually, I tried to change into a Thestral. I thought it'd be cool to be able to fly and be invisible to most Witches and Wizards." He shrugged then while some of the reporters – and Kingsley and Harry – laughed. "Would you still like to pick my third animal choice; or shall I ask someone else?"

Rita scowled at him. "Very well, boy. Turn yourself into a bear – a black bear."

Al was still grinning when he made the change; and then laughed bearishly when Rita's expression changed from victorious to chagrinned when his black bear was an adorable cub instead of a scary beast. His fur was as jet black as his own hair color, and while most viewere probably didn't notice; his eye color was not emerald green; but chocolate brown. He walked around on the stage for a minute; let his father scratch his head; and then he returned to human form again. Minister Shacklebolt stepped up to the podium again; and opened the floor to questions. They were almost entirely directed at Al, and he answered everyone politely and honestly. A couple of reporters tried to jump on the news that he'd waited more than two weeks before registering, but he continued to answer those questions honestly too; and that particular question was hardly one that Rita Skeeter could pounce on with him. He didn't take that obvious opportunity to take a shot at her; though he did look her way once while answering one of those attempts to take a swat at him.

There were some fun moments while that was going on too. Some of the Witches in the room were quite interested to find out that Al's girlfriend was Gwendolyn McCormack when he'd explained that he had tried his first transfiguration with her there; and quite a few reporters liked the Animagus name she'd picked for him. One reporter even called him Sabre instead of Al when asking his two questions. The reporters were less interested in finding out that his cousin was the only other person he told about becoming an Animagus before talking about it with his parents, and while one reporter tried to make an issue of that delay too; Harry's explanation wasn't really needed when the reason was obvious and understandable. Kingsley called an end to the press conference when he had ten minutes left to get to his next meeting of the day; and he looked very happy when they left the room together.

"Well done, Albus," he said when they stopped in the small room where they'd met before the press conference. "You've a nice mix of your father and mother when it comes to handling things like that. Maybe I should invite you to spend the day with me next Monday. You might just have a bright future here if that Quidditch thing doesn't work out for you. What team will you be spending the day with instead?"

"None of them," Al answered. "For some reason, the Harpies won't even give me a shot."

"If your plan is to be the first Wizard on their team, then I'll look forward to seeing you working here in about five and a half years," Kingsley joked. "Yes, Nolan, I know we have to run. Let's hope this press conference worked for dealing with this. It couldn't have gone better, though; so I think that Al's done exactly the right thing here today."

"It seems so," Harry agreed. "Thank-you, Minister. Have a good afternoon."

Kingsley and Nolan hurried off then; Harry led Al back to his office at Auror Headquarters; and then he got to work while putting Teddy in charge of getting Al out of the Ministry of Magic and to the Mall to meet up with Ginny. That proved to be a fairly entertaining decision when they reached the Atrium and the gauntlet of reporters that soon started having fun associating Harry's Metamorphmagus Godson and Auror trainee with his Animorphmagus son – with Kingsley's made-up term for Al catching on in a big way with the reporters. It took a while to get out of the Atrium, and a few reporters tried to follow them; but Teddy solved that problem by side-along apparating Al straight to the Mall. Teddy had already set up where to meet Ginny; and she only had Gwendolyn with her. She let Gwendolyn welcome Al with a hug and kiss first; but then wrapped him in her arms and hugged him or a long minute too.

"You're okay?" she asked; and he grinned at her.

"The Minister was impressed. He thinks that I might do well working at the Ministry if the Harpies still won't hire Wizards when I graduate."

"He did brilliantly," Teddy assured Ginny and Gwendolyn. "Some of us watched the press conference on our mirrors while we had lunch. I really hope that you get to see the parts with Rita Skeeter. She tried to mess with Al; but he handled her as if he's been doing press conferences his whole life." He grinned at Al next. "Kingsley called him an Animorphmagus; and the term seems to have caught on. You can guess how much fun the reporters in the Atrium had when they saw us together."

"I didn't want us trying to watch it here," Ginny told them. "It's best for us to be out of the way today; and we'll tell the kids after we're home again."

"If they don't start hearing about it from friends sooner," Teddy suggested. "I have to get back to work, though, so have a fun afternoon. I'm sure that Victoire and I will see you around later this week or on the weekend."

"Okay," Ginny agreed; hugging him before he left. "Thanks for bringing Al to us. After being busy with Al all morning; Harry's likely swamped now – and will be stuck at work late."

"Probably," Teddy agreed. "Have fun with the shopping."

With that, he was on his way to find a good place to apparate back to the Ministry of Magic entrance; and Al was left with Ginny and Gwendolyn. He soon found out that he and Gwendolyn really were going to be on their own to shop for an hour or so while Ginny rejoined the rest of the girls; and then they'd head home so that Al and Lily could grab their overnight bags and Quidditch gear before heading over to Gwendolyn's house with her. Ginny had needed another hug before she let Al and Gwendolyn leave; and Al had Gwendolyn amused with him when the first stop he wanted to make was one of the toy stores – in the section for the toy furniture. He started checking out the different doll-sized chairs and sofas; and then picked three of them that were thickly-padded, fake leather; and just the right size for two Barbie dolls.

"Why do you wnat to buy toy furniture today?" Gwendolyn asked him; and Al laughed.

"Because they're forty percent off for Boxing Day. That's quite a deal – and these are going to be exactly what I need."

"For what – a sitting room for your action figures?"

Al grinned at her. "No – for a sitting room for us and some friends at Hogwarts. These will do nicely; and I just happen to have that new Christmas gift that will be much better than our portables for watching games and shows." He didn't specify the WWMN mirror because a small group of Muggle shoppers had just joined them at one end of the aisle so he needed to be careful about what he said; but she knew what he was talking about without needing to specify.

Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him tightly. "That's brilliant, Al. "Three of these won't be enough if all of our friends want to join in."

Al shrugged. "I suppose we could get four without it being too many for being able to see the shows very well; but more than that won't work without a bigger, um, screen – and we'll only need one when it's just you and me."

They decided to go with four to allow for up to three extra cross-House couples, and that modest little purchase had really been the only one that Al had wanted to make; but Gwendolyn talked him into getting two new sweaters and a pair of pants that were all on sale too as they wandered around the Mall. They saw James and Ollie twice; but the boys didn't even notice them because they were too busy flirting with a pair of Muggle girls – fairly successfully by the looks of them.

"Just for the record, and not because I'm worried about you – that would be a turn you into a woodlouse offense with your girlfriend."

Al grinned at her. "I'd help you,' he joked; and she laughed too.

"No, you wouldn't; since you wouldn't be able to just change back like you could if you did it."

"I'm not really sure that would be true in my case; but I'm not really in any hurry to find out one way or the other." He looked over toward where James and Ollie were now nearly out of sight. "That doesn't surprise me, since they flirt with other Witches at school; but then they don't actually care about Patricia and Anna anyway. I'm so glad that we won't have to be anywhere around them tonight and for most of tomorrow."

"Me too," Gwendolyn agreed. "I hope that we're at my house before they find out about what happened at the Ministry today."

Her best hopes didn't work out for them this time; but it wasn't until after they got home that the news hit the fan – and that was only because there was a news clip about the press conference playing on the mirror network when James turned it on to play mirror games with Ollie. Al and Gwendolyn were in his room and Lily was in hers when James started to bellow at Ginny; but instead of going straight downstairs; Gwendolyn intercepted Lily; and led her into Al's room instead.

"Hiding out here for a bit is probably a really good idea," Gwendolyn advised Lily as she closed the door behind them.

"What's going on?" Lily demanded; and Al and Gwendolyn both grinned at her.

"It sounds like James just found out that I was at the Ministry this morning to register as an Animagus," Al told her; and then laughed when she said – "What!" and then punched him.

"That's what you needed to talk to Mum and Dad about last Friday night? And you didn't tell me? That is so wrong, Al."

"I'm sorry," he said seriously. "There's a bit more, though, and Mum and Dad didn't want me telling anyone else – and Gwendolyn's the only one who knew everything before Mum and Dad. The really big news is that I can change into any animal – not just one. It's become quite a news story – which is why Mum had everyone shopping at the Mall instead of Diagon Alley for most of the day."

"You are so lucky that I probably would have still picked shopping over seeing that happen at the Ministry; but it still isn't fair that I didn't find out sooner. Are you going to show me?"

"Let's do that once we're at my house," Gwendolyn suggested." She grinned at Al. "Maybe we could even go outside and Al could take us for a horseback ride."

Lily laughed and hugged Gwendolyn. "That'd work to get me to forgive him for keeping a secret this big from me." She laughed again. "This is why Mum set up the sleepover for us – and got James to invite Ollie here! She got us out of the way; and James can complain about all of this with Ollie instead of taking it out on her. That's brilliant!"

"Especially the part where we won't be here for that at all," Al agreed – "or at least we'll miss most of it; since we didn't quite get away before they found out."

"Speaking of – the shouting has stopped," Lily told them. "Let's grab our things and go while there's a small chance that James won't screech at us on the way out."

That was another hope that went unrealised, but Ginny put her foot down when James started yelling again; and she sent them to Gwendolyn's house through the Floo Network. She also looked as though she wished that she could go and stay with them overnight too; while James looked furious.

"Why is he so mad?" Lily asked once they were at the McCormack's house and Gwendolyn was being hugged by her father.

"Why is who mad?" Jonah asked. "James?" he added as a guess; and smiled when Lily nodded. "Who knows? It'd be easier to ask what's wrong on his good days lately."

"That's true," Lily said with a laugh, "but in this case; he's furious about Al's Animagus news."

Kirley and Jonah both smiled at that. "We watched the press conference," Kirley advised them. "That was brilliant – especially the parts where Al stood up to Rita Skeeter; when he talked about Gwendolyn being there while he was learning how to do all of that; and the reporters are all over the name Gwendolyn gave him – and the Animorphmagus name that Minister Shacklebolt came up with for the first Animagus that can change into any animal form."

Lily turned and stared at Al. "You had all of that happen this morning – and didn't just freeze up at a press conference? I'm shocked!"

Al grinned at her. "It was fun; but then I doubt that the Minister has nearly as much fun at them when he can't fly around the room or run around in other animal forms. As for James; I'll guess that he's mostly ticked off right now because he thinks he knows how I escaped his cement swamp ambush the night of the Christmas dance."

"I knew that what happened to Fred had to be them trying to prank you," Lily declared with a nod. "I told Mum and Dad that after we heard about Fred and his mate getting caught in that stuff." She looked thoughtful; and then confused. "You said that's what he's likely thinking right now, but it doesn't make sense; since he'd have been able to see your Animagus – unless you were something very small that he might not notice – like a mosquito."

"That's what he's likely thinking, Lily; but he's wrong. I did consider using an animal form, but decided not to do that – mostly because I could see that being a problem today while thinking about it. I went invisible instead and floated past the ambush above their heads instead – though I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about that in case we need to use that trick again sometime."

Lily laughed. "James isn't going to believe you for that," she predicted, "but that's brilliant too – even if the animal escape act would have been more fun – and a better story."

"Are you sure that you want to talk about this with a parent in the room?" Kirley asked; and Al shrugged.

"We probably shouldn't," he agreed, "and we should move on anyway; since I'm supposed to be doing a demonstration for Lily now that we're away from James and Ollie."

"A demonstration and horseback rides," Lily amended cheerfully. "Could you change into a giant bird and take us flying too?"

Al laughed. "I haven't tried; but do you really want me to choose any animal forms that might look at you as dinner – or take you flying by carrying you in giant claws?"

"I wouldn't want that," Jonah told him with a grin; "but I bet that Lily would love that little bear cub you turned in to when Rita Skeeter picked a black bear for your last transfiguration. Dad said that she was trying to get you to scare people by picking a big, dangerous animal instead of something smaller; but she forgot that you're a kid."

"She did," Al agreed; "but then I could have made that bear huge just as easily as I made it a cub. I still have a lot to learn and experimenting to do; but I do know for sure that I can change the size of the animal as easily as I can be a white dog or black horse."

"Just don't try that at home – or anywhere else – unless you've done all of the work and are sure you can do it," Kirley warned Gwendolyn and Jonah. Getting an Animagus Transfiguration wrong is usually bad – and permanent."

"That might not be all bad," Al suggested with a grin. "Mrs. Norris looks a lot better and healthier than Mr. Filch."

Kirley laughed. "Could that possibly be because she's Mrs. Norris the fifth or sixth? There've been those sorts of stories going around for as long as there have been Animagi, and maybe some of them are even true; but the transfigurations that went really, really wrong have been fairly-extensively documented. I'm very serious about not messing with being an Animagus unless you are positive that you can do it – like Al obviously was."

"I don't even want to try," Gwendolyn assured him. "Al's act is going to be a tough one to follow for whomever becomes the next Animagus."

"Really tough," Jonah agreed. "One of the reporters that was talking about it after the press conference said that Al's only the third in more than twenty years – not including Rita's registration after she was caught for being unregistered – and he and Uncle Harry are two of those three."

"Well, don't look at me to be the next one," Lily told them. "I do not need to be an Animagus to play for the Harpies – even if Al might be happy being a team mascot if the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for him."

Al groaned. "Merlin – don't tell James that one, Lily. He'll razz me about it for the next twenty years or more."

"You could always turn into a vampire bat and bite him," Gwendolyn offered helpfully; and Al groaned again.

"I am so going to get sick of the animal jokes everyone is going to throw my way."

"Yes, but we all appreciate the entertainment," Lily assured him. "The good news is that you can have fun right back if you choose to do that. It's probably for the best that you're the kid in our family with this ability. James would be dangerous; and I'd be messing around with my friends all of the time – or with the Slytherins if they tried coming after me the way they've done with you."

"There are a few reporters trying to suggest things like that about Al," Kirley advised them, "but they're mostly getting scoffed at; and Rita Skeeter just sounds like an idiot to try and claim that Al's dangerous when everyone knows about all of the things she did as an unregistered Animagus."

"She must be turning green over this," Gwendolyn suggested. "If Rita could do what Al can; she'd have never gotten caught."

"Probably not," Lily agreed; "but we're still talking instead of going riding; so let's go and do that instead."

Kirley had Al and Lily put their bags away in the guest rooms they were going to use for the night; they all went outside; and Al took Gwendolyn and Lily for horseback rides before doing his Samoyed demonstration and a five-minute long flight as a falcon before they were all getting too cold and went inside to get hot drinks – and so that Kirley, Al, and Gwendolyn could get started on making dinner when it was time to do that. Jonah and Lily played mirror games while dinner was being made; they ate shortly after Gwenog got home; and then Al had to do another demonstration for her before they moved into the music room for some play time. Al and Gwendolyn provided a lot of that musical entertainment with some help from Kirley, Jonah, and Lily; and Gwenog mostly listened in while doing some Harpies' work to get ready for their next match – along with a bit of prep work for their student day on Monday.

After that, they moved into the sitting room to watch a mirror network show together; Kirley and Gwenog went to bed early; and Jonah and Lily went to the game room to play – while leaving Al and Gwendolyn alone to continue watching shows and have the privacy for any snogging they might be interested in doing before going to bed too. They were happy to do that, but the entertainment highlights were actually watching clips from the press conference that topped the late news and Lee Jordan's show-opening monologue that was centered around being an Animorphmagus and what a creative Wizard or Witch might be able to do with the talent. Gwendolyn thought that some of those ideas were quite brilliant – especially the double-entendre suggestions that were definitely adult-rated for those alternate meanings.

Since they did have a busy day of studying and Quidditch ahead of them; they headed for bed after Lee's show ended. They had a laugh over the "No Animorphmagus Zone" sign that had been drawn and stuck to Gwendolyn's door by two junior comedians; shared a long goodnight hug and kiss; and then split up to go and get some sleep – though Gwendolyn did joke about having Al spend the night with her as Sabre so that he could keep her feet warm.

Scorpius retrieved Thomas' portrait as soon as he was finally alone in his room after being stuck hanging out with his parents and grandparents for way too many hours after dinner because his presence was apparently necessary simply because he went to school with the top news story of the day. He was well and truly sick of it, but knew that Thomas would want to hear the news – and he was interested in hearing his mentor's opinion on the matter; since it was sure to be different from anything he'd heard on the news or from his own family.

"You're agitated," Thomas said without exchanging any greetings. "Does this mean that things around here haven't started to get better now that Christmas is over – as you'd hoped when we last talked?"

"There's a rather big story in the news today; and it would be more accurate to say that I'm annoyed and sick of it; but it is news you'll want to hear. Albus Potter registered as an Animagus today."

Thomas laughed. "That's it?" he asked. "His grandfather was an Animagus too – an unregistered one as I recall; so what's the big deal? I've always thought that trying to learn that transfiguration was a total waste of time and effort. So what if he can turn into an animal? There is nothing that you can do with that ability that you can't do better with other magic."

"His father is an Animagus too," Scorpius told Thomas; "but there's a bit more to this story. Albus is not only the youngest Animagus ever registered; he can apparently also change into any animal form he chooses."

"That's impossible," Thomas scoffed. "The Wizard or Witch cannot choose the Animagus form. I would guess that this is a hoax of some sort."

Scorpius shrugged. "I saw the parts of the press conference showing Albus changing into three different forms – and Rita Skeeter picked the third one for him because she'd suggested that it was a hoax too."

"So she was in on it," Thomas said dismissively; and Scorpius shook his head.

"I doubt it. She hates the Potters and Weasleys – blames them for getting caught for being an unregistered Animagus herself and getting sent to Azkaban for it."

"You've never told me about this – or that Harry Potter was an Animagus for that matter."

"Harry Potter's Animagus hasn't been news since before I was born; and I never even think about it. I didn't think that you'd care a whit about Rita Skeeter."

"I don't – though she was useful to have around during the war to muddy the waters of public opinion with her hit pieces and books."

"She's still writing that drivel," Scorpius told him. "I'm also fairly sure that she was trying to trip Albus up today too – not help him. Her first choice for animal was a phoenix."

Thomas laughed again. "That's ridiculous!"

"Actually, Albus didn't just laugh it off," Scorpius advised him. "Rita thought she'd won some sort of victory when he advised her that he couldn't transform into magical animals; but he also went on to explain that he had, in fact, tried that while experimenting with his Animagus; and nothing happened."

"Let me guess – he tried to turn into a dragon," Thomas suggested scornfully; and Scorpius smiled and shook his head.

"Nope – a Thestral. He said that he thought it'd be cool to be able to fly and be invisible to most Witches and Wizards. Anyway, Rita then chose a black bear for him – probably because she wanted to frighten the audience; but also because his first two changes had been into a pure white samoyed husky and a snowy owl; and she thought he couldn't choose color either."

"I take it that her ploy didn't work," Thomas surmised.

"No. Albus turned himself into a bear cub – a cute, playful, adorable cub according to my Mum – and half the reporters covering the story."

"You don't think it's a hoax at all," Thomas said next. "Why?"

"Albus is twelve. There's no reason for making this kind of announcement now – if there ever would be a good time or purpose for it. Since we obviously haven't talked about his father's Animagus before; I should also tell you that his Animagus was a state secret for a number of years so that he could use his Animagus after the war while working as an Auror without your former Death Eaters and other followers knowing about it. They could have done the same thing here; but didn't."

"And why do you think that's important for this?"

"Because they'd have had nothing to gain," Scorpius answered. "If Albus can indeed change into any animal; what's the difference if everyone knows or not? It's not as if we can all suddenly start checking every pet and animal around us day and night to see if one of them just might happen to be Albus Potter in disguise."

Thomas laughed at that. "Okay, that's a good point; but there could be some reason unknown to you for putting this story out there." He looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "I'll admit that, if true, this talent would be more useful than for a normal Animagus; but that wouldn't change the vulnerabilities. An Animagus still can't use magic; which means they can't defend themselves while in animal form."

"There are rumors that Harry Potter can," Scorpius said quietly and seriously. "Most don't believe it; but I've heard the stories that he was using his magic while in his Animagus form during the capture where his Animagus secret was revealed – supposedly because he changed back to be able to fight with his wand."

"Which should be all you need to know about that rumor," Thomas said derisively. "He had to change back to fight – and could have been defeated if his opponents weren't so obviously incompetent. What is the great Harry Potter's Animagus form, anyway? A stag like his father's was?"

Scorpius grinned ath him then. "A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel."

That answer had Thomas roaring with laughter; Scorpius felt better after talking it over with him; and though they couldn't end his day with a lesson; that was still enough to turn his mood around and have him feeling better again. He'd been jealous when he'd first heard of Albus' news, but as Thomas had pointed out; it was a mostly-useless talent – which was why he was being taught far more advanced and powerful magic by his mentor.

"Go ahead and play with your pets, Albus!" Scorpius thought to himself as he and Thomas continued to talk about the news of the day. "While you're doing that, Thomas will teach me to be a greater Wizard than you could ever hope to become; and then i will lead the revolution that will restore the Wizarding World to what it should be – and destroy you and your pathetic family of usurpers along the way!"

Al was up early in the morning; showered and got ready for the day; and was waiting in the kitchen when Gwenog got there to start making breakfast for everyone.

"I'll be glad for the help; but I'm used to being on my own most mornings around here. Kirley is not a morning person."

"This is the best time of the day at our house lately," Al advised her. "Things usually go downhill for me once James is awake for the day."

Gwenog shook her head. "It's too bad that you're having so much trouble with him; but try to give it time; and he might come around eventually. I had some issues like that when I was a teen and got a lot of attention for Quidditch. My youngest brother wasn't nearly as good as I was; and he hated me for it for a long time." She smiled then. "I was fairly obnoxious about it as a teen, so a big part of our problem was because of how I treated him; but we did both grow up and get along well-enough now."

"I can hope that'll happen for me too," Al said with a sigh and shrug. "What can I do to help?"

"Translation – let's not talk about your brother this morning," Gwenog said with a laugh. "I have to do the full training breakfast; so why don't you take care of scrambling the eggs while I start with the sausage and a batch of pancakes?"

They got to work; talked Quidditch; and enjoyed the quiet time until the smells of cooking food began to draw everyone else to the kitchen. Gwenog stayed on her schedule the entire time; and was on her way to work on-time after enjoying the meal and talk time with her family, Al, and Lily. Kirley had lots of help for the clean-up; and then Al and Gwendolyn got ready for their study session with their friends while Jonah and Lily were set free to play – and eventually hang out with the other younger kids that had been invited to the practice and came early with their study group siblings – like Melissa and Hugo. Rose had a minor surprise for them when she brought Shane along for the day; but Al was glad to get to see Ray, Tory, Madison, Scott, Toni, and Michael too – though most of them were staying for the entire day.

Getting a big head start on their holiday revision really paid off for them, and while it took working hard all morning; nearly everyone got their revision finished by the time they stopped for lunch – or moved on again for the friends that couldn't even stay that long. They'd managed to have fun while studying together too – particularly with exchanging Christmas stories and having fun with Al over his Animagus news; but the fun level really kicked up starting with their lunch break – and into high gear when it was time to play Quidditch. Tory and Madison hadn't been able to stay because they were having their own team practice for Hufflepuff instead; but Gwendolyn still had enough help for her practice team competition. Rose captained that team; had Al, Ray, and Melissa at Chaser; Lily and Jonah taking turns at Seeker against Stephanie; and Hugo and Jonah or Lily playing Beater – though they were really only doing that for fun – and not because they were a challenge for Seth and Brandon.

Over the next two hours, Gwendolyn's team had all of the competition they could handle and then some. Stephanie was shocked the first time that Lily caught the snitch ahead of her – but only because she'd underestimated her rival. She went on to win her first battle with Jonah; lost the next two – one against each of them; and won the fifth and final catch against Lily that ended the match. Rose won the Keeper battle over Ryan, and while that was partly thanks to a better Chaser defense; while Al, Ray, and Melissa won the Chaser contest because Ray and Melissa out-played Mark and Landon. There was some banter about the winning and losing; but it really was a brilliantly fun time for all of them; and Kirley had a happy group of kids and teens with him when they came inside for hot drinks and snacks.

"I caught most of the action," he told Gwendolyn as the kids sat around the kitchen table that had enough chairs for everyone thanks to a bit of magical help from him. "You must be very glad that you won't be facing this team for your match next April against Gryffindor."

"I'm more afraid right now that either Lily or Jonah will end up in Ravenclaw next season and put me out of a job," Stephanie declared before Gwendolyn could comment; earning a round of laughs.

"You won't have to worry about that with me," Lily promised. "I'll be Gryffindor." She grinned at Jonah. "He's pretty good for a Wizard; but you should be okay at tryouts next year; and you'll love how good the training competition will be."

"Not if he wins too often," Stephanie predicted. "Then I'll have to worry about Gwendolyn putting him in for the games if he's playing better than I am."

"That'd be any team Captain's dream," Kirley told her. "Imagine how good a professional team could be with two top Seekers taking turns all season and keeping rested and in better shape than the competition."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed, "but you'd need two players with egos that could handle sharing the spotlight – assuming that any team could afford two top players for any position on the team."

Kirley shrugged. "I'm not saying it would work for every position. Chasers and Beaters have to play as a duo or trio; and that takes working together a lot. The Seeker and Keeper are different, and while you might have one or the other players get hot and be able to run a few matches in a row before taking a break; the payoff would be at the end of the season and in the playoffs when the other team players are tired out by comparison."

"Would you be okay with trying that with the members of your band?" Gwendolyn asked him; and Kirley laughed.

"No, but then our egos are definitely too big to share the spotlight with a reserve squad of Weird Sisters – especially if they were younger and more talented."

"That's how I feel about my team too," Gwendolyn advised him with a nod; and Kirley grinned at her.

"Maybe, but if my idea would work; you'd have winning a Championship to consider. My band isn't competing with other bands to win the big prize every May – or during the Quidditch World Cups."

"My ego could handle sharing the work to get a Championship," Rose told Gwendolyn; and smiled when her friend laughed.

"Your ego can handle playing for the Cannons," Gwendolyn reminded her. "My ego would have a problem if I was the third-best Chaser behind Victoire and Dominique." Rose's sudden grin had Gwendolyn laughing again. "Cut that out. It'd be even worse to be second or third-best Chaser on the Cannons behind Al – not that I can picture that without laughing no matter how much you think it's a brilliant plan."

"I caught the highlights of the Cannons' last match," Stephanie told them. "Any seven of us could likely do better in the show this season for the Cannons."

"They're not that bad," Rose said defensively; and Stephanie wasn't the only kid in the room laughing at that.

"Yes, they are," she disagreed; "but more importantly – we really might be better."

"Well, there's at least a few egos in the room proving Gwendolyn's point," Kirley told them with a grin. "Maybe we should see if any of you are good at music too; since you've got the confidence by the bucketful."

"I am not starting a band," Gwendolyn told him. "Quit trying to get me to change my mind about that."

Kirley grinned at Rose. "I'll do that after Rose gives up on her dream of getting you to play for the Cannons," he offered; and Gwendolyn rolled her eyes while laughing along with her friends and brother.

"Maybe Rose should get you to play for the Cannons instead of me," she suggested. "It might be fun to see how well you, Aunt Ginny, and some of the other parents in our families might do if you all played for the Cannons. I'll wager you'd play well-enough – and give Rose something else to do that isn't trying to mess up my plan to play for the Harpies."

"I'm so glad that her tactics for you won't work on me," Lily said with a laugh; and then looked at Rose when she laughed too.

"Where do you think that Kirley got the idea for two top Seekers on a team?" she asked whimsically – "or why you and Jonah keep getting to tag-team our Seeker duels against Gwendolyn's teams?"

"You're all in so much trouble," Kirley advised them. "I didn't even notice the memory charm; so she must be really good." He smiled at Rose next. "Do you think you could use a memory charm on Gwendolyn and Al to make them think that they've always dreamed of a career in music instead of Quidditch?"

"If I could actually do that; I'd have them dreaming of careers with the Cannons by morning."

"Will the both of you stop that?" Gwendolyn half-begged. "This is the christmas holidays – not Halloween. You're seriously starting to scare me."

"So have Al change into a bear and scare them right back," Brandon suggested with a grin. "Oh wait – we've seen his bear; and it isn't scary at all."

His joke sent the conversation off in a new direction that was all about teasing Al about his Animagus talents again, but he had fun with that; and it wasn't long before most of their friends headed for their own homes once they'd finished their snack break and helped to clean up. Al and Lily stayed until Ginny picked them up at a bit after four o'clock; and then she took them home – where they found out that they weren't going to have to worry about dealing with James for another day because he was at Ollie's for the night; and wouldn't be home until dinnertime on Friday.

"Was this part of the plan too; or did James really need another day away from Al?" Lily asked as she sat at the kitchen table while Ginny and Al started working on dinner for four.

"James and Ollie cooked this one up on their own," Ginny answered. "What I don't get is why James and Ollie are both so mad about this. I expected James to be jealous; not mad." Lily looked at Al before saying anything; and he shrugged and left the decision up to her; since they both knew she'd hear about it from Kirley or Gwenog eventually anyway.

"They're mad because they suspect that Al went Animagus on them when they tried to ambush him with that cement swamp prank."

Ginny stopped working and turned to look at Lily – and then at Al. "Did they try to get Gwendolyn or anyone else along with you?" she asked Al; and he shook his head.

"No. They set it up for when I was walking to Ravenclaw tower to escort Gwendolyn to the Christmas dance." He smiled ruefully and shrugged. "Don't say anything to him about it or do anything, Mum. Things are already bad-enough between us without making it worse by having him think that I'm ratting him out." He shook his head. "What's going to be especially dumb about this particular problem is that I didn't use an animal form to avoid that ambush."

"James doesn't let facts get in the way of what he cooses to believe," Lily told him seriously. "He thinks that he knows what happened the night of the dance; he probably believes that you broke the law using an Animagus Transfiguration without being registered yet; but can't say anything to anyone without admitting that he and Ollie were behind that horrid prank attempt. The ambush alone is reasonable grounds for defending yourself any way that you can; but he doesn't think that anything he does with his pranks is wrong."

"So that's why he kept muttering that Al should be in Azkaban," Ginny said with a frown and nod. "We knew they must have been involved." She looked at Al again. "What really happened to Fred and Orlando?"

"I'd rather not say," Al answered seriously. "I didn't do anything to them; and I went back to them as soon as I could after meeting up with Gwendolyn. I only did that to try and keep them out of even more trouble than they were already in by then."

Lily laughed then; getting her mother's and brother's attention. "Sorry, but it makes so much sense now for why it was Al's idea to transfigure Fred and Orlando into animals to get out of the cement."

Ginny laughed too. "It does," she agreed; but her expression turned serious again. "I don't like hearing about how these pranks are getting so dangerous. I know you want your father and I to stay out of this; but that last prank and the one at Halloween weren't pranks at all – they were attempts to hurt you – and your friends with the earlier one."

Al sighed. "We're not their only prank victims, Mum; but I don't have any ideas for how to get him to stop. He's bound and determined to earn an even more extreme reputation for pranks than Uncle George and Uncle Fred still have at Hogwarts."

Ginny nodded glumly. "I know, and I can't even say that my brothers didn't do some really awful things to other students because they did." She sighed too. "There's no point in going on about this. You'll do your best to keep yourself and your friends safe; and I'd rather hear about your visit with the McCormacks."

"We'll be happy to do that," Lily promised, "but before we go there; I have to ask how James' Gryffindor practice went this afternoon." She laughed at the expression on Ginny's face. "That bad?"

"I don't want to tell you about it anymore than Al wants to tell me about the problems he has with James and Ollie at school. Let's just be kind and not go there – and I'll spare you the report when it comes to James and Patricia and Ollie and Anna too. That was even scarier for me when the four of them were hanging out together before and after the practice. The girls went to Ollie's house with them too; though I don't think that they were going to spend much more time together after that unless they had plans that they didn't want me to know about."

"Like co-ed sleepovers?" Lily teased; and Ginny laughed.

"Quit trying to scare the parent. How did the studying and Quidditch go today?"

"We got all of our revision finished by lunchtime – or most of us did," Al answered first.

"And we won our scrimmage against the Ravenclaw team," Lily added. "Jonah and I won three of five over Stephanie. Al got teased a lot about being an Animorphmagus; so that was a lot of fun too." She grinned at Al. "He took Gwendolyn and me for horseback rides after we got there yesterday."

"Don't forget to tell Mum about the sign that you and Jonah made and stuck on Gwendolyn's door last night."

"I'm sure that Mum will agree that Gwendolyn's room should be a no animorphmagus zone too," Lily explained with a grin that had Ginny laughing.

"For at least a handful or so more years," she agreed. "Once they're seventeen; it'll be up to them to decide whether Al can stay overnight and keep her feet warm or not." She laughed when Al started to blush. "I am so glad that James wasn't the one telling us he's an Animagus. He wouldn't have turned down an offer like that."

"I am so shocked!" Lily gushed.

"She was kidding – mostly," Al told them; though he wasn't sure that Gwendolyn wouldn't have let him stay with her if he'd agreed. From the smiles his sister and mother were directing his way; they didn't believe that Gwendolyn had been joking at all.

They did let him off the hook, though, and Lily happily led the storytelling while Ginny and Al continued to work together on their meal. Harry was late getting home again because it was year-end and he had a lot of extra work to do to keep up with the extra meetings and reports that annoyed him to distraction but were deemed to be so necessary by too many people at the Ministry – or any other government body. He had more work to do after dinner too, but he and Ginny worked in the sitting room so that they could still hang out with Al and Lily while they played mirror games and didn't have to worry about offending James by daring to try their best and win games against him. Lily had more chances to play while James and Al were at school, so he was out of practice; and she won three different games to just one win for him; but that was also the most fun either of them had with gaming in quite a while too.

The media storm over Al was still going on during the rest of the week; which was why Harry and Ginny kept Al out of the public eye on Friday and planned to do that all weekend too. Ginny worked from home on Friday, and Al and Lily had a fun day without James around. They had a Seeker duel that Lily won four catches to one for Al; did a bit of baking before lunch; and then split their afternoon up between some more mirror gaming; some play time with Holly that included Al changing into an identical version of her and playing in kneazle mode for a very entertaining half-hour or so; and some alone time for Al in his room once James got home from Ollie's house. Al was ready when James came to see him there – coming into his room and closing the door behind him before turning again to glare at Al with dark anger blazing anew in his eyes – a bit amazing when he'd had two full days to cool off.

"You sure have everyone fooled," he spat. "If they all knew what I do; you'd be in Azkaban – not the 'Desirable Animorphmagus number One'."

"Really?" Al asked. "And why should I be in Azkaban?"

"For being an unregistered Animagus – and using your ability against other Wizards."

"I registered; and was completely honest about when I tried my first transfiguration and then practiced and experimented until I was sure that I had control over my abilities – just exactly as I was supposed to do everything."

James snorted derisively. "Didn't you forget to tell them something rather important – like how you used your Animagus form against a group of Hogwarts students?"

"When did I do that?" Al asked mildly; and James glared at him.

"You know damn well when," he spat back. "Why didn't you tell them about being responsible for what happened to Fred and Orlando?"

"Would you really like me to do that?" Al asked him; his own expression turning hard now. "I was there, James – and I saw everything – including when you and Ollie shoved Fred and Orlando out of your way and into the cement while trying to hex and jinx me."

"You must've knocked them in," James told him; sounding ridiculous to Al.

"I'll be happy to call Dad and ask him to bring home one of the Auror pensieves," he offered. "Let's all take a look at your memories and mine for what happened there. I was most of the way down the hall by then – which is why you were turning around to continue your attack – and shoved Fred and Orlando out of your way to get more room for your wand-work." He smiled then. "For the record, the Marauder's Map is working just fine; and Orlando was not reading it wrong."

"How did you..." James demanded; trailing off; and then his expression darkened again. "Don't try to turn this around on me. You changed into an Animagus while unregistered. You broke the law; and Dad should've arrested and charged you."

"James, quit being an idiot," Al told him bluntly. "Every Animagus has to master the transfirgurations first before registering. I didn't talk about what happened with that ambush during the press conference because I didn't use an animal form to avoid it. Even if I had, though, I wouldn't have said anything because I would have wanted to protect you, Fred, and your best mates – just as I did during that ambush when it would have been just as easy for me to blast the lot of you as it was to avoid all of those hexes, jinxes, and curses."

"In your dreams," James scoffed. "You're lying; Ollie and I know it; and you didn't do any of this for me, Fred, or anyone other than yourself."

Al shrugged indifferently. "You'll believe whatever makes you feel better. If you think it's such a big deal – go ahead and tell everyone about what you think happened during that ambush before the Christmas dance. "I'm sure everyone will love getting the dirt on that."

"Maybe I will do that," James threatened. "Rita Skeeter might be perfect to handle that story for me too."

Al laughed. "Now that would be good," he agreed. "You should definitely do that, but before you do; give Ollie, Fred, and Orlando a heads up."

"They'll be happy to see you get what's coming to you," James assured him; then glowered when Al laughed again.

"Even after the lot of you are hauled into Professor McGonagall's office for admitting to that ambush; all of the hexes and jinxes you fired at me; for you and Ollie shoving Fred and Orlando into the cement; and then for abandoning them instead of calling for help just to avoid getting caught? Will the rest of our fellow Gryffindor thank you if you lose a couple of hundred more points for our House? Will you thank yourself if you're still doing detention in March when you're supposed to be playing Quidditch? Will all of that be worth it?"

"To see you in Azkaban for the next ten years? Absolutely," James declared.

"Fine," Al said tiredly. "Before you go there, I'd read up on Animagi and the laws first. When you're done that, study up on the history of Azkaban; and look specifically for records of any underage Witches and Wizards that have been sent there."

"Why would I waste my time doing that?" James demanded with a snort.

"Because you'd find out that I'm telling you the truth about the rules for Animagus; and then you'd discover that there has never, ever been an underage Witch or Wizard sent to Azkaban for any crime – ever. I get that you've got a serious hate on for me right now, and while I wish that you didn't and we could get along again; everything you're trying to do to me is just hurting you, Ollie, Fred, Orlando, or other friends of yours or mine. I'm doing just fine – and for that matter; I should give you a bit of thanks for helping me to become an Animagus."

"How could you possibly figure that?" James said derisively.

Al smiled at him. "I've had a lot of free time without practicing with the team this year," he explained. "I used a lot of that time for studying and trainng to be an Animagus. I might not have even thought about doing it if I'd been focused on Quidditch instead."

James stalked over to Al and took a swing at him. Al blocked it; the next swipe; and the one after that before grabbing James' wrists with the next two attempts. He squeezed hard; and James yelped in pain.

"I think that we're done here," Al told him quietly. "Hate me and be mad all you want; but don't think that you can still samck me around physically or magically anymore. We both know that's what you're really most mad about now – that I'm not just letting you push me around anymore or put up with your pranks and everything else you try to do to me. Get used to it, James; because I won't be going back to being the little kid you can get away with picking on because - well, because I let you do it."

"You didn't let me do anything; but go ahead and have fun deluding yourself with idiocies like that while you can," James told him angrily. "I am going to prove that I'm the better Wizard, Quidditch player; and everything else than you – and stomp on the pieces of you that are left behind when I'm done with proving that to everyone."

"Have at it. I'm happy to just try and be a good Wizard. This isn't a contest for me; so I hope you well in everything you do – as long as it isn't at the expense of anyone else."

"Winning is always at someone else's expense," James retorted as he stomped over toward the door again. "Only a loser like you wouldn't understand that."

"Your definitions for winning and losing are different than mine – just as Slytherins think that winning by cheating is perfectly okay too – and that it's even more true if they can beat up on other players through the cheating." He looked steadily at James then. "How far will you go to win this contest that I don't want any part of to prove you're the best?" He could see and sense the answer; and felt the sadness inside that responded out of sorrow and pity for his misguided brother.

"I wouldn't dream of spoiling all of the surprises you'll regret while I do destroy you," James said instead of answering the actual question. He opened the door; stepped out into the hall; and turned back to look at Al with a confident sneer. "Watch your back, loser. My friends and I are coming for you."

He slammed the door before Al could respond; needing to 'win' by getting the last word. Al waited until James had slammed the door to his own room too; and then he went downstairs because it was past-time for him to help out with making dinner. Ginny looked at him speculatively when he walked into the kitchen; but Al just shook his head.

"What can I do to help tonight?"

"Just set the table," Ginny decided. "I've got the cooking under control. Your father will be home on-time tonight; so we won't have to keep the food warm and eat late again tonight."

Al laughed. "It's Friday. The work at the Ministry always seems to get done in time for the weekends."

"Except for the Wizards and Witches that work there on Saturday and Sunday – like Harry will be doing this weekend."

"They wouldn't say anything behind your back that they aren't willing to tell you to your face, James Potter; so you don't need to listen in with your extendable ear!" Lily shouted from the hallway. There was a loud, unintelligible yell coming from the top of the stairs before she was finished speaking; and then Lily appeared in the kitchen a moment later smiling brightly as she went to the table and sat down. "I didn't have my extendable ear in the sitting room. Did I miss anything good?"

"Not unless you want to help Al set the table or talk about your father getting home from work on time or that he's working this weekend," Ginny answered while grinning too but holding back on the laughter.

"All non-news to me," Lily said. "Now that we have the whole gang back together, though, are we doing anything fun tonight?"

"We're just planning on staying home – and keeping Al out of the spotlight," Ginny told her.

"That doesn't sound like any fun at all," Lily protested. "if all you're trying to do is keep Al away from the reporters, why couldn't we still go to the movies or something. It's not as if the Muggles know anything about Al."

"Find out if there are any good shows to go and see; and we'll put it to a vote when we have dinner," Ginny suggested. "As long as we go to an early show, and can watch a movie that isn't a waste of time; I'm okay with the idea if the rest of you are."

"Then we'll be going; since I've already got three votes to do it," Lily said happily; and Ginny laughed.

"You're usually better at math than that."

"Al will vote yes – unless he wants me to razz him all weekend with animal jokes."

"Yes," Al agreed with a grin. "I'd go and see one of your chick flicks to avoid that when I'm going to be hearing animagus jokes for the rest of the school year – and probably forever after that."

"Probably," Ginny agreed with a nod. "Go and check on those movies," she told Lily. "They've been going to the dogs lately; so there might not be anything worth going to see."

Al rolled his eyes and Lily laughed before heading back into the sitting room to use the smart television for surfing the internet for what movies were currently at their favorite movie theater. He finished setting the table before Lily had that done; Harry was home soon after that; and James came down to dinner the first time he was called; so he'd likely continued to listen in on the conversation in the kitchen even after Lily had shouted into his extendable ear and heard about the potential movie night. Harry had been tired already by then, but caved in under Lily's adorable enthusiasm; so they ate quickly; cleaned up; and headed for London using the Floo Network. They took Muggle transit from the Leaky to the movie theater; James was allowed to go and watch a teen sci-fi action flick; and Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily picked a romantic comedy because Al had said he'd do that for Lily and Harry went along for the cuddle time with his wife.

Their show was done first, so they were waiting for James when he got out of his movie; and none of them were surprised to see him with a group of Muggle teens – along with one particular girl that he was flirting with right up until he located his family and saw them watching him. While James didn't quite dump his new acquaintances, he made quick work of the goodbyes; and then sautnered casually over to them with as much swagger as was possible when your grand exit would be with your Mum, Dad, and younger siblings. They went home instead of going out somewhere for a snack; took care of the munchies for the two of them that actually were hungry; and then Al went up to his room for the rest of the night while James went to the sitting room to play video games; Harry and Ginny decided to do some work in the office; and Lily played with Holly and watched a show on the mirror network while James was playing Muggle video games on the television. Reading in bed for an hour or so helped Al to wind down; his bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn was entertaining; and then he went off to sleep before anyone else in the house even came up to bed.

Saturday was the half-way point of their Christmas break; and it was a day of contrasts for Al. His morning started out great because he got to spend the time with his parents and Lily but without James because he refused to get up for breakfast. Harry went to work after breakfast, and Al and Lily took care of the clean-up; but then they went outside for some Quidditch play time while Ginny got ready for her Qudditch match assignment. Some snow play followed the Quidditch; and then the first change of the day came for Al when James finally came to life in time for lunch – and immediately started razzing and insulting him about anything and everything. Ginny's admonitions reminding him that he needed to play nice with Al and Lily if they wanted to be given the responsibility to take care of themselves was agreed to; and then ignored both before and after Ginny left for the stadium and game she was reporting on for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet.

Al didn't want to get into it with James again, so he went to his room and spent the afternoon there. That left Lily in a lousy position, but she played nice with James until she couldn't anymore; and then she joined Al in his room and they entertained themselves until Harry got back from work and it was time for Al to get to the best part of his day – dinner and the evening with Gwendolyn at her house. Since it was an off-weekend for the Harpies, Gwenog and Kirley were having a dinner with some of their family; so it was also going to be Al's first family event with Gwendolyn's family since they'd started dating.

That wasn't a first time for meeting her grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins, and there wasn't even a quartr of the combined Jones and McCormack families there; but Al definitely earned more attention than any other time he'd been around any members of Gwendolyn's extended family. While the Animorphmagus story was part of that, and he had to deal with the jokes and some requests for demonstrations – particularly from the cousins; he and Gwendolyn had to deal with nearly as many jokes about dating and how serious it was getting if Al was being brought around to meet the relatives already. Al did do a demonstration of his Animagus talents after dinner, and he and Gwendolyn had enjoyed all of the dinnertime entertainment too; but they didn't get to escape the spotlight after that because Kirley drafted them to help out with the evening entertainment. That was a fairly-transparent attempt to show off their budding musical talents and get some of the family on his side for talking them into a music career. Al and Gwendolyn did impress their audience; and then Gwendolyn had to again remind her father that she was not interested in starting a solo, duo, or group music career – no matter how many people he tried to get on 'his side' to try and make that happen.

Grandma Catriona and Aunt Meghan were most amused over that; since they'd lived through Kirley's rebellion against Quidditch despite his own talent for the game. Although he'd heard those stories before, Al rarely thought about the fact that Kirley had been a talented Quidditch player as well as a musician; or that Gwendolyn and Jonah didn't just inherit their talents from their mother. It was actually more likely that they inherited those skills from the McCormack side of their family; since Gwenog was the only truly gifted Quidditch player in her family. He couldn't say the same about music, but then neither side of Gwendolyn's family even tried to claim musical skills. Kirley was apparently unique in his family for that; and could take full credit for passing that on to his kids.

Gwendolyn made sure that Al got a break from being at the center of the entertainment scene for the family after their little jam session with Kirley, and while the adults did their own thing in the siting room; the cousins went to the game room to hang out, play mirror games, and listen to music. Al actually liked doing that better with Gwendolyn's cousins because he didn't have to deal with James insulting him or trying to push him away from the other guys in their family. He didn't have to worry about anyone taking a fit if he won a video game; and he got along well-enough with all of Gwendolyn's cousins. He stayed there until nearly eleven; Ginny popped over to pick him up and have a short visit with Gwenog and Kirley; and then she took Al home with her.

James managed to toss a couple of nasty insults at him before Al could get out of the sitting room and upstairs, but he did take the time to say goodnight to his parents; and Lily and Holly came up to his room for a visit so that Lily could hear all about his night – and tell him about her evening where James played nice with everyone from the time Al left until he got home again. That news didn't surprise Al, but Lily suspected that James had an ulterior motive. She was likely right; but Al wasn't going to bother even thinking about that when he was in such a good mood after having a really good evening with Gwendolyn. He and Lily did sit and talk for nearly an hour before they were ready to get some sleep; and then he got ready for bed and was out for the count within minutes of putting head to pillow.

They had another quiet morning at home on Sunday thanks to James staying up most of the night and then sleeping in. He missed breakfast, but he also missed out on the chores that everyone else pitched in to get done before Ginny all but dragged James out of bed and they headed over to Ron and Hermione's house for the rest of the day an hour or so before noon. James wasn't happy about being forced into action, so he was seriously out-of-sorts for a while; but Rose didn't put up with that for more than a minute before taking Al with her and going to hang out in her room while James played video games in the sitting room and complained about everything.

"Would you like me to ask Mum if you can stay here for the rest of the holidays; or are you hoping that Gwendolyn will let you stay with her instead?" Rose asked him once they were both sitting down. She was on her bed; and he sat on her desk chair.

"Either would be better, but Mum won't let me do that – even if things are better for her with James when I'm not around. Lily told me he played nice with everyone from the time I left for Gwendolyn's house yesterday before dinner until I got home; and then he started right in on me the second Mum and I got back." He shook his head. "It's taken this long, but I'm beginning to think that James has hated me since the day I was born."

"He wouldn't be the only older sibling to ever feel that way about new babies in the family," Rose suggested, "but he's had a bad week – from his perspective; so maybe he'll get over it."

Al laughed. "From his perspective, things have been going downhill for a year and a half now; and it's all my fault. Nothing is going to get better between us until he stops blaming me for everything."

"He doesn't blame you for what's happened with Teddy," Rose pointed out; and Al laughed again.

"No – he blames Dad and Victoire for that. Speaking of, though; have you heard anything about what Uncle George did on Christmas Day to get James out of his temper tantrum? If Mum and Dad know; they're not telling Lily or me."

Rose shook her head. "Ditto that for me with Mum and Dad. Hugo and I are sure he got bribed; but I have no idea what he was offered or maybe even already given."

"Well, let's hope that it wasn't some new wheezes prototype that James will be able to try to use on us – or anyone else at school. I'd like to have a break from him for a while; though that's likely too much to hope for."

"That's true," Rose agreed; "but we'll spend a bit less time around him anyway if you're really planning on using those toy sofas and your new mirror a lot once we're back at school. You won't want to hang out in the common room at all anymore."

"Not unless it's after curfew," Al agreed with a smile. "Our biggest worry with that might be falling asleep while using those sofas and getting caught out of our dorms after curfew."

"That is definitely not going to be our biggest worry for the rst of the school year," Rose assured him. "James and Ollie definitely are, and while we haven't had any problems with any Slytherins; we still have a lot of haters there to worry about if they do decide to take another shot at us."

"I'm glad that they've left us alone so far; but I have been surprised," Al admitted. "Maybe some parents got involved and ordered their kids to leave us alone."

"If your Dad had the Aurors poke around after what happened at the stadium last April to make sure that they weren't going after you to get at him; that kind of attention might have been very uncomfortable for them,' Rose suggested; and Al nodded.

"Maybe, but if they thought they could do something to me and get away with it; Victor and Rupert would likely try anyway."

"That isn't a very cheery thought – and this is way too serious to be talking about anyway," Rose decided. "Tell me about your family night with Gwendolyn instead; and I'll tell you about our day with Grandma and Grandpa Granger yesterday."

That worked for Al; they talked until they were called downstairs for lunch; and then they enjoyed most of that meal time except for the insults and razzing that James directed at both of them while trying to make it all sound funny around Ron and Hugo – and mostly succeeding with that for his Uncle. Lily wanted to play Quidditch after lunch, and while it was unpleasantly cold out; she managed to get everyone except Hermione to go out with her for a negotiated one-hour time limited match. Harry and Ron played Chaser in front of Hugo; Ginny and Al were Rose's Chasers; and they had Lily with them against James at Chaser – though Al thought that was a really bad idea.

His bad feelings about that proved-out very quickly – as in within five minutes of the start of the scrimmage when Lily out-raced James to the first snitch catch. Things went downhill after that, and the angrier James got, the worse he played; and Lily won their Seeker duel three catches to naught by the end of that hour. Al and Ginny outplayed Harry and Ron by quite a bit too, though they all had a lot more fun doing that; so James was also ticked off that his team lost the match – and lost it by quite a bit. He stormed off into the house after they were done; and nobody wanted to be around him for the rest of the day. Al, Rose, Lily, and Hugo went into the dining room after getting cups of hot chocolate and a plate of snacks from the kitchen – and leaving the parents there because they didn't want to put up with James while he was being so obnoxious either.

"If I would get the chance to play against him for more than one season; I'd be tempted to get sorted into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff just to compete against James after putting up with him treating me like that," Lily said once they were all sitting down and on their own. "It's a wonder that the other Seekers at Hogwarts haven't figured out how easy it is to best him. I couldn't take advantage of that on my Firefly; but I can now."

"Not every Seeker at Hogwarts has the talent to back up any game plan," Rose reminded her – "and they all have their own weaknesses too."

"Stephanie hasn't played against James yet, and she's two years younger; so that'll be a tough match for her," Al said. "Madison played a really great match against James last season; and might have won their duel if Myra had gone with a different strategy for the match. James had best not underestimate her; or he'll be in trouble when they play in March."

"James has already replaced two players on the team and kicked a reserve player out," Rose pointed out. "The Seeker duel is not going to be an issue in that game if the Hufflepuff Chasers do as well as I think they will against our team – and let's not even think about what Gwendolyn and her team might be able to do even if Stephanie can't best James."

"Al will need to go and sit in the Ravenclaw section for that match," Lily teased. "It just wouldn't be right for him to cheer for Gwendolyn against his own House team."

"I cheered for her last season too – and we were playing in that match," Al told her with a grin. "What's the big deal?"

"Wait until next year when I'm on the team with you; and I'll explain it to you – in great detail and with bat-bogey hexes involved if we lose that Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match because you're too busy cheering for your girlfriend to play your best."

That promise sent their conversation off in a new direction that wasn't even Quidditch-related after a pair of follow-up jokes. The snack break couldn't be dragged out for the entire afternoon, though, and James' mood wasn't improving by then; so he was left in the sitting room to sulk and play video games while his brother, sister, and cousins headed upstairs to hang out in Hugo's room and play there until Al and Rose were drafted to help out with some pre-cooking prep work and getting the dining room table set for their dinner. That meal was bigger and lasted longer than their lunch break; eight out of nine of them had fun; and then the after-dinner clean-up was also the wind down time before Harry and Ginny took their kids home so that they could all turn in early and be ready for a long, busy New Year's Eve day.

Well, Monday didn't really start out busy for Al; since he wasn't doing any of the student day events with a Quidditch team or at the Ministry of Magic; but he was still up early. He also helped out with making breakfast; put up with his brother's insults and razzing until James left with Ginny to meet up with Ollie and then go on to the Arrows' practice pitch for the morning; and then took care of the clean-up while Harry headed for work too and Lily took her turn to get ready for the day. She would have liked to go to the Harpies' student day too, but had to wait another year for that; so Al made her morning by going outside for a two-hour Seeker duel with her. Lily won that duel again, but Al earned two catches and pushed her hard for all of her catches; so they'd both had a blast that they followed up with a hot chocolate and snacks break with Ginny in the kitchen.

"You'd better watch out for Al," Ginny told Lily. "He had more catches against you today than James got yesterday." Lily laughed; and then stopped suddenly and stared at Al with an expression of sudden suspicion on her face.

"That's funny, since Al never catches the snitch against James." She saw something in Al's reaction to that comment; and then she laughed again. "You are so busted, Albus Potter! You've been holding back – just like Dad usually does with me unless I pester him about it enough to play his best."

Ginny laughed too. "I'm surprised it took you so long to figure that out, Lily. You've seen him play his best at Chaser with Gwendolyn."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, but there are lots of really great Chasers out there that couldn't catch the snitch if their life depended on it – and Dad's a great Seeker; but not exactly the best Chaser around."

"Is there any chance I can get you to keep this little secret from James?" Al asked hopefully. "Yes, I don't play my best at Seeker, but then I really want to be a Chaser; so what's the big deal?"

Lily grinned at him. "It would be a lot of help to me if he's too busy being mad at you for being better than him at that too instead of being mad at me."

"But won't you get mad too if Al starts trying his hardest in your duels and wins all of the time?" Ginny asked; and Lily laughed yet again.

"I don't get mad at you or Dad for that," she pointed out. "I want to be the best some day; and won't get there until I really am better thant the best Seekers. If Al's better than me now; then I'd rather know how much more I have to learn and work harder than delude myself into thinking something that isn't true."

"Then I'll make you a deal," Al offered. "I'll play my best when it's just us around here – if you won't tell James about this – especially right now. I'm pretty sure he might explode if he hears anything else he won't like during the rest of this holiday."

"Deal," Lily agreed. "When will Gwendolyn and Jonah be coming over; and what time are we going over to the Burrow for the night?"

That question was directed at Ginny; and they talked about their plans for the rest of the day. After their snack break, Ginny had them help out with some chores; they packed their overnight bags before having lunch; and then Al and Lily played mirror games until Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Rose came over together – with the girls getting there after their morning and lunch with the Harpies. Gwenog had sent them home so that Gwendolyn could get her things and collect Jonah on the way over; and then they had another hour or so to hang out together until they were expected at the Burrow for the rest of the day and a New Year's Eve party and sleepover while their parents were all going out to the New Year's Eve party at the Magick Hall – where the Weird Sisters were one of the bands playing at the biggest party in the Wizarding World parts of the country.

James came home after he was finished with his play morning with the Arrows, but he was only there because he still needed to pack an overnight bag before going to spend the night at Ollie's house; and he only talked with them so that he could brag about how great he'd done playing against the Arrows' Seeker during the scrimmage – and impressed the team Manager and all of the players with his two-catch performance. Once he'd done that, he was gone again; and then it wasn't much longer after that before Ginny went with the remaining five kids to the Burrow. Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne were all there by then too, and while that wasn't a surprise; Molly, Ginny, Angelina, and Hermione had set up a few surprises for all of the kids that they began to find out about after Ginny went home again to start getting ready for her big date with Harry.

Denise and Colin Creevey were the first bonus party guests to arrive when they were dropped off by Dennis after he was finished work for the day; but it was when Hermione stopped in to drop off Shane Snyder; and then Wendy Wintringham was sent through the Floo Network that the kids figures out that their parents collectively wanted to make sure that they had a brilliant night with their friends, cousins, and grandparents. That had just been the beginning of the surprises, and while Molly and Arthur were taking care of the kids all night; they had help for nearly everything – starting with the dinner pizza delivery that saved Molly from doing any cooking. Teddy had been drafted for that job; and he dropped off the food on his way to pick up Victoire at her house. He joked about that being his assignment because he was on a first-name basis with everyone at the pizza shop closest to his apartment; but then he really was just one of the volunteers; and the kids didn't even know about half of the contributions that had been dropped off earlier in the day to make their New Year's Eve food and entertainment possible.

When they sat down to enjoy their pizza dinner, Al and Gwendolyn had Rose and Shane on his side; and Fred and Wendy were on hers – mostly because Wendy was one of Gwendolyn's Weird Sisters' cousins; and she knew Wendy better than the other teens and tweens. That was a bit awkward for Fred at first, since he hadn't been allowed to talk with Al or Gwendolyn for the past four months, but while Wendy knew about that; she didn't care – and was happy to chat with Gwendolyn – and with the other kids too as she and Fred were included in the different conversations going on around the table. For the three 'couples' on the Hogwarts' students side of the table; the top chat subject was the student day with the Harpies – and Gwendolyn and Rose told their story again for the benefit of Fred, Wendy, Arthur, and Molly. Denise and Roxanne were intersted too; but spent a lot of that time talking with Lily about other things – including trading Christmas stories; since Lily hadn't seen Denise since before Christmas. While Al was aware of everything going on and being said around him; he mostly let everyone else take care of the entertainment while he was just happy to enjoy the food and sitting with Gwendolyn.

"Fred's talking with me more than you are," Gwendolyn leaned close and whispered to him – "and he's risking getting tossed off the Gryffindor team to do that."

Al smiled and shrugged. "I'm having fun; and can't say much about your day with the Harpies that isn't just second-hand from you and Rose anyway. Fred's already heard about my Christmas too; so i don't have anything to talk about."

"Sure you don't," she whispered back before turning her attention toward Fred. "What did you think about Al's Animagus news, Fred? Has your Dad started work on an Animorphmagus wheeze yet?"

Fred laughed. "Actually, he has," he confirmed. "He hasn't figured out how to get it to work yet; but he's trying to make one that changes from animal to animal."

"Maybe he could do that with hard candy," Shane suggested; and then shrugged self-consciously when that comment earned him the attention of the other five students.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked him encouragingly.

Shane shrugged again. "Have you ever had the hard candies that change flavors as you suck on them?" he asked in return. "I've seen the other transfiguration wheezes and heard a lot about them; but if you wanted to do different transfigurations in one wheeze; they could be layered into a candy like that – and then each change wouldn't happen until you got to that layer of the candy."

"That's a great idea for Dad to try," Fred said enthusiastically. "He's tried chocolates with the cream fillings; but chewing them up mixed up the transfiguration too."

"That might be fun, though," Rose suggested with a laugh. "You could end up as a kneazle-pup or a feathered horse or something."

"Combinations like that would be funny," Fred agreed; "but you wouldn't want to be something like a fox and chicken – and then have the urge to have your other half for dinner."

"Is your Dad limping around right now after trying that; or were you just making that an example?" Gwendolyn asked; earning a round of laughs for that.

"It was an example that he talked about. He isn't anywhere near to the testing stage for anything yet – though he might be soon if he likes Shane's idea."

Their conversation moved on, and while Al noticed that Fred hadn't answered Gwendolyn's first question; he did start talking with Al too as Gwendolyn mediated and got both of them more involved in their dinnertime chat. The students were drafted for the clean-up; but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of most of the work because they could use charm bracelets or charmed seashells to do the work magically while Wendy, Shane, and Fred supervised. After that, gaming of several types was on in the sitting room. Al played a few rounds of video games with the other guys, but he also played two matches of Wizard's Chess; and Molly had other entertainment on the side that included some snack baking; and a craft session at the kitchen table for making New Year's Eve souvenirs.

There were several mirror network options for watching New Year's Eve parties starting at ten o'clock, so they tuned into the teen party that again had the Weird Kids on the Block as the headliner band; watched the live action and music; and had a small area of the sitting room open for dancing. Al and Gwendolyn did a lot of dancing after that, but then even Molly and Arthur got up to do that a few times – for the slow dances. The video gaming could continue on the Muggle system and television, and the three younger boys were more interested in doing that; but Lily got them involved in the dancing too – even if that meant dragging them away from the gaming to do that. As midnight neared, and the party they were watching was really getting going; it was the opposite at the Burrow – just as Molly had planned. The couples were paired up when it was time for the big countdown to midnight, and though the six younger kids hadn't been set up to make three more couples; that didn't keep Lily from having some fun with that; and her nudges conveniently had her next to Jonah, Denise with Hugo, and Roxanne with Colin by midnight.

"Happy New Year to us!" Gwendolyn whispered before kissing Al; and then he wasn't interested in anything else going on around them for a while – though he was still aware of everything.

"Happy New Year," he answered when Gwendolyn leaned back again a few seconds or an hour later.

"Especially now that this one has started properly instead of like it did last year," Gwendolyn agreed. "Remind me not to invite James and Ollie to any future New Year's Eve parties."

"We're not going to need to worry about them accepting any invitations from us anytime soon." He grinned then. "I think Jonah might want an invitation next year – if he can remember his name by then." Gwendolyn glanced over to where Jonah was standing next to Lily, and while she hadn't seen what had happened; the dazed look on his face and the happy grin on Lily's was all she needed to see to make a really good guess.

"If Lily's narrowing down her list already, then my brother is done for; and that's going to be weird for all four of us once he figures that out."

"Especially if you and Lily are playing for the Harpies and Jonah and I end up with Rose and the Cannons," Al joked; earning a hug, kiss, and laugh.

"Now that would be brilliant – though I'll feel bad when our team beats yours twice a season."

Al grinned at that. "That's okay with me – as long as we win that third match in the playoffs."

"That was quick – and really unlikely. We'll all be old and retired long before the Cannons get into the playoffs let alone win a match against the Harpies."

"I heard that," Rose told her. "That's not a very nice thing to say about your future team."

"My future team is the Harpies; so there's nothing wrong with what I just said," Gwendolyn explained after shaking her head in disagreement. "Try to remember that."

"Lily keeps saying the same thing, but my plan for her seems to be working out great too from what I just saw."

Gwendolyn laughed. "The Cannons can't afford one top Seeker; and you think they'll hire two – along with the rest of us? Good luck with that. The Cannons can't come close to what the Harpies will pay us – which is why you should be thinking about playing with us; not the other way around."

"There must be a reason why she's accepted two invitations to the student days so far," Al pointed out. "She'd have no problem going to the Cannons' practice and luncheon instead."

"I'm learning from the Harpies so I'll know what to do to make my Cannons a championship team," Rose advised them. "I've learned a lot so far."

"I'm telling Mum that you're really just a spy from that future Cannons team of yours," Gwendolyn warned.

"Go ahead," Rose said with a shrug. "She won't think my team will ever be a threat – right up until we are."

"That's probably true," Gwendolyn conceded; "but why don't you make it your New Year's resolution not to badger Lily and me about joining the Cannons instead of the Harpies – and then renew it every year for the rest of our lives?"

Rose grinned at her. "I can do that – since I haven't made a resolution yet that I've actually managed to keep all year."

New Year's resolutions became the new chat topic; they had fun with that while they also took turns wishing everyone else a Happy New Year too; and then it was time to start wrapping up their little party. That meant helping out with the clean-up for the six older kids; bringing the gaming to an end for the younger ones; and then taking turns getting ready for bed and sharing washroom time – with Lily leading the way; and Al and Gwendolyn heading upstairs last. They didn't begin their New Year with a major snogging session then, but they were both smiling when they split up for the night. Al was sharing a room with Shane, and the other boy was already changed and in bed by the time Al got into the room; so he didn't take long getting changed and into his bed.

"Have you had fun with your first New Year's Eve with a Wizarding family?" Al asked quietly once he was under the covers and comfortable.

"It's a lot different than anything I've done before; but then it isn't different at all in other ways – like playing video games and watching a New Year's Eve celebration on television – or a mirror in this case."

"Dad's told us that it was the everyday magic that was so strange for him the first couple of times he visited the Burrow. The first time was the summer after his first year, and even though he'd been learning magic for a year; he'd never seen dishes cleaning themselves or any other chores that Witches and Wizards use magic to do."

"That is different," Shane agreed; "but then hearing you talk about your father like that is just as weird to me."

Al laughed softly. "Yeah, I suppose that finding out that Harry Potter used to de-gnome the gardens here when he wasn't battling an army of Dark Wizards and Witches does sound strange."

"De-gnoming?" Shane asked; and Al laughed again.

"Garden gnomes will eat your vegetables from underground if you don't keep them out; so you have to get rid of them regularly. We can take a look in the morning and if there are any in the garden; I can show you how it's done – though it's a fairly dirty job."

"I didn't bring extra clothes; so maybe we'll have to do that another time." He looked around the room and seemed to hesitate before speaking again; though Al sensed that more than saw anything in the darkened room. "I haven't been to many Wizarding family houses; but this one is a lot different than Gwendolyn's or Rose's. Is this what's normal?"

"There isn't really a normal at all," Al answered. "My house, and Rose's are nice, but modest homes; there are some like this one that have a lot of magic built into them over the years; and then there are estates, manors, and mansions that are something else altogether."

"What do you mean when you say there's a lot of magic built into this house?" Shane asked him; and Al shrugged; though his roommate wouldn't be able to see it.

"The easiest examples are the kitchen and sitting room. You came here by Floo Network with Aunt Hermione, so you wouldn't know this; but those rooms are both magically larger than the physical size of the Burrow. The kitchen table was big enough for all of us today; but it can be small-enough for just two if that's what Grandma and Grandpa want. They raised seven kids in this house; so they added on as needed."

"Will we learn how to do stuff like that?"

"Yes, but there are lots of Witches and Wizards that can't do things like this very well – just as some are better at Potions or Charms or Transfiguration; but not everything."

"I'm told that I'm doing good in all of my subjects," Shane said. "Are you saying that'll be harder to do later?"

"All of the work will definitely get harder; but I'm talking about power and talent. Apparating is a good example for that. Most of us can learn to do it; but everyone that can has very different limitations. Some can only apparate short distances while others can travel between cities or even countries. When Teddy dropped off the pizzas; he apparated here from London. That wouldn't be possible for less-powerful Wizards – especially with a stack of pizzas going along for the ride."

"So he didn't splinch them into slices like Roxanne sugested?" Shane joked; and Al laughed.

"No, but that would be seriously cool if you could do that."

That joke led to a wind-down of their chat; and Al eventually fell asleep by sometime after one-thirty. That was really late for him, but he still managed to wake up earlier than anyone else in the house; he showered, got ready for the day, and packed his bag; and then he went downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink and snack while waiting for everyone else to come to life. They were not having a breakfast at the Burrow because his parents were hosting a brunch for everyone that wanted to go there for it – or could do that too. There was still two and a half hours before they needed to be there by the time Al was in the kitchen, though; so nobody needed to hurry to get up and going – though Molly, Arthur, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all up and moving around by then too – though it was a while before anyone else made it downstairs too.

While his start to New Year's Day was quiet, the fun level kicked up a notch at a time as everyone at the Burrow eventually came to life. They didn't have breakfast, but Molly did put some snacks out for the kids and there were hot drinks. The kids that hadn't been to the Burrow before went on a tour outside that included having Arthur show off his chicken coop workshop with all of his toys. Shane didn't give de-gnoming the garden a try, but Al and Fred did find three of them and showed him how it was done before going inside again. Ron, Hermione, George, and Angelina all came over to the Burrow so that they could help Molly and Arthur with getting them over to Harry and Ginny's house when it was time to go there for brunch; though they also needed to get Shane and Wendy home too; since they couldn't spend the day with Rose and Fred because of other family commitments. Al and Gwendolyn were in the last group taking the Floo Network to his house; so the Happy New Year hugfest was already in full swing by the time they arrived in the sitting room.

"Happy New Year; glad to see you had fun with your kid-free night; and don't need the details," Al joked as he hugged his mother when it was his turn.

"The same better not be true for you and Gwendolyn; or we'll be having a long talk later," Ginny teased; and Gwendolyn laughed as she was hugged next.

"We did not have any issues last night with roommate swaps," she promised. "I was with Wendy, and Al was with Shane; so that wouldn't have worked out very well even if we had thought about it."

"Definitely not," Rose agreed as she stepped up next to Gwendolyn. "Maybe that's why Grandma put me with Roxanne instead of you."

"I only did that because Wendy knows Gwendolyn better than the rest of you," Molly advised them. "Happy New Year, Ginny; Harry," she added. "Did you have fun at the party last night?"

"Didn't you see us on the mirror network at all?" Ginny asked. "We were shown on the big screens at the Magick Hall at least twice."

"We watched the teen party for the music and countdown," Arthur advised her. "Only old folks watch that party you were at."

"Maybe we should've been at your party instead," Harry suggested. "Ours was a bit scary for me."

"Even compared to last year?" Gwendolyn joked. "You'll be happy to know that Al didn't get into any trouble last night at all."

"Well, then he couldn't have had any fun either," George said with a feigned sigh as he and Angelina got around to doing their hugs with Harry and Ginny. "Fred and Roxanne told us that you didn't even use any of my wheezes last night. You'll put me out of business if that kind of thing catches on."

"James and Ollie likely more than made up for us," Rose suggested; "but what's better for your store – those sales; or Shane's suggestion for how to make your Animorphmagus wheezes?"

"What's this?" Ginny asked; and smiled when her question earned a round of laughs from George and the kids.

"You must've known that I couldn't resist an opportunity like this for a new wheeze," George told her; "and Rose's friend apparently had a good idea for how I can get that wheeze to work. I've just heard about that, though; so I've yet to try it out."

Rose was happy to discuss that for a minute or two with George, but they all began making their way to the dining room. There were still a few more guests yet to arrive, but the McCormack and Creevey parents were soon there too; and then they sat down to enjoy the brunch that Harry and Ginny had ready to go by then – along with the family and friends time that helped to get their New Year off to a great start. Al didn't like making the admission even to himself, but that was more-true for him because James wasn't there for the brunch. He was still at Ollie's house, and knowing them; they were likely both still sleeping after staying up all night playing video games – or hanging out with their girlfriends as Patricia and Anna spent New Year's Eve with them. That worked out better for him after they ate too; because Lily's request for a Quidditch scrimmage wouldn't have been as much fun if James had been there to razz and insult everyone. Finally, Fred was practically back to normal around him by then, and while he'd likely go back to not talking to Al, Rose, or Gwendolyn once they were back at school; it had been nice to have a bit of fun together – and had Al sure that he and Fred would be okay again; even if he wasn't hopeful for working things out with James anytime soon.

The fun and games together wrapped up by early afternoon as their guests all needed to move on to other New Year's Day plans; and then it was time for a quiet couple of hours with just Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily before James got home and Al felt the need to spend some quality time in his room with his books. He wasn't able to avoid James for the rest of the day, but he managed to survive dinner despite having James alternately brag about how much better his New Year's Eve was and insulting Al for needing to be babysat by their grandparents with the rest of the little kids in the family. Harry and Ginny wanted to spend time with all of them after dinner, so Al did his best to do that until he was thoroughly sick of James' continuing obnoxious behavior; and then he went up to bed for the night a couple of hours earlier than he normally would just to get through the first day of the New Year without blasting his brother.

Harry was back to work on Wednesday, but Ginny mostly worked from home except for one short trip out that she did while leaving the kids at home on their own while she was away. Since James had again stayed up late; the morning was pretty good for Al while he slept in until nearly noon; but then he alternated the rest of the day between his room; going outside; or basically being anywhere that James wasn't except for at lunch and dinner. They didn't have any plans on Wednesday at all because the last three days of their Christmas break were booked; and Ginny hadn't wanted to add more busy to their week. While Al didn't mind that, it was still a chore to put up with James when he was acting the git toward him; yet being nice with their parents – as if he really was simply trying to make it seem that Al was the problem. When he and Lily headed for Gwendolyn's house on Thursday morning; Al was very happy to be rid of James – even if it was only for a handful of hours.

With their holiday revision finished, they didn't need to study; but their Quidditch practice was in the morning this time because Rose and Hugo were going to the Cannons' game against the Bats after lunch with Ron and Ginny. Hermione had been happy to beg off because of work; and that helped Ginny too since she didn't have to get an extra ticket and sit by herself to watch the match for her own job. Al and Lily were first to get to Gwendolyn's house, and they had fun while waiting for the rest of their friends and cousins to arrive; but then it was time to get to work on their Quidditch for a couple of hours. It was one of the coldest days of the winter so far, but that didn't keep them from putting in the time until Jonah made the fifth and final snitch catch – the only one he got while Stephanie and Lily each had two. Gwendolyn's team lost that scrimmage too; but it was closer this time; and she was happy with how well her team played.

Kirley had drinks and snacks ready for them by the time they were indoors again; they had another blast of fun with that while warming up; and then everyone except Al and Lily started heading out again. Rose and Hugo were last to leave, and Ginny picked them up on her way to the Leaky; where they wre meeting Ron for lunch before going on to the stadium for the game. That was sure to be fun for them too; but Al was glad to stay with Gwendolyn for lunch and the afternoon – especially when it was going to be very cold in the stadium. He and Gwendolyn eventually helped Kirley with making lunch while Jonah and Lily played in the music room; and then they sat down for a soup and sandwiches meal when everything was ready.

"Did you notice that Rose didn't mention anything about us playing for the Cannons today?" Gwendolyn asked Al. "I'm not sure whether she went ahead and made that New Year's resolution; is just taking a break; or if she's trying a brand-new tactic in her game plan for getting us to play for the Cannons."

"Possibly all of the above," Lily suggested with a grin. "What should really scare you is that you're thinking about it even when she isn't talking about it."

"Maybe, but I'm never thinking about it in a good way," Gwendolyn countered. "I can very easily picture the lot of us as a bunch of shriveled up old geezers still trying to win that championship for the Cannons, though; while we're sure to have a brilliant career with the Harpies."

"You and Lily can do that," Al reminded her. "Maybe you're picturing Jonah and me as those old, winless geezers."

"Do you have a team that you want to play for, Jonah?" Lily asked; and he shrugged.

"I haven't even decided whether I want to play Professional Quidditch yet. There are other jobs that I think would be just as great."

"Like in music," Kirley suggested; and Jonah laughed.

"Yeah, I think you've mentioned that to Gwendolyn and me a few gazillion times, Dad. It's an option; but I'm not sure about that either. Dragon Riders can have a very short career if they get eaten; but Broom Racers get to fly without worrying about having their heads bashed in by a bludger."

"Though they do have to worry about getting eaten by dragons in that race that crosses the dragon reserve in Romania," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Quidditch pays better too – unless you're working for the Cannons."

"I'm not in any big hurry to decide anything," Jonah told her seriously. "Maybe I won't even be good-enough to play in the show. Lily and Stephanie were both better than me today. I might not even be able to make the team on Ravenclaw or Gryffindor next year if I have to try and win the job over either of them."

"Gwendolyn's team is going to have an open Chaser spot next season," Al told him. "Maybe you should see how you'd do at that."

"I've never done very well against Gwendolyn when we play on our own," Jonah said with a shake of his head; and smiled when Lily laughed.

"Most Chasers don't do very well against Gwendolyn. Al's an exception; but then we're talking about you playing with her – and she could use a better playmaker on her Chaser trio than she has right now."

"You mean we didn't lose both of these holiday practice scrimmages because Al was better than me?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Al was better; but that was as much because Landon is so predictable that it's easy to anticipate what he's going to do. You should get him to work on that before one of your opponents figure that out and take advantage of it."

"Then don't say anything to James," Gwendolyn told her. "Slytherins don't usually think about stuff like that at all while they're just trying to bash the other team's players; and all James will care about is the Seeker duel with Stephanie."

"Scorpius hasn't played like that for Slytherin so far," Al reminded her; "and Ollie will want to try and find a way to beat you too – even if I don't think that'll happen."

"I'm going to have more to worry about with having the goons on Scorpius' team trying to hurt Stephanie, Ryan, and me than whatever Chaser duels I end up with. Even with two new Beaters, they still took it to Gryffindor; and nearly won that match. If we can keep Ryan and Stephanie from getting hurt, though; I like our chances."

"Try to keep yourself from getting hurt too," Kirley told her. "You have to get through to graduation to play in the show; and it's so hard to earn your OWL's and NEWT's if you spend too much time recovering from Quidditch injuries."

"I don't plan on letting any Slytherins bash me," Gwendolyn promised. "I might not play Beater; but I am Mum's daughter."

"Then the Slytherins should be very afraid," Kirley joked with a faux-shudder.

The rest of their lunchtime chat wasn't all about Quidditch, but then it didn't take that long to finish their food and clean up. Kirley had some work to do after that, so he left the four kids to entertain themselves; and they did that in the game room. Mirror gaming was part of the fun, but they also watched the Cannons lose their game against the Bats – and got to stay warm while doing that. It wasn't pretty, and Al really felt bad for his uncle and cousins because they loved their team as much as he loved the Harpies; and they really did have it tough supporting a team with such a terrible record – every year for more than a century!

Ginny came to get them not long after the game ended because nobody wanted to stay in the cold stadium – including the players and managers; and then she ended up staying for a visit with Kirley that lasted until a bit after Gwenog got home from work so that they could talk too before she took Al and Lily home again. Al thought that she deserved a medal for patience when they arrived and she saw the shape the house was in after leaving James, Ollie, Patricia, and Anna on their own for the afternoon. She'd made lunch for them to have whenever they wanted to eat, but then they'd left the kitchen half-trashed; the sitting room was worse; and the arrived by Floo Network to find Ollie and Anna snogging in the sitting room while James and Patricia were up in his room. Ollie and Anna suddenly needed to go and hang out with James and Patricia; beat a hasty retreat; and then all four teens decided to stay upstairs until they were eventually called for dinner.

While they were hiding, Al and Lily helped Ginny with all of the work that needed to be done to clean up from snacks, drinks, lunch, four spills, and everything else that had just been tossed around or discarded on the furniture or floor instead of put into the garbage. Al and Lily knew that their mother was mad because she didn't talk much to keep from taking it out on them or going upstairs to blast her oldest son in front of his friends. That work was done by the time that Harry got home from work, and since he brought take-out dinner with him from London – several bags of Chinese food; it didn't take too long to get the dining room table set; and their dinner ready to go. Lily was sent upstairs to call James and his friends for dinner; and Al braced himself for what was sure to be a challenging dinner for him with both James and Ollie there with girlfriends to impress.

"How did your practice go this morning?" Harry asked James once they were sitting and starting to pass the bowls and platters of food around. "It was too cold out for that to be any fun today."

"It was," James agreed; "but it still went okay."

"Don't be modest," Patricia told him with a bright smile. "James says I'm doing better all of the time; but he still caught the snitch three times during our scrimmage – in about thirty-five minutes; and Ollie scored all eight goals against Andy for the match. They're definitely the two best junior players at school this year!"

"They really are," Anna agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "We were only playing to three snitch catches today because it was so cold, and I only had time to get three shots on goal that Andy stopped; but then James and Ollie want Cyndia and me to be the playmakers anyway."

"Don't say anything more about our practice," Patricia told her. "The Ravenclaw Captain's boyfriend is right here listening to everything we say; and he's sure to tell her all about it."

"Let him," Anna said without speaking directly to Al – as ordered by her own team Captain. "It'll give the Ravenclaw players time to get ready for the big loss in April."

Ginny laughed; and Anna and Patricia both frowned at her. "Why is that funny?" Patricia asked.

"I was just thinking that with that much confidence; you're both well-matched to James and Ollie," Ginny told them; and Al knew it for a flat-out lie because she hadn't wanted to insult any of the four teens by admitting what she was truly laughing at. James looked suspicious; but the two girls beamed at her in delight at her apparent approval of them.

"Well, since it sounds like Gryffindor has things going well for them; how was the practice at the McCormacks' house – or is that confidential?"

Lily laughed and answered before Al could. "Our team won our scrimmage. Stephanie and I tied with two snitch catches each, but I won both of our duels; and she won two of three over Jonah."

"It's a wonder that Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff if they can't even win over a bunch of losers that aren't even good enough to be on a House team and some kids that aren't even Hogwarts students yet," Ollie said derisively. "If we already have the Quidditch Cup won by then, maybe you should put them out of their misery early and catch the snitch so it won't be too embarrassing for them, James."

James grinned. "I'd hate to do that. Do you think your sisters would consider losing to Hufflepuff in February so we have to run it up on Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?"

"You're welcome to ask them," Ollie answered; grinning too. "We'll try to pick up the pieces of you that are left once they're done telling you how they feel about that idea in a hexes and jinxes sort of way."

"He wouldn't have to worry about Belinda and Olivia," Lily told Ollie. "Dominique and Lucy would blast him first. That'd be good for Patricia and your junior team, though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Patricia demanded; and Lily grinned at her.

"Everyone knows that Witches are better Quidditch players. With you and Anna and Cyndia playing in the last two games; you might have a chance – if the boys don't mess things up for you too much."

"Ollie's sisters say stuff like that too," Anna told Lily with a sniff of disdain. "He and James are way better than they are – and they're going to be the best players ever when they get to the show."

"As long as they do that before I'm playing for the Harpies, that's fine with me," Lily offered, "but it'll be downhill for James after that – at least for any matches he plays against me and the Harpies."

"We'll find out if you're any good next September," Patricia told her. "James says you might have a chance at being my back-up when it's my turn to be team Seeker."

"I'm so glad that James thinks that I might be that good!" Lily said enthusiastically; the sarcasm lost on Patricia and Anna. "You've likely learned a lot from practicing with James every day too; so you'll be able to pass that on to me too – since he's been a bit busy to play much Quidditch with Al and me since starting at Hogwarts."

Al started laughing; couldn't stop; and every time he almost had it under control again, he'd look at Lily; and burst out laughing again.

"What is your problem?" Patricia finally demanded – the first time that any of the four teens had spokent directly to Al.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't take it anymore," he answered; still needing to work to keep from laughing again. "Lily trains nearly every day with Mum; practices when she can with Aunt Gabrielle and Victoire; plays against Dad once or twice a week; and studies everything about Quidditch more than anyone I know."

"So what?" Patricia countered. "She's just a kid."

"Al laughed again; and stood up. "So I'm sorry," he repeated; "and I'll just shut up now and go to my room before i say something I shouldn't. I love you, Lily. That was brilliant! Keep up the good work; and thanks so much for the laughs."

With that, he walked out of the dining room; grabbed the Quidditch bag he'd left in the hallway while helping to clean the house after getting home; and went up to his room. He removed the imperturbable charm he'd put on the door before leaving for Gwendolyn's house; smiled when he noticed the signs that someone had tried to get into his room anyway; and went inside. He closed the door; put his Quidditch bag away; and then laid down on his bed. As he replayed the scene in the dining room, he was really only amazed that he'd been the only one to lose it over the ridiculousness. It amazed him that Patricia and Anna could actually sincerely believe basically anything they'd been saying at dinner; and just picturing Lily as Patricia's Seeker back-up had him laughing again.

Sure, it had been rude of him to walk out like that; but not as rude as insulting their guests would have been – or calling James and Ollie out for the idiots they were being. He'd been sick of being talked around and the backhanded insults; but he might have still managed to muddle through if Patricia and Anna hadn't been so completely clueless when Lily was so obviously having fun at their expense. After all of that, he also finally admitted to himself that he truly hoped that James, Ollie, and the rest of their Gryffindor team would be taken to Quidditch school by Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw – despite the fact that it meant cheering against his own House team to hope for that. There wasn't anything that he wanted to do while waiting for James' friends to finish dinner and hang out together for however long they were staying; so he just relaxed; closed his eyes; and had a little nap until Lily came upstairs to hang out with him while James, Ollie, and their girlfriends played mirror games in the sitting room – with the girls gushing over how wonderful they were at the games too.

"Mum and Dad are working in the office," she advised Al as she sat at the foot of his bed and plopped Holly onto her lap. "They'll speak to you later about being so rude to our guests and leaving in the middle of the meal, but then you do obviously have a swollen head thanks to your five seconds of fame; so it's no surprise that you think you're so much better than everyone else now."

"Considering all of the crap they were saying, if I have a big head too; it's a wonder we all fit in the dining room together."

"I'm glad you're having fun, but you totally messed things up for me. I was well on the way to having those two brain-washed, love-struck groupies ripe for the picking next September when I'll fly circles around them. Mum hasn't said anything to us, but it is so obvious that there's only one thing that James and Ollie are interested in for those two girls – and it isn't their amazing Qudditch skill."

"I really don't want to pick on them," Al said more seriously; though he still smiled at Lily's comments. "They haven't even played in a real Quidditch match yet; and what James and Ollie are doing just isn't right – especially if Anna really gets embarrassed in their match against Hufflepuff. If she does; I doubt she'll still be on the team for the Ravenclaw game; since she'll know she was played the fool."

"I don't like that either," Lily admitted; "but don't be so sure that she'd give up that easily. She's got it bad for Ollie; and he and James will string them along for as long as they find that entertaining."

"Let's not go there," Al suggested. "i think that's even worse – especially since I don't get the sense that James or Ollie care about Patricia and Anna at all."

"Okay, let's talk shopping instead. What's on your list for tomorrow? Anything fun for us to get – like birthday and Valentine's Day gifts?"

"You don't want to help pick out Potions refills, inks, parchment, and a measuring spoon I need to replace because I lent it out and it got dissolved?"

"No, I don't," Lily confirmed. "Don't tell me you did the rest of that shopping before Christmas too."

"I did some of it, but Gwendolyn will be with us tomorrow," he reminded Lily. "I can't exactly pick up Valentine's Day gifts for her. We can all look for a few birthday gifts, though; since we'll need a handful of them between now and our Easter break."

They talked about that; played with Holly for a while; and then watched a show on the mirror network until after Ollie, Patricia, and Anna went home. There was a bit of a delay after that while Ginny had a few words with James about leaving the house trashed for her to clean up after work; and then James was happy to tel Al to get downstairs so that their parents could talk to him about being so horrid to his girlfriend and friends at dinner. Ginny talked to him about that too – because Harry couldn't do it and even pretend to be serious; and then he was ordered to go and finish his dinner instead of wasting the food. Being able to warm that himself with one of his seashell charms made that supposed punishment easy to take; and he liked the dessert that was saved for him a lot too. James was back in the sitting room by the time he was finished eating his 'cold' dinner leftovers; razzed him about it and how Patricia and Anna were planning on telling all of their friends about what a jerk Al was when he was at home; and then Al went back up to his room for the rest of the night – which was exactly what he and James both wanted.

Some reading, another short chat with Lily when she came up to bed, and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn when she was ready to get some sleep too helped to end his day on a good vibe; and then he was off to sleep while James stayed up yet again for a late night of video gaming despite knowing that they had a back-to-school shopping day ahead of them. Al was first in the house to wake in the morning; he was showered, dressed, and in the kitchen working on breakfast before he even heard his parents starting to stir; and then he had the food ready to set out on the table by the time that they – and Lily – joined him there. James was not with them; he'd refused his first wake-up call; and had apparently thrown something at his bedroom door as it was being closed again as an exclamation mark on the end of his answer to the invitation.

"Do we have to take him?" Lily asked as she sat down at the table and poured a glass of juice to go with the hot chocolate that Al had already made for her.

"After seeing the place like it was when we got home yesterday do you really need me to answer that one?" Ginny countered. "James is going to get his own supplies too; and has to be there for getting some new clothes in the right sizes. He's grown at least another inch since August."

"That's just his hat size," Lily teased. "I predict his head will be much smaller by the end of April."

"Let's not get started on trading insults already today," Harry suggested with a sigh. "Your brothers will be heading back to Hogwarts in two days; and it would be nice to get there from here without all of the stress we've had for most of the holidays so far."

"Okay, Dad," Lily agreed. "Has Teddy talked much about the new house with you at work?"

"She is definitely, well, our daughter," Harry told Ginny; unable to resist laughing at his precocious, adorable little girl. "What are we going to do once they're all at Hogwarts?"

"We'll rest up for the holidays and hope that they don't collectively drive every Professor at the school bonkers with their antics."

"Some of us don't want to hear about what you guys will do with months of kid-free time," Al joked. "Are there any changes to the shopping plans for today? Any extra shoppers?"

"Gwendolyn will be there," Lily told him. "Do you care about anything else?"

"Yes, and I'll want some help from the girls for some of the birthday gifts I'll need to pick up today. Easter is late April this year, so there are quite a few cousins and friends having birthdays between now and then."

"You know that we're happy to do some shopping for you while you're at school and send whatever you need up to you," Ginny reminded him. "You don't have to try and buy three and a half months worth of gifts today."

"I know," Al agreed, "and I really like getting the help with the shopping; but still want to do it myself too as much as I can. It doesn't seem as though I'm even giving a gift if someone else does all of the shopping; wraps the gifts; and everything else."

"Then let's talk about your list for those birthdays and see if we can get that organized before we head out," Ginny suggested.

They did that; finished breakfast; and then Al had Lily helping him with the clean-up while Harry went to work and Ginny went upstairs to force James to get up and ready to go shopping with them. He dragged that out so long that he didn't have time to eat his breakfast leftovers at all; Ginny was down to the count of two before he decided that he really didn't want his Mommy dressing him after he spent way too long in the shower; and then he made sure that they were the last to get to the Leaky when he had to hunt for then minutes in the disaster that was his room to find his wallet for Muggle money and the pouch he kept his Wizarding World money in. Kirley and Jonah weren't hanging out with them for the shopping day, and since they were running behind; Gwendolyn had been left with Molly, Rose, Hugo, and some of the other cousins before Ginny arrived with James, Al, and Lily.

After a quick decision-making chat, the girls decided that they wanted to go to the Muggle Mall first and get their school supplies from Diagon Alley after lunch; so Molly, Angelina, and Ginny led their gang of kids and teens out to their favorite Mall to do that – starting with the clothes shopping that they wanted to get done for most of the Hogwarts students. For that, by necessity, they needed to split up; Molly took the girls with her; Angelina and Ginny took the boys – except for James because he flat-out refused to let his mommy pick out his clothes for him; and then they got to work. Al was happy with that plan because he knew that he had lousy taste in clothes; and then there was the bonus help for picking up some gifts while Gwendolyn and Rose were busy that included birthday and Valentine's Day gifts. Al needed a few new pairs of pants and a couple of long-sleeve shirts; but he hadn't outgrown the rest of his clothes – and had been given other new clothes at Christmas too; so that part of his shopping didn't take very long.

Fred needed a few more things, and Hugo didn't escape just because his Mum was at work; though he was either the victim or beneficiary of store sales that Ginny couldn't resist. Ginny picked up a few things for James too, and while he'd be sure to complain about it; he didn't buy much for himself – unless you included the non-clothing items he bought for himself instead of using that money as ordered. Ginny was annoyed by that bit of defiance, but didn't get into it with James or try to have him return the toys and games purchases; which Al was sure his brother had counted on – and exploited. That wasn't something that Ginny even found out about until James met up with everyone for lunch – so that he didn't have to buy his own; and that wasn't until they'd been reunited with the girls' shopping group so that they could continue their adventures together.

Molly had been stuck with the much larger group, but the girls were easier to work with because they were enthusiastic about shopping for clothes. That's why they outshopped the boys – and that was both for total purchases and on a per-kid and teen basis too. There was till more than an hour to lunchtime when they were all together again, and the shopping from then on was mostly about picking up gifts and other things that the students needed over the next few months while they were at Hogwarts. Al had Gwendolyn and Rose help him with some of his gifts – or gifts that they bought together for some of their friends or cousins. He also re-stocked his 'generic' boys and girls gifts to be ready for those gift-giving emergencies; and he picked up a handful of new Muggle books to read while he was back at Hogwarts too.

They had lunch at the food court; headed back to Diagon Alley after that; and while Molly was set free to go home to the Burrow then; Ginny and Angelina took care of making sure that all of their students picked up the supplies they needed for their classes and studies – along with the usual orders of sweets and other treats. Getting that done was easier for some than others, and the re-supply success rate depended on the accuracy of the shopping lists; but they managed to get that done by late afternoon; and then Ginny took her kids home – along with Gwendolyn; and Angelina took the rest of the kids and teens to the wheezes store to either wait there for parents; or take the Floo Network home or to other destinations. When they got home, Al and Gwendolyn went up to his room so that he could put his things away or pack them in his bag. By then, they were both ready to have some time together without a gang around – and to especially be away from James for a while.

"Now it's starting to feel like we're running out of time before we'll be heading back to school again. "We've been so busy and have had a lot of fun; but it doesn't feel as though it's been nearly two weeks already."

Al grinned at her. "Why don't you take James for the Easterholiday and let me know if you still feel that way," he joked. "There have been a few times where I wondered if this holiday would ever end. Mum and Dad want us to play nice with James, though, so I'd better just not go there. What are you doing tonight and tomorrow morning before the lunch at the Leaky and the Harpies' match?"

"I don't think that we have any plans. Mum and Dad likely just want to hang out with Jonah and me when they can – and when Mum's not working. I've already heard that's pretty much all you'll be doing too."

"That'll be more fun for you than me; though I can always hope that the Harpies and United will play an all-nighter match that wraps up in time for us to catch the Hogwarts Express on Sunday morning."

"Maybe not quite that long," Gwendolyn countered with a smile. "If we didn't at least have time to go home and get cleaned up and changed first; the trip back to school might be a bit unpleasant for us – and anyone sitting too close to us."

"Getting some sleep would be better too," Al admitted – "not to mention that it's a bit too cold for any long matches."

"That isn't all bad," Gwendolyn reminded him. "We do get to cuddle under a blanket during winter games. Our parents might get suspicious if we tried that during the matches in August."

"It's a bit early to be looking that far ahead, but this summer will be really different than our last one without the Quidditch World Cup going on. I hope that we'll still get to spend a lot of time together."

"You're right – it's way too early to be thinking about that," Gwendolyn teased. "We haven't been on our own at all before now, and we won't get any alone time tomorrow while we're at lunch or the match; so can't you think of anything better for us to do before I go home?"

Al didn't need to do that, since by then; Gwendolyn was happy to share her own ideas with him in a mostly non-verbal sort of way. That wasn't a brilliant end to their time together because Kirley and Ginny decided that they didn't really want to cook two meals; they set up doing a take-out meal together; and then Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah all came over so that they could have dinner together. That last-minute change worked for Al and Gwendolyn, but James was far from impressed – and only barely managed to be half-civil to everyone except Al and Gwendolyn because he did approve of the take-out food choices and demolished three plates full of his favorites. Harry had been a bit late getting away from Auror Headquarters, so they'd waited for him; enjoyed the meal and time together; and then cleaned up before Kirley and Gwenog were ready to head home to spend some quiet time with their own kids until Gwenog needed to turn in ahead of her self-imposed game night curfew.

After Gwendolyn went home, Al did his best to play nice with James for the rest of the evening – though that effort was not made in return. Getting through that few hours without walking away or blasting his brother was irritating, since James razzed and insulted him every chance he got, but Al did want to spend the time with their parents and Lily; and they really were nearly out of time to do that before heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday. They played video and mirror games; had some quiet chat time while doing that; and then wound down the evening for four out of five of them by watching a show on the mirror entwork before going up to bed while James stayed up to continue playing video games. Al had a bedtime chat with Lily in his room; a mirror chat with Gwendolyn after that; and then went off to sleep for the night so that he'd be ready for the last full day of their Christmas holiday.

Saturday started out great as James slept in and Al and Lily got to spend a few hours with Harry and Ginny without any teen grouches around. That wasn't all fun and games, since they had chores to do that James was likely pretending to sleep through for at least some of the time while everyone else worked; but Al and Lily were okay with that extended reprieve from their brother. James could go to Hogsmeade in a few weeks to restock his sweets supply if he needed to do that after digging into his back-to-school supply early while timing his return to life to just give him enough time to eat breakfast and get ready for the day before they headed for London. They left for Diagon Alley a bit earlier than planned because James also, suddenly, had a small list of supplies that he absolutely had to have; but somehow hadn't been able to get on Friday for some unknown reason. Then, before they'd made it to the first store; he did a lousy job faking surprise when they just happened to meet up with Ollie as he was heading for the same store with an equally-implausible need for last-minute supplies.

That was not really surprising for Al, but then he was glad when James was then invited to have lunch with Ollie instead of their group – though that was still at the Leaky; and they didn't end up sitting very far away from them anyway – maybe even a bit closer than they would have if they'd been at the other side of their own group from where Al and Gwendolyn ended up sitting with Lily, Jonah, and three out of four of their parents. While Al knew that his parents were disappointed that James kept choosing to do anything that didn't include being around them when he couldn't get Al to leave instead, but they continued to hope that it was just a phase; and that their elder son would get over being mad and return to some semblance of his kind of normal sooner instead of later. Sooner didn't miraculously happen during lunch, though; James ended up going to the game with Ollie too; they took Louis with them; and Kathryn and Olivia joined Lily, Dominique, and Lucy with their group to make that possible for the boys while Belinda stayed behind to spend that time with their mother.

"So what's your prediction for today?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they got comfortable under their blanket. They'd picked up drinks, snacks, programs, and a couple of new souvenirs that Al thought would be good to add to his supply of extra gifts; and the game was about to start thanks to timing everything pretty well to avoid sitting out in the cold any longer than necessary.

"The weather will be a factor, and I'll hope for the best; but United is not going to want to lose both games to us this season."

"They need the win more than we do too," Gwendolyn added; "but Mum doesn't want to get the start of the second-half of the season off to a bad start."

"Your Mum doesn't want to lose any games, but if I had to lose a match; I'd rather have that be to one of the other top teams. It would be a bigger worry to lose matches to teams like the Cannons."

"I heard that," Rose told him. She was sitting next to Al; and had Lily for her blanket cuddle buddy while Kathryn was next to Lily too; but sharing her blanket with Olivia. "Keep it up, and I'm going to start giving you tickets to Cannons matches for your birthdays and Christmas."

"That's actually scary, so I won't make any jokes about Cannons' tickets being a great idea for gag gifts; since I wouldn't want you to actually do that," Gwendolyn told her with a grin that had Rose laughing.

"You are going to be so much fun to have as a team mate when we're in the show together," Rose shot back. "It's just too bad that we won't be able to do that while we're at Hogwarts too."

"I'm glad that you've come to your senses," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "With you, me, and Lily on the Harpies; we're going to have a lot of fun – and success!"

"Sure, let's go with that," Rose agreed far too easily; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Reverse-psychology is not going to work either," she warned.

"I wouldn't even dream of trying that on you," Rose assured her; though Al didn't get even the slightest sense from her that she meant that at all – though he supposed that it was possible that she hadn't dreamed of it; which would make what she stated a truth without being an honest response.

Rose did not talk about the Cannons after that, though, and still managed to avoid what had become a usual banter with Al and Gwendolyn about playing for the Cannons when they all graduated; but they did have fun talking together while watching the start of the game. The action above the pitch was soon heating up despite the cold, and while United had come to play; the Harpies were up for the challenge too. Victoire led the way for that effort as she had for most of their matches so far this season; but Oliver and Vicky were both playing a tough match; so the scoring came slowly – even while it was also advantage Harpies for that part of the match. Gabrielle was in a tough Seeker duel with her United rival, and they battled to a draw during the first hour; and through the second as the Harpies' lead grew very, very slowly.

The cold became a bigger factor into the third hour, and that was tougher for the Keepers than anyone else on either team because they weren't constantly on the move the way the Beaters, Chasers, and Seekers were. The score would have suggested that Oliver was having more trouble than Vicky; but the difference there had more to do with shots on goal because the Harpies' Chasers were having a good defensive match against Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan that kept their shots on goal against Vicky quite a bit lower than the shots on goal against Oliver. Al still didn't think that he was going to get to cuddle with Gwendolyn all night, but the Seeker duel raged on through the third and fourth hours without even any truly close calls for a catch. Going into the fifth hour, the Harpies and United Chasers were pretty much just trading goals, and while the Harpies hovered around a lead of one hundred points, they weren't gaining ground toward the all-important one-sixty lead.

While that was good for United, it also kept the pressure off of their Seeker to do anything desperate to try to win the match before it was too late for that to be an option. That likely helped to make the snitch catch that much more satisfying when he did that at the four hour and seventeen minute mark to bring the game to a screeching halt; and give the three-thirty to two-eighty win to his United team. That had happened on a great play with help from one of the United Beaters to get Gabrielle out of the way at the perfect moment. The Harpies and their fans were disappointed with the loss, but it was still a great match; and the narrow points difference wouldn't hurt too much in the standings even though it did still mean starting the second half of the season with a loss.

Because the game was so long, Al and Gwendolyn didn't have much time to spend together after the game – just the amount of time it took to get out of the stadium and split up to take the Floo Network to their respective homes. That was mostly because her parents had dinner plans with family that they needed to get to at their house while waiting for Gwenog to be done work; so even the goodbye hug and kiss was kept short. James had both been glad of that and made fun of them; but then he went to play video games once they were home and Al helped out with making dinner while Lily had a cup of hot chocolate, supervised, and joined in for the post-game recap chat. That kept them entertained while they worked, and continued the trend for what had been a better day to that point than Al had expected; but the first teen drama blip on the day started shortly after James joined them again and they sat down to eat the last family dinner they'd have together until the Easter holidays.

"Are you guys pretty much ready to head back to school tomorrow?" Ginny asked Al and James after they'd begun the dinner conversation with a chat about the game from the perspective on the United fans' side of the stadium and James' opinion on the match and a review of the gaming that had kept him busy while the cooking was in progress.

"Way past-ready," James answered first. "I was ready to go back on Christmas Day."

"Well I'm glad that we got to spend the holidays with you even if you seem to think it's been so awful that you'd rather be at school," Ginny told him; sounding more than a bit hurt. "What I apparently should have asked, though, is whether you're nearly packed and have your revision done."

"Why do you even ask us that at the end of every holiday?" James demanded; his expression turning dark and angry. "Is it just to tick me off? We all know that the loser there has all of his revision done; it's probably perfect; and he'll earn extra points next week while sucking up to his Professors by showing off and making the rest of his classmates look dim by comparison. You don't need to ask if he's all packed and everything is arranged perfectly in his bags because he's a neat freak too as every perfect little son should be."

"You can stop the insults right now," Ginny told him, "but since you are probably right about not needing to ask Al about this; I'll just ask you."

"I'm not insulting Al – just telling the truth. It isn't my fault that you can't see how pathetic he is."

"That's enough!" Ginny told him sharply. "Your father and I are trying to be patient while you go through this bout of jealousy toward Al – and Teddy for that matter; but we've also had more than our fill of it too. Answer the question!"

"Fine," James spat back. "I have all of my revision done and I'm packed for the trip so that I can get the heck out of here first thing in the morning."

"Why don't I believe you?" Ginny countered; and James laughed.

"Because you told me to answer the question – not tell you the truth. Go with the lie – it'll make you happier in the long run."

Ginny stared at him for long moments while James ignored her and returned to eating his food. Finally, she simply stood up and left the room – but not before Al could sense the tears that she held back until she was sure nobody else would see them. Harry obviously sensed them too; because he got up and followed her up to their room without even waiting to have a word about it with James.

"You must feel like a big man now, James," Lily hissed at him derisively. "Mum won't get to see you for three and a half months; and you go out of your way to hurt her instead of trying to end our holidays with a few happy hours."

"I'd say it's a fair trade for all of the crap I have to put up with around here. Maybe you don't care that they throw away our inheritance because they care more about Teddy than any of us; or that our loser brother can do no wrong despite the fact that he's a crimminal and freak that should be locked away in a dungeon somewhere instead of being allowed anywhere near real Witches and Wizards. If I'm the only one to see that, then so be it; but I'm not going to sit here and play nice when I know the truth that the rest of you are too blind and stupid to see."

"What I see is a spoiled-rotten first-born kid that has lost his mind with jealousy because his younger brother has turned out to be the stronger Wizard and better Quidditch player – among other things. You hate that; and are doing everything you can to try and prove it isn't true. When that doesn't work; you resort to petty insults."

"Al is not a better anything than me!" James shouted at her; and Lily laughed.

"Really? Put him back on your Quidditch team for the rest of the season then and prove that load of rubbish. Didn't he score more points than you did last season even though he only played two matches? Let's see if he can do that again even after spotting you a hundred and fifty points."

"I don't want losers on my team – and it's his own fault for not trying out this year."

Lily laughed again. "Give us a break. We all know what you did; and everyone except you and Ollie know you did that because you're jealous of Al – and know that Rose and Ray are better players too." She stood up then; and glared at James. "I love you, James; but I am not going to be able to like you again until you get over yourself. I've always known that Al was smarter and stronger in magic than you and me; and I'm okay with that. It's your problem that you can't be too; and as for Quidditch – there's no reason why we can't all be great players. Will you start hating me too when I'm a better Seeker than you?"

"That'll never happen, but keep talking nonsense; and I'll be on my way to hating you anyway. You've obviously picked Al's side; so shut up and let me eat in peace."

"I'm picking our family," Lily advised him; stressing the word family. "You're picking you because your a selfish git that doesn't care about the rest of us right now – though I think that you did love us once and probably still do – even if you've buried those feelings down so deep right now that you can't even find them." With that, she left the room and went upstairs; though Al could hear her go into her own room instead of in with their parents.

"Your turn," James said with a sneer – "or are you going to run off to your room for a good cry too?" Al chose not to say anything. He didn't get up and leave either; but sat and continued to eat his meal.

"Come on, loser," James taunted. "You know you want to say something. Share your words of wisdome – I'm all ears." When Al still didn't respond or even look at him; James threw a dinner roll at his head. Al had been ready for anything; and simply caught it with a lightning-fast grab that any Seeker would have been proud of before setting it down on the table.

"Thanks, but I already have one," he said; still not looking at James and returning to his meal again.

"You think that you're so bloody smart," James retorted even as he picked up his plate and threw the contents off of it at at Al while jumping to his feet. Al activated his seashell shield charm; the food struck it; and then dropped with a loud plop to the table mid-way between them. That just got James even more worked up than he already was by then; and he stared daggers impotently at his brother. "Lily's wrong. Really deep down I still hate you, loser. Do me a favor; turn yourself into an ant or something; and I'll put you out of your misery the easy way."

Al was tempted to do exactly that – except make himself an ant about seven feet tall; but resisted the urge. It was harder to keep his mouth shut too, since James really was just asking for it; but he didn't say anything either. That's exactly what James wanted; he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction; and anything he did say wouldn't matter anyway – just as what Lily had told him wouldn't make a difference. James stood there expectantly for about a half-minute; and then picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes and threw it at Al too. Switching from shield to levitation seashell; Al kept the bowl from smashing on his shield; caught it; and set it down on the table next to the dinner roll.

"I hate you!" James repeated. "Enjoy your meal all alone and get used to it. One of these days you'll get all you deserve and more – and I'll be the one getting the last laugh!"

With that, he stormed out of the room; went into the sitting room; and presumably went back to playing his video or mirror games – probably to spite the rest of them instead of going up to his room where he might have to face the reality of his incomplete revision and the mess he'd need to throw into his bags in the morning before heading for the train station. He'd do that for sure now; and likely push back at every attempt to get him to do anything he was told. By then, Al didn't feel like eating either, but he finished what was on his plate; cleaned up the mess left on the table by James; put together trays of food that he also heated up again before taking upstairs when his parents and sister didn't return; and then only knocked on his parents door before setting their tray down and then going into Lily's room with her tray. He talked with her for a minute; gave her a long hug; and then returned to the kitchen and dining room to clean both rooms. He had all of that done by the time that Harry, Ginny, and Lily all came downstairs again; Lily stayed to help with the dishes from their trays; and Harry and Ginny went to talk with James in the sitting room – sealing the room for privacy.

The only thing that Al knew about that when they went in was that his mother was no longer in tears – which he knew had been half due to fighting the urge to blast James, and when that chat was finished; he knew that nothing had changed between James and their parents. James wasn't sorry for anything; and Harry and Ginny weren't able to get through to him while he was simply blinded by jealousy and anger. With mere hours to go until James and Al were heading back to school, they also apparently decided not to come down hard on him either, but then Al wasn't surprised by that; since they'd never really done that with any of their kids. His friends at school might not believe that considering his own punishment during the Christmas holidays a year ago, but he knew it for what it had been – even if it hadn't worked as hoped for getting James to change his attitude.

In that respect; nothing had changed at all in a year – except that James' attitude had hardened. Al was only surprised that his brother's change in tactic to playing nice with Harry, Ginny, and Lily had ended so abruptly. It was going to be impossible to get that half-baked plan to work for him if he was going to lose it every time he was challenged about anything that he decided he was old-enough to be in charge of without parental authority being invoked. Al was glad that he wasn't in his parents' place for that, since it was a no-win place to be for them no matter what they did. That was Al's problem too, but dealing with James as his younger brother was different than being one of the parents – though that didn't necessarily mean better or easier; since even James wasn't dumb-enough to try springing ambushes on their parents at home or anywhere else.

The rest of the evening wasn't much fun, but Al didn't just head off to his room. Putting up with more insults from James was annoying, but he put up with it to spend the time with his family. They watched a show on the mirror network; Lily sat with him while their parents cuddled on their usual sofa and they talked quietly about heading back to school and some of the things that Lily hoped to do during the winter while her brothers were away. It wasn't late when Al decided to head up to bed, but it was a reasonable time to turn in ahead of a long travel day; so James' last taunts as he wished everyone a good night were silly and childish. Lily went up to bed then too; had a short, private chat with Al before going into her room with Holly and Poofy; and then Al got ready for bed and was back in his room from taking his turn in the bathroom before his mother came up to talk with him while his father apparently stayed downstairs with James.

"Are you okay now, Mum?" he asked; getting up from his bed to share a hug with her.

"I'm fine," she assured him with a smile that was tinged with sadness that he could sense in her easily. "Your brother wouldn't have been if I'd lost my temper earlier. Your father and I need to come up with a better way of dealing with this; but right now we're at a loss on how to get through to him."

"You probably can't right now," Al offered gently. "He blames me for everything that's going wrong for him; particularly after his first year at Hogwarts was so brilliant for him and I've messed that up for him since then."

"Well, then you probably don't want to help us out by messing up in your classes and letting James and Ollie get away with some pranks on you and your friends," Ginny teased with a dramatic sigh. "That's too bad; since it'd fix a lot of this very quickly."

Al laughed. "For you," he agreed. "James wouldn't be satisfied with one or two successful pranks. I'd need to go back to being the pushover I was before going to school for him to feel better – and then never do anything again that might show him up at anything – especially Quidditch and magic."

"We both know you can't and won't do that," Ginny said seriously; "and we wouldn't want you to try and be less than you're meant to be either. I would ask you to do what you can to keep James from getting hurt by his own actions if you can, though – as well as watching out for your cousins and friends."

"I'm already doing that," Al assured her; "but it isn't easy sometimes – especially when Gwendolyn's involved."

"He ought to be more afraid of her than you," Ginny suggested. "Gwendolyn won't feel bad about blasting him the way you would and have before."

"I haven't felt bad every time," Al admitted with a wry smile; "but I am learning to deal with my own temper issues; since I did apparently inherit at least a touch or three of that somewhere too."

"Considering your family tree, it's a wonder you didn't inherit a ton of it." She looked at him speculatively before speaking again – and changing the subject. "Are you expecting to use your Animagus forms a lot once you're back at Hogwarts?"

Al shook his head. "I do want to experiment with it just as I did right before Christmas; but I don't plan on using it a lot." He grinned then. "Gwendolyn may insist on going for a few horseback rides; but I can probably work that out without attracting too much attention – and I definitely don't plan on getting from place-to-place around the school by flying or running in animal mode."

"I'm glad to hear that – especially since I probably wouldn't have been able to resist the urge if I'd had that talent in second-year. Just in case, though, your father and I also want you to know that we don't want you using your Animagus to sneak off to Hogsmeade or anything else that might get you into trouble."

"You already know that won't be a problem with me," Al assured her; and then grinned. "If I make up a Muggle-repelling seashell charm between now ans summer, though, maybe we could talk about letting me play this summer. I could fly into town to pick up milk or bread if you needed it; or maybe deliver an Owl Post or three."

"Let me guess – you'd like to do that for all posts we send to the McCormacks," Ginny teased. "I'm not going to say yes to that; since then you'd just make sure there was a letter going there every day."

"That would work out nicely for me," Al agreed easily. "I do hope that we can work things out so that Gwendolyn and I can spend a lot of time together this summer, though. I know we'll only be thirteen; but I just can't imagine not seeing her for weeks at a time."

Ginny laughed. "We'll see what we can do about that, but at least the Witch you love wants to spend a lot of time with you at school; and you will get to see each other during the summer. "My Wizard didn't even notice me for years; and there were some summers when I didn't see him very much at all while he was either stuck with his aunt and uncle or off saving the world with Ron and Hermione."

"Gwendolyn won't have to worry about that," Al promised. "I'll take her along for the fun if I have to go out and save the world."

"She'd be a good Witch to have around for that; but let's hope you won't have to do that at all. Some of us have had enough scary in our lives to last forever."

Ginny stayed and talked with Al until Harry came looking for her; they wished him a good night; and then headed for their own room for the night. Al got into his bed; read for a while; and then ended his night with a short mirror chat with Gwendolyn. She'd mostly been amused by how his day had gone sideways after the game, and had been happy to report that her evening had been drama-free; except for a bit of sadness over her imminent departure for Hogwarts in the morning. That wrap-up chat also felt like the end of their holidays too, but they were both looking forward to being back at Hogwarts; and Al was sure that the second-half of their school year was going to be brilliant. Yes, they were sure to have ongoing issues with James, and there was always potential for danger with a gang of Slytherins that hated them; but everything that was great about their lives was going to more than make up for the moments that weren't so much fun!


	18. Winter Games

Chapter Eighteen – Winter Games

"You're here ahead of us?" Gwendolyn asked Al in amazement as they shared a hug. "Did you forget to bring James along?"

"He's already on the train; and I'll tell you about it later," Al promised before Gwendolyn added a kiss to go along with the hug while their parents, Lily, and Jonah watched on.

"I'm glad that we're here in time to say goodbye to you," Ginny told her with a smile while waiting for a turn at sharing a hug with Gwendolyn. "How are you today? You seem to be as excited as Al is about getting back to school."

"We're going to miss all of you too while we're there," Gwendolyn assured her; "but we do want to get back to learning about magic and getting to use our wands again too. Aren't you as ready for the break from us as Mum and Dad are?"

Ginny lauhged. "No comment on that today; and I doubt that your parents are ready for you to go back at all after just two weeks."

"I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time with her," Gwenog assured Ginny; "but we're used to that during the Quidditch season."

"Yes, we are," Gwendolyn agreed; "but we'll get to spend lots of time together once I'm playing for the Harpies in a few years."

"Five and a half," Kirley amended with a grin. "Still lots of time for your music career; though I have to wonder why you're going to want to take a job where your mother gets to keep bossing you around once you're grown up."

Gwendolyn grinned at him while Gwenog frowned. "It's still a no for the music career, Dad. Has Rose recruited you to help out with her plans? That sounds like something she'd come up with for convincing me that I'd be better off playing for the Cannons instead of the Harpies."

"If that isn't just a running joke and Rose is trying to steal away one of my future players; I'm going to stop inviting her to our student days with the Harpies," Gwenog warned; still pretending to frown. "We can't hire every Witch that comes to those play days, but Rose could be a candidate for a future Keeper on our team."

"Which just makes me wonder why she wouldn't want to do that instead of play for the Cannons – no matter how much she wants to support her father's favorite team," Lily offered. "The three of us could be great on the same team."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Cut that out," she warned. "That's exactly what she's been saying – if we play for the Cannons with Al and the rest of her to-be-picked players."

Lily laughed too. "That is so not going to happen with me," she assured everyone. "I am going to play for the Harpies."

"It's funny that Rose hasn't even mentioned that so far this year; and yet you're still talking about it," Al said musingly. "We sould probably get on the train and find an empty compartment or two if we can," he added; directing that at Gwendolyn.

"They are filling up fast," she agreed. "I love you, Mum... Dad... Jonah," she said as she hugged each of them quickly. "Talk to you tonight – and we'll see all of you at Easter."

Al did a round of hugs, and Gwendolyn hugged his parents and sister too before they grabbed their bags; got on the train; and went in search of at least one empty compartment. They didn't find one close to where their families waited and watched, but they did get two that were next to each other one car in from the end; so they would get a chance to wave goodbye when they passed them on the way out of the station. They had their bags put away in one of the compartments by the time that Tory crossed paths with them; and she was happy to take the first spot in the second compartment for them and wait for some of her friends to join her. Not needing to split up to save both compartments worked for Al and Gwendolyn; and they were able to sit down and get comfortable while waiting for Rose and whoever else ended up with them for the trip back to school.

"Okay, so what happened this morning?" Gwendolyn asked once they were sitting down. "It must be a good story – especially if James blew you off as soon as you got on the platform."

"He did," Al confirmed; "and he's seriously ticked off right now."

"Big surprise – not! What's his problem today?"

Al laughed; but not with amusement. "You already know what happened yesterday. James made the mistake of pushing at Mum again this morning; said something he shouldn't have said; and found out just how quickly she can have him packed and dressed to go when she's mad."

"She didn't look mad just now," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al shrugged.

"That did happen hours ago," he pointed out. "She's long-since over it by now – even if James insists on staying mad – though I doubt he'll say anything to any of his mates about it."

"Even James would have a tough time spinning that even if he blamed it all on your Mum; since he won't want to admit that any of that happened – especially to Ollie or Patricia. Your Mum really dressed him?"

"I'm not going to repeat anything he said this morning, but she did do that and then some. James was furious, but after that; he decided to cooperate – especially when option two was to be bound and silenced for the trip – all the way to Hogwarts."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Yes, it's wrong; but I still would have loved to see that."

"I still wouldn't want that for James; but he deserved that and more for being so rotten to Mum this morning – and last night. They really aren't doing anything to deserve what he's been doing; and he'd better cut it out before Dad reaches his limit too."

"I'm surprised that he didn't if James was being that awful to your Mum," Gwendolyn admitted.

"Maybe it was Mum's turn this time," Al suggested with a grin. "We don't know what happened on Christmas Day when Mum and Dad talked with James at the Burrow; but I'm pretty sure it was Dad's turn to lose it that time. What's really dumb is that James apparently didn't learn from that, and if Uncle George did bribe him later; I have to wonder if James has lost out on that since he couldn't manage to play nice with Mum, Dad, and Lily for the rest of the holidays."

"Or he got paid his bribe already," Gwendolyn suggested. "James was at your uncle's store on Friday."

"That's true," Al agreed, "but since that's likely something we won't ever find out about; we'll never know if that had anything to do with it – and Mum's question about whether we were ready to head back to school today could have been all it took to set him off."

"That's true for pretty much everything when it comes to comparing him to you," Gwendolyn offered with a nod, "but he's only thirteen; and it's crazy to treat your parents like he's been doing and think that it's okay – or that they'll just let him keep doing that. There is no way that can end well for him; and even James must know that it's stupid to mess with them."

"I don't know," Al said doubtfully. "He's so mad at me that I don't think he's seeing anything all that clearly; which is why he finds a way to blame me for nearly everything that goes badly for him. By now, he's likely figured out a way to blame what happened between him and mum this morning on me – even if that's simply because I was ready to go first thing this morning and had my bags in the van before I started helping Dad with making breakfast."

They talked about the rest of Al's morning news; and Gwendolyn had started telling him about her morning so far by the time they had company in the compartment with them. Bristol found them first; and then Rose caught up with them a few minutes after that. They had time to chat while waiting for Shane Snyder and Chris Cauldwell to join them – which they didn't do until after the Hogwarts Express had left the station and was on the way out of London. Chris and Bristol had gotten together during the holidays a couple of times; and it was obvious to their friends that they were officially a couple now – and quite happy about that. Rose and Shane were pretty happy about being reunited too; so everyone in their compartment was in a great mood as they settled in for the long trip to Hogsmeade.

Those good feelings were something that Al really needed when the visits began from friends and random students that wanted to either talk with him about his Animagus news; crack jokes about it; or toss out direct or back-handed insults. There weren't a lot of insults, but then the jokes weren't always meant to be funny either; and it wasn't long before Al was seriously considering changing into an animal form that could bite the most-annoying visitors. He was just as tempted to do that when he and Gwendolyn crossed paths with their favorite band of Slytherins and they started shooting their mouths off too, but he resisted that urge too; and they made that the only walk they went on together during the entire trip. Gwendolyn still went for a walk with Rose and Bristol once while their boyfriends were hanging out with some other friends for a while; but Al stayed in the compartment – and away from any potential trouble.

While some of the Animagus entertainment had been fun too; Al was happiest when they were having fun just hanging out; talking about anything except that; and getting to cuddle with Gwendolyn. Bristol, Shane, and Chris weren't all that interested in talking about Quidditch, so they didn't do that much; though Al and Gwendolyn did talk about that with other friends and cousins either when they were on their one walk together or during visits to their compartment. This trip back to Hogwarts felt a lot like the last one after Christmas for Al, and he realised that was thanks to getting too much attention over something that had happened over the holidays. What really felt strange to him, though, was that he seemed to be getting more bad vibes from other students this time over being an Animagus than last year for getting into trouble for using magic outside of Hogwarts. Jealousy had a lot to do with that for most of the bad vibes he sensed; but he expected that there were other issues too – possibly because of how the news had been received by the families and friends of those other students.

Everyone on the train was glad to get to Hogsmeade, but then it was time to hurry up and wait again as they disembarked and then had to wait in line for carriage rides to the castle. Being in second-year meant getting to Hogwarts a bit faster than a year ago, but it was so cold out; that getting to the Great Hall ten minutes sooner didn't make much difference. Since Al and Gwendolyn had to split up earlier, that didn't work out for them either; though they wouldn't have traded that for the extra time standing in the snow and freezing just to have that extra time together. The welcome back feast was once again a highlight of their travel day; with the dinner conversation with classmates that they hadn't seen in two weeks the main entertainment while they enjoyed the food. Al again couldn't avoid being involved with that entertainment because of his Animagus news; and that also meant putting up with an entirely new round of animal jokes. Some of that was funny; other jokes in poor taste; and then there were a few that were unkind; but that wasn't the end of it for the day either.

When Gwendolyn and Al got together after dinner for a few minutes before going on to their own Houses, James and Ollie had a nasty little walk-by round of rudeness that wasn't said directly to them; but was loud-enough for quite a few students around all of them to overhear. Victor and Rupert Avery, along with their little gang, offered a round of insults and snyde commetns too after intentionally stopping in a spot just a few paces from them; and seemed to be having a lot of fun with their supposedly witty comments about Al's new abilities. After eventually getting to the Gryffindor common room, Al soon found out that James and Ollie were still keeping themselves entertained with more jokes and insults directed his way that quite a few of his fellow Gryffindor were finding entertaining; so he soon just wished Rose and the other girls a goodnight and went up to his dorm room. He got ready for bed; and ended his night having a mirror chat with Lily that included just a bit of venting over the stupidity he'd put up with for most of the day. After that, he was happy to read himself to sleep and glad to be out for the count after that until morning.

Monday morning started out quietly-enough for Al as he got up and ready for the day ahead of nearly all of the guys in Gryffindor tower. Rose was up early too, so he didn't have to wait for long before she joined him in the common room and they then headed out on their first morning walk to the Great Hall of the New Year. That talk time had been good too, and had helped Al to be ready for another round of Animagus-themed jokes that started up at breakfast again. He got to have a break from that during History class, possibly because their Professor hadn't even heard the news; but Al wasn't surprised when a demonstration was requested in their Transfiguration class. He was okay with doing that with just his fellow second-year Gryffindors, but he really hoped to avoid a repeat performance during their double class with Slytherin on Wednesday; and dreaded even the thought of becoming a side-show exhibit for every Transfiguration class for all of the students in every year.

If that was going to happen, he wasn't asked about doing other demonstrations on Monday. When they had their afternoon DADA class with Slytherin, he got the feeling that Professor Jones had been tempted to ask him for a demonstration, and that did make some sense since they were studying defense against magical creatures; but then the spell for forcing an Animagus reversal was sixth or seventh-year magic – and even then; most Witches and Wizards didn't have the magical power to perform the spell alone anyway. Al didn't think that he was wrong about what he sensed, but Professor Jones didn't go there; and he was glad that his Slytherin classmates weren't given a valid excuse to point their wands at him and fire any kind of spells at him while in any Animagus form.

While avoiding unwanted spell-casting in class didn't end up being an issue for him; he wasn't as lucky outside of the classroom. James and Ollie launched their first hit and run ambush of the New Year on Al, Rose, Ray, and Bristol after their DADA class while they were on the way to their study classroom. They hadn't checked the map before leaving from that class because James and Ollie should have been in their Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, but while they hadn't had the heads-up from the map; Al's danger alarm did go off in time for him to handle defending all four of them from the four curses and hexes that were fired at them from another hidden passage – though their attackers were on the run again before any of them could counter-attack.

"I'd say that's a fairly clear sign that they're not giving up on their hit and run ambush plans," Rose declared as she reached into her bag and got her map out to take a look at it. "Thanks for stopping them for us again, Al."

"It's the least I can do when you're in this mess because of me," he assured her with a smile that was more grim than happy. "I wonder if their first day back isn't going very well and they needed to blow off some steam?"

"I'd only be surprised if they were having a good first day back," Rose countered. "That might even explain why they were around here instead of with Professor Hagrid. Maybe they're in trouble over their holiday revision for that class too."

"Could be," Al agreed with a nod. "You and Bristol overhear more about that from their girlfriends than we hear from anyone else; though I really doubt that Professor Hagrid ever gets tough with James over anything he does."

"Except for maybe if he tries to mess with his animals," Rose added. "He wouldn't put up with that from any student."

"So where are they now?" Bristol asked Rose.

"Already long-gone," Rose reported. "Sorry – I was looking for Fred and Orlando too; but they're nowhere near us either."

"They've only been in on that one big ambush attempt on Al before the Christmas dance in a while," Ray pointed out. "Maybe they've had enough of that – especially after getting abandoned by James and Ollie and left holding the bag."

"We can hope," Al said; "though I doubt that Fred is done with using wheezes or playing pranks. He does have to worry about disappointing his father if he stops all of that."

"You don't seem worried about disappointing your Dad by not being an Auror when you grow up," Bristol pointed out; "and Fred doesn't really stand a chance of besting James for prank master while he's here anyway. He's too nice for that."

"You think our cousin is nice?" Rose asked meaningfully; and Bristol laughed.

"I think he's cute too, but if I do ever decide to date younger Wizards; it won't be when they're eleven or twelve. Check back on that with me in a few years; and maybe I'll have changed my mind about his potential for being boyfriend material."

"We'd warn Fred about that, but he's not allowed to talk with us," Ray joked. "Getting back to the ambush, though, I guess we'll need to go right back to checking our maps all of the time again – especially when we're not hanging out around our favorite trouble magnet here."

"At least for now," Rose agreed. "I really don't like it that we have to keep watching our backs with them; but don't see any way around that right now – other than the same things we've already been doing to avoid as many of those ambushes as possible."

"We'd better keep our eyes open for anything new they might try too," Al suggested seriously. "They're sure to keep trying new things to get at us if they don't have any successes with these hit and run attacks."

"That's a cheery thought – not," Ray told him. "I can hardly wait to find out what they come up with next!"

That comment gave them something to banter about while they finished the walk to their study classroom; but then they got to work on their DADA assignment for the day while Gwendolyn was busy with her first Quidditch practice of the New Year. She joined them once she was finished, and had Toni and Michael with her; but Tory and Madison skipped that study session and only joined them for the after-dinner studying. James and Ollie didn't try anything else on them for the rest of the day, but as they all settled back into the daily school routine; they did try at least one or two pranks or ambushes every day against them. They changed up their targets each time, but with their maps helping them to keep an eye on their determined adversaries; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, and the rest of their study group friends were able to either avoid or be ready to stop all of those attacks without getting hurt even once during the rest of the week.

While they were all glad of that, it was the excitement of getting to play with magic again after the holidays that made that entire first week so great – and Al was particularly happy to share as much of that fun as he could with Gwendolyn and their friends. They also wrapped up their first school week of the New Year by getting their weekend assignments finished before going to dinner in the Great Hall on Friday, and while they did still have a couple of longer-term projects again already too; they were all looking forward to taking as much of the weekend off as they wanted. Al was also really looking forward to the surprises he had for Gwendolyn, Rose, and a few of their friends; though he was only going to have Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane with him for the evening on Friday – and Shane was the only member of their little group to be surprised by their entertainment plans. They met up after dinner; picked an empty classroom on the third floor; and then it was time to do a bit of work to get ready for their play night.

"Let's use this corner of the room," Al suggested with a wave of a hand after closing the door behind them. "We'll only need to move a couple of work tables to have enough room, and if we put one of them against the wall; we can use it for the mirror."

"Sounds good," Rose agreed with a nod and bright smile. "Shane and I can do that while you deal with the sofas."

"Sofas?" Shane asked in confusion; and Rose grinned at him.

"Yeah. Al got some new toys over the holidays that will make hanging out together with him a lot more fun – and comfortable," she explained even as Al handed her the undetectable expansion pouch that held his new WWMN mirror. Shane laughed when he then pulled out two of the toy sofas and handed one of them to Gwendolyn.

"They might work for making Al comfortable – if he turns himself into a mouse or something," he joked; earning a round of laughs.

"I think you'll find them quite comfortable once I've made them a bit bigger," Al offered. "Let's make the room for them; and see if I'm right." They moved the work tables; Al and Gwendolyn each set down their toy sofas; and then he used engorgement charms on them to grow them to full size.

"Yes, this works quite nicely," Gwendolyn said as she sat down on one of them to test it out.

"What all do you have in here, Al?" Rose asked when she opened the undetectable pouch and looked inside.

Al shrugged. "I would've needed an extra bag for the trip back here to have room for everything; so I put a few things in there instead – like the guitar that Gwendolyn gave me."

"I just thought that you'd decided to leave it at home," she told him; and Al smiled and shook his head.

"It's one of the best gifts I got for Christmas – and it'll be a lot easier for you to do my guitar lessons now that we don't need to pass your guitar back and forth to do that."

"I'd say you've got a lot more than just a guitar and the mirror in here," Rose said as she reached in and pulled out the mirror. She laughed when Shane's eyes widened in surprise. "My Mum has a talent for making this undectectable expansion bags," she told him. "I thought it was a bit weird that this is what Al wanted most for Christmas from his parents; but I think it's brilliant now."

"It is for those of us doing the cross-House dating thing," Gwendolyn agreed happily. "What do you want to watch tonight?"

They decided that while Rose set up the mirror on the work table; Al joined Gwendolyn on that sofa; and then Shane and Rose settled in on the other sofa before picking a magical variety show to start out their evening with a combination of comedy and oddities of magic on display by the guests on the show and the hosts. It wasn't quite the same as hanging out in a sitting room at home, but it was a lot better than just sitting on the floor or at work tables – and even better than the common rooms because they weren't surrounded by a gang of teens. Even with just the four of them, both couples were still not into public displays of snogging, so there wasn't any of that going on – though Al and Gwendolyn did share a few kisses here and there while cuddling together.

While the mirror network shows were the main entertainment, they also had fun talking together; though Rose and Gwendolyn handled more of that part of the fun than Al and Shane. That was mostly because they had more to talk about when it came to commenting on the shows for things like fashion or side stories that one or both of them knew about the stars of the different shows; and then there were always the commercials from the show sponsors that were often just as entertaining as the shows – whether that was intentional or not. As a Muggleborn Wizard, Shane had a much different perspective on the mirror network, and Al sensed that he was sometimes bemused by the simplicity of the shows compared to what was available on Muggle television or at movie theaters, but he never said anything derogatory or demeaning about it; and found the use of magic during the shows fascinating.

They had to pack up and return the classroom to normal a half-hour or so before curfew; split up so that Al and Shane could walk their respective girlfriends 'home'; and then Al went straight up to his dorm room after getting back to his House so that he wasn't in the common room for the snog-fest in progress with the less-conservative Gryffindor couples. Since James, Ollie, and their girlfriends were among those couples; that gave him even more incentive to go to his dorm room instead of hanging out with any of the guys in the room that didn't seem to mind the snogging side-shows. Ray wasn't in their dorm room yet, but he'd been hanging out with Tory; so it wasn't long before he joined Al and the few other guys in the room when he got back a few minutes after curfew. He had made it to the common room on time – if barely; but that didn't keep the other guys from razzing him a bit about cutting his goodnight snogging with Tory a bit close. Al sat up and talked with Ray for a while before they both got ready for bed and turned in for the night; but they were both still sleeping long-before the last of their roommates came up to bed from the common room.

After waking up as early as usual on Saturday morning; Al kept busy getting ready for the day and then surfing the wireless web while waiting for Rose to join him in the common room for their morning walk and talk before breakfast. That had been fun, since she had lots of gossip to fill him in on from her bedtime girl chat; and then they had fun at breakfast with their Gryffindor friends while enjoying the morning meal. From there, it was on to some magical play time in their usual study classroom that included everything from Transfigurations and a bit of Animagus entertainment to DADA practice to keep themselves ready for any upcoming James and Ollie ambushes or pranks. They went outside for some snow play time after that, but came back indoors early-enough to get changed and warmed up before going to the Great Hall for lunch.

Al hadn't been able to keep his next surprise right up until they started their afternoon entertainment, but he did get to spring the surprise on the Gryffindor guys that were offered an invitation to the pool party that he and Gwendolyn were 'hosting' after lunch. Rose took care of that for the Gryffindor girls; Gwendolyn invited her Ravenclaw friends; and Rose and Tory handled the invites for the Hufflepuff members of their group. Keeping that a secret from the rest of their friends in all three Houses was tough for some of them to do during lunch, but Al only had the one portable pool; so inviting fifty or sixty teens wasn't an option. They were all fired up, though; and that made their lunch break a lot of fun as they talked about anything except a pool party with their friends – even as most of them had swimsuits on under their clothes and towels, drinks, and snacks in their bags. Al and Gwendolyn met up and left the Great Hall early so that they could go to their regular study classroom to get the pool set up; and then had everything ready to go by the time the rest of their friends began joining them there.

"This is such a brilliant idea!" Tory said enthusiastically when she walked into the room with Ray and the last-half of the invited teens. "Why didn't someone think of this for the fall?"

"In my case, that was because this pool was still in use at home," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "Lily kept using it well into November; since Mum or Dad could heat the water for her whenever she wanted to go for a swim."

"Did you do that today?" she asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes, but I'll adjust it if it's too uncomfortable for anyone."

Madison was with Tory, and she looked back at the door a bit worriedly. "What'll you do if we have any unexpected visitors? I don't really like the idea of having a bunch of guys watching us while we're swimming – present company excluded; of course."

"Nobody will be able to watch us," Gwendolyn assured her. "Al's going to take care of that; and nobody will hear us from out in the hallway either." She smiled at Al. "We'll have to get him to teach us those spells for when we want to have girls-only pool parties."

"Or we can have him set the spells and then come back later," Rose suggested. "Some of the stuff he's doing already is a bit too much for most of us – or impossible; since I don't ever expect to be able to toss Slytherins half-way across the school grounds or be an Animagus."

"You could be an Animagus if you wanted to do that someday," Al assured her. "I think it'd be great to have a whole gang of Animagi – just like my grandfather did when he was here."

Rose laughed. "I'm not sure that three is enough to call them a gang – or even four if you include Teddy's father. It might even be fun to be Animagi – unless we didn't like our animal forms." She grinned at him then. "Since we're talking about that, though; are you going to try any Animagus transfigurations while we have this pool handy?"

"If Al's going to try being a shark; I am not getting in the pool at all," Bristol warned; earning some laughs.

That did give them something to joke about while getting ready to hop into the pool; and then the swim and water play fun was on! Al hadn't thought about bringing any water toys along, but they literally just made a few of them to play with; though they mostly swan around; floated; and kept themselves entertained both in and out of the pool for a few hours until they'd have enough of the water for one day. They packed up; returned the room to normal; and then split up to return their things to their dorm rooms – and to freshen up for the girls that wanted to re-do their hair and make-up. Al had some extra time to hang out with Ray and some of the other guys after that until dinnertime; though that wasn't nearly as much fun as the hours of play time with his girlfriend in a swimsuit had been – or as great as their evening for two was after dinner.

They wanted to be alone for the evening so that they could play music and then pretend to watch something on the mirror network while having their first snogging session on one of the toy sofas; but they did lend out two sofas to Ray and Rose so that they could be more comfortable with their respective girlfriend and boyfriend – even if they did have to settle for watching shows on portable mirrors. Al liked doing another guitar lesson; singing some duets with Gwendolyn during and after that lesson was great; and he thought that their private little snogging session had been brilliant. Going back to their own Houses had needed to happen too soon, but after a long, busy play day; Al was actually ready to get some sleep by the time he was back in his dorm room and ready for bed. He did have a short mirror chat with Lily first; but wrapped that up when he started to fall asleep while talking to her. He was sleeping soon after ending that chat; and didn't wake for anything until his normal wake-up time on Sunday morning.

The second half of their weekend wasn't all play and no work; but they did have fun all of the time. Al and Gwendolyn had about half of their study group along for a morning at the library to do research and work on their bigger projects, and while that was necessarily quiet fun as they studied some of the coolest magic they were learning about; the best part of the morning was simply thanks to doing that work together. They had to split up for lunch, but then Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for a Chaser duel at the practice pitch. It was bitterly cold, windy, and snowing; but Gwendolyn really wanted to work on playing in those conditions; and Al was there for her until they were both half-frozen and needed to go inside again to thaw out. Splitting up again to get out of their wet clothes and put away their Quidditch gear hadn't taken long; and then they went for a long walk and talk around the castle until dinnertime.

That meal had been fun for Al thanks to the afternoon reports from his Gryffindor friends while they ate; and then he and Rose met up with Gwendolyn and Shane to go to the library again for the evening. This time, it was so that they could write letters for home and still hang out together, and while they could have done that in their usual study classroom; they decided to stick with the small crowd going to the library when they saw that James and Ollie were out prowling around the hallways betweent he Great Hall and that classroom after dinner – probably hoping to set up another ambush for them. They wrote their letters, talked quietly, and even picked out some books to check out and read in their dorm rooms before going to the Owlery to send a package of letters off with Winter. Sending Owl Posts was an option for Shane too, but his family preferred that he send his letters by Muggle mail; so he kept his letters so that he could do that on Monday morning – since that was dealt with through a couple of the Professors for the Muggle-born students. After walking Gwendolyn to her House, Al went back to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and ended his weekend with a bedtime mirror chat with his parents and sister.

The start of their second week back at Hogwarts was quiet, and that was partly because James and Ollie left Al alone. After a quiet weekend from them too, he suspected that was because they were suddenly more interested in getting some detention chores out of the way ahead of the imminent Hogsmeade weekend and the Ravenclaw-Slytherin Quidditch match for the senior teams that were coming up on the next two Saturdays. He still hadn't heard any details on that from anyone, but that was normal for James and Ollie; and he was just glad that they weren't bugging him or any of his friends for a while. Their daily routine was pretty much back to normal; though they did have one small change on Wednesday evening when they watched the Harpies' match while studying after dinner – and they could do that with the bigger mirror that Al had been given for Christmas.

Messy weather at the Yorkshire stadium was a big issue at game time, and while the Harpies definitely had the advantage over the Wanderers on parchment this season; the weather had the potential to be a real equalizer. Fortunately for the Harpies and their fans; that didn't end up being the case at all. The Harpies only scored four goals, and Victoire had three of them; but the Wanderers only managed one goal against Vicky before Gabrielle put an early end to the match with a snitch catch that even the Wanderers' players couldn't be too disappointed over when nobody really wanted to be outdoors and dealing with the awful weather conditions. That hadn't been a problem while watching the match on the mirror network for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group, but some of them did need to play catch up on the studying part of their night once the game was over; and Al and Rose helped their friends to get that done before they all needed to be back in their Houses at curfew.

The next big event of the week for their study group was Bristol's thirteenth birthday on Friday. While her official first day as a teen started out with some birthday fun with her friends and some Owl Post cards and gifts at breakfast, they also needed to get through their morning classes and afternoon studying before getting to take the weekend off. Bristol had agreed with doing that too so that she could play all weekend starting at dinnertime on Friday; though she had been offered the option of taking the afternoon off as a bonus birthday gift. While all of the work was far from birthday-exciting for Bristol; her friends tried their very best to make up for that during and after dinner as they celebrated with her during the meal with some light roasting; and then threw a party for her in their study classroom so that all of their cross-House friends could be there to have fun with her.

Rose coordinated that, but had help from Al, Gwendolyn, Cora, and some other friends. Bristol's boyfriend, Chris Cauldwell, helped too, but his only job immediately after dinner was to distract Bristol for a while until her party was set up and the rest of her friends were there and ready for her arrival in the classroom. Since they had extra friends there, the room set-up alone got a lot of attention thanks to the sofas and WWMN mirror. Bristol was impressed when she got there too; though it was a while before she and Chris got the chance to try out one of the sofas because she was first kept busy with a round of visits with everyone; sitting at a work table to open her gifts; and then with the rest of the usual birthday fun that included a cake, music, candles, and best birthday wishes.

Al definitely wasn't used to being at extended parties at Hogwarts, so he was a bit surprised when nearly everyone stayed to hang out at Bristol's party straight through until he needed to get everything cleaned up ahead of curfew. They'd played some games; done some dancing; and enjoyed a lot of teen chat time and socializing during those hours between dinner and the start of curfew. Gwendolyn made sure that Al got involved with the party instead of staying on the sidelines, and while she was likely always going to be better at that than he ever would be; they had a lot of fun together – and Al discovered that quite a few of the teens in the room had a better impression of him by the end of the night than they'd had before the party.

That wasn't necessarily a good thing for him, since he was sure that James would not be happy to hear about how well the party had gone – especially when he and Ollie hadn't been invited; and then there was the added problem of word getting out about his sofas and the mirror that he could use for that kind of private party. James had known about his Christmas gift – and made fun of it; but he was certain to hate him for having such a brilliant ulterior motive for getting that gift – and Al hadn't told him about the toy sofas at all. He didn't have to worry about James after getting back to Gryffindor tower on Friday night, since his brother was too busy snogging his girlfriend to even notice him passing through the common room on his way up to bed; so Al was able to end his day with a quiet bedtime chat with Ray and some of the other guys – and a mirror chat with Lily right before he turned in for the night.

The weather first thing on Saturday morning was fairly unpleasant, but that didn't keep most of the eligible teens from being excited about the first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year; and that helped to make for a great start to the day for Al too – since it meant that James would not be at the castle for most of the day; so he wouldn't need to worry about any ambushes or pranks until James and Ollie got back from town. He was up early; ready for the day; and enjoyed an extra long walk and talk with Rose before they eventually got to the Great Hall in time for breakfast with their Gryffindor friends. They stayed out of the way of the rush for the exit when it was time for the older teens to head to town; they stayed in the Great Hall while rounding up their study group; and then they eventually headed to their usual study classroom to spend the morning working on their bigger projects. They'd needed to do that so they could work on the practical parts of those assignments too – something that wasn't allowed in the library.

While experimenting with their magic or Potions was really amazing and entertaining; it was getting to do all of that with Gwendolyn that was most-fun for Al – as always. They didn't study for the entire morning, but they did play with their magic until lunch; and the bonus fun included some more Animagus entertainment and another DADA practice that was entirely meant to keep them ready for anything that James and Ollie might throw at them. They split up before lunch to drop off book bags before heading to the Great Hall; and Al and Gwendolyn also picked up their Quidditch gear bags because they had the practice pitch booked for the early-afternoon slot so that they could have a Chaser duel.

That had been Gwendolyn's idea, and she wanted to do that because of the bad weather – not despite it. Her next match wasn't until March, but it was also at the first of the month; so bad weather was a definite possibility; and she wanted to work on that part of her game – and on ways to deal with Slytherins that were sure to cheat even more if they could hide the fouls from Mr. Peakes during a snowy match. Al would have rather stayed inside and warm, but he was still happy to help her out with that – and they headed for the pitch as soon as they were finished having a quick lunch with their respective Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends. It always felt a bit too empty in the Great Hall when the older teens were away in Hogsmeade, but it was also quieter; and Al, Rose, and Ray felt as though they had an easier time with their Quidditch-playing friends when James and Ollie were away and they didn't feel the constant pressure to avoid them at all costs. Since Al didn't stay for long before going outside with Gwendolyn, that wasn't as big of a deal for him as it was for Rose and Ray; but then he was more interested in the alone time with Gwendolyn – even if that was while they were outside on a semi-stormy, wintry afternoon.

"What do you want to work on first?" Al asked her as they quickly put on their gear and got ready to fly. He smiled when Gwendolyn looked up into the wind; and he thought that she looked stunning with the wind whipping her hair out around her head and her blue eyes were sharp and focused as she thought about his question for a moment.

"Let's start with working on passes and taking shots on the goals with and against this wind," she decided. "It's a great day for that – and for polar bears."

Al laughed. "I'd think about trying that; but I'm not sure that I could fly very well in polar bear form,' he joked. "I've got some ideas for using this kind of wind for passes, and we can do that; but you might need to think about using hand-offs for your match against Slytherin."

"Probably,' she agreed. "You're trying to be nice by not telling me that Landon and Mark can't handle any really difficult passes; but that's really just compared to you and me. They're pretty good compared to the rest of the Chasers on the junior teams this year – or most of them. What do you have in mind for those passes?"

"Throwing into the wind to create drop-passes for one," Al told her with a grin. "With the wind this strong; a forward throw into the wind could end up fifty feet or more behind you, and if you can get a curve on it too; it could get turned to the left or right too. Extra-long passes with the wind might work out great if you can get that kind of pass to a trailing player; but controlling where a pass like that goes is tough. Curving passes with the wind would work better if we can get good at doing that – just as it'd be great for scoring goals."

"That all sounds like fun – though not anything we haven't seen in pro games," Gwendolyn suggested; and smiled when Al grinned at her.

"I'll see what I can do to make those plays more interesting for you," he promised. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," she confirmed; and stood up a moment before he did. "Let's go!"

They did that, and the next hour and a half of extreme Quidditch was a blast for both of them. Whether they worked together on new plays that were often wild and crazy, or while they had a brilliant Chaser duel that Al won by one of the largest margins ever between them; it was all non-stop action that was all about having fun together even as they seriously worked on their game skills. Playing longer had been an option, but then they had Rose and some other friends wander out to the pitch and advise them that they were all overdue for some snow play time; so they packed up their gear and went to have a snowball fight; make a couple of sculptures; and then run around for a while – including when Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride once around the castle grounds before they headed inside to warm up with hot drinks and a snack break.

All of the afternoon entertainment had been great, and hwile Al wasn't as interested in the stories on the gossip network at dinnertime that was so interesting for most of the girls; he'd mostly just wanted to enjoy the food and then get to his evening alone time with Gwendolyn plans. Music and mirror network shows time for two was a lot more fun now that they had the sofas to use; though that was particularly perfect for private snogging sessions. Having that few hours together was brilliant; they didn't have any James and Ollie issues while Al walked Gwendolyn to her House or for his own walk from there to his own House; and since part of their entertainment had included mirror chats with their respective families between the music and snogging; Al pretty much went straight to sleep as soon as he was back in his dorm room and ready for bed.

Sunday morning was all about playing again, and this time; it was magical fun with their friends in the usual study classroom. Al's morning had started out great when he didn't have any company while grabbing a shower and getting ready for the day; Rose was up and ready to go early too; and they were able to enjoy a long walk and then have cups of hot chocolate in the Great Hall while waiting for their friends to join them and for breakfast to be served. The magic fun included practicing DADA, Charms, and Transfigurations; and a lot of the play time was again all about simply experimenting with their magic. While learning the lessons was important in their classes; creativity was encouraged by at least some of their Professors; so applying their imaginations to their magic was always entertaining – if also often unpredictable. Despite the fact that they were together in a fairly large group when they went for lunch, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends found out that James and Ollie didn't necessarily care about that with their hit-and-run ambushes; and that's why it came very close to working for them!

"Protego!" Al yelled suddenly; his wand in hand in a flash as he sensed the danger at almost exactly the same time as he saw the two wand tips sticking out from a secret passageway tapestry cover and heard the muffled sound of spells being shouted out from behind the tapestry. He and Gwendolyn were closer to the back of the pack than the front; so he'd needed to cast his shield just in front of Madison and Scott; and they both jumped in surprise – and nearly ran into his shield even as the curses and hexes that were fired at them did crash into it.

"Are you okay?" Al asked Madison and Scott. By then, they could all hear the sound of running feet; so he dropped his shield too.

"We're fine," Madison assured him. "I'll take being a bit scared over being a lot hexed or cursed any day."

"Me too," Scott agreed. "How did you get that shield up so fast? I didn't even notice anything before you did that."

Al smiled and shrugged. "I keep watch pretty much at every corner and near the secret passageways," he explained. "I put up my shield as soon as I spotted the wand tips peeking out from behind that tapestry. James and Ollie can switch up their spells and locations; but... Stop! Don't move!"

Madison and Scott – and the rest of them – had started walking again; but they did all stop immediately in response to his shouts.

"What now?" Madison asked; and Al hurried up next to her with Gwendolyn at his side all the way. Al scanned the area right in front of them before answering; and his expression was grim.

"There's a trap here," he explained. "Do you see that string?" he asked; pointing toward the hard-to-see stone-colored string that was stretched out tautly across the hallway.

"I do know," Madison said with a nod. "What is it?"

"Muggles would call it a booby-trap," Rose told her as she and Shane – and everyone else – closed ranks around Madison and Scott. "What do you want to do, Al?"

"We can't just leave it here for someone else to trip over," he decided. "Let's all back up a dozen paces or so; and I'll spring it."

"Maybe we can figure out what it will do without that," Rose suggested; and Al shook his head.

"I don't think so," he disagreed. "The string isn't hooked onto anything that looks like a lever or trigger or anything; so I'll guess that the string itself is charmed to do something when it breaks or is kicked."

"That's fairly devious," Ray offered – "and just like something that James and Ollie would do."

"It's also something new for us to worry about," Rose added with a shake of her head. "If we've no other choice but to spring it, since Al's too nice to just get a Professor, Head, or Prefect involved and risk ratting James and Ollie out for this; then let's be ready to shield again if needed when he does that."

"That's a good idea," Gwendolyn agreed; and she was already moving away from the trip wire with Al by then. The others followed; and then waited expectantly once they were, hopefully, far-enough away to avoid being hit by whatever James and Ollie had set up for them in the trap. Al used his wand; fired a spell; and broke the string. The instant appearance of a large portable swamp was a bit of a dramatic let-down; but then it wouldn't have been for Madison and Scott if they'd sprung it; since they'd have been right in the middle of it had it opened up below them if they'd been caught in the trap as James and Ollie had planned.

"Well, that's a bit under-whelming," Gwendolyn joked, but then the smell from the swamp hit them; and she put her hand over her nose and mouth. "Okay, I take it back. That's absolutely horrid!"

"What in Merlin's name did they put in that thing?" Tory asked; covering her mouth and nose too – as were most of the girls and some of the guys.

"I have no idea," Al answered, "but I doubt that we really want to know." He needed three tries this time to pack up the swamp thanks to a new twist that James had tried to keep him from doing that, but he did get it done; and then he walked over, picked it up, and held it out to Madison. "Would you like the honor of returning this to James?" he offered. "It only seems fair; since you and Scott – and maybe Tory and Ray – would have ended up in that thing if they'd succeeded."

"Do I have to give it back to him right away?" Madison asked as she accepted the packed-up swamp.

Al shrugged. "That's entirely up to you; though I've never liked them and wouldn't personally want to hang on to that one at all – which is why I'm glad that you did take it off of my hands." He laughed when Madison then shoved it into Scott's hands as if it had suddenly gotten very hot.

"On second thought; I'll let Scott give it back to him," she declared; earning a round of laughs. "If you're worried about carrying it around; I sure don't want it."

"I wasn't worried about it being dangerous while it's packed up," Al assured her; "though I wouldn't recommend opening it again while you're anywhere near it. That's just one of my Uncle's wheezes that I really don't like – even after he used the swamps as the basis for the new portable pools."

"Well, in that case, maybe I'll go along when Scott returns that thing," Madison decided with a nod; and then smiled brightly. "Since you brought up the portable pools, and I'm feeling a bit grimy just from having to smell and look at that stuff; what are the odds that we could have another pool party after lunch?"

"I hate the idea," Al told her; earning the attention of all of his friends; and he laughed at their reaction. "We – the guys – were told that the next pool party was going to be girls-only," he explained. "That plan is only going to be fun for half of us if you do that this afternoon."

"They might not have remembered if you'd kept your mouth shut," Ray told him after the round of laughs Al's comment had earned. "Now they'll insist on doing that – and we're going to have nothing to do all afternoon."

Ray was right about half of that, since Gwendolyn and Rose did convince the rest of their girlfriends that a girls-only pool party was something that they should do if for no other reason than that they were overdue for some guy-free time. He was wrong about the guys having nothing to do while their girls were busy, though; and the guys all made other plans for the afternoon while having lunch in the Great Hall. Before that happened, Al had enjoyed watching Madison and Scott return James' portable swamp to him, and while he didn't hear what they said, Scott was happy to share the story with them as part of the meal entertainment; and Madison had been very happy when she moved on to the Hufflepuff table with Tory. James and Ollie, on the other hand, were seriously annoyed; though Al only knew that from what he sensed from them because they laughed it off with their mates and pretended that it was no big deal.

While the other guys made plans for their afternoon entertainment during lunch, Al decided that he was simply going to go and experiment with his Animagus abilities while Gwendolyn was busy with the other girls. He did meet up with her after lunch – and after she'd gone to her dorm room to get everything she'd need for her pool play time, but that was only so that he could help out with the set up and with sealing the room for the girls before he moved on to another classroom to have his own magical play time. Going swimming with Gwendolyn would have been brilliant too, but Al still had a lot of fun with his Animagus experimentation – and there was a lot that he could do too – whether that was by testing the limits of his magic while in various animal forms or through testing the physical limits of those animals – as much as that was possible in a classroom. He played with that until Gwendolyn called him on his mirror to let him know that they were ready to have the protections taken off of the room; and then he also helped them with the post-swim clean-up. There was still time after that for Al and Gwendolyn to go for a walk around the castle before dinner; they split up again hwile having that meal; and then got together again after dinner for their planned mirror network watching evening entertainment.

Rose, Shane, Tory, Ray, Madison, and Scott had been invited to do that with them; and the four couples headed off to their study classroom to set up the sofas and mirrors before getting right to the cuddling and show watching fun. Doing that as a group meant that there wasn't any major snogging going on while they watched the shows, but the teen talk time was great; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to spend that quiet time with their friends now that they could do that in comfort – and privacy. The one chance from Al's usual Sunday night routine was that they didn't write and send letters for home with Winter. That was simply because there were storms in the forecast for most of the next three or four days; and Al didn't want to send Winter out until after the storms passed and it was safer to let her go out and play again. Cuddling with Gwendolyn was more fun than writing letters anyway, though; and he did still have a mirror chat with his parents and sister before going to sleep for the night. They'd stayed out until about a half-hour before curfew; Al had walked Gwendolyn home; and then wrapped up his weekend with that mirror chat and some reading in bed that put him to sleep before half of the guys in his dorm room even made it up to their beds from the common room.

The week leading up to the Ravenclaw-Slytherin senior team Quidditch match was a mix of good and bad for Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends. All was well with their classes and studying, but the bad weather made Quidditch practices for all team players very unpleasant; and James and Ollie continued their ambush attempts on them at least once every day – despite the fact that they didn't accomplish anything more than to annoy their targets. Quidditch was at the top of the grapevine news around school all week; with the Slytherin players' bragging and taunting of the Ravenclaw team players one of the daily hot topics as each joke and insult made the rounds in all four Houses. After their big win over Ravenclaw in their last match-up, Victor Avery and his mates were very confident despite the fact that their team had several new players – and Ravenclaw was a much better team with Peter and Pauline Boot on the squad. Al had avoided saying anything about the game to anyone outside of their study group; and he mostly only talked about it in any detail with Gwendolyn.

She'd been particularly concerned for Pauline, since the Slytherin players were sure to key in on her during the match, and while they couldn't do much to help her friend, they did come up with a few ideas; and Gwendolyn shared them with Pauline – and even helped her practice a bit too during the senior team practices on Monday and Wednesday after her own practices were done. The weather on Saturday morning was fairly awful – and exactly what Slytherin wanted; since the snow and wind would play right into their usual game plan – just as it had a year ago. As usual, Al was up early; was ready for the day and waiting for Rose for a while when she joined him for their walk to the Great Hall; and the rest of the morning routine through until he met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast mostly revolved around talking Quidditch – whether that was for the imminent school game or the afternoon match that the Harpies were playing. While that was fun, Al was happy to hang out with Gwendolyn after breakfast, and they wandered around the castle for a while with Rose, Shane, and a few other friends until it was time to brave the nasty weather and head out to the stadium.

"Maybe we should start showing these winter games on a mirror network channel," Gwendolyn suggested after she and Al were under their blanket and cuddling close for what warmth they could get from each other – which wasn't nearly enough warmth in the fight against the bitterly cold wind and the snow that billowed around them. They could barely even see center pitch from their seats along the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor sections border.

"That might work for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff today; but I think it's against the rules to stay at the castle for a game that your House team is playing in – especially when you're the team Captain for your other House team," Al answered; and Gwendolyn laughed – or maybe it was just the sound of her teeth chattering with the cold.

"Stupid rule," she declared. "Come on – lets' get this show on the road!"

They'd been part of the main group of students and Professors going out to the stadium at nearly the last minute; so they didn't really have to wait very long until Teresa Thomas welcomed everyone and then quickly skipped over most of the usual pre-game fun and called the teams out into the stadium. Mr. Peakes kept his fair-play speech short too; and then he got the game started without any extra fanfare.

"I can hardly see any of the action out there," Gwendolyn told Al. "I hope our players are going to be okay. They might not even hear the bludgers or cheap shots coming with this wind – let alone see anything either."

"The good news for them is that it'll be tough for any of the Beaters to hit their targets with this wind," Al offered. "The fouls are another matter entirely, though; so I hope they'll be able to deal with them. Mr. Peakes likely won't see any of them unless the Slytherin players are dumb-enough to try something right near to him."

"They won't be," Gwendolyn predicted; and then laughed. "Victor seems to have some issues with wind too. That shot missed by fifteen feet or more."

"Peter had it covered anyway," Al said with a nod; and then grimaced. "Good thing he saw Rosier coming at him there too; or that would've been nasty."

"Maybe that was the plan," Gwendolyn suggested. "If that shot had been closer; Peter wouldn't have had time to see Rosier."

"I think you're right," Al agreed as they watched the Ravenclaw Chasers go onto the offense.

While there was a lot of the match going on that they couldn't even see because of the snow, the game plans for both teams soon became obvious. For Slytherin, that was to pound on the Ravenclaw players and not really worry about anything else – a game plan straight out of the Falcons' play book. While that had been successful for them a year ago, the even worse weather worked against them when they missed nearly all bludger hit attempts; and the Ravenclaw players were a lot more successful at avoiding the cheap shots and foul attempts. For Ravenclaw, their defensive game plan was fairly simple – have their Beaters protect their most-vulnerable players, and when they weren't doing that; do what they could to distract Vince Vaisey – the Slytherin Keeper.

Captain Jared Davies and his Beater partner, Chuck Chambers, were probably the fourth-best senior Beater duo this season, but Don Rosier and Raban Lestrange weren't as good as the Nott brothers; so Jared's game plan actually worked out very well for Ravenclaw. Jared and Miya had obviously worked on some plays; and she scored the first two Ravenclaw goals against Vaisey with help from bludger attacks from Jared that weren't very accurate because of the wind; but enough of a distraction to keep Vaisey from making the saves on her close-range shots. Vaisey did then try to foul Miya instead; but wasn't fast-enough to do that before she was out of range again. Miya scored two more goals, with one of them after each of the goals that Lee and Susan Cornfoot scored before the first hour ended – and then the match was suddenly over on a play that Al and Gwendolyn didn't even see when Pauline caught the snitch somewhere on the other side of the stadium. The only way they knew the game was over was from the whistle that Mr. Peakes blew – and then the announcement from Teresa once she'd found out that Pauline had ended the game; since she hadn't seen the catch either.

"The final score is two-hundred and ten to naught," she announced after advising the spectators that the game had ended; and then she'd waited for the cheering Ravenclaws to quiet again. That didn't take long, since getting up to do that meant getting out from under their blankets; which was why Al and Gwendolyn hadn't even bother to stand up while cheering for her House team. "Game time was fifty-six minutes, and it's far too cold out here to talk about the rest of the details; so feel free to do that amongst yourselves – once we're all indoors and able to get warm again! I'll see you all again in three weeks for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, but until then – I'm out of here!"

"And on that note; we should follow her lead and get out of here too," Gwendolyn decided. "Let's congratulate my team on the way out; and then get back to the castle."

"Don't you want to offer condolences to the Slytherins too?" Al teased. "They must be very sad after not even scoring a goal today."

"I'll hold off on that until after I find out whether they managed to hurt any of my friends out there today. We didn't see any successful hits; but that doesn't mean they didn't get some shots in that we didn't see."

"They may have," Al said; "but that won't hurt as much this year with the win as it did last year – and I didn't see any of your players looking too seriously hurt when we could see them. I'm actually amazed that Pauline was able to even find the snitch in this weather let alone catch it."

"Me too; but I'll guess that was at least partly luck."

They soon found out that was true; though they didn't get the entire story from Pauline because she was too busy with everyone that wanted to talk to her for a long visit. She had wanted to thank Al and Gwendolyn for their help, though, and assured them that their suggestions for dealing with Brand Bletchley and the Slytherin Beaters had helped a lot – and she'd managed to escape the game without anything more serious than some bruises. That was enough news to satisfy Gwendolyn until she could talk to her friends later during the Ravenclaw party; so she and Al were soon inside the castle and getting warmed up with cups of hot chocolate and having snacks with their friends. With such a short match, they still had lots of time to hang out together until lunchtime, so they went for a walk around the castle and then found a classroom where they could have a bit of magic play time until going back to the Great Hall – and then splitting up for the afternoon while Gwendolyn was busy with the Ravenclaw celebration party that ended up being several hours longer than the match against Slytherin.

"The good news is that the match didn't last an hour," Scorpius began as he sat down in the armchair after setting Thomas' portrait on the table.

"I'll take that comment to infer that your Quidditch team didn't win today," Thomas said; and Scorpius nodded.

"Not only did they lose, but they didn't even manage to score a single goal; and Brand Bletchley got beat to the snitch that quickly by a fourth-year Ravenclaw Witch. Our guys looked like a bunch of idiots – especially after shooting their mouths off all week about how badly they were going to pound Ravenclaw again this year."

"That hasn't worked out very well for your fellow Slytherin players so far this year," Thomas pointed out. "Maybe they should try shutting up and putting that effort into working on their game skills."

"Especially when they obviously have nothing to brag about," Scorpius added; sounding disgusted. "Here we are, half-way into the season; and we've done even worse than last year at this point while Ravenclaw now has three wins. The only good news there is that they're in a good spot to win the Quidditch Cup instead of Gryffindor; but that's not much of a consolation."

"That suggestion seems a bit premature when you've told me that Gryffindor won their first two matches of the season too," Thomas told him. "Don't get too hopeful about that – or you'll be as disappointed at the end of the season as you are right now."

"Maybe, but I don't think so this time," Scorpius disagreed. "Gryffindor's senior team really does have the worst Seeker of the four Houses, so they're beatable even if our senior team couldn't get that done; and I've told you about what James Potter has done with his team. At the rate he's going; he'll need to catch the snitch early in both of their remaining matches to have any chance with such a lousy group of Chasers and an even worse Keeper. The Averys and their mates are bad-enough when it comes to their ridiculous bragging; but James and Ollie are far worse – and I do hope they get taken down a notch or three this year."

"Have they been geting into more trouble lately? This is the first you've mentioned them in a while."

"There are near-daily reports of pranks and random ambushes where Slytherins are getting blasted by hexes and jinxes that we're sure James and Ollie are behind; but we haven't heard anything about them getting caught at all since the Christmas dance. Those ambushes are hit-and-run; and they're gone before any counter-attack can be done. They're getting bolder too; since some of the students they're targeting are older teens – though we don't hear about all of those stories. The older guys don't want to admit that they've been bested by a couple of third-year Gryffindors – even if that is through sneak attacks."

"They're still leaving you alone, though?" Thomas asked next; and Scorpius nodded.

"Yes, though I'm a bit surprised that they haven't tried one of those hit-and-run attacks on me."

"They're likely worried that they couldn't get away with doing that to you. Those pictures you have of them will continue to protect you at least until you're able to protect yourself from anything they might throw at you. Is there any other news from the match or elsewhere?" Thomas smiled at him sardonically. "How did your first match with a date go?"

Scorpius laughed. "You don't really want to know; so I'll just admit that it was warmer than it would have been sitting out there in the cold alone; and leave it there."

"Your holiday at home was better than it would have been after you took my advice; and there is nothing wrong with enjoying the advantages that come along with making those friendships. It makes up for the things you have to put up with when dealing with lesser Wizards and Witches." He laughed at the expression on Scorpius' face. "Don't enjoy yourself too much," he counseled. "Becoming a father before you're even a teen will not work at all with your plan to restore your family honor and re-take the Wizarding World for all true purebloods."

"Stop worrying so much about that sort of thing," Scorpius told Thomas seriously. "I am not some weak-minded fool to be so easily undone."

"Those temptations are quite real and dangerous," Thomas countered just as seriously. "Resisting a beautiful Witch's charms will become more difficult as you get older; and then you will understand my concerns better than you do now. If you don't have any other news, though; I'm sure that you'd rather work on your lessons instead of talking about that sort of thing; so let's do that instead."

Scorpius was good with that suggestion; and he happily threw himself into those lessons – enjoying the feel of the power he wielded; and thrilled by what he was able to do thanks to his mentor's exceptional training. That magical play time had been a much better use of his time than sitting around the Slytherin common roomand listening to the Averys and their mates whine about losing the game would have been; but then he was good with spending the evening with Terri Timms after dinner too. He didn't completely discount Thomas' concerns about Witches, but then his painted friend had also admitted quite candidly that he had no real experience with that sort of thing anyway; so Scorpius thought that Thomas might have a different opinion on the matter if he'd actually done a bit of snogging with a Witch back when he was a teen or young man. Staying in control while enjoying and appreciating some quality snogging was really quite easy, and now that snogging was one of his favorite activities; Scorpius intended to continue to make time for that in his life and future plans – whether Thomas approved or not!

While Gwendolyn was busy at the Ravenclaw party after lunch; Al wasn't left on his own. He was needed by Rose and some of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends so that they could watch the Harpies game together using his mirror and sofas so that they could do that in comfort. Rose and Shane, Ray and Tory, and Madison and Scott were particularly happy about doing that with him; though they did have a few additional friends – including Bristol and Chris. A kneazle cat was brought along so that Al would have a cuddle buddy too while Gwendolyn was away, but that had been done for the entertainment value; and the cat hadn't stayed with Al for long before going to cuddle with her owner instead.

Al only had Rose and Shane with him to get their classroom set up for the game-watching fun; but they had the work done by the time the rest of their friends caught up with them. They caught the last fifteen minutes or so of Lee's pre-game show; and were completely settled in by the time the Harpies and Bats were introduced and the on-pitch pre-game formalities were dealt with before the match was on and they could enjoy a really amazing Quidditch game. The Bats played hard, and the action above the pitch was fierce, but Tory's mother was having a great match – and doing at least as well at Keeper as Victoire and Gabrielle were doing at Chaser and Seeker respectively. Having Tory there with them made watching the game more fun as she cheered for her mother with every save and booed when one of the Bats' Chasers actually managed to get a goal past her. Fortunately for the Harpies and their fans, Vicky didn't allow many goals; and her Chasers were out-scoring the Bats by more than two-to-one pretty much right from the start of the match.

"If you're Mum was playing this well last season; she might have been our National team Keeper instead of my Uncle," Ray told her after watching a particularly great save.

"Maybe," Tory agreed; "but Mum's decided that she prefers winning the league championship instead – though she woud have felt differently about that if our team had won the Quidditch World Cup too."

"I think that your Mum played just as great last year," Rose advised them. "It's the Chaser change that is really making the difference this season. I doubt that even anyone on the Harpies expected that Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were going to be such a well-matched trio. I love Aunt Angelina and Aunt Alicia, and they're still really great Quidditch players; but it's fairly obvious now that they weren't the best anymore – even if they did retire with that league championship."

Tory grinned at her. "Too bad we couldn't have those two teams play a couple of games against each other to find that out for sure. That'd be brilliant if they could."

Rose laughed. "Maybe Ray's Mum – and Al's – would come out of retirement with the rest of their old team so that you could set that up. I don't know if Demelza would sign up for that, but Gwenog probably would; and she'd have several Beater partners to choose from."

"Our Mums could likely manage to win a game or two over the current Harpies," Al told her; "but that's still a lot different than playing an entire season and then winning three more games in the playoffs."

"Your Mum could still do that," Rose predicted; and Al smiled and nodded.

"I think so too – even if James would think that was crazy and impossible."

"He's an idiot," Tory declared. "My Mum is only two years younger than yours; and there are lots of older players still among the best in the league – like Ray's uncle or Gwendolyn's aunt."

"Did you notice that she only mentioned Keepers?" Madison asked. "There are some older players at the other positions that are pretty good too; and I'd say that the more experienced players make better Beaters than the younger ones."

"You're just saying that because our Harpies Beaters are getting older," Tory countered; and Madison laughed.

"That'd be your Harpies, Tory. I share my loyalty between Mum's United team and Dad's Arrows. My teams have two wins and just one loss to your Harpies so far, so we're doing okay; but the Harpies can be a real pain in the playoffs for both of my teams."

"The Arrows have bigger rivalries than the one with us," Tory told her; "and United beats us about half the time; so they can't complain too much."

"You're both lucky to have winning teams to cheer for," Rose told them. "Some of us can only dream of having even that."

"No," Madison told her with a grin; and Rose laughed.

"I didn't ask you a question."

"That's just in case you do ask any Cannons-related questions," Madison explained; and Rose grinned at her then.

"Do you think that your Arrows or United teams can beat the Cannons in their second matches of the season?"

"You're hilarious," Madison said sarcastically while everyone else laughed. "Since you do know what I mean, though; just don't go there."

"I hadn't planned on it," Rose assured her; "but it is funny that so many of you are thinking about that even when I'm not – and don't say anything."

While at least part of that statement was true, that didn't keep them from continuing to chat about Quidditch – and the Cannons too as they watched the Harpies and Bats play on. They had lots of time to do that because it took Gabrielle until the two hour and forty-four minute mark to catch the snitch and give her team the three-ten to sixty victory that was really thanks to a great team effort even with the stellar play from Vicky; Victoire's ten goals; and Gabrielle's brilliant Seeker performance. They still had time after the game to watch Lee's post-game show and catch the scores in the other matches; but they eventually packed up and headed for dinner in the Great Hall when it was time to do that. Al had a quick visit with Gwendolyn before dinner; but they saved most of the afternoon story exchange until after dinner when they headed off on their own for the rest of the evening with plans to play music; watch a mirror network show or two; and have some quality snogging time together in the privacy of their little study classroom sitting room for two.

Having a guitar lesson while talking about what they'd each done all afternoon had been fun; the musical duets had been even better; and the snogging had been brilliant. The shows that were on the mirror network didnt' matter to either of them while they were busy; and they were very happy campers when it was time to pack up and for Al to walk Gwendolyn back to Ravenclaw tower. As always, they checked a map for signs of James and Ollie, and while they weren't surprised to see them out and about; they were a bit surprised to see them with Patricia and Anna. Since they were in a classroom between their classroom and Gwendolyn's House instead of just wandering around; Al suspected that they were there for a more sinister reason than just to get some privacy. That sense proved accurate-enough when he and Gwendolyn left their classroom; and then saw on their map that James, Ollie, and their girlfriends left their classroom too just moments later and began walking toward them. They crossed paths a few minutes later; and Al was only surprised that there wasn't an ambush set up; but that the four teens simply walked along the hallway toward them – and then passed them while pretending to completely ignore them. Al and Gwendolyn only made it another ten steps before he spun around and put up a shield to defend them from the four-pronged attack. Each of the four teens tried blasting him with multiple hexes, jinxes, or curses; but nothing got past his shield.

"Hello to you too," Al said even as the spells continued to be fired at them. "This is a nice change to all of those hit-and-run ambushes; but I can't say that I'm happy to see that you have recruited new members for your prank patrol. How are you tonight, Patricia; Anna?"

"Don't answer that," Gwendolyn warned with a grin. "Your team Captain is right there; and talking to us could get you kicked off of your team – though technically, casting spells is a form of communication; so maybe it's too late for all of you." She smiled sweetly at James. "Will you have to kick yourself off the team for breaking your own rules?"

"The way she yaps; you'd think that she was the dog, not Al," James said loudly; though making it sound as though he was talking to Ollie and the girls. They all laughed at his barb; but he sneered when Al and Gwendolyn laughed too.

"I'd say she's a dog too," Patricia declared. "She just doesn't need to bother with the Transfiguration to get there; while changing into a dog is an improvement for her mutt boyfriend."

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your guy when Al's obviously the better-looking brother," Gwendolyn shot back. "It's close to curfew, though, so we don't really have time to chat with you right now. If you're done with this latest exercise in stupidity; we'll be on our way and not see you around later – if we're lucky."

"I'd say that any luck you do have is all bad," James said; grinning viciously as a shield blazed into existence behind Al and Gwendolyn; and then another one appeared on the far-side of Al's own shield. "I'd say that they're well and truly in for it now once they're caught out of their Houses after curfew."

"Seems so," Ollie agreed; and his sneer was dark and victorious too.

"Nice one," Al complimented them. "It won't work; but the idea is really quite good."

"I'd say it's working perfectly," James retorted. "You won't be huffing and puffing and blowing those shields down, dog."

Al laughed. "That line might be lost on some of your friends, and I won't do that because I wouldn't want to hurt any of you with the flashover burns; but then that won't be necessary this time anyway."

"What are you going to do?" James taunted. "Turn into a bug and leave Gwendolyn behind while you crawl away like the coward you are?"

Al grinned at him then; took Gwendolyn's hand; and stepped toward the wall on their left. "No, we're just going to walk away; since you were nice-enough to set up this trap with this handy secret passageway between your shields for us to use for the easy escape. Thanks so much for helping us out with that, guys!" With that, and while Gwendolyn laughed, he pulled the tapestry aside; waved for her to precede him; and then let his shield drop as he followed her into the dark passageway that she was already lighting for them with her wand.

He raised another shield behind him when they heard the footsteps rushing toward them; and then he felt a bit bad when they both heard two cries of pain that had to be from Patricia and Anna when their four attackers fired their hexes and jinxes into the passageway only to have them rebound back out at them – and doing that too quickly for them to counter or shield against. They were into the next hallway within moments; and Gwendolyn was hugging him enthusiastically as soon as they were both clear of the tapestry on that end of the secret passageway.

"I guess all of those ambushes really paid off for us tonight," she said happily. "I recognized where we were too; and it's funny that James didn't plan that a bit better."

"That was fun – except that I messed up with that last shield. I hope that Patricia and Anna are okay. I really didn't want them to get hurt; but I think that they did."

"I don't feel bad for them," Gwendolyn assured him. "Maybe that'll even convince them that they don't really want to join the prank patrol with James and Ollie now that they've learned that it isn't all fun and games."

"Rose still has another five and a half years to go with them as two of her roommates. I don't want her to get stuck dealing with problems that are because they're mad at me. They could do a lot to make her life miserable."

"Not if they're smart they won't," Gwendolyn disagreed. "Give your cousin some credit, Al. She can take care of herself against a couple of Witches like Patricia and Anna. If they do try to mess with her; I'll wager that it only happens once."

Al laughed. "Okay, you're likely right about that; so I'd better not take that bet." He looked at his watch and shook his head. "We'd better get moving; or I'll be late – even if we get you home on time."

"Then I'm doubly-glad that at least some of them got blasted by their own spells for messing up our goodnight hugs and kisses time. Remind me that we'll need to make up for that sometime tomorrow."

"I can do that," Al promised; liking that idea quite a lot.

He was also able to make sure that Gwendolyn got to her House safely; and then got back to the Gryffindor common room with a few minutes to spare before curfew. James and Ollie were there by then, but the girls weren't; and the two boys glared at him with expressions of dark anger on their faces as he walked through the room without stopping and headed up to his dorm room. There was no way for him to tell if Patricia and Anna were in their dorm room or whether they were okay and the boys were just waiting for them to return; but he was sure that he'd find out in the morning during his morning walk and talk with Rose. There wasn't anything else that he could do about the situation, though; so he tried to move on and not worry about it too much. A chat with Ray and a mirror chat with Lily helped out with that; but then it wasn't much longer before he was asleep anyway and not worrying about anything at all.

Sunday morning began bright and early for Al, though that was figuratively; since it was still dark outside; and even if he'd been up at dawn, it was still a cloudy, wintry day. All was quiet in the boys' dorms and bathrooms then too; so he got ready quickly and then went to the common room to wait for Rose and do a bit of surfing on the wireless web to mostly catch up on the latest Quidditch news. He only needed to see the expression on Rose's face when she joined him in the room to know that she had things to talk about; so he got up right away; shared a quick hug with her; and then they headed out into the hallway and got started on their walk.

"What in Merlin's name happened last night?" Rose asked him once they were alone. "Patricia and Anna were a mess when they got back to our dorm room; and they had some awful things to say about you – and didn't care that I was right there to overhear them."

"Were they okay?" he countered. "James and Ollie had them help out with another ambush, but they tried something different this time; and it didn't work out very well for them."

"I'd have suggested that they go to the hospital wing to have Madam Pomfrey check them out; but I doubt they'd have listened to me. It was pretty obvious that they got hit with some nasty spells, but it was hard to tell how hurt they were; since they are a pair of major drama queens. They complained nearly as much about their clothes being messed up as they did about their injuries." She shook her head. "A couple of the girls even seemed to believe them when they said that you blasted them while having a fight with James. Believe it or not, you started it; James was winning when he fought back; and then you blasted them when you couldn't beat James."

"That does sound better for them than admitting that the four of them attacked Gwendolyn and me from behind; couldn't get any spells past my shield; and then tried to imprison us in the hallway between two shields so that we'd get stuck out of our Houses after curfew. They didn't plan that well-enough, though, and there was a secret passageway between those shields that we could use to get out; and when they chased after us and tried to blast us while we were inside that passageway; their spells rebounded off of the shield I put up behind us and they were hit with their own hexes and jinxes because it never occurred to them to look before they attacked."

"That was lucky for you," Rose suggested; and Al shook his head.

"It was lucky for them," he disagreed. "I could have blasted those shields to get out of their trap, but because of the way they set them up; they'd have ended up getting a really bad flashover rebound. James half-learns a lot of the things he tries, and one of these times; he's going to get himself – or someone close to him – hurt."

"I'd say that there should be no way for you to know that just from looking at a shield, but you're weird that way; so maybe you can just explain it to me some other time," Rose told him. "Let me guess – you're not going to say anything about this; but Gwendolyn will answer honestly if anyone asks – and it's a sure bet that Bristol and some of the other Gryffindor girls will ask since most of us were in the dorm room while Patricia and Anna were having their little meltdown."

"Probably," Al agreed; "though I'd be okay with it if Gwendolyn didn't say anything either." He sighed and shrugged. "I guess it doesn't really matter. Nothing I do either way makes a difference with James and Ollie – and I doubt that'll matter with Patricia and Anna for as long as they're so completely enamored with their boyfriends."

"No doubt about that," Rose agreed; "though I predict that James and Ollie will have moved on by summer – if not sooner."

"Why do you say that?" Al asked; though he actually thought she was right about that.

"Mostly because I can't see James trying to keep up the ruse with Patricia all summer if she spends much time with our family; but then I can also see a lot of potential problems for James – like Valentine's Day and the Easter holiday. That's gotten us off-track, but I guess there isn't much more to say about that ambush; and you'd likely prefer to talk about anything other than James."

"Usually," Al agreed, "but before we move on; did you know that James didn't book a replacement practice for today to make up for the one he couldn't do because of the game yesterday? That'll be two weeks in a row now with only two practices – and he cut some of them short because of the weather. Belinda's having a practice today – or at least she booked one of the late-morning time slots."

"She only has three weeks until their match against Hufflepuff," Rose reminded him; and Al nodded.

"True, but then James only has seven weeks left to get his team ready for Hufflepuff – and their team hasn't missed any practices. If he keeps skipping every practice for Hogsmeade weekends and Quidditch matches; he's going to be in even more trouble than I think he already is against Hufflepuff."

"Don't wory about it, Al," Rose told him expansively. "James is the best Seeker ever to play the game; and he could beat any other team on his own long before they could score one-sixty – while playing Beater, Keeper, and Chaser too."

"That was so good I almost believe it," Al complimented her with a laugh. "Maybe you should think about a career in acting instead of Quidditch."

His comment sent their chat off in a new direction; and Al was happy to move on from even thinking about James for a little while – though that only lasted until his brother, Ollie, Patricia, and Anna arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast too and he had to deal with glares, scowls, and some bad feelings that were all directed his way from the two Witches. While he only sensed those bad vibes, and they didn't say anything to him; he was still glad to finish breakfast and move on to a project study morning with their full study group that was in their classroom so that they could again work on the practical parts of those assignments; and they all had fun with that straight through until going back to the Great Hall for lunch.

Al and Gwendolyn had an early-afternoon Chaser duel that was a bit too cold; but they did at least have better weather for with no snow and calmer winds. They worked on new plays for nearly an hour; wrapped up with a Chaser duel that Gwendolyn won by a goal; and then they packed up and went to play in the snow with their friends for another hour before going inside to warm up and just hang out until dinnertime. While the afternoon exercise and outdoor fun was a highlight of the day, the evening entertainment was warmer, quiet, and a great way to wind down the weekend. After splitting up for dinner, Al and Gwendolyn met up again to go and have a couple hours of alone time that included cuddling on a sofa; writing letters for home; and having weekend wrap-up mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah.

They followed that up with a visit to the Owlery to send those letters – and a few that Rose wanted sent along – with Winter. She was excited to be getting out for a nice long flight, but while Al couldn't do anything about Blizzard's lack of travel opportunities; he and Gwendolyn did spend time with him and left owl treats with him to at least partially make up for James' near-complete lack of attention. Once that little chore was done, Al walked Gwendolyn 'home' and then went on to the Gryffindor common room where he hung out with Rose, Ray, and a few other friends for a half-hour or so before heading up to bed for the night. With his mirror chats already out of the way, he simply got ready for bed; read a book for a while; and had a very short chat with Ray when he joined him in their dorm room before dropping off to sleep for the night – past-ready by then to get a chance to fully re-charge ahead of the coming school week that would take them through the end of January and into the start of February.

The last four days of January were fairly uneventful, though Al was busy every day; and he did still have to deal with a daily prank or ambush attempt from James and Ollie. Doing that included avoiding two attempts completely thanks to using their maps to keep away from the two prank masters, but they still had to defend against two other ambushes – both of them of the hit-and-run variety. While it was a pain to constantly be watching out for James and Ollie, everything else about the school week was pretty good for Al. The classwork was interesting and fun; they had no trouble keeping up with the work; and he and Gwendolyn always had fun whenever they were together – even when they were studying and writing up their assignments and reports. The end of the month also brought some extra testing in most of their classes; though that also helped because they had fewer assignments so that they could study for those tests instead. By dinnertime on Friday, as usual, everyone in their study group was finished their 'regular' assignments for the week; and ready to take the weekend off – which for Al and Gwendolyn meant starting that play time with a quiet evening for two with some music fun; watching mirror network shows on a sofa in their usual classroom; and ending their school week with a fairly brilliant snogging session.

Saturday morning didn't start out nearly as great as Friday night had ended for Al, and unfortunately, that was because it was his brother's fourteenth birthday. Even though he didn't even see James until they were both in the Great Hall for breakfast, that didn't keep his mood from turning fairly somber; and that had everything to do with James – and the fact that he knew that his brother wouldn't want to share the happy day with him at all. Most days, he didn't even think about that kind of thing at all, in part because he was annoyed with James nearly every day due to the continuing ambushes and animosity; but that didn't change the fact that they were brothers – and he wished that things could be different between them. James did not share that sentiment, though; and Al wasn't surprised when James didn't come anywhere near him – and didn't so much as even look his way anytime they were in the same room.

While that wasn't any fun at all, Al still managed to enjoy his morning walk and talk with Rose; they had fun with their Gryffindor friends at breakfast; and then they had a morning of magic experimentation and play time with Gwendolyn and the friends that wanted to do that with them for a few hours. They split up for lunch, and then Al and Gwendolyn had a Chaser duel booked for the afternoon that he met u with her for again – but not until he and Rose had gone back to the Gryffindor common room long-enough to drop off gifts for James as his birthday party started there – a party that was open to all Gryffindors; but that they weren't welcome at to help with the celebration. Again, Al wasn't happy about that, but then Gwendolyn helped to keep his mind off of his family troubles while they had a brilliant afternoon together.

The Chaser duel was the most-exciting part of their afternoon, but the hot chocolate warm-up break after that was good too; and so was the sofa cuddle and reading time that included keeping an eye on the wekeend Quidditch matches on the mirror network and a bit of minor afternoon snogging that kept them busy until dinnertime. James' birthday party news was a top chat topic at dinner, and that wasn't much fun for Al or Rose; so they were glad to meet up with Gwendolyn and Shane after they'd all finished eating so that they could go back to their study classroom and get everything set up for their evening plans for watching mirror network shows with Bristol, Mark, Toni, and Michael. Their friends were giving them time to do that work; so they had nearly a half-hour with just the four of them to hang out while setting up the sofas, mirror, snacks, and drinks – and to have a semi-private chat too.

"It sounds as though James is having a fun birthday," Rose told Al shortly after they were in the classroom. "I'm a bit surprised that he hasn't tried any ambushes today to help with his birthday fun; but maybe he's decided that another failed ambush or prank would just mess up his special day."

"I'm not surprised; and we should likely be more worried about whether any of his birthday gifts will include things he can try blasting us with starting tomorrow," Al said seriously.

"There can't be many wheezes left that he hasn't tried to use on us already," Gwendolyn suggested; "but maybe we should have gotten him wheezes for his birthday instead of those mirror games."

"Did you guys use bludgers during your Chaser duel?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but what I meant is that we could have given him wheezes where the joke is that they don't do anything. James would be very disappointed when he tried using them on us – or someone else – and nothing happened."

"That's actually rather brilliant," Al said enthusiastically. "Uncle George would be mad if we tried that and his best ccustomers began to doubt his wheezes, but I'm a terrible disappointment to him anyway; so i can live with that."

"With the funny part of that being what a really great prank that would be," Rose offered. "Maybe we could come up with an entire line of counter-wheezes."

"You guys aren't devious-enough to get into that kind of a business war with your uncle," Gwendolyn told them with a laugh. "The charmed bracelets idea is a better one anyway; and wouldn't get you into trouble with the real prank master of the Wizarding World."

"That would be a fairly serious business risk," Rose admitted; "but that doesn't mean we can't keep that as a gift idea for James in the future – though he'd only find that funny if someone else gave him a present like that – and be mad at us if we did it."

"No doubt," Al agreed, "but then I probably wouldn't do something like that anyway – no matter how funny it would be. I still hope that James will come around eventually; and we'll be able to get along again some day."

"You're an optimist," Rose teased, "but Uncle Percy worked things out with his brothers; so maybe it's possible for James to come around some day too."

"Let's hope that it doesn't take a war for that to happen," Rose suggested; and then smiled at Shane's baffled expression. "Our Uncle Percy is – and was – very dedicated to the Ministry of Magic; so he had quite a falling out with his family when they didn't agree with things the Ministry was doing right before and during the war. He didn't start working things out with them until the night of the Battle of Hogwarts."

"I've never read anything about that in the History books," Shane said; and Rose shrugged.

"I'm sure there are a lot of stories from the war that none of us have heard. Even Al's Dad doesn't talk with us about the war very much. A lot of people that he loved died; and he doesn't like to dwell on things he can't change."

"My family never talks about the war either," Shane told her; and Rose laughed.

"You likely didn't even know there'd been a war before you got your first History of Magic textbook, and the only way that the rest of your family would know about it would be if you've told them."

"Your Muggle grandparents knew about the war," Shane countered; and Rose nodded.

"Yeah, but they didn't know a lot of the details until it was over – and Mum had to hide them from Voldemort and his Death Eaters for most of a year to protect them."

"It seems strange to grow up knowing nothing about the war," Gwendolyn said, "but then a lot of Witches and Wizards don't know very much about the Muggle world at all; let alone anything about Muggle wars."

"I still find that amazing," Shane admitted. "There are more than seven billion Muggles; yet most of them have no idea that there's a whole other, magical world all around them. Witches and Wizards might not know much about Muggles; but they do all at least know that the Muggle world exists."

"Muggles can't hide their world from us," Rose reminded him. "We had good reasons for hiding our magical world, though, and if anything; we've even more reasons to keep doing that than we had back then."

"You – we – do,' Shane agreed. "I'd be in for it with the teens back at home if they knew about me being a Wizard – and at least some of my Muggle friends would likely join in to make fun of me or worse."

"And here we thought that we had it bad dealing with Slytherins," Gwendolyn only half-joked. "Our Muggle-born friends have all of that and then a whole different problem at home. At least we don't have to associate with any Slytherins when we're away from school."

"Let's not talk about Slytherins," shane suggested. "You're lucky to have your Houses so far from Slytherin House. I was afraid to come out of our Common room alone for most of first year – and it's still not a good idea to do that if you run across any of the groups of Slytherins that get a good laugh out of picking on Witches and Wizards like me."

"We're not exactly loved by any Slytherin either," Gwendolyn reminded him; "though they haven't done anything more serious than insult us since that little problem Al and I had last year in the stadium. Now if we could just convince James and Ollie to leave us alone; we'd be all set."

"I do keep wondering about that," Rose said thoughtfully; "but Shane doesn't want to talk about Slytherins; and I'm sure we can find something else more interesting."

"Oh no – you're going to switch to Quidditch," Shane suggested; and Rose laughed.

"Normally, yes," she agreed, "but we'll have Bristol and Toni with us tonight; and they won't want to talk about that all night anymore than you do."

"We could talk about how much Shane is like your Mum," Gwendolyn offered with a sly grin. "It's funny how they both dislike Quidditch; yet they're attracted to Quidditch players."

"Isn't your Dad a member of that group too?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Not really. He loves Quidditch; and is a pretty good player too. He just didn't want to play professionally because he wanted to do music instead."

"Well, there's a topic for you," Al told Shane and the girls. "What did you want to be when you grow up – before you found out that you were a Wizard, Shane?"

"A Wizard," Shane joked; earning a round of laughs.

That did give them something to talk about that was fun and entertaining; and Shane was as interested in the little kid dreams of Witches and Wizards – especially when the rest of their friends joined them; and the non-Quidditch fanatics had some very different ideas about what they wanted to be compared to any Muggle kids. The mirror network shows were fun too; but Al mostly just enjoyed cuddling with Gwendolyn and hanging out with Rose and their friends. As usual, they watched the mirror network until about a half-hour before curfew; packed up; and then split up as needed for teh walk back to their repsective common rooms. Al and Gwendolyn went to Ravenclaw tower with Toni and Michael; but the other couple left them behind to take care of their goodnight hugs and kisses with two fewer spectators – not that any of the snogging couples noticed their short, final embrace of the day. Al went back to the Gryffindor common room; didn't stay there when he saw that his friends had either gone up to their dorm rooms already or were busy participating in the usual Saturday night snog-fest.

James and Ollie had been in the common room with their girlfriends too, but if either of them noticed Al; they didn't come up for air long-enough to acknowledge that. Ray was already in their dorm room when he got back, so they talked for a while – and with some of the other guys, but then Al got ready for bed; had a short mirror chat with Lily; and then called it a night. Sunday ended up being a quiet, fun day for Al that didn't include any issues with James and Ollie. He spent the morning working on his projects with Gwendolyn, Rose, and most of their study group; they had an afternoon co-ed pool party that was definitely the fun highlight of the day; and then he and Gwendolyn once again wrapped up their weekend with a quiet evening of cuddling, letter writing, and mirror network show watching before going to the Owlery to spend time with Winter and Blizzard – and then send Winter on her way with the usual batch of weekly Owl Posts. They were alone with the owls then, so they took care of their goodnight hugs and kisses there instead of outside of Ravenclaw tower, and then after he walked Gwendolyn home; Al wrapped up his night with a good book and early bedtime to get ready for the first full week of classes in February.

By Monday, the top two gossip subjects were the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend and Valentine's Day. The first wasn't a big deal for Al – other than that it meant a certain reprieve from James and Ollie while they were in town for the day; and he left the Valentine's Day gossip to the girls because he really didn't need to know about the love lives of the other Wizards and Witches at the school. He did have to start worrying about ambushes and pranks again from James and Ollie on Monday; so he guessed that the extra day off from that had been because they'd needed to spend most of the day on Sunday catching up on the assignments that they hadn't done on Friday or Saturday while they'd been busy celebrating James' birthday. The two ambush attempts that Al dealt with on Monday and Tuesday didn't include anything new; though James and Ollie did seem to keep coming up with twists on their ambushes that Al needed to stay alert for whenever he did see that they were out on prank patrol.

That wasn't fun, but then again it partially was – if only because he won all of those little battles. Everything else about his school days was really great, though, and in addition to all of the magic, study fun with friends, and a bit of play time here and there too; the entertainment highlight of the week was the Tuesday night match between the Harpies and Catapults. Tuesday was also Grandpa Weasley's sixty-eighth birthday, but other than having a short mirror chat before breakfast that Al and Rose had with him while he opened the gifts they'd sent for him; they didn't have anything else to do with helping him to have a happy day. Since going to the Harpies' match after a birthday dinner at the Leaky was part of his fun for the day, the Harpies did their best to help him out with having fun; and Victoire was particularly fired up about playing a game on her grandfather's birthday.

While the game was a lot of fun for the Harpies players and fans; that couldn't really be said for the Catapults and their faithful followers. Their pain was partially self-inflicted, and that was once again entirely the fault of their Seeker. He refused to try and catch the snitch for the loss even when the game was out of reach for his team and they were getting pounded; but he kept battling against Gabrielle too. That was why Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group friends could only watch part of the match together; and then Al and Ray watched the rest of it from their dorm room after walking their respective girlfriends back to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses. They'd only missed two Harpies' goals while doing that, and there was still no end in sight by then; so they got ready for bed too before getting into their beds and watching the match on their mirrors.

"I think that guy has well and truly lost it since messing up that playoff game last season," Ray told Al after watching the Catapults' Seeker successfully block Gabrielle from the snitch without even trying to make a grab for it himself. "It's hard to believe that this team even made the playoffs last year. If they're playing like this in every match; they'll be giving the Cannons a run for last place this year."

"They're not that bad – yet," Al disagreed; "but you're right about their Seeker losing it – at least when it comes to playing against the Harpies. He won't last much longer in the show if he can't learn to forget about bad games and move on."

"Then James and Ollie should have long, brilliant careers," Ray said with a laugh. "Not only do they not remember any bad games; all mistakes are somebody else's fault by the next day."

Al laughed too and nodded his agreement. "That's true, but they will have problems if they can't learn to appreciate their team mates – and work with them. The way they're playing here won't work in the pro leagues."

"They should be trying to play like Belinda and her team, but that'd mean admitting that they're wrong; and trying to get the best players in our House back on the team before our next match."

"That won't happen," Al assured him; glad that they didn't have any of the team or reserve squad players in the room to overhear Ray's comment – even though it was true. "If he wins one or both of our last two games, he'll take all of the credit; and if he loses either; I'll somehow get blamed for that – or they'll blame the other players on their team. It's like you said – nothing bad will be their own fault."

"Nice goal," Ray interjected in response to seeing Victoire's latest besting of the Catapults' Keeper. "That looked like a move I've seen you use before. Did she learn it from you or the other way around?"

"That's one that Gwendolyn and I have played around with for a while; but Victoire did her own thing with it – and that was a really great goal."

"I was thinking that it was too bad that she wasn't our team Captain this year instead of James, but then with her on the team as Chaser; I wouldn't have been playing anyway. Either way, it sometimes sucks to be in Gryffindor when there's so much competition for spots on the team."

"You're already a lot better this year than last," Al reminded him, "and when it warms up again; we'll start doing more scrimmages to help us to get ready for next season."

"Assuming that James and Ollie can't make good on their threats to make sure we don't get to play next year either," Ray added. "Playing in the show some day will be a real problem for us if they manage to keep us off of the team for the next four or five years."

"I think that we might have more to worry about from our younger siblings for keeping us off the team," Al said with a laugh. "Lily won't be a problem for me, but your sister and cousin could be a problem; Rose will have to compete against Hugo; and there are lots of other Quidditch family kids coming to Hogwarts over the next few years."

"That might actually be a problem for me," Ray admitted; "but that isn't true for you – so quit trying to be so bloody modest. Rose has really got it as tough as I do with Louis two years ahead of her and Hugo two years behind – especially now that she's gone two years without playing Keeper for our team. The other House Keepers all have more experience than she does – even Gwendolyn's cousin and Leanne Jordan."

"Ryan Rivers," Al said; reminding Ray of Gwendolyn's cousin's name. "I don't really mind that the competition between the Houses will get tougher for us. Winning the Quidditch Cup will mean more – not that it isn't a big deal every year. Our older cousins have been up against tough competition too."

"That's true," Ray agreed. "I wouldn't have any more fun battling against Belinda and some of the other senior Keepers and Chasers than I'll likely have against Melissa and Kathryn – or Tory and Gwendolyn."

Al grinned at him. "True, but you have more fun playing against Tory. Maybe you should offer to help her with getting ready for her next match with some Chaser duels too. Gwendolyn and I have a lot of fun with our duels."

"Both the Quidditch and magical kinds of them," Ray offered with a laugh. "We've talked about it; but keep coming up with excuses for why we really don't want to go out to do that in the cold and snow. It's too bad that we can't have an indoor training center."

"Technically, we could," Al advised him. "We could shield the stadium, but then we'd have a limit to how high we could fly; and you definitely wouldn't want to accidentally hit a shield at high speed. That'd be a guaranteed trip to the hospital wing – if not St. Mungo's for a longer visit."

"That's likely why they don't do that in the pro leagues," Ray suggested; and Al nodded.

"I'm sure it is – though the winter games would be a lot warmer if they could figure out a way to do that." He thought about that for a minute, and then laughed.

"What's funny now?"

"Well, I think I know a way to do it; but I doubt that Headmistress McGonagall will want to let me try it out on our stadium." He laughed again at the expression on Ray's face. "It's not really anything brilliant. I was just thinking about whether a stadium could be expanded the way we do for things like our tents or even this room."

"Um, how about because rooms and tents are closed-in spaces?" Ray offered; and Al laughed again.

"A stadium with a shield over it would be closed in too," he pointed out. "The amount of magic it would take to make that happen would be enormous; but it would be possible."

"You're right – McGonagall will never let you try that," Ray declared. "Maybe Rose will let you try it out on the Cannons' practice pitch when you go to work for her after school."

"If I did that and it worked; the Cannons wouldn't have problems anymore with hiring great players – and all of the other teams would want a practice pitch like that too."

"You're a bit scary sometimes," Ray advised him. "There should have been a 'could do' instead of the 'did' – and most of us would just say it's impossible in the first place."

"I don't know if it's possible or not; but it would be brilliant."

That pretty much wrapped up that line of thought, so they moved on while watching the rest of the match. Gabrielle ended the game early into the fifth hour; the Harpies won by a score of four-ten to thirty; and Victoire scored seventeen of the Harpies' twenty-six goals – an effort that her grandfather appreciated quite a lot. It was past Al's bedtime by then, so he put his mirror away and went to sleep instead of waiting up for a chat with Lily whenever she managed to get home from the stadium; and stayed asleep through until morning. The rest of the school week was comparatively quiet as Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group mostly focused on their classes and studies – and Quidditch for the team players that needed to fit practices into their schedules. As usual, they had their regular weekend work finished by dinnertime on Friday; Al and Gwendolyn got their weekend started with some alone time playing music, watching shows, and enjoying some snogging time on one of the sofas until curfew; and then Al wrapped up his school week with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily before turning in before most of the guys in his dorm room even made it there from the common room.

On Saturday morning, it was the trip into Hogsmeade that was the top gossip topic around the dorms, common rooms, and the Great Hall – particularly since it was the last chance to go into town for the teens ahead of Valentine's Day. While going to town wasn't an option for Al and the rest of the first and second-year students, he had other reasons to be in a great mood as he got up and ready for the day. First up on that list was that James and Ollie would be away from the castle for most of the day – and he wouldn't have to watch out for their ambushes or pranks while they were gone. There were also no Quidditch practices booked for the morning, so Gwendolyn had booked the stadium and they were going to have a scrimmage match with their usual group of players. Add in an afternoon of Quidditch-watching with their friends – even though the Harpies weren't playing again already; and Al was sure that they were going to have a brilliant day. Rose appeared to agree with him on that when they met in the common room for their walk and talk before breakfast; and she had an enthusiastic hug and smile for him before they headed for the portrait hole and out into the hallway.

"Would you like to start with the latest Hogsmeade and Valentine's Day gossip?" Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"Not really – unless theres' something on the network about me that I should hear about from you first."

"There isn't," Rose assured him; "but you might want to know that Patricia and Anna have very high expectations for what James and Ollie will be doing with them for Valentine's Day."

"I sure hope that they don't get the same gift that James and Ollie sent to Gwendolyn and me last year," Al said seriously, "but if Patricia is expecting something brilliant from James; she's likely going to be disappointed. You know how much he hates using his own money on anyone else – unless it's for a prank."

Rose grinned at him. "Their expectations might be your fault. Patricia and Anna might believe every word that James and Ollie say about us, but they also remember seeing the gifts you gave Gwendolyn last year – and that was only two months after you started dating her – just as it is this year for them with James and Ollie."

"Maybe James will surprise me; but I doubt it – and I'm more worried about what he'll try to do to mess things up for me again. He won't likely try the singing dwarf and card thing again; but I've no doubt he will try something."

"You're probably right," Rose agreed. "Remind me to sit on the other side of the table from you for all of our meals on Valentine's Day just to be safe."

Al laughed. "I can do that," he promised, "but if all of our friends do that; it'll be a bit lonely for me."

"Maybe Gwendolyn will make up for that after we're done our assignments that evening," Rose offered.

"That'd be fun, but Valentine's Day is next Thursday; and we won't likely have much time for that sort of thing when we've got Astronomy class on top of the rest of our classes and work – and the Valentine's Day dinner will likely take longer than normal too."

"That's actually a bit depressing," Rose decided. "Let's change the subject. Have we got enough players lined up for our scrimmage this morning?"

"Yes, but if Shane wants to give it a go this time; we can probably work that out – or just take turns for whatever position he wants to play."

"You do know that Shane doesn't really like Quidditch at all, right?" Rose countered. "He does like flying better than Mum does, but while he doesn't say much about it to me; it's fairly obvious that he doesn't like any of our sports – and thinks that Quidditch is barbaric."

"Well, it is that," Al said with a nod and shrug; "but it isn't as if there aren't Muggle sports that are just as bad."

"Shane only talks about sports like football, rugby, cricket, and cycling; so I doubt he'd be into any of those rougher sports." She grinned at Al again. "It's funny that Shane and I are so different and get along – just as my parents do; while you and Gwendolyn are like your parents."

"In some ways," Al agreed; "though we're different too."

Rose laughed. "Yeah – you're not as dense about Witches as your father was at our age," she teased.

"I'd file a complaint, but I think that I'll prefer getting teased about that more than I'd like getting teased about being just as dense as Dad for having a lousy dating reputation at school."

"Maybe James will get that reputation," Rose offered helpfully. "Patricia's obliviously happy so far; but I just can't see that lasting. She'll either figure out how full of it James is; he'll mess up somehow; or he'll just dump her and move on."

"That isn't a very cheery thought for the weekend before Valentine's Day either. Maybe we should talk about anything that isn't Quidditch or Valentine's Day."

"Is that possible today? Even the Hogsmeade gossip is all about Valentine's Day. We're playing Quidditch this morning; watching Quidditch this afternoon; and Valentine's Day and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match next Saturday will be the top two gossip topics for the next week."

"How about you give me suggestions for the best Valentine's Day Animagus; and I can surprise Gwendolyn with that next week," Al suggested; earning a laugh from his cousin.

"Would you do that in the Great Hall at breakfast?" she asked. "That might be funnier at Easter if you spent the day as a bunny; but we might be able to come up with something for Valentine's Day too."

Rose was happy to talk about that with Al, though he wasn't seriously thinking about that kind of display in front of everyone in the school. That did keep them entertained until the rest of their Gryffindor friends began joining them for breakfast; and then it was back to the latest gossip for Rose while Al mostly tried to enjoy the food and stay quiet while the girls all had fun with that. He went to meet up with Gwendolyn after they ate, but then he sat at the Ravenclaw table with her while they waited for the entrance hall to clear of the Hogsmeade-bound students instead of trying to deal with the traffic jam on their way out to the stadium. They did eventually get going, though; and then they spent the next couple of hours having a chilly blast of fun playing a brilliant Quidditch match.

Since Gwendolyn didn't have her full team, Al was able to play Chaser with her instead of against her; and they won their Chaser battle even though Rose had a slightly better game than Ryan did for the Keeper battle – at least for save percentage. Ryan only faced about half as many shots as Rose did; which was why Gwendolyn's team won the day despite having Madison win the Seeker duel over Stephanie three catches to two. Nobody else had booked the second morning time slot, so they were able to play longer than normal – and they did that despite the cold so that Madison and Stephanie could play on to the best-of-five catch duel was finished. That meant that they were all ready to go back into the castle and warm up right after their scrimmage instead of staying outside for some snow play time; but they stayed together for that snack and drinks break before Al and Gwendolyn went on to do their own thing for the rest of the morning.

They opted for a visit to the library and some quiet time there; split up for lunch; and then got back together again to go to their classroom with quite a few of their friends to spend the afternoon watching Quidditch. Al experimented with his toy sofas a bit to make room for the extra friends by making each of them big-enough for four teens, and that worked okay; but it wasn't as easy for all of them to watch the Quidditch matches on the mid-sized mirror – and the extra noise made it tougher to hear as well. It was also a bit strange to have a game-watching afternoon when there wasn't a Harpies' match on the mirror network, but they did have friends that were fans of other teams; and those matches could be really great too – even if they weren't as personal. Having fun together was the most important part of their afternoon plans, though; and they did that and then some – so much so that most of them came back for more fun after dinner.

The only change was that they watched mirror network shows instead of Quidditch; it was darker because they kept the lights low to be able to watch the shows more easily – or for less-noticeable snogging with some of the less-reserved members of their group. It was quieter for most of the evening too – except for when they all laughed during the one comedy they watched and Lee's nightly talk show that on Saturday usually included a Quidditch recap of the week that was always entertaining because he liked to poke fun at the game, players, and everyone else involved in the sport. Al and Gwendolyn weren't among the public snoggers, but they did have fun cuddling together; watching the shows; and having fun chatting with thecouples sitting nearest to them. Wrapping their evening up in time to get back to their Houses before curfew wasn't universally popular, but the responsible members of their group made that happen anyway; and Al even managed to have a bit of extra time to spend with Gwendolyn for the walk back to Ravenclaw tower than normal.

Al wrapped up his Saturday with some hang out time with Ray and some of the other guys in their dorm room before drifting off to sleep; and then it was back to work for the morning on Sunday when he and Rose got together with their usual study group to work on their bigger projects. This time, they did half of that work in the library so they could do research too; and then they moved to their study classroom for the rest of the morning until splitting up to have lunch. The magic fun kicked up a few notches in the afternoon with some magical play time that Al and Gwendolyn only had a few extra friends around for while the rest of their gang went with other entertinment options. James and Ollie attempted another hit-and-run ambush on Al and Gwendolyn when they were going for a walk after that classroom play time before splitting up for dinner, and this time; Gwendolyn took care of their defense while Al took care of a counter-attack that wasn't serious; but did hit the marks judging by the shouts of surprise coming from the secret passageway as their protagonists fled the scene.

A quiet evening for two was again their entertainment of choice for wrapping up their weekend. They wrote letters for home; had mirror chats with their parents, sister, and brother; and watched a couple of favorite shows before moving on to the Owlery to send their posts – and Rose's – with Winter. Spending time with her – and with Blizzard – had been fun too; but the James and Ollie ambush that followed on the way back to Ravenclaw tower hadn't been even remotely entertaining for them. That wasn't because the attempt had been successful – it was because they were left to deal with a mess that needed to be cleaned up before any other students could come across it and wind up as collateral damage. Trying an attack on Sunday night when they were usually busy with the weekend assignments they were always behind on was another switch-up for James and Ollie; and Al didn't know whether to be worried over that or not with Valentine's Day just four days away, but there wasn't much he could do about it anyway; so he tried not to worry about it too much and simply be ready for anything.

While Valentine's Day was the number one gossip story at Hogwarts during the three days leading up to the big event, Al and Rose had a family birthday event on Monday to have just a little bit of fun with – Dominique's seventeenth birthday. She was now their third cousin to reach that all-important age, so that wasn't as big of a deal for the younger cousins – except for the part of milestone and birthday fun that included her shiny, new Lightningbolt gift that was from her parents,grandparents, aunts, and uncles. That gift was news that made the rounds of the gossip network because of the potential implications for the Quidditch Cup race, but for her part; Dominique didn't brag about it or flaunt having it in any way beyond letting her closest friends and cousins see it after getting it in the Owl Post. Al and Rose tried to spend a bit more time with Dominique than they had with Molly on her birthday in November. That didn't happen at breakfast, because she had a lot of cousins and friends interested in wishing her a happy birthday – especially after seeing her new broom arrive, but Gwendolyn joined them for that cameo visit; and they gave her their gifts then too instead of during the birthday party that Louis, Lucy, Jensen Scott, and some of Dominique's friends threw for her after last class. That timing worked out for Al and Rose because they could go to it while Gwendolyn was busy with her Quidditch practice; and Louis had picked a classroom for the party so that Dominique's Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends could join in on the fun too.

The early start was so that some of those friends could still get to their own senior team Quidditch practices during the second after-school time slot; so the only problem that Al and Rose had was thanks to James and Ollie showing up too – and doing their very best to annoy them with taunts, insults, and two prank attempts. They put up with all of that simply to keep the peace for Dominique, but were happy to leave after Gwendolyn stopped in long enough to again wish Dominique a happy birthday; have a piece of birthday cake for a snack; and warm up a bit before moving on to do a bit of studying before dinner. That party did leave them with more work to do after dinner, but even with the annoyances; it had still been worth it. Working nearly to curfew had made for a long day, though; and Al pretty much crashed for the night as soon as he was changed and ready for bed.

The two days from there to Valentine's Day were comparatively uneventful for Al – though the gossip network was running at high speed; and they were busy with their classes and studies. Their study sessions on Tuesday were fairly normal; Wednesday was a bit slower because Gwendolyn needed more time after dinner to make up for what she didn't have time to get done before dinner thanks to delays at the end of her Quidditch practice; though that really only affected the amount of time she and Al could spend together after the studying was done. That lack of play time was part of the reason that Al was hoping to make Gwendolyn's Valentine's Day as amazing as he could – and hopefully avoid a repeat of the start to their first Valentine's Day together. He somehow managed to get up at his normal time instead of an hour or more early; took extra time to get ready for the day; and then met up with Rose in the common room.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he told her enthusiastically while handing her a small gift before sharing a quick hug.

"I'm hoping so," she said with a laugh. "Are you doing a gift for me this year in case Shane messes up?"

"No – that's simply to let you know that I do love you a lot, cousin," he answered seriously; though he laughed at her joke too. "I hope you like it; but it isn't nice-enough to be a decent consolation gift if Shane does mess up. Speaking of messing up; I'm supposed to remind you not to sit with me today." Rose laughed again, but she was busy opening her gift; so it was another few moments before she happily hugged him for a second time – which earned them a bit of razzing from a small group of passing Gryffindors.

"Thanks – and thanks for the charm. What does this one do?" 'This one' was a Chudley Cannons logo medalion that he'd made a bit smaller and turned into a charm.

"It's a memory charm," Al answered; and smiled as Rose's eyes lost focus because she'd already touched it. She was laughing about ten seconds later when she'd finished viewing just the first part of the charm; and she hugged him again.

"That's brilliant – and really funny," she told him. "Thank-you! I'll have to check out the rest of that daydream later; but I'd say that is going to be an awesome consolation gift if things don't go as well with Shane."

"You're welcome," he assured her; and then offered to carry her school bag while she transferred the charm to her bracelet and they headed out of the common room.

"You know that Gwendolyn might not like that daydream memory, right?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"I expect that she'll think it's funny, but just in case I'm wrong; maybe you should hold off on showing it to her until tomorrow or on the weekend. The rest of it should be funny – even if she doesn't like the part where she's on the team with us."

"Now you've got me wishing that I had time to watch the entire thing right now," Rose told him; and Al grinned at her.

"You could always skip breakfast to do that. I'm sure that Shane won't mind waiting until lunchtime to see you – and I can give you any Owl Posts that arrive for you before first class."

"I'm half-tempted to do that just to be far away from you in case James and Ollie try anything; but I'll come along anyway – and maybe even be able to have your back if they do go after you and Gwendolyn again – from the other side of the table from you."

"That's actually a good plan," Al said seriously. "I can watch out for you more easily that way too."

"You don't think that I have anything to worry about," Rose guessed; and Al shrugged.

"No, but I will feel better if you've a chance to be out of the line of fire – and I do get the sense that James and Ollie are going to try something this morning."

"It's too bad that danger alarm can't be more specific – and come to you sooner. We could have a lot of fun if we could stop these ambushes and pranks long before they can happen."

"That would be nice," Al agreed; "but I'm not going to complain about that little advantage we have. It has come in quite handy even with the limits."

Rose had agreed with that, and made a few other comments on the subject; but then they'd moved on to talk about more entertaining things – including the latest gossip. They were still among the first students to arrive in the Great Hall even after a long walk; so they were there to welcome all of their Gryffindor friends. Ray and Cora opted to join Rose on the other side of the table from Al; and he got teased about that - including having the friends that did still sit next to him give him a lot more room than normal so that he had nearly three spots of space on the bench to himself. That change had Gwendolyn's attention as she came over to share a first round of Valentine's Day hugs, kisses, and best wishes. Al stood up and stepped away from the table to do that with her.

"Should I be afraid to come closer to you when your friends are all giving you so much space?" she teased even as she stepped close and put her arms around his neck and continued straight into the kiss from there.

The warning bells were blaring at Al by then, but he always tried his best to learn from his mistakes; so he stayed in the moment – and enjoyed sharing the kiss with Gwendolyn – while also mentally screaming out "PROTEGO!" and waving his wand to raise the wrap-around dome shield that encased them even as the neon-pink pile of something nasty encased them. He kept on kissing her and put both arms around her to help with deepening the kiss; earning a muffled laugh from his amazing girlfriend even as she enthusiastically helped him out with that effort.

"I hope James and Ollie try something like this every day if you'll kiss me like that when they do," she teased when they came up for air for a moment. "What is this stuff?"

"I have no idea – or how much of it there is; so I guess we'll just have to wait here until someone outside of this shield comes to our rescue."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Well, if we're stuck here anyway; we may as well make the best of it!"

With that said; she gave both of them something better to do – and they were still busy with that when the light around them suddenly turned from blue-pink to blue-open-air. That did get their attention, though, so they stepped apart and looked around to find everyone they could see watching them too – and laughing. They couldn't hear the sound of that until Al dropped his shield; but it was a near-roar when he did; and there were quite a few whistles and cat-calls directed at them too. That had Al blushing – especially when he turned and saw Professor Longbottom just a handful of steps away; and trying unsuccessfully not to laugh too. Gwendolyn did laugh and hugged Al again; but then they both noticed that some of their friends had gotten caught up in the mess; and their expressions turned somber.

"I'll take it that you're both just fine," Professor Longbottom told them; and he wasn't grinning anymore either. Did you see what happened? I didn't expect to find you shielded under that mess."

"I was prepared in case something happened again this year," Al answered; "but didn't see anything except the pile of pink dropping on us." He turned toward the Gryffindor table. "I'm sorry," he told three of his classmates. Scott Holden, Amelia Hart, and Dave Wilson were all now afflicted with pink hippogriff head Transfigurations; and had splatters of the pink stuff on their robes and faces. "When you're back to normal; I'm going to make this up to you."

"We'll let you do that," Scott told him – though the only reason Al knew it was Scott was from the voice – even though that came out sounding funny because of the Transfiguration. He looked down at himself and grunted. "Merlin, this stuff stinks. I'm going back to our dorm to get changed. None of you want to be around me smelling like this – and Madison definitely won't be interested in coming anywhere near me either."

"I can take care of the smell and mess," Professor Longbottom told him – and Amelia and Dave. "Unfortunately that Transfiguration wheeze will need to run its course."

"So no kisses from Madison for you for just a bit longer," Gwendolyn teased; but then she went on to hug all three of them once Neville had cleaned them up – just as he'd dealt with the rest of the mess. "I'm sorry you got hit with this prank too." She grinned at them then. "I'd offer to make that up to you during the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, but my idea for doing that is likely very different than yours."

"Or not," Scott disagreed; and his grin wasn't something pretty to see at all. "I would feel bad for the rest of the players and our House; but we all know who did this – even if we can't prove it."

"Which is why you should all just leave this alone," Neville told them quietly. "I will have this investigated, but you are likely right; and the best thing for all of you right now is to sit down and let it blow over."

"Yes sir," Al agreed with a nod. "Thank-you for helping to get us out of that mess. I didn't want to try anything from under the pile that might have made things worse."

"A wise choice," Neville confirmed; nodding too. "Let's hope that the rest of your Valentine's Day will be better for all of you."

He turned and left then, and since it had taken a little while for him to dig Al and Gwendolyn out of what was now obviously a pile of pink hippogriff dung with an added transfiguration wheeze mixed in; Al couldn't watch Gwendolyn open her Valentine's gifts – though he did send them with her so that she didn't have to wait until later. They took care of that and another quick hug and kiss before she left and he sat down again in the middle between Scott and Dave.

"Your brother is an idiot," Rose told him quietly as she leaned forward to talk with him – and only be overheard by the friends closest to him. "None of us saw that shield it happened so fast. We thought they'd gotten you again for sure."

"They nearly did – but I managed to get that shield up without messing up that kiss with Gwendolyn. She'd have likely hexed me if I did that again like I did the New Year's Eve before last."

"From what we saw of the end of that kiss; you guys are lucky that your shield didn't melt," Rose teased; and laughed when Al started to blush again. "We appreciate the current and future entertainment w'll get out of that; but we can tease you about that later. Right now, you'll want to know that that stuff was dumped on you from somewhere near the ceiling. I don't know how they managed to get it to pile up like that, but it's amazing that nearly all of it landed on just the two of you." She smiled ruefully at Scott and Amelia. "I'm really sorry that you guys got splattered. In hindsight, it seems that we all should have crowded onto this side fo the table."

"I wish that Amelia hadn't got hit too; but Dave and I will survive," Scott told her – "and we could have taken the warning more seriously instead of just razzing Al about it. I'm mostly only mad for Amelia. It's wrong to mess with Witches on Valentine's Day."

"Thank-you," Amelia told him quietly; "but I'm okay – and you did try to protect me – which is why you ended up with so much more of that stuff on you than I did." She looked past him to Al. "I'm surprised that you didn't blast James and Ollie again. This prank was even worse than the one last year."

"Believe me, I'm still tempted," he admitted; "but our House can't afford to lose more points – not that we're likely going to catch up to any of the other Houses by the end of the year to be in the running for the House Cup. That detention wasn't any fun either; so I guess they're going to get away with yet another prank."

"You might have done it anyway if you'd seen the looks on their faces when they thought they'd gotten you," Rose told him – "though you did get a bit of payback when they saw you safe under that shield and happily snogging Gwendolyn – or was she snogging you?"

"Remind me to start working on shielding that can't be seen through this weekend," Al joked as he started blushing again.

"I can do that, but then we'll all know what you're doing under those shields if you start using them outside of Ravenclaw tower every night when you walk Gwendolyn home."

"That would be handy if it could be done, though," Bristol told her with a grin. "I can just picture our common room with those shields hiding all of those snogging couples."

"You'd likely be under one of those shields; and unable to see anything," Ray countered with a laugh. "I can't even do that dome shield that Al does anyway let alone color it; so that won't be something I'll be doing anyway."

"I wasn't really thinking about the being able to do those shields part of it," Bristol admitted. "It would be nice now and then to have some privacy around here."

"Especially on Valentine's Day," Scott agreed. "Some of us weren't lucky enough to be under that shield and pile of pink hippogriff dung."

"If you'd been under that shield with Al and Gwendolyn, that would have just been weird," Ray advised him – "and if you'd been under it with Gwendolyn instead of Al; you'd have had more than the dung to worry about once you were set free."

Those comments earned some laughs; and then the conversation moved on as they all had breakfast. The arrival of the Owl Posts offered a lengthy distraction. Al had left Valentine's Day cards and gifts at home with his father for his mother and sister, but since Winter hadn't returned earlier; he hadn't been surprised to see her arrive with a package for him that had gifts, letters, and cards. The gifts were only for him, James, and Rose; and the cards were for all of his Witch cousins at Hogwarts. By then, Scott, Amelia, and Dave were back to normal, so Al began making it up to them by sharing the chocolates and sweets that had been sent to him; though he had already decided that he'd do something a bit nicer for them too – once he could decide what that'd be and arrange for the gifts. The rest of the morning between then and the start of first class was busy for quite a few of them – particularly for those cross-House couples that wanted to get together for short visits before getting to first classes.

Since their Charms class was with Hufflepuff, that worked out great for Rose, Scott, and some of their other friends when they could do that on the way to class – and then get to spend the morning with their Valentine. Al and Gwendolyn weren't that lucky, and though he'd have rather avoided James for the rest of the day; their first stop once they'd gotten together after breakfast was to drop off the gifts that his parents and sister had sent along for James. He was still eating breakfast when they approached him; and he pretended to ignore them until Al simly dropped the package on the table so he couldn't do that anymore.

"Happy Valentine's Day, James, Patricia," he told them as politely as he could manage; and steeled himself when James turned and sneered at him.

"Yeah, whatever. Saw you had some problems again this year." He sniffed the air; and then wrinkled his nose. "It's no wonder that stuff was attracted to you."

"Careful, James," Al warned. "Next thing you know; you'll be using the Slyterin nickname for us."

"Maybe I get why they call you that," James retorted; and Al noticed that Ollie was laughing at James' barbs; but nobody else was. "You shouldn't have bothered with that shield and let that stuff hit you. Not only would you have smelled better; but you'd have looked better too."

"Is that what you'll tell Amelia, Dave, and Scott next time you see them instead of apologizing to them?" Al countered; letting a bit of the anger out now. "Oh, right – you've nothing to apologize for; since you have no idea who could possibly be behind a prank like that." He didn't miss the guilty look on Patricia's face and turned his attention to her. "It's all just fun and games, right, Patricia? What's the big deal if one of your roommates and three of your friends get splattered with that stuff and then have to deal with those awful Transfigurations on Valentine's Day. They were just collateral damage."

"What are you blasting her for?" James demanded. "We have no idea who did that to you."

"You're such a lousy liar," Al told him bluntly; "and I told Patricia that because she doesn't even need to try denying that she at least knew bout that prank – even if she didn't help with it. Maybe all four of you would have been okay with that happening to Gwendolyn and me; but at least one of you feels bad for our friends."

"Sod off," James retorted hotly; "and take your ugly dog-sitter with you."

"What a sweet thing to say to a girl on Valentine's Day!" Gwendolyn gushed; feigning giddy happiness. "It's no wonder that all the Witches I hear about you flirting with think that you're so wonderful!"

"She's lying!" James told Patricia quickly when that comment had her turning to glare at him.

"Half-lying," Gwendolyn amended. "I'll leave it up to the two of you to decide on which half."

With that said, they moved on so that Al could deliver the cards for Molly, Lucy, and Dominique. By the time they had that finished; there wasn't much time left for just the two of them before they needed to get to their respective classes. Gwendolyn had loved the flowers and chocolates that had come by Owl Post. She thought that the matching top and sweater that his mother and Lily had helped him to pick out had been beautiful, and while some of her friends had thought that the Muggle tablet and a selection of the various teen book series she'd started to read that she'd now be able to get in e-book format was weird; she'd thought that it was brilliant. Al was happy about that, and despite the prank problem; he couldn't really complain about how well their second Valentine's Day was going so far – especially compared to the last one and all of the trouble he'd gotten into because of James and Ollie.

He usually sat with Rose for their Charms classes, but since she was with Shane for the morning, and Ray was with Tory; Al sat with Bristol – and they had fun together – particularly while working on the practical part of their Valentine's Day themed lesson. Spending a bit of time with Gwendolyn before and after lunch had been great too; and then it had been on to Potions class for some more holiday-related fun – though they did not brew up love potions. Having their study period for the last class of the day allowed Al, Rose, Bristol, and Ray to get their Potions assignment finished before the rest of their friends were finished classes for the day, but before Al and Gwendolyn joined their full study group after that last class of the day to work until dinnertime; he took her outside for an Animagus horseback ride around the school grounds. That was a fairly chilly bit of play time for both of them, but brilliantly fun too; and attracted some spectators too – though most of those students and Professors watching the show did that from castle, greenhouse, or cabin windows.

Their horsing around delayed their studying a bit, so while Al still managed to get his Charms assignment done by dinnertime; Gwendolyn still had some work to do after dinner – as did all of their Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw group members. Before they could get to that, though, they had the special Valentine's Day dinner to attend. While the food was great, and Al had fun with his Gryffindor friends; he wasn't the only student in the Great Hall wishing that he could spend that time with his Valentine too. Not being able to do that was a factor for the last-minute decision to set up the sofas and mirror for their evening study session – though Rose insisted that they couldn't use the sofas until they each finished their assignments first. That little stipulation was a motivator, though; and the rest of their work was finished very, very quickly – and possibly just a bit shoddily by one or three members of their group. That wasn't the case for Gwendolyn, but she did have Al helping her; so they were finished at nearly the same time as everyone else.

While having some alone time for snogging would have been nice, watching a couple of shows on the mirror network and sharing the rest of the evening with their friends was pretty good too; and Al and Gwendolyn were content to cuddle and stay warm until it was time to head for their Astronomy class – while their Hufflepuff friends needed to get back to their dorm room ahead of the curfew that applied to every student that didn't have Astronomy classes or other reasons to be out of their Houses that late. Getting to have that bonus time with Gwendolyn was great for Al, but it was also very cold and uncomfortable in the Astronomy tower; and the 'stolen' hugs and kisses only helped a little to deal with that cold. Al couldn't walk Gwendolyn back to her House either; but Toni and Michael waited for her while they took a couple of minutes to say goodnight to each other after class; and Rose walked back to their common room with Al after that too – after checking and seeing that James and Ollie were still awake; in the common room; and likely waiting for Patricia and Anna to get back from their Astronomy class.

They hadn't really been worried about another ambush attempt after curfew outside of their House, but they both wanted to be sure that there wouldn't be any surprises waiting for them in the common room. That didn't end up being a worry, since the two couples were already too busy with their snogging and oblivious to everything around them by then – as were most of the couples that were still hanging out there instead of in their dorm rooms. Al shared a goodnight hug with Rose too before they split up, but they did that right away – and didn't want to be around the snog-fest any longer than absolutely necessary. Rose likely had a longer bedtime girl chat with her roommates, but Al did talk with Ray and a few of the other guys while they all got ready for bed – and in Al's case; getting his book bag ready for their morning class. He hadn't needed to hear the stories to know that some of the guys had not enjoyed a good Valentine's Day for various reasons; but he didn't talk about himself or Gwendolyn – other than answering a few questions that were mostly about the morning prank from guys that hadn't talked with him about it earlier in the day.

Valentine's Day gossip wasn't quite finished yet on Friday morning, but it was mostly the holiday disasters and even a few break-ups that made the rounds in the Great Hall; and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match moved up to top spot as a lot of Quidditch fans were happy to make last-minute predictions that were almost-always based on rumors instead of from any inside special knowledge about the game or players. One thing that Al was happy about not hearing or seeing was any sign from the players of either team of any boasting or taunting – which was the way he thought that it should be. That wasn't to say that there wasn't some of that going on – it just wasn't from any of the senior team players. There were Slytherins that razzed the players on both teams; and some other teens – like James and Ollie – that were happy to taunt the students in the rival House; but there was good sportsmanship where it counted.

The one-day lull between Valentine's Day and the Quidditch match allowed Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone to get their weekend work finished by dinnertime on Friday; and then Al and Gwendolyn opted to spend Friday evening on their own instead of hanging out with Rose and the rest of their friends. Al did lend them the extra sofas and his larger mirror, but while he and Gwendolyn were teased about that; they'd wanted to have some music time and a mirror chat or two instead – and could still use their smaller mirrors to watch a show if they still had time for that too. The mirror chat with her parents and brother was early because her mother had the Harpies' game to get ready for ahead of her game day curfew; and later for his parents and sister because they'd gone out for dinner and some play time after Harry was finished work for the day. The music time was in between the two chats; and then they wrapped up their evening together with a fairly brilliant snogging session while not watching whatever was on the mirror network channel they randomly picked before ignoring it while they were busy keeping themselves entertained.

After walking Gwendolyn home and getting back to his own dorm room ahead of curfew; Al got ready for bed; read for a while; talked with Ray and the other guys as they joined him in there; and then he went off to sleep early-enough to be rested and ready for a busy day of Quidditch and play time with Gwendolyn and their friends. With Gryffindor playing on Saturday, he wasn't alone in the washroom while showering and getting ready for a bitterly-cold day that was going to make watching the game as uncomfortable as it was sure to be fore the players. It was also so cold outside that Al and Rose skipped their usual longer morning walk and chat so that they could spend as little time in the cold hallways as possible and instead went to the Great Hall early so that they could be warm while chatting and waiting for their friends to join them.

Having a hot breakfast helped to keep them warm, but Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends did eventually trudge out to the stadium; find seats on the border between the sections for their Houses; and then huddle under blankets to stay as warm as possible while waiting for the game to start. Rose didn't have Shane to cuddle with for the match because he was sitting in the Hufflepuff section to support his own House; so she sat next to Gwendolyn and huddled under the blanket with her – and with Al. He got teased about that despite the fact that he didn't have a Witch on each side of him, and some of that razzing wasn't welcome because it came from James and Ollie – and they'd decided to sit within hearing distance of Al along with the rest of the Gryffindor junior team and their respective girlfriends and boyfriends. While they didn't talk directly with Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, or Ray, they did make fun of them within their little group; so Al was annoyed with them long before the pre-game announcements began – and that really wasn't very long after they sat down. That part of the game-watching went downhill from there as James and Ollie offered their own running commentary – and made sure that they did that loudly-enough for their target audience to hear.

"And here comes Hufflepuff!" James declared at the same time that Teresa called the Hufflepuff team out into the stadium and began introducing the players. "We have Alice Longbottom, mediocre Chaser and sub-par team Captain leading the way alone; followed by her sister and below-average Chaser, Francine flying next to their bludger-fodder third Chaser, Zack Smith – who is finally on the team in his sixth-year because they couldn't find anyone better in Hufflepuff." He paused while Ollie and some of the other guys and girls laughed dutifully; and then continued his insulting introductions. "Next up is Seeker Alex Jordan, who might have a good day today because he isn't playing against Gryffindor's best Seeker; and he's flying next to Kirby Crumb – the best musician on Hufflepuff's team this year; but no match for Ollie's sister at Keeper. The only hope for Hufflepuff today is with their award-winning Beaters, but while Calvin and Tina may be two of the best again this season, Beaters don't score goals or catch the snitch; so I'd say that Hufflepuff is in trouble!"

"They'd be in trouble against our junior team," Ollie added with a snort of laughter. "It doesn't seem fair to have us play their junior team this year now that we've gotten rid of the losers from last season. The only chance Hufflepuff will have for winning any matches this season will be if they can manage to not get beat up by Slytherin in their last two matches of the year."

"Probably," James agreed; "but here comes our senior team now; so let's take a look at them! First up, we have your big sister, Belinda – our senior team Captain and Keeper. Don't take my 'big' comment the wrong way, folks, because size does matter when you want to play the slowest position on the Quidditch team; and Belinda is larger-than-life – and surely bound for a long, stellar career as a reserve player in the show!"

"You'd better hope she doesn't hear about that," Ollie warned; though he'd laughed and was grinning as he said that.

"Don't worry – I'm an equal-opportunity announcer," James insisted. "Belinda is flying with our seventh-year Gryffindor Beaters, Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins. They'll likely be taken to school today by Tina Johnson, but then I hear that their into that sort of thing; so it's all good – even when it's bad for our team. Next up, we have another of Ollie's sisters, Olivia, at Chaser, and I'd rank her for you; except that all three of our Chasers are so close that they're practically the definition of average. Olivia is flying with Brandon Starkey, who is playing in his one and only season as our team Seeker – and keeping that spot on the team warm for when I take it over from him next year. His job today is to not screw up before our team has the one-sixty lead; and then we won't care if Alex catches the snitch for the loss. Finally, we have my own cousins, Dominique and Lucy Weasley. They want to be just like Victoire when they grow up, but if either of them were that good; then one of them would be playing Seeker instead of Brandon this year. The good news for Gryffindor, though, is that average and mediocre for our House is still better than anything the other Houses have to offer this season; so I predict the easy win for Gryffindor today!"

"Wow! That was so fascinating!" Rose whispered to Al and Gwendolyn. "My opinion of our senior team – and our cousins – is so different from that supposedly brilliant analysis."

"Maybe you should suggest to Dominique and Lucy that they invite James to have a junior-senior team scrimmage match to find out if he can back up those claims," Gwendolyn suggested. "They could do that during a double practice if they don't want to book an extra time slot on a weekend when they might have to worry about spectators."

"That'd be fun, but I doubt he'd go for it," Rose said. "He also wouldn't shoot his mouth off like that in front of our cousins or Ollie's sisters. They'd blast him – and he'd deserve it."

Al actually suspected that James wouldn't talk like that around the four older girls because they'd just laugh at him, not blast him; but that didn't keep James from shooting his mouth off as the game started and the two teams took to the air. The race to the quaffle had been fierce; and Alice won that first battle despite the fact that Dominique was flying her new Lightningbolt. That earned an idiotic-sounding insult from Ollie as he insisted he could have out-raced both Witches – on his old Firefly. That assertion had been flat-out ridiculous, but James and most of their team mates laughed anyway; and the unwanted pseudo-announcing was on from there.

"And that, Mr. Kirke, is a beautiful example of how not to play Keeper," James told Andy; trying to sound Professorial and derisive at the same time. "Maybe if Kirby had his piano up there with him; he'd have been able to stop that shot – though maybe he was just too busy admiring my cousin to bother trying at all."

"I'd say that Dominique is just a lot faster on her new broom and he got beat on a brilliant play," Cyndia Finnegan dared to disagree; and that earned her a scowl from her Captain.

"I'd say she's still trying to figure out which end of that new broom is the front for as often as she's been out-played right from the start; and that play would only look brilliant to a firstie just learning to play the game," he told her scathingly. "Kirby's a seventh-year player – and I could have stopped that shot – while still playing Seeker."

"He was runner-up to Belinda at Keeper last season," Cyndia countered; "and I'm pretty sure that his name is on the trophies for two Quidditch Cups."

"In seven years," James shot back with a snort. "Ollie and I have our names on two trophies already – and it'll be three in a row this year."

"They might as well just put our names on all seven trophies for the years we'll be here," Ollie suggested. "If this is the best the senior teams can do now; we'll definitely take the game up a dozen notches or so starting next year."

Rose turned around at that and laughed at him. "Seriously?" she asked; and then laughed again when he scowled at her. "I can hardly wait for tryouts next September to find out whether you'll beat out your sister or my cousins for one of those Chaser spots – or would you like to tell us which of them you're better than right now?"

"I'm better than all three of them," Ollie declared angrily. "If I'm not on the team next year; it'll be because the tryouts are rigged against me." That had Rose laughing again; and Al and Gwendolyn couldn't help but join in.

"I'm impressed that you could say that with a straight face," Rose told him before turning around again to get back to watching the game.

"I don't see how anyone can keep a straight face while looking at her," Ollie said; though he pretended to direct that comment at James. "Your cousin delusionally thinks she can play in the show some day, but I'd say the only way she'll be in the show will be if she puts some orange paint on her face; and works the sidelines as the Chudley Cannons Clown. That'd be appropriate for the team that's the butt of every Quidditch joke in the league."

"That's a brilliant suggestion," James told him with a loud laugh. "Add in Al and Gwendolyn there; and the Cannons would have an entire clown brigade!"

"Don't forget about Ray," Ollie added; and then nodded toward the Hufflepuff goals. "If the music career doesn't work out for him, and he doesn't mind waiting for them to grow up; maybe Kirby could be a clown too – he's looking a lot like one today."

"Lacey's right – sometimes you guys can be total gits," Cyndia told them in disgust. She stood up and tossed off the blanket she'd been sharing with Kira and Orlando; grabbed her bag; and started to make her way to the nearest aisle.

"Where do you think you're going?" James demanded. "This game analysis is mandatory for all team players."

"You're not doing a game analysis. You're just insulting all of the players on both teams and sitting close to your brother and cousin to try and mess with them. I'm going to go and sit somewhere else so I don't have to listen to your crap for the rest of the game."

"Leave, and you're off the team," James told her angrily; and Cyndia just laughed at him.

"Funny, but your precious rules didn't seem to apply when your best mate was just talking with Rose – and we all know you've tossed other players off the team for that already. Go ahead and throw me off the team if you must. You do still have two Chasers left on your reserve team – though at the rate you're going; you won't have anyone left to practice against long before the end of the season."

"Fine – consider yourself off the team – or sit down and shut it," James retorted.

"You're not just a git – you're an idiot too if you actually thought that an order like that would work on me. The only thing I'm sorry about right now is that I didn't tell you to go stuff it months ago; you arrogant, pompous ass."

"Thanks for letting us know how you really feel," Ollie told her. "Now I don't mind telling you that we'll be better off without you. You're even more useless than Eric was, so now that we've lost the deadweight Chasers from our first match; we'll be certain to beat Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

Cyndia laughed derisively. "You're even more delusional than James to actually believe that. I can hardly wait to see you prove your claim in those two matches – not that it matters what you do anyway; since James can win every game he plays in without help from you or anyone else. The rest of the team is only there because he'd have to forfeit without seven players."

"Go away, whine-igan," James taunted. "We have a game analysis to do – and you obviously don't want to be a team player anymore."

"Wow, when you turn on someone, you really go all-out," she told him. "Keep it up, and you'll have half of the students in our House cheering for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in your matches against them – though we'll do that very quietly so you won't hear us."

"I'd say that means we can add you to the list of team enemies and House traitors," James declared.

"So let it be written and done," Cyndia added. "His majesty, the King of your team, has spoken!"

With that, she walked away; and James and Ollie started in on a lengthy rant about her that none of the rest of their team mates found amusing – though none of them stepped up and defended Cyndia either. There was a game to watch too, though, and while Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group couldn't avoid overhearing the two boys; they focused on the game as much as they could too. During the first hour, Belinda kept Hufflepuff scoreless while her Chasers scored eight against Kirby – with most of those goals earning derisive commentary from James and Ollie that wasn't at all deserved. Alice Longbottom put an end to Belinda's shut-out hopes in the second hour, but that was the only goal her team scored; while Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia scored ten more to give Gryffindor the comfortable, if narrow, game-winning lead regardless of which Seeker caught the snitch. Gryffindor scored five more goals in the third hour – until Alex Jordan ended the match by catching the snitch for the two-thirty to one-sixty loss.

"Belinda let up on them," James told his remaining team mates. "It's a good thing that we're sure to win our last three matches; or that mistake could cost us the Quidditch Cup."

"We didn't expect Brandon to beat Alex anyway," Ollie reminded him. "Let's take the win and be glad that our senior team didn't blow it today."

James laughed. "They may not have blown the match, but they still sucked – just not as badly as Hufflepuff."

"True, but the game's over and it's way too cold to sit out here and talk about anything when we could be inside and getting warmed up with hot drinks and a snack. Let's get out of here."

"Aren't we going down to the pitch to congratulate your sisters?" Anna asked; and Ollie shook his head as he stood up and left the blanket with her to fold up and put away.

"No. We can do that at lunch – or during the party this afternoon; and they'll appreciate us for saving them a few minutes of freezing out here."

"That's so considerate of you," Anna gushed even as she packed up not only the blanket but everything else they'd had out during the game; without even seeming to realize that he was being incredibly inconsiderate to her by making her do that without helping at all. He didn't offer to carry anything either; but did take her hand and half-drag her as they followed James and Patricia once they were all ready to go.

"Well, the good news is that we won't have to listen to them anymore while we're congratulating our senior team and offering our condolences to our Hufflepuff friends," Rose offered as they watched James and his entourage depart while she helped Al and Gwendolyn with packing up their own things. "Do you think that our cousins would mind if we skipped the party and went straight to our game watching after lunch?"

"No, and I'd already decided to do that anyway – about two minutes after James sat down behind us," Al answered. "I'm tempted to send Cyndia a thank-you gift."

Gwendolyn laughed. "If we do that; let's make it anonymous," she suggested. "She's already sure to have problems with James and Ollie for calling them out like that in front of all of us; so we don't need to make it worse by having them even think that she's also started associating with us too."

"Maybe you and Rose could hang out with her, but I get the feeling that she's ready for a break from any Potters," Al only half-joked. "Ollie was right about it being too cold out here, so let's go and do the rounds and center-pitch and then get to the castle. We can do the post-game chat then – or while we're watching the Harpies' match after lunch."

"Then we should thank Alex too," Gwendolyn suggested. "He could have just held back all day and hoped that your team would freeze to death before his did; but he played his best and ended it instead."

"Alice knew her team wouldn't outlast ours like that," Rose said. "The only thing that I was a bit surprised about was that Belinda didn't just have Brandon back off and let Alex catch the snitch sooner."

"You can ask her about that later," Al suggested. "I'd take a guess right now, but wouldn't want to say anything that might help Ravenclaw with their junior team Captain right here to overhear us."

Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him. "I've already made my own guess about that, so that's okay with me," she assured him.

"You're just saying that because you know that Ravenclaw is currently the team to beat in the race for the Quidditch Cup – not Gryffindor." She shook her head. "James and Ollie will need to have someone break that news to them later; since they likely haven't even thought about Ravenclaw being undefeated so far this season too."

"James won't care anyway," Al predicted. "You heard him – our House will win out; so tie-breakers won't matter."

Rose laughed. "I thought you didn't want to say anything around the Ravenclaw team Captain that could be used to help their House out," she teased.

"I'm just repeating something she already overheard – and that James will repeat a lot between now and that match in April – regardless of how dumb he sounds."

"Unless Hufflepuff wins their match against him," Gwendolyn suggested. "Then he'll have to come up with a new story to sell everyone."

They'd been well on the way to center-pitch by then, so they were soon doing the rounds with the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players. Since the two groups were intermixed along with their friends and relatives, that was a blast of fun with switches from offering congratulations to condolences and back again in quick succession. By then, everyone still in the stadium was more interested in getting indoors and out of the cold, so it really wasn't very long before they all headed toward the castle or locker rooms. Al and Gwendolyn split up first to go to their dorm rooms; and then met up again in the Great Hall for the Hot drinks and snacks that were being offered to the students while they all waited for lunch. The food for that meal appeared on the tables about ten minutes after the players from both teams arrived there from the stadium; so Al and Gwendolyn needed to split up again until after they ate – and then they headed for their usual study classroom to get set up for watching the Harpies-Wasps match.

Toni and Michael went with them this time to help out with that set-up while Rose and the rest of their friends were either finishing lunch or doing other things before coming to join them for the afternoon fun. While Gwendolyn and Rose were his best friends, and Ray was his closest guy friend; Gwendolyn was much better at being friends with everyone closest to her. She was slowly trying to bring Al along with her for that, but while his natural reluctance wasn't quite as defensive as it was for his father; he knew that he was always going to be more cautious when it came to letting very many people get close to him. That didn't keep him from at least trying to be more sociable, though; and it helped that he really liked most of Gwendolyn's friends. It wasn't long before they were set up; the rest of their gang was there; and they were settling in to watch the last part of Lee's pre-game show.

"Okay, let's start with the details for the rumors we've been hearing about trouble in Gryffindor Quidditch paradise," Tory said enthusiastically. "A little birdie told us that James kicked Cyndia Finnegan off the junior team during the match; and was shooting his mouth off all morning."

"Didn't Ray give you the full recap?" Rose asked; and Tory laughed.

"He's a guy. They don't even see or hear half the story. For all he knows, Cyndia was mad at James for an entirely different reason than the obvious."

"If she was; we didn't hear about it," Gwendolyn advised her. "She just got sick of all of the insults and taunts – including all of the crap they flung at Al, Rose, Ray, and me. By the time she walked away; it seemed that she was glad to be off the team – though maybe that was just my own impression."

"James and Ollie pick on everyone," Madison pointed out. "What was so bad that it set her off today?"

"Their final insult before she lost it on them was Ollie's suggestion that Kirby could join the Cannons' Clown Brigade if the music career didn't work out for him by the time Rose, Gwendolyn, Ray, and I graduate," Al explained. "That was after he came up with the brilliant suggestion that if Rose wanted to be in the show; that she could paint her face orange and be perfect working the sidelines as a clown for the Cannons. James thought that was brilliant; and that Gwendolyn and I could join her to have a full clown brigade; and then Ollie added Ray to the group right before he wrapped up with that insult to Kirby."

"That's mean, but isn't anything worse than other insults we've heard," Tory said thoughtfully. "Maybe she does have other reasons to be mad at James right now; and their usual crap just set her off."

"If there was, she definitely didn't say anything about it this morning," Rose assured her. "I was proud of Cyndia. It took some real courage to stand up to James and Ollie right there in front of everyone, and since she's friends with all of the other firstie players; it's going to be tough for her to deal with that between now and the end of the season."

"Not to mention that she'll get at least some of the blame if we don't win our match against Hufflepuff again this year," Ray added. "James and Ollie didn't have a problem blaming Al last year even after all of the crap they spewed about him between New Year's Day and that match."

"Don't say it," Madison warned Tory. "We're under strict orders not to give Gryffindor any incentive to get fired up ahead of our game."

Tory laughed. "Thanks – I was about to go there."

"You're welcome – though everyone else in the room knows what we were thinking."

"That there's no 'if' about that win for Gryffindor?" Rose offered with a grin. "James has guaranteed the win this year – again."

"Yeah – that's it," Madison agreed easily; laughing again. "Let's get back to the news from the James and Ollie side show. What else happened?"

Rose and Gwendolyn mostly took care of re-capping that news with some help here and there from Al, Ray, and Bristol. The friends that hadn't been there for the show were especially amazed that James and Ollie had said so many derogatory things about James' cousins and Olie's sisters; but Al hadn't really been shocked by that at all. That was just one more thing that he had been learning about his brother – that he was jealous of anyone in his family that might make them look better than him; and he also was really starting to show a strong sexist tendency when it came to Quidditch. That was more than a bit ridiculous when their own mother was considered one of the best Seekers ever and she'd played on an all-Witch team; but Al still sensed that he was right about that assessment. The Harpies' match had started before they were finished that James and Ollie review, so he was happy to settle in and watch the show while cuddling with Gwendolyn.

They also talked about the actual Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, and now that it was over; Tory and Madison could reveal that their senior team game plan had been to have Alex catch the snitch for the win before Gryffindor had the game-winning lead; but that he'd also had the green light to catch for the loss right from the start. From the Hufflepuff perspective, Brandon Starkey had won the match for Gryffindor because they hadn't expected him to be able to stop Alex for that long – and Kirby had bested their expectations for how long he could keep Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia from getting that one-sixty lead – especially when Dominique had the advantage of her new broom. The only part of their game plan that hadn't worked out was that they'd expected to score more than one goal against Belinda to help Kirby and Alex; and Alice had been particularly disappointed over that – especially when there had been league scouts in the stadium watching all of the senior players.

While the chat time with their friends was fun, they had a really great Quidditch match to watch too. The Harpies and Wasps were very closely matched; and that was especially true for their Seekers. Gabrielle and Aaron always had tough battles; and this one was no exception. Everyone was playing hard, though, and while the Harpies started out with a small early lead, the goals came slowly; and so did the growth in that lead. Both Keepers were playing brilliantly, and with the Seeker duel raging on hour-after-hour; the entertainment for their fans rolled on and on. The game was still going on when it was time to pack up and head to the Great Hall for dinner; so there were a lot of portable mirrors tuned into the game while they ate that meal – at least until it ended – and Aiden Lynch disappointed all Harpies fans by winning his duel with Gabrielle at the five hour and twenty-six minute mark. While the Wasps players and faithful celebrated; the Harpies did at least have the consolation that the two-eighty to two-thirty loss had been narrow-enough to minimize the damage of another loss in the league standings.

Al and Gwendolyn found out more about how the Harpies were feeling in the evening while they spent those hours between dinner and curfew on their own with a sofa, their guitars, and plans for some music time mixed in with three planned mirror chats. The first chat was with Harry and Ginny; and they had that one comparatively-early because they were only home for a short stop between Roxanne's tenth birthday dinner and going out for a night with some of their friends while Lily was busy with Roxanne's birthday party and sleepover. Talking Quidditch was a big part of that chat; and Harry and Ginny were happier to hear about the Gryffindor win than they were with adding their thoughts about the Harpies' loss. They were also happy to get on with their kid-free night; so Al ended that chat when they were nearly ready to go; and then he and Gwendolyn had a music interlude while waiting to have the next chat with her parents and brother.

Gwenog had been happy to talk Harpies' Quidditch with Gwendolyn, and while she'd have preferred the win; she wasn't terribly disappointed over the loss either. Victoire had scored fourteen goals; their team had only given up thirteen in five and a half hours of play; and she was quite proud of their overall effort and teamwork. When Kirley found out that they'd been playing music too, he'd grabbed his guitar; and they'd had some more music fun with him – and with Jonah – as part of their mirror chat. That had been fun; and so had the continuing music time after that chat ended. They made time for some quality snogging too; and then the last part of their pre-curfew evening was a mirror chat with Lily, Roxanne, and the rest of the girls that were with Roxanne for the sleepover part of her birthday fun.

"Happy tenth birthday!" they chorused after Lily answered the call and then went to sit with Roxanne so they could both be seen by Al and Gwendolyn. "Are you having a best-ever birthday?"

Roxanne laughed. "I'll have to say no for that; but only because our Harpies lost today. Everything else has been really great – including the gift you guys gave me. Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Gwendolyn assured her. "What's the top sleepover chat story so far? Just pretend that Al isn't here."

"Are you sure that you want to know?" Roxanne countered with a grin. "Your brother is part of the chat about boys. Lily's still not sure whether he can be on her short list for potential future boyfriends while you're dating Al; but the rest of us don't see why that's a problem."

"Speak for yourself," one of the other girls in the room called out. "Some of us don't want the competition for him – especially when Lily will be at Hogwarts with him for a full year before we'll get there."

"You do know that we're talking to Jonah's sister, right?" Roxanne asked; and Al and Gwendolyn heard the laughter from what sounded like all of the girls.

"That's why I'm staying over here so she won't know which one of us was talking."

"Don't worry about that," Gwendolyn called out. "That's nothing compared to what Mum and I hear said about my Dad – and that's a lot scarier for me than anything I'll ever hear about Jonah."

"Does that mean you don't have anything to say about Lily's future boyfriend list?" Roxanne asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Sure – I definitely think that it's okay for her to put him on her list. We'd all get razzed about it if they start dating some day too, but I don't have a problem with that either. One way or the other, she's going to make a great sister-in-law; and both would just be awesome."

"Scratch Al Potter off your lists if you put him on it," Roxanne told her friends with a laugh. "Gwenodlyn's obviously decided to keep him; and you do not want to mess with her Mum's daughter."

That comment earned more giggles and laughs; and then the chat moved on. Roxanne and Lily told Al and gwendolyn all about their day so far; Roxanne showed them some of her gifts; and they had fun right up until it was time for Al to walk Gwendolyn back to Ravenclaw tower for the night. They took care of their goodnight hugs and kisses before leaving the classroom; Al went straight to his dorm room after getting back to his House; and then he ended the day with some chat time with Ray and reading a book until he fell asleep.

On Sunday, after taking the entire day off on Saturday; it was time to spend the morning working on their projects. While the subjects changed, they always had at least two, and usually three or four, of those larger assignments on the go at any time except for when deadlines collided ahead of holidays or leading into final exams. This time when they met up after breakfast, they decided to work in their study classroom instead of the office, and in addition to the report writing and practical practice; they also spent some time practicing for an oral presentation they'd all be doing for one of the projects that was due during the coming week. Getting up in front of their classmates for those presentations was terrifying for some of their study group members, but that wasn't something that bothered Al even a bit. He suspected that having such a great memory made that easier for him; since he never had to worry about getting mixed up or forgetting anything he was supposed to say; but then his one and only experience so far with press conferences had proved that he didn't have a problem with nerves when speaking to a group either.

While studying was hardly a favorite task for the majority of students at Hogwarts, Al almost always had fun with anything that had to do with learning magic; and doing that with Gwendolyn was always great. They did have plans for the afternoon that were more entertaining, though, so after splitting up to have lunch; they met up with Tory and Ray to go out into the cold for a four-player Chaser duel. Ray had talked with Tory about Al's suggestion, and she'd loved the idea; so they'd asked to join the next Chaser duel to find out if they'd have fun at that too. They started out with working together and practicing flying and passing plays for an hour; and then they had a two-on-two Chaser duel with Al and Gwendolyn up against Tory and Ray. They all had a blast with that, but Al and Gwendolyn won that duel by quite a bit; and Tory and Ray both realized just how large the gap was in their skill level by comparison. That was much more obvious than even when they were having their scrimmages because there were no other factors – like the quality of the Keepers or bludgers to dodge and disrupt the offensive or defensive plays.

"Next time, we should have a Witches against the Wizards duel," Tory declared after they landed and hurriedly started to take their gear off and get it packed up. "The only thing I'm happy about right now is that we played your team in October – and that Al isn't on your team. You guys are really scary when you play together."

"We knew that already," Ray pointed out and Tory laughed.

"I didn't know it this well," she disagreed. "It's easy during our scrimmages to blame the losses on the overall team effort. This time, it was just you and me; and we got our brooms handed to us."

"Then imagine how I feel to be fourth-best of four today," Ray joked; and Tory laughed.

"You set up better chances for me than I did for you; so I'd say that's a draw for us. Now that we aren't working our tails off, though, I'm freezing; so let's just get inside and warmed up."

"We can talk more once we're in the castle," Gwendolyn agreed. "What are you guys doing for the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime? Al and I will probably just go hang out in the library. It's warmer there than in most of the classrooms on the weekends – unless we're cuddling under a blanket on one of the sofas."

That second option sounds like more fun than hanging out in the library – and we do need to drop off our gear; so grabbing blankets is an option," Tory offered; and then laughed at the instant grin her suggestion had brought to Ray's face. "I'd say we already have two votes for that plan. Would you guys like to come along – or just lend us a toy sofa?"

Al and Gwendolyn ended up doing that too, so they split up once they were in the entrance hall to go to their three common rooms – though Ray went with Tory and waited for her while Al took his Quidditch gear to their dorm while going there anyway and Gwendolyn went to her House to both drop of her gear and pick up a soft, plush accent blanket that she'd already used a few times with Al for their cuddle sessions on the sofa. That was why she was on her own when James and Ollie attempted to ambush her between her House and the study classroom. This time, because they expected an easy two-on-one attack; they jumped into the hallway from the secret passageway while firing their first volley of hexes and jinxes. Gwendolyn had checked her map before leaving, though; and had only put it back into her bag after rounding the last corner ahead of that passageway; so she had her shield up and ready to meet that attack.

"I guess she's not as slow with her wand as she is with her broom," Ollie taunted; and James laughed.

"She's too slow to understand what a loser my brother is too; so it's a wonder she even managed to get her wand out of her pocket."

"Aren't you getting tired of failing every time you try to blast us yet?" Gwendolyn countered as she continued to defend herself from the spells they now hurled at her while trying to break through her shield. Unlike Al's, it began to glow a different shade as each spell collided with it; but it didn't come close to breaking even if it wasn't as impenetrable as al's shields always were.

"We still have our fair share of successes," James retorted; and then fired another hex at her. "Once we're done with you; we'll have one more victory – and you'll wish that you'd stayed far away from my loser brother."

"I'd say that you'll wish that you'd just gone with another hit-and-run attack," she disagreed. "Did you forget that your brother is an Animorphmagus?" She looked past her two attackers and smiled brightly. "Hello, Al. I love the jaguar suit!"

James and Ollie whirled around and pointed their wands at Al, but James only got one spell off; and then Gwendolyn blasted both boys from behind.

"Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!" she shouted; repeating each spell twice in quick succession. She stood there victoriously as she caught each of the wands; and then laughed when Al bounded past James and Ollie while changing back into his human form before sweeping her up into an enthusiastic hug.

"You were brilliant!" he told her enthusiastically. "Well done!"

"Yeah, she's very good at stabbing people in the back," James retorted. "She wasn't doing so well while face-to-face with us."

Al turned around to face James and Ollie; and he laughed at them. "I'll guess that you started the duel with a sneak attack out of that secret passageway, and thought you'd have it easy with a two-against-one duel with her. I'm so glad that you've found out that you're wrong about that."

"We're not wrong," James declared; "and we'll be happy to prove that to her if you'd like to just run along, spot, and leave us to it."

"Gwendolyn doesn't need my help with the two of you," Al told him, "but I still take it rather personally when you try to mess with her; so I think you're done here."

"If you believe that; you wouldn't have come running and tried to save her," James retorted.

Al laughed again. "When she wasn't in our study classroom ahead of me, I came running to save the two of you; since I was sure you'd need it. You're my brother, and I love you; but Gwendolyn doesn't even like you very much these days; so she wouldn't feel bad about blasting you."

"Really?" James asked derisively. "Fine – I challenge you to a duel, Gwendolyn. Accept, or the both of you can shut it and admit that you're both total losers."

"I'm fairly sure that we can't shut it and then admit anything," Gwendolyn pointed out, but that won't be a problem; since I accept." She released him from the bindings; and held out his wand to Al. "I'm going to step back a dozen paces. When I'm there, feel free to give James his wand; and then do me a favor and keep Ollie bound and out of the way so they can't cheat."

"Then I should bind Al too so he can't cheat either," James snapped; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Your brother never cheats," she told him flatly. "He also knows he'd have more to worry about from me than you if he tries to get in the way of a fair duel."

"He's a criminal," James shot back, "but have it your way. If the two of you do cheat; I'll make sure that everyone knows it."

"Will you tell everyone that we had a fair duel if I win?" Gwendolyn asked sweetly; and Al laughed while James scowled at them."

"I'll guess that nobody else will hear about it," Al ventured. "Good luck, Gwendolyn. I love you." He smiled at James next as he held out the wand Gwendolyn had given him. "I love you too, but can't wish you luck; since I think that Gwendolyn is going to have you wishing that you hadn't challenged her."

James took his wand and then they passed each other so that Al could go and keep an eye on Ollie. He was ready when the alarm bells went off two steps later; he spun around even as his shield blazed to life; and watched in disappointment as James was thrown down the hallway toward Gwendolyn by his own rebounding revulsion charm. He dropped his shield again before James landed about halfway between him and Gwendolyn.

"I seriously doubt that he'll thank me, but did it even occur to you that your best mate was right here behind me?" Al asked as James slowly got to his feet and glared at him. "Are you okay, or would you like to re-schedule your duel with Gwendolyn until you feel up to it?"

"I'll just finish it right now and be done with it," James declared even as he spun and fired what he probably expected to be a point-blank attack – except that he hadn't noticed that Gwendolyn had already moved back another half-dozen paces while he was getting up; and was ready for anything.

"Reducto!" James bellowed.

Al watched with pride as his girlfriend did a sliding step forward while going under the spell and angling her shield so that it deflected off of it; only did a bit of damage to the hallway ceiling as it ricocheted off of it; and then bounced once off of the floor before hitting the wall at the far end of the hallway behind her without enough force remaining to do more than make a lot of noise. Gwendolyn had already counter-attacked before standing again; and Al wasn't surprised when she let James have it. He hadn't managed to finish saying "Protego" before her disarming spell made that impossible for him. The full-body bind was next; and then she physically knocked him over with a hard shove before wrapping things up with a bat-bogey hex that really sucked for James when he couldn't even move while the bats started wriggling out of his nose and then flocked around his head.

"Thanks so much for trying to blast my boyfriend, you jerk,' she told him. "That was all the motivation I needed." She smiled at him then. "Tempting as it is to brag about this with my friends, I won't say anything – but only because Al won't want me to embarrass you. I'll leave your wand with Ollie when we leave, but if he tries messing with us again after I set him free; you'll both be stuck here until someone else wanders past and finds you – or longer; since there are lots of students around here that would be more likely to blast you too instead of helping."

She went over to Al then and hugged him enthusiastically. They shared a quick kiss too; and then she turned her attention on Ollie. He was glowering at them angrily; and she shook her head.

"Al's shield absorbed a lot of that spell James tried to blast him with; and he was still thrown fifteen feet," she told him. "You'd have really been hurt if Al had been blasted into you instead – especially when you wouldn't have even been able to put hands up to protect yourself. I don't get why you're always so mad at us when all we do is defend ourselves, but since you have at least learned that I can defend myself without having Al around to help with that; maybe some good will come of this stupidity."

"The only thing I've learned today is that someone needs to teach you that some Witches should be seen and not heard. Next time, James and I will do that for you."

"You're making it very hard to be nice about this," Gwendolyn advised him, but James will be having trouble breathing soon with all of those bats while in that body bind; so I'd better let you go so that you can help him." With that said; she pointed her wand at Ollie and set him free with the counter-spell. She then held up the two wands she'd taken from James and Ollie and looked at them for a moment before turning her attention on Ollie again. "Are we going to have more trouble if I give these back to you now?"

"No," Ollie spat acidly; and Al knew he was lying before Gwendolyn handed them over with a nod. She then took Al's hand and tugged on it to get him to go with her.

"I've got this," she murmured with a squeeze of his hand once they were past Ollie; and Al grinned when she spun around and raised her shield to defend both of them as Ollie repeated James' last attack by bellowing – "Reducto!"

This time, Gwendolyn was pushed backwards, but Al was ready and took her into his arms while watching as her shield flared but held – and Ollie was then blasted by his own rebounding spell. He landed on top of James – and the bats; and then he cried out in pain as he rolled off and his arms collapsed instead of holding him up. His face hit the floor but then he bounced up into a kneeling position facing away from Al and Gwendolyn.

"I guess he didn't really mean no," Gwendolyn deadpanned. "Are you okay, Ollie? Do you need help?"

"Of course I'm not okay," Ollie snarled as he got to his feet and turned to face them; cradling both arms to his chest. "Look what you did to me, you B-Witch!"

"You mean look what you tried to do to me, right?' she countered unsympathetically. "I was going to offer to help, but since you meant to call me such a nasty name right after trying to blast me; deal with those broken bones and the flashover burns yourself." She turned to leave; and then sighed, stopped, and turned back to Ollie. "Oh right – I'm not you or James," she told him. She pointed her wand at James and unbound him. She paused and then sighed again before reversing the bat-bogey hex too. "I'm only doing this because Ollie needs you," she told James. "Do that, and stay away from me for a while."

"Watch your back, 'cause we're going to get you back for this – and you'll wish you'd never met the loser here by the time we're done with you."

"How long will you keep this up, James?" she asked. "Another year? Until you're done school? Will you still be running around trying these childish ambushes on us when we're all adults?"

"In your case we'll leave you alone as soon as you dump the loser you're dating and stay out of our lives," James offered with a sneer. "We'd be doubly doing you a favor there; and maybe you'd still have a chance to find yourself a real Wizard in a few years – once the stench of my brother wore off of you." His expression darkened when he turned his attention on Al. "I'll be done with you when everyone else finally knows the truth about you instead of being sucked in by your fake, perfect little son act and lies."

"You sound like the bad guys in the stories we've heard about your Dad," Gwendolyn told him in disgust. "If that's how you really feel about Al; you've more in common with the Averys and their lot than with anyone else around here. Maybe you should invite them to join your prank patrol. I'm sure they have lots of dirty tricks they could teach you to try on us – maybe some Dark Arts magic; or how to make cursed objects. That's where this kind of hate will eventually lead you anyway."

"Now you're just talking nonsense," James said; scornfully and with a derisive laugh. "Al would be perfect for Slytherin; not me. He's a coward and lying snake; so he'd fit right in – assuming they didn't just make him disappear down a dark hole in their dungeon somewhere."

"That's likely what you hoped for when you razzed Al about being Slytherin the summer before we started here," Gwendolyn surmised – and Al sensed that she was right just from James' reaction to her suggestion.

"The rest of us would be well-rid of him," James agreed.

"Get rid of them now," Ollie finally told him through clenched teeth. "You might be having fun with all of that yapping; but I could use a bit of help here."

"Run along, spot," James told Al; "and take your soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend and dog-sitter with you. We'll deal with her later."

"You're welcome," Gwendolyn told him. "Get well soon, Ollie. Hope we don't see you around."

Al went along with Gwendolyn then; and they ignored the insults directed at them as they headed toward their study classroom. Tory and Ray were already there and waiting for them; so they shared their James and Ollie story with them while setting up two sofas and getting cuddled under blankets in pairs. While Al and Gwendolyn had brought books to read, Tory and Ray opted to watch the mirror network and talk with them straight through until they needed to pack up and go to the Great Hall for dinner. Al and Ray had been sent off to the Gryffindor table with hugs and kisses from their respective girlfriends; and then they'd had fun with Rose and the rest of their friends while enjoying that meal.

The Sunday evening plan for Al and Gwendolyn was to spend that time with Rose and Shane; and they again did that back in their study classroom instead of the library. Writing letters and watching a couple of mirror network shows wasn't all that exciting, but it was a nice quiet way to wind down the weekend for the two couples. Rose had loved hearing Gwendolyn's James and Ollie ambush story; but they mostly talked about what they had coming up over the next couple of weeks through to the end of February. They all decided to go to the Owlery to send the letters that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had ready to send with Winter; they spent time with Winter and Blizzard before sending Al's owl on her way home; and then Shane walked Rose back to her House while Al did the same with Gwendolyn. They were all in their dorm rooms ahead of curfew, and Al ended his weekend with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily that included a full recap of Roxanne's birthday party, the sleepover, and the time they spent together on Sunday before their aunt and uncle took Lily home to her parents again.

They still had nearly two weeks left in February, but when Al went off to sleep, he was looking forward to the weeks of post-Valentine's Day work and play that would keep everyone at Hogwarts entertained through the rest of the winter – and into Easter and the arrival of spring!

Scorpius walked into the Room of Requirements on Sunday evening looking tired and out of sorts. He got Thomas' portrait out of his bag and put it on the table before slumping into the armchair next to it and sighing dramatically.

"Problems in Valentine's Day paradise?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius laughed.

"No, Ms. Timms is still quite taken with me – which is why it's taken me until now to get away from her undying devotion and affection. It's now Sunday night."

"So your young lady has tired you out; and Gryffindor won their match yesterday?" Thomas guessed next; and Scorpius laughed again.

"I'm not sure which of us is in the stranger mood. I have had more than I want of time with Terri and the rest of our friends, and Gryffindor did beat Hufflepuff; but mostly I just wish we'd had more time this weekend for my lessons and for me to practice my magic."

"We can do a lesson now if you'd like to do that," Thomas offered easily.

"I'd like that, but you'll want to hear some of the news first; so I'd better just get to that."

"Alright," Thomas agreed. "Where should we start?"

"With the Valentine's Day prank that James and Ollie pulled on Albus and his girlfriend. They dumped a huge pile of hippogriff dung on them right in the Great Hall. They'd colored it pink and added a hippogriff-head Transfiguration wheeze to it that worked quite well – on the three Gryffindor students that got hit with some of the splatter."

"Since you're not saying that Albus and the girl were hit too; they must have avoided it somehow."

"They did," Scorpius confirmed; "though none of us knew that Al had managed to shield them as the pile of dung landed on them. Professor Longbottom eventually got it cleaned up; and that's when we all saw the two of them just standing there under his shield – snogging each other senseless." Thomas started laughing, and after a moment; Scorpius joined in.

"The prank sounds appropriately childish for a Potter; but the last part of that doesn't seem to fit with anything you've told me so far about the younger son."

Scorpius shrugged. "I suppose the snogging could have been Gwendolyn's idea; but it definitely happened that way – and I'd say that James was furious when he discovered that his prank hadn't worked at all – especially after we all thought that it had."

"You shouldn't have thought that," Thomas chided; and smiled when Scorpius frowned. "Think about it," he added. "Once again, young Albus Potter was underestimated; and proved able to deal with a surprise situation – and apparently quite effectively. It was always the same way with his father – and still is from everything you've told me about what's been happening since the war ended. Learn from my mistakes – and those of the other purebloods."

"You are right," Scorpius admitted a bit grudgingly. "I have yet to test my skills against him; but have no doubt that Albus Potter is a very strong Wizard – even if his brother refuses to see that."

"Even the strongest Wizard has weaknesses – a fact that I, lamentably, learned too late about myself. Your rise to greatness will require you to find those weaknesses in your enemies – and exploit them on your way to ultimate victory."

"Well, apparently I can take an attack with pink hippogriff dung off of my list of methods for doing that," Scorpius joked; and earned a laugh for the comment.

"True, but I'd also suggest that if Albus is like his father; then one of his weaknesses will come to you through those he cares about most – like that girlfriend."

"Some of the other families have tried to get at his father through his mother with no success," Scorpius reminded him. "That sort of thing just seems to make things worse."

"I'm not discussing a course of action here," Thomas advised him. "It is far too soon for anything like that when you still have years of learning and practice before you will be ready to gain power over the other pureblood faithful and then lead them to victory over all enemies of all true Witches and Wizards. Let's move on. What other news do you have?"

"Next up is about the Gryffindor junior team. James has apparently tossed another player off of his team – this time a firstie Witch. We haven't heard in our House what she did, but Cyndia Finnegan got James mad-enough at her to toss her – during the Quidditch match yesterday."

"That might be interesting if it means that he's lost control as team leader," Thomas mused thoughtfully. "Is he running out of players yet?"

"No, but he won't have much of a reserve squad left after this; so I have no idea how he'll manage to train properly for their last two matches of the season. Maybe we'll know better about his skills as Captain after their next match; but I'll be dealing with getting ready for our own match against Ravenclaw. Rupert and G-Air are sure that we'll best them as easily as we beat Hufflepuff last season now that Peter and Pauline Boot have moved on to the senior team, but while I hope they're right; I am not so certain. Ravenclaw won their first match, and while that was against Hufflepuff; we'll have to wait and see if we actually can beat up on them this year. The other guys are sure that we can do that – especially with the firstie players; and they're even hoping that we'll clear the stadium again by running the score up on them like we did with Hufflepuff last season too."

"You have good reason to doubt your team mates, but all you can do is your best; and not worry overmuch about the outcome. Developing your persona is what is most-important, and win or lose, as long as you're the best player out there; you'll be remembered and lauded."

"Maybe, but I'd rather be the best and the winner," Scorpius declared; earning a laugh from Thomas.

"That's understandable, but just don't let petty accolades distract you from the true prize."

With that said, Scorpius went on to give his mentor the rest of the news from around the school and Wizarding World since they'd last spoken; and then Thomas taught him a rather difficult lesson that he would need to work on for a while before mastering – as often happened with the advanced magic he was being taught. Those challenges thrilled him, though, and when he went to bed hours later – and hours after Albus did; he was just as fired up about the coming weeks. When he dreamed, it was about small things – like Quidditch Cup victories and snogging sessions with his girl – or other Witches; but there was always an awareness even in his unconscious thoughts reminding him that all of those little things were steps along the path to his certain, glorious future!

The only true unknown for him was how long it would take to get from now to then. He did not doubt for a moment that he would one day be the greatest Wizard in history – and prove that by besting the Potters, Weasleys, and anyone else who dared to get in his way!


	19. March and April Quidditch Fools

Chapter Nineteen – March and April Quidditch Fools

The countdown to the first junior team Quidditch match of twenty-nineteen was on by Monday morning. Rumors began hitting the gossip network by breakfast time that were all about the start of the usual Slytherin taunts and boasting that always seemed to be required by their players in the lead-up weeks to their matches. Since his girlfriend was the target for a lot of those taunts and insults – along with some promises to beat her up as badly as the Slytherins had beaten up on the Hufflepuff Witches last year; Al paid attention to all of those stories – and took those threats rather personally.

Getting caught up in all of that and distracted by it would have been easy, but neither Al or Gwendolyn let the Slytherin head games get in the way of staying focused on their studies – and on getting ready for that match for Gwendolyn. They did have at least one distraction per day thanks to James and Ollie as they continued their campaign of hit-and-run ambushes that were, at least temporarily, focused on them; but they dealt with that too. When some of the Slytherin guys started trying to intimidate Ryan and Stephanie, Gwendolyn brought them in on 'her' little secret and lent them her map so that they could keep an eye out for Rupert Avery and his mates – and start avoiding them as much as possible. That worked great to take care of their problem; but it did also mean that Gwendolyn needed to be more careful to make sure she was with one of her friends that had a map too – or borrow Al's when that wasn't possible.

Thanks to the late Easter holiday this year, the weekend schedule for Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade weekends was a bit messed up; and the last weekend in February was a rare 'free' weekend without Quidditch or trips to town. The Harpies didn't have a match either; so Al and Gwendolyn really did have a free weekend – though they had it completely booked with things to do too. After dealing with James and Ollie, the Slytherin verbal jousting, and everything else that was just part of normal life around Hogwarts; they were ready for the weekend by Friday. The first part of their entertainment plans for the weekend was a birthday party for Tory after dinner; and they again did that in their study classroom so that Tory's friends from all three Houses could celebrate with her.

Getting all of their work done by dinnertime on Friday had been a bit tougher than usual, but they did get that done. Tory had more birthday fun waiting for her at the Hufflepuff table during dinner; and then Ray was in charge of keeping her busy while the rest of their study group and a few other friends and relatives took care of getting the room set up for her party. They had that done and Tory and Ray joined them with lots of time left to have fun until curfew. By then, Al and Gwendolyn were ready to sit down and take a break, so once everyone else was in party mode; they sat on one of the sofas; cuddled close; and mostly sat back to watch the show going on around them for a while.

"I might need to have a nap," Al said quietly; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Maybe you should sleep in ahead of these parties so that you can keep up with everyone else."

"That never seems to work for me – not that I've slept in very often in a long time to know that for sure anymore. Tory's having fun. I'm glad we can do these parties like this now."

"Except that you'd feel weird about having a party like this for yourself," Gwendolyn said; and Al grinned and shrugged.

"Yeah, but then I'd rather have a birthday party with just you, me, and the portable pool – or at most with just our best friends. I am never going to be a party animal kind of Wizard." Gwendolyn laughed at that; and hugged him.

"That's pretty funny coming from the only Animorphmagus in the world; but I know what you meant. Speaking of party animals, though; was there any news about the Gryffindor junior team at dinner? Has James picked Cyndia's replacement yet?"

"Not that we've heard; though I suppose it's possible that he's trying to keep it a secret until the Hufflepuff match. For all I know; the tryout for her spot was just a ruse too."

"I think he likely has done that for real – though I'd also guess that he and Ollie were looking for the player that would do whatever Ollie wants – and not necessarily the best player."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Al agreed. "Whatever they do, though; you'll at least get to see them in action before your team plays ours."

"True, but then they'll get to see us play against Slytherin too." She grinned at Al then. "Is there any chance you could lend me your memories of James and Ollie during that match if they sit close to you again and do another of those scathing game commentaries? That might be very helpful for my team."

Al laughed. "I probably shouldn't do that, but I could sit on the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw sections border and you could have a few friends sit close by to listen to them instead if they do that. Maybe your reserve squad players could handle that for you if Toni, Renee, and Michael don't want the job."

"I doubt any of them would want to miss a show like that," Gwendolyn offered. "That's a good idea for my reserve squad, though; and they could do their own game analysis for me – and maybe see some things from the ground that I won't notice while playing the game."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Al asked. "If they hang around James too much, your reserve players might start wishing that you were more like him."

"I doubt that – even if it might mean they'd get a chance to play in one of our games. Ravenclaws like things to be logical and make sense; and that doesn't happen a lot in the world according to James and Ollie."

Their quiet little chat was interrupted then by a call to action that they couldn't turn down because it came from the birthday girl; so they were up and going again – and didn't stop to have another break for quite a while. Gwendolyn really did shine when hanging out in bigger groups, and while Al had fun too; he felt like her sidekick most of the time. That wasn't something he minded at all – just an observation. Since the only goal for the night was to help Tory with having a great birthday, Al didn't really think about himself at all anyway, and when he and Gwendolyn were directly involved in Tory's birthday fun; they made sure that they did everything they could to keep her entertained and happy. For Al, that often meant helping out with the work that kept the party going. That included jobs like cutting the cake and serving it to all of their friends; dealing with the mess that a gang of teens could make at a party; and even doing a run for more drinks when they started to run out before the party was over. Add in the post-party clean-up that followed after Tory and Ray led the exodus out of the classroom and off to their own Houses ahead of curfew; and Al really was ready for some quality nap time once he made it back to his dorm room after walking Gwendolyn home first.

"Congratulations," Al told Ray tiredly when his friend joined him in their room. "You have successfully survived your first girlfriend birthday – if that smile is any indication."

"Thanks to you, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Madison," Ray agreed and added. "I'd have been in trouble if you hadn't told me about her birthday and I only found out at the last minute instead. I'm not even going to razz you about hanging out with Witches too much for knowing something like that."

"Then you probably really don't want to know that I learned to do that from my Dad," Al joked. "He's assured me that life will be much easier for me if I do keep track of things like this for the most important Witches in my life."

"Now I'm wondering if I need to smack you for telling me that my girlfriend is one of the most important Witches in your life," Ray shot back with a laugh.

"She's a member of our little study group and dating you," Al reminded him after laughing too. "That's enough to make her important to me – and you know there's nothing to worry about beyond that."

"If you know what's good for you," Ray agreed with a grin and nod. "You look beat. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Al assured him. "It's just been a really long week. Don't be surprised if I fall asleep before you get back from the washroom and finish getting ready for bed."

"That's nothing new; but you've earned a break from getting razzed about that too – at least for tonight."

"Gee, thanks," Al said drily. "I'd say more about that, but then that's more than my own brother would do for me; so I'll take it."

That observation gave Ray something to comment on until he left for the washroom after getting changed; and Al was sleeping before he returned – and long before half of their roommates even made it back to their dorm from their snogging sessions in the common room. Al was rested and ready to go again by morning; and while the Hufflepuff team player members of their study group were busy with their Quidditch practice after breakfast, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group had a magic play morning in their study classroom. Tory and Madison joined them for the last half of that play time after their practice; and they all mostly worked on DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration spells through until they needed to go to the Great Hall for lunch. Al and Gwendolyn left early so tht they could swing by her House to grab her Quidditch gear, but Al didn't need to do that too because she was having a bonus practice with her team after lunch.

By the time they reached the Great Hall, the Quidditch buzz wasn't about the Ravenclaw-Slytherin match – it was about the news that James had given Romeo the third Chaser spot on his team. That news made Al's roommate the center of attention among the second-year Gryffindors – though he sat with James, Ollie, and the rest of the Gryffindor team during lunch for a 'celebration' in his honor. Al was semi-happy for Romeo even as he wondered whether the other boy would be happy about being on the team after his first match. Whatever happened, though, Al knew that he'd have very little to do with any of it; since Romeo continued to follow team rules and only spoke with him – or with Ray – when absolutely necessary.

After he was finished lunch, and while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice, Al went off to spend that time alone so that he could experiment with his Animagus talent and continue to explore his abilities. He hadn't gotten to do that a lot lately, so he enjoyed doing that – and then really loved having the invitation-only pool party after Gwendolyn's practice that helped her to warm up while entertaining all of them until shortly before dinnertime. Al especially appreciated the girlfriend in a swimsuit opportunity that likely had him feeling a bit warmer than Gwendolyn did by the time they packed up and then split up to get changed and ready for dinner; but then the evening cuddle time while watching mirror network shows with six of their friends made for a fairly brilliant end to their day too.

Their adventures on Sunday were very similar to Saturday. The magic play time was all project related studying on Sunday morning while the afternoon Quidditch was another Chaser duel that Ray and Tory joined Al and Gwendolyn for – with the only change from a week ago being a Witches versus Wizards Chaser duel that the boys won by just two goals. Gwendolyn and Tory had teased them about that, but they'd still been happy to have another post-Quidditch cuddle session with their inconsiderate boyfriends for the rest of the afternoon. Cuddling with Gwendolyn and taking it easy was the plan for the rest of the day for Al – though they did have to split up and take a break from that while having dinner in the Great Hall.

Since they hadn't had any alone time all weekend because of Tory's party and everything else they'd been busy with, Sunday evening was just for the two of them – though Al did lend out the other three sofas to the first three friends to come and ask to borrow them. A fairly brilliant snogging session was a favorite part of the night for both of them, but there was also some music play time; they wrote letters for home; and had mirror chats with their parents, sister, and brother to complete the entertainment that kept them busy until they went to the Owlery to sent Winter home with another package of letters – including letters from Rose; and cards and gifts from all of them for Hugo's and Ron's upcoming birthdays. After walking Gwendolyn home and then getting back to his dorm room; Al wrapped up his weekend with some light reading to help him sleep and a bit of chat time with Ray and some of the other guys in the room that he mostly just listened in on because he was already half-asleep by the time Ray got back to their room anyway.

The last four days of February were very busy for Al and Gwendolyn. She had more on the go with her more-intense Quidditch practices on Monday and Wednesday, but he was just as busy because he helped her out with the extra time she needed for her studying after dinner both nights – as well as talking Quidditch with her a lot as she did everything she could to get her team ready for their match against Slytherin. Keeping up with her classes and assignments with that going on – and continuing distractions from James, Ollie, and the Slytherin taunts and razzing wasn't easy; but she managed to deal with all of it while also finding ways to stay upbeat and happy despite the problems.

There were a few distractions from outside of Hogwarts for them too; though the Harpies-Falcons match on Thursday night was the only one that really caught and kept Gwendolyn's attention. Al and Rose had also done a birthday mirror chat with Hugo on Thursday morning, though he'd already gotten his Firestorm 250 by then; so his eleventh birthday was already a best-ever by then. Their gifts had earned them his thanks, but paled by comparison; and he was more interested in the Quidditch play time that Lily, Roxanne, and some of his friends were going to do with him during the day before they went out for dinner ahead of the Harpies' game. After that chat before breakfast, the rest of Al's day was filled with classes and studying as he and Gwendolyn both worked hard to try and have most of their work done ahead of the start of the Harpies match. She didn't quite get there, but they still set up the sofas and mirror to watch the game and they cuddled on one of the sofas while she also finished writing her last report.

"Maybe I'll learn some tricks to use this weekend against Slytherin from our Harpies' players," she told Al as the match started. "Avery and his mates want to play just like the Falcons."

"I hope that Aunt Gabrielle will catch the snitch early again tonight," Al said seriously. "The Falcons have a special hate on for our team; and especially like beating up on Witches. Some of us don't want to see that happen to our favorite players."

"Definitely not," Tory agreed. "Madison and I didn't find our first experience with that sort of thing much fun last year either – and certainly don't wish it on Gwendolyn and her team mates."

"I wouldn't wish that on anyone I don't like," Madison added; grimacing at the memory of that match. "We're hoping that we'll learn something tonight too – and then again from Gwendolyn and the Ravenclaw team so maybe we won't wind up in the hospital wing again after our match with Slytherin."

"Getting the team captain mad at us so we couldn't play in that game worked for Al, Rose, and me this season," Ray joked. "I didn't have a mark on me after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match."

"True," Tory agreed; "but you wished that you'd been able to play – just as we want to play too." She nodded toward the mirror where they'd all just seen Victoire take a cheap shot from Theo Nott as he 'accidentally' ran into her and tried – unsuccessfully – to break up a passing play. "We will need to learn to deal with that sort of thing if we want to play in the show, though; and our matches against Slytherin will be where we'll learn that. The other teams are usually too interested in winning fairly to cheat like that – or try to really hurt the other team players."

"It's too bad that James and Ollie don't feel that way about trying to hurt us with their ambushes and pranks around the castle," Rose offered with a laugh. "When I think about it that way; it's amazing that they don't try playing more like Slytherin."

"They might not try the fouls and cheap shots, but you do know that they can be fairly obnoxious during their games – especially toward Witches," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Pauline still ranks her last match against James as the worst so far – and that's after her match this year against the senior Slytherin team."

"He didn't get too suggestive the way you mean in our match," Madison told her; "though he did offer to get together with me in a few years once I'd grown up a bit. Hopefully he won't do anything worse than that this year – and leave Stephanie alone too."

"I doubt that he said that as nicely as you just did, since he's used lines like that on me too," Gwendolyn said; "but our best guess is that he and Ollie will both be worse this year – not better."

"So how are you going to deal with that?" Tory asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"We're planning on winning and hope that'll shut them up."

"That sounds like a plan for your game on Saturday too," Rose interjected; "though that doesn't seem to work for the Slytherins or James and Ollie." She winced as they watched Victoire get hit again. "Theo better watch it, or he is going to have one very angry Auror-trainee ready to have a duel with him if he keeps that up."

"Dad's been there often-enough with Mum's games to relate," Al told her; "but he might have an even tougher time when it's his niece getting pounded."

"Then let's hope we can watch the post-game show too," Gwendolyn suggested with a laugh. "That could be very interesting."

They did get to do that, but had to watch the end of the match from their dorm rooms – after Astronomy class for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fans. Watching the match until they needed to get to the Astronomy tower had been tough. It was obvious that Gregor and Theo Nott had been ordered to beat up on Victoire by any means necessary; and they went all-out in their efforts to do that. The Falcons' strategy made sense, but Victoire took everything they could throw at her and still proved to be the best Chaser out there. Tory's mother was getting hit a lot too, and that was definitely affecting her play, but despite the mounting injuries that all of the Harpies players were dealing with as the game dragged on and on; they still managed to hold a narrow lead over the Falcons.

While it wasn't possible to watch the ongoing match while in their Astronomy class, they did all hurry back to their dorm rooms after being set free; and Al and Ray both sat up to watch the end of the match. That still took nearly another hour; but then Gabrielle finally out-raced her Slytherin opponent to catch the snitch and give her team the four-forty to two-seventy victory. They woke up a couple of their roommates when they both laughed after seeing Theo and Gregor crash into each other when Gabrielle avoided a post-game double-team hit on her that would have certainly been very nasty if they'd succeeded.

"Sorry," Al told their friends. "My Aunt Gabrielle just won the game for the Harpies and then Theo and Gregor Nott crashed into each other when she avoided their late hit attempt."

"Good for her," Scott said sleepily. "Tell us all about it in the morning."

"We can do that," Ray agreed quietly; "but the big story here is that Al's still awake later than the rest of you."

"It isn't as if that never happens," Al protested; but then his attention was drawn back to his mirror. "Victoire must be in worse shape than I thought," he said solemnly. "Dad's popped onto the field – and he doesn't look happy."

"Did we miss something?" Ray asked. "She seemed fine while scoring that last goal."

"I don't know; but I have seen that before – and Dad's healing her."

"He is?" Ray asked in surprise. "I didn't even know he could do that."

"All Aurors take basic medical training," Al explained. "Dad's just really good at it. He doesn't show that off in public very often, though; so Victoire definitely had something worse than bumps and bruises."

"Then I'm glad he's there to help her," Ray said with a nod. "I am never going to like the way the Falcons – and some of the other players in the league – play the game. Look at Theo and Gregor. They don't even care that they lost the match. Now what are they doing?"

"They're not trying to congratulate Aunt Gabrielle and Victoire," Al answered; frowning as he watched the two big Wizards bull there way toward where his father was still hugging Victoire and Gabrielle was now standing next to them.

They both watched with fascination as Theo and Gregor instigated a little showdown at center pitch. The yelling and shouting going on around the stadium made it hard to hear everything that was being said among the players, but it was fairly obvious that the Falcons' Beaters didn't like what they were hearing – especially when Victoire was smiling brilliantly at them and looked as if she could get out there and play another full match right then. Things got very tense when she held out her hand to Gregor, he took it; and then tried to pull her into a punch in the face. Harry stepped in at that point; defended Victoire; and then put both Nott brothers on the ground when Theo and Gregor both tried to hit him. A brawl was imminent at that point as the other Falcons stepped up to confront him, but instead of letting that happen; Harry simply raised a massive shield between the two teams; and that was the end of the matter.

"I know your Dad is the Head of the Aurors, Al; but I wouldn't have guessed that he could take down two Wizards that much bigger than he is without his wand."

"Maybe you should sign up for the student day with the Aurors next Christmas holiday," Al suggested. "Their training includes martial arts that he learned from some Japanese and Chinese Aurors over the years. If he'd used magic too; Gregor and Theo would be on the way to St. Mungo's instead of back on their feet and shouting at him like that."

"That would be fun to see, but there are other guys that actually want to be Aurors; so I wouldn't want to take one of those spots from them."

Al shrugged. "Okay, then if you want to see one of the Auror workouts sometime; I'll see if we can work that out sometime with Dad instead. I've been there for them before when I was at Auror Headquarters with Dad for different reasons over the years. He wouldn't mind bringing us along for a morning – as long as we can get picked up by someone after the morning workout."

"Let's talk about that again this summer," Ray suggested. "Right now, I need to head for the bathroom and then get some sleep. You'll likely still be awake at your usual time; but I am not going to want to wake up in the morning."

Al went along for that washroom break, but watched a bit more of Lee's post-game show before going to sleep for the handful of hours he had left to do that before Breakfast. Friday morning was a near-repeat of Thursday except Al and Rose had the birthday chat with her father; and there were a bunch of guys still at the house after Hugo's birthday sleepover. Hugo was technically celebrating his birthday again, since his birthday was actually February twenty-ninth, so while he shared the second day with Ron; he did like having the two-day event for three out of every four years. Neither Rose nor Al had really wanted to know that her father was getting a kid-free night as part of his birthday fun; but they were amused to find out that several of Hugo's friends had offered to trade places with him and spend the night with Lily instead.

While they might have preferred to be home for the day on Thursday for the birthday fun with Hugo compared to a day of classes and studying, that wasn't really the case with ron's thirty-ninth; since it was still a work day for the parents – and they definitely weren't wanted around for the kid-free night. Friday was also their half-day of classes, and though they worked through their study periods in the afternoon, it was worth doing that to be done by dinnertime. That was especially true for Al because he spent Friday evening with Gwendolyn until she needed to be back in her dorm room ahead of the team game night curfew that the Ravenclaw Captain had imposed on her team. Since that had been set an hour earlier than the school curfew, he wasn't all that happy to lose that time with her; but did want to make sure she was well-rested and ready for whatever Slytherin threw at her on Saturday.

Having the extra time after walking Gwendolyn home allowed him to have a long mirror chat with Lily and Hugo after getting back to his dorm room; and they kept him entertained with stories from his birthday party; the Harpies' match; and their adventures with Grandma Weasley and Roxanne while they were at the Burrow for most of the day. Their evening at home hadn't been very exciting, but after such a long night on Thursday; they were okay with some quiet gaming in the sitting room and then watching some mirror network shows once they'd had enough of the games – and while they had the mirror chat with Al. He eventually wrapped up his day with some guy talk time after Ray and a few of the other guys joined him in their room; and then went to sleep an hour or two before the in-House, second-year snoggers were back from the common room.

The weather on Saturday morning was cold, but only a few degrees below freezing. With heavily-overcast skies, snow was possible; but there had only been a dusting of new snow overnight. Al was up at his usual time, and got ready fairly quickly; but Rose beat him to the common room by a few minutes; so he didn't have to wait before they headed out for their morning walk and talk. That chat was all about Quidditch; and it was no surprise that Quidditch was the top chat topic at breakfast too. Al made sure that he finished eating early; and he was ready to meet up with Gwendolyn as soon as he saw her start to get ready for the walk to the stadium. They met up while still in the Great Hall; but went out into the entrance hall before finding a relatively quiet spot to talk for a few minutes – and where he could give her the good luck gift he'd picked out for her. She'd laughed after opening it; and then hugged him tightly.

"A silver serpentine bracelet is so appropriate today," she said after that hug; and handed it to him. "Can you put it on for me?"

"Sure," he agreed with a grin. "Would you like the Slytherin repelling charm that may or may not be built into it on your left or right today?"

"What?" she asked; her eyes opening wide; and Al laughed.

"That's just a hypothetical question," he answered; trying to sound innocent. "Using magic in a real game would be cheating – if you knew about it." Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him again.

"The left wrist. I usually hold the quaffle in my right; and wouldn't want to lose it during the match. You know I'll be wondering about that now for the rest of the morning, right?"

"I'm okay with that either way – if it helps to keep those Slytherin guys from hurting you. My Dad won't be here to help you out like he did with Victoire on Thursday night."

"Try not to get too mad during the game," she counseled. "I'll be okay even if I do take some hits; and there's nothing you can do about it anyway because the lake's frozen over right now."

"So they'd slide all the way to the Hogsmeade station side of the lake instead of going for a swim. I'm okay with that option if needed. Don't be surprised if at least some of the Slytherins try to imitate some of the plays we saw the Falcons use on Thursday night."

"We've already talked about that," Gwendolyn assured him; "and I think we're as ready as we can be – unless you've got six more of these bracelets."

"Do you think the guys would wear them?" he asked in amusement as he tried to picture Landon, Brandon, or the other guys doing that. "I probably should've made – I mean gotten – one for Stephanie too; but I didn't."

"That might be for the best anyway," Gwendolyn decided. "I wouldn't want to have her falling for my boyfriend or anything – and she already thinks that you're really great."

"Just remind her of what a trouble magnet I am; and she'll stay far away," he joked. "You need to get going though; since half your team is already by the door waiting for you."

"I know; but I wish you could be out there with me today."

Al laughed. "Only because Avery would have all of his players trying to gang up on me and leave the rest of you free to play the game. I love you, Gwendolyn. Good luck. I think you're going to have a brilliant day."

"I love you too," she assured him before sharing a kiss and hug with him – and then leaving to go and meet up with her team mates for the walk to the stadium.

While he'd usually just wandered off on his own until it was time to meet up with Rose and the rest of their friends to head out to the stadium, Al instead went back to the Great Hall and ended up spending that time with Rose, Shane, Ray, Tory, Madison, and Scott. That had him feeling like a bit of a fifth wheel, but he hadn't felt like being alone to brood over his worries about the match; and being with his friends – and especially with Rose – helped out a lot. They did eventually trudge out to the stadium with the main pack of students and Professors making the trek from the castle as close to game time as possible. Renee, Toni, Michael, and a handful of Gwendolyn's Ravenclaw friends met up with them along the way; so they had a fairly good-sized group by the time they sat down in a block of seats along the border between the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw sections.

He sat next to Rose, but not under the same blanket with her and Shane for the same reason she'd sat next to Gwendolyn instead of him at the last match. Witches could get away with that sort of thing, but it would've been weird if he'd huddled under their blanket next to Shane – and even their best friends would have to razz them over something like that! While it would have been nice to get a game-day reprieve from James and Ollie, Al wasn't surprised when they showed up shortly after they'd found their seats and sat down with the rest of their group of players and friends in the next block of seats that started just two rows behind him. The insults and razzing started up right away; and Al just tried to settle in for what was sure to be a long game – even if it was short; and only felt that way. He was both glad and not when Kylie Cootes got her pre-game announcing started – and James and Ollie offered their 'expert' commentary and analysis.

"Ravenclaw is in the lead for the Quidditch Cup standings – until Slytherin beats up on them today and sends them back to the castle with their tails between their legs," James declared. "Then we'll only have one undefeated House at Hogwarts – Gryffindor!"

"That'll be particularly appropriate for the Ravenclaw Captain with the dog for a boyfriend," Ollie offered; earning a round of coarse laughter from about half of their group – with James laughing loudest.

"True, that," James agreed; "though I'd say she's already a bit of a dog too – and speak of the devil! That's right, folks, it's time to introduce our teams; and first up is Ravenclaw – led by Captain Canine herself, Gwendolyn, the puppy potty-trainer McCormack! Let's all give her a resounding bark of approval as she flies past!"

Al didn't turn to look back at them, so he saw Gwendolyn's reaction as she flew past them and heard James, Ollie, and a few of the other guys and girls start barking at her raucously. He returned her smile when their eyes met for just a moment; and definitely received her – "thanks for the motivation, James' message loud-and-clear.

"Captain Underdog is flanked by her fellow Chasers today – Marky-Mutt Goldstein and Landon, the Lapdog, Graves." James paused for the chorus of laughs and then continued. "Next up, we have firsties Ryan Rivers and Stephanie Boot. Ryan the Retriever gets his nickname because he'll be busy today retrieving the quaffle – after the goals are scored on him. Take particular note of the Boot-licking Beagle while you can, since not only is she a twin short of a pair; she's got half the talent of her twin siblings – so it won't be long before she's on her way to the hospital wing for a lengthy visit with Madam Pomfrey."

"What's half of zero talent?" Ollie asked. "I'm not taking Arithmancy, but is it possible to have negative talent?"

"Yes, it is," James assured him, "but we've only recently had breakfast, and talking about my loser brother might just make me hurl; so let's not go there." He waited again for more laughs; and then wrapped things up for the Ravenclaw introductions – though the team was already landing by then and Kylie was inviting Slytherin out into the stadium. "Gotta make this quick, so Seth Bradley and Brandon Graves are the Bulldog Beaters for Ravenclaw; and that's all I need to say about them today; since they won't have any effect in the match at all."

"Unless they join in to help Slytherin beat up on their fellow Ravenclaw – by accident, of course."

"True again," James agreed with another laugh. "Now we've got Rupert Avery leading the way for Slytherin, and while he's a pitiful excuse for a Keeper and team Captain; I'm sure he'll do well-enough compared to the pup they have in goal for Rvenclaw – and once they've properly softened up the already brainless Ravenclaw tail-Chasers. Captain Avery is flanked by Caleb and Dave Harper, and while our Beaters took them to school in our match; they'll likely be able to get the job done against a pack of dogs. In the second row, we have third-rate Seeker, G-Airhead Mulciber and Azkabanian Chaser, Blaise Zabini. I'll save most of the prison jokes for later, but I hear he's hoping to have a break-out game today!" He waited for the laughs; and then wrapped up his Slytherin team introductions. "Bringing up the rear for obvious reasons, we have Stinkpius Smelfoy and Davis Zabini, and while I'd advise staying upwind of them; I have it on good authority that their rancid odor alone can be enough to make anyone with a weak stomach or sensitive noses to swoon – which would be a bad thing for the Ravenclaw players while flying around on their brooms."

By then, The Slytherin players had landed too; and Mr. Peakes was hurrying through his pre-game speech so they could just get the match going. Al had mostly watched Gwendolyn and her team while putting up with James' idiocies; and he smiled wanly when Rose gave him a shoulder bump of support.

"Let's just try to have fun with that," she whispered. "With luck, they'll look like a pair of hippogriff-sized idiots by the end of the game."

"Too late for that, from my perspective," Al joked; and Rose laughed quietly.

The quaffle was thrown into the air then; and their attention was all for the opening play as Gwendolyn and Blaise raced for it while all of the other players took off too. Caleb Harper tried to hit Gwendolyn from behind, but Brandon shouted out a warning; and she got out of the way while letting Blaise grab the quaffle unopposed.

"Nice play there," James said with a derisive snort. "Let's see if her cousin steps aside to let Blaise have the easy goal too." A moment later, he had the answer to that as Ryan not only stopped the shot; but took a glancing hit from Blaise as the bigger boy pretended to lose control of his broom after the shot for the excuse to run into him. "I guess not – though he won't last an hour if he keeps taking hits like that one. The lapdog has the quaffle now; passes it on to the puppy potty-trainer; and she takes a bludger – nope, chickened out again and dodged it while passing back to her lapdog! He passes on to Marky-Mutt; and he dodges another bludger before throwing the quaffle away as if it's too hot! Oh, wait – the puppy potty-trainer grabs it and heads straight toward Smelfoy! The stench has her veering left; he follows; she goes inverted so she won't puke on herself; pegs the broom; and flips under Smelfoy!"

James took a break for a breath, but didn't continue his commentary as they all watched Gwendolyn then complete the inverted three-sixty and go on for a clean one-on-one shot against Rupert. He fell for a fake; and Ravenclaw's first shot was also their first goal. Al had his wand half-drawn under his blanket when he saw Caleb Harper taking another blind-side run at Gwendolyn, but Mark called out that warning; and Caleb only managed to bump her before she was speeding away from him.

"That's a great strategy," Rose told him. "We'll see what Slytherin does to counter it; but watching out for each other and calling out those warnings is already helping. That would've been a nasty hit if he'd gotten to her."

"Assuming he wasn't busy bouncing across the lake to Hogsmeade station," Al shot back.

"Maybe you should give me your wand until after the match ends," she suggested, and Al smiled; but shook his head.

"I'll be fine – as long as Gwendolyn is."

The Slytherin Chasers were halfway back toward the Ravenclaw goals by then, and Al watched with pride as Gwendolyn broke up a play between Scorpius and Blaise that had her team back on offense again. What he was seeing above the pitch wasn't remotely the same as the ongoing commentary from James and Ollie; but the two boys continued their absurd interpretation of the game action.

"It may seem to you that Ravenclaw has the early advantage here," James said conversationally; taking a break from the play-by-play because Gwendolyn wasn't giving him any reasons to insult her. "You'd be wrong about that, because it's obvious that Slytherin is more focused on softening them up first. Yes, that can mean playing catch-up on the scoreboard later; but since they don't have much to worry about from the Boot-licker – and she'll likely be out of the game soon anyway; they've got all day to beat up on the dogs. Speaking of dogs, what do you get when you cross a Ravenclaw with a Gryffindor Animagus?"

"A bird dog?" Ollie guessed; and James laughed.

"Yeah – or maybe that should be a bird-brained dog. There's goal number two for Ravenclaw. Avery's not looking too good right now. I'm beginning to wonder if we should have unloaded our deadweight Chasers before our game against Slytherin instead of after; but at least we've done that in time for our next match."

"There's our first good hit on the Boot-licker," Ollie announced glibly; and Al gritted his teeth to keep from saying anything. He'd seen G-Air run into Stephanie after she'd dodged a bludger; and he knew that the boy had gotten away with the foul too because Mr. Peakes hadn't even been looking in their direction.

"One down, and keep count if you're interested in knowing how many hits it takes to put a Boot-licking Beagle into the hospital wing," James joked. "Maybe G-Airhead will play Chaser for a while after that so Slytherin can run it up on Ravenclaw like they've promised to do."

"Oh, I hope they don't do that," Ollie protested in a girlish voice. "If they do that, your cousin will start to cry for the Ravenclaw players and then ask all of us to leave the stadium again because Quidditch is scary sometimes."

"That didn't make any difference for that game; and it won't today either," James said with a sneer and laugh. "I might be okay with going along with her if she does that – but only because it's warmer in the castle; and it doesn't really matter by how much Ravenclaw loses – only that they will."

"Do you think that he's noticed that some of the Ravenclaws next to us aren't players – but they're still taking notes?" Rose asked Al with a grin. "Gwendolyn's going to need a bigger locker room wall to put all of those quotes on for their match against us."

Al laughed. "That's likely the only reason that he hasn't been hexed by our Ravenclaw friends by now. They're putting up with his crap today and hoping for payback next month."

They weren't sitting right next to any of their Ravenclaw friends, but they could watch quite a few of them, and Al noticed that Toni and Renee both kept an eye on him – possibly because Gwendolyn had asked them to do that for her. The Quidditch action settled into a fairly steady rhythm as both teams fought hard; and even James' ongoing commentary just seemed to drone on after a while. Scorpius managed to score the third goal of the game, but after Ravenclaw re-gained the two-goal lead; Slytherin wasn't able to close that gap again. They did constantly try to hit and injure Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Ryan; and had some success with that – though there weren't any major injuries like they'd had against Hufflepuff a year ago. Those smaller injuries did add up, though; and James and Ollie had fun with keeping track of that as part of their taunts and razzing.

After the first hour, Ravenclaw had a fifty point lead; and James assured his team mates that Slytherin had them right where they wanted them. By the end of the second hour, that lead was ninety points; and James and Ollie pointed out that Ravenclaw was already slowing down thanks to the beating they were taking – even though Gwendolyn was out-scoring her primary Slytherin Chaser opponent, Scorpius, by nearly three-to-one. The lead was one hundred and twenty points as the third hour came to an end; and it was Ollie's turn to advise everyone around them that only out-scoring Slytherin by three goals for that hour meant that it would soon be over for Ravenclaw and it would then be Slytherin's turn to take it to the Ravenclaw team.

"For those of you who are too busy watching the potty-trainer and Smelfoy stink-fest, I'd like to draw your attention for a moment to the G-Airhead and Boot-licker Seeker dud – I mean duel," James announced. "G-Airhead is just messing with her, since Slytherin will keep the game going so they can run it up on Ravenclaw; but he's spotted the snitch – and could catch it if he wasn't more interested in beating up firsties today instead." He laughed as they all watched the play unfold as the two Seekers raced after the snitch. "Yep – here comes the blocking play – and a bludger aimed at the back of the Boot-licker's head!" he chortled – and then stared open-mouthed as Stephanie pegged her broom right before running into G-Air; flipped over him; and then he wasn't able to completely dodge the bludger from his own guy as he tried to both get out of the way and turn to follow her. He had time to take the glancing bludger hit with a loud grunt and locate Stephanie in time to see her grab the snitch and hold it up into the air victoriously.

"You were saying, James?" Rose asked turning to look back at James and smile brilliantly at him. "Four-ninety to two-ten for Ravenclaw. Do you still think that Stephanie is half the Quidditch player Pauline is?"

"All that proved is that G-Airhead messed up again," James retorted. He and Rose were both distracted when Al jumped to his feet; threw off his blanket; and pointed his wand at Gwendolyn.

"Protego!" he bellowed; and she was encased in a spherical bubble-shield of his imagining barely a full second before Caleb Harper ran into it instead of her – striking it hard-enough to knock the shield-ball with Gwendolyn safely inside of it half-way toward Al. The direction for that had happened because Gwendolyn had been sharing a victory moment with him when Caleb had tried to hit her from behind – which was also why she hadn't seen or heard him hurtling toward her. Though he was tempted to let the other Wizard fall; Al used a cushioning charm to help Caleb out because the hit against Al's shield had knocked him out; and then he released the shield around Gwendolyn so that she could again use her broom to control her flight.

"You were saying, Rose?" James chortled. "I do believe that use of magic in a match is grounds for forfeit. Slytherin wins!"

"The match was over, James," Rose retorted. "Even if it wasn't, Al isn't Ravenclaw or on the team, so the worst that would have happened was that he'd get tossed from the stadium just as any other spectator would for doing that. Finally, are you such a total git that you'd have rather seen any player get blind-sided like that and probably seriously hurt than stand up and defend them? Sometimes I'm actually embarrassed that you're related to me – and Gryffindors are supposed to be the bravest and best. Nice job showing that today – not!" She watched as Al grabbed his things and headed toward the pitch, but she stayed and decided that it was time to stand up to James – even as she wanted to follow Al and make sure that Gwendolyn was okay.

"We'll see what Mr. Peakes has to say about that," James retorted as if he hadn't even heard most of her tirade against him; and he nodded toward center pitch where the school coach and game referee was standing next to the prone figure of Caleb Harper while the boy was being looked at by Professor Clearwater; and Rupert Avery, and the rest of the Slytherin team were talking with him angrily.

"Do you actually have to wait for that to know what the rules are?" Rose asked scathingly. "Considering how big you are about rules; I'd think you'd know them backwards and forwards."

"What I know is that the dog here should be muzzled - and shouldn't be allowed to get away with interfering with a Quidditch match just to keep his potty-trainer from getting hit."

"What part of 'the game was over' are you having a problem with, James?" Rose demanded angrily. "Tell me, what's the post-game time limit before it's okay to protect a player from an attack? One second? A minute? Do you get to have a free shot at any player for a day or two before your imagined forfeit rule no longer applies? We'd all love to know your expert opinion on that – especially since the rest of your commentary today has been so spot-on! I don't even know why Avery's down there badgering Mr. Peakes after getting that blow-out win you've been going on about for hours now! Oh wait, that didn't happen either, did it?"

"Shut it – or I will!" James shouted; getting a lot of attention now even as the action at center pitch was heating up too with Al joining Gwendolyn and her team mates as they faced off against the Slytherins with Mr. Peakes in the middle.

"Right here in front of everyone?" Rose taunted. "That's not your style. Everyone knows that you and Ollie prefer to sneak around and ambush your prank patrol victims."

"Revulsio!" James roared; pointing his wand at Rose and then he laughed viciously when his spell hit her full-on and blasted her from her feet. They were near goal-level, so she had quite a distance to fall – but his laughter cut off when he saw her being caught up by a cushioning spell that helped her to gently and safely land on the edge of the pitch.

"Merlin, James!" Ollie gasped. "Put your wand away! Are you trying to get banned from playing in our next match?"

James turned his glare on Ollie and looked as if he might blast him too; but then he swore.

"Son of a Witch – she baited me on purpose, the little Traitor!" He returned his attention to Rose; but she was already heading toward center pitch; and apparently counting on Shane and the rest of her friends to make sure her bag and the rest of her things were gathered up and brought to her.

"Yeah, she did," Ollie agreed – "and now your Prefect cousin is on her way over here. It's a good thing that I saw her draw wand on you. Who else saw her do that?" he asked; looking around expectantly; and James was grinning again.

"I did," Anna said hesitantly. "James was just way faster."

"He was," Patricia added with a nod and smile for James. "I'd say she had it coming to her."

That was all of the prep time they had before Molly reached them; and she stepped into the spot that Rose had so abruptly vacated so that she could face james.

"What's going on here?" she demanded angrily. "Have you lost your mind using a spell like that on Rose – let alone with this many people around you?"

"We were having a discussion about why my brother is a menace and Ravenclaw should forfeit the match after he used magic to help Gwendolyn; I saw Rose start to draw her wand on me; and I blasted her before she could attack me. Ollie, Anna, and Patricia saw the whole thing. End of story."

"Or not," Shane said quietly; getting everyone's attention.

"You didn't see anything," James retorted and seemed to be half-threatening. "I saw you watching the pitch when Rose started to attack me."

"That's true," Shane agreed with a nod; "but Rose couldn't have drawn her wand on you." He held up her bag in front of Molly; and they could all see the end of Rose's wand sticking out of a narrow side pouch that was designed for holding a Witch's wand. "Not only couldn't she have been trying to attack you first, James, but if Al hadn't saved her; she couldn't have protected herself from your attack or that fall."

"He probably just shoved his own wand..." James began; and then glowered at Shane when the other boy simply pulled his own wand out of his cloak pocket for Molly to see. "She set this whole thing up and goaded me," James told Molly in disgust. "If you mess things up with our team for the Hufflepuff match; you'll be as much of a traitor to your House as she is."

"I won't be doing anything – except taking you the the Heads office. It'll be up to one of them to deal with this – unless they decide that Headmistress McGonagall should deal with you personally. Get your things; and let's go."

Al was on the pitch by the time Gwendolyn was, but it took him a few moments to catch up with her at center pitch; where she was already getting yelled at by Rupert Avery. When he got there too, he nudged Ryan and Seth out of his way so he could step up next to his girlfriend. Reaching to take her hand; she squeezed in acknowledgement and smiled; but didn't take her attention from Mr. Peakes and the Slytherins.

"I demand a forfeit!" Rupert snarled. "We all saw Potty use magic; so he can't deny it – and look what he did to our player! He's out cold and Merlin only knows what's been done to him." He glared at Al. "Let's see you get out of this one! Your girlfriend won'twant anything to do with you for much longer now that you've lost the match for her."

"I don't deny it," Al answered quietly, "but the game was over, and if Caleb is hurt very badly; that should just emphasize how badly Gwendolyn needed protection from that attempt to blindside her."

"See – he admits it!" Rupert declared victoriously. "We win!"

"You don't," Mr. Peakes interjected. "As Mr. Potter also pointed out – the match was over. He did nothing wrong by defending Ms. McCormack – and he also protected Mr. Harper after he lost consciousness – saving him from a nasty fall."

"A fall that he caused!" Rupert half-shouted. "Not only should these Ravenclaw cheats forfeit; but you should have Potty arrested for assault!"

Al's danger warning senses exploded in his head, and Rupert Avery jumped back in astonishment as Al whipped out his wand again, but Al only whirled around and pointed his wand toward the stands where he'd been sitting; and for the second time in minutes he used a cushioning charm – this time to save Rose as she was falling toward the pitch. They all heard the echo from James' bellowed attack, but he didn't even try to look up at his brouther. Once Rose was safely on the ground; he pocketed his wand and turned back to face Mr. Peakes and the Slytherins while Gwendolyn resumed holding his hand with another squeeze of support.

"Nicely done, Mr. Potter," Mr. Peakes complimented him with a nod and half-concealed smile. "Mr. Avery, you are making a spurious argument. The snitch had been caught; and anything that followed has nothing to do with the results. Ravenclaw wins four-ninety to two-ten. Why don't we all try and show a bit of good sportsmanship and then you and I will help Professor Clearwater with taking care of your team mate?"

"I'll take this to the Head of our House and the Headmistress if I must," Rupert declared. "My father will have you fired over this!"

Mr. Peakes' expression turned hard now. "Mr. Avery, you may talk to whomever you want about this, but the decision is mine; and it's final – so do not try your silly, empty threats on me. The days of that sort of thing happening at Hogwarts are long gone."

"We'll see about that," Rupert spat obstinately. "Come on, guys – we're out of here; and we won – regardless of what our so-called Quidditch has-been referee says about it."

"What about Caleb?" Dave Harper demanded; and stepped back when Rupert turned his glare on him.

"Stay with him if you want," he growled. "I'm getting away from the stench from Potty and the rest of these stinking, rotten cheats."

With that, he stormed off; and everyone except Dave Harper followed him to the locker room. Most of the tension in the air went with him, but Al was already busy being hugged by his girlfriend; and then she kissed him rather enthusiastically too before letting go of him again.

"Thank-you," she told him happily. "I am so glad that you saved me from that hit."

"Me too," Al answered. "Congratulations. You all played brilliantly today."

"Can I get in here and add my thanks?" Rose asked as she stepped up next to Gwendolyn. "We'll talk later; but I really needed your help back there."

"We noticed that," Al deadpanned as she hugged him. "You're welcome too."

"One of us noticed," Gwendolyn corrected. "The rest of us were too busy getting yelled at by Rupert Avery. I'm beginning to woder if we need to have a test for team Captains on Quidditch rules. That attempt to hit me came at least a half-minute after Stephanie caught the snitch." She shook her head. "Let's talk about that later too. I'd better go and see how Caleb's doing; and then I need to spend some time congratulating my team mates."

"I'll get started on that while you're busy," Rose promised; and then smiled at her cousin. "Al will want to go with you. For some reason, he feels bad about it when someone gets hurt – even when he's just defending someone. I wonder where he gets that from?"

"Feeling bad about it isn't the same as being sorry over what happened," Al pointed out.

He walked with Gwendolyn to stand next to Mr. Peakes – and just a couple of steps away from where Professor Clearwater was still kneeling next to Caleb – and the boy was still unconscious. "How is he?" Gwendolyn asked quetly.

"I'm still checking," Professor Clearwater answered without looking up. "Does anyone know how fast he was going when he hit that shield?"

"A bit over one hundred," Al answered before anyone else did. "I can't be more exact because he was still speeding up."

That comment did have Professor Clearwater turning her head to look at Al; her eyes widening slightly. "Are you certain?"

"Fairly sure," Al agreed. "Should we get Madam Pomfrey to come and see him out here?"

"No," she answered and decided. "I think we'd better just get him there straight-away. Mr. Peakes – could you help me, please?"

Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone else gathered around them watched as Professor Clearwater first made sure that Caleb was fully immobilized; and then Mr. Peakes took care of levitating him while she kept a close watch on him as they began to move out and head toward the stadium exit. Dave Harper held back; and stepped up to confront Al and Gwendolyn.

"Whatever you've done to my brother, once he's recovered; we're going to make sure you regret this for a very long time."

"I'm sorry that Caleb got hurt, but he brought that on himself," Gwendolyn told him. "Take some time to re-think that threat once you've had time to get over being upset about this. Give Caleb our best wishes when he wakes up. I hope he'll be feeling better soon."

"You're so full of it, it's no wonder that you stink as bad as Potty," he sneered. "We thought that was just because the stink rubbed off on you; but now I see you're just as putrid and vile." He stormed off then; and apprently earned some personal victory by getting the last word for that nasty little exchange. Al hugged Gwendolyn; and she smiled at him.

"I guess we have another Slytherin enemy or two," she declared. "What is it about defending ourselves that makes them hate us so much?"

"The part where they lose," Al answered. "That's been the problem ever since the war – and really before then too. If we'd just let them win and change the way we do things until the Wizarding World is more to their liking; everything would be just great!"

"Well that's not going to happen; so I guess we'll just have to keep dealing with the haters," Gwendolyn decided. "Come on. I want to try and get back to having fun again."

"If you insist," Al agreed; and then pulled her into a hug and just a short kiss because she started laughing.

"Save that thought for when we don't have half a stadium full of spectators," She whispered; and laughed again at his answering grin and sparkling eyes – a reaction that had her wishing they could get some alone time sooner instead of later.

They rejoined her team mates, but the post-game celebration was already on with their relatives and friends. Al mostly let Gwendolyn lead the way from there, but as the excitement level dropped, so did the enthusiasm for staying outdoors; and it wasn't long before the Ravenclaw players headed for the locker room and everyone else moved on to the castle to get warmed up and then eventually have a late lunch in the Great Hall once the Ravenclaw and Slytherin players were back in the castle too. The gossip network was overloaded with the rumors from the game, and it was the only chat topic with Al, Rose, and their Gryffindor friends while they ate; but Al tried to stay out of the direct conversation as much as possible. James was back from his visit to the Heads office, but he didn't even look toward Al or Rose; and didn't act as though anything had happened to him – even though everyone was sure that he'd have definitely gotten a big detention and likely lost a bunch of points for Gryffindor.

Al did get to hear about what had happened between when he'd left to meet up with Gwendolyn on the pitch and when he'd used the cushioning spell to protect Rose, but while he suspected that she had been goading James; she'd also obviously been surprised at just how over-the-top his attack had been. Gwendolyn had her House party to get to after lunch, but she met up with Al first; and then he walked her back to Ravenclaw tower so they could spend that time together before she'd be busy for the rest of the day. By then, he was ready for some time on his own; so he found an out-of-the-way classroom where he could work on his Animagus experimentation and practice. From there, he went on to the hospital wing to see how Caleb was doing – and walked into another confrontation.

"You!" Caleb spat when he saw Al walk into the room. "Keep him away from me – or give me my wand!"

"Is this the boy that did this to you?" That question was from the woman who had been sitting in a chair next to his bed; but she was standing now and facing Al – as were Caleb's brother and the man that was obviously their father.

"Yes, it is," Dave answered his mother. "Albus Potter."

"Did you think to come here and attack our boy again while he was sleeping?" Mr. Harper demanded; and Al shook his head.

"I came to see how Caleb is doing," he answered calmly; continuing to walk toward them until he was a half-dozen steps away and then he stopped. "You've certainly been told that I didn't attack him – he flew into the shield I put up to defend one of the Ravenclaw players."

"We've heard the so-called official story – and then our boys have told us what really happened," Mrs. Harper told him. "We believe our sons."

"That's up to you,' Al said indifferently. "Is Caleb going to be okay?"

"That's none of your business," she snapped at him. "We'll be filing complaints with the school and at the Ministry of Magic. You should be expelled at the very least; and in Azkaban for such a dirty, rotten attack on my Caleb!"

Al sighed. "You're welcome to do that too, but I hope that Caleb is ready to share his memories and testify under Veritaserum, because I am; and know that I have nothing to worry about."

"Your Daddy won't be able to protect you from this," Mr. Harper spat; and Al shook his head again.

"He won't need to – whether you believe that or not." He looked past them to Caleb. "I hope you'll be well soon, but we both know what you were trying to do to Gwendolyn; so I'm not sorry for protecting her."

"Will somebody please give me my wand?" Caleb demanded. "Something is stinking up the room; and I need to throw it in the trash." Al had already turned to leave, so that just sounded stupid; but he'd only taken three steps when he needed to turn around again; and raised a shield that deflected the curse that had been hurled at his back.

"Did you say something, Mrs. Harper?" he asked. "I didn't quite catch that – though I do see where Caleb inherited his talent for attacking someone from behind."

"You impertinent little brat – I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" she yelled, and while Al was ready for anything; he also noticed that both of her sons had vicious, vindictive expressions on their faces as they watched their mother expectantly. "Crucio!" she shouted.

Al used a shield to deflect the curse harmlessly away from anyone in the room; and then he disarmed the woman. He didn't do that with any sense of accomplishment; just a feeling of regret.

"I might be impertinent," he told her, "but I don't even know what to call someone that tries to use an unforgivable curse on any underage Witch or Wizard – let alone one of my father's kids."

"That's just your word against ours," she spat at him; and Al laughed as he held up her wand.

"I beg to differ, but then I have no intention of saying anything about this to anyone. You're upset that your son got hurt. Let's leave it there." He paused for a moment. "We'll have company here in a moment. I'm going to leave now. I'll leave your wand on the table by the door on my way out."

"This isn't over, Potter," Mrs. Harper warned him. "I'll see to that!"

Al was already at the door by then, set the wand on the table as promised; and then opened it in time for Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall to simply continue walking instead of stopping to open it themselves.

"Good afternoon, Headmistress McGonagall; Madam Pomfrey," he said with a warm smile for them. "I was just leaving, so you won't need to kick me out for bothering your patient."

Madam Pomfrey smiled too. "Mr. Harper will be just fine after a day or two of rest, Mr. Potter; though I hear he has you to thank both for being here – and not being more seriously injured."

"My options were limited at the time; so part two of that seemed to be the least I could do to help," he explained. "I'm sure that the Harpers want to speak with both of you, though; so I'll get out of the way."

Once they were in the room, he stepped out into the hallway and let the door close behind him – though he could already hear the yelling start up again as Mrs. Harper began another tirade by asking Professor McGonagall what kind of a school she thought she was running where hooligans were allowed to attack her poor, defenseless children without any provocation whatsoever. Since the Headmistress had been at the game, Al thought that was ridiculous; but he also suspected that Professor McGonagall was used to that sort of thing with certain types of parents. He went to his dorm room from there, got his bag ready for the alone time evening that he and Gwendolyn planned on spending together after dinner; and then he ended up meeting Rose in the common room while she was on her way in from spending the afternoon with Shane; so he waited for her to do a round-trip to her dorm room before going for an extended walk on their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

He knew that Rose suspected that there was more to the story when he told her about his visit to the hospital wing, but he really didn't plan on telling anyone except Gwendolyn about everything that had happened with the Harpers. He was more interested in hearing about what she'd been spending the afternoon doing; she had more rumors to share with him; and they talked about being ready for anything that James and Ollie might throw at them next now that they were sure to be especially angry with them after their problems at the game. They eventually ended up in the Great Hall with time to spare; kept entertained as their friends joined them and other students stopped by to chat and get more direct information to go along with the latest rumors; and wrapped up the pre-dinner fun with a visit from Gwendolyn before she went to sit with her Ravenclaw friends.

She was already starting to slow down by then, and Al had sensed her growing discomfort from the dozens of bruises and abrasions that were proof that she hadn't escaped the Slytherin game unscathed. That was the main reason that he was glad to just get through dinner so that he could take Gwendolyn to their usual study classroom; get a sofa and the mirror set up; seal the room; and then just cuddle with her while they both wound down from a day that had turned out to be just a bit too eventful for them. Once they were settled in on the sofa and comfortable, the first thing that Gwendolyn wanted to do was call home. Al was sitting at one end of the sofa and she was stretched out with her head against his shoulder and his arms around her. They were both smiling as Gwenog answered the call.

"Congratulations! You must have won; or you'd have called sooner. How was the party?"

"Still going on in the common room for some of the Ravenclaw faithful," Gwendolyn answered. "I'd had enough of that by dinnertime, though, and everyone on our team is feeling pretty rough now."

"Been there – more times than I can remember. Was the game as tough as you expected?"

"Yes – and three and a half hours of it. Our plan worked pretty well, but I won't be surprised if I have a tough time getting out of bed in the morning." She smiled at Al before continuing. "That could have been waking up in a hospital bed instead, but Al helped me out with that; and it's the Slytherin Wizard that tried to hit me after the game was over that's in the hospital wing tonight instead."

"What happened?" Gwenog asked.

"One of the Slytherin Beaters tried to hit me from behind – though I didn't see anything. Al put a shield around me; and when the guy crashed into it; he was knocked out – and I was tossed about twenty yards or so. I was safe in my bubble shield, though, so that was really just a fun little ride for me. Al then had to keep Caleb – Caleb Harper – from hitting the ground the hard way; and that was pretty much it. The Slytherin Captain started yelling at Mr. Peakes about us forfeiting the match for using magic; but he got shot down on that and eventually stormed off."

"Trust a Slytherin to try and torture the rules into something that isn't there," Gwenog said with a nod and smile that she directed at Al. "Thanks for having Gwendolyn's back for us."

"You're welcome," Al assured her. "Gwendolyn's team mates need a lot of credit too today. They all really watched out for each other during the game. Four of the Slytherin guys were really playing to hurt their opponents. Rupert Avery would have helped too, but Keepers don't get as many chances to do that as long as the Chasers stay out of his range." He grinned at Gwendolyn. "You should tell your Mum about the good parts of your match – like your twenty-two goals and ten assists out of your team's thirty-four goals. None of the Seekers can catch her now for the junior team scoring title, since she has fifty-one goals for her first two matches."

"I can hardly wait until we have you and Victoire on our team," Gwenog said proudly. "The other teams won't stand a chance against you!"

"Add Lily to the mix a couple of years after that; and we'll have a great team," Gwendolyn agreed. "You should be proud of Ryan too. Your nephew probably got beat up the worst today, and he still held Slytherin to twenty-one goals – or about six an hour. His save percentage was in the eighties; though I haven't worked all of the stats out yet."

"Well, he can't play for the Harpies too, but I'm sure that Jonah will appreciate having a good Keeper to play with when he starts at Hogwarts in September."

"I'll have more to worry about playing against Lily," Jonah called out from somewhere else in the room. "Did Stephanie catch the snitch? Maybe I won't even get to play for Ravenclaw if she's better than me at tryouts."

"She did," Gwendolyn advised him, "and she is pretty good; but I think that you and Lily are both better – so don't go getting any ideas about getting sorted into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor – unless my House gets to have Lily instead."

"You'd have an all-Witch Ravenclaw team if you could work that out," Jonah accused; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, if I could work it out; I'd have Al on my team. I'd be okay with Rose and Lily on my team too; but you and Ryan will be good next season too – if you can win the Seeker spot at tryouts."

"Maybe I should hope that he doesn't do that," Kirley offered; speakin for the first time though he'd been sitting next to Gwenog the entire time. "Jonah would have more time for music if he wasn't busy with Quidditch instead."

"Some of the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers have played Quidditch here too – or still are," Gwendolyn reminded her father. "Jonah can do both if he wants to do that; and no – Al and I still don't want to start up a group; so don't go there."

Kirley sighed and smiled ruefully. "That's such a waste of talent; but we don't have to talk about it again – tonight."

Gwendolyn did talk about the rest of the news from her game and the Ravenclaw party; Gwenog and Kirley told her about their day; and then they ended that call and had another one with Harry, Ginny, and Lily. That required another game recap along with the rest of the traded news stories, but Al only mentioned the trouble Rose had with James – and didn't go into the details that they'd likely find out about anyway through the official school letter advising them of whatever discipline James was given for blasting his cousin. After they ended that call, they settled in to watch a show on the mirror network – and then Gwendolyn promptly fell asleep.

He didn't try very hard to explore the how behind what happened next, but Al allowed his inner senses to reach out to Gwendolyn; and he was able to feel all of the sore muscles, bruises, and abrasions that she'd been left with as souvenirs from the game. While she slept, he held her close; let his power envelop her; and he healed her from head to toe a little bit at a time. That wasn't because he was experimenting or anything. He knew what to do without knowing how; so the slow pace was simply so that she didn't wake up from the shock of having it all done at once. When she did wake up, he was smiling softly at her; and then laughed when her eyes went wide in amazement.

"You healed me!" she breathed; then laughed; then threw her arms around his neck and kissed him rather seriously. "That's brilliant! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he assured her happily. "I'm glad that you feel better now."

"How long do we have left until curfew? I'll show you just how much better I feel if we have enough time to do that."

Al laughed, but she'd already checked her watch by then; and he suddenly had something more interesting to do until they needed to pack up for the night – like getting snogged half-senseless by his girlfriend!

"Bad day?" Thomas asked as Scorpius rather roughly dumped his portrait onto the table; and then had to catch it before it fell over face-down onto the table.

"Moderately awful," Scorpius answered. "I haven't long before curfew; but needed to get away from my idiot friends and team mates for a while. We lost the match today, but Avery and his mates are insisting that Ravenclaw should have forfeited because Albus Potter used magic to protect his girlfriend from a cheap shot by one of our Beaters – after the match was over." He shook his head in disgust. "I'm not happy about losing, but he's wrong about that; and he's just looking like an idiot to everyone except his brainless little group of cling-ons."

"It sounds to me as though you've had a very interesting day – and we've already talked too often about how little importance you should place on winning or losing these Quidditch matches."

"True, but what I'm most having trouble with tonight is the fact that I was fairly-soundly out-played by Gwendolyn McCormack," he admitted. "She scored twenty-two goals against me and set up ten more that I couldn't stop. I only managed eight goals; and only had four of those while directly competing against her. I'm far from the only reason we lost the match; but I was part of the problem today." He paused and then swore under his breath. "What's even worse, is that I don't know what I could have done better. Blaise and Caleb tried over and over again to beat her up and get her out of the game; but they completely failed at that too."

"While I do not suggest that you waste even more time on such inconsequential things, Scorpius, if the Witch played that much better than you today, then it's likely that she puts more effort into learning the game – although it is also a possibility that she simply has more talent for Quidditch too. You have told me that she comes from a family of Professional Quidditch players."

"I've no doubt that she spends more time training," Scorpius admitted; "but I don't believe that she has more talent. It is like my lessons with you. Without them, I feel as if I'm mssing something in my magical training. It is like that with Quidditch – except I do not have any mentors to help me the way you do with my magic."

Thomas shrugged. "Then search for one if it's so important to you – though again; I believe that would be a waste of time and your true talents."

"Maybe I'd like to take back the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time," Scorpius shot back; earning a laugh from Thomas.

"That's an amusing suggestion; if a bit impractical."

"Is it?" Scorpius said more seriously. "Quidditch fans are generally a brainless group willing to be led around by their noses. With the mirror network, Quidditch players and teams can have hundreds of thousands of fans around the world. Merlin only knows what you might have been able to do had you been able to reach out to all purebloods everywhere so easily. You built your army over decades. I believe it's possible, under the right circumstances, to make that happen in an explosive, near-universal uprising."

"Your ideas truly are interesting, Scorpius, and I cannot speak to the possibilities that might be yours through this mirror network and other gadgets you've told me of and shown me; but I can tell you that the excitement of youthful dreams rarely turn out the way you envision. I certainly couldn't anticipate all of the challenges I faced during my rise to power; and that will be true for you too." He laughed then; and shook his head. "I'm sorry, my young friend; but I cannot help but laugh at the idea of you leading an army while dressed in the Quidditch robes of one of the league teams." He laughed again. "My, but you'd look dreadful in Chudley Cannons' orange!"

"Doesn't everyone?" Scorpius asked; laughing too. "That wouldn't be an option, since I'd want to play on a championship team to help with getting all of those faithful followers; and don't want to wait another century or two for the Cannons to start winning again."

"I'm glad that at least gave you a bit of cheer, but at the risk of messing that up; I'd be interested in hearing about what Mr. Potter did while protecting his girlfriend – and whether there's any other news of interest."

Scorpius did feel cheered up, so relaying the rest of the news from the game and the aftermath was conveyed in a mostly light-hearted manner. While he really hadn't had that much time until curfew, Thomas still wrapped up their visit with another practice of one of the dark arts curses he was learning; and then he headed back to his House and common room. His day had not gone nearly as well as planned, but it was looking up again, and when he found Terri waiting for him expectantly – and with snogging obviously on her mind; he was willing and happy to join her and continue what was turning into a rather brilliant end to his day.

By the time Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House, he needed to hurry to get back to Gryffindor tower ahead of curfew – and barely made it there on time. The snogging going on in the common room had him moving straight through and up to his dorm room; and then he had some fun not sharing snogging stories with Ray and the other guys in the room. Since he'd already had his mirror chat with his parents and sister; he wrapped up his day with some surfing of the Wireless Web once he was changed and ready for bed. He and Ray talked together while he did that, but when Ray actually fell asleep first; Al put his mirror away and eventually drifted off to dreamland too.

Sunday morning project work sessions were pretty much routine for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group when doing that work wasn't an option on Saturdays; and this weekend was no exception. While writing endless reports was never all that entertaining, working on the displays or practical demonstrations for those projects was almost always fun – even when the spells or potions didn't turn out quite as planned. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't mind getting ready for presentations either; though that continued to be a problem for other friends in their group. They tried to encourage their more-timid public speakers; and did what they could to help them practice and get used to giving their presentations – as well as making those presentations more interesting and entertaining for their classmates. By lunchtime, they'd all finished up one project ahead of schedule, and made progress on the rest of them; so they were ready to have fun for the rest of the day after that.

For Al, Gwendolyn, Ray, and Tory; that meant starting out their afternoon with another Chaser duel. There had been an open time slot at the practice pitch despite the fact that the Gryffindor junior team hadn't practiced on Saturday for their game that was just two weeks away; and Tory had been particularly happy about the chance for an extra, challenging workout. Thanks to Al's healing, Gwendolyn was ready to play too, and teamed up with Al for the duel part of their Quidditch play time; she'd annoyed Tory just a bit by helping Al to win their battle against Tory and Ray. The practice time on their Quidditch plays had been just as important, though; and Tory was feeling good about that – and how much the duels were helping her to get ready for her next two matches.

While they were outside playing, Rose had led a small group of their friends to their study classroom to set up a pool party, and while that was already in progress by the time they were able to join in for the water fun after their duel; Gwendolyn, Tory, and the boys were happy to quite literally jump into the fun – and use the swim time to warm up too. Swimming, floating around, or just hanging out by the pool with their friends had been a fun way to spend the last half of the afternoon; and then they packed up again and split up to return to dorm rooms and get ready for dinner.

Al had seen James at all three meals, but not at all during the rest of the day; and he and Ollie didn't attempt any pranks. Map checks showed that they were still hanging out together a lot, but in areas where work detentions were often served; so Al suspected that James was getting some help with those chores – and probably to make sure that he served his time before the next Hogsmeade weekend – or at worst; ahead of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match. The fact that they were leaving him alone was enough for him, though; and he appreciated getting the day off from their ambushes and pranks.

While they'd needed to split up until after dinner, Al met up with Gwendolyn after he finished eating; they went to get two sofas and the mirror set up in their study classroom; and then they were already comfortably cuddling together by the time that Rose and Shane met up with them to watch shows, write letters for home, and enjoy a bit of quiet time that was always a great way to wind down a weekend at Hogwarts – at least for them. With three Quidditch players in the room, talking sports was pretty much a given for part of the time, and they discussed the upcoming Harpies' match against the Tornadoes that was sure to make the gossip network simply for the second battle of the season between Victoire and Rachel Rosier; and about the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match that Gwendolyn and every Ravenclaw wanted Hufflepuff to win so that they'd keep sole possession of top spot in the Quidditch cup race. Shane supported his own House team for that match despite being indifferent to the game; and Al and Rose had to be closet supporters for Hufflepuff.

They also talked about other things, like the latest gossip the girls had heard before and during dinner; the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend; and the next batch of birthdays coming up now that they were into a new month. Shane had been interested in some of those topics; and he was a bit surprised to find out that Al was more likely to know the birthdays than the girls were. The letter writing was always fun for Al, and while he loved having mirror chats with his parents and sister; he still thought there was something more special about putting his thoughts and feelings to paper that was more personal than any mirror chat could be – especially when he was rarely able to be alone for those chats. He wasn't in danger of becoming some kind of sappy poet or anything; but he did like to write more personally about his experiences at Hogwarts than he ever conveyed through mirror chats – or even conversations with anyone other than Gwendolyn and Rose.

When it was close to curfew time, Al and Gwendolyn did the trip to the Owlery on their own while Rose and Shane stayed behind for a bit of quality alone time before they'd need to leave for their own Houses too; though Al and Gwendolyn did pack up the mirror and their own sofa first before heading out. They spent the last half-hour they had left with Winter and Blizzard; sent Winter on her way; and then Al walked Gwendolyn home before going on to his own dorm room. While there was still some snogging going on in the Gryffindor common room on Sunday nights, there were just as many students trying to complete weekend assignments, and since James and Ollie were two of those students; Al had gone straight through the room without stopping to chat with any of his friends or cousins. He wrapped up his weekend with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily and some reading that helped to put him to sleep; and then it was lights out – mentally – for him until morning.

Junior team Quidditch was still a big gossip topic at Hogwarts on Monday, but the work part of that slowed down a bit for Gwendolyn because Ravenclaw had the best schedule out of all of the junior teams; and they now had six weeks to get ready for their match against Gryffindor. Hufflepuff had the worst schedule, and had to play their final two matches with just two weeks between them thanks to the Easter holiday timing compressing the junior team schedule this year. Gryffindor and Slytherin each had four weeks between their last two matches; which was fairly close to normal during most years anyway – or only shorter by a week for the years when the Easter break split the junior team schedule with games before and after the holiday.

Taking it easy on Quidditch training wasn't an option for the Hufflepuff players in their study group; and Tory and Madison worked harder than ever all week. They also talked with the other players in their group about dealing with both Gryffindor and Slytherin, since they were still practicing to get ready for both teams; and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray helped out as much as they could – a fact that would be proof-enough for James that they were traitors to their House despite the fact that they didn't do anything that would give Hufflepuff an unfair advantage over Gryffindor. They still also had all of their regular classes and a heavier workload as the Professors continued the annual work push to get more done between Valentine's Day and Easter. Having more time for that didn't help; since it really just meant they had more to get done before Easter; and less time to get ready for final exams after the holiday.

Getting a continuing reprieve from James and Ollie ambushes during the week had been nice while James was apparently still too busy to add that to his schedule, but Al and Gwendolyn also had to deal with a new annoyance – Caleb and Dave Harper. The brothers glowered at them at meals; made a point of crossing paths to offer up insults; and even started to follow them around when one of the other could do that – though Al didn't let on to them that he was aware of that; and helped Gwendolyn to watch out for them too. Adding the two boys to their maps at that point seemed prudent; so Al took care of that for all of his friends – though he didn't expect the two boys to be a problem for anyone else. The Harpers also didn't do anything else beyond the glares, insults, and skulking; and Al suspected that if they did eventually try anything that it wouldn't be for a while.

For the actual education part of life at Hogwarts, that continued to go brilliantly for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose. It was a lot of work to stay the top students in their classes, but they loved the magic; and were really, really good at it. Having a smaller study group all year had made that part of their work easier too; and been good for their friends when it came to getting more one-on-one tutoring time. Getting done their work every day on-time or early was great too; and they were all happy when they wrapped up for the day before dinner on Friday and again knew that they had the weekend free for playing and having fun – except for project studying or anything extra that they could always each choose to do on their own. After having dinner in the Great Hall on Friday, Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for the evening; set up a sofa and the mirror; and then started out their evening of alone time with some self-created musical entertainment.

"What would you like to start with tonight?" Al asked as they each sat and started tuning their guitars. "Muggle music, old hits, new hits, or something else?"

Gwendolyn smiled at him. "How about we play around with writing a song or two?" she suggested. "I've had some ideas for that since last weekend. I really don't want to start a band or anything, but it might be really great to hear the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers perform songs that we write for them."

Al laughed. "Wouldn't James be even more angry with us if he ever finds out that he was the inspiration for a hit song?" he joked; and Gwendolyn laughed too.

"Probably, and he does give us lots of potential material for that; but I was also thinking about something to do with late hits; bubble shield charms; bursting bubbles; and some way to work forfeits into a pop song or three."

"Well, at least if we write a song about dirty rotten cheating Quidditch players, the Slytherins might think it's about the Falcons instead of them," Al suggested with a grin. "Which one of those ideas would you like to start with?" He absently began strumming chords on his guitar while waiting for her as she thought about that for a while.

"All of the above?" she finally half-joked; and Al grinned at her.

"I hate to burst your bubble; when you're so full of yourself; but even with all of your cheating; I have the trophy on my shelf," he sang and played. Gwendolyn laughed; joined in; and they were off and running – or singing and playing.

They worked on that song for an hour or so, and thought they had something fun and funny to work with and polish up whenever they had time to do that again, but after a long, busy week; they wanted to have some quality time for a nice long snogging session too. They put their guitars away; put a show on the mirror network; and then didn't watch it at all while ending their play time together in a brilliant, mostly non-verbal way. They were both smiling and happy when Al walked her home; and he was still in a great mood when he was back in his dorm room; changed and cleaned up; and in his bed before any of the other guys were there with him. He got his mirror out and called Lily to have a bedtime chat with her.

"You are not that happy just to see me," Lily teased as she answered his call. "I do not want the details; but I'm glad that you and Gwendolyn had a fun night. What's new and exciting?"

"Nothing around here. We wish we could be home to go to the game with you tomorrow."

Lily laughed. "I'm good with the rest of our plans for tomorrow, but if you've checked the weather forecast; it'll likely be more fun for you to watch the match indoors than for us. We might have to deal with freezing rain and snow."

"Not that you'd give up your seat to stay home," Al suggested; and Lily smiled and shrugged.

"No, but then I do need to get used to matches in bad weather too if I want to last very long in the show. I'm sure that the rivalry between Victoire and Rachel Rosier will be fun too – especially since Victoire is a lot better and Rachel hates that so much."

"That gets talked about around here, and it's amazing how many Slytherins just can't bring themselves to admitting that to anyone. Rachel is helping the Tornadoes, though, so I don't get why it has to be such a big deal that Victoire is doing better than any of the other rookies."

"Ask James – he could explain it to you," Lily offered with a grin. "Is he busy getting ready for his match next weekend?"

"That's hard to say when I'm not at any of the practices; but I don't get a very good feeling about it whenever I'm around any of the players. As far as I know, they're not even having a practice this weekend. James always cancels the Saturday morning practice on Hogsmeade and game weekends; and he didn't book a pitch for later on Saturday or on Sunday. The Hufflepuff team has two practices booked – and Tory will likely do the Chaser duel again that she and Ray have been joining Gwendolyn and me for on the weekends too."

"That doesn't sound good for our Gryffindor team, but considering how James has been acting this year; I won't feel to bad for him if he's totally botched the season for his team."

"Let me know if you still feel that way when we're home on the Easter holiday," Al suggested. "If he loses these two matches; he's likely to be very unpleasant that week."

"You could have a fight with Mum and Dad about your optionals. Maybe that'd cheer him up if they're mad at you all week."

"That's an idea, but I'm fairly sure that they won't mind me skipping Muggle Studies when I'm planning on taking everything else."

Lily laughed. "Okay, maybe James will be okay with me being mad at you. How am I ever going to survive following you to Hogwarts?"

"By being the best Seeker at school; and finding your own way for everything else. You're going to do great here; and you know it."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in just admitting that when there's so much entertainment to be had from teasing you about being a brainiac – or maybe we should say that you're the brightest Wizard of your time."

Al rolled his eyes. "Please don't do that. Aunt Hermione still gets that thrown at her every now and then, and even if it's true; she must be tired of it by now. So what else are you doing tomorrow that you're happier about than going to the game?"

"A bit of shopping in the morning; the usual lunch at the Leaky; and a family and friends dinner and evening here with Hugo, Jonah, and their parents. What are you doing tomorrow – other than watching the game with Gwendolyn, Rose, and your friends?"

"That Chaser duel I mentioned will be in the morning while the older teens are in Hogsmeade and the pitches are open. We may decide to work on our bigger projects while watching the game tomorrow; but haven't decided that for sure; and then we'll have a group mirror network watching night after dinner."

"You won't have time for all of that if you're taking eleven subjects next year," Lily predicted. "Is the pool party on Sunday this weekend?"

"Yes, and that's been very handy to have here so far. Maybe Mum and Dad will let us bring it here next September; since we'll all be here then."

"I'm amazed that James hasn't found out – and demanded that you give it to him to use too."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen. Merlin only knows what he'd do to it to mess with me for the next time I'd use it."

"Okay, but bring it home with you. We might want to use it over the Easter holiday if we have some nice days – even if we need to have Mum or Dad warm the water for us."

"I'll do that," Al promised. "You'll likely want it at home after that anyway – and we won't have much time for pool parties while getting ready for exams."

"That's true," Lily agreed. "Talking about stuff like that almost makes it feel as though it's close to when I'll be going there with you – even though it's still almost half a year away."

"It'll be September first before you know it," Al assured her. "Tell me about your day; and then I'll want to get some sleep soon so I'll be ready for the weekend."

Lily was happy to do that; hear a bit about his classes and studies; and talk a bit more about random topics before ending their call when Al had been ready to crash for the night. Ray was back in their room by then, and he'd talked with Al and Lily for a while; but then had gone on to do his own thing – and was sleeping before Al was. He was still asleep when Al woke on Saturday morning; and didn't start coming to life until right before Al went down to the common room to wait for Rose. He smiled when she joined him – and had her Quidditch bag with her.

"Are you in desperate need of a Quidditch fix?" he joked as he stood and hugged her before grabbing his own gear bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Yes, and your Chaser duels will be more fun if you have a Keeper to play against – or two; since I called Gwendolyn and suggested that she invite Ryan so we can have a three-on-three match."

"Sounds like a plan – though you might not think so for long. It's cold and we're getting a bit of snow."

"I saw," she assured him, "but I'm way overdue for getting more exercise; and won't be ready for next September if I keep going weeks without playing at all."

"Especially now that Hugo has his Firestorm and is practicing a lot with Lily and Roxanne. Ray's worried about keeping ahead of his sister and cousin too."

"That would suck for us to miss two years of playing on our House team – especially when it'll be tough for us on the senior team too. I'll likely miss two more years while Louis is Keeper ahead of me."

"He can't impress the scouts if he doesn't play," Al agreed. "We won't have many chances to do that either if we can't play until sixth year – and then get beat out for spots on the team by our younger siblings and cousins."

"That won't be a problem for you, and probably not for me either," Rose said with a shrug and smile. "If that was true, though, it would seriously make it tough for us to have professional Quidditch careers."

"Well, there's always that clown brigade option that James and Ollie think is so funny. I don't have a plan 'B' though; so let's hope for the best."

They continued to talk Quidditch for a while; moved on to the latest gossip that Rose had heard about from her roommates after she'd gotten back from her evening with Shane; and then they were in the Great Hall and busy with their friends and having breakfast. As usual, Al and Gwendolyn got together after breakfast and they waited for the older teens to head for town; and then they went out to the practice pitch with Rose, Ryan, Tory, and Ray for a couple of hours of brilliant Quidditch fun. The girls wanted another Witches versus Wizards duel, so after warm-ups and some practice time working on new plays; the duel was on – and they had an amazing battle! Rose had the advantage at Keeper over Ryan, but Al was the best Chaser regardless of who he was playing with or against; and that was why the guys won a close match by just two goals.

That was why the girls instigated a snowball fight while on the way back to the castle, but Al made up for being so insensitive as to win a battle of the sexes Quidditch duel by taking each of the girls for a horseback ride. Tory only wnated to go for a short ride before deciding that she wasn't a fan of riding horses; Rose went for a longer trot around the area between the practice pitch and castle; and Gwendolyn did a loop of the school grounds – with Al racing full-out for most of that little adventure. By the time they were done, they were all half-frozen and ready to get inside and warmed up again. They split up to get changed; grab book bags; and then they got back together again for cups of hot chocolate and snacks that they took to their study classroom. They worked there until lunch on one of their projects; went to the Great Hall to eat; and then they were back in the classroom again with a gang of their friends to watch the Harpies-Tornadoes match. Project studying was optional, but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane all opted to work – and that left more room on the sofas for other friends to use instead.

"Lee's predicting a Harpies win – I guess we can just watch the other match instead," Madison teased after they'd all listened to Lee making his game day predictions. "Is that why you're working on that project today too?"

"We're multi-tasking," Rose answered. "What time do you and Tory need to be out at the pitch for your practice?"

"At three – though we might go out a bit early if this game is over by then." She grinned at Gwendolyn. "The last Harpies' match seemed to help Ravenclaw; so maybe we'll learn something today that'll help next Saturday."

"I've already learned that I'm glad we won't be playing against Rose," Tory advised her. "She was playing Keeper for Gwendolyn and me, and the boys won; but she made a lot of really great saves too – and we don't have Al or Gwendolyn on our team."

"You're not including Ray," Madison pointed out; and Tory laughed.

"No, but then if Gwendolyn and Al were both on our team; I might not be; so he's in good company."

"He does seem happy enough," Madison agreed. "I wouldn't mind having a different Seeker to play against next weekend. I might even be able to put up with how annoying James is if he wasn't such a talented Seeker – and he doesn't even work at it very hard. That's especially annoying to those of us who do put in the time and effort."

"Shouldn't you be glad that he doesn't, then?" Scott asked; and Madison laughed.

"I suppose, but I'm a Witch; so the logic doesn't have to add up."

"Maybe not, but I think that you're a better Seeker," Al told her seriously; and smiled at her reaction. "I mean it. Don't you let him beat you down next Saturday. Trust me – I know how easy it is to let that happen; since I let him do that to me pretty much all of the time until we started school here."

"Careful, Al – you're helping the enemy," Scott warned; and Al laughed.

"I can't really get into worse trouble with James than I already have – and nobody here will say anything to him about this anyway. It isn't as if I'm giving Hufflepuff any team secrets that I don't have anyway because nobody on the team is allowed to talk to me."

"Well, I'm not Gryffindor, so I don't have a problem with helping out," Gwendolyn told them with a grin for Al. "Madison should have some ideas about how to play against James from everything that happened last weekend already."

"Maybe we have some ideas," Madison admitted; "but what do you have in mind – just in case that isn't the same as what we have."

Gwendolyn laughed. "My friends and reserve squad players took a lot of notes thanks to James' running commentary. Number one is that he seems to underestimate everyone else. I'd play that up. Not too well, because he is good; but a near-miss or two might get him to slack off. Rose taught us the other top idea I have."

"Get him mad?" Tory asked; and then laughed. "That might be dangerous – unless Al is going to be watching Madison's back during the game."

"I like the first idea; but not the second," Madison advised them. "The last thing I need is to have yet another Seeker trying to beat me up in a game – especially when G-Air will be trying to do that to me two weeks after our match against Gryffindor. I could totally see James getting mad enough to just keep the game going indefinitely regardless of the score if I try that and it works."

"Not that long ago, I'd say that James would never do that," Rose said thoughtfully; "but I don't know anymore. Fred would never play like the Slytherin Beaters do – though he'll still play the game as hard as he can."

"Bludgers don't hurt nearly as much if they're aimed with good intentions," Tory joked. "It is nice to know that we won't have to worry about getting hit by the Gryffindor Beaters too. I loved how Ravenclaw defended against those cheap shots; but Slytherin will likely have something worked out to counter that by the time we have our match."

"We had codes for a back-up if they tried messing with our warnings – calling out fake ones or something else," Gwendolyn advised her. "That's a bit tougher to keep track of and remember – which is why we didn't have it as our first option; but it could work too."

"Maybe we can talk about that a week from tomorrow," Tory suggested. "We need to stay focused on the Gryffindor match from today through next week and then worry about Slytherin after that."

"Or we could concentrate on this Harpies' match," Scott suggested. "Victoire just scored a really good goal there for those of you who didn't notice."

"We noticed," Madison assured him. "Tory's hoping she'll do as well against Scorpius Malfoy as Victoire does against Rachel Rosier – or Gwendolyn did in her match against Slytherin."

"So much for not going there," Tory joked with a sigh; and Madison laughed.

"What can I say? I'm not looking ahead – I'm looking back; and not enjoying the memories of all of those hits and injuries."

"My Mum says that a Seeker always has to have a short memory," Al told her; and then grinned. "Maybe she can actually do that with Quidditch; but it doesn't work that way the rest of the time."

"Too bad," Gwendolyn said; grinning too. "It might be nice if she forgot that she has two sons and only picked you up at the station for the Easter holiday."

Al laughed. "Maybe, but then I'd have to worry about her forgetting both of us next year if there's a time-limit on when she starts forgetting about her kids."

Their comments led in to a discussion of parents and holidays as they watched the game and some of them worked on their project. The Quidditch entertainment came to an abrupt halt at the twenty-four minute mark when Gabrielle caught the snitch on a fairly brilliant play. The final score was one-ninety to just ten for the Tornadoes; Victoire had scored three of those four, quick Harpies' goals; and Rachel Rosier didn't score the lone Tornadoes goal. Instead of watching Lee's post-game show that was going to end up being longer than the game; they switched to the other game – and a few more friends decided to work on their projects too. Madison and Tory left early for their practice to do a bit of extra flying and playmaking work.

The only non-project or Quidditch action between then and dinnertime was something that Al didn't even think about anymore – the deliveries that his cousins made for supplies that two of them were always assigned to get form him, Rose, and Fred. In his case, Louis often got the job, and then usually just dropped his 'order' on his bed whenever he got back from Hogsmeade. That was the case again this week; so Al took care of putting those school supplies and a few sweets away in his trunk when he stopped into his dorm room to switch out the project materials and supplies for snacks they'd want for their evening plans to watch mirror network shows back in their study classroom after dinner. After a day of Quidditch duels and game-watching; some of their friends – like Shane and Bristol – were ready to have a night off from even talking sports, and while they were mostly able to do that; the one exception was during Lee's game day sports recap at the start of his show. That was always funny and entertaining, though, so even non-Qudditch fans loved watching him poke fun at the best and worst moments and plays of the day.

As always, the cuddle time with Gwendolyn was the best part of their show-watching evenings with their friends, and while having time without the company for a snogging session would have been nice too; there just wasn't time to do both before curfew without being rude to their best friends and asking them to leave early. They'd likely do that for them, but the trade-off with the razzing that would surely be added to the already-extensive collection of jokes and razzing about them wouldn't be worth it; so they instead settled for the cuddling and public goodnight hugs and kisses outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance.

Ending his Saturday night with some chat time with Ray and a bit of reading that put him to sleep wasn't very exciting; and Al's Sunday morning was completely uneventful too. The morning routine was fairly standard; breakfast in the Great Hall was entertaining, if a bit subdued due to some still-tired friends; and then the rest of the morning was filled with magical play time that included experimenting with everything from his Animagus talents to new or adapted Charms and Transfiguration spells. Lunch in the Great Hall was followed by another invitation-only pool party, and having Witches in swimsuits for a few hours was Al's idea of a perfect way to spend the afternoon. The swimming and water fun was just a really great added bonus!

The girls in Gwendolyn's House decided that they were again overdue for a girls' night, so Al only saw Gwendolyn for a few minutes after dinner so that she could say goodnight to him before Toni, Renee, and a few of their dorm room friends led her away as if she'd been taken into custody – even though she did go along willingly. With an open evening, Al went to find an empty classroom to do some more Animagus experimentation; a bit of music play time on his own; and a mirror chat with his parents and Lily where he could talk relatively-freely with them without having his roommates around to listen in. he was back in his room an hour ahead of curfew; got ready for bed; and was sleeping even before Ray got back from watching shows in the common room with some of the other guys.

James and Ollie stayed away from Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends during the entire week leading up to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match. The consensus was that they simply did that to make sure they didn't get into any detention trouble that might mess with their ability to play on Saturday. Toning down the pranks and ambushes didn't keep them from shooting their mouths off every day; promising certain victory; and razzing every Hufflepuff that would listen to them or couldn't avoid hearing them about how badly they were going to beat their junior team this year. Considering how badly that had worked out for James for their last match against Hufflepuff, Al wished that his brother would learn from his mistakes; but he hadn't yet – and showed no signs of doing so anytime soon.

While everyone was looking forward to the game on Saturday for various reasons, they did still have a week of classes and studying to get through; and there were other things going on along the way – like Madison's thirteenth birthday on Thursday. Her study group friends had a party for her after dinner that was open to her friends. That had to be fit in with the studying that Madison and Tory had more of thanks to their longer, final Quidditch practice ahead of their match against Gryffindor; but they still managed to make sure she had fun while getting her assignments finished too. Nobody needed to guess what her birthday wish was, since it was the same thing that every Hufflepuff was wishing for on Saturday, but whether it came true or not; she was at least sure that she wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out the answer to that all-important birthday-wishes-come-true question.

Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends were focused on their studies and Quidditch all week, but there was one nice change that some of them barely noticed because they were indoors almost all of the time – a warm-up in the weather. Earlier in the week, it was barely noticeable even to the Quidditch players, but that was partially because they also still had to deal with some snow and ice-cold rain while having their practices. On Friday, the temperature jumped a handful of degrees about freezing, though, and there was only a bit of rain here and there to dampen the rising moods that came with the hint of spring to come that had quite a few students venturing out at lunchtime and after classes to go for walks around the grounds – even when melting snow made things a bit slushy for that. Al didn't go outside except for the trips to and from the greenhouses for their morning Herbology class; but that was only because he wanted to make sure that he finished his weekend work on time – and the weather forecast was looking even better for Saturday and Sunday anyway.

Getting his own work done was easy-enough, but Al and Rose both helped their study group friends to do the same. That kept them busy through until dinnertime; and then it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to have the evening to themselves after five long days of being team players and putting their studies and friends ahead of themselves. The music playing and singing was as much fun as always, and mirror chats with their families were fairly entertaining, but cuddling together while watching mirror network shows after that was even better; and the snogging session that cuddling led to was absolutely brilliant! The pre-curfew walk to Ravenclaw tower was uneventful thanks to James and Ollie being more interested in staying out of trouble ahead of their game, but Al found out when he got back to the Gryffindor common room that the two boys were more interested in staying up late and snogging their girlfreinds than in getting extra sleep or even doing anything extra to get focused on Quidditch. He went to sleep soon after getting ready for bed because he sensed that they were all going to be in for a very interesting Saturday.

By morning, while it was quiet in the boys' dorms as he got ready for the day; Al's inner senses were already sending signals that promised of a crazy day ahead for him – and for his friends and family. He showered and got ready for the day quickly; went to the common room; and wasn't surprised when he didn't need to wait long before Rose joined him – and she wanted to get out of the tower and go for an extended walk and talk. Part of the reason for that was because she'd been woken up by Anna and Patricia when they'd come to bed in the early hours of the morning; and then overheard their bedtime conversation that had Rose convinced that they were all about to watch a trainwreck of a Quidditch match.

While they hadn't seen either of the girls play Quidditch, There had been enough hints here and there to make it obvious why Anna and Patricia were on the team; and Rose wasn't upset for herself – she was worried for them even though her roommates had been fairly awful to her all year to that point. Al had to agree with her once she'd explained that Anna really believed all of the big talk from James and Ollie, and with her expectations for Quidditch glory so impossibly high; the fall back to reality was sure to be painful. Whether Patricia would go along for that ride too wasn't something they could even guess at, but Rose couldn't shake the bad feelings that had troubled her for the rest of the night even after talking it all out with Al during their walk.

They didn't mention any of that around their friends while having breakfast, but by then; Al was more interested in just getting that meal over with so he could spend the rest of the morning with Gwendolyn. That didn't keep him from noticing everything around him – including that every member of their Quidditch team seemed ridiculously confident as they sat together around James, Ollie, Patricia, and Anna; bantering and horsing around as if they hadn't a worry in the world – or more specifically; that they didn't have anything to worry about from their Hufflepuff opponents. More game day taunts and pronouncements from James and Ollie made the gossip network news too, and while that kept most students entertained; it just saddened Al – especially when more than half of those jokes and insults were from his own brother; and directed at people he cared about.

It was a relief to get together with Gwendolyn after they'd finished eating, and while it was still cold out and they had lots of time before the game; they headed out to the stadium anyway and picked out a block of seats on the usual sections border for themselves and their friends. With that done, they went for a walk around the pitch to stay warm; talked with some other early arrivals as the stadium slowly began to fill up; and then greeted their friends as they joined them and settled in to wait for the pre-game announcing from Kylie to begin. Rose was among the last to get there because she'd been hanging out with Shane right up to nearly the last minute before splitting up so that he could sit in the Hufflepuff section and support his team while she sat with her fellow Gryffindor – and couldn't honestly say she was supporting her team for this particular match.

"Well, the good news is that we won't have the James and Ollie commentary show today," Gwendolyn told Rose as she sat down next to her. "The bad is that your boyfriend isn't cuddling with you again today."

"I'm hoping for a short match so that we can get back to hanging out together sooner instead of later," Rose answered. "If you really miss their commentary, though, and want to attempt immitating it today; please go and sit somewhere else. I'm looking forward to the break."

"I think that we can let Kylie handle the announcing for us," Gwendolyn assured her – "though I reserve the right to whisper my own commentary to you and Al as we go along if anything happens that I can't help but talk about."

"I guess that we can handle that," Rose decided; her smile a bit grim. "I wasn't exactly able to keep my mouth shut at the last match; so I can't expect better from any of my friends."

"You can expect that you won't get blasted out of the stands by us for anything you say," Ray assured her with a grin. "Cheer up, Rose. Most of our fellow Gryffindor are ready to party and fired up; so we should get with the program and have fun too!"

"That's true," Al agreed, "but I notice that the exceptions to that general rule include our senior team players; so we're in good company."

"And they're likely to know more than the rest of us about James' team just from the overlap for their practices," Rose added with a nod. "Let's hope for all of the fired up Gryffindors that James can back up his boasts."

"Or not," Gwendolyn told her with a grin. "Some of us want Ravenclaw to have the only four-and-oh record by the end of this match."

"Should you guys be sitting a bit closer to Toni and Michael?" Bristol asked Al and Gwendolyn. "Cheering for Hufflepuff while in the Gryffindor section is probably against the rules."

"I do plan on cheering for our favorite Hufflepuffs," Al advised her; "but we'll risk getting into trouble to be here for my brother and cousin regardless of how the game goes."

"And despite how lousy they've been treating us," Rose added. "It looks as though Kylie's ready to go, though; so it's showtime!" She didn't time that perfectly, since it was another minute before Kylie Cootes began her pre-game announcements; but they did quiet down to listen to her – as did most of the students in the stadium.

"Good morning, Quidditch fans!" she called out cheerfully. "It is so nice to see a full house in the stadium today – especially when we have such nice weather and a balmy game time temperature of two degrees above freezing!" She had to wait for a round of cheers; and then continued.

"Today's match will bring us two-thirds of the way through this season, and as of right now, Ravenclaw is in the lead for the Quidditch Cup with four wins and no losses. Gryffindor has the other three wins; and will want to make it four today to keep up with Ravenclaw. If they do that, catching up on the points tie-breaker would be tough to do in just one match; but they wouldn't need to make up the entire difference today anyway. Since Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have all of the victories so far this season, Hufflepuff and Slytherin haven't won a match yet, and while Hufflepuff has a chance to change that today, they are currently in third place right now because they have three losses to Slytherin's four; so a win today can only keep them more solidly in third place. With three matches remaining in their season, though, Hufflepuff does still have a chance to move up as high as second place in the race for the Quidditch Cup; so both teams should be ready to play today!"

Kylie went on to add a few statistics to the mix; worked to get the crowd fired up a bit; and then began to introduce the teams – beginning with Gryffindor. James led the way with Ollie, and Kylie was quite happy to again let everyone know that James had personally assured her that his team was going to win – and win big today. Andy and Romeo flanked Anna in the second row; and they were all smiling brilliantly as they followed James and Ollie around the stadium in what looked like a victory lap. Fred and Orlando brought up the rear, and if they were shooting for looking fierce and dangerous; they failed miserably at that because they looked as if they were headed to a party instead of a tough Quidditch match. Hufflepuff was introduced after a short delay while James and Ollie didn't land until after they'd passed the Hufflepuff section twice to get an encore round of boos and cat-calls. The Hufflepuff players were all smiling too, but they also looked ready, focused, and determined as they did their lap and then landed on the pitch.

Mr. Peakes took over the pre-game 'show' with his fair play speech. The Captains' handshake was insulting for Jonah Finch-Fletchley, but he put up with James' taunts and slap of the hands resolutely; and Al suspected that all of the Hufflepuff players were putting on a bit of an act that just had James and Ollie looking even more confident as they lined up for the start of the game. The two boys continued to call out taunts that were loud, but not intelligible from the stands; and Al was sure from watching Madison and Jonah that they did not like what James and Ollie were saying to them. Mr. Peakes threw the quaffle into the air to put an end to that; and Al tried to keep his attention both on the Seeker duel and the race for the quaffle.

Ollie bumped Jonah with a hard hit that allowed Ollie to get to the quaffle first; and he grinned viciously as he turned immediately toward the Hufflepuff goals and attempted to single-handedly plow his way through to score the opening goal. He did manage to get a shot off that Leanne Jordan easily stopped after he couldn't actually get past Tory but took the shot anyway; and then Hufflepuff was immediately on the attack when Leanne tossed the quaffle to Justine Finch-Fletchley – and she and Jonah went on the attack while Tory blocked Ollie from pursuing for a critical moment before jumping into the play too. With only Romeo and Anna defending, Justine and Jonah were both past them before they knew what had happened; and the goal they then scored was a simple fake, pass, and shot that beat Andy Kirke so cleanly that he was still going the wrong way when the quaffle went through the goal furthest from him.

He couldn't even get to the quaffle before Romeo chased it down – and then coughed it up to Jonah after he was hit by a bludger he didn't see coming. Ollie had buzzed past Tory to get into position for the expected pass from Romeo that didn't happen, so she was open – and Andy was racing toward the action too when Jonah passed a lob over Ollie's head to her. She grabbed it while going the opposite way from Andy – and scored into the far-right goal. Anna looked stunned by then, but she flew over to the quaffle – and then simply let Ollie grab it out of her hand as he blasted past; dodged a bludger; and then kept going as his girlfriend was hit by it because she hadn't seen it coming with him in the way.

"Oh dear," Rose said; her hand over her mouth. "That one hurt me all the way from over there."

"Anna's hurt too," Gwendolyn said quietly. "I'll guess she's never been hit by a bludger before too by the look on her face."

Those first quick goals and maybe even more importantly, the bludger hits, set the tone for the match – and it wasn't a sweet sound for the Gryffindor players and their fans. Ollie tried to do it all for scoring goals for his team, and it was soon obvious that Romeo and Anna had been trained to feed him passes first – no matter how impossible that was to do. That led to more interceptions than successful passes, and after Anna got hit by two more bludgers; she didn't even want to touch the quaffle while keeping her head on a swivel in search of the next bludger attack. Fred tried to defend her then, but was called off by his Captain to help him when Calvin Cootes nearly took his head off with a bludger hit that he barely avoided – leaving it up to Orlando to protect their Chasers and Keeper.

That wasn't a fair match against either of the Hufflepuff Beaters; and Orlando even got hit by a bludger himself when Calvin and Eldon coordinated an attack on him – and the second bludger hit him hard in the side. The pace of the game slowed a bit after that first burst of action, but it was still too fast for Romeo and Anna; and they were soon reduced to playing defense as best they could and then passing the quaffle to Ollie as he left them behind while trying every time to single-handedly beat the Hufflepuff Chasers to get shots in on Leanne. He only managed to do that about half the time; and none of his shots were very challenging for Leanne. Fifteen minutes in, Hufflepuff had scored four goals on ten shots; and that's when James started to yell at his players – and not in a good way. Anna took the brunt of his first rants because she was blamed for nearly every interception and half the goals that were scored from that point on.

Hufflepuff had seven goals at the half hour mark; and ten by the time Ollie finally managed to score a goal that was entirely thanks to a perfectly-timed bludger attack from Fred – at the forty-four minute mark. The way that Ollie got into Leanne's face about that, you'd have thought the one-hundred to ten score was in Gryffindor's favor; but then his taunting allowed Tory to score an easy make-up goal because Hufflepuff had kept playing while he'd stopped for the insults break. James bellowed at Anna again for letting Tory score that goal even though she was assigned to play against Justine; and by then, Anna was basically in tears as she continued to play as hard as she could despite the bludger injuries and finding out that she wasn't even in the same league as any of the Hufflepuff Chasers despite what she'd been told by James and Ollie since she replaced Eric at Chaser.

James' taunts at Anna just got worse when Tory and Jonah each scored another goal, but the distractions he was making worse with his badgering couldn't be blamed for what happened next in his Seeker duel with Madison. Al saw the entire play; and he knew how it was going to end before Madison and James did. James had spotted the snitch first, but Madison was right there with him – and had the blocking position covered. As they raced toward the snitch, James was yapping at her, but not loudly-enough to be heard over the noise of the crowd. As they closed in on the snitch, he tried a classic play to try and force Madison out of the way, and when Al saw the start of her defense to that move; he recognized the play she was setting up – because he'd seen his mother practice it with his aunt and cousins dozens of times – if not hundreds.

"Yes!" he whispered under his breath without trying to jump up and cheer what was about to happen; and he smiled when Gwendolyn glanced at him for asecond before returning her attention to the Seeker duel in time to see Madison suddemly roll underneath James. The sudden lack of push-back had him turning to the right and off-course while Madison pegged the nose of her broom; flipped upright again where James would have been had he not veered to the right. The momentum still had her going backwards very fast, but as she slowed; Madison reached out and caught the snitch while smiling brilliantly at James as he stared back at her with open-mouthed astonishment and chagrin.

"That was amazing!" Gwendolyn said as she smiled brilliantly too and turned to throw her arms around Al for a hug. She'd whispered too because the Gryffindor section of the stadium had just fallen silent while the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sections had roared out a thundering cheer of approval for Madison and the entire Hufflepuff team.

"How'd you know?" Rose asked Al.

"I've seen Mum practice that play lots of times," he explained. "James has too; which means he didn't think that Madison was nearly good-enough to pull it off to not be ready for it." He grinned then. "Seems he was wrong about that."

"Seems so," Gwendolyn agreed cheerfully; and then frowned. "Now what is he doing?"

"Acting the git," Al answered with a shake of his head. "Let's get our stuff and head toward the pitch. This might get ugly."

"That's going to happen before they land if James doesn't get out of Madison's face," Rose suggested as they all stood – and quite a few of their friends did too.

They watched as Madison soon had Jonah and Calvin between her and James; and then she apparently followed her Captain's order and flew away and toward center pitch while the two older boys kept James from going after her. They could hear him yelling at the Hufflepuff Captain and Beater; but then Ollie joined him; and they began to fly right at the other two boys while James continued to shout at them. Mr. Peakes intervened; and ordered them to break it up and land. They did that, but when Mr. Peakes kept James from going at any of the Hufflepuffs; James turned his anger on his own team – starting with Anna. He stormed over to where she'd landed with Andy and Romeo; and stepped right up in front of her.

"What were you doing up there today," he bellowed – "playing for Hufflepuff? You messed things up for all of us!"

"I did not!" she cried; and the tears streamed down her face. "That first bludger hurt me; and it was all I could do to keep playing at all!"

"We've all been hit by bludgers before," James retorted. "You suck it up and play on – though you should've dodged it in the first place. You didn't even get a single shot on goal, did you? How many interceptions did you give up? Twenty? In less than an hour?"

"Ollie always takes all of the shots," she wailed; "and I didn't see that bludger because I didn't see it coming until after Ollie dodged it."

"Don't try to put that on me," Ollie told her harshly; and her eyes widened in shock. "You must have been sabotaging us to play that badly. I can't score the goals if you can't even manage to complete more than a few hand-offs and no passes. Even Romeo managed to do that; and he's only been working with us for a couple of weeks."

"You told me I was playing great in all of our practices," she half-accused; "but this wasn't anything like our practices! Just last night you and James said this would be easy – that Hufflepuff wouldn't know what hit them!"

"We didn't expect to have one of our own to turn on us right from the start of the match," James snarled scornfully. "Why don't you just go over there with the other Hufflepuffs, traitor?"

"How can you say that?" she demanded; looking ready to collapse onto the pitch. "Ollie? This isn't right! I'm sorry we lost; but it isn't all my fault! We all got outplayed."

"I didn't get outplayed," Ollie disagreed angrily. "Most of those Hufflepuff goals were your fault – not mine, Romeo's, or Andy's. You got hit by those bludgers – I didn't get hit once. You're the reason why I was fighting two and three chasers just to get to the Hufflepuff goals."

"Sounds like it is all your fault to me," James added spitefully.

"Leave her alone!" Al said aas he stepped up next to Anna; Gwendolyn at his side. He looked at Anna critically; and then put a gentle hand on her shoulder that made her flinch as she looked at him uncertainly. "Did you bother to ask Anna how she is after all of those hits?" he demanded. "She's got a broken rib; and the sound of her voice suggests that she's got a collapsing lung." He noticed something else; and reached out to take Anna's hand and forearm. "That hurts?" he asked when she flinched; and Anna nodded. "Your forearm's fractured too," he advised her before turning to James and Ollie again.

"She kept playing even with these injuries and all you can do is tear into her? You're a pair of rotters."

"I'd say we've been played the fools," James retorted. "How long have you been planning this, Al?"

"You have got to be kidding," Al said in disbelief as he saw where James was about to take his accusations.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked.

"The two of you are awfully cozy," James told her; nodding to the arm that Al was still holding gently – and unconsciously beginning to heal without even noticing. She pulled her arm away and then groaned in pain from shifting the fractured bone. "Oh stop the act," James added angrily. "The kneazle's out of the bag now." He smiled viciously at Gwendolyn. "Did you know that Al was so close to Anna too? I wonder what he offered to get her to spy on us – and then sabotage our match."

"I did not – am not a spy!" Anna cried out. "Ollie – tell him!"

"It's all pretty clear to me now too," Ollie told her. "Now that I know; I wish you'd been hit in the head with a bludger or two. You deserve that and more, traitor."

"You said you love me!" she wailed. "You told me that last night!"

Ollie laughed and sneered. "I lied. You're good for a snog, but if I'd known that you were in bed with the loser here too; I wouldn't have touched you with a ten-foot wand. We're done now, though; since I don't hang out with losers – or traitors."

"How can you say that?" Patricia demanded as she stepped up and put herself between Ollie and Anna; her hands on her hips and ice in her voice. "Anna loves you as much as I love James. "If Al's right; you should be helping Anna to the hospital wing – and thanking her for trying her best even after you got her hurt with that first bludger hit. I saw what happened – and it definitely was your fault."

"I'll guess that Al's making the whole thing up to try and keep us fooled," James told her. "Are you in on it too?"

"There is nothing to be in on," she told him angrily. "We've followed your team rules and had nothing to do with anyone on your Quidditch enemies list. You know that."

"I don't," James disagreed. "We'd have been better off without Anna up there, and if you can't see that; then you're off the team too."

"You're throwing me off the team?" Anna demanded incredulously; looking from James to Ollie and back again. Seeing nothing but anger in their faces; she again burst into tears; and Al caught her before she swooned and fell. A moan of pain had him adjusting his hold slightly; and he had to fight the rise of his own anger.

"We'll talk about this later, James," Patricia told him as she turned to help with Anna. "I'm going to help our friend because she needs me."

"Go with that traitor and we won't be talking later because I'll be done with you too," James warned; and that had Patricia turning to stare at him with as much shock in her eyes as Anna had shown when Ollie had blasted her.

"You really mean that," she decided.

"Why wouldn't I?" James demanded. "You know how we feel about traitors to our team and House."

Patricia nodded. "I do," she agreed. "What I didn't know is that you both care more about your precious reputations than about us." She turned toward Al next. "I'll take care of Anna. You can let go of her now."

"Okay,' Al agreed and he carefully released Anna to try and minimuze how much the slight jostling hurt her. "We'll ask someone to bring your broom and gear to you later if you'd like," he told Anna.

"Okay," she agreed; handing him her broom. "Thank you." Al watched for a few long moments as the two Witches walked away – and had a couple of other friends join them to go along; and then he turned back to James and Ollie; his anger flaring anew.

"They've been devoted to you for most of this entire school year; and it makes me sick to see you do that to them."

"Then you shouldn't have recruited them to spy on us and sabotage our team," James shot back. "It's so obvious – and we're going to make sure that everyone knows what a traitor you are; and what a bunch of cheats the Hufflepuff players are!"

"We are not cheats!" Madison said hotly as she walked up to them along with the rest of her team mates and overheard him. "I won our Seeker duel fairly – and the same is true for how everyone else played. Making up lies about us won't change the truth."

"You did not beat me fairly," James snarled; stepping up and getting right into her face. "Thanks to your spies, you knew everything we had planned for today – and then you still needed one of them to sabotage us to get the win!" He sneered at her. "Maybe you and tory should've tried cozying up to Ollie and me – you would have at least gotten to enjoy some quality snogging time with real Wizards instead of those pretenders you have been hanging out with."

"That'd never happen – and that's as ridiculous as your accusations about spies and sabotage are. Face it – all of your idiotic blathering is because you can't stand it that I bested you today. Ditto that for Tory over Ollie." She shook her head and was about to continue when her eyes went wide as she saw James pull out his wand and fire a curse at her; his face livid and red with anger now.

"Protego!" Al shouted; already moving toward them and raising a shield right in front of Madison. The curse had been at such close range that he was hit by a power flashover as it collided with the shield because he was beside it; not behind it. He thought that was a small price to pay for helping his friend, but needed to keep defending Madison as James fired two more curses at her. That was his priority, so he was ready to take the hit from Ollie's attack when it came – except that Gwendolyn had his back – and then others joined in to disarm both boys and put an end to the foolishness.

"That is quite enough!" Professor Longbottom said loudly-enough to be heard over the commotion that was mostly James and Ollie yelling at everyone that had jumped in to defend Madison and Al. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Wood – you will come with me right now. Everyone else; put your wands away!"

"We were just defending ourselves from this lot of cheaters," James declared; and Neville gave him a hard look.

"We all heard most of your shouting; and I personally saw who drew wands first; but we will discuss this in my office – and you will be given the opportunity to explain your actions."

"Sure, so you can punish us while my loser brother gets away with sabotaging our match with his merry band of traitors and cheaters. Some Head of the House you are."

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Neville said sternly; and James laughed derisively.

"Make it fifty – a hundred. I don't care. The traitors in our House have already conspired against Ollie and me to make sure we've no chance at the House Cup anyway – and now they want to do the same for the Quidditch Cup just because the perfect little son didn't get to play this year too. Boo-Hoo."

"Al, what's wrong with your arm?"

Gwendolyn's sudden exclamation got everyone's attention; and they all looked to Al – and saw that he was holding his wand arm protectively across his chest while they'd been focused on Neville and James. Gwendolyn hadn't noticed either until she'd looked to hold hands with him again.

"Flashover burn," he explained – a bit reluctantly; because James started to grin viciously at him when he realised he'd actually managed to hurt him. "I'll be fine."

"You will be," she agreed; "but that looks nasty; and we need to get you to see Madam Pomfrey." She smiled at the expression on his face. "Don't give me any of that – you're going; and I'm going to make sure of it."

"The right answer is 'yes, dear' if you know what's good for you," Rose advised him; and Al laughed.

"Lead the way," he said instead, and while he'd rather have taken some time to have a few words with James; the attention on his arm made it much tougher to ignore the pain.

"Yeah – go on to tthe hospital wing," James called after them as Gwendolyn walked next to Al; her hand holding his upper left arm as they went. "You can hang out with your spies and have a good laugh over all of this."

"Stop it, James!" Rose said as she turned to face him after watching Al and Gwendolyn for a moment too. "You're just making up all of these stupid accusations out out of thin air instead of admitting that you and your team got beat today. Open your eyes and look around. Everyone knows that; so you're making a fool of yourself with all of this ranting and lashing out at us." She took a deep, shuddering breath; and there were tears in her eyes. "You should be ashamed of yourself – but I can see that you're not sorry for anything."

"I've nothing to be sorry or ashamed about," James shot back. "Everyone else can believe Al's lies – and yours – all they want; but I'll be proved right some day – just wait and see." He glared up at Neville when the Professor put a firm hand on his shoulder. "You know what it's like to be right yet have everyone against you and ought to understand instead of falling for Al's lies so easily," he accused.

"This is not the place to talk," Neville told him firmly. "Let's go. You too, Ollie."

Al and Gwendolyn didn't stop to listen to Rose; though they heard some of it before they were out of range. There wre a lot of people watching them as they left, but since nearly everyone had stayed to watch the show; the path between the stadium and castle was nearly empty. They were about a quarter of the way to the castle when Al sensed more danger; and he had to grit his teeth from the pain as he spun around and threw up a massive shield to protect himself and Gwendolyn. She had her wand out too; and counter-attacked – following the path of the curses that crashed into Al's shield back to where they originated. Al followed his shield up with two disarming spells; and then caught the wands when they reached him after flying the distance between them and the spot where their two attackers were still out of sight.

"Do we even want to know?" Al asked Gwendolyn.

"Yeah, we do," she confirmed; and then grinned at him. "Levicorpus! Levicorpus!"

They heard the shouts of surprise, and then after another pair of wand-induced nudges; they saw Caleb and Dave Harper drift out of the stadium – floating upside down and looking furious. Unfortunately for them, the timing for that was just moments before Neville came out of the stadium main entrance with James and Ollie in tow.

"Now what?" he demanded in real exasperation.

"Help us!" Caleb told him; feigning fear so badly that Al and Gwendolyn both laughed. "They attacked us for no reason," he continued. "We were just minding our own business and they attacked for no reason!"

Al and Gwendolyn were already walking back toward Neville, James, and Ollie; and he shook his head in disgust. When he reached Neville, he handed over the two wands.

"See?" James demanded before Al could say anything. "Al's jumped straight from messing with us to attacking other students – yet you're dragging us off to your office instead of him. Come on and get a clue about what's really going on around here, Professor!"

"We were heading for the castle; they attacked us from behind; and we defended ourselves," Al told Neville succinctly. "If checking their wands isn't enough to prove that out; we'll be happy to stop into your office after I'm done having my arm looked at."

"I think it will be best if you do that anyway," Neville decided; and Al laughed at the look of sudden glee on James' face.

"You're not the only Wizard in the school that is mad at me, James. The Harpers are just the latest to join the clob with you and Ollie." He looked up at Neville again. "If I'm going to be very long in the hospital wing; we'll ask someone to let you know."

"Very well," Neville agreed. He looked at the Harper brothers and then used his own wand to release them; keep them from landing on their heads; and then waved for them to follow him too. "Let's all walk to the castle together," he decided. "I think that we've had enough excitement for one morning."

He may have thought that would help, but it just meant that James and Ollie had another opportunity to insult Al and Gwendolyn; Caleb and Dave Harper decided to add their own, invented grievances to the mix; and Neville, Al, and Gwendolyn were all sick of it by the time they split up to go to Neville's office or the hospital wing. When Al and Gwendolyn got there, Anna was already in a hospital bed; Patricia stood at her bedside; and Madm Pomfrey was treating her injuries.

"No visitors for the young lady right now," she told him as she continued to work. "Maybe after lunch, depending on how she's feeling."

"We're here to have Al's arm tended," Gwendolyn told her; and Madam Pomfrey looked over at them then and shook her head.

"Another injury from the game?"

"A magic flashover burn," Gwendolyn answered.

"Oh dear," Madam Pomfrey said; momentarily indecisive. "I'd better take a quick look; but then I should really finish tending to Miss Donaldson."

"I can wait," Al assured her, but she was already moving toward him while Anna and Patricia watched on curiously with red-rimmed eyes that showed they'd both been crying quite a bit since Al and Gwendolyn had seen them in the stadium.

"No – let's have a look," Madam Pomfrey insisted; and then drew in a sharp breath when he gingerly held out his right arm and she and Gwendolyn both got their first look at it. "Merlin! What happened? Your cloak looks melted to your arm near to the elbow!"

"Al was protecting one of our Hufflepuff friends from some curses, but he was beside the shield he protected her with; so he was unprotected from the flashover."

"Oh dear. This looks quite serious too. What to do?"

"Take care of Anna first," Al answered; though she hadn't been asking him. "As long as I don't move it around much, my arm is mostly numb anyway – though I'll let you know if that changes."

"Yes, yes, but this cannot wait long. I'll deal with the worst of Ms. Donaldson's injuries and then start working on you." She waved toward a bed one away from Anna's. "Just sit on the side of the bed until we can get that sleeve cut away from your cloak – and then we'll get you into that bed too."

Gwendolyn didn't leave Al with a choice other than to do what he was told; and she stood close to him while they waited and watched Madam Pomfrey work on Anna. The sounds of broken ribs being healed had them – and Patricia and Anna – flinching; and Al could hear the subtle difference in Anna's breathing when her lung was repaired next. He eventually realised that he was sensing everything that Madam Pomfrey was doing with her magic; and Anna had other injuries he hadn't noticed when he'd first stepped up next to her near center pitch. As promised, Madam Pomfrey took care of the most-serious injuries; and then she gave Anna a restorative tonic before coming over to stand in front of Al while Gwendolyn stepped back to give her room to work.

She summoned a pair of fabric scissors first, and unceremoniously cut the sleeve of his cloak at the elbow so that he could then take his cloak off. Doing that hurt quite a lot, but she didn't also try to get him to remove the sweater and shirt he was wearing too. She instead took a much closer look at his hand and forearm.

"I think that we'll make up a sleeping draught for you," she told Al. "You will not wish to be awake for what I'll need to do to get your clothes seperated from your arm."

"I'm not really tired at all," Al joked. "It's only late morning; and I had a good night's sleep."

"Would you prefer to be awake while your arm is being peeled like an orange?" she countered with just a hint of a grin in response to his joke; and Al laughed.

"Nap time it is," he agreed. "I'm to meet with Professor Longbottom after I'm done here. Should I let him know I'll be a while?"

"You'll be a day or two," she answered – "and likely some weeks more after that before you're completely healed – unless it's even worse than I expect once I get an actual look at your arm wihtout all of the melted fabric and dead skin."

"Would you like to let Professor Longbottom know?" Al asked Gwendolyn. "Going for a walk once Madam Pomfrey has me sleeping might be more fun than watching the arm-peeling thing that I'm going to try not to think about anymore."

"I'll make sure he finds out," Gwendolyn hedged. "He will be okay?" she asked Madam Pomfrey.

"I believe so, but as I've said; let's wait and see what we find under that mess."

With that, she left the main room to go and make up the sleeping draught for Al – after ordering him to take off his boots and get into the bed. Anna was half-asleep by then, but she looked over at Al and watched as he needed Gwendolyn's help with his boots.

"Did James do that to you?" she asked solemnly and a bit hesitantly.

"Yeah," Al agreed; "but that was just an added bonus. He was trying to curse Madison at the time."

"What did she do to him?" Patricia demanded; her reaction automatically defensive despite the fact that James had just thrown her off the team and dumped her in front of maybe hundreds of witnesses.

"She had the audacity to win their Seeker duel – and then she wouldn't back down when he accused her of cheating."

"Then she probably did!" Patricia declared; and Al laughed quietly.

"Have you already forgotten how Hufflepuff supposedly cheated?" he asked her; and Patricia stared at him as what he meant clicked in.

"That's what Al's had to deal with all along," Gwendolyn told the other two girls. "We know you didn't do anything wrong – and neither did anyone on the Hufflepuff team. I won't suggest that Al hasn't made mistakes too, since we all do; but take every story you've been told about him that soud suspiciously like this one; and those are likely the ones that are all lies."

"I can't believe it," Patricia said without any conviction. "James loves me! He's just mad. He'll get over it and we'll be fine."

"You'll have to side with him over me for that," Anna told her seriously – "and convince him that you weren't in on it with me."

"In on what?" Patricia asked in confusion as she was being forced to switch mental gears again.

"The spying and sabotage that never happened," Anna reminded her; starting to sound a bit exasperated. "He and Ollie cant' back down from that now regardless of how ridiculous the accusations are; so you'll have to go along with that to stay with James – and stop having anything to do with me too."

"That's not true. You'll see – they'll both come around. I know it!"

Anna sighed tiredly. "They won't, and even if they did; I know that Ollie doesn't love me anyway; so what's the difference? It was all a lie; and I'm the fool for believing I was anything more to him than an ego boost and someone to snog whenever he felt the need." She blushed when she remembered that Al was there and could hear everything; and then decided to just close her eyes and stop talking.

Madam Pomfrey wasn't much longer, though, and the sleeping draught she gave Al worked quite quickly to put him soundly into nap mode. Gwendolyn stayed with him until it was time to start working on his arm; and then she left to go to Professor Longbottom's office to give him the update because she was assured that she did not want to watch – unless she had a very strong stomach for such things. She was not surprised to find that James and Ollie were still there – or that the Harper brothers were waiting for their turn to meet with Neville. They glared at her as she approached the office, but she ignored them; knocked on the door; and was immediately invited in.

"What can I do for you, Miss McCormack?" Neville asked.

"Al asked me to let you know that he'll be in the hospital wing for a day or two – according to Madam Pomfrey. She's working on him now, but had to put him to sleep for the treatment, and while the flashover burn is serious; she won't know how long he'll need to stay there until she's been able to get the melted clothing away from his arm."

"I'll speak with him there later then," Neville decided. "Did Madam Pomfrey tell you how long he'd be sleeping?"

"Hopefully at least until she's finished his first treatment," Gwendolyn said half-seriously. "She told me it should be safe to go back there in an hour; but didn't say how long the sleeping draught would last."

"Very well, I'll check in with her after I'm done here. Thank-you."

"Yeah, thanks," James added; smirking at her. "Give Al our worst wishes. Maybe we'll get lucky and the arm will have to come off. That'd make his Animagus a lot of fun at parties – three-legged dogs and horses; or one-winged birds. He'd be hilarious!"

Gwendolyn turned and glared at him. "I'm so glad that you're only thinking that; since it would be a horrid thing to say out loud about your own brother or anyone else – especially when you're the one responsible for hurting him."

"I'm not responsible for him putting up that shield," James retorted. "He'd have been fine if he'd just minded his own business."

"You attacked an unarmed Witch," she reminded him. "Al would never just stand by and do nothing." She shook her head. "I'd better leave before I do something I'll regret right here in front of a Professor."

"Oh, we're so scared," James taunted while Ollie laughed, but Gwendolyn ignored them; nodded to Neville; and left the room. She had to deal with more glares and two insults called out as she left from the Harpers, but she ignored them too; and went looking for her friends to give them an update on Al's condition.

"I can't stay long," Scorpius told Thomas as he set the portrait on the table. "I'll need to be in the Great Hall for lunch soon, but we're having a party in the common room after that; so I won't be able to get away to talk for the rest of the day."

"Has it been longer than I thought since our last chat? Was your Quidditch match against Hufflepuff today?"

"No, but we're celebrating James Potter and Gryffindor losing today – and losing big!" he explained. "That's not even the big news, though. James lost it after the Hufflepuff Seeker caught the snitch; started making all sorts of accusations about spying, sabotage, and cheating; and then he even went so far as to attack Madison Whitby – the Hufflepuff Seeker. Finally, Albus jumped in to protect her – and Madison is fine; but he's apparently in the hospital wing with a serious flashover burn to his wand arm because he was beside the shield he used to protect the Witch instead of behind it."

"That's reason-enough for some of your fellow Slytherin to celebrate," Thomas decided; "but don't get too caught up in the partying. Enjoying a foe's misfortune is one thing, but their loss isn't your victory in this case; and celebrating it as such is self-deluding nonsense."

"You're sucking all of the fun out of the moment," Scorpius complained with a grin. "We had a blast watching James and his pathetic excuse for a team get embarrassed today, and while we didn't win our match against them, when we beat Hufflepuff in two weeks; everyone will know that we're better than both teams."

Thomas laughed. "Would you like to live with that delusion for a while longer; or have me burst it now? That sounds like the Averys and their mates boasting to me."

"It is," Scorpius agreed; "but they are right now and then."

"Nobody can be wrong every time," Thomas countered, "but you just told me that Hufflepuff played a great match – against a team that beat yours. I would not dismiss them as easily as Mr. Potter and his team mates obviously did today. That mistake will lead to another disappointment for you."

"This isn't nearly as much fun as I expected our chat to be," Scorpius complained; and Thomas laughed again.

"If you want someone to suck up to you, find someone else for that. I'll be honest with you – and that'll serve you better than any amount of ego stroking you might be able to find elsewhere."

"I know," Scorpius agreed, "but what's the point of everything we're working toward if I never get to have any fun?"

"You can have as much fun as you want when you're the one in charge – and with all of the power," Thomas pointed out. "I didn't say that you couldn't party with your friends – only that you should keep it in perspective and not fool yourself – or let anyone else lead you into doing that."

Scorpius only talked with Thomas for another five or ten minutes; and then he moved on to the Great Hall to meet up with his girlfriend – and then spend the rest of the day ignoring Thomas' advice while celebrating Gryffindor's embarrassing display of Quidditch and poor sportsmanship – while ignoring the same among his team mates and few friends.

Gwendolyn had met up with Rose and the group of their friends she was with after getting back to the castle from the game; given them the update; and then she'd gone back to the hospital wing to see how Al was doing – and stay at his bedside until lunchtime. Madam Pomfrey had still been working on his arm, so she'd stayed out of the way until it was time to begin bandaging his arm. After seeing how badly he'd been injured, she wished that she'd waited a bit longer; but she'd helped Madam Pomfrey anyway; and was assured that he would heal completely – though it would definitely take a couple of weeks before he'd be completely back to normal. Rose and Shane came to get her for lunch, and since Al was still sleeping, they were able to convince her to go along.

Her Ravenclaw friends were glad to have her there and get the update on Al; but she wasn't so happy to see James and Ollie laughing it up with their friends. How they could do that when one of their girlfriends – ex-girlfriends – was in the hospital wing too was beyond her. They didn't seem to care anymore about losing the Quidditch match; weren't worried about whatever trouble they were in for their actions after the game; and didn't seem to notice that the only laughter at the entire Gryffindor table was coming from the two of them. Not even the members of their usual group of friends were laughing at anything they said. Gwendolyn saw James when he apparently told Patricia to sit somewhere else when she'd tried to sit with him as she'd been doing for months now; and she wanted to hex him for again hurting her in public like that – despite the fact that Patricia had been fairly awful to her; and even worse toward Al and Rose.

The good news for her was that she got the chance to do that after lunch when James and Ollie tried to ambush her while she was on the way back to the hospital wing.

"Protego!" she shouted; smiling as her shield shimmered in front of her and the curses and hexes that James and Ollie had fired at her – and at Rose and Toni – hit it hard. The two boys made the mistake of jumping out of the passageway to face the three girls; and Rose and Toni counter-attacked. James got a shield up, but Ollie didn't; and he fell to the ground thanks to the jelly-legs jinx that Toni had fired at him. James smiled viciously at them as his shield stopped Rose's hex, but then she used a shield of her own to knock his out of the way; and Gwendolyn disarmed him while Toni used the same jelly-legs jinx on him too. Rose ended the little skirmish by disarming Ollie too.

"Let me guess," Rose said conversationally as they looked down at James and Ollie; "you thought to get at us while Al was out of action, right?"

"I'm fairly mad at you right now," Gwendolyn told them; "so that's a really stupid plan."

"Would you rather have me take you out on a date instead?" James asked. "I'm available again now that we've found out about our lying, spying girlfriends, and Al's out of commission; so maybe we should hook up – and you can find out what it's like to be snogged by a real Wizard."

"Just when I think you can't be any more revolting; you go and prove me wrong," Gwendolyn said in disgust.

"Was that a yes?" Ollie asked James. "Some Witches are into revolting."

"That would explain what she sees in the loser," James offered with a snort. "You can't get more revolting than my brother."

"Why don't you go on ahead?" Rose suggested to Gwendolyn. "Toni and I will make sure that James and Ollie don't follow – and we wouldn't want you to do something to them that you won't regret later."

"Do we at least get goodbye kisses first?" James asked. "Come on, Gwendolyn. One kiss; and you won't even want to bother going back to the hospital wing to hang out with the loser." He was sitting up by then even though his legs still flopped around; and he puckered his lips and made loud kissing noises for emphasis.

"Kiss this!" she said even as she took the two steps to reach him – and then she kicked him in the mouth hard-enough to knock him over before continuing on past him while he yelled and tried to grab one of her legs as she passed.

"Petrificus Totalis!" Rose said loudly; and James froze in the outstretched position; his eyes again filled with impotent rage.

"You're right," Gwendolyn told her with a grin. "I don't regret doing that. "Why don't you just leave their wands with Ollie and come along. You can get the update on Al; and they can go annoy someone else for a while – unless they've already got some detention chores to get to instead."

"We can do that," Rose agreed. She and Toni both walked past James on the far side of him from Ollie; and then they kept on going with Gwendolyn.

"Give us back our wands!" Ollie called after them.

"I'll leave them here at the end of the hallway," Rose told him. "Come and get them once we're gone."

"We finally blasted Al again," he retorted; "and we'll get you too."

"Yeah, you've got so much to be proud of today," Gwendolyn retorted. "Well done, you!"

Al began to drift back toward consciousness slowly. That was fine with him, since there was pain waiting for him when he emerged from the dream-free blackness. Those first twinges of pain continued to drag him toward waking, though; and he could sense other things going on around him too. Gwendolyn was near; and it warmed his heart to feel her love and support. Madam Pomfrey was checking on her other patient; Anna was resting but awake; and Patricia was still with her too – or back with her; since he had no idea how long he'd been out. He could feel the bandages covering his fingers, hand, and arm to the elbow; and the pain level increased the closer he came to being fully-awake.

"My arm feels more like it was peeled like an orange; chewed up; and spit back out again," he said quietly without opening his eyes. "Hello, Gwendolyn. How long have I been out?"

"It's mid-afternoon," she answered. "Let's call it four and a half hours. Your arm looks like it was chewed up and spit out; so be glad the bandages are on so you don't have to see it. I wish I hadn't."

"That explains why it hurts so much. Have you been having fun while I've been napping?"

"No, and we've already had one run-in with the prank patrol. They seem to think this is the perfect time to come out to play while you're in here for the weekend." Al opened his eyes then to look at her; and then smiled.

"They're more the idiots for thinking that. Who else was with you when they came after you?"

"Rose and Toni. We were on our way here after lunch. They're watching Quidditch with most of our study group now – though the Hufflepuff players are at their party instead."

"We're missing out on cuddling and watching Quidditch? Let's get out of here and join them!"

Gwendolyn laughed; leaned over the bed to share a short kiss with him; and then stood again. "You didn't miss the part where I said you'd be in here for the weekend; and I seriously doubt that you feel like doing any cuddling with that sore arm or hand either."

"I might not feel like it; but would do it anyway," Al answered. "Do Mum and Dad know? I hope they won't bother coming all the way here just for this. It isn't that bad; and I'll be just fine."

"You will be," Madam Pomfrey assured him; "but it is that bad. Professor Longbottom has likely contacted your parents by now; but I have not heard whether they will be here to visit you or not. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty well, all things considered," Al answered; and she smiled at him.

"Be more specific," she prompted.

"My arm hurts a fair bit; I'm trying not to think about the squishy feeling under the bandages; and my fingers have those pinprick tingles of pain while feeling numb too like when the circulation in your arm or leg gets stopped for a while and then starts up again – except a lot worse than that."

"That's a good sign," she said with a nod. "It means that the burns haven't destroyed the nerves. The squishy feeling is mostly the poultice I'm using to help the skin to grow back without a lot of scarring. You really don't want to know what the rest of the reason for that is; so I won't tell you."

"Will I really need to be here all weekend?" Al asked; and Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Yes. I don't want you moving that arm around any more than absolutely necessary; and we'll need to change the bandages regularly – every four-to-six hours. We'll see if you're well-enough to return to classes on Monday morning, but even if you are; you'll need to come back every day for fresh bandages and the poultice for at least another week depending on how quickly you heal."

"That doesn't sound like any fun at all," Al decided.

"It won't be," she agreed; "but you do still have two hands and arms; so it isn't all bad."

"There is that," he agreed. "I should have started by thanking you. I really am glad that you could take such good care of me."

"I heard the rest of the story about what you did out at the stadium; so you deserve the best care – and credit for saving your friend. You seem well-enough for now, though, so I'll leave you to rest and check in on you later."

While Madam Pomfrey went to her office, Gwendolyn sat in a chair next to Al's bed and smiled at him. "What would you like to do now? Hear all of the latest gossip that was going around the Great Hall at lunch?"

"Not really – especially if it has anything to do with me. Is my bag here? Maybe we should call Mum and Dad – just in case they are thinking about coming here." He stopped and thought about that. "Mum's likely still working one of the matches; so I'll try calling Dad or Lily first."

"Call Lily. Your Dad might be busy filling out your application for the Aurors if he's heard the full story already too."

Al laughed. "That'd be funny; but he won't do that." Gwendolyn already had his bag in hand; she got his mirror out; and handed it to him. "Call Lily," he said; and smiled when she answered immediately.

"I knew you'd call me first!" she said happily. "Mum and Dad are not on the way there because they know what you'd say about that; and we're all glad that you're going to be okay."

"Gwendolyn suggested that I call you instead of Dad; and I didn't want to bother Mum while she's working."

"We have orders to tell you to call her. Is James happy now that he's put you in the hospital wing? He won't answer our calls – no surprise there."

"I haven't seen him since we got to the castle, but I expect he's thrilled."

"We'll see if he still is after Mum and Dad talk to him," Lily offered; and Al just shrugged and shook his head.

"Nothing they say or do will make a difference to James – or for me. This is a big success for him; and he'll just blame me for any punishment he gets for trying to blast Madison."

"He really is a sore loser," Lily said. "Did he do anything else while having his temper tantrum?"

Al looked over to Anna and Patricia before answering. They were pretending not to listen in, but didn't do a very good job of it because they weren't talking to each other at all; and weren't doing anything else either.

"I guess you'll find out eventually anyway, and it definitely isn't a secret around here; so I can tell you that James and Ollie are even more the idiots for breaking up with Patricia and Anna after the game. Anna got hurt early in the match and played even though she had broken ribs and more injuries by the end of the game; but James and Ollie blamed her for losing – and then made some accusations about both of them that aren't true before breaking up with them."

"Anna got hurt?" Lily asked. "Is she okay?"

"She's here in the hospital wing with me. I haven't been awake long, so I haven't heard how she's doing now."

"Then let's ask her," Lily told him; and then smiled as she looked away from her mirror. "Yes, it's Al," she said. "I was going to come and find you in a minute; but he just told me that Anna got hurt in the game; so I want to find out how she's doing."

"Anna?" Al called out; pretending that he didn't know she'd heard everything. "How are you doing? Is it okay if I turn the mirror so Lily can see and talk with you?"

"I guess; and I'm doing okay. Hi Lily," she added when she could see her in the mirror.

"Hi, Anna; Patricia," Lily said more loudly than she'd been talking with Al. "I love my brothers, but James can be a ginormous git sometimes, so if he's done anything to hurt you; I'm sorry – and you have my sisterly permission to blast him if he deserves it."

"I'd rather have James apologize and make things right with us," Patricia told her.

"Good luck with that," Lily told her. "As far as I know, James has never given me a sincere apology. Will you be in the hospital wing long, Anna? We've been told that Al's going to be stuck there the whole weekend."

"Madam Pomfrey wants to keep me overnight to make sure that my lung and some other internal injuries have healed before letting me go back to my dorm."

"Now I'm doubly sorry for you," Lily told her. "James has been a git to you; and then they'll leave you stuck in the same room with Al all night? Ask for an extra-strong sleeping draught. I'm fairly sure that the normal draught won't be strong enough to sleep through his snoring."

Anna and Gwendolyn laughed, but Patricia didn't. "I do snore," Al admitted; "but it isn't that loud."

"Thanks for the warning," Anna told Lily. "Say hello to your Mum and Dad for us."

"Consider that done for Dad," Lily said; and she was smiling when Al turned the mirror back so that he and Gwendolyn could see her again.

"So what's new and exciting at home?" Al asked; and Lily and Harry both laughed.

"Nothing compared to the action around there," Harry answered; and Lily had adjusted the angle of her mirror by then so that Al and Gwendolyn could see him too. "Neville told me that the rest of your friends are okay, but that you had other – problems after leaving the stadium. I know how sacred the student code of silence is, but he wants you to know that you can come to him if you or Gwendolyn or Rose have any more problems this weekend – or any other time."

Al sighed. "I know that, Dad, but you know things would just get even worse for me with James if I did that; and the last thing I need is to come up with new ways to get Slytherins mad at me."

"You're spending the weekend in the hospital wing," Harry pointed out. "Where exactly do you envision worse to go from there?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted, "but I'd be more interested in some ideas for how to at least work out a truce with James even if daring to dream about getting along is a bit of a stretch of the imagination right now."

"This isn't something I have much experience with – unless you count my childhood living with my cousin," Harry answered. "I wouldn't exactly say that we've ever worked out our differences; but we do at least still keep in touch and have those annual visits." He laughed then. "When I was your age; I'd have never believed that was possible; so who knows what things will be like for you and James ten or twenty years from now?"

"They'll get along fine because we'll all be playing in the show by then, and I'll win every match I play against James; so he'll hate me instead," Lily offered.

"The winning sounds great, since I'll be on that Harpies team with you; but sounding that cheerful about having your brother hate you just sounds really strange," Gwendolyn told her. "That's even weirder when I was thinking something very similar about James when he was so happy about Al getting hurt while he and Ollie were trying to – uh, never mind – that's not important."

"Take advantage of Al being temporarily out of commission?" Lily guessed. "Are they okay?"

"By now," Gwendolyn agreed. "Sometimes it's really tough to play nice with them, though; and today is one of those days."

They talked for a while longer until Neville came to see Al, and then they ended that chat; Neville talked with both Al and Gwendolyn for nearly an hour including the time he took to check their wands and get their memories of the two incidents they'd been involved in. Al was sure that Patricia and Anna had found that fascinating – especially for the parts of the confrontation that involved Anna; and learning that Al could recount everything that happened with perfect accuracy. After Neville left, Al took care of the mirror chat with his mother; and then Gwendolyn went to get ready for dinner when Madam Pomfrey announced that it was time to change Al's bandages for the first time.

Magic flashover burns aren't the same as burns from mundane means, but dealing with things like changing bandages is only easier because it can mostly be done with magic. It helps to have a skilled Healer too; so Al appreciated Madam Pomfrey's competence – even as the experience was rather gross. That fairly-accurately described what his arm and hand looked like too; though she was quite pleased with how well her poultice was working so far after just a handful of hours. Even using magic, it took nearly a half hour for that round of treatment; and Al was ready for a short rest after that while waiting for dinner to be delivered for himself, Anna, and Madam Pomfrey.

Gwendolyn didn't try to use her map in front of the three Witches that had been in the room with her and Al when she left for her dorm room, but with James and Ollie already proving they were out to get her while Al was in the hospital wing; it was the first thing she stopped to do before heading for Ravenclaw tower. Sure enough, the two Wizards were lurking about in a classroom within easy range of intercepting her, and as soon as she started moving away from the hospital wing; they left the classroom and began to do just that. She smiled as she headed toward that confrontation; wondering at how much of her eagerness to face them again so soon was thanks to her anger over what James had done to Al and how much was simply because she was discovering that she actually enjoyed the challenge these ambushes presented. This time, James and Ollie split up as they closed in on her; trying to get her caught between a side hallway and a secret passageway entrance. What they obviously hadn't seen, though, was that she had friends watching out for her – something that she did notice before putting her map away and getting ready to fight.

"Protego!" she shouted when she heard James' shout from behind her; and surrounded herself with a cylindrical shield that she'd been working on with some help from Al. A muffled shout from behind the secret passageway tapestry a moment after James' attack heralded the first of several spells from Ollie that hit her shield too; but she turned to face James to find him striding toward her; his expression gleeful and vicious as he continued to fire curses, hexes, and jinxes at her.

"You're back at it again so soon?" she asked conversationally; choosing that tone because she expected it would be more annoying to him. "I do hope you haven't wasted your entire afternoon waiting around for me."

"The payback will be worth the wait," James snarled; but then just kept blasting away at her shield.

"That might be true, if it was going to happen," Gwendolyn agreed amiably; "but what if I told you that I wasn't alone?"

James barked out a laugh and looked around. "You look to be alone to me – since Ollie and I are definitely not here with you."

"Yeah – we're definitely against you," Ollie added; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Look again," Gwendolyn suggested; timing that statement for when Rose fired a disarming spell at James as she and Shane rounded the corner from behind him; and Toni and Michael did the same from the other end of the hallway behind Ollie. Tory and Ray were with them, and while he blasted Ollie; she hit James with a body-bind spell that hit him from behind because he'd whirled to face Rose and Shane – and tried unsuccessfully to summon his wand back from her. Gwendolyn dropped her shield and smiled at Rose. "Good timing. My shield was holding up; but I'd rather not find out what happens to me if it ever does break under than kind of attack."

"We didn't think you'd wait for us," Rose improvised; earning an appreciative grin from her friend. "Covering the most-likely two routes seemed like a good idea to us."

"You set us up!" Ollie spat; and turned to glare when Ray laughed at him.

"It amazes me that you can say things like that with a straight face," he told his cousin. "Your prank patrols are the reason we were on the way to make sure Gwendolyn wasn't alone for her walk from the hospital wing to her dorm room – and then on to the Great Hall."

"There's no way you could have..." Ollie began; and then switched what he was about to say for "...you set us up!"

"They're called mirror communicators," Tory disagreed; holding hers up for Ollie to see. "Gwendolyn called Toni when she was ready to go. There isn't a conspiracy – from our side of things. You guys, on the other hand, seriously need a time out or something."

"Like I'd believe anything from a proven cheater," Ollie spat. "Al and Rose have the lot of you out to get us; but you're going to regret choosing to help them out with that!"

"Wow, they really are delusional," Toni said; the tone of her voice amazed. "What do you want to do, Gwendolyn?"

"No comment on that," Gwendolyn answered. "What we will do is leave them here and go on to get ready for dinner as planned. I want to be done with that and back with Al to keep him company until curfew." She stepped over to James and around him so that she could look at his face. He hadn't been able to say anything because of his current condition; but his eyes were filled with impotent rage as he stood there frozen in place. "That's twice, James. I've had enough, so leave me alone. Three times will not be the charm for you today if you try to attack me again." She gave him a shove; and he fell over woodenly; hitting the floor fairly hard.

"We'll leave your wands at the end of the hallway – as usual," Rose told them; and she sounded fairly angry too. "I hope that we're done with this for a while too. We're all sick of you right now; and you're just acting like a couple of spoiled toddlers with pretty much everything you've been doing since losing that Quidditch match. You've got another one in four weeks. Why don't you try taking what's left of your team and spend the extra time trying to get ready for it?"

"Now let's not get silly here," Gwendolyn teased. "I think that they played brilliantly today, and since they've already decided how Hufflepuff won that match; they'll be on the lookout for any trickery – and I'm sure they're far too smart to have any problems like that against me and my team so it should be a great match!"

"We are going to destroy you and your team," Ollie spat venomously. "Then it'll be the loser's turn to visit you in the hospital wing – unless we decide to put him back in there with you."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Now why didn't I think of that?" she asked her friends with a grin. "Let them loose and give them their wands back. I'm sure they'd be happy to help me get to have a couple of sleepovers with Al this weekend. Just keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get too enthusiastic about that; since I don't want to miss our classes on Monday."

"That is such a bad idea," Rose told her. "Funny; but a bad idea. We're sticking with the going to get ready for dinner plan; so come with us before you start thinking too much about those sleepovers."

"Especially when the getting hurt part of that plan would really suck," Toni added.

Gwendolyn hadn't been serious about that, but her friends led her away anyway; and then they eventually split up to go to their respective Houses – with Toni and Michael in charge of keeping Gwendolyn safe until they were all in the Great Hall again.

Al had rested for a while after Madam Pomfrey was finished with his bandages; he'd surfed the Wireless Web for a while until dinner was delivered; and then he and Anna had mostly eaten their meals in silence while they were alone. Madam Pomfrey had gone to her adjoining quarters to eat; Patricia had gone to the Great Hall; and it was too quiet for the hour or so they were left unattended. The contrast from that to when Gwendolyn returned wasn't quite night and day; but his welcoming smile was brilliant when she walked into the room and hurried over to his bedside.

"You seem to have survived that first bandage change okay," she told him after leaning in for a soft kiss. "Are you being a good little patient for Madam Pomfrey – or should I be asking Anna about that for you instead?"

"I've been good; though that bandage chance wasn't fun and more than a bit gross."

"Maybe you should have worried less about everyone else and more about you for a change when James attacked Madison like that," Gwendolyn suggested; and Al shook his head.

"You know I can't do that – I just react and do the best I can. I didn't have many options with James standing that close to Madison."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked; and then blushed a bit when Al and Gwendolyn both looked over to her. Al held up his bandaged arm and waved it meaningfully.

"Nearly anything else I could have done would have caused this flashover to hit James instead – and it would have been much worse because his own curse would have rebounded onto him – or hit someone else standing close to him." He smiled and shrugged. "I didn't expect to get hurt quite this badly; but it was the best choice I could see at the time when I only had a moment to decide what to do to stop James."

"He says that you hate him and are jealous of him – and that's why you're always out to make him look bad," Anna said next. "He'd be telling us right now that you just did all of that to make him look bad in front of everyone – including sticking up for me."

"I love James," Al assured her sincerely. "I haven't been able to like him much for the past couple of years, but I'm only responsible for how things are between us for the part where I won't let him bully and pick on me anymore." He sighed and shrugged. "I'm sure they've told you a lot of things, Anna, but you've been dating Ollie for months now; and when have you ever seen Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, or me start anything with James or Ollie? We defend ourselves, and stand up for ourselves when they're going at us – like during the Quidditch matches with all of their insulting commentary; but we've never, even once, started a fight with them. I also don't do wheezes or pranks; and would never ambush and attack anyone."

"You attacked them that New Year's Eve – and got in a lot of trouble for it," Anna countered. "You blasted them in front of everyone the Valentine's Day before last. Everyone saw that."

"Using magic at home on that New Year's Eve was my choice, but you can only blame that entirely on me if you actually believe that James and Ollie both, at exactly the same time, just a few seconds after midnight, got sick and threw up on Gwendolyn and me simply because they saw us kissing – and that they just happened to be close-enough to us that we'd have been covered in their puke if I hadn't used that shield. As for Valentine's Day, I'll admit that I lost it, but they definitely pulled that prank on us; I'd warned them that I wouldn't take it anymore; and I stood up for myself – not that doing that has gotten them to back off and leave us alone."

"Then why keep doing it if it doesn't work?" Anna asked.

"What other choice do I have?" he countered. "When we were kids and he pushed me around, that was one thing, but now that we can use magic here; the things he can do to me can be really nasty. He wouldn't stop if I just let him use me for target practice and treat me like dirt either, so while that would make him happier; I'm not willing to do that for him anymore."

"As if you've ever done anything for James," Patricia said as she walked over to Anna's bed. She'd come into the room as Anna had asked her last question; and she was frowning at him now. "Has he been spouting those sorts of lies at you the entire time I've been away, Anna?"

Anna sighed. "I'm having a really tough time with this, Patricia, and I really don't want to believe any of it; but I don't think he's been lying to me at all – and Al has only been answering my questions; not spouting off at me."

"You'll never have a chance to work things out with Ollie if you start believing Al over him and James. I heard them talking at dinner, and while you were having a cozy dinner with Al here; they were getting attacked by Gwendolyn, Rose, and a dozen or more of their friends while on the way to the Great Hall."

"It was only six, including Rose," Gwendolyn advised her; "and they came and stopped the ambush that James and Ollie sprung on me before they came to my rescue while I stayed behind my shield."

"Sure, and they just happened to show up while that fictional ambush was happening," Patricia said scornfully.

"No, they were meeting up with me after I left here, but I didn't wait for them. You were here – maybe you noticed that I called Toni on my mirror to let her know I was ready to go?"

"No, I didn't," Patricia snapped at the same time that Anna said – "Yes, I did see that." Patricia turned and scowled at her.

"You're my best friend, Patricia, but if you believe James and Ollie about that; then you must believe all of their stories – including the one where we're spies and I sabotaged the game today." She teared up; and a few escaped down her cheeks. "I love Ollie, and it kills me to find out he doesn't feel the same way at all, but if he really had cared even a bit; he would have felt guilty by now; come to see me; and apologize for being so awful to me. You obviously sat close-enough to them to hear them talking during dinner. Are they still blaming me for losing? Did James even acknowledge you were there – or are you one of the enemy now too?"

"He'll come around," Patricia told her stubbornly; and Anna reached out for her hand.

"They won't, and I'm repeating myself now; since we've talked about this over and over again. Let's just agree to disagree for now, and one way or the other; we'll find out soon enough what happens with the boys." She smiled wanly through her tears. "Let's see how they feel in the morning when they've gone a Saturday night without any snogging. If you're right; they should come begging for us to forgive them by morning."

"Do you think so?" Patricia asked hopefully; and Anna shook her head.

"Do I think they'll miss the snogging? Definitely. Will they come begging for forgiveness? I doubt it. That would mean admitting to everyone that they've been lying about us being traitors and spies – and that they're partly-responsible for losing the game today. I don't see them ever doing that – no matter how much I might wish they would."

"James loves me," Patricia insisted. "He'll come around."

The two girls had pretty much forgotten about Al and Gwendolyn being right there by then; and they were okay with that; though they hadn't been able to avoid the parts of that conversation that Al would have been happy with not hearing at all. He hadn't been ordered to stay in bed, and he did get out a couple of times for a washroom break and to go for a short walk with Gwendolyn that Madam Pomfrey approved as long as he didn't do anything to even so much as bump his arm; but then he spent the rest of the time in bed. Gwendolyn sat on the side of the bed to watch a mirror network show for a while; sat in a chair next to the bed when they were just talking quietly together; and then stood next to it for a mirror chat with her parents and brother that was fairly entertaining. When it was nearly time for her to leave; Toni and Michael came to walk her back to their House; and Rose and Shane came along to say goodnight to Al and check in on him one last time.

Patricia had stayed with Anna all evening too, so both girls got to hear about yet another James and Ollie ambush attempt – and this one had been directed at Rose as they'd left their study classroom to come to the hospital wing after spending the evening watching mirror network shows there with most of their study group friends. This time, they'd tried another two-pronged attack right outside of the classroom as they tried to leave, but it was also a hit-and-run attack that they simply stopped with shields and then didn't have any targets around for a counter-attack. With six spectators, Al and Gwendolyn didn't have much of a goodnight hug and kiss, but by then; Al was getting tired out anyway – and Madam Pomfrey decided that it was time for another bandgage change before she was going to turn in for the night too. She checked on Anna first while Al finished saying goodbye to his friends; took care of him next; and then the room got very quiet once he was once again alone with Anna – and they were both waiting to fall asleep.

"I really don't want to talk about James and Ollie; but can I ask you some questions about the game today?" Anna's question had been spoken hesitantly; and Al smiled as he gave her his full attention.

"Sure. What would you like to know?"

"You watched the match; and played in games last season. Was that game as different as it felt to me compared to the games I've watched before today?"

"The game is a lot different when you're a player," Al assured her; "and that difference was harder for you than it would have been for me." He smiled at her reaction to that statement. "I'm not meaning that to sound egotistical," he assured her. "What I meant is that you were playing the match on a much slower broom than most of the other players. Has James, Ollie, or the other guys ever let you fly their Firestorms?"

"I doubt they'd let their own Mums fly them," Anna said half-seriously; and then frowned when Al laughed.

"My Mum has a Lightningbolt," he explained. "James would rather fly her broom than the other way around – and no, we're not allowed to do that. The point, though, is that you started out the match with a disadvantage. That can be compensated for; but I'll guess that you didn't know how to do that."

"I'll never know," Anna told him seriously. "After that first bludger hit; nothing went right." She shook her head. "I haven't been hit by even one bludger like that in practices all year. Even though I didn't see that one until it was too late; I had no idea they could hurt so much – and make it so hard to keep playing."

"I don't know very much about how good Orlando is, since this was the first time I've seen him play, Anna, but if you've never been hit by a bludger from Fred; then he's been holding back in your practices. He's flying a Firestorm too; and is way too good to never get any hits. That goal that Ollie scored was because Leanne had to dodge a bludger that Fred had timed perfectly for Ollie's scoring attempt. He also managed to wing a couple of the other Hufflepuff players despite the fact that he mostly had to defend against the Hufflepuff Beaters."

"Ollie and James told me I was great at dodging bludgers – and setting up plays for Ollie," Anna said plaintively. "Nothing happened the way it was supposed to today."

"I'm really sorry about that," Al started to say; and then stopped when Anna laughed.

"You don't mean that," she accused. "I thought that you said something earlier about not lying to people."

Al laughed too. "I do mean that – for you," he explained. "I don't feel bad for James and Ollie at all, and while I'll admit that most of the reason for that is personal; it's also partly because I think that they set your team up to fail today."

"Why do you say that? I think that we worked really hard to get ready for this game."

"I'm sure that you did," Al agreed; "but any practice would be hard flying a Comet when everyone else is on Firestorms and Nibus brooms. Like I said, you can work around that problem to a certain extent; but I didn't see any sign of that during the game. What do you even know about the Hufflepuff players? If it's only the same kind of things James usually says about other Quidditch players; then I'll guess you don't know much about them."

Anna thought about that for a few moments before answering. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what you mean by that. I know who they are, and that some of them are from Quidditch families, but if you mean their strengths and weaknesses; then I guess I don't know anything about them."

"That would make it very hard to out-play them. Your comment about some of them being from Quidditch families sounded a bit dismissive; but that's one little detail that actually is important because it means that they usually know more about Quidditch than most kids; and have seen first-hand the work ethic that goes into playing the game in the professional league. We're also likely to start flying brooms and playing Quidditch younger than most kids too. When did you first play Quidditch? After starting at Hogwarts?"

"Yes," she agreed. "We've no place to do things like that at home."

"James had his first toy Quidditch set when he was one. We had the next step up set when he was five; and were allowed to play with everything except the bludgers when we were nine. The kids in our family used to have to wait until we were given our Firestorms when we were eleven to play with the bludgers too, but the parents have started letting the younger kids play with them anyway as long as the Beaters take it easy on them and there's at least one parent around to keep any of them from getting hurt."

"So you've basically played Quidditch your whole life?" Anna asked; and Al nodded.

"Yeah, and we've learned from some of the best players in the world – my Mum and Dad included. Tory, Madison, and Leanne can all say the same thing – and so can James, Ollie, and Fred; which goes back to my point about James and Ollie not having your team ready to play today. James is so sure that he can win every match that he honestly wasn't worried about what the rest of you did today. That worked for him against Slytherin; and didn't work today. No Seeker wins every game all of the time, so I don't get why he does that – especially when his current record is three wins in eight matches."

"Those losses weren't his fault – or Ollie's," Anna said; and then laughed at herself. "I'm proving your point."

Al smiled. "And I appreciate that. You got hurt and weren't able to help the team – just as Magnus got hurt in the Hufflepuff match last season. James can't blame you for getting beat by Madison – and that play, by the way, was really great. I should know, since my Mum and Dad pretty much invented the move she used for that catch. Ollie will never admit it, but Tory is a better Chaser than he is – at least right now; and Leanne Jordan is a really good Keeper – though probably not quite as good as Ryan for Ravenclaw."

"You're not saying how you think I stack up as a Chaser compared to anyone else," Anna pointed out.

"That's because I have no idea. We can't count today's match for anything when you got hurt right at the start, and even if you weren't hurt; I expect that your game plan today wouldn't have made you look good because Hufflepuff's Chasers would know that all passes go to Ollie – just like they did in the game against Slytherin. That's why you had so many interceptions today. They almost never had to worry about you and Romeo being the shooter in any of your offensive plays. They also never had to worry about Ollie passing to you or Romeo; which was why it was so tough for Ollie to get any decent shots on goal."

"That's never mattered in our practices," Anna pointed out; and Al shrugged.

"You don't have enough Chasers for a three-on-three battle anymore, but when you still did; your reserve players could have figured that out and exploited it – even if they were all flying slower brooms than Ollie's. Like I said earlier – there are ways to play against players with faster brooms. We do it all of the time at home – and that was especially true when we were younger and had to use our Fireflies against older siblings and cousins on Firestorms – or against the adults on their Lightningbolts."

"Maybe I should be glad that I've been kicked off the team," Anna mused thoughtfully. "Is Ravenclaw better than Hufflepuff?"

"They were last October," Al pointed out. "I'm biased for obvious reasons, and every team is beatable; but I do think that Gwendolyn does have a really good team this year. In their case, the emphasis is on the team. Gwendolyn's scored a lot of goals, but that's thanks to her Beaters and Chasers working with her; and they're really good on defense – which helps to make Ryan's job easier. Stephanie, Madison, and James are all good; so those Seeker duels can go either way in any single match."

"You don't talk about this stuff like you're the worst Quidditch player ever," Anna joked; and then shook her head. "I probably owe you an apology; but give me some time to work on that. I'm sure that I can come up with lots of reasons for why I just bought into everything James and Ollie told us, and I'm still having trouble adapting to being on the same side of their good guys and bad guys fence with you; so it could be a while before I can put the pieces back together and feel normal again."

They continued to talk for a while longer until Anna started drifting off toward sleep. It took Al a while longer because he was uncomfortable and had a lot on his mind; but he did eventually get to sleep too. His Sunday morning began with a pre-breakfast bandage change, and while Madam Pomfrey was pleased with his progress; she assured him that he'd be staying with her for at least another day – and would only be going to classes on Monday if she was sure he could do that without risking re-injury while continuing to heal. Gwendolyn stopped in to check on him on her way to the Great Hall, and she had an escort for that walk; but they only stayed for a few minutes before leaving again.

Life went on for his friends without him, and while Rose and Ray stopped in to see him after breakfast; they moved on to a project work morning in their study classroom while Gwendolyn stayed. They worked on their projects too; but did that from the hospital wing – and Al didn't try to do any writing while still under orders to do as little as possible with his right arm and hand. The work did keep him busy until shortly before lunchtime, and then they had a short disagreement about what Gwendolyn was going to do for the afternoon. They'd booked one of the early-afternoon time slots for a Quidditch pitch to have a Chaser duel, but since that was now out; she'd given it up to their friends for a scrimmage – and he'd wanted her to go and play too. It took promising to have an afternoon nap while she was gone to get her to agree to that – and not spending her entire day cooped up in the hospital wing with him; but that was worth the trade-off for the smiles, hugs, and kisses she shared with him before leaving to go and get her Quidditch gear before going to the Great Hall for lunch.

Al was on his own for that meal because Anna had been set free by midmorning and Madam Pomfrey felt comfortable with leaving him there alone for a while and taking a break too; so the next couple of hours were very quiet – until Madam Pomfrey was ready to change his bandages again. The longer time between changes was a good sign, and she was looking a bit surprised now at his progress; so Al was nearly-certain that he'd be released in the morning and allowed to go back to classes again. He didn't actually get to sleep after that, but he did close his eyes and rest until he sensed Gwendolyn's imminent arrival. The fact that he could do that barely even registered with him consciously. With nothing else distracting him, it was easy to pay attention to his extended senses. When she walked into the room, he also sensed that she'd had fun playing Quidditch; that her team had likely won – or she'd at least personally done very well; and that she'd had another run-in with James and Ollie while she'd been gone.

"What happened thistime?" he asked; and Gwendolyn laughed as she took the last few steps to his bedside; leaned over; and shared a warm, soft kiss with him.

"Hi! How are you feeling?" she teased. "This time, they tried to blast me back down a flight of stairs while I was nearing the top on my way back to my dorm. They did hit my shield hard-enough to knock me back; but I just had a nice little jump and fairly graceful glide back down to the next landing. They weren't impressed; but I thought it was brilliant!"

Al laughed. "Was that the end of it?"

"Yes, but only because they needed to run off when we all heard another group of students heading up the stairs one floor below me. Would you like to hear the Quidditch report first; or the latest gossip from lunchtime?"

"Do I want to hear the gossip at all?" Al countered; and Gwendolyn smiled and nodded.

"Yes, you do – though there is still nothing about what punishment James and Ollie got for that attack yesterday – or even if that's been decided yet. They weren't anywhere near the usual places for detention chores this afternoon when we checked before leaving the practice pitch."

"I just hope they don't get banned from playing in their match against your team. They'll blame me for any punishment they do get; but I don't even want to think about what they'll be like if Professor Longbottom hands down a punishment like that to them."

"I hope not either," Gwendolyn agreed; "though I won't say why I don't want them to miss our match. I hear there are Quidditch spies in the castle; and I wouldn't want to give them anything they can use to get their team fired up."

Al laughed. "I have to wonder how fired up their team will be by the time they have their next practice. With Anna and Patricia out now too; they're down to three Chasers – assuming Romeo and Kira don't bail on James; and he's got no Seeker to practice against."

"Romeo's staying for sure," Gwendolyn advised him, "and if Kira is having doubts; Andy will likely get her to stick it out."

"He might be doing his sister a favor by telling her to quit," Al suggested, "but with Anna and Patricia out; maybe he's got dreams of a future as team Captain next September."

"That could be quite the mess for Gryffindor," Gwendolyn agreed. "Has there ever been a House team Captain chosen that wasn't a member of the team from the previous season?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted. "It hasn't happened for the junior teams. They haven't been around for long; and we've heard about all of the teams from Teddy and our cousins."

"And know most of those Captains – or have heard of them for the Slytherin teams. I'd suggest that they pick you; but James may have ruined the chances of that for you and Lily both."

"I'd back Rose," Al offered. "That would be good practice for her future as Captain of the championship Cannons team."

"I'd say the odds of being Gryffindor Captain are far higher for Rose than the chances for a Cannons' championship; but that sounds great anyway – as long as it's not part of her plan to mess up my career with the Harpies."

"You don't want to go there," Al said. "How did the scrimmage go?"

"My team won; and you're getting the blame for Rose's team losing. Madison won the Seeker duel over Stephanie three-to-two; but we out-scored Tory, Ray, and Scott by eleven goals."

"Scott played Chaser?" Al asked; and she nodded.

"He won't need to worry about a pro career; but he wasn't terrible either. He set up two goals for Tory and one for Ray; but didn't have any luck scoring any goals against Ryan."

"As long as he had fun; I'm glad that he got a chance to play. We should do that more often with some of our other friends that like to play but don't get many chances to do that."

"Maybe, but if we do that; let's wait another month before going there. I need better competition to practice against to get ready for our last match. Tory and Madison want the tougher competition for another couple of weeks too."

"I seriously doubt that I'll get to be one of those players for at least two weeks; but I'll help out as soon as I can – and cheer for you during those scrimmages."

"We're going to have another one next weekend to help Tory and Madison; but haven't talked about anything for after that. I think that Tory and Madison don't want to look past their match against Slytherin – and they're really worried about it."

"They should be. With two losses; Avery and his mates will be out for blood – and possibly quite literally. Speaking of their team, though, is there any word about the Harpers? Their game is so close that detentions could put them off the team."

"We've heard nothing on them either – though that's normal. Slytherin lost some points yesterday or today; though it wasn't too serious. They're still in the running for the House Cup."

"If Gryffindor hasn't lost more than the ten points we already know about for James; then their punishment hasn't been decided yet."

"They could be doing something else; but you're likely right," Gwendolyn agreed. "Hufflepuff can sure make a case that Gryffindor should lose points after James attacked one of their own. It's amazing that James still thinks that you should have been expelled for using your shield on them at home; yet I'm sure he doesn't think that he did anything wrong yesterday."

"Considering all of the attacks they've tried since then; I'd say you're right about that. What would you like to do from now until dinnertime?"

"I thought we could ask Madam Pomfrey to let you go for another walk and get you out of here fora little while. After that; it doesn't really matter to me what we do."

Madam Pomfrey was fine with them doing that – for a half hour or so; and then they sat at a table and surfed the Wireless Web until Gwendolyn wanted to leave for her dorm room to freshen up before dinner. Al would have liked to go to the Great Hall, but that suggestion had been shot down by Madam Pomfrey; since she didn't want him getting his arm jostled during the meal at the crowded tables. That left him with some more too-quiet time on his hands while he ate his meal alone; and then Gwendolyn came to spend the evening with him. They wrote letters; had mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah; and watched a show on the mirror network before Rose, Toni, and Michael came to get Gwendolyn soon-enough ahead of curfew so that they could go to the Owlery to send Winter with her letters and spend time with her and Blizzard before going back to their respective dorms for the rest of the night.

After they left, Madam Pomfrey did the last bandage change of the day for Al before turning in; and then he was alone in the room for the rest of the night. Since sleeping was an option, he did that; but woke up twice during the night for short bouts of restlessness; and was up early and already showered and half-dressed by the time Madam Pomfrey came in to check on him. After another bandage change, she had him stay for breakfast instead of going to the Great Hall; but then set him free with a small list of do's and don'ts for taking care of his arm. He was ready to go when Gwendolyn and Rose came to either collect him to go to History class or wish him good morning on their way there. They were as happy as he was about being released; so they were in a great mood as they got started on their day of classwork and studies.

There was a lot going on around Al all week; but he felt a bit on the outside looking in for a lot of it because his girlfriend and cousin made sure that he did everything he was supposed to do while his arm healed. He was also on the outside when it came to James and Ollie because they completely left him alone, and didn't even talk to him once; but they picked other times when he wasn't around to target Gwendolyn, Rose, or some of their other friends for ambush or prank attempts. Their best guess was that James and Ollie had been ordered to leave him alone at least until he was healed; so they were trying to get around that by hurting him through his friends instead. The classwork and studying was a bit more challenging without his normal writing hand, but that just forced Al to get good at using magic to work his quills.

On Tuesday, they also had a Harpies match to watch while doing their homework, but it was against the Cannons; and didn't turn out at all well for Rose's favorite team. The biggest problem for the Cannons was their Seeker. Santini wanted to get close to Gabrielle, stay there, and have the match never end – and he wasn't thinking about that in regards to Quidditch. Since that was never going to happen in reality, he was apparently willing to settle for keeping the game going indefinitely; knowing that he wouldn't likely have another chance to get close to Gabrielle until sometime in the fall. He did that despite the fact that his team was getting out-played, and his Manager kept ordering him to back off and let Gabrielle end it. She did eventually do that, but Al, Ray, Rose, and Gwendolyn all had to watch that happen from their dorm room beds, and by then; Victoire had scored thirty-three goals, the Harpies had forty-seven goals in total; and the Cannons' Seeker had looked like a love-sick buffoon by the end of the match.

The rest of the week was just daily repeats for Al. He got up in the mornings; ready for the day; stoppe din at the hospital wing with Rose instead of doing their walk to get his bandages changed; and then had breakfast in the Great Hall before getting started on their classes. Studying kept him busy all day and evening; he did his evening bandage change right after dinner instead of later; and then he went to bed and off to sleep shortly after curfew every night except for Thursday when he had Astronomy class to do before bedtime. Compared to spending two days in the hospital wing, the weekend was pretty good; but Al couldn't get involved with everything his friends were doing; so he was literally on the sidelines for the best fun.

On Friday night, they had a group mirror network show watching party, and while he had fun cuddling with Gwendolyn; he still had to do that very carefully. With the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday, the Quidditch pitches had been open for the morning, so that was when Gwendolyn had booked the pitch for their scrimmage. Al had to settle for being a cheerleader for that match; but his efforts had nothing to do with why Gwendolyn's team won the day again. He was on his own for about half of the afternoon on Saturday because Gwendolyn had also booked a practice with her team for the late-afternoon time slot so that her third-year players would only need to return from Hogsmeade a bit early to do that – and they'd picked Saturday over having that practice on Sunday. Saturday evening had been reserved for some alone time for Al and Gwendolyn. They had some music fun, but he couldn't play guitar; the mirror chats to their homes was fun; and the snogging was the best part of the night – while they were also very careful not to get too enthusiastic.

Explaining a snogging-related injury to Madam Pomfrey might have been really funny; but way too embarrassing – especially if that kind of story about them got out onto the school grapevine!

The second half of the weekend started out with a morning project work session. They again had one of those projects due during the last week of March; so they fine tuned and finished it by lunchtime; and then moved on to the play plans for the rest of the day. An afternoon pool party was the entertainment highlight of the day; though Al couldn't go swimming with Gwendolyn and their friends. That sucked for him, but he still managed to have fun; and spending the afternoon admiring his girlfriend in a swimsuit went a long way toward making up for not being able to play in the water too. They wrapped up their weekend with a quiet evening with just Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane together in their study classroom to watch shows, write letters for home, and have a couple of group mirror chats too. Al and Gwendolyn took care of the visit to the Owlery before curfew; and then Al ended his night with some guy chat time in his dorm room with Ray and some of the other guys before heading off to sleep to get ready for the last week of classes in March.

Quidditch was back at the top of the gossip network by Monday; with the Slytherin bragging and taunting for Hufflepuff at least a match for what James and Ollie had done during the week leading up to their Quidditch debacle. Once again, the Hufflepuff players remained quiet, but while Tory and Madison were worried; they were determined too – and they had the small advantage this year of knowing what to expect from experience. While Al was as interested in Quidditch as any fan; the start of his week also was the start of a change to daily bandage changes instead of twice a day. He did that in the mornings, and while that meant that he and Rose talked while Madam Pomfrey changed his bandages instead of while they walked around the castle; that still worked for them. The highlight of their school week, though, was Rose's thirteenth birthday on Thursday.

Al started her special day out with birthday hugs and a gift before they went to take care of his bandages change; and their family and friends made sure that she had fun at breakfast – especially thanks to the Owl Posts from home that included gifts and cards that kept her busy while they ate and enjoyed some birthday roasting. There was more fun to be had at lunch and dinner, and even during their classes and study period; but the highlight of the day was Rose's party after dinner. That was in their study classroom, and they still had to do the rest of their homework; but Al and Gwendolyn also set up the sofas and mirror network mirror; and Rose's cousins and friends were all invited to stop by to have a bit of fun with her – and share in the cake and other treats that Al, Gwendolyn, Shane, Bristol, and Cora had all helped to put together for her.

James and Ollie were not invited, but they crashed the party anyway; insulted Rose during the few moments they actually talked to her; and then they left a prank gift behind that Al put a bubble shield around until it exploded about twenty minutes after James and Ollie left the room. They didn't try to find out what had been in the small box, and Al instead just dumped the mess into an empty container from their snacks and sealed it so that nothing would leak out. They took care of tossing it into a garbage when they went from the classroom to their Astronomy class. That one blip in the party hadn't ended up being a problem; and Al was sure that Rose had a really great birthday even with all of the work they did along with the play time. Ending her day with Astronomy wasn't as much fun, but it was at least getting warmer out; so those classes were a lot more comfortable.

Friday was just a day they needed to get through ahead of a big Quidditch day that not only featured the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match; but a big game for the Harpies against the Arrows too. Getting their assignments done was a given; and they had that done by dinnertime – as usual. Al gave Rose one of the sofas and the mirror so that she and Shane could have the evening on their own that they couldn't have on her birthday, and while he and Gwendolyn spent the evening on their own too; they managed to keep entertained without watching any mirror network shows. Al didn't want to know any details about Rose's night, and didn't want to share any about his either; but they were both smiling happily when they met in the common room on Saturday morning for their walk to the hospital wing and his next visit with Madam Pomfrey.

The good mood continued while they were with the Healer, and she joined in for the Quidditch chat – including voicing her wishes that they'd get through the day without another round of Quidditch injuries – or post-game injuries either. Al had no idea whether that would happen or not; but he did hope for the best for their Hufflepuff friends too. Quidditch was the only topic at breakfast – if you included all things game-related such as whom was going to the game with whom; or who wasn't going to be at the game at all. James and Ollie were talked about for that, and while the length of their detentions weren't known; they were obviously long-enough that they hadn't gone to Hogsmeade last Saturday and couldn't go to the game today. James and Ollie were also in the news because Patricia and Anna were not going to the game unescorted; though Rose advised Al that Anna was going along with Patricia's 'get the boys jealous' plan without any interest in doing that – or in getting back together with Ollie.

Al knew that kind of a plan had no chance of working with James; which suggested that Patricia really didn't know his brother nearly as well as she thought she did. That drama over the past two weeks had been something that he'd tried to stay away from; though that was easier for him than it was for Rose when Patricia wanted to talk about James in their dorm room with Anna and their other friends. Being on the verge of spring seemed to bring out the teen drama; so that was just one storyline – and really only a bigger story because the Gryffindor team Captain was involved – and the break-up had been so public and ridiculous. None of that was important to Al as he got together with Gwendolyn after breakfast; and they didn't talk about teen drama at all as they went outside and wandered the school grounds for a while before going on to the stadium. Rose went to watch the match with Shane in the Hufflepuff section, and some of their other friends took the opportunity to sit with other friends too; so Al and Gwendolyn only had a few Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends joiin them in the seats they'd picked out on the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw border.

"This is nice," Toni told Gwendolyn as she got comfortable and half-cuddled with Michael. "Warm enough not to need the blankets; but cool enough for cuddling."

"Is there a temperature limit for cuddling at games?" Gwendolyn asked in amusement; and Toni laughed.

"That might depend on your definition of hot; but let's not go there," she suggested. "What are the game day predictions from the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor experts?"

"Al's not making one; and I'm picking Hufflepuff. G-Air is going to underestimate Madison as badly as James did; so the only real question is whether she'll win the Seeker duel before the Slytherin bullies can get too many cheap shots in on Madison, Tory, and Leanne."

"Is that why you're not making a prediction, Al?" Toni asked him.

"I'm cheering for our friends," Al answered; "but Merlin knows there isn't much that Slytherin won't try."

"Hufflepuff can't catch us for the Quidditch Cup, but they can have a winning season for their junior team; and a three-and-three season for their House," Gwendolyn pointed out.

"Yeah, but Slytherin will go winless if they lose today," Al reminded her. "They're not going to want to have an even worse season than last year – not to mention that if they can beat Hufflepuff today; it's almost as good as having another shot at beating Gryffindor."

"They beat you; we beat them," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Classic sports delusion in action!"

"Well, we're about to find out what's going to happen; since it looks as though Kylie is ready to go," Michael told them.

He'd barely finished saying that when Kylie Cootes began her pre-game announcing. The only change from her Quidditch Cup update from two weeks ago was that Hufflepuff was in third place with their first win of the season; and Slytherin was now in need of the win to try and move up to third place in the standings. The team introductions didn't take long – or maybe it just seemed that way to Al without the James and Ollie show to embellish the scene; so it wasn't long before Mr. Peakes sent the quaffle high into the air; and the two teams took off. Jonah Finch-Fletchley won the race to the quaffle over Blaise Zabini, and made the pass to his sister, Justine; but then he was hit by Caleb Harper and nearly knocked off of his broom – and out of the play. Justine and Tory managed to get a shot on goal, but Rupert Avery made the save; and the game was on from there!

As they did a year ago, Slytherin's game plan was to beat up on the Hufflepuff Witches. This time around, though, the Hufflepuff players worked to imitate Ravenclaw's counter to that strategy; and none of the Slytherin players managed to get any cheap shots or bludger hits that were also hard enough to cause serious injuries. Eldon and Calvin were a much better match at Beater against the Harpers; so Slytherin did not have an advantage there; but the Chaser duel was actually pretty close. Justine scored the first goal for Hufflepuff; Scorpius answered for Slytherin; and then Tory, Jonah, and Justine each scored goals before Scorpius could get another one past Leanne Jordan. Tory then scored the next three goals for Hufflepuff; Scorpius added a third for Slytherin; and Tory and Justine each had one more before the game came to an end on another spectacular play by Madison Whitby.

She'd been battling G-Air for a bit more than an hour and a half, and the Slytherin Seeker had tried relentlessly to beat up on her and box her into bludger hits; but she'd avoided all of the serious hits. G-Air made his biggest mistake of the game when he tried to take a run at her instead of just blocking as she chased after the snitch; and she went vertical to avoid it – and avoid the blind-side bludger that instead hit G-Air with a glancing blow off the side of his head. While he was reeling from that hit, Madison had already done a flip; blasted into a steep dive; and then she caught the snitch a moment later to give Hufflepuff the two-forty to thirty victory. She also gave her junior team a winning season; and ensured that Hufflepuff could now do no worse than Third place in the Quidditch Cup standings.

"Don't do it," Al warned under his breath; and Gwendolyn looked at him – and then on to where he was watching the Harper brothers.

"They wouldn't be dumb-enough to go there again; would they?"

"Apparently, yes," Al answered. This time around, he used a very narrow and precise revulsion charm to push Madison out of harm's way – and watched as Caleb and Dave crashed into each other instead of sandwiching Madison with a pair of vicious hits. Dave got the worst of that hit because Caleb hit him in the head with his Beater bat; but both boys were knocked off of their brooms from the impact; and Al used a larger cushioning charm to help them to land safely while Gwendolyn kept their brooms from drifting off out of the stadium.

"Here we go again," Gwendolyn deadpanned. "It's a gift you have that keeps on giving." Her comment came with a wave of her hand toward Rupert Avery. He was now pointing at them animatedly while flying toward Mr. Peakes and shouting at him about them. "Can't we put someone else in charge of things like this - or at least take turns?"

"If you were to take turns; I'd say you've already hit your limit for the rest of our years here," Toni suggested. "What are the odds that we can sneak out of the stadium and miss out on the post-game drama?"

"Zero for two of us," Gwendolyn answered. "You guys are welcome to escape, though."

"Most of us won't want to miss this," Bristol told her with a grin, "and for the record; Madison is likely glad that Al's on duty for the post-game protection services. Some of us would suck at that job; and let's not even think about wht might happen with a botched rescue attempt."

"We shouldn't need to have post-game security," Chris Cauldwell told her. "It's past-time for Mr. Peakes or the Headmistress to put a stop to that sort of thing."

"There are rules for the game," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Slytherins just don't care – and penalties after the match are just on paper anyway and don't mean anything – unless the player does something so bad that they earn a suspension."

"Let me guess – Madison would have needed to take those hits and be seriously injured for there to even be a chance for a suspension, right?' Chris countered; and Gwendolyn nodded and shrugged.

"Yeah – and that might still not be bad enough for a suspension depending on just how seriously she was injured. The bar for suspensions is pretty high – or low; depending on your view on cheap shots."

"So what's the cut-off time between when something like that is just a game penalty and an assault?" he asked next.

"That isn't specified," Gwendolyn answered. "I agree with you, Chris; but don't know what can be done about it when cheating has been around a lot longer than Quidditch has been. Then there's the fact that my Mum's done much worse than that when she played here – and in the show. I really don't know where the line should be drawn – or if it would make a difference."

"My Mum crashed into the game announcer at one game because he'd said a lot of nasty things about Gryffindor during the game," Al told Chris. It's funny to think that I'd have been stopping her from something like that if I'd seen it happening."

"That is funny," Gwendolyn agreed. "Maybe you'll get the chance to find out if Lily tries anything like that while she's playing Quidditch for Gryffindor starting next year."

"Now you're scaring me," Al joked. "She'd blast me if I stopped her from doing anything."

They were all standing and ready to go by then; so they began to make their way out onto the pitch. They didn't end up in another confrontation with Slytherin because the Harper brothers were both conscious and not so seriously injured that they couldn't get to the hospital wing under their own power. After a shouting match with Mr. Peakes, all seven of the Slytherin players had stormed off to the locker room without offering the Hufflepuff players any congratulations. Al had gotten into a bit of playful trouble when Madison had hugged and kissed him; but the rest of that post-game visit was actually a lot of fun – for a change. Thanks to a fairly short match, they had lots of time left before lunch, so after they left the pitch; Al and Gwendolyn went for another walk; split up to go to their dorm rooms to get the things they wanted for the afternoon Quidditch watching plans they had with their friends; and then they went to the Great Hall and sat at their respective tables without meeting up again for the bit of time they had left until lunch was ready.

The lunchtime chat was all about the morning Quidditch match, and while Al couldn't avoid having his little intervention for Madison make it into those discussions; he didn't say much about it – and he was more interested in hearing about the game-watching fun from Rose's perspective; since she'd sat in the Hufflepuff section with Shane and some of his Hufflepuff friends. Getting together with Gwendolyn after lunch, they went to their study classroom with most of their study group frieds; worked together to get the room set up for watching the Harpies' match; and were ready to go in time to catch the end of Lee's pre-game show – and his game day predictions.

Scorpius was not in a good mood when he finally made it to the Room of Requirements. His team mates were losers; his friends were delusional idiots; and his girlfriend had been trying to be so supportive in his time of need that he'd practically needed to peel her off to get away from her for a few hours. He set up Thomas' picture on the table; and then flopped into the armchair.

"The game didn't go well; and you're disappointed despite my warnings about getting over-confident," Thomas said; and Scorpius laughed derisively.

"Two-forty to thirty; and our amazing Seeker barely lasted more than an hour and a half before he got beat to the snitch. The idiot got hit by a bludger from one of our own Beaters on a play where he knew the bludger was coming. He failed to block the Hufflepuff Seeker into it; and then couldn't get out of the way. That pretty much gave her a free shot at the snitch – and she didn't miss."

"And how did you do?" Thomas asked.

"You can't guess with only three goals for our team?" Scorpius shot back a bit sarcastically. "I scored all three of them, but Blaise and Davis played so badly; I had to do most of the work for those goals on my own. Blaise, G-Air, and the Harpers spent so much time failing at trying to beat up on the Hufflepuff Witches that it never occurred to them that we might have a shot at winning if we'd just played the bloody game without their stupid, pointless attacks." He took a breath and shook his head in disgust. "Those idiot Harper brothers even tried to bash Madison Whitby after she caught the snitch with a double hit. You'd think they'd have learned from what happened when Caleb tried that on Gwendolyn after we lost our last game; but they're apparently not that bright."

"The younger Potter rode to the rescue again?" Thomas guessed; and Scorpius laughed again.

"Of course he did. I didn't see what he did, but Madison was in the middle between the Harpers; she was pushed or pulled out of the way; and then Caleb and Dave crashed into each other and fell off their brooms. Then, if that wasn't bad enough; Albus saved them with a cushioning charm."

"Well, the good news is that your season is over," Thomas joked. "Maybe they'll put you in charge next season and you'll be able to run things the way you want."

"I hope so; though I have no idea whether I'll be able to recruit better players if I am in charge. The more I get to know my fellow Slytherin; the more I wonder if our House has a monopoly on the stupid students."

"That can't be true, and there's a big difference between stupid and acting dumb. Were there any issues with the older Potter boy?"

"He wasn't there. James and Ollie have an unknown amount of detention time; but obviously enough that they've now missed a Hogsmeade weekend and this match. The Harpers did some of their detention chores with them; but they didn't talk together – unless you consider trading insults as talking."

"They seem to have a common enemy right now. I'm surprised they don't make a deal to try and get at Albus."

"I doubt they'd trust each other enough for that," Scorpius said seriously.

"Then maybe you could build that bridge for them," Thomas suggested. "The more I learn about James Potter, the more I suspect that he could be an excellent tool to use against your enemies – if not an outright ally."

"James did manage to put his brother in the hospital wing for a weekend, and Albus is still recovering even now, but he also seems to have no loyalty to anyone except himself; so I doubt he's at all trustworthy."

"Couldn't that be said of you too?" Thomas prodded. "While you have done nothing to cause distrust among your peers, you do not speak of them with any sense of loyalty – at least when talking to me."

"My loyalty is to my goals and dreams for all purebloods," Scorpius told him; "not to any one of us."

"That is what we're working toward, but don't avoid freely admitting to yourself that personal glory and restoring your family's honour is of equal – or even greater – importance to you. Selfishness is part of our nature. You obviously recognize it in James Potter and others. Ignoring it in yourself will only lead to self-deception – and that can be a weakness you do not want to have for others to exploit."

"You'll make sure that never happens – as you're proving right now with your counsel," Scorpius said; though his words didn't quite match his thoughts. "Getting back to the Quidditch match, though, I am not disappointed. I'm angry. Yes, it's just a game and of no importance in the grand scheme of things, but if we never win at anything; how can I ever hope to drag all of the purebloods out of the mire of their pathetic excuse for their lives and return us to greatness?"

"Well, it won't be one Quidditch fan at a time if you never win," Thomas joked and admitted; earning a laugh from Scorpius for using one of his own jokes back at him again. "You will need to have wins, Scorpius, and they will start small, but Quidditch might not be where that will happen. You've pointed out to me often enough that the other teams all have several players from Quidditch families. Their priorities are with the sport and likely trying to follow in the footsteps of their parents or other relatives while your priorities are for a much bigger prize than Quidditch glory. We will discover where your path leads; but do not be surprised if it doesn't include Quidditch greatness. We seem to come around to this same point repeatedly; yet you still return to it again and again – and usually after Quidditch matches."

"I will try not to bother you with it in the future, then," Scorpius told him a bit peevishly. "That doesn't mean that I won't still strive for greatness in everything I do – including Quidditch. You did not reach the heights of your power without proving yourself; and I will need to do the same – and do it in my own way."

"Fair enough," Thomas agreed. "Do you need to get back to your House for the pity party; or will you be staying to work on your lessons with me?"

Scorpius assured him that he was there for option two; they got to work; and the magic play time soon had his mind occupied and challenged instead of wasting his time brooding over the recent past and his team's failures. Sure, he'd have to make things right with Terri after blowing her off for the afternoon, but a make-up snogging session after dinner would take care of that; and all would be well with that part of his life too.

The Harpies-Arrows match was a near-opposite to the Cannons' match – except when it came to the final results. Both teams played hard, and the lead changed hands several times. The Arrows did a good job playing against Victoire; and held her to just ten goals. While the Arrows had a narrow, twenty-point lead right before Gabrielle gave her team the come-from-behind win; that was poor consolation when they'd needed the win more than any empty, moral victory. Since it was a long, tough match, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends didn't have a lot of time left before dinner; so they packed up and split up to head for their respective dorm rooms so the girls could freshen up and the boys could wait around for their favorite girls.

While Al wasn't waiting for Gwendolyn before going for dinner in the Great Hall, he did wait for Rose and some of the other Gryffindor girls to walk there with them; and then he definitely appreciated Gwendolyn's efforts to get ready for dinner and their evening of mirror network show watching plans when they met up to do part two of that after dinner. They had another gang of friends doing that with them too, so there wasn't any chance for a snogging session; but they managed to have fun anyway – and did take time for a long goondight hug and kiss after everyone else left the room ahead of curfew – and before Al walked her home.

Sunday started out great for Al when Madam Pomfrey decided that he didn't need to have his arm bandgaged anymore, and while his hand and arm still looked a bit scabby and messy; she was sure he'd heal the rest of the way as quickly without the bandages. Since that was going to make his studying and class work easier, he was all for that plan; and that paid off right away during their morning project work session in the library. This week, they needed the resources of the library to work on two of their projects; so they spent the entire morning working there until shortly before lunchtime; and then Al and Gwendolyn split up to get their Quidditch gear so that they'd be ready for their Chaser duel – and the team practice that she was having after their duel.

While Al was glad to get back to their Chaser duels, they did still take it easier than normal to make sure he didn't do anything to warrant a return to the bandages; and then he watched the Ravenclaw team practice – even though he got teased about being a spy and an enemy by some of the guys. He wasn't surprised by anything he saw, since he had done lots of practices with Gwendolyn over the holidays since last summer; and there wasn't anything they were doing to get ready for their match against Gryffindor that he didn't expect – or wouldn't have done too. Mostly, he just really loved watching his girlfriend work with her team and show that she wasn't just a really great young player; but a really talented leader too. That practice took them nearly to dinnertime; with just enough time to split up and grab showers and get changed before heading to the Great Hall.

Their Sunday evening entertainment plans were just for the two of them; so they went off on their own after dinner. Some music play time got the fun started; they had mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah; and then wrote letters for home before winding down their weekend – and the month of March – with a bit of fairly hot snogging. It was a chilly night out by then, so the visit to the Owlery helped to cool them down a bit; though Al was still half-seriously considering taking a cold shower too once he was back in his dorm room after walking Gwendolyn to her House from the Owlery. He didn't take that shower, but he did get ready for bed right away; and then read a book until he fell asleep and was out cold for the rest of the night.

April Fools Day had never been one of Al's favorites from a pranks and practical jokes perspective, but it was his Uncle George's birthday – his forty-first – as well; so it was a day that was celebrated in their family for more than one reason. It was, of course, also his Uncle Fred's birthday, but while that always added a bit of solemnity to the day, the sorrow had eased over the years; and Al was quite likely the only younger cousin to feel the weight of that sadness – and that was all because of what he sensed within others. That wasn't weighing on him on Monday morning because he wasn't going to be around his parents, grandparents, or aunts and uncles; and the only cousin that might be affected more than the others still wasn't allowed to talk with him due to team rules. His bigger worry for everyone in the school was over what James and Ollie might have planned for one of James' favorite days of the year.

Al had been glad that April first had been during the Easter holiday last year, and since it had also fallen on Easter James hadn't been able to go all-out with his pranks and practical jokes. That wasn't the case this year; and he expected the worst. That's why he was up early and ready for the day long before James and Ollie were up. Rose had the same idea; and met up with him in the common room so that they could get out of there before the so-called fun began. By the time their Gryffindor friends met up with them in the Great Hall; the random acts of practical jokes and pranks had been catching unsuspecting Witches and Wizards in Gryffindor tower everywhere – even in the girls' dorms. Some of the pranks were taken in stride, but others were cruel; meant to hurt or embarrass the victims; and left those students angry, humiliated, or both.

There were more pranks before, during, and after breakfast, and while Al didn't like seeing or hearing about any of them; he couldn't deny that James and Ollie were both prolific and very good at concealing their involvement in those pranks and practical jokes. They also attempted to get as many victims as possible in every House; though there appeared to be some bias with Slytherins in general and second-year Gryffindors in particular. While they didn't get hit with any pranks individually, Al and Rose did get caught in one wheezes prank during breakfast – along with several of their friends before the source of the Transfiguration prank was discovered, but it wasn't anything serious; and they all just laughed it off.

Spending most of the day in classes gave everyone except James and Ollie's classmates a break – though the two Wizards weren't the only teens out to play pranks and practical jokes on their fellow students. They were just the busiest – and the worst when it came to really trying to hurt or embarrass some of their targets. Al wasn't on their hit list, so he was very sure now that they'd been given orders to leave him alone that were worrying-enough to them to leave him alone even on a semi-official day for pranks. His pass didn't extend to Gwendolyn, Rose, or any of their friends, though; so they used their maps all day and tried their best to just stay far away from the pair of pranksters.

As for their Uncle George's birthday, Al and Rose attempted to call him several times for a mirror chat, but they never got through to him; and expected that their timing had just been bad with each attempt. That meant that they had absolutely no involvement in his big day, but then it was a work day anyway, and what was likely a very busy one at his Diagon Alley store; so he wasn't having a big party – or wouldn't be able to do that until after the stores closed for the day.

By dinnertime, the pranks were still going on, and Al began to wonder just how much money his brother had spent on all of the wheezes; since James and Ollie were still going strong – and the pranks continued during dinner with everything from more Transfiguration wheezes to a slug infestation at the Slytherin table. So many students had been pranked at least once by then that James and Ollie had a lot of teens mad at them; though they'd still avoided getting caught doing anything wrong. They likely got blamed for some pranks that weren't theirs too; but James surely just loved anything that helped his prank master reputation to grow.

Escaping to their study classroom seemed like a very good idea for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group friends, but they also checked the room first; found three pranks that they took care of before they could go off; and then they sealed the room to make sure that nothing could be done to them from the hallway while they were focused on their work. They still managed to get their assignments finished despite all of the distractions of the day; but by the time Al got back to his dorm room and was in bed for the night; he was just ready to crash and hope for some quieter days ahead.

When that actually happened, and James and Ollie even stopped most of their ambush attempts; Al wasn't the only student to be surprised by the shocking contrast. Yes, the two boys were at least looking busy with Quidditch practices as they got ready for their match against Ravenclaw; and they seemed to always be on the go even if Al never actually saw them doing much of anything – at least when it came to studying; so he hoped that they really were just too busy – and not simply working on some new, can't-fail scheme to try against him. Not having those ambush annoyances did help to make the rest of the week more fun – and that reprieve extended through the first two school weeks of April – including the 'free' weekend they had between those nine days of classes.

Having a weekend with no Quidditch matches or Hogsmeade visits didn't mean free from work or other plans – especially when Gwendolyn was down to a week left to get her team ready for their big match against James and his Gryffindor team. While the Quidditch pitches were booked for normal practices on Saturday morning; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their study group friends had a project work session. With the Easter holiday now less than two weeks away, all larger projects were due in before they headed home for that break; and they wanted to get most of that done and handed in, where possible, ahead of the deadlines. Their afternoon entertainment on Saturday was the Harpies' match against the Magpies. That had been the plan, anyway, except that Gabrielle decided to win the match for her team in about an hour and a quarter, so after watching the short match, Al, Gwendolyn, Tory, and Ray went out to the practice pitch for a Chaser duel that kept them entertained while the rest of their friends watched the other top Quidditch match-up of the day.

Sunday morning was another project work session that had everyone in their group finishing those due-before-Easter projects. The girls decided to celebrate with a girls' only pool party – though Gwendolyn couldn't attend that. She was instead busy with a Chaser duel with Al after lunch; and then with her bonus team Quidditch practice. While she was busy with that practice after their fairly brilliant Chaser duel; Al played around with his Animagus talents – and did that outdoors so he could do a bit of running and flying around. He had some fun with Gwendolyn while doing that too; but waited until after her practice to do that so he wouldn't mess up what she was trying to do with her team. Finally, all three nights for the weekend had been used for quieter entertainment – whether that was watching shows with friends or having some alone time for snogging sessions.

With their project work all but done except for a couple of presentations and a lot of fun packed into their weekend; the five school days leading up to the final junior team Quidditch match of the season seemed very easy by comparison to the weeks of busy they'd had since mid-February. Gwendolyn focused on Quidditch pretty much every moment she wasn't in classes or studying; and Al helped her out with that as much as possible. For both of them, the highlight of his efforts was on Friday night when they went off on their own for some quality snogging time that made sure they were both happy and at least a little bit tired out by the time he walked her home in time for her own, self-imposed game night curfew. Al wasn't quite ready to sleep that early when he got back to Gryffindor tower, but he went straight to his dorm room and got ready for bed before sitting up and keeping busy with a bedtime chat with Lily; some Wireless Web surfing; and a long chat with Ray after he got back from spending the evening with Tory.

Getting up early was a given for Al, and he was showered, dressed, and in the common room waiting for Rose nearly a half-hour before she met up with him. Since she'd been running ahead of schedule too; they still had extra time for their walk and talk; and it was her turn to keep him distracted from worrying about Gwendolyn. He had his suspicions that James and Ollie weren't going to play nice against Gwendolyn and her team. He didn't have anything solid to back that up, since they hadn't done anything different in the lead-up to the match – including their usual trash-talking taunts and boasts; but he trusted his feelings; and couldn't help but to be worried. That undercurrent of emotion continued while having breakfast and talking Quidditch with Rose and their friends; so he was really looking forward to meeting up with Gwendolyn for the short good luck visit they'd have time for before she needed to head to the stadium with her team mates. He was already out in the entrance hall and pacing around by the time she was finished breakfast and met up with him there. They shared a long hug and kiss first; and she was smiling brilliantly when they stepped apart.

"Remind me which one of us is playing today?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"You are – and that's why I'm nervous – and more than a bit worried."

"I was hoping for a pep talk; but why are you worried?"

"You're going to have a brilliant match," Al hedged; "but it would be a good idea to pretend that you're playing Slytherin and watch your back – at least around James and Ollie." He smiled and shrugged as he handed her the good luck gift he'd gotten – and made – for her.

"I'll do that," she promised while already opening the present; and then she laughed as she pulled the stuffed Gryffindor lion out of the box. It was dressed in a Ravenclaw team robe and a Ravenclaw hat; and the message was obvious. "Thank-you – it's adorable!"

"You're welcome. I love you, Gwendolyn. Go out there and have fun showing everyone that you've got the best junior team in the school this year – and maybe you'll get the bonus of shutting up my idiot brother; though that might be too much to hope for no matter how much we'd all love to see that happen." She laughed and hugged him again. "Did I say that last part out loud?" he joked; earning another hug and a kiss too.

"You did; but I know you've been thinking that for months now too. Let's hope that'll happen for us; since he'll be insufferable for the next year if he wins today."

"I'm not expecting him to suddenly become nice and friendly if he loses either," Al pointed out, "but whatever that is; I'll pick the 'you win' option and live with the consequences."

"Me too," Gwendolyn agreed. "Try not to get too mad about anything during the game. You might be right about James and Ollie, but don't forget that their plan might also be to goad you into doing something to protect me during the game. Whatever happens, don't do that." She smiled at the expression on his face. "We'll have to deal with this sort of thing to play in the show too," she reminded him. "Maybe I'll even thank the Slytherin players – and James and Ollie – if they help me to get good at handling dirty rotten cheaters."

Al laughed. "You might; but I won't."

They talked for another minute, but then Gwendolyn went out to the stadium with Stephanie and Ryan; and he went to meet up with Rose in the Great Hall again. James and Ollie were still there and eating third or fourth helpings of food while talking themselves up with their dwindling group of friends. While he was busy with his own thoughts and worries, Al didn't miss noticing that there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm around the Gryffindor table. Most of the students were still having fun; but expectations seemed to be very low. He was glad to get away from that when Rose and Ray wanted to meet up with Shane and Tory and then wander around the school grounds before going to sit in the Gryffindor section. This time, they could do that on the border with the Hufflepuff section while the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections were on opposite sides of the stadium for their match. Al made a point of stopping by to wish Toni, Michael, and some of their other Ravenclaw friends good luck for their House in the match too; but then he was back with Rose and the rest of their friends with lots of time to spare before Kylie Cootes was ready to get her final pre-game show of the season started.

"Do you have room for a few more?"

Al and Rose both turned their heads and smiled at Louis as he began side-stepping his way along the bleacher seats in the row behind them. While they didn't usually end up in the back row of their group, that's how it had worked out this time; and Al immediately sensed that Louis had an ulterior motive for coming over to sit with them.

"You've been sent to keep me out of trouble today?" he guessed; and Louis, Noel, Tiberius, and his girlfriend all laughed.

"I told the girls he'd see right through this," Louis answered while directing that at his friends. "Some of us don't actually think that's possible; but that is why I'm here," Louis confirmed to Al. "Do you mind?"

Al laughed. "We've hardly spent any time with you all year. Of course we don't mind."

"I think that it's brilliant," Rose added; and then grinned at Al. "We should warn you that Al is a trouble magnet, though; so you might wish that you didn't sit with us before the morning is done."

"Maybe we could try something different today and enjoy the match without any drama or magical fireworks," Louis suggested.

"Your sister and cousins want that," Tiberius told him. "I'm here for the front row seat to watch the show!"

"You are so not helping," Louis declared; but his grin suggested that he agreed more with Tiberius than with dominique, Molly, and Lucy.

"Well, this is usually when we do the pre-game predictions," Rose advised them. "Would you like to give it a go first?"

"Not a chance," Louis assured her with a laugh. "You don't live things like that down in our family if the predictions go badly for you."

"That isn't what you said earlier in our dorm room," Tiberius said; and Louis laughed again.

"No, but don't go there. That was a private conversation between best mates – and not to be used against me."

Tiberius shrugged. "Okay, though I'm sure that Noel would be flattered if I told her what you said about her during that chat too."

"For the record, that's actually true; but stop trying to get me in trouble by the way you said that, Tiberius."

"We don't want to go there either," Rose assured the two older boys. "Are you going to admit your game prediction this week, Al? We all know you have one."

"Sure," he agreed after just a moment of hesitation. "I pick Gwendolyn's team winning big over James and Ollie; with the rest of the Gryffindor team as collateral damage."

"Well, that's fairly clear," Tiberius joked. "Just for fun, though; why don't you tell us why you've reached that prediction?"

Al laughed. "Okay. My expert opinion is that James is going to try to mess with Stephanie to get back at Pauline for never beating her in their duels; and he'll both try to drag that out and underestimate Stephanie. Dragging out the Seeker duel will only help Ravenclaw; and I predict that Ollie is going to have a very bad day against Gwendolyn – especially if he still insists on being the go-to Chaser for every play."

"Gee, and I thought he'd just be cheering for Ravenclaw because James has been such a git to him," Tiberius said with a laugh. "Did you offer that analysis to James and Ollie? I'm sure they'd have found it fascinating."

"I'd have been happy to do that – except nobody on the junior team is allowed to talk with Rose, Ray, or me so I couldn't."

That comment earned Al a round of laughs, and the conversation moved on as they settled in and watied for the game to start. Kylie had a slightly extended pre-game show that seemed to be passively aimed at insulting James and Ollie thanks to some Arithmancy that laid out the various scenarios for the junior teams for what Gryffindor would need to do to win a tie-breaker with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff should all three teams end up with two-win, one-loss records. The Quidditch Cup standings weren't as detailed; but then there were really only two scenarios that mattered anyway. Gryffindor would need to wint both of their matches against Ravenclaw to win the Cup; and Ravenclaw would win if they won either game to get their fifth win of the season. There was no chance for a tie-breaker for the Quidditch Cup.

Kylie began the team introductions once she'd covered the standings and possibilities for the game and rest of the season; and Gryffindor was introduced first. James and Ollie led out as the only third-year players in their last match as junior players. Kylie was happy to pass along James' promise to keep Gryffindor's Quidditch Cup hopes alive with a big win; and then she continued with the introductions for Romeo, Kira, and Andy; and then wrapped up with Fred and Orlando bringing up the rear of the three-row flying formation. Gwendolyn had her three third-year players lead out for their final junior team match too; and then had Landon, Ryan, and Stephanie all fly in the second row with her for their pre-game loop around the stadium. Mr. Peakes took care of the fair play speech; the Captains' handshake included James taunting Gwendolyn while also pulling his hand back twice before Mr. Peakes warned him to stop; and then the two teams lined up in time for Mr. Peakes to toss the quaffle high into the air.

Ollie took off at an angle to Gwendolyn instead of racing straight for the quaffle, but then he closed the gap again and slammed into her as hard as he could. James buzzed her and kicked her in the head on his way past – with both plays earning two quick whistles from Mr. Peakes as he called penalties on both of them. He awarded Ravenclaw a penatly shot that Gwendolyn scored on with an easy fake that Andy bought so fully that the goal was scored before he even got turned around to see it. Ravenclaw was then given possession of the quaffle behing their own goals for Ollie's penalty; and the game was on.

"Wow, that was a stupid opening play," Tiberius said conversationally as they watched Gwendolyn, Landon, and Mark work together to score the second Ravenclaw goal on Andy in less than a minute. "I get the idea of trying to intimidate Gwendolyn; but I think she took that hit and kick on purpose."

"Do you think so?" Rose asked him; and he nodded.

"She dodged that bludger and the hit Ollie tried to get her with before she took that last pass easily-enough – and look how well it worked out for her team with two quick goals."

"If she'd been knocked out, that wouldn't have ended so well, though," Louis pointed out. "Could it be that she's even crazier than her trouble-magnet boyfriend?"

"She's a bit crazy just to go out with me," Al agreed with a grin. He'd have been more upset about that play if he hadn't seen that Gwendolyn had actually done a great acting job – making the hits look really hard when she'd actually just reacted so that neither Ollie's hit nor Jame's kick hurt her at all while still looking painful. The facial expressions and sound effects were definitely an act.

What wasn't an act, though, was that James and Ollie were out to get Gwendolyn and Stephanie. Fred and Orlando were supposed to help with that, but while they played their best as Beaters; they did not try any cheap shots. James and Ollie did try to use the bludger attacks to take their own cheap shots on the girls, but while they did get some hits in on both Witches; they also picked up penalties more often than not because they didn't have team mates trying to distract Mr. Peakes the way that Slytherin did when they tried to cheat. Gwendolyn took every penalty shot; and scored every time; though many of the penalties were simply loss of possession of the quaffle.

Al was sure that he was right about James' plan for his duel with Stephanie because his brother didn't really seem to try any harder to catch the snitch as Ravenclaw rapidly closed in on being ahead by more than one-fifty. Ravenclaw had that one-sixty lead by very early in the second hour; and that was easier for them to do because Gryffindor hadn't yet scored a goal on Ryan. James did start caring about the score when it continued to climb and Ollie's game plan against Gwendolyn wasn't working at all. Ollie did finally score the first Gryffindor goal near the end of the second hour, but it wasn't while he was battling against Gwendolyn; and it was again thanks to Fred for a well-timed bludger attack that actually winged Ryan to give Ollie the good scoring chance.

If there was any defense for the way James and Ollie played after that, it was the fact that a loss meant losing the Quidditch Cup too; so they had nothing to lose from playing on. What wasn't defensible was their attempts to actually hurt Stephanie and Gwendolyn. There was a very meager ray of light for Gryffindor, though, and that, surprisingly, came from Romeio, Kira, and Fred. After two hours of complete futility, they started to work together – and without Ollie – to set up their own plays. For that matter, in a way, they did use Ollie for that because he kept Gwendolyn busy while trying to pound her; and left them open on their offensive plays to battle against Landon and Mark. Ollie didn't even notice what was happening until Romeo and Kira had each scored a goal, and by the time they each scored for a second time; he was livid with anger and ranting at them while still trying to pound Gwendolyn.

That distraction didn't help him at all, and Gwendolyn just kept playing better as the match rolled along through the third hour and into the fourth. Ollie was getting nothing done except for inflicting a few new bruises on Gwendolyn, but Romeo and Kira added three more goals for Gryffindor. Eight goals wasn't nearly-enough compared to the fifty goals that Ravenclaw had as they moved into the second-half of that fourth hour; but James stupidly began taunting the Ravenclaw players about how his team was on the comeback trail – and that he could run circles around Stephanie all day while waiting for that to happen. Some encouragement had Ollie buying into the meme despite the fact that he'd still only managed the one goal. Racheting up the taunts then proved to be the final, fatal mistake they made – and the end came with a one-two knock-out punch from their top-two Ravenclaw targets.

First up, Gwendolyn took a hit from Ollie while pretending to lose the quaffle, but when he sped off to get it; Mark had been there already and tossed it back to her – leaving Gwendolyn wide-open for a chance on goal against Andy. By then, the poor Gryffindor Keeper was gassed; and it was another easy goal for Gwendolyn. She had to dodge a blind-side hit from Ollie as she sped away from the goals, but by then; it was the Seeker duel that had gone white-hot. Stephanie had watched, waited, and picked her moment carefully, and when James was momentarily distracted by Gwendolyn's goal and Ollie's attempt to hit her again; she jumped into action and took off toward the snitch.

James had been bashing her for hours by then; taunted her mercilessly; and done all of that while flying his slightly-faster Firestorm two-fifty to her 'old' Firestorm. He hadn't seriously tried to catch the snitch at all, and had been fast-enough every time to that point for blocking her from catching it either; but she knew victory was within her grasp when there was an even longer delay than she'd hoped for before she heard him begin his chase. She knew that wasn't enough of a lead to keep him from catching her, but it was almost exactly what she needed. James was bellowing taunts and warnings to look out as he charged her, but just before he would have hit her, she spun away from him into an inverted dive toward the pitch; did a one-eighty flip as he passed above her; and then she had a near-vertical climb back up to the snitch. She grabbed it victoriously; turned to face James with fire in her eyes and a brilliant, take-that-you-git smile on her face – and then froze when she saw the expression of fury and hatred she saw while barely comprehending what James was doing as he drew his wand; pointed it at her; and fired a curse at her!

"No!" Al bellowed; but it was already too late. He had his wand out even as he leapt into the aisle and started running for the pitch.

He fired a cushioning charm to catch Stephanie as she fell – her body already limp and likely as broken up as he could see that her broom was from James' attack. His leap to the pitch would have been impressive had he cared to notice; but Al was in animal form by the time he hit the ground running; and his attention was all for getting to Stephanie as quickly as he could do that. She only settled to the ground a few moments before he reached the spot where his cushioning charm put her down so gently that it was like watching a feather land; and he skidded to a stop after changing back to human form during the last, long, running stride. He knew that there was a flurry of spells being cast all around him, and he was hit by several of them, but he ignored everything else and focused entirely on Stephanie as he knelt next to her and let his senses reach out to assess her injuries. He wanted to weep – and get up and blast his brother for what he'd just done, but there wasn't any time for that. Instead, he summoned Andy's broom because he was the only player on the ground so far; he gathered Stephanie into his arms after immobilizing her as best he could without causing further injury; and took off. The spells were still flying everywhere then, and he was hit at least three more times, but he continued to ignore all of that as he flew up and out of the stadium and headed for the castle. Opening the doors with a wave of his wand; he flew straight into the entrance hall; all the way to the hospital wing; and went from flying to walking without stopping even for a moment as he dropped Andy's broom and rushed to get Stephanie the help that he knew she so desperately needed.

Madam Pomfrey must have been sent a warning somehow because she met him at the door; and waved him to carry her new patient to one of the beds.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"I think she was hit with a reductor curse; judging by how badly she's hurt – and her broom was pretty much destroyed,' Al answered. "We need to help her right away. She's dying, Madam Pomfrey."

"Come now, it's far too soon for talk like that," she admonished; but then stopped when he put a hand on her arm to get her attention.

"I can sense it," he told her seriously; and then swore under his breath. "I'm sorry. This can't wait for me to try and explain. Help me if you can." Madam Pomfrey began to protest; but then stopped and stared in astonishment as Al let his power flare as he held his wand above Stephanie's chest.

"All of her ribs on the right side are broken," he reported even as they could both hear the snapping sounds as he worked to heal them. "Her right lung is collapsed; and the left one collapsing fast. Can you help her to breathe, please?" he asked; and Madam Pomfrey stepped up to do that. "There are fewer broken ribs on the right, but her heart is – I don't know what to call it – bruised? There's some bleeding too – I can get that stopped."

"How do you know that at all; let alone this quickly?" Madaom Pomfrey asked.

"I'm a good guesser," Al joked before continuing. "It looks as though she took the hit mostly to the front and right side. There are so many injuries. What should I do next? The skull fracture doesn't look as bad as the shoulder and right arm; but maybe I should deal with that first."

"If you heal her into consciousness, you'll have to stop so I can put her under with a draught," Madam Pomfrey pointed out. "the pain would be too unbearable to be awake for while healing any of the other injuries."

"Shoulder and arm it is," Al agreed. "Her heart still sounds funny, but that could be from the stress and shock of the injuries. Can you help her with the broken nose and jaw?"

"Yes, I can," she assured him. "We are going to need to have a little talk after this, though, Mr. Potter."

"Okay, but can we also talk about whether anyone else needs to know about this or not too?" He frowned then. "I don't know what to do with some of these injuries in the arm."

"Then do what you can; and leave the rest for me to deal with later," she told him. "If I wasn't seeing this with my own eyes; I wouldn't believe it – and this poor girl would have been on the way to St. Mungo's – assuming that I could have kept her alive long-enough for that trip."

"I couldn't stop the attack," Al said next; his voice tinged with regret and despair. "Stephanie caught the snitch, and then James just pulled out his wand right there in mid-air and blasted her." He shook his head; still shocked that James would go that crazy over losing a game. "My own brother did this – and we know Stephanie because her parents are friends with our parents."

"Leave those thoughts for later," she suggested. "Healing is not something you should do while distracted."

"Yes, Madam," Al agreed. "Stephanie has a broken hip, thigh, and knee. The lower leg and foot seem to only be bruised – and some of that might be from the game play; not the attack."

They continued to talk while working on Stephanie, and while he was aware that others were now in the room; Al couldn't pay any attention to them until he was finished doing everything he could to help Stephanie. Healing the skull fracture was the last of that for him; and then he slumped with exhaustion when he was done. That was when he finally became fully-aware of Gwendolyn being there too – and that she was hurt too. He turned around and walked straight toward where she was sitting – slumped into a chair with Professor Flitwick standing next to her while they'd both obviously been watching the action going on around Stephanie.

"What happened?" he asked as he reached Gwendolyn and opened his senses to her so that he could assess her injuries.

"Ollie blasted me while you were busy; and then James attacked me too," she answered; her voice tinged with pain and anger. "Your cousins came to my rescue while you were busy; but that just gave James and Ollie the chance to try blasting you a few more times before they were stopped and disarmed." She closed her eyes as Al let his power flare again and he began healing her broken leg; the deep cut on her arm that someone else had apparently triaged before she came to the hospital wing; and the broken hand and abrasions, cuts, and bruises to her face that suggested to Al that she'd had a defensive hand up to her face for protection from a curse that had been aimed at her head.

"Thank-you," she said with a sigh; and reached out to hug him in thanks. That was when Al finally noticed that he was hurt too; and his groan of pain had Gwendolyn letting go – and then staring at her hands when she saw that there was blood on them.

"You're hurt too!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't notice," Al admitted honestly. "Now that you mention it, though; I don't feel so hot."

Madam Pomfrey had come up behind him while he'd been helping Gwendolyn; and helped him to stand before taking a look at his back. That was the first time that any of them noticed the slice through his sweater and shirt – or the blood that was seeping into both garments. "We'll need to get that cut looked at soon, but I'd better make sure that Miss Boot is stable first – unless you have any other injuries I should know about and look at first," she told him.

"*'m – not sure," Al answered after what felt like a very long pause to him. "I... um..." he added as he finished turning to face her; but then he trailed off as he lost focus and a wave of nausea hit him. The collapse toward the floor seemed to happen in slow motion too; and then the lights went out.

"Al!" Gwendolyn exclaimed; jumping to her feet and then kneeling next to him. "Madam Pomfrey? What's wrong with him?"

"That's something we'll need to find out, dear," Madam Pomfrey told her gently. "Professor Flitwick, would you help to get Mr. Potter into a bed for me? I'll check on Miss Boot again to make sure she is still stable; and then take a look at him."

"Of course," Professor Flitwick agreed; and he proceeded to use his wand and magic to carefully move Al from the floor to the bed that was immediately to Stephanie's right. "Headmistress McGonagall asked me to bring Miss McCormack here and check in with you on how your first patient is doing while she's busy dealing with the aftermath of the problems we've had at the end of the Quidditch match at the stadium. "None of us had a chance to assess the situation before Mr. Potter flew off with Miss Boot."

"That seemed rash when I was called and warned of his imminent arrival, but It is well that he acted so quickly," she advised him while already checking on Stephanie again. "The young lady's injuries were life-threatening."

"She is stable now, though?"

"Yes, but she still requires extensive treatement for the less-serious injuries; so it will be some time before I can give you an idea of how long it will take for her to recover."

"I'll warrant from what I have just seen that she will be well-again much sooner than it would have been without some unexpected assistance," Professor litwick suggested; and Madam Pomfrey smiled.

"That is very true; though the how for that is something that Mr. Potter and I will need to discuss at some length later. Right now, let's take a look at him and see how serious his injuries are. Do either of you know anything about what happened to him?"

"I saw him get hit a couple of times," Gwendolyn answered, "but he didn't react at all; so I didn't know he was hurt – and don't know which spells were used on him. He used his Animagus form to get to Stephanie so quickly and used a lot of magic healing Stephanie and me. Maybe he's just done too much."

"He likely has done that," Madam Pomfrey agreed; "but he's been hurt too – and not just from that cut on his back." She was at Al's bedside; and already carefully assessing his injuries with calm, donfident movements that were gentle and cautious every time she needed to touch him.

"I didn't see any more that Miss McCormack apparently did," Professor Flitwick advised her as she worked. "He seemed well-enough when he flew off with the young lady on the broom he borrowed from one of the Gryffindor players." He waved toward the door where he'd put hit after collecting it from the hallway on their way into the room; though Madam Pomfrey didn't notice him doing that while she worked on Al.

"Well, that's another mystery to sort out later," she told him. "There are three broken ribs I've found so far; quite a bit of damage to the left foot; and a cracked hip to go along with that but on the back. It's a wonder he could stand let alone walk."

"He was motivated," Gwendolyn said. She was on the other side of Al's bed from Madam Pomfrey by then; and had a hand on Al's forearm. "Whatever he had to do to help Stephanie; it took all of his attention; since he didn't even try to defend himself."

"He shouldn't have needed to do that," Madam Pomfrey said, "but that's a problem for the Heamistress; and I'm busy-enough with my patients."

"Then if you don't need anything else from me; I'll leave now and check in with Professor McGonagall," Professor Flitwick told her. "Is there anything else I should tell her that we haven't already talked about?"

"Not right now," she decided. "I'll send word if there is any changes or if either of them wake; though that isn't likely to happen for Miss Boot for a day or two – and it's too soon to guess at that for Mr. Potter."

"Very well," Professor Flitwock said with a nod. "I'm sure that the Headmistress will check in with you too once she's able to do so."

With that said, the Professor left the room; taking the broom with him as he left. Madam Pomfrey began to work on Al then; and had Gwendolyn help out as she cut away his sweater and shirt; and then began by healing the deep cut along his back that went from the top of his right shoulder down to the left hip. She had him rolled onto his right side while doing that; so she was also able to work on the hip and broken ribs once she had the cut closed and the still-raw wound bandaged. Gwendolyn had winced at the sound of every snap and crack as the ribs and hip were worked on, but she stayed and held Al's hand throughout the procedure. she couldn't look when Madam Pomfrey started to treat his foot after needing to cut his shoe away too; though that had everything to do with the memories of what she'd seen of the flashover burns on Al's arm because his foot seemed to be similarly mangled. Madam Pomfrey didn't try to heal everything, but she did what she could; bandaged Al's foot and two smaller cuts that she found along the way on that leg and the left arm; and then she had Gwendolyn help to get him into a hospital gown and under a sheet and warm blankets.

Once that was done, she took a short break; and then took a look at Gwendolyn next. While Al had healed the worst of her injuries, Madam Pomfrey bandaged the now-healing cut on her arm; dealt with the minor injuries that Al hadn't taken care of; and then she got back to working on Stephanie again. Gwendolyn stayed at Al's side, and while Madam Pomfrey talked with her; those conversational exchanges were broken up with long pauses as she continued to treat Stephanie. That left Gwendolyn with too much time to worry about Al and Stephanie; think about everything that had happened; and begin to process the information overload that felt overwhelming without her best friend around – at least consciously – to help her to deal with all of it. That's why she was glad for the distractions when Peter and Pauline arrived and hurried over to see Madam Pomfrey and their sister.

"How is she?" Pauline asked once she was on the far side of Stephanie's bed from the Healer.

"She will recover – thanks to Mr. Potter here," Madam Pomfrey answered.

"He seems to be making a habit of saving damsels in distress," Pauline said; but then her eyes opened wide with shock when she realized that Al was not only in the bed next to her sister; but unconscious too. "Merlin! He's hurt too?"

"Yes, and seriously-enough – though he was too busy to notice while helping Stephanie," Gwendolyn answered; and then smiled half-heartedly. "If you were thinking about blasting him for flying off with your sister; I'd appreciate it if you'd wait until he heals up first before doing that."

"We didn't expect that there'd have been anything left of him once you were done with him for flying off into the sunset with another Witch anyway," Peter joked. "That was my first thought when I saw him there when we got here; though I expected to see you in a bed too since you didn't look at all well when you left the stadium." He'd been looking at Gwendolyn as he spoke, but turned his attention to Stephanie and leaned over the bed to place a soft kiss on his younger sister's forehead.

"I've already been treated," Gwendolyn advised him; holding up the arm that was bandaged for emphasis. "Al might have been too busy to help me today, but some of his cousins had my back and kept James and Ollie from hurting me too much."

"It's too bad that none of us could help you like that too," Peter told Stephanie. "Merlin – you've had us worried about you!"

"Yes, she has," Pauline agreed as she took a turn to kiss her sister's forehead too. "Will she be sleeping for a while, Madam Pomfrey? Did you give her a draught for that?"

"Yes, and no," Madam Pomfrey answered. "The healing she's undergone so far has exhausted her; and she will need to sleep a lot as she recovers. We can discuss the rest later – maybe after your parents have been notified and can get here – and I've had a chance to finish dealing with this first round of treatment for both of my patients."

Pauline and Peter had accepted that limited bit of news, and then they'd stayed out of the way while Madam Pomfrey alternated between working on their sister and Al. They talked with Gwendolyn too; and Peter and Gwendolyn took turns going out into the hallway to offer updates to the groups of concerned friends and cousins that gathered out there in search of news on one or both patients. Rose was the primary 'spokesperson' for Al's friends, but Gwendolyn also talked with some of her Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends; Ray was with Rose for the first visit before lunch; and Dominique, Molly, Lucy, and Louis. She didn't leave the hospital wing to go for lunch in the Great Hall, and she was glad of that when Al woke up again much sooner than Madam Pomfrey had expected.

The darkness was only confusing for a few moments as Al mentally pulled himself back toward consciousness. His extended senses kicked in first; so he was aware of Gwendolyn's presence nearby even as his last memories before everything went dark began to return. He opened his eyes then; and turned to smile weakly at his girlfriend wihtout needing to look around at all to find her.

"Sorry about having a nap like that," he said quietly. "Apparently I didn't get as much sleep last night as I thought I did." Gwendolyn had been talking with Pauline and Peter, but her attention was all for him at his first words; and she stood up and stepped up to the side of his bed.

"You haven't missed much; though half the teens around here likely believe that you're in that bed because I blasted you for flying off with Stephanie like that by now."

"So you're saying that we had our first fight and I slept through it?" he asked; and Gwednolyn laughed before leaning in to kiss him.

"No, but we might have done that if I didn't know that you had such a really great reason for flying off like that with Stephanie. How are you feeling? Madam Pomfrey expected you to sleep for a day or more."

"I'm still trying to figure that out; and have no idea what woke me up."

"Maybe it's an Animagus thing and you only needed a cat nap," Peter offered. He and Pauline had held back for a minute; but they were standing at the foot of Al's bed by then; and they were both smiling at him. "Thanks for taking care of Stephanie for us. We've heard that things might have been much worse if you hadn't acted so quickly."

"I wish I could've done more – stopped James from hurting her in the first place," Al said seriously.

"We all wish that," Pauline told him. "You did what you could – and got hurt while saving Stephanie. Let's try to be glad of that; and not worry about what we couldn't do today."

"I'll try – but doubt I'll feel any differently anytime soon," Al told her with a shrug that had him wincing in discomfort. "How long have I been out?" he asked Gwendolyn.

"Not long – a couple of hours or so. They're still having lunch in the Great Hall; though it was a bit delayed because of the problems at the stadium."

"Was anyone else hurt?" he asked next; and Peter answered that question.

"Some minor injuries that were treated out there; but the three of you got the worst of it before James and Ollie were disarmed."

"It's a good thing that the Professors have them now," Pauline said with a grim expression on her face. "Whatever happens to them; it'll be better than what I'd like to do to James right now for what he did to Stephanie."

"I'd say that a lot of students around here feel the same way," Peter told his sister. He turned around to look at the door when he noticed Al look past them toward that side of the room. The door opened a moment later, and Professor McGonagall walked in – along with Professor Longbottom, Professor Slughorn, and Professor Flitwick. She nodded at them, but then went on to Madam Pomfrey's office with the three Wizards going along. They were only there for a few minutes; and then Madam Pomfrey led the way out – apparently because she'd found out from them that Al was now awake.

"Aren't you just full of surprises today?" she stated more than asked. "How are you feeling?"

"My back and left side hurts; and I'm trying not to think about my left leg and foot," Al answered seriously. "Other than that; I'm feeling pretty rough."

"It was bound to catch up with you," she told him with a nod. "You are doing better than expected, though, so if you're up to it; Headmistress McGonagall would like to talk with you for a few minutes about what happened at the stadium."

"I can do that," he assured her; and Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Very well. Would you like some privacy for this?" she asked Professor McGonagall.

"You're welcome to stay, but I think that it would be best if Mr. and Miss Boot stepped outside while we do this," she decided.

"We can wait in the hallway," Pauline offered. "You'll let us know if Stephanie wakes up?"

"Of course, dear," Madam Pomfrey promised.

Peter and Pauline took turns kissing their sister; and then lef the room while Gwendolyn stayed with Al and held his hand as they both turned their attention to the three Professors.

"Mr. Potter; Miss McCormack," Professor McGongall said with a curt nod once they could talk freely. "I would rather allow you more time to heal, but this incident is very serious, and since you were fastest to react to what happened at the end of the match, Mr. Potter; I'd like for you to tell me what happened – and why you decided to act so brashly without waiting for assistance from any of your Professors."

"I saw Stephanie's catch, so I was looking in that direction, but James was between us and I didn't see him pull his want on Stephanie until it was too late. I've only guessed from what happened to her that he used a Reductor Curse on her; but I knew that she was very badly hurt right away – which is why I was running for the pitch even before I used the cushioning charm to break her fall."

"How did you know that?" Professor McGonagall asked; and Al shrugged.

"I just knew it – or sensed it. Once I reached Stephanie, though, I was able to sense just how seriously she'd been hurt. Madam Pomfrey will be able to describe that in more detail than I possibly could; but I knew she was dying."

"What?" Profesor Slughorn exclaimed; and Al turned his attention to him.

"Her lungs were collapsing from the impact of the spell and all of the broken ribs; her heart was failing; and there was some internal bleeding – along with all of the other injuries." He glanced at Stephanie and shook his head sadly. "There wasn't time for me to explain how I knew that with anyone or wait for more help; so I acted. I know there were spells being fired while I was dealing with that, and obviously know now that I was hit by some of them, but I didn't pay any attention to that – and didn't even notice that I'd been hurt until after I'd done what I could to help Stephanie – and then help Gwendolyn when I found out she'd been hurt too."

"Which from what we've heard so far is also something that is hard to believe," Professor McGonagall told him.

"More like impossible," Phineas Black interjected dismissively; and Al wasn't the only person in the room to notice for the first time that the pictures in the room were fairly-crowded with visitors – including most or all of the former Hogwarts Headmasters and Headmistresses. Al smiled as he looked up at the old Wizard.

"Is it really impossible, Grandfather?" he asked mildly; startling the dour old Wizard.

"What's that, boy?" he demanded; and Al laughed.

"Well, technically you're my grandfather with a handful of greats added onto it, and you may not want to count me as such since my family is descendeded from a member of our family that was disowned a few generations ago; but we are related regardless of family politics. Part of what I am comes from you; so who can say what is possible?"

"Congratulations, Grandpa," Professor Dumbledore told Phineas from where he watched on from another painting. "I'd say this grandson of yours is great in more ways than one."

"Yes, well... hmph," Phineas said gruffly. "We shall see."

"I expect so," Professor McGonagall agreed, "but if you don't mind; I'd like to get on with this. I have a lot to deal with already without these little distractions." She paused and then returned her attention to Al. "How serious are your own injuries? I'm sorry to say that your brother was likely responsible for most of them with a bit of help from Mr. Wood." Al looked to Madam Pomfrey inquiringly; so she answered that question for him.

"Mr. Potter had a deep cut across the length of his back from right shoulder to left him; broken ribs; a fractured hip with some nerve damage; and some rather serious injuries to the left foot along with a few minor injuries. I've completed his first round of treatment, but may not know for a day or two how long he'll need to recover – particularly with the foot injuries. It may be a while before he can walk on it." She smiled at Al. "I won't make any guesses, since for all we know; he'll be able to heal himself once he's rested up a bit."

"That would be great if I could," Al told her with a smile and nod; "but I don't know if I can do that or not."

"It's something we can talk about later," she offered. "Headmistress McGonagall doesn't need us to keep her tied up here with that discussion, though; so let's allow her to get back to her questions."

"I believe that will be enough for now," Professor McGonagall decided. "Do you have anything else to add that could help with my investigation into this attack?"

Al thought about that for a moment. "You're welcome to have my memories of what happened if needed. My attention was on Stephanie, but I'm sure I still saw and heard a lot of what was going on – even without being consciously aware of it."

"That likely won't be necessary, since we do have a lot of witnesses that we will be speaking with; but I will keep that in mind if we decide otherwise. Would you like to add anything, Miss McCormack?"

"I didn't see James attacking Stephanie; though I did see her get hit," Gwendolyn began. "Ollie attacked me from behind a moment later, so I didn't see that either. I did see some of the hits on Al, but then I was distracted as Rose, Louis, and Molly came to my rescue and started defending me with their shields and counter-spells."

"They did an excellent job of that too," Professor McGonagall agreed with a nod. "Your actions were exceptional too, Mr. Potter. Well done!"

"Thank-you, Headmistress McGonagall. Would you happen to know where James is?"

"Yes, but he is currently unavailable. Why do you ask?"

Al's smile was a bit grim as he answered. "Because it's probably a really good idea for me to avoid him for a little while. I'm not very happy with him right now; so I'd better stay away from him until I'm done being mad at him."

"I don't see that being a problem for you while you're in here for however long it takes for you to recover," Gwendolyn pointed out; "but that might be a good thing for me to know."

"You won't need to worry about that," McGongagall advised her. "There are a lot of students upset with your boyfriend's brother and Mr. Wood; so it seemed prudent to keep them away from everyone else while we are investigating."

"Okay," Al acknowledged with a nod. "Can I help you with anything else?"

"Not right now, but I will thank you again, Mr. Potter. Your accomplishments today are truly remarkable."

Professor McGonagall went back into Madam Pomfrey's office with the Healer and Professors Slughorn and Longbottom, but Professor Flitwick went out into the hallway and let Peter and Pauline know that they could return before moving on to some other task. The twins were obviously curious about what their Headmistress had talked about with Al and Gwendolyn, but didn't try asking about it while the Professors were still around. They did check on Stephanie again; and then they sat down in chairs so that they could talk quietly with Al and Gwendolyn.

"Did you hear anything new from your friends while we were busy with the Headmistress?" Gwendolyn asked Peter and Pauline. "Now that we're past the worst of it; I'm wondering what went on out there after we left."

Pauline shook her head. "Temporary insanity, I think. We've heard that some Slytherins were firing some curses and hexes out there too; and that other students helped to defend the students and players that were out on – or above – the pitch. The rumors we've heard so far haven't mentioned anyone specifically, and we don't know if any of them have been caught; but there are apparently at least two Professors investigating that part of the fight."

"My first two guesses would be that the Harpers or Averys and their buddies tried to take advantage of the situation," Al offered. That doesn't sound insane – just opportunistic. Is there more to the story?"

"Yes,' Peter agreed. "We've heard that James and Ollie started spouting off about how our junior team had been cheating; and that was why James blasted Stephanie – because she must have used one of your repelling charms to knock him out of the way so she could catch the snitch. Ollie then started to insist that Gwendolyn had been doing that to him too anytime he was around her; so she must have used her charm bracelet on him – and likely on Andy too since there's no way she could have scored that many goals against them without cheating. James and Ollie, on the other hand, hadn't used magic until after the game, so that couldn't be a problem for them if it hadn't been a problem for the Headmistress and Professors the two times that Al did it and the Slytherin players got hurt."

"I'd say that there's a very big difference between what Al did and these attacks; but I have no idea what Professor McGonagall will do about James and Ollie," Gwendolyn said while shaking her head in amazement at the ridiculousness of those claims.

"They've done so many awful things; but this really was insane," Al told them solemnly. "Stephanie has never done anything to them that I know of, and not only are her parents friends with our Mum and Dad; but Terry's a fellow Auror."

"I'll bet that they aren't sorry either," Gwendolyn predicted, "and after hearing about that; I have wonder if they planned all of this out – including accusing us of cheating during the game. If Mr. Peakes is investigating those cheating claims; then our win isn't official yet."

"I don't know if anyone has event hought to ask about that," Pauline told them. "There's no way that Mr. Peakes would believe James and Ollie without proof, is there?"

"After what everyone saw James and Ollie do out there; it's ridiculous to think that anyone would give any merit at all to their accusations," Peter offered.

Al sighed then and shook his head. "Maybe we shoudd change the subject. I'm starting to get mad all over again – especially now that I'm thinking that Gwendolyn might be right about James and Ollie planning this out as a way to get the win by forfeit – and then have an excuse to blast us after the match ended."

"What could we possibly talk about instead?" Pauline asked him. "This is the only thing that everyone in the school is gossiping about right now. For instance, did you know that you know that you turned into either a rabid wolf or possibly even a werewolf when you ran out onto the pitch?"

"I'm sure that there will be lots of stories about that," Al said with a shrug and smile, "but for the record; I changed into my Samoyed Husky form. That worked well-enough for the jump to the pitch and run out to where Stephanie landed."

"You impressed me with that jump and run – despite the fact that you then flew off into the sunset with another Witch," Gwendolyn teased; earning a round of laughs.

"That would be a funnier line if it hadn't happened at midday," Pauline suggested; "though we'll all be happy to work with it anyway for future entertainment."

"That will be fun," Gwendolyn agreed. "Did you hear anything else about James and Ollie? We were told that there are a lot of students that are really mad at James and Ollie right now; and they're being kept away from everyone to avoid more trouble."

"I'd say they only have to worry about every Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff wanting to have a turn at blasting them," Peter answered. "The Slytherins are enjoying the whole mess, though; so they might throw a party for them instead."

"They are mad at Stephanie and me too," Gwendolyn added with a nod of agreement. "They'll be happy about all of this – especially when they find out that Al got hurt too if they don't know about that already."

"No doubt; and they likely do at least know that I was hurt by now – if not any of the details," Al suggested. "I really do need to take a break from even thinking about James for a while, though; so would anyone like to make guesses about how long it will take for our parents to get here? I'm sure that Mum and Dad will want to come right away once they find out about what happened, but Mum's working today too; so maybe she won't be able to come until after the game."

Gwendolyn nodded. "Do you want to call them in case they haven't heard yet?"

"Yeah, but I'll guess that they have found out already; and we shouldn't bother them right now. If they don't come here right away; it's likely because the Professors and parents are trying to deal with James and Ollie instead."

"Probably," Gwendolyn agreed, "but Istill have no idea of what they can do about this. No amount of detention or points from your House has done anything to stop them so far. Maybe that'll change this time; but I really doubt it – especially if they stick to their story about blasting us for cheating whether anyone believes them or not."

"I'll pick the 'not' on that one," Peter told her. "We've talked with Mum and Dad, and Mum's freaking out a bit; but she'll likely pull it together before they get here."

"The more I think about all of this, the more I'm seriously considering going to have a little chat with your brother once my Mum and Dad get here, Al. Do you think that your parents would be very upset if I turn him into a skunk or something for a month or two?"

"An 'or something' might be okay; but I already know for sure that they wouldn't want a skunk living with them over the Easter holidays – especially when James would likely just go around spraying everyone."

"Skunks are one of the banned animal forms that Al can't try at home," Gwendolyn added and explained with a grin.

"Okay, maybe I'd better take some time to think this through before hunting him down," Pauline decided grudgingly after she and Peter both laughed at Gwendolyn's comment. "Professor McGonagall isn't likely to tell me where James and Ollie are anyway; so it's something I can work on for a while anyway."

"You're likely right about that," Peter told her with a nod, "but I'll be happy to help you out with that plan; and it'll give us something to do while we're waiting for Stephanie to get better again."

"If you ask around; I'm sure you'll get lots of volunteers willing to help you out with that – including me," Gwendolyn assured them.

They all turned their attention toward Madam Pomfrey's office door when they heard it open; and they watched as Professor McGonagall led the way out into the main ward. She only nodded at them while continuing on her way out of the hospital wing, and Professor Slughorn and Professor Longbottom nodded too as they followed her; but Madam Pomfrey came over to the beds to check on her patients. She did that with Stephanie first; advised Peter and Pauline that she was still stable and needed more of a break before she would do the next round of healing with her; and then she checked on Al next. That took a bit longer because she talked with him a bit about how each injury was feeling, but then she decided to hold off on another round of healing for him too after deciding that he needed more rest first too. She returned to her office again after that; leaving Gwendolyn in charge of Al while Peter and Pauline stood watch over their little sister.

"This is just so awful," Pauline said quietly once they were alone again. "I'm so mad at James; but still can't believe he could do something so awful to Stephanie." she laughed then; but not with any amusement. "All of her injuries are horrid, but she's going to think that having her broom destroyed will be the worst of it – and I don't want to be the one to tell her that news when she does wake up."

"Me either," Peter agreed. "That should likely be a job for the team Captain, though; so maybe we'll be okay."

Gwendolyn laughed; but then smiled at Al when she saw the expression on his face; and shook her head. "You are not going to give Stephanie your broom," she told him. "Your parents would appreciate your willingness to make that sacrifice; but I seriously doubt that they'd buy you a Lightningbolt to replace it."

"It seemed like a good idea when I just thought of it – and my birthday is coming up soon," Al only half-joked; but then he turned his attention toward the door. "Your Mum and Dad are here," he advised Peter and Pauline.

"They are?" Pauline asked; and Al smiled and glanced at her before looking back toward the door.

"You'll hear them in a moment. I think I've learned a few things from my different animal forms over the past few months."

It was just moments before they could all hear the sounds of hurried footsteps and voices; and then Terry and Padma Boot were ushered into the room by Professor Clearwater; both of them looking anxious. Pauline ran to her mother and Peter walked over to their parents too; so Al and Gwendolyn were out of the loop while the twins shared hugs and kisses with their parents and then led them over to Stephanie's bedside. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office to greet them too; and then proceeded to give Terry and Padma the full report on how seriously their youngest child had been injured; what had been done so far to stabilize and heal her; and the course of treatment that she intended to pursue – with most of the healing magic to be done within the next day and a half. She didn't mention the fact that Al had actually performed a lot of the healing, and he was grateful for that; but she did advise them that his quick action and careful handling of her patient had very likely saved her life. That was true-enough, Al knew; but he'd been uncomfortable with the hug from Padma and the thanks from both of Stephanie's parents.

He was saved from more of that when Madam Pomfrey decided that it was time to give the Boots a bit of privacy; drew the curtain around Al's be; and then put up an imperturbable shield around them. When she did that, Al knew that she'd also decided that it was time for them to have the promised talk about what had happened earlier; but she made a show of checking him over again before speaking to him.

"You healed those students last fall – the ones caught up in that slime prank," she began. "I'd dismissed the possibility at the time, since you're only second-year; and weren't here for that visit for very long; but it's easy-enough to see in hindsight." She smiled when she saw that Gwendolyn didn't look surprised. "You knew?"

"Yes, though I don't know most of the details," she agreed – "and have no idea how Al can do things like that – and what he did for Stephanie and me today."

"I was fairly mad that night too; like I was today – and it only seemed fair to do what I could considering the fact that they got hurt because James and Ollie had been trying to prank us and our study group friends."

"Yet you don't know how you do it?" Madam Pomfrey asked; and Al nodded his agreement.

"It seems to be instinctive," he explained again; and then elaborated. "After what happened earlier with Stephanie, there does seem to be some limits to how far those instincts will allow me to go with healing. I got the feeling from listening to your report to the Boots that the limitation is my own knowledge – or that's at least part of it." He stopped and thought about that. "We're taught that a big part of successfully doing magic is the strength of will behind the spells. For healing, focusing my will and wanting it to happen seems to be all I need – as long as I can see and understnad what I want to happen. Something like healthy skin or unbroken bones fits with that, while since I don't know what tendons and nerves are supposed to look like in a healthy body; I couldn't picture how to make that happen for Stephanie."

"You do know that's impossible, right?"

Al laughed. "I've heard that, but is it really impossible? Children use magic unconsciously without wands or spells, and what are those spells anyway? Witches and Wizards invented all of them, and we learn the wand motions and words because we believe they'll work. Maybe it's even true that most of us need those things to focus our will; but maybe it's also just as possible to learn to use magic without all of the fancy wand work and words. I don't need either for my Animagus Transfiguration, and I know that my Dad's Godson, Teddy Lupin, doesn't need any of that for his Metamorphmagus changes either. What about wandless and non-verbal magic? Do you actually need to thnk the words, or is it enough to will the magic to happen?"

"Your questions are not at all new, Mr. Potter; but your perspective very well may be quite unique. I suppose the only way you'll be able to answer them is to experiment and study your own abilities as they develop. I also want to caution you to be very careful when you do use your magic for healing in the future, but since those instincts of yours also seem to warn you of your limitations; you're unlikely to do any harm."

"I don't plan on making a habit of this, but since trouble seems to find me far too often; the talent will likely come in handy now and then."

"You might wish to consider a career as a Healer. That talent could be put to very good use at St. Mungo's."

"Playing Quidditch instead is really selfish compared to being a Healer like you or an Auror like my Dad; but it's still what I want to do most when I grow up."

"As do many kids these days," Madam Pomfrey agreed amiably. "Those professional careers are comparatively short, though; so you could still consider a more fulfilling second job after you've had your fun – and still offer many decades of service to others."

"That's true," Al agreed. "Being a Healer is likely a lot safer than working for my Dad too."

"I'd have agreed with you on that twenty years ago, but the only Aurors your Dad has lost since taking over as Head of the Aurors has been through retirement. Aurors don't even need their beds at St. Mungo's all that often anymore."

"That has been good for morale around the office," Al joked. "Getting back to the healing thing; is there any chance we can keep this from being a top story on the gossip network around here?"

"I'll need to include everything that happened in my report to the Headmistress, Mr. Potter, and I've already told her about nearly-everything already anyway; but I don't see why this has to go beyond the Witches and Wizards that already know – though I doubt it's a secret that will stay so indefinitely. I do encourage you to study healing, and you can come and talk to me about it anytime; but this isn't something that you can easily practice in secret – unless there is a group of students with various maladies and injuries hanging out around the school that I haven't heard about before now."

"We're teens and tweens," Al reminded her. "There are all sorts of injuries that are never brought to your attention for various reasons. I doubt my fellow students would start coming to see me instead for medical treatment, though; so you won't have to worry about that."

"Is that the voice of experience I'm hearing?" she asked; and Al laughed.

"Yes, but in my case, I didn't do that out of embarrassment."

"No, you were likely trying to keep someone out of trouble. I won't lecture you on that, but the next time you have the urge to do that, consider what happened today; and ask yourself if protecting that person is for the best or not."

"I've already been thinking about that a lot," Al admitted. "The problem is that we can't look to see what might have been with other choices. Differnet choices could turn out better or worse."

"True enough," Madam Pomfrey agreed. "I think that's enough for today, though; and I should get back to working on the potions and poultices I'm going to need for you – and for Miss Boot."

"Thank you," Al said simply. "I'd like to try helping with Stephanie again later – or see if I can help out with my own healing to see if I can do that; but I don't think I have it in me at least for a while longer."

"We can talk about that later too," she agreed with a nod, "though if you think about it; you may discover that you have healed yourself other times already. That would explain why your arm healed from that flashover burn more quickly than I'd have expected – and why you woke up so soon after pasing out earlier today when most Wizards or Witches would have needed days to recover from what you've been through." She smiled as she dropped the privacy charm from around them. "You're welcome to stay with Mr. Potter,' she advised Gwendolyn; "but try to give Miss Boot and her family some privacy when they need it."

"We'll do that," Gwendolyn promised; and then Madam Pomfrey went to check on Stephanie and talk with her parents again for a minute before going on to her office to work while her patients rested.

There was a lull in the action for Al and Gwendolyn, but then she was called out into the hallway by mid-afternoon to give their freinds and update; Rose and Bristol visited with Al while she did that; and left get-well-soon baskets for Al and Stephanie – along with snacks that were meant for Stephanie's family while they watched over her as she slept. Al got teased a bit by both Witches, but they also told him the latest news from around the castle before leaving to go and hang out in the Gryffindor common room until dinnertime because that was rumor-central for the Gryffindors – and where their friends and cousins were waiting for them to deliver the latest update from the hospital wing. While they talked with Peter, Pauline, and their parents now and then too, Al and Gwendolyn were able to fill up some of the time with a bit of light studying; and they kept up with the scores for the Quidditch matches and watched part of the second game after mising all of the early afternoon match because it had been a fairly short game thanks to an early snitch catch.

Al was again watching the door and advised Gwendolyn in advance; so they weren't surprised when his mother arrived in the hospital wing with Professor Longbottom along as her escort. He smiled at them as they crossed the room to his bed; and returned the gentle, but fierce hug that Ginny share with him before turning to hug Gwendolyn too.

"I was sure that you'd come to see Stephanie," Al joked; earning a round of quiet laughs. "Is Dad here too?"

"He was," Ginny said. "I'm to give you extra hugs from him and Lily for now; and they'll come to see you later."

Al looked from her to Neville and back again; and he saw and sensed the same thing from each of them.

"James was sent home with Dad?" he whispered; and Ginny nodded; her expression now grim.

"We'll be explaining everything to Terry and Padma now," she whispered back. "I'll talk with you again when we've done that."

Ginny hugged Al and Gwendolyn again, but then she and Neville both went around the foot of Al's bed to Stephanie's bedside to see her and speak with Terry and Padma.

"I am so sorry, Padma," Ginny said as she hugged her friend. "We've heard the latest report that Professor McGonagall was given by Madam Pomfrey. Have there been any changes?"

"Probably not," Padma answered tearfully; "and you should be sorry. If it wasn't for you; our girls wouldn't have all of these crazy dreams about being superstar Seekers some day – and then this would have never happened." Ginny laughed and hugged Padma again.

"From what I heard about the match; I'd say your girls are both well on the way toward doing just that." She stepped away from Padma; hugged Terry next; and then leaned over the bed to gently stroke Stephanie's hair. "Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry that James did this to you. No apology can ever make up for something this awful; but Harry and I will come up with something that will at least cheer you up a bit while you're healing."

"That isn't necessary," Terry told her; but Ginny shook her head.

"It definitely is," she disagreed. "Since she is sleeping, though, I guess Neville and I should get to the not-so-much-fun part of our visit."

"You didn't use your bat-bogey hex on James the moment you got here, did you?" Terry joked; and Ginny laughed again.

"No, but only because Harry wouldn't let me do that – at least in front of the Headmistress and a half-dozen Professors and other witnesses." She looked at Neville and nodded. "I think you should tell them what Professor McGonagall has decided to do about James – and Ollie; though I guess he isn't directly responsible for Stephanie's injuries."

"We've completed enough of our investigation already to make decisions about punishments for James and Ollie," Neville told them; and he had the attention of everyone in the room – including Madam Pomfrey; since she'd come out of her office again to join them when she noticed the two extra visitors. "Both boys have been questioned with their parents' permission and under their supervision using Veritaserum. They admitted to their deeds immediately following the match, but also that their actions both during and after the game were pre-meditated. There were no other students involved in the plan, and as far as the boys know; nobody else found out about what they were going to do beforehand." He looked toward Al and Gwendolyn before continuing; but didn't hold back from the truth.

"Stephanie and Gwendolyn were their primary targets during the match, and while that part of their plan didn't go nearly as well as they'd hoped; their attacks on Stephanie, Albus, and Gwendolyn went exactly as planned – particularly the part where they succeeded in distracting Albus so that he'd be too busy helping Stephanie to stop them from hurting him – and going after Gwendolyn too. Have you heard about their assertions that Stephanie and Gwendolyn cheated by using magic during the match?"

"Yes," Padma answered with a nod and frown. "The kids assure us that's ridiculous; and that it's likely an attempt to win the match by forfeit."

"That's exactly what they wanted to do," Neville confirmed. "They had even pre-fabricated some proof that they were sure would work; but they apparently didn't anticipate that their parents would even be asked to allow them to be questioned under Veritaserum let alone consent to it; so that part of their plan fell apart at that point too." He sighed and shook his head. "It is mostly because of that questioning that Headmistress McGonagall has decided to suspend James and Ollie for the remainder of the school year. She will decide later whether she'll permit them to return to write their end-of-term exams here or make other arrangements for them to do that elsewhere; but they have already been taken from the school grounds." He paused while everyone except Ginny processed that; and then continued.

"Gryffindor House has been disqualified from the House cup race; and their points total for the year will be zero. Ravenclaw has officially been awarded the win for today's match; so Ravenclaw has also won the Quidditch Cup regardless of the outcome of the final two senior team matches in May. Finally, James and Ollie will be on probation for at least a year when they do return to Hogwarts; and they'll be expelled should they be involved in any other serious incidents."

"Merlin!" Peter breathed; and then smiled ruefully. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Ginny told him seriously. "James and Ollie are obviously long past-due for a reality check; and Harry and I fully support Professor McGonagall's decision."

"Thank-you for telling us, but I think it's best for me to just leave dealing with the boys to anyone else; and I'll worry about Stephanie," Padma told them.

"We'll do that – and worry about Stephanie with you," Ginny promised. She looked over at Stephanie and shook her head. "After seeing this, I'm thinking about turning James into a bat-bogey – at least until it's time for him to write those exams. He won't get out of doing that."

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," Terry teased. "Is there anything else, Neville – Professor Longbottom?"

"No, I think we've covered the main points. We'll set up visitor passes for you for as long as you need them."

Ginny and Neville talked with Terry and Padma for another five minutes or so; and then they rejoined Gwendolyn at Al's bedside.

"Your father and I are proud of you for what you did for Stephanie today," Ginny told Al quietly-enough that they wouldn't be overheard easily. I can't stay much longer right now and leave your father alone with James. I'm sure you can guess how he's acting right now, so we need to deal with him right now; but we'll take turns coming back for visits; and talk with you later about how we'll handle things at home – though we haven't had time to even think about that yet."

"I'd recommend that you take a special assignment covering the rest of the Quidditch season somewhere far away from home; have Dad go along for some international Auror relations meetings or training; and hire some Gringotts Goblins to guard James until you get back," Al suggested.

"I'll assume you'd want us to take Lily along on that proposed trip; but we won't do that – even if it is a really good idea." She shook her head; and her expression saddened. "We know that James and Ollie have been causing a lot of trouble around here, but it's taken something this serious for us to realize just how out of control they've become. Somehow, we are going to find a way to get through to James – though I'm completely at a loss for how we'll do that."

"I don't think that there's anything you can do to get him to stop being mad at Al and me anytime soon," Gwendolyn told her; "but you might be able to get him to stop these attacks just by connecting the dots for him. Getting expelled would mean no Hogwarts Quidditch for him; and that would cut his chances of getting a job in the show down to something very close to zero – especially if he doesn't even earn any OWLs or NEWTs."

"I'd prefer that he comes around and realizes how wrong he's been about so many things," Ginny told her; "but I'd settle for that if it'd work. Thanks for the suggestion. We'll at least think about it – and maybe go there if we can't get that change of heart instead." They all heard her mirror chime then; Ginny took it out of her pocket; and frowned when she saw Harry's face appear in it.

"Our eldest son is currently trashing his room and packing a bag to run away from home," he advised her. "Should I let him?"

"Wow, that's a tough one. Does he have a plan this time?"

"The ranting is a bit incoherent; so it's hard to say," Harry answered. "Maybe he's hoping that George and Angelina will take him in – or that he can hide out in the wheezes store for the next few years until he's seventeen."

"I have no idea why my first thoght for that is a picture of his next Hogwarts letter being delivered to James Potter, Crawlspace under the Pygmy Puff Cages; Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Store; Diagon Alley," Ginny joked. "Try to keep him from escaping; and I'm on my way home now."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "I have a feeling that we're in for a tough weekend."

"Tell that to Terry and Padma. Their little girl is unconscious; black and blue with bruises; and Merlin only knows how long she'll need to recover. It is way too easy for me to see Lily in that bed instead – and that is not good news for James." She looked up from her mirror and smiled at Al. "It isn't fair that I'm thinking about Stephanie for that more than Al, since he's going to need some time to recover from his injuries too; but maybe I'm just getting used to him spending time here in the hospital wing – just as I did when you spent time here when we were at Hogwarts."

"How is he doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm okay, Dad," Al answered while Ginny turned her mirror so that Harry could see him. "This isn't any fun, but I'll pick a day or four in this bed over being home with James right now – and I'm more upset about what happened to Stephanie and Gwendolyn too; so I agree with how Mom feels right now."

"Then maybe I should stay here a while longer," Ginny suggested half-seriously as she turned the mirror back again so she could see Harry. "I am coming home," she assured him, "but James better not push us too far right now – especially when I'm this mad at him."

"Try not to get even more worked up on the way here," Harry suggested. "We don't want to do anything about James while we're mad."

"Maybe that's exactly what we need to do; but we'll talk about that when I get there – if we're not busy chasing down a runaway."

She ended the mirror chat; shared a long round of hugs and kisses with Al and Gwendolyn; and then Neville escorted her back to Headmistress McGonagall's office so that she could take the Floo Network home instead of walking all the way out to the school gates so that she could apparate instead. Gwendolyn stayed with Al for a while longer, but it was nearing dinnertime by then, so when it was nearly-time to go to the Great Hall for that meal, Madam Pomfrey encouraged her to do that – and had Peter and Pauline go too while their parents stayed with Stephanie. Al took that opportunity to have a nap; and was sleeping not-long after Madam Pomfrey checked on him after Gwendolyn left.

"What's going on?" Rose asked Gwendolyn when she stopped by the Gryffindor table to give Rose the latest update before going on to sit with her usual group of Ravenclaw friends. Rose had leaned her head in close and whisperered that question so that she wouldn't be overheard by anyone else. "Nobody knows anything about what's happening with James and Ollie; and everyone has an opinion."

"I expect there will be an announcement before dinner to deal with that," Gwendolyn said first, "but I can tell you that James and Ollie have been suspended. They've already been sent home too, and since nobody apparently saw them leave; I'll guess they were sent by Floo Network from Headmistress McGonagall's office."

"What!" Rose exclaimed; getting the attention of all of their Gryffindor friends. "Merlin!"

"Yeah," Gwendolyn agreed; still whispering. "Uncle Harry took him home sometime earlier this afternoon, and Aunt Ginny is there by now too; but she came to the hospital wing to see Al and Stephanie first – and to talk with her parents."

"How is Stephanie? I should have asked you that first."

"She's still sleeping. There's a lot of bruising that's gotten really dark and ugly-looking, and Madam Pomfrey needs to do somemore work on her; but she'll be okay. How long she'll be in there, though, isn't something Madam Pomfrey wants to put a time on yet."

"How's Aunt Ginny handling it?"

Gwendolyn laughed quietly. "She said that Uncle Harry stopped her from using a bat-bogey hex on James. Seriously, she feels worse than we do – and that's from the perspective of the mother of one of the bad kids."

"Come on," Ray leaned in and said to them. "Enough with the whispering – tell us what's going on!"

"I have to get to my table," Gwendolyn advised him; nodding toward the front of the hall where the Professors were beginning to arrive. "Rose will have to give you the news update while we're having dinner."

She shared a quick hug with Rose before leaving, and was sure that Rose would decide what news to pass on and what to keep until later when she could talk with their friends without causing a commotion on the gossip network. That didn't end up being anything for them to worry about for much longer anyway, though; and Gwenodlyn hadn't been sitting down at her usual spot with her friends before their Headmistress arrived, and instead of going to sit down at the Head table; she stepped forward and stood just a few paces away from the four rows of student tables. She cleared her throat; the room fell silent very quickly; and she took a cursory look around the room before speaking to make sure she had the attention of every student.

"Everyone here is aware of what happened earlier today at the stadium," she began; her tone solemn and with an undercurrent of anger that could be sensed as well as heard. "A number of students were injured in that incident; three of them seriously-enough to require visits to the hospital wing; and two of them remain there in serious, but stable condition. I am relieved to be able to report that the prognosis for both students is that they will each fully-recover from their injuries; but the seriousness of the attacks on them has led to serious consequences. This sort of behavior will not be permitted at Hogwarts, and to make that point clear to all of you; I have made the following decisions." She paused as a ripple of noise greeted this news.

"First, while we do not normally announce punishments for individual students, let's avoid the speculative rumors; and I'll simply advise you that James Potter and Ollie Wood have been suspended for the remainder of this school year – though they may be permitted to return here to write their exams in June." She needed to pause again while the noise level erupted again. "I have also decided that this situation is serious-enough to warrant sending a message to all of you, so with that in mind; Gryffindor is disqualified from the House Cup competition." This time, the low buzz of noise simply stopped for a moment as that announcement sunk in; and Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly.

"Take this warning as seriously as it is meant," she told them. "There is no place in our school for such horrid acts of aggression toward anyone; and it is time to put a stop to them. Consider that to be fair warning; and act accordingly."

The buzz of quiet and not-so-quiet conversations was already on the upswing by the time Professor McGonagall reached her seat; and that was true for Gwendolyn, Rose, and their respective Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends too. While those friends avidly wanted every detail that the girls could provide, Rose didn't yet know the rest of the story; and Gwendolyn didn't talk about anything that she didn't want to get out on the gossip network when there were too many teens trying to hear every word she said while they were all having dinner. Gwendolyn did get back together with Rose and most of their study group friends after dinner, and they had a quick chat in a classroom that was part-way between the Great Hall and the hospital wing; but then she went on to spend the evening with Al while everyone else went to spend the hours they had left before curfew to hang out in their usual study classroom and watch mirror network shows on Al's mirror while cuddling on the sofas.

Al was awake again before Gwendolyn returned, but hadn't been for long; so he'd just begun to have his dinner when she got there and shared a quick hug and kiss with him before sitting down in one of the chairs next to his bed.

"Are you on your third or fourth tray? I'd have thought you'd have finished eating long-before now – especially since dinner in the Great Hall was delayed a bit while Headmistress McGonagall had a little talk with us about what happened and the consequences for James and Ollie."

"I wondered if she'd do that," Al admited. "My dinnertime is late because I had a nap after you left and only woke up again about five minutes ago."

"Must be nice," Gwendolyn teased. "Maybe I should climb up into one of these beds and have a nap too."

"As long as it isn't the same one that Al's in; you could likely do that," Pauline suggested. She'd overheard Gwendolyn's comment because she'd just caught up with her after having her own chat with some friends after dinner.

"That would be fun – though I should probably wait for Al to heal up a bit more first before trying that," Gwendolyn told her. "I should likely be more worried about Al spending the night in here with the Witch he flew off into the sunset with earlier today."

"We really are going to have fun with those jokes," Pauline said with a laugh while Al groaned. "Is there anything new with Stephanie, Mum?" she asked next; turning her attention to her parents.

"No," Terry answered; "but don't worry about that too much, honey. Madam Pomfrey has told us to expect that she could sleep for days before waking up – and it's likely best for her to be sleeping through the worst of the healing that has yet to be done."

"Good point," Pauline agreed with a nod. "Do you guys want to go and get some dinner now; or will you stay a while longer and then just go home for the night?"

We're staying until near-curfew," Padma answered; "and I may stay overnight – though that isn't because I'm worried about leaving your sister alone in here all night with Albus." That last part was said with a half-hearted smile; and she earned a quiet round of laughs for her joke.

"You should go home, Mum," Pauline told her seriously. "Peter and I can take turns watching over Stephanie if you'd like us to do that; and you'll be here enough during the day – especially when Peter and I will need to get back to our studies tomorrow."

"We'll decide that later," Padma said with a nod. "Did you lose your brother?"

"He's probably snogging his girlfriend goodnight in case they don't have a chance to do that later."

Their conversation moved on from there, and Al and Gwendolyn had some time to talk quietly together while the Boot family did their own thing. Keeping their vigil over their sleeping patient was part of their evening fun; though that wasn't very exciting for any of the visitors in the hospital wing. Al was a patient too, but he and Gwendolyn also did what they could for Stephanie's family – even if the best they could do at times was to help out with keeping them entertained. They had two visits that helped with that effort – the first from Harry and Lily; and the second from Ginny after Lily was dropped off with Ron, Hermione, and Hugo before Harry took over at home so that Ginny could go to Hogwarts for a bedtime visit with Al and Gwendolyn.

Harry split the time for his visit between talking with Terry and Padma about Stephanie and some fairly-serious talk time with Al, but Lily stayed with Al and Gwendolyn most of the time; and definitely added to the fun as she first told them about the problems at home with James and her new plans for spending the weekend with Hugo while James was being such a horror to everyone. Ginny had spent more time with Al and Gwendolyn too, but then she ended up having a chance to visit with Terry and Padma when they all headed out for the night shortly before curfew. Peter and Pauline went along for that walk with their parents, but Gwendolyn stayed behind so that she could say goodnight to Al without having a gang of spectators around.

Peter and Pauline returned so that they could say goodnight one last time to Stephanie, and while Madam Pomfrey had been indecisive about having Pauline stay with her sister for the night; she decided to allow it after Pauline and Gwendolyn convinced her that Pauline could do that while Madam Pomfrey got some sleep and be ready if either of her patients needed her. Al and Gwendolyn shared one last goodnight hug and kiss once that was decided; and then Peter escorted her back to Ravenclaw tower – not that she had any serious worries about being ambushed while out in the hallways on her own now that James and Ollie weren't around to bother her. Once they were gone, Madam Pomfrey took care of both of her patients, including doing bandage changes for both of them; and then she retired for the night after giving Al a draught to help him sleep and continue to heal.

Pauline set up her things on the far side of Stephanie's bed from Al because she also had the next bed over available to her if she wanted to lay down for a while; so Al took that opportunity to have a mirror chat with Rose. She answered on the third chime; and smiled at Al. He could tell that she was in the Gryffindor common room and probably sitting with their friends since he caught a glimpse of Cora too.

"Hey, Al," she said happily. "I was hoping you'd call. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good right now," he answered; smiling too. "Madam Pomfrey gave me a sleeping draught; and I'd say it's already starting to work quite nicely."

"Maybe I should have stopped by and picked up a vial of it," Rose joked. "You'll sleep like a baby; and I'll likely be up half the night worrying about you and Stephanie."

"Don't do that. We'll be just fine and back to normal before you know it," Al assured her. "How has your night been? Did Gwendolyn and I miss anything exciting while we were stuck in here?"

"You were likely busier with all of the visitors," Rose suggested, "but we did have fun too – especially thanks to all of the entertainment we got from talking about everything that happened today." She looked away from her mirror and then back at Al again. "Speaking of talking; I'm supposed to give our cousins an update so why don't we both do that right now?"

"Okay," Al agreed; though Rose was already getting up by then and headed over to the table where Dominique, Molly, Lucy, and Olivia were sitting with a bunch of their friends.

"Al called me," she advised their cousins when she came to a stop between Dominique and Lucy; "so I thought it'd be easier to get that update for you while we can all talk to him – if you've got a minute to do that."

"Study break time," Lucy said enthusiastically. "How's it going, Al? Are you enjoying your weekend getaway so far?"

"Not really," he answered as Rose moved her mirror around so he could see each of his cousins. "I am having a better day than Stephanie is, though; so I can't complain too much about my own problems."

"Her day hasn't been all bad," Lucy reminded him. "She did hel her House to win the Quidditch Cup."

"She did," Al agreed; "though it might be a while before she'll appreciate that very much."

"No doubt," Dominique agreed. "Is she still sleeping?"

"Yes," Al confirmed. "Her parents have gone home, but Pauline is staying here to keep an eye on her in case she wakes up while Madam Pomfrey gets some sleep."

"So you'll be spending the night all alone in a room with two beautiful young Witches?" Dominique teased; and Al laughed.

"Yes, but I've been given a sleeping draught already; and try not to have too much fun with more jokes; since I'm already getting teased a lot about flying off with Stephanie this morning."

"We've heard a few of those jokes," Lucy advised him. "If we believe the rumors, you'd be spending the night in the hospital wing whether it had been James and Ollie blasting you – or Gwendolyn; once she caught up with you there."

"She's going to give me a break on her usual rule against me doing this like that this time," Al advised her. "Before I forget, Mum, Dad, and Lily send their love for all of you."

"How are things at home?" Dominique asked him "We've been guessing that James is giving them a rough go of it tonight."

"Lily's been dropped off to spend the wekeend with Hugo," Al answered. "Mum and Dad aren't telling me much; but that is a hint that they're not having any fun today."

"We didn't get to have a Quidditch party today, but compared to that; all of the studying we've done today seems like a party by comparison," Lucy offered.

"Speak for yourself," Molly told her. "Sometimes it feels as though the only thing we do around here is go to classes and study."

"You're the one that kept on with all of your optionals," Lucy countered. "I'm seriously considering dropping back to three or four classes next year so that I can spend more time on Quidditch and less on all of the boring work."

"You wouldn't dare!" Molly exclaimed; and Lucy laughed.

"Probably not, since Mum and Dad would lose it if I tried to do that; but it is a really nice thought to dream about."

That diversion in their chat led to other things; Louis and Noel stopped by for an update after seeing Rose with his sister and cousins; and then Rose had Al say goodnight to them before going to find a quieter place to sit so that they could have at least a bit of privacy so they could talk without being overheard.

"I talked to Mum and Dad a little while ago," she whispered; putting her mirror close to her face. "Lily's glad to be out of the house; but Mum and Dad didn't tell me anything new about what's going on at your house – though they did talk to your Dad about it for a little while before he went home again after dropping Lily off. Lily would like you to call with another update if you can do that before going off to sleep."

"I'll try; though there really isn't anything new to tell her about since she was here with Dad," Al said with a nod and shrug. "I take it that your parents haven't seen James since he got home."

"No, but your parents aren't inviting anyone to come over to help out so far; and we both can guess why they're doing that. Mum did say that she didn't think that your Mum was joking when she wanted to go with Lily for the weekend sleepover."

"No doubt," Al agreed with another nod that was more like a head bob as the sleeping draught continued to relax him – and dull the pain in his body. "If I didn't want to see everyone so much over the Easter holiday; I'd be tempted to stay here instead."

"Maybe all will be well in Potter paradise by the time we get home," Rose suggested.

"Mum and Dad are generally fairly happy, but Potter paradise was likely put on hold for them since James was born; and won't likely return again until they have the house to themselves again in another seven or eight years."

"That almost sounded like something my Dad would say," she teased. "Has this gotten you thinking about never having kids?"

"No, but I am thinking that if Gwendolyn can be an Animagus too, when we're ready to start our family, we can have them all in one litter; take care of them for two or three months; and then be done with the whole raising a family part of our lives all in one off-season."

Rose laughed in genuine amusemnt at the idea. "That's hilarious – and has me wondering if it's even possible. Would those kids be Wizards and Witches? If they were; how would they learn how to change into their human form?"

"It was just meant to be a joke; not a thought experiment, Rose. Was there any other news from home – or around the common room?"

"Nothing major that you haven't already heard about. You're looking sleep, though; so I should let you go so that you can have that mirror chat with Lily before you fall asleep."

"Alright," Al agreed easily. "I love you, Rose. See you tomorrow sometime."

"Okay. Do you want me to stop in before breakfast?"

"Let's not do that this time," he suggested. "I have no idea how long this sleeping draught will last; and there's no point in you coming here if I'll still be sleeping then."

"You'll likely be up at normal time, but I'll wait until after breakfast to visit before we go on to our morning project work time."

"Sounds good," Al agreed. "Have a good night."

"You too," Rose said before ending their chat.

Al called Lily next; had a shorter chat with her; and then put his mirror away. He and Pauline talked quietly for a while longer, but that mostly just helped to lull Al to sleep; and he wasn't really even aware of anything as he transitioned from consciousness into a deep, dreamless slumber.

"James and Ollie have just been suspended for the rest of the school year and sent home!" Scorpius advised Thomas excitedly even before he had the portrait completely out of his book bag. "Ravenclaw won their match, and right after their Seeker beat James to the snitch; he pulled his wand out and blasted her with a reductor curse!"

"Didn't the younger Potter come to the rescue?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius nodded.

"Yes, but he was too late and far away to block the curse. He did cushion her fall; he ran out onto the pitch in his Animagus form to help her by the time she landed; and then he flew her to the castle and the hospital wing before anyone else even came close to them. The stories are a bit wild around here, but that curse did destroy her broom; so maybe she did come as close to dying as the gossip network is reporting."

"James nearly killed her?" Thomas asked; sounding truly surprised now. "Simply because she beat him to the snitch?"

"Ravenclaw fairly trounced Gryffindor, so things had been going badly; but I suspect there was more to it than that. Nearly-everyone at the stadium got to hear James and Ollie yelling at the Professors after they were disarmed and bound; and they claimed that Ravenclaw had been cheating by using magic during the match; and that their team should be awarded the forfeit. They also waited until after the match to blast the players that had been cheating; so they didn't do anything wrong. Isuspect that there was more to what they were actually doing, since blasting Stephanie Boot seemed to be meant as a diversion. Once Al was busy trying to save the girl; Ollie joined in and helped James to blast Gwendolyn and Al. Their plan, if that's what is was, worked really well too – at least until a bunch of Witches and Wizards jumped in to defend Gwendolyn while Albus flew off with the girl. That's how James and Ollie ended up disarm and bind. Nobody noticed it at the time, since he didn't appear to be hurt, but we did find out for sure just now at dinner that there were three students with serious injuries and that two of them are still in the hospital wing – though they are expected to fully recover. We all saw Stephanie get blasted and knew that Gwendolyn had been hurt too because Professor Flitwick helped her out of the stadium and off to the hospital wing; so it's a safe bet that Albus is the third student – and he and Stephanie were the only students – other than James and Ollie – that weren't in the Great Hall for dinner."

"Have you heard any details about their condition?"

"We know that Stephanie is still unconscious – apparently due to the extreme healing she's already undergone to save her life. Those stories are some of the wildest; so it isn't easy to sort truth from mere speculation. As I said; I don't doubt that she was seriously hurt. The how badly really doesn't matter. Gwendolyn was in the Great Hall for dinner, but other than having a bandaged arm; she seemed well-enough. There isn't much news about Albus' injuries; though I'm sure that his friends and cousins know more about that and just aren't feeding those stories into the gossip network. Professor McGonagall didn't offer any details about the injuries for any of them."

"Finding out those details might make the entire picture more clear; but the fact that James Potter is capable of such acts is what is most-extraordinary about this news."

"I'd have said 'insane' instead of extraordinary," Scorpius disagreed. "If he'd actually killed Stephanie, Albus, or Gwendolyn right there in front of hundreds of witnesses; he'd have been expelled for sure and had his want broken. For all I know, they might even make an exception to the general rule against putting underage kids in prison and send him off to Azkaban."

"I seriously doubt they'd do that, considering how many of Harry Potter's enemies reside there now," Thomas said with a laugh. "If this was a plan as you suspect, though; do not discout the possibility that they had a viable explanation for their actions that they didn't get to use when it didn't work out."

"I suppose," Scorpius said doubtfully.

"Never underestimate the power of deception on others," Thomas told him seriously. "Witches and Wizards don't want their nice and tidy beliefs shattered; so they can be fooled into believeing almost anything to keep that from happening."

"How does that matter for this?" Scorpius asked in confusion.

"For most of your fellow students here – other than the Slytherins; Harry Potter is a hero. They'd believe almost anything to avoid the possibility that their belief and trust in him might be misplaced – even if that's through his children. Finding out that James is capable of such deeds clashes with their beliefs – which is likely part of the reason for all of the wild rumors you're hearing. Look at your own response, for instance. You think he's acted insane. If that perception is wrong, though; then what is the alternative?"

"That he isn't – and his actions were premeditated," Scorpius said with a nod. "I did suggest they had planned it, but if they haven't lost their minds; then their plan was ill-advised and foolish."

"I'd want to know what the entire plan was before making that kind of conclusion. It is just as likely that the plan was sound but they failed to pull it off – or some answer that lies in the middle. We'll likely never know; but I do know that you should more seriously consider building a relationship with the older Potter brother."

"That might be a bit difficult now that he isn't attending Hogwarts for the rest of the school year," Scorpius joked; and Thomas laughed.

"Keep you eye on the big picture, my young friend. A few months mean little in the grand scheme of things. I'm not suggesting that you become best mates next week – only that if he harbors the kind of hatred toward his brother – and possibly others in his family – that drives him to the point where he's willing to kill to get what he wants; then he is, at the very least, a potential tool for you to exploit. Harry Potter is, by all accounts, the champion and hero for all that we believe has gone wrong with the Wizarding World. If his son can help you to destroy him; then you'll have the battle more than half-won by befriending and aiding him in his own endeavors."

"It seems very ironic to me that you're suggesting that I aid one of Harry Potter's sons," Scorpius said with a laugh; and Thomas laughed too.

"There's nothing ironic about it if your goal is to use the son to destroy the father. That is, as you've pointed out, something that you cannot pursue until James returns to school again, though; so let's leave that for now. Is there any other news – or should we get straight to your next lesson?"

Scorpius told Thomas about a few other little stories from Hogwarts and elsewhere; they did a long lesson together; and then he headed back to his common room to meet up with his girlfriend to wrap up his day with a rather brilliant snogging session. When he eventually fell asleep long after Al did; he was feeling pretty good about everything that had happened – even though the feeling of dark satisfaction came entirely from the misfortune of his foes and through no personal victories. That didn't matter to him; and it was enough that the Potters – his greatest enemies – were at the heart of such nasty deeds; and that one of them was responsible for those troubles!


	20. A Hopping(Mad) Holiday and Memorable May

Chapter Twenty – A Hopping (Mad) Holiday and Memorable May

Al woke up slowly on Sunday morning, but that was a lazy ascent into consciousness; not because he was groggy or confused. When he heard a noise to his left; he opened his eyes and looked over to where Stephanie was still sleeping in the bed next to his – and Pauline was standing over her while adjusting the blankets and watching her sister with tear-filled eyes.

"She's slept through the night?" he asked Pauline softly; trying not to startle her.

"Yes, and I'm glad of that; while wishing she'd at least wake up for a few minutes so we'd at least know for sure that she'll be alright. I thought that you'd sleep longer. It's still a couple of hours before dawn."

"I usually wake up early – though that's a bit earlier than normal for me," Al said. "Have you slept at all?"

"I napped a bit here and there; but it's been a long night."

"If you'd like to go and have a nap now, I feel pretty good right now – all things considered; and can watch over Stephanie while you do that – or at least take a break and get out of here for a few hours."

"A break sounds good," Pauline admitted. "I doubt I'll be able to sleep, but going to grab a shower and get changed into clean clothes will help me to keep going. Is there anything I can get for you before I go and do that? Something to drink or a snack?"

Al looked at her speculatively; and smiled a bit ruefully. "Actually, if it won't be too weird for you; I could use a bit of help getting out of bed and over to the washroom," he answered – "though I can wait for Madam Pomfrey or Gwendolyn if that's a bit too much to ask."

Pauline laughed. "I have a twin brother, Al," she reminded him, "and you helped to save our sister yesterday; so that is definitely not too much to ask."

She came around Stephanie's bed to his; helped him to get up and hobble over to the bathroom; and then returned to help him back to his bed again once he'd finished with that unavoidable call of nature. Once that was taken care of, she kissed Stephanie's forehead; gathered up most of her things; and headed out to go to her House to get cleaned up, changed, and take a break after a very long day and night of watching over her sister. Al had moved the bed so that he could sit up in it, but he wasn't ready to do anything yet; so he simply watched over Stephanie while she slept without moving around at all or making any sounds beyond the soft whisper of her shallow breathing. He opened his mind and senses to her; and only half-consciously began to re-assess her medical condition.

There were still injuries that he could 'see' but didn't know how to fix, but he also sensed that she was slowly recovering from the strain of the healing that he and Madam Pomfrey had done on Saturday. It was seeing the awful bruises on her face that had him drawing his wand without thinking about it, and while he still needed to recover from his own injuries, he felt rested-enough to try helping her again; let his power flare out toward her; and delved in to do what he could to help her again. Beginning with the bruising, he healed them with a blast of power that infused her; but did that with a gentleness that was as miraculous as the effects of his magic would have been had anyone been in the room to witness what was happening to Stephanie. Beyond that, the infusion of magical power helped to restore her as he put his whole heart into the effort. He had no idea how long he sat there with his wand extended toward Stephanie's bed, but when he'd done all that he could; he let go of the magic and put his wand away with a sigh. He lay back and closed his eyes for a moment; focusing inward and quietly reigning in the strong emotions that had driven him to help Stephanie – the same emotions that he knew allowed him to do that kind of magic.

"I love you."

Al opened his eyes; turned his head toward her; and smiled when he saw Stephanie looking at him with an expression of tender happiness.

"I love you right back," he assured her; "though I hope we both mean that in a sister and brother, or cousins, sort of way. Your team Captain might decide to turn me into a bug otherwise."

Stephanie laughed; and then groaned softly and grimaced. "Ow. That works for me. I know what you've done for me, Al. It's like a dream; but I felt you saving me – healing me. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Al assured her; not trying to deny it when he could clearly see that she had been aware of what had happened while she was unconscious. "Try to take it easy. You still have some injuries that need to be healed; and Madam Pomfrey will need to do that for you 'cause I don't know how."

"How long have I been out?" She tried looking around the room; and then sighed when she didn't see anyone else in the other beds. "Nobody else got hurt?"

"Gwendolyn was hurt, but didn't need to stay the night here, and there were a few other students with more minor injuries that didn't need to be treated here either; but you and I are the only patients that needed to spend the night."

"What happened to you and Gwendolyn?"

"James and Ollie blasted Gwendolyn and me after hurting you, but while we both took a few hits at first; we had some cousins and friends jump in to stop them."

"Why did James do this? When I turned and saw him after catching the snitch, I was sure he'd be mad at me; but he looked enraged – and then he just blasted me." She started to shake then as the memories hit home; and Al scrambled out of his bed; hopped on one leg to her bedside; and leaned over to hug her gently just as the tears began and she started to sob into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he said soothingly. "The why isn't very nice; but you've a right to know. James attacked you so that he and Ollie could attack Gwendolyn and me while I was distracted taking care of you. I'm sure he was furious at you for kicking his butt in your Seeker duel; but it seems that they had this plan set up ahead of the match – along with justifying their attack by claiming that you and Gwendolyn cheated during the game by using repelling charms on them."

"I'd say the why is horrid,' she sobbed. "When I'm feeling better, I might just decide to take my wand and go have a little chat with them about this."

"You'll have to wait a while for that," Al advised her. "James and Ollie aren't here. They've been suspended and sent home for the rest of the year – though they may be allowed back to write their exams in June. That's something that apparently hasn't been decided yet."

"That sounds serious, and would be for most of us; but won't James and Ollie just laugh it off as geting an extra couple of months tacked on to their summer holidays?"

"They might say that to everyone, and I don't know what will happen with Ollie; but being home with Mum will not be a holiday for James. She was here yesterday, and saw what he did to you. He's lucky that he isn't spending some quality time as a bat-bogey – not just afflicted with them."

"That isn't actually possible," she advised him. "Animal Transfigurations can't be into magical creatures."

"You're right about that for magical creatures," Al agreed; "but bat bogeys aren't magical creatures – they're magical creations. It's a bit weird, maybe; but not any different than Transfiguring a Witch or Wizard into a chair or other inanimate object."

"Well, in that case; your Mum's welcome to give it a try with James if she really wants to do that," Stephanie joked. Al had straightened up and let go of her by then; and she smiled at him. "Don't blame yourself for this," she said next. "I'm sure you've been told that already; but try to believe it. You can't be responsible for anything James does just because you might be his ultimate target. I certainly don't blame you."

"I'll try, and thanks; but doing that isn't easy for me. It's probably because of something I inherited."

"Probably," she agreed. "Should we let Peter and Pauline know that I'm awake? I'm surprised that at least one of them isn't here."

"Pauline spent the night here; but she left to take a break after I woke up and promised to watch over you while she did that. I expect that Peter will be here anytime now – and have Gwendolyn with him. Pauline will be back too, though she looked really tired; so I actually hope that she takes time for a little nap first before breakfast."

"So getting her out of here for a while wasn't really all about having a chance to help me out with more healing?" she asked teasingly; and Al grinned at her.

"That did work out rather nicely for us," he agreed; and then winced as he felt pain in his foot from standing too long – even though he wasn't putting much pressure on it.

"Get back in your bed," Stephanie ordered. "Maybe you should have been trying to heal yourself instead of me."

"I think that I am working on that," Al told her as he hopped back to his own bed and got on it again. "It's different than what I did to help you, though I have injuries that I don't know how to fix too; but part of the problem for healing myself the same way might be because I have to deal with the pain too."

"The pain keeps you from focusing the magic?" Stephanie guessed; and Al nodded.

"It's definitely distracting," he agreed. "Maybe that's the way it should be; since it could end badly if I tried to do too much and lost control of the magic."

"Maybe, but I'm really glad that you could help me."

"It seemed the least I could do – even though you did help your team to beat Gryffindor yesterday and win the Quidditch Cup for Ravenclaw. Congratulations."

"The last two senior team matches won't matter?" Stephanie asked; and Al shook his head.

"Only for deciding second and third place – and they'll matter for individual awards for the senior players."

"Yeah for us," Stephanie said while trying to feign cheerfulness that she didn't really feel. "That'll be brilliant – once I'm feeling better and can get out of this bed."

"I just knew she'd wake up while Pauline and I were both away," Peter said as he and Gwendolyn walked into the room just as Stephanie was finishing her last comment. Al had sensed their approach; so he hadn't been surprised – and he smiled as he watched them walk across the room. Peter went to the far-side of Stephanie's bed and leaned over to hug and kiss her while Gwendolyn went between the beds and shared a long hug and soft, good morning kiss with him.

"Hey – cut that out!" Stephanie told them with a playful smile. "Al loves me now – and he only told me that ten or fifteen minutes ago."

"In a sister or cousin sort of way," Al added – "and considering how much of a trouble magnet I am; you might want to think about making that a very distant cousin from now on."

"That isn't a very good start for trying not to blame yourself," she advised him.

"It is funny, though," Peter added with a grin. "Welcome back to the land of the living. We've been worried about you, sis."

"It's nice to be back – except for the parts of being awake that hurt right now."

"Should I go and get Madam Pomfrey?" he asked; and she shook her head.

"No. If she had a tough time with me yesterday and is still sleeping; let her do that. I'm uncomfortable; but not in too much pain."

"Well, you sure look a lot better this morning than you did last night," he told her. "You were black and blue all over when I went back to my dorm room to get some sleep. It was supposed to be my turn to sit up with you tonight, but now that you're awake; I might not need to do that anymore."

"You should call your Mum and Dad and let them know you're awake," Gwendolyn suggested as she took a turn to hug Stephanie. "It's still early; but they'll want to know."

"I've got my mirror right here," Peter told his sister. "Let's do that. Mum was a bit of a wreck yesterday; so she'll feel better once she hears from you – even if we wake her up to do that."

While Peter called his parents, Gwendolyn turned back to Al and took the step back to his bedside. Leaning close, she whispered – "Nicely done; but you may have blown your cover when Pauline comes back and sees Stephanie with all of those bruises healed."

Al shrugged. "I couldn't stand seeing her like that. It was breaking my heart."

"And now you love her," she prodded; her attempt at a frown playful and funny.

"In a sister or cousin sort of way," he reiterated, "but yes, I love her. I love you a lot too."

"I've noticed that – and thankfully for you and me; that isn't in a sister or cousin sort of way," she teased; and he laughed.

"That does work for us," he agreed. "How are you this morning? Were you able to sleep much?"

"My arm's itchy under the bandages and there are some sore spots here and there, but other than that, I'm fine; and I slept better than I expected. You?"

"I don't remember anything from while I was sleeping, and I feel well-rested right now; but I am dealing with some pain this morning – especially in my left hip and foot."

"Can I do anything to help?" she offered, but then Gwendolyn and Al were both distracted before he could answer by the sudden commontion behind her.

"What do you mean that I look a lot better than my broom does now?" Stephanie demanded. Gwendolyn moved to stand next to her again while also leaving Al a clear view of Stephanie's face.

"Calm down," Peter warned. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"What happened to my broom?" she demanded; and Peter sighed.

"It got busted up when James blasted you," Gwendolyn advised her; saving Peter from having to break that news to his sister. "I'm sorry, Stephanie."

"Give me my wand and help me out of this bed," Stephanie demanded. "I've got a Wizard to track down and turn into a bat bogey."

"Pardon me?" Peter asked; and Al and Gwendolyn laughed.

"My Mum's idea," Al reminded him. "We talked about that a little while ago; and I think that your sister likes the idea a lot."

"You are not going to run off from school and turn anyone into a bat bogey," Padma told her daughter. Al and Gwendolyn couldn't see her because Peter had the mirror pointed at Stephanie; but they could hear both relief and a touch of amusement in her voice.

"Fine – then you go do it, Mum," Stephanie told her. "I'll settle for seeing pictures when you come to see me later – after you've taken care of that for me. What am I supposed to use for Quidditch now? That old Comet broom we have at home from when Dad first joined the Aurors? That thing is so slow compared to the Firestorms that I'll never catch another snitch."

"We've got until September to work something out," Padma told her – "and we don't even know how long it will be before you're well-enough to play again. Right now, never will be a month too-soon for me."

"I want to play in the show, Mum. This isn't going to stop me from doing that. Maybe I can share broooms with Peter and Pauline – at least until we're all on the senior team together."

"That can only be in our NEWT year," Peter pointed out; "and you and Pauline can't both play Seeker on that team."

Stephanie grinned at him. "Okay, then she can lend me her broom for the whole season and use another broom while she's on the reserve squad as my back-up."

Peter laughed. "I'm going to tell her you said that," he promised.

"Good. She'll think it's funny – and have a few years to get used to the idea."

"You sound exactly like Lily when she talks about taking over from Aunt Gabrielle as the Harpies' Seeker some day," Al told her. "Since you're both really good, though; maybe you should just think about playing Chaser that year or something instead. Pauline won't be able to show off for the scouts that year if she's on the reserve squad."

"I suppose that playing Chaser with Gwendolyn that year might be fun too," Stephanie decided. "I'll think about it."

"What was I thinking?" Al asked. "I'd be playing against that team. Forget I even suggested it!"

"Nice try, but we know you'd just love the challenge," Gwendolyn told him. She smiled at Stephanie then. "We'll figure out something for keeping you on a good broom too; so don't worry about that."

Al and Gwendolyn ended up talking with Stephanie, Peter, and their parents until Pauline came back to the room and found out that Stephanie was awake. By then, Madam Pomfrey had come to check on her – and Al – once too; and then she'd gone off to work on a potion to help Stephanie with her recovery. She'd been surprised to find her patient awake already until she also saw that the bruises had been healed; and then she'd understood that Al had once again helped Stephanie take another big step on her path toward full recovery. While Peter and Pauline stayed with their sister until right before breakfast; Gwendolyn left early so that she could go to the Great Hall and give their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends the good news about Stephanie before she'd need to sit down to eat at the Ravenclaw table.

Their second day in the hospital wing was quite different from the first for Al and Stephanie now that she was awake. Once their teen visitors were gone and having breakfast in the Great Hall, Madam Pomfrey took that opportunity to do a round of treatments and bandage changes with both of them; and then she left them to have breakfast while she went to do the same in her quarters. Padma and Terry spent most of the day with Stephanie, but Peter and Pauline split their time between visits to the hospital wing; study time with their friends; and an afternoon nap for Pauline when she needed to do that to catch up on the sleep she'd missed overnight. Harry and Ginny took turns coming for a morning or afternoon visit with Al, but kept both visits short because they had bigger problems at home with James; and Gwendolyn and Rose were making sure that Al had everything he needed while they were busy. Al and Stephanie were also each allowed a few visits from firends, but Madam Pomfrey kept those strictly-controlled and made sure that they had some rest time too.

Gwendolyn had her meals with her Ravenclaw friends in the Great Hall, and went to the library to do a bit of project research during the last half of the morning; but she spent the rest of the day with Al. She had a treatment visit with Madam Pomfrey to have her bandages changed after breakfast too, but then she studied with Al after that before going to the library; was with him for most of the friends and family visits; and watched a mirror network show while he needed a short afternoon nap. They missed out on the afternoon Chaser duel they would have normally had on Sunday afternoon, but Al was in no condition for that sort of thing; and Gwendolyn wasn't feeling well-enough to go and play without him so she just gave up the pitch time slot to their friends so that they could go out to play instead.

Madam Pomfrey did another round of treatments and bandage changes before dinner while all guests left to go and eat – including Stephanie's parents, and this time; she had Al help her out with that – and did a bit of teaching with him that helped him to help both of her patients with some healing that he'd needed to learn how to do. By then, she wasn't surprised at how quickly he caught on; though Al still managed to impress her. While both of her patients were making amazing progress, they still were still going to need ongoing care; and Madam Pomfrey was still unwilling to put a time estimate on that for Stephanie – other than to suggest that she should at least be well-enough to travel home for the holidays by Friday.

Gwendolyn brought several visitors with her from the Great Hall, but Rose, Shane, Ray, and Tory didn't stay long before moving on to an evening of couples-only entertainment that they split up to do in pairs instead of having a group mirror network watching party. Al and Gwendolyn did a bit of studying; had mirror chats with his parents, her parents and brother, and Lily and Hugo. After that, they wrote letters for home, and just for the fun of it; they switched families for that. Al wrote letters to Gwendolyn's parents and Jonah; and she wrote letters to his Mum, Dad, and Lily. While Gwendolyn had been very tempted to write a letter to James too; she didn't want to make things worse for Harry and Ginny just to have a small laugh at his expense and resisted the urge.

Stephanie's parents didn't stay as late on Sunday night after coming back to the school once they'd gone out for dinner in Hogsmeade, but they did make sure that their little girl had everything she needed for the night before leaving. Al and Gwendolyn tried to stay out of their way as much as possible; though there was interaction between the friends and families visitors for both patients that was always entertaining. Al only had Rose stop in to visit with him before curfew; she came early-enough that she could go to the Owlery with Gwendolyn to take care of Winter and send her on the way with the letters; and their timing was perfect when Madam Pomfrey wanted to do her final check of the day with Al and Stephanie before turning in for the night. Pauline and Peter had been there for a last visit before curfew with their little sister too; so they all left together. Al and Stephanie were on their own not long after that, but they'd been given sleeping draughts too; and it really wasn't much longer before they were both sleeping and off to dreamland for the rest of the night.

Life returned to normal at Hogwarts for most students during the last four school days leading up to the Easter holiday. That wasn't true for Al and Stephanie while they juggled recovering from their injuries with the studying that included keeping up with their class work while not being able to go to those classes. That turned out to be easier for both of them because Al wasn't slowed down as usual during his own classes while he also helped Stephanie with her lessons – and the one-on-one tutoring worked for her as he explained those lessons in teen talk so she didn't have to lose time translating her lessons from Professor-speak first. Having their families and friends in classes or at work helped them too; and Madam Pomfrey liked being able to spread out their treatments over more time as she did one healing session with each of them during the morning and a second round in the afternoon. She allowed Al to help again too; taught him a few more lessons on Healing; and they all had fun with that.

Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of the teens that visited the hospital wing to see Al, Stephanie, or both of them were busier because of adding those visits to their daily schedule. Rose, Gwendolyn, Peter, and Pauline all stopped in for visits each morning before breakfast; and then split up the visits during the rest of the day. Quidditch season was over for the junior teams, so Gwendolyn made up for some of that time by not having her practices to worry about, but Peter and Pauline were getting ready for their final senior team match against Gryffindor; and their team took advantage of the extra pitch time that was available now that their junior team didn't need to practice too. Gwendolyn studied with Al after last classes on Monday and Tuesday; and spent both evenings working or hanging out with him too. Stephanie had some of her firstie friends come and work with her too, but that was different for them; and Al's tutoring had helped Stephanie to get most of her assignments finished so that she ended up tutoring or helping her friends instead of the other way around.

Al had been able to limp around for short distances on his own by Monday; that improved over the next two days; and then Madam Pomfrey cleared him to go back to classes after breakfast on Wednesday morning. He still needed to be careful, and his foot in particular would still be healing for another week or two; but he was glad to be set free so that he could get back to his classes and spending time with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends. He and Gwendolyn still went to visit Stephanie after dinner on Wednesday before going to study, and Rose went with Al for a pre-breakfast visit with her on Thursday that Gwendolyn, Peter, and Pauline were all there for too; but that was the last time they needed to do that because Madam Pomfrey cleared Stephanie to leave the hospital wing in time to get cleaned up; meet her friends after last class; and hang out with them until it was time to go for dinner in the Great Hall.

Watching Stephanie get a standing ovation from three-quarters of the students in the Great Hall when she arrived there for dinner with Peter, Pauline, and her friends had been a highlight of the week for Al, and while the Slytherin students couldn't or wouldn't appreciate what she'd gone through; it was obvious that everyone else did – and that they were happy to see for themselves that she truly was recovering and going to be okay. Like Al, Stephanie wasn't completely healed yet, and she was going to need further treatment and time before she'd be completely well again, but her parents would be able to take care of her over the holidays, and while it would take longer to get home on the train; Madam Pomfrey had decided that it would be safer for Stephanie to go home with her friends instead of getting there through the Floo Network or apparating.

Without needing to do another post-dinner visit to the hospital wing; Al and Gwendolyn went straight to their study classroom with their group; but they only worked for an hour and a half or so before splitting up to go to their dorm rooms so that they could pack for the trip home. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw members of their group needed to do that because of their Astronomy class; and Al also needed time to go to the Owlery to send Winter home for the holidays. He'd have kept her at home all week, but Harry, Ginny, and Lily had sent her back with get-well-soon gifts and cards for him and Stephanie – mostly because they didn't come to visit after Sunday because they were busy-enough with work and dealing with James. Sending a letter for Lily seemed silly when he was going to be home too by Friday afternoon, but that gave Winter something to take with her; and she was glad to get to fly home instead of being cooped up in her cage on the train for half the day on Friday

Flying home actually sounded like a brilliant idea to Al, but that wasn't an option for him; so he sent Winter on his way and then went to meet up with Gwendolyn for their late-night star-gazing appointment. Staying up late for their Astronomy class wasn't the only reason Al couldn't fly home, but getting to spend that time with Gwendolyn made up for that lack of travel freedom. While they had fun on the Astronomy tower, they were tired out by the time they headed back to their respective dorm rooms, and by the time Al was finally ready for bed and able to relax and get to sleep; he could only get a handful of hours of rest before he'd need to get up and going again in time for the early breakfast and carriage rides to Hogsmeade station. Once he was out, though; he was out for the count; and slept dreamlessly until his internal alarm clock woke him right on time.

That meant that he was still among the first Gryffindor guys to wake and get ready for the day; but he took time to make sure the rest of his roommates were coming to life too before heading for the common room so that they'd all at least be on-time for the trip home even if they might still get to the Great Hall late for breakfast. He and Rose skipped their morning walk because their morning meal was sure to be on the tables early too; so they were in the Great Hall to welcome their friends as they all eventually joined them. Shane was a bit late, so after they ate, Rose went to hang out with him while Al and Gwendolyn took an early carriage ride to the station and picked out a block of compartments for their group of friends. Their own compartment mates for the trip ended up being Renee and her boyfriend, second-year Hufflepuff, Leon Branstone; and Ray and Tory. Rose and Shane were in the compartment next to where Al and Gwendolyn were sitting, so it was easy to go and visit or talk with them; but both groups were busy at first with simply getting settled in and ready for departure.

Al was dealing with mixed feelings as they left Hogsmeade Station and began the long ride to London. He really did want to be home for the holiday with his parents and Lily; but he was also fairly certain that James was not going to be fun to be around – regardless of how many times he was told that his brother might come to his senses after a week at home. With nothing else to do while also being kept away from Ollie and the rest of his friends, though; Al expected James to simply become more-entrenched – and angrier with him. Somehow, from James' perspective, his suspension was Al's fault; and maybe that was the only way he could delude himself into justifying what he'd done to Stephanie. Gwendolyn sensed how he was feeling; and tried to do her best to keep him distracted. They went for two walks with quite a few visits along the way; talked Quidditch with Ray and Tory; surfed the Wireless Web; and even had a short cuddle and semi-nap break after having their lunches and some of the treats they'd picked up from the trolley.

All of that did keep them busy-enough; and their arrival at King's Cross actually seemed to be early instead of drawn-out and overdue. Getting out of the train wasn't quick, but it was easy because Gwendolyn made them wait to make sure that Al didn't accidentally get re-injured; so they sat and waited for the first mad dash for the exits to subside before joining the more-orderly flow of traffic once the students that were in the biggest hurry were out and on their way home. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane were all together when they got off of the train; but Rose went with Shane to meet up with his parents first while Al and Gwendolyn made their way over to Ginny, Angelina, and Kirley. They had Lily, Hugo, Roxanne, and Jonah with them; but Al wasn't surprised that James either hadn't wanted to come along or hadn't been invited. When he got a good look at his mother, Al wanted to cry at what he saw on her face and in her eyes. She'd obviously had a very bad week; and he hugged her tightly once they were finally together.

"I love you, Mum," he said quietly. "Would you like to hop on the train and go wherever it's heading next?"

"Not when we've just gotten you home," she assured him; and then smiled tiredly. "I might be interested in going along with you next Sunday, though. Do you think the Headmistress could use the extra help until June?"

Al laughed. "I'm not sure if she'll need less because of the slight drop in the student population; or more because Mr. Filch and Mr. Jigger might need the extra help without their two most-frequent detention chores helpers."

"Their jobs are likely easier without trying to keep James and Ollie working," Ginny advised him. "Are you ready for the holidays?"

Al shrugged. "That depends on whether we'll have the brilliantly fun holiday where James has done a one-eighty and become the amazing big brother I've always dreamed of having; or the the not-so-great one where I'm still the bane of his existance; and everything bad in his life, including what happened last weekend, is all my fault and I should be the one getting kicked out of school – and preferably tossed in Azkaban for good measure."

"Did you only pretend to send Winter last weekend, and that was you in the house with us on Monday?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"That might have been fun; but I was in all of my classes on Monday." He sighed and hugged her again. "I'm really sorry that you've had a tough week. If there's anything I can do to help; I will."

"Thanks, and I know," Ginny assured him. She smiled at Gwendolyn as she waited for her hug next. "No, Al can't come and spend the entire week with you; but we might allow a sleepover or two while you're home."

"Okay," she agreed while stepping in for her hug; "but we should have a great week if you turned James into a bat bogey and he's just hanging out in a jar on the shelf somewhere."

"I voted for a week as a bat bogey in the nose of a troll," Lily told them with a grin; "but Dad wouldn't let Mum have any fun."

"Considering the stories in the news; I'm not surprised," Al offered. "I don't think we need to guess how reporters like Rita Skeeter got her hands on the story about James and Ollie, but since they did; the last thing that Dad needs is more fuel for those hacks to toss on the fire."

"Unfortunately, this was news; and some of the bad press was deserved," Ginny told him seriously. "I wish that wasn't the case for our kids, but it comes along with being part of our family. That isn't a problem when it's good news; but it can be fairly awful when it's something bad."

"Not to mention when the stories are just completely made up about us," Angelina added. "Did Fred make it onto the train, Al? I haven't seen him yet."

"Maybe he's still busy snogging his girlfriend goodbye," Roxanne suggested with a giggle that Lily joined in for.

"He was near the other end of the train from us," Al advised his aunt. "He's likely fighting the flow of traffic – or is still looking for us."

"Stay here, Roxanne," Angelina told her. "I'll head that way and try to meet up with him while you wait here for Rose and Louis."

"I'm here already," Louis answered as he came from the other direction. Angelina waited for a couple of moments to hug him; and then she headed toward the other end of the platform.

"You didn't say anything about meeting up with us at the station," Al told him; and Louis shrugged.

"I didn't really think about it. Since Dominique's staying at Hogwarts to study for her sixth-year exams with Molly, their friends, and most of the OWL and NEWT studetns; I'm just going to meet Mum and Dad at Gringotts. I'm only with you until we get to Diagon Alley – though I'll probably go along to Uncle George's store to say hello to him while I'm there. He's likely working tomorrow, and it's an 'away' Easter for our family this year; so I might not see him much while we're home."

"We'll be stopping in too," Ginny told him – "and for the same reason; though you'll see him at Fred's birthday party on Tuesday if you're going to be there for it."

"You're allowed to bring a date," Roxanne told him with a grin. "Have you asked anyone?"

"No, but I'll ask Noel to come along if we're going to be there for more than a drop-in visit," he promised. "How about you, Al? Do you have a date for Fred's party?"

"Gwendolyn, would you like to go with me to Fred's birthday party next Tuesday?" Al asked and answered; earning more giggles from Roxanne and Lily and a hug and kiss from Gwendolyn.

"Absolutely," she assured him. "I'll have to get parental approval; but I doubt we have any plans on a work day."

"Nothing that can't be moved to another day," Kirley told her. "Consider that done."

Rose joined them then; the hugs continued; and then they all headed toward the platform exit and collected Angelina and Fred along the way. They went straight to the Leaky and on into Diagon Alley from King's Cross; and then their first stop was at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah had stayed with them to that point, and they wandered around the store once there; but that was when Al and Gwendolyn needed to say their goodbyes – and get teased by George about getting lip-lock lipstick on them – a joke that he used frequently; and always seemed to generate more sales of his Wonder Witch products. After a short visit with George; Ginny only had Al and Lily with her because Ron was going to pick Rose up at the wheezes store when he got back from helping out at the Hogsmeade store with a batch of rush Easter wheezes mail orders that needed to get sent out for overnight delivery by Owl Post. They made a couple of stops along the way back to the Leaky; stopped for another short visit there with Hannah; and then took the Floo Network home. The holiday fun came to a screehing halt for Al the moment the arrived because James was playing video games in the sitting room; he jumped up as soon as they arrived; and started a verbal rant that was about as bad as Al had expected things to be with him.

"Did you get a hero's welcome at King's Cross, loser?" James asked with a dark sneer and hatred in his eyes. "It's no wonder that you're so happy now that you've managed to get Ollie and me kicked out of school. You should have been the one to be sent home – not to mention that you deserve to have your wand snapped and then be sent on to Azkaban for everything you've done to me!"

"I got a couple of hugs and kisses from our Mum and Aunt at the station," Al answered; "and you can't put this one on me. All I did last Saturday was keep you from killing Stephanie."

"Bull!" James shouted. "You made that up – or did it to her yourself after you left the stadium just to get me in trouble! I barely did anything to her!"

"You destroyed her Firestorm," Al pointed out. "Do you really think that's possible without seriously hurting the person sitting on it? Guess what? You're wrong about that. You crushed her even worse than the broom." Al was getting angry now too; and took a deep breath that didn't calm him at all. "You must have been told how badly she was hurt, James. Blame me for everything bad in your life if you must. I don't really care anymore if you do that, and it's likely the only way you can justify nearly killing Stephanie just so that you'd have a chance to hurt Gwendolyn and me, but from now on, if you want to blast me; come and do it – and leave everyone else out of this vendetta of yours. Stephanie did nothing to you to deserve what you did to her – not that I think that anyone could do something bad-enough to deserve that; and neither did anyone else you've hurt this year while trying to hurt me."

"You want me to blast you?" James yelled; infuriated again now as he stormed toward Al. "Fine!"

He was already swinging by then; aiming for the head. Al saw the small shield charm spring to life in front of James' fist, but it was only big-enough to cover the front of his fisted hand; so he side-stepped the blow and stepped back as James followed up with a punch aimed at his stomach. He didn't see that shield, but he sensed it; and the second punch stopped just short of hitting him. The third punch was the last one that James threw at him because Lily used her charm bracelet and put a shield up in front of Al to protect him. James howled in pain and rage as his shield hit Lily's; but he had no choice but to step back too because he couldn't get at Al anymore.

"Those are nice little shield charms," Al told him conversationally. "They're a bit small for defense; but perfect for what you wanted. Thanks, Lily."

"You're welcome," she assured him; though she was glaring at James and still had the shield in place between her brothers. "Are you going to play nice, James?"

"No, I'm not," he retorted hotly. "Al's the problem here. He's always been the problem; and the rest of you are just too stupid to see that!"

"Well, if all you want is to plead your case to someone smarter than us; let's invite Aunt Hermione over," Lily suggested sweetly, but with just a tinge of malice. "She's the brightest Witch of her generation; so I'm sure she'll understand your brilliant point of view."

"The smarter they are; the easier they are to con," James retorted. "Everyone knows that."

"I think that's a no to my suggestion," Lily decided. "How long will this shield charm keep working?" she asked Al.

"It will stay there for as long as you can keep focused on it."

"That doesn't sound like fun. Why don't you put your toys away, James; and I'll stop using mine?"

"You can both stop," Ginny told them. She'd let the scene play out in the hope that something good might come of it; but that was obviously not going to happen. "Al's home for the holidays, James; and you're not going to fight the entire time he's here – or else."

"Or else what?" James demanded derisively. "Will you keep me from going back to school for the rest of the term? Ban me from hanging out with my best mate and the rest of our friends? Oh, I know – you could ground me and keep me prisoner here! That's a great idea, Mum – except it's too late for that already too." He paused for the drama moment. "I'd say there's nothing more you can do to me that Al hasn't already gotten all of you to do to me."

"She could change you into a bat-bogey," Lily suggested. "then the rest of us could go on a holiday adventure in search of a troll for you to have a nose big-enough to hang around in for a month or two."

"I'll head up to my room, Mum," Al told her while trying not to laugh at Lily's suggestion. "I need to unpack anyway." He'd looked at her for a moment; and then back to James. "Do you want the sitting room until dinnertime? I can stay in my room and the kitchen – and out of your way."

"Why don't you turn yourself into a fish, do me a favor, and flush yourself down the toilet?" James retorted.

"That's funny, but gross; so I'll pass," Al told him. "Will we need to start making dinner soon; or will Dad be working late?" he asked Ginny.

"He should be home on time unless something comes up; and we don't need to cook. Your father is bringing food home with him."

"Of course he is," James said scathingly. "Nothing but the best for the perfect loser."

Ginny laughed; but not really with true amusement. "We thought you'd be pleased; considering how bad the prison food has been around here since you got home last weekend. Your father isn't picking up our dinner from out of the garbage bins out back of the Leaky, so it's a safe bet that what he is getting for us will be at least that much of an improvement over what I've been cooking for you."

"It won't matter if it's the finest food in the country," James declared dismissively. "Having to put up with looking at Al – not to mention the stench of him – is enough to spoil any meal."

"Well, it's only take-out Chinese food from our favorite restaurant for that, but you'll have to find a way to survive the torture of having dinner with us; because we will be doing that as a family whether you're happy about it or not."

"I'll pick hate it and you'll regret forcing me to do it," James promised. Ginny sighed and shook her head.

"I love you, James; but you are seriously trying my patience this week."

"Good. Let me out of here; and you won't have that problem anymore."

"No," Ginny told him flatly. "Escape into your video games until dinnettime. We're not going to have this same fight over and over again."

"You wish; not gonna happen," James assured her. "I'd rather live in a cave than with Al – or the rest of you as long as you continue to fall for his lies and tricks."

"And on that note; I'll be off to my room," Al said; turning and heading toward the stairs. Lily had dropped her shield as ordered, but when James lunged at his back; Al spun to the side; and James fell to the floor when his attempt at tackling Al missed completely.

"James Potter – that's enough!" Ginny yelled as he jumped to his feet and rounded on Al again. She grabbed his shoulder; and he tried to take a swing at her. Al grabbed his wrist while his arm was still pulled back, though; and he squeezed until he had James' attention.

"Do not ever try to hit our Mum again," he warned icily. He twisted James' wrist for emphasis; and then let go. "I can't believe that you haven't turned him into a bat bogey by now," he told Ginny. "You should get an Order of Merlin for that much patience."

"More like an award for being blind and stupid when it comes to you," James declared. "I was just trying to knock some sense into her."

"Go sit down or up to your room before I decide to try doing that to you," Ginny told him ominously. She drew her wand and pointed it at him when he glared at her and was about to offer a retort. No sound came out; and he started to turn red in the face as his anger flared even hotter. "Now, James!" she ordered. "Take your pick – your room – or go back to your gaming until dinner is on the table." He stormed over to the sofa he'd been sitting on and flopped into it hard-enough to move it backward a couple of inches. "Okay, now we'll get out of the way of your foul mood and leave you to it," she added while waving Al and Lily to leave the room with her.

She waited until they were in the hallway before removing the silencing spell on James; and waved Al and Lily to head upstairs while she went out to the kitchen. They did that; and Lily went into Al's room with him. She sat on his bed while he put his Quidditch bag on the floor in his closet and the other bag with his clothes and everything he needed for his holiday revision on the desk so he could start unpacking it.

"Has it been this bad all week?" he asked her quietly.

"Probably worse on the weekend. That's why Mum and Dad wouldn't let me come home until dinnertime on Monday. It hasn't been like that since I've been back; but he's been awful to all of us – complaining about everything; insulting us; and ranting about you every chance he gets. Are you sure that you didn't Imperius him and force him to attack Stephanie?"

"Has he accused me of that too?" Al asked; and Lily shook her head.

"No, but I'm surprised that he hasn't; since he's accused you of pretty much everything else. He has claimed that the Veritaserum forced him and Ollie to take the blame for everything when they were really only sticking up for themselves against a bunch of cheats and liars."

Al sighed. "This is going to be a very long week," he predicted. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Mum and Dad are going to try to get you and James to work things out while you're here, though from what just happened; I think that's unlikely to go well. They didn't want to tell you about everything that's been going on around here while you were still at school and recovering either; so I'm sure you'll find those stories entertaining – in a horror movie sort of way."

"I thought as much," he said with a nod; "though I expected that was because they didn't want to talk about it with James around."

"This is so ridiculous," Lily declared next. "Somewhere way down deep James has to know that what he did to Stephanie – and what he and Ollie did to you and Gwendolyn – was horrid and cruel. How can he hate you so much that he refuses to even admit that to himself?"

"I imagine this has been building since the day I was born – if not before that while Mum was pregnant with me. From his perspective, I've been messing things up for him from the moment he didn't get to have all of Mum and Dad's attention anymore; and it's gone downhill from there."

"This is a bit more of a response than seems appropriate because he's still mad that he had to share Mum and Dad with you – and because you've had the audacity to be a good, happy kid."

"True, but that's still how he feels; and he'll keep trying to tear me down until he believes he's won – which means that he's proved he's the better Wizard."

"This isn't going to be a long week – it's going to be a long decade," Lily joked; and Al smiled.

"We'll see. Nobody can stay that mad all of the time indefinitely; and I'll put my money on Mum and Dad to work something out with him eventually."

"I am so tempted to take that bet," Lily said with a laugh.

"Our parents are fairly talented, and have been through worse," Al pointed out; and Lily laughed again.

"They didn't love the Dark Lord and his followers. This is completely different – even though James isn't very lovable right now."

"We all still love him – even when we don't like him very much."

"Do you really still love him?" Lily asked seriously. "Sometimes I wonder if I do – and I'm not sure if I could still love him if he ever hurts me the way he's hurt you just over the past two months."

"Yeah, I do – and can," Al assured her earnestly. "That isn't easy right now; but love is just a word if you only mean it in the good times."

"Are you sure that you're only twelve?" she asked.

"I'm almost thirteen," he reminded her. "I haven't wanted to bother Mum and Dad while they've been busy this week. Why don't you tell me about anything you've heard we'll be doing over the holidays? I think that we've talked about James enough for a while."

Lily did that while he unpacked his bag; and then they went downstairs to hang out in the kitchen with Ginny. Since they weren't cooking dinner, that included sitting at the table and talking some more about their holiday plans. Other than the Quidditch matches on both Saturdays, a dinner at the McCormacks on Saturday, and Easter at the Burrow on Sunday; they didn't have much else planned at all – mostly because of James. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had tentatively set up study days on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Ginny approved hosting them; but Al didn't take that any further by making any mirror chat calls when he'd be able to talk with some of their friends – and with Gwendolyn and Rose – at the game on Saturday anyway. Harry got home from London fifteen minutes early even after the extra stop to pick up their dinner; Al and Lily set the dining room table while Harry and Ginny got the food ready to serve in bowls and on platters; and then James was all but dragged into the dining room and ordered to sit and have dinner with his family.

"Okay, I'm here," James snapped angrily. "Are you going to shove this stinking garbage you call food down my throat too; or will I only be force-fed all of the stories about the perfect loser here – not that I need you to do that. I already know how great he's doing at school with his perfect marks; how great the Quidditch teams are doing that he's helped to cheat so that he could mess things up for me and my team all season; and how he's a hero for framing me and getting me suspended."

"You're only one for three," Al told him. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw did not cheat in their matches against your team – they were just way better; and quit trying to blame me for what you did to Stephanie, Gwendolyn, and me. I was there and still have some of the bandages to prove it; so save that garbage you're spewing for someone who might believe it."

"Says you," James retorted. "It's convenient that you took off with Stephanie before anyone else could see whether she was even hurt at all, and you were obviously well-enough to do that; so I'd say that my version of the story is way more plausible than yours."

"You need to stop that, James," Harry told him. "We all know what really happened last Saturday; and continuing to pretend otherwise now is just childish – especially when your claims are so easily disproved. Whether you intended it or not; you nearly killed Stephanie – and seriously-injured Al and Gwendolyn. Your brother and Madam Pomfrey saved Stephanie's life. I've had enough of this; and it's past-time for you to take responsibility for what you did instead of trying to blame Al when he not only saved Stephanie; but likely saved you as well."

"Now who's telling lies?" James said in disgust. "Al's the reason I've been suspended; and you're a bunch of hypocrites."

"Al's the reason you didn't get expelled and have your wand snapped. What do you think would have happened to you if she'd died? For Merlin's sake, James; what is it going to take to get through to you about this?"

"Since Al's the one that really hurt her, not me; I'd say that he'd deserve whatever he got if she'd died – just as he deserves everything that's been done to me and Ollie times ten for doing it and then pinning the blame on us! Where was all of this outrage last year when Al put all of those Slytherins in the hospital wing?" James demanded. "Why wasn't he expelled and his wand broken for that?" He snorted and scowled at Al. "Did any of that happen to him? No, because he and Gwendolyn got away with another bunch of lies that everyone fell for; and they were praised and patted on the heads for what they did to the Averys and their buddies. I guess Slytherin kids don't matter as much as your friends' kids do. Ditto that for what he's done to the Harpers. It's amazing how easy it is for him to blast Slytherin players for supposedly cheating without getting into trouble; but when Ollie and I do the exact same thing to defend ourselves from real, proven cheaters; we get the book thrown at us!"

"Fill your plate and start eating, please," Harry said with a frustrated, annoyed sigh. "Maybe that'll give you something to do instead of spouting off more nonsense like that."

"You have to say it's nonsense," James shot back. "If you admitted I was right; then you'd have to admit that the perfect loser stinking up the room over there is the out-of-control Wizard that needs to be put down like the dog he is instead of treating him like the greatest Wizard to ever walk the face of the earth."

"How was your day at the Ministry?" Ginny asked Harry. "Mine's been a bit of a horror around here."

"Really? I'd have never guessed," Harry joked. "I was in meetings half the day and putting up with the usual politics most of that time. By the way, Al – Teddy says 'hello' and he'll see you at the game tomorrow. He's at Shell Cottage with Victoire tonight."

"Of course he is," James agreed. "It's nice to know he hasn't asked you to say anything to me – or come over for a visit. I have been home for a week now."

"You haven't exactly been good company since getting home," Harry pointed out; "and I seriously doubt that you'd want to hear what he'd like to say to you. He's no happier about what you did last weekend than anyone else in our family is."

"Of course not; since he believes everything you tell him. Nice job creating another brainless clone for your little army of Auror-thugs."

"Are the Harpies in on this grand conspiracy of yours too?" Lily asked him. "You might want to look into that; since there are some Harpies' family kids on the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams. Madison has connections to the Arrows and United teams too; so maybe the entire league is out to get you!"

"James, Ollie, and Fred are kids of Harpies or United players too," Al pointed out. "How does that fit into your conspiracy theory?"

"Self-destructive tendencies for James and Ollie?" Lily offered. "I haven't heard anything bad about Fred's Quidditch play; so maybe he just isn't involved in the conspiracy yet."

"He could be a sleeper agent," Al suggested. "Are you in on it too? You seem to know a lot about it."

Lily grinned at him. "My role doesn't start until after I graduate from Hogwarts. When James and I are both in the show – assuming he's allowed to play instead of just blocking him from getting a job in the first place; I'm supposed to win every Seeker duel the Harpies have against his team."

"Do you know which team the league will have him on – if they let him play?" Al asked next.

"I was leaning toward the Catapults this year, since they could really use the help these days, but after last Saturday; the Falcons might be the only team that'll take him unless he smartens up."

"Thanks a lot," James said in disgust. "The Catapults are nearly as bad as the Cannons this year; and the Falcons are just a bunch of thugs on brooms."

"Wouldn't that perfectly describe how you and Ollie played hast weekend?" Lily countered. "Do you even know that the girls on the other teams at your school say that you and Ollie are even worse than the Slytherin players?"

"That's just more of Al's lies that you're falling for," James said dismissively; and she shook her head.

"Al's never talked with me about it at all. I hear those stories through the Witches' gossip network – and that sort of thing gets back to younger sisters and cousins and makes the rounds with us too. If you don't want to stop doing things like you did to Stephanie and Gwendolyn last Saturday for any other reason; do it because you'll soon find it impossible to find any Witches at Hogwarts willing to have anything to do with you. Four more years with no snogging or dating should be enough to scare any teen Wizard."

"More like scare any Wizard of any age," Harry joked with a grin for Ginny. "I know that I'd be a wreck after a week of no snogging with your Mum."

"Gross! Now you're making me want to puke too – as if having to be this close to the Metamorphpotty isn't bad enough," James told him. "You're making all of that up, Lily," he added. "Any Witch worth having would be lucky to hook up with me – and they all know it."

Lily shrugged. "Believe it or not; and I guess it doesn't matter anyway. If you keep on like you are when they let you go back to Hogwarts again; you'll just be expelled next time. There won't be many chances for dating or snogging any Witches if you're being home-schooled after that."

"As if Al won't make sure that happens anyway," James accused. "The only thing that I won't know is whether he'll make that happen right away; or try to make my life a living hell for most of the next school year first – like he did this year."

"I wasn't on the team this year; we don't have the same clases; and I hardly spend any time in the Gryffindor common room," Al pointed out. "If you'd simply leave me, Gwendolyn, Rose, and our friends alone; you'd hardly ever even see me around the castle except for at meals in the Great Hall – and we sit as far apart as possible at the Gryffindor table. Give that a try next year; and you might find out that you like it – especially since getting anywhere hear me makes you feel like puking."

"Right – because I don't get you thrown in my face over and over again every day of my life," James retorted. "Everyone wants me to be more like the total loser that is you."

"I'd settle for you not being a total git anymore," Lily told him with a grin; "and the last thing I want is another brother just like Al. One will be tough enough to follow after at Hogwarts. Mum and the younger half of our uncles know what that's like – and they had three over-achiever big brothers."

"Plus one of them was a hippogriff-sized git for about a decade before he came around," Ginny added. "When I think about it; the fact that he most-hated the uncles – his brothers – that you like best is fairly ironic and amusing."

"Why is that ironic or amusing?" James asked. "Al's just like Uncle Perfect Percy."

Ginny laughed. "The only thing Al has in common with Percy is that his brothers pranked and razzed him mercilessly too. Al's smart as well, but then so are you and Lily – if in your own ways; but he doesn't have anything else in common with Percy at all. The ironic, for me, is that you're the one that sounds exactly like Percy when you talk about Al. It's very strange for me to see what George and Percy might have been like if they'd been rolled up into one brother."

"Do you think that imagined brother would prank himself?" Harry asked; and Ginny laughed again.

"Thanks for that mental picture," she told him. "I'm envisioning Percy when he was a Prefect taking points from Gryffindor for something he did to himself."

"Or taking points away from kids for being good," Harry offered – "and awarding them for best pranks and jokes."

"You guys are freaks," James declared. That wasn't said with any malice for a change, though; and he had to fight letting a grin show on his face. From what he was sensing; Al fervently hoped that James would never be made a Prefect so that he could put those ideas into practice.

"They're parents," Lily observed. "We're supposed to think they're weird."

James' return to semi-civility was short-lived; but they managed to get through the rest of dinner before he went off the deep end again and then was allowed to storm off to his room for the rest of the night while Al and Lily took care of the clean-up that was simple thanks to the take-out meal. The order to help with that job had been enough to get James yelling about child slavery and moving on to his imprisonment and psychological torture. He stayed in his room while Harry, Ginny, and Lily had a long chat with Al in the sitting room, but after that; Al was ready to head for bed – and James headed for the sitting room within a couple of minutes of hearing Al's door close behind him. Once he was ready for bed, Al had a mirror chat with Gwendolyn; he read a book for a while; and then he was first in the house to be sleeping – and was doing that long before James went up to bed in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Al was awake as early as usual at Hogwarts; and a lot earlier than he needed to be awake for their plans for Saturday morning. He'd dreamed during the night about his problems with James; and thinking about them kept him distracted while he showered; put a fresh bandage wrap on his foot; got ready for the day; and then went down to the kitchen to get a drink and sit down to wait for his father to join him there when it was time to start making breakfast. The message in those dreams was clear to him; but how to get there from where he was with James at the moment was something else completely. He hadn't made any real progress with that by the time he started helping out with the cooking, and when James was ordered out of his room to join them for the meal; the breakfast-time rants were hardly a sign of imminent reconciliation.

James stormed off after demolishing two plates full of food that he insisted was terrible and that Al had likely poisoned and would kill him by the end of the day; but he left with orders to get ready for the day while Ginny, Al, and Lily took care of the clean-up and Harry took his own turn hitting the shower and the rest of the normal morning routine. When Harry returned to the kitchen, he had James physically in tow; and then he and Ginny led their sons to the office for 'a talk' while Lily was set free to go and play while they did that. Once they were in the office and Harry had sealed the room from any attempt Lily might make to listen in; he put four chairs in a small, close circle; and had James and Al sit across from each other while he and Ginny did the same – and had them separated.

"Let me guess – we're going to talk this all out and everything will be all better again!" James said with a derisive snort.

"That seems better than your plan to make our lives miserable for some indefinite period of time," Ginny told him. "Why don't you start by telling us what it'll take for you to stop attacking innocent students in your attempts to hurt Al?"

"Why bother? Your question is just a set-up in the first place; since I haven't hurt any innocent Witches or Wizards – only defended myself against a bunch of dirty rotten cheats. The only reason I'm in trouble at all is because you all believe Al's lies instead of the truth from me and Ollie."

"You know what really happened last Saturday, James, and so do we; so stop playing these silly games. This has gotten far too serious for that. The two of you will be at Hogwarts for your final four years there; you will both be living here at home together; and we need to come up with a way for that to work for all of us."

"No, we don't," James disagreed spitefully. "If you really want to make things better, then let me leave home – or throw the loser out instead. One of us sees him for what he is; I'm not going to back down and let him get away with it; and you can't make me get along with him."

"For the umpteenth time, we are not going to let you run away from home; and we will not be kicking Al out either," Ginny told him. "We are going to work this out somehow, though; and it would be better for all of us if we do that sooner instead of later."

"That would be nice for you," James said with a snort. "Let me guess – all I have to do is promise to be nice; never stand up for myself against the stinking, rotten, cheating loser and his scumbag friends; and spend the next four years pretending to be a good little clone. That'd be a waste of time for me; since Al will just find ways to get rid of me anyway."

"Do you realize that you're telling us that Al is the one that wants everything we see you trying to do to him?" Harry asked. "What do you think about that, Al?"

Al smiled ruefully. "Sometimes, like this past week; I'd be okay with it if one of us moved out – and we weren't at the same school. That doesn't mean I don't still love James, though – only that I'm tired of all of the fighting. The recovery time over the past couple of months hasn't been much fun either."

"You're such a liar – and those injuries are self-inflicted as far as I'm concerned. That flashover burn was your own fault; and I'd say you didn't get near what you deserved for what you did last weekend between the cheating and what you did to Stephanie."

"I'd be happy to show you the memories I have of everything you did to Stephanie and Gwendolyn,' Al offered; and James barked out a derisive laugh.

"As if I'd believe any memories from you. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that you've used memory charms on the lot of us."

"That's a brilliant theory – except I'd love to know how I managed to plant those memory charms with Mum and Dad without being anywhere near them until after you were sent home last Saturday – and I was nowhere near Ollie's parents at all. Even if I could do that, James; why wouldn't I just go all the way and make sure that you and Ollie believe those supposedly-planted memories? If I can overpower some of the strongest Witches and Wizards in the world; then that should be simple-enough to do too."

"Probably," James agreed; "but you don't just want to get rid of me – you want to humiliate me too. What better way to do that than this?"

"Well, for one; I'd pick a way that didn't have me spending so much time in the hospital wing," Al told him seriously; though he was grinning and knew that his parents had to work to keep from laughing at his answer. "You're not going to believe anything I say, though; so maybe we should try something else instead."

"Okay," James agreed. "Let's try having you turn yourself into a bug and then I'll stomp you into a smear on the floor. That would solve all of our problems – including putting you out of my misery."

"That's a bit too permanent a solution for me," Al joked. I was thinking about talking Quidditch instead. You want to play in the show more than anything, don't you? No matter how much you hate me; that won't happen if you get kicked out of Hogwarts or keep having lousy Quidditch matches because you're more interested in finding a way to hurt me than in winning."

"That's not true!" James retorted. "You helped Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw cheat; and that's the only reason they beat my team!"

"Come on, James," Al retorted mildly. "You can't honestly sit there and tell me that Andy, Orlando, Romeo, Kira, and Anna were the best players you could get in our House – or that they're better than their counterparts on the other teams. You beat G-Air in your match against Slytherin. Everyone else on your team got pounded in all three matches with the possible exceptions of Fred and Brock. You kept the best players you could have had off of the team just to try and hurt me – and Rose and Ray. Do you think you'd have gotten a single job offer with any of the league teams if this had been your NEWT year?"

"The three of you would have never fit on my team – and you're lousy players too. Everything else you just said is dumb; since any team in the show would be lucky to have me right now."

"You really believe that I'm that lousy?" Al asked; and James snorted out a laugh.

"Why wouldn't I? It's true."

"Would you like to make a little wager on that?" Al asked then; and James looked at him suspiciously.

"What kind of bet?"

"How about a best-of-five Seeker duel – right now. If I win; when we can play Quidditch on the same team again the year after next; you'll leave me alone and just let me do what I can to help our team – and that'd help you to win games and get noticed by the league scouts."

"A Seeker duel? With you? Don't make me laugh!"

"If I'm as lousy as you claim; then you have nothing to worry about," Al shot back.

"What's in it for me when I win – if I agree to this idiocy?"

Al thought about that for a moment; and then smiled. "I won't try out for any team you're going to be on – which would be my fourth to sixth years; since I can play next season while you move up to the senior team."

"What's the catch?" James asked; still obviously suspicious.

"No catch – and if I win; none of us will even mention the bet or duel to anyone. If you win; feel free to brag about it to everyone."

"You're up to something. I know it," James accused.

"Yeah, I am," Al agreed. "We're two of the best players at Hogwarts; we both want to play in the show some day; and I think that we can help each other to get there. Prove that I'm not as good as I think that I am; and I'm willing to stay out of your way and let you have at it. I'll still have a chance at showing off to the scouts in my NEWT year after you graduate – and I can do that with Lily as our Seeker as easily as I can do that with you."

James laughed raucously at that. "You really are delusional. Okay – you're on!"

Al stood up. "Okay, I'll go and get my broom and meet you out at the pitch."

"Right now?" James asked; and Al shrugged.

"Would you rather sit here and keep talking about our problems all morning; or go outside and try to best me at a Seeker duel?"

"When you put it that way; fine – let's go."

Harry and Ginny were both a bit amazed at where their attempt at a counseling session had gone; and they also had to hide their amusement. They'd soon find out whether Al's offer would make things better or worse between the two boys; but they were willing to try anything at this point. While Al and James went to get their brooms; Harry and Ginny went outside; let Lily know what was going on; and got the snitch out of the Quidditch set before heading out to the pitch. When James and Al joined them a few minutes later, James looked arrogant and confident; and Al just looked calm, determined, and ready to have some fun.

"How are we going to do this without Mum, Dad, or Lily helping you out with a toss in your favor?"

Al shrugged and smiled. "You toss it and do a countdown before we can take off," he offered. Take your pick on how long the countdown is too."

"Okay. I'll count down from five and we go on one," James told him. "Prepare to be embarrassed."

Ginny handed him the snitch, he and Al walked out to center pitch; and then James tossed the snitch into the air. His countdown started slowly; but then the space between two and one was rushed and he laughed derisively as he took off. He was still laughing until he realised that Al wasn't trying to catch up to him at all; but was instead blasting away in the opposite direction. He swung around and took up the chase, but he'd barely closed half of the distance between them when he saw Al reach out and grab the snitch!

"That's one for me," Al told him conversationally after he'd swung around and they'd gotten close-enough for James to hear him. "Do you want to take short breaks after each catch or just keep going?"

"How did you do that?" James demanded.

"I watched the snitch while you did the countdown. Didn't you?"

"You tricked me!"

"I didn't; but can do the countdown for the next one if you'd like – though I can count and look for the snitch at the same time; so that'd just give me the take-off advantage knowing exactly when I'd get around to saying one."

"I'll keep doing the countdown," James said acidly. "Let's go again."

They landed; Al handed the snitch to James; and he immediately tossed it again and began counting down more quickly – until he got to two; and then he waited and waited while expecting Al to 'cheat' by taking off early. That didn't happen; so he finally shouted 'ONE' as he took off. He still hadn't spotted the snitch again, but even though Al had; James had headed in the right direction this time. Al followed until James looked back to make sure he had; and then spun away from him and headed on an angle that was upward and to James' left. He turned and raced after Al too; but when James was about to try a hard hit on him; Al did a horizontal one-eighty that had James missing him entirely; he headed back toward where the snitch had actually begun following them; and he caught it before James even got turned around.

"That's two," Al told his brother.

"You're cheating!" James accused; and Al laughed.

"No, I'm just not holding back the way I always did when we used to do this as kids. Time to step it up, James. You need to win the last three now."

""You're lying – and cheating," James accused again.

"I know you hate this, but why don't you consider the possibility that I'm not cheating," Al suggested. "How good will your senior Quidditch teams be with me playing on them? How easy will it be for you to win your Seeker duels if your Chasers can take all of the pressure off by getting the one-sixty leads for you?"

"If you're so bloody good; what's to stop you from playing Seeker?"

"That one is easy, James. I don't want to be a Seeker. I love playing Chaser – or at least I do when I have two other Chasers that want to play as a team. It wasn't much fun with Ollie last year – though if he'd actually give that a try; he'd do a lot better than he did in his first three seasons too."

"You're just messing with me," James declared stubbornly. "You set me up again!"

"I did," Al agreed; "and that was easy because you refuse to accept that Lily and I have at least as much talent for Quidditch as you do. You're not going to be ready to beat the best Seekers in the league by practicing against players like Patricia. Did you ever see Mum ask Aunt Hermione to have Seeker duels with her when she played for the Harpies while Aunt Gabrielle was off having her kids? Let's be honest, James. That's basically what you did this season."

"I did not!" James disagreed; but without any real conviction.

"Patricia didn't beat you even once in any practice, did she," Al countered. "If she's the best Seeker you could find to practice against in Gryffindor, and I'm such a horrid player that I'm not even good-enough for a spot on the reserve squad; then you should have no problem getting these last three catches."

"I am so going to wipe that stupid grin off of your face," James promised; and al laughed.

"I doubt it. This is way too much fun. Not as great as my Chaser duels with Gwendolyn, but then there are hugs and kisses involved in those duels; so you can't blame me for liking them better."

"Just shut it and let's get on with it!" James snarled.

They did that, and this time; James stood closer to Al than in the first two rounds; stomped on his bad foot; and then tried to kick Al in the face as he said 'one' and took off just ahead of saying it. Al ignored the pain in his foot; dodged the kick; waited a few more seconds before taking off; and then raced after the snitch instead of following James; since his brother hadn't been able to keep track of it while trying to hurt him to get the advantage. His third catch took five minutes to get because James managed to block him twice before Al completely fooled him with a fake and then caught the snitch just before James again tried to smash into him.

"That's three," he announced; "and getting mad and bashing around like a hippogriff in a tea shop is one of the reasons that Madison and Stephanie both beat you this season. You didn't do that with G-Air; and won that duel."

"I hate you," James hissed; and Al shrugged and smiled.

"I know, but I still love you anyway. I'll also keep my promise not to say anything about this to anyone. The bet doesn't make any difference for either of us for at least a year – and maybe two if I don't make the senior team in my fourth year. When I do make the team, though, I really hope you'll care more about having our team look good for the scouts – and not just for you. Our cousins, Ollie, and his sister are all going to want the same thing as you do. You don't have to like it at all; but I will be good enough to help our teams win more games than you would without me."

"Take your broom and shove it," James told him acidly as they landed. "I knew this was a set-up – and you admitted it! Forget about the bet!"

"You can do that, but I won't," Al told him. "I will be trying out for the senior team when I can whether you concede that I won the bet or not; and I've made my point regardless."

"What point is that?" James retorted hotly. "That you're a sneaky, under-handed loser?"

"That I'm a better player than you've ever been willing to accept. Give practicing against the best players you can find a chance instead of the worst. You won't win every Seeker duel or match that way; but you will get better – and you can be sure that most of your Seeker competition in the other Houses are doing exactly that."

"You're such a font of wisdom today," James spat. "I should have stayed in the office and let Mum and Dad bore me to death instead of falling for your stinking rotten trick."

He stomped off then; and Lily flung herself into Al's arms for a hug.

"That was brilliant!" she whispered; and then laughed as she punched his arm. "No more holding back when we have our Seeker duels, you big fake. I do want to be the best Seeker in the show some day; and it would really suck to find out that I'm not even as good as a Cannons' Chaser."

Al laughed too and hugged her again. "That's funny; and I can do that." He held up the snitch. "Would you like to try a best of three right now?"

"You know it!" Lily agreed enthusiastically. "Let me go and get my broom!" Harry held out his hand; and then handed it to her after summoning it. "Thanks, Dad!" she said; hugging him too before turning back to Al. "Let's start out by having you tell me how you were able to track the snitch so easily."

Harry and Ginny went inside whle Al and Lily began playing. They brewed fresh coffee; and then decided to sit outside to enjoy their drinks while watching the Seeker duel show.

"Did you know?" Ginny asked him; and Harry shook his head.

"That Al's that good at Seeker? No. We both know he's always held back – especially against James because he is such a sore loser; but he's probably better than you and me."

"If we were on the same brooms," Ginny amended. "I'm wondering if we should have let that little duel divert us from actually getting them to talk more than they had to that point. James might just be even angrier at Al after getting out-played so easily."

"We'll have to wait and find out. They did talk a bit, and it might take a while for James to admit that Al's right about him needing a good team around him if he wants to get noticed by the scouts in a couple of years; but he might be able to get there from here." He smiled as he watched Al and Lily play. They were both smiling, laughing, and having a blast. "Maybe he'll even re-discover that Quidditch is fun too some day."

"Losing matches isn't any fun, so I get why he's not happy right now; but you're right that he needs to find the joy in it again – and then how successful he can be at it won't matter as much."

"And be helped by it," Harry added with a nod. He laughed when Lily stuck her tongue out at Al after he caught the snitch. "I do love getting to watch what you must've been like growing up."

"You were there for a lot of it from this point on for me at that age," she reminded him; and Harry laughed again.

"I was fairly oblivious to everything around me for a few more years after you started school; and some of the memories I do have aren't so much fun – though the parts where we didn't die a handful of times were fairly brilliant compared to the alternatives."

"Let's hope that Lily doesn't have any problems nearly as bad as we did – or that Al's had so far."

"This is totally unfair for our sons, but James and Ollie better not mess with our little girl; or getting expelled will be the least of their worries."

"Speaking of Ollie, I talked to Katie for a couple of minutes yesterday; and things have started to calm down there with him. Maybe we should find out what they're doing and see if it'll work for us."

"We can't have Al go to live with them and be Ollie's younger brother," Harry teased. "She wasn't at the station, was she?"

"No, we had a mirror chat. The girls are staying at Hogwarts with Dominique, Lucy, and Molly. "Ollie isn't acting any more-repentant than James is; but he's winding down the rants; and hasn't dared to try anything worse than that – especially around Oliver."

"Maybe I should be tougher on James. I don't think I'm handling this at all well; and at least part of that is because of my own childhood and teen years. The nastier punishments that were inflicted on me certainly didn't work as intended."

"You weren't punished for things you did," Ginny reminded him; and Harry shook his head.

"I definitely deserved it sometimes. What I did to Draco was as bad as what James did to Stephanie."

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Ginny conceded; "but you were at least in a duel that was provoked; which is very different from what James did – even if you both took things too far."

"One thing is exactly the same," Harry pointed out. "James and I both had a Severus around to save us from our own stupidity."

Ginny laughed. "I hadn't thought of that at all. James is lucky that 'his' Severus doesn't hate him the way yours hated you."

"Let's hope that doesn't change," Harry said more seriously. "James could test the patience of a Saint when he's like this."

"Speaking of testing our patience, we still need to talk to him about the game today – and our plans for the rest of the day. That was part of the plan for our chat time this morning."

"Let's enjoy the show and our drinks before doing that; since this reprieve from teen angst and anger likely won't last for long after we get that chat started."

Harry wasn't wrong about that, but they did work out a compromise that he and Ginny hoped would work for everyone. James promised to be good during their lunch out and the Harpies match; and Harry and Ginny agreed to take him home after the game instead of forcing him to go to the McCormacks for dinner and an evening visit. Al and Lily had still been outside and stayed there until the yelling had subsided; and then Al wanted to grab another shower, clean up and re-bandage his foot, and get changed before they all went to London and wandered aroud Diagon Alley until it was time to meet the rest of the group that was going to watch the game with them. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah met up with them in Diagon Alley, so Al and Gwendolyn got to have that bonus time together; and Al sat with her to stay out of James' way during lunch. They were at the other side of their block of seats at Ilkley stadium too; and had Lily, Roxanne, Rose, and Hugo closest to them while James was with Louis, Noel, and some of the parents – like Angelina, Bill, and Fleur.

The Harpies were up against the Kestrels; and Gwendolyn had advised Al that her mother expected a tough match because the Kestrels really wanted the win to try and seal a spot in the playoffs. While they were in a good position to earn first place in the league with eighteen wins going into the final two matches of the regular season, the Wasps and United were still close enough to catch or pass them if they lost; so the Harpies were still at least as motivated as the Kestrels were to get the victory. By the time they'd picked up food, game programs, and a couple of souvenirs, they didn't have long to wait for the game to start; and then the fierce Quidditch action grabbed their attention and kept it for the next four hours.

Victoire was fired up, and that might have been partly-due to having her brother and extra cousins there to watch her; but she seemed to be having a blast with her battle against the Kestrels' Chasers and Keeper too. Gabrielle was in a tough Seeker duel too, and even when the Harpies were ahead by one-sixty; the Kestrels didn't give up and battled on. They did that valiantly too; and the best the Harpies could manage from that point through until Gabrielle ended the match was a one-eighty lead. The final score was four-eighty to one-fifty, so that's where the lead had been when the snitch was caught; and Gabrielle sent a very disappointed Kestrels team and their fans home with the loss while all but sealing the Harpies into first place with their final match against the Prides only a must-win if the Wasps won their final match too. That was something for the Harpies to start getting ready to deal with on Sunday or Monday. For today, Victoire's twenty-two goals and Gabrielle's snitch catch gave their family and friends a lot to celebrate – and most of them tried to do that.

The one exception to that was James. As far as Al had been able to tell from a distance, James had kept his promise and been good during lunch and the match. That ended when they were making their way out of the stadium; and he started badgering Angelina to let him come and stay with Fred 'for 'a day or eight' while Al was home and stinking up the house. Whether it was insulting his brother or other reasons, that hadn't gone over well with Angelina; and she politely refused his request – and then became less-polite as his badgering escalated.

"Let's call Uncle George and ask him," James suggested after getting nowhere with his aunt. "We'd have a blast with wheezes and playing mirror games all night. He'd let me come over for sure – even if you don't want me there."

"No, James," Angelina told him bluntly; and she was fed up with him by then. "We have other plans tonight and tomorrow; This is one of the few times when George gets a day off when he doesn't have to worry about the store; and we are going to spend that time with our kids – and with my family this year."

"Yeah, well I'd love to be able to do that too; but I only have our family; since you may have heard that everyone on the Potter side is dead. Do you even know how horrid it is for me with nothing to do everytime everyone else in my family gets to go off and have fun with their 'away' family holidays?"

"We all lost people we loved during the war; and trying to play that card when you've no idea what that feels like is rotten, James."

"I'd say the war worked out for you pretty well," James retorted. "You got to have both twins; and that would've just been weird if that had been at the same time – or if you'd married both of them."

He'd been smirking darkly as he said that – until Angelina lashed out and slapped him across the face hard enough to attract the attention of some of the Witches and Wizards around their group. Her eyes were flashing with real anger now; and she leaned in so her face was within inches of his.

"That is a vile, wretched thing to say to anyone; and worse to throw at someone in your own family." She looked up at Ginny and Harry as they closed in behind James. "I'm going to take Fred and Roxanne and leave now before I do something to your son that I won't regret."

"Take your time," Harry told her as he put a firm hand on James' shoulder. "We're leaving right now." He leaned toward Ginny and kissed her cheek. "Why don't you take your time too and see that Al and Lily get to the McCormack's house safely. We'll see you at home later."

"Okay," Ginny had time to say before Harry turned slightly and side-along apparated James straight to their house. "I'm sorry, Angelina," she said after they were gone. "He's lashing out at everyone and anyone."

"I know," Angelina said with a sigh, "and I don't know what I'd do if I were you right now; but he's well on the way to ruining every relationship that ought to be important to him. Let's hope for his sake that he comes around before it's too late to fix the damage."

"When we got this far through our lunch and Quidditch outting, I thought that maybe he was finally coming around; but apparently he had an ulterior motive for playing nice – and still has some anger issues to resolve."

Angelina laughed. "That's a bit of an understatement. It's been a really great day except for this little blip, though; so let's just drop it and get back to having fun."

"Well if we're going to do that, can I come and stay for a sleepover?" Ginny joked. "I have a feeling that Harry and I are going to be in for another tough night."

"I'm tempted to say yes just to mess with James; but let's not do that. We do want him to get past these problems – not push him further away from us."

Al and Gwendolyn had been on the edges of their group during that nasty little scene, but Ginny eventually joined them; rounded up Lily; and then helped Kirley with getting all four kids to his house. Gwenog wasn't going to be finished with the Harpies for a while still, and since Harry had told her to take her time; she stayed and had a glass of wine and a chat with Kirley, Al, and Gwendolyn while he started working on their dinner; and Lily and Jonah went outside to have a Seeker duel. They talked about the game and plans for Easter, but stayed away from anything to do with James or the problems he was making for Harry and Ginny. Since she didn't want to leave Harry on his own to face the wrath of their eldest son for too long, Ginny finished her drink; did a round of hugs and kisses; and then headed for home while Al and Gwendolyn joined in to help Kirley with the work in the kitchen.

They had everything ready so that they could sit down and eat once Gwenog got home from the stadium; so Al and Lily were especially happy to enjoy a drama-free meal; they all had fun talking about Quidditch, school, music, and Easter; and then they all pitched in for the clean-up before moving into the music room for some play time. Kirley had suggested that, but while Al and Gwendolyn knew that he kept trying to do that for reasons that wouldn't work out for him; they did have something fun to share with him.

"You're not going to get us to change our minds about starting a duo or group, Dad; but would you be interested in hearing a song that Al and I have been working on that you might be interested in for the Weird Kids or the Graves Robbers?" Gwendolyn asked as she and Al were both nearly-finished tuning the guitars she'd picked out for them to use for the evening.

"I'd be interested in that – and in you recording your own music," Kirley answered with a grin; "but let's start with the song."

"And end with it too if you're going to try and sell us on some music career plan for us," Gwendolyn warned with a smile. "We started writing this about Quidditch, but it morphed quite a bit by the time we were done. It's called Burst Your Bubble; and we hope you like it."

She counted them in silently; and the song began with a two-part guitar intro that everyone else must have liked; because they were grinning right away and tapping toes or hands to the beat. Gwendolyn sang the first verse; but Al added in some light, accent harmony.

Verse 1:

You thought that you were clever;

That I didn't have a clue;

But I know what you've been doing;

And some payback's overdue!

Don't think that this won't hurt a bit;

'Cause it's just a little prick;

For I promise that what's coming next;

Won't be easy, fun, or quick!

Chorus 1:

I hate to burst your bubble;

When you're so full of yourself;

But it's thanks to all your cheating;

That this trophy's on my shelf.

My friends think that it's funny;

Which is why they laugh at you;

But don't worry – I will let you out;

In a month, or year, or two!

Their audience was laughing by then; but they kept on singing; with Al continuing to add light touches of harmony because the first half of the song was from a Witch's perspective.

Bridge:

Burst your bubble – you're not that hot!

Burst your bubble – I call the shots!

You acted like you were a king;

That you ruled over everything;

So now I get to be the one;

To burst your bubble!

There was another short guitars-only part after the bridge; and then Al took a turn with singing the melody while Gwendolyn added in a fuller harmony before they began to switch back and forth with a fairly complex bit of vocals as they each alternated between melody and harmony through to the end of the song.

Verse 2:

You thought that you could win the game;

By breaking every rule;

That we'd put up with anything;

No matter how mean or cruel.

Now everyone knows you thought wrong;

And messed with the wrong team;

So now we are the champions;

While you're just a bad dream!

Chorus 2:

I hate to burst your bubble;

When you're so full of yourselves;

But it's thanks to all your cheating;

That this trophy's on my shelf.

Despite your boasts, insults, and cheap shots;

We still won the game today;

So take those giant egos;

Out of here and go away!

Ending – 2 times, 2nd with key change:

Burst your bubble – you're not that hot!

Burst your bubble – we call the shots!

You tried to lie and cheat to win;

But all we needed was a pin;

That we could use on you;

To burst your bubble!

The end of the song was met with applause and more laughter; and Lily had hugs for Al and Gwendolyn.

"I love it!" she assured them enthusiastically. "James will hate it; but too bad for him. It's funny, you can dance to it, and any Witch that's ever had a Wizard mess with them is going to love the song too."

"It could be a hit," Kirley agreed. "You should record it – strictly so that I can let the other guys hear it," he added; trying and failing to look innocent.

"I've got it all on parchment," Gwendolyn advised him. "I'll give you a copy later. We are not giving you anything that might get my Weird Sisters' uncles badgering us about starting a group too."

"It's a shame that everyone doesn't get to enjoy how brilliant your music is, Gwendolyn," Kirley told her seriously; and she laughed.

"Al's Dad would say the same thing about him not wanting to be an Auror, and since he's the best student in our year; there probably isn't much he couldn't do when we grow up."

"Except play with us on the Harpies team," Lily teased. "Can you teach that song to Jonah and me? I can't play guitar well-enough for it; but I can sing along."

"We can do that," Gwendolyn agreed; "but you might want to be careful with that; or Dad will be trying to get the two of you to start a group instead of Al and me."

"That isn't going to happen for me either," Lily assured her; "but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun around here." She grinned then. "I might even have some ideas for songs; though James would likely hate 'My Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie' even more than he'll hate your new song."

"My bat-bogey brother," Al sang as he strummed.

"My bat-bogey brother," Gwendolyn echoed.

"My brother got in trouble," Al offered.

"Mum came running on the double," Gwendolyn added with a grin.

"And now he's flapping around his cage; and his fate is all the rage," Al continued; an d then Gwendolyn finished their litle ditty with – "So get up and do the bat-bogey brother boogie with me!"

Lily was up and dancing by then; had pulled Jonah to his feet too; and was laughing again as Gwendolyn and Al continued to strum the music for another minute while repeeating their impromptu, goofy song snippet.

"You ought to work on that one too," Kirley suggested. "That could definitely work as well as the weird love songs have for the Weird Kids."

"It was Lily's idea," Al said with a smile for her. "Maybe she should take a shot at it first."

"Not to mention that she'll have more time for something like that," Gwendolyn added. "Al and I need to worry about boring stuff – like our final exams in June."

"I can do that," Lily agreed with a nod and grin; "though I'd better do that in my room or over here. James will be home too; and we've got enough to deal with already without making that worse."

They played around with that song for a while; moved on to sing and play some other songs together with Kirley joining in for most of those songs; and then they went into the sitting room to watch a show before it was time for Al and Lily to go home. Gwendolyn took Al away for a private good night hugs and kisses session, but they didn't have time for any major snogging; and Al and Lily were home on-time. They were sent by Floo Network without Kirley or Gwenog coming along, but the parents were on a mirror chat while they were traveling; so the McCormacks were all able to hear James lay into Al the moment he and Lily arrived in the sitting room.

"Did you lose your brains in the Floo Network; or is that stupid look because Gwendolyn snogged you senseless?" James asked Al as insultingly as possible. "Then again, Lily's smiling like an idiot too; so maybe her boyfriend kissed her goodnight too."

"If that had happened, it would have been me kissing him," Lily retorted; still grinning. "It sounds to me as if someone here does need a hug, though. I thought you'd be happy to have the time away from us."

"That would have been good – if you'd never come back – or if I was the one leaving forever."

"You'd miss us too much – eventually," Lily declared. "Cheer up, James. It's almost Easter – and even you should be able to have some fun when sweets and presents are involved."

"The only thing I want for Easter is a new place to live. I'd suggest moving to Grimmauld Place; but that's not an option now that Mum and Dad gave our inheritance away to their favorite charity child. Do you think the Easter Bunny will be able to come up with something even better for me?"

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "Why don't you stay up late and ask her. "Maybe she's looking for a cuddle buddy and will take you home with her."

"You've got me mixed up with the loser brother that's into animals," James told her. "He's welcome to hook up with her and hop on out of here forever."

"Not if he knows what's good for him," they all heard Gwendolyn call out through Ginny's mirror. "He's mine; so just tell the Easter Bunny to keep her furry little paws off of him!"

"Getting rid of Al would be the best thing that could happen to you," James yelled back at her. "Sooner or later, you'll figure that out; and I'll be there to remind you that I have tried to warn you all along."

"I'd say this is a good time to say goodnight," Ginny told Gwenog. "Have a Happy Easter. I'll see you on Monday when I stop in to annoy you at your practice along with the other reporters."

"Okay," Gwenog agreed. "Have a Happy Easter there too."

"Fat chance of that," James had time to offer before Ginny ended the mirror chat. "What is that horrid stench anyway? Oh right – Al's back. What is your problem? Did you try to turn into a skunk and bring the stink with you when you changed back?"

"I didn't," Al answered, "but if you want to keep it up; I'll be happy to give that a try – and then spray you so that you can compare what you're complaining about now with what that would actually be like."

"No doing that to anyone in our house," Ginny warned him; but she was hiding a grin while pretending to chastise him. "James, quit insulting Al – especially when he smells quite lovely. It reminds me a bit of Gwendolyn's favorite perfume."

"Maybe he and Lily did one of those Witches' makeovers while they were out," James said with a snort. "Did you try on some of Gwendolyn's dresses and undies too, Al – or just get your nails and make-up done?"

"Look at the time," Al said instead of trying to go another round with the verbal sparring. "We'd better head up to bed; or the Easter Bunny might skip our house!"

"Who cares?" James retorted.

"I do," Lily assured him. "A bedtime snack first would be good too, though; so does anyone want to do that with me? We can trade stories about what we've been doing since the game while we do that."

"I yelled at Mum and Dad; they yelled at me; and we had a crappy night," James told her. "At least one of us could care less what you did tonight."

"That's okay," Lily told him easily. "Would you like me to drop off a snack and drink after we're done in the kitchen?"

"No. I'm still ill from eating the poison Mum gave me for dinner."

"Good, then you likely didn't devour the leftover chocolate cake from last night," Lily said cheerfully. "Let's go and take a look, Al."

He tried not to laugh when she started humming the tune that he and Gwendolyn had been using for their Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie; and got a dirty look from James when he failed – even though James had no idea why he was laughing. Lily did, though; and she grinned at him. Harry and Ginny went with them for the chat, drinks, and snacks; and then Lily delivered a plate filled with treats and a large glass of James' favorite soda when they all headed up to bed. She'd hugged him from behind and kissed his cheek after he'd taken the plate and glass and had his hands full; though he complained the entire time and yelled at her for contaminating him. After sharing a round of goodnight hugs and kisses with his parents and Lily before they went into their own rooms, Al waited for Lily to use the bathroom first; took his turn getting ready for bed; and then read a book until he drifted off to sleep for the night.

Easter morning didn't dawn with a bright sunrise, but it wasn't raining either when Al woke up ahead of everyone else. He even managed to get showered, do the bandage re-wrap, and get ready for the day before Lily woke up and met him in the kitchen to see what the Easter Bunny had left for them before he'd finished pouring a glass of juice. He smiled when she noticed the gift that he'd just finished putting with the rest of her gifts. It only got her attention because it was wrapped in different paper than the rest of her gifts.

"Just a little something I thought you might need around here after I head back to school next Sunday."

Lily laughed and quickly unwrapped it. "A bunny charm for my bracelet? What does this one do?"

"Take a guess," he suggested; and Lily laughed again.

"It makes me hop?" she suggested first; and then her eyes widened. "It's a cheering charm!" she guessed; and then ran over to hug Al when he confirmed that she was right. "That's brilliant, Al! James is going to be furious – but not for long!"

It was Al's turn to laugh and he hugged her again.

"That was what I had in mind," he admitted. "I made yours extra-strong too. Be careful who you use it on. They won't just be cheerful – they'll be positively giddy."

"Too bad it's an away holiday for the family. It might be fun to find out what Uncle Percy would be like if he was giddy with happiness. How long will it last?"

"Long-enough that James will likely stop being a grump around you if he has to worry about spending too much time giggling at everything." He laughed again, and then laughed harder when he couldn't stop and realised that Lily had just tested the charm out on him. He reached into his pocket; pulled out one of his seashells; and used it on himself. It still took a few moments to stop laughing; but he was grinning at Lily and thought that her test had been funny. "I made more of these charms for Gwendolyn, Rose, and a few other friends. Having the counter-charm seemed like a good idea."

"That's okay – as long as James doesn't get his hands on one and can stop me that easily."

"He's obviously started experimenting with his own charmed objects; but I doubt that's one he's thought of as being useful."

"Not yet, anyway," Lily agreed; still grinning. "Can you pour me a glass of juice too?" she asked. "I might as well have a drink while we wait for Mum and Dad – and James if he decides to join us sometime before noon."

The last part of her comment was a nice thought, but their parents had other ideas about that, so despite the fact that there were Easter treats and gifts for him; James was in a foul mood from the moment he was ordered out of bed. Al and Lily had at least been able to start their day quietly and with a bit of fun; but there was nothing entertaining about having James yell and complain about everything. He hated the food; was sure that his sweets and chocolates were poisoned; and the gifts were stupid and useless now that he was stuck under house arrest. Finding out that they were going to the Burrow to help out ahead of their small Easter dinner wasn't a surprise for Al and Lily, but considering James' reaction to the news; they certainly understood why their parents had saved telling them about it until the last minute.

Not everything that happened was bad while they were home. Al had a fun mirror chat with Gwendolyn to wish her a Happy Easter – and send her on a little hunt for the gift he'd hidden for her while there on Saturday. She had more exciting news for him because Stephanie Boot had called her to find out if she knew who had sent her a brand new Firestorm 250 in the Owl Post. The note that had come with it had claimed that it was from the Easter Bunny with some excuse for why it couldn't be left with the rest of her treats. Al immediately knew what his parents had done, and Gwendolyn at least suspected, but she didn't pass that on to Stephanie; and Al didn't ask his parents about it. He did mention it to Lily while they were in the room, andwhile he didn't miss the half-hidden grins on their faces; they left it at that – and if he got asked about it; he could at least be honest when answering that his parents hadn't said anything to him about sending Stephanie a new broom to replace the one that James had destroyed.

James' mood did not improve when they went to the Burrow; so Al was glad to be sent outside to work on the usual chores that were the dirtiest and hardest – and that James flat-out refused to do. De-gnoming the garden was just the start of the work for Al, but he did have his charmed seashells, so while they couldn't be used for the gnomes; he could use them to help with the gardening; clearing out some old brush in the orchard; and some of the raking and sweeping. Without any of their other cousins at the Burrow too, it would have been very quiet; except that James made up for that with some regular outbursts. Al was still working outside when Arthur tried to improve James' mood by having him 'work' on making sure that one of his planes and a helicopter would be ready to play with later. That didn't work out very well when James tried to intentionally crash one of his grandfather's favorite planes – and Al used his levitation charm seashell to rescue the plane before it hit the ground. That had infuriated James; he'd accused Al of lying and being responsible for the near-crash with his interference despite the fact that it would be impossible to do that with a levitation charm; and then he'd stormed off into the house.

They were having their Easter dinner at mid-afternoon, so they only had a snack instead of a meal for lunch; and Al had his break for that outside so that he didn't have to clean up first and then go back to work. Lily joined him for that; and then she kept him company and helped out while he finished the rest of the chores on his to-do list. The last job on that list was being finished when Aunt Muriel arrived. Harry and Ginny had gone to get her, and they might have both been smiling about something that had happened just before they'd left Muriel's house; but it could have simply been that they'd been glad to have the short break from James.

"Good for you, Ginny," Aunt Muriel said approvingly in her booming voice when she saw Al gathering up the tools he'd just finished using to take them back to the shed. "Work that miscreant boy of yours to the bone every day; and I'll wager he'll come around by the time they let him go back to Hogwarts again."

Her comment earned a roar of laughter – from James. He'd come outside after their parents had left; and had been intentionally sitting around doing nothing to mess with Al – along with tossing out random insults. Aunt Muriel turned her attention to him and scowled.

"What your brother did is no laughing matter," she snapped; and James laughed again while nodding his agreement.

"I know it isn't. I've tried to tell Mum and Dad that he ought to have had his wand broken, been expelled, and arrested; but they still think there's hope for the dirty, rotten animal."

"James Potter – stop that right now!" Ginny demanded; and Muriel looked at her sharply before turning back toward the two boys and scrutinizing each of them more closely.

"Why?" James retorted. "It's nice to see that someone in this family actually recognizes Al for what he truly is."

"I mistook him for you under all of that dirt," Muriel told him. "Now, it's quite clear which of you is the miscreant I've heard so much about over the past week."

"Yeah, I'm sure that you've had a good time gossiping about it with the great-grandmothers of half the students at Hogwarts," James retorted scornfully. "Don't believe everything you hear – or read in the news. You had it right the first time. I was set up; and Al's the one responsible for everything that happened last weekend."

"You're lying," she told him flatly; "and not very good at it. I can see the truth of what you did easily-enough."

James snorted derisively. "You couldn't see the difference between the loser and me a minute ago you fat, senile, old windbag." He sniffed the air and pretended to gag. "It's a wonder you didn't recognize my dirtbag brother. I just realized that he stinks as badly as you do. That's probably why people keep trying to set off dung bombs around you – it'd be an improvement!"

"I can see well-enough to know when a young Wizard is overdue for some soap and water," Aunt Muriel shouted ominously as she drew her wand and pointed it at James.

He suddenly couldn't move; a bar of coarse brown soap appeared in front of him; and then he could only stare in shocked astonishment as the soap was shoved into his mouth. There were soon thick soap suds frothing out of his mouth; and he gagged and tried to scream at her in defiant anger. The entire scene seemed to drag on forever, and Molly and Arthur were outside too by then; but it was actually less than a minute before the bar of soap popped out of James' mouth and he was released again.

"Maybe you'll think about what kind of dirt comes out of your mouth the next time you speak to me," Aunt Muriel told him. "Washing a child's mouth out with soap may be considered old-fashioned these days; but I'll wager you won't forget this little lesson anytime soon, boy!"

"You..." James began; but clamped his mouth shut when the bar of soap re-appeared in front of his face. He started to turn red; glowered at Muriel; and then stormed off – stomping away; but not running – definitely not running.

"I love you," Ginny whispered and then hugged her great-aunt enthusiastically. "That was brilliant!"

Aunt Muriel chortled; but then gave Ginny a stern look as she stepped away from the hug. "I'd say he was long overdue, Ginevra. Coddling the boy will not be a kindness for him now."

"We are not coddling him, Aunt Muriel," Ginny protested. "There's no doubt that we are definitely having trouble finding our way with him right now. Nothing we try seems to get through to him."

"Then stop trying to do that," Aunt Muriel told her bluntly. "Worry about what's best for you and your entire family. James will come around sooner or later – or he won't. Either way, it will be his choice – not yours. Most times, that turns out for the best. Let's hope that will be the case for you and yours."

"I should call you for advice more often," Ginny told her with a smile. "Usually, I just check in with Mum and Fleur when Harry and I don't know what to do."

"Even senile, old windbags have a bit of wisdome to pass along now and then," Aunt Muriel joked.

"You're none of those things," Molly told her as she and Arthur walked up to them; and she hugged her aunt enthusiastically. "Happy Easter, Aunt Muriel."

"And to you as well," Muriel told her. "If that boy's been mouthing off to you like that all day; I'm surprised he can still walk."

Molly smiled at her. "He's long-since learned better than to cross me; though he has been quite a handful today too as you've seen – and I'd say that he's just learned that lesson for you too."

"We shall see," Aunt Muriel said with a shrug. "The place looks quite nice, Molly. Maybe I should've realized that it was young Albus under all of that dirt; since I have also been hearing that he's been cleaning up messes at Hogwarts too." She smiled when Lily laughed; but held up her hands when Lily tried to hug her next. "Not until you wash up, dear. You're not quite as dirty as your brother; but you ar a bit of a mess."

Lily looked down at herself and laughed again. "We were having so much fun; I didn't notice."

"Well, if you find yard work so entertaining; I've enough of that to keep you busy from now to the end of summer. You'd be welcome to come over and do it."

"That wouldn't be as much fun without Al while he's back at school; but I'd be happy to help you with some chores," Lily assured her. "Maybe Grandma could bring Hugo, Roxanne, and me over to your house on some of the days she watches us and we could help out around your house instead of here."

"You're sweet to offer; but I think that Molly is quite busy-enough without adding more to her schedule."

"We can talk about that later," Molly told her. "If you need some extra help this year; we will help you with whatever you need."

"Yes, we will," Ginny agreed. "Would you like to sit out here or take a walk around the yard and orchard before we go inside?"

Her question got them all going again, and while Al took care of putting away the garden tools he and Lily had been using; everyone else except James went inside – mostly because Molly couldn't leave the cooking unattended. Aunt Muriel held court at the kitchen table, and once Lily and Al had each taken turns getting cleaned up and changed; they joined the five adults there. When their dinner was nearly-ready, Harry went in search of James; brought him back wihtout any major problems – probably because he was thirsty and hungry by then; and they sat down to enjoy their quiet family meal. 'Quiet' was relative, since Aunt Muriel was always loud and out-spoken, but compared to family dinners with the entire gang there; it was that – and fun for seven out of eight of them. James didn't say a word; pretended to ignore everyone; and devoured three plates full of food followed by two helpings of dessert. He was allowed to escape outside again after that instead of helping with the clean-up, since Harry and Arthur were the only two Wizards drafted for that chore; but Al stayed and joined in to help out too.

"Do you find washing dishes fun too, Albus; or is this just your way of trying to make up for the troubles your brother causes?" Muriel asked him as she sat at the table with Molly, Ginny, and Lily.

"A bit of both," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "Helping out is definitely more fun when I don't have to do everything by hand; but then I usually have fun with Mum, Dad, and Lily even when we are doing chores."

"Those charm bracelets and other objects you've made are quite ingenious," Muriel declared. "You're already making quite a name for yourself – just as your father did as a boy. It's no wonder that your brother is jealous of the atention you've gotten."

"I'd rather have none of that attention; but that seems to be too much to hope for with our family."

Aunt Muriel laughed. "Do you really now? It seems to me that you've brought the attention onto yourself by your own choices, young Wizard."

"I know the consequences of putting myself in the spotlight, and wouldn't change most of my choices simply to avoid the attention; but I definitely don't want that."

"That does sound like the truth," Muriel conceded; "though I doubt you'll have any more luck than your father has had with staying out of that spotlight."

Al was usually glad to be out of the spotlight when it came to their Aunt Muriel, but he enjoyed their chat – and was still glad when she moved the conversation on to other things and then left him alone after that. When the clean-up was finished he and Lily went outside to wander around; avoided James when he made it clear that he didn't want them to come near where he'd been moping not far from the field closest to the orchard. Arthur came out to play with his toys for a while too; and Lily eventually took a turn, but Al didn't; and James pretended not to watch on while his sister and grandfather had fun together. Harry and Al took Aunt Muriel home while Ginny took James and Lily on to their house. Al only went along to carry the box of leftovers and desserts – though he did know that his father could have just sent them on ahead; so the trip was more to give him a chance of avoiding any outbursts from James after hours of self-imposed silence.

That didn't end up making a difference, but Al did enjoy that bit of bonus entertainment with Aunt Muriel; so he did have something to smile about while James jumped right in to start insulting him again when he and Harry walked into the house. A couple of minutes of James' taunting was all the motivation Al needed to decide that inviting Lily to go outside for a bit of Quidditch before bedtime was a good idea. She happily went along with that, and they had fun for nearly an hour before heading inside again and pretty much just going straight up to their rooms when James was still looking to make life miserable for Al while they were having drinks and a snack in the kitchen. Despite the problems with James, it had still been a pretty good Easter, and Al wrapped up his holiday weekend having a bedtime chat with Gwendolyn that eventually ended when she fell asleep and let go of her mirror to end their chat. He went to sleep soon after that; and slept through until morning – except for one short handful of moments when he woke to the sounds of James intentionally stomping up to bed loudly-enough to wake everyone in his family.

Monday did not herald an improvement in James' attitude, but he did grudgingly agree to 'be good' while Ginny went out to work for a couple of hours each in the morning and afternoon so that she could check in with two of the teams she was covering this week. With the playoffs just around the corner; she was going to be busy through to the Championship match over the next month; but then she'd be able to take some time off from work during the off season. While Ginny had been tempted to drop the kids off at the Burrow for the day, she decided that it was better to keep James at home instead of inflicting him on his grandmother and cousins. Al would have liked to spend the day hanging out with Rose, but agreed with the plan to stay home; and he and Lily managed to have fun most of the day anyway. Since Monday was really just a day to get through ahead of the study morning on Tuesday that would have him back together with Gwendolyn again; Al mostly just tried to get through the day with as little pain as possible; and the bits of entertainment that made the day fun were just a bonus.

"It's only been two days," James groused as he stomped into the kitchen and flopped into his chair on Tuesday morning. "Quit grinning like an idiot. You're making me want to puke more than the smell of this crap food – unless that's just you too."

"Yeah, that's it," Al agreed easily. "It's my new pancakes, syrup, and sausages scented cologne. Don't you just love it?"

"I'll wager that Gwendolyn will just eat it up," Lily offered with a laugh. "Good morning, James. Did you have a nice nap after your late-night gaming?"

"No, I didn't," he groused; "Why do we need to be up so ridiculously early?"

"Because you're coming with me this morning while Al has his study group here," Ginny told him. "They don't need you around to try and make life miserable for them while they're trying to work."

James snorted. "Of course not. Their lives are miserable-enough without help from anyone." That declaration earned him a round of laughs; and he nearly smirked in response before catching himself and returning the scowl to his face.

"That's likely a matter of perspective," Ginny told him, "but you are coming with me; and we'll stop in Diagon Alley so that you can pick up a birthday gift for Fred – unless you've actually done that before now."

"Why bother? You're not likely going to let me go to his party. I might actually get the chance to talk to Uncle George and get him to help me out of this nightmare you're keeping me imprisoned in."

"We'll all be going to Fred's party," Ginny advised him. "But if you so much as say one wrong word or try to mess it up for Fred; you'll be out of there before you know what hit you." She focused her attention on him; but he refused to look back. "I'm serious, James. If you cause problems today, you will not be going to another Quidditch match for the rest of this season – including the playoffs; and we won't keep trying to take you out places when you can't be trusted to behave yourself around others."

"You wouldn't have to worry about me at all if you'd just let me leave," he retorted.

"That isn't going to happen," Ginny told him flatly. "You're our son; our responsibility; and you're stuck with us at least until you're seventeen and have the right to choose your own way."

"We'll see about that," James told her flatly.

Al was sure that James wouldn't 'see' anything he liked or was hoping for; but didn't doubt that he'd continue to try to find away out of his perceived prison. James continued to complain about everything, but that didn't keep him from eating two plates full of food; and he left on time with Ginny too once she'd made sure that all of Al's cousins and friends had arrived safely. That included having Hugo, Jonah, and Melissa come over to hang out with Lily; and the four younger kids went outside to play while Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and everyone else in their usual study group that could come sat at the dining room table and got to work on their holiday revision. The studying was fun, but it was getting to spend the day with Gwendolyn and Rose – and the morning with the rest of their friends – that Al thought was really great.

The take-out lunch that Ginny brought back for everyone so she didn't have to do any cooking and cleaning was really good too; and so was the bit of play time they had after that before everyone except Rose, Hugo, Gwendolyn, and Jonah went home. Jonah hadn't originally been included in the birthday party plans, but Lily had decided to invite him as her 'date' when he'd looked so sad at being left out with nothing to do while the rest of them were at Fred's party. James razzed them about that while they were still home, but he left them alone after they arrived at George and Angelina's house. They went there early so that Ginny could help Angelina with the work, but it was nice-enough outside for the kids and teens to stay out of the house; and that made it fairly easy to mostly avoid any contact with James – at least until the party started.

The rest of the cousins and some of Fred's Hogwarts friends began arriving an hour later. Angelina hadn't set up party games or anything, but there were games to play – including Quidditch. Al and Gwendolyn stayed away from that to avoid any potential trouble with James when he decided to play; but they did watch the action from the sidelines when Fred put together a scrimmage. Since he'd invited friends from the Gryffindor team too; they had more than enough players for two teams. Rose had an all-girls team; but that didn't work out for her this time because some of the most-talented Witches that they'd normally have on a family and friends team were at Hogwarts – and unable to play for her. Lily did win her Seeker duel wtih James, which didn't impress him; but the guys scored seven more goals to still get the win by twenty points.

"I'd blame that loss on you guys," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn after the match, "but if you'd both played; we'd have likely still lost."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed; "but you had more fun and less trouble with James – at least until Lily got that last catch."

"Well, at least he didn't try blasthing her after she did that," Rose offered. "That's progress."

"That's funny," Al assured her, "but I really hope it will be on joke thatdoesn't catch on around our family and get thrown back in his face for decades – even though James would happlily do exactly that to anyone else."

"That one was just for us," Rose said; and she had spoken quietly-enough that she wouldn't have been overheard by the other kids and teens. "You're right about that, though; so I'll try to resist the urge. I think it's something we all inherited – even if we didn't get as much of it as some of our siblins and cousins got."

"Well, I couldn't have inherited anything from your family; and I still thought it was funny," Gwendolyn told her with a grin.

"Considering what your Mum used to think was funny when she was young; you might have more to worry about from what you inherited than we do," Rose suggested.

"Maybe, but I'm with Al on this one too; and that's okay. We still have lots of material we can use about James; and there's more on the way nearly every day."

She'd nodded to where James was showing off for the kids and teens nearest to him. Part of his efforts were because he was trying to get some attention. He wasn't being totally ignored; but nobody was going out of their way to hang out with him and James didn't like that at all. Al wondered if that somewhat passive peer pressure would affect James more than anything his parents had tried so far, but after catching some dark looks directed his way; decided that those little insults were just being added to the list of reasons his brother had for hating him. Fortunately, the dark looks were his only problem with James; and that was easy-enough to deal with while having fun with Gwendolyn and everyone else. That fun included some slow changes with their interaction with Fred and his friends – with the fact that there was any at all the most significant change. Fred and Orland did that very tentatively, but Wendy was a Weird Sisters' cousin too; so she was happy to hang out with Al and Gwendolyn; and Kira Kirke went along for the ride with her friend.

After skipping the Quidditch to keep the peace, Al and Gwendolyn did join in for some games – like Fanged Frisbee – when they could do that and not get in James' way. George came home from the store a bit early, but they had a late dinner so that all of the working parents could be there for the meal and at least a few hours of the fun. Al knew exactly why James had been playing nice when he cornered George as soon as he possibly could without causing a scene, and while he had no idea what went on between them while they were on their own after going into the house and staying there for about fifteen minutes; he did know that James was both angry and crushed when he came back outside on his own – and went to find somewhere to be alone. He gave James a bit of time, but then left Gwendolyn with a whispered explanation; and went looking for him.

"Get lost."

"In a minute,' Al answered. "Are you okay?"

"As if you care. Everyone hates me – and that's all because of you. They've always picked you."

Al laughed; trying to make it sound less-forced than it was. "Except for Uncle George and Uncle Ron. I'm a terrible disappointment to them."

"Well congratulations, then," James shot back. "Uncle George likes you best now too."

"That isn't true," Al disagreed. "He might be feeling a bit guilty, though."

"He should," James said derisively; but didn't elaborate.

"I'm not talking about that, James. We always hear about the pranks that Uncle George and Uncle Fred pulled at Hogwarts that can still be laughed about; but almost never hear about the bad ones that were fairly horrid and dangerous."

James snorted. "Bulbadox powder is hardly horrid or dangerous."

"They did other things that were nearly as awful as what you did to Stephanie," Al disagreed. "That Slytherin they shoved into that Vanishing Cabinet nearly died too."

"That wasn't their fault," James retorted; and Al shook his head.

"It was; and it doesn't matter whether that wasn't their intention – just as it doesn't matter whether you meant to hurt Stephanie as badly as you did or not. Uncle George doesn't talk about those sorts of stories anymore. He gets it now; and that's why he's not going to give you an out now either – because he does love you that much."

"You are delusional," James told him.

"I'm not, and this next part is just a guess; but have you considered just how close to home what happened to Stephanie was for Uncle George? Even for a second? Let me give you a hint – Peter and Pauline. He's lost a twin; and you nearly killed their little sister. He also has a daughter now, you may have noticed; and Dads look at these sorts of things differently too."

"I didn't..." James began; but stopped when Al pinned him with a hard glare.

"We both know the truth, so let's not keep doing that – at least between you and me," Al suggested. "You need to work this out for you; not for anyone else – and definitely not with the wrong kind of help."

"Why bother?" James asked; though this time his question was unintentionally more a plea than an insult.

Al grinned at him. "Well, the top reason on my list is that if you don't come around soon; you might not try to pass your exams in June; and then they'd keep you back in third year in September."

"I thought you just said this wasn't about anyone else," James retorted; but Al's joke had almost earned a grin from him.

"That doesn't mean that the rest of us can't benefit," Al deadpanned. "You'd hate that more than I would, though, so it's a pretty good reason. Next up, though, is the potential for summer jobs, and for you; playing nice could lead to a job with Uncle George that he could get Mum to approve. She worked there when she was still underage – even if that was only for the two or three months after the war before she was seventeen. Finally, there's your future league Quidditch career. You don't want to set that back a year no matter how mad you are right now at me, Mum and Dad, or anyone else."

"Just cut it out," James told him. "You're only making me want to hate you more when you think you're helping me with all of that drivel."

"That's okay. Do that instead of being mad at everyone else. You'll feel better; and so will the rest of your family and our friends."

"And what do you get out of it?" James asked suspiciously; and Al laughed again.

"It's what I don't get – you in my class for not just next year; but the next five years. That thought should be scaring both of us."

"Then maybe I should flunk out this year; if that's the worst thing I could do to you – and then sit right behind you in every class from now on."

"You'd only be able to do that for eight classes – unless you'd want to sign up for the extra classes the second time around in third year," Al countered. "That would be awful, but I still think you'll decide that it'd be worse for you – especially if Ollie moves on to fourth-year too. Then there's the whole issue of Quidditch if you were trying out for the junior team against Lily. That'd be a brilliant Seeker duel; but I doubt that either of us could be sure which of you would win any single-catch duel. You'd have much better odds trying out for the senior team next year."

"Now you're just trying to get me riled up," James accused.

"We're talking without any major yelling; so maybe it's time for me to get out of here before I mess that up. Dinner will be ready soon anyway; so we should both head back to the house." He grinned at James then. "Would you prefer to go first or be fashionably late?"

James' retort was fairly nasty, but not conveyed with any real sense of malice; and Al actually felt pretty good as he rejoined Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other friends they were hanging out with by then. Dinner was nearly ready by then; so it wasn't long before they filled plates and sat down to eat outside. Fred had his friends, sister, and parents closest to him during dinner and while opening his gifts after that; so Al and Gwendolyn were at a table on the edge of the party; and mostly out of the loop. They had fun while enjoying the food and spent most of that time chatting with Rose, Hugo, Lily, Jonah, and everyone else sitting closest to them. Fred opened his gifts between dinner and dessert; which gave the party helpers time to clear tables and put out the cake, ice cream, and other treats. Al and Rose were among some draftees that helped with that bit of work; but then they were set free to play again for the rest of the evening.

There wasn't actually much going on after dessert. By then, most of the parents were ready to relax and wind down from a long, busy day; and the kids and teens were happy to take it easy too – though another game of Fanged Frisbee was started up; along with a few other games that they played out closer to the back of the yard to stay out of the way of the adults. Fred had Orlando and a couple of other friends spending the night for the extra hang-out time, but the rest of his guests started heading home by nine o'clock. Harry and Ginny were among the first to leave; they went home, and then she took Gwendolyn and Jonah on to their house once Al and Gwendolyn had finished saying goodnight to each other. Al had been hopeful that his chat with James had done some good, but that wasn't evident once they were home; and James was as obnoxious as he'd been every day of the holiday so far. That had everything to do with why Al went up to his room for the night after Gwendolyn and Jonah left; and he wrapped up his day with some fun reading and a bedtime chat with Lily and Holly when they'd had enough of James too and left him alone in the sitting room to brood while playing video games.

The last three days of the work week were filled with a mix of work and fun for Al and Lily; along with large doses of James' foul mood dumped on them whenever he felt the need to rant at them – which was pretty much every time he saw Al; or whenever anyone intruded on his pity party for any reason. Most of Wednesday morning was spent doing chores around the house, and then Al and Lily were sent to spend the rest of the day with Gwendolyn and Jonah. Hanging out at the McCormacks' house meant Quidditch and music were a big part of their play plans, but Al and Gwendolyn managed to have some alone time too; and they were all happy to have a handful of hours without James around to bother them.

Al tried to deal with his Hogwarts form for third-year optionals in private with his parents, but James started another rant when he asked to talk to them in private; so he did that in the sitting room with them instead – and ended up having James freaking out about his choices anyway. His parents were happy with his desire to take four optionals, but while Lily hadn't been surprised; she wasn't as thrilled about the precedent he was setting for her. The fact that she had tentatively pre-negotiated her own plans for third year when it had been James' turn to go through it didn't keep her from having fun with Al – and off-setting James' ugly taunts and insults with a bit of fun. While Al knew that four optionals were more than most students took at Hogwarts, he wouldn't be the only one; and the only extra subject he was going to take that Gwendolyn and Rose hadn't wanted to take too was Divination. They were both going to take Ancient runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures with him.

Taking care of that little holiday task on Wednesday ended up being an issue for the Thursday morning study session too when James needed to stop into the dining room to taunt Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and then make fun of the rest of their friends as he found out what they were each choosing for optional classes too. Ray was a copycat for taking the same two optionals as James and Ollie; and he found a way to insult everyone before deciding that his work was done and he could get back to playing games and doing nothing.

That study session was enough to get the rest of their work done by lunchtime; that meal included more of James' unwanted jokes and insults; and then it was time for some Quidditch. Lily had her younger group of siblings to hang out with while Al was studying; so they were able to put together a couple of teams without Beaters. Rose and Hugo anchored the two teams at Keeper, Madison played Seeker against Lily and Jonah; and Tory and Ray had Melissa with them on Rose's team while Al and Gwendolyn had Roxanne with them on Hugo's team. The match-ups were close, and Madison and Lily each ended up with two catches, but Jonah had a catch too; so Hugo's team won the scrimmage by ninety points – and could have just as easily lost by ten when the last race for the snitch barely went to Lily.

It wasn't all that hot out, but a warming spell on the portable pool made going for a swim an option that most of the kids and teens were happy to do after their scrimmage; and they played in the water for nearly an hour before it was time for all of the guests to head home again. James had not wanted to play Quidditch with a bunch of losers and kids, but he did come outside to watch the swimming and offer some insults; and then he tried to show off with his own pool time when everyone else vacated the pool to get dried off and for most of them to get ready to head home. Al and Lily had work to do after they saw their cousins and friends off; they helped Ginny with the house and yard clean-up; and then helped with making dinner too.

The rest of the day on Thursday was far from fun aroun the Potter house; and that really went downhill at dinnertime when the conversation included talking about plans for a date night for Al and Gwendolyn for Friday night that Lily and Jonah had been invited to do with them – as long as they had Harry and Ginny along for chaperones for a fast food dinner and movie adventure into Muggle London. James was already ranting about those plans; and pretty much lost it by the time they started talking about keeping Gwendolyn and Jonah overnight too and keeping them until game time on Saturday. James went too far when it was suggested that he could stay with his grandparents instead of going along and he told Harry and Ginny that they could leave him in the cemetery with his dead grandparents for all he cared. He wasn't turned into a bat bogey or anything, but he wasn't able to speak again for a while until Ginny got past being furious with him; and he then spent the rest of the evening finding ways to take out his own rage on Al and Lily with taunts, insults, and petty acts of annoyance.

While getting away from all of that wasn't possible on Friday morning, Al and Lily did actually have a break from James anyway because he was allowed to sleep in – and didn't wake up until a half-hour or so before lunch. He was in fine form right away from there, but only had time to yell at his mother, brother, and sister until they were finished eating that meal; and then Ginny took him to the Burrow while Al and Lily cleaned up so that she wouldn't need to take the side trip on the way to Diagon Alley. Helping out with the work around the house and yard all morning had been worth it for Al and Lily; because once they were free of James; it was time to play for the rest of the day.

They met up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah at the Leaky, and while Kirley and Gwenog had plans for their kid-free night; he went shopping with them so that he could take Gwendolyn's school supplies home with him once they'd finished picking up everything she'd need for the last couple of months of the school year. Some new clothes weren't on the list too, but with three Witches in the group; a bit of that kind of shopping was inevitable – and Ginny had fun playing dress-up with Gwendolyn and Lily while Kirley, Al, and Jonah picked a couple of other stores to visit instead. They were finished in Diagon Alley by mid-afternoon, so Kirley went home after that; and Ginny took the four kids to their favorite Muggle Mall for a bit more shopping while they waited for Harry to finish work at Auror Headquarters and meet up with them there for dinner at the food court. A few more outfits were picked out during that bonus round of shopping, and Al and Jonah picked up a few things too; but it was the hanging out together that was most fun for all of them.

Harry was a bit late by the time they met up with him at the food court; so they rushed having dinner a bit to still make it to the movie theater on time. Since it was officially a date night for Al and Gwendolyn, the girls got to pick the movie, and while they'd been tempted to pick a chick flick, when suggesting those choices with the guys had not impressed Jonah; they went with an science fiction action flick instead. That movie turned out to be short on acting and plot, but big on special effects, blowing stuff up, and fight and chase scenes. Having parents along for a date would definitely be weird for most Muggle teens and tweens, but Al and Gwendolyn didn't mind; and they were handy to have along to help out when Gwendolyn or Jonah said or did something that required a bit of magical intervention to avoid any problems with the Muggles around them.

They were handy to have at home too – particularly after Harry got back from picking up James at the Burrow. Two minutes with him had the sleepover plans changed to a camping adventure; and Harry had the tent set up for Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah in record time. Getting their bags and a few other necessities out to the tent took a bit longer, but once that was done; they did a round of hugs and kisses with Harry and Ginny and went to spend the rest of the night in the tent while James sat and stewed in the sitting room with his video and mirror games for company.

"We should have decided to do this even before James started in on us when he got home," Gwendolyn told Al as they cuddled on a sofa and got ready to watch a show on the mirror network mirror that he'd brought for them to use instead of their portables. "Is he getting worse; or does it just seem that way to me?"

"I think he's trying to get in as many hits as he can before we head back to Hogwarts on Sunday," Al suggested. "Maybe he'll take a break after that and stop being such a git to everyone."

"He will – one way or the other," Lily assured Al with a grin. "I'll be using that new cheering charm on him by Sunday afternoon if he does try to keep bugging me."

"Does James know you have that new charm on your bracelet?" Gwendolyn asked; and then laughed when the expression on Lily's face gave her the answer without needing to say it aloud. "Good. That'll be even more fun for you when he finds out." Lily and Jonah were sitting on the other sofa together, but not cuddling at all. Lily had a blanket over her and had Holly in her lap; but Jonah looked uncomfortable for more than one reason. "I'm sure that Lily and Holly would share that blanket, Jonah; and we won't razz you about cuddling together to stay warm."

"Come on," Lily invited; holding up that side of the blanket and smiling at Jonah. "We've already gone out on a date with Al and Gwendolyn – I mean we went with Al and Gwendolyn on their date; so we should cuddle too if that's part of the date night thing."

"Now I'm wishing that I didn't just tell them that we wouldn't razz them," Gwendolyn told Al; and laughed too when Lily did.

"Save the goodnight snogging for after Jonah and I go to our own rooms for the night."

"We don't think that snogging is a spectator sport; so that works for us," Gwendolyn said. "Are you guys sleepy yet?" she asked with a smile after a short pause for dramatic effect.

"No; but once we watch Uncle Lee's show; I'll be good with going to bed after that."

That show was still an hour away from starting, so they watched another show first; enjoyed the quiet chat and cuddle time together; and then Lily hugged Jonah goodnight and kissed his cheek before half-dancing off to her room for the night with Holly while he looked a bit dazzled as he then wandered off to his room too. With their younger brother and sister in the tent, a major snogging session was not going to happen, but Al and Gwendolyn were happy to end their date night with an hour or so of quiet, playful snogging. Falling asleep together on the sofa hadn't been part of the plan, but that was fairly brilliant – and so was waking up together in the pre-dawn light of early morning. Cuddling for a while longer and sharing more soft kisses helped to make for a great start to their day; and then they got up and took turns grabbing showers and getting ready for the day. They were ready to go by the time Lily and Jonah woke up; so they went outside and into the house to get started on making breakfast for everyone.

Harry was already in the kitchen and doing that by then, so they joined in to help; and had fun trading stories about what they'd each been doing since the camping adventure had started. Admitting to falling asleep on the sofa had ensured some teasing, but that was soon proved to be the smart choice when Lily and Jonah joined them; and she was disappointed to find out that her 'news' wasn't news anymore. Al was expecting his day to go downhill by the time they sat down for breakfast, but Ginny opted to let James sleep in; and they were finished eating and the clean-up too before James came to life. Getting assigned some outdoor chores gave Al and Lily a get-out-of-the-house excuse; and Gwendolyn and Jonah were happy to go along to help or at least keep them company. That kept them busy until it was time to get ready to head out for lunch ahead of the big Harpies-Prides match, and by then; James was under orders to behave while they were out or risk being left behind for the playoff matches that they'd be attending regardles of how far into the playoffs the Harpies continued to play.

Harry sent Gwendolyn's and Jonah's overnight bags back to their house before they left for the Leaky; and they only arrived there about fifteen minutes early for lunch – mostly so that they could be the welcoming committee for their family and friends. Kirley was among those friends; and Harry and Ginny sat with him and they enjoyed having lunch with four out of five of their kids while James went to sit with Fred and Louis. The Leaky Cauldron was packed – mostly with Witches and Wizards heading for one of the final matches of the regular season; so they tried to help Hannah out by keeping their lunch orders simple; and then getting finished and on their way again. Doing that meant getting to Exmoor stadium early, but that made it easier to get through the gauntlet of booths; pick up everything they wanted; and then get to their seats and settled in before the stadium was even a quarter-full.

While both the Harpies and Prides were sure to make the playoffs, both teams wanted the win; and the Seeker duel was always a battle between Gabrielle and Erin Connelly. That was obvious right from the start of the match, and Erin was immediately on the offensive; whether through a flurry of elaborate fakes or real attempts to catch the snitch. Things were not going so well for the Prides' Chasers and Keeper as Victoire scored three quick goals in the first fifteen minutes; but then the match game to a screaming end – literally. Erin had gone all-out with a very risky attempt at catching the snitch, but when she missed it; she couldn't do anything more than scream in frustration as she watched Gabrielle follow up her miss with a fairly easy catch that ended the match in just seventeen minutes. The one-eighty to naught victory also wrapped up first place for the Harpies; and made the Wasps' match outcome irrelevant.

Having such a short match also meant that there was a lot of day left for Al and Gwendolyn to spend together at her house; because he was having dinner with her so that they could both spend some time with Gwenog before they headed back to Hogwarts. James wasn't happy with the early end to his outing; so Lily ended up going along too while Harry and Ginny decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with James at Shell Cottage with Bill and Fleur so that James could hang out with Louis – and they could have another few hours of relative peace before heading home again.

Lily and Jonah wanted to have a Seeker duel when they got to the McCormacks' house; so Al and Gwendolyn had a Chaser duel while they all waited for Gwenog to get home from the stadium; and then they spent the next few hours having fun together and enjoying one last dinner together before they'd be separated again for another two months. Harry and Ginny wanted to spend more time with Al before he headed back to Hogwarts too, so while he was sure that staying with Gwendolyn would have been more fun; he and Lily went home after dinner – and James immediately switched from being relatively pleasant while it had just been him with Harry and Ginny to obnoxious and horrid toward Al the moment that he and Lily arrived in the sitting room through the Floo Network.

Finishing his packing got Al out of the way of James' taunts and insults for a while, and Ginny joined him for some mother-son chat time while he did that; but then they went back to the sitting room and tried to have some family time with everyone while watching James playing his games and listening to music on the mirror network. For Al, that was a social disaster, but he gritted his teeth and put up with everything that James threw at him because it was what his parents wanted despite the unpleasantness. They all stayed up to watch Lee's show; talked about Quidditch and the playoff match-ups that were set for the first round by then; and didn't talk about Hogwarts or anything school-related at all in a failed attempt to keep James from getting even more riled up as the evening went along. Going to bed shortly after Lee's show ended was a relief for everyone – including James; though he stayed up to continue his gaming after sending Al on his way with a handful of parting insults.

Ending his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn helped a bit, but while he was going to really miss his parents and sister; Al was also really glad to be heading back to school on Sunday. He had the added bonus that James stayed in his room during breakfast and through until Ginny and Lily took him to King's Cross while Harry stayed at home with James. They took the Floo Network to the Leaky; took the Knight Bus to King's Cross; and were there early-enough that Al was able to say his goodbyes and be among the first students onto the train. He was able to hold four compartments until some of his friends joined him; and then he waited for Gwendolyn and whomever else ended up with them for the trip. Rose joined him first; Toni and Michael were next; and then Gwendolyn and Shane caught up with them within a couple of minutes of each other – and with about five minutes to spare before the train pulled out of King's Cross on the way to Hogsmeade.

"Why the big sigh, Al?" Rose asked him with a smile. "James is home; and you're free of him until summer holidays."

"Unless he and Ollie come back to Hogwarts to write their exams," he reminded her. "As far as I know; that hasn't been decided yet."

"That won't happen if he keeps acting the way he did during the holidays," Rose predicted. "He hasn't learned anything from what happened so far from what I saw – and I know that Hugo and I didn't even get to see him at his worst from what you've already told us."

"Last night was fairly awful too," Al advised her; "but let's talk about anything else other than James."

"Let's not jump right into talking Quidditch either," Toni told them. "I know that you'll need to do that for half the trip or more; but at least one of us needs some time to ease back into that after a week of not talking sports very much at all."

"We were pretty good while studying together and saved the Quidditch talk and play time for when you weren't around," Gwendolyn pointed out.

"And I appreciate that," Toni assured her with a nod and smile; "but there are other things we can talk about – like whether you got that new top for Easter or while you were on a holiday shopping trip. I'd like to hear about your date night on Friday too."

With a couple of topics chosen, the girls took care of most of the conversation while Al was happy to sit back and enjoy the quiet fun with his cousin and friends while cuddling with Gwendolyn. This trip felt different knowing that he was going to be back at Hogwarts without needing to worry about James and Ollie trying to mess with him. He didn't have to worry about them on the train either; so he and Gwendolyn enjoyed two walks along the train too that included some visits with other friends that added to the entertainment and kept them busy. It was still along trip, though; so they were as happy as any of the students to get to Hogsmeade and off the train. The wait for a carriage ride took a while, but Al preferred that to getting to the castle early and not having that time with Gwendolyn. The welcome back dinner was great, and it was also nice to have some of his friendships being revived now that the junior Quidditch season was over; and the Gryffindor players decided that it was okay to talk with him again – and with Rose and Ray.

After dinner, Al went for a walk with Gwendolyn before splitting up outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance; and then he spent some time with Rose and some other friends in the common room before heading up to his dorm room. He and Rose also had short visits with Dominique, Molly, and Lucy to see how their study week at school had gone, but they were busy with their friends too; so they didn't spend a lot of time doing that. Al was among the first students to head off to bed, but he didn't go straight off to sleep. He got ready for bed; and then called Lily once he was in bed and ready to find out how the rest of her day had gone.

"You're ready to chat earlier than I expected," she said as she answered his call. "Isn't there a party going on in Gryffindor tower to celebrate James and Ollie not being there?"

Al laughed. "No, but the mood in the common room seemed a lot lighter – though maybe that was just me."

"Or a bit of both. Would you like to hear the James update first?"

"Probably, if that smile is any indication," he agreed. "How many times have you used that cheering charm since you got back from London?"

"Twice – and it was brilliant and hilarious! The first time, he tried to keep insulting me and yelling, but it sounded so ridiculous that he cracked himself up. He had some awful things to say about you after it wore off an hour or so later; but I didn't use it on him again until he started insulting Mum and her cooking at dinnertime. After that, we had quite a lot of fun as nearly everything we said sent him into a fit of giggles."

"I'm glad that you had a better time of it today. Maybe a few more bouts of cheerfulness will help to bring him around."

"Or less," Lily suggested. "He was actually tolerable for the rest of the night after dinner. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when we're at the Burrow while Mum's working to get ready for the first round of the playoffs. He'll have homework from school to do; and that means he'll get to use his wand to practice the spells."

"He wouldn't dare try anything around Grandma that he shouldn't," Al told her. "I didn't really think about that; but I guess he will need to practice to get ready for his exams. I wonder if he and Ollie will have to do any of their assignments and projects too?"

"I haven't heard – other than that he will have work sent here to help with getting ready for those exams. We'll see how much of it James actually does. It isn't as if he's got a great record when it comes to holiday revision."

"He'll do enough to pass," Al predicted. "He might hate it; but he'd hate being kept back for another go at third-year."

"Don't even say that!" Lily told him. "I am going to be Gryffindor's junior team Seeker next year – not James. That's the only thing about having to wait two years to join you at Hogwarts that was good for me. I'd have hated being his back-up this season – assuming he'd have let me even try out for a spot on the team."

"Have you sent any letters yet offering to be our Captain next year?"

Lily laughed. "No, and I won't – even if that'd be brilliant. Whatever happens with that, I think that we'll both get a fair shot at being on the team; and we've got nowhere to go but up compared to this season."

"Well, not quite, since you can go down from a one-win season," Al pointed out; "but I know what you mean. Why don't you tell me about the rest of your day; I'll give you the report from the Hogwarts Express; and then I'm going to need to get some sleep."

"It isn't that late," Lily pointed out; and Al shrugged and smiled.

"I know, but we have five weeks to go until exams; so it's going to get busy around here starting tomorrow. The Professors will put on the big push to finish teaching us everything we need to cover before the end of the year; and we'll start the extra studying this week too."

"Remind me not to join your study group next September," Lily teased. "You're going to play in the show too, so in case you haven't heard yet; you don't need to have straight O's to get hired by any team to do that."

"I have heard that," Al assured her; "but I'm doing the work for me – not anyone else – and who knows what we'll each want to do after we're done playing Quidditch."

"I'm going to play until I'm ready to turn in my broom for a rocking chair," Lily told him half-seriously.

"Then you must be glad that Mum didn't have that plan," Al joked. "You might have had to wait until you were eighty or ninety to get your shot to play for the Harpies."

"That's funny; and maybe I'll have to re-think that plan if I have any daughters that want to play Seeker for the Harpies when they grow up too; but that's not going to be a problem for a long time for me anyway; so let's not go there. As for my report for the rest of my day; Mum and I went out to do a bit of shopping in Diagon Alley before heading home – and Aunt Angelina and Aunt Hermione came along for that."

Lily happily shared the rest of her news with Al; was more interested in the gossip around Hogwarts than the trip report for the train ride; and then they wrapped up their mirror chat so that Al could talk with Ray for a while before eventually drifting off to sleep for the night. While an early bedtime wasn't anything new for Al, and the same was true for his early morning start to the day on Monday; Al really felt great as he got ready for their return to magical learning and then he went to the common room to meet up with Rose for the resumption of their pre-breakfast walk-and-talks. The changes were all due to not having James and Ollie there – even when the only way that affected Al was through not worrying about what they'd try next against him, Gwendolyn, Rose, or anyone else.

The last two days of April were blissfully uneventful; and that made jumping into the heavy study workload a lot easier as the Professors quizzed their students on their holiday revision and piled on the new assignments – just in case any of the teens and tweens had any doubt that the holidays were over. Having Quidditch season finished for the junior teams made keeping up easier for the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff players in their study group, though; so Al and Rose actually had a bit less to do than normal without the need for extended study time to make up for those Quidditch practices. That left some time each evening for some fun once the work was done for the day; and Al was happy to get some alone time with Gwendolyn on Monday before curfew and then watch a mirror network show with all of their study group friends on Tuesday evening.

Victoire's nineteenth birthday and the twenty-first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts victory were on Thursday; but the two occasions were very different this year. There wasn't a sunrise ceremony in the Great Hall for the anniversary, and since Victoire had graduated; there weren't any parties planned for her birthday either. Al did have something set up for his cousins to do on Thursday morning, though; and he got that started when he met up with Rose in the common room for their morning walk and talk. She was smiling when she crossed the room to meet up with him; and he held out a flower to her. She laughed when she heard the cute little roar it made while snapping it's jaws at her hand as she reached for the stem.

"Have we been busy this morning?" she asked. "Interesting snap-dragons you've made."

"I wanted to come up with something that Uncle Fred might appreciate," Al answered; smiling too. "Let's get going; and we can make a stop along the way to the Great Hall so that we can put them in a certain window alcove."

Rose laughed. "Al, that's brilliant!" she told him before hugging him; and then they both laughed when the snap-dragon she was holding tried to bite him. "Feisty little things; aren't they?"

"And then some," he agreed. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better now; though it feels different this time compared to last year – and not just because they aren't having a big ceremony or anything. I wanted to walk to that spot today to see whether there were flowers again; but I didn't think about doing that ourselves – and these snap-dragons really are a great idea."

"I've enough of them for the rest of our cousins too," Al advised her as they headed for the portrait hole. "We can pass them out before breakfast so they can add their flowers to the bouquet when they've time to do that later this morning."

They talked about the flowers, anniversary, and their twin uncles as they walked; and then Al had one more little surprise that had Rose laughing again when they reached the window alcove and he put a vase and sign on the ledge before putting the first few snap-dragons into the vase and adding water.

"In loving memory of our Uncle Fred," she read. "Please do not feed puking pastilles to the snap-dragons!" She turned to look at Al; and laughed at the expression she saw on his face as he held out a half-dozen puking pastilles to her. "You didn't!" she said incredulously; and he laughed too.

"I might have. Should we find out? I can change the sign if my little attempt at a wheeze is a flop."

"Let's do that," she agreed; "but I don't think it counts as a wheeze if you give everyone fair warning like you have with the sign." She put her snap-dragon in the vase too; took half of the puking pastilles; and then they both held them out on flattened palms so that the flowers could eat them without taking any nips out of their fingers.

"We should probably stand back," Al warned with a grin as they both did that while watching the flowers happily chew up and then swallow their 'treats'. They could see the bits and pieces move along the stems; and it took about a half-minute before the first snap-dragon began convulsing. After that, it was mere seconds before it spewed out a small stream of puke that shot across the width of the hallway and splattered a small trail of slime on the floor. The other snap-dragons followed soon after; and Al and Rose were both laughing as they watched the little show.

"I sure hope that anyone that ignores the warning will be nice-enough to clean up the messes," Rose told him; taking out her wand and doing that once the snap-dragons appeared to be finished throwing up.

"Should I add that to the sign?" Al asked; and Rose shook her head.

"No. They'll either do that or they won't whether you ask them or not – especially since they'll be going against the warning if they do feed the flowers." She took a closer look at the vase. "Speaking of that – did the flowers suck up that much water already?"

"They'll use a fair bit anytime they're fed the puking pastilles," Al advised her with a nod. "Maybe we'll need to stop by and fill the vase between classes and at lunch and dinner."

"We can do that – and ask our cousins to do that too," Rose offered. "Maybe you shouldn't give our cousins anoy of these snap-dragons yourself. If Uncle George finds out that you came up with this; you'll stop being such a huge disappointment to him."

"Then maybe you should hand out all of the flowers and tell everyone that they were left for you anonymously," Al suggested. "I'd hate to ruin my reputation."

"I think it'd help; but we can do that too," she promised. "Everyone can have fun guessing about it today; so that's a bonus bit of entertainment for us. I like it!"

They soon found out that their cousins liked the memorial snap-dragons a lot too – and word got around fast because Louis and Fred both couldn't wait to find out why Rose had warned them not to feed their snap-dragons any puking pastilles – and they did that while still at breakfast. Having flowers puke all over the table was definitely an attention-getter; and word spread quickly after that. Visiting the spot where Fred Weasley had been killed in the Battle of Hogwarts became a must-do for nearly every student in the school and most of the Professors and staff too. It also turned out to be an amazing learning opportunity for many students as they wanted to hear the story behind why the prank flowers would be an appropriate commemoration for such a solemn occasion.

For his part, Al's only other involvement in his little plan was to give a snap-dragon to Gwendolyn for her to add to the bouquet in the alcove; and to walk past them a handful of times to re-fill the water. Gwendolyn was also the only other person that he or Rose told about who had created the snap-dragons; though she hadn't been surprised at the news. Rose had been right about the added entertainment that came along with the prank anonymity; though most people believed that Rose had done it and made up the story simply because she was the best Herbology student in her year. That was a bit funny too, since the flowers had been created with Transfiguration magic, but what mattered to Al was that his little memorial prank worked out even better than he'd hoped it would; and he was sure that his Uncle Fred would have approved.

Thursday had been a very long day thanks to that extra bit of fun to go along with their Astronomy class late night; but life at Hogwarts returned to normal on Friday – which for Al, Gwendolyn, rose, and the rest of their study group meant geting all of their weekend assignments finished by dinnertime. They weren't taking the weekend off because they were going to spend time on Saturday and Sunday studying for their exams; but it did mean that they had lots of free time for playing and watching the first-round matches for the league playoffs on Saturday afternoon and evening. There wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, and the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match was still a week away; so the Quidditch playoffs were the only big event for the weekend.

Before they could get to that, though, Al and Gwendolyn started out their weekend with a Friday evening on their own. They played music; watched some mirror network shows; and had fun with a major snogging session that had them both very happy by the time they needed to be back in their own Houses for the night ahead of curfew. Saturday morning was the first of two exam study sessions, and while that wasn't as much fun as a Quidditch scrimmage or magic play time would have been; they did still manage to make the work as fun as possible. Lunch in the Great Hall included a lot of Quidditch talk as every fan of the game wanted to talk about their favorite teams; make predictions; and have fun with rivalries between friends. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane left the Great Hall early to set up their classroom for the game watching; and had everything ready in time to catch most of Lee's pre-game show ahead of the start of the two early matches. As top team, the Harpies were playing in one of those matches; and they were up against the eighth-place Magpies. While the rest of their friends joined the game-watching party over the next twenty minutes or so after they'd sat down to watch the pre-game show; everyone that was coming was there in time for Lee's round of predictions from the experts just ahead of game time.

"We're all on-board with that Harpies' pick; but do we have any opinions for the other three matches?" Tory asked. She and Ray were sharing a sofa with Al and Gwendolyn; and she looked to them for first comments.

"I pretty much agree with all of the picks," Gwendolyn said with a shrug. "The Wasps should beat the Wanderers; United gets the nod because it's likely Oliver Wood's last season if Belinda's going to have his job next season; and the Tornadoes are a bit better than the Arrows – though that's maybe the one game that could go either way."

"Shouldn't Harpies' fans be cheering for the underdog teams in those other matches?" Madison asked. "I'd have expected you to be hoping that the Wasps and United teams lose today; since they'd be two of the toughest teams to play in the semis or Championship match."

"You're cheering for United and the Arrows," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Does that mean you're cheering for the Magpies over the Harpies?"

"Definitely," Madison agreed with an unapologetic grin. "I don't think they have a chance; but I would be okay with a United-Arrows Championship match-up."

"The odds are better for a United-Arrows semi-final match," Al advised her. "If the Harpies, Wasps, United, and Arrows all win today; then your teams will be in tough next weekend. If the Harpies or Wasps lose, then your teams play each other next week if they both win. The best case for United and the Arrows is if they win and the Harpies and Wasps both lose. They'd then play the seventh and eigth-place teams next weekend."

"That's probably a bit too much to wish for," Madison admitted; "but I'll hope for the best. In a way, you guys are lucky to only have one team to cheer for."

"At least you have two teams in the playoffs to support," Rose told her. "Some of us can only dream of that for our favorite team."

"And make plans to fix that yourself," Al added.

"Have I even mentioned that in months?" Rose asked; and Al laughed.

"No, but we think that's just part of your master plan."

"I'd settle for getting to play Quidditch for Gryffindor next season. After that, who knows what'll happen when we'll be stuck dealing with James and Ollie for another three years?"

"Some of us should probably hope that you, Al, and Ray don't play on some of those senior teams," Tory told her. "We'd have a much easier time showing off to the scouts if we're up against teams like the one they put together this year."

"I don't think that would work," Gwendolyn disagreed. "Going up against bad players wouldn't help us with league scouts. They do take into consideration how good the competition is when rating players they're interested in for their teams. Win or lose; I'd rather play against the best in every House – even Slytherin."

"Will you still feel that way when you're playing in the show?" Madison asked her. "The league would need to change the playoff rules if you always want to play the best team for each round."

"Trying to win a championship and trying to get noticed by scouts isn't the same thing at all," Gwendolyn disagreed. "There should be some incentive for earning the top spots during the regular season. Those of us that want to play in the show are all competing for those same jobs regardless of which House we're in too; so we can be competing against our own team mates for that."

"Only for some of us," Tory reminded her. "I won't be competing against Madison."

"As if I don't have enough competition from the other House Seekers," Madison said with a laugh. "If I can make it through next season without having a firstie beat me out for the job; I might get to play every year except my fourth; since Alex will still be here that year."

"What's the problem with that?" Al asked her. "Lily plans on beating James for the Seeker spot when he's in his NEWT year and she's in fourth."

"If they give him another shot at being Captain; he might not even let her play that year," Madison pointed out; "though that'd be funny if he was her back-up that year."

"Not to mention scary for the other teams," Tory added. "The match is starting, though; so let's talk about the Harpies instead."

They did that, and soon had a lot to cheer about as Victoire scored an early goal; the Harpies' Chasers kept the pressure on; and Vicky stopped the handful of shots that the Magpies managed to get close-enough to take. The pace of the game was intense, but it was nearly immediately obvious that the Magpies were out-matched; and they had no response to even slow down Victoire. She'd already scored five of the Harpies' six goals when Gabrielle put an abrupt end to the match at the twenty-six minute mark with a surprisingly easy catch of the snitch after outplaying the Magpies' Seeker from start to finish.

While the quick and easy win was great for the Harpies' fans in the room, that also gave them the chance to watch more of the other matches – starting with the other early match between the Wasps and the Wanderers. That match didn't end well for the Wasps and their fans because the Wanderers' Seeker caught the snitch on a play that was pure dumb luck for the major upset and come-from-behind win. Al and Rose felt bad for Jeremy and Aaron; but the Harpies' fans were happy to have one of the top teams fall in the first round – and give them a better shot at the Championship! Madison was interested in both the United and Arrows' matches, but they picked the United-Prides match for Al's mirror while she kept tabs on the Tornadoes-Arrows match on her portable mirror. Unfortunately for her; it wasn't a good day for her favorite teams either.

Erin Connelly went for another risky, early attempt at catching the snitch that paid off this time when she made the catch early into the second hour of the match to give the Prides the one-sixty to fifty victory over United. That ended Oliver Wood's dreams of ending his career with a League Championship; and made for a bad day for the Cambell family and all of their favorite Quidditch players. Having the number two and three teams go out in the first round was big news; and the commentators covering the Tornadoes-Arrows match talked about that as much as they did the game they were covering. That was a bit ironic, since the final match-up of the day was also the toughest game. Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends watched that match until dinnertime after switching to it from the United match; and then they got together again after dinner to watch the last hour or so of the game that ended when the Tornadoes' Seeker caught the snitch to give his team the four-ninety to three-twenty victory.

"I'll bet that Slytherin House is having some fun with that win tonight," Gwendolyn suggested as they started watching Lee's post-game show. He'd worked the Harpies and United matches, and another team of announcers and commentators had covered the other games; but his Quidditch wrap-up show started soon after the end of the Tornadoes-Arrows game.

"Especially since Rachel scored more goals than Victoire did today," Rose added with a nod. "It won't matter to them that Victoire scored her five goals in about twenty-five minutes."

"Let's give Rachel some credit, though," Gwendolyn told her. "She did play a good game today – and has helped the Tornadoes a lot this season."

"I'm okay with that – as long as she doesn't help them to a Championship win over our team," Al said with a grin. "Winning next week over the Prides would be okay, though; since I think that Victoire would love that match-up for the big game."

"We do need to get past the Wanderers first," Rose reminded him; and Al laughed.

"I'm sorry if there are any closet Wanderers' fans in the room; but the Wanderers aren't going to get that lucky two weeks in a row."

"The Wasps and their fans are likely still telling themselves that couldn't happen once," Ray suggested. "I agree with you; but it isn't impossible."

"Since the Tornadoes and Prides beat my teams, I wish they could both lose next weekend," Madison declared. "That won't be possible; so I'll cheer for the Harpies with the rest of you just because I'd really hate it if either of those teams won the Championship instead."

"And we appreciate that so much that we're going to cheer for Hufflepuff next weekend," Gwendolyn told her with a grin.

"As if you and Al would cheer for Slytherin," Madison retorted with a laugh. "I'm not suggesting that you do it; but that would be really funny – and probably have Avery and his buddies messed up trying to figure out why you'd be cheering for them."

Madison's comment sent their chat off in a new direction – and even on from Quidditch after a few minutes of talking about the upcoming senior team matches. They watched Lee's post-game show; a non-sports show after that; and then Lee's regular nightly show until they needed to pack up and head back to their Houses ahead of curfew. While the Quidditch entertainment and fun with their friends had been great, it had also been a long day; so Al got ready for bed and went to sleep after having just a short bedtime mirror chat with Lily to find out how her day had gone. The extra rest had Al ready to go again by morning; and their entertainment between breakfast and lunch consisted of another exam study session. Most of their friends wouldn't have agreed with that as being entertaining or fun, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had fun anyway.

A Quidditch scrimmage after lunch was much more exciting, and now that the junior teams were finished for the season; Al and Gwendolyn were free to play on the same team – and have even more fun doing that while helping their team to win the scrimmage. That play-match took up half the afternoon; and then they stayed outside and played other games – or just hung out together – until dinnertime. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been able to manage much alone time since Friday evening, but they didn't get to make up for that on Sunday evening either because Gwendolyn's Ravenclaw girlfriends drafted her to join them for a girls-only night. That left Al with too much time with nothing much to do, so he ended up going outside and playing with his Animagus animal forms for an hour or so of furry – or feathery – fun. He went flying as an eagle and snowy owl – including a little play time with Winter when he sent her on her way home with letters that he, Rose, and Gwendolyn had all written earlier in the weekend. He also ran around for a while using his Samoyed Animagus and as a black panther; and then he went back to the Gryffindor common room to hang out with Ray and some of the other guys until he was ready to head up to bed.

Ending his night with a bedtime mirror chat with his parents and sister was fun – mostly because James wasn't there to mess that up for him. He'd set up the tent at the back of the yard for a camping weekend; and had apparently liked being alone enough to continue to spend most of his time at home out there instead of in the house. Since the drama level had dropped to near-zero; Harry, Ginny, and Lily were all happy to let him continue camping as long as he wanted to do that. Other than that, there hadn't been much news from home, so they'd had a fairly short chat; Al grabbed a textbook so that he could do a bit of bonus exam review reading; and did that until he fell asleep before even half of the other guys got back to their dorm room. He was up early on Monday morning; showered and ready for the day by the time the rest of the guys began to come to life; and then he went to the common room to wait for his morning walk with Rose. He was in a pretty good mood, and the happy feelings kicked up a few notches when she walked into the room; smiling brightly at him and carrying a colorfully-wrapped gift that she handed to him after sharing a hug with him first.

"Happy birthday, Al!" she told him enthusiastically. "Welcome to the teen club!"

"Thank-you," he answered. Picking up his book bag, he slung it over a shoulder; and nodded toward the portrait hole. "Let's go; and I'll open this along the way."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Not any different than yesterday; if you're wondering about that because of the teen thing. I'm having a pretty good day so far, but we'll see if that lasts for long; since there's always a chance that James will figure out a way to mess with me today even from home."

"You managed to handle his howler last year without any trouble," Rose reminded him. "Let's hope that he leaves you alone this time."

"That'd be nice." They were stepping out into the hallway by then, and once out there; Al began to open Rose's gift while they started walking along one of their usual morning routes to the Great Hall. He stopped and hugged Rose when he saw what was in the box; and then he pulled the new guitar strap out and stretched it out to its full length to take a better look at it.

"This is really great, Rose!" he told her enthusiastically. "Did you change the colors and add the Gryffindor lion?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "Hopefully this will be a bit more comfortable than the one you have now."

"I know it will be," he assured her. "It's a lot thicker and softer. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Rose said happily. "Maybe you'll get a chance to try it out later – if we're not too busy with our assignments tonight."

"We can hope," Al agreed. "We likely still have two or three weeks to go before we'll be done with the new lessons and only have review and exam prep assignments to do."

"At least we are down to just weeks left instead of months," Rose pointed out. "I really loved doing all of the traveling with Dad and Hugo last summer; but I'm hoping that we'll have a bit less work and more holiday time this summer."

"You did more traveling than I did, but after the Easter holiday; I'm really just hoping that James won't try to make my entire summer a miserable mess."

"If he tries to do that, maybe your parents will let you spend extra time at my house – or Gwendolyn's," Rose suggested and offered; and then grinned at him. "You could always just go Animagus a lot and stay away from him too – take Lily riding; or go flying or something."

"That actually sounds fairly brilliant," Al admitted. "I probably shouldn't worry about it at all. Merlin only knows what James will be like after being stuck at home for a month or two."

"That's true," Rose agreed, "but hoping for the best with James is a long-shot; and we're better off preparing for the worst – at least so far."

They didn't really want to talk about James anymore by then, so their conversation moved on to more entertaining topics – including a stroll along memory lane that Rose happily led with some stories of birthday adventures from Al's past. Gwendolyn was in the Great Hall by the time they arrived; and Al's birthday fun kicked up a few notches as they shared an extra-special hug and kiss; she had him open his gift from her; and then they sat and talked with Rose until the hall began to really fill up and she needed to go over to the Ravenclaw table to have breakfast there. The breakfast entertainment highlight for Al was the gifts and cards from home that came with the Owl Post and a birthday mirror chat with his parents and Lily that James conveniently missed. There was some more roasting involved during that chat and with his friends; but no pranks, wheezes, or attempts to ruin his day in any way.

Al was glad that he got to spend more time with Gwendolyn after breakfast in their History class; but then the birthday fun was on hold until they were finished their classes and most of the assignments for the day. Gwendolyn and Rose set up a small birthday party for him after dinner in their study classroom, and while they still had some work to do too; they took a break from that while Al's cousins and some other friends outside of their study group stopped by to wish Al a happy birthday; get in on the cake and other treats; and even hang out for a while when sitting around on the sofas and watching shows on Al's mirror looked more appealing than going to get started on their own assignments elsewhere. There were a few gifts for Al to open too, but he was mostly happy to get through the day without any problems. A bit of alone time with Gwendolyn after they were finished studying for the night was really great too; and then he wrapped up his birthday with a bedtime chat with Lily.

While Al had been distracted by his own birthday adventures on Monday, Quidditch had been the big story around Hogwarts and elsewhere; and that remained true for the rest of the week. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin players on the senior teams were all getting ready for their final match of the season on Saturday; and the semi-final matches for the league playoffs were big news at school and home. Enthusiasm for talking Quidditch was never a problem for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and more than half of the members of their study group, but with his birthday out of the way; the classwork and studying was their top priority through until they were finished all of their assignments for the week by dinnertime on Friday and would only be working on exam studies on the weekend.

For a change of pace, their Friday night entertainment was a pool party with just a handful of couples invited to join Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane for the fun. The entertainment option was also thanks to Rose, since Al had left his portable pool at home so that Lily could use it now that the weather was getting nice-enough for outdoor swimming – as long as a parent was around to warm the water for her. Having Rose bring a pool instead had been a brilliant surprise; and would definitely give them a fun alternative for blowing off some steam when they got stressed over exams. The water play had been a great way to end the school week. Al wasn't the only Wizard there to think that spending those hours with his girlfriend in a swimsuit was a fair trade-off for the missed chance for alone time and snogging; so he was a very happy camper when he eventually went off to sleep after walking Gwendolyn home and ending his day with another bedtime mirror chat with Lily.

Game day on Saturday was looking a bit wet when Al first woke up and started to get ready for the day; but the rain pretty much stopped by the time he and Rose made it to the Great Hall for breakfast after their morning walk; and the forecast suggested that they had as good a chance for no rain during the match as to have some off and on during the rest of the day. Quidditch was the only chat topic at breakfast – as long as you considered the usual teen drama stories related to the spectator side of the sport to be part of the Quidditch action. As usual, the Slytherin players were talking big and mixing their boasts in equal parts with taunting the Hufflepuff players and students. Predictions for the game actually seemed to lean toward Slytherin over Hufflepuff; but that seemed to almost entirely be based on the belief that the risk of a no-win season for Slytherin gave them the motivational advantage despite the fact that Hufflepuff's wins had been with their junior team; so their senior team would end up with no wins either should they lose the match.

It still wasn't raining after breakfast, so Al and Gwendolyn went outside for a walk around the castle grounds, starting along the lake; and working their way around to the stadium. Since the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections were across the pitch from each other for the match, they decided to pick seats on the border between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor sections so that they could support their Hufflepuff player-friends; and sit with all of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends. That worked for Rose and Shane, Ray and Tory, and Scott and Madison too; but most of their Ravenclaw friends sat in that section instead. Al and Gwendolyn were among the first of their group to arrive, so they were there to welcome everyone else; and they had fun hanging out with their friends for the last half-hour or so until game time – including the entertainment that Teresa Thomas provided with her pre-game announcing.

"You've really messed things up for Teresa for these last two matches," Rose told Gwendolyn. She was sitting across the aisle from Al and Gwendolyn; in the Hufflepuff section with Shane.

Gwendolyn laughed. "Wouldn't that be more accurate to say about James and Ollie?" she countered. "This season might have turned out quite differently if they hadn't been more interested in getting revenge on you, Al, and Ray than in doing what was best for their House and team."

"That could have made a big difference for the next match; but you did your part to make sure this game doesn't mean anything – at least for the Quidditch Cup standings. Teresa has to dig pretty deep to come up with anything to make this game meaningful on any level other than for House pride."

"There are some NEWT players looking to impress the scouts too," Al reminded the girls. "Alice definitely wants to play in the show; so she'd like to have a good match today."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed, "but Kirby has the band and a music career in his future instead of Quidditch; and I haven't heard anything about Lacey Zabini wanting to play in the show."

"Maybe Victor Avery and the other sixth-year Slytherin players are looking to leave early the way that Theo Nott did last year," Ray suggested. He and Tory were sitting behind Rose and Shane; and he earned a round of laughs for that comment.

"Victor's the oldest Avery son," Al told him. "I doubt he'll be allowed to play professional Quidditch. That'd be beneath the future Head of their family."

"Too bad," Rose said sardonically. "The Falcons will be so disappointed; since he'd fit right in with the Nott brothers and the rest of their team of bullies."

"He has left us alone this year," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed.

"Now you've gone and jinxed it for us," she declared. "We'll be lucky to get out of the stadium without some problems with the Averys and their mates now."

"I'd be happy to have a trouble-free match – if everyone else would just play nice for one day," Al assured her. "It could happen today."

"The odds are better without James here," Gwendolyn offered; "but the Slytherin team isn't exactly renowned for good sportsmanship and fair play."

They continued to chat while waiting for the match to start, but that assertion was soon proved true right from take-off as Victor Avery and the other guys on the team immediately went on the attack; and physically went after Alice and Francine as their primary targets. That was a tougher job for them this year because Calvin and Tina Johnson were far better Beaters than Don Rosier and Raban Lestrange; but having the better Beaters didn't help much with the cheap shots and fouls. Those early hits were hard and had an immediate impact that was both good and bad for each team. Alice and Francine each scored a goal on penalties against Slytherin, and that was great for Hufflepuff; but the trade-off was some early injuries to both Witches that were serious-enough to be a problem for them.

Thanks to those hits, Lacey Zabini and Licentia Nott each scored a goal in return while Victor was busy trying to beat up on Alice and Francine with help from his Beaters. Alice scored one other goal that came at the price of yet another pair of cheap shots – one from Vince Vaisey after she'd beat him to earn the goal; and the other from Victor as she tried to get back into the play on defense. Because of those five fairly quick goals and the fierce Chaser battle that was so dirty on the Slytherin side; a lot of the spectators watching the match didn't even see the game-winning play. Al and Gwendolyn did; though he'd needed to draw her attention to it when he saw Alex completely fake-out Brand Bletchley while the Slytherin Beaters were busy trying to set up a hit on Alice. With Brand out of the way and going the wrong direction and the Slytherin Beaters oblivious to what was going on; Alex was very happy to make the fairly-easy catch of the snitch at the twenty-seven minute mark to give Hufflepuff the early one-eighty to twenty victory. While the Hufflepuff faithful roared their approval, Al was also one of the only people in the stadium watching as Alice headed directly for the pitch; obviously wanting to land and get off of her broom because of her injuries. That was also why he was once again first to react to Victor Avery's attempt at a late, blind-sided hit on Alice that was intended to drive her into the ground and crash.

"Revulsio!" he said with quiet assertiveness; his wand pointed at Alice; and his intent aimed at pushing her out of Victor's path of attack. The timing was so close that Victor was still smiling viciously right up until the moment that Alice was no longer in front of him – and it was too late to adjust for the lack of impact with her before he crashed into the pitch instead. He'd been coming in for that hit at such a steep angle that he bounced instead of sliding; and wasn't moving when he landed the second time.

"I really hate it when Rose is right," Al said as he stepped past Gwendolyn into the aisle. "Watch my back, will you?" he asked as he jumped into a run while nearly everyone else was just watching on in astonishment and transfixed by yet another crazy end-of-match scene.

He was in Animagus form by the third step; leapt the railing separating the seating from the pitch; and raced across the pitch to where Victor Avery lay crumpled on the ground. He got there at nearly the same time that Alice Longbottom did once she'd been able to stop moving away thanks to his repelling spell; flowen back; and landed. Kneeling on the pitch next to Victor, Al had time to place a hand on his arm and get a first assessment of his injuries before everything around him went crazy again.

"Don't touch my brother, you freak!" Rupert Avery bellowed at him from the Slytherin section. His wand was drawn; and he then shouted – "Revulsio!" He'd been sitting near the top of the stadium seats with his mates, and his aim was terrible; so the attacked went over Al's and Alice's heads; and blasted a handful of Hufflepuff students back into their seats or into the students behind them; causing a bit of panic there as the students closest to those hit scattered. Re-aiming, Rupert shouted – "Reducto!"

This time, Al had a shield ready; and the impact sent a shockwave of sound and energy echoing around the stadium because Al let his shield take the full hit instead of risking a deflection or rebound that might have injured other students. The sense of danger that hit Al next had his eyes blazing with anger. Turning back toward where he'd been sitting with Gwendolyn, he yelled – "Protego!" while pointing his wand and envisioning a shield above her head just as Don Rosier was about to crash into her. He followed that up with – "Revulsio!" and watched in satisfaction as Don skidded along his shield and was then launched like a stone in a slingshot out of the stadium while barely hanging on to his broom handle and desperately trying to get back onto it.

"Enough!" Professor Longbottom yelled; his voice a roar that was loud-enough to cut through the cacaphony. By then, he was striding out onto the pitch; his wand drawn; and the expression on his face grim and determined. While he approached his daughter, Al, and Victor; Professor McGonagall had rushed toward the Slytherin section; and Al saw her disarm Rupert – though he idiotically attempted to retrieve his wand from her; and ended up in a partial body-bind for that little act of defiance. "Put your wands away – now!" Neville demanded next. The other Professors and quite a few of the Prefects were out on the pitch too; but Al sensed that everyone was taking Neville's order seriously; and that the immediate danger had ended.

"How is he?" Alice asked him quietly; turning her attention toward Victor and apparently agreeing with Al's unspoken opinion that the Professors had everything else under control again.

"Better than I'd have expected; but he needs to be taken to the hospital wing. From the sound of his breathing, he probably broke some ribs, and since he's unconscious; he must have hit his head really hard too. I don't see anything that looks like major broken bones in his arms or legs, though considering how he landed on his broom; he might have, um, other injuries that I have no intention on checking him for – if you know what I mean."

Alice tried not to laugh, but failed; and then she groaned in pain. Al stood up and stepped over to her; his expression now concerned for her. "Where does it hurt?" he asked her; and she smiled ruefully.

"A lot of places – including some that you don't need to check on for me," she tried joking. Al still had his wand in his hand; and he gently put a hand on each of her upper arms. Closing his eyes; he let his senses reach out to her; searching and assessing her injuries quickly before he then went ahead and silently healed every one of those injuries. Her body had stiffened as his power flared; and there were some nasty sounds as broken bones and fractures were healed; but then she relaxed and sighed in relief.

"I didn't see a thing," Al teased in return. "Can you keep that little secret safe for me?"

Alice laughed and hugged him. "Yeah, we can do that," she promised; smiling at her father as he nodded his agreement.

"We can,' he confirmed – "and I think it's also time for you to let others take care of Mr. Avery." He looked around; and waved Jensen Scott over. "Could you escort Mr. Potter to my office, please?" he asked the seventh-year Gryffindor Prefect. "I'll need to have a talk with him once we've dealt with the problems here. Try to keep him out of any more trouble."

"That's a tall order; but I'll do my best," Jensen promised; grinning at Al. Dominique had come with him; and she was grinning at him too. "Shall we go?"

Al nodded. "I'm fairly sure that wasn't optional for me, but since I'm not really sure what happened to Don Rosier after he left the building; you might want to offer the escort job to someone else."

"I'll sign on," Gwendolyn told him as she hurried up to him along with Rose, Shane, and quite a few of their friends. "Are you under House arrest?" she asked.

"Let's call it protective custody," Dominique offered. She'd been smiling, but that faded as she looked around and saw the angry faces of the Slytherin players as they landed; and beyond them to where quite a few Slytherins were coming out onto the pitch in support of their players. "Let's go. We definitely don't want this to turn ugly again."

"No, we don't," Neville agreed. "I'll be there when I can."

While he'd have helped with Victor Avery if asked; Al followed Jensen and Dominique as they led the way out of the stadium. Gwendolyn took his hand and walked at his side; and Rose and Shane stayed behind – mostly because the show on the pitch was sure to be more interesting than sitting around and waiting for Professor Longbottom to get to his office. They were out of the stadium in time to see Don Rosier fly back over the top of the outer wall and in again, but other than glaring at them with impotent fury; he didn't try to do anything else to them with the two older teens watching and with wands at the ready.

"Just how far did you push im for it to take that long to get back here?" Jensen asked; and Al shrugged and smiled ruefully.

"I have no idea; though he wouldn't have been able to leave the school grounds without getting caught up in the defenses. These guys need to figure out that trying to mess with my girlfriend is a really bad idea."

"Rosier didn't look as though he got that message," Dominique pointed out. "What happened before everything went crazy in there?"

"Avery tried to bash into Alice and knock her into the ground while she was trying to land," Gwendolyn reported before Al could answer. "Al nudged her out of the way, and when Avery no longer had her to hit at the last second; he crashed into the pitch instead."

"When I looked over that way from where Alex was; Alice seemed to be closer to the side of the pitch than the middle," Dominique pointed out; and Gwendolyn grinned and shrugged.

"So it was a big nudge," she joked. "Al didn't have much time to react, though; so let's cut him some slack on that one."

"Will you be cutting him some slack over that hug too?" Jensen teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Maybe; but he'll be explaining that one to me a bit later when we have a chance to talk about it alone."

Al knew she'd been joking about that too, and while he was in th emiddle of another mess; he could also admit that he enjoyed the next half-hour or so that he got to spend with Gwendolyn, Jensen, and Dominique. The meeting with Professor Longbottom that followed wasn't entertaining, but it was quick and easy; and then he strongly suggested that Al stay away from any of the Slytherins as much as was possible for the rest of the weekend – and especially avoid the Averys and their buddies. Since the match had been so short, even with the extra post-game action; there was still time to do some studying; so Al and Gwendolyn went to get their book bags; and met up with about half of their study group to get to work – and talk about the rest of the story from the stadium.

"Is anyone else here wondering if there's something in the stadium that's making some of the players go a bit nuts during the matches this season?" Madison asked. "We had problems in the last four junior matches; and now it's the senior teams having problems."

"That's possible," Rose agreed with a grin for Al. "Maybe we should have Al skip the last match and see if it makes a difference. He is a trouble magnet, after all; and could be the problem just by being there."

"I'm pretty sure that Alice was glad that he was there today," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Ditto that for everyone else he's helped out with those problems – though I'm not sure how I feel about him always helping Witches."

"He's kept some of the guys from getting hurt – or hurt worse – too," Madison pointed out. "Since quite a few of them didn't deserve the help; that should count extra."

"Even so, we won't know until we try whether there would be the same problems without him at the matches," Ray offered.

"James and Ollie might have done things differently if I hadn't been there," Al suggested; "but the only thing going on in the stadium that affected the Slytherins was losing – and I doubt that any of the other teams would trade the wins for losses just to make their players feel better."

"No, we wouldn't," Tory agreed. "It would be nice if this trend of post-game madness ends with this match. After Rupert Avery missed you with that first attack and hit the Hufflepuff students instead; I don't think we were far away from a magical brawl."

"There is a reason why the contending team Houses sit across the stadium from each other instead of side-by-side," Rose reminded them. "I seriously doubt that what's happened this season is even the worst that they've had here at Hogwarts – except for James' attack on Stephanie. That had to be right up there with the worst-ever."

"Let's not go there," Al said with a shake of his head. "What did you think of the actual match today? I'm glad that Hufflepuff won, but Alice must be a bit disappointed; since she didn't get much of a chance to show off for the scouts. Alex was the only player that really looked great out there today."

"She's had a tough go of it this season, but I think Alice is still the best Chaser graduating this year; so she'll get job offers for the show," Tory predicted; and looked toward Madison when her friend laughed.

"I'm sorry," Madison apologized; "but while that sounds really great, Tory; there are only two NEWT-year Chasers playing this year – Alice and Lacey Zabini. I think that Alice is really good, and she will get to play in the show; but the star rookie next season in the league is going to be Belinda Wood. Gryffindor's going to get that honor two years in a row."

"I'd suggest that we'll get a shot the year we graduate; but we'll have a really scary graduating class of Quidditch players in our year," Tory said with meaningful looks at Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray. "It isn't going to get easier for the other Houses for that anytime soon with all of the Quidditch family kids around this place."

"Not easier," Gwendolyn agreed; "but it is going to be fun – both here and when we're all in the show."

"The rest of you can have all of the fun you want with that," Bristol told them; "but those of us in the group with the sense not to want future jobs where some of the other employees are trying to take your head off with a steel bludger will find our fun in less-dangerous occupations – and have fun too."

"Have you decided on a career now?" Madison asked; and Bristol shook her head.

"No, but I've got lots of time for that still; and it won't be necessary for me to impress any scouts for any job I do eventually pick. Half-decent grades might come in handy, though; so I'll let you get back to talking sports while I get back to trying to memorize all of these stupid facts and figures for Potions. The exams for Potions ought to be open book. It's not as if anyone sits around making potions from memory."

"That'd be cool if you could," Shane told her. "Maybe that'd be a job for you in the future – making and selling Potions memory charms."

Bristol laughed. "With all of the daydreaming I do while in Potions class; bottling those memories might be a bad idea."

"Or very interesting," Tory offered with a grin. "Why don't you try bottling up one of those daydream potion-making moments for us to take a look at; and we'll let you know whether they'd be a hit or not?"

"That's so not going to happen," Bristol assured her with another laugh. "Now let me get back to my studying before I totally lose interest in doing that."

While Bristol did that, and they all worked with varying degrees of focus; they also continued to chat and have fun too until going for lunch in the Great Hall. It was back to their study classroom after lunch, and while studying again was an option that some of them decided to do; Al and Gwendolyn were among the Quidditch fans that sat down on the sofas to watch the Harpies-Wanderers match – starting with most of Lee's pre-game show. After having a very short first-round match, the Harpies were in great shape going into the semi-final round; and the experts picked them to win over the Wanderers; and offered a split-opinion for the Tornadoes-Prides match. That first pick looked pretty good right from the start of the Harpies' game; and Victoire was fired up and playing great. She scored the first goal of the day; and the Harpies were never in any danger of losing that early lead for the rest of the match.

The Wanderers did fight hard, though, and the Harpies built on their lead very slowly. After the first hour, the score was fifty-to-ten; increased to one-twenty to thirty after two hours as the Keepers began to tire faster than the Chasers; and one-ninety to fifty after three hours. The Harpies earned the one-sixty lead twenty minutes into the fourth hour; and it wasn't long after that when the Wanderers' Seeker temporarily lost his mind and actually tried to make an extremely high-risk attempt at catching the snitch instead of simply defending it and keeping Gabrielle from making the catch instead. Either way, the play ended badly for him because he missed the attempt that would have handed his team the narrow loss; but left Gabrielle wide-open to make a relatively easy catch that gave her team the more-definitive victory with a final score of three-eighty to seventy.

By then, the Tornadoes-Prides match had started, so while they celebrated their Harpies' team making it into the championship match; they also switched to watching that match instead of the post-game action from the first match. It was a good thing that they did do that because Erin Connelly attempted yet another winner-take-all, risky, and early catch of the snitch – and blew it for the Prides when she missed. The Tornadoes' Seeker nearly missed too; but managed to corral the snitch and then hold on to it for the one-eighty to twenty victory in just under an hour. The consensus within their study group was that the Harpies had luck on their side this season, and while the Tornadoes had done well-enough to get to the Championship match too; they were definitely one of the best-case teams for the Harpies to face as they attempted to win their second Championship in a row.

Having Quidditch out of the way by dinnertime meant that an evening of alone time for Al and Gwendolyn was an option – and they took advantage of that to have a play evening that included music, cuddling, watching mirror network shows, and a major snogging session. Compared to Saturday, the second-half of their weekend was uneventful; but they still had a lot of fun – even with a full morning of exam studying. The work wasn't fun for all of them, but Al and Gwendolyn had fun together; and the afternoon Quidditch scrimmage was great – even though they battled against each other when the girls decided to have a Witches versus Wizards match. The Witches won the day, but the guys didn't feel as though they lost; possibly because at least two of them were happy to be distracted by their girlfriends with mid-air kisses or other flirting that very-successfully kept them from caring very much about the score.

There was some other outdoor play time after the scrimmage too; including some games, hanging out by the lake, and even a couple of crazy friends willing to hop into the lake despite how cold the water still was in early May. Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their weekend with a quiet evening in their study classroom with just a handful of their friends. Writing letters for home was part of their evening entertainment, but they watched shows on the mirror network; enjoyed some quiet chat time; and the couples' cuddle time was a pretty good way to end the weekend too. It was just the two of them going to the Owlery to send letters off with Winter for home, so Al and Gwendolyn did get to have a bit of alone time ahead of curfew – even if there were quite a few owls around them to witness the minor bit of snogging after they'd taken care of Winter and sent her on her way home. After walking Gwendolyn home, Al ended his Sunday night with a mirror chat with his parents and sister; and once again didn't have to worry about any problems with James because he was still camping in the back yard – and wasn't showing any signs of moving back into his room anytime soon. Finally, the chat time with Ray and a few of the other guys helped Al to wind down before falling asleep; and then he was out for the count until morning.

The week leading up to the Championship match between the Harpies and Tornadoes was really busy for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends, but not very exciting; since most of their time was spent in classes, working on assignments, or studying for their final exams. Having a Saturday in Hogsmeade wasn't a distraction either – other than the teen drama stories that always fed the gossip network with fresh news. Al did have to deal with an uptick in the dark looks and insults from some of his least-favorite Slytherins – particularly from the Avery brothers. He'd expected that; and just did his best to stay away from them. Staying away from James and Ollie wasn't a problem while they were at home, and that had the added bonus on Friday that they weren't at Hogwarts for Ollie's fourteenth birthday.

While Al was glad to be out of the loop for Ollie's big day, it was a big deal for James and Ollie because they were allowed to spend the day together; James stayed overnight; and then they were going to the Championship match together on Saturday. The end to their forced separation was a big deal for the two boys, and while it was a birthday gift of sorts for Ollie; it was also a test – and they were closely watched for any signs of new trouble – as well as for what would be a very welcome change in attitudes. Al wasn't in the loop for any of that either, but by Friday; he was more interested in having some fun on the weekend – starting with some alone time with Gwendolyn after dinner on Friday.

Even with the extra assignments all week, everyone in their study group finished their 'regular' work by dinnertime on Friday; so Al and Gwendolyn were both happy campers when they headed off on their own after dinner; set up a sofa and the mirror network mirror in one of their 'alternate' classrooms because some of their friends were using their normal study classroom for the evening instead; and then they began their evening with some music play time. They had a pair of mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah after that; and then wrapped up their time together before curfew by not watching the shows on the mirror network while concentrating on a brilliant snogging session. Compared to that, Al's bedtime chat with the guys was not very exciting; and even their Saturday morning exam study session was only moderately fun – even when that included practicing the magic nearly as much as they studied their notes and worked on the bonus assignments and sample written tests they were being given to help with getting ready for their exams. That did keep them busy until lunchtime, though; and then it was time to play again – with the League Championship match the only entertainment game in town for every Quidditch fan at Hogwarts – or anywhere else where there were fans of the greatest professional league in the Wizarding World!

"Okay, anyone interested in picking the Tornadoes to win today is in the wrong room; and needs to go find a group of Slytherin fans to sit with," Gwendolyn announced as she sat down with Al after they'd finished setting up for the game watching party.

"The Tornadoes do have other fans," Tory reminded her. "Slytherins are only cheering for the Tornadoes this season because of Rachel Rosier. The Falcons are probably the favorite team for most Slytherins."

"Maybe if they'd hired Rachel instead of Theo and Gregor Nott; they'd have made the playoffs this season too," Ray suggested.

"They got exactly what they wanted," Al offered; "and Rachel isn't nearly mean-enough for the Falcons."

"Maybe we should have watched the Falcone-Tornadoes matches this season," Rose told them. "I didn't even think about doing that, but then I didn't hear anything bad about those two matches; so maybe Theo and Gregor took it easy on Rachel."

"They might have wanted to do that; but I doubt they did," Gwendolyn disagreed. "No Beater will last in the show for very long if they don't play hard against everyone – and the Falcons' fans aren't happy if their Beaters aren't bashing in some heads at every match."

"Maybe we should want to play for the Falcons," Madison joked; and laughed at the expressions on the faces of her friends. "I haven't lost my mind," she assured them – "just suggesting a way to play in the show without having to play against the Falcons."

"I'll play on the Cannons' reserve squad before I'll play for the Falcons," Tory declared.

"Can I sign you up for that right now?" Rose teased.

"No, since I do want to play on a team that might actually win a championship in this century; and hope that I'll be good-enough to get a job with a top team – even if I probably won't get a chance to play for the Harpies."

"Does that make it tough to cheer for the Harpies?" Shane asked; and Tory looked at him in confusion.

"Why? You know my Mum's on the team."

"I know," Shane agreed; "but if the Harpies' Chasers don't do very well; wouldn't that give you a shot at one of those jobs when you graduate?" He nodded toward Gwendolyn. "You're sure that you'll be on the team; but that means you'll have to replace one of the current Chasers too – or anyone else they hire between now and then."

"Maybe they'll start cheering for the other teams when we're in sixth or seventh-year," Michael offered. "The chances of the Harpies winning another five championships after this one are pretty slim; so it could work out for Gwendolyn and Tory."

"You're predicting a Harpies win today?" Toni asked him; and he laughed.

"Anyone not doing that is a bit delusional. I might not be the Quidditch fanatic that most of our friends are; but it's easy-enough to guess that Victoire and Gabrielle are not going to mess up their first chance to win a Championship together. That can't happen very often for an aunt and niece – or a mother and daughter if you guys ever get the chance to do that with your mothers."

"That will be great for Aunt Gabrielle and Victoire," Rose agreed with a nod and smile; "but I don't know if I'd like to play on the same team with my mother."

"Your Mum doesn't even like to fly, Rose," Gwendolyn reminded her with a laugh. "Playing Quidditch with her would be awful – though we know what you meant."

"I'd be okay," Tory added. "Gwendolyn will be the one with the problems having her Mum as her boss on the Harpies. Mum thinks that her job was easier when Aunt Gwenog was just her team Captain and a Beater."

"And my Mum says that your Mum believes that because she got hit by too many bludgers back when she was still playing," Gwendolyn shot back with a grin. "I've watched a lot of Harpies' workouts; so I know what I'm getting into with them – and still want to play for the Harpies anyway."

"Which could be a sign that she's been hit by too many bludgers," Ray joked. "I'm really glad that I'll never have to worry about having my Mum for a boss when we get to the show – though she'd love having an excuse to boss me around for an extra twenty or thirty years."

"The only funny thing about that is you believing she won't do that anyway," Madison told him. "That's her job; and it doesn't ever end – for sons."

"But it does for daughters?" Ray shot back; and Madison laughed.

"They get to start bossing their son-in-laws around instead," she explained with a grin. "It's not fair for Wizards; but works out for most Witches."

"If that's so unfair; why do Wizards put up with it?" Scott asked. Madison leaned closer and kissed him. "Oh right – now I remember," he joked; joining in for the round of laughs.

Their conversation moved on as they watched the pre-game show; the pre-game ceremony that dragged on too long with dignitary speeches and the rest of the usual Championship match formalities; and then, finally, the start of the match. The action above the pitch was fast-paced right from take-off. It was also obvious that the players on both teams were playing their best; but what was less-obvious at first was how much better the Harpies were compared to the Tornadoes. Earning a modest seventy-to-thirty lead by the end of the first hour was good news for the Harpies and their fans; yet gave the Tornadoes' fans reason to cheer too – especially since their Seeker seemed to be doing well-enough against Gabrielle as they battled to a draw. A one-thirty to fifty lead at the end of the second hour only proved that the teams were settling into the game for the long-haul; each team had scored one less goal compared to the first hour; and only some of the spectators even noticed that the Harpies actually did better on the scoring ratio with three goals for every one the Tornadoes scored.

Going into the start of the fourth hour, the Harpies extended their lead to two-hundred to eighty; and had the Tornadoes' Seeker pushing hard to catch the snitch before the Harpies' could get more than one-sixty ahead. Gabrielle was more than a match for him, though; and she made sure that the game rolled on – even if she also couldn't yet out-duel her rival to earn the win for her team. With the game still going on, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends had to pack up and go to the Great Hall for dinner. The match was being watched on portables all over the Great Hall, so they didn't miss any of the action, but they did still eat quickly; and then headed back to their classroom to watch the rest of the game.

The Harpies had the all-important one hundred and sixty point lead by the end of the fourth hour; and then the Tornadoes' Seeker was forced to play defense; and hope that his team mates could get them back into the game again. He was in a tough spot trying to do that against Gabrielle, but he didn't give up; and fought on even as the score continued to get more lop-sided in favor of the Harpies. At the end of the fifth hour, the score was three-fifty to one-thirty; and four-ten to one-sixty at the end of the sixth. Some Tornadoes' fans might have hoped that the tide was turning in the game then with the Harpies only out-scoring their team by a two-to-one margin for that hour; but they were wrong about that. All of the players were nearing exhaustion by then, but the effort it had taken the Tornadoes to even narrow that scoring gap had been harder on them; and the Harpies extended their lead to four-ninety to one-eighty as they battled into the start of the eighth hour.

That had been an especially good hour of play for Victoire; and she proved that she was the best-conditioned Chaser in the game as she continued to out-play Rachel Rosier – and the other Tornadoes' Chasers whenever she was matched up against them on plays instead of Rachel. She was still proving that right up to the end of the game, and had thirty-two of the Harpies' fifty-three goals when Gabrielle was finally able to take advantage of a mistake by the Tornadoes' Seeker to get a clean shot at the snitch. She didn't miss; and made the Championship-winning catch at the seven hour and thirty-four minute mark of the match for the six-eighty to two-hundred victory!

"I'm ready for a nap; and we were only watching the show," Rose declared; smiling tiredly as she cuddled with Shane on the sofa they were sharing with Al and Gwendolyn for the post-dinner side of their game-watching adventure. "Does Aunt Gabrielle get the MVP for her monster Seeker duel win? Victoire's had a great game too; and let's not forget that Tory's Mum only allowed twenty goals in just over seven and a half hours."

"I'm biased; but will pick Victoire anyway," Tory told her. "She scored thirty-two goals; I don't know how many assists she had for the other twenty-one goals; and Mum only had those twenty goals against her because our Chaser defense was so good today."

"She had fifteen assists," Al advised her. "Rachel only scored seven of her eleven goals while up against Victoire too; and only managed to help out on three of the other nine goals that the Tornadoes scored today. I'll vote for Victoire for MVP today too; though I'd say everyone on our team played great."

"They did," Gwendolyn agreed happily. "Mum must be thrilled – especially when it's so hard to win back-to-back championships on either side of a Quidditch World Cup summer."

"Maybe your Mum should retire now with those two Championships to end her career," Madison suggested to Tory. "Do you think that the Harpies could steal Belinda from Puddlemere United?"

"Mum doesn't want to retire yet," Tory advised her. "She's having too much fun, and as long as she's one of the best Keepers in the league; I hope that the Harpies won't try to replace her before she's ready to retire on her own terms."

"You know that the Harpies try not to do that," Gwendolyn told her seriously; "though every team has that problem now and then. I think that your Mum will know when it's her time – just as my Mum knew when she was ready to stop playing."

"That won't be anytime soon if she keeps playing like she did today," Rose predicted. "I think that Belinda is really good too; but she isn't that good yet."

"Let's hope not," Toni suggested with a grin. "Ravenclaw is hoping she'll have a bad match against us next weekend!"

While the Gryffindor members of their group didn't think that Toni's hopes were very realistic, they did all have fun chatting about Quidditch as they watched the post-game awards ceremony. Nobody was surprised when Victoire was awarded the game MVP trophy; and seeing their favorite players and managers so happy as they were presented the Championship trophy was great too. They watched Lee's post-game show after that too; and then wrapped up their game-watching marathon in time to get back to their respective Houses ahead of curfew. Al then ended his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily – and with Jonah and Gwendolyn through her because she was at the McCormacks' house with their parents for the victory party; and Gwendolyn had called Jonah to have a bedtime chat with him. James wasn't there because he'd been allowed to have another sleepover with Ollie – this time at home in the tent he was still camping in; but Lily did advise him that they'd actually had a pretty good day at the game – and she and Jonah hadn't had any problems with either boy all day.

Lily and Jonah did have some great stories from the game, though, and they ended up talking for more than an hour – with some cameo moments with other party guests including Victoire and Gabrielle. Al had loved all of that, but he was also tired out by then, so while most of the guys in his dorm – including Ray – stayed up and talked late into the night; he fell asleep not long after ending his mirror chat with his sister. Another study session on Sunday morning was another big contrast in the fun level compared to their play time on Saturday, but Al still enjoyed the time with Gwendolyn and their friends – as well as the magical play time part of their studies. An afternoon Quidditch scrimmage helped to hike the fun level again; and the play time for the rest of the afternoon included some Animagus entertainment. Al took Gwendolyn for a long horseback ride around the school grounds; went for a fly as a falcon; and even played a bit of Fanged Frisbee while in his Samoyed Husky form.

When Gwendolyn was advised by her friends that they were having another girls' night after dinner, Al decided to have some more Animagus play time in their study classroom instead of hanging out with the guys in the common room. He walked Gwendolyn to her House first; and then went on to their usual study classroom. He wasn't surprised that it wasn't in use by any of their study group couples because the girls in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had opted for the girls' night type of fun too; so he also knew that there wouldn't be any couples coming along later looking for a quiet place for some private snogging either. He cleared the center of the room first; and then started experimenting with new animal forms – or with changes to other forms he'd already tried and was continuing to master. He was trotting around the room as a Zebra when the warnings hit him of imminent danger; and he had time to reach the far side of the room by the time the door opened and Victor Avery led the way into the room with his wand drawn and pointed at Al. He had Rupert and eight of their buddies with him; and all ten Slytherin teens were smiling maliciously as they lined up next to each other in a tight-knit row.

"How disappointing," Victor declared with a sneer. "I was hoping for something a bit more challenging for our target practice than this."

"I'm not," Rupert told him. "The easier it is to blast him; the sooner we can get to paying him back for what he did to us last weekend – and everything else he's done to us."

"That's true," Victor agreed. "Would you like to offer any last words, Potty? Oh right – I don't speak Zebra anyway; so that'd be impossible. Get used to it. By the time we're done with you; there's a very good chance that you'll be too messed up to even remember how to switch back to your human form."

"Maybe they'll find him a nice zoo to live in," G-Air offered. "Better yet, send him out into the wild and see how long he can stay alive before he gets chased down and eaten."

"That's a cheery thought – for us," Don Rosier offered, "but let's get to the blasting him; and talk about what to do with what's left of him later."

"That works for me," Victor agreed. "Crucio!" he shouted then; and the other nine Slytherins also fired various curses at Al.

He'd waited for that; jumped into the air; and was changed into the form of a hummingbird by the time the first curse reached where he'd been standing – and passed harmlessly below him. If he could have, he would have laughed at the shouts of chagrin and anger, but then he was busy playing dodge the curses, hexes, and jinxes as the Slytherins got to have their chance at hitting a challenging target. That wasn't easy for him – especially once his attackers began to spread out around the room. That did give him some opportunities, though, and he managed to set up three of the guys getting hit by attacks meant for him before they started being more careful with where they were flinging their spells. That gave him another opportunity, though, so as soon as he could set it up; Al flew in behind a desk; changed into his human form; and had his shield up in time to protect himself when the desk was blown apart in front of him.

"Was that challenging-enough for you, Victor?" he asked as he stood up and continued to use shields to defend himself from the attacks that continued without a pause. "This isn't quite what I had in mind for my Animagus practice tonight; but you have managed to make this fairly entertaining."

"Then you'll love this," Victor told him before once again trying to hit Al with a Cruciatus curse. This time, Al used a rebounding shield; and watched unsympathetically as the curse boomeranged back and hit Victor before it even occurred to him to put up a shield in defense.

"I'll kill you!" Rupert shouted as he watched his brother crumple to the ground; the intensity of his own curse enough to knock him out from the pain.

"You won't," Al disagreed; meeting Rupert's attack with a disarming charm that over-powered the curse that couldn't have killed him anyway even if it had gotten through his shields.

Rupert tried desperately to get his wand back when it was rippped out of his hand; and then was in the process of grabbing for Victor's wand when Al hit him with a full body-bind. This time, Al did laugh because Rupert had been scrambling on his knees and hands when he was hit, with one hand reching for Victor's wand; so he'd toppled over in that position and was frozen in a fairly-comical pose. Though three of the remaining eight Wizards were dealing with their cross-fire injuries; Al still had to fight against all of them through until he disarmed and bound the last of them after another fifteen minutes of dueling. Two more of the Slytherins were injured by their own rebounding curses or hexes; but Al didn't personally hurt any of them beyond some bumps and bruises they likely received after falling to the ground or getting blasted backwards into the walls or furniture.

"There wouldn't be any point in talking to you about this," Al told Rupert conversationally as he began moving him toward one section of the room that was normally open space because he wanted to put the room back in order before he left and needed to get all of the immobilized Slytherins out of the way before doing that. "I am glad that you tried this here, where we've had a bit of privacy, and without involving anyone else. That isn't really surprising, considering the trouble that James and Ollie got into and the warnings we all got about doing things like this, but now I have to decide what to do with you; since the Professors will put two and two together if you're found here in my usual study classroom – and then I might be in trouble if I don't report what happened first."

He kept working as he thought about that and let his senses roam while deciding the best course of action; and then smiled in satisfaction when the answer came to him – though it was a bit unexpected. Once he had his ten opponents out of the way, he returned the desks, chairs, stools, and workbenches to their normal spots; repaired the damaged furniture as he went along; and then looked around the room one last time when he was finished to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Let's leave what happens next up to fate," he told all of the teens that were still conscious and could hear him – even if he'd left them in full body-binds and unable to answer him. "I'll leave your wands on this table, but won't be releasing any of you; since I've had enough fun for one night and don't want you coming after me again before I'm safely back in Gryffindor tower." He did that, and then walked over to the door and opened it. "Whatever happens to you after I leave, the next time you guys think that attacking me is a good idea; don't do it."

With that said, he left the room; closed the door behind him; and walked away. He pretended not to notice the Wizard behind the door across the hallway from him as he left; but since he had been given a glimpse of the near future for the Averys and their mates; he'd been made aware of Scorpius' presence – and that he was meant to be involved in the scene – but only directly with his fellow Slytherin. He didn't know the why for that – only that whatever was going to happen didn't involve him anymore.

Scorpius waited until he couldn't hear Albus in the hallway anymore; and then he left the classroom he'd hidden in after following Victor, Rupert, and their usual gang from the Slytherin common room to the room across the hall from his hiding spot. He'd settled in and waited patiently to find out whether the plan he'd overheard the Avery brothers work out with their buddes would work or not. He hadn't been able to hear anything from the room after they'd go in with their wands drawn and ready to fight through until he saw Albus leave; but he hadn't been surprised that Victor would use an imperturbable charm on the room to keep anyone from overhearing what they'd planned on doing to the 'Animorphpotty' to avenge what had happened to Victor after their last Quidditch match. He hadn't been surprised to see Albus walk out of the room first either – or that he appeared to be uninjured. Pausing before opening the door, Scorpius came up with a quick story to explain his arrival to his fellow Slytherin; waited another few moments while listening to make sure nobody else was nearby; and then he opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed; feigning shock. "Rupert? What's going on?" He only waited for a moment while looking around the room before returning his attention to his Quidditch team Captain. Pointing his wand at him, he released Rupert from the full body-bind while closing the gap between them; and then he held out his hand to help him to stand. "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here?" Rupert demanded suspiciously while immediately walking over to the worktable where Al had left the ten wands and grabbing his own possessively.

"I was out for a walk; saw Albus Potter coming out of this room looking a bit suspicious; and decided to stop in to find out if he'd been up to something. I'm glad that I didn't just walk past. Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not; but I'm not hurt either," Rupert retorted. "Help me get the other guys out of the body-binds," he demanded. "Did Potty see you?"

"No. I was coming from the other end of the hallway from where he went when he left." He then began reversing the binding spells on the other Wizards; and took care of two for every one Rupert could get done before they were all free again. "What else can I do to help?"

"Nothing," Rupert answered shortly; and then turned to glare at Scorpius. "You weren't here; and didn't see anything, Malfoy."

"Whatever you say," Scorpius agreed with a shrug while turning around and heading for the door. "See you around."

He waited until he was alone in the hallway to drop the mask of indifference and let out a bit of the anger seething beneath the surface. After a glance at his watch; he decided that he had enough time before curfew for a quick chat with Thomas; so he headed for the Room of Requirements. Being angry didn't keep him from making that walk with as much care as always, but he still hurried a bit; and it wasn't long before he was in 'his' special room and able to get the portrait out of his book bag and set it up on the table.

"Did you hear much of what happened just now?" he asked Thomas.

"Enough to guess that the Averys and some of their mates came out on the losing end of another confrontation with Albus Potter," Thomas answered. "How did you really know to be there?"

"I followed Victor and Rupert when they left after over-hearing them talking about getting Albus for what happened to Victor last weekend – and Rupert blames him for getting detention and points taken off from our House for what he tried to do to Albus – and did do to the Hufflepuff students that were hit with his missed attack on Albus."

"So what did you see in there that wasn't talked about?" Thomas asked next. "You obviously had to release all of the boys. I heard those reversal spells being used."

"I don't know what happened – other than that there was a fight. Victor wasn't bound, but he was unconscious; and some of the other guys were injured too. Rupert didn't want me to stay; so I don't know how bad those injuries are; but I'll let you know about anything I find out later. Victor and Rupert had eight of their buddies with them this time, Thomas; and Albus didn't appear to have a scratch on him when he left the classroom."

"We don't know what happened; so don't be too impressed," Thomas cautioned. "You've told me that your hot-headed fellow Slytherin aren't very bright – particularly when it comes to the Potters; so defeating them shouldn't be that amazing to you – even with ten-to-one odds. I expect that you could do the same – though your own doubts about that will continue to hold you back until you start believing in yourself too."

"I don't believe I could do that," Scorpius admitted candidly; and Thomas nodded.

"Would you feel the same way if you were up against ten bugs? How about ten Muggles? It's just a number if you're strong-enough by comparison – which you are."

"Having that kind of confidence only works until you're wrong about whether you're more-powerful than your opponents," Scorpius countered. "Isn't that part of what led to your own downfall?"

"Was I over-confident? Yes. Was Harry Potter the more-powerful Wizard? That's something we'll never know. I do not believe that he defeated me for being the stronger Wizard. We've discussed all of that many times before, though; so there is no point in doing so again. What you should learn from my defeat is not to be more cautious. Glory and power doesn't come to the timid and fearful. If you are not willing to take the risks; then you have been defeated before you even begin!"

"I am not afraid of anything," Scorpius declared; and Thomas laughed.

"Everyone has fears," he disagreed. "Do not be afraid to even admit to them; since overcoming them will be part of your journey to greatness."

Scorpius blew out a frustrated breath of air. "I did not come here to get into such a discussion," he half-complained; and Thomas smiled at him.

"Then why did you come?"

"Because I'm angry. I helped Rupert and his mates out of quite a mess; and then he just sends me off as if I'm some lowly servant. Maybe I should've left them there for someone else to find – or until they figured out how to escape without my aid."

"You cannot be surprised by that," Thomas offered, "and since your curiosity over what happened in that classroom had already won out; you couldn't exactly walk away without risking their wrath later on."

"Aren't you being a bit inconsistent? Now you're telling me that I had no choice but to help or risk getting blasted by them."

Thomas laughed. "I think that what you did was the correct action, Scorpius. That doesn't change what I said before, and I believe that you could defeat the Averys and their mates if needed; so you only need worry about getting blasted by them until you no longer believe they have that power over you."

"Okay, so why is it right for me to help and then put up with being treated without any respect?"

"Because they owe you now," Thomas explained patiently. "They might not even admit it to themselves yet, but it is true anyway; and those debts will add up over time. Eventually, they will see your value to them; and that will one day lead to the trust, respect, and loyalty that you wish to get from them – and will need to have to reach your ultimate goals."

"Again you're back to such serious thoughts," Scorpius complained. "Why can't you just help me to learn the perfect spell to teach those idiots a lesson or two and be done with it?"

"Any idiot can learn to do that," Thomas told him dismissively. "You want more for your future than a series of petty revenge moments; so don't let the little things cloud that vision."

While their chat didn't exactly go the way Scorpius had wished, he did stay and talk with Thomas until he needed to get back to his common room; and then he sat up for quite a while with Terri Timms – enjoying a bit of non-verbal sort of communication that was definitely more entertaining than Thomas' deep thoughts.

Sometimes, Scorpius decided, his painted friend didn't have a clue what he was talking about; and didn't think that there was anything wrong with enjoying those little moments that added quite a bit of fun to your life along the way to making those big dreams come true!

After leaving the study classroom on Sunday evening, Al went to the Owlery to spend some time with Winter before sending her on her way home with the package of letters that he, Gwendolyn, and Rose had written. That had given him time to wind down from the duel; and think about everything that had happened before talking about it with Gwendolyn or anyone else. As usual, he didn't plan on saying anything at all to most of his friends, but he knew that he had to interrupt Gwendolyn's girls' night to tell her about the fight; and planned on telling his parents and sister too if they were available to talk freely without James around. When he got back to his dorm room from the Owlery, he made the call home first; he was able to have the chat with Ginny and Lily while Harry was outside and busy with James; and then he called Gwendolyn and waited while the chimes rang on for a while before she answered.

"You are interrupting a girls' night," he heard Renee tell him; and Gwendolyn's mirror was obviously being fought over as his view of Gwendolyn was shaky and distorted. "No boys allowed!"

"He wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important," Gwendolyn told her friends. Al could hear several girls laughing at Renee's comments and fight for control of the mirror – which she surprisingly won; and then Al was looking at her instead of Gwendolyn as she stepped away and turned the mirror so that she could see him too.

"I'll be the judge of that," she told Gwendolyn. "Okay, Al – what's so important that you're willing to risk the wrath of a whole gang of Witches to have this mirror chat?"

"I didn't tell Gwendolyn that I love her when we said goodnight earlier; and didn't want to go to sleep without doing that," he told her. There's something else; but I can only talk about that with her."

"That's sweet, and a really good try, but I was there; and know for sure that you did tell Gwendolyn that you love her before we dragged her off," Renee advised him. "You'll have to do better than that; or I'm..." she paused when she looked back at the mirror after turning her attention to Gwendolyn while saying that; and saw that Al had his eyes tightly shut now. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not making this call to see you or any of Gwendolyn's friends in your nighties," he advised her without opening his eyes. "Please give Gwendolyn her mirror; and she can let me know when it's safe to open my eyes again."

Renee laughed along with all of the girls that heard Al's comment; blushed a bit and was glad that he couldn't see her; and handed the mirror to Gwendolyn again. "Okay, you guys win that round; but don't take all night. We still have a lot of gossip to get through before we'll be able to go to sleep."

"Including speculating on what Al did see that had him closing his eyes like that," Toni added; earning another round of laughs.

"It's safe now," Gwendolyn told Al a few moments later; and smiled at him as he opened his eyes and then sighed in relief. "Now you know why it's a bad idea to try a mirror chat with me on girls' nights," she teased. "Should I spell up some privacy for this?"

"Yes," he agreed with a nod. "For the record, though; I got my eyes closed before seeing anything I shouldn't while Renee was waving the mirror around." He'd said that loudly-enough to be overheard; and that round of laughter was still going on when it cut off because of Gwendolyn's imperturbable charm.

"You wouldn't have been in trouble with me if you had seen a bit too much of my friends, Al. That was all on Renee. What's up?" She laughed and grinned at him. 'Maybe I should re-phrase that; but you know what I meant."

"Yeah, but what I didn't tell your friends was that I did get a pretty good look at you in your nightie while Renee was fighting you for the mirror; and I'm seriously considering a cold shower after we're done with this chat."

Gwendolyn laughed again. "I love you, Al. Instead of letting that distract us, though; why have you called?"

"I had a run in with Victor and Rupert Avery – and eight of their buddies. After saying goodnight to you, I headed for our study classroom for some Animagus experimenting and practice. The Averys and their mates came into the room while I was doing that; tossed a few insults at me first; and then tried to blast me with a lot of very nasty spells."

"You were in one of your animal forms when they did that?" Gwendolyn asked; and saw Al nod his head in agreement.

"Yeah – a zebra at first; but then I switched to a hummingbird while they tried to use me for target practice. They spread out around the room to try and get me; which made it fairly easy for me to fly around and lead them into hitting each other with their spells. Three of them were hurt already by the time I had a chance to change back into my human form and counter-attack. Victor Avery knocked himself out cold with a rebounding Cruciatus curse; and two more guys got hurt before I had all of them disarmed and everyone except Victor in body-binds."

"You make that sound so easy. Did you leave them there like that?"

"Yes, but they had some help available nearby; so I'm sure they've been set free by now – even if they might still be dealing with their injuries."

"That's a bit cryptic. Did they have other friends waiting to back them up?"

"Not exactly. Scorpius Malfoy was there, and since I didn't have any sense that I'd been followed; he was probably following the Averys for some reason."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. Should we get back to watching our maps again?"

"I don't think we'll need to do that, but we can talk about it tomorrow sometime. Mum thinks I should have called for help and reported them, but even though she's probably right; I just couldn't do it."

"They don't deserve to have enemies as nice as you," Gwendolyn joked. "You're going to have a lot of Slytherin haters no matter what you do, but I agree with what you did; since there's no point in giving them even more reason to hate you."

"Well, let's hope this will be the only time they come after me for the rest of the school year at least," Al suggested. "I should let you get back to your girls' night fun. We can talk more tomorrow. I love you, Gwendolyn."

"I love you too, Al," she assured him. "Thanks for letting me know tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow sometime. Have a good sleep whenever you get to it after that cold shower."

They'd both laughed; she'd ended the mirror chat; and then Al had gotten ready for bed without taking the cold shower and was soon off to sleep – letting the sounds of the other guys talking or doing other things lull him off to dreamland. While his weekend had ended with a bit too much excitement, the next five days were filled with long hours of classroom and study time that was all dedicated to getting ready for final exams. The only Quidditch game in town now that the League Championship had been decided was the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match that would end the Hogwarts Quidditch season. Though the outcome of the game wouldn't make a difference for the Quidditch Cup standings, the match was still important to the players on both teams – especially those players interested in impressing the league scouts that were sure to be at the game. While Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their study group friends kept busy with their exam studies; they were just as excited about the game on Saturday as every other Quidditch fan in the school; and were ready to have some fun and take a break to watch the game on Saturday morning.

After a long, busy week, Al and Gwendolyn had done their own thing on Friday night – including a fairly brilliant snogging session to go along with the music and mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah. Al got an early start to his morning on Saturday; had a nice walk and talk with Rose before breakfast; and then went for a longer walk and talk outside with Gwendolyn after breakfast until they needed to be at the stadium – and split up to watch the game and cheer for their own teams in the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections. Al, Rose, Bristol, Cora, Scott, and a few other friends sat on the border with Hufflepuff so that the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff couples could hang out together. Al sat next to Rose while she cuddled with Shane, and while he was still tempted to go and sit with Gwendolyn anyway; he stayed to help his fellow Gryffindor support his cousins and their team mates.

"The pre-game show is about to start," Bristol reported as she waved toward where Teresa Thomas was getting the announcer's booth set up. "Who wants to start the final round of predictions?"

"I pick Pauline to catch the snitch," Rose told her; "and she'll do that for the loss if she can't catch it before our team is up by one-sixty or more."

"We have a brave prediction from Rose Weasley," Bristol announced. "Any dissenters?"

"I think that Ravenclaw has the advantage too," Al answered. "Belinda's better, but Peter's a really good Keeper too; so our Chasers are not going to be able to get that one-sixty lead easily. That's to Pauline's advantage for sure. Brandon isn't as good as Pauline; and I don't know whether he can defend the snitch against her in a long match."

"You're just trying to get kicked out of the Gryffindor section so you can go and sit with Gwendolyn, right?" Ray joked; and earned a round of laughs.

"I'd rather be sitting with Gwendolyn; but that has nothing to do with my prediction – or agreeing with Rose. It'll be great for our team if they win, but that will have to happen the way Rose suggests; since I really don't think that Brandon can beat Pauline in their duel."

"Then let's hope that our cousins can outscore the Ravenclaw Chasers before that happens," Ray told him with a nod. "If we don't have a party after the game today; you and Rose will want us to study instead."

"We only have a bit more than a week to go before exams start," Rose reminded him. "Wouldn't you rather spend the rest of the day with Tory anyway?"

"Yeah, but we'd both rather be doing nearly anything else other than studying," he answered.

"Actually, I was expecting to study regardless of which House wins today," Tory advised him. "The only difference for the Hufflepuff members of our group will be whether we're studying with Gryffindors or Ravenclaws later."

"Then I'll just hope for a marathon Quidditch match," Madison told her. "Maybe they'll battle it out all weekend."

"If it lasts that long; I'll be making a run to my dorm room to get my books so I can study while we watch the game," Rose told her – "not that I expect that Pauline will need anywhere near that long to catch the snitch."

Rose was right about that, but they had a really great, tough, and long Quidditch match to watch before Pauline ended the game with that catch. Right from the start of the match, it was obvious that Gryffindor had the advantage at Beater and Chaser over Ravenclaw, but while Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia were getting much better scoring chances; Peter was playing a great match – and nearly matching Belinda's great Keeper performance. In the first hour, Peter only allowed two goals while Belinda had a shut-out that lasted into the third hour before Miya Davies scored the first goal for Ravenclaw. By then, Gryffindor had six goals, and while that was still very close; Peter was facing a lot of really great scoring chances and was being worn down by the Gryffindor Chasers. The Ravenclaw team kept playing hard, though, and Gryffindor still only had a one hundred and ten to ten point lead at the end of the fourth hour.

The one part of the game that was all in Ravenclaw's favour was the Seeker duel. Pauline was playing a brilliant game too, and the only reason that she hadn't ended the battle early was because she'd been spending as much time dodging bludgers from Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins as she spent trying to catch the snitch. While the win wasn't needed because Ravenclaw already had the Quidditch Cup won, Pauline still wanted to get the win for her team; and was getting desperate to do that as the fifth hour ended. By then, Susan Cornfoot had scored Ravenclaw's second goal of the game, but Gryffindor had the one-sixty to twenty lead; and only needed two more goals to put the win out of reach for Ravenclaw. Having nothing to lose at that point made it easier for Pauline to take some risks, and that was what she was doing when she caught the snitch – earning the huge, come-from-behind victory and then barely avoiding a crash into the pitch.

"Well, I guess that means we'll be studying with the Gryffindors," Tory joked as they all watched the Ravenclaw players celebrate – though they weren't exactly doing that at high speed after a bit over five hours of intense Quidditch. The Gryffindor players looked disappointed; but not overly-so after playing so great despite the loss.

"Okay, but I vote that we take our studying outdoors," Ray suggested. "It's too nice out here to be cooped up in a classroom for the rest of the afternoon."

"Let me know where to meet you for studying later," Al said as he stood up. "I'm going to go and meet up with Gwendolyn; congratulate all of our friends and relatives on both teams; and then go and spend some time with her before we'll all need to be in the Great Hall for a late lunch."

"Fly and be free. We'll meet you out on the pitch," Rose promised as he left. "Don't bother waiting for us – we're just going to wait a bit longer just in case you'll be attracting any trouble now that the match is over – strictly so you'll have us watching your back; not because we're worried about being collateral damage."

"No – that would only be the added bonus," Al joked. "I don't think that'll be a problem today; but thanks for the great idea!" He was grinning as he looked back at her and then he turned to face the pitch; jumped into the air; and changed into a hawk so he could fly across the pitch to the Ravenclaw section. That transfiguration had startled the students around him; earned some laughs; and then more laughs when he landed and changed back near Gwendolyn.

The hug and kiss with her was pretty good too; and then they both had to deal with the teasing and jokes as they then walked out to center pitch together with some of Gwendolyn's Ravenclaw friends. Chatting with their favorite Ravenclaw and Gryffindor players was fun, but after a long match; getting to the locker rooms and hitting the showers was something that all of the players wanted to do; so the post-game fun on the field wrapped up fairly quickly. With the Quidditch season now officially over at Hogwarts, it was then time for most of the students to get serious about their upcoming final exams.

While it was time for that, it didn't mean that every student would get serious about their studies. There were always teens that were more interested in having fun than doing the work, and for them; the stress over exams wouldn't come until the exams actually started. That wasn't going to be a problem for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of the members of their study group, but they weren't worried about exams or anything else as they spent that bit of free time before lunch together; and enjoyed simply getting to quietly be together for a while as they made that transistion from Quidditch fans to serious students again. They were going to need to stay in that mode more often than not during the last four weeks of school before the summer holidays, but there would hopefully be some fun mixed in here and there; and Merlin only knew what other little adventures they'd share along the way to the end of their school year!


	21. Tests of Character

Chapter Twenty-One – Tests of Character

"This time next year, I'd really appreciate it if our Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends could be here studying while Madison and I are busy with our Quidditch Cup Championship party," Tory said as she began setting up her things for their study session on the work table that she was going to share with Ray, Madison, and Scott. "It should be our turn after Gryffindor won last year and Ravenclaw won this thime."

"Wouldn't that mean it's Slytherin's turn next season?" Scott asked; and then laughed as everyone else in the room looked at him as if he'd said a bad word or something. "That's strictly an alphabetical observation – though I'm pretty sure I heard that Hufflepuff had quite a few wins in the not so distant past before Victoire got her two Championships."

"We did, but until Slytherin cleans up their act; I hope they don't ever get a chance to cheat their way to a Quidditch Cup," Madison told him. "I'd be okay with Slytherin not winning another match until they can do that without cheating."

"Not to mention that it wouldn't be any fun to add another year or two into the rotation for Championships," Rose added. "I certainly wouldn't want last year to be the only one my teams get to have while we're here." Al laughed; and Rose smiled at his obvious amusement.

"As if Lily will let that happen," he explained. "I'm willing to bet right now that she'll help us to win at least one Championship in the next five years while we're here with her. She does plan on being better than Aunt Gabrielle by the time she graduates."

"Gee, thanks so much for that reminder," Madison joked. "Should I be hoping that James flunks his third-year exams and has to repeat next year?"

Al shuddered. "Don't even joke about that. Having him in all of our classes – or about a third of yours – would be awful; and let's not even think about what our study groups would be like if he joined them!"

"Forget I even suggested it," Madison said with a laugh – "not that I'm excited about the idea of having yet another tough Seeker to play against next season."

"You won't have G-Air or James," Tory pointed out. "It's funny that you're sounding more worried about a cute little firstie for next season – assuming that Lily gets sorted into Gryffindor in the first place; and then makes the team."

"If she doesn't end up in Gryffindor; I won't be surprised to see the Sorting Hat find out what it's like to be hit with a bat-bogey hex," Rose predicted; "though Madison might find the idea of having Lily in Hufflepuff instead even scarier."

"Isn't Qudditch season over?" Shane asked her. "We should be done with the Quidditch talk until September."

Rose laughed and leaned over to hug him. "We can give you a break for a while; but Quidditch is a year-round sport with most of the families in our study group – even in the off-season."

"At least you weren't planned around the Quidditch season the way Madison and I were," Tory joked; and Rose laughed.

"Maybe not, but Hugo and I were born in February and March too," she reminded Tory. "The maternity ward at St. Mungo's was fairly busy starting about nine months after the end of the two-thousand-and-five Quidditch League season and playoffs."

"I wonder why she didn't suggest that their parents were busy in the weeks after that Championship match," Scott teased; and laughed when Rose, Madison, and Tory all gave him 'the look'.

"Are you still wondering that?" Al asked him mildly; and Scott laughed again.

"No, not anymore," he confirmed amiably. "That really isn't so bad, though. I think it's even weirder for the kids that are belated birthday, Christmas, or other holiday gifts."

"Al resembles that comment," Rose advised him with a grin for her favorite cousin. "He was such a good prenatal baby that the only thing we're not sure of is whether he was born a bit late and was a belated gift for his Dad – or a bit early and a gift for his Mum."

"Gwendolyn might say that he was an early birthday gift for her," Tory offered helpfully; earning some laughs. "I'm ready to get to work, though; so let's do that before I have too much time to procrastinate and then just decide to pack up and go out to play for the rest of the afternoon."

Getting focused on their exam studies wasn't tough for Al; though he would have had more fun doing that with Gwendolyn. He did get to study with her after dinner, but while that was more fun; they would have both preferred a bit of alone time instead. With exams now just over a week away, they wanted to stay ahead of the learning curve while getting ready for them; and the extra work they put in really was one of the reasons why every member of their little group was among the top students in their year too. While they didn't talk a lot about Quidditch for the rest of the afternoon, they did talk about Quidditch victory parties after dinner; with Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael taking care of the report from Ravenclaw tower. That party had resumed after dinner, but they'd skipped it in favor of the studying – as had quite a few of the more-serious Ravenclaw students – particularly the OWL and NEWT students. Al and Gwendolyn did take a bit of extra time ahead of curfew for a longer walk back to her House, but that alone time didn't include much snogging; and even their goodnight hug and kiss was short thanks to a too-large group of couples out in the hallway at the Ravenclaw entrance that kept them from having any privacy at all for that.

Al went straight to his dorm room after getting back to Gryffindor tower; got ready for bed; and then ended his day with a mirror chat with Lily that lasted for nearly an hour by the time she'd heard all about his day and then told him about her weekend adventures so far. Getting a decent night of rest was next on Al's to-do list; so he was fully re-charged and ready to go again on Sunday morning. He needed that extra energy because they studied all morning; had an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage; followed that up with a private pool party for the players and a handful of non-player dates; and then wrapped up their weekend with another evening study session. By the time he crawled into bed on Sunday night, Al had enough energy left for a short bedtime mirror chat with his parents and sister; and then it was lights out for the rest of the night.

The last week of May was all about getting ready for final exams for all of the Professors and the majority of the students at Hogwarts. Thanks to working harder than most students all year, doing that was a lot more fun for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends. One thing that did surprise them was that they weren't drafted to help with tutoring other friends and classmates very often. There was a chance that would still happen in between exams – especially if they started going badly for some of the friends that had studied with them last year; but Al and Rose in particular suspected that their Quidditch team friends were too embarrassed to ask for help now after treating them so terribly for most of the school year. They would have helped anyway, and most of those relationships were on the way to being repaired too; though the time it was taking for that wasn't because of anything Al, Rose, or Ray were doing.

Having a last Hogsmeade weekend to llok forward to on Saturday wasn't a big deal for most of the older teens because their exams were far more important; but plans were still made to head into town at least for a quick supply run before getting back to their studying again; so there also wasn't a lot of teen drama stories for the grapevine heading into the weekend either. Life wasn't all work and no play for Al and Gwendolyn. With the Quidditch season finished now, they were able to have a few Chaser duel breaks to blow off a bit of steam; and they went for one visit to see Hagrid. Rose and Shane went with them for that; and Tory and Ray did one of the Chaser duels with them to add a bit of variety – and so that they could have a break from the study tedium too. By Friday night, they were all ready for a break; so they took the evening off. Al and Gwendolyn decided that they were overdue for some alone time; and went off on their own after dinner – a plan that most of their study group couples were following too – if in different ways.

For Al and Gwendolyn, their idea of fun started with some music play time. They really hadn't had much time for that recently; so playing their guitars and singing duets for more than an hour kept them entertained until they were ready to move on to a pair of mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah. They called her family first; and the highlight of that chat was hearing some news about the summer plans for the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers tour. After the success both bands had thanks in large part to their World Cup concerts; they were in high demand – and Kirley was helping some of his band mates with setting up the concert schedule. He was going to help with the tour too; but wouldn't be doing as much traveling as he'd done last summer. The top news story from Harry and Ginny wasn't nearly as exciting for Al and Gwendolyn; because it was all about James and Ollie.

"Is it just me, or are they a lot less-happy about the news than we are?" Lily joked after Ginny had advised Al and Gwendolyn that James and Ollie were being allowed to return to Hogwarts to write their exams – and would be dropped off on Saturday morning so that they could spend the rest of the weekend there and have a chance to get through the inevitable drama moments their return was going to cause before they started writing their exams on Monday.

"You'll likely throw a party tomorrow night," Al suggested; "but this isn't good news for us."

"Try not to worry too much," Ginny advised them. "James and Ollie are going to be on a very short leash over the next three weeks. Any trouble at all; and they'll be out again until September – or longer."

"We'll hope for the best," Al promised.

"And be ready for the worst," Gwendolyn added with a moderately-grim smile.

"Is James happy with the news?" Al asked.

"It is getting him out of here," Harry reminded him. "He's already packed and ready to go."

"I helped," Lily said with a grin – "not that I'm trying to rush him out the door or anything."

"We haven't had any major problems for the past couple of weeks," Harry reminded her. "That's one of the reasons we're letting James return now instead of taking his exams from home."

"So the three week holiday before we're home again is just a really great added bonus?" Al joked; and earned a round of laughs – and a hug from Gwendolyn.

"That is going to be nice," Ginny agreed. "We don't need to ask about how it's going with you for the exam studying; so what else have you been doing – and do you have any plans for the weekend?"

That question led them away from talking about James or Ollie once Gwendolyn and Lily had offered a couple of jokes about what Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends should do on the weekend now that they knew that James and Ollie were going to be there at Hogwarts again. They still managed to have fun with their mirror chat visit despite that bad news; and then Al and Gwendolyn moved on to some cuddling and mirror network watching after ending that call. The snogging fun needed to wait for a while until they'd talked about what might happen once James and Ollie were back at school, and that did put a bit of a damper on the rest of their evening; but they didn't let that totally mess up their fun. After walking Gwendolyn to her House, Al went straight to bed; ready to simply shut down for the rest of the night while trying not to think at all about James and Ollie – or what troubles they might bring with them to mess with the last few weks of school for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and potentially everyone else in the castle.

While getting ready for their exams was the top priority for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends for the rest of the weekend; Al's Saturday morning began with a fairly serious morning walk and talk with Rose. He advised her about James and Ollie's imminent return to Hogwarts; they talked about what they should and shouldn't do to get ready for that; and then that was also a top story at breakfast and during the start of their morning study session. Al didn't get any sense of foreboding about James and Ollie, but their return to the castle did affect him anyway – even without them trying anything at all; and before they were even there yet. He still pushed through their morning studying in their usual classroom; and then was happy to take the early break before lunch for a Quidditch scrimmage that they could have because the pitches weren't booked while most of the older teens were in Hogsmeade anyway.

That play time really helped out even more than he'd expected it would when James and Ollie were in the Great Hall at lunchtime. He would have liked to see his parents even for a few minutes when they dropped James off, but hadn't been surprised not to get a mirror call suggesting that for however long they were at the castle. James and Ollie pointedly refused to even look at Al, Rose, or Ray during lunch, and Al was okay with that; but he still couldn't help but to be annoyed when the two boys also acted as though they hadn't just returned from a lengthy suspension as they talked and goofed around with the usual group of third-year friends – something that was an option because most of the older students had returned from Hogsmeade by lunchtime so they could get back to their exam studies. While the news about James and Ollie had been spreading since breakfast, they earned a lot of attention at lunchtime; and the gossip network was humming with every scrap of news about them for the rest of the day. They were certainly the top story for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends after lunch when they all headed outside in search of a quiet place to study while enjoying some decent afternoon weather.

Some of their friends were surprised by how James and Ollie were acting, but as they talked about that through until they were set up and got focused on their studies; Al spent most of that time thinking about his own reactions. He didn't like what he'd seen from James in the Great Hall, but also deduced that his own reaction was more thanks to his own feelings and low-opinion of his brother; since it really didn't make much sense for him to be annoyed when James wasn't doing anything to him or anyone else he cared about. That didn't make it easier for him to feel better about the situation, and he was still worried about what James and Ollie might try to do despite the risks they'd be taking by causing trouble; though it was possible they'd do nothing at all over the last three weeks of school. Eventually, he pushed all of those thoughts aside; and focused on the studying because some of his friends needed him to do that; and that was easier to do as the afternoon progressed and they didn't even see James or Ollie even once thorugh until dinnertime.

"I don't have long because my friends are waiting for me to study with them; but I have some news you'll want to here," Scorpius told Thomas without preamble as soon as he had the portrait completely out of the book bag and before he'd finished setting it on the table. "James Potter and Ollie Wood are back at Hogwarts. They were in the Great Hall at lunchtime; goofing off and acting as stupid around their friends as always. You'd never know they're just back from being suspended."

"They've been allowed back to write their final exams?" Thomas guessed; and Scorpius nodded.

"That's what we've heard. I might wish that they'd fail every class and exam; but don't actually think that I'd like having them in classes with me next year if they did have to repeat a year."

Thomas laughed. "I expect that most of your fellow second-year students would agree. Do you expect them to begin causing trouble again too?"

"I have no idea; but their usual, favorite prank targets aren't very happy right now. They've likely been warned to be good for the rest of the year, but I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't bother them at all. Even with all of the trouble they've been in; they still got away with most of their pranks and ambushes."

"Well, you should return to keeping an eye and ear out for anything about them that could help you in the future – or look for opportunities to help expand the rift between the Potter brothers; since I still believe that one or the other could aid you on the way to greatness – even if there is no way for me to know how that might happen."

"I will do that," Scorpius promised. "I'm sorry that I can't stay longer, and would rather spend the afternoon with you; but can't get away with doing that with exams starting on Monday."

"You must focus on them right now," Thomas advised him. "I understand your frustration, but continuing to be a top student is very important for your future. The other pureblood Witches and Wizards will not take your potential as a leader seriously if you are not the best and brightest of them."

"Considering how dull my second-year studies are compared to your lessons; maybe I should be looking to skip a grade instead of slogging along with the rest of the dullards in my classes."

"Even if that meant being in classes with James and Ollie?" Thomas joked; and Scorpius laughed.

"Okay, maybe I'll need to skip two years."

"You wouldn't enjoy that either," Thomas advised him. "When the Ministry would not allow you to use magic outside of Hogwarts until you're seventeen; finishing school two years early would just be an annoyance for you. Even skipping one year would still mean a bit of a wait until your seventeenth birthday."

"There is that," Scorpius conceded. "I'll try to talk to you again soon; but it may be a few days – until after our first exam."

"That's fine," Thomas assured him. "As you know; the passage of time has very little meaning to me anymore."

Scorpius got ready to put Thomas' portrait away again; and then left the Room of Requirements. He really wasn't very excited about spending the rest of the weekend studying, but knew that he had to play the part; and steeled himself for more hours of tedium with his friends. As far as he was concerned, their exams just got in the way of his true studies; and he resented it even more now. With their summer break now less than three weeks away, not only was he stuck mired in mediocrity; but he wasn't going to be able to do many lessons with Thomas before going home and then having to miss out on those lessons through until September!

Thomas was right about everything, but that didn't make putting up with the stupid any easier; and sometimes he really wanted to just run off and do whatever he wanted – and to hell with the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts, and especially his family and friends – none of whom had a clue or understood him in the slightest!

Studying outdoors had helped to make the afternoon more fun than it would have been doing that work indoors, and they'd had a fun break at dinnertime; but then Al, Rose, and the rest of their Gryffindor study mates met up with Gwendolyn and their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends for an evening study session in their usual classroom. While Al would have been good with taking the night off, some of his friends weren't so confident about their first few exams to do that, and while Astronomy was an easy subject for Al; that definitely wasn't true for more than half of his friends. That's why they also ended their evening with some practical time on the Astronomy tower so that they could work on being ready for that part of their exam too; and that had been a favorite part of the day for Al and Gwendolyn thanks to having the opportunity for some quiet hugs and kisses while they studied the stars and moon. After walking Gwendolyn and Tory home ahead of curfew, Al and Ray met up in their dorm room; and were the only two guys in the room until James and Ollie came looking for them – something that actually surprised Al a bit after being ignored by them to that point.

"Hello, James; Ollie," Al said with a nod. "I didn't expect to be talking with you anytime soon. To what do we owe the honor?"

"We were crushed that you didn't even come and welcome us back," James said with a sneer. "Haven't you missed us? It's been more than a month; and we've heard that it's been dreadfully boring around here without us."

"I'll be glad to have you back here – if you're done with your vendetta against me," Al told him seriously; "but you know that I haven't missed your pranks, ambushes, and the rest at all."

"That really hurts coming from my only loser – I mean little – brother," James said insincerely. "Ollie's sisters had welcome back hugs and gifts for him."

"You've never wanted hugs from me," Al reminded him, "and I'm glad that Ollie's been given a warm welcome; but I don't consider returning to school from a suspension grounds for gift-giving."

"It was all your fault that we were suspended in the first place," James shot back. "I'd say that you owe us a lot more than gifts."

"Yeah – like six weeks of our lives back – plus a decade or two for interest, pain, and suffering," Ollie added. "We're going to take that re-payment in full measure – preferably out of your hides."

"Have at it then," Ray told him. "I'd love to see you try – and then be sent straight back home again." He drew his wand; and rested it on his lap; but was clearly ready to use it if needed.

"You drew your wand on us," Ollie said with a dark smile as he pulled his own wand and pointed it at his cousin menacingly. "I can't be suspended again for defending myself."

"Don't even think about it," Al warned quietly. He'd been sitting on his bed; but was standing by the time he said that; and stepped right up to James and Ollie so that Ollie's wand was within inches of his chest. "If your plan was to goad us into something; it isn't going to work."

"Maybe not, but there aren't any witnesses here; and you shouldn't have left your wand on your night table," Ollie told him before shouting – "Reduct... OW!" Ollie didn't complete the spell correctly because Al simply grabbed his wand wrist; twisted sharply; and then took the wand when Ollie was forced to let go of it.

"You haven't learned anything while you've been away," Al told him seriously; still holding tightly-enough to his wrist for it to be painful. "Was this your idea – or did James suggest it? I noticed he hasn't pulled out his wand."

"I had no reason to do that – until you just attacked Ollie," James said with a victorious smile. "It's especially convenient that Ollie didn't complete that spell either. You'll have nothing to justify hurting him; and I've every reason to defend my best mate." He whipped out his wand; and shouted – "Revulsio! Petrificus Totalis!" His smile flashed from victorious to an open-mouthed gape as Al was thrown across the room, but he didn't let go of Ollie; so the other boy went with him – and was hit by the full body-bind spell instead of Al. While that was happening, Al changed into a robin; spread his wings; and swooped away from the wall with a couple of feet to spared while Ollie crashed into it wand arm first before the momentum flipped him so his back and head hit next. After that, he fell to the floor between two of the beds; fell over; and landed on his face and front.

"Expelliarmus!"

James had been turning to follow Al's flight around the room; getting ready to fire another spell at him; so he'd been totally unprepared for Ray's disarming spell; and spun around to face him in time to see his wand land on the bed before Ray picked it up and held on to it tightly.

"Accio wand!" James yelled; and was smiling viciously again when he successfully ripped his want out of Ray's hands and it flew back to him. "You should've stayed out of it," he advised; pointing his wand at him; and then shouted – "Reducto!"

Ray raised a shield in time, but he and James were both surprised when the Reductor curse was intercepted by a candy bar that had been enlarged with an engorgement charm – and was then blasted to bits by James' attack right in front of Ray's shield. A lot of those pieces bounced off of the shield so violently that they made it all the way back to James so that he was pelted with hundreds of little pieces of chocolate. By the time that he could react to that; Al was again standing between him and Ray; and had a much more substantial shield up between them.

"Cut it out, James," Al said angrily. "I can't believe you're not even back here a day; and already picking fights with me again!"

"You attacked Ollie," James retorted. "This is all on you – as usual."

"It isn't, and you know it, but either way; I guess that it is going to be on me to end it – one way or the other," Al decided.

"Good luck with that," James snarled. "The only way that this will ever end between us will be when I've won and you're proved to be the pathetic loser you are!"

"Okay, so what will you need to do to me to prove that?" Al asked. "Would it be enough to put me in the hospital wing for a month or two instead of a weekend or handful of days? Will you be happy if you kill me? What will it take, James?" He waved his wand; and put a dome shield around Ray and his entire bed before he then dropped the one between him and James. Without looking; he tossed his wand onto his bed. "Go ahead – you decide. I'm sure that everyone will be very impressed by your ability to injure or kill an unarmed Wizard – not to mention a member of your own family. Just don't keep blaming me if you don't like the consequences for whatever you choose to do next; since the choice is, after all, completely yours to make."

"That works for me, and with you and Ray out of the way; everyone will believe whatever Ollie and I tell them," James declared darkly; smirking viciously as he pointed his wand at Al's chest. "Reducto!" he shouted.

Al was blasted off of his feet; crashed into the wall behind him; and then the lights went out.

Al returned to consciousness slowly; his mind drifting along aimlessly until senses began to kick in and the physical world came crashing in on him again. The waves of pain came first, and despite not wanting to think about that; his mind went right ahead and began assessing and listing his injuries in order of severity. He groaned; and then sensed movement next to him followed by a gentle hand on his shoulder and the scent of a fragrance that he recognized very well.

"That, in hindsight, was quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever done," he whispered. "I love you, Gwendolyn. How long have I been out?" He opened his eyes and smiled weakly.

"Not long-enough to get out of your final exams so easily," she answered. "It's late afternoon on Sunday. I love you too; and yes, that was definitely the dumbest thing you've ever done so far. You've scared me half to death, Albus Potter; and I am not happy with you right now."

"It felt like the right thing to do," he said softly and earnestly. "I thought that meant that James would come to his senses, but if this is what was meant to be; it sucks to be me right now – and I'm really sorry that I scared you. What have I missed while I was in nap mode?"

"A lot, but we'll have to get to that later. I have orders to let Madam Pomfrey know if you wake up; and your Mum will want to know too. She's just taking a break right now. She's been here most of the time since you were brought in here – and left dealing with James to your Dad and family."

"Okay. I'll wait here while you do that," he joked; knowing by then that he wasn't in any condition to go anywhere anyway.

Gwendolyn leaned over the bed and kissed him tenderly but didn't try to hug him. "I won't be long."

With that, she headed for Madam Pomfrey's office; making a mirror chat call to his mother as she went; and talking to her before stepping into the office. A minute later, she was back at Al's bedside with Madam Pomfrey; and Al was kept busy for a while as he was given confirmation of the self-assessment of his injuries; a rundown on his treatment so far; and what Madam Pomfrey intended to do to complete his healing. Ginny was there too before Madam Pomfrey was done talking with Al, and while she couldn't hug him; she did kiss his forehead and keep a hand on his arm while waiting for Madam Pomfrey to finish up and then head into her office again to get back to the work she'd been doing there.

"Well, that all sounded a lot better than being a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction," Al offered once he was alone with Ginny and Gwendolyn.

"We've decided to wait until you're healed to do that – or we'll wait until we're home for the summer holidays," Gwendolyn told him with a smile while Ginny laughed.

"Assuming that I do get to write all of my exams; let's go with after we're home for that," Al suggested. "I should have asked if Ray's okay. He isn't here, but the last time I saw him; James was planning on blasting him next."

"Ray's fine – though your father needed to help him out of that shield you protected him with," Ginny advised him. "Harry was quite impressed with that little feat of magic – which begs the question we all want answered. Why, in Merlin's name did you just stand there and let your brother use a spell like that on you?"

"Because I didn't think that he actually would," Al answered seriously. "Is he happy now? Was this enough payback for everything he thinks I've done to mess up his life?"

"He was thrilled – right up until he found out that nobody believed the idiotic story that he and Ollie came up with to try and blame you for everything. Unfortunately for them, there were a few problems with their plan – with the first being that they hadn't been able to blast Ray at all; and you had the audacity to live. Professor McGonagall got to the truth eventually despite their attempts to cover their tracks. They used your wand to give themselves minor injuries, but Ray witnessed that; and they tried using memory charms on themselves too; but not well-enough to fool anyone. Apparently they didn't know that altered memories can be detected in a pensieve – especially when the originals are found too. They've both been sent home again; and they'll take their exams at home."

"Let me guess – that's entirely my fault now too."

"Yes it is, but will it help you to know that they've been working on that plan to goad you into starting a fight pretty much since we started to let them hang out together again on Ollie's birthday? That's also why they were playing nice at home for the past couple of weeks – so they could get this chance to blast you."

"It doesn't help. What happened after I hit the wall and the lights went out?"

"From what I've been told, James released Ollie from the body-bind that they tried to blame on you too – again by using your wand to cast that spell again," Ginny answered; "they did the rest of the stuff I just talked about; and then they kept trying to blast Ray until four of your roommates walked in and caught them still trying to do that. Two of them ran for help from your Prefects while the other two stayed and got to hear the first run-through of James' story about what had supposedly happened. Jensen Scott took care of getting you stabilized and brought here. You've already heard what Madam Pomfrey did last night and today so far."

"Remind me to send some gifts to Jensen and Madam Pomfrey next week,' Al asked; and Ginny smiled.

"Last time I saw Jensen, Dominique was thanking him for helping you; so you probably can't do better than that," she joked. "We'll come up with something for both of them; and you can let your father and I take care of that for you."

"Okay,' Al agreed; and sighed as he suddenly felt wiped out and ready to sleep again. "I'm getting tired. Is there anything else I should know before I have another nap?"

"Nothing that can't wait," Ginny told him; looking concerned again. "Let me check with Madam Pomfrey and make sure she doesn't need to have you take anything before you sleep again." She went to do that; and Al tiredly turned his attention to Gwendolyn.

"If I'm out for a while; you should go and get focused on your exam in the morning," he suggested; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"I've been studying all day; and I'll be here as much as they'll let me until you're better again. We'll study together when you can too; and you'll need the help for that. You're just lucky that we were pretty much ready for Astronomy already, and Rose is our Herbology expert; or you'd have our entire study group mad at you too for ending up in here where you won't be able to help them with the studying."

"I'll try to heal fast-enough to help out with the rest of our exams," Al promised. "I love you, Gwendolyn."

He was dozing off again before she could assure him that she loved him too. Madam Pomfrey came back with Ginny, carrying a cup filled with some kind of restorative potion; and they roused Al long-enough for him to drink it before letting him go back to sleep.

"My sense of time isn't what it once was; but I expected it to be longer before we'd be able to speak together again," Thomas said as Scorpius put his portrait on the table and then began pacing the room instead of sitting in the armchair. "What has you so agitated? Have you had problems with your first exams?"

"They don't begin until tomorrow," Scorpius answered with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm agitated because there is some news about something that happened between James and Albus Potter sometime shortly after curfew last night. Albus Potter is in the hospital wing with very serious injuries; and James and Ollie have been sent home again already. The stories going around the school are already getting pretty wild; but there doesn't seem to be any doubt that James is the one responsible for injuring his brother."

"Considering what we know of their previous confrontations, that seems very unlikely," Thomas said doubtfully.

"Especially since Ray Wood was there too; and escaped the fight completely uninjured," Scorpius agreed. "That part of the story is just as interesting, because there were quite a few witnesses that saw Harry Potter take down the shield that was protecting Ray because none of the Professors here could do it."

"You're implying that Albus Potter shielded his friend – and that it stayed in place even after he was severely injured?" Thomas asked. "That seems just as unlikely."

"Well, there were only the four Wizards in the room for whatever happened; two of them are no longer here; one is, as far as I know, still unconscious in the hospital wing; and Ray Wood is not talking about it to anyone – except maybe to Rose, Gwendolyn, and his girlfriend, Tory Summers. What I'm wondering, though, is whether James used his time at home while he was suspended to learn magic that has allowed him to defeat Albus. If so, then I should try to find out what that is; since it must be very powerful indeed to do something that groups of nine and ten Slytherin Wizards couldn't accomplish together."

"Now that is an interesting suggestion – and might explain parts of that story. It would not surprise me if Albus had to choose between saving a friend and saving himself that he'd pick the selfless act."

Scorpius nodded. "That's true, though we do know he's shielded groups of his friends along with himself before; so that might not be a reasonable assumption to make either. Right now, we just don't know enough – not that the lack of facts is keeping the Averys and their buddies from celebrating. They're already plotting having another go at Albus now too; which just sounds ridiculous to me."

"Let's hope they go for it," Thomas said seriously. "Whatever might happen with them; you'll learn a lot – whether they win or lose."

"We'll see," Scorpius said with a shrug. "For all I know right now; Albus won't even be well-enough again before the end of the school year. We only have three weeks left. I have to get going and back to my studies, though; so I can't stay and talk any longer. I'll try to let you know everything I learn about this when I can."

"Very well," Thomas agreed with a nod; "but don't get distracted from your exams. They are far more important than anything that's happening with James and Albus Potter."

Scorpius wasn't convinced that was true, but didn't disagree with thomas. Instead, he packed up the portrait again; left the Room of Requirements; went to meet up with his friends; and got back to the studying for their Astronomy exam. That didn't keep him from thinking a lot about James and Albus, but he didn't get any closer to solving the puzzle; and the distraction definitely affected his work. Despite Thomas' counsel, he didn't care about that; and was particularly taken with the idea that James had learned something while at home that now gave him power over his brother – a power that Scorpius might be able to use for his own advantage too if he could discover what it was! The problem with that idea was that he had no way to get anywhere near James to spy on him; and might have no chance to do that until September – or possibly even longer. While he didn't solve that problem either; he did silently promise himself that he would find out what happened – and hopefully discover a new weapon that would help him to achieve his ultimate goals!

Al woke again to the soft sounds of muted conversation; and was content to drift along and listen while also taking another internal assessment for how he was physically doing – and comparing that to what he'd 'seen' the first time he'd been awake. He knew that his parents, Gwendolyn, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor McGonagall were all in the room with him; and they were discussing plans for handling his exams around his recovery – including whether he would be able to write them at all anytime soon. Gwendolyn wasn't involved in that discussion; but he sensed her nearby; and the whisper of parchment on parchment suggested to him that she was studying in a chair next to his bed. When he was ready, he opened his eyes; and turned to look her way with a soft smile on his face.

"This might scare your parents; but I really love waking up when the first thing I see is you," he said quietly; though he was sure everyone in the room heard him. Gwendolyn laughed; stood; and stepped up to the bed so she could lean over and share a soft kiss with him.

"Dad might be scared; but Mum wouldn't be," she advised him. "I love you too, Al. How are you feeling?"

"Better than I expected to already," he answered seriously. "What time is it?"

"A bit after eight o'clock – Sunday evening,' Gwendolyn advised him. "Your timing is good; since your Dad only got back here about fifteen minutes ago."

"I guess it's too late to hide then," Al joked while turning his head to smile at his parents. They'd already stepped up to his bedside; and Ginny leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Hi again, Mum. Hi Dad. Sorry about messing up your weekend. Are you very disappointed to find out that I'm an idiot?" He earned a round of laughs for that; but Harry smiled and shook his head.

"You're trying to do what you think is right with James," Harry told him. "You're not to blame for his choices – and we've all done things that seem dumb in hindsight."

"I know, but this turned out badly for both of us; when I was hoping for things to get better between James and me. Is it right back to being awful for you again at home?"

"Yes, but don't worry about that. After all, we'd hoped for the best sending James back here again too; so I'm not feeling good about that choice right now either."

"I'm going to be fine," Al assured him; and Harry nodded.

"I know, but you don't look like it right now. Black and blue skin tone does not work for you."

"Too bad I'm not a Metamorphmagus like Teddy," Al joked. "I could just change that – unless it isn't possible to do that with injuries." He stopped focusing on his father as that thought took hold of him; and he didn't come back again until Gwendolyn waved a hand in front of his face.

"I thought you'd fallen asleep again with your eyes open," she told him; and Al laughed quietly before then groaning when it hurt to laugh.

"Sorry – I was just..." He looked over to Madam Pomfrey and smiled at her. "I'd like to try something with an Animagus change, and while I don't think it could do any more damage to me; could you and Dad be ready to check me out if I'm wrong about that?"

"What are you considering?" she asked first.

"I want to change into something simple – maybe and invertebrate; and then back to my human form again."

"To what end?" she asked next. "You'd just..." she paused do; and her eyes opened wide. "You believe that you might be able to return to your human form healed? I've never heard of such a thing with Animagi."

"Peter Pettigrew's injuries went with him into his rat form," Harry reminded Al.

"I know, and like I said; I don't know if it will work. This is different for me than any previous Animagus, though, and if I can become any animal as I envision them; then why isn't it just as possible for me to envision myself whole and healed when I return to my human form?"

"We do have two other Animagi in the room," Ginny pointed out. "What do you think, Professor McGonagall?"

"I've never attempted a change while seriously injured," she answered; and then paused while searching her memories. "Minor injuries have followed me into my animal form and back again; but I do not know if that would be different if my Animagus was a different animal. A broken arm, for instance, could not transfigure into an animal with no bones. Returning to human form without the existing injury seems extraordinary to me; but with Albus; who knows what might be possible?"

"Harry?" Ginny prompted; and he smiled.

"I have no idea, but since it would be very cool; how can we not let him give it a try and find out?"

"Okay, but only if Madam Pomfrey agrees too," Ginny told him; turning to the older woman and silently asking for her opinion.

"I don't think that he should try it," she said; surprising everyone in the room. "If healing such serious injuries became as simple as changing a patient into animal form and back again; I'd be out of a job."

"I have a feeling that even if Al can do this; it won't be quite that simple," Harry offered after the round of laughs. He smiled at his son. "Okay, go ahead and give it a try. We'll be ready to help if you need us."

"Thank-you," Al said simply. "I'll be right back!"

With that, he closed his eyes; focused his will; and turned himself into a caterpillar. The world seemed a lot bigger to him as he looked around curiously. The bed, the room, and the people gathered around the bed looking at him looked immense by comparison to his perspective a moment earlier. He would have laughed if he could have when Gwendolyn reached down and stroked his fuzzy little back with a finger; but then she pulled her hand away again and waited expectantly. Focusing on what he wanted to do – what he wanted to be like when he returned to his human form; he put that picture of himself firmly in his mind; and then made the change back again. He knew instantly that it had – and hadn't - worked; and he guessed that the pain he felt must've been obvious to everyone watching him even before a soft groan escaped from between his clenched teeth.

"The good news is that it did help," Al said a bit shakily, "but my imagination – or medical knowledge – is a bit lacking; so I wouldn't advise trying that at home, folks."

"The brusing we can see is completely gone," Madam Pomfrey advised him. "Can you tell me what other healing did happen? Is anything worse or more painful that I should check on for you?"

Al paused while continuing to assess his own condition; but began to answer before finishing that process. "I no longer have any broken bones," he advised her. "The outer bruising may be healed; but that isn't the case interanlly; and I don't think that any of the internal injuries were helped – or they weren't helped enough for me to tell the difference." He paused again while comparing the pain he felt now to what it had been like before he'd tried the change. "My head hurts more even though it isn't cracked like an egg anymore. My heart is a bit off; but that could just be the shock of the Transfigurations; and there's something in my stomach that hurts more than it did before. Other than that; I feel really tired and fairly awful."

"Well, it's nice to know that my job is safe," Madam Pomfrey teased. "Let's take a look at you and see what I can do to help you out with that pain – and make sure you don't have any knew problems for us to deal with." She didn't wait for an answer before starting to examine him, so while she did that; Al turned his attention to Gwendolyn next.

"I'm sorry," he told her with a sad smile on his face. "I really wanted that to work so I wouldn't be stuck in here on your birthday; but I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen now."

"Depending on what you had planned for her birthday entertainment; all of your parents might be okay with this change in plans," Ginny teased.

"Is there something that you're picturing for us that is worse that the trouble Al has right now?" Gwendolyn asked her; and that question kept the quiet laughter going – though Al didn't join in because it still hurt to laugh.

"No, and I shouldn't try for too many jokes when it's obvious that jokes are not good for Al right now."

"The jokes are fine, Mum – as long as I don't laugh at them."

"You definitely don't want to do that right now," Madam Pomfrey advised him. "Your Transfiguration has caused a couple of small problems – though nothing that I can't deal with." She smiled at him. "I'm sure it's uncomfortable, but your experiment was still extraordinary; and you've likely cut your recovery time in half or more. I'm going to treat these new issues; but then I think you'll need a break for the night. We can resume your treatments again in the morning."

"Exams begin in the morning," Al said; and Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Yes, but I'd say that they should be the least of your worries right now."

"Tell that to my study group," Al said with a rueful smile for Gwendolyn. "I've already been advised that I'll be in big trouble if I can't help out with the rest of our studying once we're past the Astronomy and Herbology exams."

"I was joking about that," Gwendolyn assured him.

"And we'll decide what to do about your exams once we know how long you will need to recover," Professor McGonagall told him and then turned her attention back to Harry and Ginny. "We can discuss that more tomorrow. Would you like to stay the night with Al again, Ginny?"

Al smiled when his mother looked to him before answering.

"There's no need for you to stay all night," he said in answer to the unspoken question. I'll likely sleep all night; and I am going to be okay."

"Are you really sure about that? I don't mind staying here straight through until you're well again," Ginny only half-joked.

"You can't do that," Harry advised her. "We've already set up the exam monitors to start tomorrow; and we do not want to leave them alone with James and Ollie."

"Then you should definitely go home and try to get some sleep tongiht," Al told her. "You've enough to deal with there without adding being stuck here with me at nights too."

"Alright, Al, but if you need us, or just need to talk if you're having a tough night; I want you to call me."

"Okay," Al promised; though he had no intention of doing that – and his parents knew he wouldn't call them in the middle of the night even if he couldn't sleep.

Professor McGonagall left to deal with some other duties and left Harry and Ginny to visit with Al while Madam Pomfrey took care of the treatment she didn't want to leave until Monday morning. Gwendolyn stayed with them; and they talked with Al some more about what had been going on at school and home since Saturday night – including the stories about Giny's night watching over him and Harry's problems with James after getting him home again. They had a short mirror chat with Lily; Madam Pomfrey allowed Rose and Ray to stop in for a short visit before curfew; and then Al said goodnight to all of his visitors when it was time for Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray to go back to their Houses for the night. Harry and Ginny went home then too; and Professor Hagrid met up with them for the walk out to the gates so that they could apparate home from there. Once they were alone, Madam Pomfrey gave Al a sleeping draught restorative; and then went to her quarters and left him to drift off to sleep – which he did in fairly-short order.

He slept through most of the night, but woke up early with an urgent call of nature that required his attention. Getting out of bed was a painful process, but once he was standing; it wasn't too tough to get to the washroom. After dealing with the most-urgent needs; a look in the mirror convinced him that taking a shower was a priority – even if doing that was a painful exercise in cleanliness. Getting dressed in his own clothes after that was even worse from a pain perspective, but he did that because he didn't want to be in a hospital gown when it was time to see Gwendolyn and start celebrating her thirteenth birthday. Doing all of that got him into trouble when Madam Pomfrey came to check in on him for the first time of the morning, but she was obviously impressed too – especially when he asked about whether he might be able to write the practical Astronomy exam – either with his classmates or on his own in the hospital wing if she didn't want him going anywhere yet.

Getting an answer to that question took a while, but Al wasn't even thinking about it for a while once Rose and Ray came to see him; brought the gifts he had for Gwendolyn; and managed to get there nearly ten minutes before Gwendolyn did. Celebrating Gwendolyn's big day from a hospital bed hadn't been part of anything Al had envisioned for her big day, but it was what he had to work with; so he was smiling brightly when Gwendolyn walked into the room with Ton and Michael about a half-hour before breakfast would be starting in the Great Hall. He knew why Rose and Ray had gotten there first, since she'd obviously had some play time with her girlfriends while getting ready for the day; and he wished that he wasn't going to be stuck in the hospital wing all day where snogging was not going to be an option.

"Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn," Al and Rose said in unison as she walked across the room to Al's bed with Toni and Michael just a couple of steps behind her. Rayechoed them with his best wishes; and hopped off of the bed next to Al's that he'd been sitting on while waiting for Gwendolyn to arrive.

"Thank-you!" she said happily. "You look a lot better this morning – and you're dressed. Is Madam Pomfrey setting you free in time to write our first exam?"

"I'm waiting to hear back on that, though if I am allowed to write it today; it's likely that they'll have me write it here – and I don't know what they'll say about taking the practical exam tonight."

"You've got this great excuse for maybe even getting out of your finals; and you're asking to write them," Ray said with a shake of his head. "Just how hard did you hit your head on that wall?"

"Too hard," Al assured him, "but not hard-enough that I want to take too much time off and then try to fit all of my exams into just a few days or a week instead of just getting to them. I'd also rather be spending the day with Gwendolyn – though since I can't, and you need to go to the Great Hall soon; we'd better get you to open your gifts."

Gwendolyn had reached his bed by then; and he handed her the first gift. She took it; but then set it down on his bed and leaned close for a short kiss. "Are you huggable yet?" she asked; earning a round of laughs from their frinds.

"If we're really careful," he answered; holding his arms open for her; so she leaned in and gently hugged him before sharing another sweet little kiss.

Gwendolyn opened the gift; loved the prancing horses earrings that matched the necklace he'd given her at Christmas; and then she went on to open the rest of her gifts from Al, Rose, and Ray. She couldn't stay with Al – especially since she was going with Rose to help Al out with a birthday gift delivery for Lucy's sixteenth before breakfast too, so that little bit of birthday fun wrapped up; and Al was soon on his own again. Madam Pomfrey was busy in her office, so Al had nothing to do for a while except think – and wish that he wasn't missing out on having fun with Gwendolyn and their friends.

Musing about what might be going on in the Great Hall wasn't a satisfying replacement to being there; but his mind did wander around a bit. Picturing Rose and Gwendolyn stopping to see Lucy had him thinking aobut them sharing the same birthday – and how he felt so differently about that for each of them. With Lucy, though she was only three years older than Al and Rose; that had been a big age difference when they'd been younger. They'd gone to her birthday parties when she was younger and they'd been babies and toddlers, but once Lucy was old-enough to choose her own party guests; the younger cousins weren't invited anymore – and then they'd had three years when she'd been at Hogwarts for her birthdays so they couldn't celebrate with her at all.

While nobody would be surprised to find out that Gwendolyn's birthday was a much bigger deal for her boyfriend this year; they might be surprised to learn that he remembered some great birthday moments from nearly all of their birthdays – even from when they were toddlers; and thought that they'd all be very special. That was definitely a hindsight sort of realization, but Al now knew that their current relationship had been developing since arly childhood; and that was why he remembered so much about all of the time he'd spent with Gwendolyn as well as he remembered his experiences with everyone he loved most.

Though he couldn't be there – and wouldn't have been able to sit with her at breakfast anyway; Al hoped that Gwendolyn would like the flowers, cards, and date coupons gifts that he'd sent to her by Owl Post. The coupons had been meant as a playful gift, since he hoped to take her out on lots of dates and outings during the coming summer; but he hoped that she'd love the suggestions too that ranged from a day at their favorite Muggle amusement park to movie nights, horseback rides, and camping adventures. There were sure to be other Owl Post deliveries for Gwendolyn too and more gifts from her friends; but she also had an exam to write; so the birthday fun would need to be put on hold when it was time to get focused on the written part of the Astronomy exam.

Madam Pomfrey came and talked with him when their breakfast trays arrived; advised him that he would be allowed to attempt writing his Astronomy exam from his bed; and that they'd see how he was later in the day before making any decisions about whether he'd take the practical exam with his class or at a later date. She then had him eat his breakfast while she went to do the same in her office; and then she did a healing treatment with him that included some training for Al where he helped with his own treatment. That had tired him out, but he still felt a bit better; and that helped him out with writing his first exam. Professor Sinistra dropped it off for him on the way to the exam classroom; Madam Pomfrey did – but really didn't – monitor him while he wrote it; and Al was sure he completed it perfectly by the time he was done about a half-hour ahead of the time limit. Writing it wihtout a room full of teen distractions had actually helped him; though he was ready for a nap by the time he handed it over to Madam Pomfrey.

Having a nap was an option; though he only slept until he sensed Gwendolyn's arrival in the room; and then he woke up and had a happy little visit with her before she needed to go back to the Great Hall for lunch. She'd been happy with her exam, and reported that Rose and a few of their friends had been happy too; while others had been less-sure of whether they'd done well or not. Having another meal on his own had been a bit boring, but Al studied for Herbology while he ate; and then Gwendolyn came to spend the first half of the afternoon with him instead of studying with their friends. They worked on their Astronomy practical until the afternoon exam session ended; and then Gwendolyn went to their study classroom for the little birthday party that Rose, Toni, Renee, and the rest of their friends were having for her while Al was out of commission.

While he really felt bad about that, Al was glad that the party went on without him; and that also gave Madam Pomfrey a chance for another healing session with bonus training for Al. Gwendolyn did not come back for a visit before dinner, but Al was in a good mood by the time his tray was delivered because he'd been approved for going to take the practical part of his Astronomy exam with his class – though they were going to take some precautions and have him sit in a chair to avoid messing up any of the healing in progress. Gwendolyn had Rose and Ray with her for the start of ther after-dinner visit, but they only stayed for fifteen minutes or so before moving on to their study classroom for a bit more Astronomy studying before at least some of their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw study group members planned on taking naps before the late-night exam.

Al gave Gwendolyn her last birthday gift of the day once they were on their own for the evening. It was only some new e-books, but while most of their friends wouldn't think that was a very exciting gift; Gwendolyn loved reading and was thrilled to have enough new books to keep her entertained for most of the coming summer. That last bit of birthday fun was delivered before they started in on their Astronomy studying; and then they worked for an hour and a half before they decided to just relax and take it easy until it was time to head for the Astronomy tower for the second part of their Astronomy exam. While a snogging session or even some quality cuddle time wasn't an option for them; Al and Gwendolyn decided to have a pair of birthday mirror chats with their parents, Jonah, and Lily. The first one, with her family, was fun but uneventful; while the one with his family was closer to chaos than quiet.

"Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn!" Lily told her enthusiastically as she answered her mirror; smiling brightly. "Are you having a good day even with having to write exams and do all of that studying?"

"Astronomy is easy-enough for Al and me," Gwendolyn told her; "and everyone's helped to make this a really great day for me – you included. Thanks for the new clothes. They'll be great for this summer."

"You're welcome," Lily assured her. "Let me go downstairs and find Mum and Dad. Holly and I needed a break from James; so we've been hanging out in my room with Poofy for a while."

"Do we want to know?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily shrugged.

"I'm sure you can guess. It was awful around here yesterday; and just got worse after Mum and Dad got home last night and told James and me all about Al's semi-successful attempt at Animorphmagus self-healing. James apparently expected that Al would miss his final exams and be healing all summer; so that sent him off the deep end for the rest of the night."

"Don't tell him that I wrote my Astronomy exam today," Al suggested. "I had to write that from my hospital bed; but they're letting me take the practical exam tonight on the Astronomy tower – as long as I do everything they tell me to do."

"Which he will do," Gwendolyn promised.

Then James is going to lose it again when he finds out about that," Lily assured them. "He and Ollie took their first monitored exams this morning and afternoon; and they were a complete disaster. Ollie was brought here for that instead of having to pay for two monitors; and I'm fairly sure if that Wizard comes back for the rest of their exams; it'll only be if he starts getting paid double – or triple – to do the job."

"Maybe this would be a good time to negotiate a raise for your allowance," Gwendolyn joked; and Lily laughed.

"Trust me – this is probably the very worst time for that. I'm going with being as good as possible; and hope that pays off the next time we talk allowances with Mum and Dad – which we'll likely do sometime before we head to school in September."

"That's an even better plan," Gwendolyn approved. "Did you get to escape the house while James and Ollie were both there?"

"Only to go outside. I played Quidditch a lot; went for a couple of swims; and rode my bike for an hour or so out on the roads around here. Mum tried to play Quidditch with me for a while; but needed to be in the house most of the day to keep an eye on James." By then, she was downstairs; knocked on the office door; and was invited into the room before opening the door. "Al and Gwendolyn called me for a birthday chat," she announced as she walked over and sat down in the chair next to Ginny – and across the desk from Harry.

"Happy Birthday," Harry and Ginny chorused while Lily moved the mirror toward her father for a moment; and then back so that she and Ginny could both see Al and Gwendolyn. "You're having a good day?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Gwendolyn agreed. "Thank-you for the new clothes – I really love them. You look like you need some bonus hugs, but Lily will have to do that for us; or we'll take care of them when we get home again in a few weeks."

"I'll take both," Ginny told her; and then frowned as she looked away from the mirror and Al and Gwendolyn could hear the sounds of James stomping into the room.

"Is that the loser?" he demanded angrily; stepping up next to Lily; grabbing the mirror; and ripping it from her hands. "Are you happy now, you hippogriff-dung-eating, lying son-of-a-b-Witch? If I could reach through this mirror; I'd finish the job I started on Saturday night!"

"No, you wouldn't," Al told him. "Getting blasted like that wasn't fun, and I'm not enjoying the recovery time either; so I won't be giving you a second chance to make the right choice. I love you, James; but I've learned that lesson the hard way."

"Quit lying!" James practically screeched. "You started that fight. All I did was end it; and yet Ollie and I are the ones getting punished again."

"Stop it, James," Ginny said; standing up and reaching out for the mirror. "For your information; Al has said almost nothing to us about what happened between you. The truth of what really happened was proven before he woke up – and you know it. Stop blaming Albus for your horrid acts and behavior!"

"You never believe me over him," James shot back; jerking the mirror away so she couldn't take it from him. "Al's got the lot of you fooled."

"He was unarmed – and you used a Reductor curse on him," Ginny said in angry exasperation. "Where's the lie in that?"

"We've told you over and over that he wasn't unarmed; used his wand; and probably used some of those damned seashells on us too! You all think that he's a powerful-enough Wizard to heal himself from all of those supposedly-horrid injuries, but if that's true; then it's just as likely that he's powerful-enough to make the lot of you believe whatever he wants." He snorted derisvively. "He probably wasn't hurt at all – it was all just an illusion that everyone fell for."

"Including you?" Lily demanded; and she was standing too. "You crowed about how badly you blasted Al for most of yesterday until you found out that he'd been able to use an Animorphmagus form to partially-heal his injuries – and that he might only need days now to recover instead of weeks or months. We don't believe you because your story changes to fit whatever you dream up to justify the horrid things you do or to cover up the lies when they're exposed for what they are."

"You weren't even there – none of you were!" James shouted. "He's the problem here," he added; stabbing a finger onto the mirror over Al's face. "Keep on falling for his act and all of the lies, but I won't; and he's not going to get away with any of this. I'll show all of you – and everyone! You just wait and see!"

"Good for you," Lily told him sarcastically. "You've had your rant now. Give me back my mirror and go away. The rest of us want to get back to our chat with Al and Gwendolyn; and you weren't invited."

"Come and get it," James taunted; holding it out to her with a malicious smile on his face. Lily reached out and grabbed it more quickly than James had expected, and grabbed onto it; but wasn't strong-enough to pull it out of his hands. "I might not be able to blast Al; but he can't stop me from doing this!" The mirror was pointing toward the ceiling, so Al and Gwendolyn could see the punch that James lashed out at Lily – and saw it freeze just an inch or so from her face as James was placed into a full-body bind.

"Al can't; but I can," Harry said; the tone of his voice hinting at the tightly controlled anger even though Al and Gwendolyn couldn't see him at all. "It's your turn, Ginny. Get him out of here before I do something I'll regret later."

"I'm not sure he's safe with me right now either," Ginny told him; but put a hand on James' arm as Harry released him and Lily stepped away – taking her mirror with her as James involuntarily relaxed the grip he'd still had on it with one hand after being set free. That lasted just a moment; and then he balled up his fist and spun to take a swing at Ginny next.

"No!" Harry yelled; and James was frozen in place again as Al and Gwendolyn could hear the crashing of a chair that suggested Harry had stood quickly and knocked it over. Lily flipped her mirror; and it was then pointed at Ginny and James – and Harry too once he was around the desk and next to them. Ginny stepped back; and Harry was between them when he released James again. "Is this your answer to everything now?" he demanded. "Blasting your unarmed brother; and now trying to punch your sister and mother? Don't you think that your mother or I could do the same to you just as easily?"

"Go ahead then – hit me! I'm not afraid of you!"

"I don't want you to be afraid of me – and you would be if I was that kind of parent," Harry told him. "Nothing we say or do makes a difference with you right now, though, so just go back to the sitting room and study for your next exams or play video games or sit and sulk. The choices you're making right now are only going to hurt you; since we're all done with letting you hurt us anymore."

"Make me," James retorted; crossing his arms and glaring defiantly.

"Okay," Harry agreed. He grabbed James' arm; turned; and disappeared. Ginny, Lily, Al, and Gwendolyn could all hear the yelling from the sitting room – along with the loud crack that accompanied their arrival there; and then Harry returned to the office a few moments later. "I've sealed the sitting room until we're done with the mirror chat," he advised Ginny; and then went to hug her for a long moment before going to retrieve his chair and sit down again. Ginny and Lily sat too; and there was a pause as the tension in the room slowly ebbed.

"Thanks for the bonus entertainment," Gwendolyn half-joked. "You could have a hit mirror network show with drama like that."

"Please don't say 'hit'," Lily offered with a grin. "By the way, thanks, Dad. I should've been ready for that with my shield charm; but wasn't."

"James ought to thank you for that," Al told her. "He'd have broken his hand on your shield."

"He's not thankful for anything right now," Lily told him seriously. "Not even about Mum and Dad taking enough of the blame for what happened to keep him from being expelled!"

"What?" Al asked incredulously; and he and Gwendolyn both watched as Lily looked from them to Ginny and back again. "You didn't know?"

"We didn't think that you knew," Ginny told Lily before focusing her attention on Al. "James is responsible for what he did to you, Al; but your father and I were responsible for making sure he was ready to go back to school – and he obviously wasn't."

"He did know he was on probation," Lily pointed out; and Ginny nodded.

"Yes, but none of us want to see James expelled – and Professor McGonagall agreed with us. James won't get a break if there's a next time, though; and we need to get that through his thick skull before September."

"Don't do it, Al," Gwendolyn warned; and Al laughed.

"Too late; but I can't help it. Maybe I'm beginning to believe James."

"None of this is your fault," Harry called out. "Been there, done that; and survived the guilt. Worry about getting better and writing your exams; since you can't do anything one way or the other for James right now – not that I think we'd have any luck with that even if you could try again."

"I'll do my best for the getting better and doig well on my exams," Al promised without commenting on the guilt issue. "We should let Gwendolyn, Mum, and Lily talk birthdays, though; so I'll shut up now and let them do that."

From there, the three Witches were happy to take charge of the conversation; they talked for another fifteen minutes or so; and then ended the call so that Al and Gwendolyn could relax and get ready for their late-night exam. They had nearly an hour left to do that before Madam Pomfrey came and officially freed Al to go with Gwendolyn to the Astronomy tower; he went there with Gwendolyn; and met up with Professor Sinistra so that she could semi-officially take charge of Al and watch over him to make sure he didn't overdo it or hurt himself while trying to take the second-half of their Astronomy exam. Wrapping up Gwednolyn's birthday by doing brilliantly on that test had been worth the effort, but Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have much of a goodnight hug and kiss because Professor Sinistra made sure that Al got back to the hospital wing without any problems while Gwendolyn returned to her House with the rest of her Ravenclaw classmates. Madam Pomfrey was still awake and check Al one last time before giving him a sleeping draught and retiring to her quarters, and by then; Al was ready to let sleep claim him after a first day of exams that had been physically much tougher on him than necessary – thanks to James and Ollie.

Tuesday was a study day; and Rose was in charge of their study group as the undisputed Herbology expert. Al couldn't go and work with them, so Gwendolyn spent most of the day with him. They studied Herbology all morning; she took a break for lunch and some afternoon play time with their friends while Al had lunch, a nap, and a healing session; and then they studied again for the second half of the afternoon until Gwendolyn went for dinner in the Great Hall. Al was permitted to go for a very short walk after dinner; he had a handful of visitors for shot cameo moments that didnt' get in the way of the exam studies for anyone; and he and Gwendolyn only did a bit more light studying for Herbology while mostly taking it easy and relasing before it was time for them to split up and get the sleep they'd both need for one of their toughest exam subjects.

The written Herbology exam was as tough as they'd expected; though Al once agin found it a bit easier to write that exam on his own in the hospital wing. Taking the practical exam there in the afternoon wasn't an option, so Madam Pomfrey again allowed him to venture out so he could take that half of the exam in the greenhouse after lunch. Gwendolyn and Rose took care of escorting Al to the greenhouse and back again, and the exam was easy for them – or at least it was in comparison to how it went for most of the second-year students and more than half of the members of their study group. While Al would have liked to stay outdoors for a while or do anything else instead; Gwendolyn and Rose didn't let him do anything he shouldn't after their exam; and it was straight back to the hospital wing for him. Rose then went on to rejoin the rest of their study group; Gwendolyn stayed with Al; and they all got to work again after only a short break – this time to get ready for the History exam on Friday and DADA on Monday.

Al and Gwendolyn had it easier than Rose did for most of their studying because they were on their own for most of it for the rest of the day on Wednesday and all day on Thursday while Rose led their study group while Al was unavailable to do that. It wasn't a big deal for History, since she didn't mind reinforcing her own memorization of facts and figures while helping their friends; but their friends did miss Al for the DADA studying – particularly when it came to getting ready for the practical exam. They put DADA away for the last half of Thursday so that they wouldn't get messed up for the History exam; but Al's one study exception for the day was a DADA practical practice that he did with Rose because she was his exam partner for that exam and they needed to work on dueling as a team – though they did that under Madam Pomfrey's watchful eye to make sure Al didn't get hurt or re-injured.

Writing the History exam on Friday morning and then having the afternoon off didn't feel much different than their normal Fridays all year; though Al had to write that exam from his bed; and then he and Gwendolyn studied for DADA from the hospital wing while their friends studied and played outdoors. Gwendolyn missed a Quidditch Chaser duel and they found out later that a swim in the lake had been part of the break time their friends took from studying; but Al kept doing what he was told because Madam Pomfrey was sure that he'd be well-enough to get back to near-normal life by the end of the weekend if he didn't do anything to mess up the last, more-serious bits of his healing and recovery

Madam Pomfrey did allow Al to go for two walks on Friday, and he was glad for those breaks; but the studying kept them busy while other entertainments weren't yet an option. While Al and Gwendolyn couldn't go off somewhere for a bit of alone time on Friday evening, while they worked and hoped that Al would be set free sometime on Saturday or Sunday so that they could work out some alone time; most of their friends didn't have a problem with taking some or all of the evening off – and Al helped them out with that by lending out his sofas and mirror. Rose and Shane were among those couples, but they did stop in for a visit with Al and Gwendolyn after dinner before going off on their own with one of the sofas. Gwendolyn worked with Al until shortly before cufrew except for their second walk of the day; and then it was time for Al to take his sleeping draught and get some rest.

It was back to work again on Saturday morning; and time to also add in studying for their Transfiguration exam on Wednesday. That was going to be the toughest exam of the second week for most of the members of their little study group; though Charms on Friday was a close second for about half of them. Al was not quite ready to be set free yet, so Gwendolyn studied with him all day except for an afternoon play break outdoors. Rose came and worked with them for part of the morning while she and Al got ready for their practical exam duel; and he also had two healing sessions – with the second one also a bit more training in the afternoon while Gwendolyn was taking the play and swim break. Al had a handful of visitors after dinner on Saturday, but he and Gwendolyn only did a bit more studying; and then spent the rest of their evening with a bit of music time that Madam Pomfrey loved; mirror chats with their parents, brother, and sister; and some mirror network show watching while Gwendolyn sat on Al's bed with him and they half-cuddled together until it was time for her to get back to Ravenclaw tower for the night.

First up on Sunday, it was Fleur's forty-second birthday; so Rose came to visit Al so that they could have a short, pre-breakfast mirror chat with their Aunt a happy birthday before Rose would need to be in the Great Hall for the morning meal. They ended up talking with Bill, Victoire, and Teddy too, since they were all at Shell Cottage to have a breakfast celebration with Fleur; and Gwendolyn caught the last-half of that chat when she stopped by to see Al before breakfast too. That had been fun, but then Al was on his own for breakfast and followed that up with another healing and training session with Madam Pomfrey while Gwendolyn had a DADA practice with her practical exam partner. Their day got much better from there – especially when Madam Pomfrey released Al from the hospital wing after lunch and cleared him to go back to his dorm room and life in general – except for another list of things he could and couldn't do for at least the next week. He had a follow-up appointment with her on Friday; but Al wasn't worried about that – and he was happy about getting to spend the rest of the day with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends.

He wasn't allowed to play Quidditch, but Al did go out to watch the scrimmage that Gwendolyn played in – a Witches against the Wizards match that the guys lost fairly-handily without Al there to help them out. He didn't go swimming in the lake either; but did join in for the studying after that until dinnertime in the Great Hall. Rose had wanted to do one more practical exam practice after dinner, so Al did that with her; but then he and Gwendolyn went off on their own for the rest of the evening until curfew because they were way overdue for a bit of alone time and snogging! There was a quick round of letter writing, mirror chats with their families, and a bit of music time too; but the cuddle and snogging time was the highlight of the day for both of them. They left enough time before curfew for a visit with Winter in the Owlery before sending her off with their letters, but then Al walked her home; and they both moved on to get ready for bed and go off to sleep. Staying up late and spending more time together would have been great, but they'd worked hard all year; and weren't interested in messing up their year by slacking off on their exams when they were this close to the end of the school year.

"You look tired," Thomas observed as Scorpius slumped into the armchair after putting the portrait on the table.

"I am," he agreed. "It's been a long week."

"It's been a week since we've spoken last?"

"I've been in high demand as the second-year tutor of choice for the dimmest of my fellow Slytherin. The more time I spend with them; the more I wonder whether I'm helping them at all – or just getting dumber myself through being near them too much."

Thomas laughed. "You'll know after you get your marks," he suggested. "If you've dropped a grade point or two; stop spending so much time with them and hang out with the smarter teens."

"Easier said than done when they're also too cool to allow me to do that," Scorpius said derisively. "You'll be more interested in the latest on James, Ollie, and Albus, though; so let's get that out of the way."

"Okay," Thomas agreed. "What's up?"

"We've had another near-miraculous recovery," Scorpius told him. "Details are lacking, but Albus has been writing his exams from the hospital wing this week when he could do that there; he was allowed to take his Astronomy and Herbology practical exams on the Astronomy tower and in the greenhouse respectively; and he was released from the hospital wing sometime this afternoon – so he was at dinner in the Great Hall tonight. The wildest rumor going around the school is that he self-healed some of the worst inujuries by using his Animorphmagus abilities to turn into a slug or something and then returning to his human form without the broken bone or any of the bruises he'd gotten from being blasted by James."

"That sounds ridiculous," Thomas said dismissively. "Wormtail wasn't able to turn into his rat Animagus and then grow his hand or finger back again – and took those deformities with him into his animal form."

"That isn't more than a rumor," Scorpius said half-defensively; "but I also have no idea if that would be different for an Animagus that can change into a form that doesn't have bones, and as far as I know; Albus wasn't missing any body parts – he was just supposedly busted up to the point where he nearly died. Who knows whether it's possible to do that and then return to human form with everything intact instead of still broken? An Animagus returns to human form with their clothes and anything else they had on them."

"Yes, but those things aren't suddenly repaired as good as new if broken," Thomas advised him. "You do have a point, though; and we shouldn't completely dismiss the idea regardless of how unlikely. What else have you learned?"

"Just rumors again, but they're saying that Albus got blasted because he didn't defend himself at all – that he tossed his wand away after protecting Ray Wood and just let James blast him."

"Now where have I heard a story very similar to that one?" Thomas asked rhetorically. "Like father; like son?"

"You believe that's likely to be true?"

"It makes more sense than believing that James suddenly found some special power or advantage over his younger brother – and fits in with everything else we know about Albus so far. Whatever the motivation behind the act; I can believe the boy would make the sacrifice – or do it hoping that his older brother would choose not to attack him while unarmed. Their side is big on supposedly making the 'right' choices; and he has been hurt helping others before."

"Maybe; though I'll keep looking for the rest of the truth behind what happened in case there is another explanation. As far as I know, James and Ollie haven't received any additional punishment other than having their suspension re-instated for the rest of the school year. They're taking their final exams at home; and will be allowed back again in September. I assume that'll be in fourth-year unless they fail most of their exams."

"That won't matter much if they can't go a day without trying to injure or kill Albus," Thomas pointed out. "None of them will be back if they accomplish that during the summer holidays."

Scorpius laughed. "Now that's a cheery thought; but probably too much to hope for. I predict that James will be back – and with a whole new plan for how to try and mess with Albus without getting caught or in trouble again."

"If that's true, maybe we should spend some time this summer thinking about ways to help him with that," Thomas offered.

"Why bother? James and Ollie would never listen to anything I have to say."

"So we'll find another way to do that anonymously – at least at first. The mystery of it alone would get their attention; and the good ideas and maybe even some gifts to help them along the way would keep them hooked."

"I like it," Scorpius agreed; looking a lot happier now. "Getting back to the news, the gossip consensus is leaning toward the injuries to Albus and Ollie all being James' fault; with Ollie's injuries being collateral damage. One rumor has Ray being first to draw wand; while another one says he barely did anything in the fight except for a disarming spell – and one that didn't work very well; since James apparently got his wand right back again. Everything else I've heard seems to be utter nonsense; so I won't waste your time with those stories."

"Time is hardly a problem for me," Thomas reminded him, "but since it is for you; we can move on – and then do a lesson too if you have time for that."

Scorpius was good with that suggestion; wanted to have the lesson more than anything; and decided that his studying with Thomas was a far better use of his time – even if he could never use any of that magic during his DADA exams. That was one class that did at least have some value – for teaching him all of the defensive magic that he'd need to overcome when it came time to lead the true purebloods in an uprising that would change the Wizarding World forever – and rid them of the mudbloods and traitors that had stolen all from his family and the other pureblood Witches and Wizards.

After two more weeks of school; he'd be one year closer to that brilliant future – and equally-nearer to the defeat of the Potters, Weasleys, and the rest of his most-hated enemies!

The DADA written exam on Monday morning was tougher than a lot of Al's friends had expected, but he'd been having a great monrning now that he was out of the hospital wing; he had breezed through the exam with what he was sure would be a perfect score; and was looking forward to the afternoon and the practical side of the exam. That was going to be a bit different this year because of the need to test all of the students against magical creatures. That's why the exam was set up in stages, with the first five testing stations being for working with the magical creatures; and the sixth and final stage for the practical test of the spells and counter-spells they'd learned mostly during the second-half of the school year. They were put in pairs for the testing because of the last part of the exam; but were also in larger groups for each of the other five stages – and did a rotation through them so the exam was nearly-continuous except for the final stage – though some students started their exam with that part of the testing.

Al and Rose were in the group that began with the Boggart test; and Al didn't mind going first – especially since everyone in their class had seen what 'his' Boggart looked like already anyway. Professor Jones had assistants for each of the magical creatures testing stations; and when Al was ready; the Boggart was released from a tall, but otherwise fairly small cupboard that was more the size of a grandfather clock. The Boggart-Basilisk reared out of the cupboard; Al steeled himself against the deep-rooted fear that he'd felt for Basilisks pretty much from the first time he'd heard about them – and the stories from his parents.

"Ridikulus!" he said clearly and firmly while pointing his wand at it. He'd waited to allow himself time to handle the emotions, so the Basilisk had been rearing up as if to strike at him; and then it turned into a giant, colorful party favor complete with streamers, and goofy-looking clown face, and a whoopee whistle as the long 'neck' reached out close to his face; rolled up; and then shot back out to him a second time before the Boggart returned to the cupboard and Rose took his place.

"That one was funnier than what you did the first time," Rose told him; but then got ready for her turn. When the door opened, and an Acromantula stepped out – a giant spider slightly taller than the cupboard; Rose didn't waste any time before shouting – "Ridikulus!"

Her worst-fear creature turned into a pink Fanged Frisbee with fuzzy streamers instead of the spider legs. It flew to her hand; she grabbed it; and flung it back into the cupboard again. When the door was closed again; Rose joined Al they shared a quick hug; and then watched the rest of their group complete the Boggart test too – all of them successful; though with varying degrees of funny and one change that was half-funny and half-scary still. Once they were finished; they were sent on; and Al and Rose had just as much success with the other four magical creatures. After that, they had a bit of a wait before the final part of their test because Professor Jones needed longer with each group of students because she only tested them four at a time – and she picked two pairs from the waiting group of students – one pair each from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Al didn't like it much, but wasn't really surprised when he and Rose were paired up against Scorpius and Davis about a half-hour after they'd finished the rest of their tests.

"Trouble magnet," Rose whispered as they headed for the door – and then had to wait when Davis bulled his way ahead of them with a sneer for them; and Scorpius followed.

"Ladies first," he returned; saying that loudly-enough for most of the teens around them to hear – earning an over-the-shoulder glare from Scorpius and a snort from Davis.

They didn't have time for more than that, because Professor Jones immediately waved them to take up dueling positions within two large circles. Al and Rose took up position in the circle to the left because Davis and Scorpius had already moved to do the same on the right. They all turned to face Professor Jones; and she smiled at them.

"You already know that the dueling test is in pairs this year so that you can not only show your individual abilities; but work together as a team. Any spells and counter-spells that you have learned so far in your studies can be used; though you should focus on what you've learned in your second year. If you are forced out of your circle or lose your wand; you may no longer continue the duel. Bonus points will be awarded for both offense and defense; creativity; and exceptional teamwork." She paused for a moment and then nodded. "Okay, face your opponents; wands ready – begin!"

Davis Zabini fired the first curse before Professor Jones had gotten the 'B' sound of 'begin' out; and he directed it at Rose. Al met it with the counter-curse because that's how he and Rose had worked on their dueling; and she counter-attacked with a jinx that Davis and Scorpius both countered while Al also defended against the hex that Scorpius had fired just a half-second after Davis' opening spell. The battle was on from there, and while it was an important test; Al and Rose were also soon having fun as they battled against Scorpius and Davis. That wasn't true for their opponents, because it was soon obvious that they couldn't do anything to hurt Al or Rose – and they were really trying hard to do just that. The Slytherin idea of teamwork was to try ganging up on Al or Rose with multi-pronged attacks. Scorpius also tried to help Davis on defense, but that wasn't coordinated; and Davis didn't even once manage to aid Scorpius with any shields or counter-spells when the attacks from Al or Rose were directed at him.

They'd been given a lot of instruction from Professor Jones about what she expected for this part of the exam, so Al and Rose worked their way through a showcase of second-year offensive spells while defending against everything that Scorpius and Davis threw at them. They had no control over those choices, so their demonstration of counter-spells was limited by the choices of curses, hexes, and jinxes used against them; but they were happy with how they handled everything. Once they'd done everything they'd wanted to show their Professor, though, Al and Rose had intended to win their duel regardless of who their opponents were; so it was just an added bonus that they were up against two Wizards that hated them – and were getting frustrated and angry as their side of the duel wasn't going as well by comparison.

"I'm ready if you are," Rose told Al without taking her eyes off of their opponents.

"Okay," he agreed. "Ladies' choice," he added with a grin that she could only sense in his voice since she didn't look at him.

"You know what Dad would want," she said; and then pointed her wand as if to fire a spell at Davis.

When she and Al both attacked Scorpius instead, Al had fired first; Scorpius' shield charm was shattered; and Rose's disarming spell had his wand flying to her hand while Scorpius was knocked out of their circle and onto his backside as he then slid across the floor until he was about ten feet from the nearest wall. Davis made the mistake of trying to blast Rose with a curse that was definitely not something they'd learned in second year; so Al was a bit mad too as he shielded her – and then he and Rose teamed up to blast Davis – and send him flying across the room too when his attempt to counter their attack was far too feeble to do anything when Al and Rose actually put some serious power behind their spells.

"Your turn," Rose told him; and smiled because Al had already fired the disarming spell with a non-verbal; and caught it easily as it shot into his hand.

"Well done!" Professor Jones declared enthusiastically. "All of you – that was quite possibly the best second-year duel I've seen in twenty years!" Her smile faded as she turned to look at Scorpius and Davis. "Oh do not look so stormy," she chided; though stormy was a vast understatement to what Al sensed from both boys now. "You have both shown excellent knowledge of everything we've learned this year; and that is what matters for this exam – not whether you won or lost the duel." She smiled again when she looked back at Al and Rose. "Please return your opponents wands; and then you are all free to go. Again, well done all of you!"

Rose held Scorpius' wand out to him on her palm; silently inviting him to summon it. He did that; and it immediately returned to him. Al did the same for Davis, but when it flew to Davis, it was spinning as it went; and Davis couldn't catch it. He looked ready to fire another curse at Al after needing to stoop and pick it up off of the ground; but then Scorpius put a hand on his wand arm; and he instead shoved his wand into a pocket and headed for the door. Professor Jones followed all four of them out; called for the next two pairs; and then Al and Rose were free for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn had been with the other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and had been teamed up with Renee because Toni and Michael were a pair for their DADA exam. They'd all been among the group doing their duels first and the magical creatures tests second; but they weren't finished that testing yet; so Al and Rose waited for them.

Shane, Tory, and Madison were all finished ahead of Gwendolyn; and so was Ray, Bristol, and most of their Gryffindor friends before Gwendolyn caught up with them. The enthusiastic hug and kiss she had for Al strongly suggested that her tests had gone well; and they talked about them while waiting for the last of their friends before moving on to take a break until dinnertime. The highlights of Gwendolyn's recap for Al were her dueling win with Renee; and finding out that she turned her Rock Troll Boggart into a garden gnome-sized, rainbow-colored plush toy-like creation that cooed and giggled instead of roaring. Her duel hadn't been as adversarial against a pair of Hufflepuffs, but their victory had looked more decisive because their opponents hadn't been ready to face two of the best DADA students in Ravenclaw.

Once they were all ready to move on, Al and Gwendolyn went outside for a walk by the lake; they had some non-strenuous play time with their friends with Al still taking it easy as ordered; and then they followed that up with a swim in the lake because that's what most of their friends wanted to do to cool off before getting back to work. They'd all needed that break, but couldn't take the rest of the day off from studying, so they split up to get changed and ready for an evening study session before going to the Great Hall for dinner. Transfiguration was up next, and while Charms was on-deck for Friday; they didn't start working on that again until Tuesday morning. Al was the study leader for Transfiguration, but while he'd have been good with a short study evening and some alone time with Gwendolyn, they ended up with bonus study buddies; and those added requests for help kept him busy with the extra tutoring through until shortly before curfew. Not having time for more than a goodnight kiss with Gwendolyn was a bit disappointing after a really good day of exams, but he was still glad to be able to help the extra friends; and he did have a knack for Transfiguration – and teaching it to his friends in teen-talk so that it made more sense.

Outside of Hogwarts, they had another family birthday on Tuesday that they couldn't be home to celebrate, but Al and Gwendolyn met up in the Great Hall early so that they could have a mirror chat with Jonah. He'd been up early too; had already received his new broom; and was pretty much only interested in going out to fly it and then play a lot of Quidditch with Lily, Hugo, and everyone else that was going to be over for the day to help him celebrate his eleventh birthday with him. They watched him open the gifts from them too, and he liked the mirror games and Muggle quad-copter; but he also kept his Firestorm 250 at his side the entire time; and planned on heading outside with it to play about a minute after he finished having breakfast with Kirley and Gwenog.

Compared to birthday party and sleepover adventures, studying all day for Transfiguration and Charms wasn't exciting, but they were two of Al's and Gwendolyn's favorite subjects; and the practice for the two practical exams was a lot of the fun kind of work. Getting ready for the written exams wasn't nearly as great, but they were still really good at it; and they again had extra study buddies for their morning and afternoon study sessions. There was also a Quidditch scrimmage break before lunch and a swim break at the lake mid-afternoon; but Al only worked with his friends for an hour after dinner; and then took the rest of the evening off to have some alone time with Gwendolyn. By then, they were both long-past ready for their Transfiguration exams; so the quiet couple of hours of music and snogging was a much better way to get relaxed and ready for a long day of exams on Wednesday. Al had a bedtime chat with Lily to get all of the birthday party news after getting back to his dorm room, but then he went off to sleep after that; and did that before any of the other guys – including Ray – even got back to their dorm room.

Being really good at Transfiguration might have had something to do with Al's ability to learn to be an Animagus – or Animorphmagus; but a lot of his fellow students likely believed it was the other way around – that he had to be good at it simply because he could already do one of the toughest Transfigurations that even most adults wouldn't even attempt. Being an Animagus didn't help with the written exam at all, but his memory and all of the hard work definitely did; and Al was sure that he aced it – including all of the bonus questions. Gwendolyn and Rose were both happy with how they'd done too; so they all took a break from the time they finished it through until their turns for the practical exam. The second-year students for all four Houses had been given assigned times for their tests, and they did that in groups that were small enough for Professor McDonald to work with – ten-to-twelve at a time.

Al and Gwendolyn weren't in the same group, but Al was in the group right after hers; and they were the third and fourth group of the afternoon; so they were able to finish up early – along with Rose and about half of the members of their study group. Animal to inanimate object Transfigurations were once again the test for them, and while they'd each ended up being given different animals to work with; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all happy with their work – and sure that they'd all earned yet another round of Outstanding marks for their Transfigurations. With half the afternoon still open to them, and the need to wait for the rest of their friends to be finished too before returning to their studies; Al and Gwendolyn went out to the practice pitch for a very mild Chaser duel – and had Rose play Keeper for them as they took turns on offense and defense for an hour or so before wrapping up their play time with a cool-down swim in the lake. While having that duel was technically a no-no for Al, he'd wanted to play as much as Gwendolyn and Rose had; and they all made sure that he didn't get hurt while having fun with them – just as the girls made sure that he took it easy while swimming too.

It was back to study mode after that; and Charms was the only subject because they had until Tuesday to get ready for their last exam – Potions. They had a full study session on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning; took half of the afternoon off on Thursday for some Quidditch and swimming play time; and then worked for a couple of hours before dinner and another hour after they'd eaten that meal before deciding that they were as ready as they could be for their Charms exams and calling it a night. Al and Gwendolyn spent the rest of their evening with another music and snogging break for two; still managed to turn in for the night a half-hour ahead of curfew; and then Al ended his night with yet another bedtime mirror chat with Lily.

"If I was going to be in the boys' dorm with you and James next year; I might actually have to think about getting sorted into Slytherin," Lily joked. "That might be an improvement over what it's like around here."

"Then it's a good thing that you'll be in the Gryffindor girls' dorm," Al told her. "It's getting even worse there?"

"James is a horror tonight. Three exams in three days is apparently cruel and unusual punishment when you write them at home under such awful conditions. Honestly, Al, I'm beginning to wonder if James and Ollie have both been doing a lot of cheating at school the way they're acting. The only way I'm keeping me from going completely bonkers is by staying outside a lot; getting Mum to drop me off at the Burrow for visits; and the fact that they're staying in the tent at night. Ollie's here overnight again today, and I get that, since they have that third round of exams tomorrow, but if James badgers Mum and Dad into letting Ollie stay the weekend to study; I'm moving out until you get home."

"I thought that Gwendolyn said something about..." Al said and then stopped and smiled. "Maybe I'd better not say anything."

Lily laughed. "You can talk about that," she assured him. "I'm just so sick and tired of James and Ollie that I wasn't thinking about the kid-free night that Aunt Gwenog has set up for Uncle Kirley." She frowned then and shook her head. "Now I'm really hoping that Ollie won't be here. We were going to use the tent this weekend."

"Sounds as though it's a perfect chance for James to stay with Ollie instead – if Mum and Dad think that he can do that without messing up with Ollie's parents and sister."

"Note to me – invite Kathryn for the camping if that happens," Lily said seriously while grinning at Al. "You don't need to get side-tracked from your own exams with this; so why don't you tell me all about your studying today – and whatever you did to blow off steam during the breaks?"

He still planned on worrying about his family anyway, but allowed Lily to re-direct their conversation; and they talked for nearly a half-hour before ending the call so he could get to sleep and be ready to write his Charms exam in the morning. Al also worried a bit about how badly James might be doing on his exams, since he might consider a change of House too if he was stuck in the same dorm room and eight out of eleven classes with James for his third year. As he mused about that and drifted off to sleep, the dreams about that weren't nightmares; and spending the next five years at Hogwarts in Ravenclaw with Gwendolyn – playing Quidditch and in every class with her – would be brilliant if reality could be as great as the dreams!

Writing their Charms exam on Friday morning was hardly a dream, but it wasn't a nightmare for Al, Gwendolyn, or Rose either – even if some of their classmates thought differently about that. They didn't get their last Friday afternoon of the school year off because they still had to take their Charms practical exam, but that worked out for them anyway because their time slots were in the second-half of the afternoon; and that gave them time to play for a while after lunch without feeling guilty for not getting started on their Potions exam studies. Rose played Keeper for another Al and Gwendolyn Chaser duel; they went for a swim; and then happily aced their Charms practical exams while seriously impressing Professor Flitwick. After that, Al went to see Madam Pomfrey for his check-up; she lifted most of the restrictions on his activities; and then he went to meet up with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends. They'd still had an hour and a half or so to go until dinnertime after finishing their practical exam, so while he'd been busy, everyone else had picked up their Potions books and notes; and they'd gone outside to enjoy the warm weather while they studied. Doing the work then was a choice they all made because they didn't want to spend the entire evening immersed in their books or making potions; though they did put in another hour of work after dinner before each of the study group couples split up to have some alone time until curfew.

For Al and Gwendolyn, their Friday evening play time included mirror chats with their parents, Lily, and Jonah; some music play time; and quite a bit of quality snogging time before they needed to pack up and hurry to get back to their Houses ahead of curfew. Since he'd done the mirror chat with his family earlier, Al simply got ready for bed after getting back to his dorm room; had a chat with Ray and a couple of their roommates while winding down from a busy day; and then he was once again the first Wizard in the room to be sleeping. The early-morning routine felt different for Al on Saturday; and he was certain that was because it was going to be his last Saturday at Hogwarts until September. Only having six more sleeps before the summer holidays was starting to feel exciting too – even with three days of studying and one tough exam day to go before they could relax and have fun for the last two days of the school year. Rose was feeling that way too; and Al knew that as soon as she gave him an extra-special hug when they met up for their morning walk and talk.

"If it's like this for us in second year; we're going to be a mess for the last week of our NEWT year," Al joked.

"Maybe after our last NEWT exam," Rose agreed; "but not until then. We won't let getting all sappy about being finished school mess up our NEWTS."

"I don't know about that. Maybe we should skip our NEWT year like our fathers did; and not risk it."

Rose laughed. "We'd never get away with that with our Mums, Al."

"Not even if it meant getting an early start on your future plans to win a league championship?" Al asked with a grin; and Rose laughed again.

"That would be tempting; but probably wouldn't work out for us. I do want to earn my NEWTs, though; so I'll be here to the end – even if you want to go and try playing in the show a year early."

"Now I'm tempted to do that; win a championship with the Cannons; and totally mess up your plans."

"If you could do that, I'd be thrilled; and Dad might even decide that you're not a terrible disappointment after all."

"It's funny that he picked that up from Uncle George; but I know he doesn't really mean it – even if Uncle George half-does."

"That's probably down to a quarter," Rose suggested. "Helping Fred at Christmas, and then the mess with Stephanie has him reconsidering that – even if you are bad for the wheezes business."

"I'd be great for business if he'd just start charging double to everyone that wants to use wheezes on me," Al offered. "If he ever works out the Animorphmagus wheeze or starts selling the charmed charm bracelets; we should be his favorites."

"Lily has fun using wheezes and came up with the portable pool," Rose pointed out. "She might be the favorite niece or nephew now."

"I wasn't thinking about her," Al admitted with a smile and nod. "That works for me; since she's my very favorite sister."

"She's your favorite sibling too; though you're usually too nice to admit things like that – even to me. Speaking of James; is there anything new with him?"

"Yeah – he's at Ollie's for the weekend so that they can study together for their last exam."

"Poor Kathryn; but good for Lily," Rose said.

"Kathryn will be at our house starting sometime later today; but was busy doing something else last night. Lily did invite her, but then we heard that it was a good thing she didn't come over because it took Mum, Dad, and Lily more than an hour to clean the tent after James went home with Ollie."

"I guess they would want the tent this weekend with Hugo, Roxanne, and Jonah there too," Rose mused. "Why does that seem weird for me with Hugo; while we never even think about it when we've camped together with our friends?"

"Because he and Jonah will be doing that with Kathryn and Lily now?" Al offered; grinning meaningfully at her. "I'm personally hoping that Lily never, ever has a Gryffindor boyfriend."

"I don't blame you," Rose told him; trying and failing to look serious. "Those Gryffindor Wizards are all the worst sort; and should be avoided by every Witch whenever possible."

"You'll know exactly what I mean the first time you walk into our common room and see Hugo snogging a Witch."

"That is scary, considering that he is a lot like Dad; and his Hogwarts dating stories are even scarier than Mum's."

"This sounds like a great time to change the subject," Al decided. "Gwendolyn and I need to have a birthday mirror chat with her Dad this morning; but is there anything new that you want to do today to get ready for our Potions exams?"

"Yeah. I checked the forecast, and we'll likely be getting some rain today; so we should talk with everyone about changing up our outdoor plans if we can; and then work on our practical potions in the dungeon when it's raining."

They talked about that – and what to do on Sunday if they had more rain then too; and kept themselves entertained until they got to the Great Hall. Gwendolyn arrived soon after they did, so Al joined her for the mirror chat with Kirley; and his favorite gift from his kids was the completed 'Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie' song that Al and Gwendolyn had helped Jonah and Lily to write in the weeks since Easter. Jonah had called Lily too so that she could be in on the birthday surprise, but with the Great Hall filling up with students by then; Kirley could not get all four of them to sing the news song to him. When Al needed to get back to the Gryffindor table, they ended the mirror chat; and then he and Gwendolyn split up to have breakfast with their House mates.

Reuniting again after they'd eaten, and after getting together with the rest of their study group; they decided to study in their usual classroom for a couple of hours before taking their first study break of the day. With the rain still on the way, a Quidditch scrimmage was an option; they played for an hour; and then went for a swim before going into the Castle again and getting cleaned up and changed before having lunch in the Great Hall. It was raining by the time they finished that meal; so the revised plan to practice making potions for the afternoon worked out – though the Potions dungeon classrooms were fairly busy with students that had the same idea – and still had the Potions exam left to go during the last two days of exams. Instead of taking an afternoon break, Al and Gwendolyn talked their friends into working until shortly before dinner; and then taking the evening off for some play time.

For Al and Gwendolyn, their evening entertainment included hanging out with Toni, Michael, Renee, and Leon Branstone. They had Al's mirror for watching shows, but only two of the sofas so that Ray and Tory could use the other two with their group of friends. Al suspected that Rose was having a pool party for two with Shane, but that hadn't been announced; since they'd have likely ended up with a gang of couples interested in doing that instead if it had been an option. He did think that was a brilliant idea, though, and made a mental note to remember it for something to do with Gwendolyn in the future. Watching mirror shows; cuddling with Gwendolyn; and chatting with their friends was really great, though; and was also a good way to de-stress those friends after a long day of full-immersion Potions studies. Al and Gwendolyn took care of their goodnight hugs and kisses before leaving the classroom because she was walking back to her House with Renee, Toni, and Michael anyway; and that allowed Al to go straight back to his dorm room – without any stops in Gryffindor snogging central as he passed through the common room along the way. He got ready for bed; and then called Lily for their bedtime mirror chat.

"Are you still at the party?" Al joked when a blast of loud music came along with his sister's brightly-smiling image in his mirror.

"We brought the party home with us," she answered whimsically with a happy laugh. "Say 'Hi' to Al," she called out while turning her mirror and panning the main room the the tent so that Al could see the other tweens in the room.

"Hi!" they chorused; followed by some giggles from the girls.

"I'll bet that you wish you were here instead of spending the weekend studying for Potions," Lily suggested as she pointed the mirror at herself again.

"You're having more fun for sure," Al agreed. "We took the night off; but put in extra time studying today while it was raining outside anyway."

"We didn't get much rain here – and got it earlier; so it didn't get in the way of Uncle Kirley's birthday party."

"They've at least got lots of room to take a party inside if needed," Al pointed out. "Our house gets a bit crowded when that happens for us."

"Then you should get a really big place when you grow up and move out," Lily suggested. "We'll have all of the family parties at your house after that."

"If that's such a good idea; why don't you do it?"

"Because it's only a good idea for me if you do it," Lily explained with a laugh. "I want to go to those big parties; not host them."

"You're hosting that one right now," Al pointed out; "and it seems to be going well."

"True, but when I grow up; I think that I'll get a little apartment so that I never have to do a big family and friends party. If they hadn't been given a lot of help; Aunt Gwenog and Uncle Kirley would have spent most of their kid-free night cleaning up the mess."

"You must've helped with that; since there seems to be more friends there with you than I expected."

"Only two more," Lily said with a shrug and smile. "Jonah's cousins, Katrina and Greta, wanted to get in on the weekend away from the parents deal; so we helped them out with that."

"Doesn't that leave Jonah and Hugo a bit out-numbered?"

"They're just cousins for Jonah; and Hugo doesn't seem to mind at all. Maybe he'll mostly have Witches for best mates the same as you do."

"He has one for sure already – you," Al reminded her. "Maybe that's what James has been missing all along – a same-age cousin to hang out with a lot."

"Charlene's close, but not when it comes to geography," Lily offered. "He's usually a git to her too, though; so I don't think that would have worked out for them even if they did live closer."

"Probably not. So what are you going to be doing for the rest of the night?"

"Mirror games; music; and staying up way later than you. We might even sneak out for a moonlit swim in the portable pool."

"That's definitely going to be more fun than the rest of my night. I'll let you get back to that."

"Okay, but I'm only saying that because you look ready to sleep now. Have a good night, Al. I love you."

"Love you too," Al assured her with a smile. "Have a good night – and day tomorrow."

"You too – or try to around all of the studying."

They ended the chat then; Al followed that up with a bit of chat time with a couple of the guys while they were getting ready for bed too; and then he went off to sleep. Sunday was a near-reapeat of Saturday – including the Quidditch scrimmage and swim; but Al and Gwendolyn also were on their own after dinner instead of hanging out with their friends. The studying had gone really well even with the extra study buddies that came around in desperate need of some tutoring; so taking the evening off for some music and snogging play time had been an option. They also wrote letters for home; sent Winter on her last trip home for the school year; and had a long chat with Jonah, Lily, and some of their fellow campers for a while before Harry and Ginny rounded up their gang of tweens for a campfire. All of that fun had made for a great end to the weekend, so when Al went to sleep on Sunday night; he was happy, feeling great; and ready for their last four days of school before the summer holidays.

Scorpius was in a foul mood when he finally reached the sanctuary of his special place in the Room of Requirements. He nearly threw his bookbag on the table before remembering that Thomas didn't like that; but was still a bit rough with the portrait as he took it out of the bag and propped it up on the table. After wasting another entire week writing his exams and helping his idiot friends to study for them too; he'd been delayed getting away from the ongoing studying and wouldn't have much time for a lesson with Thomas. That was particularly hard on him because they were running out of time to do that before he'd be stuck spending another summer without being able to practice his 'true' lessons with Thomas.

"You look as if you've been taking NEWT exams all week instead of second-year tests," Thomas told him. "Are you having problems that you haven't been telling me about?"

"All the same problems that go along with being surrounded by idiots. If a single one of them earns an 'exceeds expectations' for any classes this year; it'll only be because that Professor's expectations were pathetically low."

"You know why you must do that extra work; but don't let it get in the way of your own exams, Scorpius. The less-worthy cannot be allowed to bring you down to their level."

"Too late for that," Scorpius groused; and then swore under his breath.

"What happened?" Thomas prompted – demanded.

"Nothing that I want to admit to you or anyone else," Scorpius answered; setting his jaw stubbornly.

"Then you should get it off your mind with me," Thomas cajoled. "I'm the safest confidant a Wizard can have – a dead one."

Scorpius laughed in spite of himself. "I got beat in my DADA practical exam duel by Rose Weasley and Albus Potter," he admitted in an angry rush.

"Your test was a two against one duel?" Thomas asked in surprise; and Scorpius shook his head.

"No – I had Davis Zabini for my dueling partner. He was defeated too – moments after I was blasted and disarmed. We haven't admitted that to anyone. The only good thing was that we can be sure that Albus and Rose won't blab about it all over the school."

"Albus has won real duels with ten-to-one odds," Thomas reminded him. "You're also not permitted to use magic that I've taught to you in those duels for obvious reasons; so you should not be angry or upset. Did you really do as badly as you imply?"

Scorpius shook his head reluctantly and sighed. "No, and Professor Jones told us that we'd had the best second-year team duel she's seen in twenty years; but that doesn't change the fact that Rose disarmed me and Albus was able to obliterate my shield at the end there – and tossed me across the room onto my back with the shockwave. We didn't manage to so much as put a scratch on either of them; and it sure appeared to me that Al has made a full recovery."

"Be glad the duel was indoors," Thomas told him. "If you did them outside; you might have needed to swim back!"

"Funny – but not," Scorpius said without really laughing at all. "That duel does have me understanding why James, Ollie, and the Averys and their mates all hate Albus so much. I hated the Potters and Weasleys before this; but now it's personal."

"Then I'm glad you lost that duel," Thomas told him.

"I'm so glad I could help to make you happy," Scorpius told him derisively; and Thomas laughed.

"Your foes are helping you, Scorpius. We've talked before about the Averys doing things that could unite your enemies against you; but that goes both ways and they can do the same to you and all true purebloods. You should take what's happened to the Wizarding World under their control personally. It should be an affront to all purebloods! Regaining your family's heritage and rightful place will not be easy, Scorpius. It will need to be personal for you to get through the tough times that will lead to your rise to greatness."

"I doubt that I can stay mad that long," Scorpius joked; and Thomas laughed again.

"You know that I don't mean that kind of mad. If you don't hate your enemies and what they stand for; then what would be the point of going to war with them to change things? You'll also never gather an army without a just and worthy cause for them to believe in."

"I doubt they'd follow me to war because Rose Weasley took my wand and I'm mad about it either – especially since she did give it back," Scorpius told him.

"No, but they might go to war with you because she's usurped power that should never have been hers because she should have never been born in the first place," Thomas countered. "Merlin only knows how much magical power is siphoned from purebloods by these mudbloods and half-bloods? Imagine all of that power back where it belongs with you and your fellow purebloods! We wouldn't need to hide from Muggles anymore – they'd need to hide from us – or simply serve us!"

"That would be amazing," Scorpius agreed enthusiastically. "If nothing else; they'd give us ample food to feed to the giants, trolls, and dragons."

"Several billion of them at least," Thomas agreed with a nod and encouraging smile. "The world is a big place; so you'll want to keep some of them around to do all of the dirty work."

"Okay," Scorpius said. "This is fun, but can we do a lesson? I don't have much time – and really don't have much time for them between now and when we head home for the summer on Friday."

Thomas was happy to do that with his protégé; they worked until Scorpius needed to be back in his House ahead of curfew; and then Scorpius returned to find Terri Timms waiting for him and interested in a bit of snogging to make sure that they were both very happy when they eventually went to their beds for the night. By then, he was ready for the last four days of school too; but for different reasons than Al had. He wanted to get his Potions exams out of the way and then spend as much of his last two days working with Thomas as he could possibly manage. Thomas insisted that developing his friendships was vital to his future successes, but after weeks of pandering to them; he was going to take some time for himself – and get back to the magical studies that really were important – and absolutely necessary if he was going to reach his lofty goals and achieve all of his dreams!

Studying all day on Monday for their Potions exams wasn't really necessary for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, or most of their usual study group. That wasn't true for the other friends that were asking for help at the last minute, though; so they kept busy all day except for one afternoon swim break through until dinnertime. After that, it was time to relax regardless of what their friends wanted; and they had a quiet group mirror network watching party that included cuddling in pairs and trying not to stress about their last, and one of the toughest exams of the year. For Al, the study time stress from his classmates was worse than the written exam on Tuesday morning; though it was long, detailed, and tiring to get through within the time limit. He knew he'd aced it, though; and was good with not even talking about it at lunchtime so that he could wind down again and get ready for the practical exam. They were assigned two Potions to make within the double-class time limit, and the students that didn't understand that knowing how to get organized and started was part of the test were in for a tough afternoon. There was only one way to get both of the potions done on time; and some students ended up with a disaster for that half of the exam right from the start – and before most of them even realized they had a problem.

He could feel bad for those students, but Professor Perks hadn't been trying to trick them; and it only took a bit of thought to realise that the prep time for one potion was longer while the other one needed to cook in the cauldron from the start and have the ingredients added more slowly over time. Al and Rose didn't cheat to help any of their classmates or friends, but Al didn't miss noticing that several friends did look at what they were starting to do at first and the took their cues from that to get going on the right foot. While getting started the right way was important, so was keeping organized; and following the potion instructions carefully. That was easy-enough for Al because it was open-book; but his memory allowed him to avoid all of the reading to keep track of everything. There was a small amount of extra time built in for the exam, so Al was first to finish both potions; clean up; and hand them in to Professor Perks before he left the dungeon and went to wait in the hallway for Rose, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends.

Gwendolyn was taking the exam in the neighboring classroom to the one Al was in with the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students. She was the second student out of her exam, but Scorpius was first; and was smirking as if he'd won some huge prize – right up until he saw Al leaning against the wall and using his mirror to surf the wireless web. Then his expression turned angry – and that had Gwendolyn grinning at him as she stepped out into the hallway too. She went over to Al and had a happy hug and kiss for him while Scorpius strode away without even nodding at Al; but he would have certainly heard Gwendolyn's laugh after she let go of Al and they watched him leave.

"Serves him right," she told Al quietly. "I had my potions bottled first, but had lots of time to spare; so I took my time packing up and making sure my supplies were ready for the trip home. He rushed his clean-up just so that he could be first to drop off his potions with our exam monitor. It amazes me how childish some teens can be, but maybe I'm not immune; since I hope just a little that his potions are a shoddy as his clean-up was in there – and it was fun seeing his reaction to you being done first just now too."

Al laughed and hugged her again. "I can sure relate to that lately – with James. From what Lily's been saying, though, I should likely start hoping that our Professors will pass him – and Ollie – regardless of how poorly they've done on their exams."

"Let's not even joke about that," Gwendolyn suggested. "That'd make the rest of our years here a horror if they were in the same classes with us every day."

"Okay, and it would be," Al agreed. "Are you happy with your potions?"

"Two of the best-ever for me so far; so I should be good for another 'O' in Potions for sure."

"Yeah for us!" Al cheered. "I'm pretty sure that all of our Gryffindor and Hufflepuff study group friends are going to be okay for the exam; but a few others started out wrong; and that isn't going to end well for them."

"Well, they can get the full fifty percent for one correct potion; and more marks for however far they get on the other one," Gwendolyn pointed out. You've no shot at an 'Outstanding' anymore; but an 'E' is still possible."

"I suppose. We'll really only have time to get cleaned up and ready for dinner once we do the exam re-cap; but would you like to go outside for a celebration walk by the lake and horseback ride after dinner?"

"That'd be brilliant," Gwendolyn agreed enthusiastically. "Some you and me time after that would be great too; though we'll have to see what everyone else wants to do in case there's going to be a party or something."

By then, other students were coming out of both classrooms; and Rose, Shane, Bristol, Toni, and Michael were among those next groups of teens. Talking about the potions wouldn't change the exam results for any of them, but that did help some of their friends to feel better after thinking they'd completely bombed that half of their exam. Al and Gwendolyn were at the center of that; though mostly only because everyone had gatherd around them. They waited for all of their friends, which meant waiting until about five minutes after the exam time limit expired; helped those last friends because they needed the hugs and cheering up the most; and then they split up for their respective dorms because making potions could be rather fragrant; and they all either wanted to get cleaned up or take full showers and get changed before dinner.

The mood in the Great Hall was fairly upbeat; though there were also some unhappy teens still getting over bad exam experiences. They were in the minority, though; and most of the students just wanted to forget about their exams and have some fun for the last two days leading up to the end-of-year feast and awards night. Al and Gwendolyn were ready to celebrate, so they had fun with their friends at dinner; and then happily headed off on their own after they'd eaten to go for their walk and horseback ride. Since they'd been among the first teens to leave the Great Hall, the walk by the lake was fairly quiet, and then, because the lake was the most-popular destination for their fellow students; they didn't have anyone around when Al changed into his black stallion form and they trotted off for a long ride around the rest of the school grounds. They were passing between the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's cabin when Victor, Rupert, and the same eight Slytherin buddies that had attacked Al in their study classroom jumped out of their hiding spots and attacked.

"Protego!" Gwendolyn shouted as Al skidded to a stop; she held on for dear life until he did; and then she jumped off of his back while her shield blazed to life around them – and then pulsed a deep, scarlet red when the first curses and hexes crashed into it a moment later.

She noticed rocks and deadwood flying into the air to block other curses; and her shield protected them from the blasted bits of stone and wood that were destroyed by those spells. Al shimmered into his human form, and though she couldn't see it; she was certain that there would be emerald fire in his eyes as he raised his wand and joined in on the defense. Dropping the larger shield that had served its purpose, Gwendolyn began dueling as a team with Al; though they were only on defense as their ten opponents took their attack to a ferocious level. Two of the Slytherins were hit by rebounding spells from Al's special little shields that he was getting so good at using that they were as good as a counter-attack; and a third was hit by a rebound from one of Gwendolyn's shields. That had been one she'd used to protect Al while he'd been busy; and she caught the flash of a grin on his face in response.

"Hey now! What's going on here?"

That question was bellowed; and had obviously come from Hagrid – his voice unmistakeable to Al and Gwendolyn.

They couldn't look in that direction and away from their attackers for even a moment, so Al was ready when Victor Avery sent a cutting curse toward Hagrid instead of at him or Gwendolyn; and he had a shield up to deflect it before it was half-way to where Hagrid was striding toward them – with Neville half-running to keep up with him. Neville had a shield up at nearly the same time, but it was closer to him; and Al's shield took care of the attack. A moment later, Victor's wand was shooting through the air to Neville; and the older Avery brother found himself caught in a body-bind.

"Put your wands away right now!" Neville ordered.

Three of the Slytherin boys obeyed; but the others, including Rupert Avery and G-Air Mulciber pretended not to hear him and continued to try and blast Al and Gwendolyn. They were well and truly caught, so Al guessed that they figured they had nothing to lose at that point, but they also didn't seem to notice that there were other Professors and students running toward them; and the fight was over. Tempted as he was to continue the duel, Neville had ordered all of them to put their wands away; so he instead simply put up his dome shield around himself and Gwendolyn; and reached out for her hand to hold it while they waited for the cavalry to arrive.

"Would you like to do a bit of snogging while we wait?" Gwendolyn teased while putting her wand away; and Al laughed.

"Not if it means having a pile of pink hippogriff dung dropped over us first. Thank-you for saving us from that first round of curses and hexes. The warning bells came a bit late for me this time."

"It wasn't too late," she disagreed. "I felt you tense up; and that was enough warning for me to get my wand out. You have to give those guys credit for a good plan this time – if not for anything else. The spells are getting nastier every time too." She nodded toward the Slytherins. "I'd say that you can drop your shield now. Most of them have been disarmed."

"Good. Now we can get back to our ride again."

Gwendolyn laughed; and then shared a hug and kiss with him that earned some whistles and laughs despite being short and sweet instead of something closer to snogging. She laughed again and took his hand. "We're going to get a reputation for that if we're not careful."

"Probably," Al agreed with a nod. "I'll take that over ending up in the hospital wing every time instead."

"Me too," she assured him.

They were walking toward the large group gathering around the ten Slytherins. They stepped up in front of Hagrid and Neville in time to watch Victor being released from his body-bind – and then start shouting at Neville.

"What'd you do that for? You could've gotten me killed!" he shouted. "Potty and his trainer here attacked..."

"Stop that!" Neville said even more loudly. "Professor Hagrid and I saw what happened; so don't waste our time with a bunch of lies. You jumped out from those hiding places,' he continued; pointing out exactly where they'd been; "and all ten of you attacked them – while Mr. Potter here was in Animagus form; and Ms. McCormack was apparently out for another horseback ride." He turned to her next; and smiled.

"Well done on defending both of you,' he told her. "One hundred points for Ravenclaw."

Victor gaped at him. "One hundred points? That's ridiculous!"

"What's ridiculous is ten Wizards attacking one Witch. Her defense wasn't ridiculous – it was remarkable against the lot of you on her own until Mr. Potter could return to his human form and aid her."

"Whatever," Victor snarled. "Return our wands and we'll be on our way."

Neville laughed. "Your wands will be returned to you – after we've been to see the Headmistress," he advised them. "Why bother? We're done school; and will be heading home on Friday. Don't waste our time." He jerked a thumb at Al and Gwendolyn and sneered atthem. "They're unharmed; so no harm done as far as I'm concerned."

"Professor McGonagall is sure to see things differently," Neville advised him. "The school year is not quite done yet; and I suspect that you, your brother, and friends are going to find out that our Headmistress will give you reason to think twice before you try something like this again – even right at the end of the school year."

"We'll just see about that," Victor told him. "Our families have just about had enough of most of the Professors around here; and think it's past-time for McGonagall to just be gone."

"That's quite enough of that," Hagrid told him as he placed his huge hand on Victor's shoulder. Victor tried to jerk away; but couldn't budge. "There'll be no more disrespecting our Headmistress around me, young man."

"Get your hand off of me; you half-breed freak!" Victor yelled. "I'll have you fired!"

Hagrid rumbled out a laugh. "As if I haven't heard that one before – and I'm still here. Would you like me to come along, Professor Longbottom?"

"No, I can handle this on my own." He looked at Al and Gwendolyn again. "You won't need to come with us too; but don't wander off too far in case Professor McGonagall decides that she wants to speak with you too – not that I think that's very likely."

"Molly can always call my mirror and reach me anywhere," Al told him; and Neville nodded.

"Very well." He turned back to the Averys and the rest of their group. "Come with me,' he ordered. "We will all stop at the hospital wing along the way to have those of you with injuries checked out; and then go on to the Headmistress' office."

"Where we'll be slapped on the wrists and told to be good little boys and sent on our way," Victor spat. "What a waste of time."

The gathering of teens began breaking up then, and while Hagrid stayed behind; Neville had two other Professors and several students go along with him toward the castle. After watching them leave, Hagrid turned to face Gwendolyn and Al again; and he smiled at them warmly.

"Would you like to come to the cabin for drinks and rock cakes?" he offered. "You must be thirsty after a fight like that!"

Al and Gwendolyn both laughed; and Al answered his question. "We can't right now, since I've promised Gwendolyn a horseback ride to celebrate finishing our exams today; but we do want to come for a visit tomorrow or Thursday before we head home. When are you available to do that?"

"You'll want to have fun with your friends most of the time," hagrid told them. "I'll be around the cabin marking exams both mornings after my chores until lunchtime. Just stop by when you can – and you're welcome to bring Rose and some of your other friends around too. I baked up a fresh batch of rock cakes on the weekend; and have more than enough for all of my end-of-year visitors."

"Sounds great, Professor Hagrid," Al told him. "Thanks for coming to help us so quickly too."

"It ought to be that lot thanking us for that," Hagrid said with a laugh. "From what I saw, they'd have all needed a visit to the hospital wing if we hadn't put a stop to it."

Al and Gwendolyn agreed with him on that, but didn't say so. They talked with Hagrid for a few more minutes, and then he watched them with interest as Al changed back into his stallion; Gwendolyn swung smoothly up onto his back; and they went on with their ride. That felt a bit weird after fighting a duel, but when Al sped up into a gallop; they were soon just enjoying the play time again. They ended up doing a second lap around the school; had some extra fun as they raced along the lake at the end of the first loop and thundered past all of the other teens that were hanging out and playing in or near the lake. That had been as much fun for the other teens – including when Gwendolyn caught a Fanged Frisbee that had been tossed at her; and then thrown it back to the group of boys that had tried to hit the fast-moving target. After the second loop; Al carried Gwendolyn to the main entrance; she hopped off; and he changed back in time to be on the receiving end of an enthusiastic hug and kiss.

"That was so brilliant!" she told him. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome – and it's just as much fun for me. Where to next?"

Gwendolyn laughed and nodded toward the lake. "Nowhere. Some of our friends are coming to find us – and we don't need two guesses to know why."

Rose and Shane led the way with most of their study group; and they were all smiling as they caught up with Al and Gwendolyn. It was question and answer time after that for a while; and then the decision was made to go for an evening swim before splitting up to have some alone time. That's why they didn't notice the changes in the standings for the House Cup until they did eventually go into the entrance hall; and Rose was the first to notice and stop in her tracks to stare up at the four giant hourglasses.

"Merlin!" she gasped. "Did you guys forget to tell us something? The House Cup race was a lot closer than that for the three Houses still in the running when I looked at it on the way out of the Great Hall after dinner."

"I guess we forgot to mention that Professor Longbottom awarded Gwendolyn one hundred points for saving me from that ambush," Al said mildly; grinning at his amazing girlfriend. "Professor McGonagall must've taken points away from Slytherin, though; because that didn't happen while we were around."

"She must've taken a lot of points away," Rose said; sounding a bit breathless. "Congratulations, Gwendolyn and the rest of our fellow Ravenclaws. That might just be the end of the race this year – unless Hufflepuff or Slytherin completely clean up with the academic awards this year."

Tory laughed at that. "That won't happen with the second-years," she predicted. "Hufflepuff is used to following you, Al, and Gwendolyn in all of our classes."

"And just happy to have you drag us closer to the top than we'd be without you," Madison added. "I'll wager that the Averys are not the most popular Slytherins in their House tonight, though; since the race had been pretty close just a few hours ago. Any guesses on how much they lost?"

"More than two hundred for sure," Rose told her. "There were ten guys – maybe they lost twenty-five each."

"That doesn't sound bad until you get the total," Shane suggested; "but I think you might be right. That is so stupid – especially so close to the end of the year."

"Well, at least they aren't disqualified," Al offered. "It doesn't feel any better to find out that Gryffindor doesn't have the monopoly on getting into trouble, and while this looks pretty good for Gwendolyn right now; we probably shouldn't go and thank Victor and Rupert for helping Ravenclaw so much. They won't likely find it at all amusing if we did that – and I've had enough fun with dueling this year."

"You've had enough fun this year to last a century for most of us," Ray joked. "Roy and I have some alone time to get to before curfew, though, so if we're done with the House Cup chat; we're out of here."

Al and Gwendolyn were good with that suggestion too; so it wasn't long before they'd split up into couples and gone their separate ways. Al and Gwendolyn picked one of their alternate classrooms; set up a sofa; and got their guitars out to have a bit of music fun ahead of the snogging. The mirror chats home only ended up being one chat because Al's family wasn't home. They'd been invited to the Wood's home for dinner and an evening together after Ginny had hosted all nine exam days, and while Al talked to Lily for a few moments; they didn't want to talk while she was busy playing with Kathryn – and around James and Ollie. Gwenog, Kirley, and Jonah were happy to talk about their exam and dueling adventures; and Gwenog was particularly proud to find out that it was Gwendolyn saving Al this time – and getting the praise for her abilities from their Professors.

They still made sure that they had time for the snogging; and that was a brilliant end to a fairly amazing day. It wasn't until Al got back to his dorm room, changed, and into bed that he realized that he was exhausted too; and he didn't even end up staying awake long-enough to talk with Ray or any of the other guys – or to have a late mirror chat with Lily after she got home again. He was back to normal again by morning; awake at his usual time; and ready for the two days of playtime with his friends that were the now-annual reward for surviving the school year and final exams. Rose was ready to go early for their walk and talk; they had fun at breakfast; and then their morning entertainment began with a Quidditch scrimmage that they had more than enough players willing to join them for – along with what ended up being nearly one hundred spectators by the time their game wrapped up with Madison winning three out of five snitch catches over Stephanie – and needing the last catch to break the tie.

After that, it was time for their visit to see Hagrid; they went for a swim in the lake; and then they headed into the castle again to have lunch. The entire afternoon was spent outdoors, and while the weather wasn't exactly hot and sunny, it wasn't raining either; so playing games, doing a lot of swimming, and just hanging out with family and friends made for a near-perfect day. The after-dinner entertainment included more outdoor time; some Animorphmagus fun with Al switching between some falconing and horseback riding with Gwendolyn; and a match of Fanged Frisbee with Sabre, the amazing, Frisbee-playing Samoyed. When it started to get dark, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of the couples in their study group headed for their usual classroom to wind down with some cuddle time while watching their favorite mirror network shows until shortly before curfew. Most of the goodnight hugs and kisses were taken care of there too; and then they split up to head back to their own dorm rooms for the rest of the night.

Al's day wasn't quite done then, but he did get ready for bed before calling Lily for the mirror chat he hadn't stayed awake for on Tuesday night. She had a lot to talk about, and wanted to hear every detail about his last exams; the duel with the Slytherins; and all of their playtime fun after that. They ended up talking for more than an hour; she also had him point his mirror around the room so she could say goodbye to the roommates that were there and that she likely wouldn't hear anything about or see until September. That had all been fun, and so had the guy talk time after Lily had ended the call; so it was fairly late compared to normal for Al by the time he went to sleep. Since he really wouldn't see most of the other guys all summer, and they'd all be busy after the feast on Thursday night, that extra time together was something that helped him to get ready for the transition back to being home and having his own room; so it was worth getting a bit less sleep over.

On Thursday morning, Al found out that Gwendolyn, Rose, and some of their friends had cooked up a little Quidditch surprise that he hadn't been let in on; and sprung it on him before breakfast – probably because that allowed the news to get out across the school grapevine at the speed of gossip. They hadn't exactly set up a dream Quidditch match-up between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; but they came close. Rose, as Captain, had recruited Brock McClaggen, Fred, Ray, Tory, and Madison. Al was drafted, since the surprise was for him; and Gwendolyn had her Quidditch Cup Champions team with her when they all met up and headed for the practice pitch after breakfast. The bleachers around the pitch didn't have room for all of the spectators, but they also weren't very high; so watching the match while sitting other places anywhere within sight of the goals was just as good for catching all of the action.

They didn't officially have a referee for the match, but Mr. Peakes wandered over; offered to get the game started for them; and then he stayed to watch the action with his wife and a few of the other Professors. An announcer wasn't set up either, but with a bit of magic; Teresa Thomas began adding that to the entertainment for everyone after hearing about it and coming to watch the game with some of her friends – though she didn't start doing that until about a half-hour into the match. When they were ready to go, Al and Gwendolyn stepped up to start the match and face each other for the opening chase for the quaffle; and earned a roar of laughter for the good luck hug and kiss while Mr. Peakes grinned at them. He threw the quaffle high into the air when they were ready; and the race was on!

Al won that race; passed the quaffle to Tory; and then laughed when Gwendolyn stuck her tongue out at him as she bumped him as part of her defensive play. After that, their duel was on in earnest; and the fourteen players had a blast as they put on an amazing show for all of the spectators – which likely included three-quarters or more of the students at Hogwarts as word spread that a great Quidditch battle was going on at the practice pitch. With full teams including four really good Beaters; they were playing a 'real' match instead of a best of five snitch catch; so every goal really mattered this time – and Al, Tory, and Ray proved to be a much better trio than Gwendolyn had with Mark and Landon. Rose was better than Ryan too; though that was partly because her Chaser defense was better too – or at least had two-fewer weak links.

"Potter scores again!" Teresa announced as she jumped into the action just in time to announce that goal; and the 'again' comment was because it had been his second goal in a row since she'd arrived with her friends and begun to get ready to provide the play-by-play to the spectators. "I've been told that the score was seventy-to-thirty; so that's eighty-to-thirty now!"

Her first goal call earned a round of cheers that was lounder than the cheers that had greeted Al's goal; and his smile was brilliant as he flew behind the Ravenclaw goals; dodged a bludger; and then took a hard turn and went vertical to intercept a pass that Landon had tried to make to Mark. Ray and Tory were already retreating because Landon and Mark had been trying to get the quaffle up to Gwendolyn; so he didn't have any help when he continued up and over Mark; dove toward the pitch on the other side of the goals; and fired a shot toward the right goal before doing a one-eighty flip and braking hard to keep from hitting the pitch. He couldn't keep from laughing happily when his shot got past Ryan's outstretched hand and then bounced through the goal after hitting the far side of the hoop.

"Make that Ninety," Teresa deadpanned. "Graves grabs the quaflle, and this time he keeps it and heads for the Gryffindor goals..."

The commentary and play-by-play really did make the game more fun – and feel more like a real House match too; but it was having fun with Gwendolyn and his friends that was so brilliant for Al. Gwendolyn loved the battle too – even though her team continued to fall farther behind. After the first hour, Al had his team up by one-seventy to sixty; and they had the one-sixty lead by the end of the second hour. Madison backed off then, and five minutes later; Stephanie ended the game by catching the snitch for what was then a twenty-point loss. She was both booed and cheered for that; but then earned a round of laughs when her Captain high-fived and hugged her before then going on to share a mid-air hug and kiss with Al.

"Congratulations," she told him while pretending to look cross. "It's a good thing that we have the feast tonight; since there wouldn't be any snogging for you anyway."

"I love you," Gwendolyn. "Thanks for setting this up – it was really brilliant!"

"You're welcome – and you'll need to thank Stephanie later; since I'd have been happy to play on – and then might have been really mad if this had been a blow-out."

"I'll do that," Al promised; "but this was just for fun; and you'll be the one getting all of the Quidditch trophies tonight – and deserve every one of them."

"I'll take them too; since this game has me worried about next season."

"If you had the best of every other House up against you next year, I'd agree with you; but we don't even know who we'll have for Captain in Gryffindor in September." He smiled as they were landing and Rose was closing in fast. "I'd pick Rose; but I'm sure that James will have something to say about that."

"As long as we get to play next season; I don't care who gets to be Captain," she assured him. "Great game, Gwendolyn. Let's get packed up and go jump in the lake. Cooling off is definitely next on my fun list after that workout!"

Her suggestion was unanimoously voted for – and not just by the players; so there were a lot of teens swimming in the lake by the time they got there – especially since they took their gear back to their dorm rooms first and grabbed swimsuits and towels before heading to the lake. Al and Gwendolyn ended up staying in or near the lake until it was time to go for lunch. They then spent the afternoon wandering around and visiting with their cousins and quite a few friends before it was time for the girls to head inside again and start getting ready for the end-of-year feast. While Gwendolyn was busy with that, Al went back to his dorm room and pretty much finished packing everything except what he needed for the rest of the day and in the morning so he wouldn't need to do the packing later. He grabbed a shower after that; got dressed for the feast; and then went to the common room to hang out with the other guys there until it was time to head for the Great Hall.

The magical ceiling was decorated in the Gryffindor colors as reigning House Cup winners; but everyone knew that would change tonight because of their disqualification. After what had happened on Tuesday evening, Ravenclaw's chances of winning the House Cup were very high, but not certain; since there were still all of the academic and Quidditch awards to be handed out along with the points for those awards; so only the Professors knew which House would win – and possibly not even all of them would have heard ahead of the feast. Al and Rose were there before Gwendolyn, so she stopped by their table to hug and kiss him; and exchange best-luck wishes before she moved on to the Ravenclaw table. The room was still filling up with students for another fifteen minutes, so that gave Al, Rose, and their friends lots of time to talk – and speculate about what would happen during the awards presentations. When Professor McGonagall stepped up to the lecturn that had been set up for the Professors that would have notes with them for announcing their awards; the noise level in the room quickly dropped as she got the attention of nearly every student in the room.

"Welcome to the end-of-term feast!" she declared. "We have had an interesting and challenging year here at Hogwarts; and on behalf of all of the teachers and staff; I would like to congratulate all of you for facing those challenges and achieving some remarkable successes! While we applaud every student's efforts to do their very best; we will begin the awards presentations with the individual academic awards. The top student in each year for each subject will win an award and ten points for their House. The runner-up for each of these categories will also receive an award and five points for their House. Finally, the top overall student for each year will be awarded fifty points; with the runner-up earning twenty-five. Your Professor will begin by announcing the subject awards. Each student should stand when their name is called; and your award will appear on the table in front of you. Please hold your applause until each Professor has announced all of the award winners for their classes. Professors Sinistra and Waffling; would you be so kind as to begin the presentations for your Astronomy classes?"

While Al's memory showed him that Professor McGonagall's little speech wasn't changed much from a year ago; it did make him smile when she'd chosen her words to describe their school year that were not the best-ever kind of compliments from his first year. Starting the presentations with Astronomy instead of Charms was likely just a rotation of some kind among the seven core subjects; and he liked the idea of having the Professors do those presentations together instead of having them take turns. When their Astronomy Professors named him as top second-year student and the little trophy appeared in front of him; none of his classmates were surprised; but there were some jokes directed his way when Gwendolyn was named runner up for their favorite joint class. There was a buzz at more than one table when the Charms awards were done next; and Al and Gwendolyn were one and two for that subject too.

He knew that not every second-year student was having fun with the awards when he was three-for-three with the top DADA award – even if nobody was surprised; but he still had fun when Rose was named runner-up and she then playfully punched him while their friends laughed. When Rose was named top student for Herbology, Al was actually relieved – and then a little surprised when he was named runner-up; since he'd expected that there would be at least a handful of their friends close to him as next-best to Rose.

"You don't get marks taken off just because it isn't your favorite subject," Rose leaned in and told him with a grin. "Congratulations."

"You too," Al said after laughing quietly so that they wouldn't interrupt the ongoing presentations from Professor Longbottom and Professor Sprout as they'd already moved on to the third-year awards.

The second-year awards were of the most interest for Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn – even if that stopped being true for a lot of their classmates as the trend continued; but Al enjoyed watching as their cousins and some other friends won awards for the other years. Molly was closest to Al for the number of awards, and Louis did well too; but outside of second, fourth, and sixth years; the awards were more evenly distributed among the four Houses. That made it a bit tougher to try and keep track of the points for each House, but Al could do that; and knew that Ravenclaw was still in the lead for the House Cup as they moved on to the History awards.

He and Rose were one-and-two for History again; and stayed in that order for the Potions and Transfiguration awards. Al was nearly as embarrassed as he was proud about winning six of seven top awards and being runner-up in the one he didn't win; so he was glad when there was a break while the awards were done for the optional classes that were awarded to the third through seventh-year students. Molly and Louis won some of those awards too; and Molly tied Al with seven awards – four wins; and three Runner-up awards. Louis ended up just one short of tying them with three wins and three runner-up awards. While Al and Rose were back in the spotlight for the overall best student awards when he won and she was runner-up; nobody was surprised by that after they'd collected all of the other awards except for the two that Gwendolyn had earned. Louis and Molly were top students for their respective years too, so along with the individual awards that Dominique and Fred had won; the Weasley-Potter clan had another very good year – though James' name had been conspicuously absent.

"Well, we won't be bugging any of our friends for the Quidditch awards too," Rose joked to Al after they'd sat down and Mr. Peakes was being called out to announce those awards next.

"If you're worried about that; maybe we should kick you off of the academic team next year and just let you play Quidditch," Bristol suggested; earning a round of laughs that was loud-enough to have Mr. Peakes glancing their way.

"That's funny; but some of us would be dropping back down to mediocre students if they weren't around to study with," Ray told her. "Don't mess with what's working for us."

His friends continued to talk quietly, but since the Junior team individual awards were first; Al was very interested to see his Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends get a chance to win some awards. Since most of the awards were based on statistics that they already knew, there weren't very many surprises; but that didn't keep Al from cheering for Gwendolyn when she earned the awards for top Chaser and top Scorer. Stephanie Boot was the runner-up for top scorer; and Tory Summers was Gwendolyn's Chaser runner-up. Stephanie was also the top Seeker with her three wins; and Madison was runner-up with two catches. Al felt a bit guilty over his reaction to James being shut-out from the Quidditch awards too, but considering how James had acted toward both Witches; he didn't deserve any awards. Winning all three of their games helped Ryan to win the top Keeper award for Ravenclaw, with Leanne Jordan earning the runner-up spot for Hufflepuff; and their team wrapped up all of the top individual awards when Landon and Mark were first and second for Chaser assists; and Seth and Brandon were the top Beaters.

The one surprise for the junior team awards came when Fred, Brock, and Orlando were declared the runner-up winners for Beater – a very small consolation that they were all surprised with – and that earned them some extra applause from their fellow students. Ravenclaw obviously won the award for top Junior team too; with Hufflepuff at runner-up for that award too. After that, it was time for the Senior team awards, and while Ravenclaw had won all three of their matches too; the Individual awards weren't quite as one-sided. Belinda was named Top Keeper over Peter Boot; and Calvin and Tina Johnson were top Beaters for Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw was left out in the cold for Beaters when Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins were the runner-up duo to Tina and Calvin; though that wasn't really a surprise when that was Ravenclaw's biggest weakness this season. Finally, Gryffindor took all of the awards for Chaser and assists; with Dominique just edging Olivia and Lucy for top Chaser while they tied for runner-up; while Olivia and Lucy were one-and-two for assists – with Dominique just one assist short of tying Lucy.

Ravenclaw team Captain Jared Davies was okay with trading the individual awards for both the Senior team title and Quidditch Cup in his NEWT year; and he deserved the credit for that – a fact that was obvious to all of the players when the Seeker and top scorer awards went to Pauline Boot. With the rest of the awards showing that they'd been out-played at nearly every other position, Jared's decision to give up his own job at Seeker in favor of Pauline had been the difference – as had her three catches and four hundred and fifty points. Alex Jordan was runner-up for both of Pauline's awards, and while Al hadn't thought about it until then; it had turned out to be a pretty good Quidditch day for the Boot and Jordan families. Alex and Leanne had to settle for runner-up awards at Seeker and Keeper; but Peter could be happy doing that too against Belinda. Pauline and Stephanie had a lot to celebrate as Senior and Junior team Seeker champions – as well as top scorer and runner-up too!

With all of the individual awards presented; the top Senior team award and Quidditch Cup announcements didn't take long – and weren't a surprise. Hufflepuff ended up as runner-up for the Quidditch Cup thanks to the points tie-breaker advantage over Gryffindor; and Gryffindor was runner-up for the Senior teams thanks to their two wins. Once that was finished; it was Professor McGonagall's turn to again stand at the lectern; and the students all quieted to hear her announcement for the House Cup.

"Thank-you, Mr. Peakes; and congratulations to all of our Quidditch players!" she declared. "I know that you are all ready to find out the winners of the House Cup, but before we make that announcement; I have two special awards to present first. Could I please have Mr. Albus Potter and Mr. Jensen Scott join me at the front of the hall, please?"

Al sensed or foresaw what was about to happen, and while he stood and waited for Jensen to reach him from farther down the Gryffindor table before walking the rest of the way with him to the front of the hall; he already wished that he could avoid what was about to happen. Jensen looked surprised and wondered at being singled out with Al; so that was at least fun for Al – and he was sure that Jensen would love the surprise. Once they were standing next to Professor McGonagall – both of them on her right; they turned to face her instead of their fellow students.

"Many of you might not know that Hogwarts has a particularly special and prestigious award that is only given out to students that have provided a particularly extraordinary service to our school. That can be for many different reasons, and this year; I have the privilege of presenting these awards for special service to the school to Mr. Potter and Mr. Scott to recognize and thank each of them for saving the life of a fellow student this year." She smiled then as she held up a velvet box with a gold shield in it for the students in the hall to see before turning to hold it out to Al.

"Mr. Potter saved the life of Miss Stephanie Boot with his quick action – and did so despite being seriously-injured himself while caring for and protecting her. Thank-you; well-done; and congratulations!" Al accepted his award; shook her hand when it was offered to him; and then took a step back so that he could try and get out of the spotlight while there was a loud round of applause from three of the Houses – not that he was quite able to get off the hook yet.

"Before I move on; some of you will find it interesting that Mr. Potter is one-half of the only father-and-son pair to both win this award," Professor McGonagall advised her students – "and they both did that in their second year at Hogwarts!" That bit of news created a buzz in the room; and gave her time to hold up the second gold shield before turing to Jensen Scott next. He was grinning by then; and looked thrilled to be in the spotlight while Al continued to try and edge out of it.

"Mr. Scott, we all have you to thank for returning the favor that Mr. Potter was owed for his efforts two months ago when you provided the triage and emergency care that Madam Pomfrey assures me helped to save his life three weeks ago while also dealing with an extremely difficult and dangerous situation. Thank-you; well-done; and congratulations to you as well!"

Jensen accepted his award; shook hands with their Headmistress and with Al too; and then basked in the applause for another few moments before he and Al were waved back to their seats and were escorted there by the ongoing applause and some pats on the back or arms as they passed other students until they returned to their seats. Rose had an enthusiastic hug for Al; and his gold shield award was passed around among their Gryffindor friends; but their attention was soon for Professor McGonagall again as she was ready to award the House Cup next – the last award before the feast would begin.

"Now that all of the academic and Quidditch awards have been presented, the points earned from all of them have been added to each House; and we can announce the winner of the House Cup!" Pausing for a moment, she then turned toward the Gryffindor table. "I have already announced that Gryffindor is disqualified from the House Cup competition this year, and it saddens me to do that when so many of you have had such an exceptional year; but in fourth-place with zero points – Gryffindor." There was no exclamation on that announcement and no applause from anyone in the room; but her words did soften the blow for some of the Gryffindor students. Professor McGonagall didn't seem to want to dwell on it either; so she moved on to look next at the Slytherin students. "In third place, with nine hundred and forty points – Slytherin!"

She paused for the quiet round of polite applause; but Al could see that there weren't any Slytherins looking happy about the news – and quite a few of them looked furious. The Averys were among that group of angry students, and while he didn't show it as obviously; Al sensed that Scorpius was just as angry – though at least some of that seemed to be directed at his fellow Slytherin. That was just one observation among many for Al; but then he returned his attention to Professor McGonagall when he sensed that she was ready to continue her announcement.

"Our top two Houses earned fifteen-hundred and fifty points and eleven-hundred and sixty points respectively – an improvement over last year for both Houses – and reason for all of you to be proud of your accomplishments! Let's all offer our heartfelt congratulations to our new House Cup Champions, Ravenclaw; and this year's runner-up – Hufflepuff! Well done, all!"

Al stood up and cheered as the Ravenclaw blue and gold blazon with their golden eagle rolled out across the magical ceiling. He was first to stand, and not nearly everyone in the other Houses did; but Rose and most of his second-year friends did – as did Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that were happy for their Ravenclaw friends. He'd especially loved sharing that moment with Gwendolyn even without being able to share any hugs and kisses yet – just as she'd been thrilled for him a year ago when Gryffindor had won the House and Quidditch Cups. Professor McGonagall gave them nearly a full minute to do that; and then regained order and quickly began the feast.

"How big does that three-hundred and fifty point swing look now for Ravenclaw and Slytherin from that ambush on Tuesday night?" Rose whispered to Al as the tables were suddenly loaded with bowls and platters of mouth-watering, favorite foods and they began to fill their plates.

"Ravenclaw would've still won without the hundred points for Gwendolyn," Al answered quietly; but it meant ending up in third again this year for Slytherin instead of second. They'd have just edged Hufflepuff if they hadn't lost all of those points."

"Well, at least they have the consolation prize of being ahead of us," she joked; and Al laughed.

"True; but I'm not sensing many happy thoughts right now from our favorite Slytherins."

Rose grinned at him. "When it comes to you for that; I can relate to them. "Thanks so much for slacking off in Herbology so you weren't eight-for-eight on the awards tonight."

"It's likely my fault that you didn't win more of the awards anyway," Al suggested; and Rose smiled and shook her head.

"Don't go there," she warned. "It is not your fault that I was study group leader while you were in the hospital wing – and Herbology was one of those first three exams; so it obviously didn't make a difference for that one."

"Well, at least you have the consolation prize of beating Scorrpius Malfoy for everything," he offered; intentionally using most of her own comment about Slytherin and the House Cup results. She laughed and took a moment to hug him.

"Dad will love that line," she assured him; "but he might also wish that he'd told me to beat you at everything too."

"I'd rather have us both keep winning – especially if we can do that with Quidditch next season too."

"Is there an if about that when Lily will be here?" Rose teased.

"I'd say there are a few of them," Al answered seriously. "Let's not talk about that tonight, though, and just try to enjoy the rest of the evening – and all of this food."

Rose was good with that plan; they had a blast celebrating the end of the school year with their Gryffindor friends; and enjoyed too much of the amazing dinner and the follow-up, decadent desserts.

Scorpius left the Great Hall early; making an excuse for Terri and the rest of his friends; and had another excuse planned for when he met up with them in their common room later to explain why he didn't return to the Great Hall. He headed for the Room of Requirements; called for his special room; and then he soon had Thomas' portrait on the table before dropping into the armchair and sighing.

"I don't know if I can put up with five more years of this place, Thomas," he said dejectedly. "Are you absolutely sure that it wouldn't be better for us to just run off; and you could teach me all of my magic from now on?"

"That would be a bit tough with the Ministry of Magic tracing you until you're seventeen," Thomas pointed out. "I take it that the awards ceremony and feast didn't go well."

Scorpius laughed derisively. "That's an understatement. The only bright spot as far as I'm concerned is that Gryffindor was disqualified from the House Cup and didn't win the Quidditch Cup either. The rest of the night's been a disaster for Slytherin. We should have all stood and given the Averys and their idiot friends a standing ovation for losing us the House Cup with that stupid attack on Albus and Gwendolyn. The two-hundred and fifty points they lost right then was likely only part of the points we didn't win; since I'm sure it made a difference for other academic and Quidditch awards too."

"You didn't win any awards?" Thomas guessed; and Scorpius' laugh was bitter this time.

"No – and Slytherin only won a few awards in total – with our Head Girl taking home most of them. Albus, Rose, and Gwendolyn won all of the second-year academic awards – all of them! If they'd been allowed to play Quidditch, Al and Rose might have won a bunch more awards with that too; but Gwendolyn still won top Chaser and scorer again – along with the House Cup, Quidditch Cup and the Junior team title."

"Ravenclaw won the House Cup?"

"Yeah – thanks to the Averys. Hufflepuff was runner-up; and we would have been ahead of them just with that two-hundred and fifty points they lost for us." He blew out an exasperated sigh. "I'd say the Averys well and truly botched things for our House this year – especially when you add in all of the other points they've lost for us during the rest of the year."

"I'm sorry that your second-year hasn't ended with any accolades, but there is hope for next year, and while you can't practice your lessons, we can still study together – and talk about plans to help you out with making that better year happen."

"Can you help me to win an award for special service to the school?" Scorpius asked. "The Animorphpotty was presented with a shiny gold shield for saving Stephanie Boot – and he and his father are apparently the only father-son duo to ever both earn that honor – and they both did it in their second year. Do you know what Harry Potter did to earn his award? None of the Slytherins around me knew, and if my parents do know; they've never told me about it."

Thomas' expression was serious as he answered. "Harry won his award by saving his future wife – from dying at my hand," he explained."

"Well, in that case; maybe Potty's due for a girlfriend change soon," Scorpius joked; and then laughed. "Then again, maybe he should hope not; since Jensen Scott was given one of those gold shields for keeping Potty alive after his fight with James three weeks ago."

Thomas laughed. "True enough," he agreed, "though if you're serious about wanting one of those awards too; you might was to be careful when choosing the Witch you want to save – if you truly believe there is a correlation between the award and future spouses."

"If there is; then I don't want the stupid award. We can talk all we want after we're home for the summer," Scorpius said with a wave of his hand. "Let's do one last lesson now before we can't anymore until September. That's at least a better use of my time compared to listening to all of the whining and complaining that's sure to be going on in my common room after the feast ends."

"It hasn't ended?" Thomas asked in surprise.

"No, but I did put a couple of desserts in my book bag if you're hungry," he joked; earning a laugh from his painted mentor.

"Thanks, but I'll have to settle for having you feed me information – not food."

The information flow went the other way after that as he taught Scorpius two new lessons, and while the childish things that Scorpius often wasted his time on – like petty awards and Quidditch – could be annoying; he did enjoy teaching him the Dark Arts; and watching him develop his magical skills. If death had taught him anything, it was patience, so he did not worry about those little irritations; and focused on his own goals. That was all that truly mattered, and while he cared nothing for it, if Scorpius achieved his petty or grander dreams along the way; that was okay with him – as long as that didn't get in the way of his own plans!

When he'd finished having one serving of dessert, and while most of the other Gryffindor guys continued to have multiple helpings of the special treats; Al went to meet up with Gwendolyn for some co-congratulatory hugs and kisses. He'd brought his undetectable expansion case for his mirror, so he hadn't needed Rose to help him with his trophies and certificate; but he did get teased about them some more as he packed up and headed for the Ravenclaw table. The hugs and kisses had been great; earned more teasing and laughs; and then Al helped Gwendolyn with carrying her trophies, medals, and certificates when they were ready to leave and go for an extended walk on the way back to Ravenclaw tower.

"How's your arm?" Gwendolyn asked him once they were out of the Great Hall and began climbing the stairs to the first floor.

"Rose didn't hit me hard," he answered with a grin. "She's decided that as long as she keeps beating Scorpius at everything; her parents will be happy with her."

"That doesn't bode well for Slytherin's Quidditch team next year."

"Maybe – if we get to play," Al said with a shrug and smile.

"You'll get to play," Gwendolyn assured him. "I don't know what they'll do; but I am still sure you'll at least get a chance to try out for the team – and that means you'll get to play."

"Let's go with that; and not worry about it," Al suggested. "I know that a lot of my fellow Gryffindors are really disappointed tonight; but I thought it was brilliant that you won the House Cup too. I'd have been okay if Hufflepuff had won instead; but Gryffindor and Slytherin definitely didn't deserve it this year."

"Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs do get in trouble now and then too," Gwendolyn reminded him; and Al laughed.

"That laugh wasn't disbelief," he assured her quickly; "but I can't picture any of my favorite Ravenclaws acting anything like James and Ollie – or the Averys and their gang of thugs."

"You should stop there," Gwendolyn told him. "Every Ravenclaw hates it when other students start making jokes about the worst things we do – like losing points for late library books."

"Can we lose points for that?" Al asked half-seriously. "I didn't even know that."

"You wouldn't; but not all of us can memorize what we read the first time and then never need to look it up again."

"I check back in my books a lot," Al protested; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"You do, but I doubt that you really need to do that. Maybe you should check that out next year and find out for sure. How often do you double-check and find out you were wrong?"

"No comment," Al joked; and Gwendolyn squeezed the hand she was holding.

"Okay, moving on again – are we going to see each other very much this weekend? That's the only part of going home that I don't like – the part where we don't see each other every day for the next ten weeks."

"That's number one for me too; but being back at home with James is a close second – and we're nearly out of time before I'll have no choice but to deal with him again."

"He won't be able to use his wand on you," Gwendolyn reminded him, "but if it gets too bad; I'll just get you to come and stay at my house for a while until things settle down again."

"That would work for my top two problems with the summer holidays; but Mum isn't likely going to let me do that – and she's right that James and I need to work something out for at least the next three or four years."

"You think he'd move out once he's seventeen?" Gwendolyn asked and Al nodded.

"Yes – if he can save up and afford to do that. For all I know, James and Ollie have that worked out already – along with their brilliant Quidditch careers as superstar players."

"That plan of theirs isn't going to get any easier over the next few years. James will have to battle Pauline for three more years; will have Stephanie or Jonah after that; and has just as much competition in Hufflepuff and Slytherin every year."

"I don't know if I'd want to try a Seeker duel against Brand Bletchley with the big age difference," Al admitted. "When he hits you; you're going to feel it."

"Pauline knows that first-hand now; but I don't think that James will understand until he's on the other side of a getting beat up on match."

"I don't really want to see that happen; but it might be something he needs too – and before he makes it to the show."

"Does that mean that we should hope to have more matches where the Slytherins beat up on us too?"

Al laughed. "No – let's learn how to avoid every cheap shot and bludger hit so that we never get hurt again. Giving Slytherins the chance to beat up on me when they legitimately can in a match is not my idea of fun."

"Then we'd better work on that a lot this summer; since you can bet that the Harpers will be out to get you next season – if they make the Slytherin team again."

"We'll do that," Al agreed. "Do you have much packing left to get done?"

"No more than this time last year. You?"

"Pretty much finished it. I'll still have the end-of-year chat time with the guys, though; and Lily will want me to check in with her too."

"Don't tell her about all of those awards if James is in the room – espeically that gold shield award. It'll likely send him off the deep end and make her life miserable again."

"If that would be a bad idea; then I really shouldn't tell her about the Quidditch awards. James' junior team record didn't end up being very impressive."

"Three wins, a tie, and five losses," Gwendolyn added with a nod. "You've still got a chance to tie the wins and have less losses – and do that in two seasons." She was grinning at him; and Al stopped to hug her while laughing.

"Do you really want to give me that kind of motivation for next season by suggesting there's no way for me to win our match against your team?"

"No, but the joke was worth it for the laugh and hug. "I can't cheer for you to do that, though – no matter how satisfying it would be to see you throw that kind of thing in James' face next June."

"You're at five wins and a tie in two seasons," Al pointed out. James will still counter with the two Quidditch Cups to your one so far; but then you have two junior titles and he doesn't have any of those." He laughed as he thought about one other stat that James would hate. "He also doesn't have any Seeker or scoring titles yet; and you have four between the top scorer and top Chaser awards."

"That does sort of put a dent into his claims for being the best Quidditch player ever," Gwendolyn said with a bright smile before getting serious again. "That's fun, but let's not go there with James if we can avoid it – or at least not do that before the wedding. The last thing that Teddy and Victoire need is James being even more obnoxious than he's already likely to be."

"I have to wonder if Mum and Dad will even let him go now," Al admitted. "They'd be horrified if he did anything to ruin their big day." When Gwendolyn laughed; Al looked at her quizzically while sensing that she really was amused about something.

"I don't think he'll do anything – even if he might really want to try. This is James we're talking about; and this particular wedding is going to have a lot of Veela Witches attending it – single, teenage Veelas. He's grown up around Veelas; won't have the usual problems that Wizards have; and will likely be very popular as long as he can behave for a half-day or so."

Al laughed at that too. "You're likely right," he agreed. "If Mum and Dad are worried about him; I'll tell them about it and see if that helps."

"If you really want to scare them, suggest that they let James invite Ollie too; since he doesn't have a girlfriend right now anyway."

"They'll think that I've lost my mind; but I don't know if that would work for Ollie. He still gets a bit weird around Victoire and Dominique." That comment had Gwendolyn laughing again; and he joined in after guessing where she'd taken that train of thought.

"Ollie is going to be so messed up next September at tryouts!" she said; still laughing. "If he's too messed up by her; he'd be the worst possible choice for a third Chaser – even if he did have any chance at all of beating Olivia or Lucy at those tryouts."

"He might not be much help as a reserve team Chaser; but I suppose he'd get over the infatuation eventually."

"Probably," Gwendolyn agreed; and then smiled at him. "You, on the other hand, better get over any Veela infatuations you might have at the wedding immediately – if you know what's good for you."

"That will not be a problem for us," Al promised. "I love you, Gwendolyn, and for me; you'll always be the most-beautiful Witch in the world."

"I love you too, Al," she assured him; and then grinned again. "You'll always be the Wizard I love the best."

Al laughed; they stopped for another hug and kiss; and then continued their walk for another twenty minutes or so before saying goodnight near the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. After watching her until she was out of sight on the stairway; Al returned to his House; did a bit of visiting in the common room; and then headed for his dorm room to get ready for bed and have his mirror chat with Lily. She hadn't been alone, but while Harry and Ginny were with her; James was out in the tent again; so telling his parents and sister about the feast and awards was an option. They were all happy for him – and for Gwendolyn and Rose, but once he'd finished his news update; they didn't have much to tell him about for their day. It had been work for Harry, chores and a bit of play time for Ginny and Lily; and James had been trying their patience all day because he'd been bored with nothing to do while most of his friends were having fun at Hogwarts.

Wrapping up that call when Ray and two other guys came into their room; Al talked with Ray while his friend got busy packing his trunk. He did a bit of surfing on the Wireless Web too; but was also ready to just relax and wind down before going to sleep – knowing that he'd be up earlier than the other guys; and ready to get on the way home before any of them too. This year, their imminent start to the summer holiday didn't feel like an ending or beginning at all – just a transition or change of scenery for a while. There had been a lot of good and too much bad, but as Al thought about everything that had happened and dreamed about his not-too-distant future; he felt pretty good about nearly everything. He did still have problems, with James being number one for that while they were home for the summer, but could only hope for the best; be ready for anything; and try his best to have a great holiday regardless of what life might throw his way!


	22. Teddy and Victoire Get Married

Chapter Twenty-Two – Teddy and Victoire Get Married

Dawn did not arrive on Friday morning with a glorious sunrise appropriate for the start of summer holidays; and the sun stayed hidden behind heavy clouds while the students of Hogwarts woke and got ready for the long trip home. Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends were as busy with that, and then having breakfast and getting a carriage ride to Hogsmeade station as the rest of their fellow students, though quite a few of them were on the train early; and avoided the last-minute rush that always seemed to happen with the teens that were least-prepared to leave the castle.

The Hogwarts Express left on time whether they had everyone or not; though it was a rare occasion when students were left behind. Heading home for the summer holidays – or forever for the graduating students – was one of the best trips on the Hogwarts Express. That wasn't universally-true, since not every student was looking forward to going home; but the atmosphere on the train was generally upbeat and happy.

The prospect of ten weeks away from school will do that to most teens!

Al and Gwendolyn didn't end up in a compartment with Rose because Shane wanted to sit with some of his Hufflepuff friends; and she was happy to do that with him. That sometimes felt weird to Al even though it was ridiculous when he and Gwendolyn sometimes did the same thing with her Ravenclaw friends. They'd ended up with a mixed group for the trip with Tory, Ray, Toni, and Michael; but then they'd all ended up doing at least two walking trips along the train to go visiting or just stretch their legs; and then had other visitors to their compartment when there was extra room for that too. They didn't really do anything special, and they had a lot of fun; but they were also really excited to be home – and way-past ready to get off the train – by the time the train slowed down for the approach into London and King's Cross station.

"James didn't come to welcome you home," Gwendolyn teased as they looked out the window and waved to the members of their welcoming committee. "Will you survive the disappointment?"

Al laughed. "I'd survive the disappointment if he missed the train back to Hogwarts on September First. Mum wouldn't have brought him here even if he wanted to come – maybe especially if he wanted to come; since that'd mean he was up to something."

"I wouldn't want to be out there watching all of my friends get back here if I'd been home for being suspended," Michael told them seriously.

"You'd never be sent home like that," Toni countered. "That sort of thing is just not the Ravenclaw way."

"It's not supposed to be the Gryffindor way either," Al reminded her. "Do you see your families yet?"

Toni laughed. "Nope, but yours is way easier to find with all of that red hair – and Gwendolyn's Dad stands out in a crowd too."

"Yeah, just look to where all of the Witches twenty years younger or older than he is are looking; and you'll find him right away – my Mum included."

"Your Mum is hanging out with Al's Mum," Gwendolyn said after joining in for the laughs. "They're likely just looking at Dad because he's talking to them."

"Sure, let's go with that," Tory agreed amiably. "That'll make my Dad feel better than finding out she's still crushing on one of her favorite Weird Sisters' musicians."

"I'd think she'd be more worried about her boss finding out that your Mum still has a crush on her husband," Toni teased; and Tory and Gwendolyn both laughed.

"Mum's used to it," Gwendolyn assured her; "and it isn't as if she doesn't still have her fair share of Wizards around with lingering teen crushes on her."

"Oh, look – we've about come to a stop!" Al said enthusiastically. "We should start getting our things so we'll be ready once the first, um, crush for the exits is over."

"Relax, and we'll drop the parents and their groupies talk," Toni offiered. "Since the four of you want to play in the show, though, that seems odd to me; since you'll have to deal with that sort of thing yourselves."

"True," Ray agreed; "but that's different with parents – even for the ones that haven't even played in the show for a long time."

"If you think that's weird, try hanging out with my Grandma Catriona when she's around a bunch of old guys that had crushes on her back in the day," Gwendolyn suggested. "I think it's funny; but Jonah thinks it's gross."

"For good reason," Ray said with a nod. "If there isn't a law against Wizards crushing on your grandmother; there ought to be one."

"Be glad that you won't be at Teddy and Victoire's wedding then," Al told him. "Her Grandma Delacour still turns Wizards into babbling puddles of goo when she walks into a room."

"I'm glad that he won't be hanging around with a bunch of Veelas," Tory assured them – "especially if I was along as his date and had to watch him turned into a babbling idiot."

"You can't use magic outside of Hogwarts," Gwendolyn reminded her – "or did you ask Al to make you a special charm just for that?"

Her question sent their chat off in a new direction, but the train had stopped by then too; so it wasn't long before they were gathering their things and lining up to get off the train. It took a few more minutes after that for Al and Gwendolyn to be reunited with their families; and then it was time for the hugs and kisses part of the welcome home routine.

"I get to tell you the news you'll like finding out about best," Lily told Al as she hugged him. "James has a new part-time job at Uncle George's store. We dropped him off for his first shift on our way here; so he'll be gone until they close tonight."

"That's brilliant – for us!" Al said; earning a few laughs. "How long has that been in the works?"

Lily looked toward Ginny; and she shrugged. "We've talked about it for a while; but the decision was only made recently – and James only gets to keep the job if George and Ron are happy with his work."

"Did you try hitting them with your cheering charm to make sure that happens?" Gwendolyn asked Lily.

"I wish I'd thought of that; but no, I didn't."

"It's a wonder you haven't worn it out since Easter," Ginny told her. "Have you seen Rose? Fred's over there saying goodbye to some friends; but I don't see her."

"She was going to say hello to Shane's Mum and goodbye to him first," Al told her. "They might be talking about when Shane will meet up with Rose for the wedding – and what he needs for a Wizarding wedding. Couldn't Aunt Hermione get away from the office this time?" he asked; and Ginny shook her head.

"No, and Ron's going to be busy at the store too now that the Hogwarts students are back; so Rose and Hugo are coming home with us until Hermione's done work."

"Are we going straight home?" Al asked next; and Ginny smiled.

"That was the plan. Were you hoping to drag out the goodbyes with Gwendolyn?"

"Yeah – until sometime right around September First so that we could just do them right before we do the hellos when it's time to head back to Hogwarts again."

"Or there for the first time for some of us," Lily added; her smile bright and happy. "Ten weeks to go; and Hugo, Jonah, and I will be going there with you!"

"Don't remind me," Ginny told her. "I'm not ready for you to leave the nest quite yet." She turned her attention to Al and Gwendolyn. "Will it help with the separation anxiety if I tell you that we'll be getting together for a shopping trip tomorrow? Our Hogwarts teens all need to get new clothes for the wedding; and we'll try to do a bit of the summer clothes shopping too – though we can't do that all day."

"It helps a lot," Gweondolyn assured her. "What are we doing tonight, Dad?"

"A quiet night at home with your Mum, brother, and a handful or two of our relatives. Gwenog is wrapping up some off-season work for the Harpies now; but she'll take the weekend off to spend with you – us."

"Sounds great. Do you have any other surprises for us? You haven't exactly been telling us much about the summer plans during our mirror chats."

"Nothing we can tell you quite yet," Kirley answered; though from what Al sensed from him – and from Ginny – suggested that their plans would be something that he and Gwendolyn would like a lot.

"There's Rose," Lily advised them; pointing toward where she was approaching them – and fighting the flow of traffic to get to them. It took another half-minute to reach them; and then there was another round of hugs that Fred joined them for – in his case; starting with his mother and sister.

"Are you okay?" Al asked Rose when she hugged him too – even though it hadn't been that long since their last visit on the train.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Let's call that one a yes and no; and I'll try not to think about the next week without seeing Shane."

"We are a lot luckier than you and Shane are for that," Gwendolyn admitted. "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see Al much while we're home."

"That's different for you guys," Rose told her. "Shane and I like each other a lot; but we don't love each other – or at least we don't love each other yet. It's still going to be hard not seeing him until next Saturday – and then we don't have any plans to get together after that so far."

"Ron will be happy to hear that," Ginny teased; putting a comforting arm around her shoulder. "At least your Wizard will miss you too. When I was home between second and third-year pining over mine; he was still completely oblivious."

"Dad can't be happy about something he's still in denial over," Rose joked. "What are we doing with our trunks and bags this time?"

Ginny smiled at her while pulling something out of her pocket – and then handed Al and Rose what looked like a small canvas bag each. "Pull it over your things – it'll fit; and then pull the drawstring closed. Then we'll be good to get out of here and head over to Diagon Alley."

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Kirley asked while handing a bag to Gwendolyn. "Oh wait – Ginny and Hermione did think of you too."

"But not me?" Fred asked; trying to sound hurt.

"I can send your things straight to the store," Angelina reminded him. "We can't all be as talented as your Uncle Harry and be able to summon and banish things from half a world away; so your aunts are just trying to make these trips a bit easier – though making those bags takes a fair bit of effort."

"They do," Ginny agreed; "but then they'll help with all of the trips from now on; so it will be worth it."

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't need long to put the bags over their trunks, bags, and Al's empty owl cage; but they did need a bit of help to work out getting the bags closed again without just dumping everything into the undetectable expansion bags and making a mess of it.

"We should have sent them up to you by Owl Post," Ginny decided in hindsight. "That would've been easier to do in your dorm rooms."

"We'll be able to do that from now on," Al said with a shrug as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "They are brilliant, Mum. Thank you."

"You're welcome," she assured him. "Ready to go?"

That question was meant for everyone in their group; and she was soon assured that they were ready to leave and head for Diagon Alley. By then, the platform was already half-emptied; so it was easy to get out of the station and then take the Knight Bus over to the Leaky Cauldron. The visit to Diagon Alley for Ginny and 'her' four kids had only been so that Rose could see her father for a few minutes before going home with her aunt, brother, and cousins; but that also meant that Al saw James for the first time since getting blasted by him in a public environment where James also needed to be on his best behavior – assuming he wanted to keep his brand-new summer job. Al didn't talk with him because James was far too busy to visit with his family; but James did try and get Al's attention in other ways; and Al didn't need to use his extra senses to know what James was thinking. The victorious and smug expression on his face was all that Al needed to see to know that James was very happy with himself. As far as Al was concerned, James could have at that; and he hoped that his brother would be kept busy all summer with his job – too busy to bother him!

Once Rose had visited with Ron, and they'd wandered around the store to see what was new for the summer at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes; Ginny headed back out into Diagon Alley with Al, Rose, Lily, and Hugo. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah only stayed with them until they were out of the store; and then it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to say goobye for the rest of the day. That was short and sweet because the alley was crowded; and they didn't want to make a scene that would earn them too much attention. Lily talked Ginny into two stops along the way back to the Leaky, but that didn't take long; and then they used the Floo Network to go home.

Al took care of putting his things away first while Rose, Lily, and Hugo got changed and went outside for a swim; and then he had a little mother-son chat with Ginny in the kitchen while she worked on dinner before going outside and hopping into the pool too. They were able to swim for nearly an hour before going in to get changed and then help out with a few pre-dinner chores like setting the table. They had everything ready to go by the time Hermione and Harry got there from the Ministry of Magic, and Rose and Hugo had helped with the work; but they were then on the go again because they had dinner plans with their Granger grandparents while Ron was busy at the store anyway. Those goodbyes took a few minutes; and then Al and Lily had their parents to themselves for a few hours – or until James got back from the wheezes store.

"We've already gotten the news from the feast that was great for you and your cousins; but not so hot for your House," Ginny told Al as they sat down and began filling their dinner plates. "What should we talk about first?"

Al grinned at her. "How about whatever it is that you and Uncle Kirley didn't want to tell us at King's Cross?" he suggested; and she and Harry both laughed while Lily looked very curious.

"Your powers of perception continue to grow," Harry mused; and Al shrugged.

"Yeah, but not enough to figure out the details on my own. What's up?"

"A two-week vacation in Romania starting a week from Sunday," Ginny answered after getting a nod and smile from Harry.

"Don't tell us we're all going on Teddy and Victoire's honeymoon!" Lily joked; earning a round of laughs.

"No, but the McCormacks will be spending the first week with us; you Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron will be there for the second week while Gwenog needs to be back here to get ready for the Harpies Training camp; and we'll be spending a lot of time with your Uncle Charlie and Aunt Julianne." She paused and smiled at Harry again before adding – "Your cousins, Gwendolyn, and Jonah will be with us for both weeks; and we'll likely have some extra guests now and then too – like Aiden's girlfriend and Charlene's boyfriend."

"That sounds brilliant!" Lily said enthusiastically. "Will we be camping near the dragon reserve?"

"We're going to stay several different places," Harry answered. "We'll start out at a campground on the Black Sea; spend the four days over the middle weekend near the reserve; and then go back to the sea to a different place for the rest of the holiday with Ron and Hermione."

"I'm so glad that we'll get to spend a lot of time with Aiden and Charlene," Lily told them. "It's been ages since we've done more than seen them for a day or weekend at a time."

"That's what we were thinking," Harry agreed. "Aiden's going to be seventeen next January; so this is likely the last summer we'll have the chance to do anything like this with him."

"It might already be too late if he's too cool to hang out with his kid cousins when we're playing in his back yard," Lily suggested; "but at least Charlene won't care – even if her friends are around with us."

"There won't be an if about that, since you may have heard that their visiting uncle is rather famous," Ginny joked; "but I think Aiden will want to hang out with you too – if he can manage to keep James from monopolizing all of his time."

"We're bringing him along?" Lily asked; feigning disappointment. "I thought that all of those we's and you's were just the four of us. Now I'm wondering if you set this up through Terror Tours."

Al laughed; and Lily took a double-take when she saw the expression on his face. "Sorry, but that had me thinking about Grimmauld place, and while I'm there; do you think there's a chance we could get to see what the place looks like now – assuming Teddy and Victoire have it ready for living there after their honeymoon. Gwendolyn really wants to see it; and we never got the chance to do that at Easter or Christmas."

"I can call and ask them later," Ginny promised. "They're pretty busy between now and the wedding, but if they're over there at all tomorrow; we might be able to make a quick stop around the shopping."

"Are you and Dad going to be very busy too?" Al asked; and they both nodded.

"Harry will be working too, but we'll help out or have something else to do every day. The two of you, and some of your cousins, are all going to be drafted for some work around Shell Cottage next week too; but we can talk about that on the weekend. There's a party tomorrow night for Teddy and Victoire, but there won't be any underage kids or teens there; so you'll be spending the night with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and James will be at Ollie's."

"Your plans so far seem to have Al's full support," Lily teased; grinning at him. "Will Sunday be a nap day?"

"It'll be quieter," Ginny agreed. "Teddy and Victoire are going to have lunch with us, but have other plans after that; and we'll just hang out here and hope to have a good day with you – and James."

"We'll have a good day," Lily promised. "If James and Al start fighting; I've got a cheering charm that I'm not afraid to use on them."

"That's been fun, Lily; but we need to find a way to get along around here without resorting to having James giggling like a loon for hours on end. Too much of that is not a good thing."

Their dinnertime chat rolled along, and Al enjoyed having a family meal without any drama from James. Cleaning up after the meal was easier too; and then they all went outside to play. Lily wanted to have a Seeker duel with Al, so they had a best-of-three duel that she won two catches to one. She knew he'd held back, but they'd had fun anyway, and he had still pushed her hard; so she didn't give him a hard time about it. The pool time to cool off after was great too; and Harry and Ginny went for that swim with them. After that, they sat in chairs near the house with drinks and snacks; enjoyed the wind down to dusk; and then then they headed inside for the rest of the night.

Harry went to get James from the store when it was near closing time; ended up being gone for nearly a half hour; and then returned with James in tow using the Floo Network. The delay had been because they'd visited with Neville, Hannah, Alice, and Francine, but the Leaky had been busy; so they hadn't been able to stay long. Al had steeled himself for a big drama moment with James; and was a bit surprised when that didn't happen. Sure, James didn't welcome him home with a hug or thump on the back, and he included some back-handed insults meant for Al as he enthusiastically told them all about his first day at his new job; but there was no shouting; screaming; or any attacks of any kind. James was going to work again in the morning, so Al was less-surprised when his brother opted to go up to bed when everyone else was ready to do that; and not surprised at all when James came into his room – without knocking – after taking his turn using the bathroom.

"Thank you," Al told him as James closed the door and then turned to sneer at him.

"For what?" he retorted; all civility now gone.

"For waiting until now," Al explained. "Mum was happy; so thanks."

"That wasn't for her – I'm just sick and tired of getting dumped on every time I try to keep everyone from blaming me for everything when you're the one who should be the one everyone hates as much as I do."

"Then I'd say it'll work out for all of us if we're going to play nice when we're out in public. Is that why you stopped by – to declare a truce?"

James snorted derisively. "I came by to tell you to your face that I wasn't fooled by your faked injuries and miraculous recovery any more than I've been fooled by the rest of your lies and deceptions. I hate you; and I'm going to make you pay ten times over for what you've done to me and Ollie! That might take me a bit longer now that you've turned everyone against me instead of just Mum, Dad, and Lily; but it's going to happen – so watch your back, loser."

"I will," Al promised simply; deciding that it would be pointless to once again try to correct James about his warped perception of what had happened three weeks ago. "Anything else?"

James sniffed the air and scrunched up his face in feigned disgust. "Yeah – go take a shower. You're already stinking up the house and making me want to puke."

He'd opened the door while saying that; stepped out into the hallway; and closed the door behind him to make sure he'd have the victory-winning last word. That bit of childishness had Al laughing quietly; but not at all offended. He actually felt pretty good about that little confrontation because he sensed that James really was just trying to save face for the moment; and was ready to at least pretend to play nice in public for a while. His payback threats were real-enough, but Al would be ready whenever James eventually came at him again; and there was always the chance that time would be what James needed most to change and set aside his petty, unfounded hatred. That little chat had given Lily time to take her turn in the bathroom, so it was free for Al to use. He didn't grab a shower; though he'd been tempted to do that just to mess with James. That would have been petty for sure, so he only got ready for bed as normal; read in bed for a while; and then ended his night with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn after she was in bed for the night too. That had been fun, but they did have a long shopping, play, and sleepover day ahead; so they only covered the basic story exchange; and then they ended the call and headed off to sleep.

Breakfast was cooking; a pot of coffee was brewed and ready to go; and the table was set for four by the time Harry and Ginny reached the kitchen and shared hugs and kisses with Al and Lily. James wasn't there too, but he was in the shower already; and was getting ready for work without any complaints at all. Lily had been sitting at the table by then while Al did most of the cooking; and they'd been having fun talking about everything from school and Quidditch to weddings, shopping, and vacation play options in Romania. Ginny sat down next to her; and Harry went to pour two cups of coffee for them before going to help Al with the rest of the cooking.

"Your mother won't want to let you go back to school if you do this every day," Harry told Al. "Have you expanded your charmed seashell collection?"

"Yes, though I didn't need any of the new charms for this," Al answered with a shrug. "You wouldn't do that to me – it's going to be way too much fun being at Hogwarts for Lily's first year."

"We know," Ginny told him with a smile and nod. "That's why we've decided to take on teaching jobs there next year."

"You wouldn't!" Lily exclaimed; and then laughed when Ginny couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

"Gotcha," Harry told her. "Nicely done, honey. You nearly had me convinced; and I know we didn't apply for any jobs there."

"As if you'll ever stop being an Auror," Lily scoffed. "I shouldn't have believed it for a second."

"But you'd worry about me teaching there?" Ginny prompted with a smile; and Lily laughed.

"Actually, I'm more worried about you deciding to come out of retirement and play for the Harpies again – in about seven years from now," Lily joked. "It would really suck to be me if I had to do a tryout for the Harpies against my Mum – and then lost the job to her."

"I don't plan on coming out of retirement; and likely won't want to do that by the time you're graduating. Your father and I think that you're going to be an amazing Seeker."

"Me too, but I'm not there yet," Lily said; and then pretended to scowl at Al. "Right now, I'm not even as good as the best Chaser in the house; so I've still got a ways to go."

"You're better than I was two years ago," Al told her seriously. "Let's see how we're doing a year or two from now after you've played a few games for Gryffindor."

"Don't you mean after I win a few games for our House?" Lily asked; and Al laughed.

"That would be nice, but the competition is tough, so even with a good team; it isn't easy to win all three games."

"I hope they make me Captain," Lily told him. "You'd be lousy at it with that kind of optimism."

"I'd want to make Quidditch fun for everyone," Al countered. "The wins will happen or they won't, but if we've played our best and had fun; winning isn't all that important."

"You really are going to be perfect to play on Rose's Cannons team," Lily declared. "I'll be okay with having less fun and winning more with the Harpies."

"Or at all," Ginny added; and then grinned at Al. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah, but Uncle Ron isn't here, and while I remember that you did bet against Rose; that's going to be a lost bet for you."

"Is there something you should have told me before I made that bet?" Ginny asked; and Al shook his head.

"No, but I have a lot of faith in Rose. If Aunt Hermione had been into Quidditch and thought about doing something like that would you have bet against her?"

Ginny laughed. "I have so got to get out there and find someone to take the other side of that bet so I'm hedged."

"I don't think losing that bet will break us – unless you made it for a lot more than your usual bets."

"I went with the standard ten galleons," Ginny assured him. "James bet her a thousand, though, so that one will sting a bit."

"For Rose," James shot back as he walked into the room.

He'd been pulling his hand out of a pocket, so while Al was sure his mother had chosen to say that because he was nearby; the smirk on James' face and what he was sensing told Al that James had been listening in for a while.

"I doubt it," Ginny told him. "Don't forget that the bet's for a championship in her lifetime. If we win; she'll be beyond caring."

"Don't count on that – I'll have a painting made so I can razz her about it long after she's gone," James declared pompously.

"You'll razz her about it long-before then if the Cannons don't start winning after we've all graduated," Lily predicted – "especially if Rose does go and play for them."

"True, but the fun doesn't have to end after she's gone. I just hope she lives long-enough to own a thousand galleons. There's a very good chance that all six of the Cannons' fans will collectively faint dead-away if they even manage to have a winning season!" He grinned when that declaration earned him a round of laughter.

"There are a few more than six," Harry corrected – "if not many more. Ron might even faint if that happened; but Rose is young; and can likely handle the shock to her system."

"I'd say it's progress that James thinks that Rose could lead a Cannons team to a winning season," Lily said with a laugh. "Good for you, James."

He snorted out a laugh and shook his head. "That isn't what I said. If they're dumb-enough to hire her; they'll be in for some no-win seasons until they smarten up and fire her."

"My mistake," Lily said mildly; trying to keep the peace. "What time do you have to be at the store?"

"Fifteen minutes before they open – and I can't be late; so when can we eat?"

"Right now," Harry told him; though that was obvious; since the bowls and platters were already heading toward the table – or already on it.

Al took it as a positive sign that James didn't complain about the food that he'd cooked, but then James ate two heaping plates-full; so he might just have been starving. Maybe James was already learning that bagged lunches at work weren't nearly as good as the home-cooked meals he'd so recently been complaining about every day. James hadn't come along so far that he completely lost his mind and offered to help with the clean-up, but he was ready to go early; and had Harry take him to the store early too – after deciding that Al and Lily were going to make him late for taking too long with the clean-up. They were all in Diagon Alley early, so they had time to wander around while waiting to meet up with the McCormacks, Hermione, and a handful of other cousins and friends. That included Louis and Noel, Molly and Lucy, and Alice and Francine. Lily and Roxanne had gotten their dresses for the wedding already, but Angelina came with Fred and Roxanne.

Ginny and the other mothers didn't have much male support, but Harry and Kirley were there; and took the boys in tow to get new dress robes; suits; and whatever else each of the teens or tweens needed. For Al, that was the robe, suit, dress shoes, shirt, and tie. They did that first while the girls looked for dresses for Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other, older cousins. Splitting up to do that first meant not spending much time with Gwendolyn until they were ready to move on to the quick visit that Ginny had set up for them with Teddy and Victoire at Grimmauld Place. Everyone in their group had decided to go along for that, and though Louis and Noel had been there a few times already – including a couple of visits on the Easter holiday; it was a first time for quite a few of them. Al had loved doing that tour with Gwendolyn, and while the place hadn't changed that much since Christmas; it had been decorated; there was some new furniture to go along with the family heirlooms and antiques; and Teddy and Victoire were very, very proud of their new home.

That tour had needed to be fairly quick because Teddy and Victoire had other, wedding-related appointments to get to; so the next shopping adventure stop was at their favorite Muggle Mall. Al was able to stay with Gwendolyn after that for most of the shopping – except for one Witches-only stop in the lingerie and underwear section of one of their favorite ladies wear stores. Lunch at the food court was great – even though basically nothing they ate was good for them; and then they had time for one last hour of shopping before it was time to head home. The adults in the family needed to get ready for Teddy and Victoire's party, so Gwenog and Kirley went home with Harry, Ginny, and all four of their kids so that Al and Lily could trade shopping bags for overnight bags; and then they left Harry and Ginny behind and headed for the McCormacks' house.

"The tent's set up near the back of the yard," Kirley told Al and Lily once they'd arrived in the sitting room. "We needed to check it out before our trip anyway; so Gwendolyn and Jonah decided that you should camp in it tonight."

"Yeah!" Lily said enthusiastically; and Kirley and Gwenog both smiled.

"Do we need to chaperone and sleep in the tent too?" Gwenog joked; and Lily laughed.

"I'm sure that you've nothing to worry about from Jonah or Al," she offered; grinning as she glanced intentionally at Gwendolyn and winked at her.

"I'm quite possibly the only mother in the Wizarding World that isn't worried about the boys getting out of line," Gwenog countered.

"Could that be because Gwendolyn and Lily are so much like their mothers?" Kirley asked mildly. He laughed then. "I was about to suggest that you weren't the only Mum around in that same position; but Ginny's only with you on that for one out of three kids."

"If you haven't heard, James was actually tolerable this morning; and only had one nasty, private chat with Al last night. Maybe that should scare Al and me, but even if he and Ollie have come up with a new plan for their vendetta against Al; we'll take the reprieve for however long it lasts."

"Let's not talk about James at all," Gwendolyn suggested. "We've had a good day; and not having him around made the shopping a lot more fun."

"Why don't you head outside and deal with the overnight bag?" Gwenog suggested. "We'll wait a while to eat since we had the late lunch anyway; so you're welcome to go for a swim or play for a couple of hours. Kirley and I are ready for a little break; so we'll do that for a while before starting in on making dinner."

"Sounds good," Gwendolyn agreed; "though you're welcome to come for a swim with us too."

"Maybe we will," Gwenog agreed. "I'll settle for a cold drink and getting off of my feet. How do those Muggles do so much walking all day, every day? It would be a lot easier to fly from store-to-store – or just apparate around to the stores you want to visit."

Gwendolyn laughed. "You're obviously too tired to remember your years at Hogwarts, Mum. We walk that much every day getting between classes and everywhere else we need to go – like to the greenhouses and Quidditch pitches. That Mall was mostly on one floor except for those bigger stores – and they only had two."

"That's true," Gwenog conceded; but then grinned at her daughter. "Then again, I didn't see you asking Al to take you horseback riding while we were at the Mall; but you've been doing that at school."

"We've never done that to get between classes, and I didn't even think about that today; but that'd be funny if we tried – right up until we got into trouble for it."

Another few jokes were needed before moving on, but then Kirley and Gwenog were left alone while the kids went outside and walked over to the tent. The back of the yard wasn't the back of their property – just the edge of the more-meticulously groomed lawns. Gwendolyn and Jonah had already brought what they'd needed out to the tent sometime on Friday evening, so Al and Lily put their bags in two of the bedrooms; they all decided to get changed into swimsuits; and they were soon in the portable pool; enjoying the water play time; and especially happy to be together for the night. Gwenog and Kirley did eventually come out for a swim too; but only a short bit of fun after a longer break that had apparently included a short nap in the sitting room. All six of them ended up helping out with making an easy-meal and clean-up dinner; they sat at a table and chairs that Kirley conjured for them to use outside; and then it was time for some Quidditch.

Lily and Jonah went with a best of five Seeker duel while Al and Gwendolyn had their Chaser duel; but they all played around for a while with trying out new or favorite flying moves or plays while Kirley and Gwenog sat in chairs with glasses of wine and watched the show. The Witches won the two duels, but only by one catch for the Seeker duel; and by just two goals for the Chaser battle. Gwenog had loved that, but then none of the guys had minded being teased about Witches being better at Quidditch than Wizards. Another swim was the perfect way to cool down after the Quidditch workout; and then they went indoors for some music play time as they all wound down from their busy, family and friends fun day.

Kirley and Gwenog turned in for the night not long after the guitars were put away; and the four kids headed out to the tent to hang out there for the rest of the night. Lily and Jonah played some mirror games while Al and Gwendolyn watched on and were happy to cuddle on one of the sofas. An hour and change of gaming proved to be enough for Lily, and when she got up and announced that she needed to go off to sleep; Jonah quickly decided that he didn't want to stay around and be a third wheel. Having Lily include him in the round of goodnight hugs had him a bit flustered, and while that wasn't anything new for Lily; Jonah's perspective on those hugs seemed to be developing into something more than it was even a year or two ago. A major snogging session wasn't next on the agenda once Al and Gwendolyn were alone, but they did spend some quality time saying goodnight to each other in a mostly non-verbal sort of way that was a perfect way to end a really good day. When they did eventually split up to go and get some rest too, they were both very happy campers; and that made it easy to drift off to sleep – and into some very happy dreams.

Sunday morning began with a quiet morning swim for Al while everyone else was still sleeping; but Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all joined him before he was done; they tried to be quiet while doing that in case Kirley and Gwenog were sleeping in; and then they took turns in the tent bathroom getting ready for the day. They hung out around the back yard after that until they heard movement from the kitchen; and then headed in to meet up with Gwenog. Al and Gwendolyn helped with making breakfast; Kirley joined them while that was still in progress; and then they sat down to eat and talk about nothing in particular while enjoying the food. Al and Jonah were Kirley's clean-up crew; the kids were set free to play again for a while after that; and then Ginny came over to collect Al and Lily to get them home in time for their luncheon with Teddy and Victoire. Those goodbye hugs and kisses took a few minutes for Al and Gwendolyn, since they wouldn't see each other again until Tuesday, but while that seemed like too long for them; their parents happily assured them that they'd survive the ordeal and possibly even be stronger for it.

While the teasing about that had all been in fun; Al wasn't sure what to expect for the rest of the day. He and Lily got home with Ginny before James did because Harry didn't leave to get him until Ginny could take over the work in progress for their lunch. Unpacking their overnight bags and running a joint load of laundry kept Al and Lily busy until James was there too; and then things just started to get weird. The act that James put on from the time he arrived sounded like some kind of parody, Frankenstein-like mix of personalities that came out horribly wrong once combined together. Acting happy and carefree while parodying mannerisms from his parents, Al, and Lily; and then continuing to toss out the occasional insult or barbed joke in a cheerful tone of voice was just ridiculous. That was obvious right away; and developed from there – especially once Teddy and Victoire arrived.

"Maybe we should have called it a night when you guys did last night," Victoire told Ginny as they shared a hug. "I'm still sleeping – and we've been on the go for hours now."

"You have been," Teddy said while waiting for his turn to hug Ginny. "I still have a few minutes to go before it'll be hours for me."

"You're young, and will survive," Ginny assured them with a knowing smile. "At least the timing for your wedding is better than ours. Two weeks for your honeymoon will help you rest up ahead of the start of Quidditch season."

Victoire laughed. "We weren't as brave as you; so asking to have our wedding right before training camp last summer wasn't an option for us – not to mention that it would have been tough to pull off with the Quidditch World Cup race going on at the same time."

"This works for you guys – just as what we did worked for us," Ginny offered. "Did everyone else get home safely last night?"

Teddy laughed. "Yes, but we had lots of help to make sure there were no drinking and splinching accidents or wrong destinations on the Floo Network. There might have been one or two if we hadn't been prepared; though it's crazy to have that sort of thing still happen in this day and age."

"Maybe you should have had a kids' party with all of your younger cousins," Lily suggested. "There'd be no worries about things like that with us."

"That's true," Teddy agreed. "You should mention that idea a bit sooner for the next family wedding."

"Not if that doesn't happen until after I'd be able to go to the adult parties too," Lily countered with a laugh. "We've a few years to go yet before Al and Gwendolyn get married."

"You think they'll be next?" Victoire asked in amusement. "What about Molly, Dominique, Lucy, Louis, and Aiden?"

"We'll see," Lily said with a shrug. "I don't think that any of them are in a hurry to get married; but I can totally see Al and Gwendolyn eloping – the summer they turn seventeen."

"You'd still be underage for that," Victoire pointed out; "but then if they elope; there wouldn't be any parties."

"Yeah – because they'd be on the run from the parents," James declared with a snort. He'd been staying in the background; and hadn't welcomed Teddy or Victoire; but Al had noticed his reaction to Lily's comments about eloping – and it wasn't a pretty expression on his face that was mild compared to what Al sensed within James. "Are married students even allowed at Hogwarts? If not; I supposed they can get their careers working for the Cannons' clown brigade started a year early – and watch me destroy the other team in at least those two games from the sidelines."

"We won't elope after our sixth year," Al said; and laughed at Lily's immediate reaction to that.

"After seventh-year it is," she added quickly. "That'll give you a week more than Teddy and Victoire to get used to being married ahead of the start of Harpies' training camp for Gwendolyn – and for Al with Rose on the Cannons' team."

"You mean clown brigade," James corrected – "unless Gwendolyn's parents don't like that idea either. Then it might be a clown and woodlouse brigade."

"That's funny; but Lily's suggestion is scary – for me," Victoire said with a laugh. "I don't want my Harpies' career to end when Gwendolyn and some of the other younger Quidditch Witches are ready to play in the show."

"You could all just take turns having time off to have babies," James offered; his tone and smile out of place to the malice Al sensed behind the words. "Take as much time off as you each need; since my team will win every championship once I'm in the show; so the Harpies will have to settle for no better than second after that."

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Victoire agreed; ignoring the barb in the comment; "but Teddy and I are going to wait a bit before starting our family. We already have some examples for how tough it is for Auror and Quidditch player parents to juggle having kids too – and our kids won't have any grandparents ready to retire anytime soon – or interested in full time babysitting jobs for however many of the years we'd need babysitting for until they're old-enough to go to Hogwarts."

"That'd give Al something to do between games," James suggested. "He wouldn't need to do any practicing at all for being a clown or woodlouse."

"Have you tried being a woodlouse yet?" Teddy asked Al; earning a round of laughs.

"I actually did," Al admitted easily – "not that I expect to get turned into one by Gwendolyn or her Mum. Since I do get teased about it a lot; I decided to find out what it was like. It was weird; but then most really small animals do seem strange when everything around is so huge by comparison."

"I've gotten razzed a lot at work too," Teddy advised him. "If James and Lily ever decide to be Animagi too; your Dad will likely get teased about all four of us forever."

"I wouldn't waste my time with it," James told him. "It's not as if you'd be allowed to play Quidditch in any animal form." He nodded toward Harry. "Dad hasn't used his Animagus for anything except playing with Lily in years –probably decades."

"Doesn't he know that you use it all of the time to run around the Ministry of Magic?" Teddy asked Harry; managing to do that with a straight face for nearly ten seconds while everyone else laughed.

"I might do that – if it wasn't for the fact that it's just as annoying to get patted on the head or scratched behind the ears as it is to have some Wizards and Witches try to kick me," Harry told them. "The girls aren't going to want to talk about work – unless it's Quidditch work; so let's stay away from talking about the Ministry of Magic at all."

"That works for me," Lily assured him. "Let's talk about weddings, Quidditch, and summer holidays!"

"Okay," Victoire agreed. "Did I hear last night that you have a date for the wedding?"

"What!" James exclaimed; and Lily grinned at them.

"Don't you have a date? Oh right – you want to go stag so that you can flirt with all of Victoire's Veela cousins."

"I'd rather do that than be chained to one Witch – or be one half of a pair of bookends with Al and Gwendolyn – assuming that you invited Jonah."

"Make fun of me all you want, James, but I like Jonah; he's cute; and can dance. Only family kids are invited to the wedding too, so Jonah wasn't on the list while his Mum, Dad, and Gwendolyn were all going; so I invited him so he could be there too."

"And it keeps the dating in the family," James added with a faked laugh. "I'm so glad they don't have more kids!"

"I'm glad they don't have more daughters too,"Victoire told him – "unless they wanted to be Beaters instead of Chasers. I guess that'd be okay."

"And that sounds like just the kind of Witch that would be perfect for James," Lily offered with a nod and smile. "He needs someone who can kick his butt if he gets out of line!"

"You're getting me mixed up with Al," James declared derisively; still trying to make it sound upbeat and funny – and failing. "I'd never date a Witch like Gwendolyn – or you for that matter."

"I'd comment on that," Lily told him after laughing; "but that wouldn't be a nice thing to say about the kinds of Witches you do want to date." She then returned her attention to Victoire. "Do you have to do a lot with the Harpies this week to go along with all of the wedding stuff?"

That question led to a chat about the off-season work that Victoire had needed to compress into two-fewer weeks than the rest of her team mates. She'd done most of that extra work already; but had two appointments and one sponsor event to deal with ahead of the wedding; with the final one a luncheon on Thursday before she'd be off work until the start of training camp. They were sitting down and having lunch fairly quickly; and Al ended up sitting between James and Lily – with the guys around Harry's end of the table; and the girls on either side of Ginny. Having James 'accidentally' elbow him regularly, and try other things to make him look bad was annoying; but done with extreme politeness and fake smiles and apologies that were even more annoying. Since it was likely to be the only chance to spend any time with Teddy and Victoire when they weren't competing for their attention with the entire family or hundreds of wedding guests, he put up with all of it; and tried his best to enjoy the visit.

Talking weddings wasn't all that interesting, but vacation and honeymoon destinations and plans was more entertaining – even with James' little insults that weren't nearly as subtle as he believed them to be. The meal was over too soon, and then Teddy and Victoire needed to hurry off with a quick round of goodbyes that were done before the clean-up. James conveniently disappeared just as they were leaving; so Al and Lily helped with the work in the kitchen and dining room; went outside for a Seeker duel; and then followed that up with a swim that Harry and Ginny joined them for. James went for a swim too; but waited until Al was out of the pool to do that. A shade tree, lawn chair, and a book was all that Al needed after that to keep entertained while Ginny and Lily had some mother-daughter time that involved sunbathing on a blanket and not much else. Harry kept busy reading a report from work, and James went inside to play video games; so it was fairly quiet through until dinnertime.

After a major lunch meal, they had a light dinner; that made the clean-up easy; and then Al and Lily had a quiet play evening that included going for a bike ride; a bit of Animorphmagus play time that Harry joined in for after overhearing an insult from James; and then they spent the evening in the sitting room either watching shows, playing video games, or doing a bit of work. It was the parents doing the work, with Harry dealing with the never-ending Ministry of Magic paperwork and reports; and Ginny doing a bit of prep work for the upcoming Quidditch season along with writing and submitting an article for the Quidditch Sports Network and the Daily Prophet. Al was first to go to bed; he had a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then went to sleep before anyone else even came upstairs.

Getting the extra nap time worked out for him on Monday because it was the first of the three work days that he and Lily had been volunteered for to help out with all of the chores that needed to get done at Shell Cottage to get ready for the wedding. James wasn't included thanks to 'having a real job' instead; but Al was good with having James out of the way – and that certainly helped out with making all of the work more fun. All of his older, student cousins had summer jobs too, but in addition to Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne; Lucy, Dominique, and Louis were all there to help out too. The guys got most of the tougher, dirtier jobs, so Al didn't spend much time working with Rose; but they did hang out together when breaks were called for snacks, cool-off swims, and lunch. Those breaks were among the highlights of the day, but they also collectively got a lot accomplished in the yard and gardens around the cottage and along the beach and bluffs that lined the property. It also meant that Al and Lily were both tired when they were picked up and taken home in time for dinner; a bit sunburned from being outdoors all day; and ready for a quiet evening and early bedtime so they'd be ready for their cousins and friends play day on Tuesday.

"I hate you," Lily declared when she walked into the kitchen and saw Al working on breakfast with Harry – and looking as if he wasn't sore at all. He also wasn't cherry-red from sunburn either; while Lily was definitely looking a bit lobster-ish.

"Good morning, Lily," Al answered; gently accepting the hug she offered once she'd reached him. "I'm sorry. I was tired last night too; and didn't realise you were so sore. Why didn't you ask Dad for help?"

"Because I didn't feel this toasted and sore last night when I crashed – and I'm asking right now." She'd been hugging Harry by then; and looked up at him hopefully.

"Consider it done," Harry said while drawing his wand; and she leaned her head against him with her arms still wrapped around his waist and closed her eyes in anticipation of the healing to come. It didn't take long before she was healed; and then she had a bonus hug and kiss for her father once she felt better. "I've left some color to help with the change to tanned skin," he advised her; but you need that to happen so you don't burn over and over again all summer."

"Okay," Lily agreed. "Thank-you, Dad. I feel a lot better now – and don't hate Al anymore either." She looked at him suspiciously then. "Did you use your wand last night to heal yourself?"

Al grinned at her. "Don't tell James, but that Animorphmagus healing thing really does work for some things – and it's wandless magic; so I can't be tossed into Azkaban for doing it."

Lily laughed; hugged him again too; and then went to sit at the table. She poured herself a glass of juice; and happily kept Harry and Al entertained while waiting for the food to be ready. Ginny had worked on Monday while all three kids had been working so that she could supervise the small gang of cousins and friends that were spending the day with Al and Lily. James was being traded for Kathryn, and while Al and Lily were sure they got the better of that deal; James had been happy with the plan too. He was even up, showered, and ready for the day by the time that breakfast was ready; so there were no early-morning fights to get him moving. That was a change that Harry and Ginny liked a lot, so their morning meal went fairly well; and then it wasn't long before James was taken to Ollie's; Kathryn was dropped off in return; and the rest of their cousins and friends began arriving by Floo Network.

Reunion hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn helped to get the play day off to a fun start for Al, but Lily soon had everyone except Ginny heading outside for a first Quidditch scrimmage of the day. They had a total of twelve teens and tweens for that, and while they were two Beaters short; they did have Fred and Orlando to play Beater against the rest of them. Orlando had been a surprise addition, but Fred had set that up; and the two friends planned on practicing together all summer to make sure they were good-enough to keep their Beater jobs with the Gryffindor team in September. Rose and Hugo were their Keepers; Lily and Jonah were their Seekers; and they almost had a boys against the girls set of teams with Gwendolyn, Kathryn, and Roxanne at Chaser on Rose and Lily's team; and Al, Ray, and Melissa on the team with Hugo and Jonah. The girls won that Quidditch battle of the sexes, but the match was close; and the boys had been in the lead going into the final snitch catch that Lily earned over Jonah with a distraction play that might earn her a penalty in a real game – and a lot of laughs from the spectators.

"You'd better not try that mid-air kiss move on Madison or Stephanie at Hogwarts," Ray told her after they'd all landed. "The Slytherin Seeker might be okay with it, but G-Air will be moving on to the senior team in September; so we don't even know whether they'll have a Wizard or Witch on the team."

"Jonah and I are going to practice all summer; and I'm hoping he'll get the Seeker job with Ravenclaw," Lily advised Ray. "I'll come up with another plan for Madison; and plan on beating the Slytherin Seeker because James will never let me live it down if I don't."

"He does have that legitimate claim for his three seasons with the junior team," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "He won all of his duels against G-Air."

"Maybe he'll get to do that for four more years if they both make their senior teams every year," Jonah offered; "though he might not want that if it also means having only one win every season too."

"I'd be okay with that – except for his NEWT year," Lily advised him. "I do want him to play in the show so I can win my matches against him every year; so he'll need to do better that year to get an offer with one of the other teams."

"Maybe Rose could get him a job with the Cannons," Ray suggested; and Rose laughed.

"I basically haven't even mentioned anything about that future Cannons team all year; yet you and Al and Gwendolyn keep bringing it up. Maybe you're the ones that subconsciously really want to see that happen – not me."

"She's only saying that because she's thinking about it consciously," Lily countered quickly; laughing too. "Your plan to not talk about it isn't going to work on Gwendolyn or me; but you're welcome to have all of the guys if you'd like them."

"For the team," Gwendolyn added meaningfully; grinning at Lily. "I don't have anything to worry about, since Al and Rose are cousins; but you might want to be more specific when making offers like that one."

"Especially when your date for the wedding this weekend is in that group," Rose added. "By the way, I'm terribly disappointed that you didn't share that bit of news with me long before now. I had to hear about it from the parents."

"Your Dad was talking with you about me having a date for the wedding?" Lily teased. "That doesn't sound like him at all."

"Mum mentioned it; but Dad was in on it while asking Hugo about who he's taking as his date."

"I thought that was nobody as of yesterday," Lily said; turning her attention to Hugo next. "Did you get a date for the wedding last night?"

"No, and let's not go there. I had enough of that kind of joking around with Dad last night. Sometimes he tries to take funny too far; and he did that with this."

"He does; but too late," Lily advised him. "I wonder where we could find an eligible date for you on such short notice?" Her question was accompanied by direct looks at Melissa and Kathryn; and Hugo groaned while the two girls grinned back at Lily.

"Cut that out," Hugo told Lily seriously. "Even if I wanted to take a date – and I don't; there is no way that I'd let you put me in the position of asking one cousin over another when we're friends with both of them. I may have my moments when I'm too much like my Dad; but I'm not that dense."

"So invite them both," Lily offered; still trying to keep the fun going. "I'm sure that Aunt Fleur would be happy to make an exception on that plus one thing if you did that."

"I'm not taking a date," Hugo repeated; "and I thought that you loved me. Trying to set me up for that kind of a first date disaster isn't very nice."

"I was just doing it for the entertainment factor – not because I actually thought that you'd do it – though I'd be okay with having Kathryn or Melissa to hang out with at the reception. Having a date might keep you out of trouble with James too – which I strongly recommend that you avoid." She smiled at Fred. "Ditto that for you. I hope James will be good; but you guys do not want to find out what Grandma will do to you if he tries to mess things up for Teddy and Victoire; and you help him."

"I already have my orders from Mum," Fred assured her; "and hope that I'll never do any future pranks with James."

"Good for you," Lily approved. "Speaking of good; you and Orlando are playing pretty well together. Are you going to try and come to all of our practices this summer?"

"Do you know what you're going to do for sure yet?" Fred asked in return; and Lily nodded.

"We're going to try for these Tuesday and Thursday play days every week after we get back from our vacation. Mum still has to approve everything and work out a few other details, but we'll have team practices in the mornings; and Dominique and the rest of her team will likely either practice right after us; or in the afternoons. They need to do practices around their summer job schedules, though; so it may not work out for them."

"I'd be more worried about James and Ollie messing up those practices for them," Ray offered; "but maybe they'll play nice this summer."

"Dominique is seventeen now," Lily reminded him. "She can use magic at home – and would; if James and Ollie don't behave for her."

"Quit hoping that'll happen," Gwendolyn teased. "Oh wait – that's me."

"It's also wrong, funny, and true for quite a few of us," Al admitted with a grin. "You're all welcome to sit here and talk, but I'm ready to hop in the pool; so I'm out of here."

He was one of the first to have his gear off and put away; but it wasn't long before they were all enjoying the water play time in the pool. Swimming was a big part of the entertainment for the rest of the day, but they also played games in the yard; some of them went biking – or tried to learn how to ride one; there was more Quidditch fun in the afternoon; and the picnic lunch that Ginny put out for them was pretty good too. All of the cousins and most of the friends headed home as parents stopped by to pick them up on the way home from work, but Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed for dinner and their parents came over for that so they could have a final vacation planning chat with Harry, Ginny, and all five kids. While James couldn't resist throwing out some insults at Al and Gwendolyn; he didn't take that too far – and was very interested in the vacation details. The McCormacks headed home fairly early, since they all had a lot on the go on Wednesday, and since he now knew what to expect for the second work day at Shell Cottage; Al went to bed early too so he'd be ready for a hot, tough day of chores.

Wednesday really was a near-repeat of Monday for Al and Lily in a lot of ways. There were a few changes for the members of the work crew, and they had to work through the rain that made working outdoors a bit messy; but they finished up phase two of the yard, beach, and bluff clean-up plan by the time that Harry stopped by to collect Al and Rose on his way home from work. While they'd gone for a swim in the sea to wash off the worst of the dirt and grime, after being wet and dirty for most of the day, Al and Lily took turns having hot showers before dinner; with Lily going first while Al waited in his room to avoid James. That had only delayed the inevitable and given James time to work on his material, but Al at least felt better by the time they sat down to eat; and was in a better frame of mind to deal with the jokes and insults that James was continuing to deliver with the feigned bright, happy enthusiasm that he seemed to think would work better to still be nasty to Al without getting him into trouble.

So far, it seemed to be working; so maybe he was right!

"I don't think that Bill and Fleur will want to pay for a wedding every year, or do all of the work; but their place looks great," Harry advised Ginny. "The kids have done a great job."

"It should," James declared. "Al and Lily brought most of the dirt from their place home with them – not that Al looked much different from normal."

"We washed off most of the dirt with a swim before coming home," Lily retorted. "Merlin forbid that you do any work where you might get dirty."

"When I'm the best player in the show; I'll hire people to do the dirty work for me," James said loftily. "Al should keep slaving away at jobs like that; since he could always get a job as assistant groundskeeper at Hogwarts with Hagrid if the Cannons' clown brigade thing doesn't work out for him. Better yet – he could work for Filch and Jigger!"

"Well, at least he didn't suggest that you could have one of those jobs he'll be hiring for," Lily told Al with a grin; and James snorted.

"I'll want the work done right; so that wouldn't happen."

"That's funny, since you thought he'd be perfect as Teddy and Victoire's babysitter just a few days ago; and groundskeeper at Hogwarts is a tough job with caring for all of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest."

"I didn't say Al would last long," James shot back. "He'd likely get eaten in the first week – a month at most."

Lily laughed at that; and James scowled for a moment before remembering his new act and plastering the fake smile on his face again. "Sorry," Lily apologized, "but I'm fairly sure that Al could stay a step ahead of any of the magical creatures in the forest – even if that was simply by changing into different animal forms."

"That'd just make him taste better," James disagreed. "Maybe he should go into the forest with Hagrid in September when he starts taking Care of Magical Creatures and find out. Does anyone know what kind of animal Acromantulas like to eat most?"

"Shouldn't you know that?" Lily countered. "You just finished writing your exams a week ago. Have you forgotten everything already?"

"Yes," James agreed. "Seekers need to have a short memory. Everyone says so."

"Well, the answer is that they'll eat anything they can kill," Harry told them, "and I wouldn't advise forgetting that; since some of the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest aren't very fond of your Uncle Ron and me; and they'd think it a boon to have any of you for dinner – and not as the guests of honor."

"Don't ever accept dinner invitations from Acromantula – got it," Lily joked; pretending to write it down on an invisible piece of parchment and then tucking it into a pocket. "So, how did work at the store go today, James? Did you have to demonstrate the lip-lock lipstick again today?"

"Again?" Ginny asked archly; and James and Lily both laughed.

"I'd be happy to do that for Uncle George if he'd let me pick out the Witches, but every time he suggests it; the Witches he picks are hag-of-the-month ugly."

"That's because he knows his customers," Lily explained; and James looked at her as if she was clueless; so she laughed again. "You do vaguely remember that lip-lock lipstick is a Wonder Witch product, right?" she asked him; and James nodded.

"Of course. What does that have to do with anything?"

"The beautiful Witches don't need it, but I'll wager that Uncle George sells loads of them to, shall we say, less-fortunate girls. It sounds to me as though Uncle George is picking the perfect Witches for you to demonstrate the product with – and he'd likely have them flying off the shelves if you did it."

"He couldn't pay me enough,' James retorted; and then grinned maliciously at Al. "Maybe he should hire Al for that job. I'm sure that Gwendolyn wouldn't mind having him stuck to other Witches all day when it's just his job."

"George is just messing with you if he's really joking about having you do that," Ginny advised James; "and he'd be in big trouble with me if he actually had any of my kids doing stuff like that."

"Plus it wouldn't work very well once Al was turned into a woodlouse anyway," Harry added with a grin; earning a round of laughs.

"With an Uncle George bat bogey affliction," Lily added. "Do wood lice have noses – or bogeys?"

Her question sent them off on a little side trip that moved them away from James' insults for a while; and they managed to have another family meal without any serious teen drama. Al didnt' want to push his luck with that, so after helping with the clean-up; he invited Lily to go outside for a Seeker duel and swim while their parents went to do some work in the office and James went to play some online Muggle video games. It hadn't been raining at home when they'd gotten back from Shell Cottage, but it did start by the time Al made the third catch for the two-to-one lead; so they decided to pack up and have the swim then – since it didn't matter if it was raining when they were wet anyway. That did have them back indoors earlier than they would have been, though, and since Al didn't want to hang out with James; he went up to his room instead and decided to read one of the third-year textbooks that Ginny had transferred to his room from James' after each of the home-written exams had been finished. Most of them were in tough shape, and there was always a chance that a different textbook or a new version would be needed for his third-year classes; but he could still learn from reading them; and it would help with his summer assignments too.

Gwendolyn hadn't been busy with a work day, but she had been busy, so she had an early bedtime mirror chat with Al before turning in for the night. He hadn't quite been ready to sleep then, so he studied on; had a nice chat with Lily when she stopped in to talk on her way to bed after hanging out in the sitting room with James and Holly; and then he did some fun reading until he was eventually ready to get some rest. While Thursday was another family and friends play day, Al and Lily also needed to help Ginny out with some chores that couldn't be done on the weekend while they were busy with Teddy and Victoire's wedding – and then couldn't be done at all while they were away on vacation. Al got started on that work as soon as he was dressed and ready for the day – starting with laundry; getting the owl cages cleaned; and even starting on the yard work while also getting everything ready for breakfast. He was still doing that when Harry joined him in the kitchen; and laughed at the expression on his father's face as he poured a cup of coffee and watched the action going on out the back window.

"You do it all the time," Al reminded him; and Harry laughed.

"Not when I was thirteen I didn't – though I wish that I could have. Doing chores all summer at home would have been a lot easier for me."

"Even if you'd thought of it back then; your aunt and uncle wouldn't have allowed you to use charmed objects around them." Harry laughed again.

"They wouldn't have been able to say anything either way if I'd had one of your silencing charm seashells; and they'd have been much nicer to be around if I'd used cheering charms on them." He shook his head. "I have no idea why I never thought of it. Even some potions would have come in very handy."

"You had some distractions that I don't have now," Al pointed out. "While I'm thinking about it, though, I was going to suggest that having some charmed objects for your Auror field kits might be something worth thinking about adding to them."

"As back-up?" Harry asked; and Al nodded. "I'm already looking into it. Did you have any suggestions?"

"Shields for sure as back-up in case an Auror was disarmed; but I was also thinking that you could have self-engorging charmed objects that'd save you from having to charm them on the fly to stop killing curses; and maybe some that could be used offensively – like freezing charms. Dark Wizards and Witches have been known to use cursed or poisoned objects to throw at Aurors; so why not use the same tactic against them – without the nasty side-effects?"

"Until now, I'm guessing it's because we're usually thinking with our wands," Harry joked. "I love the ideas, Al, and I'm okay with your Quidditch career plans, but when you're ready to retire from that; you should at least consider the Aurors after that. It's obvious that you'd be a great Auror."

"I don't get the sense that I'll do that," Al told him seriously; "but if that ever changes; I'll let you know."

"I don't know whether to like that idea – or be afraid of it," Harry teased; bu then changed the subject. "How are things going with you and James? Any problems we're not hearing about or seeing directly?"

"Not so far. We'll see if that changes when we're around each other a lot more over the next two weeks; but your sumer job plan is working great so far; and he'll be at Ollie's again today; so the rest of this week should be okay."

"He'll want to play it cool around Aiden,' Harry suggested; "so we're hoping to have a good vacation too. That ought to be something that we all want; since this will be the last one we have as a family. Once you're all at Hogwarts; your mother and I are going to use all of my vacation time to go on trips without you."

Al laughed. "Now you're scaring me just a bit – even though I know you're mostly joking about that. You should take Mum on a winter getaway this year when you can do that. It'd make a great birthday or Christmas present for her too."

"We'll see," Harry said with a nod. "Planning that far ahead doesn't always work out very well with my job. The bad guys always pick the worst times to decide to put their plots and plans into action."

"If you've just jinxed things for the wedding; you're going to be in big trouble," Lily teased as she walked into the kitchen with Ginny.

"And that would just be with the Witches in our family," Ginny added; her expression grim until she hugged Harry and their kiss turned the frown upside down. "Good morning again."

"It has been pretty good so far," he agreed. "Good morning, Lily,' he added while she hugged him next. "The bad guys might have talked about trying something at Teddy and Victoire's wedding; but they'll be making another big mistake if they actually try anything. I'm still a bit mad at them for messing with Bill and Fleur's wedding."

"Let's hope that we don't have any problems like that," Ginny said, "but don't worry about it either, Lily; 'cause your father's got things taken care of even if the bad guys are dumb-enough to actually try anything. We've long-since learned our lesson about things like that."

"Maybe we should hope they'll try something then," James offered as he joined them and went to sit in his normal chair. "If there was an attack early-enough; it'd save Teddy from a fate worse than death, and if they didn't attack until later; it would at least be entertaining."

"There is nothing funny about any of that, James," Ginny told him seriously; and he shrugged amiably – or at least he did that with as much fakery as the rest of his act continued to be whenever he was around his parents, brother, and sister.

"I think so, but funny or not; it's true all the same," he countered.

"No it isn't," Lily told him crossly. She took a deep breath; and shook her head. "You are not going to goad me into a fight, James."

James laughed. "If I wanted to have a fight with you; we'd be there by now," he told her. The laugh was fakely-amused; and the sensation that Al was getting suggested that Lily was right about James – he was trying to get someone else to start a fight with him. He didn't get the chance to do that, because Ginny changed the subject; and they all sat down to eat. That didn't take long for most of them with the easy-meal choices, but James kept eating bowls of cereal and pretty much everything else that was edible until right before everything else had been cleaned up and it was nearly time for him to head over to Ollie's house. Al and Lily moved on to some more chores while waiting for their cousins and friends to arrive; and then it was time to play Quidditch again for a couple of hours.

This time, Al and Gwendolyn played on the same team with Roxanne, and while that wasn't really fair for Ray, Melissa, and Kathryn; Lily played on their team; and won her duel with Jonah to at least partially off-set the extra points that Al and Gwendolyn scored against Rose – enough to still win the match by sixty points despite the extra fifty that Lily had earned for her team. Al and Lily had some help with the rest of the chores, though the other teens and tweens took turns doing that; and they all still had lots of time to swim and play for the rest of the day. Lunch included barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers to go with the cold salads and snack food sides; and the afternoon Quidditch action was again a round of practice for flying tricks and plays that were fun for all of them – if not necessarily practical for the Keepers and Beaters. It did help all of them to get better, though; and it was the fun factor that was most important for all of them anyway.

Gwendolyn and Jonah didn't stay late this time because they had dinner plans to get ready for; and Kirley came to pick them up early. With most of the other kids still there, that made for an unexciting goodbye hug and kiss for Al and Gwendolyn, but then he had a busy evening still ahead of him too; so that was likely for the best. Once Gwendolyn was gone, Al let Lily handle most of the outdoor entertainment; and went up to his room to have a visit with Rose and Ray while doing a bit of packing for their vacation. The three of them hadn't had a lot of chances to just talk without a gang around; so that kept them entertained until Ray and Melissa were picked up. Al and Rose were back outside for another swim while she and Hugo waited for her mother or father to come for them; and that ended up being Hermione when she and Harry both got to the house a bit late after being delayed at the Ministry and stuck in the same meeting for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Rose and Hugo had been the last guests to leave; James had already been traded for Kathryn; and dinner was ready; so they sat down to eat and discuss their plans for the evening and on Friday.

"You want me to get packed for our trip tonight; work at Shell Cottage tomorrow morning; and then work at the store until close tomorrow night?" James asked and summarized after Ginny had begun telling them the plan. "I was planning on sleeping until noon tomorrow to rest up for work and the wedding; and I have plans with Ollie for some mirror gaming."

"So change them or multi-task," Ginny said unsympathetically. You've gotten out of the rest of the work to help with the wedding; so a few hours won't kill you tomorrow morning – and I didn't suggest it was optional."

"I'm not changing anything – you can change your plan and that isn't a suggestion either," James retorted. "You could drag me there, but unless you're going to Imperius me; I'll be sure to do a lousy job at anything you tell me to do. I think that this wedding is a huge mistake; don't support it; and have no intention of helping out with the train wreck – though I'll be happy to accept the apologies when I'm proved right about this too some day!"

"So you want all of the benefits of being part of this family without any of the work?" Ginny asked; and James laughed.

"Yeah, that works for me," he agreed; "though I don't see any benefits."

"What a surprise," Lily said sarcastically. "Why don't you try a year at Hogwarts with a school broom for Quidditch, second-hand everything, and no money for Hogsmeade weekends or anything else and see how you feel about that this time next year?"

"I have a job, and the broom is mine; so shut it, Lily."

"Right, and I'm sure that being a member of this family had nothing to do with you getting that job," she shot back. "Remind me again about how many under-age Witches and Wizards work at the stores for Uncle George – or ever have that aren't related to him? I'm pretty sure that the answer is none. That's right, folks, there are no benefits to see here; so move along. Can I pass you any of the non-benefit food you're demolishing before I shut it?"

"Yeah – pass me that bottle of wine to go along with your cheese," he retorted.

"You've already had enough whine – you're cut off," she said with a grin.

"That's enough," Ginny told them. "If you're going to insist on being such a git, James, then fine – stay at home tomorrow morning. Pack or don't; but don't complain to the rest of us if you don't have anything to wear or any of your toys with you when we leave on Sunday. You will be coming with us whether you're ready or not; and I will drag you there on-time when the rest of us are ready to go."

"Oh, I'm so scared," James offered – this time attempting a return to his happy and cheerful brand of back-handed insults. "Feel free to keep me off of every other work detail you come up with between now and forever."

"I'll think about it – while I'm thinking about whether you might learn a thing or two from being a bat bogey in a dragon's nose for a day or two while we're in Romania."

"Do dragons eat their bogeys?" Lily asked whimsically; and even James snorted out a short laugh for that one.

"I doubt it, since those claws would really hurt in their noses; but I can't say I've ever asked Charlie about that," Ginny answered. "Maybe you should do that when we see him on Saturday at the wedding."

"I'll do that," Lily promised. "Will we be able to do laundry while we're away? I'd rather not pack enough clothes for two full weeks."

Ginny leafed through the little stack of parchment she had next to her plate and handed it to Lily. "We'll be able to do laundry while we're camping near the reserve, and we'll have at least two shopping and sightseeing days; so that's my recommended list. There might be some Quidditch with Aiden and Charlene while you're there too, but we'll just take your brooms and keep the bludgers in the box if they don't have spare gear for everything else. The limit is one bag each plus a smaller bag or backpack for day trips."

"Can I borrow that new bag Mum gave you at King's Cross, Al?" Lily joked; and then laughed at the sudden scowl on James' face. "It was just an undetectable expansion bag so that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose could put their trunks and everything in them for the rest of the trip home from the station," she explained. "You didn't miss out on anything important."

"There isn't a limit on what they can hold either; so you'd all be able to fit your stuff in it for future trips home," Ginny added. "Getting back on track, though; the one bag limit is for your own benefit. Lily, you really wouldn't want to pack up your entire room and drag it along. You'd waste half your vacation just trying to find what you wanted."

"Or picking out the perfect outfit for whatever we're doing," James added. "Here's a hint for you – nobody will notice or care!"

Lily stuck her tongue out at him. "Let's see how long you need to get ready for anything if Aiden and Charlene have some friends hang out with us – especially if those friends are Witches."

"I could say the same to you about any Wizard friends they'll have spending time with us – or is Jonah your boyfriend now as well as your date for the wedding?"

"He's my date; and it'd just be really weird if any of Aiden's friends were interested in me. They'll all be five or six years older than me."

"Maybe Charlene's into younger men," James suggested with a leer. "You could split the difference and go out with a couple of twelve or thirteen-year old guys."

"I'll be twelve in September, and Charlene is closer to fifteen than fourteen, but you're not taking Arithmancy anyway; so I'll cut you some slack on that one."

"You're just full of these zingers tonight," James said with a snort. "Leave the comedy for those of us with a sense of humor. You suck at it."

"Come on, guys," Harry said; sounding a bit exasperated. "You've had a pretty good first week of the summer. Don't start messing with that heading into the start of our vacation."

James had snorted at that too, but Ginny had jumped in and got them back on track with her schedule and orders that took them through to the start of the wedding ceremony on Saturday. By the time she was finished, they were nearly finished having dinner, so they did that; cleaned up; and then it was time for most of them to get to work. While Al and Lily were happy to get most of their packing done, James had apparently decided that he needed to take a stand; and intentionally went to the sitting room to prove that he wasn't going to be ordered around by his parents. That ongoing rebellion bugged Al and Lily; though that was for other, mostly petty reasons compared to why it bothered their parents. Not having the fighting and temper tantrums was nicer; but giving into James every time he threw a fit or refused to do something wasn't right or fair.

Getting packed; cleaning rooms; and helping with a few other chores before bedtime kept them busy all evening; and then Al wrapped his day up with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. She'd spent some time packing after getting finished with her dinner adventure; and was pretty much ready for their vacation too by the time she'd called Al for their chat. He was likely the first in the house to be sleeping again, but Lily and their parents were in their rooms by the time he wrapped up his mirror chat with Gwendolyn. He was up early on Friday morning; and had breakfast cooked by the time that Harry, Ginny, and Lily all came downstairs together – and without James. He had, after all, insisted that he needed to sleep until noon; so they didn't even try to wake him up. If he'd woken on his own, James was hiding in his room to make sure that he couldn't be drafted onto the work crew at the last minute, but Al was okay with the reprieve; and enjoyed the meal more without the kind of entertainment James always brought to the table with him.

Harry took Al and Lily over to Shell Cottage on his way to work while Ginny stayed behind for a while to take care of a few morning chores there; and then it was time to get to work again. First up was one last round of cleaning for the area along the top of one of the bluffs where the tent was going to be set up, and since it was arriving by mid-morning; that was a job with a hard time limit. There were extra guys around to help with that work; and then Bill was in charge of the small gang of over-age Wizards and Witches thathe rounded up when it was time to raise the tent. Al and Rose weren't supposed to be part of that group, but they were there; and jumped in to help with seashells and charm bracelet when the older teens and adults needed the extra nudge here and there to get the massive tent set up. After that, it was on to another round of weeding and sprucing up for the gardens, followed by a swim break; a once-over of the beaches again to make sure they were perfect for the wedding; and then a late lunch. The last job of the day was the decorating; and that took the rest of the afternoon. The tent was decorated inside and out; and the yard and cottage looked very festive by the time they were finished too.

Ginny had been helping out by then too, and had been there for part of the morning; but had been away for a couple of hours while dealing with James. Getting him to the store for his shift there had been the main reason for that, but she also fit in getting his hair cut too while in Diagon Alley anyway; and saving herself from the trouble she might have had if she'd left it until Saturday morning. When they were finished the work at Shell Cottage, Ginny decided to take Al and Lily to London; meet up with Harry there; and have a fast food dinner at their favorite Mall. Harry and Al decided to get their hair cuts done after that instead of doing it Saturday morning; so Ginny and Lily did a bit of shopping while they waited. From there, it was back home again for some more chores around the house and yard; and then Al went up to his room for the rest of the night shortly after Harry brought James home from the store and his brother had started annoying him almost immediately while taking over the mirror gaming from Al and Lily.

They hadn't been playing for long, but Al was going to avoid fighting with James if at all possible for his parents' sake; and reading in bed was fun too while he waited for the bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. Lily took a bit longer to get annoyed with James, but she did get there; and then stopped into Al's room to vent a bit before hugging him goodnight and moving on when Gwendolyn called him. Friday was the last day they'd needed to survive apart before they were going to see each other every day for the next sixteen days; so that mirror chat was a happy half-hour of fun; and then they both decided to get to sleep early so they'd be ready for a very long, busy weekend. The early end to his night meant the early start to Teddy and Victoire's big day was good too. Al was first to the kitchen; he started cooking breakfast; and had the coffee brewed and ready by the time Harry joined him there.

"Are you ready for the big day?" Harry asked; and Al grinned at him.

"That's a better question for you to be asking your Godson," he joked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, but I'm dealing with a lot of memories and a bit sad this morning. I don't think that I ever expected that it would still be quite like this even now that we're more than twenty years since the war ended."

"I'm not surprised," Al told him seriously. "Teddy will feel the same way, and wish his parents could be there, but you and Grandma Andromeda have helped him to have a really great childhood, Dad; and he's turned out fairly well."

"That seems to be a matter of opinion," Harry countered; and Al shook his head while his smile faded a bit.

"Let's not go there. Teddy and Victoire are a great match – just like you and Mum are. James can only wish to grow up and find a Witch as special as Victoire."

"He would be really lucky," Harry agreed; "though I'm having a tough time picturing that future for him right now."

Al laughed. "I said he'd be lucky – not that I saw that in his future either. Are you going to bring James along when we go over to Shell Cottage this morning?"

Harry shrugged. "We'll see. He might want to come along if he's interested in seeing the place now that most of the work is done; but I'm not going to get the day off to a bad start." He smiled ruefully to Al's reaction to that. "I know, but your mother and I are just winging it at this point. We're hoping for better, and get why you and Lily are frustrated; but we have managed to go a week without any major blow-ups – or you nd James coming to blows; so it isn't all bad."

"That's true," Al conceded, "and we don't want to go there either. Mum and Lily have their hair appointments early; so I could use the help speeding this up so the food will be ready in time for them to eat before they need to head out."

Harry was good with helping him – and not talking about the not-so-much fun they were having thanks to James. Ginny and Lily weren't much longer before catching up with them; they ate without waiting for James; and then he groused a bit about that when he did join them mid-way through the meal. After Ginny and Lily left for their favorite salon, Harry and Al took care of the clean-up while James polished off pretty much all of the remaining food; and then they headed for Shell Cottage while James opted to stay home on his own. The main change from Friday when they arrived was the near-total absense of guys around the place. Bill was there, and so were three grandfathers and one uncle of the bride and groom; but the other guys – including Louis – were at Andromeda and Mark's house – mostly because the apartment that Teddy was now officially moved out of was too small for Teddy, his Best Man, and Groomsmen to use when they spent Friday night together after Teddy and Victoire were separated before midnight – and for the morning as their home base while getting ready for the wedding.

The only work that Harry and Al were at Shell Cottage for was one last, final check to make sure that everything was still perfect and ready to go for the ceremony and party. For Al, his biggest job ended up being a bit of clean-up at the beach to deal with a bit of mess that washed up on shore overnight. He had Uncle Casey and his ten-year old son, Riley, helping with that job, so it didn't take long; and he enjoyed getting to spend a bit of time with them. While he knew that Bill and Fleur were close to Gabrielle, Casey, and their kids; Al didn't see them all that often because they didn't attend very many Weasley family events. Ryan was still a year away from starting at Hogwarts, so Al didn't expect to hang out with him a lot there either; though there was a good chance that Lily and Hugo would – especially if he was sorted to Gryffindor too. The Fawcett women were out for the morning with mini makeover appointments too, but that was being done in-house at Shell Cottage for the bridal party, mother, and grandmothers of the bride and groom.

Having the girls taking over the house for the day meant that the guys needed to stay out of the way, so once the last round of work was finished; Harry took Al home again so that they could do a bit more work there until it was time to hit the showers and start getting ready for the wedding. There was a snack lunch fit in there too, but with a major wedding dinner ahead of them; even James was willing to take it easy at lunch so he'd be running on empty when the catered meal was served. Ginny and Lily were home in time to join them for the meal, and then there was a semi-schedule imposed as they all got ready and dressed up in their new suits, robes, and dresses. Al had been first to shower; so he was also the first to be in the sitting room and ready to go – with lots of time to wait for his mother and sister. James took a bit longer despite the fact that he hadn't done any work and had showered earlier in the morning; and he sneered at Al when he joined him in the sitting room.

"You should've spent more time in the shower. I can still smell the stink that is you from all the way up in my room. If I wasn't going to be so busy today breaking little Veela hearts; I'd offer to take Gwendolyn to the wedding instead so she doesn't have her social life ruined again by being seen in public with a stinking rotten loser like you."

"Thanks so much, James. You look pretty good in your new suit and robe too," Al offered, though his attempt at civility wasn't totally successful. He stood up; and James smirked when he was obviously going to leave the room.

"Truth hurts, does it?" he taunted; and Al laughed.

"Sometimes, but the only truth in this room right now is that I don't want to be around you anymore than you want to be around me; so I'll go outside to wait for Mum, Dad, and Lily."

"Don't you have to run along and pick up your date soon?"

"No, and if you'd paid attention to Mum when we went over all of this; you'd know that we'll be meeting the McCormacks at Shell Cottage. Victoire did invite her team Managers and team mates; so that shouldn't be a surprise to you either."

"Then I guess you'll be having no fun with all four parents keeping an eye on you all day," James scoffed. "You're such a loser."

"I reject your reality and substitute my own," Al said; and James suddenly stopped smirking.

"What?"

"That should be your mantra – I reject your reality; and substitute my own."

That's – funny," James declared; and laughed raucously.

"What's going on down there?" Harry called out; and James just laughed more loudly.

"We're fine," Al called out. "James is just having a good laugh."

"Just as long as Lily didn't use her cheering charm on him again," Harry called back. "I don't want him giggling – or laughing like that – all the way through the ceremony."

"I'm still up here," Lily said loudly; and it sounded as if it was coming from her room. "James probably just looked in the mirror. That'd be enough to set him off."

"No more insulting each other for the rest of the day," Harry declared. "Play nice from now on, or I might just let your Mum turn all three of you into bat-bogeys and you can spend the next two weeks hanging out in Norbert's nose."

"Yes, Daddy," Lily said, and while she made that sound insincere; Al knew that she'd do as ordered. He would too; and hoped that James wouldn't do anything to mess with the wedding – or bring down the wrath of his family on him for any reason.

Al was out of the sitting room before James stopped laughing; he went outside; and wandered around the yard until his parents and sister were ready to go. They apparated to Shell Cottage, with Harry taking Al and James along while Lily went with Ginny. They arrived with a half-hour to spare before the start of the ceremony, and while they weren't the first to get there; there weren't very many guests there yet. That worked out for Al and Lily because their dates hadn't arrived yet; and James was happy too because he was soon able to watch the arrival of most of the Witches around his age as they appeared in the yard by apparating or portkey. He did that while hanging out with Louis whenever his cousin wasn't busy helping to seat the guests; which also kept him away from Al and Lily when the McCormacks arrived.

"It's a good thing that we didn't meet up at your house," Al told Gwendolyn as he welcomed her with a hug. "If I'd seen you looking this beautiful before we were here; I'd have been suggesting that we blow this wedding off and just hang out at your house or mine all night instead."

Gwendolyn laughed and then kissed him.

"Thank-you, Al, and that sounds great; but we're not going to skip the wedding after all of the time that Mum and I have put into getting ready for it today. This will likely be the best party we attend all summer too; so we don't want to miss all of the fun – and we can always have that me and you night some other time."

"Let's talk about doing that sometime after we get back from Romania," he suggested; and then turned to smile at Lily and Jonah.

"I know how you feel, Jonah, and yes; we are two of the luckiest Wizards here today."

"Who's Jonah?" Jonah joked; and smiled while still looking dazzled by Lily – and the hug and little kiss she'd welcomed him with after being thrilled by his reaction to seeing her dressed up and looking her best.

"It'll come back to you," Al promised. "Should we go and sit down now, Mum?" he asked; and Ginny nodded. "Yes, but we might need to split up for the ceremony. I'm not sure how they're doing the seating for family and friends. Your father and I will likely be with your aunts and uncles – unless they want us on Teddy's side with Andromeda and Mark. If they have a section for the Harpies; Gwenog and Kirley will be with them."

"As long as we're together; where we sit doesn't matter to me," Harry told her with a grin. "Our junior couples likely feel the same way about that."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Gwenog said; smiling at the four kids. "Let's go – before we'll just be stuck with whatever seats are left."

They all walked to the tent together, and since Gwendolyn and Jonah were Al's and Lily's dates; Louis had them come along when he took his Aunt Ginny's arm and led six of eight of them to the family section for the groom. Some of Mark's family was there because they'd become close with Teddy and Andromeda; so Harry and Ginny were seated in the front row with spaces left open for Andromeda and Mark; and the kids ended up in the third row behind Mark's kids – the other 'aunts and uncles' of Teddy's family. That worked out for them because the Aurors' section was behind them; and they were able to talk with some adults that they knew – including Christine, Bryce, Kate, and Aaron. They didn't have any kids or teens with them, but that hadn't surprised Al because he'd known that only the family teens and kids were invited – and that was already a big-enough number without doing the same for the kids of friends too.

While Al was as involved with what was going on around him as Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were; he found his mind wandering and his senses reaching out and taking everything in. It felt weird to be on the inside of the family while also on the outside of the 'real' wedding action. For instance, Louis was busy with his duties as a groomsman, so he was working closely with his fellow groomsmen, Don Tremlett and Michael MacDonald. Both of the other Wizards were friends of Teddy's, and had been team mates with him on the Hufflepuff Quidditch teams; and the three of them had spent a lot of time with Teddy while getting ready for the wedding – including everything they'd done on Friday night and during the rest of the day so far. Missing out on all of that when it was such a big moment in Teddy's life had him wishing that he was a bit older and closer to Teddy; but being there with Gwendolyn was a fairly brilliant consolation prize!

That had him turning his thoughts to James for a moment, and he smiled as he replayed the memory of James' reaction to seeing Gwendolyn when they were waiting to be seated. He'd sneered at Al first; and then it had been priceless to watch his mouth drop open for just an instant when he saw Gwendolyn before catching himself and pasting the fake smile on his face. He didn't try to talk to them or insult Al, so that wasn't a problem; but Al did enjoy picking up on the sudden flash of envy his brother was feeling before the anger at his own reaction blotted out the envy. As he continued to let his mind wander; Al let what he was sensing from other people wash over him. He wasn't immersed in large, diverse, and confined groups of people this large all that often – not including at Hogwarts; so it was interesting to take notes and compare what he was feeling. It would be more accurate to say that he was comparing what other people were feeling to other experiences he'd had with that; and the range of emotions for such a happy event were quite surprising to him.

What was often even stranger as he put faces to the emotions wihtout really thinking about it was that the outside appearance was often just a facade that didn't at all match the inner emotions. James wasn't near unique in that – and others were far more-gifted at presenting their ;public' face to hide their true selves. Fortunately, the happy Witches and Wizards far outnumbered the guests with negative or dark emotions; or Al might have found that experience a bit overwhelming. His thoughts were interrupted when Gwendolyn nudged him with her elbow; and he smiled when he turned his head to look at her.

"Welcome back," she said quietly; and he laughed.

"I wasn't gone," he assured her. "This is all really brilliant. I don't usually think about our families being famous; but you can't help but notice it at something like this." He nodded toward the other side of the aisle and behind them. "Would you like to get some autographs? Viktor Krum is here with his wife; and there are some other fairly famous Quidditch players here too." He laughed as he caught sight of Hagrid at the back of the tent – and sitting just outside of it with Headmistress Olympe Maxime from Beauxbatons.

"Add in our larger family friends, a few goblins, and everyone else; and this is fairly extraordinary."

"That's unique to your family," Gwendolyn told him quietly. "Mum and Dad have never taken me to any parties with any half-giants or goblins attending."

"I think it's great," Lily leaned in and told her. "Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur work for Gringotts, and it's just wrong that most of us are okay with working with them or having them take care of our money; but don't ever try to invite them into our lives as friends."

"You're right," Gwendolyn agreed, "but I still can't imagine it a my house." She looked over to where the little group of goblins was sitting – and looking as uncomfortable as the Wizards and Witches sitting closest to them. "Could you imagine a jam session in the music room with the four of us and a couple of goblin kids?"

"Don't suggest that to your Dad – he might think that's a brilliant idea for a new teen band," Lily joked.

"Gwendolyn and the Goblins?" Al suggested; grinning at his amazing girlfriend. "It's catchy; but we might want to find out if Goblins are any good at music first."

"Cut it out," Gwendolyn told them. "I'm going to play Quidditch for the Harpies; so quit trying to help Dad out – it won't work."

"This is only for the laughs," Lily assured her. "I want you on that Harpies team with me." She nodded beyond Al and Gwendolyn; and waved. "Rose, Shane, and Hugo are here. I guess they managed to get Uncle Ron here on time."

Al and Gwendolyn waved at their cousins and friend too, but their arrival really was just before it was time for the ceremony to begin. Everyone in the tent knew when Aunt Muriel arrived in the tent after her visit in the cottage with Victoire to deliver her cherished goblin-made tiara. She was being escorted by Louis from the time she reached the back of the tent; and her commentary as they walked slowly toward the front of the tent was very entertaining.

"Well, isn't this lovely?" she declared loudly. "A wonderful view of the sea – not that any of the Wizards will notice once they see our Victoire – though some of the Witches here look quite nice too – oh wait; that one's a Wizard. Still nice-enough looking. If I was a few decades younger, I might have fancied him."

"And gotten him to get a haircut," Lily whispered.

"I just hope she wasn't talking about my Dad," Gwendolyn whispered back; earning a giggle from Lily.

They continued to listen to their elderly aunt's comments and pronouncements that were soon being delivered in a whisper that could only be heard by everyone within a mile of the tent once she was seated in the front row on the bride's side of the aisle next to Molly and Arthur. Andromeda and Mark were next-to-last to be seated next to Harry and Ginny; with Andromeda standing in for her daughter as mother-of-the-groom. Fleur was the last guest seated as mother-of-the-bride, and if the reactions to her was any indication; Al was sure that his Aunt Muriel was going to be right about at least some of the Wizards in the tent when they saw Victoire – Teddy included. It was only a few minutes after Fleur was seated next to her parents that Teddy was led to the front of the tent and onto a low platform; followed by his Best Man, Eddie Bones, and his three Groomsmen.

"Oh my, you and Andromeda have done a nice job with this one," Muriel whispered to Molly. "There's an idea for other Witches to think about – get your grandmothers to raise your future husbands. Remus and Nymphadora must be very proud of their little boy right now!"

Her comments earned some quiet laughter; and a grin from Teddy before the last part of her declaration had him looking a bit emotional too. Muriel had comments about his Best Man and Groomsmen too; and that included some details that were supposedly told to her by other relatives of the boys that had at least one 'great' in front of their familial title – a change in Muriel's stories that had developed over the years as she had more and more great-great-nieces and nephews. That usually just made the stories funnier and sometimes implausible; but Al thought that his Aunt Muriel added something very special to the occasion – even when her comments were uncomfortable.

It was time for everyone to turn in their seats and look to the back of the tent when the music started for the bridal party processional. Al did that too, but also kept taking in everything around him – including listening to Nikki Tremlett's flute solo. He thought that her talent for music got a bit lost with the Weird Kids; and her flute-playing was as exquisite as the music she'd played on her cello and violin earlier. Belinda Wood led off the procession for the Bridesmaids; and her transformation from fiercely-competitive Keeper to damsel-in-waiting was a bit shocking to Al. Charlotte Entwhistle was next, and then Dominique followed her – earning a ripple of sound in reaction to her that sounded like a collective sigh. The reactions that Al sensed in other ways stronly suggested to Al that placing his beautiful cousin third had been a good idea; since Belinda and Charlotte might not have been noticed if she'd gone first. The processional seemed to be fast and in slow motion at the same time, so Al didn't have much time to process everything while still having time to notice everything as Dominique began walking toward the front too and made way for the Maid of Honor – Heather Barbary.

Victoire's best Witch friend was now a veteran musician in the top band in the Wizarding World, so Al didn't find her transformation shocking; but she did rock the dress with her own style – and dazzled more than a few Wizards too. He hadn't even thought about bringing his camera along, but noticed that the number of photos being taken suddenly went from background noise to a cacaphony; and smiled when he noted that Lily was one of those celebrity photo hounds.

"I'll wait and get a copy of the wedding photos," Gwendolyn whispered; as if reading his mind; and Al squeezed her hand appreciatively.

He didn't look away from the back of the tent, though, because Victoire was next, and she was a sight to see; standing tall next to her proud father; smiling brilliantly as she looked at Teddy; her wedding dress a stunning, modern-style gown that was perfect for her – and had Wizards' jaws dropping with a collectively-loud sound that nearly overwhelmed the camer clicks.

"I'll give you a pass just this once," Gwendolyn told him; grinning at him; and this time, Al did turn to look at her and then share a quick hug.

"I love you," he whispered back.

They didn't want to risk interrupting the processional, so they held hands and watched as Bill escorted his daughter to the front of the tent. There was a pause as they shared a moment together – a hug that ended with a kiss on bill's cheek and laughs from both of them before Bill placed her hand in Teddy's and then stepped back to sit with Fleur. Teddy helped Victoire to step up onto the platform with him; and then they continued to hold hands as they turned to face the wedding ceremony official.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls," the Wizard began.

"My tiara looks lovely, don't you think?" Al – and everyone else – heard Muriel whisper to Molly. "Reminds me of Fleur at her wedding to our Bill – and she's just as beautiful as her mother too."

"Then and now, I'd say," Lily whispered with a grin for Al and Gwendolyn.

Al wasn't the only Wizard there that didn't pay much attention to the litany and words of wisdom that followed – including, he noticed, the groom. He still heard everything, and could recall it in the future if any of his favorite girls tried to test him on it, but he let his mind wander again – and was much more interested in everything else that was going on around him. Gwendolyn was part of that, and he was very glad that he was getting to share this first cousins' wedding with her. What he was picking up all around him made for a bit of an overload of information, but that just game him a chance to experiment with processing and storing all of that information on the fly wihtout letting it get to be too much. Some of the things he saw and felt weren't fun; but others were fairly amusing. James, for instance, was ignoring the ceremony entirely and flirting with a few of Victoire's Veela cousins. Scary was sensing that those Witches were enjoying his attention.

While the entire scene was very entertaining for Al, he returned his attention to the ceremony when he heard the wedding official say – "Do you, Victoire Apolline, take Ted Remus to be your husband; and to love, honor, and cherish him for all eternity?"

Al felt Gwendolyn squeeze his hand more tightly as Victoire smiled at Teddy, her eyes bright blue and intensely joyful as she answered with an emphatic, heart-felt – "I do!"

"And do you, Ted Remus take Victoire Apolline to be your wife; and to love, honor, and cherish her for all eternity?" the Wizard asked Teddy next.

"I do," he assured Victoire; and Al nearly laughed at the triumphant expression on his cousin's beautiful face. He did smile as he sensed that Teddy was as happy to be caught as Victoire was about catching him.

The Wizard asked for the bride's ring next, and Teddy looked away from Victoire for a moment as his best man handed him the gold ring with the diamonds that perfectly matched Victoire's engagement ring. He had to let go of her right hand so he could take her left, and Al nearly laughed again as he sensed Teddy getting temporarily lost in the moment as he looked at Victoire again and was dazzled by her.

"Victoire, I love you with all of my heart. It took me quite a while to figure that out, but we have the rest of our lives and beyond for me to make that up to you. Whatever comes our way, I will be there for you, to share the joys and happiness; face the tough times together; and comfort you through the moments of sorrow and sadness. With this ring, I promise to love you now and forevermore."

It seemed a bit dispassionate, but Al found himself taking mental notes in an almost clinical way as he watched Teddy put the wedding band on Victoire's finger. He felt that way because it was a counterpoint to the emotions he sensed flowing between the bride and groom. Then again, since they seemed to be doing this wedding ceremony thing right; it was probably a good idea to remember everything for future reference. Another sensation, closer to him, had him smiling and handing a few tissues to Gwendolyn – and then a few more to Lily. By then, Victoire had turned to her Maid of Honor; and was being handed Teddy's wedding band. Somehow, her smile was even more brilliant as she turned back to Teddy; and took his left hand in hers.

"Teddy, I've loved you for as long as I can remember. It may not have seemed so when I was a toddler and tried to get your attention by hitting you with toys or force-feeding you treats to show my affection; but it is true all the same." There was a ripple of laughter; but Victoire continued with just a tiny pause. That love continued to grow stronger over the years until we were both ready for it to blossom into what we now share." She did stop this time and turned her head to look at Ginny. "Thanks, Aunt Ginny, and you were right – he is worth the wait!" The laughter this time was loud and hearty; and Aunt Muriel's laugh might have been heard by the sailors on ships out on the ocean – half-way to the Americas. "Thank-you for the joy and happiness we've already shared; and as I know you'll be there for me; I will stand by you in all that we do; for the rest of our lives. With this ring, I promise to love you always, Teddy; and try my very best to fill your life with as much love, joy and happiness as you've given me."

There were tears in the eyes of quite a few Witches by then, but Teddy and Victoire were simply suffused with love and joy as she placed the ring on his finger – her eyes dry and brilliantly blue and triumphant; while his were just a bit dazzled and awed. The Wizard took out his wand, and Victoire and Teddy put their arms around each other. Their faces were mere inches apart as they looked into each other's eyes; and Al kept all of his senses open as he watched on expectantly.

"The rings have been exchanged, and the promises and pledges spoken," the Wizard said in his singsong voice. "It is my honor and pleasure to declare you bonded for life!"

Waving his wand high over their heads, a shower of silver stars fell over Teddy and Victoire; spiraling around them as she pulled him into a fairly enthusiastic kiss and embrace as the magic of the bonding suffused them and sealed the bond between them. Al was able to sense the magic in action; and understood it on a level that he suspected only a few Witches nd Wizards there did – including the married couples that had experienced the bonding. What was especially interesting to him was that this was a bonding where the magic was limited or strengthened by the will and commitment of the bride and groom. That wasn't the case with other bondings – like an unbreakable bond. While that was a bit disconcerting; he was glad to sense that the bond Teddy and Victoire had just forged was incredibly strong magic; and that had him sure that they truly would be bonded for all eternity.

There was more laughter when George whistled; set off a few whizz-bangs; and led the applause as the swirling stars began to dissipate. All of that noise put an end to the first kiss that Teddy and Victoire shared as husband and wife, but they still held on to each other for another few moments before the Wizard asked everyone to stand and move into the center or outer aisles. That took a couple of minutes, but once they'd all done that, he waved his wand again; and got everything set up for the dinner and dance. The members of Teddy and Victoire's wedding party were given some time to congratulate them first; followed by the Wizard that had just bonded them; and then the parents – including Harry and Ginny, grandparents, and Aunt Muriel were next in line for the hugs, kisses, and congratulations. Al, Lily, and their dates were down the list for family well-wishers; so they had time to stand around and chat with other nearby guests while waiting for their turn to congratulate the newlyweds.

"That was so beautiful," Gwendolyn told Al quietly; and then smiled at him. "I hope you took notes."

Al laughed. "Actually, I did," he admitted. "It will be like that for us – whether we have a big wedding or elope."

"Did you get engaged and forget to tell me?" Lily asked them; her eyes wide and innocent with an act that their Mum could be proud of her for pulling off so perfectly.

"Not yet," Al answered. "Marrying Gwendolyn is part of my future plan, but it only seems fair to give her a few more years to find out whether she wants to end up stuck with a trouble-magnet like me for a fiancée or husband."

"Nicely done," Lily complimented him; and then looked out at the sea. "Maybe putting the tent here wasn't such a good idea. It's a perfect day for a swim and some play time on the beach."

"We might wish we were doing that in a second," Al suggested; nodding toward where their Aunt Muriel was taking her turn congratulating Teddy and Victoire. "Let's hope that her advice this time isn't as graphic as some of the things we've heard about her telling newlyweds at other weddings in the past."

"La-la-la-la-la," Lily sang softly; earning laughs from Gwendolyn and Jonah.

Muriel was as outspoken as usual with Teddy and Victoire, but didn't offer any explicit wedding night advice to them. With a lot of guests to do the meet and greet with, though, Molly also managed to move things along. Mark's family waited for the Weasley and Delacour families to congratulate the happy couple; so Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah waited with them until their entire group was nudged into line behind Fred, Wendy Wintringham, and Roxanne – and ahead of the more-distant cousins. When it was their turn; the thirty seconds that the four of them had with Teddy and Victoire was a tiny blast of fun; but then they moved on and got out of the way. Refreshments were already being served by then, and though Ginny told them not to wander off too far because they'd be in at least a few wedding pictures; they were able to pick up drinks and then get out of the tent for a while where they could enjoy the breeze coming in off the sea and it was a bit quieter.

"I should've thought about those wedding pictures and had you brew up a batch of Polyjuice before you came home," Lily told Al and Gwendolyn. "We could've gotten some stand-ins and then gone and had fun while they did the boring stuff."

"Wouldn't you be worried about Jonah getting you mixed up with your double – or the other way around?" Gwendolyn teased; and Lily laughed.

"That might be a problem," she conceded. "Maybe I should think my plans through a bit before spouting off."

"I thought it was a good idea – for getting out of standing around for an hour while they take pictures," Jonah offered; and then grinned. "Al might be able to make that fun. He could pick being a different animal for every shot."

That suggestion earned a round of laughs; and Lily hugged him. "that's brilliant, and Teddy could change his appearance in every picture too – though Victoire might not find that very funny."

"It might be tough to explain to the kids some day if she has a different groom in every picture," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Jonah's idea is funny; but let's not try anything that would take away from today being all about Teddy and Victoire."

"Not to mention that I'd hear about doing something like that for the rest of my life," Al added.

"Okay," Lily agreed with a shrug. "We'll save the Animorphmagus thing for the team photos next season instead."

"And here's the picture of the Gryffindor Junior Quidditch team; led by Ravenclaw Golden Eagle Albus Potter," Gwendolyn joked. "That would be brilliant!"

"I'd prefer one with me sitting on a Gryffindor lion; but your idea is funny too," Lily told her with a laugh.

"At least you're sure you'll be on that team," Jonah told her. "I might not even be in the Quidditch picture regardless of which House I'm sorted to in September."

"You'll be Ravenclaw with me," Gwendolyn told him; "and I want you to try out for Chaser and Seeker so that you can still play even if Stephanie wins your Seeker duel."

"I'm not as good at Chaser."

"You're better than Landon; and probably better than anyone else that will try out next season. That worked for Rose in her first season when she couldn't have tried out against Louis for Keeper anyway."

"You could practice some of the time with Al and Gwendolyn too," Lily suggested. "It's a good back-up plan – though I think we'll both be ready by September to win our tryouts for Seeker."

"If you're going to have such a brilliant Quidditch career at Hogwarts, maybe Jonah should hope to be a Chaser," Al said with a grin for Jonah. "I don't know which would be worse – losing every Seeker duel to you; or messing up your plan by winning all of them."

"Losing seven matches would be worse," Jonah assured him. "Option two would never happen; since there is no way I'd ever beat Lily seven out of seven times when we're playing real games."

"That's true," Lily agreed; laughing and then sharing a quick hug with him; "but then I don't think I could win all seven matches against you either – no matter how nice that would be if I could." She turned her smile on Al and Gwendolyn then. "At least Al won't have to worry about that. He's missed a season and has a tie in their first match; so now he's down to a best-of-five with Gwendolyn – if they both get to play every year."

"Do you think we won't?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily shrugged.

"Merlin only knows what James might do if he gets another shot at being team Capttain, but Al will have a lot of competition in his fourth year; we could both end up off the team in James' seventh year; and I'll hope that he doesn't have too much competition in his NEWT year to make it on the team."

"Though you'd be okay with an all-Witch team if he didn't make it," Gwendolyn guessed. "I could picture Melissa, Kathryn, and Roxanne as your Chasers with Rose as your Keeper; but haven't heard of many Witches playing Beater – except in my own family."

"Anyone we should know about that we should talk to the sorting hat about?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn grinned at her.

"Yes, but I'm not telling," she teased.

"Jonah, can you tell me which cousin or cousins Gwendolyn's talking about, please?" she asked; putting her arms around him and hugging him. "Pretty please?"

"Who is Jonah?" he asked; and then laughed when Lily prompted him further with a little kiss. "Katrina Rivers – she'll be starting in September with us; and Greta Jones – she's a year younger than us. They both want to be Beaters like Mum."

"Are they any good?" Lily asked next; and Jonah shrugged.

"I guess they're okay; but not as good as Fred or the McClaggens."

"Maybe not, but we could invite them to some of our practices this summer if they can come," Lily suggested.

"Not if they're going to be as easily-swayed by you as Jonah," Gwendolyn joked. "Gryffindor already has a couple of good Beaters. You don't need to look for replacements."

"You're looking to replace me?" Fred asked Lily; and Al was sure that Gwendolyn had seen him approaching them with Wendy and Roxanne.

"Maybe," Lily agreed easily; "but only in the scenario we're talking about for an all-Witch Gryffindor team. You'd be in good company with Al and Ray – out of luck too."

"I don't want to be in good company – I want to be on the team," Fred advised her. "You should pick family first too; so save your all-Witch plans for when you're with the Harpies."

"It wasn't a plan – more of a wish list," Lily offered unapologetically. "Are you guys having fun so far?"

"It's a bit boring so far," Fred said; and then smiled ruefully when Wendy gave him a shoulder bump. "You know what I mean," he added defensively. "We've had hours of waiting and the ceremony lasted about twenty minutes – if that. Grandma and Grandpa still get teased about eloping; but maybe that's the way to go. Get married with just a couple of witnesses; and then throw a party later."

"I don't remember hearing about any parties for Grandma and Grandpa," Al told him. "Their families were too mad at them for that."

"Maybe if they'd had the party they'd have gotten over being mad right away," Lily suggested with a grin. "Al would love that idea, and might be able to get away with it too; but Mum would never let me just elope. She'll want to have a wedding like this one for me."

"You don't think that my Mum wants that for me?" Gwendolyn asked; trying to look devastated; and Lily laughed.

"I think your Mum might just agree with Fred – or would at least want to have a casual-dress wedding. She looks amazing dressed up; but would rather be in jeans or shorts and a tee."

"I'd rather be in shorts and a tee," Fred declared. "How long do you think we'll have to keep wearing these robes? It's a bit hot for all of these layers."

"Another hour or so," Al answered. "Sooner if they decide to do the big family photos first."

That wasn't what the official wedding photographer did, so they waited around with the rest of their extended families while Teddy and Victoire were first photographed together; with various pairings of their wedding party; their parents; grandparents; Aunt Muriel; and combinations of all of them too. Eventually, there was a major photo with the Weasley aunts, uncles, and cousins; another one with the Delacour side of the family; and then one enormous group with all of the cousins that the photographer took with three cameras at the exact same time so that he'd be able to combine the pictures later. Through all of that, Al was glad that the only time he was anywhere near James was when Ginny insisted on James standing with his parents, brother, and sister – and that had been enough James-time to last Al for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn had smacked him for trying to put his arm around her while Al was only holding her hand; and then he kept trying to stick rabbit ear wheezes on Al's head just as the photographer was ready to snap the shot.

While that had been going on, the rest of the wedding guests were kept entertained with a rotating group of musicians, with the non-wedding party members of the Weird Kids on the Block taking turns playing music that ranged from the classical to current popular hits. Kirley took a short turn just for the fun of it during one of those transitions, and Al and Gwendolyn were glad that they weren't near-enough for him to try and draft them for a song or two too. Once the picture-taking was wrapped up, the wedding party was given a half-hour to go into the cottage and freshen up before dinner; and then they all sat down to enjoy the meal once Teddy and Victoire had returned.

The meal was catered, and the company doing the job had a mix of Witches, Wizards, Squibs, and House-elves working for them. That made for an interesting mix of service options that was half-Hogwarts and half-Leaky Cauldron. Al and Gwendolyn were with Lily and Jonah for dinner; but didn't have any parental support – and were instead matched up with four more cousins. That worked for them because Rose, Shane, Fred, and Wendy were their tablemates; while James ended up at a table about as far away from the head table as Ginny had been able to arrange. Since that meant putting him with some of the extended family teens – including Victoire's Veela cousins; James was happy with that plan. Hopefully, he'd remain distracted all evening and stay out of trouble too.

"Don't worry about James, and let's just have a brilliant night," Gwendolyn told Al; and he smiled at her.

"Reading my mind?"

"More like watching you and reading the signs," she countered. "Let the adults in the family worry about James. Quite a few of them are doing that, you know."

"Yeah, I do, and will try; but I'll still worry just a bit – especially when we'd be two of James' prime targets tonight."

"Maybe not," Lily disagreed. "Veelas are very serious about their families. Messing with his own brother would not go over well with them."

"Let's run with that theory and move on," Gwendolyn decided. "What do you think about your first Wizarding wedding, Shane?"

"It isn't much different from a Muggle wedding so far – if you don't include the apparating, portkeys, or the rest of the magic I've seen so far since getting here. I'm fairly sure that there isn't another Aunt Muriel anywhere in the Muggle world either, but there is something like seven and a half billion Muggles; so I suppose anything is possible."

"Uncle George still thinks about making an Aunt Muriel transfiguration wheeze every now and then so that every family can get to have an Aunt Muriel too; but hasn't ever actually done it," Lily advised him.

"That's because he's afraid of what Grandma Weasley will do to him if he does," Rose added with a laugh. "James is likely the only cousin she's actually needed to do anything to for him to behave around her; so it's her reputation that keeps the rest of us in line."

"Whatever works for her," Gwendolyn said, "but while Aunt Muriel's idea of having Witches get their Wizards raised by grandmothers sounds really great for us; I doubt that my grandmother would think that it was a good idea for her to do that with Jonah and the rest of her grandsons."

"Not to mention that it would be our turn someday too," Rose added. "Lily wouldn't even be able to do it if she's going to still be playing Quidditch for the Harpies when she's Aunt Muriel's age."

"At the rate she's going, Aunt Muriel will still be going to watch those games when I'm her age," Lily only half-joked. "Maybe she's got a Philosopher's Stone that none of us knows about; and there are a lot more than two greats ahead of the 'aunt'."

"I've never heard her tell any stories about knowing Nicolas Flamel's grandmother – or about there being more than the one stone," Al told her; and Lily shrugged.

"It wouldn't be much of a secret if she told everyone. How old is Aunt Muriel now anyway?"

"One hundred and twenty-nine," Al answered before Rose could." He grinned at Lily. "She'll be one-thirty the same year you're thirteen. That'll be a fun family trivia fact."

"Wizards and Witches can live a lot longer than Muggles," Rose advised Shane; "though there aren't very many that do survive that long because of wars, diseases, or magical mishaps."

"Maybe that'll change for us," Gwendolyn suggested. "We're off to a good start with more than twenty years since the last war now."

"That isn't very long," Shane said; and smiled when Al laughed.

"What's the longest the Muggle World has gone without a war?" he asked; and Shane shrugged.

"Nearly seventy-five years since the last big one."

"True, but since then, there's been the Korean war in the fifties; the Vietnam war in the sixties and seventies; the Cold War through all of that into the nineties with a bunch of little proxy wars; the Gulf Wars in the nineties and then again in the early two-thousands; and then all sorts of military messes all over the world scattered in around the bigger conflicts. We haven't had anything like that in the Wizarding World."

"How did we get there from me asking how old Aunt Muriel is?" Lily asked. "That isn't something even remotely fun to talk about at a wedding; so I'm changing the subject. Have you picked any favorite dresses from among the other Witches yet?" She'd directed that question at Gwendolyn and Rose; and the three girls were happy to take that topic and run with it for a while.

Talking about fashion, hair styles, shoes, jewelry, and date choices kept them entertained while they enjoyed the meal and dessert; and then they had some time between dinner and the start of the dance. Necessities of life like washroom breaks were part of that transition break, but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane also went for a walk on the beach while Lily and Jonah went to hang out with Hugo and some of the other tweens their age. They also checked in with their parents shortly before the Weird Kids took to the 'stage' for their first set; and then they sat down to watch as Teddy and Victoire led off the evening entertainment with their first dance as a married couple.

For that dance, the Weird Kids had a new ballad written especially for them; though Al and Gwendolyn found out later that it was going to be on their new album too. 'Love You Forever' was a wonderful little song that Teddy and Victoire's Weird Kids' friends had obviously put a lot of effort into writing for them; and it was also a duet that Martin Barbary and Meghan Crumb sang so wonderfully together that they had most of the Witches in tears as they listened and watched the brilliantly-happy newlyweds dance to 'their' new song. There was a follow-up ballad for when the available members of the wedding party were invited to join in next; and the parents and grandparents followed soon after that instead of starting out the dance with a handful of slow dances.

Al, Gwendolyn, and the other three couples at their table got up to dance as soon as they could; and the fun level kicked up several notches as the Weird Kids really got the party going after that. When they hit the third song into the first round of dance tunes, Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were in for a surprise because their Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie was the song; and the Weird Kids had come up with a dance to go along with the song that they began teaching to their audience.

"James is going to want to kill us later," Lily predicted as she danced between Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then chorused – "My Bat-Bogey Brother!" along with everyone else as they'd been taught already – while flapping her bent arms and leaning to the left. Heather repeated the line; the dancers chorused it; and they flapped to the right while 'boogying' from the waist down.

"Maybe, but not tonight," Gwendolyn answered before singing – "So come on and do the bat-bogey brother boogie with me!" along with about half of the dancers as they continued to catch on to the chorus. She nodded toward where they could see James laughing it up and dancing along with a group of teen Witches and Wizards – including one Veela cousin that had apparently, at least temporarily, 'won' James as a dance partner. "Having a new hit song written about you might have some advantages that he'll appreciate tonight if word gets out about it to some of Victoire's cousins."

"Then we should help James out with that," Lily offered helpfully. "I'll see what I can do about that when we take a dance break later."

There was more of the dance to learn as the song continued, and the Weird Kids did an extended version of it until their audience had successfully made it through the dance once without any major mess-ups. By then, Lily didn't need to worry about telling any of James' new Veela friends about him being the inspiration, because somebody else already had; and he was fairly basking in the spotlight as he had several beautiful young Witches adoring him as they moved on to the next song – an older Weird Kids' hit that was still upbeat and kept the energy level high. Al and Gwendolyn continued to dance through that up-tempo set; slow-danced to the three ballads that followed; and then took a break after the first two songs that took the tempo of the dance up a half-dozen notches again.

"Hi Mum, Dad," Gwendolyn said as her parents stopped by their table and sat down for a visit. "Having fun with the other Harpies' couples?"

"So far," Kirley answered. "Did you like the surprise?"

"We loved it – and it seems that James did too. We'll see if he still feels that way tomorrow."

"He seems to be quite popular right now," Gwenog suggested ; and then grinned at Al and Gwendolyn. "Maybe his reputation hasn't reached the continent yet."

"Or he's only hanging out with Witches that don't speak English," Gwendolyn added. "Getting back to the song; the dance was a great idea. Teddy and Victoire's song is wonderful too. Will they be putting either sone on their next album?"

"Both of them," Kirley answered – "and the album is being released tomorrow in time for their summer tour."

"That'll be brilliant," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "Is there any news from your side of the party? We've had fun, but haven't had any major teen drama."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Gwenog told her. "We're mostly taking trips down memory lane to weddings past. Victoire's been roasted a bit in absentia, since we haven't talked with her much; but other than that; it's pretty quiet for us too."

"And lots of fun," Kirley added. "There might be a bit of music play time between Weird Kids' sets. Can I sign the two of you up for a couple of songs?"

"No," Gwendolyn answered emphatically; though she smiled at her father. "We don't want to do that, and this is supposed to be Teddy and Victoire's special night – not a stage to try and launch a musical career from."

"So you'd be okay with a cameo set at one of the Weird Kids' concerts instead?" Kirley asked hopefully; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I love you, Dad; but it's still a no to starting a band or duo with Al – or a solo act – or joining any other group for either of us!"

"I think you've got it covered," Gwenog joked. "Come on, Kirley. Maybe you'll have better luck with Jonah and Lily."

They actually did, but Jonah and Lily only sang one song during the break that the Weird Kids took; and then other guests were invited to try their luck at entertaining their fellow guests for nearly an hour. That break time doubled as a break for the bride and groom too as they changed and got ready for their final round of songs and grand departure. To make sure that they couldn't be trapped into singing any songs, Al and Gwendolyn went for another walk – this time on their own; and enjoyed the comparative quiet. They didn't exactly cross paths with James, but did pass near-enough to him while wandering the beach to know that he wasn't alone; and that he was too busy to notice them in the area. Al could never imagine doing that himself – if he were single; and had just met the Witch; but wasn't surprised to see James snogging a Witch that he basically didn't know at all. He tried very hard not to think about the fact that he sensed that she was as happy as James; and almost sighed with relief once he and Gwendolyn were out of range of those baser emotions.

"Me too," Gwendolyn whispered; worried that the sound would carry back up the beach toward James and his happy new snogging buddy. "While I'm thinking about it, thanks for not spending the entire night staring at Veelas. She's hiding it well, but Rose is not happy with Shane."

"I hope that she'll cut him some slack – unless he does something really dumb," Al said. "It isn't fair to compare his reaction to me or the rest of our cousins. Shane has almost no experience with Veelas at all; and none around full-Veelas."

"There are other differences between you and Shane, Al; and then there's the whole issue of Rose's first date. She didn't ever want to have that experience again; yet here she is with Shane falling all over himself if he gets within a hundred feet of Victoire's cousins."

"I'm pretty sure that we're within that distance from at least one of those cousins all of the time when we're in the tent," Al pointed out; and Gwendolyn laughed quietly.

"Yes, so you see why Rose isn't happy."

"When we get back, I'll see if I can help with Shane at all," Al offered. "That might not be possible; but it's at least worth a try."

Gwendolyn had agreed with that, but they spent a bit more time on the beach; shared a few moonlit kisses along the way; and then returned to the tent in time to watch Teddy and Victoire returned from their own break. They were in more casual, if still dressy, clothes; with Teddy just in dress shirt and pants with a tie but no jacket; and Victoire in a stunning sundress that was perfect for a summer evening at a party by the sea. They did a round of visits with their guests first and handed out gift baskets that were either for families, couples, or singles. They weren't able to see everyone as the dance resumed, but they did stop at every table for a minute or so – including a visit with Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Shane. Fred and Wendy missed them while out on the dance floor; but Teddy and Victoire had needed to move on long before they took their next break.

Al had a little chat with Shane while Gwendolyn took Rose in tow for a girls' only break, but his efforts weren't very successful; and Shane continued to be mesmerized by all of the Veelas. While that was a failure, the dancing with Gwendolyn after the girls returned had been brilliant; and then they took a break again when the dance area was cleared so that Teddy and Victoire could do the last round of special dances with their parents and the members of their wedding party. After getting fresh drinks, Al and Gwendolyn sat down at their table with everyone else in their group; and watched the show as Teddy danced first with the Bridesmaids; and Victoire danced with the Groomsmen. The Maid of Honor and Best Man dance was next; and Heather had to take a break from the band to do that with Teddy while Eddie danced with Victoire. The father-of-the-groom and mother-of-the-bride dance followed that; and Al was only a bit surprised when Harry had that honor instead of Mark for the father-of-the-groom.

"Should I be jealous?" Lily leaned in and whispered to Al while grinning at him. "I guess they decided that Dad should get to do that for helping out so much with Teddy before Grandpa Mark was on the scene."

"You shouldn't be jealous," Al answered first; "and I think it's brilliant for Dad – and for Teddy and Victoire. Grandma Andromeda is going to get the mother-of-the-groom dance, though; so I guess I won't get to find out if I'd feel differently if Mum ended up dancing with Teddy instead."

"You'd still feel the same way," Gwendolyn assured him;"though I'm sure you're right. Do you think that your Dad is giving Victoire any good advice?"

"Maybe; but I guarantee he won't be offering any of the kind of advice we heard from Aunt Muriel when Teddy and Victoire visited her a little while ago," Al said with a grin.

"Some of us were too young to hear most of that," Lily told him. "I sang the bat-bogey brother boogie song over and over again until she stopped."

"She really did," Jonah confirmed. "Teddy and Victoire don't need any advice from your Dad. We all know everything we need to know from watching your parents while we've been growing up to know exactly what it's supposed to be like for a great marriage."

"Who are you; and what did you do with my brother?" Gwendolyn teased. "Didn't you bring your dragons and action figures to play with tonight?"

"No, but I did get my Viktor Krum trading card from this past season autographed earlier; so don't worry about me growing up too fast quite yet."

"He really did," Lily mimicked; both of them earning laughs from their tablemates.

They continued to talk while watching the dancing; and the father-daughter, grandmother-grandson dance must have been more entertaining for the two couples because there was a lot more laughter out on the dance floor while Bill danced with Victoire and Teddy danced with Andromeda. Finally, it was time for the bride and groom's last dance of the night; and the Weird Kids did a stripped-down acoustic version of the same wedding song they'd started the night out with. That meant one guitar, Martin and Meghan singing, and just a touch here and there of Nikki's flute as they sent Teddy and Victoire off on their new life together with a heart-felt; remember-forever kind of musical moment. Teddy and Victoire ended that song with a soft, sweet kiss; went to the platform to thank all of their Weird Kids' friends; and then left the tent along with the rest of their wedding party, parents, and grandparents. Harry and Ginny were included, but none of the other aunts, uncles, or cousins were; so Al and Gwendolyn got up to dance again once the music started up again.

With Teddy and Victoire on their way to wherever they were spending their first night before heading out on their honeymoon on Sunday; the party started to wind down fast. The Weird Kids played a couple of fast dance songs; followed that up with a reprise of the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie; and then wound the dance down with three ballads before they were done for the night and ready to star packing up. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were rounded up then; the two younger couples had to do their goodbye hugs and kisses out in the laneway into Shell Cottage; and then Kirley and Gwenog took their kids home while Ginny did the same with Al and Lily; and Harry and James stayed to help with the clean-up that needed to be done before Bill, Fleur, and their two remaining kids could turn in for the night. James wasn't interested in helping out – he was interested in spending a bit more time with the Witch he'd spent so much time snogging during the last few hours of the party.

Either way, Al was glad to get home, into his room, and ready for bed long before James got there – whenever that eventually happened. He had a short chat with Ginny and Lily, but then got out of the way while they had a longer mother-daughter chat that was likely all about how Lily's first 'real' date with Jonah had gone. While he waited for sleep to come and thought about everything that had happened at the wedding, it seemed amazing that they were only one week into their summer holidays. They'd packed a lot of fun into that week, and Al was sure that the next two weeks in Romania would be even better – especially when he was going to share all of those adventures with Gwendolyn! That was something to think about in the morning, but as he drifted off to sleep; Al was a very happy camper. They'd successfully seen Teddy and Victoire married without any James drama; his date with Gwendolyn had been brilliant – if not really very romantic; and they would only be apart for a handful of hours before getting together again and heading for Romania.

Considering all of his worries before they came home; Al was pleasantly surprised to have their summer-so-far working out so well. When he dropped off into dreamland; he was even hopeful that their vacation – and the rest of their holidays – would be even better!


	23. Off-Season Holidays

Chapter Twenty-Three – Off-Season Holidays

"I hate you," Rose said as Al hugged her tightly in welcome. His smile had been brilliant, and he was obviously in a great mood; while she wasn't feeling particularly happy at all.

"You don't," he countered with a laugh; "and I love you a lot." Taking her hand, he led her away from the parents and the rest of the teens and tweens doing the meet and greet in the yard outside of Shell Cottage.

"Well, that makes one of us. Why can't you do something stupid to get Gwendolyn mad at you so that I don't feel so awful when the Wizards I date mess things up with me?"

"Because I want to avoid all of the razzing I'd get with our family for the rest of our lives if I do," Al answered easily. "Grandpa forgot one birthday and that still gets brought up now and then. Let's not even talk about our Dads or some of the other stories from our parents' friends."

"What's the big deal? You're getting more than enough stories for other things. One or two more wouldn't hurt."

"Says the Witch that wouldn't be spending time as a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction," Al joked; finally earning a short laugh from Rose. "I'm sorry you had problems with Shane at the wedding, but in hindsight; that might be partly our fault. I don't know how we could have prepared him for being around dozens of Veelas; but you know it isn't fair to blame him for something he obviously wasn't ready to handle."

Rose laughed again; but not with amusement. "You do know the flaw in your argument," she said; and Al smiled and nodded.

"Yes, but then I have a pretty good idea of how you feel about Shane too. Maybe it'll be more than that some day or it won't, but he is a good guy; and wouldn't hurt you on purpose. We'll just need to make sure that the next dates you take to Dominique's and Louis' weddings are immune to the effects of Veelas."

"Good luck with that," Lily told them as she joined them. "We still have some Wizards in our family that are still affected that way by Veelas."

"True, but thanks for coming over and proving my point for me," Rose told her; smiling at Al. "Jonah doesn't have any experience hanging out with Veelas, right? I didn't notice him having any problems with turning into a brainless puddle of goo anytime he so much as looked at one of Victoire's Veela cousins."

"I noticed that too," Lily agreed happily. "There's likely a good reason for that; but let's not go there. We've got some work to do this morning; so I mostly came over to round you up to come and help."

"Well, that'll at least keep me busy so I can't sit around and have a self-pity party," Rose decided with a sigh. "I suppose James got out of helping out again?"

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "I can't blame Mum and Dad for it when Al and I prefer the comparative quiet too, but it still sucks to see him get what he wants every time by being such a git; and even all of his fake niceness is getting old fast."

"Let's not go there either," Al suggested. "I'm okay with this break from James before we'll be around him a lot for the next two weeks."

"Good point," Rose agreed. "Let's get to work!"

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and four out of five of their kids were all volunteers for the Shell Cottage clean-up crew. Getting there after an early breakfast had meant not getting much sleep, but the work needed to get done; and Harry, Ginny, and the kids couldn't help later because they'd be in Romania with the McCormacks, Rose, and Hugo. This time, Al, Rose, Hugo, and Lily all worked together; with their first job being a full clean-up of the yard and area along the bluffs where a surprising amount of mess had been left behind by the hundreds of Witches and Wizards that had attended the wedding. While they did that, tha overage Witches and Wizards needed to work together to take the huge tent down and pack it up; and then they needed to do some more extensive, magical work to return that section of the bluff to its normal, natural beauty. After all of that work was finished, the kids were sent to the beach to do a once-over clean-up there too; and then to go for a swim while they waited for the after-wedding luncheon that Bill and Fleur were hosting for the members of Teddy and Victoire's wedding party and most of the aunts, uncles, and first cousins.

Harry needed to go home and get James shortly before the rest of the lunch guests began arriving, but Al, Rose, and the younger cousins with them at the beach missed out on most of the pre-lunch social time. They were also mostly out of the loop from the adults while having lunch; but Al liked spending that time with Lily and their cousins. He included Riley and Caylee Fawcett in that; though they weren't technically his cousins – except through Gabrielle's unofficial adoption into the Weasley family. Since Riley and Caylee both wanted to grow up to be Seekers like their mother, they had a lot in common with Lily; and wanted to talk Quidditch with her now that she was just months away from starting at Hogwarts. Al and Rose weren't as involved in that discussion, but they did talk with all of their cousins about their vacation plans – and heard all about what Fred, Roxanne, Riley, and Caylee would be doing while they were in Romania.

The lunch had mostly been a chance for Bill and Fleur to thank everyone for helping with the wedding, and nearly everyone had other plans to get to after they finished eating and cleaning up; so it was still early afternoon when Harry and Ginny took their kids home – and had Ron, Hermione, and their kids with them too. Ron and Hermione came along so that they could spend a bit more time with Rose and Hugo before they headed for Romania to spend the extra five and a half days there while their parents worked instead; but they only stayed while Harry and Ginny rounded up all of the gear and luggage; put it all into a couple of undetectable expansion bags; and then gathered the kids in the yard with them when they were ready to take the portkey to Romania.

"We'll see you again on Friday, Mum," Hugo protested as he was hugged for a third time. "I'm sure that you and Dad can keep entertained for five days without us." He groaned when he saw Ron grin wolfishly. "Cut that out, Dad. You're scaring the kids."

"Maybe," Harry agreed; smiling too; "but now I'm wondering why we didn't send you with your parents for the extra week while Ginny and I stayed here."

"Feel free to leave us in Romania on our own and do that," James offered. "I can take care of the kids for you – and probably won't lose more than one or two of them to the dragons."

"Thanks for the offer, but no," Ginny told him. "You wouldn't really want to do that anyway; since having your brother, sister, and cousins cramping your style would be a problem for you with all of the girls you're sure to meet on the beaches and around the Dragon Reserve."

"That's true," James agreed. "We should get there right away so that I can go and check out those beaches before it's too late to do that today."

"Have fun," Hermione told Rose as she hugged her for a fourth time and then hugged Hugo again too. "We'll see you on Friday night when we get there after work."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "I love you, Mum – and Dad."

"We love you too," Hermione assured her. "Now get out of here before I start crying."

There were advantages to being Head of the Aurors, and making his own international portkeys was one of them. Harry got it ready; had everyone hold on; and then they were off to Romania! Their first campground was right on the Black Sea coast near Mangalia, and while there was a Muggle campground nearby; they were staying at one of the Wizarding campgrounds. The time change to Romania had them there in the late afternoon local time; so Harry and Ginny wanted to get their tent and campsite set up right away as soon as they finished checking in and finding the two sites they'd be using until Thursday. Once again, being famous did get them two of the best spots in the campground; and they had a spectacular view of the Black Sea and beach. James headed for the beach right away to avoid the work; but Al was happy to stay and help out since he was waiting for Gwendolyn to get there with her family anyway and wanted to share all of his holiday fun with her. She'd had lunch plans with her family too, and they were taking their own portkey in part for the time flexibility; but that had mostly been because they hadn't wanted to haul their camping gear and luggage over to the Potter's house only to take it on to Romania anyway.

Timing for getting their tent set up was nearly-perfect when they had that done and were just taking a break for drinks when Kirley and Gwenog arrived with Gwendolyn and Jonah. Though they'd only been apart for what was still hours short of a day, Gwendolyn had a very enthusiastic hug and kiss for Al when he welcomed her. She had hugs for Rose and Lily too, but Hugo stayed out of range and waited for the hugfest to end before joining Lily and Jonah. The parents decided then to set them free to go to the beach while they took care of getting the McCormack's tent and campsite set up too; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose followed their younger siblings as they hurried to the seashore – each of them carrying a bag or armload with towels and a few other necessities – like drinks and snacks.

"Merlin, it's beautiful here!" Gwendolyn said happily as they walked. She was holding Al's hand; and smiling brilliantly.

"It is," Rose agreed – "and not a Veela in sight. Maybe I should have invited Shane to come on this trip instead of to the wedding." She laughed and waved a hand. "Sorry. I'll try harder to keep all of that to myself."

"You might need to keep you to yourself," Gwendolyn teased. "You've already been noticed by some of the young Wizards out there in the water and on the beach."

"Don't you mean that you've been noticed?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"I've been noticed too, but am attached to Al; so you're the one getting the attention from the single teen Wizards."

"I'm annoyed with Shane – not ready to trade him in quite yet," Rose advised her. "The last thing I want right now is some kind of vacation fling."

"That's okay. We'll make sure that you have fun anyway – and we can get that started with a nice long swim in the sea!"

Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were already getting ready to do that; the spot where they stopped to take off shirts, shorts, and shoes as needed became 'their' little spot on the beach; and they were heading into the water by the time that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose caught up with them and got ready to swim too. The beach wasn't terribly crowded because it was dinnertime for a lot of the campers; but there were still quite a few Witches and Wizards around them – most of them from different countries in Europe. That added an interesting dynamic compared to home because there were a lot of different languages being spoken. Language barriers weren't a problem for James, and that just made his quest to meet new Witches more interesting and challenging for him. Lily had stayed away from where James had been when they first arrived, so they only watched him showing off from a distance; but they did meet a few other teens and tweens while swimming and splashing around. Al and Gwendolyn took a break when their parents came down to the beach; and went to sit with them for a while.

"What's the plan for tonight?" Gwendolyn asked after they'd done a micro-update on the water play time so far.

"We'll have dinner in an hour or so; and then you can do whatever you want for the rest of the evening," Ginny answered. "Some of us need a break to rest up – and go to bed early."

"That sounds goo to me," Gwendolyn agreed; and then grinned at Al. "We'll move your stuff into my room later," she joked; and laughed when he started blushing.

"That's my girl – and that's not happening," Gwenog told her; laughing too. "Do we really need to go over any rules?"

"No, we don't," Gwendolyn assured her. She looked out into the water and down the coast to where James was continuing to flirt with a couple of teen Witches that were part of a larger group of teens; and then shook her head. "I won't say it," she decided.

"Go ahead, some of us are likely thinking it anyway," Ginny prompted; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"I was just thinking that you should have sent out a campground-wide warning for the parents of every Witch between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. You'd never know from watching him that he was snogging other Witches just last night."

"Witches?" Ginny asked. "We only noticed the one."

"Not including the other half-dozen he dance with," Harry added.

"There were two," Al confirmed; "though I'm okay with changing the subject. Better yet, why don't you all come for a swim with your kids? The water here is really great – not to mention a bit warmer than at home."

"Let's see – sit here and talk about James' snogging habits or go spend some time in the water with beautiful Witches in swimsuits," Kirley pretended to muse. "Sounds like an easy pick to me."

Harry was good with Al's suggestion too, and while they didn't stay and play for long; they did spend a half-hour with six out of seven kids; splashing around and swimming until it was time to head back to their campsites and get dinner ready. James didn't join them, but Al did notice his brother's new acquaintances watching them either openly or surreptitiously; and expected that James was using the family fame while also telling the girls that his parents didn't like being bugged while on vacation. The last part of that was true-enough; though Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley were all experts at handling those situations; and would certainly have to deal with enthusiastic fans while in Romania. When the four adults left the beach, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose stayed until Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were finished playing for the extra half-hour they'd been granted; and then Rose and Lily went to pass on James' invitation to dinner while Al and Gwendolyn went back to their campsites with Hugo and Jonah. Rose and Lily weren't far behind; and didn't have James with them when they returned.

"James told us not to wait for him," Lily reported. "Can you call him on his mirror from now on for things like that? I don't care what his new buddies think of me; but he's lucky that I didn't use my charm bracelet on him just now."

"I'm sure those Witches and Wizards would have been impressed if he'd spent the next half hour giggling about everything," Rose suggested. "You do have to give him credit for how easily he makes friends with new people."

"Sure – and then take points off for how long he can keep them," Lily added with a laugh. "Can we do anything to help?"

"No, and we're pretty much ready to go," Ginny advised her. "You're welcome to sit at the table inside if you want once you've filled your plates and gotten drinks; but we're going to sit in camp chairs out here and enjoy the view."

"Ditto that for Al and me," Gwendolyn added. "We have enough chairs out for everyone – including James if he decides to show up."

They all stayed outside while having dinner; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of the clean-up; and then they all went on a walking tour of the campgrround that included checking out the camp store; picking up some information on local attractions; and watching part of a Quidditch match that was going on in a field at the far-end of the campground from their campsites. James crossed paths with them once, but only stopped long-enough to do introductions and then moved on again with his little group of new friends. After getting back to their campsites as the sun was setting, Harry and Kirley set up a campfire with help from the boys; they rounded up snacks and drinks; and then gathered around the fire once it was lit and burning nicely.

"Will you be too worried about being roped into a music career to sing for us tonight?" Kirley teased Al and Gwendolyn as he quietly tuned his guitar and got ready to play some songs for them.

"I'm not worried about that because it isn't going to happen," Gwendolyn told him. "This isn't the same as asking us to perform in front of hundreds of wedding guests either; so we'll be okay with singing along too."

"Good, because we love listening to your songs," Ginny told her. "The music might put me to sleep; so don't mind me if I doze off for a while."

"You might not be the only one," Lily said with a sigh. She was sitting on a blanket with Jonah and Hugo so they were nearer the fire and could toast marshmallows and other treats. "I know it's shocking; but I'm actually starting to run out of steam already."

"We never used to even think about the time for when that happened for you not all that long ago," Harry told her. "You used to go non-stop all day and then just crash into nap mode – whether that was at six o'clock or midnight."

"I know," Lily agreed; "but it's been closer to midnight most nights for at least the last couple of years – even when I go to bed earlier than that."

"We won't be staying up that late tonight – or at least I won't be," Ginny assured her. "You'll want to be rested up for tomorrow too – especially if you're going to play a bit of Quidditch out in that field along with all of the swimming and beach play time."

"I'm definitely going to do that," Lily assured her. "James won't want to play if we are, and we should probably stay out of his way when he is playing; but it'll be fun to find out how we stack up against some of the teen players from other countries."

"We have played against Aiden and Charlene," Al reminded her. "They're from this country – and are among the best players at their school."

"Yeah, but that isn't the same," Lily countered – "though I'll be happy to see how I do against Aiden too now that I have my Firestorm. If you and Gwendolyn team up with Charlene, and Rose is your Keeper; we'd just need to find a couple of Beaters to have a pretty good team."

"Don't worry about Jonah and me," Hugo joked. "We'll just sit on the sidelines and watch the rest of you have fun."

"We're here for four days. I'm sure we'll all get chances to play Quidditch – though we'll want to spend most of our time at the beach or going sightseeing."

"Let's have a day or two of down time," Gwenog suggested. "We can do the sightseeing and day trips after that. Kirley hasn't had any music play time all day, though, so we'd better let him do that for a while or he just won't be a happy camper."

"Should we start with the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie; or save that for when James gets back?" Lily asked; earning a round of laughs.

"Let's work up to that one," Kirley suggested. "You'll get a lot of attention if you do the dance too."

"That'll be fun – and funny whenever our camping neighbors get around to hearing the Weird Kids' new album,' Lily offered. "Pick one of the Weird Sisters' songs. That'll get some attention around here too."

Lily was right about that, but kirley was happy to do that for her – and get most of the kids to sing along with him. Harry and Ginny didn't, and neither did Hugo; but they enjoyed the show – as did most of the campers within listening distance. There were quite a few Witches and Wizards going for slow walks past their campsite too; and James eventually joined them with the Witch that had apparently 'won' the honor of hanging out with him for the evening. Her name was Maria, and while she spoke very little English with them, and seemed nice-enough; Al was getting a very different vibe from her that didn't match up with her outward demeanor. It wasn't the same as what he sensed with James, but not entirely different either; so he decided to simply be careful around her - assuming James was even still interested in her by Monday.

Kirley played guitar for a half-hour or so; had Gwendolyn, Al, and Jonah take turns after that; and managed to get two duets out of Al and Gwendolyn. Since Lily really wanted to do the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie, they wrapped up the music with that – and Lily happily taught the dance to Maria while getting James, Rose, Hugo, Jonah, and three out of four parents to join her while Kirley, Al, and Gwendolyn sang and played the song for them. James might secretly hate being the inspiration for the song, but wasn't likely to complain about the reaction to it from the Witches he'd been interested in at the wedding and again with Maria. With the campfire entertainment finished after that, he went off with Maria for a moonlight walk along the beach while avoiding yet another clean-up.

Al and Gwendolyn helped out with the work, but then they went for a walk on the beach too – going in the opposite direction from James and Maria. Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah had all opted to go to bed then, and the parents did too; so they didn't plan on staying out late. They just wanted a bit of alone time to talk and wind down before saying goodnight to each other. They weren't alone on the beach, but they were left alone – and did their best to give any snogging couples a wide berth while passing them. Public snogging on the beach wasn't their idea of fun either, but they did share a soft kiss or three here and there when stopping to enjoy the view of the sea. By the time they returned to their tents a half-hour or so later, they were ready to say goodnight in a mostly non-verbal sort of way; and then they split up to go and get some sleep – though Gwendolyn did suggest that Al could 'go Animagus' and sneak into her room later so she could cuddle with him for the rst of the night. That offer had been very tempting, but Al resisted it; and went to his own room for the night instead.

On Monday morning, Al was awake at sunrise; got ready for the day; and then went out to the beach to sit and enjoy the glorious start to the day. He sensed Rose come out to join him before hearing her approach; and he welcomed her with a hug when she sat down next to him in the still-cool sand.

"Careful, or you'll be getting a worse reputation than James," she warned with a smile. "Moonlight walks with one Witch at night; and then sunrise hugs with another one the next morning might look bad when they don't know we're cousins."

Al laughed. "If James has been talking about me with his new friends the way he normally does; my reputation is likely already shot around here. How are you this morning?"

"I'm feeling a lot better. The weather is supposed to be hot and sunny again too; so a day with a lot of beach and swim time is going to be just what I need."

"James might be bored before the end of the day, but I'm okay with a quiet day or two – especially since the parents really need the break."

"Let's hope that he lets your parents relax and have fun," Rose offered. "Did you see the mess in the kitchen? I heard him get back at a bit after three, and heard him out there; but didn't realise that he made up for missing about three meals."

"I did; and don't want to think about why he might have been that hungry," Al joked; and it was Rose's turn to laugh.

"If James was out there somewhere snogging Maria until three; we should thank her. He'll likely sleep until noon."

"He might want to, but I doubt he will," Al disagreed. "Aiden and Charlene are going to be here for the day – and will likely bring friends. James won't want to miss any hang-out time with Aiden – especially if he can talk him into playing Quidditch."

"If they're bringing their boyfriend and girlfriend, I'm going to be a fifth wheel all day," Rose said; and Al smiled at her.

"You'll be fine – and I don't plan on hanging out with James and Maria – assuming they still want to spend time together today. I'll stay away from playing Quidditch too whenever James is doing that."

"I don't blame you, but it isn't right that we're all tiptoeing around so that we don't have the thousand-pound git in the room throw a temper tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants."

"We all know that, and it isn't helping James either – even though I'm sure that he thinks it's great right now. Putting up with him acting like this all summer might be impossible for me; but I will try to keep my mouth shut and do whatever it takes to let Mum and Dad have a decent vacation. They do too much for us for me not to do that for them."

"Okay, Al, but don't forget that they are going to be kid-free from September First until Christmas. They will get to have a long break from James – and we won't."

"Maybe we should check out Aiden and Charlene's school while we're here," Al suggested. "Do you think that Gwendolyn and Shane would be interested in a transfer?"

"Can you learn to speak Romanian in two months?" Rose countered; and Al laughed.

"I didn't think about that. They always speak English with us. Maybe we'd better stick with Hogwarts and hope for the best with James."

"And be ready for the worst – as always. Works for me."

They sat and talked for a while longer, and then headed back to their tent; holding hands as they walked. Gwendolyn had a bit of fun with them for that when she came out of her tent to meet up with Al and wish him a good morning; though the good morning hug and kiss was fun too. When they went into the tent, they found that Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Hugo were all awake too. Harry was cooking breakfast for eleven; and the table was now big-enough for all of them. Ginny and Lily were still taking turns getting showered and ready for the day, so Hugo was just wearing the shorts and tee he'd slept in while waiting for his turn next. Al joined in to help with the work; Gwendolyn and Rose sat at the table with Hugo; and then he left to take his turn in the bathroom after getting the all-clear from Lily. Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah were there too before Hugo returned; and then Harry had to 'encourage' James to join them once the food was ready and on the table.

"What's the big rush?" he groused when he slumped into the only empty chair that was left at the table – between Harry and Hugo. "I thought we were having a boring, do-nothing day."

"There's no hurry at all," Ginny told him with a grin – "unless you're interested in looking your best when Aiden and Charlene get here with their friends. You met them at the wedding on Saturday, right?"

"Shay-Lynn and Pietr," Al supplied with a nod. "They're coming for sure now too?"

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "Julianne confirmed that with me a little while ago. She'll drop them off when she heads to work in about a half-hour or so."

"What?" James exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We mentioned it last night," Harry advised him. "You obviously missed it."

"He wasn't here for dinner," Lily reminded him with a grin; and Harry laughed.

"Okay, we forgot to tell you," he amended. "You've gotten ready to go somewhere in less time, though; so you can handle it."

Watching James achieve that goal was scary – for the food part of it. He began devouring his two plates-full of breakfast at a rate that couldn't have given him time to taste any of it; and then he ran off to grab a shower and get dressed – in his very best swimsuit and printed tee. Al wasn't the only person in the tent to find that amusing, but he didn't say anything – even when James made a grand entrance from his room about two minutes after Aiden and Charlene arrived with Julianne and their friends. She didn't stay long because she really was on the way to work, and since the parents in the tent had only seen the four teen on Saturday too; James was able to get them to set all of the teens and tweens free so they could go out and wander around the campground. He would've blown off Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose if he could have done that, but Charlene and Shay-Lynn wanted them to go along; so they all started the tour of the campground together – though it wasn't long before they were spread out along the wide, crushed-stone path that was large-enough for vehicles to use for the campers traveling by Muggle means – and even with Muggle camper-trailers.

"Hi, Maria!" James called out enthusiastically when they were near to the campsite that her family was using. "Have you got a minute to meet my cousins and their friends?"

"We know Maria," Charlene told him. Passing him, she hurried over to the other teen and hugged her. "I didn't know you were camping here too," she told her; and then laughed at the look on her friend's face. "Have you been having fun?"

"Yes, I have," Maria agreed; and both girls laughed at the open-mouthed expression on James' face. "Hi, Pietr, Aiden, Shay-Lynn," she added with nods for each of them.

"You know them?" James demanded of Maria; and she laughed in amusement.

"Yes, but don't get all stormy," she told him. "I wanted to get to know you without the cousins or friend baggage."

"You pretended as though you barely speak English," he pointed out; and she nodded.

"Didn't you have fun trying to work out other ways to communicate instead?" she teased. "I did."

"Too much information," Charlene told her before smiling at James. "Would you like me to do the introduction instead?" she asked. "Maria's been one of my friends and dorm roommates since first year. She's also one of the comediennes in our year; so it's no wonder you're getting along – or that she's played this little game with you."

"We are so going to have a little talk later," James told Maria; and she laughed.

"Okay, but do you want to do that in English – or should I go back to pretending I don't understand most of what you're saying?"

"Again, too much information, Maria," Charlene told her. "James is taking us on a tour of the campground. Do you want to come along?"

"I can't quite yet, but if you can wander back here after you're done; I can hang out with you at least until lunchtime – maybe longer if you'll be at the beach this afternoon."

"We want to spend a lot of time at the beach," Charlene assured her – though James has already told us he wants to see if he and Aiden can get into a Quidditch match today too."

"I doubt they'll have any problems doing that," Maria said. "Half the teens here likely know of Aiden from our school; and they'll all recognize James' last name. Fortunately for him, we were all born after his Mum beat Viktor Krum in the oh-two Quidditch World Cup."

"Yeah – they're mad at our Aunt Gabrielle instead," Aiden told her with a laugh. "I don't know if playing today is such a good idea for me. This is our home turf; so the pressure would all be on me."

"You never worry about that back at home," James told him, "but if that's a problem, I'll find someone else to beat; and maybe you could try your luck against Lily instead."

"Yes!" Lily agreed enthusiastically; and Aiden laughed again.

"I've heard about how you've been playing since getting your Firestorm," he told her. "I think I'd rather play against James. At least if I lose that duel it won't be a reputation killer; since he is a Hogwarts House team Seeker."

"I will be too – in a couple of months," Lily shot back; still grinning; "but I'd hate to be responsible for ruining your rep; so you guys have fun with it and I can always get in on a game some other time this week."

Playing some other time was certainly what Al and Gwendolyn planned on doing, and with the news that Maria was also one of Charlene's friends; they made an excuse to head back to their tents as soon as possible; and Rose went with them while Lily, Jonah, and Hugo stayed with the three older couples. Their stop at the tents was a short one – just long enough to pack a bag with towels and drinks before they headed to the beach. It wasn't very crowded yet since it was barely mid-morning; so they had space around them as they settled in to just hang out and enjoy the sunshine, sand, and, eventually, some swimming. Lily, Hugo, and Jonah stopped by an hour or so later while going for a quick swim; though they'd also come by to invite them to watch the Quidditch game that James and Aiden were already getting ready to play in. Rose decided to go along to watch the show; but Al and Gwendolyn were both good with not going along. Whether Aiden or James won, it wasn't going to be any fun for them; and might be downright awful if James lost and decided to throw a fit and find some way to blame al for the loss.

They weren't left on their own for long because their parents joined them not long after Lily and the boys left; and they were all good with doing nothing at all – or at most; going for short swims to cool off. There was good news from the Quidditch players and spectators when they returned from the match because James and Aiden dueled to a draw when the rest of the players decided to end the game without a snitch catch because it was too nice out not to be at the beach anymore. That non-decision had both cousins talking smack with each other; but Al sensed that they were both relieved that they didn't end up with the loss. While James monopolized their Romanian cousins' and their friends' time; they also stayed with the rest of the family while at the beach or in the water. Maria ended up staying with James for lunch after she and Charlene got that approved by her parents; and then her family ended up close to the Potters and McCormacks on the beach when they went back out there after having lunch at their tents.

Al kept alert, and stayed out of James' way as much as possible; but he was also able to have fun almost all of the time during those hot, sunny play hours until they were all ready to go back to their campsites and have dinner. They had extra company for that meal because Charlie and Julianne came to the campground after work; and Maria and her family was invited to join them too. That next couple of hours was a bit crazy for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose because they were among the draftees to help with the work. James managed to avoid doing anything while 'hosting' their dinner guests; and poked fun at Al on a regular basis using his new tactic of acting as if he was being fun and playful while tossing out the nasty jokes and insults. Gwendolyn helped Al to get through that, and they stayed to help with the clean-up; but then they rounded up Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah and suggested that they all grab their brooms and go to see if they could get in on a Quidditch match – without the older teens.

"Maybe you should play Beater if we can get into a match," Rose suggested to Al. "If you do that, though, I want to be on your team. The way you look right now; I wouldn't want to be any of the players on the other team."

"I'll be okay," Al promised. "We've mostly had a really good day; and I seriously need to stop letting James mess that up for me. Blowing off some steam will be good for me, though, so if we can't get into a match; we should go to the far side of that field and just do our own thing."

"Let's hope we're early-enough for the evening play time to start the first match of the night," Lily suggested. "I'd like to have a duel with Jonah; and Rose and Hugo could play against each other too – even if Al and Gwendolyn would prefer to play on the same team. While we're away from everyone else; what do you guys think of Maria sporting with James – and the rest of us – last night?"

"I think they're perfect for each other," Rose answered first. "Maria didn't seem to have any malicious reason for doing that; but it's a lousy game to play with people – and makes it hard to earn any trust if you start out with a lie."

Lily nodded. "I agree, but I can't shake the feeling that she had other reasons for doing it. If Charlene talked about the trouble James got into at Hogwarts with her dorm friends; that wouldn't make James sound anything like the version of him that she's seen so far since yesterday."

"If she knew about that and still wanted to get close to James; that must be weird for Charlene," Gwendolyn offered. "It's also convenient that she's here with her family at all with that connection – or it isn't a random coincidence at all. Maybe Rose is right; and Maria's perfect for James."

"Well, if she's into bad boys, then James better be careful what he says about Al; or she might decide that he's the one she should be chasing after instead," Rose teased; earning laughs from Gwendolyn and Lily.

"She'd better not," Gwendolyn warned. "I might not have a woodlouse transfiguration charm on this bracelet; but I'm not afraid to use what I do have if she tries to chase after my boyfriend."

"Is it possible to make a transfiguration charm for our bracelets, Al?" Lily asked; and he smiled and shrugged.

"Not the same way, and I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything like that with a human to animal transfiguration, but Uncle George does have all of his Transfiguration wheezes; so there might be other options we could take a look at once we're back at Hogwarts."

"Sure, because you'll have so much spare time for things like that with eleven classes and Quidditch," Lily countered. "You'll be lucky to have any time left over for snogging time with Gwendolyn."

"We'll get a time-turner before we let that happen," Gwendolyn declared with a grin. "Besides, Al will be taking Divination; so I'm sure he'll be able to see into the future and work out when we'll have time for our snogging sessions."

"If he can learn to do that; wouldn't we all rather have him use that talent to figure out when we're going to have trouble with James and Ollie – or our Slytherin haters – instead?" Rose asked; and smiled when Hugo laughed. "What?"

"Nothing really, except that if Al could do that; I'd rather have him get the answers to all of our tests and exams a week or two before we write them."

"You wouldn't," Al disagreed. "If we got caught cheating like that; we'd be in a lot of trouble – not to mention getting automatic zeroes on however many tests we wrote like that before getting caught. I'm sure you wouldn't want me or anyone else applying Divination like that for Quidditch matches."

"Not for playing the game," Hugo agreed; "but that would be a handy talent to have if you were betting on all of the matches."

"You sound like Dad," Rose told him; and Hugo grinned at her.

"Thank-you, and you can frown at me about it, but if Divination isn't supposed to be used for anything at all; then why bother teaching it at Hogwarts? Why have a Department of Mysteries filled with prophecies?"

"Mum would tell us that they shouldn't bother teaching it at all; and that it's total nonsense," Rose reminded him. "I don't want to take it; but don't believe it's useless either. It's one thing to use it to predict the weather or something else like that; but something else to use it to cheat – or for something even worse."

"I agree with you," Lily told her, "but if Al turns out to be really good at Divination; he could be a hit on the mirror network with one of those shows where they try to predict the future for members of the audience."

"Oh, look!" Al exclaimed enthusiastically. "A nice, open field that's perfect for Quidditch – the job that we all want to have in our future! It seems we're just in time to join in for a match too!"

"Did you see this in our future when you suggested we come with you and Gwendolyn?" Rose teased; and Al rolled his eyes while laughing with everyone else.

"No, but then you know why I wanted to get away from the campsite; so let's not go there."

Their timing was even better than it first looked because the kids and teens hanging out there were just socializing and waiting for the next round of Quidditch entertainment. That allowed them to begin putting the teams together for that first match of the evening with the six of them as the starting point. As introductions were made, it wasn't long before word got around; and it was easy to find eight more players willing to play a match with or against the kids of some fairly famous families. Al and Gwendolyn played together with a fifteen-year old Witch from Bulgaria; and had Rose and Lily on their team. Some of the teens thought that they were nuts to suggest a best-of-five catches match; though Lily and Jonah were soon able to show them why they usually played their practices that way at home. That Seeker duel was amazing, but it was Al and Gwendolyn getting a lot of attention as the game started and they began putting on a real show for a quickly-growing group of spectators.

"Merlin!" Charlie declared as he watched his nephew score a goal on Hugo that had left two of the opponent Chasers gaping at Al in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Yeah – what he said," Julianne added and joked with a laugh. "Okay, now that's just ridiculous," she added as they watched Al intercept a pass from one of those still-amazed-looking Chasers; make a blind throw that Gwendolyn caught; and then she scored into an open goal before Hugo had any chance to get back into position."

"Yes it is," Charlene told them. "We should get them to transfer to our school so that they can play on my Quidditch team this year."

"Or mine," Aiden added; and then nodded toward where Lily and Jonah were flying close to each other; each of them searching for the snitch while keeping an eye on their opponent too. "I suppose you might like to have either of them on your team; but I'd be out of a job on mine."

"No way," James scoffed. "We played for more than an hour to a draw. They've already had at least one catch that we've seen since getting here. Al and Gwendolyn are obviously just up against some really bad Chasers – and Hugo's an even worse Keeper than Rose."

Aiden laughed. "That Chaser he intercepted is from our school – and one of the best. I don't know the other two Chasers or most of the Beaters; but that fourth Beater playing against them is one of the best in our school too. I should know; since he's winged me a couple or five times over the last couple of years. I know that our professional league here isn't as good as yours, James, but we do get to see some pretty good matches; and I've never seen any Chaser duo that can play like that before."

"We have," Ginny advised him. "Fairly regularly in our back yard." That comment earned her a round of laughs – and a scowl from James.

"Does anyone know what the score is?" Kirley asked. Nobody did, but Charlene went to find out from some of the teens and returned with the answer a minute later.

"One-ten to forty," she reported. "One snitch catch each at thirty points per catch. Rose has only allowed one goal so far." She smiled at James. "If that makes Rose a bad Keeper; then I'd love to know what it takes to be a good one."

"We might need to recruit her just to keep her off of any of the other top teams," Gwenog suggested; and Ginny laughed.

"Will you have to worry about that if she's serious about playing for the Cannons?"

"Let's wait and see how good she is in another five years," Gwenog answered. "With all of the jokes I've heard about that, I'll need to hire her to keep Rose from stealing half of my future Harpies' players out from under me – including my daughter."

"Then you might want to think about banning her from playing Quidditch with Al," Charlie suggested. "He can't play for the Harpies; and it'd be a shame to split them up when they're that brilliant together."

"Quit trying to help Rose out with her plan," Gwenog told him; though she looked as though she agreed with him as they watched Al and Gwendolyn team up to score another amazing goal with a double flip stop-and-go play that left everyone watching it wondering how they'd pulled it off.

"Well, if they want to play for the worst team in the league, then I say go for it," James declared, "but I've had enough of this Animagus dog-and-pony show; so who'd like to head for the beach and maybe a nice evening swim?"

"I would," Maria told him. "Charlene?"

"We'll come in a bit," Charlene answered; indicating herself and Pietr. "I want to watch and take notes for a while longer. Maybe my team mates and I can learn how to do some of those plays."

"Anyone else?" James prompted, though with Maria already willing to go along; he didn't seem to care whether anyone else did or not. "Going once, twice..."

"And... done!" Maria finished; smiling at James. "I guess it's just you and me," she declared. "See you at the beach later," she told Charlene.

"Okay," Charlene agreed; not really paying attention as she watched Gwendolyn score the next goal after Al fed her yet another blind pass that was right on the mark. "Does he have eyes in the back of his head Aunt Ginny?"

"No, and I have no idea how he does that so accurately – though it does remind me a bit of how your Uncle George and Uncle Fred used to play Beater together."

"Well, if Al inherited that talent and Aiden and I didn't; I am so not happy with that," Charlene declared.

"I'd say that what you did inherit from both of your parents is awesome," Ginny countered; "but I can relate. When I was a kid and teen, I thought that it was seriously unfair that I didn't inherit the blue eyes; and my over-achiever brothers could be very annoying too."

"And then we were all jealous of her when she started piling up the League and Quidditch World Cup Championships," Charlie declared with a laugh. "In hindsight, it's likely a really good thing that I picked dragons over a Quidditch career. It would have sucked to have my baby sister beat me in every match we played in after she graduated from Hogwarts."

"We'll never know how that would have worked out," Ginny told him.

"Maybe you should find out by playing in the next match after this one," Aiden suggested with a grin. "You'd likely have everyone in the campground come out to watch that."

"You could say the same thing if Harry and Ginny had a Seeker duel," Charlie told him seriously.

"Harry doesn't like doing that when there are big crowds," Ginny reminded them. "Besides – we're on vacation. Some of us need to rest up before training camp opens up and we're into the new season."

Their conversation moved on as they continued to watch the Quidditch action above the field. Al and Gwendolyn continued to put on an epic Chaser performance until Jonah out-dueled Lily for the three-to-two Seeker victory; though that win was in a losing effort for his team. After that, it was time to head for the beach and some evening swim and sand play time while their Quidditch-playing kids stayed behind for a while to chat with their team mates and some of the other kids and teens as another group of teens were rounded up for the next match.

"Should we hide for the rest of the night?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they left the field and headed toward the beach and sea to meet up with their families with Rose, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo.

"Do you really think that you need to hide from James; or are you just coming up with a good excuse to take Al off somewhere and snog him senseless?" Rose teased.

"That would be a nice bonus; though our own tents are likely the only place we could do that around here and have any privacy," Gwendolyn answered with a grin. "I didn't expect James to be at the field to watch any of our Quidditch play time; and he didn't look happy when he left again."

"Everyone else seemed happy enough," Lily offered. "I know I'm happy – even though Jonah won our duel today." She smiled at him then. "Don't get used to that happening very often."

"I won't; but don't think that I didn't notice you held back on that last catch. You really must've wanted to go for a swim more by then."

"I did; but also wanted to give Hugo a break. His Chasers weren't much help against Al and Gwendolyn; and got in his way half the time too."

"Thanks for that," Hugo said half-seriously; "but I got my butt kicked by them tonight too. It isn't fair that Chasers always get to come up with those cool-looking plays while Keepers have to sit back and try to stop whatever they throw at us."

"Maybe you should come up with some fancy plays for Keepers," Lily suggested; and Hugo shook his head.

"It would never work. At the speeds Chasers are flying at; they'd just take advantage of anything we tried – like that double-spin Al and Gwendolyn kept getting away with. I think I guessed wrong every time except for one – and Gwendolyn still scored on that one too."

"You played a good game," Al told him. "Lily's right – your Chasers hurt you on defense more than they helped. Maybe they just don't practice Chaser defense at their schools as much as some of our teams do."

"Yeah, lets' go with that, since the alternative would make us sound arrogant," Gwendolyn told him with a smile. "I've had enough Quidditch for tonight, though; so let's talk about anything else for a while."

"Okay," Jonah agreed with a grin. "What do you think Dad will come up with for later to try and get you and Al singing duets again?"

"Nice timing, and funny," Gwendolyn assured him with a laugh, "but whatever he comes up with; it won't push us into a music career."

"That's good," Rose told her. "We definitely don't want anything to get in the way of your Quidditch career."

"A Quidditch career with the Harpies," Gwendolyn stressed and amended. "You ought to worry about your own plan getting messed up when you're playing the way you did tonight with my Mum watching. The Cannons wouldn't stand a chance if they got into a bidding war with the Harpies to hire you."

"Not to mention that it would be way more fun to win championships with Gwendolyn and me," Lily added; and then laughed at Rose's sunny reaction to that. "With the Harpies," she reiterated.

"I haven't said anything," Rose protested innocently. "It's always the rest of you talking about our – I mean my – Cannons."

"Saved by the beach," Al offered as they arrived at one of the entrances to the beach. "Do you see where our families are?"

That was diversionary for Al, since he could sense where they were, but it helped to change the subject; and then they were soon having fun playing on the beach or in the water. They played until near-sunset; and then headed back to their campsites for a campfire. Charlie, Julianne, and their four teens stayed for that, and Maria stayed with James and they hung out with Charlene and Pietr; so they had another big group for that couple of hours of fun too. Al and Gwendolyn were roped into another couple of duets, but then they decided to go for a walk on the beach for a while after that thanks to a bit of razzing from James that had been directed at Al – and ridiculous; considering how great he and Gwendolyn had played Quidditch and did with their duets. Since he'd made a snide remark about Al's Animagus too, their walk on the beach began right there when Al changed into his black stallion; Gwendolyn hopped onto his back in a graceful leap; and then she rode off while nearly everyone else around the campfire laughed.

Going for a run in the surf had been great; and covering the extra distance gave them an excuse to be gone for a while as they walked the two miles or so back to the campground once Al stopped and changed back. Some moonlight kisses here and there along the way was fun too; and they got back just in time to say goodnight to Charlie, Julianne, and Al's cousins before they headed home for the night. James and Maria wandered off after they left too, and the parents were ready to turn in then; so they left Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose in charge of winding down the campfire and making sure that it was put out when they – and Lily, Jonah, and Hugo – were ready to call it a night too. They all either got new drinks or refills and took washroom breaks so they wouldn't bug the parents too much once they were in bed for the night; and then they gathered around the fire again.

"Did we miss much?" Gwendolyn asked once they were settled into chairs; and she was cuddling with Al.

"Nothing from James that you want to hear," Rose answered first. "Nice job with the horsing around; but he wasn't amused."

"Mostly because Maria thought it was hilarious," Lily added. "She might have had James blow her off for that, but she started making up Animagus jokes; and they had fun with that for a while before your Mum managed to get them to move on and quit insulting you."

"Then I'm really glad that we missed all of that," Gwendolyn decided. "Dad left his guitar. Do you want to play for a while, Jonah?"

"Not really; and he probably left it hoping that you and Al would serenade everyone some more."

"I'd like to hear you sing Teddy and Victoire's wedding song," Lily told them. "I bet you'd sound just as good as the Weird Kids did on Saturday."

"We haven't learned it yet," Gwendolyn told her; "though I definitely want to learn it when we have time to do that."

"Funny, you know that new Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie song," Lily teased. "I was sure you'd have the other one learned by now too. Speaking of, I didn't see your new song on the track list for that new album. Didn't the Weird Kids like it?"

"I think that the Graves Robbers got that one," Jonah advised her. "Burst Your Bubble, right?" he asked Gwendolyn. "I'm pretty sure I heard something about that a while ago when Dad was talking about the summer tour for the bands with some of his buddies."

"That song likely works better for them since they still have some Quidditch players in their band," Gwendolyn said with a nod – "though they may have re-written it anyway. I liked the changes to the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie song."

"Me too," Lily agreed. "I'd suggest we do that again; but I'm good with just winding down now – not getting fired up again."

Was that a campfire pun?" Hugo asked; earning a few quiet laughs.

"No, but that does work. We're having another lazy day tomorrow, but I was wondering if we might think about a hike – or maybe seeing if we can do something out on the water – like going diving or something. There must be some water sports available in the nearest towns or the Muggle campgrounds."

"Why don't you just have Al turn into a dolphin or whale and take you for a swim?" Hugo suggested. "Horseback rides along the beach are apparently an option too."

"We should've tried that today," Gwendolyn said with a laugh. "Do you think that James would freak out if a shark swam up to him tomorrow?"

"I'd be worried about having a bunch of Witches and Wizards fillet me with their wands if I tried that," Al told her. "Let's leave the shark scares for the Muggle movie-makers."

"Since that's out; I'll vote for a hike," Gwendolyn suggested. "We could take a picnic; and give the parents most of the day off to relax and forget about us for a while."

"All of us?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"I'm pretty sure that James can find something else to do all day; though we can invite him and Maria – and then hope he'll turn us down."

"I like the idea of giving our Mums and Dads a break," Al said with a nod. "Maybe James will get back late and sleep in so we don't have to ask him at all."

"Okay, so next question is – where do we go on that hike?" Lily prompted enthusiastically.

They talked about that; Al and Gwendolyn ended up singing a few more songs that earned them some more attention from the neighboring campsites because it was quiet by then and their music carried quite a distance; and then they cleaned up and put out the fire when they were ready to get some sleep. In the morning, their hiking and picnic plan was approved by the parents; James was still sleeping when they were packed up and ready to go; and they were glad to escape without needing to find out whether he'd be glad to have the day without them or decide that it would be more fun to disrupt their plans by going along and messing with them instead. They headed north on the beach; with their plan simply to walk as far as they could or wanted to by noon; find a nice place to have lunch and play; and then hike back in the afternoon so they'd be back to their campsites by dinnertime. When they left, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo led the way; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose followed.

"Maybe we should go on vacations a long way from home more often," Rose suggested. "We've got the whole day to ourselves; and we're never allowed to just wander off on our own like this at home."

"I never really think about that; but you're right," Gwendolyn agreed. "Maybe they'll let us do that more now that we're teens."

"That might work for you and Rose; but it won't for me," Al predicted. "I'm not really parent-free right now, and if we have any trouble; I'd expect help to arrive fairly quickly."

"Are you bugged?" Rose asked with a grin; and Al laughed.

"Yes and no," he answered; since she'd definitely meant that question to be taken two ways. "It isn't as if they're watching and listening in, so it isn't a big deal to me; and I do get why they need to keep track of James, Lily, and me. There may not have been any attacks directly on our family in years, but that doesn't mean there never will be again; and they won't let their guard down – probably not ever."

"I'd hope not when your Dad is Head of the Aurors," Gwendolyn joked. "That's his job." She looked around them; and smiled. "Are you sure we're not being watched? He does have all of those Aurors working for him. Maybe they take turns watching you and Lily all of the time." She laughed then and squeezed Al's hand. "I really hope they aren't watching you all of the time. That'd be weird to have Aurors watching us when we're snogging."

"I'm not going to say that having Auror protection could never happen to us, because Dad would do it in a second if he knew that the bad guys were up to something; but we're not being followed right now for sure – and I've never sensed anything like that even once while we've been dating."

"So how are Mum and Dad keeping an eye on us?" Lily asked; looking over her shoulder and smiling at Al. "Is there a way to block it if we want to get away from it?"

"I doubt there's a way to do that while we're underage," Al advised her – "at least not for every way they can keep track of us. I'm not trying to be secretive or anything; but I don't think I should say how they do it."

"If you were James; this is where I'd suggest that you just made it all up; or just don't really know how," Lily told him. "Since I don't really care that they do that right now anyway, it doesn't matter; though I might not like it when I'm a bit older. How will we have any fun at all if we can never get away with anything that we don't want Mum and Dad to know about?" She laughed and pretended to slap herself. "What was I thinking? That'll never happen with you."

"We're still young too, so you never know," Gwendolyn offered, "but since you brought it up; what kinds of things do you expect to want to do when you're a bit older that you wouldn't want your parents to know about? That sounds like a fascinating topic to discuss while we walk."

"For the girls," Al said. "I might not want to hear about any of that for Lily."

That didn't end up being a problem for him, since the girls mostly just joked about their ideas for that for a little while; and then they had more interesting things to talk about while they hiked along the beach or up into the countryside near the sea when they wanted to make little side trips to go exploring. A mid-morning swim and snacks and drinks break had helped them to cool off; and they wandered around the town that ended up being their turn-around spot before beginning the walk back to their campground. The lunch break was after that; they spent an hour playing on the beach and in the water; and then had lots of time to walk directly back without the side trips and then wrap up their afternoon with another hour of sun and fun with their parents once they were 'home' again. While they were away, James had happily gone off and spent the day with Maria; and didn't come back again until after dark – so that they could join the campfire because Maria grew up listening to the Weird Sisters; and loved listening to Kirley's music.

Having James begin making jokes and razzing him again within minutes of their arrival at the campfire emphasized just how much Al had enjoyed being away from his brother all day. It was thanks to all of the fun they'd had without him that Al was able to resist blasting James. He didn't enjoy having Maria join in to help James with making up the jokes and insults; and it didn't matter to him that her motivation for doing it was different. She was trying to impress James, and unfortunately for Al; she kept on razzing him because that worked brilliantly for impressing his brother. He put up with their idiocies for an hour because he really wanted to have the cuddle and music time with Gwendolyn and share the campfire fun with their families, but then he gave up; kissed her goodnight; and went to bed when he'd long-since passed his tolerance for the stupid.

On Wednesday, the parents were ready to take their fun level up a few notches; so they went sightseeing for the day. They went to Bucharest; checked out some Muggle and Magical historic landmarks; went shopping in Bucharest's equivalent of Diagon Alley; had lunch there; and then eventually ended up back at their campsite again in time to enjoy the Muggle take-out dinner that Harry picked up on their way out of the city. While their sightseeing adventures were a lot of fun for the most part, and had been improved thanks to having Aiden, Shay-Lynn, Charlene, and Pietr help out and act as their guides; Al didn't have as much fun as he might have without James and Maria around.

They'd felt the need to keep poking fun at him all day; and especially when those jokes and insults would have the most-embarrassing effect on him. Gwendolyn and Rose tried to run interference when they could, but that usually just made things worse. Al did notice that Charlene seemed surprised by the way her friend was acting; but she didn't say anything to Maria – or at least she didn't do that when Al was around. Since the food was ready and hot when they got back to their tents; they had dinner right away. Charlie and Julianne didn't join them for the meal because they'd wanted to stay home and get ready for their weekend company instead, but Aiden, Charlene, and their friends stayed – and then remained for the play evening at the beach and the first hour or so of the campfire.

This time, Harry and Ginny took them home instead of having Charlie and Julianne make the trip; and Al and Gwendolyn took that opportunity to leave and go for another walk on the beach so he could get away from James and Maria. He'd earned more razzing for doing that, but then James and Maria were gone by the time they returned to the campfire; so they didn't have any other problems as they wound down from a long, busy day for a while longer before putting the fire out when everyone was ready to go to bed and get some sleep. Since the six remaining teens and tweens had been ready to call it a night at the same time as Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley, their post-campfire clean-up didn't take long. Al and Gwendolyn stayed outside a bit longer than everyone else so they could say goodnight to each other, but there were still quite a few Witches and Wizards out at neighboring campfires; so they didn't spend much time doing that either before splitting up and going into their own tents.

Thursday was their last day at the campground; and it was also a play day out on and under the water. Harry and Ginny had a boat rented that was large-enough for all of them; they took a picnic lunch; and soon left the seashore miles behind as they went in search of underwater diving fun and adventure. If he couldn't be away from James for the day, going diving with him was a next-best option that worked for Al; since James couldn't razz him at all while under the sea and covered by a bubble-head charm. James was more interested in swimming with Maria anyway; and she'd been allowed to come along even though her parents had wanted her to spend the day with them instead after hanging out with James for most of the past three days. The best parts of the day for Al included the diving time with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their families; a bit of dolphin Animagus play when he wanted to get away from James and Maria during their lunch break when they could annoy him in a confined space; and then flying back to shore in eagle form to again avoid putting up with more razzing from James during the return boat ride.

Their final dinner at the campground was partly cooked over an open fire, but Al was particularly happy when Maria invited James to have dinner with her family instead – and he was sent off to do that with parental blessings and at least a bit of relief. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were drafted to help out with making dinner while Lily, Hugo, and Jonah went off to play with a Fanged Frisbee for a while; and getting to spend that time with the parents was pretty good too after not being able to have much fun doing that whenever James was there to intrude. That meal was great too; and so was the evening play time at the beach and around the campground. Harry and Kirley set up their campfire at dusk; and they gathered around it once it was ready to go – and they were all ready to wind down their day with another quiet blast of music and chat time.

"I suppose we won't be able to have campfires while we're at Uncle Charlie and Aunt Julianne's," Lily said with a sigh. "That'd just be a dinner invitation for the dragons on the reserve."

"We might be okay if we're really quiet," Hugo suggested. "That way, the dragons would eat the musicians first."

"Now that's a cheery thought," Kirley deadpanned. "I don't know whether we can have campfires there or not, but we'll be safe-enough with a Dragonologist around – and the Head of the Aurors. I hear he's got experience with dragons."

"Yeah, and I'm still around because my broom was faster than the dragon – though not by very much."

"You should work on that story," Gwenog suggested. "It'd be a lot funnier if you embellished it a bit."

"Maybe he could still be around because he was faster on his broom than the other Witches and Wizards," Lily offered with a grin. "The dragon wasn't hungry anymore once he'd eaten the slow ones."

"Have you been watching Muggle Zombie movies again?" Rose asked her; and Lily laughed.

"Cardio is just as important for Quidditch as it is for surviving Zombies," she joked. "You don't ever see any fat Dragon handlers either; and there's likely a very good reason for that."

"Because you'd only find them on the inside of dragons?" Hugo guessed; earning a round of laughs. "I don't want to invite any dragons over to have me for dinner; but I do hope we'll get to see some this weekend. We'd all earn bonus points with Profesor Hagrid if we could get new pictures of Norberta or her kids too."

"That might come in handy for Al, Gwendolyn, and me when we'll be taking his class this year," Rose said with a nod; "though Uncle Charlie manages to get pictures for him every year or so anyway."

"Maybe Al could do the bird thing again; we can attach a mirror network camera to him; and he can get pictures from a flying with the dragons perspective," Jonah suggested; grinning at Al.

"Thanks for the idea; but I'm fairly sure that would end badly for me," Al said with a shake of his head. "I might have a better chance on my broom against one dragon; but even that would be tough if there were a bunch of them around like there are sure to be this time of year on the reserve."

"I don't know if we'll see Norberta," Ginny told them; "but we are going to do a day trip on the reserve; and we'll definitely see some dragons."

"What else are we going to do while we're there?" Lily asked; and sent their chat off in that direction for a while.

Al was happy to mostly sit back and enjoy the show while cuddling with Gwendolyn. The talk time was followed with some music that included a few duets for Al and Gwendolyn; two that Lily and Jonah did; and a bunch of sing-alongs. They had roving spectators slow down to listen to them while the music was going on as well as the neighbor campers and the extra guests at those campfires with the best view of the star-studded musical entertainment. James and Maria didn't even stop in once, and were likely busy with a long snog goodbye somewhere on the beach or elsewhere. That worked out for Al; so the rest of his evening until they cleaned up, put out the fire, and headed for bed was a perfect way to end their last night at the campground. They didn't end their night with a major snogging session or anything, but Al and Gwendolyn did go for one last moonlight walk on the beach before splitting up and going to bed; and there were some hugs and kisses involved that had them both happy and smiling when they did finally say goodnight to each other outside of Gwendolyn's tent.

Life got weird again for Al when he woke up early on Friday morning; got ready for the day; and then was in the kitchen of the tent getting a drink and snack to take with him to the beach when James returned – looking sandy and rumpled; and sending off emotional vibes that Al wished he couldn't sense. James stopped and looked shocked at being caught for a moment, but then put a smirk on his face; and sauntered the rest of the way from the entrance to the kitchen. He got himself a drink too; sat at the table; and leaned back in the chair as jauntily as possible.

"That, my poor, deluded, loser brother; is how you know you've had a fun night – when you don't get home until sunrise. I'd try to explain that to you, but you'd never understand; and could never hope to have as brilliant a night as I've just had."

"If you mean that I'd never stay out all night with a Witch that I've oly known for four days; you're right about that," Al agreed. "Starting my day out with more of your insults isn't my idea of fun either, though, so I'm out of here. You might want to get some sleep. We'll be packing up and heading for Uncle Charlie's in a couple of hours."

"I slept with Maria," James advised him with a leering smile now on his face; but Al hadn't needed to hear the double-meaning to know that when the emotional aura around James was so sickeningly strong. He didn't respond as he walked toward the tent entrance. "Yep, I slept with her and was up all night too – if you know what I mean. Maria was impressed."

Al stopped; turned around to look at James; and then simply shook his head and left without saying anything. James laughed derisively as he left; and offered another nasty comment that Al hoped his Mother, Lily, and Rose weren't awake to overhear from their rooms. He wasn't mad as he walked to the beach – just disgusted with his brother. Sitting in the sand once there; he turned his attention inward and explored his feelings about what had just happened. What he'd sensed from James didn't evoke any sense of jealousy – he was sure of that; but he wondered at the reactions he was having when his brother's romantic life was none of his business. He certainly didn't think that James had any business knowing anything about his relationship with Gwendolyn; so any problem he had with what he sensed from James – and had been told – was his own problem.

James was certainly not unique among teen Witches and Wizards to take snogging to the next level – even at fourteen, and since it wasn't his business, and didn't personally affect him either; it was stupid to be disgusted or upset at all. Logic didn't miraculously resolve the issue, though; and he was still thinking about it when Gwendolyn came and sat down next to him. He smiled as he welcomed her with a hug; they shared a soft, tender kiss; and then she leaned against him as they both watched the beautiful view out across the sea.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly; and Al nodded.

"Yeah. I just needed some extra time out here after starting my day with some more stupid from James."

"I'm surprised he'd be awake this early."

"He was just getting back to the tent when I was getting ready to come out here," Al explained; and Gwendolyn turned to look at him; but didn't laugh when she saw he was being serious.

"Too much information?" she guessed after pausing for a few long moments before deciding what to say next.

"Yes; and we definitely don't want to go there," he agreed; and then sighed. "Sometimes, I agree with James; and think that I am the problem."

"You care a lot for everyone; your empathy allows you to feel more than most; and it bothers you when people aren't doing what's best for them – or for others around them," she summarized. "That isn't a problem, Al – it's a gift for everyone around you – including the idiots that are too dense to understand that."

"Okay, but then where do I draw the line?"

"You'll need to figure that one out for yourself," she answered. "It isn't as if you're being nosy and spying on people. This is different for you; but it isn't as though we don't all have to filter things like this too. Witches might even have a tougher time of it than most Wizards; since there are lots of Witches that like to talk very graphically about their persnal relationships."

"Should I be afraid – or wonder why your best girlfriends are smirking at me anytime I see them?" Al joked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, you don't. I'm not one of those too-talkative Witches – and neither are Renee or Toni. A few of our roommates don't share our beliefs about things like that, though; so I do know what it's like to get too much information."

"Does that bug you?"

Gwendolyn thought about that for a minute before answering. "Sometimes. I don't like to hear any bragging for sure; but I guess it would be the insults I dislike most. To be a bit blunt, if those intimate encounters don't go well; don't publicly tear down the Wizard – or Witch involved. That's just very petty and wrong. Don't your roommates ever talk about the girls they're hanging out with?"

"Ray and I weren't exactly in the loop with most of our roommates for most of the last school year; and there wasn't much to talk about in first year. If any of them are going to be like James; then I'll be okay with being left out of the loop with them for the next five years – and forever after that."

"So you don't talk about me with your friends at all?" Gwendolyn asked next; and Al laughed at the expression on her face.

"Not in the way you're implying. The closest I've gotten to voyeuristic dorm room chats was admiting that you kissed me goodnight after our first Christmas dance because I was too clueless to kiss you first."

Gwendolyn laughed and leaned in for a kiss. "I love you, Al; and I'm okay with both of us keeping the intimate parts of our relationship between you and me. I was sent here to get you to come back for breakfast; so we'd better go and do that before James, Hugo, and Jonah eat everything before we can get there."

Running out of food hadn't been a serious worry, and James at least had enough sense not to say anything he shouldn't around the four adults or the younger Witches, but Al was sure he was acting enough the idiot that he might as well have advertised what he'd been doing with Maria anyway. He certainly didn't impress anyone with the way he was acting during breakfast; and Al was glad to be rid of him again for a while when he needed to go and say goodbye to all of his new friends while everyone else took care of packing up their tents and gear. The work included leaving their campsites as clean and natural as they'd been when they'd arrived on Sunday; so it was mid-morning by the time they were ready to go for one last swim to cool off before heading over to Charlie and Julianne's house.

Aiden and Charlene were there to welcome them while their parents were working. They had two tents set up already – one for them and their friends for the weekend; and the tent that Ron and Hermione would use with Rose and Hugo for the week they were spending with their kids. Charlie and Julianne were taking the next week off too; but the crossover weekend between the first and second half of Harry and Ginny's vacation was going to include the only two rugged adventure days in and around the dragon reserve. As soon as they arrived, James managed to disappear before the work started for setting up the tents again, but Aiden couldn't be talked into going along; and he and Charlene helped with the work – and with helping to make lunch. That was mostly through pre-made contributions to the meal; but Aiden helped Harry and Kirley with cooking the food that was grilled while Ginny and Gwenog took care of rounding up the rest of the food.

They had no plans at all for the afternoon, but Harry and Ginny did have a little surprise for the kids when they found out that the portable pool had been brought along; and swimming in the afternoon was an option. So was playing some Quidditch; though that was more like playing in the orchard at the Burrow instead of an open field or practice pitch. James monopolized most of Aiden's time for that when it came to Seeker duels, but Lily could still practice with Jonah instead when the boys took breaks; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to have a little Chaser duel with Charlene and Ginny while Rose and Hugo backed them up and Gwenog batted some bludgers at them – something she didn't do very often anymore when her focus was more often on the Harpies. A bit of exploring around the area allowed Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose to have a bit of quiet time with Charlene – and get Al away from James for a break.

Most of their afternoon play time was relaxed and easy-going fun, so when Charlie, Julianne, and a few of Aiden and Charlene's friends began arriving – including Shay-Lynn and Pietr; the action level kicked up a few notches – and kept going up when Ron and Hermione arrived. They brought a surprise with them; and Rose was thrilled to find out that she was getting to spend the weekend with Shane. He'd head home again with Kirley and Gwenog on Sunday, and then her grandparents would make sure that Shane got home again; but the bonus two days together was much better than what she'd expected would be more than two weeks apart. For his part, Shane was happy to see her; had apparently returned to normal sometime in the six days since the wedding; and was excited about spending the time with Rose – and going to the dragon reserve.

The time change had meant that Ron and Hermione had needed to leave work early to get there in time for dinner, but they had a late meal too because the parents didn't even start cooking until an hour or so after Charlie and Juliane got home. That gave the teens and tweens lots of time for socializing, and while Al and Gwendolyn mostly enjoyed that because they had Rose and Shane to hang out with as two couples; there was some weirdness too – particularly watching James flirt with the two girlfriends that Charlene had invited. Al had to remind himself – over and over again – that it was absolutely none of his business; and that it wasn't his place to approve or disapprove of what James did with any interested and willing Witches. He didn't have to watch it happen, though; and was happy to stay as far away from James as was possible when he could do that.

With four sets of parents around, the fun level went up for them too – even when there was work to be done. Helping out with some of the work had the added bonus for Al and Gwendolyn of keeping them away from James; but Rose and Shane were exempt so that they could spend the time together instead – and so that she could show him around her aunt and uncle's humble, beautiful domain. With more than twenty to feed, when dinner was ready; it took a while just to have everyone fill plates and get drinks before sitting down at the heavy wooden picnic tables that fit in perfectly here; but would have looked very out of place back at home. Al and Gwendolyn sat with Rose, Shane, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo while James sat with Aiden, Charlene, and their friends. The parents were all at a third table; so they were able to have fun together and share vacation and kid-free stories – with part two of that something that none of the kids wanted to hear anyway.

The scenery around the dragon reserve was very different from the Black Sea coast, but the biggest difference for Al was the relative isolation. He was used to having space between neighbors and living miles from the nearest town; but this was something else again. This wasn't the first time he'd experienced it, since he had been to his aunt and uncle's house quite a few times before, but those visits were infrequent; and he felt the same way every time. This was a first visit for Gwendolyn, though; so maybe seeing it all again from her perspective was part of the reason it felt a bit new this time too. Feeling that way had nothing to do with not having any Muggle fast food joints or Malls anywhere near the reserve; though that thought did have Al picturing the famous clown in the mouth of a dragon with the golden arches hanging from its neck. It was the dense forest and mountains that made him feel isolated – even though he also knew that Charlie's nearest neighbors weren't any farther away than his own neighbors at home.

Those musings wandered along in his thoughts; but didn't get in the way of the fun. He and Gwendolyn were happy to join in to tell Shane stories about their adventures at the sea; he had some stories to tell them about his week back at home; and then they talked about their plans for the weekend. After eating, the clean-up didn't take long; and then Gwendolyn got parental permission to have some Animagus play time with Al – a horseback ride in the woods along a trail not far from the house. Charlie had been happy to choose and show them where a perfect trail for riding was located – and then assure Gwendolyn that she had nothing to worry about while they were off on their own because dragons far-preferred horses over humans.

Al had loved taking Gwendolyn on that little horseback riding adventure; and it had even been worth the teasing that James heaped on him later. The parents had gone for a hike then too and took about half of the teens and tweens with them, but James had been more interested in showing off to Charlene's friends with some more Quidditch – and then swimming with them too. The pool would have been a bit crowded with everyone trying to use it at the same time, so Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Shane waited to take a turn later; once the older teens had been ready to move on to other entertainments. That hadn't left them a lot of time for a swim before dark, but it was enough to cool off; and then Charlie and Julianne did have a campfire planned for the rest of their evening entertainment.

Doing that was different, because they actually did take precautions to avoid attracting the attention of any dragons; so their fire was small, concealed by the trees, and away from any open spaces that would be big-enough for a dragon to land. Actually having to consider that an issue when outside at night in your own back yard was both serious and amusing, but while he tried to imagine a dragon visit at home; Al just couldn't picture it. There were moments during the campfire when he would have enjoyed watching James having a dragon chase him around for a while, but that was only because of the ongoing insults and jokes at his expense. There was one difference for that from their previous campfires so far; and that was that Charlene's friends didn't seem to find James' ongoing, back-handed insults funny the way that Maria had. James was oblivious to that and kept on going with his attempts to impress, but Al had a much better impression of these friends; and suspected that Maria wasn't part of his cousin's group of best friends – just as he wasn't close to most of his roommates.

Music was just part of the campfire entertainment this time, and while Al and Gwendolyn sang a couple of duets that left a very good impression on the extra teen guests; they in turn were fascinated by the campfire story time that was all about dragons, monsters, and the tragic tales of Witches and Wizards of the past – most of the stories complete with warnings or morals to be learned and heeded to avoid the horrid fates of those foolish people. It's not as though campfires stories were new to any of them, but nearly all of the stories were; and Aiden and his buddies were especially happy to help Charlie with telling those tales. They stayed around the fire until nearly midnight, and then Charlie and Julianne needed to help most of Aiden and Charlene's friends with getting home again while everyone else except James helped with the campfire clean-up.

Shay-Lynn and Pietr were staying overnight; and James actually seemed to be truly disappointed when none of Charlene's girlfriends were interested in staying the night and hang out with him too – even though he'd just finished spending the night with Maria a dozen and a half hours ago. That didn't keep him from inviting himself to join Aiden and Pietr for some mirror gaming in their tent when everyone else was heading for bed; and he needed to intentionally ignored the blatant signals from his cousins that were obvious to the other teens to do that when a fifth wheel wasn't wanted. Al stayed out of that scene by wandering off with Gwendolyn so that they could have a bit of privacy for their goodnight hugs and kisses, but while he felt bad for Aiden, Charlene, Shay-Lynn, and Pietr; he didn't mind being able to get ready for bed and off to sleep without any more problems with his brother.

Al had no idea what time James eventually crawled into his bed to get some sleep, but it was clear that he hadn't gotten enough sleep when he woke up and started complaining about everything – right up until he had to play nice again by breakfast time when he needed to act cool for the four older teens. That was a bit ridiculous, since they would have heard him from their tent while he ranted about everything from the early wake-up call to the temperature of the water in the shower and anything and everything else that affronted his sensibilities. While James really had been angry about being ordered out of bed, doing that had been necessary; since they had a busy day ahead of them on the dragon reserve and even he didn't want to be late and miss out on any of the fun.

Breakfast was a big meal because they would be having a picnic lunch that was packed for ease of travel; and James at least managed to avoid any complaints about the three helpings of food he devoured before being ready to let everyone else handle the clean-up again while he finished getting ready for their outing. Their trip to the dragon reserve was fun for Al, and though he'd taken the Floo Network there before; it was the first time that Gwendolyn and her family had traveled to an outdoor fireplace – the main Floo Network access point to the reserve. Aiden teased them about it being a deterrent to unwelcomed Witches and Wizards because you never knew when dragons would be waiting to eat you unless you worked there and had the schedule. That joke wasn't new for Al either, but it was still funny; and the McCormacks were as amused as most Witches and Wizards were at hearing the little joke.

Getting serious after that, Charlie talked with them for a full ten minutes about safety on the reserve – both for them and for the creatures that he helped to protect there. James only tried to make one joke while he did that; and then shut up when his Uncle impressed on him that staying alive and unhurt in the dragon reserve needed to be taken seriously. When he was ready; they headed out on their hike into the reserve. Al and Gwendolyn walked in the middle of the pack with Rose and Shane. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Gwenog brought up the rear; and Ron and Hermione were at the front of the pack with Charlie, Julianne, and the three younger kids. The five older teens were between them and Rose and Shane; with James happily trying to impress Shay-Lynn with his wit and charm. Since the wit part of that included taking cheap shots at Al again; he had to grit his teeth and do his best to ignore James while still trying to enjoy the hike and beautiful scenery.

"How many dragons do you normally see on one of these hikes?" Shane asked Rose. "Will we need to go in very far first?"

"Uncle Charlie always makes sure we see at least one or two; but it's hard to say how long before we see any. We'll likely hear them first; and then see them if they fly close-enough. We won't go close to their homes; and that's an especially bad idea if they have any new babies and are always looking for food."

"Mum will never let me do anything with you ever again if I get eaten by a baby dragon," he joked and warned.

"Would she be okay with it if you got eaten by a full-grown dragon?" Gwendolyn asked; earning some follow-up laughs.

"Probably, but then if that actually happened; I'd be beyond caring anyway."

"Uncle Charlie hasn't lost anyone on one of his tours," Al advised him. "Our biggest worry might be blisters from walking and climbing these trails."

"Maybe we should all take turns riding," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al. "Now where can we find a horse around here?"

"Charlie said no horsing around," Ginny told her with a laugh. "That might not be what he meant; but you should likely check first – especially when he mentioned just how much dragons love horses last night."

"Saved by the dragon," Al said; and then smiled when nobody else heard, saw, or sensed what he did. He pointed toward it and nodded. "You'll hear it soon if it keeps coming this way; and then it'll be just a bit longer after that before you'll see it."

"Yet you can hear and see it now?" Shane asked dubiously. "Are you messing with us?"

Al smiled and shook his head. "No. It's just something that I've gotten a lot better at since becoming an Animorphmagus."

"Animal super powers?" Shane persisted. "Can you jump higher; run faster; or spin spider webs?"

"We can all do the first two if we choose to," Al reminded him. "I haven't tried partial Transfigurations, but that's possible to do without being an Animagus too; so I don't think that I'd try it the same way – and that's NEWT-level magic."

"Which means you'll likely start working on that in the fall," Rose teased.

"Sure, because we'll have so much spare time on our hands with ten and eleven classes," Al countered. "There are two of them," he added after pausing to listen and look for a while. "Maybe a mother and child. The second one is definitely smaller; but flying behind the first one; so I can't be sure."

"Dragon's ahead at about half-way between ten and eleven o'clock," Charlie called back quietly. "No loud noices now; or we'll scare them off."

"Or get their attention as potential munchies," Harry added in a near-whisper while grinning at the kids.

"I think I see one of them," Shane said excitedly; though he whispered too. "Merlin! How big is it?"

"Depends on the breed," Rose answered; watching the sky in the same place as everyone else was now doing. They'd all stopped too; since that made it easier to continue watching the approaching dragons. "Adults can easily be as big as a fairly large passenger jet with a wingspan to match."

"Yeah – a passenger jet with big teeth and claws that breathes fire," Hugo added with a laugh. "Whatever it is; it isn't one of the smaller breeds."

"We're in luck," Charlie announced. "It's a Ukrainian Ironbelly – biggest breed we have here on the reserve. A mother and child; but not a baby. She isn't the biggest I've seen; but is likely around five tons."

"We all try to take off a bit of weight after the kids are born," Gwenog joked.

"And she did that after laying those huge eggs and then being stuck sitting on them until they hatched," Ginny added. "Don't forget to take pictures if you want them," she added; smiling at the kids. "No selfies unless you try that at a safe distance."

"Are Muggles still doing that?" Kirley asked; and Ginny shrugged.

"Yes; though it still seems silly to me. I was just going for the joke; not expecting the kids to actually do that."

The Ukrainian dragons didn't fly directly overhead, and stayed far-enough away that Charlie wasn't worried about having troubles with them. They started walking again while still watching and photographing them; but Charlie warned them that they weren't likely to see another dragon coming anywhere near the mother and child; since that would nearly-certainly lead to a fight that all of the smaller dragons would be sure to lose. They did see a Welsh Green in the next valley, though; and a Norwegian Ridgeback only about a half-mile away from the lookout spot that they used for their lunch break. That view had been breath-taking, and while Charlie hadn't been sure whether that Norwegian had been one of Norberta's children or grandchildren; he was sure that it hadn't been Hagrid's old pet. They did take pictures to give to Hagrid just in case; and enjoyed the lunchtime show that the young dragon put on for them while they ate and rested up for the return hike.

Getting to see three different breeds of dragons had been better than Charlie had expected; and they had the bonus of getting to have one more look at the two Ukrainians one more time when they were out hunting again in the afternoon. They weren't as close the second time, but with a pair of hungry dragons; that wasn't a bad thing! It was late afternoon by the time they reached the outdoor fireplace again; Charlie had a chat with some other dragon handlers that were there wrapping up their work day; and then they headed home. By then, a swim was high on the list of things to do for most of them, so they did that; and then the parents and their drafted helpers started to work on making dinner. Aiden and Charlene didn't have any extra friends come over again, and while James was disappointed about that; Al was glad that his brother didn't have more of an audience to impress during dinner or for the rest of the evening.

That didn't mean that James suddenly turned into brother-of-the-year material and stopped razzing Al, but he didn't go out of his way to be annoying either; so their dinner was fairly peaceful as they all wound down from their big day of hiking. There weren't any major plans for the evening either; since Charlie and Julianne had expected most of their guests to be tired out by then. After eating and cleaning up, they played some games and went swimming to cool off; had another campfire; and enjoyed another quiet round of music and stories until most of them were ready to get some sleep. James wasn't interested in sleeping that early, but didn't get an invitation to hang out with Aiden, Pietr, and their girlfriends; so he sat up and played mirror games in the tent after spending some time complaining about how boring everyone else in the family was – along with a handful of insults for Al once he'd returned to the tent after saying goodnight to Gwendolyn.

The play plans for Sunday were a bit different for most of them; and very different for about half of them because they were going out to play at a Muggle adventure park all morning; and then spend the afternoon at a water park. Even for the members of their group that had been to Muggle amusement parks, this was different; because the adventure park involved things like suspended rope trails, zip lines, and other, similar Muggle activities. Since James was all for that kind of an adventure day – especially when there were sure to be lots of young, pretty Muggle girls at both places; he managed to start their day in a pretty good mood compared to normal. They didn't all get together for breakfast, but stayed with their own, smaller family groups for that meal; and then met up in the yard as they were ready to go. Getting everyone to their first destination took a while, since they couldn't exactly take the Floo Network there; so the parents side-along apparated their kids in two waves; with some of the parents staying at the other end to keep track of the first arrivals – and make sure they didn't have any Muggle issues either.

James talked Aiden and Pietr into escaping the parents and 'kids' right away; and reluctantly agreed to allow Charlene and Shay-Lynn to go along with them; but Al and Gwendolyn were happy to hang out with the rest of their family as they all picked a first rope trail to attempt and got ready to both play together and challenge themselves with some moderately-strenuous physical activity. Harry and Ginny were elected to lead the way; they had Lily, Jonah, and Hugo follow; and then the parents and teens alternated in a line behind them. Al and Gwendolyn followed her parents; and had Charlie and Julianne behind them. They needed to be spread out as they navigated the trail; but could still talk with nearly everyone as they reached or left the platforms that were set up for rest breaks along the way.

"This is fun, Al; but I won't be asking Mum and Dad to build one of these trails for us at my house and trading in my broom for this sort of aerial fun,' Gwendolyn said quietly as they worked their way along the trail together; following Kirley and Gwenog.

"I was thinking that this would be a great addition to our team workouts at school," Al told her with a smile. "It's more fun that the exercises we normally do to warm up."

Gwendolyn laughed. "That would be a very bad idea to set this up in the forest at our school. The workouts would be very short if we all got eaten before we got to the other end of the trail."

"That is a good point," Al agreed as the two sets of parents on either side of them laughed at her comment. "Maybe we'll just stick with what we already have instead. This would be a fun place to play for some different animals. Monkeys would love it here."

"Too bad we can't find out what that'd be like," Gwendolyn said; knowing why Al hadn't been more direct in talking about doing that himself as an Animagus. "It'd likely be a lot easier to do if we were monkeys too."

"Some of us would settle for being your age while doing this," Julianne told her; earning laughs from Charlie, Kirley, and Gwenog. "There's a very good chance that I'll be watching the rest of you from the ground once we've finished this trail. I am obviously sitting behind a desk at work too much."

"Maybe this is just too much after the all-day hike yesterday," Charlie suggested; and Julianne smiled at him.

"Thanks, and there's some truth to that; but you're not having any troubles with this; so our jobs have a lot to do with this being tougher for me than it is for you."

"Ditto that for me," Kirley offered. "Playing my guitars helps with this for the hand and arm strength; but not so much for the rest of it. I'll be happy to keep you company on the ground later."

"There are other trails that are a bit easier," Gwendolyn pointed out to them; "but we can try some of the other activities instead if you don't like this."

Julianne and Kirley weren't the only two parents to decide that the rope trails weren't for them, but the teens and tweens were all having a blast; and tried out several of the trails with fewer parents supervising as they progressed. Everyone tried a zip line ride at least once; and then they played at some of the other, ground-based activities like archery. They crossed paths with Charlene, Shay-Lynn, and the boys a couple of times; including once when James had been flirting with a quartet of Muggle girls – and showing off because he was high overhead on one of the rope trails while the four girls watched him appreciatively from the ground. They played until lunchtime; and then headed for the waterpark. They had lunch there, and James was willing to stay with the rest of their group for that so he wasn't paying for the food with his own limited supply of Muggle money; but then he was gone again and too cool to hang out with the parents or younger kids while trying to impress the appropriately-aged Muggle girls.

While his brother happily proved how vain and superficial he could be all afternoon, Al pretty much ignored him; and enjoyed getting to have a few quality hours of fun with Gwendolyn, their families, and friends. Getting to do that while she was in a swimsuit was a definite bonus; but the water slides, diving platforms, pools, and a lazy river were a great way to spend the afternoon staying cool and having fun tjat ranged from mildly-extreme to relaxing and quiet. Whether speeding down slides or floating along on the river; Al and Gwendolyn did pretty much everything together; usually had Rose and Shane with them; and had Lily, Jonah, and Hugo around more than half the time. The parents were all with them for some of the fun, and they'd have different pairings of them for other activities; but they also let the kids have some time without them – and didn't mind having their own fun while doing that. Some of their kids didn't even want to think about their parents like that, and Al agreed with that view for the most part; yet also hoped that he and Gwendolyn would be just like their parents in another thirty or forty years.

After a handful of hours of water fun, it was time to have dinner; and they went to one of the Muggle restaurants for that instead of going home and cooking another major meal there. That was an adventure of sorts too; though mostly because James was in fine form by then thanks to the ego boosts from several girls that he'd fancied and even a goodbye kiss from one of them when they left the water park. Watching him demolish a ridiculous amount of food while flirting with servers and other customers was a mix of scary and gross; but Al really disliked the back-handed insults and other goofiness that James didn't only direct at him this time. After two busy, active days, Al sensed that nearly everyone else was out of patience with James, so while the food was good and the meal break wasn't all annoyances and no fun; they were ready to take him home again – or go and leave him behind.

Once back at Charlie and Julianne's house, the first job for some of them was helping Kirley and Gwenog to get packed up and ready to go home. Al and Gwendolyn helped with that – including getting Gwendolyn and Jonah's things moved to 'his' tent. While they were busy, Rose stayed with Shane while he packed up his things so that he could go home with Kirley and Gwenog – and that gave them a bit of alone time to say goodbye too. When everything was packed up, Harry helped out by sending all of the gear directly to the McCormack house except for Shane's bag; and then it was time for a long round of goodbye hugs and kisses. The time change was going to still have Kirley, Gwenog, and Shane home early, so they didn't need to rush things, but once they were ready to go; Harry created their international portkey; there was one last set of hugs for Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Rose; and then they suddenly had three fewer campers around and nothing specific planned for the rest of the night.

James started cracking some jokes and making fun of Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; so they decided to go for a walk to get away from him; and Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were happy to go along. Walking the trails in the woods in the evening wasn't a great idea, but the back roads were safe-enough; and they headed out with parental blessings – mostly because they were all just ready to sit down with cold, adult beverages and do nothing for the rest of the night. James had other plans for more interesting entertainment, and started working on that with Charlene and Aiden, but while Al could sense that he was up to something; he didn't know what as they headed out on their walk.

"I score today as a seven-point-five on the fun scale," Lily said once they were out of the yard and onto the gravel road. "No points taken off for James acting like a total git, though if I did that; it'd be worth at least a half point."

"At least," Rose agreed. "I'll go with a seven; with my score being lower because of having to say goodbye to Shane tonight."

"Then you didn't do a very good job with the goodbyes if that didn't add a point," Gwendolyn teased; earning laughs from Rose and Lily and a groan from Hugo. "Don't look like that," she told him. "We didn't make faces and groan when you had that Muggle girl following you around and trying to impress you."

"And don't try to tell us that you didn't have fun with that. I can get Al to help me out with a memory charm of what you looked like around her if you deny it."

"She might have been interested in Jonah instead," Hugo suggested. "We were all hanging out together."

"You know that isn't true because I didn't get into any trouble for accidentally using magic around Muggles," Lily joked, though since she was holding Jonah's hand; that might have been a potential truth too if Hugo had been right.

"That does seem to be one thing that's very different for Muggle teens – both boys and girls," Gwendolyn said after laughing at Lily's comment. "Wizards and Witches probably have just as much teen drama; but wouldn't do that kind of flirting right in front of a boyfriend or girlfriend like we saw this afternoon at the water park."

"They don't need to worry about getting hexed, jinxed, or cursed," Rose pointed out; and then smiled at Al and Gwendolyn. "You're both getting quite the reputation with your dueling abilities; so I seriously doubt you'll have any Witches or Wizards trying to flirt with either of you. Spending time as a woodlouse or jumping into the lake from the castle just wouldn't be worth it."

"Maybe not," Lily said; "but one of those zip lines from a castle tower to – or across – the lake would be really awesome!"

"So try that on your broom sometime," Rose suggested. "The zip line was fun; but flying is way better than that."

"I suppose," Lily conceded, "but I do wonder why we don't have more recreational activities in the Wizarding World like the Muggles do. How cool would it be to have a magical amusement park?"

"There isn't anything that happens on any of those rides that we can't do with our brooms," Hugo pointed out. "I like amusement parks too; but those rides are really limited compared to our brooms."

"Though it is a cool idea to make our broom riding more fun," Gwendolyn suggested. "What if we set up a flying course with things like surprise water jets or obstacles to dodge? That'd be like some of the Muggle rides. We can't do water slides with our brooms; so maybe we could figure out something with that for the portable pools. That lazy river was fun too; but I suppose that'd be a bit too much to make a portable version of them – or just have one at Hogwarts or home."

"It can't hurt to ask Uncle George about it," Lily told her – "and about slides for the pools too. I really like that idea."

"Mum or Dad could likely conjure one easily-enough for at home," Al suggested. "If you like the ideas so much, though, you could always look into starting up your own magical amusement park once you're a rich and famous Harpies' Quidditch star. Make it scary-enough; and you might even get Terror tours interested in adding it to their holiday packages."

"I'd need vampires, zombies, and monsters for them to be interested; and I'd want all of my customers to still be alive and uninjured at the end of the day too. It is a good idea, though; so I'll keep it in mind. Speaking of scary, though, do any of you know what James is up to tonight? He was acting even weirder than usual just now."

"I don't; but he was definitely up to something," Rose answered first. "Maybe he's trying to get out of camping in your tent tonight now that Gwendolyn and Jonah are with you for the next week."

"Since he doesn't likely want to switch to your tent; I'll guess you think he wants to stay with Aiden and Charlene," Lily said with a nod and smile. "I'd be okay with that; but they might not like it when Shay-Lynn and Pietr are staying with them too."

"That might bug them tonight, but Uncle Charlie and Aunt Julianne will be with them starting tomorrow night when we're camping on the coast again," Al reminded her. "It would still be weird; but then I'd be okay with the change."

"What we should do is get James his own tent before our next vacation," Lily offered. "That'd make a nice Christmas or birthday gift for him."

"That's actually a really good idea," Al agreed. "Would it be weird if we got it for him for Mum and Dad's anniversary next week instead of waiting until Christmas?"

"They might appreciate it if he stayed in it for the rest of the summer," Rose joked. "If you're just trying to get away from James, though, wouldn't it be better to get that tent for yourselves?"

"That's true," Lily agreed. "Let's shelve that idea for later too." She paused when they all heard the roar of a dragon in the distance; and then laughed. "We haven't heard them a lot; but I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing dragons flying around out there."

"You would if you lived here," Gwendolyn suggested. "The students in Slytherin and Hufflepuff don't likely hear the noises from the Forbiden Forest very often, but we do in the tower dorms; and some of those noises sound worse than that dragon."

"Isn't that just the sound of Hagrid snoring in his cabin?" Al joked; earning a few laughs. "I don't usually hear anything. Once I'm sleeping; that's it for me until morning."

"Most of the time," Lily agreed; "though I have heard you wake up in the middle of the night before – or should I say that I don't hear you anymore. Maybe that isn't Hagrid's snoring that everyone hears at Hogwarts."

Al sighed. "I do not snore that loudly. I know that because the guys that do snore too loudly in my dorm room get told all about it by a couple of the other guys – if not just shoved out of bed to get them to stop."

"Which guys?" Lily asked. "We should invite them for a sleepover or two this summer."

"In your room or Al's?" Rose asked before Al could say anything.

"Depends on which guys," Lily answered; and then smiled at Jonah. "I'm just kidding – mostly."

"That sounds like something else to save for later," Al told her. "At least two of us don't want to know which of my roommates you might be interested in; and I have no intention of telling you which of the guys I'm talking about."

"We'll talk later," Rose told Lily and Gwendolyn conspiratorially. "Tomorrow's our next moving day, but is there anything you guys want to do when we're back at the beach? Do you know much about the campground we'll be staying at?"

"This campground is near Constanta," Lily answered; "and it sounded as though it was similar to the one we were at last week; except there are a few more Muggle attractions in the area – including another water park."

"I'd like to do more sightseeing and that water park sounds good too," Gwendolyn told them. "A day or two of taking it easy on the beach would be good too; and I'd be okay with going diving again too if we have time for that."

"I'm good with any of that; and a shopping day would be fun – though we might not have time for that too," Lily offered next.

"My Mum didn't get to go with us last week," Rose reminded her. "There's a very good chance she'll want to go shopping and sightseeing for at least one day. Maybe they'll want to do that for your Mum and Dad's anniversary."

"That's okay with me – unless they want to do that without any kids around," Lily said with a nod. "This is their twentieth; so a kid-free day might be part of the plan. Should we check with your Mum and Dad or Uncle Charlie and Aunt Julianne to make sure there is a plan?"

"There is," Rose assured her. "I just don't know the details. "I'm sure we'll be in on it for at least some of the fun – even if the parents do go out for some adult-type fun later."

"Well, if they do that; I sure hope that Aiden and Shay-Lynn get hazard pay for keeping James out of trouble while they're gone," Lily declared. "Since we don't know much about that, though; what's next to talk about?"

Gwendolyn and Rose jumped in to help Lily with picking a new topic; they ended up walking for nearly an hour before wandering back home again; and then they found out that what James had been up to was setting up at least one sleepover for Maria with Charlene – and possibly more. That had happened while they were walking; there had apparently been some parental issues with that; and James was smugly victorious because Harry and Ginny had left the decision up to Charlie and Julianne; since they'd be the parents in charge of the extra teen if they agreed to the plan that James and Maria had apparently worked out while they'd still been at the campground – and since then through mirror chats. Maria wasn't there yet, but soon would be; and she and James were both going to spend the night in the tent with Aiden, Shay-Lynn, Charlene, and Pietr. Five minutes of putting up with James had Al inviting Gwendolyn and Rose to join him in the tent to do anything other than hang around his brother; and they were happy to do that – and then listen to music on the mirror network and play card games. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo joined them not long after Maria arrived; though that was mostly because the six older teens went off to do their own thing; the parents went to hang out together in the cabin; and they didn't want to sit around out in the dark by themselves.

Splitting up that way for a couple or three hours worked out pretty well for nearly everyone; though most of them didn't find out until Monday – or at all – that four of the six older teens didn't enjoy witnessing James and Maria's reunion. Not knowing the details was blissful ignorance too – something that Al wished he could claim for himself but couldn't after his first encounter with them at breakfast on Monday morning. Before getting there, he had enjoyed spending the evening with Gwendolyn and the rest of their teen and tween group; they had a nice chat with Harry and Ginny before going to bed and after Ron and Hermione took Rose and Hugo over to their tent for the night. Jonah and Lily had stayed for the chat too; Al and Gwendolyn had been left alone in the main room to say goodnight without any spectators; and then they'd split up to get some sleep so they'd be ready for the move to their next camping adventure location and another play day.

Al wasn't the first person to wake up in their tent on Monday morning, but Harry didn't beat him to that by much; and they both got to work on making their contributions to the big family breakfast after taking turns grabbing showers and getting ready for the day. They had company come and go to help keep them entertained while they worked; and everyone was ready for the day by the time they took the food outside and met up with Charlie, Julianne, Ron, Hermione, and all but two of the kids. James and Maria weren't too late to have breakfast too; but they did miss the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the meal; and Al and Gwendolyn were nearly finished eating by then. That was a blessing for Al because he felt a bit sick over what he sensed from them; so finishing up and having an excuse to leave the table worked for him. Going for a walk seemed like a good idea too; so he and Gwendolyn did that; and this time they headed out onto one of the nearby trails that they hadn't yet explored.

"Are you okay?" Gwendolyn asked once they were safely on the trail and wouldn't be overheard. "Did I miss something between you and James?"

"You didn't miss anything he did to me," Al answered first; "but I am having trouble being around James and Maria. What I sense with them – between them – isn't very pleasant; but I don't want to say more than that. In this case, the problem is definitely me. I never have a problem when what I sense around me is good – like with you and me; but I have trouble handling anything that's, um, darker."

"You can't turn it off or something when that happens?"

"Not so far. Even if I'm not specifically paying attention, the extra senses I'm picking up around me are all remembered – just as they are for things that I pick up with my normal senses."

"You can shut your eyes," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Sometimes, but, for instance, that would be a bad idea right now as we're walking this trail. The emotions and sometimes even thoughts, along with other insights that seem to be something else I'm doing with all of the information I'm getting is getting stronger; and being able to control it seems to be a matter of processing everything – not turning it on and off."

"I don't remember seeing this kind of reaction around the Slytherins when we've had our problems with them," she mused aloud; and Al nodded again.

"That's true, but then we've had more pressing issues with those confrontations. Sensing hate affects me differently than this too. I'm sure that's at least partly because James is my brother; but there's a very good chance that I'll have more troubles as we get older with handling other situations – like snogging couples in the Gryffindor common room. We're definitely talking about me having too much information about everyone around me."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Then why aren't you freaked out about our parents?"

"Because they all have something closer to what's between you and me. It can still get a bit weird; but it's also bright, warm, and wonderful. Fortunately, I don't spend a lot of time around Witches and Wizards where that isn't the case."

"Well, then we should work on putting more of that warm and wonderful in your life to off-set the not so much fun feelings," Gwendolyn decided with another laugh; and then stopped Al for a few minutes so that they could do just that.

Al did feel better by the time they returned to his aunt and uncle's home. They weren't in any hurry to get to their next campground, but the clean-up work from breakfast had started by then; so they joined in to help with that work – and then with the first stages of getting the tents and their gear packed up and ready to go. James and Maria escaped the work as soon as they'd finished eating, but Al was happy about that; since it meant not being too close to them for comfort. He did have fun with pretty much everyone else as they worked and had cameo moments of play time and fun throughout the morning; and then they went out for lunch at the most-popular local Wizarding restaurant in the area around the Dragon Reserve. As with places like the Leaky Cauldron at home, this Wizarding Inn had guest rooms on the upper floors, but it was also very different because it was a combination of stone and log construction that was very rustic and woodsy – just as Charlie and Julianne's home was compared to even the Burrow.

Moving from the little Wizarding community in the hills to the seashore campground made for another stark contrast; though it wasn't one that anyone in their group had a problem with – especially when they had a bright, sunny afternoon to enjoy. James and Maria got started on that as soon as they reached the three campsites that would be their home-away-from-home until Sunday morning. The other teens and tweens were drafted to help with getting the tents set up and everything put away before being set free to go exploring or to the beach for a swim; so it was nearly an hour later before Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went for a swim with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo. Aiden, Shay-Lynn, Charlene, and Pietr opted to go exploring first; but that was mostly because James and Maria badgered them into that after already spending that last hour swimming and having fun at the beach.

Relaxing and having fun after that was the name of the game for the rest of the day; the parents joined in for most of the beach and water play time; and the only work left to do was on either side of their dinner meal. Their afternoon of sun and surf transitioned into a Quidditch and campfire evening. James, Aiden, and Charlene were part of the sports entertainment, but all of the younger teens and tweens didn't even try to play Quidditch with James too. Putting up with the razzing from James and Maria at the campfire because of that was annoying; but preferable to what James would have been like instead had he lost the match to Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily – or any other combination of younger kids. He did beat Aiden in their Seeker duel, but he didn't take his jokes about that too far with Aiden. The campfire was different without Kirley there, and while Jonah did play his guitar for a while because Lily asked him to do it; Al and Gwendolyn did not offer to sing any duets – and weren't prompted to do it by anyone else either.

Staying out of the spotlight didn't keep James and Maria from having fun at Al's expense; and that's the main reason for why he said goodnight to Gwendolyn early and headed for bed at least an hour before anyone else was ready to turn in. His choice allowed Gwendolyn and Rose to have some girls' time, so that was a bonus for them; but they were all getting very tired of James – especially when Maria was around and encouraging him to new lows even while he continued with his faux niceness while doing that. James and Maria were the only two members of their group to stay up late because they had a big play day planned for Tuesday; so the campfire was put out before midnight; James and Maria took off for a walk on the beach; and everyone else went to bed.

Their first major outing of the week was a trip to a Muggle amusement park. While that was a favorite adventure for two out of three families, it was rarer or brand new for Charlie, Julieanne, and the five teens in their family for the week. Maria was included in that; though she was officially a day-to-day addition as she and James came up with new excuses for her to hang out with them instead of going home. The weather was nice-enough for the day trip, if not perfect thanks to a bit of rain that was hit and miss throughout the day while not seriously dampening the fun. James and Maria weren't happy to find out that they weren't going to be allowed to run off on their own or with just the other four older teens, but that was of their own doing; since Muggles had needed to be confunded four times before they'd even finished getting their tickets and entering the park thanks to some of their comments and jokes. That didn't mean that they all had to stay close together, so they could split up to go on different rides; and that was the only way that Al managed to survive spending a lot of time around James – by staying as far away as possible while still hanging out with the same group of people.

The amusement park was a bit smaller than some they'd visited at home and elsewhere, but there were more than enough thrills and entertainment to keep them busy all day. Al and Gwendolyn were paired up for most rides, but took turns going on some rides with Rose too. She was teamed up with some parents, Lily, or Hugo for other rides – particularly when there were rides that one or more parent didn't want to try out. Lunch was standard Muggle amusement park, fast food fare; but they went back to the campground in time to have dinner there – and for the teens and tweens to go for a cool-off swim after a long, exciting play day. There was more Quidditch after dinner, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went off to do their own thing – including exploring the campground and going for an evening swim. That was a lot more fun for them than watching James showing off again; and then they had to put up with both James and Maria again at the campfire – this time with the jokes and razzing continuing despite the fact that James lost his duel with Aiden.

While Al knew that James considered it a victory every time he missed out on any family and friends fun time when walking away from the taunts and insults, he wasn't interested in causing any public scenes; and turning in early kept the peace for another few hours. The trade-off was that he disappointed Gwendolyn by not spending that time with her; but there was one bonus – he was able to wake up early on Wednesday morning and cook up a special anniversary breakfast for their parents. Lily joined him while he was still in the early stages of cooking; but her help involved decorating the table and setting out the gifts that she and Al and Gwendolyn had gotten for their parents. Gwendolyn and Jonah were ready and with them shortly before Harry and Ginny came out of their room; and Al had the food ready to go so that they could all sit down to eat right away.

"Happy Anniversary!" and "Happy twentieth!" were the two cheerful declarations that greeted Harry and Ginny; earning some laughs because Al was the odd one out for that while Lily, Gwendolyn, and Jonah had been in unison.

"Thank you," Ginny answered before Harry could; and began the round of hugs with Lily while Harry hugged Gwendolyn first. "The food smells wonderful."

"It does," Lily agreed, "and Al wouldn't let me do very much taste-testing; so let's eat!"

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Harry asked; and Lily laughed and shook her head – though her laugh wasn't nearly as happy-sounding this time.

"You're welcome to give waking James up another try, but I've already played dodge the shoe; and won't repeat what he told me I can do with my wake-up call." She grinned at Harry and Ginny then. "If neither of you heard that; we don't want to know why not!"

"You don't," Ginny agreed with a smile and nod. "Let's just save him some food; and let him sleep as long as he wants. We're just staying here at the campground today anyway; so there's no rush for any of us to get anywhere."

"I've already done that," Al advised her. "There's even enough for two if Maria ends up doing his next wake-up call - unless James needs the fourth plate-full today."

"They'd need until dinnertime to have breakfast if she feeds him the way she did last night at the campfire with the marshmallows," Lily only half-joked. "That was scarier than some of the campfire stories."

"Your Aunt Fleur used to do stuff like that with Bill when they were dating and engaged," Ginny reminded her. "My reaction was about the same as yours, though; so I can relate."

"I remember," Lily agreed with a nod, "but this is your big day; and we should be hearing stories about you and Dad – not about our aunts and uncles."

"Or grandparents," Al added. "We definitely don't need to tell any of those stories today."

"We'll get roasted later by your aunts and uncles," Harry advised them; "and I seriously doubt you want to hear any stories about us."

"You don't want Mum telling us the stories about you being so dense about her when you were teens," Lily countered. "We can skip them; and Gwendolyn and I will be happy to hear some of the good stories – the romantic stories instead."

Al and Jonah weren't all that interested in hearing romantic stories of any kind – particularly when they involved parents, but the food was good; and there was additional entertainment that helped to make the meal break fun for everyone. Ginny took care of opening the gifts; there were 'dessert' cupcakes with a total of twenty candles in them to have after the rest of the food had been eaten; and then Harry and Ginny were set free to go for a walk on the beach or alternate activity while the kids took care of the clean-up. Thanks to the use of charm bracelets, seashells, and charmed medallions, that work didn't take long; and then the four kids went to meet up with Rose and Hugo outside of their tent.

"That was a very short walk," Lily told her parents as she hugged Ginny.

"We'll get to the walk soon," Ginny promised. "What are you going to do now that the work's done for a while?"

Lily shrugged. "Gwendolyn and I wanted to talk about that with Rose before letting the boys know what we'll be doing. James is still sleeping, and it's nice out right now without being too hot; so maybe we should try to get a Quidditch match going with some of the other teens around here."

"We could take our coffee and lawn chairs along and go and watch the show," Ron suggested to Harry, Ginny, and Hermione. "That sounds like more fun than walking around for an hour or two."

"I need the walk more after the breakfast we had," Harry said; but I suppose we can do that later if the rest of you need a Quidditch fix this morning."

Hermione laughed. "I've never needed one of those," she told him, "but since Lily will likely get that match put together; I'll go along and cheer for our kids anyway – and save the walk on the beach for later."

That little cameo moment seemed to start a trend for the day – or at least that's how Al felt about it as Lily led the way and they began collecting Quidditch players – starting with a micro-visit with Charlie and Julianne while adding Charlene to the team. For Charlene, that was one team – the team that Lily was leading. Hugo and Jonah didn't think that was fair, since she'd also drafted Rose, Al, and Gwendolyn for her team; but she didn't actually give them a choice about it anyway. Lily didn't have any trouble rounding up the rest of the players they needed for two teams while making their way to the field that was available for Quidditch at this campground – a field that wasn't much different from the one they'd played at a week ago at the first campground.

While the match was more than a cameo moment overall, Al still had that same sense as he and Gwendolyn led their team to a resounding victory over Hugo and Jonah's team. Lily won her Seeker duel with Jonah, getting three of five catches; but Al, Gwendolyn, and Charlene had a one hundred and ninety point lead by the time Lily made the fifth catch to earn the big win. They'd had quite a crowd of spectators watching by then, with many of the adults enjoying cups of coffee or other beverages while watching the morning show. After the Quidditch workout, going for a swim was next on the cameo moments schedule; and the fun continued all morning. Swimming, playing in the sand, or getting involved with activities around the campground kept Al and Gwendolyn busy all day – and away from James and Maria as much as possible too.

James hadn't even come to life until after the Quidditch match had ended, and since they hadn't seen Maria until they'd returned to the tents to pick up everything they'd need for playing at the beach; nobody else in the family really wanted to know how late they'd stayed up – or what they'd been doing to need to sleep in for half the morning. Al did have to put up with James and Maria at lunchtime because that was an all-family meal that included more anniversary roasting and a couple of gifts for Harry and Ginny; but he managed to survive that – and then stay away from James for most of the afternoon. Ron and Hermione had set up a night out for the parents that included dinner and dancing; and Aiden and Shay-Lynn were in charge of the kids while the parents were out having fun. Hermione and Julianne made sure that the kids were fed first; though Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Charlene, and Shay-Lynn all helped out with the work before and after dinner so that Hermione and Julianne could get ready for their night out too. All of the teens and tweens were there to see the six parents off; with that cameo moment ending abruptly when the adults apparated away to their dining destination – something that had been kept a surprise for Harry and Ginny right to the last moment.

"Yes!" James said enthusiastically once the parents were gone. "Let's get the party started!"

"We're having a party?" Maria asked enthusiastically; and James laughed.

"Definitely," he agreed.

"Not," Aiden added; shaking his head. "We are not going to do anything to mess with your Mum and Dad on their anniversary."

"They aren't here; so we won't be messing up anything," James said dismissively. "If you don't want to have any fun, then go and babysit the babies at your tent – or at Rose and Hugo's tent. Take the loser and the rest of the kiddies with you. Charlene, Pietr, and Shay-Lynn are welcome to stay and have fun with us instead."

"No," Aiden repeated. "We – you – are not throwing a party."

"Yes, we are," James retorted stubbornly; indicating himself and Maria as the 'we' for the hosts."

Aiden pulled his portable mirror out of his pocket and held it up. "Should I call Dad right now; or would you like to reconsider?"

"Cut it out, Aiden. You can't be serious!"

"I have my orders, and when Dad does that with Charlene and me; we do what we're told," Aiden advised him seriously. "There won't be any parties at our campsites tonight while they're out."

James snorted derisively. "Welcome to the loser club. When did you turn into such a bore?"

"You're just going to give in that easily?" Maria nearly taunted; and James laughed.

"Of course not. We'll just take our party on the road and ditch the losers that don't want to come along and have fun with us."

"Are you in, Charlene?" Maria asked; and frowned when Charlene shook her head.

"No, and you shouldn't go either," Charlene warned. "We can have fun tonight without a party."

"Some of us are sick of the boring," Maria countered. "Let's get some drinks and snacks and get out of here," she told James. "We shouldn't have any trouble finding some friends to party with; since your cousins are insisting on being so dull."

James laughed again. "Sounds good to me. Let's raid the kitchen in my tent and lose the losers." Maria joined in for more laughs as they walked away and into the tent; leaving the rest of the teens and tweens staring after them with a mixed bag of expressions on their faces that ranged from incredulity to annoyance.

"Well, that went well," Aiden deadpanned. "What do I do now? Let them go and hope for the best; or try to make them stay?"

"Don't ask us," Lily told him. "We'll all vote for the quieter option – or at least the option that'll be quieter for us."

"I'm not saying that we haven't believed the stories we've heard," Charlene said; "but they're a lot easier to believe after everything we've witnessed over the past week and a half."

"Then be glad that your Dad moved here," Lily declared with a grin. "Aiden might have fun with our cousins at Hogwarts; but you'd have been in the same class with James and his best mate, Ollie. That'd be awful, but since everyone in our family ends up sorted to Gryffindor; you'd have had to put up with them on your team for Quidditch too."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed, "but if Charlene had been on the team, she might have been Captain last year instead; and everything would have been different." She grinned at Charlene then. "Oh wait, that's a reason for me to be glad that your Dad moved to Romania. My House might not have won the Quidditch Cup this year if you'd been at our school."

"I don't know about that," Charlene told her; "but I'll bet that game would have been very interesting if Al and I were playing against your team."

"The game we did play was very interesting – just not in a good way there at the end of it," Gwendolyn countered; and her grin was replaced with a grimace as she shuddered a bit. "I really hope that I never feel that way again – ever."

"No doubt," Charlene agreed sympathetically. "We've had some team mates get hurt in games or practices, and that's bad enough. Let's not go there, though; and talk about what we're going to do instead of going partying with James and Maria."

"Do we have enough invisibility charms or Uncle George's robes and hats for all of us to follow them around invisibly and watch the train wreck?" Lily asked; earning a round of laughs.

"No, and I don't want to do that even if we did," Gwendolyn answered first. "My vote is for some more swim and beach time; and then a campfire where Al and I don't have to worry about getting picked on the entire time for a change."

Her suggestion was approved by the majority; Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah waited for James and Maria to leave before going into the tent to get what they needed for their water and sand play time; and then they all headed for the beach again. That hour or so of fun in the fading sun was great; and the first couple of hours of their campfire was pretty good too – until James and Maria wandered back to join them – along with three other couples. His attempt at defying Aiden and their parents was bad-enough; but immediately finding out that all eight teens were at various stages of inebriation had things turning ugly fast.

"Nice song, loser and the loserette," James slurred as he half-staggered past Al; grabbed his guitar; and tried to pull it out of Al's hands. "Here – let me show you how it's done!"

"Let go," Al warned quietly; but then let go himself when James tried to pull hard-enough that the guitar would have broken if he hadn't done that. It was too late to grab for his levitation seashell when James then tossed it toward the fire.

"Guitar's burning; hear it crackle.." he began; but then stopped when the guitar stopped in mid-air before falling into the flames. Al was on his feet; grabbed it; and then turned to face James, Maria, and the others.

"Thanks, Lily," he said without looking at her. He had seen her grab her charm bracelet and use it, though; and appreciated her quick save of his favorite gift ever so far from Gwendolyn. "You're drunk," he told James in disgust; and then looked more closely at the bottles that Maria and two other teens were holding. "You took those from our tent! Are you out of your mind, James?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James declared. "We just picked up some drinks along the way; and I don't remember where we got them."

Al pointed to the bottle that Maria was holding. "That was the champagne that Dad had in the fridge for Mum – for celebrating their anniversary tonight. The odds of you getting those bottles of Mum and Dad's favorite wines – or that brand of firewhiskey anywhere else in this campground are fairly slim too."

"What are you – the drink patrol?" James asked dismissively with a coarse laugh. "It's none of your business; so stay out of it, loser." He tried to shove Al toward the fire; and had to be caught and kept from falling onto it himself when Al easily stopped him. "Come on and sit down wherever you want," James invited his new little group of friends. "Make room for our guests, kiddies. Be a good loser and go fetch some more chairs, dog," he ordered Al; smirking when Maria giggled. He then staggered backwards; plopped into Al's chair; and Gwendolyn had to duck as he tried to throw his arm around her and would have hit her in the face instead. He then tried to grab for her; and she jumped to her feet and went to stand next to Al.

"Thanks for making way for Maria," he told her – "though I'd have been okay with her sitting on my lap."

"That works for me anyway," Maria assured him; and sat down on him instead of in the empty chair. She held the bottle out to him; and he took an enthusiastic drink from it before handing it back to her.

"Please get up and leave, James," Aiden said as he and Shay-Lynn stepped up next to Al and Gwendolyn. Charlene and Pietr were right beside them; and everyone else was standing by then too.

"No," James said flatly. "We've told our new friends all about these amazing campfires; and promised to let them in on all of the fun."

"It won't be fun if I have to call Dad to come home early and he finds you here in this condition," Aiden shot back; and James just laughed raucously.

"Hear that, mates? My cousin here is apparently a rat fink as well as a loser." He'd looked away while saying that; and then turned back to smirk darkly at Aiden. "I'm sure that a story like this one will do wonders for your reputation when Maria tells everyone at your school all about it in September. Why don't you just sit down, shut up, and let's show our guests here why your campfires are so amazing!"

"That isn't going to happen," Aiden said with a shake of his head while getting his mirror out of a pocket. "Last chance, James."

James lurched out of the chair clumsily; knocking Maria to the ground as he stood; and then he tripped over her while lunging for Aiden's mirror. He actually managed to grab it; holding on as he then fell on the ground. He rolled away and then needed two tries to get to his feet again. "Catch!" he yelled; throwing the mirror like a Fanged Frisbee toward one of the other guys. The as-yet-unknown teen missed the catch, but it bounced off of his chest; so he was able to stoop down and pick it up once it dropped to the ground.

"Sit down, Aiden; or we'll be tossing it into the ocean next," James warned; but Al was already on the move; and confronted the taller, bigger boy.

"Can I have that back, please?" he asked; and the other boy sneered at him.

"No. Get lost, loser. You're bothering me." He tried swatting Al; and then looked stunned a moment later as he was flat on his back on the ground and Al was standing over him with Aiden's mirror in hand.

"What the hell?" one of the other guys said; and he tried to grab Al from behind. "Get up, Marco. I'll help you to pound this idiot for..."

That's as far as he got before he was flipped over Al's shoulder and landed on top of his friend. Al didn't stop there when the third boy jumped into the fray; taking a swing at Al that he dodged before grabbing that arm and then using a spinning kick to sweep the legs out from under him."

"Stay down," Al told him; grabbing the wrist of the arm he was still holding and applying pressure. "I'm sure James has told you a lot about me that isn't very complimentary, but he probably mentioned who our father is too; and you really don't want to find out just how much I've learned from him and some of the other Aurors back at home."

"He's just shooting his mouth off," James said loudly. "Are you all going to let a loser like him take you down? What about all of your bragging to the girls earlier? Was that all a bunch of crap?"

CRACK! CRACK! Crack.

James whirled around and gaped when he saw all six of their parents arrive. The two loud cracks that announced the arrivals of Charlie and Ron as they side-along apparated with their wives had been shocking in the comparative quiet of the night; while Harry and Ginny arrived with a sound no louder than a twig snapping underfoot.

"That's enough, Al," Harry said firmly. "Let the boy get up, please."

"Yes, sir," Al agreed, not only doing that; but changing his grip to help the other boy to stand.

"If you're not one of our kids; please leave now," Harry said next; directing that order at the six teens he didn't know. The three Witches just gaped at him; and the boys hesitated for a moment or two too long. "We can go and meet with all of your parents instead,' Harry offered.

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you," Ron suggested; and seemed to be trying hard not to laugh.

"We're going," one of the boys that was still unidentified snapped. "Come on,' he told the other five teens. Let's take this party somewhere else."

"Without those bottles," Ginny added; looking angry as she took in more and more of the scene around her.

"They're ours," the same boy retorted.

"Really?" she countered. "Unless you're very young-looking for your age; I'd reconsider that admission. Underage possession of alcohol isn't usually something that the Head of the Aurors would bother with; but Harry might make an exception for that tonight."

"He's not Head of the Aurors in my country," the boy declared; and that earned him a round of laughs from the parents.

"That's true," Harry agreed; "but I'm not in the mood to argue moot points with a bunch of half-drunk kids." By the time he finished saying that; the bottles in question had all disappeared – including the one that Maria had been holding. "Go back to your own campsites or wherever you want," he ordered.

The boy looked ready to argue, but managed to finally get enough brain cells working together to realise that he should be afraid; and then grabbed his girlfriend's hand and dragged her away. Their retreat was watched by everyone else for a couple of moments; and then James and Maria were getting all of the attention.

"Thanks a lot, Dad," James slurred. "Way to go, rat fink," he added; directing that insult at Aiden.

"I called them," Charlene advised him. "Aiden's mirror was still being fought over; so he couldn't do it."

"Whatever," James slurred dismissively. "You're all a bunch of losers – the whole lot of you!"

"You – shut it," Ginny told him; and then put a silencing spell on him before he could make another sound. "Let's go into the tent; and we'll talk this out in there."

"Why?" Maria demanded. "James and I were just having fun with our friends," she told Ginny. "We were fine until Aiden tried to mess things up for us – and then the loser there attacked those boys for no reason at all!"

"We've already made quite enough of a scene out here," Ginny told her firmly. "Into the tent – all of you!"

"No," Maria told her; grabbing James' hand and standing her ground. "We're not a couple of little kids; and you've no right to make me do anything!"

"You're right about that last part," Ginny agreed. "She's all yours, Charlie. James, however, is coming with me."

"He isn't," Maria declared. "We're out of here."

"You're not," Charlie said as he stepped in front of her to block her way.

"Touch me, and I'll scream," she warned; and Charlie's expression turned stern as he folded his arms and stood his ground.

"I won't need to," he told her calmly. "Julianne can call your parents to come and get you right now – or back in our tent while you're packing. Your choice."

"What?" Maria demanded; suddenly looking confused and unsure.

"I'd say you heard me just fine," Charlie told her. "We don't allow our own kids to get drunk; and won't have any of their friends around them that do think this kind of behavior is okay."

"You can't send me home!" she wailed. "James is still here for four more days! I love him! He loves me! You can't do this!"

"I guess you'll need to make the call right here," Charlie told Julianne. "I hope we won't be waking them. It is a work night for those of us that aren't on vacation."

"No!" Maria shouted; trying to get past Charlie and grab for Julianne's mirror.

"Leave Mum alone," Charlene told Maria; stepping in and grabbing her friend's arm. "You're just making things worse."

"Get your hands off of me!" Maria spat; jerking her hands away; and then losing her balance and falling down when she succeeded.

By then, Julianne was making the call to Maria's mother; and did wake her parents up. Instead of facing them, Maria stumbled to her feet and ran off.

"Go after her," Charlie told Aiden and Charlene. "Take your mirrors and we'll come to you once her parents arrive – if you can't convince her to come back first."

"Okay," Aiden agreed. He retrieved his own mirror from Al; and then Shay-Lynn and Pietr went with him and Charlene as they hurried to try and catch up with Maria.

"The rest of you – get into the tent," Ginny told the remaining kids. She put a firm hand on James' shoulder; but he hadn't tried to escape too – and was surprisingly docile as he walked with her toward the tent.

"We'll deal with our half of the problem," Charlie told Harry, Ron, and Hermione before they went to follow Ginny and the kids.

"Come over after," Harry offered. "We'll put coffee on; since it appears our supply of champagne may have been wiped out already."

"That's okay. I'm not feeling much like having a drink right now anyway," Charlie told him. "We will come over when we can for that coffee."

Julianne was already walking toward their tent by then, so he went to follow her; while Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought up the rear of the group heading into the Potter's tent. They needed to use all of the seating in the room, but Ginny directed James, Al, and Gwendolyn to the kitchen table. Harry put up an imperturbable shield around the tent; and then Ginny removed James' silencing spell. You wouldn't have known it, because he chose not to say anything.

"Okay, James," Ginny said as she walked over to the counter and began getting everything she needed to make a pot of coffee. "Let's hear all about what happened – and why Aiden and Charlene called us back here." James still didn't say anything; and just sat there; staring and unmoving.

"He's crashing," Al told her as he focused his attention on his brother. "I don't think you're going to get any answers from him tonight." He sighed and shook his head. "you might want to get him to bed before he passes out, Dad," he added.

"Well if that's all you needed us for; why'd we bother to come back?" Harry joked. "Give me a hand, please, Ron?"

"Okay," Ron agreed, "but if he pukes on me; you'll owe me big time."

"We'll take a bucket to go just in case," Harry decided. "There's a good chance he'll need one later anyway."

"Let's not go there," Lily told them. "Some of us just finished having s'mores not that long ago; and it was tough-enough just smelling the wine and fire whiskey on that lot while they were around us."

"Okay, but save the stories until we get back," Harry told her. "We'll just be a minute or two."

He retrieved a pot from a cupboard; Ron helped him out with getting James to his feet again; and then they half-carrried him to his room and put him to bed. While they did that, Hermione and Rose sat at the table with Al and Gwendolyn while Lily, Jonah, and Hugo sat on two of the sofas – Hugo on his own; and Lily and Jonah sitting close together because she'd been holding his hand for support pretty much since James, Maria, and the other six teens had arrived at the campfire. Ron came out of the bedroom first and sat down next to Hugo; while Harry went to help Ginny at the counter when he returned a minute later.

"I'm sure that James willhave a very entertaining story for us sometime tomorrow," Ginny told the kids; but let's hear it from you now since he isn't able to do that with us until he sobers up again."

"James and Maria wanted to have a party here after you left for dinner," Rose said after a round of silent communication with Al and Gwendolyn put her in charge of the storytelling. "Aiden wouldn't let them, and threatened to call you right then, so James backed down and said that they were going to go and have a party somewhere else. They went to get drinks and snacks before leaving; but we had no idea they'd taken the champagne, wine, and fire whiskey with them when they left."

"I'm sure they wouldn't have carried it around openly when they left – or bragged about having it with you," Ginny told her with a nod.

"They didn't talk to us at all when they left," Rose advised her. "We figured they were just mad; and were glad that they decided to leave us alone."

"Maybe we should have guessed they were up to something," Lily suggested. "I thought they were just going to go off and snog each other senseless for the rest of the night."

"As if they haven't been doing enough of that all week," Gwendolyn said; and then smiled ruefully. "Let's not go there. Back to you, Rose."

"The rest of us got ready to go back to the beach; played and swam there for an hour or so; and then came back here for our campfire. We were having fun with that for a couple of hours; and then James, Maria, and their new friends showed up and wanted to bring their party to us."

"Starting with James trying to throw Al's guitar into the fire," Gwendolyn added; looking angry now. "He's lucky that Lily saved it with her charm bracelet before it went in; or I'd be in a lot of trouble right now; and he'd be a bug."

"A beer bug?" Lily joked; earning a few laughs despite the serious turn Rose's story had taken.

"We can come up with ideas for that later," Gwendolyn told her. "I might need them for future reference."

"Lily kept Al's guitar out of the fire; and he got it back," Rose continued. "James sat in Al's chair; nearly punched Gwendolyn in the face while trying to put an arm around her; and ended up with Maria sitting in his lap while he had a verbal sparring match with Al and Aiden. When he refused to leave, Aiden got his mirror out to call his Dad; and that's when things escalated a bit. He knocked Maria on the ground while getting up and lunging for Aiden's mirror; managed to get it; and then threw it to one of the other guys. Al tried to get it back; that guy took a swing at him after refusing to give it back; and Al used some of your fancy Auror self-defense to put the guy on the ground. The other two boys tried grabbing or punching him too; and you arrived just after he put the last one down."

"When did you learn those martial arts moves?" Ron asked him. "I've never heard about you practicing them before – or using them."

Al shrugged and smiled self-consciously. "I remember all of the workouts I've seen at Auror Headquarters; and used to practice them in my room when I was little."

Ron laughed. "Sure, since that's all you'd need to do while the rest of us spent years learning how to do that without ever getting very good at it."

"They weren't as far-gone as James, but they were still pretty drunk; so it wasn't that big of a deal," Al said modestly. "I'm really sorry this messed up your night out; but I'm glad you ended it right away. It really didn't take long from the time they got to the campfire before we were fighting."

"You've nothing to be sorry for," Harry told him. "Aiden and Charlene did the right thing by calling us; and those three boys will likely only be mad about the bruised egos – if they even remember any of it in the morning."

"I agree," Ginny told him, "but that's not true for James; and we can't let this slide just because we're on vacation. We've done more than enough of that over the past week and a half; and look where that's led us."

"We're just trying to get through each day, Ginny; and I'm tired of beating ourselves up about it when every choice we make with James right now ends badly. We don't need to discuss this with all of the kids here, and whatever we decide; we need to be fair to them too so their vacation isn't messed up when they've done everything they can to keep the peace with James."

"Especially because of that," Ginny agreed with a sigh and nod. "Do you guys want to go back out to your campfire?" That was a question for all of them; but Lily answered her.

"We can do that if you need time to talk with the other parents, Mum. Whatever you decide, though, I want to stick together with you and Dad. We've only got four days left; and then you and Dad will be back at work again. It doesn't matter to me whether we're here or at home – as long as we're together."

"That's what we want too, sweetheart," Harry assured her. "We'll keep that in mind; though I'm a bit surprised that you're so easily willing to give up the trip to the water park we had planned for tomorrow and the shopping and sightseeing on Friday."

"Me and my big mouth,' Lily joked; pretending to look mad at herself. "I seriously doubt that James will be in any condition for water parks tomorrow, and if we miss the shopping and sightseeing; we'll just have to come back again for another holiday sometime."

"Let's not get started on any of that before we've even talked about our options," Ginny told her. "Go back out to the campfire and try to get back to having fun. We'll let you know what we're going to do once we've worked that out."

Lily got up; pulled Jonah to his feet; and soon had the rest of the kids heading outside with her. They were being watched from neighboring campsites; but tried to ignore the attention as they sat down in their chairs again. Al and Gwendolyn still had their guitars, but they didn't start playing them again right away; and that was because they all wanted to talk about what had happened instead – though they did that as quietly as possible.

"Well, the good news is that James found a new way to mess up," Rose offered; frowning instead of smiling. "I'm not sure how this will all be Al's fault; but we'll likely have to wait a day or two to find out what that story will be."

"Assuming he even remembers anything," Lily added. "That might be his smartest move at this point – even if he does remember when he wakes up again."

"Your Mum and Dad are taking this pretty well so far," Gwendolyn offered; directing that comment at Al more than Lily. "I guess they still got to have most of their night out; but this is a lousy way to end their anniversary."

Considering how the past few months have been; having James passed out in his room isn't exactly the worst thing that could happen," Al said seriously. "I don't even know how I feel about what happened."

"You're likely already feeling bad for James," Lily told him. "I get that, Al, but we can't really help James if he's going to keep acting like this; so we need to take care of ourselves instead of always worrying about what's best for James."

"Funny, that sounds a bit like something Aunt Muriel said at Easter," Al reminded her; and Lily laughed quietly.

"She does know a fair bit – for a senile, old windbag," Lily joked.

"That's not very nice," Rose protested; and Lily grinned at her.

"I'm just repeating something she'd said – after James had called her that on Easter. Didn't Al tell you about it?"

"No, he didn't; and that sounds like a nice little campfire story."

Lily was happy to share, though there was a pause when they saw Charlie and Julieanne return to their tent with another set of parents that were presumably Maria's parents and five teens. They'd moved on from that story by the time Charlie and Julianne came over to the Potter's tent with just four kids after seeing Maria and her parents off; and the four older teens went into the tent for a while too. That had certainly been so that they could give Harry and Ginny their babysitting report, but that didn't take long; and then they came out to the campfire again and sat down in the same chairs they'd vacated about an hour earlier when the trouble had started with James and Maria.

"How are the parents doing?" Rose asked them once they were sitting down and getting comfortable.

"I thought that the first question would be about Maria," Charlene said first before answering. "To be honest, I'm glad we're out here again; because it's a bit weird in there right now."

"And it was weird in our tent too," Aiden added with a shake of his head. "You really get to see just how different parents can be when something like this happens."

"I'd say that we got to see too much," Charlene told him. "Maria's parents were madder at Mum and Dad – and us – than they were at her."

"I'd say it explains a lot about Maria," Pietr interjected; and Charlene smiled at him.

"Maybe a bit," she agreed. "Would you say the same thing about James?"

"You're trying to get me in trouble," he countered; and Charlene laughed.

"I didn't really expect you to answer that. All of this does have me thinking about how old we have to be before our choices become entirely our own – and can't be blamed on our parents or anyone else."

"That's easy," Aiden told her with a grin. "When those choices turn out great, it's all on us, and when they don't; it isn't. Age has nothing to do with it."

"Thanks so much for clearing that up for me," Charlene deadpanned. "Remind me again why you bother hanging out with my brother, Shay-Lynn?"

"For the same reasons you love him – along with a few others that we don't need to talk about with all of these boys around," Shay-Lynn teased; earning a round of laughs.

"Moving along," Aiden said quickly; "we heard that we didn't miss much while we were busy with Maria and her parents. I didn't realise that James was that far gone, but I've seen it before with some older friends at school. Whatever Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny decide to do with James; I'll wager that he's going to be in for a bad morning when he wakes up with the hangover."

"That doesn't quite sound like the voice of experience," Lily said; and Aiden smiled at her.

"I've been around the next morning to see other guys go through it, but in case you didn't notice earlier, Dad has a problem with underage drinking – or getting drunk like that at any age; so Charlene and I wouldn't dare to be that dumb."

"Dad has good reason to feel that way," Charlene added.

"Drinking and Dragons do not mix," Al added seriously; though the comment earned a few quiet laughs.

"Exactly," Charlene agreed. "Keeping drunken idiots from getting eaten is bad enough; but inebriated dragon hunters are something that Dad really, really hates."

"Then we don't likely need to guess at what advice your Dad will have for our Mum and Dad," Lily said next. "Why was it weird with the parents in our tent?"

Aiden looked over at Rose and Hugo for a moment of hesitation before shrugging and answering. "My Dad's at one extreme; your parents, my Mum, and Aunt Hermione are all somewhere in the middle; and Uncle Ron was, well..."

"Uncle Ron," Rose completed; smiling ruefully. "Is Mum giving him the frowny-face a lot?"

"Yes, but your Dad's having fun with his great ideas for new wheezes and isn't getting the hints," Charlene answered.

"Excuse number two it is," Hugo told Rose with a grin; and she laughed.

"What does that mean?" Aiden asked.

"If Mum's doing the frowny-face thing with Dad; Rose can't go with the excuse that Dad's jokes are just his way of dealing with serious stuff," Hugo explained.

"And excuse number two is that between the extremes that are our Mum and Dad; Hugo and I have one, fairly normal set of parents," Rose added. "It's weird; but works for us most of the time."

"Are there more excuses than just the two?" Charlene asked curiously; and could guess at the answer just from the round of laughs. "How is it that we've never heard of this before now?"

"We don't exactly use them a lot," Rose answered first. "Al and Lily have heard them before; but it's mostly just a joke between Hugo and me."

"Maybe we should spend some time making up a list like that for James," Lily suggested enthusiastically.

"Excuse number one – it's all Al's fault," Al said self-mockingly. "Excuses two through infinity – see excuse number one. End of list."

That comment earned more laughs; but didn't keep Lily from starting a little chat about other options for that list of excuses. Al couldn't get into that, so he just listened and cuddled with Gwendolyn while letting his thoughts wander. He realised that he was worn down – tired of all of the teen drama with James. The little scuffle earlier was just part of that; and it was the cumulative effect that seemed to be pressing down on him. While his sister, cousins, and their friends talked; he searched for solutions to his problems that continued to elude him. Charlene had mentioned her own thoughts about choices and responsibility for them; but he took that thought process further. Where did responsibility begin and end when the choices other people made affect you – or the people you love most? How much blame could he even put on James for how his brother's choices were affecting him?

"Here come the parents," Lily warned; pulling Al out of his deeper thoughts even as he'd sensed them leaving the tent. "Will it be good news or bad?"

"That might depend on the perspective," Rose suggested. "Maybe it'll be good for all of us." They didn't have long to wait to find out; and Harry began delivering the news once the six adults were all seated too – in the chairs he had conjured for them by the time they'd reached the campfire.

"I'll be taking James home in the morning," he told them simply. "He'll stay with your grandparents; and we'll stay here until Saturday and go on with our vacation without him."

"James isn't likely to be in any shape to do anything with us tomorrow anyway," Ginny added; "so we'll go to the water park in the morning; and Harry will join us there once he's set things up with James at the Burrow."

"Are you sure?" Al asked. "We're okay with going home too if that's what you need us to do."

"We had this set up with Mum and Dad if needed," Ginny advised him. "We might not be able to keep James from messing things up for you; but we're not going to make it worse by ruining the rest of our vacation over this."

"Let us – and your grandparents – worry about dealing with James," Harry told Al. "Your job for the next three days is to have fun with your family and friends; and take a break from the troubles with your brother."

"I'll try," Al hedged with a wry smile. "You've already had the scary story before joining us for the campfire. Would you like to toast some snacks; or just head for bed soon?"

"How about some music from you and Gwendolyn to wind down with?" Ginny suggested.

"The Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie?" Lily requested with a grin. "We've got some material to use for a new verse or two now."

That joke had earned a loud laugh from Ron, and she proceeded to get Jonah, Al, and Gwendolyn to help her out with both the song and a new verse that added a bit of fun back into their lives. For Harry and Ginny, the favorite moments, though, were the two duet ballads that Al and Gwendolyn played and sang for their anniversary; and that most of the couples got up to dance to while they sat and played. They wrapped up the campfire after that; split up; and went into the three tents for the night. Al and Gwendolyn had a post-campfire bedtime chat with Harry and Ginny; but then sent them off to bed so that they could have a bit of alone time to say goodnight to each other before heading to their own rooms and beds too.

Waking up in the morning was easier for some than others, and while James woke up not long after Harry and Al started cooking breakfast; his day started out rather wretchedly – or wretchingly; to be more precise. Al was left to keep cooking while Harry went to deal with James; though he did that in a tough-love, unsympathetic sort of way that had James' day going from bad to worse. While Al could sense that, he tried not to dwell on it; and didn't see James much except for two trips two and from the bathroom that were fairly awful – even though James couldn't even manage a glare let alone anything more verbal than a groan. While the levels of sympathy for James varied from not much at all to way more than he deserved; getting through breakfast, the clean-up, and taking turns getting ready for the day was surprisingly easy – in part because James stayed in his room except for those trips to the bathroom.

When it was time to head for the waterpark, Harry stayed behind to get James' bags packed and wait until he was able to pull it together enough to handle the international portkey trip. While everyone else missed out on that not-so-fun action, they did have fun playing all morning; and then got to hear the stories about James from Harry when he joined them for lunch. Al hadn't thought about it at breakfast, but the time change had worked for James too; and it had still been early-morning when Harry dropped him off at the Burrow. The portkey trip had apparently made him sick too; so he was put to bed again and left to sleep off the after-effects of his drinking binge. While Al still couldn't keep from feeling bad for James, a day of sun and fun with the bonus of spending time with Gwendolyn in a swimsuit helped a lot with making it possible to have fun anyway; and that trend continued through until they packed up and headed for home on Saturday afternoon.

After their day at the waterpark, they went out for dinner; had a quiet evening back at the campground with an early bedtime; and then spent the day on Friday going shopping and sightseeing – this time with Charlie and Julianne as their guides. The sightseeing included a couple of really good meals at Wizarding Inns; and they ended the day with an evening stroll around the Wizarding section of Bucharest – a couple of hours of entertainment that was still a lot of fun even though it was their second visit there. They had one last campfire after getting back to their campsites for the night; and then did a lot of their packing on Saturday morning after breakfast before going to play at the beach until late afternoon. The parents had taken a break to finish packing their tents and gear while making up a picnic lunch; so when they'd had enough water play fun for the day; it was time to do a long round of goodbyes before the three sets of parents took their kids home – either by apparating there or by international portkey.

Al and Lily had known that James wouldn't be home when they got there, but they were kept busy with the post-vacation work that included getting everything put away and loads of laundry started. Kirley and Gwenog came over and stayed for dinner, and once they'd arrived; Harry left for Diagon Alley to get James from the wheezes store; and Ginny went over to the Burrow to get his bags – and have a short chat with her parents to get the latest on their adventures with James. By the time they returned; Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were going for a swim in the portable pool to cool off; and Kirley and Gwenog then joined Harry and Ginny in the kitchen to help out with making dinner. James got his swimsuit on and hopped in the pool. Since he'd been avoiding that anytime Al was in the pool too for a while; that act alone had been enough to put Al on edge even before James said anything at all.

"I knew exactly when you got back," James told Al with a sneer. "The entire country took a smell for the worse, and that's saying a lot; since I was right next to the Pygmy Puff cages at the time."

"Thanks, it's nice to be back," Al said; trying to play nice. "Did you have fun playing at the store with Uncle George today?"

"More fun than I would have had anywhere near you; so thanks so much for messing things up for me again and getting me sent home early."

"You're welcome, but since there are guesses and possibly a few wagers out there about how you'd make it my fault; how exactly am I responsible for what happened last Wednesday night? I didn't have anything at all to do with what you chose to drink or how much of it, and didn't call for parental help; so the only thing I did was defend myself from your three temporary buddies – guys that you'll likely never see again anyway."

"How about because anyone with at least two working brain cells can't stand being anywhere near the loser that is you while sober. I'm thinking about having a few drinks right now; and I've only been home for a few minutes."

"You win, Lily," Gwendolyn told her; and Lily was grinning victoriously before she said that. "I'd say that your guess that Al drove him to drink is spot on. You didn't have a mirror chat with James and suggest it to him, did you?"

"No, but I did think that it was a good guess." She turned her smile on James next. "I wouldn't have guessed that you're thinking about drinking again so soon; but I'm glad to see you looking so much better than the last time I saw you."

"I was fine – once I got far enough away from the loser," james retorted with a snort. "You ought to try it sometime before too much of the stink gets permanently stuck on you. Even Slytherins will notice that; and then none of your House mates would have anything to do with you after you're at Hogwarts."

Lily laughed and shook her head. "I'll be in Gryffindor; so don't waste your time razzing me about Slytherin. Those jokes don't bother me at all like they bugged Al the summer before he started."

"I'm not joking," James declared pompously. "You'll be in Slytherin; and probably end up dating Stinkpius Smelfoy. You'll be perfect for the Slytherin Quidditch team too; since they're used to losing all of their matches."

"I've heard through the girls' gossip network that Scorpius is the cutest boy in his year in Slytherin, and a fair Quidditch player; but he's not my type," Lily said first. "As for winning and losing Quidditch matches; let's talk about that again in three years; and we'll compare my junior team record to yours once I've played my nine matches."

"As if you'll likely even make any team in your first year," James said with a snort that just had Lily laughing again.

"Would you like to have a best of five duel after dinner tonight and back up that load of nonsense? I'll be in Gryffindor; and we'll have the best junior team in the school."

"In your delusional dreams," James retorted at the same time that Gwendolyn said – "We'll see about that."

"If you agree with Gwendolyn about that; does that mean you're going to cheer for her team against ours next season?" Lily teased after laughing at them. "How ironic would that be?"

"Your team will be Slytherin; and I won't be cheering for any of you – and won't have to worry about that with the loser and his stinking, cheating, loser friends. I'm sure that our next junior team captain will feel the same way about having them on the team as I did; so that won't happen."

"Who did you recommend?" Lily asked; and James smirked at her.

"I wouldn't dream of spoiling the surprise – or give you a chance to track him or her down and kiss butt all summer. That sort of thing just isn't proper for a younger sister."

"You're a chauvinist, so you'd have picked a guy," Lily stated. "That'd mean Fred, Andy, Orlando, or Romeo. Fred would be a good pick to earn points with Uncle George, but he'd never keep the best junior players off of his team; so you likely didn't pick him. I doubt you'd pick Orlando either; but you might be able to bully Andy or Romeo into doing what you want in September. Am I close?"

"You're close – to the edge of a big, fat nothing," James answered; but Al sensed that he was annoyed at how accurate Lily had been. "Guess all you want; since you'll just have to wait to find out until the Hogwarts letters come out."

Lily shrugged. "That's okay. It's fun to guess; but I don't think that your recommendation will be the next Gryffindor junior team Captain."

"They always are," James insisted; and Lily shrugged.

"I have no idea if that's true or not, but if I was in charge of picking the Captain for next season; it wouldn't be any of the players from last season."

"That's because you'd pick yourself," Gwendolyn joked; and Lily grinned at her.

"Well, yes, but since it's likely Professor Longbottom and Mr. Peakes making those final decisions; they won't likely do that."

"Let me guess – you'd pick the loser for the job," James offered with a snort; and Lily laughed again.

"Actually, I would," she confirmed. "That might be a stretch, considering how things went for you; but he's actually the only eligible junior player for next year who is undefeated."

"What are you talking about?" James demanded; and scowled at Lily as she laughed yet again.

"Have you forgotten already?" she asked in return. "Al's record is one win and one tie so far – thanks to the parent-imposed suspension for that game you lost to Hufflepuff the year before last. Rose is next-best with just the one loss; and she's my second pick if our family has lost the right to be team Captains for a while."

"I'd say Al's responsible for every Gryffindor loss for the last two seasons," James retorted. "Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw only won their matches against us thanks to his helping them to cheat."

"Oh, get over yourself, James," Lily told him; slapping her hand on top of the water and sending a spray his way that missed except for a few drops. "I don't know if you could have won every game over the past two years if Al had played in every game instead of missing four of them; but I'll wager you'd have won most of them – if you'd played together instead of you doing everything you could to keep him off the team. If I were you; I'd seriously re-think that strategy when it comes time for you to both play on the senior team. Three wins, a tie, and five losses won't look very good to the scouts if your record is like that for your final three years at Hogwarts."

"My record could be zero-for-nine and I'd still be in the show on one of the best teams," James declared stubbornly.

"Maybe," Lily agreed easily, "but do you want to get to the show because everyone thinks you're good; or because you're our famous Mum and Dad's son? If I can't earn my way to the show; I don't want to make it just to be a marketing gimmick."

"I'll make it because I'm the best Seeker," James snapped. "Al will be the Quidditch freak show if he makes it to the pro league – as a clown for the Cannons."

"I hope that you are the best Seeker when you get to the show," Lily told him; looking totally serious; and throwing James off for a moment. "That way, when I get to the show and beat you in every game we play against each other; we'll both know for sure who the best Seeker is after that."

"Let's hope that works out for you; since you'll be on the Harpies' team with me," Gwendolyn told Lily. "I'm ready to get out and dried off before dinner, though, so you'll have to carry on this bit of ego banter without me."

"Without us," Al added; glad for the excuse to get out of the pool and hopefully out of range of James' idiocies and insults.

"I'd better get out too," Lily decided. "Mum will have to help with drying my hair if I stay in too much longer – and I don't want water running down my back all during dinner."

Jonah and James stayed in the pool and swam around in relative peace while Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily all got out; grabbed their towels; and went to get dried off and changed – or at least to throw on t-shirts; and shorts for the girls. They then sat out in lawn chairs in the hot sunshine and relaxed until dinner was ready and they were called into the house to eat. The dinnertime chat was all about vacation and home stories, and while James tossed in a few dozen comments and insults that were mostly directed at Al; they managed to get through the meal without any major problems. The kids were on clean-up duty after that, and while James didn't help; Al and Gwendolyn were okay with that – and Lily and Jonah did help to make quick work of the kitchen and dining room clean-up while the parents took their turn at relaxing with after-dinner drinks in the back yard.

The McCormacks went home about an hour later because Gwenog had work to do ahead of the opening of training camp on Monday and wouldn't be able to do it all on Sunday because of other family commitments; so Al and Gwendolyn needed to say goodbye until Monday too. They did that outdoors so that James wouldn't bother them, but didn't run off somewhere for a major snogging session; and they were fairly sure that they'd survive the short separation despite all of the jokes and suggestions that they might not. While it wasn't late then, Al decided to go and have a shower and then turn in early – mostly because it felt later after spending two weeks in a different time zone. He'd been okay keeping up with all of the fun to that point, but when he got in bed and started to read himself to sleep; it didn't take long for him to be out for the count – and for the rest of the night.

The big family event for Sunday was a welcome home barbeque for Teddy and Victoire at Bill and Fleur's house, but that wasn't starting until early afternoon; so Al wasn't thinking much about it at all as he woke up and got ready for the day – especially when he knew that there were chores that needed to be done around the house and yard that they'd be doing first after being away for two weeks. The impending work wasn't a problem for him; and he was glad to be home again as he started working in the kitchen. Starting a pot of coffee brewing was first; and then he was just getting everything out for cooking breakfast when Harry joined him and got right to work too while waiting for the coffee to brew. A bit of father and son chat time while they worked helped to keep the start of the day fun and entertaining; and having breakfast with Ginny and Lily – but without James – was an added bonus; from Al's perspective.

Having his brother sleep in – or pretend to do that – until starvation forced him out of his room in time to eat the breakfast leftovers was great too. As usual; Al and Lily also preferred to do the extra chores instead of putting up with James complaining all of the time – not that he'd been forced to do any chores recently anyway. Since they had a major family meal ahead of them, and James had recently eaten anyway; they only had a snack and drinks break for lunch when they finished working for the day. Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily all took turns getting showered and changed for their afternoon play time; and then they headed for Shell Cottage at a bit after one o'clock. The couple of honor hadn't arrived yet; but more than half of the guests were there already; with the meet and greet already in progress. Ron and Hermione were there, so Al went to hang out with Rose right away; and she welcomed him with a hug and bright smile.

"You look pretty happy after your first day back at home with James. Has he been completely reformed in the last four days?"

"No, and Lily had the best guess for how he'd blame me for what happened last Wednesday," Al answered. "I've had a pretty good day so far; and don't mind admitting that's partly because he slept in for most of the morning so that he could avoid the chores."

"Do you think he'd help out more if we made up a set of seashells or medallions for him?"

"He could've done that himself if he wanted them," Al countered; and Rose laughed quietly.

"Are you sure about that?" she questioned with obvious disbelief. "You've helped me with every charm I've made for myself or gifts, but in case you didn't know it; I've had less success with the charms I've tried to do on my own. I can get them to work – usually; but they're not nearly as strong or long-lasting as yours. It's possible that James doesn't use any charmed objects because he has the same problem I do with making them."

"He'd hate it if I gave him a set," Al pointed out; and Rose nodded.

"Yeah, he would. I'm not sure if that's a good reason not to do it – or a great reason for why we should."

That train of thought was interrupted when Lily came over with Hugo and advised them that they had more than an hour before Teddy and Victoire would arrive. She invited them to head for the beach with her; and they ended up having most of the teens, tweens, and kids go along so that they could play and swim until it was time to gather again and welcome their newlyweds home from their honeymoon. James had gone along too, but left Al and Rose alone while hanging out with Fred, Louis, and some of the other guys and teens. That didn't keep them from over-hearing some of the stories James told his cousins about their vacation, and while that was sometimes uncomfortable; it was surely worse for James' audience – especially for the girls when he talked about his hot summer fling with Maria. Unfortunately for everyone in the family; that wasn't the worst of things for the day courtesy of James Potter. That nasty cameo moment came as they were sitting down to their mid-afternoon meal; which started with some toasts and a thank-you speech from Teddy and Victoire.

"Before we get started on the round of thanks we need to share with all of you; Victoire and I would like you to meet the newest members of our family."

"Did you have twins while you were away?" James called out. "that was fast!"

Teddy laughed; though James' joke had been delivered with a fair bit of malice. "No, and for the record; we're not in a family way yet either."

"Well if you aren't, then what in Merlin's name were you doing instead over the past two weeks?" Muriel demanded. "I'm sure that I told you everything you needed to know about such things right before you left."

"You did," Teddy agreed easily as everyone laughed; "but we'll need to wait a bit longer to start having children. Our Harpies team needs Victoire to keep playing for at least a few more years before taking a break for starting our family."

"The new members of our family that we want you to meet were wedding gifts," Victoire said; taking over from Teddy. "We are very happy to introduce all of you to Misty and Dasher!" The two names were emphasized; and two young-looking House Elves appeared in front of Teddy and Victoire; both of them facing their new Masters. "Misty, Dasher; Teddy and I would like you to meet most of our family – and some of our best friends."

"Are you kidding me?" James shouted as the two elves turned around. His yell had Misty taking a step back against Victoire; while Dasher stood his ground but seemed ready to spring into action as he focused his attention on James. "You've been given two House Elves to go along with Grimmauld Place?" James turned to look at his parents; and could see that they'd at the very least been in the know on the surprise. "I see this is another little secret you've kept from me – no wonder why. Let's give the family first-borns the world while the rest of us kids can be your little slaves instead and live in squalor." He sneered in Teddy's direction. "Oh wait, that doesn't count for me because my spot as first-born has been usurped because Teddy's an orphan just like you, Dad; so he deserves my inheritance instead."

"That's enough, James," Harry told him angrily; standing too.

"Not by half it isn't," James retorted; grabbing the table he'd been sitting at and flipping it over; sending drinks, plates, and cutlery scattering all over the ground. "You talk big all of the time; but you're full of it! You think that I'm not being fair, but I'll wager that your father would have felt exactly as I do right now if his parents had given everything they had of any value to Sirius Black instead of him." He waved an arm toward Teddy, Victoire, and the elves. "How would that be any different for him than what you're doing to me?" He kicked the overturned table. "I'll tell you how – it isn't any different at all! What about the rest of us kids? Are you going to buy mansions and give House Elves to the rest of us? We'd all love to know the answer to that!" He laughed derisively then; and glanced around at his cousins.

"Here's a hint for all of you – they won't be doing any of this for us – we're all screwed so that the prince and princess of the family can have it all. Don't worry, though; since I'm sure they'll invite all of us to come and enjoy a few crumbs at their fancy table now and then so that they can rub it in our faces for the rest of our lives." He returned his attention to Harry then; and literally spat at him.

"I hate you,' he said vehemently. "You've told me that I should wish that others would do the same for me if things were reversed for Teddy and me – well guess what? I do wish things were reversed and that I was the orphan. That's apparently worked out rather well for him; while I'm supposed to sit here and love it while you're destroying my future!" Even James could see that Harry was ready to blow a gasket; but he just glared at him defiantly. "Go ahead, hero, do your worst. I don't want to be here anymore anyway."

"If you insist," Harry said; walking over to James and grabbing his arm. James wasn't fast-enough when he couldn't pull away before that happened; and he then also found out that he wasn't even close to being strong-enough to keep Harry from forcing him into motion.

"What are you doing?" he demanded; and Harry smiled grimly at him.

"We're going home," he explained.

"So what are you waiting for – apparate us and be done with it. That way you can punish me once we're out of sight and nobody will see the Great Harry Potter beating one of his kids."

"We're not apparating," Harry told him; "and everyone knows that I'd never beat my kids because I love them too much."

"Then how are we getting home?" James demanded. "The cottage is that way if we're taking the Floo Network."

"We're walking," Harry said simply; and James gaped at him.

"Are you nuts?" he demanded; and Harry laughed.

"You've got me well on the way there, but no; I'm not nuts. You told me to do my worst; and this is it. We should be able to make it home on foot in about two days – if we walk day and night."

"You can't do that!" James retorted; and Harry just kept on going.

"Yes, I can," he assured his rebellious, misguided son.

With that; Harry continued to hold on to James quite firmly and drag him out of the yard and along the side of the road while their family watched on in varying degrees of amazement or other; not-so-kind emotions. Al didn't want to watch the train wreck in progress that was his brother once again acting the hippogriff-sized git; so he used one of his seashells to flip the table upright again and then round up the now-dirty dishes. He floated them over to a table near the cottage that had been set up for the clean-up part of their meal; and smiled when he had almost all of that done before James' tablemates had even turned around to find out that the mess had been cleaned up already. The emotions he was sensing were tough to take – especially from his mother; and going over to hug her was next on his immediate agenda. Lily beat him to that; but smiled at him knowingly after making room for him to hug Ginny too.

"Thanks, guys," Ginny told them quietly. Her eyes were teary; but she didn't allow those tears to fall as she used a napkin to wipe her eyes while still watching Harry and James as they continued down the road – with James yelling fairly-loudly all the way.

"Aren't you glad that you didn't turn him into a bat bogey?" Lily asked her. "James would've just been able to fly home that way."

Ginny laughed and hugged her again. "I love you. Thanks for the laugh. I really needed it."

"Me too," Lily agreed. "Let's get this party back to being about Teddy and Victoire – and meet their House Elves. Some of us think that's very cool."

"That's because it is brilliant," Al agreed. "Teddy and Victoire will take really great care of them too."

"We hope that'll go both ways," Ginny advised him. "Come on. Let's see if we can help to make Misty and Dasher feel more welcome than they must feel right now."

Al and Lily followed Ginny; they got in line for doing the introductions with the two elves; and the fun slowly began to return as James' outburst was put behind them and Harry was allowed to deal with James as he saw fit. Misty and Dasher were amazed when they were invited to stay for the meal; sitting with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, George, and Angelina while their new Masters were busy having dinner with the parents and grandparents at their table. Not talking about James was a bit like ignoring the hippogriff in the room even though he was gone, but since nobody wanted to deal with his outburst; they collectively chose not to do it. Not having Harry there was a disappointment for Teddy and Victoire, but they understood; and they managed to enjoy the afternoon anyway. That was true for Ginny, Al, and Lily too; but they also decided to go home early – after helping with the post-dinner clean-up. They took care of escorting Aunt Muriel home along the way; Ginny was given some rather pointed advice about James that was appreciated – even if it was unlikely that Harry or Ginny would follow through on any of the punishments that Muriel recommended.

Once home, Ginny left Al and Lily to take care of themselves for a while; sending them outside while she had a mirror chat with Harry. By then, they were still only miles from Shell Cottage with a long way to go, but James was still furious; and Harry was willing to keep going for as long as it took to walk some sense into him. He did allow Ginny to put together some food that he then summoned for both of them to eat; but had already made other arrangements for dousing James with all of the water he needed whenever he was hot or thirsty. Since she was sure after her chat with Harry that he and James wouldn't be home anytime soon; Ginny put on a swimsuit and went outside to join Al and Lily in the portable pool – and then spend the rest of the late afternoon and evening having fun with them. Their entertainment included a three-way Seeker duel that Al got into trouble over when he won with three catches to one each for his mother and sister. They watched shows on the mirror network after dark; and then Ginny did some prep work to get ready for opening day of training camp in the morning – including writing a preview article about the known and unknown for each of the teams.

Al and Lily were only in on the goodnight mirror chat with Harry and James long enough to say goodnight to their father; but Ginny did let them in on the latest after she'd finished making sure that Harry had everything he needed for the night before going to bed. Harry was making sure that James was never tired or too sore to keep walking, and while James had yelled at him for the first couple of hours; he'd gotten bored with that and alternated between silence and complaining – though nothing worked to change his short-term fate. Turning in for the night knowing what Harry was doing with James had felt very strange to Al, but it had given him a lot to talk about with Gwendolyn during their bedtime mirror chat. Her family day hadn't been nearly as eventful, but she'd had a good day; and was particularly excited about the opening of training camp – and getting to attend the opening day ceremony and lunch with Al and the rest of the gang they'd be at the stadium with for the event.

Waking up in the morning did come with a surprise for Al because breakfast was already cooking and the shower was already in use – by James. He waited until James was back in his room to get up and take his turn to shower and get ready for the day; and didn't cross paths with James until he got to the kitchen – and found James there ahead of him too and already eating his breakfast. His parents were both there too; so he shared hugs with them first; and then went to sit in his normal chair. Lily was still taking her turn in the bathroom, so he only poured a glass of juice and waited to have breakfast with her – as his parents seemed to be doing as well.

"Don't just sit there like an idiot," James told him when Al didn't say anything after doing the greetings with their parents. He'd been content to wait and just listen in as they talked and he enjoyed the short-lived peace. "You must be dying to take a turn laying into me."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to do that," Al admitted and answered. "You made good time getting here. Did you set a new world record for a hike that long?"

James snorted. "Dad couldn't actually take another day or two off from work; and he's making me go to the store today even though we've been up all night."

"We can always pick up where we left off when we're done work for the day if you're upset about missing out on all of those extra hours of quality father and son time," Harry offered; and James glared at him.

"When you get to work later, the first thing you should do is have someone arrest you for crimes against comedy," he retorted; earning laughs from his parents.

"You'll have to get a law passed to make that illegal first," Harry advised him; "but you're welcome to give that a go. If you start sometime this week, the Wizengamot will likely put it to a vote in fifty or a hundred years."

"With the funny part of that being that you're not likely exaggerating," Ginny offered. "We've other things to talk about before the two of you leave for London, though; so let's do that instead."

James sighed. "Here we go again. I've heard enough talking to last me forever. You might as well save your breath; since nobody is ever going to change how I feel about what you've done to me – I mean done for your favorite son, Teddy."

Ginny frowned at him. "We aren't going to talk about that at all," she advised him, "but keep it up; and I'll be taking a turn going for a walk with you next – and we'll keep taking turns doing that with you until you can at least learn to be civil regardless of how you feel."

"Whatever," James retorted. "Good luck with that plan."

"Thanks," Ginny deadpanned. "Good morning, Lily," she added; smiling as Lily walked into the kitchen and came over to start her round of hugs with her mother.

"Good morning," Lily said cheerfully as she continued on with hugs for Harry and Al before giving James a quicker hug that was from behind and in passing. "I'm still mad at you," she advised him; "but I'm glad you're home again."

"You ought to be mad at Mum and Dad, but we don't have time to go there; since Mum has to impart her words of wisdom to us before I have to go to work so that I can make my fortune on my own – now that Teddy's been given our inheritance."

"For Merlin's sake, James, are you really going to keep on being such an idiot?" Lily demanded.

"Lily, let's not get started on the insults again already," Ginny warned her; and Lily shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Mum, but this is just ridiculous." She turned her attention back to James. "You act as if we're the poorest family in the Wizarding World; but you can't possibly be that oblivious! You go to school with kids from all backgrounds. If we're so poor, give me an example of one thing that any other teen at Hogwarts has that you don't. How many teems can only dream of having a Firestorm two-fifty or the best portable mirrors like we all get to have. How many of your classmates would love to simply have new clothes and gear for school – or their own owl or other pet? You dismiss all of the things that Mum, Dad, Al, and I think are most-important, and that's your choice; but we're only talking about the things that you do care about – and there's nothing that you don't already have that you need or want. When your a famous pro Seeker in a few years, if you want the big, fancy house and House Elves to serve you – which I might remind you is a fairly large expense and responsibility now thanks to Aunt Hermione making sure Wizards and Witches have to treat them properly; then have at it. As for right now; it seems to me that you're just going nuts over nothing."

"I'd say you're the oblivious one," James retorted; and Lily laughed at him.

"Than answer my questions – starting with what you need right now that you don't have – and other kids your age do have."

"A mansion," James snapped. "Servants to do everything for us. Living somewhere that isn't the middle of nowhere. How's that for starters?"

"I'll guess that those kids don't own the mansions or servants; and they don't have those things at all while at school for three-quarters of every year," Lily countered. "You're in London three and four days a week with your job; so what could you do there with the extra three days that you couldn't do right now if you just stopped being a git and tried to get along and have fun? What would you really get out of a mansion that you don't have here anyway? A bigger room? Dad could make your room bigger anytime he wanted; though I have no idea why you'd want the extra space and the work that goes along with it. Finally, what do you need servants for, James? We've been doing all of the work around here – including cleaning your room now and then – for quite a while now without any help from you. Having servants or House Elves around here would change nothing for you."

"This isn't just about right now – it's about our futures being stolen from us," James said stubbornly.

"Aren't you going to be a rich, famous Quidditch player?" Lily asked. "That's what you've been telling us for as long as I can remember. You were telling us that again just yesterday when you first got back from work."

"I'll be the richest and most-famous ever," James amended; and Lily smiled victoriously at him.

"Good for you, but then if that's true; what difference could it make one way or the other for you to have one big, old mansion in the city or a couple of House Elves? If you're going to be that rich anyway; then you'll be able to buy half the mansions in London – and apply to buy as many House Elves as you want to take care of those places. In fact, you shouldn't care if Mum and Dad have a sickle or knut to leave to any of us – and you'll have the bonus of being a self-made Wizard. Isn't that one of the things you like most about Uncle George? He's made it without having anyone leave him a huge inheritance."

James stared at her for a few long moments before he could manage to come up with any comeback. "You're right," he declared. "It'll be way more satisfying to get rich on my own – and then tell the lot of you to stick it where the sun don't shine once I'm there."

"Well, I plan on doing pretty well in the show too," Lily reminded him; "but I'll be happy to take care of Mum and Dad in their old age if you don't want to help with that and Al's still trying to help Rose win that championship for the Cannons fifty or sixty years from now."

James snorted. "Yeah, and maybe you'll all still be living in this dive with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and your kids," he added. "Sounds like a dream come true for all of you."

"Quit trying to scare Mum and Dad," Lily teased. "I'm done having my say, Mum. What did you want to talk with us about?"

Following that little blast of fun and reality from Lily wasn't something that Ginny could top, but she did talk with them about their plans for the day and the rest of the work week. While James was at work, Al and Lily were going to go to the opening day fun with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah. They were hosting Quidditch practices on Tuesday for gangs of junior and senior team players, and while Ginny would supervise parts of that; Dominique and Lucy were going to help out so that she could continue to work too. All three kids were happy to hear about camping nights on Tuesday and Thursday that had Al and Lily at Rose and Hugo's on Tuesday and at Gwendolyn and Jonah's on Thursday while James camped at home or away with Ollie. Wednesday was a day at the Burrow for the younger cousins, including Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo; while the junior Quidditch practice on Thursday was booked for Gwendolyn's house so that Ginny could work all day on Wednesday, Thursday, and at least half of Friday.

Al and Lily didn't get to find out if Lily's mini-rant on James actually did any good or not after that because Harry took him to London shortly after they finished eating. They took care of the clean-up while Ginny went to get her work gear ready to go before heading to the Exmoor stadium and the opening day fun. Ginny needed to be there early, and took Al and Lily with her; but they were set free to wander around the stadium while waiting for Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah to catch up with them. That gave them a chance to check out some of the booths being set up; but they didn't get any sneak peeks at the new toys and souvenirs that would be on display as soon as the teams were introduced. They met up with three out of four of the McCormacks with twenty minutes to spare before the start of the opening ceremony; and were in their seats with five minutes to spare after getting drinks and snacks.

"Have you heard about any last-minute surprises from your Mum?" Lily asked Gwendolyn as the first speech began with the Head of the Department for Magical Sports – the boring part of the ceremony.

"No, but there may be some surprises," Gwendolyn answered. "A few of the teams haven't been making announcements ahead of time, though unless there are some big trades; there won't likely be any major stories today. We do know all of the graduating players from Hogwarts."

"True, but we don't from other countries," Lily pointed out. "There could be rookies hired from other schools – even if there hasn't been a lot of that over the past few years."

"That's because none of them have worked out as great as your aunt Gabrielle," Gwendolyn suggested. "You're even more fired up than usual. Is there something that you know that you're not telling us?"

Lily laughed. "No, but this is going to be fun; and I'm fired up because I keep thinking that I'm going to be one of these lucky players in seven years – when I'm introduced as the new rookie Seeker for the Harpies!" She smiled brilliantly at Gwendolyn. "We'll be on that stage together that day; with Al and Rose watching us from the sidelines – since the Cannons get introduced first."

"What about me?" Jonah protested; and Lily grinned at him. "I don't know. You haven't decided whether you'll want to play in the show yet. I'm sure that Rose would love to have you on her Cannons' team, though, if you decided to do that instead of music or something else."

"Thanks for the help," Kirley told Lily. "Jonah's sure to pick music over a career with the Cannons – if for no other reason than because orange clashes with everything."

"Except black," Lily joked. "Black goes with everything."

"We haven't even started first year yet," Jonah reminded them. "Some of us are okay with being a kid for a while longer and not worry about what we'll do when we grow up."

Kirley laughed. "Then you should really go into music. I still don't worry about what I'm going to do when I grow up; 'cause that hasn't happened yet."

That joke earned a round of laughs, but then they quieted down after those laughs earned some unwanted attention. Fortunately, the speeches didn't last too long; and then it was time to begin the team introductions for the twenty-nineteen – twenty-twenty season with the Appleby Arrows. While the Arrows were one of Madison's favorite teams, Al and Gwendolyn hadn't even paid much attention to their team players a year ago. That didn't change a lot this year, but since Eddie Bones had just been Best Man at Teddy and Victoire's wedding; he earned some bonus cheers from them when he was introduced as the Arrows' Keeper. There weren't any surprises during the team revelations thorugh to the Harpies – or with their team either as all seven players from their championship team were back to try and defend their title for a third straight season. The real news began to hit with the Pride of Portree; including a surprise for Al, Lily, and the McCormacks.

That surprise came ahead of the news they did know about because the Prides had apparently not only drafted Daniella Rivers; but were putting her in the starting line-up for their Chasers. Whatever the back-story there; it was news because Daniella had been a regular reserve player for the Gryffindor team because she'd always ended up falling just a bit short in tryouts against Victoire, Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, and others during her years at Hogwarts. The Prides were obviously taking a chance on her for some reason; and that was just one of the changes they were making. The Potters and McCormacks did have the inside scoop on Alice Longbottom's new job with the Prides; and cheered loudly for her as she was introduced and made her lap around the stadium before landing next to Daniella. Their loudest cheers were for Aunt Meghan, but Jensen Scott and Stanley Stebbins seemed to be very popular with the collective spectators – and among the young Witches in particular.

That might be a bit scary for Dominique, since she still had another year at Hogwarts while her boyfriend would be out in the real world with those adoring new fans, but those issues weren't anything new for professional Quidditch players, and if Dominique and Jensen were meant to be; then having those adoring fans wouldn't matter at all. Having four out of seven new players was certainly going to matter for the Prides, though; and they'd be a team worth watching this season! There only ended up being one change for Puddlemere United; and that was likely the biggest surprise for them. Belinda certainly earned a lot of attention as the new Keeper for United; and there was sure to be speculation about how she'd do following in her father's footsteps; but Al was a bit surprised when Calvin Johnson wasn't introduced as one of the Beaters for United. He'd definitely been hired by them; but they'd just as obviously decided to have him train for at least a year on the reserve squad instead of putting him right in.

"Maybe they're going to have him wait for Tina," Gwendolyn suggested after Al mentioned it to her. "They're great together; but maybe they're not as good with other Beater partners."

"I suppose, but if I was looking to make United better; it would be at Beater," Al said. "He didn't say anything to us at the wedding about it; but Calvin must be at least a bit disappointed."

"Especially when Jensen and Stanley will be playing," Gwendolyn agreed. "That's likely a good hint right there that I'm right; since Calvin and Tina did win the top spot for Beaters last month."

"The Prides needed help there even more than United did," Al pointed out. "We'll need to keep an eye on this trend with all of the rookies right now. We've still got five years to go before we'll be done school; and there are only thirteen teams."

"With thirty-nine Chaser jobs," Gwendolyn added. "We've still got better odds than the Keepers and Seekers do, though; since there are only thirteen jobs each for them."

"Twelve for the Seekers," Lily interjected. "Aunt Gabrielle is keeping my spot warm for me; and then it's all mine – for the rest of this century and beyond if I can swing it."

"That would make Aunt Muriel's insults about what grandmothers and great-grandmothers say about the players and referees even funnier if you were a grandmother and still playing too," Al joked.

"She'd likely still be around if Lily was playing for the Harpies that long too," Gwendolyn offered. "If you play in the show from the time you graduate Hogwarts through to the next century, you might even still be with the Harpies when the Cannons get around to their next Championship."

"You're not giving Al and Rose much credit," Kirley teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'm hoping that Rose will come and play for the Harpies too; and then Al could play for another top team." She smiled at him before continuing. "He'd do well-enough – for a Wizard."

"As long as his team doesn't beat ours," Lily added. "Then he'd be doing a bit less-well – as a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction."

"You wouldn't rather make him your Bat-Bogey brother instead?" Jonah asked; and earned a laugh and bonus hug from Lily for that one.

"That'd be funny too," she agreed. "With the Cannons and Harpies out, though, Al will only have thirty-three jobs left to choose from."

"Thirty," he amended. "I won't play for James' team or the Falcons."

"You'd better brush up on you math if you plan on doing very well in Arithmancy in September," Lily told him; and Al laughed.

"I'm not counting out the Cannons like you are; since I do think it would be brilliant to be on their next league championship team." He nodded toward the stage. "The Tornadoes are up now. Any guesses on whether they'll get some new help for Rachel?"

His question sent their chat off in a new direction; but then they didn't have to wait long to find out that the Tornadoes had hired Lacey Zabini to play Chaser with Rachel – another surprise considering just how poorly the Slytherin teams had played in their most-recent couple of seasons at Hogwarts. Rachel and Lacey had played well-enough together; but not compared to the more-talented Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Chasers that had been their top rivals at school. The game was faster and different in the show, though, and Rachel had helped her team to reach the championship match in her rookie season; so they'd again be a team to watch. That was it for the rookie news, and there was only one notable trade revelation through to the end of the introductions. Once the Wimbourne Wasps had been introduced; that part of the fun wrapped up quickly; and the player meet and greet began with the reporters getting first shot at talking with them until the luncheon started.

Lily led the way for the tour of the concession booths; and they all picked up some new toys or other team gear – including the new versions of the Harpies' action figures for Victoire and Gabrielle. Lily picked up posters for her dorm room and bedroom; and new Harpies' clothes that she needed because she'd pretty much outgrown all of her team clothes from last year. Ginny joined them for lunch; and while they didn't rank seats at the tables with any players or managers; they did end up with some friends and had fun with some cameo visits from most of their favorite players. When it was time for the players to leave for their own practice pitches; Kirley took all four kids home with him; and they were set free to play in the back yard for the afternoon while he did some work in his office-studio.

Playing was the name of the game for Al and Lily during the rest of the day on Monday and for most of Tuesday too. There was a bit of work helping out on either side of dinner and doing some chores after Ginny took them home on Monday, and then again on Tuesday morning; but the rest of their time was filled with playing Quidditch or other games and doing a lot of swimming to stay cool. Having their friends and cousins come over for their first official Quidditch practice on Tuesday morning was great; and they had more than two full teams of players because Gwendolyn had all of the Ravenclaw players that would still be able to play on the junior team with her; and they'd all invited the cousins that would be starting at Hogwarts in September. While Gwendolyn had lost three of her players now that they'd be moving up to the senior team level; she had her cousin, Katrina Rivers, and one of the reserve team Beaters from last year, Patrick Thomas, there to compete against Fred and Orlando.

She also had Jonah and Stephanie take turns at Seeker and Chaser playing against Lily – or against Al, Ray, Melissa, Kathryn, and Roxanne as they took turns playing too. That was only an issue while playing their scrimmage match; and they all worked through the rest of their training together – or in groups. Al and Gwendolyn also took breaks from playing so that they could actually help with training the younger players – something that they were both pretty good at doing. Having the extra players meant needing more time for both the training and scrimmage; but they had all morning to do that; and then had the rest of the day to play – at least for the teens and tweens that were able to stay and do that with Al and Lily.

Ginny was working once she'd dealt with all of the incoming kids, but she stayed at home to do that for half the morning; and then had Dominique and Lucy there to keep an eye on things while she went out to check out one of the league team practices. James was the only problem that anyone had all day; and that was only because he spent part of his morning watching the junior team practice while insulting Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and Ray – along with lesser insults for the rest of the players. He was told to leave several times by Ginny or Dominique, and he'd do that; but then wander back after a short break and resume the razzing and nasty jokes. Ginny came home again at lunchtime, but only long-enough to drop off food and help Dominique and Lucy to get set up to feed the troops – including a few of their senior team players.

Dominique was expected to be the senior team Captain, and she was going to both help Ginny with the younger kids on the Tuesdays and Thursdays when the junior team was going to practice there; and have her senior team practices using their pitch too. While she'd been in charge of the lunch set-up, Dominique let Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn lead the way for the clean-up after they'd all eaten so that she could get set up for her practice. The similarities to the Ravenclaw junior team for that were striking, since the Gryffindor senior team had also lost their Beater duo to graduation along with their star Keeper; but Dominique definitely had advantages that Gwendolyn didn't thanks to Louis being there and ready to step into the Keeper job while Tiberius and Brock McClaggen had the potential to be even better than Jensen and Stanley.

All was not perfect for the senior team, though, since Dominique did have to deal with James and Ollie. She had to step in and put a stop to their antics before they even started warm-ups; and then she wasted a fair bit of time on them during the rest of the practice. For their part, James and Ollie hadn't liked finding out that she wasn't going to put up with them insulting the other players – or that they wouldn't be allowed to practice with the senior team if they didn't stop doing that. James was mad when he wasn't given the job of leading the flying practice; and even less-happy when he couldn't out-fly Dominique as she did that instead – despite the fact that he shouldn't expect to do that when she was flying a Lightningbolt. Things went downhill from there – for James and Ollie – when they were put on the reserve squad for the scrimmage; though they shouldn't have been surprised that Dominique would keep Lucy and Olivia with her at Chaser; and it didn't really matter which team James played on against Brandon Starkey.

James was happy when he won the Seeker duel, but it had taken him more than an hour and a half to get the one catch; it hadn't happened until after Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia had earned a big lead that gave their team the win anyway; and then he'd gotten into trouble with Dominique again for razzing Brandon about being such a loser and lousy Seeker. By the time Dominique had finished warning him again, James and Ollie were both mad; and they stormed off into the house instead of staying outside with everyone else to go for a swim and have a snack break in the back yard. None of the teens and tweens still there had a problem with that; and the fun level kicked up a few notches for a while – until the two boys returned so that they could go for a swim and attempt a bit of passive-aggressive retaliation with 'nice' insults and 'harmless' pranks.

It was mostly thanks to James and Ollie that Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were ready to escape when they went home with Rose and Hugo for their first camping adventure of the week. Ron stopped in to get them while Hermione was still busy at the ministry of Magic; he helped them with setting up their tent and a campfire that they'd light once it was dark; but then he left them to play after refreshing the warming spell on the portable pool for them. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went for a swim along with Hugo, Jonah, and Lily; but then they sat by the pool in lawn chairs and finally enjoyed the chance to talk about their day without having too many teens around to listen in on them.

"I'd like to get the James and Ollie talk out of the way," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn once they were all comfortable in their chairs and had fresh, cold drinks to sip on while they talked and watched the three younger kids playing in the pool.

"Okay, but that's a dark and scary place to go on such a nice day," Gwendolyn joked. "I like how Dominique is trying to deal with them; but they're a nightmare for any team Captain."

"She's definitely doing things differently than Louis did two years ago," Rose said with a nod. "What's really dunb, though, is that James and Ollie had nothing to brag about today."

"James did catch the snitch," Gwendolyn reminded her; and Rose nodded her agreement.

"He did, but Brandon never really tried to catch the snitch at all. He only played defense, and did that pretty well; since his team won the scrimmage."

"I think that he's just gotten used to playing that way," Al interjected. "Belinda's strategy last season was for our team to get more than one-sixty ahead so that the snitch catch didn't matter. He's so used to playing with that goal in mind that it's his style now. For all I know; he doesn't even believe he can win against any of the really good Seekers."

"Then he'll have no chance of making the team in September over James if he can't do that," Rose suggested. "He did win the Seeker duel last year to make the team, though; so maybe he can do it again."

"I like Brandon; but I hope that doesn't happen," Al said seriously. "Dominique does need a better Seeker. That could be James – if he can stop being such a git and start working harder instead of just coasting on talent alone. He'll have trouble against the other senior Seekers too if he doesn't start taking his game more seriously. We know that Alex and Pauline will be ready for him."

"What about Slytherin?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shrugged.

"G-Air is a lot like James, and hasn't been able to beat him yet; so I'd give James the advantage. If Brand Bletchley keeps the Seeker job in September; I'd give him the advantage because James hasn't faced any Seekers that big – and willing to cheat and do anything to hurt him and put him out of the game."

"Pauline and Alex both beat Brand," Rose reminded him. "They managed to deal with the hits and cheap shots."

"They did, but short games were the key for both of them," Al told her. "That worked out last year for them; but longer matches favor Slytherin – if they get enough hits on the players they're trying to hurt." He shrugged again. "Maybe G-Air will win the Seeker job over Brand. That'd work out better for the other House teams. Brandon got the win too despite playing a much longer match, so when you think about it; he's a better Seeker than he gets credit for – even if he isn't one of the top players."

"I guess that isn't any different than having really good defensive Chasers," Rose conceded: "and the best Keepers are the ones that play like that instead of always challenging the Chasers or looking ahead to set up the next offensive play for their Chasers."

"You like to do both," Gwendolyn said; and Rose grinned at her.

"Yeah, but I'm still working on finding the balance that's best for me. I didn't say there isn't a place for that kind of play for Keepers – especially against Chasers like the two of you with all of your fancy plays. Sometimes the only way to break that kind of thing up is to get in your way so you can't finish the play."

"We noticed you doing that a few times earlier today," Al teased. "Since we're supposed to be getting the James and Ollie chat out of the way, though; what did you think of Ollie's play today?"

"I think that he's so afraid of looking bad that he's playing even worse than he did last season," Rose said seriously. "He could be pretty good, but Dominique, Lucy, nd Olivia had no trouble handling him; and they won't as long as he keeps playing as if he's the best Chaser out there when he isn't even all that close to his sister and our cousins."

"That's true, but I wasn't all that impressed with Olivia and your cousins," Gwendolyn told them; and smiled when that comment got their full attention. "They play a bit like Brandon does – too defensively. Yes, they won today, and won two matches last season; but it's like they're spending so much time trying to have the perfectly-balanced Chaser trio that they miss out by never taking risks. Yeah, that can come back to bite you; but it can lead to big plays that get everyone fired up too."

"You're right," Rose agreed. "I was trying to figure out what felt different with them; and that's it. They don't have the same sense of excitement. With Victoire, you're always excited about seeing what she'll do next – especially now that she's in the show. Belinda isn't as fired up; but she's exciting to watch when she's putting on a Keeper show. Dominique's team doesn't have that – or at least they don't have it yet. Maybe they'll get there by the time they play their first match in the fall."

Gwendolyn grinned at her. "I sure hope not!"

"You want to cheer for Slytherin?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn laughed and shook her head.

"No, but I also don't want your team to get so good that they beat Ravenclaw next May. We'd love to have a nice, average, defensive Gryffindor team to play against. I doubt that I'll get that lucky with your junior team – unless James is right and his pick for Captain won't let you play again this year."

"That would work out great for you; but isn't going to happen," Rose predicted. "Even if Andy or Romeo get the job, I'd like to think that they'd tell James to stuff it and have proper tryouts."

"Unless James and Ollie are threatening them," Al added. "I'm not going to worry about it at all and just work to get ready in case we do get to play. We'll know one way or the other in a few weeks anyway."

"How do you figure that?" Rose asked. "Just because the Hogwarts letters will be out? We might not even find out who the Captain will be for a while." Al laughed at that; and Rose joined in after a moment. "Okay, James wouldn't be able to resist gloating, so we will at least know who the Captain will be; but not necessarily anything else."

"We'll see about that once we know," Al suggested. "That might be as easy as inviting the Captain to join our summer practices."

"Especially if the Captain is you, Rose, or Ray," Gwendolyn added with a grin. "That might not be good for my team next season; but I'm still going to hope that Mr. Peakes and whomever else makes those decisions ignore James and do what's right instead."

"That'd be nice," Rose agreed, "but if we don't get to play again; we will at least still have one Quidditch Cup win with the junior team – and Al will have done that without losing any matches."

"You're going to remind me of messing that up for you forever," Al predicted; and Rose and Gwendolyn both laughed.

"Probably," Rose agreed; "and I won't let the fact that it was James and Ollie at fault get in the way of the joke either. Let's move on, though; and maybe Gwendolyn can tell us the latest from the Harpies' training camp."

"There isn't anything to tell yet," Gwendolyn advised her. "Yesterday was all about the publicity; and I won't hear about how the work is going until I'm home again tomorrow. Mum's hoping for a three-peat this season; but knows it's tough to keep a team at the top that long – even if it's just a case of running out of luck."

"Why do you say that?" Lily asked her as she reached the edge of the pool and smoothly pulled herself up and out of the water. "Nobody has a problem believeing the Cannons can keep having bad luck for another century or two. Why can't a team win all of the time for a century or two?"

"Because most teams want to win," Gwendolyn answered. "The Cannons' owners are too cheap to pay up front for better players – or anything else. Aren't they always the last to get the newest brooms or any other gear?"

"Yes they are," Lily agreed. "That's one more reason for Rose to come and play for the Harpies with us instead of the Cannons – unless she's already taken so many bets on that league championship that she can't afford to do that anymore."

Rose laughed. "The bet wasn't for me to be on the team when they win," she pointed out; "but I would want to be on that team. I'd be okay with a century or so of winning to make up for all of those losing seasons too."

"That is so not going to happen with Gwendolyn and me playing for the Harpies," Lily advised her; and smiled when Rose shrugged and laughed again. "Cut that out, Rose. We are going to play for the Harpies!"

"I didn't say anything," Rose protested innocently.

"Not with words," Lily conceded; "but we know what you're thinking."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rose lied; still grinning. "It is interesting that the three of you keep bringing this up, and if I could make that happen with the Cannons; would you really rather play for the Harpies?"

"That's an impossible 'if' to get past," Gwendolyn told her; "so we'll stick with our own plans with the Harpies."

"Okay," Rose conceded. "I'll just have to find some other Witches to take your places playing with Al and me." It was Gwendolyn's turn to laugh.

"I like the reverse-psychology better than the trying to make me jealous lines, Rose, but if you want to go there; Lily and I will be happy to pick some Wizards that could play with you on that Cannons team."

"Scorpius Malfoy," Lily offered immediately. "How funny would that be to have the two of you playing on your Dad's favorite team?"

"He hates us," Al advised her. "That'd make it tough to play on the same team – if he'd even be allowed to do a job like that when he'll be future head of the Malfoy family."

"Maybe he just needs a chance to find out how adorable we are in person," Lily suggested. "It's not as if you've gone out of your way to make friends with him."

"Would you like me to send an Owl Post and invite him to our summer Quidditch practices?" Rose asked her; and Lily laughed.

"It'll be fun to find out what happens if you do that; but I imagine that our parents would have as much of a problem with that as his parents would. Even if he does hate us now, though, you've told me that he's never tried to do anything to you or join in with the Averys and their buddies to come after you; so maybe we really should try to be friends with him – and some of the other Slytherins. They aren't all bad; and it'd be better for all of us if we could get past all of the hatred that our parents and grandparents have for each other."

"Keep talking like that and Mum will talk you into going to work with her at the Ministry of Magic instead of playing Quidditch at all," Rose teased. "You're sounding more like a future Minister of Magic than a Quidditch player."

That joke sent their chat off in a new direction; and they had fun just hanging out together for a while. Hermione brought dinner home with her after ending up staying at the Ministry much later than she'd planned; they had dinner at tables in the back yard; and then they had a play evening that included a bike ride to town for ice cream treats; games in the back yard; and then mirror network gaming in the tent for the six teens and tweens after Ron and Hermione went inside for the night at dusk. There were more swim breaks – including one after dark; but they didn't stay up and party all night because they needed to be up early so that they could be ready to go to the Burrow for the day when Ron and Hermione needed to go to work.

While their Wednesday wasn't all fun and games, they did have fun together while helping Molly out around the Burrow all day while their parents were all busy with work. There a couple of play breaks at lunchtime and before dinner too; Arthur, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all came to the Burrow for dinner after work; and then Ginny, Al, and Lily had a short evening visit with Gwenog and Kirley while dropping off Gwendolyn and Jonah. Harry didn't go with them, but only because he'd needed to go and get James from London after he'd been allowed to hang out in Diagon Alley for dinner at one of the cafes. That had worked for Al, since it had meant spending even less time around James than he'd expected; but then James mostly ignored Al and Lily once they were all at home anyway – possibly because he was more interested in mirror gaming and chatting with Ollie about some girls he'd met either at the wheezes store or after work in Diagon Alley.

Al spent the rest of his evening on Wednesday doing some revision and reading; he had a bedtime chat with Lily and Gwendolyn; and then they all went to bed early. Thursday was a near-repeat of Tuesday for Quidditch – including more issues for Dominique and the senior team players with James and Ollie. The change for camping was only in location; since Gwendolyn and Jonah were hosting the Thursday night camping instead of Rose and Hugo. The games, swimming, and play time were a lot the same; with getting to do all of that away from James being one of the best parts of the day for Al and Lily. All six kids were at the McCormacks for the day on Friday, and while there were some chores to help out with in the morning, that work didn't take long; and then Kirley set them free to play for the rest of the day. While a sleepover for Friday night hadn't been booked ahead of time, Al was already going to be spending the day with Gwendolyn on Saturday for a family play day with the McCormacks; and she convinced their parents to let him stay for another night instead of having to go bakc and forth with the extra trips.

That change in plans had everything to do with how little alone time Al and Gwendolyn had been able to work out when they'd spent so much time with Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah around. They got teased about that a bit too, but after having dinner and spending the evening playing music and watching a mirror network show with Gwenog, Kirley, and Jonah; they were left alone in the sitting room with enough time available for a rather brilliant snogging session before bedtime. Ending their day and the work week that way had them smiling when they did eventually go to bed; and they were still smiling in the morning as they spent the morning helping out around the house and yard until it was time to head over to Kirley's parents' estate for the family barbeque and play day.

They took the Floo Network there; were welcomed by Aunt Meghan in the sitting room; and then they went outside for the full meet and greet with the McCormack clan and the group of friends that Catriona and her husband had invited over for the afternoon and evening. That start to the party wasn't really much different from parties with his own family for Al except for the fact that most of the guests were die-hard fans of the Prides instead of the Harpies. There was a friendly rivalry that Gwenog and Gwendolyn played up more than Kirley and Jonah did, but the jokes and teasing were all in fun; and wasn't any more serious than the Weasley family rivalry between the Harpies and Cannons fans. While Al and Gwendolyn spent the first half-hour or so visiting with all of the guests; they were set free to play with the kids after that while the parents and grandparents were busy socializing.

Gwendolyn and Jonah had more first cousins on the Jones side of the family; but only Meghan's four kids for the McCormacks. There were more distant cousins there too; but those kids were mostly either quite a bit older or younger. That put them at the head of the teens and tweens group, but while Gwendolyn's cousins wanted to hang out with them; Jonah was closer to all four of them than Gwendolyn was – though that was changing now that she'd played Quidditch with Ryan for a year and they were starting to practice with Katrina. Meg was nine and a half, and the baby of the four Rivers' kids was Corey; and he'd be eight in September. The two younger kids had a bit of a hero-worship going on with Gwendolyn – especially now that she'd been Captain of her House team and both Quidditch Cup and junior team champion too. Al was happy not to have that problem; and also glad that all four of Gwendolyn's cousins liked him.

They were also all interested in playing Quidditch; so they soon had a little game going – except that they left the bludgers in the box so that the two younger cousins couldn't get hurt. That wasn't as much fun for Katrina, since she wanted to be a Beater like her Aunt Gwenog; but she managed to keep entertained while playing Keeper against Ryan while Al and Gwendolyn had a boys against the girls match with Corey and a second cousin with Al; and Meg and a family-friend kid on Gwendolyn's team. Jonah was the Seeker for the boys; and he needed to take it easy against another family friend kid with a lot of heart for the game but not very much skill. They played for a bit less than an hour to a best of three snitch catches that Jonah won easily; and then landed to take a break when the younger kids were all getting tired from the extreme workout.

"I was going to suggest a match between us old-timers and the kids later this afternoon, but after watching the two of you; I'm not sure that's a very good idea," Grandma Catriona told Al and Gwendolyn when they wandered over after their match to check in with Gwenog and Kirley. "Losing that match to a bunch of kids would just crush my annual dreams of a comeback in the show."

"That'd be worse for me," Meghan pointed out with a smile for the two teens. "The reporters would have a field day if they ever found out that I was bested by a pair of thirteen-year old Chasers at a family picnic. That sort of thing might even give a team like the Cannons hope for next season."

"Then they'd better not find out how well we did against Belinda in some of our practice scrimmages against her over the past couple of years," Gwendolyn joked. "That won't be a problem for anyone when we get to the show, though; since Al can't play for the Harpies."

"Then the two of you should come and play for the Prides instead," Catriona offered; and then laughed at the scowl that Gwenog directed her way. "Just because she wants to play for the Harpies doesn't mean that she won't be getting offers from other teams, Gwenog. I'm sure that the Prides will want to give that a try too – if Gwendolyn and Al are as good as we all expect that they will be by the time they're done at Hogwarts."

"I do expect that," Gwenog agreed – "especially when we've already had a future Cannons' player working on recruiting them to help out with her impossible dream; but I didn't think we'd get into a bidding war between the Prides and Harpies for the Witches in our family."

"Danger, Danger," Kirley warned with a smile that was directed at his wife and sister. "Gwendolyn, Katrina, and Meg might all get mad if you say the wrong things about any of them next."

"Then let's just agree to offer jobs to all three of them; and may the best team win those bids!" Meghan offered."

"Even if that best team is the Cannons?" Al joked; earning a round of laughs.

"It's more likely that Rose will decide to play for one of our teams than the Cannons – once she finds out how poorly they pay compared to everyone else," Catriona advised him; and smiled in response to Al's grin.

"She's planning on buying the team by saving up her allowance – and mine – between now and when we graduate." That statement earned another round of laughs.

"That might get her the team; but then where will she come up with the money for actually running that money-pit?" Meghan asked.

Al shrugged. "She's still working out the details for that. I'd offer to keep you posted, but at some point in time; she'll want to keep those plans confidential so the other teams can't mess things up for her."

"That's fun to joke about; but very unlikely to happen," Gwenog said – "even if the Cannons might have the only owners in the league willing to sell their team now that they're losing money every year."

"Are they?" Al asked. "We've joked about that too; but didn't actually know that for sure."

"We only know that through stories we hear from players and other owners," Gwenog admitted. "They could just be pretending to be losing money for sympathy or other reasons; but I doubt it. The Cannons don't spend any extra money on anything that isn't absolutely necessary. Even their practice pitch is fairly run-down compared to what most of the other teams have for their players."

"Sounds like even more reason for Rose to forget about her dreams for that Cannons' championship team," Gwendolyn suggested. "Merlin only knows how much money would need to be dumped into the team just to catch up with everyone else; let alone get good-enough to recruit top players."

Al actually had his own ideas about that, but kept them to himself; and mostly listened in as the conversation moved on. With a two Quidditch team family all together, it was no surprise that Quidditch was a big part of the conversation and play time fun. It was especially fun for Al to hear about the first week of training camp for the Prides. Meghan and Catriona were particularly happy with how well Alice and Daniella were coming together with their Chaser partner, and hwile they expected that Jensen and Stanley would need some time to develop into one of the better Beater duos in the league; they were sure they'd be able to help the Prides to get better this season too – even though they were still a step or two away from where they wanted to take the team in the future.

Playing more Quidditch had been great too – especially when Al and Gwendolyn got to play on the same team for the adults against the teens and tweens match. Some of the parents held back – at least against the youngest kids, but they might have lost anyway because Al and Gwendolyn did do very well against Meghan; and Jonah didn't have a professional Seeker to play against; which gave him the advantage again – and the win for that Seeker duel. While the Beaters took it easy on everyone, Gwenog had a lot of fun working with Katrina; and her niece was thrilled with the one-on-one attention and lesson. There were other games to play, and swimming was an option thanks to the portable pools that Kirley and Meghan brought with them for the day; and Al wasn't the only Wizard enjoying the bonus play time that included Witches in swimsuits. There was always lots of food out; the meals were pot-luck, grilled, and amazing; and the evening entertainment included a campfire with music provided by Kirley, Al, Gwendolyn, and Jonah.

Helping out with that wasn't as scary for Al and Gwendolyn with the McCormack side of the family because Kirley didn't have any luck recruiting them to help with is push to get his kids into music instead of Quidditch; but they did still impress Gwendolyn's family – particularly with their versions of some of the newest songs from the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers. The party continued until nearly-midnight; but then it was time to head home for everyone – including Al. In his case, he went home with Gwendolyn first so that he could get his overnight bag; and then Kirley apparated him home once he'd said goodnight to Gwendolyn. Harry and Ginny had still been awake and waiting for him, so they had a little chat with Kirley before he went home again; did a bedtime chat with Al in the kitchen after Kirley left; and then they all went up to bed for the night.

Sunday was a work and play day at home, and while parts of that were fun for Al; he didn't enjoy any of his time around James. Staying away from James wasn't a problem in the morning while he slept in to avoid helping with any chores, and James was the one staying out of the way during Teddy and Victoire's visit; but Al avoided James as much as possible for the rest of the day – including during lunch and dinner. Since both meals were outdoors, taking his plate and drink out to the benches at the Quidditch pitch was an option for that; though it meant missing out on some chat time with aunts, uncles, grandparents, or cousins for parts of that time. Lily joined him for lunch, and Rose sat with him at dinner because James had been bugging her too; but Al's biggest problem with James came after dinner – and once all of their guests for dinner went home again. Spending time with his parents and Lily in the sitting room with James there too was just impossible; so he ended up spending the rest of his day in his room and worked on his summer revision. Eventually, he ended his night having a mirror chat with Gwendolyn, but she was tired out from a busy day with her family; and she fell asleep while having that chat with Al long before he was ready to wind down and get some rest too.

Starting the work week with a day at the Burrow on Monday was pretty good for Al and Lily while James worked at the wheezes store in London – even with the chores they helped out with while they were there. The news kept getting better for them as the week went along; and the first part of that came when they found out that James had set up a camping night at Ollie's for Monday – and he only came home long enough to pack a bag and then leave again after he was finished work for the day. That led to a morning of Quidditch and play time with their friends that was more fun without James and Ollie around; and then Al and Gwendolyn avoided James and Ollie when they were at the house for the senior team practice by going for a bike ride instead of sticking around to watch the action – or help out on the reserve squad. Rose and Ray went along for the ride too, but while most of their friends and team mates had left by then, Lily stayed at home with Melissa, Jonah, and Hugo to swim and have fun – even if that meant putting up with the occasional insults and razzing from James and Ollie.

Al and Lily hosted a camping night in the tent with Rose, Hugo, Gwendolyn, and Jonah; mostly because they were all going along for the amusement park day that Harry and Ginny were taking their kids to on Wednesday. James had Ollie stay overnight too; but they were ordered to do that indoors; and obeyed because the alternative was to miss out on the play day entirely. Having to drive there in the morning meant getting up early; doing a bit of kid shuffling to meet up with Ron and Hermione for the extra seating; and then driving to the amusement park from each home. Harry got to take his motorcycle for the trip; but the trade-off for that was having James and Ollie with him – Ollie in the sidecar; and James behind Harry on the bike. Al was good with that plan, since it meant not having them in the van instead. The only additions to their group for the kids were Fred, Roxanne, and Shane. Ron and Hermione picked up Shane along the way; and Angelina met them at the amusement park with Fred and Roxanne.

While Gwendolyn's date coupons had been more of a joke gift than anything serious, Al was glad to be able to check off the amusement park date; and it really felt like a date too when they got to spend a lot of the day with Rose and Shane. They had Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and Roxanne with them a lot too; but only spent a few hours with the parents – and none at all with James and Ollie. The rides were the top of the list for entertainment, but they watched some of the shows and played some games along the way too. One thing that was different for Al from even a year ago was how much more he sensed around him with such a large group of Muggles; and that took some work to keep all of the inputs from overwhelming him. He couldn't stop taking all of that in anymore than he could stop seeing or hearing or feeling things; but he did practice doing that without leting every little sense of emotion or thought distract him from simply having fun with his family and friends.

It was more than a bit exhausting, though; which is why he ended up going straight to bed once they did eventually get home after staying until the park closed; having dinner out on the way home; and then saying goodnight to Gwendolyn when she and Jonah were picked up by Gwenog and Kirley after they got back. Having James and Ollie give him an excuse to go up to his room was just an added bonus for Al by then; but then he hadn't really been worried about dealing with them anyway – or at least he didn't expect that to be a problem until Thursday morning when their little gang of junior team Quidditch players came over for their next practice. Getting the extra sleep helped Al with that problem as much as with recovering from the extreme play day and sensory overload.

Spending another day with Gwendolyn was the best part of Thursday for Al, but even though the Quidditch practice was important for them; Thursday was also a day they wanted to get through ahead of the main fun event for their week – a three-day camping and play weekend that Harry and Ginny had approved – and helped Al and Gwendolyn to set up with teen chaperones instead of parents. Dominique, Lucy, and their boyfriends had signed up for the job; though both boys were going to be juggling work too, with Alex busy during the day on Friday for his summer job; while Jensen had to work all day on Friday with the Prides and part of the day on Saturday for a sponsor and media event with the team. Before Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group of campers could get to that adventure, they had a decent practice with their friends despite the razzing from James and Ollie as the two boys had a late breakfast and offered their insulting commentary on the practice and scrimmage.

After that, they had some play time until their friends headed home at different times during the rest of the late morning and afternoon; and then Al and Lily dealt with getting packed up for their camping trip – including getting the tent cleaned and ready to be moved. Thanks to James and Ollie, the tent cleaning had been a major job; but they waited to deal with that until after Ollie went home and James went into hiding to make sure he wasn't drafted to do any of the work. That was a bonus for Al, and so was keeping busy with the work because he was tired out and ready to turn in early again by the time everything was ready for their trip with only a bit of work left to do in the morning. He had a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn to mostly talk about what they wanted to do on their camping trip; went to sleep right after that; and then was up early-enough to cook breakfast for everyone – trying to help out so that Harry and Ginny wouldn't have too much to do in addition to helping them with getting their gear over to their weekend campground while also juggling some minor problems with James and the need to eventually get him to the wheezes store in London and Al, Lily, Gwendolyn, and Jonah to the campground too.

Dominique, Lucy, Louis, and Noel met them at the campground; timing that so Ginny didn't need to stay for long before moving on and getting to work checking out some of the team training camps. They had lots of work to do after that; including setting up the tents and getting all of their supplies and food put away once the tents were set up; but then they were free to play after that – starting with a visit to the beach and a swim in the sea. Their campground was only a few miles from Shell Cottage, so they were close to parental help if needed; but didn't expect to need the help – and didn't plan on getting in the way of the kid-free weekends that their parents were getting – including for Harry and Ginny while James split his weekend with a night at Ollie's and another one with George and Angelina. Their swim and sand time kept them entertained until they were ready for lunch, and then Al surprised his cousins a bit when he took charge of making lunch for everyone.

"You had us sold on this camping weekend with the parent-free time with our boyfriends and girlfriends," Lucy teased as she sat at the table with Louis, Noel, and Gwendolyn while Al worked on lunch with some help from Dominique and Lily and Jonah sat on one of the sofas and played a mirror game. "Cook for us too; and we might decide to do this for the rest of the summer."

"I'd be okay with that," Al assured her with a smile for Gwendolyn. "Some of our parents would have a problem, though; and it'd get in the way of your summer jobs and other plans – like Quidditch training."

"I suppose," Lucy conceded; "but summers can be dreadfully tedious for those of us dealing with Ministry of Magic parents that actually like to go to all of the parties and picnics that are all put on for politics – not because the Witches and Wizards actually just want to hang out together."

"There's probably a lot more of that this summer without the Quidditch World Cup going on too," Dominique added with a nod and sympathetic smile. "Louis and I lucked out for that; since Goblins never invite us to any parties for Gringotts."

"Do Goblins party at all?" Gwendolyn asked; and Dominique nodded.

"Yeah, but I seriously doubt that any of us want to know the details. Things are better between Goblins and Witches and Wizards, but there are still problems; and there are a lot of Goblins that don't like us very much."

"When it comes to our family; they can just get in line," Louis told them. "We've got bigger problems with the pureblood snobs in Slytherin and their families."

"Maybe right now," Dominique agreed. "Let's hope that we never have another Goblin war, though; since they were pretty nasty – and maybe even worse than the wars with Dark Wizards and Witches."

"And if you've been having more troubles with our favorite Slytherin haters; just get Al and Gwendolyn to start protecting you when we head back to school in September,' Lucy offered. "I've only had problems with Slytherins during the week or two either side of our Quidditch matches over the past couple of years; so I thought that the worst of them were all just too busy hating on those Potter brothers to even notice the rest of us anymore."

"I meant that 'we' to be for all of us," Louis explained. "Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose have had to put up with more from the Avery brothers and their lot than the rest of us have; but we've had our little spats now and then too." He smiled and shrugged. "This is way too intense a topic when we're supposed to be having fun. Jensen and Alex won't be here until they're each done work for the day. What should we do this afternoon?"

"If the rest of you don't mind, I'd like Al to take me horseback riding for a while," Gwendolyn answered first; smiling at Al. "There are lots of trails around here and a couple of riding stables; so we wouldn't be given a second glance."

"Maybe the rest of us should hike over to one of those stables and see if we can go riding too," Lily suggested. "That didn't sound as though Gwendolyn wants to share her Animorphmagus with the rest of us today."

"Do you think that Louis, Jonah, and the rest of our guys could learn to be Animagus today so we could all go riding?" Noel teased; smiling brightly at Louis. "It is rather brilliant that Gwendolyn can do that with Al."

"We couldn't," Louis assured her while returning her smile, "but even if we could; Merlin only knows what kind of animal forms the rest of us would have. The odds of all of us being stallions is fairly small; and I'll guess that you wouldn't find it nearly as much fun to go for a turtle ride."

Those comments sent their chat off in a fun direction that kept them entertained for a while as the girls offered suggestions on what kinds of Animagi the other four Wizards might be. When the food was ready, Lily and Jonah moved to the kitchen table so that they could all eat there; and then they headed out to play after cleaning up again. While everyone else did decide to go for a hike, Al and Gwendolyn were set free to go riding. Al did the change while they were still around Dominique just to be on the safe side; but he wasn't seen doing that; and then he was soon off and trotting with Gwendolyn on his back and miles of trails along the coast and into the surrounding countryside to explore together. Lily led the hike while they were gone, and they did check out one of the riding stables; but decided not to book a trail ride – mostly because there hadn't been any ride times available on short notice that worked for them – and they didn't have a way for the Muggles to contact them if they had any last-minute cancellations. They eventually hiked back to the campground; changed into swimsuits and grabbed towels; and headed back to the beach for some more sun and water fun while they waited for Al and Gwendolyn to return – and for Jensen and Alex too.

Al could cover a lot of ground in his stallion form, and while he walked or trotted when needed; taking the speed up into a gallop whenever possible made the ride much more fun for Gwendolyn. They met other riders and horses; a handful of groups of hikers; and a pair of Muggle boys on mountain bikes that tried to hit on Gwendolyn when they crossed paths. While the riding had been the best part of their afternoon fun, there had been some other really great moments too – like when Gwendolyn explained to another teen girl that she didn't need to have a saddle and the rest of the normal tack with 'Sabre' because her horse was so much better trained than her boyfriend. Al had even earned bonus points for being well-trained when his whinnied 'laugh' was so well-timed to Gwendolyn's joke. They ended up staying out on the trails for nearly two and a half hours before getting back to the campground; Al changed back when he was sure they wouldn't be seen; and then they got ready to go swimming again too and met up with the rest of their gang at the beach for the time they had left before needing to get started on making dinner.

While Al and Gwendolyn helped out with the work before and after dinner, the fun level really started to kick up a notch or three for everyone as they worked with Dominique and Lucy while Louis and Noel played with Lily and Jonah. This parent-free camping weekend was new for all of them, but it was also a first chance in a long time – or just a first time – for Al and Lily to spend some quality time with their older cousins. They'd never gone on any kind of holiday with Lucy or Molly; and it had been years since the last family holiday with Bill, Fleur, and all three of their kids. The age difference didn't seem so large – even between Lily and Jonah, and Dominique and Jensen; so Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah didn't really even feel as though Dominique and Lucy thought of them as simply the kids they were babysitting for the weekend.

Alex Jordan arrived while they were still mid-way through making dinner. Jensen Scott wasn't far behind, but since his delay had been due to the need to shower and get cleaned up after his day in training camp; Dominique didn't have a problem with him doing that before coming to spend most of the weekend with her. Having everyone there for dinner helped to keep the fun level high; and Jensen led the dinner chat entertainment with bonus help from Gwendolyn when she jumped right in to talk about the Prides with him. Al had been amused by Jensen's first reaction to that, since he'd obviously, if temporarily, forgotten the Gwendolyn did have a rather close family connection to the Prides as well as the Harpies; and she also surprised him with just how much she knew about his new team – thanks to her recent chats with her aunt and grandmother.

It was certainly no surprise that Quidditch would be a big part of the dinner conversation with everyone there except Noel an avid player. Al mostly sat back and watched the show – as did Noel and Jonah; but he was glad to see that Gwendolyn's and Lily's contributions to the fun were well-received by the older teens. After working all day, Jensen and Alex were exempted from the dinner clean-up; and sent off to play with their girlfriends, Lily, and Jonah while Louis, Noel, Al, and Gwendolyn took care of the work before eventually going and finding the other three couples again at the beach. They all went for a swim; had a bit of magical help from the over-age teens with getting dried off; and then went for a hike on one of the seaside trails before heading back to their campsite for the rest of the evening – with a campfire being the plan for their dusk-to-bedtime entertainment. Al and Gwendolyn were in charge of the music part of that plan once they had the fire going and were gathered around it with lots of snacks and drinks; and they started the night out with a few Weird Kids on the Block and Graves Robbers songs – including the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie. Lily had gotten everyone else up to dance and sing along with that one; and had the older teens laughing and winded by the time they sat down again – each of the couples happy to once again return to cuddling while Al and Gwendolyn switched to a soft guitars-only duet interlude for a while.

"You're really good," Dominique told them with a smile as she leaned close to Jensen with her head comfortably on his shoulder. "We've heard you before, but I don't think I noticed that before tonight with just our little group around and none of the usual family distractions. It's different than with the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers, but in a way; I think it's even better."

"More intimate," Louis offered; and then laughed. "Take that how it was meant; not how you might think about taking it," he added; earning a squeeze and laugh from Noel.

"That's a good word for it, though," she advised him. "For that last song, could it be because we were all picturing James in that scene too easily?"

"Yeah, and he both hates that song and loves being able to take credit for being the inspiration for it," Louis said next with a knowing smile for Al. "He's told me way more than I ever need to know about how that song has already helped him out with meeting new Witches."

"Then he's going to love and hate this one just as much," Gwendolyn told him as she changed what she was playing; and had Al laughing as he then switched too. "This song is going to be on the new Graves Robbers album when it comes out next weekend, and while we had the Slytherin teams in mind when we wrote this too; James gets half-credit for the inspiration."

With that said, they launched into 'Burst Your Bubble' and soon had their little audience smiling and laughing as they listened to the funny little song that was both about the dangers of breaking a Witch's heart and a cheaters-never-win theme. They earned more praise for that song too, but while Al would have preferred not to have that too; he knew that Gwendolyn enjoyed the compliments – even if she also really didn't want to have the music career that would certainly get her that kind of attention all of the time – just as it did for her Weird Sisters' cousins. They continued singing and playing; had everyone else join in for some sing-alongs; had Lily and Jonah take a turn when they wanted a break; and the three older boys took turns telling some campfire stories when they all wanted a break from the music for a change of pace. They stayed around the campfire until a bit after midnight; and then put out the fire, cleaned up, and headed for their beds.

That scene wasn't exactly awkward, but there were amusing moments as the two older couples paired up for the night; the three younger couples didn't; and then one of those couples in the second group did eventually end up in the same room after the Witch took matters into her own hands and snuck into that lucky Wizard's room shortly after everyone else was in bed. Al had found that amusing, since Noel was so quiet and shy compared to the rest of them; but then sensing and hearing that room change also kept him awake for quite a while as he seriously considered sneaking into Gwendolyn's room – or hoped that she'd sneak into his too. While they didn't do that, and he did eventually get to sleep; he was awake, showered, ready for the day, and cooking breakfast when Louis came out of his room to go and grab a shower.

He couldn't have woken and not heard someone in the kitchen, and would have smelled the food and coffee; but Louis looked a bit surprised to find out that it was Al doing the work. Sticking his head back into his room, Al could still hear him tell Noel who was doing the work before he stepped out again and wished Al a good morning while smiling ruefully and shrugging. Al returned the greeting and smile, but was mostly glad to have a very different reaction from his cousin than he'd had with James in Romania. He didn't try to think about that too much, since Louis' relationships weren't any of his business; but he still couldn't help but be amused while also silently agreeing with what he sensed – that there was absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about from an all-night teen couple cuddle session. When he sensed Noel approaching that doorway, Al turned to the counter and pretended not to notice as she returned to her room while he continued to cook; though he was sure that he didn't fool Noel with that attempt – even as she appreciated him for doing that.

His nine fellow campers also appreciated their breakfast as they all came to life and eventually joined him at the kitchen table to eat. He'd cooked a big meal because they were going to be having an active play day – and because he knew the kind of menu that Jensen would be following as a pro Quidditch player now. Their morning conversation was mostly about those play plans for the day, and Jensen's lunchtime commitment with the Prides for a sponsor and fan event had to be worked into those plans. Jensen wasn't really joking when he claimed that he should be there for all of the beach and swim time, since it just wouldn't be fair for him to be the only Wizard in the group missing out on the girlfriends in swimsuits parts of the day; but they also weren't going to just sit around in the tent and wait for him during the three or four hours he'd be away at that party.

Jensen did go for the morning hike with them and the follow-up cool-off swim in the sea; but then he needed to return to the tent; get ready for his luncheon party; and leave while everyone else stayed at the beach to play until they were ready to stop for lunch. Dominique had gone with Jensen to the tent, but while she didn't say anything to anyone else; Al could sense that she was disappointed that he hadn't invited her along. Al hadn't been surprised at that, since he remembered when his mother couldn't take his father or any of her kids to similar team events; and Dominique knew that too from being around Victoire when she was in the same position with Teddy. It was still a bit strange to be around and sense that from Dominique's perspective; and it had him wondering how he'd react if he was ever in that situation with Gwendolyn. He was still thinking about that when they sat down in lawn chairs outside of their tent to have a sandwiches and snacks lunch; so he was a bit distracted as he listened to Lily talk with Dominique and Lucy about a post-lunch hike to the nearest town for ice creams while they were waiting for jensen to get back anyway.

"You look bemused,' Gwendolyn leaned close and said quietly. "What's up?"

Al smiled and shrugged. "I've just been musing about what it'll be like for you and me some day if we're in the same boat as Jensen and Dominique are now."

"We won't be," she said; and then laughed at his grin. "No, I haven't decided to play for the Cannons," she assured him. "I mean that we'll both be playing in the show; so we'll each have our own team events to do – so you won't have to sit around waiting for me while I'm busy doing things like that."

"I'm not sure I like that at all," Al admitted. "It might even be worse if we're always doing stuff like that – especially if our schedules never match up."

"Cut that out – you're just helping Rose with thoughts like that one."

"Helping Rose with what?" Dominique asked; overhearing that more-loudly stated comment.

"Rose's plan to help the Cannons win a league championship," Gwendolyn explained; and Dominique nodded.

"Is she still working on that? I haven't heard much about it lately."

Gwendolyn laughed. "It's hard to say. She hasn't been talking about it much; but we're thinking that she's using reverse-psychology on us now. Al doesn't help when he talks about how hard it might be for us to spend time together if we're on two different teams."

"Jensen and I have talked about that a lot lately too," Dominique told her seriously. "I'm not stuck on playing for the Harpies like you and Lily are – and Victoire was; but it's tough figuring out what's best for me when I'm getting tugged in different directions by different people."

"Including by Olivia and me," Lucy added with a bright smile. "We make an awesome Chaser trio, Dominique – and we have fun together. What more could you want than that?" She smiled at Gwendolyn then. "You and Al have something special when you play Chaser together too, and while I can't see you playing together in Cannons' orange without laughing; I could see you playing together on one of the other top teams."

"You shouldn't suggest that," Dominique told her. "That top team you're suggesting for them would be tough for us to play against once they get to the show."

Lucy laughed. "As if that wouldn't be true with Gwendolyn and Lily on the Harpies with Victoire,' Lucy countered. "Either way, we'll still likely end up having two really tough teams to play against once they're all in the show too."

"Then maybe you should help Rose out with that plan for the Cannons," Alex suggested. "Two really great Chasers will help them a lot; but that's relative when they're the worst team in the league."

"Would you still say that if you knew that you're on Rose's short list for Seeker for that team?" Gwendolyn asked with a sly grin; and Alex laughed.

"The Cannons could never afford me – not that I'd take the job even if they could. Those players use their beds in St. Mungo's more than any other team in the league. "I do not want to spend half of every season recovering from injuries."

"I know how you can get around Rose's plans," Lily said suddenly; her smile brilliant and happy. "Get Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, Louis, and Alex to beat her to it!"

"What?" Lucy demanded; and then laughed.

"All you'd need is a great Beater duo; and you'd have a full team," Lily added enthusiastically. The McClaggens are pretty good; so they might be a perfect fit for that Cannons team. You'd all instantly be Uncle Ron's favorite nieces and nephew too."

"If that's such a brilliant idea, why not keep it for yourself and join Rose's team?" Lucy asked; and Lily grinned at her.

"Because I'm going to play for the Harpies. This way, you'll have a few years to win some championships for the Cannons before I'm in the show and it'll be too late for them for another century or two."

Lily had earned a lot of laughs for that entire commentary; but didn't win any converts to the idea. There were some stumbling blocks – not the least of them being the complete inability for any of the older teens to imagine a championship Cannons team. There were other reasons – like the fact that Olivia really wanted to play for United as much as Lily wanted to play for the Harpies; and that Lucy really wanted to play pro Quidditch with Olivia and Dominique – and preferably on the United team too. That had turned into a fun little chat, though; and had kept them entertained until they moved on – and went for that hike to town for an ice cream run. They were back at the campground before Jensen returned, so they headed for the beach and let him catch up with them there once he'd finished his play-work with the Prides for the day.

Their second afternoon of sun and fun was a great way to spend that time together; they followed that up with another barbequed dinner with side dishes that Al mostly made up for them; and then they had another evening hike and swim before wrapping up their day with a campfire that wrapped up a bit earlier than on Friday night because they were going to need to pack up in the morning so they could eventually get to Al and Lily's house for the family barbeque that Harry and Ginny were hosting on Sunday afternoon. While he'd thought about it off and on all day, Al did not try to sneak into Gwendolyn's room after everyone else went to bed for the night; but that was only because they fell asleep on one of the sofas while having some cuddle time and a bedtime chat with Louis and Noel. They'd also been waiting while the other teens and tweens were taking turns getting ready for bed; but Al had still been surprised when he woke up an hour or so later and found that someone – probably Lily – had put a blanket over them.

His movement had woken Gwendolyn, and they'd both gotten up to go for washroom breaks and to get ready for bed; but then they'd met up in the sitting room again; snuggled on the sofa; and happily gone back to sleep again. Since they were still first to wake up in the morning, nobody else saw that they'd gotten changed part-way through the night because they were already showered and ready for the day by the time anyone else came to life. That didn't keep them from getting teased about the sofa sleepover, though; and they had fun with that while Al again cooked breakfast for everyone and his cousins and their friends gathered at the kitchen table to hang out while waiting to eat. They still had lots of time before they needed to head home, but they didn't take a lot of extra time having breakfast because they decided to get everything cleaned and packed up right after breakfast and then spend the morning playing along the coast and in the nearby town. That was easier to do because Al and Gwendolyn had brought their undetectable expansion bags; so it had been easy to throw the tents and the rest of their gear into them for easy carrying.

The Witches in their group had especially loved doing a bit of shopping in quaint little seaside shops; they had a snack break at a cafe with a great view of the bustling little marina and docks that were mostly for sports boating instead of commercial fishing; and then they eventually called for parental help when they were ready for some side-along apparate assistance to get to Harry and Ginny's house in time for the lunch that was only for the Potters, Bill, Fleur, and the kids, and a handful of other early guests for the afternoon family and friends fun plans. Kirley and Gwenog weren't there for lunch because they'd had another commitment for that meal; but Harry and Ginny were happy to welcome Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah home. That reunion was really great – and more than made up for the less-than-heart-warming reception from James.

He definitely wasn't happy to see them – especially when everyone in their group looked so obviously happy after their weekend camping adventure; but he also didn't immediately start razzing or insulting Al either. While that worried Al a bit, he was glad for the unexpected break; and simply tried to have fun while also keeping his senses open to any problems with James when he knew that could happen at any time – and without much warning.

Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had lunch with Harry and Ginny while the rest of their camping gang sat with Bill and Fleur or Teddy and Victoire. That made for an interesting choice for James too; and he ended up sitting with Teddy, Victoire, Louis, and Noel instead of with his own family – a real change from his recent near-total avoidance of Teddy and Victoire. Al was happy about that too, and hoped that it meant an improvement in that situation for their family; though that might have been more about the lesser evil for James. While they had lunch, Lily led the weekend recap for the campers with help from Gwendolyn while Al and Jonah mostly listened in while eating. They had time to trade weekend stories by the time they finished that meal; though that was mostly because Harry and Ginny apparently didn't do anything at all – particularly during the parts of the weekend when they were kid-free while James was also away either at work, Ollie's, or with George and Angelina.

They also had time to get the clean-up from lunch finished by the time the rest of their guests began arriving for the play afternoon and barbeque dinner. Al and Gwendolyn helped with that work; but then they were set free to play once Rose and Hugo arrived with Ron and Hermione. By then, James was working on getting a Quidditch game started, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose stayed out of the way of him for that; and went for a swim instead in one of the extra portable pools that had been brought over for the party – the pool that was set up furthest from the Quidditch pitch. Since the meet and greet was still going on then too and most of the teens were being drafted for Quidditch or were going to watch the scrimmage; they even got to have the pool to themselves for a while. That gave them a chance to talk with a bit of privacy; and Rose was as glad for that time together as Al and Gwendolyn were to be with her again.

"I know this isn't a half-way through summer party, but can you believe we're there already?" Rose asked Gwendolyn and Al as they all floated around in the pool. "We'll be heading back to Hogwarts five weeks from today!"

"We haven't actually been home for even three of those five weeks," Al pointed out; "but it actually feels like we've been home longer with everything we've been doing so far this summer."

"Careful – that kind of talk might get you in trouble with your girlfriend," Rose teased. "You're supposed to be having so much fun with Gwendolyn that it feels like you just got home from school."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I know what he means, Rose; and Al's usually pretty good about staying out of trouble with me most of the time."

"Well, that makes one of our boyfriends," Rose countered seriously; though she was still smiling. "Shane hasn't even talked to me since we said goodbye after our day at the amusement park. We've traded a few text messages, but that's about it; and he didn't want to get together this weekend while Hugo and I were in London with Grandma and Grandpa Granger."

"I thought he had fun with us last Wednesday," Gwendolyn told her. "Did I miss something?"

"Not unless you include the fact that my Dad can be a bit embarrassing in public with Muggles," Rose said with a rueful smile and shrug. "Mum usually smooths that over with the Muggles around us; but Shane might not have even noticed that she does that – or that all of our parents sometimes use memory charms or other magic on Muggles when we have the little slips when talking or doing things around them."

"Maybe he notices and doesn't like it," Al suggested. "That sort of thing is different for Wizards and Witches that have Muggle families – even if they might understand the need for it."

"I suppose," Rose mused; "but I don't think that's it for what's going on with Shane and me. We've just been getting more distant every week since getting home – and that's at least partly my fault because of what happened at the wedding."

"You didn't turn him into a bug and leave him in a jar on your shelf," Gwendolyn joked. "I'd say you handled that pretty well – and way better than I would have with Al."

Rose nodded; laughed; and then sighed. "Yeah, but then Al loves you; so that wouldn't have happened. I don't know what Shane's thinking right now when it comes to us; but can't shake the feeling that we're on the way to breaking up." She sighed again; and smiled at Al and Gwendolyn. "Maybe I should blame the two of you for setting the dating bar so high for the rest of your friends. The rest of us don't want to settle for less than being as happy as you are together."

"You know we're the exception to the general teen dating norm,' Gwendolyn told her after joining in for the laugh. "Have any of our other cousins dated just one Wizard or Witch at Hogwarts?" She looked over at the pitch to where Teddy and Victoire were getting ready to play with the other players that James had drafted. "Victoire's loved Teddy forever; yet she must've dated at Hogwarts while waiting for him to come to his senses."

"She did," Rose agreed; "but that doesn't help me feel any better about the down-side of dating. I'd be okay with finding Mr. Right-for-me sooner instead of later."

"Maybe, but your Mum did marry a younger man; so maybe your Mr. Right needs to get a bit older before you find him," Al joked; earning a laugh from both girls.

"Dad's only months younger than Mum," Rose reminded him; "and they were in the same year at Hogwarts. You're making it sound like he was a firstie in her NEWT year or something."

"That'd be too weired for dating to even think about," Gwendolyn said with another laugh; "but Al does have a point. You're just catching up to where Wizards a year and two older than us will be interested in you; and it'll be another year or two before you might find the younger wizards interesting as potential boyfriend material – though I don't think I'd like that much if it was me."

"Why not?" Rose asked curiously; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Because I'd hate graduating and playing in the show while I had to wait for my boyfriend to finish another year or two at Hogwarts – not to mention that it'd be really weird too."

"Not for the Wizard," Al suggested with a grin. "If you asked guys like Romeo, they'd likely think it'd be awesome to be at Hogwarts and be able to brag about having a star Quidditch player for a girlfriend."

"He's not exactly the best example for that, since I don't think he's met a Witch that he wasn't attracted to," Rose advised Al; "but we get your point – and I agree with you, Gwendolyn. That wouldn't be for me either. It was tough watching Teddy and Victoire for the year they were apart after he finally fell for her the summer before her NEWT year."

"It was," Al agreed; "but they seem to be doing pretty well with making up for that now. Do you think that being newlyweds will mess up Victoire's game this season?"

"Not if Victoire knows what's good for her," Gwendolyn told him. "Mum's dealt with other newlywed Witches – including your Mum and Aunt Gabrielle. Victoire won't slack off this season. Our biggest problem will be the odds against us for a three-peat Championship. It's tough to play at that level for three years in a row without a bit of a letdown – or just a bit of bad luck to mess things up."

"Does that apply to dating?" Rose teased with a sudden grin. "That might be bad for the two of you when you'll be starting your third year together in December."

"We're likely going to have more to worry about from James, Ollie, and our usual gang of Slytherin-haters," Gwendolyn told her. "Al is a Wizard, so there's always a risk that he'll mess up; but I think we'll be okay."

That comment sent the girls off on a fun little side-trip for their chat; they enjoyed the quiet time together; and then got out of the pool and went to hang out with their families and friends for a while. They watched most of the Quidditch scrimmage that was an adults against the teens match with Lily, Jonah, and Kirley while Gwenog was in the match with Ginny and Harry; they had visits with most of the other teens and kids – even if most of those chats were short; and Al and Gwendolyn had at least one cameo moment with all of his aunts and uncles – including a few entertaining minutes with Aunt Muriel. They helped out when it was time to do the work for dinner; had that meal with Lily, Jonah, and the rest of the younger kids there; and then Al helped with the clean-up after Gwendolyn went home with Jonah and their parents so that Gwenog could get to the work she needed to do ahead of their next week of training camp.

While the entire day had been really great for Al, he continued to be surprised when James mostly left him alone except for a few, random insults that weren't even delivered with much effort. The yard and house clean-up from the party took a while; and Al helped with all of that while their guests headed home in small groups until the last family left at a bit after eight o'clock. It was getting dark by the time the work was done outside; and then there was still more work to do inside after that – though that was mostly dealing with loads of laundry and a clean-up of the sitting room and kitchen. All of the work was hardly an exciting way to end the weekend, but had to be done; and Al and Lily were both happy to help out – especially after having such an amazing camping weekend.

The last three days of July didn't exactly end the month quietly; but the excitement level did drop a bit by comparison for Al and Lily. On Monday, they spent the day at the Burrow while Harry, Ginny, and James all worked; they had a quiet evening at home after that while Harry and Ginny both mostly worked in the office; and then Tuesday was a Quidditch and play day at the Potter house for the junior Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players – or hopefuls – and the senior team players for Gryffindor. Amazingly, from Al's perspective; James continued to mostly stay away from razzing or insulting him; and he and Ollie didn't even do much to bug him when Ollie was there either – though they didn't completely leave Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray alone all of the time. Compared to their normal of late, though, they were on their best behavior; which Al couldn't help but worry about – or wonder at what was motivating the change in attitude. The play time with Gwendolyn on Tuesday was really great; and the Quidditch fun was even better because they also played on the reserve squad for the senior team scrimmage to make up for the player shortage that Dominique had due to friends that were away for work or holidays. Actually playing with James and Ollie without having any major issues had been another surprise – especially when Al and Gwendolyn out-played all of the other Chasers – including Ollie.

Al had to say goodbye to Gwendolyn when she went home with Jonah shortly before dinnertime, but that was only going to be for less than a day; and that was because she'd be back again on Wednesday with her family to help Harry with celebrating his thirty-ninth birthday. The birthday fun didn't start early or anything, but they did have a pretty good evening together; Harry and Ginny mostly took the night off from doing extra work; and they had some quiet, outdoor fun with all three of their kids that included some Quidditch play time and a long, lazy swim in the portable pool. Al still went to bed early even with the bonus family play time; he ended his day with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then made sure that he was up early-enough in the morning to make the birthday breakfast for his father. He had that work well-underway by the time Lily joined him in the kitchen; she added her gift to the one he'd put on the table already in front of their father's normal chair; and then she hugged him happily before getting a glass of juice and sitting down at the table to supervise his work.

"You look happy-enough for this to be your birthday instead of Dad's," she teased. "Do you know something I don't?"

Al grinned at her. "Yes, but not about anything the way you meant that," he teased; borrowing part of that from an occasional joke that their father used now and then too. Lily laughed and then shook her head.

"No wonder you drive James bonkers; but I'd only be scared if he had that talent instead of you."

"For all we know, he does," Al pointed out. "We likely all inherited at least a bit of it from Dad; but it'd only work if he's willing to trust those senses – and he might not be willing to do that."

"Why not?" Lily asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Depending on how you think of it; trusting those senses means giving up control – or at least that's how some people would see it. Then there's the whole matter of dealing with what you're sensing when that goes against what you'd want to do – or want for yourself."

"So you're saying that James wouldn't trust what he sensed if what he was getting warned about was bad for him – like losing at something."

"Exactly," Al agreed. "What I sense comes in handy when I'm in danger, and it can be fun when I sense something good before it happens; but then I haven't had any problems with making choices based on what I sensed – even when I've had to do things I'd have rather not needed to do."

"Like fight with James," Lily surmised; and Al nodded.

"Yes – and I really haven't liked it when others have been hurt." He grinned again before adding – "it hasn't been fun when I've been hurt either; but I've only regretted that the one time so far."

"I'm a bit worried about that for when we get to school in September," Lily admitted. "James has been pretty good since we got back from our camping trip, but he's done that before; and then gone totally mental again – or played nice until he got something he wanted. I don't know what I'll do if he tries pranking me, Hugo, and the other firsties all of the time."

"I expect that he and Ollie will do that," Al warned; "but you're going to have help for that from me, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and you will have your wand and charm bracelet. Whatever they try, though, we're not going to sit back and take it from them. I learned my last lesson on that the last time James put me in the hospital wing."

"That's not helping, since spending time in the hospital wing is what I'm worried about with James and Ollie," Lily pointed out; and Al laughed.

"Sorry, and I can't promise that won't happen; but I can promise that James and Ollie will regret it a lot if they do hurt you or Hugo or Jonah." He smiled again. "I'll likely regret that too; since I'll probably end up with more detentions this year if I have to blast them, but I did manage to stay out of that kind of trouble last year; so maybe I'll manage to do that two years in a row."

"That's optimistic of you; but it's something to shoot for," Lily joked. "The parents are on the way, though; so it's time to switch to happy birthday mode now."

Al had sensed their parents on the move before they'd both heard them in the hallway upstairs and then on the stairs; so that hadn't been news for him. He kept working while Lily began the good morning and Happy Birthday greetings, hugs, and kisses with them once they reached the kitchen; and then he had a turn doing that with Harry and Ginny too while continuing to work. While Harry was told to sit down, Ginny took care of getting cups of coffee ready for them before she joined him at the table too. Al had the cooking well in hand, so she didn't need to help with that, and while he finished up with the cooking and then put the food out on the table; Lily was drafted to give James his wake-up call. Once again, James surprised everyone by coming down for breakfast without any complaints, and while his gift for Harry was another wheezes-worthy card and prank gift; he played nice while they ate – and only insulted Al four times during the entire forty-five minutes it took to eat – and for Harry to open his gifts.

Al was exempted from the clean-up, but he just did other chores around the house and in the yard after Harry and James left for London together and Ginny and Lily took care of the clean-up. There was lots of work to do; mostly because Ginny wanted the house and yard looking great for Harry's birthday dinner party. They weren't doing a major party, but they were having a handful of guests – including Ron, Hermione, and the kids; the McCormacks; Grandma and Grandpa Weasley; and Teddy and Victoire. Some after-dinner cameo visits were going to happen too; but Ginny was keeping that to a minimum because it was a work night; and Harry didn't want the extreme kind of celebrations they'd had for other birthday milestones. Having the family and friends fun to look forward to made the work around the house and yard easier for Al and Lily; though they took some breaks too – including three swims and one Seeker duel that Al won two catches to one.

While they were all guests for dinner too, Molly, Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah came over to the house early to help Ginny with the dinner prep work – or Molly and Kirley did that while the four kids helped with getting the back yard set up with tables and chairs for an outdoor meal before being set free to play after that – and eventually hang out with the other teens and tweens. Before dinner, that eventually only included James, Ollie, Rose, and Hugo. Ollie had only been invited along to be company for James; though the Woods were also going to take James overnight as part of the kid-free night that Ginny had set up for Harry's birthday too. The pre-dinner work was pretty much done by the time Harry got home with James and Ollie; but the parents still had a bit of a social hour before sitting down to eat – and that allowed the kids to keep playing; which for most of them meant swimming in the pool to stay cool in the late-afternoon, mid-summer heat.

"Your Dad seems to be handling the start of his last year of being in his thirties fairly well," Rose teased as she watched their parents hanging out together near the house while Kirley and Arthur kept an eye on the food on the grill. "I wonder if Mum will be as easy-going about it when she hits the big four-oh in September?"

"Probably not," Lily answered; though Rose's comment had been more of a statement than a question. "She shouldn't worry about it, though; since our parents all look pretty good for old folks."

"Your Mum looks like she should still be playing in the show – possibly thanks to all of the workouts you make her do with you," Rose pointed out; "and all of our Mums don't think that they compare well to Aunt Fleur when it comes to aging gracefully. My Mum just stresses about stuff like that more openly than the others."

"True,' Lily agreed; "and a bit funny that she's a bit like your Dad for stuff like that when they're so different for nearly everything else."

"I've never really thought about that," Rose admitted with a laugh. "We don't really want to talk about that, though; so is there anything you do want to talk about? You must be getting excited about the Hogwarts letters coming out on Sunday. Hugo might even skip doing any late-night gaming so he'll be up when the Owl Post arrives with our letters."

"I will,' he agreed. "Roxanne will still be the last of us to go to Hogwarts; but it has really sucked to be one of the last three cousins to go there when the rest of you have been having all of the fun at Hogwarts."

"I'm looking forward to that," Lily admitted, "but we do still have other things going on between now and then – like our sleepover at Gwendolyn and Jonah's tonight; our Quidditch at their house tomorrow; the date night we have planned for Friday; and our annual visit with our Dursley cousins on Saturday."

"You're looking forward to that?" Rose asked in surprise; and Lily grinned at her.

"Actually, yes," she admitted. "Gwendolyn's coming with us for the first time; and that's sure to be very entertaining for all of us."

"I'd say scary for Gwendolyn; but I guess scary can be entertaining too – in a horror movie or terror tours sort of way," Rose suggested. "Are you going to warm up with that by going to see a scary movie on that date night out?"

"That's an idea," Lily agreed; "but we were going to go and see an aliens-try-to-take-over-the-world action flick instead. I don't even know if there are any monster movies playing at the Muggle theaters this weekend."

"They don't actually need to be monster movies to be scary for us," Rose reminded her with a laugh; "but the guys do like the alien movies most of the time – even when they're really awful."

"That movie should help them to get ready for that visit with their cousins too," Hugo offered with a grin. "From everything Al and Lily have ever told us; their cousins are a lot like aliens."

"It seems that way sometimes," Lily agreed with a laugh. "While we're thinking about that, though; maybe we should work on Gwendolyn's story for that little trip."

"My story?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah – our cousins don't know about the Wizarding World or about what who we really are. You'll need a story that fits with ours."

"I know that story you use for them; but wasn't thinking about needing a story for me too," Gwendolyn admitted. "Do I have to be a poor country bumpkin too; or could we come up with something more interesting?"

"Maybe you could be a rich kid from the good side of the tracks," Rose suggested; warming up to the subject. "Your parents disapprove; so you have to sneak away to hang out with Al and Lily – including for the trip this weekend."

"That's an idea; though Al is the geeky brother for our cousins; so that'd work better with James than Al," Lily told them. "Aren't the boys from the wrong side of the tracks always supposed to be the bad boys too?"

"I did mention to one of Margie's friends that my girlfriend is trying to work on my reputation and thinks there's hope for me when she stopped to talk to me last year when we were at the park."

Gwendolyn laughed. "The one that sat with you and then was embarrassed when she realised you were the geeky brother?"

"You didn't tell me about that," Lily protested; and then laughed. "If we see her again this time; she's going to really be in for a surprise when she meets Gwendolyn."

"Especially if she tries flirting with Al again and ends up spending the rest of the day as a bug," Gwendolyn added with a grin.

"She found out who I was before there was any flirting," Al said; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Keep telling yourself that. She was flirting with you from the moment she asked if she could sit on that bench with you."

"Who was flirting with Al?" James asked as he and Ollie sauntered over and he tossed a towel onto one of the chairs by the pool. "A confunded troll or goblin?" Ollie snorted out a laugh while tossing his towel on that same chair.

"No," Lily answered first. "One of Margie's friends when we were at our cousin's house last year." She smiled at Al. "It must've been Willow; since she was the only friend of Margie's I remember seeing at the park while we were there with Pierce and his mates."

James snorted. "Right; and you witnessed this supposed flirting? With her? I doubt it."

"I didn't; but then Al didn't say she was flirting either – even though that's what it was before she realized who he was."

"And then she probably puked all over him," James said derisively. "I do seem to remember her looking a bit ill when she first came over to hang out with Margie and their other friend."

"Rachel," Lily supplied. "For a Wizard who claimed to have email addresses from those girls when he left; you don't seem to remember much about them at all."

"I've got pictures, which is more than Al can claim; and it wasn't their names I was interested in remembering anyway."

"You're a pig," Lily declared in response to his leer. "If you're coming in for a swim; I think it's time for me to get out and changed for dinner."

"Try putting on a sense of humor while you're at that," james suggested as he jumped into the pool near-enough to her for the splash to hit her full-on. Ollie jumped in too; but tried to hit Al and Gwendolyn instead.

"A sense of humor like yours would never fit right on me," Lily countered.

"Not to mention that it'd be really ugly too," Gwendolyn agreed as she swam to the nearest side of the pool and climbed out in one, smooth and graceful motion that Al appreciated for a moment before following her out of the pool. He didn't like it, but didn't miss the pair of leers that were on the faces of James and Ollie as they watched Gwendolyn until she wrapped a towel around her torso. Lily was right – they really were pigs!

"You guys really know how to clear a pool," Rose told them, and from the tone of her voice and expression on her face; Al was sure that she'd seen them leering at Gwendolyn too. She didn't look back at them when she got out of the pool next, and while Al wasn't surprised to see Ollie turn his attention and leer on her; he was a bit grossed out to see James doing the same despite the fact that Rose was their cousin.

"That was the plan," James agreed with a smirk. "Thanks for making it so easy for us to have the pool to ourselves. It's too crowded in here to have any fun when you're in here too."

"It's too crowded in there with you, Ollie, and your big, fat egos," Lily retorted. "I'm sure that you'll have lots of fun without us; so have at it."

With that, and while Jaems and Ollie offered a few retorts; Lily led the way back toward the house – and took Gwendolyn and Rose along with her when she went inside to get changed. Al, Hugo, and Jonah stayed outside; and only threw on clean shirts once they were dry. They joined the adults and chatted with them while waiting for the girls; and then pretty much sat down to eat once Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily returned. James and Ollie came when called; and continued to be mildly annoying as they sat with the rest of the teens and tweens for the meal while the parents, Teddy, and Victoire sat at the other two tables. That wasn't fun for Al and Gwendolyn when they were the primary targets of the razzing and jokes; but the two boys were actually acting better than usual even while James was worse than he'd been all week to that point. It was bad-enough that the two boys were on their own again as soon as everyone else could reasonably escape and go over to the Quidditch pitch to get away from them after dessert – and while James and Ollie continued to eat as if they hadn't been fed in months.

Harry had a couple of gifts to open between dinner and dessert; they sang the birthday song and had a cake with a lot of candles on it; and he managed to blow them out without the need for any magic – or at least not any that anyone else noticed. The first Quidditch scrimmage of the evening did not include James and Ollie because James insisted that he was giving his father a bonus gift by not embarrassing the old guy on his birthday by playing Seeker against him. Lily was happy to play Seeker instead, though; Ron played Keeper for the parents against Rose; and Jonah played Chaser with Al and Gwendolyn against Ginny, Teddy, and Victoire. Gwenog and Hugo mostly just played around with batting bludgers at everyone without doing that seriously at all; and they had a fun little match that the parents, Teddy, and Victoire won – even though Al and Gwendolyn only lost their Chaser duel by two goals. Harry won the Seeker duel with two wins before deciding that it was time to give the other players a chance to get another match started; but Lily wasn't disappointed at all over losing that duel because they'd had a brilliant blast of fun together.

Fun was the name of the game for the rest of the evening too – whether that was at the party that wound down from there; or at the McCormack's house when Al and Lily went there with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and their parents while Harry and Ginny ended their day – and the month – with a kid-free night. Al didn't try thinking about that at all – other than hoping that his parents did have a happy night; but then he was okay with playing some music with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah after they got the the McCormacks; watching a couple of shows on the mirror network until Lily and Jonah went to bed – an hour and a half or so after Gwenog and Kirley turned in; and then ending the day with a minor snogging session with Gwendolyn once they were left alone in the sitting room. They didn't try for another sofa sleepover; but they did stay up fairly late before eventually going on to their rooms and beds for the night.

It was already the First of August by then; and there was exactly one month left for their summer holidays. Al spent some time thinking about that as he waited to drift off to sleep; happy and smiling as he also replayed some of the highlights of his day – including the snogging time with Gwendolyn. The start of August was going to be really great for them; and Al expected the fun to just keep rolling along – even though they'd gotten the big wedding and vacation time out of the way during the first few weeks of the summer. The start of the league Quidditch season was now just a week and a half away; they had their own Quidditch practices to have fun with; and he was also looking forward to working ahead on his studies to get ready for going back to Hogwarts in September – especially with his optional classes once he had the textbooks for those subjects. He still had more date coupons to redeem for Gwendolyn; there were sure to be more camping nights and sleepovers; and parties to attend for everything from birthdays to the usual family parties before the students headed back to school.

The best part of all of that for Al was that he was going to get to do a lot of that with Gwendolyn – especially now that they were starting to do more of those family events together too. When he did eventually fall asleep, Gwendolyn was there with him too; and helped to make sure that the start to the second-half of their summer was brilliantly happy for him – even before he woke again; rested and ready to begin the day – and face the first of their August adventures!


	24. Simmering Hot Summer

Chapter Twenty-Four – Simmering Hot Summer

"You remind me of your mother," Gwenog told Al as she walked into the kitchen on Thursday morning and smiled at him.

"Did she get up and start cooking breakfast for you after staying for sleepovers?" Al joked; and Gwenog laughed.

"She was a newlywed not long after the Harpies hired her and we began to become friends, Al. There weren't any sleepovers. I meant that she was always as happy as you are first thing in the morning when she came to work every day. I don't think I've seen you have many mornings when you weren't happy – except for when James is bugging you."

"That won't be a problem for me until later today; so I've reason to be happy – though it's getting to spend the day with Gwendolyn that has me looking this happy right now."

"That's a better answer than telling her mother that you're looking that happy because of hanging out with her last night," Gwenog teased. "Were there any new jokes from Lily and Jonah I should hear about this morning?"

"No, and I think they gave us a break because James and Ollie had been so annoying to us earlier. How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine," Gwenog assured him as she started filling a cup with the coffee he'd already brewed. "You do know that you're our guest and shouldn't be cooking breakfast, right?"

Al smiled and shrugged. "I didn't think you'd mind; and I like doing this in the mornings. Dad thinks it's funny that I like cooking when he hated it so much when he was my age."

"He had reason to dislike everything about his childhood," Gwenog said with a frown. "Since you have that annual visit coming up, though; we won't go there – and things have worked out fairly well for our families since the war ended."

"They have," Al agreed. "What's new with the Harpies? Are you doing anything extra to get ready for the Tornadoes?"

"We're just getting focused on them now this week," Gwenog answered. "Their team hasn't changed much – just their new rookie Chaser. Our scouting reports on her weren't very good last season. They were a bit surprised that she got offered a job at all. We didn't even consider her for a spot on our reserve squad."

Al smiled. "Have you hired many Slytherin Witches?" he asked in return; and Gwenog shrugged.

"No, but then Slytherin was never very good about allowing Witches to play on their teams most years until recently; and Gwendolyn's told me they haven't had any Witches on their junior teams the first two years you've been there."

"They haven't," Al agreed; "but I think that Lacey might surprise you – or more specifically; she'll do well-enough playing with Rachel. If the rest of their Slytherin team didn't spend so much of their time trying to hurt the players on the other teams; they'd have done better in their matches."

"You think they're a match for our Chasers?" Gwenog asked; and Al shook his head and smiled.

"I don't think they're that good; but do think that the Tornadoes will be a bit better than last year." He paused for a minute as he thought about that. "Rachel and Lacey worked pretty well together two years ago, but Victor didn't help them much. I guess we won't know how good they can be with a decent third Chaser until we see them play a few matches; but I wouldn't underestimate them – or trust the scouting reports from last season. Some of those games didn't look very good for a lot of players that were better than the stats would suggest."

"We don't just look at the stats," Gwenog assured him; "but I know what you mean. Our scouts didn't rank Alice Longbottom very highly with their last reports; but we didn't think that she'd peaked two years ago like they were suggesting."

"She is better than what we saw last season; but I don't know how good she'll be without Francine," Al offered. "They're a lot like Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia – a better team than they might be individually; or with other Chaser partners."

"So you don't think that we should recruit Dominique and find out if she can help our team after she graduates next year?"

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to answer that one, but if I'm being honest, and it was my decision; I wouldn't hire her. You've got a really well-matched trio right now, and hwile Dominique could likely do as well as Candice or Hailey; she wouldn't do better – and probably not as well as she'd do on the same team with Lucy and Olivia."

"Well, then maybe we need to hire her to keep them from playing together for United – or any other team," Gwenog offered.

"That might work; though who knows whether that'd just cause more problems for you from losing Candice or Hailey when they'd want to leave for a chance to play on another team instead of your reserve squad." He grinned then before adding – "and if you get too many great Chasers on the team before Gwendolyn graduates; what will you do then?"

"I'm more worried about Rose figuring out a way to steal her away from my Harpies to go play for that Cannons team of hers," Gwenog joked – "with you as the main reason why she'd do that." She waved a hand toward the food he was cooking. "You're helping Rose out with that just by cooking breakfast for us."

"I'd cook breakfast for Gwendolyn even if we play on different teams after we're done school," Al pointed out. "That won't make a difference."

"I suppose that's true," Gwenog conceded; "but you can't say the same about when you play Chaser together."

"No, I can't," Al admitted easily. "I wouldn't mess with her dream to play for the Harpies either – even if I do think it'd be brilliant to play on the same team with her instead."

"We'll be on the same team," Gwendolyn told him with a bright smile as she walked into the kitchen with Lily. "That just won't be while we're playing Quidditch in the show."

"That'll be brilliant too," Al told her before she hugged and kissed him. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm great; and ready to have fun with our friends when they get here. Have you been talking Quidditch with Mum the entire time she's been here?"

"Pretty much," Al agreed. "Is there anything else to talk about now that we only have ten days left until opening day a week from Saturday?"

"We can talk about our date night on Friday; the trip to London on Saturday; and the shopping we'll do after getting our Hogwarts letters on Sunday," Lily offered quickly; smiling brightly as she took turns hugging Al and Gwenog. "I didn't like the sounds of that talk about how brilliant you think it'd be for you and Gwendolyn to play on the same team – especially if you've got Aunt Gwenog considering hiring Wizards for the Harpies. That just wouldn't do at all!"

"We'd never do that," Gwenog promised. "I'll just have to hope that Gwendolyn always wants to play for the Harpies more than playing with Al on the Cannons."

"Does that mean you're beginning to believe Rose will be able to pull off her plan for the Cannons?" Lily asked; and Gwenog smiled and shrugged.

"Not really; but we don't need to let facts get in the way of having fun with the story. It looks as though Al's getting close to having the food ready, though; so why don't you help him out and set the table while I go and see if Jonah hs come to life yet or not?"

"We can do that," Gwendolyn agreed; and got to work while Gwenog left the kitchen.

Lily joined in to help; led the chat in a new direction while doing that; and kept Al and Gwendolyn entertained until Gwenog, Kirley, and Jonah all joined them in the kitchen and they sat down to eat their morning meal. Gwenog had needed to get to work after that; Kirley kicked the kids outside to make sure that Al didn't help with the clean-up after cooking for them; and they had time to get everything set up for their Quidditch practice and clean the portable pool before the first of their friends and cousins began arriving – with Ryan and Katrina Rivers being the first there when Megan dropped them off on her way to work too. They had the entire gang there a half-hour later; got ready to play; and then Gwendolyn led everyone through the warm-ups and the rest of their workout.

They had a blast together for the next three hours or so until they finished up with a scrimmage match that ended in a three-way tie for snitch catches between Stephanie, Lily, and Jonah when that battle took them beyond the time limit Gwendolyn had set for the match. Since Jonah and Lily were playing on Rose's team, and Al, Ray, and their junior Chaser tag-team also won the Chaser duel; Ravenclaw didn't win the match – and nobody on either team really cared. Cooling off with a swim was a popular post-practice activity, though; and talking about Quidditch – and Hogwarts – kept them entertained while they swam around and played in the water.

"So, where will we have our practices next week if you're not the Ravenclaw Captain again; and Al, Rose, and the other current and future Gryffindor get invited to practice with whomever ends up being the Gryffindor Captain – assuming they find out who that is on Sunday?" Katrina asked after listening to the soon-to-be third-year teens talking about that.

"I'd say that there's no doubt that Gwendolyn earned that job back after winning the junior team title last year," Rose advised her. "Were you hoping that Ryan would get the job instead?"

"That part was just for a laugh," Katrina admitted; "but this won't be as much fun for the rest of the summer if we're not all still playing together after today."

"If James gets what he expects; that won't be a problem," Lily advised her. "His pick for Captain is supposed to make sure that Al, Rose, and Ray don't play again this year. Fred and Orlando might be okay; but I might get added to the banned list too if they try to do that again and I have to blast anyone."

"Do that before you're sorted," Rose suggested with a grin. "They can't take points from Gryffindor if you're not sorted yet."

"If we know who the Captain is before then; I might," Lily agreed. "Even Dad can't claim to have gotten detention before being sorted. The best he could do was to get into trouble before getting to school – or as soon as he was there – or both; but that didn't happen in first year."

"My Dad would be proud of me for doing something like that," Hugo told her with a laugh – "though we'd get bonus points for blasting Slytherins instead."

"You don't want to go there," Al warned. "We've got enough problems with too many Slytherins already. Going out of your way to get them mad at you is probably a bad idea."

"We won't start anything with any Slytherins," Lily promised.

"But we will end it if they start something with us," Hugo added seriously; earning a laugh and hug from Lily.

"Al can't say anything about that; since it's what he's done every time they've tried bugging him," she added before Al could say anything; and earned more laughs for that comment.

"That's true, but we'd be okay with a break from all of that," Al assured her. "I'd really like it a lot if you manage to get through your years at Hogwarts without as many injuries as I've had just in our first two years there." He laughed at the expression on Lily's face.

"You're nicer than me," she advised him. "How many fewer injuries would you have had if you weren't so considerate – even with the bad guys?"

"Possibly none," Gwendolyn answered before Al could; "but that's probably one of the reasons for why we love him so much."

"I suppose," Lily conceded, "but getting back to what we were talking about, Katrina; I'm still hoping that Ray or Rose get the Captain job – and then I'll hope that James hasn't spoiled it for me after that once Al, Rose, and Ray move on to the senior team in their fourth year."

"I think we'd both do great at it," Rose said; "but it might be more fun if Ray got the job – just because that would seriously bug Ollie."

"That isn't very nice," Landon told her; and Rose grinned at him.

"I know; but it's true anyway – and you know it. What would you do if you were going to pick the Gryffindor Captain for this year?"

Landon smiled ruefully. "I'm Ravenclaw; so I'd pick the worst I could find," he joked; happy when that earned him a round of laughs from everyone that heard him. "Don't ask me to name anyone; since that really wouldn't be nice."

"You all seem to be more interested in Quidditch than anything else for your Hogwarts letters; but I thought that all of the third-year students would be most interested in getting their permission forms for Hogsmeade," Alyssa told them. "Brandon sure was last summer."

"I'd have thought that he'd have been more interested in who was going to be Ravenclaw's new Captain," Rose told her; and Alyssa smiled and shrugged.

"He might have been a bit disappointed; but I think he was glad that Gwendolyn got the job instead. Pauline is a tough act to follow when her teams were so good." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "That's why some of us are glad that Ryan or Stephanie will likely get that job the year after you move on to the senior team – assuming we're in Ravenclaw too."

"While I'm hoping that Jonah gets stuck with the job because his big sister did so well," Ryan told her with a laugh. "He'd better get sorted into Ravenclaw; or my plan for that won't work out at all."

"Speak for yourself," Stephanie told him. "I don't want Jonah or Lily in Ravenclaw – and both would be a nightmare for me. It'd really suck to be third-best Seeker in our House!"

"Why won't you believe that I'll be Gryffindor?" Lily asked. "The sorting hat will not mess that up for me – if it knows what's good for it!"

"That might be fun just to find out if the sorting hat can be blasted with a bat-bogey hex," Gwendolyn suggested. "I only half agree with Stephanie on that, though; since I'd be more scared if Lily and Jonah ended up as the Seekers for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff – or Gryffindor and Slytherin; since Hufflepuff already has a really good Seeker with Madison."

"I won't be Slytherin," Jonah told her. "Don't even joke about that."

"I wasn't trying to tease you about that," Gwendolyn promised. "That was just a scary what-if for our team."

"Really scary," Stephanie agreed. "It'd suck to go from three wins last year to none this season."

"Now you're scaring me," Gwendolyn joked. "Maybe I should hope that someone else gets the Captain job for our team. I am going to be busy with ten classes this year."

That comment sent their chat off on an academic side trip – and then on to other things from there. Some of their friends needed to head home or elsewhere before they had lunch; but more than half of them stayed for that sandwiches and cold salads meal; and then stayed for part or all of the afternoon before heading home when parents picked them up when they could or needed to do that. Al and Gwendolyn were the last to leave because Ginny came to get them with Gwenog after they were both done at the Harpies practice pitch; with only a short delay while Al and Gwendolyn said goodbye to each other – for the day they'd be apart before getting together again for their date night on Friday. Harry was in charge of getting James from Ollie's house, and since he and Ginny had both worked later than usual; he picked up take-out food on the way home too so they wouldn't have to cook or do much of a clean-up.

Without Ollie around, James went back to his state of semi-niceness with just the random, infrequent insults for Al. He was happy with the dinner options; and then escaped to his room for a while when there was an imminent threat of chores. Al and Lily didn't try to get out of the work; Al worked outside with Harry for a couple of hours; and then he and Lily wrapped up their day with a Seeker duel and follow-up swim before he was ready to go up to bed and wind down with a bit of reading and an early bedtime. Lily stayed up and played mirror games with James for a while instead; but went to bed when Harry and Ginny did – mostly because she wanted to be ready for a busy day of work at home and the Burrow; and their night out in London after that.

The work on Friday morning was mostly about getting the rest of their usual weekend chores finished early when they were going to be away all day on Saturday. James didn't feel the need to participate; avoided helping out by sleeping in for most of the morning; and then only got up in time to have a late breakfast and get ready to go to work for the rest of the day. Al and Lily still preferred that to his help even as they didn't think it was fair; so they were glad to go over to the Burrow to have lunch with their grandmother while James was still getting ready; and then spend the afternoon helping her with more chores around the Burrow. They mostly worked in the garden until an hour before they were to be picked up for their date night in London; and then they took turns getting showered and dressed up a bit – though that just meant khaki pants and a collared shirt for Al while Lily had her grandmother help with her hair and she wore a beautiful sundress and a favorite pair of dress shoes.

When Ginny arrived with Gwendolyn and Jonah a few minutes ahead of schedule, Al noticed that Lily's efforts had the effect on Jonah she'd hoped for, but then Gwendolyn was dressed up too; and had the same effect and then some on her boyfriend. Their first hug and kiss was really great too, and they stayed long-enough for Ginny to have a little chat with her mother; but then they moved on to London and met up with Harry at their favorite Mall. The girls went shopping for a while before they went to dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant; they enjoyed some really great food; and then moved on to the theater for a couple of hours of full-immersion fun with aliens and the Muggle heroes that saved all of humanity from their evil plans to take over the world! They went home after the movie ended; Ginny took Jonah home after having a snack break there; and Harry went to get James from London. Gwendolyn was staying the night with Lily so that she'd be there when they were ready to get on the road to London for their visit with the Dursleys; but they all ran into a small glitch in the plans shortly after Harry, Ginny, and James all got home – and James advised his parents that he wasn't going to the Dursley's for their annual visit because he'd promised to work the wheezes store all day – and it was far too late to try and get a replacement for him.

"How long have you been planning this?" Ginny asked him after he'd made that announcement and was grinning victoriously. "You know that these visits are important to your father; and that he wants all of you to have a relationship with your Dursley cousins."

"Yes, and he knows that the rest of us don't care about them at all," James shot back. "I don't want to go; and I think it's time for you to let it be my choice. What's the big deal if I stop going now instead of in a couple of years when I'm seventeen? I certainly won't ever try to see them again after that. You ought to just turn the lot of them into the toads they are and be done with them forever."

"Don't you want to flirt with Margie's friends all day?" Lily asked him. "You had fun last year."

"I made the best of a bad situation because Dad paid me to do it. I doubt he could afford what that'd cost him this year – not that I can go anyway. I've promised Uncle George that I'd work; and we're not allowed to break promises like that."

"You've got it all worked out, don't you?" Harry said quietly; and James smirked at him unapologetically.

"Yeah, I do," he agreed; and then sneered at Al. "Don't worry about it, though, since the loser here will likely go with you every year until you're both wrinkled up old geezers – assuming the Dursleys havent' done the world a favor and died out by then."

"James!" Ginny nearly-shouted. "That's a horrid thing to say about your own cousins!"

"It's true, not horrid," James shot back; but then waved a hand dismissively. "We don't need to talk about any of this anymore so you don't have to get all freaked out about it. Let's just agree to disagree over what a waste of time it is to have anything to do with Dad's cousins and be done with it."

"Or I could call my brother and let him know that your promise to work tomorrow has been vetoed by your mother," Ginny told him angrily. "This is not the way to deal with things like this, James – by sneaking around behind our backs and expecting to just get away with getting what you want. Every time I start to think that you're beginning to learn the lessons we're trying to get through your thick skull; you go and do something under-handed to prove that you've learned nothing at all."

"Go ahead, then," James taunted. "I can hardly wait for you to teach me that promises only mean something when it suits you – and can be ignored when they don't."

"Could you excuse us, please?" Harry said; making it obvious that he meant Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily. "I think that the rest of this conversation should be between James, Ginny, and me."

"Why?" James asked him derisively. "Are you afraid of them finding out what a pair of hypocrites you are? Let them stay. I'm sure that the loser will still follow you blindly; but it might be enlightening for Lily – and Gwendolyn will see what you're really like around here when you're not playing nice around everyone else."

Harry shrugged and sighed. "Fine. Have it your way." He looked at Ginny and she nodded; leaving it up to him to take the lead. "You can work at the store tomorrow as you've promised," Harry told him; "but don't think for a moment that we're fooled by this for a moment when you've a history of ignoring your own promises and oaths when it suits you to do so. We've also warned you that there are consequences for your actions; so here's what's going to happen for you deciding to pull this stupid stunt. We will not be taking you to any of the Harpies' matches; I'm going to volunteer you to work for George and Ron each of those days; and you're grounded for a week – except for your work shifts."

"No," James told him; and Harry laughed.

"Yes, and I'll be happy to keep going if you want to keep arguing. You've made your choice; and I've made mine. You are not going to get away yet again with these games without any consequences."

"Then this is war," James told him angrily. "You'll wish that you'd just let this alone instead of trying to punish me simply because I'm not being a good little clone like the loser there." He snorted as he sneered at Al. "I'll make sure that you regret it too," he promised. "It's all your fault that Mum and Dad treat me like this all of the time; so I'd say you've got it coming to you!"

"That's quite enough, James," Ginny told him; and James just sneered at her contemptuously.

"Not by half it isn't; but you'll all find that out soon enough. If you're done punishing me, though; I'm going out for a swim. Maybe the fresh air will help get the stench in here out of my nose." He leered at Gwendolyn next. "Care to come along? If this hasn't convinced you to dump the loser; I'd be able to change your mind if you'd just give a real Wizard a chance to do that to – I mean, for – you!"

"Well, it was nice while it lasted," Al said with a sigh; and somehow managed to keep from getting mad at James. "Are you really going out for that swim; or should I just invite Gwendolyn to go upstairs to my room with me to get out of your way?"

"You should go to your room and hide like a good little loser; and set Gwendolyn free to save her from the terrible fate she'll be doomed to if she doesn't dump you soon." He leered at Gwendolyn again. "What do you say? Want to go for a ride on the wet and wild side with me?"

Gwendolyn didn't answer him; took Al's hand; and led him toward the hallway while smiling at Ginny. "You deserve an Order of Merlin for putting up with him. Mum would've turned him into a bug long before now if he tried talking to her like that."

"That's tempting, but Harry's such an awful father that he's convinced me that we shouldn't do things like that to our kids."

"That's because he thinks it's more fun to try to torture me with endless days of wallowing in mediocrity," James shot back; and then scowled when Gwendolyn laughed at him.

"Sure, because that's such a perfect word to describe your parents," she told him before laughing again. "If the most-famous Wizard in the world and one of the best Seekers in the history of the league are mediocre; what does that make everyone else – including you?"

"I'll be more famous; and everyone else is as deluded as you are to think that my parents are anything special at all. They're just older, even-more pathetic versions of what they were as kids – a poor, messed up orphan and an even-poorer, gullible country bumpkin."

"Way to go showing how much you love us," Lily told him as she headed toward the hallway too. "I'm going up to bed too; but only because I don't want to get into trouble for smacking you."

"Why don't you go and hang out with Al and Gwendolyn. You can take notes on how not to snog someone for future reference – assuming you'll ever find even one real Wizard desperate-enough to want to snog you."

"Good for you," Lily shot back over her shoulder. "You've managed to insult all of us now. Would you like to go and start insulting the Owls next; or should I bring Holly and Poofy down so that you can pick on them for a while first?"

"I'd say we're done with all of this for the night," Ginny told her. "We'll stop in to say goodnight to you in a bit, honey."

"I'm just getting started," James declared; though with Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily out of the room by then; he didn't have much of an audience left.

"I'm sure you are," Ginny agreed; "but we don't have to stay here and listen to your idiotic rants. Aunt Muriel is right; and you'll either come around or you won't. The rest of us are going to get on with our lives now whether you want to be part of that or not."

"I'll pick not," James retorted. "Can I move out now?"

"No," Ginny said flatly. "That'll be another choice that's yours; but not until you're seventeen."

"Suit yourself,' James said derisively. "I'll make sure that these next two and a half years are more miserable for you than for me."

"You'll have to settle for doing that on the holidays," Ginny countered – "unless you're planning on getting expelled as soon as you get back to Hogwarts so that I can home school you the rest of the way."

"Tempting, but I'll settle for making Al's life miserable while we're at Hogwarts. Picking on the loser will be worse for you than having me here year-round would be."

"That won't likely end well for you," Harry told him with another sigh and shake of his head. He smiled ruefully at Ginny. "I should be as angry as you look; but can't get past the irony of having our son plot his way out of the visit with our cousins because he doesn't like being treated very well; and then he proceeds to act out toward us in a way that's far worse than anything he's ever faced with them." Ginny laughed and held out her hand to him.

"That is ironic,' she agreed. "Let's go and get glasses of wine and go outside for some of that fresh air that James thinks is such a good idea. We can watch him while he swims too – if he still wants to do that."

"I don't need babysitters to go for a swim," James retorted; and Ginny just smiled and shook her head.

"You'll get at least one of them all of the time anyway – or I'll pack up the pool and put it away for the night."

"Fine, then I've decided not to go swimming," James retorted; turning away from them and stalking over to his usual 'gaming' sofa. He threw himself into it; and started his current favorite mirror game. He turned the volume up to annoy them; but Harry and Ginny decided to ignore that and leave him to his petulant little display of childishness.

By then, Al was in his room; had Gwendolyn and Lily with him; and the girls were having fun with a bit of James bashing. They were glad that he wasn't going to be with them for the trip on Saturday, and while they'd hated the insults and lewd offers for Gwendolyn; it was easy-enough to joke about it instead of getting mad when there wasn't anything they could do about the situation anyway. Lily stayed and talked for about fifteen minutes; and then left Al and Gwendolyn alone so that they could talk – and have a little goodnight snogging time before Gwendolyn would need to go over to Lily's room too for their sleepover. Gwendolyn was happy to do that with Al; they didn't talk much at all; and were both very happy when she did leave him so that they could both get some sleep. By then, Lily was already in bed; Al waited for Gwendolyn to take her turn in the bathroom; and then he got ready for bed and ended his day with some textbook reading until he was wound down enough to sleep.

Waking to a cloudy, damp morning seemed to fit right in for a trip to see the Dursleys, but Al was still in a great mood as he got ready for the day and then joined his father in the kitchen to help with the breakfast cooking duties. He also knew that the forecast was for a fairly nice day in London; and he actually had a pretty good feeling about their trip and visit. He wondered if part of that was because James wouldn't be with them; but didn't find an answer for that – or at least not one that came from his extended senses. His mental musings continued as he talked and worked with Harry; and eventually had Ginny, Gwendolyn, and Lily with them in the kitchen once they were all ready for the day. After such an awful end to their day with James, Ginny took care of gving him his wake-up call; and he wasn't any happier when he came down to the kitchen and resumed his viperous insults before he even sat down on his usual chair.

It was obvious to everyone that James was simply making a childish point of being obnoxious after promising to make their lives miserable, but his antics didn't get him kicked out of the kitchen; and even he must have realized just how idiotic he sounded the longer he droned on with his insults about everything and everyone. His foul attitude didn't keep him from eathing three plates full of the poison that tasted horrid and was sure to kill him sooner or later; and then he stormed off to go back upstairs and get ready for work while somehow finding ways to make that Al's fault despite the fact that this latest teen drama had begun with his duty to keep his promise to work for George instead of going to the Dursleys for their annual visit.

When it was nearly time to go, the one thing that was strangest for some of them was having Harry take James to Diagon Alley; and then apparate home so that they could then turn around and drive to London simply because they needed the van for show instead of just walking up to the Dursley's house – or arriving there by Floo Network. Gwendolyn found that particularly amusing; but then she was okay with the drive time with Al and his family – especially when they could do that without James there to annoy them the entire way. They had lots of time to get to London; made a stop for lunch because their visit was for the afternoon this year; and then they drove the rest of the way to Little Whinging – and Gwendolyn's first-ever adventure with the Dursley's.

"Okay, we're almost there," Ginny told the three kids. "Make sure you leave all of the usual magical things here in the van." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "Maybe we should have covered this sooner. We don't take wands, mirrors, wheezes, or anything else magical into the house with us while we're visiting Harry's cousins." She looked at Gwendolyn's charm bracelet. "You might want to leave that behind too – just in case you get too tempted to use it on anyone."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Is that really a serious risk?"

"Normally, I'd say yes to that," Lily advised her with a grin, "but after last night and this morning with James; this will be easy by comparison. Do you think he'd get mad if I get him a thank-you gift for helping to make our Dursley visit so much nicer this year?"

"Depends on what you want to get him," Gwendolyn said; grinning too as she started putting her wand, mirror, and a few other things into the cubby that Al had opened to put his things in too. "I heard about him flirting with your cousin's friends last year; so he might like it if you gave him pictures of them – just in case he's secretly worried that he's missing out on something by getting out of the visit."

"That's an idea. I could take them with my iPad – or maybe Margie and her friends would make a video for him instead."

"Why didn't you think of that last night or earlier this morning – for James to do?" Al asked; and earned a round of laughs.

"Maybe because any video he did for our cousins when he's this mad wouldn't have been anything we could show them," Lily answered. "That does give me an idea for next summer, though."

"Should we be afraid?" Ginny asked; and Lily shook her head as she grinned.

"No. I was just thinking that if James is going to do stuff like this to get out of the trips; that maybe we should have these family get-togethers somewhere else – like our favorite amusement park or water park." Lily had been in the back seat; and Al turned to stare at her before bursting out in laughter. "What's so funny?"

"I'll guess that he just got a mental picture of some of your cousins in swimsuits," Harry answered when Al couldn't stop laughing for a few long moments. "Dudley and Vernon might have issues with being too large for most of the rides at amusement parks too. I doubt that Dudley's been on a thrill ride in his life; since he was too big to do that by the time he was tall enough for the rides."

"Okay, maybe that's a bad idea," Lily admitted after laughing too. "We're here, so I guess we'll have to drop that and maybe not talk about it later; since my suggestion would've only worked if we were going to do something that James would really like to do too – even if that was with our cousins."

Harry was slowing to turn into the Dursley's driveway; and smiled when he saw the shiny new vehicle on display there. "I guess the old SUV needed to be replaced already," he said; and Ginny laughed.

"Well, it was going on two years old," she pointed out; "and Dudley does put a lot of miles on them every year. The old one was likely worn out already."

"Maybe, but our van is looking a bit shabby by comparison."

"It looks fine; and it'd be silly to go out and get something else for as often as we use it. Maybe you can go shopping sometime when the kids are old-enough to drive – assuming they even want to bother to learn."

"James will want to learn to drive motorcycles for sure," Al told them. "He'd drive Dad's bike now if you'd let him."

"He would," Harry agreed; "but we'll see if he still feels that way once he is old-enough to drive. Are we all ready?"

"Is that possible?" Lily teased. "With Gwendolyn here, though, it's sure to be interesting; so let's get to it!"

Harry, Ginny, and Al already had the doors open by then; they all got out; and then Harry and Al took care of carrying the bags of gifts when they walked up to the front door and Lily rang the door chimes. As always, Pearl answered the door; hurried them into the entrance hallway; and closed the door quickly to reduce the risk that the neighbors might notice their country bumpkin visitors. The annual opening scene in the sitting room was quite different this time; and that was entirely due to Gwendolyn. Al didn't enjoy that very much because he definitely did not like the reactions from Vernon and Pierce – particularly the baser reactions he sensed from them as they both perked up with interest instead of the usual bored indifference. Margie's reaction was different, but noticeable too as she suddenly felt the need to silently compete with Gwendolyn. Off-setting that for Al was the amusement he sensed from his mother and sister; and Gwendolyn's reaction to seeing his cousins for the first time nearly had him laughing. She must've known that; since she squeezed his hand in support and her smile seemed to have a handful of different emotions hidden within it – all of them being picked up by Al as he took all of that in during those first few seconds.

Harry led the meet and greet as always; Ginny followed; and did the introductions for Gwendolyn so that Al didn't have to do that instead. Al had been amused by his cousins' reactions to finding out that Gwendolyn was his girlfriend; though he likely should have been annoyed that Vernon, Pierce, and Margie all seemed to think that was ridiculous – even before they'd so much as talked to Gwendolyn. Then again, that was more an insult about him; and a compliment of sorts for Gwendolyn. Dudley and Pearl had reacted strangely to Gwendolyn too, but the toughest part of that round of handshakes and introductions, for Al, was when Vernon kept trying to hold Gwendolyn's hand while chatting her up; and the side-long appraisals that both boys kept making of her that were obvious, a bit on the lewd side; and lasted so long that Ginny got tired of it and finally put herself between Gwendolyn and the two Dursley boys. That annoyed Vernon; so he invited Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily to go with him to the gaming room; didn't wait for permission to do that; and then looked even more annoyed when Gwendolyn refused his offer to escort her and instead stayed firmly at Al's side so that he had no choice but to lead the way while they followed.

"Nice room," Gwendolyn said; leading Al over to the windows to look out at the back yard and park. "I guess Al mentioned that your yard backs onto a park. This is a lot nicer than having a row of houses behind you would be. I wouldn't like that."

"Does that mean that you live out in the boonies too?" Vernon asked her; and Gwendolyn smiled and shrugged.

"I live out in the country like Al and Lily do; though not in the same direction from town."

"That must make it tough to get together during the summer if you live that far apart," Vernon suggested. "It's a wonder you're still dating Al this far into the holidays."

"We manage to get together a few times a week; and that does give us an excuse to have sleepovers when getting back and forth is inconvenient for our parents," Gwendolyn answered; and then smiled at Lily. "It's handy that Al has a younger sister willing to let me bunk with her now and then – or we just camp in tents in our back yards."

"You look like you'd fit right in with Margie and her friends – not the kind of girl that would rough it in a tent," Vernon suggested; and Gwendolyn smiled at Lily and shrugged.

"Lily wanted us to dress up to make a good impression today. I'm more likely to be in shorts and a tee and out playing sports or riding my horse than indoors in a sundress."

"You have horses?" Margie asked. "We've some horses at my school. I don't like them much – smelly beasts that they are; but we get taught to ride them."

"I only have one of my own – a black stallion named Sabre. Just got him around Christmastime last year; but he's showing some promise."

Gwendolyn's comment was part of the story that she'd worked out with Ginny and Lily so that they'd all be on the same page for it; but knowing that didn't keep Al and Lily from grinning at her unspoken references to Al's Animorphmagus that made the scene more entertaining for them.

"I'd never want a horse," Vernon declared – "not that there'd be any use for one here in the city anyway."

"You'd be more likely to need to carry the horse than the other way around anyway," Margie suggested with a smirk. "Most horses would just collapse under you if you tried to ride one."

"I probably could carry one," Vernon shot back; flexing his arms in a way that was mostly to show off for Gwendolyn. "Maybe I should give that a try in the fall to get ready for winning my next boxing championship."

"That didn't take you long to bring up," Margie said with a smile for Gwendolyn. "He's very proud of being the heavyweight boxing champ for the entire south-east – just like Dad was back in the Stone Age when he went to Smeltings."

"Except I'm champ two years running – and was the youngest-ever to win my first title," Vernon advised Gwendolyn proudly.

"Yeah, you're already a legend in your own mind," Margie scoffed; sniffing disdainfully.

"At least I've got something to be legendary for," Vernon told her; looking a bit annoyed now. "What's your claim to fame so far at that prissy prep school of yours? Best in Show?"

Margie laughed. "You're such a guy. We're getting ready to be the trophies at my school – not get all sweaty and gross trying to win some stupid prize."

Vernon snorted. "Let me know how that works out for you some day when I'm running Grunnings and you're married to that grocery store clerk you've been mooning over all summer."

"I'm not mooning over him – I'm toying with him," she advised her brother with a dismissive wave. "Don't try playing games like that with me, Vernon – I"m way out of your league."

"Yet you think that I'm a legend in my own mind," Vernon countered. "I'd say you're a delusion in your own mind."

"Maybe we should go out to the park and leave Vernon and Margie to their little round of verbal sparring," Pierce suggested – directing his comment to Gwendolyn and Lily. "That can't be very interesting for you."

"As if going to hang out with you and your mates would be better," Vernon scoffed.

"We were in the van for a long time," Gwendolyn told him. "I'd actually like to go out; see the park; and maybe go for a walk on those paths I see – or have you take us on a tour of your neighborhood."

"The last part of that sounds good to me too," Lily said with a nod and smile. "We haven't gone for a walk around the neighborhood in at least a few years."

"That's because..." Pierce began; and then stopped and looked flustered.

"...you're worried about us being seen by your grandparents?" Lily aasked and finished; laughing at the reactions from all three of her cousins. "Let's take a walk on the wild side. It's not as if Dad hasn't driven us past the house that he and your Dad grew up in." She laughed again and looked at Al. "I suppose that there's a chance that your grandparents would recognize Al right away if they catch us; but I'm not worried about that potential risk if we do run into them. Are you?"

That last comment and question had everyone laughing; with Vernon's laugh more of a roar.

"We'll be in so much trouble if Mum and Dad find out," Margie advised them; but she was actually grinning too.

"Yeah, well, it's been boring around here lately anyway," Vernon decided. "Let's do it!"

With that pronouncement, they headed out into the back yard and crossed through to the park before going on to Magnolia Road and then walking back toward Magnolia Crescent. Vernon led the way, and it was a bit strange for Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily when they collected a few of their cousins' friends along the way so that they were eventually part of a small gang of teens and tweens by the time they reached Wisteria Walk and turned to head toward Privet Drive. Vernon was on a roll by then as he swaggered down the street while also acting as if they were out on a secret mission fraught with potential danger at the slightest misstep. Al didn't buy into that, since he didn't sense anything that even hinted at impending danger, but he and Gwendolyn did have fun; and Lily went right along with the drama while chatting with Margie, Pierce, and some of their friends. Vernon took them the back way around to Privet Drive; they made their way up Privet Drive from south to north; and they walked very slowly past number four – basically doing the opposite of what they should have done if actually trying to avoid notice.

"They're not even home," Margie said; sounding a bit disappointed. "We'd be able to hear the television from here if they were."

"You're right," Vernon decided; and then grinned. "Want to take a walk-around?" he asked; directing that question more to Lily and Gwendolyn than to Al.

"Yes!" Lily assured him enthusiastically. "What's it like inside? It must be different than your house; since they're quite a bit different on the outside."

Vernon shrugged. "It's nice-enough; but nothing special. Four bedrooms upstairs," he added; nodding toward the upper floor; and then pointing to one of the windows. "That's the bedroom your Dad grew up in. It's the smallest room, but I think they had to put him there; since Aunt Margie wouldn't have ever fit in there when she came for visits. Pierce usually gets that room if we're here for a night while Mum and Dad are away."

"Yeah – 'cause you don't fit in that room either," Pierce offered with a snort.

"You won't either in a year or two," Vernon shot back; and then shrugged. "It's not as if we do that anymore anyway. We're more likely to stay with friends instead – and I'm old enough now that we can start staying home on our own if Mum and Dad do need to be away on one of their business trips or something."

"Don't go there – that's just gross," Margie joked; earning a round of laughs. "We can't all go tromping around the yard – Grandma will have a fit if her lawn or gardens get messed up."

"Then just take Lily with you," Al suggested. "She can tell me about it later – and we can keep watch if you're worried about your grandparents coming home while you're doing the tour."

"Good idea," Vernon agreed. "Would you like to come too, Gwendolyn?" he offered; extending his arm a second time as he'd done when they'd been leaving the sitting room. She smiled; but shook her head and stayed next to Al.

"It's nice to see where Uncle Harry grew up; but I don't need to tromp around the yard with you. That doesn't feel right to me."

"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug. "Whistle if you see our grandparents coming up the street – though it'll be too late for us by then if you do."

"Mark-E and Blaine could walk to the corner and keep watch," Pierce suggested. "That'd give us time to get out before they're home."

"We'll go along," Al offered. "It's not as though we'd recognize their car anyway."

"It's a huge, black sedan," Pierce told them. "Biggest one by far in the neighborhood; so you can't miss it."

"Plus it drives on the left two wheels," one of the other teens said; earning some laughs and a couple of scowls from Vernon and Pierce.

"That isn't true," Vernon shot back, "but if you want to keep making fun of our grandparents because he's big and she's skinny; I'll be happy to get together with you later and convince you of what a bad idea that is."

"Let's go if we're going to do it," Margie told him. "We'll have half the neighbors gawking at us if we just stand around here much longer – and then Grandma will hear about if for sure."

"No doubt," Vernon agreed. "Whistle if you see them," he told Al. "Last chance," he added; smiling at Gwendolyn invitingly.

"Thank-you, but I'm not family,' she answered. "I'll stick with Al and let Lily do the tour."

"We'll take good care of her while you're busy," Blaine offered with a grin. "She's fine – with us."

Vernon laughed scornfully. "Stick to mooning over our cousin, Blaine. I doubt that Gwendolyn even likes shrimp."

That earned him a laugh from his own mates; and Blaine scowled at him; but didn't try for a comeback because Al and Gwendolyn were already on the move and Margie and Lily were half-way up the drive. Getting to the corner only took a few moments, since they were so close to that end of the street; and then Al and Gwendolyn ended up being the center of their little group while they waited for Lily and the three Dursleys.

"Do you go around in a big group like this very often?" Gwendolyn asked. "We can't exactly do that at home unless a bunch of us meet up in town."

"We get together with our friends," Blaine answered first; "but Vernon, Margie, and Pierce don't normally hang out together – except for at their own home, of course."

"Yeah, that's why this is such a special occasion," Mark-E added. "They don't usually do stuff like this together; and they definitely don't talk about your Dad growing up here, Al. We do hear stories from some of the old folks around here, though; and they can be a bit unbelievable."

"Yeah, and your Dad hardly looks the part for those stories," one of Margie's friends added with a smirk. "What'd he really do back in the day – hack an abacus?"

"What's an abacus?" Mark-E asked; and then wished he hadn't when the girls laughed at him – including Gwendolyn.

"It's a rack of beads that was used for counting, adding, and subtracting before there were things like calculators or computers," Gwendolyn advised him." She smiled at Al. "As to what Uncle Harry did back then; I don't actually know. Do you, Al?"

"No. Dad doesn't talk about that – though we've been told that the trouble he did get into when he was young helped him to be really good at his job now."

"Like a hacker that gets caught and goes to work for MI6?" the same girl asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure that Dad isn't secretly working for the government as a spy; but I guess it's kind of the same for the security business – just way more boring."

"Isn't your Dad just a security guard?" Blaine asked; and Al shook his head.

"He was. Now he works in the office and trains security guards."

Blaine laughed. "I'm sorry, but I can't picture your Dad teaching anyone how to fight or use weapons."

Al shrugged. "That's only part of his job; but he does do that. I've been there for the morning training sessions and watched him work lots of times – though that was more when I was younger."

"So does that mean you're trained to kill or something too?" That question was from one of Vernon's friends; and he took a hard, if playful swipe at Al that had likely been meant to knock him about; but not hurt him. The older teen wasn't grinning anymore when Al blocked the punch and he stumbled a step before recovering while Al simply took Gwendolyn's hand again and smiled at him.

"Not trained to kill; but we have been taught to defend ourselves," Al explained easily. "You definitely wouldn't want to mess with Lily. Some of the techniques that are taught to girls are really painful – for guys."

That comment earned him some laughs from the girls, but while Vernon's friend looked ready to take another swing at him; that didn't happen because Vernon, Margie, Pierce, and Lily were already heading toward them; their tour of the yard obviously finished. Unfortunately for Al, that little non-scuffle had really bugged Vernon's friend; and he then began talking about Al's supposed prowess for self-defense; and then he started goading Vernon to 'go a round or two' with Al to find out whether his geeky cousin could back up his claims. By the time they reached the park; Vernon was feeling the peer pressure.

"Enough, guys!" Vernon finally said loudly; his voice carrying across the park. "They won't shut up unless we go a round, Al. What do you say? I'll try not to hurt you – too much." The other guys all laughed at that; and Al smiled and shook his head.

"I don't want to fight you, Vernon. We only see each other once a year; and I'm sure we can have more fun doing anything else."

"Chicken," Blaine declared; and Al laughed.

"I'm not – there's just no way for a fight to end well between us; and we've nothing to fight about."

"Try kissing his girlfriend, Vernon," the same friend that had been goading him suggested with a leer for Gwendolyn. "That might make him mad enough to fight you – and have the bonus of her getting snogged by a real man instead of a geek."

"You're a pig," Margie told him. "If Al doesn't want to fight; that just proves to me that there are boys in the world with a bit of sense. Vernon's twice his size – or more."

"Your cousin implied that size doesn't matter for fighting," the boy shot back. "I'd just like to see that – and we are just talking about a bit of sport – unless Vernon's afraid he'd get beat by the geek."

Vernon glared at him; but then turned to face Al instead. "I'm sorry; but the guys won't let up until we have a little exhibition. I hope you understand." With that, he took a swing at Al; and probably expected that to be the end of it.

"I'm sorry too," Al told him as he side-stepped the punch; hooked a leg behind Vernon's; and then knocked him to the ground. He stepped back again; and smiled as his cousin then scrrambled to his feet; looking half-stunned.

"What the heck?" he demanded; and Al's smile brightened as he shrugged.

"I did say that Dad taught us self defense – not boxing."

The girls all laughed at that; and Vernon scowled. "Whatever. You caught me by surprise that time. It won't happen again."

He was wrong about that, but then he was much more cautious after that as he squared off against Al and began to fight in earnest. While Vernon really was more than twice Al's size, he soon found out that his supposedly geeky cousin was more than a match for his power boxing style; and he didn't land a single punch. While Al hadn't wanted the 'play' fight at all, his smile and banter turned out to be infectious; and Vernon began to have fun too. They finally took a break to catch their breath; and Al held out his hand.

"Shall we call it a draw?" he suggested. "It's too hot out here for this to stay fun for much longer; and I think we've proved that you can fight and I can keep from getting my head knocked off."

"Sounds good to me," Vernon agreed; taking Al's hand and shaking. "Let's go back to the house and get some cold drinks and snacks."

"Come on – that was just getting good," Vernon's friend told them. "Go another round or two."

Vernon laughed at him. "Give it a rest, mate. Al's right – and I wasn't holding back like I'd expected to; so I'd say he's done well-enough – even if most of those moves wouldn't be allowed in the boxing ring."

"Careful," Margie warned. "Next thing you know; we'll go and do something crazy and start liking our cousins or something."

Vernon pretended to shudder. "Don't say that. Where would something like that lead – getting together for visits at Christmas too? Regular texting and emails?"

"You're right," Margie agreed. "That is scary. Let's just go and get those drinks and try to survive the rest of the visit like we normally do."

"We are so going to bring Gwendolyn back with us every year from now on," Lily told them. "This has been the most fun we've had together for as long as I can remember."

"Okay, but can you bring her back next year without the pesky boyfriend?" Mark-E asked; and then grinned. "Did i say that out loud?"

Lily smiled brilliantly at him and laughed. "Yeah, you did, but it was funny; so that's okay."

As they walked back to the Dursleys' house, Al enjoyed the banter going on around him and holding hands with Gwendolyn; but his mind wandered off too as he processed what was turning out to be their strangest visit so far with their cousins. The journey from the first moments after they arrived when Vernon and Pierce were basely attracted to Gwendolyn through to now when he and Lily had somehow earned a bit of respect and acceptance felt surreal – and more than a little bit funny. He agreed that Gwendolyn was part of the equation for why that had happened; but expected that not having James with them played a role too – if only because he wasn't there to draw attention to himself or insult Al if needed to keep him from getting along with Vernon or Margie. Whatever the combinations of reasons, though, it was nice to think that there could be hope for their generation of cousins to at least get along for the few years they had left for these visits before they'd all be adults and likely never see each other again unless their parents organized a family reunion or something.

While Vernon and Margie made some more jokes about trying harder not to get along; the rest of the visit continued to be a lot of fun for all of them – including for the gang of friends that gathered in the back yard. They'd had a bigger group as more of the Dursleys' friends had gathered to watch the little fight in the park; and more were invited through text messages; so that got fairly strange at moments too – and not just because the guys were all very interested in Gwendolyn, Lily, or both girls. He had some of Margie's friends paying attention to him too, and since he could sense the emotions for all of the teens and tweens; that was sometimes a bit uncomfortable for him. That was particularly weird for Margie's best friends, Willow and Rachel; though Willow again tried very hard not to pay any attention to him while still watching him when she thought he couldn't notice.

Gwendolyn was amused by all of that, and while she couldn't sense the same things he could, she was observant; and then happily went out of her way to make sure those other girls knew that he was her boyfriend. Sharing those occasional hugs and kisses was fun; but he couldn't manage to feel the same way about the guys that kept trying to get her atention – or just sit around admiring her while sending off vibes that weren't fun for Al to sense at all. The time did finally come when Harry and Ginny were past-ready to round up their kids and head out; and that was the final bit of fun for Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily as all four parents were shocked to varying degrees when their kids said goodbye with smiles, hugs, and handshakes that looked to be quite genuine because they were! Pearl looked a bit confused as she then saw them out through the front door and closed it behind them; but Harry and Ginny both looked amused by then as they all got into the van and Harry soon had them heading out of Little Whinging.

"Okay, who were those kids; and what did you do with your cousins while out at the park?" Ginny teased.

"Maybe Lily used that cheering charm on them," Harry offered with a grin.

"I didn't," Lily promised; getting her bracelet from where she'd put it with her wand, mirror, and a few other things and holding it up for emphasis. "Our visit started out as weird as always, and Vernon and Pierce were enchanted by Gwendolyn for a while, but then they took us for a walk and a tour around the yard of your old house, Dad; Al had a nice little fight with Vernon; and we've been having a blast ever since then. We even talked about getting together at Christmas from now on too instead of just once a year."

"Vernon and Margie joked about us going back to the way we normally act before we start talking about doing extra visits; it was sort of a play fight that Vernon was goaded into by one of his mates; and Lily went on that tour of the yard at your old house while Gwendolyn and I stood at the corner with the rest of our cousins' friends to keep a watch out for your aunt and uncle in case they came back while they were doing that tour – which they didn't," Al explained.

"We should have gone to hang out with them," Ginny told Harry with another in what had been a series of laughs in response to Lily's and Al's comments. "You didn't go in the house too, did you?"

"No, but I peeked in some windows while we were in the back yard. Margie wanted to get out of there when one of the neighbors started watching us. She said that their grandmother will likely hear about them being over while they were away for sure."

"Probably," Harry agreed; "but the neighbor will have no idea who you or Al are; so it shouldn't matter. Margie can just tell them that they went around back to make sure they hadn't just been in the back yard and couldn't hear them out front."

"Unless one of the neighbors has been around a while," Ginny offered. "Al does look a lot like you."

"Which was one of the reasons I didn't go along for that tour," Al advised them. "I probably wasn't noticed in the group with their friends."

"You got noticed during that fight with Vernon," Lily advised him with a grin. "You may have even lost your geek reputation with Margie's friends."

"We'll need to talk about that later," Gwendolyn told him; grinning too. "I'm glad that you told me about Willow last year after your visit; but you didn't mention that she's beautiful."

"She's pretty – you're beautiful," Al told her.

"Before you get off-track; how'd you manage to get into a fight with Vernon and not get your head knocked off?" Ginny asked; smiling when she looked back and Al grinned at her.

"Did you think that the little scuffle we had at that campfire the night of your anniversary was a fluke?"

"No – I thought that you managed to handle yourself well-enough because those young Wizards were all drunk," she answered seriously.

Al nodded and shrugged. "Well, I really have picked up a few things from the times I've watched Dad's workouts at Auror Headquarters. That's come in handy for me now and then over the past couple of years."

"And you picked that up just from watching – and the times you tried to keep up with those martial arts workouts?" Harry asked; and Al nodded.

"Yeah. It helps to have a good memory for that. Vernon was a bit mad about it at first, but then he started to have fun with it too; and everything turned out okay. We called it a draw after about ten minutes. I'm glad that I didn't have to pick between letting him knock me down or taking him down."

"It sounds as though you handled the situation well-enough," Ginny told him seriously. "Maybe that'll be a good sign for the coming school year."

"That'd be nice," Al agreed, "but the bullies at Hogwarts have wands and aren't afraid to use them. I've always thought that Vernon was a bully too, but either he's changing; or that was all for show."

"I think he's changing," Lily told him. "The other guys were really afraid of him when he told that one guy to shut it when he'd insulted their grandparents with that crack about their car being easy to spot because it goes down the road on the two left wheels."

Harry laughed; and then apologised. "Sorry; but I can actually picture that. Their car used to sag to one side if my uncle and cousin sat on the same side with my aunt and I on the other – not that I was ever in their car very often. I'm glad that your visit went well; though I'm wishing that we saved your dinner surprise for another time. We thought you'd need it today."

"What are we doing for dinner?" Lily asked; and Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"We've been invited to have dinner at Teddy and Victoire's," Ginny answered; and laughed again when Lily shouted out her approval for the plan.

"Yeah! That's going to be brilliant!"

"We think so," Ginny agreed. "James will hate it when he finds out later; but he wouldn't want to come – which is why he'll be at George and Angelina's until we're ready to head home."

"You're going to make him drive home with us?" Lily asked; and Ginny smiled and shook her head.

"No. We'll take the Floo Network home – and take Gwendolyn with us because she needs to be home in decent time tonight. Al can keep Harry company for the drive home."

"And conveniently be out of James' range for a few hours," Lily added with a nod. "Maybe I should go with Dad instead – for a bit of quality father-daughter time."

"That's an option too," Ginny agreed. "You can decide that sometime between now and when we're finished dinner."

The trip to Grimmauld Place took a while because they needed to pretty much cross London from south to north to get there; but they'd had lots of time to do that; and they were there early-enough that Ginny called to give Teddy the heads up when they were still about fifteen minutes away – plus time for finding a parking spot for the van and the walk to the townhouse from there. Their greeting was much warmer when Teddy and Victoire welcomed them; and the hugs and kisses took a few minutes before they were led up to the drawing room for a bit of a social time ahead of dinner. There was music playing in the background – music that Al and Gwendolyn recognized immediately.

"You picked up the new Graves Robbers' album!" Gwendolyn said enthusiastically; and laughed at the answering grins from Teddy and Victoire. "Do you like it?"

"We do," Teddy agreed; waving his wand and changing the song. "That one is great; but we really loved this one a lot too."

While he'd picked a song that Al and Gwendolyn hadn't heard yet; they quickly understood why Teddy had switched to it – and everyone laughed regularly as they listened to 'Animorphmagus' – a song that had obviously been written with Al in mind. When Teddy showed them the album cover, they saw that there was a bracketed 'If I Was An' in front of the 'Animorphmagus' that fit better with the song; and the Graves Robbers apparently had a blast coming up with ideas for what they'd each like to do if they could be an Animorphmagus.

"What's wrong, Al?" Lily asked. "You think that your songs are funny. I like this one just as much as the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie or Burst Your Bubble."

"I'm imagining the entire next year at Hogwarts with this song being thrown in my face," he answered with a wry smile. "The good news is that James will love it – and probably work on material for jokes about it to use on me for the next year or two."

"He won't be the only one," Teddy assured him with a grin. "The Graves Robbers could've filled a double album if they just kept adding new verses. They'll likely do that at concerts to get the crowds involved."

"No doubt," Al agreed a bit morosely; and then he laughed. "I might have to think about the other side of these jokes if we write any new songs from now on," he told Gwendolyn.

"It won't always be fun; but we could have fun coming up with verses for that song too."

"You will want to do that, but they did title that album Graves Danger; so maybe I should just blast the lot of them and prove them right."

He earned a round of laughs for that, but his attempt at a diversion didn't keep his family from offering up a few suggestions for what they'd do if they were Animorphmagi before moving on to talk about their visit to the Dursleys and what Teddy and Victoire had been doing since they'd seen them last. They stayed in the drawing room for a half-hour or so until Dasher popped into the room and invited them to the dining room for dinner. Misty and Dasher were both there to help out until everyone was seated and the drinks were served; but then they popped out of the room once the first course was served.

"We're still not used to that," Victoire told them once the elves were gone. "It's wonderful, and we love Misty and Dasher; but it's strange not cooking our own meals or doing the rest of the work."

"And they get upset with us if we try to help out," Teddy added. "The only room we managed to get them to leave for us to take care of is our master bedroom and bath – and that took some doing to convince them without making it an order."

"They're old-fashioned – even though they're so young," Harry reminded them. "You can take care of them in other ways – and you'll be far better masters for them than most. Hermione's helped House Elves a lot; but there are still a lot of problems; and the elves themselves still rarely try to assert their rights for better treatment."

"I'd say you're doing very well with them already," Ginny told Teddy and Victoire. "Dobby was the only other House Elf that I've ever seen smile as much as Dasher and Misty were just now."

"They're very proud of their new home and family," Victoire said with a smile and shrug. "I think that they love showing it off to guests more than we do."

"Have you gotten to do that much so far?" Lily asked. "You've only been home from your honeymoon for a few weeks; and you've been in training camp the whole time too."

"We've had my family; Teddy's grandparents; and a group of our friends over for meals. You're the fourth group to come for dinner. That seems like a lot to me; but we'll have less time for that once Quidditch season opens next weekend and I'll be busy so many weekends."

"Then you'll really start appreciating Misty and Dasher," Lily predicted – "especially if all of their food is this wonderful."

"It gets even better," Teddy assured her with a grin. "We need to have a dinner party for Victoire's team mates too; but she's a bit worried about having them find out what the elves do with the Harpies' training menu."

"You've got enough room for all of them; though Tory might miss her Mum quite a lot if she won't come home for holidays when we're out of school," Gwendolyn suggested.

"That'd work out nicely for us once we're on the team too," Lily offered with a bright smile. "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place – Home of the Harpies. It's got a nice ring to it."

"See – it is a really bad idea," Victoire told Teddy. "Let's just invite the girls out on a date night or something instead."

"Too late for two of us," Lily teased. "Is it okay if Gwendolyn and I go upstairs later and pick out our future rooms?"

"Sure, but we'll need to put sign-up sheets on the doors; since we already have two or three claims to every guest bedroom in the house – including from Mum, Dad, Dominique, and Louis."

"If I was Dominique, I'd have invited myself over for some sleepovers by now,' Lily said next; and Victoire laughed.

"Dominique and Louis haven't suggested that yet; but we're going to have them over for a night or two before they head back to school. Speaking of Hogwarts; are you ready to get your first letter tomorrow? Dominique is expecting to be senior team Captain; and Louis is a bit nervous about his OWL year – especially if he's on the team and gets named a Prefect too."

"There's no doubt of that for making the team or being a Prefect, is there?" Gwendolyn asked. "He's the best student in his year; and everyone likes him a lot too. We've seen him practice this summer; and I'll be surprised if there's a better Keeper at the Gryffindor tryouts."

Victoire smiled at her. "Maybe not at the senior team tryouts; but we've heard that Rose is looking really good this summer too."

"She is," Al agreed. "Now we're just waiting to find out who will be Captain – and whether we'll be allowed to try out for the team this year. James is still sure that he'll be able to keep us off the team again."

"Dominique isn't sure she wants him on her team – even though he is better than Brandon."

"She's having some trouble with James and Ollie," Lily advised her; "but I think she's handling them fairly well. Ollie's a bit delusional to think he's going to earn a spot on the team over Lucy or Olivia – assuming Dominique is Captain and there are only two open Chaser spots."

"Dominique definitely doesn't want him to win a spot; but they're not going to underestimate Ollie either. He is a good player – if too full of himself. We've gotten away from talking Hogwarts letters, though; so let's go back to that. Al and Gwendolyn must be looking forward to going to town on Hogsmeade weekends this year."

"We are," Gwendolyn agreed. "Keeping up with ten and eleven clases along with Quidditch is going to be hard; but I guess we'll figure out how to keep up with all of the work somehow."

Victoire and Teddy both laughed. "That's easy-enough," Teddy told her. "You work longer and sleep less. Al won't have any study classes and you'll only have one; so you have to work later at night and most of the weekend."

"That doesn't sound like any fun at all," Lily said. "I'm so glad that I've already pre-negotiated my third-year optionals and will only have nine classes."

"The optionals are only one period a week – though you do get a lot more homework and reading to do for most of them," Teddy told her. "You don't have to worry about that for two years, though; so maybe you could tell us about some other things – like what kind of wand you think might choose you."

Lily had actually thought about that and had an opinion; and happily talked about school and Quidditch with everyone. Every dish that the two House Elves served to them was wonderful; and it took them nearly an hour and a half to finish the meal – including the after-dinner drinks that were served after the dessert dishes were cleared away. They stayed in the dining room for that instead of retiring to the drawing room; and then it was time for Harry and Lily to hit the road for home – after she decided to spend the time with him and avoid what would likely be the worst of the evening with James once he heard about their day in London once he was home. After Harry and Lily left, Ginny decided to take Al and Gwendolyn home first; Gwendolyn picked up her overnight bag; and then said goodbye to Al before Ginny took her home and then went on to get James from George and Angelina's house. That took her a while because she had chats with both sets of parents; so Al had done a couple of chores and started a load of laundry while she was gone – including taking care of the owls and dealing with the mess that James had left in the bathroom after being last to get ready for the day after breakfast.

It didn't take long after James was home for the mood in the house to take a turn for the worse; and he pretty much lost his mind after finding out that he'd not only missed a family dinner at Grimmauld Place; but that Harry and Ginny had decided not to take him – or tell him about the plans. The facts that it had been his own actions that had gotten him out of the trip to see the Dursleys and that he'd subsequently been grounded didn't matter to James; and it also didn't take him long to place the blame for this latest perceived injustice at Al's feet. While he hadn't been surprised by that; Al was finding it harder each time to put up with James' rants and spurious claims. If he was going to have four more weeks of that until they headed to school; he was seriously going to consider moving out to the tent for the rest of the summer!

While he'd normally go to his room to escape from James, he didn't want to leave his mother to deal with his rants on her own; so he stayed downstairs; helped with the work; and tried to take as much of the heat from James as he could – though James was on a roll and happily – or angrily – insulted both of them at every opportunity. Lily was right that the worst would be over by the time they got home with the van; but James did manage a short, nasty outburst for them before he just didn't have more of it in him after hours of yelling, throwing things, and generally slamming around everywhere he went like a hippogriff in a tea shop. Once Harry was home, Al was okay with wishing his parents a good night; and Lily went up to his room for a chat before going on to her room for the night too. By then, Al was worn out, so he got ready for bed; had a quick bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then went straight off to sleep for the rest of the night.

There was only one thing on the minds of most Hogwarts students on Sunday morning – the imminent arrival of the Hogwarts letters! That was true for Al and Lily; which was why they were both up early. Lily beat Al to the shower; and then she waited for him in the kitchen while he took his turn getting ready for the day and then joined her there. He started working on breakfast because their parents were still in their room – if not necessarily asleep; and Lily happily kept him entertained while waiting for breakfast and hoping that the Owl Post would arrive soon. She kept watch out the windows, which was why she saw the owl fly in; and had the window open before Al could drop what he was doing and take care of that instead – though he'd sensed the owl's imminent arrival a few moments before she saw it. She untied the letters; gave the owl the treats that Al had put out to give it; and sent it off again before closing the window and going to sit at the table again.

"Should I open yours first?" she teased while already opening her own letter.

"You can do that if you'd like," Al offered; but smiled when she shook her head.

"Thanks, but you should do it," she decided. "If I pull out your report and see all of those O's this year; I'll just be disappointed when I do that with my letter next year."

Al laughed. "You have no idea how well or poorly you'll do until you get there and try – and I think you'll do brilliantly."

"I think that I'll do brilliantly too," she agreed; "but I just think that I'll be doing that out above the Quidditch pitch instead of the classroom."

"You're Mum's daughter," Al reminded her. "She did fairly well at both." He grinned at her then. "If you're really worried about that, though, maybe James will let you open his letter instead. I'm sure if you do that; you'll feel brilliant next summer by comparison."

"That's funny; but you'd better hope that he did well-enough to move on to fourth-year."

"I've got my fingers and toes crossed," Al assured her. "So, is there anything new this year in the first-year letters?" he asked once she had her letters out and had started reading them.

"Not so far," she answered; and then grinned without looking up. "I can tell you that there wasn't a Captain's badge in my envelope..." Al turned around when she trailed off; and saw her pick up one of the other two letters and squeeze it before looking up to him. "There's more than just parchment in here," she advised him. "I didn't think about it until just now. Get over here and open your letter – right now!"

"Yes, ma'am," Al said with a salute; though he couldn't leave what he was working on for long. He opened the envelope; turned it on an angle; and slid the contents out onto the table. The Gryffindor junior team Captain's badge was on top of the sheets of parchment; and he laughed when Lily jumped up and hugged him joyously.

"Yes!" she shouted. "Congratulations, Al! This is brilliant!"

Al laughed too. "That'll depend on your perspective," he countered meaningfully. "Do you think Mum and Dad would let James sleep in until September First?"

"No, and too bad for him. We're going to show him how Quidditch teams are supposed to play this year; and he's going to hate that a lot too."

"We can hope," Al agreed; and then laughed. "You know what I meant – not how that sounded."

"Yeah, but I mean it for both," she said cheerfully. "Don't you have some mirror chats to get to right now?" she asked when Al went back to work – and didn't look at his letters yet.

"I don't want to burn breakfast," he explained with a shrug and smile. "You can call Rose for us if you want; and I'll call Gwendolyn when I've got a minute to do that."

"That works for me," Lily agreed. "I love getting to share brilliant news like this!" She already had her mirror out; and said – "Call Rose!" Three rings later, she was connected with Rose's mirror; and said – "Al's the junior team Captain!" before Rose could even say anything.

"Yes!" Rose said enthusiastically. "I hoped they'd do the right thing and give one of us the job!"

"And I was hoping it'd be you," Al called out; earning laughs from the girls.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have played better than me in that last scrimmage match we had after we were done exams – the one that Mr. Peakes and half the school watched us win."

"You played great that day too," Al reminded her. "They may have given me the job; but you're drafted to help me do a good job at it – assuming I make the team."

"What?" Rose asked in confusion for a moment; and then laughed. "You're going to make tryouts completely open like you talked about last year? That's brilliant; but there's no 'if' about whether you'll win one of the Chaser spots. I'm the one who needs to worry about out-playing Hugo – and anyone else that tries out for Keeper. Was Gwendolyn happy to hear the news? She must be."

"She doesn't know yet," Lily told her with a grin. "Al doesn't want to burn breakfast; so he's going to call her as soon as he can."

"Calling me first could get him in trouble," Rose warned.

"She'll think that you deserve to know first after missing out on two seasons of playing Keeper," Al told her. "If I'm wrong about that, I'll be at her house most of the day; and will try to make it up to her somehow."

"Sounds like a plan. How'd you do for your clases? Straight O's? Our letters aren't here yet, but I guess they should be here soon."

Al laughed. "I didn't look yet. Lily felt something extra in my envelope and made me open it; but we haven't gotten past the badge."

"He's got straight O's," Lily confirmed; holding up the parchment to her mirror so Rose could see; and then turning it to show Al. "We knew that, since you guys won all of the awards in June. They don't give them out for 'E' students."

"No, but it's still nice to see the marks," Rose told her. "Maybe with one less class than Al has this year; Gwendolyn and I will have a chance to win a few more trophies next year."

"I'd be good with the Seeker title; junior team champions; and Quidditch Cup trophies," Lily advised them. "If we can learn a bit of magic along the way, then that'll be great too."

"We're going to remind you of that if you've got straight O's next summer too," Rose advised her. "You're way too smart not to do well at Hogwarts. If we go shopping tomorrow and you get your wand; we'll even be able to help you to get ready for a good start in September over the next four weeks."

"Will we have time for that with all of the extra Quidditch practices our new Captain is going to want to have?" Lily teased. "He should probably do a practice every day between now and then!"

"I expect you and I will do that," Al told her; "but we'll stick with the twice a week practices. We wouldn't be able to get everyone here every day anyway – especially with the league season starting on Saturday."

Al continued to cook while Lily talked with Rose – and then with Hugo for a few minutes. He'd been happy about Al's news too; but they ended the call when Harry joined al and Lily in the kitchen – and she wanted to share Al's news with him too.

"We didn't think that you were shouting that excitedly because Al had gotten straight O's," Harry joked when she'd finished giving him the news while also ending her chat with Rose and Hugo. "Congratulations, Al."

"Thanks, Dad," Al said a bit quietly; and Harry smiled at him.

"Yes, it's probably going to make things worse for you with James; but won't you prefer that over having James and Ollie going after Rose or Ray if they'd gotten the job instead? Maybe that's partly why you were picked instead."

"Rose said that it's because I played better in the last scrimmage match we had last year – one that Mr. Peakes and quite a few Professors and students came out to watch." He laughed then; and smiled at his father. "Can you take over? I need to call Gwendolyn."

"Sure, but why the sudden interest in doing that right now?" Harry asked curiously; and Al laughed again.

"Let's find out together when I ask Gwendolyn the question I have for her." Al suggested. "Call Gwendolyn!"

She answered on the first ring; and Al saw that she was in the kitchen; sitting at the table.

"Are your letters there already too?" she asked; and Al nodded.

"They are, but I really need to know if you set me up at that scrimmage we played in June." When Gwendolyn laughed; he had Harry and Lily laughing along with him in response.

"I might have mentioned what we were going to do for that time slot when I signed up for it – and then talked to a few other Professors and other students," Gwendolyn admitted modestly. "Congratulations! I take it that you were named Captain for Gryffindor's junior team."

"I was," Al agreed. "Now I'm just trying to decide if that's a good thing or not."

"It's a great thing," Gwendolyn assured him. "I might regret it if your team beats mine next April; but I'd rather lose to a great team than win against a lousy one."

"We'll try to help you out with that," Lily promised; and Al turned his mirror so that Gwendolyn could see Lily's grin.

"You go ahead and give that your best shot," Gwendolyn told her; "and I'll hope that Jonah or Stephanie can keep you from doing that. Mum and Dad are thrilled with my report,' she told Al. "It really does feel great to see all of those O's on my letter."

"Rose has straight O's too," Al advised her; and then laughed at the sudden expression on her face. "She said you might be mad that Lily called her first while I was busy cooking. Let me know how I can make that up to you later. I'll hand my mirror off to Lily so she can talk with you while I get back to work."

"Should I tell him that I'm not mad about that; or see how much I can get him to do later to make it up to me?" Gwendolyn asked Lily; pretending to whisper that conspiratorially while Al was still near-enough to hear her.

"I was the one pushing for him to call everyone; so you should probably give him a break on this one," Lily decided. "If you're responsible for Al getting the job, then thank-you. I really am glad that we'll get to do tryouts without any problems."

Gwendolyn laughed. "That isn't necessarily true," she warned. "You do have some players from James' team that won't like this at all – especially if James made some promises he didn't have the power to keep."

"Maybe, but I won't feel bad about that; since those promises likely had a trade-off promise to keep us off of the team this year," Lily countered. "That won't be true for anyone now – if they're good-enough to earn a spot on the team."

"Let me know how that works out for you if the Potters and Weasleys get four of those jobs and the Wood family gets two more. The fight over that last Beater job and the spots on the reserve squad won't be enough to make everyone else happy."

"You might be in the same position with your family and Ravenclaw," Lily reminded her. "The McCormacks, Rivers, and Graves players could have as many spots locked up as we'll have on our team."

"There are some similarities," Gwendolyn admitted, "but you're scaring me a bit too; since that wouldn't leave room for Stephanie in that scenario you're setting up – and she's way too good to end up on the reserve team."

"So's Jonah," Lily told her – "unless he's sorted to Gryffindor. In that case; he's not quite good-enough."

"I heard that, Potter," he called out while her assertion earned a round of laughs in both kitchens.

"Just tell the sorting hat that you don't want to be Gryffindor; and we won't have that problem," Lily told him.

"Sure, 'cause the sorting hat will listen to me," Jonah said with a laugh. "As long as I'm not Slytherin; I'll be okay with whatever House I'm in – and have the same problem trying to make the junior team against really good Witches."

"You've been hanging around your Mum and sister too much," Kirley told him. "Wizards can play the game too – and sometimes just as well or better than Witches."

"Well, Al, the good news is that you won't be alone in the doghouse when you get here," Gwendolyn teased.

"Was that an Animorphmagus joke?" Lily asked innocently; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but I've heard a few more suggestions for that song since last night. Would you like to hear them?"

Lily did want to do that; she talked with Gwendolyn for another five minutes; and then she wrapped up that call when Ginny joined them in the kitchen and it was time for another round of hugs, kisses, and congratulations. That was fun, and Ginny and Lily enjoyed keeping Harry and Al entertained until breakfast was nearly ready; but then the fun came to a screeching halt shortly after Lily went upstairs to give James his breakfast wake-up call. He threw a pillow at her first; used a book when she advised him that his Hogwarts letter was on the table; and then lost his mind when she offered to convey his congratulations to Al for being named junior team Captain for Gryffindor.

"I'd say he's taking the news well," Lily said with a grin as she walked into the kitchen and they could all hear James bellowing incoherant insults and throwing things around his room. Lily was sitting down and Al and Harry were putting the food on the table by the time James stormed down the stairs and into the room.

"If you're messing with me; I'm going to pound you," he threatened; and then stopped and glared as she simply held up the Captain badge. "No way!" he shouted. "The out-going Captain always gets to pick the next one – and I sure didn't pick the loser for the job!"

"The Quidditch Coach and Head for each House gets to pick," Harry advised him. "The Captain's recommendation is taken into account; but it doesn't have to be accepted."

"Al wasn't even a player last season – not to mention he was a traitor to our House all year too while helping Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to cheat against my team. This has got to be a mistake."

Lily smiled at him sweetly. "Maybe you're right," she agreed. "Check your letter. If you flunked out and need to repeat a year; they might have put the badge in the wrong brother's envelope." There was actually a flash of fear cross James' face at that suggestion; but then Lily held up the letter that had come with the badge. "Oh wait – the letter congratulating Al does have his name on it; so you probably did okay – or you should hope so; since it'd suck to be you as back-up Seeker to me this year."

"That's enough, Lily," Ginny told her. "You too, James. Al's to be junior team Captain this year; and we hope you'll do well on the senior team. Maybe between the three of you and your cousins you'll be able to bring the Quidditch Cup back to Gryffindor this year."

James snorted. "Not with the loser here in charge. We're out of the running before we even have tryouts." He stomped to his chair and flung himself into it. "I'll send a letter to Mr. Peakes. They can't do this!"

"Feel free – if you want to come off looking like a fool to Mr. Peakes and Professor Longbottom," Ginny told him. "Do you really think that they signed that letter without knowing what they were doing?"

"Then what'd you do?" James demanded. "Call up your buddy and tell him to give Al the job? Merlin forbid that the perfect loser doesn't get everything he wants. Well, good luck with that when he doesn't win a match!"

"If you think that's going to happen; then why aren't you the happiest person in the room right now?" Lily asked him. "That'd prove to everyone how much better you are compared to Al – or it'd prove you're one win better."

James glared at her. "I hope you get sorted to Slytherin," he spat vehemently. "Maybe they'll be able to teach you that some Witches shouldn't be seen or heard."

"Why don't you open your letter and see whether you're in third or fourth-year first?" she suggested. "If you're in third-year again; I'll make sure that I'm sorted to Gryffindor – even though it'd be tempting to play for Slytherin instead just to kick your butt in that match."

"I want to see how you did," Ginny told James; trying not to laugh at Lily's impudent assertiveness.

"Why? So you can rake me over the coals for not having straight O's like the loser there?" James demanded. "Fine – let's take a look, shall we?" He tore the envelope – in half – and threw the pieces on the table in front of his other. "There you go – I'm happy with my report. Congratulations to me!"

Ginny got her wand out; repaired the torn parchment and envelope; and then opened it properly while James glowered at her. He'd already started filling his plate; shoving food into his mouth too as he dumped food onto it from the platters and bowls closest to him. Al was only interested in whether James had been moved on to fourth-year; and was a bit worried for a moment when Ginny's expression was grim and he couldn't decipher whether what he was sensing from her was bad or horrid. Finally, she just shook her head and handed the report to Harry without comment. Harry only glanced at it; and then folded it up and put it back on the table in front of James.

"Well, you'll be able to take eight of nine classes in fourth year," he advised his eldest son. "I'd strongly recommend doing better this year and next – unless you're not planning on earning many OWL's or being at Hogwarts at all for a sixth and seventh year."

"Eight?" James exclaimed; finally deciding that he was interested-enough to look at his report. Al nearly laughed at both the expression on James' face and what he sensed from his brother as he looked over his report. Apparently, it was worse than he'd expected. When he was finished, he threw it on the table and glared at Al. "Thanks a lot, Al. There's one more thing I can thank you for screwing up in my life. Way to go, loser!"

"Glad I could help," Al decided to say instead of fighting back. "You likely wanted to drop a class anyway; so that'll work out perfectly for you."

"For him, but I was really hoping he'd be my back-up Seeker all season," Lily said; pretending to pout. "Now I'll just have to settle for winning more games this season with the junior team than he wins with the senior team."

James snorted. "That'll never happen," he declared. "Our senior team has only lost one match in three years. It'll be one loss in four years by the end of the season next May. You'd better hope to be sorted to Slytherin; 'cause you won't have any wins playing on the loser's team."

"Alright, kids; that's enough – again," Ginny told them. "We'll take a look at your books and supplies lists later; but I'd like to talk with you – James and Lily – about what we're going to do today while Al's at Gwendolyn's house."

"I vote for moving him out while he's gone," James told her. "His things would be much better in the pool; and he could just change himself into a water snake or something and live there from now on." He smirked when Lily laughed.

"That is funny," Lily explained; "though I'm not sure that would be something I'd do if I was an Animorphmagus."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked; mostly because she'd sung the last part of her comment. Lily gave Al an apologetic look when she realised that James obviously hadn't heard of the new Graves Robbers' song yet.

"Try to keep up, James," she told him; trying to make the best of it. "Haven't you heard the latest Graves Robbers album yet? One of the new hits is 'Animorphmagus' and it's all the rage to come up with new lines for the song with what you'd do if you were one too. Being a water snake doesn't work for me; but I do think it'd be funny to be a fish and live in the pool." She sang that last part; though it didn't quite fit with the music without dragging out a couple of the words. James suddenly looked viciously gleeful.

"What's that – the smell of payback in the air?" he taunted; smirking darkly at Al. "Now it'll be your turn to get laughed at over one of those stupid songs." He turned his attention to Lily again. "Do you have a copy of the song so that I can hear it?" he asked with completely faked sweetness.

"No, but I'm sure that you can listen to it on one of the mirror network music shows. They're sure to be playing it a lot since the album just came out yesterday in time for the start of the back-to-school rush."

James grabbed his plate and drink; got up; and walked out of the room – obviously heading for the sitting room to do that. Ginny looked ready to stop him; but then just decided to let him go and avoid any additional unpleasantness. That did give them a short reprieve until James returned and happily began singing the song in a terrible off-key way while mostly making up all of the words that he couldn't remember and made up new, seriously horrid verses that didn't actually even make sense when he was supposedly singing about what he'd want to be if he was an Animorphmagus instead of what he'd like to have happen to Al as one. That's why Al was grateful when James was scared off at the prospect of doing the kitchen clean-up chores and left the room instead of continuing to insult Al and helping with the work instead. After that, Al needed to get ready for his day at Gwendolyn's house; and then Ginny took him over there early so that he could get away from James.

There had been some fun mixed in with all of that nasty too, since Ginny and Lily led the charge to find out how things were with their cousins and some other friends on Hogwarts letters' day; so he even had a fair bit of news from all of that to talk about with Gwendolyn once they'd been reunited. She had lots of news from her family and through her Ravenclaw friends; but had him start once they were outside and working on some pre-party chores that Kirley had assigned them after Ginny had left and gone home again. Their first job was setting up tables and chairs in the back yard; and they used charm bracelet and seashells to do that while standing close together in the center of the magical action.

"Dominique and I are likely getting more attention for getting the Captain jobs for Gryffindor," Al told her; "but it's a pretty big deal that Molly's been named Head Girl – the second in three years for our family; and Louis and Noel got the Gryffindor Prefect jobs for their OWL year."

"Maybe Molly's just keeping a trend going," Gwendolyn suggested. "If Louis makes Head Boy in his NEWT year, that'll be four in eight years if you include Teddy – and then you'd be next."

"Or Rose," Al added with a grin. "That pattern would mean that Rose and Lily would be next for those jobs; not me – and I'm sure James will be crushed to be in one of those off-years for our family."

"Even he can't think that it would be a good idea for him to be Head Boy," Gwendolyn disagreed. "That'd be a disaster for Hogwarts – and a nightmare for us."

"No doubt," Al agreed; "but he'd need to really come around for that to be a problem. Mum and Dad didn't tell us how he did on his report, but he likely failed one class, since he can't take one of his optionals in September; and Dad suggested that he'd need to do better over the next two years if he want's to earn many OWL's or continue on into sixth-year after that."

"He must have ended up with a bunch of A's then," Gwendolyn suggested. "Most Professors will let you take sixth-year classes with an E as well as an O; so he must have done really poorly. I know that he deserves most of what's happened to him; but he is too bright to just coast in all of his classes – and it only hurts him when he doesn't learn how to do the magic properly."

"I know that's true, but then I wonder if the rest of us are better off if he keeps going like this. How scary might those ambushes and pranks of his be if he actually got better at them than we are at defending against him?"

"Really scary; and let's hope that doesn't happen. What else have you heard from around your family? Lucy's dating Alex. Did she know anything about Hufflepuff?"

Al nodded and smiled. "Alex got the Captain job for the senior team. Maybe Mr. Peakes was trying to even things up after giving so many Chasers the job in the other Houses."

"Pauline got the job for our Ravenclaw senior team; and Madison was picked over Tory for the Hufflepuff junior team; so maybe you're right about that," she suggested; and then grinned at him. "Do you know something I don't about the Slytherin teams? There's no doubt that Victor Avery will be back as Captain of the senior team – even though they might do better if they gave someone else a shot at the job after two fairly bad seasons with him. Do you think that Scorpius got the job for the junior team?"

"He'd be the better choice over Davis or any of the other guys that can play for their junior team this year. Maybe we'll even have better games against Slytherin – unless he lets the other guys continue to play the way Slytherins normally do. That might be a refreshing change."

"It would be," she agreed; "though they need some new talent too – not that I'm suggesting that we let any of our favorite new players get sorted to Slytherin to help them out with that. Okay, we've covered Quidditch; what about our Head Boy and the rest of the Prefects? Do we know any more about that?"

Between the two of them, they did work out a bit more of that part of the back-to-school picture; and learned more as the day went along. Gwenog's and Kirley's families began arriving by late morning – along with some friends and their families; so Al and Gwendolyn were set free after that to play with her cousins and the other teens and kids. While some of the younger kids went to play Quidditch, Al and Gwendolyn picked swimming and playing other games instead – sure that there'd be one or two more serious scrimmages between lunch and dinner. Thanks to having some of the Weird Sisters' families there, Al got teased a lot about the Animorphmagus song; but he and Gwendolyn also got a lot of attention for both being named team Captains and for their straight-O's reports.

The lunch meal was quick and easy; and the kids were allowed to eat wherever they wanted – with most of them picking spots on the benches next to the Quidditch pitch while the parents and oldest teens sat at the tables. As expected, the Quidditch scrimmages started shortly after the lunch clean-up was finished; and Al and Gwendolyn were drafted to be two of the Chasers on the teen team. The 'old folks' team had a few former league players, but that was off-set by the casual, less-talented players; which was why Al and Gwendolyn put on such a show for her family and the rest of the spectators – despite playing against her Aunt Meghan in goal for the adults' team. Jonah won the Seeker duel too; so it was an all-around bad outcome for the parents and grandparents – even as they all had a blast too.

"The Prides should offer the two of you a contract right now," Meghan only half-teased as they gathered around the benches for the post-scrimmage chat while another game was being put together by some of the teens and kids that hadn't played in the just-finished match. "How much spending money would you need for Hogsmeade weekends? That'd be good to know before we negotiate a signing bonus for you."

"Offer jobs to Al all you want; but stay away from Gwendolyn," Gwenog warned; pretending to sound menacing. "She's already on the team Roster for the twenty-twenty-four – twenty-five season."

Meghan smiled and shook her head. "You're not seeing what I am up there if you still think that's a good idea, sister-in-law dearest. Newsflash – I wasn't taking it easy on them." She grinned at Gwendolyn. "For all I know; they were taking it easy on me. Whatever they were doing, though; I guessed wrong more often than right for what they'd do – and still got beat now and then even when I guessed right! I've never seen anything quite like it; and you haven't either. It'd be a shame to split them up."

Gwenog laughed. "Would you still say that if you had to play against them as a pair on any other team? Sure, that'd be great for your team if you could get them, but if you didn't; we'd both be in trouble for our matches against whatever team they'd end up on. Best not to risk that. I'm sure that if you can hire Al that you'll find some other Witches nearly as good as Gwendolyn to play with him."

"Are you trying to help make your case or get me to change my mind?" Gwendolyn teased. "I don't like the idea of Al playing chaser with other Witches at all."

"Witches are the best players," Gwenog reminded her. "the odds are good that he'll be on a team with Witches – especially if he ends up on the Cannons with Rose – though that might be the best place for him from a Harpies' perspective."

"Isn't there a good chance that Al will have Witches on his team this year?" Jonah asked; grinning at Gwendolyn instead of Al; and she laughed.

"Yes, but Lily's his sister; Rose is his cousin; and I'd be okay with Melissa and Kathryn making the team too; since they're two years younger than me and I can take them in a duel if they try to get too cozy with my boyfriend."

That assertion earned her a round of laughs – mostly from the Witches; and then the conversation moved on as they got out of their gear and drained a drink or two after the hot blast of high-speed fun. Al and Gwendolyn were among the group of players that went on to go for a swim; they watched the rest of the second scrimmage after that while sitting in lawn chairs and talking with other teens, kids, and roving groups of parents. They were drafted to help out with the pre-dinner work; did that for nearly an hour; and then sat down with Jonah and five other cousins for a fairly entertaining dinner that included a lot of talk about Quidditch and back-to-school or first-time-to-school hopes and dreams for the coming year.

Everyone pitched in for the clean-up except for a few grandparents on little kid control duty; there was some more play time after that; and then they gathered around a campfire to wrap up their play day with some music, scary stories, and toasted snacks. By then, Al and Gwendolyn had been out of the spotlight for a few hours; but Kirley made sure that didn't last when he cornered them into singing a duet – their version of the wedding song from Teddy and Victoire's wedding; and an encore of the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie that quite a few members of their family got up to dance to while joining in where needed for the 'audience' participation. Add in a rousing, drawn-out version of 'Animorphmagus' where everyone was invited to add their own lines to the song; and it was practically the Al and Gwendolyn show for nearly a half-hour of the campfire time.

Nobody was ready to let the fun end, but it was also a work night; and parents needed to get home and rested. Some of them, like Meghan, had needed to go home early due to training curfew; but Gwenog stayed outside until eleven o'clock before letting Kirley handle the rest of the party wind-down while she made sure that Al got home safely – after he'd been given a chance to say goodnight to Gwendolyn in a mostly non-verbal sort of way. Gwenog didn't go with him, but she did chat with Ginny on their mirrors while he made the transition to home – and was still talking to her when James immediately started in on Al again with new Animorphmagus lines that were even worse than the ones he'd come up with in the morning despite having all day to work on them.

Lily had gone to bed by then, but hadn't been sleeping; and joined Al in his room for a bedtime chat. She happily told him all about her day; which had included going out for some friends and family visits; lunch and dinner out; and an evening swim and Quidditch play time with Harry, Ginny, and James that had actually gone fairly well as James apparently decided to flip the bi-polar switch at least for a handful of hours when he liked what they were doing and didn't have Al around to blame for anything. In return, Al told Lily about his day with Gwendolyn; they talked about the shopping plans for Monday that had developed quite a bit while he was gone; and then Lily went back to her room so they could both get some sleep and be ready for that impending blast of shopping fun!

"Congratulations!" Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was placed in the usual spot in Scorpius' room – a place where it could easily be hidden if anyone stopped in for a surprise visit.

"You heard?" Scorpius asked; and Thomas nodded.

"That you've been named junior team Captain. How was your report?"

Scorpius frowned. "Not as good as it should have been," he admitted reluctantly. "Four O's and three E's. I can add Flitwick to my list of Professor-haters. There's no way I shouldn't have gotten an 'O' in charms. I'll wager that he never took a single mark off for anything Potty did; but I couldn't do anything right for him all year."

"Have you started using that silly insult for Albus now too?" Thomas asked him; and Scorpius shrugged.

"In this case, it seemed appropriate; since that whole situation stinks."

Thomas laughed. "Maybe, but be sure that you've diagnosed the problem corectly. It's easy as a teen to be distracted from what's important often-enough for things like grades to suffer. If those Professors are truly being unfair to you; then deal with that as best you can."

"I've done my best – just as I always do with your lessons,' Scorpius declared a bit obstinately. "It's definitely the Professors playing favorites – or picking on me because of who I am!"

"Calm yourself," Thomas counselled. "I'm sure that you didn't want to talk about your classes tonight – though I'm hardly the Wizard to discuss Quidditch with; since I've no true interest in the sport."

"Maybe, but you have experience as a leader; and could counsel me on how to be a good one for my team."

Thomas laughed. "Do the opposite of everything you complained about last year," he joked; and Scorpius laughed.

"That might work well-enough; but I'm sure you have other suggestions. How did you find talented Wizards and Witches to join your cause? Is there training that you did that could be applied to Quidditch? What's the best way to get my players to work together instead of only being out for themselves or other goals that don't help the team – like revenge on opponents the way Rupert and G-Air always are when they play?"

Thomas actually thought about that for a moment; and then shook his head. "Honestly, I do not know if I can help you with this," he admitted; and smiled at Scorpius' look of disbelief. "It is not shameful to admit ignorance – a fact that I've learned during these years and decades of blackness. I answer you this way because I did not build a team – I built an army. That is very different. I was the leader; and they did as they were told. Yes, sometimes I would listen to their counsel, but I was in charge and all decisions were mine to make. In my case what I wanted and the team goals were the same thing. It is unlikely that you can Captain your team that way. There's a good chance that is what James Potter did last year with his team; and you saw how well that worked out for him."

"That's true," Scorpius conceded; "but I want to succeed as Captain; and we haven't exactly had any role models in Slytherin to help me to learn how to do that."

"No, but you've been around the players and Captains of teams that have won – even if you despise those students. Since they do seem to know how to excel at the game; then they're the ones you should learn from – even if that's distasteful to you."

"Should I call Potty or his girlfriend and ask if I can join their summer workouts?" Scorpius joked; and Thomas smiled.

"That would get you an inside look at how they do their training; so that might be a very good idea." He held up a hand when Scorpius looked ready to offer a scathing retort. "I understand your feelings; but don't dismiss the idea based on such intangible, fleeting things. You admit that you don't know what to do; they obviously do; and learning from them seems an obvious solution to me. For example, I hated Albus Dumbledore pretty much from the moment I met him; but I didn't let that get in the way of learning from him when he was one of my instructor at Hogwarts. If you do not want to work directly with them; then find a way to observe them instead."

"Sure – I'll just pick up a headless hat and no-body robe from the wheezes store when I go to get my supplies and books – and then pop over to the Potty's house to watch them practice – though I have no idea when they do that or even where for sure."

"That might be inconvenient for the rest of the summer; but sounds like a valid idea that would work once you're back at school," Thomas offered. "I could teach you the invisibility charm too; though that might take some weeks for you to learn that well-enough to remain undetected while using it. Do you have any other news about the Hogwarts letters? Do you know who the new Heads will be; or who will be the new fifth-year Prefects? They would all be Witches and Wizards to watch for in the coming years – especially if they can be used to further your goals."

"There isn't a Slytherin Head Boy or Girl as far as I've heard this year; though that's not a surprise to me – even if Victor Avery might think he should be Head Boy this year. I've heard that Sylvia Selwyn and Philippe Mulciber are our fifth-year Prefects, and the others are likely the same; since you'd really need to mess up to lose a Prefect job once you've been given one." He smiled ruefully and shrugged. "I haven't heard anything for the other Houses, since those students don't exactly confide in me on anything; so I'd just be making guesses for them. I'd do better guessing at the Quidditch team Captains that we don't know about already for returning Captains like Gwendolyn McCormack." He thought about that for a moment; and then smiled. "That might actually be good for my team – and for Slytherin; since there will be new Captains on three of the junior teams – including ours; and three for the senior teams too. Victor's the only senior Captain back from last season."

"If that's true, then you are paying attention to the wrong things, Scorpius," Thomas said seriously. "If you truly know more about the best Quidditch players than you do about the best students at Hogwarts; then how do you ever expect to recruit the best for your future army – or discover who your most dangerous enemies might be?"

"The best in each House are often both," Scorpius countered. "Your greatest foe – and the Wizard who defeated you – was a fair Quidditch player from all I've ever heard about that part of his life."

"That's true-enough," Thomas conceded; "but there were others that proved equally dangerous to my cause that had no involvement in sports at all. For instance, you've spoken of Molly Weasley before, and we'd discussed keeping an eye on her; since her father was quite useful due to his blind ambition and puffed up ego. What have you learned of her since then?"

"Nothing," Scorpius admitted. "That's not exactly something that's easy to do when Slytherins are so disliked by everyone else at the school."

"Yet you know more about the other Quidditch players and have found ways to overcome those obstacles to do that," Thomas countered.

"I watch the matches," Scorpius shot back; sounding defensive now. "Quidditch is talked about all of the time; and we hear the same rumors everyone else does – if not always as quickly."

"Do those rumors not extend beyond Quidditch? Could you not just as easily observe others when they use and practice their magic? Could you not listen to your fellow Slytherins when they talk about the students from other Houses in their joint classes? Don't you know how gifted all of the other students in your year are – at least in the classes you've taken with them? If you answer no to most of those questions; then you truly are walking through life without paying attention."

Scorpius frowned. "Thanks so much for making this such a great celebration of my good news, Thomas. Have you never just had fun instead of constantly looking to the future?"

"No, I haven't – not the way you mean," Thomas agreed after a few moments of thought. "There is no room for that sort of thing if you want to achieve great things in your life."

"Are you certain that's true?" Scorpius countered. "I know you believe it; but I have noticed that our enemies manage to have fun now and then – even the ones that have done great deeds."

"Do you think that I did not wonder such things when I was your age?" Thomas asked him. "I had the same choices that you face now and will deal with going into the future; and it is very tempting to choose to wander through life having fun and playing; but I still do not believe that you can do both. You imply that Harry Potter has fun too, and maybe he has now and then since the war; but I can also assure you that he had very few moments of fun while he fought me and my Death Eaters and army! Even when he first went to Hogwarts, he put the fight against me above all else – even before he was aware of my efforts to return. You will need that kind of tenacity and devotion to the cause as well – or you shouldn't bother to half-heartedly try only to fail."

"So it's better to fail as long as you try your very best?" Scorpius joked; though there was a barb in his tone and meaning that Thomas didn't miss.

"There is at least honor in that; but what is important to this thought is that there are never half-hearted winners of truly meaningful victories. If there were, then the Cannons would be the league champions a hundred years or more and running!"

Scorpius laughed as Thomas turned the tables on him with that joke. "I can't argue that one," he conceded, "but if you'd won the war; what would you have done for fun after that?"

"I expect the answer to that would have been nothing," Thomas answered seriously. "Winning the war would have just been the beginning. There would have been years and decades after that where we would have continued to fight to impose our will on the Wizarding World for the betterment of all Purebloods." He smiled at Scorpius' reaction to that. "Someone has to make that sacrifice, Scorpius. If you are going to lead the Purebloods to victory, then you will need to accept the burdens that go with it – unless you've someone in mind to trust with finishing the job when you decide that it's time to play instead."

"You really can be a depressing sort of Wizard sometimes," Scorpius complained; and Thomas laughed.

"You're celebrating being named team Captain," Thomas reminded him. "That is a nice little honor for you; but do you think the responsibility will be all fun and games if you want to succeed; or will you need to work hard and devote a lot of effort into it to do well against the other teams? Do you not think that Gwendolyn McCormack and the other rivals you'll face don't work hard to be the best? I doubt that. What I am talking about is no different. It will be a great honor to be named Captain of the pureblood army, but that is an honor you'll need to work hard to earn; work harder to keep; and sacrifice for all along the way if you want to return your family and all purebloods to their rightful place as the rulers of the Wizarding World!" He smiled at Scorpius then. "Let's discuss this again in a year – once you've had a small taste of what it means to be in charge of something. I suspect that your perspective on the matter will be somewhat different than it is today."

Scorpius had agreed with that; they'd moved on to talk of other things; and then wrapped up their chat with a discussion of a lesson they'd been working on – or at least they studied the theory behind the magic that Scorpius wouldn't be able to try doing for another month. For Scorpius, it was that change in time reference that was most-important to him. Sure he had other things to do for the rest of the summer – including playing Quidditch with his friends and spending time with his girlfriend; but they were now down to just four weeks until they'd be back at Hogwarts where he could get back to his true magic training – and simply just being able to use magic again every day. Going back as one of the team Captains was going to be great too despite his worries over how to do that job and do it better than rupert Avery had in his two years with the job!

At least after a no-win season he had nowhere to take the team but up!

"Good morning," Harry said quietly as he walked into the kitchen. Al was just getting things out for an easy-meal breakfast; and the coffee was still brewing with the aroma just starting to fill the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning. Yes, I did. We had a lot of fun yesterday; but I was tired out. Gwendolyn's family isn't quite as rowdy as ours can be, but add in some of the Weird Sisters' families; and it isn't far off."

Harry laughed; they shared a quick hug; and then he joined in to help Al – and decided to whip up a batch of eggs to go along with the muffins, cereal, and fruit that Al was getting set up on the table – with cutting up the fruit being the biggest job for that work.

"Did you check over your shopping list this morning? Ginny left it on the table last night after we finished another quick look at them before going up to bed."

"Not yet; but I'm sure it'll be fine – and we always do at least one more shopping trip at the end of August; so I can get anything we might miss today then."

"You'll need an extra trunk just for all of your books," Harry joked – "unless your Monster Book of Monsters gets loose and eats the others."

"I'm surprised that James didn't try that with his books – and assignments too."

"Considering some of his marks; he might have tried the 'my book ate my assignment' line more than once," Harry suggested; and then smiled ruefully. "I honestly can't say much about that; though I did usually try harder than James seems to do – and I did want to get good marks so that I could join the Aurors some day."

"Would you have still done that if you knew ahead of time that they'd take you on without any NEWTs at all?" Al joked; and Harry laughed.

"A better question might be – would we have won the war if Hermione hadn't made us work so hard and knock a few bits of knowledge into our heads?" he countered. "None of us can know for certain what we might or might not have done if things were different. I certainly can't guess at what my life might have been like if my parents had lived and there'd never been a Dark Lord." Al laughed and Harry smiled at him.

"The first thought that popped into my head is that our last name might have been Snape," Al explained; and they both laughed.

"I've thought about that now and then too," Harry admitted; "but can't really imagine it. The funny thing is that my Mum might have believed that was possible when she was a teen – especially during the years that she didn't like my father at all. This is a strange turn to a morning chat when you're likely more interested in the back-to-school shopping and spending another day with Gwendolyn."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure how I'm feeling this morning. I'm glad that we know for sure about Quidditch for September, and I'll be glad to get back to my studies; but I'm not as excited as I thought I'd be about getting to go to Hogsmeade this year or wishing that we could get back to school even sooner."

"Then you're likely hitting a nice mix of it for your summer holiday fun," Harry suggested. "If you were bored, you'd want to get back to school today; ditto that if you were working too hard; and I doubt that many kids ever have so much fun that they can't take it anymore and need to go back to school for a break from it."

James would have suggested that Al didn't know how to have fun at all, and while he didn't thing that was true; Al did believe that he had a lower threshold for fun overload than most kids and teens – or just preferred his fun to be a bit lower-key more often. As he continued to chat with his father while they worked; he mused about that for a while – and the contrast from that when it came to his love of extreme fun like Quidditch or amusement park thrill rides. Those musings morphed into other topics as Ginny and Lily joined them and they wanted to talk about shopping and other plans for the day; and then James put a damper on things as he grumpily joined them and then started right in on complaining about everything and insulting Al about everything from the taste of the cereal to the predictions of Quidditch disaster that would be Al's fate as Captain for the junior team. Al was glad when James left again to get ready for their shopping day; he had Lily help him with the clean-up; and then they all headed for London – with Ginny taking the kids to the Leaky while Harry went to work at Auror Headquarters.

Ginny wasn't going to shop with them all day because she needed to do some work too ahead of opening day on Saturday; but she did want to be there when Lily got her new wand; and for getting fitted for her new school robes. She'd set things up for the rest of their shopping group too; so they first waited for Molly, Angelina, Kirley, and most of their family teens and tweens to join them at the Leaky before venturing out into Diagon Alley. Ginny and Kirley started out by taking Lily, Jonah, and Hugo to get their wands while Molly and Angelina took the rest of the younger teens to the bookstore to start getting all of the textbooks and some of the supplies picked up for all of the students. The older teens went to do their robe fittings first; mostly so they wouldn't all be trying to do that at the same time. Dominique, Molly, and Lucy led the way for that group; and James was the only exception because he'd set up his own plans with Ollie that he again hadn't pre-approved; and then took off with him to try and avoid most of the work part of the shopping.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had fun with Molly and Angelina; and helped out a lot with rounding up all of the textbooks for all of their little gang of students. That took a while – especially when some of them had ten and eleven classes this year – and particularly when the NEWT and OWL students had multiple books for every class. That was also why Molly had a handful of undetectable expansion bags available to help out with carrying everything – or they'd have needed to make trips home before moving on to shop for robes and clothes after Ginny and Kirley joined them once they'd finished up with getting wands at Olivander's. Kirley took Al, Jonah, Hugo, and Fred with him for the robe fittings first while the girls shopped for other clothes. That didn't work out for James when Ginny cornered him and dragged him – and Ollie – along for James' robe fittings while the girls were doing theirs too.

Once the robe fittings were done for everyone, they all moved on to pick up other supplies – including the usual firstie basic necessities like cauldrons and scales. Ginny ended up staying with them longer than planned, but then some of the kids were surprised when Hermione arrived as her parent-helper replacement – and brought Audrey and Fleur with her so that the mothers could have fun with their daughters shopping for clothes at their favorite Muggle mall. Ginny would have liked to do that, but with the top eight playoff teams from last season all getting ready for the four opening day matches; she still had a lot of work to do by Saturday – including getting a look at all of the players during their practices. Lily would have liked that too; but was happy to shop with Fleur and Hermione – and her older cousins – instead.

Al was able to hang out with Gwendolyn when they first got to the mall and they mostly stayed together; but they only did that until after they had lunch in the food court – and then Kirley again took the boys shopping for clothes while the mothers in their group did the same with the girls. James and Ollie were again the exception; they went off on their own; and James basically didn't by any clothes except for a couple of shirts and a pair of pants that he was sure Ginny would hate. As usual, James and Ollie were more interested in flirting with Mugle girls and goofing off; but Al was glad that he missed out on seeing most of that while he actually took care of his back-to-school wardrobe. Kirley did get a bit of help with that now and then along the way from some of their favorite Witches – usually when they crossed paths with the girls and borrowed one or more of them for second opinions – and the occasional reality check. While he was still happy to follow that advice, Al was beginning to learn what he could and shouldn't wear; and needed less help picking out his clothes.

The girls still far out-shopped the boys; and they collectively had a lot of bags and boxes to haul out of the mall and back home again. While they'd needed to be careful around the Muggles, that had been fairly easy for Al and Lily, Rose and Hugo, and Gwendolyn and Jonah because they put their things into the undetectable expansion bags they had with them. That was handy for traveling; but then it was also a bit of a mess once they were back at home when they had to sort everything out again. Al and Lily didn't get a chance to do that for a while because they eventually went back to the Burrow with their grandmother. James didn't go with them because he instead wen to the wheezes store to work there for the rest of the day to close – and they were open later every night now during the week for the back-to-school business.

Having James out of the way for most of the rest of the day worked for Al and Lily. Ginny picked them up after she was finished work for the day; Harry brought take-out food home with him from London instead of cooking a meal; and then Ginny went through their purchases with Al and Lily after dinner; they sorted everything out; and then Al spent the rest of his evening reading some of his new textbooks. That mostly kept him out of the way when James got home and he was right into yet another fight with their parents over his lack of shopping accomplishments. Lily picked that time to have a bedtime chat with Al in his room; and then Al ended his day with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn that was more about talking out their plans for the rest of the week than a recap of what they'd each been doing since splitting up earlier in the afternoon.

Their Quidditch and play day at home felt a bit different for Al because Rose, Ray, and Lily made a point of putting him in charge of their practice along with Gwendolyn now that he was a team Captain too. Ginny had needed to work again, so she had Dominique and Lucy at the house instead to supervise the practices and teen play time while she was busy. Being team Captain didn't matter as much to Al as it did to the rest of his fellow Gryffindor players – and hopefully soon to be Gryffindors; but they did change things up a bit for the scrimmage match. It was Gwendolyn making most of those changes for her team; and the biggest part of that was having Jonah and Stephanie take turns playing on her team instead of Jonah taking turns with Lily. She also put both of them into the Chaser rotation when they weren't playing Seeker against Lily; and included herself in that rotation to avoid any problems with Landon for doing that – while also getting the chance to watch both teams from the ground for a while and get a better sense of the overall action.

Al didn't take breaks like that, but then he did other things with his fellow Chasers and team mates; offering advice and support for all of them as they played; and prompting them for feedback and offering their own ideas in return. He did most of that with his fellow Chasers; but talked with Lily after every snitch catch while Jonah and Stephanie switched places; and worked with Rose on their Chaser defense. He didn't ask Ray to take breaks, but since Landon was doing that; Ray took a few breaks too and let Melissa and Kathryn play with Al while he watched the show with the other teens on the ground. Al's team won, in part because their Chasers won that part of the duel; and then Lily sealed the deal with a three-for-five win with snitch catches. She'd been thrilled with that, but then they were all in a pretty good mood by the time they landed after Lily made that final catch of the scrimmage.

"I suppose we'll have to give Al a passing grade for his first practice as Captain," Rose teased as they all sat and began taking off their gear.

"You did win," Gwendolyn pointed out. "That's a good sign."

"Not for our team," Stephanie told her half-seriously. "What does it say for our team when your two Seekers each scored more goals at Chaser than we had snitch catches?"

"That you're multi-talented," Gwendolyn answered with a grin. "I was actually very happy about that – and about how we played today. The wins and losses aren't important for these scrimmages. It's all about getting better – and we're all doing that."

"I'd be more okay with that if we were getting better faster than some of these Gryffindors are," Stephanie countered. "It isn't any fun at all to have Lily beat Jonah and me."

"You never had a problem when you did that in return to us," Lily pointed out; and Stephanie laughed.

"I didn't have as much of a problem with it if I won two and you and Jonah split the other three catches either; since that meant I at least tied for most catches; but I can't do than anymore."

"You can – if you beat me twice and I win all of my duels against Jonah," Lily offered with a grin for Jonah.

"That plan sucks – for me," he told her bluntly; but smiled too. "Maybe we should do a three-Seeker rotation instead – with the loser of each duel switching out."

"I'm okay with you trying that if you'd like," Gwendolyn told him; "but that would only help you if you won all of your duels against Stephanie and Lily."

"And be worse if Lily just kept winning," Stephanie added. "We can try it out that way if you'd like, but let's start that duel with you against me so that one of us will at least win one duel before Lily can start messing with that for us."

Al was glad that his moment in that conversational spotlight had been short; and even happier to follow up their practice with some swim time that also meant quality time hanging out with Gwendolyn in a swimsuit! Most of their Ravenclaw friends headed home before lunchtime, but Gwendolyn and Jonah were there for the day – as were Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne. James had been ordered to leave everyone alone during the morning practice, so he'd stayed indoors and slept or played video games until Ollie came over in time for lunch and their afternoon practice with the senior team. Ginny came home to help Dominique and Lucy out with feeding their gang – including most of the senior team players; but then she headed out to work again once that was done – leaving the post-lunch clean-up for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose to handle while Dominique got her afternoon practice started. They got that work finished quickly; and then went to hang out at or in the pool and watch the senior team practice with the rest of the younger teens, tweens, and kids.

"Do you think that it was the Hogwarts letters that has brought out more senior team hopefuls today?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they floated around in the pool. Domininique was still doing the physical workouts with her team on the ground; and some of the newcomers were having trouble keeping up.

"Probably," Al agreed; "though I heard that at least a couple of them had been away most of July on holidays. The good news is that we won't get asked to play Chaser with Ollie on the reserve team today."

"Ollie better come around on that eventually, or he'll keep having a tough time whenever he does make your House team again."

"Won't that happen next month?" Lily asked; feigning wide-eyed surprise. "He is better than Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia combined; so he shouldn't have any trouble winning a spot on the team."

"Dominique has Louis playing against her most of the time; so Ollie is a bit delusional to think he'll do very well against Louis in tryouts – even if he's scoring some goals against the other Keepers," Al answered.

"Including Rose and Hugo when they've taken a turn to help out the senior team," Gwendolyn added.

"I hope that Louis will do great this year; but he's got a tough act to follow after Belinda did so well," Rose suggested.

"That's true for Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, Ollie, and James," Gwendolyn reminded her – "and for most of us too. I'm still feeling the pressure to do as well as Pauline and Peter did for their years on the junior team." She grinned at Al and Rose then. "At least you've got that a bit easier than we do – even if Victoire set the bar really high for the senior team."

"For her last two or three years," Al agreed. "Before that, it was Teddy setting the standard with his Hufflepuff teams."

From there, they conversationally wandered off to talk about Harpies Quidditch for a while; eventually got out of the pool shortly before Dominique got her practice scrimmage started; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose watched that part of the show from lawn chairs next to the pool so they could still keep an eye on the swimmmers too. As always, and though James didn't like it; he was on the reserve team for the scrimmage – even though that really didn't matter for the Seeker duel. There was one difference that Al noticed early into the scrimmage that most of the other players and spectators likely didn't – and that was some adjustments to his playing style that Brandon was testing out against James. He didn't say anything about it, but Gwendolyn caught on that something was up about forty minutes into the scrimmage – and did want to talk about it.

"Is something wrong with James today? He hasn't caught the snitch even once yet."

"He hasn't?" Rose asked in surprise. "I've been watching Louis and the Chasers and didn't notice."

"No, and while I'm not surprised that Brandon doesn't have a catch either; our Seekers had two catches by this time in our scrimmage."

"He seemed his normal, obnoxious self to me at lunchtime," Rose said; and then smiled at Al. "Okay, out with it. You know something."

Al laughed. "I have noticed that Brandon is trying some different things to defend better against James – and is obviously learning what works against him. He might have found something that James does to distinguish between fakes and real runs for the snitch; since he isn't falling for them – while acting as if he still is. If Brandon could get better at actually catching the snitch; he could be really good; but he doesn't seem to be able to make that leap yet."

"That will frustrate James, though," Rose pointed out with a grin. "It's so hard to show off if you can't actually get any catches."

Rose was certainly right about that, but James did eventually get one catch – the one that ended the scrimmage because Brandon held him off for nearly two hours before he finally got beat – thanks to a well-timed bludger from Brock McClaggen that really helped James out with that catch. By then, most of the senior team players only had time to jump into the pool for a quick cool-off before needing to head home or elsewhere; and Ginny got home while they were still having that swim so that Dominique and Lucy could leave after that too. The other kids and teens were picked up or sent home over the next hour; and Gwendolyn and Jonah were last to leave; they were glad to go by the time James finished razzing them while Al and Lily were saying goodbye to them; and then Al and Lily helped Ginny with making dinner while James played video games in the sitting room.

The rest of the day on Tuesday was quiet except for two meltdowns by James – one at dinnertime; and the other later in the evening when he was refused a demand to have a sleepover at Ollie's despite the fact that he was grounded until Saturday except for going to work. Al spent his evening playing Quidditch with Lily; going for a swim after that; and then reading his new textbooks in his room for a couple of hours before ending his day with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn. On Wednesday morning, Al and Lily went to the Burrow while Harry, Ginny, and James were all working. They helped out with chores in the morning, and had help with that from Rose and Hugo; but then Al and Rose needed to get cleaned up and ready for Ray's thirteenth birthday party. They stayed at the Burrow for lunch; and then took the Floo Network to Ray's house and spent the rest of the afternoon there at his party.

Gwendolyn met them there – as did most of their friends from Hogwarts and quite a few of Ray's cousins. They played games, including Quidditch, all afternoon; swimming in a pair of portable pools was an option too; and most of the adults in Ray's family came over in time for the birthday dinner that was standard barbeque fare – and a fairly easy meal for the parents to put together for such a large gang of family and friends. Al and Gwendolyn weren't asked to help out with the work before or after dinner, but they did help out with a bit of entertaining and kid control with some of the younger kids for an hour or so before dinner and then again after they'd finished dessert. During the meal, they sat with Ray, Tory, his parents, and Melissa. Rose sat with other friends; partly because she wasn't there with Shane because he'd sent his regrets to Ray and didn't come to the party.

Al didn't talk about that with Rose, but was pretty sure that she did talk about it with some of the other girls; and she was fairly sure that Shane was trying to break up with her without actually doing that; since he kept dodging her invitations to spend time together with a series of excuses that were getting less-believable as they added up. He could, however, sense a sadness in her that was mixed with relief; which was why he was uncertain of how to deal with the situation – or whether he should do anything at all unless she wanted to talk about it with him. Rose did have fun at the party, though; and it was a pretty good day for Ray and all of his friends. The party ended after dinner; Al said goodnight to Gwendolyn there when she went home with Gwenog and he was picked up by Ginny; and then he ended up studying in his room instead of putting up with James as his brother was again on the warpath for reasons that he didn't even seem to be able to rationally explain.

Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday – including having Dominique and Lucy help Ginny with teen and tween supervision for the junior team practice; play time; and lunch meal. For the junior team, a three-way Seeker duel worked for the first time trying it; though Stephanie wasn't happy about Lily and Jonah each earning two catches to her one. Winning the one duel she'd had with Lily had been good; but she lost both duels to Jonah for his wins; and then Lily beat Jonah both times she played against him. The good news for all of them, though, was that they did still earn five catches during their scrimmage. James had a very different reason to be angry by the end of the senior team scrimmage – because he didn't get any catches as Brandon managed to defend against him doing that until Dominique called an end to the match when they ran out of time and everyone needed to go home.

James' lack of success in that scrimmage put him in a lousy mood for the rest of the night; which was again why Al stayed out of his way. He and Lily helped out with some chores while James hid and avoided them; they had a best-of-three Seeker duel; and then went for a swim before Al again ended his night with more reading ahead in his textbooks. While he loved continuing to learn more about the core seven subjects he'd been taking for two years; Al especially found Ancient Runes and Arithmancy fascinating – and he was also sure that he was going to be good at both subjects. He could say the same about Care of Magical Creatures and Divination; but it also felt different for those subjects – especially Divination. While reading ahead was easy-enough for those last two subjects, he couldn't do much on the practical side; which was why he had more fun with what he could do for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.

Al again wrapped up another day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then got a decent night of rest ahead of what was going to be a very busy weekend. While his Friday didn't start out all that exciting while he was at the Burrow with James, Lily, Rose, and Hugo; Ron and Hermione were celebrating their seventeenth anniversary on Saturday; Ginny had her thirty-eighth birthday on Sunday; and the four parents were going away for the weekend – without the kids. Al and Lily were booked to spend the weekend with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and they were going to camp in the back yard while they were there. James was staying with George and Angelina on Friday night in between his shifts at the store; and was being allowed to spend the rest of the weekend with Ollie once he was finished his shift at the store on Saturday and his week-long grounding was officially over. Rose and Hugo were spending the weekend with their Granger grandparents; but their parents – and Harry and Ginny – were going to take a break from their weekend away to be with all of the kids for the Harpies' match on Saturday – mostly because Ginny needed to work that match anyway.

Ginny had to work most of the day on Friday, but she stopped at the Burrow for lunch and to then take James to work on her way to her last training camp stop of the week. She teased Rose about picking the Cannons for that so that she could finish work early and get ready for her weekend away when she came back by mid-afternoon to get Al and Lily; but that was just a cameo bit of bonus fun by then when they were all excited about getting to their weekend adventures. While Ginny took her kids home and they all packed – or finished packing; Molly took Rose and Hugo to London with plans to do a bit of shopping before meeting up with the Grangers when it was time to meet with them. Al and Lily were ready to go very quickly; Ginny took a break from her own work to take them over to the McCormacks; and then she only stayed for a round of goodbye hugs and kisses before going home again to finish getting ready for her trip while hoping that Harry would get finished at Auror Headquarters early as planned.

Once their mother was gone again, Al and Lily were taken outside to where the tent was already set up not far from the Quidditch pitch and a portable pool; they stowed their bags in their rooms; and then they started out their play time with a swim – a decision that Gwendolyn and Lily made; bu that Al and Jonah were happy to do with them. Kirley was still working from his office then, so the four kids had the back yard to themselves. The weather was decent, if not sunny, and since they'd all been doing chores at home or the Burrow for parts or most of the day to that point; they were all glad to have the comparative quiet time to relax and just hang out together for the couple of hours they had left before dinner.

"You don't know where your parents are going this weekend?" Gwendolyn asked Lily when she found out that Harry and Ginny hadn't told their kids where they'd be for their anniversary and birthday getaway.

"No," Lily agreed with a shrug and smile. "I'm sure they'll tell us after they get back; and there's a chance that'll be as much as we'll want to know about their weekend – if you know what I mean."

"We do," Gwendolyn agreed; smiling too. "There are just some things we don't need to know about our parents. For instance, Jonah and I don't want to know the real reason why Mum follows team curfew rules; but I seriously doubt that it's actually to set an example for the players."

"La-La-La," Jonah sang while covering his ears. "Too much information, sis."

"As if you don't know that already," Gwendolyn countered. "We really don't need to go there, though; so why don't we talk about something else – like what we're going to do tonight after Mum and Dad go to bed ahead of game day curfew?"

"I'd have expected your plan for that would be to have Jonah and me go to our rooms for the night then so that you and Al could have the rest of the night to snog each other senseless."

"I repeat – La-La-La," Jonah joked.

"Would you like the idea more if 'rooms' wasn't plural?" Gwendolyn teased; and she and Lily both laughed when that suggestion had Jonah blushing.

"Yes," Lily agreed easily; "but I'd rather do something with all four of us for a while before Jonah and I get out of your way for the snogging you will want to do later – like have a campfire; moonlight swim; or some other games. I don't really want to just sit in the tent and watch shows on the mirror network or play mirror games."

Her suggestions gave them a launching point for planning out their evening; and they all knew that Gwenog and Kirley would expect them to entertain themselves while Gwenog worked after dinner as she usually did the night before a match. That fun for the rest of the day included helping Kirley with making dinner when he was ready to do that; a very entertaining meal conversation that was all about the Harpies-Tornadoes match; a long bit of Quidditch play time that included working on flying tricks and a Seeker and Chaser duel that kept them entertained until they were ready to cool off again with another swim in the pool. They wrapped that up shortly before Gwenog and Kirley turned in for the night; but Kirley set up a small campfire for them before he went into the house; and the four kids sat around it in a semi-circle of chairs so that they'd still be next to each other instead of across the fire from each other in pairs.

They sang and played campfire and pop songs for a while; toasted snacks over the fire; and mostly cuddled in pairs after that while enjoying the wind down time and quiet conversation. Kirley had only used enough wood for the fire to burn for an hour and a half or so, and once it died down; Jonah finished putting it out; and they went into the tent for the rest of the night – or two of them did that. After a bit more chat time on the sofas, Lily convinced Jonah that they should sneak out to the pool for one last swim under the stars; and he was happy to do that with her – while leaving Al and Gwendolyn to keep themselves entertained for a while without them.

"Do you think that was more for us than them?" Gwendolyn asked as she snuggled closer to Al after Lily and Jonah had left the tent.

"I'm trying not to think about it at all," Al answered in a way that had Gwendolyn leaning back to look at him.

"Why do you say that – like that?"

"Because they didn't go into their rooms to get changed; and Lily wasn't still wearing her swimsuit," he explained; smiling when Gwendolyn's eyes widened and she laughed softly.

"She might have changed into a dry one after our last swim," she suggested; but Al shook his head.

"She didn't." He leaned close and kissed her meaningfully. "Let's just pretend that we don't know that; and take advantage of the alone time," he suggested in a murmur that had Gwendolyn laughing again because their lips were still touching as he spoke.

She was also happy to share a brilliant, if minor snogging session with him until they heard Lily and Jonah approaching the tent loudly-enough to give them the advance warning. Gwendolyn was amused by Lily's brilliant smile and Jonah's goofy grin and blushing, but the two tweens were mostly just passing through on their way to bed; and only stayed long-enough for a quick bedtime chat – and for Lily to highly recommend a moonlight swim for them too – a suggestion that had Jonah blushing even more for a few moments and unable to look at his sister or Al. After Lily and Jonah were in their rooms, Al and Gwendolyn joked about going for that swim, but decided against it – mostly because Gwendolyn didn't want to deal with wet hair before she'd be able to go to bed; and partly because they were comfortable and not all that motivated to go anywhere even if the prospect of a clothing-optional swim was exciting.

Staying in the tent and enjoying a quiet continuation of their snogging was brilliant too, though, and while they'd been tempted to just stay there together all night; they decided to save up a sofa sleepover for Saturday or Sunday night – just so that they didnt' over-use the excuse that they accidentally fell asleep. That would only work so long before the parents would only believe that they accidentally did that on purpose. It was getting late by the time that they did say goodnight and go into their own rooms to get some sleep, and as Al got ready for bed; he could tell that Lily and Jonah were both sleeping by then. He crossed paths with Gwendolyn once more as they took turns using the bathroom; and then he stayed awake in his bed for a while just letting his mind wander while waiting to sleep. That took a while, possibly because visions of moonlight swims and other fun with Gwendolyn kept intruding on his musings; but he did eventually drift off into dreamland; and was out for the count until shortly before sunrise.

It was finally here – opening day for the Quidditch league! Fans of the sport all over the Wizarding World were fired up about that; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were likely more fired up than most Quidditch fans as they all got up and ready for the day before heading into the house to meet up with Gwenog and Kirley for breakfast. The work for that meal was mostly done by the time they got to the kitchen, so they were able to sit down and eat soon after that – and kept entertained by talking about Quidditch again most of the time while they ate. Gwenog needed to get to work after that; Al and Gwendolyn took care of the clean-up while Lily and Jonah went outside for a Seeker duel and Kirley took care of some other chores; and then they all did a bit of yard work until mid-morning. Once that work was finished, they decided to head to London early and wander around Diagon Alley until they were to meet the usual game-day gang for lunch at the Leaky.

While they didn't need to pick up anything, they did have fun wandering the shops; the four kids each picked up one or two 'fun reading' books; and Kirley, Lily, and Jonah stopped for a visit to the wheezes store while Al and Gwendolyn skipped that stop to avoid James – especially when he was in a place where demonstrating wheezes was normal; and he'd almost certainly try to use one or more of those wheezes on them. That proved to be a good decision, and though Lily and Jonah didn't get pranked; they did advise Al and Gwendolyn that James had been fairly obnoxious to them – while doing that quietly and then acting cheerful and enthusiastic as he helped out other customers. He'd also told them that he hoped the Tornadoes won big – and that the Harpies got beat so badly that they'd all end up in their beds at St. Mungo's for a month.

"I think that James has decided that he's going to hate the Harpies from now on just to spite the rest of us," Lily declared after giving Al and Gwendolyn the rest of the wheezes store visit update while they walked back toward the Leaky Cauldron.

"That'll be a tough stand to take this year in Gryffindor," Gwendolyn suggested. "Victoire is very popular – even with the fans of other teams. Do you think he'll cheer for United instead?"

Lily shrugged. "I have no idea, but if he's going to cheer for the Tornadoes – and their Slytherin players; then he's definitely losing it again." She laughed then. "I wonder if he'll cheer for the Cannons against the Harpies? Uncle Ron, Rose, and Hugo would love that."

"They probably wouldn't; since he'd likely insult the Cannons the entire time too," Al offered. "I thought that he might leave you alone and be happy that he isn't grounded anymore and will be spending the rest of the weekend with Ollie after he's finished working today."

"He didn't talk to us enough for me to get a feeling about that," Lily advised him. "He just insulted us – and the Harpies; and then moved on. I'm just hoping he'll stay out of trouble for the rest of the summer. It'd be nice if he'd stop being such a git too; but that's likely too much to hope for with him."

"Were there any new back-to-school wheezes we should know about?" Gwendolyn asked next; and Lily shook her head.

"Nothing that I saw; and they're usually pretty good about advertising anything new in places where you can't miss them. They've got more types of Monster cards; but we didn't try any of them."

"I did," Kirley advised them with a grin. "Did you know that the cards have different ways of taming them so they'll open without trying to chomp on you? You can't just stroke the spines like you did with the first ones. Now you have to figure out what works for your card."

"That's brilliant!" Lily said enthusiastically. "I knew that Uncle George would love the idea for them after James sent me the Monster birthday card last year."

"Just remember how brilliant you think they are if you can't figure out how to open one sometime in the future and the silly thing eats your gifts," Gwendolyn told her. She smiled as they reached one of her favorite dress shops. "Do we have time to stop?" she asked Kirley – "just to check and see if they have anything new since we were here on Monday."

"Why don't you and Lily do that; and catch up with us when you're done?" Kirley suggested; earning a hug from each girl before they went to do that; and the three boys continued along Diagon Alley.

There must have been something new at that store, since both girls had bags with them when they were done, and while Kirley, Al, and Jonah didn't go into any of the shops while on their own; they had slowed down and done a bit of window shopping while waiting for Gwendolyn and Lily to catch up again. It was straight on to the Leaky after that without any extra stops; they were among the first in their group to get there; and they had drinks already delivered and their meals ordered by the time Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione got there. Harry and Ginny joined them at their table for lunch while Ron and Hermione sat with Rose, Hugo, Angeliina, Fred, Wendy, and Roxanne; and the rest of their gang of family and friends gathered around other tables. Wendy had been a happy addition to the group because of the extra ticket they had thanks to James' exclusion from their Quidditch adventure; but there were other, different guests this year too because some of their regulars were going to one of the other matches instead.

Gwendolyn and Lily were particularly amused when Harry and Ginny apparently had nothing exciting to report from their weekend away so far other than that they went out for dinner and breakfast with Ron and Hermione. The smiles were a hint that they were having fun, though; and all four kids were okay without getting any details explaining exactly why they were so happy. As always, they had a time limit for lunch; and that was even more noticeable because they mixed in a mini anniversary and birthday party celebration for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. There were a handful of gifts for them; two cakes that doubled as dessert; and a lot of fun to pack into just a short amount of time. They also needed to eat fairly quickly around all of the lunchtime entertainment; the parents took care of the bills; and then they headed out to Exmoor stadium.

Running the gauntlet of concessions booths always took longer on opening day or at the big rivalry matches; so it took a while to get programs, a few souvenirs, and their drinks and snacks before going to find their seats. Al and Gwendolyn sat in the row in front of Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Angelina; they had Lily and Jonah next to Gwendolyn; and Fred and Wendy next to Al while Roxanne sat on the other side of Jonah to hang out with Lily. Rose and Hugo were in front of Al and Gwendolyn, so she could talk with them too.

They didn't have a lot of time to talk by then because the opening ceremony started shortly after they sat down; and they were stuck listening to the annual bore-fest as the usual Ministry and League officials droned on too long about history and hopes for the season that most of them obliviously thought were speeches that their audience loved to listen to when the cheers were only because everyone was glad that each speech was over and brought them closer to the actual start of the match. Those puffed up windbags were on a roll this year, though, and that pre-game nonsense took about forty-five minutes – three-quarters of an hour where the players and spectators sat and broiled in the hot summer weather and tried to be patient instead of just hexing the lot of those officials out of the stadium.

That drawn-out ceremony drained some of the excitement from the crowd, but the Harpies' and Tornadoes' players were able to get fired up again right away as the match started – and soon had the spectators fired up too as the action above the pitch was fast and furious as the two teams pushed hard – and went all-out to try and gain first advantage. Victoire got the first goal within the first few minutes, and while the Tornadoes' Chasers and Keeper did work hard too; the Harpies didn't look back from there. At first, the shots on goal were close, but Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were soon scoring more than two goals for every one the Tornadoes' Chasers were getting past Vicky. Rachel Rosier and Lacey Zabini were particularly frustrated by that – and by constantly being stymied and out-played by Victoire again; but they couldn't do anything to fix the miss-match.

Gabrielle was in a good Seeker duel, but when the Harpies reached the all-important lead of one-sixty early in the third hour; the Tornadoes' Seeker was in trouble after that as he first defended against Gabrielle making the catch; and later trying to make the catch for the loss as the chances of his team closing the scoring gap faded to unlikely. All of that effort caught up with him at the three hour and forty-four minute mark when he made a mistake on an attempted catch and Gabrielle then took advantage of that to end the game. The final score was five hundred to one-thirty; Victoire had eighteen of the Harpies' goals; and Rachel and Lacey had been held to just five and four goals respectively – or half of Victoire's total. The Harpies fans cheered the win for quite a while; Ginny had to leave to get to the pitch for the post-game interviews; and Harry and Kirley took care of their four kids after that while they waited for the early rush to the exits to pass before making their way out of the stadium too.

Harry didn't go along when Kirley was ready to take the kids home; but he did see them off before getting back to his weekend away – even though he'd be a third wheel with Ron and Hermione until Ginny joined them again once she was finished work. While they hoped that the rest of the weekend would be great for their parents, Al and Lily didn't think about that at all as they first went for a swim with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then helped Kirley with making dinner for the small gang that Gwenog would be bringing home with her after the Harpies were finished with the usual post-game action at the stadium. Kirley needed the help for that, and they were glad to do it; but then the dinner party celebration with the Harpies was a lot of fun – and worth the work. It was especially fun for them to have Teddy and Victoire there – and a novelty for Al and Lily; since they'd always spent time with them through their family – not without the Weasley clan.

Being at the same party didn't mean hanging out with them a lot, though; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were on the sidelines with the other kids. The good news is that also meant they got to hang out with Tory Summers; and her ten-year old brother, Drew. They did spend some time with the adults too, but had their own 'kids' table during dinner; and then mostly did their own thing after that – including having a two-on-two Chaser duel alongside the Seeker duel that Lily and Jonah had shortly after the dinner clean-up was finished; and some swim time when they were ready to cool down from the flying fun. For the Quidditch, it was a boys against the girls match; the girls won both duels; and the girls were happy to get that win in front of some of their favorite Harpies' players.

"It would have been fun if Ray could have been here too; but maybe it's for the best that he isn't," Tory told Al and Gwendolyn as they swam in the pool after their Chaser duel. "We might not have won that battle in Ray was on Al's team. We didn't win by much; and Drew was on a Firefly."

"He's going to be another Chaser to watch when he starts at Hogwarts in a year," Gwendolyn predicted. "Has he been practicing with your Hufflepuff team this summer?"

"Yeah," Tory agreed. "Madison and I would like a bit more competition at our practices; but our Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends already have too many players at their practices so we can't set up joint practices with them."

"You could try and do something with your senior team for a practice or two," Gwendolyn suggested. "We've helped out with the senior Gryffindor team a few times this summer – though that isn't as much fun for Al and me when we have to deal with Ollie. He still doesn't want to play as a Chaser team with us."

"His loss," Tory said with a shrug. "How's James doing with the senior team?"

"The better question might be how the senior team is doing with him," Gwendolyn suggested; and smiled at Al. "You wouldn't say that; but it's true. Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia are going to have a long season if he acts the way he has all summer at their practices and games all season."

"That sounds promising for our senior team – and yours," Tory offered; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Maybe, but don't let how I feel about James get in the way of remembering that he is a talented Seeker – even if he isn't as good as he could be if he'd leave that massive ego in the locker room."

"That'd be nice; but I'm hoping that we won't have the prank and ambush kind of problems with James and Ollie," Al said.

"Won't they have to play nice this year?" Tory asked; and Al smiled a bit grimly.

"They should, and I meant that as much for their benefit as mine or ours; but I have no idea whether they'll play nice while they're on probation or not. James has been flip-flopping all summer between playing nice and throwing his worst at Mum, Dad, Lily, and me."

Tory shook her head. "You look too much alike to pretend that he isn't related to you; but it's hard to believe that you're related when you're so different."

"I've mentioned that to Mum and Dad a few hundred times over the last couple of years," Lily advised her with a grin as she floated over toward them. "The good news for me is that I at least have James to off-set our over-achiever brother; so I'll be able to muddle through at Hogwarts – and look great as a Seeker compared to James' record so far."

"That will be pretty good for you," Tory agreed; smiling too. "Drew wants me to slack off this year for school and Quidditch; though I have no idea why. We haven't won any Quidditch Cups or junior team titles yet, and hwile I was happy with my marks for last year; it isn't as though I got straight O's like some team Captains I could mention."

"I didn't have Quidditch last year," Al reminded her. "We'll see how it goes this year now that I'll have both – and eleven classes." He smiled when the girls just laughed at him.

"Sure, we'll believe that'll be a problem for you when we see it," Tory declared with obvious disbelief. "Some of us should try to give you a break from the tutoring though; since you will be busy keeping up with that much work."

"He could just cut back on the snogging time with Gwendolyn instead," Lily offered with a grin. "They'll likely both be too tired for that anyway."

"Not gonna happen," Gwendolyn told her after joining in for the laughs. "We won't be getting weekends off from studying anymore, though; so that will take some getting used to again. I'm going to really miss those Friday afternoon study periods. It was nice having everything except for the bigger projects finished by dinnertime on Friday."

"Let's not talk about that," Tory pled seriously. "I'm looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts so we can play with the magic; but wish we could do that without all of the reading and paperwork. So much of that just seems to be a waste of time."

"We took care of the updates and Quidditch recap at dinner," Gwendolyn pointed out. "What do you want to talk about instead? How far we've each gotten with reading ahead in our textbooks?"

"You've started that already?' Tory asked. "My eyes start glazing over every time I so much as look at the stack of books on my desk at home. I must've been nuts to take three optionals – and I'm only doing that because Madison talked me into taking Divination with her. I've been tempted to let my Monster Book of Monsters eat the rest of them."

"Yes, we're reading ahead already," Gwendolyn confirmed; "and I like what I've read in that book so far – even if it's the strangest textbook in the Wizarding World."

"Maybe on the outside," Tory agreed; "but I'd say that's true on the inside for the Divination textbook. I don't think I'll have any talent for it at all."

"Didn't you predict that Madison would get the Hufflepuff Captain job?" Gwendolyn teased; and Tory laughed.

"I was playing the odds. We were due for a Seeker to get the job instead of a Chaser or Keeper; and I was pretty sure we'd end up with Chaser Captains in the other three Houses."

"Have you heard something we haven't about Slytherin?" Al asked; and Tory shook her head.

"No, but they only have two returning third-years; and they're both Chasers. I'll stick with my guess that Malfoy has gotten the job until we hear differently. He was their best player the last two seasons – for the junior team."

"And easy on the eyes to look at, I've heard," Lily added; earning laughs from the other girls.

"There is that," Tory agreed; "though he's not my type."

"I'm sure that Ray will be happy to hear that," Al deadpanned. "We're hoping that if he did get the job that at least the junior Slytherin team will play fair this year; since he didn't cheat at all in his first two seasons as far as we know."

"That would be great; but I wouldn't hold my breath if I was you, Al," Tory told him. "You will have the Harper brothers to deal with; and they'll love the excuse to try and beat up on you – and on Lily too. I seriously doubt that Scorpius will be able to stop them from trying to do that – and cheating if they can't bash you fairly."

"I'll deal with them if needed," Al said; "but they'd better not try to bash Lily or they'll regret it."

"Yeah, 'cause I'll turn them into Bat-Bogeys after the game," Lily promised with a grin. "Parent alert," she added after noticing the group of parents walking toward the pool. "Quick – what can we start talking about that will scare them?"

The first thought that Al had in answer to her question would have worked for that; but he kept his mouth shut and didn't suggest moonlight skinny-dipping. Gwendolyn did jump into the void, though; and the girls had fun with a nonsensical chat that the four adults quickly discerned had just been meant to mess with them. That cameo moment was one of a handful that followed; but the party started breaking up near dark as parents took their kids home and the younger couples – like Teddy and Victoire – headed out with plans to go dancing or on to other adventures with their friends. Eventually, Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were on their own for the rest of the night after the guests were gone and Gwenog and Kirley went inside; but they didn't go into the tent right away. They stayed out under the stars; went for a night-time walk; and then had one last, bedtime swim before getting ready for bed and then hanging out together in the tent for some cuddle time while they watched a show on the mirror network.

Lily and Jonah went to bed not long after Lee's show ended; leaving Al and Gwendolyn free to stretch out on their sofa and enjoy some quiet snogging fun until they snuggled under a blanket and decided to have their 'accidental' sofa sleepover instead of saving it for Sunday night. It really hadn't been all that late by then, so they were able to get a good night of rest; and the sunrise wake-up snogging was a great way to start the day! Gwendolyn got to have a nap after that while Al took a turn grabbing a shower first, but then she took her turn before waking Lily and Jonah to get them moving too. They didn't actually have any plans for the day on Sunday, since Gwenog was ready to have a break after the push to the start of the league season; but sleeping in late hadn't been something that happened at the McCormack house since back in the day when the Weird Sisters would be out all night partying after their gigs.

Gwenog was already in the kitchen and working on making breakfast by the time that Al and Gwendolyn got there – leaving Lily and Jonah to finish getting ready for the day before joining them too. From that point on, they all enjoyed one of those really good, if not very exciting family days around home with just one outing for a visit with Gwendolyn and Jonah's grandparents. They had a lot of fun too, including more Quidditch and a lot of swimming to go along with some lazy lounging around by the pool while reading or just chatting. All of their meals were simple, minimal work events; and their main evening entertainment ahead of Gwenog's training curfew was some music time with Kirley and all four kids. The kids didn't really have any reason for an early bedtime other than that they were all tired out, so they only stayed up long-enough to catch Lee's nightly show; and then split up to get the extra nap time ahead of a work week that was going to be a mix of fun and work for all of them – starting out with some work at the Burrow for Al and Lily.

Ginny came to get Al and Lily on Monday morning to take them to the Burrow before going to work while Harry dealt with getting James from Ollie's house to the wheezes store in London on his way to Auror Headquarters. Rose and Hugo were at the Burrow for the day too, and Molly put the four kids to work all morning and for part of the afternoon too before they were free to have a few hours of play time that included some Quidditch in the orchard and a walk to town for ice cream treats. Monday didn't exactly set the tone for the rest of the week – it was more of a contrast to everything else. For Al and Lily, that meant the difference between a fun day with their favorite cousins – even with the work; to an evening where James felt the need to make their lives miserable after missing out on being able to do that for most of three days. While he was at his irritating best, the strange part of the entire scene was that he didn't even really have anything to complain about. He just felt the need to hate on Al for a few hours; and went out of his way to do that.

On Tuesday, it was back to Quidditch practices, and while Ginny went out for work in the afternoon, she stayed at home for the morning and worked there while Al and Gwendolyn had their semi-official joint team practice. Though Ginny ran interference as much as she could, James still managed to annoy most of the junior team players with wander-by razzings and insults, but while that wasn't fun at all; the practice went really well for pretty much everyone – though not equally. Jonah had a particularly good day, which didn't impress Stephanie or Lily; but it was especially fun for Al and Gwendolyn to see some of the younger girls play especially-well too – and even out-playing some of the older players. Al and Gwendolyn were still the top-scoring Chasers, but they both relied more on setting up their fellow Chasers for goals too as their own Chaser duel was challenging-enough that they needed to work out better ways to earn goals – and mix things up to keep from being predictable.

Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, and Hugo were the only younger teens and tweens to stay for lunch and the afternoon, so that wasn't really any work at all for Dominique and Lucy when they took over for Ginny while she went out to work after having lunch with the kids and then leaving the clean-up for them to deal with. While swimming was a big part of the afternoon entertainment for the younger kids; they did watch the senior team practice – and it didn't go nearly as well as it had for the junior team. That was entirely thanks to James and Ollie; and it was because both boys were having trouble playing against the older teens. For James, that was because Brandon continued to challenge him with a defensive strategy that got James angry – and made him less-effective. James did eventually get just one catch, but Brandon actually came close to getting a catch a couple of times too. James had his Beaters to thank for saving him from those potential catches; but then the Beaters weren't doing him any favors for making his own catches of the snitch – even at the end when he did make a pretty good play to beat Brandon after nearly two hours of scrimmage time.

For his part, Ollie didn't believe he should be on the reserve squad; blamed his fellow Chaser hopefuls for his lack of success; and was sure that Dominique, Lucy, and especially Olivia were ganging up on him to make him look bad. From what Al saw while watching the scrimmage, Ollie wasn't completely wrong about that, but it was also a problem of his own making that the girls were simply taking advantage of to win their Chaser battle with him. The problem was that he continued to try and do it all himself, and since he never passed to his fellow Chasers unless he couldn't do anything else; it was easy to use a stacked defense to get in his way. Even when he did get a shot on goal, it was usually low-quality; and his desperation passes ended up being intercepted more often than not – though he always blamed that on his Chaser team mates for not making impossible catches.

Even though James did make a snitch catch to end the scrimmage, he was in an even worse mood after that – and took it out on everyone around him – except for Ollie. The older teens didn't put up with any of that, though most of them left to get away from it; while Dominique, Lucy, and Louis stayed until Ginny got home again. They went for a long swim with the younger kids; enjoyed a bit of lazy play time that included tossing around a Fanged Frisbee; and Louis went for a bike ride with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose – though they didn't make that a long ride because they did that shortly before Ginny was due home. Lucy took the Floo Network home once Ginny was there; Dominique side-along apparated Louis to Shell Cottage; and when James invited Ollie to stay for dinner; that was all of the incentive Gwendolyn and Jonah needed to head home then too instead of staying to hang out with Al and Lily for a few more hours.

Having James and Ollie there for dinner was doubly-unpleasant for Al and Lily; though Al by far got the worst of the razzing, insult-jokes, and attempted wheezes pranks directed at him. He managed to get through dinner without giving up and walking away, but then he went up to his room to study after helping with the dinner clean-up – and stayed there for the rest of the night. Lily stopped in for a visit, but she also went outside to have a Seeker duel with Harry and go for a swim with both parents – a swim that ended after James and Ollie joined them – and immediatly made being in the pool unbearable for Lily. Her chat time after that with Al was more of a rant, but then she decided to read ahead for her first-year classes for the rest of the evening too; and they then only had to deal with walk-by annoyances from James and Ollie. They didn't go into Lily's room, since that wasn't allowed without her permission, but they did visit Al whether invited in or not; and bugged him just-enough to get him mad without pushing too far where they'd have been at risk of parental intervention.

Ollie was eventually sent home when a sleepover request was denied due to the fact that James was working Wednesday morning anyway; and then Al only had to deal with one more visit from James after that – because it was obviously his fault that James wasn't allowed to have sleepovers while he could have as many of them as he wanted with Gwendolyn. By then, Al was fed up with James; invited him to leave or be pushed out; and then locked his door after needing to do just that before going back to his reading. Ending the day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn helped to improve his mood; and a full night of rest had him back in a good mood by morning.

He'd needed that while dealing with James before he went to work and Ginny took him – and Lily – to the Burrow for the morning. They were only there for the morning too because they'd been invited to go with Gwendolyn and Jonah to their cousin's eleventh birthday party in the afternoon. Lily wasn't jealous of Katrina for turning eleven, since they'd both be starting at Hogwarts in September; but August birthdays always reminded her that she'd missed out on the all-important September First deadline by a couple of weeks. Ginny came by at lunchtime to eat with them and then take them on to Katrina's house with a side trip to meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah. She dropped them off, and then went back to work again; leaving Kirley and the other party chaperones to deal with the gang of teens and tweens.

Those chaperones did not include Katrina's mother at first, since she was busy working with the Prides; but her father took the afternoon off from work; and he had help from both the McCormack and Rivers sides of their family. Al and Gwendolyn weren't at all surprised when Katrina wanted to play Quidditch – or that they were both drafted to play too. They did get to have more fun because they got to play on the same team; and they really put on a show for both the other players and the spectators watching the game from the ground – including the adults that also worked around the yard or in the kitchen to keep the party going or get ready for the birthday dinner. Al and Gwendolyn played a scrimmage for more than an hour before taking a break and letting other kids take over as the Quidditch fun continued without them. They did a round of visits after that; but then went to float around in one of the portable pools to cool off while continuing to watch the Quidditch action above the pitch.

"I don't really think about it very often, but with Lily being nearly a year older than Katrina; it's obvious what a difference that time makes for the oldest firsties at Hogwarts."

"You don't notice that with Lily and Jonah?" Gwendolyn asked; looking amused. Al smiled and shook his head.

"No, but then I see them together a lot more often than Katrina – and it's even more obvious with some of Katrina's younger friends. Jonah's also almost keeping up with Lily for the tween growth spurt too; so it isn't as if she's five or six inches taller."

"That's true," Gwendolyn conceded; "but she's only a few inches taller than Katrina. I'd say that it would be more surprising to people that don't know them to find out that Katrina plays Beater – not that Lily looks the part either."

"Katrina's going to be underestimated because of that," Al predicted. "If she's in your House; I'll have to keep an eye on that or Fred and Orlando will bein in trouble when we play your team – assuming they make our team at tryouts."

"I'd say that's a safe assumption. They're playing well together; and the extra practicing they're doing this summer is paying off."

"We'll see," Al said with a smile and shrug. "For all I know, Katrina could end up in Gryffindor; and then Fred and Orlando would both be in a real fight to make the team."

"She might like that; but I'll still hope that she ends up in Ravenclaw. We're in need of a new pair of Beaters; and you've already got a pretty good pair for your team."

"Your Mum is likely hoping that too – so that you'll become besties over the next five years; and she'll have a better chance at getting Katrina to play for the Harpies. It's not as if there are many Witches playing Beater at Hogwarts."

"That's true; and she's not very likely going to have any luck recruiting Tina Johnson either. Calvin and Tina have too much fun playing together; so she's sure to go and play for United with Calvin starting next year."

Al smiled at her. "Careful; you're dangerously-close to taking that thought in a direction that Rose would love," he teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"There is a difference between Tina and me. She hasn't been dreaming of playing for the Harpies since she was old-enough to remember dreams – and maybe before then for me."

"I wonder if that's true?" Al mused seriously. "For all we know, she has dreamed of playing for the Harpies. She must love our Beaters; since there aren't many other Witches playing that position on the other teams."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn conceded. "Remind me to ask her about that sometime this year when we're back at school. Either way, I'm sure she'll be playing for United. I wouldn't even be surprised to find out they've already signed her to a deal a year in advance."

"You might be right about that," Al agreed. "If they weren't looking to hire her too; I seriously doubt they'd leave Calvin on their reserve squad for a year."

"Unless they're trying to make the team transition a bit more slowly toward a younger team," Gwendolyn offered. "If Belinda and Olivia have sold their Dad on the idea of getting Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia for their future Chaser trio and he's sold their team on it; that'd be a big change over just a few seasons."

"Now you're making Rose's plans for the Cannons seem minor by comparison to orchestrating a takeover of one of the top teams in the league," Al teased; and had Gwendolyn laughing again.

"Maybe I should have asked you to make a New Year's resolution to stop going on about the Cannons," she suggested half-seriously. "Rose has done pretty well with leaving it alone – even if I still think it's an act or trick."

"Or both," Al added with a smile. "I'll try not to go there either; but that first joke of Rose's has really taken on a life of its own; so we won't likely avoid hearing about it for very long."

Gwendolyn agreed with that, but they moved the chat along to other topics while continuing to float around in the pool for a while and keep an eye on the Quidditch above the pitch. They had other kids and teens join them to swim too; hopped out of the pool when they wanted to dry off and do other things for a while; and generally had a blast playing all afternoon. Katrina was at the center of the play action most of the time – whether that was while playing Quidditch or other games. Her family didn't do the eleventh-birthday broom thing, but then she'd been given her Firestorm before the start of summer so that she could practice at full-speed to get ready for the Hogwarts tryouts – regardless of which House she was sorted to in September. Her family and friends did still have lots of other gifts for her, and while some of them were school or Quidditch-related; others were standard tween Witch fare – like jewelry, make-up, and other things that she personally loved – like mirror games.

The working parents in the family that hadn't taken time off to help out all afternoon eventually joined the party; there was a social hour while those arrivals were ongoing; and then they sat down to have the birthday dinner. Katrina's favorite foods were the centerpiece of the barbequed buffet meal; the kids were set up with plates and drinks first; and then the teens and parents lined up to get their food once that was done. Al and Gwendolyn weren't at the table with the birthday girl, but Lily and Jonah were – something that had surprised Lily a bit; and made her very happy too. Al and Gwendolyn ended up at a teen table; but the other teens were older, so while they had fun; they were also a bit out of their league for the conversations that revolved around summer jobs and expectations for taking the most-advanced magic at Hogwarts in what was the sixth and seventh years for most of their dinner companions.

It was still a work night for the parents, so the party wasn't going to be an all-nighter for anyone except Katrina and a couple of her best friends; but she did get to have a parents against the kids scrimmage; with the highlight of that for her being a Beater duel against her Aunt Gwenog. Since she was Captain for her team too, she drafted Al and Gwendolyn; added Lily for her Seeker; and then allowed the parents to draft Jonah for their team – but only because they didn't have any other adults willing to go up against Ginny Potter's daughter and risk being embarrassed by an eleven-year-old prodigy. Meghan pretended to have the same worries about Al and Gwendolyn, but Al sensed that she was actually looking forward to the challenge; and then had as much fun as they did during the match. Some of the parents and adults definitely held back, and that was part of the reason for the kids' team winning the day for Katrina; but the battle between Chasers and Keepers was still really great; and Lily and Jonah had a brilliant Seeker duel that Jonah won two catches to one before Meghan called an end to the game due to the time – and imminent curfews for the player or manager-guests from the Harpies and Prides.

Since Gwenog was one of those guests, Al and Lily went home with them – and Gwendolyn and Jonah – shortly after the game ended – and they were allowed a quick cool off swim with most of the players from both teams. While Gwenog had a bit of work to do before going to bed, it wasn't that late; so Kirley invited Al and Lily to stay for a bit of music play time; they did that for an hour or so; and then they were sent home using the Floo Network when Gwenog broke up the musical play time and made Kirley put his toys away for the night. After a fairly brilliant day, Al and Lily weren't happy to return home to another scene with James on the rampage, and as usual; it was all Al's fault – this time, for daring to be at a party while he was forced into slave labor instead. Tose horrors included cleaning up after dinner and then cleaning his own room and doing his own laundry because Ginny had decided that he could no longer get away with wearing dirty clothes to work or elsewhere every day.

By the time Al and Lily arrived and Ginny ended the confirmation mirror chat with Gwenog; James was ready to explode – and did. That made it impossible for them to have a post-party chat with Harry and Ginny; going to their rooms didn't keep James from trying to rant at them – even if he had to do that from the hallway; and then Lily eventually got fed up with him and used her cheering charm on him. Unfortunately, the only effect that had on the situation this time was to turn James into a madly-giggling terror. If the whole scene wasn't so awful, it might have been hilarious; since the cheering charm and James' rage just set up a self-sustaining loop – with the giggling fueling his rage; and his actions and rants fueling the giggles. When that really started to get out of hand, Ginny took steps; reversed the cheering charm; and then offered James a choice for what he could do for the rest of the night; and he angrily accepted the option that didn't have him spending the night silenced, bound, and possibly not in human form.

James' mood hadn't improved by Thursday morning, but the rest of his family only had a few moments of dealing with that while he went from the sitting room up to his bedroom – after Ginny woke him up and he was his usual early-morning self. After that, she chose to let him stay in his room all morning; and that worked out just fine for Al, Lily, and all of the teens and tweens that came over for the junior team practice after breakfast. Ginny stayed for part of that, but had Dominique and Lucy come over early so she could do a morning visit to the Wanderers' training camp before coming home to help out with lunch and then heading out again to work all afternoon. The junior team practice was again a blast of fun even with a tough workout, and while Al and 'his' team didn't hold back; he was fairly happy when Gwendolyn's team won their scrimmage. The score was close, but even though he and Gwendolyn didn't want to make winning and losing important to their workouts at all; there was something to be said for the pride the Ravenclaw players were showing after their win – knowing as they did how much they deserved it for working so hard.

They all deserved – and needed – some quality swim time after that; and the water play time was even better when James still avoided making an appearance until after Ollie arrived to have lunch with James ahead of the senior team practice. With their peers there too – including Louis and the McClaggen brothers; James was only moderately nasty to Al and Gwendolyn; and he and Ollie only had minor insults and jokes for Rose, Ray, and the other younger players. Most of the junior players had been able to stay for lunch; but then they headed for home or were picked up and went elsewhere. Rose, Hugo, and Roxanne were the only 'junior' cousins to stay; and Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed for the rest of the afternoon. Al and Lily were glad for the company, and in addition to watching most of the senior team practice; they went swimming a lot, played Fanged Frisbee, and went for a bike ride for an hour or so after the senior team scrimmage ended – mostly because they didn't want to be around James and Ollie when they were both in a foul mood for the rest of the afternoon.

Their anger was stoked by yet another bad practice for both of them, with Ollie getting schooled by Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia yet again; and James again battling to a draw with Brandon when time ran out before he could catch the snitch. It no longer mattered to James that Brandon wasn't getting any catches either – he just couldn't come to grips with the reality that he couldn't beat Brandon at least three or five times in every scrimmage! While Al felt a bit guilty for leaving Dominique and Lucy with James and Ollie to deal with, they understood; and Louis actually suggested that they get lost for a while to get away from the imminent nastiness that would have surely been worse if they'd stayed. One good thing did come of that problem, though, because when Ginny came home from work and got the report from her nieces and nephew; she promptly approved a sleepover request for James to spend the night at Ollie's – and then go on to work on Friday from there. That gave Gwendolyn a perfect opportunity to redeem one of her birthday coupons for a camping night with Al, and while Ginny and Kirley had been amused over that while giving Al and Gwendolyn their parental approval; they also helped them out when Jonah wasn't also invited because Gwendolyn's coupon didn't include bringing a guest along for the date.

Lily didn't try to mess that up for them, but she did invite Roxanne to stay for a sleepover – and promised to stay indoors for that once they'd all finished playing and swimming for the evening after dinner. They all had lots to do before getting to any of that, though; and there was some work that went along with the fun. Gwendolyn and Roxanne needed to go home and pack overnight bags; Al needed to set up the tent and help Ginny with making dinner; and there were other chores to get done around the back yard – like cleaning the pool and straightening the back yard and pitch after the teen and tween play day. Al and Lily took care of a lot of that yard and pool work once dinner was cooking and most of the prep work was done; and then they were able to have some more swim time with Gwendolyn and Roxanne while they waited for Harry to get home from work a bit later than expected.

He'd mostly been amused by the dinner conversation that recapped the day for the four kids; didn't try to hide his own relief over getting a night off from James' ongoing bad attitude; and was happy to go out after dinner for a short bit of Quidditch play time with Lily while Ginny finished up some work in the office and Al, Gwendolyn, and Roxanne mostly played around with practicing cool flying tricks and Chaser plays. Harry won the Seeker duel, but Lily did get one catch; so she was a happy camper when they were done and then moved on to go swimming. Ginny joined them for that; and then Al and Gwendolyn were left outside on their own while everyone else went in for the night. That was an exciting, thrilling feeling as they watched Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Roxanne go into the house; and Al and Gwendolyn were both smiling as they faced each other once they were alone.

"Well, this has worked out nicely for us," Gwendolyn said happily. "Now what do we do?"

"It's your date coupon. What would you like to do next?"

He laughed when she stepped close for a warm, enthusiastic hug and kiss that was farily hot too; since they were both still in their swimsuits. They both laughed when they heard a pair of giggles coming from the kitchen, and Gwendolyn waved at Lily and Roxanne; but kissed Al again before leting go and stepping back and smiling at him.

"That sounds like fun," Al said, "but maybe we should save that for later when we're in the tent – and don't have my sister and cousin watching us from the house."

"Okay, then let's go for a walk; and then maybe we can play a bit of music before getting back to that me-snogging-you-senseless idea."

The last part of that suggestion had Al wondering if he should hop into the pool again to cool off; but thought that might be a give-away to anyone still watching them when half the water evaporated or the pool started bubbling. Going for a moonlight walk did at least get them away from the house for a while, though; and it was a beautiful night for it. The sky wasn't cloudless, but they were able to get some nice views of the stars; they happily hiked for an hour or so; and then had a moonlight swim before going into the tent for the night. They split up to get dried and changed; met up in the main room with guitars in hand; and then sat and played and sang for almost another hour. While they kept that music fairly quiet, windows in the house were apparently open to the night breeze; and they could hear faint applause coming from the house along with a whistle or two that identified their adoring fans as Lily and Roxanne – though it was very likely that Harry and Ginny were listening to them too.

They put the guitars aside when they were ready to relax, cuddle, and share a fairly major snogging session – though they also turned the mirror network on; listened to some music; and watched parts of Lee's nightly show. While Al didn't bother trying to think about anything at all while having fun with the snogging sort of play time with Gwendolyn, they did eventually just snuggle close and start drifting off to sleep. That happened sooner for Gwendolyn, but Al was happy and content to hold her close while going along for the ride as his mind begin to wander – with his thoughts first going to musings about the fact that his parents had allowed the camping night without junior or senior chaperones for them in the first place. Considering some of the issues they'd had with James this summer, and he had no doubt that they knew more than they admitted to any of their kids; he first considered whether that decision had been a matter of trust. He replayed what he'd sensed from his parents earlier, and decided that while that was partly-true; that they also didn't believe that they ultimately had any control over his relationship with Gwendolyn beyond doing the best they could to raise him properly.

Following that train of thought wasn't somewhere that Al really wanted to go, but he did decide that there was one very important difference between him and James – his respect and love for Gwendolyn. He wasn't naive-enough to think that his relationship with Gwendolyn wouldn't develop physically as well as emotionally; but he was sure it would never be anything like what he sensed from James and Maria when they were on holidays in Romania. Thinking about Maria snet his thoughts off in a different direction; and he realized that he hadn't even heard her name mentioned even once by James since they got back home again. Even if their relationship had been a mutual summer vacation fling, that just felt wrong to Al; and he made a mental note to ask about her in his next letter to Charlene; though he'd need to work out a way to do that without sounding nosey – or interested for the wrong reasons.

That had him smiling, since as soon as he thought it; he was sure that Charlene would never misunderstand anyway. She might even be sharing his own thoughts on that if she'd had any contact with Maria without any mention of James at her end. From there, Al mentally returned home; came up with some ideas for what he and Gwendolyn could do for the day on Friday; and eventually drifted off to sleep – and into some very happy dreams. Waking up in the morning with Gwendolyn still in his arms was brilliant; and he again was content to just hold her for a long while until she woke too – and then rocked his morning with a very happy good morning snogging. While a cold shower after that might have been a good idea; he had a hot shower instead; got ready for the day; and then went into the house to start working on breakfast while Gwendolyn took her turn in the bathroom - and he tried not to think about that too much while scrambling eggs and making up a batch of pancake batter.

"Let me guess – you and Gwendolyn fell asleep on the sofa again last night," Harry guessed as he walked into the kitchen; and Al laughed.

"Yes, we did; but the operative part of that statement that's most-important to the parents is the 'sleep' in sleepover."

"With the scary part of that for the parents being the day you don't tell us that anymore," Harry joked half-seriously. "I'll get the sausages cooking and deal with the eggs from here," he offered. "You'll likely need extra pancakes for Lily and Roxanne this morning; so that'll keep you busy for a while."

"That won't be as much compared to when James is here," Al countered with a shrug while also giving up the bowl of already-scrambled eggs and focusing on the pancake batter he was still mixing. Did you have a good night?"

"James wasn't here," Harry answered; and then smiled wryly. "It is totally wrong for me to say that; but even parents need a break now and then when the teens are in terror mode."

"Maybe you should suggest that to Terror tours," Al offered with a grin. "They could set up a summer camp for teens to give the parents a break; and then get paying customers to go to that camp for a terrifying holiday that would be way scarier than a castle in Transylvania or sea monsters in the Bermuda Triangle. Then they'd have the bonus of getting paid by both the parents and clients."

"That's probably a better idea than sending the teens on one of those Terror Tour holidays to get eaten by the sea monster. Instead of going there, though; what are you and Gwendolyn going to do today while your mother and I are working? Help out at the Burrow? Do something else?"

"I was thinking about seeing what Gwendolyn – and Mum – thought about a trail ride. Mum could drop us off at one of the trails near the Burrow; stay for a minute if we need some Muggle-repelling charm help while I change; and then Gwendolyn and I could play for the day – unless Grandma really needs the help instead."

"We'll see what Ginny says," Harry said with a nod. "I don't even know if Rose and Hugo will be at the Burrow too; but Roxanne is going to hang out with Lily all day. Fred might be with Orlando today. I didn't hear about that either; but he was staying with Orlando last night."

"I don't really want to go there, but are you and Mum getting short-changed on the kid-free nights this summer?"

"Maybe a bit, but that's okay. We'll be kid-free from September First until the Christmas holidays. Angelina and George still have a year to go before they reach that stage."

Al laughed. "With the rest of us gone, I seriously doubt they'll have any trouble getting kid-free nights this fall, Dad. Roxanne's grandparents, aunts, and uncles are likely going to be happy to take turns playing with her – especially the mothers that are missing their own little girls."

"You're probably right about that," Harry conceded; "but Angelina is going to want to spend lots of time with Roxanne too while she still can."

"Good timing for us," Lily told Roxanne as they walked into the kitchen. "They're talking about you."

"Not really," Roxanne disagreed. "I don't want to think about being the last cousin left at home when the rest of you go off to Hogwarts without me."

"Been there, thought that for the past two years," Lily commiserated. "The good news is that you will get a lot of extra attention from the rest of our family; so you're likely going to have a really great year while we're away."

Roxanne laughed. "Did you believe that the last two years?" she asked; and Lily laughed.

"No, but then I have had a lot of fun – even while I still wished I was at Hogwarts with Al instead."

"But not with James?" Roxanne teased.

"It isn't nice to admit it; but no," Lily agreed. "Al's had it bad-enough. I don't even want to think about what it might have been like for us if I'd won the Seeker job the last two years and James was stuck on the reserve team. He'd have tried to take it out on both of us – or just tried to take me out so he'd take over from me." She turned and smiled when she heard Gwendolyn's laugh as she came into the kitchen from outside. "Was me getting blasted by James funny?"

"No – picturing what might have been if you'd been Gryffindor's Seeker in our first year – and that affecting who ended up as Captain in our second year is funny, though; and might have made Quidditch more fun for Al, Rose, and Ray both years."

"Right up until James blasted you," Roxanne added with a grin. "The good news there is that Al would have been there to save you; so that would have kept James from taking over the Seeker job."

"That was more of a second-year thing for Al," Lily pointed out; "but that is a good point. Maybe that would have worked out better for us – if not for James."

"Let's not second-guess the past," Harry suggested. "It's too easy for me to picture Lily in that hospital bed instead of Stephanie; and that really wouldn't have ended well for James."

"Especially if he'd destroyed my broom," Lily agreed with a grin. "I'd have blasted him half-way across the Atlantic and left him there to swim back."

"That's a fun thought," Gwendolyn offered with a grin; "but let's change the subject to anything else. I don't want to make fun at James' expense – even when he isn't here to hear it."

"What should we talk about instead?" Lily asked with a grin. "How you and Al accidentally fell asleep on a sofa in the tent last night?"

"We didn't do that – accidentally," Gwendolyn advised her; grinning too. "Don't knock it until you've had a chance to try it."

"I've had lots of sofa sleepovers with Al," Lily advised her with a laugh. "Sure, they've usually been while we had afternoon naps or fell asleep in the evenings while cuddling with Mum and Dad when we were little; but I'll guess that they're a bit different for you now – and for Al."

"A bit different, yes," Gwendolyn agreed. She'd been doing a round of hugs while having that little chat; and she smiled as she leaned against the counter next to where Al was working and smiled at him. "We're not going to talk about that either; but you could tell us about what you did last night after coming inside – though we did hear the giggles when you first went in; and the clapping and whistles later when we were having our music practice."

"That was just practicing?" Roxanne asked. "We thought you were putting on a little concert for us. You're really good!"

"Thanks, but if Dad's asked you to help him out; we're still not interested in a professional music career," Gwendolyn teased; earning laughs from the two younger girls.

"He didn't; but Lily might have mentioned the running jokes a time or three," Roxanne said. "I wasn't just saying that; and you guys must know how great you sound together. If you were awful; you wouldn't want to keep playing and singing together."

"Gwendolyn doesn't want to keep playing Chaser together with Al when they're done school," Lily pointed out; "and they're brilliant together at that too."

"You do want me on the Harpies team with you, right?" Gwendolyn countered. "Stop trying to even joke about helping Rose – and I know you're messing with me for sure even if Roxanne wasn't."

"I was," Lily agreed with a laugh; "but I'm not worried about that any more than I'm worried about Rose convincing me to play for the Cannons."

"That's a bit ambiguous," Harry told her with a grin. "You could mean that you're really worried about that for both of you as easily as the opposite."

"You're both scaring me," Gwendolyn declared. "Cut it out!"

Lily needed to add another couple of jokes before moving on, but they had fun together; and Ginny added to that entertainment when she joined them and they sat down to eat. Al's request and suggestion for a trail ride for Gwendolyn was given tentative approval pending a check with Molly for how much help she was going to need around the Burrow. Breakfast didn't need to be rushed, but they didn't have a lot of time either before they needed to clean up; Harry headed for Auror Headquarters; and Ginny used the Floo Network to get Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Roxanne to the Burrow once they were all ready to go. Molly was okay with Al and Gwendolyn doing their own thing for the day, and while Ginny then took them on to a nearby trailhead; she didn't need to protect them while Al changed into his stallion because there weren't any nearby Muggles at the time. Gwendolyn was left with orders to use Al's mirror and call for help if they had issues with finding places for him to change back safely – or if they then later got stuck somewhere that he couldn't change back into his stallion and they were too far from the Burrow to walk, but other than that; they were free to go exploring and have fun until mid-afternoon – when they needed to be back at the Burrow to wait for Ginny to be done work for the day.

Al couldn't talk to Gwendolyn while in horse form, but he could listen to her; and his extended senses continued to work too; so only having the mostly one-sided conversation while they walked, trotted, or galloped the trails and back roads was entertaining for both of them. Crossing paths with Muggle hikers or other riders was usually fun too; and Gwendolyn had several very entertaining chats with those people – especially when she was complimented on her horse and how well-trained it was for her to be able to ride without saddle and tack. They eventually reached a spot near Topsham where Al could change back into his human form so that they could hike into town to have lunch and wander around the shops for a while; and then they headed back toward the Burrow with a combination of riding and hiking to get all of the way there without needing to call for help. They had time to spare for a bit of play time with Lily and Roxanne before Ginny stopped by to get them; and then they all headed home from there – though Roxanne eventually went on to her own house once Angelina and Fred got home from a mother-son play afternoon.

With James working at the wheezes store until close, a last-minute decision to go out for dinner had Ginny taking Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily to London to meet Harry there once he was finished work for the day; and they went out to one of their favorite Muggle restaurants. They didn't add in a movie night to the mix; but did go shopping at their favorite Mall for an hour or so after eating before going home again. By then, Gwendolyn had been approved for another sleepover, and while she and Al risked having problems with James after he got home; they took the chance because they wanted to spend the extra time together – and hiding out in the tent wouldn't be a bad way to spend the rest of the night if they needed to do that. They did want to attempt a campfire first, though, so while Ginny went to get James from work; Harry set up the campfire for all of them; and they hoped that James would try to get along with them for a couple of hours – and join them for the campfire fun. That proved to be too much to hope for; and James was angry from the moment he arrived in the back yard and saw Al and Gwendolyn sitting at the campfire with Harry and Lily; already playing their guitars and having a little campfire sing-along.

"If I'd known that the loser and his potty-trainer were both going to be here; I'd have set up another night staying anywhere else other than here," he declared spitefully; and then leered at Gwendolyn. "Was the snogging with Al so bad last night that you decided to stick around until I got home to sneak into my room later and get snogged by a Wizard that knows how to do it right?"

"For as often as you tell us that you'd never go out with witches like Gwendolyn and me; I have to wonder why you keep offering to snog her," Lily retorted; and James grinned viciously.

"I've never said I'd enjoy it – only that she would – and then would never want to touch Al again. I'd make the sacrifice just for the chance to hear the loser's shriveled up little heart being crushed when she dumps him."

"Give it a rest, James," Harry said tiredly. "Sit down, toast some snacks in the fire, and have some fun with your family for a while; or don't and just go back inside and leave the rest of us to enjoy a bit of campfire entertainment."

"I'll pick option three – sit down, have the snacks and drinks, and make life miserable for the rest of you; since that's what you're all doing for me every minute I have to spend with you."

"Would this be a good time to use my cheering charm again?" Lily asked her mother; and Ginny laughed.

"No, it isn't; but thanks for the offer. Maybe James will come around on his own and stop being such a git."

"I'd say it's the rest of you being gits – and idiots for being sucked in by the lying loser over there. Kick him out of the house; and you'll find out just how good things could be around here again without him."

"Okay," Ginny agreed with a grin. "Al, you're kicked out of the house. Stay in the tent for the night. Gwendolyn – you stay in the tent too and keep an eye on him for me. Are we good now, James? Are you ready to show us how great it'll be around here now that Al's out of the house?"

"You're so funny – not!" James declared angrily; and then sneered maliciously. "Go ahead and do that with them. I'm sure you'll love being grandparents in about nine months – if Al can even figure things out without needing to borrow a book from the library first."

"We've already told you how we feel about you saying things like that," Ginny warned; but James just laughed derisively.

"Didn't you believe me when I promised to make your lives as miserable as you're making mine by forcing me to stay here and put up with all of your crap?" he asked scathingly. "Don't worry, Mum. There won't be any doubt about who the parents are for the baby loser – they don't have any dead friends to blame it on!"

"That does it!" Ginny shouted. She grabbed James by the upper arm; and then glared at him in fury when he took a swing at her – and his fist crashed into the shield she put up just a few inches from her face. "You, my eldest, delusional son, are about to find out that I am my dueling master mother's daughter – and don't need your father, brother, or anyone else to protect me." James had howled in pain as he probably broke his hand on her shield; but she began dragging him away toward the house. "Sit down, Harry," she said without looking over her shoulder. "I'll deal with this as I choose this time. Enjoy the campfire. I'll let you and Lily know when it's safe to come into the house again – or send out overnight bags if you'll need to sleep in the tent with Al and Gwendolyn."

"Get your hands off of me!" James demanded; and tried to hit her again – a dumb move when his sore or broken hand hit another inpenetrable shield.

"No," Ginny said firmly. "We're going to negotiate an attitude change for you – meaning I'm going to explain how it's going to be from now on; and then you're going to be convinced to do it."

"Forget it!" James retorted. "If you do anything to me; I'll have you charged with child abuse!"

"By whom?" Ginny asked derisively. "The Head of the Aurors? The Muggle Authorities? What makes you think I'll even let you remember anything about tonight that I don't want you to remember? Quit acting like a spoiled rotten toddler; and get a clue, James! You'll do exactly what I tell you because you've no choice – and I can force you to do whatever I want!"

"Imperius Curses are against the law!" James retorted; and Ginny laughed again.

"I don't need to use unforgiveables to get what I want; but we'll discuss that inside – and in private."

"No!" James bellowed; managed to jerk his arm free; and was able to make it one step away from Ginny before he froze in place.

With a second, negligible wave of her wand; Ginny levitated James and then had him follow her into the house. Al and Harry sensed the wards and imperturbable shields she put up around the house one they were in and the door was closed behind them; and then there was only the sound of the crackling fire and the night sounds around them for a long moment. Lily got up and went to sit next to her father; inviting him to drawn her into a cuddle and shivering a bit as the shock of the moment passed.

"Remind me to never, ever get Mum mad at me – ever," she told Harry in a subdued, almost-awed voice; and he laughed quietly.

"It amazes me that you even need to say that – or that James has never seemed to believe that there is a very good reason why the Head of the Aurors is genuinely afraid of getting your mother mad."

"You don't want to do that because you love her so much," Lily countered; and then smiled wryly. "Being afraid too just gives you another reason for playing nice all of the time."

"I hoped that we'd taught and shown that same love and respect to you and your brothers too; but I'm apparently wrong about that." He shook his head sadly. "I know it was different for me growing up, and I had real reasons for being an angry teen; but maybe James is just a bit too much like me; and I'd have been as much of a terror teen as he's been lately even if I had been able to grow up with my parents instead of my aunt, uncle and cousin."

"Maybe," Lily agreed; "but we think you've turned out alright; and we can hope that James will too – even if Mum doesn't have any luck with him tonight. Speaking of, I'm tempted to ask; but do we really even want to know or guess at what Mum meant while dragging James into the house?"

"I'll guess that we don't want to know or guess," Harry answered. "We should probably stay away from songs like the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie too."

"That's asking a lot of us – especially when there's a chance that James actually is one right now; but okay, Dad," Lily told him. "That song is better with a bigger group to dance with anyway. How about we get Al and Gwendolyn to sing Teddy and Victoire's wedding song. I love the way they sing it."

It felt a bit wrong to all of them to try and enjoy the rest of the campfire; but Ginny hadn't exactly left them with a lot of choices so they made the best of the situation. Singing a few songs was part of that; but then they mostly just toasted marshmallows and talked quietly until the fire burned low. When it was down to just embers, they put it out; and moved into the tent to watch Lee's show. Ginny came out to see them while they were still doing that; had an overnight bag, Holly, and Poofy with her so that Lily could stay in the tent for the night too; and invited Harry to help her out with James – and spend the night in the house with them. Ginny was not any happier than she'd been when she went in with James, so there wasn't any real levity or even any good vibes as they shared a round of goodnight hugs and kisses; and then the three kids and two pets were on their own for the night while they were sure that Harry and Ginny were not going to have any fun at all with whatever they were doing to try and get through to James in a more serious sort of way than anything they'd tried with him so far.

Lily needed to have a bedtime chat with Al and Gwendolyn while cuddling with Holly and Poofy; but then she went to bed and left Al and Gwednolyn alone. Any thoughts of having another major snogging session had gone with the nasty turn their evening had taken, but cuddling for a while longer was something they were happy to do until they were ready to sleep too. The goodnight kisses before they split up to go to their rooms had been tender and sweet; but Al's dreams once he fell asleep were not very nice at all – and possibly due to things that he was sensing from the house despite the wards and shields. He didn't feel very rested when he woke at sunrise; the hot shower helped a bit; and then he left the tent and headed for the house. He knew that it was safe to go in when he sensed that the house was no longer being protected anymore; and knew that his parents and brother were all in the kitchen before he opened the door and walked in.

"Good morning," he said quietly and a bit tentatively.

"It's safe to come in," Ginny told him tiredly; and Al needed to hug her to try and help even a little with the sadness and frustration he sensed all around her.

"Yeah – for you – the perfect son," James agreed; though the barb wasn't very pointed since he was obviously tired too. "I'll bet that you can hardly wait to find out about all of the horrid things they did to me last night – all night."

"No, I don't want to know," Al answered just as quietly; his tone solemn and earnest. "Gwendolyn and Lily are awake and getting ready for the day; so I wanted to start making breakfast for all of us."

"Of course," James mocked. "That's just what I'd expect of the perfect loser in the family."

"James, I thought we had an agreement," Ginny warned; and James smirked at her.

"We do – for my family. The loser doesn't count – he's not part of my family – even if you're deluded enough to keep him as part of yours."

"It's okay, Mum," Al said; stepping in before Ginny could say anything. "If he's agreed to play nice with the rest of you; that's all that matters to me."

"That's very big of you – as if anyone cares what does and doesn't matter to the total waste of space that is you."

"Considering the reason you're using that insult; I'll take it as a compliment," Al advised him as he went to the counter and began getting the things he'd need to make breakfast. He waved Harry off when he looked ready to stand and help out. "I've got this. Should I put a fresh pot of coffee on too?"

"Sure – that last one is a few hours old now," Ginny answered; and stood up. "I'm going to grab a quick shower while we're waiting for breakfast. Try to keep the peace while I'm gone." She was looking at James while saying that last part; but he ignored her. Shaking her head and sighing; she left the room and headed up the stairs.

"I'd rather blast Al again and just keep the pieces," James muttered; and smirked unapologetically when Harry gave him a hard look.

"You're not making it easy for me to keep the peace; so I think I'll go upstairs and help your mother," Harry decided; standing too.

James snorted. "Even the loser is a bit old for that sort of thing. Why not just admit what you'll really be doing – gross as that is for me."

James had still been smirking, but he flinched rather violently when Harry stopped instead of walking past and clamped his hands on James' shoulders. Al felt the surge of power; and turned around in time to see James stiffen – his eyes wide with shock as his father healed him of every bit of fatigue from being up and doing whatever he'd been doing all night. Even the slightest injury or strain would have been healed too from what Al sensed; and he smiled faintly as Harry then let go and stepped back.

"Sometimes, you really don't know what you're talking about, son of mine," he said quietly; "and sometimes help really does just mean help. You didn't deserve that, but I love you; and you're welcome." With that, he left the room and headed upstairs too. Al turned back to his work; and there was silence in the kitchen for a few long moments.

"Yeah, and I'm sure he's not expecting Mum to be very, very grateful," James finally retorted; though he did that in a tone of voice that was still tinged with shock and a bit shaky. There was another long pause; but Al didn't say anything. "Let me guess – you're not going to talk because the perfect little loser is going to keep the peace as ordered," he said next; the sneer coming back to his voice.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Al agreed with a nod. He didn't turn around; and kept working at the counter.

"Well, if you're not going to keep me entertained; maybe I'll go out to the tent and see if Gwendolyn needs some, um, help."

"I'm really getting tired of you saying things like that," Al said; as that did have him turning around to face James. His brother looked viciously happy to see that his suggestion had annoyed Al; but then he frowned when Al pulled a seashell out of his pocket; held it on the palm of his hand; and stepped over to the table. Al put it down on the table and focused his full attention on James. "Stop it; or you're not going to like finding out what that seashell can do, James. I've been saving it up for quite a while now, but if you don't leave Gwendolyn out..."

James lunged forward; snatched the seashell; and clutched it in his fist victoriously while standing up and pointing it at Al. "Let's just see how smart you are now when I use this thing on you!"

Al didn't move or try to do anything; simply watching as James' eyes glazed over when he activated the seashell and the memory charm hit him. A moment later, he began to tremble slightly – and then with increasing violence. His face paled too; and he fell backward into his chair. He sat there, shaking and oblivious to the world around him for another ten seconds or so; and then his eyes cleared again; and he stared in horror at Al while starting to heave in lungs-full of air as if he'd been holding his breath for minutes. He practically threw the seashell from his hand; it bounced on the table one time; and Al snagged it deftly before it could land on the floor and skitter away. He waited for James to recover a bit; and then made sure that he had his brother's full attention by putting his hands on the table and leaning half-way across until they were eyes-to-eyes.

"If you think that's scary, the next time you want to act the git around Gwendolyn; try to remember that I'm an Animorphmagus – and can be that for real."

"You can't threaten..." James began; but started trembling when Al held up the seashell again. He stiffened once more; but his eyes were only glazed over for a moment before he was back again and looking confused. Al had already pocketed the seashell by then and returned to his work. He was smiling while there were a lengthy couple of minutes of silence; since he knew exactly what James was – and wasn't – remembering and thinking about.

"If you're going to take all day cooking up that poison; I'll go and grab a shower first," he finally said. "Some of us have real, paying jobs to get to today instead of being a good little loser slave like you."

With that said, James left; and Al was good with being on his own for a while. He grabbed a few more seashells; kicked his work up into high gear; and had fun multi-tasking everything from making a fresh pot of coffee and a bowl of fresh fruit salad to cooking up all of the hot food options for a fairly major breakfast. Gwendolyn and Lily made it to the kitchen before Harry, Ginny, or James; and they kept him entertained while he finished the cooking. The table was filled with platters and bowls of food by the time they were all together in the kitchen again; and they were able to sit down and eat right away. By then, James seemed pretty much back to normal, but while he returned to random insults and jokes about Al; he left everyone else alone – including Gwendolyn. That at least made the meal time a bit nicer for them, so while Al knew that his little seashell memory charm wouldn't have a lasting impact on James; the temporary reprieve was welcomed.

James escaped as soon as he was finished eating, but Al ended up getting out of the kitchen clean-up too because Ginny drafted Gwendolyn and Lily to do that with her while Harry took Al outside so that they could get started on the yard work. While the Harpies weren't playing, Ginny did need to work one of the matches, and Harry needed to go into work too; so Al and Lily were pre-booked to spend the afternoon with the McCormacks. That's why they made fairly short work of the chores; they all freshened up and got changed as needed; and then Harry took James to London and dropped him off at the wheezes store on his way to Auror Headquarters while Ginny took Gwendolyn home with Al and Lily in tow; and then left all three kids with Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah after a short visit with them.

"Well, at least she didn't get stuck with the Cannons match today," Gwenog said after Ginny had left; the kids had jumped into the pool for a swim; and she and Kirley had sat down in lawn chairs to relax for a while before moving on to make lunch for their little gang.

"She's too nice when reporting on the Cannons," Lily suggested with a grin. "Uncle Ron doesn't believe that, but it's true – and why she doesn't get assigned to many of those games – except when the other reporters complain about her not getting a turn for the worst matches."

"Maybe they just need to hire a Cannons fan – like your uncle – to report on all of those matches instead," Kirley offered with a grin. "Did you get invited to go with Rose and Hugo today?"

"No, but they only have two extra season tickets for the Canons; and we're already getting to see three Harpies matches before we head back to school," Al answered. "I'm not even sure who is going with them today. Shane might have been invited, but he's been avoiding Rose for about a month now; so I doubt he's going."

"He's a nice guy; doesn't want to hurt Rose; and can't figure out how to break up with her and not do that," Gwendolyn said. "They both know that they're not right for each other. Shane doesn't even like Quidditch; so he doesn't really fit in with the rest of us for that part of our lives."

"That will be an even bigger deal when we'll be practicing and playing matches this year," Lily added with a nod. "Since you've gone there, though; let's talk about how the other couples are doing so far surviving the summer holidays. Have you heard anything new since Ray's party, Gwendolyn?"

The two girls were happy to run with that topic for a while; and they talked about other things too; but then eventually moved on to doing other things for the rest of the day – all of them fun and entertaining as they enjoyed a quiet play day together. Al and Lily stayed for both lunch and dinner; they filled the hours in between the two meals with Seeker and Chaser duels; games in the yard; and lots of swimming in the pool. Kirley and Gwenog played too some of the time; and just relaxed and watched the show the rest of the time. After dinner; Kirley led a music fun night for a couple of hours; and then Al and Lily were sent home for the night. Al and Gwendolyn were given a bit of time to say goodnight on their own, but they didn't drag that out because they were going to spend the day together on Sunday again – this time with both families and most of the Weasley clan for a day at the beach and Shell Cottage.

Before getting to that part of their weekend adventures, Al did have to put up with more taunting from a re-invigorated James when he and Lily got home; they managed to have a nice chat with Harry and Ginny while having a bedtime snack in the kitchen; and then Al went up to bed and read his Ancient Runes textbook for an hour before falling asleep for the night. He was up early in the morning again, but Harry was already cooking breakfast by the time he reached the kitchen; so he went outside and did a bit of work there after having another little chat with his father while he worked. By the time the food was ready; Al had the pool cleaned and some bonus gardening dealt with; and then he had to put up with James again as he took out his morning grumpiness on Al while continuing to leave their parents and sister alone – mostly. James wasn't very enthusiastic about getting ready for their day at the beach either; though Al was sure that he'd eventually find a way to have fun – even if that meant hiking the beach in search of unsuspecting teen Muggle girls to flirt with for a few hours.

While they weren't officially drafted to help out with any work at Shell Cottage, Harry and Ginny did take their kids there early; and had a lot of donations with them to help out with feeding the familial gang and keeping them hydrated. Harry sent most of those supplies ahead of them before they apparated there; and then Al and Lily were drafted to help with hauling some supplies, chairs, and beach blankets to the seashore. Louis and Noel were in charge of that job; so they had fun doing that together – even if James didn't like seeing Louis and Al getting along so well while he avoided all work and goofed off instead. The McCormacks didn't arrive until more than an hour later, but that worked for Al because they were pretty much ready to play by then; and he was ready for a cool-down swim in the sea – not that the water seemed to help with that when he was even more interested in how amazing Gwendolyn looked in her swimsuit!

He wasn't the only Wizard in the family appreciating their favorite Witches in swimsuits time, but that wasn't all they did. In Al's case, he and Gwendolyn had fun hanging out with Lily, Jonah, Rose, Hugo, and all of the other teens and tweens closest to their age. There were ongoing moments with the adults and older teens too, but there were too many people around for hanging out and talking as one big group; and the parents and grandparents in particular were most-interested in relaxing and resting up for a day before getting back to work again on Monday. Playing and having fun was still the name of the game for the kids and teens, and while that included lots of water and beach action; there was still lots of time to chat too – including talks that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had about the Cannons' loss on Saturday; Rose's ongoing issues with Shane; and, as always, lots of discussion about Quidditch and anything related to going back to school.

This time, the family play day wrapped up as soon as the dinner clean-up was dealt with; and Al and Gwendolyn wandered off for a while to say goodbye in a more serious sort of way because they were going to be apart until Tuesday! Their families collectively found that amusing; with quite a few thinking they were adorable; and one brother hating on them for being the teen couple that everyone else adored. James did at least wait until they were home to start taking out his pent-up anger on Al; but he had to do that while also dodging the work that needed to be done too – like putting their day trip gear away and running loads of laundry thanks to using up lots of towels and several outfits and swimsuits each while they'd been at the beach.

That beach day had been a great way to end the weekend, and had been brilliantly fun, but even though there was a big contrast from that to the first work day of the week for all five Potters; there was still fun to be had on Monday. Harry, Ginny, and James were all working, so Al and Lily were dropped off at the Burrow for the day. Rose and Hugo were there for the day too; so the four of them got to work on the chores in the house and yard that Molly needed them to give her a hand with right away. The garden work was dirtier, but Rose opted to help Al while Lily and Hugo started out with the indoor chores; and they had a fairly serious talk about Shane – and what Rose wanted to do about how things were with him – preferably before school started. Thanks to charms and seashells, they also got all of the yard work finished by late morning; and then they spent the rest of the day playing with Lily and Hugo. Quidditch, swimming, and a walk into town were all part of that fun; and kept them busy until Ginny came for Al and Lily; and Rose and Hugo had to wait until Ron or Hermione came for them whenever they finished work at the wheezes store or Ministry of Magic.

With a mid-week Harpies' match on Wednesday afternoon; Quidditch was the name of the entertainment game for the next three days. For Al, that was especially great because he was getting to spend all three of those days with Gwendolyn – and both nights on Tuesday and Wednesday. As usual, the junior team practices on Tuesday and Thursday went really great; and the senior practices were good or bad depending on the player perspective. James and Ollie were at the far end of the scale for really bad; the McClaggens and a few others were in the middle; and Louis was pretty much on his own at the far end of the good side of the scale. Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia all played well; but that was off-set by the annoyances they had to deal with most of the time from James and Ollie. For James, the worst of it was that he only caught the snitch once over the two afternoon practices; and Brandon made that even worse by being so nice and supportive.

Al and Lily didn't just have Gwendolyn and Jonah for camping buddies on Tuesday night. They kept all of the teens and tweens that were going with them to the Harpies' match on Wednesday – with Rose, Ray, Hugo, and Melissa among the group because Harry and Ginny were evenly splitting their seasons tickets between kids and adult or older teen chaperones. That meant that James had Ollie staying too; but the two boys had their own tent; and they mostly stayed out of the way while doing their own thing for the night. Having a gang of teens did mean more Quidditch after dinner on Tuesday and lots of swimming and playing in the back yard; but they headed into the tent not long after dark; and spent the rest of the evening hanging out, talking, and watching mirror network shows until they were all ready to get some sleep ahead of their Quidditch play day with the Harpies and Wasps.

Wednesday would have been a much better day if the Harpies had won the match, but Aiden Lynch messed that up for all Harpies fans by out-dueling Gabrielle for a huge, come-from-behind, three-eighty to three-sixty victory that put an end to what had been a great match for the Harpies to that point. Victoire's twenty goals had been brilliant, and all of the Harpies had played a great game, but while that had included Gabrielle; Aiden had been just a bit better – for this match. It had taken him nearly five hours to win that duel, and Ginny had to work the post-game interviews on the pitch and follow-up press conference; so Molly, Kirley, and the rest of the chaperones took the entire gang back to Harry and Ginny's house after leaving the stadium. Some of the teens and kids needed to go home or elsewhere from there, but after talking it over with Harry and some other parents; the decision was made to order stacks of pizza and other sides and snacks for dinner; and Harry brought the take-out food home with him after he was finished work at Auror Headquarters.

That meal was an adventure, with talking about the game getting top billing for the conversational entertainment. Some of the parents, including Ginny and Gwenog, had to eat later – and could only do that because Harry had kept food for them and out of the reach of the more-ravenous teens like James and Ollie. More of the teens headed home after dinner, but Gwendolyn, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo all stayed with Al and Lily; and Ollie stayed for another night with James. Al didn't have any major problems with them while there were other teens and parents around; but he and Gwendolyn eventually went into the tent when James and Ollie got bored and started really trying to get them mad with an onslaught of jokes, insults, and a couple of prank attempts. Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah all eventually joined them too; though they didn't have the same problems with the two older boys because James was mostly still sticking to his deal with Harry and Ginny.

In addition to the two practices on Thursday, Al, Lily, and the rest of their cousins and friends did a lot of swimming and playing. Dominique and Lucy were in charge for a lot of the day because Ginny needed to do a bit of extra work with just two days to finish getting ready for the game she was scheduled to cover on Saturday afternoon. Al and Gwendolyn didn't like having to say goodbye when it ws time for her – and Jonah – to go home by late afternoon – especially when they were going to have another day apart on Friday. Even though that was again only going to be for one day, and they were only thirteen; Al still felt as if something was missing that was part of him whenever Gwendolyn wasn't at least nearby. That sentiment would be sure to earn laughs from others; but he knew it was true all the same – and not something he was simply imagining.

Ginny had to work on Friday too, but she did that from home in the morning while supervising the chores that Al and Lily did – and James refused to help with yet again. Al and Lily were then at the Burrow for the afternoon; and helped out with chores for a few hours there too while Ginny checked out the last practices for each of the teams she was covering on Saturday and James worked at the wheezes store. Al would have liked going out for another date night with Gwendolyn after a day of yard and garden chores at home and the Burrow, but with James working until close in London; a quiet dinner and evening at home with Lily and their parents was really good too – at least until James got home and tried to mess that up for him. Al didn't put up with that for long; and then just went up to his room and read from his textbooks until ending his day having a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn.

The last full weekend of the summer was all about family and friends time before the kids would be going back to school on September First. For Al, getting to share all of that fun with Gwendolyn was most-important; and they were together a lot of the time from shortly after breakfast on Saturday until early-evening on Sunday. With the Harpies off on Saturday, that worked out great for the McCormacks to have their family and friends fun day then instead of on Sunday; and Al and Lily were dropped off there after breakfast so that they could help out with the pre-party work around the house and yard. That was all set-up jobs, not gardening or other yard chores, so while it was still hot work; it wasn't particularly messy and usually fun for all of them. Not everyone on both sides of the family or all of their friends could come ove for the entire day, but the fun started at around eleven o'clock and continued until nearly midnight; so even the Witches and Wizards that did have Quidditch matches to play in or attend were able to come over and get in on the party – even if that was just for a short visit.

Al and Gwendolyn mostly played with Lily, Jonah, and the visiting kids and teens without having anything particularly amazing happen; and had all of the fun and entertainment add up to a brilliant day. The camping after everyone else went home and Kirley and Gwenog went to bed for the night was really great too – especially the snogging that they ended their day with after Lily and Jonah went into their rooms for the night; and the falling asleep on the sofa that allowed them to cuddle together for the handful of hours of sleep they were able to get before morning. That wake-up mini-snogging made for a brilliant start to their Sunday; and the rest of the day was once again all about family and friends fun – this time with Al's family once they went over to his house after breakfast to have another couple of hours of party set-up work there.

While Kirley and Gwenog had enjoyed the breakfast that Al and Gwendolyn had cooked for them, and they did stop in for a visit that included staying for dinner; they sent the four kids along to Harry and Ginny without going too so that they could do other things at home and elsewhere without the kids for a few hours. Al and Gwendolyn had to put up with some early insults from James when they first got there, but then he disappeared when it was time to get started on the work. Harry and Ginny had extra help donated for that, but while Al was glad to have Rose and Hugo for two of those volunteers; he'd needed to share a long hug with Rose when she first came out into the back yard after arriving by Floo Network; and then he had her – and Gwendolyn – go over to the storage barn so that they could talk and he could offer his condolences.

"You finally got together with Shane?" he asked after telling Rose he was sorry and hugging her again.

"Yeah," she agreed sadly; though she smiled just a bit too. "He finally called and invited me over after I suggested that we really should get together at least once before seeing each other again on the Hogwarts Express when we'd have all of our friends around too." She sighed and shook her head. "I can't even be mad at him. It's not as if he's fallen for another Witch – or Muggle girl for that matter. He's just so shy and nice that he didn't want to hurt me by admitting that he doesn't think that we have enough in common to make up for the differences – with Quidditch actually only being part of that. He likes being a Wizard; but isn't at all sure that he'll want to live in our World full-time after we're done at Hogwarts – and he knows that I will for sure; since I can't really play professional Quidditch and live the rest of the time in the muggle world."

"Well, he's right about that," Gwendolyn agreed. "I've never heard of any Quidditch players doing that. I didn't really think about that for our Muggle-borm friends – or other teens that grow up in the Muggle world with one Muggle parent or because they live with Muggle relatives. Was that a tough decision for your Mum?"

Rose shook her head. "No – she's like Uncle Harry for that. The Wizarding World is home for her – and felt that way from the start. She does have friends from school that live more in the Muggle world than in ours; but that's tough to do when you can't do magic around Muggles. I guess that's not a big deal when we're underage; but I can't imagine doing that once we are able to use magic outside of school – or why some Witches and Wizards choose to do that." She smiled ruefully then. "That certainly proves one of Shane's points. I knew we weren't meant to be like you guys are, and I don't even feel all that bad about breaking up yesterday; but I'm still sad. We traded all the usual 'stay friends' platitudes, and we might be able to do that to a certain extent; but I'm also sure that we're done with hanging out together every day – and I doubt he'll still be in our study group when we get back to school. That was actually something I didn't know – that he was finding it tough to keep up with all of the extra work and time we spend studying. He had better marks on his second-year report; but I don't think that he felt it was worth the extra effort and stress."

"It's a bit too early for me to make any suggestions about a study buddy replacement," Gwendolyn told her; "but you do still have two of your best friends here for you – and most of our other study group friends will likely all be there for you in September too – though i suppose that could change a bit like it did at the start of last year."

"I appreciate that," Rose assured her, "and for all I know; this will work out better for me than it will for you." She smiled when Gwendolyn laughed.

"I will still find time to snog Al even with all of the extra classes, studying, and Quidditch. Al might need to study in his dorm room after curfew some nights; but that is not something we'll let drop off the weekly schedule no matter how busy we are."

"Probably," Rose agreed, "but if I'm single for the next year or two; save your girl chats about that for when I'm not around."

"You haven't been doing that before now, have you?" al asked; and both girls laughed.

"No, since that'd just be weird for me," Rose assured him; "but now I have one more reason for not wanting to do that."

They did need to keep working, and got back to that for the hour and a half or so it took to get everything set up for another play day. After that, it was time to have fun; and they started that part of the day out with a cool-down swim with most of the volunteers. The Quidditch, games, hang-out time, food, and more swimming kept them busy for the rest of the day. Since most of the adults also wanted to talk with the kids about their one-week countdown to September First; there was a bit too much nostalgia and looking ahead to being away from home until Christmas for some of the teens and tweens; but even most of that was entertaining. The lunch crowd wasn't large, but the gang that Harry and Ginny fed for dinner exceeded the capacity of the available tables; so Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and some of the other, younger kids took their plates and drinks and sat in lawn chairs by the pools or on the benches at the Quidditch pitch.

That didn't exactly work out for making special new memories with their parents before heading back to school; but they managed to do quite a bit of that during the rest of the day – and they did still have a week left at home – even if they wouldn't see most of the family friends or even some of their aunts, uncles, and cousins again before leaving for Hogwarts. There was still a bit more fun after dinner for some of the guests, but most began heading home after the dinner clean-up was finished. Gwenog had work waiting for her at home, so she took Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah home with her when the first wave of outbound guests left; but Al got to hang out with Rose until nearly nine o'clock because Ron and Hermione stayed to hang out with Harry and Ginny until they were among the last guests there. When they were down to just Harry, Ginny, and the three kids, Al and Lily helped out with the last bits of yard and kitchen clean-up while James played mirror games in the sitting room; and then they both decided to go up to bed after two very long, fun-filled days.

The last six days of August and their summer holidays started out quietly on Monday for Al and Lily – once they got past the James Potter morning meltdown and got to their quiet work and play day at the Burrow. They had Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne all there with them for the day, so the chores didn't take long; and then they had the rest of the day available to just take it easy and have fun together. The Quidditch, swimming, and walk to town and back didn't rank very high on the excitement scale compared to the weekend or other fun days they'd had all summer, but they were glad to be able to hang out together; and that was especially great for getting to play with Roxanne when they weren't sharing her with the rest of their family. She was happy too; and Al, Rose, and Lily helped a lot with making her feel better when she was already starting to feel left out as the last cousin being left at home on September First – even if that was only going to be for one more year.

With the time ticking down more immediately now, Al wasn't surprised when his parents had no plans for Monday evening – or that they had an easy-meal for dinner that allowed them to have extra play time together. James wasn't really interested in getting involved in the fun, but did get goaded into a Seeker duel that Harry had with him while using Lily's broom to 'make it fair' for James. Al was mostly amused to watch his father hold back while playing so that James could win the duel; and amazed that his brother truly didn't seem to recognize that he was being allowed to win. Ginny and Lily had a Seeker duel after that too, but while Al played around on his broom; he only worked on flying tricks – and had Ginny and Lily try some of them with him when they saw him doing something that they thought was cool. A family swim followed the Quidditch, and while James really had some fun with insulting Al from that point on; they stayed together as a family through the swim and on to watching some mirror network shows together after that – though James played video games on the television while the mirror was in use for the shows.

Getting to spend the day with Gwendolyn on Tuesday was more important to Al than anything else, which might not be a good thing when he was now also the junior team Captain; but then he didn't think that having fun with his girlfriend and having a great Quidditch practice needed to be incompatible. Since all of the junior players had fun, and he was sure that they were all getting better every week; he actually wished that they could keep practicing together during the school year. That wasn't really an option when he and Gwendolyn were both going to need to have reserve players training with them in case they were needed – and to possibly help future House teams; but that didn't change the fact that they could all be better the more they played with the best players in the school – just as he and Gwendolyn kept geting better through their Chaser duels.

While the practice time in the morning on Tuesday was great, most of the junior players left after a cool-off swim. Gwendolyn, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo stayed for the rest of the day; but only until they were picked up by parents after work. They had lunch with about half of the senior team players, and Ginny stopped in with take-out food to deal with feeding the gang; but Dominique and Lucy were in charge for the day while she worked. Playing in the pool and back yard worked for the six younger kids until the senior team practice started getting ugly; and then they went for a bike ride instead of staying to watch the train wreck. James started to get so frustrated with Brandon that he turned the Seeker duel mean – whether that was through insults or borderline cheap shots. There was nothing borderline about Ollie's play, and he pretended to justify it by telling everyone that he was just trying to help his team get ready to play against Slytherin in November. Dominique had her hands full with the two boys; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of giving her one less thing to worry about by getting out of her way – and taking care of Lily, Jonah, and Hugo while they did that.

When they got back to the yard from their ride, the practice was over; most of the senior players had left; and Dominique and Lucy were the last teens there – other than James and Ollie. The two boys were inside, though, and apparently sick and tired of being yelled at by everyone else on the team; so they all tried to just stay out of the way whenever James and Ollie took a break from their gaming for a swim or to demand something of their 'babysitters' – with those requests always made for things they could get for themselves. That probably annoyed Al even more than it annoyed his cousins; but he didn't try to get in the middle of it – especially since Dominique and Lucy didn't need his help to deal with James and Ollie anyway. Fortunately for all of them, Ollie had to go home sooner instead of later; and then the rest of his cousins left shortly after Ginny got home from work – including Rose and Hugo. Gwendolyn and Jonah were able to stay until Gwenog came for them after she finished up for the day with the Harpies, and while Al and Gwendolyn would have been happy to hang out all night again; they knew that their parents all needed the extra time with their respective kids now that they were down to five sleeps before September First.

After having a bad afternoon, James wasn't fun to be around during dinner or for the rest of the evening; though he directed most of his anger at Al and continued to be marginally civil with his parents and sister. Ginny and Harry both had some work to do after dinner, but Al and Lily had a Seeker duel while they were busy in the office; they all went for a swim after that; and then they had another semi-quiet couple of hours in the sitting room – though James tried his very best to mess that up for Al by tossing out insults at every opportunity. That's why Al was first to go to bed; he worked on more textbook reading until Gwendolyn called for their bedtime mirror chat; and then he was out for the night not long after that.

Wednesday was another work and play day at the Burrow for Al and Lily. Rose and Hugo were there for the morning, but then they went out for lunch with their parents and on to the Cannons' second match of the season while Al and Lily got to have their grandmother to themselves for the rest of the day. They likely had more fun than most Cannons fans, since that game didn't go at all well for their team; but that was partly because they'd finished the work in the morning and played all afternoon. Their entertainment included having some baking fun with Molly after lunch and a Seeker duel in the orchard after deciding that they didn't want to watch the Cannons' train wreck of a match. Ginny's post-game recap for Harry and all three kids at dinner was fairly entertaining; though Ron wouldn't have been amused by her stories – despite the fact that they were all true. For the third evening in a row, they had a quiet family play time; with more Quidditch, swimming, and time in the sitting room. Al ended his night with more reading and another mirror chat with Gwendolyn too, but he was also more tired out than normal; and went to sleep even earlier than usual.

They were having their last Quidditch practices of the summer on Thursday, and Ginny had encouraged Al, Lily, and their cousins to invite all of the players they'd worked with during the summer for a lunch party. Since nearly everyone accepted, they had quite a gang at the house all day – whether that was senior players coming over early; or junior players staying to swim and play all afternoon after their morning workout and the lunch. With too many players available for the junior team scrimmage; Al and Gwendolyn split it into two shorter matches; and rotated more than half of the players on both teams out after the second snitch catch. They were two of the players that only played in the first scrimmage; which gave them a chance to watch everyone else for the last hour or so of the scrimmage – and get to spend that time together while enjoying the show.

It wasn't until after the practice that they had a chance to talk with the rest of their friends; and they did that while swimming or sitting next to one of the three portable pools that were set up for the day. The senior players that were there early were using the second pool; and Lily and the younger tweens had pretty much claimed the third one – at least for the rest of the morning. In addition to their usual Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose also had Tory, Madison, and a few other teens with them for some or all of the day; though not all of them were there because of the Quidditch. Bristol, for instance, was strictly there for the fun with her friends. One thing that was missing compared to a year ago was any major issues with James and Ollie. That didn't keep them from trying to annoy Al and Gwendolyn, but that was comparatively minor; and they weren't going to be able to pull of any major stunts against Al, Rose, or Ray again this year anyway – at least when it came to Quidditch.

"It just seems wrong that they're hotter and more annoying," Bristol told the other girls after James and Ollie had moved on from a walk-by round of insults for Al and Gwendolyn where, among other things; they predicted that Slytherin would likely win at least two matches with their junior team thanks to how terrible the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams were sure to be this year.

"I thought they were taking it easy compared to a year ago," Rose suggested; grinning when Bristol laughed.

"Didn't they practice at Ollie's house all last summer?" she asked; and Rose nodded.

"Yes, but they were also busy plotting a way to keep us off the team – and likely doing that all summer too. Al and Gwendolyn have had some fairly awful moments with James this summer, but we will be playing Quidditch this year; so I'm a happy camper regardless of how much they try insulting us."

"For now," Tory agreed. "Let's wait and see what happens when we get back to school and they can use magic again."

"They'll be on probation for the entire year," Rose reminded her. "I doubt that'll suddenly turn them into model students; but they're out of second chances now; so I hope they're not dumb-enough to try anything really awful that gets them expelled permanently."

"I'd have agreed with you before James blasted Al that first night they were allowed back to write exams," Tory countered. "Now I just have no idea – and think we should be ready for anything at least for a while."

"Or longer," Madison added. "It would suck to let our guard down only to then have them blast us again when we least expect it."

"Maybe we should consider starting another study group and stay away from the trouble-maker this year," Scott Holden suggested; and Madison laughed but shook her head too.

"I've thought about that because of how much extra work they do with their studying, but Mum and Dad were so impressed with my last report that I probably can't do that and keep my marks up to those new standards they have for me now."

"We have the extra classes this year," Tory pointed out. "This might be the perfect time to do that. At least we have an excuse this year if our marks dip, but if we still end up with all O's and E's even with the extra classes; the parents will expect us to do that all the way through to our NEWT year after that."

"That's tempting too, but I'll likely stick with our study group. I wouldn't slack off with my Quidditch; so I probably shouldn't do it with my studies either – no matter how much I'd like to do anything else that isn't studying."

"I'm pretty sure you just defined the James and Ollie study method," Bristol offered; "but let's not go there – as thempting as they are – I mean tempting as that is."

"We know what you meant; and you're scaring the kids," Gwendolyn advised her. "If you're looking for scary; we could talk about how your summer revision is going now that we're down to just three sleeps until we head back to Hogwarts."

"You're all a bad influence on me; and I had that done a month ago," Bristol advised her with a somewhat smug smile. "I've even read the first chapter of every one of my textbooks already."

"Good for you," Rose said approvingly. "I am so ready to get started on those classes – and get back to using magic whenever we want too."

"We're all looking forward to the last part of that," Bristol assured her. "Not so much the classes and studying for me – except for the classes I like the most."

"You like playing with the magic as much as the rest of us," Tory told her; "and even Al and Rose don't love all of the research and report writing – even if they do like it better than the rest of us." She shook her head and offered a half-scowl for Bristol. "You're scaring the kids again. Bristol."

"Huh? Why?"

"You just had to look away from the reasons for me saying that," Tory explained. "Haven't you still been hanging out with Chris all summer?"

"Not much, no," Bristol admitted. "We've only managed to get together a few times."

"That explains it," Madison offered with a grin. "Try to hold off for a few more days. You'll either be back together with Chris every day; or have better options than James and Ollie."

"Funny, I don't hear you saying that to Gwendolyn and Tory; and there are some noticeable similarities between James and Ollie and Al and Ray."

Madison laughed. "Maybe, but the differences are rather significant – especially for those of us who have been on the wrong end of their wands – or have you forgotten that already?"

"After a couple of very hot sumer months that haven't been hot for the right reasons; I'm thinking of that as foreplay," Bristol offered with a grin and another long look in James' direction. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, and I think you've scared Al out of the pool," Gwendolyn answered.

Al didn't deny that, though it was what he was sensing from their friend that was unsettling for him in close proximity; so he needed to have some space – even though the girls then had some fun teasing him – and continuing to talk about James, Ollie, and other boys. Gwendolyn didn't join him by getting out of the pool for a while, but she was having fun with their friends; and he was still part of the fun – if on the edges for a while. The three groups of swimmers did inter-mingle too; though that was mostly between the younger two groups. There was more of that during lunch, and while Al and Gwendolyn sat with some of their friends; they also had Lily, Jonah, and Gwendolyn's cousins with them for the meal too. They also helped with the clean-up after lunch while the senior team players got started on their workout and practice; and then they went back to playing for the rest of the afternoon.

The senior team practice went better than most for the past month or more; and that was likely because of the extra spectators. James didn't do much better against Brandon, but he did get a fairly early catch that made him happy – even though Brandon then went on to hold him off from making another catch for the rest of the scrimmage. Ollie didn't fare any better than normal, but played nice for the crowd of teens watching. Al was happy about all of that; so the only problem he had during that entire practice was if he spent too much time near Bristol anytime she was concentrating on James – which was frighteningly often. It wasn't as if he wanted the information, and certainly had no intention of saying anything to anyone about it; but he did still feel sad when he knew that Bristol went off to follow James into the house and probably make a moderately-bad choice. After two years at Hogwarts, he'd seen or heard about other bad choices his friends had made, and he didn't believe he had the right or responsibility to intrude in their lives over anything; so it was really just his expanding abilities that made him aware of more and more around him that was really his own personal problem.

Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other girls didn't have the same sensory talents that he did, but they couldn't miss noticing how Bristol was acting; and they were mostly just surprised and confused by her – particularly since she hadn't suggested that things were over between her and Chris – just that they hadn't been able to see each other much during the holidays. Whatever happened in the house between James and Bristol wasn't witnessed by anyone else, and since it was shortly after the end of the senior team practice; there was one change for Al and Gwendolyn that they wouldn't have thanked Bristol for – especially due to the reason for it. When James did eventually return to the back yard – shortly after Bristol did; he completely left Al and Gwendolyn alone. That wasn't true for Bristol, since they suddenly seemed to find reasons to interact and flirt with each other; and they both disappeared again later – this time in the vicinity of the storage barn.

That was more than a bit surreal for Al, since he'd normally be glad to have James AWOL for any lengths of time that gave him a break from the never-ending risk of being insulted and messed with in front of his friends; but he tried not to think about that at all and just enjoy the fun with everyone else. Trying not to think about something was easier said than done; but play time in and around the pool with Gwendolyn in a swimsuit helped; as did some of the games they played – like Fanged Frisbee. Their end-of-summer practices party started winding down shortly before Ginny got home from work; with most of the older teens and about half of the younger cousins and friends moving on already by around four-thirty. The departures sped up after Ginny was back and ready to take over again from Dominique and Lucy.

Gwendolyn and Jonah were among the last big group of departures, and while Al would have preferred another sleepover or camping night; they were getting to do that on Friday night ahead of the Harpies match on Saturday; so he couldn't complain at all about that. He also had work to do after she left anyway; which gave him a bonus reprieve from James – though Bristol continued to do that for a while even after everyone else had left; pushing off her departure until her mother called and insisted she come home – or get picked up if she didn't do that voluntarily. James disappeared again after seeing Bristol on her way home through the Floo Network first; but was ready to get back to bugging Al as soon as they sat down for dinner not long after Harry got home from Auror Headquarters.

"You should invite your friends over for play days more often," James told Al after the conversation turned toward the Quidditch and party recap from league Quidditch and Ministry of Magic work reviews. "I've decided that there's a lot to be said for you having more Witches for friends than Wizards – especially now that they're getting to be a bit more, um, interesting to be around."

"You're just deciding that when we'll be off to Hogwarts in three days?" Lily asked. "That won't work out for you when you're working tomorrow and Saturday even if we did invite everyone to come over again – and they could do that."

"I've only just changed my mind about that," James said expansively; smirking at Al. "It seems that Al's girlfriends are finally seeing which of us is the real deal too; which is going to be good for me and bad for the loser." He paused, but Al didn't say anything. "What's the matter, loser? Kneazle got your tongue?"

"No – I just think that there are some things that brothers shouldn't talk about; and what you're attempting to brag about without just saying it outright is one of them."

"I'd say you're just afraid that Gwendolyn will come looking for a good time with me instead of you too," James retorted. Al didn't respond; so James' smirk turned dark and he laughed and looked as if he'd won some battle and prize. "Don't worry, loser. Your girlfriend isn't all that anyway, so I'd be bored with her soon-enough; and then I'm sure you'd take her back again – even if she'd always know after that how pathetic you are by comparison."

"Don't you get tired of being such a git?" Lily asked him half-seriously as she shook her head. "From what I've seen in your practices lately, instead of hating on Al all of the time; you ought to be calling a truce and asking him to help you with your Seeker training."

"Brandon hasn't caught the snitch over me even once all summer," James retorted. "Dominique will never pick him over me for her team – unless she loses her mind."

Lily smiled at him. "I thought the jobs go to the winners at tryouts – for most team Captains, anyway. I've also heard that the Captain makes the choices for ties – or if nobody catches the snitch for the Seeker duels. That's what happened for you last year, isn't it?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So you'd better hope that you catch the snitch before time runs out for tryouts," Lily explained. "It's not as if you've been so wonderful to Dominique that she has any reason to pick you – not to mention that Brandon was on a team with two wins last year."

James snorted. "Those wins were despite him; not because of him."

"Brandon did what he does best – defends the snitch," Lily countered. "That can be a winning game plan for a team with Chasers as good as our senior team has and a decent Keeper – even if Louis maybe isn't quite as good as Belinda yet."

"I'd say he's better, but you'd never believe that just because Belinda's a Witch. Brandon's a lousy Seeker, and you're talking nonsense; since I'll win the job anyway."

Lily laughed. "Louis wouldn't say he's better than Belinda. Maybe he will be with another couple of years of experience; but we won't know the answer to that until they're both in the show and play some matches against each other."

"Whatever," James said with a dismissive wave. "Nice try with changing the subject; but let's get back to talking about Al's dwindling group of girlfriends. Would you like to take a guess on how long it'll take me to show the rest of them how much better I am than he is? I'll have to ask Ollie to help me out with Rose for that, since it'd just be gross if I did that; but the rest of them should be fun – for a day or two each."

"You make me sick," Lily told him; looking truly disgusted. "It's no wonder that you talk like that so much – it'd be impossible to keep all of that ugly bottled up inside if you didn't spout some of it off every day."

Al might have laughed at that if it wasn't for the fact that Lily was actually spot-on with that statement. James did laugh; and then he continued to add insults and idiocies while he demolished three plates full of food before getting around to dessert. Harry and Ginny mostly let him do that, and Al didn't know how he felt about that; but then he didn't try to stop James either. He was relieved when James sauntered off to the sitting room to play mirror games and leave the work for 'the losers' to deal with; since that also gave him reason to productively vent through the clean-up chore. He was able to convince Lily to go and have a Seeker duel with their mother or father while he did the work; and then ended up doing that with his father while two of their favorite girls went out to play.

By then, he'd had enough fun for the day, so other than goinv for a swim with Lily after she was finished her Seeker duel; he went up to his room and mostly just relaxed and read his textbooks for a few hours until he ended his night with an early bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. That was partly because he wanted to be ready for their last two days at home before heading back to Hogwarts; but was mostly because he needed to stay away from James as the urge to blast his brother grew the more he thought about what a git James had been since getting the ridiculous ego boost from Bristol. The only problem he had with his go-to-sleep-early plan was the time it took to stop thinking about all of that and just let go of everything for the rest of the night.

"Happy Birthday," Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was set up in the usual spot. "That must be why you're smiling like that."

"It is, and thank-you," Scorpius answered enthusiastically. "My parents and grandparents generally drive me crazy; but they do well-enough when it comes to gifts for me. They've given me a Lightningbolt!"

"I'll assume that's the broom; not the natural phenomena," Thomas joked. "That should help you out with your Quidditch and team this year."

"It'll be brilliant!" Scorpius assured him. "I'll be sure to have the only Lightningbolt among the junior players; and even the senior players don't usually have them. James Potter will wish he has one after seeing me on mine."

"I expect you'll have a few jealous fellow Slytherin as well; but take care when handling that. Jealousy can turn them against you just when you're beginning to develop connections with many of them."

"It's my birthday; so I should be allowed to gloat if I want to – at least for today," Scorpius complained; and Thomas laughed.

"Okay, I won't rain on your party. Are you having one?"

"Yes – after our team practice," Scorpius confirmed. "That's why I'm talking with you now. There's a good chance that I'll be busy for the rest of the day – and up late with Terri."

"I'll skip commenting on that today; and won't need the details tomorrow," Thomas advised him; earning a smirk from Scorpius. "While we can't do lessons again for another few days, and I'm sure you don't want to simply study a lesson today; is there anything that you did want to do while we can talk?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Not really," he admitted. "I just wanted to include you in my birthday fun – even if that probably seems dumb to you – and maybe pointless too."

"We are friends, Scorpius, and while it's true that such things no longer have meaning for me; I am glad that you value our relationship enough to include me when you're celebrating important moments in your life."

"Did you celebrate your birthday with parties and friends when you were my age?" Scorpius asked curiously. "That idea somehow seems strange to me; but you weren't always the Dark Lord and leader of the Death Eaters and your army. I don't even know when your birthday is – or celebrated it with you."

"I was born on December thirty-first, nineteen twenty-six," Thomas advised him. "I wouldn't call what they did for birthdays at the orphanage where I grew up parties or celebrations. For the years I stayed at Hogwarts over the Christmas breaks, I didn't have friends staying there too; and so no, I didn't have parties when I was your age." He smiled at Scorpius' reaction. "Do not feel sorry for my lot in life, and I truly am beyond caring about such things; so don't try to make up for my poor excuse for a childhood by throwing any parties for me from now on. I can't exactly make wishes and blow out candles – or get involved in any of the other normal birthday fun."

"Maybe not, but I don't need to do anything. The entire Wizarding World still throws parties every December thirty-first – I just didn't realize that was for you birthday."

Thomas laughed. "Funny, but I'm sure you know that New Year's Eve celebrations started long before I was born. That was another reason for why my special day got lost at the orphanage and at Hogwarts too."

"I haven't liked being one of the summer birthday students my first two years at Hogwarts; but I hope this one will be better – not that birthdays at school are good for everyone. Some turn out fairly awful."

"No doubt," Thomas agreed; "and I'm sure that young Ms. Timms will be glad to help you have a very happy birthday – though I'll again remind you that I don't want or need the details from that part of your life."

"I won't forget," Scorpius promised.

He talked for a while longer with Thomas, but then put the portrait away; and got on with his birthday adventures. The Quidditch practice he had with a small gang of Slytherin players and hopefuls went great from his own playing perspective; but not so hot for the rest of his team. His new broom was scary-fast, but with nobody else using the fastest broom in the world; he didn't need to even try to fly at full speed. While he wasn't as happy about the other players, he decided not to let that bother him on his birthday; and he happily moved on to the party fun that followed the practice – starting with some swimming to cool down before lunch. That was much more fun thanks to the group of Witches – including Terri – that had been invited to his party and had come early to watch the Quidditch practice; and Scorpius had been developing a real appreciation for girlfriends – and girls in general – in swimsuits.

The lunch, afternoon of play time with a lot more swimming; and dinner with just a handful of friends was followed by a quieter evening with just Terri staying late – and overnight in one of the guest rooms. Of course while she truly did stay in that room for the night; she didn't do that alone; so the snogging fun after his parents and grandparents went to bed wasn't the hottest part of his day. The thrill of sneaking into Terri's room; the fun that went along with convincing her to let him stay for most of the night; and then proving to her that they really would have more fun together had all made for a brilliant end to their day – and helped to make his thirteenth birthday a best-ever-so-far kind of great!

While that also meant that he pretty much missed out on the third-to-last sleep before heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday, he was okay with that; and happily sure that Thomas really wouldn't want the details about what he and Terri had been... up to all night!

Friday morning began well-enough for Al when he woke and then could enjoy the quiet before the storm that was his older brother. Getting ready for the day and helping his father out with making breakfast had been good; so the day didn't start going downhill until James was ordered to get up and join them for that morning meal – and then get ready to head over to the Burrow for the morning until he'd be going into London for his usual afternoon-to-close shift at the wheezes store. From that point on, for most of the morning; James took out his anger and peevishness on Al – mostly by resuming the taunts about his new interest in converting all of Al's 'girlfriends' to being enamored, devout followers of him – one intimate conquest at a time.

Since they didn't have any other cousins at the Burrow for the day on Friday while Rose and Hugo were spending the day with their Granger grandparents, and Rose also had Cora's birthday party to attend too; James was able to make the morning even more unpleasant than he might have been able to do otherwise – though he still needed to be careful around his grandmother. A bit amazingly, he even managed to do that while still avoiding any help with the garden chores that Al and Lily did work on for Molly, so by the time that James was sent on to the wheezes store; Al was glad to be rid of him – and finally able to look forward to the rest of his day – especially the camping date night he had booked with Gwendolyn.

They – Al and Lily – still needed to spend part of the afternoon with their grandmother while Ginny finished up her work for the day, but with the chores finished by then; they were able to have a Seeker duel in the orchard and go to town for ice cream treats to keep entertained while they waited for Ginny to come and get them once she was done with her last team practice visit ahead of the weekend matches. Ginny did that early so that Al had time to get the tent, a campfire, and a few other things ready to go for his date with Gwendolyn; and she and Lily both helped him with some of the cooking work for the barbeque picnic dinner he was doing with her. He had everything ready by the time Gwendolyn was brought over by Gwenog after she'd finished work – at about the same time that Harry got home from Auror Headquarters, and while they had a little visit with his parents and sister; Al then took Gwendolyn out to the spot near the back of their yard where he had a table and two chairs set up for them in a nice spot under the shade of a couple of trees; ready to enjoy some quality time with just the two of them while Harry, Ginny, and Lily had dinner inside ahead of their own plans for the evening.

"This looks wonderful, Al," Gwendolyn said happily as he held her chair out for her and she sat down. "Have you been working on this all day?"

"No, but Mum and Lily did help me out a bit with dinner while I was getting the tent and campfire set up after we got home from the Burrow. They didn't mind; since we made up enough of everything for them to have too. How was your day?"

"Pretty good; and looking even better right now. Dad, Jonah, and I did some running around and chores this morning; Jonah and I played Quidditch and went swimming after lunch; and then I had a little kneazle-nap before getting ready to come here."

Al smiled at her. "Well that won't work out very well for us if you're not tired-enough later for us to accidentally fall asleep on a sofa so we can cuddle all night."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Then we'll either need to tire ourselves out – or just do that on purpose instead," she suggested. "Do I want to ask how your day has been so far? You might not want to talk about it if James was on a roll again this morning."

"He was," Al agreed. "I don't know if he's just being especially nasty because we'll be leaving on Sunday; or if there's some other reason for it. Mum and Dad are staying out of it so that they don't have another big fight with him right before we go; but he's just taking advantage of that."

"As he usually does for everything," Gwendolyn offered with a nod. "We really don't want to go there, though, so let's talk about anything else. I didn't talk to Mum for very long before she brought me over; but I think she feels pretty good about our team for the match tomorrow."

"So do I," Al agreed with a smile; "but that's mostly because I don't think that our team is going to lose two out of our first three matches of the season."

"Especially since it won't be any fun going to work for the next week or two if they do lose tomorrow," Gwendolyn joked.

With the change in conversation away from James; they moved on to enjoy their dinner for two; they took care of the clean-up together; and then Al started Gwendolyn's entertainment for the evening with a horseback ride out on one of the nearby trails. He'd made the changes before and after the ride from the safety of their protected yard, so even though Harry, Ginny, and Lily had gone out by then for some parents and daughter play time; it wasn't a problem for Al and Gwendolyn – and they had the bonus of being on their own after that until Harry and Ginny got home from London with James and Lily. While snogging each other senseless while they were alone was at least a bit tempting, they instead had fun with some flying tricks play time; a long swim in the pool that was, admittedly, a bit hotter without anyone else around; and then a short intermission while they got dried off and ready for their campfire.

Al had the fire lit and his guitar out and ready to go when Gwendolyn joined him by the fire. She had her guitar too, and while cuddling by the fire was part of the plan for later; they happily sat and played music through until Harry, Ginny, James, and Lily got home. They didn't have to deal with James at all, and while Al had sensed some pent-up nastiness from his brother; he went straight into the house without saying a word to them while Lily led their parents out to the campfire to see them.

"Don't worry – I'm only allowed to come and say goodnight to you," Lily teased as she reached them and leaned over to hug Gwendolyn before moving on to hug Al too. "That sounded great. I'm glad to see that you're having fun tonight too. Now I won't feel bad about telling Gwendolyn all about the great sales Mum and I found while shopping at our favorite Muggle Mall tonight – or the desserts we went out for after getting James from work so that you could have a bit more time without us around."

"We brought two of those treats home for you,' Ginny advised them as she handed a little box to Al before hugging him. She'd already hugged Gwendolyn by then; and Harry was right behind her for doing that with the kids. "Is there anything we should know about before we go in for the night?"

"Yeah," Al answered with a smile. "We love you. Thanks for whatever you did that had James going inside instead of laying into me again tonight."

"And for the desserts," Gwendolyn added. "We have been having fun – but not too much; so you haven't missed anything around here."

Lily laughed and hugged her again. "We didn't think that you'd have a wild party while we were gone – or I'd have found a way to stay here for it," she joked; intentionally avoiding what Gwendolyn had obviously meant. "Mum and Dad will have more to worry about for that sort of thing with me in a few years." Al joined in for the laughs; but found it a bit strange too as he sensed that his sister had meant that in more than one way – a fact that Gwendolyn and Ginny both apparently noticed too.

"Then we'll avoid leaving you alone for very long – starting in a few years," Ginny told her. "Al and Gwendolyn don't need us dragging out this goodnight visit for years, though, and we have a busy day ahead tomorrow; so let's head inside and call it a night."

Lily had another quick round of hugs for Al and Gwendolyn; but it was only another couple of minutes before they were once again alone – at least in the back yard. They took a short break from the music to have their desserts; played for another half hour after that; and then put the guitars away and enjoyed some quiet cuddle time by the fire while toasting marshmallows and talking quietly about everything from their plans for the last day of summer to their hopes and best wishes for the coming school year. They put the fire out at midnight, but stayed out in the back yard for a whie longer because doing a bit of star-gazing was possible thanks to an only-partially cloudy sky. For that, a blanket at center pitch allowed them to lay side-by-side and cuddle while watching the sky; and they ended up doing that until nearly one o'clock before heading into the tent for the night.

They split up to get changed and ready for bed, but had no intention of sleeping in their rooms when they met up in the main room of the tent and were soon stretched out and comfortable on one of the sofas. Al turned on the mirror network, but only to one of the music shows; since by then they were both only interested in sharing what would be their last snogging session at home until sometime over the Christmas holidays. They made the most of that; ending their date night brilliantly; and then happily snuggled close and had a nap for a few hours until it was time to wake at sunrise on Saturday. Their wake-up snogging was fun too, if more playful than hot; and then Gwendolyn napped for a while longer until Al was finished getting ready for the day. He woke her again; they shared a few bonus moments of snogging; and then he went to the house to get started on making breakfast while she took her turn having a shower and getting ready for their shopping, Quidditch, and family and friends fun day. He'd been smiling and incredibly happy as he reached the kitchen and started working on brewing a pot of coffee for his parents; but steeled himself for the worst when James surprised him with his arrival in the kitchen too.

"So, should we book the bed in the maternity ward at St. Mungo's for about nine months from now?" he asked with a sneer; and then he laughed when Al turned to glare at him. "Oh right – you're the good little loser. Maybe I should go out to the tent and give Gwendolyn a wake-up call that'll have her forgetting all about you." He walked toward the back door; but didn't go outside when Al just turned back to the counter and tried to ignore him. "What's wrong, Potty? Are you such a total loser that you won't even stand up for your girlfriend and just let me take her away from you?"

Al laughed. "What do you want me to do? It doesn't matter what I do – you treat me like this whether I say or do nothing to you at all or kick your butt in a duel or fight. I trust Gwendolyn; and you have no chance of being anything to her except a future brother-in-law – and a lousy one at that if you don't get over yourself and start caring about the people that should mean the most to you."

"Do you think that Chris trusts Bristol as much as you apparently trust Gwendolyn?" James asked; his smile now lewd and wolfish. "How's that working out for him?"

"He's a roommate and friend of yours," Al pointed out. "How's that working out for you, James? Are your friendships so meaningless that you don't care about any of your mates?"

"I'm not dating him – or any Witches right now for that matter," James retorted; "so I've done nothing wrong."

"The really sad thing about that comment is the fact that you've deluded yourself into thinking that's true – about everything. It's never your fault; and you never do anything wrong."

"You're talking about you," James retorted. "Everyone thinks that you're the perfect one that never does wrong."

Al laughed. "Sure, 'cause I've never gotten into trouble in my life. Thanks for making part of my point, though; since you didn't say that I think or believe that – only that others do."

"That's because you know what a rotter you really are – just as I do." James shook his head and smirked. "This is fun, but I've a Witch to go and impress now while you're doing the cooking, loser; so I'll talk to you later – if Gwendolyn and I manage to make it back here in time to eat. We'll likely be too busy, though, so if we're not here when you're ready to feed us; keep our food warm for us, will you?"

By then, Al had sensed Gwendolyn's nearness to him; and he smiled when she opened the door – and hit James with it rather hard; since he'd been standing there and reaching for the door knob. He'd been leaning forward a bit too; so the door hit him rather solidly on the forehead; and he stumbled back in surprise with a shout of pain.

"Are you okay, James?" Gwendolyn asked solicitously. "I'm sorry – I didn't expect anyone to be at the door so early in the morning!"

"No, I'm not okay," James spat angrily; glaring at her. "You did that on purpose!"

Gwendolyn smiled at him sweetly. "Yes, but you had it coming to you for being such a disgusting git," she admitted and added. She held up her wrist with the charm bracelet on it. "Super-sensory charm," she reminded him. "You truly are delusional if you think I'd ever pick you over Al – or do anything to hurt him."

She'd started to walk toward Al while saying that; but spun around when she heard James hurry after her – and saw the fire in Al's eyes as he pulled something out of his pocket. Grabbing her 'shield' charm; Gwendolyn summoned it; and then watched in wide-eyed amazement as two shields appeared between her and James – hers pushing on the one Al had raised; and both of them working together to toss James across the room and into the dining room – where he crashed rather heavily into the chairs and table before landing on his butt.

"What's going on down there?" Harry demanded as he came running at the sounds of the crashing and James' howls of pain and rage.

"Nothing that you'll do anything about," James retorted hotly as Harry reached the kitchen and took in the scene. "Gwendolyn bashed me in the head with the door; and then the two of them blasted me across the room when all I was doing was following Gwendolyn on my way to the kitchen table."

"That's pretty much true," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod and smile for Harry. "We can't prove he had it coming to him either – even though he did; so I guess you'll have to take us in and throw the book at us, Auror Potter."

"See – they admit it," James declared victoriously; turning to sneer maliciously at Al; but then looked confused at what he saw in Al's expression and eyes – a hardness and anger.

"Let's wait a minute and see whether Gwendolyn's right about not having any proof," Al told him; his voice angry too. "Will that potion or whatever it is still work if it's absorbed through your blood like that, James? I'll guess that you picked up a cut or two when the bottle broke in your hand."

James looked ready to offer a retort, but then his eyes widened; and he ran out of the room, up the stairs, and into his bedroom – slamming the door behind him. Harry watched him in surprise until he was at the top of the stairs; and then turned his attention back to Al and Gwendolyn again.

"I wonder if he's searching for the antidote or reversal potion; or hiding until it runs its course?" Gwendolyn mused; earning a laugh from Harry; but nothing from Al. She went over to him and shared a hug and kiss before stepping back to look at him. "I'm okay, Al – thanks to us. I didn't even see him holding anything – I only heard him rushing me from behind."

"I don't know what it would have done to you – or is doing to him now; but it wasn't going to be nice," Al told her seriously. He took a deep breath and growled in frustration as he exhaled. "Maybe we should just get Dad to drop us off in Diagon Alley and we'll have breakfast at one of the cafes. James has apparently stepped on my last nerve just now; and I really don't want to mess up the day before we're going back to Hogwarts."

"Well, Gwendolyn did suggest that I take the two of you in and throw the book at you," Harry suggested with a grin. "I suppose that as long as you visit flourish and Blotts while you're there that we'd have both covered. Give me a few minutes; I'll get Lily; and you can take her along. Ginny and I will meet up with you later for the back-to-school shopping you need to do for sweets and whatever else you've left to get done this morning – like food for the owls and Lily's furry little buddies."

"You don't want to investigate before sentencing?" Gwendolyn teased; and Harry laughed again.

"I suspect that we'll find out all we need to know once Ginny and I have a chance to talk with James after you're out of here. We've been expecting something like this to happen long before now with the way he's been treating you lately – even though we'd hoped for the best."

With that, Harry went upstairs again; Al finished what he was doing but didn't start cooking anything; and then Ginny ended up taking Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily to Diagon Alley while Harry stayed to start dealing with James – and helping him if needed. Most of the stores weren't open that early, but the Leaky and several cafes were open to serve breakfast – mostly to other shop owners and staff; along with the customers that were renting rooms at the Inn. It was a nice morning, so they picked one of the cafes with outdoor patio tables; ordered their drinks and food; and then sat down at a table with a nice view down Diagon Alley toward the bank.

"I know it's wrong, and I wouldn't have wanted Gwendolyn to get hit with whatever James was going to do to her; but I'd be okay with it if he was stuck with some awful affliction for a day or two. It might teach him a lesson."

"It wouldn't," Al disagreed; "and it probably was awful – or he wouldn't have run off like that. He's supposed to work at the store today, though; so Dad will help him if needed."

"And if he can," Lily added. "I guess Al's right and we don't want to get the school year off to a bad starte – even for James; so hopefully he'll be okay." She frowned then. "The only thing I don't understand is why he was bugging you so early in the first place. What did he do – stay up all night?"

"I think that he did," Al agreed – "or he was at least in the sitting room all night. That wasn't fun, but this did work out fairly-well for us in the end. We get to have breakfast without James bugging us at all; and probably won't see him again until dinnertime – or later if we're lucky-enough to have a long match today."

"Part of me is hoping for that; but I don't want it either," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "If the Harpies have a really long day, Mum will be really late getting home; and then I won't get to spend much time with her before we leave tomorrow."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Lily said with a nod. "Mum's working the game too; so that'd be the same for us – though we do at least get to spend the rest of the day with her while you can't do that with your Mum."

"I wonder if that'll make a difference for how Tory's Mum plays today?" Al offered with a smile. "She'll want to spend time with her tonight too; so maybe she'll earn a shut-out or something to help out with that."

"Just as long as Eddie doesn't do the same for the Arrows," Gwendolyn told him. "I wonder if that'll be weird for him playing against Victoire this season now that she's married to one of his best mates."

"She was engaged to Teddy last year and it didn't matter," Lily pointed out. "That should be a fun rivalry from now on, though – and weird if Teddy cheers for both of them today."

"Especially if he cheers for Eddie when he makes saves against Victoire," Al added with a grin.

"It's funny that you were thinkinga bout it like that while I was wondering if Teddy would cheer watching his wife score on his best mate," Lily teased; earning laughs.

"You can't be surprised by that considering the things that James has been saying to me for the last two days," Al reminded her; and Lily's smile turned into a temporary frown.

"I don't want to go there; though I would have thought it'd take him using a love potion to get any of your Witch friends to even look at him twice after the way he acted last year."

"Bristol's always thought he was hot," Gwendolyn advised her. "I'll just hope that she doesn't get hurt – even though she's the one making the big mistake going anywhere near James. He might even be worse than most Slytherins when it comes to how little respect he has for Witches." She shook her head. "I don't get that when he has such amazing Witches in your family."

"Thank-you," Lily said with a grin. "I resemble that comment."

"You do," Al assured her. "James knows that; but won't let reality get in the way of what he wants."

"It's more than that with him," Lily disagreed; "but let's not talk about him anymore. Will you still need to pack tonight or in the morning after camping with Al last night?"

"I have my trunk pretty much packed except for a textbook I've been reading and the things I need until tomorrow morning. You?"

Lily grinned at her. "I had some spare time with nothing to do last night; so I'm good to go – and we know that Al's been half-packed since we did our back-to-school shopping. James will be the mess he always is before a trip or the back-to-school days; but Mum always seems to get him to King's Cross on time even with all of the problems."

"Good job not talking about James," Al joked; and Lily laughed.

"That didn't work out," she agreed. "Let's try talking about the shopping we want to get done this morning. I'm not going to by a lot of sweets, since I'll count on you to pick up things like that on Hogsmeade weekends; but is there anything I should think about adding to my shopping list?"

"Al likes having extra, generic Witches and Wizards gifts for unexpected birthdays or other occasions," Gwendolyn answered seriously. "I've picked up a few things, and might add a few more today – maybe some league souvenirs or something. It really is a good idea – especially for firsties when you won't know the birthdays for some of your new friends until after you get to know them pretty well – and sometimes not even until the day of their birthdays. Al and I could still have some of that if we get new study group members; but I think it's more-likely we'll only need extra gifts for new players on our teams or reserve squads."

"I have a few things for that too – though mostly gifts for Witches. Getting an extra gift or two for the guys might be a good idea too; though that's trickier for Witches. I wouldn't want to send the wrong message to any of those boys."

"Unless that's the message you do want to send to a really cute one," Gwendolyn teased; and Lily grinned at her.

"Jonah wouldn't find that funny, but I don't think he'll need to worry about that – at least for right now."

"He'll be happy to hear that," Gwendolyn told her; and Lily laughed.

"He'll be happy to hear that I'm going to focus on Quidditch instead of boys?" she asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all you meant; but he'd likely be okay with that too – as long as he's still on your short list for potential boyfriends."

"He is right at the top of it," Lily conceded; "but let's not go there either. I really do want to make the Gryffindor team – and have a brilliant first season." She laughed then; and smiled at Al. "I almost went there again; but won't – and just hope that my Quidditch does the talking for me by the end of the season."

"I hope that a lot too," Al assured her; and then smiled when Gwendolyn laughed.

"Sorry, but I can only hope that for two out of three of your matches. I really want my team to win the other one."

"That doesn't seem fair, since Al will be happy either way for that match; but I'll just hope we'll win despite his little good-sportsmanship affliction."

That joke sent their chat off in a new direction while they had breakfast, and once they'd finished eating; they still could only wander around Diagon Alley for a while longer before the stores started opening for the day. Harry and Ginny met up with them not long after they could actually do some shopping, but they didn't have James with them because they'd dropped him off at the wheezes store; and they didnt' talk about what had happened with him at home either – other than to advise Al and Gwendolyn that they'd been cleared of all charges. They had more time than they needed for the shopping, but filled up some of the time with a snack break; hanging out with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo for the last hour or so before lunch; and most of the morning with Kirley and Jonah when they caught up with them so that Jonah could do his shopping for sweets and the supplies that they'd wanted to get at the last minute so they'd stay fresh. Lily didn't exactly look as though she was more interested in Quidditch than Jonah when she was with him for most of the morning and while having lunch at the Leaky; but then Al and Gwendolyn hadn't actually believed her assertions about that at breakfast anyway.

They had the full Quidditch match gang of spectators with them for lunch; but had that meal with three out of four of their parents; and only had cameo moments with the rest of their family and friends. That worked out for everyone, since the other students and parents wanted to spend that time together too. While they had fun during that lunch break, as always, they had a time limit for that; and then it was off to Bodmin stadium with enough time to check out the food and souvenir booths before going to their seats. Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo as their closest neighbors; though they also had Teddy with Harry, Ginny, and Kirley; and had Louis, Noel, Dominique, Lucy, and Alex Jordan in the rows behind and in front of them. By the time they were all settled in, they only had to wait about ten minutes for the match to start; and then it was time to enjoy the show that the Harpies and Arrows put on for them.

Harpies fans had more to cheer about than the Arrows fans did, but the action above the pitch was fast-paced and non-stop – with more than enough excitement for the fans of both teams. While Victoire led her team out to an early lead and then built on it steadily; the Arrows did fight hard – and battled to a near-stalemate even after the Harpies earned the one-sixty lead near to the end of the second hour. When that happened, the Arrows re-doubled their efforts, and while they didn't close the gap; the Harpies really had to fight just to keep that lead and trade goals with the Arrows' Chasers. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were up to that challenge, but the Arrows' Seeker wasn't able to fend off Gabrielle forever. The fifth hour had just begun when he finally made a mistake that allowed Gabrielle to put the match away for the Harpies – and they won the game by a score of four-forty to one-ten that looked far more lop-sided than the match had actually been.

"Are you going to be able to go to the Prides' match now; or is it already too late?" Louis asked Dominique.

"It's too late," Dominique answered with a sigh; "and Jensen isn't going to be happy that I picked this match over his – especially since we won't get to see each other much tonight by the time he's done with work for the day."

"That's not really fair trying to make you pick between our aunt and sister and him," Louis told her seriously – "not to mention that you'd have been there with his family; but missed out on this time with Mum and Dad."

"I know; but I still wish I could have done both." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at Harry and Ginny. "Did you ever miss any of Aunt Ginny's matches to go and see another match?"

"No, but we were married before she played her first match; and I definitely missed some of her games for other reasons. I also didn't have any problems with conflicts for other matches with family players like you have; so it isn't a fair comparison."

"Thanks, though I doubt that Jensen will see it that way," Dominique said with another sigh. "Well, at least the Prides won too. It would be worse if they hadn't."

Gwendolyn was happy to hear that her aunt's team had won too, but she was diverted from that chat by a grin she caught on Rose's face that led to a little side chat with Rose and Al about the difficulties of cross-team relationships – with an unspoken suggestion from Rose that Al and Gwendolyn could avoid all of those potential problems by playing for the Cannons with her. They waited for the first rush for the exits to slow; and then joined the exodus out of the stadium. While they weren't having the entire family over for dinner, Harry and Ginny were hosting a multi-family dinner; and had Ron, Hermione, Kirley, and their four kids go home with Harry, Al, and Lily while Ginny was busy with the post-game reporting. Others were joining them; but went elsewhere first; since they weren't going to have dinner until after Gwenog and Ginny could join them.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose all helped out with the pre-dinner work; they had fun together while working; and then had time to go for a swim before Gwenog, Ginny, and James were the last arrivals before they sat down to eat. Al had been worried that he'd have more trouble with James during dinner, but that didn't happen; and James simply ignored him – and Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily. He sat with Harry and Ginny, but they were with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo while Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were with Kirley, Gwenog, Molly, and Arthur at their table. That last bit of collective fun wrapped up shortly after dinner – and before the clean-up was finished because all of their guests wanted to get home and spend the rest of the evening with just parents and kids ahead of their now-imminent parting on Sunday morning.

While they were only going to be apart for a bit more than a half-day, Al and Gwendolyn had still wished for more time before she went home – especially for the goodbye hugs and kisses. That wasn't an option, so they said their goodbyes; she went home with her parents and brother; and Al got to work helping with the clean-up. James waited until all of their guests were gone – and the work was done while he'd avoided it; and then came looking for Al. He didn't get the chance for more than a couple of insults before Harry and Ginny rounded up all three of their kids and invited them into the sitting room for a little chat. James hadn't been happy with that order; but Al hadn't been surprise that their parents would at least make one last attempt to get something worked out before setting James loose on Hogwarts again – whether that ended up being for a day or the entire school year.

"Let me guess," James said as he dropped onto his usual sofa – "you want me to play nice when we're at school; leave the perfect loser alone; and protect the baby of the family because she's cute, little, weak, and perfect bait for Slytherin bullies. Okay, I'll do that. Are we done now?"

"Your promises haven't been worth much lately," Ginny told him; looking annoyed at him already. "Since you brought it up, though; let's start with talking bullies." She smiled at Lily. "I know you're ready to go tomorrow, but as soon as you get time for it; have Al and Rose practice those spells I've taught you. You'll need practice before you get good at them."

"What?" James demanded; sitting up straight and glaring at her. "You didn't do anything like that with me!"

"The other firsties had more to worry about from you," she explained. "Lily won't use what I've taught her to hurt anyone or be a bully. Moving along, though, stay in groups as much as you can, Lily. The bullies don't usually go after groups of firsties. Any more than two or three kids; and their odds of getting caught go way up; so they don't do it."

"Great advice," James said with a snort. "I've got some advice, Lily. Blast the loser here in front of a bunch of Slytherins right after you're sorted to their House; and they'll all want to be your best mates for the next seven years."

"Are you suggesting that you've made a lot of Slytherin friends thanks to everything you've done to Al?" Lily countered. "I didn't see you inviting any of them over to our house this summer."

"I'm sure that I have fans in Slytherin too; but that doesn't mean I want to be friends with any of those losers either. They're only a small step up from the loser we're probably only half-related to." Ginny laughed at that; and he scowled at her.

"Sorry, James, but it's a bit tough for anyone to believe that you're only half-related to Al when I gave birth to both of you and you look much more like your father than me."

"Don't let facts get in the way of things for him, Mum," Lily teased. "His entire fantasy world collapses around him when you do that."

"Let's not toss the insults back and forth," Harry suggested. "We want you to be safe, Lily; and your brothers are going to help you with that – even if that just means that James makes sure that he and Ollie leave you alone."

"That would hardly be fair to all of the other firsties if we didn't include her," James retorted; and Harry pinned him with a hard look.

"She's our little girl, James, and if you think we were mad about the things you did last year – particularly to Stephanie, Gwendolyn, and Al; you really do not want to find out what will happen if you mess with Lily this year."

"I'm so scared," James told him stubbornly; and Harry shook his head.

"Okay, then let's talk about you next, James. Before you get back to school and do anything even dumber than you did last year; your mother and I are advising you now that should you get expelled; we will not home school you here or try to get you into another Wizarding school. Instead of doing that, you'll get a job – somewhere other than at George's stores; and you can work that job and live here with us until you're seventeen. After that; you can move out and do whatever you want with your life. We wouldn't dream of stopping you from trying to earn some OWLs on your own, but we won't pay for it; and if you don't do that; you won't be permitted by the Ministry of Magic to use magic even after you're seventeen."

"Fine – I'll do that – and my job will be playing Quidditch for the luckiest team in the league."

"You can't play in the league until you're seventeen," Ginny advised him. "We're not going to get into any what-ifs here – Harry and I are just telling you the consequences from our end if you're idiot-enough to throw your life away over your silly, misguided vendetta against Al. You're on both disciplinary and academic probation this year, James, and whether you do play in the show or not some day; it's time for you to think as much about your future as a Wizard – which will be non-existent if you don't earn at least the basic OWLs. That rarely works out for Wizards and Witches trying to do that outside of the schools; and it will really suck to be you if you're not permitted to use magic anymore while everyone else you know can."

"You're bluffing," James retorted; and Ginny shook her head.

"We're not, James. You're out of second chances. Your next big screw-up at Hogwarts will be your last. Mess up again; and your life is going to get very hard."

"As if it doesn't suck to be me in this family already," James retorted angrily. He stood up and faced off with Harry and Ginny. "Thanks for making that so clear to me. Since I'll guess that Al isn't going to get that ultimatum too; I'll go up to my room now and leave you to kiss his loser arse while I do anything else."

"Try something new and pack so you're not starting it in the morning," Ginny told him. "I love you, James. Don't get mad at us – do the right thing and try to have fun at school while you're at it."

"I'm already doing the right thing," he retorted as he headed toward the hallway. "One of these days, you'll all have to admit that I've been right about the loser all along – and then I'll tell you all where to go to thank you for everything I've had to put up with while you've all been under this mass delusion."

He was out of the room by the time he finished saying that; and there was silence for a long, drawn-out moment while he loudly stomped up the steps and then slammed the door to his room once he was there.

"That went better than expected," Harry deadpanned quietly. "What's next, Ginny?"

"Well, we were going to try to soften that blow for James with those cash bonuses for staying out of trouble between Hogsmeade weekends and for getting better grades on assignments and tests; but I guess we'll have to send him a letter or something for that; since he didn't stick around for the rest of this little meeting." They all heard the noises from the top of the stairs; and that earned some grins and one laugh from Lily.

"I'm guessing you'll only need to let him know how much those bonuses will be for," Lily joked; speaking more loudly than was needed. "Would you consider giving Al some bonuses to get a few E's? It's not as if you need to offer him anything for O's." She laughed again when they all heard a muffled snort of laughter from upstairs; but looked disappointed when Ginny shook her head.

"Sorry, but that does bring us to talking spending money for Hogsmeade weekends – including the money you'll need for the supplies you'll want Al and Gwendolyn or Rose to pick up for you."

Al was mostly indifferent about that, since their parents were always generous with the allowances for all of them – even if James didn't think so, and unlike his brother; Al actually knew how much money he had in his personal vault at Gringotts. He wouldn't be buying any Lightningbolts even if he emptied his vault; but he didn't have to worry about handling the costs of gift-buying, dates, or Hogsmeade weekends – though that wasn't something he even talked about with Rose or Gwendolyn; and certainly tried to down-play with the rest of their friends. Lily didn't have a problem with her school allowance – especially when they were given the first installments for them so they'd be ready for the trip to school; and then they moved on to talk about a handful of other details that Harry and Ginny wanted to cover with them before winding down their day with a quiet chat while watching Lee's Saturday night show that always included the post-matches Quidditch fun where he mostly picked on the odder highlights from the day in Magical Sports.

They all headed up to bed after that show; there was a round of goodnight hugs and kisses; and then Harry and Ginny went to talk with James in his room while Al and Lily took turns using the washroom while getting ready for bed. Al then finished all but the last bit of packing that needed to wait until morning; had his bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn while doing that; and then got into bed and read himself to sleep. Starting his third year, and having Lily there with him – as well as Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends – had him a bit too excited to just drop off into dreamland right away. That excitement was tinged with a bit of worry, but he still felt a lot better about the coming year than he had the night before the start of his second year just twelve months ago. So much had happened over the year that he sometimes felt like he was a different person, but then again, in some important ways; he was different – and not just because he was now an Animorphmagus!

As he thought about that for a while, Al couldn't help but smile. Quite a lot of what had happened to him in both of this first two years at Hogwarts hadn't been things he'd imagined on his previous two last nights of August. In that light, there was a very good chance that what he was thinking about for the coming year would not include Merlin-only-knows what new surprises and adventures that would be just as unexpected. That was okay, and even a bit exciting too; though Al also quietly hoped that he'd have more of the fun kind of surprises; and fewer of the awful moments that hadn't been any fun at all.

Whatever happened, as he did eventually drift off to sleep, he was sure that he would share those adventures with some of the people he loved most; and they'd get to do that beginning in just a handful of hours!

End of ATE Yr2

A/N: Look for Year 3 of After the Epilogue to be out in late-July 2017! While you wait; check out my original, Heirs of the Magi series through the Heirs of the Magi blog or at Smashwords and many other ebook retailers!


	25. We're All At Hogwarts Now

*****Start of ATE Year 3*****

 **Happy 37th Birthday, Harry! I hope everyone enjoys the continuing adventures at Hogwarts and home for Albus, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their family and friends!**

 **Chapter Twenty-Five – We're All At Hogwarts Now!**

"It obviously says something about these Potter kids that Al's on this side of our compartment with Gwendolyn and me; while Lily's over there with Hugo and Jonah," Rose teased as they sat back after waving goodbye to their families. The Hogwarts Express was picking up speed slowly; but they were already beyond where they could see even the taller, red-headed members of their clan among the throngs of parents and younger siblings that had turned out for a Sunday departure.

"Al and I are each with two of our best friends; so I don't see the problem," Lily told her with a grin. "If you really want to even things up, though, we can go looking for a nice Wizard for you and a Witch for Hugo a bit later."

"How come Rose gets a nice one but Hugo doesn't?" Gwendolyn asked curiously; and Lily laughed.

"Because he's more suited to bad girls?" Lily suggested; earning a few laughs and a blush from Hugo.

"Then if he's one of your best friends; what does that say about you?" Rose countered.

"Something that you can discuss later when I'm not around," Al said before Lily could offer an opinion – though her smile spoke volumes. "That's the most-crowded the platform has been in our three years. I didn't realize just how many parents couldn't come to the station during the work week – or even on a Saturday like last year."

"I really loved getting to say goodbye to Mum and Dad this year," Gwendolyn told him. "It'll be the only time we get to do that on September First for the rest of our years at Hogwarts."

"You're looking farther ahead than I am right now to even know that," Lily told her; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"If you're even thinking about anything beyond getting sorted to Gryffindor; it's only through to tryouts on Saturday – and the start of your brilliant Seeker career at Hogwarts."

"That's true," Lily admitted. "We can use magic on the train, right? We should practice the Bat-Bogey hex that Mum's taught me – just in case I need to use it on the sorting hat tonight."

"And who would you like to use for a test subject?" Rose asked. "We'd rather not do that – especially if you've been taught any new twists that we don't already know about."

"I wouldn't mind letting James have it," Lily suggested. "He was not very nice to Mum and Dad again today; and I'm getting sick and tired of him hurting them so much. I could get away with it too; since I haven't been sorted yet. You guys could lose points for your Houses if you did it."

"They don't generally take them away before any have been earned; but let's not start off the year like that," Rose told her. "It would be nice to have a better year – and maybe even have a chance to win the House Cup again."

"I'd rather win the Quidditch Cup; but I guess that'd be okay too," Lily professed with a smile and half-shrug. "When does the party start – or whatever we do on this trip to explain why the Hogwarts Express is so popular?"

"Have you heard anyone mention parties or anything else particularly amazing to have you expecting that?" Gwenolyn asked; and Lily shook her head.

"No, but nearly everyone is always excited about the trips; and if there are any firsties on this train that aren't as excited as we are; they're likely defective," she explained; including Hugo and Jonah in that 'we' with a wave of her hand. "I just expected that the 'what' we do is a big secret."

"You didn't," Al guessed. "We'll try to help you have fun right back while you're entertaining us; but we don't party all the way to Hogsmeade."

"Maybe Lily will change that this year," Hugo suggested with a grin. "Did you bring enough hats and party treats for seven or eight hundred?" he teased.

Hugo's joke sent their chat off on a little side trip for a while, but they did start settling in for the long trip; and talked about everything from the train and what the three firsties could expect once they were at the Hogsmeade station through to the latest gossip making the rounds of the train as friends and cousins began stopping by for cameo visits while walking the train. The teen drama, as usual, was at the top of the gossip news; but there were other stories that were much more interesting to Al and the other junior Quidditch players – like finding out for sure that Scorpius was the junior team Captain – and that he was rumored to be the proud ownder of a shiny new Lightningbolt. That news had gotten out of Slytherin House through some bragging friends that wanted to taunt some Hufflepuff rivals; so it was likely accurate.

Unfortunately, another story that Al and Lily hadn't wanted to hear was accurate too; and James was in the middle of it. What was really the worst of that rumor for them was the fact that their brother had apparently enjoyed publicly surprising Chris Cauldwell with the news that he'd snogged Bristol during the summer holidays by not only telling him; but by trying to snog Bristol again when he stopped by to 'say hello' to her – while Chris was sitting next to her and still unaware that anything had gone on between his girlfriend and James. While Chris didn't try to hurt Bristol any further; that was still a very public and harsh break-up when he left the compartment – while James and Ollie were still there; and James was continuing to act the git. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose heard about that directly from Bristol when she escaped and came looking for Rose and Gwendolyn; and then Al, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah went for a walk along the train when Bristol needed two of her best friends to comfort her.

They didn't talk about Bristol and James while they were on that walk; didn't spread any rumors; and stayed away from James when they saw him twice in passing. Fortunately for him, he didn't try to get in their faces either; since Lily likely would have blasted him if he'd tried; but they tried to instead have fun during cameo visits with cousins and other friends. Sometimes, they could do both – like when Jonah and Lily had a chat with Ryan and Katrina; or they all had an entertaining visit with Ray, Melissa, Kathryn, and Tory. In that case, Kathryn was with her cousins instead of Olivia or Ollie because she didn't want to get in Olivia's way and knew that Ollie wouldn't let her hang out with him anyway – even if she'd lost her mind and wanted to spend time with him and James. Staying away from their compartment indefinitely wasn't an option, but Gwendolyn came looking for them before they needed to worry about a poorly-timed return.

As they got past that bit of teen drama, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful; though Lily certainly made sure that her travel buddies were kept entertained. Lunch ended up being a pot-luck that they collectively shared along with supplemental treats and drinks from the trolley; there were quiet times when they rested or watched the mirror network or played mirror games or read books; and busier moments with visitors or other walks along the train. While the excitement level varied, it was fairly high as they closed in on Hogsmeade – mostly because Lily got more fired up as she watched the clock. She was pretty much bouncing in her seat by the time the train began to slow for the approach into Hogsmeade station.

"We can deal with your luggage if you don't want to wait until after the first rush for the exits to get out of here," Al told Lily. "Just try not to get crushed by the older teens."

Lily bounced up, grabbed her shoulder bag, and then stopped and sat down again. "It won't matter," she decided. "We'd just have to wait for Hagrid to call for the firsties anyway – and he won't do that until most of the students are off the train."

"That's Professor Hagrid here," Rose reminded her with a smile. "You get used to it; though I think we'll find it stranger this year now that he'll actually be teaching us too."

"It's funny that you're thinking about that for Care of Magical Creatures while I'm just hoping that I don't get bit by any of those animals – or worse," Gwendolyn told her with a grin. "I'm still not sure that I should've taken the class."

"Mabye that'll be one of your joint classes with us," Rose offered. "Then you'd have Al to protect you."

"He could," Lily agreed; "but probably shouldn't go Animorphmagus to do that. Then he'd be potential dinner for some of those creatures."

"There are more student injuries in other classes; yet nobody ever talks about dropping DADA or Charms," Al pointed out.

"Partly because we can't at least until after our OWL year," Rose reminded him. "Students drop optionals for other reasons, though; and I'm fairly sure there has never been a serious Arithmancy or Ancient Runes injury."

"Except for when someone has ignored the messages in those runes," Al added with a grin. "I'm sure we'll all have fun with Professor Hagrid's class – even if Gwendolyn and I don't get to take it together."

"That would be fun," Gwendolyn said seriously; "but I'd rather have you in the same classes with me for Arithmancy, Charms, and Potions or Transfiguration. They'll all be tougher subjects."

"There are five optionals, so we could get to take two of them with Ravenclaw," Rose said with a nod. "I think that we could end up with Transfiguration and Charms with Ravenclaw this year; but they do change that up now and then when they do a major schedule revision for all of the classes; so we can't count on that – though it's likely that we won't get History and Herbology together again this year."

"I'll miss your help with Herbology," Gwendolyn assured her; but would be okay with getting Charms and Transfiguration with you guys."

"We'll still be able to study Herbology together," Rose assured her. "That will only be a problem if our classes are days apart – though we'd still be able to do our weekend assignments together."

"With the weird part of that being that we'll actually still have work to do on the wekeends," Gwendolyn added. "I'm really going to miss getting our work done by dinnertime every Friday."

"You've mentioned that a few times," Rose told her, "but then so have Al and I – and most of our study group friends."

"We're here!" Lily interjected enthusiastically. "How long will we need to wait before it's safe to get in line?"

"Not long," Al assured her. "Five minutes or so at most; and then we can get out of here once the pushiest students are out of the way."

He was right about that; they gathered their things; and it really wasn't long before they were off the train and standing on the platform. There was a round of best wishes and hugs that they had finished with by the time Hagrid called for the firsties, and after Lily, Hugo, and Jonah went to join him with the other firsties; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went to get in line for the carriage rides to the school. Being in third-year meant moving up the student food chan a bit, so they didn't need to wait until the very end to get a ride, but they did still need to wait for the NEWT through fourth-year students to go ahead of them. That also meant putting up with a walk-by razzing from James and Ollie, but Al managed to avoid any major nastiness with them; and they moved on because they were more interested in trying to impress the fourth-year girls instead.

On the downside of that blast of hurry up and wait for Al was that he and Gwendolyn had less time to spend together once they were at the school and needed to split up and go to their own House tables. The wait while the rest of the third-year and all of the second-year students arrived wasn't that long; and then there was a pause while waiting for the start of the firstie processional and sorting ceremony. That did give Al and Rose some time to chat with Ray, Bristol, Cora, and some of their other friends; but they did that quietly – or comparatively-so to the overall level of noise in the Great Hall. Al's attention was all for the firsties when the doors opened and they began to walk into the room down the center aisle in the middle of the four House tables. He wasn't surprised to see Lily right near the front; smiled when he noted that she was holding Jonah's hand as he walked next to her; and then he moved on to look for the other firsties he knew or recognized through their families and friends.

There were quite a few of those kids that he knew too, and while he knew some of them fairly well – like Melissa, Kathryn, and Katrina; there were others that he knew through family friends; though not nearly as well. All of those other kids were connected to him through the Aurors, Quidditch players, or former school friends that his parents, aunts, and uncles knew; so he also took special note of the kids that he knew were interested in playing Quidditch – though that would be more important for him as the sorting began and he got to find out about some of the new talent he might have for his team. There were about one hundred firsties, maybe a few more; so it took a while for all of them to line up at the front a half-dozen rows deep; Professor Sinistra had the honor of leading the sorting this year; and she set the sorting hat on the stool as soon as the last few firsties stopped at the back of the pack – presumably the least-enthusiastic or most-timid of the group. The noise level in the hall dropped to a murmur as they all stopped to listen to this version of the sorting hat's annual song.

It's September First – how time has flown!

Now you're all back – and I'm no longer alone!

While you've had fun all summer long;

I've had nothing to do but make up this song!

One hundred verses and more I wrote;

But I won't sing them all; though I know them by rote!

While that effort is wasted; I've work to get to;

So I'll whittle it down to another verse or two.

All of our returning students I wish a hearty bonjour;

And our firsties are always pres de mon coeur!

Whether Slytherin or Ravenclaw;

Gryffindor or Hufflepuff;

Every one of you is special;

And have the right Hogwarts kind of stuff!

So let's get started with the sorting;

And find out where you belong!

So I can get my one job finished;

And start working on next year's song!

There had been some laughs and a lot of smiles during that little ditty; but the noise level still remained low as the first few firsties were called forward to be sorted. Al tried focusing his extended senses on the firsties as they were sorted, regardless of the House they went to; though that wasn't always fun for him. Some of the Slytherin firsties were a problem; though only one of them actually looked directly at him – and that was just random chance that it happened at all. Early in the sorting, it was a bit weird for him with Gwen Cauldwell as she was sorted to Gryffindor; but that was mostly because of Bristol's reaction to her recently-former boyfriend's sister joining their House – especially when Gwen had been there during the scene with James.

For the most part, the firsties were happy with their assigned Houses; and Al was happy for all of the kids he knew – including Denise Creevey when she was sorted to Gryffindor; and Alyssa Graves when she was placed in Ravenclaw with her brothers – and Gwendolyn. As he continued to focus on the firsties, Al also pondered what the sorting hat sensed in each new student; and tried to associate what he sensed with the choices the hat made. Sometimes, he guessed before the sorting hat decided, but while he had some success with that; he also didn't come up with a guess at all for the majority of kids – or the hat chose more quickly than he could guess. He began to feel more excited as the sorting continued and got closer to the middle of the pack – and Jonah and Lily. He could see them more easily as the group thinned; and knew that Lily was fired up too because he could see her bouncing expectantly as she waited.

"Good luck," Lily whispered as she smiled brightly at Jonah when his name was finally called. She squeezed his hand in support; and then let go so that he could step forward and sit on the stool. She was almost certain that he'd be sorted to Ravenclaw with Gwendolyn, but only half of her hoped that would happen; while part of her wished that he could be in Gryffindor with her. The sorting hat seemed to need to think about Jonah too; since it was a long moment before it made a decision.

"Ravenclaw!" it finally called out; Jonah got up right away; and then he and Lily earned a few laughs to go along with the clapping Ravenclaws when she stepped forward to hug him before letting him go on to the Ravenclaw table – and the hug that Gwendolyn had for him when he arrived there.

"I guess that I'll have to get sorted to Gryffindor if I want a hug after I'm sorted," Hugo teased as she stepped back next to him; and she grinned at him.

"You will be; though I'm sure there would be at least one or two Witches in the other Houses willing to hug you if you end up in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw."

"By the time they get to me; half the students here could be sleeping," Hugo joked. "Nobody will notice which House I'm sorted to – or they'll just be glad that the sorting is nearly over by then."

"Or both," Lily whispered with a nod. She was bouncing even more as the handful of students that were alphabetically between McCormack and Potter were each called to be sorted; and then, finally, it was her turn!

"Lily Potter!" Professor Sinistra called; and her last name caused a drop in the sound level in the hall. She was smiling brilliantly as she stepped forward and sat down. The sorting hat was placed on her head; and then her attention was focused inward as it spoke to her.

"A Potter Witch!" it said enthusiastically. "Now this is a rare treat! Hmm – let's see what we have here. Yes, Yes, a bit of both brothers in you; several dashes of your mother; and more of your father than you realize, my dear! What's that I see?" Lily giggled when the hat laughed. "Oh my, you are quite a little dynamo, aren't you? Well, if it's the choice between a Bat-Bogey hex and what you wish for most; then I'd better place you in – GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily was still laughing as she hopped up and practically ran to the Gryffindor table – and all the way along it to Al and Rose so that she could hug each of them before going to sit down with the other firsties – next to Denise Creevey. That had earned her some more laughs; but then the sorting was already continuing; and she tried to calm down while happily chatting with Denise and the other kids closest to her.

"Do you think she's happy?" Rose asked Al quietly as they both watched Lily for a few moments after she was sitting down.

"She is; and so am I," he answered. "If the two best firstie Seekers had ended up in other Houses; we might have been in for a tough season in Gryffindor."

"You could always take the job," Rose pointed out. "I think you'd do as well as Victoire doing that if needed."

"Maybe," Al admitted; "but I really want to play Chaser – and get a chance for a rematch with Gwendolyn too; so this works out better for us."

"That's fun to joke about; but we didn't really have any doubts about Lily being sorted to our House," Rose said with a nod. "Now we just have to wait for the W's to find out whether we get the best firstie Chaser prospects."

Al grinned at her. "Let's not get too many of them. I am allowing tryouts for all three Chaser positions. It would really suck to be me if I got beat out for one of those spots."

Rose laughed. "I'm more worried about winning my Keeper duel with Hugo and whomever else tries out for the job, but we can have fun with that too; and it might be nice to have an all-Witch team – though I don't think we've got two Witches in the entire group interested in playing Beater. Even if we did; I'm not sure they'd be able to win the jobs over Fred and Orlando."

"Katrina might," Al pointed out; and nodded toward the front. "Want to make a prediction?"

"Ravenclaw," Rose answered immediately. "She wants to be on Gwendolyn's team with Ryan."

The sorting hat must have agreed; since it barely touched her head before sorting her to Ravenclaw. Katrina was obviously thrilled; and was even happier to get hugs from her cousin and brother when she rached them at the Ravenclaw table.

"How come you're not getting up to hug more firsties?" Rose teased; and Al laughed.

"Because I don't want to start out our third year as a woodlouse," he joked. "You?"

"I'm not team Captain; and I'll make sure that Hugo gets a hug when he's sorted to our House."

"Good, then I can get away with a high five or handshake while you take care of that."

While that ended up being what they did, it was Rose's reminder about him being team Captain that had Al thinking about what he needed to do differently this year because of that responsibility. It was different for the junior Captains – or should be – because a third of their potential player pool would know little or nothing about Hogwarts and school Quidditch. For Gryffindor, even the second and third-year students were likely wondering what Al would do as team Captain after the way things had gone with James a year ago. Having tryouts notices ready wasn't enough, he decided, and while he wasn't as outgoing as Louis; Al decided that he did need to make the rounds of the Gryffindor common room after the feast; introduce himself to as many firsties as he could; and talk with all of the second and third-year player hopefuls. He could get Rose and Ray to help with that; and they did have Lily, Hugo, and the other firsties they did know available to lend a hand too; so Al just hoped that he'd do well-enough with that half-plan; and that his fellow Gryffindor would give him a chance to help their junior team to have a better season than they'd had the past few years.

With so many firsties to sort, Hugo wasn't the last student to be sorted, but he was near to the end. Rose and some of the other girls thought that it was amusing when Hugo was left standing with Wanda Wintringham – Fred's girlfriend's sister, and Kathryn and Melissa Wood before he was called to be sorted; but Al sensed that he'd mostly been glad to still have kids that he knew still with him to that point instead of being on his own for the last half of the sorting. That foursome was interesting for another reason that was noticeable as the sorting drew to an end – all four of them were sorted to Gryffindor. Their House didn't get all of the final handful of students. Madison's brother, John Whitby, for instance, was sorted to Hufflepuff; which meant that Gryffindor also didn't get all of the best new firstie Quidditch prospects at that end of the alphabet either.

The sorting was finished soon after Kathryn and Melissa Wood were sorted; Professor McGonagall gave her annual speech with some of the rules highlights; and then the feast finally began as the platters and bowls appeared on the tables! Al was more polite than most of the other guys when it came to filling his plate and geting started on the meal, but he was hungry; and ate more than his fill – as did most of the teens and tweens in the hall. While he and Rose had sat with Ray and Bristol closest to them; they'd also ended up with a mix of other third-year classmates that made for an interesting dinner conversation – particularly with the teens they weren't as close with despite being in the same classes or dorms with them for two years now. Al was a bit more involved in that chat time than he normally would be due to his team Captain status; but that didn't keep his mind from wandering as his senses were heading toward information overload as he was bombarded with the non-stop stimulus provided by hundreds of fired up students.

Al was getting better at handling the sensory barrages in large groups, but that was offset a bit by the fact that his abilities continued to grow and develop – allowing him to sense even more of what was going on around him. Some of that was good, but there was more than enough bad too; and more still that he simply tried not to think about at all while still storing everything into memory without even thinking about the fact that he did that automatically. While some of their friends wanted to talk Quidditch, the gossip network was on overload too; and every rumor was mentioned and discussed – though that was done more by the girls than the boys. Bristol's news was part of that, and she didn't hide from it; but Al was grateful when their classmates mostly left her alone about it after she admitted that it was all basically true. What Al sensed from her while that had been going on was one of the things he didn't really want to think about, since while she did truly feel bad about what James had done, and for hurting Chris; she also didn't regret going for what she'd wanted with James.

Fortunately, the good vibes were a lot stronger than the not-so-great feelings around him; so Al was able to stay in a good mood through to the end of the feast. He finished up early-enough to go over to the Ravenclaw table and wish Gwendolyn a good night before they needed to split up and head for their own Houses; and then he met up with Rose again for the walk to Gryffindor tower. Lily and Hugo had stayed with the firsties while they did that; so Al and Rose didn't talk with them again until after they were all in the common room; and the firsties had been set free for a while to hang out until they'd be split up and taken to the boys' and girls' dorms for the night. While they were busy, Al, Rose, and Ray made the rounds with as many of the second and third-year students as they could get together with to talk about Quidditch and team tryouts. Al could sense the various reactions to that news; there were trust issues he was going to need to deal with; and at least a few of his fellow Gryffindor were still on the James and Ollie bandwagon – and would likely never give him a chance.

The visits with the firsties that followed went better; though it had helped to have some of the most-outgoing firsties already in his camp – like Lily and Kathryn. Al didn't get to meet every firstie before they were rounded up, but he did make sure that word would get around about what he was going to do for tryouts – and during the coming week too; he sent posters with Lily and Hugo to put up in the firstie dorms; and posted more of them around the common room after the firsties left so that he had that done too before sitting down for a while to chat with Rose, Ray, and a few other friends until they split up to head for their dorm rooms too.

"I'd say that you're off to a great start as Captain," Rose told Al once they were gathered around one of the work tables with Ray, Bristol, Cora, Scott, and a few others.

"Not everyone would agree with you on that," Al countered; "but we'll see how it goes over the next week – and at tryouts."

"You'll never be able to make everyone happy, Al," Rose told him. "Do the best you can; be fair; and make Quidditch fun for us again this year. Win a few games along the way; and you might even wind up being the most popular geek in Gryffindor."

"I'd like to win a few matches this year just to get James and Ollie to shut it with the loser insults," Ray told them.

"Let's worry aobut making the team first," Al told him with a grin. "I'm really glad that we've gotten so many really good firstie players; but it'd suck to be us if Melissa, Kathryn, and another player win the Chaser tryouts over us. If that happens; James and Ollie will never let us forget it."

"If you've jinxed us by saying that; I'm going to blast you after tryouts next Saturday," Ray wanred. "I've waited two years now to play for our House team, and I might have to wait for a year or two again once we're eligible for the senior team; so this is my big chance to play – and I'm not going to let you mess that up for me!"

"Good – then don't," Al told him with a grin. "Now we'll just have to hope that Rose doesn't have her own plan to have a team with as many Witches on it as possible; and stop us from scoring even one goal against her at tryouts."

"I'll definitely try to stop every shot," she assured them; "but that'll be true for every Chaser – not just the Wizards. Don't forget that I need to do better than the other Keepers – including Hugo – and I'm in the same boat with Ray; since Louis will still be on the senior team during our fourth and fifth years."

"I know that I'm out-numbered by the Quidditch fanatics in our group," Bristol told them; "but isn't anyone else more worried about our third-year classes – and having the extra optionals to keep up with when we'll also have fewer study periods to keep up with all of that work?"

"I am," Scott assured her, "but then I'm not sure whether I'll have much of a chance to even make the reserve squad this year – especially if Rose's brother is good-enough that she's worried about whether she can make the team or not." He smiled at Al. "That will be your biggest problem with the other players, Al – if you end up with a team full of Weasleys, Potters, and Woods. It won't matter for some of our friends whether they win those spots fairly or not. They'll just choose to believe that the tryouts were fixed – again." He turned his smile on Rose when he noticed the expression on her face. "Don't hex the messenger – you know I'm right about this."

Rose smiled too and sighed. "Yeah, but it isn't fair."

Scott shrugged. "No, but then you could say the same thing about getting to have better or worse brooms at tryouts; the luck of the draw for those of you born to Quidditch families; and the distribution of natural talent for the game. None of that's fair either; but we all have to live with reality – even when we don't like it."

"If you're thinking about having everyone use school brooms at tryouts; forget it," Ray told Al; earning a round of laughs.

"Would you be okay with it if I let everyone fly Firestorms instead?" Al asked; and Ray frowned at him.

"That's a no-win question," he decided. "You're Captain – do what you want; but I won't be lending my broom to anyone."

"That's very unsportsmanlike of you," Bristol teased; and Ray smiled and shrugged.

"Maybe, but a Firestorm in the hands of a player that isn't good-enough to use one is an accident waiting to happen. I wouldn't want my broom busted up; but I wouldn't want any kids to get hurt either."

"That's a good point," Al told him, "but maybe we can come up with something this week that will be more fair for everyone; since Scott's right too."

"So you're going to trade families with Scott for the year too?" Bristol asked with wide-eyed innocence that was almost believable.

"Let's not get silly here," Scott told her before Al could say anything. "Al might have the family advantage for Quidditch; but that doesn't mean that I'd like to have James for a brother for the next year."

Scott's answer sent their chat off in a different direction, but not before Al sensed that Bristol hadn't actually liked Scott's response – her own feelings for James a jumbled mess of good and bad that he didn't attempt to decipher. They eventually moved on to talk about their expectations for classes in the morning; there were a few cameo chats with visiting relatives or friends; and then Al eventually was the first third-year guy to head up to their dorm room. He stopped to check in with Hugo and make sure he was doing okay; and then he got ready for bed and was in his bed before Ray, Scott, and a few other guys joined him in the new room they'd be sharing for most of the next ten months. He had a quick mirror chat with his parents then; followed that up with some reading while talking with Ray and Scott; and then wrapped up his night with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn that was fun but short too; because they were both ready to get some sleep by then so they'd be ready for whatever they'd each be doing for their first day of classes on Monday.

Al had planned on renewing his early-morning routine when hegot up on Monday, and while that earned him a few jokes from the other guys when he was heading for the common room while they were just getting up or still in bed; he was also looking forward to his morning walk and talk time with Rose – something he had missed during the summer. She'd felt the same way, since she met up with him in the common room within a few minutes of his arrival; and then they were on the go again once they'd shared a quick hug and morning greetings. What they talked about while making their way to the Great Hall didn't really matter at all – it was the hanging out together that was important. They did talk about what their expectations and hopes were for their third-year classes and Quidditch; discussed how they were going to watch out for James, Ollie, and any Slytherins – both for themselves and for their favorite firsties; and made some preliminary plans for study sessions that were going to be much tougher with ten and eleven subjects, Quidditch practices, and Hogsmeade weekends to work around.

The Great Hall was nearly-empty when they arrived, so they were able to welcome all of their Gryffindor classmates; have cameo visits with Lily, Hugo, and some of their friends; and Gwendolyn stopped by for a good morning hug and kiss with Al just in case they didn't get to do that after breakfast – and once the schedules were handed out. The mood in the room was generally fairly upbeat with an undertone of anticipation. The morning conversation while they ate was entertaining due to the ongoing overload of gossip; though some teens and tweens found all of that more fun than others. Al was more involved in the conversations than usual, but since he was mostly asked about Quidditch; he suspected that the spike in his popularity would be temporary – especially once tryouts were finished on Saturday. Most of the students ate their meal quickly – especially the teens most looking forward to finding out what their schedules were going to be like for the year.

The Professors did get to that all-important task as soon as most of their students appeared to be finished eating; so it wasn't long before the third-year students began receiving their schedules. That took longer than for the first and second-year kids because each individual schedule was confirmed with each student; mostly to make sure that the optionals that were on the schedule were correct; or to go over the rare conflicts that came up due to optional ch0ices and the regular, overall schedule for each House. Those latter issues only happened for the students that picked two optionals with the same time slot for their own House; and the solution usually meant taking one of those classes with students in the other Houses in their normal time slot. Despite having eleven classes, that wasn't a problem for Al because Muggle Studies was the doubled-up class for Gryffindors; and he wasn't taking it. Getting their schedules individually meant needing to wait for some of their friends once Al and Rose had their schedules; but they were able to put their heads together and take a closer look at them while they waited.

"Starting out the week with DADA will be fun," Rose said as they began the review with the class they'd be heading to first once their friends were ready to go too. "You don't get to do that with Gwendolyn; but it'll be more fun to take with Hufflepuff than it was with Slytherin last year."

"True, but we have Arithmancy after that with Ravenclaw; so that works for me," Al said with a nod and smile. "Gwendolyn will be happy about that one too."

"And then the fun level drops – for us," Rose told him; frowning as she looked at their afternoon classes. "Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin."

"We'll be with the Slytherins all afternoon on Fridays too," Al pointed out; drawing Rose's attention to their double-Herbology class on Friday afternoon. "I am so going to miss our double study periods on Friday – especially now."

"Add in Potions with Slytherin first thing on Tuesday and Thursday; and I'm not sure I like this schedule much at all, Al. That's double-Potions on Tuesday too."

"You do get a study period after that class and our lunch break while I'm in Divination, though; and then we'll have Charms with Raveclaw for our last class on Tuesday," Al advised her; and then pointed to the classes on Thursday. "Once we get that Potions class out of the way; we'll be spending the rest of the day with Ravenclaw for Ancient Runes before lunch and double Charms in the afternoon. I like that a lot."

Rose grinned at him. "You would; and so will Gwendolyn. "I'd say Gwendolyn got almost everything she'd hoped for – we'll have Transfiguration with her too – that double class on Wednesday afternoon and the other class on Friday morning." She smiled then. "Astronomy works for us on Tuesday night; but you'll miss all of the snogging you did with Gwendolyn in that class last year."

"I'm glad we don't have that on a Quidditch practice night for our team," Al said with a nod and smile. "We managed to do pretty well in that class last year; so maybe the snogging helped – not that we actually did do anything more than sneak a kiss and hug now and then."

"You'd better hope that isn't true, or you'll have some explaining to do at the end of the year if you're still the top student in Astronomy – and one of the other girls in our House is runner-up to you."

"Funny, but now you'd really better hope that you don't have that happen with you and one of my dorm mates getting those top marks," Al advised her with a laugh.

"That's getting a bit off-track," Rose decided; wanting to change the subject. "We might not like taking those afternoon classes with Slytherin, but it will be handy to be in the greenhouses or with Professor Hagrid on Mondays and Fridays. We'll be able to go straight to our Quidditch practices after that – as long as we take our gear with us."

"And tougher if we don't and have to make the round trip to our dorms," Al added with a nod. "There are parts of these schedules that I don't like, but they are more good than bad; so we can't complain about them."

"I guess," Rose agreed a bit grudgingly. "It looks as though we're pretty much done now; so let's hurry to our dorms to get the books we'll need for the morning and get to our DADA class – unless you want to try to meet up with Gwendolyn first."

Al looked over at the Ravenclaw table. Gwendolyn was still waiting for her turn to get her schedule; so he shook his head. "We'll see her in Arithmancy, and I don't want to interrupt things at her table; so let's just go."

They did that; it didn't take long to make the trip to Gryffindor tower and then move on to the DADA classroom along with more than half of their Gryffindor classmates. Tory and Madision checked in with them while they waited for the class to start; they compared schedules; and both girls were happy to find out that they'd also be taking Divination with Al along with DADA and History. There were jokes about dueling for the right to be Al's DADA partner all year despite the fact that Scott and Ray were in the class too, but they were just joking about that; and Al paired with Rose again when they did eventually begin the bit of practice time they had left to them after their first lecture of the year from Professor Jones.

Once they had that first class out of the way, the rest of the day seemed to speed along – at least for Al. He loved their first Arithmancy class – and not simply because he sat next to Gwendolyn as they were introduced to the subject by Professor Vector. Though he'd read far-ahead of their first lesson; it was still a lot of fun to work with the numbers and learn about the history and relationship between numbers and magic. Rose and Gwendolyn had fun too, if not as much as Al did; but the one thing that was most-different about their first optional class was only having some of their classmates with them instead of everyone. For Arithmancy, it was a bit less than half; so the combined total between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was about the same size as a normal, single-House class.

Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been able to compare schedules before Arithmancy, so they did that after their class – and before they split up to go to their dorm rooms to get the books they'd need for the afternoon classes. Gwendolyn had been happy with her schedule too – especially thanks to getting to take some of her toughest classes with Al and Rose. They didn't meet up again before lunch, but finished eating early-enough to spend some time together before Al needed to head out to the greenhouses and she needed to move on to her afternoon classes. By the time Al got to the greenhouse, Rose was already there; and she was happy to see him because Scorpius Malfoy and Davis Zabini were also there early – and the vibes Al immediately sensed from them explained why she hadn't been enjoying the moment.

"I've changed my mind," she whispered to him. "Being a third wheel with you and Gwendolyn would have been more fun than this."

Al laughed and hugged her. "You wouldn't have been in the middle of anything weird," he assured her. "We'll wait a bit before working the snogging into our schedules – once we've worked out everything else." He frowned when he heard Davis snort out a laugh while Scorpius smirked. "That 'we' would be Gwendolyn and me," he advised them evenly; trying not to let his annoyance show. "Don't go starting any stupid rumors – even if some of your buddies would be happy to believe them – no matter how idiotic they might be."

"You look pretty cozy to me right now," Davis retorted. "I'd believe it. That's likely how we ended up with this infestation of Weasleys – you keep hooking up with your cousins." He scowled when Al and Rose both laughed.

"That's only funny because our family only had Wizard babies for generations until Al's Mum was born," Rose told him. "Your insinuation is a bit impossible; and we all know that Al's Mum didn't marry one of her cousins." She smiled sweetly then. "I'm sure that you will find it amusing that Scorpius' cousin just married one of ours this past summer. Does that make us cousins-in-law of his, Al?"

"We're cousins anyway," Al reminded her, "but don't have too much fun with that either, Davis. We're very distant cousins to Scorpius – and through a line that was disowned by the Black family a long time ago."

"You're just making all of that up," Davis accused; and then stared at Scorpius when his friend didn't show any signs of denying it. "No way! You're related to them?" he demanded; and Scorpius frowned and glared at him.

"They'd think so," he answered grudgingly. "As he said, that's through members of the Black family that were disowned, so as far as my family is concerned; they're not related at all – incluidng the cousin that just got married to their cousin." His expression hardened at the look on Davis' face. "Don't even think about going there," he warned. "My family did the right thing with the blood-traitors in our family; so it doesn't matter what they think or believe."

"That's your loss," Rose told him. "We think that we're lucky to have a Harpies' Quidditch star for a cousin – and now we've got one of the best new Aurors for a cousin too – though Teddy is Uncle Harry's Godson too; so he's always been close to the family anyway."

Your cousin married Victoire Weasley?" Davis asked incredulously; and Scorpius glowered at him.

"What part of disowned or disinherited don't you understand?" he said with real annoyance now. "Drop it, Davis. I mean it!"

Davis grumbled about that a bit, but he did drop it; and Al and Rose didn't say anything else to either of them while they waited for their classmates and Professor Longbottom to arrive. Al had mixed feelings about that first run-in with any Slytherin students that had been more than passing moments with nothing more significant than glares or a muttered insult or three. That was mostly because of what he sensed from Scorpius. Davis was easy – he simply hated Al, Rose, and their entire family because they were responsible for everything that had befallen his parents and family. There was some of that with Scorpius too, but the darkness Al sensed with him went far beyond that; while also being mixed with many other emotions ranging from jealousy to doubt and insecurity. Above all else, Al most-strongly sensed that Scorpius was a threat to him – even though he'd never tried to do anything to him at all in their first two years at Hogwarts. That seemed to be an almost-violent contrast to the things they had in common – like being junior team Captains and top students in their Houses; but Al also didn't get any sense that those similarities and similar interests could ever overcome the anger and hatred.

While he mused about that for a while until their class started, once Professor Longbottom got to work; it was time to focus on their studies for the rest of the afternoon. As always, Rose had more fun in Herbology than Al did; but then they both had a blast in Care of Magical Creatures – especially when they went flying on the backs of a pair of hippogriffs – the only students in their class willing to give that a try during their first class with Professor Hagrid. Hearing the old stories was very different from actually doing something like that; though Al had a true advantage over his classmates – probably because the hippogriffs somehow recognized his Animorphmagus kinship to them. Getting to go for that fly had been brilliant; but then the highlight of the day for Al was his Quidditch workout after that class. He was using the time slots for what would be his team practices starting next week for training, and while he'd made it optinoal for everyone; he had a big turnout – including getting every interested firstie player because they needed to pass their flying tests with Mr. Peakes before they'd be allowed to try out for the team.

"Welcome to our first training workout!" Al called out loudly after trying several times to get the attention of his fellow Gryffindors. "While I'm sure that many of you have been practicing all summer, that isn't possible for everyone; so these workouts that we'll be doing today, Wednesday, and Friday are meant to help us to get ready for tryouts on Saturday – and get a head start on our training for those of us lucky enough to make the team this year." He smiled as he looked around and tried to offer silent encouragement to some of the tentative-looking firsties in the group.

"I will not be using these training sessions to assess any of you. The best players on Saturday will make the team; so don't worry about anything else beyond getting ready to play your best during those tryouts." That statement seemed to relax most of the teens and tweens. "Mr. Peakes will be doing flying tests for the first-year students all three days during these workouts, and will be here for the second-half of our time slot because he'll be doing tests with the Hufflepuff players at the stadium during the first half. Firsties can join these workouts with us without passing the test; but must pass it before being allowed to try out for the team. That does give you until the end of the day on Friday to do that, though, so if you need a bit of work on your flying; you'll have time to do that too between now and then."

"If anyone here can't fly already; they shouldn't be here," one of the second-year boys suggested; and Al shrugged and smiled at him.

"My Dad had never flown a broom before coming to Hogwarts," he advised the boy – and everyone else. "It turns out that he was pretty good at it; and was the youngest player on a House team in a century – back when we didn't have junior teams. Let's give all of our fellow Gryffindor some support and help. You never know where the next great player might come from!"

"You want us to help other players to do better than us?" Ray joked. "I don't like that idea at all!"

Al laughed along with most of the other kids. "I'd miss playing on the team if I get beat out; but that'd be great for our House to have the best players on the team – even if it would suck for me – or you. Let's not worry about that today, though; and just try to have some fun." He smiled again then. "We're going to start with the warm-ups we normally do at home when we're practicing during the summer. They might be challenging for some of you, since they're based on the workouts that the Harpies do, but just keep up the best you can; and don't worry about whether you can do everything while you're just learning the exercises."

With that, Al got everyone to line up in rows and got started on the stretching exercises; followed that up with the physical workout that he led; and then moved on to a flying exercise that he had Lily lead; but that he had her do in stages so that he could have time to get some of the less-experienced kids on the ground again when they reached their personal limits. Mr. Peakes was there as they wrapped that up, so he used one end of the practice pitch for his flying tests while Al continued the workout at the other end with some position training. He let Lily again lead the Seeker workout for that; he led the Chasers; Rose worked with him so that they could have the Keepers and Chasers work together; and he had the prospective Beaters stay on the ground and work with a regular ball that they batted around and tried to keep airborne instead of using bludgers because he didn't want to risk any injuries – particularly with the firsties doing their flying tests.

Dominique was doing workouts with her senior team and other prospects too; so the junior team had to give up the pitch at the end of their normal time. That worked for Al anyway, because by then; most of the younger kids were already tired out from a workout that was tougher than anything they'd done before. James and Ollie were the last to arrive for the senior players, but while that was good for Al; he wasn't totally able to avoid the razzing and insults that the two boys launched into right away as they got ready for their own workout. They picked on some of the other junior players too, but called out most of the insults to Al, Rose, and Ray – despite several warnings from Dominique and Louis to stop. Al ignored them as best he could; but he was also sure that he'd need to deal with them sooner instead of later if they wouldn't stay out of his way while he worked with his team.

Despite the annoyances that were James and Ollie, most of the junior team hopefuls were still smiling as they wrapped up their practice and gave way to the senior team players, so Al was sure he'd done okay for his first day; and he felt pretty good too as he put his gear and broom away; answered several dozen questions from the other players; and kept an eye on the senior team as they began their own warm-ups. He couldn't stay, because he had a lot of assignments to work on from his first four classes of the year; but he did take note of the handful of player-prospects that did stay to watch the senior team practice. He'd need to wait to find out if they had the skills too, but having enough interest in the game to try learning more from the best players in their House made them worth keeping an eye on; and he made a mental note to get to know them better over the next few days – and help them out too.

Geting back to the castle and their House, Al and Ray split up from Rose and Lily while dropping off their gear and grabbing the books they'd need for studying for the rest of the day; and then three out of four of them headed for their usual classroom to meet up with Gwendolyn – and anyone else studying with her while they'd been busy with Quidditch practice. That ended up being a smaller group than they'd expected because none of their Gryffindor study buddies were there – including the non-players, and while they weren't surprised that Shane hadn't decided to keep studying with them after breaking up with Rose; Gwendolyn only had Toni and Michael with her in the room when Al, Ray, and Rose arrived. Gwendolyn welcomed Al with a bright smile, hug, and kiss; and then went back to work while he got his books out so that he could work on Arithmancy with her.

"I'll switch to that in a few minutes," Gwendolyn told him. "I just want to finish what I'm working on with this first. How was your workout? Any surprises?"

"Except for some James and Ollie issues, it was a really good workout," Al answered. "I haven't seen any major surprises yet, but a few of the players have gotten better over the summer; and there are a couple of firsties that we don't know with some potential."

"Lily thinks that one of the firstie Seekers she worked with could be good," Rose advised them; "but he doesn't have any experience at all."

"She didn't say anything to me," Al mused with a grin. "Are you sure she was talking about potential as a Seeker?"

"If she wasn't; then how did she find out he doesn't have any experience at whatever you think she might mean instead?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.

"I am so wishing that I didn't try to make that joke now. "We definitely don't need a repeat of last season for our Seekers – or any of the other players either."

"Tood bad for you, Rose," Toni said with a grin – "and I guess that applies to you too, Ray," she added with a laugh. "Tory might not think that's funny, but for all we know; there are some hot new Chaser prospects on her team this year too. Speaking of hot, though, were there any guys that you were particularly interested in at practice, Rose?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "Yeah – my brother. There might be some players at the other positions for Al, Ray, Lily, and Fred to worry about competing against on Saturday; but Hugo is going to be my toughest competition at tryouts; so I'll hope he won't be too hot – at leat from a Keeper performance perspective."

"Or at least not as hot as you are?" Ray offered; and then spun around when he heard a pair of laughs coming from the doorway.

"Good timing," Madison told him with a grin. "Good luck explaining to Tory why you're commenting on Rose's hotness."

"I heard enough of what they were talking about to know," Tory advised her. "Teasing Ray about it would be fun; but we've got way too much work to do for that little side trip. We're talking Quidditch workouts?"

"Yeah, and we'll want to hear your news too; but we're pretty much ready to get to work now too; so we should get to that and multi-task your practice report," Rose answered. "We're starting with Arithmancy, so if you want to do DADA with us; that'll have to wait until after dinner."

"We'll do that and work on something elsse now," Madison decided with a nod. "Our workout was pretty good; though we had some disappointed firsites that failed their flying tests with Mr. Peakes."

"Al's giving them until Friday to pass that test," Ray advised her. "It won't likely help many of them; but our firsties might be happier."

"We thought about doing that too, but I decided not to do that. I'm trading off a few upset firsties for what will hopefully be better workouts without being slowed down by the kids that just aren't ready to play yet."

"You might be right about that," Al said with a nod. "I don't think that we were slowed down too much today; but then I did spend some time dealing with players that I needed to have sit out parts of the workout when it got to be too much for them."

They continued to talk about Quidditch too, but started to get focused on their assignments too. Al, Gwendolyn, and their fellow Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Arithmancers got that assignment finished by the time they packed up for dinner; and then they all split up for that meal – where Quidditch was again a top chat topic while they ate and enjoyed the break in their busy day. It was back to work again after that, and they had the same group for the evening – mostly because the rest of their friends opted to work with other friends. That had been something they'd dealt with at the start of second-year too, and while those changes might just be temporary; they'd have to wait and see – just as they'd likely end up with additions to their group over the next few months as new friendships and relationships developed. Al expected more of that this year through their optionals; though that might also mean that they ended up with different groups on different days. One thing that he was sure of, though, was that he would anchor those groups with Gwendolyn and Rose; while their other friends would rotate in and out of the group.

They worked until shortly before curfew, but Al and Gwendolyn left enough time for a side-trip to the Owlery so that they could send first letters of the school year with Winter – more to give her something to do for the first week there before getting into a weekly routine for their now-usual Sunday night Owl Posts. They managed to get their assignments finished too; though Al expected to need to work after curfew on a regular basis as the workload piled u on them to keep up with everything. He walked Gwendolyn to the Ravenclaw entrance; their goodnight hug and kiss was short and sweet thanks to too many observers in the hallway; and then Al made it back to his House with a few minutes to spare. Rose was already there, and had stopped to talk with some of their friends, so he joined them for a little while; catching up on the stories from the common room that Rose was being told about – mostly by the girls.

Being able to do that without even one walk-by razzing from James and Ollie was nice, but since they had tried to mess with him at practice; he didn't plan on letting his guard down around them anytime soon – if ever. They were in the common room at another work table, and seemed to be goofing around more than studying, but their friends seemed to be having fun with them; so that at least seemed to be going well for them. Al stayed in the common room for a half-hour, including spending five minutes or so talking with Lily and Hugo; went up to his dorm room; and then got ready for bed before having a short mirror chat with his parents. They didn't plan on doing that every day, but he'd promised to give them a first day of classes update; and they didn't tell him anything he didn't want to know about their first, full, kid-free day of the school year. He didn't need to be in the room with them to sense that they were going to survive the next three and a half months of empty-nesting, and while he was glad of that; he was also okay with not knowing just how much fun they were having without their kids in the house.

Despite the fact that more than half of his roommates only had three classes on Monday, Al was still the first to get to sleep – even before most of the other guys came up to their room for the night. He was up again in the morning at his regular time; and was falling right back into the daily school routine – though there were adjustments needed from a year ago that would take a few weeks to develop. First up for those changes was getting used to the third-year class schedule. Starting Tuesdays with a full morning of Potions with Professor Perks and Slytherin was good and bad for Al, and while he was happy to have Rose for his partner in the class, Slytherins seemed to be particularly grumpy first thing in the morning; and he sensed even more animosity among some of them than there'd been even on Monday afternoon – possibly becuase he and Rose were two of Professor Perks' favorite students.

The good news about having Potions in the morning was that it was out of the way by lunchtime, and while he'd had fun in the class despite the sensed animosity in the room; Al was ready for that break in the action to get relaxed and ready for his first Divination class. He hadn't compared schedules with everyone in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, so he was surprised to find out that he and Romeo were the only two guys taking the class – and that none of the guys in Hufflepuff had signed up for it. Romeo was very happy about that – especially since Al was already taken; which left all of the girls to him. Al found that amusing – especially since he could sense that it had been the only reason Romeo had for taking the class in the first place. Cora and Bristol teased him about that, but then they also teased Al about what Gwendolyn would say when she found out that there were only two boys in the class. Some of the girls got teased too – Kylie Cootes was supposedly taking the class to help her with announcing the Quidditch matches by predicting weather and winners or losers.

Al mostly had fun with all of that before the class started, and he was amused by the reactions from some of the girls to Firenze when he arrived and started the class; but then he simply got into the first lesson when Firenze started his lecture; and soon had his Centaur Professor and fellow students impressed as he could answer every question; and then was the only student in the class to succeed with their first practical exercise. There was some weird with that too, but that mostly came through what he sensed from Patricia – and a few of the girls. In her case, Patricia didn't like watching him do so well in the class whileher own efforts didn't work out nearly as well; and she still had a lot of animosity directed his way because she blamed him for her break-up with James. While Al didn't think that was funny at all, he couldn't help but wonder how she'd feel about him if she found out that he'd already started to hold back on what he was doing in class because he didn't tell Firenze about everything he learned from that first exercise – not to mention that he sensed more of everything around him just by focusing his attention on the subject.

By the time the class ended, he was sure that it was going to be a favorite for him; and Charms was going to be great too because Gwendolyn was his partner for that class. That made having Professor Dawlish again a lot easier to take, but then he didn't have any problems at all during that first class with their Professor. He even awarded a total of twenty-five points to Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose by the end of the class, and while Al still sensed that Dawlish didn't like him or Rose, he did appear to genuinely like Gwendolyn; and grudgingly respected Al and Rose for being talented and interested students. Their classes weren't finished for the day for the Gryffindors, since they had Astronomy at midnight with Professor Sinistra. Al was glad to have that on Tuesday nights, since Gryffindor didn't have Quidditch practice, but Gwendolyn did have her team workout to get to after Charms class; so she hurried off to do that right after class while Al, Rose, and Ray went to their dorms to switch books on their way to their study classroom.

Madison, Tory, Michael, and Toni met them there; but that was everyone until Gwendolyn joined them after her workout. Bristol and Cora had been talked into studying with Romeo and some of the other girls from their Divination class, which was, ironically, why Al did that assignment first; worked on Charms when Gwendolyn joined them; and then did his Potions assignment after dinner. Rose and Ray had been able to work ahead on that assignment during their study class while he'd been in Divination and while he'd worked on that Divination assignment; which was why they were able to take most of the evening off to relax and have naps ahead of their Astronomy class. Al didn't try having a nap after walking Gwendolyn back to her House ahead of curfew, but he did lay on his bed and read for a while before heading to the Astronomy Tower with the rest of his classmates shortly before midnight.

Astronomy was not the same without Gwendolyn as his partner, and he got teased about that too, but Rose worked with him; and they managed to keep entertained – even though he would have preferred to share the wonders of the universe with his girlfriend. He was tired by the time they trudged back to their House at one o'clock, though, so he got ready for bed right away; and was out for the count before half the guys were even in their beds for the night. Having just a handful of hours of sleep made it a bit tougher to wake up on Wednesday morning, but their schedule for the third day of the week was pretty good; so Al had fun all day as Gryffindor had DADA and History with Hufflepuff in the morning; and double Transfiguration with Gwendolyn and Ravenclaw in the afternoon. Gwendolyn was Al's partner for Transfiguration; and Professor Clearwater was very impressed with them – and with Rose too – as they worked through tthe first lecture of the year; and then had a blast with their first practical Transfigurations.

After they were finished classes for the day, it was time for Al, Rose, and Ray to get to their second Quidditch workout with Al's prospective team players. He was able to get right into the warm-ups without any delays, though there were a few stragglers that needed to join in for that part of the workout as they arrived late. While he changed up a few things to keep the workout interesting, Al still had Lily work with the Seekers; he and Rose worked together with the Keepers and Chasers; and Fred and Orlando led the Beater exercises – which they could do with bludgers and in the air by then because Mr. Peakes had been able to do the firstie flying tests with their team first because Madison had only given the Hufflepuff firsties the one shot at passing their flying tests ahead of tryouts. The only blip in Al's practice came at the very end – and that was again thanks to James and Ollie calling out insults and jokes while getting ready for their own worout with the senior team. Fortunately, they didn't show up until the last minute, so they couldn't do that for long before they needed to get started on their warm-ups; and the junior team practice was done.

"I'm glad that James and Ollie have left us alone the rest of the time; but I'm already sick and tired of them bugging us at the end of our practices," Rose told Al as they walked back to the castle. They were on their own because Ray had gone on ahead with some of the other guys while they'd taken a bit of time to watch the start of the senior team workout. "It's too much to hope that they won't make the senior team or their reserve squad; but I'd be okay if that happened and we didn't have them around to bug us at all."

"That is too much to hope for," Al agreed with a smile. "We could end up having more trouble with them after the senior team tryouts too; since I think that Ollie truly believes that he's the best Chaser and should make the team. He's going to be mad when that doesn't happen – especially if he's not even the best Chaser on the reserve squad – and that could happen too from what I've seen so far this week."

"He's delusional to think he's better than Lucy or Olivia," Rose declared with a shake of her head, "but then he thinks he's better than you and Gwendolyn too; and that's even more idiotic."

"It is, but then if we're honest with ourselves; we're a bit like that too – except at the opposite end of the scale," Al suggested; earning a laugh from Rose.

"That's because we find their bragging so offensive; though I'll admit that I don't feel as confident as maybe I should be. That isn't all bad; since I think we work harder to keep trying to be better players – while James and Ollie are still coasting along on talent without putting the effort into their game. James can get away with that more than Ollie can because he's got more talent – as annoying as that is to admit."

"I don't mind admitting that; and I really do hope that James has some success. That might actually help him."

"He's won two Quidditch Cups," Rose reminded him; and Al nodded.

"True, but that's not the same as personal success. The only claim he has for that right now is that he's beat G-Air in every match against him so far. He'd never admit it, but having some wins – like being top Seeker – would make him feel better about himself."

"You are an optomist," Rose said with a wry smile. "That might be possible; but I think it's more likely that he'd just become even more insufferable. We don't want to go there, though; so let's talk about what you want to do on Friday for our last workout ahead of tryouts."

Al was good with that suggestion, but then they didn't get far into that before he was hit by the now-familiar warning alarms going off in his head. He had his wand out without thinking about it; put up a shield above them; and watched as a handful of fairly nasty curses crashed into it and were deflected harmlessly away. His eyes had blazed with fiery anger, but there were no targets for a counter-attack because he could sense that their attackers had struck and immediately run off. Rose had her wand out too by the time he dropped the shield again; but put it away again when she saw Al pocketing his first.

"Well, we know that wasn't James and Ollie," she told him; and Al laughed.

"True, but someone has obviously learned from them. I'd say it's time for us to start checking our maps for more than just James and Ollie again. We're obviously not going to get most of the year off from having problems with some of our Slytherin haters."

"We'll need to warn Lily and Hugo too," Rose said thoughtfully. "They'll have more to worry about for things like this than we will – even with Lily's charm bracelet and Hugo's medallions."

"They are staying in groups anyway to avoid the bullies around here, but we'll do that; and hope for the best."

"And be ready for the worst – as always," Rose added. "It would be so nice to have a year around here where we don't have these problems, Al. Are you sure there's no way for you to get rid of that trouble magnet of yours – or reverse the polarity?"

"If you have any ideas; I'd be happy to hear them," he countered. "I don't plan on changing my name or disowning my family; and I'm not even sure that would work if I tried it."

"Probably not," Rose conceded. "I guess I'll just have to try to hang out with you less – at least when you're out and about the castle and grounds."

"That's probably a good idea. We'd better pick up the pace, though; since we have a lot of work to get done before curfew – or after; if we don't get it all done by then."

"That'll likely depend on how many study buddies we have tonight. We seem to be losing a few this year – and not just because Romeo's trying to put together an all-Witch study group with him as the only Wizard and leader."

That half-joke sent their chat off in a new direction; they put the hit-and-run ambush behind them for a while; and hurried to their dorm rooms to switch Quidditch gear for book bags before going on to their study classroom. They were a bit surprised when Ray, Toryn, Madison, and Scott weren't there – and they didn't join them at all for the pre-dinner studying. Al did have fun sitting with Gwendolyn while they worked, though; and they were able to get more done with the smaller group. They were back to having a larger group after dinner, but Gwendolyn was finished her work early thanks to the extra study time she'd had while Al had been busy with Quidditch; so she left early to go and have a nap ahead of her own Astronomy class while he worked on until right before curfew with Rose and the rest of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff study mates. They managed to get their work done by then, which surprised Al a bit; but then he was wiped out by then after not getting much sleep on Tuesday night; so he went straight to bed once they got back to their House just ahead of curfew.

Thursday mornings were going to start out with another class of Potions with Slytherin, so that wasn't something that Al was excited about, but he still enjoyed the lessons and potion-making; and then they got to move on to Ancient Runes with Ravenclaw. The Muggle Studies class for Gryffindor was at the same time, and they had that class with Slytherin too; but Al and Rose found out at lunchtime that only two Slytherins were taking the class with them; so it wasn't a big deal for them. Al loved getting to have another class with Gwendolyn, and that was even better because they also had double charms together all afternoon. Getting to spend so much of the day with Gwendolyn was great; though it was going to be a tough day for her because she had Quidditch practice after Charms; and then had some tough assignments to get done with less time to do all of the work. Al was able to do Charms and Ancient Runes with her; and help out with her Astronomy too; but Gwendolyn still had some work to do when they needed to be back in their own Houses at curfew.

Al would have preferred to stay and work with Gwendolyn until she was finished, but since that wasn't an option; he had a visit with Lily once he was back in their common room; talked with Hugo and a few of their other friends too; and then headed up to his room and went to bed early. That was mostly because he wanted to be rested up for what he expected would be his toughest day of the week – Friday. Starting the day with DADA and Transfiguration was good, but an afternoon of Herbology with Slytherin wasn't going to be nearly as much fun as their Friday afternoon study classes with Ravenclaw had been in second-year. With no study classes at all this year, he also felt more tired by the end of that two hours of Herbology; and still had his Quidditch workout to get to straight from the greenhouse. He might have been able to get an early start to the workout, but not even all of his fellow third-year prospects had brought their gear along to the greenhouses; and the teens that didn't ended up being late by the time they made the round-trip to their dorm rooms.

That last workout went well-enough from Al's perspective, but there were some disappointed firsties by the end of their practice time because they didn't pass their flying tests with Mr. Peakes – their last chance to do that before the tryouts on Saturday. While Al had lots of sympathy for them, he hadn't been surprised; and even some of the tweens that had passed their flying test weren't going to be serious contenders for spots on the team or reserve squad. He also had a pretty good idea about which players were going to be the toughest competitors; and thought that some of his friends were going to be surprised at tryouts – especially the handful of players that were, to be blunt, delusional about their own Quidditch skills.

Al didn't have time to think about that – or the tryouts – very much from the time their workout ended through the rest of the afternoon and evening. He left the annoyance over more insults and idiocy from James and Ollie at the end of the practice behind him too; and focused on his studies. They'd been given alot of assignments and projects for their three classes, and with at least part of Saturday being a write-off for tryouts; Al wanted to work hard to get as much done as possible so that he and Gwendolyn wouldn't end up studying all weekend too – though they also already had two bigger projects assigned to them so far that they'd need to work on in addition to the regular assignments. Gwendolyn had been able to get an early start on her work, but they had no chance of finishing everything by dinnertime; and it definitely felt different to be working after dinner instead of having a night off to hang out together and play – or spend time having fun with their friends. They did wrap up their studying an hour before curfew so that the couples could have some time together, and Al and Gwendolyn went for a walk; visited Winter in the Owlery; and had a minor snogging session in a classroom on the way to the Ravenclaw tower entrance. They both managed to get back to their Houses ahead of curfrew; and Al had a visit with Lily in the common room to hear about most of her day and talk about tryouts with her, Hugo, and some of the other firsties.

He was glad that Lily was having fun – especially with Denise, Hugo, Kathryn, and Melissa; but wished he could spend more time with her too. They'd be able to talk more at Quidditch practices once they had their fourteen players picked, but if their first week was any indication; Al wasn't sure how much time he was going to be able to spend with his sister when he was so busy with his studies. That had been a bonus when it came to James; but he'd wanted to spend more time with Lily now that they were at school together. The in-person chats at night were better than mirror chats; but not nearly as good as getting to spend hours together nearly every day the way they had all summer. While that wasn't working out for them so far, Al was glad to hear that she was having fun every day; doing pretty well in her classes; and avoiding any major trouble with Slytherins – and with James and Ollie too.

The weather on Saturday morning was cloudy and damp, but not seriously unpleasant. Al was awake at his normal time even though there wasn't any hurry because the Gryffindor team had the first afternoon time slot for their tryouts. He was looking forward to spending time with Gwendolyn before her team tryouts in the late-morning time slot – after Slytherin; and he was happy to go for a longer-than-uusual walk and talk with Rose when she was up early too – and wanted to talk Quidditch with him. Studying wasn't high on their list of priorities for the day, but they did spend most of the morning working on their assignments – first in their study classroom; and then outdoors when the misty rain let up and being outside was an option. That transition worked out for Al because they did that when Gwendolyn needed to be at the stadium for her tryouts; and then the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff memebers of their group found a good place to work and wait for her while Toni and Michael went with Gwendolyn to watch the tryouts and offer her their support.

"Do you think that's our Slytherin competition this year?" Tory asked when she spotted a group of Slytherins leaving the stadium not long after Gwendolyn and the rest of the Ravenclaws had all gotten there. They could all see Scorpius Malfoy and Davis Zabini at the center of the group; but they also didn't know most of the students with them.

"If it is, they've got the reserve players with them," Rose suggested. "They only had four returning players, so if they all made the team again; then only three of the others are on the team with them."

"We'll want to find out whatever we can about their new Seeker and Keeper for sure," Al told her. "Their third Chaser might not be a big deal; since Scorpius will be the anchor for their Chaser trio. Maybe we should have asked Lily and Hugo to join us. They might know some of those firsties – and Fred likely knows the second-year teens."

"They're likely all doing homework this morning – and trying to get it done by lunchtime," Rose suggested. "I'd like to do that too; so let's get back to it – and maybe we'll be able to take the rest of the weekend off – or most of it; if we want to work on our projects tomorrow."

Doing that wasn't as much fun as playing or goofing off would have been, but it did keep them busy until the Ravenclaw tryouts were finished – and Al could spend a bit more time with Gwendolyn before lunch. They'd needed to split up to go to their own dorms to drop off book bags or Quidditch gear, and for Al to get his Quidditch bag; but they took care of the tryouts recap first – and Gwendolyn was a very happy camper. She also had some big news; since the Ravenclaw tryouts had some real surprises – at least for some of the prospective players.

"Congratulations," Al told her after he'd shared a hug and kiss with Gwendolyn. "I have to ask you why Jonah and Stephanie both looked so excited when we saw each of them with their friends. We thought that one of them would be disappointed right now."

Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him again. "They're happy because they both made the team," she explained happily. "Jonah won the Seeker battle, and she was runner-up for that; but then they also both won spots on the team at Chaser – and I mean they came in fist and second for those two spots!"

"Are you kidding?" Rose exclaimed; and then laughed. "Never mind, but that's amazing!"

"It is," Gwendolyn agreed; "though maybe I should be a bit worried about that because I had to dip into my reserve squad for my third Chaser and add the sixth-best Chaser to that trio of Chasers."

"So is Landon your third?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head – surprising Rose for a second time.

"He isn't – Alyssa was third-best. I don't know if Landon got discouraged or if something else was wrong today; but he was that sixth-best – and wouldn't have made the reserve squad either if Jonah or Stephanie hadn't won the Seeker spot."

"Was Ryan that good?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn smiled and nodded.

"He was great, but I did the Chaser and Keeper tryouts at the same time; and Landon didn't do very well against the other Keeper prospects either." She shrugged then. "I could be wrong, but do think he might have given up when Jonah, Stephanie, and Alyssa were all enough ahead of him that he wouldn't be able to do better than fourth-best. He was only sixth-best by one goal."

"That's too bad," Rose said sincerely; "but you do have three Witches for Chasers – even if you are stuck with boys at Keeper and Seeker. Did Katrina make the team?"

"She did – and was the top Beater. Patrick Thomas is her Beater partner – he's second-year; and he must've put in some extra work this summer since he's definitely a lot better than he was last year."

"That sounds great for you – and bad for our teams," Tory told her with a grin. "You're not making me feel as though this is going to be our year with that report. Can't Ravenclaw and Gryffindor ever have a lousy team?" She laughed too when most of her friends laughed. "Okay – can't both houses have lousy teams in the same season?"

"We could say the same about Hufflepuff," Al suggested. "You've won the last two matches against our junior team. Shouldn't that make it our turn to win this year?"

"Not if we can help it," Madison told her with a grin. "We won those matches, but your Houses have won the last two Quidditch Cups; and we're definitely overdue for a turn!"

They had fun talking about that for a while, but eventually headed into the castle to make those stops in their dorm rooms before going to the Great Hall for lunch. Al and Rose met up with Lily and Hugo in the common room and walked to the Great Hall together before splitting up to sit with their third and first-year friends. Lily also made a side-trip to stop and congratulate Jonah with a hug and kiss that earned them some teasing from the other Ravenclaw firsties; but Al also knew that Lily and Jonah hadn't spent a lot of time together either during their first week because they spent most of their time with friends and cousins in their own Houses instead. Quidditch was the top gossip topic at lunch – either with the news from the morning or speculation on the afternoon tryouts. Jonah's news was a top story – especially since he beat out the top Seeker from last season to earn the spot on the team. Stephanie's new spot on the team at Chaser was big too; though she did get teased about coming in second to Jonah for Chaser too.

While that chat time while they ate had mostly been fun for Al, he also finished eating early; stopped to get a good luck hug and kiss from Gwendolyn; and then headed out to the stadium pitch early to get everything set up for the start of his tryouts. That didn't take long, but he was mostly glad to have some comparative quiet time while fetching the Quidditch set and getting his own gear on while waiting for all of the junior team prospects to arrive – along with quite a few spectators. Dominique, Lucy, Louis, and Olivia were among those spectators; but he was thankful when James and Ollie didn't bother to show up and offer their brand of support. When he had what seemed to be all of the teens and tweens that he'd been working with all week out on the pitch; he called for everyone's attention and got to work.

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming today and trying out for our team. We're going to start with a quick warm-up; and then we'll begin the tryouts with Beaters first; follow that up with our Chaser and Keeper tryouts together; and then wrap up with finding our next Seeker. I'll again mention that all fourteen spots on the team and reserve squad are open to the top players at each position, and while I may need to pick our Beaters if the contest is close; we'll do tie-breakers if needed for the other positions. Are there any questions?"

There were a few from a trio of firsties; but then Al led a ten-minute warm-up before sending the six Beater prospects into the air to battle it out for those four jobs on the team and reserve squad. He wasn't surprised when Fred and Orlando convincingly won their spots on the team, and while he'd needed to pick the players for the reserve squad; the two firstie boys that didn't earn those back-up positions were only a bit disappointed about not making the cut – though Al didn't find out until the next round of tryouts that it was because both boys also tried out as Chasers. Since his own job was on the line too, Al had to juggle watching the other players with trying his best against all of the Keeper prospects – including Rose and Hugo. He was able to recruit help for keeping track of the scoring for the Chasers and saves for the Keepers; and Lily was one of his volunteers for that job. They had five Keeper candidates and fifteen Chaser hopefuls; so he went with three shots per Chaser on each Keeper, which gave him a best-of-fifteen shots for the Chasers; and a best-of-forty-five shots on goal for the Keepers.

He'd needed to drop two of the Chasers as they went along because they'd each either been hit by bludgers or had too many close calls; but everything else went fairly smoothly. Nobody in the stadium should have been surprised to see Al win the Chaser battle with thirteen goals out of fifteen shots; Ray was second with ten; and then the surprises for some started when Kathryn won the third spot with nine goals; Melissa was fourth with eight; while Kira Kirke and Romeo Remillard earned the final two spots on the reserve squad. Al didn't think any of those results were an upset, but Anna was among the players and hopefuls to be stunned when they not only didn't make the team; but were near the bottom of the pack. The Keeper results were a bit more obvious; though Al did have to deal with a tie-breaker problem because Rose and Hugo both earned thirty-seven of forty-five; so Al went with a fifteen shot tie breaker with five shots on each of them from himself, Ray, and Kathryn. With that round against the best three Chasers, Rose won the duel with Hugo by two saves – with an extra save each against Al and Kathryn being the difference when she and Hugo both went three for five against Ray.

By then, they were running out of time for their tryouts, so Al got right to the Seeker battle. He had six prospects for that job too; got them lined up; set the snitch free; and then gave his Seekers a countdown before allowing them to chase after it. Lily soon proved that she was the best Seeker by a lot when she caught the snitch in under five minutes; and then she waited on the pitch and watched as the other five hopefuls battled it out for the reserve team spot. Patricia was one of those hopefuls, and she'd been shocked by how easily Lily had caught the snitch when she hadn't even been anywhere near it at the time; but she was in for an even larger shock when another firstie needed just nine minutes to make the second snitch catch – and earn the job as Lily's Seeker back-up. That had been a minor suprise for Al too, though he had seen enough of Hunter Hudak's play during their workouts to know that he had some skill – even though he'd never played the game before coming to Hogwarts.

With that done – and before they ran out of time; Al was ready to move on to a short team meeting after they packed up and made way for the Hufflepuff team and their supporters. He gave everyone a half-hour to celebrate with their friends and have a break first; and he went to meet up with Gwendolyn to do that too; but he didn't take as much time for that; and was first to their usual study classroom – though Rose, Ray, and Hugo weren't far behind him; and the rest of their new team all made it there on time. He didn't want to drag out that meeting, so he simply handed out Quidditch rule books to the players that needed them; talked about his plans for their practices as they got ready to play Slytherin in three weeks; and did more detailed introductions for everyone so that they could all learn a bit more about each other before starting to work together three days a week for the rest of the school year. Once that was done, Al, Rose, and Ray went to meet up with Gwendolyn and the friends she was hanging out with while waiting to find out what was happening with the Hufflepuff tryouts. They still had to wait to find out about that, but they played while they waited; and enjoyed the free time to just hang out together until dinnertime.

Scorpius had needed to escape both his new team mates and his girlfriend before he could go off on his own and get together with Thomas – so it wasn't until mid-afternoon that he could get into the Room of Requirements and spend some time with his painted mentor. After closing the door behind him with a sigh of relief, he went to the table; got the portrait out of his bag; and then set it on the table before sitting down in the armchair.

"Would you like me to guess that you're not happy with your new team?" Thomas asked with a wry smile. "It's obvious that you're not overjoyed."

"Not even close," Scorpius confirmed. "I ended up with three firsties as the best of the rest; and didn't get anyone better than the Harpers at Beater or Davis at Chaser; so they're all back on the team too. Terri is very happy that her brother made the team as our new Seeker, and he did at least catch the snitch to get the job; but it wasn't pretty – and he's not as good as G-Air. Derrick Selwyn might make a half-decent Keeper in a year or two, but he couldn't stop me even once; and only stopped Davis once during tryouts. He won the job because he was the best of a lousy group of Keepers. Grant Pritchard was the best of the rest at Chaser; but I'll have to hope that the other teams have lousy third Chasers too or he's going to be a very weak link."

"Are you sure it's that bad?" Thomas asked. "You've told me that the other teams will have a lot of new players too; so your team could be better than you think – at least by comparison."

"I don't know what's going on with the Hufflepuff tryouts, since they're still going on right now, but we did hear about the Ravenclaw tryouts at lunch; and I think I saw all of the new players for the Gryffindor team before coming here. I stopped to watch from one of the windows, and while some of their reserve squad players were with the last groups of players leaving the stadium; most of my guesses are likely right. Unfortunately, I'm probably not wrong about my team. Albus has Rose and his little sister, Lily, on his team for sure; the same Beaters as last year – including his cousin, Fred; and Ray Wood at Chaser. The only thing I'm not sure about is who their third Chaser is; since Ray's younger sister and younger cousin were both with them after the practice – and they both looked happy-enough to have made the team."

"You haven't seen most of them play at all, or in more than a year," Thomas pointed out. "Having so many players on their team from Quidditch families could make a difference, Scorpius; but you've no chance at all if you start out believing you can't succeed."

"That is a problem," Scorpius admitted seriously. "I was faster than everyone else out there today – and faster by a lot. At least G-Air could keep up with me last year – though he didn't know that I was holding back to keep from passing him during our flying workouts."

"Your new broom would make that difference," Thomas reminded him. "There wasn't anyone else with a Lightningbolt, was there? That'll be an advantage for you against the other teams too."

"That's true," Scorpius conceded. "Maybe that will make a big difference – if I can fly circles around Albus, Gwendolyn, and Tory."

"That's better," Thomas approved. "If you have that advantage, you could use other strategies to make up for the shortcomings you see at Seeker and Keeper – though you likely understand those strategies for Quidditch better than I do. I may not be interested in the game, but do remember enough to know that the best players don't always win the day. If you're lacking there; make up for it with a better game plan."

"I suppose, but can't shake the bad feeling I've had about our chances this season since seeing just how thin the talent is for my team."

"Did you switch an optional and decide to take Divination?" Thomas joked; and Scorpius laughed.

"I'm taking Muggle Studies because you think it'll help me, so no; I'm not taking the other dumbest class at Hogwarts too – even though I heard that Albus is taking it in the same time slot that we have for that Muggle Studies class."

"If you want to be able to exploit the Muggles some day; you need to learn enough about them to do that. There are a lot of them infesting the world; and some of them are quite dangerous if you don't know how to handle them properly."

"Okay, but you could likely teach me everything I need to know instead of learning it from Professor Peakes. She might as well be a Muggle the way she spouts off about how wonderful the Muggle World is."

"I will tell you all that I know," Thomas promised, but I'm sure that a lot has changed in the Muggle World over the past two decades – just as it did during my lifetime. You'll be able to learn about all of what's new since I was killed – and then I'll help you learn how to exploit the Muggles to gain wealth and power."

"Okay, but since I won't need that for a while; can we do a lesson while I have the time?"

"Yes, but don't you want to finish your Quidditch report? You haven't told me about what you know of the Ravenclaw team yet."

Scorpius laughed. "Actually, no, but I will tell you that Gwendolyn's little brother beat out Stephanie Boot at Seeker – and she was the best junior Seeker last season. Stephanie's on the team too, though, since they both also tried out for Chaser and came in first and second at that position too. Landon didn't make the team again this year because his baby sister beat him too – and she was given the third spot when Jonah McCormack earned the Seeker job instead. They have two new Beaters – including a firstie Witch, but she's another cousin of Gwendolyn's; so she may have been trained by her Aunt Gwenog. I have no idea whether she's any good or not; but we will get to see Ravenclaw play before we have our match against them in March." He smiled then. "Can we get to the lesson now?"

Thomas had laughed; and then went on to teach Scorpius for more than an hour and a half until he needed to go on to the Great Hall for dinner. They both enjoyed the lesson, and while Scorpius had some difficulty with the magic; he did learn how to cast the curse he was being taught by the time he needed to leave – though he'd still need to keep practicing it before he'd be ready to cast it with enough force to be effective on an opponent. Scorpius would have liked to spend more time on his lessons with Thomas, but since he couldn't reasonably do that; he was willing to settle for spending the evening with Terri – and allowing her to express just how happy she was about her brother making it onto Scorpius' team. While he was only anticipating that as he left the Room of Requirements and walked to the Great Hall, that was enough to have Scorpius smiling – and not caring at all about the weekend assignments that he still needed to get finished by Monday or Tuesday. He knew that Thomas would berate him for that if he knew that his studies weren't his first priority; but then Thomas had never appreciated Witches in the same way that Scorpius now did; and Scorpius had decided that – at least for this one thing – he knew what was best for his own life.

Fortunately for him, he was quite successful when it came to his girlfriend, his school work, and his 'real' studies with Thomas. Now, if he could just add Quidditch glory to that list; he'd have everything he needed to have a brilliant year!

Madison and Tory had their new team mates around them for the walk from the stadium, but they split off from the pack to stop for a quick visit with Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of the teens hanging out with them to pass on their Quidditch tryouts report. They were both smiling; so it was obvious that they were happy with the results.

"We're having a little meeting before dinner; so we'll just give you the highlights before getting to that," Madison said as both girls were welcomed with a round of hugs – starting with hugs and kisses from their respective boyfriends.

"Okay, but we should tell you that at least a couple of the guys are already happy to see that you and Tory didn't stack your team with hot third-year guys," Gwendolyn teased.

"Well we might have – if you'd come up with that brilliant suggestion before our tryouts," Tory joked; smiling at Ray. "We didn't even have acategory set up for assessing hotness of the Wizards; and now it's too late."

"That's funny, but let's hope that we have a different kind of hot for our new team," Madison told her.

"I'd say you have both," Rose suggested – "though Ray and Scott appreciate that more than the rest of us. Since you don't have much time, though, let's hear the short version of the Quidditch report."

"We kept our four returning players; added Ricky Peakes and Lee Johnson for our Beaters; Michael MacMillan is Tory's new Chaser partner along with Justine; and my little brother, John, is Leanne's back-up at Keeper," Madison summarized in one breath. "That's it – gotta go now!" She earned a round of laughs, but didn't rush off; since she was still holding Scott's hand.

"Lee's no surprise if he's got as much talent as Calvin and Tina," Rose said; "and Mr. Peakes must be happy about Ricky making the team this year." She smiled at Al before continuing. "Al and I have met Michael before, since he's one of the Auror kids; but we don't know him very well."

"I'm so used to your family connections to Quidditch, I forget about the family friendships you have through the Aurors and Ministry of Magic," Madison admitted with a nod. "We've had a good impression of Michael so far; though he's quite a bit different than Susannah."

"Did your brother give Leanne as tough a go of it for the Keeper job as Hugo did with Rose?" Gwendolyn asked; and Madison laughed.

"We didn't need a tie-breaker, but John was solidly second-best today. He's got it tougher than Hugo, though, since Leanne's only one year older."

"That could be scarier for Leanne in a few years," Rose offered. "Considering how things went for me today; I might have lost that Keeper duel with Hugo if he was a year older and had the extra experience."

"Thanks for reminding us about just how much talent you have in Gryffindor," Tory told her with a faux-frown. "We really can't be late for the meeting, Madison, since you're in charge; so let's get going." She smiled at Ray. "Walk me there?" she asked; and hugged him when he quickly agreed to do that. Scott went along with Madison; and they were sent off with best wishes and a couple of bonus congratulations for Tory since she had, after all, earned her spot on the team again too.

While Hufflepuff was having their post-tryouts meeting, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends mostly just hung out together until it was time to go inside for dinner. After a full week where they hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with their younger sister and brother, Al and Gwendolyn invited Lily and Jonah to hang out with them for the evening, and while they'd had other offers from their firstie friends; they both picked the play time with their big brother and sister. They met up after enjoying a fairly entertaining dinner where Quidditch continued to be the top chat topic for most of the younger students; and then they headed for Al and Gwendolyn's usual study classroom. They were about half-way there when James and Ollie just happened to cross paths with them – and they were forced to stop because the two boys blocked the hallway to keep them from just passing them and moving on.

"Oh look, Ollie – it's Captain Potty, Captain Potty-trainer, and their little wanna-be clones," James said with a sneer. "Where are you off to in such a hurry – a brothers and sisters snogging session?" Ollie snorted out a loud, raucous laugh.

"They all have kissing cousins too; so that wouldn't surprise me."

"What do you want?" Al demanded; his anger immediately sparking at the ridiculous insults.

"We just wanted to congratulate you," James declared with totally-fake sincerity. "Great job getting your baby sister, brother, and cousins on your teams – and screwing all of the other junior players in your Houses along the way. How much did you have to cheat to make that happen – or did you just get others to do your dirty work. Maybe Rose confunded the other players – her Mum was good at that sort of thing when she was here."

"Will that be what happens if you and Ollie and Louis make it on Dominique's senior team with Olivia and lucy?" Lily asked sweetly. "Let me guess – you'll earn your spots over the other senior player hopefuls that aren't members of your families – or the McClaggens. It's so lucky for them that Fred's the only Beater in our family; or they'd be out of luck too!"

"The only way we won't be on the team is if our families cheat to keep us off the team," Ollie retorted. "We'll have Al to thank for that too; since my sisters are all sucked in by his lies."

"Sure, because it's impossible for you to admit that your sister and our cousins are better Chasers than you are – even though they're two and three years older than you are," Lily shot back. "By the way, did you come up with this load of total rubbish about us cheating during tryouts on your own, or do I sense the smell of sour grapes in the air from a certain former girlfriend and your hand-picked reserve squad Seeker behind your insults?" She smiled victoriously at the expression she saw on James' face. "I am so glad that you've patched things up with Patricia, James; and all it took was teeling you what you wanted to hear about our tryouts – since you were both too busy to come and watch them yourself; or cheer for your own sisters. I was worried that you'd be very lonely this year when all of the Witches around here with half a clue don't want to have anything to do with you."

"Big talk for a Witch that needed her loser brother's help to make the team," James said angrily. "At least I earn my spot on the team every year." He scowled when Lily and Gwendolyn both laughed.

"Even last year?" Lily asked with wide eyes. "I don't remember hearing about you winning a Seeker duel for the job – while I watched Al win his spot on our team as top Chaser. She likely didn't tell you about that either, but if Patricia thinks that I cheated; I'd be happy to do a best-of-five duel with her – and you're welcome to come along and make sure that I don't cheat. I'm sure that Al would be happy to give her a spot on the team if she can actually win that duel."

"The loser had two of the Keepers in the bag," James retorted. "Don't waste your breath repeating Al's lies. They don't work on us. As for Patricia, I'll pass that offer on; but she's likely decided she doesn't want to play on a team with a bunch of cheats and losers like you and Captain Potty here."

"That's likely for the best," Lily told him with a smile. "She couldn't best a firstie who had only been flying for five days; so I don't actually think I'd have a problem winning five of five against her – without cheating."

"You're as delusional as the loser; and likely won't win another Seeker duel all year – unless you cheat to do it. Quite wasting our time – or better yet; get a clue; quit the team; and get as far away from the loser before he totally ruins your reputation too."

"You're the one that started this little chat," Lily reminded him, "but if you don't want us to waste your time; we'll be on our way." She stepped up and hugged him. "I love you, James, but from now on, if you can't play nice; leave me alone. This was nastier than anything the Slytherins have thrown at me so far; and that's not a very nice thing for me to admit about one of my own brothers."

"Don't worry, Lily. If you keep hanging out with Captain Potty and the potty-trainer; you'll be sure to have more trouble than you can handle around here. One of these days you'll thank me for trying to tell you the truth about Animorphpotty here, so even if you don't like it now; I'll keep trying to get through to you before it's too late."

"Go away, James," Lily said with a sigh as she looked up at him and shook her head. "You're not doing any of this for me; and I'm not some prize for you to try and win from Al to prove that you're the better Wizard or brother."

"I'd say you look more like the spoils of war – not a prize," Ollie snorted. "Then again, is it possible to be the spoils of war and still need a few years to ripen up a bit?" Lily whirled and slapped him across the face as hard as she could; and then jumped back when Ollie took a swing at her – that stopped abruptly when Al stepped in and grabbed his wrist.

"I'm not going to ask you to apologize," Al told him while squeezing hard-enough to have the color draining from Ollie's face, "but you had that coming to you; and I'm not going to let you hit my sister."

"Trying to goad us into another fight to get us expelled?" James taunted; but the sneer froze on his face when Al turned to glare at him.

"You won't need my help for that if you keep this sort of thing up for long," Al retorted. "Lily loves both of us, and she doesn't deserve any of this crap from either of you. We're leaving now; you're going to go away; and that's the end of it." He let go of Ollie's wrist; held out his hand to Gwendolyn; and offered a half-bow and a wave to silently invite Lily and Jonah to go first. Ollie and James were both glaring at him, but they waited until Al and Gwendolyn were a few paces away before Ollie drew his wand and fired a pair of curses at them – spells that were met by Al's shield before he'd even turned around to face them again.

"Apparently I needed to be more specific," Al said conversationally to Gwendolyn – though loudly-enough for James and Ollie to hear. "I should have told them to go away and not bother trying to attack us from behind."

"They should have been able to figure that out on their own," Gwendolyn countered. "Now what?"

"I'll need to make sure they do go," Al decided; pointing his wand at James and Ollie – and putting a large bubble around them that included the shield that Ollie had hastily erected with a smirk that changed back to anger in a flash. Al just smiled at them as he set the bubble to bouncing. "If you give it a chance, I think you'll find the ride fun," he advised them. "Once you figure out how to move it around on your own; just find something pointy to pop it on – but be careful with that; since you don't want to get stabbed too or fall from any heights without the bubble to protect you!" With that, and while Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all laughed; he gave the bubble a magical push and sent it bouncing down the hallway away from them.

"Can we try that too?" Lily asked hopefully. "That looks like a lot of fun."

"Sure," Al agreed; putting Lily and Jonah in a bouncing bubble and sending them bouncing in the opposite direction – and toward their classroom. Gwendolyn linked arms with him and smiled.

"I think that we can try that some other time," she decided. "Do you think that James and Ollie were trying to get another fight going with all of that idiotic blather? They can't really still be so dim as to think they'll be allowed to stay if they blast anyone again this year."

Al shrugged. "I don't know what they're doing. Maybe they actually think they can get away with anything because I won't turn them in and risk getting James kicked out of here – even though that's the opposite of what he claims."

"He's right about that, but if he gets caught by someone else while in the act; it won't matter what you do or don't say. I guess we can't do anything about that, though, so let's just keep an eye on our maps and try to avoid any trouble with them."

"We should have checked one of the maps tonight anyway, since we already knew that we should be watching out for our new hit and run Slytherins," Al agreed and added. "Speaking of that; we'd better catch up with our bouncing brother and sister before they get too far ahead of us – just in case James and Ollie aren't the only trouble-makers out and about tonight."

They did that, but didn't have any other problems for the rest of the evening. Music time with Lily and Jonah was as much fun as their duets always were; if not quite as intimate as those music practices for two could be. They set up sofas and watched some shows on the mirror nextwork after that; and mostly just enjoyed hanging out together for a few hours before it was time to head back to their Houses ahead of curfew. That parting was different for Al and Gwendolyn because they shared their goodnight hugs and kisses mid-way back to Ravenclaw tower so that Al and Lily could split off there and go on to their own House instead of walking Gwendolyn and Jonah 'home' – or having Jonah walk Lily to Gryffindor tower and then be left to walk back to his House alone. Lily hugged and kissed him goodnight too, so Jonah was a happy camper when he moved on with Gwendolyn; and Lily was grinning too as she took Al's hand and they headed for Gryfindor tower.

"Is he caught already, or are you just having fun?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"Both, but I'm not in any hurry to jump into a serious relationship the way you and Gwendolyn were in your first year." She smiled when it was Al's turn to laugh.

"Let's talk about this again at Christmas," he suggested. "My perspective on Gwendolyn and me changed a lot in that first three and a half months from September First through to the Christmas holiday."

"I know," Lily agreed, "and I'm not saying that couldn't happen to me too; but It is a bit different for Jonah and me. You must be able to sense that; since you are quite a bit less-clueless than most guys."

"That's something that I try not to do," Al advised her seriously.

"You try, but that doesn't really happen, does it?" she countered. "I don't actually want to talk about Jonah and me with you, though; so let's change the subject."

"Okay," Al agreed. "Let's start with an update on how Holly and Poofy are adjusting to life in a dorm room. Are they having fun?"

"They're having a blast," Lily confirmed with a nod. "All of the girls love them; and Holly spends more time prowling around than she spends in my room – including at night."

"Rose has told me that she's stopped in for some visits to her room – and to mooch for treats," Al said; and Lily nodded and smiled.

"I've heard that she gets offered lots of treats. That's something I didn't expect when planning for what I'd need for Holly between now and Christmas; but that might not last for long – even if she is the most adorable kneazle ever. You'd see them now and then if you were in the common room more often."

"That's something I'd like to do so that I could see you more often," Al told her; "but I'll likely be spending even less time there as we go along and the work starts to pile up on us. Our study classroom works better for that – and not just because Gwendolyn and I can work together. It's never quiet in the common rooms."

"Not even when the couples are all snogging each other senseless after the work is done?" Lily teased; and Al laughed.

"Especially not then," he agreed. "Quieter isn't necessarily audible noise for me."

"Not to mention that you don't think that snogging should be a spectator sport," Lily added with a laugh. "I don't know whether Denise, Mielissa, Kathryn, and the rest of our new friends will want to start studying with kids from the other Houses anytime soon, but I suppose we'll need to do that eventually. Just don't expect us to join your study group."

"Why not? Don't you think we'd have fun together?"

"Honestly – no, we wouldn't,' she said with a laugh. "You're busy-enough with eleven classes, and don't need a bunch of firsties pestering you for help; and I'm not interested in being indoctrinated into the Al and Rose over-achiever study method."

"Says the Witch at the top of the firstie class so far for earning points for our House during her first week of classes," Al reminded her; and Lily shrugged.

"I'm not against doing well, Al, and I certainly plan on working at my studies harder than James has so far. Just don't expect me to put that ahead of everything else. Quidditch is first for me; having some fun while we're here is right up there too; and I'll be happy with good marks for my classes. I don't need to be the best student the way you seem to need that." She smiled at his reaction to her assertion. "I'm not talking about how you feel about the attention," she advised him. "You do want to be the best student, Al. If it was just about the magic, you could be the best at that without putting in all of the extra time to make your assignments perfect or write perfect tests and exams all of the time."

"Saved by the entrance to the common room," Al said with a laugh. "Would you like to do the honors; or is that getting old already?"

"It's still fun," Lily answered; "though Molly could come up with more interesting passwords for us." She smiled up at the portrait of the fat lady. "Good evening," she said politely. "The password is Alohomora!"

"Correct, and you are quite right, young lady – though we don't need to tell our Head Girl that. She is, after all, a fine young lady – if a bit unimaginative."

Lily grinned at her. "I'll try to do that, but if the next password is password; I might need to have a private chat with our cousin."

The fat lady laughed too as she allowed them entrance into the Gryffindor common room; and Al waved Lily to go ahead of him through the portrait hole; holding his hand out to her to help with climbing through it. It was nearly curfew by then, so the snogging was in full swing by then along with other teens playing mirror games and still more watching a show on the mirror network. Lily went to join Denise Creevey and a small group of firsties after sharing a quick hug with Al; but he went straight through the room and up to his dorm because Rose wasn't there and he didn't want to be around all of the snogging. He wasn't the only guy in the room, but Ray wasn't there yet, so he only paused for a quick chat with Roger Johnson on his way past the other boy's bed; and then moved on to get his bathroom kit; eal with the usual bedtime routine; and then he got into bed once he was changed and ready to call it a night. He did some not-so-light reading in his Arithmancy textbook while winding down toward sleep, but while he didn't find the material at all boring; he didn't get very far before putting it aside and heading off to dreamland for the rest of the night.

With the tryouts finished and the junior teams picked, it was time for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends to develop and settle into their school routines during the second week of September. They began doing that on Sunday with a study morning that was split between research time in the library and studying in their usual classroom until lunchtime. After eating that meal, the Quidditch fanatics in their group headed out to the practice pitch for a scrimmage; they played for nearly two hours; and then Al and Gwendolyn only had a few other couples with them for some hang out time by the lake that included a swim for the teens that wanted to really cool off after the match. When it was time to get ready for dinner, they split up to do that; Al ended up walking to the Great Hall with Rose, Lily, and a small gang of their collective friends; and then he enjoyed the meal before wrapping up his weekend with some quality alone time with Gwendolyn. There had been mirror chats with their parents to go along with the music and snogging fun; and then they made a stop to the Owlery to send Winter with her weekly Owl Post for home that now included letters from Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah as well as their own letters.

By Monday, it was time to get back to work, and there was a lot to keep up with for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and most of their third-year study buddies. Even the friends that only took two optionals were still busy, and while they didn't have a larger study group; Al and Rose already started to have some other friends looking for tutoring on a rotating basis that depended on the classes each day and how well they understood the lessons in those classes. Adding in the Quidditch practices and everything that Al and Gwendolyn needed to do to keep up with their responsibilities as team Captains meant that there wasn't much time left in each day for anything other than their studies and Quidditch. On Monday and Wednesday, Al even needed to work in his dorm room after curfew to get all of his 'must-do' assingments finished; while Tuesday and Thursday were better thanks to the extra study time he had while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practices after last class each day.

The workload also kept them from taking time off to watch the Harpies play the Bats at Ilkley stadium on Thursday evening; though they did have two mirrors tuned into the game while they studied. The match didn't last two hours, but it was another tough battle for the Harpies; and they'd only managed to earn a slim eighty-to-fifty lead over the Bats when Gabrielle ended the game at the one hour and forty-seven minute mark with a fairly spectacular catch of the snitch to earn the Harpies' third win of the season. While getting those wins was proving tougher now that the other team players knew a lot more about Victoire and how she played with Candice and Hailey; what mattered most was that they were earning those wins!

Winning and losing wasn't really an issue for the younger students at Hogwarts as the weekend approached, but that was on the minds of the senior team hopefuls as they got ready for their round of tryouts on Saturday. While the junior team players were all very interested in how those tryouts would go, since that would be a big deal for the Quidditch Cup race; Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group didn't have time to think about that much on Friday as they made it through a full day of classes; half of them had Quidditch practice after that; and then they all studied the rest of the time through until curfew because they were going to lose parts of the day on Saturday while supporting their respective senior teams and players at those tryouts. Al and Gwendolyn had one other, fairly-important job to deal with on top of the Quidditch and studying – getting everything ready for Lily's twelfth birthday on Saturday. They did some of that prep work after dinner on Friday, and Al dealt with some of the rest after he was in his dorm room; so they only had the party set-up to finish on Saturday morning.

While that was a high priority on his to-do list, before getting to that work, Al was up a bit earlier than usual; he got ready for a very busy day; and then went to the common room to wait for Rose and Lily to join him – knowing that Lily would be fired up and ready to get her special day off to an amazing start. When they walked into the common room from the stairway to the girls' dorms, Al knew right away that Rose had already helped Lily with that because they were both smiling brilliantly; Lily was wearing a new outfit; and it was a safe bet that they'd had some hair and make-up fun together while getting ready for the day too.

"You'd better sit with us at breakfast," Al said as he stood to welcome his sister and cousin with hugs and kisses. "The firstie boys won't be able to eat properly with their mouths hanging open and their jaws on the table – which they will be when they see you." He handed her a gift as both girls laughed. 'Happy Birthday, Lily."

"Thanks," she said happily as she accepted the gift-wrapped box and immediately started tearing into the wrapping paper. "It's been really great so far, thanks to Rose. Do you like what she did with my hair?"

"Yes, and the new outfit is great too," he answered; earning another pair of laughs.

"You were right," Lily told Rose. "He noticed."

"I did," Al agreed; "but you don't necessarily need to mention that to any of the guys. I'm supposed to be oblivious about things like that."

"We can do that for you," Lily promised. "James and Ollie already razz you more than most of us have to put up with; so we won't add to your problems." She had the box opened by then; pulled out the pair of glasses; and laughed as she looked at Al in amusement. "You do know that I don't wear glasses, right?" she said; and he grinned at here.

"Yes, but I thought that you might like these glasses; since they have a few charms on them that you'll find very useful – plus they'll work as sunglasses on the days we actually get sunshine around here."

Lily laughed again and put them on. "Okay, what kinds of charms did you put on them?"

"There's a card in the box with the list and how to activate them," Al advised her. "Among other things, they'll work like binoculars or a microscope; there's a charm that will let you hear anything you're looking at that's a cross between a super-sensory charm and an extendable ear; and you can see through walls and doors. I thought that one might come in handy to watch out for bullies and pranksters."

"That's brilliant!" Rose todl him while Lily was already reading the instruction card and was obviously trying out the first few options as she touched the glasses in different spots and then looked around the room. "You've done all of that in the last two weeks? When did you have time for that?"

"I played with it whenever I had a few minutes to do that here and there; and finished it last night after going up to my dorm room." He smiled at Lily. "They can't see through multiple stone walls, and you won't see everything clearly anyway," he advised her. "Stop trying to look for the boys' showers."

Lily grinned at him unapologetically. "You can't blame me for trying," she said as Rose laughed. "Could you make that charm better so you could do that?" she asked curiously; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe, but that'd be wrong to do it. Most guys might not care about that, but I expect that most Witches would have a problem with guys being able to use a charm like that on them – and I'd hope that would include both of you being against it."

"It would be a problem for me," Rose agreed. "I'd be really careful with those glasses around here in the evenings, Lily," she added with a smile. "There are some things you might not want to see going on in some of the classrooms or secret passages that you won't want to witness."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lily promised. "Let's get going, and I'll play with my new toy as we go."

They did that, enjoyed the walk and talk as they took their time getting to the Great Hall; and then they stayed together until their friends began arriving. Lily went to sit with her firstie friends, so Al and Rose weren't with her when Jonah stopped by to give her a gift and share a long hug and very short kiss before going on to the Ravenclaw table. They also missed out on the fun when the Owl Posts arrived for her, and while Al kept a close eye on things when he saw Blizzard make a delivery from James, the card had just been a new twist on the monster cards line, and whatever the gift had been; Al hadn't sensed any danger – and Lily had obviously been amused by it; if not impressed. Al did see the hug, kiss, and punch she shared with James after breakfast, but then he was on the go again by then because he and Rose needed to get together with their study group; do some work while waiting for the Gryffindor senior team tryouts; and then also get their classroom set up for the birthday party they were hosting for Lily after lunch. All of that was done in time for Al, Rose, and Ray to head for the Quidditch stadium.

They didn't go and sit down right away because they had a visit with Madison and Tory first so that they could get the news from the Hufflepuff tryouts before even getting into the stadium; and then they had a visit with most of their senior team cousins and friends to wish each of them good luck. There was a pretty good turnout both for the prospective players and the interested spectators; and Al, Rose, and Ray ended up sitting with Bristol, Noel, and a few other teens that were mostly girlfriends or boyfriends of the players. While they waited for Dominique to get the tryouts started; they talked about the news from the Hufflepuff team, with Rose and Ray leading that chat; since they had the best information from their Hufflepuff friends.

"With three players to replace this year, I'm surprised that they didn't end up with any fourth-year players," Ray said after Rose had given their group the team roster news. "Has Jacques Tremlett ever made the team before this year?"

"He did," Al advised him. "Jacques was Tina's Beater partner in their third year too. He just wasn't good-enough to beat Calvin or Tina for a spot on their teams for any of the other five years he's tried out for the team."

"I guess that makes sense," Ray agreed. "It's no surprise that Myra's their Keeper this year; but I would have guessed that Jonah Finch-Fletchley was better than Roman Smith for that third Chaser spot."

"Maybe, but Roman and Zack might be a pretty good duo for Francine to work with – even if that might not be as good as Alice and Francine have been. That could be a big difference for their team – especially when the Keepers on all four teams could be very closely matched this year – for the senior teams."

"But not with the juniors?" Noel interjected with a smile for Rose. "I'm going to tell Louis you said that."

Rose laughed. "He'd agree with me, though I'm not saying it'll be easy for me against Ryan or Leanne; and we don't know anything about Slytherin's new junior Keeper. I do think that our junior team has the advantage on defense over the other teams; but we'll have a better idea about that after our first match in two weeks."

"Unless Lily catches the snitch in under five minutes," Ray suggested. "If she does that, we'll be wondering why we're working so hard in our practices."

"I'd actually be okay with that," Al told him seriously. "That would be a bigger advantage for us because we'd still be able to save most of the new plays we're working on for our games against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"That's true," Ray conceded, "but we didn't get to play last year; so it'd still suck just a bit if we didn't get to play much this year – even if it was for a different reason."

"I'll try not to mess that up for you," Lily promised with a bright smile as she joined them – along with Denise, Kathryn, and Melissa. "Have we missed much? We were goofing around and lost track of time."

"Just the Hufflepuff tryouts report," Rose answered. "I can go over that with you in a bit. You're still right on time for the tryouts."

That really was true because Dominique got started with the tryouts for Keeper and Chaser while having the McClaggen brothers test the players' ability to dodge bludgers too while the Chasers took three shots each against each of the Keeper candidates – including Louis. While there had been a lot of hopefuls for the open positions; there weren't any real surprises – excpet for Ollie. He seemed to be truly shocked when Lucy and Olivia earned their spots on the team again, but what was even more amazing to him was that he wound up as fifth-best Chaser behind his new fellow reserve squad Chaser partners, sixth-year Gina Rivers and fifth-year, former team mate, Magnus Finnegan. As Captain, Dominique was top Chaser, though unlike Al; she hadn't offered to try out for the team too – and that would have been silly when she was the only player flying a Lightningbolt. That first round of tryouts had taken a while, but the Beater tryouts were fairly quick by comparison as Tiberius and Brock quickly proved that they were the best Beaters in Gryffindor. Seventh-year, perennial reserve Beater, Pat Towler had likely hoped to earn a spot this year, but he was again third-best; and ended up with a fifth-year Witch for his Beater partner on the reserve squad.

Finally, it was time for the Seeker duel. James stepped forward with a very confident smirk on his face and arrogant attitude. Brandon tried to wish him luck, but appeared to get insulted in return. There were four other prospects that Brandon could shake hands with and share best wishes, but then Dominique got their attention; decided to split them up into two groups; and then sent James up with two of the other prospects to start the Seeker battle. Tiberius and Brock were on Beater duty; and they were the main reason for why it took twenty minutes for James to make the first catch – and that was nearly fifteen minutes after Tiberius knocked one of his two competitors out of the competition with a very solit bludger hit. James had to do a bit of in-your-face celebrating after that, so there was a delay before Brandon was able to take a turn battling against his two opponents; with Dominique's plan being for the two winners to compete for the team and reserve squad Seeker jobs. Brandon surprised more than a few of his fellow Gryffindor when he caught the snitch thanks to a pretty good move to dodge a bludger that then winged the other Seeker closest to him when they'd been chasing the snitch side-by-side – and he did that in under thirty minutes too!

James hadn't been impressed, and was still arrogantly-confident as Dominique let Brandon rest for five minutes before starting the winner-take-all Seeker duel. By then, their biggest problem was that they were running out of time for their tryouts, but they could run a bit into the lunch break without getting in the way of the next tryouts; and did do that as James and Brandon battled on without even a close call for a catch. Nobody watching the contest left when it was time to be in the Great Hall for lunch, and Dominique let them play on until Mr. Peakes put an end to it when he advised them that they all needed to get to the Great Hall for the lunch that was prepared and on the tables for them. Dominique wasn't happy about that, but then she had a real problem on her hands when James demanded to be named to the team over Brandon anyway – and she refused to do that.

"Neither of you won the duel," she reminded him. "I don't know what I'll do about that yet, but whatever we end up doing; it'll be fair to both of you."

"The only way you can be fair about it is to give me the job right now!" James retorted hotly. "We all know that I'm way better than Blandon." He sneered and glared at the older boy. "You know it too," he declared; and Brandon smiled and shrugged – shrugging off the name-calling too.

"You definitely can be," he agreed easily, "but we have different playing styles; you haven't won the job today; and I don't concede because I think that I could help out team just as much as you could – if not in the same way."

"This is ridiculous! The rest of you can go on without us; and we'll keep playing until I catch the snitch!"

"Mr. Peakes has ordered us to stop," Dominique reminded him. "Give it a rest, James. I'll decide what I'm going to do by the time we get together for our practice on Monday. We've got until November to get ready for our first match; and it doesn't really matter whether you're our Seeker or on the reserve squad until then; since you'll be battling each other anyway."

"Give it up, James," Ollie told him; and James rounded on him. "Face it – they're trying to screw you too. That is likely why they split the Seekers up for that first round – to give Brandon an easy way onto the team; and have you run out of time before you could beat him. Dominique didn't do that for the other spots on the team – though they did make sure that they helped out everyone else that they did want on the team with them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tiberius demanded; and Ollie sneered at him.

"Do you really think that it didn't help you and Brock to get all of that warm-up time ahead of your tryouts? We usually do Beater tryouts first so that we have the best two Beaters to play against the rest of the prospects for the other positions. I'm sure that the Keeper and Chaser tryouts were fixed too. The girls need you and Brock, but they're out to screw James and me."

"Stop being an idiot and get over yourself," Olivia told her brother angrily. "Dominique's been fair to everyone, and we all know that – even if you're too fat-headed to admit that you're not the best player in Gryffindor – let alone at Hogwarts or the rest of the Wizarding World. James should be glad that I'm not team Captain this year, since I'd pick Brandon just because your best mate is an even bigger git than you are."

"As if we'd believe anything you say," Ollie shot back venomously. "You're in on it too; so don't bother trying to tell me how fair you've been to me – and I'm sure that Dominique will pick Brandon too. The only thing we don't know is how long she'll string James along before giving him the bad news."

"They can try," James told him, "but when they stick me on the reserve squad; I'm going to tell everyone about just how badly I beat Brandon at every practice so that they all know who to blame when our team sucks all year."

"Way to go showing off your selfless team and House spirit," Rose told him. She'd been on the fringes of the group that had surrpounded James and Dominique by then; and had Al, Ray, Lily, and a few other friends still with her too.

"Shut it," James smapped back at her. "Our cousins don't need your help with screwing me over; so get lost – and take Captain loser along with you. The stench is making me gag."

"We all need to get out of here," Dominique said. "I want to have a short team meeting after lunch, so everyone on the team or reserve squad should meet up with me after you've finished eating so that we can do that."

"I guess that leaves Brandon and me out; since we're on neither team right now," James retorted with a dark smirk.

"Show up for meetings and practices until that's decided – or don't," Dominique told him in exasperation. "Right now, I don't really care whether you show up or not – and if you don't; that'll make it much easier for me to pick our Seeker."

"As if that'll matter anyway," James spat. "Let's go, Ollie. Our cousins likely want to have some time alone to congratulate each other on what a great job they've done here this morning."

With that, the two boys shoved their way out of the group; grabbed their gear bags; and left the stadium. They weren't alone, since the exodus that had started with Mr. Peakes' order was still ongoing, but they also didn't attract any students interested in hanging out with them after nearly everyone overheard the shouting match. Al, Lily, and the rest of their little group stayed behind long-enough to congratulate their cousins and friends, but they also all needed to get to the Great Hall. They didn't get there until most of the students in the other Houses had finished eating; and the buzz of the gossip network spreading the stories about their tryouts kicked up a notch as Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, and the other senior players arrived and sat down at their usual spots along the Gryffindor table. Al, Rose, and Ray sat with their third-year friends; and were grilled about anything they knew that hadn't already been passed along by the other students that had been at the tryouts too.

While the news about James and Ollie was more interesting for some of their friends than others, Al mostly tried to stay out of the conversation; and instead focused his attention on Lily's birthday party. He ate quickly; met up with Gwendolyn so that they could go on to their study classroom ahead of Lily and most of their guests; and were ready to welcome everyone by the time that Rose brought Lily to them – along with quite a few of her firstie friends. Cousins, Quidditch team mates, and other friends were invited too, but most of those teens and tweens stopped in for visits instead of staying for the entire party. Gwendolyn, Jonah, and some of the other Ravenclaws couldn't stay either because they eventually needed to get to the late-afternoon tryouts for their senior team while the party continued on without them.

Lily had a blast, and that was the only thing that was important to Al. There was one short bit of trouble when James and Ollie sauntered through to offer their back-handed best to Lily, but they were both still angry about their team tryouts; and were unpleasant-enough to Lily that she not-so-politely asked them to get lost and leave her alone if they couldn't play nice. Al had been ready to step in if needed, but that didn't happen; and James decided to leave when asked – possibly the only good decision he made all day. Gwendolyn and Jonah were back in time to catch the tail-end of the party, and for Gwendolyn to help with the clean-up while Jonah went off to hang out with Lily and some other friends until dinnertime. By then, Al was getting tired, so he was glad to have a bit of comparative quiet time with just the handful of volunteers on the clean-up crew once everyone else had left the room.

"So, how did your tryouts go?" Al asked Gwendolyn; smiling tiredly. "Were there any surprises for your senior team this year – or major teen drama moments?"

"Not unless you consider Seth and Brandon a surprise at Beater," she answered. "The rest of the team stayed the same as last year. The bigger surprises might be with the Slytherin team if the rumors we heard prove true."

"They only lost one Chaser to graduation," Al reminded her. "I would have thought that their tryouts would be the least-interesting this year."

"You didn't think that Rupert and G-Air would make the tryouts interesting – especially with Victor as Captain again?"

Al shrugged. "Not really. Are they the surprises?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Apparently only to some of us," she answered. "The news we had going around at our tryouts was that Brand Bletchley not only won the Seeker job; but beat up on G-Air quite a bit before catching the snitch. We also heard that Vince Vaisey won the Keeper duel over Rupert; and sixth-year player, Trace Davis, won the third Chaser spot."

"Rupert and G-Air shouldn't be surprised by that; but then I could say the same about how James and Ollie are handling things today too."

"I don't get that with either of them – especially since they're mostly beating themselves. Ollie likely isn't as good as Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia even if he did fix his attitude problems, but James is better than Brandon; so he should have won the Seeker job for Gryffindor."

"Maybe," Al agreed. "I'm probably getting too biased about James to be fair about this; but I have to wonder if Brandon might be better for the senior team. Sure, his style is defensive, and that won't work every time; but James doesn't have a good record against Alex or Pauline; and he's never faced Brand Bletchley before."

"Brandon's record as Seeker isn't very good either," Gwendolyn pointed out; "but I know what you mean. Either way, it'll be a tough choice for Dominique." She smiled at him. "Aren't you glad that it isn't your problem?"

Al laughed. "Yeah, I am – and you're likely glad that the problem is in my House instead of yours."

"Definitely," Gwendolyn assured him. "I've enough to worry about with getting ready for our match against Hufflepuff – especially if the assignents keep piling up the way they have so far."

"We'll get used to the extra work," Al assured her. "You do like all of the optional classes so far."

"Yes, but I'll stop liking them if they start messing things up for me with Quidditch. The new Gryffindor junior team Captain has put together a pretty good team; so I need to work even harder to keep up with the competition."

"You are the defending Quidditch Cup and Junior team champion,' Al reminded her, "but let's shoot for having fun this season and not worry so much about winning and losing."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Keep talking like that, and Rose will take you off of the short list for her Cannons' team. She does want to win a championship with them."

"I heard that," Rose said from where she was working with Ray and Tory on the other side of the room. "Al's serious-enough about having fun playing Quidditch, but he likes to win as much as the rest of us do; so he'll stay on my list – and so will you."

"I had to go there," Gwendolyn chided herself; though she was still grinning. "Why don't you just forget about all of that and plan on playing for the Harpies with Lily and me? You'd have fun; get paid better; and have a way better chance of winning championships."

"You already know why I want to play for the Cannons," Rose told her seriously. "The good news for you is that I'm too busy to work on that now, but then I still have nearly five years to do that; and a lot can happen between now and then."

"That isn't making me feel better," Gwendolyn decided; earning a few laughs.

"Do you feel better if you imagine playing for the Cannons with Al and Rose?" Tory asked with a grin; and Gwendolyn smiled and shook her head.

"No, and quit trying to help Rose with comments like that."

"Maybe I'm just trying to free up a future spot on the Harpies' team," Tory offered half-seriously. "I'd have a much better shot at a job with them if Rose's plan works on you."

"Now I'm really regretting that attempt at a joke," Gwendolyn declared. "For the record, Mum wouldn't hesitate to hire you – or any other Witch – over me if I'm not the best girl for the job; but I will keep working to be one of the best Chasers by the time we graduate. Instead of going there, though, let's change the subject; get this work done; and get out of here."

They did that, and then the girls wanted to go back to their dorm rooms to freshen up and change before dinner; so Al left with Gwendolyn to walk her back to Ravenclaw tower. They'd collectively checked Rose's map before leaving, and knew that James and Ollie were out and about; but it wasn't until they were half-way to Gwendolyn's House that they knew for sure that the two boys were closing in to meet up with them instead of Ray and Tory or the small group heading to Gryffindor tower. James and Ollie didn't jump out of the secret passageway in front of them, but they did step out when they were only a handful of steps away; and they did a lousy job of feigning surprise at seeing them.

"Party over so soon?" James asked. "It must have gotten even more boring after we left."

"No surprise there," Ollie declared. "We brought the only fun while we were there; and took it with us when we left."

"Yes, it's over," Al confirmed. "You knew it was only for the afternoon, though, so why are you really here?"

"It's a big castle, but we're still bound to run into you now and then," James retorted. "We're just trying to be polite instead of just ignoring you."

Al laughed; earning a scowl from James. "That'd be more believable if I couldn't see the Marauders Map peeking out of your book bag," he advised his brother. "I really don't want to get into it with you again, though; so let's just move on and you can go bug someone else."

"That isn't very brotherly of you," James told him. "I'm terribly hurt."

Al shrugged. "You're not. Excuse us, please. We have other places we'd rather be."

"Too bad," Ollie told him; blocking the hallway. "We've been waiting for hours to thank you personally for getting your cousins to screw us over at the tryouts today; so you're not going anywhere."

"So much for that chance meeting thing," Gwendolyn said with a smile for Al. "How things change in a week. Last Saturday, you cheated by stacking your team with cousins and Lily; and now you've cheated by somehow fixing the senior tryouts." She turned her smile on James and Ollie. "Did he charm the snitch and quaffle too; or just somehow magically get the other players to play better against you – and worse against the Chasers that did better than you, Ollie? How about you, James? How exactly did Al set you up? You won your first Seeker duel to end up going against Brandon. If the fix was in with the other players; it would have been just as easy for Al to have you lose that first three-way duel; and then you'd have been done for the season anyway. If he messed things up for Ollie; why not just have one more Chaser do better than him instead of having hime end up as fifth-best – not including Dominique? That way he'd have been taking the season off from Quidditch too."

"Silencio!" Ollie shouted; pointing his wand at Gwendolyn. The spell hit her shield harmlessly – the one she put up using her charm bracelet.

"I'd say that everything went exactly as Al wanted it," James declared. "Put your wand away, Ollie. She's just trying to goad us into getting expelled."

"It'd be worth it to teach her a lesson or three about a Witch's proper place in the Wizarding World."

"We wouldn't need our wands to do that," James told him with a snort of laughter and a lewd, suggestive up-and-down look at Gwendolyn. "Why don't you run along, Captain loser; and let Gwendolyn have some fun with a pair of real Wizards for a while? I'm sure that we can have her forgetting all about you by dinnertime."

"That's enough, James," Al said with quiet firmness; his expression hard and angry now.

"What's the matter, Captain Potty?" James taunted. "Are you afraid of finding out that I'm right? Gwendolyn knows I'm right – don't you? Girls love to talk about things like that; so I'm sure that Bristol's told you all about me. I see her watching me all of the time; and she doesn't give Chris a second glance anymore. Come on, Gwendolyn – find out for yourself just how good I am!"

"How could I possibly turn down an offer like that?" Gwendolyn gushed convincingly-enough that James and Ollie both gaped at her in open-mouthed surprise; and Al needed his extended senses to know she was acting. "Oh, I know – like this!" She had her wand out and blasted both boys off of their feet and a dozen paces down the hallway before they could even react to the lightning-quick change in Gwendolyn's attitude let alone draw wands to defend themselves. She followed that up with a pair of bat-bogey hexes; took Al's hand; and led him into the passageway that James and Ollie had come out of so that they could go around the two boys instead of trying to pass them in the hall or re-tracing their steps and going a different way. "James better cut that out soon," she told Al as she led the way with her wand tip lit so they could see where they were going. "I know he's doing that to goad you; but I'm sick of it."

"Me too," Al agreed, "but that means that it's working exactly as James wants; so we'll need to figure out how to deal with it – and do that without blasting them every time."

"I don't have a problem with blasting them," Gwendolyn countered with a grin, "but you're right; and we should work that out sometime soon so we'll be ready for the next time."

They talked about that for a bit longer while making their way to the Ravenclaw tower entrance; split up there; and then found out at dinnertime that James and Ollie had, indeed, gotten what they'd wanted during that confrontation when Molly went looking for Gwendolyn and told her to go to the Heads' office after dinner to meet with her about the incident with James and Ollie. Al went with her, but then he wasn't invited into the office too; and waited in the hallway while Gwendolyn had her meeting with Molly. He'd expected to talk with Molly too, since he'd been a witness; but that didn't end up happening. Gwendolyn didn't look happy when she came out of the office; but hugged him for a long minute before telling him about what had happened – and what Molly had decided to do about what Gwendolyn had done.

"James and Ollie went to see Madam Pomfrey about their injuries," she advised him. "They told her that I'd done it; and she reported it to Molly. I told her my side of it, but it's apparently wrong to blast them just for saying nasty things to us; so now I've got ten hours of chores detention and lost ten points for my House."

"With the worst of that being that you could end up missing our first Hogsmeade weekend next Saturday," Al said; looking upset now. "I guess we know now that there's one more rule that James and Ollie are willing to break when it comes to us. I should have blasted them instead."

"You know that's what they really wanted," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "I've got time to get this detention served before next Saturday if I get right at it tomorrow, and now that we know they're a pair of rat finks too; we'll make sure that we're ready for them next time."

They didn't have to wait all that long for that next time because James and Ollie were waiting for them half-way between the Heads' office and their usual study classroom. The two boys were smirking as they approached this time from the other end of the hallway from Al and Gwendolyn; and they spread out so that they couldn't just walk past them. Instead of trying to do that; Al and Gwendolyn stopped and waited for them to take the last half-dozen steps.

"Did someone get in trouble tonight?" James taunted. "I guess the perfect potty trainer isn't so perfect after all."

"No, but I've never claimed to be; and do learn my lessons the first time," she retorted. "Congratulations – you've managed to prove that my already incredibly-low opinion of you had room to move even further down than I thought possible. Get out of my way, you rat fink gits."

"Will you blast us again if we don't?" Ollie shot back with a sneer. "How'd that work out for you last time? Good luck getting that detention out of the way before the Hogsmeade weekend, but feel free to blast us again. Twice in one day might get you enough chores time to miss the first couple of Quidditch matches too."

"Spying on me while I was in the Heads' office too?" Gwendolyn asked him in disgust. "We've just come from that meeting, and haven't told anyone about it; so how could you possibly know that I've been given a detention if you weren't listening in? That's very Slytherin of you – but then so is being a rat fink; so I shouldn't be surprised."

"Come on, Gwendolyn – don't be like that," James said with a smirk that was a cross between a leer and a sneer. "All of this verbal foreplay is just turning us on. Let's take our relationship to the next level. I promise you'll love every minute of it – and be well-rid of the loser here when we're done – if you can even remember his name by then." His smile broadened when she drew her wand and pointed it at him. "Go ahead – do it!"

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed; and then put a shield up around James and Ollie. "Go ahead and rat me out again – once you get out," she told them. "I'm sure you'll have me in big trouble for doing something this awful to you."

"So you say," James retorted. "Look at all of the injuriees you've caused with this shield!" He turned to Ollie and smirked. "Knock me into it – hard," he ordered; and Ollie grinned too before doing as ordered. James shouted in pain as his head and shoulders hit Gwendolyn's shield; and then it was Ollie's turn as James rebounded and pushed him in turn. Ollie hadn't expected that; and actually got hurt as he hit the shield and then fell to his knees. James ignored him and turned to face Al and Gwendolyn again. "I guess you made this shield a bit too small," he declared triumphantly. "Good luck with explaining yourself to our Head Girl – again."

"She won't need luck."

James gaped as he looked past Al and Gwendolyn to where Molly suddenly appeared out of nowhere; the expression on her face grim and unhappy. Al and Gweodolyn turned to face her too; and couldn't resist smiling despite the drama scene they'd been dealing with thanks to James and Ollie.

"Drop that shield, please," she told Gwendolyn. "You won't need it anymore." Gwendolyn did that as Molly stepped past her and stopped in front of James and Ollie.

"What are you doing here?" James demaned.

"Having my suspicions confirmed," she answered. "Ten points to Ravenclaw for dealing with you the right way this time, Gwendolyn."

"You're giving her points for attacking us again?" James demanded incredulously. "Look what that shield did to us!" He turned around so that she could see his back – though the bump on his head wasn't even visible through his hair; so he didn't see the hard edge to her expression.

"I was right here, James; so I saw and heard everything," she told him angrily. "The good news for you is that there's nothing I can do about your rude and crude talk, and there aren't any rules against self-inflicted injuries; so you're free to go. Now that I've seen you in action for myself, though, you can be sure that I'll be suspicious of any future claims you make aggainst Al or Gwendolyn."

James glowered at her. "As if you weren't already one of the loser's delusional little pawns. Why don't you just take away Gwendolyn's detention too; since you've already wiped out the points you took from Ravenclaw?"

"I'm tempted to do just that; but won't," Molly told him. "That is, however, none of your business anyway; and you don't want me to decide to look into how you found out about a private meeting when I know you didn't hear about it from Al or Gwendolyn." She held up a hand when James looked ready to offer another retort. "Enough, James. I've too much to do tonight to sit here and argue with you. Move along; and try to stay out of trouble for a while."

"Fine," James said; and then grinned lewdly at Gwendolyn. "Are you coming, sweetheart? We've still got lots of time before curfew to have some real fun – if you know what I mean. I'm sure that Captain Potty here can go read a textbook or turn himself into a dog and chase his tail for a few hours while you're busy spending time with a real Wizard."

"Go, James!" Molly said firmly.

"Don't mind her, Ollie," James responded. "She's just overdue for a good snogging – though we've heard that isn't the case for Calvin; since he's apparently got his pick of the Witches hanging out around the United team all of the time and willing to hop into bed with him. It's no wonder he's on their reserve squad. He's likely too tired to play well-enough to be on the team. I'd offer to help her out with that little problem, but we're cousins; so that'd just be weird. Maybe you could snog her while I'm having fun with the potty-trainer."

"I'm so glad to hear that you're keeping up with the latest gossip," Molly told him, "but if you think to get me angry with such childishness; then you really don't know me at all." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "Since James apparently has a problem with taking no for an answer from you; I'll walk with you for a while – just to make sure that you don't have any other problems with them."

"So that's a yes?" James countered with a grin that froze when Molly turned her full attention on him.

"That's two very emphatic no's," she advised him; "and it's past-time for you to stop it. Crude and obnoxiious is one thing, but you're getting very close to the line for sexual harassment; and that would definitely get you into trouble."

"There'd be a lot of emphatic shouts of yes, yes, yes if you'd come with us – and if you could get that broomstick out of your butt, but I guess that won't happen tonight; and Gwendolyn will say yes to me eventually – just as the rest of Captain Potty's girlfriends will. It's inevitable."

"Maybe we should go and talk to some of those other girls next," Ollie suggested. "I'm not really interested in snogging the Head Girl anyway."

James laughed. "You're in good company; since her boyfriend isn't interested in snogging her either anymore – if he ever truly was into her." With that statement, James and Ollie sauntered off; leaving Molly, Al, and Gwendolyn to watch them go for a moment before turning to face each other.

"Be careful around them" Molly cautioned. "They're trying to push the limits way more than I thought they would the year while on probation; and Merlin only knows what else they'll try to goad you into blasting them again."

"We'll be careful," Gwendolyn promised. "Thanks for being here. What they were thinking about trying there wouldn't have worked this time; but you did at least save us from having to spend the time explaining what really happened to them."

"You're welcome," Molly assured her. "Try to have a good rest of the night. I really need to get back to my studying. Sometimes I really wonder why I haven't listened to Lucy. Between Head Girl duties and all of the studying; I barely have time for naps by the time I have the work dine each night." She smiled when Al laughed.

"Sorry, but I was just picturing you saying something similar to that sometime in the future – when you're Minister of Magic," he explained.

"Are you making predictions?" Molly teased; and Al shook his head.

"No, I'm not; though it would be cool to have a cousin as Minister of Magic."

"Minister Shacklebolt is doing a fair job," Molly said eriouly. "I doubt we'll have to worry about replacing him anytime soon."

"He's had the job for more than twenty years now," Al pointed out. "One of these days; he'll have had enough of all of the pressure and let someone else take over. Your Dad would take the job if it was offered to him."

"He would," Molly agreed with a nod and smile. "I wouldn't like that, since I plan on going to work at the Ministry of Magic too; but wouldn't want my Dad for a boss; so I'll hope that doesn't happen anytime soon."

They talked for anothe rminute or two, but then Molly left them and went back toward the Heads' office while Al and Gwendolyn headed on to their study classroom with plans to spend the evening playing music; having mirror chats with their parents; and snogging each other for a while before they'd need to be back in their Houses ahead of curfew.

"You look reasonably happy," Thomas told Scorpius once his portrait was on the table and the teen had sat down in the armchair. "Do I want to know why?"

Scorpius laughed. "It isn't for any reasons you wouldn't want to talk about. I'll be busy with that kind of fun later – once I'm back with Terri in the Slytherin common room."

"Okay, so what's going on that you are so happy about?"

"First up would be the senior team tryouts today. I had some fun watching the Slytherin tryouts; and there's some interesting news about James and Ollie with their tryouts too. Ollie only managed to be the sixth-best Chaser for Gryffindor, and they don't have a Seeker for their team yet because James couldn't beat their Seeker from last year before they ran out of time for tryouts. We haven't heard what they'll do about that; but James and Ollie are shooting their mouths off about how the tryouts were fixed against them to keep them off the team."

"That's amusing, considering how things went for them last season," Thomas suggested; and Scorpius laughed again.

"Not to mention that they're likely just making up stories to explain how poorly they did today. Speaking of that, I really enjoyed watching Rupert and G-Air get beat out by Vince and Brand at their tryouts. It turns out that they're not quite as good as they've claimed to be for the past two weeks – though they did get on the reserve squad. G-Air needed to visit the Hospital Wing after Brand was done with him, and he's only the reserve Seeker because nobody else was dumb-enough to go after the job against Brand. Victor wasn't happy that Rupert didn't make his team; but there wasn't anything he oculd do about it – especially since vince is one of his best mates too."

"He ought to want the best players," Thomas countered; "but that isn't surprising. Did he manage to keep the Witches off of the team this year?"

Scorpius laughed. "No. Licentia still made the team again – and made Rupert and Vince both look a bit foolish while doing that. I doubt Victor would have done better if he'd been trying out for Chaser too."

"She's one to keep an eye on too, then," Thomas suggested. "The Notts weren't very bright; but they did come in handy now and then."

"You hink that about nearly everyone," Scorpius accused; and Thomas laughed.

"That's actually true," he agreed. "There is a fairly large difference between those that can be used as allies and those that are handy to have around as servants or slaves. There are really only a very few Witches and Wizards that are most-useful dead instead of alive. It's very difficult to get anything useful out of a corpse."

"The problem always seems to come back to making the right decisions about everyone in each group," Scorpius mused. "Getting it wrong with even one person can lead to the undoing of even the best plans."

"I can relate to that," Thomas dead-panned with a grim smile. "My advice is to get it right as often as possible; and be better prepared than I was for the times that you will get it wrong. This isn't likely what you wanted to talk about tonight or do, so why don't you tell me any other news you have; and then we can do a lesson before you need to get back to your House again."

Scorpius was happy to do both; enjoyed working with the magic Thomas taught him; and then moved on to the Slytherin common room to spend several post-curfew hours snogging his girlfriend senseless.

He was still years away from making all of his dreams come true, but the start of his third year was, for the most part, really great – especially compared to the not-so-great start to the school year that certain other Wizards were having that had the bonus of helping to make his year even better!

Gwendolyn's detention changed her plans for Sunday, but after first setting things up with Mr. Jigger for a batch of afternoon chores; she moved on to a Quidditch practice with her team before joining Al and the rest of their study group for a morning study session that they split between the library and their study classroom. They worked until lunchtime, and then she went to work on her list of chores while Al and Rose led a Quidditch scrimmage with friends from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Al didn't like doing that without Gwendolyn, and felt guilty that she was in trouble when James was really trying to hurt him. He kept that to himself as much as possible; but those feelings had a lot to do with why he didn't play nearly as well as normal – and 'his' team lost the scrimmage to Rose's team.

Al tried to make up for Gwendolyn's tough afternoon with some play time after dinner. They did that with Lily and Jonah; had fun playing and singing together; watched a show on the mirror network; and wrapped up their pre-curfew evening with a visit to the Owlery to take care of Blizzard and Winter before sending Winter on her way with the usual weekly letters for home for three sets of parents. There were also cards and gifts going along to be forwarded to Hermione for her fortieth birthday on Thursday, but they used an undetectable expansion bag to keep the package small and light for Winter; and that saved them from sending and extra Owl Post or two. While that play time with Lily and Jonah didn't leave them with any quality snogging time, Al still managed to share a few extra hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn before they split up for the night; and then he wrapped up his weekend with some studying in bed before he was ready to crash and sleep for the rest of the night.

The next few days were all work with the fun mixed in to the classwork, studying, and Quidditch. Al's routine didn't change, but Gwendolyn used the time between last class and dinner on Monday and Wednesday to work on her detention chores while Al was busy with his Quidditch practices and studies. That meant there was a lot more studying for her to get done after dinner, but Al helped her out with that; and their friends gave them some space so that he could focus on doing that while Rose picked up the slack for other tutoring help. The only change on Tuesday was that Gwendolyn traded detention chores for her Quidditch practice; and Al had a bit more time to help her after dinner because he'd gotten more of his own work done before dinner while she was busy.

Rose and Hugo didn't have much involvement with their mother's fortieth birthday – and not only because they were stuck at school. Ron, Harry, and Ginny surprised her with a four-day weekend away; so Rose, Hugo, Al, and Lily were only able to have a mirror chat with her before breakfast. She did open the gifts from them while doing that, and it was a fun little cameo moment in another too-busy day, but then it was time to get back to the normal daily life at Hogwarts for the kids while Hermione got to go out and play with her husband and best friends for the rest of the week – to an undisclosed location that the kids apparently didn't need to know about. That was something that the girls had fun talking about, but Al was fairly sure that this was one parent-getaway weekend that he wouldn't want to know very much about at all!

Hermione's birthday – or her weekend away – wasn't of any interest to most Hogwarts students on Thursday. By then, it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year that had the attention of every eligible teen – including Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends. They still had two days of classes, Quidditch, and studying to get through first, though; and Gwendolyn had to finish her detention on Friday afternoon – which she did by dinnertime. With the Hogsmeade weekend and a Harpies' match on Saturday, taking Friday evening off from studying wasn't an option – at least for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose. They didn't have the full study group, though, and Ray, Tory, Madison, and Scott were among the friends that chose to take a break from all of the work and have some play time instead. That was a new change in their study group dynamic, and it would mean that their friends would need to make up that study time on Saturday or Sunday; but it also helped Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose with getting more of their own work finished by the time they needed to be back in their Houses ahead of curfew.

A too-long school week of too much work without very much play time was a contributing factor for why Al was fired up on Saturday morning as he got showered and ready for the day; and he was in a great mood when he met up with Rose and Lily in the common room. They'd managed to get there first, and while Lily wasn't able to go to Hogsmeade with them; she was in a good mood too as she welcomed Al with an enthusiastic hug and kiss. Rose hugged him too; and then they headed for the portrait hole to get started on their morning walk and talk. Lily didn't join Al and Rose for that most mornings so far; but did like spending that time with them when it worked for her too.

"Should we be worried about why you look so happy?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"No, but I do plan on having fun today while you're away. We've got a Quidditch scrimmage set up for after breakfast; and Jonah and I might have a Seeker duel after that if the pitch is still open for the rest of the morning. Then we've got the Harpies-Prides match this afternoon; and, hopefully, some play time with you and Gwendolyn after dinner again – unless the two of you want to be alone tonight."

"Are you going to watch the game from our common room?" Rose asked. "Al could lend you his mirror; but you don't know the spells yet for dealing with the furniture, do you?"

"No, I don't," Lily agreed, "but we could sit on the stools at the worktables instead; so I'd rather do that so we can hang out with our Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends."

"I'll get that for you once we're in the Great Hall," Al promised; "and we might be back in time to catch most of the game anyway."

"I wouldn't be," Lily told him. "You get to escape for the day, Al. Take all of the time you're allowed and have fun. Sometimes you're just a bit too much like Dad for your own good."

Al laughed. "That line might work better if he wasn't currently on a four-day getaway with Mum, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione," he pointed out – "or because of the trouble-magnet problem I may have inherited from him."

"Maybe, but you know what I mean, Al. It's okay to have fun now and then – even when you don't have all of the work finished first. There's always more work around the corner, and this weekend is a good example; since Dad is doing a bit better at trying to take time to have fun now and then instead of working all of the time."

"I'll try to remember that," he promised. "Does Rose have your list; or should we talk about that next?"

"I have it," Rose answered before Lily could. "I also have the lists for Hugo and some of their friends."

"I have some things to get for Fred and Orlando; and Gwendolyn's going to have some things to get for Jonah and their cousins too; so we'll have a lot to pick up this morning."

"If you end up with too much to do; ask our cousins to help out," Lily suggested. "Olivia's taking care of Kathryn and Melissa. I'm sure that Diminique, Lucy, and Louis would help you out."

"I'd like to do this ourselves if we can," Rose told her seriously. "We owe them for helping us the past two years; and they already have a lot more work than we do with their OWL, sixth, and NEWT-year classes."

"Sure, because you guys are slacking off with only ten and eleven third-year classes," Lily teased. "I'm glad that you're doing all of that for us, but we should talk about what Al's going to do to make this first Hogsmeade weekend special for Gwendolyn; and maybe work on finding a nice Wizard for you to share the day with too, Rose."

"Don't even suggest that I take Gwendolyn to the tea shop," Al told them seriously; though he was grinning too. "That isn't going to happen. I was planning on having lunch at the Three Broomsticks with Gwendolyn, though, and thought that she'd like to do a bit of shopping at Gladrags and some of the other, non-supply-shopping stores."

"You could go to the shrieking shack and pretend to be scared so she has to hug you a lot," Lily offered, "or if you really want to get away from it all; take a long walk out to Hogsmeade Station."

"That's a very long walk," Al advised her. "Gwendolyn wold rather come back here and watch the Harpies' match instead. We'll try to have fun while we're in town, Lily, and I'm glad that we get to go this year; but it is different for us than it was for most Witches and Wizards in the past – especially now that we have the mirror network and the Wizarding Wireless Web."

"I suppose," Lily conceded, "but it is still a chance to be somewhere else other than here on the school grounds for a day. That isn't a big deal for me, since I'm still exploring the castle and school grounds; but I'll likely be wishing that I could go along too fairly soon. Do you expect to have any problems with James, Ollie, or your least-favorite Slytherins today?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted with a shrug. "They probably can't get away with anything while we're all heading into town in a pack; but we'll need to be careful after that."

"Especially since our maps don't include the town," Rose added with a nod; and then grinned at Al. "Maybe I'll spend the day hanging out with Bristol and some of the other girls – strictly so that you and Gwendolyn can have fun together; not because you're a trouble magnet like your father."

That joke sent their chat off in a new direction that included rhetorical questions about why Lily and Rose hung out with Al at all after growing up hearing about all of the trouble their mothers had dealt with while hanging out with Harry; they had fun while wandering their way to the Great Hall; and then Lily stayed with them until Denise met up with her and they went to sit in their usual spots with the other firsties. The breakfast conversation was lively for the third-years as they excitedly talked about what they wanted to do while in Hogsmeade. Al decided that he was too boring compared to most of their friends; since he spent some of that time trying to decide the best way to get all of the 'must-do' shopping done with the fewest delays. The other guys were more interested in whether there'd be anything new at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes; and the girls talked about checking out the latest new clothes at Gladrags. By the time that they'd finished eating and he could meet up with Gwendolyn; Al was fairly sure that at least some of his fellow third-year Gryffindors were going to be disappointed to find out that the reality of their day in town just wasn't as exciting as their expectations.

Getting out of the castle and on their way to Hogsmeade took a while because the group they stayed with while lining up to be cleared by Filch and Jigger didn't try to join the rush to be first to be set free for the day. They were in the middle of the pack, since some of the older students hadn't been in any hurry at all with the novelty of the experience long-since worn off for them; so that put them in the middle of the long line of students making the walk to town. There was a sense of change as they lef the school grounds and then walked along the road into town, and a sense of freedome that came with it; but Al was mostly just happy to share the experience with Gwendolyn. He'd been to Hogsmeade before, but never on a Hogsmeade visit day for the Hogwarts students; and that was very different – especially when there were already hundreds of students in town by the time they arrived.

"The best stores will be sold out by the time we get to half of them," Gwendolyn predicted with a sigh. "Where should we start?"

"I thought that we could start with the boring supplies," Al said with a smile and shrug. "If we get that done while most of the students arepacked into those best stores; we'll at least get that done faster – and get all of the supplies we really need the most."

"Maybe, but then we'll be stuck with the leftovers for the sweets and treats," Gwendolyn countered.

"Maybe," Al agreed, "but we can mail order any wheezes we can't get today; and get our Mums and Dads to send sweets if there isn't much left at Honeydukes."

"Okay, we'll go with your plan," Gwendolyn decided, "but if I miss out on any really great outfits at Gladrags today; you might be in trouble later."

"You could do that first with Rose and the other girls while I start with something like the potions supplies," Al offered.

"That's an idea," Rose said; since he'd suggested that loudly-enough for her to overhear. "You do the boring shopping for us; and we'll go and have some fun."

That's what they ended up doing for first stops; and Al picked up the potions supplies for a fairly large group of teens and tweens once all of the girls had told him what they each needed – along with the orders for their first and second-year relatives and friends. While the shopping wasn't any fun for him, he did enjoy finding out how appreciative Gwendolyn was of his efforts – especially since she also picked up a really nice sweater that would be great for cuddling with her later. Once they'd met up again and he'd passed along the potions orders, they stayed together for the rest of their time in Hogsmeade while Rose and the other girls with her moved on to do the rest of their shopping. There were still inks, parchment, quills and other supplies to get; they eventually found out that they could still get most of their sweets and wheezes even after the first big rush of the morning was over; and they then had time to do a tour of the town that included checking out the shrieking shack while waiting for some tables to be available at the Three Broomsticks so that they could have lunch there.

They hadn't even seen James and Ollie around town while doing their shopping, which had been a bit surprising, but Al had stayed on the lookout for them – and for the Averys and their mates too. Walking the streets and alleys of Hogsmeade hadn't been a problem because there'd always been other students or residents around them. There wasn't anything strange about their visit to the shrieking shack either – unless you counted the shrieking and other noises that Al had immediately sensed were being charmed to activate whenever anyone approached the place. He couldn't tell whether that was being done by older students or something the adults in town did to keep the legend going, but that didn't really matter; and he didn't attempt to spoil the fun for Gwendolyn. They made it through lunch at the Three Broomsticks without any problems beyond the wait for a table and a mixed-up side-order; so it wasn't until they headed back to Hogwarts after having their meal that James and Ollie tried to mess with them – and they weren't alone in that effort!

Al sensed that they were being followed within moments of stepping away from the Three Broomsticks. He didn't look around to find their invisible admirers; though he was certain he'd be able to locate them if he did that despite the invisibility charm he could also sense. The level of dark anticipation helped him to at least take a good guess at the number of Wizards hiding behind that magical barrier of invisibility, though since some of those emotions were very strong; it was possible that he couldn't detect everyone. He and Gwendolyn were holding hands as they walked out of town, but he waited until they had some distance between them and the group of boys following them to say anything to her.

"We have company," he whispered without turning his head to look at her. "Too many to be James and Ollie; so I'll guess it's the Averys and their mates."

"That's what we get for deciding to head back early and catch the rest of the Harpies' match," she faux-lamented; though she was smiling too. "Do you think they'll try to hit us out here on the road; or wait until we're back on the school grounds?"

"I have no idea," Al admitted. "Maybe we should just pretend that we forgot something and head back into town."

"We could, but even if they let us do that; it doesn't mean they wouldn't just be waiting for us later," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I've never tried dueling while carrying a bunch of shopping bags. Maybe they're hoping it will be too challenging for us."

Al laughed quietly. "Then they've obviously never seen all of my favorite Witches fighting their way through the sales crowds at Muggle Malls around the Christmas holidays," he joked; earing a laugh from Gwendolyn too.

He stayed alert and ready for the warning bells he expected to go off, but was surprised when the warnings were of imminent danger ahead instead of behind them. By then, the attacks were on the way already; so all he could do was react as he used shields and counter-spells to defend them while Gwendolyn went on the counter-attack.

"They're back in the trees," she advised him even as her first spells struck the trunks of two trees on her side of the road – and back into the woods far-enough that they couldn't see their attackers.

"Okay, you take care of them; and I'll watch our backs," Al answered; though he'd already spun on a heel to face the attacks that were now on the way from the group of invisible Slytherins behind them.

He'd sensed that they'd been startled by the attack too; so he knew that it hadn't been planned as a two-pronged attack. There were two reactions behind him and in the woods that confirmed that James and Ollie hadn't expected that second round of attacks either. After that first shock of surprise from each group of attackers, though, they all seemed to decide to take advantage of the opportunity; and redoubled their collective efforts to blast their ambush targets. Al stopped the first barrage from the Slytherins, but didn't have time to counter-attack at all as he defended against the eight Wizards he could now sense more easily because of the locations of each wand attacking them. The danger from behind him was still palpable too, but while he sensed the attacks, he didn't have time to respond as he needed to keep defending Gwendolyn. That's why a breaking charm caught him low in the leg and dropped him to his knees. A double-whammy hit him in the back and ribs as he and Gwendolyn both faltered momentarily, but when she was hit by a cutting curse that sliced deeply into her wand arm; Al's anger and power flared in response.

"Petrificus Totalis!" he roared; and felt a great deal of satisfaction as the entire group of Slytherins were all imobilised – though he could only sense that; since they were still invisible. He didn't take time to dwell on that victory as he turned again to face the attack still going on from behind him; and got shields up in time to defend more attacks that had been directed at Gwendolyn as she struggled to help while also trying to clamp a hand over the serious cut on her arm. "It's over, James," he called out through gritted teeth. "You and Ollie had better get out of here before I get really mad and do something you'll both regret!" He ground his teeth when his warning was ignored.

"That worked well – not," Gwendolyn told him; her voice angry too and filled with pain.

"Expelliarmus!" Al shouted twice in rapid-fire succession wihtout answering her. He caught each wand at they reached him; both of them bouncing off of trees as they flew through the air between their respective owners and him – and ignoring the magical attempts to regain control of them by their owners. He pocketed both wands; and turned to Gwendolyn. "Let me see that arm, please," he told her; and she turned around so that he could see that side of her.

He couldn't actually see the cut through the fabric of her jacket and shirt. He could see the blood stains, though; and sensed the seriousness of the cut. Pointing his wand at that part of her arm; he let his magic flare anew; and Gwendolyn tensed as the healing began and her arm was mended from the inside out. She sighed with relief once he was done; but looked worried as his shoulders slumped wearily. While Al hadn't paid any attention to the fact that he was still on his knees, it was something that became obvious as she knelt next to him and put her hands on his arms.

"How bad are you hurt?" she asked; and Al smiled grimly.

"I've felt better," he admitted. "Let me deal with that; and then I think we're overdue for a horseback ride. Watch out behind us just in case any of those Slytherins manage to get free before I'm done."

With that, he turned himself into a caterpillar; healed himself on the way there and back to his human form; and then changed into his stallion form after sharing a quick hug with Gwendolyn and taking her shopping bags so that she didn't need to carry them while riding. She laughed as she swung up onto his back and he ran off toward the school gates. He ignored James and Ollie as he sensed them glowering at them as they passed; and didn't worry about whether the invisible Slytherins would get out of their little predicatment before other students ran into them – possibly literally; since they were in the middle of the road and invisible. While they were both healed, Gwendolyn still had a ruined jacket and shirt that were covered in blood, so Al ran all the way to the stadium; stopped in front of the loceker rooms; and changed back again once she was again on the ground.

"I thought that you'd rather get changed here than have anyone see you like this back at the castle," he explained without needing to do that; and she smiled at him.

"You just want to get me into that new sweater in time for the cuddling and game-watching," she teased; and Al laughed.

"That's a bonus," he agreed; "though I'm not happy about what they did to you; so I won't be sending out any thank-you cards to any of those gits."

"Let me get changed, and then I'd like to talk about all of that," she told him seriously. "We've got some real problems if James and Ollie have teamed up with our favorite Slytherin haters this year."

"That was by accident today," Al advised her, "but go ahead; and we'll talk when you get back." He waited while Gwendolyn went to do that, and she must have needed to wash up a bit too; since she was gone for nearly ten minutes before getting back and sharing a long hug and kiss with him.

"Thank you," she told him after the kiss. "You really are the worst sort of trouble magnet; but I'm glad you were there to help out with both the fighting and with healing me too."

"I'd feel better about that if it wasn't for the fact that you likely wouldn't have to fight or be healed if not for me."

"Your Dad has likely said that same thing a lot over the years about everyone he cares about too," she told him. "You'd be included in that too; since you wouldn't have as many troubles around here if not for being one of Harry Potter's kids. I doubt you'll stop letting that bug you either, but try to get used to it; since I don't plan on changing anything about you and me just because it isn't all fun and games."

"There hasn't been much fun at all so far since we got back here," Al pointed out; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.

"Then we'll need to work a bit harder at that – though even this fight wasn't all bad. We did win; and I got to go for a horseback ride. Before I get totally side-tracked, though, what did you mean about that ambush being an accident back there?"

"I'm pretty sure that they were all surprised, so there'd been two attacks planned against us. It was just an accident that they happened at the same time – though the Slytherins only took advantage of the situation after James and Ollie ambushed us first before the Averys and their mates could try blasting us from behind."

"Then let's hope that they don't decide that it worked so well that they should start teaming up," Gwendolyn suggested. "What are you going to do with James' and Ollie's wands?"

"I'm tempted to drop them off with Molly – or Filch,' he only half-joked. "We need to drop off our supplies before going on to the study classroom, though; so I'll stop by the fourth-year dorm room and leave them on their beds."

"That's more than they deserve; but that is one of the reasons for why I love you so much. Let's hurry up. I'd like to catch as much of the match as we can – and we've already missed the first hour or so of it."

They did that; Al walked her to Ravenclaw tower; waited for her; and then had her go on ahead to their study classroom after checking his map and making sure she didn't have anything to worry about from James, Ollie, or the Averys and their buddies. The Slytherins were still nowhere to be seen on the map, and James and Ollie were just making their way in from the gates; so they split up so that Al could take his supplies back to his room and drop off two extra wands before meeting up with Gwendolyn again to watch the rest of the Harpies-Prides match. Lily had quite a group of first and second-year tweens with her for the afternoon, so they'd been very happy when Gwendolyn arrived and started setting up the sofas for all of them to use. They'd needed to move the mirror to work with that, but it hadn't gotten in the way of watching the show; and they had everything done by the time Al got there.

He and Gwendolyn couldn't talk about the fight they'd had, but after delivering the supplies he had with him for Lily, Hugo, and some of the other kids; he sat down with Gwendolyn and they were grilled about their first Hogsmeade trip while the Quidditch match rolled on. The Prides didn't have an all-new team, and Al and Gwendolyn had kept an eye on how they were doing so far this season; but they did get to have a very good look at how well they stacked up against the Harpies with Alice and Daniella at Chaser now; and Jensen and Stanley at Beater. It wasn't a total surprise to find out that they now had a much more closely-matched team than they'd had last season. They were heading toward the end of the second hour of the match by the time Al had gotten comfortablly snuggled with Gwendolyn, and while the Harpies had the lead; it was only by a score of one-forty to seventy. Sure, that was two-to-one for goals, but the shots on goal were closer; and part of that lead had come early – before Alice and Daniella settled into the game and began pretty much trading goals with the Harpies' Chasers after that.

The game continued for more than another hour after that, and Al and Gwendolyn got to watch as Victoire scored four of the last six goals for the Harpies while Alice and Daniella split the four goals for the Prides with two each before the game ended when Erin Connelly once again attempted a very high-risk play to catch the snitch that she missed – and that Gabrielle then took advantage of to end the game. The final score was three-fifty to one-ten, but the players on both teams knew that it had been a much-closer game than the score suggested.

"Erin should stop doing that," Lily said as they watched the action on the pitch. The players had all landed; and it was especially entertaining for them to see Victoire hugging her former Gryffindor team mates and friendly rivals. "She has a better team to work with now; and they weren't in any imminent danger of falling behind by more than one-fifty. She's losing more often than winning with those really risky plays."

"True, but we don't know how many of those matches she'd lose anyway," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I've been wondering for a while whether Erin isn't able to handle long matches anymore. She might be doing that because she's too tired to play her best after a few hours."

"It's something to keep an eye on," Lily agreed with a nod. "The other teams will take advantage of that if it's true, though; so she might not be able to play much longer if she really can't keep up anymore."

"The other teams might have more to worry about from Alice and Daniella," Al offered. "The Harpies were a match for them today, but they'll be enough better than other Chasers that the Seeker duel won't matter as much – if they can get the Prides ahead by one-sixty or more in their matches against the weaker teams."

His suggestion sent their chat off on a slightly different track for a while, including musings about whether Erin's career might end when one of the current Hogwarts Seekers graduated, but it was soon time to pack up and head for dinner in the Great Hall. They were there early, so Al sat with Gwendolyn for a while until some of her friends joined her there; and then he went to sit with Rose, Ray, and his own usual group of dinnr companions. Their Hogsmeade weekend and Quidditch were the top chat topics, and Al mostly had fun with that while he ate; but he also had to deal with some bad vibes that he couldn't avoid coming from James and Ollie just down the table from him – and from the Averys and their buddies at several spots along the Slytherin table. There didn't seem to be any sense that they were mad at him for any other reason beyond being defeated in that ambush, so they'd all obviously managed to make it back to the castle without any other problems; but then the hatred directed his way was more than enough of a problem anyway.

While spending the evening with Gwendolyn was something he was really looking forward to after dinner, once they'd gotten together; they decided to do some studying first – mostly because Gwendolyn had her make-up Quidditch practice after breakfast in the morning; and that was goign to leave her with less time to study on Sunday. Changing their plan to wind down their play day with studying wasn't all bad, since they spent some of that time playing with the magic instead of just writing reports, but there was real work involved too; so they were happy to stop working with enough time left before curfew for a bit of quality snogging. They didn't watch a show on the mirror network too; packed up with just enough time left over for Al to walk Gwendolyn 'home' and then get to his dorm room ahead of curfrew; and then he pretty much went straight to bed after that.

The end of the Hogsmeade weekend Saturday, now that Al had been able to go into town, felt like the end of the first, three-week cycle of the Hogwarts schedule. While that three-week sequence would be different each time from now on; some things would be the same – or at least similar. The classes and studying would be the same; They'd trade Quidditch tryouts for Quidditch matches; and Al hoped that he and Gwendolyn would find time here and there for some different kinds of fun with their family and friends too! A bit less trouble would be nice, but he didn't really expect or sense that he'd be that lucky.

As Al let his mind wander while waiting for sleep to come, he found himself musing about the number three – third year; three-week cycles between Hogsmeade weekends; being part of a Chaser trio; and other, maybe not-so-random occurrences of the number in his life so far this fall. Three was supposed to be a lucky number, but as he thought about that; he didn't remember anyone actually ever specifying that the luck had to only be good. Then again, even the bad moments of his first three weeks at Hogwarts had turned out pretty good for him anyway; so maybe three really would be the charm for him – and hopefully for Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and the rest of their family and friends too!


	26. Frenetically Fun Fall

**Chapter Twenty-Six – Frenetically Fun Fall**

"Good morning, Thomas," Scorpius said as he sat down in the armchair after placing the portrait on the table.

"Good morning," Thomas responded; smiling slightly in reaction to what he saw expressed on his young friend's face. "You seem to be in an interesting mood. What's up?"

"Well, I'm happy to have some time to spend with you," Scorpius began. "I have a team practice to get to for the last half of the morning; but managed to dodge the cling-ons for a couple of hours."

"It wasn't so long ago that you'd have been thrilled to be so popular," Thomas pointed out. "I'd say that things are going exactly as planned."

"I suppose," Scorpius conceded; and then grinned. "The Averys and their mates can't say the same from what I overheard from a couple of the guys last night in our dorm room – and neither can James and Ollie."

"What happened?"

"The Averys and their usual gang of thugs apparently tried to ambush Albus and Gwendolyn while they were on the way back to school from Hogsmeade yesterday," Scorpius explained. "Victor tried shielding all of them with an invisibility charm as they followed them from Hogsmeade; planning on blasting them from behind somewhere before they reache dthe school gates."

"I take it that didn't go well for them," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius laughed.

"No, and as I said; it didn't go well for James and Ollie either. Apparently, they'd planned an ambush too. They were hiding in the woods on either side of the road; and tried to blast Albus and Gwendolyn as they neared those hiding spots. Their attack totally surprised the Averys and their mates, but didn't catch Albus off-guard; since he was able to shield and counter the attacks while Gwendolyn counter-attacked."

"No surprise for us there," Thomas said. "I'll guess that your fellow Slytherin tried to capitalize on that attack?"

"Yes, but Albus turned to defend himself and his girlfriend from them while she continued to fight James and Ollie. The guys I overheard claim that Albus and Gwendolyn both got some injuries during the fight, but they looked fine when I saw them at dinner yesterday, so if they were hurt; it couldn't have been too serious."

"Especially if they still won that fight against such odds," Thomas agreed. "They did win?"

"Yes. Albus put all of the Slytherins in full-body binds and disarmed James and Ollie – though the only reason these guys found out who the hidden attackers were was because they saw them follow Al and Gwendolyn back to the school while Victor was still trying to get free of that body bind and release the rest of them. Non-verbals are still apparently a bit of a problem for Victor – and beyond the others to do at all."

"It's a wonder that Victor made it into his NEWT year without being able to do that," Thomas mused; and Scorpius shrugged.

"He obviously can – and did in this case; so it's more likely that he just let his temper get the best of him to the point where he couldn't get a grip on his magic."

"That is likely-enough," Thomas agreed. "Is there any other news from that little skirmish?"

"Not really. The Averys aren't giving up, though; and the guys I overheard are wondering if they should try teaming up with James and Ollie; since they did at least manage to cause some injuries while unintentionally working together."

"I do think it's possible that those two boys could be useful to you and your cause," Thomas said with a nod; "but it would be a waste to work together for such petty and short-sighted schemes."

"Yes, but we have talked about helping James and Ollie, and if they're thinking along the same lines; this might be a very good time to start sending them those anonymous gifts," Scorpius suggested.

"That is a good idea," Thomas agreed. "Go ahead with that; and then sit back and watch the fun to see how that works out for us."

Scorpius wanted to talk about that for a while; moved on to tell Thomas about his first Hogsmeade weekend; and then they did a lesson together befire he needed to pack up and head out to the Quidditch pitch for the make-up team practice he didn't try to have on Saturday along with the trip to Hogsmeade. With just a week left until his first match of the year – and as team Captain; he wasn't as happy as he'd like to be about how well his team was playing. Thomas had helped him to gain confidence with his own abilities; so he was feeling pretty good about his chances in the match against Gryffindor – especially when he proved that he was overwhelmingly better than all of the other Chasers and Keepers he was working with on the team and reserve squad during every workout.

The first three weeks of his school year had been pretty good despite some of the annoyances, and as he left the Room of Requirements, he was in a great mood; felt very confident; and was hopeful that his third year at Hogwarts was going to keep getting better and better – starting with the approval and accolades that would come with earning a Quidditch victory over his House's most-hated rivals - Gryffindor!

Al had earned some attention from his fellow Gryffindor for not having an extra Quidditch practice on the weekend when their match against Slytherin was just a week away. He'd seriously considered doing that, but he was really happy with how his team was doing so far; didn't want to mess with what was working; and decided that he didn't want to wear everyone out while trying to get ready for what could be a very tough first match. With the Hogsmeade weekend behind them, Quidditch started to get more attention, but there were also some definite differences from past years. Tops for that was Al's insistance that nobody on his team brag at all or razz any Slytherins. Scorpius didn't do that either in return, but didn't try to insist on the same from the other guys on his team; so the Harpers in particular were happy to insult Al, the other players, and any other Gryffindors they crossed paths with – insisting that they were going to pound Gryffindor this year; and they no longer had James Potter around to save the rest of their team from the imminent doom that was now just days away.

They weren't the only Wizards razzing the Gryffindor team, but Al was actually okay with having James and Ollie go around and insulting him, Rose, and Ray – and telling everyone about just how lousy they thought that their own junior team was this year without them. Al knew that they'd be mad at him again unless his team actually lost the match on Saturday; but even a one-week reprieve from the rest of his problems with James would be nice. There were some added bonuses too – like the fact that James was having too much fun with picking on him to keep bothering Dominique as much as he had been since the senior team tryouts about the fact that he still hadn't been named Seeker for her team even after a week of practices. Ollie was still mad at the three older girls on their team, but since he knew he couldn't change his own fate for the season; he simply stayed in the background and complained about everything while trying to mess with his sister, Dominique, and Lucy as much as possible.

While the Quidditch talk had started heating up at breakfast, Al didn't pay much attention to it because he had other things to focus his attention on – like his never-ending studies. He really had wanted to take all eleven classes, but the workload was also exactly as tough as he'd expected it to be – espeially when there was always more study hours than class time. That was even more true for the optionals, since there was only one period a week for each of them; and at least several hours of studying needed to keep up with each of the assignments. More self-learning was a big part of that too; so at least some study time in the library was needed to keep up with the research side of the work. Since Gwendolyn had her practice after breakfast, but was going to need to work in the library too, Al, Rose, and the rest of their study gang for the morning started out working in their classroom; and then moved on to the library once Gwendolyn was available to join them.

They worked until lunchtime; followed that up with more studying back in their classroom so that Gwendolyn could work on some of the practical studies and one potion; and then Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up in time to go out to the practice pitch for a Chaser duel. Lily and Jonah met them out there and had a Seeker duel too, but they only worked together for some flying tricks fun; and then did their own thing after that until they needed to be back in the castle in time for dinner. They had to split up for that, but then the four of them got together again after dinner; and planned on spending the evening together. While having some music play time and hanging out together was to be part of that; they started out their evening by having mirror chats with their parents. First up was Harry and Ginny; mostly because Lily and Gwendolyn really wanted to find out how their long weekend away had gone. Lily called Ginny; and she answered on just the second chime.

"You're smiling, so I'll guess that isn't because you're having so much fun in the laundry room," Lily teased; and Ginny laughed.

"We've had a wonderful weekend," she assured her daughter. "Let me finish this; and then I'll go to the office so that you can talk with your father too. Have you had a good weekend?" Ginny continued to get a load of laundry started in the washing machine while Lily answered her question.

"It's been really good – even though Jonah and I couldn't go to Hogsmeade with Al and Gwendolyn." She grinned at them. "They probably wouldn't have wanted us around anyway; and the extra treats they picked up for us were a nice bonus."

"I'll guess that you played Quidditch instead too; and there's always more to explore around Hogwarts for firsties," Ginny said; and Lily smiled and nodded.

"There is; though we didn't actually do all that much exploring yesterday. We ended up playing outside most of the morning – and then we watched the Harpies' match in the afternoon and some of us did a bit of studying."

"Have you had any problems?"

"Yeah – Jonah won our Seeker duel on Saturday morning" Lily complained. "Can you talk to his Mum and have something done about that?"

"You won our duel today," Jonah pointed out; and Lily laughed.

"Yeah, but a lot of our friends were around when you won yesterday," she reminded him; "and I like to win every time – not just half of our duels."

"That's a tough one for Gwenog," Ginny told her. "She'll want her future Harpies' Seeker to win more than half the time against the other Seekers; but will want Jonah to do well too – especially since he's on the same team with Gwendolyn."

"She can cheer for Jonah against the other Seekers – both here and when we're in the show some day," Lily declared with a grin for Jonah. "What time did you get home?"

"About an hour ago," Ginny answered. "We had dinner out first before coming here; and now we're getting some work done before turning in for the night. We have a very busy week ahead of us; and I have an extra match to cover this week to make up for taking the weekend off and skipping the Harpies match."

"You didn't even watch it?" Lily asked in surprise; and Ginny laughed.

"No, we didn't," she confirmed. "I know that's shocking, but there is actually life out there without Quidditch; and sometimes it can be rather brilliant!"

"That sounds scary,' Lily teased; and Ginny laughed again.

"Only if you think that an afternoon at the beach is scary."

"Since an afternoon on the beach would be a bit cool this time of year here; you must've been somewhere warmer," Lily suggested; and Ginny smiled and nodded.

"We were on an island; and we're not going to tell you where so that we can go back and hide there again sometime."

"Is that even possible for you and Dad?" Al called out; and smiled when Lily turned her mirror to face him.

"Yes, but you aren't going to trick me out of any clues," she advised him.

By then, she was nearly to the office; there was a pause while she went to pull a chair around the desk so she could sit next to Harry; and then they talked about some of the parts of their weekend away that they could talk about without things getting too weird for the kids.

"They seem to have a lot of hours from the past four days that they haven't accounted for," Gwendolyn teased after Ginny had finished telling them about their fast food dinner in London on the way home that had partly been picked because Harry and Hermione had both wanted to check in at work on the way home and grab any work that needed to be dealt with so they could get started on that early.

"I'll just be glad that we aren't hearing those stories," Al told her.

"And Mum and Dad look happy enough to suggest that they're glad that they have all of those new stories that Al doesn't want to know about," Lily added with a grin that she directed at Al. "A long weekend in paradise somewhere over the Christmas holidays sounds like a lot of fun, though; so maybe we should consider that sometime while we're still at school. That won't be an option for us once we graduate and start playing in the show."

"We'll think about that for the future, but can't do that this year for sure," Ginny told her. "It's an away year for Christmas; and we'll be having our family Christmas on the weekend between Christmas and New Year's Day."

"And the Harpies play on the other two weekends," Gwendolyn added with a nod. "It's going to feel strange having Christmas in the middle of the week this year."

"That does give us more days to shop first, though," Lily pointed out happily. "I won't like the years I'll be here when we'll only have a day or two for that."

"You're getting a bit ahead of things for me," Ginny told her. "I'd have thought you'd be more focused on things a bit closer to today – like your Quidditch match next weekend and Halloween."

"Al doesn't want to let us have any fun before the game on Saturday," Lily pretended to complain. "We're all just supposed to put up with all of the insults from the Slytherins – and from James and Ollie."

"So have your fun during the game," Harry told her. "Is James doing anything he shouldn't around there; or just bugging you about this?"

"Yes for both parts of that; but he hasn't gotten caught," Lily answered before Al or Gwendolyn could say anything. "He hasn't been too awful to me so far; but I've wanted to blast him a few times already."

"Don't do it," Gwendolyn counseled. "It isn't worth the detention time."

"Especially this close to our match on Saturday," Al added. "We definitely don't want to do anything that could have us missing the game."

"Then I'd better hide anytime James is near," Lily decided – "and some of the firstie Slytherins too. Those girls really don't like me at all."

"You're having problems with all of them?" Jonah asked. "Some of the Slytherin girls seem nice-enough to me. I've talked to a few of them in our joint classes."

"Gee, I wonder why they might like to talk to you; but don't like me at all," Lily joked – "not!"

"That should be different for you,' Jonah insisted. "We never hear anything about Al and Gwendolyn havning problems with any of the third-year Slytherin girls – just the guys – and mostly just the Averys and their gang."

"I have problems with the Slytherin girls – and so does Rose," Gwendolyn advised him. "We just don't talk about it; and it's just insults they throw at us – not any hexes or curses."

"How come you've never said anything about it?" Jonah asked curiously; and Gwendolyn smiled and shrugged.

"It's just part of life around here. None of us talk about the normal, everyday stuff that goes on around here. That would be boring. I'll guess that if any of the really cute Slytherin girls are interested in being nice to you that there will be Slytherin boys that won't like you just for that – and it won't matter that you have famous parents."

"Well, you do at least have the advantage that neither of your parents are Undesirable Number One for most Slytherins and their families," Lily pointed out. "I should get Jonah to point out those Slytherin girls to me that are chatting with him. They obviously have good taste in Wizards; so they can't be all bad."

"You're not just suggesting that to identify the competition?" Al asked; and Lily laughed.

"Well, I'd be okay with a few new friends, but since they aren't likely going to be as nice to me as they are to Jonah; they're more likely to be future rivals instead of best mates. Either way, I should know who they are."

"I'm having a tough time picturing any of you dating Slytherins," Harry advised them, "but it isn't impossible that you could make some friends. We have a former Slytherin with the Aurors; and I'd have never guessed that could happen when I first joined up; so anything is possible."

"You just remember you said that when James makes friends with some Slytherins and invites them home over the holidays," Lily teased.

"Is James actually doing that?" Ginny asked; and Lily shook her head.

"Not that I know of, but the way he and Ollie are going around putting our junior team down; they might as well be hanging out with the Slytherins that are doing the same thing to us – and talking up how great their team is this year."

"I don't think that we'd like any of you having those kinds of friendships," Ginny told them seriously. "Try not to completely discount the possibilities of having true friends from Slytherin House, though; since I think that would be wonderful."

"We didn't exactly have any luck with that when we were at Hogwarts," Harry reminded her; and Ginny smiled at him.

"No, we didn't, and we're the cause of most of the problems our kids are having with those Slytherins now too, but we can all still hope that'll change someday; and there's no reason why that couldn't start with our kids."

"We'll try to stay open to the idea," Al promised; "but don't be surprised if that doesn't work out for us either."

Their chat moved on after that; the follow-up mirror chat with Gwenog and Kirley was fun too; and then they moved on from there to play some music for an hour or so before watching a couple of shows on the mirror network. They wrote letters for home while doing that; eventually made a visit to the Owlery to spend a bit of time with Winter and then send her out with the weekly posts for their parents. They spent a bit of time with Blizzard too, and that helped James' owl quite a bit; but they still felt sorry that they couldn't do more to keep Blizzard from being so bored with the lack of Owl Post opportunities and flying fun. Lily went along with Al when he walked Gwendolyn home; she shared a little hug and kiss with Jonah that was more to mess with Al and Gwendolyn than anything else; and then she had fun teasing Al while they walked back to Gryffindor tower together. They split up once they were in the common room, and while Lily stopped for a minute to talk with Rose first; she moved on to hang out with Denise, Kathryn, and Melissa after that. Al stayed to talk with Rose and some of their friends for nearly a half-hour, but then he headed for bed; knowing that he was going to have a very busy week ahead of him between keeping up with his studies and getting ready for the big match against Slytherin.

Getting through the next five days proved to be exactly as Challenging as he'd expected it to be. The school work didn't let up to make way for Quidditch; James, Ollie, and the usual Slytherin haters did their best to pile on the hatred; and he had to deal with a total of four ambushes around the school – two from James and Ollie; and two from two different groups of Slytherins. All of those hit-and-run ambushes happened in the evenings; Gwendolyn was with him for one of them; Rose was there for another; and the last two happened when he was alone and walking back from Ravenclaw tower. Those attacks and all of the razzing was annoying, but Al had more trouble juggling his studies and Quidditch practices – especially when he really tried hard to make the Quidditch fun even while they worked hard to get ready to play on Saturday.

On Monday and Wednesday, in addition to the practices, he had two team meetings to work on their game strategy and talk over contingency plans that would each depend on what the Slytherin team tried to do – or how well or poorly they played. They had a short meeting on Friday too, but Al switched up his workout and had some fun with a portable pool instead of a workout. Most of his team mates seemed to have fun with that; loved the races that helped with a light workout that didn't tire them out; and the prizes and treats were a hit too. The team curfew he requested for Friday night wasn't a hit at all – including with Gwendolyn, but while Al didn't offer any consequences for not going along with it, he led by example; and he at least knew for sure that Rose and Ray headed for bed when he did – even if he didn't know for sure whether Fred, Orlando, Lily, and Kathryn were in their beds on time too before he was truly out for the night and sleeping soundly after a too-busy school week.

Finally, it was game day! Al was up early despite a feeble effort to go back to sleep until his normal wake-up time. He took a bit of extra time showering and getting ready for the day; still had time left over to check over his broom and equipment; and then go to the common room to wait for Rose. Al didn't normally check in with Rose or Lily in the mornings, since early-morning mirror chats could get weird for him while they were in their dorms, but if he'd checked his map; he'd have found out that Rose had been up early and she was ready to go by the time he reached the common room. Lily wasn't with her, but she had talked with her already; and Lily and Kathryn had both gone to bed on time and were getting ready for the day by then too.

"Why am I the only one of us looking nervous right now?" Rose asked as they headed for the portrait hole. "We'll both be up against Scorpius and that Lightningbolt of his; and we know exactly how much faster they are than our brooms."

"His broom is faster," Al agreed, "but we don't know how well Scorpius has learned to use his so far. There's a good reason for why Mum and Dad don't let James, Lily, or I have them before we're seventeen." He shrugged and smiled. "We can be modest around everyone else, Rose, but I think we'll do pretty well today – especially if those Slytherin players underestimate us as much as they seem to be doing if they believe all of the crap they've been spewing around here all week."

"That would be great, but it would suck to be us if we find out that they're as good as they claim; and worse still if we're not as good as we think we are."

Al laughed. "You're the best junior Keeper in the school," he told her seriously. "We don't need to brag about that with anyone, but it's true; and everyone is going to know that by the end of the game today."

"You're Captain, and it's your job to talk us up," Rose accused; though she looked happy about the praise and confidence in her too.

"True, but I love you a lot too; and I'm going to really love watching you show everyone what a git James was for keeping you off of his team last year." He pulled a small gift out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here – this will give you something better to do than worrying about the match." Rose took the gift; happily unwrapped it; and then smiled as she lifted out the new charm and looked up at Al again.

"What does this one do? Repel quaffles?"

"That would have been a good idea – if it wasn't against the rules. This one is my first attempt at a summoning charm. It only summons one thing, though; and you should hold out your hand palm up when you try it."

Rose did that; and then laughed when a chocolate candy appeared on her palm. "That's fairly awesome – thank-you!"

"You're welcome," Al assured her. "Try not to use it too many times in a row, since those chocolates come out of a bag in my trunk that I'll need to re-stock regularly for it to keep working for you."

"I'm glad to hear that you don't just have them coming to me straight off the shelves at Honeydukes."

"They probably have anti-theft spells to keep things like that from happening; though I don't know that for sure. I like the idea of having summoning charms for you and Gwendolyn and Lily; but I don't know if they'll be very practical for bigger things – or if I could make them to allow you to summon anything you wanted."

"We're third-year, Al. You shouldn't even be able to use the advanced summoning charms for at least another couple of years."

"I suppose," Al agreed, "but it works for me; so I'll just go with it, have fun, and not worry about whether I should or shouldn't be able to do something."

The gift also gave Rose the diversion she'd needed as much as the chocolate treats; and they enjoyed their walk and talk that eventually led them to the Great Hall. Getting there early meant that they were able to have visits with most of their cousins as they arrived and stopped by to wish them luck; Gwendolyn and Jonah visited them after stopping to wish Lily and Kathryn good luck too; and then they had fun with their friends while eating breakfast. Al had another visit with Gwendolyn after he ate and she walked with him out to the stadium too before sending him off into the locker room with a good luck hug and kiss that was distracting-enough that he needed to take a minute after she was gone to get focused again on Quidditch.

Being the team Captain did feel different to Al as he got ready for the match. Rose was already in the locker room by the time Al got there, but everyone else made it there within five minutes of Al's arrival; so they talked about their game plan while getting their gear on. Al's general aversion to being in the spotlight didn't get in the way of leading his team through warm-ups or his pep talk shortly before they needed to line up at the player entrance closest to their locker room; and he seemed to be okay at doing that too – if what he sensed from his sister, cousins, and friends was any indication. He could also sense that, while everyone was willing to go out there and have fun; they also all really wanted to win – not just have fun and play their best whether they won or lost.

He was okay with that, regardless of his own good-sportsmanship assertions; since he did, after all, really want to win too!

Gwendolyn had gone for a walk after wishing Al luck with a fairly-spectacular hug and kiss that kept her smiling as she then wandered all the way around the castle and along the lake before meeting up with her team mates at the stadium. They sat on the border with Gryffindor so that they could also hang out with their Gryffindor friends while supporting Al and his team, but while she was glad to sit with Bristol, Cora, and most of their third-year friends; there were two very annoying problems too – James and Ollie. She'd glared at them when they came over and sat down behind Bristol and Cora, but they pretended to ignore her while getting settled in and chatting mostly with Bristol. Her reaction to James' flirting with her was closer to Halloween scary than it was to annoying, but Gwendolyn ignored that as best she could; and gritted her teeth while getting ready for the game-time 'fun' that she was sure James and Ollie had planned specifically for her benefit. They didn't disappoint her either; and jumped right in the moment that Kylie Cootes invited Gryffindor into the stadium.

"What do we have here?" James asked loudly; feigning surprise and amazement. "Captain Canine – aka 'the loser' – isn't leading his pack of dogs out into the stadium! No, it's our baby sister and his kissing cousin doing that instead. Maybe he's hoping that nobody will notice him so we don't all know who to blame when Slytherin wins today!" When he earned some laughs for his efforts, his smile broadened; and he laughed heartily.

"Seriously, though, Captain Canine obviously just wanted to fly with his fellow Chasers – Ray Woof – I mean Wood – and the only 'Kat' in the dog pack – Kathryn Wood. The three of them are a perfect trio, but that is, unfortunately for our House, not a good thing; since they're a perfect combination of the worst players in our two families." There wre more laughs; and Ollie had happily added in some sound effects – woofing for Ray and offering 'catcalls' for his younger sister.

"Finally, we have our veteran Beaters, Fred and Orlando," James announced. "Captain Canine has placed the two best players on this team last, but keep an eye on them; since they'll be where the only action for our side is today. It's just too bad that Beaters can't score goals; make saves; or catch the snitch or we might actually have a chance today."

"Maybe they'll knock every Slytherin player out of the match," Ollie suggested; and James laughed.

"There's an idea; though even if they did that; Captain Canine would still find a way to lose today."

"Probably," Ollie agreed, "but here comes Slytherin; so let's hear all about them!"

"Well, for starters, we have them starting out the way they should – with the Captain leading the way," James declared. "Captain Smelfoy is flying next to fellow Chaser, Davis Zabini, and while there isn't much to say about them; they're sure to be more than a match for our sorry excuse for Chasers. With that Lightningbolt, Smelfoy might even embarrass Captain Canine today."

"So you're saying that he's sure to score with your cousin?" Ollie asked lewdly; and James laughed.

"Early and often," he predicted. "Moving along, though, in the second row, we have Slytherin's Beater duo; Caleb and Dave Harper. They have a special hate on for Captain Canine, so it should be fun to watch them when they have a legitmate excuse to bash my brother's brains out. If they stay true to Slytherin style, they'll likely beat up on the Witches on our team too; so don't be surprised if you need to send get well cards to the Hospital wing later today for as many as four of our junior players."

"Won't you help to protect your little sister and cousin?" Ollie asked; and James made a negative buzzing sound in answer.

"No, and you shouldn't do that for Kathryn either. We'll leave the cheating for Captain Canine, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. At least cheating today will get Captain Canine in trouble – if he actually, finally gets caught at it."

"We can hope," Ollie said with a nod and smirk. "Slytherin is landing now; so you'd better wrap up your team review fast."

"Okay," James agreed. "In the third row, we have three Slytherin firsties – a Keeper, Chaser, and their new Seeker. You just heard their names from Kylie; I've forgotten them already; and who cares anyway? They're bound to be better than their counterparts on our sorry excuse for a junior team, but since that isn't saying much; I've pretty much said it all. Fast enough for you, Ollie?"

"Probably faster than the action will be above the pitch today," Ollie answered with a snort of laughter.

James and Ollie kept spouting off nonsense as Mr. Peakes did the pre-game formalities. They had a good laugh over what might be 'really' going on with the Captains' handshake; and then the two teams lined up for take-off as Mr. Peakes sent the snitch and bludgers into the air. When both teams were ready; he tossed the quaffle high into the air; and everyone took off. Kylie was right there covering the action, but James was too-near to Gwendolyn; and drowned out the game announcing with his own version of it.

"They're off – and Captain Canine doesn't even try to win the race for the quaffle as he turns instead toward the Gryffindor goals with his tail between his legs."

"Woof, Woof, Woof!" Ollie barked out enthusiastically.

"Woof and Kat fly away from the action too; Captain Smelfoy grabs the quaffle; and blasts toward the Gryffindor goals. Are our Chasers actually chickens instead of dogs?"

Ollie happily clucked in response.

"Scorpius blasts past Kat; dodging around her to the left; she pairs up with the Slytherin firstie – whatever his name is; and Scorpius is already past Woof Wood before he manages to block Davis from following his Captain – something that can be done with eyes closed and nose open!" Gwendolyn was focused on the action about the pitch, but didn't miss a word of James' play-by-play – or the laughs he was getting from Bristol, Cora, and some of the others – including a few of her Ravenclaw friends.

"Smelfoy passes the loser too, but he's gone too far to the left! He turns to go around behind – no, he's trying to loop over Captain Canine and go back toward the goals again!"

James stopped his commentary when Al went vertical; did a one-eighty flip; and used his broomtail to knock the quaffle out of Scorpius' hand while the other boy was focused more on making the sharp turn. The quaffle went straight to Kathryn; she turned toward the Slytherin goals; and passed it on to Al as he joined her on the attack. Gwendolyn watched with pride as her boyfriend then dodged a bludger; exchanged two quick passes with Kathryn and Ray; and then used another one-eighty flip to lose both Scorpius and the Slytherin Keeper on his way to scoring the first goal of the match.

"I am so glad that it's going to be you playing against him in our match," Stephanie leaned in and whispered to Gwendolyn with a grin on her face. "If that's dogging it; let's hope we don't find out what Al's like when he's trying his best."

Gwendolyn laughed at Stephanie's reference to something James had said about Al, but that goal didn't slow James down at all; and he was right back at it again as Scorpius chased down the quaffle and led his team out on the attack again. The problem for James and Ollie, though, was that their commentary was ridiculous in the face of what was actually happening above the pitch. While James and Ollie took turns piling on the insults – mostly directed at Al, the Gryffindor team was putting on a show – and they were getting some help from the Slytherin Beaters.

Caleb and Dave were out to get Al, Rose, and Lily from the start, and while that was obvious to everyone watching; it wasn't working out at all as planned for the two brothers. In the first fifteen minutes of the match, Dave fouled Lily twice; Al scored both penalty shots; and Caleb injured his own Keeper when Al dodged a bludger meant for him that hit firstie Derrick Selwyn while he went on to score the goal too. With their Keeper now injured; things went downhill fast for Slytherin; and while they all played hard; the scoring was mostly one-sided and got ugly-looking fast. Lily was in a decent Seeker duel with fellowe firstie, Clarence Timms, but her biggest challenge really came from Dave Harper and his continual attempts to bash her with a bludger or smash into her with his Beater bat or his own body. The good news for her was that Clarence wasn't very good at finding the snitch, so he played a defensive style that was very similar to how Brandon Starkey played. She did take some minor hits, but avoided any major injuries; and her constant smile proved that she was loving the challenge – even when the two Slytherin boys tried to gang up on her – or corner her into bludger hits or cheap shots.

Davis Zabini scored the first goal of the match for Slytherin on a pretty good play and pass from Scorpius when they were about twenty-five minutes into the game. Rose had already stopped twelve shots by then, and while James and Ollie had fun with that; they had to ignore those dozen really good saves for their jokes to make any sense at all – and most of those stops had been against Scorpius when he managed to get a chance to shoot when he wasn't matched up against Al. Scorpius managed to get another goal past Rose about forty minutes in, but Al, Ray, and Kathryn had scored fourteen by then – including four successful penalty shots. Things got worse for Slytherin when Grant Pritchard went out of the match at the fifty minute mark. Caleb had injured him earlier with another missed bludger hit meant for Al; and then Fred knocked him out with a bludger hit that the Slytherin boy never saw coming before the lights went out.

With just two Chasers left and an already-injured Keeper; Al led Ray and Kathryn as they then easily took the lead beyond one-sixty by the start of the second hour. By then, the Harpers and Davis were furious; Scorpius looked frustrated and angry, and the two remaining firsties, Derrick and Clarence, were too busy nursing their mounting injuries to care mucha bout anything beyond surviving the match. Clarence didn't manage to do that. In a one-two knock-out punch, he was hit by a bludger that Dave had sent at Lily, and while she'd managed to dodge it; Clarence hadn't seen it coming and took another hard hit. He was still reeling from that when Fred was again responsible for taking out a Slytherin player – this time because the hit knocked Clarence off of his broom and he fell to the pitch. The writing was on the wall for the Slytherin team by then; but that didn't keep James and Ollie from ranting on with their absurdities.

"I told you that Fred and Orlando would do well today," James claimed idiotically. "Two and a half players down; four and a half to go. Would anyone like to take wagers on how long the game will go on before Captain Canine does something stupid to forfeit the match and prove just what a total loser he is?"

"Maybe Gwendolyn will take that bet," Ollie offered. "If you win, she goes out on a date with you, and if she wins; then she obviously went out on that date with you and dumped the loser she's been potty-training."

"What do you say, Gwendolyn," James called out and taunted. "Bet you a date that the loser still finds a way to blow the match. Blow me a kiss if that's a yes!"

Gwendolyn ignored him; more interested in watching the action above the pitch as Al directed some changes with Ray, Lily, Fred, and Orlando. Ray went over toward Lily and began shadowing her; and Fred and Orlando both transitioned to defending Lily too.

"Now what are they doing?" James demanded as he noticed the changes too.

"Maybe Ray's switched sides and is going to play Seeker for Slytherin," Ollie suggested with a snort. "That'll get our team disqualified if he catches the snitch."

"Maybe that's the plan," James said with a nod and smirk. "Let's see if Captain Smelfoy and Zombini can score some goals now that Captain Canine has given up the three-against-two advantage that Fred was so nice to get for him."

That didn't happen, and Al and Kathryn only scored one more goal each as Rose saved everything that Scorpius and Davis managed to get through to her; and the rest of their team worked together to get the snitch caught and end the match. Al didn't want to run up the score, which was why he and Kathryn mostly played defense. The four Chasers were pretty much left alone while the Beaters battled each other and Caleb and Dave tried to take Lily out by any means necessary. Fred and Orlando didn't let them do that; and they worked together to not only keep Lily safe but they also got in a couple of good bludger shots on each of the Harpers. Lily ended the match at the one hour and eighteen minute mark. She'd tracked the snitch for several minutes first, but waited until Fred and Orlando had Dave and Caleb out of position; took advantage of that; and had Ray watching her back as she caught the snitch and he made sure she couldn't get hit with any cheap shots right at the end. Caleb had tried to do that; but peeled away when he saw that he'd have to go through Ray to get at Lily.

"That's right, cheer everyone!" James shouted. "Fred and Orlando win the game for us before Captain Canine can lose it instead!"

Al's spirit soared when he saw Lily catch the snitch and sensed her reaction to sealing the win for their team with a three-ninety to twenty final score. He was close to Rose and the Gryffindor goals, so while Lily celebrated first with Ray, Fred, and Orlando; he shared a high-five with Rose and then they both flew over to congratulate Lily and the rest o their team mates. Kathryn had gone ahead to do that with Lily; so they were all together when they then flew to the pitch and landed. There were some hugs and kisses then too; and then Al led the way for the post-game meet-up with the remaining Slytherin players. Scorpius was the only one to actually step forward, so Al stopped in front of him and held out his hand.

"Good game, Scorpius. Your mates had a bit of bad luck up there, but if not for that; I'd say this would have been a really close match-up."

"Thanks, and congratulations to you and your team," Scorpius said; his tone neutral. What Al sensed from him wasn't at all neutral, but he played along; and that was the end of it anyway as Scorpius offered a general nod to everyone else on the Gryffindor team and then turned back to his own team. The Harpers just glared daggers at him, Davis Zabini ignored him, and Derrick Selwyn had simply sat down on the pitch and was near-to-tears from his injuries. Al would have helped him, but didn't think the boy would accept the offer even if he wanted to make another public demonstration of his talent for doing that. Instead, he was drawn back into the fun with his own team mates as they celebrated and waited for their families and friends to join them at center pitch.

As that began to happen, there was an obvious difference between the Gryffindor 'side' of the pitch and the group around the Slytherins. Scorpius and his mates only had a handful of friends with them; and there were dozens around the seven Gryffindors. For Al, the victory hug and kiss with Gwendolyn was brilliant; the support from his cousins and best friends was great; and then James and Ollie joined the fray and wanted to mess that up for him.

"Congratulations, Captain Canine,' James offered; holding out his hand to Al when he and Ollie finished pushing their way through to where Al and Gwendolyn were standing. "You managed not to lose anyway even after Fred and Orlando made it a seven against four-and-a-half match. Well done, you!"

"Gee, thanks," Al answered without taking the offered hand.

"What's the matter? Too good to shake hands with me?" James persisted; and Al shook his head.

"No – I just don't trust you,' he explained.

"I'm hurt," James declared; and did a lousy acting job while trying to show that. "Here I am, trying to be nice despite the fact that you were an embarrassment to the family up there today; and you won't even shake hands with me. He took a step; reached out; and tried to slap Al on the shoulder. "That's okay, Captain Potty – I'll survive the disappointment and your lack of faith in me." He'd been smirking, but lost the smile when Al caught the supposedly good-natured slap on the arm with his wrist guard – responding to the silent alarm that went off in his head that warned him of the danger. He sensed the pin-prick and the tiny barb that broke off and stayed behind in the wrist guard as James removed his hand; and could only guess at what would have happened to him if it had been stuck in his shoulder or hand instead.

"Seems I had good reason for the distrust," he said quietly-enough so that only James, Ollie, and Gwendolyn would hear him. "I'd ask what that is, but don't really want to know; and don't really want to talk to you anymore."

James looked ready to offer a retort, but the warnings were sounding for Al again; and he spun around just as Dave Harper was bringing his Beater bat down toward what would have been the back of his head while taking the last two running steps that put some serious momentum behind the swing. A side-step had the bat missing his head even as Dave tried to adjust the blow; Al grabbed his wrist; and used the momentum to flip the other boy so that he landed on the pitch on his back. Al had already let go of him by then; and Dave roared in anger as he scrambled to his feet.

"I'll kill you!" he declared; swinging his bat and lunging at Al again. "You're a rotten cheat! I don't know how you did it; but everyone knows you're a cheat!"

"Cut it out," Al warned. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Dave yelled angrily. "I'll be the one doing the hurting!"

"We will be," Caleb said from behind Al even as he lashed out with his Beater bat.

Al leapt into action again because that hit wasn't aimed at him – it had been aimed at Gwendolyn. He blocked the Beater bat with his hand; and the crack from the impact and breaking bones could be heard by everyone as the crack echoed around the stadium.

"That felt good for me," Caleb taunted. "How was it for you?"

His taunt was meant as a distraction, but Al ignored him; spun around; and caught the next attack from Dave on the same wrist guard he'd used to stop James' supposedly friendly slap. There was another loud crack, but nothing broke this time; and Al was still moving as he already had a kick in motion that stopped Caleb's next swing – and knocked the Beater bat out of his hand. There were too many people around them, and while everyone except Gwendolyn had stepped back as the Harper brothers attacked him; the bat was knocked into the students to Caleb's right. Al could sense that someone was hit and mildly hurt by it, but had to stay focused on the problem at hand as Dave was already swinging his bat again; and he sensed Caleb drawing his wand.

"Accio wand!" he shouted even as he stepped in closer to Dave and pushed at his chest with both palms hard-enough to knock him back into the nearest teens behind him. He then turned to hold his hand out for Caleb's wand; and was able to catch it – but not all of the other wands that pelted him from all sides and then dropped to the pitch at his feet.

The absurdity of that result from his use of wandless magic earned him a pause in the attack; and then Mr. Peakes and several professors were suddenly there; Caleb and Dave were immediately restrained; and the fight was over. When the round of laughter began, Al couldn't resist smiling sheepishly; and then Gwendolyn was hugging him and sharing a kiss before stepping back and taking hold of the hand that she – and everyone else – was sure he'd broken.

"Are you okay?" she asked; and then laughed. "Dumb question. Is it still at least numb?"

"Yeah,' he confirmed, but as he looked inward for a moment; he realized that the broken bones weren't his only problem now because the Beater bat hit on his wrist guard had driven the barb deeper – and it had knicked him enough to release a bit of its poison. He didn't try talking about it with Gwendolyn; let his magic falre out in self-defense; and silently contained the poison – the best he could do until dealing with the problem later. Even as he did that, he needed to outwardly turn his attention to Professor Longbottom as he stepped up to them.

"Your friends are right - you really are a trouble magnet," Neville said quietly. "I think this would be a good time for your team to escort you to the locker room while we sort out yet another mess. Get cleaned up and your injuries tended; and then come to my office. Should I arrange an escort?"

"Probably," Al agreed. "That might help to keep me from attracting even more trouble than I've already had."

Neville nodded; looked down as he shifted a foot and then needed to step off of one of the wands on the ground. That reminded Al that the wand in his hand wasn't his own, and while he briefly wondered at what Neville would think about the last bit of magic that would be shown if he checked the wand; he still held it out to the professor and hoped it wouldn't be another problem for him to explain later.

"Caleb will want this back," he said mildly; trying not to grin; and then did smile when Neville couldn't keep from laughing.

"He won't be the only one wanting a wand returned," he answered; "though some of us did manage to hold on to our wands."

"I'm glad of that," Gwendolyn told him. "I had more than enough of them hit me on the way to Al anyway. Hundreds of them would have really stung."

"True enough," Neville agreed with a nod. "Get going now," he told Al. "We'll talk about all of this in my office."

"Yes, sir," Al agreed.

By then, Rose and Ray had heard enough of Neville's orders to round up the other four members of their team; and they led the way with Al and Gwendolyn surrounded as they headed toward the locker rooms and a path opened up for them so that they could do that. Gwendolyn didn't go into the locker room with them, but she did have a hug and kiss for Al before letting him go in; and was given bonus hugs from Rose and Lily too. Al wouldn't have left her there alone, which was probably why some of their friends had followed – and then they'd stayed with Gwendolyn while she waited for Al to get cleaned up and healed. Al planned on doing that as quickly as he could, but had six very curious team mates to deal with first; so he dealt with that while sitting down and taking off his equipment. Thanks to the broken hand, he needed some help; and Lily only teased him a bit while 'lending a hand' while one of his was temporarily unusable.

"I suppose there's no chance that we can just skip talking about that little fight and just celebrate the win and how great you all played?" he asked; and then focused his attention on Kathryn. "Happy Birthday again. Do you like the bonus present you helped all of us to get for you?"

"I do," she confirmed with a smile – "and no; you're not getting out of talking about that fight – or how you learned to fight like that at all."

"His Dad is Head of the Aurors," Ray reminded his cousin; and she laughed.

"Yeah, but they generally fight the bad guys with their wands – not hand-to-hand combat."

"Actually, they do end up in physical fights now and then," Al advised her; "and I did learn all of that from being around for a bunch of the Auror morning workouts. They've had martial arts training as part of that for years now. Dad learned it from Aurors in Asia – mostly from China, Korea, and Japan."

"What I don't get is why the Harpers would do that when we were all warned that any trouble before or after a match could get us kicked off of our teams for the rest of the season – or even suspended," Orlando said. "I don't like them, but they are pretty good Beaters; and that'll really hurt their team if they can't play in their last two games."

"They couldn't help themselves," Fred told his buddy. "Al just brings out the worst in them; they lose their minds; and can't think about anything beyond trying to blast him."

"That's likely very close to the truth," Rose offered with a nod and smile. "Let's just be glad that nobody got seriously hurt this time; and that we won the match too."

"Speaking of hurt – are you going to do that Animagus healing thing?" Lily asked Al. "I'd like to see that in action."

She wasn't the only one in the locker room interested in that, and Al was nearly ready to deal with his broken hand by then; so he put on that little show for his team mates – though he had to be careful with his little poison problem; and couldn't heal that with the Animorphmagus healing trick that did work on his hand. Once he'd returned to his human form; they all hit the showers and got cleaned up. Al took a bit longer in the showers so he could be alone; he dealt with the poison in a rather unpleasant way that included removing the affected skin and tissue; helaed the open wound as best he could; and put a bandage on it before getting dressed again and returning to the main locker room. He met up with Gwendolyn once he was ready to go; had a fairly large escort to the castle that included Molly and two of her friends; and then he only had Gwendolyn with him once he was safely delivered to Professor Longbottom's office. That meeting was short and sweet, since Neville wasn't dealing with anything other than getting their stories about the fight to pass on to Professor Slughorn and Headmistress McGonagall. Neville awarded twenty points to Gryffindor before sending them on their way; and thanked Al for keeping the incident from escalating into a more serious problem.

Even with those delays, the match had been short-enough that Al and Gwendolyn had time to hang out together until lunchtime. They went for a walk outside; added in a horseback ride for Gwendolyn because it was nice out and it gave them a chance for a bit of extra fun; and then they split up for lunch – and the rest of the afternoon while Al was busy with the victory party in the Gryffindor common room. They found out at lunch that the Harper brothers had been given season-ending suspensions from Quidditch by Mr. Peakes, along with losing some points for Slytherin and an unspecified amount of detention from Professor Slughorn. Those rumors made the rounds very quickly; and got talked about at least as much as the discussions about the game. Gwendolyn stopped by the Gryffindor table after she ate to share a quick hug and kiss with Al, but then she headed off with plans to grab her gear and get to the practice pitch for a team practice while Al was busy anyway.

The party in the common room was already starting up by the time that Al, Rose, and Ray got there with some of their fellow third-year friends. Al had intended to stay in the common room for the entire afternoon, but that didn't end up happening. Instead of being able to enjoy the celebration with his team mates, cousins, and friends; he soon had to deal with James and Ollie getting in his face and either taunting him or attempting to spring wheezes on him – or on Rose, Lily, and anyone else they could prank. He hit his tolerance limit for all of that when they pranked Lily by messing with Holly, so after keeping James from retaliating when Lily punched him; he left the party and headed outside to get away from his brother and cool off. There was a good side for that, since he eventually wandered over to the practice pitch when he saw that Gwendolyn was finished her team workout; and she was very happy to spend the rest of the afternoon with him instead of working on her weekend assignments as originally planned.

"This is a nice surprise," she told him as they headed toward the lake instead of the castle. Al was carrying her gear bag; and they were in search of a quiet place to sit by the lake and hang out until dinnertime. "Actually, I'm not all that surprised; but this is nice. It'd also be nice if your fellow Gryffindor would collectively tell James and Ollie to get lost so you could enjoy hanging out in the common room now and then without having them get in your face all of the time."

"Unfortunately for me, they still get more laughs than not. Let's talk about anything else. How'd your practice go?"

Gwendolyn let him change the subject for a while, though she did eventually get him to tell her all about the pranks and insults that James and Ollie had used to ruin the party for him – and for Lily and most of their team mates. He also told her the rest of the story about what James had tried to do – semi-succeeded in doing – to him after the match at center pitch; though he played down how serious that poison might have been for anyone that didn't have his unique talent for self-healing – and didn't let her see the still-healing mess under the bandage that he did show her. They managed to have fun together too; had a few cameo chats with other teens that stopped for visits; and they wrapped up their afternoon with another horseback ride for Gwendolyn around most of the school grounds when it was time to head back to the castle so that Gwendolyn could freshen up and get ready for dinner.

Scorpius stomped into his special place in the Room of Requirements; rather roughly pulled the portrait out of his book bag; and nearly slammed it onto the table before throwing the bag onto the floor and then pacing the room. He didn't even look at Thomas at first; his fists were clenched; and what he really wanted to do was grab his wand and start blasting. He laughed when he turned around; looked ahead; and saw that the Room of Requirements had obliged his needs with a shelving unit that wasn't normally in the room – and it had four shelves with various objects neatly lined up on them that were perfect for what he'd just had in mind. He pulled out his wand and shouted – "Reducto!" That had been too much; and his spell blasted half of the top two shelves to pieces – along with all of the objects in that area.

"I take it that your Quidditch match didn't go well," Thomas deadpanned; and Scorpius laughed bitterly again before getting some control over his magic as he then blasted another of the objects that were still standing.

"We were trounced in an hour and a quarter," he confirmed. "Three-ninety to twenty!" he added; punctuating the scores with another blast of magic. It was so ridiculous, that I don't even know where to start."

"Then keep blasting until you do," Thomas suggested. "That seems to be helping."

"I'd rather be blasting my idiot team mates," Scorpius retorted between his next two spells that took out a pair of defenseless garden gnome figurines. "Caleb and Dave Harper would be first on the list for that. Those idiots caused more injuries to our own players than to any of the Gryffindors during the match; and then they tried to pound Albus Potter with their Beater bats after the match – while we were all on the pitch; and with dozens of witnesses all around us. Caleb even tried to blast Albus with his wand." He laughed bitterly. "Albus disarmed him – and about thirty or forty other teens around them – with a wandless summoning charm." He blasted another figurine while continuing to vent. "He wasn't specific-enough when he yelled – "Accio wand!" – so he got pelted with dozens of them after catching Caleb's wand."

"That should just amuse you,' Thomas suggested; and Scorpius shrugged.

"I don't have much of a sense of humor right now, Thomas. Those two idiots knew that starting any fights before or after the matches this year would have serious consequences, yet they went nuts anyway; and now they're suspended from Quidditch for the rest of the season. They were given detentions and lost points for Slytherin too. They completely ignored our game plan; and simply went after Albus and Lily Potter. They weren't good-enough to pull that off during the game; and Albus just made them look like idiots during the little fight they instigated after the match."

"Maybe you'll be better off without them," Thomas suggested.

"We'd have been better off with them – if they'd played the way we planned," Scorpius said seriously. "Instead of doing that, they helped to put two of our team mates – including our Seeker – out of the match; and I've got three of my players in the hospital wing right now."

"Why aren't you with them?" Thomas demanded; and Scorpius scowled at him.

"Because I might make things worse if I have to hang out and coddle them for the rest of the weekend."

"Suck it up," Thomas told him. "Most of your team mates are from families that you'll need to support you in the future. If that means that you have to pander to them now; then that is what you must do!"

"That is all you ever tell me to do," Scorpius shot back angrily. "When will it be time to put what I want first? When will all of these losers be pandering to me instead of the other way around?"

"When you've proved yourself to them and are worthy of their respect and loyalty," Thomas answered.

"I am worthy of that now!" Scorpius declared; and looked ready to blast Thomas' portrait when his mentor laughed at that.

"How well did you earn respect as a leader today?" he asked; and Scorpius' expression darkened even more.

"What happened today wasn't my fault," he declared; and Thomas laughed again.

"You are Captain," Thomas reminded him. "While your team mates are responsible for their own mistakes; a true leader knows how to keep those problems from happening – foresee them if possible; and deal with them to get the win despite them."

"You're saying this debacle is all my fault?" Scorpius exclaimed. "That's ridiculous!"

"Is it?" Thomas asked him. "Should you not have anticipated how the Harpers would react with a legitimate opportunity to beat up on the Potters? When that started happening; could you truly do nothing to stop them and get them back onto the game plan? When everything went so badly; why weren't you ready to stop them before they attacked Albus after the match? Doing so would have earned you all of the respect that instead went to Albus – or at least I suspect it did from what you've told me so far. The Harpers might have been mad at you for a while; but a leader could bring them around to understanding that doing so was in their best interest. From my perspective, Scorpius; I'd say that a lot of the blame does lie squarely on your shoulders."

"And I'd say that you're proving just how little you know about Quidditch," Scorpius spat back.

"This isn't about the game," Thomas insisted, "and I'm not trying to offend you, but if you can't get six other Wizards to do everything exactly as you demand; then how do you ever expect to lead an army – or everyone in the Wizarding World?" He shook his head. "We shouldn't even be discussing this now; though we do need to do that some other time. You really should be supporting your team mates – and don't forget that one of those Wizards is your girlfriend's little brother. You'll earn some bonus points with her – and their family with at least a show of concern and compassion."

"Let's not do that and say I did," Scorpius said; his jaw set stubbornly. "I'd rather stay here and work on my lessons with you."

"I'd rather still be alive and the leader of the wizarding World," Thomas countered. "We don't always get what we want, but while you're busy playing nice with your team mates and their families; remember that it could be much worse – and that what I'm trying to teach you now is meant to help you avoid my own mistakes and untimely fate."

Scorpius wasn't ready to give in that easily, but when Thomas essentially refused to teach him whether he stayed or not; the still-angry teen did pack up and leave – though he didn't head straight for the hospital wing. Instead, he dropped off his book bag; went outside for a walk that he ended when he saw Albus come out and start walking toward the lake. Seeing the other boy on his own and looking fairly angry too didn't make him feel at all better, and he was so immersed in his own anger; it never occurred to him to even ponder why the Captain of the team that had trounced his might be in a foul mood too. He did know that he didn't want to share the school grounds with the boy he was growing to hate more than any other; and that did drive him back into the castle – and to the hospital wing – despite the fact that he hated going ahead and essentially following Thomas' orders by doing that.

When Terri was soon helping him to feel much better about being there, his afternoon started to look up; and he eventually did have to admit that Thomas had been right after all three of his team mates were visited by their parents – and all three couples seemed to respect the fact that he was there to support their sons instead of ignoring them or blaming them for the loss – even though he did, in part, blame them; and would have preferred to ignore them. There wasn't any comfort from any of that for the loss, but he didn't need to fake the smiles when it was time to move on and head for the Great Hall to have dinner – especially after Terri promised to snog him senseless later to thank him for being such a good team mate and boyfriend even when he was having an awful day.

He could resent and be angry over what had happened out at the Quidditch stadium all he wanted, but that wouldn't change anything, so he decided to ignore his problems for a while; take the night off; and enjoy the offered entertainment with his girlfriend – especially when that was going to be one of his very favorite teen activities!

He could go back to dealing with his problems, enemies, and plans for the future in the morning – or on Monday.

The party in Gryffindor tower had continued on after Al left, and it would likely resume after dinner for quite a few of his House mates, but Al and Gwendolyn were leading an evening study session after dinner; and ended up with most of their group joining them for the fun. Rose and Ray hadn't wanted to go back to the common room after dinner, and while Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn were more excited about the work than the rest of their friends; they did try to mix in enough practice on their spells to make the research and report writing less-dreary. The inter-House couples preferred hanging out with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend too, and from Al's perspective; even studying all evening with his friends was better than any party that was without Gwendolyn and included James and Ollie!

While they managed to get through as much of their weekend work as planned, they left a bit of time ahead of curfew for the couples to be able to go off on their own – or at least have extended walks before splitting up for the night. After checking the map and finding out that James and Ollie were out on the prowl, Al and Gwendolyn encouraged their friends to split up and move on; while they were also sure that the two boys would only have them in their sights – at least this time. That proved to be true when they just happened to meet up with James and Ollie in a deserted hallway on the fifth floor in an area where they weren't likely to be bothered by anyone else.

"Well, if it isn't Captain Canine and the potty-trainer," James announced as he and Ollie neared Al and Gwendolyn. "What a surprise – they're out for their evening walk and snog before curfew."

"You should offer to help Gwendolyn out with the last half of that; since the loser here couldn't possibly figure out the right way to snog a Witch," Ollie suggested. "He's sure to stink at that even more than he stinks at Quidditch."

"I'm sure those insults make you feel better," Gwendolyn told him, "but here in the real world; everyone else knows that Al was the top Chaser in that match; is tied with Lily for top scorer; and his team won by three hundred and seventy points. I'd say your junior team is off to a great start this season!"

"We reject your reality and substitute our own," James retorted. "Nice try protecting your puppy, but what everyone really knows is that Slytherin is half the team they were a year ago; Fred and Orlando basically took out three of their players; and our team from last year would have crushed this Slytherin team."

"A pack of dogs on brooms could have beaten them," Ollie added. 'Oh wait, I guess that is what happened today."

"Six dogs and a Kat," James corrected with a laugh. "The loser here has set the bar so low for this season with the junior teams that it'll just be a race to the bottom of the Quidditch barrel."

"I'm sure that Fred and Orlando will be happy to know that they're both completely responsible for winning the match today while also being two of the dogs on the team," Al joked. "Is this just a walk-by razzing; or are you planning on attacking me for a second time today?"

"We didn't do anything to you at all today other than have a bit of fun at the party this afternoon," James declared with faked innocence; "and there's nothing wrong with having a little chat with my brother, is there?"

"I did take the time to dig that nasty little barb out of my wrist guard," he advised James. "You'll even be happy to know that it knicked me when I blocked that Beater bat with the same arm and it drove the barb the rest of the way through my guard." By then, he had a little vial pulled out of his pocket and tossed it to James. "Be careful with that – it's coated in a rather nasty poison."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James retorted as he caught the vial and held it up to look at the barb that rattled as he shook it. Al laughed; since what he sensed just confirmed the blatant lie. He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater and showed James the bandage.

"You don't want to take credit for this?" he asked. "I'm sure you were hoping for the worst while trying to stick me with that thing, but this did suck for me worse than the broken hand; so don't feel too bad that you didn't manage to put me in the hospital wing again."

"We'd both love to see that," James assured him; "but you won't get me to admit to doing anything to you – no matter how much I'd love to take credit for messing with you – so quit trying to set me up to be expelled. It won't work." He toosed the vial back at Al; and looked annoyed when Al caught it deftly despite the fact that he'd tried to make it uncatchable.

"Would you still say that under Veritaserum?" Gwendolyn asked; and James scowled at her.

"This is ridiculous to even talk about; since Al's talking nonsense anyway. If he found something stuck in his wrist guard and got hurt by the thing; it probably happened during the match."

"Whatever," Al said dismissively. "I don't want to talk to you about that or anything else anyway; so we'll see you later – though I'd really be okay if we didn't do that either."

"You're welcome to go," James said with a wave of his hand. "Ollie and I will be happy to take care of Gwendolyn once you're out of here. We wouldn't want to leave a fair damsel out here in these empty hallways all alone."

Al sighed. "You really do make me sick sometimes, James," he told him as he took his wand out of his pocket and held it at his side; tip down. "Please get out of our way. We're leaving."

"No," James said; but neither he or Ollie tried to pull their wands too.

"Suit yourself," Al answered. He and Gwendolyn both turned around; and they started to walk away. When James and Ollie started to follow; he put a shield up between them; guided Gwendolyn to the nearest secret passageway; and then left his shield in place at that entrance until they were out of it at the other end. Just to be safe; he left another shield up at that end of the passageway until Gwendolyn checked the map and saw that James and Ollie had moved on and apparently given up.

"Those little run-ins won't be too bad if they just try to goad us into blasting them," Gwendolyn suggested.

"It worked once; but they are trying other things too – like James did after the match with me. He really has still lost it to even think that he'd get away with anything serious happening to us. Unfortunately; I don't get the feeling that he's done trying."

"Then I guess we should just be glad that we've survived another day without anding up in the hospital wing – or with James and Ollie kicked out of school for good." Al grinned and she laughed. "Okay, that'd be bad for them; but you know what I mean."

"I do," he agreed with a nod. "They have pretty much messed up our walk time; so let's just call it a night. Maybe we'll get a chance to make up for that sometime tomorrow."

"Okay, but we seriously need to put some you and me time higher up on our list of priorities sooner instead of later."

"I'm good with that; though we both know that won't likely happen until at least after your first Quidditch match."

"Probably not," Gwendolyn conceded with a sigh of regret. "If that doesn't happen soon after that, though, I'm going to convince you to start working later at night; I'll let my grades slide a bit; and we'll make snogging our after dinner activity instead of studying all of the time."

That suggestion gave them something to joke about as they walked the rest of the way to Ravenclaw tower; they made a short stop for their goodnight hugs and kisses; and then Al headed for his own House with time to spare ahead of curfew. James and Ollie were there already, but they were busy annoying two of the fourth-year girls; so they only sent a couple of glares in Al's direction before returning their attention to the girls. Rose was waiting for him; so he went and sat with her to pass on what had happened after they'd split up; and then they both headed for their respective dorm rooms not long after one of the girls smacked James and then they both stormed off to the girls' dorms. By then, Al was ready to get some sleep, but after getting ready for bed; he did some bonus studying first that he hoped would allow a bit of extra time with Gwendolyn on Sunday.

Al had a better perspective on everything that had happened on Saturday when he woke on Sunday morning. While James and Ollie had successfully made it tough for him to enjoy the celebration and his first Quidditch victory as team Captain; he could feel the satisfaction of the win as he showered and got ready for the day, and despite what anyone said about it; that accomplishment was his to share with his team mates – and couldn't be taken away from them. The good mood continued with his morning walk and talk with Rose; they had fun at breakfast with their Gryffindor friends; and even the morning study session that started out in the library and ended in their study classroom was more fun without any problems to deal with beyond the assignments.

The fun level kicked up a few notches beginning with their lunch break because they were finished the weekend work by then; and were able to take the rest of the day off. After lunch, that meant a Quidditch scrimmage that ended up being Witches against Wizards. The Witches won the day, but while some of the girls helped to make that win possible by breaking a few rules; the guys being targeted by those tactics weren't interested in filing any complaints. Al and Gwendolyn were the leaders for the small group of family and friends invited to a private portable pool party that kept them entertained until shortly before dinner. Wrapping the weekend up with a quiet evening of music, letter writing, and a bit of mirror network entertainment that Rose and Hugo joined Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah for kept the fun going; and then Al ended his night with a bit of bedtime studying after visiting the Owlery with Gwendolyn and walking her 'home' shortly before curfew.

It was back to work again on Monday, and while Al and Gwendolyn had fun here and there too; they were very busy with classes, studying, and Quidditch. The transition from September to October wouldn't have been noticed at all if not for the change in dates on assignments and new calendars being posted for things like Quidditch schedules and other school activities. The only event going on during the first few days of October for Al, Gwendolyn, and their usual study group mates was the Harpies' match on Wednesday evening against the Cannons; and they needed to study while watching the game on a couple of portable mirrors. They would have liked to take the evening off, but that wasn't an option, and even if they could have traded an evening off and make up for it on the weekend; they wouldn't do that for a Cannons match. Rose would have liked it a lot if that wasn't true, but she could admit that it was; and her team soon began proving just how badly out-matched they were against the Harpies.

"It's too bad that you're not playing for the Cannons," Ray told Rose after they'd watched Victoire score another goal that looked far too easy while the Cannons' Keeper had been fooled on the play so thoroughly that he wasn't even in a position to be first to the quaffle. "You'd do better against Victoire than that git."

"She would," Gwendolyn agreed, "but don't take that thought any further; since some of us do not want to talk about Rose's future Cannons team."

"Okay, but I'd be willing to have one of our Gryffindor practices over the Christmas holidays against the Harpies so that we could find out if we'd do better than the Cannons are doing tonight," he suggested. "We might lose too; but not this badly."

"Don't tell Lily you said that," Al warned. "She'd be sure we'd have a good chance of winning that match."

"She'll be able to go to the teen day with the Harpies this year," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Wait until after that play day, and if she beats Gabrielle in the scrimmage; you could suggest that practice to Mum."

"That might be fun, but since the Harpies have a game that Saturday, and lose a training day with the New Year's Day holiday; I doubt your Mum will take time off for the team to just play with us on that Thursday or Friday," Al said with a smile and shrug.

"She might if that game is against the Cannons too," Ray offered with a nod for the mirror as they watched Candice score a goal. "At this rate, they'll be ahead by one-sixty before the Cannons know what hit them."

The Cannons surely did know what hit them, but Ray was right about the Harpies getting that all-important lead that put the win out of reach for the Cannons should they get a lucky snitch catch. At that point, luck wouldn't have even been an issue; since Gabrielle backed off and would have been happy to let Santini get the catch for the loss instead of being forced to put up with his ridiculous antics and attempts to show off and impress her. The Harpies let up on the Chaser offense too, but even with that lack of effort; they continued to score goals and increased their lead. The only way they could have done less would have been to stop playing offense at all; and they couldn't really do that with a stadium full of fans and the mirror network audience expecting a Quidditch match – not some sports farce.

"It's a wonder that they don't fire Santini," Tory suggested quite a while later – as they were packing up for the night; and still watching the match that was already ridiculously lop-sided in favor of the Harpies. Santini was still fighting his hardest to keep Gabrielle from catching the snitch; and had also been going to insane lengths to look good while never seriously trying to catch the snitch himself despite having dozens of free shots to do that. His Managers and team mates were visibly angry with him, but he ignored them; and they were unable to do anything about it; since only the Seeker is permitted to catch the snitch – and he refused to do it.

"He is a decent Seeker," Rose reminded her – "against every Seeker except Aunt Gabrielle. If I was team manager; I'd put my reserve Seeker up against her for these games."

"Santini might quit if he did that," Al suggested seriously. "Playing against Aunt Gabrielle twice a year might even be in his contract for all we know."

"I don't know if that would be funny or creepy if true," Rose told him; "and you might be right about that. He'd likely make more money playing for one of the teams in Spain; since he's a big hero there."

"Maybe he should move to France and try to hook up with one of Victoire's cousins," Ray interjected; earning a round of laughs.

"We'll assume you're referring to her Veela cousins for that; since all of Victoire's cousins here are a bit young for Santini," Tory said; and then grinned at Rose. "Maybe Rose is interested in playing for the Cannons for more reasons than she's admitted, but I hope not; since he's old-enough to be her father."

"Don't even think it," Rose warned. "Mum gets teased enough about Quidditch players without anyone starting rumors about Santini."

"Too late – for thinking about it," Ray advised her. "Fortunately for you, though, we don't have much time left before curfew; and I still want to walk Tory home before heading back to our House."

They all needed to get going soon, and Al was happy to walk Gwendolyn to her House and share a goodnight hug and kiss with her on his way back to Gryffindor tower – though her night wasn't finished because she still had her Astronomy class at midnight. When he got back to the common room, he had a visit with Lily, Hugo, and some of their friends; and then went up to his dorm room to get ready for bed and watch the rest of the Harpies' rout of the Cannons. Gabrielle eventually caught the snitch to end the game at the five hour and thirty-one minute mark; and the Harpies went home with a five-seventy to sixty victory. Thanks to Santini's efforts, Victoire scored twenty-four of the Harpies' forty-two goals, and while they'd have preferred a shorter game; those points did help her out a lot with the race for top scorer in the league. Al had multi-tasked more studying with the game watching, but put everything away as soon as the match ended; called it a night; and tried to catch up on the sleep he always lost because of Astronomy class on Tuesday nights.

Gwenog's fifty-first birthday on Friday was the only event on the schedule for the rest of the week, and since they were stuck at school; that didn't affect Al and Gwendolyn very much at all. They had a birthday mirror chat with Gwenog in the morning that Lily and Jonah joined them for; she opened her gifts from them while talking with them; and then she eventually went to work while her kids had breakfast in the Great Hall before getting started on their classes for the day. Kirley was taking care of his wife with a birthday dinner party and a weekend 'staycation' that Gwendolyn and Jonah didn't want to know any details about, but Gwendolyn didn't want to interrupt the party or weekend plans; and didn't try to have any other chats with her mother until Sunday night.

While their weekend wasn't going to be birthday party level fun, they didn't have any extra activities at all; so they were going to have more time for family and friends fun in addition to the stacks of weekend assignments. For Al and Gwendolyn, the play kind of fun started on Friday night when their study group collectively decided to wrap up their work for the night with an hour and a half to spare before curfew. They'd worked hard up to that point, but the long, too-busy week had caught up with them by then; and all of the couples in their group wanted to have some alone time with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend after having little or no time for that in days. Ending the school week with some quality snogging time worked for Al and Gwendolyn; so they were in a great mood when they eventually left the classroom they'd gone to for that; and headed toward Ravenclaw tower.

"I should've checked the map," Al had time to mutter under his breath to Gwendolyn – the only warning she had before she saw James and Ollie come around a corner and into the hallway they were walking along about half-way to their destination.

"We were having too much fun to think about that," she said with a smile. "They obviously haven't been having fun too; or they wouldn't be interested in bothering us instead." Al laughed; and that earned him a scowl from both boys as they closed the gap between them.

"What's so funny? Did you see your reflection in that suit of armor?" James asked scathingly; earning a laugh from Ollie; but they were both scowling when Gwendolyn laughed too.

"That's really funny considering how much you and Al both look like your father," she told James.

"Don't make me puke," James retorted dismissively. "If you'd dump the loser here and spend some time with me; you'd never make the mistake of thinking we're anything alike when I was done proving that to you."

"That'll never happen, so why don't you go find some other Witch to hang out with on a Friday night instead of wandering around and waiting for chances to run into us instead – if there actually are any Witches around here still willing to have anything to do with either of you."

"You're eventually going to find out for yourself why every Witch around here – including all of your friends – wish they could be with Ollie or me; and I'll be there to remind you of just how idiotic you sound right now."

"Give it a rest, James," Al told him. "This is annoying, but you're not going to goad us into blasting you – no matter how much you deserve it. Why can't you just do your own thing and leave us alone? We'd all be happier if you did."

"Making your life miserable does make us happy," Ollie said with a smirk. "Having some fun with Gwendolyn and showing her a good time would just be a bonus – for her."

Al sighed and shook his head. "This is stupid. Let's go, Gwendolyn. We need to get back to our Houses before curfew; and it's past-time for James and Ollie to move on."

"We'll go – if Gwendolyn comes with us," James offered; sneering while taking a lewd look up and down Gwendolyn's body. "You might be late getting back to your House; but you won't regret it."

"Then stay," Al told him; and both boys jumped back as he drew his wand and pointed it at them.

That worked for Al, since it gave him more space to put the shield around them; and then he took Gwendolyn's hand and led her around them so that they could continue down the hallway while James and Ollie glared at them. They were shouting too, but couldn't be heard outside of the shield. James and Ollie were still shielded when they turned down the same hallway that the two boys had come toward them from; so Al was momentarily surprised when the warning bells went off in his head. He came to an abrupt stop just out of sight of James and Ollie; Gwendolyn stopped too; and she looked to him for an explanation while he simply stood and scanned the hallway in front of them.

"What is it?" she finally asked after ten or fifteen seconds of silence.

"I don't know yet," he answered; still trying to figure out where the danger he was sensing came from. "There's something wrong here, but I only feel it; and can't see anything."

Gwendolyn reached into her bag and pulled out something small-enough that Al didn't see what it was as she then tossed it ahead of them with an under-hand throw. They were both surprise when it stopped in mid-air about six feet in front of them and hung there suspended and unmoving.

"A freezing charm!" Gwendolyn breathed. "Those jerks tried to catch us in a freezing charm!"

"It's nasty, but fairly brilliant," Al told her with a rueful grin. "Thanks for figuring that out before it was too late. I'll buy you a box of chocolates to make up for the one you just lost to that charm."

"Aren't you going to take it down?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head.

"I might be able to do it with enough time, but if James and Ollie have learned the spell properly; they'll have learned how to protect it from being easily countered – especially if James remembers the stories about how our house and yard was protected during the years it was empty until Dad found out about it after the war."

"Well, we can't just stand here all night," Gwendolyn said; and then grinned. "Let's go invisible; walk past James and Ollie again; and then you can drop their shield once we're out of the way. I'm sure they'll have loads of fun trying to figure out how we escaped their trap."

"You're brilliant too," Al told her; sharing a hug and kiss with her before they both went invisible; quietly retraced their steps; and again went past James and Ollie. The two boys were now smiling and apparently having an animated conversation; both of them oblivious to the fact that they weren't alone in the hallway. Al was amused by that, but didn't say anything to Gwendolyn until they were quite a distance from that spot and he was ready to release the shield he'd put around his brother and Ollie.

"I really hope they'll be disappointed when they don't find us stuck in their trap," Al told Gwendolyn. "That plan of theirs was brilliant in a nasty sort of way, but then it's amazing that they can do things like that and still be so dense when it comes to other magic."

"What do you mean?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al grinned at her.

"They were obviously laughing it up when we passed them again in the hallway, but they shouldn't have been if we had actually been caught in that freezing charm."

Gwendolyn laughed. "They'd have been stuck too; since you wouldn't have been able to release that shield you put around them," she deduced with a nod. "Maybe we should have let ourselves get caught in it." Al thought about that seriously for a moment; and then shook his head.

"That wouldn't have worked out for any of us. Merlin only knows how long it would take to get us out of that freezing charm; and we already know that my shields are tough to counter. Dad might not be happy to get a late-night invitation to Hogwarts to help with that – assuming we'd have been found before morning."

"All good points; but then I wasn't really serious about doing that anyway. For all we know, the freezing charm was just the start of whatever they had planned for us tonight."

Al had agreed with that, but then they moved on to talk about other things until it was time for the goodnight hugs and kisses outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance. After watching Gwendolyn head into the stairway there; Al hurried back to the Gryffindor common room and went to have a quick little chat with Louis and Noel – the first two Prefects he saw in the room. Without telling them about James and Ollie, he warned them about the freezing charm that he and Gwendolyn had nearly run into; gave them the location; and was relieved when they immediately passed that information on to Molly before heading out to go and meet up with her at the Heads' office and check it out.

His visit with Louis and Noel, and their departure immediately after that had earned some attention for him; so Al then moved on to talk with Rose, Lily, and the tweens and teens sitting with them around one of the work tables. He didn't offer most of the details to them either with so many teens around, but did tell them about the freezing charm and how Gwendolyn had discovered it after he'd sensed that something was wrong in the hallway ahead of them. Rose and Lily weren't likely the only teens making a guess about who might be responsible for that kind of prank – especially when James and Ollie were suspiciously absent. It was past-curfew by then, but while Al had a pretty good idea about why they hadn't made it back in time; he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about what he suspected was happening to James and Ollie. The usual evening snogging was well-underway by then, though, and he didn't want to sit around and watch the show; so he shared some goodnight hugs and kisses with his sister and cousin; and went up to his dorm room for the night.

Lily and Rose didn't go straight up to bed then too, and it looked as though quite a few of their collective friends planned on staying up for a while to find out whether there would be more to his story whenever James and Ollie did show up. Al wasn't alone in the dorm room when he got there, but the other two guys were busy and only nodded at him as he passed them a total of three times on his way to and from his bed when he went to the washroom to get ready for bed. He sat up and read for a while, but was sleeping before Ray came up to bed; so he didn't hear anything about James and Ollie until morning – and that news came from Rose and Lily when they met up for their morning walk to the Great Hall.

"Would you like the good or bad news first?" Lily asked him with a grin once they were in the hallway and walking away from the portrait hole.

"When you say it like that; I'm not sure I'll like the good news," Al joked; earning laughs from both girls.

"You might not; but we did," Lily assured him. "Ollie got caught in that freezing charm you warned Louis and Noel about. James didn't, but apparently couldn't get Ollie freed; and stayed with him instead of going for help."

"And when they found out that you were the one to warn Louis and Noel; James told them that you must have set up the trap for them – especially since it was so good that Molly needed to get help from Professor Flitwick to get Ollie out of it."

"Great, so I'll be hauled into the Heads' office today and questioned about it," Al deduced. "I'm glad I didn't stay up to wait for them to get back; or Molly might have hauled me off right then."

"I doubt it; and she might not do that today either," Lily told him. "Louis and Noel told us about what happened, not James and Ollie; and they didn't believe James' accusations for a second – especially when the details didn't add up as he spun his story."

"It's so tough to keep track of all of the lies," Rose added with a grin. "I'll guess that you will still get asked about what happened, Al, and while it might get James and Ollie into trouble; you should tell them the truth."

"I won't lie to Molly," Al assured her; "but I won't offer anything extra if she doesn't ask the right questions. James is going to get himself kicked out of here if he doesn't wise up, though; and he'd better cut it out before it's too late."

"What I don't get is why he didn't just get Ollie out of their trap so nobody was the wiser," Lily mused.

"They left Fred and Orlando stuck in a trap last year," Rose reminded her. "I'll guess that they did something with the charm that they couldn't reverse."

"I suppose they could have made the charm that way so that it couldn't be traced to them," Al said thoughtfully. "That's not a very good idea to use a spell like that; but they probably didn't think that through long-enough to figure out why that's such a bad idea."

"I'm guessing they know at least one reason for why they shouldn't do that now," Lily joked. "Now that we're alone, tell us the rest of the story. There must be a good reason for why Ollie would have walked into their own trap like that."

Al told them about the entire confrontation; how he and Gwendolyn escaped; and didn't have a good answer for why Ollie would assume that the freezing charm had been removed - especially since there would have been a chocolate still hanging mid-air in the hallway if he'd paid enough attention to notice it there. They eventually moved on to talk about their plans for the day; and then they continued to hang out together in the Great Hall until their friends began joining them and Lily moved down to her normal seat with the other Gryffindor firsties. The James and Ollie story was news at breakfast, but Al mostly stayed out of that chat; leaving it up to Rose, Ray, and a few others to talk about what they'd heard and seen in the common room when Molly, Louis, and Noel had returned with James and Ollie in tow more than an hour after curfew. By the time he'd finished eating, Al was ready to escape; and went out into the entrance hall to wait for Gwendolyn so that he could walk her out to the pitch for her morning Quidditch practice.

He was a bit surprised when Molly was with Gwendolyn, but that worked out for all of them when Molly asked her questions about what had happened with James and Ollie right then without making a big scene of it; and then she sent them on their way with assurances that they weren't in any trouble. She didn't say one way or the other whether James and Ollie were in trouble, but then Al didn't expect her to do that; and didn't really care one way or the other whether they were in trouble or not – other than that James would be angrier with him again if he and Ollie did get detention or any other punishment because of the attempted prank-trap.

Gwendolyn wanted to hear the rest of the story for the rumors that had reached the Ravenclaw students by then, so Al passed that news on to her while they walked out to the pitch; and then he headed for their usual study classroom after that to meet up with Rose and the rest of their available study mates so that they could get back to work on their weekend revision. Work was the name of the game for the entire morning. Gwendolyn joined them after her practice, and while most of the others were ahead of her on the work by then; Al had worked on Divination for a while first; and then he studied with her to help Gwendolyn to catch up to the rest of them – though that took most of the afternoon too before they were all ready to take a break and have some play time for the hour or so before dinner.

Gryffindor lost some points sometime during the afternoon, and rumors began by dinnertime that James and Ollie had been responsible for that, but there weren't any true details mixed in with the speculation; and Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends didn't have any inside information on the story. James and Ollie pointedly ignored Al, but also didn't act as though there was anything wrong; and they were goofing around as normal at dinnertime – the only time Al saw them for the rest of the day. He was happy about that; happier to take the evening off to hang out with Gwendolyn; and they were both ready for some quality alone time. They set up a sofa and the mirror; had a bit of music play time; watched a couple of shows on the mirror network; and enjoyed a fairly brilliant snogging session that had them both happy and smiling when it was time to head back to their Houses ahead of curfew. They didn't have any James and Ollie problems then either – or any ambush attempts from their favorite Slytherin haters; so that reprieve helped to keep their mood light and happy thanks to the lack of added teen drama or danger.

Sunday was a near-repeat of a week ago. Al, Gwendolyn, and about half of their study group worked in their study classroom for most of the morning except for a visit to the library for some research; they had an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage that Lily, Hugo, Jonah, and some other friends joined them for; and then they had another invitation-only pool party after that until dinnertime. Al and Gwendolyn had another quiet night planned for after dinner, but they also had Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo with them for those hours of relaxed entertainment. There was more music and mirror network watching; three mirror chats with their parents; and some letter writing for the weekly Owl Post that Al and Gwendolyn sent out with Winter after having a visit with her – and with Blizzard – before sending her out into the cool fall-weather night and on her way home to Harry and Ginny.

The second school week of October was a mix of good and bad for Al and Gwendolyn. While most of the older students were getting fired up about the second Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and they were looking forward to that too; they also had to deal with a total of three prank-ambush attempts – all of them set up for when they were together – and not around anyone else. Al was glad of that, since it meant that the Slytherins that the Averys were leading, and James and Ollie were all leaving Rose, Lily, and the rest of their friends alone – or at least they weren't overtly trying to attack them too. That didn't make those ambush attempts easier to take, but they were able to handle them without anyone getting hurt; so it was mostly just the inconvenience of them that was such a pain – along with the clean-ups they took care of after two of the attacks. Those problems also meant that they needed to watch their maps more often, and that helped them to avoid two other potential prank problems; but that just added to the distractions that they didn't need to have when they were already so busy with their studies and Quidditch.

Gwendolyn was busier than Al was for Quidditch, but that was only because her first match was a week from Saturday; and the gryffindor junior team now had until March before their next match against Hufflepuff. He still worked with his team at every practice, but Al's focus was on helping everyone on his team to get better – and have fun while doing that instead of worrying about a match that was still more than five months away. He had more than enough serious in his life while keeping up with eleven classes and all of the work that went with them. Being among the top students in his year had meant working hard in his first two years, but that needed to be taken to a whole new level now; and Al worked harder than anyone in his study group – inlcuding Rose and Gwendolyn.

There was just one break in the study action for the entire school week, and that was on Friday evening; though Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose all pitched in to handle most of the work side of the fun for Lily as she hosted a birthday pool party for Denise Creevey and a bunch of their firstie friends. Al hadn't spent much time with Denise since they'd gotten to Hogwarts, but then she wasn't into playing Quidditch; and he didn't hang out with Lily all that often when she was with her firstie friends. Their parents were good friends, though; so Al had been happy to help Lily out with some magical help for the party – including putting up some protections around the room so that they wouldn't have to worry about any party crashers – like James and Ollie. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose also helped with setting up the pool, snacks, drinks, sofas, and the mirror so that Lily could offer more than just the water fun for the entertainment; and then they sat back and mostly enjoyed watching the show while Denise celebrated her twelfth birthday.

That had been fun – even with all of the work that included cleaning up ahead of curfew; but skipping the Friday night study session was going to be a problem for the rest of the weekend – especially when Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and everyone else in their study group were taking the day off on Saturday to go to Hogsmeade. Al started to make up for that after getting back to his dorm room from the party on Friday night, and managed to get some of his Divination assignment done; but then he needed to crash and nap for the rest of the night to be ready for a busy play day in town with Gwendolyn. He was awake at his normal time on Saturday; met up with Rose for their walk and talk before breakfast; and then joined in for the breakfast chat time with their friends – with all of the talk and gossip about the fun they were going to have in town and the latest teen drama news.

Al met up with Gwendolyn after they finished the morning meal; they lined up in the entrance hall with some of their friends; and were eventually set free to walk to town. The temperature was on the chilly side, and it looked as though they were sure to get at least some rain during the day; but it wasn't raining as they stepped outside. The thrill of the adventure was a bit milder for their second trip to town, but Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends were still as fired up as most of their fellow third-year classmates as they moved along with the pack – not getting passed; and not trying to hurry past the groups in front of them. Getting to town a minute or two earlier wasn't worth the effort; and even the students that were able to escape first would only have an advantage for the first store they stopped to shop in. That ended up being true for Al and Gwendolyn too; but only because they made their first stop the Apothecary for Potions supplies and a few personal necessities while most of the students started their adventure in the 'fun' stores.

"You do realize that we should be leading the way for goofing off instead of doing all of the responsible stuff first, right?" Gwendolyn told Al as they wandered around the store. "We're two of the junior team Captains; and I think it's supposed to be against the rules for us to be so boring."

"I don't think we're boring," Al protested; "and nobody thinks you're boring – even if they do believe that I am."

"We do need to work on your image," Gwendolyn teased, "but I don't want to start on that by getting stuck in the crush at the wheezes store or Honeydukes; so we'll have to deal with that in other ways." She glanced toward one of the shop windows; and then looked back at Al. "You know we're being watched?" she added in a whisper; and Al nodded.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "He was waiting for us on the edge of town; near the Three Broomsticks. It was probably too much to hope that we'd be left alone today."

"We can still hope that they'll leave us alone, though since they are following us already; that can't happen unless they stop."

'They' didn't stop, but the Slytherin boys watching them did change as they took turns at the job. While that was surely an attempt to keep them from noticing, the effort was a waste of time; since Al saw and sensed that they were being watched all of the time; and Gwendolyn saw each of the boys fairly quickly too. After getting their potions supplies, they moved on to do the rest of the 'work' shopping first; followed that up with some clothes shopping for Gwendolyn that was really awkward for their not-so-secret observer; and then they went for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. It was as crowded as always there, so they ate quickly; visited with some friends before and after their meal; and then made two quick stops for wheezes and sweets before heading back to Hogwarts again. Gwendolyn used her portable mirror to watch and listen to the Harpies' game as they walked, and while they both really wanted to keep an eye on the match; they were also both watching out for the expected ambush; since they had two Slytherins following them as they left town. Nothing happened until they were a dozen paces from the school gates; and Al couldn't keep from laughing when the anti-apparition spell was cast along with a handful of other protections meant to keep what was happening within them from being seen by anyone else.

"What's so funny?" Gwendolyn asked as she drew her wand a second after Al had his in hand and he began defending both of them from the volley of attacks coming at them from three sides.

"Anti-apparition spell," he explained with another laugh; speaking loudly-enough that their attackers would likely hear him. "I suppose it's good practice; but pointless when we won't even learn how to do that for another three years – and we won't be able to apparate until we're seventeen."

Gwendolyn laughed too; and then countered a curse that was directed at Al from ahead of them on her side of the road. "I wonder if we'll ever get to a time when we won't be surprised by the level of stupid these gits can manage?"

"They do have some good ideas," Al told her. "Putting up these shields is smart, since if they hadn't done that; the school protections would have been set off this close to the gates."

"So that would happen if we blow up those shields?" Gwendolyn asked; grinning as Al did just that. The shockwave from that counter-attack was loud-enough to be felt as well as heard; and the attack on them suddenly stopped as if the noise had collectively stunned their attackers.

"Go!"

That disembodied shout came from Al's side of the road, and while they couldn't see the attackers ahead of them; they did see the two behind them disapparate; and heard the cracks of noise from ahead of them as, presumably, the rest of their ambushers fled. Al smiled as he turned to Gwendolyn.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she assured him before they shared a quick hug and kiss. "See – I don't know why you don't have such a bad reputation for being boring – that was a lot of fun for us!"

"It was," he agreed, "but we're missing the Harpies' game, so how would you like to go for a horseback ride; and we'll make up the time we just lost while we were busy playing with our Slytherin friends."

"That sounds like fun too." Al held a hand out to her for the bags she was carrying; and Gwendolyn laughed when she realised that he was doing that so she wouldn't have to carry them while she rode – and that was an option; since everything he had with him went along for the ride while he was in his Animagus forms.

Once he had all of their bags, Al changed into his black stallion form; Gwendolyn climbed onto his back; and they were soon galloping through the open gates and along the driveway up to the castle. Gwendolyn was having a blast, so while Al had suggested that she go for the ride to get to the school more quickly; he took her for a loop around the school grounds instead so that they could both enjoy the bonus play time before going into the castle and meeting up with Lily and the rest of the game-watching teens in their usual study classroom. Al had given Lily his mirror for watching the game, but she hadn't been able to deal with the furniture herself; so the group of firsties with her had sat at the work tables for the start of the game – until Rose joined them and she took care of re-sizing the sofas for them. Rose had been the first of their gang back from Hogsmeade; while Al and Gwendolyn were third-to-last by the time they'd finished playing and then made stops at their dorm rooms to drop off the purchases that they didn't need to bring along to the game-watching party and distribute to the younger kids.

"How was your morning?" Al asked Lily after he and Gwendolyn sat down next to her. Jonah was sitting next to her, and while Lily didn't seem to even think about that; he looked very happy to be there and holding hands with her as they watched the game.

"We won our scrimmage, and I won my Seeker duel against Jonah; so it was pretty good," she answered without looking away from the Quidditch action she was watching on the mirror. "We finished our weekend studying after that, which was mostly boring except for DADA; but at least it's done now and we can play for the rest of the weekend."

"Must be nice," Gwendolyn told her. "We'll be working the rest of the weekend to get ours done – once we get to that after the game."

"Or after dinner," Lily added with a nod to the mirror. "The Catapults' Seeker is still an idiot; so he's likely to fight against Aunt Gabrielle to the bitter end regardless of how badly the rest of his team is playing today."

"We brought our books," Al advised her. "If it ends up being that kind of game; we can watch and study too."

"Sure we can," Gwendolyn agreed with a grin for Al; "but you're not helping to change your reputation with suggestions like that one."

"No, I'm not," he agreed; "but we also don't want to still be studying after curfew on Sunday night either."

"You should have gone with two optionals like I did," Ray told them. He was with Tory on the sofa to Al's right; and didn't look at all interested in trading cuddling with his girlfriend for studying.

"He hasn't been in detention or the hospital wing yet this year," Tory pointed out. "Maybe taking eleven classes is exactly what Al should be doing."

"You're just saying that because you hope he'll be exhausted by the time we play against Hufflepuff next March," Ray told her; and Tory laughed.

"That would be a nice bonus; but I really doubt that'll happen."

"Then you'll have to see what you can do about making sure that Ray's exhausted by then instead," Madison suggested; earning a round of laughs.

"Why didn't you suggest that to Gwendolyn?" Tory asked; and Madison laughed.

"Because you might have a problem with me suggesting that Gwendolyn snog your boyfriend into exhaustion between now and next March," she joked. "Yes, I know what you meant; and didn't suggest it because I doubt it would work on Al."

"Yet you think it would work on me?" Ray asked; shooting for an expression and tone of being mortally offended.

"It might work on you," Madison agreed unapologetically. "I'll also guess that if it did; you wouldn't really mind trading that for losing the game against our team."

"You should forget about the whole idea," Lily told them while still watching the game.

"Why do you say that?" Tory asked her; and Lily smiled and shrugged.

"It would be an ego-buster if you tried and it didn't work; and worse for you if it did. Would you really want to have that kind of reputation when you get to the show? I'm sure that the Wizard Chasers on the other teams would love it if you'd try that tactic on any or all of them ahead of your matches against their teams; but I'm sure that you'd rather win games by being the better Chaser."

"Did you really have to tell her that?" Madison complained. "Now she'll never agree to try that with the Slytherin Chasers if it works on Ray."

"Aren't you glad that there are three Witches at Chaser on my team?" Gwendolyn asked Tory; and they both laughed.

"Maybe Madison was going to try the tactic on Jonah this week," Tory suggested; and laughed when her comment actually managed to get Lily to look away from the Harpies' game.

"Don't even think about it," she warned. "It wouldn't be any fun at all trying to play in that match while battling a bat-bogey affliction."

"Jonah's cute and single," Madison pointed out. "I don't see why you'd have a problem with Tory's suggestion."

"Maybe not right now you don't," Lily agreed: "but you will if you try it."

"Well, I suppose we could see about having Leanne try this on Ryan instead," Madison mused.

"You might want to run that one past Alex first," Al suggested. "I'm sure glad that the Captain on the Gryffindor team isn't suggesting anything like that for my sister, cousin, or any of the Witches on our team and reserve squad."

"Are you suggesting that you wouldn't have a problem if your Captain told the guys to try it?" Gwendolyn asked archly; and Al laughed.

"No, but it's funny that none of you have said anything about having the guys on your teams try that instead of the Witches."

"Possibly because if we did, they'd have so much fun doing that; they'd forget how to play Quidditch," Tory answered; smiling at Ray. "Then there's the fact that there are no Witches on the Slytherin team; so that'd be a problem for that tactic with the guys."

"Any of the Slytherins would be a problem for the Witches on our team too," Lily reminded her; and then laughed. "Uncle Ron would go mental if Rose hooked up with Scorpius Malfoy."

"He would," Rose agreed; "but it would be weirder if you dated him. Your Dads didn't exactly get along when they went to school here."

"I think he's hot – for a Slytherin," Denise said; surprising Al and some of the other teens; since she didn't talk a lot when she was hanging out with them. She blushed a bit when she saw the attention she'd drawn with that comment. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Lily assured her with another laugh. "Nice timing, and he is, but he'd never be interested in us; since we're not his type."

"Blood-status type, you mean," Gwendolyn added. "There's a perfectly good game to watch, though; so let's not go there."

They didn't; the conversation moved on; and they enjoyed watching the Harpies win a very lop-sided match over the Catapults with a four-eighty to ninety score that was only that high because the Catapults Seeker wouldn't try to catch the snitch for the loss. He didn't have the same motivation for that as Santini did for the Cannons, but the end result was the same; and the other Catapults' players, their Managers, and fans did not appreciate his efforts in the loss. Victoire had twenty of the Harpies' thirty-three goals, and it took Gabrielle nearly four hours to finally out-race her opponent to catch the snitch and end the match. That wouldn't have left Al, Gwendolyn, and some of their study mates any time to work before dinner, but they started working on their weekend assignments once the Harpies were ahead by one-sixty; so they were able to get a couple of hours of work done before packing up and heading for the Great Hall when it was nearly dinnertime.

Halloween was still nearly three weeks away, but their visit to Hogsmeade had been the last until the Saturday after Halloween, so buying Halloween wheezes had been popular for most teens; and they began using them at dinnertime – or at least that was the first time that Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their game-watching friends were exposed to them. Al got caught up in one prank that was certainly from James and Ollie, but while he'd sensed the problem, some of his classmates had already been caught by it; so he went along with the harmless bit of fun. He spent some time thinking about how his senses were continuing to develop as he learned and studied, and while it wasn't always nice to get those advance insights or sense what others around him were thinking and feeling; he did like being able to sense even non-harmful 'danger' like imminent wheezes pranks.

After taking Friday night off to help with the birthday party and most of Saturday off to that point for the Hogsmeade visit and Harpies' match; a Saturday evening study session was necessary for everyone in their study group; though they ended up having four no-shows when two couples decided that doing their own thing instead would be more fun. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose led the study session for everyone that did show up, though; and they helped out with some tutoring while working on their own assignments too. They still had a lot of work to get done, so they kept going until shortly before curfew; Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; and then pretty much went straight to bed once he was back in Gryffindor tower.

Sunday wasn't very adventurous for Al. He studied all morning; though that mostly consisted of tutoring his Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends once they were finished their morning Quidditch practices and through until they stopped for lunch. They then studied for most of the afternoon too; splitting their time between research in the library and working in their usual classroom until they all needed to take a fun break for the last hour or so until dinnertime. Al was finished his work by then, but he and Rose were the only two members of their group in that position; so they helped their friends again after dinner for the hour and a half that was needed to finish up for the weekend before getting back to having a bit of fun.

For Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; that meant meeting up with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo in another classroom for some mirror chats home; letter writing; and one mirror network show before they needed to wrap up their weekend and head back to their Houses. Al, Gwendolyn, and Jonah stopped in the Owlery on the way back to Ravenclaw tower to visit with Blizzard and send Winter on her way with the weekly posts; and then Al was on his own after saying goodnight to Gwendolyn outside of the Ravenclaw entrance in a partially non-verbal way. He was glad to get back to the Gryffindor common room without any problems; though the reason for that became obvious when he got there and noticed Bristol hanging out with James, Ollie, and a few other second and third-year teens. He'd actually expected that James and Ollie had been busy trying to get their weekend assignments finished at the last minute; but wasn't really surprised that it had been a couple of Witches distracting them – and that did have the bonus of keeping them from finding new ways to annoy him.

Instead of going straight up to bed, Al took the time for visits with his older cousins; since he hadn't seen them much all weekend; and then ended up sitting down with Ray and a few other guys when Ray waved him over to join them after getting back from his evening with Tory. That guy chat time was entertaining, but Al also had to deal with other, less-fun activity that he sensed and saw around the room. Closest to him, since she was sitting at the next table, was Patricia's simmering jealousy that was directed at Bristol as her roommate was fawning over James. Anna had moved on and gotten over Ollie, but Patricia obviously still had her heart set on James – a fact that Al tried not to think about anytime he saw James exploiting that advantage. That part of his brother's life was definitely none of his business, and even though he didn't like knowing that some of his friends were going to get hurt by him; he couldn't get involved in any of that kind of teen drama – especially when the Witches involved would not appreciate his interference.

By the time he went up to his dorm room with Ray and a few of the other guys, he was past-ready to escape; got ready for bed quickly; and then went off to sleep long before some of his roommates even made it up to their room once they were finished hanging out in the common room.

"You're looking a bit rough," Thomas told Scorpius as he watched his young protege flop into the armchair. "Tough day?"

"Not really. I just need a break from the stupid," Scorpius answered tiredly.

"Is there anything I should know about for that?"

Scorpius shrugged. "You'll want to know that the Averys and their mates tried another attack on Albus and Gwendolyn when they were on the way back from Hogsmeade. They failed again; and apparently didn't even manage to injure them in any way despite having the surprise of an ambush and ten-to-two odds."

"We do at least have to give them credit for not giving up," Thomas suggested seriously; and Scorpius laughed tiredly.

"Do we really? They might as well stand next to the castle and bang their heads against the wall. They'd accomplish as much as they do with these attacks."

"Speaking of attacks, has there been anything yet from the older Potter boy that you can connect to the gift you sent them?"

"No, so if they tried to use it; they didn't succeed – or at least there hasn't been any word of Madam Pomfrey treating any serious injuries yet this year."

Thomas nodded. "You are likely right. Maybe you should send the next anonymous gift this week. How close are we to Halloween now?"

Two weeks and four days," Scorpius answered. "Why?"

"I'm sure that two pranksters could find this little gift quite useful for the occasion; don't you think so?"

"I suppose," Scorpius agreed without much enthusiasm. "It's ready, so I could send it out tomorrow; and they'd still have a couple of weeks left between now and then to find ways to use it."

"That should give them enough time," Thomas approved. "Let's hope that you'll find out what they do with it this time."

"Considering how much effort I've put into helping them; that's the least they can do for me," Scorpius declared. "Now that we've decided on that, would you like the rest of the news from around here; or can we get started on a lesson now? I need to do something that is more challenging than anything the mental midgets around me in Slytherin can manage." He smiled ruefully at the expression he saw on Thomas' face. "Yeah, I know, but it's just you and me here, and we can't be eavesdropped on in this room; so I shouldn't have to keep pretending like I do the rest of the time around here."

"Fine, but I remind you that being brighter than everyone else can be both good and bad for you; and doesn't mean that those Witches and Wizards aren't bright and worthy allies for our cause. Tell me the rest of your news; and then we'll do a new lesson instead of simply practicing the spells you're currently learning to master."

That plan worked for Scorpius; he told Thomas about everything he'd heard about since their last visit both at school and out in the wizarding World; and then he was given all of the challenge he could handle with the news lesson through until he needed to be back in his common room ahead of curfew. He didn't talk with Thomas about his classes or studies; didn't worry about the assignments that he hadn't finished but could work on before the next classes in those subjects; and he happily wrapped up his weekend with a snogging session that Terri had been happy to wait and share with him.

There were some parts of his life that his painted friend didn't need to be involved with, and while Scorpius did still talk with Thomas about a lot of things; the list of things that he'd decided were none of Thomas' business was growing longer. Scorpius had decided that was a good thing; since it meant that he was slowly taking control of his own life – and that was just another step along the way to his plans for the future. Thomas wouldn't like it if he knew, but Scorpius knew what he needed and was ready for; and did what any true leader would do – whatever he wanted!

Monday was the start of the daily countdown to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match. Quidditch was on Gwendolyn's mind all of the time; so Al did everything he could to help her with her classes and assignments while she focused more on the imminent match. Studying with players from both teams sometimes seemed odd to Al, but that was mostly because of the things he sensed from them, and while they were all friends; they were truly Quidditch rivals too. Their school week felt like all work without much play time as they kept up with their assignments whenever they weren't in classes or practicing Quidditch. The only birthday they had to celebrate during those five days was on Tuesday, but while it was Holly's second birthday, Lily didn't throw a party for her; and Al and Gwendolyn were only involved in the birthday fun Lily did have with her kneazle when they gave Lily a gift for Holly before sitting down for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

With the Quidditch match on Saturday, and what would be at least one party for the victorious team during the rest of the day after that; taking Friday evening off wasn't an option for Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their study group. They didn't get everyone there for it, and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players stopped early because of early game night curfews; but they did study hard while they could work together. Those Captain-imposed, early curfews weren't popular with the players or their respective boyfriends or girlfriends when that applied; but that didn't keep them from doing as ordered. Al would have preferred to spend more time with Gwendolyn too, but didn't try to make things tougher for her when she was trying to stay focused on Quidditch; and he made sure that she was on-time getting back to her House – even though that meant they had almost no time at all for goodnight hugs and kisses.

With lots of time left in the evening once he was back in the Gryffindor common room, Al joined Rose, Ray, and some of their classmates at a work table, but didn't end up staying long when James, Ollie, and their small entourage moved to a table next to theirs and started razzing Al about Gwendolyn, Ravenclaw, and offering their idiotic predictions for the match. While James was sure to take his departure as a victory, Al didn't care; and was happy to stay away from his brother for the rest of the night. He did some more homework once he was ready for bed; talked with some of the other guys as they started coming up to bed too; and then went off to sleep early-enough that he'd be ready for a busy day of Quidditch fun with his friends – along with the work they'd need to find time for too.

Saturday morning began quietly-enough for Al as he woke and got ready for the day while most of the Gryffindor guys continued to sleep until sometime after he was in the common room and waiting for Rose and Lily to join him. He was early, and had to wait for them; but they then went on to have a really good walk and talk while taking a wandering, long route to the Great Hall. Al's next bit of fun came with the good morning hugs and kisses from Gwendolyn when she stopped by on her way to the Ravenclaw table. As the rest of their Gryffindor friends joined them at the table, the conversation during breakfast was all about Quidditch and the teen and tween drama that swirled around the event. While the drama was usually about couples; there was also talk about everything from fashion winners and losers to suggestions for using Halloween wheezes at the game to add a bit of sidelines entertainment.

Al was actually hoping for no extra entertainment – or at least none of the variety he'd dealt with in the first match of the season; but was expecting worse – especially since he was sure that James and Ollie would sit nearby so that they could offer their game commentary and insults. He tried not to think about any of that while in the Great Hall; happily spent some time with Gwendolyn while walking her to the stadium after they were both finished eating; and then he went for a long walk outside that was mostly to get as calm and relaxed as possible before meeting up with Rose, Lily, Hugo, and the rest of their team mates and friends in the stadium. They found decent seats on the border of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw sections; and they settled in and got comfortable before Al took the lead and began talking with his team about what he wanted them to do for their individual analysis assignments while watching the match. That wasn't completely new for everyone, but he was doing it his own way; and some of his team had no experience at all with what he wanted to do – and teach them. Boyfriends and girlfriends were allowed to sit together; but Al still had all fourteen members of his team close-enough to talk with all of them without needing to speak above normal volume.

"We'll be playing both teams next March and April, and we'll only get this one chance to watch Hufflepuff before our match against them; so it's really important to learn everything we can about their team and players today," he began; smiling as everyone had turned to face him from each side or the two rows in front of him. "While we should all watch as much of the entire game as we can, I want each of you to focus on your counterparts on the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams; though Rose and Hugo should concentrate on watching the Chasers while our Chasers need to watch both the Chasers and Keepers."

"Sucks for all of you," Lily teased with a grin. "Aren't you wishing you'd tried out for Seeker instead?"

"No, because I'd have never made the team at all," Hugo shot back. "Do you want us to split up the players we watch, Al?" he asked; trying not to mess up Al's train of thought.

al shrugged. "I don't have a problem with that, but keep your eyes open for anything that you might notice that will help us to get ready for our upcoming matches."

"What kinds of things?" Melissa asked; and Al turned his attention and smile toward her.

"Look for habits that the players might have – giveaways that let us know what they're about to do; patterns that could tell us about the play formations they use; and anything else that might help – like spotting favorite tricks that we could learn to counter."

"Look for the same things that Al's been teaching us not to do," Rose offered. "They're the same bad habits that every Quidditch player has problems with; and most of us aren't as good as Al is at not doing them."

"Does Gwendolyn have any of those bad habits?" Ray asked; grinning while obviously trying to get Al into trouble with nearby Ravenclaws there to pass on Al's answer.

"Yes, but it wouldn't be right for me to tell you about them. Figuring that out for yourselves is perfectly okay, though; so feel free to do that. While I want our Beaters to learn everything they can about the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Beaters; the rest of us should watch for how they play against our own positions too. That will be especially important for Rose and Lily; since all four Beaters are likely to have favorite plays that they'll try to set up for scoring goals or snitch catch attempts."

"Isn't that just as important for the Chasers?" That question came from Hunter Hudak – Lily's reserve squad counterpart. He was sitting next to her; and looked very happy to be there.

"Keepers are more stationary than the rest of us; so they're more vulnerable – especially when they're focusing on incoming shots," Al explained. "For Seekers, a set-up by theBeaters can be a big hint that your opponent has spotted the snitch; so it isn't just about trying to avoid the bludgers for you – it's about gaining an advantage for catching the snitch."

"That makes sense," Hunter said with a nod. "Anything else?"

Al saw James, Ollie, and their small entourage heading toward them, and decided it was a good time to stop; so he shook his head. "No, but if you have any questions during the match; feel free to ask them – or talk about them with your neighbors if it's too loud to talk with me."

As his team mates started up other conversations, Al talked quietly with Rose while watching James and Ollie until they were behind him; and then he listened as they took up a block of seats two and three rows behind him. That one-row buffer wasn't nearly-enough; and not much help when he had Bristol in that row too. He didn't need to look to know that she was all smiles when James turned on the charm with her within moments of sitting down; and she was soon laughing along with Ollie and most of their mates at the jokes and insults that James led – with about half of them directed at Al or Gwendolyn. He was braced for the worst when James began his own game commentary as Kylie Cootes began her pre-game show; and Jame did not disappoint – though Al wished that he'd do just that for a change and leave him alone.

"Allow me to translate. She means that Gryffindor is in first place despite the pathetic match that Captain Canine and the pup pack could manage against Smelfoy and the Slytherin Stinkers," James declared. "I guess we should be happy about that; since we'll need that one win to go with the three wins our senior team will get if we want a chance to win the Quidditch Cup; but it sucks to see how bad the junior teams are this year now that the best players have moved on to the senior league."

"And speaking of the other two, no-talent teams – here comes Hufflepuff!" Ollie declared as Kylie called for the Hufflepuff team. "What a surprise – they have the Witches leading the way; since they don't have a real Wizard in the entire House that can keep up with them."

"That's right, Ollie," James agreed with a snort, "and while Madison and Tory aren't good-enough to make the reserve squad on any other team; they're Captain and senior Chaser on this sorry excuse for a Quidditch team. Captain Whitless has fellow Witches Leanne Jordan and Justine Finch-Fletchley flanking firstie Chaser Michael Macmillan in the second row; and has her Beaters – Ricky Peakes and Lee Johnson – bringing up the rear. They're both new to the team, but could be the only Hufflepuff players to watch today – especially if they can put a hurt on the Ravenclaw players."

"We can hope," Ollie offered with a sneer.

"Yes, we can – and here comes the Witch that should be their number one target today – The puppy potty-trainer herself; Captain Bird Brain!"

"Captain Claw!" Ollie added.

"Captain Craven-claw!" James amended. "Whatever you want to call her; she has, in addition to horrid taste in Wizards; a group of no-talent team mates."

"How bad are they, James?" Ollie asked; and James laughed.

"I'm so glad you asked! They're so bad, that she couldn't even get one other third-year player on the team with her this year; and that's despite the total lack of competition. As you can see, Captain Bird Brain is sucking up to the family again in hopes of scoring big at Christmas – this time by flying with baby brother, Jonah. For those of you who don't know this, Jonah wants to be just like his big sister; which is why he's sweet on my little sister. They've even gone out on double dates this past summer. It's been gross for me; but then that's why I tend to feel the need to puke around them on a regular basis."

"I've had that same problem around them," Ollie reminded him with a smirk. "The Cravenclaws are about to land, though; so you'd better get back to the introductions."

"Okay, in the second row we have last season's star cheater – I mean Seeker; Stephanie Boot. She's proved how lousy she is at Seeker by being demoted to Chaser so that Captain Bird Brain could give that job to her baby brother. The Boot-licker is flying with the Captain's cousin and no-talent Keeper, Ryan Rivers. They're likely all in trouble today with two new Beaters – firstie Katrina Rivers and second-year Patrick Thomas. I'd say more, but we're out of time; so let's take a break while Mr. Peakes gives this lot of losers and cheats the fair-play speech."

"Here's a piece of chocolate," Rose said quietly as she leaned in and held the treat out to Al. "It'll make you feel better."

Al smiled at her. "Only if I throw it at James and Ollie; melted it; and used an engorgement charm on it before it hit them," he whispered back; earning a laugh from his cousin.

"That might be fun; but let's try to stay out of trouble today. You're oh-for-one with that so far this season."

"If that actually happens; I'll get razzed for not providing the bonus entertainment," he suggested; and Rose smiled and shrugged.

"Probably, but this should be a good match despite James' predictions; so that might be enough for everyone today."

Rose was wrong about that, since James and Ollie weren't happy to just sit back and watch the action above the pitch – they needed to offer their ongoing play-by-play and nearly non-stop insults. They started right in on that from the moment the quaffle was tossed into the air; and they continuously derided everything about the game and the players regardless of what was actually going on. The truth, however, was that the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players were putting on a brilliant display of junior-level Quidditch; and Al was especially proud of his girlfriend and the rest of their friends as they all played to the best of their abilities.

While that was true for every player, Ravenclaw had two distinct advantages where their best was noticeably better than anyone else. Gwendolyn was having a stellar match right from the start; and Ryan was having a great game in goals for Ravenclaw – even though you'd never know that if you weren't watching the game and listening to James and Ollie instead. Gwendolyn scored the first goal of the game after Leanne managed to earn five good, early saves, but while that was good; Ryan had ten saves before Hufflepuff earned their first goal; and kept up with that ratio pretty much throughout the match. That was true for Leanne's goals-to-saves ratio and for the difference in scoring between the two team too; since the total shots on goal were fairly close for both teams. That wasn't obvious to everyone watching the game at first, but Al wasn't the only spectator that did notice the pattern early; and he was happy to see that quite a few of his team mates saw it too – especially when they were all stuck listening to the idiocies that James and Ollie continued to spout off – whether they got the laughs for their comments or not.

Gwendolyn was obviously having a lot of fun, so it was easy for Al to enjoy the show above the pitch even with the background annoyances. There was something else that was different about this match compared to the first one of the season – the players on both teams were having fun too – and that had only been one-sided during the Gryffindor-Slytherin game. Sure, the Ravenclaw players were having a bit more fun as they had more success, but Madison, Tory, and their team mates were usually smiling and fired up too as they enjoyed the challenge of the contest against the defending junior team and Quidditch Cup champions. The pace of the game was furious, and while there were eventually very short breaks as the players on both teams began to tire; that didn't happen until they were into the third hour.

The sixty-to-thirty lead that Ravenclaw had earned in the first hour was modest, but that low socre just proved how well both Keepers were playing when the shots on goal were coming at about one a minute – and nearly-even chances for each team. Ravenclaw widened the per-hour lead in the second hour; and had a one-twenty to fifty lead going into the third hour. Hufflepuff battled back, and managed to score four goals in that hour, but Ravenclaw earned six more for the one-eighty to ninety advantage. Fatigue began to set in then for most of the players, but that wasn't true for Gwendolyn; and she really started to shine as they rolled into the fourth hour of the marathon match. Scoring goals was part of that for her, but she was also drawing so much attention from the Hufflepuff players as they tried to stop her that she was able to set up great scoring chances for Stephanie and Alyssa.

That fourth hour didn't break the Hufflepuff players, but there were more goals scored, and since Ravenclaw kept their slightly-more-than two-to-one ratio; they took a two-eighty to one-thirty lead into the fifth hour. With the lead right on the bubble for the all-important one-sixty lead for Ravenclaw, the Hufflepuff Chasers redoubled their efforts, but they were all nearing exhaustion by then; while Gwendolyn seemed to keep getting faster and better – though that was really only by comparison. She earned that one-sixty lead for her team before they were fifteen minutes into the fifth hour, and then she had Jonah back off from his Seeker duel – though he'd have resumed the fight with Madison if Hufflepuff had been able to close the gap to one-fifty again. They weren't able to do that, and while Madison had hoped that they would; Ravenclaw had a three-ninety to one-seventy lead as they started the sixth hour; and she had made the hard decision to try and catch the snitch for the closer loss. Doing that wasn't as easy as making that tough call, since she did still have to defend against Jonah even if he wasn't trying to stop her from catching the snitch anymore; and he had several good chances to end the game that Madison barely managed to defend while continuing to get her own best-shot at ending the match.

As they rolled into the sixth hour, James and Ollie had moved their commentary into Gwendolyn-bashing mode with their insults all revolving around her being a quaffle hog as she was supposedly running up the score on Hufflepuff again. The two boys weren't earning many laughs anymore, since the spectators were getting tired too even as they all loved watching the action about the pitch; but that didn't discourage them from blathering on with their endless litany of idiocies. Their timing for the jokes had often been fairly awful throughout the game, since they'd spout off their insults only to have the targets of their razzing make a great play to prove them wrong, so while they couldn't have known the moment the game would end; Al felt a warm sense of satisfaction when James was again caught looking and sounding foolish when Madison did finally catch the snitch.

"That's right, Cravenclaws – cheer for your Captain as she continues to stick it to Hufflepuff!" James called out loudly-enough to earn some glares from the Ravenclaw students sitting closest to him. "Come on, Rose – why aren't you leading us out of the stadium in protest again?"

"Maybe she only has a problem with that when it's Wizards winning the match," Ollie suggested. "It's perfectly okay with her to run it up on a team when Witches are doing it."

"That's probably it," James agreed with a derisive laugh. "Maybe we should start the walk-out instead. Merlin only knows how long it will be before the Whitless Wonder or Captain Cravenclaw's baby bird-brained brother manage to catch the snitch. He's not even trying anyomre, and just look at Whitless – what's she doing up there anyway? Trying to run over one of her own Chasers?"

Al laughed at that, since his brother obviously hadn't seen what he – and Madison – had; and he continued to laugh as he jumped to his feet and cheered even before Madison blasted past Tory with about two-feet of space between them; reached out; and grabbed the snitch that had flown up right behind Tory and had been following her. While the catch had been for the loss, the Hufflepuff students were on their feet and cheering for Madison too; and it was only moments more before the Ravenclaw faithful were standing and celebrating the victory for their House.

"What was that, James?" Lily asked; turning around to look at him with a bright smile and amusied expression on her face. "I'd say that was a fairly brilliant catch; and winning by eighty points is hardly what I'd call running up the score. It's no wonder your game analyses are so famous, big brother! You should forget about playing in the show and go work for Uncle Lee instead!"

"I'd say that was dumb luck, and you shouldn't be smiling like that; since your loser boyfriend just sat back and let her catch it."

"Jonah's my friend, not my boyfriend," Lily shot back; "and those of us who aren't being idiots know exactly why he wasn't defending the snitch anymore."

"She's got a big mouth on her," Ollie told James. "Can I shut her up; or do you want to do it yourself?"

"That's likely impossible, since she's been shooting her mouth off pretty much since she was born; but have at it if you think that you can," James answered with a sneer for Lily. "Just don't be surprised when she goes crying to Mum and Dad and you get in trouble."

"I'm so scared – not," Ollie declared with a rude snort of a laugh. He'd already had his hand on his wand, and tried to cast his spell without being noticed; but Lily was wearing her charm bracelet; had been fingering the shield charm; and activated it before Ollie's silencing spell could hit her.

The minor clash of magic got the attention of everyone around them; though most eyes were on Lily as she continued to smile brilliantly at James and Ollie.

"You guys seriously need to get a sense of humor," she told them. "Let me help you out with that!"

"Don't you..." James began; but it was already too late by then and he was already starting to giggle as he said – "dare!"

Hilarity ensued as James and Ollie both tried to yell at Lily while anything that they – or anyone else – said sent them into fits of laughter. Al had been ready to defend Lily if needed, but was glad that hadn't been necessary; and he took that distraction opportunity to escape and head for the pitch while Rose and most of their friends stayed to watch the James and Ollie entertainment. The players were all on the pitch by then, and by the time he caught up with Gwendolyn; they'd already finished the first round of inter-team congratulations and condolences. He was happy to share a fairly spectacular hug and kiss with Gwendolyn before taking her hand and standing close as they talked with the other players and everyone that came up to talk with Gwendolyn as the Professors, students, and visitors began making their way out of the stadium. All of that was fun for them – including when Rose, Lily, and the rest of their Gryffindor friends caught up with Al; and didn't have James and Ollie anywhere in sight.

"Congratulations!" Lily told Gwendolyn as she stepped up for her turn to share a hug with her. "Thanks for getting Jonah to back off at Seeker so that I can stay one catch ahead of him so far this season too." She laughed when her comment had Jonah sticking his tongue out at her; but then she hugged him next and shared a sweet, short kiss with him too. "I'm just teasing; you won; and it was the right thing to do. Battling to a draw for five hours against Madison was brilliant too."

"Madison could say the same thing about keeping up with Jonah for that long," Al suggested. "That Seeker duel was nearly as much fun to watch as the Chaser battle against Ryan and Leanne."

"You're biased," Lily accused; and Al laughed.

"Yeah, but then so are you for the Seekers; and Fred would likely tell us that the Beater battle was the best part of the match."

"It was pretty good," Fred agreed. He'd been talking with Katrina and Ryan, but they'd been standing next to Jonah and Lily by then; and Al had directed that comment at him. "The Beaters don't get any credit most of the time unless we knock someone out of the game, but they all played really great today too; and we're going to be in for a couple of tough matches when it's our turn to play them."

"Hopefully not too tough," Lily told him. "Some of us do not want to be one of those players that get knocked out of the game by a bludger."

"Then you'd better hope that you're more like your Mum than your Dad for that," Fred teased. "How many times did he get bashed by bludgers when he played for Gryffindor?"

"Only two really bad hits," Lily answered – "and only because one was hexed and the other one was hit at him by one of his own players. I don't expect to have any problems like that."

"Maybe not," Fred conceded, "but we'll have enough trouble without any of that; so let's hope that we don't get to find out what some of those Quidditch injuries are like for ourselves."

"Keep that in mind for your opponents too," Gwendolyn suggested. "We managed to get through this game without any serious injuries; but I'm pretty sure that I have more bruises than goals and assists today; and that's going to suck later – once the excitement has worn off."

Her comment sent their chat off on a tangent; the participants changed as new well-wishers joined in and other teens moved on to talk with the other players or leave and head toward the castle. al stayed with Gwendolyn until both teams were ready to head for the locker rooms; and then he left the stadium and went to meet up with Rose and the rest of their Gryffindor friends in the Great Hall. Lunch had been delayed due to the long game, but since everything had been ready for a while; the food was on the table already by the time he sat down next to Rose. The Quidditch match post-mortem continued while they ate; Al eventually walked Gwendolyn to her House after lunch before she moved on to the party in her common room; and then he headed for their study classroom to meet up with Rose, Ray, and any other Gryffindor members of their study group that opted to spend the afternoon working with them instead of playing for the afternoon while their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends had the afternoon off for the parties that were going on in both Houses.

With the long game, that afternoon study session was only about half as long as usual; dinner in the Great Hall was just a food break; and then they had about three-quarters of their study buddies with them for the evening session – though they still had a few couples decide to take the night off too and catch up on Sunday. Al and Gwendolyn would have loved to do that instead, but they only got to have about a half hour at the end of the night for a very minor snogging session after they wrapped up their work for the night – and then their friends all left them alone in the classroom while either going on to do the same in couples elsewhere or head back to common rooms for the singles in their group. He didn't know it at the time, but that decision to wrap up their day with a bit of alone time soon proved to be a serious problem for Al – a fact that he discovered the hard way when he got back to the Gryffindor common room after walking Gwendolyn to her House and found Molly waiting there for him. That wasn't usual for her, since she wasn't into watching snogging couples either; and he sensed the trouble from her before she stood up and met him half-way between where she'd been and the portrait hole entrance.

"I need you to come with me to the Head's office," she told him quietly; putting a hand on his shoulder and applying a bit of pressure to indicate she wanted him to turn around and leave again with her.

"Okay, but this can't be good," he answered seriously. "What's up?"

"Let's talk about that once we're alone," she suggested. "How has your night been? What have you been doing?"

"The usual – studying with our friends since dinnertime. I can see you know that already. Did you talk to Rose?"

"Yes, and I probably don't really need to hear the answer; but what have you been doing since your study session broke up for the night? Rose said she's been back in her dorm for more than a half-hour now."

Al could only manage a half-grin; since it was obvious that she was very serious. "Gwendolyn and I were saying goodnight to each other in a snogging sort of way. Please tell me she didn't file a complaint with you while I was walking between Ravenclaw tower and our House."

"I wish – or don't," Molly answered; and smiled ruefully at him. They were in the hallway and walking toward the Heads' office by then. They were alone because the two couples that had been in the hallway split up as soon as they saw the Head Girl and knew that the two guys might not make it back to their own houses before curfew started and didn't want to give her an excuse to haul them off to her office too. "The problem we have tonight, Al, is that there is a group of four Ravenclaw firsties that have been pranked; and they claim that you're responsible."

"What happened to them?" Al asked.

"They were bound in ropes; hung upside-down by an ankle; and sent off floating around the hallways until they were found by one of our prefects."

"That's conveniently like what I did to James and Ollie at Valentine's Day in first year," Al mused. "They definitely saw me too?"

"Yes, though we'll be confirming that once we meet with them in the Heads' office. Zack's with them now and waiting for us."

"Were any of them hurt?" Al asked next.

"Some rope burns, bumps, and bruises for most of them; and one nasty cut for one of the girls that she apparently got when she hit one of the suits of armor or the weapon it was holding. Zack's been dealing with most of that too."

Al sighed. "I'm sorry that they were hurt, Molly, but you know that I didn't do this."

"Yes," she agreed; "but you'll have a tough time proving that when we have four witnesses. Let's start by meeting with them; and then we'll figure out what to do after that."

Al was good with that suggestion – even though he also felt ridiculous as he followed Molly to the Heads' office and was then confronted there by four angry Ravenclaw firsties and a stern-looking Head Boy. He didn't personally know any of the tweens, so they weren't close friends with Lily, Jonah, or their usual group of friends; but they all obviously knew him. They all confirmed that Al had been responsible for the prank on them when Zack asked them about it; and his expression had darkened with those confirmations. Then there was just one bit of news that didn't fit – and it was one of the Witches that offered the added comment without being prompted.

"He's wearing different clothes," she told Zack and Molly. "The shoes are different too."

"How do you know that, Gail?" one of the other kids asked; and she shrugged.

"I notice stuff like that – even when I'm upside-down." She pointed to Al's feet. "He's wearing clean, mostly-white Nike trainers now; and had black high-tops on before that were probably Adidas; though that's a guess because I didn't see the name – just that they didn't have the Nike logo. He's wearing khaki pants now too instead of black jeans."

"Are you sure about that?" Zack asked; and Gail nodded.

"Yes," she confirmed; and then looked at Al's face for a long moment before continuing. "Why do you look so different now?" she asked him. "You were so mean to us, and said such awful things; but now you look so nice."

"Of course he does," one of the firstie boys said angrily. "Did you expect him to blast us again right in front of the Heads?"

"No, I don't, Xander, but this is like seeing the good twin right after meeting the evil one in some horror movie."

"Maybe, but I know what I saw; and I hope they throw the book at him. Some of us are sick and tired of getting pranked all of the time around here; and I'm glad that we finally caught one of them in the act."

The other two tweens nodded and voiced their agreement, but Gail obviously didn't agree with them; and she looked uncomfortable when Zack and Molly excused them; Zack gave them a note so they could return to their common room without any trouble from the Prefects or Mr. Jigger. When they were gone, Al turned to face Zack and Molly, and while Zack still looked sternly at him; Al sensed that he wasn't at all sure that they had the right culprit.

"I agree with that boy – Xander," he told them. "You should throw the book at me." He smiled at the surprise his statement caused for both of the older teens. "What happened to them was rotten, and while I didn't do it, and can't prove who did; I have a pretty good guess for who would want to set me up for this kind of trouble."

"So do I, but how will punishing you help the situation at all?" Molly asked.

"Because if I'm right, and the real prankster thinks the plan worked; then it won't be long before it happens again."

"Then we shouldn't do that if other kids could get hurt," Zack declared.

"That is a risk," Al admitted, "but there are only a few ways to pull off something like this, and if whoever did this doesn't think he – or she – succeeded; Merlin only knows what else they might come up with instead."

"You're thinking that it's Polyjuice," Molly guessed; and Al nodded his agreement.

"Yes, and there are far-worse things that potion can be used for; so catching the student – or students – using it would be worth the risk."

"Why do I believe him when this should just sound absurd?" Zack asked Molly; and she laughed.

"Because he's the most honest trouble magnet ever," she teased. "If we do this, Al, you'll be stuck with the consequences if it doesn't work. I don't see any way that we can get out of it without catching whoever is trying to set you up."

"I still don't like the idea that others might get hurt if you're right about this," Zack told them.

"I don't like that either," Al admitted, "and something likely will happen; but I also doubt those pranks will be too serious either; or it would just look like the same pranks that others are already well-known for around here."

"I think we both need to agree to this before going ahead," Molly told Zack. "We either go for it; or do nothing and hope that the real culprit doesn't move on and do something worse."

"There is one other thing to consider," Al interjected. "If you don't do anything to me; don't be surprised if that prank was photographed or recorded – not to mention that you have three out of four Ravenclaws expecting me to be punished."

"It seems we can't win either way," Zack declared; blowing out a frustrated breath of air.

"We can if we do catch who really did this," Molly disagreed. "I vote for throwing the book at Al; and hoping for the best."

Zack laughed at that; and smiled ruefully. "I don't even know why I'm arguing the point; since that's what I wanted to do from the moment I saw those four kids and had to help them with their injuries. What do you suggest?"

"How about five points and five hours of detention for each kid that got hurt?" she suggested.

"Victoire gave me fifty and fifty for what I did to James and Ollie," Al reminded her; and then grinned when both Heads laughed at him.

"True, but you did that in front of nearly everyone in the school; and we're being nicer with first-time offenders this year."

"Okay, I'll agree with that," Zack decided. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and twenty hours of detention, Mr. Potter. I hope that you learn your lesson and we won't see you back in here again this year."

With that pronouncement; Al's fate was set; and Molly escorted him back to Gryffindor tower while Zack wrote up the report to make it official. Since he'd just been punished, he didn't hug Molly before going up to his dorm room – not that they were noticed by most of the snogging couples in the room anyway. Al did sense that they were being observed by one interested person; and was only a bit surprised by who James and Ollie had gotten to help them out. Most of his roommates were there already; none of them were sleeping; and they all wanted to know why he was so late getting back. He was going to have to deal with it eventually, so he told them the version of the story he'd decided to go with for everyone except Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily; found it interesting that a few of the guys didn't believe his profession of innocence; and then he tried to move on by going to the washroom to get ready for bed and then climbing into bed and turning out his light. It took a while before he got to sleep, but he did eventually drop off; and managed to get up on time in the morning too.

He hadn't wanted to bother Gwendolyn after getting back to his room and dealing with the guys there, and that didn't work out very well for him because Gwendolyn heard the rumors before he could meet up with her to talk before breakfast. She called his mirror while he was on his walk with Rose and telling her about what had happened; they collected her along the way to the Great Hall; and then they took the long way there so that he could tell them everything and they could discuss what he – and they – should do next. There wasn't really very much that they could do, since their studying was going to keep them busy for most of the day anyway; so the only thing that they did decide was that Al and Gwendolyn would do their own thing after dinner and see if that opportunity along with the news that was hitting the gossip network would lead to another attempt to frame Al again.

The gossip network was a bit too-efficient for Al's liking with the news about the trouble he'd gotten in, and while it was his own idea; the animosity directed his way from students all around the Great Hall wasn't at all fun for him. While what he sensed from James and Ollie when they arrived in the Great Hall too wasn't proof of anything; it was enough for him to know for sure that they were very proud of themselves. Their walk-by razzing was annoying; and he overheard bits and pieces of the insults they made about him with their friends while having breakfast. Escaping the Great Hall for their usual classroom for a study morning was a relief; though he didn't totally escape his troubles because his friends wanted to talk about it; and a few of their usual weekend study buddies opted out for suspicious reasons. Fortunately, Al did have a lot of work to do, and so did everyone else in their group, so once they were all focused on that; he was able to get a break from the problems that James had gotten him into – at least for a few hours.

"You were right," Scorpius said enthusiastically. "James used the Polyjuice we sent him to frame Albus for a prank against a group of Ravenclaw firsties. The Heads took a bunch of points from Gryffindor; so it's a safe bet that they gave Albus a hefty detention too. Half the students around here are thinking the worst about him now; and James and Ollie are having a field day with it from the bits and pieces I overheard at breakfast."

"I'm glad to hear that our efforts are bearing fruit," Thomas told him. "That's the sort of use we expected James to use the potion for too; so that suggests that we're right about him. This is a good first step in this part of our plans. Your fellow Slytherin must be enjoying this too."

"They are," Scorpius confirmed. "I only wish that I could take credit for it with them."

"That might be an option some day, but you don't want to risk messing things up for James by having word get out that Albus wasn't responsible for that prank."

"I know that," Scorpius agreed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's enough for now to see Albus getting taken down a few notches."

"Have you heard anything about what he's saying or doing in reaction to this?" Thomas asked. "Since he's been punished; I'll assume that he didn't have an alibi or any way to prove he wasn't responsible."

"Apparently not; and I'm not hearing anything about what he's saying at all. That isn't a surprise; since he's never talked about any previous problems he's had with anyone outside of his group of closest friends."

"You'd think that he'd at least try to deny it," Thomas mused. "Then again, even his father's closest friends often didn't believe him when he was a teen and was telling the truth about me and my Death Eaters. He might think that it's a waste of time to bother defending himself."

"From what I've heard on the gossip network; he'd likely be right about that," Scorpius agreed with a nod. "It's amazing how easy it is to get the students around here to believe a lie – though James did a good job of making that prank very convincing. He did the same things to those firsties that Al did to him and Ollie on Valentine's Day in our first year."

"That was a good idea," Thomas agreed. "Why don't you tell me about anything else that's going on around here or in the rest of the Wizarding World; and then we can do a lesson – if you have time before getting back to your studies."

Al, Gwendolyn, and their study buddies worked until lunchtime; he had to deal with more gossip while not really enjoying the meal; and then they went back to studying again until they had their work finished for the weekend and some of them could move on to the late-afternoon Quidditch fun they had booked at the practice pitch. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo met up with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose for that; they had a boys against the girls battle; and the girls won the day in part because they had some unwanted company that included James and Ollie conveniently stopping by to offer loud, insulting commentary directed primarily at Al. The Quidditch and the shouted insults from James and Ollie atracted the attention of other teens, but even though Al didn't enjoy their play time the way he normally did; they played on until Lily ended the Seeker battle with three wins to two for Jonah – giving the girls the win by fifty points because Gwendolyn had out-scored Al by twenty points with some help from Rose. Her Keeper performance was better than Hugo's, though that was close too; and she only had nine more saves than he'd managed to make against Gwendolyn.

Dinner in the Great Hall wasn't easier for Al because James and Ollie made sure that the gossip network had new fodder about him – including the fact that he'd been 'trounced' at Quidditch by a bunch of no-talent Witches. Escaping for an evening of music, mirror chats home, and a bit of snogging with Gwendolyn was exactly what he needed. Doing that had partly been about giving James another opportunity to frame him again, but Al hadn't actually expected his brother to try that again so soon; so he was surprised when he got a mirror call from Molly about an hour before curfew asking him to come to the Heads' office again – and bring Gwendolyn with him. They'd needed to pack up his mirror, a sofa, and their guitars before doing that; but they then hurried to get there. Molly was with three Hufflepuff firstie Witches; and the three younger girls glared at Al and Gwendolyn when they walked into the office.

"That's them," one of the girls told Molly angrily. "She's the one that blasted us with the bat-bogey hexes; and then he stuck us in that bubble and sent us bouncing around the hallways – and said all of those awful things about us – and Hufflepuffs."

"Some of the older girls in our House said that we shouldn't believe what we heard about you," another girl told Al, "but you're even worse than the rumors. I hope they expel you for this!"

"And send you off to Azkaban!" the third girl spat. "You're both horrid!"

Al could sense what the girls were feeling; but the vehemence they spoke with was wrong; and was so over-the-top that it had shocked Molly and Gwendolyn. He needed to push his extended senses a bit to discover the reason for why it felt wrong to him; and then he had to fight back the growing anger as he sensed the edges of the memory charms that had been used on all three girls to leave them with such a sense of hatred for him – and for Gwendolyn. He got Molly's attention and managed to communicate that she should get the three younger girls to leave. They fought her a bit when she tried to do that; threatened to go to the Headmistress if Molly didn't 'throw the book' at Al and Gwendolyn; and then they finally stalked out of the office with another round of parting threats that had become ridiculous – especially considering the fact that none of them had actually been injured by the prank.

"Wow!" Molly said with exasperation once she was alone in the office with Al and Gwendolyn. "What is going on here, Al?"

"They've had memory charms used on them," he answered; looking a bit grim while shaking his head. "Most of what they were saying is exactly the same things that James says about me."

"James talks about you like that?" Molly asked next; and Al and Gwendolyn both nodded.

"He's said far worse than that even when I've been around," Gwendolyn assured her. "You didn't know that?"

"It seems I don't know as much about what has been going on between Al and James as I thought that I did," Molly admitted. "If he's messed with their memories like this; I should have Madam Pomfrey look at them to make sure he didn't do anything else that hurt them in ways we can't know about."

"I didn't get any sense of other problems," Al advised her; and then smiled at her reaction. "That isn't something I can really explain – I just know it's true. I also know that the memory charms that were used on them probably won't work for very long. They're all very nice kids; so their true nature will clash with those memories."

"And if anyone finds out about it; Al could be blamed for that easily-enough; since the memory charms he's given to some of us aren't exactly a secret around here," Gwendolyn added. "I've been known to use bat-bogey hexes now and then too; so I'm sure that's why that was used on them tonight."

"That's true," Molly agreed, "and your plan did work, Al – except that we're no closer to actually catching James in the act; and I don't see how we're going to do that."

"I didn't say we'd be able to do that easily," Al reminded her. "The more trouble I get into will just make James bolder, though; and he'll make a mistake or go too far. We just got a hint of that now; and he might actually believe that bat-bogey hexes and a bubble charm is enough to get us kicked out of school."

"Please tell me that you're not suggesting that we kick you out of school," Molly only half-joked; and Al laughed.

"After today, an early vacation at home sounds pretty good – especially if Gwendolyn was there with me; but no, I wasn't going to suggest that. We will have to keep getting into trouble to have any chance of catching James – and whomever he's recruited to play Gwendolyn in this charade."

"Merlin, I sure hope it isn't Ollie!" Gwendolyn exclaimed; looking truly horrified at the thought. "I always thought those stories about your Dad when they had your aunts and uncles using Polyjuice to impersonate him while trying to escape from the Dark Lord were funny – especially for your aunts; but it isn't funny to think about that happening the other way around."

"I've never thought about it that way," Molly admitted. "You're right; so let's stop thinking about that – and hope they aren't doing that too." She smiled grimly at Al. "Are you sure that you want to keep on with this? You just told us that it hasn't been fun for you today; and it'll just get worse from here. What about you, Gwendolyn?"

"I want to do whatever it takes to stop James. We all know it has to be him and Ollie behind this – though I'm surprised they've got the talent to make Polyjuice."

"They might be doing something else," Molly reminded her. "Planting those memories is a possibility too; though that'd be risky if they got caught in the act by anyone else." She sighed and shook her head. "I'll keep going along with this for now, guys; but this was so ridiculous tonight that it should be tough for anyone to believe that you're behind these pranks."

"You'll be surprised by how easily the gossip will be believed," Al predicted. "Those Potter boys are nothing but trouble, you know; and I've just corrupted Gwendolyn."

"That isn't funny," Molly told him; and Al nodded.

"It isn't; but that could be the word on the gossip network by morning – along with whatever you do to punish us."

What Molly ended up doing was to give Al another thirty points from Gryffindor and thirty more hours of detention; while Gwendolyn was given the twenty-and-twenty that he got on Saturday night. By then, they needed to hurry to make a stop in the Owlery; send their letters with Winter; and get back to their Houses before the start of curfew. Al walked Gwendolyn home too; so he needed to hurry to get back to Gryffindor tower on time – which he managed to do with about two minutes to spare. This time, James and Ollie were still in the common room. They were studying with some of their friends – including Patricia and Bristol. The vibes Al got from them were dark and vicious for the boys; mild jealousy from Bristol as she seemed to be there because Patricia was suddenly spending time with James again; and happy indifference from Patricia with just a touch of malice – as if she believed that he deserved what was happening to him. If the situation wasn't serious, Al might have laughed at the bipolar thought process that had to go along with blaming him for her break-up with James while justifying her complicity in framing him for something he didn't do.

Word about his second night of trouble hadn't officially reached any Gryffindors yet; so Al decided to keep his mouth shut about it – even with Ray. They'd all find out soon-enough; and he didn't want to end his night the same way again when going to bed in comparative peace was an option. That worked out for Sunday night; but made things tougher on him on Monday morning when his friends wanted to grill him again at breakfast – and he had even more Gryffindors buying into the stories on the grapevine as it appeared obvious that he was responsible for the points that their House was losing. Al didn't like that, but he really hated seeing Gwendolyn having troubles now too.

While they spent as much time together as possible, Al and Gwendolyn needed to separately count on their friends to stand by them the rest of the time, and although they were all busy with classes during the day; they had to put up with even more taunting from Slytherins between classes and before and after meals; there were less-obvious whispers and insults from other teens in all four Houses; and Al was particularly unsettled when he sensed that the three Hufflepuff firstie Witches weren't the only students being hit with memory charms that turned more students against him – and against Gwendolyn too. Whenever possible, Al and Gwendolyn stayed away from all of that – whether that was by spending more time in their study classroom or keeping busy with Quidditch practices. They didn't have any direct confrontations with James and Ollie beyond regular walk-by razzings that were only meant to be overheard; and Al was sure that was because James believed he'd found a much more-effective way of getting at Al and Gwendolyn.

There weren't any additional prank sightings, but then Al and Gwendolyn didn't have any alone time that would give James the chance to set up another framed prank incident. Having that reprieve didn't make life easier for Al and Gwendolyn, though, since those instances of memory charmed teens did continue – and get closer to home for them as two of Al's roommates and one of Gwendolyn's were caught up in that part of James' plot. All of those problems sucked a lot of the fun out of life for them, but James and Ollie were having a blast all of the time – and seemed to be gaining friends and popularity along the way. Life didn't stop for everyone else just because they were having a bad week, but Al felt more out of the loop than usual – whether that was when he basically had no involvement in his Aunt Angelina's forty-second birthday on Thursday or having strained mirror chats with his parents – and Gwendolyn's – a couple of times because they only wanted to talk about his problems without getting all of the details they wanted from him.

One thing that Al and Gwendolyn couldn't avoid was at least getting a start on their detentions; though they didn't work at that very hard. They each did detention chores for Mr. Jigger after last class on their 'off' days for Quidditch practices, but didn't try to do more when they were loaded down with assignments too. Having that added work in the schedule – along with daring another prank framing from James – was why they decided to take Friday evening off for some alone time. That hoped-for break didn't work out for them when they hadn't even been in their classroom for much more than a half-hour before Al got another mirror call from Molly and another invitation to the Heads' office where they were confronted by another group of teens – this time four Slytherin firsties that had supposedly been jinxed and hexed by them outside of the entrance to Slytherin House; and left flopping around on the floor there to be found by the next group of Slytherins to come along – or come out of their common room.

Since this was Al's third offense in less than a week, they had one problem that Al hadn't considered when suggesting the plan to Molly – the fact that she now had to take this to Professor McGonagall directly. After sending the Slytherins on their way; she took al and Gwendolyn to the Headmistresses office. They had to wait ten minutes before being invited in; and then they needed to spend more than an hour convincing Professor McGonagall to let them continue Al's plan to try and catch the real pranksters. They'd needed to tell her everything they suspected; Al allowed her to view some of his memories; and they discussed other options before the Professor gave her approval – and upped their cummulative punishments to one hundred points and detention hours for Al and fifty of each for Gwendolyn.

That was the end of their time together too – or it was once Al walked Gwendolyn home before heading back to Gryffindor tower. Word about the latest prank had miraculously reached the Gryffindors by the time he got to the common room, so Al kept his visit there with Rose, Lily, and a few of their friends short; and then he went up to his dorm room for the rest of the night. That wasn't all good, since he had to deal with some nastiness with several of his roommates before Ray, Scott, and a couple of the other guys got involved and put a temporary end to that problem. His bedtime mirror chat with his parents wasn't fun either; and he suspected that they were nearing the end of their patience with what was going on with him – especially since their suspicions about the truth of the matter were well-founded.

By Saturday morning, Al and Gwendolyn both needed their friends around as the big points losses for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw caused more anger directed at them; and the Slytherins collectively 'rallied' around their own prank victims while enjoying the downfall of their most-hated enemies. Gwendolyn couldn't go into hiding all day, since she had her team Quidditch practice in the morning. Al could hide; though he spent the morning doing detention chores for Mr. Jigger; who, a bit surprisingly, helped him out by having him work at cleaning out an old storage room that kept him away from any potential problems with other students instead of something more high-profile – like polishing the suits of armor. Gwendolyn put in some detention time too after her practice; they both had a quick lunch in the Great Hall and only stayed there for fifteen or twenty minutes; and then they met up with their study classroom to hang out there for the afternoon with about half of their study group and extra friends and family that came along to watch the Harpies' match.

After taking Friday evening and Saturday morning off, al and Gwendolyn couldn't take the afternoon off from their studies to watch the game against the Kestrels, but Al did get everything set up for the game-watching before sitting down at a work table with Gwendolyn and getting started on their weekend assignments. They were already doing that by the time Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah joined them; and they sat down on one of the extra-long sofas that had room for four to watch Lee's pre-game show and wait for the rest of their friends to join them. Lily hadn't been able to talk with them much over the past week, so while she didn't want to get in the way of the studying for Al and Gwendolyn; she took that opportunity to talk with them about their prank problems.

"I know what you guys are trying to do, but things are really getting ugly out there; and you're both well on the way to being Undesireables Number One and Two at Hogwarts. How many more pranks do you think it will take before you're either in detention for the rest of the school year or suspended?"

"I've been thinking about that," Rose told her before Al or Gwendolyn could answer – "not about more punishment for them; but about what else we might be able to do to try and catch James, Ollie, and whomever else is helping them. I think that we should take turns following them around; and it's time to stop giving them chances to set up these framed pranks too."

"How would we have any chance of catching them if we do that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Rose grinned at her.

"By forcing them to try something else," she explained. "I've watched my map a lot more, but whatever they're doing doesn't change what we see for them on it; so there's no way for us to know when they've changed their appearances and are getting ready to launch one of their pranks. If we have someone watching them as often as we can, and the two of you don't have any alone time; then I doubt they'll just give up and stop. When they try something new – especially if they don't think it out very well; we could get the break we need to catch them."

"That's actually rather brilliant," Lily approved with a bright smile. "I think we should give it a try!"

"I think it's worth trying too," Gwendolyn decided; "though I'm not sure how we can keep track of them so much of the time – and I really don't like the idea of days or weeks of no alone time with Al either."

"You won't like that last part," Lily agreed; "but getting kicked out of school won't be good for your future Harpies' career. Give this a try; we'll hope that James will continue to be as arrogant as usual; and he'll try something dumb that gets him caught."

"Don't forget that Halloween is next week," Jonah offered quietly; and smiled in reaction to the bright, encouraging smile that Lily directed his way. "Have you considered that this has all been leading up to a big finale for James' favorite prank day?"

"Actually, I hadn't thought about that," Al admitted. "This has been so different than what James has usually tried against us that I haven't considered where he might be trying to take this – other than trying to get us in more and more trouble."

"You could be right, Jonah," Lily said; "though I don't see how James and Ollie could set Al and Gwendolyn up for a major prank on Halloween if we make sure that they aren't ever alone – and they can't exactly have two sets of Al and Gwendolyn running around in the Great Hall at the Halloween feast or anything like that."

"I have no idea what they might be planning," Jonah said with a shrug; "but would it really be that hard right now to have Al and Gwendolyn get blamed for any pranks as long as they're in the area when they go off?"

"That's devious-enough for James and definitely possible," Lily conceded. "I'd say that we definitely want to keep an eye on James all day on Halloween then – and we should go with the rest of Rose's suggestion too."

They talked about that until the rest of their friends began to arrive; and then they were in Quidditch mode for a few hours – even while some of them were also busy studying. The Harpies were busy too; and in a tough match against the Kestrels right up until Gabrielle ended the match in just under two and a half hours with a fairly-convincing victory in her Seeker duel with her Kestrels' counterpart. Victoire had six of the Harpies' fourteen goals, but they'd only managed to earn a forty point lead by the end; so Gabrielle was also the top scorer for the game too. There was still lots of time left until dinner after that, so instead of watching Lee's post-game show; they switched to the United match and watched that battle until they needed to pack up and head for the Great Hall for dinner.

Rose's plan for dealing with James kicked in after that, and since she and Ray had the most done for their weekend assignments by then; they took the evening shift for James and Ollie watching while Al and Gwendolyn had other friends with them all evening. Since part of her plan was to be obvious about watching James and Ollie, the two boys caught on right away that they were being watched when they were all first in the Gryffindor common room; and that Rose and Ray were following them when they left Gryffindor tower. They tried to lose Rose and Ray; were soon frustrated when they couldn't do that for long; and more than a bit angry when they eventually gave up and just returned to their common room. Ray had been worried that they might confront them, but their own, new tactics had apparently thrown James off; and he didn't seem sure about what to do.

Once Al was safely back in their House, Rose and Ray were off-duty; and Lily and Hugo took a turn on Sunday morning while Al and Gwendolyn had most of their usual study group with them for the entire time between breakfast and lunch. Lily had a lot of fun with her assignment; happily drove James and Ollie crazy as she and Hugo followed them everywhere; and ignored the threats that the two older boys made – even after Ollie did try to hex her once. That hadn't worked, since she and Hugo had both put up shields to defend her, but then their 'shift' was nearly over by then; and it wasn't much longer before Ray and Scott took their turn with help from Tory and Madison when they could help out for the first-half of the afternoon.

While their friends continued to watch James and Ollie, Al and Gwendolyn did more studying after lunch until they had all of their weekend assignments finished; they had another Chaser and Seeker duel during the last-half of the afternoon; and didn't need to have James and Ollie watched then because they showed up at the practice pitch to razz them while hanging out with a group of friends that included Patricia and Bristol. Al and Gwendolyn had Ray, Tory, Madison, Scott, Lily, and Jonah with them on Sunday evening for a play evening that included some music; mirror chats with family at home; letter writing; and a bit of mirror network watching while cuddling in pairs on the sofas. That wasn't as much fun as having some alone time would have been, but it did make sure that Al and Gwendolyn didn't have another prank problem to deal with instead. Rose had led the evening James and Ollie watching, but hadnt really needed to do that for long before the two boys returned to their common room and stayed there for most of the evening with Patricia, Bristol, and a group of teens that included the third-year guys that Rose knew were among the memory charm victims that all currently believed that they hated Al and Gwendolyn. She did still stay in the common room and watch them while doing some fun reading and talking with some of the other girls, and took a little satisfaction in knowing that James and Ollie were seriously annoyed with her – especially since they could only speculate on what she was doing and why. James wasn't dumb, so he'd know that she at least suspected he was behind the problems Al was having, but she really hoped that he'd be over-confident to the point where he was sure he could out-smart everyone; since her new plan wouldn't work if he just gave up on his own plans and stopped trying to do anything else to Al and Gwendolyn.

Al had been happy with how nearly everything had gone on the weekend – once they were past the problems on Friday night; but he'd also spent a lot of time thinking about everything that James and Ollie had done so far; trying to both work out what might be next and how to counter the damage they'd done so far. Sure, they hadn't caused any serious physical damage, but the pranks and memory charms were becoming a problem that he was sure would spill over to affect Lily, their parents, and possibly the rest of their family too; since hatred could be easily kindled into a raging inferno without much effort once the fire was set properly. He didn't come up with any answers to the first part of his musings, but did think that he could do something about the memory charm induced anger and hatred; and started to quietly work on that on his own – without talking about it to even Gwendolyn, Lily, or Rose.

That effort gave him a sense of purpose that he hadn't felt since getting in trouble from the first prank; so he was happy to put in the extra time whenever he could – whether that was late at night after the other guys were sleeping or fitting it into the rest of his schedule between classes, Quidditch, detention time, and studying. That also made up a bit for not being able to help out with keeping an eye on James and Ollie, since that wasn't possible for him or Gwendolyn, and when Rose's plan continued to keep them out of trouble; he even started to feel pretty good – even though the lack of new trouble didn't keep him from having more trouble with students that joined the bash Al and Gwendolyn bandwagon. He only found out about the memory charmed members of that group if he was in close proximity to them or directly confronted by them, but it was more obvious every day that James and Ollie were spreading that contagion at every opportunity.

Other than a birthday mirror chat with Grandma Weasley on Wednesday morning for her sixty-ninth birthday, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily didn't do anything that could really be considered play time – other than their Quidditch practices. While they couldn't help, Al and Gwendolyn were kept in the loop about what was going on with James and Ollie – and the boys weren't just sitting around doing nothing. Starting on Monday, they began trying to lose their followers by doing different things – splitting up; using other teens to get in the way; or creating other diversions. Nothing worked for them, but that only worried Al and Rose because those failures didn't seem to bother James and Ollie very much at all – a big contrast to the annoyance and anger they didn't try to hide on the weekend.

That's whye they were all on high-alert from first thing in the morning on Halloween. Al got up a bit earlier than usual; was on his own while getting ready for the day; and then had a long wait for Rose and Lily before they joined him for their usual pre-breakfast walk and talk. James and Ollie weren't out on the prowl early, but while they did set off some Halloween wheezes at breakfast; they didn't even try to prank Al, Gwendolyn, or the rest of their friends; and stayed away from Al entirely. They were all busy with classes after that, but Al didn't have any problems between clases; and the Halloween fun at lunchtime was mostly-entertaining without any serious problems for anyone.

Al began to feel a sense of anticipation during his afternoon classes, but didn't get any hints as to why that was true; and there weren't any danger warnings with those feelings. He didn't let that distract him from concentrating on his classes; but it was tougher for him to study after that when the anticipation became stronger while he was in their study classroom with Ray, Tory, and a handful of their friends. Gwendolyn was at her practice; and Rose was taking her turn for the day watching James and Ollie. He didn't know what was going on with them, but when he suddenly knew what was about to be the next step in his brother's plot to take him down; it was all Al could do to keep from laughing – just moments before the classroom door opened; and Gwendolyn walked into the room.

"Hi, Gwendolyn," Ray called out first. "Did you cut your practice short for Halloween; or are we just having so much fun studying that I've lost track of time?"

"We were having a lousy practice; so I stopped it early," she answered. "The guys were all more interested in goofing off for Halloween; so it was a waste of my time anyway." She was closing the gap to Al as he turned around on his stool to watch her; and smiled as she turned her attention from Ray to him. "Hi, Al. Miss me?"

"Hi, Patricia," he answered as she lifted her arms to hug him and he instead grabbed her wrists and blocked her from doing that or getting any closer to him. "No, I can't say that I've missed you at all, but that's no surprise; since we've never been particularly close."

"What?" she demanded; and didn't need to feign the incredulity. she also seemed to be incapable of switching gears to keep the act going.

"You heard me well-enough, Patricia," Al told her; and locked his gaze with hers so that she couldn't avoid the truth she saw there.

"What?" This time, it was Ray making that exclamation while everyone else was staring at Al in shock.

"This isn't Gwendolyn," Al told them without looking away from Patricia. "You don't know much about Polyjuice potions, do you, Patricia?" he asked rhetorically. "It will make you look and sound like someone, but doesn't change anything else. I recongnized your perfume; you still walk the same way – not the way Gwendolyn does; and you're still wearing your own clothes – probably because you had no way of getting one of Gwendolyn's outfits from her dorm room."

"Did you hit your head?" Patricia demanded; shaking free of Al's grip and stepping back. "You're talking crazy!"

Al shook his head. "Give it up, Patricia. I don't know what you have planned, or why you'd do this; but you had no chance at all of fooling me – even if you have been able to fool a bunch of kids that don't know Gwendolyn into believing that you were her."

"Cut it out, Al. What is this; some lame Halloween prank?"

This time, Al laughed. "Well, yes, I'd say that's exactly what you're doing," he agreed. "You aren't going to like how this turns out for you, though; and I really wish you hadn't gotten involved, Patricia."

"Stop calling me that – it isn't funny!"

Al stood up and he wasn't smiling anymore. "No, it isn't funny," he agreed; pulling out his wand and putting her into a partial body-bind from the waist up before she could do more than open her eyes widely in true astonishment. "Keep an eye on her," he told Ray and Tory. "I'm going to call Molly and get her to meet us in the Heads' office."

"Al – stop it!" Patricia demanded. While her arms and upper body were frozen, she could move her legs; and started backing toward the door.

Al waved his wand again and sealed the door so that she couldn't escape. "No," he told her bluntly. "I've put up with a lot of crap over the past couple of weeks, and I'm in no mood to put up with any of this too; so quit the act, Patricia."

"It was a pretty good act at first," Ray told him with a grin. "I was fooled."

"You don't know Gwendolyn as well as I do," Al told him as he got his mirror out of his pocket next. "The Animagus thing helps too; since that's taught me how to pay more attention to all of my senses." He paused for a moment; and then said – "Call Molly."

"This is gone way too far, Al!" Patricia shouted at the same time as Molly said – "Hello, Al. What's up?" She looked confused for a moment when she overheard Patricia; and then smiled grimly at Al. He smiled too; and turned his mirror toward Patricia.

"We've had a Gwendolyn-imposter stop by," he told Molly. "She's still trying to play the part; but doing an awful job of it."

"If you're in on this prank it isn't funny, Molly," Patricia told her. "Al's put me in a body-bind and locked me into the room. He'd better cut it out; or I'll be done with him!"

"You do look the part," Molly told her, "and I don't know Gwendolyn as well as some of my cousins do; but even I know that she'd never break up with Al – and he'd never, ever prank her – or anyone else."

"He's been pulling all sorts of awful pranks around here," Patricia countered. "You know that – you've been the one giving him the detention and taking all of those points off of our House!"

Molly stared at her for a long moment; and then started to laugh. "First of all, don't you mean that you and Al have been pulling all of those awful pranks – not just Al? You also just said that he's lost the points from 'our' House; not 'his' House. He certainly didn't have any points taken away from Ravenclaw."

"I meant your House," Patricia stammered; and scowled when Molly wasn't the only teen laughing at her.

"Al, bring your mystery girl Gwendolyn to the Heads office. We'll deal with her here – or in the Headmistresses' office. I'll check with her and get instructions by the time you get here."

"Okay," Al agreed as he turned his mirror around again before ending the call with Molly and then turning his attention to Ray, Tory, and the others. "Let's pack up. I'd better have at least some of you come along so that Patricia can't make any claims about what happens to her between here and Molly's office."

"Thanks for that mental picture," Ray told him. "Now I'm wondering what she was planning to do with you."

Al's mirror chimed; and he pulled it out of his pocket again and was grinning as he answered it. "Hello, Gwendolyn. Funny you should call; since you're supposedly right here in the room with us!" He was already turning his mirror toward Patricia again; and joined in when he heard her laughter in response to his comment.

"That's especially funny for me because I'm supposedly standing beside you right now too," she added; and that had Al turning his mirror around again so he could see her – and himself. "I'll warn you right now that if I find out that you've been snogging my imposter; we're going to have a very long, unpleasant talk later."

"You know that didn't happen," Al answered after joining in for the laughs that were going on around both of them. "I'll also guess that the guys on your team really weren't more interested in Halloween fun than your practice; and weren't really playing lousy-enough for you to call an early end to the practice."

"No, and it seems that you didn't miss me so much that you couldn't wait for me to meet up with you in our study classroom," she countered; earning more laughs.

"I always miss you when we're not together, but that was nice of your imposter to do something I wouldn't; since you know I was trying to get more work done now so we might have some free time later tonight."

"That was a clue," Gwendolyn agreed; "but your imposter also walks, talks, and acts suspiciously like James."

"Well, If you'd like to meet up with us; we're taking our Gwendolyn imposter to see Molly in the Heads' office now," Al advised her. "I just finished talking to her a minute ago."

"That works for me," Gwendolyn agreed. "My Albus imposter doesn't look thrilled with that idea, but then that's another reason why we knew he wasn't you."

"Because he's got a frowny-face?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No – because if he really was you; he could get out of these ropes by going Animagus on us."

"If Al goes Animagus right now, would his double change forms too?" Jonah asked; earning more laughs.

"I doubt it," Al answered, "but it's a good thing that the hairs they used weren't from one of my animal forms; or that might have ended very badly for them."

"That's just as well," Gwendolyn told him. "We don't want to be chasing our imposter around if he turned into some tiny critter. We're still at the stadium, but we'll get to the Heads' office as soon as we can."

"Okay," Al agreed. "I love you, Gwendolyn. See you soon."

"I love you too – the real you. This imposter, on the other hand, is a total git."

They ended the call; Al packed up his gear; and then had all of his friends with him when he was ready to go. He turned toward Patricia as he put his book bag over his shoulder and smiled at her.

"Would you like to walk with us and avoid any major drama moments; or should I just put you into a full body-bind now and float you to Molly's office?"

"Let me go; or we're done!" she spat; and Al laughed.

"We can't be done the way you're saying that, since we never were anything at all, Patricia; but I'll still give you the chance to come along with some dignity. Ray, why don't you and Tory lead the way; Patricia and I will follow; and the rest of you can follow us to make sure that our Gwendolyn imposter doesn't try to make a run for it."

"And if she does?" Madison asked; sounding as though she hoped that Patricia would do exactly that.

"That would be a very bad idea, but if she does; why don't you deal with it in your direction and Tory can handle the other way – just so Patricia doesn't get hit by a swarm of spells from all of us. She does still look like Gwendolyn; and I'd really hate to see her get hurt."

"I am Gwendolyn," Patricia whines stupidly now. "She was the imposter; and you're making the biggest mistake of your life, Al. When Mum hears about this; you'll be spending the rest of your life as a woodlouse!"

"I wonder how much of the Polyjuice you took," Al said instead of responding to her threats.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded; and Al smiled at her.

"The right answer would have been 'none' to stick to your story," he pointed out; and then laughed at the expression on her face – a look that would never be on Gwendolyn's face. "What I mean is that if you didn't take much; you should hope that you change back before we get to the Heads' office. That way, you might have a chance of convincing everyone else that I've just played another awful prank. If you're still looking like this, though; they can just wait it out until you change back to find out the truth – and don't think that they'll be letting you take any sips from anything you might have with you to keep the ruse going all night."

"I can't believe that you're doing this to me, Al. I hate you!"

There weren't any real tears, and the sobbing act didn't work at all when she couldn't use her hands to cover her face to disguise the fact that she wasn't really crying; but it still took her a while to figure that out as Al just watched her without any change in expression or emotion.

"Are you done?" he finally asked as the sobs trailed off and she began to glare at him. "We really need to get going; or Gwendolyn and her imposter will beat us to the Heads' office."

"Follow me," Ray said; and then stopped short when he couldn't open the door. "Did you forget something, Al?" he asked; grinning at his friend. Al laughed; took out his wand again; and released the spell he'd put on the door.

"Sorry about that," he said; and Ray laughed too.

"No problem. You've reason-enough to be a bit distracted right now."

"I'd still like to know what you were planning on doing," Tory told Patricia – "and what the Al imposter was going to do with Gwendolyn."

"Let's not go there," Al told her seriously. "that way, I can at least pretend that my imposter didn't have trying to snog my girlfriend as part of that plan."

"If your imposter is James, and Gwendolyn seemed sure that he is; you know there wouldn't be an if about that," Ray pointed out; and then shrugged. "That couldn't have been the entire plan, since a couple of snogging sessions would be a ridiculous goal – especially for Patricia when she doesn't even like you at all."

"I'd hope not," Madison told him while grinning at Al. "It would really suck for Patricia if she was supposed to snog Al – and then found out that he was brilliant at it."

"How would you know whether Al's brilliant at snogging?" Tory teased; and both Witches laughed when Al started blushing.

"That'd be from girl talk; not personal experience," Madison answered. "Just let the joke go as it was meant; since Gwendolyn's opinion on this is the only one that counts for her boyfriend."

They were walking along the hallway by then, and Patricia was looking around a lot; but didn't try to make a run for it. The conversation moved on after a couple of bonus snogging jokes; and they were only one hallway away from the Heads' office when Patricia did finally try to escape. She made it two steps toward the stairway to their right before Madison hit her with a full body-bind; and then Al had to keep her from falling down the stairs when she began to topple over from the momentum.

"Al did warn you that would be a dumb idea," Madison told her as she was floated back into their group. "Aren't you glad that he really isn't as awful as he's been made out to be lately? If he was really that mean; we'd need to take you to the hospital wing by now instead of the Heads' office."

"Let's just get her to Molly,' Al suggested. "I'd really like to get this over with so that we don't have yet another Halloween Feast messed up for a third year in a row."

"I knew that I forgot something!" Ray said; snapping his fingers. "Stay far away from Albus Potter on Halloween!"

"And Valentine's Day," Tory added. "What were we thinking when we walked into that classroom today?"

"I don't know; but I'm glad you were all there," Al said seriously while grinning too. "Thanks for forgetting that you were supposed to be anywhere other than near me."

"You're welcome," Tory teased; and then they were at the Heads' office; and they all went inside.

"I didn't expect you to have an entourage," Molly told Al; and he shrugged.

"It seemed to be a good idea; and you'll at least be able to take witness names – even if you don't need to talk with all of us."

"I'll do that," Molly agreed, "but Professor McGonagall only wants to see the Gwendolyn imposter now; and I'm suposed to take her there right away."

"You'll want to wait a few more minutes," Al advised her. "Gwendolyn called me a few moments after we ended our mirror chat; and she's bringing a me-imposter here too."

"Sure, why not?" Molly asked with a note of exasperation in her voice. "That makes perfect sense."

"It does?" Ray asked. "Can you explain it to us?"

Molly laughed. "Not yet, and maybe not ever; but I should have just said that I'm not surprised."

That might have been true for the Al impersonator; but there was a room full of surprised teens when Gwendolyn didn't just show up with the Al imposter and her brother and team mates; but had Rose with her too – and they had three teens with them in ropes or body-binds. The Al imposter looked smug; James looked furious; and Bristol seemed to be in shock.

"Hi, Al," Gwendolyn said as she walked up to him and smiled brilliantly. "Are you really the real you?"

Al grinned too; put his arms around her waist; and kissed her for a moment without saying anything first.

"I think that was a yes," Tory teased; earning a round of laughs.

"She doesn't seem to mind if it's a no," Madison added when Gwendolyn kissed Al again before they stepped apart again.

"This is definitely my Al," Gwendolyn told them; "and I knew that for sure without the kisses."

"They were just an added bonus," Rose joked; and then turned her attention toward Molly. "It's a bit crowded in here. What would you like to know and have us do?"

"Give me the condensed story; and then I need to take the imposters to the Headmistress' office."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "My part of the story is that I was on-duty for following James around after last class because we've been trying to keep track of him to find out if he's been the one framing Al and Gwendolyn with those pranks. He left the common room with Bristol; they went to a classroom on the third floor; and apparently snogged each other silly for nearly an hour – though I didn't actually witness that except for through my extendable ear. They eventually started talking about how Ollie and Patricia were late; they started looking out into the hallway every few minutes; and then they left – apparently to go looking for them." She smiled then and shook her head. "It took me a while to work it out, but I did discover that I hadn't been following James at all before they met up with Gwendolyn and her group as they were heading here; but that was a fairly entertaining few moments when this 'James' stopped Gwendolyn and her Al imposter."

"Especially since I was sure that James was with me in his Al imposter suit," Gwendolyn added. "Hilarity ensued when they tried to figure out a way for that James to get me to release the imposter Al. Rose magically appeared then; advised us that she's sure this isn't James; and we decided to bring all three of them to you – though we're pretty sure that this is the real Bristol."

"We've known each other our whole lives," Bristol told her; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Yes, we have," she agreed, "and I thought that we were friends too; which is why I don't understand why you'd be involved in any of this."

"I'm not..." she began to say; and then trailed off as Gwendolyn transfixed her with an icy glare.

"Don't say it," Gwendolyn warned. "If we're right, then you've just spent the last hour or so snogging Ollie when you thought you were with James; while Patricia and James have been trying to impersonate me and Al for Merlin-only knows what reasons. You obviously weren't in on the entire plan, since it seems that they lied to you about who you were with while the real James was trying to have his fun with me; but it makes me sick to find out that one of my friends would have any part in trying to hurt me – and hurt someone I love as much as you know I love Al." She stopped; took a deep breath; and sighed it out regretfully. "Maybe we shouldn't even stick around to watch our suspicions being confirmed when your new friends change back to their real selves," she added; glancing at James, Ollie, and Patricia while saying that to Bristol.

The door opened; and Zack Smith came hurrying in – and then stopped short when he discovered that the office was fairly-packed full of teens. "I guesss that I do and don't need to know what the rush is," he told Molly. "Has there been another pranking incident?"

"Yes, there has been," she agreed; "though you may have noticed that we have some twins in the room – and that's apparently part of a prank that has been stopped before it could play out." She smiled as Zack noticed the two sets of Al's and Gwendolyn's – and that two of them were bound.

"What happened?" he asked next.

"I'm still working on that, but I'm supposed to take the imposters to see Professor McGonagall; and since it seems I have three of them plus one potential accomplice; I think that we'd better do that together – and we can get whatever the Headmistress wants from our witnesses later – or tomorrow if that turns out to be necessary at all."

"That works for me," Zack agreed. "Maybe we'll still be able to go to the Halloween Feast. I'm sure we'd all hate to miss out on that."

Molly made sure that she had the names of all of the teens in their group written down for the record and if needed for witnesses; set them free; and then headed for Professor McGonagall's office with Zack and their four 'detainees' once they'd been released from their bindings and the two Heads could take care of geting them to the Headmistress' office. Al and Gwendolyn held hands as they walked along the hallway with Rose and the rest of their friends; and they were all fired up as they wandered in the general direction of Ravenclaw tower.

"Were you serious about not finding out the whole truth about what they were trying to do today?" Tory asked Gwendolyn once they'd finished comparing notes about what had been happening to each group – and to Rose. "I want to know; and they weren't going after Ray and me."

"I know enough already," Gwendolyn answered, "and we can take some guesses about what they had planned; but I seriously doubt they'll admit to anything beyond some harmless prank – even after they change back – which should be anytime now. Even a large dose of Polyjuice will only last so long before they'd need to take more to keep the disguise going."

"We know they were up to something more than just trying to mess with you and Al," Rose told her. "If Ollie and Bristol were expecting James and Patricia to bring you and Al to that classroom; then my guess is that they'd have tried to keep you there while going on to do whatever they had planned – probably something big that they could blame on you – like a major prank in the Great Hall."

"Do you think that there's a chance that prank was already set up and could go off anyway?" Ray asked; looking a bit worried now.

"I'm guessing at that," Rose reminded him, "but if I am right; then that's probably a no to your question. They'd need to be seen pulling the prank for the set-up to work."

"I'm just glad that they weren't able to fool either of you," Madison said. "Getting blamed for another prank would be bad; but I think that trying to mess with your relationship is even worse."

"I think that's rotten too," Gwendolyn agreed. "James is lucky that I didn't just blast him for that instead of playing nice."

"Could you have blasted him when he looked just like Al?" Ray asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Yeah, I could have; but then I don't think he looked like Al at all. James obviously has no clue how to even pretend to be like Al; and I could see the differences in a lot of really obvious ways."

"Well, they didn't get away with it this time; and maybe it'll be the end of it – at least for this plot," Al suggested.

"Maybe, but they did come up with something that worked pretty well for a while; so James is sure to keep trying," Gwendolyn declared. "Some of us still need to hit the shower and get ready for the feast, though; so we should get to that while we still have time."

The use of the word 'we' for that sent some of them off on a tangent that was distracting and entertaining; they eventually split up to go to their respective Houses and dorms; Al got changed and ready for their evening of what would hopefully be fun at the feast followed by more studying and a bit of alone time with Gwendolyn to end their day; and then he met up with Rose and Lily in the common room for the walk to the Great Hall – once they were ready to go too. Rose had given Lily most of the latest news by then; and the gossip network was starting to buzz with the news because their friends had talked about what had happened in three out of four of the Houses.

Those rumors alone didn't immediately improve things for Al and Gwendolyn with any of the students that had been swayed to believe that they'd been caught doing the previous pranks, but they did get some help with that from Professor McGonagall when she made a special announcement before starting the Halloween Feast.

Her exoneration of Al and Gwendolyn had been short on details; but restoring the one hundred points to Gryffindor and fifty to Ravenclaw had been unprecedented; and the apology for Al and Gwendolyn had included rescinding the balance of their detention time too. Professor McGonagall had explained that they had caught students impersonating Al and Gwendolyn; but didn't identify them – and she also didn't talk about what was being done to deal with those students.

Al didn't know the answer to that either, but James, Ollie, Patricia, and Bristol were at the Gryffindor table in time for that announcement; and he was able to sense that James and Ollie were furious with him for messing up their plans; catching them; and getting them into trouble while getting himself and Gwendolyn out of it. While that felt good, Al turned his attention to dealing with the one problem that still remained for him – the memory charms that were still affecting how a lot of his fellow students felt about him – and about Gwendolyn. He quietly launched his counter-offensive for that as the tables filled with food and drinks; and then sat back and kept an eye on some of the students he knew had been hit by those memory charms so that he could see and sense whether what he was trying to do would work. He was quietly exuberant when he first sensed the fog of those hate-filled memories cleared from his roommates; though it took them longer to understand what had happened to them. From his perspective, the mood in the entire Great Hall seemed to shift as his counter-charm worked on everyone else that James and Ollie had charmed with those vile memories.

His magic wasn't a cure-all; and he couldn't do anything about the students that truly did hate him – like the Averys and their mates. Sensing the radical mood change in so many teens was really great, though; and Al was able to enjoy the feast and fun with his cousin and friends – a first for that in three years! Sure, James and Ollie had planned to mess up his day once again, and he wanted to think about that more to try and figure out how to avoid any future traps that they could try and set to get him, but now that he could see the end of this little blip in his life; he decided that it was okay to simply enjoy the moment for a while. When he met up with Gwndolyn after the feast; he was ready and willing to keep the fun going – even while getting the pesky assignments done first before they could have a bit of alone time that he hoped wouldn't be even remotely scary for either of them!

Scorpius stormed into his special place in the Room of Requirements; flung his book bag on the table despite the fact that he knew how much that irritated Thomas; and stalked around the room tossing curses at the objects that appeared on shelves along the walls because he needed things to destroy. The Room of Requirements was very good about things like that; but he didn't even think about that fact as he vented his anger. After a while, he was aware of the muffled voice calling out to him from his book bag; he put his wand away; and went to get Thomas' portrait out of the bag. He propped it up on the table; and then went back to pacing the room.

"Problems?" Thomas deadpanned; and Scorpius laughed raucously.

"Yes. Just when I was beginning to think that the stupid level around here was finally dropping; James and Ollie went ahead and proved me wrong. Somehow, they managed to get caught impersonating Albus and Gwendolyn this afternoon; and blew everything they'd managed to accomplish over the past two weeks!"

"Do you know what happened?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shook his head.

"Not for sure. We've heard some rumors that the two imposters tried to hook up with their opposites sometime after last class; but those rumors don't even mention James, Ollie, or whomever they recruited to be Gwendolyn."

"Assuming that one of them didn't do that themselves," Thomas added; earning an open-mouthed stare from Scorpius.

"You can do that?" he asked incredulously; and Thomas laughed.

"Of course you can. I know for a fact that there were Witches in the group of Harry Potter impersonators the night he escaped from his childhood home."

"Well, that's seriously weird, but I seriously doubt that they'd have done that if the first part of whatever plan they had for today would have meant hugging and kissing Albus for one of them," he suggested; earning another laugh from Thomas.

"That would be especially true for the brothers," he joked. "Now that you're distracted from destroying things, though; why don't you tell me everything that you do know about what has happened."

"Well, we know that James and Ollie were behind the pranks instead of Albus and Gwendolyn because we sent them the Polyjuice, but now that they've been caught in this prank; Professor McGonagall offered her apologies to Potty and his trainer; returned all points to their Houses; and cancelled the balance of their detentions. She didn't name the imposters or announce what she would do about their pranks. James and Ollie were in the Great Hall for the feast; but I couldn't pick up any hints about what was going on from them. The bottom line is that Albus and Gwendolyn are in the clear; and all of that hatred that had been building up against them until today basically evaporated by the end of the feast. Even those Slytherin prank victims stopped spouting off about them – though that was probably smart on their part now that the most-perfect couple in the entire school is back to being that again instead of Undesirable Numbers One and Two."

"So you don't know what their plan might have been for tonight?" Thomas deduced; and Scorpius shook his head.

"No, though if I had to guess; they were likely trying to lure Albus and Gwendolyn somewhere so that they could pretend to be them at the Feast and do Merlin-only knows what, but for all I know; James was just trying to get Albus out of the way so that he could try getting Gwendolyn to snog him."

"You think that James desires this Witch?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shrugged.

"It could be that he just wants what his brother has; though Gwendolyn is quite beautiful too. She's hardly the only pretty Witch around here, and my guess about a prank plan is still more-likely; but I only say that because the other pranks were likely leading up to something bigger for tonight."

"You could be right about that," Thomas agreed. "Would you like to take a guess as to why they didn't succeed this time?"

"Wouldn't you like a turn to do that?" Scorpius half-joked; and smiled when Thomas laughed.

"I can do that. Some people can be easily fooled by a Polyjuice disguise, but that's much easier to do when the targets don't know the person being impersonated. They should have never tried to use it directly against Albus and Gwendolyn because they'd be unlikely to act and talk exactly like them. The potion does, after all, only change the user's appearance, and while they'd have the same voice too; the speaking mannerisms would have to be mimicked properly to even be able to talk to anyone without being discovered for an imposter. Wizards can be oblivious of things like the clothes that Witches wear, but unless they stole some of Albus' clothes too; I doubt that the girl would have been fooled if James or Ollie was wearing something she'd never seen her boyfriend wear – or that she recognized as their own clothes."

"I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Albus is that observant too," Scorpius said seriously. "That might not be something that I see first-hand all that often, but he is a perfectionist in the classes we have together." He smiled at Thomas. "He reminds me of a certain, painted Wizard I know for that."

"That isn't a bad thing," Thomas advised him; and Scorpius laughed.

"I'd say that it is when it's a trait in your enemies. It's so much easier to defeat them when they're stupid and oblivious!"

"True, but then if that was true of them; they'd have lost the war against me and my army and your life would be very different right now. We're getting off-track now; so let's get back to discussing this story. It's fortunate that you sent that potion anonymously. You can't be blamed for how they used it; but also are in the clear anyway; since it cant' be traced to you at all. We don't want the reputation you're so carefully building to be marred in any way by the mistakes of others."

"If I'm right about what they had planned for tonight regardless of the details; it's just too bad that they didn't try something different to get Albus and Gwendolyn out of the way. Setting them up to take the blame for yet another prank – especially a big one – could have worked."

"That suggests that all they need is better thought-out plans, but as you say; we don't know the details. For all we know, their true plans just went wrong. It happens to the best of us; and improvising at the last minute can often end badly."

"I suppose," Scorpius conceded. "If there's some way to salvage anything from this, though; I don't see it right now."

"Then I'll help you out with that," Thomas promised. "We can help the older Potter boy to learn from this, and while you should likely wait and watch for a while first; we will come up with new ways to help him out with his vendetta against his brother. If we can succeed in that effort; you will earn a valuable and loyal supporter and comrade in the battle against our enemies."

Scorpius was in a much better mood by then; he was happy to have that discussion with Thomas; and in a great mood by the time Thomas finished doing a Halloween-worthy lesson with him before he needed to get back to his common room and join the study session already in progress with his mates, girlfriend, and a few of her study group friends. He was still annoyed over Albus' return from social purgatory, but he was also putting all of that blame on him instead of James and Ollie – just as he blamed Albus for a lot of the things in his life at Hogwarts that weren't going as brilliantly as he thought they should.

James was far from being the only Wizard in the school with a serious hate-on for the Animorph-Potty – even if he'd regained the adoration of every stupid sheep in the castle. Accepting the counsel for patience from Thomas certainly wasn't easy after believing that they'd been close to victory over his most-hated enemy, but this did help Scorpius to understand a bit better that the fight wouldn't be as easy as he sometimes dreamed that it would be; and he took some comfort in the idea that these set-backs would make that ultimate victory much sweeter when it did come!

Then again, there was a lot to be said for enjoying the moment and forgetting his troubles for a while, so instead of staying with dark thoughts; he decided to have fun instead. A bit of playfulness with Terri had him sure that they'd be ending their evening with some Halloween snogging; and that was exactly the kind of diversion he needed to banish the scary, not-fun – even if that was only a temporary fix to his Albus Potty problem.

The mood in their study classroom was buoyant after the feast; and they had bonus study buddies because Lily, Hugo, and Jonah all wanted to hang out with them – and hear the stories about how James, Ollie, and Patricia were caught in the act of their prank attempt. Their friends were all happy to share in the success and redemption; so even the most-boring parts of their studying was entertaining as they had fun together until about an hour before curfew – when the couples wanted to split up for some Halloween excitement that didn't require any family, friends, or spectators. As the star couple of the day, Al and Gwendolyn were given the study classroom for their snogging session; they had a lot of fun with that; and then they found out that James and Ollie were waiting for them when they checked the map before leaving for the walk to Ravenclaw tower. They were very close too; and quickly walked up to them as soon as they stepped out into the hallway.

"Are you happy now that you've messed things up for me – for us – again?" James demanded; he didn't stop until he was within a step of Al and Gwendolyn; and he glowered at them with hatred burning in his eyes.

"Fairly happy, yes," Al answered agreeably. "It couldn't have been all bad for you, though; since you're still here. If those pranks were worth one hundred and fifty points and detention hours for us; I'm only surprised that you didn't get worse – especially since you're both on probation for the year."

James smirked darkly at him. "They only caught us pulling a simple prank and nobody got hurt," he explained. "There's no proof that we did any of those pranks; and we have witnesses to prove we couldn't have done them anyway."

"Unlike you," Ollie added; and then scowled when Al and Gwendolyn both laughed.

"Would you like to try another round of Veritaserum and try that one again?" Gwendolyn asked derisively while smiling brightly at them. "I'm fairly sure that we have at least two witnesses that would prove what really happened if they'd just be honest about it."

"We can't be fooled by things like Veritaserum anymore," James scoffed, and since Al sensed that he believed that; the comment sharpened his interest in why James would seriously think that he could overcome that potion. He was smiling again when he guessed at the answer.

"Bottling your memories – or replacing them – won't keep you safe from Veritaserum or even Occlumancy as long as you're asked all of the right questions,' he advised his brother; and knew he'd hit the mark when James scowled at him darkly again. "If you haven't noticed yet; that doesn't work for turning Witches and Wizards against Gwendolyn and me either – or, I should say, it doesn't work anymore."

"What are you blathering about now?" James scoffed; though Al could sense that he was surprised and chagrined now.

"Memory charms," Al explained. "Try to keep up with me, James. I know you used them on a lot of students around here; and took steps to deal with it. They won't know that it was you – or both of you if Ollie helped out; but I do expect that at least some of them will report the fake memories that they know about now to Professors, the Heads, or Prefects; so I'd seriously think about it very hard before trying something like that again."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James retorted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You're just trying to get us into even more trouble."

Al laughed. "You don't need my help for that. This plan of yours was pretty good; and I'll admit that we were getting a bit worried that you might quit while you were ahead and get away with it; so we're really glad that you tried to come after us directly today."

"We would really love to know whether you were just trying to trick me into snogging you or something more devious," Gwendolyn added with a side-long grin for her boyfriend. "Al is fairly sure that you were planning on impersonating us at the feast and pulling some major prank; but I'm not sure that you could have done that without getting caught by the Professors – which wouldn't have worked if they kept you long-enough for the potions to wear off." Al sensed the answers and wished that he couldn't.

"You really are a hippogriff-sized git," he told James in true disgust. "I am so glad that you did such a horrid job of trying to be me."

"From what we heard, Ollie did a pretty good job being James," Gwendolyn offered; "though you must both be wondering which version of James Bristol liked snogging best. Maybe if she's not too mad at the both of you for folling her into thinking she was with James while using her to get Rose to follow the James-Ollie; she'll let you knw. Then again, maybe you don't want to know, James; since you obviously weren't as good as you think you are. Bristol couldn't tell the difference between you and Ollie; while I had no trouble at all with seeing right through your lousy attempt at being Al."

"Shut it!" James said darkly. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and would have pointed it at Gwendolyn if Al hadn't grabbed his wrist and prevented him from doing that. Ollie jumped back and grabbed his wand too; but then gaped when it was ripped out of his hand and Al caught it with his free hand.

"Just don't do it," he warned James icily. "We all need to get back to our Houses soon; and I really am sick of the both of you."

"Then go ahead and blast us," James taunted. "Do it!" he yelled right into Al's face.

"I don't need to do that; and I'm not you," Al said evenly. He physically disarmed James; and then let go of him while stepping back and reaching out for Gwendolyn's hand. "I love you, James, and nothing you ever do will change that, but I'll like you a lot better if you just leave us alone until you're ready to play nice for a change." He tossed the two wands into the air; they began floating away once they reached a spot that was just a few feet below the ceiling; and after sending them on their way; he returned his attention to James and Ollie. "They'll lead you back to our House. Have a good night, guys."

"Accio wand!" James bellowed; and then glowered when his wand simply ignored him and continued to float away.

"I'd keep up with them," Al suggested. "They'll simply fall to the ground once they're in front of the portrait hole; and you wouldn't want someone else to get to them first – especially if they need to test them to try and find out whom they belong to."

"Watch your backs, losers," James spat. "We nearly got you this time; and we will destroy you next time."

"Let it go, James. You'll be a much happier Wizard once you do."

"That isn't going to happen," james retorted. "I hate you; and I'm going to make sure that everyone knows that I've been right about you all along. When that happens; I'll be the happiest Wizard on the planet."

He stormed off then; Ollie went with him; and Gwendolyn didn't bother waiting for them to be out of sight before sharing an enthusiastic hug and kiss with Al. They needed to hurry by then so that he could still walk her home and get to his own common room before curfew, so they did that; shared another hug and a couple of kisses at the foot of the stairway leading up to the Ravenclaw common room; and then he hurried on to his own House. James and Ollie were still in the common room; seemed to be trying to prove some point by hanging out with Patricia and some of their other friends; and pretended to ignore him while obviously still watching him too as he went to say goodnight to Rose, Lily, and most of their cousins before heading up to his dorm room. By then, he was ready to just get washed up, changed, and go to bed; so he did that and was sleeping with time to spare before Halloween was over and they were into the first hours of a new month.

While he was sure that nothing had change for him with James and Ollie, getting through this last round of trouble was a relief; and he could hope for better for the last couple of months of the year – even when those hopes were more-likely to be wishful thinking instead of reality.

Fortunately for Al, there was also a lot of really great things going for him in this reality; and it was all of that good that he looked forward to sharing with everyone he loved most – and that was also what made dealing with the problems more bearable. Having a good start to November after a better-than-hoped-for end to October might be more optimistic than realistic, but while there was sure to be a lot of work and potential problems with James and Ollie; there were also Hogsmeade weekends, senior Quidditch games, and lots of other family and friends fun opportunities to look forward to as well. Al dreamed of those happy possibilities as he slept, and with Gwendolyn there in dreamland with him; there wasn't a trick anywhere in sight – only happy, occasionally hot, treats!


	27. Quidditch Hits and Misses

**Chapter Twenty-Seven – Quidditch Hits and Misses**

"It's nice to see you looking happy," Rose told Al as she and Lily joined him in the common room. "Have you decided not to feel bad for James this time around?"

Al smiled as he shared hugs with each of them. "I feel bad for him; but only because he keeps making the wrong choices over and over again. Let's not go there, though; since it's a new month; and we should try starting off on a positive note."

"Okay, I'm positive that James and Ollie won't learn their lesson," Lily teased. "We can't totally drop it yet either; but let's get out of here before Rose tells you all about the latest girl talk." They were already on the move by then; it only took a minute to get into the hallway; and then they were on their own because nobody else was in any hurry to get to the Great Hall when there was still more than a half-hour to go before breakfast.

"James and Ollie might not have learned anything from last night," Rose told him; "but Bristol didn't have a good night; and I'm wondering if Patricia has gone a bit crazy."

"If Bristol didn't know much about what was going to happen last night; I'd hope that she did have a tough time dealing with what they were trying to do to one of her Weird Sisters' cousins," Al said; and then sighed at what he saw in his sister's and cousin's faces. "She's only mad about thinking that she was snogging James when it was really Ollie?"

"She is," Rose confirmed; "though it seems that she didn't know much about what James and Ollie really wanted to do yesterday – other than that they were going to play a harmless prank on you and Gwendolyn."

"As if any of their pranks have been harmless lately," Lily scoffed. "If she knew that they were using Polyjuice; she also should have been able to figure out that Al and Gwendolyn were being framed for those pranks."

"I don't know if she's thinking at all when it comes to James," Rose advised her seriously. "Ollie apparently told her – and James – that he was just playing his part with Bristol; and that it wasn't his fault that she'd wanted to snog him senseless while they were waiting for James and Patricia."

"That must be weird for both girls; since Patricia must have been talked into doing this because she thinks she can get back together with James," Al suggested; and Rose and Lily both nodded.

"That's what we've heard," Rose confirmed. "I have no idea how long Bristol and Patricia will put up with James stringing both of them along; but they're seriously messing up other friendships while following him around like a pair of love-sick groupies. Bristol isn't talking to me at all right now; and I doubt she'll even want to face Gwendolyn again after what happened in the Heads' office yesterday. Anna's moved on from Ollie and doesn't want to have anything to do with either him or James; so she wasn't exactly comforting Patricia last night when she wanted to talk about what had happened with her."

"I would have been happy to listen," Lily offered with a grin. "Patricia wouldn't have liked my advice; but then I seriously doubt she'll ever ask for it from me anyway."

"That comment just has me wondering how she envisions her perfect future with James when it comes to his family," Al mused; and Lily laughed.

"She sees it the same way he does right now – without us."

"James doesn't see a future without all of us," Al disagreed. "He'd be happy with the rest of you if only he could get rid of me and you would all just realize that he's the greatest Wizard in the family."

"If he didn't have you to blame for everything; he'd need someone else to blame instead," Lily disagreed. "Whether that would be me, Mom and Dad, or someone else; he'd do that because it's the way he is."

"Al doesn't want to talk about that either," Rose guessed. "You will want to know that James and Ollie got away with those pranks; since Professor McGonagall couldn't prove they committed anything more serious than using Polyjuice to impersonate you and Gwendolyn yesterday – and nothing happened other than they were caught doing it."

"So they got away with it," Al deduced; and Rose nodded. "I expected that from what they said last night when James and Ollie confronted Gwendolyn and me when we were leaving the classroom to get back to our Houses."

"They did?" Lily asked him; and Al nodded.

"Yeah. They needed to vent on us for a while, though if they really didn't get into any major trouble; the only thing they have to be mad about is that Gwendolyn and I aren't in trouble anymore."

"That would be enough for them," Rose assured him. "I'm ready to talk about anything else other than James and Ollie, though, so why don't we talk about what we'll be doing this weekend. Have you made up your shopping list for me yet, Lily?"

That question was a perfect choice for changing the subject, since Lily was happy to talk shopping and Hogsmeade weekends with Rose – and tell them about what she was planning to do while they were in town on Saturday. With just one day to go until then, the Hogsmeade weekend adventure was number one on the gossip news network at breakfast; with the Halloween recaps at number two on the list. Al and Gwendolyn were pretty much off the news radar by then; and they were happy to be able to move on from their recent troubles. They did still have their usual, busy schedule, though; and their first day of November was even busier than usual because they were loaded down with new assignments now that Halloween was finished; Al had his Quidditch practice after school; and then they studied for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening because they needed to do that to be able to take most of Saturday off while they went to Hogsmeade for the day.

Staying busy with all of that meant not having any alone time for Al and Gwendolyn – or most of the couples in their study group, but that didn't keep them from having fun too. For Al, even the research and report writing was more fun without the stress of the past two weeks. Playing with magic was always entertaining – even when things didn't go quite right; and he was also keeping the work fun with his Quidditch team as they continued to develop their skills more than work on any game plans for the matches that were still months away. Ending their Friday with an extended walk on the way back to Ravenclaw tower had given Al and Gwendolyn a bit of time to wind down and enjoy being together without any distractions, so while that wasn't as much fun as a major snogging session would have been; they were both happy when they shared a couple of goodnight kisses before splitting up so that Al could hurry back to his House ahead of curfew.

The usual Friday night snogging was going on in the common room, and most of his non-snogging cousins had gone to their dorm rooms by then, so Al only passed through the room on his way up to bed. He wasn't alone in the room, but he only talked with the guys for a few minutes before going to get ready for bed; and then he put up an imperturbable shield around his bed while having a mirror chat with his parents that included talking about the letters they'd received from Professor McGonagall. They'd been happy about the one that had cleared him of the pranks he'd been blamed for; and they weren't happy about what James, Ollie, and Patricia had been trying to do – even though that was only suspected instead of proven. He did find out for sure that James and Ollie didn't get any serious punishment, and while he had mixed feelings about that; he decided to be glad that James hadn't ended up in the kind of trouble that might have gotten him expelled.

It was cold and frosty outside on Saturday morning when Al woke up and got ready for their day in Hogsmeade. As usual, the washrooms were fairly quiet at that time of the morning as he hit the shower and then dressed warmly-enough for what was sure to be a cold, windy walk to town; and then he packed his bag before going to the common room to meet up with Rose for their morning walk and talk. Lily didn't join them for that, since she wasn't going to town and didn't need to get up early, but Rose was fired up and ready to escape the school for a while; and she happily kept Al entertained as they went on an extended walk before eventually making it to the Great Hall and sitting down to wait for their friends – and for breakfast to be served.

Their friends were excited about going to town too; so the breakfast conversations were fun and upbeat. That all added up to a great start to their day; and it just got better for Al when he met up with Gwendolyn after they'd finished eating and got in line for the exodus to Hogsmeade with a handful of their friends. the good morning hug and kiss had been part of that, but Al also had a pretty good feeling about their day; and was hoping that they might even get a break from James, Ollie, and any of the Slytherins – if for no other reason than because they wouldn't have had time to get any ambushes ready for them when they'd likely expected that Al and Gwendolyn wouldn't be in Hogsmeade because of their detentions. When they were cleared to leave the school by Mr. Jigger, Al and Gwendolyn ended up walking with Toni and Michael while their friends spread out in other smaller groups too.

"Do you guys have much to pick up for any of your younger friends and relatives today?" Gwendolyn asked Toni and Michael. "Al and I have quite a bit to do; though that's mostly for Jonah and my cousins. Rose is taking care of Lily and Hugo; and Louis has got Fred's list."

"Don't you help out your team mates too, Al?" Toni asked him. "I guess it's mostly cousins for Gwendolyn; but it seems like she ends up shopping for half the team."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Including myself; that's true," she agreed. "I'd have more if Pauline didn't take care of Stephanie; and Brandon's girlfriend is helping Alyssa with the things she doesn't want either of her brothers to pick up for her."

"I wouldn't want my brother doing that either – if that was even possible. To answer your earlier question; yes, we have a total of five orders between us; so we'll be loaded down by the time we're ready to head back to the school again."

"We brought our undetectable expansion bags," Gwendolyn advised her; "so we can help you out with that if you'd like a hand with carrying everything."

"Those things are so handy," Toni said with a nod of thanks. "Maybe we can just hang out together – unless you guys have plans that don't include having company along."

"There isn't exactly anywhere we can go in Hogsmeade to have that kind of privacy," Gwendolyn pointed out; and smiled when Al shrugged and left the decision to her. "I'd love to hang out with you guys today. We don't get to do that much anywhere except when we're studying."

"You're both so busy this year, it's a wonder that you have time for yourselves let alone anyone else," Toni half-joked.

"We're keeping up, but it is a lot harder with three and four more classes this year," Gwendolyn told her. "There's more that I wish we had time for; though I'd likely practice Quidditch and play music more often if we actually could find more time for anything."

"Two activities that Michael and I both suck at," Toni pointed out with a laugh. "It's a wonder that we're friends at all!"

"Not to us it isn't," Al assured her. "We like you quite a lot – even if you aren't Quidditch fanatics like most of the members of our families and the rest of our friends."

"Sure, Sure," Toni teased. "You're just trying to make sure that you have at least a few fans watching your games when you go to play for the Cannons with Rose."

"Do we really like Al that much?" Michael asked; and managed to keep a straight face for nearly three seconds before he cracked up when the girls laughed.

"That might depend on whether they get us complimentary tickets – and which team they're playing against," Toni answered. "I might even pay to see Al's Cannons play Gwendolyn's Harpies."

"But then you'd be cheering for the Witches," Al pointed out. "That shoots a hole in your suggestion about me looking for friends now to be future Cannons fans."

"That was really just meant to be a joke," Toni advised him. "Aren't you going to be way too good to end up on a team as bad as the Cannons when you do make it to the show?"

"You said I'd be playing for Rose's Cannons team; and that one is supposed to be good-enough to be league champions. I'd be okay with that."

"Not if you beat Gwendolyn's team to win that Championship," Michael offered with a grin. "Then you'd be a woodlouse."

"Maybe, but I'd be a league champion woodlouse," Al joked. "That might even be a good way to get some rest in the off-season."

Toni and Michael didn't really want to talk Quidditch present or future, so their conversation moved on as they made the trek to Hogsmeade. As usual – if three times can be a pattern; Al and Gwendolyn opted to do the 'boring' shopping first; Toni and Michael went along with them; and they had a lot of fun together while making their way through the stores and picking up all of the supplies they needed. The Three Broomsticks was crowded to overflowing the first time they thought about stopping for lunch, so they waited and did more shopping before going for a late lunch there. Toni and Gwendolyn had teased the boys about going to the tea shop, but while that was funnier with Al; Michael wasn't interested in going there either. For his part, Al was especially glad that they hadn't been serious about going there when he spotted James and Patricia coming out of the place – especially when he also wished that he couldn't sense what he did from both of them for the few moments they were near-enough for him to do that.

The meal at the Three Broomsticks wasn't anything to write home about, but the chat time with their friends was good; and they had a half-dozen cameo moments with other teens that kept things interesting for all of them. Al didn't entirely escape any drama while in town, but glares and a handful of insults from a few of his least-favorite Slytherins was mild by comparison to their first two visits to town; and they didn't have anyone following them when they were ready to leave and head back to school. Just for fun, Al went Animagus; carried all of their supplies; and gave Gwendolyn a ride back to the school – and around the grounds – before meeting up with Toni and Michael again at the castle entrance. Al and Gwendolyn split up while dropping off their supplies to their dorm rooms; they got changed; grabbed their book bags; and met up again in their study classroom to do a bit of work until dinnertime and watch the tail-end of one of the Quidditch matches on the mirror network.

They weren't very motivated about getting back to their assignments, but Gwendolyn had a make-up Quidditch practice booked for Sunday morning, and they were hoping for some play time on Sunday afternoon and evening too; so they did get some work done while watching the game and talking with their friends. The dinner break was entertaining as the gossip network was full of teen drama stories; and then it was back to work for the evening until the study session broke up an hour before curfew. Lily and Jonah had borrowed Al's mirror and a sofa that they had him help set up in the classroom next door, so Al and Gwendolyn joined them there for a visit and some cuddle time that was a nice, if not hot, way to end their day.

It was cold and wet at Hogwarts on Sunday morning, so while Al wished that Gwendolyn had better weather for her Quidditch practice, and felt bad for her and the rest of her team mates; he was okay with being stuck indoors while working on his weekend assignments again all morning. He was also happy to help Gwendolyn warm up after she joined their study group by mid-morning; and added in a touch of quiet healing that she'd needed thanks to a minor bludger hit and some other aches and pains that she earned during a tough practice. He was finished his work by lunchtime, but Gwendolyn and a few other friends needed a bit more time after they ate that noon meal before they could take the rest of the day off to play.

For Al and Gwendolyn, that meant meeting up with Lily and Jonah for a much more private pool party for four that gave them a chance to spend time together without all of the usual distractions while enjoying one of their very favorite fun activities. They didn't swim for hours, but they split their time between that and watching shows on the mirror network while chatting about everything from Quidditch to the latest news from around the school and elsewhere. They had to split up for dinner in the Great Hall, but then they met up again after that meal; and had a fairly large gang of family and friends join them for an evening of hanging out together in their usual study classroom. Al and Gwendolyn set up the sofas and mirror, but while cuddling was a popular activity for the couples, there was also some music time; letter writing sessions; mirror chats to home to a half-dozen families; and some magic play time to go along with the mirror network show watching and ongoing teen chat time.

When Al eventually went to bed after going with Gwendolyn for their usual Sunday evening visit to the Owlery and then walking her home; he'd been in a great mood – and was particularly happy about getting through the first weekend of November without any James and Ollie issues or Hogsmeade visit problems with any Slytherins either. That didn't change for him on Monday, and he had a good day with his classes and Quidditch practice; but James was at the center of the biggest gossip news story by dinnertime on Monday; and the Slytherins were soon drawn into the story – especially the players on the Slytherin senior team. Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their study group friends didn't find out about the news until they reached the Great Hall for dinner, but they were also there early; and that gave them time to deal with first reactions before they had to deal with the barrage of questions that came from their nearest dinner companions while they ate that meal. Lily brought them the news; and she came rushing up to Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose as soon as she saw them when she came into the Great Hall.

"Dominique has finally made her decision on who will be Seeker for the game on Saturday," she said breathlessly as she then quickly hugged each of them. "James will be playing instead of Brandon, and from what I heard in the common room; he's been bragging about it constantly since getting the news at practice."

"I'm not surprised at that – or that he was picked," Al told her seriously.

"Brandon hasn't won a single Seeker duel with James during their practices, so it's likely the proper choice; but I'm not sure it's the right one for our team," Rose said quietly; and smiled at Lily's reaction. "I am biased, but still think that Brandon is the better pick for this match against Slytherin. James hasn't had any luck against Alex or Pauline yet, but his style of play at least matches up better with them. Brandon's defensive play would be better-suited against Brand Bletchley and the Slytherin Beaters – and our Chasers have done well against Slytherin even with the cheating and cheap shots that Avery and his mates try against every opponent."

"Let's hope James can do well on Saturday," Lily offered with a shrug. "He's going to be insufferable now that he's got the job; and I don't even want to think about what he'll be like if he loses on Saturday."

"I'd say the same thing about if he wins," Gwendolyn told her with a laugh – "especially if his catch wins the match for your team."

"With the funny part of that being that you want James to lose to help your team; and we need him to win to help ours," Lily declared with a laugh and smile. "We should have had those comments reversed."

"Don't count on anything about this being funny," Rose warned. "We know how James is going to act now, and when he starts razzing the Slytherins; that is likely going to get ugly between now and Saturday."

"Dominique won't like that; but she must know it's what will happen," Gwendolyn pointed out. "You can all hope that she's made the right choice; and I'll hope that she didn't."

"I guess that we can't hope that she didn't with you, since the only way that can be true will be if James loses the game for them," Lily told her; "but I'm still going to hope that we win and James either doesn't catch the snitch or it doesn't matter if he does by the end of the match."

"You're only saying that because you want to have a better record than he does this season," Gwendolyn teased; and Lily laughed.

"It's a contributing factor," she agreed easily, "but you're also right about what he'll be like if he does win the game on Saturday – and he'd be like that all the way through to next February."

"Or longer, if he keeps winning," Rose added with a nod and smile. "We'd better keep these thoughts to ourselves, though, and pretend to be happy for James."

"That's asking a lot, considering what we've all been through over the past two weeks," Gwendolyn told her; "but we'll try to do that."

While Gwendolyn didn't have to worry about that right away, Al and Rose did when James and Ollie needed to stop by to gloat before sitting down in their usual spots. Gwendolyn had already moved on to her table by then; and missed out on the demands to be congratulated and the insults that James mostly heaped on Al while bragging about being the star player for the 'real' Gryffindor team. Al chose to let him have that moment in the spotlight instead of trying to defend himself and risk getting James mad at him. He didn't expect that would help, but it was the better choice for the moment, and he tried not to let it bother him; while also getting ready for what he expected would be a renewed round of confrontations and insults for the rest of the week.

That concern proved to be well-founded, and James took every opportunity he could get to brag at Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily – and insult them with claims of how great he was going to play by comparison to them in the junior league. Fortunately, James could only do that around meals or at the end of the night in the common room; and he also needed to spend some quality time insulting the Slytherins too – time that he then didn't have to spend on bugging his brother, sister, cousins, and their friends. Some of his fellow Gryffindor were soon sick of him for yet another reason, but James was oblivious to that; and he got all of the ego-boost he needed from Patricia and Bristol as they both happily fawned over him – and competed with each other for his attention.

Those unwanted distractions didn't keep Al and Gwendolyn from focusing on their studies and Quidditch with their respective teams, but they were sick of James by the end of the week too; and ready to get beyond the Gryffindor-Slytherin match in hopes of getting another break from James and Ollie. With that game on Saturday morning and a Harpies' game in the afternoon, taking Friday night off from studying wasn't an option, and while some of their friends didn't agree with them on that; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose worked through until right before curfew to make sure that they did get a good start on the pile of weekend assignments they needed to get done by Sunday night.

That had a lot to do with why Al was enthusiastic about having most of the day off to have fun with Gwendolyn and their friends when he got up on Saturday morning; and he was ready to go and in the common room waiting for Rose and Lily with time to spare – and before James and Ollie were likely even awake. The morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily was fun, and while they had worries about the match and what would happen between them and James regardless of what happened; that didn't put a damper on Al's good mood. He couldn't honestly say that about the pre-breakfast razzing from James and Ollie, but Gwendolyn made up for that with bonus hugs and kisses when they got together after breakfast. He paid her back for that help with a horseback ride around the school grounds while waiting for it to be time to go to the stadium; and then they met up with their Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends in their usual section of seats on the border between their two Houses. They also had their respective team mates around them, and while that was a bit weird; they ended up working together while getting ready to watch and analyze the match. In Al's case, that was because he'd promised a report to Dominique; while Gwendolyn wanted to do it mostly so that her team could keep learning how to do that properly – as well as for her own, future benefit when she'd be playing on the senior team in another year.

"What are our assignments for today, oh great Quidditch Captains?" Lily teased as she got comfortable and snuggled with Jonah in the row ahead of Al and Gwendolyn. Rose was beside Al, and Gwendolyn had Stephanie next to her – and the rest of her team mates to her right or in the rows behind and in front of them – just as Al did with the rest of the Gryffindor players.

"You get the Seekers," Al answered. "Feel free to focus more on Brand Bletchley than James; though I'm sure that Dominique would appreciate any suggestions you have for James too – as long as he doesn't find out the ideas came from us."

"Do I have to watch Brand?" Lily asked. "He's such a jerk."

"He's also a jerk that might play in the show some day," Gwendolyn advised her. "You should want to learn as much as you can now in case you'll end up playing against him in about seven more years – even if that isn't going to happen here."

"Are we going to do that for your cousins for the same reason too?" Jonah asked Al; and he grinned at him.

"That'll be an added bonus for some of us, and Gwendolyn might be doing that with her team; but we'll be watching our team to try and help them for the rest of this season. I want to do that a bit differently today for our team," he continued. "Rose and Hugo – you're to watch the Keepers, but I want you to really do that and mostly ignore the Chasers. Look for things that they do well; problems they have; and anything that can either be exploited by Chasers or, in Louis' case, be fixed before they are exploited by the other teams."

"If you're doing that, then I should get two of my players to distract them so they suck at that job – for Louis," Gwendolyn teased. "Any volunteers?"

"That depends on what you're expecting us to do to distract them," Stephanie told her. "Some things would just be inappropriate for a Captain to ask of her players."

"Not to mention that we'd be distracted too while doing that," Alyssa added with a grin. "You do want us to pay attention to the game too, don't you?"

"Yes, but if you can't multi-task; don't volunteer," Gwendolyn joked.

"Moving along," Al said; trying not to think about how much fun a bit of constructive multi-tasking with Gwendolyn would be for both of them; "I want each of our Chasers to watch one of the Slytherin or Gryffindor Chasers – and I mean that on offense and defense." He smiled at the reactions he sensed – including the one from Gwendolyn. "My assignment is Victor Avery. The rest of you can split up the other five between you however you want to do that."

"You're just doing that in case you need to save any damsels in distress from him again today," Rose teased; earning a round of laughs.

"I'm hoping that we've all learned our lesson after the Slytherin junior team lost their Beaters for the rest of the season for thinking they could get away with ignoring the warning about post-game trouble. Let's hope we don't have any of that happen today. Wrapping up my side of things, though, I want to do the same thing with the four Beaters. Pick one each; and watch them all of the time. Look for patterns and play set-ups; any tells they might use for directing the bludgers; and anything else that we can use to help our team for their last two matches."

"We're going to learn as much as we can about both teams because our senior team will be playing against both of these teams," Gwendolyn told her team mates. "They're doing this too, but we might learn things that they miss; so keep your eyes open." She smiled at Al before continuing. "I won't change up what we're doing just to do it differently than Al, but I want my players to watch all of their counterparts for both teams. Look at what's going on in the game, and while you're breaking down the plays; think about what you might do differently – especially when you see plays that don't work; or are successfully defended. We can learn new plays that we can use too, so watch for that; and then think about variations that we can use too. There won't be a test, but you will need to write a report; and I'll combine all of them later and put a full report together to pass on to our senior team Captain."

"Please tell me you're not expecting reports from us," Ray told Al; and earned some laughs.

"No, but there might be a test," Al only half-joked. "I'll write up the report for Dominique once I've talked with everyone about anything you think is worth passing on to her."

"Don't you want to delegate that job too?" Romeo asked him. "I'd volunteer to take that meeting with your cousin."

"Then you're definitely in the right House," Gwendolyn told him. "Last I heard; she's still dating one of the rookie Beaters for the Prides."

"Is she?" Romeo countered. "I haven't seen him at any of the games or in Hogsmeade yet this year. Jensen must have had at least one Saturday off by now."

"For games," Gwendolyn agreed; "but players have lots of other responsibilities with the team. I don't know what the Prides' schedule is like; but I do know that my aunt works as hard as Mum and her team does during the season – and that's usually six days a week even on the off-weekends."

"I'm wondering how you even know whether Jensen has come to visit Dominique or not," Rose told Romeo; and he grinned at her.

"I have a talent for noticing whether beautiful Witches are attached to a Wizard or not. I can spot that sort of thing from a mile away." She laughed when he eyed her meaningfully with glances to each side of her.

"Okay, but even if you have a point about Jensen's lack of visits; you should probably not risk getting him mad at you – especially since you'd need to wait at least a few years before the age difference between you and Dominique isn't quite such a big deal."

"Why don't you come and sit with me and we can talk about that?" Romeo suggested.

Rose laughed and shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks. You're okay as a friend; but not my type when it comes to boyfriends."

"What type do you think I am?" he asked; and she laughed again.

"The type that spends a lot of time noticing all beautiful Witches within a mile of you – and whether they're available or not. You're just a bit too easily-distracted for my taste in Wizards."

"What was that last part?" Romeo asked as he'd looked away for a few long moments and then returned his attention to Rose again.

"I rest my case," she declared; though it was obvious that Romeo had done that as a joke. Something else did catch rose's attention, though; and she groaned quietly before turning to Al and leaning in close to him. "Ollie Wood and company heading our way," she whispered. "I was hoping that with James playing in the game today that we'd get a break from him too."

"And you call me an optimist," Al joked just as quietly.

He didn't turn to watch Ollie's approach, but knew when the other teen was sitting down three rows behind him with some of the other senior team reserve players, Patricia, Bristol, and two other, fourth-year Witches that he didn't know very well. There wasn't much time left before the pre-game 'show' would be starting, but Ollie didn't wait to strike up a conversation that was laced with back-handed insults for Al and Gwendolyn. When Teresa Thomas began to talk about the season so far and the rest of the usual Quidditch report information before introducing the teams; Ollie happily tried to imitate James with his own spin on the statistics.

"That's right, folks, our House is in first place – and we still will be after this game – despite the fact that our junior team has gone to the dogs this season. All that proves is that all of the good players in the school have moved on to the senior teams in every House; and the real season is just getting started today. The Potty-trainer Captain of Ravenclaw is used to following her dog around so that she can stoop and scoop; so it's appropriate that Ravenclaw should be in second place right now. Finally, it seems that having a Whitless leader is slightly better than following a Smelfoy; which is why Slytherin stinks more than Hufflepuff this year." He earned lots of laughs for his comments; and that goaded him on to keep it going.

"Yes, there may theoretically be several possibilities for the Quidditch Cup race today, but the one that won't happen is that Slytherin wins and takes the lead in that race from us. They've been the worst team at Hogwarts for years; and that isn't going to change today." He paused as Teresa invited Gryffindor into the stadium; and then spoke a bit more-loudly to make sure that Al and Gwendolyn would hear his version of the team announcements.

"Leading the way for our House, we have Captain Dominatrix and her fellow Chasers, Lucky Lucy and Olivia the Ogre. I won't mention that they had to cheat at tryouts to keep the best Chaser off the team this year, but will mention that the only reason we don't have an all-Witches team this year is because they don't have any other friends to invite. They're the weak links in our team, but we can hope that they won't get beat up too badly by the Slytherins while the guys win the game for us." He didn't get many laughs for that; but kept on anyway.

"Next up, we have our new Beater duo – Tiberius and Brock McClaggen. The former top junior team Beaters are re-united this year; and they'll be out to show all of us that they're now the best Beater duo on the senior teams. That won't be a problem today considering the competition they'll have in Slytherin, but you can watch that for yourselves; because I need to move along before I run out of time. Bringing up the rear, and proving that our Captain is clueless when it comes to knowing where the real talent on the team is; we have cousins James Potter and Louis Weasley. While I wouldn't dream of speaking ill of the recently departed – I mean graduated; you'll find out today that Louis is the best Keeper in our school. Ditto that for James at Seeker; though it took Captain Dominatrix a long time to figure that out. He's undefeated against Slytherin in his first three years; and will make it four in a row today."

Ollie had been able to finish his comments in time because James had hot-dogged his way to the pitch; landing last; and then taking a bow to the four sides of the stadium. Teresa called for Slytherin as soon as she could; and Victor Avery led the way. Ollie jumped right in again; and continued his ridiculous commentary.

"I haven't bothered to research all of the school records for the past thousand years or so, but if Victor Avery doesn't have the worst record for any team Captain in the history of the school; he must be close to it – or will pass it this season! While anyone could do a better job, nobody messes with the Averys no matter how useless they are; so they keep getting named team Captains whenever at least one of them is available for the job."

Rose laughed at that; and Ollie scowled at the back of her head as she leaned close to Al and Gwendolyn again and whispered – "I can think of a few Witches and Wizards that don't mind messing with the Averys."

"Captain Victory-less is flying with fellow NEWT year mates, Vince Daisy – I mean Vaisey; and Brand Wretchedly – I mean Bletchley," Ollie continued while glowering at Rose. I'd suggest that they're the worst Keeper and Seeker in the school, but they're only next best for that honor; since they managed to win spots on their team over the worst – Rupert the Weasel Avery and G-airhead Mulciber. You might remember them from last season's winless Slytherin junior team, and they'll be winless this season too; since they won't get to play at all this year."

"Don't you resemble that comment?" Lily said; earning a round of laughs that had Ollie scowling at them again – even though she hadn't said that loudly-enough for him to hear it.

"Slytherin Beaters, Raban Lestrange and Don Rosier are in the middle of the rat pack today, and while they do have the bats and play the position; Slytherin Beaters are more likely to use their bats on opposing players than on the bludgers. Cheating and cheap shots is the name of the game for these two; and I'm sure that they're always proud of the stunning ability they have to cheat so outrageously and still lose every match!" He paused for the laughs; and then wrapped up his Slytherin introductions. "Bringing up the rear, we have Victory-less' Chaser partners, Trace Davis and Licentia Nott. She's the last Witch standing – or sitting on her broom – on the Slytherin Quidditch teams, and while that's the only thing that Slytherin gets right; she's likely only on the team for comic relief; since she's obviously not there to improve the scenery – if you know what I mean. There's nothing to say about Slytherin's third Chaser, because we've rarely seen even a trace of him during his first five years here; and that isn't going to change today."

"Wow, it's a wonder that he didn't try-out for Teresa's job this season," Lily joked. "That was so witty and insightful! I'm only surprised that he didn't have anything to say about the fact that Brand Bletchley is flying a Lightningbolt today. James hasn't noticed; but I'm guessing he'll figure that out fairly soon."

"I didn't know that he has a Lightningbolt," Gwendolyn said. "Did you, Al?"

"No, but it might not be his," he answered. "It's more likely that Scorpius lent him his broom instead. That's going to make the Seeker battle very interesting – and it's a smart move for Slytherin."

"Smarter than putting that broom in Victor's hands instead," Rose offered with a nod. "Dominique has that same advantage against him with her broom, but it's off-set by him being so much bigger – and because he likes to throw his weight around and pound his opponents."

"If Al's right; I'm surprised that isn't exactly what Victor would have wanted to do," Gwendolyn said seriously. "I guess we'll have to wait and see whether Brand can handle the faster broom or not – though it'll definitely help him if he can."

Ollie's bluster got their attention again when he responded to one of his mates telling him that Brand was using a Lightningbolt. He happily declared that it wouldn't matter; and that James would fly circles around the Slytherin Seeker anyway. He sounded a bit ridiculous to everyone around him that knew enough about the two brooms to know that just wasn't possible – unless the player couldn't handle the extra speed and maneuverability of the fastest broom in the Wizarding World. Once the Slytherin players were on the pitch, Mr. Peakes did his pre-game fair play speech; the players on both teams lined up; and then the game was on as the quaffle was tossed high and the two teams took off.

"And they're off with a crash as Victor shares a love tap with Captain Dominatrix that knocks her twenty feet off-course," Ollie reported with a laugh before noticing the rest of the play that the Gryffindor Chasers were putting on. "Olivia's reached the quaffle first; Victor hits her too; and knocks the quaffle out of her hand as she's knocked half-off her broom! That's lucky – the quaffle goes right to Dominique; she heads toward the Slytherin goal without anyone trying to stop her; and she – passes over Victor's head to Olivia while dodging another hit from Victor. Olivia takes a hit from Trace; loses the quaffle again; and Lucky Lucy has it fall into her hands. She goes in on Vaisey; shoots; and misses! I guess she's not so lucky after all – though I could've made that shot with my eyes closed and a hand tied behind my back!"

That opening play-by-play set the tone for Ollie's game announcing; and he was as clueless about what was really going on above the pitch as James usually was with his commentaries. While Al had his own assignment for watching the game; he was able to sit back and take in all of the action too – especially with his extended senses. It was obvious that most of the Slytherin players were out to bash the Gryffindor players first and play Quidditch second. The hits began to pile up against the three Gryffindor Witches, but Louis mostly managed to avoid the cheap shots; and the McClaggen brothers probably did more damage than they took from the cheap shot attempts on them. James was taking some tough hits, and while Brand didn't have as much of an advantage with his faster broom as he could have; it was enough to keep James from dodging many of the cheap shots from the bigger, stronger Wizard.

The brute force tactics were taking a toll on the Gryffindor team, but that wasn't showing up on the scoreboard. In the first hour, Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy scored seven goals; and Louis had a shut-out going into the second hour. Getting constantly pounded began to affect the three Gryffindor Chasers in the second hour; and they only managed to score four goals. The good news for them was that Louis only allowed one goal; so they had a one-hundred point lead going into the third hour. By then, despite the lead, Al knew that their senior team was in trouble. He came to that conclusion partly because he could sense that Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy were all pushing hard just to keep playing with their mounting, if individually-minor, injuries. The bigger problem for the team, though, was that James was in trouble against Brand Bletchley. He'd taken a lot of hits by then too, and while that was adding up for James; it was actually his growing anger at all of the cheap shots that was getting the better of him.

The score was one-thirty to twenty when the Seeker duel went red-hot – and that was because James was seeing red. Brand bashed him with a particularly nasty foul that Mr. Peakes once again didn't see; and James started shouting at their referee while still battling against Brand. He moved on to shouting threats at Brand when Mr. Peakes ignored him; and was still shouting and cursing when Brand took off after the snitch and he had to scramble to keep up with him. Al was on his feet when he saw the play developing that James couldn't see – or hear while he was busy yelling at Brand; and he had his wand out and ready as he watched James get hit in the back-right side of his head by the bludger that Don Rosier had bashed at him while Brand was blocking and distracting James with a faked cheap shot attempt. The lights went out for James at that moment, but he didn't immediately just fall off of his broom as he instead slumped over the handle and flew off-course. Brand ignored him; focused on the snitch; and ended the match. Al had waited until that happened; and then he reached out with his magic to stop James' broom and then cushion him as he floated to the pitch. That wasn't even noticed by most of the spectators as the Slytherin section erupted in cheers and the Gryffindor section went silent in stunned disbelief, but Al did start getting more attention when he started to run for the pitch and went Animagus so that he could get to James more quickly.

"Here we go again," his superior hearing heard Gwendolyn say as she stood and began to gather their things before following him.

"Yes, but at least he isn't running off to save another damsel this time," Lily teased.

Al tuned them out after that; and was across the pitch to James at about the same time that Louis reached him – since James hadn't landed far from the Gryffindor goals. He changed back to his human form; walked the last few steps to James; and then knelt on the other side of him from where Louis was already kneeling.

"We're going to need help right away,' Louis said; and Al nodded.

"Yeah; and we need to get him to Madam Pomfrey soon." He put a hand on James' forehead, but only left it there for a moment. "Do you want to put him in a full body-bind?" he asked Louis. "We'll need to do that before trying to move him."

Louis looked up and shook his head. "No. We'll let the Professors handle that – and get him to the hospital wing too." He smiled at Al; though his expression was serious. "James would never live it down if you fly him there like you did with Stephanie; so don't even think about it."

"I hadn't planned on doing that; but we do still need to get him there as quickly as we can."

"And we'll do that," Professor Longbottom promised. "Give us some room, please; and we'll get to work on him."

"Is there anything we should know, Al?" Professor Flitwick asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes. James has a fairly-serious skull fracture; there's already swelling of the brain starting; and there's been some damage to his neck too. He has other injuries from earlier in the game; though they're not nearly as serious."

"You got all of that from feeling his forehead?" Louis asked; and Al smiled ruefully and shrugged.

"I'm a good guesser. A full body-bind should keep him from having anything else happen while we get him to the hospital wing – as long as there isn't too much pressure on him."

"I'll take care of that," Neville said; directing that mostly at the other Professors that were gathering around them. Once we're ready to move him; most of us should stay here and make sure that nothing happens here now that the match is over."

"We promise not to blast Al or file any complaints with Mr. Peakes," Louis joked; and Neville smiled at him despite the seriousness of James' condition.

"I'm sure that we'll all appreciate that," he deadpanned before using his wand to put James into the body-bind.

Professor Flitwick did the honors to levitate James next; and then they ended up being elected to take James to Madam Pomfrey while the rest of the Professors stayed behind. Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and most of their friends were there by then, but Professor Longbottom only allowed Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily to go with them. They had a gauntlet to get past too; so it almost felt like some kind of macabre parade as they left the stadium – with James and the bloodied, fallen hero that everyone wanted to gawk at. Once they were outside of the stadium, they picked up the pace to the castle; had to slow down again to navigate the stairs and get to the hospital wing; and then Madam Pomfrey was there, holding the door open as James was floated into the room and then placed on one of the hospital beds. Al was asked to repeat his assessment for Madam Pomfrey as she began looking at James' injuries; she then decided to clear the room of everyone except Al; and then she invited him to help out with James' first round of healing.

"I'll guess that you don't know how to deal with the brain injury," she told him once they were alone with James; and al nodded his agreement.

"I don't; though I can tell that we'll need to do something to accommodate that swelling."

"Yes, we will," she agreed. "I can deal with that, but since you can speed your brother's recovery by healing all of those skull fractures; that's where we'll start. Relieving that pressure will be easier if I don't have to worry about damage from bone fragments."

"I can fix the cracks in James' neck too; but don't know how to deal with the swelling in the spinal cord there either."

"I can deal with that too," Madam Pomfrey assured him. "Go ahead and do what you can; and then I'll take over from there."

"Yes, Madam; though I'd appreciate it if we don't tell James. He'll hate it if he finds out that I helped him at all. He'll already be mad when he finds out that I kept him from crashing after that bludger hit."

"He won't hear it from me," she promised. "Don't be shy about asking questions as you work. I'll help you with anything you need."

While James' head and neck injuries were serious, Al didn't have any trouble doing the parts of the healing he could do – and handle in ways that Madam Pomfrey again pointed out was quite extraordinary. The problems he had with James weren't an issue; and Al was glad to do what he could to help James so he'd be able to recover much more quickly than would be possible through the traditional healing for such injuries. When he was eventually finished, Al was a bit tired; but he watched in fascination as Madam Pomfrey then basically gave James a real swollen head so that his brain could continue to expand. That healing would take longer, and wouldn't be fun for James; but Madam Pomfrey told Al that he would recover in days instead of what might have been weeks or a month without his help. Al knew that Lily would want to see James too, so he left the room once they were finished everything that Madam Pomfrey wanted to do with the first round of healing; he sent Lily in for a quick visit with James; and then shared a long hug and kiss with Gwendolyn.

"Thank-you," Gwendolyn told Al with a bright smile; and he laughed.

"I should be thanking you for that kiss – not the other way around," he joked.

"The thanks is for getting us out of the stadium," she explained. "Lily was talking with some of your cousins using her mirror; and the Slytherins are apparently having a lot of fun with the double bonus of beating Gryffindor's senior team for the first time in years and putting James in the Hospital Wing too."

"Has there been any trouble?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"Not beyond the lousy sportsmanship. Your cousins have really had to put up with a lot from the sounds of it – and we overheard some of the razzing while talking with Hugo and Rose."

"I know they gave as good as they got with the trash talking James was doing this week, but nobody else on the team did that; so they don't deserve the bashing."

"Especially since they were getting beat everywhere except at Seeker today," Gwendolyn added.

"Until the game ended," Al agreed. "That wouldn't have lasted much longer. Louis was still holding up pretty well, but my cousins and Olivia were playing – and are – hurt. Getting up to the one-sixty lead wasn't looking good anymore."

"They would have kept trying to get there; but you're likely right," Gwendolyn offered. "I've been annoyed like this every time Slytherin has won a match since we started here, but while we've other reasons to dislike them; I really only hate it because they always cheat to get those wins. I just don't get how anyone can feel good about winning that way."

"Me either; but that isn't likely to change anytime soon. The good news for us is that we'll never have to play against Victor or Brand while we're here. I also might have some suggestions that we can pass on to our favorite senior team Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs for dealing with them in their matches – even though the Slytherins might consider that cheating too."

"I have an easy solution for them – catch the snitch before Slytherin has time to bash them to bits," Gwendolyn only half-joked. "If Brand is going to use that Lightningbolt for every match; Pauline is going to have more worries than James has had today. Alex might fare better for taking the hits; but anyone would wear down eventually after taking enough hits."

Al had agreed with her, but their chat moved on; and then they began to have company to hang out with. First up was Rose and Hugo; Bristol came with Rose; and Al sensed that she intended on sticking as close to James as she could get. While Al could sense more from her that he'd have liked; there was an off-set of real concern for his brother that made up a bit for the other emotional vibes coming from her that included a fairly-unhealthy, jealous rivalry with Patricia. That was something that Al didn't stay around to deal with for long because Patricia joined the growing group of teens in the hallway with Ollie; and that scene might have turned ugly if Al hadn't left before Ollie could push him too far.

Gwendolyn went with him; they decided to head outside until lunchtime; and then Al constructively vented his frustrations when they met up with the Gryffindor team; and he quietly healed Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia while taking turns hugging each of them. Louis was the only guy that stayed to talk with them too while the McClaggens kept on going toward the castle; so he didn't get razzed for that beyond Gwendolyn teasing him for hugging far too many Witches that weren't her in one morning. After that cameo moment, Al and Gwendolyn went for a walk along the lake; stopped for a short, outdoor visit with Hagrid; and eventually headed for the Great Hall in time for lunch. Lily and Rose gave them the update on James when they arrived there too, but there wasn't much to tell them; since James was still unconscious. Lily also advised them that Harry and Ginny weren't going to come to the school until after the Harpies' match unless James woke up sooner than expected, and although Ollie and Patricia started spouting off when they found out about that; they didn't know everything that Harry and Ginny did about James' situation.

The mood in the Great Hall was a bit strange because of the contrast between the party atmosphere at the Slytherin table and the more somber tone among the students in the other three Houses. Al had more issues thanks to his extended senses; and that was partly-true because he commiserated with many of the feelings about James. He didn't feel quite as guilty as some teens did about not being sorry over James getting seriously hurt or other, more primal and vindictive emotions, but then his perspective was different; and it wasn't all that tough for Al to reconcile the myriad emotions without adding guilt to the mix. The Quidditch match, James' injuries, and the rest of the usual game day gossip kept the lunchtime conversations lively. The razzing and insults from Slytherins directed at Gryffindors wasn't fun; but Al managed to stay away from nearly all of that except for one round with the Averys and their mates while Al and Gwendolyn were on their way to the hospital wing with Rose, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo. That had been short and ugly, but then Ollie proved that he could be a bigger jerk than any Slytherin when he and Patricia tried to block their way when they were about three-quarters of the way to the hospital wing.

"Going somewhere you're not wanted, loser?" Ollie demanded as he and Patricia stepped out of a secret passage.

"Yes, we are," Al agreed, "but don't worry – I'll stay out of James' way once he's conscious again. I wouldn't want to be responsible for prolonging his recovery by making him ill simply by being anywhere near to him."

"You'll do that whether he's conscious or not," Ollie spat back. "Why don't you just get lost and we'll worry about James. It's not as if you give a damn about him anyway."

"Sure, because you were the one that cares so much about our brother that you saved him from crashing after he got hit by that bludger," Lily retorted. "Oh wait, that was Al saving him from that fall."

"I'd say it's Al's fault that he got hit by that bludger in the first place," Ollie retorted. "With Al stinking up the entire stadium; it's a wonder we weren't all knocked out by the smell alone."

Al sighed and shook his head. "We're going to check in on James; and then we'll be leaving; since he's likely to stay out of it for a day or more. You're welcome to keep vigil if you want; and I'm sure that James will appreciate it, Ollie, but when Lily and I do want to visit James; I'd strongly suggest that you stay out of our way and shut it."

"Or what?" Ollie demanded with a sneer. "Will you haul me to the Heads' office again and whine at them about me saying mean things to you – regardless of the fact that they're true? Go ahead, you stinking rat-fink loser!"

Al took two steps until he was standing right in front of Ollie; and locked gazes with him. "You've been around a number of times when I've told James that I love him," he said; and ignored the sneer that Ollie pasted on his face. "I do love my brother regardless of what he feels or anything he does to me, but I can honestly admit that I don't like you at all, Ollie. You really don't want to find out what will happen if you try to push me too far when James isn't around to protect you."

"I don't need James to protect me!" Ollie spat hotly and drew his wand.

"I mean that because I always – always – hold back when dealing with James because I love him," Al explained. "Now, if you will please get out of our way; I'm going to go and see James for a minute; and then we're going to go and watch the Harpies' match and study for the afternoon – since we don't have a party to attend in our common room today." Ollie stood his ground, and had his wand at the ready; but didn't try to use it.

"Go ahead and make me," Ollie taunted scornfully. "Give me a reason to blast you, Potty!"

"If you insist," Al agreed. He drew his wand; pointed it at Ollie; opened his mouth to cast a spell; and then did nothing more than dodge to the side and use a shield to deflect the curse that Ollie preemptively fired at him. Al stepped back and smiled; though his eyes were emerald fire. "What was that you said about having a reason to blast me?" he asked. "Does that mean I've got that same excuse now instead?"

"You..." Ollie started to say; but Al jumped in and said – "did nothing except deflect that curse so nobody else would get hurt." He looked to the side at Gwendolyn and the others. "This might be a good time for you to move out of the way," he said; and then turned back to glare at Ollie as he silently blocked two more curses – one of them aimed at Gwendolyn instead of him. He gritted his teeth. "You might want to get out of the way too, Patricia;" he said angrily. She looked ready to refuse; but when he glanced at her; she swallowed hard, closed her mouth, and started to back away from Ollie. For his part, Ollie continued to attack; and made his last mistake when one of his curses was aimed at Lily.

"That's it!" Al yelled. He waved his wand; put a dome shield up that enclosed him with Ollie; while also nudging everyone else out of the way with revulsion charms to give them room to duel. "Come on, Ollie," he said angrily once they were 'alone' within his shield. "You want to blast me? Good! I feel the same way. Let's have at it!"

"Fine by me," Ollie shouted back; and then went on the attack. Magical fireworks exploded all around them, but while Al was furious; he didn't counter-attack. He did something worse – he forced all of Ollie's curses and jinxes to bouncing around within his dome shield; kept track of all of them; and let Ollie keep blasting away for several minutes before finally deflecting every single one of them back onto his brother's git of a best mate. The only offensive spell he used was to disarm Ollie; and he did that at the exact moment that his self-delusional opponent finally realized what Al had done – just before his own spells blasted him. Al sensed the momentary flash of incredible pain; the overload knocked Ollie out; and then the fight was over. He dropped the shield as Ollie's wand flew into his hand, and for once; he was not at all sorry about what he'd done in winning that duel.

"Can someone call for help?" Al asked. "Ollie's going to need it; and I'm not interested in being the one to do that."

"What did you do to him?" Patricia demanded; and Al smiled at her.

"I disarmed him,' he answered. She glared at him in obvious disbelief; and Al laughed. "Okay, I also deflected every single curse and hex that he hurled at me around us until he'd used a lot of them; and then let all of them hit him at exactly the same time. It seemed like a waste to just stop them."

"You did what?" Patricia exclaimed; and Al laughed again.

"Would you have had a problem with it if all of those spells had blasted me?" he asked. "I'm sure Ollie would have been okay with what they'd have done to me – even if he'll hate what they've done to him." He looked down at Ollie unsympathetically; but then he sighed and shook his head. "I did lie about one thing, though – I can't hate anyone enough to just leave them like that."

"I've already called for help," Rose advised him; and Al shrugged again.

"That's okay. I'll have some explaining to do for this one anyway." He was already kneeling next to Ollie by then; put his hands gently on his chest with his wand in his right hand; and closed his eyes as he let his extended senses flow into Ollie – and allowed his healing power to follow. In this case, he could heal all of Ollie's injuries, but it took a lot out of both of them; and he slumped wearily once he was done. Gwendolyn was there in a moment; put her arms around him; and pulled him back into her embrace as she knelt with him. They were both watching Ollie as his eyes slowly opened; and he looked dazed and confused as he tried to focus on them.

"What happened?" he asked shakily; and Al smiled when Gwendolyn answered before he could.

"You lost," she advised him. "Memo to you – don't try to curse Al's little sister. He takes that sort of thing rather personally."

Ollie seemed to have trouble processing that, but then Molly was there with Dominique, Lucy, Olivia, and a dozen other, older teens. Al and Gwendolyn stood up to face them; and then they spent a half-hour or so dealing with the aftermath of Al's decision to duel Ollie instead of trying to defuse the situation another way. Ollie might have been healed, but he was about as weak as a newborn kneazle kitten; and after being helped to the hospital wing; Madam Pomfrey put him into the bed next to James and gave him a restorative to help him recover from the fight and healing that had drained him. Al's decision to help Ollie probably saved him from losing points and getting detention; but he couldn't bring himself to care about that one way or the other. Molly did set him free once she'd talked with everyone that had witnessed the fight and she'd checked both wands. Al had been able to get the update on James by then too; so he and Gwendolyn went to their study classroom with most of their friends to get set up for the Harpies game that was already in progress by then. Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and some of their friends joined them too; and the teens and tweens split up between the sofas and some of the work tables. Al and Gwendolyn were at one of the work tables so that they could study too; and had Rose, Toni, and Michael with them at that table.

"What would you like to start with?" Toni asked; smiling and directing her question at Al. "DADA?"

"Maybe he's had enough of that for a while," Rose teased; joining in to help with Toni's joke.

"I'd say that Al should get bonus marks for that duel – and not just because it was Ollie getting blasted."

"No, that was just a bonus," Michael said; and then smiled ruefully. "Did I say that out loud?"

"You did," Toni confirmed. "We're all thinking it too, though, so don't feel bad – even if Al does."

"He warned Ollie, and despite what he told Molly; Al did ask Ollie to leave us alone before getting mad when he started flinging curses at us."

"Too bad for Al that Patricia will likely have an entirely different story up on the gossip network by dinnertime," Rose said with a shake of her head. "If it wasn't so rotten; I'd laugh at the way she tries to defend the things that James and Ollie do. I think that Bristol's acting crazy right now too, but at least she doesn't try to stick up for James; and is honest with us."

"Let's not go there," Gwendolyn suggested, "and before we get way off-track; I'll vote for getting Arithmancy out of the way. We'll have more study buddies with us tomorrow; and they'll want to work on the usual, problem classes – Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration."

They didn't all opt for that, but they did all get to work. The chats going on in the room sometimes involved them, but they managed to get some work done too while the game was on. The Harpies were playing the Magpies, and while that match was a lot different than the game they'd watched in the morning; there were some similarities. The Harpies opened up an early lead and built on it through to the end of the game; they hadn't been able to earn the one-sixty lead; and the snitch was caught in the third hour. The differences were important too; with the fact that Gabrielle caught the snitch to win the match being the most important for them. Victoire scored eleven of the Harpies' twenty goals; and the final score was three-fifty to seventy. Al didn't pack up his gear and books right after the game ended, but he did do that within a half-hour or so; and had Lily and Gwendolyn with him for another visit to the hospital wing before dinner. He mostly wanted to do that because he expected that his father would be there by then – and possibly his Mum too if she decided to skip the post-game press conference work to go with Harry instead. They soon found out that Harry had come alone, but Ginny wasn't far behind; and she joined them while the kids were still there – and while they still had time to visit before going to the Great Hall for dinner.

Their visit wasn't all fun and games, and while the seriousness of James' injuries were part of the reason for that; Harry and Ginny also got to deal with Ollie when he began spouting off to them about the awful things their loser son had done to him in an unprovoked attack when all Ollie was trying to do was ask Al to stay away from James because he knew that his best friend wouldn't want the loser there. When he didn't like their responses to that; he started to insult them directly for picking watching a Quidditch match over their son – even when he'd been so severely injured and might have died while they were off having a good time with their friends. That was reasonably awful, and then there was the weird and awkward that came from Patricia as she tried to hover near James while also backing up Ollie's rant with attempts to confirm everything he was telling Harry and Ginny. When Bristol joined them too, she took a very different tact; sucked up to Ginny; and fairly fawned over James as if she would personally nurse him back to health and take care of him so that Ginny wouldn't have anything to worry about if she couldn't stay with him night and day. By the time they needed to go to dinner; Al was grateful to be away from all of that drama; and hoped that there'd be less of it when they went back again after dinner.

That was a lot to hope for, but Madam Pomfrey helped Al out with that by putting a limit on the number of visitors while Harry and Ginny were there. Al and Lily weren't allowed to stay for long either, but they did get a chance to talk with their parents without too many interruptions; and then Al and Gwendolyn went to meet up with the rest of their study group to do more work until an hour or so before curfew. They then had one more short visit with Harry and Ginny before they needed to be back in their own Houses and Harry and Ginny went home for the night. James had still been unconscious, and the swelling in his brain was still serious and being treated; but Madam Pomfrey assured them that he was just fine; and she expected that the swelling would fade quickly-enough and then James would be on the fast-track to recovery.

Once he was back in the Gryffindor common room, Al had to spend some time giving his cousins the updates with Lily; they sat and talked with their friends for a while after that; and then he went to bed and let the exhaustion catch up with him shortly after getting ready for bed and then crashing into his bed for the night. Once he was asleep, Al didn't wake for anything again until his usual morning wake-up time.

"Our team beat Gryffindor today," Scorpius told Thomas as he put his portrait onto the table. He then flopped into the armchair; and sprawled there with his legs extended and his arms hanging over the sides of the arms. "Better than that, James Potter took a bludger to the head; and he's in the hospital wing for an extended stay – though I'm a bit surprised that a bludger could do any damage to that thick skull of his."

"Congratulations," Thomas told him. "Did lending Bletchley your broom help the team?"

"I'd say it made the difference between winning and losing – not that I've been given any thanks for that yet."

"They won," Thomas pointed out. "Isn't that thanks-enough?"

"It's better than watching them lose after doing that; but the way the Averys and their mates are talking now; you'd think that they could have won the game flying school brooms."

"Well, you could see how they do if you don't lend it to them for their last two games," Thomas suggested; and Scorpius laughed.

"That would be funny if I did that and they lost both games; but not funny-enough to have Brand and Victor decide that pounding on me would be more fun than their useless plots against Albus."

"Are they still talking about that even after winning today?"

"They're always finding ways to talk about Albus and ways they can destroy him. He helped to keep James from crashing after that bludger bashed his head in; so his Slytherin hater club is mad at him for keeping James from being even more seriously injured."

"I suppose it's still too early for you to have helped James first," Thomas mused. "He's not quite ready for that yet. An anonymous get well soon gift might be a good idea, though, and since he'll hate it that Albus helped him; you should send something that he can use against his baby brother."

"I thought that I was supposed to watch, listen, and wait for a while before getting involved again," Scorpius reminded Thomas.

"We need to be flexible when opportunities are presented to us. Do you have a favorite that we've got ready that you'd like to see James use on Albus?"

Scorpius thought about that for a few moments. "He botched the Polyjuice; so maybe we should stay away from the other potions," he mused. "Sending him instructions on how to make a rogue bludger might be appropriate; but then there's only one game left between now and the Christmas break; and Albus can use magic to stop one during practices so that'd be a waste of time."

Thomas offered a suggestion that had Scorpius grinning; they talked about that for a while; and then moved on to the full daily recap before having a quick lesson together. Scorpius hadn't had much time for that before he needed to be back in Slytherin House, and while he really did need to be there; he didn't bother Thomas with the reason he was so interested in being there on-time. Ending a brilliant day for Slytherin with a bit of quality snogging with his girlfriend was not information that Thomas needed, and while his mentor would disapprove; Scorpius continued to enjoy exploring a part of his life that Thomas had simply never learned to appreciate the way most Wizards did.

In fact, if taking over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time didn't work out for him; doing that by snogging Witches instead offered an alternative that he found quite interesting indeed!

Al was back to full power by Sunday morning. While he was sure that James' recovery would be a focal point of his day, and he planned on making a visit to the hospital wing while on his pre-breakfast walk with Rose and Lily, his attention was diverted from those thoughts after he met up with the girls and he found out that there was a new family story that would soon be on the school gossip network. Rose and Lily had hugs for him when they met up in the common room; and they kept the usual morning niceties going until they were out in the hallway and on their own before dropping the minor news bombshell on him.

"Molly and Calvin have broken up," Lily advised Al after she and Rose gave him a pair of lead-up comments to get him ready for the real news. "We don't have the entire story, but it seems that yesterday was the last straw for Molly when Calvin didn't come to the game to see her – even though he could have done that and just chose to do something else instead."

"Her birthday is next week," Rose said next. "He should have come."

"Teddy may have messed that up for Calvin and Jensen," Al suggested. "He had a full-time job too; and still managed to come and see Victoire on every Hogsmeade weekend and for all twelve Quidditch matches that year."

"His boss probably helped him out with that," Rose reminded him, "and Jensen has to work more weekends than Teddy did; but he and Calvin have both skipped coming for visits that they could have done with Molly and Dominique."

"It's possible that both boys have lost their minds," Lily suggested. "Calvin didn't come here ahead of Molly's birthday; and Jensen didn't come for Dominique's first match as team Captain."

"That's been a problem for Dominique too," Al pointed out. "She had to pick between Harpies' matches and going to Jensen's games too." He smiled at Rose. "I don't really want to go there and give you any ammunition to use against me; but you'd really have to be committed to each other to handle staying together with two Quidditch players on different teams. That's not a problem for Molly and Calvin; but then I get the feeling that his issue is more due to the distractions of his new career – especially when Molly isn't available to share any of that with him."

"Like the parties and the fame and attention from a lot of young, beautiful Witches?" Lily guessed; and Al shrugged.

"Basically, yes," he agreed. "I don't want to bash Calvin, though, since he is a decent guy. He's botched things with Molly, but I'll guess it's because he didn't know how to tell Molly how he was feeling – not because he was trying to be a jerk toward her."

"That's likely true," Rose conceded. "If Jensen's smart; he'll hear about this and smarten up soon – or end up in the same club with Calvin."

"Yeah – the single Wizards' club," Lily added with a grin that turned into a bright smile when Rose laughed.

"Are you hopeful about that for any personal reasons?" Rose teased; and Lily laughed too.

"No, and he's a bit old for me – at least right now. I like Jensen too, but if I'm being honest; I don't think that he's the right guy for Dominique – or she's not right for him either."

"Don't count out the possibility that our standards are too high for all of the kids in our family," Rose offered. "Your Mum married the most famous Wizard in the world; my Dad married the brightest Witch of their time; Uncle Bill married a Tri-Wizard champion and war hero; and Uncle George married a world-famous Quidditch star. Uncle Charlie's the only kid in their family to marry a comparatively normal Witch; and I think he found a perfect match too."

"Well, Victoire and Al have set the bar a bit high for our generation too," Lily teased, grinning at Al; but there are still lots of famous Wizards out there and available for you, me, and the rest of our cousins – even for those of us who aren't in a hurry to join the couples' club anytime soon."

Rose had a few comments to offer about that, but their conversation moved on to other topics – including the rest of the gossip that was going around the girls' side of the network. Their visit to the hospital wing was short because Ollie was awake and in fine form while James was still unconscious. Madam Pomfrey advised them that the swelled head – as Lily referred to it – had gotten much better overnight; so she expected that James would be waking up again soon. He didn't do that while they were at breakfast, and since he was still out when they stopped in after that meal in the Great Hall – this time with Gwendolyn along for the walk; they only stayed to have a visit with Harry and Ginny; and then they moved on to their study classroom to work until shortly before lunchtime. Gwendolyn only worked for half of that time because she had a make-up Quidditch practice with her team; but she met up with Al at the hospital wing before lunch; and they found out that James had woken up while they'd been busy – and done so in a very bad mood.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" James spat as Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily walked into the main room. "Let me guess – Quidditch was more important than me for you too."

"Only for me," Gwendolyn advised him before Al or Lily could answer. "Al and Lily were studying instead."

"Then Al must be about to mess up his perfect marks if he couldn't divine that I was awake again," James shot back; sneering maliciously at Al. "Ollie and Patricia told me all about what you did to him yesterday. Should I be thanking you for getting my head bashed in? I heard that you used magic during the game again. Did you jinx that bludger?"

"He saved you from crashing," Lily told him angrily; "and didn't use his wand until about two seconds after Bletchley caught the snitch so the match was over – not that it would have mattered. You should be thanking Al instead of trying to blame him yet again for something that was your own fault."

James snorted and glowered at her. "Don't insult my intelligence. That just makes you sound like an idiot, and if all you can do is act like that; then go away. It's not as if any of you give a damn about me anyway."

"You obviously didn't get hit hard enough to knock any sense into you," Lily told him. "I'd hoped and hoped; but you're well on the way to being completely back to your normal, obnoxious self."

"That's enough, kids," Ginny told them. "James is supposed to rest and avoid getting worked up while he's healing; so this banter isn't good for him."

"Having the loser anywhere near me is bad for that too," James retorted. "Get him out of here before the stench overwhelms me – or my brain starts swelling again just from the sight of him."

"That's fine with me," Al told him. He went over to his parents and hugged each of them. "I love you," he added. "Have fun with James. That might even be possible once I'm out of here." He turned to James next. "I hope you're better soon, but now that you're awake again; I won't come and mess with your recovery."

"If you really want to help with that, quit school and go home with Mum and Dad when they leave," James demanded more than suggested; and Al laughed.

"No, but thanks for the laugh. I'll see you around – or not; if I'm lucky."

With that, Al took Gwendolyn's hand; they left the room; and he ignored the taunts that James called out after them until they were gone and the door was closed behind them. She'd followed him for the hugs with Harry and Ginny; and had a hug and kiss for him once they were alone in the hallway. She smiled as they resumed walking; but was shaking her head too.

"I don't know what's funnier – that entire scene; or the fact that it would have been worse if James knew just how much you helped him yesterday."

"That wasn't all bad," Al suggested. "He's made it clear that he doesn't want me to go anywhere near him; and we won't have to worry about him bugging us at all while he's recovering."

"Is there any chance that will take until we head home for the Christmas holidays?"

"No, but that's a cheery thought. We don't have to keep checking in on him, though, and while I'd have liked to spend more time with Mum and Dad; we'll have more fun doing anything else that doesn't include being anywhere near to James."

Gwendolyn was happy to talk with him about that; they split up while having lunch in the Great Hall; and then they got back together and back to their studying until Gwendolyn had her work finished for the weekend. A Chaser duel kept them busy for the rest of the afternoon; they had Keepers, Seekers, and two more Chasers playing with them for that; and then they were back in the Great Hall for dinner. Finally, they ended their day with some family and friends time that included music; mirror chats; and watching a couple of shows on the mirror network until it was time for the usual visit to the Owlery just ahead of curfew. The couples were able to do a bit of cuddling too, but while Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any snogging opportunities; they were happy to have the family and friends-rated play time instead. Al couldn't have a mirror chat with his parents until after he was back in his dorm room because they'd stayed late with James and then been busy after that for a while too; but that had been a fun way to end his day and weekend. Their stories about James – and Ollie, Patricia, and Bristol – had been very entertaining; though Al was also very glad that he wasn't around for any of it – especially when his brother and friends apparently thought that bashing him was an entertaining way to spend their afternoon and evening despite the fact that Harry and Ginny were there with them most of the time.

After the excitement of the weekend, the second week of November was very quiet. Al and Gwendolyn weren't the only teens in the school suggesting that was entirely because James was in the hospital wing all week; but their jokes were the mildest and least-insulting to James. Al stayed away from James, but did get daily reports from Lily and some of his cousins; so he knew that there were some suspicions that James was milking his illness to get out of his classes and assignments by Tuesday. That theory was mostly based on the fact that James' acting job was so awful; and that required him to have regular collapses and relapses after every instance where he'd gotten too interested in what was going on around him and forgot to play sick for a while. He also got caught more than once in what he began to refer to as 'therapeutic' snogging with Patricia or Bristol, but the only thing that surprised Al about that was the fact that one or both of the girls didn't try to bash his head in again for being such a two-timing git.

With Ollie spending most of his spare time with James; Al didn't have to worry about him either. That made his days much easier; Quidditch practices were more fun without the usual end-of-practice annoyances from James and Ollie; and he even managed to get his assignments finished earlier than usual without any of the distractions. There was more fun to be had too, and while that was usually done after the work was out of the way; Al had more fun at everything anyway – including with his classes and the studying that took up most of his time. The only exception to that was the bit of fun that Al, Rose, Lily, and Gwendolyn had with Molly on Wednesday morning for her eighteenth birthday. She wasn't having a major party or anything because she was too busy to spare the time for that, but they gave her gifts; shared hugs and kisses; and had a few laughs before they all needed to get on with their day. Lucy did have a very small party for her sister, but that was only with a very few friends in the Heads' office; and didn't get in the way of Molly's Head Girl duties or never-ending, NEWT-year studies.

James began to make a miraculous recovery by Friday afternoon; and managed to convince Madam Pomfrey that he was well-enough to be released by dinnertime. Al didn't find out about that until he saw James in the Great Hall for that meal, but that just made it easier to get through his Quidditch practice and studying until then; and didn't really affect him at all after dinner while he returned to his studies with Gwendolyn, Rose, and about half of their study group. The main reason that he didn't have any issues with James on Friday night was because his brother was too busy playing the recovering invalid to bother with annoying him. Studying all evening helped to keep Al away from James as he apparently held court in the Gryffindor common room, but they chose to put in the extra work early so that they could have more time off during the rest of the only 'free' weekend they had on the school schedule through until the Christmas break.

Since Gwendolyn also had her team Quidditch practice on Saturday morning, she needed more time to get her weekend assignments finished, but Al had his work done by lunchtime; he helped her with getting her work done by mid-afternoon; and then they started in on the fun parts of their weekend with a small, invitation-only pool party that kept them entertained until dinnertime. They had to split up for that meal, but then they spent all of Saturday evening on their own. Mirror chats with their parents were only a small part of their fun; the music time was great; and the major snogging after that was brilliant while they didn't watch any of the shows that were playing on the mirror network while they were busy playing on the sofa until they had to run back to their Houses to get back ahead of curfew.

While they'd finished their 'must-do' weekend assignments on Saturday, there were still the bigger projects to do; so they worked on them on Sunday morning. That was fun most of the time too; since they did get to experiment with the magic for some of those projects, but the fun level went up from there as they wrapped up for lunch; and then spent the afternoon playing Quidditch and having another, larger pool party after the scrimmage match that Al and Gwendolyn Captained for a Witches against Wizards competition. The girls weren't thrilled about losing that match, but they did all have fun; and warming up after the game with the pool party was a great way to help them get over the disappointment.

It was also a great way for the boys to enjoy some quality time with their favorite Witches in swimsuits!

By Sunday evening, it was time to slow down again; so Al and Gwendolyn spent those hours hanging out with Lily and Jonah; they had mirror chats with their parents; played music again; watched shows on the mirror network; and wrote letters for home too before sending them off with Winter after a lengthy visit to the Owlery that included spending time with Blizzard because he was very put out over the complete lack of attention he'd been getting from James. While Al and Lily felt especially bad for their brother's owl, there wasn't anything they could do beyond spending a bit of time with him when they could and give him extra treats. Al ended up thinking about that as he got ready for bed and wrapped up his weekend with a bit of textbook reading, but that was in a strange way; since the more he thought about Blizzard's lack of attention from James; he couldn't help but wish that he could be so lucky every week!

Those thoughts weren't prophetic, but might have been self-jinxing; since Al's reprieve from James and Ollie problems did end on Monday. Their first run-in wasn't direct; but James was at the Quidditch pitch with Ollie for the senior team practice; and they had fun razzing Al, Lily, Rose, and Ray as they packed up from their work-out. James wasn't there to play, since he wasn't cleared to even practice Quidditch yet, but he'd apparently felt the need to be there and find out what was going on with Brandon and the rest of his team when they worked out without him. His need to do that seemed silly to Al, since it wasn't as if Dominique had invited any other players to take his job while he wasn't able to play too; and Brandon simply chased the snitch on his own and only had to worry about the Beaters without a Seeker opponent.

James' practice-watching visit and the razzing he'd directed at Al and the others really looked dumb when Al later found out that he'd blown off most of his classes and made two visits to Madam Pomfrey to claim he was having a relapse and issues ranging from vision problems to migraine headaches. Finding out about that hadn't been a surprise to Al, but he also didn't think that James was making a mistake because he sensed that James was not simply doing it to get out of classes – that was just an added bonus for him. He had no idea about what the plan was this time; and mostly just hoped that it wasn't something directed at him. As the week rolled along, the problems that Al and Gwendolyn did have with James and Ollie were annoying enough – even if they weren't part of a bigger plan.

On Tuesday, Gwendolyn had to deal with a confrontation with James and Ollie while she was on the way back to her House from her Quidditch practice. She wasn't alone, but that didn't keep the two boys from making lewd and crude offers to her – along with inviting Stephanie to join in for the fun while they would have to 'throw back' the younger birdbrains until they were a bit older and more developed. While it had been obvious that James had been trying to goad Gwendolyn; he hadn't been prepared to have Jonah attempt to blast him – an attempt that succeeded spectacularly; though it wasn't anything serious-enough to actually injure James. Gwendolyn had all the help she needed when James and Ollie attempted to retaliate against Jonah; and they all walked away without a scratch after another group of teens with two Prefects among them got involved and put an end to the silliness.

The only problem Al had on Wednesday was another round of insults and rudeness from James and Ollie at the end of the junior team Quidditch practice. By then, James had managed to miss about three-quarters of his classes over the first three days of the week, but if anyone was amazed at how perfect the timing was for his 'good' moments every day; they didn't mention it to Al, Gwendolyn, or anyone else in their usual group of friends. It ended up being Thursday afternoon when James and Ollie returned to their attacks on Al and Gwendolyn; and they did that in a completely new, ridiculously-dangerous way. Al had worked with Gwendolyn a bit longer than the rest of their study group to finish an assignment they'd worked on together after she joined the study session following her Quidditch practice; so they'd been on their own when they were ready to head to the Great Hall for dinner.

Being 'alone' was relative when walking the halls of the castle near any of the meal times – particularly along the main routes from the four Houses to the Great Hall. Al and Gwendolyn were not completely alone in the first-floor hallway, and when the alarms went off for Al; he immediately realized that was exactly what James and Ollie had wanted. He didn't see them, and didn't need that confirmation to know they launched the ambush; but didn't have time to think about why he knew that because he needed to act before it was too late. Gwendolyn was surprised when he yanked his hand free of hers; amazed as she watched him blur into his Samoyed husky form while already stepping forward into a run; and stunned as he raced ahead of her and then leapt at the backs of the group of three boys that had been walking about fifteen paces ahead of them.

They yelled in alarm and shock, but Al athletically jumped over them; using the shoulders of two of the boys to help with launching himself over and past them; and then he snapped at something with his teeth that Gwendolyn couldn't see while throwing and twisting his body sideways as he cleared the boys and began to drop toward the floor. The yelp of pain that Al emitted from his muzzle next was heart-wrenching for Gwendolyn, but the boys were in the way now; so it wasn't until she caught up with them that she could see what had happened to Al. She shoved two of the boys out of the way, and when she got her first look at Al; her heart froze at what she noticed first – the blood-soaked muzzle and pain-filled eyes.

"If you want to play fetch with your dog; I'd say that you shouldn't do it with a pair of Fanged Frisbees," the third boy said as he bent over and reached for one of the toys – the one that Al had apparently caught in his mouth and dropped after catching it. When Gwendolyn saw the change in Al's eyes, since she was still looking at them; and saw him feebly try to move toward it; she understood the warning.

"Don't touch it!" she shouted; and then needed to step up and physically yank the kid back away from the Fanged Frisbee – and the brink of unseen danger.

"What's your problem?" he demanded; but then took a step back when he saw the hard glare and realized who she was.

"My problem is that my boyfriend just saved you from whatever those Fanged Frisbees would have done to one or more of you; and now you're trying to find out what that would have been the hard way." Al growled weakly in agreement; and then there was another doggie-sound of pain as he seemed to heave up; and then he blurred into his human form and collapsed onto the floor.

Gwendolyn knelt next to him and reached out her hand; but stopped when he said – "No – don't touch me!"

"What is it?" she asked; pulling her hand back.

"They're cursed," he gasped; forcing out the words. "Call for help, please. Don't let anyone touch them – or me – before they figure out what's happening to me." He groaned in pain. "I love you," he whispered hoarsely. "See you after my nap?"

"Yeah, you will; and I love you too," Gwendolyn said tearfully, but Al was mercifully unconscious by then; she got her mirror out; and made that call for help.

"It worked!" Scorpius announced as he pulled Thomas' portrait out of his book bag; smiling with a vicious triumph as he then set the portrait onto the table and began pacing the room.

"James and Ollie used your little gift?" Thomas surmised; and Scorpius nodded.

"Yes, and rather brilliantly too. From what we've heard so far, nobody saw who did it; so they've likely gotten away with it." He laughed then; and looked ready to jump around in celebration. "If the rumors we've heard so far prove true, they aimed their attack at three Hufflepuff mudbloods that were walking in the same hallway just ahead of Albus and Gwendolyn; Albus went Animagus and ran to their rescue; and both of our lovely little cursed Fanged Frisbees sliced him up when he managed to block both of them and save the mudbloods!"

"Well, they didn't get the Witch too, but maybe they didn't try to do that for a reason; and it does sound as though this worked as well as we'd hoped. How is the younger brother doing?"

"I don't know, but he was able to change back to his human form before passing out; and nobody else was hurt because he and Gwendolyn kept anyone else from touching the Fanged Frisbees without taking proper precautions. Our DADA Professors are apparently dealing with them – and there are rumors that they have brought in help to try and figure out what the curse is so that they can discover a way to treat Albus."

"Good luck to them with that," Thomas said with a dark, intense smile and something much darker shining in his eyes. "That curse won't kill him; but there's a good chance that he'll never be the same again either."

"Good, though now I'm wishing that we'd sent that gift to James and Ollie first. They might have gotten Albus out of the way before my Quidditch match against Gryffindor."

"That first gift would have done the same," Thomas reminded him. "They just didn't get that done for you."

"I suppose that it's better done late than never. How long do you expect he'll be out of commission?"

Thomas thought about that for a moment before answering. "If he was definitely cut by both of them; then it will likely be some weeks before the curse runs its course; and then months more to recover. As I've already said; he will never be the same – never completely recover."

"Are you certain?"

"There is no cure and no treatment for that curse," Thomas assured him; and Scorpius smiled and nodded.

"Good. This should work out very well for me – especially if it messes up all of his friends too. Maybe I'll be the top student in our year if they slack off while tending to their fallen hero!"

"Speaking of that – don't you have work to do? Being top student won't happen if you slack off just when you've got the chance to make that happen."

"We have got to work on your ability to have fun," Scorpius declared without answering the question. "We should celebrate this little victory for a while. I'll get the work done too – once I'm wound down enough to put up with the morons in my study group and deal with the useless assignments our Professors keep dumping on us."

He went on to supposedly help his painted mentor to have a fun lesson; that included a new magic lesson; and then Scorpius needed to get back to his House again – though he didn't tell Thomas that was because he'd stayed out until near-curfew. He didn't end up studying much either, since Terri had been waiting for him; and had more interesting ideas about what they could do until they were tired out and ready to sleep. He wasn't worried about that, since it was Thursday; and he had all weekend and more to get those assignments done before he had any of those classes again.

There wouldn't be any end-of-term awards for snogging, but the activity had more than enough, immediate rewards; which explained why it was one of Scorpius' favorite things to do.

Maybe he just needed to revise his plans for reclaiming the Wizarding World for all true purebloods. Thomas insisted that had to come through hard work and being the best Wizard, but when Scorpius eventually went off to sleep sometime in the early hours of Friday morning; his dreams were of an all-Witch army of Quidditch fans helping him to celebrate his ultimate victory in very interesting ways!

Al drifted along in blackness. There was nothing to sense in any way around him, but there wasn't peace; and he felt everything that was happening within him. The pain was overwhelming as his awareness of it returned from wherever his unconscious mind had gone to hide from it for a while; so it took some time – or at least it seemed so to him – before rational thought returned to him. He eventually realized that he was in a semi-dream state of his subconscious mind. It wasn't that fuzzy place between sleep and waking, since he was detached from any awareness of what was going on around his physical body, and while he deduced that; he also didn't feel anything one way or the other about that as his mind wandered along to the next thought.

"Note to me – find a better way to protect other teens and tweens from cursed Fanged Frisbees."

He would have laughed had he been awake – or maybe he wouldn't have; since just the thought of laughing had him sure that it would hurt to do it. That idea led him to focusing on the pain, but it was an abstract thing – something he felt; but not at all the same way he knew that he would if he was conscious. It took him a while to work out the why for that, but when it did come to him; he was amazed to discover that he was sensing the pain through the fog of the curse magic that was continuing to tear into him. Tear was the right word for that; and explained why the pain was so intense. It was raw, open, and constantly-new injuries that he was focusing on while the already-existing injuries faded by comparison.

"Okay, so what can I do about it?" he thought silently.

"That's a very good question to start with."

A picture frame emerged slowly from the darkness around him; and Al mentally smiled when he saw the Wizard – though he'd already known who it was from recognizing the voice.

"Some would suggest that a better one would be to ask how you can jump into a mentally-created painting of yourself,' Al countered; and Albus Dumbledore smiled back at him while holding up his jar of candy.

"Lemon drop?"

"Yes, thank-you," Albus answered. There wasn't technically anything physical about it, but he did see a lemon drop leave the jar; float to him; and then he 'felt' as though he was sucking on the little treat. "That's one nice advantage to being in a dream-painting," he suggested; and Professor Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes it is," he agreed; "though who is to say what is and isn't possible in the physical world? Is it really so impossible to do there what you just did so easily here?"

"Usually, yes – at least when it comes to the rules of magic and food," Al answered. "You aren't talking about lemon drops anymore. Can I counter what this curse is doing to me?"

"That, my boy, is for you to decide. Your perspective on magic is unique – even beyond my own; which I'll modestly suggest is quite brilliant."

"Thank-you for that compliment; but I don't think that an Animorphmagus form change is going to help me this time," Al half-joked, but his mind was processing information more and more rapidly, and then, suddenly; he knew what to do – thanks in part to the little lemon drop hint that his namesake had provided for him.

"Thank-you." he repeated more-seriously this time while also mentally smiling at Professor Dumbledore.

"That is quite extraordinary – and you're welcome."

Al watched as the painting faded and was replaced by another image that hung in the blackness. Without really even thinking about it anymore; he forced the magic of the curse into his mental creation. There was a battle involved in doing that, and he had no idea how long he struggled before succeeding, but he was victorious; and then needed some time to recover while observing the medallion that now glowed a dark, angry red. When he was ready, he encased the medallion in an equally-imagined but real-looking box; and then closed the lid and sealed it – though the medallion seemed to fight him all the way until the job was done. Once that secondary fight ended, Al turned his senses inward again. There was no trace of the curse within him any longer, and while the wounds that had already been inflicted on him remained; he was sure that they would heal and he sighed in relief. Although there were scattered thoughts for Gwendolyn, his family, and friends, he had no choice but to go along for the ride when he had nothing left to fight off the darkness when it swooped in again and claimed him as exhaustion turned the lights out on even his subconscious awareness.

Gwendolyn heard the scratching sounds from somewhere in the darkness; but her mind resisted the urge to discern what the noise meant. She drifted off to sleep again for a while; and then the sound intruded again.

"If you need to go out to the bathroom; change back to your human form, Al," she said quietly. "I am not getting out of this bed to let you out of the room when you can open the door yourself!"

There was no answer; but the scratching noise persisted; drawing Gwendolyn toward consciousness. When her mind did finally kick into gear; her eyes popped open and she stared at Al in amazement.

"Good morning," he said conversationally. "I was tempted to just sit here and watch you sleep, but thought that it would be a good idea to get my assignments done so that I'm not stuck playing catch-up all weekend." His smile was brilliant; and his eyes dazzled her as he turned to look at her. "I love you, Gwendolyn. Thanks for staying with me last night."

Sitting up, Gwendolyn rubbed her eyes as if trying to make sure she wasn't still dreaming; and then she hopped off of her bed; took the three steps to his; and then paused uncertainly.

"You can hug me again – carefully," Al advised her. "I'm sore and have some healing to do; but I'm curse-free too. We'll need to save up the kisses for later; since it'll take a while for those cuts around my mouth to heal." She smiled brilliantly; leaned over to hug him cautiously; and then ignored his kissing warning and shared a soft, tender kiss with him anyway. Straightening again; she licked her lips, sniffed the air, and smiled at him again.

"Why do you smell and taste like lemon?"

Al laughed. "Professor Dumbledore gave me a lemon drop last night; and it's lasted much longer than normal."

Gwendolyn laughed too. "Oh, well I guess that explains it; though I'd have thought that lemon would hurt on those cuts." She leaned over for another kiss, proving her bravery again when he was a bit of a mess; and then needed to hug him again too. This time, she let go quickly when she heard him suck in a sharp breath in reaction to some kind of pain.

"I'm going to be okay now," he promised. "It's going to take a little while to heal; but it could have been much worse." He smiled then. "In some ways; I'm going to be better than I was before this happened."

"New and improved?" she teased. Al laughed again; and was grateful that she had no doubt about his claims.

"More like a bit smarter," he explained.

"Good, since it was apparently a very dumb thing that you did yesterday – even if you had good reason for it."

"James and Ollie have a knack for bringing out the stupid in me," he joked. "This devious little plan was brilliant too. They knew I wouldn't just stay back and let that happen to innocent bystanders."

Gwendolyn looked toward Madam Pomfrey's office before responding. "That curse was really, really dark magic," she told him quietly. "You likely know that better than anyone, since you've somehow dealt with it; but it's also way-beyond anything that James and Ollie could do on their own. They're obviously suspects, but we don't have any way of proving that, and as far as I know; there isn't any useful evidence on the fanged Frisbees – if they can even do anything with them to find that out. Your Uncle Bill is dealing with them now; and I haven't heard anything more about them since finding out about that last night. You'll also be happy to hear that James and Ollie have rock-solid alibis for where they were when this happened to you; though some of us found the story a bit unbelievable – especially when James has missed most of his classes this week and has been too ill to study very much at all." She smiled then. "Be glad that you were sleeping when they came here yesterday. That was not any fun at all." Al laughed; winced in pain; and then smiled as Gwendolyn's expression suggested she was both concerned and curious about what he'd thought was so funny.

"The pain isn't too awful as long as I don't move around too much. I'll guess that he had a big fight with Mum and Dad because they came straight here when they found out instead of going to the Harpies' match last night," he explained; and it was Gwendolyn's turn to laugh.

"If you were only pretending to be sleeping; you're in big trouble for making us worry about you all night for no reason."

"I only woke up about an hour and a half ago," he assured her. "From what I saw when I checked; Mum and Dad might be mad at me for missing the match. It must've been a really good one. Did Aunt Gabrielle catch the snitch shortly after the Harpies got the one-sixty lead over the Wanderers; or did they just keep the score close-enough to hope to get back into the game again through until the end?"

"She caught it within about fifteen minutes of getting that lead," Gwendolyn answered. "We watched the game here, but they went and caught the last hour or so of the game live once Madam Pomfrey assured them that you'd likely be out cold for days or weeks instead of hours – especially when they still didn't have any idea of what they could do to treat you. " She smiled again. "We didn't actually believe her about that, but then I think that your parents went on to the stadium just to bug James – or it'll bug him when he finds out. They didn't exactly part with hugs and kisses when he left here to supposedly go and study."

"That's getting to be an every time thing with James," Al said sadly. "Was it really that bad with him last night? I would have expected that he would have been very happy."

"It was reasonably awful, yes," she confirmed. "That was partly because he was so happy – though he won't be when he finds out that you're already on the way to being better so soon when things looked so bad last night. I don't want to give James and Ollie credit for anything, but if the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for them; they should consider a career in theatre or on the mirror network. They didn't convince me – or your parents, sister, and cousins; but Bristol and Patricia believed everything they were spouting last night." She shook her head. "I love Bristol, and we've known each other since we were toddlers the same as you and I have; but she's got it bad right now to be that oblivious to reality."

"I really don't want to go there right now," Al decided. He looked at his watch and nodded to himself. "I need to call Mum and Dad to let them know I'm awake."

Gwendolyn nodded. "Yes, and then I'm to fetch Madam Pomfrey."

"There's no hurry for that," Al offered with a shrug. "Let her sleep for as long as she can – especially if she was up caring for me until late last night."

"She was up late trying to figure out what kind of curse had been put onto those fanged Frisbees," she advised him with a nod. "Okay – let's start with your Mum and Dad; and we'll see how it goes from there."

Al put the assignment he'd been working on aside; got his mirror out; and made the call to his mother's mirror. She answered on the third ring; but they couldn't see her very well in the pre-dawn darkness of her bedroom.

"Al?" she asked sleepily; and then they could see her astonished expression as a light came on and she turned her head and looked to her side. "It's Al!" she told Harry. "He's awake!"

"Welcome back," Harry called out. "Are you alone?"

"Gwendolyn's with me," Al answered. "Do you need me to hide my mirror for a minute – or call back later?"

"No," Ginny told him quickly; and smiled when Harry laughed. "How are you? Those cuts around your mouth look awful."

"They don't feel so hot either; but I'm going to be fine. I just wanted to let you know that I'm awake – and ask you and Dad to get Uncle Bill to come with you when you come to visit me next. I have something here that I need to give him."

"You do?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al smiled at her.

"Yeah, but I don't even want to show it to you until I've got an expert in the room; since it's probably very dangerous."

"Is this something to do with the curse?" Harry asked; and he was sitting up next to Ginny now and putting on his glasses so that he could see Al and Gwendolyn.

"Yes," Al agreed. "I can explain in more detail after you're here, but I found a way to get it out of me by putting it into something else; and I'll need Uncle Bill to take it off my hands and figure out a way to deal with it since it's likely even more dangerous than those Frisbees."

"Do you know what the curse is?" Harry asked next; and Al shook his head.

"No. I can tell you what it was doing to me and what was likely to happen had it run its course; but I've never heard or read anything about a curse quite like this one."

"Should we hurry and get this thing out of there?" Ginny asked.

"It's safe for now, but I don't know how long that will last. You don't need to rush here; but I wouldn't wait for the weekend either."

"Okay," Ginny agreed. "We'll make it there sooner instead of later. Is there anything else we should know – or anything we can get for you before we come there?"

"I'm going to need a bit of time to heal from this," he advised her. "For lack of a better way of saying it, my fight with that curse has drained me; so it might be a while before I'll be able to do much self-healing. Madam Pomfrey may be able to help; but I've no idea how long it might take to heal up from curse injuries. Most of them are internal except for where I got cut by the fanged Frisbees in my mouth and along my side."

"Considering where you were last night; I'll take that news and be glad of it," Ginny told him. "I love you, Albus. We'll see you in a while."

"We love both of you too," Al assured her, and Gwendolyn echoed that sentiment before they ended the chat.

Al tried to convince Gwendolyn to leave and take the time to get ready for the day while he waited for Madam Pomfrey to wake – and eventually for his parents and uncle to arrive, but she refused to leave him alone; and insisted on taking care of him. There were some weird moments involved with that – like when he needed a washroom break, but Gwendolyn had fun with that; and they ended up with some new, entertaining stories that they had no intention of ever sharing with anyone else. Madam Pomfrey came to check on him about a half-hour past dawn; she was astonished to see him awake; and incredulous when she confirmed for herself that he was completely-free of the curse that she'd been unable to do anything to even slow let alone stop or remove. She discussed his injuries with Al; began a first round of treatment that included poultices for the cuts around his mouth and on his side; and had all of that finished by the time Harry, Ginny, and Bill arrived with their escort and friend, Professor Longbottom.

"I suppose those bandages are a bit of an improvement; but you look a bit odd too," Ginny advised Al as she hurried over to his bed.

"I expect so," Al agreed. "Careful with the hug, please. I'm a bit tender in a lot of places right now."

"No doubt," she agreed before hugging him carefully for a long minute. "You've definitely got your father's knack for scaring me half to death, Al, but before we go there; let's deal with the little problem you wanted us to bring Bill here to help you with."

"That's a good idea," Al agreed; but hugged his father first too before turning his attention to his Uncle Bill. "Did you bring anything with you for dealing with cursed objects?"

"I did," he agreed. "Where is it?"

Al got his wand; summoned the box he'd conjured; and then left it floating in the air above his bed. "This box is conjured; and so is the medallion that I forced the curse into while purging it from my body," he advised everyone. "I don't know how long it will last; or what will happen to the curse magic once they've disappeared again."

"Merlin!" Bill breathed. "I've never heard of such a thing – and I thought I'd seen just about everything. How did you do it?"

Al smiled ruefully. "Well, I got the idea thanks to a sub-conscious visit from Professor Dumbledore – his portrait," he began. "He gave me a lemon drop; we talked for a few moments about what was and wasn't possible; and then the idea of forcing the curse out of me and into the conjured medallion suddenly seemed both obvious and possible. Making that happen was something of a fight between my magic and the curse magic, and that took a while; but it did work. When I woke up earlier this morning; the box and medallion were here in the physical world. I banished it to Wizard's space to make sure it couldn't hurt anyone else before I could get it to you."

"You know the curse is in that medallion?" Bill asked; and Al nodded.

"I can sense it. Hopefully you can break that curse before my conjuring fails; since I really can't even guess at what would happen if it was suddenly just free of the medallion."

"That might actually be interesting to observe – from a safe distance," Bill mused. "I will take it off your hands and deal with it, though, so let's do that; and then I'm sure we'd all like to hear the rest of your story – including why you thought it a good idea to throw yourself in front of a pair of cursed fanged Frisbees."

"I didn't know they were cursed at the time – until it was too late. There's more to them than just the curses. It was likely a combination of what I sensed and some foresight that warned me that I couldn't just use shields; though I don't know why." He smiled at Bill. "Maybe that's something else you could experiment with – from a safe distance. I did what seemed least-dangerous for everyone else in the hallway, and while I'd really prefer not to be here in the hospital wing again; I'll still take this over what might have happened had anyone else been hurt instead."

"Do you know who did it?" Harry asked; though he looked as though he both knew the answer and didn't want Al to confirm his suspicions.

Al sighed. "I don't have any proof," he hedged; and then shook his head in response to the expression on his father's face. "I really don't," he insisted; "and I'm not going to start making accusations."

"This was a horrid attack," Ginny told him seriously. "You could have died."

"Actually, I wouldn't have," Al disagreed. "That curse wasn't made to kill – though the injuries it was meant to inflict would never completely heal once it ran its full course."

"That makes me feel so much better – not," Ginny retorted with a shake of her head. "You know more than you're telling us."

"I suspect more," Al countered. "I didn't see anyone throw those Frisbees; and it was only maybe a half-minute or so between when I sensed the danger through until I was unconscious."

"I don't like this," Ginny told him. "None of us do; and we're worried for the safety of all of the students here at Hogwarts."

"Then maybe you should home school me," Al said half-seriously. "That could solve the problem for everyone else around here."

"That's tempting, since you'd be safer at home too," Ginny said with a nod; "but that wouldn't be fair to you – or to Gwendolyn."

"We'll continue our investigation," Neville advised them; "so leave us to deal with that part of this problem." He looked at his watch. "I need to speak with Headmistress McGonagall before breakfast. Will you be staying here for a while?"

"I will be," Ginny confirmed. "Harry needs to get to work; and Bill should likely get that horrid curse out of here and do what he can to get rid of it."

Harry didn't leave immediately, but did go along with Bill after getting the full medical report from Madam Pomfrey that included all of the awful details of Al's injuries. The worst of them were internal, but she also assured them that Al had stopped the curse well-before the damage it would have done could cause irreparable harm. That was done by the time that Rose and Lily stopped in for a pre-breakfast visit; and the family and friends cameo moments seemed to roll on from there for Al as life moved on without him around Hogwarts and the Wizarding World.

Ginny stayed with him for most of the morning while Gwendolyn went to breakfast in the Great Hall and on to her morning classes from there. While his mother eventually agreed to leave at lunchtime so that she could get back to work ahead of the game she was covering on Saturday, Al wasn't alone all that often as he had visitors before and after lunch; Gwendolyn stayed with him after last class through until dinner; and Rose and Lily stopped in after their Quidditch practice – and Rose had stepped in as temporary Captain for the day while Al was unavailable. While the rest of the students were having dinner in the Great Hall, Al ended up having dinner with Madam Pomfrey because she'd wanted to talk with him in more detail about how he'd transferred the curse from his body into the conjured medallion. He did that as best he could, but wasn't sure whether that helped the Healer very much; and didn't know if his improvised treatment could be duplicated by others or not – though he did think that he could do it again if needed.

Gwendolyn came back to the hospital wing after dinner, but Rose went to work with their study group so that they'd still have one of their tutor-leaders to help with the assignments they needed to work on ahead of the Hogsmeade weekend. Rose had given Al all of their assignments for the day in two waves – before lunch and after her Quidditch practice; so he'd been able to work on them during the afternoon; and then he studied with Gwendolyn for most of the evening. Harry and Ginny stopped in for a visit after dinner too; Lily was there for about half of the time that their parents were in the hospital wing; and they collectively helped to keep Al entertained – even as he and Gwendolyn continued to study too. The only drama of the evening came when James and Ollie made an appearance. That didn't happen until about three-quarters of an hour before curfew – not long after Harry and Ginny went home for the night; but while Gwendolyn was still with Al because they'd wanted to have a bit of alone time before she'd need to be back in her House for the night. James and Ollie had Patricia and Bristol with them; and the timing strongly suggested that they'd been waiting somewhere nearby and that they'd watched the Marauder's Map until they knew they'd be able to visit when they wouldn't have anyone else around.

"So the rumors are true," James declared grandly as he led the foursome into the room and sauntered over until he stood at the foot of Al's bed. "The Animorphloser lives."

"Too bad, so sad – for us," Ollie said with a sneer.

"It is," James agreed. "We should've known that this was just another attempt by the loser to supposedly save the day and get all of the attention. It has been a couple of weeks since he was last in the spotlight." He sneered at Al. "You certainly got Mum and Dad rushing to your bedside. No Quidditch match is too important for the perfect loser!"

"I thought that it was nice of them to stop by – though they went on to the stadium in time to catch the last half of the match," Al advised him. "As for the curse; it wouldn't have killed me – just horribly maimed me instead if I hadn't taken steps to stop it."

"You're such a liar!" James retorted. "Tell that load of rubbish to the sheep willing to believe you."

"And the only sheep in this room is your personal potty-trainer," Patricia added; earning an approving smirk from James.

"Which parts of all of this do you think that I'm lying about?" Al asked as he reached up to his face and quickly pulled the bandage away from the right side of his mouth. "Am I lying about this?" He pulled the left-side bandage away next. "How about this?" He then pulled up his shirt and tore off the bandage on his side; wincing as that one hurt. "Does this look like a lie to you, Patricia? The internal injuries that curse caused are far worse than these – though I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I really am on the mend and will be better again soon."

"Why do you look so happy, James?" Gwendolyn asked. "Could you possibly be enjoying your own handiwork – even if it hasn't ended as badly as you'd hoped?"

"Are you trying to pin this on James?" Patricia demanded; though she looked a bit pale after seeing the deep gashes on Al's face and side.

"No, I'm sure that James is just enjoying Al's suffering," Gwendolyn answered. "I'll leave it up to the four of you to try pinning pranks and attacks on others; since you are the experts."

"We know what you were really saying," Bristol told her; "and it isn't possible that James and Ollie had anything to do with this because they were studying with us – and with some other friends – at the time."

Al appreciated Bristol's declaration because it turned James' and Ollie's thoughts toward how they'd managed to earn that air-tight alibi; so his extended senses provided that little piece of the puzzle that had been missing.

"Well, it's a good thing that all of your Polyjuice was handed over to the Headmistress; or you'd never be able to be so certain that you actually were with James and Ollie," Al offered.

"He's just trying to mess with you," James advised Patricia and Bristol when they both suddenly turned to look at him in consternation.

"I am," Al agreed easily. "It would be a dumb idea – especially when the last thing you'd want to do is risk being seen in two places at the same time. You and Ollie are far too smart for that."

"Shut it, Scarface!" James spat angrily. "We just came by to see for ourselves what a fake you are; and let you know that not everyone is fooled by your stupid hero act or the poor, injured Animorphloser act."

"Well, thanks so much for sharing," Al told him. "Since you're so sure of that, you should call Uncle Bill and tell him to stop wasting his time trying to break the non-existent curse on those Fanged Frisbees. He could send them back here to Louis – unless you'd like to have them instead. I'm sure that Patricia and Bristol would be happy to trust you enough to play that game with you and Ollie." He smiled at the two girls; which wasn't a pretty sight with his bandages still off. "Don't worry," he told them. "If James is wrong and you do get cursed too; I've learned a very cool little trick to deal with that problem; and will be happy to help both of you."

"But not James and Ollie?" Gwendolyn teased. "We are so going to have a talk after they leave about your unhealthy interest in saving damsels in distress."

"Let's get out of here, James," Patricia demanded as she scowled at Al and Gwendolyn. "Your brother makes me sick just from the smell of him; and now he's positively revolting now that he has a face to match."

James and Ollie both laughed raucously; and Bristol laughed too – if not quite as enthusiastically.

"You are so right," James agreed. "Let's get out of here before we faint from the stench and end up spending the night here too."

James and Ollie couldn't leave without adding a few more insults as they headed for the door, but it was only a minute longer before they were gone and Al and Gwendolyn were alone again. She leaned over his bed and shared a hug and kiss with him; and then smiled when he pretended to push her away.

"Let me put the bandages back on first – I'm hideous," he joked; and she laughed.

"You're a bit hideous," she agreed; "but I love you anyway. That was fun. Did you learn as much as I think you did from them? Did they actually use Polyjuice as part of this attack?"

"No, they didn't; and yes, I did learn a few things that I didn't know. That doesn't change anything, though, and they have covered their tracks; so they're going to get away with this attack too."

Gwendolyn shook her head. "You know it's wrong to let them off the hook. Is there really nothing you can do?"

"Maybe, but I don't want to be responsible for getting James expelled – and we both know that he would be for something this awful."

"It comes down to that every time; and James is exploiting that advantage he has over you – and over your parents."

"He is," Al agreed; "and we'll all have to hope that he doesn't do something to hurt anyone else that'll make us truly regret how we're handling all of these problems with him."

Gwendolyn had agreed with that, and they talked about the scene with James, Ollie, Patricia, and Bristol for a few more minutes; but then they spent the rest of the time they had together before curfew to talk about other things – and say goodnight to each other with careful hugs and kisses. Madam Pomfrey came out of her quarters just as Gwendolyn was leaving; she did a last check of her patient for the night; and then gave him a sleeping draught before retiring to her quarters again and leaving Al to get a good night's rest.

"You don't look nearly as happy as you did the last time we spoke," Thomas said as Scorpius dropped his portrait rather roughly onto the table; and he watched as Scorpius laughed derisively.

"That might be because rumor has it that the Animorphloser is already awake and sure to make a full recovery from the curse that you assured me has no treatment or cure; would take weeks to run its course; and would leave him permanently damaged."

"That would be impossible," Thomas declared dismissively. "Those rumors must be flat-out lies – or some sort of ruse to hide the truth."

"If it's a lie, then the loser's girlfriend, sister, and cousins are exceptional actors; since they all seemed genuinely-happy this morning at breakfast – while I did witness James and Ollie change from happy to angry as the rumors made the rounds in the Great Hall."

"There is no cure or treatment for that curse," Thomas insisted stubbornly. "If the younger Potter brother is not deep in the throes of the curse; then the lie is that he was hit by it in the first place. You are getting angry over simple rumor, though; so I would counsel that you calm yourself and wait to discover the truth for yourself."

Scorpius blew out a calming breath. "Fine, but if I find out that the truth is that the lies have come from you; we are going to have a serious problem, Thomas."

"I have never lied to you," Thomas lied smoothly; "and will always be honest with you."

When Al woke on Saturday morning, he felt rested; but there had been little change to the rate of healing from his injuries. He'd expected that to be the case, but it was still frustrating because it meant that he'd be missing out on the visit to Hogsmeade. Though getting set free from the hospital wing wasn't going to happen for him, he was able to get out of bed on his own; grab a shower; and get into clean scrub pants and a tee before climbing back into bed and needing to rest a bit from those efforts. He was still doing that when Rose and Lily stopped by to have the chat part of the pre-breakfast walk and talk that he couldn't go and do with them. Gwendolyn joined them there, and while her arrival brightened his day; their visit was a bit strained because they'd had a little argument about having her go to Hogsmeade without him – something she didn't want to do. Lily ended up swaying Gwendolyn after promising to make sure that Al would have company while she was away; and Rose promised to get extra shopping help for her to make sure that Gwendolyn didn't have too much to do while covering the supply shopping that Al couldn't do for his usual group of younger tweens.

The three girls eventually needed to get to the Great Hall for breakfast; and left Al shortly-after Madam Pomfrey came out of her quarters to check in on Al. She did a round of treatment and bandage changes; and had that done by the time their breakfast trays were delivered by a pair of House Elves. This time, she left Al on his own to eat while going into her office to eat and work on a potion she wanted to try to help with the healing of some of his internal injuries; so Al surfed the Wireless Web while having that meal and waiting for Lily to return and keep him company until she'd need to head out to the Quidditch pitch for the scrimmage that she and Jonah had set up with their first and second-year friends.

The cursed Fanged Frisbee story was still the top story on the gossip network when Gwendolyn got to the Great Hall with Rose and Lily; and she was grilled by her friends for the latest news on Al – just as she was sure that Rose and Lily were while having breakfast with their Gryffindor friends. All of the drama made for a strange jumble of emotions for her, and while she was happy that Al was recovering; she hated how much their lives were messed up by James and Ollie – especially when she had to watch them laughing it up with their mates while escaping all consequences for their horrid attack on Al!

"You'd think that those glares would be painful; but they don't even seem to notice," Toni leaned close and whispered to Gwendolyn. "Is there more to the top story of the week that you're not telling us?"

"Not that I have any facts about," Gwendolyn answered; and then shrugged when Toni looked doubtful. "I can't be the only one around here with suspicions about who was behind those cursed Fanged Frisbees, but there isn't anything new that I've heard suggesting that the Professors are any closer to proving who was responsible."

"All of the most-likely suspects have been so happy about Al getting hurt; it could be any of them – or all of them; for all we know," Toni suggested.

"That's a scary thought – the Averys and their mates teaming up with James and Ollie," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Let's hope that isn't part of this story."

"You don't want to talk about that anyway; so let's talk shopping instead. What can we do to help while your boyfriend is stuck here and can't come with you today?"

Gwendolyn appreciated the support of her friends; they helped her to get through that meal and even have a bit of fun to go along with the drama; and then they met up with Rose and some of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends when it was time to head for Hogsmeade – with all of her friends planning on making sure that she was taken care of while Al was stuck in the hospital wing.

"Welcome back," Al told Lily; returning her smile as he watched her cross the room to his bedside. "Did I miss much in the Great Hall?"

Lily shook her head and scowled for a moment – something she really didn't do all that often; and it just looked wrong on her usually-sunny, happy face.

"No, but I'm running out of patience for James and Ollie," she answered. "They were laughing it up at breakfast; and some of the nastiest rumors about you and Gwendolyn likely started with them – though they got started on that last night; from what Rose and I heard this morning while still in our dorms."

"What happened last night?" Al asked. "You didn't say anything about that while you were here with Rose and Gwendolyn before breakfast."

"I'm sure Rose will tell Gwendolyn about it later; but we didn't want to make things worse for her this morning. James and Ollie were apparently spouting off last night in the common room about you faking all of this so that you could play the wounded hero again. James also suggested that Gwendolyn didn't spend the night in the hospital wing just to watch over you; and that he'd need to go back to the hospital wing next September to visit you and the Animorphbaby."

"For some reason; my first thought on that is to wonder if anyone busted him on the math for that; but James has never let facts get in the way of his idiotic claims. I honestly won't ever understand why James and Ollie think that it's okay to say such awful things about Gwendolyn. "We have a family full of strong, amazing Witches – you included; and so does Ollie and Ray's family – including their cousins and sisters. It makes no sense at all to me that they have such a Neanderthal attitude toward Witches."

"I think that you do understand just fine," Lily disagreed. "What's truly unbelievable is that any Witches at all can listen to them for more than a minute and still find them at all attractive."

"We don't want to go there; so let's talk about something else for a while – like how you plan on winning your Seeker duel against Jonah today."

Lily needed to tell him about a few more rumors first, but then they moved on; and soon had other distractions and entertainment to keep them busy. Their parents stopped by for a short visit before they both went on to work for the rest of the day; Jonah came by when it was time for Lily to go to her scrimmage; and she'd drafted Denise and Colin Creevey to keep him entertained while she was busy. He did some more homework too; played Wizard's Chess with Denise; and tried to keep busy so he wouldn't think too much about missing out on spending the day in Hogsmeade with Gwendolyn.

"Where are we going?" Gwendolyn asked Rose when she didn't lead the way into the Apothecary for their first stop of the day.

"Your boyfriend is away; so the Witches can play," Rose joked with a grin. "We're going to start with the fun shopping. If you feel guilty about that; we'll pick out a cuddle-worthy sweater that you can share with Al later – or once he's healed-enough for that kind of fun."

Gwendolyn laughed and hugged her. "That sounds good to me – and I hope it won't be too long before Al's completely healed."

"Is his face as messed up as we heard that it is?" Cora asked a bit tentatively; and then smiled ruefully. "Sorry, but I don't expect to know the truth if I don't go to the source on this one; since the rumors are coming from unreliable sources."

"The cuts around his mouth are fairly-awful,' Gwendolyn admitted; "but he'll be fine. The curse is gone; so there shouldn't be any scarring."

"That's good to hear – especially for you," Cora offered; and Gwendolyn nodded agreeably.

"It is, but if things had turned out badly; it wouldn't have changed how I feel about Al. In case you haven't noticed; it's what's on the inside that makes him so amazing."

"While what's on the outside is just a really hot bonus," Toni teased; earning a laugh from all of the girls.

"This sounds like a perfect time for me – and any of the other guys that want to come along – to leave you to go and play with your girlfriends," Michael suggested to Toni. "I'm not Al, though, so I hope you don't mind if I go and deal with some of the more-fun supply shopping – like getting the wheezes."

"You can do that," Toni agreed while hugging him quickly. "The crowd in there will be crazy today; since the Christmas wheezes are likely to be out now too."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Gwendolyn admitted; "but I guess they'll only have this weekend and the one the Saturday before we head home for selling Christmas wheezes and sweets to us – and I don't plan on buying much that weekend when we'd just need to haul it home the following Friday."

"We can keep an eye out for some gifts, though," Rose suggested.

That sounds like fun too," Gwendolyn agreed; and then pretended to scowl as she looked around at her friends. "Fair warning – the first person that suggests anything Fanged Frisbee-related for Al is going to be in trouble."

"Thanks for the warning," Ray told her as he grinned ruefully. "I was in real danger of going there. I'm going to exit stage wheezes store with Michael now; and try to stay out of trouble."

"Good plan," Tory approved before hugging him.

There were a few more hugs as all of the guys opted to go with Michael and Ray instead of staying with the girls while they shopped for clothes. Gwendolyn was talked into a new sweater and picked up a few little things – like Christmas-themed socks; but didn't really have her heart into the shopping while wishing she could be spending the day with Al instead. The girls got back together with the guys to do the rest of the supply shopping; they had lunch at the Three Broomsticks; and then Gwendolyn was ready to head back to the castle early so that she could spend the afternoon with Al. The cold weather had them hurrying back to Hogwarts; and they made good time on the walk back from town.

"Well, we're here; and have you back safely," Ray told Gwendolyn as they walked onto the school grounds through the gateway. He sighed dramatically for the audible special effect; and grinned as he looked over his shoulder at her. "I know it seemed an impossible task; but we've done it!" He joined in for the round of laughs; but then frowned when he noticed Rose drawing her wand.

"You've a real gift for timing your jokes," she told him before raising her wand and shouting – "Protego!"

Her shield wasn't as impressive as Al's always were, but it was enough to hand the two-pronged attack on them; and then she had lots of help as Gwendolyn and about half of their friends joined in on a counter-attack that was a rapid-fire batch of spells aimed ahead of them to the left and right of the lane. The really bad news for their ambushers was that the choices of those spells weren't coordinated; so they were hit by a lot of different hexes, jinxes, and charms. Gwendolyn won for the strongest disarming spell aimed at their attacker to the left; Ray caught the one to the right; and then there was a round of laughs when the Harper brothers floated toward them from where they'd each been hiding. They were both hanging upside-down from an ankle; and sported a comical combination of bindings and spell-induced maladies.

"I may have jinxed us; but would say that these gits got the worst of it this time around,' Ray joked; earning more laughs.

"Which jinxes were yours?" Tory teased. "Should we counter at least some of them? They look like idiots flopping around like that while hanging from an ankle."

"Serves them right," Rose said; directing her comment and attention toward the Harpers. "It's dumb-enough that you go after Al and Gwendolyn when they're alone," she added unsympathetically; "but if you thought to blast Gwendolyn while Al's in the hospital wing; I'm fairly-sure we've just proven to you that we don't need him around to defend ourselves." She smiled when Caleb Harper looked as though he wanted to answer but couldn't due to a silencing spell that someone had used on them to try and end their ability to cast spells. Both brothers were turning red; though that was sure to be as much because of their inverted status as it was from the fury that was so obvious in their eyes.

"Okay, so now what do we do with them now?" That question came from Madison; and she looked to Al and Gwendolyn for the answer.

"The Slytherins all wanted Al and Gwendolyn to get it worse than they did when they were being framed for those prank attacks," Scott reminded her. "We could take them on to the Heads' office and see if they still feel the same way when they're in trouble instead."

"Al would tell us to let them go," Gwendolyn offered; and then smiled at the expressions on the faces of her friends. "He'd say that – I'd rather drop them in the middle of the lake – or out on the island; and let them swim back."

"I like the way you think," Ray said approvingly as Gwendolyn's suggestion earned more laughs.

"That is a fun idea; but we can't do that," Rose advised them. "Al wouldn't be the only one around here to have a problem with us doing that; and I'm not going to get into trouble over this pair of gits. Let's just hand them over to Molly or Zack and let them deal with the Harpers after that. Gwendolyn wants to get back together with Al; and the rest of us want to get inside and warm again."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed – "though I'd be okay with a bit of trouble if I didn't really want to get back to the hospital wing. Call Molly; and let's try to hand them off to here somewhere out here so that we don't get any attention for dragging them through the castle hallways to the Heads' office."

That's what they did; Rose called Molly; and since she was in charge for the day while Zack was in Hogsmeade; she met up with them at Hagrid's cabin and dealt with Caleb and Dave from there. Hagrid had been amused; enjoyed the extra visit with Rose, Gwendolyn, and their friends; and then the group of teens moved on to the castle once Molly had finished questioning them and getting Rose's memory of the ambush. They began splitting up in the entrance hall as the Hufflepuffs split off to make a stop at their House to drop off purchases before going on to other entertainments for the rest of the afternoon that ranged from some couples' alone time with one of Al's sofas to some extra studying. Gwendolyn had company all the way to her dorm room; but was on her own for the walk to the hospital wing when she was changed, cleaned up, and ready to go and spend as much of the rest of the day as she could with Al.

"Hi, Dominique; Lucy," Al said as his cousins walked into the hospital wing; and then he frowned at what he sensed from Dominique. "Are you okay?" he asked gently; and she laughed – though her smile was wan and unenthusiastic.

"I'm fairly sure we're supposed to be asking you that question," she joked as she reached the side of his bed and leaned close for a hug.

"Jensen's an idiot," he told her as she straightened again. "I like him a lot, and he saved my life back in June; but I'd still be okay with it if he ends up on Santa's naughty list for messing up with you."

Both girls laughed; and Dominique hugged him again. "How did you know? I didn't expect the gossip network to be quite so effective – especially since you're a Wizard and stuck here in this bed."

"You just told me," he teased and then shrugged. "I just knew when I saw you," he explained more seriously. "I'm sorry; hope that he's miserable without you; and suggest sending him a bottle of bad luck potion if you've started in on that sort of thing already with Lucy and the rest of your friends."

"Bad luck potion?" Lucy asked in amusement; and Al nodded.

"Everyone always seems to assume that Felix Felicis has to be good luck; but it's actually always called liquid luck," he told her seriously while smiling. "It could be bad luck instead."

"Is that the voice of experience?" Dominique asked. "That would explain a lot if someone's been dousing you with liquid bad luck over the past couple of years."

"So he's not really a trouble magnet at all?" Lucy offered; taking that idea and running with it.

Al sighed and smiled ruefully. "I should've known where making a joke like that would lead. Uncle George will have bottles of liquid bad luck on the shelves by Christmas – Easter at the latest!"

"Probably," Dominique agreed, "but you've made me laugh; so thank-you, Al. I love you."

"I love you too," he assured her; sharing another quick hug and then laughed as he turned his attention to Gwendolyn as she stepped through the doorway and pretended to glare at him.

"How many times am I going to walk into this room and find you hugging other beautiful Witches and telling them that you love them?" she demanded; earning laughs from Dominique and Lucy.

"Has he done that a lot?" Lucy asked; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"More times that I like to think about. Did he save your life too, Dominique? I'd have thought he'd be safe from trouble in here; but you can never tell with Al."

"He made me laugh; and I didn't think I'd be doing much of that today after breaking up with Jensen a while ago."

"So you've just told a newly-single Witch that you love her?" Gwendolyn asked Al archly as she reached his bedside. "You are definitely in the right House – though it might be even longer than you thought before you're back there again."

"You've nothing to worry about from me," Dominique assured her. "Not only am I not even slightly interested in dating anyone right now; Al can't be on my future potential boyfriends list because of that first-cousin issue we have."

"Well, I guess I can let him off with another warning," Gwendolyn decided before leaning over to share a quick hug and kiss with Al. "I'm sorry about you and Jensen. Are you okay?"

"No, and it still feels wrong for everyone to be asking me that question when Al's the one in the hospital bed." She smiled ruefully and shook her head. "I'm still in shock," she added seriously. "I'm not going to bash him; but it does hurt that he didn't even try to make it work for us this year." She sighed and then returned her attention to Al. "We only stopped in for a minute to see how you're doing before getting back to our studies."

"I'm getting stronger today; and might be out of here by tomorrow night – though I'll still need to heal the rest of the way over the next few weeks." He waved at his face; and smiled self-consciously. "These cuts would have worked better at Halloween; but hopefully I won't scare too many of the kids until they finish healing too."

"Did Madam Pomfrey tell you that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head.

"Not yet; but she will," he predicted. "As long as I'm careful; I'll be able to get back to my classes on Monday – and I really don't want to try and keep up with the extra work we'll be getting through to the holiday."

"Speaking of – we need to get to our ex-boyfriend bashing – I mean study – session," Lucy declared with a grin for Dominique; and then turned her smile on Al. "We bought you get well soon chocolates in town; but ate them on the way back to help Dominique. I'm sure you won't miss them by the looks of the stacks you have on that night table."

"I can send some with you if you need more," Al offered with a wave of his hand. "If I eat a quarter of that; I won't be able to get off the ground once I'm cleared to play Quidditch again."

The three girls teased him about that for a few moments, but then Dominique and Lucy left; and Al and Gwendolyn were alone for the first time of the day.

"I'm glad that you're okay," Al told her meaningfully once they were alone; and she laughed and hugged him again.

"That little talent can be a bit scary," she said first; "and yes, I'm fine – though the Harper brothers didn't fare so well once the little gang I had with me was done with them. Rose checked her map as we got back onto the school grounds because she didn't know where James and Ollie were; so she saw the Harpers hiding not far from the gates waiting to ambush us – probably me. She handled the first shield; but I'm pretty sure that most of us were in on the counter-attack. At least half of us for sure."

"What'd you do with them after the fight?"

"We didn't let them go – though I know that's what you'd have wanted. We met up with Molly at Professor Hagrid's cabin and handed them off to her."

"That was nice of you," Al decided. "How was the rest of your trip to town?"

"Everyone tried to help me to have fun, and we had a good morning; but I just couldn't enjoy myself as much as I should have while you're stuck in here. It just isn't right, and every time I think about it; I just want to hunt James down and blast him."

"I'd have expected you to feel that way if you've heard the rumors that Lily passed on to me this morning," Al offered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"You mean the baby rumor," she deduced. "That one is so stupid you just have to laugh at it. Why isn't Lily here?"

"I talked her into going to hang out with Jonah and their friends to watch Quidditch with my mirror, and before you say anything; I had a little nap after lunch; and haven't been awake for very long."

"Funny, it looks to me as though you've been studying."

"Off and on," he agreed. "Would you like to do some studying now too; or use our mirrors to watch one of the Quidditch matches?"

Gwendolyn opted for just sitting and chatting with him for a while; they studied a bit; and then she went to dinner with Rose and Lily when they stopped by to collect her on the way to the Great Hall. They had a study evening for two after dinner; Harry and Ginny stopped in for another short visit; and Lily and Jonah joined them for that little blast of fun. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have a lot of alone time before she needed to be back in her House at curfew, but he did end his day on a high note when Madam Pomfrey allowed him to attempt some Animorphmagus healing while under her close supervision after he'd assured her that he felt strong-enough to give it a try. He had some success with it – especially with his face and side, but hadn't been able to heal everything; and would need time to heal the internal injuries that he couldn't fix through the animal transfigurations. By the time he was finished, he was past-ready for Madam Pomfrey's healing draught, and while she retired to her quarters for the night; he went straight off to sleep and was unconscious through until his normal wake-up call on Sunday morning.

The second-half of his weekend was much better than the first. He was on his own for breakfast and lunch, but had Gwendolyn, Rose, or Lily with him all morning. Gwendolyn studied with him when she wasn't at her make-up team practice; Rose and Lily visited at the same time that Harry and Ginny came to see him; and then Madam Pomfrey set him free after doing one more treatment with him after lunch – though he still had restrictions and orders for daily visits to see her so that she could keep an eye on the progress of his healing. Once he was out of the hospital wing, he and Gwendolyn celebrated with a small pool party that only included a few cousins and friends; and then he had Rose and Ray to help him out as he became the top gossip story in the Great Hall when he showed up there for dinner. He hadn't enjoyed that time in the spotlight; but hoped that getting through that on Sunday night would help with getting through it fast – especially when everyone would be looking ahead to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw senior team Quidditch match on Saturday.

Gwendolyn made sure that he didn't overdo it after dinner; and only had Lily and Jonah with them for their usual Sunday evening music, mirror chats, and quiet play time. Al didn't even play his guitar, but he did sing along; enjoyed the cuddle time with Gwendolyn; and then left it to Lily and Jonah to take care of sending Winter out with the weekly Owl Post while Gwendolyn refused to let him do any extra running around. They did wait for Lily and Jonah to get to the Ravenclaw tower entrance so that neither of them ended up walking around the castle alone – and Al had Lily to protect him for the walk back to Gryffindor tower. He hadn't needed her help with that; and was glad that they didn't have any new trouble from James, Ollie, or any of their Slytherin haters. He couldn't just head straight for bed once they were in the common room, but Lily stayed with Al and Rose joined them as they stopped for visits with their cousins and a few other friends; he had a dozen cameo moments that ended up taking about a half-hour to get through; and then he really was ready to head up to bed and off to sleep well-before most of his roommates returned to their dorm for the night.

"Would you like to give me a revised estimate for how long it will take the Animorphpotty to recover from that curse?" Scorpius demanded as he unceremoniously slapped the portrait onto the table. He dropped into the armchair and glowered at Thomas. "Let me save you the trouble – about three days."

"We've been over this already; and that's impossible," Thomas told him flatly. "I take it that you have more news that has you upset over this again."

"I do," Scorpius agreed. "Captain Potty was in the Great Hall for dinner today – it's Sunday evening now; and is apparently well-enough to return to his dorm room tonight."

"Then there is some other explanation for what has happened," Thomas insisted.

"Why?" Scorpius demanded. "Are you infallible? You told me that I made those Fanged Frisbees perfectly – and supervised me all the way to the end. I can't help but wonder if you're as full of it as my parents and grandparents!"

"You did make them perfectly," Thomas agreed, "but instead of yet again jumping to the conclusion that it must be my fault; why are you not first considering that the rumors are the lies?"

Scorpius snorted out a laugh. "Oh, I don't know," he mocked. "Maybe because your track record for underestimating the Potters isn't exactly worth bragging about; and I'm sensing a trend continuing with the third generation."

"You studied that curse, and know what it does," Thomas told him. "If, as you say, Albus looked perfectly fine; then he could not have been sliced up by those Fanged Frisbees at all as you reported the last time we spoke. If those cuts were infected by the curse; they would have never healed properly – not in a day or weeks; and possibly not for months. Eventually, he'd have been left with seriously ugly scars. If there is no sign of those injuries a day later; then they didn't happen."

"I said that he was in the Great Hall for dinner and apparently well-enough to return to his dorms again – not that he was unmarked. There have been rumors flying around here about what a horror his face was on Friday from a couple of Witches that hang out with James and Ollie and apparently saw him in the hospital wing on Friday night. There are nearly-healed wounds around his mouth that are still visible; so something happened to him – and he wasn't in the hospital wing for three days for no reason at all."

Thomas decided to pretend to take a moment to seriously consider that new information – ridiculous as he believed it to be; and then shook his head dismissively.

"Sometimes, the simplest answer is the right one," he said seriously. "In this case, the simplest answer is that Albus wasn't hit by the curses at all. As I told you last time, the rumors and witness reports could simply be a ruse. For all we know; this is all being done simply to root out the attackers."

"So you're suggesting that Captain Potty wasn't hit by the curse at all; yet that's led to some grand ruse to out the attackers?" Scorpius scoffed.

"What's your simplest theory?" Thomas countered. "That Albus healed himself from an incurable curse?" He laughed at that. "Not even his namesake had the power to do something like that!"

"Your Death Eaters defeated Dumbledore," Scorpius pointed out. "I know that because my father was there. I also find it interesting that you make that claim about Dumbledore instead of Harry Potter. You did ask for my theory, though; so here it is – though it isn't simple. I suggest that your knowledge of the curse is decades out of date to what is known today; and that there well may be a counter-curse or other treatment available. The Animorphloser does have a rather famous curse-breaker uncle, you might remember, and if he could deal with the curse; then that would explain Potty's ability to recover so easily."

"They could not have found a cure for a curse that I've taught to no-one else and is from knowledge known only to the Slytherin heirs before you!" Thomas shot back; and he sounded a bit angry now. "I've told you what I know, and if you don't believe me or believe that I've lied to you about that curse, then leave my portrait here; walk away; and never come back. You should do the same if you've come to believe that Albus Potter is some kind of omnipotent Wizard; since that would mean you've lost the war before you've even come near to beginning it!" He threw up his hands in disgust and shook his head again. "This is ridiculous, Scorpius! Nearly everything that you think you know about this is from hearsay and rumors. Do you even know for certain that the Fanged Frisbees you've been told of through those rumors are the ones that you sent to James Potter? For all you know, they took the idea and tried something else. They might not have used your gift at all yet."

"That is possible," Scorpius conceded grudgingly. "Your simplest explanation gets more convoluted at each step, though, and while you're basically accusing me of over-estimating my enemies; I can't help but wonder if you're again under-estimating them – and that would end badly for me."

"I'm not suggesting that you don't try to find out what truly happened, Scorpius," Thomas said soothingly, "but jumping to conclusions leads to making mistakes more often than not."

Scorpius' first thought was that Thomas was doing the same thing except from a perspective that couldn't accept the possibility that his own assertions were wrong, but Thomas soon had his doubts changing directions until he simply began doubting everything; and then he somehow ended up apologizing to his mentor for ever doubting him. He didn't feel better when he left the Room of Requirements to go back to his common room; and didn't like feeling as though he doubted everything and couldn't even trust what he thought he'd known going into that visit with Thomas.

What was most-unsettling to him, though, was that for the first time since he'd discovered Thomas' portrait; some of those doubts were about his mentor.

Hogwarts Quidditch became a top priority for the majority of students at the school during the last week of November – and that worked out great for Al as he was able to, for the most part, return to his normal schedule. He had to make some adjustments – like not doing the full workouts with his team until he was fully-healed, but while he couldn't train with them; it did allow him to do more with coaching everyone else while he watched the parts of the practices when he couldn't participate. Waiting to heal wasn't an issue for his classes and studying except for taking a few extra breaks when he got tired and his daily visits with Madam Pomfrey. While he had his own issues, the senior team players for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were particularly busy getting ready for their first match of the season; and Al was looking forward to the game as much as anyone. He especially liked the match-ups where the rivalry was friendly and fun – as this match was sure to be for everyone.

After winning their senior team match over Gryffindor, there were Slytherins having their usual kind of fun razzing students in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as they crudely and rudely claimed that the other matches wouldn't matter now that they were on the way to being undefeated. James and Ollie couldn't make that kind of claim, but they had fun insulting Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too. Al didn't like that poor-sportsmanship regardless of where it came from, but he was relieved to have a continued reprieve from his brother throughout the week while they were busy with other entertainments. That break wasn't only thanks to other diversions. James also managed to yet again take some time off from classes as he wore out his head injury relapse excuses beyond the tolerance of every Professor. When they started dumping the work on him that he missed and then gave him firm deadlines for catching up, he started to show up to classes more often; but still managed to slack off a lot whenever he could get away with it.

While the school week was primarily a countdown to the Quidditch match for the hardcore fans of the game, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group friends still needed to get through those five days of classes, studying, and Quidditch. Getting to do that without any problems from James and Ollie was a nice change; though that still had Al worried and wondering about what they might be plotting instead while leaving him alone. When they weren't working, studying, or playing Quidditch, Al and Gwendolyn managed to have a bit of non-work fun. On Monday night, that was a half-hour or so of music time once they had their work done for the night. On Wednesday night, they wrapped up their studying early in favor of a minor snogging session for two until Al needed to be back in his House and Gwendolyn could finish her assignments while waiting to go to her Astronomy class. Friday morning started out with a birthday mirror chat with Uncle Bill that Al, Rose, and Lily did together while on their morning walk and talk; and then Al and Gwendolyn took two whole hours off on Friday evening for some quality alone time that only included a bit of music and a lot of snogging.

Finally, it was Saturday – and the last day of November! Al was awake well-before dawn; he was ready for the day before any of his roommates woke; and he had a twenty-minute wait in the common room before Rose and Lily joined him for their morning walk and talk. Lily wanted to chat about Quidditch for most of that time; hoped that Pauline would win the Seeker duel for the Witches while she planned on cheering for her favorite Hufflepuffs too; and she predicted a close match either way because she expected that the two teams were likely the most-closely matched for any of the senior team pairings this season. Lily and Rose also talked about the latest gossip making the rounds in the girls' dorms; discussed possible cuddle buddies for Molly and Dominique now that they were both single for the first time in years; and somehow managed to not talk about that for Rose despite the fact that she'd been single for months longer than their cousins.

Breakfast in the Great Hall was loud and lively; Al and Gwendolyn stayed indoors for as long as they could before trudging out to the stadium and into the cold, windy, and wet weather; and then they sat down with their collective team mates and other friends so that they could again have a full-team game-watching experience that doubled as a training exercise that would help all of them get better at the game by watching and analyzing the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams. For Gwendolyn and her team; they also wanted to help out their senior team, and while Al had allowed a faint hope to bloom that James and Ollie would skip razzing them during the game; they showed up at the last minute with Patricia and Bristol; huddled under blankets two rows behind Al and Gwendolyn; and started to give Gwendolyn lots of ammunition to pass on to her fellow Ravenclaw when they started their pre-game 'analysis' in concert with Teresa Thomas' game announcing.

"Yes, Quidditch fans; it's time for the fourth match of the Quidditch season," James announced. "I'd like to thank Ollie Wood for his substitute announcing in the last match; though maybe you should all offer your thanks to his sister and my cousins for screwing him at tryouts so he wasn't playing in the last match. Maybe if he had been; we wouldn't have lost to those lowlife, dirty rotten cheats in Slytherin." He paused while Ollie, Patricia, and Bristol all laughed. "Going into this match, we have three teams with one win, and while we could have a four-way tie by the end of this match; I've heard that the fix is in for Ravenclaw so that they can take the lead in the Quidditch Cup race going into the Christmas break."

"Too bad for them that it only matters which House is in the lead at the end of the season," Ollie said with a snort. "Let them have the lead now. That way, they'll really have something to cry about when we pull the rug out from under them next May."

"That will be fun," James agreed with a raucous laugh. "We'll need to do that too – since there's no chance at all that Captain Canine will win another game this season." He scowled when Lily laughed – along with quite a few of the other junior team players; and she turned around to look back at him.

"I know that you're not taking Arithmancy, James, but if we don't win; that means that Ravenclaw would have at least three wins going into that game you're promising to win in May – and the best we could hope for if you pull that off would be three wins." She turned and grinned at Gwendolyn before returning her attention to James. "I think that Ravenclaw can beat Slytherin too, and that'd be four wins in your rich fantasy version of Quidditch Cup predictions; and then it wouldn't matter who wins that last game – except to decide which teams end up second to fourth." She laughed again. "Are you really sure that you want to stick with that Ravenclaw win prediction?"

"I'm okay with him being right on that one," Gwendolyn advised her; and she was grinning now too. "Even James and Ollie are bound to get a prediction right now and then."

"Considering their track record, though; they've likely gone and jinxed your team," Lily advised her.

"You can't jinx a match that's already been fixed," James declared loudly-enough to turn heads in his direction from a half-dozen rows around them – including on the Ravenclaw side of the border between the two Houses. "It's time to get our first look at the Hufflepuff team, though; so if the losers will pleas shut-up now; we'll get this show started!"

"No wonder the Quidditch Cup math was too hard for him," Lily whispered – "he's mixed up about whether one-and-oh is better than oh-and-one." She earned another glare from James when Al, Gwendolyn, and the few others close-enough to hear her all laughed; but he got started on his version of the team introductions when Teresa called the Hufflepuff players into the stadium.

"Hufflepuff is led by Captain Alex Jordan. Let's not speculate about what he had to do to get the job recommendation from former Captain Alice Longbottom, but he must have impressed to get that nod over her baby sister!"

"Isn't he dating your cousin?" Ollie asked. "I wonder how she feels about him doing things like that?"

"Maybe," James answered. "The Wizards that have been hanging out with my cousins have been coming to their senses and dumping them, and while I'm not sure whether Alex is bright-enough to figure that out too; there is a chance that he will figure it out – especially if he gets a few other Witches to help snog him to his senses."

"Well, you do have some single cousins available now; though keeping it all in the family like that just seems gross to me."

"I hear that," James agreed; "but let's get back to the introductions. Alex is flying with NEWT-year Beaters, Tina Johnson and Jacques Tremlett. Tina will suck today without her brother along to pick up the slack; and Tremlett is only on the team now because he didn't suck as badly as the rest of the Hufflepuffs trying out for the job. They're followed by the weakest links on the team – Myra Graves at Keeper and Francine Longbottom at Chaser. They suck worse than the Smith brothers, which is why they should be bringing up the rear instead of the two guys, but you'll see that for yourselves soon too."

"Or not, since if you bother watching them at all; that'll just put you to sleep," Ollie added.

"True enough," James said with a barked-out laugh. "Here come the Ravencheats! They have a Seeker for Captain this year too, and in what is apparently a new Ravencheat tradition, Captain Boot-licker is leading the way with her twin; and sucking up to the parents just in time for Christmas! Their twin-less, half-wit, negative no-talent Cravenclaw sister might start crying if I say more, though; so I'll move along with the rest of the introductions."

"I think it's too late," Ollie suggested. "Be careful, James. Your loser brother might blast you for hurting her feelings."

"Let him," James declared scornfully. "A nap in the hospital wing will be more exciting than this match will be anyway. Come on, loser – blast me again for doing absolutely nothing to the baby boot-licker!" He paused expectantly; and then laughed derisively. "What's the matter, Al? Cravenclaw got your tongue; or are you a chicken as well as a loser?"

"If Al was an Animorphmagus; he'd be a chicken – and then he'd be dinner," Ollie sang in a horribly off-key voice that made the song barely-recognizable to the hit song. That didn't keep James and the girls from laughing; and they weren't alone – which just egged James and Ollie on.

"We'll get back to that, but the team is already landing; and likely already tired out from all that flying; so let's wrap up the introductions. In the second row, we have the brother and sister Cravenclaw Cornfoots with side-along Chaser, Miya Davies; and bringing up the rear is the Beater duo of Brandon Graves and Seth Bradley. Since I've already mentioned that the fix is in for the Ravencheats team; I won't bother telling you about how badly this team sucks. Let's just let Mr. Peakes get this faux match going so that we can get it over with and move on to doing anything else."

After more than a week of no problems at all with James and Ollie, the game day commentary was tough for Al to take, but he refused to take the bait that they hurled at him with direct and back-handed insults while happily putting their own, ridiculous spin on the match going on above the pitch. The claims were often so outlandish that it was the absurdity that earned the laughs that James and Ollie took as compliments when they were really meant to be something closer to the opposite. That was true because the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams were putting on a stellar show as they battled above the pitch. Peter Boot soon showed that his team had the advantage at Keeper over Myra Graves; though that was small and hard-fought with every scoring attempt on both sides.

The Chaser duel was very close; the shots on goal were always within just a few for each team – with the lead for that statistic flipping back and forth throughout the match. As always for Alex and Pauline; their Seeker battle was tough; and they were even more-closely matched for skill and determination than the Chaser trios. Finally, while the Ravenclaw Beaters were younger, Tina and Jacques were not as good as Tina and Calvin were when they played together; and that meant that the two duos basically battled to a draw without affecting the rest of the match very much at all. Watching that complete-team battle while listening to the completely different match that James and Ollie were doing the play-by-play for made for a strange morning for Al, Gwendolyn, their team mates, and friends. Fortunately for the fans of the game around James and Ollie, the Quidditch action actually was good-enough to make up for the annoyances from the unwanted blather and insults that just kept coming regardless of the reality happening in the stadium.

In the first hour, Ravenclaw built a forty-to-twenty lead while Peter won the Keeper battle to that point. The Chasers improved their scoring ratio on both teams through the end of the second hour, but Ravenclaw also doubled their lead; and took a one hundred to fifty lead into the third hour. James thought that was pathetic, since Ravenclaw already had the win in the bag; so keeping everyone outside and watching the show while it rained on and off was just the Cravenclaws' way of sticking it to everyone while cheating their way to the Quidditch Cup race lead. By the end of the third hour, that was hardly a sure thing, but Ravenclaw had built up a one-seventy to ninety lead; and both teams looked well-enough to keep playing indefinitely.

That didn't happen. Ravenclaw scored two more goals; Hufflepuff added one; and then Alex ended the match at the three hour and thirteen minute mark to give Hufflepuff the come-from-behind, two-fifty to one-ninety victory. Best of all, he did that with a great catch when Pauline had been so close that it could have gone either way as they fought each other right up to the moment that Alex closed his fingers around the snitch while Pauline ended up grabbing hold of his closed fist. By then, Al and Gwendolyn were both far-beyond their limit for the idiotic, but James and Ollie didn't appear to notice; and kept on with what now sounded like completely crazy talk as they simply changed the narrative once their predicted, fixed outcome didn't happen.

"I guess the Cravenclaws must've missed a payment on that bought and paid for win," James declared. "Now we've got a four-way tie with a win and a loss for each team. How's that theory of yours working out now, Lily?" he jeered; and then scowled when she laughed at him.

"It was your theory, James," she reminded him. "I was just happy to make fun of it for you. You'll be happy to know that we don't have a tie either; though you won't want to hear that's thanks to our junior team – though it does matter that your senior team only lost by forty points. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are second and third; while Slytherin has some catching up to do on points from fourth place."

"You're just spouting off a load of rubbish," James declared stubbornly; and Lily laughed again.

"I'm not in Al's league for Arithmancy and never will be, but you know I don't do that when it comes to Quidditch – and it isn't that tough to work out with just four matches so far this season." Her smile turned a bit impish then. "I guess that you did get your head bashed in recently, so I should cut you some slack; since I guess that you might be having trouble with things like this. That would explain why your commentary today was the opposite of what actually happened up there."

"It's called thinking for ourselves instead of blindly following your loser brother, Captain Canine, around like all of the other deluded puppies in his pack of dogs," James retorted angrily. "You should try it some time before it's too late for you."

Lily just laughed at him again; making him even angrier. "If that's true; I choose the delusion. That's a way-happier world than the one that you apparently see around you while thinking for yourself."

"Did your parents have any daughters that lived, Loserette?" Patricia asked with a dark smirk that became a victorious smile when her comment earned a hearty laugh from James.

"Only in the reality the rest of us live in," Lily answered after joining in for the laughs – which just seemed to confuse Patricia.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own," James declared; and Lily smiled and nodded her agreement.

"Which is why you'd prefer to be an only child in that alternate universe." She laughed then. "This year, you should give yourself a memory charm Christmas present like the one you gave me last year that gives you just that – even if it will only be a reality in your mind."

"I don't need to do that for the loser, since he's already dead to me," James spat venomously, "and you'll be joining him there if you don't get a clue soon before it's too late."

"If Al's dead to you, then why are you going through so much trouble to mess with him?" Lily asked mildly; and then shook her head. "It's too cold and wet out here to keep playing this game with you. This isn't really fair for you anyway while you're still practically a mental invalid after that bludger hit. Let's try it again at the next match in January. Maybe you'll be better by then."

While Lily had been happily exchanging barbs with James, Al, Gwendolyn, and most of the teens and tweens in their group had been gathering up their things by then and getting ready to go out onto the pitch to offer their congratulations and condolences to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. She had to hurry to catch up, and while James continued to razz her more than anyone else after that; she mostly ignored him or laughed off his insults. Al and Gwendolyn led the way when they left, but they had stayed out of the verbal fray entirely, and since Gwendolyn's senior team had lost the match; she didn't really think that it was appropriate for her to offer her opinion on James' horrid game predictions and analysis when the game hadn't ended well for Ravenclaw. There was some potential for razzing James about giving her team the kiss of death by picking them to win; but she didn't really want to go there anyway.

That didn't keep James from going places he shouldn't, and while he didn't follow right behind Al and Gwendolyn, he only gave them enough of a head start so that he could mess with them within moments of them getting a chance to talk with Pauline and Peter. This time, when James and Ollie got insulting with the Ravenclaw players, Lily had Stephanie helping her with the confrontation; and they both had James and Ollie furious with them by the time they stormed off – after several Professors just happened to join their group and ensure that there wouldn't be any post-match fireworks. Rain was possibly even more effective than snow for keeping post-game festivities short – at least at the stadium, and when it began to rain a bit harder; that entertainment on the pitch came to an abrupt end as the players headed for the locker rooms and everyone else either headed for the castle or off the school grounds for the visiting fans.

Al and Gwendolyn split up for stops in their dorm rooms to get cleaned up and changed before lunch; and then met up in the Great Hall for warm-up drinks and a chat while waiting for lunch to be served. The Quidditch post-mortem chat that included all of the teen drama stories kept them entertained while they were in the Great Hall; and then Al and Gwendolyn had Toni and Michael with them after lunch to help with the set-up for the afternoon Quidditch-watching and study session. That's why they weren't aware of the post-lunch ambush that James and Ollie were getting ready to launch while they were busy getting ready for the friends and family fun.

"Look out!"

Jonah shouted that while shoving Lily out of the way. He would have drawn his wand next, but it was already too late; and the first two spells hit him full-on. He was bound in ropes from hips to shoulders and upside-down when the spray hit him – and about half of the tweens in their group of firsties. Lily didn't escape that part of the attack; but did have her wand out and put up her shield as another flurry of spells were fired at them. Most were stopped, but Jonah was higher in the air; and took another hit that had him flopping around as the jelly-legs jinx had him wobbling around while still hanging from one ankle. Lily was mad, and she attempted a counter-attack, but they could all hear the sound of running feet and raucous laughter by then; and that was the end of the fighting part of the ambush.

"I should have known!" Lily croaked – and it sounded like a croak thanks to the transfiguration that was affecting her, Jonah, Denise, Hugo, and Kathryn. Melissa, Katrina, and three others had been missed by the spray that was now-obviously a transfiguration prank; but the rest of them now all looked rather hideous. Lily smiled at Jonah, though that wasn't a pretty sight either in her current condition. "Remind me that I owe you a hug and kiss sometime after we're back to normal again."

"How about you have Jonah remind you that we need to blast James and Ollie for this," Kathryn told her. "I can't believe that our brothers did this to us!"

"I can," Lily assured her, "and I won't need to be reminded; since I have no intention of letting them get away with this!"

"You're not going to rat them out," Hugo declared; and Lily laughed – another sound that was a match for her appearance.

"Of course not," she assured him, "but if James thinks that I'm going to be like Al for things like this; he's about to find out just how wrong he is about me."

"What are you going to do?" Kathryn asked; and Lily turned her smile and attention toward her friend and team mate.

"It's what we're going to do; and we'll work that out – once we've helped Jonah; and get to our game-watching party."

"Hopefully before half the school sees us like this," Hugo added. "Maybe we'll get lucky and Al or Rose can help us out with this little problem."

"You know we'll be stuck with the transfiguration until it's done," Lily reminded him. "Help me with Jonah. He won't be thanking me for getting him down if I drop him on his head."

Lily would have been right about that, but then she had a bit of a problem with actually helping Jonah thanks to her temporarily disfigured face and mouth – she couldn't properly say the counter-spells. Instead of standing around and waiting to be found and laughed at; they instead pulled Jonah along with them and hurried the rest of the way to the study classroom that Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their study group had staked out for close to two years now. They weren't lucky-enough to completely escape being observed, but they were also offered apologies by the group of teens that crossed paths with them – both for laughing at their predicament and because they couldn't help them with Jonah's problems. Al could, though; and he did that within moments of their arrival.

"What's that on your shirt?" Lily demanded when she saw the dark shadows ringing Jonah's shirt once Al had the ropes off of him; but didn't really need to hear the answer. "They gave you rope burns bad-enough to bleed," she said angrily – "and would've done that to me if you hadn't saved me."

"That seemed like a good idea at the time," Jonah joked. "James would tell us that Al's been a bad influence on me."

"He would say that," Al agreed as he stepped up in front of Jonah and smiled at him. "I'd say that you deserve more than my thanks for taking the hit for Lily."

Jonah flinched a bit when Al gently put a hand on each of Jonah's forearms; but then his eyes went very wide when Al's magic flared out and healed those ragged, bleeding rope burns. He might have dropped to the floor when the magic was suddenly turned off and he no longer needed to brace against it; but Al held on to him so that wouldn't happen.

"Thank-you," Al told him quietly.

"Ditto that for me," Lily told him. "I'm still going to save that hug and kiss I owe you for when we don't both look so horrid, though; so let's see about getting you a clean shirt from somewhere and then we'll talk about what we're going to do to thank James and Ollie for doing this to us."

"What are you thinking about doing?" Al asked suspiciously at the same time that Gwendolyn said – "Can I help?" They earned a round of laughs for that; which was rather grating on the ears for the laughs from Lily, Jonah, and the other transfigured firsties.

"You don't want to know," Lily croaked to Al; "and we'd love the help," she told Gwendolyn. "Revenge might not work for Al, but by the time we're done with them; James and Ollie are going to think twice before messing with us again."

"I don't think that you should do that," Al told her; and Lily laughed-croaked again.

"I know, and we love you for being such a nice guy, Al; so you should probably get on with your studies and pretend that you don't hear what we're going to do about this."

Al looked ready to say more; and then suddenly laughed. "I'm going to do just that," he advised her. "Try not to get caught. I love you." he hugged her; and then laughed again when she tried to push him away.

"Cut that out. I'm hideous!"

"You're beautiful and amazing," he disagreed; kissed her cheek; and then wrinkled up his face. "Okay, that was a bit gross; but you know what I mean."

"I do," Lily agreed while Al's comments earned more laughs. "Now go away and let those of us who aren't as nice as you are plot some quality revenge!"

Al went to sit down at the work table where he and Gwendolyn had set up their books and gear with Rose, Toni, and Michael while everyone else had opted to at least begin their afternoon with some cuddling and game watching. They did still have a good view of the mirror for watching the match too, but the Harpies weren't playing; and Al really wanted to get some work done on his assignments so that he'd have time to hang out with Gwendolyn later – and on Sunday too. Gwendolyn didn't join him again right away; but instead sat down with Jonah and Lily – once she'd helped with borrowing a clean top for Jonah – a too-large sweatshirt that Scott had with him and was happy to lend out to the hero of the day.

"What's going on up there?" Rose asked Al quietly; pointing her quill at his forehead from where she sat across from him. They'd both been working for about five minutes by then; and Al knew she'd been waiting to ask that question since she'd sat down again too.

"I'm wondering if what Lily's going to do will actually work for her," he answered in a near-whisper. Toni and Michael would be able to hear him too; but the others in the room likely wouldn't. "James would just hate me more if I tried a counter-ambush – especially if it worked; but he doesn't hate Lily so Merlin only knows how he'll react to it."

"Is that why you changed your mind about saying anything else and then laughed earlier?" Rose asked next. "I thought that maybe you had some kind of Divination moment or something. Al laughed along with Toni and Michael; but shook his head.

"Actually, I didn't sense anything at all. The surprise might be refreshing for me."

"You won't be surprised if you just happen to be somewhere nearby to Lily as back-up in case she has any problems," Toni suggested.

Al looked over at Lily and smiled. "That's tempting; but I'm not going to do that. She might hex me if she found out I even tried to do that; and would blast me for sure if I did get involved." He turned his attention to Toni and laughed. "She is Mum's daughter, and yes; I'm afraid of what she'd do to me if I ever made her mad."

"Yet James isn't," Michael pointed out.

"Check back with him on that tomorrow," Al suggested. "He might have a different opinion by then."

Whether that would be true or not wasn't a question that Al expected to have answered – at least directly from James and Ollie. The things that he did hear being discussed had him sure that the two boys would not have a good evening if Lily's planned revenge worked even half as well as she hoped. He didn't offer any comments or suggestions during that discussion, but he did quietly help Gwendolyn with a bit of magical support for something that the group of younger kids wanted to use on James and Ollie but was a bit beyond their current magical abilities. He'd been mad at James and Ollie too, and stayed mad until the transfigurations wore off and Lily was back to her normal, beautiful self, but that was also tempered by the amusement that came along with Lily's devious plans. She wasn't alone when it came to creativity; and Kathryn, Melissa, Denise, and the other girls were happy to help her out with the extra-curricular project.

The Quidditch match became a side-show to the planning for operation prankmasters blasters, but Al still managed to get a lot of studying done; and Gwendolyn and Rose found a happy medium between work and aiding and abetting the happy little group of junior revengers. Lily had her team ready to go by the time they all headed to the Great Hall for dinner – including putting on 'game faces' while having dinner so that James and Ollie could be properly set up for the fall. That part of the plan provided Al with some bonus entertainment at dinner, and while watching Lily, Hugo, and the others spend some time glaring at James and Ollie – after Lily and Kathryn had stopped by to have a few words with James and Ollie that ended with a pair of attempted slaps; it was sensing that the two boys bought the entire act hook, line, and sinker that was most amusing. He didn't try to do anything to draw attention away from Lily, but did join in for the act to make sure that James and Ollie knew that he hated what they'd done to Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and the others; and knew that James was quite happy about that – even though he also sensed that this was one attack that James hadn't done to try and get at him through others.

Al met up with Gwendolyn while the Great Hall was still nearly-full, and while doing that early had more to do with getting started on the alone time they had planned for the night; it was also a bonus to be far out of the way long before the revenge ambush was launched.

Lily left the Great Hall about ten minutes after Al and Gwendolyn – just as James and Ollie were finally starting in on their first servings of dessert after several plates-full of food from the dinner menu. She tried to smack James on the back of the head on the way by; did that ineptly-enough that he had time to dodge it; and was happy to see that she had him right where she wanted him as he laughed and insulted her again. He and Ollie made sure that everyone in the Great Hall knew when she met up with Jonah thanks to the catcalls and two more lewd insults that they yelled out to her; but she ignored all of that and simply made it appear as though she and Jonah were going off to do exactly what James had so crudely suggested.

By the time they were on the first floor, Jonah had the map out; and she had her mirror ready to answer when Denise called her to help co-ordinate their ambush. Denise was in charge of following James and Ollie; and helping everyone else to pick the best-possible spot to ambush them – depending on what the boys decided to do first after dinner. Lily and Jonah were one team, but they had a total of four other teams – including Denise's surveillance team. The plan was to spread out around the castle; converge on James and Ollie; and then blast them with a hit and run ambush.

"How can you be so calm?" Jonah asked her; and Lily smiled and leaned closer for a one-armed hug.

"Because I've got you here to protect me if things go horribly wrong," she teased; and Jonah laughed.

"Then that explains why I'm scared witless. I'm to be the cannon fodder if this plan goes sideways."

"I don't think you'll have anything to worry about," Lily advised him seriously; though she was still smiling brightly too. "James and Ollie are not going to know what hit them when we're done with them."

"Let's hope that they don't know who hit them either," Jonah added; earning another half-hug and laugh from Lily.

"That might work for some of our friends if we get this right; but we'll be at the top of the suspects list for James – unless he really did get his brains softened up by that bludger."

They continued to talk quietly while wandering the halls until they reached 'their' section of the castle; and then they watched the map; waited for Denise's mirror chat call; and let the anticipation of action build while they also watched their friends get into position too. The excitement level kicked up a few notches when they saw James and Ollie leave the Great Hall; Lily was happy when Denise called and advised them that they were heading off on their own without any entourage or the girls with them; and then the coordination – and chase – was on. Jonah was the one to figure out that James and Ollie were stalking them when the two older boys started heading in their direction, and while he'd appreciated the hug and kiss from Lily; they then needed to adjust their own plan accordingly. Fortunately for them, that news actually helped them.

Taking Jonah's hand, Lily led him away from James and Ollie until they were at a classroom that was across the hallway and down a half-dozen paces from a secret passageway with a nearby side-hallway on the other side of the classroom from the passage and the end of the hallway and a staircase beyond the passage in the other direction. They went into the room; the other teams either got set up outside of the room or waited to follow behind James and Ollie; and then they were all ready to go when James and Ollie prepared to jump into the classroom and surprise or ambush Lily and Jonah again.

"What are you doing in here with my little sister?" James shouted as he threw the classroom door open with a crash before he and Ollie rushed into the classroom.

Their wands were drawn, but when they didn't see anything; their mouths gaped open – and stayed that way when they were blasted back out of the classroom by the combined spells that Lily and Jonah hurled at them from just a couple of feet away – where they'd been hiding with the help of the invisibility charms that Al and Gwendolyn had given them for Christmas gifts. Lily laughed as she watched them hit the wall on the far side of the hallway, but James and Ollie might not even have noticed; because they were getting blasted from all sides by everyone else – all of them either invisible too or firing from around corners or within the secret passage. While Lily and Jonah couldn't see the others either, they did know who was supposed to be doing what; and had fun as they watched their ambush succeed beyond even Lily's high expectations. Their part of the ambush hadn't ended with the initial attack, though, and they fired the rest of their spells; and then they each happily slimed one of the boys – with Jonah getting to do that to James because Lily thought he deserved the right to do that after saving her.

The slime wasn't the only messy part of their attack, but James and Ollie were so stunned by then; that Lily didn't expect them to appreciate everything until they recovered enough to think straight again. She did especially appreciate Kathryn's contribution to paying her brother back with interest, though; and thought that the dresses, bows, and curls were a nice touch – especially when that also looked comical on a pair of temporary monsters! While staying to admire their handiwork was tempting; they all stuck to the plan and ran for it as soon as they'd finished giving James and Ollie everything they had – and taking a couple of pictures. They scattered, spread out around the castle; and then went on to do their own things while keeping an eye on James and Ollie with their maps to make sure they weren't coming after anyone before risking a celebration group reunion. For Lily and Jonah; their 'hiding spot' was with Al and Gwendolyn, and while Lily knew he wouldn't have joined in to help them; she was sure that he'd protect her if James and Ollie did lose their minds and come looking for her.

"I take it that your plan worked," Al guessed as Lily ran over to him for an enthusiastic hug. "Should I seal the room now; or do we have time before James and Ollie get here?"

"You've been watching your map," Lily countered. "You tell us."

"They're still where you left them," Gwendolyn advised her. "Did you knock them out?"

"I don't think so," Lily answered; and hugged Gwendolyn next before going to look down at the map that they'd dropped onto the sofa. "We were brilliant; and they really had it coming to them even more by the time we blasted them."

"They were coming after you and Jonah again," Al said with a nod. "We didn't like seeing that; but it worked out pretty well for your plan."

"It did," Lily agreed. "I'm a bit amazed that they didn't notice everyone else as we closed in on them; but they didn't – and didn't know what hit them by the time we were done with them."

"Their map shows everyone," Al reminded her. "You really need to focus on the names you're following and ignore the rest to use it. They likely do that without even thinking about it."

"So you hit them with everything?" Gwendolyn asked; and laughed when Lily and Jonah both grinned at her while nodding their agreement.

"They didn't even have time to defend themselves we surprised them so thoroughly," Lily answered. She frowned slightly while glancing at the map again and saw that James and Ollie were still basically in the exact same place where they'd landed. "Maybe that was too much."

"Should we go back and check on them?" Jonah asked; and Lily shook her head.

"We really don't want to do that," she assured him. "How long has it been since we ran off from there?"

"Just a few minutes," Al advised her. "It likely seems like a lot longer to you."

"It does," she agreed; and then laughed. "You'll hate this, Al, but I totally get why James finds those ambushes and pranks so brilliant!"

"I do – hate that,' Al agreed. "If this helps to get James and Ollie to leave you alone, then I guess it worked for you; but I hope you didn't love that so much that you start your own prank patrol."

"Even if we aimed our ambushes only at bullies like James and Ollie?" Lily asked.

"I don't like seeing things like that happen to anyone – including James and Ollie – or any of our Slytherin enemies."

"You'll never improve your reputation around here with talk like that," Lily teased. She was still keeping an eye on the map and nodded toward it. "I think I just saw James move away from the wall." They were all watching when the dot that indicated James seemed to roll from one side of the hallway to the other and come to a stop just inside the doorway to the classroom where Lily and Jonah had waited for them.

"Watch out for that slime," Jonah murmured. "It's slippery." He smiled when Lily laughed and hugged him.

"Then it's good for James that we didn't bother closing that door behind us or that might have hurt," she suggested; and then turned her smile toward Al. "It's okay to enjoy this just a bit with us. James and Ollie might just get mad at me now too, but even if they keep acting the gits toward me; they'll have no doubt now that they'll need to watch their backs from now on if they do try to mess with us again."

"It's too bad that wouldn't work for you too," Gwendolyn told Al. "I know it wouldn't – even if you would be willing to try it; but it would be nice to have a break from them for the next year or forever."

"Right now, I'll settle for not being the next target if James does decide that Lily is too much for them to handle," Al said without really joking at all despite earning the round of laughs.

"I didn't think about that," Gwendolyn admitted. "We'd better keep an eye on our maps a bit more over the next few days."

they kept an eye on the map right then for a while, and though that didn't show them what was going on with James and Ollie, they did know that the boys went into that classroom for quite a while; and then eventually moved on to go directly to the Gryffindor common room. That hadn't happened until after Lily and Jonah moved on and Al and Gwendolyn had been playing music for nearly half an hour. Knowing that James and Ollie had at least been well-enough to return to their House, and that they didn't go in search of Lily and Jonah helped Al to relax and have fun with Gwendolyn. The music was followed by some quality snogging time while not watching the mirror network shows that that were playing in the background. Walking Gwendolyn home was more fun too without any worry about a James and Ollie confrontation or ambush; and then Al didn't have any problems with them in the Gryffindor common room because James and Ollie were busy with Patricia, Bristol, and some other friends. The mirror gaming they were doing wasn't uncomfortable for Al, but there were still a lot of snogging couples; so he didn't stay in the common room for long before heading up to his dorm room.

He ended his night – and the month of November – with a bedtime mirror chat with Lily because she called him from her dorm room with the latest news about James and Ollie. She didn't know whether to believe James or not, but after she returned to the common room; they'd come over to see her – and James offered her a whispered congratulations for a revenge well-done. He also promised that he'd learned his lesson; and implied that he was proud of her. Al didn't need to warn her that James and Ollie might just be setting her up, but then he thought that there was a chance that James would be serious about that – at least until the next time he got mad at Lily for something.

Al thought about that for quite a while as he lay in bed waiting for sleep to come. Ending the month with such a crazy day seemed strange to him; but that was mostly because the big events of the day happened without him being in the middle of the action for a change. After what felt like months of too much attention, Al actually liked being on the sidelines, and while it was likely too much to hope fur; he still couldn't resist the mental pictures of a Christmas season without any trouble from James, Ollie, or any of the Slytherins.

When he did eventually drift off to sleep, December had already started; he was sure that the second-half of the weekend was going to be a lot of fun; and he happily dreamed of best Christmas adventures ever so far – including several that had Gwendolyn making appearances in a starring role!


	28. A Weird and Wonderful Christmas

**Chapter Twenty-Eight – A Weird and Wonderful Christmas**

Gwendolyn laughed when she saw Al, Rose, and Lily waiting for her in the hallway outside of the stairway into Ravenclaw tower; hurried over to them; and shared a warm hug and kiss with Al while Renee and a few of the other girls caught up with her.

"I haven't been asked to the dance by anyone else yet if you were worried about that," she advised Al and then turned to grin at Rose and Lily before adding – "unless this surprise isn't for me. Are either of you waiting to ask one of my House mates to the dance?"

"This is Al's idea," Lily advised her; and then smiled when Al produced a single red rose and held it out to Gwendolyn.

"I love you, Gwendolyn," Al said seriously as he passed the flower to her. "Will you please do me the honor of allowing me to be your humble, devoted escort to the Christmas dance this year?"

There was a round of laughter when Gwendolyn took the rose and gave him a non-verbal answer that seemed to be a resounding yes. She was smiling when she stepped back and took his hand.

"Yes, that was a yes," she said; more for the other girls than because Al needed any clarification.

"Good to know," Renee teased. "If that was a no; you'd need to get a room for a yes."

"Or the rest of us would need to take cold showers," one of the other girls suggested. "You've got to talk to your boyfriend, Gwendolyn. It just isn't fair when he does things like that for you while the rest of us have to settle for offers that are not nearly as romantic."

"He has his moments," Renee told her; "but don't for get that he's a trouble magnet; and a bit dangerous to be around. We're in the danger zone just being near him right now."

"Not this early on a Sunday morning," Rose disagreed. "The bullies usually sleep in; so Al almost never has any major prank problems before breakfast."

Her comment led to the girls having fun with discussing the best and worst times to be around Al before they moved on to talk about the Christmas dance news. The posters had gone up sometime before any of them had reached their common rooms; the Graves Robbers were again going to be the band for the dance; and there was speculation that it was the easy-access to good bands that allowed the Professors to have the dance every year now when they hadn't done Christmas dances every year – or even all that often in the past. Al didn't get into that conversation, but did think about that in relation to his family. He didn't know about things like school dances for his older uncles, but did know that there had only been the one dance for his parents in the years they'd been at Hogwarts. Sure, they'd had some messed up Christmases, and he couldn't picture Death Eaters throwing a Christmas dance during the last year of the war at all; but that was just another reminder of how lucky they were now not to have all of those problems – even when the problems they did have seemed hard to deal with sometimes.

Gwendolyn didn't allow those more serious musings to go on for very long before making sure that Al had fun as they walked to the Great Hall. They stayed together for a while once there; and then Al went to the Gryffindor table once most of their friends were there and the food was about to hit the tables. It was no surprise that the dance had top billing on the gossip network during that meal; and Christmas in general became a hot topic as the first of December began the extended countdown to one of the favorite holidays for Witches and Wizards everywhere. That was true for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study group when they met up and got to work after breakfast. They had to talk quietly at first because they worked in the library doing research for an hour and a half or so; but then they moved on to their study classroom to work on their reports and the practical magic practice or potions work. Al and Gwendolyn were writing one of those reports at one of the worktables when Tory brought up the idea of a group Christmas party for the junior teams. They'd begun talking about that as separate parties; and offered the suggestion when Al and Gwendolyn were considering how to juggle two parties so that they could each go to both of them.

"Madison and I have that same problem with Scott and Ray," she reminded Al and Gwendolyn. "Why don't we just have one big party for all of us?"

"Isn't that against the rules or something?" Rose teased. "Oh wait – that was last season for our House." She grinned at Al. "For some reason, our Captain this year didn't want to have that same ban against fraternizing with the enemy in the other Houses."

"So you're saying we should invite the Slytherin team too?" Scott asked; and then laughed when the girls all turned to stare at him. "I was only joking," he said defensively.

"I think that's a brilliant idea," Al said; and then it was his turn to have everyone around the table staring at him. "The joint party," he amended – "and inviting Scorpius and his team to have the party with us."

"Did you get hit in the head when we weren't looking?" Ray asked him; "or are you just addled because Gwendolyn said yes to going to the dance with you?"

"We should definitely have one big party," Al answered; "and it wouldn't be right to do that without at least inviting Slytherin too. I have no idea whether they'd agree to come or not; but we should at least make the offer."

"Do you still want him on your future Cannons team, Rose?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin. "First thing he'll do is invite the Falcons to your team parties."

"A league Christmas party would be really awesome," Al suggested seriously. "The Ministry of Magic has their parties at Christmas and on New year's Eve; so I don't see why the league doesn't do something too."

"Of course you'd love that idea," Madison said with a laugh. "The Cannons likely have the worst parties in the league; and you're worried that Gwendolyn would turn down your invitations to those parties."

"I am going to have so much material to use on all of you when my Cannons do win their next league championship," Rose advised them.

"No you won't," Ray disagreed. "By the time that happens; we'll all be so old that we won't be able to remember any of this – assuming we're still alive when that does happen."

"Do you think they'll ever win again?" Tory asked. "That's very optimistic of you!"

"Let's get back to the party suggestion," Gwendolyn said. "I'm okay with doing that; but do we really want to invite the Slytherin team? That would be scary if they agreed to come."

"Only for the Potters, Weasleys, half-bloods, muggle-borns, and blood-traitors on our teams," Ray offered. "The rest of us would be just fine."

"I'm fairly sure that we're all members of at least one of those groups," Tory pointed out; and Ray laughed.

"Well, in that case; we'd all be in for a bad night."

"Or we'd be starting something that might make things better between our Houses and Slytherin," Al told them sincerely. "We've been here for nearly two and a half years now; and none of us has a single Slytherin friend. They aren't all bad, but until we at least try to get to know some of them; we have no chance of making friends with them."

"I foresee a party train wreck if the Slytherin players and their dates are there too," Madison told him; "but I guess you're right and we should at least invite them – and then hope that they turn us down."

"Well, that's two Captain votes for the idea," Gwendolyn said with a grin. "Should I vote 'no' so that I can do the I told you so's later; or support my boyfriend?"

"That's a tough one – and now I'm wishing that I'd waited for your vote; since that's brilliant," Madison teased.

"If it's a total disaster, you can all tell me that you told me so after the party," Al promised. "Look at the idea from their perspective. Joining us for a Christmas party could get them blasted by other Slytherins – like the Averys and their mates. If they decide to take that kind of risk; I'll do what I can to meet them half way."

"Wouldn't that just prove that you're a trouble magnet if you meet them half way and then they get blasted by their own House mates?" Ray asked; and Al shrugged and smiled ruefully.

"I'm fairly sure that no more proof for that is required by anyone," he joked. "We're just speculating right now anyway; since it's more-likely that they'll either turn us down or most of the players will refuse to come even if Scorpius agrees."

"Well, if that happens; we might be okay," Tory suggested with a bright smile. "He is at least the best-looking Slytherin in our year – or possibly in the entire castle."

"That's a very good point," Madison agreed; laughing when their comments didn't get Ray or Scott going at all.

"This is when you're supposed to at least pretend to get jealous," Tory advised them; and both boys laughed.

"I've no doubt that you're not joking about how good-looking you think that Scorpius is," Ray assured her; "but there is no way we'll ever have to worry about him trying to move in on us with either of you – unless he's interested in being disinherited by his family. I seriously doubt he's brave-enough to give up all of that money – even if the Malfoy name doesn't mean much anymore."

"Inviting the Slytherin team doesn't work out very well for us," Scott told Ray. "The girls might like it a lot; but they don't exactly have a team full of Witches for us to get to know. I wonder if they'd go along with the idea if they had an all-Witch team instead?"

"They have no idea what they're saying," Gwendolyn advised Tory and Madison; and Ray and Scott were oblivious to the danger signs that suggested they were not impressing their girlfriends.

"What?" Ray asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"My point exactly," she answered. "For you, the right comment would have beens something along the lines of telling Tory that she's so amazing that Scorpius would be willing to give up everything for her if he was as lucky as you are right now; and Scott should definitely not be suggesting that you'd both enjoy the Christmas party if there were a bunch of pretty Slytherin Witches attending."

"How did you get there from what either of us said?" Scott asked in true surprise; earning laughs from all of the girls around him.

"That is what you said – from a Witch's perspective," Rose advised him.

"Is that a new rule change?" Scott asked suspiciously. "Every time we think we understand the game; Witches keep changing the rules on us and we have to start the game over."

"Or it's game over," Ray added with a smirk.

"Let's talk about what we can do for that Christmas party," Rose suggested. "That might give the guys time to get their foot-in-mouth flare-up under control."

Madison and Tory were willing to go along with that suggestion, since they didn't want to let their boyfriends continue digging holes so soon after asking them to the Christmas dance. Whether the Slytherin team agreed to come to the party or not, there was still a lot to think about for putting a party together that would have sixty or more teens and tweens with the three House teams and dates – and closer to ninety if Slytherin did join in. They needed to pick a day and time; discuss food and drinks for the party; options for entertainment; and what to do about gifts for the players – and possibly for their dates too. They didn't get all that much worked out by the time they stopped studying when they needed to head to the Great Hall for lunch, but they'd gotten back to their studies too; and did have that work finished so that they could all take the rest of the day off if they wanted to do that.

The dance and teen drama building around it was still the top news of the day during the lunch meal. Some of the gossip involved relatives and friends, and for Al, the strange for that included hearing that Molly and Dominique had each been asked to the dance – and they'd turned down the offers. He didn't want to blast the guys if their intentions had been good; but thought that the timing was bad when his cousins were each dealing with recent break-ups with long-time boyfriends – or at least long-term by teen standards. Finding out that Lily had already turned down two invitations to the dance had been more amusing; but only because he was sure that Jonah would get a 'yes' whenever he got around to asking her to go to the dance with him. Al and Gwendolyn were there for that moment not long after lunch because they'd met up with Lily and Jonah to go outside for a Seeker and Chaser duel – and Jonah asked her to go to the dance with him then – partly because he'd heard that she'd been getting 'a lot of' invitations already; and he'd been worried that he was already too late.

That had been fun, and so had the Chaser and Seeker duels. Al and Gwendolyn had Rose and Hugo with them for their duel; and they collectively had a Witches against the Wizards battle. Al and Jonah got in trouble for winning their respective duels, but Gwendolyn and Lily forgave them almost immediately – once they had some fun razzing them about it for a while; and after they'd all finished warming up with hot drinks and a snack. While the rest of their friends had not been interested in going outside to freeze while playing Quidditch with them; they had been happy to take the afternoon off to play too. Al and Gwendolyn didn't meet up with anyone else after that warm-up break, but Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah did all do that – with Rose and Hugo going to hang out in the Gryffindor common room while Lily and Jonah met up with some of their friends from both Houses in the library.

Their evening was already booked for a family and friends hang-out session, so Al and Gwendolyn chose to do their own thing for the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime. they played with magic for a while; enjoyed a bit of private snogging; and talked about everything from the Christmas fun they hoped to have at school until the Christmas break to things they could do to make those holidays more tolerable while dealing with James for however much time they'd end up spending with him during those two weeks at home. Gwendolyn wanted to freshen up ahead of dinner, so they split up early-enough for her to do that before they needed to be in the Great Hall; and Al walked there with Rose, Lily, and a handful of their friends while getting caught up on the latest gossip.

The Christmas decorations were becoming more noticeable as more and more of them were put up around the school; and that was helping to put a feeling of holiday cheer in the air that Al could sense when surrounded by all of the students and Professors. It made a difference for their evening get-together too; and not just because they could now pick Christmas shows or music on the mirror network. Their mirror chats with the parents were more fun as news was passed along about the Christmas dance and the dates that were already set up – or not. for example, Ron got into trouble for being glad that Rose didn't have a date yet while advising Hugo to get around to asking a Witch to go with him before all of the good ones were already taken. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah didn't surprise their parents; but still got teased about going out on another double date – among other jokes. It was also funny that Gwenog was a near-opposite of Ron when it came to her kids.

While those mirror chats were fun, so was the music play time when Al and Gwendolyn led the live entertainment; and the cuddle and mirror network shows wind down while some of them also wrote letters for home helped to make for a really great end to the weekend. Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for the visit to the Owlery, so they were able to say goodnight to each other with a bit of privacy – unless you counted all of the owls witnessing those goodnight kisses. While that had been the best part of their time in the Owlery, Al had also been happy to see that Blizzard wasn't there; and was sure that James' owl was happy to be away from the school regardless of where James had sent him – since he doubted it was for a trip home.

By the time that Al was back in his House after seeing Gwendolyn home, he'd had enough of the gossip and drama that continued as new stories hit the gossip network, so he said goodnight to most of his older cousins; headed up to his dorm room; and got ready for bed. A bit of textbook reading helped to put him to sleep; and he was off in dreamland before even a quarter of his roommates retured from the common room for the night. There were three school weeks to go until the Christmas break, and while Al slept; he had no idea about just how crazy this holiday season would be!

James and Ollie were sitting on their beds; slowly getting ready for the day; and wishing they were still sleeping. Neither of them were fans of mornings in general; and really disliked Monday mornings. The rest of their roommates were already gone and on the way to the Great Hall; but James wasn't in any hurry to get there – partly because there was something he wanted to talk with Ollie about in private.

"They'll be going around today asking everyone if they're staying here for the holidays or going home," James told Ollie; and then paused to listen and make sure there wasn't anyone outside of their dorm room close-enough to hear him. "I'm going to tell them that I'm staying."

"You are?" Ollie asked in surprise; and James nodded.

"Yeah. I'm done with going home for Christmas. You should blow off your family too and stay here with me. We'll have way more fun without them messing everything up for us – especially when we'll practically have the castle to ourselves for two weeks."

"No sisters around to bug me; and I wouldn't have to hear all about how brilliantly Belinda is doing with United until I'm ready to puke," Ollie mused. "That'd be brilliant!"

"Then let's do it," James said enthusiastically. "We'll sign up to stay, and if we're lucky – and don't say anything to anyone; the parents won't find out until we don't show up at King's Cross two weeks from Friday!"

"They'll go nuts on us if we do that," Ollie predicted; and James laughed.

"That would be a nice bonus; though I think they're nuts already; so no loss there."

"True," Ollie agreed, "but what would we do around here for two weeks?"

"Whatever we want," James answered. "I can tell you that we won't have to put up with our idiot families; I won't have to even see the loser for two weeks; and I won't have to go to any Quidditch matches, family parties, or anything else that I hate most about the holidays with my family. They'll be happier without me; and I won't miss them at all."

"You have more to hate about Christmas with your family than I do," Ollie said, "but it's been getting worse for me the last few years too; and Belinda and Olivia are getting to be nearly as bad as the loser."

"I'd say that you're still years away from that; and you'd better hope that your Mum and Dad don't pull a 'Teddy and Victoire' on you and blow your inheritance too."

"As if my sisters aren't well on the way to getting it all anyway – one shopping spree at a time." He shook his head. "It's too early in the morning for that. I'll sign up for staying here over the holiday; and we'll figure out what we'll do with all of that free time."

Al had already been in the Great Hall by the time James and Ollie were having that chat, and while his brother was busy trying to avoid Christmas with their family and friends; he was feeling pretty good about the first week of December. Lily hadn't been with Rose when she joined Al for their morning walk and talk, and while he loved it when Lily joined them; he was glad to get some alone time with his favorite cousin now and then so that they could have the kinds of talks they'd both enjoyed on a regular basis since starting at Hogwarts – and for years before that; if not on an every-morning basis. Today, their chat had included Rose advising him that she wouldn't be upset if she didn't get asked to the dance this year; and was leaning toward hoping that she didn't. Al didn't think that would happen, and then she'd have to make a choice or three that might hurt some Wizards' feelings; but he also understood why she hadn't been in any hurry to recruit a new boyfriend.

That part of their chat wasn't exactly filled with Christmas cheer, but they did also talk about things they wanted to do both at Hogwarts and at home over the holidays. Getting their studies done was only part of that; and Rose mostly wanted to come up with ideas for having more fun with their family and friends – including their older cousins; if they could work that out too. Gwendolyn's good morning hug and kiss kept the happy going for both of them; and they followed that up with a quick visit to the Hufflepuff table to wish Francine a happy seventeenth birthday and drop off the gift they'd picked out for her. The bonus fun there came when Gwendolyn was advised that Francine had taken her idea from last year and made her birthday wish on Friday night – ahead of the game against Ravenclaw. the suggestion that it was her fault that the senior Ravenclaw team lost had only amused Gwednolyn; though she was also sure that Pauline, Peter, and the rest of their team mates would razz her about it too once they found out about the joke. When breakfast started, their friends wanted to talk too, but it was the latest gossip that had their interest – a trend that continued all day.

James hadn't really thought about that when talking with Ollie about staying at Hogwarts over the holidays; they were overheard telling their Professor that they'd be staying for the holidays when asked about it during first class; and that was why Rose, Lily, and half of the Gryffindor girls knew about it by lunchtime. After that, it didn't take long for the news to make the rounds on the usually-efficient gossip network; though it was just an interesting tidbit for most of the students instead of a major story. Al hadn't been surprised to hear the news; he didn't like what he sensed from James while at lunch; and felt more than a bit guilty about his own feelings regarding what James was trying to do. While Al talked about the news with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily between lunch and their first afternoon classes, and the girls had strong opinions about it; but there wasn't really anything they could do about it – and it would be up to Harry and Ginny to decide what to do whenever they found out about it.

Al had been a bit worried about whether he might end up being the bearer of that bad news for his parents, but found out at the end of their junior team Quidditch practice that word had reached them through Professor Longbottom. That news came to Al and Lily directly from their Mum when Ginny called Lily's mirror because James wouldn't answer her attempts to have a mirror chat with him.

"Hi, Mum!" Lily said enthusiastically as she answered the mirror chat call. They'd only been on the ground for a few minutes; and Lily was just beginning to take her gear off after downing most of a bottle of water first. She'd been smiling brightly; but that faded when she saw the expression on her mother's face. "You've heard the news," she said next; and got up to move over next to Al and Rose. He'd already sensed the change in Lily; and wished that he wasn't there – especially when his own guilty feelings resurfaced.

"You know about James signing up to stay there for the holidays?" Ginny asked; and Lily nodded.

"Yes, but please don't be mad at the non-messengers. We found out by lunchtime, but I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news; and Al didn't want the job either."

"Well, I hate to give you that job for James; but he isn't answering my calls. Is he at the senior team practice yet?"

"No, he isn't," Lily answered. "It's miserable and cold out, though, and since he can't do full work-outs yet; he's been skipping the practices."

"Okay, then your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not; is to track down your wayward brother; call me; and then hand your mirror to him so that I can have a nice little chat with him."

"Should I wait for a chance to do that when he isn't hanging out with a gang of friends?" Lily asked; and Ginny thought about that for a moment before answering.

"If you can work that out with him, but one way or the other; your brother had best talk to me soon – before I just decide to come there and have that talk in person." She took a calming breath and smiled at Lily – and Al and Rose; since they could both see her now too. "Do you know anything that I should about why James is trying to do this?"

"Well, the timing doesn't look good for me; but I'm still not sorry even if what we did to James and Ollie have them doing this."

"He doesn't want to be around me," Al said seriously. "You, Dad, and Lily are just collateral damage."

"So you think that this is his latest plan to get at you by messing with us?" Ginny asked; and Al shrugged and smiled ruefully.

"If it is; I prefer this to the last few plans; and it won't work on me for that – though I am already feeling a bit guilty."

"For liking the idea of a James-free Christmas," Lily added with a laugh. "I find it funny that James gave me an Al-free family memory for Christmas last year; and this time around, he's trying to give himself a family-free Christmas."

"What?" Ginny demanded; her expression changing from a slight smile to an angry frown.

"Oops," Lily said; looking truly sheepish. "Is there any chance that you can forget I said that first part?"

"Not without the second half of it making no sense at all," Ginny advised her. "I won't mention it to James, though; so don't worry about that."

"Okay," Lily agreed with a nod. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me for anything yet – you still have a big brother to track down so that I can have a little mirror chat with him – and handing the mirror to Al doesn't count."

"Give him another year and he might be bigger than James," Lily predicted. "He'd be taller right now if James' head wasn't so... oh, never mind. It's probably a bit too soon after the bludger hit for that joke to be funny again."

"A bit early," Ginny agreed. "I'll let you go and get out of your gear before you freeze solid. Call me when you find James."

"Will do," Lily confirmed. "I love you, Mum."

"We love you," Al had time to add before Lily ended the call.

"Do you think he might be doing this because of me?" Lily asked; and Al shook his head.

"As always, he's doing it for him – and possibly for reasons we don't know – and might not ever know."

"Okay, can you use your new Divination skills and let me know whether I'm going to regret getting drafted for this job – and what Mum and Dad will do?"

"I don't want to try and do that. James' future might be a very scary place to visit."

"Only if you see him beating me to win a bunch of league championships," Lily countered. "Oh wait – that's only scary for me."

"You'd be having that happen on our Harpies' team," Al reminded her. "It would be scary for a lot of people."

Lily grinned at him. "The Cannons will be your team by then," she reminded him. "Looking at your future would be even scarier for me if Rose gets that Cannons' championship over my team. That would be a claim to Quidditch infamy that no other team would want."

"I appreciate the help – even though I'll remind both of you that I didn't mention anything about the Cannons again; but you'd better get going so your Mum doesn't have too much more time to stew about James. Think about going invisible when you get close to wherever he is, since James will likely try to hide from you if he sees you first."

"If he's watching out for Al and me; I won't have much luck catching up with him," Lily predicted; and then laughed. "That's okay. I wouldn't mind seeing Mum tonight – even if it would only be for a few moments before she drags James off for a little chat."

Her half-joke led to some suggestions for cornering James if needed; and Lily had several volunteers willing to help her out with that – including Rose and Al; since they had to go to their dorm rooms anyway to switch their gear and some of their books before meeting up with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group. Those half-made plans weren't necessary because Lily didn't end up having any trouble getting to James because he was in the common room when Al, Ray, and Rose got there; he didn't try to escape when they went straight through to their dorms without trying to talk to him; and then it was too late when Lily suddenly appeared next to him and put her mirror in his hands with Ginny already connected for the mirror chat.

"Trust me – you do not want to hang up," Ginny advised him quietly; "and don't give Lily that look – she had nothing to do with us finding out about you signing up to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays."

"So Al did it instead," james shot back. "Big surprise that the loser rat-fink would call you as soon as he found out – not!"

"Would you like to go somewhere more private for this?" Ginny asked; and James shook his head.

"No – I'm happy to let everyone here find out exactly how you and Dad normally treat me when you're not acting the posers in public. Go ahead – blast me."

Ginny laughed. "I'd rather give you a chance to explain why you don't want to come home and spend Christmas with us – and then I'll blast you."

"Why bother? It's not as if you care one way or the other," James retorted; smirking when Ollie laughed.

"Well, if you don't have any reasons at all for staying there; then I'll just let the school know that you'll be coming home for the holidays after all," Ginny told him; and James laughed derisively.

"No, I won't be," he declared.

"You are aware that you need our permission to stay there, right?" Ginny asked next. "Unless you've got a good reason for staying; that permission isn't going to happen."

"Okay, I want to stay here so that I don't have to be anywhere near my loser family for another lousy Christmas,' James declared fairly-loudly; getting the attention of most of the teens and tweens in the room. "Last year, you screwed me out of my inheritance, my loser brother proved what a mongrel he really is, and everyone in our sorry excuse for a family treated me like crap; so excuse me if I don't want to be there for whatever abuse you have planned for me this Christmas."

"We have been working on a fairly awful holiday for you, Al, and Lily," Ginny advised him; and looked perfectly serious. "In your personal case, we've been advised that you're way behind on your assignments because of the extra time you've needed to recover from your Quidditch injury; so we were going to spend lots of time helping you out with that while you're home. Your uncles are expecting you to work at the wheezes store every day they're open, since you promised to help them out over the holidays; and when you're not busy with all of that work and studying; we're going to have you help Al and Lily to do all of the cooking and cleaning around here the rest of the time. We're sure you'll hate the two Christmas dinners; never like the gifts we choose for you; and won't want the tickets we've already picked up for you and a date for the New Year's Eve party that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are headlining and hosting this year. We did expect that you and Ollie would like getting together a few times over the holidays too – since it's so much easier to work like slaves at our house or his when you do that together; but maybe I'm wrong about that. Now that I've gone over all of that; I don't know why you'd even think about missing out on any of that fun!"

"Thanks for telling everyone the truth," James declared with a sneer. "You've admitted that I'm better off here."

"Well, I guess that the only way you'll find that out for sure is to try it," Ginny told him. "Let your Uncle George know that you can't work over the holidays; and I'll advise Professor Longbottom that you've got our permission to stay. We'll have no trouble finding someone else to take those New Year's Eve party tickets, though if Teddy and Victoire take them; I hope you won't be as mad about that as you were with the last few gifts we've given them. As for the chores; we'll just get your brother and sister to pick up the slack on the chores around here that you're normally responsible for – but don't tell them that; or they might sign up to stay at Hogwarts too. We'll send your gifts there so you at least won't miss out on that; but you'll have to call us Christmas morning if you want to file complaints about how awful those gifts will be. Is there anything else?"

"James will need to let Dominique know that he can't practice with the team over the holidays either," Lily offered helpfully; trying to imitate her mother's straight-faced delivery of her approval for James' plan for the holidays.

"I'm sure he'll see her around the common room often-enough to do that," Ginny said with a nod before returning her attention to James. "I love you, son, and wish you'd come home for the holidays, but if this is really what you want; we'll let you try it – this year."

"It's all I want for Christmas," James said with a laugh that sounded just a bit forced to his mother and sister.

"Well, we're going to get you a few things anyway – even if that is all you want this year," Ginny teased. "Take care of yourself James. If you don't have anything else to talk about; you can return Lily's mirror to her so we can say goodbye before I end this chat."

James didn't say anything else; handed the mirror to Lily; and then shared a high-five with Ollie while they both laughed raucously.

"You forgot to blast him," Lily told Ginny; earning more coarse laughs from James and Ollie that some of their friends joined in for as Lily walked away from them and toward the girls' dorms. "I'm terribly disappointed."

"Wasn't that just as much fun for you?" Ginny asked quietly; and Lily grinned at her.

"Yeah, it was." she agreed; and then got a wicked grin on her face before shouting – "I can have James' tickets to the New Year's Eve party! Yes!"

"That is so wrong," Ginny told her with a soft laugh – "and not happening. You're too young for that party."

"What James doesn't know will still bug him," Lily offered; still grinning while walking away from James without looking back. "Are you okay, Mum?"

"No, but I will be," Ginny promised. "I have no idea whether this will be good or bad for your brother, but what we've tried so far isn't helping; so maybe this will – even if he just gets a different perspective on life from hanging around with the kids that do usually stay there – particularly the ones that can only wish they had his options."

"That probably won't happen," Lily told her seriously. "Those are the kinds of kids that James and Ollie love to prank almost as much as Slytherins. He isn't exactly their favorite Wizard."

"Then it would be even better if he learned something from them," Ginny suggested. "I've kept you from your studies long-enough, though, so go and get on with whatever you should be doing now; and we can talk later."

"Okay, Mum," Lily agreed. "I love you."

They ended the call; Lily put her mirror away; and then she was soon having a quick recap chat with Rose in the firstie dorm room where Rose was already waiting for her. Rose was happy to pass that news on to Al; so by the time Lily got back to the common room; Al, Rose, and Ray were already gone; and she joined Hugo and the rest of their usual group of Gryffindor study buddies at their usual work table. She wasn't surprised when James and Ollie eventually stopped by to razz her, but she had fun too until eventually admitting that Ginny hadn't really given her the tickets to the New Year's Eve party because she was too young to go to it; but then she'd made that admission to reinforce the reality that James was actually going to be giving some things up that he would have wanted to do while staying at Hogwarts over the holidays.

She didn't feel at all guilty about being glad that James wouldn't be coming home for the holidays, but that was another difference between her and Al; and she didn't bother wasting time on regretting things that were out of her control. Their Aunt Muriel was right – James would come around one day; or he wouldn't.

"You don't look surprised," Rose told Al after giving him Lily's mirror chat report as they walked toward their study classroom. "I thought that you weren't going to try to divine the future for James – that it was a dark, scary place you didn't want to go."

"I'm surprised that Mum didn't put up more of an argument," Al assured her. "James will likely spin that in a way that his mates will believe, but if he actually believes he's out-smarted Mum; he's seriously delusional."

"We already know that about him," Ray pointed out; and then grinned. "Do you think those tickets to the party are still available? I bet that Tory would love going to it with me."

"Maybe Al wants them for him and Gwendolyn," Rose suggested.

"Wouldn't they have tickets too?" Ray asked; and Rose and Al laughed.

"Wherever they're holding it; the place wouldn't be big-enough for me to want to be there at the same time with James," Al advised him. "If Mum got tickets for him; then she has other plans for me – or Gwendolyn's family does."

"Well, in that case; feel free to still put my name in for those tickets then," Ray declared seriously.

"I'll let Mum know," Al promised; "but don't be surprised if they end up going to one of our cousins."

"We'll talk later," Ray told Rose.

"About going with her if she gets the tickets?" Al teased; and laughed when Ray and Rose both gave him the look. "Yeah, I know that you're not interested in dating right now anyway; and Ray gets into enough trouble on his own without any help. Forget I said it."

They did that; hurried to the study classroom; and tried to get at least a bit of work done while discussing the latest James news with Gwendolyn and the rest of the friends that were there already. By then, there hadn't been a lot of time to work, but they had fun; and al was in a great mood when they went to the Great Hall for dinner. They were there early-enough for James and Ollie to offer a walk-by razzing for Al to apparently rub it in that James won another battle with their loser parents. That helped Al to feel a bit less-guilty about being so happy that he was getting to spend the holidays without James for the first time ever, but he didn't take the bait with James; and didn't tell him how he really felt either. The news of his very public mirror chat with Ginny did make the gossip news, and while the reactions were widely mixed; James seemed to simply love the attention – and didn't care if that was only because some of the students thought that he was nuts to pick staying at school over spending the holidays with the most-famous family in the Wizarding World!

It would have been wrong for Al to personally thank James for helping with the Christmas cheer that seemed to get a bit better every day. That was especially true when James' holiday plans began to go sideways. That was because Ollie's parents didn't just cave in to his demands to stay at Hogwarts and insisted that he would be coming home with his sisters. There were some quiet rumors going around the Gryffindor dorms that suggested that Ollie wasn't actually daring to make any 'demands' at all – mostly because he actually had a healthy fear of what his father would do to him if he tried acting like James – especially toward his mother. The official news hit the gossip network late on Wednesday, but Al found out early in the morning that Ollie wouldn't be staying at Hogwarts with James. he learned that from a couple of the guys that were getting ready for the day early on Wednesday too; and then also sensed that James and Ollie were having a quiet fight because of that decision. As far as Al knew, it was the first major fight for the best friends, and it was the fact that they weren't hanging out together by dinnertime in the Great Hall that led to the speculation and rumors about why they were mad at each other.

Their fighting helped Al, Gwendolyn, and pretty much every student that would normally be on the James and Ollie hit list for pranks and ambushes because there weren't any. Sure, Christmas wheezes were popping up already, and there were still other bullies around the school; but Christmas wheezes could be fun when used for entertainment instead of to humiliate; and the Slytherins seemed to be leaving Al and Gwendolyn alone. Getting a break from their usual problems made it a lot easier to have fun, and while that actually felt weird to Al now and then; he tried to enjoy himself – and that did require some effort when he was used to worrying being part of his everyday life!

Lessons in their classes began to include holiday themes, but the assignments didn't slow down yet, and they had major project deadlines ahead of the Christmas break; so one thing that didn't change was the workload. The ongoing teen drama action surrounding the Christmas dinner and dance was part of the entertainment, and while that didn't affect Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group very much; there was one exception for that when Rose was invited to the dance by Artemis Kettleburn. Ray's next-best mate to Al asked Rose to go with him after last class on Thursday, and while she had never been interested in him as potential boyfriend material; she hadn't been able to turn him down. She wasn't all that excited about it, though; and still would have preferred to not have a date at all. She talked with Al about that during their morning walk and talk on Friday, and while he hadn't been able to help much; she did appreciate having an understanding listener. She also agreed with him that Art's invitation did make sure she wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of other invitations leading up to the dance; and that it could be possible to have fun without getting into any romantic messes that she didn't want right now.

When Al and Rose went to their Herbology class on Friday afternoon, they were both hoping that they wouldn't create any messes by talking with Scorpius about having his team join the other three teams for a joint Christmas party. they went to the greenhouse early; started getting ready for their class; and waited for Scorpius to arrive. He generally came early too; which was why they thought it was a perfect time to approach him – when he wasn't surrounded by the other Slytherin students. He did have Davis Zabini with him, as usual; and Al wasn't surprised with what he sensed from either boy when he and Rose walked over from 'their' side of the greenhouse worktables and approached them.

"You're invading our space," Davis told them. "Get lost before the smell of Potty and Weasel makes us puke."

"Hi to you too," Al said mildly. "We won't bother you for long; but need to talk with Scorpius for a minute."

"Unless you're going to admit that you cheated in our match and offer to come clean and forfeit; I doubt you have anything Scorpius wants to hear from you," Davis shot back with a sneer.

"Well, it is Quidditch-related, but somewhere down deep you know we didn't cheat; so that's not going to happen," Al answered before turning his attention to Scorpius. "Gwendolyn, Madison, and I are going to have a joint team Christmas party a week from next Monday after dinner. We want to invite you and your team to join us." He smiled when he saw and sensed their true reactions to his invitation.

"Have you lost your mind?" Scorpius asked before getting control of himself again; and Al laughed.

"I'll guess that a lot of students in all of our Houses will think so – especially if you do come to the party. Reserve squad players are included; and everyone can bring dates if they want to do that too."

"You don't have to bring anything," Rose added; "though each team is doing a gift exchange – drawing names or something else; and the Captains are probably doing little gifts for their players too. We'll take care of the entertainment, drinks, and holiday treats."

Al smiled as he sensed the conflicting emotions from Scorpius. "You don't have to decide right now," he advised them; "but if you could let us know by the end of the weekend or first of the week; we'll need to know how many teens we'll have at the party so that we can have enough food and drinks for everyone."

"You're just asking so that you don't look like rotters for having a party with the other House teams," Scorpius accused. "You don't really want us there."

"That is partly-true," Al agreed seriously, "and we don't know whether this can work out or not, since we'll all have some problems in our own Houses for doing this; but I actually would like all of you to come – and hope that you do accept our invitation."

"Why don't you see what your team mates think of the idea?" Rose suggested. "You're not the only Wizard or Witch that thinks that Al's lost his mind with this idea, but if you come and this doesn't work out for any of us; we'll at least have the consolation prize of telling him that we told him it was a dumb idea."

"There is no way we're going to any party with you and your lot," Davis declared; and scowled when Rose laughed.

"I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "That's just funny because I'm sure we will all be at the school dinner and dance a week from Saturday."

"We do all love Quidditch," Al told them, "and likely have other things in common if we just try getting to know each other – even if that's only that you collectively think that I'm nuts."

"Tell them to take their invitation and shove it up a dragon's butt," Davis told Scorpius.

"We'll talk about it later," Scorpius told Davis instead. "I'll let you know whether we'll come or not by Sunday night."

"That's fine with us," Al assured him while Davis gaped at his best mate. "Have a good weekend."

Al followed Rose back to their worktable; and that was the end of the inter-House drama because their fellow Gryffindor and Slytherin students began arriving in larger groups. They were soon immersed – literally – up to their elbows in their work; so they moved on and concentrated on taking care of their plants. An afternoon of Herbology was more fun for Rose than for Al, but that didn't keep him from being very good with the plants. It did mean that he was always happy to be done their classes for the week by the time they were set free on Friday afternoons; and they could move on to their Quidditch practice.

It was cold and blustery with a rain-snow mix that was fairly unpleasant to be out in, so while Al did his best to make their Quidditch practice fun; that was relative when everyone was wet and freezing by the time they gave up the pitch to the senior team. He didn't have to worry about James again because he skipped yet another practice; and Ollie ignored Al, Rose, Ray, and pretty much everyone on both the junior and senior teams because he was in a miserable mood as the feud with James continued and the rotten weather just made matters worse for him. Getting back to the castle and warm again was enough incentive for all of the junior players to hurry up with their post-practice routine, and while Al and Rose only stopped in to their dorms to switch out Quidditch gear and Herbology books and supplies for the things they'd need for their other weekend assignments before moving on to their study classroom; Ray opted to skip that and meet up with Tory and do anything else until dinnertime.

They found out when they met up with Gwendolyn that most of their study buddies had opted for fun over work; so Toni and Michael had been the only other Ravenclaws with Gwendolyn while they didn't end up having anyone else from Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. That worked for Al, it made it easier to get more work done; and they even had a bit more fun talking about the Slytherin invitation scene. There was some joking around about what they'd do if Scorpius actually accepted the invitation, but while the chance of a magical duel breaking out at the party wasn't zero; Al didn't think that would happen. When they went to have dinner, they didn't put that story out onto the general gossip network, but the system was very efficient; and word of the attempt to have an all-junior-team Christmas party did start making the rounds – though it wasn't yet a top story by the time that Al met up with Gwendolyn and they headed back to their study classroom with just a handful of their friends.

Taking the night off was very tempting, but Al and Rose weren't wired that way; and needed to get the work out of the way first before making time on the weekend for goofing off and having fun. Gwendolyn teased Al about how badly they really needed to work on his reputation, but a future Harpies' star Chaser put work first too; and Al and Rose did help her to be a better student than she'd be without them – just as they were all better Quidditch players through working together on their game too. Studying all evening was boring by comparison to mirror gaming, watching mirror network shows, or having a major snogging session; but they all got a fair bit of work done by the time they stopped for the night about a half-hour before curfew. Getting back to their Houses again was much nicer without any James and Ollie issues, and while they still checked their maps; the two boys weren't hanging out together; and they weren't out wandering the halls either.

While Al and Gwendolyn had more of their study group with them for the Saturday morning session, the nearness of the Christmas holidays seemed to be having a de-motivating effect on about half of their friends – at least from a studying perspective. They were very motivated to have fun! That actually made Al's life easier and a bit more fun too; since he and Rose weren't asked for nearly as much tutoring help as they all worked at varying levels of both quality and quantity. He noticed all of that, but Al was most-interested in getting his work done; and then taking most of the rest of the weekend off – starting with an afternoon of Harpies' Quidditch watching while cuddling with Gwendolyn. She'd had her morning Quidditch practice after breakfast, and didn't get all of her weekend assignments done by lunchtime too; but she was ready for a break from the work by the time they finished having lunch and got everything set up for the game watching fun.

"I really hate watching these games against the Falcons," Tory said as they were all finally able to relax, settle in, and watch the last twenty minutes or so of Lee's pre-game show.

"That's because the Falcons are always trying to prove that they can beat up on a bunch of Witches – even if they can't manage to win many games against the Harpies," Lily told her. "We'll all need to get used to playing against Wizards like that, though; so we shouldn't let just watching these matches bug us too much."

"Would you feel the same way if your Mum was still playing for the Harpies?" Tory asked; and Lily laughed.

"I might cheer for the Falcons," she joked. "If Mum was playing for the Harpies; I might not get offered the Seeker job with them when I graduate."

"Yet you think that you'll have no trouble against Aunt Gabrielle," Rose reminded her. "Isn't that a bit inconsistent?"

Lily shrugged and smiled. "I love Mum more; so I'm not sure that I could bring myself to putting her out of work like that."

"Save that line for a future year when you win more Seeker duels with her than you lose," Gwendolyn suggested. "Speaking of duels, though, the Harpies are starting to get things set up for the student day with the team on New Year's Eve Day morning. If you know of any Witches that they should be considering for one of those fourteen spots; let me know and I'll pass the names on to Mum this weekend."

"Hasn't Rose signed most of you up to do that with the Cannons this year?" Madison asked. "We're about half-way to graduating; and it wouldn't be right to wait until then to get you hooked on her plan. The sudden shock of being around all of that orange alone might be too much for you."

"I'm still learning how to get a winning team from the Harpies," Rose advised her, "and if I really want to convince the best players to join the Cannons; that won't happen by having them go to student day with the team."

"It's more likely to scare them off," Lily suggested. "Gwendolyn, you should remind your Mum of Rose's plan before the invitations go out. We should probably keep her off the short list from now on."

"Mum's still hoping to convince her to come and play for the Harpies," Gwendolyn advised her; and then grinned at Rose. "We've some pretty good Witches to choose from for our next Harpies Keeper, so Rose might want to think about that before it's too late; and the Harpies decide to work on recruiting someone else."

"I can't do that," Rose told her. "Now that Al's going to be playing for the Cannons after we graduate; it'd just be wrong for me to get him fired up about that and then abandon the plan."

"Are yougoing to be playing for the Cannons?" Gwendolyn asked Al; and he shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, I probably will be – though Rose is only joking about the rest."

"Well, then I guess I won't be able to marry you for the money," Gwendolyn joked; earning a round of laughs. "It's a good thing that you've got a cute, fuzzy Animagus that can keep my feet warm at night."

The last part of her joke sent them off on a side-trip of 'if I was an Animorphmagus' lines while they waited for the match to start. Al was used to those jokes and one-liners now, and played along as his friends had fun with that for a while; but then his attention was all for the match when the teams lined up for take-off. He noticed a change that the Harpies had made; and watched in surprise as the quaffle was tossed into the air and the Harpies completely changed up their team play. While he obviously couldn't sense what was going on in the stadium, he did suddenly know what their team had planned for the Falcons; he laughed quietly; and hugged Gwendolyn.

"What's so funny?" she whispered; and he smiled brilliantly at her.

"I wouldn't dream of spoiling the surprise,' he answered with a nod toward the mirror. "You are going to love this."

He was right about that, and it didn't take long before everyone in the room knew what Al had figured out from the start. Half of their group were on their feet when the match came to a shocking end at the eight minute mark; and it was obvious from the sudden, deafening silence in the stadium that everyone watching was shocked.

"Victoire caught the snitch!" Ray exclaimed. "Has she lost her mind? Only the Seeker can do that!"

"She is the Seeker today," Al advised him; and laughed when everyone in the room was suddenly staring at him instead of the mirror. He joined in when Gwendolyn laughed and then hugged and kissed him.

"That's brilliant!" she said enthusiastically. "Are you sure? Never mind – silly question."

"If Victoire was playing Seeker today; we'd have heard all about it in the pre-game show," Ray told them. "Gabrielle was battling the Falcons' Seeker too; so that doesn't make any sense." He pointed at the mirror and nodded. "See – the Falcons are acting as though they've won by forfeit.

"They're wrong," Al assured him. "Does anyone belive that Gwendolyn's Mum would make that kind of mistake? I'll guess that the Harpies submitted their team list for the match as normal; nobody notice that Victoire was listed as Seeker – or thought that it was just a mistake; and then the Harpies got exactly what they wanted today – an undefended Seeker. All that matters is that the paperwork was filed properly and that the named Seeker caught the snitch."

"That really is brilliant," Lily said enthusiastically.

"It is," Gwendolyn agreed, "but I'd really like to know how Al figured it out right at the start of the match; since I didn't get even a hint from what I saw."

"Their formation was different; Victoire only pretended to be in on the Chaser battle; and Aunt Gabrielle was playing differently than normal – drawing the attention of the Falcons' Seeker and Beaters to her; and away from Victoire."

"I noticed that last part," Lily said with a nod; "but thought that she was just trying to take the heat off of Victoire and keep her from getting beat up again."

"Well, you're right about that," Al congratulated her. "It's so hard to beat up on the opposing players when you only have eight minutes to do that."

"I'd say that the Falcons just found out that Al's right," Tory advised them; and everyone returned to watching the show on the mirror. "You may have spoken too soon about them not having time to beat up on our team."

"Dad and Teddy are there," Al reminded her. He wasn't alone when he laughed because Harry and Teddy picked that moment to appear on the pitch and take up positions next to Gabrielle and Victoire. They had their wands drawn, and while they couldn't hear him; they could see Harry barking out orders to the Falcons to back off – though they'd already stopped their advance on the Harpies' players the moment he and Teddy had appeared.

"I think that our aunt and cousin – and Tory's Mum – could have taken them in a brawl," Lily joked; shooting for an air of disappointment and regret. "If you had any doubts about it; now you know where Al gets it from. Dad so needs to work on his reputation too."

"Apparently," Rose agreed. Her comment wasn't about her uncle and cousin being boring, though, because while the Falcons had all seemed to back down, the moment Harry and Teddy lowered their wands and turned back toward the Harpies; the Nott brothers tried to attack Victoire and Teddy. They immediately discovered that was a very bad idea; and everyone watching the post-game action saw the two young Wizards get blasted off of their feet by their rebounding curses. They didn't see them land because they were still airborne when they sailed over the outer wall of the stadium and disappeared from view.

"How far is the nearest lake from Bodmin stadium?" Lily teased; grinning at Al.

"I have no idea," Gwendolyn answered first, "but it's December; so it won't matter – especially if the lake is frozen. What was that you were saying about Al and your Dad again?"

"Just what I said," Lily confirmed. "The Nott brothers haven't learned anything – and Dad still gets underestimated by the bad guys."

"What does a Wizard have to do before the bad guys will take them seriously?" Jonah joked; and smiled when his effort earned him a laugh and hug from Lily.

"I don't know, but it's funny that our Mums have tougher reputations than the Head of the Aurors."

"The Head of the Aurors is afraid of your Mums – and mine," Hugo reminded them. "I've heard him say that loads of times."

"He does say that often-enough," Gwendolyn agreed, "but that doesn't change the fact that the Notts are idiots to think that they could get away with something like that with him when they couldn't handle ten-to-two odds against Al and me. Depending on how mad Uncle Harry was just now; they might not land until they get back home to Falmouth."

That didn't happen, since Gregor and Theo were soon back in the stadium; apparently not seriously injured; and sporting furious, hate-filled expressions as reporters wanted to talk with them about what had happened after the game as much as they wanted to talk with Victoire and Gabrielle about getting away with such a spectacular trick play to earn the one-fifty to naught shocker of a victory. While they watched the post-game show and caught the snitch catch replay several times, Madison convinced them to watch the other game in progress for the rest of the afternoon; and they enjoyed a pretty good match – if not one with the same kinds of fireworks they'd had in such a short time with the Harpies-Falcons match.

"We need to talk," Scorpius told Thomas unceremoniously as he dropped the portrait onto the table and flopped into the armchair.

"Well, since Quidditch is done until next January, and we've established that I'm not to be your source of advice for dating Witches; then this must be about the Potters or some other problem."

"Albus and Rose invited me and my Quidditch team to a joint christmas party," Scorpius blurted out. "Most of my team mates – including Davis – want to blast me for even considering it; and I'm sure you can imagine the heat I'll take if I do agree to go – assuming that my team mates wouldn't just mutiny anyway."

"I'm glad to see that you're considering the opportunities this invitation would allow for you first instead of simply turning them down. There are risks too – and not just from your fellow Slytherin. Do you believe that the Potter boy has an ulterior motive for the offer?"

Scorpius laughed. "Yeah – I think he wants to get us to love our neighbors and join in on the mass delusion that we could be happy if only we'd see that we're no different from the mudbloods, blood-traitors, and the rest of their lot."

"That sounds like them," Thomas agreed; "though I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that there are other motivations – even if that one is the ultimate goal. Getting in on the inside of their group could help you to learn a lot about them too, though; so the risks may well be worth the possible rewards."

"That's easy for you to say," Scorpius said with a snort of a laugh. "It isn't your arse on the line if I get shunned by my entire House – again. This could undo everything I've worked for to now; and I'd be right back where I started in first-year."

"You want to be the leader of the Wizarding World," Thomas reminded him. "One good way to do that is to do things that they can't – and convince them that you're right." He thought about that for a moment and then smiled. "You could sell this idea as a not-so-covert spy mission. Get your team hooked on the danger and subterfuge of it all; and convince the Averys and the other Slytherin leaders that it's worth finding out all you can about the other House players – both for those junior teams; and through them to the senior players."

"Which sounds great right up until we learn nothing useful," Scorpius countered; and Thomas laughed.

"You should be able to run circles around most of those mental midgets if what you've told me about most of them is accurate; and anything at all that you learn about your enemies is useful – even if that can often take years to prove out. Not only that, but you could watch your team mates too; and that could tell you a lot about which of them are trustworthy – and which are most-susceptible to your enemies because they're weak or easily fooled."

"I don't need to take them to a party to find that out," Scorpius scoffed. "All I needed to do today was watch a Quidditch match with them."

"I gather there's a story that would make that comment more than jibberish."

"I have time – and an excuse – to be here because we just finished watching the Falcons lose their match to the Harpies by one-fifty to naught in about eight minutes. The Averys and some of their cling-ons are likely still blathering on about how the Harpies lost by forfeit; but they're just once again proving themselves the idiots. I may hate the Harpies, but they did come up with a brilliant trick play to win that match."

"At the risk of getting bored by a Quidditch discussion; I'll go ahead and ask what was so brilliant about what they did."

"They put Victoire on the roster for the match as Seeker. Either the officials, reporters, and the Falcons' Managers all didn't notice; or thought it was an error, but it wasn't; so while the Falcons ran around trying to defend the snitch against the Harpies' normal Seeker; Victoire just pretended to play Chaser until she was able to find the snitch and get a free shot at it unopposed."

"That is an interesting tactic," Thomas agreed with a nod. "Too bad I couldn't have used it in my last duel."

Scorpius burst out laughing; and then had to spend several long moments trying to get that under control again.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed to wheeze out. "Sometimes you come out with the funniest comments; but that also had me trying to picture that battle with someone else pretending to be you while a pair of Beaters tried to bash Harry Potter's head in with a bunch of bludgers."

"Where were you when I could have used those sorts of good ideas?" Thomas joked. "Getting back to the problem at hand, though; my advice is for you to accept the invitation. Don't try to get all buddy-buddy with anyone yourself, but play nice; and maybe recruit a few of your team mates to tentatively be friendlier with the players from the other teams. You must have at least a few players that don't simply have a flat-out hatred for the other Houses and students but could still be loyal to you and your House. As I've already said – give them a mission that fires their imaginations; and they'll go along with it – especially if you can convince the Averys to back you on it."

"I'll choose triple Care of Magical Creatures with that cretin, Hagrid," Scorpius only half-joked. "That might be an impossible task."

"Only if you doubt yourself," Thomas disagreed. "Believe that you can do it; and you're more than half-way to a job well-done."

"You liked my idea about Beaters and bludgers at the Battle of Hogwarts. Why not suggest that we accept the invitation and then blast the lot of them so that they'll spent the Christmas holidays in the hospital wing instead of going home?"

Thomas laughed but shook his head. "You already know my answer for that. Don't do anything that will get you caught and in trouble. That does remind me that we should talk about next steps with the older Potter boy."

"I don't think that there will be anext step right now," Scorpius advised him. "James and Ollie are having a bit of a falling-out right now."

"That's news to me. When did that happen?"

"Two or three days ago," Scorpius answered. "I told you that they signed up to stay here for the holidays too, but while James is being allowed to do that despite what was apparently a nasty mirror chat confrontation with his mother; Ollie couldn't stand up to his parents and will be going home instead. Their best mates feud is keeping them from hanging out together; so there's been a major drop in the number of ambushes and pranks around here."

"I'd say that's an even better opportunity for you," Thomas told him seriously. "If you and James are both going to be here, and he won't have any family or friends around; then this could be the perfect time for you to start being his new best mate."

"Now I have to wonder if you accidentally wandered into one of the Quidditch paintings around here and got bashed with a bludger," Scorpius declared.

"I'm quite sane," Thomas assured him; "and that isn't something that will happen overnight. You do have something rather important to both of you in common, though; and you can be sure that James will be willing to vent about his little brother if given the chance to do that. We have time to work that out, though; so let's talk about that later. You look as though you're ready to have some magical fun instead of talking all afternoon."

That suggestion immediately diverted Scorpius' attention away from parties, the Potters, and any of his worries – as Thomas had intended. He did continue to coach his protégé – overtly in magic; and more subtly for the issues the boy was dealing with. By the time he was finished, the decisions he was sure that the boy would make 'on his own' would be exactly what he wanted done; and he was content to return to the endless darkness for a time – until he would be needed again.

The news from the Harpies-Falcons match was a top story on the gossip network at dinnertime. Most of the students in three Houses thought it had been a brilliant, if too-short match; while Slytherins mostly berated the Harpies for being Quidditch sneak-thieves and worse. Gossip about the teen drama around the dance continued too, but Al wasn't interested in those stories when he was looking forward to spending the evening with Gwendolyn. Without any worries or distractions, the reality of those few hours of play time together was brilliant. They played and sang Christmas songs; had mirror chats with their parents; and wrapped up their evening with some quality snogging until it was time for the walk back to the Houses and the inevitable nightly separation.

Sunday brought a mix of work and fun, and while Al had his weekend assignments finished; he helped Gwendolyn with getting her work done; they both finished up most of the work on the larger projects that needed to be submitted ahead of the holidays; and Al and Rose both helped out with some tutoring as they studied until lunchtime before taking the rest of the day off again. The weather was fairly miserable, but Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah still headed outside after lunch for a Chaser and Seeker duel; though not even Rose and Hugo were interested in going along this time – and instead helped their friends out with a pool party set-up that was more fun and much warmer! The four most-dedicated – and possibly crazy – Quidditch players in their group joined in for the water play fun after less than an hour of braving the elements to work on their game; and they stayed in or around the pool through until it was time to pack up and head for dinner in the Great Hall.

Family and friends night wasn't held every Sunday evening, but it did seem to be working out that way more often than not. Al and Gwendolyn both loved having that time with Lily, Jonah, their cousins, and usually just a few other friends; and the second-to-last chance they'd have for that before heading home for the Christmas break was especially fun because there was a lot of Christmas cheer involved with all of the entertainment. Their fun included singing Christmas songs together; writing letters to Santa that Al and Gwendolyn sent with Winter and the rest of their regular weekly Owl Post; watching Christmas shows on the mirror network; and talking about all things Christmas while doing all of that. There was some teen drama gossip too, but the only story that was even close to home for them was Hugo's own admission that he hadn't asked anyone to go to the dance with him – and didn't intend to do that at all. Lily had offered to help him out with some matchmaking, but Hugo refused the help; and assured her that he really didn't want to take a date to the dance. His claim that he wasn't ready to risk ending up with as lousy a dating reputation as his father had at Hogwarts only sounded partially-true to his sister and cousins, but when it came to their family; he did at least have a valid concern with that – a fact that had been proven often-enough already with their older cousins.

Ending their weekend with that blast of fun had Al in a great mood on Monday morning as he got ready for the day and then waited for Rose to join him for their morning walk and talk – and Lily too; if she chose to join them too. That wasn't ever a certainty on Mondays, but Al wasn't really surprised when Lily was with Rose – especially when he sensed that they were both excited about something and wanted to talk with him about it. They did the hugs and kisses greetings; he followed them out of the common room; and then had to wait until they were on their own before finding out what had them so wound up.

"James has asked Bristol to the dance," Lily blurted out once she was sure their chat wouldn't be overheard. "The girls' dorm was buzzing with the news this morning."

"Last night for my dorm room," Rose added. "Bristol's thrilled; and Patricia is furious. You won't want to hear all of the girl chat details, Al, but you will be interested to hear that Patricia feels jilted because she had a deal with James that he's now apparently broken by inviting Bristol to the dance."

"Gee, I wonder what that deal might have been?" Lily asked sardonically – "not."

"You think that James promised to get back together with her if she helped him with the plan to frame Gwendolyn and me?" Al asked; and Rose and Lily both nodded.

"I don't want to say anything bad about Patricia either, but she might want to think about what she says to Anna while confiding in her while in our dorm room. There's a very good chance that I wasn't the only Witch in the room to overhear her last night after she thought the rest of us were sleeping. Patricia all but admitted that without specifying that she'd agreed to pretend to be Gwendolyn in exchange for dates in Hogsmeade; for the Christmas dance; and possibly while they were at home for the holidays."

"We did guess that she likely got involved to get back together with James," Al mused – "even if we didn't know any specifics." He smiled at Lily because she was practically bouncing. "No, I really don't want to know any of the details that Rose was referring to for why James picked Bristol over Patricia."

"Okay, but you will want to hear that Patricia may be asking Ollie to the dance to get back at James."

"Now you're scaring me," Al said seriously. "It isn't as though they're the only teens around here playing those sorts of games; but it is just so wrong to claim to love someone and then do such hurtful things – and I mean that with what the guys are doing too."

"Bristol's going to have problems with Patricia and some of our roommates now," Rose said, "but while I don't get why she wants to have anything to do with James; she isn't actually doing anything wrong from what I've seen. She likes James and is making that clear to him; but the only thing she's done wrong at all was back in August when she chased after James while still dating Chris."

"She's won this skirmish over Patricia," Lily pointed out. "We won't know whether Bristol will do something differently when James dumps her and moves on – which he will do sooner or later."

"Maybe you should go ahead without me for the rest of this chat," Al suggested. "I really, really do not want to know this much about James' love life."

"Love isn't a word I'd use to describe James' relationships with any Witches – including Mum," Lily advised him. "Would you rather talk about how disappointed some of my roommates were to find out that Hugo is definitely not going to ask anyone to the dance?"

"I'd suggest that they could always ask him instead, but Hugo seems pretty serious about not getting into the dating game yet; so he'd likely turn down any offers – even if he'd feel bad about hurting any Witch's feelings."

"He's braver than me that way," Rose joked; making fun of her own situation.

"You're more compassionate," Lily countered. "Maybe your perfect match isn't here at Hogwarts; and you have to wait a while to find him." She grinned then. "Your Mum likes younger men; so I suppose it's also possible that your perfect match just hasn't started here yet."

"No wonder Hugo doesn't want to start dating yet," Rose said seriously. "There is no way to stay safe from the jokes around our family no matter what you do."

"Which means he'll just get teased about not dating anyone," Lily predicted. "Since I'm thinking about that now, though, let's talk about potential younger boyfriends for you. Lorcan and Lysander are adorable."

Rose laughed. "They're what – six or seven?"

"Seven," Lily confirmed with a nod and bright smile. "You could take one of them to the Christmas dance in your NEWT year!"

"Have you heard about a lot of your fellow firsties getting dates to the dance with NEWT students?" Rose asked; and Lily shook her head.

"No, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen."

"Yes, it does," Rose disagreed. "All NEWT students are over-age. Trying to date eleven or twelve-year old kids is definitely not okay."

Lily sighed dramatically. "No wonder I didn't get asked to the dance by any of my favorite Graves Robbers."

"Does Jonah know that he wasn't your first choice?" Rose teased.

"I didn't say that he wasn't my first choice," Lily pointed out. "Maybe my dream for getting asked to the dance by a famous musician is only so that I can turn them down – and then have them write a hit song about how I broke their heart!"

That fairly audacious declaration sent the two girls off on a side-trip that at least had the advantage of ending the chat about James and his latest bit of teen drama; though that wasn't entirely an improvement for Al with the switch to talking about Lily's feelings about certain musicians, his girlfriend's brother, and other Wizards she found interesting. There were other things to talk about too that weren't gossip-worthy; and they kept themselves entertained until their friends began to join them in the Great Hall and Lily went to sit with her firstie friends. Gwendolyn stopped by for a morning hug and kiss with Al on her way to the Ravenclaw table, and got a condensed version of the James-drama from Rose too; but then needed to move on because she was helping Toni with some breakfast birthday fun for Michael – the latest member of their gang to turn fourteen.

Michael's birthday fun was also the main fun part of the day for pretty much everyone in their study group. The third-year Ravenclaws had more chances for that fun during classes and meals, while the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends couldn't join in for that – or while they were having their respective Quidditch practices after last class. They were all together for the birthday party they threw for him after dinner, and while they needed to study too; they had a large group of teens with them that included most of Michael's friends. Getting their assignments done wasn't easy while having fun too, but that just meant that Al had some work to do once he was back in his dorm room for the night. When Bristol stopped by to drop off a gift and wish Michael a happy birthday there was a bit of weirdness because James came with her, but other than tossing a few insults at Al and Gwendolyn; he didn't try to do anything to mess with Michael's party.

Al was amazed by how many of the party guests didn't seem at all worried about their own assignments, but that likely had more to do with how good his own study group was compared to the normal – and it wasn't as if he didn't know that the last four days of classes before they went home for the holidays would be used by most of their Professors to allow their students to play catch up on their overdue assignments and projects while also handing out the holiday revision. His reputation didn't likely change at all when he spent most of his time during the party alternating between studying and helping Gwendolyn and Toni with the work side of throwing a party; but he still had fun all evening too – and the practical side of magic study could be very entertaining at parties too. What mattered most, though, was that Michael had a good day and fun at his party; and he was a happy camper when Toni led him off for a bit of birthday snogging when they still had nearly an hour left to go before curfew.

They got teased about that, but one of the things that Michael and Toni had in common with Al and Gwendolyn was that they weren't into public snogging, so even though they could have done that in the Ravenclaw common room; they wouldn't have done that – and far preferred to find somewhere private for their alone time. While Al would have liked to take Gwendolyn somewhere for a bit of alone time too, they instead dealt with the party clean-up as the other teens moved on once the birthday Wizard had left. Even using magic, by the time they were done that and had their book bags packed up too, Al only had enough time left to walk Gwendolyn home; share a too-short goodnight hug and kiss; and then hurry back to his own House ahead of curfew. Ending his night with another hour or so of studying in bed was only fun because he also talked with Ray and some of the other guys as they began turning in for the night, but he wanted to get the work done; and was able to sleep more easily once he had all of his assignments completed.

By Tuesday morning, it was back to school as usual for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group – or for most of them. The countdown was on for the Christmas dinner and dance, with the bonus Hogsmeade weekend trip to town for the older students; but keeping up with their classwork and assignments kept them busy every day through the rest of the week. There was Christmas-themed fun mixed in here and there, including random acts of wheezes that were usually set off in the Great Hall or common rooms; and Al and Gwendolyn made a bit of time for themselves around the studying too – though there never seemed to be enough hours in any week for that with all of the other commitments they had to keep up with before getting around to having that kind of fun. They were taking the entire day off on Saturday, so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose kept their usual Friday study schedule; though they didn't have many study buddies; and none that went to both the afternoon and evening sessions. They were okay with that, since it allowed them to get more work done without the usual tutoring, and while they worked through until shortly-before curfew; they were all happy with what they accomplished and were more than ready to have one full day that was entirely devoted to having fun.

Al really hoped that he and Gwendolyn would get to have fun all day too as he got ready on Saturday morning. He didn't exactly have a stellar record so far when it came to holidays, school dances, or Hogsmeade weekends; and it didn't really matter to him that those problems all came from James and Ollie or various Slytherins. As he thought about that, it annoyed him that even when nothing had happened so far; his past experiences were messing with his ability to just enjoy the moment while he worried about whether there'd be ambushes or pranks to watch out for all day. Turning that off was basically impossible, and he'd be on alert all day too, but by the time he reached the common room to wait for Rose and Lily; he resolved to try very hard to keep the worrying from getting in the way of having fun with Gwendolyn – and trying to make this a great day for her – and for his sister, cousins, and their friends.

The morning walk and talk was problem-free and entertaining, and the fun continued during breakfast; though there was some teen drama going on that indirectly affected Al and Gwendolyn. That was good for them; but bad for James, Bristol, Ollie, and Patricia. Rose hadn't heard anything about escalating problems between the two 'couples' on Friday night or first thing in the morning, but there was no doubt that the feud kicked up several notches – something that was obvious when James and Bristol found themselves on the receiving end of two Christmas transfiguration wheezes. James retaliated; Ollie and Patricia had to deal with their own problems thanks to a stinky-mistle-toe with a nasty twist; and the fight was on – both verbally and magically. James and Ollie both had to be careful not to get caught in a room full of teens and Professors, but they were both fairly proficient at that; and almost seemed to be having fun with the fight – even as they were both still angry and vengeful.

While seeing that James and Ollie were too busy to pay any attention to him at all was a relief; Al didn't like what he saw going on between them – and felt bad for Bristol and Patricia when they became collateral damage in the feud. It wasn't funny in an amusing sort of way, but Al also sensed that he was more worried for the girls than they were. In Patricia's case; she wanted revenge against James and Bristol; and hoped to get it through Ollie regardless of the personal cost. Bristol's reactions weren't really something that Al felt at all comfortable with because she found the fight exciting – to the point of it being a turn-on for her. By the time they could start lining up for the trip to Hogsmeade; Al was glad to get away from all of that; meet up with Gwendolyn; and leave the Great Hall with Rose, Art, and a half-dozen of their third-year friends' couples.

"I am so glad that you're not exactly like James," Rose told Al once they were out of the castle and their group had a bit of space around them. She was walking next to Artemis, and they were going to hang out together while in town; but they weren't holding hands; and she didn't look nearly as excited about their 'date' as he did.

"Are you picturing our entire childhood a bit differently this morning?" Al asked; smiling when she laughed and nodded.

"Yeah; and it's Halloween-scary to think about what it would have been like if you and James had fought all of the time like he and Ollie are right now."

"I'd say it might be scarier to think about what they'd have been like if they'd gotten along like James and Ollie usually do – and likely will be again once they get back to being best mates," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Are you picturing any other particular Wizards in that alternate reality where Al is a total git; and you're not together?" Toni teased.

"No, but then I can't seriously picture Al acting like James and Ollie."

"That would still be a fun hypothetical for a girl chat, though," Toni told her; "but I guess we can save that for another time. Discussing alternate boyfirend options for you when we all have a big date night ahead of us is probably a bad idea."

"I wasn't really thinking about that sort of thing with my original comment," Rose advised them; "but what the past two and a half years here at Hogwarts might have been like for some of us is likely even scarier than what I was thinking about for when we were younger. Let's not go there, though; and talk about what we're going to do once we get to town. The wheezes store is going to be a scary place first thing this morning, but should we go there first anyway? The store might be emptied of Christmas stock within the first couple of hours."

"Is that a problem for you?" Art asked her. "I'd have thought that you could just put your order in with your Dad and then pick it up – or have it sent by Owl Post."

Rose shrugged. "I could do that – and might if we can't get what we want today, but it isn't a big deal for me; since I don't really use the wheezes anyway. I'm only picking up supplies for Hugo and some of the other guys – not for me."

"Don't advertise that," Ray advised her. "You'd end up with hundreds of orders to pick up every Hogsmeade weekend if you could pre-order." He looked confused when Rose laughed at that.

"Everyone can pre-order if they want to use Owl Post to get their wheezes," she explained and reminded him. "Most of the Owl Post business is done out of this store. They don't have a lot of business here other than on Hogsmeade weekends; so that's what they do the rest of the time to keep busy."

"If you want to go there first; we should split up to do the shopping," Al told her. "We'll want to pick up the sweets and treats on our lists – and we need quite a lot for the team party next week on top of the orders we have from our first and second-year friends and relatives."

"Are you volunteering for the Honeydukes stop?" Rose asked. "They'll be even busier than the wheezes store."

Al shrugged. "We can do that; though some extra help would be nice; since we're sure to have more than two armloads of sweets if we're picking up all of the orders there."

"Didn't you bring your undetectable expansion bag?" Ray asked him.

"Yeah, but we can't put everything into it until after we've rounded up and paid for everything."

"Maybe Art and I should go with you and Gwendolyn," Rose suggested. "We could leave the wheezes to the guys that love to use them most."

"You want to ask James and Ollie to help out?" Gwendolyn teased. "Don't do that – they might start getting along again; and I'm enjoying the break from them while they're too busy fighting to pay any attention to us."

That comment sent their conversation off on a different track, but while Al quietly agreed with Gwendolyn; he was more interested in having fun with her than in even thinking about James and Ollie. It was a frosty walk to town, so they were all glad to get there and into warm shops where they could thaw out while getting started on their shopping. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Art ended up with Toni and Michael helping them with the combined orders for Honeydukes' sweets and chocolates. the store was packed, so they split up to work on those lists; it took about forty-five minutes to round up everything; and then it was another half-hour before they could pay for their purchases and pack them into Al's handy little undetectable expansion bag. They met up with the 'wheezes' shoppers in their group; Al had more purchases to carry; and then they moved on to some of the boring shopping.

With just four school days left until the holidays; that part of their shopping really wasn't a big deal; since they only needed to pick up the must-have necessities for current projects or personal items that they couldn't wait until the holidays to get. Al and Gwendolyn ended up staying with Rose and Art for that part of the shopping, but since Ray and Art were better friends; they had lunch with Rose and Tory while Al and Gwendolyn ended up having their lunch with Toni and Michael. They'd needed to split up for that because all of the larger tables were in use when they did eventually get to the Three Broomsticks. There was still a line-up of teens wating for tables while they were having their meal, so they didn't drag out that break; and moved on to do some clothes shopping after lunch. The girls led the way for that part of their Hogsmeade adventure, and by the time they were finished; it was time to head back to the castle.

An early return was only necessary for the girls too; since their prep time to get ready for their dinner-dance dates was quite a bit longer than what most of the guys needed. That didn't mean that Al was bored after walking Gwendolyn back to her House, though, because he was put in charge of distributing all of the purchases they'd made for the younger teens and tweens. He needed help for that from some of the other Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff guys, but it didn't take long to split up the orders by House; and then he headed for Gryffindor tower to start making his deliveries there – starting with Lily and Hugo. having something to do made it easier to keep entertained until it was time to get ready for the dinner and dance too; though Al got that done too soon; and then had too much time to sit back and watch the action around the common room until it was nearly time to go and meet up with Gwendolyn.

He ended up heading for Ravenclaw tower a bit earlier than expected after checking his map and finding out that Jonah was already in the hallway near the portrait hole – and waiting to escort Lily to the Great Hall. The map check had been to look for any potential prank or ambush danger, and while he didn't find any unusual activity from James, Ollie, or the Slytherins they usually kept an eye on; Jonah's obvious enthusiasm prompted Al to head for Ravenclaw tower earlier than planned. That gave him time to have a fun chat with Jonah; follow that up with a slightly-extended walk to Gwendolyn's House; and then stand around in the hallway and talk with some of the other guys that were there and waiting to pick up their dates. Though this was only his third Christmas dance, Al caught himself thinking of the other guys in terms of veterans – the guys that were used to inter-House dating; and the first-timers that were obviously picking up a date from another House for the first time. The new firstie couples were particularly fun to watch as they met up and usually had tentative, sweet, awkward moments before leaving for the walk to the Great Hall. There was time for making those observations, since Gwendolyn wasn't among the first Witches to meet up with their dates in the hallway, but she wasn't among the last either; and Al thought that she was worth the wait when she stepped out of the stairway and proceeded to dazzle him.

"Your name is Albus Potter; and no, you can't skip the dinner and dance because we put way too much time into getting this beautiful to not go to the party and make the rest of the guys wish that they were our dates," Renee told Al after giving Gwendolyn time for a reunion hug and kiss.

"That works for the guys that are lucky-enough to be your dates tonight," Romeo said as he joined them; smiling brilliantly at Renee. "You're stunning, milady; and it seems that our timing is perfect too." He held out a corsage to her; and bowed. "Thank-you for allowing me to be your humble escort this evening."

Renee laughed. "You're welcome; and nicely-done."

"I'd say so,' Al agreed – "especially compared to my temporary inability to speak at all."

"That's a different kind of well-done," Renee advised him.

"For Gwendolyn," Toni added. She and Michael had followed Gwendolyn and Renee; and had held back for a moment too before joining the other two couples. "She gets bonus points for having that effect on Al three Christmas dances in a row."

"As if you didn't have that affect on Michael a few minutes ago in our common room," Gwednolyn said with a happy laugh. "I'd say that we're all off to a good start for the evening."

"Then let's hope we keep that trend going," Renee offered with a grin for Al. "You've convinced us to hang out with you despite the dangers of being anywhere near your trouble-magnet boyfriend for holidays and dances, so if our dates get messed up; you'll get the blame."

"That's good to know for Michael and me," Romeo joked. "If we mess up; we can just blame it on being too near the trouble-magnet."

"Have you had any problems yet tonight, Al?" Toni asked seriously; and Al shook his head.

"No, and I'm hoping that the James and Ollie feud will keep them busy-enough to leave us alone – even though I feel a bit guilty about feeling that way."

"Don't," Toni counseled. "I'm not wishing for anything bad to happen to them either; but you and Gwendolyn are way overdue for a fun night without any of the pranks and ambushes you've had to deal with thanks to them."

"Then let's hope for that; talk about anything else other than James and Ollie; and try to have fun all night," Gwendolyn declared.

She changed the subject then by getting Toni to help with her corsage; and once Renee was ready to go too; they walked to the Great Hall with Al and Gwendolyn leading the way. They were able to stay away from talking about James and Ollie for a while too, but that didn't last for nearly as long as most of them expected because they witnessed a prank on Ollie and Patricia just as they reached the floor of the entrance hall and Ollie and Patricia were about to descend the main stairs from the first floor. They didn't need to see who was responsible for flipping Ollie and Patricia upside down and hanging them in the air by an ankle, but Al wasn't thinking about that at all as he drew his wand; silently countered the spells; and flipped both teens back on their feet while also somehow managing to protect Patricia's modesty by keeping her dress from 'falling' and offering the inappropriate view that the pranksters likely intended. Al put his wand away quickly once Ollie and Patricia were safely on their feet again – about four steps down from where they'd been; and managed to do all of that without being noticed by most of the students that had witnessed the prank.

"Nicely done," Gwendolyn whispered into his ear before kissing his cheek. "Most guys would have at least waited to find out what she has on under that dress first; so let's hope that your secret is safe with me or they'll all be mad at you." She laughed when Al blushed and kissed him again. "I love you. Let's go before we start attracting that attention by just standing around and gawking."

"That's not my idea of making a grand entrance; but I guess it worked to get them noticed," Renee said; and Al was grateful for the diversion. "After seeing that; I'm seriously thinking about wearing shorts under my dresses from now on – just to be on the safe side."

"That would be better than nothing," Gwendolyn joked; and then laughed when Al blushed again.

"I'd say that would be a matter of perspective," Romeo countered with a grin; and he was definitely not blushing. He earned a light slap on the arm when Renee caught him making a speculative glance in Patricia's direction. "Not to you – don't take your thoughts there with another Witch while on a date with this one."

"Blame it on the trouble magnet," Romeo quipped – "though in this case; it was his girlfriend that went there first; while I just followed."

"So now you're mentally following Gwendolyn around?" Toni teased; earning a round of laughs. "You are so going to be glad that you already have that trouble-magnet defense to use all night."

"I am," Romeo assured her; "though let's all hope that we won't need to use that for real tonight. The dinner hasn't even started; and the pranks have begun."

That obvious truth had Al on alert as they made their way into the Great Hall. They sat at the Ravenclaw table with some of the other third-year couples, but while Al would have liked to sit with Rose too; she and Art were sitting with Ray, Tory, Madison, Scott, and about half of their Gryffindor friends. while the girls took care of most of the conversation, Al enjoyed the show going on around them. Lily and Jonah were at the Gryffindor table too, and he was glad to see that they both looked very happy as Lily talked animatedly with Denise, Kathryn, Melissa, and their dates for the night. Hugo was there too, but sat a bit apart from the couples with a few of the other Gryffindor firsties that hadn't brought dates either. The rest of their cousins all seemed to be happy when he saw them too – whether that was Lucy, Louis, and Fred with their dates; or Dominique and Molly as they sat together with the very small group of older, unattached Gryffindor teens.

"You'll need to have at least one dance each with Molly and Dominique," Gwendolyn advised him quietly when she caught him watching them. "We don't want them sitting around all evening with nothing to do but watch all of the happy couples having fun. It's not as if their ex-boyfriends could have come here tonight; but now they don't have a holiday reunion with them to look forward to anymore."

"Have other guys been drafted for that too?" he asked and guessed; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Yes, so don't be surprised if we have to work your dances into their schedules. You will be the youngest, though – unless Rose has drafted Fred and Hugo too."

"Molly and Dominique won't mind – as long as there aren't any attempts to set them up. If I'm being drafted for that; should I be worried about who you'll be dancing with while I'm dancing with my cousins?"

"No, though I won't say that I won't go dancing too. Hugo, for instance, isn't here with a date either."

Al was about to comment on that, but he was distracted by something flashing through the air above the Gryffindor table; and he again had his wand out and a shield in place above the heads of about half of the fourth-year Gryffindors just before a stinky mistle-toe crashed into it and exploded in a flash of light and a puff of mist that he noticed was not the right color for the stinky-toe mist that was the usual contents of the wheeze. A follow-up cleaning spell took care of that; he let the shield drop; and put his wand away again.

"James wouldn't thank you for that," Gwendolyn whispered with a grin. "You know how he feels about stopping a good prank from happening – even when they're directed at him."

"I didn't do that for him," Al answered seriously. "James and Ollie can go at each other all they want, but they should leave their dates out of it – and everyone else around them that might get caught up in the mess."

"Including us," Gwendolyn agreed. "Try not to get caught helping; or they might decide to call a truce just to gang up on you for a while."

"Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead," Al suggested; and Gwendolyn smiled at him.

"Maybe, but you'll do whatever you think right regardless of the potential problems; so I'll just hope that you don't get caught."

Al couldn't disagree with her, and after two early interventions; he expected more – though he also had very mixed feelings about helping to defend both James and Ollie when he was so used to defending himself and others from them. The conversation going on around him started out with the latest teen drama news; but then they mostly talked about the dance, Christmas; and the plans that everyone had for the holidays. That kept them entertained while they waited for the start of the feast; they enjoyed the amazing meal through to the wonderful desserts; and then there was a half-hour break before the dance began where they could take washroom breaks and do a bit of mingling. During that two hours, Al quietly intervened to stop three more prank attempts – two by James on Ollie and Patricia; and one more in retaliation from Ollie. There were more that he didn't or couldn't stop, and he felt bad because there was some collateral damage to some of the teens around James and Ollie; but those pranks weren't things he could stop using his magic – mostly because he didn't see or sense them happening until the pranks had succeeded.

James and Ollie weren't the only teens using Christmas wheezes, and while Al and Gwendolyn didn't have any problems from them; they did get caught up in two wheezes pranks. The first was a magic mistletoe that they set off with a kiss, but it wasn't one of the stinky mistle-toes; so it wasn't a big deal – and only earned a round of laughs before the mistle-toe moved on in search of its next victims. The second was a transfiguration wheeze that quite a few teens got caught up in, but again, it was of the fun and cute variety; so Al and Gwendolyn didn't mind spending five minutes or so as a pair of feather-headed turtle doves. During the break between dessert and the start of the dance; they went for a visit with Rose, Art, and the rest of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends; talked with Lily and Jonah for a few minutes too; and then went for washroom breaks last so that they didn't end up waiting in lines for doing that. They missed most of the first song that the Graves Robbers performed, but went straight out onto the dance floor once they were back in the Great Hall and worked their way over to where their friends were dancing not far from the stage and band.

The Graves Robbers started out with a set of dance tunes that kicked up the excitement level right away. Al should have thought about it before getting too near the stage, but wasn't surprised when the Animorphmagus song was part of that first set; and he and Gwendolyn were spotlighted while her Weird Sisters' cousin had fun for a while at Al's expense. It took them nearly seven minutes to get through that song by the time they'd finished with the crowd participation ad-lib as suggestions were shouted out at them for new verses. That might have gone on much longer, but Al actually surprised himself – and everyone else – by performing the last three suggested animal changes. He flew around the hall for the last one, so everyone saw him; and the roar of laughter was so loud that the Graves Robbers couldn't be heard anyway – even if they could have kept singing while laughing at him too.

"Well, that definitely helped your rep a bit," Gwendolyn told him after he'd landed and they'd started dancing to the next song – the first ballad of the evening.

"I'm just glad it worked,' he said seriously. "If it hadn't; I might have been stuck doing those changes for an hour or two."

"Maybe, but I'm glad that you had fun with it – especially when that was brilliant for the rest of us." She smiled then. "Oh, and in case you think I didn't notice – nice job dodging that stinky mistle-toe up there. Do you think that the smell would stay with you when you change back if it had misted you?"

"Probably,' Al agreed; "though I was more worried about what would happen if it was one of the mistle-toe that have been filled with transfiguration wheezes. Merlin only knows what something like that would do to me in Animagus form."

"I didn't think about that, but then I was distracted by the lyrics for that verse – and really glad that you didn't use your bird-form as suggested."

"That would have been gross; and the Professors would not have been amused."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "Did you see James or Ollie around while you were up there?"

"Yeah, and James sent that mistle-toe my way; but he seemed to be more interested in Bristol than in seriously trying to blast me."

"Let's not go there," Gwendolyn decided. "I love Bristol; but she's a bit scary right now."

Al was good with doing that – or not; and they went back to enjoying the dance and just having fun together. They took a break after that set of slow songs; had a great time mingling with their family and friends; and then danced through until the Graves Robbers took their first break of the night and the D.J. took over with a set of Christmas songs that were turned down a bit so that talking without shouting was an option. Most of the students took breaks then too; and Al and Gwendolyn started that out with another round of visits to check in with their cousins and friends before they sat down at their table for drinks and a rest. While he got teased a lot about his Animorphmagus play time, Gwendolyn had been right; and he seemed to have earned more than a few points for letting loose and goofing off in front of everyone for a change. While he didn't plan on becoming the life of every party – or the sideshow entertainment; Al did feel pretty good about being part of the fun for everyone.

His work on that wasn't over yet, but dancing with Molly and Dominique for a song each during the Graves Robbers' second set helped out with making their night a bit more fun; and he also helped out with two more prank interventions – one by Ollie on James and Bristol; and the other from someone else that he stopped from messing up the night for a pair of adorable firstie Hufflepuffs. There were other pranks going on and wheezes going off, but he couldn't stop everything; and most of them were of the harmless; fun variety that didn't hurt anyone. the prank he'd stopped from hitting James and Bristol was apparently the last straw for James, because he and Bristol left the Great Hall after that; and Al didn't see them again until he got back to the Gryffindor common room after walking Gwendolyn home.

Before that, though, they still had a lot of fun together. The dancing was the biggest part of that, but dancing with their friends during the pop songs was always entertaining; they had some fun with Lily and Jonah during the Hit Wizard Hop line dance; and felt the love surrounding them during the ballads that made for magical, intimate moments even in a crowded room. While quite a few couples disappeared long before the end of the dance, Al and Gwendolyn stayed to the end of the final encore song; they ended up helping their Graves Robbers friends with packing up their gear; and then they needed passes from one of the Prefects for the walk back to their Houses after being out past the post-dance curfew. They didn't end up needing to show those passes to any of the other Prefects on patrol, but they also only had time for a short goodnight hug and kisses in the hallway outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance; and then Al hurried back to his House.

He wasn't surprised to find the common room fairly-filled with snogging couples, or that James and Ollie were there and snogging their respective dates; but what really bothered him was that the two couples weren't far apart and seemed to be having some twisted kind of snogging duel. What he sensed from the four teens was even harder to take; so he hurried through the room and felt a wave of relief once he was far-enough away to avoid that awkward, unpleasant scene. While he was glad to get away from that, he wasn't able to avoid some of the teen drama because Ray, Romeo, and about half of the guys in their room were all still awake; sitting on their beds; and talking about their dates, the dance, and trading stories about some of the juicier gossip stories that had been making the rounds in the Great Hall.

"Did you get lost; or lose track of time while saying goodnight to Gwendolyn?" Ray teased once Al was nearly to his bed. "We've been back for ages."

"We helped the Graves Robbers with packing up; and didn't get out of the Great Hall until after curfew." He held up the pass he'd been given when Ray looked doubtful; and smiled. "Honest – that's the only reason I'm late."

"Too bad for you," Romeo joked. "Renee was impressed that we got through the night without seeing anything happen to you – or get caught up in any ambushes; so thanks for that."

"You're welcome; though you should probably thank James and Ollie instead."

"Don't do that," Ray said quickly; feigning a shudder. "The last thing we want is for them to decide that they need to make up for leaving us alone tonight and start bugging us from now until the holidays – or during them after that for me. Ollie might decide to use me for target practice when our family gets together if he's still this mad at James when we head home next Friday."

"Do you get together with your entire family that often during the holidays?" Romeo asked. "I usually only see my cousins once – for each side of the family."

"We've done more during the holidays since Belinda started at Hogwarts," Ray answered. "Our Mums get along really well too; so Melissa and I are used to going for visits to Ollie's house – or having them come over to ours."

"But you don't get along with Ollie," Romeo pointed out. "Has it always been like that for you?"

Ray shrugged. "Pretty much. Belinda and Olivia are enough older than Ollie that he can't best them at anything – and especially at Quidditch; so he's always needed to prove he's better than me instead." He shrugged again. "I'm sure we've got more interesting things to talk about."

"Not if you're going to ask me for the details from my date," Romeo joked. "Renee and I had fun; and that's all you need to know."

"Fair enough," Ray agreed; "but there are other things we can talk about – like how many pranks Al stopped tonight."

"What?" Romeo asked in surprise; and Ray and Al both laughed.

"I saw Al stop one prank for sure," Ray advised him. "He didn't do anything obvious; but Tory and I were right there; and he definitely kept a couple of Hufflepuff firsties from getting hit by a nasty prank that came from a group of nearby Slytherins. We couldn't tell which of them launched the prank; but I guess that doesn't matter. Al stopped them; and the two kids are fine." He smiled at Al. "So how many pranks did you stop tonight?"

"Did you stop that one in the entrance hall too?" Romeo asked. "I was right there and didn't see you do anything; but somebody saved Ollie and Patricia."

"Look at the time!" Al exclaimed. "I really need to go and get ready for bed now; and we all need to get some sleep!"

"I'd call that one busted," Ray declared. "You helped Ollie and Patricia? Why?"

"They were hit with Levicorpus spells," Al explained simply. "That's just not the proper sort of thing to do to a Witch in a dress; so I helped them out."

"And now we'll never know what Patricia has on under that dress," Romeo said with a wistful sigh. "Thanks a lot, Al."

"You just thanked him for not having any trouble on your date; and now you're sarcastically thanking him for stopping something from happening that would have gotten you into trouble for gawking at," Ray pointed out with a laugh. "You're being a bit inconsistent, Romeo."

"Are you saying that you wouldn't have looked?" Romeo countered; and Ray laughed again.

"I'd have looked – and gotten into trouble for it with my girlfriend too. What we don't know, though, is whether the view would have been worth the trouble."

That was something that Al didn't even want to think about; so he took that as a perfect opportunity to leave and head for the washroom to get ready for bed while the other guys discussed that – and other things – in more detail than he wanted to hear or know about. It wasn't as if he was pure of thought when it came to Witches other than his girlfriend, but he believed that those thoughts should be kept private – and definitely never acted on! Story time was still going on when he got back to the dorm room and into bed, so he talked with Ray, Romeo, Scott, and a few of the other guys until he was ready to drift off to sleep for the night. He was happy, warm, and content as he mentally wandered off into dreamland. Getting to have one special day where he didn't have any problems had been brilliant, and had him feeling excited and hopeful for the rest of the Christmas holiday season!

The good mood – and the reprieve from James and Ollie problems – continued on Sunday. Post-dance teen drama gossip was at the top of the chat list for most teens at breakfast; and continued for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends as they spent the morning working together in their study classroom and the library. Al and Rose did more tutoring than their own work, and they needed to keep going for an hour or so after lunch too, but by the time they were done; everyone had their assignments and projects finished – and they wouldn't need the extra class time that they'd have for that during the last four days they had left until they'd head home for the holidays. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose got a bit of their holiday revision started too, but since they didn't have many of those assignments yet; they couldn't work too far ahead on that.

With the work done, Al and Gwendolyn met up with Lily and Jonah, and while their friends all stayed warm and indoors; they braved the cold again to have another Seeker and Chaser duel that kept them entertained until dinnertime. The girls won that battle, but it was close; and Lily's extra snitch catch was needed to overcame the one-goal advantage that Al had managed over Gwendolyn at that particular moment in their battle. They wrapped up early-enough to get back to their dorms and have showers before heading to the Great Hall for dinner; Al got to have a bonus walk and talk with Rose and Lily before dinner; and then he and Gwendolyn were doing their own thing for the evening – their first chance all weekend for some quality alone time.

The music; mirror chats with their parents; and writing a last set of letters to send home with Winter ahead of the holidays was all fun; and the snogging session after that while not watching the shows on the mirror network was brilliant. They made sure that they had enough time for their side-trip to the Owlery; spent time with Blizzard and Winter before sending Winter on her way home; and then Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House before sharing a quick goodnight hug and kiss and then hurrying back to his own House.

While he'd been out of the loop for the James and Ollie drama for most of the day, the battle was still on when he got back to the common room; so Al didn't stay there long. He did have quick visits with Rose and Lily; offered goodnight best wishes to most of his cousins and a few friends; and then he was happy to get to his dorm room and call it a night and weekend. He was ready for bed in record time; surfed the wireless web for a while; and then fell asleep before Ray, Romeo, or any of the other guys in the beds closest to his made it back to their room too. That was partially because some of them were enjoying the James and Ollie entertainment; but a few of the guys were also playing catch-up on their studies after taking most of the weekend off to play.

Al wasn't thinking much about studying or even their classes on Monday morning. His attention was on the joint-team Christmas party. That was the main topic for the morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily; they dealt with some last-minute details at lunchtime; and then did most of the party set-up between the end of the Gryffindor junior team Quidditch practice and when they needed to be at dinner in the Great Hall. While everyone else on the team seemed to mostly be excited about the party, Al was nervous as he ate dinner and listened to Rose, Ray, and their friends talk about everything from the party to the latest teen drama going on in the wake of the Christmas dance. He finished eating early; met up with Gwendolyn; and headed back to their study classroom to do one last check to make sure everything was ready – and to be there to welcome their team mates and guests. Madison and Scott joined them so that she was there to welcome her team too; and then the fun was on as all of the guests arrived within a fifteen minute span beginning about ten minutes before the party start time. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were among the first and had most of the firsties from three Houses with them; and the Slytherin team came in one large group with Scorpius and Terri leading the way.

That part of the meet and greet was awkward for everyone, but then Scorpius led his group to the corner and quarter of the room that had been decorated in their House colors. They did seem to be impressed with the sofas and chairs that had been added to go with the work tables and stools that were also decorated for the holidays; and some of the guys were happy to begin sampling the food and drinks that were set out on the tables. Segregating the four Houses had seemed a prudent way to at least start the party, but Al and Gwendolyn were going to try and get the Slytherins involved with everyone else through their music and games entertainment plans. They didn't rush into that, though; and the first half-hour was all about having some social time with their team mates and friends. Some tentative interaction with the Slytherins happened, but that was almost entirely between the students in the same year; and those cameo moments were all brief.

One thing that Al did like as the party started was that there wasn't nearly as much animosity as he'd expected. There were undercurrents that he sensed that were much darker from some of the Slytherin teens and tweens, but even Scorpius and Davis acted as if they were willing to give the joint party a try. There was more going on there, but while Al could take some guesses at what might be motivating the Slytherins, they had come; and it was at least a start – and a first for all of them. He and Gwendolyn made a slow tour of the room while they had that social time; and then they had Madison and Scorpius join them to get started on the games. They were all of the magical variety, and getting to play with their magic while competing in teams for prizes began to break down the barriers as the fun level went up and they could show off their wand skills and creativity.

Whether they were decorating miniature Christmas trees or playing games of skill or wit, they were soon all fully-involved; enjoying a friendly competition; and subtly getting to know more about each other thanks to the thought that had gone into picking the games. Al was sure that most of the guests wouldn't even recognize that, but he learned a lot about everyone in the room. Discovering magical strengths and weaknesses was part of that, but two of the games also allowed him to learn about each Wizard and Witch; and they found out about things they had in common – or didn't as well as some personal details about their family and friends. The prizes weren't spectacular, but they were interesting-enough to have everyone seriously competing for those wins. Al wasn't likely the only one keeping score, but he was definitely the only person in the room that knew that the Slytherin students were spotted a subtle advantage that helped them to earn a narrow overall win. Sure, that hadn't been fair to everyone else, but Al's goal was to change minds and hearts – including his own; so he thought that the end justified the minor bit of unfairness.

They took a break after the games; and then followed that up with the gift exchange. Al and Gwendolyn started out the gift exchange by going around and handing out a gift to each of the team and reserve squad players; and they earnd a lot of support when the teens and tweens found out that they'd each been given a Quidditch action figure of themselves in their own team robes. Al had taken care of all of the magic for those gifts, but he'd had help with getting the 'blank' action figures; and more help with getting the display boxes made and the gifts wrapped and tagged. Those gifts were even more fun when some of the players began swapping them, though Gwendolyn deserved the credit for that; since she started the idea by swapping her action figure for Al's – and planned on making that swap permanent. After they finished with those gifts; Gwendolyn had the four teams gather around their own Captains for the rest of the gift exchanges; since they were doing that in-House with Captain's gifts and the secret Santa gifts that they'd drawn names for among their teams. They'd included dates in the name-drawing, so there was at least one gift for every student, but Al and Gwendolyn had also quietly picked up gifts for their team mates' plus-one guests; so they had two gifts for everyone in their groups as they handed out the presents to their respective groups.

Al had known almost immediately what he'd wanted to do for his gifts; so he was excited as he handed them out along with the secret santa gifts. He'd expected that a generally under-whelmed reaction would be part of the fun; and he wasn't disappointed – especially when Lily was the first to get her gift opened; and then practically pouted at him when she looked up from the single packet of Quidditch trading cards.

"Al, the action figures were awesome, but I'm pretty sure that we all have large collections of trading cards. We are all fairly fanatical about the game, you know."

"Look closer," Rose suggested; and then laughed happily. "When did you get all of these pictures of us?" She turned one of them to face Al. "I remember that play; but didn't see any cameras around."

"You've made up an entire set for our team?" Kathryn asked; though she was already discovering that as she went through the cards and saw that the reserve squad players were all there too – along with a team photo that had been taken at one of their first practices by Mr. Peakes.

"Yes, and I hope you'll really love the memory charms I've put on each card," Al answered.

That comment earned the attention of everyone in his little group; and there was quite a commotion as his friends began viewing the memories that he'd charmed into each card. Those memories were a short montage of some of his favorite memories of each of them, and while there were a few that were funny; most of them showed off his team mates in a very positive light with highlights from practices and their one match against Slytherin. They ended up playing with them for a while; and then everyone opened their other gift. That was fun too, since all of those gifts were meant to be fun – and inexpensive entertainment.

While that time with just his own team and their guests had been brilliant for Al, he was glad to get back with Gwendolyn again after that – and have some music fun that was one of the last surprises they had for their guests. They got their guitars out; invited everyone to join in to sing or get up and dance; and began to entertain everyone with a few Christmas songs. While more of their friends and guests sang along for that; there were some couples dancing too; and then more joined in to do that when Al and Gwendolyn switched to a half-dozen Weird Kids' and Graves Robbers' songs. Lily and Jonah danced together after the first two Christmas songs; and they were having even more fun with that than Al and Gwendolyn were having playing and singing together.

"Did you know they were going to do this?" Jonah asked as they swayed to the first ballad that Al and Gwendolyn had picked; and Lily shook her head.

"No, and I'm surprised they're doing it. They're going all-out to try and impress our Slytherin guests."

"That's going better than any of us likely expected," he said thoughtfully while looking over toward where some of the firstie Slytherins were dancing near to 'their' section of the room. "I'm still not picturing a future with a bunch of Slytherin besties for us; but they're not as bad as we make them out to be either."

Lily laughed. "I'd say that some of them definitely are," she disagreed, "but Al was right about this and it is at least a start toward getting along better – or at least not fighting so much."

"We haven't had very many problems with Slytherins so far," Jonah pointed out; and Lily shrugged.

"For me, that's likely because Al's at the top of their hit list."

"Or they might actually be afraid of what you Dad would do if they hurt his little girl." He grinned then. "I know I am."

Lily hugged him more tightly and laughed. "You're not really afraid of Dad; and I know you'd never hurt me." She paused and listened to the song for a few moments. "Merlin, they really are amazing, Jonah. I totally get why your Dad would love to get thim into the music business."

"Careful, Lily – he thinks we've got a lot of potential too."

"Maybe, but do you think it's the same for us? Al and Gwendolyn love having as many music practices as they can; but we only do that if we're hanging out with them."

"I'd be okay with having our own practices if you want to do that too," Jonah assured her; and then smiled at her reaction. Now you're scaring me a bit."

"Yes, but only a bit," she told him. "Let's talk about those music practices after we're back here again in the New Year. That might even be more fun than going outside to play Quidditch during the worst of the winter."

Their quiet chat moved on from there as they continued to dance; they enjoyed those slow dances; and then had more fun as Al and Gwendolyn launched into a couple of Lily's favorite 'line dance' songs. They started with the Hit Squad Hop; and then had an extended version of the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie that Lily managed to get nearly everyone doing with her – and singing along. One more dance tune was followed by three closing Christmas songs; and Al and Gwendolyn used that music to wind down the dance and party because they were down to less than an hour left before curfew by then; and would still need to clean up from the party.

Al started working on that as soon as they put the guitars away while Gwendolyn and Madison took care of seeing their guests out with best holiday wishes and thanks for helping them all have a really good night. He spoke with nearly everyone for at least a goodbye too, but did that while he was on the go packing up leftovers; dealing with the furniture; and putting the entire classroom back in order so it would be ready for the school day on Tuesday. While it hadn't been a surprise to have the Slytherins among the last to arrive, Al was a bit surprised when Scorpius and Terri stayed late to join in for seeing their fellowe Slytherin out and also talk with quite a few of the teens and tweens from the other Houses. Sensing that Scorpius was doing that so he could continue to observe them explained part of that, but Al also knew that Scorpius was fairly conflicted about what had happened at the party – and not nearly as happy as he was pretending to be as he played nice with Gwendolyn, Madison, and the group of friends that stayed with them until they were all ready to head back to their respective Houses. Since Scorpius was still there when Al finished packing everything up; he handed all three of his fellow Captains a box of leftover treats.

"We may as well share them with our House mates," he said as he put one box in Gwendolyn's hands. "I'll leave mine in the common room; and the late night study groups will have everything gone by morning."

"I'm only amazed that we didn't run out," Madison told him. "With as many Wizards as we had in this room; I'm amazed they didn't eat all of the food and half the furniture too."

"We were a bit off on the food," Al told her, "but there weren't many drinks left; so I think we did okay with that for a first time trying a party like this."

"I'd say we all did brilliantly," Gwendolyn told him. "Thanks for coming, Scorpius; Terri. I really hope that you and your friends had as much fun as we did. I wouldn't want to risk messing with centuries of Hogwarts' tradition that would freak out the other teens in our Houses, but let's try to talk now and then without going years between those chats."

"It's only been a bit over a week since the last time I talked to Albus and Rose," Scorpius joked. "Let's wait and see if we all survive this before making any radical suggestions like that."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed easily. "If we don't talk again before the end of the week; have a great Christmas holiday."

Scorpius and Terri left then; Al, Gwendolyn, Madison, and the few remaining stragglers did one last check to make sure they had everything cleaned up; and then they split up to head for their own Houses – or to walk their dates home first before returning to their own Houses. Al and Gwendolyn were soon on their own for the walk back to Ravenclaw tower; and that gave them a chance for a quiet, private party post-mortem.

"Okay, how did that really go?" Gwendolyn asked him. "You were distracted enough for me to be sure there was more going on than I noticed."

"There was; but I do still think it went even better than we could have hoped – for us; and for the Slytherins." He smiled when she looked dubious. "Scorpius has some ulterior motive, and he still really hates me; but he has his doubts; and I got the feeling that most of the Slytherins left the party with a completely different opinion of us than the preconceptions they came to the party with."

"I'd say that was true for us too," Gwendolyn suggested; and Al nodded.

"That's true; though we'll all be dealing with the peer pressure again by morning; and that's going to be tough to get past – especially if we don't get any chances to build on what we started here tonight."

"What are you suggesting? That we invite the Slytherin players to our next pool party?"

Al laughed. "I'm not sure that I'm ever going to be ready for that. You were getting a bit too much of the wrong kind of attention from some of those Slytherin guys tonight – though maybe that was just my perspective."

"It isn't, and while that wasn't as bad as it gets sometimes with James and Ollie; I didn't appreciate that attention either."

That wasn't something that they wanted to talk about in any detail, but they did move on to talk about their own favorite moments of the night. Gwendolyn assured Al that her team mates had loved the memory charmed, team photo lockets that she'd given the Witches and the memory charmed Ravenclaw lapel pins that she'd given to the Wizards. They'd both loved the music time, and while Al was a bit less-certain about the attention that had brought on them; Gwendolyn assured him that his reputation had been helped again – and that he'd been having a pretty good week for that between the dance and team party. There wasn't a lot of time left for goodnight hugs and kisses by the time they reached the entrance to the stairs into Ravenclaw tower; but they were alone; so an extra few kisses only meant that Al had to hurry back to his common room to get there on time. He dropped off his box of leftover treats on the table that Molly was sitting at with her usual study group; but then he headed for his dorm room instead of doing any visiting because he didn't want to be anywhere near James and Bristol – or Ollie and Patricia. Their feud was still on; and he really couldn't stand being around all of the dark emotions he was sensing so strongly from them.

Going to bed and working ahead on some of the holiday revision they'd been given during their classes on Monday kept him busy while he wound down from the party. Ray, Romeo, and some of the other guys talked with him when they were getting ready for bed or doing some reading or studying too; but he mostly just listened to those conversations while concentrating on his work. Eventually, he was tired-enough to put the books away and drift off to sleep; happy about having another really good day – and content that they'd also managed to successfully have a party with students from all four Houses. Yes, the school feasts and dances were with all of the Hogwarts students, but he now knew that was very different from getting together for a smaller party where it was basically impossible to avoid inter-House mixing and mingling. While he didn't dream of peace and harmony breaking out at Hogwarts while he slept, there was a glimmer of hope for the future; and that, all on its own, was a good start!

"Good morning, Thomas," Scorpius said as he sat down in the arm chair. "It's early, but I've a busy day ahead of me; and thought that you'd like to have the team party report sooner instead of later."

"You must want to talk about it; since sooner or later means little to me anymore."

"I do want to talk about it," Scorpius agreed. "We learned a lot last night." He smiled as he took his own action figure out of a pocket; set it onto the table; and watched it walk around in front of Thomas' portrait. "Albus and Gwendolyn gave those to all of the players," he explained. "They made them personally."

"You're impressed by a toy?"

"Take a closer look," Scorpius suggested. "I did last night; and as near as I can tell; it's an absolutely perfect replica."

"Okay, so it's a very good toy," Thomas said with a shrug. "That's hardly impressive."

"You don't think that making fifty-six of these perfect replicas in a week is impressive?" Scorpius asked. "They couldn't have worked on them before that – they didn't even know they were having a party for everyone much before they invited my team. I don't even have a clue as to how they'd be able to know enough about each of us to make them so well."

"They're toys, Scorpius. The magic isn't that difficult."

"For third-year students?" Scorpius countered; not willing to concede that he didn't have reason to be impressed. "Will you be impressed when I tell you about the furniture they had at the party – sofas, armchairs, and more – enough for all of us? Nobody said anything about it, but I'm positive that a lot of that furniture was conjured."

"Maybe you didn't hear anything because they had some older friends help them with that," Thomas suggested. "That wouldn't be a big deal for the Potter boy's older cousins."

"I suppose," Scorpius conceded; "but if they conjured them; I don't know how Al was able to make them disappear when he cleaned up from the party – and he did most of that clean-up by himself."

"I'm sure there are simple explanations," Thomas assured him. "Is there some other reason why you seem to be so impressed with the younger Potter boy?"

"I don't believe I'm impressed – I'd say that it's more like annoyed and sick of him. That party was brilliant – from Potty's perspective. My team mates were impressed; I'll guess that the other team players learned more about us than we learned about them; and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that half of the Slytherin Witches – including my own girlfriend – have a secret crush on Potty now." He shook his head in disgust. "Albus and Gwendolyn had a mini dance for us – and played and sang the music themselves. According to Terri; they're better than the band that played at the Christmas dance on Saturday night."

"Well, I wouldn't have expected that of the Potter boy, but you did tell me that the girl's father was one of the members of the Weird Sisters; so it shouldn't be a surprise that she might have some musical talent – not that I consider that a serious threat to your future plans. Are you concerned that they'll sing you to sleep during the war?"

Scorpius laughed. "No, I'm sick and tired of finding out that they seem to be brilliant at everything they do. I didn't end up with a team of spies last night – half of the players and their dates are now likely wishing they were in one of the other Houses where everyone is happy and no bad words are ever spoken."

"I rather doubt that's even remotely true; though it would be likely that the other students would be on their best behaviour for a first party with students from your House – just as you were. Was there nothing that you learned that can be useful to you?"

"I am not sure now," Scorpius admitted. "You've dismissed the things that I've told you so far that seemed important to me last night. If you do not believe that those action figures are impressive transfigurations for third-year students and doubt that Potty could be responsible for conjuring furniture; then I doubt that any of the rest will impress you either. Potty gave his team mates packs of trading cards of their team and reserve squad, and while that seems an inconsequential gift; each card apparently has memory charms with memory montages of each player's Quidditch highlights for the season so far. Gwendolyn did something similar; except with lockets for the Witches and lapel pins for the Wizards. The games we played were nothing unusual, and while the food and drinks were decent; it wasn't an extravagant feast."

"You have not spoken of how the other teens interacted with each other and their Captains," Thomas pointed out; and Scorpius' laugh this time was almost self-deprecating.

"Do you actually need to ask that? Potty, McCormack, and Whitby are universally loved by their players – and they all get along with the other teams too."

"How quickly things change," Thomas mused. "It wasn't long ago that you were telling me about how everyone hated the younger Potter when he was taking the blame for those pranks. That should tell you a lot about how easy it is to destroy those supposed friendships."

"I doubt that their closest friends believed that Potty was responsible for those pranks," Scorpius countered.

"You should believe it to be possible," Thomas disagreed. "I know for a fact that Harry Potter's friends often doubted and scorned him – even when he was right – and especially when he was being set up to take the fall by others. That, my young friend, is a serious downside to love. Once destroyed by whatever means; it can be turned to hate that is much stronger and useful for us against our enemies."

"That may well be true, but knowing that didn't help you at the Battle of Hogwarts; and wouldn't have made a difference for me last night. I may not know the total effect for weeks or months, but I do believe that my team was hurt more than it was helped with too many of my team mates."

"If you are correct, then that knowledge alone is important for you; since those students are the untrustworthy members of your team if they can be so easily swayed by kind words and a few, simple treats. If there's nothing else from the party, and you still have time before breakfast; let's talk more about your plans for James over the holiday. I still believe that he shows much more promise for your cause than the younger son."

"From what we keep hearing; he's a Poster teen for your theory about love turning to hate," Scorpius offered. "I do not know if James and Ollie will reconcile their differences, but even if they do; it may take some time to rebuild their friendship after the things they've done to each other recently."

"And you should help them out – by giving James Potter an alternative, more trustworthy friend. That will take time, Scorpius – possibly years to do that right; but that is just one aspect of what it takes to achieve the greatness you desire!"

Thomas went on to discuss that with Scorpius until his young protégé needed to leave for the Great Hall. As he returned to the ebony nothingness that was only broken during his visits with Scorpius, he worried that the boy's team mates weren't the only teens that had been too-impressed by their rivals in the other three Houses, and while he prepared to deal with that problem should it develop; he also hoped that wouldn't be necessary – and that their tentative plans for the holidays would go much better with the older Potter boy. If nothing else, he would at least have two weeks where Scorpius could study with him every day if he chose to do that; they could get more lessons done than they noramlly managed in a month or two now while Scorpius was constantly being distracted by mundane, pointless activities; and there would be time to get him re-focused on his true goals and dreams.

More escapes from the oppressive nothingness was just an added bonus!

The last three days of classes before the holidays were comparatively easy for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends. They were able to use class time to work ahead on their holiday revision; they only had one Quidditch practice left to go each because Gwendolyn only had her Tuesday afternoon practice and cancelled the one for Thursday. Her team didn't need it as much as the Ravenclaw senior team did with their next match coming up in January; and that allowed Pauline to have her team practice early and then have more time to pack for the trip home – or do whatever else they wanted to do instead before saying goodbye to most of their friends for the next two weeks. They didn't need to study as hard after classes or in the evenings; Al and Gwendolyn had some quiet alone time on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for an hour or more before curfew – followed by his Astronomy class the first night and hers on the second.

There was a lot going on around the school that they weren't involved in – and in some cases; they were glad to be out of the way. James and Ollie, for instance, managed to make a mess of the Gryffindor senior team Christmas party on Wednesday night with the wheezes and pranks they used against each other – and usually ended up with at least one or two friends winding up as collateral damage. Since Al wasn't there to stop any of those attacks; they all succeeded to varying degrees; and that made for a fairly-unpleasant evening for most of their team mates and their dates. The James and Ollie feud did keep them from bothering Al and Gwendolyn, so while they felt bad for the others that weren't so lucky; their week continued to be filled with holiday cheer and fun.

Their dinner in the Great Hall on Thursday wasn't a full-out feast, but it was festive and fun; Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for a bit of Christmas snogging after dinner; and then they were back in their own dorm rooms well-ahead of curfew so that she could finish packing and they could both have some fun with their roommates before heading home in the morning. Al only expected to see Ray over the holidays, so he had some small gifts to give the rest of their friends that he either handed out directly or left on their beds; he had some fun talkinga bout what they'd each be doing while at home with the guys that were packing to head home instead of hanging out in the common room for various reasons; and then Al went to bed early so that he could be up again earlier than usual to get ahead of the inevitable rush that happened the mornings of every Hogwarts Express trip back to London.

It was snowing and windy when Al woke in the morning, and while that felt very Christmassy; the start of their trip home was likely to be a bit unpleasant. After getting cleaned up; he got dressed as warmly as he could for the weather while also being prepared for later when they'd be on a much-warmer train; and then he grabbed his bags and headed for the common room. He didn't need to wait long for Rose and Lily; and then they were off on their last walk and talk of the year. The girls were bubbling with the latest gossip from the girls dorm – particularly the news about James, Bristol, Ollie, and Patricia. They waited until they were alone in the hallway outside of Gryffindor tower; and then Rose took the lead for the first blast of news.

"You really don't want the details, but Bristol is rather put out with James right now." She smiled ruefully when Lily laughed loudly at that. "Okay, poor choice of words there; all things considered. Without scaring Al, though, her problem is that she spent some quality time with James last night to say goodbye to him; had gotten him a rather nice Christmas gift; and then found out that James didn't get her anything."

"Not according to him," Lily amended; and Al wished that he couldn't sense as much as he did from both girls.

"Lily!" Rose exclaimed; but Lily only laughed again.

"I've heard worse in the dorms already – just as you have. Firsties aren't even seen half the time when the older girls are talking about such things. It's been very educational."

"Don't tell Dad that; or you'll be home-schooled starting in January," Al joked; earning another laugh from his sister.

"He wouldn't dare; but let's move along. There's much, much more!"

"There is," Rose agreed. "Bristol wasn't interested in hanging out with James after they got back here, so he had time to prank Ollie when he and Patricia got back from wherever they'd been until curfew; Ollie got fairly messed up and had to leave for his dorm room; and by the time he got back; Patricia was busy snogging James."

"You can't be serious," Al said; though he could sense that she wasn't joking at all. "Have the lot of them lost their minds?"

"We think so," Lily agreed. "Didn't you hear about any of this from the guys?"

"I was likely asleep before then – or at least before the guys watching that train wreck came up to bed. Most of the guys were barely conscious when I left the dorm room this morning."

"Ollie dumped a bottle-full of stinky-toe refill on them that had a transfiguration mixed in; he stormed off; and that ended the snogging session for James and Patricia. Everyone in our room heard her telling Anna all about it – with her version being warped beyond belief; and then Bristol got into it with her and the fireworks really got going."

"How is it possible that I slept through all of that?"

"I have no idea. I didn't; and wouldn't have been surprised if the shouting reached the guys' dorms. Lily heard the fight from the firstie dorm room."

"I did; though it was a while longer before we found out what it had been all about from a couple of our roommates that were in the bathrooms when Patricia went to get cleaned up and they overheard the story there."

"Did anyone get hurt?" Al asked; and Rose shook her head.

"Not in the way you mean. They tried hitting each other with a few hexes and jinxes, but they stopped when some of the other girls threatened to blast both of them and let them find somewhere else to sleep if they didn't cut it out. You do not want the details about the insults they hurled at each other instead."

"I'm sure of that," Al agreed. "Was that the end of it?"

"No. We also found out that Ollie's as much of a cheapskate as James is; though Patricia's gift for him had been meant to make James jealous – not because she actually likes Ollie in a boyfriend kind of way; but he didn't get anything for her either."

"And that's where the story gets weirder," Lily interjected. "James apparently told Patricia about why Bristol was mad at him; and then claimed that he'd gotten a gift for Patricia; and didn't think it would be right to re-gift it to Bristol instead; so he hadn't done anything yet – and didn't plan to send her a gift in time for Christmas now that she'd turned out to be so materialistic."

"So that's all it took to have Patricia making up with him and snogging him on the spot," Al guessed.

"Pretty much," Rose agreed; "and she was happy to throw all of that in Bristol's face – even though she doesn't yet actually have this gift yet because James didn't have it with him."

"I wonder if he'll show up in the Great Hall this morning before we leave for the station?" Al mused.

"Don't forget to tell him about the gift that Patricia did give him," Lily told Rose.

"I was getting to that. While her version of the story was as unbelievable as the rest, Patricia just happened to have a gift for James that she did give him. I'm guessing that her plan was to make him feel guilty; but James is likely having a laugh over the whole thing."

"Yeah, he scores two great gifts; gets both of the girls; and now they'll have two weeks to cool off before they see him again – assuming he doesn't make it to the Great Hall for breakfast."

Al shook his head. "It is so wrong for me to be this glad that James is staying here; but I am all the same. When was the last time he made a good decision – or thought about anyone except himself?"

Lily grinned at him. "He'd tell you it was before you were born and messed up his life."

"Sad and possibly true," Al agreed. "Is that it; or could there actually be more?"

There was, but it was mostly about the problems that Bristol and Patricia made for each other until Rose was ready to go and could escape the insanity. Lily took a turn telling him some other stories that weren't so hostile and nasty; but were tween drama moments with roommates that were going to be spending the holidays without their new love interests. Rose added a few more bits of news from some of their third-year friends; but then they moved on to talk about other things when Al seemed to hit teen drama overload. As usual, the food and drinks were out on the tables early, so they could eat once they were in the Great Hall; they were among the first to finish; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were the first third-year teens to catch a carriage ride to the station. That trip was freezing cold; they were fairly-covered in snow by the time they arrived at the station; and they needed most of the time before departure to thaw out and dry off – even after shedding some of their outer layers. Lily had waited until some of her friends were ready to go before getting into a carriage with them – and with Jonah. Al had saved two compartments for them; Lily ended up sitting with Jonah, Melissa, Lee Johnson, Denise, and John Whitby. Lee and John had still been hanging out with Melissa and Denise since the school dance, and seemed to be getting along with them; so they looked a lot like three happy firstie couples – even though Lily and Jonah were not dating!

While Al and Gwendolyn had reserved the extra compartments for their sister, brother, and quite a few of their friends; they were happy to get the chance to spend some time with friends that they wouldn't see much – or at all – over the holidays while on the ride home. This time, they ended up with Madison and Scott; and Renee and Romeo. They were all settled in and ready to go with time to spare before the train pulled out of the station, but that just allowed them to trade the stories going around each House while watching the madness as the last rush of students tried to get on the train with their luggage and find places to sit as the train filled up. Al mostly listened as Gwendolyn and their friends talked. His thoughts were on home and the two weeks of holiday fun that he'd be sharing with his parents, sister, family, and friends. It was completely irrational to worry about James messing that up with a last-minute change of his own plans; but that didn't keep him from letting out a soft sigh of relief when the train began moving away from the station.

"Don't be too relieved yet," Gwendolyn leaned close and whispered. "Just because we didn't see him doesn't mean he didn't sneak onto the train and is hiding somewhere until he can surprise all of us at King's Cross."

"I've been watching the platform very closely," Al advised her. "He isn't here."

"Who isn't here?" Renee asked; obviously only overhearing Al's response to Gwendolyn's teasing.

"My brother," Al explained. "It's dumb and wrong, since I should want him home for Christmas; but I'm still relieved that he didn't change his mind at the last minute and hop on the train to come home with us."

"You're right about that," Renee agreed, "but don't feel too guilty about that; since I think we'd all feel the same if we'd had the same problems you have with James."

"I feel that way just with the problems I've had with him," Madison advised her seriously.

"So you wouldn't want to take James home with you for the holidays?" Romeo joked. "From what I heard this morning; you're not the only Witch with that opinion right now."

"No, I wouldn't," Madison confirmed; "and I'm not sure that Bristol or Patricia wouldn't still take him home for Christmas if he asked them to do that nicely-enough."

"Gee, is it time to go for our first walk along the train already?" Al asked Gwendolyn; and she laughed while squeezing his hand and nudging him to stay in his seat.

"No, and you really don't want to do that while so many students are still looking for places to sit. We'll change the subject instead."

The girls did that for him; and moved on to talk about weekend shopping – both for Christmas gifts and new, winter-weather clothes. Their journey home was just beginning, but with James certainly out of the picture for the next two weeks; Al was ready to have fun and enjoy everything about their trip and upcoming holiday adventures!

James looked down the line of the Gryffindor table as he stepped into the Great Hall; nodded to himself when he didn't see Ollie, Bristol, or Patricia among the stragglers still finishing breakfast and the handful of teens and tweens that were staying at Hogwarts over the holidays too. He earned at least glancing attention from pretty much everyone in the room as he walked to his usual seat; sat down; and began filling his plate. Nobody was near him, and while that felt strange; he didn't care. As he thought about that, he decided that he didn't care about a lot of things right now. He didn't care that he wouldn't be with his loser family for Christmas; was glad that his former best mate was gone for the next two weeks; and definitely didn't care that Bristol and Patricia were both mad at him right now. That thought had him smirking to himself.

Witches were so easy – in every sense of the word – that the only way a Wizard could possibly have any problems with them was if he was too dumb or weak to handle them. He'd proven that yet again last night – getting to have fun with Bristol; scoring a great little gift as a bonus; and then snogging Patricia right out from under Ollie's nose while getting another cool gift out of her just by claiming that he had a Christmas gift for her – a total fiction that she'd bought simply because she wanted to believe! Sure, he'd need to come up with some excuse when she was back in the New Year to explain what happened to that fictional gift, but he had lots of time to do that – and figure out a way to string Bristol along too. Of course, if that didn't work out, then it was just time to move on to the next Witch – or Witches. That thought had him looking around the room speculatively, but it was too soon to know for sure which teens were staying and which were just running late to catch a carriage ride to the station. There'd be time-enough to check out the holiday fling opportunities at lunchtime!

He had time to eat two plates full of food before the tables were cleared; he left the Great Hall; and wandered around the castle – aimless and free of the need to do anything at all. When he eventually returned to the Gryffindor common room, it was basically empty; since the only two teens in the room were two loser geeks that he'd pranked a lot in past years even though they were one and two years older; and certainly weren't going to be any fun to hang out with over the holidays. He decided to grab his Quidditch gear; left his mirror behind in his dorm room after ignoring what must have been Patricia's twentieth attempt to have a mirror chat with him; and then he headed out again. The weather was lousy, but he decided that chasing the snitch around in the snow was better than doing nothing or hanging out with the losers in the common room.

When he was outside, he was surprised to find a set of boot-prints in the snow heading toward the stadium. Since following them made the walk there a bit easier, he did that while speculating on who the other player might be – and whether that would be a problem – for that person; since he had no intention of making the effort to get to the stadium only to return to the castle without the Quidditch exercise and diversion. It took nearly twice as long as usual to trudge to the stadium because nobody was bothering to clear the paths until the snow stopped falling so heavily. The walls of the stadium offered a bit of protection at pitch-level from the wind; but it did still whip around fairly-briskly; and there was just as much snow on the pitch and benches along the sidelines. That's where he found the teen behind the boot-prints; though he couldn't see who it was until the other boy turned around at the sound of his approach and peered at him through the snow.

"What are you doing here?" James demanded. "Did you miss the train; and now have to wait for your Mommy to come and get you?"

"I'm staying here for the holidays – not that it's any of your business," Scorpius shot back. "I also booked the pitch for the morning, which you obviously didn't check, but as long as you stay out of my way; I don't care if you use it too."

"As if you could stop me anyway," James retorted; and then scowled when Scorpius just laughed.

"Give it a rest, James. We both know that you can't push me around anymore, and if I wanted to get into fights or put up with a bunch of crap; I could've gone home for the holidays to get that."

James laughed derisively. "Sure, because you've such a tough life with your mansion and money," he scoffed. Nodding toward the Lightningbolt leaning against the bench; he snorted again. "Your parents obviously dote on you; and it must totally suck to be an only child to boot."

"Look who's talking?" Scorpius said dismissively. "The eldest son of the great and powerful Harry Potter and his star Quidditch player, trophy wife. Your last name alone gets you pretty much anything you want; so I seriously doubt that you've ever wished to be me."

"No more than you've ever wished to be me, I'll wager," James suggested as he used his bag to brush the snow off of the nearest bench and sat down to start putting on his gear.

"From what I've heard; I'd say that you wouldn't wish to be you either – not that I can blame you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James demanded; and Scorpus shrugged.

"You're not the only Wizard around here who hates your perfect, do-no-wrong brother."

"That's funny; since I heard that you were very chummy with him at that junior Quidditch team Christmas party."

"I faked it," Scorpus said seriously. "Captain Potty – sorry; not – put me in a no-win situation with that stupid party. He was the good guy whether we went or not; and I picked the least-bad option for me – even though it was still awful – both the party and the crap I've taken in my House for going to it."

"I'd have picked option three – go and totally ruin the party," James declared.

"To what end?" Scorpius asked. "I've better things to do than polish armor while being bossed around by a couple of squibs; and you know better than anyone how often that's the end result when you dare to mess with your brother. He's got every Professor in this place wrapped around his little finger." He stood up and grabbed his broom. "I don't really want to talk about your brother – or anything else. I'm starting with a flying warm-up. Feel free to join me – if you think that you can keep up."

With that said, he stepped onto his broom and took off. James still needed to finish getting ready, but he wasn't going to let that challenge go unanswered; and was soon in the air too; and pushing his hardest to try and keep up with Scorpius. He was exhilarated when he managed to pass Scorpius during a weave around the goals at one end of the stadium; and then had far more fun than he'd have expected as the lead changed hands several times before Scorpius decided to land for a break nearly a half-hour later – even though he'd been following James at the time.

"Not bad – for a Slytherin," James offered sardonically after he landed too. Scorpius smiled and nodded.

"You're better competition than i'm used to having, and while my broom is faster; that doesn't mean all that much in this weather."

"It makes a difference," James disagreed. "You'd never catch me if we were on the same brooms."

"You're a Seeker," Scorpius pointed out. "I shouldn't be able to do that – anymore than you'd be able to outscore me at Chaser."

"That sounds like another challenge to me," James said; and Scorpius laughed.

"With that competitive streak in you; it's no wonder that you hate Albus, but if you want to do that; I'm okay with having a Chaser duel – and a Seeker duel too; though I'm not particularly good at catching the snitch even if I am fast-enough to keep up with you."

"You're on," James assured him. "I'll try not to embarrass you too much!"

They didn't get to that until they'd each finished having drinks – and a snack for James. He then went on to win their Seeker duel with three straight catches; and then was still happy when he lost the Chaser duel – but still scored four goals to the ten that Scorpius scored to win that duel. They were both hot and sweaty by then, but the cold set in quickly once they'd finished working hard; so they packed up quickly; headed for the castle; and then split up and moved on – returning to life as normal at Hogwarts where Gryffindors and Slytherins did not hang out together and have fun at anything.

James went to his dorm room; grabbed a shower; got changed; and then still had time on his hands before lunch with nothing to do and nobody to do it with. He went for another walk; ended up finding a place to sit and play mirror games on his portable mirror; and then he moved on to the Great Hall for lunch. He wasn't sure what he expected to find when he got there; but it wasn't a row of rearranged tables at the front of the room with just-enough place settings for all of the students that were staying for the holidays. That seemed perfectly normal to the students that were already sitting down; though they still looked to be segregated by House with the sections for each House approximately lined up with the remaining rows of House tables. There were few Slytherin, and he knew there were only a handful of Gryffindor – including himself; so he guessed that Hufflepuff students were somewhere between a third and a half of all students spending the holidays in the castle. He didn't want to sit with the Gryffindor losers that were already there, so he picked the only other option that didn't seem to totally suck – sitting next to an older Hufflepuff Witch that he didn't know; but had some curves that would at least be interesting to look at regardless of whether she was one of the geeks or losers too. He smiled at her as he sat down; hid the disappointment when she turned to look up at him with a face that was so homely and plain that it was no wonder he'd never noticed her before; and nodded his head.

"Hi. James Potter. Is it okay if I sit here with you?"

"Um, yes," she answered with a soft, Irish lilt in her voice that was certainly more interesting than her face. "I'm Malorie - Malorie O'Malley."

"Nice to meet you, Malorie," James said warmly; holding out his hand to her; and then smiling more brightly as she shook hands and the contact and nearness had her smiling too and looking a bit dazzled.

He decided that he enjoyed having that effect on girls – even the homely ones; and she did, after all, have those interesting-looking curves. Starting up a conversation with her was easy; he soon knew a fair bit about the sixth-year Hufflepuff and why she always spent the Christmas holidays at school; and was able to play to that thanks to his well-known family history. While he was still furious with Ollie for messing up what was supposed to be a best mates' holiday away from their loser families, things were definitely looking more promising for him now; and he happily turned on the charm to devestating effect on the young Witch he now had in his sights for a holiday fling!

Al and Gwendolyn had been having a fun morning as the train rolled on and on toward London and home. Their entertainment had included a walk along the train with lots of stops to chat with cousins and friends – and a longer visit with Lily and Jonah. They played mirror games for a while; surfed the wireless web; and had a handful of visitors that kept the chat time in their compartment fun and interesting as news from the always-active gossip network made the rounds. They only had their original three couples in the compartment when they decided to have lunch; and they made that a bit of a pot-luck by pooling the various treats they'd either brought along or bought from the trolley.

"So, at the risk of going somewhere that Al would rather not go; who else is wondering if Hogwarts has survived even a half-day with James on the loose with nothing to do?" Madison asked; grinning at Al and Gwendolyn. "Do you think that the other students that are still there too are wishing that they weren't?"

"He could likely have the lot of them pranked by now," Romeo suggested.

"Do you think he'd do that?" Renee asked. "He might be the only one there over the holidays that plays pranks and uses wheezes that way; so he'd have a tough time getting away with anything."

"He'd be the first suspect," Al agreed; "but getting caught is something else entirely. I hope he leaves everyone alone; but doubt he's ever gone two weeks without pulling any pranks since he was old-enough to laugh."

"None of us have ever stayed at school for the Christmas holidays," Gwendolyn pointed out. "For all we know; they're too busy having fun for James to have time for pranks."

"I've never heard that from any of the guys I know that have – or are – staying," Scott told her. "They say it's mostly boring except for the Christmas feast and New Year's Eve party. They study a lot, play mirror games, and watch the mirror network the rest of the time when they're not working in the library or studying somewhere with friends from other Houses."

"That's just what they want you to think," Madison suggested. "If we all knew that it was non-stop adventure and excitement; we'd all want to stay."

"So you think that James just learned their secret?" Gwendolyn joked. "Good for him – and us!"

"I hope this will be good for James," Al said seriously. "He's sure to be glad that I won't be around; but there will be some things he'll miss."

"Do we want to go there?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin. "Yes, we do! At the top of my list; James will miss flirting with Witches and Muggle girls when we're shopping or at Quidditch matches."

"I know I'd miss that – I mean; you're likely right," Romeo said; adding the second part hurriedly when Renee gave him the look.

"It's no wonder that you were sorted to Gryffindor," Scott told his best mate. "Most Wizards have enough sense to only think things like that – not say them out loud in front of Witches."

"Maybe he forgot that those Witches can still use their wands on the train," Gwendolyn offered.

"No, I didn't; but I can still claim that anything I mess up is only happening because I'm too close to the trouble magnet in the compartment," Romeo declared. "That's such a good excuse; it ought to be one of the things that James will miss most about being home for the holidays."

"He already blames me for everything bad in his life," Al advised him; "and I don't need to be anywhere near him. Since this is Gwendolyn's game choice, though, I'm sure James will miss working at the wheezes store; Grandma's Christmas dinner and desserts; and the New Year's Eve party that one of my cousins is getting the tickets for now instead of James."

"I thought that was just a rumor or joke," Romeo admitted with a laugh. "It's funny that two of those suggestions are things that I wouldn't even be allowed to do. Mum and Dad don't want me to spend any time in the Wizarding World except for school and two visits a year to Diagon Alley for supplies."

"If that's true, what will they expect you to do after we graduate?" Renee asked; and Romeo shrugged.

"They'll likely want me to get a Muggle job and forget about the Wizarding World once I've learned to control my magic. That's the only reason they let me come here – so that I could learn to keep the weird stuff from happening by accident." He grinned ruefully. "I had a lot of 'accidents' before starting at Hogwarts; so they've been happy about that getting better over the past two and a half years."

"Is that what you want to do?" Madison asked; and Romeo shrugged.

"I have no idea what I'll do after school; though I will want to spend more time in the Wizarding World before making any choices."

Al let his mind wander at that point, since the conversation was becoming one that he'd heard many times now with his Muggle-born friends. He didn't really want to think about James either, but that didn't keep him from envisioning James having lunch in the Great Hall with the other students that were staying there for the holidays and probably just a few Professors and staff joining them for the meal. Without Ollie or his usual group of friends; James would likely be trying to cozy up to the best-looking Witch he had available, and if she fell for his act; Al felt sorry for her in advance; since that thought had him envisioning what the next two weeks would be like for any Witch in that position.

Gwendolyn brought him back to the real world after a while; they continued to have fun; and he continued to try not to even think about James and his potential holiday at Hogwarts misadventures. The rest of the train ride was quieter; they relaxed or even had naps while also getting excited about getting home; and then, finally, the train began to slow as it approached King's Cross station. They packed up the mirrors, books, and other gear they'd been using; and had their compartment tidied up and their bags ready to go by the time the train stopped. As usual, they waited for the first rush to pass; and then joined the line of teens and tweens making their way off the train and into the arms of their welcoming committees. For Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah; their group included Ginny, Kirley, Angelina, Roxanne, Molly, and Fleur. They'd already said goodbye to the rest of their friends and wished them happy holidays; so the welcome home hugs and kisses had a queue because most of their cousins converged on their welcoming committee too – including Gwendolyn's cousins.

Not having James there wasn't the only first for Al – watching Lily's first holiday homecomeing was a lot of fun; and he saw and sensed that his mother looked and felt years younger after three and a half months of near-total kid-free time. That was a little bit scary too, but since the break had obviously been good for her; he felt a bit less guilty about James staying at school; since he was sure that their Christmas holiday wouldn't be nearly as stressful for his parents. The hugs and kisses were great, but they didn't get to have much time to talk right then as the teens and tweens were gathered into groups and they headed for the platform exit. Al and Gwendolyn stayed together for the trip to the Leaky, but then they had to split up for the rest of the night because she had plans for a quiet night with her parents and brother; and he was going to be in Muggle London with his parents and sister for some shopping and a fast food dinner out that was going to include Rose and Hugo for a while until they went to spend the rest of the evening with their parents and Granger grandparents. That goodbye wasn't too difficult because they were going to spend most of the weekend together; Al joined the mini visit with Hannah and Francine that he missed the start of while saying goodbye to Gwendolyn; and then they eventually headed for their favorite Muggle mall. Ginny was on her own with the four kids, since Molly moved on into Diagon Alley with Fleur, Angelina, and their kids; but she didn't have any problems keeping up with her little gang on the comparatively-short trip.

"Are you going to stick with us, or do your own thing?" Ginny asked Al and Hugo. "You won't be interested in the clothes shopping we'll likely be doing most of the time until Harry gets here and we stop for dinner." Al looked to Hugo, and got a shrug of indifference; so he decided and answered for them.

"We'll stick with you; and just go into other nearby stores if we get bored when you're looking at clothes."

"That might be for the best," Lily told them with a grin. "I've already spotted one group of girls checking you out – both of you. Hugo might be okay with that; but Al could get into a lot of trouble."

"On the other hand, if he was going to get into trouble, that'd be good to know right away," Rose suggested with a grin. "It's much easier to get Christmas gifts for wood lice than teen boys."

"I wouldn't get into trouble even if we did head out on our own," Al assured them. "If you want to make fun of us, though; we could talk about the guys checking you out instead."

"Or not," Rose said firmly. "I may have to pick up a snack on our way through the food court, since I can smell all of that stuff we shouldn't eat from here, but Hugo and I don't have as much time to shop tonight as you guys do; so I don't want to waste any of the time we do have with any distractions I'm not interested in."

"Okay," Lily agreed, "but if you do notice any distractions you are interested in; let me know."

"You're scaring the brother," Hugo told her. "It's been weird-enough being at school with Rose this year. Don't go looking for trouble here too."

"Why weird?" Ginny asked him; and Hugo blushed a bit at the unanticipated question.

"Um, it gets weird sometimes with the guys in our House that like Rose." He groaned at Lily's reaction. "You know what I mean; so don't mess with me about it. Firsties are not usually seen; and there are some things a brother just does not need to know about what other guys think of his sister."

"Do you have that same problem, Al?" Lily asked him with feigned, but convincing innocence.

"Yes, but Hugo and I won't be passing on any names," Al answered.

"Don't you want to ask the girls if they hear any gossip about the two of you?" Ginny asked after a pause when Al didn't say anything else."

"No!" Al and Hugo answered in near-unison; earning laughs from all three girls. "Don't we have some shopping to get to now?" Al added. "I hear the sales this year are especially good."

"How could you possibly have heard that while at school?" Ginny asked; amused by his attempt at imitating Lily's usual shopping enthusiasm.

"We do have some Muggleborn roommates and friends," Al reminded her. "Smartphones do keep them in touch with the real world; and guys usually do hear the gossip – even if we sometimes pretend to be oblivious."

"I don't pretend," Hugo offered with a grin that earned more laughs and a one-arm hug from Lily.

They continued to chat until the girls picked the first store; and then the shopping was on. As suggested, Al and Hugo picked other nearby stores to visit when the girls were checking out clothing stores – unless those stores had clothes for guys too. They checked out books, toys, tech, video gaming, and music stores along the way; but didn't make any purchases except for snacks when they wandered past a corner of the central food court. Hermione caught up with them about a half-hour before Harry did; she stayed with the shopping until he arrived; and then took Rose and Hugo to meet up with her parents – and with Ron when he took a break from the wheezes store to have dinner with them before going back to work for what was sure to be one of the busiest weekends of the year.

It felt strange for Al once he and Lily were alone with their parents – though that wasn't exactly true when they were in a mall with thousands of Muggles all around them. Then again, it was also partially-true some of the time because Harry used a passive form of Muggle-repelling charm that basically had them being ignored while they had dinner so that they could talk freely about Wizarding things without the need for making Muggles forget things they might overhear in passing. Harry and Ginny wanted to hear the latest from school – or more details about stories they had heard about during their regular mirror chats with the kids. Harry told them about his work day and other things going on around the Ministry of Magic; and Ginny talked with all of them about her Quidditch reporting and prep work for the games on Saturday. They didn't talk at all about the missing Hippogriff in the room at all; though Al was sure they were all thinking about James – even as they were enjoying a fun start to their holidays with absolutely no teen drama at all.

When they went back to shopping after the fast food fix that Al and Lily both really enjoyed; they stayed together for a while; split up for some guys-only and girls-only shopping; and then met up shortly before the mall was closing for the night to head home with their first-round of Christmas purchases – and the luggage that Al and Lily were still carrying around in their handy little undetectable expansion bags. Once home, Al and LIly made stops in their room to drop off their bags and purchases; they unpacked; and then met up with Harry and Ginny in the sitting room to watch a Christmas show on the mirror network while having snacks and drinks and continuing the chat time that had kept them entertained since being reunited at the train station or mall. The Wizarding World mirror network entertainment was still in its infancy compared to Muggle television and movies, but they were making progress; and the improvements were often most-noticeable with holiday shows or other special events. The show they watched had music, magic, comedy, and romance all mixed in; so it had something for all of them; and a great way to end the evening before heading for bed so they could all get some sleep and be ready for their first full, busy day of the Christmas holidays.

Al didn't go to sleep right away. He had a bedtime visit with Lily and Holly; he surfed the wireless web for a while after that; and then ended his night with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn. She called him, and had ended up being up later with her father and brother because they'd had fun playing music after Gwenog had gone to bed for her game night curfew and they'd finished watching the same mirror network show that the Potters had watched. They traded stories and talked about plans for the weekend for a half-hour or so; and then they decided to keep the mirror chat going for as long as they could until they fell asleeep. Gwendolyn nodded off first, but didn't lose contact with her mirror right away; so Al watched her sleep for a long time before finally falling asleep too – where Gwendolyn was waiting for him to share some happy holiday-themed, sometimes-hot dreams.

While he may or may not have been the last person in their house to get to sleep, Al was first to wake up on Saturday morning; he got ready for the day; and then headed to the kitchen to get started on making breakfast for four. He was only ten or fifteen minutes into that work when Harry joined him and jumped in to help out. They had fun with that bit of father-son time until Lily kicked the fun level up a few notches with her enthusiastic arrival; and they had the food ready by the time Ginny joined them – her delay mostly because she'd helped Lily with getting ready before taking time to do her own hair and make-up. Their first home-cooked meal of the holidays was entertaining thanks to the mostly-playful conversation and discussion of the shopping, Quidditch, and party adventures they had boooked for the day; and then it was time to do a bit of work before heading to London and Diagon Alley. Harry and Ginny took care of the kitchen clean-up; and Al and Lily went to pack overnight bags so they'd be ready to go home with the McCormacks after the Quidditch match for the team party they were going to attend along with the sleepover they'd stay for while Harry and Ginny were busy with the Ministry of Magic Christmas dinner and dance at the Magick Hall.

When they were ready to go, they took the Floo Network to the Leaky; had hot drinks while waiting for the rest of their shopping group to join them; and Al's already-high fun level improved even more once he and Gwendolyn were reunited. Hermione, Rose, and Hugo were the last to get there, though they weren't late, and when they were all ready to go; they went into Diagon Alley and got started on the shopping. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose stayed with their parents and younger brothers, sister, and cousins; but they also wandered around the stores on their own as they needed to spread out because of the crowds even first-thing as the stores were opening. Though Christmas was only days away now, the stores seemed to be fairly-well stocked and ready for the annual rush that came along with the students returning from school; so there was a lot of exploring for them to do as they searched for the perfect magical gifts for their families and friends.

"Are you looking to up-size your mirror again already?" Rose asked Al when he led the way to the mirror network display in the second store of the adventure; "or do you just need a break from the clothes shopping already?"

Al picked up a box from the shelf below the displays of mirrors and held it out to her. "I wanted to see the new mirror network Remembralls," he explained. "This one can remember up to one hundred hours of mirror network shows or be used for multiple mirror games so you don't have to switch them out every time you want to play a different game."

"Did you put one on your list for Santa?" Rose asked when she saw the price. "I doubt your allowance allows for getting one of these."

"I know mine doesn't," Gwendolyn assured her. "It would be nice to be able to pick the shows we want to watch more often instead of just going with whatever is on when we have time for that at school, but we have a fairly large library of Remembrall shows at home already."

"You'd need quite a few of these to consolidate them too," Al suggested; "but our Mums would find them handy for work. They could maybe keep weeks-worth of Quidditch matches on one for studying and geting ready for upcoming games – or maybe one for each team for your mother."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I don't have the Christmas budget for one of them – and a dozen is out of the question even if Dad would lend me the extra for one."

"He'd spot you the money if you and Al would record an album for him," Rose teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"True, but that's not happening." She turned to Al when she seemed to see something in his expression that confused her. "What are you thinking?" She really hoped that he wasn't thinking that Rose's idea was brilliant!

Al smiled and stepped a bit closer to her. "Do you have your own Gringotts account?" he asked her in a near-whisper that only Gwendolyn and Rose would be able to hear.

"Yes, but why do you ask?"

"Do you ever keep track of what's in it?" he asked instead of answering; and Gwendolyn shrugged this time.

"Not very often. Just when I go there to get money out; and that's usually only once or twice in the summer. Dad usually deals with that for me the rest of the year when I need money sent up to me – and he likely just gives me the money instead of taking it out of my vault."

"Okay, you might want to check it a bit more often," he suggested. "We're not getting rich or anything, Gwendolyn, but we have been getting paid for those songs we wrote and co-wrote for the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers. We could definitely afford to get our Mums one of these for Christmas if we wanted to do that – without offering to record an album for your Dad."

"Then you should keep saving it and help me buy the Cannons when we graduate," Rose said and then grinned at them. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Gwendolyn agreed; and then returned her attention to Al. "Let me ask Dad about this later when we can do that in private – and make sure that he isn't already doing something like this for Mum. I do like the idea; but wouldn't want to do the same thing he's doing."

"Okay, and I should probably check with Dad too; since he might have thought this was a good idea too." He smiled at Rose. "We're not talking about the kind of money you'd need to buy a professional Quidditch team, though if you could make that happen; I'd love to get in on that."

"Are you serious?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al nodded.

"Definitely," he agreed. "If Rose can get that championship team some day, buying that team after about a century and a quarter of losing might be the best investment for the next century or two."

"And the worst if they go another century or two without winning anything," Gwendolyn countered; and then laughed. "Okay, I'll concede that it's probably smarter to bet on Rose instead of against her; but I still can't picture that future without laughing."

"I'll try not to scare you; but I actually can picture it," Al advised her seriously.

"You'll only scare me if you picture me on that team," Gwendolyn advised him; and then pretended to punch him. "Don't say it, Al. I am going to play for the Harpies – and that's that!"

"Yes, dear," Al said; though he was far from convincing when he couldn't keep from grinning – and neither could Rose.

They didn't buy any of the new mirror network Remembralls, though they did read about the details of what they could do; they watched parts of the show being shown on the display mirrors; but weren't interested in upgrading for home or school; and then they moved on to wander around the store. They picked up one or more gifts each; and the shopping fun continued as they made their way around Diagon Alley. Al managed to pick up almost every amagical gift that he had on his list; found out that his Remembrall idea had already been taken; and had Gwendolyn and Rose help him out with an alternate pick for his mother. Nearly every store was crowded; it took time to get purchases paid for; and they had to wrap up and head for the Leaky without getting to every store to be there in time for Harry and Ginny to host the game day lunch with their family and friends.

The Cannons were actually scheduled for one of the coveted Saturday matches this year; but they were playing on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's Day; so Hermione, Rose, and Hugo were able to go to the match too; while Ron was going to work at the store with George. They wouldn't have quite as many customers in Diagon Alley while the games were on, but that was relative; and the shops were sure to stay crowded all weekend – and through to when they closed on Christmas Eve day. Al and Gwendolyn sat with their parents, Lily, Jonah, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo at one of the larger tables while having lunch; and the rest of their family and friends ended up scattered around the dining room of the Leaky because it was packed to overflowing with a waiting list. That was the main reason that they tried to help Hannah out by eating quickly and then heading for the stadium, but while that helped out with the problem at the Leaky; it gave them a bit too much time to wander around the stadium concession booths before going to find their seats and wait for the start of the match. The Harpies were up against Puddlemere United, and while the match was sold-out; nobody was in any hurry to go and sit out in the cold for any longer than needed. Exmoor stadium might be one of the nicest in their league, but it wasn't temperature-controlled, so while the weather was decent as far as the wind and snow; it was still very cold.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose stayed together while getting drinks, snacks, and a couple of souvenirs; they were given seats in front of their parents and behind Lily, Hugo, Jonah, and the rest of the younger cousins and kids; and they had Louis and Noel on one side; and Molly, Lucy, and Alex Jordan on the other. They had some extra guests thanks to some seat shuffling – including the 'plus-one' seats for Molly and Dominique; but those friends weren't Witches and Wizards that Al or Gwendolyn knew very well anyway. They had a bit of fun with Louis and Noel – including surprising Noel when they'd remembered her birthday and given her a small gift and card. She'd already been having lots of birthday fun with Louis and his family by then anyway, but she still appreciated the gift and thoughts; and continuing her special day with a Harpies-United match was a fairly awesome way to spend the afternoon too!

The girls had lots to talk about as they waited for the teams to be introduced into the stadium, and for Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and the girls closest to them; that included some joking around about Victoire having some fun today against United to thank Calvin Johnson for messing up with her cousin – even though he was a reserve player and wouldn't be playing. While they'd watched lots of matches with Oliver Wood in goal for United, it was going to be different for them this time with Belinda at Keeper – especially for her former Gryffindor team mates. Add in the fact that some of the teens in their group were being scouted by United and could end up joining Belinda on that team; and the dynamic for the game watching really was subtly different. Al was thinking about that and enjoying just listening in to the conversations around him; but didn't really say very much unless asked direct questions. He did observe more than most, though; so he also noticed a lot about what was going on across the pitch from them in the United team's season tickets-holder section of the stadium.

In particular, he was watching the area where Ollie and Kathryn were sitting with their parents, Olivia, and the rest of their guests. He noticed right away that Ollie looked happy – unless he was looking in Al's direction; and seemed to be having fun with his family and their friends. It took a bit longer for him to realize that the Witch sitting next to Ollie seemed to be his date, and then because she was bundled up so much that it was hard to see much of her; it was a while longer before he knew who she was – Lacey Finnegan. That wasn't a bit of news that he could keep from Gwendolyn and Rose without getting into trouble; so he waited for a chance to get Gwendolyn's attention; and then nodded across the pitch to direct her atention toward Ollie and Lacey.

"I thought you'd want to know that Ollie's date for the match is Lacey Finnegan," he said quietly; and smiled when she turned to stare at him with wide eyes before looking back across the stadium.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "She's so bundled up I can't tell from this far away."

"It took me a while to figure it out; but that's definitely Lacey. James would be ticked if he was here and saw her with Ollie."

"Which might be why he invited her," Gwendolyn suggested. "He might have needed a last minute replacement after what happened on Thursday night."

"Would Lacey agree to go just to come and watch this match?" Rose mused; overhearing parts of their conversation and leaning in closer to them to join in.

"For one of the best matches of the holidays?" Gwendolyn asked in return. "If I didn't have tickets; I'd have to seriously consider that kind of offer – even from Ollie."

"I'm so glad you already had tickets," Al joked; earning a cold, quick kiss from her. "I haven't noticed them holding hands or anything; but they are definitely together."

"Then James will definitely be mad about it when he finds out," Gwendolyn decided; and then grinned. "I so hope he's watching the match and the cameras show Belinda's family a few times."

"Yeah – like after every save she makes," Rose suggested with a laugh.

"We're supposed to hope she doesn't make any saves," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed again.

"We'll be cheering for her too; and you know it. I hope the Harpies win too, but hope Belinda still has a good game. It will be fun watching her play against Victoire."

Rose was right about that, and it was fun just getting to start watching the game – and a bit warmer as they became more active while cheering for their team and favorite players on both teams. Having Belinda in goal seemed to help the Puddlemere United team in the battle against the Harpies' Chasers; so the player duels were very close at all positions – and everyone seemed to be having fun as they battled for every scoring chance, goal, and save. Gabrielle was in tough for the Seeker duel too; and it was soon clear that this was going to be a fight to the first – or worst and last mistake. In the first hour, Belinda won the Keeper duel, but Candice, Hailey, and Victoire won the Chaser battle with one goal each to just two for the United Chasers. That battle was back to a tie at the end of the second hour as Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan each scored a goal to earn the tie to that point. From there, the lead changed hands several times, and the game went on and on.

Staying fired up all of the time wasn't really possible as the hours rolled on, but Al and Gwendolyn loved getting all of the bonus cuddle time. They took a break and went for visits to the washrooms and another walk around the concessions booths that allowed them to warm up a bit during the third hour of the match, and had quite a few teens from their group with them for that; but only missed one goal by United while they were gone. By the fourth hour, the players were all getting cold and tired, but they battled on; and United had a ten-point lead as the fourth hour ended. Fatigue began to favor the Chasers over the Keepers by then; possibly because they stayed slightly warmer with the constant motion and exertion. There was a two-goal turnaround during the fifth hour, and the Harpies took the lead again by a goal.

The score was still only two hundred to one-ninety as the sixth hour began, and by then, while nobody wanted to lose; the cold was wearing everyone down – players, managers, and spectators alike – if not equally. Finally, at the five hour and thirteen minute mark, Gabrielle took advantage of that worst, last mistake of the match and caught the snitch after the United Seeker had to dodge a miss-hit bludger from one of the United Beaters – and that was enough to give Gabrielle the great chance to catch the snitch – one that she took full advantage of to give her team the three-sixty to two-hundred victory. Victoire and Dawn had traded one last goal each before that happened; and Victoire ended up with nine of the Harpies' twenty-one goals. That meant that Belinda won the battle with Victoire; but that wasn't any consolation to the United team and their fans after such a hard-fought battle.

Having such a long match meant that everyone in the stadium wanted to get out of the cold, but also on to other holiday plans; so the exodus from the stadium was a rush that the Potters, McCormacks, and their group joined for a change instead of waiting for the first rush to leave. Harry and Ginny weren't the only parents or young adults going to the Ministry Christmas dinner and dance, but Kirley needed to be home too because he had a crew of helpers coming over to help with getting everything ready for the team party. As soon as they could get out of the stadium, Harry and Ginny apparated home; Kirley and the four kids took the Floo Network to the McCormack house; and Harry brought Al and Lily's overnight bags over before heading home again to get ready for his night out with Ginny. That had been a whirlwind of activity – particularly with the rounds of goodbyes with the rest of their family and friends, but then Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were put to work right away – with their top two jobs being the dining room set-up and getting the games room ready for hosting the kids and teens that were coming to the team party this year.

"I am so glad that we're just setting the table for this dinner," Lily said as they got to work. "Cooking this meal would not be fun at all – especially if we had to do all of the work without magic!"

"The food isn't being cooked from scratch now," Gwendolyn advised her. "Most of it is pre-made; and Dad just needs to heat the dishes and prepare the platters and snack trays. We'll mostly just have the normal teen snacks and drinks for the games room; though you can always visit the main party if you want to try the other treats."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "If that's weird stuff like fish eggs on crackers; I'll stick with the standard kid snacks."

"I have no idea what they have picked for this party," Gwendolyn said with a shrug and smile; "but I doubt caviar is on the menu. I'm more worried about the entertainment plans for tonight than the food. Dad hasn't said a word about that since we got home."

"Are you expecting a musical ambush?" Lily teased. "I won't mind if we get asked to sing some Christmas songs tonight; and you guys were awesome when you sang and played at our junior teams' Christmas party."

"You don't have to worry about that tonight," Al told her; and smiled when she llooked at him dubiously. "We might get asked to sing – probably will get asked, but this is a team party; and none of the Harpies are going to be helping your Dad out with his hopes for us to have a musical career."

"Well, the Chasers might help him," Lily teased. "I'll be okay, since Aunt Gabrielle loves me even if I do want her job some day."

"I'm counting on the Chasers being ready to rotate taking time off to have their families by the time I graduate," Gwendolyn advised her.

"Okay, but you'll still have issues with the reserve Chasers that are hoping to get that third spot on the team those years – especially Amber," Lily reminded her. "If she didn't have a contract; I don't know if she'd stay with the Harpies."

"My Mum wants to keep her because she is nearly as good as Candice and Hailey," Gwendolyn added with a nod of agreement. "I'll feel bad about that if Amber doesn't get a chance to play in the show; but then I'll feel bad if that whole idea about rotating time off for families doesn't work out and I replace Candice or Hailey instead."

"At least you wouldn't be replacing an aunt," Al offered with a smile for Lily. "I don't know if I could do that."

"Yes you do," Lily disagreed with a laugh. "You can't because the Harpies would never hire you – even if you were a better Seeker than Aunt Gabrielle."

"I'll give you that one," Al conceded; "though if you put Aunt Gabrielle out of a job she might go to work for another team – though I won't suggest the Cannons for that with Santini as her reserve squad back-up. That has me thinking about the Harpies' kids, and we already know that Riley and Caylee will be coming tonight; but have you heard whether all of the kids are coming, Gwendolyn? The parents might not want to bring all of the younger kids."

"Last I heard they will all be here," Gwendolyn answered. "The only thing that's going to be weird this year is that we'll be the oldest – you, me, Tory, and Ray. They don't do this party with the kids every year; but that's still going to be strange for me."

"I think we'll have fun with the kids," Al told her with a smile. "If anything should be weird or worrying for you; I'd suggest that it's all of those younger Witches that will want to replace you and Lily on the Harpies when they get around to graduating from Hogwarts."

"If you're trying to help Rose out with that comment; cut it out," Gwendolyn warned. "I don't have anything to worry about with that anyway. Don't all of the Witches either want to be Beaters or Seekers?"

"Caylee will want my job," Lily admitted. "She'll just have to settle for either being my back-up or working for a different team. Rose will likely still be looking for a Seeker to play for the Cannons by then; so maybe she'd think about that – if they don't stink as badly as they do this season."

"If Rose is their Keeper; they'd be better," Al pointed out.

"You're not adding that they'd be better with you on the team too?" Lily teased; and Al laughed.

"I just got told to cut it out about a comment that wasn't even Cannons-related; and you think I'm going to go there directly?" he asked in return. "Give me a little credit, sis."

"And then change the subject," Gwendolyn told them seriously. "We've already talked about two things I don't even want to think about; so let's move on."

Lily needed to tease her first, but then they talked about how to entertain the small gang of kids that Gwendolyn would be unofficially hosting. When they finished the set-up in the dining room, they moved on to the games room; rounded up extra tables and chairs for both playing games and for the snacks and drinks; and picked out first mirror network shows and games to watch and play. The shows would all be Christmas-themed; while Jonah was instructed to make sure that the games were all kid-friendly – even for the six and seven-year old kids. Their last jobs for that room included actually hauling the food and drinks there from the kitchen, though thanks to charm bracelets, seashells, and medallions; that work was easy and quickly-done. Finally, they had time for a short break before their first guests arrived; with the girls spending that time freshening up for the party. Al got changed and ready for the party too, but also played a mirror network game with Jonah while they waited for the girls to rejoin them just before the social hour of the party was to start.

They gathered in the sitting room for that meet and greet at first; though once they had the first group of kids; Lily and Jonah took them to the games room while Al and Gwendolyn waited for the other kids and teens. Tory, Ray, and Drew were among the last guests to arrive, so Gwendolyn was on her own to welcome them by then because Al had gone to help Lily and Jonah keep the rest of the kids entertained while also taking the third group to the games room. Al and Lily had at least met all of the current batch of Harpies' kids, but didn't know most of them very well. Gwendolyn and Jonah saw them a bit more often, but the age difference was an issue – especially for the kids that had still practically been toddlers when Gwendolyn started at Hogwarts.

Once they were all together and accounted for, one thing that was soon clear to all of the Hogwarts Quidditch players was that they were the subjects of some serious hero-worshipping from nearly all of the younger kids. Even the two oldest 'kids' – Riley and Drew – wanted to hang out with the teens and talk Quidditch while playing mirror games or watching Christmas shows. That wasn't exclusively divided for Witches and Wizards, but those interactions were easier than with the kids that also had crushes to go along with the starry-eyed dreams for future Quidditch glory. In Al's case, he had two junior Witches that were particularly enamored with him – Karla's eight-year old daughter, Ethel; and Melody's four-year old charmer, Delilah. He got into trouble for getting hugs and kisses from Delilah and a couple of more-tentative hugs from Ethel; but Gwendolyn had fun with that; and her admonishments only sent the two girls into the giggles.

Al did earn that affection because he was the only teen Wizard willing to sit down on the floor and play dolls with the younger girls. Caylee joined them for that, but while she liked Al a lot too; that was different because they were family – even if that was only officially through her Aunt Fleur. Ray and Drew led the way for teasing Al about playing with dolls, but he'd done that with Lily and their cousins when they were younger; and wanted to do whatever he could to make the party fun for all of the kids.

They ended up playing for more than an hour; and then they were called for dinner with the adults. That was a very different experience for Al and Lily. They sat with Gwendolyn and Jonah, and with help from Tory and Ray, they were in charge of kid control; but that also meant that they didn't really get to talk much with the parents or younger adults – including Teddy and Victoire. The adults were all in a partying mood thanks to the big win; and seemed to be fired up too despite the long, tough match. In contrast to that, the younger kids in particular started to wind down while having the meal. Dealing with that was fun for Al too when Delilah climbed up into his lap about half-way through the meal and had a little nap in his arms. He got teased about that too, but didn't care about the jokes or the pictures that were taken; since he'd always thought that being given that kind of unconditional trust and love made for remember-forever kinds of moments.

For Delilah, that moment lasted for about twenty minutes. When the other kids became restless and wanted to get back to playing again, the noise level kicked up a few notches; and that woke her up. She was still content to cuddle with Al for a few minutes, but when Ethel and Caylee were set free; she needed to go and play with them – and the fun was on again for Al and Gwendolyn as they went along to supervise and entertain. They had another hour and a half of play time before they were invited to the main party; and then Gwendolyn wasn't surprised when she and Al were drafted for some Christmas music entertainment. The McCormack sitting room was very large, and Kirley had it set up with areas for sitting or dancing along with the normal 'family' area where they'd usually sit to watch shows on the mirror network. Al and Gwendolyn were invited to sit there, since it was central to the room; and Gwendolyn ended up playing while Al had Delilah for a cuddle buddy again.

Starting with a Christmas song sing-along got all of the kids involved for a while; and Lily helped out with getting them to do some dancing or doing the actions for songs where that was an option. While Kirley had his ulterior motive too; the parents all wanted to get the younger kids wound down too; which is why Al and Gwendolyn followed the sing-along with a trio of soft, beautiful Christmas duets that had the couples up and dancing; the younger kids cuddling with one or more parents; and Delilah once again falling asleep as she had the best seat in the house for the musical magic. She also helped Al and Gwendolyn, since they couldn't exactly start singing upbeat songs while she slept; so they instead handed off the music entertainment to Lily and Jonah for a couple of songs and took Delilah to one of the guest rooms to tuck her in until her parents were ready to take her home again. They did have to rouse her while Gwendolyn took care of a bedtime bathroom break and getting her into the night clothes that had been brought for her; but then she'd wanted Al to tuck her in and have them both sing her back to sleep. Once they had that done; Al and Gwendolyn took advantage of the chance for a few moments of alone time; and shared a long, lingering hug and kiss.

"We should just stay here and keep an eye on Delilah just in case she wakes up and needs us," Al only half-joked after the kiss; and Gwendolyn laughed softly.

"I'd be okay with that even though you do seem to have fallen for that little charmer; but we'll be needed to help with getting the other kids off to sleep – or at least just sitting and watching Christmas shows in the games room. Ethel, Caylee, and Melvin will be next to go – if they haven't fallen asleep by now." She smiled then and kissed him again. "Save that thought for later. We'll get to have some cuddle time later, and after the party is over; I'm seriously thinking about accidentally falling asleep on the sofa with you – accidentally on purpose."

"I like that idea a lot," Al assured her; and then stepped back and took her hand. "Okay; let's get back to the fun and kids games."

They did that; the kids were set free to go back to the games room; and they spent the next hour dealing with putting some sleeping kids to bed and getting others to at least sit and watch the Christmas shows or quietly play mirror games. Riley and Drew were the only younger kids to stay awake for the rest of the party, but by midnight; they were content to lay on the floor and watch the mirror network while the three couples in the room cuddled on sofas and talked quietly while watching the shows too. The party for the adults was winding down by then too, but it wasn't until a bit after one that the first set of parents were ready to go home – and that was Tory and Drew's Mum and Dad. Tory and Ray were good with that because Ray was spending the night at Tory's house; and they were lookig forward to some alone time before getting some sleep ahead of a family Christmas dinner on Sunday. Being the only single in the room didn't bother Riley, but then he was likely used to that from regular visits with is aunt, uncle, and cousins at Shell Cottage; so he ignored the two remaining couples and continued to watch the Christmas show after Drew left.

Al and Gwendolyn were recruited to help out with the younger, sleeping kids when it was time for those parents to head home. That process dragged on until a bit after two o'clock; and then it was time for some post-party clean-up. Lily and Jonah didn't help with that because they'd fallen asleep sometime after Riley left and while Al and Gwendolyn were busy. Having two fewer helpers did mean that it took a bit longer to get the clean-up done; but it didn't take that long; and then Al and Gwendolyn were ready for more cuddle time on the sofa. Gwenog and Kirley stopped into the games room too, but instead of getting Lily and Jonah off to bed; they put a blanket over them; took pictures for future teasing reference; and headed off to bed with goodnight hugs and kisses for Al and Gwendolyn. They had a blanket to cuddle under too, but didn't go to sleep right away. With their sister and brother in the room, they coudn't exactly have a major snogging session, but they did have a bit of quiet, sweet play time; they watched the rest of the show in-progress at the time; and then they eventually drifted off to sleep.

There had only been enough time for a nap by then, but while Al still woke at something near to his normal wake-up time; he managed to get up without waking Gwendolyn for more than a few moments; and then he went to grab a shower; get ready for a shopping day; and then go on to the kitchen to get started on making breakfast for six. He started with brewing coffee and boiling hot water for tea or hot chocolate; got everything else ready for a fairly-substantial breakfast; and then started cooking when there was still about an hour and a half to go before they were to be in Diagon Alley to meet up with the rest of their shopping group. He was having fun with that when Kirley joined him in the kitchen; but Gwendolyn's Dad didn't look particularly enthusiastic as he headed for the coffee pot and filled a mug without saying much that was coherent to Al beyond the 'morning' greeting that obviously hadn't been offered with the usual 'good' on purpose.

"Is it too late to up-size the breakfast?" he asked Al after taking two sips of his coffee. "Your Mum and Dad are joining us now – apparently because what you've been cooking smells better than the nothing they've done so far."

Al laughed quietly and nodded; though Kirley wasn't looking at anything with his eyes closed as he continued to work on drinking his coffee. "Yes. I'll scramble more eggs and make up another batch of batter. We'll need to share the sausages unless there's another package that I didn't see in the fridge."

"I'm sure there's more in the freezer, but don't worry about that. I'm sure that we'll survive having a couple-fewer each if you're already cooking up two dozen."

"Okay," Al agreed. "Why don't you take a cup to go for Aunt Gwenog; and let me handle this?"

"Thanks – I'll do that," Kirley said with a sigh. "I'd better go and take one of those foul potions to help get better too."

"You could call Mum back and ask her to bring some Muggle headache medicine," Al suggested. "None of them work as fast as some potions do, but they have fewer side-effects and don't taste horrid."

"I didn't know you kept stuff like that at home," Kirley said in surprise; and Al shrugged.

"Dad and Aunt Hermione were used to all of that stuff while growing up in the Muggle world; so they keep some of the medicines around that do help."

"I suppose; and maybe I'll do that,' Kirley told him. "I'll be back soon."

With that, Al was on his own for a bit longer, but only until Jonah joined him; looking a bit sheepish and tired. He made up a cup of hot chocolate; grabbed a sticky bun to snack on while he waited for breakfast to be ready; and sat at the table to keep Al company while they waited for his parents, sister, and Lily. Gwendolyn and Lily were next to get to the kitchen; they both had hugs and kisses for Al and Jonah; and then got drinks and snacks too while Al finished the cooking – including the extra eggs and pancakes that he'd whipped up while the rest of the food was cooking. Both sets of parents ended up joining them at the same time because Harry and Ginny arrived and were met at the front door by Kirley and Gwenog; and there was another round of hugs and kisses for that reunion before Al moved the food over to the table and they all sat down to eat.

"So – now we know the truth," Lily declared; smiling at her parents as they all filled their plates from the bowls and platters of delicious-smelling food. "You're okay with kid-free nights; but prefer to have us around in time for making breakfast!"

"Well, we were going to miss Al cooking breakfast for us," Ginny agreed, "but we do miss all of our kids – even when it's time for a night, weekend, or month off from them."

"We didn't need the break last night either," Harry added. "You've only been home a day; and haven't been any trouble at all so far."

"You haven't seen the pictures of Lily's sofa sleepover with Jonah yet," Kirley advised him; though he still didn't have his usual enthusiasm and humor showing as he said that.

"Did Jonah get sorted into the wrong House?" Harry asked. "It takes a brave Wizard to try that with the daughter of the Head of the Aurors."

Lily laughed while Jonah blushed and looked sheepish again. "He fell asleep first, so technically; I'm the one that had the sofa sleepover with Jonah – and we were only napping for about four hours anyway. We could have slept together for that long in an afternoon."

"Would you like to re-phrase that; or start your home-schooling in the New Year?" Ginny teased; earning more laughs to go along with the laughter that Lily had gotten for her comment.

"We're eleven – take it for the joke it was meant to be," Lily suggested. "You would not want to home school me – unless you've got plans for a Quidditch league for home-schooled kids that is as good as the House competition at Hogwarts. We spent the evening talking with the next batch of Quidditch players after us; and I am not going to only have a three or four year career with the Harpies only to have Caylee Fawcett take my job from me!"

"Is Caylee promising to do that – sort of like you're promising to put her Mum out of work?" Ginny asked; and Lily shook her head.

"No, but I think she's just trying to psych me out. While I'm thinking about that, though; are we going to see Teddy and Victoire anymore this weekend or next week? We didn't really get to talk to them much last night – or to Teddy at the game yesterday."

"They'll stop in for a short visit Christmas Day," Ginny answered; "but we're all too busy to get together for a dinner or anything this week – and Teddy's working more of the holidays because Victoire's working too – and other Aurors wanted the time off."

"Are you on call for Christmas this year?" Al asked Harry.

"Yes, and I'll go in a couple of times too; but hopefully won't have any major problems again this year. "Teddy's working next weekend too; but will come for the family Christmas dinner after work."

"We'll have the late dinner after the wheezes stores close?" Al asked next; and Harry and Ginny both nodded.

"Yes, but that's getting a bit ahead of the holidays," Ginny told him. "We should start talking about your shopping lists and get our day organized as best we can – though we'll have to work with everyone else too once we meet up at the Leaky."

The four kids were happy to do that; though Gwendolyn and Lily took the lead and did most of the planning. By the time they finished eating and cleaned up, they had a plan; and it was time to head for London. Surprisingly, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo were there already; though Rose reminded them that her father needed to be at the wheezes store early; so they'd come along with him and had been in Diagon Alley for a while already. They had most of their aunts, one uncle, and all but two cousins with them by the time they were ready to get started on the shopping adventure; and then they headed for their favorite Muggle Mall for the morning – with plans to have lunch there and keep shopping until they had that part of their Christmas gift buying finished. Their cousins couldn't all spend the entire day with them, but they did all stay until after the food court lunch. Their group was too large to stay together at the mall, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose crossed paths with everyone else at least a couple of times; had some cameo visits; and other group shopping moments.

Al also did some shopping with his father and some of the other guys so that he could pick up some gifts that Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose didn't need to know about; and that bit of guy-bonding time was pretty good too. The Muggle side of their shopping adventure ended by mid-afternoon; they returned to Diagon Alley; and wrapped up with two more hours of shopping for magical gifts before splitting up and heading home for the night. After the round of goodbyes at the Leaky that included Al and Gwendolyn needing to say goodnight too; Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily home using the Floo Network. Once there, they needed to take their purchases up to their rooms; and then they met up in the kitchen to take care of the shopping post-mortem while cooking and then eating dinner. That comparative quiet had been entertaining, and then, after two very busy days – and once they finished the clean-up; they moved into the sitting room to watch favorite Muggle Christmas movies while relaxing and basically doing nothing for the rest of the evening until they were all ready to head up to bed.

"What would you have been doing at home tonight if you weren't here for the holidays?" Malorie asked as she walked next to James along a third-floor hallway. They'd just finished having dinner in the Great Hall; and she'd been happy to accept his invitation to go for another walk with him. She smiled when James laughed.

"Probably having my umpteenth fight with the loser; getting into trouble for it; and then having a miserable night. It's been much nicer spending the weekend here with you instead – and we were a lot more comfortable watching the Quidditch match on Saturday afternoon on my portable than we would have been in at the Exmoor stadium for five hours in the cold."

"It must still be wonderful getting to go to those matches," she suggested a bit wistfully – which James thought sounded hot with her Irish lilt. "Maybe I'll be able to go to a game some day once I've graduated Hogwarts and find a job here in the Wizarding World somewhere."

"Go in the spring, summer, or fall," James recommended. "Winter matches are just too cold for it to be much fun."

"Won't nearly half of your games be in the winter when you play in the show?" she asked; and James shrugged.

"It's different for players – and part of the job. I'll just try to make all of those winter matches as short as possible when I'm in the show."

"Then I won't come to see any of those matches," she teased and promised with a smile. "I've heard how much those tickets cost even for the worst seats in the stadium; and I won't spend that kind of money for a match that is over in minutes."

"Not even for me?" James asked; pretending to sound hurt. "I'm crushed, Malorie."

"You aren't," she disagreed after laughing at his joke. "It's too bad that you are having such problems with your family – and so wrong; considering what you've told me of your father. You'd think that he'd give anything to have a happy family and home – just as I've wished for that for as long as I can remember."

"You'd think so, but my Mum and Dad's idea of a happy home is to have kids that do everything just like them and are perfect little clones. The loser has them totally fooled, and I doubt that Daddy's little girl could do anything wrong if she did it right under their noses. I'm the black sheep for having the audacity to think and act for myself – and because the loser thinks it's funny to set me up for all of the awful things he's really responsible for doing."

"Well, he isn't here again until two weeks from tonight," Malorie pointed out. "Maybe the Professors and other students will get a clue when nothing bad happens around here the entire time he's gone – especially if he starts messing with you right away once he's back here."

James thought that was a brilliant suggestion; though it would mean being on his best behaviour despite all of the temptations to prank and ambush some of the biggest losers and geeks in the school. He'd managed to do that so far, but that was, still-surprisingly to him, thanks to Malorie O'Malley and Scorpius Malfoy. What he'd been sure would be a horrid holiday after finding out that Ollie had crumbled like a cookie under a Hippogriff to his parents and agreed to go home had started out far-better than expected. On Saturday morning, he'd gone to Hogsmeade with the rest of the eligible teens; and then had come bac early and followed that up with another Quidditch duel and workout with Scorpius until shortly-before lunchtime. He'd had that meal with Malorie; she'd accepted his invitation to watch the Harpies-United match on his portable mirror with him after that; and they'd been snogging each other senseless by Saturday evening while not watching Christmas shows on the mirror network.

On Sunday, another Quidditch practice and duel had included a long talk with Scorpius, and while he wasn't sure what to think about it yet; he was finding out that they had a lot in common – particularly when it came to their home life. Scorpius didn't have the sibling problems – unless you added in the fact that he seemed to genuinely hate the loser as much as he did; but his parents and grandparents were a horror in their own way. He'd never really thought about what it was like for the kids of a disgraced family like the Malfoys, and while he still thought that being rich made up for the injustices that Scorpius hated about his life; he could still relate to the desire to be nothing like his parents.

Malorie O'Malley was proving to be a very different; yet even more-interesting distraction. She was shy and inexperienced, and far too plain and homey to be worthy arm-candy for a future Quidditch star, but those curves were very inviting; and she was a bit of a wild one once she got warmed up in the snogging department. James was certain that they'd be escalating that fun once he had her warmed up again as they transitioned from their walk to the more interesting and hotter entertainment he expected them to have until whenever they got around to going back to their own Houses and dorm rooms. Without any Heads or Prefects watching out for that sort of thing; that could really be whenever they wanted it to be – or not at all if they stayed out all night. He didn't have any roommates for the next two weeks; so who would know if he didn't return to his dorm anyway? The Fat Lady had been so tipsy all weekend; she wouldn't remember if she made it back to her portrait or not!

"James?"

He smiled brightly at her. "Sorry. I'm back now. Would you like to go to the Owlery and meet Blizzard? He's usually at home for the holidays too; so he's likely bored and would like the attention."

"That's a lovely idea," Malorie agreed. "Let's do that; and then maybe we can go find somewhere comfortable and watch another Christmas show or two."

Her smile had been shy, but James knew what she was really saying; and laughed as he linked arms with her and led the way toward the Owlery.

"That sounds like a really great idea too," he approved. "Let's do that!"

Scorpius walked into the Room of Requirements; got Thomas' portrait out of the bag; and set it on the table. He then got a bottle of soda and a snack out of a side-pocket; put them on the table too; and sat down while dropping the book bag to the floor and toeing it under the table and out of the way.

"Are you here for the long haul?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shrugged.

"For a while," he agreed. "Unlike James, I have higher standards; and thus nothing better to do tonight."

Thomas laughed. "He is a combination of the worst sort along with a bit of the good; so you can't expect too much of him in that regard – though he won't be useful as more than a pawn if he can't learn to overcome his baser instincts."

"Maybe so," Scorpius agreed, "but I will give him credit for having a talent for bamboozling Witches. He has that mudblood completely enamored with him – and that's despite the fact that his reputation around here is fairly awful."

"That might say more about the gullibility of mudbloods than his skills for anything, but keep an eye on that; since it's also possible that he simply has a talent for using magic to get what he wants."

"The mudblood is sixth-year," Scorpius pointed out. "I'd expect she'd be a match for such things from a fourth-year – especially when James is such a mediocre student."

"His twin uncles were poor students too; yet formiddable foes during the war," Thomas advised him. "We've spoken of your need to be an accomplished student, but high marks are not everything – just part of the picture. For instance, do not forget that another member of James Potter's family was a brilliant student; yet was among the easiest to manipulate and control simply by exploiting his weaknesses and stroking his ego. Geting back to what we're specifically talking about; my point is that you shouldn't underestimate him – or overestimate others just because of their age or experience. You've mentioned that to me yourself in relation to Harry Potter. Could you best that mudblood even though she's had three years more magical training than you? The answer should be 'yes' and should be true for the Potter boy too."

"I know nothing of the Witch; and have no way of knowing the answer to that," Scorpius countered. "It would be foolish of me to make that assumption without any knowledge of her abilities."

"It is extremely unlikely that she's had the training you've had; I've made assurances to you about your own power; and while you should learn all you can about any enemy; you must learn to trust in your abilities and believe that you are the superior Wizard to all others, Scorpius."

Scorpius sighed. "If you're going to go there yet again, I may just pack up; lower my standards; and go in search of more interesting entertainment."

"Why don't you instead tell me the latest news; and then we will continue the lesson we were working on this afternoon," Thomas suggested.

Scorpius didn't have anything newsworthy to tell him from what he'd overheard at dinnertime, but they did talk a bit more about how he could further take advantage of the opportunities the daily Quidditch workouts were allowing him to develop a relationship with James Potter. They did that while Thomas taught and Scorpius worked with his magic through until near-curfew; and then Scorpius returned to his near-empty House and went to bed. He was alone in his dorm room, and would have preferred the company of a beautiful Witch; but the trade-off was worth it to have the daily lessons with Thomas – and to be away from his pathetic parents and grandparents!

Al was in a great mood on Monday morning – and not only because he was going to get to spend another day with Gwendolyn. They were having a study morning with some of their friends; Lily and Jonah were doing the same; and then they had an afternoon Quidditch workout booked with both the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams while Al and Gwendolyn had given their respective reserve squads the holidays off – though that was, admittedly, for selfish reasons. After getting up early, Al was first to hit the shower; and first to the kitchen. They weren't having a major breakfast meal, but Al still put together a fruit salad and got everything else out and onto the table – along with brewing a pot of coffee and getting hot water ready for the hot chocolate that he and Lily would both want to have on a cold winter morning. Harry joined him shortly after the coffee was ready; while Ginny and Lily stayed upstairs for a while having some mother-daughter fun with hair and playing dress-up.

"Maybe I should take the day off from work and trade places with you," Harry joked as he poured his first cup of coffee of the day; and smiled when Al laughed.

"You're welcome to do that, but please have Mum trade places with Gwendolyn too; or that would just not work for me at all."

"Especially when you get around to the unplanned-on-purpose sofa sleepover?" Harry joked; and Al laughed again.

"That might be fun, but Jonah's staying here tonight too – and in my room; so we'll be good."

"Trading places with you for the day wouldn't really be that much fun for me anyway," Harry advised him – "and you really don't want me messing up your grades by doing your holiday revision for you."

"Wouldn't you be more worried about me messing up your work at Auror Headquarters?" Al asked ;and Harry smiled and shook his head.

"No, and for all I know; you'd do a better job with all of the end-of-year meetings and budget negotiations than I do. If I could delegate that work; I would."

"You'd get back out and work in the field every day if you could," Al countered.

"Not during the winter so much anymore," Harry disagreed. "There is a reason why those jobs are delegated to the younger Aurors most of the time – and not just because Teddy and the others are low-seniority."

"You do know that they don't believe you when you say that, right?" Al asked. "For some reason, when they see you do things like taking down two Falcon's Beaters that are much bigger than you are without even drawing your wand; they don't buy that you're too old for winter field work."

"Maybe not," Harry conceded, "but the day that I'm no longer one of the best Aurors will be the day I need to retire and find something else to do instead."

"Minister of Magic?" Al joked; and Harry laughed.

"I wouldn't want the job. Fortunately for me; Kingsley knows that – not that he's the jealous type like some other former Ministers I won't mention."

"Well, if you're thinking about being Headmaster of Hogwarts; stay the best Auror until after Lily and I graduate," Al told him.

"Or at least until James does," Harry suggested with a grin. "Pretend I didn't say that out loud."

"Done," Al promised; smiling too. "He didn't answer any of the mirror chats that you, Mum, and Lily tried to have with him all weekend. Do you think that's good news or bad?"

"It can't be getting into trouble bad," Harry answered. "We'd have heard about that if he was spending the weekend pranking the other students all of the time."

"He might offer some wheezes or use a magic mistle-toe, but I won't be surprised to find out that he plays nice over the holidays."

Harry looked at him searchingly for a moment; and then nodded. "You think he'll do that to keep trying to convince all of us that you're the problem. You're not there; and everything there is just fine – no trouble at all."

"That would work better if there were some problems around here; but that's probably beyond his ability to control – though if he'd thought about it; he could have had a willing accomplice to try and make that happen if he hadn't gotten into the big fight with Ollie."

"Are you sure that you don't want to be an Auror?" Harry asked him. "That's quite a knack you have for thinking like the bad guys."

"Wouldn't that mean that he'd make a great bad guy too?" Lily teased as she walked into the room and went to hug her father and brother. "Good morning! Are you having a fun father-son chat?"

"If Al could be a bad guy, then James is right; and he's got the perfect act to pull that off," Harry answered. "Good morning to you too; and yes, we're having fun. You obviously have been too; though it's just not fair to Jonah to look this beautiful when he's supposed to concentrate on his revision this morning."

"It's part of my game-winning strategy for our scrimmage this afternoon," she advised him. "I'll let you know at dinner whether it works or not."

"If she's smiling and won the duel; it worked," Al offered helpfully. "If Jonah's in the doghouse with her; it didn't."

"Will that be true for you and Gwendolyn too?" Lily asked.

"No, and I'm only teasing," Al assured her. "The only way you'd really be mad at Jonah would be if he slacked off and let you win."

"I don't know why I'm thinking about this from those comments, but is Jonah going to any of the team teen day events next week?" Harry asked. "He must have been invited to one or more of them."

Lily laughed. "I never thought to ask him," she admitted. "Al hasn't gone to any yet; so I guess I didn't think about it for Jonah." She smiled at Al. "Why don't you accept any invitations? Rose has been going to the one for the Harpies, so even if you expect her to draft you for her future Cannons' team; you could still do that too."

Al shrugged. "Nearly every Quidditch playing teen at Hogwarts wants one of those spots, and I don't think it's fair for me to take one when I get to play with some of the best players in the league a lot."

"So do I," Lily pointed out; "but I think it's totally fair – especially since a lot of those teens will never be good-enough to play in the show anyway."

"Isn't that just another reason why it would be nice for them to get a chance to spend time with their Quidditch heroes?" Al asked. "You do have a point, Lily, but maybe the teams should consider adding teen spectators for the students that aren't being recruited but would still love to be there – even if they're only watching the practice."

"And they could still talk with the players at the lunch or before the practice," Lily added. "That's a rather good idea, Al. Gwendolyn and I can talk about it with her Mum – though it's likely too late to do this year."

"Well, that would be popular for the Quidditch teams; but I doubt it would catch on at the Ministry of Magic," Harry told them with a laugh. "I can't even picture groups of teens sitting around the Ministry offices just watching the paper shuffle or meetings with avid interest."

"Add Beaters and bludgers to the game; and they might," Lily joked.

That suggestion sent their chat off in a new direction; Ginny joined them shortly after that; and they had a fairly quick breakfast before Harry headed for work and Ginny had two helpers for some chores while Al and Lily waited for their respective study group friends to come over. Gwendolyn and Jonah were the first to arrive; Gwenog dropped them off; and then headed for work – after Lily told her – and Gwendolyn – about Al's teen spectator suggestion for future teen day with the Harpies. Lily then soon found out that Jonah had accepted a teen day invitation from the Prides; and he'd be doing that with his cousins and other players they all knew from Hogwarts. Al and Gwendolyn didn't have their full study group coming, but Rose and Hugo came over for the entire day; and Ray and Tory, Toni and Michael, and Madison and Scott came over for the morning only. Ray was going to come back for the afternoon team practice; but he and Tory had other plans for lunch. Lily didn't have a big study group either, but Denise, Kathryn, and Melissa came over for the day. Katrina didn't normally study with Lily very often, but she and Ryan were both dropped off in the morning too so that they could hang out with Gwendolyn and Jonah – and save their parents a lunchtime side-trip that would mean leaving work to do that.

Ryan didn't have any study buddies for his second-year revision, but he did have Al and Gwendolyn around to help him out with some tutoring; and he sat between the first and third-year students at the dining room table once they were all set up and ready to get to work. Ginny left to go to work once the teens and tweens were ready to study; and she headed for the Cannons' practice pitch because she'd drawn their match for the Saturday games – mostly because that would let her spend some time with Rose and Hugo while working anyway. While she was busy doing that; the studying was actually happening. They all had fun together too as they worked; a morning of holiday revision was hardly the entertainment highlight of their Christmas break – though that would be a rather sad statement on their lives if that was true. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose led the third-year studying as usual, but Al was a bit surprised to discover that Lily was the study leader for her group.

That was different for them, because her leadership was more about morale and making the work as fun as possible instead of through tutoring and being the best student; but then her friends seemed to be fairly-closely matched for that. Denise seemed to be the most-studious, but that wasn't necessarily true; since she was also the least-interested in the Quidditch talk and was quieter while her friends talked about everything from the match on Saturday to their afternoon practice plans and the teen day with the Harpies and Prides. Working ahead during the past week had helped the third-year teens with their holiday revision, but they still had a lot to do; and only managed to complete their assignments for three classes by the time they stopped to pack up and then get ready for lunch. The firsties matched that, or got started on a fourth class assignment, but then that was half or more of their holiday revision; so they were in good shape for being able to finish the rest of their work on the second study session they had booked on Friday morning.

While Al had orders to get the dining room table set for lunch; he didn't have to get started on cooking anything because Ginny brought take-out pizza and wings home with her when she was ready for a break between her morning and afternoon work plans. All of the teens were happy with what they got done, though; and even happier when it was time to get started on playing for the rest of the day. There was a round of goodbyes for the friends that were moving on to do their own thing for lunch; and the remaining teens and tweens were happy to begin the rest of their day by getting in on the pizza and wings lunch once Ginny got there with the food and sat down to have lunch with them.

"Dominique might be a bit late getting here," Ginny advised Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose as they filled their plates. "Her study group was running behind; and they were going out for lunch before coming here. If I have to go before then; you can get your warm-ups and ground work-out going; but don't get airborne until she gets here."

"We'll do that," Rose promised. "How did my Cannons look this morning?"

Ginny smiled at her. "Probably not as good as either of your teams will look this afternoon. They didn't look very motivated today either; and seemed to be more interested in Christmas cheer than getting ready for the match on Saturday."

"They've a few too many partiers on the team right now," Rose admitted with a nod and frown.

"You should be happy about that," Gwendolyn suggested. "If the Cannons suddenly started playing great; that would just totally mess up all of your plans to buy the team and build a league champion from the ground-up."

"I suppose there is that," Rose conceded; "but that still means four and a half more years of slow torture for Dad, Hugo, and me – and the rest of the Cannons fans."

"All six of them," Lily interjected; turning away from the chat she was having with Hugo, Jonah, and the younger girls.

"Keep having fun with jokes like that," Rose told her. "it'll be so much more satisfying when we win that championship."

"There will be no 'we' about that," Lily told her – "and not just because my Harpies will win a lot of championships instead."

"Have a little faith – I do."

Lily grinned at her. "I have a lot of faith – in my Harpies; and that the Cannons could very-easily go another century without a championship."

"Okay, let's move on," Ginny told them. "How did your studying go this morning?"

"We likely had more fun with that than you had with watching the Cannons' practice," Lily suggested. "I have three assignments left to get done; so my revision will be finished by lunchtime on Friday."

"I have three done; five in progress from last week; and three more that I've only done a bit of research for so far," Al answered when Ginny looked to him next. "We'll need two more study sessions to get everything done."

"Ditto that with one or two fewer subjects for the rest of us in third-year," Gwendolyn added. "We'd have needed to study on every non-holiday day if we hadn't worked ahead last week. We really got dumped on this year."

"That sounds good," Ginny told them; "though Al and Lily are making the parenting a bit too easy for Harry and me right now; and that might be a problem for future holidays."

"We're only trying to give you a break so you'll be rested up for the holidays that aren't so easy," Lily teased. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

"We will," Ginny promised. "What else are you going to do today after the practice?"

That question kept them entertained for a few minutes as they talked about that; and their chat rolled along while they enjoye dthe pizza and wings meal until it was time to clean up and for them to either head outside for their workout or off to work for an afternoon with the Kestrels for Ginny – the Cannons' opponent for the Saturday match. Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia came over to the house together, but they were late; and didn't get there until about twenty minutes after Ginny left. That wasn't a problem for Al, Gwendolyn, and their team mates, since they had to wait for everyone to arrive and then do the warm-ups and exercises before being ready for their flying exercises and the rest of the team workouts. They did the warm-ups and flying exercises with both teams; split up to each end of the pitch for the position-centric parts of their workout; and then got ready for their scrimmage match.

"And they're off!" Lucy said as she watched the start of the scrimmage from the kitchen windows with Dominique and Olivia. "Watch closely, Quidditch fans; since we'll soon be wishing that we'd set up our practices over the holidays with the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff teams instead of with our reserve squad!"

"You'd rather do that with Hufflepuff to have Alex here," Olivia teased; and Lucy smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to complain too much about it when we won't have James here and Ollie's too busy being mad at him to bug us as much as normal."

"I don't really want to talk about James at all, but if he doesn't start practicing with us again once we're back to school; we're going to have to decide whether to put Brandon in for the next match."

"We won't," Lucy disagreed with a grin for her cousin; "but that's why Dominique is stuck with being Captain – so you and I don't have to make the tough calls."

"It isn't really that tough," Dominique told her. "We can say what we want about James, and he might still not beat Alex in their Seeker duel; but we know for sure that Brandon won't win – and we're not enough-better than the Hufflepuff team to get the one-sixty lead this year."

"We might be good-enough if we could do things like that," Olivia suggested as she nodded toward the window – even though they'd all watched the goal that Al had just scored on Ryan after getting past Gwendolyn's defense too. "I'd suggest we could have him play on the senior team; but then I don't want to put myself out of a job."

"I think we're a great trio right now," Lucy said with a nod; "but it might be fun to see how you and I would do next season if Al wins that third Chaser spot."

Olivia laughed as they watched Al proceed to get a steal; pass to Kathryn without looking; and she scored another goal because Ryan was out of position and had no chance on the play. "Do you actually think he'll be third-best at tryouts next September? If you think that Ollie's mad at us this year; wait until then – and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Ray's better than Ollie too."

"He gets overlooked because of Al, but he is pretty good too; and getting better all of the time," Dominique agreed and added. "That's a great play by Gwendolyn. I know that she looks a lot like her Aunt Meghan, and is like her Mum too; but she still reminds me of Aunt Ginny when she's playing against Al like this."

"Ditto that for Lily," Lucy offered. "They're not as good as Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny yet, but Lily and Jonah have that same spark when you watch them duel – and they are both really, really good for firsties."

"The junior team battle is likely to come down to this match-up next April," Olivia suggested. "Hufflepuff's pretty good, but they're not better than Al's team; and Slytherin won't fare any better against Gwendolyn's team than they did against ours."

"Our junior team," Lucy amended with a slight frown. "Our team got our brooms handed to us by Slytherin this year."

"We didn't," Olivia disagreed. "We only lost by forty points, and while James had his problems against Brand with all of the cheating that we all had to put up with; he might have still gotten the win if he hadn't been knocked out of the game with that bludger hit."

Lucy nodded more to acknowledge the point than to agree with it. "Was it only forty points? Last I heard from the Slytherin taunts; I'd have guessed it was by a thousand or more points."

"I think you're both right," Dominique told them. "We got our brooms handed to us thanks to all of the cheating; but that doesn't make me feel any better about the loss. We've always had to deal with the Slytherins cheating; and just weren't quite ready for them this year."

"We can't even look forward to having some of the worst of the lot graduating this year," Lucy told them. "They always have players that are just as bad ready to take over."

"Always," Olivia agreed, "but I'll take that trade next season if we get Al." He'd scored yet another awesome goal; and all three young Witches smiled as they watched Gwendolyn stick her tongue out at him. "Instead of going there, though; let's talk about what we want to do over the next two weeks to try and get ready for Hufflepuff. We've enough to worry about with that right now – especially since one of us would rather be snogging Alex instead of working out ways to beat him."

"That was my plan for beating him," Dominique teased. "If Lucy can snog him senseless right before the match; James might have a much better chance of winning the Seeker duel."

That joke gave them a starting point for a more serious talk about their game and practice planning. They watched the junior team practice because Dominique had to make sure that she could jump in if they had any problems; and they got hot drinks and snacks ready for the players and sole spectator – Denise – when they were finished the workout and started packing up to come inside. By then, most of their team had arrived by Floo Network or apparating; so the kitchen was fairly crowded until the junior team players moved into the dining room for their snack break while the senior Gryffindor players went outside to get started on their practice. Al had the dining room window drapery drawn back so they could keep an eye on the senior team practice while having their snacks and drinks, but he wasn't watching the warm-ups because he was having more fun with Gwendolyn and their team mates. Gryffindor had won the scrimmage, and by one hundred and ten points; but it had been a close match with the only exception being the Keeper duel that Rose won with a dozen more saves than Ryan had in his still-stellar, losing effort. Lily had won her duel with Jonah with the final catch to earn three to his two catches; but that had been especially fun for her because she'd fought back from a two-to-one advantage that Jonah had earned through the first three catches.

Everyone stayed for the snacks and drinks, but then most of their friends headed home after that until Al and Lily only had Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, Hugo, Kathryn, and Denise with them for the rest of the afternoon until parents could start picking them up after work. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of the hot drinks and snacks for Dominique and her team in repayment for them doing the same earlier; but then they left Dominique and the other, older teens alone in the dining room for a post-practice meeting. That worked out especially well for them because Ollie was too busy most of the time he was there to bother them at all; though he also hadn't really even tried to insult them or even talk to them through until he went home with Olivia and Kathryn. Dominique stayed until Ginny got home from her afternoon with the Kestrels; but everyone else on her team – including Lucy – went home after their team meeting to get on with the rest of their day.

Watching the mirror network and playing video games helped to keep them entertained until Hermione and Natalie came to get Rose, Hugo, and Denise; and then Al and Gwendolyn helped Ginny with making dinner while Lily and Jonah split their time between supervising in the kitchen and playing in the sitting room until Harry got home from work and they sat down for dinner. That meal was comparatively quiet after a day with the house filled with teens and tweens, but they were all happy to have a quiet evening ahead of what was sure to be several long, busy days as they celebrated Christmas with their families and friends. Al and Gwendolyn had Lily and Jonah help them with the clean-up after dinner while Harry and Ginny were encouraged to go and relax in the sitting room; they followed that up with two Muggle Christmas movies; and then the oldest couple in the room was sent to bed while the younger couples stayed up for one more Christmas show before heading to bed too – though Al and Gwendolyn took care of the clean-up while Lily and Jonah took their turns getting ready for bed. That also conveniently gave them some alone time for a goodnight snogging; so they were happy campers when they did head up to bed too!

Al was sure that he and Jonah didn't stay awake talking for nearly as long as Gwendolyn and Lily would have; but doubted that had anything to do with why he was first to wake up in the morning and get ready for a Christmas Eve Day filled with shopping and holiday fun. He did want to make a hot breakfast for everyone – and especially for their overnight guests; so he showered and dressed quickly; headed for the kitchen; and got to work on that. His father joined him fifteen minutes later and they worked together to get the cooking done and everything else ready so that the girls could sit down and start eating as soon as they were ready. Jonah had caught up with them not long after Harry had come downstairs, but he mostly kept them company while Harry and Al did the work with wand or seashells.

Their morning meal included some day planning that the Witches in the room handled; some teasing about room swaps that didn't happen overnight; and one mirror chat to coordinate those plans with Kirley and Gwenog. Harry had to work, so when they finished eating; he headed for Auror Headquarters; and Ginny had four helpers to deal with the clean-up before they headed for Diagon Alley to join in on the Christmas Eve Day shopping madness. They didn't really have any actual need to shop for last-minute gifts, but it was always fun to watch the madness; and there were bargains to be found with the last-minute sales that were meant to clear out inventories before the inevitable drop in sales that would happen come the New Year and end of the Christmas holidays. Al picked up some books at one of those sales, but Ginny, Gwendolyn, and Lily had fun with some bonus clothes shopping. Al and Gwendolyn had a bit of a surprise when they stopped at the wheezes store and found out that Rose had been drafted to help out, but while that had been true; she'd also technically been offered the job that she wasn't actually allowed to refuse.

Since she was actually working, Rose couldn't talk with them for long, but then Ginny had only stopped in to wish her brothers a Merry Christmas in case she didn't see them again while they'd be busy with their respective 'away' Christmas adventures. George and Ron still had a busy shopping day to get through before closing the stores for a day, though; so Ginny didn't stay there for long before taking the kids and moving on again. Kirley met up with them about an hour before lunch, and he eventually took over watching the kids while Ginny went to meet up with Harry for the Christmas lunch that he was hosting for his Aurors. Kirley fed the kids at one of the cafes in Diagon Alley while she was busy with that; and then he and the kids eventually met up with both Ginny and Gwenog once Ginny was finished at the Leaky and Gwenog was free for the day after having a Christmas lunch with her team and then giving them the afternoon off.

Al and Gwendolyn – and Lily and Jonah – had to say goodbye then because the two families split up for the rest of the day. They were all going to do a bit of holiday visiting with friends, but the McCormacks were mostly doing that with the Weird Sisters' band member families; while Ginny, Al, and Lily went to visit some of their family friends. That was a fun way to spend the afternoon for all of them; they headed for home with enough time left to cook dinner for four; and then they were able to enjoy a quiet family night filled with Christmassy fun that started when Harry got home and included the meal; special desserts; another Christmas movie and play night; and wrapped up with Harry, Ginny, and the kids taking turns playing Santa Claus as they each put their gifts under the tree. Not having James there bothered all of them, and he didn't answer the three attempts that Ginny and Lily made to try and talk with him, but other than those attempts to wish him a happy Christmas; they didn't talk about James at all – mostly because none of them wanted to admit out loud that they were having a much nicer Christmas Eve than they likely would have if he'd been home with them.

When Al went to bed, he had to wait for his turn to play Santa, so he had his Christmas Eve mirror chat with Gwendolyn; they had fun trading stories about what they'd each been doing since splitting up after lunch; and then they ended that chat when he heard Lily return to her room after putting her gifts under the tree – and likely shaking a few gifts too before being ready to sleep for at least a few hours. Al didn't do that too, so his trip to the sitting room didn't take long; and then he went straight off to sleep after returning to his room and bed. When Lily gave him his Christmas morning wake-up call, Al didn't feel as though he'd slept for long – because he hadn't. His sister had them getting up even earlier than usual; and that was likely because she wouldn't have to contend with James being grumpy with her about getting up so absurdly-early. It was only an hour and a half earlier than normal for Al, though, so while he was a bit tired at first; he was also happy and ready to help his sister celebrate one of their very favorite days of the year!

"Merry Christmas," Al told Lily again as he walked into the sitting room. She was sitting on the floor next to the tree, and in his mental musings, the lights on the tree were a colorful counterpoint to the inner glow he sensed within his sister; and that felt like the embodiment of Christmas joy to him.

"Merry Christmas again," Lily said enthusiastically and a bit whimsically. "Come and sit with me and help with passing out the gifts after Mum and Dad get here."

"Have you woken James yet; or are you going to let him sleep in?" Al teased; and then laughed when Lily's grin was suddenly mischievous.

"I should definitely at least try to wake him up," she suggested; "but I didn't bring my mirror with me."

"You're welcome to borrow mine," Al said; and held it out to her. "I brought mine in case Gwendolyn is up early too and calls me."

"Do you think he'll answer if I use your mirror?" Lily teased; and Al laughed.

"I'd be more worried about what he'll have to say to you if he does get woken up and actually answers the call."

"That's a good point; and probably says something about me that I can't resist finding out the answer to that question," she said before adding – "Call James!" after taking the mirror from Al and holding it up to look at what was currently just her own reflection. They waited as the mirror began chiming on and on for what seemed like minutes.

Lily was about to end the attempt when the last chime suddenly cut off; and they both heard the gruff, sleepy voice snap out an angry – "I'm sleeping – sod off and die!"

"Merry Christmas, James!" Lily called out cheerfully; and then laughed because it was already too late and he'd already ended the mirror chat before she'd managed to speak the first word.

"Well, at least we know he's alive," Ginny said as she and Harry stepped into the room. "Merry Christmas, Lily; Al." She laughed when she saw Lily hand Al's mirror back to him. "that's my girl! If James remembers that attempted chat whenever he wakes up; you've got plausible deniability that you had anything to do with it."

"I've been had," Al joked. "Did you even see James?"

Lily grinned at him. "Nope. I didn't see anything except part of his hand in the dark there. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he threw the mirror away instead of just letting go of it."

"Well, it was nice of you to try to include him in the festivities," Ginny teased; though they all knew that Lily's motives had been prankish instead of altruistic.

"It wasn't," Lily disagreed; "but I really do hope that James has a happy Christmas – even when he thinks that can only happen without us."

"It won't be totally without us," Harry reminded her. "We did all send his gifts to Hogwarts."

"All of the benefits with none of the responsibilities," Lily said with a nod and smile for her parents. "Isn't that something you told him at the start of last summer?" she asked her mother; and Ginny nodded.

"Approximately, yes," she agreed. "I'm sure you're more interested in opening your own gifts, though – even if James might prefer to sleep until noon before getting his Christmas Day started. "Go for it; and then we can decide whether to go back to bed for a nap or have an early breakfast first and then go for the naps."

Lily was happy to do that; she and Al used charm bracelet and seashell to deliver the gifts to their parents; and they spent a very entertaining hour or so opening gifts and playing with some of the new toys. Al loved every minute of that, but it wasn't the gifts that had his heart filled to overflowing; it was the love and harmony in the room that he sensed and seemed to almost suffuse him. the gifts were a bigger deal for Lily, but then she paid her parents and brother back in ful with hugs, kisses, and all of the joy and love that came with her heart-felt gratitude and happiness. Harry and Al started cooking breakfast when it was still well-before dawn; and Ginny and Lily stayed in the sitting room for some mother-daughter time until the smell of brewed coffee drew Ginny to the kitchen so that she could enjoy that first cup of the day while she and Lily brought the chat time to Harry and Al – and kept them entertained while they worked on a special Christmas Day breakfast. They ate that meal; cleaned up the kitchen; and then they all ended up taking turns getting ready for the day instead of having a nap because they had some work to do to get ready for the Christmas dinner that Harry and Ginny were hosting for Arthur, Molly, and Aunt Muriel – as they usually did for the 'away' family Christmases. Al was more than happy to help out with that work, but he wasn't going to be home for the dinner because he was having his first away Christmas with Gwendolyn and her family. Lily was a bit sad about that, but was also sure that she was going to be spoiled rotten for the day as the only kid in the house once he left for Gwendolyn's house.

Before either of them could get to that part of their day, though, Al and Lily took care of cleaning the sitting room and dining room; getting the dining room table set for the Christmas dinner for six; and dealing with other minor chores like taking care of the owls and pets; and getting the bathrooms cleaned and ready for guests. Their morning wasn't all work and no play. There was Christmas music to listen to as they worked; they took some breaks that included cameo moments of gaming or goofiness with Harry and Ginny; and there were lots of holiday snack or food sampling options available for them too – though Al took it easy on that when he knew there'd be a lot of food as part of the fun with Gwendolyn and her family. He needed to be at Gwendolyn's house by a bit before noon, so he had the gifts he was taking along ready to go by eleven-thirty; and then had Ginny and Lily both going with him so that they could wish the McCormack family a Merry Christmas while Harry stayed behind to keep an eye on the food that was either cooking or being readied for cooking.

"Merry Christmas, James," Malorie told James with a shy smile as he sat down next to her. He was late for breakfast, and she'd nearly finished eating already, but the bowls and platters were still on the table; and he began filling his plate even as he wished her a Happy Christmas in return. "Did you have loads of gifts and needed the extra time to open them?" she asked. "I only get a few each year, but I love this locket; and I got some new clothes; a box of my favorite sweets; and a bag of assorted candies." Her smile was shy again as she looked at him. "I think that this has been my best Christmas ever so far – thanks to you."

"It's been my best-ever-so-far too," James assured her; and she giggled at the wolfish grin on his face.

He wasn't lying with that assertion, but while Malorie inferred what he'd wanted her to believe; his best-ever Christmas had more to do with freedom from his pathetic excuse for a family while still managing to score some awesome Christmas gifts. Telling Malorie about the dozens of gifts that his family had collectively sent to him wouldn't fit in with the story he'd been so carefully spinning for her, so he didn't plan on doing that; but then they'd been to the point last night that talking much at all just wasn't necessary! Malorie had temporarily overcome her shyness; and James had an all-new perspective on how much fun could be had on Christmas Eve with a willing, surprisingly energetic, and emotionally needy Witch!

"I'm glad," she told him happily. "So – were you late because you had a lot of gifts to open?"

James laughed quietly. "No – I, um, needed the extra sleep," he suggested meaningfully; earning a blush to go along with the quiet giggle. There were times when giggling girls grated on his nerves, but Malorie even seemed to have that Irish accent in her laughter; and had him thinking about having a lot more holiday fun with her whenever they could fit that into their Christmas Day adventures.

"I got some clothes and candy too; some school supplies; and a bit of spending money for Hogsmeade weekends." He smiled at her reaction to that news; sure that she'd definitely be willing to help him get over the disappointment.

"I'd have thought that your parents would do much better than that for you at holidays and birthdays. You do have a really great broom; and always have nice clothes on."

James shrugged. "They get me things like that because they have to keep up appearances," he lied easily. "It just wouldn't do for a son of the Head of the Aurors to fly a school broom or wear second-hand clothes. Except for things like that; they don't spend money on me."

"I'll spoil my kids rotten some day if I ever have the kind of money to do that," Malorie declared quietly; and James shrugged.

"Mum and Dad say they don't want us to grow up spoiled rotten when we're part of such a famous family; but I think they say that because they don't want to admit that they've wasted away the money Mum earned while playing for the Harpies. It's not as if anyone gets rich working for the Ministry of Magic – even when you're the Head of a Department; and the Aurors are just part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Those jobs seem pretty great to me, but my perspective is different; and I guess you're right that nobody gets rich working there – or in most regular jobs." She smiled and shook her head. "That's not something at all fun to talk about on Christmas. What should we do all day? Other than lunch and the Christmas feast here in the Great Hall; and some special treats that will be available in our common rooms; there isn't anything scheduled for us to do the rest of the time." She laughed when she saw that the wolfish grin was back on James' face; and the look in her eyes told him without needing words that she was thinking the same thing he was – and that they were going to have a really great Christmas Day!

Scorpius wandered the halls of Hogwarts for a while after breakfast; and then eventually made his way to the Room of Requirements because it had been obvious to him that James Potter did not have another Quidditch practice on his Christmas Day schedule when he went off with the Hufflepuff mudblood instead of even looking to him for a nod of agreement for meeting up at the stadium. That bugged him, but he walked it off; and it definitely wasn't because he was jealous – definitely not! In fact, just the thought of what they'd likely been doing when he overheard them in a classroom during his extended walk back to his House from the Room of Requirements last night turned his stomach. He'd known it was them without needing to see them; since they were the only students that would have still been out of their Houses that late. There weren't many couples at Hogwarts over the holidays; and the others were all paired with students from their own House.

That cameo moment, despite the fact that it had been sound-only, had kept him awake for a long time after he'd gone to bed; and that had a lot to do with why he was in a foul mood. Sure, there'd been the morning mirror chat with his parents that had been ridiculous and irritating too, and they hadn't gotten him anything that he really wanted for Christmas either; but he was mostly-annoyed to see that James was having far more fun than he was – even if that was because he was willing to bed even the homeliest mudbloods – and possibly risking creating more of them with her! He obviously wasn't quite calmed down yet when he entered 'his' special place in the Room of Requirements; since he closed the door too hard; and then was a bit rough with Thomas' portrait when he got it out of his book bag and set it on the table.

"Merry lousy Christmas," he said as he slumped into the armchair and looked at Thomas petulantly. "How are you today."

"Still dead; so your Christmas should be at least going better than mine," Thomas joked; and smiled when Scorpius laughed. "Didn't you get what you wanted most for Christmas this year – other than a holiday without your family?"

"No, I didn't," Scorpius confirmed, "but let's not go there; since you don't care about such menial things anyway."

"That's true, but if you need me to pretend that I do for a while; then I will make the sacrifice."

"You're in an odd mood this morning," Scorpius said. "Why?"

"I'm not in a mood at all," Thomas assured him seriously. "I do find your teen issues with Christmas amusing when my childhood holidays were all rather horrid."

"James Potter seems to think that money solves everything too," Scorpius told him. "You're both wrong about that."

Thomas laughed. "I don't believe that, but am sure that money makes it much easier to cope with the problems that you do have while trying to resolve them." He looked at Scorpius speculatively. "Is your peevishness more about James Potter and how much fun he's having with that mudblood Witch?" He smiled when Scorpius' reaction was all the answer he needed.

"That is just the baser needs in you reacting to that situation," he advised. "The Potter boy is apparently incapable of controlling them, as I've warned that you must do to avoid those sorts of temptations; and you should not give such things a second thought."

"I'm disgusted, and having second thoughts about having anything to do with James at all," Scorpius told him; and Thomas smiled knowingly.

"That is not the entire truth," he countered. "Do you think that I never once considered taking other paths in my life? I could have acted as the Potter boy apparently does; had any Witch I wanted; and gone on to lead an inconsequential existence; but I instead chose to strive for greatness. Those temptations may be stronger for you simply because you have the means to make that kind of life choice much easier to make – as your parents and grandparents have now done since the end of the war. That choice, however, is not compatible with your desires to restore your family honor and return all purebloods to their rightful place in the Wizarding World."

"I know that; yet you insist that others who do live like that can be valuable assets or allies in that cause," Scorpius retorted. "What use can a mudblood-skirt-chasing fool like James Potter truly be when he's so easily distracted?"

"None – right now," Thomas assured him. "It will be up to you – to us – to mold him into that tool or ally; and his weaknesses can be turned to advantage too."

"Now you've lost me," Scorpius admitted; and Thomas laughed.

"You do know that many Witches and Wizards can be bought with money, but that is but one path. To be blunt, if James Potter can be manipulated through the wiles of a willing Witch; that can be exploited very easily – though you're both a bit young for some of the ways that you could make that happen."

"Please tell me that you're not suggesting that we take out our enemies one illegitimate, mudblood baby at a time," Scorpius joked; and Thomas laughed.

"No, but that kind of scandal for a son of Harry Potter could cause a fair bit of havoc – not to mention giving your Head of the Aurors a nice diversion from his job."

"You're right – I'm too young to go there," Scorpius decided – "though I wouldn't put it past James to be in a family way by the end of the holidays. He has that mudblood wench so thoroughly charmed; she might as well be Imperiused."

"I doubt he needs to do something like that with a mudblood. She's likely willing to do anything simply because of who he is – especially if she's as homely as you've described her. A bit of fun with a Wizard she perceives as way out of her league might be the best thing to ever happen in her entire miserable life so far."

"Now that's a disgusting thought," Scorpius told him with a grimace. "Can we get back to my lessons instead of talking about the possibility that James Potter is giving a mudblood the best moments of her life? Keep that up; and I'm going to require a large bucket to puke in."

Thomas laughed at that; and then was happy to resume a Dark Arts lesson that they'd now been working on for several days. He was happy to have anything to do at all, and Scorpius was willing to work hard as he delved into the true power available to the Wizard willing to do whatever it takes to achieve great dreams. Neither of them had a care at all for the reason for the season and day as they immersed themselves in the Dark Arts, but doing so did give them a lot of equally-dark joy; so they were soon well on the way to having what Scorpius thought of as a best-ever Christmas too!

Al had time to smile before Gwendolyn welcomed him with an enthusiastic hug and kiss once he was all the way into the sitting room; but before he could put the bag down that he had over one shoulder. He was happy to share that moment with her while everyone else around them laughed and began dealing with their own Christmas greetings. They didn't take that embrace to the point where it got weird for anyone, though; and then Gwendolyn had hugs and kisses for Ginny and Lily too while Al wished her parents and brother a Merry Christmas.

"I'm so glad you're here," Gwendolyn assured him as she took his hand and squeezed affectionately. "We're going to have a brilliant Christmas!"

"It's been really great so far," Lily told her with a grin, "but I hope you have fun with Al – especially since you'll be missing out on Christmas with Aunt Muriel at our house."

"You have Aunt Muriel wrapped around your little finger," Gwendolyn told her. "It's going to be a brilliant Christmas at your house too, and though we're missing out on that today; we will get to have Christmas with her – and the rest of your family – on Saturday."

"That's going to be great too," Lily said enthusiastically, "but Mum and I can't stay long; so I'd better get you and Jonah to open the gifts I brought for you; and then we need to get going."

Lily had gifts for Gwendolyn and Jonah, and Ginny had a gift for the whole family; but Al kept his gifts for the McCormacks to put under the tree for the family Christmas. There were a couple of gifts for Lily too; and one for Ginny to take home with her for the Potter family; but the only reason the gift exchange took very long at all was because Lily led Jonah off for a few minutes so that she could thank him in private for the gift he gave her – a pair of blue sapphire earrings and a plush Gryffindor lion. They got teased about that when they returned – especially since Jonah looked a bit dazed and goofy; but then Ginny took Lily home with her; and Al was left with Gwendolyn and her family. There was work in progress, so after Al put his gifts under the tree, he and Gwendolyn went to help out with the work in the kitchen and dining room.

Gwenog and Jonah had rejoined Kirley in the kitchen by then; Gwendolyn got back to the work she'd been doing before Al arrived; and he joined in to help her with cutting up vegetables and getting snack trays ready for the afternoon family fun. Their guests weren't arriving until one o'clock, so they had lots of time to get the last bits of work finished; and they had a snack lunch on the fly while doing that because they weren't having a late dinner. Whie Kirley and Gwenog usually had separate Christmases for their families; hosting this year gave them the chance to do that all in one big event with everyone from the Jones and McCormack families – and allowed Gwenog to do that on the one day she could completely take off from her busy Harpies' schedule. It was different with the cousins this time, but Al and Gwendolyn became the semi-official hosts for the teen and kid cousins – just as they'd been for the Harpies' Christmas party. The games room had already been set up for that; and the kids were funneled there after the initial meet and greet as each group of cousins arrived. That started at a quarter-to-one; and Al and Gwendolyn had all of her cousins in the games room by one-thirty.

"You look ready for a nap," Gwendolyn teased as she and Al took a break to get drinks once they'd finished getting the last – and youngest – cousins on the Jones' side of the family, Greta, Christy, and Brett, set up with drinks and moved on to play with the other younger kids.

"I'm okay, but Lily did have us awake early this morning; so I will likely want a nap later – even if we can't do that today."

"Especially if there is a 'we' while doing that," Gwendolyn teased. "Mum and Dad might have a problem with that when the only rooms we could do that in with this many people in the house would be my room or one of the guest bedrooms."

"Even if I was in puppy mode?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Okay, they might find that funny; but then you could do that and just find someplace warm to nap – like near the fireplace over there."

"I'll keep that in mind for later," he said half-seriously. "What would you like to do next? Join in on the mirror gaming; play with action figures; or watch the Christmas shows?"

"Let's catch our breath and just do some visiting first," she suggested. "We can play with dolls later – you know you want to do that more than play mirror games."

"Yeah, I do," Al agreed. "The matches between the Harpies and Prides here are always a lot of fun. Most kids don't even have the older team sets; and you still have the action figures from back when your grandmother played for the Prides and Scotland."

"that is really great," Gwendolyn agreed. "Maybe they should come up with a mirror network game that has the old-timer teams too."

"That would be cool as long as they don't go too far back for that. I wouldn't want them to have golden snidgets; and those first brooms wouldn't make for a very exciting mirror game when they were so slow."

"Slow and painful to ride," Gwendolyn added. "Could you imagine a days or weeks-long match flying on something like that?"

"I couldn't imagine a match that long on my broom, but then I don't think that'll happen again – unless they change the game to make it harder to catch the snitch."

"Sure, because that's so easy now." Al and Gwendolyn turned around in response to that comment; and smiled at Don Jones and his brand-new fiancée, Candice Starkey. The comment had been from Candice; and she was smiling too.

"That's why we're Chasers instead of Seekers," Gwendolyn joked; "but I wasn't suggesting we should change the game – only that they'd need to if we wanted to have those marathon matches again. Are you finished with having all of the older Witches admiring that new ring already?"

"Yes, but we wanted to make the rounds with Don's younger cousins before it gets too crazy around here and we don't have time to talk with any of them."

"I doubt you'll have a problem with that," Gwendolyn told her with a laugh. "If anything; you'll have a new batch of fans now that they're getting a new star Quidditch player in the family."

"I'm not one of the stars, but that's okay with me; since it's still a dream just being on the Harpies' team – and getting to be Captain too." She smiled at Al. "I'd have never, ever even dreamed of being where we are right at this moment back on the first night that I met your Dad," she told him."

"I was thinking about things like that a bit earlier when everyone was getting here," Al admitted. "We have so many connections just with the cousins that I don't think about the friendship relations very often. Your family is connected to mine through Dad and Aunt Hermione; Ewan was Head Boy when Victoire was Head Girl in our first year, and now he's here with Donna; and I met Cyren and Oliver through Teddy before they started dating Dennis and Cordelia."

"That sounds like a fun game for later," Don suggested. "Six Degrees of Harry Potter, maybe?" He smiled at Candice when she looked at him blankly while Al and Gwendolyn laughed. "It's a half-joke," he explained. "There was an old Muggle game I heard about where the players tried to find their – or someone else's – connection to a single person in six or fewer links." Candice still looked as if she didn't get it; so he gave her an example.

"You know Harry Potter personally," he told her. "Your connection is easy – and just one degree or connection. I could claim to be connected to him through you – or two degrees for me. Depending on how you want to count it, I could also claim connections at three or four degrees through Gwendolyn and Albus; and yet more of them through Aunt Gwenog and others."

"I get it," Candice said; and she'd been smiling and laughed a couple of times by then. "That might be fun, but maybe not with your family for Harry Potter. the connections are too close for most of us."

"True, but you could always change the person you're trying to find the connections to," Al offered. "You could pick some famous Wizard or Witch from history and run with it." He turned to Gwendolyn when she laughed; and he sensed something odd in her emotions.

"It's weird, but my first mental picture with that was one of a family of Dark Wizards and Witches playing the game with six degrees of separation to Voldemort."

"You're right – that's weird; and a bit scary," Don advised her. "Al does have a good idea for that, though; so maybe we can do that later. Right now, we'd better do the rounds with the kids; and then get back to the sitting room. Candice is missing out on all of the girl chat while we're here."

"It was baby talk when we left," Candice reminded him. "Let's not go there when we're not even going to be married until next summer."

Al and Gwendolyn ended up staying with them for a few minutes; and then they moved on to visit with the other groups of kids and teens too – just not with Don and Candice. While Gwendolyn and Jonah were closest in age to the three youngest Jones' family cousins, Greta was happy to have the McCormack cousins to hang out with; while Christy and Brett could hang out with Aunt Meghan's youngest, Meg and Corey. Jonah and Katrina had the mirror gaming well in-hand, so Al sat down with the youngest kids for the game in progress that included Quidditch action figures, dragons, and other toys where creativity ran amok and they all had a blast. Gwendolyn joined in a couple of times, but had some girl chats too; and one trip to the sitting room for a visit with the adults when summoned there shortly before the kids and teens were rounded up for the gift exchange.

Even for Gwendolyn's house, the sitting room was fairly-filled with everyone there; so Al and Gwendolyn sat on the floor – as did most of the kids and teens. They sat with Jonah, Katrina, and a few other cousins near the side of the tree where Gwenog and Kirley were sitting on one of the sofas; and Al mostly stayed quiet and watched the show as the four youngest kids were put in charge of passing out gifts with some help from their mothers. While the adults each only had a few gifts each, the kids had more; since they were getting gifts from grandparents, aunts and uncles as well as the name-drawing that was done among the cousins. Al had been included in that drawing, so he had that gift to open from the anonymous cousin; Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah gave him a gift; and he and Gwendolyn exchanged their gifts – which was why she ended up with a few more gifts than most of her cousins while he had about the same as the other kids and teens.

The noise level and atmosphere felt different to Al from the Weasley family Christmases, but that just had him thinking that every family should have an Aunt Muriel to help with the noise; and the emotions he sensed in the room were only different because everyone was unique – so that had to be different. Some things were the same – there were wheezes and joke gifts; the verbal entertainment included lots of teasing and comic relief; and there could be little pockets of stress. There weren't any teen meltdowns like with James a year ago, but then none of the older cousins were given any houses for Christmas; so maybe they'd simply need to try doing that to find out if any of the other cousins would freak out about that sort of thing. Al sensed and processed everything going on around him, but he didn't talk with Gwendolyn about any of that; and was happy to just be at her side and enjoying the moment.

They couldn't get too enthusiastic about the thank-you hugs and kisses without getting razzed by at least some of the others in the room, but there were some hugs and kisses; they cuddled together after opening their gifts for a while; and then they were on kid control in the games room for just a half hour while Kirley and Gwenog finished up with getting dinner on the table with help from most of the older cousins. There were assigned place settings for dinner, and Gwendolyn had expected to be on kid control during dinner too; so she was happily surprised when she and Al were put between her Aunt Meghan and Uncle Darien on Al's side; and Don and Candice on her side of their two chairs. They had Jonah and Katrina across from them; her parents at the end closest to Al; and Jones and McCormack grandparents near-enough to talk to as well; so they were going to get to have a mostly-adult conversation instead of talking toys and games with the kids.

"How did we end up anywhere near the two of you for dinner?" Meghan teased; though she'd spoken loudly-enough for Gwenog to overhear her. "I didn't expect to get many chances to talk to you very often between now and when you go to work for the Harpies after you graduate."

"I love you, Aunt Meghan, but Mum knows that you don't have any chance of getting me to come and play for the Prides – just as Dad has no chance of getting me to start a music career."

"I might be willing to negotiate some special exemptions so you could do both if you bring Al along with you to the Prides," Meghan told her; and laughed when Gwenog gave her a hard look while Kirley tried to look piously innocent.

"You won't be making many saves in your next match if you're a woodlouse," Gwenog told her ominously; "and you'll wish you were a woodlouse if you start colluding with your sister to steal Gwendolyn from me and the Harpies," she added; turning that same hard look on her husband.

"You already have two-thirds of a pretty good Chaser trio put together," Gwendolyn reminded her aunt; "and I'll guess that you've also got your eye on Francine."

"We are doing that," Meghan agreed, "but we'd upgrade if we could get the two of you when you're done at Hogwarts."

"What's you'r plan to get Al to pick the Prides over going to play for Rose's future championship Cannons' team?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin for Al that had her aunt laughing.

"Do you really think I'll need to compete against an impossible dream?" Meghan countered. "I'd count on Al wanting to play on the same team with you, and since that isn't possible with the Harpies; then coming to play for my team would be a perfect solution!"

"Except for the problem you'd have with enjoying having them on your team while spending the rest of your life as a woodlouse," Gwenog reminded her.

"I might be willing to pay that price for my future Prides' team," Meghan joked. "I really didn't want to drag the joke out this long, though, and it's Christmas; so let's talk about something else instead – like whether Al's changed his mind about coming to the Prides' teen day next week."

That last barb wasn't the end of the Quidditch talk, since that was all but impossible in Gwendolyn's family, but they did take the conversation in another direction while filling plates and beginning to enjoy their Christmas feast. Discussing work among the adults also, obviously, included Quidditch, but they also chatted about Kirley's music; and what some of the other aunts, uncles, and cousins were doing with their various jobs. One of the newest news stories for the family was that Gwendolyn's eldest cousin, Tony Jones, and his wife, Jenny, were expecting the first baby for the next generation. Al found it a bit amusing that there would only be about seven years between the youngest Jones' cousin for Gwendolyn's generation and the first-born of the next; but then there were seventeen years between Tony and Brett. While he was brought into the chat from time-to-time, Al mostly just listened in; and found it easy to follow multiple conversations going on around the table at the same time.

"Is there anything I'm missing that you think I should know?" Gwendolyn asked in a whisper while leaning close to him so she wouldn't be overheard.

"I can give you the full report later," he offered; "but I doubt you've missed anything important – unless you'd like confirmation on which cousins are currently crushing on you."

Gwendolyn laughed quietly. "I'd rather know which of my cousins are crushing on you so that I can have a little talk with them later. I've already had to deal with that for those cute little Harpies' daughters just a few days ago; and don't want that sort of thing to be a trend for the rest of the holidays."

"Then I should definitely not tell you about that," Al told her; looking very serious. "If I do play for the Cannons with Rose, we'll need every future fan we can get; and it's so hard to buy tickets when you're a bug."

Gwendolyn laughed again and gave Al a half-hug. "You are so lucky that was funny-enough to keep you from getting into trouble for that answer."

They were both diverted from that micro-chat when she was asked a question by Candice, and as Al returned to his multi-level listening; he began to think about everything that was going on around him as a bunch of cameo moements that added up to the entire Christmas dinner experience. They all added up to a brilliant couple of hours of food and fun; and then he and Gwendolyn moved on to help with the major clean-up that needed to be done once they'd finished having dessert. Grandparents were put in charge of kid control while that happened, but while Al and Gwendolyn were the only underage workers; they'd only been allowed to help out because they could use their handy charm bracelet and seashells. Helping out allowed them to have a bit more time with the young adults and parents, but they did the work because they wanted to help Kirley and Gwenog; so the fun on the side as they worked was just a great added bonus.

The kids and teens were playing with new toys and back to the gaming and other fun in the games room by the time that Al and Gwendolyn joined them again; so they joined in for the fun – and again did that with the younger kids more than the teens. It was still only early-evening by then; so the parents allowed the kids to play on for nearly another hour; and then they all got together in the sitting room again for some more family time as a wind-down to the end of the party. Music was a comparatively-new tradition for the McCormack family, since it had started with Kirley, but that now-annual entertainment was popular with Gwendolyn's family; and she'd known that her father would draft her – and Al – for providing some of that entertainment. Kirley started out with a Christmas songs sing-along; handed things off to Al and Gwendolyn after that; and then they ended up singing and playing for more than a half-hour when the requests kept coming after the two songs Gwendolyn had hoped that they could get away with before passing the melodic torch on to Jonah – or back to Kirley. She did eventually get to do that; they grabbed cold drinks after they were done; and ended up sitting down near Gwendolyn's cousins, Cordelia Jones, Donna Deverill, and their boyfriends.

"We've heard you getting teased abut starting a band; so we won't talk about just how good that was," Cordelia teased; earning some laughs from everyone closest to them. "The good news for you today is that none of the Quidditch parents wanted to go out into the cold; so you don't have to give us a Quidditch demonstration too."

"From what I heard about the Christmas dance at Hogwarts; Al should hope that there aren't any requests for the Animorphmagus song," Oliver Flume suggested with a grin for Al. "Did you really do all of the animal Transfigurations that were called out when the Graves Robbers sang it?"

"I did a few of them," Al admitted with a shrug. "It seemed worth the try to keep everyone from singing that song half the night."

"Well, if you do suggest that to Uncle Kirley; don't pick any large animals," Donna told Oliver. "We're already a bit crowded in here; and adding an elephant could get some of us squished."

That didn't happen, but Oliver's suggestion quickly got some traction; Kirley was happy to take that song request; and Al ended up doing a total of eight animal transfigurations that Gwendolyn put an end to when one of her cousins wanted to keep Al the Kneazle for her permanent cuddle buddy and pet. She took possessive custody of Al for some cuddling after he was set free and allowed to change back; and the musical entertainment returned to Christmas songs until it was time for parents to start taking their tired kids home for the night. Getting everything from gifts to leftovers packages ready to go with each family took a while; so it was more than an hour between the first and last departures. Al was the last guest standing once all of Gwendolyn's extended family had gone, but he didn't leave for home right away either because he and Gwendolyn – and Jonah – were drafted to help with the post-party clean-up. That took nearly another hour; they followed that up with a drinks and chat break; and then Gwendolyn took Al off to the music room for a bit of privacy when it was time to say goodnight to him in a non-verbal, Christmas snogging sort of way.

Al took the Floo Network home while Gwenog only made sure he got there safely through a mirror chat with Ginny. Once there, it was time for a longer chat with his parents and Lily, but it was getting late by then; so Harry and Ginny wanted to save the full Christmas re-cap for the morning. Lily didn't want to wait, so when their parents went to bed; Al and Lily stayed in the sitting room so that they could talk for a while longer while half-watching a Muggle Christmas movie on the television. They didn't cuddle together, but Al and Lily did stretch out at opposite ends of the same sofa and shared a blanket while winding down from the day.

"I'd have you change into puppy mode to keep my feet warm; but then it'd be too hard to understand your side of the conversation," Lily teased.

"You do have Holly to cuddle with," Al pointed out; "and I already had problems earlier when one of Gwendolyn's cousins wanted to keep me as a kneazle – and take me home with her."

"That would have been cute with the younger girls; and a bit weird if it was one of Gwendolyn's adult cousins," Lily suggested. "Were you asked to do that for the song or just random demonstration?"

"The song; and the kneazle verse had been Christy's choice for her verse; which was why I hopped up into her lap and ended up captured."

"So you got roped into singing with Gwendolyn for more than a half hour and doing the Animorphmagus show," Lily summarized. "Did you have a Quidditch scrimmage too that you haven't told me about yet?"

"No, but not doing that too was what led to the original joke about me doing the Animorphmagus song demonstrations instead. You would have loved being there too, and I had a lot of fun today; but your quieter Christmas would have been nice too – especially when it'll be just as crazy at the Burrow on Saturday."

"I'm not sure that you can use the word 'quiet' in connection with anything that Aunt Muriel is doing; but I'll concede that we weren't as busy as you were," Lily told him. "We really have had a good day here, though; and it's been great to have half of a day with our parents, grandparents, and Aunt Muriel to myself."

"Well, I definitely don't want to mess with all of the happy for either of us, but Mum and Dad didn't mention James at all; and I can't resist asking whether you were able to talk with him today – other than that non-mirror-chat when we first got up this morning."

Lily frowned and shook her head. "We didn't; and Mum tried at least six times that I know of; and likely a few that I didn't see her try. Honestly, Al, I'm glad that he didn't mess anything up for you or me today, but would it really have killed James to play nice for a few minutes with Mum and Dad – and thank them for the gifts they sent him."

"Maybe he's having too much fun," Al suggested. "I'm not even feeling all that guilty right now about how much better my Christmas has been this year without James around here; and I'm glad that he didn't bother to send any gifts to us either – though it's crap that he didn't do anything for Mum and Dad."

"Maybe he gave himself a memory charm that had him forget he has a family," Lily offered with a sardonic grin. "If he's actually having too much fun there when none of his friends are at Hogwarts with him; then I feel sorry for the unlucky Witch that he's probably messing with to keep entertained – or the students he's messing with by pranking or ambushing them."

"We do have a theory on the go that he'll be good while I'm here so that any problems that happen after we get back are my fault – not his," Al reminded her. "I'll pretend not to think about the other half of your comment; since I really, really don't want to know anything about things like that for James – or for you either."

"Neither do I," Lily agreed, "but unfortunately for me; those stories make the rounds with the Witches whether I want to hear about them or not. It's a bit scary to find out just how many Witches are attracted to James despite – or because of – his bad boy reputation – or they're so gullible and believe all of the lies." She shook her head. "We don't want to go there; so let's talk about anything else – like the shopping trip tomorrow or our study session and Quidditch practice on Friday."

They did that; traded more home and away holiday stories; and eventually settled in and actually watched the last half-hour or so of the Christmas movie. It was getting a bit too late for Al by then when he wanted to be up at normal time to get ready for their shopping adventure with family and friends; so they straightened up the sitting room; and headed up to their rooms. Christmas Day was over by then, but they were only about a quarter of the way into their Christmas holidays with a lot of fun and adventure yet to come. Al was thinking about that as he got ready for bed and then settled in to get a handful of hours of nap time. He was looking forward to the days ahead in a way that he hadn't since before James started at Hogwarts and came home for holidays. While there truly was some guilt over it, that didn't change the reality for Al that he really was happier with James at Hogwarts; and he was discovering that he could deal with that guilt and still have a lot of fun too. He'd be getting back to that in the morning, and with nothing to worry about, when Al did finally fall asleep; it was into a world of happy dreams that went along perfectly with what had been a brilliant, happiest of Christmases ever-so-far!


	29. And a Wild and Wintry New Year

**Chapter Twenty-Nine – And a Wild and Wintry New Year**

It didn't feel as though Christmas was over when Al woke on Thursday morning and got ready for the day. He did have a lot of reasons to be filled with cheer, though; and he was in a great mood as he went downstairs to the kitchen and got started on making an easy, but hot breakfast for four so that they'd all be ready for a busy shopping or work day. That work was well-underway by the time Harry joined him, so he poured a cup of coffee; and sat down at the table to talk while Al worked.

"So, what do you have planned to top your big surprise on Boxing Day last year?" Harry joked after they'd exchanged the usual morning pleasantries.

"Nothing. I've learned my lesson; and don't plan on being the target for any future hit songs."

Harry laughed. "I'd comment on that; but then you might decide that there should have been some songs about me when I was at Hogwarts. In hindsight; a few wheezes and a lot of bad jokes seem easy by comparison."

"Now that you've mentioned it, that is tempting; but Gwendolyn and I will resist the urge to immortalize your teen dating disasters or other, less-funny adventures in song. You did forget the books and Merlin-only-knows how many newspaper articles that have been written about you. I'd say I've had it easy so far."

"Let's compare notes on that in another twenty years," Harry suggested. "You've had your fair share of adventures already too; though I'd be okay with it if you had fewer of them for a while now too."

"He's going shopping on Boxing Day with a bunch of Witches," Lily told him as she walked into the room and went to him for a hug and kiss. "There is no chance at all that Al won't be in the thick of it for the best adventures to be found anywhere today!" She smiled at Al while walking over to him for the second hug of the morning. "He's a trouble magnet too; so you might just be hoping for the impossible."

"Probably," Harry agreed; "but he's been trouble-free so far this holiday; so maybe there is reason for hope."

"He obviously hasn't told you about his Animorphmagus trouble from yesterday yet," she offered with a laugh. "One of Gwendolyn's cousins wanted to keep Al – as her new pet kneazle. Gwendolyn didn't think that was a good idea at all."

"I'll guess that it was one of her younger cousins; since Al didn't come home in an unbreakable jar last night," Harry teased. "We should wait for your mother to get here before starting in on the Christmas Day recap, though; so you should tell us all about what you want to do on your shopping trip while we wait – unless you'd rather hear all about the end-of-year meetings I'll be busy with all day."

Lily went with option one; had fun with that; and then they all enjoyed Al's breakfast offerings while trading Christmas adventure stories. Al had definitely been at the more-exciting party, but Harry, Ginny, and Lily had loved having a calmer day, and unlike James; they thought that they were lucky to get to have Molly, Arthur, and Muriel all to themselves every other Christmas Day – something that none of Ginny's brothers and their families ever got to do with her parents and aunt at Christmas. After eating, they worked together to get the clean-up done; they all headed to Diagon Alley together; and then Harry went on to Auror Headquarters after a very short visit with Hannah and Neville at the Leaky. Ginny, Al, and Lily ended up having cups of hot chocolate at the Leaky while waiting for the rest of their shopping gang to arrive; and then they headed out into Diagon Alley and split up into smaller groups as they spread out to check out the sales that were going on in every store and shop.

Doing that with Gwendolyn was really the only thing that Al needed to have a great day; though he did pick up a few things too – even if his purchases were small by comparison to the girls. They spent most of the morning in Diagon Alley; went to their favorite Muggle Mall in time for a bit more shopping before having lunch in the food court; Al and Gwendolyn had fun trading shopping stories with the other teens and tweens while enjoying the fast food; and then they waded back out into the mall for an afternoon of bargain hunting – and some clothes shopping for the teens that needed to replace clothes they'd out-grown since August. Al again picked up a few things; but was happiest when he was simply acting as Gwendolyn's porter and sidekick as she shopped with Lily, Ginny, and a half-dozen other teens and mothers. Getting paid for the help with hugs and kisses had a lot to do with why he had so much fun; but helping to make sure that Gwendolyn had a blast too was just as important.

After an all-day shopping adventure, and with a busy weekend ahead of them; having a quiet night at home on Thursday was something that they all wanted and needed. That's why Gwendolyn and Jonah went home for the night with Kirley while Al and Lily had an easy-meal dinner and uneventful evening of mirror network shows and chat time for four that was blissfully free of any teen drama at all. Going off to bed early was an option too, and while Al was first to head upstairs; that had mostly been to have an early bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn that added another hour or so of quiet fun to his day before they were both ready to crash and nap for the night.

"I cannot tell from your expression whether things went well for you today or not," Thomas told Scorpius once his picture was set up on the table and his young protégé had flopped into the armchair. Scorpius sighed and shrugged.

"That might depend on what you're comparing it to. Being here is a lot better than being at home, but according to James Potter; I'm apparently not having any fun at all compared to how brilliantly his Christmas holiday is going so far this year."

"Let me guess – it's about that Witch he's been messing around with," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius laughed.

"I'm not suggesting that I'd want to have anything to do with her," he protested.

"I'm not saying that, but you are of the age when being interested in that sort of thing can consume your thoughts; and it can be annoying to have another Wizard flaunt his intimate exploits – as I expect Mr. Potter has been doing by your reactions."

"He's as crude about such things as some of the guys in my House," Scorpius admitted; "but you don't want to talk about that, I'm sure – and we did talk about other things while playing Quidditch that you will find interesting."

"I'm sure of that; though be very cautious about everything he tells you; since it could be very difficult to discern truth from lies with a personality such as his."

"You haven't even met him," Scorpius pointed out; and Thomas nodded in agreement.

"True, but unless you plan on confiding in him about me – and I strongly recommend that you don't do that; then I'll have to base my opinions on your perceptions and the accuracy of what you tell me. James Potter may truly hate his own family, and that could be very useful to our cause; but he could also just be an entitled, rebellious, out-of-control teen going through a hate-the-world phase."

"He's probably both," Scorpius suggested with a laugh. "There are definitely things that he hates his parents for; and I'd say that he blames his brother for all of his problems. From the hints I got today; maybe I've more reason to hate his parents too."

"You don't have enough reason for that already?" Thomas joked; and Scorpius smiled.

"Yes, but James gave me some confirmation today about something we've heard stories about; but with some hints that there's more we don't know about it. We had no reason to doubt the news that Grimmauld Place is now the home for Teddy and Victoire; since that news was easy-enough to verify through contacts my family still has within the Ministry of Magic. What I didn't know was that Harry and Ginny Potter gave the place to them! My parents and grandparents had guessed that it was left to Teddy somehow – and hate the fact that he's defiling my grandmother's heritage; but that's apparently not true."

"I do not know why they would believe that," Thomas told him seriously. "We knew during the war that Sirius Black had left his estate to Harry Potter – not to anyone in his own family."

"I didn't know that," Scorpius admitted with a nod. "Dad told me that Teddy must have been left the Black family home by his Mum; since she was closest to their cousin. Regardless, this is one of the reasons that I think that James now hates his parents – because they gave Grimmauld Place to his cousin and her husband."

"I hadn't been there in a long time before my death; but I wouldn't have expected that house to be anything that our enemies would covet at all."

"I'd have agreed – except that James hinted that Grimmauld Place has been cleaned up. He was talking about it, and I mentioned that I'd heard the place was a horror; but all he told me was that it isn't anymore."

"So James believes that his own inheritance has been given away?" Thomas offered next; and Scorpius nodded again.

"That's my current guess," he agreed. "I find that amusing when my parents and grandparents believe that Sirius did exactly the same thing to them by giving away the Black family estate to disinherited members of my family – whether that was directly or through Harry Potter."

"As I said, we had learned that the place had been given to Harry Potter, but if they actually believed he'd then give it to your parents; then they've all grown a bit senile over the past two decades. This does suggest that James could be swayed to our side; and it is information that we can use – though I'm surprised that he's talking about such things with you already."

"He was trying to one-up me on the lousy home life stories," Scorpius explained. "I do at least still have a family mansion to live in while his was given away; and he's stuck living in a dump out in the middle of nowhere."

"I'd suggest that both of those options are preferable to the orphanage of my childhood; but that is always a matter of perspective."

"Does it really matter how nice the prison is?" Scorpius countered; and Thomas laughed.

"Yes, it does – and you know it. You may not have thought about it, but I was once one of these kids that you sneer at for having no choice but to be here at Hogwarts at Christmas. I too could have gone back to the orphanage at christmas; but chose not to as often as possible. We share some reasons for wanting to do that – like being able to continue using magic; but you cannot truly relate to true poverty; or what it takes to rise above it."

"I suppose, but now you're sounding a bit too much like James," Scorpius told him; his agreement somewhat dubious for Thomas' assertions. "He's going to play in the show and be even more famous than his parents; get rich; and then tell his whole family to sod off."

"Well, that isn't quite as noble as your goal to restore all true purebloods to their rightful place as rulers of the Wizarding World; but it is something we could work with – especially if you're still planning on doing that one Quidditch fan at a time!"

It was Scorpius' turn to laugh at that. "James might believe that having me on the same professional team with him would be the same as telling his parents to sod off; but you never know – that suggestion might actually have some merit."

"The scary part of that for me is that a part of you truly believes that's possible."

"Nothing else that's been tried since your war has worked," Scorpius pointed out. "I guess that maybe I do still believe it's possible to raise an army that way – not to mention that many of our enemies play the game; and accidents have been known to happen. I'm sure that James' family would be crushed if their kids suddenly had a rash of career-ending fatalities."

"That isn't a future that I can picture with any seriousness; but feel free to imagine such nonsense if it amuses you. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about; or should we move on to your lesson?"

Scorpius thought about that before answering. "I suppose it isn't very important, but James also told me that he was missing out on the annual Boxing Day shopping trip with many of the Witches in his family. The only reason I could see for that being useful would be in the future if we wanted to go after many of them all at once – though we could do that at Harpies' Quidditch matches too."

"You'd need an army to go up against a stadium full of Witches and Wizards – unless they were all on your side," Thomas pointed out. "It wouldn't be any easier in Diagon Alley – and possibly more-difficult if the Goblins join in to fight against you."

"Your Death Eaters attacked at the World Cup in ninety-four," Scorpius reminded him; so you once thought it was a good idea."

"If that is what your grandparents believe; then they are mistaken," Thomas told him. "They did that on their own – before my return from the half-life the following spring. Their goals were also different; since they wanted to cause terror and fear instead of an outright attack on the spectators. Whatever they've told you, they were a handful against a hundred thousand or more; and only an idiot would start a true fight against those odds – even with a surprise attack!"

"I agree with you on that," Scorpius assured him, "but a surprise attack for something more specific – like the execution of the Potter family in front of all of those witnesses – might be a brilliant opening move on the way to our return to power."

Thomas smiled and shrugged. "I've had similar dreams of such victories, but since any such plans must wait until you have become the leader of the true purebloods of the Wizarding World, let's set aside such musings; and work on more practical lessons that will help you to get to the point someday where such suggestions can be considered more seriously."

Scorpius felt slightly rebuked by that comment somehow, but wanted to play with the magic more than he wanted to argue the point; so they got to work and spent the rest of the evening on that until he needed to be back in his House ahead of the extended holiday curfew that wasn't really enforced anyway. While that had been fun, once he was back in his dorm room; he again had too much time to think about James' boasting over how he was spending his nights this week; and wished that he could be having that kind of fun too. That wasn't going to be an option for him when his standards were so much higher than they were for James; and none of the available Witches staying for the holidays were worthy of him – regardless of what they looked like. Those thoughts had him wondering if he'd have been better off at home for the holiday, since he would have at least been able to spend time with Terri and have that kind of fun too; but he eventually decided that the downside of being home wasn't worth it – and he could always make up for the lack of play time with his girlfriend once she was back at Hogwarts again!

While that was certainly true; he also made a mental note to himself to coax Terri into staying too for the next holiday he spent at Hogwarts – whether that would be this coming Easter or again next Christmas.

Now that might be something that would get James to shut up about his own exploits – if half of his claims were even to be believed! It was also a cheery thought – and gave him something to muse over and plan for while he had so much extra time on his hands. The Quidditch with James and lessons with Thomas were the highlights of his holidays so far, but there were still far too many empty hours; no friends to hang out with; and nothing to do the rest of the time. That thought was somewhat amusing, since he wished to have fewer interruptions from his friends when they were all at Hogwarts too; but it was apparently possible for him to actually miss having them around.

He did have time now, though; so maybe he could come up with some plans to get a balance for the rest of the year between where he was now and the too-much stupid for his liking when the entire gang was here!

Friday was booked for their second study and Quidditch day of the holidays; and Al and Lily were hosting it; so he was up early to not only get ready for the day and cook breakfast; but to get everything ready for the study session in the dining room too. Lily helped out with some of the work too; but did more of that after breakfast while Al took care of the kitchen clean-up; Ginny did some other chores; and Harry went to work. Gwendolyn and Jonah were among the first to arrive; and Al was especially happy about that because Gwendolyn was also staying overnight so that she wouldn't need to be brought back on Saturday for the Weasley family Christmas. Their happy mood might have been infectious, because all of their friends were happy and smiling by the time they were all there; in the dining room; and getting set up to study – despite the fact that quite a few of them would rather be doing anything else that wasn't their holiday revision! Even Ray noticed that; and was smiling wryly as he mentioned it to everyone after sitting down and while he was still getting his books ready to start working on the first assignment that Rose had picked for them to start with.

"Did Lily use her cheering charm on all of us as we arrived?" he teased. "There might be a law against being this happy at the start of hours of revision. It's a good thing that your Dad's at work already; or he might need to take the lot of us in."

"I didn't," Lily assured him, "and you should know that already; since a joke like that would have all of us laughing like loons if I had. The rest of you might have other reasons for being happy; but I'm really glad that we'll have the whole day to spend together – and have the post-Christmas chat time with my girlfriends while we study."

"I'm more happy about getting to spend the next two days with Al; but the girl chat time today will be fun too," Gwendolyn interjected with a warm smile for Al. "That sounds like something we should get started on too, though; so who would like to start with their Christmas story?"

"Maybe I should start – by wondering why Ray apparently isn't happy because we're getting to spend the day together,' Tory suggested with a mock-frown for Ray.

"I didn't say anything of the sort," Ray protested; and Tory nodded while still frowning at him.

"No, but you did want to know why we were all so happy; so that suggests that you didn't know why."

"Okay, but now I do; so thanks for clearing that up for me!" he declared; sounding desperately hopeful that Tory would let him off the hook.

She did that, so Al tried not to think about what he sensed between them that suggested all was not well between two of their best friends. Tory was then encouraged to tell them about everything she'd been doing since their last study session on Monday. There were multiple chats going on for that; though it was mostly one chat for the third-year teens; a second for the firsties; and some cross-group chat time that was usually led by Lily or Gwendolyn. The studying went pretty well too; and Al once again especially enjoyed not having James around to get in the way of the fun – and he did find all of the work fun. He also liked the tutoring that he and Gwendolyn and Rose did with the younger tweens; though he didn't expect that Lily, Jonah, and Hugo would be asking to join their study group anytime soon.

Ginny stayed home until after lunch, and took care of feeding the gang of teens and tweens; but had Dominique and Lucy come over in time to take over and babysit for the Quidditch practice while she went to work for the afternoon to get ready for the match she was covering on Saturday. Al and Lily didn't have all of their study group there for the practice, since the Hufflepuff members of their group had their own practice to get to; but they did have extra players – including Roxanne when she came over with Fred after lunch; and the other bonus friends and relatives. Instead of leaving them out of the fun, Al and Gwendolyn had everyone do the workout together; and then they rotated all of the players in and out of the game during the scrimmage. That worked out better for Gryffindor than Ravenclaw; and though Lily and Jonah tied the Seeker duel with two catches each before they ran out of time and had to give up the pitch to the senior Gryffindor team; Gryffindor won the match by sixty points. They'd had a really good workout, and Al was ready to get indoors and warmed up again by the time they were done; but then Lily kept that from happening when Dominique came looking for her to join the senior team practice and duel Brandon for their scrimmage.

"I don't want to shock anyone, but I'm actually ready to stop playing Quidditch and go inside to warm up," Lily told Dominique. "If you'd really like a challenge for Brandon, though; you should get Al to play instead."

"You're trying to get me in trouble," Al accused; and Lily grinned at him.

"Yes, and it's going to work too now that Dominique is wondering why I'd suggest it."

"That's true," Dominique agreed. "Consider yourself drafted."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Brandon asked; and Lily turned her brilliant smile on him.

"No, but I have a feeling that you're going to like this duel a lot – and possibly hate it too."

"You're stuck," Gwendolyn told Al. "We'll watch from the windows and make sure you have bonus treats when you're done."

"Depending on how you mean that; I hope that was a royal 'we' for those treats," Lily teased. "Let's leave Al to it; and I'll get you and Rose to help me out with getting the snacks and hot drinks for the rest of us."

"Thanks so much," Al told her; and she laughed unapologetically.

"It's the least you can do for Dominique; since it is all your fault that James isn't here for these holiday practices."

"Some of us were grateful for that," Brandon said; and then smiled ruefully. "Pretend I didn't say that out loud."

Nobody had been surprised at Brandon's sentiment, but the senior team players were surprised when Al could keep up with them during their workout. That was especially true when he not only pushed Dominique during the flying workout but even managed to pass her twice despite the fact that she was on a Lightningbolt. Sure, she was able to pass him again on the next straight section back across the pitch; but that hadn't happened to her at all since getting her new broom. That had impressed the older teens, but Al took that to a new level during the scrimmage; and that was despite the fact that he still needed to hold back while playing against Brandon. They played for a bit more than an hour; and Dominique called an end to the scrimmage when Al made his third catch – possibly because that put the reserve squad ahead by twenty points at the time and she wanted to let them have the rare practice victory.

"Lily was right," Brandon told Al after they'd all landed and had begun to take off their gear. "I both loved and hated that a lot. Why aren't you playing Seeker instead of Chaser?"

"Because I love playing Chaser," Al answered honestly; and then grinned. "It's a bonus that I don't have to worry about Lily hexing me – which she would do if I messed with her plan to be the Harpies' Seeker after she's done school."

"Victoire played Seeker when our team needed her," Dominique pointed out; "but then she didn't have Lily – or James – to worry about the way you do."

"No comment," Al said with a smile; and then returned his attention to Brandon. "There is actually a reason why I had a lot of luck against you today. I took advantage of the way you play against James. It works in your duels with him because he gets frustrated easily; but you had trouble adapting when I didn't do the same things he normally would."

"I thought that you played a lot like James – only better," Brandon admitted; and Al laughed.

"Does it help if I tell you that I did that on purpose? We have learned from the same players in our family and from other friends; but I played that way because it worked against the strategy you have for James – which I actually think is brilliant."

"That's a funny compliment to give me after trouncing me," Brandon said; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"You are a good Seeker, Brandon. There are some Seekers in the show that are defensive players like you are; and they do well-enough with the right team around them."

"Are you recruiting for the Cannons?" Brandon asked suspiciously; earning a round of laughs. "I seriously doubt that I could beat Santini for the job, since he is their best player; and I definitely wouldn't want to be his back-up for the next four years while waiting for you and Rose to graduate – even if that would lead to a league championship someday – impossible as that is to imagine."

"It isn't impossible," Lucy disagreed. "Right now, that has me imagining you beating Lily and the Harpies for that championship – and then you getting turned into a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction by Gwendolyn and Lily." She earned another round of laughs for that joke; and Brandon nodded his agreement.

"If that actually happened; I'd be okay with it – and I'd make my home in the league championship trophy when they were done with me."

Al's cousins and their friends went on to have fun with that for a while; they all went inside to warm up with drinks and snacks; and then most of the teens headed for home before Ginny got back from work and could set Dominique and Lucy free to get on with their weekend. After a double workout; Al went to take a shower and got cleaned up so he'd be ready for their dinner and movie night when it was time to head for London to meet up with Harry after he was done work at Auror Headquarters. Rose and Hugo were the last two kids to be picked up; so Ginny had six kids through until it was time to head for London; and she ended up taking all of them with her to Diagon Alley because Harry and Hermione were both stuck and working late thanks to the same budget meeting. Al would have been happy to have Rose and Hugo come along for their evening out, but Ron was working at the store until close; and Hermione had other plans for the night while he was busy anyway.

The kids-for-parent swap at the Mall had been fun, though; and so was the pizzeria dinner and the action movie they went to see that wasn't big on storyline or plot but had pretty good special effects and lots of fight and chase scenes to go along with blowing stuff up with spectacular pyrotechnics. By then, they were all ready to head home; Lily went along with Ginny for the side-trip to drop Jonah off at his house along the way; and then Harry, Al, and Gwendolyn had a bedtime snack ready for all of them by the time Ginny and Lily caught up with them. That had been a bit awkward for Al, since he sensed that Lily really had wanted to have Jonah stay and go to the Weasley family Christmas with them too; but she also didn't want to do that – partly because she didn't want to deal with the inevitable family jokes if she did start bringing dates to the family Christmases and other parties.

Harry and Ginny headed to bed after their snack break, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily stayed up to watch Lee's show; they had a nice little chat; and then Lily left Al and Gwendolyn in the sitting room so that they could say goodnight to each other without any spectators. They'd been tempted to stay on the sofa and spend the night there together, but decided not to do that the night before that kind of story would be sure to make the rounds with his family. A minor snogging session was an option, though; and they were both smiling and happy – as well as tired – when they went up to bed and then took turns using the bathroom before going off to get some sleep.

Even though Al didn't see Gwendolyn until she and Lily came downstairs with Ginny just as breakfast was being set out on the table; he was in a great mood when he woke up and got ready for the day. Harry beat him to the kitchen by a few minutes; so he joined in to help out with the cooking while three of their favorite girls played dress-up ahead of their family Christmas adventure. They were on the morning work crew at the Burrow, and their Christmas dinner wasn't going to start until after the stores closed for the day in Diagon Alley; so they cooked up a big breakfast ahead of the work – and expected that they'd only have a snack lunch before most of the party guests began arriving in the early afternoon. The father-son chat time was good too; though not about anything important. They discussed Quidditch – including the Cannons' match that was definitely the 'B' game of the day – and the one that Ginny was covering so that she could at least spend some of that time with Ron, Rose, and Hugo while working anyway.

The fun level went up several notches when the girls arrived – and that wasn't only thanks to the round of hugs and kisses before they all sat down to eat. Lily was especially fired up; led the way for keeping everyone entertained while they ate; and wanted to talk about everything from Quidditch to early guesses about what the best and funniest gifts would be this year. Harry and Al did the kitchen clean-up too; but only because the girls had the jobs of getting the gifts rounded up that they'd be taking along to the Burrow and making sure that the pets and Owls had everything they needed while they'd be gone for the day. They were ready to head out on-time; took the Floo Network to the Burrow; and were soon put to work on the long list of chores that Molly had for all of her volunteers.

James had gotten up late on Saturday morning, and although he was as annoyed as always with the need to start the day before he wanted to do that; he wasn't going to pass up on the chance to spend the day in Hogsmeade just because the Professors didn't want their students in town at times when they might really be able to have some fun – and do a bit of partying. Getting up late did have the advantage that he needed to hurry while having breakfast in the Great Hall, and while Malorie sat and talked with him while he ate; he was able to get away with short answers or less while trying to fill up before they'd be allowed to leave for town. She was a lot happier about sharing that imminent adventure with James than he was about going with her, but they still had a bit more than a week of holiday left to go; and James knew that he'd have to make a few little sacrifices if he wanted to keep having fun with her until he'd need to dump her once everyone was back at school a week from Sunday. He wolfed down the last of his third plate full of food when a few of the older teens got up and ready to head outside; he and Mallorie joined the small queue while the first and second-year losers watched on and wished they could go too; and then they were free and starting the long walk to town.

"What should we do today to help make up for you missing out on your family Christmas today?" Malorie asked; her breath coming out in white puffs as she spoke that then dissipated quickly in the strong, icy breeze. She laughed at the grin on his face that answered her question. "Save that thought for later," she suggested. "We've only got a few hours to pick up supplies; and neither of us would want to get kicked out of Honeydukes for the rest of the school year for doing something we shouldn't right there in the store."

It was James' turn to laugh; since that sort of joke seemed very out-of-place with such a plain-looking, shy girl. He did feel a surge of an ego boost too; since he was likely the reason for her more-overt behavior; and then there was also that 'later' part of her comment to look forward to as well.

"I'd have suggested the back room at the wheezes store,' he told her; "but my Uncles might be mad at me right now for blowing them off and staying here instead of working with them over the holidays at the Diagon Alley store."

"Will either of them be at this store today?" Malorie asked; and James shrugged.

"I have no idea. Maybe for the morning, but the Cannons are playing; so Uncle Ron will be at that game this afternoon. It's not as if the store manager here should need the help today with so few students coming to town anyway."

"If your uncles are working and going to a Quidditch match; will there even be many people at your family Christmas? Maybe you won't be missing anything."

"I'm missing out on all of the chores right now," James advised her. "Hours of slaving away in the gardens and usually doing the worst jobs. Mum has a big family, so even if they can't all be there until after work; there will still be a crowd at my grandparents' house – and I'll be glad of not being there to put up with most of them."

"It's strange that you're happy to get away from a big family; while I'd think that was brilliant – especially when you have so many amazing people in your family. Even your cousins here at Hogwarts are all among the best students and Quidditch players here."

James snorted out a derisive laugh. "Yeah, well that gets old fast when you're the only kid in the family that doesn't want to be a good little clone, and since my loser brother has the lot of them turned against me; I'd rather be anywhere other than there today."

"Well, in that case; I'd say we're on the right road for you," Malorie told him; and he didn't notice that she avoided comment on his assertions about his brother or family because she changed the subject. "What do you need to get while we're in town?"

Her question didn't get him talking about anything he really wanted to discuss; and didn't keep him from thinking about his family and the day at the Burrow that he was missing out on by staying at school. That idea had him snorting silently as he mused about what gifts Teddy and Victoire might be given this year to top the mansion last Christmas and the House Elves for their 'big' wedding gift. While he would have gotten out of the work at the Burrow one way or the other; he didn't miss the fights with his parents; and was glad that he wouldn't have to put up with most of his family either – especially now that even his Uncle George and Uncle Ron were proving to be as bad as the rest of them. In fact, he could distinctly picture the teen versions of his uncles pranking their older selves for being so pathetic!

Maybe he should have sent a 'family gift' that would have blown up the lot of them or at least made their day miserable, but that would have likely been a waste of time and money anyway; since the loser would just find a way to save the day.

"Are you still in there somewhere?" Malorie asked; and James smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah. Sorry. What'd I miss?"

"Nothing important," she assured him. "You started to look a bit stormy there, though; and we just can't have that when we're going to make sure that this will be your best-ever family Christmas without the family!"

James laughed. "I like the sound of that a lot,' he assured her. "Maybe I'll make that my new annual holiday tradition!"

Al had worked outside for about half of the morning; dealt with most of the garden and yard chores on his own; and then he'd gotten cleaned up before helping with the rest of the indoors chores until they stopped to have their snack lunch. After that, he and Gwendolyn and Lily were set free to have fun for the rest of the day while the parents took turns helping Molly with the ongoing cooking and baking that had the entire house smelling of Christmas. The Potters had not been the only work volunteers, but they were the core of the group; and some of the helpers had other jobs – like running errands; doing cooking or baking from home; or more fun jobs – like doing some last-minute gift wrapping. Once their work was done, Al and Gwendolyn moved into the sitting room so that they could watch the Quidditch matches on the mirror network. Lily was with them some of the time, but she also took on the job as primary greeter as their family began to arrive; so she was in the kitchen a lot too – at least until more of their cousins arrived and they could all hang out together while watching the Cannons' match.

While Ginny had gone to meet up with Ron, Rose, and Hugo at the stadium after lunch; Fred and Roxanne came over with Angelina; Aiden and Charlene were next to arrive with their parents, Pietr, and Shay-Lynn. Bill and Fleur brought their kids over next, including Victoire; but Teddy was working and wouldn't be done until near-dinnertime. Noel came with Louis too; so Dominique was conspicuously alone – though that didn't seem to bother her at all. Al sensed that was true just as he noticed a lot of what was going on around him while cuddling with Gwendolyn and watching the Quidditch match. What he didn't do was get very involved in the ongoing teen chat around him – unless he was asked a question first.

"How's your future team doing today?" Louis asked him as he and Noel sat down together on the sofa closest to Al. He was grinning as he said that; but Al also noticed that his cousin was actually beginning to believe that might actually happen instead of just having fun with the ongoing joke.

"About as badly as normal," Al answered. "Aren't you glad that Rose is a Keeper too?"

"I am," Louis agreed; "though I have no idea what team I might end up with instead; since we can't play for the Harpies – and Belinda's got the job with United locked up for the next decade or three."

"She is having a pretty good season," Gwendolyn agreed – "though not quite as good as Victoire's rookie year with the Harpies."

"Belinda won't care about that if United wins a championship too," Louis suggested. "She'd likely still be Rookie of the Year too if she can pull that off."

"Well, it's a bit early for speculating on the next league champion; but I can tell you for sure that it won't be the Cannons," Gwendolyn told them with a nod to the mirror. "If Rose was playing for them today instead of watching the match; they'd do better than they are right now."

"Wouldn't that be just as true with you and Al out there?" Noel suggested; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Have you been recruited to help Rose out with her plan?"

Noel smiled and shook her head. "No, but I have seen you play together; and don't know why you wouldn't want to have that kind of fun when you do get to the show – whether that's with the Cannons or another team."

"Gwendolyn and I are going to play for the Harpies," Lily advised all of them as she walked up behind Al and Gwendolyn and put a protective hand on Gwendolyn. "We'll have just as much fun with Victoire and our future girlfriends; and they can always practice Quidditch together whenever Gwendolyn feels the need to have a Chaser duel with him."

"You might want to re-think that plan," Louis told her. "From what I heard at Christmas; Caylee's got her own plan to be the next Harpies' Seeker, but even if she can't talk Aunt Gabrielle into staying with the team until twenty-thirty; she's planning on beating you out for the job if you do that to her Mum."

"Aunt Ginny only wanted the job for five years," Charlene offered. She and Pietr were next to Louis and Noel on that sofa; so they'd been listening in; if not yet commenting to that point. "Maybe Lily and Caylee could do the same thing – with Lily training Caylee to replace her during that fifth year."

"I'm going to play in the show for a lot more than five years," Lily assured her; "so I hope that Caylee has a plan B to fall back on."

"That's basically exactly what Caylee said you should do," Louis advised her. "I hope that you work that out before you both graduate; since I'd hate to see that kind of fight between two of my cousins."

"Do you have any potential future fights like that with your cousins, Gwendolyn?" Charlene asked. "Al won't have that problem, since he can't play for the Harpies and won't have any competition from any of us for a job with the Cannons; but you must have lots of cousins wanting to play Quidditch too."

"The younger ones," Gwendolyn agreed. "The older ones outgrew their Quidditch dreams – or never had them; but I don't have many Chaser cousins so that won't be a problem for me."

"Unless they switch because of you," Lily offered. "I hope not, though; since we'll need future Beaters for our team."

"You don't need them as badly as the Cannons do right now," Louis said. "Note to that idiot – if you're going to defend against a bludger hit on one of your Chasers; don't run him over in the process."

"The Harpies are more likely to have a fight with the Prides over which team will get to hire my cousins," Gwendolyn suggested; "but the Cannons shouldn't wait that long anyway. I don't know why they haven't at least tried to hire two of the Beaters that have been replaced on other teams by now – and there have been quite a few over the past few years."

"Some of those Beaters have retired," Lily pointed out; "but maybe that's all part of Rose's plan. The last thing she'd want over the next few years is for the Cannons to actually start having a good team."

"Well, her plan is working out perfectly today," Louis joked. "They'll be down by more than one-sixty within the first hour if one of the Seekers don't get to it and put the Cannons out of their misery."

It actually took the Cannons closer to two hours to lose and do that in a big way; but that conversation moved on as the girls started to talk about other things – except for the game commentary that was mostly about how bad different plays were for the Cannons. Games were played in the sitting room, but it was cold-enough outside that even Lily wasn't all that interested in putting together a Quidditch scrimmage. The parents wandered in and out of the sitting room to have visits with the teens and tweens; but chat central for them was in the kitchen – especially after Aunt Muriel arrived and held court at the kitchen table. Ron brought Rose and Hugo to the Burrow right after the match, but Ginny needed longer to finish her work at the stadium before getting back too; and they still had a couple of hours after that to wait until George and Teddy could get there after they were each done work for the day. Hermione had gone into work for a while too; but had been at the Burrow both before and after doing that – and only went in to deal with a small problem that the Hit Squad was having with a weekend prisoner. Percy was delayed at the Ministry of Magic too, but in his case; it was simply a matter of make-work; since he didn't actually have any problems within his department. Audrey, Molly, and Lucy didn't wait for him before joining the party at the Burrow, but Lucy had to wait for Alex to join her there because he was working his part-time job over the Christmas holidays.

Since they were having a late dinner and wouldn't be opening gifts until later in the evening; the afternoon fun was a series of cameo moments for Al and Gwendolyn that seemed to blur together in a happy montage of fun. Without James there to cause any conflicts for Al; he could play mirror games without any problems beyond the usual teen competitiveness that was normal; and he generally had more fun than he could remember having at a family party in years. There was some guilt as a counter-point to those happy feelings, and Al sensed his mother's sadness at not having James there with them – particularly because he'd made it so clear that he didn't want to be with them for Christmas. Al could also sense and observe his grandmother's support for her daughter; and knew that she perfectly understood how she felt from her own past-problems with her kids. James wasn't exactly the thousand pound Hippogriff in the room that nobody wanted to talk about; but they generally didn't say anything about him – possibly because Al wasn't the only one feeling guilty about having more fun without their family's current most-mecurial and troublesome member there to cause any major teen drama scenes.

When dinner was nearly-ready, there was a flurry of activity as the food was set out on the table at the same time as the last members of their family arrived at the Burrow from London. That meet and greet was rushed a bit, but then that was also a quick, enthusiastic blast of fun that transitioned into a very lively Christmas dinner. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were together; ended up sitting next to Harry and Ginny; and that placed Al two seats away from Aunt Muriel. She anchored one end of the table with Ginny on one side and Bill on the other, and while proximity wasn't necessary for being able to hear her; it did mean that the teens and tweens closest to her did get a bit more attention – a fact that Al learned sooner instead of later.

"I've heard that you've had another eventful few months at school, Albus," Muriel told him shortly after everyone had finished with filling their plates for the first time. "Heard about the trouble the two of you had some help getting into – and then got back out of again at Halloween; and then one of the great-grandmothers told me all about how you saved those kids from cursed Fanged Frisbees – including one of her own great-grandsons. Are you looking for another of those special service awards; or campaigning already to be Head Boy in your NEWT year?"

Al smiled ruefully and shrugged. "At this point; I'm just trying to get through each day as best I can and hope for the best," he said half-seriously. "I won't deny that I might like to be Head Boy, but since I am such a trouble-magnet; I doubt they'll give me the job."

Muriel laughed at that – along with everyone else that heard Al's answer. "They gave the job to your grandfather, and he was quite the troublemaker at your age; so who's to say what is possible for you?" she teased. "Now that I think of it; the two of you remind me quite a lot of your grandparents."

"Which ones?" Ginny asked her before Al could respond. "If you mean the pair that eloped after graduating from Hogwarts; I should likely be worried." This time, Muriel's laugh was likely heard by everyone in town; and got the attention of everyone at the table.

"Well, they likely have a bit of your Mum and Dad in them too; but I had been thinking of James and Lily – and of you and Harry for that matter."

"That's a really great compliment, Aunt Muriel," Gwendolyn told her. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, dear," Muriel assured her. "Normally, I'd say that such a comparison at your age would be rubbish; but there's no denying that there is something special with the two of you that is beyond your years. Even a senile old windbag like me can see it!"

"You have become far too fond of that awful insult, Aunt Muriel," Ginny admonished; "and it simply isn't true."

"It is funny, though,' George advised her. He and Angelina were across the table from Ginny and closer toward the middle; and his comment earned more laughs – including from Muriel.

"Maybe we should start work on a senile old windbag wheeze," Ron suggested. He and Hermione were next to Rose and Hugo; and nearly-directly across from George and Angelina.

"Oh just get on with it and do it,' Muriel told both men. "Do you honestly believe I haven't heard the jokes about how every family should get to have an Aunt Muriel? You've been talking about it for twenty years or more; so it's a bit late for you to worry about offending me – and you're getting a bit old to still be afraid of Molly."

"We'll never be too old for that," George assured her with a grin for his mother. "Maybe we can talk about this later and come up with something that won't get Ron and me blasted by Mum."

That change in topic got Al out of the spotlight; and he was happy to go back to enjoying his dinner and a quieter chat with Gwendolyn and Rose. They talked with the parents around them too; but not quite as much with the other teens and tweens. A family gathering without wheezes was likely an impossible dream, but all of the dinnertime pranks were meant in fun; and Al survived the one that he ate or drank without any permanent damage – even if he would have preferred to be left out of that kind of fun. The entire meal and evening was still a lot better for him knowing that there wouldn't be any malicious attempts to embarrass him or a never-ending litany of insults directed his way; so Al's first family Christmas without James really was a best-ever-so-far kind of day.

Underage teens were also off the hook for the clean-up after dinner; so Al and Gwendolyn enjoyed hanging out in the sitting room with the rest of the kids – and the grandparents and Moms that were also exempted from the work. Gwendolyn played mirror games while Al was content to cuddle with her and watch the action while they talked with the other teens and adults closest to them. Even with magic, the clean-up in the kitchen took a while; but then it was time for the gift exchange. Lily and Roxanne were in charge of distribution, and since they were two of the most-excited kids in the house; it didn't take them very long at all to get that done so that they could all have fun with opening their gifts and enjoy all of the entertainment and play time that came along with the surprises of all kinds. There weren't any houses or other major gifts given out, but Al found himself in the spotlight again with one of his gifts – a box of the all-new, about-to-be-released Animorphmagus wheezes. It was immediately obvious that quite a few members of his family had been in the know about that gift; since there was a round of laughter at Gwendolyn's exclamation when she saw what he'd been given.

"Animorphmagus wheezes?" she asked and read aloud. "One dozen; assorted; random animal transfigurations." She laughed as she looked over toward George. "Isn't that gift a bit redundant for Al?"

"Yes," he agreed; "but we thought that he should get the first box. They go on sale in our stores tomorrow."

"I'm surprised you didn't get them out in time for Christmas – or on Boxing Day; since that's when most of us found out about that last year," Bill said; and George shrugged.

"We thought about both, but they're a fair bit of work to make; and we'll likely still sell out of our first batch before the kids head back to Hogwarts next weekend."

"Plus we can sell them at full-price," Ron added.

"Last I'd heard; you were working on one candy to do multiple changes," Harry said; directing that at Ron. "Couldn't you get that to work out?"

"No," Ron answered with a shake of his head. "That would have been brilliant; but we couldn't work out a way to keep the transfigurations from getting mixed up before one wore off and the next would start."

"That one is going into our wheezes gone bad pack, though," George added with a grin. "Go on, Al. I'm sure that everyone wants to see what happens when you try one – and Ron and I really want to know if they work differently on an actual Animorphmagus."

Al was in on the laughs for that, but then he tried to prove that he wasn't the dullest member of their family when he ate one of the chocolates; ended up with a lizard transfiguration; and then turned himself into a bunny – that still had the lizard head, skin, and feet. He hopped around while earning a roar of laughter; and then changed back again before going to sit down with Gwendolyn again. She hadn't wanted to hug and kiss him until the wheeze wore off, or even hold his temporarily-clawed hand; but the focus of the fun moved away from Al when Lily, Roxanne, and Hugo were next to try out the new wheezes. That bit of fun was just one moment in many; and they added up to an evening of very happy holiday memories for everyone. It was a work night for some of the adults and teens that would be at stores or the Ministry of Magic on Sunday, but it was till getting late by the time the fun began to wind down and the first group got ready to head out.

Charlie, Julianne, and their four teens were that first group, and for them; it was already past-midnight home time when they left using the international portkey that Harry made up for them out of a discarded gift box. Harry, Ginny, and the kids were the third group to go; and that was mostly because Molly put her foot down and insisted that they'd collectively done more than enough work for the day; and could leave what was left to the rest of the family. Al was good with that plan, since Gwendolyn had already been approved for a second sleepover by then so that she wasn't getting home too late; and some cuddle time in the sitting room after they got home and put their gifts and a leftovers care package away was an option. Harry and Ginny had Lily and Holly for cuddle buddies too for a while, and they caught part of Lee's show; but then Al and Gwendolyn were left alone in the sitting room while everyone else went up to bed.

While they'd both been seriously considering another sofa sleepover pretty much since the decision had been made to have Gwendolyn stay for another night; that decision wasn't made until Lily came back downstairs after getting ready; and she put a warm comforter over Al and Gwendolyn while grinning at them and wishing them a good night again. There were a pair of hugs too; and then Lily practically danced her way back upstairs and went off to bed while leaving a pair of very happy teens in her wake. Lily's admonishment for them to be good had nothing to do with why the snogging session that followed had been quiet and tender instead of too hot to handle with the parents in the house, but getting to fall asleep together had been brilliant; and the morning wake-up call was just as special. For that, Al was awake as early as usual, but he contentedly watched Gwendolyn sleep for a long while before she woke temporarily when he jostled her slightly while trying to get more comfortable. They shared a few kisses and caresses; he took that opportunity to go and get showered and ready for the day while she napped for a while longer; and then he got to work on making breakfast for five in the kitchen.

Harry joined him to help with that before Gwendolyn went upstairs to take her turn in the bathroom; Al and Gwendolyn got teased a bit about their sofa sleepover while having breakfast; and then there were some chores to do around the house before they needed to get packed up and head over to Gwendolyn's house for a play day with both families. The chores had all been of the standard weekend variety; and they were playing catch-up for that after being away for most of Saturday. At the McCormacks' house, the play time included an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage that was possible thanks to extra, drop-in visits from other family and friends. Those visits were informal, but had been by casual invitation; and it gave Gwenog and Kirley a chance to see quite a few friends that they didn't have time to hang out with over the rest of the holidays while Gwenog was busy with Quidditch and Kirley was busier with his music thanks to holiday parties and other work he was dooing with the Weird Sisters and the other groups they worked with – including the Weird Kids and the Graves Robbers.

Lily had wanted to have the Quidditch scrimmage, but it was also very cold out; so they ended up playing to another Seeker draw of one catch each for Lily and Jonah when they were all too cold by then to keep playing when they could be playing other games in a nice, warm house. The teens and kids spent most of the afternoon in the games room; though there were regular visits by parents checking up on their kids; and a rotation of kids as the guests arrived, stayed for short or long visits, and then left again. The Potters were the only family staying for most of the day; and the only guests at the McCormacks for both lunch and dinner. Other than the Quidditch, the rest of the fun for the day was fairly low-key. Al and Gwendolyn stayed out of the spotlight for most of the day, but while Kirley did get them to sing and play a couple of duets; that didn't happen until after dinner – and they only had a handful of guests still there for that bit of musical entertainment. That was also the wind-down family time; Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily home after that; and then Al ended his day with a bit of prep work in his room for what would likely be the last day of revision on Monday for his study group. he also went to bed early; and slept straight through until his normal wake-up time; and that had him fully re-charged and ready to keep the holiday fun going – starting with breakfast for four with his parents and sister.

"You seem to be as excited this morning as I expect Lily to be tomorrow," Harry told him as he walked into the kitchen. "I would have never been that enthusiastic about a study morning when I was your age."

Al laughed and shrugged. "I get to spend most of the day with Gwendolyn again; it'll just be three of us here tonight while Lily's at the McCormacks'; and New Year's Eve day is looking pretty good too – even if I can't get an invite to teen day with the Harpies."

"You don't talk about it at all; but how many invitations did you get with other teams? There's no way that at least some of them wouldn't invite one of the junior team Captains."

Al shrugged again and smiled. "I'd rather not say. It would just be one more thing that would annoy James if he found out – and it doesn't matter; since I'm not interested in doing them anyway."

"Is there a reason for that?" Harry asked next. "Most teens find those workouts and luncheons with the pro teams very helpful – and a lot of fun."

"Would you believe that I'm trying to subconsciously help Rose with her plan for the Cannons; and don't want the other teams to find out just how good one of her future players is going to be?" he joked with a grin; and Harry laughed.

"Yeah, I would; though that isn't keeping Rose from going to the teen days with the Harpies every year."

"She's trying to learn everything she can about how to run a successful team," Al reminded him. "I don't think that her dream is as impossible as everyone believes, but whatever happens; it's going to be fun watching her try to make that dream come true."

"And fun to help her," Harry added knowingly. "Getting back to those invitations, though; don't you think that people will notice that you're the only member of your entire team not going to one of the team teen days?"

"I'm not the only one," Al disagreed; and then smiled at Harry's reaction. "I'm including the reserve squad for that," he explained. "Scott, Romeo, and Hunter aren't going to any of the workout-luncheons."

"With it just being a coincidence that all three of them are Muggleborn," Harry pointed out. "I'd have never been allowed to do something like that by my aunt and uncle either; so I'll take a wild guess that they didn't even try to get permission from their parents." He nodded at Al's reaction to that comment. "So they did at least get one or more invitations each," he deduced. Instead of going on about that when you obviously don't want to talk about it, though; is there anything you'd like to do with your sibling free night with the parents?"

"Let's just stay home and do nothing," Al answered seriously. "You've got the teen day with the Aurors and more meetings tomorrow, and Mom's working in the morning and shopping with a gang of kids in the afternoon ahead of the New Year's Eve party here; so a do-nothing night sounds pretty good to me."

"Okay, but if we're doing that; then I should at least bring dinner home with me so we don't have the cooking and cleaning too," Harry offered. "Any preferences?"

That question was something they discussed for a few minutes while working together on breakfast; and then the conversation moved on as Lily and Ginny each joined them in the kitchen within a few minutes of each other. Lily wanted to talk about Quidditch – both for their afternoon team workout plan and her first Harpies' teen day adventure on Tuesday. Quidditch was a top chat topic during their morning studying too, and while he didn't say anything about it; Al was quietly amused that the Cannons didn't come up at all with Rose and their friends when he'd half-expected it after his pre-breakfast chat with his father. The studying was fun thanks to spending that time with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group; and they were all happy about getting their holiday revision finished with most of a week left to go in the Christmas break. All of the teens and tweens stayed for a pizza lunch that Ginny brought home with her after a morning visit with the Wasps as they were getting ready for their big match against the Harpies on Saturday. Ginny brought Lucy home with her and Dominique came over for lunch too; and then they stayed to supervise the junior team practice while Ginny went out to work again for the afternoon.

Most of the non-Quidditch study group members and Hufflepuff team players headed out after lunch; while the rest of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor players arrived for the practice – with some of them getting there in time to help out with polishing off the pizza leftovers. Denise Creevey was the only non-player to stay for the afternoon too, but while she did that to spend more time with Lily after the practice; she was also happy to stay indoors with Dominique and Lucy while they watched the show from the comfort of the warm house. Al and Gwendolyn led their teams outside once everyone was there; they kept the warm-up and workout comparatively short; and then had an extended scrimmage to a best-of-three catches that Lily might have won because Jonah backed off just so that they could get done and go indoors to warm up again after an hour and a half of extreme flying fun. Lily was ready to go in by then, but when she didn't have any luck trying to get Al drafted for the senior team Seeker duel with Brandon; she stayed outside and worked with him for a half-hour of Dominique's scrimmage before leaving him to chase the snitch on his own and going inside to thaw out.

All of the players stayed for the snacks, drinks, and some mirror gaming before heading home or waiting to be picked up by parents after work; and that included most of the senior team players once they were finished their workout. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any alone time with a house full of teens and tweens, but they were kept entertained – even when Al was also busy with the work that went along with hosting the snacks and drinks breaks for everyone and keeping up with the clean-up that was ongoing with that many kids in the house. Ginny got home early; joined in for some of the gaming fun with the older teens; and had fun with the cameo chats with various parents as they stopped by to collect their kids. That included a longer chat with Gwenog when she came over to get Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Lily; though that was more to give Al and Gwendolyn time to say goodbye than for anything else – especially since Lily had been packed and ready to go since shortly-after their Quidditch practices had ended.

The McCormacks weren't the last group to leave; so Al was able to hang out with Rose and Hugo until Hermione came to get them – and she only got there ahead of Harry because he stopped for the take-out food on the way home from Auror Headquarters. Al was a bit surprised that his parents didn't just invite Rose, Hugo, and their parents to join them for dinner, but they must have been looking forward to a night with just one kid home as much as he was; and didn't extend the offer to Ron and Hermione. Once Harry was home with the food, it wasn't long until Al was on his own with his parents; they set the kitchen table for dinner for three; and sat down to enjoy their meal. Trading the usual daily updates from work and play kept them entertained for a while, but Al sensed when his father's thoughts turned toward more-serious things; and smiled ruefully as he tried to make that conversational transition easier for both of his parents.

"You want to talk with me about James," he said; jumping into a short lull in their ongoing chat.

"Yes," Harry agreed with a quiet laugh; "but maybe we should start by asking you about just how good you're geting at Divination to know that before I said anything."

"Or not," Ginny told them. "You'll both get side-tracked; and forget about what we do want to discuss – or end up spending the entire evening doing that instead of having some fun too."

"Okay,' Harry agreed; "but we can do a bit of both." He focused his attention on Al then and his expression turned serious. "You know more about what happened with those cursed Fanged Frisbees than you told anyone – including us; and I suspect that more has been going on at school than we've heard about too. Your mother and I think that it's past-time for you to tell us about everything; and we need to do more to help you – even if that could include making some tough decisions that none of us want to face and wish we could avoid."

"You have shown so many extraordinary abilities," Ginny added, "and that's both been good and bad for what's been going on between you and James, but when you're dealing with such dangerous situations; there is no way to know when something will happen that is beyond your abilities. Things have already happened that are far beyond anything we could have ever imagined possible – regardless of how mad James is at you."

"Let's begin with that last attack," Harry told Al next. "What else do you know for sure about it – or at least suspect happened?"

Al sighed. "You're not going to like it," he answered first. "I know that James and Ollie were behind the attack; though I didn't see them do it. You haven't said whether Uncle Bill has found out more about that curse, but I know that it wouldn't have killed me; so it was meant to cause a long, painful illness and what I suspect would have been an incomplete recovery. I have no idea what James and Ollie knew about that curse."

"Then you don't believe they created those Fanged Frisbees," Ginny deduced; and Al nodded; sensing her moderate relief at that news.

"I know they didn't," he agreed; "but didn't learn that from them. Scorpius Malfoy had something to do with it."

"What?" Harry exclaimed; and Al nodded while meeting his father's now-intense focus on him.

"I sensed it from him during the first class we had together once I was out of the hospital wing. "Other Slytherins in our class had more hate for me than normal too, but it was different for Scorpius; and he was furious. Somehow, he had something to do with getting those Frisbees to James. I have no idea where Scorpius could have gotten them from; but it is possible that he was that furious because he believed he got cheated."

"His father is a well-known Dark Arts collector," Ginny pointed out; and Al smiled.

"That was one of my first thoughts," he admitted; "but I just couldn't picture a pair of Fanged Frisbees on the wall or in glass cases in such a collection without laughing."

"I suppose that would be a bit ridiculous," Ginny admitted; though her smile was more grim than amused. "Do you think that James has a new Slytherin friend – or at least an ally?"

Al shrugged. "I've never sensed or seen anything to suggest that; but it is possible – especially after something else that happened back in September on the first Hogsmeade weekend."

"That sounds like the first of many stories we haven't heard about yet," Harry guessed.

"Not the first; but one of a handful," Al agreed. "Gwendolyn and I were walking back to the school from town early so that we could still catch most of the Harpies' match with Lily, Jonah, and their little gang of game-watchers. We were ambushed by James and Ollie from ahead; and from a group of ten Slytherins from behind. They weren't working together, and the Slytherins just took advantage of the situation to jump in, but they did manage to hurt Gwendolyn and me a bit; so it is possible that they've at least considered working together since then." He paused and thought for a moment before continuing. "If James is getting help from any Slytherins; I don't think that he knows it – or is pretending he doesn't if he suspects it. I've had no sense of him being mad at anyone other than me – and he would be mad if he thought that any Slytherins were messing with him."

"Maybe," Harry agreed. "Tell us about some of these other incidents."

Al took another moment to think about how to best respond to that request first. "The next one that might be related happened after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. James tried to shake my hand while supposedly congratulating me in his usual, insulting way, but I sensed that something was wrong and wouldn't do it. He then tried to slap me on the shoulder instead; but I caught the slap with my wrist guard; and the barb that he had been trying to stick me with broke off in it – a poisoned barb."

"And that was right before the Harpers attacked you?" Harry asked. "I'm sure that someone told us that you'd been talking to James and Ollie right before Calvin Harper had tried to bash you in the back of the head. Do you think that there could be a connection – that they were working together?"

"Actually, I don't – or at least I don't think that James, Calvin, and Dave were working together. I don't get any sense of that at all as I'm replaying the memory of what happened. That could have just been another coincidence; though I suppose we can't discount the possibility that someone is playing games with all of us kids from behind the scenes somehow. The poison was a change for James – just as I'd never expect that he'd have the patience to make Polyjuice." He smiled at his father. "I'm sure there's a very good reason why Aunt Hermione made that batch of Polyjuice when you needed it at Hogwarts instead of you or Uncle Ron."

"There were very good reasons," Ginny agreed. "We've thought the same thing about that potion," she added; and then looked at Harry. "If others have become involved in this; you'll need to look into whether there are parents pulling the strings behind what's been going on at Hogwarts – and not just because they're targeting one of our sons."

"Or both of them," Al suggested; getting the immediate attention of both of his parents. "You're assuming that they'resimply trying to hurt me. It wouldn't be the first time that the bad guys tried to recruit someone from our family," he pointed out. "I have no idea whether anything else is going on beyond this being a problem between me, James, and maybe some Slytherin haters, but if that is happening; then it's possible that James is the target; and I'm just collateral damage – or a means to get what they really want by expploiting his hatred for me."

"Now that's a truly scary thought," Ginny said with a slight shudder.

"Let's not go borrowing more trouble than we already have," Harry suggested; "but I will put eyes and ears on this – not that we've heard even a whisper of any new plots against our family – or directed at Hogwarts."

"Either way, we still need to talk with Al about what he – and we – should do heading into the New Year once he's back at school," Ginny said next. "I dread the thought of having James expelled from Hogwarts; but also don't want to be responsible for anyone else being hurt by him – including Al, Lily, Gwendolyn, or any of their cousins and friends. This last time, the matter would have been out of our hands if Headmistress McGonagall had found even a shred of evidence to warrant seriously investigating and questioning James and Ollie – and I suspect that it was only because such a dark curse was used that she gave them any benefit of the doubt at all."

"I'd be happy to try anything you can suggest," Al told them; "but nothing I've done so far makes a difference with James. He also knows that I won't do anything now that would get him expelled; so he's taking advantage of that – even as he's claiming that I'm doing everything I can to get him kicked out."

"That's obviiously working for him with us too," Harry said with a nod. "The problem is that we all want you to be safe while you're at Hogwarts; and conflicted because we're also at a loss for how to make that happen for you. None of the options we've talked about are solutions without potential problems that would be just as bad as the current situation."

"I don't want to be home-schooled until James is done at Hogwarts," Al joked – "especially since Gwendolyn would never agree to stay home and do that with me."

"She'd still get a job offer with the Harpies whether she plays Quidditch at Hogwarts or not," Ginny offered; "and Rose would still hire you for her Cannons team too. That was one of my favorite options."

"We're not going to do that to you, though," Harry promised. "You won't get moved to Ravenclaw or transferred to Beauxbatons either."

"James won't be switching schools either," Ginny added – "though we had other worries about that with him."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "Do you have any ideas for things I can do?"

"We've had lots of ideas," Ginny assured him; "but no solutions that are likely to actually fix the problem."

"James is the only one who can do that," Al told her seriously. "All I'm hoping for right now is a way to keep everyone safe – me included."

"Would it help if I gave you my cloak?" Harry asked.

"You can't do that," Al answered without hesitation. "It protects you; and that's way more important than what little bit of good it might be able to do for me."

"How do you know that – what do you know about your father's invisibility cloak?" Ginny asked him.

"I know what it really is," Al assured her. "Some of the how for that is from putting the bits and pieces of stories together; but I can also sense it now - just as I can sense other magic going on around me."

"I guess there's no point in being surprised at that," Harry decided. "It could protect you instead of me, though; and that's more important to me."

"I know," Al agreed; "but even the idea of it feels wrong to me. I'm not meant to have your cloak now – and maybe not ever."

"Meant to be or not; it might still be what's best for you," Harry offered; but Al shook his head.

"No, it wouldn't be," he disagreed. "I won't take it even if you try to insist; so let's talk about anything else we can do that might help without putting you in danger instead of me. Like it or not, keeping the Head of the Aurors around is way more important than worrying about a future Chaser for the Chudley Cannons." That half-joke earned him a pair of laughs; though he also knew that neither parent was happy about how that part of their chat had gone.

"Well, our next option was to have your father take a leave of absence from the Aurors to teach at Hogwarts for a year or three," Ginny teased; and it was her turn to earn a pair of laughs. "We thought that Harry would be safer with the Aurors without his cloak than with it at Hogwarts with all of those teens; but maybe we're wrong about that."

"Probably not," Harry offered; "but then we weren't really interested in that option anyway – and Al obviously hates the idea too."

"I do," Al agreed; still smiling as he could easily picture James' reaction to having their father show up at the welcome back feast in the Great Hall on Sunday night. "We really will be happy to try anything you think might actually help, but short of knowing ahead of time what James is going to try next; I don't see what other choice we have except to just deal with him as best we can." He paused for a moment as he considered another possibility before continuing. "There is something we haven't talked about, though; and that's whether I'll have any problems in the near future anyway while James and Ollie are feuding. I'm not suggesting that James definitely wouldn't try something on his own against me, but no matter how mad he is at me; he does know that his chances of success go way down without Ollie's help with his ambushes."

"If they've been getting other help; that might not matter," Harry pointed out; and Al nodded.

"True, but if things between them stay as nasty as they were before we came home with Ollie; James is more likely to use that help against him instead of me." He laughed at both his own reaction to that thought and what he saw from his parents. "Okay, yes, I'd try to stop something bad from happening to Ollie, and James could think that would be a great two-for-one deal too good to pass up; but let's consider the possibility that James will just be too distracted at least for a while once we're all back at Hogwarts. His fight with Ollie isn't his only upcoming problem. He'll have one or two Witches mad at him depending on how he deals with Pamela and Bristol; he'll have missed about two months of Quidditch practice time and could have problems with the senior team if he isn't ready to go for the match in February; and I won't be surprised if he still has problems with his classes too. That one will keep piling up on him; and it's getting to be a bigger deal now that he's a half-year away from his OWL year."

"How is it possible for you to sound like an optimist while pointing out all of that bad?" Ginny asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I'd answer that; but it would just confirm what James has been saying all along – or at least that all of that bad for him would be good for me."

"There does seem to be one thing you're leaving out of this theory," Harry told him. "Haven't you also suggested that James might be playing nice at Hogwarts over the holidays so that he can blame you for any trouble that starts up once you're back there next week? That would only work for him if there was trouble soon after your return to the school."

Al smiled ruefully at him. "You weren't supposed to remember that until at least sometime after we were back at school," he joked; and then shrugged. "James could go there too, but wouldn't necessarily need to try anything serious to make that point. He might not even need to do anything more than simply blame me for anything bad that happens to him – or for any pranks or ambushes that happen around the school – especially if there haven't been any while he's been there and I've been home."

"Okay, we'll run with that theory for now; since we don't really seem to have come up with anything to help you anyway," Harry decided. "Before we move on from James, though; we should talk about how we can deal with the Easter break too."

"I could camp in the back yard for the week," Al offered seriously.

"Would that be a week of camping with Gwendolyn?" Ginny guessed; and then laughed at Al's answering grin. "We'll see about letting you do some camping, but my guess is that James will sign up to stay at school again; and he'll have the added excuse that most of his Quidditch team will be staying to study. I know for sure that Dominique, Lucy, and Louis are staying; and I expect that Olivia and the McClaggen brothers will stay there over Easter too."

"If some of their study ethic would rub off on James; I'd say that would be a week well-spent," Harry joked and then laughed at himself. "Maybe we should keep that one to ourselves; since Hermione would find that comment ridiculous coming from me."

"No doubt," Ginny agreed. "You did catch on eventually, though; and we can hope that'll happen for James too." She smiled at Al. "Any thoughts on that?"

"Not really," he decided with a shake of his head. "A lot can hapen between now and Easter; and I have no idea what James will want to do. He wasn't worried about those team practices for this holiday – or any of them since their match in November."

"You don't think that he's lost his nerve for the game, do you?" Ginny asked; and Al shook his head again.

"I doubt it, but if he hasn't started working out again, or doesn't join the team practices again once we get back; he is going to have problems against Alex in February – if Dominique even lets him play."

"If he doesn't start practicing with the team; she won't have any choice for that," Ginny told him. "Getting back to Harry's question, though; let's talk about a home plan in case James actually does decide that he'd like to come home for Easter; and then move on to have some fun for the rest of the evening."

The first part of that didn't really take very long; and Al was hopeful that they could do some of those things whether James came home or not at Easter. Having fun was the name of the game after that – whether that was while cleaning up from dinner; dealing with a bit of work that Harry and Ginny each needed to get done; or the mirror gaming and mirror network show watching that kept them entertained while hanging out together in the sitting room for most of the evening. Al was ready to head up to bed by eleven o'clock; ended his night with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn and Lily that went later than it should have because the girls did have their morning with the Harpies ahead of them; and Al was the one to finally end the chat – jokingly so that he couldn't be blamed if Gwendolyn and Lily didn't have a good morning playing against their favorite Harpies.

New Year's Eve Day didn't start out with a morning of extreme fun for Al, but he did enjoy making and having breakfast with his parents; and he was happy to spend the morning helping out around the house to get ready for the teen and tween New Year's Eve party that Harry and Ginny were hosting again this year while the rest of the parents got to go out to other parties and have a kid-free night. Cleaning the main rooms of the house was part of those chores, but there was some baking to do that was more fun; and Al also rounded up the gear they'd need for the campers that would be taking over the sitting room for the night after everyone else went up to bed sometime after midnight. Daydreams of a New Year's Eve sofa sleepover with Gwendolyn were, at best, unlikely with a house full of guests; but that didn't keep Al from thinking about that a lot while he worked.

While Harry had gone to work after breakfast, Ginny had split her time between work and being at home with Al. Her first work outing was short and she did that while Al watched over a batch of baking cookies; and then she was one of the journalists booked for the luncheon part of the Harpies' teen day; so she got to go and have that bit of fun with Lily, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other girls while Al did his own thing at home for lunch. Most of the chores around the house were done by the time Ginny left for the Harpies' practice pitch for the luncheon; so Al dealt with a last bit of baking still in progress; and had a soup and sandwich lunch while surfing the Wireless Web. There were already some stories popping up about the teen day events with the Quidditch teams, so that had him thinking about all of his favorite Quidditch-playing teens and their adventures with the different teams, but he was still glad that he wasn't at one of those events; and honestly didn't think that it would be all that fun for him – especially when he couldn't do that with Gwendolyn.

He'd needed to take the last pan of treats out of the oven once they were ready mid-way through his lunch; there was more work to take care of in the kitchen after he was done; and then he had just enough time left to get ready to go out for the afternoon before Ginny got home again. She had Lily, Gwendolyn, and Rose with her; but had also coordinated with other parents and teens to meet her at the house too. Al sensed when the Floo Network went into action; he hurried to the sitting room; and got there in time to welcome Gwendolyn as she arrived with Rose a few moments after Ginny stepped out of the fireplace with Lily. He was happy to see Rose too; but Gwendolyn kept Al distracted for a few brilliantly-fun moments with an enthusiastic hug and kiss; and that also kept him too busy to do more than simply notice the rest of the arrivals.

"Good morning?" he asked and teased after Gwendolyn stepped back from him and they were both smiling brightly because of the kiss and the laughter and jokes that their reunion had earned them.

"We had an amazing morning," Gwendolyn assured him enthusiastically. "Lily was brilliant, but Rose and I did pretty well in our scrimmage too – even if we didn't win the mini-match."

"From what I heard; you were all brilliant," Ginny told her – "and Gabrielle doesn't really have to worry about her job for another six and a half years; since Lily will not be dropping out of Hogwarts to go pro now just because she earned one catch against her aunt today."

"That was still amazing, though," Lily said happily; and then turned her smile on Al. "I got a bit lucky on that catch, but Aunt Gabrielle wasn't holding back; so it was still a legitimate catch. She caught two, and still won our duel, though; so I'm not quite ready to challenge her for the job anyway."

"Maybe not," Al agreed; "but that's one more catch against her than Santini has in all the years he's played for the Cannons; so maybe you just went to the wrong teen day." He'd meant that joke as much for Rose as Lily; and both Witches laughed – along with pretty much everyone else in the room.

"That might actually be funny," Lily admitted – "especially since he didn't have any luck playing against Mum either. Quit grinning like that, Rose. I am going to play for the Harpies – and so should you. Was your save percentage against Victoire, Candice, and Hailey better than it's been for half of the Keepers in the show so far this season?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't know about that; though I'm pretty sure that it was better than I usually manage against Al and Gwendolyn in their Chaser duels."

"I am going to play for the Harpies too," Gwendolyn interjected, "so if that's another hint about having me play for the Cannons instead; move along and don't go there."

"Why do you always blame me for any of that kind of talk about the Cannons?" Rose half-complained. "Al brought it up for Lily, and I didn't say anything about the Cannons with my comment about how well I played today compared to against you and Al; so that was all on you. Sometimes I wish that I had never made that original joke about it back in first year – even if I do still think it'd be awesome to be playing for the Cannons when they win their next league championship."

"You're just trying to psych us out now," Lily decided with a laugh. "I'm with Gwendolyn on this one – so cut it out!"

"Then it's fortunate for all of us that we have shopping to get to," Ginny told them. "Take bags upstairs or elsewhere as needed; get ready to head out again; and we'll be leaving in ten or less for London."

Those orders and announcement got all of the teens and tweens in the room moving; everyone was back in the sitting room on time – including the additional arrivals that included Kirley and Jonah; and Angelina with Fred, Hugo, and Roxanne. There were a few more greetings exchanged between siblings and cousins; and then they took the Floo Network to the Leaky in pairs or trios. Al and Gwendolyn were the last two teens to leave; so they didn't have to wait long before they all headed into Diagon Alley. The main reason for the trip was to pick up supplies and treats for their New Year's Eve party, but while they were in Diagon Alley anyway; they also began picking up back-to-school supplies as needed; the girls did some clothes shopping; and they generally had a lot of fun for a couple of hours before stopping for a snack break and then heading home again.

The food and party supplies needed to be dealt with once they were back at the house, and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose helped with that; but Lily and the younger kids were set free to play in the sitting room once their own purchases were put away – with most of those bags going to Al's or Lily's rooms. The cooking for dinner needed to be started soon after that blast of work was finished; and Ginny had Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose with her for that – though all three girls took time off to freshen up and get ready for the party. That didn't include getting dressed up, but they picked clothes that were comfortable as well as beautiful; and perfect for New Year's Eve snuggling with favorite boys for two out of three of the girls.

By then, the other teen and tween guests for the night were arriving; Ginny had some parental visitors to chat with; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were set free to welcome and hang out with their friends. Since Ray and Melissa had been invited; Tory had agreed to come for the night too; and Fred had ended up inviting Wendy and Wanda Wintringham to the party and sleepover because Wendy hadn't wanted to have her younger sister miss out on the fun. The 'cousins' also included Riley and Caylee Fawcett, so Gabrielle dropped them off after work – and took the opportunity to tease Lily again about making that catch against her – including the added news that her back-up Seeker hadn't managed to do that during the afternoon scrimmage either. All of the party guests were there by the time Harry got home; and it wasn't long after that before Harry and Ginny were on their own with the gang of teens and tweens while the parents that had stopped by all moved on to their own party plans – whether that meant going out to big parties or staying home and taking advantage of a kid-free night. Dinner was next on the agenda, so when everything was ready to go; they all gathered in the dining room at the table that had been magically expanded to accommodate the entire gang. Al and Gwendolyn ended up at the far end of the table from Harry and Ginny, but they did have Rose, Ray, and Tory next to them; while Lily and Jonah were next to her parents and some of their younger cousins and friends.

"Shouldn't this be the rowdy end of the table?" Tory teased after they'd all filled their plates for the first time; and they could all tell that the party was livelier around Lily and Ginny.

"We are sitting close to Al," Ray reminded her. "Maybe we should be glad for the quiet while it lasts."

"I think we'll be safe tonight," Gwendolyn predicted. "A trouble magnet isn't a danger to anyone around it if there aren't any of the usual troublemakers around to bother him."

"We didn't have any trouble at the Burrow last year," Rose reminded them. "Al doesn't likely want to talk about the why for that, but I am thinking about Hogwarts now; and wondering what they do on New Year's Eve. I don't think that I've ever asked any of the kids that stay about what kind of party they have. Would they have a little dance in the Great Hall; or maybe just do even smaller parties in each of the common rooms?"

"Maybe they go into town and party at the Three Broomsticks," Tory offered with a grin.

"Or the tea shop," Gwendolyn added; and her smile was directed meaningfully at Al. "I'm sure that's a fun place for holiday parties."

"For some of us; it's a scary place all of the time," he declared; earning laughs from the girls and a nod from Ray.

"The students don't go to town for New Year's Eve," Wendy advised them; smiling a bit self-consciously as she joined the chat. She and Fred were on Gwendolyn's side of the table; and they had Wanda sitting between Gwendolyn and Wendy – mostly because the two girls still knew Gwendolyn better than most of the other teens and tweens in the room.

"You've heard about what they do from some of your friends?" Gwendolyn guessed; and Wendy nodded.

"They have a little party in the Great Hall that starts an hour or two after dinner. They use a large mirror network mirror for shows and music; have treats and games; and have a bit of dancing too; though nothing as big as the Christmas dance. They get a late curfew too; though that apparently doesn't matter much over the holidays anyway – especially if Filch and Jigger have been getting a bit too merry all day."

"That sounds nice for them," Rose said with a nod and smile. "I don't think we talked about it last year; but what do you normally do with your family on New Year's Eve? It must be a busy night – especially now that you have three bands in the Weird Sisters' family."

"It's usually boring for us," Wanda answered before Wendy could. "We always got left at home with babysitters while Mum went along for the party and Dad was busy with the band. Wasn't it always like that for you too, Gwendolyn?"

"Some years," she agreed. "a mid-week New Year's Eve like this year wasn't a problem for Mum, but if it was too close to a Harpies' match; she'd stay home with us." She smiled at Al next. "We've had a few New Year's Eves with Al and his family now too; and those have been my favorites so far."

"I wonder why – not," Wendy deadpanned. "This will be fun tonight; but I'm hoping that Mum and Dad will let us go to one of the teen parties starting next year. It's not as if we wouldn't have parental supervision – at least for a few more years until the Graves Robbers' teens are grown up and don't need parents around to help with their gigs."

"Maybe you'll have your own band by next year," Gwendolyn suggested. "You must get bugged about that as much as Jonah and I do."

"Probably," Wendy agreed, "and we might start a band eventually; but not yet. We still sound like little kids compared to the Graves Robbers or Weird Kids; and Wanda and I don't want to end up with a career singing kiddie songs to toddlers."

"That's a big business in the Muggle world," Al advised her. "Lots of tweens and teens get famous singing songs for Disney shows or movies."

"I've heard that," Wendy agreed; "but we don't have anything like that in the Wizarding World; so we'll have to do something else that doesn't include being adored by a bunch of two and three-year old kids."

"Then don't be an Animorphmagus," Gwendolyn joked.

That comment required explaining; Al got teased about his adventures with Gwendolyn's family; and then their conversation moved on as they enjoyed their meal and had fun together. With so many teens and kids in the room, it wasn't possible to talk with everyone at the table, but there were moments when one or two of them were in the conversational spotlight for various reasons when they'd have the attention of nearly everyone. That didn't happen for Al, since his day hadn't included a major Quidditch adventure or really anything else particularly exciting that was worth talking about, but he was happy to listen to all of the stories that were often coaxed out of the kids by Ginny or Harry. Quidditch wasn't the only topic, but it did get top billing; and there were more stories to tell this year thanks to the extra junior players getting to have a play morning with one of the pro teams.

There had been a lot of food – and bonus choices thanks to parent donations; so they spent nearly an hour in the dining room by the time they finished having dessert – or multiple desserts for most of them. Harry and Ginny didn't ask for ehelp with the clean-up, but they got it anyway from the teens that could use charmed objects while everyone else headed for the sitting room. The post-dinner work included setting up the dining room for mirror and video gaming so that the sitting room could be used for watching shows and the New Year's Eve specials; while the kitchen table was set up for 'regular' games. Harry moved furniture around in the dining room and conjured some sofas to make the gaming there more comfortable, and when they had everything done; it was time to play.

"Welcome back to the party," Tory told Al and Gwendolyn as they sat down next to her and Ray on one of the conjured sofas in the dining room. "We were beginning to think that you'd be working straight through until midnight."

"We're done with the work for a couple of hours," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "Gwendolyn could take the rest of the night off, but I'll help Mum and Dad with the snack buffet they'll put out for us at eleven or so; and then with the clean-up whenever we need to do that after midnight."

"Then you should take a turn at the gaming while you can," Ray offered.

"Maybe in a few," Al agreed with another shrug. "Right now, I'm good with just watching the action and taking a little break."

"We're not supposed to need to take breaks at our age," Tory advised him. "Considering some of the stories we've heard about from a few of the other league teams today; you'll really need to work on that if you're serious about playing in the show some day."

"None of those stories came from the Harpies," Al pointed out. "I'm planning on being just as serious about my Quidditch career."

"Maybe you should go into acting," Gwendolyn told him. "You managed to say that with a straight face even when you think that career could be with the Cannons."

"That's why we'll need to be serious players if Rose is to have any chance of getting that league championship – with the 'we' being the players on that future team," Al explained and added when Gwendolyn gave him 'the look' for his apparent inclusiveness.

"He'll be able to go into politics too if that impossible dream with the Cannons doesn't work out," Ray joked.

"I was just thinking that we should move on, since we've been talking Quidditch a lot so far, but if we're going to switch to politics; I'll vote for sticking with sports," Tory declared; earning a round of laughs.

Her comment also had them taking their chat off in a new direction; and that blast of fun became another scene in their New Year's Eve adventure story for Al and Gwendolyn. They also joined in for a card game in the kitchen; there was an hour of 'live' music fun that they led with help from Lily, Jonah, Wendy, and Wanda. The Wintringham sisters really weren't ready to start their own group yet, but they had inherited the musical talent from their father; and Gwendolyn was sure that they would go into the music business sooner or later. For the last hour leading up to the New Year, they watched the mirror network broadcast of the young adult and teen party that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were headlining, and while there were no midnight pranks to get in the way of the Happy New Year kiss for Al and Gwendolyn; Harry and Ginny did have a little surprise for their gang of kids and teens – a whizz-bang fireworks show that they were able to enjoy from the comfort of the sitting room thanks to the magical ceiling effect that Harry set up for them so they could watch the show going on in the sky above the house and yard.

"And here I thought that we were just getting better at these New Year kisses every time," Gwendolyn joked after their kiss as she looked up and watched the fireworks.

"We must've done alright to just be noticing the fireworks now," Al teased in return. "I love you, Gwendolyn. Happy New Year."

"I love you right back; and Happy New Year to you too."

They shared another soft, lingering kiss; and then needed to move on to share the Happy New Year's hugs and kisses with everyone else. Parts of that little blast of fun had been very entertaining – especially when it came to the banter about some of the surprise midnight kisses moments. Jonah had been happy to share that moment with Lily, but that hadn't been a surprise – just cute and adorable. Some of the boys did get unexpected kisses, though, and Hugo had been a bit freaked out to end up with three kisses from three of the Witches in the room – and that did not include the kisses from his aunt, sister, Lily, and Roxanne. That might have had something to do with why he headed for the dining room and more mirror gaming fairly quickly – and why two of those girls followed him there. Al and Gwendolyn didn't move on to the gaming too; and instead stayed and did a bit of dancing as they continued to watch the party on the mirror network while the Weird Kids were still on the stage.

"We should try going to that party once we're old-enough," Gwendolyn told Al as they swayed to a ballad when the Weird kids slowed things down for a few songs.

"We should," Al agreed with a nod and smile, "but those big parties are never going to be something I'll like as much as what we've been doing here tonight."

"You were a hit at the school Christmas dance," she reminded him; "though I suppose you wouldn't want to be the Animorphmagus party joke every time."

Al laughed. "As if that won't happen from now on anyway. Do you really think that your Weird Sisters' cousins would drop that song from their set if they knew I was in the room?"

"Probably not anytime soon," Gwendolyn conceded; and then laughed. "Now that you have me thinking about that; big parties really could end up being a problem thanks to that song – and I mean that for both of us. Working on your reputation is one thing, but having you turn into that kind of party animal isn't what I had in mind at all; and being your date wouldn't be much fun if you get stuck playing those party tricks every time."

"Then I should definitely not do that," Al decided; and then smiled as he looked over to where his parents were dancing near the fireplace. "I'll make exceptions to that for the kids in our family, since we have some really awesome memories of Dad playing with us in his puppy form; but that should be as much fun for me as it was for him when we were little."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed; "though that's giving me a mental picture of you in the kids' party entertainment business; and we don't want to go there."

"Not when that also leads to thinking about the person that would have the most fun with a joke like that," Al said fervently. "Have you made your New Year's resolution yet? I'm thinking about trying Rose's resolution from last year and not talking about the future Cannons team this year – assuming that's actually what she promised to do last New Year's Eve."

James was thinking about New Year's resolutions in the wee hours of New Year's Day too, and while he wasn't dancing; he was sure that he'd had a much-better New Year's Eve than his loser brother – a fact that could be proven simply because he was currently cuddling on a sofa with an only-partially-clothed Witch. Said girl was currently having a little nap, and he took that as a compliment; since he'd obviously tired her out with their holiday celebration for two. It was the 'what' they'd been doing that he was currently musing about for that annual resolution; and just the idea alone was enough to have him, um, hoping that Malorie would wake again soon and want to play some more.

"I am going to have as many nights like this one as possible with as many Witches as I can get this year!" he declared silently – and promised himself. His laugh at that happy thought had only been a quiet chuckle, but the soft rumble did evoke a momentary reaction from Malorie that was a bit of a disappointment for him when she only shifted against him in interesting ways before settling back into her nap.

He was thinking about taking action that would wake her again when the sofa disappeared from underneath him without any warning; he fell to the floor of the classroom with a hard thump; and the air was knocked out of him as Malorie landed on him and was jarred awake. Her eyes opened wide with astonishment as she looked down at him; and then she laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck for a fierce hug. James' initial, angry reaction evaporated as her laughter, hug, and the effects both had on him as those generous curves of hers were pressed against him instantly turned the heat on again between them; so he was smiling by the time she leaned back and looked down at him.

"I am so sorry," she told him; her Irish accent thick with both sincerity and desire. "Let's, um, come up with a way for me to make that up to you."

She laughed again; they both enjoyed the effect that had on each of them; and James happily joined in as they got back to celebrating his best-ever-so-far New Year's Eve – while also beginning to fulfill his New Year's resolution.

Twenty-twenty was getting off to a great start – in more ways than one!

Scorpius was in bed shortly-after the late curfew that had been set for an hour-past midnight despite the fact that it wouldn't have mattered if he'd stayed out of his House and dorm room all night. Filch and Jigger were likely already sleeping off their over-celebration of the New Year, and even if one or both of them were still awake; they'd be too far-gone to notice any students out and about even if they were standing in front of them.

He ought to be able to sleep, since he'd had a busy day of Quidditch in the morning and two long rounds of magical training with Thomas in the afternoon and late evening; but his mind roamed along restlessly while sleep was proving elusive. The reason for that was simple, if he wanted to be honest with himself about it. His restlessness was entirely due to the fact that he knew – in too much detail – what James Potter was likely still doing right now with that mudblood wench of his while he was alone and wishing that he was similarly occupied – though with a true Witch instead of the trash that James was willing to not only mess around with; but also brag about it with him during their Quidditch workouts. Then again, James had bragged about other conquests – including with Muggle girls, and while he was skeptical about many of those stories and claims; Thomas had encouraged him to just go along with whatever James wanted to talk about so that they could learn more about him – and his family and their friends. Thomas had found James' conquest stories as disgusting as Scorpius had, but then he'd also had a different take on it than his own first reactions had been. Thomas counseled him to consider the possibility that James' attitude toward Muggles and Mudbloods was only slightly different than their own because of what he was willing to use them for – especially since he certainly hadn't expressed any sentiment to go along with his stories. Scorpius still couldn't imagine sullying himself with Muggle girls or Mudblood trash, but he had understood Thomas' point; and took that into consideration for James – though even the mental picture of him together with that Mudblood Witch just made him feel ill.

Instead of going there again – and wishing that he wasn't alone; Scorpius turned his thoughts toward the coming days and the wind down to Sunday evening when the rest of the Hogwarts students would get back to the castle. While the first week and a half of their Christmas holidays had worked out great for him when it came to the lessons with Thomas, and better than expected for his Quidditch play time and making a start toward a relationship with James Potter that would hopefully lead to being able to use him as an ally or tool against his own family; but that had still left a lot of time with nothing to do. The thought of four – nearly-five – more days of that actually had him half-wishing that they didn't have that much time left – though he didn't wish that enough to wish he'd gone home instead. Spending time with Terri over the holidays would have been fun for those hours that he didn't have anything to do here; but he wouldn't trade that for missing out on the magical training time with Thomas.

That thought had him realizing that Terri hadn't even tried to have a mirror chat with him in days. Sure, he'd missed a half-dozen or so attempts around Christmas while he'd been busy with Quidditch or his Dark Arts lessons with Thomas; but that did have him wondering why she hadn't called to wish him a happy New Year. He wasn't worried about that lack of contact, since talking with Terri was his least-favorite part of dating her anyway, but it did have him wondering if he'd be stuck trying to make up with her when she got back to Hogwarts for something she was mad at him about that he was currently oblivious about – and that he likely wouldn't think was a problem in the first place. As he pondered that idea, he decided that he was better off without her around for the holidays anyway – especially since she'd have just gotten in the way of the lessons and Quidditch that were far more important to him than anything else. It was just too bad that he couldn't have the benefits that he did like most about having agirlfriend without all of the problems.

Maybe he should make that one of his goals for the New Year – to find a way to get the first without having to bother with the second!

When it came to Witches, it was more-likely that he'd be able to become leader of the Wizarding World than finding a way to make that happen, but he could always hope; and maybe he'd get lucky – in more than one way!

Al's question and comment about resolutions had led to a chat about what they should hope for in the New Year; and that had been part of the fun wind down to the end of the party. Getting the sitting room transitioned to an indoor campsite took a while; and the teens helped with the clean-up too before they either headed up to bedrooms or settled into sleeping bags in the sitting room and went off to sleep. When he was first-up in the morning; Al grabbed a quick shower; got ready for the day; and then went downstairs to get started on making breakfast for the entire gang – a major undertaking with so many teens and kids in the house to feed. Harry joined him about twenty minutes into the cooking process; and they had junior supervisors and taste testers available shortly after that – starting with Lily and Roxanne.

There were cameo moments along the way that were a lot of fun – like Gwendolyn's Happy New Year and good morning hugs and kisses with Al; but he also kept working with his father while everyone else sat down to eat in the dining room because they'd needed to keep the food coming while the first batches of food were devoured by their guests. Ginny, Gwendolyn, and Rose took turns helping out too, but that was mostly through delivering the platters and bowls of food to the dining room and bringing the empties back again as needed. Al did take a turn to eat too, but Gwendolyn had finished eating by then; so they didn't sit together – and she spent most of that time with Ginny and Rose in the kitchen while he talked with Ray, Tory, and some of the other teens. Al helped with the clean-up too; had some time to play with Gwendolyn, Lily, and their family and friends for a while until their guests began heading for home or were picked up by parents; and then he needed to get ready to go home with Gwendolyn and Jonah so that they could help out with the Jones' family gathering that Gwenog and Kirley were hosting for the afternoon while Gwenog had the day off and could do that with her family. After another two hours of work at her house; Al and Gwendolyn were both past-ready for some play time when it was time to start welcoming her family ahead of the early-afternoon meal that was going to be the major food event of the day for them.

"Do you think anyone would miss us if we go for a nap?" Al asked Gwendolyn quietly as they walked toward the sitting room to join in to welcome the first of her cousins that were arriving through the Floo Network.

"Yes, though if we were going to have some alone time in my room; we wouldn't be napping," she suggested with a grin. "We definitely haven't had enough me and you alone time over the past few days."

"We tell ourselves that a lot," Al pointed out, "but we don't want to miss out on all of the fun going on with our families and friends either; so that isn't likely going to change much anytime soon."

"We should've made that our New Year's resolution," Gwendolyn teased. "It's time to play with the kids, though; so let's save that thought for later – after my family heads home again and we might actually have a chance for some of that you and me time before you go home too."

While Al liked that suggestion a lot, he didn't have time to spend the afternoon daydreaming about it because the Jones' clan kept them very busy. There was some more work to do here and there before and after their dinner, but Gwendolyn and Jonah were also in charge of keeping their cousins entertained; and Al went along for the ride – and helped with the play time while the adults had a quieter afternoon in the sitting room. There was a short bit of outdoor fun as part of the kid entertainment, but it was too cold to really have fun playing Quidditch; so it wasn't long before they were back indoors and ready to get warm again with hot drinks, warm snacks, and have their Quidditch fun through a mirror gaming competition.

There was interaction between the adults and kids during the late afternoon and early evening, but that was mostly visits to the game room or sitting room until after they had a buffet snack at around six o'clock that included some leftovers and sandwiches for anyone that needed more than the snacks or leftover desserts. Kirley had them wrap up the family fun with a bit of music time in the sitting room, and al and Gwendolyn were drafted for two songs to help with that entertainment, but then it was time for their guests to head for their homes so that Gwenog could do a bit of prep work for the Harpies ahead of her training night curfew. Al and Gwendolyn were again busy with the kids while they were rounded up by their parents, and then they helped Kirley and Jonah with the final clean-up of the day while Gwenog got to her work; but then they got to have some alone time in the sitting room while Kirley and Jonah gave them some space and went to play mirror games in the game room.

"The good news is that we have some alone time; but we're too tired to do anything with it except nap," Al joked; and smiled when Gwendolyn could only nod her agreement instead of protesting his claim.

"We really should just get a bunch of kids to come over for our Quiddditch practices and chase them around for the conditioning workouts," she suggested tiredly. "It's no wonder that parents in general are so tired by the end of every day."

"Ours included," Al agreed with a soft laugh.

"You're thinking that isn't actually true for your parents this week," she guessed; and Al laughed again while hugging her more tightly for a moment.

"Yes, but that isn't something I should feel good about thinking."

"Your Mum and Dad are feeling guilty about that too, but we should all hope that this break helps make things better for everyone."

"Speaking of breaks, and instead of going there; what are you going to do tomorrow while Lily and I are at the Burrow with Grandma and Grandpa?"

"The way I'm feeling right now; nothing at all would be a good plan. We don't have anything planned that I know about; so maybe Dad is just going to hang out with us here. This holiday has been really good for getting to spend time with him; and I know that Jonah is especially happy that Dad hasn't been too busy with work."

"Lily can't say that about Mum and Dad, but has gotten to spend more time with them thanks to James staying at school; and I think she's feeling the same way Jonah is after their first big separation from our parents."

"Especially since they both got to have them to themselves for our first two school years," Gwendolyn added; and then sighed. "I really am tired. Why don't you kiss me a time or three; and then we can just cuddle and have a little rest until you need to go home."

Doing as ordered didn't lead to even a minor snogging session because Gwendolyn closed her eyes for the first kiss; snuggled into Al after the second; and was soon having a nap while Al held her close and enjoyed the cuddle time. He didn't sleep too, but did have his eyes closed as his mind wandered aimlessly for the half-hour or so they had before Kirley returned to the sitting room. Al talked with him for another ten minutes, but then they woke Gwendolyn; Al got ready to go home; and then Kirley had a mirror chat with Ginny, Harry, and Lily while Al took the Floo Network home after a last goodnight hug and kiss with Gwendolyn. Once he was home, it was story time with his parents and sister; they talked for a half-hour; and then he was ready for bed. Harry, Ginny, and Lily all decided to turn in then too, but Al was first to be changed and in bed; and he was the first to be sleeping and out for the rest of the night.

He was also first up in the morning; cooked breakfast for four; and helped to get the day off to a great start for everyone in the house. When he and Lily were dropped off at the Burrow, they found out that Arthur had taken the day off from the Ministry to spend the day with them, and while there were some chores to do first; they went on to have a really good play day together. The cold weather didn't keep them from having some airplane and helicopter fun; they cooked and baked a special lunch; and spent most of the afternoon playing games in the sitting room while the fire kept them warm and they simply enjoyed being together. Al woudd have been okay with having their cousins around too, but it was also nice to get a rare day where they didn't have to share their grandparents with the rest of the kids in the family. Harry picked them up after work; they had a quiet dinner and evening at home because Harry and Ginny both had some homework to do ahead of their last work day of the week; and Al and Lily stayed up a bit later than usual when they got into a mirror game battle that they were having fun with and didn't want to stop until Al was finally tired out enough to concede defeat by attrition and go to bed.

"Morning," James said gruffly as he dropped his Quidditch gear bag on the bench next to where Scorpius had put his own bag and then sat down and leaned over to open it.

"You're not a morning person, are you?" Scorpius stated more than asked; and James grunted.

"I'd be fine with them – if they'd start at noon."

"That wouldn't work out very well for most of us if we had classes all afternoon and evening; and then had to stay up all night working on our assignments," Scorpius pointed out; and James grunted again.

"We'd have lots of time if the Professors stopped forcing us to do all of the useless work and just teach us the magic. All of those reports and half the tests are just a waste of time." He waved a hand in a way that was meant to indicate the entire stadium around them. "If we studied magic the way we practice Quidditch, we'd need less than half the time for the lessons – and it's always fun to practice the magic."

"Quidditch players study too," Scorpius pointed out; but James shook his head.

"The dumb ones do," he disagreed. "I learn from watching games and practicing – not from studying or reading a bunch of nonsense written by supposed experts or reporters."

"Isn't your Mum one of those expert reporters?" Scorpius dead-panned; and James laughed.

"Yeah, and she proves my point on that every day. Maybe there are Witches and Wizards out there that read her reports and actually need the help to understand the obvious, but I don't; and I figured that out years ago. The same is true for magic. Who cares about the history or anything else beyond learning how to do stuff? I sure don't need to know who invented a spell or how it has changed over the centuries to be able to use it."

"That's true," Scorpius agreed, "but that isn't going to change anytime soon; so we're stuck with things the way they are. At least you're half-way done now. I've still got four and a half more years to go."

James shrugged. "Nobody can force you to stay once you're seventeen."

"Maybe you could do that, but I'd likely be disinherited if I don't stay for my NEWT year."

"Does that even matter in your family?" James retorted. "Your cousin got disinherited; yet he somehow ended up with the Black family home – or he wouldn't have been able to leave it to my father so that he could give it away to his precious Godson and my cousin. You're the last in your family; so you'll get the family fortune eventually."

"Maybe, but I'd rather not wait a century or more for that to happen," Scorpius said; "and it isn't as though my cousin's life was anything to wish for after he was disinherited by his parents."

"You think that your life is horrid anyway; so maybe you'd be better off without your family. I know I have been better off being here over the holidays – and it'll be even better when I can get out of this place and go play in the show."

"As long as you do that as a Seeker," Scorpius told him as he stood up and grabbed his broom – ready to get started on the flying warm-up. "I'd have a better shot at making it in the show as a Chaser than you would."

James snorted out a laugh. "Go for it. I'm okay with being the best Seeker ever; so it doesn't matter how good I am at any of the back-up positions on the team."

Scorpius decided not to irritate James by pointing out his mediocre Quidditch record so far, but only because he didn't have anything to brag about either with the Slytherin team. Instead of going there, he took off and got busy with a flying workout that James soon joined him for – and then led once he'd passed Scorpius. His faster broom allowed him to keep up most of the time, but James was still better at the flying tricks that allowed him to keep the lead the rest of the time until they were ready to move on to the Seeker and chaser duels. As always, James won the Seeker duel; Scorpius won the Chaser battle; and they were both happy campers by the time they were ready to land and head back to the castle. they split up for a while after that, but met up again in an out-of-the-way classroom for some magic play time – something that Scorpius had suggested; and that James had been interested in doing too.

The one-year difference between them was easily off-set by Scorpius' extra training with Thomas, but while Scorpius needed to be careful about what he showed James; they both found out that their magical talents were very-closely matched. That was much more obvious when they tried a bit of play dueling, but they could also see it in the magic practice where their spells were cast with similar results – whether that was with a shield charm or a transfiguration. Their duel lasted for nearly a half hour, but while they did test each other; they didn't do that seriously-enough to risk turning the play time into a serious fight.

When they split up for lunch, they didn't make any plans for the rest of the day, but Scorpius was already planning on studying with Thomas anyway; and knew that James would be busy with his Mudblood holiday fling after dinner. They were going to get together for another Quidditch workout on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a morning or afternoon workout, though; and adding in more magical fun each day was an option too. That was working out for both of them, if for different reasons, and while Scorpius expected that they wouldn't continue to do anything together once the rest of the students returned on Sunday evening; Thomas was very happy with how things had been going with James – and he was sure that Scorpius was doing a great job of developing a connection with James that could help their ultimate plans and goals.

For his part; James' interests weren't forward-looking at all. The Quidditch and magic time with Scorpius was fun – even though that had been a surprise for him to discover that he could get along with any Slytherin. He knew that life would go back to normal for both of them by Sunday night – just as he knew that he'd be done with Malorie O'Malley once the best-looking Witches were back at Hogwarts. Sure, James had plans for his own brilliant future, but he didn't need anyone to help him make that happen, and while he didn't even think about it at all; Scorpius and Malorie were just two more bit players that helped to keep him entertained while he waited for his destiny to arrive!

Friday morning was a near-repeat for Al through until he and Lily were dropped off at Gwendolyn's house instead of the Burrow. The reunion hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn was just the most-obvious change; but they were also having a play day with their Quidditch friends and relatives; so they were soon busy with welcoming everyone else to the house while Kirley visited with parents or kept in contact with them while their teens and tweens were in-transit through the Floo Network. Their Quidditch workout was first on the agenda, so once they had everyone there from both teams; they headed outside and got ready to play.

"This is our last practice before we head back to school. Maybe we should have a Witches against Wizards scrimmage instead of Ravenclaw against Gryffindor," Rose suggested. She was sitting next to Lily; and smiled too at Lily's instant enthusiasm for the idea.

"We have until March before our next school matches; so I'm okay with that," Gwendolyn agreed.

"And if the boys win; we can decide that it was a bad idea and blame it on you," Stephanie warned Rose with a laugh. "I guess we'll need to rotate the extra Witches in and out of the line-up too."

"We'll do that for the guys too," Al promised. "We can have all of the younger players we have here take turns too."

"That'll be more fun than just doing the workouts and then watching the scrimmage," Hugo said gratefully. He wasn't one of the 'younger' players anymore, but he was on the Gryffindor reserve squad; so his sister's suggestion was as much for him as anyone else.

"Okay, now that we've decided that; I need to hear some of the New Year's Eve and Day stories before we get to the warm-ups," Lily said enthusiastically.

"Weren't most of us at your house?" Hugo asked; and Lily laughed.

"Yes, but most isn't all of us; and there must be New Year's Day stories that need to be talked about from after everyone went home or elsewhere on Wednesday."

"Plus all of the gossip we've heard about from other friends since then," Stephanie added with a nod. "We don't want to be totally out of the loop for the gossip before we get on the Hogwarts Express on Sunday morning."

"So you'll want to know that Ollie went to that big teen party on New Year's Eve with Lacey?" Ray asked; and then laughed at himself. "Feel free to run with that; and pretend that I wasn't the gossip source."

"I'd have told them about it if you hadn't," Kathryn promised after joining in for the round of laughs. "He's just trying to mess with James, but other than getting to go to the Quidditch match and the best teen party of the holidays; I don't know why Lacey wants to be anywhere near my brother."

"I don't know; but am wondering why this wasn't news we knew about on New Year's Eve," Lily told her; and Kathryn shrugged.

"I didn't know because Ollie didn't say anything about it to any of us at home. My sisters found out at the party; and I found out after I got home on New Year's Day. Mum loves Lacey, so she thinks this is great for Ollie." She smiled ruefully then. "She isn't too upset about James and Ollie being on the outs either; but I'm sure you don't want to talk about that."

"I might," Lily disagreed, "but the dance gossip sounds like more fun; so why don't you pass on anything else you've heard about it from your sisters."

Kathryn was happy to do that; the girls had fun with the gossip until they were all ready to start the warm-ups; and then they got to work. They exercised and worked out as usual for an hour; and then started the battle of the sexes scrimmage. Al and Ray were technically at a disadvantage at Chaser while playing with a third that wasn't on a school team while Gwendolyn usually had two team players with her, but Al played a bit harder and made up for that by outplaying Gwendolyn by just-enough to keep the match close. Lily and Jonah traded snitch catches for an hour and a half; and then Lily earned the twenty-point victory for the Witches with the fifth and final catch of the match. By then, while they'd all had a blast; they were ready to get inside and warmed up again. Getting out of their gear and packed up didn't take long, and by the time they were in the kitchen; Kirley had hot drinks and snacks ready for them to enjoy and devour.

"This is a bit scary to watch; though I do vaguely remember needing to eat like that when I was your age," Kirley said after watching the show for a few minutes.

"And Grandma was likely as scared back then as you are now when you had all of your band buddies over for practices," Gwendolyn suggested.

"She was usually very happy to see us head back to Hogwarts at the end of holidays," Kirley offered. "The drop in cost for the grocery bills was one of her favorite things to joke about; though the comparative quiet was a close second."

"Did you practice a lot at Hogwarts too?" Kathryn asked him; and Kirley nodded.

"Yeah, but we could use magic there to keep the noise down for everyone else – or when we didn't want anyone to hear new music we were working on."

"Couldn't Grandma and Grandpa have done that at home if you were really bothering them?" Jonah asked next; and Kirely laughed.

"Yes, and they did do that sometimes; but why let facts get in the way of a good joke?"

"It's funny to think that your Mum didn't like all of the loud music from your band while most of our Mums love the Weird Sisters – and still listen to your music a lot at home," Lily said with a laugh.

"Our Mum included," Gwendolyn added. "Did you watch much of our scrimmage, Dad? What did you think of it?"

"I watched bits of it here and there; and I think that your Mum will be happy to find out that the Witches won the day – even if Lily did beat her son to get that win for you."

"That last catch was half-luck," Lily declared. "We were both so frozen by then; it's a wonder either of us could pry a hand off of our brooms to make any catches."

"So that mid-air hug and kiss was strictly meant to help you warm up?" Kirley teased; laughing when Lily grinned ut him without a trace of embarrassment while Jonah blushed.

"Sure, let's go with that theory," she agreed. "I did feel a bit warmer after that hug."

"You did just win a Seeker duel," Melissa reminded her. "Maybe the warmth had nothing to do with the hug."

"Why don't you hug Jonah too and test that theory out?" Kathryn suggested; and Melissa laughed.

"That would be fun, but I'd really regret it while spending the entire trip back to Hogwarts with a bat-bogey affliction; so I'll pass, thanks anyway."

"You'd better hope that Lily eventually decides to date you," Hugo warned Jonah with a grin. "If all of the other girls around our age are afraid of her bat-bogey hexes; then there is zero chance of you dating anyone else."

"Aren't you afraid of my bat-bogey hex?" Lily asked meaningfully; and Hugo shook his head.

"No, but only because Mum knows I'm my father's son; figured I'd mess up now and then; and taught me the counter-hexes."

"That's funny; so I'll let you off the hook," Lily decided. "What are we going to do for the rest of the morning?"

Her question was mostly directed at Gwendolyn, but diverted everyone as they talked about that – and then went on to the games room to hang out and play mirror games. They ended up doing that for two hours before stopping for lunch; followed up that meal with some more outdoor play time that included a snowball fight that had to be without using their wands; and then they wrapped up their play day and afternoon with more mirror gaming and chat time until it was time for all of Gwendolyn's and Jonah's guests to head home as parents finished work for the day and stopped by to pick them up. Al and Lily weren't the last to leave, but Ginny came over with Gwenog after the Harpies' work day was finished; and had a chat with Gwenog and Kirley while Al and Gwendolyn took a few private minutes in her room to say goodbye in a snogging sort of way.

Both sets of their parents had wanted to spend Friday evening with just their own kids in case the Harpies' match on Saturday went long and they couldn't do that after the game. After two long work days, Ginny hadn't wanted to cook, so Harry picked up take-out food on his way home from Auror Headquarters; and they enjoyed the Chinese food while trading Quidditch, play, and work stories. Ginny had a bit of work to do after dinner, but she did that while Harry, Al, and Lily cleaned up; and then they spent the evening together in the sitting room watching mirror network shows and enjoying a drama-free night together. They didn't talk about James at all, but did discuss the back-to-school shopping they were going to do on Saturday morning; had some fun discussing their return to school and kid-free life respectively; and generally just had a really good handful of hours. They had a busy Saturday ahead of them, so they didn't stay up too late; and Al didn't even lead the way up to bed because he and Harry took care of the clean-up while the girls went upstairs and took first turns in the bathrooms.

"You're here already!" Malorie exclaimed quietly as James sat down next to her at the table – and breakfast had only been served ten minutes earlier. "I expected to need to stop and feed you at the Three Broomsticks once we were in Hogsmeade."

James laughed. "For some reason, I was very hungry when I woke up this morning," he explained with a meaningful glance that had her blushing in response. "Then there's the bonus that I don't have to pay for breakfast if I eat here. Do you have many supplies to get today?"

"Not really. I did most of that shopping last time. You?"

"I need quite a bit, but it won't be busy there; so that won't take long. It's bitter out there today too, so we can have lunch there if you want; but then I'd like to just come back here and find something else to do for the rest of the day."

"Like watch Quidditch?" she guessed; and James shrugged.

"Maybe. I still have some revision to get done too; but I might just leave that for tomorrow."

"I've got mine done and could help you with yours if you'd like," she offered; and James shrugged again.

"We'll see. I wouldn't want to do too well on those assignments. The Professors are mostly all really old; and I'd hate to accidentally shock them to death."

Malorie laughed and gave him a shoulder bump. "I'm sure they really appreciate how considerate you are about their well-being. Are you going to try and have a Quidditch practice sometime today too? You must be looking forward to practicing with your team again starting next week now that you're well-enough to train full-out again."

"Winter practices aren't fun, but we have a game to get ready for in February; so I need to do the extra work to make up for all of the lost time I had after the last match. I'll need to practice with my team too; but wouldn't say that I'm looking forward to it. My cousins are all on the Animorphpotty bandwagon; and the only reason I'm on their team at all is because I'm the best player in Gryffindor."

"Well, I'm not really all that interested in Quidditch compared to you and the rest of the fanatics, but if that's true; then I hope you have a lot of terrible practices between now and when you play Hufflepuff in February."

"Gee, thanks," James deadpanned with a grin for her attempt at a House pride joke. "At least you didn't hope that I'd get hit in the head with another bludger during practices."

"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Malorie declared seriously with a shudder. "Flying brooms is fun, but I'd never want to play Quidditch; and I definitely do not want to find out what it's like to get hit by one of those bludgers!"

"You don't feel a thing when you get hit in the head – until you wake up in the hospital wing," James joked. "Since you didn't know about Quidditch until you started at Hogwarts, though; why don't you tell me about the sports you liked when you were a kid. My Muggle cousins – or at least the guys – are into boxing; but don't play any other Muggle sports on teams. Margie isn't into sports at all – unless you consider flirting with boys a sport."

"It might be a team sport if she does that with her best girlfriends," Malorie suggested. "I like lots of different sports, but don't play many of them very well; and never played on school teams when I was younger. I am pretty good on a bike and love to swim; though I'm not exactly, um, built for speed in a pool." She'd blushed as she said that last part; mostly because James had turned and grinned at her in response.

"Maybe not; but I'll wager that you are built for swimsuits," he offered; his grin now wolfish. "Too bad it's January and I can't find that out for myself."

"Too bad we don't have one of those portable pools I've heard about; or we could have gone for some swims over the holidays," she lamented half-seriously. "I've seen them in your uncle's store; but haven't ever been in one." She shrugged and smiled ruefully. "That must seem weird to you; since I'm sure everyone in your family has at least one of them; but none of my best friends here at Hogwarts have them; so we can only wish that we could do things like that."

"They were Lily's idea," James advised her; "so we got one of the prototypes when my Uncle George was experimenting with them. They're based on the portable swamps. I get to use ours when it's set up at home, but Lily got to have it at home with her before starting here; and gets to have it here too; so I'm out of luck."

"That doesn't seem fair," Malorie commiserated, "but I have heard that you have a portable swamp, and if the pools are based on them; couldn't you just empty your swamp and fill it with water instead whenever you want to go swimming – or is the swamp too small for that?"

James laughed. "That's a rather brilliant suggestion," he complimented her. "Maybe we should try that out after dinner and see if we can do that."

"You're just saying that because you want to see me in my swimsuit," she teased while blushing again.

"That will be a bonus, but could be optional if you prefer skinny-dipping instead!"

That comment had her blushing more brightly; James teased her about that a bit more while he finished eating; and then they bundled up and headed out to Hogsmeade along with the rest of the students that wanted – and could – do that. They spent the rest of the morning picking up supplies and having some 'fun' shopping; lunch at the Three Broomsticks allowed them to get warmed up again ahead of the long walk back to the school; and then they split up for the afternoon while James ended up having a Quidditch workout with Scorpius at the stadium; he watched some Quidditch in his dorm room after that while not really doing any of his holiday revision; and then he met up with Malorie again for their last 'holiday' dinner before the rest of the Hogwarts students would be back again for dinner on Sunday night.

The portable swamp conversion to a pool had required a bit of experimenting; Malorie taught James a couple of spells to help him with making the swamp larger that he thought would be very useful for future pranks too; and then they went for a swim that started out with appropriate attire and ended up being clothing-optional as they eventually didn't need warming spells to make their water play hot! James was especially-enthusiastic about the most-intimate parts of their evening because he knew it would be their last night together unless he could convince her to hook up again next Christmas – and there weren't any better options for him during that holiday. There was no sense of regret or any other emotion with that thought; and James didn't consider Malorie's feelings at all. they'd both had fun; he was ready to get back to his 'normal' life again; and there were a lot of other, much more beautiful Witches out there just waiting for him to show them why he was 'the' best Wizard at their school!

"You don't seem particularly happy tonight," Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was being set down on the table. "I expected you to be in a good mood after a visit to Hogsmeade and an afternoon of Quidditch – not to mention that your friends will be back at school again by tomorrow night."

Scorpius laughed as he sat down in the armchair. "That last part is good and bad; since I won't have as much time to work with you. I'm not happy, but there isn't anything wrong either. There's probably a limit that I've crossed for how much of James Potter I can put up with; so it's a good thing that we won't be hanging out together after tomorrow."

"You won't be done with him,' Thomas reminded him. "we're just getting started. Instead of lamenting the things you hate about him again, though; let's talk about what we can anonymously do to help him out over the next month or two."

"If he and Ollie are still on the outs for very much longer; there might not be anything to do," Scorpius suggested.

"That's something to consider too. Do we want to help push those two apart – or maybe help to bring them back together? You don't want James to have anyone but you for a best friend eventually; but it's a bit early for that to be possible; and it would be better for you if James' current best mate has at least a few more chances to betray their friendship and push James toward you sometime in the future."

"You don't think that Ollie could be useful to us too?" Scorpius asked seriously; and Thomas laughed.

"Sure he will be – as one of the catalysts that will help to fuel James' hatred and rage. The more he hates his current life; the easier it will be to convince him that your vision of the future is exactly the kind of Wizarding World he wants too."

"So we should come up with something to get them back to being best mates first and then help them to continue their primary mission to mess with Albus?" Scorpius said; and Thomas nodded his agreement.

"Yes, but you might want to cause some trouble around the younger Potter boy to nudge them along if James doesn't do anything first. He shouldn't waste the no-troubles holiday when this is the perfect time to try and show everyone that his brother is the 'real' problem."

"You want me to act directly if James doesn't do anything?" Scorpius asked in surprise. "That would be a big change from your counsel so far."

"That isn't what I meant; and you could find others to manipulate as easily as James and Ollie. We'll come up with some ideas for all of that; and then I'm sure you want to work on your lessons while you still have the extra time to do that."

Scorpius was more interested in playing with his magic than the plotting and scheming, but thought that they came up with some great ideas for that too; and then he was very happy with his progress on two of the most-difficult lessons he'd been working on over the holidays. When he went back to his dorm room for the night, he was in such a good mood that his perspective was different as he thought about the things that had been bugging him over the past few days. James' bragging and taunts seemed less-galling now than they had during their practices and magic play time. Terri's lack of even attempts at having mirror chats with him was a welcome reprieve when talking to her was one of the things he liked least about having a girlfriend. The pressure he was feeling to get his holiday revision done after ignoring it for most of the holiday break was still there, but didn't seem to be as daunting as it had been when he'd finally taken a look at what he needed to get done by the time he had each of the first classes of the New Year next week. While the downside that went along with James and his incredible ego was annoying, he had enjoyed the more-challenging Quidditch and magic competition between them; and knew that he wouldn't get that with his team mates or study group friends.

He tried not to think about what James was doing with his mudblood wench at all; though that was easier said than done after another round of too-graphic bragging about what James was planning on doing for his last night with the girl before dumping her. His good mood did make it easy to look forward to having all of the Witches back at Hogwarts that he did appreciate having around him the most – even if that was just for the better view, and while he had mixed feelings about Terri's return; two weeks with no snogging at all was reason-enough to have her back again.

There was still one day left to go before then, though, and hwile he didn't have to waste most of the day on the Hogwarts Express, he did have all of that revision to work on; so he put all of those thoughts aside and went to sleep so he could be ready for those last, busy hours of his christmas holiday at Hogwarts.

Al was in a bit of a reflective mood when he woke up on Saturday morning. That didn't feel unusual for their last full day of holidays before heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday; but he did feel just a little guilty about feeling so happy about their two weeks at home because he knew that had a lot to do with not having to deal with James' teen drama and constantly-palpable hatred of him. He was starting to look ahead to their first weeks back at school too, but while he had some worries about James for that; he was mostly thinking about his study and Quidditch schedule as he cooked breakfast for four while his parents and sister started coming to life and got ready for their shopping and Quidditch day. On the Quidditch side of that, he mused about ways to keep his team motivated while practicing in the cold and snow; he mentally added a few things to his shopping list; and had fun with mental pictures of mid-air snowball fights and other snow-related magical games that might be possible to keep their workouts fun.

"That seems to be an odd sort of smile," Lily told him as she walked into the kitchen and continued over to him for a good morning hug. "What's on your mind?"

"Right this second I was thinking that you've gotten an inch taller over the past two weeks,' he answered half-seriously. "Either that, or you're doing something to convince Mum to shop for extra new clothes for you today."

"I'm not doing anything like that, and have already gotten a lot of new clothes over the holidays; so we won't be doing much clothes shopping today. Now answer the real question instead of trying to divert me with one of my favorite chat topics."

"It usually works," Al teased, "but in this case; I was just thinking about things we could do to make our winter Quidditch practices more fun while we're out there freezing our broomtails off with our team."

"Could you make a classroom big-enough for us to practice indoors?" Lily asked hopefully; and Al laughed.

"I might be able to do that, but it wouldn't work very well; since there would still be walls and a ceiling to run into – and that wouldn't end well at any higher speeds. That's why I'm still working on my idea to shield a stadium and make it bigger. It would be even worse to hit a shield charm – especially if you did that at the top of it and had a long way to fall."

"We can still hit the ground or the seats or walls of the stadium now," Lily pointed out. That might just be something we'd need to get used to if we had close-in stadiums. There'd be lots of advantages – like no weather problems."

"True, but I don't plan on a career in stadium shielding and expansion, and even if I could do it; the magical power needed to pull it off even for a little while would be immense. For this winter, I was thinking more along the lines of mid-air snowball fights on our brooms."

"That would be fun," Lily agreed; "though I'm surprised that you're not thinking about our impending return to being under the same roof with James again starting tomorrow night."

Al shrugged and smiled; though not with any amusement. "I'll try not to go there at all."

"Good luck with that. You know that Mum and Dad will want to talk with us tonight or tomorrow morning as usual; and they're worried about our problems with James – though that's more for you than me right now. Don't you expect more trouble?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to expect," he answered seriously. "James could be too busy having his feud with Ollie. That doesn't mean he wouldn't come after me too, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see – and be ready for anything."

"How often have you said that and still ended up in the hospital wing?"

"That's true," Al conceded, "and it's posible that I've said something like that nearly every time ahead of my visits to Madam Pomfrey, but I don't have any better ideas about what else i could do instead; and I won't change some things – even if that does give James some advantages and keeps him from getting into trouble or expelled."

"So much for my suggestion that you just switch sides and join his prank patrol," Lily joked. "He does have an opening right now."

Al laughed. "That might work out – right up until he blasts me from behind while on my first prank patrol with him. If you think it's such a good idea, though; why didn't you ask him to join up before Christmas?"

"Because I thought it was good for a laugh – not a good idea for either of us."

"Well, it worked for that. Since we started out talking about making winter workouts more fun, though; do you have any suggestions for that?"

"I still like the idea of indoor Quidditch, but if that really isn't an option; how about a swimming workout instead – maybe once or twice a month? I guess we can't just do that every week, but as long as we actually worked hard instead of just floating around and playing; the exercise would help our conditioning for matches."

"Would you want to use the bludgers and try to catch the snitch too?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"No bludgers for sure without our Quidditch gear, but I suppose I could come up with a game for catching the snitch – and the Chasers and Keepers could work out a way to have goals at each end of the pool that could be something like the Muggle water volleyball game."

"I can think of ways to do that – and I could probably come up with an underwater snitch that you could need to dive to chase and catch."

"That sounds great," Lily agreed enthusiastically. "Once we make up that game, though, I want to make sure we get a piece of the action when Uncle George and Uncle Ron turn it into a new product to go along with their portable pools. I got ripped off with the pool idea – though I didn't figure that out until we started getting paid a bit of money for the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie song."

"The free pools are worth a lot of song sales," Al reminded her; and Lily shrugged.

"True, but Mum and Dad would've bought us a pool; and I'd reather have the money."

"Try not to scare us," Ginny said as she wrapped her arms around Lily for a hug. Al and Lily had both heard their parents on the stairs; so Lily's comment had been timed pretty well for their arrival. "That sounded just a bit too much like James and his love of money."

"Maybe," Lily conceded, "but I'm not as clueless as he is about it; so my perspective is very different – even if I do like money a lot too."

"What were you talking about that gave you that chance for teasing us?" Harry asked as he took a turn to hug Lily and Ginny moved on to hug Al next.

"We were working out things to do to make winter Quidditch training more fun for the team," Lily answered. "I suggested a swimming workout for a couple practices a month; and we were both coming up with a pool version of Quidditch to play – without the bludgers."

"You could still have bludgers," Harry offered. "Just make them big, wet sponges or something that would soak you instead of bashing you."

"That wouldn't work out very well for the Beaters if the bludgers soaked them every time they hit one," Ginny pointed out.

"That would be a challenge for them," Harry conceded with a shrug; "but we are talking about a pool game; so getting wet is part of the fun."

Starting their morning chat with more suggestions for a pool version of Quidditch kept them entertained for a while; they enjoyed the meal that Al finished cooking for them; and also talked about shopping and the Harpies' Quidditch match while they ate; and then they cleaned up and headed for Diagon Alley to do the back-to-school supply shopping. They met up with Kirley, Hermione, their kids, and a handful of other friends and cousins at the Leaky; and then they moved out into Diagon Alley. Staying together wasn't really an option with so many teens and tweens, so while Al spent as much time with Rose and Gwendolyn as possible; he also did a lot of the more boring supply shopping with Harry and Kirley when their favorite girls were busy doing the more-interesting shopping. Potions supplies took a while to get for most of the students they did that work for, but quills, inks, and parchment were easy to get in bulk; since they could just get boxes or cases of each that could be split up later. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of their sweets stop together; they only picked up a few things each at the wheezes store; and they visited some of the other stores together too – like the book store and pet stores.

Harry sent their purchases home on a regular basis, so by the time they needed to be back at the Leaky for lunch; the only bags they had with them were for the supplies they needed to split up and pass around to their cousins and friends. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Hermione took care of that while everyone was gathering around the tables they had for their Quidditch game day group; and then they had lunch with their six kids while most of the others were at teen and parent tables while they enjoyed their meal. As usual, they didn't have a lot of time for lunch; they headed for Ilkley stadium after they finished eating; and had time to wander the concession booths before going to their seats. They waited as long as possible to do that, since it was cold, windy, and snowing; so they only had to wait minutes for the start of the match by the time they were in their seats and huddled in pairs or trios under blankets to stay as warm as possible.

"I am so glad that we're not playing today," Gwendolyn told Al as they watched the first play develop with the Wasps' Chasers taking possession of the quaffle first.

"Would you still feel that way if your Mum asked you to play for her team?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No, but it sounded good. Thanks for picking that joke instead of teasing me about not being able to play for the Harpies."

"You're welcome. Nice save, but the wind was going to take it wide anyway."

"Maybe, but the wind wouldn't have deflected it straight to Candice like that," Gwendolyn offered. "The snow is going to be as much trouble as the wind if it keeps up all afternoon."

"If it keeps up like this all afternoon; we'll be able to build igloos around our seats," Al joked.

That wasn't a realistic risk, but it did continue to snow off and on throughout the game; and the weather was definitely a factor for all of the players and the spectators in the stadium. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey had the advantage for that at Chaser because they seemed to be better-prepared for the snow and wind than Jeremy and his fellow Wasps' Chasers were; and they did a great job getting in close to the Wasps' goals for their scoring opportunities. That took the wind out of the equation for their shots on goal; and Victoire did particularly-well as she alternated between taking the shots and setting up Candice and Hailey for other scoring attempts. She had the best goals-to-attempts for all of the Chasers; but actually passed off to her friends by a nearly two-to-one margin – which helped her scoring attempts thanks to regular pass-fakes.

In the first hour, the Harpies held that same two-to-one advantage for scoring; earning six goals to just three for the Wasps. That trend continued through the second and third hours; though the scoring was higher for both teams in the second hour; and then slowed down dramatically after that as all of the players began to feel the cold and discomfort. That was especially true for Gabrielle and Aaron as they battled hard to catch the snitch. They were a third of the way into the fourth hour when their duel came to an abrupt end – and Aaron earned the come-from-behind victory for the Wasps. Luck had a lot to do with his victory, and Gabrielle wasn't in any position to stop him or make the catch instead because Aaron just happened to cross paths with the snitch; see it in time; and make the grab before it was past him and out of sight in the snow again. Most of the spectators didn't even know the match had ended until the whistle blew – and Aaron had to show the snitch to the referee before that happened.

"Mum is so not going to be happy about this," Gwendolyn told Al quietly as they stayed huddled under their blanket while the first rush for the exits began. "This is three losses in a row for first matches of the New Year."

"Maybe not; but their record after those losses is pretty good; so maybe she should hope for this first loss every New Year."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I wasn't thinking about that; but you do have a good point – even if this is still a lousy way to start the New Year for our team."

"We think that every Harpies' loss is lousy," Lily interjected. She was sitting behind Al and Gwendolyn with her parents on one side and Jonah and Kirley on the other. "Aunt Gabrielle and Aaron are battling to a draw every year right now, so he's got the best record against her, but he's likely the next-best Seeker in the league anyway; so that isn't a surprise."

"I'd say that the only surprise today is how close we came to getting the one-sixty lead," Ginny offered. "Jeremy and his buddies didn't have a very good day."

"I'm not sure if that's good or bad for us," Gwendolyn said thoughtfully. "Aaron must have been feeling more pressure to catch the snitch the closer we got to that lead. That may have helped him with getting the win."

"Aaron doesn't usually make mistakes with risky plays; but getting close to that lead is usually better for the Seeker on the team with that lead," Lily advised Gwendolyn. "Then there are the Seekers that are okay with getting the catch for the loss when the pressure is off for the other Seeker."

"That's all true, but don't forget that luck played a big part in that catch – and our loss – today," Ginny reminded them. "It happens; we'll survive; and I don't think that Gwenog will be too worried about this loss. She really only hates it when we beat ourselves."

"Don't we all," Gwendolyn agreed; and then smiled at Al. "some of us really hate it when we get out-played too, but I won't mention any of the names on my personal list for that; since you might be related to one or more of them."

"Is there more than one name on that list?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn laughed and nodded toward the pitch. "Yes, since I got outplayed by three Witches on that pitch fairly recently; but let's not go there. I still have a few years left to go before I'll need to be better than at least one of them when I'm ready to play in the show."

"We should start packing up and getting out of here anyway," Harry suggested. "I can't be the only person here wanting to get home and warmed up again."

He wasn't, but they still had time to round up their gear and pack up their blankets before the crowds on the stairs began to thin and they could join the exodus. While that put them among the last spectators to leave the stadium, they spent a lot less time standing out in the cold while only moving a step at a time; so they preferred doing that – and then kept the goodbye hugs and kisses short as they split up to head for their various homes. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah went home with Harry, Ginny, and the kids; they were staying for dinner and the evening; and Gwenog would join them as soon as she was done work for the day. Ginny had been working while watching the game, but hadn't drawn one of the post-game interview assignments, so when they got home; she went to the office to write up her game report for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet while Harry and Kirley took care of the hot drinks and snacks and the four kids went to hang out in the sitting room and play mirror games.

The game had taken most of the afternoon, but they still had an hour an a half or so to hang out until dinnertime – including some wind-down time for Gwenog once she joined them. With the countdown now moving in hours to their return to Hogwarts, talking about school and Quidditch as they played games was inevitable. Hogwarts was on the minds of the parents too; so none of their kids were surprised when they wanted to have a group chat with them starting not long after they sat down to eat the meal that Harry, Kirley, and Ginny had cooked up for them while waiting for Gwenog. The two sets of adults were at opposit ends of the table; Lily and Jonah were on one side across from Al and Gwendolyn; and they were all lined up with their parents – and with the Mums and daughters and sons and Dads paired up too.

"We've pretty much put this off to the last minute; but it's time for the back-to-school chat," Ginny told all four kids after they'd all exchanged a bit of light conversation as they filled plates and settled in to enjoy their meal.

"Should we be worried about you while we're away?" Lily teased with a grin and sparkling eyes. "Since the first-half of our year was so quiet; you can't be expecting any problems for us at Hogwarts."

"At least two of us are worried about you," Ginny answered seriously. "There have already been some rather serious problems; and we do remember that things just kept escalating over both of the past two school years." She sighed. "There's no avoiding it – James and Ollie escalated their fight with Al; and we want to talk about anything we can collectively do to make it safer for all of you – and your friends – between now and June."

"As long as that doesn't include moving some or all of us to another school; we're open to any suggestions," Gwendolyn assured her – "or home-schooling;" she added in quick response to Ginny's sudden grin. she laughed when her father smiled enthusiastically next. "Ditto that for quitting school and starting a music career," she advised him.

"I wonder if she'd be against having you hire her for the Harpies' reserve squad for the next four and a half seasons," Kirley mused to Gwenog; earning a round of laughs.

"That one would be a tough choice, but since she wouldn't hire Al; I'll still pick Hogwarts over that option," Gwendolyn decided.

"We haven't seriously talked about any of those things," Ginny advised the kids. "Just having you try to be ready for anything and dealing with the ambushes and pranks just isn't good-enough for us either; so we want you to be more proactive about dealing with James – whether that's getting help from us or your Professors, Heads, and Prefects; or working out other ways to avoid James and Ollie."

"Ditto that for your favorite Slytherin haters," Harry added with a nod of agreement. He smiled at Al. "I know you're likely sick of talking about this over and over again with us, but before you tell us that you don't want to rat out anyone – especially James; I want to remind you that we're just as worried about having anyone seriously-hurt because we sat back and did nothing to stop James, Ollie, or any of your Slytherin haters. None of us want to see James expelled, but he might back off if that risk gets too high for his liking. We have considered hiring Lily and her counter-prank gang to protect you, Al, but I'd like you to try using those Divination skills you're learning this year to try and help yourself too."

"Even if that could help a bit; that isn't going to work most of the time," Al advised everyone; since Harry's comment had earned the extra attention. "Lily might love the boost to her rep if she was my prank protector, but that job is fairly dangerous; so you might not be able to afford her."

"You're not supposed to make their points for them," Gwendolyn told him with a laugh that was echoed in response to his comments. "I agree with your Mum and Dad – even if I don't have any good ideas for what we can do about James – and Ollie; assuming that they do make up from their little fight eventually." She turned her attention to Harry next. "You know that Al's worried about hurting James and Ollie – even if we don't have that problem with the Slytherin bullies. Do you have any top secret Auror tricks or spells you can teach us that would protect us and keep them from getting hurt?"

"There might be; but you'd need to sign up for the Aurors to get that training," Harry joked.

"Not you too," Gwendolyn lamented with a roll of her eyes. "What are the ideas you have come up with for us? Let me guess – Dad wants us to start a band so we're busy with that all of the time; Mum wants us to practice Quidditch seven days a week for six hours a day; and Aunt Ginny came up with a dozen new bat-bogey hex variations for us to use on James and Ollie."

"My idea was to have Al go around the school as different kneazle cats, but Harry reminded me that James has the Marauders map; and it isn't fooled by Animorphmagus forms. Your Dad didn't like my idea to have you and Al pack picnic meals and hide on Valentine's Day to avoid a three-peat of your problems with James for that particular holiday; but I still think it's a good idea."

"I think it's brilliant," Gwendolyn agreed enthusiastically.

"Valentine's Day is on a Friday," Lily reminded her. "Maybe we'll have another school dance."

"That's a good idea too," Kirley told her. "The four of you should start a band and offer to play at that dance."

"You are not helping, Dad," Gwendolyn told him. "On one hand, you all want us to stay safe; and then you want us to put big targets on for James and Ollie to have easier aim – and do that while we were in a room full of witnesses or potential collateral damage."

"I'd better not suggest that it would just make your shows more exciting," Kirley decided while using the joke anyway. I did think you'd like that suggestion better than the one where your Mum and I tell you and Jonah to stop hanging out with these Potter kids. That would be our best bet for keeping you safe – even if it wouldn't help Al and Lily at all."

"I don't like either idea at all," Gwendolyn assured him. "Lily and I are willing to get more help from our Professors and Prefects too – even if Al doesn't like that idea. None of you can really help us out while we're at Hogwarts, but we can try to do more to avoid James and Ollie – and give them fewer chances to attack us when we're on our own."

"All of that is good, but you've also had problems with them drawing Al out by putting other students at risk," Ginny reminded her. She smiled at Al. "You're Harry's son, so I don't expect you'll just stay out of the way and do nothing; but you really should work on ways to help out without ending up in the hospital wing."

"I do not volunteer to be one of the innocent bystanders for those DADA practices," Lily declared.

"Would you rather pretend to be James or Ollie instead?" Gwendolyn offered; and Lily shrugged.

"Not really – but it'd be better than the other job – or helping Al – especially when that seems to mean helping him to get to the hospital wing after he passes out."

"That job does suck," Gwendolyn conceded with a wry smile for Al while everyone else laughed at their banter. "We should have made your New Year's resolution for a year without visits to the hospital wing."

"That would have solved all of my problems," Al agreed. "Why didn't we think about that?"

"Because we were having too much fun making up Cannons-related jokes for Rose instead," Lily answered. "What else do you want us to do – including for dealing with Slytherins?"

Lily's question kept their back-to-school danger chat moving along, but despite parental best wishes; Al knew that they really didn't work anything out that would help him with James – or with the Slytherins. They were all blinded by hatred for him, and while that played out in different ways with each of them; the only true resolution to his problems wasn't something he could fix. He would keep working on developing his extra senses and Divination skills, and maybe that would help a bit; but he also sensed that he'd be continuing to simply react to whatever james threw at him – at least in the near term. He'd do the best he could with that, and really try not to get hurt, but one thing that James was obviously really good at was coming up with creative ways to try and blast him; so he didn't really feel very confident about his chances for staying out of the hospital wing.

They did eventually move on to talk about other things until they were finished dessert; Al and Gwendolyn were in charge of the clean-up while the parents retired to the sitting room with after-dinner drinks; and Lily and Jonah helped out with the work while keeping them entertained with more back-to-school chat time and jokes. Once the work was done, they spent another hour or so with the parents; and then Kirley and Gwenog were ready to head home with their kids so that they could have a bit more time alone with them before they headed back to school in the morning. Harry and Ginny wanted to do that with Al and Lily too, so they stayed in the sitting room and visited for a while after the McCormacks went home; and then had another round of chats in Al's and Lily's rooms when they needed to go up to bed – and finish up the last bit of packing that was mostly for their supply purchases from the morning and a few clothes that they'd been using over the holidays. Harry and Ginny split up to do that; Al talked with his father first; and then wrapped up his day having the visit with his mother.

"Well, you at least don't look as excited as your sister is about getting out of here and going back to school," Ginny teased as she walked into Al's room and crossed over to sit on the bed next to him. He wasn't under the covers, but he was ready for bed by then; and put his mirror down to give her his full attention. "Did you like the article?" That question had been asked when Ginny saw that he'd been reading her latest Quidditch News submission; and he smiled in response.

"It sounds a lot like our post-game conversation yesterday with a few added bits of analysis; so yes, I like it. I could say the same thing about you not looking as excited as Dad is about getting us out of here for another few months until Easter."

"Will you be home for Easter?" Ginny asked; "or are you going to try to do something noble like stay at Hogwarts so that James can come home instead of you?"

"That would seem fair, and I did think about it; but won't be making that offer to James because I think he'll want to stay at Hogwarts with the rest of the senior team. If I'm wrong about that, then we can work out a plan 'B' closer to Easter."

Ginny nodded. "Okay, and you could be right about that – though going another nearly six months without seeing James is going to be tough for me – even when he's causing so many problems for us." She laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Cut that out. I do not want to be seeing James while visiting you in the hospital wing."

"Okay, then I won't suggest that you'll see him after the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match in February either," Al joked. "You could always come to that game and do a scouting report or something."

Ginny smiled and shook her head. "No, I can't; since James has made it clear that he does not want us to be like some of the other parents that come to the school matches – not to mention that he'd be furious if that game doesn't go well for him and I report on it for the Prophet and Quidditch News."

"That wouldn't be good," Al agreed. "I hope that James will have good games against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but I'm afraid that he's going to keep underestimating Alex and Pauline. They also have better teams around them than Slytherin has this year; so those games should both be very close."

"That is actually good for the school league – even if it makes winning the Quidditch Cup tougher for every House," Ginny pointed out. "The Harpies have had a great run of it over the past twenty or thirty years, but we could use a bit more of that competition in our pro league too."

"You know that's going to happen," Al said with a nod of agreement; and then laughed. "When Rose leads her future Cannons team out of the league basement; all of the other teams will want to pick up their game too so that they don't end up being the worst team. Even the Falcons don't want to have that distinction – regardless of how proud they are to be the worst in the league for cheating and beating up on their opponents."

"I doubt that any of the top teams need to worry about going from first-to-worst while Rose is trying to earn that unlikely championship for her team; but you'd be right about that for the teams in the bottom half – especially if they can't count on those wins over the Cannons anymore."

"You don't seem too worried about it yet, Mum; but I'd get that bet you have with Rose covered sooner instead of later."

"I get why you say that, Al, but even if Rose can do for the Cannons what Hermione is trying to do for the Ministry of Magic; keep in mind that she still hasn't freed the House Elves – and that might be an easier job than getting a championship for the Cannons – and she's been at it for more than twenty years now."

"Aunt Hermione has to deal with House Elves that don't want to be freed," Al pointed out. "Rose doesn't plan on trying to win her championship with the current team or owners."

"I'll give you that point," Ginny conceded. "Rose will still need to work out how to get those owners to sell; and she sure wouldn't make enough money playing for them to buy them out anytime soon – even if you both save your allowances between now and when you graduate."

"She'll figure something out," Al predicted. "For the rest of this year, though, we'll just worry about having a good season with our junior team – and hopefully having fun while we do that."

"I'd remind you to worry about your studies too; but don't need to do that. We are a bit surprised that you're not more tired out from the extra classes."

"The work is tougher, but I'm getting used to it; and can keep up with everything as long as I keep to my schedule as much as possible. It helps that I like most of my subjects and seem to be good at all of them – even the subjects that aren't my favorites."

"You must've gotten that from the same place Percy did," Ginny suggested. "He still likes to study and read more than he likes doing anything that the rest of us think of as fun."

"He likes all of the parties that go along with playing politics at the Ministry," Al countered; and Ginny laughed.

"Yes, but he loves them for the politics – not the music, dancing, or fun." She shook her head and smiled. "He's happy and it works for him; so I'm happy for Percy – even if I wouldn't want to have his job or life."

"You'd say the same thing about being a Dragonologist or Curse Breaker too," Al suggested; and Ginny nodded again.

"True, but Bill and Charlie are at least both as adventurous as I am; and I could be happy living in homes like theirs on the seashore or in the mountains. I wouldn't want to live in the middle of London."

"Me either," Al agreed. "Living in London wouldn't work out very well for being an Animorphmagus either. I'd likely get picked up by the Muggle animal control regardless of what form I tried using there – and Gwendolyn might even get into trouble for riding horses in the streets."

Ginny laughed and leaned over to hug him. "Thanks for that mental picture. I'll let you get back to your Wizarding Web surfing until you're ready to crash for the night. I love you, Al; and I'm going to miss you a lot."

"I love you and will miss you too," Al assured her. "Try not to worry, Mum. I really am going to try harder to stay out of the hospital wing for the rest of the year."

"That might be too much to hope for, considering how much you are like your father; but I will keep hoping for the best anyway."

"You had your moments at Hogwarts too, but I won't scare you by suggesting that I inherited a lot from both you and Dad," Al joked; earning another laugh.

"That isn't really scary for me when we are fairly happy with how you've turned out so far. Have a good night. I'll see you in the morning."

They shared another hug and a kiss; Ginny left the room; and Al settled into his bed and went back to playing on his mirror. He eventually had a short bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn after she went to bed; took a washroom break after that; and then turned out the lights and let his mind wander as he waited for sleep to come. It was inevitable that he'd eventually spend some time thinking about James and the potential for problems with him once he was back at Hogwarts. While he had a good feeling about his classes, studies, and Quidditch; he didn't get any sense of what to expect from James, Ollie, or the Slytherin haters. James hadn't even talked with anyone from their family over the past two weeks, so he had no idea of whether James had been enjoying his family-free holiday or not. That could have a big impact on whether he'd be in a foul mood or not; though Al also still expected some trouble regardless of how happy James was – if for no other reason than because he hadn't had Al around to ambush or prank in two weeks.

That uncertainty was something to worry about, but there was a lot to look forward to with the return to Hogwarts. Getting to use magic all of the time again was a big part of that – along with spending time with Gwendolyn and the rest of their friends every day and everything else that was so great about Hogwarts. Add in Hogsmeade weekends, Quidditch matches, Valentine's Day, and all of the rest of the upcoming fun and adventure; and Al decided that it really wouldn't matter to him at all what James or anyone else threw at him that wasn't so great – he was going to do everything he could to have a great second-half of his third school year!


	30. Get Your Head and Heart in the Game

**Chapter Thirty – Get Your Heads and Hearts in the Game!**

James was in a foul mood as he trudged out to the Quidditch pitch on Sunday morning. His Saturday night had been going brilliantly right up until Malorie had started talking about introducing him to her friends before dinner on Sunday and wanting to compare schedules to work out times for hanging out together once they were back to classes on Monday. Explaining what should have been obvious to her hadn't gone well; and he'd ended up staying awake for hours after that fuming over the stupidity of Witches before eventually getting a handful of restless hours of sleep. If that hadn't been bad-enough; he'd slept in; missed breakfast; and was only going out for the Quidditch workout because the alternative was to do nothing or go to the library and work on his revision. He wasn't surprised to see Scorpius there already – the boy was nearly as boring as the loser for having no life from what he'd seen over the past two weeks; but that irritated him today anyway.

"Didn't you have anything better to do last night other than going to bed early and sleeping?" he snarled as he threw his bag onto the bench and sat down to start putting on his gear. Scorpius looked over at him for a long moment before answering.

"I probably didn't have as much fun as you did; but I'll guess that my night ended better than yours did. You're in a foul mood; your Mudblood holiday fling looke crushed this morning at breakfast; and it's easy-enough to put two-and-two together."

"Only if you come up with five for the answer like most Slytherins would," James shot back; and Scorpius laughed.

"Occasionally true," he agreed; "but I'm one of the exceptions to that general rule. Instead of ranting at me for a while, though; try burning off that mad above the pitch – or with a duel after that if you're still mad."

"You'll wish that I didn't do either by the time we're done," James warned; and smirked when Scorpius laughed at the challenge while standing up and grabbing his broom.

"Good luck with that. See you up there."

With no outlet left to vent at, James hurried to get his gear on; took off after Scorpius; and then they spent an hour and a half battling it out above the pitch. He was not happy to earn a draw this time with the flying; enjoyed getting three snitch catches in under a half-hour; and then lost the Chaser duel ten goals to four – mostly because Scorpius' broom gave him too much of an advantage unless he could get ahead of the plays first on defense. Despite the stack of revision still on his to-do list; he went along with Scorpius for a DADA duel; that did help him to feel better by the time they were done; and then they split up to head back to their own Houses in time to get changed and ready for lunch. They both knew that they wouldn't be hanging out together every day anymore once everyone was back at school; and James seriously wished that Malorie had been able to understand that as easily as he and Scorpius did. Lunch in the Great Hall was a bit awkward because he didn't sit with Malorie, but was still at the same table with all of the students; and she seemed to be doing a great job of suffering in stoic silence while completely ignoring him. She didn't eat much; left early; and he didn't see her again for the rest of the day – mostly because he didn't even attempt to look for her at all.

He was out of time after lunch for putting off his revision; so he grabbed his books; headed for the library; and got to work. Eight assignments with less than eight hours to get them done – no problem! DADA was first; he scrawled out a half-page report in under a half hour; and then moved on to Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions; wrapping up all three of them in under an hour. He was particularly proud of his two-sentence, five word History assignment for it's concise summation of the conflict that Professor Binns had assigned his fourth-year students. He couldn't fake it for his Astronomy assignment, and knew that he wouldn't get any marks for his efforts; but thought that his cloud-filled sky that hid the star chart he was supposed to have mapped was brilliantly funny. That left Potions and Care of Magical Creatures; he pounded out two reports that were admittedly sub-standard; and then he'd count on Hagrid passing him because he did that most of the time anyway; and while he'd get a failing mark for the Potions assignment; he'd make up for that with the practical Potion.

That part of the assignment needed to be done in one of the Potions dungeons, so he packed up; went on to do that; and ended up working in the same room with Scorpius and two other boys. They didn't talk to each other at all with other students there with them, but James didn't even pick a table near the others. He got to work; concentrated on making the potion; got it done; and then went back to his dorm room to drop off his bags before getting ready for the back-to-school feast. He took extra time getting ready to impress the Witches. After a long travel day for most of the students; he was sure that he would look great by comparison – not that he didn't think that was true every day! Finally, he gathered up the things he'd need for welcoming the loser back to Hogwarts while also showing the idiot Professors that the Animorphpotty really was obviously to blame for all of the messes around the school.

Convincing everyone of that wouldn't happen so easily no matter how much he wished that everyone would see the loser for the freak that he truly is; but he would get his ultimate victory eventually – with the next step for that elusive goal now just a bit of time away.

Let the destroy the Animorphpotty-loser games resume!

Platform nine and three-quarters was insanely-crowded! The Potters had arrived ahead of schedule, but they'd stayed together while waiting for the McCormacks and various Weasleys to get there too. That gave Al and Lily the chance to visit with some other friends that they hadn't seen over the holidays as they arrived alone or with their families too; and they didn't have problems with their luggage because they had everything in their undetectable expansion bags for easy carrying. Lily had her pet cages too, but Al had left Winter at home and she was going to fly up to Hogwarts sometime during the week – on the best weather-day for her to do that. Gwendolyn and Jonah caught up with them before Rose and Hugo did; both rounds of reunions were fun even though it had only been a day since they'd seen each other; and then they had to do the goodbyes with their parents and get on the train pretty much as soon as Fred arrived with his sister and parents.

Waiting that long to get on the train meant that they needed to hunt for compartments to sit in, but they were still able to sit near to each other thanks to some of their friends – though not together. Al and Gwendolyn ended up with four of her fellow Ravenclaw; Lily and Jonah had seats saved for them with their friends; and Rose, Hugo, and Fred all ended up in separate compartments. Al also didn't get a good seat for watching the platform as they headed out toward Hogsmeade, but he did make eye contact with his parents, Gwendolyn's, and some of his aunts and uncles before they were out of his line of sight. With that out of the way, he settled into his seat next to Gwendolyn and began to pay more attention to the conversation in progress.

"It isn't just you – the New Year back-to-school crush at King's Cross is getting busier," Toni insisted in response to a comment that Michael had made about literally feeling crushed while trying to get to the train.

"Then it's probably time for the Ministry of Magic to do something about that," Renee declared; and then smiled at Al. "Isn't that something that your Uncle would be in charge of? He is the Head of the Transportation Department."

"He is," Al agreed; "but I have no idea whether they're even considering doing anything like that – especially when it's only a problem once or twice a year. The platform is as long as the Hogwarts Express already; so I guess the only way to make it bigger where it would make any difference would be to widen it."

"Are we actually talking about something like that instead of anything else for our first topic of the trip back to school?" Gwendolyn asked with mock-shock. "Just how boring were your holidays compared to mine?"

"We were expecting you to report that your holidays were boring by comparison without James at home," Renee advised her. "Whatever did you do without all of the usual teen drama, pranks, ambushes, and insults?"

"We had a brilliant two weeks," Gwendolyn answered happily. "We even hope that James had a great holiday too. If he had enough fun having nothing at all to do with us; maybe he'll decide that he's better off just leaving us alone all of the time."

"That's an improbable dream," Toni told her seriously. "Instead of going there, though; why don't you start off with the holiday report? I've heard some of it from you when we've talked over the holidays, but we have lots of time; so let's do the full report so that none of us miss anything."

"Except for the parts that will just make the boys blush," Renee added. "We'll save those stories for our bedtime girl chat."

The three girls likely did save most of those stories for later, but that didn't keep them from talking about things that did make Al and Michael blush. That was occasionally true for Toni's younger sister, Allie; but she was having fun getting to hang out with the three older Witches – something that she didn't do very often when Al was around. He was sure that she spent time with Toni and Michael – just as he and Gwendolyn spent time with Lily and Jonah, but Allie wasn't into Quidditch either; so they didn't see each other all that often around the castle. After the first round of catch-up chat time, Allie left their compartment to go and hang out with some of her second-year friends. Al and Gwendolyn were the last in their group to go for a first walk along the train, but that was only because they had visitors stopping to see them first; and then they held down the fort while Toni, Michael, and Renee all left to make the rounds and stretch their legs.

For their tour of the train, they needed to stop and talk with all of the players for their teams and reserve squads; visits with all of Al's older cousins were shorter but took a bit of time for each; and they had one confrontation with the Harper brothers and a few of their Slytherin buddies that was one-sided as they were taunted and insulted while crossing paths and not bothering to respond to the taunts. Al countered a hex attempt too, but pretended as though he hadn't even seen it – and the Harpers likely had no idea that he'd even been the one to block it. They were back in their compartment for a late lunch; stayed there for most of the rest of the trip except for one more walk that really was just to stretch their legs; and then, finally, it was time to get ready for their arrival into Hogsmeade station.

It had been a cold Christmas holiday at home, but it felt a lot colder when they got off the train and lined up for the carriage rides to the school. there was more snow too; so there were snowball fights and other games being played that was all at least partly to try and stay warm until they could get under the blankets in the carriages and be on the way to Hogwarts. Al and Gwendolyn were among the first third-year students to catch a ride, but that wasn't thanks to any special treatment – they'd simply stayed in line while others had run around while playing in the snow. The bonus cuddle time had been great, but Al wasn't ready to say goodbye to Gwendolyn when they reached the Great Hall. The hug and kiss was too brief; and he felt a bit odd as he walked with Rose toward their normal seats at the Gryffindor table.

He soon realized that it was the sensory overload that was affecting him so strongly. Most of the students in the room had been on the train, so that seemed odd to him; but he just went along with the ebb and flow that felt like emotional waves washing over him while also moving on along the Gryffindor table. All of the fourth-year students were seated by then – or at least in the hall; but that didn't keep Al from sensing the full blast of James' emotions – and hatred for him – as he pretended not to pay attention to Al's arrival even as he walked past him on the other side of the Gryffindor table. After two weeks without having that emotional baggage nearby to deal with, another mental adjustment was needed for Al to deal with the hatred – and then there were a few surprises to deal with too as he processed more of what he could sense from his brother. That information led to focusing his senses elsewhere; and he was soon overloaded with too much information on several levels of weird.

"Did you get hit with a hex that I didn't see?" Rose leaned in close and asked as they sat down. "You have the strangest look on your face right now."

Al smiled and forced himself to change his outward expression – even though that only masked how he was feeling. "I'll have to tell you about it later, but no; I wasn't hexed or anything – yet."

"That sounds ominous," Rose whispered back. "We did manage to get all the way to our seats without being blasted, though; so maybe we'll be okay – at least for tonight. I noticed James is keeping the spot next to him open. Do you think he has a new girlfriend – or maybe he's made up with Bristol or Patricia?"

That question had hit too close to home for some of the information he was still processing, but Al couldn't talk about any of that while the rest of their friends were getting seated around them; so he just shrugged. "I'm sure we'll know soon-enough. Ollie's sitting with Lacey and her friends; so it doesn't look as though James has worked anything out with him – if either of them even tried to do that over the holidays."

"I noticed that too – and it isn't the only change of seating around here tonight compared to before the holidays." She frowned as something caught her eye; and then shook her head. "Bristol just sat down next to James – and hugged and kissed him." She tried not to be obvious as she watched the action around the fourth-year Gryffindors. "Patricia is either still mad at James and Ollie; or she's mad at Bristol. I can't tell which."

"Being mad at all three of them could be an option," Al offered; and Rose smiled and nodded.

"That might be true except for her history of blaming anyone else except herself or James for their problems."

While Rose was right about that, it was the ongoing emotions and thoughts that he was picking up on that was truly scary for Al and he and Rose joined the main conversation going on with their friends. He was aware of everything going on around him – and he seemed to focus in on particularly-significant events as they all waited for dinner to be served. Knowing too much about what was going on with James, Bristol, and Patricia was just one example – if a more personal one for him. He caught the exchange between Terri Timms and Scorpius as she stopped by and fairly-bluntly advised him that they were done without even bothering to offer any explanation before she then moved on to sit with the other second-year Slytherins – and her new boyfriend, Richard Baddock. Al didn't know him, but did know that he was one of the Slytherin junior team reserve squad Chasers. He also saw that Scorpius didn't show any outward reaction to the news other than indifference, while he could sense a mix of near-rage at the perceived insult along with just a hint of relief that he was free of her - and sure that she'd eventually regret blowing off the best Wizard she'd ever have the chance to be with – a fact that she proved with her pick of a no-talent loser like Baddock for her next boyfriend.

Al felt guilty about some of the things he learned, but while some secrets wouldn't make it onto the school gossip network; the new couples and break-ups all mostly would; so he was really only getting that news sooner than most. That might not be true for other things, but when it came to James and Scorpius; he was glad to get that knowledge – even when it wasn't comfortable. Finding out that the two boys had hung out together over the holidays was important for him to know; but the motivations for that with each of them was a bigger deal. He didn't like finding out that James had taken advantage of a vulnerable, good-hearted Witch over the holidays, and wished he had picked up on far-fewer details; but it was again something important to learn about his brother – if not a very nice truth to have confirmed about him.

By the time that Headmistress McGonagall welcomed them back and the food appeared on the tables, Al was ready to enjoy the meal while pushing the information overload to the side for later processing – or at least subconsciously continuing to do that. Random pranks began to happen around the Great Hall not long after most of the students had their plates filled for the first time. Al didn't need to look very hard to find the source, but couldn't do anything about the wheezes that James was using in different ways at all four tables. He guessed that at least one full box of Animorphmagus wheezes were used to prank a few students in each House. Nothing happened close to Al in that first wave of wheezes, but Al knew when James added an intentional prank for Ollie that also revealed that he was annoyed to see Ollie and Lacey together. Gwendolyn and the rest of their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends were left alone too, but Al thought that if James was doing that intentionally to deflect suspicion onto him or anyone else; his plan wouldn't work.

He did have the advantage of sensing what their Professors were feeling too, but James was very good at pulling off his pranks without getting caught; so there wasn't any interventions from the Professors. A second wave of pranks swept the Great Hall mid-way through their meal, and this time, instead of Transfiguration wheezes; it was four dung bombs going off – one at each House table. This time, James went after the NEWT year students, and while that was a hit with a lot of the younger students; the senior Prefects and Heads quickly dealt with the smell and mess before it could become a problem for everyone. The third-year students were still conspicuously left alone when another round of wheezes was launched with dessert. Those transfigurations were still more fun than not for most of the students – including most of the teens and tweens that got caught up in the pranks; but Al became more-sure that James was setting him up for a more serious prank or ambush.

Nothing happened anywhere near him through the rest of dessert, but when a lot of students began getting up and ready to head for their Houses, a Whizz Bang Fireworks show was set off near the ceiling; and the alarm bells went off in Al's head. While everyone else was distracted and looking up at the fireworks; he pulled out his wand while jumping to his feet and whirled in a circle while firing off a flurry of bubble shield charms – one for each 'rogue' whizz bang that he'd sensed being fired at specific targets – at all four tables. His shields blocked the explosions as those fireworks went off, but the brilliant flashes of light that went off nearly-simultaneously soon had the attention of more than half of the students and Professors in the room. Al was soon getting a lot of attention too, since the two shield balls in front of him were vibrating as they contained the two explosions – each of them just inches away from him and Rose. With his wand the only one drawn in the room, his eyes blazing with emerald fire, and his body shaking with anger too; that moment seemed to be frozen in time for him as he struggled to get his anger under control.

It was a restraining hand on his arm from Rose and and understanding nod of thanks and silent communication with Gwendolyn that had Al taking a deep breath and then releasing all of the shield charms – and stopped him from blasting his brother. That moment ended abruptly as the warning bells went off again; and he turned to face the Slytherin table. The curses and hexes arrived just ahead of the shouting; Al was on the defense again; and since he was already still angry; he counter-attacked – and put an end to the duel with a display of power that shocked the room into near-silence before anyone else could react to the six-on-one battle.

"Make that six-on-two," Al amended silently to himself when he sensed and saw Gwendolyn join in to protect him – and blast one of the Harper brothers who was already immobilized by then and disarmed. The crash when he fell backward onto the table behind him and sent dishes and glasses flying seemed very loud in the comparative quiet – until Professor McGonagall's shout rang out a moment later.

"Enough! Put your wands away – NOW!" she ordered.

For some reason, Al found that order very funny – possibly because he was surrounded by wands that were scattered around him in addition to the wands he'd been able to catch while disarming his attackers; but he managed to hold in the laughter – and McGonagall was obviously not amused. Lifting her own wand; she countered the binding and silencing spells that Al had hit all of his Slytherin attackers with; and then the Averys immediately started belloweing at her.

"Will you finally do something about Potty now?" Victor demanded hotly. "Everyone saw him attack us with those whizz bangs! He could've killed us!"

"We will sort this out in my office," McGonagall advised him; and Victor shook his head and waved her off dismissively.

"No – you will not get away with covering this up behind closed doors," he shot back. "We all saw the Animorphpotty attack us!" he repeated. "He's not going to get away with it this time!"

"I saw him protecting all of you, me, and seven others with those shields," Gwendolyn shot back; yelling too with a tone of anger and disgust in her voice. "You should be thanking him instead of attacking him too."

"Oh shut it, Potty-trainer," Rupert spat at her. "You're as bad or worse than that mongrel you call a boyfriend!"

"That's quite a compliment from your perspective," Gwendolyn taunted with a derisive laugh. "Thank-you!"

"You can thank me for this," Rupert roared. "Accio wand!" he bellowed next; grinned viciously when his wand began to shoot toward him from where it had landed on the floor along with so many of the other wands that had answered Al's disarming spell; and then he gaped as it stopped in mid-air while still only half-way to him.

"Professor McGonagall ordered us to stop," Al reminded Rupert in a calm tone that hinted at the anger that he was now tightly controlling to keep from just blasting the idiot again. "Hate me all you want for keeping you, your brother, and the rest of your mates from getting hit by those rogue whizz bangs, but leave Gwendolyn – and everyone else – alone."

"You're an even bigger liar than your blood-traitor father!" Victor spat. "What's the matter, Potty? Have you gone too long without being in the spotlight as a hero and needed to set all of this up so that you could save the day again?"

Al did laugh this time; shook his head; and put his wand away. "There's just no point in talking to them," he said; though that was mostly to himself. "They're going to believe what they want no matter how ridiculous." He'd turned to smile ruefully at Rose; but then returned his attention to the Avery brothers when he heard them both summon their wands – a second time for Rupert.

"McGonagall obviously won't deal with you as you deserve," Victor shouted at him; "so I will! Avada Kadavra!"

Al had his wand out again; sent a bowl into the air to intercept the killing curse; and then took the hit from the fragments while turning to defend Gwendolyn from the attack that Rupert launched against her – trying to blast her while expecting everyone to be too preoccupied with his brother's attack on Al.

"Crucio!" Victor bellowed next; and that curse hit Al full-on before he could block it.

The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before, but it didn't overwhelm Al; his magic flared out in response; and he countered the curse before needing to return to protecting Gwendolyn. While he shielded her; she counter-attacked and blasted Rupert off of his feet and into the wall behind him. Victor bellowed out an incoherent roar of rage when he saw that before turning to face Al again.

"Avada Kadavra – Avada Kadavra!" The first curse was aimed at Al, but the second was fired at Gwendolyn; and Al leapt to the defense again. His own defense nearly failed when Professor Longbottom's attempt to intercept the curse knocked his own bowl out of the way; but the defense that McGonagall sent up in front of Gwendolyn was behind his own; and helped to block the shards of shattered bowl before it could hit Gwendolyn's own shield. Al still managed to block the second killing curse Victor had aimed at him; ducked and then deflected the fragments from that plate harmlessly away from everyone around him; and then turned to face Victor again. There was nothing left to do by then because Victor had been disarmed and bound by then – and even his own mates were now too stunned to do anything more than just stare in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Mr. Potter, please put your wand away and come with me," Professor McGonagall said as she was closing the gap between them with long, purposeful strides.

"Yes, Headmistress," he agreed; doing that even as he noticed that Gwendolyn was being rounded up by Professor Flitwick; and Professor Longbottom had three Professors helping him at the Slytherin table – including a grim-looking Professor Slughorn.

After putting his wand away, he hugged Rose; promised to talk to her later; and then followed Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall. By then, Professor Clearwater was instructing the rest of the students to head for their respective Houses in an orderly manner, and while Professor McGonagall didn't slow down; Gwendolyn obviously rushed Professor Flitwick along so that they caught up with her – and with Al – before they reached the top of the first flight of stairs. Taking his hand in hers, Gwendolyn squeezed tightly in support – the best they could do when stopping for a long hug wasn't an option. Professor Flitwick was visibly agitated; and he stepped past the two teens so that he could walk next to McGonagall.

"Oh dear, this is not at all the way we wanted to begin this New Year," he said as if uncertain how to fill up what felt like a grim silence by comparison to the recent cacophony in the Great Hall.

"It is not," McGonagall agreed; "and we are fortunate that no-one was seriously injured – or worse."

"Yes, yes – flinging unforgiveable curses around like that right there in the Great Hall is just unconscionable!"

"It is that and then some," McGonagall again agreed with a curt nod. "What I don't understand is why that confrontation escalated so dramatically and dangerously so quickly."

Her comment sent Al's mind into a review and search through everything he'd seen and sensed from the start of the fireworks through until the fight was over; and he soon found an answer to that question. He'd need to confirm it; but didn't actually need to do that first to be sure he was right – and that the Averys had been hit with memory charms that he could only suspect had simply tapped into their existing hatred for him to send them over the edge into incoherent rage that escalated with each perceived insult and counter-attack. Gwendolyn must have sensed something in him, but he shook his head in silent response to her unspoken question. He'd tell her – and the Professors – soon-enough; but didn't want to do that until they were safely in Headmistress McGonagall's office. he wasn't even sure they'd get the chance to talk to them without the Averys and their mates in the room, but didn't have any choice in that at the moment anyway; so he held hands with Gwendolyn and went along for wherever this ride that James had put them on would lead.

Professor Flitwick continued to try and make conversation as they moved along the hallways fairly-quickly; McGonagall led them straight up to her office; and then they waited for Professor Longbottom to lead the other Professors and the Slytherin students into the office too. Their arrival just made the entire scene more surreal for Al, and while he was still angry about everything that had happened in the Great Hall; he was also, reluctantly impressed with just how devious James' plan continued to be as it played out. To the Professors, the Slytherin boys might look stunned and subdued, but what Al was able to sense told him that they were now simply dazed and confused – and had no memory of what they'd done! Chairs appeared for all of them to sit in; Al and Gwendolyn were separated from the Slytherins by a buffer of Professors; and McGonagall sat down behind her desk. Al saw that all of the portraits around the room were occupied; and he nodded once as he exchanged a glance with Professor Dumbledore.

"Alright, I have you all here so we can get to the bottom of this – and do that without wasting time; so let's get to it."

"Get to what?" Rupert demanded in obvious confusion. "Why are we even here?"

McGonagall stared at him for a long moment. "I am in no mood for games, Mr. Avery. Your actions in the Great Hall – and those of your brother and friends was dangerous and possibly criminal."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rupert told her; his arrogance and disdain for her obvious to everyone. "We were enjoying the fireworks show after dinner one minute; and the next thing we know; we've been hauled here for no reason at all."

"Playing the 'I can't remember' card isn't going to work this time," Neville told him quietly; and he was obviously having a tough time containing his anger.

"He isn't playing," Al interjected quietly; but clearly-enough to get everyone's attention. "They don't remember what happened in the Great Hall – none of them do."

"What are you babbling about?" Victor demanded. "Are you trying to get us into trouble again?" He stood up and turned to face Al. "Whatever game you're playing, Potty, you won't get away with it!" He reached for his wand that wasn't there; and then looked confused again as his mind couldn't process where it could be when he had no memory of being disarmed.

"Sit down, Mr. Avery," McGonagall told him; and then Neville helped him to do that with a firm hand on his shoulder that Victor wasn't able to resist as he was pushed back down onto the seat. "Explain, please, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said next as she turned to face him; her expression still stern and unyielding. "Are you suggesting that they've been Imperiused?"

Al shook his head. "No, but they are showing all of the signs of being affected by memory charms." He glanced at Professor Flitwick meaningfully. "I'm sure that is something that could be easily checked."

"You blasted us with memory charms?" Rupert demanded. "What the hell did you do to us? I'll kill you!" He tried to get his own wand; discovered it was missing to; and then lunged for Professor Slughorn's wand.

"There will be none of that," Slughorn advised him as Neville pulled the boy back – and out of reach of Slughorn's wand. "Mr. Potter also did not claim that he did anything to you; but it seems that he may be helping us with getting to the bottom of what happened in the Great Hall just now."

"If anything happened at all that has us in trouble; it's more likely that Potty has messed with the rest of you – not us," Victor declared. "Maybe we don't remember anything because nothing happened!"

"Yeah, Potty probably messed with the rest of you!" Rupert added. "Deluding a weak-minded lot like you would be easy – even for a pathetic mongrel like him. Throw the book at him; expel him; or give us our wands and we'll put the Wizarding World out of its misery by taking care of him ourselves!"

"It seems as though keeping all of you together isn't a good idea after all," McGonagall declared. "Professor Longbottom; please take Mr. Potter and Ms. McCormack out to the hallway and have them wait until I can speak with them again – and then return here. This may take some time to resolve."

"Yes, Headmistress," Neville agreed. He nodded and waved for Al and Gwendolyn to follow him; and led the way back out of the office. Once they were in the hallway; he turned to face them. "Is there anything else we should know before I go back in there?" he asked Al.

"I can sense that they're being affected by memory charms, and after what just happened now; I can guess that I'm some kind of a trigger – and Gwendolyn might be too; but there could be more going on than I'm aware of so far. I won't be surprised if they've already forgotten about the threats they just made toward me by the time you get back to the office." He shrugged when Neville looked disappointed that he didn't offer more than that. "I don't know what else to tell you, Professor Longbottom. To be honest, though I was really mad at those guys; I'm glad to find out that they didn't know what they were doing while trying to blast us with those Unforgiveable curses right there in front of everyone."

"I'm not sure that even your father would be that kind and forgiving," Neville told him with a grim smile.

"Especially if the bad guys had tried to blast Mum," Al agreed. "I am still angry, and they'll still hate me after they find out what really happened; but they don't deserve the blame for this attack."

"They likely don't," Neville conceded. "I'll guess you've no proof to offer us about who is responsible, right?"

"I wish that I had something to give you on that," Gwendolyn answered before Al could respond. "If this is going to take a long time; I'm going to miss out on all of the best bedtime girl chat fun in my dorm room while we're doing this instead."

Neville laughed. "They'll likely wait up for you," he suggested – "and you do get to spend more time with Mr. Potter than you would have otherwise; though maybe that seems like a downside tonight."

He didn't wait for an answer; Al and Gwendolyn watched him head back up the stairs to McGonagall's office; and then they sat down close together and settled in for what was likely to be a lengthy wait. A long hug and a couple of kisses helped to have them both feeling better as they wound down from the stress of the fireworks ambush and their fight with the Averys and their buddies. It wasn't too late, and they had time; so they had quick mirror chats with their parents to give them the heads up that they'd already had trouble; and then they surfed the Wireless Web and talked quietly together until Professor Slughorn led his Slytherin students out of the office and Professor Flitwick came along so that he could escort Al and Gwendolyn back up to the Headmistress' office. All of the Slytherins glared at them as they passed; but didn't say anything directly to them. Al was still able to sense the emotional turmoil that was particularly-strong with the Avery brothers; and had been right to guess that they'd only hate him more after finding out about everything that had happened. That actually made it hard to discover that the memory charms had been removed, since the hatred was still so strong, but that had been done; and they were no longer affected by those charms.

"My apologies for the long delay," McGonagall said as she waved them to sit down in the two chairs that were closest to her desk and directly in front of her. "There were some unexpected problems to deal with before we could help your fellow students." She focused her attention on Al. "You were correct, Mr. Potter. The boys were all under the influence of a rather nasty memory charm – and we have determined that they were not responsible for their actions. We are investigating the attack on all of you now; and would like you to tell us about everything that you saw and what you did in reaction to what was going on around you. Ms. McCormack, please feel free to add your side of the story in as we go along so that we don't need to go through it all twice." She waited then expectantly; so Al organized his thoughts and began to tell the full story for the first time. They'd gone over condensed versions with their parents and talked about different parts of the fight after that; but that was different from trying to offer a complete and concise narrative of everything that had happened.

"I guess that I should start out by admitting that we've been worried about having problems now that we're back at school," Al began. "That can't be a surprise to anyone, all things considered, but I began to worry a bit more when the pranks and wheezes started going off around the Great Hall."

"You were worried about that too?" Gwendolyn asked; and then smiled. "Sorry, let's not stop to discuss everything or we'll still be doing this at breakfast."

Al smiled and nodded. "As near as I could tell, none of us – and none of our friends – were caught up in even one of those wheezes. With so many of them; that didn't seem to be random. I guess that doesn't include the dung bombs; but the NEWT students were able to deal with them; so that seemed intentional too. they would have made a bigger stink and mess if they'd been set off under the firsties before they could have been dealt with." He shook his head. "You get the point. When the fireworks went off; my internal danger warnings started blaring. I'm calling them rogue Whizz Bangs to avoid a nastier term. Four were launched against the Avery and Harper brothers; three at Rose, Lily, and me; three at Gwendolyn and two fellow Ravenclaw; and two that were heading toward two of the Hufflepuff students."

"You stopped twelve of those things with those bubble shields of yours?" Professor Flitwick asked in amazement. "I had no idea there'd been so many!"

"Nor did I," McGonagall admitted. "You cannot explain how you knew of all of them and could react so quickly?"

"Not beyond telling you that I can do it," Al admitted. "Those abilities are still developing, but I'm aware of everything around me in ways that most Witches and Wizards aren't – like a super-sensory charm that's just turned on all of the time – for all of my senses. There's some foresight happening too, but that usually comes on such short notice that I don't have time to even process what I'm sensing or getting through foreknowledge. I react as best I can and go from there."

"In this case; that combination has served you well," Professor Flitwick suggested.

"Nobody ended up in the hospital wing," Al offered modestly. "I was really angry about those fireworks, so I used up some of that mad on those shields, but managed to keep it together until the Slytherin boys attacked me. I don't really want to even think about the jokes that are coming my way for disarming however many students that ended up without their wands; but that could have ended worse if I'd tried other counter-attacks."

"And I should've let you handle it without my help," Gwendolyn added. "In hindsight; I hope that Caleb didn't get hurt when I knocked him over."

"We had no idea that they were being influenced by those memory charms at the time," Al reminded her. "I didn't even consider something like that until Professor McGonagall said something about the escalation in the fight not making any sense while we were walking here."

"How did you make the leap from that comment to memory charms?" Professor McGonagall asked him.

"Partly from re-playing my memories of the fight; and paying attention to what I was sensing, hearing, and seeing of the Slytherins. There really was no sense to what they were doing – right from the leap to assume that I'd attacked them with those fireworks. There were some key words they used too that were like what we heard from the students that were tricked into believing that Gwendolyn and I had attacked them back in October; and then there was a difference between their reactions to us compared to the few other things they said to you – in the tone and way they said it."

"Okay, I can see all of that now too," McGonagall agreed with a nod. "Tell us about the rest of the fight."

"After I stopped them and put my wand away – and you got involved; I thought that was the end of it. Now it's obvious that Gwendolyn could at least set off Rupert Avery, or possibly all of them; but I still didn't expect the escalation to using killing curses. I'd say something about how ineffective those curses really are now that most of us are taught how to defend against it, but then that Cruciatus curse did get through to me; so maybe there are reasons for why the bad guys still try using the Unforgiveables."

"That curse hit you?" Professor McGonagall demanded sharply; and Al nodded.

"Yes, but I am okay – though I'll be okay with it if I never have to experience that again."

"How did you counter it while under the effects?" Professor Longbottom asked curiously; speaking up for the first time since Al and Gwendolyn had returned to the office.

"I have nothing to compare it to, so I have no idea how strongly Victor was able to apply it," Al said first. "It was likely at least on a par for the worst pain I've ever felt so far with any of the other injuries I've had, but it didn't cloud my mind at all; and I was able to use the counter-curse to stop it. I was more worried at the time about the attacks on Gwendolyn. Rupert tried to blast her first – which is why that Cruciatus curse got through while I was defending her."

"And that's why I counter-attacked and blasted Rupert," Gwendolyn added with a nod. "I guess that's twice that I should feel bad about doing that; since Rupert didn't know what he was doing either."

"You did the best you could under the circumstances," Professor Flitwick counseled; "and the boys are no worse for the wear now that we've helped them."

"That's good to know," Al told him; "but that won't help out our situation with them. We're almost done, though, and all that's left is those last two killing curses that Victor fired at Gwendolyn and me. We had help for them; and then someone disarmed and bound Victor to end the attacks."

"My help nearly ended badly for you," Neville added; since it was obvious that Al wasn't going to talk about that little bit of the story. "it's probably for the best that I teach now instead of work for the Aurors."

"That was just bad luck; and I could do more because I was closer," Al offered; though he knew that platitude wouldn't work with one of his father's oldest friends. "I should tell all of you that Gwendolyn and I had quick mirror chats with our parents while we were waiting in the hallway. They only have the condensed version of the story; but won't be surprised when they get the Owl Posts or mirror calls later."

"So you don't think that they'll be surprised when we send you home?" Neville joked while keeping his face as serious as possible. "After tonight; we're seriously thinking that home schooling would be best for you from now on."

"Mum and Dad would likely agree with you on that," Al said seriously; "but I'd really rather stay – even with the problems I'm having here."

While Al sensed that Professor McGonagall was amused – and tempted to join in to tease him about that a bit; she didn't do that and instead wrapped up the meeting and sent him – and Gwendolyn – on their way after asking just a few questions of Gwendolyn before letting them leave. It was getting late by then, but Al still walked Gwendolyn to her House; they shared a long hug and kiss that was possible because there weren't any other students around the entrance to Ravenclaw tower; and then Al hurried to the Gryffindor common room. There were still a lot of teens and tweens in the room; so he earned a lot of attention as he walked over to the table where Rose was sitting with Ray and some of their friends. She got up to hug him in welcome first; and then pulled him onto the chair next to her. He smiled when she hugged him again before saying anything.

"What's going on, Al?" she asked quietly. "The rumors around here are so wild that nobody knows what to believe."

"Then the truth might end up being boring by comparison; since nothing is going on," Al answered; and then laughed at the obvious disbelief from everyone around him. His laughter had earned more attention, so he lowered his voice and leaned in to explain without making a scene. Gwendolyn and I aren't in trouble; and neither are any of the Slytherin boys."

"No way!" Ray exclaimed; and then leaned forward and lowered his voice too. "How could Victor have possibly gotten out of that after trying to use Unforgiveables on you and Gwendolyn?"

"They'd all had memory charms used on them," Al answered honestly. "They didn't know what they were doing – and didn't even remember anything about having a fight with us at all by the time they got to McGonagall's office."

"No way!" Ray repeated; and then laughed. "The Professors are sure that's what happened?"

"Yes," Al confirmed. "Are you wishing you still only had the rumors to have fun with instead?"

"Actually, yes," Ray admitted with another laugh; but then got more serious again. "That whole scene was awful, but if the Averys and their mates were messed with too; then that's even more horrid." He looked over toward James and shook his head. "Let me guess – they're going to investigate; but have no proof about who was really behind those attacks."

"Good guess," Al complimented him. "I don't really want to go there, though; so maybe we'd have more fun with the stories that I've missed while Gwendolyn and I were stuck dealing with that mess."

"You won't want to hear all about James and Bristol," Rose advised him. "They've been glued to each other since getting back here, and if they didn't get pranked with lip-lock lipstick or tongue-tied toffee; they've been doing a great imitation of it off and on all evening."

"It's nice to hear that there was an upside to being stuck anywhere except here," Al joked. "Have there been any other real prank problems since you left the Great Hall?"

"Not even one around here," Rose answered. "There have been jokes about you getting sent home for being such a trouble magnet; but we didn't think that Gwendolyn would let that happen."

"She'd have been against the idea – though we did get teased about that by Professor Longbottom. Those Slytherins likely blame me for what happened to them; so you might all wish that they did send me home if they start coming after me again."

"So much for hoping that we wouldn't have to start avoiding you until Valentine's Day," Ray told him with a grin. "Rose has already reminded us that this isn't a record or anything for your family, since your Dads got in trouble one year before even getting to Hogwarts; but you really do need to get serious about finding a way to fix that trouble magnet problem of yours, Al. In case you didn't notice, I got a way-too-close look at those killing curses; and would rather never get that close to one again – ever!"

"Wouldn't you rather be near Al if that ever happens again?" Cora asked him half-seriously. "At least that way; the curses will be attracted to the trouble magnet instead of you."

"That's funny," Ray conceded, "but there wouldn't likely be any killing curses coming anywhere near me if I'm not around Al."

"Try to remember that there wouldn't have been any Unforgiveables being tossed around tonight if those Slytherins hadn't been messed with first," Al reminded them. "Victor is overage now, so if he'd been able to think for himself; he'd have realized that attempting those killing curses could have landed him in Azkaban."

"Maybe – though I wouldn't totally discount the possibility that they could have used memory charms on themselves to have an easy excuse for what they did," Ray countered.

"That's a good point; though I don't think that's what happened this time," Al told his friend.

"That does seem to be a bit too subtle for the Averys," Rose suggested. "Then again, going after you and Gwendolyn on our first night back here isn't subtle; so maybe that was part of the plan – to keep anyone from looking too closely at what had happened."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Al said with a shrug and glance at Rose that said what he didn't add out loud. "We have classes in the morning, though, and this has been a tougher day than I'd expected; so I'm going to head up to my dorm room soon."

"Not before you talk to Lily," Rose advised him. "She'll be back soon, and is likely only not here yet because she's been stopped to chat about the news of the day while running up to her room to check on Holly."

"I wondered why she wasn't here with you; but would have had a mirror chat with her before going to bed."

"Did you talk with your parents yet?" Rose asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes. They weren't happy to find out I couldn't even go a few hours here without getting into trouble; but they're glad that nobody got hurt."

Since Rose had all but ordered him to wait for Lily, Al did that; his friends grilled him for more details about his latest visit the the Headmistress' office; and then he had a ten-minute long visit with Lily before she was willing to let him head up to bed – a chat that they had in whispers with their heads close together for a bit of privacy – or as much of that as they could get in a common room full of teens and tweens. After getting to his dorm room, Al got ready for bed first; ended up talking for a while longer with Ray and some of the other guys while getting his book bag ready for the morning; and then he turned in for the night and was quickly off to sleep.

Scorpius hurried into the Room of Requirements; pulled Thomas' portrait out of his bag; and set it on the table before turning away and pacing around the room – a larger space than normal because the room apparently sensed his need to pace.

"Problems in girlfriend paradise?" Thomas asked. "You didn't expect to be talking with me again so soon."

"Yes, but that isn't why I'm so agitated right now," Scorpius answered dismissively. "The welcome back dinner in the Great Hall ended in a fiasco, and while I'm sure that James Potter instigated it; the Averys, Harpers, and a couple of their mates started attacking Albus and Gwendolyn as if they'd all lost their minds." He shook his head as if trying to shake out the disbelief. "Victor actually used Unforgiveables right there in front of everyone – students and Professors alike! He tried to kill Albus twice and Gwendolyn once, and if I'm not wrong about this; he actually managed to hit Albus with a Cruciatus curse that didn't seem to have any effect on Potty at all!"

"You need to truly put your will behind that curse for it to have any serious effect on someone," Thomas reminded him; but Scorpius waved that off.

"I've no doubt that Victor was trying his best – and the power behind his curses was obvious to everyone."

"Yet the killing curses didn't work either?" Thomas surmised.

"Not for lack of trying," Scorpius answered. "Potty was just faster with his defenses – for himself and for Gwendolyn."

"Instead of commenting on that absurdity; what happened to lead your fellow Slytherin to act so foolishly?"

"Fireworks were set off in the Great Hall as we were all finishing dessert; that was meant to be a distraction; and a number of the fireworks were fired directly at some students in each of the Houses – including at the Avery and Harper brothers. I didn't see any proof of it, but it's likely that James was behind that attack – especially since Potty and his girlfriend were two of the targets."

"Did the younger Potter try to save everyone being attacked?"

"Yes; and he succeeded spectacularly – including protecting the Averys and Harpers. The rumors are running wild right now, but I saw eight shield bubbles including the four at our table and the two he used to protect himself and Gwendolyn. The sounds from those fireworks when they exploded were completely blocked by the shields; but we could see the flashes of light easily-enough – even with all of the other fireworks still going off overhead. There may have been more than eight; but nobody seems to know for sure right now."

"So the Averys got mad because Albus saved them from being struck by fireworks?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shrugged.

"They attacked first; he disarmed and bound them; and then after they were released from the bindings and silencing spells by our Headmistress; they began spouting off a stream of total nonsense. It was ridiculous to blame Potty for the fireworks attack; they then claimed that he'd done it just to have a chance to be a hero again; and then the whole situation devolved from there through until Gwendolyn blasted Rupert and Victor was bound and disarmed again after trying to kill Albus and Gwendolyn."

"Have they been expelled or arrested?" Thomas asked next.

"The six Slytherins involved in attacking Potty and his girlfriend were hauled off to the Headmistress' office after that; but we don't know what's happening with them. Potty and Gwendolyn were led away too; but I cannot see any way that they could be in trouble for their own actions."

"Likely true," Thomas agreed, "but they are in the thick of it again; so you are likely correct that James is behind the initial attack – and may have hoped that targeting the Averys and Harpers would result in exactly what happened."

Scorpius walked over to the table and sat down in the armchair. "That's an interesting idea," he mused thoughtfully. "He couldn't have expected such a crazy response from the Averys and their buddies, but getting them mad at his brother could have been part of the plan – hoping they'd get into a fight."

"That isn't much different from what we've been doing anonymously with James and Ollie," Thomas pointed out. "If that is what truly happened; then he has as much potential as we've hoped."

"Maybe, but if Victor Avery ends up in Azkaban for using those Unforgiveables – especially against a son of the Head of the Aurors; then that could also be very bad for our plans."

"He's been repeatedly bested by a boy four years his junior," Thomas pointed out. "That kind of weakness would not be a loss for our cause – and having one more thing to blame the Potters for could work out well for us with the rest of the Averys and their Pureblood cronies when the time comes for us to offer them a new vision and leader."

"You've told me often-enough that age and even numbers of opponents does not matter for me, so that comment seems inconsistent; but I will agree that i would want better than Victor and Rupert to work with once we are ready to act against our enemies. I feel even more strongly about that now that they've proved to be so unstable and careless."

"That does appear to be true, but wait until you learn everything you can about this incident – and what the fallout will be for your fellow Slytherin before making any conclusions. There could always be reasons for their actions that will seem much more lucid once we have those details."

"If we can learn anything more," Scorpius amended. "If they all get expelled; we might not ever know anything more than we do right now."

"Wait and see," Thomas counseled. "Your Headmistress and Professors are quite gullible, so regardless of their actions; those boys could get away with their supposed crimes if their at least bright-enough to do so."

"You think they could claim to have been Imperiused?" Scorpius asked in amusement; and looked a bit surprised when Thomas nodded.

"That is one option that has worked time and again in the past. Our enemies are forever seeking the best in others to a fault – and that makes them easy to lie to and manipulate."

"I suppose, but I think they'll need a miracle to get out of this one – particularly for Victor."

"You'll know soon-enough – if they aren't back in your House later tonight. There doesn't seem to be anything else to talk about with that – unless you have more to add to the story. While I may not want to know the details; what did you mean when you first arrived by agreeing that you're having trouble in girlfriend paradise?"

Scorpius scowled. "Thanks so much for reminding me," he groused before sighing and answering the question. "When Terri arrived in the Great Hall for dinner, she came over to me; rather bluntly told me that she was breaking up with me because she'd hooked up with Richard Baddock while they were home for the holidays and I was here; and then she went to sit with him and the rest of their second-year friends. Her family hated it that she was dating me, so they're likely happy; but I have no idea why she'd trade down to such a loser. I'd blast both of them, but the more I think about that; the more I realize that I just don't care about her enough to bother."

"I'd be worried if you didn't feel that way," Thomas advised him. "This works out better for you than a future break-up on your part does too; since you remain blameless."

Scorpius laughed. "As if that would matter with Witches," he disagreed.

"Your point is taken, my young friend, but you do still have the high ground here, and as long as you remain there and don't attempt to sink to her level; you will earn respect – and possibly sympathy from other Witches that you will be able to exploit." He laughed at Scorpius' reaction to that comment. "That is not the kind of exploitation I'm referring to; and that would be a waste of those opportunities."

"Let's agree to disagree on that one," Scorpius decided; still amused – and liking the mental pictures that came along with that idea for some of the Slytherin Witches he could still only wish to enjoy that kind of fun with while his family was still despised by the other true Pureblood families. "I need to get back to my House soon," he said next. "I'll let you know what happened with the Averys and their mates once we find out – or as soon as I can get away to come here again."

"Shouldn't that be easier for you now?" Thomas asked. "That is another advantage to not being forced to play nice with a girlfriend to keep up appearances."

"I do still have Quidditch and we'll get piles of new assignments and projects dumped on us starting tomorrow too. You insist that I keep up with the work first; so I'll continue to do that – regardless of how useless I think that it all is for me."

"You understand the need for it – even if you don't like or appreciate that fact right now," Thomas declared. "One less distraction from your goals will help you too – even if you don't choose to spend that extra time training or talking with me."

Scorpius did know that, but didn't really concede the point to Thomas as they wrapped up their chat and he packed up his bag and headed back to the Slytherin common room. He didn't choose to stay there when he saw Terri and Richard snogging each other in a big armchair that was one he'd used for that same activity with her not that long ago; and instead went up to his dorm room and got ready for bed. Seeing them like that had made him angry – even if he'd managed to keep any sign of that from showing around anyone else. That choice soon proved to work out especially-well for him when he pretended to be sleeping a half-hour later as a group of boys came into the room; paused for a long moment; and then closed the door behind them and sealed it.

"What's so damn important that we have to talk about it now instead of sometime tomorrow?" Scorpius didn't need to get a name to recognize Caleb Harper's voice.

"We're going to get our story straight about what happened in the Great Hall – and with McGonagall," Victor spat angrily. "Did you think we'd let you make up your own excuses – or tell anyone what really happened?"

"What difference does that make?" Caleb shot back. "Everyone will hear all about it soon-enough. I'm sure the rumors are already flying just because you're here instead of on the way to Azkaban."

"I don't even know whether to believe any of what the Professors told us," Rupert told the other boys. "How do we know that they're not lying – or messing with our minds too?"

"We don't," Victor told him. "Either way, though, we are not going to go around telling everyone that we were all hit with memory charms that duped us into attacking Potty and the Potty-trainer!"

"What are we supposed to do instead?" Dave Harper practically whined. "We can't exactly tell everyone that we blasted them on purpose. If you actually used Unforgiveables and tried to kill them as McGonagall claims; then you'd be admitting to a crime they could arrest you for!"

"Killing those two would be a mercy killing," Victor spat derisively, "but no, I'm not suggesting that – though thanks for thinking me that stupid, Harper."

"I think that we should say nothing," Don Rosier offered.

"What a very Potty-like suggestion," Rupert said derisively; but Don just laughed at his attempted insult.

"I didn't say that we shouldn't communicate," he explained instead of taking the bait. "We can act like we know something about what really happened that nobody else does; act smug, like we've gotten away with something – so they wonder if maybe we were behind the whole thing; or you're all welcome to offer other suggestions for a story that will be our little secret that we can get everyone else wondering about."

"I like it," Victor declared; and Scorpius could guess that he did now look smug and confident just from the tone of his voice. "Don't talk about it with anyone at all," he then ordered the others. "Your second option works for me too – unless one of you have a better idea for that."

"A plot to get back at the Pottys that we're in on with our parents?" Raban Lestrange offered.

"That's a fun idea; but would bring the Aurors down on our families if we actually suggested anything like that," Don advised him. "If we all act smug and like we know something we're not telling anyone; it doesn't really matter what the fake story is anyway. We don't talk; and let everyone else speculate about why we're acting that way."

"And then, while we're doing that; we'll find out who did this to us; and get them," Caleb declared; sounding angry now.

"My vote is for Potty," Rupert said; spitting out the nickname. "He could've set up all of that just to try and get us kicked out of here – and get Victor sent to AzKaban for those killing curses now that he's overage."

"I doubt that," Victor disagreed. "He may have taken advantage of the Whizz Bangs attack 'cause he's a glory hound like his blood-traitor mongrel of a father, but if there is much truth in what we've been told; then someone or some group of Witches and Wizards were trying to use us to blast him – while taking ourselves out in the process."

"Using memory charms!" Raban added; sounding as though he couldn't wrap his head around the idea. Scorpius suspected that his little brain couldn't comprehend how that was possible.

"Which is one reason for suspecting Potty," Rupert persisted. "Everyone knows about those memory charms he gives out as gifts." He turned his attention to the Harper brothers. "Didn't some of the junior team players tell you that he gave his team mates something with memory charms that had highlights from their match against your team and their team practices?"

"Yeah," Dave agreed with a snort. "Potty likely has to give hand-made gifts because he's too poor to buy them in stores."

"You sound like some of our parents," Don told him. "They're well-enough off to fly Firestorm two-fifties – all three of them."

"Their Mum likely gets hand-me-downs from her Quidditch buddies," Rupert countered. "Big deal. My point is still valid. Potty has a thing for memory charms – and could've hit us with them anytime today while we were on the train – or waiting for the carriages."

"That's true," Don agreed, "but your argument falls apart when you get to the point where we were told that we have Potty to thank for discovering those memory charms. If he was responsible for getting us into that much trouble; then it makes no sense that he'd also get us out of trouble – especially if he was trying to get Victor sent to Azkaban for attempting to use killing curses."

"You're likely right, but Rupert has good points that we should keep in mind," Victor decided. "I do think there's more to this than Potty trying to make a scene so he could save the day and then get us to start a fight with him."

"James Potty could be in on it," Don suggested. "The pranks and Whizz Bangs were likely his for sure anyway."

"True-enough," Victor agreed; "but if he was in on the rest of it; I doubt he was working alone. None of us even felt a thing whenever those memory charms were used on us, unless one of you can remember anything useful about it; so we can't even be sure when that was done to us."

"Didn't Potty say something about him being the trigger?" Don asked thoughtfully. "If that's true, then the Whizz Bangs and memory charms don't even have to be related. The memory charms could have been sitting there waiting for the next time we had a run in with Potty."

Victor shook his head. "I don't know. Let's talk about that again soon. Whatever happened, the only thing we know for sure is that someone is messing with us, and while I'd love to kill Potty as much or more than anyone; I'm not going to be someone's patsy to do it!"

"I agree with you on that," Don assured him; "but let's keep just one other possibility in mind that just occurred to me – that someone was actually trying to help us." He laughed then; so Scorpius assumed that was in response to the reactions from the other boys. "Before you dismiss the idea – those memory charms could be used to exonerate a Witch or Wizard of almost any crime – just as can be done for anyone who has been Imperiused." He laughed again. "Really, it's too bad that we didn't come up with the idea ourselves. We could have tried killing Potty long before now – and gotten away with it!"

"Okay, we'll keep that in mind too, but I won't go any easier on whoever did this to me – to us – just because they may have had good intentions. Nobody is going to get away with messing with us for any reason!"

Scorpius listened as the other six boys continued to talk for a few more minutes, but then they left the room; and he was alone again for a while. It was too late to leave and talk to Thomas again; but his mind raced with the news he'd just overheard. They'd been under the influence of memory charms! Some of their comments about potential culprits had been interesting too, but his own suspicions landed squarely on James for the mastermind of the entire attack – including the memory charms. He'd been at the castle over the holidays; could have set the entire thing up a bit at a time; and he could think of literally hundreds of ways to transmit a memory charm like that – even through something as simple as charming their glasses or utensils. Most students did usually sit in the same places at every meal; so that would be easy to do – or there could just be more Slytherins hit by the charm too that just weren't affected because they hadn't been given reason to feel the need to blast Potty.

Then again, they hadn't actually stated what the memory charms had done to them – only implied that they'd been responsible for their actions. As he thought about that; they'd also seemed to suggest that they didn't know for sure what had happened in the Great Hall – or at least they didn't trust what the Professors had apparently told them. That suggested at least two parts to the memory charm – one to goad them into attacking Potty; and the other to have them forgetting what they did. If that was what had happened to them; he thought that the idea was actually quite brilliant. If that kind of plan had actually worked, Potty and McCormack might have been dead; the Averys and their mates would be kicked out of Hogwarts for sure; and Victor would have likely ended up in Azkaban – assuming the memory charms were not discovered. Something else they'd said came to the forefront – something about Potty implying that he was the trigger for the memory charms. If Albus was the one to deduce the use of the charms; then that just reinforced his theory. Had Potty died; there was a good chance that nobody would even look for anything like that to have been done to the Slytherins. They'd have just been convicted and punished – and believed to be liars if they claimed to have no memory of what had happened.

He'd keep his eyes open and find out everything he could about anything that had happened he didn't yet know about, but if his suspicions began to prove true, then Thomas had been right all along; and James Potter could turn out to be a formiddable ally if he truly had such skills and the willingness to orchestrate that kind of potential mayhem!

It wasn't long after that when some of his roommates began coming to bed, and since he'd needed to continue to play at being asleep; he was able to listen in to more conversations about the attacks in the Great Hall along with hearing some of the rumors that were apparently making the rounds in their House. When Caleb returned, he apparently played the role that Victor had ordered, and when he went to the washroom; the rest of their roommates had fun speculating on his actions in exactly the way that Don had predicted they would.

While Scorpius didn't even think about it at all, the top news story had the bonus advantage for him that Terri's break-up with him was non-news by comparison; and kept him too busy to even bother thinking about her at all. Actually getting to sleep with all of that to think about wasn't easy, but he did eventually get there; and then moved on to dreams of glory and a rise to greatness that unsurprisingly included James Potter as his right-hand and most-trusted second-in-command leading an army of true Purebloods to victory over their most-hated enemies!

The events in the Great Hall on Sunday night were still on Al's mind when he woke up on Monday morning and got ready for the day. He wasn't surprised when Lily was with Rose when he met up with them in the common room for the morning walk and talk before breakfast; but they waited until they were out in the hallway to start grilling him about the parts of the story from Sunday night that he hadn't talked about after getting to the common room from his visit to McGonagall's office. He told them everything – including things he hadn't told the Professors; and then it was their turn to talk to him.

"I get why you keep protecting James," Lily told him, "but if you're right about all of that; then you're telling us that James tried to get the Averys to kill you – and Gwendolyn."

"We don't know that he had any control over the choices of curses they used," Al said defensively. "I've no doubt he was trying to get them to blast me, and I'm sure that those memory charms had all six of those Slytherins going temporarily mental; but I won't believe the worst without any proof at all."

"There you go defending James again," Lily countered with a shake of her head. "Whether he intended it or not; it was his actions that led to your life being on the line – and Gwendolyn's; I'll remind you again."

"Lily's right, Al," Rose agreed quietly. "His intentions really are irrelevant for all of these attacks, and if you keep letting him get away with them every time; you'll never forgive yourself if he does do something that gets someone killed."

"Especially if that someone is Gwendolyn," Lily added.

"That'd be true for anyone; and you don't need to keep hitting me over the head with that point," Al told her. "You are asking me to choose between what would certainly mess up James' life and what's really just a possible future outcome, though; and I don't think that I can do that to James – no matter how horrid he is to me or how much he hates me."

"Then maybe you should quit school and go home," Lily said bluntly. "We wouldn't even be having this conversation if the Averys and their mates had acted on their own last night. You wouldn't feel bad for Victor if Dad sent him off to Azkaban for trying to kill you and Gwendolyn; yet that's exactly what James did try to do!"

"I would feel bad about that; though you're right that I wouldn't try protecting the Averys like I do with James," Al half-disagreed and conceded. "You don't know that he forced the use of those Unforgiveables, though; and I don't know for sure what I'd do if I found out that he had included that in his memory charms."

"I love you, Al," Lily told him. "We love that you're so kind-hearted, but we don't want to see James succeed in his vendetta against you – and we really don't want to be collateral damage by getting caught in the crossfire. Dying would be so bad for my professional Quidditch career plans."

Al sighed and nodded. "Okay, then maybe I really should go home – or transfer to another school."

Lily punched him in the shoulder – fairly-solidly.

"Ow!"

"Did that get your attention?" she asked him. They'd stopped walking; she stepped in front of him so that they were face-to-face; and she looked angry now. "Albus Severus Potter, I've had it with you being too nice about all of this! If you don't want to deal with James through Mum, Dad, and the Professors; then do it yourself." She held up a warning hand when he opened his mouth to respond. "Shut it and listen to me! I mean it, Al. You have the power to deal with James however you choose. Do something about this that actually works; or I'll go to the Headmistress and give her my memories of this entire conversation." She looked at Rose next. "How long should I give him?"

"Let's say a week," Rose suggested – "and I'll go with you to the Headmistress if he doesn't do it first – or deal with James some other way."

"You can't do that!" Al told them.

"Yes, we can," Lily disagreed unsympathetically. "You may not want to trust us anymore if we have to go there; but I'm willing to pay that price to see an end to this – including taking the blame for what would happen to James so that you don't have that guilt."

"As if I wouldn't have it anyway," Al shot back. "Please don't do this, Lily."

She stepped closer; hugged him fiercely; and then stepped back to look up at him with an unyielding, stoic expression. "I'm sorry, Al, and I do love you; but if you don't do something about James by this time next Monday; I will do as I've promised." She hugged Rose next. "I'm going on ahead without you because I need to; but don't let him off the hook – 'cause I won't."

"Neither will I," Rose promised; and then waited with Al while Lily hurried off. Once she was around the nearest corner; Rose nudged Al into motion again. "Just in case you don't already have enough to stress over, Al, she will make that sacrifice for you; but it'll break her heart to do that to James."

"Merlin!" Al exclaimed quietly; and then sighed. "Okay, if I've no other choice; then I'll go home. James gets what he wants; and he'll have no reason to hurt any of you with me out of the way."

Rose punched him even harder than Lily had – and in the exact same place.

"Ow!"

"That wasn't one of your options," she advised him.

"Lily suggested it," he countered; and Rose shook her head.

"She was trying to get your attention – not suggest a solution; and you know that."

"Then I don't know what either of you expect from me."

"That isn't true," Rose disagreed. "You also know what you should do – just as you knew back in first year when you first tried to get James to leave you alone."

"That didn't exactly work out for us – and maybe helped to get us here from there," Al pointed out.

"That's true, and whatever you do now will affect the future for all of us too, but Lily's right; and doing nothing at all isn't an option anymore, Al. That's basically what you've done except for protecting everyone as best you can; and that's had consequences too."

"I've noticed that now and then," Al deadpanned. "This is a no-win regardless of what I do."

"It's a no-win where we get to live without constantly being afraid of being hurt or killed by James with all of these attacks," Rose offered. "I am tired of being afraid and needing to be on guard all of the time. I was terrified last night when those curses were fired at you and Gwendolyn. I expect that everyone close to either of you were as scared as I was when that happened. We were so shocked that none of us even thought about drawing wands and trying to help." She smiled ruefully at him then. "That's why you're just the Wizard for this particular job. You can deal with James – you simply need to choose to do it."

"I'm not choosing at all – you and Lily are trying to force me to make a choice between finding some unspecified way of stopping him or being responsible for getting him expelled and potentially ruining his life."

"We are forcing you to make a choice that doesn't include doing nothing – or quitting school," Rose agreed; "but it will still be your choice – and one that is long overdue." She shook her head at the expression on his face. "Do you think that your Dad hasn't had worse choices to make? How about Grandma? Now there's a good example. She had to choose to save your Mum by killing her cousin – and be willing to die in the attempt if needed!"

"I so should have taken Mum and Dad up on the home schooling offer," Al muttered; and then took a quick step to the side when Rose balled up her fist to hit him again. "Don't do that. Another hit; and I won't be able to write with that hand for the rest of the day."

"You could heal yourself easily-enough," she reminded him; but let her hand drop to her side again. "I'm not suggesting a duel to the death, Al, but that could be where you'll end up with James someday – or worse could happen if he does eventually succeed and seriously, permanently hurts or kills someone you love. I know that Lily and I are both harping on you about that, and yes, we are talking about something that only might happen; but you also know that we're likely right – and that it would be worse for James then too compared to anything you do to stop him now."

"Assuming I can do anything to stop him – even if he got expelled," Al countered. "Merlin only knows what that would lead to with him."

"You're right about that; which is why Lily and I are betting on you to do something else that works better for all of us – at least for now."

Al sighed again – something he'd done frequently since Lily first delivered her ultimatum. "No pressure there, but at least we're almost to the Great Hall; so we need to stop talking about this."

"The good news for us is that there isn't anyone we'd rather have in charge of this little problem than you," Rose offered; trying to lighten the mood. "What would you like to talk about next? How long bat-bogeys can be kept in a jar and what you need to feed them?"

Al laughed at her joke, and went along both physically and conversationally as they headed down the last staircase to the entrance hall and on into the Great Hall, but his mind was preoccupied with the situation that Lily had so emphatically thrust onto him. While they had breakfast and talked about everything from Quidditch to their classes and holiday revision, he continued to worry over the problem; and felt a true sense of pressure as the countdown to Lily's deadline set up in his mind and began counting down as if on a bomb that would explode when it reached zero – or at least that's what his imagination had created for him. Gwendolyn's good morning hug and kiss didn't help him at all, but while she could tell that something was up with him; they couldn't talk about it before first classes.

They were able to talk while taking a walk after lunch, but while Gwendolyn was supportive of him; she also agreed with Lily and Rose – and promised to stand with them in a week if needed – as if he didn't have enough pressure with two of his favorite girls backing him into a corner. Spending the afternoon in classes with the Slytherins didn't help him at all thanks to some bonus bad vibes from quite a few of them over what had happened on Sunday night, but beyond being aware of that; he was too preoccupied with his own problems to do much more than deal with the internal conflict and keep up with the Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures lessons. As much as was possible, he put those worries aside while having his Quidditch practice – and even managed to have some fun with his team while they worked out – and had a scrimmage that included a mid-air snowball battle. That bit of entertainment had been a hit with his team, but then it was time to get back to work again after that as he, Rose, and Ray met up with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group to get started on their first batch of assignments for the New Year.

Dinner was just time they needed to take off from the studying, and the way Al was feeling; he'd have rather skipped the meal – and would have done that if his stomach hadn't over-ruled his brain on that issue. Gwendolyn stayed closer to him even than usual while they studied after dinner; and then they had some time left over after getting their work done to have a bit of cuddle time on one of the toy sofas while everyone else left them alone in the classroom so that they could do that without a crowd around them. Most of their friends didn't know about Lily's ultimatum yet, but they assumed that Al was having issues because of the problems on Sunday night. Well, they were right about that; but not in any way that Al had expected – which was part of the reason why he was having so much trouble wrapping his head around what seemed to be an unsolvable problem – or at least one with no good solutions.

"Would you like to try talking about it again?" Gwendolyn asked after giving Al some time to think and wind down from their studying while cuddling with her. While a bit of play time for two would distract both of them for a while, and would be more fun; it wasn't what he needed right now.

"I'd like to call Mum and Dad and ask them to take me home instead of only having bad choices available to me."

"As if that choice wouldn't be bad for you – and for us," Gwendolyn countered. "I know you'd do it, since you really believe that everyone else is more important than you are, but I don't think that caving in to James yet again or letting him get away with another ridiculously-dangerous attack is the right answer." She paused for a moment before continuing. "You think he'd leave us alone if you were out of here, but you've also been the person most-responsible for defending the rest of us against him. Who would do that with you out of the way? Look at last night. Yes, the attack was meant to get at you – and maybe get the Slytherins kicked out of here or worse too; but James still went after other Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students that he's mad at – though you didn't tell the Professors about that. Do you think he'd leave Pauline and Alex alone if he thought he could get away with blasting them? If you hadn't saved Alex, he might have been out of commission for their match next month – or at least he'd have missed some practices. For that matter, we don't know if there was anything else going on with those Whizz Bangs. Getting blasted by them might not have been the worst of James' plans."

"We'll never know the answer to that one," Al said somberly. "I get what you're saying too, but don't want to be responsible for getting James kicked out of Hogwarts; and can't think of anything else to do that would actually get him to stop this idiotic vendetta. Everything I do just seems to make things worse between us."

"Including keeping him out of trouble by doing nothing," Gwendolyn added. "Maybe he just needs to spend a month or two as a bug to reconsider his attitude."

"I love that Transfiguration idea – for me," Al said with a grin. "Would you like a kneazle cat for an early Valentine's Day gift? That way, I'm still here at Hogwarts; and wouldn't be separated from you."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Lily probably won't agree with that solution; and I'm sure that at least some of our parents would have a problem with you sleeping in my bed every night. Instead of going there, though; you need to stop thinking about things you can do to yourself to deal with James. Option one, as far as I'm concerned; is to go back to the Headmistress and tell her everything you know and suspect. That'll get James expelled, but won't drag Lily into it – and you know that James would add her to his hate list with you, me, Rose, and Ray. Option two is do nothing and find out that Lily isn't bluffing – and Rose and I will back her up as promised. Option three is that you find another way to convince James to back off. I know that scares you because of what you could do to him to make that happen, but we trust that you can do it without crossing any lines. Rose and Lily haven't said anything, but if you need help with that plan and with confronting James; we'll do that with you – so you aren't in this alone."

"So you'll keep the jar on your night table for me?" Al joked; earning another laugh and a bonus hug from Gwendolyn.

"Actually, in this case; I'd rather not. Your brother would love getting to hang out in the girls' dorm rooms for reasons you weren't even thinking about when you suggested that you get me a kneazle for Valentine's Day. I'd be worried that he'd just ask you to turn him back again after a month or two of that."

Al shook his head; knowing she was right about James – and he really didn't want that mental picture of his brother in that scene in any animal form. "My problem is still that I can't see anything working to get James to stop his attacks. It always comes back to that."

"Then you need to try changing the way you're thinking about it," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'm sure you're putting limits on those ideas – things you don't want to do – or wouldn't. Lily's counter-prank seems to have been effective – if you don't count her being included in that Whizz Bang attack yesterday."

"James wasn't this much trouble with us in our first year either – and he must be legitimately afraid of what Mum or Dad would do to him if he did seriously hurt their little girl. Even he can't be that far out of touch with reality."

"Then maybe you need to make him that afraid of you," Gwendolyn offered. "You could even use that attempt on hurting Lily for the main reason you do it – as far as James is concerned."

"I don't know," Al said dubiously. "It might not be possible to scare him enough to over-ride the hate for very long – and he'd just hate me more if he was afraid of me too. Then there's the fact that he's already proved that he'll rat us out for anything – like he did with you last fall."

"Okay, that's a legitimate worry," Gwendolyn admitted. "Too bad you couldn't just wipe out his memory and replace it with a nice version of James." She smiled at Al. "Could you make him forget that he hates you?"

"Probably, but that would mean finding and wiping out or changing every memory he has of me that added up to all of that hate. There's no way to do it that wouldn't be noticed by everyone else." He paused for a few moments and then shook his head. "I've got nothing. Let's just drop it and talk about anything else until we need to go back to our Houses."

Gwendolyn let him do that; they talked about their schedule for Tuesday and whether she was going to have an airborne snowball fight during her practice. She decided to do that, but have it during their flying practice to give everyone more incentive to fly faster and get more agile with their turns and other flying tricks; and Al thought that was an idea worth using at a future practice with his team. They packed up and got ready to go with extra time to spare ahead of curfew so that they didn't need to hurry; and then headed for Ravenclaw tower. Al was preoccupied, and they hadn't used their maps since before the holidays; so it took the alarm bells going off in Al's head to alert him that another ambush was on the way – and that warning nearly came too late. Then again, maybe it came at exactly the perfect moment because Al didn't have time to think about it as he shielded Gwendolyn from the pair of curses that were fired at her; obliterated the fist-sized rocks that he sensed had been charmed to bash them in the backs of their heads while they faced the magical attack from the front; and then he counter-attacked and disarmed and bound their attacker before he could escape down the hidden passageway. His eyes were blazing as he levitated James out across the hallway and not-so-gently slammed him into the wall on the far side of the passageway where he pinned him against it – with his feet a couple of feet off the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked Gwendolyn worriedly when he saw her put a hand through the hair at the back of her head.

"I think so," she answered. "I'll have to wash my hair tonight, and it takes forever to get my hair dry; but I'm not hurt."

"That's a shame," James spat derisively. "The only thing that would help improve your looks more than getting the back of your head bashed in would be if you'd been hit in the face with that rock instead."

"You must've really missed us a lot to feel the need to attack us twice in two nights," Gwendolyn told him angrily. "From what I've heard on the gossip network; I'd have thought you'd been too busy to even think about us while you were here."

James smirked at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about; but I had a great holiday thanks to being away from my loser family and especially the two of you. I didn't even feel the urge to puke even once – though now that I'm this close to you; I'm feeling a bit sick." He turned his attention to Al next. "Didn't you get into enough trouble last night? Let me down and give me back my wand – or you'll be back for another visit with the Headmistress for blasting me."

"No," Al said bluntly; his fury from last night was back with a vengeance; and he walked up to stand in front of his brother – needing to look up at him to meet his defiant, arrogant gaze. "I've been struggling all day with what to do about you and that insane attack last night; so your timing for this ambush is about as bad as it could possibly be."

"I didn't..." James began; but Al cut him off with a wave of his wand and a non-verbal silencing spell.

"Shut it!" Al growled. "I know you were behind most – if not all – of the wheezes and pranks during dinner. You set off those Whizz Bangs at the end of dinner; thought that you might get away with blasting a bunch of us with the rockets that you could claim had simply miss-fired if you got caught; and then to top it off, you used memory charms on those Slytherins so that they'd go nuts and attack me – and Gwendolyn when she got involved." He laughed when James shook his head in denial. "I'm not guessing," Al advised him. Don't believe me? Let's compare notes, shall we? Legilimens!" he said forcefully; and James stiffened and his eyes glazed over as Al forced his mind to replay the memories of his actions on Sunday night – and the work he did to get ready for the attacks. He'd never forced himself into a mind before that, so Al didn't know how long it normally took to do that; but he did know that he and James were back in the real world with Gwendolyn in moments. He then released James from the silencing spell; and watched as his brother's reaction was rage and hatred instead of embarrassment and chagrin.

"Thanks for giving me one more thing to get you kicked out of here for doing to me, loser," James finally spat. The arrogant sneer was back; and he laughed. "In fact, I'm sure that you stuck those memories there while doing that to me to cover up your own crimes!"

"You've got it all figured out," Al said almost-conversationally; and James nodded and his smile and expression darkened.

"Yeah, I do," he agreed. "Everyone knows that there wasn't a single problem around here while you were gone and I was still here; and it's been nothing but trouble since you've gotten back. I'd say you're done at Hogwarts, loser."

"You're likely right about that," Al pretended to decide; and then fixed James with his eyes shining brilliantly with power and the anger he didn't try to hold back anymore. "The bad news for you is that I've nothing to lose now; so I think that I'm going to convince you to leave Lily, Gwendolyn, and everyone else alone after I'm gone."

"As if you can stop me from doing anything – including getting you kicked out of here," James spat; and then leered at Gwendolyn. "If you're lucky; I'll decide to spend some time with you that will change your life forever – if you know what I mean."

"You are such a pig," Gwendolyn declared; drawing her wand and pointing it at him. "Can I help, Al?"

"Not this time," he answered. "I'm the one on my way out of here; and I don't want you kicked out too." He saw Gwendolyn pretend to lower her wand with reluctance; but didn't smile at her award-worthy act. Turning back to face James, his expression was as hard as he could manage to make it; and he didn't have to fake the anger. "I'd ask you what you'd do right now if our positions were reversed, but you'd likely just try to kill me; and fortunately for you; I can't bring myself to being like you for things like that."

"Oh just shut it; let me go; and be on your way home with your tail between your legs, dog," James spat. "There's nothing you can do to me that won't just make things worse for you."

"I really have been way too nice for you to actually believe that," Al told him as he pointed his wand at his brother's chest. "Let's play a game. How about cat and mouse?"

He didn't give James a chance to say anything; turned his brother into a mouse; and then turned himself into a very large lion. A swipe of one massive paw sent the James-mouse flying down the hall; he bounded after; and pounced on him – pinning the little creature to the floor in what was sure to be painful pressure. Toying with him; he let go; chased him down again in a couple of bounds; pinned him again; picked him up in his mouth and bit down hard-enough to hurt without hurting the mouse; and then swallowed him whole! He turned to face Gwendolyn; opened his mouth wide to show her that there was nothing inside; and then regurgitated James and spat him out again. Changing back to his human form; he pointed his wand at James again; changed him back; and watched unsympathetically as he lay on the floor; shaking uncontrollably.

"I could do this all night, but it's nearly-curfew; and I want to walk Gwendolyn back to her House." He took a step toward James; turned into the lion again; and looked down at him while putting both forepaws on his chest while James could only stare up at him in true terror. Growling once and snapping his teeth near to James' face; Al was tempted to do more; but instead reared up – and changed back to his own form while James would have screamed if he hadn't also silenced him to keep that from happening. he didn't need his animal senses to know that James had lost control of his bodily functions.

"Go ahead and run off to rat me out," he told James; his voice now deadly quiet. "Feel free to tell McGonagall anything you want. I don't care." He paused and then really let James know why he didn't have a problem with that plan. "Stick around so that you can see the show when I'm hauled into her office. You won't want to miss it; since I have no intention of going home. You'll find out that they won't believe your idiotic stories; and if you don't just get yourself expelled for your attacks last night; I'm done with being nice."

"You won't get away with this!" James retorted; though he was still shaking violently and staring at Al with wild, panicked eyes.

"I will, and if you don't leave us – and I mean all of us – alone; I'm going to play these games with you as often as I can – and every time you try attacking us from now on. If you think that my cat and mouse game is scary; that's nothing compared to some ideas I'm having right now."

"Keep talking. I'm going to tell McGonagall everything!"

"Then it's a good thing that I'm so amazing at planting memories in people," Al countered. "it'll be easy to make her forget anything you claim happened. Then, after we're sent back to our House; we can play some more games. Giant spider and fly might be fun – or how about bird eats worm!" James stared at him; the horror returning to his expression. Al smiled coldly and nodded.

"Leave me alone, James. You went too far last night – especially going after Gwednolyn, Lily, and Rose like that too. You think I'm the bad guy, then fine – I'll be the bad guy every single time you try to do anything to anyone I care about. You're sure that I won't rat you out – like you're saying you're going to do right now to me; and you're right about that. The bad news for you, though, is that I don't need to do that when I can just do things like this instead."

He turned into an elephant then; stomped down on James so precisely that he pinned his clothes to the floor with his front hooves without even pinching any skin; he turned his head so that he could thump James with a tusk hard-enough to feel like a punch; and then repeated pinning him to the floor with his hind legs and hooves before turning back to his human form and reaching out to take Gwendolyn's hand.

"You should really hope that I don't see you around, James," he called back over his shoulder while continuing to walk. Gwendolyn moved off at his side; and she was grinning happily. "I am a changed Wizard thanks to you, and what should really worry you now is that this felt so good; I half hope that you will keep trying to mess with me!"

They didn't look back; and James didn't respond as they walked away. Al knew that he hadn't even gotten up off of the floor by the time they were around the corner at the end of the hallway and on the way to Ravenclaw tower. Gwendolyn waited until they were two floors away before stoping him for a long, enthusiastic hug and kiss in the stairway; and then she laughed as she took his hand again and they continued to make their way back to her House.

"That was amazing," she told him excitedly. "Even better, you still have six more days to go in case he needs more convincing – though Lily will be happy with what you did back there."

"His timing for that ambush really couldn't have been much worse – and those curses he fired at you were nasty. There's a good chance I'll feel bad about it later; but I don't right now."

"Don't feel bad later – and don't back down this time if he does try testing you. There's no doubt he was afraid of you, Al, and while you'll hate having anyone truly afraid of you; it could be the one thing that forces James to leave us alone."

"We'll see soon-enough about that – especially if he does try running to McGonagall."

"That would really be stupid if he thinks that would get him anywhere except expelled, but if he does try that; go with the cat and mouse game again. I really loved the nothing in my mouth magic trick a lot – even if it made you gag a bit."

"We'll tell Lily and Rose about this; but I don't want to tell anyone else – not even Ray or the others in our study group."

"You're still being nicer than James deserves; but I'll agree with that one – if only because it really might get you into trouble if the Professors find out. Not nearly s much trouble as James will be in if he goes and shoots his mouth off, but then I have a feeling that he's likely already thinking about his precious reputation if he does tell anyone what you did tonight – even if he might still be trying to figure out a way to try and claim that you were behind the trouble last night." She shook her head. "That was so ridiculous – especially right after he ambushed us; it's a wonder he can spout off the nonsense without being embarrassed for himself."

"He does seem to go from brilliant – if evil – plans to crazy talk around us," Al offered; "but maybe that's all part of some master plan that is beyond our understanding."

"Or he just loses his mind around you when his plans fall apart," Gwendolyn countered. "Whatever he's doing or will do next, though, I'm very proud of you, Al. You managed to keep the mad under control; scared the, um, crap out of your brother; and managed to do that without hurting him at all." She grinned at him then. "By the way – did he taste as bad as he smelled when we left him?"

Al laughed. "I'm not even going to think about that; and at the risk of sounding really gross – I am so glad that he waited to do that until after I spit him out again."

Gwendolyn had been amused and grossed out by that comment and mental picture; they continued to talk until they reached the stairs for her House; and then they had a quick hug and kiss or two before he needed to hurry and get back to Gryffindor tower. Rose and Lily were both wating in the common room, and from the expressions on their faces; they knew already that he'd had a run-in with James. They couldn't talk about it there, though, so he only assured them that he and Gwendolyn were fine; and that he'd talk to them about what had happened in the morning. They weren't really satisfied with that, but didn't have any other options – especially when James arrived with seconds to spare ahead of curfew.

He'd looked at them suspiciously, but Al hadn't even glanced his way. He did notice that the swagger was back, but thought that it was a good sign that he was back in their House instead of in McGonagall's office trying to make more trouble. While James went to sit with Bristol and a few other friends; Al decided to get out of the way. He shared a pair of hugs and kisses with Lily and Rose; and then went up to his dorm room. The glare and hatred that followed his departure from the room didn't need to be seen to be felt, but that wasn't unexpected; and there was an underlying sense of fear and uncertainty that gave him a bit of hope that he might have at least gotten through to James – even if there was no way to know how he'd decide to deal with the new risks that Al had promised would come with any new attacks. Once in his room, he moved on to get ready for bed first; did some bonus studying while winding down from the confrontation with james; and then had a chat with Ray and a couple of the other guys when they came up to bed too before being first to go off to sleep for the night.

"I am happy to see you so often, my young friend – and for the extra breaks from the unending blackness; but I hope that you are not neglecting your studies."

"Davis and the others likely believe that I'm in mourning over Terri, but I blew them off for our study session; and can do the work more quickly on my own anyway. I'm here because I have more news about what happened in the Great Hall last night – and got it directly from the Averys and their mates because they were nice-enough to have a chat about it in my dorm room last night while they believed I was sleeping."

"Well, I can surmise that they weren't expelled if they were there last night after visiting the Headmistress," Thomas offered; and Scorpius nodded.

"They weren't. The real news, though, is that their attacks on Potty and his girlfriend were because they'd been under the influence of memory charms! I don't have any real details about what was done to them – other than that they obviously weren't worried about the consequences of their actions; and that they didn't remember doing anything at all after the fact."

"Sounds like the Imperiused defense to me," Thomas said skeptically. "Are you certain that is what happened?"

"They believe it to be true," Scorpius pointed out. "That conversation was so that Victor could tell the others what story they were going to use because he didn't want to admit that they'd been someone's patsies in the attacks."

"I suppose that's a reason to believe the story – unless they talked about it around you intentionally and the information is false."

"I don't believe that's a concern this time," Scorpius said defensively. "My guess is that James was responsible for the entire attack – the Whizz Bangs; the memory charms; and maybe even the choices of curses the guys used while trying to blast Al and Gwendolyn. That last one might not be accurate; since that might have just been the Averys making those choices without any sense of inhibition; but I expect that the rest of it is what truly happened."

"You sound very impressed," Thomas told him; and Scorpius smiled and nodded.

"I am. If James put that together over the holidays; he did that under the noses of our Professors and the rest of us without anyone noticing a thing; and using those memory charms is brilliant – in my opinion. The guys also implied that it was Potty that clued the Professors into that problem. If that's true too, then if he hadn't done that; James would have been responsible for whatever happened to the Averys – and particularly to Victor; since he'd have likely gone to Azkaban for those Unforgiveables. When you add in everything else that happened; his plan really was devious – and brilliant."

"There's more that you haven't told me?" Thomas guessed; and Scorpius nodded.

"Not much more, but two of his targets during the Whizz Bangs attack just happened to also be his rival Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Seekers."

"That doesn't sound brilliant at all," Thomas interjected. "The combination of potential victims involved would be enough to throw suspicion on him."

"He'd be a suspect anyway," Scorpius pointed out, "and for all I know; he'd use that fact to defend himself and suggest that he was the one being set up." He paused a moment and then nodded. "One of the Averys even claimed that Potty was behind the whole thing so he'd have an excuse to be a hero – and said that on Sunday night while fighting with Albus. If that was part of the memory charm; then it could be a hint about what James will do if he's questioned about the attacks."

"Maybe," Thomas said dubiously; "though you're offering a lot of conjecture without more than circumstantial evidence for any of it. Do not give James more credit than he may be due."

"Fair enough," Scorpius conceded, "but if he did plan and execute the entire attack as I'm proposing; then it's a very good sign of his potential to help us – particularly if he's willing to instigate an attempt to kill his brother and put an innocent Wizard in prison for something that he wouldn't have been responsible for if the truth hadn't been found out. Taking out other enemies as apparent collateral damage on top of that really is a great idea – if you can get away with it."

"Except that he didn't," Thomas pointed out. "The attacks failed."

"He hasn't been caught or even accused as far as I know – though there is lots of speculation. From that aspect; he has gotten away with it. Sure, nobody got hurt or expelled, but he's certainly caused a huge disruption – and I think that it did come dangerously-close to succeeding."

"I'll agree that James is still worth watching and recruiting," Thomas said. "Moving along from the love-fest, though; what did the Averys decide to do to pretect their precious reputations?"

"Don Rosier convinced them that they should do nothing at all. Rupert thought that was very Potty-like of him; but Victor agreed with Don. They aren't saying or doing anything – except looking smug and acting as though they know something that nobody else does about what really happened – or like they got away with something."

Thomas nodded. "Rosier's one to watch then too. He's obviously brighter than the others."

"Maybe he'll manage to keep the rest of them out of trouble now and then," Scorpius said with a nod of agreement. "They hate it that those memory charms were used on them; but thought that the idea was brilliant – and wished they'd tried it themselves."

"The Imperius curse is more effective than memory charms – and untraceable after the fact – which is why it's such an easy defense to use."

"I've heard stories about memory charms being very effective," Scorpius countered.

"As you pointed out with this case, that's only true if nobody suspects they've been used," Thomas explained. "Imperius curses have one weakness too – if they're discovered while being used on someone. That detection is possible, but no trace remains after the fact."

"Okay," Scorpius acknowledged with another nod. "That's all I have for news about those attacks. I'd like to do a lesson, but before we go there; do you still want me to send the next anonymous gift to James now that he's obviously gotten right back to his fight with his loser brother?"

"Sure – go ahead and send it. Valentine's Day is coming up, and Im sure he'll have other opportunities to use it if he doesn't want to use it then. You didn't include Ollie in that question. Are they still feuding too?"

"They're not hanging out together; and Ollie was pranked at least one time at dinner last night that I know about so far. I'd say they're still on the outs."

"That's good for us – for now," Thomas decided. "Keep that part of our plan in mind and watch out for opportunities to get them back together – though it's okay if that doesn't happen for a while."

They talked for a few more minutes about other, nearer-term plans; Thomas did a Dark Arts lesson with him; and then Scorpius packed up and went to one of the Potions dungeons so that he could work on his assignments in solitude. That worked for him; and he considered milking the break-up excuse to do his own thing for a month or six – though that wouldn't really be an option regardless of how great that sounded. He wasn't very motivated by then to work hard on his assignments; had them all done well-ahead of curfew even after the visit with Thomas; and then he went to his dorm room after getting back to his House – and used Terri as the excuse for that again so that he could pretend that he didn't want to watch her snogging her new loser of a boyfriend.

He still assured himself that he could care less about her, or that Richard Baddock had gone after his girlfriend while they'd been home for the holidays, but while he was going to play nice around both of them; he also intended to make Baddock look like the idiot he was whenever possible – starting with their first Quidditch practice of the New Year on Tuesday afternoon!

"Go ahead, loser," Scorpius silently taunted the other boy – "stay up all night snogging that tramp. You'll only look more the fool when I fly circles around you at our practices and out-do you at everything – just as I've always done!"

That line of thinking kept him entertained along with some sideline plotting as he got ready for bed. When the other guys began joining him in their room, they seemed to think he wanted to be left alone; and that was fine with him too. In fact, he began liking the idea of suffering in stoic silence a lot, and decided that if keeping his mouth shut would continue to work so well to get everyone off his back for a while; he'd keep doing it for as long as he needed the break from the usual idiocies!

Monday night did not change Al's life right away, but it did make a difference for the better – if only from a self-actualization sort of way. His second morning walk and talk of the week with Rose and Lily had been very entertaining; though Lily had complained about not being there to watch the show. After two days that had been far too intense for his liking, Al was glad to get back to their normal school routine of classes, studying, and Quidditch for the rest of the week without any major problems. There was one more incident with James, but that had come on Wednesday night while he was on his way back from walking Gwendolyn home; James had tried attacking him without any witnesses around; and then Al had immediately proved to his stubborn brother that he had, in fact, been deadly serious about his promise on Monday night.

If he'd been expecting to call Al's bluff or prove that he couldn't be scared that thoroughly a second time; James found out that he was wrong on both counts. This time, Al didn't just leave him huddled on a hallway floor in a mess of his own making – he'd chased James into a classroom and terrorized him so badly that he was left babbling incoherently and crying uncontrollably while curled up in a ball and laying in a wet, unpleasantly-fragrant puddle. Al hadn't been happy about doing that to his brother a second time, but knew that if he hadn't done so and backed off; that Lily would go back to her original promise. He couldn't even think of his actions in terms of protecting James – even though that's essentially what he had done. That was the last time he had any contact with James at all for the rest of the week; and the need for avoidance seemed to be mutual. Al could still sense the hatred directed his way when he was near James at meals or for brief passings in the common room or elsewhere in the castle; but there really was fear mixed in now too that gave him hope that he'd be left alone – at least for a while.

The only non-school event of the week for Al was on Friday; and his only involvement in his Aunt Julianne's forty-fifth birthday celebration was a mirror chat that he, Lily, and Rose had with her while on their morning walk and talk before breakfast. That had been very short, and just a blip in the week for them compared to the more-extreme action they'd faced, but the connections with family was still very important to Al – even when that could only happen during little cameo moments. Their school day on Friday was hardly birthday party level fun, but their first weekend back at school was one of those rare 'free' weekends when they didn't have anything on the schedule other than the normal weekend assignments and new projects. The Harpies had an off weekend; they wouldn't be visiting Hogsmeade; and they still had a couple of weeks to go before the resumption of the school Quidditch season.

For most of their fellow students, that open weekend meant that taking Friday night off was an option – and their idea of a perfect way to start the weekend. Al and Rose had a different perspective, and while even Gwendolyn wasn't thrilled with their study-first plans; they went along and studied with them for most of the afternoon and evening. That studying didn't get started until after the Gryffindor Quidditch practice, but then they worked until about an hour before curfew; and only stopped that early because Gwendolyn refused to do any more work and convinced Al that her plan for that last hour was better than his plan to keep working. The moderately-hot snogging had to wait until they moved to a different, empty classroom, but then they were both very happy teens by the time that Al walked Gwendolyn back to her House and went on to his own dorm room for the rest of the night after that!

Except for Gwendolyn's Quidditch practice on Saturday morning, their study group worked all morning and afternoon to finish up their 'regular' weekend revision. They also used portable mirrors to keep an eye on the Quidditch matches too, but wanted to keep working to get finished and then take the evening off for a movie night. They had all of the usual couples and a few singles join in on that bit of fun, and while Al and Gwendolyn would have liked to have some alone time too; the family and friends time was just as important to them – more important; since they picked doing that over going off on their own instead. With their weekend work done, Sunday was an optional study day for projects in the morning. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn ended up on their own for that; but they had a good turnout for their afternoon Quidditch scrimmage. The junior teams still had lots of time before their season would start up again, but the players were all getting serious again about their training; and the weekend scrimmages did give all of them the best competition they could get compared to working out with their reserve team players.

After that blast of frigid Quidditch play time, Al and Gwendolyn had a quiet afternoon hiding out on their own and having a bit of snogging fun along with a bit of magic play time; and then they spent the evening with Lily and Jonah. They had mirror chats with their parents; wrote letters to send with Winter; and watched the mirror network while catching up on what they'd each been doing on their own while too busy to hang out together. A visit to the Owlery on the way back to their dorm rooms was a last bit of entertainment thanks to some fun with Winter and Blizzard; Lily went with Al for the walk to Ravenclaw tower; and made Jonah's night by sharing a goodnight hug and kiss with him while Al was saying goodnight to Gwendolyn; and then she walked back to Gryffindor tower with Al before they split up and headed for their own dorm rooms once in their common room.

Their second week of classes at Hogwarts really was uneventful for Al and Gwendolyn – and they were happy for the lack of extreme excitement. That was a relative statement of their lives, since the magic studying could get fairly-extreme when it came to having fun or because it could get dangerous when things went wrong. There weren't any problems with James, though; there weren't any unusual incidents with any Slytherins; and they were able to have fun in all of their classes and while studying and playing Quidditch in the afternoons and evenings. The Harpies' match on Tuesday evening was the one entertainment blip in their busy schedule – and it really was just a blip. The Harpies were up against the Catapults, and while their opponent was having a tough season, the real factor for the match was the extremely-lousy weather. Gabrielle caught the snitch at the one hour and ten minute mark, and the Harpies won by a score of one-ninety to ten; but the players on both teams seemed to be truly happy to simply have the game over with so they could get out of the storm and warmed up again.

While that match had been the only entertainment excitement for Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends; they did have a very busy weekend booked thanks to their first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year and Bristol's fourteenth birthday – which was also on Saturday. With that entire day set aside for playing with their friends; studying on Friday was not optional – even though some of their friends had wanted to take the night off again for a second week in a row. For Al and Gwendolyn, not only did they not take the evening off; they worked until right before curfew so that they wouldn't need to work all day on Sunday too before only leaving enough time for him to walk her home and share a bonus kiss or two before splitting up for the rest of the night. That extra effort did make it easier for them to forget about school and the work for a day by the time they got together again after breakfast on Saturday morning; and they were very happy as they headed out into the cold together after being set free for the day – along with Rose, Tory, Ray, and a small group of their friends.

"Merlin – it's cold out here!" Ray exclaimed as the cold bit into all of them. "Al, change into a horse; conjure a carriage or sleigh; and haul all of us to town, will you?"

"Wouldn't he need to do the conjuring first?" Tory teased; and Ray joined in for the laugh before answering.

"I guess; but it's still a really good idea," he persisted.

"It really is a great idea," Al assured him; "but I'd never be able to pull a sleigh – or carriage – with everyone that would want a ride to and from town."

"You could just spend the day taking loads of us back and forth," Ray suggested; not ready to give up – especially when their comments were proving so entertaining for everyone. "Gwendolyn could hold the reins and keep you company."

"In this cold?" she demanded. "No way! If you boys want to play sleigh ride, go for it, and we'll be happy to get the ride to town; but if you think it's such a good idea, then you can hang out with Al all day while I go shopping with Tory and the other girls."

"i wouldn't be able to take the cold in horse form all day anyway," Al pointed out. "Maybe you should just catch up to one of the NEWT students and tag along when they apparate to town once they're beyond the gates."

"Tempting, but with my luck; I'd get splinched," Ray said with a shake of his head.

"Your sense of danger seems to be selective this morning," Rose told him. "Being in a carriage pulled by a trouble magnet like Al wasn't a worry; but getting splinched is a problem."

"I was going for the jokes; not consistency," Ray explained with a smile and shrug. "It is seriously-cold out here, though; so let's just get to town as fast as we can – and indoors again before we're frozen solid."

Hurrying wasn't really an option when bundled up in their winter gear and trudging through the snowy lane to the gates and road into town, but they did keep moving; and made it to town along with the first groups of students that had to walk the entire way instead of apparating there from the gates. They spread out to different stores once they were there; and Al and Gwendolyn started their shopping with the boring stops to pick up everything on their long list of supplies that they needed for themselves, Lily, Jonah, and some of the other younger tweens. They still had time for some fun shopping too before going to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks, but that was mostly for Gwendolyn's benefit. Al was sure he'd enjoy the view thanks to the new outfit she bought; and a new sweater was sure to be great for cuddling with her too!

Their lunch break had been late to avoid the worst of the rush, but they still ended up having some friends they could sit with while enjoying the hot food and drinks. That warmth stayed with them for the short walks to the wheezes store and Honeydukes for their last two stops; but was long-gone by the time they walked back to the castle with a group of students that all left Hogsmeade at the same time. While they didn't have any of their best friends along too, they'd wanted to be part of a bigger group, and if they'd been at risk of any ambushes from the Averys and their gang; they didn't end up having any problems while with the group of mostly-fifth and sixth-year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Al hadn't expected any issues with James because they'd seen him around town with Bristol; and they definitely didn't seem to have pranks or ambushes on their minds as James was apparently helping her to celebrate her special day.

After spending most of the day in town, Al and Gwendolyn split up to go back to their own Houses to get cleaned up and changed; and to hand out the orders that they'd picked up for the younger Gryffindor and Ravenclaw siblings, cousins, and friends. Once that was done, they met up again and went to their usual study classroom to set it up for the birthday party that Rose, Gwendolyn, and Cora were hosting for Bristol after dinner. Decorating the room with some magical help was fun, and it didn't take long to set up the sofas, mirror network mirror, and extra furniture for the gang they expected to have there for the evening; but they did spend extra time getting the drinks and treats set up – including a large birthday cake and ice cream that Al took care of making sure would stay frozen until the party started and they needed it a bit softer to serve it. Dinner in the Great Hall was a break in the busy ahead of the party, but while Al ate enough food; he skipped dessert and headed back to their study classroom with Gwendolyn and Rose to be there in time to welcome the guest of honor and the rest of the teens and tweens that had been invited.

Unfortunately for Rose, Gwndolyn, and Cora in particular; things started to get weird for them when Bristol arrived with James on her arm as her date. He started making fun of everything shortly after that; Bristol kept laughing at everything he said – no matter how nasty or personal the insults were to her friends; and then she abruptly accepted his invitation to blow off her 'dreary' party and go off with him to have some real fun. She then helped him to pack up a 'picnic' of snacks, drinks, and a big chunk of her birthday cake before walking out on her friends and party in a blaze of parting insults that James delivered while Bristol laughed and offered a few, obviously-insincere thanks – and a request for Rose to drop her unopened gifts off on her bed and not wait up for her. Some of the guests didn't even notice their departure, but for the party organizers; Bristol's brush-off and decision to choose hanging out with James even after seeing the effort that had gone into her party left them saddened and hurt.

"I think that we've lost a friend today," Gwendolyn told Al after Bristol and James were gone. Rose, Lily, and Jonah were with them; and Rose nodded her agreement – and looked more angry than sad.

"It's been going downhill since the end of last summer; but you could be right about that." She sighed and shook her head. "James was being a total git, but I'm not even all that mad at him; since he was just being his normal self."

"That's okay – I'll be mad at him for both of us," Lily offered with a smile. "Bristol is just scaring me right now."

"Why is she scaring you?" Jonah asked; and Lily turned her grin on him.

"Because every Witch or Muggle girl that is that excited about being with James scares me. That one fact alone makes it a safe bet that they'd make a truly horrid sister-in-law for me!" Al joined in for the round of laughs; and let go of Gwendolyn's hand long-enough to hug his sister.

"I love you. That's so wrong – and so funny."

"Thank-you; and I love you right back," Lily assured him. "So now what do we do now that the guest of honor has blown us off because we're so pathetically boring?"

Gwendolyn shrugged and took on that answer. "We go and have fun with our friends anyway; and try not to let this bug us too much."

They eventually moved off and split up to go and do that; though Al and Gwendolyn stayed together for most of the evening. Some of the teens and tweens – especially those that didn't even get to the party until after Bristol and James had left – didn't get why they kept the party going anyway, but most of them had a good time; and the free food, drinks, and entertainment all made for a nice break from the normal Saturday night fun options. The entertainment included live music from Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and a few other Weird Sisters' kids; there was mirror network music when there wasn't 'live' entertainment; and games of various kinds – including mirror games – were part of the fun for some of the guests too. They played until a half-hour before curfew; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Cora had extra help with the quick clean-up; and then Rose had all of the Gryffindors help with carrying the leftovers and Bristol's gifts back to their House.

Al had a box to carry too, but he still walked Gwendolyn home first; and then dropped off his box of leftovers in the common room to be devoured by any late-night snackers interested in the treats and drinks. He had returned right at curfew – or with only a few minutes to spare; but there was no sign of James and Bristol; and he didn't really need to guess that they were staying out past curfew instead of already in their beds for the night. As usual, he tried not to think about that; knew that it was none of his business; and still disliked being sure that his brother and friend were making bad decisions – even if they wouldn't believe that or even comprehend why that was true. He had no intention of waiting up for them, though, and it really was something that he couldn't and shouldn't do anything about anyway; so he went up to bed once he'd finished setting out the food and drinks; got ready for bed; and then wrapped up his day with a bedtime chat with Ray and a few of the other guys while surfing the Wireless Web for the Quidditch news of the day.

Rose was waiting for Al in the common room on Sunday morning; and he knew before crossing the room to greet her that she was upset and wanted to talk with him. The good morning hug was short; she grabbed his arm; and half-pulled him the rest of the way across the room to the portrait hole and out into the hallway. the Fat Lady was in her portrait; so Rose waited until they were half-way down the hall before getting straight to her top news story of the morning.

"Bristol didn't get back to our dorm room until about an hour and a half ago," she advised Al. "She was half-drunk; a total mess; and tried to get into the wrong bed twice before Cora and I grabbed her and helped her to get into her own bed – where she eventually passed out." She blew out a frustrated, angry breath. "Merlin, Al – it was about as awful as that night last summer when we were camping and James got drunk with Marie and their buddies for the night! On top of the stumbling around and trying to get into the wrong beds, she started singing about getting lucky before the passing out thing; advised me that if she had a cousin as hot as mine that she'd do something that I won't repeat to you; and all of the other girls heard most of that because she'd woken all of us while flopping on top of - wait for it – Patricia and Cora."

Al laughed; and then shook his head. "I'm sorry – this isn't funny; but that's definitely a truth is stranger than fiction scenario." He thought about what she'd told him so far for a moment before saying anything; so Rose continued her story.

"It's bad-enough that I heard way too much about James than I ever want to know, and I won't repeat any of that to you; but Bristol actually believes that getting plastered and having, um, fun with James all night has been the best night of her life." She watched his reaction critically. "You're not surprised."

"No, I'm not," he agreed. "They weren't in the common room at curfew; and I didn't think that they were staying out late to sneak into the restricted section of the library and read books." Rose laughed at his reference to one of the stories about their parents; but then her expression returned to thoughtful sobriety a choice of description he made that seemed very odd to Al considering Bristol's apparent current condition.

"You can likely imagine how that scene went over with Patricia – especially after getting that kind of wake-up call from her current primary rival in the battle for James that I'll never understand. I'm upset about this; and it should really just be none of my business."

"I know the feeling for that, but even though Bristol isn't acting like your friend right now, you still care about her; and are worried that she's making a lot of bad decisions right now because of how she feels about James."

"That's it exactly," Rose agreed. "I don't like that one of my cousins is encouraging her; but I'm not sure she wouldn't make the same mistakes with any bad boy Wizard, since she seems to like James more than other guys because of that; but I probably would feel differently about it if it was any other guy."

"As long as you exclude me from that 'any other guy' list; I'm okay with that," Al joked. "Are any of your roommates keeping an eye on her while she's out cold? I'd like to think that Patricia wouldn't blast her while in that condition; but I'm not sure she wouldn't do it if she was mad enough."

"There are other girls in the room, but I don't think anyone wants to babysit Bristol – me included. Anna will likely stick with Patricia to make sure she doesn't do anything dumb, but if you think it's a real risk; I can always go back and stay with Bristol after breakfast."

Al shrugged. "I honestly don't know either way, but you don't want to spend the morning doing that and then have to study for the rest of the day after our scrimmage."

"Let's stick with the original study and play plan," Rose decided. "I'll check in on Bristol a couple of times – or get one of the other girls to do that for me."

"Lily's done her weekend revision," Al reminded her. "She'd help out for sure."

"Okay – I'll ask her to check on Bristol after breakfast; and then I'll go back to our room before lunch."

"We need to make those stops to get our Quidditch gear for that scrimmage anyway. I really hope that Bristol won't feel as awful when she does wake up as James did after his first big experience with getting drunk or she'll be in for a very bad day."

"Especially since she still has all of her revision to get done still," Rose added with a nod. "I wonder if James is in the same condition – or worse?"

"We'll likely know at breakfast if he doesn't show up. Even if he's exhausted, he'd show up for food and then just go back to bed; so he'd have to be passed out or really sick to miss a meal."

"Good point. Since you aren't saying anything about him; I'll guess that he at least didn't wake everyone up in your dorm room with his arrival this morning."

"I didn't hear anything, and none of the guys that were awake when I left our dorm room said anything about hearing anything unusual. If there are any stories about James, though; I'm sure they'll make the rounds at breakfast too." He frowned at that thought. "Do you think all of this will make the grapevine about Bristol?"

"The Witches side of the network," Rose confirmed. "If she's lucky – bad choice of word there; the guys won't hear about any of the details that you don't want to know; but that might depend on whether James brags about spending most of the night with her to his buddies."

"Now I'm really wishing I didn't ask that question," Al admitted sadly. "As far as I know; James has bragged about that sort of thing every time except one."

"There was an exception?" Rose asked in surprise. "Have you been keeping secrets from me again?"

"Let's call this one an omission," he suggested; and then sighed as she waited and watched him expectantly. "He hooked up with a sixth-year Hufflepuff Witch over the holidays. That's none of my business either, but I think that James strung her along and then dumped her because she isn't the kind of girl that he thinks is worthy of him. Gwendolyn heard something about her, and mentioned it to James that Monday night he tried to blast us again, but we never got around to talking about it again; so I don't know what rumors she'd heard about them."

Rose nodded. "I heard something about that too – though the rumor I heard hadn't made it sound all that serious – just that James had hung around with her at meals and they'd been seen going for walks around the castle and went to Hogsmeade together."

Al shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "I sensed more details than that from both of them; wish I knew less; and really wish that James didn't think it was okay to treat anyone so badly – and he really doesn't think there's anything wrong with fooling around with every Witch willing to do that with him."

"There'd be more teens around here that would agree with him than we'd expect; but then we grew up in a family that takes bonded for life seriously."

"So did he," Al reminded her. "I don't really want to talk about James anymore, though; unless you have more to tell me about Bristol before we move on to anything else."

Rose decided that she was ready to move on then too, so they talked about their plans for the day; what they had coming up over the next week leading up to the Ravenclaw-Slytherin Quidditch match on Saturday; and then they had time to spare once they were in the Great Hall while they waited for their friends to join them and breakfast to be served. The James and Bristol story made the rounds of the gossip network as one of the top stories; with the belief in the rumors bolstered by their absence. Al and Rose didn't talk about it with anyone other than Gwendolynand Lily – and they did that in private; but Ollie and Patricia were particularly-happy to tell their stories to anyone who asked about it. Al felt bad about that for Bristol; though he wasn't at all sure that she'd be disappointed or upset about the gossip going around about her – where he was positive that James would think that their all-nighter was a boost to his reputation.

After breakfast, Al and Rose had that chat with Lily and Gwendolyn on their way to their study classroom; Lily had been happy to check in on Bristol – if not entirely for altruistic reasons; and then she eventually checked in with them again to report that Bristol was sick but not being bothered by Patricia – or anyone else. James and Bristol continued to be a top story around the castle all day, and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had some minor involvement in that because of their proximity to the two key figures in that teen drama; but they also got on with their own lives the rest of the time. They studied all morning; got their weekend revision finished; and then took the lunch break in the Great Hall before going outside to brave the cold and snow for their Quidditch scrimmage. James and Bristol both made it to the Great Hall for lunch; they sat together; and seemed to enjoy the attention from their friends; but they were also obviously still feeling the effects of their overindulgence in whatever they'd picked to drink; and they both went back to their dorm rooms for afternoon naps after enjoying their time in the spotlight.

While they were putting themselves into deeper holes for getting their weekend assignments done, Al and Gwendolyn had fun with their friends while playing Quidditch – and then they followed that up with some pool time for the players and a guest each where that was needed. That combined to keep them entertained through until an hour before dinnertime; and the swimming only wrapped up then because most of the girls wanted the rest of the time before dinner to get changed and deal with the other post-swim necessities – like getting hair dried and styled. Al managed to keep himself entertined while Gwendolyn was busy with that, but James and Bristol had been in the common room then; so he'd gone for a walk and had a bit of Animorphmagus play time while waiting to meet up with Rose and the rest of their Gryffindor friends in the Great Hall for that evening meal. James and Bristol were obviously feeling much better by then; and Al had to regretfully adjust his perceptions of Bristol as he concluded that she really was more like his brother than he'd previously believed. From that new point of view, it was even more-true that their relationship was none of his business; though he doubted that he'd be able to simply just stop worrying about anyone that was involved with James – and that was especially true for someone who had been a friend.

Sunday evenings with Lily and Jonah seemed to work out pretty well for all four of them, so Al and Gwendolyn had another fun handful of hours with their sister and brother after dinner. The letter writing, mirror chats with their parents, and the mirror network shows and cuddle time kept them entertained; but it was the being together that really mattered most to them. There were some highlights that included Lily pronouncing that Al had done enough to keep her from going to the Headmistress about James; though she reserved the right to change her mind about that if James became a problem again – or Al stopped standing up for himself in the new, more-proactive way. The visit to the Owlery was good and bad, but while Blizzard was being seriously neglected by his owner; he and Winter had both been happy to see them – and Lily had then promised Blizzard to come and visit and take care of him more often while James was being so inattentive. They got teased by a couple of Ravenclaws when Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah back to their House again, but Lily just thought that was funny; shared a bonus kiss with Jonah just to get him blushing and the two older teens laughing; and then she and Al both enjoyed the bit of brother-sister alone time while walking back to Gryffindor tower.

Al ended his weekend with a short chat with Rose and a few other friends in the common room; some bonus studying in bed that was mostly prep work for the week ahead; and some more talk time with Ray and Romeo after they came up to bed too. When he eventually drifted off to sleep, he was truly-exhausted; and he was happy to plunge into a deep, dreamless sleep that had him out for the count through until morning.

James decided that he was in a strange mood as he stared down at the books and parchment on the work table in front of him without really seeing anything. It was late; he was alone in the common room now; and he was only still there instead of in bed because he'd been spending more time doing none of the work than making any progress – whether that was because he'd been more interested in playing with Bristol earlier and distracting her from her own revision; or because anything else going on around him was more interesting than his assignments. This was the price he was paying for having so much fun over the rest of the weekend, and he'd thought that all of that play time had been brilliant, but as his eyes glazed over with incomprehension of even his own garbled writing; he wasn't nearly as happy as he thought he should be.

That, he knew, was all the loser's fault! Not even an all-night party for two with Bristol and a lot of wine and fire whiskey could overcome the impotent rage and hatred that welled up within him every time he so much as thought about his despised brother. Sure, it had felt great for a while to mess things up for the loser, his potty-trainer, and his cousin by talking Bristol into blowing off that pathetic excuse for a birthday party and giving both of them something much better to do instead; but that didn't do anything to dull the pain that came with being forced to admit that the Animorphpotty had finally forced him to back off and leave him alone – at least for now. That had been particularly galling to him after pulling off his brilliant back-to-school attack plan, and while it hadn't gotten the results he'd hoped for; it had worked exactly as he'd hoped – even if the loser had managed to keep everyone safe and the Professors discovered the memory charms so that the Averys and their gang didn't get expelled or worse.

He tried not to think about what the loser had done to him, though even going that far was enough to have him shuddering; and he'd been dealing with nightmares nearly every night for the past week and a half. Getting drunk on Saturday night had at least helped with that – even if the morning after hadn't been any fun once he'd regained consciousness. The ongoing after-effects weren't helping his ability to study either, but without a return to inebriation to help him out; he wasn't in any hurry to go to sleep and risk more nightmares. It infuriated him that the loser could continue to mess with him that way; and he hated the fact that he couldn't lash out and destroy the person that had been the bane of his existence since before the pathetic loser had even been born!

Not wanting to think about that anymore, James tried to re-focus on his current assignment; managed to write another incoherent, pointless sentence; and then lost focus again as his mind wandered off to thoughts about the other problems he'd been dealing with since school started again.

Number two behind the loser on his list was Ollie; and his former best mate continued to try and mess with him as often as possible – whether that was in their dorm room, classes, or anywhere else around the school. In this case, his adversary failed miserably, and got far worse than he tried to give; but their feud was becoming more pointless to James every day. As he considered the reason for that; it actually took him a while to even remember why they'd started fighting in the first place. Sure, Ollie was a wuss for caving in and going home for the holidays instead of sticking by him and staying at school, but compared to his problems with the loser; that really wasn't a big deal – not to mention that he'd ended up having a great holiday anyway; and did things that he never would have gotten away with had Ollie been around too.

There was no way he'd ever admit that he was wrong, since he hadn't been, but calling a truce might be a good idea, and with their next match now just weeks away; he could use that as an excuse to get Ollie to agree to at least that break in their fight.

Feeling better about that problem now; he continued to get nothing except some doodling done on his assignment; and moved on to think about his ongoing problems with Patricia. He'd tried to play nice with her too when she got back to school, but that hadn't gone well at all because she had a problem with him spending time with Bristol too. Her reaction really was incomprehensible to him. Both Witches liked him; he liked both of them – and a lot of other Witches and Muggle girls too; so he didn't see the problem. As far as he was concerned, it was most other Witches and Wizards that had the problem when it came to relationships. In fact, people would think you were nuts to fixate on only one of almost anything else other than one boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse! That thought had him laughing as he pictured people insisting on only using one toilet; only ever eating one thing; or only having one of dozens of other possible items that would just be ridiculous. He laughed again when the exception of wishing that his parents only had one child came to mind, but that was still only one case; and didn't invalidate his point.

The question, though, was how to convince Patricia that she shouldn't care about anyone else that he spent time with – as long as they were both happy and having fun when they did spend time together. He certainly didn't care if she spent time with other Wizards – just as it hadn't bothered him in the slightest that Bristol had been dating another guy last summer when she first tried hitting on him and they'd gone on to snog each other senseless. He didn't come up with any direct ways to solve that problem, but Valentine's Day was coming up too; and he wondered whether a modest gift and card might at least get Patricia's attention. That last word reminded him that he was supposed to be paying attention to his work. Actually looking at the parchment, he groaned when he saw that his doodling had messed up the lousy report that had been rubbish anyway. Sighing, he balled it up; tossed it toward the trash bin; and gave himself ten points for making the shot before getting a clean sheet of parchment ready to try and start over. One almost-completed paragraph and fifteen minutes later; he turned to see who was arriving in the common room from the girls' dorms; and smiled when he saw Bristol walk into the room. She smiled in response as she continued toward him.

"Can't sleep either?" she asked. "I'm apparently messed up after sleeping half the day – and staying, um, up with you all night." She was wearing a bath robe, but it only reached mid-thigh; and James loved the view as he pushed back his chair and silently invited her to sit on his lap.

"No, I can't – and trying to study isn't even working for that like it normally does."

Any thoughts of studying had pretty much vacated his brain just from watching her walk over to him. When she straddled his lap, put her arms around him, and he could feel just how little she had on under that robe as she floored him with a hot kiss; he stopped thinking about anything at all as they were soon far too busy to care about anything else beyond having a brilliant encore round of fun that was even hotter than it had been on Saturday night because of the potential for getting caught while doing that right there in the common room!

Al was awake a bit earlier than even his normal on Monday morning; got ready for the day; and then headed to the common room. He expected to have time to surf the Wireless Web while waiting for Rose, but stopped just a step into the common room and stared with half-shocked consternation at the sight of James and Bristol entwined together in one of the big armchairs next to a banked fire. He seriously wished that he wasn't seeing as much of Bristol as he was; and could do that because the bathrobe she was wearing wasn't covering much of her anymore while they both slept. He also saw that James' book bag and everything he'd been working on last night was strewn on one of the work tables. Walking over to the table; he saw that the work in progress was barely-started – and what was written was poorly-done and even partly-wrong.

"What do I do now?" he asked himself silently as he glanced over at James and Bristol again; and then remembered why he shouldn't do that – not that he was going to get rid of that mental picture anytime soon anyway.

Several ideas came to mind, but then one popped up that had him smiling. He moved across the room; stowed his book bag on a chair that faced away from the side of the room where James and Bristol were so that they wouldn't likely see it at all; and then he went Animagus – turning into a male copy of his sister's adorable kneazle. He then jumped up onto the table that James had been working at; pawed one of the textbooks over the edge; and then pretended to root around in James' book bag as the loud thump of the book hitting the floor startled both teens awake.

"What the hell was that?" James demanded as he bolted awake and then needed to grab onto Bristol to keep her from falling off of his lap. He looked around a bit wild-eyed – as did Bristol; but then joined in when she started to laugh.

"It's just a stupid kneazle," she advised him. "I guess we fell asleep; so it's a good thing it woke us up."

"That's Lily's stupid pet," james advised her. "Get lost, Holly," he called out fairly-loudly; and then returned his attention to Bristol.

"Quiet!" she whispered. "What time is it?"

James looked down at his watch; got distracted by the view he had of Bristol while doing that; and pulled her closer before kissing her for a long moment. "It's morning; and we'll be caught like this if we don't get out of here soon."

"Merlin!" Bristol exclaimed; and then laughed again when James foiled her attempt to jump to her feet. "Stop that – I need to get out of here before anyone sees me like this!"

"I've seen you like this already; and don't think it's a problem." Bristol allowed him to pull her close for another kiss and a bit of caressing that had Al realizing that his wake-them-up plan had one serious flaw that he hadn't considered. Bristol did push away a few too-long moments later, though; and did manage to break free of James and stand up. She took her time pulling her bath robe closed before tying it; smiling at James the entire time as she did that and enjoyed the effect it was having on him.

"Save those thoughts for later," she told him meaningfully. "I think that we should definitely study on our own tonight after dinner – or maybe after last class too before you'll need to go to your Quidditch practice."

"After that; I'm thinking that we should skip breakfast and find somewhere to not study until first classes," james told her seriously; and Bristol laughed.

"Nice thought, but for some reason; I'm very hungry – and you likely are too – even if you're not thinking about that right now." She looked over at the table where Al was now sitting and thinking about batting a few more of James' things onto the floor. "Thanks for the wake-up call, Holly. I'm glad it was you and not our Head Girl or one of the Prefects."

"Aren't you worried that she'll run off and rat us out to Lily?" James joked; and Bristol laughed again.

"I think that our secret is safe with her." Leaning over; she kissed james; jumped back when he reached out for her; and then had another laugh that was throaty and happy as James still managed to pull the belt loose on her robe so that it opened again and he got to have another long, appreciative look until she had it pulled closed and re-tied. "Later," she reminded him and promised. "Now I need to run and start getting ready for the day – and so do you."

"Yeah – starting with a cold shower," James half-groused. "That's going to be a hard way to start the day."

"That's not the only thing that's hard for you this morning," Bristol teased; "but save that for later too."

She headed for the girls' dorms then; Al wished he'd been anywhere except there for that entire scene; and then he needed to leap from the table just before James tried to swat him away when he reached the table while still watching Bristol's departure with hot, appreciative intensity.

"I told you to get lost!" he repeated. "If you've messed up my work; I'm going to turn you into a garbage can and leave you in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

Al thought that threat was ridiculous, but padded away and hopped into a chair where he curled up and sat down while watching James pack up the unfinished assignment and the rest of his gear into his bag wihtout even seeming to notice it wasn't done; and then pretended to ignore him as James walked away and headed for his dorm room. He waited until he could tell that James was heading into his room;changed back to his human form; and then went to sit down in the chair he'd put his book bag in so that he could use his mirror while waiting for Rose to join him. James wouldn't have cared about getting caught with Bristol, but Al was glad that they'd been back in their dorms by the time the first group of teens reached the common room. Rose caught up with him about fifteen minutes after James left the room; and he knew by the look on her face that she'd already found out that Bristol had been with James for at least part of the night. they didn't talk about it until they were on their own and walking away from Gryffindor tower; but it was the first thing that Rose wanted to talk about after they'd exchanged hugs and some small talk while waiting to be able to talk without being overheard by anyone.

"Are you ready to be scared again?' Rose began; and then looked at Al strangely when he laughed.

"Too late," he advised her in explanation. "You apparently caught Bristol returning to your room just now, but I was first down to the common room; and found her sleeping there in one of the armchairs with James wrapped around her."

"Bristol didn't say a word about that to me while I was getting ready to meet up with you," Rose said in surprise; and Al grinned.

"That's because she thinks that they were woken up by a kneazle – Holly – knocking one of James' books off the table where he'd left all of his things. I wish that I'd come up with a different plan, since I got to see and hear way more than I ever want to know about them; but I didn't want to just leave again and let someone else find them there – if only because Bristol's bath robe wasn't covering much of her when I first walked into the room." Rose laughed, stopped, and hugged him because he'd started blushing by then; and smiled brightly as she stepped away again.

"I'd tease you about telling Gwendolyn on you; but you'll confess all to her later anyway," she teased. "That could have been worse for you. At least they were sleeping."

"That entire scene was scary-enough for me. Please don't take it to the Terror Tours level."

"Okay," Rose agreed, "but I know what Bristol was wearing under that bath robe too; and can't believe that you don't think that telling your girlfriend about how much of Bristol you likely saw isn't scaring you just as much."

"It's the Monday before a school Quidditch match," Al reminded her. "Aren't we supposed to talk sports all week?"

That plea for leniency worked; though they didn't just talk about Quidditch as they continued on their way to the Great Hall. The early-morning news about James and Bristol soon made the gossip network too thanks primarily to Patricia and Ollie; but Al and Rose stayed out of that entirely – except for the chat that Al had with Gwendolyn about the parts of the story that didn't make the rounds because nobody knew he'd been there in the common room. Gwendolyn had wanted way too many details from Al, but had done that because she'd found his blushing and embarrassment so endearing; and then had fun teasing him about all of it before eventually letting him off the hook with a warning not to make a habit of catching half-naked Witches sleeping in the common room or anywhere else.

There were two Quidditch events on Saturday for Hogwarts students and Harpies fans to look forward to being entertained by on the weekend. The Slytherin-Ravenclaw match would be first; and then the Harpies were playing against the Prides in the afternoon. Both matches were top chat topics around the school all week – along with the rest of the usual gossip for the lead-up to every school match. The Slytherin players were especially rude, crude, and obnoxious as they taunted all Ravenclaws. After their big win over Gryffindor in November; Victor Avery and his buddies were very confident, and though Ravenclaw had lost a close game to Hufflepuff; that was all that the Slytherin guys needed to declare that they'd beat up on Ravenclaw too. Brand even promised to put Pauline in the hospital wing on his way to winning the match for his team; and he was especially-nasty with his taunts toward her.

After the weird start to the week for Al, his classes, Quidditch, and studying all went pretty well. With the Slytherins more-focused on the Ravenclaw match; he didn't even have as many of the minor annoyances with them. His daily pile of assignments didn't leave him for much time beyond the work and Quidditch, but he and Gwendolyn did manage to have a bit of alone time on Tuesday evening before curfew, and while they studied with their usual group on Friday because of the Quidditch matches on the weekend; they stopped an hour ahead of curfew so they could have another minor snogging and cuddle session – deciding that they'd more than earned the play time for two. Quidditch fever was high by Saturday morning despite the bitterly-cold weather outside. The Slytherin team players were in fine form – for them – at breakfast; while the Ravenclaw players took everything thrown at them without responding in kind – and simply offering their best luck wishes for their opponents.

The cold kept everyone in the castle after breakfast until it was almost game time. Al and Gwendolyn took some friends along with them for a bit of magic play time while they waited to trudge out to the stadium; and then they joined the exodus from the castle and hurried out to the stadium. Having everyone doing that at nearly the same time made it a bit of a pain to get seats for all of their friends on the border between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections, but they did manage to at least get enough seats for their team mates on both junior teams and most of their best, non-Quidditch-playing friends. Al had been worried that James would try sitting behind them and offer another of his inane game commentaries, but he and Bristol sat with the rest of the senior team players instead – and Dominique had made sure that she didn't sit anywhere near to Al and Gwendolyn.

"We don't have much time before Teresa gets her winter-shortened pre-game show started," Gwendolyn told their combined teams, "but would anyone like to offer an analysis of what to expect today?"

"That's easy," Ray offered first. "Slytherin will win in a knock-out. They've guaranteed it!"

"I hope not," Stephanie countered; "since they've promised to knock out my sister to do that."

"It's so cold out today, this is going to be hard for all of the players, but I think that Ravenclaw has the advantage in a short match; and that switches to Slytherin if it goes too long. Being frozen makes playing well harder for the finesse players as they can't do the cool tricks anymore or react as fast to the hits and cheap shots."

"Plus the bumps and bruises start to hurt more too – or you start to stiffen up," Rose added with a nod of agreement for Lily's assessment.

"Okay," Gwendolyn said with a nod too. "So since we're not interested in offering suggestions for helping Slytherin today; how would you try to get that short match for our Ravenclaw team?"

"Get the fastest snitch catch record?" Lily suggested with a grin that earned a round of laughs.

"That'd work," Stephanie agreed; "and Pauline would love to do that."

"We'd all love to see her do that too," Ray assured her. "Then we could just go back to the castle and get warm again!"

"I like that plan too," Gwendolyn assured them, "but since that isn't really likely; how about a plan 'B' for our team?"

"Peter's the better keeper," Rose said; sounding like she was thinking aloud. "The Chasers are more-evenly matched; but maybe they could try something like the Harpies did earlier this season and have their Chasers take turns running interference for Pauline to help give her more chances to catch the snitch. That could make things tougher for Peter and cost them a goal or three, but if it keeps Pauline from getting pounded or gets her the catch; it would be worth it."

"The Ravenclaw Beaters could do that instead," Katrina suggested. "The Slytherin Beaters keyed in on James in their first match more than anyone else – and it worked for them. Seth and Brandon could shadow Pauline and keep her safe."

"That wouldn't work," Al advised her as gently as possible; and getting involved for the first time. "It's a good idea if it could be done, but even in the show; most Beaters just can't keep up with the Seekers to do that effectively." He nodded toward Rose before continuing. "Even when the Harpies had their Chasers help our Aunt Gabrielle; Victoire was the only one of them actually fast-enough to keep up with the Seekers to really help – and was in on that winning play. Seth and Brandon can keep up with the Slytherin Beaters, though; and can try to keep defensive positions between them and Pauline as much as possible."

"I am so going to change that slowest-player reputation that Beaters have with the rest of you," Katrina declared; and smiled as she earned a round of laughs for that assertion.

"I think you could do that," Al told her seriously. "Your Aunt Gwenog was an exception to that general rule too. You've got some great flyers on your team to train with too; so that'll help you to get faster – and maybe you could come up with some all-new tricks for Beaters too."

"That's easy for you to say," Fred told him. "You guys are holding the quaffle when you try those crazy spins and tricks. If we miss the bludger trying something like that; it can really, really hurt."

"That's true," Al agreed, "but if you can get it right; then your opponents might have no warning at all where the bludger is going next until it's too late for them. You work on disguising what you want to do all of the time in practice. I'm just suggesting that you might be able to take it to a new level – and that could be a real advantage for players like Katrina."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked; her expression and vibes Al could sense sparking with warning signs.

"Smaller players need different skills to make up for the power game of the big Beaters," he answered. "You were just thinking that you need and want to be fast; but that doesn't need to necessarily be in flat-out racing speed. A one-eighty flip, for instance, could help you send a bludger in a totally-unexpected direction – and with far more power than a backward swing of your bat like most Beaters use now. I'd hate to bore all of you with the Arithmancy on that, but it's true; and has to do with the fast deceleration. For that matter, if you could time it for when you started accelerating in the other direction; you'd add even more power to the bludger hit."

"You're right – that is boring," Ray advised him with a grin. "Fortunately fur us, though; Teresa is ready to start the show and save us from your applied Arithmancy lesson!"

Teresa had already begun speaking by then, so Ray's timing had been close to perfect for that joke; and they all turned their attention to their senior team game anouncer as she offered a very short Quidditch Cup standings update before introducing the teams. None of them needed that update because every player and most of the die-hard fans knew those stats by heart. Through the first four matches, all four Houses had one win each. Gryffindor was in first place on points at plus three-thirty; Ravenclaw was second at plus twenty, thanks to two close matches against Hufflepuff; third place went to Hufflepuff for that same reason with a negative twenty net points; and Slytherin had the flip-side score into negative territory to Gryffindor at negative three hundred and thirty. Teresa pointed out that either Slytherin or Ravenclaw would lead the Quidditch Cup race by the end of the match with two wins while the other would fall to last place with a second loss; and added that points could be a big deal too when Gryffindor had such an early advantage for that all-important tie-breaker.

Ravenclaw was introduced first; and Al found himself mentally assessing each player. The Ravenclaw senior team really did have two special players in Peter and Pauline Boot; but their strength was still in teamwork. Susan and Lee Cornfoot were decent Chasers; Miya Davies was their best of that trio; and Seth and Brandon were very good Beaters; but still young and inexperienced compared to some of the other senior team Beaters – including one of their Slytherin opponents; Raban Lestrange. When the Slytherin team flew into the stadium and then high into the air; what Al sensed from them had him musing that it had actually gotten colder with their arrival. Victor Avery led the way with Raban and Don Rosier – probably so that they'd look as menacing as possible. After their first-match success against James and Gryffindor; Raban and Don were intimidating – and likely in first place for the Beater duo award battle. Brand Bletchley and Vince Vaisey might have been placed in the second row because they were the other two NEWT-year players; but Al actually suspected that Victor did that because he wanted to stick Licentia Nott and Trace Davis in the back of the pack because he had such a low opinion of Quidditch-playing Witches and because Trace wasn't one of the members of his gang.

Mr. Peakes didn't take long for the pre-game talk with the players; Victor tried to hurt Pauline with the Captains' handshake; and then they lined up for take-off. Mr. Peakes sent the quaffle into the air; and the game was on! Victor got to the quaffle first after hitting Lee on the way up to it and knocking him out of the way; he tried to bull his way to the Ravenclaw goals; and then lost the quaffle when Miya intercepted his lousy attempt at a pass to Trace when he had no chance of getting his own shot in on Peter. He wasn't happy about that; went after Miya; and earned a penalty for the cheap shot when losing his temper had him forgetting to make sure that one of his team mates distracted Mr. Peakes first before trying to smash into his target. Even though she'd taken a hard hit; Miya scored on the penalty shot; and then the match resumed – and the hits kept coming.

"Slytherin's using nearly the exact same game plan they had for Gryffindor," Gwendolyn told Al quietly as they cuddled under their blanket and tried to stay warm. "I'm not surprised for that against Pauline; but I wouldn't have done the same thing against our Chasers. Ours aren't as good as yours, so they're much more-closely matched to Victor, Trace, and Licentia; and Slytherin should just go at it in a fair Chaser duel and find out who wins."

"Maybe; though your Chasers should have the advantage against Vince. He really is the weakest of the four senior team Keepers – and possibly second-to-last including the junior team players."

"That's a nice thing to say," Rose told him with a smile; and then frowned at a hit she saw Don make on Susan. "I think that I'm okay with waiting another year or two before I'll have to deal with those brutes, though; so we won't get to find out how good I'd be by comparison."

"I'm sure that Louis is hoping it'll be two and a half years before you get to find out," Lily suggested with a grin. "It will be so hard for him to get noticed by the scouts in his NEWT year if you're our Keeper for that season – or next year."

"The scouts must find out about the reserve squad players somehow too," Ray pointed out. "How else would some of those players end up in the show?"

"There are some good players that never make it onto the school teams," Gwendolyn told them. "Daniella Rivers is a perfect example of that. She's doing well with the Prides; but had the bad luck here of always having three Gryffindor Casers that were better than her every year."

"Good timing for that example; since the Harpies are playing the Prides today," Lily complimented with a laugh; "but I'll hope that Alice and Daniella don't do too well against our team today."

"I expect that match to come down to Erin either making or blowing another risky attempt to catch the snitch early," Jonah told her. "She really, really hates losing to the Harpies; and keeps trying to do that now despite the fact that it doesn't work very often."

"Not very often is still better than never winning," Gwendolyn pointed out; "and Erin hasn't won a duel over Gabrielle in quite a few years – except for those all-or-nothing attempts."

They continued to chat about the Harpies and the match they were watching. The action was furious, and there were some scoring attempts; but the first goal since the penalty shot at the start of the game didn't happen until the seventeen-minute mark – and Miya earned that goal too; and then took another hard hit for her efforts – this time, from Vince Vaisey as he took out his anger on her while on his way to retrieve the quaffle for his team. The hits were already adding up for several of the Ravenclaw players – and especially for Miya and Pauline; but the game came to an abrupt end just three minutes later.

"They're setting up the exact same play that took James out in their last match," Gwendolyn told Al suddenly; and then grinned at him. "Let's see whether that works out for them today or not!"

Al smiled too at what he sensed from Gwendolyn – and from Pauline as they both watched that play unfold. Not only was Gwendolyn right about that; the locations of the players in the stadium was nearly the same as well – to the point where he could practically super-impose the memory of that attack on James with what Brand and Raban were trying to do this time and watch them play out in unison.

"Invert; peg it; three-sixty with a twist – and go for the snitch," he suggested quietly; laughed; and jumped to his feet to cheer as that's exactly what Pauline did next. He was standing for another half-dozen seconds before she actually closed her hand around the snitch for the amazing victory; and also watched in satisfaction as Brand took the bludger hit meant for the back of Pauline's head on his upper arm with a loud crack. He then struggled to keep control of his broom – Scorpius' Lightningbolt; and then could only watch in impotent fury as Pauline won their Seeker duel. "Keep going," Al urged Pauline. "Get away from those idiots."

"That's part of her plan," Gwendolyn advised him. "Sit down again. I'm freezing!" Al laughed; hugged her first; and then they both sat down again.

"Did you work on that play with Pauline?" he asked.

"I didn't practice it with her; but we did talk about it a couple of times. Slytherins are sometimes very unimaginative. If something works for them; they feel the need to keep doing it over and over again; so Pauline wanted to work out a defense to that play. You can see what the team escape plan is now too."

Al could see that, and thought that it was a great idea to have all seven players gather around the Ravenclaw goals – with their Beaters arriving last to cover the others from any late hit attempts. Once they were all together; they flew down to the ground together too and landed at center pitch without any incidents. the Slytherin players landed too; but looked disorganized by comparison; and they all looked very angry too.

"Let's not have any scenes today," Rose said half-hopefully; and then smiled at Al. "Maybe we should keep the trouble magnet off the pitch today to help out with that."

"I want to congratulate the Ravenclaw players," Al told her; and then laughed at what he sensed from most of the teens and tweens around him.

"So do that back at the castle," Lily pretty much ordered. "None of us want to be out here any longer than needed, and while the Slytherins might be happy to start a fight with you; they can't possibly think that it would be any fun at all to stand around out here while the Professors sort things out after losing a duel with you."

"That sounds nicer than the mental picture I was just getting of blood on the snow and injury triage," Ray offered with a laugh. "Either way; I vote for getting Al out of here without getting anywhere near the Slytherin team – and Tory and I do not volunteer to be two of his escorts."

"I'll do that," Gwendolyn told him. "Let Pauline and the others know that we'll talk to them later. I'm sure they'll understand."

Since he wasn't being given a choice anyway; Al joined in to pack up their blanket and gear; let Gwendolyn lead him away while he got teased about that by their friends and team mates; and then they left the stadium as quickly as they could – along with the first wave of students that were more interested in getting back to the castle and warm again than in congratulating the Ravenclaw players or just watching the show out on the pitch. While the Slytherins were angry over losing the match, Al didn't sense any imminent danger; so he was okay with going along with Gwendolyn and avoiding the risk of starting something simply by being out there on the pitch too. When they were back in the castle, Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; they spent a bit of time saying goodbye to each other; and then split up for the rest of the morning. The short match meant that Gwendolyn would have a House party to attend in the Ravenclaw common room, so after saying goodbye to her, Al went to his dorm room; got out of his winter weather gear; grabbed his book bag; and headed for their study classroom to work until lunchtime.

He'd want to congratulate the Ravenclaw senior team players too, but decided not to wait for them in the entrance hall for however long it would take before they got to the castle when he could take care of that at lunchtime. Rose met up with him about twenty minutes later; but then it ended up just being the two of them studying for the morning while the rest of their study group friends either were busy with the Ravenclaw party or wanted to keep playing at anything else. That actually worked okay for Al; he got his Divination assignment out of the way; and then he and Rose worked on a potion that kept them busy until they needed to pack up and head for the Great Hall. While one or both of them would end up helping the rest of their friends with making that potion later; the practice would just make doing that easier – and they'd be able to multi-task while doing that too.

The visit with Pauline and the other Ravenclaw players was more fun to do with Gwendolyn at his side again, but the seven players were in high demand; so Al didn't spend much time with them before making room for the next group of well-wishers. Gwendolyn stayed with him as long as they could do that before sitting down for lunch; and then they ate quickly and were on the go again so that they could do the set-up for their afternoon game-watching plans. That was, as usual, in their study classroom. Rose and Ray went along to help out with the work; Tory and Madison were in the second wave of teens and tweens that joined them; and they had the entire gang there in time to catch the last fifteen minutes of Lee's pre-game show.

While having a very short match at the stadium had been okay with pretty much everyone at the school except the Slytherin players – and only then because they'd lost; the game-watching group with Al and Gwendolyn were hoping for a long match between the Harpies and Prides so that they could take the afternoon off without trying to come up with other excuses for why they didn't want to do their revision. That didn't happen for them, but the good news was that the Harpies won; with the bad news being that Gabrielle caught the snitch at the one hour and thrity-four minute mark. Her game-winning catch came thanks to another risky play that Erin attempted and botched, and that was really too bad for the Prides; since Alice and Daniella had been playing a great match against Victoire, Candice, and Hailey. To that point, the Harpies had only managed a seventy-to-fifty lead; and the only reason the Harpies had the two-goal lead was because they'd scored the most-recent goal after trading them one-for-one every time except one.

All of the younger fans in the room stayed on the sofas or chairs to watch the post-game show, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose led the charge for anyone that needed to get back to their studies again when they still had hours available to do that before dinner. They still joined in to talk about the match – and the lunchtime gossip from the morning game and other news; but they earnestly got to work too. Al and Gwendolyn had their own motivation for doing that – they wanted to take the evening off so that they could have some quality alone time after dinner. The others had their own reasons for doing that too, and they weren't the only couple interested in some weekend alone time; but all that really mattered was that they did get the work done – or at least enough of it that they could take the night off and still get the weekend assignments done without spending all of Sunday working instead.

Their dinner break was just a necessary separation they needed to get through before getting to the main entertainment of the evening; and then Al and Gwendolyn were finally able to spend a handful of hours together without anyone or anything to get in the way of the chance to just focus on each other while having fun. Yes, a brilliant snogging session was a highlight of their night, but they also had fun with music; went for a long swim; and watched a show on the mirror network while cuddling together on a sofa under a nice warm blanket. They stayed together and played until shortly before curfew; had to hurry to pack up and get back to their Houses; and Al only managed to get to the Gryffindor common room with two minutes to spare – after running from between towers in animal form to be able to avoid being late.

Rose had gone to bed by then, but Lily had still been in the common room with some of her friends – and Holly; so Al stopped to talk with her for a while and get teased about cutting it close on curfew. He didn't stay long because James was in the common room with Bristol; they were having more fun than he wanted to witness; and while Lily seemed to be able to ignore them; that wasn't an option for him when he could sense everything going on around him. James and Bristol bothered him more than most snogging couples, but while that was partly because James was his brother; it had more to do with their darker, baser emotions while other relationships were built on true love. Going to bed then seemed like a much better idea to Al, and while he didn't go off to sleep right away; he only studied for a half hour or so before being ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

Sunday was a mix of work and play for Al and Gwendolyn. She had a make-up practice with her team first thing in the morning after breakfast; their study group had a project work morning; and then they had an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage followed by some quality snow play time thanks to a break in the weather that gave them a temporary opportunity for some fun without the deep freeze the descended again by nightfall. Ending their weekend with the Sunday evening family time for four wasn't extreme excitement; but it was a good way to wind down and get ready for another busy school week. The mirror chats with their parents, letter writing, and cuddle and show watching really was Al's idea of quiet fun. The bonus entertainment of the visit to the Owlery and the walks from there to the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers was good too, and by the time he was ready for bed and back in his dorm room for the night; Al was even ready to just go off to sleep – and he did that before most of his roommates were even thinking about coming up to bed.

The last handful of days in January seemed to be a lull in the winter action for Al and Gwendolyn. With nearly three weeks to go until the next Quidditch match, and just a day less than that until Valentine's Day; the Professors took the opportunity to pile on the assignments and workload before their students would be distracted by the special holiday and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch battle. Al was especially-busy with that extra work, but the need to have a few late nights working even after he went to bed was something he had expected with eleven classes anyway; and he picked doing more of that twice so that he could spend a bit of alone time with Gwendolyn between study sessions and curfew. He had absolutely nothing to do with Aiden Weasley's seventeenth birthday on Wednesday; but did hope that his cousin had a happy day while joining the ranks of the Wizarding World adults.

Aiden's birthday did start getting him thinking about James' imminent fifteenth birthday for the rest of the week. He and Gwendolyn had picked up gifts for him that Lily helped out with, but they didn't plan on having a party for him; Al knew that their cousins weren't doing that either; and since James and Ollie were still on the outs – even if they had apparently called a truce in their fight; James' best mate wasn't going to be doing anything for him either. If Bristol had plans for James, she wasn't talking about them with Rose or the other girls; and Al both didn't want to know of any plans she might be putting together for his brother and was sure he wouldn't be invited to any parties anyway. There was still no news on that heading into the weekend; and Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends were too busy with their own work, Quidditch, and a bit of fun here and there to worry about it anyway.

They had their second 'free' weekend of the New Year, so more than half of their study group picked having a bit of fun over the studying on Friday after dinner, but as usual; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose opted for the work first – even though a few of their friends were starting to get a bit surly about missing out on the fun that so many other students were having while they worked too hard. Al didn't exactly find that sentiment funny, but was still amused whenever he heard the complaints – especially when none of their friends ever had a problem with joining in on the fun activities that he, Gwendolyn, and Rose also usually set up and did the work for so that they could all have fun once the work was either done or at least under control. For this weekend, there was grumbling about the morning and afternoon study sessions; but not a single member of their group opted out of the movie and a swim night that they had after dinner. Most of the teens and tweens that showed up for the fun likely didn't even notice that Al and Gwendolyn provided most of the treats along with some drinks and snacks that all students could request and get from the kitchen House Elves. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo helped out with the work too, but even though they usually had more help for the clean-up part of that; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose did not get any extra volunteers this time as their friends ran for the door when it was time to start packing up ahead of curfew.

Al walked Gwendolyn home and still made it back to his common room ahead of curfew, but didn't stay to talk with anyone before heading up to his dorm room. Avoiding the snogging couples was part of the reason for the quick pass-through of the common room, but he also didn't want to wait and find out whether James and Bristol were going to make it back to their House on time or be out past curfew again. There had still been a few minutes for them to return on time; but not knowing for sure allowed Al to at least pretend that he didn't know that James might be getting an early start to his fifteenth birthday fun. That plan might have actually worked for him, except Ray and the other guys were happy to advise him that James and Bristol hadn't made it back to the common room before they came up to their dorm room; and a couple of the guys actually seemed to be disappointed that they didn't get to watch the snogging show. That kind of voyeurism just felt weird to Al; and he generally stayed out of any of those conversations with any of the guys that did enjoy that kind of thing.

Losing that chance at plausible deniability hadn't really been that big of a deal, but the weird in Al's life kicked up a notch in the morning when he crossed paths with James – while he was on the way back to his dorm from grabbing a shower; and James was on his way up to bed. He doubted that James would remember that encounter – and wished that he could do the same.

"Just getting home too?" James slurred while swaying on his feet as he stood on the step where he'd stopped when surprised by Al's appearance.

"No, I'm just getting my day started," Al answered. "Happy fifteenth, James." He'd stopped too – a few steps above James; but then he started moving again and went past his brother when he sensed that looking up at him might send James toppling backward down the stairs due to his current condition.

"Happiest-ever-so-far," James responded with a leer. "I'd explain; but you'd never understand – let alone figure out how to have that kind of fun. Maybe Gwendolyn would like me to show her that kind of a good time later – after I have a nap."

"Goodbye," Al told him. "Have a good day."

"Truth hurts, loser?" James taunted. "I'm going to get her, you know. It's inevitable – and there's nothing you can do about it!" He laughed raucously then; but stopped when Al turned around; took the steps back up to him; and grabbed his arms with vise-hard grips. James' eyes glazed over as Al unleashed his power; his wand held fast against James' left arm as he held on to him; and then he let go again after shock-healing him sober and rested.

"It's your birthday, so I'm going to cut you some slack, James, but consider yourself warned that the next time you try talking about Gwendolyn like that; we're going to have another kind of discussion that you really do not want to have with me."

James had stepped back from the fire he saw in Al's eyes, but then he was left staring at Al's retreating back. Al knew that he was still in shock, and that James would soon be furious with him again, but didn't care; and needed to get away from him before changing his mind and doing something he wouldn't regret later – even if that would have been an awful thing to do to his brother on his birthday. The guys were all still sleeping in his dorm room, so he quietly finished getting ready to go; packed his book bag for a project study morning; and then went down to the common room to wait for Rose. Lily was with her, so they were both interested in his story about running into James on the boys' dorm stairs; and then they had their own stories for him about Bristol. She had apparently been in better shape than James because she hadn't been drunk too, but Rose and Lily thought that might have been worse for them because Bristol had been happy to do a bit of bragging while she got ready for bed and Lily had stopped by to collect Rose after she'd finished getting ready first.

Al didn't want those details; and also didn't want to have anything else to do with James for the rest of the day. That didn't end up happening for him, but he did do what he could to avoid his brother; and even had Lily deliver the gifts that they'd gotten for him so that he didn't even need to have that bit of interaction. He escaped the Great Hall early; managed to stay busy until shortly before lunch while working on his bigger study projects with Gwendolyn, Rose, and just a few other friends; and then he had his next round of weird thanks to James while on his way to Gryffindor tower after walking Gwendolyn to her house so that she could switch out the book bag for her Quidditch gear. Maybe it was simply because he was a trouble magnet that he was walking along the hallway for the classroom that James had been in, but he wasn't the only student in the area; so he wasn't the only witness when James and Patricia stepped out into that hallway – and stopped in surprise when they saw him approaching them – just a dozen paces away.

The surprise was mutual, but Al only nodded in acknowledgement and didn't say anything. James' expression quickly turned from surprise to a smug leer, and while Patricia blushed a bit; she also looked smugly happy as she held James' hand and they waited while he passed. what he sensed from both of them was sickening. He knew that Bristol had gone to bed after staying out with James all night; and Patricia had apparently taken advantage of that opportunity to have her own birthday celebration with James. What really made Al sick, though, was that while he sensed that she expected she'd just done what she needed to steal James from Bristol; James was on an emotional high because he'd managed to get both of the girls – and he had no intention of choosing one over the other when he was obviously good-enough to keep both of them satisfied. It felt even worse to Al because his own actions earlier had saved James from spending his birthday sleeping off another drunk, but this was certainly nothing he'd have dreamed would be what James would do with that backhanded gift. The giggles and laughs that James and Patricia shared after he was past them and as they followed him were grating on his nerves, but they didn't try to keep up; and he soon had enough distance between them that he could keep going without feeling like he had a pair of shadows.

That encounter gave him something to talk about with Rose and Lily on the way to the Great Hall for lunch; and they'd met up with him for that bonus walk and talk after Rose had wanted to talk about why Patricia had been acting so strangely when she'd returned to their dorm room – especially toward Bristol. Al's story had explained that to the girls; Lily moved on to offer some un-kind but funny suggestions for things that they should have gotten James for his birthday instead of the mirror games and Quidditch gear; and then it was time to try and enjoy lunch while chatting with their friends. Al hadn't enjoyed that meal because the vibes he couldn't avoid sensing from James, Patricia, and Bristol were too strong and messy. Patricia hadn't tried to sit next to James with Bristol on the other side, but she was close to them; and grew increasingly agitated – at least mentally – as James acted exactly as he always did – including toward Bristol. For her part, Bristol was oblivious to Patricia's internal struggle; and Al didn't want to know what he did about her thoughts and emotions – even as he was also sure that James was going to continue to be a happy camper for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, he had a Quidditch scrimmage to keep busy with after lunch; followed that up with some alone time with Gwendolyn that included music and a bit of snogging; and then they did the usual Sunday night family time with Lily and Jonah to wrap up their weekend. The weird wasn't quite over for Al when he and Lily arrived back in their common room and found James and Patricia snogging each other senseless in an armchair near one of the fires. They didn't want to stay and witness any of that, but Rose and Cora were among a small group of their friends sitting at one of the work tables; so Lily led Al over to them so that they could get the latest gossip. Details were lacking on what might actually be going on with James, Bristol, and Patricia; but James had apparently returned to the common room less than an hour ago; Bristol had gone up to bed because she was supposedly exhausted; and then James had hooked up with Patricia within minutes of Bristol's departure.

Lily had sat down to continue talking with the other girls at the table, but at that point; Al hugged her goodnight; hugged Rose too; and then went up to his dorm room – because he was truly sick and tired of being anywhere near his brother. He understood that this particular problem was his own, but understanding that James' personal life was none of his business didn't keep him from feeling sick because of how his brother treated other people. He got ready for bed; threw himself into some bonus studying; and kept his two cents worth of opinion to himself when the other guys joined him in their dorm room and some of them sat around talking about James and the girls he was apparently-successfully stringing along and juggling. He didn't like sensing some jealousy over that from a few of his roommates either, but did his best to ignore that; and focus on his work until he was ready to get to sleep for the rest of the night.

For a lot of the Witches at Hogwarts – and around the Wizarding World; the countdown to Valentine's Day began on the first day of February, but the grapevine news really started to pick up on Monday as they started their first classes of the new month. Having a Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to on Saturday was mixed in with that; since it did give all of the older guys one last 'in person' opportunity to do any holiday-related shopping that they might not have had the foresight to do over the Christmas break. Al was hopeful that he wouldn't make the gossip news for any wrong reasons with Gwendolyn, but they were both also mostly focused on their studies and Quidditch for most of the week. The one exception to that was the Harpies' match against the Cannons on Wednesday evening. Wednesday also happened to be Grandpa Weasley's sixty-ninth birthday, and while the Harpies didn't have a match on his special day every year; he did seem to have great timing for birthday entertainment more often than most.

Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Hugo all got together on Wednesday morning for a mirror chat with Arthur before breakfast, and while that had been a short blast of fun; the Quidditch match became a history-making event – something that nobody would have expected to happen with the Cannons. Taking the evening off from their studies to watch the match hadn't been an option, but after dinner; Al set up his sofas and mirror network mirror so that their younger friends could watch the game in comfort while everyone else studied and watched the match whenever something interesting happened. Nobody was surprised when Lee and his experts predicted an easy win for the Harpies – and easy call when the Cannons hadn't beaten them in decades; but even the experts didn't know what kind of a match they were in for as the game got underway.

"I'm sorry, Rose," Lily called out from where she was sitting on a sofa with Jonah; "but your team is going to be in for an even worse night than they're predicting. Didn't anyone tell Lee that it's Grandpa's birthday today? Victoire is going to have a brilliant night – and Aunt Gabrielle will win the Seeker duel for sure."

"Of course she will," Hugo agreed with a snort. "Our idiot Seeker won't even try to catch it tonight – even if he could do that for the win before your team is up by one-sixty." He frowned and nodded at the mirror. "There's the first goal for Victoire already too; so getting that lead won't take long if our guys are going to make it that easy for her every time." He laughed when one of the Cannons' Chasers promptly coughed up the quaffle to Hailey; she passed it to Victoire; and then the Cannons' Keeper just barely managed to make the save. "Well, he's at fifty percent save percentage – that's something."

"His numbers are usually quite a bit better than that," Rose said defensively; and Hugo laughed again.

"Not against Victoire," he disagreed. "You'd think she might take pity on us – and Dad; but she doesn't."

Victoire certainly wasn't doing that in this match. She scored eight of the Harpies' thirteen goals in the first hour; and got stronger after that. The Harpies got the one-sixty lead shortly into the second hour thanks in part to Vicky's shut-out to that point in the match. Once they had that lead, Gabrielle backed off from trying to defend the snitch; but kept trying hard to catch it – knowing that Santini would try to keep the game going until that happened. The score was two-ninety to naught at the two-hour mark when the Cannons' Captain called a time-out – and that's when the spectators watching the match at the stadium and on the mirror network got to witness the history-making, shocking play of the match.

"What's going on there?" Lily asked while pointing at the mirror that nearly everyone had been ignoring while the time-out was still in effect. "The Cannons' Captain has gone over to the Harpies' side of the pitch and is talking to Candice."

That comment got Al's attention; and he focused on the mirror to watch as the two Captains were being shown talking to each other while the rest of the Harpies – and Glynnis and Gwenog – were gathered around them. His talents didn't extend to reading the minds or emotions of anyone from so far away; but some feeling of foresight gave him an unexpected answer to Lily's question that had him grinning and laughing out loud. That earned him some attention – including from Lily.

"What's so funny?" she demanded; and Al laughed again.

"I'd hate to spoil it for you – and you'll know in a few moments anyway." He'd nodded toward the screen; where the cameras were now following the two team Captains as they walked over to the Head Referee for the match and began speaking with him next.

"Merlin!" Gwendolyn exclaimed suddenly. "They wouldn't call an end to the match; would they?"

"After only two hours?" Hugo scoffed. "No way!"

"Actually, in this case; that'd be brilliant," Lily disagreed. "That's exactly what they're doing – isn't it, Al?"

"I think so," he agreed – "and it is brilliant. The Cannons don't want to have the score run up on them, but can't get Santini to either make the snitch catch or back off; and the Captains are allowed to do this."

"Yeah, they are," Hugo agreed; "but that's basically never been used to end a match – only to agree to take breaks for games that have taken days, weeks, or even months. That rule isn't supposed to be used this way."

"Are you actually complaining about this if it means your team doesn't get totally blown out on the scoreboard?" Lily asked in amusement.

"This isn't any different than catching the snitch for the loss," Gwendolyn pointed out. "If that's what is happening – and I think it is; then the Cannons are lucky that Candice agreed to it. Most teams wouldn't – and would be happy to run it up on the Cannons to pad their points."

"Not to mention that Aunt Gabrielle loses a sure snitch catch in her race for top Seeker in the league," Lily added.

"The Harpies play the Tornados in ten days," Al reminded them. "A short game tonight could be a bigger deal for them in that match." They all stopped to listen as Lee Jordan announced and confirmed that they'd been right – and that the Cannons and Harpies had agreed to end the game – with the Harpies earning the two-ninety to naught victory at the two hour mark. They could also see the stadium crowd erupt with various reactions as the news was passed on to them by the stadium announcer.

"Should we be freaking out too?" Lily joked as they watched the unfolding scene. "Look at that shot of Santini! he looks as though he wants to take on his own team for doing this to him!"

"This is their second match of the season against the Harpies," Rose offered with a grin. "He won't get to have any up close and personal time with Aunt Gabrielle again until next season."

"That is an awful thing to do to a Wizard – especially when they're breaking his heart like this when it's so close to Valentine's Day." Lily grinned at Hugo next. "Are you feeling better yet?"

"I'm catching up to the rest of you – but it still seems so wrong to do this. Dad could be one of those Cannons fans losing their minds right now."

"Let's find out!" Rose suggested with a happy laugh. She was already getting her mirror; and said – "Call Dad!"

"Are you watching this debacle?" Ron demanded without preamble as he answered her call. "Not only did our team suck tonight; they've gone insane too!"

"Hi, Dad. It's nice to see you," Rose told him while fighting back another laugh. "Hi, Mom," she added. "I'm surprised you came to the match tonight. It's awfully cold out there."

"It's freezing, so while your father is furious right now; I'm going to be very happy to take him home and get out of the cold."

"I thought that Dad might like to hear our theory for why we think that move was brilliant," Rose advised her mother; and then did laugh when Ron glared at her.

"Have you been studying too hard? Got hit by a bludger in practice today? Sniffed the wrong Potions ingredients? Been Confunded?"

"None of the above," Rose assured him. "We think this is as brilliant as catching the snitch for the loss would be – if we could actually get Santini to do that against Aunt Gabrielle; and that the Harpies agreed to it because they have to play the Tornados a week from Saturday. That's going to be a tough match for them with only ten days to get ready for it; so they didn't want Santini dragging this match out all night either. Our team doesn't get the score run up on us; and that is what's best for the Cannons, Dad."

"That rule is not meant to be used like this," Ron declared stubbornly; and Rose laughed.

"That's what I said," Hugo advised Ron. He'd gotten up and walked over to stand behind her so that he could see their parents too. "Rose, Al, Lily, and Gwendolyn are all right; but I still think it's wrong to just give up like that. At least with catchingthe snitch for the loss you're still trying to score points. Our team just gave up tonight instead."

"Exactly," Ron agreed.

"Our Captain did the right thing," Rose insisted. "Get over it, guys, and while we do not want to actually talk about this; you must be losing your mind too, Dad, if you'd rather stay there in the freezing cold and watch our team get pounded all night instead of going home with Mom and helping her to get warmed up."

"Gross!" Hugo exclaimed while Ron suddenly had a wolfish grin on his face; and the girls around him – and Rose – were all laughing.

"It's been fun chatting, but I have to go now," Ron told them. "Try to have more fun and do less studying. We love you."

"We love you and Mum too," Rose assured him. "Talk to you again soon."

Hermione had wanted to talk with Rose and Hugo for a few moments before they ended that call; and then they went back to watching the post-game show on the mirror while everyone that still had studying to do got back to work too. Lily and Hugo had a particularly animated discussion while Lee and his experts were talking about the game rules; history of the Captains' agreement for ending matches; and the pros and cons of using that rule simply to end the match when things weren't going your way. When they'd had enough of the drawn-out game analysis; Lily switched to another show that was more fun; and everyone stayed to either watch that or just hang out until their more-studious friends and relatives were finished their assignments.

The Harpies-Cannons match was a top gossip topic on Thursday, but the Hogsmeade weekend moved up to number one by late in the day; and continued to be the top gossip entertainment on Saturday – particularly when it came to who was going to be spending the day in town with whom now that Valentine's Day was only a week away. While Al and Gwendolyn were looking forward to the break anf spending the day in Hogsmeade; losing all of that study time meant that they had to work after dinner on Friday; and they did that through until curfew because the Professors dumped a lot of work on them despite knowing that their students would be busy for most of the day on Saturday. Al even did extra work after getting back to his dorm room from walking Gwendolyn home; but the extra effort meant that he wouldn't end up needing to work all day on sunday to make up for the time off in Hogsmeade while also keeping up with the ongoing, bigger projects that he didn't want to fall behind on either.

Saturday morning began bitterly cold, but the weather forecast was for temperatures to climb to freezing or maybe even a bit above that by mid-afternoon. That's why Al dressed for the worst, but used layers in case he needed to lighten up a bit later in the day. He was still up early even after working late; met up with Rose for their morning walk and talk; and had fun at breakfast with their friends while enjoying that meal and waiting for it to be time to escape the castle and head for Hogsmeade. The good morning hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn before and after they ate had been pretty good too; and Al and Gwendolyn were both in a great mood when they finally were outdoors and beginning the long, chilly walk to town.

Getting to Hogsmeade felt more like a chore than the start of an adventure, but the fun level kicked up a few notches right away when they found the shops and stores decorated festively for the season; and even the 'boring' stores had holiday-themed products to sell to the Hogwarts teens. While Al and Gwendolyn walked to town with the small gang of friends; they spent a lot of their time once they were there doing their own thing. The supply shopping came first except for one stop so that Gwendolyn could check out the latest fashions and pick up a new top and some fashion accessories. They tried having an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks to beat the rush; and then had to fight the crowds to pick up candy, chocolates, and wheezes at the two busiest stores in town. Sweets and wheezes also made up the largest part of their shopping orders from the younger tweens; and they'd needed the undetectable expansion bags that they'd brought along to be able to carry everything back to the castle when they were eventually finished and ready to return to the school.

Their timing didn't work out for having a gang to walk with, but Al suggested giving Gwendolyn a lift with an Animorphmagus-based transportation option; she happily agreed to the horseback ride; and they both loved the bonus of getting that trip out of the way much more-quickly than they would have had they walked instead. Al had been a bit worried about the potential for problems with the Averys and their buddies, but they were left alone; so maybe the last-minute change in plans made a difference for that too. It was also possible that at least some of the Slytherin boys were just too busy with their own Valentines and more interested in that than one of their favorite sports – Animorphmagus hunting. With a lot of orders to sort out and then deliver; Al and Gwendolyn ended up spending most of the rest of the afternoon doing that; so they only had time to meet up for an extended walk and talk ahead of dinner in the Great Hall by the time they'd again needed to split up while having that meal.

Now that they were counting down the weeks to the resumption of the junior teams side of the Quidditch season, Gwendolyn was having another make-up practice for her team on Sunday morning to get ready for their match against Slytherin, and since she was going to lose that potential work time too; she and Al were leading an optional evening study session after dinner. That was not a popular entertainment option with most of their friends; so they only ended up working with Rose for the evening while Lily borrowed Al's mirror; got some help with setting up the sofas; and hosted a much more popular mirror network show watching night. They got teased about that – and studying with just the three of them; but Al was okay with how well that worked out for them; and was happy to settle into the work while sitting next to Gwendolyn and across the work table from Rose once they'd finished helping Lily in a neighboring classroom with the sofa and mirror set-up.

"I'm sorry if I jinx things for any or all of us; but it seems so weird to get through another Hogsmeade weekend without any prank or ambush problems," Gwendolyn told Al and Rose. "That's good for James, since he's at least worried about trying to come after any of us; but our least-favorite Slytherins have been too quiet – if you don't count our first night back when they weren't in control of what they did anyway."

"Now that he's juggling Bristol and Patricia; it's a wonder that James has time for anything else – including his pathetic excuse for studying and Quidditch," Rose offered with a grim smile that wasn't because she was amused. The past week had been especially weird for her with Patricia and Bristol in the same dorm room with her every night.

"Al doesn't want us to go there," Gwendolyn said with a smile for Al, "but I'm glad that Bristol is too busy to hang out with me right now – not that she wants to do that anyway. What should be funny to me about how I feel about the way Bristol is acting is that everything she's doing is probably mild compared to what our fathers were like at our age." She laughed and then explained what she'd thought to be so funny. "I should include my Mum for that too; though it is possible that she just doesn't have many teen dating stories; while Dad just doesn't talk about that sort of thing around me. I did still hear a lot of stories when he's hanging out with his buddies; but they got more careful about what they said around us once they had teen daughters."

"Bristol doesn't want to hang out with me anymore either while she's getting to hang out with James and the third-years that they're usually sitting with, but she still wants to gossip with us in our dorm room; and the drama between her and Patricia is really grating on my nerves."

"You have that worse than I do," Al assured her; "but some of the guys in my dorm don't think that it's fair for James to be hogging two of the prettiest Witches in our year."

"Do you think they're two of the prettiest Witches in our year?" Gwendolyn asked with a perfect hint of warning in her tone of voice; and Al laughed.

"Well, yes; but admitting that doesn't change the fact that I think that the two of you are at the top of that list – or that I love you. I could add a few other comments about Bristol and Patricia, but that wouldn't be nice; so I won't do it."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed; smiling as she shared a quick hug with Al before getting back to work. "We've gone off-track a bit from my original comment. What do you think is up with the Slytherins?"

"I don't know," Al admitted with a shrug. "It's great for us if they're just too busy – and maybe they were while getting ready for their match against your team last month, but I do sense how much they hate me everytime I'm anywhere near them; so I won't be letting my guard down anytime soon."

"They might just have no idea how to try getting away with anything," Rose suggested thoughtfully. "We've all heard the rumors coming from some of the Slytherins suggesting that they either got away with what they did at the dinner the night we got back and somehow just fooled the Professors. If that's the story they're going with for their House mates; they may have boxed themselves into a corner. They can't save their reps if they attack any of us and get caught and in trouble next time after supposedly getting away with using Unforgiveables then; so they'd need to be absolutely sure that they wouldn't get caught before trying anything."

"That could be a good explanation," Al agreed supportively. "I'm sure they didn't try anything after their Quidditch match because they know for sure that the Professors will ban them from Quidditch after doing just that to the Harper brothers. Gwendolyn and I were with a bigger group of students for our walk back from town on the last Hogsmeade weekend; so your theory would fit in with why nobody tried anything against us then."

"So we'll be happy for the break; and be on guard for whenever it ends," Gwendolyn declared. "Let's hope that won't be anytime soon. It would be so nice to have a Valentine's Day as trouble-free as our Christmas holidays were while James stayed here."

"Now I'm really wondering if you've jinxed yourselves," Rose said; and then laughed. "The prank last year worked out alright for the two of you – even if it wasn't so hot for a few of our friends. "Would you really mind getting to thank Al like that for saving you again?"

Gwendolyn laughed too. "That was fun, but I'd really rather make some time for Al and I to do that sort of thing without the slime or nasty transfiguration risks to us or anyone else."

"That would be better," Rose agreed; "but don't be surprised when Al's on his own at breakfast next Friday morning and it's a bit crowded with me on the other side of the table."

That semi-serious joke that would likely prove prophetic kept the two girls entertained for a few minutes, but then they all got serious about their assignments; and worked until an hour before curfew when Rose made an excuse to leave and go hang out with Lily and her gang while leaving Al and Gwendolyn on their own for some alone time before they'd all need to be back in their dorm rooms for the night. Having the chance for a bit of snogging was nice, but would have been better if Al had saved a sofa for them to use. They also needed to help out with packing up in the other classroom; so their play time for too was still fairly-short and not particularly hot on the teen ratings chart for that sort of thing. After getting his sofas and mirror back and put away in his bag; Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; returned to the Gryffindor common room; and then went up to his dorm room fairly quickly instead of sticking around to watch the late night snogfest going on with too many Gryffindor couples as things heated up as they closed in on Valentine's Day.

Sunday was a near-repeat to a week ago – without the teen drama surrounding James' birthday. Gwendolyn had her morning Quidditch practice with her team; Al and Rose led the morning project studying session – though most of their friends needed to catch up on their weekend revision instead; and then they had an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage. A limited invitation swim in Al's portable pool after the scrimmage was another minor change in the entertainment plans; but the evening family time was almost exactly the same for Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. Al then went to bed early again – compared to the other guys; and that was again partly because he didn't want to be around the snoggers in the common room. Sure, there were always fewer of them on Sunday night while others – including James – had to stay up late and try to churn out their weekend revision at the last minute, but Valentine's Day really did seem to have an effect on too many of those couples; and that was as often for darker reasons as it was for expressing happier emotions.

With a triple combination of Valentine's Day on Friday, the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match on Saturday morning, and the Harpies' new rivalry match against the Tornados all on the schedule for the weekend; the gossip network at Hogwarts was in high gear by Monday morning – and stayed there all week. Al and Gwendolyn mostly stayed out of the spotlight except for some jokes and speculations about whether they'd have any problems for a third year in a row on Valentine's Day. They tried not to worry about that while they were busy with their classes, studies, and Quidditch for the first four days of the week, but while the rest of the week was uneventful; Al couldn't help but be worried when he woke up on Friday morning and started getting ready for the day. He was in the common room early; had Rose and Lily with him for the walk and talk that also allowed him to give them their Valentine's Day gifts; and then they had time to hang out together while wating for their friends to arrive in the Great Hall too.

Gwendolyn and Jonah joined them early too, so Al was able to give Gwendolyn the two gifts that weren't being delivered by Owl Post; and Lily was very happy when Jonah had a gift for her too – happy-enough that she led him off to hang out with the other Gryffindor firsties for a while after thanking him with a happy, chaste little hug and kiss. Gwendolyn had a few hugs and kisses for Al too; and then they had some bonus fun as nearly all of the third-year Gryffindors – and a handful of second and fourth-year students – all crowded in on Rose's side of the table as they arrived and saw the couple together. Nothing happened to justify doing that; so getting teased about it for a while was fun and funny – right up until Gwendolyn was ready to go over to the Ravenclaw table; Al stood to share a goodbye hug and kiss; and then the warning bells went off and Al had to draw his wand and deal with the attack that they'd hoped wouldn't happen.

"I'm sorry," Al told Gwendolyn as he enveloped them in a shield – one that was large-enough to contain the gas that was spraying out of a Stinky Magic Mistletoe that had suddenly appeared above their heads.

"For what?" she asked; and then her eyes went wide with shock as she realized that he'd sealed them in with whatever was being sprayed on them. "What is it?"

"I don't know – yet," Al answered; while extending his senses and trying to find the answer. "It isn't good, though; and I couldn't let anyone else get hurt this time."

"Of course not," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I wish..." Al watched as she seemed to lose her train of thought as they both had no way to avoid breathing in the gas as it enveloped them.

He was beginning to figure out what was happening to them as he was starting to feel light-headed too, but his own magic was already fighting back internally; so he was still aware-enough and able to catch Gwendolyn when she lost consciousness and fell. He dropped to the floor with her and sat down while cradling her; fighting silently against what his mind and senses finally deduced was a draught of living death potion that had been turned into a gas by someone that obviously didn't understand the dangers of doing that. Knowing that he was running out of time as the potion worked its magic on him and his own defenses were losing that battle; he mentally went in search of what he needed to help both of them before it was too late.

Madam Pomfrey didn't have what he needed, but Professor Slughorn was his second pick; and the Potions expert did have a bottle of the antidote available that he kept in case of emergencies while teaching the NEWT students how to make the draught of living death. Al didn't think about how he did it – just as he didn't think about what he'd needed to do to search for that information. He summoned that bottle of Wiggenweld Potion; unsealed it; and applied a generous amount of it to his own lips before leaning down and kissing Gwendolyn as if their lives depended on it – because they did! He'd been plunging toward the dark abyss of the sleeping death even as he plunged into that kiss; but then his mind began to clear again; and he laughed when Gwendolyn reached up to put her arms around his neck to join in on that kiss.

"You are so messing with my reputation, Mr. Potter," she told him as she opened her eyes and smiled up at him when he leaned back from the kiss. "Our friends are going to have a blast razzing us about getting caught up in another Valentine's Day attack and kiss. What happened?"

"The mistletoe was filled with a gaseous draught of living death," he explained; and her eyes went wide with shock. He held up the bottle in his hand. "I found a bottle of the antidote, and while I'm not actually positive that a true love's kiss is required for it to work; that is part of the story I remembered about the antidote; and I didn't have time to take the chance that it would work without the kiss because I was on my way into nap mode too."

"Will we need to keep repeating the treatment as long as we keep breathing that stuff in?" Gwendolyn asked; sounding a bit hopeful that they would need to do that; and Al laughed.

"That would be fun; but I think it's time to get that stuff contained so it can't hurt us anymore – or anyone else."

With that said, Al took an empty Potions bottle from his book bag; drew all of the gas into it; and then put the bottle and the Stinky Magic Mistletoe into another container that he summoned from one of the Potions dungeons. He did share one last kiss with Gwendolyn before releasing his shield and then helping her to stand. They turned to face the Professors that had rushed over to them; and Al held out the container and the Wiggenweld Potion bottle to Professor Slughorn.

"Did you see much of what was going on inside of my shield?" he asked; and all three Professors nodded.

"Yes," Professor Longbottom answered; "and we're concerned with your apparent need to draw attention to your Valentine's Day kisses with Miss McCormack," he joked. "What happened this time?"

"The Stinky Magic Mistletoe that's now in that container was filled with the draught of living death in a gas form," Al answered; his expression turning serious after grinning at Neville's joke. "I couldn't react fast-enough to put a bubble around all of the gas; so I tried to protect everyone else. It wasn't until about the same time that Gwendolyn lost consciousness that I figured out what it was, and it was working on me too, but I was able to borrow that bottle of the antidote from Professor Slughorn in time before I fell asleep too."

"You managed all of that while breathing in that potion?" Slughorn asked incredulously. "That's astounding! How did you even know I had a bottle of the antidote? Merlin! How did you know how to summon it and do that successfully?"

Al shrugged self-consciously. "I sometimes just know things when I need something," he only partially explained. "Ditto that for being able to do something when needed – though I do read and study a lot of magic that we're not learning in third-year yet."

"Apparently," Slughorn agreed with a nod as he still looked amazed and impressed. "I'll take a look at this container later, but have no doubt of your story, my boy. Twenty-five points for Gryffindor – and well done!"

"Thank-you, sir," Al said sincerely; though he was hoping that he and Gwendolyn would be allowed to get on with their day without dragging out the scene any longer than necessary.

"Yes, well-done," Neville chorused. "Is there anything else you can tell us about what happened?"

Al thought about that for a moment before answering. "The mistletoe was being hidden with an invisibility charm. I think that I heard the gas coming out as at least part of the first warning I had; and there was a lot of gas in that thing – enough that it might have knocked out the nearest several dozen students closest to us."

Neville shook his head. "That's worse than we thought; and explains your choice of defense. Anything else?"

Al shook his head. "No. It happened too fast; and I was too busy once the prank went off to do anything more than what I did to deal with the problems."

"I didn't know what was happening until Al put his shield up," Gwendolyn answered when Neville looked to her next. "After that, everything went dark until I woke up to that kiss." She grinned at Al then. "That part of being poisoned was nice; but I'm still wishing that I'd been on the other side of the table with Rose and the rest of our Gryffindor friends."

They'd all been speaking with normal-volume voices, so most of the teens around them had heard everything; and Gwendolyn's last comment had earned a fairly-loud roar of laughter from those same teens. Professor Longbottom then decided that nothing more could be gained by discussing the prank – the attack – any further for the moment; so he advised Al and Gwendolyn that he and Slughorm would investigate; and then they returned to the head table along with Professor Flitwick. He'd been the third Professor to rush to Al and Gwendolyn, but hadn't ended up saying anything to them the entire time; and had simply offered his silent support to them – along with a few smiles and a sense of appreciation for two of his favorite students.

Once the Professors left them alone, Gwendolyn had a bonus hug and kiss for Al; and then she hurried to the Ravenclaw table and sat down with her friends there – and was immediately grilled by them about what had happened. Al was teased more than grilled, since his friends had heard all of his report to the Professors; and the jokes included having everyone stay on Rose's side of the table while he was left alone with about ten empty spots on either side of him. That had made having their meal a bit uncomfortable for them – and easy for Al; but he wasn't left alone the entire time because Lily came over and joined him once she'd finished eating – mostly so that she could get the rest of the prank attack story to pass on to the other firsties later. They didn't talk about it around the others, but Al knew that Lily was mad – and obviously suspected that James was attempting to backslide after leaving Al and Gwendolyn alone since his last animal play time with Al during that first week back after the Christmas break.

Al knew by then that James had been involved; though not directly. Once he'd had the time to begin processing everything he was – and had been – sensing around him; he'd picked up the first, strongest waves of dark emotions from Ollie – not James. The surprise he'd sensed from James had been mixed with other emotions as they all had breakfast, but Al was sure that the attack had definitely been Ollie's doing; and that James' involvement had in some way been only on the sidelines. That didn't change the fact that James had been involved, but what Al was going to do about it was another matter – and one he wanted to think about for a while before making any decisions – particularly when James had a Quidditch match to play on Saturday morning.

While he spent time off and on all day dealing with the aftermath of yet another Valentine's Day prank or attack – depending on the perspective of the student talking about it; Al had to get focused on his classes and studies. The jokes and razzing were mostly-fun, but there were some insults and hate to deal with too – particularly during their afternoon Herbology class with Slytherin. That was also where Al learned that Scorpius had been involved in the attack too because he'd been able to sense the simmering anger over Al's ability to yet-again save the day – and the girl. His hatred for Al was stronger because of that, but it really bugged Al to sense the disappointment that Scorpius felt because Gwendolyn hadn't been put out of commission – and possibly out of their upcoming match in March that was just three weeks away.

Their Herbology work was challenging, so Al had to concentrate on that all afternoon, but he continued to think about that after being set free for the weekend and while having his team practice and then studying with most of their study group until they needed to get to the Great Hall for the special Valentine's Day dinner. With Quidditch matches to watch all day on Saturday, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose couldn't take the evening off too; so while they enjoyed the meal and break; they got back together after dinner and went back to their study classroom. Their friends couldn't really afford to take the time off either, but they did; and a study group of three was better for Al this time for more than one reason. They got set up and working right away, but Al waited for a pause in the gossip chat that Gwendolyn and Rose started with before talking with them about some of the things he'd been thinking about all day.

"If you're okay with taking a break from the gossip; I'd like to talk about that attack this morning," he said quietly; and immediately had the attention of both girls."

"That's asking a lot when we were just warming up before talking about James, Bristol, and Patricia," Rose teased; "but I guess we can do that for you. What's up?"

"We haven't been able to talk about what happened without company around," he began; "so I'd better start with letting you know about a few things that I've found out today. I did get to tell both of you that Ollie was behind the attack; though I'm not sure he knew what that potion was when you consider how he used it. He's lucky that it didn't poison him when he turned it into a gas – and he might have been too close if I hadn't surrounded it with a shield as quickly as I did."

"You did pretty well with that – if not quite fast-enough to keep us from getting hit by the prank," Gwendolyn teased. "Now everyone thinks that you did that just to have an excuse to kiss me awake again. I really hope that I won't keep getting called sleeping beauty for much longer. It's already very annoying."

"I feel the same way about being called Prince Charming – though that isn't as bad as the Slytherins calling me Prince Potty. You should both know that I found out that Scorpius somehow helped Ollie with that attack; and I'll guess that he supplied the draught of living death. I don't know if he's helping James directly after hanging out with him over the Christmas break, but whatever he's doing; it's leading James into trying these more-dangerous attacks." He focused his attention on Gwendolyn. "This time, I think that Scorpius was just as interested in trying to catch you in that attack – and he was very disappointed that it didn't work to get you out of the way for your match against his team in March."

"Well, you might not be able to do anything about that – or his meddling; but I can definitely pay him back for this in that match," Gwendolyn promised with a grim smile. "I'm not surprised to find out that a Slytherin would try cheating like that – even if we haven't seen Scorpius cheating during any of his matches."

"True," Rose agreed, "but we are starting to find out that he does like to do some rotten things through others." She paused while thinking about that for a moment. "He's one of the smartest guys in Slytherin House, and possibly quite brilliant if he's making potions like the draught of living death in third year; but I have to wonder if he skips studying the details about magic – the same way that James only wants to learn how to do the spells without any of the rest of the work."

"I was thinking along those lines this afternoon," Al advised her with a nod. "Scorpius had expected something to happen today, but it seems a bit silly to think that the antidote couldn't be prepared in three weeks – and he really had hoped that Gwendolyn would be out of the way until at least sometime after their match."

"So you both think that he either didn't even know there was an antidote for the draught of living death; or he believed it would take a long time to brew up a batch of it," Gwendolyn summarized with a nod. "I don't know much of anything about either potion, but I would have expected that Madam Pomfrey or Professor Slughorn would keep a supply of the antidote for all of the most-dangerous potions that he teaches in his classes; so they'd be the first people I'd ask to get help with something like that."

"We don't know whether Scorpius made that potion or not," Rose pointed out – "only that it's likely that he gave it to James – and then it was passed on to Ollie. If he got it somewhere else, that might have been difficult for him; and rounding up the ingredients to make it might have been even tougher – especially when trying to do that would get noticed by the shop owners for any teens our age. Maybe he really would believe that making the antidote would be equally as difficult."

"I suppose," Al agreed, "but either way; I'm wondering if it's time for me to have a private chat with Scorpius – just as I'm thinking about talking to Ollie sometime very soon."

"If I could talk with the animals," Rose sang; earning laughs from Gwendolyn and Al.

"I don't know that song; but you sing pretty well," Gwendolyn complimented. "You should sing so that we can hear you at our campfires instead of being so quiet."

"I don't like singing in public," Rose admitted seriously. "Compared to you; most of us feel that way."

"You shouldn't," Gwendolyn said with a shake of her head before returning her attention to Al. "If you need to have that talk with Scorpius; save it for sometime after our match. I don't want Slytherin to have any excuse to go running off to Mr. Peakes and complain that we're trying to cheat by intimidating him."

"I'm not even sure that Al should do anything about that," Rose told them. "If you do confront him; he'll know that you have some way of finding out about things that I doubt he'd tell anyone about – even if he is dealing directly with James. Wouldn't you be better off trying to pay more attention to him whenever we're in classes together and try to find out what he might be up to next? You're suggesting that he could be manipulating James; so how do we know he isn't trying to pull the strings with other Wizards and Witches?"

"We don't know," Gwendolyn offered with a nod. "Why don't you work on Rose's suggestion over the next few weeks, Al; I'll take care of paying Scorpius back for this during our match in three weeks; and then you can decide after that whether you're better off just watching him or go and have that chat with him to get him to stop helping with these attacks."

"That works for me," Al agreed. "Any thoughts about what I should do with Ollie?"

"Turn him into and Ollie Wood Louse," Gwendolyn teased with a grin. "Did you really need to ask?"

"Apparently not," Al answered after joining in with Rose for the laugh. "That might even work if Ollie's afraid of spiders; but maybe I shouldn't go there when that's your Mum's running joke and potential threat risk to anyone that messes with her."

"I think she'd be okay with passing that one on to someone else after all of these years, but since we need to keep entertained while we work; I'll be happy to help out with other suggestions."

Rose was interested in having some fun with that too, but they got back to their work then; and kept busy until they had an hour or so left until curfew. Rose called an end to the studying then; left Al and Gwendolyn alone; and then they used that time for some quality Valentine's Day snogging straight through until they needed to hurry back to their Houses. Al earned some laughs when he got caught in Animorphmagus form while racing for Gryffindor tower with minutes to spare until curfew; he had a visit with Lily and some of her friends before heading up to his dorm room; and then went off to sleep not long after he got changed and ready for bed. Most of the other guys had still been hanging out in the common room, and some of them had been busy snogging their Valentine, but he wanted to get a decent night of rest so that he'd be ready for anything on Saturday – especially when anything was possible when it came to James and his Quidditch matches!

Scorpius was in a lousy mood as he got ready for bed on Friday night. The last straw, for him, had been the walk through the common room – where Terri had been happily snogging the last few brain cells out of Richard Baddock – apparently deliriously-happy with the pathetic gifts he'd given her to show his undying love. He wasn't jealous – just disgusted that he'd actually wasted any time at all with Terri the Tramp Timms now that it was obvious just how low her standards were for the types of Wizards she was willing to snog right there in public with everyone watching!

At least James had the sense to keep his slumming with mudblood hags behind closed doors.

It was especially-galling that his day had gone downhill after what had been such a promising start. He'd been thrilled while watching the attack on Potty and his trainer before breakfast – especially when he saw the shield go up that closed them in with the magic mistletoe and gas that he'd barely had time to see between when it appeared and when Al raised that shield. Expecting something to happen and watchng them had been the only reason he'd seen that much at the start, but then everyone was watching the show when Gwendolyn crumpled to the floor in Potty's arms. That moment had been an emotional high as he knew that the draught of living death that Thomas had taught him to make had worked perfectly!

That few minutes of triumph had only lasted as long as it did because he couldn't see what was going on with Al and Gwendolyn after that while they were on the floor and all of the students around them were on their feet and blocking the way while trying to continue to watch the show. Sure, there'd been a commotion, and he could still see the top of the shield over them that still shimmered a brilliant blue; but it wasn't until Al stood up and helped Gwendolyn to her feet that he found out that Potty had somehow saved the day again! Most of the students in the hall hadn't been able to hear the conversation Potty and the trainer had with the Professors, but he'd been able to get at least part of the news directly from Slughorn simply by sucking up to him after breakfast. Finding out that Potty had been able to summon the bottle of antidote that Slughorn had shown him for emphasis had made him angry – including being mad at the fool Professor he'd been talking with for daring to mess up his plan by having the antidote prepared and available for Potty to get his hands on.

The targets of his anger didn't end with Potty and Slughorn. He was furious with Thomas for neglecting to inform him that there was an antidote that could so easily overcome the living death potion. With the entire day to stew about it – and get more of the details as the day went on; his anger and hatred just continued to boil – though he kept all of that bottled up and tried to act as if nothing was wrong. Some of his friends still noticed, but he suspected that they just thought that he was upset about spending Valentine's Day alone while Terri was happily spending the day with Baddock. That was laughable, since he could care less about the bottom-feeding tramp; but it did give him cover to go off on his own after dinner – and he headed straight to the Room of Requirements with just the minimum care to avoid being followed or seen before getting together with Thomas so that he could give him hell for setting him up for such a colossal failure!

By then, he'd been so mad that the Room of Requirements had provided him with a large assortment of targets to destroy – and he happily did that for ten minutes before actually facing off with Thomas. As he lay in bed with the anger beginning to boil anew; Scorpius replayed that scene with his painted mentor – and could practically taste the bitter rage as Thomas claimed and insisted that he'd done nothing wrong at all – and that it wasn't his fault that Scorpius hadn't known about the antidote when it was something that every child knew about. He'd scoffed at that; and then been chagrined when Thomas had laughed and made fun of him for apparently never having anyone tell him the story of Sleeping Beauty. He had known the story, of course, and that connection had explained the jokes he'd been hearing where Gwendolyn had been referred to as Sleeping Beauty and Albus had been called Prince Charming or Prince Potty; but he still didn't concede that Thomas had set him up to expect success when failure had been, apparently, inevitable.

Bringing that point to Thomas' attention had not made a difference. His mentor had simply claimed that he hadn't promised him anything; there was no reason to expect that anyone at Hogwarts would have the antidote made up and available; and he pointed out that creating the antidote was just as difficult as making the draught of living death – and that had taken them months to prepare including the time it took for Scorpius to get his hands on all of the ingredients before he could even start making it. In hindsight, Scorpius thought that was ridiculous, since Slughorn did teach his NEWT students how to make the draught of living death, and it made sense to him to keep the antidote handy in case of emergencies; but Thomas had scoffed at that and cited a handful of examples where the Hogwarts Professors and staff had needed to spend months preparing treatments for various problems in the past.

Scorpius had not been mollified by any of that; he grudgingly agreed to disagree after yelling about it over and over again did no good – or earn him even the slightest concession from Thomas; and then they'd gone on to do a lesson that had gone horribly because his continuing anger got in the way of focusing on the magic. Thomas had blamed that on him too; that had led to another yelling match that was one-sided because Thomas wouldn't do more than deny any wrongdoing and repeatedly toldhim to stop acting like a spoiled child.

A spoiled, petulant child! That insult, more than any other, had really irritated him. Thomas might be brilliant, but he was apparently capable of being oblivious if he couldn't see that his actions and responses had Scorpius doubting his trustworthiness! Was it really so impossible for Thomas to admit that he'd at the very least misled his protégé – even if that was through an unintended omission? Scorpius was beginning to wonder about that – and he didn't like the implications that went along with those thoughts. If Thomas really couldn't accept any blame for something so small – regardless of how big a deal it was for Scorpius right now; then how could he be trusted about everything else he'd been told? That perspective shone a very different light on all of the supposed admissions of failure from his past – particularly when it came to the claimed truths that couldn't be corroborated anywhere else. He'd accepted those stories until now; so having any doubts put their entire relationship in doubt.

Scorpius didn't come up with any conclusions or resolutions to his problems, but he did eventually fall into a troubled sleep; and went on to have a nightmarish subconscious adventure that was even worse than his day had been – thanks in part to the young Wizard he had come to hate so intensely and the dream version of the mentor that he was no longer certain he could trust.

Saturday morning began early and without any weirdness for Al, but that didn't last for very long because Rose had news to share with him – and she was waiting for him in the common room by the time he was ready to go despite the fact that he'd been early too. He could sense how she was feeling; offered a warmer-than-usual hug; and then followed along as she wanted to get going on their walk and talk right away. As usual, they made small talk until they were out in the hallway and away from the portrait hole so they wouldn't be overheard; and then Rose got right to what she wanted to talk about most.

"James broke team curfew last night – and the school curfew too."

"I was hoping that I didn't see him in the common room last night because he was in bed already by then," Al said; and Rose shook her head.

"This is where the story goes from bad to weird," she advised him. "James apparently spent the evening with Patricia; got her out of the way with the team curfew excuse; and then met up with Bristol instead of going to his dorm room." She shook her head again and laughed to express the absurdity. "Bristol got back to our room a few hours ago. She woke me up while getting ready for bed because she was a bit tipsy, and while we didn't talk much; I heard enough anyway because she was singing and talking to herself until she passed out."

"That sounds more serious than being tipsy,' Al suggested.

"She didn't seem to be drunk," Rose assured him, "but that seemed like the right phrase; since she went straight from singing to herself to sleeping like a switch was flipped."

"I don't know if I want to go there, but what was James thinking to do that when he's sure to be in for a tough duel today; and he doesn't have a single win against Alex so far – at least here at Hogwarts."

"You don't need to guess at what he was thinking," Rose countered. "That's dumb – and Bristol's lost her mind too if she goes around bragging about that this morning. She could get blamed if our team loses today because James is too tired to play."

"If he's allowed to play," Al suggested; and smiled when Rose's eyes went wide with shock.

"You don't think that Dominique would make the switch to Brandon, do you?"

"If she finds out that James broke team curfew; I'm not sure what she'd do. It's a really tough call – and one that I'm glad I won't have to make."

"I hadn't been thinking about that, but I actually hope that Dominique doesn't put Brandon in as Seeker. That just wouldn't be fair to him – even if he'd do that for her; and it might be the right decision."

"It's a no-win for Dominique too," Al told her seriously. "There is one other possible problem, though; and she'd have no choice but to act if James got drunk last night too."

Rose shook her head. "He couldn't have been that dumb?" she asked more than stated; and then shook her head again at Al's reaction. "Let's hope he really wasn't that dumb, Al."

"We'll know soon enough. Getting back to what you said about putting Brandon in, though, weather is going to be a big factor today, and while Brandom might be able to defend against Alex pretty well; it won't be a winning strategy today. That defensive game style only works in a long game where your team has a good shot at getting the on-sixty lead; and I don't think that our team can get there against Hufflepuff today when it's this cold out. Brandon can't win it for us, but while I'm not sure that James can beat Alex either, even playing at his best; we'll need him to have any chance at all today."

"You're basically prdicting that we'll lose," Rose declared; and Al shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess that I am," he agreed. "The only difference in the outcome will be whether James finds someone else to blame for losing or he blames Dominique and Brandon if he's put out of the match."

Rose laughed. "Isn't that better than having him blame you either way?" she teased; and Al laughed too.

"What was I thinking? When in doubt; blame it on me. I'll have either done something to him or turned the senior team against him. Maybe I should see if Gwendolyn wants to skip the match and stay here at the castle where we can be warm and comfortable while I rest up for the impending weight of the loss to be dumped on my shoulders."

"That's funny, but you're junior team Captain; and skipping the match isn't an option – especially when we do want to watch the Hufflepuff players that we could get to play against next season."

"Are you planning on a big surprise at tryouts next September?"

"No, but Louis will need to best me to get the Keeper job – unless he's made team Captain over Olivia or Lucy. Then I'll likely be out of luck until our sixth year."

"You could always try out for Chaser again," Al suggested; but Rose shook her head.

"That worked in first year, but I'm not good-enough to make the senior team as a Chaser. Ray's better than I am now, and Ollie may be a total git; but he's a better Chaser too – when he actually tries his best. Then there's the fact that I don't think that either of them can beat you, Lucy, and Olivia next year regardless of who ends up as Captain – and I'm fairly-sure that Olivia will get the nod for that over Lucy."

"I actually like your chances at Keeper; though I'd feel bad for Louis if he ends up on the reserve squad again for his last two seasons."

"We'll have a good team the next few years regardless of whether Louis or I have the Keeper job," Rose predicted. "The one wild card is going to be James – and he's proved that yet again today before we've even gotten around to the match."

They talked about that for a while; moved on to some other game day gossip that Rose could tell him about from the bedtime girl chat; and then they eventually made it to the Great Hall while there were still only a handful of teens and tweens in the room. That gave them time to visit with Lily, Gwendolyn, some of their cousins, and quite a few of their friends as they caught up with them; and then Quidditch and the teen drama sideshow entertainment gave them something to talk about with their tablemates while enjoying the morning meal. As usual for a cold-weather match, Al met up with Gwendolyn after they finished eating; they left the Great Hall together; and then walked into a cameo moment of extreme weird when they ran into James – and Al knew that his brother had been lying in wait for him.

"I need you to do that healing thing on me again," James demanded. He fairly-reeked of Firewhiskey – at least to Al's heightened sense of smell; and swayed slightly as he confronted them.

"Are we feeling a bit unwell this morning?" Gwendolyn asked him sweetly; and James glared at her with reddened, bleary-looking eyes.

"Shut it," he snapped at her before returning his attention to Al. "Do it – and don't bother spouting off at me. I've a Quidditch match to go and win."

"The healing will cause other problems," Al warned. "You're going to get tired – especially if you haven't had much sleep."

"I was perfectly-fine last time," James declared dismissively. "Stop stalling and get on with it!"

"Aren't you going to say the magic word?" Gwendolyn prompted; and James scowled at her again.

"No, and the loser here will do it – or I'll make sure everyone knows who to blame if we lose today."

"It's hardly Al's fault that you stayed up all night and got drunk again," Gwendolyn countered. "You shouldn't help him at all, Al," she added seriously. "He smells like he's still drunk, so Dominique would never let him play in that condition; and it just wouldn't be fair for you to take the chance to play today away from Brandon."

"Sure, because you wouldn't love to see that happen – and have our team lose today," James spat back derisively.

Gwendolyn laughed. "That's funny because my senior team will likely be cheering for Gryffindor to win today so that our Houses would have one senior team win each," she explained when he scowled darkly at her again. Two wins for Hufflepuff would put them in a good place for the senior team title this year."

"You are so full of it," James said with a snort of disbelief. "What's it going to be, loser? Heal me – or take the blame for the loss?"

Al drew his wand and stepped up closer to James. "I'll do it, but don't forget that I warned you that this will tire you out; and this will be a lot different than last time – especially since you're trying to do this right before a tough Quidditch match in bitterly-cold weather."

"Whatever," James said as he waved the warning off. "Get on with it and keep the lectures to yourself."

Al did that, and while he would have liked to tell his brother to sod off and live with the consequences of his idiotic choices; he instead did what he knew was his only choice for dealing with another bad situation. James didn't offer any thanks when he was done; sauntered off jauntily once healed; and even had the audacity to make a lewd offer to Gwendolyn as he headed to the Great Hall to grab a late breakfast before going on to the stadium. Gwendolyn wanted to talk about that entire scene once they were alone, but they also moved on to have a bit of magical play time with some friends for a while until they needed to head out to the stadium to find seats on the border of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw sections with enough saved seats for most of their friends and all of their junior team and reserve squad players. the one change from the last match was that Ollie came to sit down behind them with a group of friends that included Bristol, Patricia, Lacey, and a handful of fourth-year friends and the rest of the senior reserve squad players.

"Welcome to the only Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match of the year that will be of any interest to anyone," Ollie announced once he was settled in under a blanket with Lacey. "Our team has Hufflepuff right where we want them after spotting the other teams a win in the Quidditch Cup race – just to be fair; and keep from embarrassing the other Houses. We saw in the last match that Slytherin has already blown that gift; and Hufflepuff is sure to follow their lead today!"

"Didn't you talk with Ollie and offer your game analysis before coming out here?" Rose leaned in and whispered to Al. She was in the seat directly behind him; and was cuddling under the same blanket with Lily and Jonah – with Jonah on the other side of Lily despite – or because of – the offer to sit in the middle between the two Witches.

"We don't talk much," Al answered just as quietly. "I'm sure we'll find his analysis of this game as entertaining and informative as always; so take notes if you hear anything really good."

"I'm sure Dominique will find the two different reports very interesting too," Lily offered; but then they all sat back to listen as Ollie made sure that they could overhear every word.

"Teresa will be keeping her pre-game show short again today; so let's take a more-detailed look at the Quidditch Cup race and the players while we wait for her sorry excuse for game announcing. As I've just said, we spotted the other teams a win to give them a fighting chance of still losing with a bit of pride; so we all had one win and one loss for the first third of the season. Cravenclaw had the current lead after winning that laughable match against Slytherin that proved just how generous we were being last fall, and while I'm sure that Hufflepuff fans and players will tell you that they've got the advantage today to earn their second win of the season; that's crazy – and even if that impossibility happens; they'd never beat our team by enough to overcome Ravenclaw's points lead for the tie-breaker – while we'll be able to do that simply by winning."

"Well, he does have the numbers on that right," Gwendolyn told Al with a grin. "It's nice to hear that he isn't totally full of it."

"Just mostly," Rose added with a quiet laugh.

"Now we – the reserve squad players – are supposed to watch the match and report back to our illustrious leader on how both teams and all of the players do today from a spectator perspective; so let's take a look at the Hufflepuff players first so that we all know what to look for while watching the show."

"We already know all of the Hufflepuff players," Pat Towler told him; sounding annoyed. "You don't need to tell us anything."

"Then tune out; and I'll keep the rest of us entertained while you keep your perennial spot on the reserve squad bench warm," Ollie said dismissively with a laugh that only a few of the teens in their group joined in on. "Since Pat has me thinking about the Beaters; let's start with them. Tina's a brother short of a Beater duo; Jacques is a pathetic substitute; and Pat here is jealous because he wishes he could have gotten his big NEWT year shot the way that Jacques is getting this year. Unfortunately for him, the McClaggen brothers kept that from happening; and they are going to have an easy day of it because they only need to gang up on Tina to take her out – and I don't mean that in a dating sort of way!"

"Tiberius and Brock will be in for a tough match," Pat disagreed; but Ollie just snorted out a derisive laugh.

"They'll have it as easy as they do against you," he disagreed. "Moving along, Myra Graves is not the worst of the senior team Keepers, but she is likely third-best – and will be second-best against Louis today for sure." Ollie didn't get any dissention for that comment; so he happily continued his review of the Hufflepuff players.

"As with their Beaters, Francine is a sibling short for the Hufflepuff Chasers; and I'm saying that despite the fact that she is teamed up with Zack and Roman Smith this year. The brothers are only getting the chance to play together this season because the Longbottom sisters are split up while the better half of their duo is off playing in the show. Try not to be too impressed with that, since the only reason she isn't on a reserve squad is because one of our former Gryffindor reserve team Chasers is carrying her along – and proving that the Hufflepuff Chasers aren't even as good as our reserve players."

"Give it a rest, Ollie," Brandon told him. "Some of us don't have a problem with being happy for Alice and Daniella – just as we're happy for your sister and Victoire getting to the show and doing well – along with the rest of our Hogwarts alumni."

"That's very nice of you to say," Ollie told him with a sneer. "You're such a nice guy that I'm sure you'll do well in the show too – as the back-up Seeker for the Cannons or one of the other bottom-feeder teams." He snorted out another laugh. "Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best; and maybe that'll happen for you!" Using the Cannons' team motto for that joke earned some laughs – and even Brandon laughed at the insult, but while he didn't look annoyed with Ollie; he was the kind of guy to stand up for his friends – and didn't like listening to Ollie as he continued his often-insulting player commentary.

"Where was I?" he asked; and then nodded to himself theatrically. "Oh yeah – the Hufflepuff Chasers. They sucked against Ravenclaw; they'll do worse against Louis; and we can move on to the only player on the Hufflepuff team with any real skills – Seeker and team Captain, Alex Jordan. Fortunately for us, we have the best Seeker in the school; so Alex is not going to be able to save his team from imminent loss today the way he did against Ravenclaw in December."

"James hasn't won a match over Alex," Lacey told him; and Ollie nodded; but frowned at her.

"True, but they've only played once in our first year; and this is totally different."

"Is it?" Lacey asked. "James hasn't beaten Pauline either; and Alex won his Seeker duel against her."

"Would you like to go and sit in the Hufflepuff section?" Ollie shot back. "I didn't know you were such an Alex Jordan fan."

"He's a nice guy and easy on the eyes," Lacey teased unapologetically; "but I'm here to support our team. That doesn't mean I can't ask valid questions – and I didn't even suggest that I don't think that James is a really good player too."

"James is the best Seeker in the school – and you shouldn't need to question that; since he is one of our classmates and friends."

Lacey laughed at that; and Ollie scowled at her again. "Let's agree to disagree on that one," she suggested. "I think it'll be a tough Seeker duel today – especially if the rumors going around about James this morning are true."

"Do you mean the rumor that he stayed up late doing extra cardio training so he'd be ready for the match today?" Ollie asked; apparently putting his own spin on the stories that had hit the school grapevine by breakfast time. "I'd say that's just showing that he knows what it takes to be the best!"

Al couldn't avoid the emotional responses going on around him; and especially wished that he didn't catch Bristol's reaction to that comment. Teresa didn't save him from any of that, but she did get her abbreviated pre-game show started then; and he had to listen to Ollie as he tried to talk over Teresa while moving on to talk about the Gryffindor team. This time, for a change, he didn't do much tearing down of each player – though he was far from complimentary toward Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy. He was sure that they wouldn't totally suck playing against Myra, Alice, and the Smith brothers; and then assured everyone that the Chaser battle wouldn't really matter anyway when they had James on the team to guarantee the win anyway. As usual, James had actually done that again; and Teresa was happy to confirm that for the spectators when she introduced him along with the rest of the Gryffindor team. She did all of that quickly and without any extra facts or figures; so Ollie had needed to rush his player 'profiles' too. Al was glad of that; and even happier when Mr. Peakes got the match started.

Teresa's play-by-play announcing was good, but Ollie apparently needed to attempt to one-up her with his alternate view of the action above the pitch. There was a lot going on to comment on, but Al found that some of the action he thought was most-interesting wasn't even mentioned by Teresa or Ollie. Some of that came from what he could sense from the other players; and he explored that more than he had during the last match – possibly because he didn't like sensing anything from the Slytherin players. While he didn't pick up specific thoughts, the ebb and flow of emotions did give him a heads-up of sorts about what was going on in the match from moment-to-moment – but also from a bigger picture perspective. That gave him insights into the game plans for both teams; for individual players; and for the Beater duos and Chaser trios. He found that especially-interesting as he watched those plays unfold within the context of the larger plans and goals.

Louis and Myra traded saves for the first quarter-hour before Myra gave up the first goal of the match to Olivia; and that seemed to get the flow of the match moving along in a higher gear as the Chasers and Keepers battled it out with fierce determination. Gryffindor scored a second goal before Louis finally gave up his first goal to Francine at the twenty-eight minute mark. The goals continued to come slowly through the first hour, but then the tide turned in favor of the Chasers as they temporarily warmed up and began earning more of those little victories over the Keepers – and their Chaser opponents. By the end of the second hour, the score was one-ten for Gryffindor to fifty for Hufflepuff. Ollie had been very vocal about that lead being just the start of the drubbing that Hufflepuff was in for now that their Gryffindor team was nicely warmed up; but Al – and most other spectators – didn't believe that for a moment.

The Chasers continued to hold the advantage through the third hour; and Gryffindor extended the lead only slightly to end that hour with a one-eighty to ninety lead. While Ollie continued to taunt and ridicule the Hufflepuff players and team effort; he seemed to be oblivious to what was really going on above the pitch. Gryffindor managed to increase their lead again through the fourth hour, but it was the weather that won the battle as all of the players began to falter from too many hours of extreme flying in temperatures that were in the double-digits below freezing. The two-twenty to one-twenty lead looked great for Gryffindor, but as fingers became too numb to hold onto the quaffle – or even broom handles; the mistakes began to pile up – and the advantage turned back to the Keepers as the Chasers had problems making even the simplest of shots – if they could get in on goal for any shots in the first place.

Al had kept an eye on the Seeker duel throughout the match to that point, and he gave James credit for mostly playing his hardest without doing anything that he sensed or saw that could be considered anything worse than mildly unsportsmanlike – which for James was basically the equivalent of a fair fight. As they rolled into the fifth hour, Al began to watch the Seeker duel more closely because he sensed that James was having more problems with fatigue and the cold than Alex was having – though they were both slowing down a lot from the play level they'd been at through the first three hours. Both Seekers made some mistakes, but then couldn't take advantage of those opportunities. The match rolled along; Dominique scored a goal; and then Hufflepuff and Gryffindor traded a pair of goals that were close together – just a few minutes apart near the half-hour point of the fifth hour.

by then, Al and Gwendolyn were even busier because they used his mirror to start watching the Harpies-Tornados match; and even Ollie had mostly shut up by then so that he could watch both matches too – though he offered the occasional insult about Rachel Rosier and Lacey Zabini that were crude and unfair. Al didn't like the two former Slytherin Witches, and they didn't play nice against Victoire and her team; but they were proving to be a talented Chaser duo – even if their third Tornados' Chaser wasn't in the same class of elite player with them – or most of the other top league Chasers.

The multi-tasking for watching the two matches was going on all around the stadium; which is why a lot of spectators didn't even see the snitch catch that ended the match. Al sensed when Alex went after the snitch, though, so he was watching as both Seekers raced toward the snitch. He also sensed that James hadn't located it at first; which gave Alex the advantage. James did track it by the time they were half-way there; set up to defend against the catch; and was in a really good position to do that – right up until he and Alex both had to dodge a bludger that Tina Johnson pounded at them. Al knew that her aim had been intentional; the separation between the Seekers was to Alex's advantage; and while he juggled the catch because of fingers that were stiff from the cold; he managed to corral the snitch into his body and hold on to earn the come-from-behind victory at the four hour and forty-eight minute mark.

"Alex Jordan traps and catches the snitch for the two-eighty to two-forty win!" Teresa called out as Mr. Peakes blew the whistle. "Well done, Alex – and well played all!" she added; her voice sounding raspy and sore after about five hours of announcing with only one short break early in the fourth hour. "Let's hear it for both teams!"

"And well-done Ollie for that spot-on prediction and alternate play-by-play," Gwendolyn joked in a whisper to Al that earned a soft laugh and a hug in answer.

"I'm going to try to get out of here without any trouble again this time," Al told her; "but we do need to swing by center pitch to offer our congratulations and condolences before we head for the castle. Should we do that right now; or wait for a while until the mad dash is over?"

"Let's try to escape now," Gwendolyn decided. "If we hurry; we'll get that done and be out of here before we can have any trouble with James, Ollie, or anyone else."

With that decided, they stood up while Teresa was just getting started on her post-match recap; packed up their blanket and gear – except for Al's mirror; and headed for center pitch as quickly as they could. Once they were on the pitch, that was easy; since most of the students headed for the exits instead of toward where the two teams had gathered after landing to exchange the handshakes and the rest of the usual pleasantries that were the norm for one of the friendly school rivalries. that was still going on when Al and Gwendolyn joined the subdued festivities – and the players were all talking quietly because they were also exhausted, cold, and getting more uncomfortable by the minute as sweat-soaked clothes began to make them feel even colder than they had while still in the air and working hard. Al ended up talking to all six Chasers first as they'd gathered together by then; and he'd earned some laughs and one warning from Gwendolyn when he'd shared hugs with all four of the Witches to go along with the handshakes he offered to Zack and Roman Smith.

"You've nothing to worry about from us," Dominique assured Gwendolyn after the girls had laughed at her warning for Al. "He's related to two of us; and is a bit young yet for Olivia and Francine."

"Not to mention that our boyfriends would have a problem with us chasing after other Wizards anyway," Francine teased. "We've talked before about Al getting a family exemption for hugs with Alice and me too; so we should probably skip using that joke every time Al does hug one of us."

"That wouldn't be any fun," Gwendolyn joked; "but I do have to worry about you and Alice anyway when my Aunt Meghan thinks that it would be a good idea to recruit Al to play on her team with you and your sister."

Francine laughed. "Thanks, but we have heard that she's actually interested in getting both of you – which wouldn't be good for Alice, Daniella, or me."

"For two out of three of you, anyway," Lucy teased. "Then again, if the Prides do try to steal Gwendolyn from her future spot on the Harpies team; you'll have at least two Chaser spots available because that won't happen; and you might need to learn to speak woodlouse to talk to your team Manager."

"Al could do that for her," Lily offered as she caught up with Al and Gwendolyn – and had Rose, Jonah, and a few other friends along with her. "Thanks for giving us such an awesome game to watch – though I'd have liked it to be a bit shorter."

"We'd have been okay with that too, "Lucy assured her as Lily hugged her first before moving on to hug the other three Witches. By then, the Smith brothers had moved on to talk with their own friends; but Lily hugged Louis too when he got the chance then to join his sister and cousins.

"You played great too," Lily told him. "Did you have fun up there?"

"Right up until the end," Louis agreed with a smile and laugh. "We can't really complain about anything. We played our best; and Alex won on a great play."

"Speak for yourself," James told him as he took the last two steps that had him standing next to his cousin. He had an angry expression on his face; but Al sensed that it was just an act – though he could also sense the hatred directed at him that had nothing to do with the way he was acting. "I want to file a complaint with our Captain. If Lucy had taken care of tiring her boyfriend out on Valentine's Day the way she was supposed to; then he'd have been too tired to keep up with me today."

"Do you really want to go there, James?" Lucy warned. She looked ready to say more, but then Alex caught up to her too; and he laughed at both comments.

"James probably shouldn't go there; but I'd be happy to talk about doing that with you later," he offered; earning a loud round of laughs from everyone who heard him.

"Good timing – for James," Lucy advised both boys while smiling at Alex. "You, on the other hand, helped your team to beat ours, and you know how much I hate losing; so don't count on talking your way into anything, buddy."

"Why didn't you give him that threat yesterday?" James asked; and Lucy laughed again.

"What makes you think that I didn't?" she countered. "Give it a rest, James. You guys both played great; somebody had to win; and that was Alex this time. It's too cold out here to even sit around joking about playing the blame game; and some of us want to get inside; warm; and watch the rest of the Harpies' match." She turned her smile on Al next. "We haven't missed it; have we?"

"They seem to be in a major battle too," he reported. "The Harpies have a twenty point lead, but the Tornados are playing well; and Aunt Gabrielle is in a tough duel too – as usual with the Tornados' Seeker."

Al's micro report on the Harpies seemed to help encourage everyone to speed up the post game chat time. He was even happier to get out of there after being close to James – and then Ollie too – without getting into any fights with them or having either of them attempt any pranks or atacks. When they got back to the castle, Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; went on to his dorm room to trade winter weather gear for his book bag – including the bag that held the sofas and mirror; and then he headed for the Great Hall with Rose, Lily, and a half-dozen friends. Lunch was ready by then; they watched the Harpies' match while eating quickly; and then headed for their study classroom to set up the sofas and bigger mirror to watch the rest of the match in more comfort.

"Is it just me, or is this match a lot like the one we just finished watching out at the stadium?" Tory asked as she sat and held hands with Ray. They were close together, but not really cuddling; and Al knew that the distance he'd been sensing growing between them was widening more quickly now.

"This Seeker duel is different," Lily advised her, "and this isn't a friendly rivalry; but the scoring is really similar. Rachel and Lacey are really up for this match against Victoire. She's still better; but not by as much as she was the first year she and Rachel were in the show."

"Or while they were here either," Gwendolyn added. "We didn't get to see that in our first year; but Victoire's always been better than Rachel or Lacey – which is why they hate her so much."

"That sounds familiar," Ray joked with a side-long look and grin for Al. "At the risk of messing with the trouble magnet in the room; was James feeling sick today? He actually seemed to be playing fairly for the entire match – and even after he lost the Seeker duel."

"Maybe he was just too tired to get mad," Lily suggested; and she was grinning too. "Do you think that Al should send thank-you gifts to Patricia and Bristol for helping him out with that?"

"That is so bad!" Rose exclaimed; though she joined in for the laugh too.

"But funny," Gwendolyn added – "especially when he was the one making jokes along those lines about Lucy and Alex."

"I'll just be grateful that we had a pretty good day," Al told them; and then turned his attention to Tory and Madison. "Are you guys going to stop in to your House for the party?"

"We'll be going to it," Madison answered, "but we'll do that after the Harpies' match – unless it ends up being a marathon match. This is what most of the teens and tweens in our House will be doing right now anyway."

"Maybe we should have invited the Slytherin team to join us for this," Lily suggested. "That would be a sure way to liven up this game-watching party!"

"Trouble magnet – meet troublemaker," Hugo offered.

"Add in James as just plain trouble; and it's no wonder those Potter kids have such a towering reputation," Toni told them; and earned extra laughs because she and Michael were usually two of the quietest members of their group.

"My first mental picture after Lily's suggestion was of a future Harpies' Christmas party where she invites the Falcons to come," Jonah said with a grin for Lily.

"That wouldn't be as much fun as a league-wide Christmas party," Lily countered; "but there's no doubt it would be a party that everyone would remember for a long time."

"Maybe – if anyone survived the event," Tory suggested. "I'd say there'd be as good a chance that the league would have two-less teams by the next morning."

"Some of us wouldn't mind losing the Falcons, but since losing the Harpies too would be bad for those of us that want to play on that team in a few years; let's just decide not to do that," Gwendolyn told them with a smile for Lily.

"You're just saying that because you'd want to invite the Cannons team instead," Lily teased. "I can see it in the Prophet now – 'First and Worst Christmas Party Ever!' would be the front page story."

"That's an awful thing to say," Rose told her. "The Harpies won't ever be worst – even when my team is tops in the league again."

"I don't think that the Cannons can get there – even if they get a Captains' agreement to end every match early," Ray interjected.

"No, they couldn't," Lily agreed; "but they could move up in the standings a few spots – especially if the Cannons' Captain started calling those timeouts after the first goal was scored against them in every match except for the few they actually have a chance to win."

"As if the other Captains would agree to that," Hugo scoffed. "Would you be happy if your future Harpies' Captain started giving up two of your chances to catch the snitch and earn those points? You're joking about that for a strategy with the Cannons; but that would work for the best teams too – at least when it comes to earning wins." He nodded at the mirror. "That would let the top players rest up for the tough matches too – just as some of you suggested after that match last week."

"You're right," Lily conceded. "We were just going for the jokes, though; since I doubt that strategy will catch on – even with the Cannons. Santini really only has a problem playing against Aunt Gabrielle. He's still a half-decent Seeker the rest of the time – even if he isn't among the top ten in the league."

"He's in the top ten some seasons," Rose protested; and Lily shrugged.

"You might know that for sure. I've never cared enough to actually look that up, but if he's actually won enough matches in a season to be in the running for that; I'd also want to find out how many wins he got against reserve Seekers that year."

"He has been top-ten before," Al advised Lily. "You're just not thinking about one little detail – that he's earned all of the Cannons wins since he joined the team. They've never even come close to winning by getting a one-sixty lead first in decades."

Lily nodded and conceded the point. "You're right – I wasn't thinking about that; and the Seekers on the best teams in the league do get to back off against the worst teams once their Chasers get that lead. That combination could add up to Santini making it into the top ten more often than I'd thought possible."

"That isn't really fascinating at all," Madison told them; "but we did get to watch a pretty good match this morning, and this one is good too; so let's stop talking about the Cannons and Santini."

Her request led the conversation in a new direction that didn't even end up being about Quidditch for a while as they continued to watch the match on the mirror network. As usual, Lee was the announcer for the match, since he always got to do the top game of the day; and he kept them as entertained with his running commentary and jokes as the two teams did with their hard-fought play. They were well-into the third hour by then, and the battles above the pitch raged on and on. The Hufflepuff members of their group ended up heading for their House an hour or so before dinnertime to make an appearance at the victory party for their senior team; and then they all had to pack up and head for the Great Hall while the game rolled on into the sixth hour – and that was thanks to a delay for that meal that had been announced during their late, post-Quidditch lunch break.

There were a lot of students and a few Professors watching the match while they enjoyed that meal; so there was also a loud round of cheers at three of the tables when Gabrielle caught the snitch for the hard-fought marathon win at the five hour and fifty minute mark. There were loud jeers from the Slytherin table too – along with a few pockets of Tornados supporters at the other tables voicing their disappointment at the loss too; but Al, Rose, and most of their friends were happy for their team – and Al was also privately glad that the match was over because they'd already lost the entire day for working on their weekend revision; and needed to get back to work after dinner. He'd have rather spent the evening alone with Gwendolyn, but she also had another make-up Quidditch practice in the morning; so they didn't want to be stuck working on their assignments until late on Sunday night – even if the play time would definitely be more fun!

Too many of their study group friends agreed with Al about the last part of that, and while he hadn't been surprised when the Hufflepuff teens opted to go back to their House and the party that resumed after dinner – and kicked up a few notches with the Harpies' match done too; he was surprised that he and Gwendolyn only ended up with Rose, Toni, and Michael when they got together after they'd all finished eating and went to their study classroom again. While that made it easier to work without the usual tutoring interruptions; Al was sure that he and Gwendolyn and Rose would end up putting in more study time on Sunday to help their friends out – even after they had their own work finished. They ended up working until just twenty minutes before curfew; Al and Gwendolyn walked to Ravenclaw tower with Toni and Michael; and that meant that the goodnight hug and kiss was nothing to write home about in their next Owl Posts.

When he got back to the Gryffindor common room and found out from Lily that James was still out and about the castle somewhere – and with Patricia this time; he half-wished that he and Gwendolyn were a bit less dedicated and responsible, but also knew that would never change for either of them – no matter how often they were tempted to just blow off the work and have as much fun as most of their fellow students managed to different degrees – with James at the near-opposite end of the scale to their place on that imaginary line. Al had a short chat with Lily, Hugo, Denise, and a few of their firstie friends, but then he headed up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and settled in with a book to do some research on one of his projects while talking with Ray and a few of the other guys as they all came up to bed too.

Ray wasn't very happy, but didn't want to talk about the problems that Al knew his friend was having with Tory. While he could empathize with his friends as their personal teen dramas played out, Al was also learning that he wasn't going to be the guy that his Wizard friends would talk with about girl troubles because of his total lack of experience with break-ups. There was likely a bit of jealousy mixed in with that because he and Gwendolyn were so blissfully happy together, but the bottom line was that he was trusted to offer advice on getting dating challenges right; but excluded when it came to ending relationships. Although Ray didn't want to talk about his problems with Tory, that didn't keep Al from spending some time thinking about that – and other relationships in his own life that continued to be challenging for him.

With Valentine's Day finished, and eight weeks to go until their Easter holiday; the next two months were going to be challenging just with the work that their Professors would be piling on them as always this time of year. Because of the school schedule through to the end of term, they were also going to be busy with two Hogsmeade weekends and three junior team Quidditch matches over the seven weekends they had in those eight weeks before Easter. After their problems on Valentine's Day, Al didn't know whether to expect any problems with James; but he expected that he'd need to deal with Ollie sooner instead of later now that he and James were back to being best mates – especially if both boys thought that James could get around his need to leave Al alone by getting Ollie to carry out the attacks instead.

The Slytherins he continued to have hating on him were a potential problem, and while the Averys and their mates were a real threat to him; Al worried that Scorpius might be the bigger danger because he never got into trouble and could be doing more behind the scenes than Al could even suspect. He didn't come up with any solutions to those issues as he mulled them over; but then he didn't have any solutions for less-serious relationship issues. Losing Bristol as a friend was tougher for Gwendolyn and Rose than it was for him, but it was still tough – and he didn't see that changing for the better anytime soon. He'd like to blame all of that on James, but knew that wasn't fair; and that Bristol wasn't being led to do anything she didn't want to do anyway – whether that was with James or not. She wasn't going to have that kind of fun with her 'old' friends; so the parting of ways had been inevitable once she'd made those choices.

From there, Al's mind wandered along in what seemed to be a re-assessment of the rest of his friendships and relationships. Having couples get together or break up always changed the dynamics of those friendships; and he sensed that there were some changes coming up that they'd all be dealing with – and making adjustments as needed. While he could make guesses about what might happen; he didn't get any sense of true foreknowledge – and he was grateful for that. It was sometimes tough-enough to know anything about the future even at the last moment. He wasn't interested in becoming some oracle that could see and know all – if that was even possible.

Whatever did happen over the next weeks and months, as he eventually was ready to go to sleep, Al was sure that their magical adventures would continue; they were in for a lot of hard work; and all of the fun and entertainment they fit in around the work and Quidditch would be amazing because he'd be sharing those experiences with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and the rest of their Hogwarts families and friens!


	31. Study Hard Play Harder

**Chapter Thirty-One – Study Hard; Play Harder**

After two very busy days, Al was looking forward to a comparatively quiet second-half of the weekend. That description would only be relative, but then he also started the day out with some quiet fun while on his walk and talk with Rose and Lily. His sister had joined them for that walk so that they could also have a birthday mirror chat with Roxanne. Lily had been sure their cousin would be awake early because it was her eleventh birthday and she was getting to join the Firestorm two-fifty club with the rest of her cousins; so they didn't wake anyone in Roxanne's house when Lily made that call.

"Happy eleventh birthday, Roxanne!" Lily proclaimed excitedly as Al and Rose echoed her best birthday wishes. "Let's see that broom – I know you have it somewhere close to you!"

"You have one too," Roxanne reminded her. "Mine looks exactly the same except for the number on it."

"I haven't seen you with yours – until now," Lily answered even as Roxanne had already pulled her new broom into the view of her mirror so that her cousins could see it – and the enormous smile on her face. "Welcome to the club, cuz. Get used to that thing fast too. I'm going to want you on my summer practice team when we get out of here in June – especially since we'll be losing all of our third-year players to the senior teams."

"They might prefer to practice with us," Roxanne suggested. "Al and Rose haven't had much fun playing Quidditch with James in a long time."

"It's funny you should say that after James actually played a decent match against Hufflepuff yesterday," Lily told her. "Did you hear about it?"

"Uh-huh," Roxanne answered with a nod. "We were with Aunt Alicia at the Harpies' match when Alex called to let her know he'd won. He told us that James had mostly played a fair match against him – and done pretty well to keep their duel going for so long when it was so cold out."

"They both played great," Lily agreed, "but James has lost two matches again this season; so Al and Rose are hoping that he'll start worrying more about his future Quidditch career by this summer and focus on that instead of his vendetta with Al."

"That would be good – for all of us," Roxanne suggested with another nod. "I'll take that spot on your practice team too – and be ready to play." She grinned then. "Do you think that Fred will mind sitting out the scrimmages while I play instead? I'm thinking about switching to Beater so that I don't have to try and follow in Al's footsteps at Chaser."

"You're just messing with us on that one," Lily declared without hesitation while laughing too. "If he hasn't talked to you first, though; I'll ask him about that."

"Don't," Roxanne told her seriously. "He'd just razz me about wanting to switch to be partnered with Orlando; and that's just gross."

"Now why didn't I think of that first?" Lily mused with another laugh.

"Because you were thinking that messing with Fred would be more fun," Rose suggested. "What are you going to be doing for your birthday today, Roxanne?"

"The same thing we all do on our eleventh birthdays – play Quidditch! Mum and Dad are having a birthday lunch party for me too, and Dad's taking the day off from the stores; but we're not going out anywhere. We went out for dinner last night after the Harpies match, and this is a work and home schooling night; so i won't be having any all-night parties."

"The Quidditch, party, and gifts will be more fun than we'll have around here," Lily reminded her. "I have most of my weekend assignments done, but a lot of our friends still have most or all of their work to do; so it's going to be a bit boring around here."

"If you're that bored; then you just aren't trying hard enough to have fun," Roxanne advised her. "In fact, if you can't even think of anything to do with Jonah on a quiet day, ask one of the Professors to send him over here; and he can come to my party."

"Try that kind of line on me next school year when we're both here and can use magic," Lily pretended to warn as ominously as she could while laughing and grinning at her cousin. "You're lucky that you're safe at home right now – and that I won't be able to use magic when we're home at Easter or this coming summer."

"You could get all of us to stop making those offers by just deciding that he's your boyfriend and officially taking him off the market," Roxanne suggested.

"I'm still thinking about that; but we're not in any hurry to go there," Lily told her more seriously. "We're supposed to be roasting you, though, not me; so since you brought it up – are there any particularly-interesting Wizards coming to your party today?"

"Yes, but not in the way you mean it for me," Roxanne answered. "We do have a fair number of famous Wizards in our family; so we have at least a few interesting Wizards at every family and friends get-together."

Lily thought that her cousin was being unresponsive; had fun roasting her a bit with some help from Rose; and then they all got on with their day after Roxanne needed to end the mirror chat to talk with someone that had called her mother and was waiting to offer best birthday wishes too. The breakfast gossip was mostly about the Quidditch match on Saturday along with some ongoing teen drama from Valentine's Day, but while Rose was happy to have fun with that; Al mostly sat back and enjoyed his meal before they moved on to the morning study session. He spent a few minutes with Gwendolyn first before she headed outside for her team Quidditch practice, but then it was all work for the rest of the morning – including after Gwendolyn joined them after her practice. Al and Rose did a lot of tutoring all morning too; but they finished their own work – along with getting some of the work done on bigger, ongoing projects. Gwendolyn was the only other member of their group to finish her work by lunchtime, so while most of their friends were going to resume the studying after lunch; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose all decided to go out to the practice pitch for the afternoon scrimmage they'd booked – and that they'd expected to miss while the first and second-year players went ahead and played without them.

After a morning filled with a lot of tutoring, and in hindsight of the tutoring they did after the scrimmage through until dinnertime; taking that extended break proved to be a good decision. Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and their team won that scrimmage too; so that worked out even better for them than it did for Al, Hugo, Jonah, and their team. Since he liked to see how happy Gwendolyn was after her Quidditch victories, that was still fun for Al, but he tried not to have too much fun; since that only got Lily fired up and reminding him that he needed to want to win for his team more than he wanted his girlfriend to win. After the scrimmage, Al and Gwendolyn did take a second side-trip to help Lily with setting up a portable pool for a small group of friends that included Jonah, Hugo, and Denise; but then he spent most of the rest of the afternoon doing tutoring while Gwendolyn worked to catch up to where he and Rose had gotten on their projects while she'd been finishing her weekend assignments in the morning.

Some of their friends still had more work to do after dinner, but Al and Gwendolyn did not offer to study with them; and instead spent the evening with Lily and Jonah as usual for Sunday nights. That end to their weekend was a few hours of quiet fun that was exactly what they all needed ahead of the start of the school week – and the harder push from their Professors to take their lessons to the next level and get through everything they needed to cover before switching to exam preparation mode after Easter – or in May at the latest. The music play time was a co-highlight with the parental mirror chats; the letter writing and cuddle time was relaxing; and the visit to the Owlery and walk back to their Houses all added up to a good end to the day that was even better thanks to having no problems at all from James, Ollie, or any of the Slytherins.

The next five days really did end up being all about the work for Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their friends. They especially felt the pressure of the extra work this year thanks to all of the optional classes, and with three and five weeks to go before their next Quidditch matches; the pressure was on to train harder to get ready for those showdowns with Slytherin and Hufflepuff respectively. Gwendolyn was more worried about dealing with the Slytherins – especially when they knew nothing at all about the Beaters that had replaced the Harpers after they'd earned their ban following the first junior team match of the season. Jonathan and Frank Wilkes were brothers too, but that was about the only thing that Gwendolyn knew about them; since there were basically no rumors about them at all – unless those rumors stayed within Slytherin House.

Extra study time came hand-in-hand with the tougher classes and increased number or complexity of the assignments, and Al had to put in more time after he went to bed or was back in the Gryffindor common room to keep up with his workload. The Quidditch practices couldn't be longer because the senior team took over the pitch for their practice, but Al did do more work to get ready for their match against Hufflepuff; and gave his team mates some study prep work too that included reviewing the notes that had been collected over the past two years for all of the Hufflepuff players that were still on their team. He also helped Gwendolyn with her plans for Slytherin; and that included her bonus plans for dealing with Scorpius Malfoy in a Quidditch sort of way to thank him for his part in the Valentine's Day attack on them. While that was just a bonus goal beyond winning the match, Scorpius was a good player and flew a Lightningbolt; so Gwendolyn first needed to come up with a way to out-play him despite his speed advantage and skills.

Quidditch might be first in their hearts and thoughts, but the studying and their classes took up most of their time. They didn't quite have a free weekend to look forward to, since they had a friend's birthday party to help with and attend; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose kept working on Friday evening yet again to keep ahead of the workload – even when some of their study group friends rebelled and took the night off – even after that hadn't worked out very well for them just a week ago. That lack of support made it all the more tempting for Al and Gwendolyn to take some time off from the work too, but they didn't do that; and still had lots of work left to get done on Saturday too before they'd be able to take the evening off for Tory's party.

Gwendolyn had Quidditch on Saturday morning too, so she missed the first half of their morning study session, but she was still well-ahead of the rest of their study group by lunchtime; and caught up to Al, Rose, Toni, and Michael by late afternoon – which meant that they were all finished their weekend revision when the girls needed to split up and go to their dorms to get ready for dinner and the birthday party.

Al used some of that time to get some of the party set-up work done, but he needed to get cleaned up and ready for the party too; so he did that shortly before meeting up with Rose, Lily, and a few other friends to walk to the Great Hall for dinner. That meal was more fun for Tory and her Hufflepuff friends as they continued her birthday celebration fun; and Al again moved on to the study classroom early to finish the party set-up with help from Rose, Gwendolyn, Madison, and a few other volunteers. Ray escorted Tory to the party on-time, but he hadn't helped out with any of the work; hadn't spent much extra time with Tory outside of their studying so far; and the couple split up and did their own thing not long after the party fun level started kicking up a few notches.

Tory was still having fun, so Al and Gwendolyn were glad of that, and while they got to have some play time with their friends too; they also led the way when it came to the work that kept the party going. The games, music, dancing, and ongoing friends and family time kept them busy through until they needed to wrap up the party with time to clean up and get back to their Houses ahead of curfew. Most of their guests began leaving then, but Tory and Ray stayed so that she could say goodbye to everyone; thank them; and then thank her best friends for throwing the party and doing all of the work. When they did leave so that Ray could walk her home and still have time to say goodnight to her 'properly' before getting back to his own House, the room was cleaned up; and everyone else was nearly-ready to go too.

Al and Gwendolyn only had Rose, Lily, and Jonah with them when they checked his map for any potential danger. They were then surprised to see Ollie out and about on his own; and then moderately alarmed when they also saw him start moving toward what looked like an intercept point with Ray and Tory. The moment he saw that; Al was hit with a flash of foresight; grabbed his book bag; and ran for the door. Hie opened it with his wand; changed into his Samoyed Husky form; and was gone and racing down the hallway. Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah hurried to follow him, but he was out of sight by the time they were in the hallway too; so thefollowed the route that Ray and Tory had likely been taking for the walk to Hufflepuff House until they caught up with their friends – and with Al. He'd already changed back to human form by then; had thrown up shields and launched counter-spells to defend Tory and Ray. His counter-attack after that first defense had simply been meant to end the fight and disarm Ollie, but Al couldn't resist laughing as all six of his friends joined in to help; and the combined magic blasted Ollie off of his feet and a dozen feet down the hallway away from Tory and Ray by the time he caught Ollie's wand. He wasn't the only teen laughing by the time Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah slid to a running stop and there seemed to be a short pause as they transitioned from the magical fight that had started and ended so abruptly.

"I'll bet that hurt," Lily joked as she put her own wand away. "Are you guys okay?" she asked Tory and Ray as they turned to look back at their friends.

"We're fine – thanks to your help," Tory answered. "Good timing."

"After our problems on Valentine's Day; it seemed like a good idea to make sure that you didn't have any problems on your birthday," Gwendolyn offered with a laugh. "Ollie's apparently decided to keep the prank patrol going whether James wants to do it too or not."

"That doesn't seem to have worked out very well for him," Tory said unsympathetically. By then, Ollie was sitting up and glaring at them; but couldn't speak because someone had used a silencing spell on him. "What is your problem, Ollie?" she asked him directly. "We're all so much happier when you just leave us alone." There was a short pause while Rose reversed the spell so that Ollie could answer; but then they all wished she'd just left him unable to speak.

"You freaking bunch of losers!" Ollie spat venomously. "I'll have you all in detentions for ganging up and attacking me that'll have the lot of you missing your Quidditch matches for the rest of the year!"

"We did gang up on you," Tory agreed, "but you attacked us first; and we had every right to defend ourselves."

"Good luck proving that," Ollie sneered dismissively. "Let me guess – the Animorphpotty is the only one here that actually, supposedly saw me do anything – right? Well guess what – I was just out for a walk – he attacked me and likely did everything else; and then the lot of you just followed along like good little puppies and blasted me for no reason!"

Al shook his head and stepped past Tory and Ray so that he could close the gap to Ollie. He reversed the rest of the spells that were still affecting him; and then stopped and watched as Ollie got to his feet and then tried to intimidate him with a sneer and glare.

"Let's go, loser. You can all come along to the Heads' office. I'll be happy to stay and watch them throw the book at the lot of you for this!"

"Will you be happy when they expel you for pulling that Valentine's Day attack on Gwendolyn and me too?" Al asked him calmly – though his eyes were sparking with anger and power.

Ollie laughed raucously. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said derisively; and then stiffened when Al pointed his wand at him and unleashed his magic with a softly, but forcefully spoken – "Legilimens!"

Al forced Ollie to replay all of the memories he had about what he'd done on Valentine's Day – along with every memory he had about setting up the attack that included a long chat with James that had ended with him being given the potion bottle filled with the draught of living death that he'd then turned into a gas while filling the stinky magic mistletoe. When he was done; he released the spell; and watched as Ollie's eyes regained focus and then turned hot with anger.

"You're a freak!" he declared – "and you can't get away with trying to attack my mind either!"

"Really?" Al asked. "Do you still think that we'll be getting the Heads, Professors, or anyone else involved in this, Ollie? I know that James didn't quite tell you everything; but he did tell you enough that you should be able to figure out that I'm done with protecting either of you – or bothering anyone else about our problems with you."

"Go ahead, freak – do your worst; and that'll be all the more trouble you'll be in when I go and talk to the Heads – or the Headmistress about all of this!"

"You won't want to do that," Al assured him; and then amazed the friends that hadn't known about his new approach for dealing with James when he turned Ollie into a field mouse and then promptly bopped him on the head with giant paws because he was in the form of a giant snow leopard by the time he pounced and landed on him. Ollie the field mouse got bopped on the head three more times as if Al had the Muggle kids' song going through his head; he then ate and swallowed Ollie; spit him out again; and then turned him back into the goon he'd been acting like with the attempted ambush on Ray and Tory. By then, Ollie was in even worse shape than James had been during their round of the cat and mouse game; but Al had absolutely no sympathy for the other boy.

"You will leave us alone too; or this will be the sort of games we'll play every single time that you try to mess with any of us again, Ollie," he warned ominously. "That includes trying to get us in trouble by running off and whining to anyone else – which might get me in a bit of trouble; but would certainly get you and James expelled; considering everything I know about all of your dirty little secrets now. I'm done being nice with you, Ollie – and if you think this was awful; you have no idea just how scary I can make these games!"

"I know, though," Gwendolyn added as she took Al's hand and squeezed it in affectionate support. "You tried to poison me last week, and Merlin only knows what you were going to try to do to Tory and Ray just now, but if you're not scared-enough yet; then just try to imagine what I know that would have me hoping that you do try to mess with us again – just so I can see you get what ought to be coming to you for these attackes – and everything else you've tried to do to us over the past three years." She laughed then and shook her head. "You think that we're owed payback for defending ourselves? Guess again – and welcome to your new reality where we're going to take care of our problems with you on our own!"

"Well said," Lily told her. "That was fun, but we need to get going now; or we'll be late for curfew." She smiled at Al and Gwendolyn. "You may have to settle for kid sister and brother walks to your Houses; but I have a feeling that you won't have any other problems between now and the start of curfew."

"I'm still going to walk Tory back to her House," Ray told them; and grinned at Al too.

"You can do that," Tory agreed; "but let's get going so you won't be late." She smiled as she then turned her attention toward Al. "Thanks for this last blast of birthday fun – and the gift of getting to see Ollie like that on the floor." She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. "Okay, now I think we have another reason to get out of here."

"It is getting a bit hard to breathe," Rose agreed. She looked down at Ollie and shook her head. "In case you've lost track of time; you've got about ten minutes to pull yourself together and get back to our House ahead of curfew," she advised him. "Nearest boys' washroom between here and there is one floor up and that way," she added; nodded over her shoulder despite the fact that Ollie wasn't looking at anything while he had his head and eyes covered with his arms while curled up into a ball.

Al and Gwendolyn ended up leading the way as they all stepped past Ollie and he dropped the extra wand he'd still been holding onto the floor next to him; Tory and Ray had a few questions for Al before they needed to split off and continue down to the first dungeon level and the entrance to Hufflepuff; and then Gwendolyn had Al stop and say goodnight to her at a connecting corridor that would allow them to split up for their own Houses so that she could say goodnight to him before going on to Ravenclaw tower with Jonah while Al went back to his House with Rose and Lily. While the two Witches had some bonus questions and comments for Al while they took that last leg of the walk back to their common room, once they were there; they didn't talk about what had happened with Ollie to anyone else. Al also didn't stick around, but went up to his dorm room for the night instead. He was sick and tired of James, Ollie, and everyone else that kept trying to mess with him, but he didn't want to rub Ollie's nose into it when he got back – even if that would just be by being in the common room to watch his return. Ray joined him as soon as he got back from walking Tory home; they had a private chat about ollie while they were alone in the room; and Ray had both been happy about his own role in defending himself and Tory from Ollie and hopeful that Al had finally come up with something that would get James and Ollie off of their backs for longer than just a few days or weeks. Al hoped for that too; but wasn't nearly as sure that they wouldn't keep trying to blast him – or find other ways to do that.

He was at least trying to do something about them, though; they weren't just getting away with their attacks anymore; and he hoped that nobody else would get hurt.

Ollie waited until he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore before daring to move again. He'd been afraid that if he'd so much as looked at Al that he'd have gotten up and run off screaming like a frightened little girl. Once he was alone, he pulled his arms off of his head; they still shook violently; and then he scrambled to his feet on equally-shaky legs when he'd shifted and immediately felt the wet and messy discomfort that he'd only barely been aware of until that moment after his mind had all but shut down from the horror that had come with being swallowed by a snow leopard that had been enormous by comparison to his own diminutive size at the time.

"Merlin!" he breathed; and his voice was shaky, hoarse, and so small that he wondered if the loser had botched the transfiguration when he'd turned him back to his human form and left him with the vocal cords of a mouse.

That thought sank in; and he began to shake more violently again. Al was only a third-year, yet he could do NEWT level transfigurations! James really hadn't told him everything the night they'd started talking to each other again less than a week before Valentine's Day, but while he'd doubted that what had happened to James had been as awful as he'd claimed; he understood the truth of what he'd been told far too well now. He heard more noises coming toward him from the other end of the hallway; hurried in the opposite direction and then up to the next floor and to what really was the nearest boys' bathrrom so that he could be sure to be alone while he cleaned himself up and tried to pull himself together. It galled him that he was basically doing exactly what Rose had told him he should do, but the effects of being terrorized were slow to wear off; and he knew that he needed to deal with the mess – literally; and then get back to his House and pretend that he hadn't just been frightened into losing all bodily controls and cowed into submission by the Animorphloser.

As the fear slowly ebbed, fury replaced it; but while he imagined different scenarios where he went after the loser or tried to file complaints with the Heads; every option he imagined ended up with him getting chased and eaten – or worse – by giant, furry horrors with glowing emerald eyes. That was enough to have him meekly returning to the Gryffindor common room, where he put on an act for Lacey and the rest of the friends she'd been hanging out with. He'd really wanted to talk to James, but his best mate had been off with Bristol again – and they hadn't made it back before curfew. He ended up going to his dorm room earlier than normal when Lacey had decided to retire to her dorm room for some girl chat instead of hanging out with him, and he was still so worked up that it didn't even bother him that she wasn't interested in staying up half the night to snog him – or more – the way Bristol and Patricia wanted to do with James.

He'd gotten ready for bed; talked with some of the guys; stared at the backs of his eyelids for a long time; and then only had a nap that ended when the nightmare starring the loser terrified him to the point where he woke in a sweat with a scream locked in his throat that he'd thankfully managed to keep from voicing and waking all of his roommates. After that, he surfed the Wireless Web on his mirror and planned on staying awake all night. That's why he was awake and miserable when James sauntered into the room at a bit after three in the morning. He grinned at Ollie when he saw that he was still awake; and laughed quietly.

"You didn't have to wait up for me, Mum. I was in very, very good hands tonight." His smile became more of a leer. "The rest of her is pretty good too; but you know that already." Once he was close enough to see Ollie better; he lost the smile and squinted at him. "You look like hell, Ollie. What happened?"

What happened?" Ollie parroted scornfully in a harsh whisper. "Your freaking brother happened!" He looked around the room to try and see if anyone else was awake, but decided not to take the chance; picked up his wand; and put an imperturbable shield up around them while James continued to watch him as he sat down on his own bed while still facing Ollie. "You didn't tell me everything," he accused next; and then shuddered because he couldn't stop himself from doing that just from the memory flashback that hit him.

"If your accusing me of that – and you're not wrong; then you know why I didn't say more," James countered; and his expression was grim – and a bit haunted-looking too.

"We could still get him," Ollie declared hotly. "They'd have to believe both of us if we complained about him together."

"They would believe us," James agreed – "and then they'd believe everything he's got on me and I'd be expelled."

"He knows about Valentine's Day too, but he's bluffing; and wouldn't rat us out."

"You think not if we rat him out first – and now that we know the sorts of things he's willing to do to us if we try messing with him?" He looked at Ollie speculatively. "What did you do tonight to have him go off on you?"

"I tried to blast Ray and Tory after her birthday party," he answered a bit grudgingly. "The loser came to the rescue; and then everything went horribly wrong after that."

"Been there, done that; may still have the teeth marks to prove it," James joked darkly and without amusement.

"We can't just let him get away with doing that to us," Ollie told him stubbornly. "He's a menace to society!"

"He is that," James agreed, "but I've no ideas for what to do – or at least no ideas that don't end up with him unleashing another horror attack on me."

"Yet you thought that I might be able to blast him so that he wouldn't blame you," Ollie deduced.

"You offered," he answered defensively – "and I warned you about what he did to me." He sighed and shook his head. "Okay, I should have warned you, but it seemed like a brilliant solution; and I didn't really think that he'd do the same thing to you that he did to me."

"Well, you thought wrong," Ollie groused; though he wasn't mad at James – he was furious with his loser brother. "How long was it before you could sleep without the nightmares?"

James got up; went to his trunk; and rummaged around in it as quietly as possible until he found what he was looking for – and then he took the bottle over to Ollie and handed it to him. "Try taking one tonight; or you'll sleep until noon or later if you take two."

"What are they?" Ollie asked suspiciously.

"Muggle sleeping pills. They'll knock you out; and you won't have any nightmares – or at least not any that you'll remember."

Ollie shook the botle and guessed that it was half-empty. "You use these a lot?"

"Off and on since my little problem with the loser," James admitted. "Give it a try – they worked really well for me – especially that first week or so."

"Okay – thanks," Ollie said as he opened the bottle and took one pill out of it. he took the medicine; tossed the bottle back to James; and then laid down again. "I am going to find a way to destroy your loser brother, James. I don't know how or when right now; but it is goin to happen!"

"I'll be happy to help you out with that," James promised. "Let's get some sleep. You've had a rotter of a night; and I need a nap because the girls have me tired out again; so I need to rest up to be ready to keep them satisfied again tomorrow."

"I'm so glad to hear that you're not wasting any of that time we used to spend pranking the geeks and losers around here," Ollie deadpanned.

"We can talk about doing more of that again tomorrow," James offered, "but maybe you should try starting a harem too; since I am having a lot of fun with Patricia and Bristol right now. In fact, I'm keeping an eye out for the next Witch that might want to join the party – though my schedule is already pretty full."

They talked about Witches with the right attributes and potential to be suitable candidates for harems for a few minutes while James got changed and into bed, but then he promptly passed out; and Ollie followed him a while later – once the sleeping pill kicked in and he couldn't even force himself to stay conscious.

Sunday was a much-easier day for Al and Gwendolyn – and a really good one for them too. Without the need for a make-up team practice, Gwendolyn could study all morning with Al and their group; they worked on projects and got well-ahead of the curve on them; and then the afternoon and evening were open for playing. The Quidditch scrimmage was only a trio of duels this time as most of their friends took the afternoon off. Al and Gwendolyn, Lily and Jonah, and Rose and Hugo were the Seekers, Chasers, and Keepers having those duels; the Witches won again; and Al got teased about that because he was just too happy for Gwendolyn instead of being worried about the fact that his teams were on a losing streak. After the scrimmage, Al and Gwendolyn opted for some alone time; the late afternoon snogging was a brilliant way to keep entertained until dinnertime; and then they wrapped up their weekend by having a music, mirror chats with the parents, and hang-out time with Lily and Jonah.

They made it through Sunday – and the entire last week of February without a single prank or attack problem. The classwork and assignments continued to get piled on all of the students, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were able to stay caught up all of the time by working as hard as all of the top students in the school did – even though some of their study mates began to falter under the workload. They helped out as much as they could with that, but while tutoring was almost always available, they wouldn't force anyone to work as hard as they did; and they simply accepted the reality that not all of their friends were interested in joining them for the quest to always earn top marks.

Twenty-twenty was a leap year, and thanks to the extra day; the changeover from February to March was happening on the weekend – and it was going to be a very, very busy weekend too with a Hogsmeade weekend, the Harpies-Bats' match; and Hugo's twelfth birthday. Since he was a leap year baby, it was actually his birthday this year too; and it would be only the third 'real' birthday for him in those twelve years. Before Al, Gwendolyn, their Hogwarts family, and friends could get to that weekend fun, they had to work all week first. For Al, that meant studying late every night; tough Quidditch practices on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons as they continued to get ready for their match against Hufflepuff; and only a very little bit of alone time with Gwendolyn to help make up a bit for working too hard the rest of the time. They studied on Friday night too through until curfew – though they didn't have many members of their study group with them for that; and then Al still wrapped up his school week with a couple of hours of bedtime studying because they really were going to take the entire day off on Saturday for the trip to town, Quidditch watching, and Hugo's birthday celebration.

"Happy third birthday!" Lily said enthusiastically as she and Rose hurried across the Gryffindor common room to where Al and Hugo had been waiting for them. "Are you ready to have an amazing day?"

"I'm hoping it will at least be pretty good," Hugo answered as Lily hugged him and then put a gift in his hands that he then needed to juggle while getting a hug from his sister too.

"Happy birthday," Rose told him; her smile warm and bright. She had a gift for him too, but held on to it. "Would you like to sit down and open these here; or get started on our walk and do it as we go?"

"Let's go," he decided. "I'd like to spend some time with you before I'll need to hang out with my mates – and have to put up with them razzing me all day about only being three."

"You hate that now, but it'll come in very handy when we're all old and grey – and you'll only be in your teens or twenties," Rose suggested.

"Now I'm wishing that I could have been born on February twenty-ninth!" Lily declared. "Some Wizards get all the luck."

Hugo laughed. "Yeah, because it's so tough being you – and I seriously doubt that you'll ever let yourself look old and grey anyway."

"That would mess up my plan to still be playing for the Harpies when I'm as old as Aunt Muriel," Lily agreed amiably. "Poster sales of old hags just don't do very well at all; and merchandising is very important for all league players and team owners."

"Did I miss something?" Hugo asked. "I thought that Rose was the one that had the big dreams of owning a team – not you."

Lily laughed. "I'll likely never be able to afford the Harpies; and was just trying to be inclusive. All of the companies and people that work for them that make and sell all of that stuff need the sales too." She turned her smile on Rose. "I'm going to play for the Harpies, but might be interested in the investment for your Cannons team. They might be the one team that could be affordable to anyone except the ultra-rich families."

"My first thought at that was scary," Hugo advised her with a little shudder. "Would you still want to work for the Harpies if Victor Avery and his family bought the team?"

"That is scary," Lily agreed, "and probably not; so let's hope that little nightmare of yours never happens. Instead of trying to mess with me, though, you should start opening these gifts and we'll roast you instead. Do you even remember much about your first two birthdays? It's been a while since your last one."

With that joke, Lily was off and running on the roast with some help from Rose. Hugo liked the two gifts – and then the gift that Al gave him once Gwendolyn joined them in the Great Hall; since they'd done a joint gift for him. Al and Rose weren't with Hugo and Lily for the rest of his breakfast birthday fun. The Owl Post arrived with several gifts from his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older cousins; he had several mirror chats – including one with his parents; and Lily and the rest of their Gryffindor firstie friends had fun while continuing to roast him while they enjoyed the meal and some bonus birthday treats. They were out of the loop for that part of Hugo's birthday adventures, but Al and Rose kept entertained by catching up on the latest Hogsmeade weekend gossip; they talked about what they were going to do in town; and then they met up with Gwendolyn and a few other friends when it was time to head for Hogsmeade.

Some of the shopping they had to get done was birthday party related, so Rose stayed with Al and Gwendolyn all morning; they rushed around to get all of their shopping done as quickly as possible except for having an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks before finishing up their shopping and then hurrying back to the castle so that they could do the party set-up in their study classroom while Hugo, Lily, and all of the firsties and second-years had lunch in the Great Hall. Hugo's birthday party was the top reason for making their visit to Hogsmeade so short, but they'd wanted to watch the Harpies-Bats match too; and set up the room so that everyone could do that whether they were sitting on the sofas and chairs or swimming in the portable pool. They had everything ready by the time that Lily brought Hugo to his party – and with enough time to also catch the last part of Lee's pre-game show. by then, Al and Gwendolyn were ready to take a break, so they let Lily and Hugo's friends take over hosting the party; grabbed drinks and snacks; and sat down on one of the sofas to do that and watch the game for a while. Most of their own friends hadn't been invited, but they had included all of Hugo's team mates and some other Quidditch friends along with all of his firstie friends; so there were lots of fans of the game to talk with as Lee and his experts predicted a Harpies' win and the game got started shortly after that.

"It seems strange coming back to the castle so early on a Hogsmeade weekend, but this will be a fun way to spend the afternoon," Gwendolyn said quietly as she cuddled with Al. "I feel as though we spent a full day in town already anyway."

"We did do a full day of shopping," Al said with a nod of agreement. "I'd suggest that we might want to have a nap this afternoon, but we'll have more fun hanging out here and playing instead."

"Maybe not if we were having that nap together," Gwendolyn suggested; "but I'll save that thought for later."

"You might be able to do that; but I'll be thinking about that all afternoon now," Al advised her; earning a happy laugh and a soft kiss from her.

"Good, then my plan is working," she teased.

The Harpies' match drew their attention for a few minutes then as Victoire scored a pretty good goal and then there was a close call, near-collision between one of the Bats' Beaters and Hailey that they'd suspected had been an attempt to intimidate her without cheating. While the Harpies and Bats were all playing hard, the Harpies' Chasers had an advantage that was obvious right from the start; and Victoire was having a particularly good match. Hugo got teased about that even though he wasn't actually a Harpies' fan beyond supporting his relatives on the team; so he also got credit for helping to motivate their team to the win after the Bats' Seeker opted to catch the snitch for the two-eithy to two-forty loss at the two-hour, eighteen minute mark. Victoire's twelve goals didn't win the match for them single-handedly, but was better than all three Bats' Chasers had managed; and led the scoring for the Harpies for the day too.

Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been able to sit and watch the entire match, but they did take a long swim break too after taking turns helping out with the ongoing party work that Rose, Lily, Jonah, and a few others helped out with too. Some of the older party guests didn't stop by until getting back from Hogsmeade later in the afternoon, and all of Hugo's older cousins at least made an appearance and dropped off gifts; but the only weird part of the afternoon came when James and Bristol stopped in so that James could wish Hugo a happy birthday, give him a wheezes gift; offer some snyde insults to the party planners; and then leave again while a prank just happened to go off on Hugo – and that would have been literally if Al hadn't intervened and kept anyone from getting messed up by the birthday-themed wheeze that would have left the victims coated in sticky confetti. James' prank had earned a lot of laughs from the younger boys, and that was partly because Al had disposed of the sticky confetti by sticking it to several of the baloons in the room – and his magical manipulation had been fairly-cool looking; but he'd still been mad about the prank.

James had still managed to stay on the tightrope between pulling off a prank and trying a more serious attack, though; so Al didn't do anything about it; and instead went back to enjoying the play time with Gwendolyn and everyone else. The official party wrapped up a half-hour before dinnertime, but Lily and a few other friends were still going to have fun with Hugo after dinner – and had Al leave some of the chairs and sofas – and the mirror – set up so that they could watch shows and hang out with their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends too. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose could have done that with them too, but by then; they really weren't interested in spending a few more hours doing the work that went along with keeping a gang of tweens fed and happy. Rose opted for an evening in the Gryffindor common room with some of the other girls; and Al was happy to go off with Gwendolyn so that she could make a few of those thoughts she'd saved for later a brilliant reality!

Even with doing the extra work all week, taking the entire day off on Saturday meant that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had a lot of work to get done on Sunday – including a make-up Quidditch practice in the morning for Gwendolyn. The Ravenclaw-Slytherin match was now less than a week away. That wasn't all that they had on the go; though not everything they did took much time. The birthday mirror chat that Al, Rose, Lily, and Hugo had with Ron before breakfast had been short, but fun, and while Al thought that his uncle wasn't all that happy about turning forty; he was still smiling a lot too – and likely for reasons that none of the kids wanted or needed to know. Grandma and Grandpa Weasley were hosting a birthday dinner for their son, and Hermione had other birthday plans too; but didn't pass any of that on to the kids either. There was another birthday to celebrate at Hogwarts; and Al and Gwendolyn helped out with the work for it too – though Ray, Lily, and Kathryn were the official party planners and hosts for Melissa's twelfth birthday party.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't stay for the entire party, but they did help with the set-up and clean-up; and had the study session in between the work in a neighboring classroom so that they could be called over if needed – and they were there for the important moments; including when Melissa opened her gifts and they all had the cake and ice cream. That party hadn't started until after they had their afternoon Quidditch scrimmage; which was one of the reasons why Gwendolyn needed to keep working on her assignments – because she couldn't get everything done in the half-morning she'd had to work after her team practice. Lily, Jonah, and some of their friends had the same problem, but they couldn't study during Melissa's party; so they did that after dinner instead – and Lily recruited Al and Gwendolyn to help her out with a bit of tutoring while they did their own work that was mostly on their bigger projects – and a bit of third-year tutoring for Ray and Tory to go along with the help they offered to Lily and her study buddies. That wasn't as much fun as their normal Sunday night play time, but Al and Gwendolyn did still at least get to spend that time with Lily and Jonah; and Lily had a talent for making the work she was doing with her friends a lot of fun – even when they really needed to work to get everything done on time ahead of curfew.

After hours of bonus studying and tutoring, Al was ready to escape and call it a night when he and Gwendolyn left for their usual Sunday night visit to the Owlery. They had extra letters for Winter to take with her that his parents would distribute to other families; they spent some extra time with Blizzard; and then Al walked Gwendolyn to her House before returning to Gryffindor tower and going straight up to his dorm room and bed. A week of too-long days caught up with him then; he crashed into nap mode; and was out for the night.

"You seem to be fairly happy," Thomas said in greeting as Scorpius put his portrait on the table. "Have you had a good day – or is it just too early for anything to have gone wrong yet?"

Scorpius laughed. "It's after dinner; and I have had a good day – and a decent weekend. The day in Hogsmeade helped a lot; and then my team practice today has me much more hopeful than I've been that we'll be ready for the match against Ravenclaw on Saturday."

Thomas smiled and shook his head. "I still wish that you would not waste your time and talent on Quidditch when it could be better used elsewhere, but I am glad that you are happier; and wish you luck next weekend."

"You'll like Quidditch more if I do manage to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time – and I hope that'll start happening on Saturday!"

Thomas laughed at that; and shook his head again. "I cannot even imagine that, but if you prove me wrong some day; I will humbly offer my apologies for doubting you," he pledged.

"Then I hope that will be how we re-take what is rightfully ours; since that would be a rare, world-shaking event," Scorpius joked. "We have lots of time, but if it's okay with you; I'd like to forget about Quidditch and the stupid assignments I've been dealing with for the past two days and just get to work on my next lesson."

"We can do that – unless you have any news to pass on first that I'll want to know about."

"I don't have anything to tell you about – or at least nothing you'd want to here. The gossip has all been about the usual teen dramas; and there hasn't even been a serious prank or ambush attempt around here since Valentine's Day – or at least there hasn't been anything that I've heard about. This next few weeks will be all about Quidditch; so you could be in for a bit of a news slump between now and Easter."

"Very well," Thomas said with a nod. "Let's get right to the lesson, then; and we'll try to keep entertained with that instead."

The classwork and assignment workload didn't change at all during the five days leading up to the resumption of the junior teams Quidditch season, but one thing did change for Al and Gwendolyn – the amount of contact they had with Slytherins in general – and the Slytherin players in particular. None of that attention was good for them as they were razzed and insulted – as were all of Gwendolyn's team mates. While the insults were annoying, it wasn't all bad; since Gwendolyn and her friends got to learn a bit about the Wilkes brothers whenever they were shooting their mouths off or bragging to anyone that would listen about how badly they were going to beat up on Ravenclaw. Next to the Wilkes brothers, Davis Zabini was next-worst for the bragging, insults, and intimidation; and he directed most of his efforts at Al and Gwendolyn. The other firstie boys joined in too, but even Lily and Jonah had a tough time taking their attempts at intimidation seriously.

Al did take the threats seriously from all of the Slytherin boys; and talked about everything they heard with Gwendolyn while trying to help her to do everything possible to be ready for whatever Slytherin tried to throw at her team. In addition to learning a bit about the type of guys the Wilkes brothers were, they learned other things that Gwendolyn hoped would be an advantage – and she even made a couple of rather significant changes to her own team game plan that might work brilliantly if they were guessing right about what the Slytherin game plan was going to be. Gwendolyn could only have practices on Tuesday and Thursday, but she also had a team meeting after last class on Friday while Al was busy with his team practice anyway; and then insisted on a team curfew that would have all of them in bed an hour before the school curfew. That meeting and the Gryffindor practice took away from study time, so they worked after dinner, but Al only let Gwendolyn do that until an hour before her own early curfew; and then he spent some time helping her to relax and wind down in a mostly non-verbal sort of way that made sure that she was very happy and in a good frame of mind when she went to bed for the night.

The weather on Saturday morning was cold, but was forecast to rise modestly above freezing; and they weren't expecting any rain or snow for the game. Al was awake early – even after studying in bed for a few hours after getting back to his House; so he was in the common room for nearly a half-hour by the time Rose and Lily joined him there. The morning walk and talk was all about Quidditch; gossip during breakfast was all about the game and the teen and tween drama surrounding the match; and then Al was happy to walk Gwendolyn to the stadium so that they could have a bit of alone time before he'd have to watch her play the game that was always toughest for him to watch.

"I'm going to be fine," Gwendolyn assured him as they neared the stadium and were running out of time. He'd given her the good luck gift before they'd left the castle; they'd talked about her game plan one last time; and now it was time for her to get focused on her team and the job at hand. "You just need to hope that you won't need to rescue any damsels in distress today after the match. Flying off into the sunset with another Witch again – or especially the same one – will get you into a lot of trouble with your girlfriend."

"Then I'll hope we won't have any of that kind of trouble – and hope you'll all be okay too."

"I know, but you need to get used to me playing in tough matches – just as your Dad had to do with your Mum."

Al laughed. "He's still not quite there yet; considering how he reacts to the matches that Victoire and Aunt Gabrielle are in where they get beat up on by their opponents."

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Gwendolyn conceded, "but trust me – and trust that I'm ready for this match."

"I do thattoo, but being sure you'll win today doesn't change the fact that those guys are out to get you – and you could get hurt on the way to that win."

"True, but the good news for me is that you'll be there to help heal me if needed tonight," Gwendolyn reminded him. "That's one bonus that I have – and that some of the other girls wished they had too." She laughed at the expression on his face. "We'll see about whether you can help them too – if needed. I don't want the other girls to get too used to that kind of help from you – especially when hugs or holding hands often seem to be part of the treatment."

"I'm pretty sure I was just holding Alice's arms; and the hugs usually come after the healing," Al protested; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I love you, Al. Wish me luck; let's get to the hugs and kisses; and then I need to go."

They had fun doing that; Gwendolyn went into the locker room to get ready for her team to join her and to get into her Quidditch gear and team robe; and Al went for a walk that included wandering along the lake before eventually returning to the stadium and meeting up with Rose, Lily, their team mates, and most of their Ravenclaw friends – including the reserve squad players that would be doing the game analysis for Gwendolyn while watching the match. With their normal game day cuddle buddies playing in the match; Al and Lily paired up for staying warm under a blanket; and Rose joined them for that instead of pairing up with one of the other players or any of the other single girls. As usual, they were sitting on the border between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections; and Al was in the outer seat of their row and had Toni and Michael sitting in the seats across the narrow aisle from him. By the time they were all settled in; they had about ten minutes left until Kylie would begin her pre-game show.

"We should send gifts and thank-you cards to Dominique," Rose told Al quietly after they found out that they would be free of the James and Ollie show again for this match while they sat with the senior team players – and Dominique had made sure that they were nowhere near Al, Rose, and their team.

"I've thought about that, but don't want to mess things up if James finds out about that and tries to retaliate. This is nearly the longest we've gone without any major pranks or attacks since we started at Hogwarts."

"Please don't do that – especially on a game day," Rose pretended to beg. "You'll have jinxed us for sure!"

"Shutting up now," Al joked.

"You don't need to do that," Lily assured him. "Some of us would love to hear your prediction for today – especially if you're going to give us something good to talk about by predicting a loss for your girlfriend's team."

"I'm predicting a rough match from the Slytherins that I won't be happy about; and a win for Gwendolyn and her team," Al declared seriously.

"That's too bad," Lily pretended to lament – "though if you'd like me to try to liven things up a bit; I can run down to the locker rooms and pass that prediction on to the Slytherin team."

"You'd want to help them?" Rose asked in feigned chagrin. "I thought that you liked Gwendolyn – and Jonah."

"I like all of our Ravenclaw friends," Lily assured her – "though I haven't decided whether I should cheer for Jonah or not. He is one of my competitors for the top Seeker award; so that's at least a consideration."

Rose laughed. "Both Seekers in this match are your competition for that, Lily – along with Madison for Hufflepuff. Win the duels in our last two matches; and it won't matter what happens today."

Lily laughed too. "That's my plan, but why should I let that – or facts – get in the way of the jokes?" She returned her attention to Al. "Okay, so you're predicting the Ravenclaw win. Why? Scorpius has that Lightningbolt advantage, and has had more time to get used to the faster broom; so Slytherin has that going for it – along with two Beaters that we've never even seen play yet. Shouldn't that give Slytherin the advantage?"

"Gwendolyn's ready to deal with Scorpius and his faster Lightningbolt," Al answered. "I'll pick Ravenclaw to win the Beater duel; Ryan's the better Keeper for sure; and Jonah will win the Seeker duel. Even if Slytherin can manage to keep the scoring close, and I'm not sure they can do that at all; they definitely will not out-score Ravenclaw by one-sixty; and I don't think their Seeker has a chance against Jonah."

"You didn't say that about him before our match," Lily pouted. "Didn't you believe in me as much as you believe in Jonah?" She laughed too when Al laughed and hugged her.

"We didn't know anything about him before our match; and it's because of how well you did against him that has me sure he won't beat Jonah today. You're all firsties, and he could get better with experience, but he plays a similar style to Brandon's; and that doesn't work unless you have a Chaser trio that can get you the big lead."

"Which they likely think they have," Rose pointed out. That's also why they won't do what I would if I was the Slytherin team Captain."

"What would you do?" Lily asked; and Rose laughed at the expression on her face.

"Not anything like what you're suggesting without saying it," she answered first. "I'd put that Lightningbolt in the hands of my Seeker. If he's really good-enough to do well on defense against Jonah; then that broom might give him a chance to make the catch. Scorpius would still do well on a Firestorm against Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Alyssa, and as Al's already pointed out – they will not get a one-sixty lead against Ravenclaw. That's why I'd try to get the win out of my Seeker any way possible."

"I so wish that you were our team Captain – and had a Lightningbolt to give me," Lily teased; earning a round of laughs for that joke. They continued to keep themselves entertained until Kylie started her pre-game show; and then listened in as she began with the Quidditch Cup race update first.

"Welcome to the third junior team Quidditch match of the season," Kylie exclaimed excitedly. "It's currently a balmy four degrees above freezing; and there is not a hint of rain in those fluffy white clouds above us! We are starting the second-half of the Quidditch season today, and at the half-way point, Ravenclaw is in first place with two wins and a loss – and a net points of plus one-ninety. Hufflepuff is second with two wins and a loss as well, but their net points total is plus twenty; so Ravenclaw is ahead on the tie-breaker. Gryffindor and Slytherin are in third and fourth place based on their tie-breaker too; as they each have one win, two loss records after their first three matches."

There were cheers and jeers that greeted her pronouncements as usual; and Al found it a bit strange to be sitting in his House section when they had more to jeer than cheer. He'd never cheer for the team Gwendolyn was playing against – other than his own; but that part of the report reminded him that the best thing for their House today would actually be a Slytherin victory when they were currently down a win compared to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The best that Gryffindor could hope for now was a four and two season; and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff still each had the chance to get five wins – and do that without playing each other again after splitting their rivalry matches this year.

"Today's match-up is between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin junior teams," Kylie continued. "Slytherin is looking for their first win of the season after a hard-fought loss to Gryffindor; while Ravenclaw is hoping to continue their winning ways after earning the close win over Hufflepuff when Madison Whitby opted to catch the snitch for the loss to help her House to stay close in the Quidditch Cup race. A win today for Slytherin would give their House two wins on the season to catch up with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff – and have their junior team join Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in the one-win club for that part of the competition. If the victory goes to Ravenclaw; they'll take the lead in the Quidditch Cup outright with three wins; and their junior team would lead the others with two wins for at least a couple of weeks."

The Ravenclaw faithful had a lot to cheer about with most of that; there was a mix of cheers and jeers from the Slytherin section; and Al again found it weird to have some of his fellow Gryffindor cheering for Slytherin. He didn't focus on James and Ollie for very long, but did notice that they were the most-vocal supporters for Slytherin – and he sensed that they thought it was brilliantly-funny to do that – especially when they were right about that being best for their own House. Al didn't know whether James was offering his usual game time monologue or if he'd do the play-by-play that always ended up making him look ridiculous, but since he wouldn't have to listen to it either way; he decided that he really didn't care. Kylie introduced the teams and players next; Mr. Peakes took care of the pre-game fair-play speech; and then got the match started once both teams were lined up and Gwendolyn and Scorpius had exchanged the Captains' handshake without incident.

"And they're off!" Lily said quietly as the fourteen players took off. "Malfoy blasts ahead of McCormack; and she lets him reach the quaffle unopposed while going straight onto defense. Now where have we seen that play before?"

Al laughed at her play-by-play, since it wasn't much different than what Kylie was saying except for the last part. They all watched, though, as Gwendolyn did change things up from what Al had done because she first ran interference to slow Scorpius down; and then left the defense against him to Stephanie and Alyssa as they took over and forced Scorpius to the right side of their team goals. He still got a shot in on Ryan, but it wasn't a great chance; and Ryan made the save while directing a rebound straight to Stephanie while she was still in front of him and was able to swing around onto the attack without rounding the goals.

The first offensive play for Ravenclaw ended in a save too, but the Slytherin defense gave Al his first hint that he and Gwendolyn had guessed right about how Scorpius had decided to try playing against her team when he shadowed Alyssa; Davis was matched up against Gwendolyn, and their first-year Chaser, Grant Pritchard, was paired with Stephanie. While that could have just been the way it worked out for that first play; it was clear by the third exchange of offense and defense that Slytherin was trying to get those pairings – and Gwendolyn was okay with that plan!

"Have you been holding out on us?" Rose asked Al after seeing the smile on his face after they'd watched Stephanie get Ravenclaw's first goal and points.

"Definitely," he agreed with a laugh; and then laughed again when she punched his arm after a pause when he didn't try to elaborate. "Davis has been taunting Gwendolyn all week," he explained. "The only way he'd actually be able to try doing everything he was claiming would be if he was going to be playing against Gwendolyn instead of Stephanie or Alyssa – and he didn't make any threats that we heard about to either of them. The Wilkes brothers and Pritchard did most of that taunting."

"So Gwendolyn practiced to get ready for having Scorpius paired up against Stephanie or Alyssa?"

"Against Alyssa," Lily interjected before Al could answer – though he did nod his agreement for both the question and answer. "Stephanie's played as Seeker too," Lily added almost as if musing aloud. "Scorpius thinks he can do better against Alyssa because he thinks she's their weakest Chaser."

"And do enough better than Alyssa to make up for Gwendolyn's advantage over Davis?" Rose asked. "That's at least optomistic; if not delusional."

"We think they're counting on Davis and their Beaters beating up on Gwendolyn," Al advised them. "If they can actually do that; then their game plan could work."

"So what is Gwendolyn going to do to counter that?" Rose asked him; and he grinned.

"She's going to try not to get beat up," he half-joked. "Do you really want me to spoil anything for you – or would you like to enjoy the show – if Gwendolyn's game plan is as brilliant as I think it is?"

Rose decided to go with option two; and over the first hour of the match; they all got to watch Gwendolyn's plan work to near-perfection for Ravenclaw. Al watched with pride as Gwendolyn scored seven of her team's eleven goals while Slytherin only managed to get two quaffles past Ryan – with Scorpius earning both of those goals. Alyssa only managed to get one goal while battling against Scorpius; but earned assists on four of Gwendolyn's goals as she used Scorpius' speed against him to set Gwendolyn up – and to even grab an interception when Davis thought that Scorpius was in the clear – and then forgot to get his toss past Alyssa as she raced to try and get back into the play. That scoring pace continued into the second hour – until Ryan was fouled and injured by Jonathan Wilkes. Mr. Peakes called the foul and Gwendolyn scored on the penalty shot; but the damage had been done and Gwendolyn quickly adjusted her game plan to help Ryan out.

While he played on despite what Al sensed were at least two broken bones; Ryan's movements were limited and his reaction time slowed down significantly. At the time of that foul, and including the penalty shot goal, Ravenclaw had a one-seventy to thirty lead; and Ryan's injury really did become a game-changer. Slytherin scored four more goals to more than double their total by the end of that second hour; while Ravenclaw turned their focus toward defense – and doing all they could to help Ryan. The Ravenclaw Chasers still scored four goals to earn the draw for that part of the match, so they had a two-ten to seventy lead; but the advantage seemed to be solidly in Slytherin's favor as they started the third hour.

That was when Gwendolyn changed things up again and began setting Stephanie up to really take advantage of her Chaser mismatch with Pritchard. That had been a pairing that Slytherin had been willing to go with despite the fact that Stephanie had been the top junior Seeker just a year ago. She'd been winning that battle right from the start, but she was suddenly the go-to Chaser, and while Scorpius continued to out-duel Alyssa and Davis kept trying and failing to take Gwendolyn out of the match; Stephanie helped Ravenclaw to earn the extra two goals they needed for the one-sixty lead – a fact that the Slytherin players didn't even notice until it had happened and Kylie pointed that out in her play-by-play.

Earning that all-important lead was the second big game changer because Gwendolyn then directed Jonah to start helping out with defending Ryan instead of the snitch – though he still kept looking for opportunities to find and catch it for the match-ending catch. His defense relief allowed Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Alyssa to go back on the attack; and they'd built up a three-fifty to one-forty lead as they closed in on the end of the third hour of the match.

"What are the odds that Scorpius will call a time-out and ask Gwendolyn to agree to end the match?" Lily joked as they watched Stephanie score goal number thirty-six for Ravenclaw.

"Possibly zero," Al answered. "Jonah's going for the catch; and Terrance apparently forgot to keep an eye on him while he was playing defense in front of Ryan."

"Yes!" Lily whispered excitedly as her attention turned to where Jonah was racing toward the snitch. She saw it a moment later too – and also saw Scorpius abandon the offensive play he'd been involved with and try to intercept and block Jonah. "Too late – way too late!" Lily whispered; and then she jumped to her feet and shouted – "Yes!" when Jonah reached out and snagged the snitch.

He still had time to roll and dive out of the way before Scorpius reached where he would have been if he hadn't dodged the other boy; and then he swung around and sped back toward his own goals. Everyone in the stadium heard the loud crack of a Beater bat on a bludger even above the roar of cheers from the Ravenclaw section and deafening silence from the Slytherins. Al had his wand half-drawn before he watched Scorpius fly into the path of the bludger and use an arm guard to deflect it harmlessly away from its original path that might have hit Jonah in the back of the head if he didn't see or hear it coming.

"Now that's something I haven't seen before – a Slytherin defending a Ravenclaw," Rose said in sincere surprise; and then grinned at Al. "Sorry, but you don't get to be the hero today, cuz."

"I'm okay with that – even if he was likely doing that to avoid having another player get kicked off of his team for an attack after the end of the match."

"That was only a few seconds after the whistle, so they might have gotten away with it; but that does makes sense," Rose agreed with approval for Scorpius' decision. "He is a smart guy; and apparently learns from past mistakes."

"Careful," Lily teased. "Next thing you know; you'll be asking him out on a Hogsmeade date or to one of our play nights."

Rose laughed. "Dad would freak out if I did that," she predicted – "not that he'd be allowed to associate with any of us even if I did like him that way – which I don't."

"I am going to not only not touch that subject – I'm going now," Al advised them. "You're welcome to stay here and talk about that, or anything else; and maybe you should do that – just in case I attract any trouble when I go out there to congratulate Gwendolyn and her team."

"That's a tough one," Lily said; and pretended to ponder the options. "I'll pick going along so I don't miss any of the fun if things do get weird again today."

"And we'll have your back," Rose added with a wry smile. "We would appreciate it if you could avoid getting blasted, though – or geting any of us hurt either."

That didn't end up being a problem. While they packed up their things and headed for center pitch, they were able to watch as Scorpius had a minor confrontation with the Wilkes brothers; they backed down; and then stormed off toward the Slytherin locker room without offering any congratulations to the Ravenclaw team. The other five Slytherin players did stay long-enough to do that, if not very graciously for most of them; Scorpius at least did a decent job pretending to be a good sport. He and his team mates had already moved away to talk with the very small group of Slytherins that came out onto the pitch to offer condolences by the time that Al, Lily, Rose, and a few other friends reached Gwendolyn; but Al could still sense the anger, disappointment; and hate – though the hate was almost entirely directed at Gwendolyn – and at him. Gwendolyn had an enthusiastic hug and kiss ready to share with him once they were together again; and they were both a bit breathless when they stepped apart again.

"Did you win?" Al teased; pretending to be dazzled, dazed, and confused.

"Yes – and so did we," Gwendolyn confirmed and added. "It's cold out, and Ryan's hurt; so we need to keep this short so that we can get him fixed up."

"I could – go with him to the hospital wing while you're busy," Al offered; and the slight pause had been because of a warning glance from Gwendolyn that had him changing what he'd originally wanted to offer."

Gwendolyn looked over at Ryan; assessed his appearance; and then nodded. "Okay. I think that would be best."

"And it will get the trouble magnet out of the way for the rest of us," Lily added. She'd shared a hug and kiss with Jonah that had him grinning happily as she held his hand; and he seemed to be as happy about that as he was about winning his Seeker duel.

"Then I'll do that; and we can meet up again in the hospital wing or somewhere else if Madam Pomfrey doesn't need to keep Ryan for very long," Al decided.

Gwendolyn went with him to make sure that her cousin didn't argue the order to get medical help; Ryan was in enough pain that he didn't complain about the early exit from the post-game festivities; and Katrina took his broom and promised to get his gear bag to the castle for him before sending him off with Al. The walk to the castle was slow because Ryan was really stiffening up by then and had trouble walking. He and Al talked about the match; how much it sucked to play with injuries; and a few other, random topics that kept Ryan busy until they were in the hospital wing and Ryan was getting looked at by Madam Pomfrey. His broken bones were clean breaks; Madam Pomfrey gave him a tonic to dull the pain; and then healed him fairly-quickly. The bruises and sore muscles would heal on their own, and she didn't usually waste her efforts and magic on minor problems; but she did give Ryan a restorative to take at bedtime that would help with recovering from the strenuous match and the effects her healing would have on him too.

Since Madam Pomfrey was done with Ryan before the Ravenclaw team had finished getting cleaned up and changed; Ryan decided to go to his dorm room so he could have a shower and get out of his gear too; and Al went down to the entrance hall to wait for Gwendolyn to get there from the stadium. He had a quick mirror chat with Lily to update her on Ryan; and she passed that news on to Rose and the other Gryffindors. Gwendolyn was with the five members of her team that had stayed at the stadium when she met up with Al, and she only had time to hang out with him while they all walked to Ravenclaw tower before needing to make an appearance there with her victorious team; but he was grateful to get those minutes with her – especially when they were allowed to have a couple of minutes alone that gave him the chance to help her out with a bit of healing for all of the bruises and abrasions that she'd picked up from all of the cheap shots and a glancing bludger hit during the match.

The students of Ravenclaw were having a celebration in their House that continued off and on for the rest of the day, and Gwendolyn was at that party for most of the afternoon, but Al got to see her again before and after lunch; and then he spent his afternoon studying with Rose while the rest of their friends took the entire day off and played instead. Since their daily morning walk and talk was usually the only chance they had to just hang out together without a gang around, Al and Rose enjoyed having those hours of quiet studying together. They worked on some of their weekend revision too, but mostly concentrated on their bigger projects because they could get ahead on some of the research and prep work for them without needing to go over it all again with Gwendolyn and the others on Sunday. While the Quidditch match had been great entertainment, and the highlight of the day for Gwendolyn; she and Al were both happy and looking forward to spending the evening on their own after dinner. He'd lent out most of his sofas and the mirror to others, and they picked a different classroom to use, but they had one sofa for themselves – along with everything else they needed to have a fun evening together.

"I've already had the Quidditch report mirror chat with Mum and Dad," Gwendolyn advised Al as he enlarged the sofa after setting it down in one corner of the classroom. Would you like to have some music play time first; or should we get straight to the snogging?"

Al laughed. "I expected that you'd want to have a nap first after all of the Quidditch and partying."

"I'm feeling a bit drowsy after that dinner and dessert too, so a cat nap might be in my future; but we definitely need some you and me time first."

"The me and you nap time is always fun too," Al assured her with a grin; "but..."

His smile dropped away from his face, and Gwendolyn reacted instantly as she saw him draw his wand and spin around toward the door; his eyes changing from warm amusement to blazing power and anger in an instant. The door was already being slammed open; the hexes and jinxes flew in every direction; and then Jonathan and Frank Wilkes burst through the open doorway while still firing off their spells to the left and right. As he and Gwendolyn defended themselves and then counter-attacked, Al still was able to muse at the idiocy of the attack. The two Slytherin boys hadn't even been sure of where they were in the room; and yet they'd apparently believed that catching them by surprise would be enough to get them the easy defeat of two of the best students in the school.

"My side!" Frank yelled as soon as he saw Al and Gwendolyn; and then he gaped in stunned disbelief as his wand was ripped from his fingers by Al's disarming spell while Gwendolyn's counter-attack blasted him off of his feet and sent him flying past his brother to where he landed hard on top of one of the work tables on that side of the classroom. Jonathan had turned toward them by then, but then made the mistake of continuing to turn in a circle as he gaped uncomprehendingly while watching Frank crash onto that table and then fall to the floor. He was wandless, bound, and on his way to the floor too by the time he'd made the full circle to again be facing Al and Gwendolyn; and the expression on his face was so comical that Al and Gwendolyn couldn't help but laugh as they watched him hit the floor.

"Well, that was absurd," Gwendolyn declared. "Do you think that this was a special surprise for me or you?"

"I'll guess that this one was for you; since it's so soon after your match against Slytherin; but it likely doesn't help that you hang out with a trouble magnet like me."

"So blasting you would have just been an added bonus," Gwendolyn teased as they both walked over and looked down at Jonathan. "Now what do we do with them?"

Al shook his head and shrugged. "I'd say that should be up to you this time." He smiled as Gwendolyn pretended to seriously consider her options.

"You have a better memory than I do," she mused. "We could blast them with every hex and jinx they just tried to use on us; and then drop them off at the entrance to their House. Better yet – we could leave them in one of the hallways outside of one – or two – of the other Houses!"

"That sounds like too much work – especially when we're supposed to be taking the night off," Al said half-seriously. "Maybe we should just ask them to leave us alone and send them on their way."

Gwendolyn laughed. "If by 'send them on their way' you mean blast them from here into the lake; that might work for me. I am really getting tired of gits like these being such poor sports over losing a Quidditch match that they think they have to try attacking me just to try and prove they can best me."

"I know," Al agreed, "but this is a first-time offense for these guys; so we should probably let them off with a warning."

"If they're smart, it'll be the last time – though that hasn't worked out for us most of the time with their fellow Slytherin. Okay, Al – set them free."

Al did that with Jonathan first; the second-year boy jumped to his feet; and then immediately took a swing at Al's head. He howled in pain when his hand struck the shield Al put up a couple of inches in front of his face; and then he cradled his hand protectively with the other one; holding it close to his chest.

"Using fists in a magic duel never ends well," Al advised him; and then his expression and tone hardened to the point where Jonathan took an involuntary step backward before stiffening and standing his ground. "You really don't want to make this worse for you and your brother than it already is."

"This is only going to get worse for you," Frank declared. He was on his feet again; and was already lunging at Gwendolyn as he spoke. "Drop your wand or your girl..."

"...friend will blast me before I can touch her," Gwendolyn finished as she watched Frank take his second flight without a broom. Al had lashed out too; so the double-whammy of spells threw him all the way across the room and he slammed into the wall very hard before crumbling to the floor.

"I'll kill you!" Jonathan bellowed. He tried to kick and hit Al, and this time; Al defended himself without magic. The result was just as satisfying as the elder Wilkes brother hit the floor hard-enough to knock the wind out of him. the rap on the head would likely leave him with a headache later too; but he wasn't feeling that at all as shock dulled all of his new aches and pains.

"Why do you and your mates always refuse to believe me when I offer that kind of advice?" Al asked him.

"They think that being kind and considerate means that you're weak," Gwendolyn offered with a laugh. "I keep telling you that we need to work on your reputation."

"I thought we have been doing that; but it apparently isn't working."

"Neither is getting these guys to go quietly and leave us alone," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement for his comment. "What's your plan 'B' for them?"

"Your plan 'A' is sounding really good right now," he joked, "but I think that we should just pack up our stuff; move on; and leave them here." He looked over at Frank and shook his head at what he sensed from the younger boy. "I'll need to help him; or he might not wake up from his nap for a day or two."

"Okay, but being that nice isn't going to help your rep with these guys."

Al went over to Frank; healed the worst of his injuries; and then left him in nap mode. Jonathan was sitting up by then, but Gwendolyn had put him in a partial body-bind. He glared daggers at Al when he was in his line of sight again; but Al ignored him and went to pack up the sofa again before shouldering his book bag and taking Gwendolyn's hand. Then, finally, he returned his attention to Jonathan.

"We'll release you once we're out of here and far-enough away that you can't try anything else tonight." He held up the two wands he'd taken from then; sent them floating over to one of the worktables near the younger brother; and then put a shield around the entire table. "You'll know it's safe to get those when the shield disappears." He sighed and shook his head. "Gwendolyn's likely right, but I'll offer the advice anyway. Leave us alone. You really don't want to find out what happens when we defend ourselves and don't hold back like we did this time."

Al and Gwendolyn left the room then; he waited until they were half-way across the castle and one floor up before releasing Jonathan from the binding spell; and didn't drop the shield over the wands until they were in another empty classroom and had the sofa set up again. They talked about the attack for a few more minutes after that, but then they moved on and got to the having fun part of their night. The music play time was fun; the snogging moderately-hot; and the cuddle time and short nap for Gwendolyn was a nice, quiet way to end their day. While they really didn't expect to be done with their problems with the Wilkes brothers; they didn't have any issues while getting back to their Houses. Al walked Gwendolyn home, and then while he went to his dorm room after only a very short visit with Lily and a few of her friends; Gwendolyn stayed up for a while having a long girl chat with her friends while waiting to be tired-enough again to sleep.

Scorpius felt relieved as he stepped into the Room of Requirements and closed the door. That didn't diminish the anger and disappointment; but at least he wouldn't have to put up with anyone else for a while – and that included Thomas as he just enjoyed the complete silence for a few long moments. He didn't really even want to talk with his mentor – knowing what he'd say about his obsession over Quidditch; but he wanted the lesson more than he didn't want the inevitable lecture. He sighed; opened his book bag; and put Thomas' portrait on the table before sitting down in the armchair.

"Yes, we lost; yes, you told me so; and yes, I'm still upset, angry, and disappointed," he blurted out in a disgusted-sounding rush. "Go ahead – tell me all about how stupid I'm being to waste my time with that stupid game!"

Thomas laughed. "I'll consider that done," he joked. "Do you want to talk about it before I distract you with a lesson? Were there any problems from your team mates or others in your House I should know about?"

"I kept one of my idiot Beaters from trying to bash the Ravenclaw Seeker with a bludger after the match was over, and he and his equally-dim younger brother were talking about tracking down Gwendolyn and blasting her sometime this weekend; but there weren't any other problems – and Potty didn't get to save the day – or any damsels in distress."

"Yet you don't seem to appreciate your own efforts," Thomas pointed out. "Stopping that late hit will have earned you some respect with some of your fellow students; and for certain with your Professors. Did you play well too despite the loss?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I won my Chaser match-up and scored ten of our fourteen goals; but that is cold comfort when Ravenclaw scored thirty-six goals on us; caught the snitch; and won by such a wide margin." He shook his head again. "What's even more frustrating is that my game plan would've worked – if everyone had done their job. Davis got trounced in his Chaser match-up and didn't slow her down much because he missed more attempts to foul her than he made. We managed to all but take out their Keeper, but then Pritchard got his broomtail handed to him by Stephanie Boot while the other two Ravenclaw Chasers mostly played defense to help their injured Keeper. Finally, after they got the one-sixty lead, they had their Seeker play defense in front of their Keeper too; and then Timms forgot to keep an eye on him and he got a free shot at catching the snitch. I tried to intercept and block, but even with my Lightningbolt; it was too late to get that done."

"That sounds to me as though you're making progress," Thomas told him; and Scorpius laughed in disbelief.

"I'm fairly sure that your Arithmancy skills are better than that; so I'll just wonder if your memory is going on you," he joked. "We gave up one hundred and twenty points more in this match compared to our first, and while the points spread was the same; I don't see any reason for optimism."

"You apparently showed that you're one of the best players; and told me that your game plan would have worked if not for the failure of your team mates. Taking a stand against that Beater showed leadership; and that is definitely progress."

"Except for the part where I can't get half of those guys to do what they're told," Scorpius pointed out. That isn't leadership in my books."

"Surrounding yourself with Witches and Wizards that you can trust is going to be part of the skills you'll learn along the way – and that isn't always something you can easily do as leader of a Quidditch team." He smiled at Scorpius' expression of doubt. "You will understand one day," he assured his young apprentice. "Your team mates failed you when the cost of the loss is very low. They would be much more highly-motivated to succeed at their tasks if the difference between winning and losing was also life or death."

"Now that's an interesting idea," Scorpius mused darkly; and then shook his head again. "That wouldn't work. I'd just end up depopulating Slytherin House of most of the first through third-year students."

Thomas laughed. "A bit of that might be good for the pureblood families; but you get my point."

Scorpius did understand, and they talked about his day so far – including the fall-out from the loss back in their common room and dorms. It hadn't mattered to the Averys and their mates that his team had done better than theirs had against Ravenclaw, or that his game plan had been working well-enough until Pritchard and Timms messed up their assignments – all they saw was another loss. That bugged him all the more because he hated getting that loss as much as they'd hated losing to the senior Ravenclaw team. There was nothing he could do about that loss, though, so when Thomas was ready to teach; he was ready to forget about his problems and throw himself into the Dark Arts.

There was a near return to normal for Al and Gwendolyn on Sunday – at least for their schedule. Gwendolyn still had more weekend revision to get done than Al did, but she didn't have a Quidditch practice in the morning; got most of the work done; and then they still took time off for the afternoon scrimmage before rejoining their study group for the rest of the afternoon. Sunday evening was another few hours of quiet fun with Lily and Jonah; and they both got ready for bed and went off to sleep not long after returning to their dorm rooms for the night.

By Monday, it was time to get back to another week of classes, but with Gwendolyn's Quidditch match out of the way; Al also needed to get focused on his match against Hufflepuff. That meant getting his team focused entirely on the game plan and plays they were practicing to use against their Hufflepuff friends – which sometimes felt strange when they also hung out together so often in their joint classes and study group. One thing that Al really began to notice with Tory and Madison was that they were even more uncomfortable with that dynamic and having a rivalry that was too friendly. While he sensed that Tory especially thought that was a true concern, Al couldn't help but be amused; since he was much closer to Gwendolyn and they never even thought about that as being a problem when it came to game time.

Okay, they'd been firsties during their last 'real' match, and he supposed that could change; but he hoped and believed that they'd always be able to keep their personal relationship and any current or future Quidditch rivalry fun and entertaining.

While the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff junior team players worked harder to get ready for their match, the top Quidditch story and event of the school week was the Harpies' match against the Kestrels. With the clock quickly running down on the regular season, the Harpies' match on Tuesday evening was the first of three that they'd be playing in just twenty-one days through to the end of March. Nobody was predicting them to have any problems getting past the Kestrels, but earning the wins would get tougher for them through to their last regular season match on the first Saturday in May. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their study group friends couldn't take the evening off on Tuesday to watch that match, but Al did set up his mirror and some sofas; and they had extra friends with them for the night – including Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and some of their friends. The younger kids needed to work on their assignments for a while too; but were finished their work long before any of the third-year students were able to pack up for the night shortly before curfew.

Thanks to a Quidditch battle that lasted for about three and a half hours, all of the teens and tweens stayed together until it was time to head back to their Houses. The Harpies fans had a lot to cheer about, and if there were any closet Kestrels fans in the room; they stayed silent while watching their team go down to defeat. Victoire had a lot to do with helping the Harpies to the win thanks to her twelve goals, and while her scoring numbers were changing as she worked with Candice and Hailey to change up their plays to adapt to the way other teams played against them; her goals were still often game-changers. For this match, Victoire was the force behind the push to get the one-sixty lead. That allowed Gabrielle to back off; wait for her best chance; and then end the game with a fairly brilliant snitch catch to give their team the four-forty to one-ten victory.

Watching Quidditch was usually fun – even when the Harpies lost, but Al still preferred to play the game whenever he could – and they got to do that more often through the rest of the week. Slowly improving weather that hinted at spring made it easier to practice too, so while they didn't get many sunny breaks along with the warmer temperatures and melting snow; things did look brighter – at least to Al and Gwendolyn. Thanks to the weeknight Quidditch match, they had a free weekend to look forward to; though they had another friend's birthday to celebrate on Saturday too – and the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were both having extra team practices to get ready for their big game. With all of that going on, it meant that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose studied all evening on Friday; and all day on Saturday – when they weren't playing Quidditch instead. Gwendolyn had her usual team practice on Saturday morning too; Al had one of the early-afternoon slots for his bonus team practice; and Hufflepuff picked the late-afternoon practice time – even though they could have used the practice pitch in the early afternoon instead.

That was another hint for Al that Tory and Madison were having some problems with hanging out together while trying to get ready for their Quidditch battle. He understood why that might be more of an issue for them than it was for him, but there was no good way to talk about that with them that he could see without insulting them; so he just tried not to let what he sensed bother him too much when there wasn't anything he could do to help change the way they were feeling. The mild tension that went along with that didn't keep him from helping out with the late afternoon set-up for Madison's fourteenth birthday party. He and Gwendolyn did not do any of the planning for it, but they did offer donations and their time, so while Madison was busy with her team practice; they helped Scott and some other friends with the work in their study classroom so that everything would be ready for when the party started after dinner.

Taking the evening off was a welcome fun break after a week of nearly non-stop work and studying. Madison had been thrilled; they had a blast with music that included some live performances from several Weird Sisters' kids; some dancing went along with that entertainment; and the mirror network shows and mirror gaming helped to keep everyone busy when they weren't just sitting around and talking while enjoying the drinks, treats, and just getting to be together with their friends and family teens and tweens. Al and Gwendolyn had to help with the party tear down too, so they didn't get to have any alone time ahead of curfew, but that seemed to be a small price to pay for what had been a really great night for Madison – and for all of her party guests too!

On Sunday, since Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had their regular weekend revision finished already; they made a push to get some of their bigger projects done in the morning. the Easter holiday was just four weeks away, and while they still had lots of time for that work; they didn't want to leave too much to the end – especially when they had two junior team Quidditch matches and a Hogsmeade weekend booked on those three weekends leading up to the week-long holiday. they worked until lunchtime; enjoyed that meal; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose only had Lily, Jonah, and Hugo with them for their afternoon Quidditch play time. They didn't get many chances for the one-on-one duels, so that was a fun break; but Al also knew that some of their friends – including a couple of his fellow Gryffindor team mates – hadn't wanted to be part of an inter-House scrimmage just days ahead of their next match. They didn't talk about that before their workout or while they played and had fun working on flying and aerial tricks; but the subject did come up once they were on the ground again and getting out of their gear.

"Do you think that it would be inappropriate for me to send thank-you cards to Madison and Tory?" Lily asked with a grin as she sat on the bench next to Jonah and took a break from pulling her Quidditch gear off to take a drink from her water bottle. "I'm pretty sure that workout helped me more than our normal scrimmages would have – especially since we didn't have to take turns playing Seeker today."

"Yes, it would be – and you're not going to do it," Al answered and ordered; pretending to put on his Captain's game face. Lily only laughed at that attempt; but nodded her agreement even as Al added – "let's not give the Hufflepuff team anything they can use for motivation. We're already going to be in for a tough match."

"It should be a good match," Lily suggested while implying that she didn't exactly agree with Al's assessment. "I'm not trying to tell you to get a swelled head and start shooting your mouth off the way that James does, Al, but when it's just us; would it kill you to admit that you have an awesome team this year – and that you're one of the reasons for why we're so good?"

"You want me to do that right here in front of the Captain of the Ravenclaw team – even though we still have our match coming up against them next month?"

"She already knows how good you – and we – are," Lily pointed out – "and she loves us. I think you could get away with being at least a little bit proud of what we've got going for us this season."

"We've got one win," Al reminded her. "Gryffindor has won some Quidditch Cups over the past five years, but that's been despite our junior team. I really don't want to be the next team Captain with a one-and-two season; so I am not going to get too confident about anything – and I'm not just saying that because James would razz me about it forever if I end up with a junior team record that's no better than his."

"We sat out a season," Rose reminded him after joining in for the roun of laughs. "You can't have as many losses as he's had now."

"You're forgetting that I'm to blame for all of his losses in his second and third years," Al countered. "I'm only surprised that he didn't find a way to blame me for those first-year losses too."

"Don't give him any ideas," Gwendolyn told him. "I do agree with you, Al, and these matches are going to be tough – especially since I really, really want to win our match against you!"

"Break up with him the night before the match," Hugo said absently; and then laughed and grinned sheepishly. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Gwendolyn agreed; laughing too. "That might even be a brilliant strategy – except that it wouldn't work on Al because he'd know I was lying."

"That might be true – if you couldn't be convincing-enough," Lily agreed; "but maybe Al should consider using that tactic against you for our team." She turned her attention to him when he laughed hard at her suggestion. "I think it's a brilliant idea – not funny, Al."

"Then you don't know Gwendolyn as well as I thought you did," he advised her seriously while there was still laughter in his voice. "I would have to be completely mental to even think about getting Gwendolyn that mad at me right before a match – completely, totally mental!"

"Then I think you should listen to your sister," Gwendolyn teased. "That kind of help might be exactly what I need to give my team the advantage over yours in that game."

"Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't get to be Captain this year after all," Lily mused half-seriously. "It seems I need to work on the mental part of my game a bit to consider the possible down side of these ideas that sound great when I first hear of them."

"Then you'd better work on that," Hugo told her seriously. "If our team does have a great season; you'll be the only one of us crazy enough to take that job after Al."

Lily laughed. "Thanks a lot, cuz. Now I'm wondering whether I should be cheering for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw just so that I could have a better-season bragging rights over both of my brothers."

"You'd have bragging rights with a three-win firstie year if we can win out this season," Rose pointed out. "That'd be better than Al's win and tie first season."

"That is a good point," Lily agreed. "I'll keep that in mind while I decide what to do."

"As if you'll really do that," Jonah scoffed with a smile for her. "You like to win too much to even think about throwing a match or two just to mess with your brothers."

"Cut that out, Jonah," Gwendolyn told him while pretending to shush him. "Hugo almost had her with that one – and it might have helped us in our match if it had worked!"

"Shutting up now," Hugo joked – "and don't try blaming me for any losses. I won't be playing in either of those matches this year."

The girls needed to tease Hugo about that for a while first, but once they were packed up; they headed back to the castle to get warm with hot drinks and snacks; and then Al and Gwendolyn opted for some alone time until they needed to be in the Great Hall for dinner. Their evening with Lily and Jonah was another fun, entertaining way to end their weekend; and then it was time to get back to work again on Monday – especially for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players as they worked even harder on Monday and Wednesday to get ready for their match. Both teams got help with that from their senior team Captains. In Al's case, Dominique gave him half of her Monday practice time while she had a meeting with her team; and he got both practice timeslots on Wednesday as a trade-off with Dominique that gave her the entire block of pitch time on Friday while he only did a light physical workout with his team and a final match-prep meeting. Tory and Madison didn't do their training exactly the same way, but they were working just as hard – a fact that was obvious because all of the players on both teams looked exhausted by the time they went to bed each night – whether that was due to the extra workouts or from the make-up studying on the off-Quidditch days.

By Friday evening, Al was wishing that he could take the entire night off, but that wasn't an option when they were taking Saturday off for sure; and he couldn't even take the last hour off before school curfew because his self-inflicted team curfew would have him in bed then instead. The light, physical workout and team meeting hadn't allowed for more study time before dinner either; so the only consolation was that he was at least able to do all of that work with Gwendolyn sitting next to him – and helping to make the work as much fun as possible. When it was time for him to go, Gwendolyn decided to go back to her House then too; he walked her home; and then only had a few minutes of delay in the Gryffindor common room before he needed to lead by example and get up to his dorm room ahead of the team game night curfew. That was when life got strange for him again – when he walked into the room and found Ray already in bed. It wasn't seeing him there that was weird – it was the vibes he couldn't miss because the emotions were so strong – and a mix of dark and hurt.

"Are you okay?" Al asked as he walked across the room and then sat down on his bed. "I expected to get here first."

"I've been here for a while," Ray answered curtly; and Al sighed silently in empathy for his friend.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" Ray assured him forcefully; but then turned to look at Al when he drew his wand and then put up a privacy shield around them.

"Okay, but I'm not going to take no for an answer," Al advised him. "We've a big match to play in the morning; and I don't want you to be messed up going into it."

Ray laughed self-mockingly. "Too late for that," he advised Al. "Tory made sure of that tonight. She broke up with me – said things have been messed up for a while now; and she's just had enough."

"Have things been messed up?" Al asked; though he'd likely known the answer to that question for longer than Ray had.

"Maybe – yeah," he admitted with a shrug. "I didn't expect her to break up with me – especially right before our match tomorrow." He laughed derisively. "Merlin, Al – she told me that she didn't want to be worrying about wanting to break up with me when she needs to be concentrating on beating our team! Can you believe it?"

"Not really," Al said honestly – and smiled wryly when that answer earned him Ray's full attention.

"What do you mean by that?" he demanded.

"I might be wrong," Al hedged first, "but last Sunday afternoon, after our Quidditch duel, there was some joking around about our last two Quidditch matches. to make a short story shorter, Hugo suggested that if Gwendolyn really, really wanted to beat our team; she should break up with me the night before our match. You might not have heard about those jokes; but it is possible that Tory and Madison did – and decided that it was a good idea."

"No way!" Ray exclaimed; but didn't say that with any conviction. "Do you really think that Tory would do something that devious?"

"I'd like to think that she wouldn't, and for all I know, the real problems you're having might be enough to convince her that she really meant what she told you, but either way; I'm not sure I'm saying anything that will help you, Ray. If I'm right, and win or lose she wants to make up with you; that could be a problem – or at least it would be if I was in that position with Gwendolyn."

Ray nodded. "Yeah, it would suck even more to find out that she does still care about me and yet would still do something like this just to try and mess up my game tomorrow." He shook his head and blew out a deep sigh. "I don't know, Al. What did you guys decide when joking about doing something like this?"

Al laughed quietly. "Gwendolyn was sure I'd know she was lying and it wouldn't work, and when it was suggested that I do it instead; she thought it was a brilliant idea – after I'd suggested that the last thing I'd want to do the night before our match was to get her mad at me."

"It is tough to play when you're a woodlouse," Ray agreed; smiling faintly for the first time. "So should I hope that she's lying – or get mad and take it out on her team tomorrow?" He joined in when Al laughed again.

"I should definitely not answer that question," he decided. "Whatever is going on with you and Tory will get worked out, Ray, and while having her break up with you tonight is really rotten for you; I'll actually hope that she isn't just playing head games to try and win tomorrow. Either way, though, we should just try to go out there tomorrow and have fun playing with our friends. We get enough nasty in our matches against Slytherin. I'd hate to see that be how all of our matches are played."

"I'll think about all of that," Ray promised; and then looked at Al worriedly. "You wouldn't pull me out of the match over this, would you?"

"Not a chance," Al assured him – "though I'd have thought about it if you'd tried something like this on Tory. In that case, I might have kicked you off the team and seen how long you could tread water under a frozen lake."

"Would you give me a supply of gillyweed first?" Ray joked; and that had Al sure that his friend would be okay – at least until he could find out for sure what was going on with Tory.

They talked for a few more minutes; Al went to the washroom to clean up before getting changed and into bed; and then he turned out his light and went to sleep while Ray stayed awake and needed more time to deal with his problems before he was able to sleep too. Al was first to wake up in their dorm room; he got ready for the day first; and then gave Ray his wake-up call before heading to the common room to wait for Rose and Lily to join him. Somehow, the Witches gossip network had gotten the story about Tory's break-up with Ray, so he hadn't needed to break that news to them while on their walk and talk, but they did discuss it; and Lily and Rose both believed that Ray and Tory were history as a couple regardless of whether Tory wanted to really break up with Ray or it was a head game to mess with him ahead of their match. Either way, they also believed that Tory had made a mistake that she might regret sooner than later – especially if Ray and his Gryffindor friends had anything to say about it.

Al actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about that as they walked to the Great Hall and then had breakfast together – and they did all do that together because Al, Rose, and Ray had the rest of their team with them for the meal – partly because the girls wanted to be there to support Ray in his time of need. He hadn't been able to avoid sensing the emotions from Tory and Madison once they were in the Great Hall – just as he always sensed too much from everyone around him; so he knew that Tory's motivation for breaking up with Ray had been as much about the match as the feelings that they were basically done as a couple anyway. Madison had mixed feelings about it too; and not all of her emotions were very nice for Al to perceive and intercept. Instead of spending time wondering about that, though, he was more interested in considering Lily's and Rose's points of view.

They'd been half-joking about their team working together to help Ray out by winning the match, but he actually thought they had a valid point that Tory likely hadn't considered – and he wondered about why she hadn't seemed to know her Gryffindor friends well-enough to consider how Ray's team mates would react to her last-minute break-up with him. Even if her own desire to break up with him was legitimate, she was still choosing to make herself feel better while knowing that it would mess with Ray when he needed to be getting focused on their match too. That kind of selfish disregard for all of her Gryffindor friends didn't seem very Hufflepuff-like; but Al mostly just decided that Tory was also very wrong if she truly believed that she was helping herself or her team. That conclusion, more than anything else, had him feeling quietly confident by the time he finished breakfast and gathered his gear to go and meet up with Gwendolyn for the walk out to the stadium.

"How's Ray doing this morning?" Gwendolyn asked once they were outside and on their own – as much as that was possible at Hogwarts on a Saturday morning game day that was shaping up to be another nice one – at least as nice as could be hoped for in late March. "I didn't want to say anything to him that might make things worse."

"He'll be okay for the match. We'll have to see how it goes after that; since I can't see any way that things won't get weird for them – and maybe for the rest of us too."

"I was thinking the same thing for the last part of that," Gwendolyn agreed. "If Ray is a total train wreck during the game, then Tory will know how much she hurt him with the break-up, but if he has a great day; she'll think he didn't care at all."

"That wasn't a perspective I was looking at," Al admitted; "but don't forget the one where he plays mad – and that can go well for us – or be a disaster."

"Would you save Tory and forfeit the match if Ray tried something really awful?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"Yeah, I likely would; so let's hope that doesn't happen."

"You don't think that it will," she said next. "In fact, I get the feeling that you think that break-up is going to back-fire on Tory in a big way."

"I do," Al confirmed quietly. "Ray and Tory have been heading for a break-up anyway, but the timing is probably all about the game today; and I don't think that Tory considered how that would affect the rest of our team. If I'm right, Tory is going to have a tough day against Rose; and Lily is going to be a lot of fun to watch too."

"If this goes the way you expect, then; will you please break up with me the night before our match?" Al laughed and stopped to hug her.

"I won't play those kinds of games with us even if I thought it would guarantee my team the win – or for any other reason," he promised.

"You're taking all of the fun out of that joke, but I can live with that little bit of downside to our relationship. I hope you win today too. Our match will be way more fun if it's a winner-take-all contest – at least for the junior team title."

"And the fact that we wouldn't be more motivated to avoid only having one win this season if we lose today would just be a bonus," Al added with a grin that had Gwendolyn laughing again.

"Yeah, there's that too," she agreed. "You don't want to get distracted by looking ahead to that, though; so let's get back to focusing on today."

They did that; spent a few minutes saying goodbye at the stadium; and then Al went into the locker room to get ready for the pre-game warm-ups and to, hopefully, get his team ready and motivated to play their very best. Being confident was well and good, but they did still need to actually play well-enough to win; and Al didn't want to do anything that might mess that up for his sister, cousins, and team mates.

Gwendolyn went for a walk around the school grounds after leaving Al at the stadium. She wasn't alone for very long because Toni and Renee came looking for her – and they'd wanted to talk about the latest gossip – mostly because they'd hoped to get the inside scoop from the Gryffindor team side of the drama. She was happy to have the company, since she didn't often feel the need to have some alone time the way Al did, but she didn't pass along everything that she'd talked about with him because the entire school didn't need to know things that Ray or Tory didn't want to be public knowledge. They collected other friends along the way; and then moved on to the stadium to pick seats in the usual area so that they could sit with the handful of Gryffindor friends that weren't playing in the game as well as with her entire team and practice squad. Al's reserve squad players all eventually joined them too, and seemed to do that automatically; since Gwendolyn knew that Al hadn't ordered them to sit together. They were supposed to watch and analyze the match, though; so it was possible that they just wanted to be close to the Ravenclaw team in case they heard anything that would help with that.

"Would you like to have one of us do the pre-game analysis and prediction so that you don't have to pretend to pick your boyfriend's team out of loyalty – or risk saying something they can use in their match against us by picking Hufflepuff today?" Stephanie asked Gwendolyn while speaking loudly-enough for most of the teens and tweens in their group to overhear.

"You're welcome to have at it – or get someone else to do it," Gwendolyn answered. "I was just going to let Kylie take care of that today; since we have Dominique to thank again for making sure we don't get the James and Ollie play-by-play."

"It's weird, but a little part of me misses that," Stephanie admitted; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'll make an exception if you want to go and sit with James and Ollie instead."

"Thanks, but no thanks. The entertainment wouldn't be worth the reputation I'd end up with from hanging out with James." Stephanie said that more-quietly; but then moved the conversation along. "I'll pick offering my own pre-game report," she added in her normal speaking voice. Gryffindor has Al on their team. They win."

"That was short; and probably all that needs to be said – I like it!" Jonah offered enthusiastically.

"It is funny," Gwendolyn offered while smiling at Stephanie. "The problem we need to work on today, though, is finding a way to beat Gryffindor in our match – especially if our Hufflepuff friends can't help us out by finding a way to do that today."

"I think that we'll need to hope that Jonah wins his duel over Lily," Katrina offered first. "The rest of us will just need to keep the score close until then."

"That's scary for me," Jonah told her. "I was hoping that you'd win the match for us with a few well-placed bludger hits."

"You've played scrimmages against Fred and Orlando," Katrina reminded him. "We'll have a great match if we can keep all of you from taking very many hits." She'd meant that 'we' to inlcude her Beater partner, Patrick Thomas; and Gwendolyn saw his nod of agreement. "Let's watch this match, though; and maybe we'll get some new ideas – whether Hufflepuff can find a way to win or not."

They continued to talk Quidditch while waiting for Kylie to start her pre-game show – and that wasn't for very long; since the better weather had all of the students – and the visiting guests – in the stadium early; so Kylie had an audience ready and willing to listen to her announcing for a while instead of just wanting to get to the match. None of Kylie's season-so-far update was news for Gwendolyn – and it was fairly simple too; since there was only one team with three wins – and one team with three losses. That didn't keep her from joining in on the cheers when Ravenclaw was announced as the current Quidditch Cup leaders with their three victories. Hufflepuff was in second playce with two wins; Gryffindor was third with just the one win; and Slytherin was in last place because of their three losses while Gryffindor still only had the two senior team losses so far. Kylie also went into other stats that included the junior team standings, but Gwendolyn really did expect that battle to come down to the winner of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match; so she didn't think that the points – or her team's current lead – would matter at all.

Some of the individual statistics were of interest – though a bit misleading too; since Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players hadn't played their second match yet. While it wasn't a surprise that she and Stephanie were at the top for Chasers; Rose had the lead for Keeper thanks to only giving up two goals to Slytherin; and Gwendolyn didn't expect that she'd lose that lead even though she was also sure to give up more goals to Hufflepuff unless Lily or Madison caught the snitch early. Lily had at least a temporary lead at Seeker, but only because she had a team win and no losses for the three-way tiebreaker with Madison and Jonah while Madison had her catch for the loss and Jonah had one Seeker duel defeat that counted for that race despite the team win. Gwendolyn felt bad for him about that, but it had still been the right decision instead of running up the score on Hufflepuff; so she had no regrets. Though both pairs of Beaters only had one game played so far; Fred and Orlando were ranked first; and the Wilkes brothers earned some Slytherin cheers for being ranked in second place after their efforts against Ravenclaw.

Once the extended update was finished, Kylie went on to add comments on how this match could impact the Quidditch Cup and junior team standings; and then she invited Gryffindor into the stadium and introduced the players. Gwendolyn felt a strong sense of pride as she watched her boyfriend fly into the stadium and then high into the air for the loop around it while Kylie talked and there was a roar of Gryffindor cheers and Slytherin and Hufflepuff jeers. There was no doubt that he looked like his father, and she was fairly happy about that, but it was looking like there was a good chance that he was going to inherit a bit more height from the Weasley side of his family; and he was very fit – though that didn't show in his team robe. While Al wasn't anything like Lily when it came to being outwardly fired up, he smiled a lot; looked quietly confident; and his team mates all looked as though they were ready to have fun.

He got razzed about it, but Gwendolyn wasn't surprised that Al did not fly in the front row. He had Lily and Rose lead the way; he was in the middle row – and between Ray and Kathryn so that their Chaser trio flew together; and Fred and Orlando brought up the rear. That was just part of the way he worked as a leader, and while she thought he also did that by being the best player on the Gryffindor team; it had always been the soft side of his personality that had made her fall for him – even back when they'd just been toddlers. That thought had her laughing silently as she tried to remember if Bristol had been attracted to the bad boys back then too; but she couldn't recall enough about those years to decide. She did remember stories about Teddy and Victoire that she'd heard as they'd been roasted in the week leading up to their wedding; but didn't think that bonking a boy on the head with toys to get his attention or trying to stuff special treats in his face and mouth was quite the same as being attracted to boys that liked getting into trouble – and James had been like that for as long as she could remember too.

While her thoughts seemed to be wandering around, Gwendolyn did still pay atention and was doing her own assessments of the Gryffindor players as they were introduced and as they flew around and then came in for a landing at center pitch to her left of where Mr. Peakes was standing. She knew that Lily was good-enough to win any match she played in; but then she'd say the same about Madison and Jonah. She believed that Lily wanted to win more than most; and that might make a difference in this match. Rose was her personal pick for best junior team Keeper, and while Ryan might dispute that claim; he was wrong about that. The Chaser match-up was in Gryffindor's favor today, but she actually thought that her Ravenclaw trio matched up pretty well with Al, Ray, and Kathryn. It did and didn't bug her to admit that Al was just a bit better than she was, but Stephanie was better than Ray; and Alyssa and Kathryn were very closely matched – something they'd proved many times now in their play scrimmages and holiday practices and workouts.

Those mental pictures had her thinking about practices over the upcoming Easter break. Their big match with Gryffindor was going to be only a week after the holiday. She and Al hadn't talked about it yet, but it might be a bad idea for her team to practice with Gryffindor – or at least it would be better for them than for her team. The downside of having their own practices, though, was that they wouldn't get to spend that time together – and they might not be able to put together full practice teams to play against if their reserve squad players couldn't help out – and that was a sure thing for most of the Muggleborn players and other friends that went away for the holidays every year.

Hufflepuff was called out then, so Gwendolyn turned her attention to them. Her first thoughts weren't kind as she watched Madison and Tory lead the way for their team. They were her friends, but she didn't always agree with the things that her friends did – with Bristol being a recent example of that; and she definitely didn't approve of Tory's timing for breaking up with Ray. She'd agreed with Al – and with what he'd passed on to her about what Rose and Lily had said about it, and while they didn't have Tory's side of the story yet; there didn't seem to be any doubt about why Tory had waited until Friday night – or didn't wait until after the match even if she had wanted to break up with him for real. Her feelings did affect her as she thought about Tory and her team mates; but not to the point that it skewed her honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.

Tory was a really good Chaser; but not in the same league with Al – or with her and Stephanie. Her talents were actually very similar to Ray's, but that was a problem with her team mates; because she needed to be their goal scorer instead when that wasn't her strength – no matter how much she wished that was true. Justine Finch-Fletchley and firstie Michael MacMillan were a step or two down the talent scale from Tory, and while they would and could score some goals; they were not going to out-play Ray and Kathryn. Madison really was likely Hufflepuff's best hope for getting the win – and that would only happen if she could do that before Gryffindor earned the one-sixty lead. Gwendolyn was sure that Madison would not want to have two snitch catches for losses, but with their House still in the running for the Quidditch Cup; that was a possibility.

Gwendolyn liked Leanne Jordan a lot, and knew she had a lot of potential to be a really great Keeper, but she was going to be in for a tough day against Al – and that was partly because her Chasers were going to have a tough time helping her play against him on defense. Lee Johnson and Ricky Peakes were in a similar position at Beater. They were pretty good, and might become two of the best Beaters over the next few years, but they were up against Fred and Orlando today. Katrina's comments about their own game plan applied to the Hufflepuff Beaters today – play to keep your own players from getting pounded; and that outcome would be a best-case for them.

Mr. Peakes did his pre-game speech as soon as the Hufflepuff players landed; Gwendolyn got teased when Al and Madison exchanged a long Captain's handshake that apparently included more than just a quick exchange of best luck wishes; and then Mr. Peakes got the match started once the teams were lined up and ready to go. Kylie's play-by-play needed to kick into high gear right away as Al won the race to the quaffle; went onto the attack; and then scored a first, quick goal after just three passes – one to Ray; the second to Kathryn; and the third back to him before he completely faked-out Leanne to get what looked like an easy goal. That entire play had looked to be planned and set up to take advantage of something that Al had expected to get from the Hufflepuff defense; so Gwendolyn took note of that for future reference. She'd need to check and see whether her team was doing anything that could be so easily predictable.

"Don't take this the wrong way, since I'm not saying this just because I heard he's available now; but Ray looked pretty good on that play for a guy that's suppoded to be crushed to the point of insensibility," Renee leaned back and whispered to Gwendolyn from where she was sitting in the row ahead of her.

"Al looked better," Stephanie pointed out with a grin. "How come you didn't mention that instead?"

Renee laughed. "Because I don't want to spend the Easter holidays as a bug – "not to mention that you can only take those scoring on other Witches jokes so far before it just isn't funny anymore."

"Except for when you can squeeze one in while pretending you wanted to take the high road," Toni added. "Well done, Renee!"

The girls around her had a bit of fun with that, but Gwendolyn didn't say much while she watched the action above the pitch – and it took some concentration to do that with so much going on. While Al had been scoring that goal with a great first-play plan; Lily had Madison chasing after her for what Gwendolyn was almost-sure had to be a fake-out race for an early catch of the snitch. Whether Lily had seen it or not, she had started out by seriously pushing Madison; and that seemed to be Lily's game plan for the Seeker duel – to keep Madison busy and working hard all of the time without any time to stop and simply look for the snitch. For the Gryffindor Beaters, the early hints at their game plan suggested they were looking to break up plays – not go for the big injuries that could take players out of the match. That was probably Al's influence, but then she thought that there might be a valid point to his perspective. Injuries were sure to slow players down, but broken plays led to interceptions and good offensive opportunities that could lead to more goals. It wasn't all that much longer before Fred proved that by forcing Tory to miss a pass while dodging a bludger; and then Al and Ray got a two-on-one against Justine that led to another goal for Gryffindor when Al faked Leanne out and made a blind pass to Ray for the best scoring chance.

As the players settled into the fast-paced flow of the match and the spectators cheered for their favorite team and players – or jeered when things didn't go well for their side; the differences between the two teams soon became obvious to at least the true Quidditch fans and players. Gryffindor had an early, large advantage over Hufflepuff at Chaser; and Al, Ray, and Kathryn were all winning their individual battles against Tory, Justine, and Michael. Gwendolyn was sure that Tory's break-up with Ray hadn't caused Al to change the game plan; but it did likely motivate Gryffindor to execute their plan more effectively – and they did exactly that as Tory only scored one goal in the first hour of the match. Tory had been the top scorer for her team against Ravenclaw, so that made sense, but she was also a better playmaker; and she did begin to adapt and set up Justine and Michael instead when Al pretty much took away all of her scoring chances. Making that change took them time, though; and Gryffindor had an impressive one hunred and ten to forty lead by the start of the second hour.

That next sixty minutes went much better for Hufflepuff, and while the action was fierce; all of the players on both teams seemed to start to have more fun – as did all of the spectators. Gwendolyn was happy to see that Al continued to out-duel Tory in their personal battle, but the adjustments she made worked pretty well too as she worked to get better scoring chances against Rose for Justine and Michael while cutting back on her own attempts when they weren't working anyway. She did score two goals as well, but earned 6 assists on goals that her fellow Chasers only earned thanks to her set-ups. Rose was still playing brilliantly and stopped a lot of shots, but Leanne picked up her game too; and only allowed nine Gryffindor goals to battle to a Keeper draw with Rose – at least for that second hour. The two hundred to one-thirty lead was still a daunting deficit for Hufflepuff, and Gwendolyn understood the risks that went along with playing from behind for hours on end – the team trying to catch up had to work harder and would get tired sooner.

There were little signs of that happening to the Hufflepuff players in the third hour; but they continued to fight on as hard as they could. Gwendolyn wasn't surprised to see Al getting stronger as the match rolled along; and that didn't just seem to be relative to the other players – he just seemed to really get warmed up when others were wearing out. Fortunately, she played like that too, but Tory and her fellow Chasers didn't; and that really began to show up as they moved into the fourth hour and the younger Hufflepuff players in particular seemed to hit the wall. Gryffindor won that third hour by adding three more goals to their lead; and the three-hundred to two-hundred lead likely seemed insurmountable without a miracle snitch catch from Madison.

Gwendolyn had been keeping a close eye on the Seeker duel even as her favorite part of the game was watching Al's amazing performance. That miracle for Madison didn't seem very likely to her because Lily was still in control of their battle, and while Madison had kept her from getting any catchs; she hadn't had any truly good chances of her own to catch the snitch – and she was obviously getting tired of the constant high-speed flying and keeping up with all of the flying tricks that Lily continuously tried to get any advantages that could lead to the game-winning catch.

That goal, so to speak, became a moot point in the fourth hour. Gwendolyn didn't see anything specific that changed – other than that Al kicked his game up to a new level, but she suspected that Tory and Leanne both cracked under the pressure. Gryffindor's one hundred point lead became a one-sixty lead by the three hour and thirty-one minute mark as Al earned six of eight very quick goals to just two for Hufflepuff. Tory earned a roar of approval from three out of four Houses when she managed to get the next goal, but Al and Ray earned two more quick goals after that; and then Lily backed off in her Seeker duel against Madison. The Hufflepuff players all seemed to be in shock then; Al took advantage of that by setting Kathryn up for another great goal and then he earned an interception from Leanne that led to another quick goal.

Madison really didn't want to catch the snitch for the loss, but she didn't end up getting the chance to do that. After hours of battling without a break, she wasn't ready for it when Lily switched again from floating around while supposedly searching for the snitch to an all-out attempt to catch it. She didn't stop trying to catch up, and Lee tried to hit a bludger at Lily that didn't get all that close to her and wouldn't have been in time anyway; so she could only watch from a dozen paces away as Lily reached out and caught the snitch – and then pulled up hard on her broom to avoid crashing into the stands in the Ravenclaw section of the stadium. Gwendolyn and her group had been able to get a good view of that – though they weren't the teens and tweens directly below Lily; since she'd been closer to the Slytherin section than the Gryffindors. They could soon see her brilliant smile as she then turned toward them and her own House section; and Gwendolyn was thrilled for her – even as she laughed when Jonah groaned and made a joke about her catch and win.

"Too bad I wasn't playing on Al's team," he told her with a wry smile. "Maybe I would have two snitch catches now too instead of one."

"You could have won that duel with madison," Gwendolyn reminded him – "though I'll concede that Lily had a better plan than we did for playing against Madison."

"That was brilliant," Jonah agreed – "though I don't know if I could have kept up like that for four hours."

Gwendolyn laughed again. "You'll be playing against her in a month, Jonah. If you're not ready to do that; then Lily will likely play exactly the same way in our match."

"I'd suggest that you switch me with Stephanie instead, but after seeing that; she might prefer playing against Ray or Kathryn instead."

"That is a tough one," Stephanie told him with a smile and nod – "especially now that Ray's single again."

"If he's really single," Katrina added. "I heard that the odds are sixty-forty that Tory was just trying to mess up his game and they'll get back together again."

"When did you hear that?" Stephanie asked curiously. "We haven't said anything about that here."

"Girl talk on my last washroom break," Katrina explained with a shrug. "i think they're nuts, but maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about; since I mostly still think that boys are gross."

"They can be," Gwendolyn agreed with a grin; "but they will grow on you sooner or later."

"In all sorts of interesting ways," Renee added; earning a round of laughs and blushes from Katrina, Jonah, and a few of the other younger tweens.

"If you're going there with this conversation, I am so glad that I need to get out there to center pitch to congratulate my boyfriend and his team mates on a brilliant match," Gwendolyn declared while she was already standing up and gathering her things.

"You just want to be right there when we find out what will happen next with the Tory and Ray drama," Renee countered.

"Which is why we'll be going with her," Stephanie told them. "It's likely a character flaw that I should work on some day – just not today."

Gwendolyn didn't think that the Ray and Tory drama had all that much to do with the large crowd of students that headed out to center pitch; though Ray and Tory did get more attention – especially when they were close together for a few minutes while the two teams exchanged the post-match congratulations and condolences. If anyone hoped for a big scene between them, that didn't happen. There was a very brief hug that temporarily fueled some speculation that they'd get back together, but then Ray and Tory both moved on and did their own thing with their teams and House mates and friends instead of spending any additional time together. Al's welcoming hug and kiss soon had Gwendolyn focusing on sharing the happy moment with him; and then they stayed close together while she congratulated everyone else on the team; they enjoyed the entertainment that Lily and Jonah provided for all of them with their hugs, kisses, and Seeker rivalry banter; and the post-game Quidditch and gossip time was pretty good too.

They didn't have a lot of time to hang out together, since the long match meant they all needed to get to the Great Hall for their late lunch – and they also had the Harpies-Arrows match to watch. That game was already getting started by then, and some of their friends were already watching it on their portable mirrors. Al and Gwendolyn weren't likely going to get to watch any of the game together unless it turned into a marathon match, but they'd planned for that possibility ahead of time; and she had his mirror and sofas so that she could still host the game watching party while he was busy with the Gryffindor victory party after they all stopped in to have a late lunch in the Great Hall. Kylie gave everyone the half-hour warning for lunch as she ended her post-game report, so it wasn't much longer after that when Al went off to the locker rooms with the rest of the players; and Gwendolyn headed for the castle and the Great Hall with her friends – and started watching the Harpies' match on her own mirror. The Hogwarts Quidditch was over for the day; but there was still a lot of fun left to be had during the rest of their day off!

Al was in a great mood as he sat down in the locker room and began to take off his sweat-soaked Quidditch gear. Getting the second win of the season was a huge part of that, since it was an achievement that had been important to him – as well as something that everyone in their House could be proud of their junior team for doing; but he was also really happy for all of his team mates. He smiled as he watched them getting out of their gear too while talking animatedly and looking happy too; and admitted to feeling just a bit of pride in himself for his role in the win.

"I'm supposed to be the one with nothing to say now that the game is over," Ray told him quietly after turning his attention toward Al from a conversation he'd been having with Fred and Orlando. "Why so quiet?"

"This feels normal for me," Al answered seriously. "I talked a lot during the match; so it's probably just my turn to shut up and listen."

"You were calling out orders, warnings, and suggestions during the match – not having conversations," Ray reminded him. "Big difference."

Al shrugged. "Okay, then I guess I'm just not very talkative right now. You seem to be doing okay – or maybe at least better than you'd expected."

"I am, and that might change after we get past the celebration for this win; since Tory really didn't say anything to me after the game at all – let alone suggest that we talk or get together later."

"Well, whatever happens, if you need anything from me; just let me know," Al told him.

Ray grinned at him. "Well, in that case, I really need a new Lightningbolt. I'm positive that would heal my crushed and broken heart almost immediately."

"I'll see what I can do about that for you," Al promised; smiling as he thought about the toy Lightningbolt he could pick up in town on the next Hogsmeade weeekend that he could then leave on Ray's bed for the gag gift laughs and entertainment.

Ray didn't really want to talk about Tory, though; so he rejoined the chat going on among everyone else while Al mostly listened in and only answered a few questions. Lily and Rose each had their mirrors out so they could all at least listen in to the Harpies' match, but Al was actually more interested in going for a shower and getting into clean, dry clothes than in that match. The girls took longer to get showered and ready for the rest of their day, but while the other boys went on ahead without them; Al stayed to wait – and then walked back to the castle with Rose, Lily, and Kathryn. While they didn't arrive in the Great Hall as a full team, they were still given a round of applause by the Gryffindor students while they walked the length of the table to their respective, normal seats. Their friends had saved their seats for Al and Rose; and they joined in to fill their plates because the meal was already half-over by then.

They then had the Quidditch victory party to get to after lunch, and Al did need to do that with his team; but Gwendolyn met up with them and she walked most of the way to Gryffindor tower before wishing Al the best for the party and heading off to their classroom for the Quidditch watching party that was still a go because the Harpies-Arrows match was still an ongoing battle with no end in sight. While Al really wanted to be spending the afternoon with Gwendolyn too, he had also been hoping for the best with the party – especially since he wanted his friends to be able to enjoy the celebration. The Harpies' match was being shown on the mirror network mirror in the common room, so a lot of the Gryffindor students were watching it while getting into party mode too; and that seemed to help Al out to get what he wanted - which was basically to be left alone by James and Ollie.

Watching Quidditch hardly made for a wild and crazy party, but that was okay with Al too; and the Harpies and Arrows were putting on a show for their fans. The Arrows were very motivated because they were in a real fight to earn the eighth and final playoff spot; and they were running out of matches with only four remaining through to the end of the season. The Harpies still had five – including the one they were playing; but the top teams always had that problem – a cost that went along with being one of the teams that everyone wanted to watch during the race to the playoffs. Al sat with Rose, Lily, and Hugo while they watched the match – and were allowed to have better seating than usual by the older teens. The rest of their friends rotated in and out to hang out with them while also doing other things around the common room too – like playing mirror games and mingling with their own best friends. That was all good, but the fun ended for Al when James and Ollie just couldn't resist trying to liven up the party – and they needed to do that at Al's expense.

The pranks were silly, harmless, and earned all of the laughs that James and Ollie had hoped for, but Al sensed the malice behind them; he didn't appreciate the follow-up, back-handed insults; and decided to walk away instead of turning the pair of them into bugs and then snacking on them as an anteater – or any of a dozen other options that came to mind as he left the party and didn't intend on returning. He went to his dorm room; got his book bag; and then made sure that he wasn't noticed by anyone as he passed through the common room again and went to meet up with Gwendolyn. She welcomed him with a hug and kiss that made everything better again – and earned them a round of laughs from the rest of the teens and tweens in the room. That was a fairly-small group because Tory and Madison weren't there with any other Hufflepuffs; so Gwendolyn and Jonah had their best Ravenclaw friends with them instead.

"I hoped that you'd get to enjoy the party today; but I'm glad you're here too,' Gwendolyn told him as she led him over to the sofa she'd been sitting on and they both sat down and got comfortable.

"I did get to do that for a lot longer than the last party," Al reminded her. "James and Ollie didn't even do anything all that awful. I just didn't want to put up with anything from them; so leaving was the best choice – and I wanted to hang out with you just as much anyway so I guess it works for that too."

"Yes it does," she agreed. "What do you think of this match so far?"

"The Arrows are playing hard to stay in it; but I'm not sure that's the right strategy for them if they're really trying to make the playoffs. They have other match-ups that they have a better chance of winning, and if they put too much into this game; they could mess up their chances in those battles – or end up too worn out to go anywhere in the playoffs even if they make it."

"I suppose," Gwendolyn agreed; "but we were thinking that they're also trying to win this match because it could mean the difference between playing our team or one of the others in the first round."

"Or at least prove they can beat our team," Jonah added.

"I don't think that's going to happen for them today," Al predicted. "Have I missed anything else while I was at the party?"

"Not unless you want to catch up on the gossip that may not have reached most Gryffondors yet," Stephanie advised him. "We're not going to talk about our analysis of your match today – which we could do without any of our Gryffindor or Hufflepuff friends around this afternoon."

"Yeah – it's a good thing we were done with that; or Gwendolyn would have had to kick you out of here until we were finished," Katrina teased.

"An hour ago, you wanted to kidnap him until after our match, and now, when you've got the chance to do that without any witnesses that would talk; you joke about kicking him out," Alyssa chided. "That's very inconsistent."

"I never suggested that we should keep him prisoner for a month or more," Katrina protested – "even if Gwendolyn might be okay with keeping him at her house in that undetectable expansion bag over the holidays. Now that you've warned him; we'll never catch him off-guard right before the match – even if Gwendolyn is snogging him senseless."

"As if that's stopped him from using magic before during other attacks," Stephanie reminded them. "I didn't think it would work anyway."

The girls had some more fun with that; they continued to talk while watching the rest of the Harpies' match; and Al especially enjoyed the bonus cuddle time with Gwendolyn until they packed up and headed to the Great Hall for another late dinner. It took Gabrielle four hours and seventeen minutes to earn the Seeker duel and match victories for her team, and while the Arrows had held on and kept the match close until then; their Seeker just couldn't keep up with Gabrielle indefinitely; and the Harpies escaped from Ellis stadium with a three-fifty to one-thirty win that took them a step closer to wrapping up the regular season in first place. Dinner was a necessary separation from Gwendolyn because Al really needed the food by then as he not only recovered from the match; but from some healing he'd done both for himself and some of his team mates. After taking care of that, he was happy to go off with Gwendolyn for an evening of alone time that wrapped up a really great day with some music, cuddling, and a fair bit of seriously-brilliant snogging!

Scorpius was in a conflicted frame of mind as he walked into the Room of Requirements, and as he looked around; it appeared that the place didn't know what he really required – just as he didn't know that for himself. There was a row of shelves on one wall with things for him to break; the armchair was large-enough that at least part of him thought that he needed room for two; and the table was half-done – which suggested to him that he wasn't even sure he wanted to talk with Thomas at all. He did want the lesson, though; so he put his book bag down; got the portrait out; and set it onto the table as usual.

"Hello, Scorpius," Thomas said neutrally. "How are you today?"

"Are you treading carefully because you were sure that the Animorphpotty and his dog pack would win the day?" Scorpius asked suspiciously.

"The odds were good for that outcome," Thomas answered without actually offering any sense of agreement for the first part of Scorpius' comment. "Are you angry about that – or something else?"

"If you must know; I'm sick and tired of that mongrel, Potty, always getting the glory and accolades for everything around here. I wish that you'd rid the world of all of these magical abominations – and their lot has festered and grown ridiculously since the end of the war without any true purebloods rising up to cull the herd."

"Don't hold back – tell me how you really feel," Thomas joked; but Scorpius didn't even crack a smile as anger began to win out over the other emotions.

"Okay, I'll do that," he promised. "Before the match this morning, we found out that Tory Summers broke up with Ray Wood sometime Friday night."

"You know I could care less about the teen drama stories," Thomas reminded him a bit impatiently; but Scorpius glared and waved him off.

"If you'd have let me finish; I'd have already advised you that it's a Quidditch story; since it seems that she was trying to mess up his game today by crushing his brave little Gryffindor heart ahead of their match. You might remember that Tory is one of the top players on the Hufflepuff team."

"That sounds too devious for a Hufflepuff," Thomas said doubtfully; and Scorpius laughed.

"They were dating and now they aren't," he said bluntly. "It seems that the reality is that she did do exactly that – though it didn't help her team at all. In fact; I'd say that Ray had a better match than I'd have given him credit for; and she had one of her worst matches because everyone on Gryffindor seemed to be out to get her."

"Now that sounds very much like Gryffindors. This Witch obviously isn't very bright if she didn't expect that to be the result."

"Or maybe she just overestimated how much Ray cared for her," Scorpius countered. "Whatever she thought, though; Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff today – and did that by a lot."

"They ran the score up on Hufflepuff too?" Thomas asked with surprise.

"No. Lily Potter caught the snitch not long after Gryffindor earned the one-sixty lead – and that was a mercy for Hufflepuff because they'd fallen apart in the last hour of the match and were getting outscored four-to-one."

"You will be playing against Hufflepuff in your last match. Learn from what worked for Gryffindor today; and maybe you'll finally get at least a bit of that Quidditch glory for yourself by beating them too."

Scorpius laughed. "I doubt that I could get Tory to try another break-up with any of the guys on my team even if I could get one of them to try dating her first – and I'd never stoop so low as to have anything to do with a Hufflepuff Witch!"

"You know what I meant," Thomas countered. "There is nothing wrong with learning from your enemies. You should always be watching and learning both their strengths and weaknesses. I may believe that focusing those efforts on a game is pointless, but since it is important to you; then learn from what Gryffindor did right today as well as from what went wrong for your upcoming opponent. The first part of that is more-important; since Hufflepuff is likely going to work on fixing their mistakes while getting ready for your match."

"We'll do that," Scorpius promised; "but I do not have much faith in my team mates to be able to carry out my game plans – regardless of how brilliant I think they will be if they could do their jobs."

"You'll have no chance of winning if you don't even believe it's possible," Thomas told him – again. He was getting frustrated too at how easily his young protégé was mentally defeated. "How many times must I remind you that confidence in yourself and those around you is critical to the success for any leader?"

"Possibly for a very long time if I'm to be surrounded by fools and weaklings my entire life," Scorpius shot back. "Confidence is one thing – delusion is another. You're not even very consistent about all of that confidence and trust blather. Half the time, you chide me for putting too much hope into winning only to be disappointed over and over; and then you tell me to have confidence and trust in my team. Make up your mind!"

"Stop acting the simpleton!" Thomas told him. "You are far too bright not to understand my counsel!"

"Well done!" Scorpius snapped derisively. "Insult me when you've no defense to my point!"

Thomas said nothing for a long moment – as if trying to get his temper under control when he had no way other than words to deal with Scorpius – or anyone else.

"I am not going to go around in circles with you about such things when all you're attempting to do is lay blame elsewhere for your own failings – especially when it's over a stupid, meaningless game!" he advised in a cold, harsh tone that he rarely used on the boy. "You picked your team. If they're as good as they can be – and the best you could get; but not as good as the other teams; then so be it. Live with it. The same is true for your own Quidditch skills. If you cannot best the other players, then live with that reality; play the game for fun if you wish; and be done with it. I have told you over and over again that you have the potential for true greatness. That does not mean you'll be great at everything you do! I have certainly never claimed to be a Quidditch phenom, and that is true for many other things. You speak of the line between confidence and delusion – well take a look at yourself, boy! You believe that you're one of the best players at your school. That is truly just a delusion until you go out and prove it!"

"I did that in my last match!" Scorpius countered; but scowled in anger as Thomas laughed.

"Did you best the best player on Ravenclaw?" he countered. "Do not play me the fool, Scorpius. Just because you didn't tell me everything about that match doesn't mean I can't fill in the blanks. You were third-best Chaser in that match and the Witch you bested was fourth – which means you won over their third-best Chaser."

"Davis was better-suited to try and bash Gwendolyn; and he was supposed to put her out of the match entirely. It is not my fault that he failed."

Thomas laughed again. "Are you too timid a leader to do a bit of bashing yourself?" he taunted. "You claim to despise your father and grandfather, but even they got their hands dirty now and then - though they preferred to leave the really rough challenges to others."

"I am nothing like my father and grandfather!" Scorpius spat vehemently.

"You look exactly as your father did at your age," Thomas pointed out with a hint of malice. "His rivalry with Harry Potter was much the same as the one you're having with his younger son; and he had his best mates around to do the dirty work for him – just as you're attempting to do with Davis and the other guys on your team. From that perspective; your assertion is truly absurd. I am stating what appears to me to be a fact; though that is based solely on the information that you give to me. If that is not true, then feel free to enlighten me with all of your recent acts of assertiveness where you've conquered all by personally doing whatever you must to earn any victories large or small. I can't wait to hear all about these stories that you've kept from me until now!"

"I've acted exactly as you've counseled," Scorpius shouted in fury. "How dare you chastise me for doing everything you've told me to do?" He drew his wand and pointed it at the portrait. "I should just destroy your portait right now and be done with you!"

"Go ahead and do it," Thomas taunted. "Then you can slink back to your sorry excuse for a family and live out your life as they've been living theirs – as pathetic, impotent, has-been outcasts. I'm sure they'll find you some poor little pureblood Witch willing to trade poverty for a life of luxury – even if that is with the son and grandson of the once-great Malfoys! Then, once you've given your family the required one-son heir to all of that money and nothing else; maybe you could run off and be a second-rate Quidditch player instead of a future leader of the Wizarding World!"

Scorpius shook with the anger, but when he began firing curses; it was at the wall of shelves behind him instead of at Thomas' portrait. He continued to do that for ten full minutes without speaking; and then he kept his mouth firmly shut as he then picked up Thomas' portrait and shoved it back into his book bag without saying anything more. He truly had come very close to doing something irrevocable, and while he'd gotten himself under control in time; he still had every intention of leaving Thomas to dwell in the dark until he was good and ready to give his mentor another chance to teach – and to do that without treating him like an imbecile child! With that decision feeling very good, he put the bag over one shoulder; left the Room of Requirements; and didn't really care that they'd never gotten around to having a lesson. The magical destruction he'd caused instead was a satisfactory substitute – and he could always practice the lessons he was still working on without Thomas around to constantly correct and lecture him about everything from the way he held his wand to his enunciation of the spells.

With the Hufflepuff Quidditch match out of the way, it was time to get back to work again on Sunday for Al, Rose, and the rest of their study group. Thanks to the Harpies match, their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends had all taken the entire day off on Saturday too; but then there were changes to their study group that left them without any Hufflepuffs on Sunday anyway – and a smaller group because of that. Al hadn't been surprised when Tory hadn't shown up after breakfast, but neither did Madison or Scott; so they'd obviously decided to work somewhere else – and in Scott's case; he probably hadn't found out about it until the last minute. Al hadn't sensed anything odd from him in their dorm room or at breakfast; and he expected that he would have if Scott had known they wouldn't be studying together sooner. They didn't have any of the other Hufflepuff study friends that joined in for certain classes or assignments either, but it was too early to tell whether that would be a more-permanent change or not.

Having fewer friends to tutor made the morning work easier for Al and Rose, but they were also saddened to again have some teen drama affect all of them more than necessary – even if Tory didn't believe she could study in the same group with Ray anymore – or at least until they both got past the break-up. Ray hadn't tried to skip their morning study session, but he was definitely having trouble dealing with the way that Tory had broken up with him. Al hadn't talked with him about it in their room on Saturday night, and he probably wouldn't unless Ray brought it up, but he had sensed that Ray was truly more upset now about the 'how' part of the break-up than he was about not dating Tory anymore; so that strongly suggested to Al that his friends really had been on the verge of break-up anyway. On Sunday morning, Ray was subdued; he focused on his assignments; and kept his own end of the group conversation restricted to safe subjects – like Quidditch.

Al wasn't involved in the information-gathering effort, but Gwendolyn went to talk with Tory and Madison before lunch, and while she didn't get any details; Tory and Madison did advise her that they wouldn't be studying together anymore – supposedly to keep things from getting weird for Ray; and that, contrary to the 'horrid' rumors, Tory had wanted to break up with Ray and had done what she thought was best for her. While these teen drama moments were times when Al really wished he didn't sense as much as he did from other people, he couldn't deny that the things he did learn allowed him to have insights, learn truths, and get early warnings that helped him to navigate the dangerous waters of teen and tween relationships and friendships. He didn't like the one bad decision he thought that Tory had made with Ray, but he could understand and accept other choices and feelings that his Hufflepuff friends were having – even if he didn't agree with either those choices or how they were feeling about their inter-House friendships.

The loss on Saturday had made certain choices more clear to Tory and Madison; and Al sensed that they blamed at least part of their recent Quidditch history on being too close to their competitors. From their perspective of at least some victories against Slytherin and wins against James and his teams; Al could understand why they might want to blame being too friendly with them for their losses against Al and Gwendolyn – even though he didn't believe that had anything to do with it. Sure, knowing someone very well could help in playing any game, but that went both ways – just as it would when you play against a competitor that you know nothing about. Since he hadn't actually lost a school Quidditch match yet, he expected that Tory and Madison would tell him that his perspective is warped, but then he still believed that they should all just be playing for fun; and stop worrying so much about the wins and losses.

While the teen drama affected their day, it was taking Saturday off that had the bigger impact on their schedule because Al and Gwendolyn needed to study all afternoon too to get all of their work done for the weekend – and that was especially-true for Gwendolyn when she'd needed to have her make-up Quidditch practice after breakfast too. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo still rounded up a gang of players for the afternoon scrimmage, but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray studied all afternoon instead. Al and Gwendolyn did take the evening off to spend those last hours of the weekend having a bit of fun with Lily and Jonah, but they were also ready to wind down and just have some quiet time after a too-busy weekend.

'Too busy' was a good description for their last full school week of March. Having fewer study buddies helped a bit, but they were also another week closer to the Easter break; and most of their bigger projects were due ahead of the holiday and needed to be finished. Add in some class presentations, the switch to training for the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, and a bit of prep work for the birthday entertainment plans that Al and Gwendolyn were putting together for Rose's fourteenth birthday on Saturday; and they were on the go from early-morning to late-evening every day. Ending up with so many friends and family birthdays on Saturdays over the past couple of months was getting to be a bit strange, but Al was looking forward to celebrating Rose's birthday with her because they'd get to have some of that fun in Hogsmeade.

Rose's birthday had one downside for them – they needed to keep studying on Friday afternoon and evening because of their plans to take the entire day off for another Saturday. Gwendolyn would have had a make-up Quidditch practice on Sunday morning again because of the Hogsmeade weekend; but they might also end up studying for most of the day on Sunday too. Al and Gwendolyn didn't talk about that with Rose, since they were keeping most of their plans quiet so she'd have lots of birthday surprises, but she did have some fun as they worked on Friday evening while trying to get a few hints about what they were all going to be doing for the day. They decided to wrap up their study session a half-hour ahead of curfew so that Al and Gwendolyn could have a bit of alone time together, but they didn't end up spending much of that time snogging each other because they instead took that opportunity to go over their plans for Saturday one more time; and then they were both just ready to go back to their dorm rooms and get some sleep so they'd be ready for their fun-filled day off!

"Happy Birthday, Rose!" Al said enthusiastically when she and Lily arrived in the common room on Saturday morning. "Lily beat me to the first birthday gift of the day, didn't she?" He smiled as both girls laughed; and then took turns hugging each of them before handing Rose the little gift he'd been holding.

"Thanks, and she did," Rose confirmed; "but we thought you'd be waiting until we saw Gwendolyn before giving me any presents today."

"That's just a little gift from me," he said modestly. "Gwendolyn gets all the credit for picking out the joint gifts we'll give you later that you'll really like best – we hope."

Rose laughed again and smiled as she unwrapped and opened the little box and took out the new charm he'd made for her bracelet. "These charms are little; but in a big, brilliant way. What does this one do?"

"Let me guess first," Lily said with a grin. "It's a lioness, right?" Al nodded; and she laughed too. "Does it eat people and spit them out again?"

"No, but that's funny," Al assured her; laughing along with Rose and Lily. "Maybe I'll see about one that can do that next year – or for Christmas."

"Well, I'd sure hope that it doesn't help Rose to have litters of lion kittens," Lily mused and joked. "What else could it be? Lion senses? A hair-growing charm?"

"You won't really get a clue about what it does from what it is," Al advised her. "I picked the lioness charm for what I wanted it to do – make one of my favorite Gryffindors run faster."

"We already have levitation charms and locomotion charms," Lily said in confusion. How would this make Rose run faster?"

"By making the weight load on her shoes much lighter – but not enough-lighter to float," he explained. "I keep getting teased about giving all of you rides around here or to town to get places faster. Now Rose can see how fast she can run while using that charm. It might not be as fast as a lioness, but I know for sure it'll be a lot faster than normal."

"That is very cool," Lily approved – "and I'm sure we can come up with lots of ideas for things it could be used for other than on shoes."

"Our book bags," Rose suggested. "I'd be okay with it weighing a lot less when I'm hauling my books around here."

"Why don't you just levitate it around behind you then?" Lily asked; and Rose laughed.

"Because it sucks when you stop paying attention and it falls on the floor – not to mention it is never good if the wrong potions bottles break when things like that happen."

"This charm will only work for as long as you focus on it," Al advised them. "You'll want to be careful about what you choose to use it on too. The real mass and weight doesn't actually change."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked.

"He means that if I run into something while running really fast – it'll hurt that much more than normal too," Rose explained. "Using it on something like a bludger would be even worse, since it would still be just as hard; but could be moving much faster than normal when it hit you."

"So much for my suggestion about using it during our match against Ravenclaw," Lily joked. "Do you want to try it out now? I could get Al to give me a lift if we need to do that to keep up."

"I'll try it out later," Rose decided. "Let's get going so we have time to pass on the latest gossip to Al that he won't want to hear anyway."

Their walk to the Great Hall included a bit of birthday roasting for Rose, but that quiet time seemed like a lull in the action anyway by the time all of the students were in the Great Hall and the noise level was high – especially among the students that would be heading to town after they ate. Gwendolyn stopped by the Gryffindor table and came a bit early so that she and Al could give the rest of their gifts to Rose instead of later in the day. she wasn't with them for the rest of Rose's breakfast birthday fun, but Al enjoyed hanging out with Rose as she was given a couple gifts from friends; had a small flock of Owls deliver gifts and cards; and then had a mirror chat with her parents while she opened the gifts from them. Conveniently, some of her gifts included money that she would be able to use in Hogsmeade; and all of that added up to a great start to her day.

When it was time to line up and head out to town, Al and Rose met up with Gwendolyn; they had a few friends with them in a group for the walk to town; and then Gwendolyn took Rose in tow to start their Hogsmeade adventure with hair appointments that had needed to be booked back in January. While they were playing, Al had Ray with him for the supply shopping; and he took care of that for himself, Gwendolyn, Rose, and all of the younger kids they were doing that for this time – including Lily, Jonah, Hugo, Ryan, Katrina, and a half-dozen younger team mates and friends. Ray was doing extra shopping for his sister and cousin too, so he helped Al with all of that; and then Al put everything into his undetectable expansion bag for easy carrying for the rest of the day. When the girls finished getting their hair cut and styled; Al and Ray went along for the 'fun' shopping that included Rose picking up some new clothes and other gifts that were entirely paid for with birthday money. They had a special lunch at the Three Broomsticks that included a small cake, and since Al was on the hook for the bill; it was again just the four of them for that hour or so of food and birthday fun.

After lunch, they went for a walk around town that included their first visit to the Shrieking Shack since closer to the first of the year; they shopped for another couple of hours after that; and then ran into some teen drama after they left Honeydukes and were getting ready to walk back to the castle. Al didn't have any warning bells going off, but he sense the confrontation coming a few moments before Tory, Madison, Scott, and a few others crossed paths with them; and Tory stepped up in front of Ray and blocked his way. Ray, Rose, and Gwendolyn didn't need to sense her emotions to see that she was furious; and she glared at Ray while getting right up in his face.

"I've seen that it hasn't taken long for you to replace me," she half-yelled while waving a hand at Rose's face. "Nice act the night we broke up. You had me convinced; but now I see that you really didn't care about me as much as you claimed. Have you been walking her back to your House and snogging her good night all week too? Were you already hooking up before we played that Quidditch match? That would explain why you didn't seem to care about me while trying to run it up on my team!" She swung and tried to slap him across the face; but he blocked her and her hand slapped onto his forearm. "I hate you, Ray!"

Al had taken a step toward them; but stopped when Ray warned him off with a glance. "I've got this," he said quietly; though he was obviously angry now too. "What day is it?" he asked Tory as he returned his attention to her.

"We're in Hogsmeade; so I'll guess that it's Saturday," she spat with sarcasm and condecension.

"It's Rose's fourteenth birthday," he advised her. "If you hadn't dumped me last weekend; we'd have been hanging out with Al and Gwendolyn to help celebrate Rose's big day – and likely would have had Madison and Scott doing that with us too. I am not here on a date with Rose – I'm here with three of my best friends – and celebrating Rose's birthday." He looked around them and seemed to shake his head after what Al sensed was a brief internal struggle – and then decided that he didn't care who heard what he said next.

"I was crushed last Friday night," he advised her; locking his gaze with hers. "By Saturday, I had to wonder whether you were messing with me to try and have me play a lousy game – though I'd hoped that you wouldn't do something that low to anyone. I should have thanked you for that after the match, since from what I saw; breaking up with me did a great job motivating my team mates to step it up for me – and the win did help a bit. You wouldn't know what I've been like over the past week since you don't want to study with us anymore, but I can promise you that the last thing I'm interested in right now is putting my heart on the line with any other Witches." He took a deep breath and then shook his head again. "Thanks for stopping us so that you could give Rose such an entertaining birthday gift, but unless you have something else to try and accuse me of that's equally bogus; then I think we're done here – and some of us have a birthday party to go and get set up for once we're back at the castle."

Ray didn't actually wait for a response that likely wasn't going to come because Tory's face had drained of color and the anger as Ray hadn't just verbally blasted her for the first time ever – he'd done it in front of what was by then quite a few teens; and done so while admitting to everyone that she had crushed him with the break-up. Rose stayed right with Ray as he walked away; Al and Gwendolyn followed; and an awkward silence was left in their wake as Madison and the other Witches stepped in around Tory to fill the void and support their friend. He'd set a quick pace, and Ray didn't slow down until they were past the Three Broomsticks and on the road to Hogwarts.

"I'm an idiot!" he breathed with a frustrated sigh. "When we get back; I'm going to stay in the study classroom and skip dinner. That little scene is going to make the gossip rounds for sure – and I shouldn't have done that to Tory either – even if she was wrong to blast us over nothing."

"You both needed to talk," Rose said soothingly. "That wasn't the best way to do it; but I appreciate you for standing up to her accusations – or the rumors at dinner would have been about you and me instead." She smiled when Ray laughed.

"Well, I guess that's something I can do; since I definitely don't have Al's talent for charm bracelet charms."

"Have you tried making any?" she asked. "I didn't know that."

"I haven't tried using those little charms, but I have tried to charm other objects like Al does – and I really do suck at it." He sighed again. "Apparently I suck at dating too; but let's not go there."

"Or at least don't go there with Rose," Gwendolyn teased. "She's said the same thing about her own dating atime or twenty before."

"I have," Rose agreed. "We can't all be as lucky as you and Al are – and I think you mess things up for the rest of us."

"It's definitely tough for some of us guys," Ray agreed. "We'd all have a much easier time of it if Al could just be a bit more like James."

"That has the potential to be a really good joke," Gwendolyn complimented after Ray got a round of laughs for his comment; "but do you really think that things would be better for the rest of us if Al really was like James? I think that idea is scary – and not just because I'd never, ever date a Wizard like that. Just imagine what evil Al might be like – or what he might be able to do if he was always pulling off pranks and ambushes."

"Okay, that would be scary," Ray agreed – "and I hope you didn't just jinx us with the last part of that. I was in such a hurry to get away from Tory that I didn't think about making sure that we were with a big group for the walk back to the castle."

"If anyone is dumb-enough to try messing with us on Rose's birthday; it will not end well for them," Al promised; and then grinned. "Then again, maybe we shouldn't take any chances." He pulled out his wand; charmed Ray's shoes; and turned to grin at Rose. "Would you like to give your new charm a try now? Gwendolyn and I will give you and Ray a bit of a head start; and then see if we can catch you."

"That sounds brilliant," Rose agreed. She handed her bag to Al; activated the new charm; and then invited Ray to race with her for the castle.

"How long should we give them?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed quietly as he put his arms around her waist and pulled her close for a kiss.

"Long enough for this," he answered before kissing her for a long minute.

Rose and Ray were already half-way to the school gates by the time he went Animorphmagus and Gwendolyn flung herself onto his back. The race for the castle was as much fun as he'd hoped it would be; Ray and Rose found out that they could run much faster but not quite as fast as a young stallion; and then they had a bit of chat fun about their little adventure before splitting up to head to their respective Houses to drop off supplies and distribute others – as well as taking time to get ready for dinner and Rose's party. Al, Lily, and Ray met up with Gwendolyn and Jonah in their study classroom ahead of dinner to do most of the party set-up; they were with their own House mates for that meal; and then it was time to get Rose's party started!

They had a really good turnout of family and friends; and even Dominique, Lucy, and Louis stayed to play for an hour or two when they decided that going for a swim or doing some of the other activities was more fun than anything else they could do at the castle on a Saturday night. Alex was with Lucy, and he ended up being one of the few Hufflepuff students to attend. Al hadn't been expecting Tory and Madison to stop by even for a visit after the little drama scene in town; but he had hoped that some of their other classmates would at least make an appearance – especially since Rose had nothing at all to do with the Tory and Ray problems. Since they were hosting Rose's party, Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to spend a lot of time playing, but they did have fun as they mingled and kept the treats and drinks stocked; their contribution to the music and dancing had been a blast; and the short swim they shared had been a highlight of the night for both of them – and not just because Al really, really loved any chance to spend time with Gwendolyn while she was in a swimsuit!

Rose had a great evening; and that was the only thing that had been important for Al – though the girlfriend in swimsuit time was a fun added bonus. In addition to the swimming, music, dancing, and the rest of the entertainment; there were a few more gifts for her to open; a Chudley Cannons' orange and black cake to share with everyone; and a lot of chat time with friends. She seemed surprised every time she got asked to dance by four different Wizards; though Al sensed that every one of them was hoping that there would be sparks with her that would lead to more than just one or two dances. That didn't seem to happen, but Al was glad that those guys helped to make the night more fun for his cousin. That couldn't be said for James and Bristol when they made an appearance with Ollie, Lacey, and a few other third-year Gryffindors, but Al didn't let that scene go very far before quietly and firmly putting an end to their attempts to mess with Rose – and with Ray for Ollie as he tried to make fun of his cousin over 'being dumped' by Tory for being such a loser of a boyfriend.

The party wrapped up a half-hour before curfew; Al and Gwendolyn had some bonus clean-up help from a total of four Prefects and six other volunteers; and that extra assistance allowed them to have time for a very minor goodnight snogging session before he walked her home and then hurried on to Gryffindor tower to get there ahead of curfew. For a change, James was actually in the common room by then instead of risking getting caught out of the House after curfew, but he and Bristol were having more fun than he wanted to witness; so Al went straight up to his dorm room and got ready for bed. When Ray joined him in their room, they talked for a while and surfed the Wireless Web to catch up on the latest Quidditch news of the day, but that just gave Al time to wind down from all of the busy until he was ready to crash, and once he was ready to do that; he was soon out for the count – and for the rest of the night.

The recent trend of Saturdays off and work Sundays didn't seem all that great first thing on Sunday morning for Al as he gut up and ready for the day, but he still ended up having fun along with all of the work. His morning walk and talk with Rose had been entertaining; the good morning hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn before and after breakfast had been great; and then he and Rose got a lot of studying done while Gwendolyn was busy with her make-up Quidditch practice. She needed to put in more work during the rest of the morning, but then they decided to take the time off for the afternoon scrimmage to have some fun with Lily, Jonah, and some of their younger cousins and friends; and then they ended up studying and working on projects for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening. A bit of quiet cuddle time after the work was done while they talked with Lily and Jonah had been a fun end to the day – though not as much fun as their sister and brother had been having all evening while they'd worked. Lily had borrowed one of Al's sofas and the mirror; had him set them up in a nearby classroom; and then she and Jonah had supposedly just played music and then watched mirror network shows.

Al didn't bust them on that, since Lily continued to insist that she and Jonah were not dating; but he was sure that some snogging had been involved in their evening entertainment. That really only had him wishing that he and Gwendolyn could manage more time for that, but the Easter holiday was coming up; so maybe they'd be able to have a few opportunities for that once they were home. They didn't end up having much time for the visit to the Owlery, but Lily went along with Al for the walk to Ravenclaw tower after that; mostly so they could have a bit of time to talk on their own while walking back to their House after saying goodnight to Gwendolyn and Jonah. Al spent a bit of time in the common room after they got 'home' and talked with Louis and Dominique for a few minutes each, but then he went up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and turned in for the night to get the extra sleep that he sensed that he wouldn't get in the coming week as the push to cram new lessons onto all of the students ahead of the Easter break continued.

Classwork and studying continued to take up most of every day for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends; but they also had a much busier week for other activities too. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin junior teams were working harder to get ready for their match on Saturday, and the Slytherins were spending extra time razzing and insulting Hufflepuff players and students; but Al and Gwendolyn worked hard with their teams too now that they were down to less than four weeks to their big match-up. Al wouldn't dream of making light of the importance of the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match for those players and their fans, since they'd be playing for the only win that either team could now earn and Hufflepuff was still in the running for the Quidditch Cup, but with two wins each for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; an undefeated season for one of their junior teams was a bigger prize.

While Hogwarts Quidditch got a lot of the gossip network attention all week in large part thanks to the Slytherins; The Harpies wrapped up their three matches in three weeks mini-marathon with their Tuesday evening battle against the Wanderers. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray couldn't really afford to take the time off to watch the match after dinner, but they did still end up watching most of it because it was action-packed and fairly-short. The Bodmin stadium was sold out, so there was a big crowd expecting an entertaining match – and they got exactly that; if not enough of the fun for their liking. The Harpies looked tired right from the start of the match, and while the Wanderers went on the attack and took advantage of that by scoring three goals on eighteen shots in the first half hour or so; their wide-open play gave Victoire, Candice, and Hailey a lot of good opportunities too. They'd scored four goals in return, and had just taken their first lead of the match when Gabrielle helped them out in a big way by catching the snitch at the forty-one minute mark to earn the one-ninety to thirty victory.

With the clock running down on the regular season, that was a big deal for the Harpies; and worked out for their Hogwarts fans too – both with the win and the short match that allowed them to get back to their studies while listening to a post-game show that ended up being a bit longer than the match as Lee and his team filled up the 'dead air' that had been booked for the match with commentary, analysis, and guest interviews with players from both teams. The time off still left Al with extra work to do after curfew. Their Astronomy class kept him up late too, and he did some work in bed after that as well, but Wednesday was April Fool's Day; and he was still up and moving at his regular time – and waiting in the common room when Rose and Lily joined him. They both laughed as soon as they saw that he was holding two snap-dragons in his hands; and he grinned as he held the flowers out to them.

"Hold them away from Al – and yourself – when you hug him," Rose warned. "He nearly got an ear chomped on last year when he gave one to me."

"I was going to ask if you'd be doing this again for the Memorial," Lily told Al as she took her turn hugging him first; and then she laughed as her flower did try to lean over on its stem to take a nip at her fiery hair.

"This will be just as fun for April Fools Day; and I thought it would be fun for Uncle Fred's birthday – though I'd like it if you could keep it quiet that I'm behind the prank."

"Doesn't everyone know?" Lily asked in surprise.

"We don't think so," Rose answered before Al could. "Did you bring a supply of puking pastilles too?" she asked Al; and he grinned and shook his head while also holding out two little bits of what looked like pieces of chocolate on the palm of his hand.

"There's a different twist this year," he explained. "It won't be as messy; and we won't need to go back to refill the water all day." he watched expectantly as Lily and Rose took the 'snap-dragon treats' and fed them to their flowers. They were out in the hallway by then; and it took another handful of moments before the changes took place that transfigured the head of Lily's snap-dragon into a kneazle and Rose's into a barking husky puppy.

"Merlin, Al – that's amazing!" Rose exclaimed. She hugged him; and then laughed in delight when her puppy-headed flower gave Al a little, wet lick along the side of his face before returning to yipping happily at them. Lily hugged him and had laughed too; and then she'd laughed some more when stroking her kneazle-flower's head had it purring contentedly.

"I didn't know that the Animorphmagus wheezes could be used for something like this," Lily said as she admired and continued to pet her snap-dragon.

"I had to work on it for quite a while before figuring it out," Al admitted. "It didn't just work at first by feeding it to the flowers. The puking pastilles were a lot easier because they'll make pretty much anything puke that eats them – including plants."

"Do you want us to pass out the rest of the flowers at breakfast?" Rose asked; and Al smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, and I'd like to put the vase in the same window alcove we used last year for the Memorial anniversary."

"You should want to take credit for something this brilliant,"Lily told him; "but we'll be happy to have the extra fun with these if you really want to try and stay anonymous."

"I don't want this to be about me," Al told her seriously. "If everyone has fun with it, and we get to do something entertaining for Uncle Fred's – and Uncle George's – birthday; then that's all that's important to me."

The girls continued to talk with Al about the flowers as they walked to the hallway where their Uncle Fred had died during the Battle of Hogwarts; they set up the vase with a half-dozen flowers and a sign wishing their uncles a happy birthday – and in memoriam for Fred; along with the warning to avoid feeding the flowers any bits of Animorphmagus wheezes under any circumstances! Al then gave Lily and Rose the rest of the flowers and a fairly-large supply of cut up Animorphmagus wheezes that he'd jumbled together so that nobody would know what animal head would appear when they fed the snap-dragons. It wasn't long after they reached the Great Hall that Lily and Rose really got the fun going by distributing the flowers to their cousins and some family friends teens; and Lily even gave three of the flowers to Professors McGonagall, Longbottom, and Hagrid.

Al's snap-dragons were only one of hundreds of April Fool's Day jokes and pranks, but it was soon the must-see prank of the day as even the Slytherin students couldn't resist going to try feeding the snap-dragons and enjoying the show as the flowers would then turn into the different animal options in the Animorphmagus wheezes line-up. By the end of the afternoon, the only Animorphmagus wheezes left in the school was the supply that Al had held back until just before dinnertime; and they magically appeared in little packages along all four House tables so that the teens and tweens could have just a bit more bonus entertainment in the evening.

While that had been a lot of fun, Al and Rose didn't get to talk with their Uncle George to wish him a happy birthday because their timing for mirror chats never worked out for them. That wasn't a surprise when April First was always a busy day at the wheezes stores. Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily had sent a gift by Owl Post for Harry and Ginny to pass on to George, but that ended up being their only involvement in his big day. The best news for Al all day, though, was really that he didn't have any major prank or ambush problems. He was one of the victims of one of the pranks being set off in the Great Hall at every meal, but that lunchtime prank had caught dozens of students; and he'd played along with everyone else while waiting for the effects to wear off. He knew that James and Ollie had been behind that prank – and a lot of others; but he didn't want to start a battle on a day when they just couldn't help themselves – though he might have changed his mind about that had they tried anything seriously-nasty or cruel.

The mid-week annual excuse for a prank and practical joke day still included all of the usual classes and studying for Al, Gwendolyn, and their smaller study group, but the fun parts of the day helped to have them in a great mood for the rest of the week. With the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match on Saturday morning, they opted to study until an hour before curfew on Friday evening; and then Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for a bit of alone time snogging that at least ended their school week on a moderately-hot note before they needed to be back in their Houses for the night. Al didn't go up to his dorm room right away after getting back to the Gryffindor common room. He'd expected to do that, but James wasn't around; Lily had been in the common room; and they'd ended up talking with Rose, Ray, Denise, and a small group of friends for more than an hour before he was ready to head up to his room – coincidentally at almost the same time that James and Patricia were returned to their House by a pair of Prefects that had apparently managed to catch James while out past curfew – something that, as far as Al knew, didn't happen very often.

"It's game day again, Witches and Wizards!" Kylie declared as she began her pre-game show. "We are launching the final-third of the season, and with just four matches remaining; the Quidditch Cup is still up for grabs with three out of four Houses still in the running to win this year." She paused for the round of cheers from three House sections and jeers from the Slytherins; and then continued.

"The same isn't true for the junior team battle, since we now know that title will go to the winner of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match three weeks from today, but we should be in for a great match this morning as Hufflepuff and Slytherin battle it out for third and fourth place – and for the consolation prize of the victory that will allow one of these teams to avoid a no-win season." This time, her comments earned a mix of cheers and jeers that changed from beginning to end; but she seemed happy with the response as she continued her report.

"With eight matches in the record books, the current Quidditch Cup standings have Ravenclaw holding on to first place with their three wins and one loss. Gryffindor has moved into second place with two wins and two losses thanks to the points tie-breaker; and Hufflepuff is in third place with the same two-win, two-loss record. While Slytherin only has one win so far this season, they can still move up in the Cup standings as high as second if they can win out in their two matches against Hufflepuff. They'd need some help for that from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw if one of those teams can win out too; but that is still a possibility." There were more cheers and jeers; but Kylie barely paused this time before continuing.

"Hufflepuff would need help from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to make the climb from third to first along with winning out, but they are still definitely in the running for the Quidditch Cup; and there are two possible paths for them to get there from here – Gryffindor winning out too and then winning the points tie-break; or having Gryffindor and Ravenclaw split their final two matches and winning the points tie-break with Ravenclaw. That's enough Arithmancy for most of us, though, so I won't try to overload you with the unlikely outcomes that are possible with any match ties thrown into the mix." That comment earned a round of laughs; and Kylie joined in for a soft chuckle while smiling brilliantly and then moving along with her announcing.

"She really is getting better with every match," Gwendolyn told Al as they sat together on the Gryffindor side of the border Gryffindor was sharing with Hufflepuff for the day. Their team mates and some friends from both Houses were sitting in the five rows around them; and Al and Gwendolyn had decided to take turns sitting in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections for the final two Hufflepuff matches so that they could still watch the games together. They were happy about that, and about getting to watch what would hopefully be a really good match; though they were also a bit worried for their Hufflepuff friends.

"Maybe Teresa will share the senior team announcing with her next year when she'll need to move up to the senior team matches," Al suggested. "It'd be a shame for Kylie to sit out the next two seasons while waiting for Teresa to graduate."

"There are a bunch of us players worried about the same thing," Rose teased. "Do you think that Louis would be willing to take turns playing Keeper over the next two seasons?"

"That's a great idea," Hugo said enthusiastically. "That'd mean it's my turn to play in our next match, right?"

Rose laughed and grinned at him. "No, but I'm only saying that because you'll hopefully get to play Keeper for our junior team for the next two seasons; and I'm only getting to have this season out of three."

Hugo shrugged. "I'll give you that – though you did get to win a Quidditch Cup in your first year and will have played in six matches too. If Louis does take turns with you over the next two seasons, though; we are going to talk about this agin when I get to fourth-year."

"Why bother?" Lily asked him. "Just beat her at tryouts both years; and your problem is solved. That's my plan for dealing with James in his NEWT year – though I'll have to hope that he doesn't get another chance at being Captain to pull that one off."

"After his first go-round at the job; nobody should ever give him another chance," Stephanie offered with a shudder – "and I mean 'never' as in not here or in the show either!"

"I don't think he'd want the job with any league teams," Rose suggested. "The team Captains have a lot of responsibilities – especially on the teams that don't have assistant managers."

"If the rest of his Hogwarts Quidditch career goes as badly as these past two seasons – and those of us on the Ravenclaw side of our little group all hope that it does for at least one more match; James won't need to worry about any job in the show," Stephanie stated with just a dash of spiteful satisfaction. Al would never say anything to her about something like that, since he thought she'd earned a lifetime of saying whatever she wanted to say about James after what he'd done to her last spring; but knew that wasn't actually true when his last name alone would open at least a few team doors for James regardless of how well or poorly he played at Hogwarts.

The conversation paused then as they returned to listening to Kylie's pre-game update and news; and then she introduced the Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams with added details of personal statistics for each player. For the most part, those stats weren't very impressive; so Al half-wished that Kylie had not done that – especially if she repeated that part of her announcing at the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match when all of the statistics would be much better for all of the players on both teams. The Slytherin player stats had been particularly bad; with Scorpius Malfoy having the best numbers – and only because Kylie was nice-enough to point out that he'd scored or assisted on nearly all of the Slytherin goals. Once Kylie had finished her introductions, Mr. Peakes did his pre-game speech, Madison and Scorpius barely touched palms for the Captains' handshake; and then Mr. Peakes sent the players racing into the air with a quick toss of the quaffle as he blew his whistle just a second or two after getting the nods from the Captains that their teams were set and ready to go.

Scorpius won the race to the quaffle over Tory, but had to give it up before even making a first pass when Davis earned a foul for bashing into Justine Finch-Fletchley and nearly knocking her off of her broom. Tory then scored the first, quick goal of the match with a simple fake and shot into an empty center goal. The two teams then managed to play for another six minutes before Tory scored the second goal after Davis missed an attempt to crash into her while supposedly trying to steal the quaffle from her. the next foul that was called on Slytherin that was worthy of another penalty shot came at the ten-minute mark when Jonathan Wilkes tried to take Leanne out of the match – just as he'd done against Ryan in their match against Ravenclaw. Once again, he succeeded by inflicting a fairly-serious injury; so the second penalty-shot goal that Tory earned for the thirty-to-naught lead did not even come close to making up for the cost of the attack to Hufflepuff – and to Leanne.

Al had been watching Leanne and empathizing with her pain when he sensed the rush of excitement that had him turning his attention to the Seeker duel. Madison was racing toward the snitch, and while he hadn't seen the move that had gotten her Slytherin opponent, Clarence Timms, completely turned around and befuddled; he did havetime to nudge Gwendolyn and have her watching too as Madison raced to the snitch; caught it; and put a shockingly abrupt end to the match at the eleven minute mark.

"Yes!" Gwendolyn shouted and then cheered as they were both on their feet before most of the spectators even processed that the match had ended as Mr. Peakes blew his whistle.

"No!" Al added; though his voice was a whisper that even Gwendolyn might not have heard. She did feel him drawing his wand, though; and everyone in the stadium could hear the angry yells coming from six of the Slytherin players. The sense of deja vu was strong for Al as he had to instantly decide what to do with multiple problems; and then he began firing spells in rapid succession. He froze the bludger that Frank Wilkes bashed at Madison; used repelling charms and an air shield to keep Davis from his attempt to bash her too; and then he repeated that process to keep Jonathan Wilkes from flying into and pounding his own Seeker. Once Madison and Clarence were out of immediate danger; Al took both bludgers out of play; and began throwing up shields to keep all of the Hufflepuff players – and Clarence – safe. Mr. Peakes was ordering all of the players to land by then; and Al began to drop the shields as they became unnecessary. That didn't mean that the problems were over for Mr. Peakes and the Professors that hurried out to center pitch to aid him in getting control over the situation, but by then; the fighting was mostly among the Slytherin players – and Clarence was the only player in need of protection.

"Trouble magnet," Gwendolyn teased when he finally put his wand away again. "I wonder what Mr. Peakes will do with that mess? That after-the-match rule doesn't actually apply to trying to bash your own players. Would he suspend Davis and Frank and do nothing to Jonathan?"

Al shrugged. "I have no idea. I should really think about getting out of here, though; and do that sooner instead of later. Would you like to come along; or pass on my congratulations to our Hufflepuff friends and meet up later?"

"We're both team Captains," she reminded him. "This time, I think that we'll both stay – though we can wait a bit before heading out onto the pitch."

"I don't think you'll get the chance," Rose advised them. "It looks to me as though the Professors are just going to send the teams to their locker rooms right now."

"I wouldn't go if I was Clarence," Lily suggested. "Madison beat him on a great play. He messed up too, but that's no reason for his entire team to turn on him like that."

"Malfoy didn't," Jonah pointed out. "He didn't exactly rush to his defense while they were up in the air, but he's standing by him right now – unless he's just faking it to get close and take his own shot at Clarence."

"You should give him the benefit of the doubt on that one," Gwendolyn advised her brother. "He did step up and block that late bludger hit that his own Beater tried to bash you with in our match against them."

Al didn't comment on that, because he could sense how furious Scorpius was at his own Seeker and team mates while he kept all of that hate bottled up while playing the role of Captain and all-round good guy. That was, at least, making the right decision even when he didn't want to be nice, and it was possible that Scorpius would continue to make more good decisions than bad ones; but Al also knew just how much darker his Slytherin classmate's aura was growing all of the time; and he'd need to turn from that path before the Dark consumed him. That thought was too close to home when he sensed that James was heading down that same path; so he turned his attention and thoughts to everything else that was going on around him.

Rose's suggestion about the teams being sent to the locker rooms turned out to be only half-true. The Slytherin players were escorted from the pitch by Mr. Peakes and Professor Slughorn. The rest of the students would find out later that both Wizards stayed with the teens and tweens until they were changed and had returned to the castle; but it took until lunchtime for that news flash to make the rounds of the gossip network. Madison and her team were allowed to remain on the pitch, and their families, friends, and supporters gathered around them to congratulate them and help their team to celebrate. Al's actions immediately after the match didn't do anything to improve his strained friendship with Madison or Tory; and Madison didn't even thank him for the help – or for the congratulations that he and Gwendolyn offered to her. She was kinder to Lily and Jonah, but not by much; and it took less than two minutes for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends to be shunted to the sidelines as Madison and Tory turned away from them on purpose.

"Well, that went well," Gwendolyn told Al as they headed for the nearest exit. "Do you think that they'll be back to studying with us by tomorrow morning?"

"No, they won't be – and I don't get the feeling that'll change anytime soon."

"I was hoping that the win today would help smooth things over," Rose told them. "It obviously didn't."

"They beat the only team they've had nothing to do with," Lily reminded her. "They're convincing themselves that they lost to our teams because they got too friendly and close." She grinned at Al and Gwendolyn. "I'd say that being close to players on other teams doesn't have to be a problem, but we may need to play a few more Gryffindor-Ravenclaw rivalry matches before we can answer that one with any honesty. You guys do only have the one tie so far."

"Is that why you don't want to officially date Jonah?" Melissa asked with a sly grin. "You don't want to mess things up with him if one of you wins too many of your rivalry matches?"

"I'll start dating whenever I get around to deciding that I want a boyfriend," Lily answered. "Jonah is still at the top of my potential boyfriend list; and Quidditch won't be a factor one way or the other – though I reserve the right to hex him if he does win too many of our Seeker duels."

That declaration earned some laughs; and then the conversation moved on to include a recap of the short Quidditch match; how that affected the Quidditch Cup race; and some bonus gossip from the teen drama, game sidelines. With hours still available until lunchtime, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went to get their book bags; they met up in their study classroom; and had four study buddies join them while everyone else took the rest of the morning – or day – off. While that had been an option, the weather hadn't been so nice that it was more-tempting than getting their work done – especially when that would leave them with most of the rest of the weekend off to have fun without any worries about getting their revision done on time.

By lunchtime, the Hufflepuff players had already been well into their victory party; and the senior team players had cheered up their junior team counterparts by assuring them that they'd done well to keep them in the running for the Quidditch Cup – especially when Leanne's injury could have been a game changer had she needed to continue to play with her injuries. Things were not nearly so good for the Slytherin team, and by lunchtime, the rumors about their team included whispers that Mr. Peakes may have imposed more suspensions for the players involved in the attempts to hurt Madison and Clarence after the match ended. No details were getting to the other three Houses then, but the students in Slytherin House looked very unhappy – and Al had sensed the blasts of hatred aimed his way from the usual suspects. While all of the news from the morning Quidditch and teen drama continued to be talked about by teens and tweens in all four Houses, by the time he was finished having lunch; Al was ready to get away from all of that; concentrate on his weekend assignments; and get the work done so that he and Gwendolyn could mostly have fun for the rest of the weekend.

"Are you still destroying that same wall full of breakables?" Thomas asked when Scorpius slapped his portrait on the table and then had to steady and re-set it to keep it from falling over. "I'd have thought you'd have been over your bout of peevishness by now."

"It's been two weeks," Scorpius spat. "Would you like me to put you back in the bag and leave you in darkness for a month or two more?"

"Time has no meaning for me, and while I usually enjoy your company and your lessons; the darkness is preferable to your childish temper tantrums."

"Well, in that case; I'll torture you with one of them," Scorpius spat. "Thanks to my idiot team mates; I've the right to do some blasting today. Eleven minutes! That's how long Clarence lasted before Madison beat him in their Seeker duel to give Hufflepuff the win. We didn't even have time to score a goal while our Keeper gave up three – including two penalty shot goals. We'd have done better than that if we'd hung three sticks in the middle of each goal instead! Then, to top it all off, as soon as Madison caught the snitch, Davis, Jonathan, and Frank all lost their minds. Two of them tried to pound her; and the other tried to bash Clarence – not that I can blame them for wanting to do that." He blew out a frustrated breath and then continued to roll along with his rant.

"The Animorphpotty came to the rescue then; stopped all of the atacks without even causing a scratch on any of the players; and then Mr. Peakes and Professor Slughorn stepped in from there and kept things from getting out of hand. My team mates and I were ordered to the locker room; we had a meeting with Peakes and Slughorn after that in Slughorn's office; and that's when Davis, Jonathan, and Frank found out that they'd all be sitting out next season for their attacks. Davis would have never made the senior team next year anyway; but that's going to suck for Jonathan and Frank – though they're insisting that their parents will get the ban overturned." He shook his head. "Jonathan might have a case for that, since it isn't actually aganst the rules to try to pound your own team players, but I won't be on that team anyway; so I don't really care."

"You should," Thomas disagreed. "They'll all be future team mates with you again if you're all still playing the game in a couple of years; and you'll need every true pureblood you can get to follow you when it's time to build your army and lead them to victory over your enemies!"

Scorpius shook his head. "Give it a rest! If all of the Witches and Wizards in that army are going to be as dim as that lot of losers; then I'm going with my plan to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time!"

"Not if your future team never wins a match," Thomas joked. "In that scenario; you'd have as many fans as the Cannons."

"Now you're just being intentionally insulting," Scorpius decided.

"No, if I wanted to be intentionally insulting, I'd tell you to quit playing that stupid game because you're likely no better at it than your team mates – at least compared to the players that are the best in your school. You insist that you can win, but you've now had three years of near-total futility. All of the time you've wasted on Quidditch could have been spent on getting ready for your true destiny – the future that you claim you want for yourself – and all true purebloods."

"We're done here," Scorpius declared angrily; and Thomas nodded.

"Yes, we are. Come back and talk to me again when you're ready to put your toys and little-boy games aside and are ready to truly start growing up and acting like the leader you're meant to be!"

Scorpius grabbed the portrait and roughly shoved it into the bag. He didn't care at all about the crack he heard as it hit the table; and wished that he actually had a way that he could hurt Thomas beyond just leaving him in darkness. He'd wanted to vent while having a lesson, but didn't care about that anymore when he felt as though his mentor was completely out of line – not to mention clueless. He spent some time breaking everything in the room before he was ready to leave again, but that didn't help; and he was still in a dark, unhappy mood when he moved on and went for a walk around the castle grounds – since he didn't want to be anywhere near his idiot friends; and had nothing better to do anyway.

Al and Gwendolyn worked with Rose, Ray, and their much-smaller group of friends to wrap up their weekend revision by late-afternoon. They split up to return to their Houses to drop off books and get ready for dinner and a play evening for two; and then they were with their usual Gryffindor or Ravenclaw friends for that meal. After dinner, Al helped Lily out with the set up of a couple of sofas and his mirror for her evening inter-House play night with her firstie friends; and then he and Gwendolyn went off on their own so that they could enjoy a few hours of music, cuddling, and a fair bit of rather brilliant snogging! While their teen-rated play time for two was overdue – as usual – and a highlight of their weekend; they also enjoyed the bit of fun with Lily and Jonah ahead of curfew when they stopped by the classroom they were using to help with packing up Al's sofas and mirror; and then they walked to Ravenclaw tower together while Lily had fun teasing her brother and Jonah's sister about why they were so happy even though they'd apparently done nothing they wanted to tell their younger siblings about beyond a bit of music and cuddling.

Sunday wasn't entirely open for a play day. Gwendolyn had her make-up team practice; Al and Rose wrapped up a last bit of project work in the Library while she did that; and then Al helped Gwendolyn to do the same as they all finished every project and assignment that needed to be handed in or presented to their classes ahead of the Easter break. The afternoon Quidditch scrimmage was fun; though that was different now that it was becoming clear that none of their Hufflepuff friends would be joining them for those play matches anytime soon. That change gave other friends the chance to play instead; so that worked out well for them while also adding new challenges for everyone as they learned to play with or against new team mates or opponents. The post-Quidditch swimming was popular with all of the players and a handful of bonus guests; and that kept them entertained until shortly before dinnertime.

While that meal break was comparatively uneventful, Al and Gwendolyn moved on from the Great Hall to have a really good evening with Lily and Jonah. The mirror chats with their parents were an important part of the fun – especially when they mixed the music time with the McCormack family mirror chat so that Kirley could join in on that part of the entertainment too. Harry and Ginny had a quieter visit with the kids, but they were just as excited as Kirley and Gwenog were to be down to just days until their kids would be home again – or at least two out of three of them would be home for Harry and Ginny. Instead of some mirror network watching, they opted for another blast of pool play time to end their evening; and then the visit to the Owlery and walk back to their Houses was mostly just a chance to wind down before they all returned to their dorm rooms and went to bed for the night.

The last four school days leading up to the Easter break were not easy for most students at Hogwarts. For those students that were inclined to procrastinate on their assignments; it was crunch time to finish everything that needed to be handed in before Friday. While that wasn't a problem for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, or their study group friends; they were busy too – with getting ahead on their holiday revision. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin junior team players were finished with Quidditch for the season, but Al and Gwendolyn kept working with their teams to get ready for their final match – and they both put in extra time for those workouts too. Al stayed up late every night except Thursday, and while he didn't have any spare time to play with Gwendolyn or the rest of their families and friends; he was really looking forward to heading home by the time they wrapped up their study session on Thursday evening. Those good feelings were even happier by the time that he and Gwendolyn finished having a minor bit of goodnight snogging after Rose and the rest of their friends left the classroom so that they could have that last bit of time ahead of curfew to do that; but then James and Bristol just happened to cross paths with them when they were walking to Ravenclaw tower; and James felt the need to try and mess with Al one last time before they'd get to avoid even seeing each other for the best part of ten days.

"What a surprise – it's Captain Canine and Captain Potty-trainer heading back to their Houses ahead of curfew just like all good little losers do!" James declared with a sneer. "Then again, the Animorphloser wouldn't be able to keep it up – I mean stay up – long-enough past-curfew for it to be worth the Potty-trainer's time to bother with the potential trouble that goes along with ignoring the rules that most of the lemmings around here follow so faithfully and blindly!" Bristol's laughter had begun from the first comment; and was insultingly loud and raucous by the last of James' pronouncement; and he grinned viciously at Al and Gwendolyn.

"Hi, James," Al said mildly. "It's good to see you too. Have you been having a good day?" He smiled at Bristol. "I'll likely see Rose when I get back to the common room. Would you like me to ask her to give you a wake-up call in the morning so you'll have time to pack and get ready for the trip home?"

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," Bristol answered. "James definitely doesn't have your, um, little problem; so we'll be um, up all night."

"Good for you," Gwendolyn told her, "and on behalf of the rest of the Witches around here; thanks so much for um, taking one for the team so that the rest of us don't have to worry about James chasing after any of us – at least until morning!"

Bristol laughed. "If you actually had a clue; you'd wish you were me instead of the uptight, perfect little princess B-Witch with the Animorph mongrel for a pet." She smirked as James laughed. "Get the broomstick out of your butt and lose the loser here; and maybe you'll have a chance to save yourself from boredom and be fun to hang around with again. From what we've seen, at the rate you're going, if you stick with the Animorphpotty; you'll have no friends left to hang out with before you know it."

Gwendolyn drew her wand; stepped up right in front of Bristol; and smiled as her Weird Sisters' cousin suddenly looked worried and her eyes went wide with just a hint of uncertainty and fear. "You'd really better hope that I don't do that," she suggested. "You would't like to find out what I'd be willing to say or do to you if I did decide to stop caring about how I treat the people that love me." She reached out then and squeezed Bristol's arm. "I do still love you – just as Al still loves James." Letting go of Bristol; she sighed. "Maybe we will get to be friends again someday, but until you want that; it's likely best that you stay away from me. I really wouldn't want to get mad and do something that I can't ever take back."

"That's disappointing," James told her derisively as Gwendolyn stepped back and Took Al's hand again. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to take a walk on the wild side with Bristol and me." He leered as he then looked her up and down suggestively. "Come on – we'll get a few drinks into you and help you out with that broomstick problem of yours."

"We need to go – and you really need to leave us alone now, James," Al warned meaningfully. "Have a good Easter holiday."

"A week without the stench that is you around here guarantees that," James shot back. "Do me a favor and don't bother coming back!"

"Now that's a cheery thought," Bristol told him with another coarse laugh. "Then he could be out of sight as well as out of his mind – I mean our minds!"

James and Bristol both laughed and added a few more nasty insults as Al and Gwendolyn stepped past them and continued on their way. While they were both annoyed; the entire scene had just become so silly that they were exchanging wry smiles as they made their supposed escape. Gwendolyn waited until they were around the next corner before saying anything to Al; and she let out a pent-up sigh once they were alone again.

"I'd say that Bristol's definitely all-in when it comes to James now. Those insults would bug me even more than they do if it wasn't for the fact that I'm nearly-positive that she insults you like that because she wishes she could be dating you instead – even as she really likes him and his bad boy attitude."

"She convinced me that she's a lot more like James than you or me," Al answered seriously. "They have been working on their insults for me, though; so we did at least get to hear a couple of new ones."

"It was all I could do to mostly play nice, but I really don't want to be like that; and I think that it's way more fun to be us – though we have very different definitions of what is and isn't fun too." Al grinned at her; and she laughed. "Okay, we will have fun with some of the things they're already into doing; but not until we're both ready for that. I am never, ever going to be into getting drunk and spending days of my life recovering from drinking bindges."

"Bristol will really regret that on the train ride home if she has a few too many tonight – though they hadn't been drinking before they ran into us."

"So much for giving them the benefit of the doubt on that," Gwendolyn joked; and then shook her head. "I need to stop that. "James really has a talent for bringing out the worst in me." She laughed and gave Al a shoulder bump. "Cut that out – you know what I mean."

"Yes, but he'd definitely take that comment the wrong way too; so let's not tell him that – even if it is true."

"Especially when he does have that effect on at least a handful of girls that we know about," Gwendolyn agreed and added. "I wonder if he'll find another Witch to have a holiday fling with while Patricia and Bristol are at home."

"I don't think that Patricia is going home," Al advised her; and Gwendolyn turned to stare at him.

"She isn't? I haven't heard anything about that. Are you sure?"

"I'm not positive, and haven't heard anything either; but I've been sensing some weird feelings from her lately; so I think that she is going to stay – and isn't telling anyone so that it'll be too late by the time Bristol finds out for her to try and stay too."

"That's devious, and James would love that; but it won't make a difference to him as far as their relationship goes – and I doubt that Bristol will really care from what I've seen and heard lately. I don't think she's hanging out with any other Wizards right now, but she tells the other girls that she's okay with being able to do that if she wants."

"One of us doesn't want to keep this chat going in that direction," Al said with a sheepish smile. "Let's talk about anything else."

They didn't have much longer to talk by then anyway, but Gwendolyn helped him out with that; they shared a quick goodnight hug and kiss because they didn't want to join the snogfest going on in the hallway with some of the other inter-House couples; and then Al hurried to Gryffindor tower and wrapped up his day having a short chat with Lily and some other friends before heading up to bed to finish a last bit of packing ahead of getting ready for bed and crashing for the night. There were lots of students in all four Houses that liked to stay up late the night before the trips home, but Al preferred to be rested and ready for a long, sometimes tedious trip that was always followed by a fun family reunion. That was going to be even better for a second trip home in a row, and this time; Al couldn't even bring himself to feel bad about preferring to spend his holiday without his own brother around!


	32. Happy Daze in April and May

**Chapter Thirty-Two – Happy Daze in April and May**

James was in a great mood as he got up and ready for the day – about an hour before the crack of noon!

Too bad, so sad for all of the losers that had to get up before dawn to get started on the long, boring trip to King's Cross Station. Instead of doing that, he'd stayed out – and up – all night with Bristol; and then while she went and got ready to go home; he went to bed not long before Ollie and the other guys had to get their day started while he happily slept through the travel day madness. When he was ready to head to the Great Hall for lunch, he grabbed his Quidditch gear bag because Dominique had the early-afternoon time slot booked for their first practice; and he left his dorm room. His good mood soared when he walked into the common room and saw Patricia sitting at one of the work tables. Her smile was brilliant as she caught sight of him; and she stood up and met him halfway for a happy, enthusiastic hug and kiss.

"Surprise!" she said happily as she stepped back to look up at him. "I thought that you'd like someone your own age to hang out with this week –especially when all of your older cousins and team mates will be spending so much of their time studying for their OWLs and NEWTs."

"We have a lot of revision to get done too," he reminded her; and Patricia laughed.

"You'll have yours done in a day – and not likely until a week from Sunday. We'll have lots of time for fun – and I'll even come out and cheer for you during your team practices as long as the weather isn't horrid."

"We'll be able to visit Hogsmeade both Saturdays too," he advised her. "Thanks for staying with me. This holiday is going to be even better than I'd hoped!"

"If we're lucky," Patricia added with a meaningful laugh. "Let's get to the Great Hall. You're likely starving after skipping breakfast."

James was happy to do that too; they left the common room; and got started on their Easter holiday adventures!

The Hogwarts Express began to slow as it neared London and King's Cross station on Friday afternoon. Al and Gwendolyn were in their compartment with Rose, Ray, Toni, and Michael; and they began to gather their bags and pack up anything they still had out – mirrors, books, or other things – like snacks and drinks. They were all as ready as any of the other students to get off of the train after such a long trip and day-so-far; but they didn't attempt to push their way out into the crush that was always the result that came with the first rush for the exits. The girls continued to chat quietly while they waited, but Al was happy to just listen in and let his mind wander.

While the train rides had lost some of the sense of adventure over the past three years, they had enjoyed a pretty good day. The morning rush to get ready to head home, have breakfast, and then get to the train station on time made for a busy start to the day; but then they'd been able to relax for a while as the Hogwarts Express left Hogsmeade Station and began the long journey south. The gossip making the rounds had soon included news that Patricia had, indeed, not made it onto the train, and while that was the most personal story; it was also just one of many teen drama moments – particularly as there were some break-ups ahead of the holiday that actually happened on the train. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Toni didn't try to talk to Bristol about the Patricia story, but they did hear from some other friends that she claimed not to care – and that it just gave her a pass to hang out with other guys during the holidays too. If the rumors that made the rounds by mid-afternoon were true; she even backed that up by flirting with several different guys while going out for walks along the train.

Al really wasn't interested in the details for any of the stories going around about Bristol and Patricia, but that did give him one more good reason for being glad that James wasn't going to be at home. Mental pictures of a revolving door of Witches taking turns spending time with James at their house were harder to avoid; but there were other things to think about that were more fun – like the potential for sleepovers with Gwendolyn over the next ten nights! Those opposing thoughts might seem inconsistent to most teens, but Al had no trouble making the distinction, since from his perspective; it was as simple as the difference between light and dark. He wasn't thinking about any of that anymore when the train came to a full stop and the first rush of students pushed and shoved their way off of the train. All he was thinking about then was being reunited with his mother and everyone else in the family that were out there on platform nine and three-quarters waiting to welcome them home.

They hadn't been able to see any of their parents as they arrived, but by the time they were stepping out of the train, Al and Gwendolyn had spotted her father; and there had been glimpses of red hair converging on that spot; so they knew where to go as they joined the crowd on the platform and wormed their way through it in that direction. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo all beat them to their parents, but then they also had the round of hugs and kisses nearly finished by then; so they were able to take their turns with doing that. Fred caught up with them a minute later; and that was the extent of their group because the older cousins had all stayed at Hogwarts; and Gwendolyn and Jonah's cousins were meeting up with their father – and he hadn't come to the station with Kirley. Al had loved seeing how well and happy Ginny looked after another few months of kid-free life; and he and Lily both stayed close to her as they left the platform and made their way out of the station and on to the Leaky and Diagon Alley.

"It's so great to be home for a week," Lily told her mother happily as they held hands and walked side-by-side with Al and Gwendolyn following them; and Kirley and Jonah bringing up the rear. The rest of their group was ahead of them; and Ron and Angelina were with their kids while George had stayed at the wheezes store to get ready for the impending onslaught of teen and tween customers that were already descending on Diagon Alley as most families picking up students stopped there to shop while in the city anyway. "I know it wasn't as many weeks this time as it was to the Christmas break; but it felt longer to me."

Ginny laughed. "Let's go with the theory that it felt that way because of the long winter months – and not just because we saw you a few times at Hogwarts last fall." She laughed again while glancing back at Al and Gwendolyn. "your father and I missed those visits – if not the reasons for them."

"Al won't say anything and risk jinxing it; but he's been happy to stay out of the hospital wing since January too," Gwendolyn offered while grinning at Al and squeezing his hand.

"We've been happy about that too," Ginny assured them; "though you've still had a bit of trouble here and there that's been a bit scary for us even though you've managed to deal with those problems. I'm sure you don't want to talk about any of that right now, though; so why don't you tell me about your trip and day-so-far instead?"

"You might not want the full report," Lily pretended to warn without looking very convincing while grinning at her mother. "James' girlfriends were both in the news on the gossip network today."

"I likely don't want to know about that," Ginny agreed – "unless it's something I really need to know about James."

Lily shrugged. "In this case; it's just teen drama. You don't need the details if you really don't want them, but just in case you were expecting James to study hard all week while he's staying at Hogwarts with our more-scholarly cousins; I'd recommend lowering your expectations."

"Your grandmother has been counseling me to stop trying to make a big deal of your brother's school reports," Ginny advised her after laughing at Lily's comment. "That's easier said than done for me; but I'm working on trying to have no expectations."

"Great – that takes all the pressure off of me for the rest of this year," Lily joked enthusiastically. "Now all I have to worry about after we get back to school is our Quidditch match against Ravenclaw – and finding a way to win that Seeker duel over Jonah."

"That's going to be a fun match for all of you regardless of who wins," Ginny said. "We should talk about your practice plans before we split up too in case we need to start working on that for you this weekend."

"We're not going to do our team practices together next week," Lily advised her. "Al and Gwendolyn decided that we're just too close to the match to do that while we're working on our respective game plans. We do still want to have group study sessions, though; and we're hoping to get everything done in two mornings."

They discussed that for a few minutes until they were nearly out of the station and ready to take the Knight Bus to the Leaky. Ginny didn't want to spend too much time in Diagon Alley, but they did stop at a few shops – including the wheezes store; where Rose, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne were all put to work helping George and Ron while waiting for Hermione to finish work at the Ministry of Magic. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah stayed with them until Ginny was ready to head home; and then they went their separate ways for the rest of the day. Al would have liked to stay together with Gwendolyn, but with the Harpies' match on Saturday; Gwenog didn't have a lot of time to spend with her kids until after she was done work on Saturday; so she'd wanted to have that quiet family time while she could do that ahead of her game night curfew.

Harry and Ginny wanted to have a quiet evening at home too after a busy work week and the months of separation from Al and Lily, so once they were home; Al and Lily helped out with making dinner for four while enjoying the alone time with their mother. They didn't make a major meal when they were heading into a weekend that was going to include a major Easter family dinner, but they did cook up some favorites that included some appetizers and a homemaed dessert. They had everything ready except for that dessert by the time Harry got home from Auror Headquarters; so it wasn't long before they were sitting down and began to fill their plates.

"Let's start with you guys telling us more about what you've been doing lately?" Lily suggested. "Even on our mirror chats; we usually run out of time for your stories after doing ours first."

"That's because my job is usually boring now that I spend most of my time stuck in meetings and filling out reports," Harry only half-joked. "Your Mum gets to have all of the fun."

"We do hear about anything fun going on with the Aurors at Hogwarts," Lily advised him. "You might not get to play in the field with the Aurors every day anymore; but it always makes the news when you do have to help out – especially when the bad guys end up visiting St. Mungo's when you're done convincing them that they really are under arrest whether they want to come quietly or not."

"I've only made the news for that once so far all year," Harry protested mildly; and Lily laughed.

"Which is one bad guy adventure les than Al's had so far – give or take three or four. You'd better work on that."

"There've been three or four more problems than we've heard about?" Ginny demanded; and Lily looked sheepishly at Al while laughing again – and managed to do that without any hint of apology in her expression or voice.

"Sorry," she told him; and then smiled at their mother. "Al's needed to get a bit more serious about dealing with James and Ollie – though it's going on two months now since he's had any major issues with them." She was smiling brightly when she looked at Al again. "Some of us have been very proud of him for putting his foot down with those two – or should I say putting his paws down?"

"You used one of your animal forms on them?" Harry asked; looking a bit worried. "That could come back to haunt you, Al – especially if someone like Rita Skeeter gets hold of a story like that."

"He didn't hurt them," Lily assured them. "They just got a bad case of indigestion!" She'd started laughing as she was saying that; and cracked up at her own joke. Al couldn't resist laughing too; but then explained when they got 'the look' from both of their parents.

"Try not to be mad, but I really had no choice but to either try to deal with James or turn him in for that attack the night we got back to Hogwarts."

"We all suspected him – again," Harry said with a sigh. "What did you do?"

"I turned him into a mouse; chased and batted him around in lion form for a couple of minutes; and then ate him," Al answered. "By the time I spit him out again..."

"...since he probably tasted horrid," Lily quickly interjected.

"... he was a bit of a mess in more ways than one; but more open to my point of view for the discussion we'd been having."

"Maybe your story is too much for them to swallow," Lily suggested as she jumped into the long moments of silence while Harry and Ginny both stared at their son in amazement.

"You ate your brother?" Ginny finally exclaimed; and then turned to look at Harry when he laughed. "This isn't funny!"

"It is," he disagreed; "but in this case; I was laughing because the first question I had was to ask about the fact that Al can apparently do human to animal Transfigurations half-way through his third year – and didn't really even think about your first response at all."

Ginny conceded the point and joined in for a short laugh too while shaking her head. "Since Lily said there were three or four other problems, and we know about what happened on Valentine's Day; I'll guess that you didn't manage to convince James to leave you alone – even after going to that extreme."

"No," Al conceded. "He tried another ambush on me a couple of days later – probably to call my bluff; but found out that I hadn't been kidding."

"And he found out that Al had animal games that were scarier than cat and mouse," Lily added; and then grinned at Al. "Sorry again, but you just aren't very good at telling stories about yourself; so I'm just trying to help you out."

"So then he left you alone – until Valentine's Day?" Harry guessed.

"Yes and no," Al answered. "He and Ollie worked things out sometime shortly before Valentine's Day. James gave him some help and knew that Ollie was going to do something; but didn't know exactly what – and didn't do it himself."

"So that's when you had a talk or two with Ollie?" Ginny asked; and Al shook his head.

"I didn't do anything until the following weekend – when Ollie tried to ambush Ray and Tory after her birthday party. They've pulled some pranks since then and still razz and insult me every chance they get; but they haven't tried any serious attacks since then."

"Well then it's no wonder that James has time to chase around after two Witches at the same time," Ginny joked. "Your father has a valid concern about that kind of story getting out about you, though; so it might be best if you try to avoid any more of these little animal games."

"Does that mean that I can't get Al to turn me into an animal so we can horse around together?" Lily joked. "That seems so much easier to me than going through all of the trouble of trying to become an Animagus – not to mention that the odds of me being a horse Animagus are fairly low to start with."

"What kind of animal do you think you would be?" Harry asked – and sent their conversation off in that direction and away from anything more serious for the rest of their meal.

They really didn't do anything exciting for the rest of the night. After finishing their meal and special dessert; they cleaned up; went outside for a bit of Quidditch play time with Harry having a Seeker duel with Lily while Ginny played Chaser against Al for nearly an hour. They wandered around the yard after that while cooling down with drinks; and then they went inside again to sit, chat, and watch a couple of mirror network shows – including Lee's nightly show before they were ready to go up to bed and get some sleep ahead of their busy Easter weekend plans. Their early morning was quiet too – especially the father and son time while Harry and Al cooked breakfast. Ginny and Lily had used that time to play dress-up; but then they'd also spent some time doing chores before heading to London. The main reason for that early arrival ahead of their game day lunch was so that Lily could pick up a new Easter outfit, but Al shopped for a few Easter gifts too; and then he was happy to be reunited with Gwendolyn again an hour or so before lunch so that they could spend most of the rest of the day together – and with their families and friends.

With their older cousins staying at Hogwarts, there were tickets available to give to other students or friends; so they had a handful of different friends with them at the Leaky for lunch. Al and Lily hadn't been asked to invite anyone extra, but Rose, Hugo, and Fred had all been given that option – and they each brought a friend along for the meal and Quidditch adventure. Rose invited Cora; Fred brought Orlando; and Hugo earned the most points for offering his extra ticket to Maxwell Leach – a fellow firstie Gryffindor. Maxwell was Muggleborn; and the Harpies-Magpies match was going to be his first time attending a professional Quidditch match. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah sat with their fathers and Ginny at lunch; but they did spend some time talking with their cousins and guests too; they eventually did the rounds of the concession stands at the stadium together; and were put together in the same block of seats so that they'd be able to talk together while watching the big match.

Al had no doubt that watching Muggleborn Witches and Wizards as they experienced 'normal' life in the Wizarding World for firsts like league Quidditch matches meant more to him because of his father's experiences during his tween and teen years; and spending time hanging around with Maxwell was more fun for him as he imagined his father acting much the same as he went to that first World Cup match. Hugo's friend wasn't interested in playing Quidditch, but he did like the game; and he was in a constant state of amazement pretty much from the time they got to the stadium – though that was true when he met up with Hugo at the Leaky too; since he'd been overwhelmed to be meeting so many famous members of Hugo's family. It turned out to be a good thing that they'd had all of the rest of the bonus entertainment for him too; because the Harpies-Magpies match ended up being one of the shortest of the season.

That was as good for the Magpies as it was for the Harpies. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey came out strong; and they were soon out-scoring the Magpies' Chasers two-to-one. Victoire scored four goals in the first hour; and had five of eight for the Harpies by the time that Gabrielle ended the match at the one hour and eleven minute mark. The Magpies had only managed to score four goals; so the Harpies play day at Yorkshire stadium ended with a final score of two-thirty to forty. Having a second short match in a row was good news for the Harpies too; since they were going to have two very tough matches to end the regular season; and the win brought them one big step closer to ending the season in first place. That really could be a huge advantage in the playoffs; and it was a goal that everyone in the Harpies' organization had worked for all season.

The early end to the match meant that they still had a lot of afternoon left for playing, though Ginny was on duty for the post-match interviews; so while Ginny and Gwenog both still had work to do; Harry and Kirley took their four kids out for a couple of hours of hiking fun that included Al taking Gwendolyn and Lily for a horseback ride. They met up with Ginny and Gwenog in London after that and went out to dinner at a cafe in Diagon Alley – and that was entirely because the girls had decided that they didn't want to go home and cook and clean for a couple of hours. The McCormacks did go home with Harry, Ginny, and the kids so that they could have a longer visit before moving on to their own home early-enough that they wouldn't all be too tired out for their respective family plans for Easter Sunday; so Al and Gwendolyn were happy campers – even though camping or a sleepover wasn't going to be part of their holiday weekend fun.

Most teens would not consider working all morning on a holiday even remotely fun, but Al had a really good morning – starting with cooking breakfast for four; the Easter fun that included some gifts and treats from the Easter bunny; and an entertaining breakfast conversation with his parents and sister. The chores that followed once they'd all moved on to the Burrow had been tougher, but he was glad to help his grandparents; and still managed to have fun with the other volunteers – including Lily, Rose, and Hugo. They were having a 'home' Easter this year, and while six of their cousin-students had stayed at school; all of the aunts and uncles came for at least the afternoon and early-evening; and the rest of the available cousins were there too. That included Teddy and Victoire, and since Bill and Fleur had two-fewer kids for the holidays; Arthur and Molly also invited Fleur's parents, Gabrielle, and her family – since Grandma and Grandpa Delacour had come for a visit for the holiday weekend. While the work volunteer pool had been small, the entire gang began arriving by noon. Molly didn't have a family lunch, but instead went with self-serve snacks and sandwiches that could be taken to go while the family fun began outdoors and included playing with Arthur's aerial toys and Quidditch scrimmages.

Gwendolyn had needed to spend the morning at home – at had an Easter lunch with her family; but then Gwenog brought her over to the Burrow after that – and in time to join in on the second mini-Quidditch scrimmage with Al, Lily, more than half of the cousins, and a handful of adults from the ranks of the aunts and uncles. She was able to spend a few minutes with Al before they went out to the orchard that included opening Easter gifts from him to go along with the hugs and kisses; but then the fun really kicked up a few notches when they were teamed up with Charlene for a Chaser battle against Angelina, Victoire, and Teddy. Gabrielle was drafted to be Lily's Seeker opponent; and while Rose and Hugo played Keeper; Fred and George each had to settle for novice Beater partners, Harry and Ron. They had most of the family watching the show, since that combination pretty much assured they'd have a very entertaining match; and Al and Gwendolyn soon started to more than fulfill those high expectations – starting with the first play of the match after Ginny tossed the quaffle and the players took to the air.

"Al and Teddy race for the quaffle; Teddy reaches it first; passes to – no; Al deflects the pass straight to Gwendolyn! Al's already heading toward the goals being defended by Hugo; Gwendolyn passes back to him; Mum – Angelina – blocks Al to the outside; he hits the brakes, flips, and tosses the quaffle mid-flip and behind his back to Gwendolyn again. She shoots – she scores!" Roxanne's play-by-play gave her something to do while being excluded from the second match; but the action above the pitch had her fired up and excited as she warmed up to the job as quickly as the action above the orchard ground had everyone playing and watching fired up and having fun.

"Victoire reaches the quaffle first as she races around the goals; she passes to Mum – and Al intercepts again! Where did he just come from? He spins; shoots – no – it's a pass to Charlene! She shoots – and scores!"

"Maybe the Harpies should be keeping an eye on Charlene too," Ginny suggested as she rejoined the ranks of the spectators. "She seems to fit right in with the way Al and Gwendolyn play."

"She's doing well with her team at school again this season too," Charlie reminded her proudly. "Aiden's on a top team as well; but they're having fun with the rivalry." As he finished saying that, Rose made a good save on Angelina; and he laughed when his sister-in-law stuck her tongue out at his niece. "The Harpies don't have enough spots on the team for all of the talent the Witches in our family have – though i don't think that Charlene would want to move here to play in your league even if she does decide to try and play Quidditch after school. She loves our home and her friends too much to move so far away."

"Unlike her father – who loved dragons more than his adorable little sister," Ginny teased; and smiled as Charlie laughed again.

"You thought you had too many brothers back then anyway," he reminded her. "I was just trying to help you out – and Mum really appreciated the cut in the cost of feeding the lot of us."

"LOOK OUT!" Aunt Muriel shouted – and for her; that meant at a volume that might have people in London wondering at what they'd be about to hear – once the sound reached the good old city. She certainly startled everyone around her – including the players. Her warning had come in response to seeing Al peg his broom while inverted; he went into a spinning, twisting, double flip; and made a blind pass to Gwendolyn while still in mid-flip. By the time that Al rocketed out of the maneuver; Gwendolyn was scoring the goal on Hugo; and Al missed Teddy by ten feet – and the nearest tree by five as he turned around and raced to get back on defense. "Merlin, Ginny – that boy of yours is crazy!"

"And that's saying a lot; considering the crazy things we've seen his Mum try on her brooms over the years," Bill joked. "Are you alright, Aunt Muriel?"

"I'm getting to old for those sorts of shocks," she declared; waving a hand in front of her face. "How, in Merlin's name, did they avoid that crash?"

"He was doing that trick on a curving flight path," Hermione answered; sounding a bit surprised at her own conclusion. She turned and smiled at Ginny. "Did you teach him that? I remember talking about something like that back when you played for the Harpies; but I didn't think you'd ever worked it out."

"I didn't; and have never talked about it with Al as far as I can remember. My tricks always end up going in a straight line."

"Your tricks could end up going in any direction," Charlie countered; but Ginny shook her head.

"I could decide where I wanted to go with the flips and turns; but Hermione's talking about Al having a curved flight path throughout that flying trick." She paused and thought about that for a moment. "Maybe he's learned something from the bird forms he's tried –or has just figured out some other way to control his broom that allows him to do that. Hermione's point, though, is that there wasn't really any danger of a crash – even though it looked much closer than it was."

"I've never heard of anything like that," Charlie told her. "Has Harry applied anything he's learned from being an Animagus to his flying or Quidditch?"

"Well, he did catch the snitch in his mouth that one time to win a match for Gryffindor," Ginny offered with a laugh – "though that was before he became an Animagus; so it doesn't really count."

Her joke had earned a round of laughs and then a trip down Quidditch memory lane as they watched the scrimmage going on overhead. The time limit for the match ran out before Gabrielle and Lily got to a best-of-three decision for their Seeker duel; and the fifty points that Gabrielle earned for the one and only catch gave her team a twenty point victory. Teddy attempted to take the fall for the loss for the Chaser battle part of the match, but Victoire wouldn't let him do that; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Charlene got teased a lot about out-playing two Professional Quidditch players – along with getting warned that everyone in their family would deny it if they told anyone. Al and Gwendolyn then went on to play a second scrimmage that included all of the younger cousins and alternate adults – including Ginny, Bill, and Charlie this time; and then they put their gear away after winning that second match with their team so that they could get a turn playing with the airplanes and a quad-copter until everyone headed indoors for dinner.

The Weasleys and Delacours weren't intentionally seated around the table along family lines, but that was how it ended up; with the grandparents and great-aunt anchoring one end; one or two sets of parents on each side of the table in the middle; and the rest of the parents around the other end of the table. Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily ended up with Charlene in their little 'kid' section; sitting between their parents; and across the table from Teddy, Victoire, Gabrielle, Casey, Riley, and Caylee. With all of the Quidditch fans around them, Charlie and Julianne were outnumbered; but everyone else at their section of the table were very happy to talk sports while enjoying the meal.

"We have a Tuesday evening match the week after Easter," Gabrielle said with a smile for Al and Gwendolyn as they all settled in to eat after the first round of platter and bowl passing was done. "Maybe we should come to your match at Hogwarts on that next Saturday. Watching the two of you compete against each other would be fun – unless Lily catches the snitch and ends the match in the first ten minutes or something."

"I'd love that," Lily assured her enthusiastically; "but there'd need to be luck involved for me to beat Jonah that quickly. He's pretty good – for a Wizard."

"I almost got that one catch against you today – and I'm not even at Hogwarts yet," Riley protested. "Wizards can be just as good as Witches at Quidditch."

"Now that's a comment you only hear around a gang of Harpies' fans," Charlie joked. "Charlene's more-likely to be teased about the opposite at her school."

"A couple of the teams don't even invite Witches to try out for their teams," Charlene added with a nod. "Someone should probably start an all-Witch team, but it would be too much work for me to take it on – and I'd rather just try to get seven of the best players anyway." She turned her attention on Al and Gwendolyn. "If you guys transferred to my school; you'd be able to play on the same team instead of having to compete against each other. You should think about it!"

"Would you still want them to do that if they ended up on Aiden's team instead of yours?" Charlie teased; and Charlene laughed.

"No, but then I don't actually expect them to switch schools. It's likely for the best anyway. If all of my cousins were at my school; I could end up out of luck for playing on any of the school teams. Riley may have only come close to getting a snitch catch against Lily; but Roxanne scored three goals against me – and she'll be going to school in September."

"Which is why I'm glad that Al and I will be moving up to the senior teams next year," Gwendolyn joked. "It's already tough-enough playing against all of the talent they have on that Gryffindor team."

"Says the Witch with two junior team titles and a Quidditch Cup championship in her first two seasons," Al countered. "You're also undefeated going into your last junior team match – which should be really scary for my team."

"You're undefeated going into your last match too," Gwendolyn reminded him."

"I didn't know that," Charlene told them; and then laughed. "Well, I guess that I did; but wasn't thinking about it. That match really is going to be a big deal with not just the season title on the line. I'd like to come and see that match – except that I have a match that day too."

"I don't really care about that – much," Gwendolyn advised her. "That win will be really important for the Quidditch Cup race, though; so we'll all be fighting hard to try and get that win for our respective House."

"We need it more," Lily added. "Gryffindor will be out of the race if we lose either of our last two matches – including the senior team match."

"And here I thought we were in for a tough end to our season with matches against the Falcons and United," Victoire teased; earning a round of laughs.

"You're really good friends with the United team Keeper," Al reminded her with a sudden, bright grin. "Tell her that you'd really like that win for your birthday."

"Belinda loves me – but not enough to throw a match," Victoire advised him. "I will be motivated for that match, though; so Belinda will need to be ready for that – and not just because it's my birthday that day."

"Do you and Teddy hang out with Belinda very often?" Gwendolyn asked.

"We try to get together at least once a month; but it isn't always easy when we have such crazy schedules," Victoire answered. "We have that problem with most of our Hogwarts friends."

"This is turning out to be a weird year for Al, Rose, and me with our friends," Gwendolyn told her more seriously. "I'm beginning to wonder if we'll still have any of the same friends by the time we graduate as the group we started out with in first year."

"Teddy's kept most of his firstie friends; but mine changed quite a bit," Victoire offered. "Third-year was tough for me too – though maybe not for all of the same reasons as it is for you guys."

"Gwendolyn could be breaking the hearts of all of the other boys that aren't Al and getting the other girls mad because he's off the market," Teddy teased. "That isn't all that much different from you."

"Except for the fact that the Wizard I liked best was oblivious to me at the time," Victoire reminded him. "From my perspective; that's a huge difference."

Teddy laughed. "I am so wishing that I hadn't gone there. Instead of digging myself into a deeper hole, though; I'll just suggest to Al and Gwendolyn that they shouldn't worry about any of that too much." He was looking at Al and Gwendolyn again as he finished offering that bit of advice. "The friends that really care about you will stick with you – and get over any teen drama problems. If they don't; then it wasn't meant to be."

His advice sent their conversation off in a new direction that the parents happily joined in on with some school stories and more advice for the kids. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get involved with other conversations very often because there were too many people around the table for that to work out very well without needing to shout to be heard over the already-high noise level that was the norm for their big family meals. they did get to talk with other members of Al's family after dinner – whether that was while they helped with the clean-up; or after that while they all relaxed and enjoyed a last bit of family fun before it was time to head home. With two active Harpies' players; that meant heading home in time for team training day curfew; and Gwendolyn needed to be home then too so that she didn't keep her mother waiting up late for her to get home.

Ginny and Al went with Gwendolyn straight from the Burrow while Harry and Lily took care of getting Aunt Muriel home; they had a short visit with Kirley and Gwenog; and then they headed home too – geting there just ahead of Harry and Lily. There were some chores to do then before they could go to bed for the night, but that didn't take long with a bit of magical help; and then they all headed up to bed so that they could rest up for the busy workweek and holiday adventures that would be starting with a morning study group session for Al and Lily while Harry and Ginny both got back to work again. Al didn't have a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn when they'd just seen each other, but he did end up staying awake for a while until he could wind down from their Easter Sunday fun; and he managed to get a bit of his holiday revision out of the way while waiting to be ready to sleep. His friends would razz him about that – if they found out; but he did have more work to do than most of them; and didn't want to be working later in the week when Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends would be finished and having fun playing instead.

James was in an awesome mood as he left the Great Hall with Patricia on Sunday night – and he fully-expected his amazing Easter weekend to end at least as brilliantly as the rest of the past three days had been!

Patricia's surprise had helped to get things rolling on Friday; he'd gone on to earn two snitch catches against Brandon during that practice after lunch; and then he'd spent the rest of the day having fun with Patricia – with the best part of that being their evening and late-night play time. As far as he was concerned, the twenty points they'd lost for their House had been worth it after Molly caught them when they returned to the Gryffindor common room a couple or four hours after curfew – though he thought that his cousin still seriously needed to get a life instead of having nothing better to do than sit around waiting for an excuse to lecture and punish him. The only reason he and Patricia had come back to their dorms at all was so that they could get some sleep and clean up before going to Hogsmeade on Saturday.

Most of the teens that went to town only stayed for a couple of hours – long-enough to get supplies for their holiday revision and some Easter sweets and wheezes. James barely bothered with the supplies he needed to have; he and Patricia played in and around town all day; and then they'd had another brilliant night together that did not include bothering with any of their holiday revision. They did at least pretend to do a bit of work on Sunday, but James had a blast setting off Easter wheezes and other pranks off and on all day too. He kept all of them fun so that he could continue to show the Professors and his idiot parents and family that the loser was the real problem at Hogwarts – though he still hadn't worked out any ways to mess with his despised and hated brother to reinforce that truth – or at least no way to do it that didn't end with the Animorphpotty creating another animal horror game meant to terrify him.

While the wheezes and pranks were a hit with most of his fellow students, a hot little afternoon study interlude with Patricia had been fun; the Easter dinner had been much better than anything he'd have had at his family Easter dinner; and the real bonus was that he didn't have to put up with the stench that was the loser – or have to listen to everyone in the family fawn all over his sorry excuse for a loser – little – brother while dumping on him. He reminded himself that this had been a 'home' holiday for the family too, so he also didn't have to put up with hearing about Teddy and Victoire's perfect life living in the mansion that should have been his that included getting waited on hand and foot by not one, but two House Elves!

Yes, intimate afternoon fun with a hot, willing Witch was a much better way to spend Easter!

Then again, he thought that was a great way to spend his time anytime, every day!

Al was awake early on Monday morning, but his father still made it to the kitchen first and had started to cook breakfast for them by the time Al joined him. The smell of fresh coffee and other enticing aromas was a nice way to get the day started; and Al was smiling as he walked into the kitchen.

"Have you found a way to escape the Monday morning meetings?" he joked as he walked over and hugged Harry. That was something that he didn't really think about; but that he knew wasn't the norm with his Wizard friends – and likely not with most teen boys. His father's perspective was different than it was for most Dads, though; and Al simply grew up with regular, daily hugs and displays of love – and didn't want that to change just because they were both a bit older.

"No, but I do need to go in early; so I'll need to eat early too. Sleep well?"

"Yeah," Al answered with a nod. "I needed to do a bit of studying while winding down; but I was out for the count once I did get to sleep."

Harry laughed. "I can so not relate to choosing late-night studying to wind down – though trying would be a sure-fire way for me to fall asleep when I was your age. At least you're consistent. I wanted the grades in the subjects I needed to have to join the Aurors; but likely wouldn't have even come close if Hermione hadn't been there to keep Ron and me working – and re-teaching half our lessons to us while she did that."

"Doing that tutoring with our friends gets annoying now and then when we're all overloaded with work, but now that we've lost our Hufflepuff study buddies – along with Scott; I miss that dynamic of our group even while the studying is a bit easier."

"Ginny and I were a bit surprised to hear about that with Tory and Madison, but maybe they'll come around again – if they figure out that your friendship helps them with everything – including their Quidditch skills. I can tell you from experience that it can be tough studying with the smartest student in the school too; so that might be a chage that won't return to normal for you – if they find a group to study with that they fit into better than your group."

"That's true for everyone at Hogwarts," Al mused. "I was thinking about things like that a bit while we were at the match on Saturday. Hugo and Maxwell seem to be one of the exceptions to the general rule on that – just as you and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were very different when you first met. My best mates all have most of the same interests as me; we're from famous families; and I suppose we're all from similar social and economic places too. Our next-level friends are from a much broader spectrum of the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds; but those differences do affect how close we get to them."

"That's an ages-old problem," Harry told him. "I was an oddity for that, since there were lots of kids that didn't want anything to do with me for reasons that were all over the spectrum from being too famous to being raised in the Muggle World."

"Not to mention being the Undesirable Number One for some very bad Witches and Wizards," Al added; and then laughed. "It's a wonder I have any friends at all considering the trouble that I've had so far."

"Maybe that'll get better for you from now on," Harry suggested. "If you have convinced James and Ollie to leave you alone, Victor Avery will be graduating this year; and that could make a difference with the Slytherins."

"I've added at least two more haters to the club this year," Al reminded him. "Losing one won't likely make much of a difference with the Slytherins."

"Welcome to my world," Harry joked. "We put one or two bad guys away; and more pop up to take their place."

"Maybe they wouldn't if they didn't get taught to hate when they're still little kids," Al suggested. "This is getting way too serious for a Monday morning, though; so let's talk about anything else."

"Like your future career with Rose and the Cannons?" Harry joked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Uncle Ron really loves the idea of that; but I don't think he actually believes Rose can pull it off – and she got teased about that a bit too much yesterday. What I don't get about that, though, is that we all know she's really good; so why is it so impossible for anyone to believe she could do well with the Cannons – especially when they do think she could do brilliantly with the Harpies or one of the other top teams?"

"Because we're talking about the Cannons with well-over a century of futility to back up our beliefs," Harry answered easily. "Do you see something in your future that your Mum and I should start putting bets on?"

Al laughed. "Now that would be wrong; but I can picture that Cannons team – and the future of the league is going to be very different for my generation. Your generation was small to begin with because of the wars; and got smaller because of everyone that was killed on both sides through until at least a few years after the war ended. Now there are dozens of Quidditch families with hundreds of kids growing up and interested in playing in the show. Victoire was one of the first, but that's going to really make a difference starting around the time that Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, and I graduate. All of the teams are going to get more competitive; and we really might need to expand the league in fifteen or twenty years – if there's enough of a market to make it possible to have those extra teams and matches."

"So I need to invest in the league instead of making bets," Harry declared with a grin. "Got it."

"I'll let Rose know you're interested in that when she's ready to buy the Cannons," Al offered with a laugh. "That could be the first, best investment – if she can get that league championship."

"It might be the cheapest way into the league," Harry conceded; "but I doubt that investing ten galleons will make much of a difference for buying that team – and that's our usual bet limit."

They had fun with that line of thought while getting breakfast ready, but then they moved on once Ginny and Lily joined them and they sat down to eat. Harry really did need to be at Auror Headquarters early, so he ate quickly and then left for London. Ginny had more time to spend with Al and Lily, and they all took care of the clean-up together; but then she only stayed long-enough after that to make sure that all of the teens and tweens that were coming over to study with Al and Lily arrived safely before heading off to work for the rest of the morning too. She was covering the United match on Saturday; so she had to spend some time with both teams at least a few times each during the week; and then she was also starting to get ready for the playoffs too with stories about the teams that were already in for sure – and the teams that were still on the bubble and trying to get one of the last, still-available playoff spots.

Being unsupervised by any adults or older teens wasn't really a big deal for Al and Lily – though some of their friends liked it a lot. Ray ended up being the only Gryffindor friend to come over, but Gwendolyn had four fellow Ravenclaw; and Lily, Jonah, and Hugo had a total of seven firstie friends – including Kathryn, Melissa, Denise, and Katrina. the Quidditch players were all staying for lunch and the afternoon practices – though Gwendolyn would be taking her team home with her to have their practice there while Al practiced with his team and some extra, younger players that he and Lily had invited – including Roxanne and Riley. The studying needed to come first, though; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose led the way to get their relatives and friends working on that once they'd gathered around the dining room table that Harry had expanded on sunday night to be ready for them.

"Shouldn't we work our way up to this Transfiguration assignment?" Ray asked when that was the first pick for several of the third-year girls. "It's too early in the morning for thinking that hard."

"I'm pretty sure you've said the same thing about every one of our first classes of the day at Hogwarts – except for History," Gwendolyn told him.

"And he only liked that one because he could go back to sleep until second-class," Rose teased.

"That's because our classes – and this study session – start too early in the day," Ray countered. "Raise your hand if you agree with me on that." He laughed when he earned a slight majority for his point of view on that vote. "I rest my case."

"You've won that vote, but I'll wager that we'd win a vote on Wednesday at lunchtime when we're all finished our holiday revision and can play for the rest of the week," Rose predicted.

"For the record, some of us want to work on the subjects we need the most help with while we have Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose around to tutor us," Renee advised him.

"Youvoted with me," Ray reminded her; and Renee laughed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that i still want to get my problem assignments out of the way first so that I don't have to try and muddle-through on my own later."

"And we need to get at that; or we will be for sure," Toni added. "Some of us have more of those 'problem' assignments than we have revision we can do on our own."

Ray had needed to make some jokes about that before settling into the work; but they did all get serious – and managed to finish three or four assignments each. That might not have felt good to any of them if they'd had all of their revision to do, but they'd gotten work done over the past week too; so they were in a great position to finish up their work on Wednesday morning by the time they wrapped up and got ready to have lunch. Ginny brought a small stack of pizzas home with her; she fed all of the teens and tweens except for the friends that had needed to be elsewhere for lunch; and then she helped out with getting the Ravenclaw players over to the McCormack's house while Al and Lily took care of the lunch clean-up before welcoming the rest of their Quidditch guests as they were dropped off or sent over – and then heading outside for their practice.

With help from Rose and Lily, Al had managed to get a full practice squad together to work with, and while the talent wasn't as good as they'd have had against Gwendolyn's team; he understood why the majority of the players on both teams didn't want to train together – even if he didn't have a problem with that. Hugo was team Captain for his Easter holiday team; Melissa and Roxanne had Kira Kirke with them; and they were the most miss-matched – even compared to Fred and Orlando with their Beater opponents or Lily and Riley. All seven players were happy to get the chance to train with Al and his team, though; and they were fired up and ready to play their hardest. They did the full warm-up and workout first, so that took more than an hour; and then they did some playmaking practice that was specifically to get ready to play against Ravenclaw. The scrimmage was last, and while they had fun doing that; Al knew that the competition just wasn't tough-enough to really help his team to get ready to play against Gwendolyn and her high-powered team. He didn't talk about that with everyone else around after their practice; but did discuss it with Rose when they went inside to get snacks and drinks ready for their friends while Ginny supervised the swimming in the back yard.

"I'm glad that everyone is having fun, but that didn't help our team to get better today," Al said as he put drinks into a picnic basket for easier carrying while Rose started making up a tray of cookies and other treats. "We'll get pounded by Ravenclaw if we're that slow a week from Saturday."

"We won't be that slow," Rose assured him. "Our scrimmages yesterday were better; and we can do some work on the side to make up for the lack of competition in these scrimmages. All you need to do is have a few duels with Lily or Gwendolyn; and you'll be just fine. Fred and Orlando need to do something else too. They're holding back – and can't do that in our match. Maybe Uncle George can help them out with that."

"I'll suggest that to Fred later," Al agreed with a nod. "Do you want to come over for an extra practice or two with me?"

Rose laughed. "No, not really – though I probably should no matter how badly I feel after you've out-played me for all of our one-on-one battles."

"You only think that because your save percentage is lower than normal," Al countered. "Saves-to-shots should be how we score those duels – and you win that most of the time."

"That's not actually true – though I do appreciate you trying to make me feel better. I only save more than you score if you're having a Chaser duel with Gwendolyn too and she can help me out. Getting back to your question; let's see whether we have any time for that or not. You're already booked through Wednesday – Thursday, if you include our back-to-school shopping trip; and Hugo and I have things we'll be doing nearly every day too."

"You could always stay for the camping tonight and tomorrow," Al advised her; and smiled when Rose laughed and shook her head.

"Let's talk about that again sometime when I have my next boyfriend – which might not be anytime soon. I don't want to be a fifth wheel – and I'd feel that way no matter how many times Lily insists that she isn't dating Jonah."

"I am not going to offer to help you out with that, but we will have more fun this summer if you could join us for some date nights or other adventures – like weekend camping trips."

"Sure, because Dad won't have a problem with me going camping with a boy for a few days," Rose joked. "You and Gwendolyn get away with it, but could you imagine what my father would do if he caught me asleep on the sofa with any guy in the middle of the night?"

"I can imagine that – though it might not be as scary as you think it would be – especially if you try having those sofa sleepovers while you're anywhere except at home."

Rose didn't really want to talk about dating with Al; he didn't really want to know if there was anyone she might be interested in right now anyway; and they were soon back outside with their friends – and Ginny – anyway. They went for a swim too, and while the weather wasn't summertime-warm; Ginny kept the pool comfortable with a warming spell. Gwendolyn and Jonah came back over again after their practice had ended and their friends and cousins had gone home again; and they were going to be camping with Al and Lily for two nights – and hanging out together until after their Wednesday morning study session. By then the Gryffindor players and the other teens and tweens were just starting to head home or get picked up; so they continued to play for an hour or so longer before Al and Gwendolyn were put to work setting up their tent while Lily and Jonah helped Ginny with making dinner.

That meal and their evening at home – and then eventually in the tent for the four kids – wasn't filled with remember-forever adventure and excitement. It was just a normal, average, uneventful time where just being together was all that mattered – whether that was while they enjoyed the meal; played a bit of Quidditch; or hung out in the back yard or main room of the tent and had fun cuddling, talking, and watching mirror network shows. Harry and Ginny went into the house when they were ready to go to bed; and left the kids to keep themselves entertained while staying up as late as they wanted to – though they would still need to be awake in the morning in decent time if they wanted to spend the entire day in London as planned. While Al and Gwendolyn had been hoping for some alone time – and possibly a sofa sleepover; they only ended up geting to have the sleepover because Lily fell asleep while they watched Lee's nightly show; Jonah was happy to be stuck cuddling with her; and they all just ended up staying and sleeping in the tent sitting room for the rest of the night.

That made for an entertaining start to their day on Tuesday; Harry and Ginny had fun with them while having breakfast – thanks in part to that part of the camping report; and then Harry went with the four kids to Diagon Alley and dropped them off there before heading to the Ministry of Magic while Ginny went to do some work first before meeting up with the kids to spend a few hours with them around lunchtime. The walk around Diagon Alley was not for any necessary shopping – they mostly did that for something to keep busy with until the Quidditch Museum opened for the day. That was their main entertainment activity for the morning – and it was where Ginny caught up with them once she'd done her visits to the training pitches to check out how the teams were doing while getting ready for the match she was covering on Saturday. Lily led the way around Diagon Alley with willing help from Gwendolyn, and they picked up a few things even though they'd only been window shopping; but then Al and Jonah were happy to switch from shopping to full-immersion in the history of Quidditch for the rest of the morning.

"Do you want to start from the beginning of Quidditch or work our way back from the most recent updates from last season?" Jonah asked once they were in the main lobby and after they'd bought their tickets.

"If Rose was with us, I'd recommend the history lesson first; since she doesn't like being reminded of the Cannons' horrid record for the past century or so."

"One hundred and twenty-eight years of futility," Al added – "and counting."

"That's an even scarier number when you consider that the Cannons did win twenty-one championships in their first one hundred and forty years or so in the league," Gwendolyn said; and smiled at Al. "Don't go there. I know about that because of all of the teasing Rose had gotten over the years; since that's one of her defenses of the Cannons."

"I wasn't going to suggest anything," Al promised. "It doesn't matter to me where we start. I like most of the exhibits here."

"Then I'll vote for going from oldest-to-newest," Gwendolyn decided. "Let's go have a laugh at those first brooms."

"We can laugh," Lily agreed; "but the Witches and Wizards of the day weren't laughing after riding those awful things."

That was certainly true, but it was still entertaining to check out the old artifacts that dated back as far as a thousand years. While the museum focus was on their own professional league, there were displays for other leagues around the world and even one, comparatively-small section dedicated to Quidditch at Hogwarts and other Wizarding schools. While they didn't delve into some of the records and history that required digging through the books; Lily took some extra time looking up some of the Hogwarts details for their own family; and then had some more fun when they visited the displays for the Harpies and Cannons.

"You'll be a year late for the eight-hundred and twentieth anniversary year for the Harpies when you join the team, and I'll be early for the eight-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary; but maybe our team will just have to win the league title every year to make sure we both start out our professional careers with big rookie seasons," Lily told Gwendolyn as they were looking at the first displays about the harpies' founding in twelve-oh-three.

"It'll be the three-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the league for our rookie year," Al pointed out. "That'd be an awesome championship to win too."

"You meant – 'for the Harpies to win,' right?" Gwendolyn asked archly; and joined in when Al, Lily, and Jonah all laughed.

"That would be great, but since I won't be able to play for them; it'd be awesome to win with whatever team I do end up on."

"More like a delusion; since you do believe you'll end up on Rose's Cannons team," Lily teased. "That will be great for Gwendolyn – and the Harpies, though."

"You'd take the idea seriously if we were talking about Rose and I playing on nearly any other team," Al poited out. "Don't let the team Rose wants to play for keep you from seeing the possibilities."

"For the gazillionth time, Al – Gwendolyn and I are going to play for the Harpies. Stop trying to mess with us!"

"I didn't even mention either of you in relation to the Cannons," Al protested. "Maybe it's your subconscious that's making that association – and liking the idea of playing on the same team with Rose and me. You are having fun with us this season."

"I am so going to hex you about a minute after we get on the Hogwarts Express," Lily threatened.

"And I might decide to help her if you don't move on and stop trying to mess with us," Gwendolyn warned.

"Shutting up now," Al promised; though his grin suggested that nothing else needed to be said anyway.

The rest of their tour of the museum was still very entertaining; the fun level went up for the tail-end of the visit when Ginny joined them in time for the recent-history and Quidditch World Cup sections of the museum; and then they went to have lunch at the food court of their favorite Muggle Mall. After they ate; it was time for some outdoor fun; they headed for a park; and then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out there and exploring the trails and pathways. Ginny didn't stay with them all afternoon because she had more work to do, but the hiking and exploring kept Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah busy until it was time to get together with Harry and Ginny for their dinner and a movie plans. Dinner was at a 'real' Muggle restaurant instead of having fast food at the Mall or elsewhere again; they watched an action-adventure movie that actually included some decent acting to go along with some great special effects and exotic, panoramic scenery.

Harry and Ginny were both working on Wednesday, so they went home after that; the kids went out to the tent on their own; and Lily and Jonah only stayed up long-enough to watch Lee's nightly show before Lily decided that four was a crowd. Jonah didn't need to get the hint, since she pulled him to his feet and sent him off to the room he hadn't gotten around to using yet except as a change room; and then she sent him off to bed with a happy little hug and kiss. Al and Gwendolyn still had to wait a bit longer to be alone while Lily and Jonah took turns using the bathroom, but they did expect to have some privacy once their younger brother and sister had returned to their rooms again.

"Finally – we're alone!" Gwendolyn said softly with a happy smile as she snuggled closer to Al. "Is this the longest we've gone for a holiday so far before getting to have any alone time?"

"No, but we notice it more now than we did back when we first started dating," Al answered. "This was the first weekend we've had in a while without any alone time; so that likely has something to do with why we feel this way."

"We have better things to do right now, but let's keep that in mind for the summer holidays. We need to do a better job of planning the you and me time so this doesn't happen again!"

Al would have answered, but Gwendolyn got right to that 'better things to do' activity; and he didn't want to think about anything else for quite a while. They did still have company in the tent, so their snogging session was quiet and not too hot, and when they were eventually ready to get some sleep; they happily snuggled close together and stayed on the sofa for a second sleepover together. Lily had fun with that in the morning – especially when she also woke them up while pretending to sneak out of Jonah's room when it was time for them to get ready for the day and head into the house for breakfast. Al made it to the kitchen in time to start the cooking before Harry joined him there and helped out; and then they had another fun morning meal together where Al and Gwendolyn got teased about their sofa sleepover issues. Lily teased her parents about having a kid-free house all night too, but none of them really wanted to talk about the details for that – and they didn't do it. Al and Gwendolyn did take care of the clean-up after they ate, though; and Lily and Jonah got the dining room set up for their second study session of the holidays.

As they'd done on Monday, Ginny stayed until all of the teens and tweens were accounted for; and then she headed out to work for a few hours while Al and Lily hosted their friends and cousins. The push to get their revision finished meant that they needed to actually work hard to make that happen; so the fun level was a bit lower – at least until Ginny came home with another take-out lunch. Not everyone got finished their work, but all of the firsties did; and Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn got their assignments done too. The friends that still had a bit of work to finish were going to do that on their own; so they didn't try to book another study session for Friday to go along with the Quidditch practices that were already booked. Lunch was fast food burgers and fries; everyone stayed for that meal; and then it was time for the non-Quidditch players to move on to other holiday adventures while Gwendolyn took her team players home with her; and Al and Lily got ready for their second practice of the holidays.

The next four hours of fun and Quidditch games included a really good workout; a moderately-poor scrimmage; and a really great hour or so of swimming after Ginny got home from her afternoon team visits. Al and Lily were on their own with Harry and Ginny once their cousins and friends went home; Al packed up the tent; helped Ginny with making dinner; and then they had another quiet night at home that included more Quidditch and watching some mirror network shows ahead of an early bedtime. While time seemed to speed up for Al and Lily; most of the last two days of the work week weren't especially exciting for them. They went shopping with a gang of cousins and friends on Thursday for both the back-to-school supplies they'd need for the next few weeks and some clothes shopping for spring-weather clothes. They spent the morning in Diagon Alley; the afternoon at their favorite Muggle Mall; and then they had another stay-at-home night without any guests so that Al and Lily could spend as much time with their parents as possible before they'd be heading back to school on Sunday.

Al and Lily – and Rose and Hugo – spent Friday morning at the Burrow with Grandma while Ginny worked; they had their Gryffindor Quidditch practice at the Potter home after having lunch with Molly and Ginny at the Burrow; and after another Quidditch practice that Al, Rose, and Lily weren't happy with now that they were down to just a week until the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match; their guests all went home while Al and Lily helped Ginny with getting ready to head over to the McCormack's house for dinner. The four kids were doing one last camping night there too; and they were spending the rest of the afternoon and evening with all four parents. Kirley and Ginny cooked the meal while the kids set up the tent and did a few other chores; they had dinner in the dining room; and then spent most of the evening outdoors – including playing more Quidditch and going for a swim in a nicely-heated portable pool. A campfire with treats to toast and bonus music entertainment was a fun way to end the day; though that part of their night came to an abrupt end as the fire died down and the chill of the night encouraged them to either head into the house or tent. Harry and Ginny didn't head home then, but while they stayed for drinks and a bit of adult chat time with Kirley and Gwenog before they left; the four kids got comfortable in the tent and wound down toward sleep with some cuddling and mirror network shows including Lee's nightly show.

"Do you think that Mum and Dad are staying for a while longer so that they can all check in on us later to see if we're having sofa sleepovers again?" Lily asked; grinning as she happily snuggled with Jonah under a warm blanket. "Maybe we should change into our night clothes and pretend to be doing that if we hear them coming out here again."

"That's easy for you to say," Al told her with a laugh. "You and Gwendolyn have nothing to worry about; while Jonah and I would be in trouble – especially Jonah. He ought to have been Gryffindor for being brave-enough to hang out with you when the most powerful Wizard in the world is your very protective father."

"You guys have nothing to worry about from cuddling with us," Gwendolyn assured them.

"Just don't mess up with us," Lily added. "That might get you turned into a bug – or arrested."

"What would your Dad charge Jonah with?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Use of Unforgiveables?" Lily suggested.

"I don't think that law is meant for the kind of 'unforgiveable' you're thinking about," Al told her after joining in for the laugh. "We're not going to get a visit from the parents anyway; so let's move on. Would you like to talk about Quidditch, school, our plans for the weekend; or the scary stories from Hogwarts that Kathryn told us about today at practice?"

"Does Kathryn have news from Olivia about your senior team that is scary – or about James?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Both," Lily answered before Al could – "though the Quidditch report wasn't scary. James is apparently earning one or two catches over Brandon in every practice, but according to Olivia; he's only being his normal egotistical self instead of being a total rotter."

"That might be scary for Pauline and our senior team," Gwendolyn mused. "If he's actually practicing hard and not being a total git; he might have a real chance in his duel against Pauline."

"Two of us can hope," Lily agreed with a laugh. "The rest of the news is where the scary comes in. He and Patricia have apparently kept the gossip network busy this week. They only got caught being out past curfew once, but they've gotten away with it other times; and have been seen going off to play on their own at all hours of the day and night. I'll skip the details that Kathryn didn't want to add; but it's a safe wager that they aren't taking off to play Wizard's Chess or have a Seeker duel."

"That isn't all that scary to me," Gwendolyn said with a shrug. "James might be the worst example for that sort of thing the way he's going around with Patricia and Bristol; but they're hardly the only teens at school acting like that. Is there more – like they got caught in the act somewhere they shouldn't be?"

"Gross!" Lily exclaimed. "I sure hope not!" She laughed; and then shook her head. "Thanks so much for that batch of mental pictures, Gwendolyn."

"I do think that's a bit scary," Al told them, "but there have been other rumors about drinking day and night too; and James has been distracting Patricia to the point where she isn't doing much of her holiday revision either – at least as of yesterday."

"He hasn't been drinking and flying, has he?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al and Lily both shrugged.

"Not that we've heard," Al answered. "If he has been doing that, he hasn't been doing it to the point that anyone noticed; or Dominique would've grounded him – and we'd have heard about that for sure."

"I think that the drinking he's doing is scary – and stupid," Lily declared. "It's a wonder he hasn't had a magical mishap by now. That is a leading cause of those sorts of accidents – drunk Wizards and Witches messing up spells or potions."

"Don't forget falling off of brooms and splinching themselves," Jonah added. "That's why Mum and Dad always make sure their guests get home safely if they've had a bit too much to drink at their parties."

"I'd suggest that James might get some sense knocked into him if he fell off his broom; but that didn't work last time – and he nearly got his head knocked off by that bludger," Lily told them. "Let's hope that James doesn't mess up all of his classes this year. He has to take all of the core classes in his OWL year; and they'd make him repeat fourth-year for any subjects he doesn't pass."

"That doesn't happen very often," Gwendolyn advised her. "The Professors will usually just push the students through and then let them pass or fail their OWLs. I haven't heard of anyone being flunked in any of the core classes in our three years; and there haven't even been that many for the optional classes."

"We wouldn't hear about all of them anyway," Al told her. "Students can drop one optional after third and fourth-year; but I doubt that many would admit doing that because they failed the subject – though most likely do at least pass and just decide that they don't like the class or aren't very good at the subject."

"Like Aunt Hermione and Divination," Lily added with a grin and nod. "I wonder if it bugs her that you're doing so well at it?"

"I doubt it," Al answered. "She thinks that it shouldn't even be taught at Hogwarts."

"Could we replace it with a class in Magical Sports?" Lily asked hopefully. "I'd take that as one of my optionals for sure!"

"So would I," Gwendolyn agreed. "I won't pick on Divination; but we really should have more than just the first-year flying lessons."

"We should have more magical sports too," Al offered. "Quidditch and broom racing don't even give most Witches and Wizards a sport to play that they like. Muggles seem to have more sports than we have spells."

"Not quite that many," Lily disagreed; "but that might be fun to think about different Muggle sports that we could adapt for our world. How about gymnastics on brooms or magical platform diving?"

"I liked those skateboarding tricks we saw at the park in London on Tuesday," Jonah told her. "Maybe if we got rid of the wheels and made it float; we could do tricks like that too – either above one of those half-pipes or just in the open air."

"That'd be awesome for a magical kind of snowboarding in the winter too," Al said with a grin. "Maybe a magical version of figure skating for the winter sports would be popular; since Wizards and Witches have been known to try putting dancing spells on their shoes."

"We already get to play the greatest sport in the Wizarding World – or anywhere else," Gwendolyn reminded them. "That all sounds like fun; but I wouldn't want anything to get in the way of my future Quidditch career."

"Sorry, Al – magical ice dancing with Gwendolyn is out for you," Lily teased. "I wouldn't mind making some time for other games. It's not like we don't do other things already – including riding bikes, swimming, and other Muggle games."

"I'll survive the disappointment," Al assured her. "Your ideas are still good – and might be really popular with the Muggleborn Witches and Wizards. Maybe you should talk to Dad about the ideas. He'd have some suggestions about what games might help kids that are new to our world."

"Flying bicycles instead of motorcycles?" Lily offered with a laugh. "Speaking of bikes, you guys have talked about ways to get to town faster than walking until you can apparate from the school gates; so why haven't you just gotten Mum and Dad to shrink a couple of bikes for you to take to school – and then you could just ride there and back every Hogsmeade weekend?"

"We'd need more than two bikes," Gwendolyn suggested – "though more than half of our friends don't even know how to ride one. I suppose we could shrink them again while we were in town to keep them from disappearing." She shrugged. "If you like the idea, we could try it, Al, but it's spring now; so I don't really mind walking with our friends – and it's safer for you and me when we're in a group."

"They wouldn't be much use in the snow," Lily reminded her; "but I guess you do have a point about sticking with crowds, and if you're off on your own anyway; you'd have more fun going for a horseback ride with Sabre instead."

"Gwendolyn picked a great name for your Animagus," Jonah told Al. "Maybe you should use it for Quidditch too – and give the rest of your team nicknames."

"Sabre might be better for Lily at Seeker instead of for me at Chaser."

"Sabre the Seeker does have a nice ring to it," Lily agreed; "but i wouldn't want to share the nickname with you. That is something to think about for our professional careers; but I don't think we need to do that this year."

Her comment didn't lead to a subject change because Gwendolyn wanted to have some fun with making some suggestions for all of the Gryffindors before moving on. Lily joined in for that bit of entertainment; and then they eventually gotdistracted by one of the mirror network shows. As they did on Wednesday night, Lily and Jonah went to bed after Lee's show; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to have a bit of alone time for some quiet snogging before they were ready to cuddle close and get some sleep.

James was in his dorm room bed less than an hour after curfew on Friday night; and not all that happy about being there. The entire holiday so far had been going brilliantly, but then Patricia had insisted on working on her revision for most of the day; and then she hadn't wanted to do anything fun after dinner. When he pestered her about it; she advised him that she was having female issues. That was his term, not hers; but then he didn't want to even think about that anyway. As far as he was concerned, those female issues should not be allowed to get in the way of his fun – and was one excellent reason for why Wizards should have more than one Witch to play with instead of going without whenever that was inconvenient for any one girl.

If Patricia hadn't strung him along until it was too late, he might have gone looking for other company for the night; but it had been too late for that by the time she got mad and told him to leave her alone. He didn't have that many options anyway, since most of the older Witches wouldn't have anything to do with him anyway; but he hadn't even gotten the chance to try. The older Witches thought had him musing about Malorie O'Malley. She might have been willing to have a bit of fun with him; but that was likely a bad idea with so many students around the school anyway. They hadn't even talked since school had started again, but he did still catch her watching him now and then; and was sure that she'd be willing to play – even now that she knew he wouldn't ever be willing to have a serious relationship with her. That was impossible, since he was going to be rich and famous; and she was totally unsuitable to be one of the hot Witches that he'd be seen escorting to parties and other social events.

"Don't go there," he chided himself; but it was too late.

Malorie might be as homely as they come, but she'd also been a huge ego boost. Sure, getting the hot Witches was even better in almost every way, but there was something different about turning a shy, quiet Witch like Malorie into something of a tiger that had been something he still had drems about now and then. Malorie had certainly been more enthusiastic and involved in participating in the fun than Patricia had been – at least so far. Fortunately for him, Bristol was both hot and that enthusiastic, but that wasn't going to help him out tonight; since she was at home for the holidays. He wondered if she was having 'fun' over the holidays too, but even as he considered that possibility; he decided that he really didn't care whether she did or not – as long as whatever she did on her own time didn't get in the way of their play time when he did want to be with her.

He really hoped that Bristol would be ready to have some fun with him after she got back on Sunday – especially now that it seemed that he was going to have a very boring weekend. Sure, he could go to Hogsmeade for a while on Saturday, and Dominique had one more practice booked on Sunday afternoon; but that still left a lot of time to fill up with nothing to do – unless you included the holiday revision that he could care less about anyway.

Then again, maybe he could work out a way to spend some time with Malorie without anyone else finding out. He could just happen to run into her somewhere around the castle or in town; make an offer to meet somewhere; and then hope for the best.

Now that was an interesting thought to go off to sleep with – and dream about – especially when he had nothing better to do now anyway!

Al woke up early on Saturday morning – even for him. That was likely because the arm that was under Gwendolyn had gone numb and uncomfortable, but he didn't do anything about that for a long time while he simply enjoyed holding her close and watching her sleep. That didn't last forever, since nature called to him in other, more demanding ways. Gwendolyn woke when he tried to get off of the sofa, so they had fun sharing a few good morning kisses, but then Al convinced Gwendolyn to have a nap while he took his turn getting ready for the day. She was still sleeping when he was done showering and getting dressed; he managed to escape the tent without waking her again; and headed for the house to get started on making breakfast. Gwenog was already in the kitchen by then, so he joined in to help with the work in progress after they shared a quick hug and greetings too.

"Remind me to thank your Mum again the next time I see her," Gwenog said with a smile as Al started making up a batch of pancake batter for her.

"For making me learn to cook?" Al asked; and Gwenog laughed.

"That's a nice bonus too; but I was referring to the hug training she gave me pretty much from the first day we started working together the summer after she graduated from Hogwarts. I don't know if I'd have ever hugged my own kids very much let alone their friends – or my nieces and nephews – if she hadn't convinced me that they can be quite nice. My family wasn't like that when I was growing up – though they've been catching on while raising your generation too."

"We all have Grandma Weasley to thank for that," Al said with a smile and shrug. "I'd even give her credit for that with Dad too – though hugs and kisses were completely opposite from how he was raised, so in a warped sort of way; James, Lily, and I have his Aunt and Uncle to thank for that as well."

"That's more sad than warped, but we'll never know if Harry's childhood would have been any better if he'd grown up somewhere else – especially if he'd been raised in the Wizarding World. He'd have had a target on his back all of the time; and even Dumbledore might not have been strong-enough to protect him from all of the Death Eaters that would have been after him back then."

"You're likely right – especially since we know that he couldn't protect him all of the time even while Dad was at Hogwarts – and the Death Eaters started coming after him almost immediately after he went to school and they knew where to find him."

"That's all true too; but this is a bit too somber to talk about on a nice spring morning."

"What would you like to talk about instead – your match next Tuesday night against the Falcons?"

Gwenog laughed. "That's not going to be a fun topic either – unless you have a sure-fire way for us to get past that match without ending up with half our team in their beds at St. Mungo's."

"Dad wouldn't let that happen," Al reminded her. "I wish I did have some suggestions for playing against the Falcons, but they're always going to play dirty; and it's always going to be a problem playing against a team that puts winning matches second behind beating up their opponents. If Aunt Gabrielle doesn't get an early snitch catch; our team will be in for a long, tough night."

"That's what we're worried about," Gwenog agreed. "The Falcons will likely make the playoffs whether they win or lose their final two matches; and might even want to lose them to make sure they end up in eighth place so they can have a second shot against us in the first round. Worst-case for us would be having them take out Gabrielle and then pound the rest of our team all night."

"They might try to do that, but if you get the big lead and they haven't gotten to Aunt Gabrielle yet; then I'd put our Beaters exclusively on protecting her – and get our Chasers to help run interference anytime they can get away with doing that."

"If we do that; they'll just start pounding on your cousin," Gwenog said seriously; though she was grinning too. "If I give that order; I'll tell her it was your idea."

Al laughed. "I'll take the heat for that one if it will help our team to win. Aunt Gabrielle wouldn't like me saying this, but I'm suggesting that partly because Victoire, Candice, and Hailey are younger and can take more of those hits. If you're right about how the Falcons might want to play this match, then you don't want to risk losing your Seeker; since they really might just try to keep playing indefinitely – or at least until they run out of Harpies to beat up on."

"You have a good mind for the strategy of the game," Gwenog told him – "just as Gwendolyn does."

"We have learned from some really great role models all of our lives," Al reminded her. "Your game plan for the Falcons is already likely close to what we're talking about anyway – if not exactly the same."

"It is," Gwenog admitted easily, "but you've no way of knowing that; so it is still fun to see what you'd come up with – and why."

Their chat moved on from their as they worked; the fun continued as Kirley, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all eventually joined them in the kitchen; and then they enjoyed their meal before needing to clean up and then get to work for a while. Kirley and Gwenog weren't hosting a family gathering, but they were having a family day with the Jones' side of the family; and needed to get their contributions for the food ready and pack bags with everything they'd need for a play day – including Quidditch gear and other supplies. Al and Lily had to pack up their things; Al and Gwendolyn took care of packing up the tent; and then Lily eventually went on to the Burrow when Ginny picked her up and Al went with Gwendolyn and her family to Gwenog's older brother's house.

Their parents had agreed to a kid-sharing plan for the day, so Al and Gwendolyn got to have lunch and play with her family until mid-afternoon; and then they were sent on to the Burrow to join in on the family play day and dinner there. There was Quidditch and swimming to do at both places; airplanes and copters to fly at the Burrow; and way too much food to have by the time they'd finished both of those meals. Getting to spend all of that time together – and with so many members of their families – had been a great way to spend their last day of the Easter break, but by the time that Al went with Ginny to take Gwendolyn home; they were both ready for a bit of quiet time with their respective parents before going to bed and getting some sleep so they'd be ready for their second long travel day and return to Hogwarts. That wind down time had been fun for Al and Lily – and even better because Harry and Ginny didn't even feel the need to have any serious conversations with them about dealing with James, Ollie, or any of their Slytherin haters.

They did talk about James, but only in relation to a couple of practical matters – including giving Lily the pouch of spending money that James would need for the last two months of school so that they didn't need to send that money by Owl Post. Compared to heading for school in September or the first of the year, only having about two months left to go until they'd be home again for the summer holidays didn't feel nearly as hard for Al and Lily – especially when they were all going to be very busy – whether that was at school with Quidditch and exams or at home with work that would include a lot of Quidditch too – at least until the end of the league playoffs in late-May. Al and Lily still had bedtime visits from their parents for a bit of alone time with each of them, but that was all fun and happy too – just a few more good memories to take with them when they parted ways again at King's Cross. Al wrapped up his bedtime entertainment having a short mirror chat with Gwendolyn, but she'd mostly just wanted to check in with him in case there had been any James-related weirdness; and then they were both ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

For the second school holiday in a row, James was happy to spend the last day off hanging out around Hogwarts instead of being stuck on the train all day. The excitement of those train rides had worn off long ago anyway; and he was seriously thinking about never going on the train again – especially when there were other options – like taking the Floo Network to Hogsmeade. He'd slept in; done what he planned on passing off for holiday revision by noon; and then he'd managed to make two snitch catches over Brandon the Bore despite his opponent's best efforts to play defense during the scrimmage. All of that had been more fun because his Saturday had ended brilliantly with a secret tyrst with Malorie that had been hot and a bit wild as she apparently really missed getting to be with a real Wizard – though he didn't actually think she'd been with anyone else since their Christmas fling. She'd been shy and unsure when she'd shown up for his invitation to meet and 'hang out' together after dinner, but it had also been obvious that she wanted the same thing he did; and it wasn't long at all before she was warming up to the idea of a few hours of extreme, clothing-optional fun!

Doing that without anyone else finding out had been even better, and while Malorie had looked a bit sad when they'd parted ways; she couldn't claim this time that she didn't know what she was getting into with him; and he'd already moved on to looking forward to his Sunday night reunion with Bristol by the time he was back in his dorm room. Hooking up with three different Witches in four days would be a new record; so he really hoped that would work out for him!

"We're here," Lily said with a sigh. "I am so glad that we're finally here!"

"We're always 'here' – wherever 'here' is," Al teased; "but we know what you mean. It's been a long trip."

"It's because we were only home for a week – and didn't have summer or Christmas holiday stories to talk about for hours like we do for those trips," she suggested. "I know we're in no hurry to get off the train when we'll need to wait for carriage rides anyway; but I am so ready to not be sitting down for a while."

"Are you going to stand in the carriage and at dinner?" Jonah asked; and she playfully punched his arm.

"No, but I am going to like being off of the train; and might go for a long walk after dinner before going back to the common room."

"I'm not sure whether to suggest that Al and I come along to watch your back or not," Gwendolyn told her while grinning at Al. "Would that be more dangerous for you – or less; considering how things went the last time we came back to Hogwarts?"

"Probably more," Lily answered – "though I wasn't thinking about potential trouble with James tonight. He'd better leave me alone, though; or I might accidentally forget about the money Mum and Dad sent with me for him until after the next Hogsmeade weekend – or possibly until we get home again and I find it in the bottom of my bag."

"You could try that," Al agreed; "but James will find out about that once that money doesn't arrive by Owl Post sometime over the next couple of weeks. That might be the only thing that would actually get him to call Mum or Dad right now."

"Let's not go there or I'll just get mad at him," Lily decided. "I'll also hope that he'll leave us alone tonight – even if it might be fun to see Al turn him into something small, furry, and edible for one of his animal forms."

That comment sent their chat off in a different direction – though not along those lines as they really hadn't wanted to talk about James. The rush for the exits that they avoided only led to standing around on the platform longer while waiting for carriage rides for most of the teens and tweens. Al and Gwendolyn stayed with Lily and Jonah until they could head up to the castle with the other third-year students; and then they eventually split up once they got to the Great Hall after enjoying the carriage ride and the chance to talk with some friends they'd hadn't spent much time with on the train – and hadn't seen over the holidays. Splitting up for dinner wasn't also time to say goodnight for them, since Al was going to walk Gwendolyn 'home' after the meal, but they still stayed together as long as they could – with Al at the Ravenclaw table until he had to move over to his usual seat at the Gryffindor table.

Hoping to get through the evening without any problems from James didn't keep Al from being on high-alert for any problems; and he was ready to react at the first hint of danger. Keeping his senses open to help with that had the side-effect of drawing in even more information than he normally picked up from everyone and everything around him. While most of that information just went into the memory banks; some of it was processed immediately – and his mind seemed to pick out things that would have caught his attention even while he really didn't try to focus on any of those senses beyond watching out for trouble. He did wonder whether there were reasons for why his mind felt the need to highlight information about James when he really didn't want to know some of the things he learned; but he didn't come up with an answer to that question. Discovering that Malorie had spent some time with James over the holiday was one example of too much information; but he could also sense her conflicting emotions caused by her choice to get together with James despite knowing he would never see her as a 'suitable' Witch to have for a girlfriend. What Al had sensed from Patricia had been even scarier; with Bristol's strong emotions that came along with her reunion with James a close second.

That had been weird-enough, but there was more. From the Slytherin table, the hate still rolled across the gap to him anytime one of his Slytherin haters caught sight of him or thought about him. There was some hate going on for him with James and Ollie too; but then there was a lot of positive emotion flowing around the Great Hall; and that did help to off-set the ugly. The dinner conversation with Rose, Ray, and the rest of the third-year students around them was mostly a sharing of Easter holiday stories, but the friends that hadn't been around for the Quidditch practices over the past week also wanted to get the inside scoop on how their team was coming along with getting ready for the match against Ravenclaw. Al got teased about not practicing with the 'enemy' while he'd been home; there'd been more jokes about staying away from Gwendolyn until after the match; and some other, related attempts at humor that included suggestions for ways to mess things up for the different Ravenclaw players. While he would be happy with a well-played match win or lose, Al was sure by the end of the meal that he'd be blamed for the loss; and get razzed about it for a long time – especially if he didn't at least try to use some or all of those 'brilliant' suggestions.

The best part of the evening through to the end of dinner was the absence of any pranks or attacks. Al and Gwendolyn were both happy to escape the Great Hall after they finished eating without any problems. They went for an extended walk; stopped for their goodnight hugs and kisses along the way to have some privacy for that; and then Al walked her to the Ravenclaw tower entrance before going on to his own House. Al hadn't checked his map to look for James, but then he hadn't expected to have any issues because his brother had been more interested in Bristol during dinner; and he had expected them to be too busy to bother him. He found out that wasn't true when they just happened to step out of a secret passage and then turn toward him in a hallway a bit more than half-way to Gryffindor tower. Al didn't need to sense anything from James to know he was initiating the contact on purpose – and he could decuce that easily-enough with the simple fact that there'd be no reason to be heading away from their House from that passageway even if they were going to stay out past curfew; and it wasn't even remotely a normal route from the Great Hall to their Gryffindor tower.

"Oh look – it's the Animorphloser on his way back to our House from his bedtime walk with the Potty-trainer," James told Bristol with a scornful sneer. She laughed and directed a half-sneer at Al too – though that was a contrast to the conflicting emotions he sensed from her.

"Do you think that she has to pick up after him like any good pet owner?"

"No – he's likely the kind of dog that prefers to just eat his own droppings," James declared with a guffaw of laughter. "That would explain the stench around him."

"Hi James, Bristol," Al said politely and quietly. "Have you had a good holiday? You look happy to be back together again."

"Did you hear something?" James asked while cocking his head to one side.

"Just some barking," Bristol answered. "Do you think that the Animorphpotty can even tell which form he's in anymore?"

"I do," Al assured her – "and I also love both of you regardless of how insulting you try to be toward me." He focused his attention on Bristol; smiled; and had to admit that he did enjoy her reaction to him – if only a little bit; and not even remotely in the way that James enjoyed that kind of attention from any Witch. "I know how much James likes it when his friends try to help tear me down, so have fun with that, but it doesn't work on me; and it won't change how Gwendolyn and I feel about you. If you've had enough fun for tonight, though; I'll be on my way."

"We haven't even started to have fun yet," James told him with a meaningful leer. "You wouldn't even know what to do to have any real fun; so go ahead – trot off, loser. It's past your bedtime."

"He'll need the sleep to be ready for a big day of sucking up to the Professors," Bristol suggested; "though maybe he should be sucking up with Gwendolyn instead. Ray got dumped the night before their match against Hufflepuff. Maybe she'll finally come to her senses and dump the loser sometime this week too."

"That would be some fun entertainment," James said with a nod of approval. "We could throw a party for Gwendolyn and welcome her back from loser-land – after she finishes crushing the Animorphloser on Saturday." Al had been past them by then, but he stopped; turned; and laughed at James.

"Are you actually going to cheer for Ravenclaw to beat my team knowing that the loss would put Gryffindor out of the running for the Quidditch Cup?" he asked in true amusement. "I'm sure that it sucks for you, but didn't think that you'd hate having me get one more win than you had as a junior player so much that you'd prefer to lose the Quidditch Cup just so that didn't happen – or that Lily would match your three wins in her first season."

"As if you've a chance on Saturday anyway," James spat back; and then his scowl darkened when Al laughed again.

"Ravenclaw could win, since they have a really great team this season, but so do we; and it's going to be fun finding out which team will get that undefeated record for the junior teams."

"You're going to lose – and lose the Quidditch Cup for us," James predicted stubbornly; and Al shrugged and shook his head.

"I'm sure you'll see it that way if we don't win – regardless of what happens in your last senior team match."

"It will be your fault – along with your cousins," Bristol declared; coming to James' defense; and earning an approving smile from him. "James is the best player in the school. If you didn't all keep sabotaging him; he'd have won the Quidditch Cup for us every year!"

"Nice job, James," Al told his brother. "You've managed to convince Bristol to reject my reality and replace it with your own! Thankfully, facts are not required in that special place!"

"More like truth hurts – you," Bristol snapped back – "and stealing one of James' favorite sayings to try and use against him just makes you sound like an idiot!"

"There is no way for me to respond to that without being insulting," Al decided aloud. "Have a good night, Bristol. Feel free to leave me alone, James. It's so much nicer when you stay away from me – for both of us."

"Are you threatening him?" Bristol demanded. Al was walking away already; and he didn't stop. "That sounded like a threat to me."

"It's a fact – even in your alternate reality," Al said while continuing to walk and only looking back over his shoulder. "I'm sure that you'd be happier doing anything else with James instead of bugging me – so go do that."

"I'd rather blast that holier-than-thou attitude out of you more than anything else right now," Bristol countered angrily.

Al knew when she decided to draw her wand on him; let her fire a flurry of hexes and jinxes at him; and countered all of them before disarming her without even needing to put much effort into it. He caught her wand; put it in his pocket; and resumed walking again.

"Accio wand!" Bristol shouted shrilly. She laughed when her wand shot out of his pocket and toward her; and then stared in open-mouthed astonishment when it shot past her and it would have shattered against the wall at the far end of the hallway if Al hadn't stopped it before that happened. That was only fair, since he'd helped it to get that far in the first place; but then he also made sure that Bristol would need to go and fetch it so that she couldn't try using it against him again while he was still within range of her spells.

"I guess you'd better leave me alone too, Bristol," Al advised her. "You've studied with me enough times to know how pointless that was; and you're welcome. If I was like James; that little attack would have ended badly for you."

"If you were anything like James you wouldn't be such a trouble magnet," Bristol shouted back. "Run along, loser. We're sick of the sight and smell of you anyway."

Getting the last word in seemed to help her, so Al kept his mouth shut and was soon out of sight around a corner. The rest of the walk to Gryffindor tower was uneventful, but he did spend a bit of time in the common room to visit with his sister and cousins before going up to his dorm room. Once he was ready for bed and had his book bag ready for the first day back in classes; he got a book out and read himself to sleep before most of his roommates even came up to bed. That had been intentional, since he didn't want to hear the gossip that was sure to come along with the stragglers staying up late to finish their holiday revision after James and Bristol didn't make it back to their House ahead of curfew. He'd sensed that was likely to happen; that was already too much information; and he didn't want to get asked the inevitable questions – or listen to his roommates razz him about it – or complain about James messing things up for the rest of them by hogging two of the best-looking Witches in their year.

Quidditch was at the top of the school gossip network by Monday morning, and while the Professors might all wish that their students would be more interested in their studies with just six weeks to go until final exams; even some of their best students were struggling to find the balance between their studies and Quidditch. Al, Gwendolyn, and their respective team mates did at least know that they could spend more time on their lessons and revision once the junior teams' season wrapped up on Saturday, but that really only gave them a bit of extra time away from the practices; since they did still have two more senior team matches and the profesional league matches that included three weeks of playoffs entertainment and excitement. While Al and Gwendolyn were getting focused on their winner-take-all match – at least for the junior teams; their practices on Monday or Tuesday afternoon were not the Quidditch highlights of the school week.

That honor went to the Harpies-Falcons' match on Tuesday evening. They'd been loaded down with assignments during their classes both days, and with tougher, longer Quidditch practices; taking the evening off on Tuesday wasn't an option. Al had worked late on Monday night to keep ahead of the assignments, though; and he set up his mirror and the sofas and some extra chairs so that Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and some of their friends could watch the match while he studied with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their small group and settled for mostly listening in to the action. He had left the Great Hall with enough time to get that work done ahead of the last half-hour or so of Lee's pre-game show; and most of the teens and tweens that planned on spending the evening with them were there in time to hear Lee's round-table of experts predict a Harpies' win with only one dissenter. By then, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were already set up and working; and the rest of their study buddies were waiting to watch the opening few minutes of the big match before joining them at the work tables.

"Would your Mum agree with that pre-game analysis, Gwendolyn?" Toni asked. "I'd have thought that the Falcons would need the win a lot if there are four teams that still have a shot at the last two spots in the playoffs."

"Mum does agree," Gwendolyn assured her. "We're guessing that the Falcons are going to aim for eigth-place; hope that a Harpies win today keeps them in first place; and beat them up so badly tonight that they still won't be recovered by the first-round match."

"Or at least have them so intimidated that they're afraid to play the Falcons again by then," Al added. "It might even be a pretty good plan if it wasn't for the fact that they're idiots to believe that our players are that fragile."

"It would work on me," Toni assured him with a grin. "Maybe that's one good reason for why I don't even try out for my school team."

"Do you play Quidditch at home very often?" Al asked. "I've never seen you try to play here."

"I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it might mess with my reputation if my total lack of Quidditch skills was ever revealed to the Wizarding World."

"Didn't you just do that?" Jonah teased with a laugh. "Some of us hadn't heard that you had any kind of Quidditch-related reputation in the first place, though; so that's news to me too."

"You're a Wizard and have no idea about half of the news around here," Toni reminded him. "Michael and I get lumped in with the rest of you for Quidditch with most of the students around here – even though neither of us have even played in any of your scrimmages. We're guilty by association."

"You might think that it would be scary to be called out for Quidditch; but I'd find it way scarier to get asked to do anything musical with Gwendolyn, Jonah, or any of their Weird Sisters' cousins," Michael advised her. "Fortunately for us, though, the match is starting; so we can change the subject and start watching the show."

"We won't let you get away with a statement like that so easily, and you need to get over here and studying soon too; so don't get too comfortable over there," Gwendolyn told him.

Toni and Gwendolyn led the way for teasing Michael about his supposed lack of musical talent while they watched or listened to the start of the match. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey came out strong right from the start; they soon had the Harpies in the lead; and the Falcons quickly proved that they were more interested in pounding the Harpies' players than in trying to keep up on the scoreboard. The action above the pitch was frenetic; every goal was a hard-fought battle; and both teams played to their own game plan and strengths. While the third-year students had a lot of work to get done, the firsties all had some revision to finish too – they just mostly worked while sitting on the sofas or armchairs and watching the match. Al was busiest for their group, but he still took little breaks to watch some especially-good plays – or at least the replays.

Thanks to their own game plan, the Falcons were being out-scored by a lot, and the Harpies earned the one-sixty lead within the first two hours. That allowed Gabrielle to back off from the Seeker duel, but her opponent made it clear that he had no intention of trying to catch the snitch for the loss; and that his goal was to help his Beaters to take her out – and not in a dating sort of way! The Harpies' Chasers continued to build on their lead as the hours rolled on, but Gabrielle wasn't having any luck winning her Seeker duel; and all of the Harpies were getting pounded and beat up. There was no end in sight for the match when it was time to pack up ahead of curfew, so everyone except the third-year Gryffindors headed for their common rooms; where the game was being watched by a lot of teens and tweens. Al, Rose, and Ray had Astronomy at midnight, and though they could have gone back to their House for a while first; they opted to go to the Owlery to check in on Winter and Blizzard; and then get a head start with their work on the Astronomy tower. Al used his portable mirror to keep an eye on the score until their class started. The Falcons actually made up one goal of their points deficit in that hour leading up to midnight, but the Harpies still had a two-hundred and sixty point lead that wasn't at all comfortable because it had been earned one painful hit at a time – or more like ten hits for every goal.

Al would have been glad if the match had ended during their Astronomy class, but it hadn't; so he resumed watching it once he was back in his dorm room and was ready for bed. Ray sat up with him, but the other guys in the room went to bed; and the rest of the roommates that did continue watching the game did that in the common room – mostly so that they could hang out with their girlfriends while doing that. There had been two timeouts during the match, so while the official game time was six hours and fifty minutes; it was past-two by the time Gabrielle finally caught the snitch to give the Harpies the brutally-hard-fought, five-sixty to one-sixty victory. The fans cheered, but their favorite players looked defeated as they all quickly landed and got off their brooms. The Falcons looked like the victors; though Al was surprised to see that last as long as it did because his father didn't pop onto the pitch to help Victoire, Gabrielle, and the other Witches. Gwendolyn was surprised by that too, and when they didn't get any extra help except from the Medi-Witch working the game for the Harpies; she called Al to ask him about it.

"Is your Dad sick or something?" she asked without answering his greeeting. "I was sure he'd be there to help them again tonight after they've all taken such a beating."

"My first guess is that he was asked not to do anything until later," Al advised her; since that was the most-logical reason he could think of to explain why his father wouldn't have been right there – as he was after every match that had been so hard on Victoire – or on Gabrielle or Ginny too.

"You think that Mum is going to try playing this up into the playoffs?" Gwendolyn asked – though that was more of a statement than question. "I'll ask her about that tomorrow. I suppose it would be possible to do that over the next three weeks – unless they need the win over United a week from Saturday to stay in first place. They won't be able to fake that they're still recovering if they're playing United for that top spot for the regular season."

"I'm just guessing," Al reminded her. "For all I know, he got called away from the match to Auror Headquarters and just can't help them right now. He will, though, so even if your Mum does have a post-game strategy in play; it won't include having our favorite players needing to spend weeks recovering from those injuries. We need to get some sleep, though; so let's talk about this again in the morning."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "I love you, Al. Have a nice nap – since that's about all we have time for now."

"I love you too," Al assured her. "See you again in a handful of hours."

They ended the call; Al talked with Ray while they both watched a bit of the post-game show; and then it was lights out until morning for both of them. Al actually had to force himself to get up on time; the hot shower helped to revive him; and then he went down to the common room to wait for Rose and Lily – sure that they'd both be going along for the morning walk and talk. He found out from Lily that at least part of his guess about what had happened after the match was true when she advised him that their mother had confirmed that their father had been asked to wait until later to heal all seven of the Harpies just to mess with the Falcons. Harry did heal them once he could do that without anyone finding out, though; and Lily was happy to report that Victoire, Gabrielle, and their team mates were all doing well – though they were still exhausted from the grueling match, serious injuries, and extreme healing.

With that match finished, though, it was time for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams to get ready for their own battle on Saturday. Al and Gwendolyn didn't let that rivalry get in the way of their relationship, but then they didn't have time for any play time for two during the rest of the week anyway. With the match on Saturday and what would surely be a party for one of their Houses; they needed to work day and night just to keep up with their classes and studying. Al also needed to help Lily and most of their cousins with putting on a birthday party for Fred after dinner on Thursday. That wasn't a small party, but they set up the classroom so that the studying could still happen too; so Fred's thirteenth birthday was a mix of fun for the younger teens and tweens; and a lot of work for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the older cousins as they juggled their studies; party work; and trying to have a bit of fun with Fred too. Watching the Harpies match on Tuesday was Al's latest night of the week, but Thursday night was a close second when he needed to stay up later to get all of his work done after Fred's party; and then he worked hard all day on Friday through until shortly-before the team curfew that he and Gwendolyn had both picked for their teams ahead of their match. Going to bed that early after so many late nights might have been a problem, but he'd been exhausted by then; so crashing into nap mode had only taken minutes.

Finally, it was game day! Al was up early; ready to go with twenty minutes to spare; and then had an extended walk and talk with Rose and Lily when they met him in the common room early too. That had been fun, and the breakfast food and entertainment had been good too – even with the ongoing razzing from the guys and girls that insisted there was still time for Gwendolyn to break up with him even if he was too selfish to break up with her to help their team. Gwendolyn had stopped by the Gryffindor table for a hug and kiss with Al before moving on to her table, but they were both glad to meet up again after breakfast to have a bit of time together before they'd need to split up to get ready for the match with their respective teams. Al waited until they were outside to give her the good luck gift he'd picked out for her.

"Should I be worried about this gift?" she joked as she tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. She laughed when she saw the horse-and-rider figurine that he'd transfigured to look like them when they went riding; and shared a happy hug and kiss with him that left them both a bit breathless. "Is there some hidden meaning in this that isn't as obvious as that Gryffindor lion was last year that you dressed up in Ravenclaw colors?"

Al smiled and shook his head as they resumed walking. "Not really – though win or lose; we're on this ride together and I hope we can both just have fun today."

"We are, and I'll love you whatever happens; but I still hope that my team will win today. I'd realy like to win the Quidditch Cup again this year!"

"Tory and Madison would tell us that it's their turn to win the Quidditch Cup," Al pointed out. "If you do get one step closer to that today, though, I promise you'll have earned the win – though I expect you'll know that by then anyway."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Gwendolyn assured him; and then grinned. "It has been fun talking with my friends about some of their ideas for helping to get that win too; but I'd need to be on Slytherin's team to even think about actually trying most of those tactics."

"But not all?" Al asked in amusement. "Which ideas did you think might be okay to try today?"

That question gave them something to talk about as they walked to the stadium; they spent a few minutes wishing each other good luck in a mostly non-verbal way; and then they went into their respective team locker rooms for the day and got ready to do warm-ups and have their pre-game team meetings. Al didn't have to wait long before Rose, Lily, Ray, Kathryn, Fred, and Orlando joined him; and then it was time to get to work and ready to play what was likely to be their toughest match of the season. While Al took all of that seriously, he still put having fun first, and while he really believed that was most-important; he also hoped that it would make a difference for winning the match too – especially if the match ended up being as hard-fought as he expected it to be. Lily teased him a bit about his pre-game pep talk; offered her own encouragement that was more along the lines of 'let's get out there and win' instead of Al's invitation to play hard and have fun; and then she proceeded to start the fun out with a round of hugs and a few kisses for good luck that had all of her team mates smiling by the time they walked out to the player entrance and got ready to be invited out to the stadium. They were there in time for most of Kylie's pre-game show; so they stood just out of sight of the stadium crowd and listened in as she began the final junior team match that she'd be announcing before moving on to the senior team level with Teresa next season.

"Welcome to the final junior team match of the season!" Kylie called out. "We should be in for quite the showdown today as Gryffindor and Ravenclaw battle it out until one of these teams earns an undefeated season! That's right, and not only are our two teams vying for the chance at that worthy accomplishment, but they are fighting to help their Houses stay in the running for the Quidditch Cup. For that race, with three matches remaining – including this one; we have Ravenclaw in first place with three wins and one loss; Hufflepuff in second with three wins and two losses; Gryffindor in third with two wins and two losses; and Slytherin in fourth place with one win and three losses. A win by Gryffindor would give the top three teams a three-win, two-loss record going into the last senior team matches of the season; and then it would be up to the senior teams to battle it out for the championship title!"

"Yes, that is what we want to see happen today!" Lily whispered with a grin for Al.

"A win for Ravenclaw today would put Gryffindor out of the running for the Quidditch Cup; though they – Gryffindor – could still play spoiler in their senior team match-up should Hufflepuff earn their fourth win in two weeks against Slytherin – and they win the points tie-breaker too. That's something for the Arithmancers in the crowd to play with, though; and we have a game to get to; so with no further delay; let's hear it for Gryffindor!"

"Oh look – Captain Potty is actually leading the way today along with his third-year dog pound dunces, Rose and Ray!" James announced. "Maybe he just wants to make a good first impression before the suck begins and he blows the Quidditch season for our House just to keep his Potty-trainer happy."

"Play nice, James," Dominique warned; and he laughed.

"I am playing nice. If I wanted to be mean, I'd go sit in the Ravenclaw section and cheer for their team. They're horrid too; but we shouldn't even want to win a Quidditch Cup if it means doing that with help from the lying, sneak cheat excuse for a Captain we have on our junior team – or from his band of rotten, cheating team mates."

"James!" Dominique said; her tone already exasperated.

"What? I'm just pointing out that I really was playing nice. Here – I'll prove it to you. Rose has the best Keeper record for the junior teams going into this match, and while she won't keep it for much longer, and probably had to confund her opponent Chasers to get this far; she won't dare to do that against her Ravenclaw buddies when the fix is already in to throw the match anyway. Captain Potty is the quaffle-hog leader for Chasers and scoring; which is why Ray and Kathryn suck so badly by comparison. The loser won't just be screwing us today; he'll make his team mates look incompetent too!"

"Give it a rest, James," Lucy told him. "The rest of us don't want to hear your idiotic commentary – especially when we only have our junior team to thank for even still being in the running for the Quidditch Cup."

"I'd rather hear James telling us the truth instead of that blather Kylie is spewing," Bristol shot back; and then scowled when Lucy laughed at her.

"It's too nice a day to get into it with you – or listen to James. If you can't let us watch the match in peace; then go away. I'm sure you'd both rather be entertaining each other somewhere in private anyway – unless you're too tired for that after staying out all night."

"You should try it sometime," Bristol toldher angrily. "Alex might like you better if you weren't such a stuck-up prude." she sneered at Lucy then. "I'm sure he'll dump you shortly after he graduates too – just like Molly and Dominique got dumped the moment their boyfriends started to get better offers."

"That's very kneazle-like of you," Lucy toldher; and she wasn't amused anymore. "What's it going to be – leave; or stay and be quiet?"

"Option three – we stay and have fun watching the train wreck," James told her bluntly. "You've been wasting so much of my announcing time, though, I'll have to keep the rest of the report much shorter than planned. Lily and Kathryn are the worstie firsties; and Fred and Orlando are the only players worth watching – if only because we might get lucky and see them bash in the heads of a few Ravenclaw. Speaking of the Ravenclaw team, thanks to that delay; they've already been introduced and are landing. They were led out by Captain Potty-trainer; and she doesn't have any third-year players with her because they sucked even worse than the Cravenclaw firsties and second-year losers. Yes, they are going to win today thanks to how well the Potty-trainer has trained her Animorphloser; but there isn't much point in mentioning the other players on the team; since they all suck anyway."

"Well, that at least saves us from listening to more of that nonsense," Lucy declared. "Now shut it, James; or you'll be spending the rest of the match without the ability to speak."

"Oh, I'm so scared," James taunted. "Will you blast me right here in front of the Head Girl? I doubt that she'd even cut her own sister any slack for something like that."

"She wouldn't," Lucy agreed, "but a few hours of detention would be worth it for the peace and quiet."

"Go ahead – keep going," Ollie told James. "Then you can try to get her banned from the last match. We'd have a much better chance of winning if I was on the team instead of her."

"Sure, because Dominique would go to her third-best reserve Chaser to replace me," Lucy scoffed – "or do you have a plan to get Gina and Magnus out of your way too?"

"I am the best Chaser on our team – and everyone would know it if you, Dominique, and my traitor of a sister didn't conspire to screw me over all season – just as you've sabotaged James."

"I think that the best Chaser in our House is out there at center pitch – and about to take off against the second-best Chaser in our school," Olivia told her brother. "Why don't you try something new – watch and learn. I know that I will be able to do that by watching Al and Gwendolyn."

"Spoken like the truly-deluded," Ollie spat back; and scowled when that comment earned a round of laughs from the Witches on his team.

"We're not delusional," Lucy assured him – "we're worried about not making the team next season in our NEWT year when we'll need to beat Al and Ray at tryouts."

"Especially when we'll all be trying to do that against both Louis and Rose," Olivia added.

"Don't remind me," Louis told her. "I could be there on the reserve squad with you if I'm not ready to win that Keeper battle with Rose."

"As if the fix isn't in for next season already," James told them scornfully. "Dominique will likely recommend Captain Potty there to be Captain for the senior team next year too."

"What a brilliant suggestion!" Dominique pretended to gush. "That would solve my problem of trying to decide between Lucy and Olivia!"

"Do you think he'd take the job?" Lucy asked hopefully after laughing along with everyone except James, Ollie, Patricia, and Bristol.

"I don't know," Olivia answered. "Let's see how he does today; and maybe talk about it later – if he wins and goes undefeated this season."

Al had loved flying around the stadium with his team mates; and then had just as much fun watching his amazing girlfriend do the same lap with the Ravenclaw team. The pre-game speech by Mr. Peakes was just a formality; but the good luck hug and kiss with Gwendolyn had both been really great and entertaining for nearly everyone in the stadium. Lily had earned some laughs for hugging and kissing Jonah as they lined up for take-off; and then the fun really kicked into high gear when Mr. Peakes tossed the quaffle into the air and he raced Gwendolyn to get to it first. He laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him as he grabbed it, but then she blasted past as he did a vertical one-eighty flip; dove toward the pitch again; and passed the quaffle to Kathryn on the opening play they'd designed for if he caught the quaffle first. She caught the pass as she was already speeding toward the Ravenclaw goals; passed to Ray; he passed back; and then Kathryn appeared to drop the quaffle. She hit the brakes to stay out of the zone around the goals, and just happened to block Gwendolyn in the process as Al shot up from near the pitch to grab the drop-pass; go in on goal; and score on Gryffindor's first shot with a spinning broom trick that included taking the shot while upside-down and facing away from the goal he directed the shot at – a play that left Ryan looking baffled and amazed.

That first play worked to perfection, but the game was really on then; and Al was thrilled to see Gwendolyn just get even more fired up as she accepted the challenge and went all-out in her Chaser battle with him. That was true for all of the players on both teams; and they collectively soon proved that they were very-evenly matched indeed! Gryffindor earned the second goal of the match too, but then Ravenclaw matched them goal-for-goal through the rest of the first hour; so Gryffindor took a narrow sixty-to-forty lead into the second hour. Gwendolyn briefly got the score to within a goal, but that didn't last long; and Gryffindor again outs-cored Ravenclaw by two goals in the second hour on the way to a one-thirty to ninety lead. In the third hour, the gap between the teams was just one goal, but that was still in Gryffindor's favor; and the lead increased to two-hudnred to one-fifty.

Even after three tough hours of Quidditch, the one thing that at least some of the spectators noticed was that all of the players were still having fun; smiling; and even joking around a bit with each other as they played together. Even a handful of bludger hits were more of an opportunity for some light-hearted jokes or taunts; and all of that helped to make the joy of the game really shine for everyone. The actual playmaking was often spectacular too, and while Al had an advantage in his battle against Gwendolyn, Ray and Stephanie were battling to a draw; while Kathryn was only a goal ahead of Alyssa heading into the fourth hour of their battle. While thirty-five goals in three hours seemed like a lot, Rose and Ryan were playing brilliantly too since nearly every offensive play in both directions ended in a shot on goal – with very few steals or interceptions.

The game seemed to speed up in the fourth hour, and while the Chasers were getting a lot of the attention from the spectators; Lily and Jonah were having a brilliant Seeker duel that was so good that not even James could come up with ways to keep insulting them. Al couldn't watch much of that action – though he did still know what was going on with Lily at all times; and he had Fred and Orlando make some changes to adjust for that duel to try and help Lily out. He had to trust her to do her job; since he was too busy trying to keep ahead of Gwendolyn and her relentless, brilliant Quidditch skills. Winning the fourth hour by another two goals did feel great, but the two-eighty to two-ten lead was hardly insurmountable – especially when he could sense that some of the players on both teams were beginning to tire. That's why he and Gwendolyn agreed to a first time-out shortly into the start of the fifth hour so that they could all re-hydrate and eat some food.

There were risks that went along with stopping to do that for both teams, but Professor McGonagall had already decided to provide lunch to everyone by then and the food had been set up on tables outside of the stadium; so they'd have needed to stop for a break sooner or later. It took a little while to get back up to full-speed again once the game resumed, but Ravenclaw tried one play that backfired spectacularly on them when they tried to bring Ryan up into an offensive play as their fourth Chaser. Al wasn't fooled; he spun backward out of the defense and intercepted Stephanie's backward pass to Ryan; and blasted past him to earn the easy, open-goal score. Ravenclaw regrouped from that mistake very quickly, and it did help to kick up the pace of the match again, but that goal was one of the two extra goals that Gryffindor had during that hour again; and they took a three-fifty to two-sixty goal lead into the sixth hour.

Conditioning began to kick in as they fought on; and that gave the Keepers a slight advantage as it got harder for Ray and Kathryn to keep up with Al and for Stephanie and Alyssa to do the same with Gwendolyn. It took a while to adjust to that reality, so while there were more shots on goal; Gryffindor and Ravenclaw only managed to exchange six goals each to take the score to four-ten to three-twenty. There wasn't really a turning point in the seventh hour, since both teams continued to fight as hard as they could, but Al and Gwendolyn took the lead for their teams as their fellow Chasers wore down; and they scored most of the goals because they were ahead of the pack on nearly every offensive play as the reaction times for everyone else slowed by comparison. Lily and Jonah were slowing down by then too, but continued to battle to a draw as they each had good chances to catch the snitch but weren't quite able to beat the other to get the catch and win.

Gryffindor scored seven goals in the seventh hour; and Al had five of them. Gwendolyn had four of five for Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor's one-ten lead was really looking bad for Ravenclaw. They needed to take another time-out at the end of the seventh hour; and while stopping was even riskier for most of them after that long in the air; they also all needed the food and drinks to keep going for much llonger anyway. By the time they lined up for take-off again, Al and Gwendolyn were getting worn down too, but then they were both right at it again when Gwendolyn showed that she wasn't quite as tired as she looked; she got the jump on Al for the race to the Quaffle; and then she went on to get a pretty good scoring chance against Rose – though not one that ended in a goal.

Rose was a big part of the difference between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw because she was outplaying Ryan at Keeper. Al and Gwendolyn pretty much traded scoring opportunities, and took most of the shots on goal, but Al, Ray, and Kathryn outscored Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Alyssa three-to-two. Gryffindor had increased their lead to five-forty to four-ten when the Seeker duel came to a brilliant end. Lily and Jonah were battling each other in another chase after the snitch; they had each other blocked from the catch; and then they both tried the same inverted roll while blasting along side-by-side at well-over one-fifty. Lily's hand closed over the snitch first; Jonah's hand briefly clutched hers; and then they both needed to flip and hit the brakes to avoid crashing into the stands.

They were still close together then; so the spectators in Hufflepuff section got to have a great view of the mid-air hug and kiss that Lily shared with Jonah – a move that nearly knocked them off of their brooms.

"I wonder if Pauline will kiss you like that if she wins your duel in our match?" Louis asked James with a grin. "Maybe I'm wrong about this, but Jonah looks so dazed right now that he might think that he won."

"Maybe he did," Dominique offered with a laugh. "I'd say we all did; since this has been a brilliant day."

"With the bonus that we're still in the running for the Quidditch Cup," Olivia added. "Let's hope we can do that; since I have a feeling that Ravenclaw is going to be even tougher to play against next season."

"As if it will be so easy with Peter and Pauline this year," Lucy added – "especially now that Louis has James thinking about letting Pauline catch the snitch if she promises to snog him after the match."

"Quit grinning like that, mate," Louis told him. "Pauline has a boyfriend; wouldn't do that; and she'll have that Seeker duel won before you start the match if you waste your time daydreaming about mid-air snogging with her instead of getting ready to win that duel."

"I could always snog her when I win instead," James countered; still grinning wolfishly while ignoring the glares and frowns from Bristol and Patricia. We have a party to go to now, though, and I guess we should go and congratulate the loser on our way there; so let's get going."

"Will you offer to console Gwendolyn to help her get over the loss too?" Ollie asked with a sneer; and James laughed.

"She might like the company while Captain Canine is at the party. I'll at least make the offer."

"You won't," Dominique told him quietly. "Our junior team played brilliantly today; and you're going to leave them alone."

"Watch me," James shot back; and Dominique shook her head.

"No, James. Not this time. You mess with them after they've given everything they had to keep us in the Quidditch Cup race; and Brandon will be playing Seeker in our last match. I'm not asking you to be nice – just to stay away and let them enjoy the win. That is not too much to ask – and the very least they deserve from you."

"You're bluffing," James declared.

"I'm not – and you know it," she disagreed. "You have three more seasons to go, but this is my last chance to win a Quidditch Cup before I graduate; and we all have Al, Lily, Rose, and the rest of their team to thank for even having that chance instead of being out of the running already. In case you were too busy insulting all of the junior players and didn't happen to notice; they just put our House in first place for the Quidditch Cup race with a big points lead. Hufflepuff has three wins too, but even if they win their last match against Slytherin; it's more likely that the winner of our match with Ravenclaw will win the Quidditch Cup. Keep that in mind while you're busy leaving all of our favorite junior players alone; and work on figuring out a way to win your Seeker duel with Pauline so that we can get that Quidditch Cup championship."

"But no pressure there," Louis joked. "Skipping the post-game festivities on the pitch does give you the advantage of first dibs on the party drinks and treats. Maybe Noel and I should go along. We can always congratulate our junior team players later – and I am starving."

"Thank-you Merlin – and Lily!" Al said with quiet, tired sincerity as he watched Lily share the hug and kiss with Jonah that nearly knocked them off of their brooms. His laugh sounded tired too; but he was smiling as he and Gwendolyn met for a mid-air hug and kiss too. "That was brilliant – you were brilliant today," he added. "Are you as tired as I am?"

"Yes – and I'm going to let you help me out with that before you head off to the party that I won't get to have with my House thanks to you, Lily, and the rest of your team," she teased.

"You can go to our party and I'll go have a nap," Al offered half-seriously. "There should be a party in your House anyway; since you have had a great season – and a great match today. Let's get on the ground. I've had more than enough time on this broom for one day."

"Me too; and I can't imagine playing for days on any of those old brooms they used to play Quidditch on."

They'd noticed, but hadn't paid attention to the laughs, cheers, and whistles that their hug and kiss had generated; so it wasn't until their team mates began landing next to them that they were both reminded that the normal first-response to winning or losing a match was not supposed to be hugging and kissing their opponents. Lily and Jonah got teased about that too; but there were more hugs and kisses going on among all fourteen players for the few moments they had to themselves before the crowds of relatives, friends, and fans of both teams gathered around them and wanted to offer their congratulations and condolences. By then, Kylie was starting her post-game – and junior team match announcing career – wrap-up; so while he had fun with Gwendolyn and their team mates; Al listened in on her game and Quidditch Cup summary.

"Game time today, not including time-outs, was a whopping seven hours and forty minutes," Kylie said a bit hoarsely – something that was no surprise when she'd managed to call the play-by-play for that entire time without asking Teresa to help her out this year. Final score – six-hundred and ninety to four-hundred and ten! I'm sure that it will be of no surprise to anyone to learn that our top scorers today are Captains Albus Potter with twenty-eight goals and Gwendolyn McCormack with twenty; but they were also first and second for assists with twenty-two and twenty assists respectively. While that's amazing; I'll also point out that we had five Chasers with double-digit goals; five with double-digit assists; and six players with double-digit points." She paused for a drink of water; and then continued.

"Rose Weasley wins the Keeper duel over Ryan Rivers, but while their save percentages were close – and a bit low compared to their previous matches this season; they also both faced a lot of shots on goal today. My tally on the Beater battle is too close to call; so I'll leave that up to the experts to decide in time for the end-of-year awards and feast in June. Finally, with this win for Gryffindor, their House has won the junior team title for the first time in four seasons; and that is their fifth junior team title in the nine seasons we've had so far since the junior teams were introduced in twenty-eleven. The Quidditch Cup standings have changed too; Gryffindor has moved up to first place thanks to the points tie-break; and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are in second and third place with three-and-two records too. It's been a long day, so I'll again leave it up to the experts to have fun with the possibilities for the Quidditch Cup race for the final two senior team matches. This is my last time announcing the junior team matches, so thank-you for all of the really great memories over the past two seasons; and I hope to see you again next year when I'll get to help out with the senior team matches!"

"You just had to keep Gryffindor hogging half the junior team titles, didn't you?" Gwendolyn teased after Kylie passed along that bit of trivia.

"I only have one of those five wins," Al pointed out. "You have both junior team titles for Ravenclaw – and Victoire won the first three for our House; so we're only two-for-six since then." He paused and thought about that for a moment. "I think you're tied for second with Alex for the best junior team record. Hufflepuff won in his first and third years."

"I'm not really complaining," Gwendolyn assured him – though I am still disappointed."

"Sure you are," Louis said as he and Noel stepped up next to them after talking with Rose and some of the other players first. "Seven wins and a tie out of nine junior team matches; two junior titles; at least one Quidditch Cup; and all of those individual awards adds up to such a horrid first three years of Hogwarts Quidditch for you. I've only got four wins and a tie so far in five seasons; so I can't even catch up to you if we win our senior team match against Ravenclaw." He turned his attention to Al and shook his hand. "Congratulations. Even Victoire didn't manage to go undefeated in her junior team years. I hate you."

"You don't; and my actual record apparently depends on who you talk to," Al answered and joked. "How was the bonus game play-by-play today? Was James on a roll?"

"Yes, but we're not going to go there. He's also been ordered to leave all of you alone today; so you can thank Dominique for that little victory gift."

"I'd say that's a very large gift," Gwendolyn told him with a bright, if tired-looking smile. "We're a bit too tired to handle any major problems."

"No doubt. I'm sure you want to get this over with so you can all hit the showers and get to the castle, though; so we'll move on and talk to you later."

That cameo moment was just one of dozens for Al and Gwendolyn. It was more than a half-hour before they were able to head for the locker rooms with their team mates; Al took the time to help all of the Ravenclaws that wanted a bit of healing before doing the same with all of his own team mates once they were all in the locker room; and then it was time to celebrate for a while. The fun started with just the seven of them; continued during the walk back to Gryffindor tower that Gwendolyn and Jonah joined them for before going on to their own House; and then kicked up a dozen notches on every level once they reached their common room and joined the party that was already kicked up into high gear. James and Ollie did at least pretend to leave them alone, but wheezes were being used; and Al had no doubt that James was in on that action – and tried to mess with him at least three different times. He really didn't enjoy the spotlight very much; so he was glad to have Lily, Ray, and Kathryn all willing to take the lead for that – and Lily was especially popular for that because she was so happy and outgoing; confident without being arrogant; and kind and considerate with pretty much everyone that was willing to be nice to her in return.

All of that teen and tween hyper-emotion overloaded Al's senses, though; so he was glad that they only had a limited amount of time for the first part of that party before they all needed to head for the Great Hall for dinner. The game, teen drama that surrounded it, and the party stories from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were the top gossip topics, but other than needing to eat a lot, by then; Al was just looking forward to having a quiet evening alone with Gwendolyn. The parties in both Houses resumed after dinner, but they spent those hours cuddling on a sofa; enjoying some quiet, soft and sweet snogging; they had a little cat nap while not really watching the mirror network shows; and then went back to their own Houses ahead of curfew and went to bed early instead of rejoining the parties that had pretty much just turned into snog-fests by then anyway. The long match, a lot of healing magic, and the rest of his adventures for the day caught up with Al by the time he was ready for bed; and for the second night in a row; he was off to dreamland within minutes of having his head hit the pillow.

"So, you've decided to come to your senses. You don't look significantly-older; so I'll guess it hasn't been years since our last visit."

"If we're going to start out like this again; it might be years until next time – or never," Scorpius shot back. Have you been having fun in that eternal darkness? I've been a bit bored; but have done well-enough without you over the past few weeks."

"Time has no meaning for me," Thomas reminded him. "If you are truly happy with a life that's going 'well-enough' and a bit boring; then go have at it; and fare thee well. I suspect that you still desire more for your future, though; and you need my help and training for that to happen."

"So teach me what I need to know – but stop trying to tell me how to live my life!" Scorpius told him. "I am not you; and there is nothing wrong with having different interests. I want to play Quidditch and be the best at it. I don't care whether you like that or not; but it doesn't get in the way of our lessons as much as other responsibilities in my life; and I'm not going to put up with you belittling it – and me – just because you have always thought that magical sports are a waste of time."

"I've never said that," Thomas disagreed. "Magical sports are a waste of time for those who are meant to rule the Wizarding World. Quidditch – and those other magical sports and games – are quite useful in keep the lesser Witches and Wizards entertained and obliviously happy while we rule over them."

"If that's true, then why not lead them by being one of their Quidditch heroes?" Scorpius demanded. "Why is it so impossible for you to believe that a Wizard could rise to power through becoming one of the Quidditch stars that so many seem to worship and adore?"

"I can think of many reasons – with one of the first being that you'd need to defile yourself by associating and working with all sorts of mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood-traitors to do that. You either believe that there is no place in our world for any but the true Purebloods, and live your life accordingly – or you don't."

"There you go being so inconsistent again," Scorpius complained. "You want me to recruit a half-blood and think he has potential to aid us in our rise to power; yet dismiss others that might be similarly used simply because they play Quidditch."

"Using them as tools to an end is not the same thing as immersing yourself into their world and lives," Thomas told him. "The other true purebloods would never follow you if you do not lead by example!"

"I think that you're wrong about that," Scorpius disagreed. "First, they would follow anyone that can help them to regain power and add to their riches. Second, I can choose to play on a team with other purebloods – or with other players – like James Potter – that can be the tools I need to reach my goals. Finally, if I do that; I can also go out and prove that purebloods are superior to all other pretenders that claim the right to usurp our magic by defeating the other teams that are filled with the types of Wizards and Witches that we wish to scour from our world."

Thomas shook his head. "I do not agree with you, but if you insist on taking that path; one of us will be proven right much sooner than you might expect – and I hope that you won't be too disappointed when that happens."

Scorpius laughed. "I believe that it will be you conceding that I am right – though you won't be disappointed when I succeed in my own way. Now, would you like to hear how the Quidditch match went today for the royal couple? Captain Canine led his team to a big win over Captain Potty-trainer – in a match that lasted nearly eight hours before Lily Potter caught the snitch for the win. Potty and McCormack are heroes in their Houses again – especially Potty; since the win keeps Gryffindor in the running for the Quidditch Cup – and they're actually in the lead thanks to a points tie-break over Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"You are jealous," Thomas declared.

"No – I hate that they have more talented players than I've had to work with over the past few years." He laughed again. "Maybe if you'd trained your army to be proficient in Quidditch; we'd have more talent for the game in our House."

"Speaking of inconsistencies; that will be one problem you'll need to solve before taking over the Wizardhing World one Quidditch fan at a time," Thomas joked. "Then again, it can't hurt for you to learn to solve difficult problems. After all – you'll need to find ways to defeat our enemies, and while I will help you in every way that I can; that is still an achievement that has ultimately eluded me so far."

"I'll work on that," Scorpius promised. "That won't happen now that this season is over for my team, though, and since we aren't having any parties today like they're doing in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; I'd like to get back to our lessons."

Thomas was happy to do that with him, and even though neither of them admitted it to the other; they'd both missed their talks and lessons; and, at least for the moment; they were each ready to set aside their differences and get back to work on what was most-important – Scorpius' training in the magic that would be crucial for his rise to greatness!

Sunday was Teddy's twenty-second birthday. Al and Lily couldn't get together with him to celebrate, but they had sent gifts; and Victoire was hosting a small birthday luncheon for him. The rest of the birthday plans she had for her husband were just for the two of them; so Al was okay with not knowing any of the details – though Lily, Gwendolyn, and Rose did want to know more – and were disappointed when Victoire chose to refuse to answer their questions during a late-morning mirror chat. They'd done that after the morning study session and before going to the Great Hall for lunch – mostly because Teddy hadn't answered their attempts to call at breakfast. the girls had thought that was funny too – especially once they found out that their call attempts had been intentionally ignored; but not for any reasons that Teddy was willing to share with them.

That bit of birthday fun wasn't the only entertainment of the day, but the Quidditch duels after lunch were fairly low-key after the marathon Quidditch match on Saturday. Al and Gwendolyn still went out for their Chaser duel; Lily and Jonah had their Seeker battle; and Rose and Hugo played Keeper against Al and Gwendolyn respectively. The Witches won by twenty points, but Gwendolyn and Rose still razzed Al about only pretending to care more about having fun while still managing to win more of his Chaser duels than he lost – and he couldn't hide that fact behind losing the scrimmage matches. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose still had more studying to do after their Quidditch break; so they got that done by dinnertime; and then Al and Gwendolyn ended their weekend with another evening of quiet play time with Lily and Jonah that included music, mirror chats with their parents, and the rest of the usual Sunday night entertainment – including the visit to the Owlery on the way back to their Houses ahead of curfew.

The last week of April brought one big change for Al and Gwendolyn – no more afternoon Quidditch practices. That made life a bit easier for them from a studying perspective; though the workload for their classes seemed to get tougher the closer they got to the end of the term. Their Professors were pushing harder to get through all of the lessons they needed to master ahead of final exams, and since the last couple of weeks of May would be all about exam review; they were down to just a few weeks left for getting those last lessons and assignments done. While most students were at least starting to feel the pressure that came with the approaching end-of-term exams; there was also one change to the schedule that affected everyone – though that was more direct for some than others.

This year, the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts was on Saturday. The first Saturday of May was usually the date for the Hufflepuff-Slytherin senior team match, but the Professors were not going to allow the students to have that match; any parties; or even a Hogsmeade weekend to happen when May second was still such a somber, personal day of memorial for so many of them. Al agreed with that sentiment; though it wasn't something that was shared by all that many Witches and Wizards anymore. The professional Quidditch league was still having their final regular season matches on Saturday; and life had moved on pretty much everywhere else except for at the scene of the fight.

Regardless of anyone's feelings on the matter, though, what mattered for all of the Hogwarts students was that they mostly had an open weekend – except for watching one or more of those final Quidditch match-ups ahead of the league playoffs. Al and Gwendolyn took that into consideration as the weekend approached, but while they took a bit of time off for some pre-curfew alone time; they also still worked hard to keep up with their studies so that they'd have more time for project work on the weekend. Since Al had used his snap-dragons on April first, he went in on a simple flower arrangement with his cousins to place in the window alcove for a memorial to their uncle on Saturday morning; and had it delivered to Fred by Owl Post so that he could do the honors after breakfast. He was a bit surprised when all of the cousins except for James opted to go with Fred when he was ready to do that; Gwendolyn went with him – as did most of the boyfriends or girlfriends of the rest of his cousins; and they had their own little family memorial for their Uncle Fred – just a handful of minutes that was mostly filled with stories of their twin uncles that they'd all been told by their parents – along with one mirror chat with Uncle George that started with a few tears at both ends of that chat and ended with a round of laughter that they were all sure Fred would be joining in for if he was watching from wherever he was in the Light.

Saturday was Victoire's twentieth birthday too, but Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been able to talk with her because they hadn't been able to reach her before she was too busy with the Harpies and getting ready for the big match-up against Puddlemere United. That was sure to be a fun way to spend her birthday – especially if the Harpies won the match; but then they didn't really have any doubt about that. If Victoire had anything to say about it through her play out above the pitch; she was going to make this an anniversary and birthday victory that their family would never forget! Before taking the afternoon off for the game-watching; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose got together with most of their study group along with a few temporary additions to try and get the rest of their weekend revision finished by lunchtime. They worked until it was time to head for the Great Hall; mostly got all of that work finished; and then they split up to have a quick lunch before the usual group of Harpies' fans gathered in their study classroom in time to catch most of Lee's pre-game show.

"Winning this match is a bigger deal for United than it is for the Harpies," Hugo said as Lee and his experts were discussing the playoff implications of wins and losses for the final matches of the season. "I get why Victoire would want the win today; but wouldn't it be better for the Harpies to just get it over with quick – even if that means sitting back and letting United win?"

"That's an option," Gwendolyn agreed, "but our team might be better off with a United loss; since the Prides will end up in fifth place even if they end up having to use the tie-break with the Wanderers to decide fifth and sixth place."

"So your Mum would be hoping for the Prides to beat United in the first round?" Hugo surmised; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Yeah – and while I don't think that's very likely; they do have a better chance at that than the Wanderers would. They do not match up against United very well at all."

"I'd say that the Harpies have more to worry about from the Falcons if they end up playing against them in the first round," Rose offered; "though another long match today could be a problem too – especially when they'll end up playing a third match in seventeen days for that first-round game."

"The Falcons are going to make it tough for either the Harpies or the Wasps in the first round," Al said with a nod. "We'll need to hope that the Falcons stay in seventh-place so that they'll be the Wasps' problem next weekend."

"Maybe the Harpies should have lost that match last Tuesday if that's what they wanted," Ray suggested.

"The Falcons wouldn't try to catch the snitch for the close loss," Gwendolyn reminded him. "They probably wouldn't have gone for the easy-win either."

"I wonder if that's how Slytherin will play next weekend?" Lily asked. "They've no chance at the Quidditch Cup; so they might just try to pound on the Hufflepuff players like the Falcons did last week with the Harpies."

"They'll likely play the way they normally do; but I think they'll be playing to win," Al answered. "That's going to be Victor's last match, and while Slytherin can't win the Quidditch Cup; they could win a tie-break for the senior team title with a second win. He also only has four wins so far in his four senior team seasons. Another winning season would look much better – even if five wins and seven losses in twelve matches isn't very good compared to the other teams."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Lily admitted. "The points between Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw are all close for a tie-break too if they all end up with a two-win season; so Slytherin wouldn't even need to have a blow-out kind of win to do that."

"I wonder if Victor can even think about the game that way," Gwendolyn mused. "You know that Hufflepuff would play for the close loss if that would still give them the senior title on points." She laughed when she saw the expression on Al's face. "Okay – that was dumb; since they need to play for the win to stay in the running for the Quidditch Cup. It's just my subconscious trying to help out my team."

"We should all be cheering for Slytherin next weekend," Rose advised her. "If they win; then the Quidditch Cup will come down to the winner of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match – since we'll only have one four-win team in that scenario."

"I can't do that – even when our best Hufflepuff friends don't want to hang out with us," Gwendolyn told her. "If Slytherin teams ever start playing their matches without cheating, then maybe I'll change my mind about that, but until then; I am not ever going to cheer for a bunch of cheaters."

"If we did that it would just baffle the Slytherins anyway," Rose predicted – "and that would help Hufflepuff."

"There is no way that our Hufflepuff friends will believe that we're trying to help them out next weekend by cheering for Slytherin," Ray told them with a laugh. "I don't believe that – even though that does make sense in a weird sort of way."

"It isn't that weird," Rose said defensively. "Some of us will be cheering for the Falcons to end up in seventh-place so the Harpies won't need to play them in the first round – and hopefully not at all again this season. Gwendolyn can legitimately cheer for the Prides and her aunt, but the rest of us won't want to cheer for them over Belinda and her team next weekend – even if that might be best for the Harpies for the second round and we should do exactly that."

"Now my head is starting to hurt," Ray joked. "Let's just cheer for the Harpies every week and keep it simple."

"We can do that – for the rest of this season," Rose agreed. "I'll have to go back to cheering for my Cannons again in August."

"If you think that cheering for Slytherin next Saturday is a good idea; you should think that it's brilliant to cheer against the Cannons in every match," Lily told her with a laugh. "The worse they do; the cheaper they'll be for you to buy after you graduate and go to play for them."

"Rose likely couldn't afford to pay for all of the losses every year on what the Cannons pay their players," Gwendolyn teased.

"I'll get Al to split that with me," Rose shot back. "Will you mind supporting him until we get the Cannons turned around and win their next league championship?"

"That's a tough one," Gwendolyn answered; pretending to think that over. "We are talking about decades or centuries before that happens; so that's an awfully big commitment for me to make."

"Have you placed your bet with me on that yet?" Rose asked. "I'm going to more than pay for any losses when all of those bets pay off for me."

"Don't count on James paying up his thousand galleons," Lily warned – "and I'm not just saying that because I think he'll be too old to remember his own name by the time that happens."

Lily's joke was one of the last about the Cannons before they moved on and got back to talking about the Harpies-United match. Lee's experts were split on their predictions, but while Al understood why some of them picked United to win; he was still sure that they'd be proved wrong – and that Victoire would have a brilliant day against her former Gryffindor team mate. He and Gwendolyn were already very comfortable by the time the match started; and the Quidditch action was exciting and fast-paced right from the quaffle-toss. It was also soon clear that the Harpies and United players all wanted the win – and fought their hardest to try and earn it. Gabrielle always had a tough Seeker battle with her United counterpart; and this final match ahead of the playoffs was no exception. The edge in the Keeper battle went to Belinda, but only because she faced more shots on goal – not because her Chasers scored more on Vicky.

Victoire was having as good a match as Al had expected; she led the way for the Harpies; and never let up – even as the match rolled on for hours. She didn't manage to get the Harpies to a lead that was more than four goals; though United only had one, very brief lead in the first hour – and never managed to do better than a tie after that. Getting to watch one of the best matches of the season was a great way to spend the afternoon; and the fun continued as they needed to pack up and head to the Great Hall for dinner. Al and Rose continued to watch the game on his portable mirror while they ate – as did Gwendolyn and a lot of other students; and then they got set up again after the meal in time to catch the big finale that came when Gabrielle finally won the Seeker duel at the six hour and eleven minute mark of the match to give the Harpies the four-eighty to three-ten victory.

That really had happened not long after Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their group had gotten settled in on the sofas and chairs again; so they all stayed to watch the post-game show for a while before deciding whether to move on and do something else or stay and watch mirror network shows for the rest of the evening until curfew. Al and Gwendolyn stayed for an hour; went off on their own for some private time that included some quality snogging; and then they returned to their study classroom to help with the clean-up – and so that Al could get his mirror, toy furniture, and a few leftover treats that hadn't been demolished by the other guys. He walked Gwendolyn back to her House; continued on to his dorm room with only a brief stop in the Gryffindor common room; and went to bed without even talking with the other guys very much before crashing for the night.

It wasn't until they talked with their parents on Sunday evening that Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah found out that the match on Saturday had been even harder on their Harpies' players than they'd suspected – and that Gwenog was regretting their game plan decision despite earning the win. She was happy with the first-round match-up against the Arrows, and was sure they had a great chance of moving on to the second round; but she was also worried that she'd pushed her team too hard to earn first place. The final regular season standings for the league had been big news around the school on Sunday too; but the countdown to the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match was just as popular – though that was mostly because the Slytherins decided that it was already time to start their intimidation campaign against the Hufflepuff players – and that included razzing and insulting any Hufflepuff they crossed paths with all day.

Al and Gwendolyn managed to stay out of the way for most of that except for anything they saw and heard at meals in the Great Hall. They studied all morning; had an afternoon scrimmage with their usual group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends; and did more project studying in the library after that. While they technically had until the Friday before exams to have all projects and assignments handed in; they – and most of their study buddies – planned on having all of the regular assignments and projects done and handed in by mid-May so that they could focus only on getting ready for exams after that. The extra work on Sunday went a long way toward reaching that goal; and they were still able to take the evening off to hang out with Lily and Jonah after wrapping up their work for the day by dinnertime. While the mirror chats with their parents had been a bit somber because of the Harpies' news, the rest of their evening play time had been fun; and a great way to wrap up their weekend.

It was back to work for the entire school week by Monday morning, though; and even Al's fourteenth birthday on Wednesday didn't get in the way of the studying. He did have some birthday-related fun at every meal – particularly before and during breakfast, but he hadn't wanted a party when he was so loaded down with work; so Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose only had a cameo blast of birthday fun after dinner with a cake; Lily and Jonah as the only guests from outside of their study group; and a couple of bonus gifts for him to open before they just got back to work as usual for the rest of the night. That was far from the most-exciting birthday Al had ever had, but while he could have blown off most of the work for a night; he didn't want to do that at the expense of needing to work harder all weekend – especially when they had a school Quidditch match to watch on Saturday followed by the first round playoff matches for the battle to win the league championship. That's also why they worked through until curfew on Friday night – so that they could take the entire day off on Saturday if they got to be lucky-enough to have Quidditch to watch all day and evening.

Al was actually hoping for that when he woke up on Saturday morning and got ready for the day. Some of his friends and classmates might not believe it, but he occasionally got sick and tired of all of the work too; and needed to take a break and have some fun. His morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily was a good way to get a play day started; the breakfast food and gossip entertainment kept the fun rolling; and then the good morning hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn really had Al happy and looking forward to spending most of the day with her. The forecast for the game wasn't great, but it wasn't raining yet, so Al and Gwendolyn went outside for a walk around the school grounds before meeting up with their friends at the stadium. Since Hufflepuff was playing Slytherin; the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections were opposite each other again; but Al and Gwendolyn still sat together – and did that in a block of seats next to the Hufflepuff section – with most of their team mates from both teams; though Al made that optional for his team now that the junior season was over and the senior team would do their own game analysis anyway.

"Did if feel this strange for you guys to sit in our section during the junior team match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin?" Lily asked Jonah as they settled in and waited for Teresa to start her pre-game show. "This reminds me of the Harpies-United matches we've been at when James sits with Ollie and Kathryn sits with us – though I haven't tried that from the other side of the stadium before either."

"Don't," Rose interjected before Jonah could answer. "We'd all want to sit with you instead of with James and Ollie."

"We would," Jonah agreed with a laugh – "and yes, it did feel a bit weird." He nodded toward the Gryffindor section. "This is weird for me too; since James keeps looking over at us and making goofy faces. I'll guess he's having fun insulting us, but since he does that all of the time; it's only weird because I can watch him doing it today."

"I'd love to have my older brother back again some day, but really wish he'd just leave us alone and do his own thing until he's ready for that. He'd be a lot happier – and we would be too."

"We would be," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I think he'd just need to find someone or something else to hate and blame for everything that isn't perfect in his life." She laughed as she thought about that. "I suppose we could work on some suggestions for him; but then he'd just hate us more if we came up with something really good."

"Would it be possible to come up with something better than a smarter, more-talented, trouble-magnet younger brother that has been sucking all of the fun out of James' life since before he was born?" Lily asked with wide eyes and shocked expression on her face. "I don't think we could find anything even close to that."

"You're just glad that he had me to hate on first," Al teased – "especially now that you have as many Seeker duel wins as he has – and you'll have a junior team Seeker title too."

"I'm thinking about putting it on a shelf on the hallway side of my door so he has to look at it every time he walks past all summer," Lily joked.

"Get your Mum or Dad to make it unbreakable and stuck to that shelf first; or it won't last long if you do that," Rose warned. "I'd make a joke about Al needing a bigger door if he did that with all of his awards, but now that I think about that; he doesn't have them on display anywhere."

"He keeps them all nice, neat, and dust-free in a box in his closet," Lily advised her. "I don't know what he'll do this summer, but he'll either need another box; or maybe Mum can put an undetectable expansion charm on the first one so that he can just keep stacking them in it for the next four years." She grinned at Al then. "I'd have said for the rest of your life, but since you likely will end up playing for the Cannons with Rose; your awards streak will come to an abrupt end after you graduate."

"I love all of you," Rose said with a shake of her head; "but have to wonder if you're the delusional ones when it comes to my future Cannons team." She glanced at Al and smiled; then turned her attention back to Lily. "You've just finished talking about Al needing an undetectable expansion box to hold all of his awards; yet don't think he'll be able to win any because he's going to play for the Cannons – which I really hope that he will."

"Guilty as charged; and all true," Lily agreed unapologetically.

"Is it – all true?" Rose shot back. "Do you really think that Al will suddenly start to suck at Quidditch just because of the team he plays on? How many goals did he score in our three matches this season? Fifty-something? I'd say that if he could keep that kind of average in the show; he'd win the scoring title – not to mention how many more games the Cannons would win with that many more points in every match."

"They lose by more than that most weeks," Lily pointed out; and Rose laughed again.

"I'd liike to think that the other teams won't score as many goals on me," she said seriously. "Al's undefeated as a junior player. Do you really think that he couldn't win more than half of his games in a season on any team and at least make the playoffs every year?"

"Maybe, but I also think that every team except the Harpies and Falcons will want him; and a team like the Wasps can afford to pay him a lot more than he'd ever make with the Cannons," Lily answered. "You guys have joked about Gwendolyn supporting him, but Al would hate that; and I think he'll come to his senses and go to work for one of the other top teams."

"Now hang on a minute," Gwendolyn told her. "Do we really want Al to be playing on one of those top teams? Mum might be willing to pay me a bit extra to support Al while he's losing money with the Cannons."

She laughed when she saw Rose shake her head. "There's just no talking with them," she decided.

"We're just trying to help you," Lily offered. "This way, you won't be crushed when your delusion falls apart and the Cannons go another century without even a hope for a league championship."

Rose laughed. "I'd rather have you help by deciding that you'd have way more fun playing Quidditch with Al and me – for the Cannons," she countered. "We did have a lot of fun this year."

"We did," Lily agreed; "but you'd have just as much fun if you gave up this silly dream that started out as a firstie joke that's gotten out of control anyway; and played for the Harpies with Gwendolyn and me."

"You guys always end up with that argument," Ray told them. "Fortunately, for the rest of us; Teresa's ready to get this show started; so do us a favor and change the subject."

"You're just saying that because you can't play for the Harpies," Lily countered; and Ray shrugged.

"No, but then I'm pretty much tired of having that thrown in my face on a regular basis too. They're still my favorite team because Mum played for them; but sometimes even the Wizards in the Harpies' families get sick and tired of getting bashed all of the time." He smiled when he caught sight of Rose's reaction to that comment. "Thanks, but no, I don't want to trade being razzed about not playing for the Harpies because I'm a Wizard for being bashed about playing for the Cannons' clown brigade – which is exactly what would happen from the moment I signed up."

"With James and Ollie leading the joke-fest for that," Kathryn agreed. "Why aren't we doing the usual predictions and pre-game analysis for this match like we usually do?"

"Mostly because we talked a lot about it during the Harpies' match last weekend," Gwendolyn answered. "Slytherin is going to try to bash the Hufflepuff players and knock them out of the game; and Hufflepuff is going to try to score some goals and catch the snitch before Victor and his goons can do that."

Al was sure that Gwendolyn was right about that, but when Teresa started her pre-game show; she didn't even suggest that when she got around to talking about the two teams and the Hufflepuff and Slytherin players. She did discuss the three-way tie for the Quidditch Cup that Hufflepuff was hoping to break today to take at least a temporary lead; mentioned that their senior team had the chance to earn an undefeated season with that win; and then added that Slytherin stillhad the chance to win the senior team title too if they could get the win instead – even though that would also mean helping Gryffindor or Ravenclaw to win the Quidditch Cup. Other than Alex's two snitch catches and three hundred points, there wasn't much for Teresa to talk about for the players on either team – especially for Slytherin; since they'd only scored two goals in their first match; and were blanked in the second thanks to Pauline's early snitch catch.

That trend didn't change as the match began; but then Hufflepuff didn't exactly jump out to a huge lead either. As expected, Victor's game plan was to use brute force to try and impose his will on Hufflepuff. He had some early success with that on Francine and Myra, but Alex soon proved he could hold his own against Brand; and the Slytherin Beaters both found out the hard way that they weren't going to be able to mess with Tina – or at least they couldn't do that without getting pounded right back. While the match started out exactly as Al had expected, it was also clear to him early-on that Hufflepuff and Slytherin were as closely-matched as his team had been against Gwendolyn's – if not in the same ways. Hufflepuff's teamwork offset the Slytherin brute force, and while their players were individually more talented; the overall team talent seemed to be more even than Al had thought it would be – mostly because Zack and Roman Smith were in tough against Licentia Nott and Trace Davis; and weren't able to help Francine in her battle against Victor.

Despite the hits and cheap shots, Francine was winning her Chaser duel with Victor; earned the first goal for Hufflepuff; and helped Zack and Roman with an assist for each of them as Hufflepuff scored the first three goals before Licentia earned the first goal for Slytherin. The players all seemed to settle down after that; and the battle was truly on as the Slytherin Wizards pounded on the Hufflepuff players and Hufflepuff worked together to both help Myra defend the goals and try to score goals on Vince Vaisey at the other end of the pitch. At first, Licentia and Trace were on their own for trying to keep the score close, but that changed too after Victor finally scored his first goal of the match – and suddenly seemed to realize that he needed to do that if he actually wanted to win his final match of his Hogwarts career.

That didn't keep him from pounding on Francine at every opportunity, but he did focus more on offense too; and began to keep pace with Francine – at least for scoring goals. That was the one difference between them that was obvious for anyone paying enough attention to notice. Francine did more to help her fellow Chasers score goals while they couldn't help her much; and Victor was happy to take advantage of help from Licentia and Trace; but didn't give them very good scoring opportunities in return. The overall results, though, were very close; the game rolled on and on with the Hufflepuff lead ranging from two to five goals; and the Seeker duel raging on with no end in sight. That was again very different from the duel between Lily and Jonah; but Alex's battle with Brand was more fierce – if not at the same skill level he'd have preferred over the brutish tactics that Brand used to make up for his lack of skill. Alex's skill did still make a huge difference, since Brand was still using Scorpius' Lightningbolt, but the Slytherin wasn't good-enough to get anywhere near to using the full potential of the best broom in the Wizarding World.

Professor McGonagall again decided to provide the outdoor lunch meal at the end of the fourth hour; though the light rain that was falling at the time made that more difficult as the tables needed to be shielded to keep the rain off of the food. Al and Gwendolyn waited for the first rush to end before going to get their lunch; though that was mostly because they also started watching the Harpies-Arrows match on Al's portable mirror. Not having to stand around in a long line-up was a nice bonus; though they still ended up doing that at the same time that some of the Hufflepuff and Slytherin students were there putting together trays to take back into the stadium for their senior players ahead of the time-out that Alex and Victor agreed to having mid-way through the fifth hour.

That break seemed to help both teams once they resumed play again; though that was in different ways. For Slytherin; their Chasers made up two goals over Hufflepuff by the time they moved into the sixth hour to cut the lead to just two goals. Francine got one of those goals back, and they traded one more each after that; but the post-break advantage for Hufflepuff had been in the Seeker duel; and Alex ended the match at the five hour and fifteen minute mark when skill finally won-out over brute force and he caught the snitch with a great, acrobatic move that completely fooled Brand and gave him a clean shot at making the catch. The final score was four-eighty to three hundred, and while the Slytherins were all disappointed; Al actually thought that they had a lot to be proud of – though he still didn't like all of the cheating and cheap shots that had been such a big part of their game.

"Will he or won't he need to rescue any damsels in distress today?" Gwendolyn leaned in and whispered as they both stood and cheered along with most of the Hufflepuff faithful and a lot of spectators all around the stadium – including the Slytherins as they applauded their team's valiant effort in the loss.

"I think it'll be 'not' this time," Al whispered back as he nodded toward where Alex had turned around and flown back toward Brand. "It's nearly impossible to try a blind-side hit when you're shaking hands like that."

"Alex ought to be Gryffindor," Gwendolyn joked; and Al laughed.

"I'd say he's in the right House for his sportsmanship. I still don't like Brand at all, but will give him a point for playing nice for that couple of seconds; though he seems to have come to his senses again now."

"He ought to be happy," Gwendolyn suggested. "There's likely at least one Falcons' scout here; and they'll have liked what they saw of him today – especially against a Seeker as good as Alex."

"I don't want to go there, but he might have locked up a job offer back in November after putting James in the hospital wing and winning that match."

"You could be right about that," Gwendolyn agreed. "I expect that James will be glad that he won't have to play against him next season. G-Air is the only Seeker here that he has a winning record against."

"Let's hope he can change that next year," Al said; and it was Gwendolyn's turn to laugh.

"You can hope for that; but I'll hope that he still sucks against Alex and Pauline."

"I guess you'll need to do that," Al agreed; and then smiled when Gwendolyn laughed again.

"Nice try, but I won't be happy next year if Pauline wins her Seeker duel with James but we lose that match against your team," she advised him.

"I didn't say anything," Al protested; though he was grinning now too.

"I noticed that. Like I said – nice try. One of us is going to be in trouble if he thinks he's going to get away with having an entire Hogwarts Quidditch career without ever losing!"

"According to Lily, I'd better do the best I can while I'm here; since it'll be all downhill for me after that," Al teased; and Gwendolyn had to give up on her attempt at looking mad at him when she laughed instead.

"Well, that might be the one thing that would help you with getting away with something like that – if Lily and I get to win a lot of league championships instead."

"You've already won two junior titles and a Quidditch Cup," Lily reminded her – "and your House is still in the running for the Quidditch Cup this year. I'd sure be okay with winning two out of every three league championships. If the Harpies win all of them; the other teams might not want to come out to play anymore."

"Then I'll hope that my team wins that match – and that James will decide not to play anymore after going oh-and-three this year," Gwendolyn joked.

"What do we have to win by in that match to win the Cup?" Jonah asked her; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I don't know yet. Do you, Al?"

"They won by one-eighty today, so that only brings Hufflepuff to plus-forty for the season," he answered. "The only way they can win the Quidditch Cup now is if our two teams have a tie. Whoever wins the last match will win the points tie-break."

"Well, that makes it easy," Jonah said with a nod. "Go, Ravenclaw!"

"How about – Go, Harpies!" Lily suggested. "Let's get going so we can watch the rest of that match on Al's mirror instead of on our portables!"

Al hadn't forgotten about the Harpies' match, but they'd been doing well-enough against the Arrows; and he hadn't been worried about their chances of being handed a surprise loss when their Seeker was barely holding on against Gabrielle. The Harpies' players might be worn down, but that didn't show compared to the Arrows – and the eighth-place team looked exactly like a team that had barely squeaked out a winning record for the season. He was still okay with heading to the castle and getting more comfortable for watching the rest of the match, though, so they gathered up their things; stopped by at center pitch to congratulate their favorite senior team Hufflepuffs; and then headed for their study classroom to get set up there for the rest of the afternoon.

The Harpies' match had been heading into the third hour by the time they were settled in with snacks, drinks, and favorite cuddle buddies; and 'their' team had a comfortable lead; though the Arrows were nearly keeping pace as the their Keeper, Eddie Bones – was keeping his team in the match with a lot of great saves that offset the big shots-on-goal advantage that Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were getting for their team. Since Eddie was one of Teddy and Victoire's best friends, they could cheer for him too; but he really was the only bright spot on the Arrows team as the game rolled on through the third hour and into the fourth. If they were being honest, the match wasn't as exciting as the last two regular season matches had been for the Harpies, but it was also their third match in seventeen days; so it was no surprise that it would be tough to stay in top form all of the time.

"Madison must be loving Eddie's performance today," Gwendolyn told Al quietly. "She won't be happy when her team loses and is out of the playoffs; but she can't have seriously expected them to beat our team when they're playing like that."

"I was actually thinking that Tory will tell er that her team might do better if Eddie wasn't best mates with Teddy and Victoire. He likely plays better because of that; but she's convinced herself that her Hufflepuff teams aren't winning enough matches because of getting too close to us."

"You know that she could be right about that – for them," Gwendolyn pointed out; and then smiled at Al. "Some people do stop believing in themselves if they lose often-enough," she added. "Tory might just need to train differently to be her own best – without trying to keep up with us."

"I suppose," Al conceded; "though she could do that without blowing us off as friends too."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod. "We'll have to wait and see if she can figure out a way to do both or not. I'd suggest that you might be able to help out with that by going to play for the Arrows; but I don't know if I'd like that at all if Madison and Tory got offered jobs with them too – and madison is likely on their prospect list for the future."

"Madison and John," Al added. "Will you like any team I'm on if there are any Witches on the team too? That is one good thing for me with you playing for the Harpies – no Wizards to worry about."

"I'll be okay with you being on the same team with Rose," Gwendolyn joked. "If you're playing for the Cannons with the rest of those guys they have now; I'll be okay with that too – and won't have to worry much about any of their fans chasing after you either – since there are only six of them; and three of them are related to you."

"I heard that," Rose advised her; though Gwendolyn had spoken louder for that part of her comment so that she would overhear. "If he's on my Cannons team; I'm fairly sure we'll get some new fans – including some young, pretty Witches."

"I wonder if you still think the Cannons can win a league championship with a woodlouse for a Keeper?" Gwendolyn shot back.

"Probably not; but then you've got nothing to worry about with Al anyway."

"He hopes not," Lily teased with a laugh. "Keep that woodlouse idea handy, though, Gwendolyn. If Rose does actually get close to winning that bet; you might need to use it on her – especially if they'd need to get past our Harpies to do that."

They had fun with that for a while longer, but then got back to watching the game without a lot of conversation going on as Gabrielle put on a particularly good show in her battle against the Arrows' Seeker. That duel came to an end at the three hour and fifty minute mark when Gabrielle made a brilliant play to catch the snitch and give the Harpies a three-ten to sixty victory – and a ticket to the second-round of the playoffs! There was still lots of time until dinner, so instead of watching much of the post-game show; they switched to the Wasps-Falcons match to see how the Wasps were doing against the one opponent that none of the other teams wanted to face in the playoffs. The pace of this game was much higher even as they were heading into the fifth hour, but it wasn't fun to watch the Nott brothers and their team mates pound on jeremy, Aaron, and the other Wasps.

By then, it looked as though every Wasp player was nursing multiple injuries, and hwile they eventually found out that the Wasps had built a larger lead than they now had; the Falcons were slowly starting to chip into that lead as the injries took their toll on the Wasps. The pounding continued through until Al, Gwendolyn, and their group needed to be in the Great Hall for dinner; it didn't let up while they ate; and then the match rolled on late into the evening. The Wasps took several time-outs – all that they were allowed to have; so it was past-ten when Aaron finally ended the match at the eight hour and twenty-two minute mark with a snitch catch that was probably more painful than it looked – and it appeared to hurt a lot as he took the cheap-shot, late hit from the Falcons' angry Seeker and then barely dodged a late hit attempt from Theo Nott. He did earn the win for the Wasps, though; and the five-ninety to three-twenty score was a testament to just how much effort all of the Wasps' players put into the match. That was even more apparent when they landed and most of the players needed immediate medical attention. The Falcons' players looked happy about that – though Al noticed that they had players that only seemed to be acting as if they'd escaped the brutal match unscathed.

"They're all putting on an act," Al said quietly.

"What? Who is?" Gwendolyn asked.

"The Falcons," he answered. "They're beat up too – they're just putting on a show for their fans. Maybe they're not even allowed to show when they're hurt."

"We have seen Falcons players get canned in the past for getting hurt or ending up in their beds at St. Mungo's," Gwendolyn mused. "I wonder if that could be used to our advantage – for the Harpies, I mean."

"Not this season," Lily joked. "We may need to thank the Falcons in a couple of weeks if the Wasps can heal up enough to survive the second round."

"We'll need to get past United first too," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Belinda was brilliant today against the Prides; and Gabrielle is always in tough against their Seeker; so anything can happen there."

"I don't like that match-up either," Lily agreed. "We'd have had a much better chance against your Aunt's team – especially when Erin has such an awful record against our team."

"Her record isn't much better against United," Al reminded her. "The Wasps have it tougher than we do, though. They've got the Tornadoes next weekend."

"I'd rather play them than United," Lily pointed out; and Al shook his head.

"Would you want that a week after playing the Falcons in a match like that one?"

Lily laughed. "We did play back-to-back matches like that – with the second one against United. I'd absolutely rather play the Tornadoes – not to mention that their Seeker doesn't match up very well against Aunt Gabrielle either."

Al conceded that point, and they watched some of the post-game show; but then Rose promised to pack up the furniture and mirror for him; so he and Gwendolyn went off on their own for a bit of alone time and a minor snogging session before they needed to be back in their Houses ahead of curfew. That was a fun way to end their Quidditch play day, but even watching that much Quidditch was tiring; so Al went to bed – and to sleep – not long after he got back to his dorm room and finished getting changed and ready to crash and nap for the night. After taking Saturday off, they had a lot of work to do on Sunday – as did most of the students at Hogwarts. There was still a group of students that were procrastinating on assignments and projects even when they were getting this close to the end of term and exams; but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their group got the rest of their weekend revision finished by lunchtime; took a Quidditch break after lunch; and then finished up all but one of their major projects by dinnertime – with the one exception a project that needed real-time, classroom data for another week before they could wrap it up and then get it finished and ready to present to the class sometime during the final two weeks before exams.

Ending the weekend with their usual Sunday evening of fun and music with Lily and Jonah was the highlight of the day for Al and Gwendolyn – and pretty much the last blast of play time fun for the entire second week of May thanks to the final push by their Professors to get the last lessons of the school year crammed into those classes and the last batch of assignments handed out too. Saturday wasn't just the second-round day for the playoffs; it was also a Hogsmeade weekend; so Al and Gwendolyn also wanted to be able to take a full-day off for a second weekend in a row. They did still have some fun here and there, but that was almost entirely magic and study-related entertainment that went along with all of the work; and they didn't take much of any time at all for themselves – including on Friday night; when they worked through until shortly-before curfew instead of stopping their studies early for some alone time. That wasn't fun, but it was the way they were – even when they didn't want to be dedicated or act responsibly!

They were both long-past ready for that day off by Saturday morning, though; and they even had half-decent weather for their visit to Hogsmeade by the time they were out of the castle and on the way there shortly after finishing breakfast and going through the usual process of being checked out by Filch and Jigger. With the second-round matches for the league playoffs ahead of them in the afternoon, they weren't going to spend the entire day in town, but that just meant that they needed to pack more of the fun into less time; and then get back to the castle in time to set up their classroom for the Quidditch-watching with their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends. Al and Gwendolyn walked to town with Rose, Ray, Toni, and Michael; and then the girls split up with the boys for a while to do some 'fun' shopping while Al took care of the most-boring supply stops that included getting potions ingredients, inks, quills, and parchment. Ray and Michael did some of that shopping too, but didn't end up staying with Al for long because he needed a lot more time at each stop to get everything he needed for all of the younger cousins and friends he was shopping for – in addition to what he, Gwendolyn, and Rose needed.

"Should we be buying lunch for Al after he did all of the hard work for us?" Gwendolyn asked Rose when they met up with him and headed for the Three Broomsticks for an early lunch to hopefully beat the rush and then finish up their shopping before heading back to the school.

"Not if that means I get stuck with the entire bill for these supplies instead," Al joked. "I'll never save enough allowance to help Rose with buying the Cannons if I spend this much every Hogsmeade weekend."

"You were shopping for a lot of kids today," Rose reminded him. "I wasn't thinking about that when we decided to go play instead. Are you broke now?"

"Not quite; but I won't be able to buy all of the sweets and wheezes on the lists too – and I'll need to have Mum and Dad send me a bit more for our last Hogsmeade weekend."

"We'll settle up with you while we have lunch; and maybe you'll be okay after that," Rose promised. "We definitely don't want you to revise that plan for helping me to buy the Cannons."

"Don't include me in that 'we' – especially if you're looking for more investors."

"Okay, but you might want to sit down and actually talk about that with us someday before we make that deal," Rose suggested. "You might think it's impossible right now, but if I'm right, and we can buy the Cannons at a bargain-basement price; imagine how well those investors will do when the Cannons start pulling in the kind of money that the Harpies do."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Every other team wishes they could do that, Rose. You might want to set your goals a bit lower."

"Actually, I'm thinking about setting them higher," she said seriously. "Can you imagine how many toys the Cannons could sell with an Animorphmagus on the team? There is literally no limit to the number of action figures you could have that change from Al to different animals and back again. They'd be instant collectibles!"

"That does sound pretty good – except that Al might not want to spend half his life modeling for those action figures." She smiled when Rose laughed.

"He'd only need to do the modeling for his human form – the toy makers could use the real animals for the animal side of the toy design."

"Okay, but Al will still have all of those little fans wanting him to show them the changes in real life. I'm not sure it's a good idea for him – even if it likely would make a lot of money."

"Well, if you think that's a bad idea; you'll hate my idea for his team posters," Rose teased. "Here's a hint – he wouldn't be wearing any clothes."

Both girls laughed when Al blushed – even though he'd known where Rose was going with the idea. Rose's 'hint' led them into a chat about other things that a Quidditch team could do with an Animorphmagus player – including whether he could actually use animal forms during a match. Rose had leaned toward animal forms that would get ratings and new fans; while Gwendolyn wondered if there were animal forms that could help Al's game. Most of their ideas seemed absurd to Al; though he might actually consider trying to fly his broom while in animal forms just to see if it could be done – though he had no intention of trying that anywhere public where he might be seen or photographed. Their early-lunch plan worked out very well for them; they picked up the sweets and wheezes after they ate; and then got back to the castle in time to make stops in their dorm rooms before meeting up again in their study classroom shortly before Lee's pre-game show started.

Al set up his mirror first so they could start watching that; had the sofas and chairs ready to go by the time Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and their friends arrived; and they were all sitting down and watching the show as the rest of their older Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends caught up with them as they got back from Hogsmeade. Lee and his experts were split when it came time to pick the winners for both matches, but the Harpies had one more vote than United did; and the Wasps had a two-vote advantage over the Tornadoes – with the dissenters for that contest voting for the Tornadoes because they were counting on the Wasps to be too sore and tired to play their best after getting beat up by the Falcons in the first round.

The majority pick for the Harpies-United match looked pretty good right from the start of the match. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey really took it to Laura, Jonathan, and Dawn – and hit Belinda hard too with a barrage of shots on goal that pushed the rookie Keeper to her limits. That seemed to be the Harpies' strategy for the match – to throw everything they had against Belinda and hope some goals were scored along the way. Their plan worked well; and they scored five goals in the first hour to just two for United. The score was one-ten to forty at the end of the second hour; and one-seventy to seventy as the match rolled into the fourth hour. Everything was continuing to go to near-perfection for the Harpies right up until it didn't – and then the end to their season came very quickly. The score had climbed to two-ten to ninety; Victoire was leading the way to what would soon be the all-important one-sixty lead; and then the tide turned in the blink of an eye when Gabrielle was hit hard by a bludger that hadn't even been aimed at her while she was racing after the snitch against her United Seeker counterpart. Hailey had successfully dodged the bludger that had been meant for her, but she hadn't seen the two Seekers race into the path of the bludger; and her warning came too late as Gabrielle was hit hard in the back of her right shoulder. The sound of breaking bones could be heard through the mirror; she'd lost control of her broom because she'd been holding it with her right hand; and by the time she regained control; the game was over and the United Seeker had earned the two-forty to two-ten, come-from-behind victory.

"I guess we'll have to give that win to the United Beaters – even though that hit was dumb, bad luck for us," Lily declared; directing that comment at Fred more than anyone else.

"It was bad luck for Aunt Gabrielle," Fred agreed; "but I don't think there was anything dumb about that play. Those guys know it's likely their last season, since United is going to hire Tina to join Calvin on their team; so they're playing to win one last championship – and will get to do that next week."

"Don't sound so happy about that," Lily told him. "They just beat our team to do that."

Fred shrugged. "We can't win every year – no matter how much you wish that we could. Finishing the season in second or third is still awesome."

Al had agreed with that comment, but most of their friends were very disappointed that they wouldn't be cheering for their team in the championship match. He could empathize with that; but discovered that he did that without honestly feeling the same way. Their team was still having a great few years – more like a quarter-century now; and he just couldn't feel bad about them not making it to the championship match this year. They watched part of the post-game fun; switched to the Tornados-Wasps match when it started at the top of the hour; and watched that until they needed to pack up and go to the Great Hall for dinner. There were a lot of disappointed Harpies' fans there too, but the United faithful were in a celebratory mood, and Belinda was still in the running for the championship; so Gryffindor still had a favorite player to cheer for in that match. Al sensed that Rose was as amused as he was by the various reactions to the Harpies' loss; and she'd mostly stayed out of the conversation about the tough end to 'their' team's season – other than to remind their friends that 'her' team was the Cannons.

"Do you think that a quarter of our Harpies friends would still be on the bandwagon if they had a losing streak like the Cannons have had for even a handful of years?" Al whispered to Rose; and laughed with her while watching her face light up in a bright smile as she turned her attention to him.

"Not a chance," she assured him. "We see it happening with a couple of different teams right now. Look at Mr. Peake's old team. The Catapults made some bad decisions with their players; they've been at the bottom of the league with the Cannons for the past couple of years; and they've lost half their fans – if not more."

"They did mess that up," Al agreed. "It's one thing to get mad about paying a lot for players that don't perform; but now they'll have a tough time attracting new top players after pretty much gutting their team to cut costs. I doubt they even fixed the problem if they were having issues with losing money when the big salaries didn't result in league titles." He smiled at Rose. "Are you even sure that you want to take on those kinds of headaches with a team like the Cannons?"

"We could hire someone to deal with the headaches after a while and just have fun playing Quidditch after that. "I'd want to set things up the way I'd want them run – and do that work at first; since I think that we know more about how a team should be run than anyone working for the Cannons right now."

"that's fairly precocious – and was that the royal we?"

"No, that was definitely the you and me 'we' – and you knew that. We still have about four years to put together a plan and make it happen; but I know you're with me for it – and that you likely see things about our future that you're not sharing with any of us."

"Would I do that?" Al asked innocently; and Rose laughed.

"Yes, but that's okay. It'll be more fun to find out how things work out as they happen – at least for me. We should probably get serious about it this summer and do some brainstorming and planning."

"Will we have time for that?" Al asked. "I should probably get a summer job if I'm going to have enough money rounded up for my part of the investment."

"You could probably get a job at one of the wheezes stores," Rose suggested. "Dad's told me I can work with him if I'd like to do that this summer."

"Are you going to do that?"

Rose shrugged. "I haven't decided. It'll be a definite 'no' if James will be working there again this summer too; though i suppose it'd be possible to be on different shifts from him." She smiled ruefully and shrugged. "Mostly, I don't know if I want to work with Dad – or be cooped up in a store all day."

"Will they offer James a summer job again after he blew them off at Christmas?" Al asked; and Rose nodded.

"You know they will – especially if your Mum asks them to help her out. If this was a Quidditch Cup summer; she'd likely ask them to take James for the summer."

"She might think about it; but wouldn't," Al disagreed. "I do want to earn some extra money this summer, but don't want to get stuck with a store-type job – especially if that would mess up any holiday plans that Mum and Dad will have for us. It's too bad that we can't use magic at home; or I'd suggest that we start our own business."

"Doing what?" Rose asked; and Al grinned at her.

"Making Animorphmagus toys?" he joked; and she laughed.

"That would be brilliant. If you'd said something sooner; I'd have suggested that we pick up a few action figures in town and experiment with them before we head home. Our Mums do have a lot of connections with different magical devices and toy companies. They might be able to help us out with the idea if we have some prototypes to show them."

"I don'tknow if we'll have time to do much with that when we'll be so busy with final exams," Al told her seriously; "but I had a few action figures in my trunk – some of the extra guy gifts that I keep in case of gift emergencies; and I picked up a few extra while we were in town after we talked about the idea for Cannons' toys."

"Sure, sure," she teased. "Don't worry – I won't tell anyone that you still like to play with dolls – I mean action figures."

"I don't care if everyone knows that," Al assured her. "Your Mum came up with lots of really great gadgets when she was here, though; so maybe we should think about doing more of that sort of thing with our magic – and maybe make some money to put toward buying the Cannons while we're at it."

"I like that part of the idea a lot," Rose assured him – "and it would be a lot more fun than stocking shelves or cleaning pygmy puff cages all day too."

Their little chat had gotten a lot longer than they'd expected when they'd first started whispering to each other; so they rejoined the main conversation with their friends; kept up with the Wasps-Tornados match; and then met up with Gwendolyn after dinner and headed back to their study classroom to watch the rest of the match. It was a much-closer battle than would have normally been expected between the two teams; so it was a good guess that the Wasps' players really were having a tough match after getting pounded by the Falcons and then trying to train all week to get ready for this match. They played to a near-draw for the first three hours; and then the Tornados took the lead and kept it – though they weren't able to build it to the point that the Wasps were in any danger of falling behind by one-sixty or more.

Rachel and Lacey were putting on a show for their fans; and were better than Jeremy and his fellow Wasps' Chasers. Al and Gwendolyn were happy to cuddle together and watch the action with their siblings, cousins, and friends; though they would have liked for the match to end so they could wrap up their day with some quality alone time. That didn't happen; and the game was still going strong by the time they needed to pack up and head back to their common rooms or dorms. The exodus from their classroom didn't take long because everyone wanted to be somewhere to keep watching the match; so Al and Gwendolyn were on their own by the time they'd finished packing up his mirror – the last thing they did before heading out too – and after they took care of their goodnight hugs and kisses while they had the privacy to do that. They soon found out that there was a downside to that chance for a few minutes on their own when James and Bristol just happened to be heading their way along the hallway for their classroom just as they were stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind them.

"Oh no – is it curfew already?" James asked Bristol – though he called it out shrilly as if he was suddenly afraid. "I guess we'd better hurry on back to our House before it's too late!" He paused for a moment and then shook his head while grinning as Bristol laughed. "Oh wait – that's what the losers like Captains Potty and the Potty-trainer do. Some of us know that rules are for suckers like them."

"They likely need their beauty sleep after crying their eyes out all night over their porr, defeated Harpies," Bristol offered. "Talk about a bunch of whiners! Harpies fans are the worst!"

"Whether they win or lose," James agreed. "Did you guys spend some time crying with your mommies too?" he taunted. "Tell 'em to get used to the Harpies being losers. They don't have many chances left to win the championships – and they won't win any after I'm in the show."

"You'll likely win every year," Bristol gushed – "starting with winning the Quidditch Cup for our House next week."

"That's an amazing prediction," Gwendolyn told her. "Have you been working on that in Divination?"

Bristol laughed derisively. "As if I need to waste my time on Divination to know that James is going to have a brilliant Quidditch career. Divination is for losers. I've regretted taking the stupid class pretty much since the first day."

Al knew that wasn't true, but she had become disillusioned when she didn't show any aptitude for it – and his own successes had irritated her too. By then, they were within feet of each other; and James and Bristol had forced Al and GWendolyn to stop because they blocked the hallway.

"Did you want something, James?" he asked bluntly. "I want to walk Gwendolyn to Ravenclaw tower – and don't want to be late for curfew."

"We just wanted to stop by and offer our congratulations for your team getting to start their off-season early," James toldhim with a smirk. "Gwendolyn will fit right in with that bunch of losers also known as the Harpies – though I have no idea why they'd want her on the team."

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about that," Bristol told him. "The Harpies don't believe in hiring the best players – only the Witches."

"I still love you, Bristol," Gwendolyn told her; "but I've had enough of your insults. Please get out of our way so we can leave."

"Let me think about that," Bristol said. She paused for the drama; and then added – "no. What's the big hurry? Are you afraid you'll mess up your perfect little record if you're a minute late for curfew and get in trouble for it?"

"We won't be late; and I'm not worried about my reputation at all."

"Obviously – at least wehn it comes to dating the biggest loser in the school," Bristol shot back. "Why don't you dump the canine clown and come and hang out with us? If you really love me the way you claim; you'd at least try the things I like to do and have fun with me."

"You're a pig, James," Gwendolyn toldhim in response to the leering grin on his face and the up-and-down visual he silently insulted her with while Bristol had made her ridiculous offer. "You know that I don't like James, Bristol; I don't want to go drinking – or do anything else with you; and if you want to hang out and do something else together that I do like to do; then we can do that sometime during the day or evening – not after curfew."

"The only reason you don't like James is because you buy into all of the crap the loser here tells you," Bristol shot back. "Get a clue and dump him before he ruins your life."

Gwendolyn sighed. "Goodnight, Bristol. We're leaving."

"What's the matter? Did I hurt your feelings, Princess Potty-trainer?" Bristol taunted without moving. "The truth hurts, doesn't it? Here – have a drink!" She pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey; opened the bottle; and then pretended to trip as she held it out to her. Al had his wand out and a repelling charm there to not just block the splash of whiskey that would have hit Gwendolyn; but repelled it back so that it hit James and Bristol instead. His eyes were hard as he glared emerald ice at Bristol.

"That was so not funny,' he told her angrily. "Get away from me right now; or you are not going to like what happens next."

"What will you do?" Bristol taunted. "Go ahead and try something. I'm not afraid of a lying little rat-fink weasel like you!"

Al was about to comment on that when he saw something in James' expression; sensed the expectancy; and then took a closer look at Bristol – into what he sensed from her.

"You don't need to be afraid of me," he advised her in a tone that had turned conciliatory and gentle as he pointed his wand at her. Her eyes glazed over for a moment; and then when they cleared again; she looked momentarily confused. Al saw that James had drawn his wand; and turned to face him while Bristol was momentarily unsure of what was going on around her. "Stop doing that sort of thing to people, James. It's as bad as using an Imperius curse; and an especially-horrid thing to do to someone you supposedly care about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James declared; but then his eyes glazed over for just a moment too as Al proved to him that they both knew what had just happend – and been done to Bristol.

"We're leaving now," Al told him as he put his wand away. "Goodnight, Bristol."

"Um – goodnight," she stammered; and now she was looking at the bottle of fire whiskey in her hands as though she had no idea how it got there – which she likely didn't. Al knew that her memories would get sorted out eventually, but didn't even try to guess at how she'd react to that; and definitely didn't want to be around once she did realize what had been happening – and what James had done to mess with her memories.

He took Gwendolyn's hand; they stepped around James and Bristol; and quickly walked away from them. Gwendolyn was squeezing his hand tightly; but waited until they were around the first corner before saying anything.

"James used a memory charm on her?" she stated more than asked. "That's why she was being even more horrid that she's been to us lately?"

"He's nudged her along with a handful of memory charms," Al agreed. "She's meeting him more than half-way; but that apparently isn't quite good-enough for James. I think he was trying to goad me into doing something that they could get me in trouble for – and going through her the same way he used the Slytherins in January – and Ollie at Valentine's Day."

"Merlin, Al – that really is rotten. I sure hope he isn't using those memory charms to get what he wants for, um, other things."

"Now you're scaring the brother – and James is already scary-enough when it comes to how he acts toward Witches. Let's hope he never tries doing anything like that. He's already using his magic too often in ways that can lead him to a really bad place; so I hope he stops doing that before he goes too far some day and can't come back."

That thought was far too dark for either of them; so they didn't talk about that much longer; they checked Al's mirror to see if they'd missed anything important in the Quidditch match while they'd been busy with James and Bristol; and then it was time to say goodnight again outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance. By then, Al needed to hurry to get back to his House; but still arrived with a few minutes to spare. He'd planned on going up to his dorm room, but Lily and Rose were among the students watching the Wasps-Tornados match; so he sat down next to Lily and stayed up with everyone doing that until Aaron caught the snitch for the Wasps at the seven hour, thirty-five minute mark for the four-hundred to three-hundred and twenty, come-from-behind victory. Al was happy for their friends on the Wasps and United teams – along with their fans; and thought that the Campbell family would be in for an especially entertaining league Championship match with Dawn and Jonathan on one side of the pitch against Jeremy and Aaron on the other, but he was tired; and that was something to have fun with in the morning – and over the next week. Instead of staying up to watch the post-game show, Al hugged his sister and cousin goodnight; went up to his dorm room; and was ready for bed and off to sleep before most of the guys even started thinking about going up to bed too.

Taking the day off on Saturday always meant more work to do on Sunday; so the switch from play time in Hogsmeade and Quidditch to finishing last assignments and projects of the term ahead of the exam review days that would keep them busy over the next two weeks meant having a big drop in the fun level for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their study mates. They had a few extra friends join them now that it was crunch time for that work; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose also did more tutoring too – though not as much as they expected to have on and off for the rest of the term until exams were done. They worked in their usual classroom all morning; took a Quidditch scrimmage play break after lunch; and then worked in a Potions dungeon after that to finish a potion-making assignment that had the potential to blow up while making it; so they didn't want to risk damaging their usual hang-out spot. Al and Gwendolyn still took Sunday evening off to hang out with Lily and Jonah; but expected that might be the last time they'd do that for the rest of the term while they all got busy with final exams.

The school week leading up to both the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw senior team match and the League Championship between United and the Wasps was packed with long class hours of exam review followed by even longer hours of assignments that were all geared toward getting ready for the written and practical exams. Al and Gwendolyn were part of only one of the study groups that took their exams seriously; but they were also among the hardest-working in any year. That didn't keep them from having fun, since they were, after all, playing with magic; but they also tried a bit harder to have some non-studying fun here and there too. For Al and Gwendolyn, that included wrapping up their studying early on two nights and going off on their own for a bit of private snogging time; they had Rose join them for two other breaks that included playing around with the Animorphmagus toy idea; and they had one after-dinner walk by the lake that included a horseback ride for Gwendolyn on Wednesday when they both needed to get away from everything for a half-hour or so before getting back to all of the work again. One of the snogging breaks was on Friday evening for the last hour or so before curfew, and while they'd been glad to have that alone time; they again had a small price to pay for that when James initiated yet another chance meeting in a hallway that this time wasn't far from Ravenclaw tower.

"Not again," Gwendolyn said under her breath when she saw James and Bristol step out of the secret passage that was about fifty feet ahead of them on the right side of the hallway. They looked as though they'd been snogging; probably had been while waiting for them; and faked looking surprised when they saw Al and Gwendolyn.

"Is it that time of night already?" James asked. "How time flies when you're having fun."

"It's nearly an hour past the time for your team curfew," Al reminded him; though James knew that and obviously didn't care.

"Bristol's helping me out with some bonus cardio training," James declared with a leer that he directed at Gwendolyn. "You should try it sometime with someone who doesn't have a problem with being an impotent loser."

"I know you don't believe that any rules apply to you, but it's amazing to see how little you seem to have learned about Quidditch training; since we've known for a very long time that the kind of cardio workout you're talking about does affect a player on game day – in a bad way."

"That might be true – for the average players and losers like Captain Canine here," James agreed; "but I can play, um, hard day and night without ever wearing out – if you know what I mean."

"Too bad for Pauline that you'll only be playing hard with her at Quidditch," Bristol joked with a throaty laugh. "Lucky for me that I don't like to play that game with you."

"Well, don't let us stop you from that extra training," Gwendolyn told them. "I'm sure that we'll all be impressed with how much that helps James tomorrow with that win he's been guaranteeing all week."

"You might be impressed," James retorted; "but only because your standards are so low. When you're ready to be really impressed, dump the loser here; and give me a call!"

"That'll never happen," Gwendolyn assured him. "Just in case I'm lucky-enough to not have to talk to you again tomorrow; break a leg."

"That's for show business – not Quidditch," Bristol advised her; and then she scowled when Gwendolyn laughed.

"I wasn't wishing him good luck, Bristol. I'm Ravenclaw and want my team to win tomorrow."

"That'll never happen," James mimicked with a leer. "Get used to the disappointment – especially when you'll have to live with it every day you keep spending with the loser."

"Can I quote you on that?" Gwendolyn asked. "I'm sure that Pauline will want to know that she has no chance tomorrow – strictly so she'll have time to get used to your version of reality."

"Quote away – that isn't anything I haven't already told her; and she knows she's going to lose even worse than she did against Hufflepuff."

"They only lost by sixty points," Al reminded James. "Are you predicting a come-from-behind win now or a blow-out? I can't really tell from that comment."

"Why don't you watch the game from the Ravenclaw section tomorrow and find out what happens with the rest of the losers, traitor?" James spat. "After I win the Quidditch Cup for our House; you can skip the party too; since the rest of us don't want the loser that is you around anyway."

"That works for me – if you manage to win tomorrow," Gwendolyn assured him with a bright smile for Al. "I'm sure we can find something else to do that will be more fun for Al than listening to you brag about how great you are for the rest of the day."

"As if you have any idea what really having fun is like," Bristol scoffed. "Come on, James. It's time to get back to your, um, cardio workout."

"It's a hard job; but someone has to do it," James joked with another leer for Gwendolyn. "See you around, losers."

With that, he pushed past Al with an attempt at a hard shoulder bump, but he just bounced off when Al didn't budge; and then he laughed it off while walking away with Bristol pulled close to his side as she giggled and stroked his already over-inflated ego. Al walked the rest of the way to Ravenclaw tower with Gwendolyn; they shared a quick, sweet goodnight hug and kiss; and then he hurried back to the Gryffindor common room. Lily and Rose were both in their dorm rooms by then, and the snog-fest was underway; so he went up to bed then too; and only stayed awake long-enough to have a short chat with Ray and Romeo before they were all ready to call it a night and get some sleep.

The League Championship match and the final Hogwarts Quidditch match of the season didn't always happen on the same Saturday, but since it was working out that way this year; Al and Gwendolyn were taking the entire day off – regardless of whether they'd be watching Quidditch all day and evening or not. While Al's day started out great as he got ready for the day and had his morning walk and talk with Rose; he didn't enjoy the taunting he overheard at breakfast from James and Ollie that was directed at Pauline, the other Ravenclaw players; and any of the other Ravenclaw students that happened to go anywhere near to James and Ollie. That got talked about while they ate too – along with the rest of the morning gossip, but Al tried to stay out of it; and had no intention of supporting the poor sportsmanship that some of his friends thought was just good, clean fun despite the venom he could sense in the actual taunts and insults that James and Ollie flung at others without a care about the consequences.

Another walk with Gwendolyn after breakfast that included some riding for her had helped to put Al in a better mood again; but then they needed to say goodbye again after getting to the stadium so that they could sit in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections respectively – and cheer for their own House teams. Al really would have preferred to sit with Gwendolyn, but they couldn't really get away with that for this one match each year; so he reluctantly went and sat next to Lily and Rose instead – in the spot they'd save for him while he had stayed with Gwendolyn for as long as he could. Lily welcomed him with a hug; took his hand; and then acted as if she was cuddling with him while smiling brilliantly and waving as she looked across the pitch toward where Gwendolyn was sitting with Jonah and a bunch of their team mates and friends.

"Should I hold Al's hand and cuddle with him on this side?" Rose teased. "I don't think that Gwendolyn looks too worried about you, Lily."

"With good reason," Lily agreed. "Al's too much of a trouble-magnet for my taste; has the audacity to think he can get away with being in love with multiple Witches; and worst of all, from my perspective, he kisses like my brother."

"I'm only in love with one Witch," Al protested; "though I'll concede that there are quite a few Witches that I do love quite a lot – including both of you."

"Is there a difference?" Ray asked; and Al laughed.

"Yeah – some of the Witches I love kiss like my Mum, sister, cousin, or other relatives. Gwendolyn doesn't."

"You definitely wouldn't want to date someone who kisses like our Aunt Muriel," Lily joked; "though maybe that wasn't scary at all back in the middle ages when she was our age."

"She isn't quite that old," Rose said; though she laughed along with Al, Ray, and some of the cousins and friends that overheard Lily.

"Aunt Muriel jokes about being into her third century," Lily pointed out. "By the time we're in the show; she'll need to tell ghost stories about the relatives she talks with about the opponent players and the game officials."

"I could see that," Rose agreed with a nod and laugh. "She's starting to add in so many 'greats' now that she forgets who she's insulting by the time she gets to the relative's name."

"That's funny – though I don't think that Aunt Muriel forgets anything," Al disagreed. "Adding in 'the ghost of' so-and-so's great-great-great-great relative would only take longer – even if she would think that was funny too."

"Should we try to do an Aunt Muriel immitation for this match?" Lily teased; and Al laughed.

"Sure – go for it. There's a good chance that James will give you lots of material to use while you do that – even if the Ravenclaw players and Mr. Peakes don't."

"I don't know about that, Albus," Lily said in a hilarious mimic of their aunt. "I remember little Jimmy Peakes playing at his great-grandmother's house when I'd go there for tea; and her ghost just told me the other day that he's gotten to be as blind as a bat – a Beater bat, no less; and he probably couldn't see a bludger well-enough to hit one anymore; let alone a cheap shot like that one he just missed!"

"I am so glad you didn't say that as loudly as she would have," Rose told her; "but that was brilliant. Maybe you should go into acting."

"Are you trying to help out your Cannons team by keeping me out of the show?" Lily asked suspiciously; and Rose laughed again.

"No, I'd offer to let you do both if you came and played for my team instead of the Harpies. I think you've got real potential, kid; and shouldn't just limit yourself to Quidditch."

"I could see Lily starring in mirror network shows – or magical movies; if they ever get around to doing things like that the way they do with Muggle television and movie theaters," Al offered.

"I'm going to play for the Harpies," Lily reminded them. "If I want to do other jobs too; I'll do them in the off-season – or in my spare time."

They didn't have time to keep that conversation going because Teresa was ready to start her pre-game show; and they all turned their attention to her as she welcomed everyone and then launched into her 'show' with the Quidditch Cup standings. Except for the unlikely event of another tie between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw – despite Teresa reminding everyone that Pauline and James had done exactly that in their last duel with junior teams; Teresa admitted that the winner of this match would win the Quidditch Cup thanks to both teams having enough of a points advantage over Hufflepuff already that even a ten-point win would be enough to win the tie-break for the two Houses that would end the season with four wins and two losses. She also pointed out that Hufflepuff had won the senior team title for the season with their first undefeated season in years; that Gryffindor had done the same with their junior team; and that she wasn't playing favorites or making predictions for her own House by suggesting that it would only be fair for Ravenclaw to win today so that they could get the Quidditch Cup to keep things fair for all three Houses.

The player introductions included some extra attention for the two NEWT-year students, and while Al knew how good Dominique's record had been – if not quite as brilliant as Victoire's; he thought that Teresa might have added that feature in this year to help Dominique and Susan Cornfoot with impressing the scouts that were in the stadium to watch the match. Susan's record wasn't quite as impressive, but she was part of the defending Quidditch Cup champions; and had been one of Ravenclaw's best Chasers over the past seven years. Al was sure that Dominique and Susan would both be playing in the show next season, but if either Witch knew which team they'd be playing for; they weren't telling enough people for that news to hit the gossip network. Dominique still joked now and then about taking the best offer, but even though he knew she'd do well with Victoire on the Harpies; he wasn't at all sure she'd do better than the trio they had right now. Olivia and Lucy were sure she'd play with them for United, and that was a definite possibility; but every team in the League would do well to try and recruit her – and he could see some other potential good fits – like with Alice and Daniella on the Prides' team. Whatever happened for Dominique, though; Al was sure she'd do well with whichever team she ended up joining. The rest of Teresa's player profiling was less-detailed, and that was a good thing for James; since his personal stats weren't very good by comparison to most of the other players. That was partially-true for Louis too; though he did at least have more awards than James did; if not as impressive as his older sisters – so far. Pauline and Peter were the two stand-outs for Ravenclaw, and by the time she was done; Teresa had mentioned Pauline's record in matches against James or the Gryffindor Seekers a total of four times. She'd also been happy to pass on James' latest guarantee of a win; though that was only news for the visitors to the school thanks to James making sure that every student knew all about his predictions, taunts, and insults.

"She's shooting for Lee's job someday, isn't she?" Lily suggested while they watched Mr. Peakes do his fair play speech – and as Al watched James totally ignore him while leering at Pauline and trying to psych her out.

"There are other jobs – including working as stadium announcer at matches too," Gwendolyn reminded her; "but I could see Teresa announcing matches on the mirror network too – especially for the Harpies' games."

"She could be really good at that," Ray agreed; "though I don't know how many jobs there are for working on the mirror network shows – and it seems like a lot of the Witches and Wizards working for the Quidditch News and other companies are retired players. Lee's one of the exceptions because he got in right at the beginning."

"Maybe, but he keeps his job because everyone loves all of his shows," Lily told him seriously. "We do need more Witches working on the Quidditch shows, though; so I think it'd be great if Teresa – and Kylie – could do that if they want jobs like that when they're done school."

"Spoken like a true Harpies' fan," Ray said with a nod. "Do you have a pick for the Witch to be Minister of Magic next?"

"Aunt Hermione could do it," Lily answered with a grin for Rose. "Maybe she'd have more luck with that job than Rose will have with her future Cannons career."

"She's mostly-happy with Minister Shacklebolt," Rose advised her, "but if he ever decides to step down; she might think about taking the job – especially if nobody can convince your Dad to do it instead."

"He'd hate being Minister of Magic," Lily declared with a laugh and shake of her head. "Uncle Percy would take the job in a second, but that might get weird; since your Mum might decide to run against him – and she'd be way better at it than he would be."

"How did politics get into the conversation when we have a perfectly-good Quidditch match to watch?" Ray asked.

"You asked me who I'd pick if we were to have a Witch for Minister of Magic," Lily reminded him while most of the Witches around them laughed. "It's all your fault this time, Ray."

"Then I'm so glad the game is starting," he said fervently. "Go Gryffindor!"

They did go then, but so did the Ravenclaw team; and the battle started out very defensively; with Peter and Louis going toe-to-toe – or save-for-save. It took Dominique thirty-five minutes to score Gryffindor's first goal on Peter; Gryffindor only managed two goals in the first hour; and Ravenclaw only got one past Louis. That trend continued during the second hour; though Gryffindor managed to earn three more goals against Peter while Ravenclaw added two against Louis. While that was better for the Chasers; they also did that by taking more shots too; so the Keepers were still winning the battle with their opponent Chasers to that point. The third-hour was statistically a near-duplicate of the second hour; and Gryffindor went into the fourth hour with just an eighty-to-fifty lead.

Gryffindor had that slight advantage, but the tide of the match really turned to their favor early in the fourth hour when Tiberius managed to get a solid bludger hit in on Peter while he was vulnerable and took the hit to make a save on Olivia. The cracking noises that everyone heard made it clear that he'd been hurt, and while the Gryffindor Chasers could empathize with him; they also went onto the attack to try and take advantage of the situation. Ravenclaw's Chasers adapted their play to help Peter, but the damage was done; and Gryffindor increased their lead to one-fifty to ninety by the time they took a time-out break at the end of the fourth hour. Lunch had again been served outdoors for everyone; so Al took an extended break so that he could hang out with Gwendolyn while they had lunch and watched the match from just inside the main stadium entrance along the side of the bleachers. They dragged that out until half-way through the fifth hour; and then split up to return to their seats again.

They could have spent more time together; since the match rolled on through the fifth hour and into the sixth with no end in sight. Ravenclaw had made good adjustments to help Peter, and the break had apparently helped him a bit too; so Gryffindor only increased their lead to two-ten to one-forty as the sixth hour began. Al had been enjoying most of the action above the pitch, and even the Seeker duel was better than he'd expected; but that didn't keep him from hating what he sensed from James as his brother battled it out with Pauline. He could sometimes hear the things that James was saying to her, but what he sensed was worse – and fairly-disgusting most of the time. James did at least stay away from trying too many dirty tricks, though; so that was a minor improvement that was a point in James' favor – even if Al could only give him that point a bit grudgingly. James was also supremely, arrogantly confident, but Al was sure he was living in his own fantasy world because everything he saw suggested that Pauline was winning their duel. James hadn't gotten any really good chances to catch the snitch; Pauline had worked hard to get at least a dozen good opportunities; and the only reason she hadn't ended the match sooner was because Tiberius and Brock helped James a lot – and James managed to block her the rest of the time even when his reactions to her attacks or fakes were getting slower and slower as the match rolled on.

At the end of the sixth hour, Gryffindor had increased their lead to two-seventy to one-seventy; and Peter really seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the action – especially against Dominique. by then, Al had decided that Olivia and Lucy had intentionally changed their game-play to help Dominique out with looking good for the scouts; and that was likely working because Dominique had more than half of the Gryffindor goals. Since all three Witches usually were very closely matched for goals and assists; that was a significant change. Dominique scored the first goal of the seventh hour too – and that ended up being the last.

"That's it – we're done," Lily whispered; and looked grim as she watched Pauline racing toward the snitch after catching James off-guard while he'd been flying around her with fancy little tricks while shooting his mouth off at her. "He'll never catch up this time."

"He won't,"Al agreed. He'd been watching the Chaser battle at the Gryffindor end of the pitch, but had sensed the change in Pauline in time to see her take off just as James was doing a little flip and going the wrong way so that he needed to get upright and turned around before he could give chase.

"Brock's trying to slow her down," Rose told him; but Al shook his head.

"He's missed. Pauline will change her angle right – now." Al would have liked to get to his feet and cheer the great play, but that would just be wrong when it also meant that his House just lost the Quidditch Cup; so he settled for cheering on the inside as Pauline held on to her broom with both hands until the last moment to keep her speed up; snapped out a lightning-fast grab for the snitch; and then pulled it in victoriously while also pulling up hard on her broom and turning away from the bleachers and spectators that were only about twenty feet below her.

"I wish we could have had that view," Lily lamented; and then smiled ruefully. "I mean – boo, hiss, boo!"

"You meant the rest of it too," Al countered. "Come on, James – play nice,' he added while sensing the conflict in their brother as he decided whether to follow Pauline and try to bash into her or back off and do nothing except glower at her.

"He'd better not," Lily said as she turned her attention to James too. "They'd likely give him a ban for all of next season!"

"They would," Al agreed; but then he relaxed as James managed to get his hate under enough control that he didn't do anything ridiculously-stupid. He did fly close to Pauline and say something to her that she pretended to ignore; though Al sensed that she'd once again been disgusted and insulted by James.

"I hate it that James acts like that toward her," Lily told him quietly, "but Witches have to deal with that sort of thing a lot in the show; so he's actually helping Pauline a lot with getting ready to play against gits like that after she graduates."

"Don't tell me about any guys that do that sort of thing to you,' Al suggested. "They won't like what'll happen to them if you do."

Lily laughed. "As if you won't know whenever that does happen – and I'm sure that it will sometimes. It'll suck for me too; but will still help me with learning to deal with that kind of harassment." She turned her attention to Rose next. "Do you think that the Cannons have a scout here? Maybe you and Al should track him down and introduce yourselves."

Rose laughed. "Why would I do that? The last thing I'd want to have happen is for the Cannons owners to find out about what I want to do with their team. They'd jack the price up a lot if they thought my plan would work and then I'd never be able to afford them with just my allowance – and Al's."

"I guess that does make sense," Lily conceded, "but I do see the Harpies' scout; so I'm going to go and say hello – since I don't plan on buying a team just to get a job when I graduate."

They didn't all get up and leave right away, but they did start gathering their things while watching the on-pitch action as the teams landed and Teresa started her post-game summary. Pauline's catch gave Ravenclaw the come-from-behind win at the six-hour and seven-minute mark with a final score of three-twenty to two-eighty. She confirmed that Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup thanks to the tie-break; with their final net points of plus three-twenty to just plus-forty for Hufflepuff. After again reminding everyone that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had still won the senior and junior team titles respectively too; Teresa wrapped up her recap with the personal player statistics for the match – without adding in those numbers for the entire season. Dominique was top Chaser with sixteen goals and eight assists; with Pauline at number two for scoring with her one-hundred and fifty points. By the time Teresa was promising to see everyone again next season; Al, Lily, and some of their cousins and friends were on the pitch and heading out toward where the two teams were gathered and busy with the post-game congratulations and condolences.

Al was feeling happier with every step – because Gwendolyn was hurrying toward center pitch with some of her Ravenclaw friends; and he was looking forward to spending some more time with her before she'd need to go to her house for the victory party – and to keep watching the league championship match that they'd all been keeping an eye on with portable mirrors while watching the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw battle. He split off from the rest of his group to meet with her before going to talk with the senior team players; and the hug and kiss they shared earned some whistles and laughs that they ignored for a few moments before they moved on to first congratulate the Ravenclaw players. There were both a lot of fun moments for them over the next twenty minutes along with some that were awkward and uncomfortable. While they were both happy for Pauline; Al could still sense her disgust and hostility for James. Being close to his brother had been awful too, but then James hadn't stayed at center pitch for long; managed to disappear into the crowd; and left for the locker room long before the rest of his team mates did.

That saved Al from having to talk to him at all, but he didn't feel bad for James; since he'd also sensed the blame he was already placing everywhere but on himself. he was sure to make that list somehow, but didn't really care about that anymore either; and he was okay with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw splitting the three team awards this year. That might have been different if he'd been on the team that hadn't won a match all season instead of his undefeated team, but even if that had happened; he knew he wouldn't be acting the way James was now – even if that had been much better for him compared to some of his past post-game antics and outright assaults.

Who knew? Maybe there was hope for him after all!

Gwendolyn needed more time to talk with everyone than Al did, but they stayed together as long as they could – including having Al walk with her back to Ravenclaw tower before he went on to the Gryffindor common room. Since they didn't have Tory or Madison hanging out with them anymore, Al, Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Ray had decided to just watch the championship match in the common room until dinnertime – and then go to their classroom after that if the match was still going on. Al had been okay with that plan – though the noise level in the common room seemed far too loud compared to their smaller-group gatherings in their study classroom. It almost felt like a party, and while a lot of their fellow Gryffindor were disappointed; there was also a lot of interest in the United-Wasps match.

Al, Lily, and Rose had taken turns keeping an eye on that match while they'd been out at the stadium, and it had been a great game for United; but it hadn't been going well for the Wasps. Belinda was having a stellar day in goals for United; and Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan were out-scoring Jeremy and his Chaser buddies by more than three –to-one pretty much right from the start. The Wasps were still fighting hard too, but they looked like a team that had run out of gas after two very tough matches they'd needed to survive to get to the championship match. The game was still going on when they needed to be in the Great Hall for dinner, but there were enough portable mirrors being used that pretty much everyone that wanted to keep watching the game while they ate could do that.

This time, it turned out to be a really good idea, because the United Seeker ended the match at the five-hour, nine-minute mark with a snitch catch that was easier than it should have been because Aaron wasn't able to keep up with his opponent anymore after having to battle for more than two hours on defense once United had earned the one-sixty lead. The final score was a lop-sided five-seventy to one-ten; and the Puddlemere United fans in the room – including all of the Gryffindors – cheered loudly for a long minute for the new league champions. Sure, Gryffindor cheered loudest because of having Belinda from their House, but then United did have older players from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw too. While Al was happy for Belinda, and their family friends that were United players, relatives, and fans; he was even happier to know that the game was over – and that he and Gwendolyn could spend the evening together without a gang of Quidditch-watching relatives and friends around them.

She was pretty happy about that too when they met up after dinner; though they didn't head out on their own right away because Lily and Rose still wanted to set up the mirror and some sofas and chairs in their study classroom first so they could watch the rest of the post-game festivities and then some other mirror network shows together while Al and Gwendolyn had fun with their big chance for some quality alone time. They both helped out with that set-up; Al left some of the snacks and drinks he'd brought along to dinner in case they'd need them for the evening; and then they left the classroom again and went in search of some privacy. Al had half-expected to have a run-in with James, but that didn't happen; and he and Gwendolyn went on to have a brilliant few hours of music, snogging, and quiet cuddling together through until shortly before curfew – when they went back to their study classroom to help clean up there and get his mirror and toy furniture back and put away again.

They didn't have any problems on the walk back to their Houses either; and Al had Lily with him for the walk between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers because she walked Jonah home too – partly so that Al had the company in case he did have any problems lurking in the hallways or secret passages. When they got back to their common room, they did find out some news about James – that he was out somewhere for the night with Patricia instead of Bristol; and that Bristol wasn't happy about that – which was apparently why she was hanging out with a group of third and fourth-year guys and flirting fairly-outrageously with them too from the bit of it Al tried not to witness. He and Lily did sit at a table with Rose, Ray, and a few of their friends – including Hugo and Denise; but Al didn't stay for long because it really was tough for him to be in a room with so many snogging teen couples. James and Patricia didn't make it back before curfew, though; and he didn't want to be there for the show if they did show up a bit late and have some teen drama with Bristol. Instead of doing anything else, he went up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and surfed the Wireless Web for a while until he was ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

Scorpius stepped into his special place in the Room of Requirements; crossed to the table and armchair; and got Thomas' picture out of his bag. Placing it on the table; he flopped back into the chair and sighed.

"Long day of Quidditch?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius nodded.

"Yeah. The match here went a bit more than six hours; and the league championship game didn't end until a bit more than mid-way through dinnertime in the Great Hall."

"Well, you don't look angry or ready to destroy things; so I'll guess that Gryffindor didn't win today; James Potter didn't win his Seeker duel; the younger Potter didn't need to save the day; or a combination of all three happened."

Scorpius laughed. "All three," he agreed. "Pauline beat James – again; and earned the come-from-behind win for Ravenclaw. They won the Quidditch Cup too because they were ahead in the tie-break with Hufflepuff. James was the only Gryffindor player that looked truly angry about the loss; but then he did look like an idiot after guaranteeing the win again. You'd think he'd learn after failing more often than succeeding when doing that; but apparently his ego won't let him just shut up and play the game."

"Did anything else happen at the game?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shook his head.

"No. The Averys and their buddies had hoped for a melee after the match; but nothing happened. I'm not surprised. James might not like it, but he's the main reason why we have the new rules against causing any problems after the whistle; and I'd like to think he isn't dumb-enough to get banned from Quidditch for next season by doing something stupid after losing his duel with Pauline – and the match."

"You've both had a bad Quidditch season," Thomas pointed out. Keep that in mind and your eyes open for any chance to take advantage of that common experience."

"Don't remind me," Scorpius said with a shake of his head. "The game announcer kept throwing that in my face all day – though she only did that by reminding us that Gryffindor's junior team had an undefeated season – over and over again while suggesting that it would only be fair for Ravenclaw to win the Quidditch Cup. Hufflepuff won the senior team title; so each of those Houses will get a Quidditch award."

"Maybe they'll also think it's fair for Slytherin to get the House cup then," Thomas only half-joked; and Scorpius laughed.

"They might think so; but that isn't likely to happen. We're down in the points; and haven't won nearly-enough of the academic or Quidditch awards lately to have a chance to pull ahead because of those end-of-term points."

"You might if so many of your Professors weren't so biased. "Don't worry about those stupid awards. They're worth nothing when they're rigged."

"Says the former Head Boy with all of the awards from his years at Hogwarts," Scorpius shot back. "You'd feel different if you'd been screwed over as often as I have been over the past three years."

"Let's not get into a 'poor me' rant," Thomas suggested. "I'm still sure that growing up in a Muggle orphanage has your problems beat by a wide margin. What about the league championship? Anything exciting to tell me about with that?"

"No. United won in a bit of a blowout. The Wasps were probably just too beat up after their first two playoff matches and couldn't keep up with United today. Normally, they're much more-closely matched than they were today."

"Okay, then if you don't have any news; do you want to get started on our lessons?"

Scorpius did want to do that; and happily spent the rest of the evening working on another of the dark arts spells that he needed time to learn to cast correctly. That was occasionally very frustrating, but he always felt great when he mastered each spell; and always knew that he was making progress with his magic to a point that was far-beyond anything being taught to even fourth and fifth-year students.

Quidditch, and other parts of his life still weren't going the way he wanted, but in this one area; he was the finest and brightest student in the school!

It was just too bad that he couldn't yet openly use everything he knew to show everyone just how far above them he was – and deserving of their respect and adoration!

James was in a foul mood as he lay in bed; staring at the ceiling; and unable to sleep. He'd been on the edge of exploding pretty much since that debacle at the end of the Quidditch match, and hwile he faked it for all he was worth – particularly while he'd spend the evening with Patricia; even her usually-entertaining, feeble attempts to sabotage things between him and Bristol had just annoyed him – even when her suggestions gave him another excuse for why he got screwed during the match that should have ended in Quidditch glory for him. Instead of that happening, he was the butt of every Quidditch joke in the entire school; and he was sick of the jokes, smirks, and side-long glances from every idiot that thought they'd personally won some victory over him.

He hated that; despised the platitudes that Louis, Ollie, and others offered him even more; and knew without doubt that somehow, some way; the loser had found a way to screw him again. Even in the loss, the girls had worked together to make Dominique look brilliant to the scouts; Louis had won his Keeper battle with Peter thanks to Tiberius; but had anyone helped him? Not a chance! The McClaggens hadn't left a mark on Pauline; and nothing he'd tried had any effect on her at all. The loser must have been behind it! He likely gave her some secret that gave her the advantage – or more likely; one of his blasted charms. That would explain why nothing could touch her. The more he thought about what the loser might have done to sabotage him again; the more he was sure that was what had gone wrong.

Patricia had suggested that Bristol had been the problem – that cajoling him into staying out and partying with her all night had been why he'd been beaten – and that it had been amazing he'd lasted more than six hours on no sleep. That had seemed like a good excuse to add to the list at the time, but the more he thought about that; the more he was sure that staying – up all night with Bristol hadn't affected him at all. Heck, he was still wide awake in the early hours of Sunday morning; had been awake for most of two days now; and was sure he could keep going for days more if he needed to do that. He certainly hadn't been too tired to enjoy the consolation play time Patricia had happily offered to him while believing she'd earned an advantage over Bristol! No – this definitely was not his fault – or Bristol's either; though he'd thrown some of the blame at her when he and Patricia snuck back into the common room and she'd been waiting up for them.

That wouldn't be anything he couldn't fix with a memory charm; though that was something else he needed to be careful with thanks to the loser.

There it was again – the loser; messing with his life again; and there seemed to be nothing he could do to stop him – yet. He would destroy him some day, though; and he once again promised himself that he would never stop until he was vindicated; everyone knew the truth about his loser brother; and the Animorphpotty was destroyed, dead, and preferably obliterated!

Those thoughts always made him feel better, but didn't help him to sleep at all. He did get mentally ready to put this latest disappointment aside and get back to his life again, though; and he was going to have as much fun as he possibly could during the four weeks he had left before he'd be forced to go home and spend the summer in his own personal hell – living in the same crappy shack in the sticks with the Animorphpotty bane of his existence!


	33. Making or Breaking the Grade

**Chapter Thirty-Three – Making or Breaking the Grade**

Hogwarts Quidditch season was over; the Professional league champions, Puddlemere United, had been crowned; and it was time for the Hogwarts students to get serious about their upcoming final exams that would be starting in just eight days as they woke on Sunday morning. Al felt a bit different as he got up and ready for the day – though nothing was changed at all from any other day. That didn't change the fact that he did sense a change in his own perception as he seemed to be preparing himself for the workload that was going to intensify – and keep at a high level through until they finished writing their exams – which for him would be eleven exams in twelve school days – plust the two weekends that would be all about cramming for those tests. Rose didn't seem to be feeling the same way he was, but she did want to talk about their study plans for the day more than anything else during their walk and talk before breakfast.

They did more than talk about studying after having that meal – they got right to it as soon as they'd gathered in their study classroom and set up for working on everything from Arithmancy to Transfiguration. Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their study group friends still managed to have fun while they worked, but there was definitely more intensity and focus on their studies too as even their least-studious friends knew that their time was up and procrastinating was non longer an option. After taking Saturday off, they all had assignments to finish, but all of that work was exam-related; so everything they did helped them to get ready for those all-important tests. Most of the fun came with the practice for the various practical exams; though that was as often thanks to the mistakes and comical outcomes than from any goofing-around sort of play time.

Taking their usual Quidditch scrimmage play time after lunch was still part of the study plan so that they could have that break from the work, go outside, and enjoy having that blast of fun before hitting the books again. While that had been great, Al and Gwendolyn got back to studying after that for the rest of the day – except for breaks at dinner and when they had about an hour left before curfew so that they could have mirror chats with both sets of parents while they could still be together. With Quidditch season over, Gwenog and Ginny were looking forward to a short break in the workload – though that was relative for Gwenog; since she still did a lot of work through most of the off-season to get everything set up and ready for training camp and the start of each new season. Not needing to train all week for the championship match had helped with getting a big head start on that work, but none of their parents were going to be taking extra time off while their kids were still at Hogwarts. Vacation time was exclusively being set aside for when their kids were home; but most of it was used during summer and Christmas breaks; so couples' getaways for anything more than a two or three-day weekend just weren't going to happen for at least a few more years!

Since they had talked about that – in the context of summer vacations; Al had thought that even a weekend away anywhere with Gwendolyn would be really great – and, unfortunately; not an option for at least another month. He could dream about the possibilities, though; and that was exactly what he did when he eventually got around to going off to sleep for the night.

By Monday morning, if there were still any students in the castle that weren't seriously trying to get ready for their exams; they were keeping their mouths shut and heads low to avoid being noticed – particularly by their Professors. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their study group friends continued to work hard in all of their classes on Monday; they studied straight through until dinnertime; and then Al and Gwendolyn needed to take a bit of time off to set up the party that Gwendolyn was hosting for Ryan's thirteenth birthday. She had some help from Jonah, Lily, and a couple of Ryan's friends; but Al took care of most of the heavy magical lifting; and they stayed to celebrate his big day for nearly an hour before they needed to get back to their studies again. There was some studying going on with Ryan and his friends and party guests after that too; but Al and Gwendolyn only returned again with enough time ahead of curfew to clean up and retrieve Al's mirror and toy furniture.

That party wasn't the only play time they had through to the end of their last school week before exams. On Tuesday and Thursday, Al and Gwendolyn took time off after last classes for a pair of Chaser duels. Lily and Jonah played with them both days too; but the rest of their friends opted for other entertainment while also taking those breaks from all of the work. Al and Gwendolyn also took those outdoor opportunities to do practical studying for Herbology in the greenhouses before dinnertime. Rose and a few other friends joined them for that; though most of their classmates still rarely put in much extra time in the greenhouses because they simply didn't like the work. Al could definitely empathize with that, but as Rose reminded him now and then; their Professors didn't dock their students marks just because they didn't like a subject. They also spent one evening working on potions in one of the dungeons. They didn't have that exam until the second week of testing, but one of their exam prep assignments needed to be completed in one of the dungeons for safety reasons – including having access to some school equipment and protective gear.

Taking some time off on Friday evening was very tempting – and some of their friends did that, but Al and Gwendolyn worked through until curfew because they were going to Hogsmeade on Saturday; and wouldn't be able to study all day the way the first and second-year students could. They were still going to try to keep that visit as short as possible, but by Friday evening; they had a very large list of supplies and treats to pick up for all of their usual younger relatives and friends – along with a few extra friends of those kids that wanted help with getting the supplies they'd need for the last three weeks of school too. Since they didn't have their full study group after dinner, they were able to get more work done; and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray actually had all of their extra study assignments finished by the time they wrapped up their work for the night with about a half-hour left to go before curfew.

That extra time hadn't been to give Al and Gwendolyn a chance for some alone time – they instead went over their shopping lists for Saturday with Rose; made a quick little plan to divide and conquer the mountain of purchases they'd be making; and then Al walked Gwendolyn 'home' while Rose had Ray escort her back to Gryffindor tower – a precaution that they only took because James was out and about the castle instead of safely in their common room. While he was out there with Bristol, they were hanging out in an out-of-the-way classroom; so messing with any of them ahead of curfew probably wasn't on James' mind. It was highly-unlikely that James and Bristol were studying for their respective exams together either, but Al tried not to think about that at all; and reminded himself yet again that his brother's personal relationships were none of his business.

Al wasn't thinking about James and Bristol on Saturday morning, but he was hoping that the last weekend before exams would work out better for him this year than it had at the end of second-year. He didn't want to jinx himself; yet he still hoped that he'd be left alone to concentrate on his exams – and stay out of the hospital wing for a change too. He didn't get any insight about whether he actually had anything to worry about; but that didn't keep him from paying closer attention to everything going on around him – and he kept ready to react if needed. James and Ollie – or the Slytherins that hated him the most – would be happy to know they at least had that effect on his life, but while he wished it was otherwise; it wasn't as if he wouldn't have other enemies to worry about just because of his last name. He didn't talk about any of that with Rose and Lily while they had their morning walk and talk before breakfast; he enjoyed that meal and most of the breakfast entertainment and conversations; and he was especially happy to be reunited with Gwendolyn after they were both finished eating and ready to head for town.

The line-up for the exodus from Hogwarts was longer than usual because a lot of students were in a rush to get to Hogsmeade; pick up what they needed; and get back to their exam studies. That was particularly true for the OWL and NEWT students; so it was a while before Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their small group were out and on their way. Rose wasn't with them for the walk to town because she'd ended up ahead of them while talking with some of her girlfriends. Al and Gwendolyn ended up walking to town with Toni, Michael, Renee, Ray, Artemis Kettleburn, and Fiona Birch. Renee and Ray were not with them as a couple, but Art and Fiona were potentially on the way to dating; so it looked as though they were a group of four couples. Art was Ray's closest friend next to Al, and he and Fiona had both done more studying with their group over the past week or so too as they got serious about exams; so it didn't feel strange to Al to be hanging out with them as they walked toward the gates somewhere in the middle of the long line of teens heading for town.

"Are you sure that you want to walk with us, Renee?" Gwendolyn asked. "There are sure to be rumors about you and Ray before we even get to Hogsmeade; and you've told us that you're taking a break from guys."

"I'd suggest that you'd like taking a break from guys too if you'd try it, but then if you did; I'd be tempted to change my mind about that and ask Al out on a date," she joked; earning a laugh from Gwendolyn even as she squeezed Al's hand possessively and moved a half-step away from Renee.

"The occasional girls' night is all I need for breaks from Al," Gwendolyn advised her; "though there are some guys that I'd be happy to take permanent breaks from even seeing." She'd been looking ahead of them meaningfully by then; and Renee smiled as she spotted James a few groups ahead of them with Patricia, Bristol, Ollie, and a handful of other fourth-year Gryffindors.

"You do know that at least one of those guys you're talking about bears a fairly-strong resemblance to your boyfriend, right?"

"Only on the outside," Gwendolyn told her. "Stop that – you're scaring me."

Renee laughed. "There's nothing wrong with admiring the view, and you don't need to be scared; since I have no intention of being the next Witch to join James' harem."

"I'd feel less-scared if you'd said something closer to 'never' instead of just 'the next one' for that," Gwendolyn said with a laugh and shake of her head. "Some of us don't want to talk about James at all, though; so let's move on to something else."

"As long as it isn't Quidditch," Renee warned. "It's the off-season. Take a break from that too."

"Your off-season comment actually has me thinking about family," Gwendolyn advised her friend. "I have a cousin getting married on the first weekend of July; and another expecting a baby this summer too. Does anyone else have any big family events coming up this summer?"

"Not compared to your cousin marrying the Captain of the Harpies with my family," Toni answered first. "I do have a couple of family weddings this summer; though we won't be going to one of them because they're having a small ceremony and reception."

"Don and Candice are having a small wedding too," Gwendolyn advised her. "None of the younger cousins are going to it; and Al and I are probably going to be drafted to help out with babysitting that day – along with a camping night with them at my house while my aunts and uncles get a kid-free night."

"I'd have thought that all weddings for Harpies' players would be big events," Toni said in surprise.

"My Mum's wedding was fairly-small," Al advised her; and three of the girls laughed.

"His Mum got married three weeks after she got engaged," Gwendolyn explained mostly for Fiona's benefit. "Aunt Ginny wanted to get married before the start of the Harpies' training camp that summer; and threatened to elope if Al's grandparents didn't agree to the quick wedding instead."

"My Grandma and Grandpa Weasley eloped right after they graduated," Al added with a grin. "Grandma knew for sure that Mum wasn't bluffing about that."

"Maybe Gwendolyn should be afraid if eloping and getting married right out of school runs in your family," Renee teased. "She'll have a very short Quidditch career if getting married quick is followed by an early start to having kids."

"Mum played for five seasons – and two more after James, Lily, and I were born," Al reminded her. "I think that she could still play now if she wanted to do that instead of working as a reporter."

"Al has more to be worried about from me wanting to get married right away than the other way around," Gwendolyn added with a grin – "and while I would need to take time off for pregnancies when we're ready to have kids; I'm planning on getting him to stay home with the kids while I go back to work."

"That'll put a kink into Rose's plans for the Cannons," Ray suggested. "I guess she'd better start looking for someone else to take the job she was planning on giving to Al."

"This is my fault for even mentioning Quidditch," Renee told them, "but try not to drag the sports talk on for too long."

Gwendolyn made a comment on that, but then changed the subject for Renee. The walk to town was uneventful; and then they all got to work on their supply shopping. That really did feel more like work this time; though Al and Gwendolyn still had fun together even when they were doing the most-tedious stops for potions ingredients, parchment, inks, and quills. Getting through the line-ups at each store was actually worse than usual for them because so many other students wanted to get all of their supplies and get back to the school to resume their studying; so doing the 'boring' shopping first didn't help them to get finished sooner. That's why they ended up staying in town for lunch – and they were able to do that without the usual long wait at the Three Broomsticks because half the students that came to town with them were back at Hogwarts in time to have lunch there. Rose, Cora, and a few other friends ended up joining them for that meal; and then they had a large group to hang out with for the walk back to the castle.

Al and Gwendolyn needed to split up for a while to go to their dorm rooms and distribute some supplies, but then they met up in their study classroom and jumped right into their exam studying for the rest of the day – and the weekend. With Herbology first up on Monday, Rose was their study group leader; she had extra friends stop in for some tutoring; and they had two study sessions in the greenhouse so that they could work with the plants they'd be tested on during the practical exam. On Saturday, they did that right after dinner; and on Sunday, they went to the greenhouses following their early-afternoon Quidditch scrimmage. The evening studying on Sunday was only until nine o'clock; and then Al and Gwendolyn took the rest of the evening off from studying. They spent an hour together with Lily and Jonah after that; had mirror chats with their parents; and sent letters for home with Winter before heading back to their dorms and going to bed early so they'd be ready for what would be a very tough week of exams – especially for Al and Gwendolyn.

Sunday was also the last day of May; so taking two tough Herbology exams was far from the most-exciting way to start the new month. Al was still awake early and ready to get on with the challenge, and since it was arguably her best subject; Rose wasn't worried about their first exams either as they met up in the common room for their morning walk and talk. Lily didn't join them for that; but Al and Rose still liked to have a few chances a week to talk without anyone else around.

"I'm doing okay, but Mum was worried for Hugo and me when I talked to her last night," Rose told Al as they stepped out into the hallway. "What is it about tests and exams that freaks her out – especially when she isn't the one writing them?"

"Maybe she's afraid that if you bomb your exams; you'll end up with some awful job like playing Quidditch for the Cannons," Al joked. "Your Mum is pretty amazing when it comes to just about everything else except for Quidditch and stressing about your education, though; so let's just cut her some slack on it. You're going to do as well as always; and she'll be happy with all of the O's on your report when we get them in August."

Rose laughed a couple of times as he'd answered her; and then pretended to scowl at him. "I'd like to do a bit better than usual this year – or at least a bit better than you. How many awards will you win this year? All of them except Herbology?"

Al srugged and smiled. "I don't know, but whatever happens; you'll know that you deserve every award that you do win."

"True; though I still sometimes wish that you were a bit more like your father than your mother when it comes to how well you do in all of your classes."

"The problem with that is we'll never know how good Dad might have been if he'd grown up in the Wizarding World the way we have – and didn't have all of the problems." He smiled at Rose's reaction. "Yes, your Mum grew up in the Muggle world too, but she really is brilliant; and had a much nicer childhood. Dad had a lot of baggage that came with him to Hogwarts."

"Not to mention all of the awful things that were waiting for him when he got into the Wizarding World," Rose added. "He was an even-worse trouble magnet than you are."

"I'm not starting my exams from the hospital wing this year," Al reminded her with a grin. "Maybe things are looking up for me!"

"And I'll hope that you didn't just jinx yourself," Rose said; feigning a worried expression on her face while looking around in search of trouble.

"I've been hoping that all weekend every time I've even thought about the start of our exams last year. James and Ollie have been much better, though; so maybe they'll just stick to the insults and bad jokes for a while longer."

"That would be nice," Rose agreed. "If we can get through the next three weeks without any James and Ollie problems; I'll start hoping that you can have a half-decent summer too."

"We're going to have a great summer," Al predicted. "When we show our Mums the Animorphmagus toys; we might even make some money without having to go out and get 'real' jobs to do that too. I don't know how well they do with some of their inventions, but I do know it's like the music business; and they get a bit of money out of every sale."

That wasn't exactly, entirely true, since Al actually had a pretty good idea about how much his parents made from not only those inventions but from owning the companies that made the mirrors and everything else that was associated withthe mirror communicators, mirror network, and mirror gaming. he didn't, however, know how much Rose had been told about things like that; so it wasn't his place to talk about it with her.

"We haven't exactly perfected them yet," Rose reminded him; and Al shrugged.

"We will," he assured her. "I've got some new ideas to try out on those action figures when we've got time – and I picked up some extras in town on Saturday so we won't run out of toys to experiment on."

"Well, we could always sell the ones that went bad to Dad and Uncle George," Rose suggested with a laugh. "Maybe they'd be able to find a market for toys-gone-bad."

"Maybe – if they had Animorphmonsters to go along with their line of monster cards," Al suggested; "but then that sounds like a cool idea for toys that kids would love anyway – toy Wizards and Witches that could turn into magical creatures instead of normal animals."

"I love that idea too – though the first thing I pictured when you suggested that was Dad selling one that disappeared – and then he and Uncle George try to convince everyone that it turned into a Thestral and flew off."

"I have a feeling that disappearing toys would go over about as well as invisible Quidditch stadiums did," Al suggested. "Having those Animorphmonsters do some of the things that other toy versions of the magical creatures can do now would be cool, though – like flying dragons or hippogriffs." He paused as he thought about that. "You know, we could likely make a plush version of Animorphmagus toys if we started with stuffed dolls instead of action figures."

"That's brilliant too, Al, but you probably shouldn't admit to the idea around any of the guys; since they'll razz you about spending too much time with Witches to even be thinking that way at all."

"They would," Al agreed. "I don't really get that, since half of them wish they could spend as much time with you as I do, but they are guys; so I guess logic is not required when they're doing things like that."

"Now you're scaring me just a bit," Rose teased. "Do you have any of those plush dolls here too?" She laughed at the expression on his face. "Of course you do – just in case you might need emergency gifts for firstie Witches. I have no idea when we'll have time to work on that next; but it'll be great if we can get all of that figured out before we head home for the summer."

"We will do that," Al assured her again; "and we might be able to take a break from the studying to do that for a while tonight or tomorrow; since we don't have to write the Muggle Studies exam on Tuesday."

Rose laughed. "If they'd let us; we could likely ace it even though we didn'ttake the class," she suggested.

"The exams aren't worth half the marks, though; so we still wouldn't pass – not to mention that it'd mess up our reports to have one bad mark on them."

"True, but just imagine how happy that would make James," Rose joked. "He could end up being even madder this year if Lily has really good marks too – and I think she must be doing pretty well even if she isn't as serious about her studies as we are."

"I think she's doing better than she admits to her friends," Al suggested. "Every time that I think about how nice it would be to slack off, though, I know that I can't do that; since I want to learn everything I can about magic more than I want to have that extra time to just goof off or play games."

That comment gave Rose some material to work with for teasing him; the chat time helped a lot with getting in the right frame of mind for their first written exam; and they needed that because the stress in the Great Hall was palpable thanks to so many teens and tweens that were freaking out about the start of exams. Gwendolyn stopped by to see Al before breakfast; that good morning hug and kiss was another cameo moment that helped to make the first day of June even better for Al; and then he also loved getting to have the extra time with Gwendolyn before their written exam – something they'd get to do every day now except for his Divination exam.

Herbology really was one of Al's toughest subjects, but he was also more than ready for the exams; and his photographic memory helped a lot for all of the subjects that required memorizing a lot of facts, figures, and details. That's why Al was sure that he'd aced the exam by the time he handed it in to Professor Longbottom with five minutes to spare – and at the same time that Rose, Gwendolyn, and a few others handed their papers in on their way out of the classroom. Al only had Gwendolyn and Rose with him when they stayed outside of the classroom to wait for their study group friends; and they did that because they were sure that some of them would need comfort and reassurance. They'd be able to give the first easily-enough, but reassurance would be different for each of their friends; and there was always the possibility that one or two of them would be legitimately disappointed with how they did on the exam – even though Al was sure that none of them were at risk of totally bombing any of their exams.

Doing that with their friends needed to be kept short, since they all needed to get over the morning exam and focused on the practical exam they'd be taking after lunch. That was especially-important for Al, Rose, and Ray because they were in the first group being tested this year; so they'd be working with the plants immediately after lunch. They couldn't avoid the exam post-mortem that went on at their table while they ate, though; so they finished eating as quickly as they could; went outside for a walk; and then they were in the greenhouse with fifteen minutes to spare before their exam. Professor Longbottom was already there; he drafted them to help out with the first setup for their tests; and then they took that exam with the rest of their group. Working with the puffapods and the rest of the plants that Neville had them work with over the next half-hour took a lot of concentration and care, but Al survived that – and Rose excelled at it; which was why he was sure she'd again best him for top student.

Being done for the day so early – and ahead of most of the members of their study group – gave Al and Rose a couple of hours of extra time that Gwendolyn didn't have while she needed to stay focused on Herbology for a while longer. Al did spend some time with her first, but she was doing exam review with some of their friends, so he and Rose left them to that; and decided to go sit by the river and work on their pet toy project. The complexity of the magic that often went into Wizarding World toys was usually taken for granted - just as most Witches and Wizards didn't even think about what now went into making the best brooms or other magical devices. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn really were talented spellcasters, though; and taking a great idea from concept to reality was a challenge that they could not only conquer; but something that they could do that was also brilliantly fun! They still had lots of work to do before their new toy would be perfected, but by the time Gwendolyn joined them after her exam; Al and Rose had one human-to-husky Animorphmagus toy prototype that could change back and forth between forms; and the puppy could trot, pant, and bark. Gwendolyn was ready for a break by then too, so they worked on the toy for a while longer; experimented with some sayings for the human form of the toy; and then Gwendolyn had Al take her for a horseback ride before they went to meet up with their study group friends for another blast of studying before dinner.

Al was only getting the one weekday off on Tuesday from writing exams, and while he'd have preferred to have that break sometime in the second week instead; it did give him extra time to get ready for his next three exams – History, Divination, and Charms. Not all of their friends could move on to study for any of those subjects on Monday night while they got ready for the Muggle Studies exam, but that worked out for Al because he could study ahead for Divination and Charms. He didn't need to put in extra time for History, since he knew that his friends would want to grill him on that for the rest of the day on Tuesday anyway; and he had a lot of fun with Gwendolyn and Rose when they worked on practicing the Charms they'd be tested on during the practical exam. Tuesday was the first of two days they were getting off, but then they were stuck with both of them in the first week too; and then they'd all be writing five exams during the second week – along with the final two exams during the last week of school.

Since the firsties had Tuesday off too, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose started their day out with a Seeker, Chaser, and Keeper duel with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo after breakfast; they worked on the Animorphmagus toy for an hour after that; and then studied Charms again until lunchtime. They had to deal with the Muggle Studies exam post-mortem at lunch with the friends that had taken the test, but then it was time to switch to History mode for the rest of the day; though they did the afternoon session of that out by the lake instead of in their usual classroom so they could enjoy a decent weather day while they quizzed each other on History facts and figures. As they'd done on Sunday and mOnday night, they didn't stay up late to cram for their exam – or at least Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't do that. They wrapped up their study group at nine; Al and Gwendolyn spent an hour together on their own – time that included some music, a bit of play time with their toy prototypes, and a minor snogging session; and then they went back to their dorms and off to sleep early again.

Al was not universally loved for doing that – even among his cousins, but then that was one of the benefits of working so hard the rest of the year; and getting the sleep was better for him anyway when it came to being able to concentrate and do well while writing his exams. Before he could get to the History exam on Wednesday, though, there was some family birthday fun to start the day out with – and Lucy's seventheenth birthday turned out to be even better than she'd hoped it would be. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't find out why that was true when they all went to see her before breakfast so that they could give her the gifts they'd gotten for her, but they all enjoyed that cameo bit of fun; and then everyone in the Great Hall knew when Lucy's birthday went from good to brilliant because she literally screamed with excitement when the Owl Post arrived and she opened the birthday gift that arrived from her parents – a shiny, new Lightningbolt!

"I didn't think Uncle Percy would ever get her a Lightningbolt," Rose whispered to Al as they watched what little they could see of the action around Lucy. They couldn't see much because she had a crowd around her; and her friends were all admiring her new broom – and happily shouting their congratulations.

"She obviously agrees with you," Al whispered back with a grin. "Molly isn't into playing Quidditch, so I wasn't surprised that she didn't get one for her seventeenth; but I'm really glad that their parents decided to do this for Lucy – and not just because that'll be a huge help for our team next season!"

"That is a great bonus, though," Rose added with a soft laugh.

"For her," Ray leaned in and told her. "It sucks for those of us interested in one of the Chaser spots on the senior team next year – especially if Olivia is named team Captain. There will only be one spot left now that Lucy has that new broom."

"It will help her," Rose agreed; "but she'll still need to score goals. I don't plan on making that easy for her, and Louis better not either; or I'll be Keeper next season instead of him."

"That's a nice thought – right up until I remember that you'll do the same against me," Ray pointed out. "Then it goes right back to sucking to be me."

"Let's wait and see how we do practicing with the senior team this summer," Al suggested. "We managed to do well-enough against Scorpius on his Lightningbolt this season; and we might be okay against Lucy too."

"Says the guy they'll likely put on their side of the scrimmage now that Dominique will be graduating," Ray said with a snort – "or do you think they'll ask Ollie instead?"

Al frowned as he thought about that. "I wasn't thinking about practicing with Ollie at all," he admitted. "I hope that Olivia and Lucy pick Gina to practice with them – or at least switch us around to take turns working with them. If they get everyone from this season to work with them this summer plus you, me, and any of our going-on-fourth-year classmates; we'll have too many Chasers and will need to take turns anyway."

"We'll have different teens off for vacations off and on all summer," Rose pointed out. "It might not be a problem at all – and that doesn't even include summer jobs getting in the way of practices. Does Ollie have a summer job lined up this year?"

Ray shrugged. "I have no idea," he answered. "We don't exactly talk much – which always works for me. I'm sure he'll want one – especially if James is working again this summer. I'd like to get a job too; but hope that won't get in the way of Quidditch practices."

Their chat moved on from there, but then they needed to get back to thinking about their History exam – and joined in for some more quizzing that their friends had been doing while trying to work out the mental blocks they were having with remembering some of the information they'd tried to cram into their heads over the past half-day or so. Only having the written exam for History meant that the exam stress for the third-year students was finished for the day by lunchtime; though Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose weren't stressed at all as they wrote and aced the exam that was a problem for a lot of their classmates. Unlike other classes, History was a problem because of the boredom factor, but while that was a known problem, the Headmistress couldn't do anything about it because even if she hired a new History Professor; they would still have Professor Binns show up and teach the class anyway.

That exam did generate a lot of moaning and complaining from the least-prepared students, but Al was looking forward to having the afternoon off – though that was only off from writing exams. They still needed to study for Charms on Friday; and he had his Divination exams on Thursday with Romeo and the Witches taking that class with them. He had a small group of classmates with him for the hour and a half he spent studying Divination after lunch; but then he studied Charms for the rest of the afternoon with Rose, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their expanded study group. He split his evening that way too; though the Divination work was mostly for the benefit of his friends – not because he needed to spend more time getting ready for those tests. He and Gwendolyn took time off ahead of curfew for themselves, and that included a bit of snogging; but they also went to bed early again so that Al would be rested and ready for his exams on Thursday.

Divination wasn't even remotely dangerous compared to some of their classes, but Al did still need to be alert – and careful not to show off everything he saw or could do to anyone – including Firenze. That didn't keep him from acing the written exam in the morning; and he was the only student to perfectly complete all of the practical exam tasks. There were other good students in the class with him; but only a handful with any true talent for Divination. Another, larger handful of teens did well-enough learning the material without being able to actually divine anything; and then there was the rest of the students in the third-year classes that, like Bristol; wouldn't likely be taking the class again in fourth-year.

While Al was busy with Divination for most of the school day – partly because his practical exam was with the last group of the afternoon; Rose and Gwendolyn led their study group as they got ready for their Charms exam. They took a break from that work when Al met up with them after his exam; went outside to blow off some steam with some Quidditch play time that Lily, Jonah, and Hugo joined them for; and then they stayed outside until dinnertime while resuming their studying for Charms. That session was all about the written exam; so they spent a bit more time after dinner on the practical exam preparation. Since Gwendolyn and Rose had spent most of the day helping their friends to get ready for the written exam with just a bit of magic play time; that made their evening much more entertaining – though they also did one last round of review questions and answers for the written exam too before they called it a night a half-hour ahead of curfew.

Charms was one of Al's favorite and best classes, so even though it was one of the toughest exams for a lot of students; he was a happy camper as he got ready for the day on Friday morning. He had Rose and Lily with him for the morning walk and talk, and while Lily wasn't as happy as he was; that was only because she was far from excited about writing her first Herbology exams – and liked that subject even less than Al did. Her goal of earning an 'E' for the class and the tests was certainly attainable for her, though; so Al was sure she'd be okay with how her exams went by the end of the day. He was shooting for quite a bit better than that for his Charms exams, and while Professor Dawlish was never going to be a favorite teacher; they had at least come to terms with the fact that Al was one of the best students – and they could at least respect the fact that they both loved the subject.

Al was sure that he wrote a perfect exam in the morning; he and Rose got to listen to a lot of moaning at lunch from friends that weren't nearly as happy; and then they met up with Gwendolyn and the handful of friends that had again been lucky-enough to draw one of the first time slots for the afternoon practical exams. Most of their classmates wouldn't call that good luck, since they wanted time to cram and practice for that exam, but while Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were pretty much the only happy students going into the classroom at the start of that exam; everyone in their group was happy when they left – thanks to having cheering charms as part of that testing! Al was happy about how well he'd done with all of his charms; so being cheered up by Gwendolyn when it was her turn to demonstrate that charm for Professor Dawlish hadn't been necessary; but that did make the post-exam chat with their friends and classmates very entertaining – including when Gwendolyn wanted to share a long, happy hug and kiss with him once they were out in the hallway again.

"I don't think I've ever been this happy after any other exam so far," Gwendolyn told him while smiling brilliantly. "We were brilliant!"

"I've never been so happy either," Ray told her – "and that's despite the fact that I wasn't really brilliant at all." He practically giggled at his own comment; and earned a round of laughs from everyone else.

"Then we should try cheering charms on each other after every exam," Al suggested. "That is why Professor Dawlish had us do them last – though maybe it would have helped Ray if he'd been this happy while doing the other charms."

"I'd have at least worried less," Ray suggested with another half-giggle laugh. "You got top marks for doing this to me, didn't you, Rose?"

"I hope so," she agreed with a nod and smile. She was probably the least-cheerful teen in the hallway; but only because the cheering charm used on her had been among the least-successful. She was still happy – just not through magically-induced means. "You did as well as you expected, Ray; so try not to be disappointed."

"As if I could be right now even if I wanted to be," he joked with another laugh that was funny to listen to when it was so different from his usual, normal laugh. "Merlin – I sound like a loon! Quick, Al – change me back!"

"We don't learn how to do that until next year," Al told him. "I guess you're stuck like this until then."

"As if you haven't learned most of the charms for the next two or three years of classes," Ray shot back. "Come on – you guys can't leave me like this!"

"The charms will start wearing off soon," Rose told him seriously. "Just have fun with it while it lasts – I know we will."

"We have our Potions exams on Monday," Gwendolyn added. "Enjoy the happy while it lasts. This is not going to be a fun study weekend – especially for those of us with five exams next week."

"I am so glad that I only took two optionals!" Ray said with another cheerful giggle. "Some of us only have one optional exam left to go!"

"Don't try another cheering charm right before the practical exam for Care of Magical Creatures," Rose warned. "That laugh of yours might get you bit or carried off if you're like that around some of the magical animals."

"I don't plan on trying it before Potions either," Ray assured her. "Being cheerful would not make getting blown up feel any better."

"It does feel pretty good right now, though," Al added. "Let's blow off the studying for a while and go outside to play."

"As long as we don't play Quidditch," Ray agreed. "I'm likely to laugh myself right off of my broom if I try to do that in this condition."

Al's suggestion was very popular, so they went outside without even bothering to stop into dorm rooms to drop off bookbags; they played for an hour; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose did a bit of work on their toy prototypes before getting back together with their study group after the last Charms exams were finished. A couple of their friends still needed to take a break first; but that study session through to dinnertime was a lot of fun as the cheering charms were still wearing off for most of them. Sure, Al actually could have reversed them; but what would have been the fun in that?

With five exams to write in the second week, studying all weekend for Potions wasn't an option, but they did start with that on Friday afternoon; and then they moved on to also work on the other, toughest exams they had coming up next. While those 'tougher' exams varied from friend-to-friend; the next-hardest exam to Potions for Al was Arithmancy; they had that exam on Thursday; and still had lots of time to get ready for it. He and Gwendolyn and Rose did still need to help their friends with getting ready for Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy too; while DADA on Friday would be the exam that most of them found to be the most fun – even when it was challenging for some of them too. Five exams in five days did mean that Al and Gwendolyn couldn't take a lot of time off over the weekend; so they only set up short play breaks on Saturday and Sunday to help out with blowing off some steam and avoiding the fatigue that came with endless hours of studying.

They had classmates that still didn't feel ready or confident about their Potions exams by Sunday evening, but Al and Gwendolyn still took some time off to hang out with Lily and Jonah after doing a couple of hours of tutoring with Rose; and then they each helped out some of their Gryffindor or Ravenclaw friends in their common rooms before going up to bed a bit later than usual for their exam nights so far. That still had them in bed and sleeping before most of their classmates – or the students in most of the other grades too; so they managed to be among the best-rested teens or tweens in the Great Hall by the time they sat down for breakfast on Monday morning. Al and Rose were not fans of last-minute cramming, but they still helped their friends out as they ate breakfast with the rapid-fire questions and answers that wouldn't really help any of them with remembering most of the facts and figures they were trying to remember for the written exam – especially when stressing over them would just make things worse. Al was able to remain relaxed; felt even better when he was reunited with Gwendolyn and they were able to sit one behind the other in the exam classroom; and he was sure that he aced another exam by the time they both handed in their tests and went to wait in the hallway for the rest of their friends.

"You should try not to look so happy when everyone else catches up with us," Gwendolyn teased as they sat in a window alcove. "I'm sure I did great too; but that was still a long, tough exam."

"It's also one of our last really tough exams," Al pointed out; and Gwendolyn laughed quietly.

"For you. I doubt that most of our friends would agree that still having Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, or Transfiguration for three of our last five or six exams will be easy – not to mention that we still have to take the practical exam for Potions after lunch."

"You're not worried about most of those exams either," Al countered; "and this is one of the bonuses that go along with doing all of the extra work the rest of the year – being prepared for our exams."

Gwendolyn pretended to sigh. "I suppose; but is it really worth it for all of that snogging we miss out on? Sometimes I don't think that the better marks are worth everything we give up to earn them."

"I'll guess that you won't be saying that about all of the work that went into the Quidditch Cup you'll be getting a week from Thursday," Al offered. "Maybe we could do a study about that next season – compare the quantity of snogging with the success of the Quidditch players."

Gwendolyn laughed and leaned over to hug him. "You would never want to be that voyeuristic," she told him seriously – "not to mention that James could mess up the snogging-to-Quidditch curve if he ever gets around to having a half-decent season."

"I was thinking he'd prove the point after this past season," Al said, "but since we'll be on our senior teams next year; I'll need to hope that he does have a good season."

"While I'll hope he does exactly as well as he did this year," Gwendolyn added with another laugh. "Hi, Rose. No, we haven't gone mad from that exam – though I'm not sure how we ended up talking about snogging and Quidditch from where that conversation started."

"Subliminal wishful thinking," Rose offered with a grin. "I'm not sure which is worse – having someone to snog and no time for it; or not having anyone to snog at all."

"You've no shortage of Wizards willing to snog you," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Rose shrugged.

"That's true for most Witches; but some of us think that having the wrong Wizard to snog is the worst option. Let's change the subject. I don't want to get off-track from Potions, but do you want to spend some time working with Professor Hagrid's pets after we finish the practical exam this afternoon? We've been studying for the writtten exam; but haven't done much with the animals for the Care of Magical Creatures practical exam."

"We can if you'd like," Al agreed. "Professor Hagrid might be shocked to actually have some students show up to do that; but he'll be happy too."

"Magical Creatures all seem to love you,"Rose told him seriously, "but I'd like to get re-acquainted with them before tomorrow; since it has been more than a week since we've spent any time with them. I don't want to have any problems tomorrow afternoon."

"Not all of them love me for the right reasons," Al joked. "I've seen the way some of them look at me when I'm going around in one of my Animorphmagus forms."

"As if that would be any different for some humans," Rose teased. "I'm sure there are good reasons for why you don't run around as a cow or chicken."

"I definitely wouldn't enjoy dinner in the Great Hall if I ended up on a platter instead of eating from one," Al agreed with a laugh.

Gwendolyn and Rose teased him about that a bit, but then the rest of their friends began to join them; and the post-mortem for the exam was the chat topic of choice through until well-into their lunch break. Rose had more luck than Al did with getting their Gryffindor friends focused on the practical Potions exam after that; and then they needed to get to their assigned Potions dungeon classroom to get started on the exam. As with a year ago, they were given two Potions to create; doing everything in the right order was critical to getting both potions finished; and Al was sure that he'd done both perfectly by the time he packed up his gear and supplies and handed in his completed potions. He wasn't the first student to leave, but he was fairly-sure he was the first to have completed all of the work before leaving because the only other students to leave earlier did so too soon to have had time to finish both potions.

The post-exam chat that followed took a while because he and Rose were grilled about everything from ingredients to correct steps in the potion-making process for both potions; but they eventually were able to head outside and spend some time with Hagrid – and most of the creatures they'd be handling for their Care of Magical Creatures practical exam. From everything they'd ever heard about him, Hagrid had not gotten much better about keeping secrets over the years, and while he didn't specifically tell them anything about their exams; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose likely learned everything they needed to know about what they'd be dealing with on Tuesday afternoon by the time they headed back into the castle when it was time to get ready for dinner in the Great Hall. While some of their fellow third-year students might think that wasn't fair, they didn't learn anything from Hagrid that he wouldn't happily share with any of his students; and they went on to help their own friends as they continued to study all evening – though most of that study time was devoted to getting ready for the written exam.

Getting their Potions exams out of the way didn't exactly lead to a drop in the workload or stress level for most of the third-year teens, but Al did feel as though time was compressing on him as the week rolled along. Most of his exams through Friday seemed to get easier; but the stress level rose as he needed to split his time between writing exams, geting ready for the next one, and helping his friends with a lot of tutoring. The Care of Magical Creatures exams went perfectly for him, and there was even some fun as he got to go flying with the Hippogriffs – one of the few students in the class willing to do that for bonus marks. Astronomy was easy for him too, but Wednesday was especially-tough for him because he had to juggle helping with the tutoring for the Astronomy practical exam at midnight while also getting ready for Arithmancy on Thursday. He was tired by the time they took the Astronomy practical; didn't feel as rested as he should be on Thursday morning while still doing a great job on his Arithmancy exam; and then they had the rest of the day on Thursday to get ready for their DADA exams on Friday.

While helping his friends with studying for the written exam was very important to them, Al was ready for that half of their tests; and had more fun getting ready for the practical exam instead. That exam was going to be something closer to their first-year exam, with some magical demonstrations and a one-on-one duel, but while Al had worked with Rose as his DADA partner all year; the pairings for the exams would be random – though the students would still be picked from the House pairings for the classes – which meant that Al would either duel one of his fellow Gryffindor or one of the Hufflepuff students. He still practiced with Rose on Thursday, and while the other students likely hoped that they wouldn't end up drawing his name on Friday; they were still happy to get his help with that part of their exam preparation as well as with the facts and figures they all needed to have memorized.

Since they did have the afternoon off with no practical exam in Arithmancy; Al and Gwendolyn worked and studied until an hour or so before curfew; and then they met up with Lily and Jonah to spend some time with them – something they'd done little of since Sunday. They had their Transfiguration exams to take on Friday, but that was one of their best subjects; so Lily and Jonah were both feeling pretty good and were sure that they were ready for their second-to-last pair of exams. They'd all loved the hang-out time; the mirror chats with their parents; and a bit of sofa cuddle time even though they couldn't do that for nearly long-enough; but then they headed back to their common rooms ahead of curfew. Al would have been happy to just go up to bed then, but was drafted for a bit more tutoring in the common room before he could get through to the boys' dorms; and he ended up helping out for three-quarters of an hour before he begged off and went to get ready for bed and then off to sleep shortly after climbing into his bed.

Catching up a bit on his sleep helped Al to feel pretty good on Friday morning. The walk and talk with Rose kept the fun going; and then the mood at the breakfast table was a bit more serious as about half of their fellow Gryffindor third-year students kept Al and Rose busy with rapid-fire questions that they wanted answers for as they stressed about the imminent written exam. Gwendolyn helped Al to recover from that during the walk from the Great Hall to their exam classroom, and since that assistance included several hugs and kisses; they were both smiling and happy by the time they started writing that exam. Professor Jones' exam was tough and thorough, but Al wasn't just the best DADA student because of his magical abilities; so he had no doubt whatsoever about how well he'd done by the time he handed his exam in – even though he did that with fifteen minutes to spare; and hadn't really needed to check it over for ten minutes before doing that and going out into the hallway to wait for Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends. He didn't have to wait long for Gwendolyn and Rose to join him; but the exam time limit had passed plus another ten minutes before they had every member of their study group with them and they went outside for a little fresh air before lunch while also doing the exam post-mortem.

"Too bad we couldn't write our exams outside," Gwendolyn told Al as they stepped through the main school entrance and were greeted by the warm breeze and a really nice-weather day under cloudy skies that mostly-hid the sun but didn't even hint at impending rain.

"I'd have done even worse on that exam if we'd written it outside," Romeo told her. "There are way too many distractions out here."

"As if you don't have that problem in our classrooms," Ray told him with a laugh. "The only way you'd get away from your favorite distractions would be if you went to an all-Wizards school instead of here." Romeo laughed too and shudered.

"I'm okay with muddling along and getting average marks – especially since that's my idea of a nightmare school."

"Wouldn't that be a nightmare for most boys?" Toni asked.

"Yes, if they didn't get to even see any Witches for months at that time," Al ansered; "but I'm pretty sure that all of the all-Wizard and all-Witch schools have inter-school connections and they get together for social events – dances, dinners, and other activities. My Muggle cousins go to boys and girls-only academies; and that's what they do – kind of like we do our Hogsmeade weekends except with visits to one or the other school."

"Muggle teens have other options," Romeo pointed out. "They can even sneak out of their schools without much trouble while we'd just get caught up in the school defenses if we tried to do that without permission."

"Have you tried to do that?" Renee asked him with a grin. "For all we know; that's just a rumor the Professors started to keep us in line."

"It isn't," Al assured her; and then smiled and shrugged when she looked skeptical. "Dad is Head of the Aurors," he added with another shrug. "They do get called upon now and then to help out with things like that – and they usually do security reviews every so many years too so they keep up with new magic and other security issues that come up."

"Thanks for getting my hopes up just to have al crush them," Romeo joked. "I was all set to sneak to town tonight and have some fun!"

"Doing what – or with whom?" Gwendolyn asked him; and then laughed at his sudden grin. "No, I wouldn't be interested in going along – even if that was possible."

"You are in the right House to even mentally suggest that with Al right there next to Gwendolyn, though," Renee told Romeo after joining in for the round of laughs. "At least the water in the lake is fairly warm this time of year; so you'd be okay."

"Going for a swim actually sounds great," Romeo told her seriously. "Anybody else want to jump in the lake with me?"

They didn't have a lot of time for a swim, but Romeo actually got a few takers on the offer; they all at least walked down to the lake and out onto the dock; and then they either went for a swim or watched the show and kept an eye on book bags and other personal possessions until it was time to get to the Great Hall for lunch. That break helped some of their more-stressed friends to get ready for their afternoon DADA duels – and the rest of the practical exams. They didn't have specific time slots for the second-half of their exams; but they did need to be there in smaller groups and then were called into the classroom with the entire group. It wasn't until they were in the classroom that they found out that the first part of their exam would be done together – though they simply lined up and demonstrated each of the tests individually in a quick-fire round of tasks that they completed in about fifteen minutes.

Al and Rose were part of the first group; they had about a third of their fellow Gryffindor with them; and about a third of the Hufflepuff students – including Tory; but not Madison. They breezed through that first part of the exam; and then they were all lined up against one wall; Profesor Jones called for her first two duelers; and chose one each from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Rose had grinned at Al when she was the first Gryffindor pick instead of him; but he was glad that he didn't get that honor. He enjoyed watching Rose duel to a win over Brandy Cadwallader; though the other girl did quite well too right up until she fell for a feint and Rose disarmed her. Rose and Brandy returned to the line-up and were replaced by the next pair; and Al was still very happy right up until he was called for the fourth duel – and Tory was paired with him.

"Don't look so bloody happy," Tory told the other Hufflepuffs as she stepped forward; earning a few quiet laughs. "Are you sure you have that second name right, Professor Jones?" she asked more loudly; and their Professor laughed.

"Yes, Miss Summers," she confirmed; smiling too at the obvious lack of enthusiasm from Tory while Al couldn't help but grin as he stepped into the dueling circle that the Gryffindors had been using each time so far. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes – I should have more Witches and Wizards on my side for this," Tory said seriously.

"How many do you think would be fair?" Professor Jones asked in amusement; and Tory laughed.

"We might have a chance with everyone else in the room – including you," Tory answered. "Is that an option?"

"No, but as long as you're all very careful; I might be willing to let you experiment with that idea," she offered. "We don't normally do those sorts of duels until Fourth and Sixth-year; but I'm willing to add in an extra student or two – if you're all agreeable to give that a try. What do you say, Mr. Potter?"

Al shrugged and smiled. "I guess we can try it," he agreed. "Gryffindor doesn't play Hufflepuff until next February; so I'll have time to heal between now and then if I get blasted."

"Very well," Professor Jones said with a nod and smile while most of the teens in the room laughed. Looking down at the parchment on her desk; she checked something; and then looked up again and invited the next two students to be tested – Kyle Capper from Hufflepuff and Al's roommate, Terry Brookbridge. There were more laughs when neither boy looked all that happy with the change in plans; but they walked over to stand next to Tory and she welcomed them with a bright smile.

"The rules remain the same; good luck; and – begin!"

Professor Jones had said that once she'd made sure that the four students were ready to go; and then she sat back in her chair and watched the show – and Al in particular put on an incredible demonstration of magical skills as he began by simply defending himself from the three-pronged attacks; and then began to counter-attack once they were all battling with a rhythm that allowed an ebb and flow of magic in each direction. he would have done the same thing if he'd dueled Tory alone, but Al intentionally allowed his opponents to show off their DADA skills both offensively and defensively before he began to pick them off one-by-one. Kyle went down first – literally; and was then disarmed before he could get to his feet again and defend himself from the disarming spell. It was a tougher choice to defeat his fellow Gryffindor ahead of Tory, but he didn't want to end up getting teased about it all weekend; so that was why Terry was Al's next target. He was silenced first; and then disarmed when he could no longer speak any spells to defend himself. Tory had mostly been happy until her temporary team mates had begun to falter; but she still fought on until Al faked her out with the threat of a deluge of water falling on her, and when she raised a shield above her head to defend against it; he disarmed her – and then smiled as she ducked her head expecting to get dumped on only to look up after a moment and realize that he'd also made the water disappear again. By the time she looked back at him; her wand was in his hand; and the duel was over.

"Well done all!" Professor Jones declared enthusiastically. "An Impervius charm would have served you better at the end and left you free to continue the duel, Miss Summers; but all-in-all an excellent demonstration of your abilities."

"Thank-you, Professor," Tory said gratefully. "May I have my wand back now, Al?"

He smiled, nodded, and held out all three wands to his classmates for them to summon them – which they each did right away. He was thanked by Kyle and Terry; but Tory didn't actually thank him; and he knew she wasn't happy about losing the duel despite their Professor's compliments. Knowing that had him wishing just a bit that he hadn't decided to be quite as nice as he had been during their little battle; but knew it was still the right choice – even if Tory didn't appreciate his efforts. Their duel didn't speed up the testing at all, since they'd taken nearly as long as two duels by the time Al had disarmed all of his opponents; but there were only two more pairs to be tested after that; so it wasn't much longer until they were all set free and the next group was called in for their testing. Al didn't get to have any time to talk with Gwendolyn because she was part of that next group – along with the rest of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students in that group; so he could only wish her luck quickly and promise to wait for her to be finished her exam too. That waiting seemed to take longer than the first round of tests had, but it really didn't, so in addition to having most of the afternoon still ahead of them to enjoy; Al and Gwendolyn were each looking forward to having the weekend break from the exam writing – even if that time off would still include a lot of studying for their last two end-of-year tests.

"I'll guess that your exam went well," Al joked after Gwendolyn had shared a fairly-enthusiastic hug and kiss with him.

"I won my duel," She confirmed happily; and glanced over to where the Slytherins that had been in her group were leaving instead of sticking around to talk with anyone – something that wasn't unusual since they didn't have friends in other Houses. "Viola Crabbe isn't nearly as happy as I am, but she wasn't playing nice; so I don't feel bad about blasting her. If the Averys and their mates weren't such a bunch of sexist pigs; Viola would make a great addition to their goon squad. How did your exam go?"

"He won a three-on-one duel," Rose interjected before Al could answer. "Tory didn't think it was fair for her to draw Al for a one-on-one duel; so Professor Jones agreed to give her some help – with the next pair of students on the list on her team."

Gwendolyn laughed. "She'd have needed more help than that."

"That's what Tory said," Rose agreeed with a smile and nod; "but Professor Jones wouldn't let our entire group gang up on Al." She smiled at him and laughed. "Tory still wasn't happy by the end of their duel, but she ought to be; since Al took it easy on all three of them so they'd at least have a chance to show off what they know – even though they couldn't best his defenses."

"That must have been fun to watch," Gwendolyn suggested. "We won't need to guess which of us will be top DADA student for the year; but then I haven't had any doubts about that since our first year."

"Me either," Rose said; though she frowned at Al. "It's rather annoying; but that is at least the one subject we can cut him some slack for – since he is one of the kids of the most-powerful Wizard in the world."

"I know you have fun with that line," Al told her; "but I wonder why nobody seems to remember that Mum's a very talented Witch – and we both have a dueling Master grandmother that might have passed a bit of talent on to us too."

"Those are valid points," Rose conceded amiably. "We should give the Witches in our family more credit – though there's only Grandma Weasley for me on that side of my family."

Al laughed. "There are only two for me," Al reminded her – "though that's changing with our generation."

"For our end of the Weasley clan," Rose agreed. "The extended, more distant cousins are still mostly having boys."

"Your family is so large; I'm surprised that half the students in Gryffindor aren't Weasleys," Gwendolyn told them; and Rose and Al both shrugged.

"We're in the middle of a generation gap," Rose offered first. "The older cousins at the tail-end of our parents' generation are just getting around to having kids over the past few years; so I'm not sure if even Roxanne will end up having any of our distant cousins here at Hogwarts with her sometime before she's finished school. The only time we see any of them is at weddings – and we didn't go to very many weddings when we were little. Teddy and Victoire's was the biggest in years – and we basically didn't talk with any of our cousins – or at least I didn't."

"I don't spend any time with my extended cousins either," Gwendolyn offered. "It's tough-enough just trying to keep up with aunts, uncles, and first cousins – especially now that we're here at school for three-quarters of every year. If it wasn't for Quidditch, I wouldn't even spend much time with Ryan or Katrina. They've got their own groups of friends – just as Lily, Hugo, and Jonah do."

"That has felt a lot different for me with Lily," Al said thoughtfully. "I'd expected to spend more time with her; but that just didn't work out."

"You shouldn't have been surprised by that," Rose counseled. "Quidditch is the main connection we have with all of our cousins too – and that hasn't even been much of a connection with Dominique and Lucy – or with Louis; except for in our first year. It'll be worse next year when we're not on the junior team with Lily, Fred, and Hugo anymore."

"I'm trying not to think about that," Al admitted. "We'll be the ones making that move to the next level, but I hate the idea of only hanging out with Lily once or twice a week – and not getting to watch half of the school Quidditch matches with her either."

"That isn't fun to talk about when we should be taking a break before getting back to the studying again," Gwendolyn suggested. "Let's get rid of our book bags; and go for a swim while we're waiting for the rest of our friends to be done with this exam."

Her suggestion was very popular with their friends – and there were a lot of teens and tweens joining them for the water play time in the lake. Al was happy to spend that time with Gwendolyn – especially when that meant some quality time with his girlfriend in a swimsuit; and they ended up playing for a bit longer than they should have before reluctantly heading back into the castle and getting back to their studies. Though a surprising number of teens and tweens took more time off on Friday night from exam studying, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose still ended up with most of their expanded exam-time study group around them for the evening study session – if not the late-afternoon work until dinnertime. They didn't have many friends studying Ancient Runes with them; but Transfiguration was important-enough for nearly everyone that they were willing to put in the extra time to get ready for that exam. Unlike a few of the other core subjects, Transfiguration was one of the classes that students needed to do well in for many careers in the Wizarding World; so they took it seriously even in third-year as they got closer to their all-important OWLs.

Al and Gwendolyn took the last hour ahead of curfew off for some alone time on Friday; worked all day on Saturday except for meals and an afternoon play break; and then took Saturday evening off for a mirror network show watching night with their younger siblings and some friends – though they started their evening fun out with a bit of outdoor play time before getting around to the shows, cuddle, and chat time in their usual study classroom. Sunday was a near-repeat of Saturday; except their afternoon play break was a Quidditch scrimmage; and the evening fun for Al and Gwendolyn was only with Lily and Jonah while the rest of their cousins and friends did other things. The Sunday evening music, mirror chats, and the rest of their usual brothers and sisters entertainment was the highlight of the day for Al – though Lily and Gwendolyn would likely pick their scrimmage win over the boys as number one with the evening play time at number two. Both were well-ahead of the exam studying that took up most of the rest of their day, but while Al and Gwendolyn also had fun getting readyf or their Transfiguration exams too; Lily and Jonah were not nearly as excited about their Potions exams – except for the fact that they'd be done their exams by the end of the afternoon on Monday while Al and Gwendolyn would still need to write Ancient Runes on Tuesday.

That third-year exam scheduling worked out great for the majority of their classmates, but then some of them really needed the break by the time they were finished their Transfiguration exams on Monday. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all getting tired by then too; but they'd also all aced those exams on Monday; and had each earned special appreciation of their teapot-to-tortoise Transfigurations during their practical exams. While they couldn't take the rest of the day off, they did take an afternoon break before getting on with their Ancient Runes studying – where they ended up with quite a few of the students in both classes wanting to study with them – even though it was too late for some of them to possibly cram all of the information into their heads in the hours they had left until that test on Tuesday morning. They did still try to help all of their classmates as much as they could, but while half or more of the questions on the test would be related to history or theory; the hardest part of that exam would be deciphering the runes – and that was where most of their fellow students had serious problems with the subject. Getting them wrong on the exam would cost them marks; but then Al thought that was much better than getting them wrong in real life when mistakes could end very badly for the Witch or Wizard that messed up with 'real' Ancient Runes.

The extra tutoring wasn't really fun for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; but they still helped out until shortly before curfew – and then advised their temporary study buddies that they were on their own for the rest of the night because they didn't want to be blurry-eyed in the morning when they needed to be focused on their own, actual exams. That wasn't a popular decision with a few of those teens, but most decided to go with Rose's suggestion that they'd all be better off with the sleep. By then, Al was just ready to crash for the night; and then get that last exam of the year written and done with so that he and Gwendolyn could join Lily, Jonah, and the rest of their friends in the play time that they'd all been able to start in on once they'd finished their Transfiguration or Potions exams. Sure, somewhere around half of the students in the school were still writing exams on Tuesday, and they at least got to be done by lunchtime, but it had still been a very long month or so – including the weeks of studying ahead of the actual exams; so they were past-ready for a couple of play days where they'd have nothing to do before heading home on Friday.

Writing the Ancient Runes exam had been easy for Al, but he wasn't even close to being the first to leave the classroom because nearly a quarter of their classmates gave up early and handed in partially-completed exams. This was possibly the only exam they wrote where you could be sure of the best students because they were among the last to hand in their exams. Al could have left without double-checking his exam first, but he did that anyway; and then wrapped up at the same time that Gwendolyn and Rose did so that they could leave together about five minutes before the end of the exam time limit. The main difference between them and most of the other teens in the room was that they were smiling and cheerful as they left the room; and that wasn't just because of the hug and kiss for Al and Gwendolyn. They didn't have any friends waiting for them in the hallway, and didn't need to wait for anyone still in the room; so they headed for their dorm rooms so that they could get rid of their book bags and get changed for a play afternoon before going to the Great Hall for lunch.

Gwendolyn didn't let Al walk her to Ravenclaw tower first; so she only stayed with Al and Rose until they needed to go different directions to get to their Houses. They met up again in the Great Hall because they were all there early for lunch; and they sat at the Gryffindor table until about half of their fellow students had arrived too; and then Gwendolyn moved on to sit with her Ravenclaw friends in her usual spot. The lunch meal break was mostly-fun with just a dash or three of grumbling for the Ancient Runes exam post-mortem. Al and Rose hadn't wanted to talk about it when they were happy with how they did; but they also thought that it was pointless for anyone to stress over something that was done and couldn't be changed no matter how much they might wish it otherwise. They were able to escape all of that after lunch, though; since Quidditch was next-up on the schedule because Al had managed to book the first afternoon time slot for the practice pitch – mostly because a lot of the older teens still had practical exams to take during the afternoon anyway. He and Gwendolyn were both very happy when they got back together again after lunch and headed outside together with quite a few of their usual group of Quidditch friends and relatives.

"If we set up a scrimmage with the senior players this year, do you think that we could get Al picked for team Captain for Gryffindor next season?" Gwendolyn asked as they stepped out into the hot sunshine – and there actually was some real sunshine for a change – though that was only a temporary break because the sky was about half-filled with clouds.

"Olivia might have a problem with that," Rose suggested as most of their friends laughed. "If the jokes prove out; it's her turn to be Captain next year – and then back to the Weasleys for Louis' NEWT year."

"We don't need to go borrowing trouble with James and Ollie either," Al added. "Some of us will have enough of that over the next ten weeks without adding to our problems."

"Maybe I should see if Gwendolyn would let me practice with her team this summer," Ray joked. "That might be safer for me than hanging out with the trouble magnet."

"Don't go there," Rose told him; "and I'll hope that just saying that much wasn't enough to jinx Al and bring trouble down on all of us."

"As if he needs any help with that," Ray countered. "It's the end of the school year. The only way I'll be shocked will be if he gets through the next three days without someone trying to blast him once or three times."

"So you went there anyway," Rose said with a shake of her head. "I am going to blame you if anything happens and I end up in the hospital wing for the rest of the week."

Ray laughed and shrugged. "Go ahead, but I'll just remind you that I did give fair warning just now – and it isn't my fault if you still hang around with the trouble magnet anyway."

"That's a good point," Al agreed. "Too bad for me that I can't get away from myself; since I'd really like to end the school year without any major prank or ambush attempts on me."

"Let's try not to worry about that; have fun; and hope for the best," Gwendolyn told him – "even if Ray has jinxed things for us already."

"Warned you," Ray shot back. "Big difference."

"More like semantics for any of us that might end up getting blasted," Lily countered; joining in the conversation for the first time. "Fortunately for some of us; we won't be around Al all that often anyway; so we'll be okay."

Her comment kept that chat going for a while longer, but they moved on to other things after that – including a bit of Quidditch talk while getting their gear on ahead of their scrimmage. This time, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily anchored one team; and they won the match decisively even though Jonah won his Seeker duel three catches to two. That was because Lily backed off on the last catch after Al and Gwendolyn had earned a lead that grew to one hundred points before Jonah earned the last thirty points of the match with his last catch. While that scrimmage had been a blast; they were also all ready to move on to some swim time in the lake after that to cool off. They played in or by the water for an hour or so; watched a bit of the Quidditch match that had followed theirs; and then went for another swim before needing to go inside and get changed and ready for dinner.

Despite the occasional jokes and some worrying for Al; it really was all just fun and games for him straight through to the end-of-year feast on Thursday. He and Gwendolyn took the evening off for themselves on Tuesday after dinner; had a brilliant snogging session to go along with some music play time and mirror network shows that they didn't actually watch; and then they played with their friends all day on Wednesday. There was more Quidditch and a visit with Hagrid in the morning; swimming and goofing around outside all afternoon that included some Animorphmagus play time; and an evening of swimming and mirror network show watching that was all outdoors because Al set up his mirror on one of the benches overlooking the lake while everyone with him sat on blankets and mostly had fun snuggling with their favorite cuddle buddies while watching the shows. That had attracted a fair bit of attention and extra teens and tweens because nobody else really did things like that; so they ended up with a fairly-large group with them through until they packed up a half-hour before curfew and went into the castle for the rest of the night.

While the feast was the big event on Thursday; they still had a full play day to have fun with before they stopped to get ready for that, and for Al and Gwendolyn; that meant more Quidditch, swimming, and other outdoor play activities. They spent most of that time with their friends, but Al also took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride; they made time for a minor afternoon snogging session after lunch; and were happily in their own little world for one of the swims – even though they were far from alone while floating around in the lake. They split up and went back to their dorm rooms with an hour to spare before the feast because all of the girls wanted to get dressed up for the event, and while Al didn't need that long to get ready; it did give him time to finish the last bit of packing he needed to do before heading home in the morning. Having dinner with Gwendolyn wasn't an option, but he met up with her for the walk to the Great Hall; and was happy to have that bit of time with her before they needed to sit at their own House tables for the awards presentations and feast. He'd gone to the Ravenclaw table with her and had a visit there with some of the other Ravenclaw students; and then went to sit down next to Rose in the spot she'd saved for him despite the jokes earlier in the day where none of his Gryffindor friends wanted to sit with him at all.

"I'm really hoping that saving you a spot and sitting next to you will help me with winning a few more awards than you will tonight," Rose teased in a near-whisper so she wouldn't be overheard.

"I'd be okay with that," Al assured her; and Rose laughed.

"That doesn't actually help; since I know you really mean it – while I'd be way happier if that actually does happen for a change instead of the normal so far where I'm runner-up or worse more often than the winner."

"Maybe you'd be happiest if we both ended up out of the running for top spots," Al suggested. "We know for sure that someone else will win the awards for Muggle Studies."

"I knew I should have taken that instead of Care of Magical Creatures," she joked. "That would have been an easy win for me."

"You like playing with the animals instead," Al countered. "I'd pick flying on Hippogriffs over awards any day."

"You might; but will likely get to have both," Rose said with a smile and nod. "I've no doubt you were Professor Hagrid's best student for our year. I figured from the start that you'd have the Animorphmagus advantage for that one anyway; but then that seems to help you out with most of our classes."

"It does," Al agreed easily. "Would you like to try to become an Animagus next year and see if it'll help you too?"

"I don't know – maybe," Rose answered. "I'll think about it over the summer. Sometimes I think it'd be a lot of fun; and other times I think it could be awful if I end up with some animal form that is really awful."

"You'd still be amazing whatever your animal form," Al assured her; "and I imagine you'd have an awesome Animagus. Besides, I'm still not all that sure that at least some Witches and Wizards wouldn't be able to make that choice. I may have done that with my first change even if I didn't think that I did. I do like everything about Dad's Animagus except for the jokes about everyone expecting it to be bigger; so that could be why I ended up as a Samoyed Husky."

"Could be," Rose agreed; and then nodded to the front of the hall. "It's time to find out how many runner-up awards I'll win tonight. I'd wish you good luck; but would be okay if you had just a bit of bad luck tonight instead."

Al laughed. "Didn't you warn Ray about jinxing me by saying things like that?" he teased; and Rose laughed too.

"Yeah; so let's hope that will only apply to the awards and not anything else – especially since it's too late for me to sit somewhere else far away from you."

Professor McGonagall stepped up to the lecturn that was set up at the front of the hall mid-way between the head table and the House tables. She welcomed everyone to the end-of-term feast; added some congratulations for a good year; and then introduced Professors Longbottom and Sprout to begin the academic awards with their winners for each year in Herbology. Al was very happy about that because it meant that Rose won the first award for the third-year students while he was again the runner-up. They were both even happier when the award order was the same for History. That trend ended there, and while that was at first because Muggle Studies was the next in line for the presentations; it was also the end of the top awards for Rose too.

There'd been more than a few teens and tweens surprised when Scorpius Malfoy won the top award for Muggle Studies over runner-up Amelia Hart from Gryffindor; but Scorpius didn't look happy about the honor – especially after getting razzed about it by some of his friends and a few of the older Slytherins too. Al was more surprised by the choice this year to mix in the optional classes with the core subjects for the awards than he was about Scorpius winning an award; but thought it worked out better for the first and second-year students that wouldn't have to just sit through the five sets of optional awards the way they'd done in Al's first two years. Potions had been next after Muggle Studies; and Al won that one with Rose as runner-up. Rose didn't give him a hard time about that one, but when he won Transfiguration next and Gwendolyn was runner-up; she had a frowny-face for him; and he got punched playfully every time after that as he went on to win the top third-year awards for Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, DADA, and Divination all in a row.

Rose was runner-up for all of those except Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Gwendolyn was second for the first, and since neither she nor Rose had taken Divination with Al; the runner-up award went to Susannah MacMillan. Al was happy about that, since she was likely the best Hufflepuff student in their year; and just had the bad luck of being in the same year with Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn. Rose bopped Al again when he was named top student and she was again runner-up; though that was hardly a surprise by then when he was first or second in every one of his eleven classes. That was all still a bit embarrassing for him, but while he would have liked not having the recognition; he was glad that he'd done so well in every class. He wasn't the only member of his family to do well, though; and he was especially happy to see that Lily joined the family tradition by winning some awards too.

Lily, Jonah, and Hugo weren't having quite the same level of battle for the top awards as their older siblings were, but Lily won the top awards for Potions, Charms, and DADA; Jonah won for Transfiguration; and Hugo won the Herbology award and was runner-up for History and Transfiguration. That gave the three of them half of the fourteen firstie academic awards; and they all seemed quite happy to do that well. As for the rest of their family, Molly was next-best to Al as top NEWT student along with coming in first for four classes and runner-up for two more. Louis was second with the top award for OWL students and three wins and three runner-up awards for his classes. Dominique won two runner-up awards; and Fred won the top award for second-year Charms; and earned runner-up for DADA. Lucy and James did not earn any academic awards, but while Lucy was still an O and E student in everything; Al knew that James had continued to let his marks slide in even his best subjects – and didn't care about that at all.

The hate he'd sensed from his brother as his own awards piled up – and as their cousins and sister had all done well too – had been tough to take; but that got even more palpable when Mr. Peakes began handing out the Quidditch awards. He started out with the junior team Beater awards, and Al was really happy when Fred and Orlando got recognized for their brilliant effort all season by earning that award. There was some surprise in all four Houses when the Wilkes brothers were named runner-up even though they'd only played two games, but while they hadn't always played fairly; Al knew they'd actually done very well against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff; so Al thought that they had proven themselves to be better than either of the other two Beater duos – even if that hadn't translated into wins for the Slytherin team. Their post-game attakcs and subsequent suspensions apparently hadn't been a factor for the award; and Al decided not to second-guess Mr. Peakes over whether that should have been an issue for the award or not. While James hadn't seemed to have a problem with the Beater awards, he didn't like it when Rose won the top Keeper award; and he was empathically seething with rage and hate as Lily won the top Seeker award and Al won both the award for top Chaser and top Scorer.

Al knew he would hear about it later from Gwendolyn because she was runner-up for those awards, but he was still happy for her – and happy for Ryan when he was runner-up to Rose for best Keeper. He felt bad for Jonah, because he missed out on being runner-up to Lily because he'd backed off and let Madison catch the snitch for the loss in their match – especially when he was clearly the second-best junior team Seeker. Yes, Madison had earned two catches; but Al didn't think that she'd have beaten Jonah if one of them had needed to make the catch for the win. Ray won the top award for assists; Al was runner-up; and then Gryffindor was awarded the top junior team award while Ravenclaw was runner-up with their two wins. By then, James wasn't even able to fake acting as though he didn't care at all about Al's and Lily's successes; and the few insults Al overheard from James and Ollie were dripping with enough malice that their friends didn't find their comments and jokes amusing at all.

Things did not get better for James and Ollie as Mr. Peakes moved on to the senior team awards. Ollie obviously couldn't have won anything anyway since he hadn't been on the Gryffindor team; but Al sensed the anger in him anyway – though it was a shadow compared to the anger in James – especially when he had to watch Alex and Pauline win the top two awards for Seeker over him and Brand Bletchley. Alex also won top Scorer with his four-hundred and fifty points; and Dominique was next-best with three-twenty. Louis edged Peter Boot for top Keeper despite no wins, and while Hufflepuff went undefeated; Dominique won top Chaser; Lucy was number one for assists; and Francine had to settle for runner-up in both categories. The only individual awards for the senior teams that was even remotely surprising was when the top two teams were shut out of the Beater awards. Raban Lestrange and Don Rosier won for Slytherin while Tiberius and Brock McClaggen were the runner-up Beater duo. The Hufflepuff players were happy with their senior team title; Ravenclaw was runner-up for that; and then they reversed that House order for the  
Quidditch Cup as Ravenclaw won that coveted championship and Hufflepuff was second because Ravenclaw won the points tie-break.

Al was in the minority of teens that were happy with those results, since he thought that it was really great to have Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw each with a team award – and have individual awards go to all four Houses; but James was an extreme example among the majority that weren't content to only win some of the awards in their respective Houses. As he thought about that, Al let his senses roam; and noted that some of his friends felt the same way James did – if to a much milder extent. Tory was among the least-happy in Hufflepuff; most of the Slytherin players were unhappy; and Scorpius was nearly as angry as James. The mood in Slytherin House didn't improve after the Quidditch awards were all handed out; though many of the students were as eager and hopeful about the House Cup awards as the students in the other Houses were when Professor McGonagall stepped up to the lecturn again to make that all-important, annual announcement.

"Thank-you, Mr. Peakes; and congratulations to all of our award-winning students and teams!" she began as Mr. Peakes walked back to the head table and sat down next to his wife. "It really has been an exceptional year here at Hogwarts; and you should all be proud of your accomplishments! Without further delay, and now that the points have been added for all of the academic and Quidditch awards; let's get to the award you've all been waiting for – the House Cup!" She waited a moment for the cheers and clapping to subside; and then scanned the rows of tables with a sweeping glance as she continued her announcement.

"With twelve-hundred and twenty points, and in Fourth place – Slytherin!" The cheers and clapping were polite at three Houses; and non-existent with the Slytherins as Al sensed the disappointment and anger flare up within most of the teens and tweens at that table. "In third place, with fourteen-hundred and ninety points,' McGonagall continued – "Ravenclaw!" Al smiled ruefully when he saw Gwendolyn stick her tongue out at him; but couldn't help but feel the rush of expectation now that it was sure to be either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor winning the House Cup – with both Houses ahead of last year's winner.

"Our top two Houses this year earned sixteen-hundred and fifteen-hundred and forty points respectively, so the House Cup truly did come down to the awards points this year," McGonagall advised them. "Congratulations to our new House Cup winners – Gryffindor – and our runner-up this year – Hufflepuff!"

The Gryffindor roar was fairly deafening as they celebrated, and there was clapping and some cheers from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw; but more silence from Slytherin as they didn't even clap politely for the House Cup winners. Al and Rose earned some extra congratulations from the friends nearest them that suggested the close win had a lot ot do with the points they'd earned for academics and Quidditch. That was true, but then Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had won a lot of awards too – if not so many in third-year. Once that furor died down, Professor McGonagall began the feast; the food appeared on the tables; and they all dug in and began enjoying one of the best meals of the school year. Al and Rose had a lot to celebrate as they ate; she had fun teasing him about the lines of awards in front of him – including the award for the junior team title; but she was still happy with her awards too – even if there were more runner-up certificates than there were little trophies. They ate for most of the next hour; had too much by the time they finished having dessert; and then, just as the first students were standing up and getting ready to leave the Great Hall; the fireworks went off – along with the blaring alarms in Al's head.

He didn't just jump to his feet – he jumped up onto the bench as he pulled out his wand and began firing off shield charms in every direction. There wasn't time to do more than react as quickly as he could – shield himself and Rose; Lily and Hugo; Gwendolyn; Jonah; and on and on. Al growled in angry frustration as he couldn't help everyone that was under attack by 'rogue' fireworks, but was heartened to see that while some students were hit and injured; others were joining in and helping to defend themselves or others.

"Look out, Al!" Rose screamed. She'd tried tossing a serving bowl in the way to intercept a killing curse; but missed. Al had already reacted to that attack too, though; and his Astronomy trophy was obliterated by the deadly curse. He didn't have time to shield himself from the fragments, though; and they sliced into his arm, side, and that side of his face and head as he turned to face the new threat from the Slytherin table.

"No!" he bellowed and his power flared out anew as he sent more than a dozen objects flying into the air to counter all of the killing curses that were fired off right after that first one that had been aimed at him. He counter-attacked then too; and didn't hold back as he hit every single Slytherin that had begun attacking students in the other three Houses. Victor Avery, Rupert, and their usual gang were all involved again, but there were others mixed in with non-combatants all along the Slytherin table; so the defenses continued until Al finished blasting and disarming nearly all of them. He had some help for a few of the Slytherins, but by then; Al had been so angry that he had been on a mission; so it took him several long moments of searching for his next target before he realized that it had become nearly-silent as the fighting came to an abrupt end.

"It's over," Rose told him shakily. She was standing by then too; and held out her hand to him to help him to step down to the floor with her. He took it; hugged her when he was down; and then stepped back again.

"I need to go help some of the injured," he told her seriously. His eyes blazed again when he saw the blood on her face; he let his mind reach out to her; and sent his healing right behind it as needed to help her out.

"It's not serious," she'd begun to say, and she was right about that; but she was also healed before she even had time to tell him that she could wait for him to help others.

"It isn't when it comes to the people I love most," he assured her; and then he proved that by going on to help Lily and Gwendolyn too. Lily had more-serious injuries, but Gwendolyn had more of them; so they took about the same amount of time to heal.

Once he'd done that – and hugged and kissed both of them; Al kicked up his magic into high gear. Other teens and Professors were dealing with both the injured and the Slytherin attackers, but Al rather forcefully imposed his will as he walked along the rows of tables while searching out the teens and tweens that needed help the most. The healing he performed was more triage than complete healing, but by the time he was done each first round of treatment for those students; they were at least stable and ready to move to the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey and others to begin treating. He didn't think; didn't do anything except react and deal with each injured student as he moved along. There were more of them than he'd expected possible; and he had no idea how long it took him before the only injured students remaining in the Great Hall were the injured Slytherin attackers – and that was entirely because he didn't get to them until he'd dealt with all of the innocent, most-seriously injured casualties he could get to first – though some of the injured teens and tweens had been helped by others or rushed to the hospital wing before he could get to them.

As tempting as it was to let those teens heal the hard way, no matter how angry he was with them; Al couldn't just leave the Averys and their mates in such serious condition – especially when he'd caused a lot of those injuries with his counter-attacks. The reaction from the other, uninjured Slytherins to his intervention hadn't been good, but Al ignored them just as he'd ignored everything else going on around him with the other injured students as he'd pushed his way to them; helped them; and moved on without more than a word or two to the other students and Professors that were helping out. One Slytherin Prefect made the mistake of trying to pull Al away from one of his friends; but he had no choice but to back off when Al's repelling charm moved him back and onto the bench on that side of the Slytherin table.

"Stay there; and shut it," was the full extent of Al's conversation with the idiot; and then he went on to heal the stupid git's friend with a blast of power that was so extreme that there was a good chance that the boy would need to sleep for a day or three just to recover from the healing.

By the time he'd finished with the last seriously injured Slytherin, the Great Hall was practically empty. Gwendolyn was there and by his side the moment he finished his triage on the last Slytherin student; and she took hold of his hand as he stood and turned to look around the room. Of the students and teachers still there, many were staring at him with mixed expressions on those faces ranging from awe to extreme hatred; while others were busy talking in small groups or helping out in other ways. Professor McGonagall was near the head table; caught sight of him; and waved him over to where she was standing with some of the other Professors and a few Prefects. He and Gwendolyn walked there together; and they had everyone in that group facing them by the time they stopped a bit more than a pace away.

"How are you, Mr. Potter?" she asked him; looking at the side of his face that was smeared with blood that he'd only dabbed away at a couple of times while he'd been busy.

"I have no idea," he admitted with a shrug. "I'll check and let you know in a minute. How are things going in the hospital wing? Would Madam Pomfrey like me to go there and help out?"

"Yes, but she has help arriving from St. Mungo's already; and I'd like to hear about anything you can tell me that would help out with our investigation. Is this a more-serious repeat of what happened in January?"

"It is – but not the same either," Al answered. "Do you have a bottle for memories handy? I think it would be faster for me to just give mine to you to look at - including what I learned while healing some of those Slytherin attackers. Many of them were victims of the same sort of memory charms, but there are differences; and I'm sure that at least a few of the Slytherins were behind the entire attack this time. I'm sure that our Charms Professors or some of Dad's Aurors can help you out with figuring out which students were goaded into those attacks and which of them used memory charms on themselves – or each other – to try and make this attack look identical to that last one."

"I have a bottle you can use," Professor Flitwick offered; holding it out to Al. "Your actions here tonight have been extraordinary, my boy; but I'm afraid your secret talent for healing is totally out in the open now."

"Thank-you," Al said as he took the bottle and pulled the stopper. "All of those students needed my help more than I needed to keep that secret." He held his wand to his temple; closed his eyes; and then pulled copies of all of the relevant memories that McGonagall would want and then put them into the bottle. He put the stopper back in; and handed it to the Headmistress. "The memories of the attack and fight will be a bit wild; but the memories of the Slytherin healings will be easier to follow; since I was very focused on each one of them while doing the healing."

"Very well, and thank-you," Professor McGonagall said. "Have you assessed your own injuries yet?"

"Yes. I'll need to see madam Pomfrey too whenever she has time; but I'll help myself with the rest once I can do that too. There's one problem I'll need her to help me with before I want to try some Animorphmagus Healing so that I don't aggravate that injury."

"Very well. You should go and see her now, though – and maybe make that a higher priority so that you can help her with the others without exacerbating your own injuries."

"I'll make sure he does that," Gwendolyn promised with a confidence that had Al absolutely sure that she'd be doing just that as soon as they could get together with Madam Pomfrey and have a few minutes of her time.

"Thank-you," Professor McGonagall told her with a nod – "and thank-you as well, Mr. Potter. Many of your fellow students are in your debt tonight."

There wasn't anything that Al could really say to that, so he didn't try; and instead turned around and headed for the hospital wing with Gwendolyn at his side all the way. They were still being watched by quite a few teens and Professors as they left, but nobody tried to talk with them; and got back to whatever they were doing once Al and Gwendolyn were past them. The hallways weren't deserted, but the students that were moving around anywhere near al and Gwendolyn seemed to be doing that at a hurried pace or even on the run. Al could sense the why behind the hurry most of the time; and most of the teens were busy running messages or going various places to get supplies that Madam Pomfrey or others needed in the hospital wing. It was controlled chaos in the hallway outside of the hospital wing; there were chairs and some beds lined up along each wall with each of them filled with patients or others that were staying with their friends or other students taking care of them while they waited for further treatment – or a first chance at being treated for more minor injuries. When he caught sight of Lily and Jonah sitting in two of the chairs; Al sped up and rushed to kneel in front of them.

"I thought you were okay," he told Jonah. "What's wrong?" that question was practically rhetorical; since he was already checking by then.

"It's nothing major – just a broken rib or two and a little fireworks burn on the back on my neck."

"Three broken ribs; and that burn goes down your back a ways. I'll guess a bit of one of those fireworks got caught in your clothes."

"Yeah," Jonah had time to say; and then sucked in a sharp breath as Al let his healing power flow into him and they could all hear the cracking sounds as his ribs were healed. A few moments later, he exhaled in a rush; and stared at Al. "I expected that to hurt way more than it did."

"I numbed the area first," Al explained. "It's still going to be sore when that wears off, but I'm trying to conserve strength right now while so many others need help. You should probably save Madam Pomfrey the time and we can get you help with the sore muscles and the less-serious burns tomorrow." He looked over at Lily. "Do you have any Muggle medicine with you or in your trunk? You know what would help him with the pain and soreness tonight."

"I don't, but I'll call Rose and get some from her," she answered with a nod of agreement for his suggestion. "Come on, Jonah. I can call her on the way; and she can meet us in the hallway."

"Send her our love," Al told her. he hugged Lily; Gwendolyn hugged both of them; and then they moved on and into the main room of the hospital wing.

Every bed was in use; more patients were in chairs; and Al saw that Madam Pomfrey had several Healers and more Professors working on patients too. She didn't look up when they arrived; and didn't even notice them until they were at the foot of the bed of the Hufflepuff teen she was treating and had time to take a break and look up at them.

"Reporting for duty as requested," Al toldher with just a hint of grim humor in his voice. "What can I do to help?"

"You've already done a lot from what I've heard so far. Are you well-enough to continue?"

"He's hurt too," Gwendolyn advised her. "Headmistress McGonagall suggested that he get help first; since he told us that he has at least one injury he'll need help with before trying an Animorphmagus Transfiguration to deal with the rest."

"What is the problem?" Madam Pomfrey asked Al.

"I have some metal and wood fragments in my ear and neck. I'm a bit concerned that changing into an animal form might end badly – especially if those fragments stayed inside while I was in a much smaller form."

"Is there any inner ear damage too?"

"A bit," Al admitted. "I can't hear out of it very well right now."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Okay, why don't you help me with this patient; and then I'll take a look at your injuries next."

Al was good with that plan. He hadn't worked on the sixth-year Hufflepuff Witch in the Great Hall; and he realized as soon as he began to help out that she'd likely been rushed to the hospital wing before he'd gotten to that end of the Hufflepuff table while he'd been busy with the other injured students. he knew he hadn't helped nearly all of the students that had been hurt; but hadn't realized how many had been brought to Madam Pomfrey before he'd had a chance to get to them.

"Do you know how many injured students there are yet?" he asked quietly while continuing to let his healing magic flow into the girl.

"No; but Ihaven't dealt with anywhere near this many injured at one time since the Battle of Hogwarts. You must have already tended near to three dozen; and there will be more minor injuries that we won't even see while others treat those students."

"That was all a bit of a blur to me," Al answered; "so I'm not sure how many students I worked on in the Great Hall. The fight didn't seem to last that long, but I was a bit busy at the time; so maybe my perception of time is a bit warped too."

"It was nearly fifteen minutes from when the fireworks went off until the last Slytherin attacker was down," Gwendolyn advised him. "Nearly everyone trying to help you with the defense were busy enough with that; so you didn't have a lot of help with your counter-attack."

"I wish I could have done enough to keep all of this from happening," Al said seriously. He worked on in silence for another few minutes and then sighed as he released his magic again. "I've done what I can here," he advised Madam Pomfrey. "The rest will have to be up to you and the other experts."

"She's stable and needs a break from the healing for a while now anyway," Madam Pomfrey advised him. "Let's go into my office to take a look at you. I need to check in with Professor Slughorn. He's working on the draughts and potions we're using while the Healers from St. Mungo's and I are too busy to do that too."

Al and Gwendolyn followed her there with just one stop so that she could ask two Prefect volunteers to move the patient she'd just been working on and then move one of the other patients waiting for treatment into that spot. Al noticed that the treated patients were getting a bit crowded at the far end of the room; and there was barely enough room between beds for a person to walk between them. There were teens standing vigil over some of those patients; but all of them were sleeping or on the way into nap mode thanks to sleeping draughts. Madam Pomfrey checked in with Professor Slughorn first; gathered some ingredients he needed; and then she took a look at Al's injuries. Getting all of that shrapnel out of his head and neck was painful, took a fair bit of magical skill to manage without doing more damage on the way out than had been done on the way in; and then Al had quite a few very interested onlookers as he turned into his favorite invertabrate and then completed what he guessed was only about three-quarters of the healing he'd needed by the time he was back in his human form. Madam Pomfrey dealt with another little problem that showed up from the self-healing; and then they both got back to work again.

As with in the Great Hall, Al stopped thinking about much of anything beyond the tasks at hand. That didn't mean he wasn't aware of what was going on around him; but he just didn't worry or think about it much. Gwendolyn moved on to help out wherever she could, and while that was usualy with helping other Healers with anything they needed – like bandages or other supplies or potions they needed; her help was as important as the work every other teen volunteer was offering. She also comforted some friends when they were being treated; offered escort duty when needed for patients being released back to their Houses; and jumped in for possibly hundreds of other little tasks that helped to keep everything moving. It was more than three hours later before the most-serious patients had all been treated at least once – or twice for all of the students Al had triaged in the Great Hall. He and Gwendolyn took a short break then; and then it was time to join in for treating all of the minor injuries. Al helped out with all of that too; Gwendolyn wouldn't leave him; and they basically started working as a team. He healed; she took care of most bandaging exxcept for a few cases where she asked for help from Madam Pomfrey or one of the other Healers; and they worked there way out into the hallway along with the Healers from St. Mungo's while Madam Pomfrey stayed and kept an eye on the rest of her patients.

Al and Gwendolyn were completely out of the loop for the things that Professor McGonagall and others were doing while they were busy in and near the hospital wing, but they did hear about decisions that were being made on the fly by Madam Pomfrey and the Professors and Healers working with her. By the time they were half-way through treating the minor injuries; the decision was made to take as many of the injured students as they could to London and St. Mungo's on the Hogwarts Express. They couldn't get the train to Hogsmeade any earlier, but it was always there well-ahead of departure time anyway; and they made plans for getting their patients to the station and then into compartments that they could set up for the patients that needed to stay in beds. They weren't in the loop for that, but Al did plan on at least offering to help out with that project too – even if that meant staying up all night and all day Friday too.

The second wave of patients – the minor injuries – were all treated and sent on their way after another two hours of work; and then Al and Gwendolyn were advised that they were done and that Madam Pomfrey and the St. Mungo's Healers would be able to keep up with the patients that would need ongoing treatment for their injuries – or more time to recover from the extreme healing. They stayed to have snacks and drinks first; talked with Madam Pomfrey for a while as she took a break too; and they were both approved to help out with transferring patients to the train in the morning – in a few hours. Al walked Gwendolyn to her House once they'd finished that break; he went on to Gryffindor tower after that; and then needed to have a visit with Rose and Lily because they'd both waited up to see him – though Lily had been napping in one of the armchairs by then while Rose stayed up and kept watch for him.

"I am so proud of you," Lily told him as they shared a long hug after he'd hugged Rose and then woke her up. "How are you?"

"Tired and only about three-quarters healed; but pretty good other than that," he told her. "You're okay?"

"Yeah – thanks to you," she agreed. "Did you see Dad at all?"

"He was here?"

"Yes, and I'll take that as a no,' she answered. "I didn't see him either, but talked to Mum; and she told me he'd been called in by the Aurors that first answered Professor McGonagall's request for help with the investigation. I don't know if he's still here; but thought that he might visit the hospital wing."

"If Madam Pomfrey was asked about it; she likely asked him not to do that – and there weren't any other Aurors around either. None of the Slytherin attackers are in any condition to talk right now anyway – and might not be for a while." His expression hardened a bit; but he shook his head too. "I'm still really mad right now; so it might be a while before I'll feel bad about hurting some of them – though some of them didn't know what they were doing."

"Only some of them?" Lily demanded. "Does that mean that the rest of them were behind all of those attacks?"

"Yes," Al agreed quietly. "This isn't the time or place to talk about that, though; and I need to go and have a nap. They've decided to move as many of the patients as they can on the Hogwarts Express; and Gwendolyn and I volunteered to help with getting them on the train – and possibly watching over some of them during the trip if they need us for that too." He looked at his watch and groaned. "Okay, maybe I'll just have an extra-long shower; finish packing; and just stay awake."

"I'm going to try for the nap," Lily advised him. "We can always help you out tomorrow too so you can have a nap on the train if needed."

"Yes, we can," Rose agreed. "We've a lot to tell you too; but we'll do that sometime tomorrow."

"Is there anything I won't want to wait to find out?"

"Not really, but James and Ollie were acting weird tonight," Rose answered.

"Which is why we suspected them," Lily added. "Do you think they were in on it?"

"No. The real culprits were trying to make it look like that attack was done by the same person or people that did the attack in January; but what I sensed wasn't at all the same this time – except for with the Slytherins that were used the same way to join in on the attack. Even that was a bit different; and the memory charms were enough different that our Professors and the Aurors will be able to tell the difference."

"That's horrid – especially since that means that some of those guys were using Unforgiveables intentionally."

"Then let's hope that they don't get away with it this time," Rose suggested; and then smiled at Al. "Yeah, I know – it isn't fair, but if they have the proof; they need to put an end to this sort of thing. This was also far worse than even the worst James has done with all of his attacks and ambushes combined."

"It was," Al conceded. "Some of the injuries were really awful too – though there wasn't anything as bad as what James did to Stephanie. Gwendolyn and I were surprised that there weren't more parents there before we left, but maybe the Professors convinced most of them to wait for their kids to get to London."

"That's going to be even crazier than normal tomorrow," Lily suggested. "I guess we'd better get to our dorm rooms and talk again in the morning." She stood up and hugged Al again. "You did good, Al. If we don't see you first thing in the morning and you need anything of us; call our mirrors and we'll be there for you."

Rose hugged Al next; added her offer to help him too; and then Al went up to his dorm room. All of the guys were sleeping, so he quietly grabbed clean clothes and his bathroom kit; and headed for the showers. Having a nap had been very tempting, but he wasn't sure if he'd wake up again in time to be back at the hospital wing on time – or even to catch the train; so he took the extra-long shower; finished getting ready to go while in the bathroom; and then quietly finished packing his trunk and the book bag he was taking with him on the train. His last step was to put his trunk into the undetectable expansion bag; and then drop that into his book bag too before he took one last look around the dorm room. He'd be moving on to the fourth-year dorm in September; and might not even be back for visits to the third-year dorm unless it was to visit Fred and Orlando. Once he was ready; he went down to the common room to sit in one of the chairs and surf the Wireless Web until it was time to meet up with Gwendolyn again and go back to the hospital wing.

"There was another fireworks attack in the Great Hall at the end of the feast," Scorpius told Thomas before he'd even finished pulling the portrait out of his bag and putting it on the table. "This time, a lot of students were injured before the Averys, their buddies, and a bunch of other Slytherins were stopped and disarmed."

"Was the younger Potter boy targeted again? Do you know who was behind it?"

"Yes, he definitely was, and Captain Potty got hurt; but nowhere near as seriously as a lot of others that he couldn't protect – or the Slytherins that he defeated with his counter-attacks. Most of them were seriously-hurt and will likely be spending some quality time recovering from their injuries this summer – including a couple of my team mates. I don't know who was behind it, but since this was just a more serious repeat of the attack in january; you can bet that they'll be looking to figure out who was behind both attacks now. You'll also want to know that the Animorphpotty went on to bull his way around the Great Hall and worked on healing a bunch of the most-seriously injured students – or at least starting their healing before they were moved to the hospital wing."

"He went around healing them – a third-year student," Thomas stated doubtfully. "That's ridiculous."

"The Professors let him do it; I saw him work on a dozen Slytherins myself; and while I have no idea what all he was able to do; I did see and hear some obvious injuries being healed. All of the Slytherins he worked on were unconscious; so I may not ever know how much Potty actually did. I also know that he's helping out in the hospital wing right now; and he's working with Madam Pomfrey and several Healers that were brought up here from St. Mungo's."

"How do you know that?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius smiled and shrugged.

"I went to see for myself. It was easy-enough to sneak in there without anyone noticing me. I may go back there later and let someone find me if needed to get back into my House again now that it's past-curfew. Things are so messed up right now that nobody is sure whether every student is where they're supposed to be or not anyway."

"It's past-curfew? How long did that fight go on?"

"Only fifteen minutes or so. The Averys, their buddies, and the rest of the Slytherins that joined in on the attack all kept fighting through until they were each defeated; and it took a while for that to happen. They fired off a lot of curses and hexes, though, and instead of a handful of whizz-bangs being shot at students instead of just into the air; they used dozens of them this time – and the Animorphpotty couldn't stop all of them." He thought about that for a moment and then shook his head. "That might have been different this time," he added. "I'm not sure whether any of those whizz-bangs were fired at any Slytherins. I know a couple of them were hurt by them; but those could have been deflected or just exploded near to them."

"So this attack might not be the same at all; but a copycat attempt," Thomas suggested. "Did you see James Potter or get any sense of whether he might have been involved?"

"I saw him – and kept an eye on him now and then during the awards ceremony and feast too. He was mad-enough earlier than he could have been involved; but I don't know whether he was or not from what I saw of him afterward."

"He'd be an idiot if he went around looking happy or taking credit for any of it if there were so many injuries," Thomas declared; and Scorpius nodded.

"He wasn't doing anything as far as I could tell after the fight. He didn't even stay in the Great Hall for all that long – and even left before the Heads and Prefects started to move as many of us back to our Houses as they could get to go so that the students needing help could get it more easily."

"Did he get involved in any of the fighting? Did you?"

"I don't know if James did; and I didn't do anything beyond making sure that I didn't get hit by any of the spells that were flying around everywhere. Rebounding and deflecting curses and hexes likely did more damage than the ones that hit their marks. I don't know whether anything will be done about the Animorphpotty; but his counter-attacks were responsible for the most-serious Slytherin injuries. If the castle wall hadn't been there; I expect that most of those guys would have landed in the lake."

"It is unlikely that anything would happen to him if he was simply defending himself and others from an unprovoked attack."

"I'd say he's a walking talking provocation for any true pureblood; but that will never count for anything with the Ministry of Magic, the Professors, or the Aurors – especially while his father is in charge," Scorpius declared. "I sure hoped he'd get blasted when the attack started. He won pretty much every award that he could win again this year."

"That seems inconsequential by comparison," Thomas told him; and Scorpius shrugged.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm sick of watching all of the Professors fawn all over him – especially at the end-of-year feast."

"You didn't win any awards again this year?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius laughed bitterly.

"I won the only one I didn't want – for top student in Muggle Studies. The guys razzed me about it all through the feast – especially since the runner-up for that award was a Mudblood Witch."

"You should take that award as a great compliment," Thomas suggested. "You won it despite being Slytherin and a true Pureblood."

"So what?" Scorpius said scornfully; and Thomas laughed.

"You did better than all of the Mudbloods in your year – and they all grew up in the Muggle world. They ought to be better at Muggle Studies than a true Witch or Wizard could ever hope to be; yet you beat the lot of them."

"That does not help," Scorpius advised him. "I have no reason to be proud of an accomplishment like that when those classes are filled with the Witches and Wizards we hate the most and want to cleanse from our Wizarding World."

"So you're saying that you aren't happy to earn a victory over them?" Thomas countered. "That is what you did with that award – and you've learned a lot about the Muggles along the way. That knowledge will serve you well when it is time to enslave them to do our bidding."

"Those comments might work better on a day when I don't have to compare that to the Animorphpotty winning more than a dozen awards; going on to lead the defense of hundreds of students; and then helping to heal the injured after defeating a dozen or more Slytherin attackers."

"You could have found ways to help too," Thomas pointed out; and Scorpius stared at him.

"Have you lost your mind? I'd never be able to come back here if I'd fought against the Averys and their mates."

"If they're going to claim they've been victims of memory charms again; why not?" Thomas disagreed. "You'd have been helping them out by trying to help stop them – especially if you'd have done that without injuring any of them."

"They don't know that I overheard that conversation back in January," Scorpius reminded Thomas, "and if they were truly under the influence of memory charms; then they'd have likely attacked me in return – just as they attacked anyone from the other Houses or the Professors when they joined in to help Potty."

"Then you'd have defended yourself too and earned more respect for it! A minor injury or two would have taken that respect up another step or two as well. You also could have at least helped your fellow Slytherin any way you could after the fight was over; yet you've implied that you only watched on."

"I know nothing about healing," Scorpius pointed out. "Will you be making that part of my training next year?"

"No, but you'll learn the basics at Hogwarts; and I wasn't suggesting that you do so – even as I still doubt the younger Potter boy's abilities to do much true healing when he is so young. There are other things that you could have done. Maybe you should go back to the hospital wing and sneak in again. If you manage to find a way to do it; having someone find you dutifully watching over some of your fellow Slytherin could work out well for you – especially if the Healers believe you were just overlooked and have been there all along."

"I can do that," Scorpius conceded, "but I'm having a tough time picturing you sitting vigil by a hospital bed for any of your former Death Eaters."

"Possibly because my Death Eaters put other Witches, Wizards, and Muggles into hospital beds – or worse. They didn't end up in those beds instead."

"The survivors from the war did often-enough – and usually while on the way to Azkaban."

"That may be true," Thomas agreed; "since they were surely demoralized after our defeat. By now, however; they may again be a force to be reckoned with once you are ready to lead them – and have gained enough power to free them from that prison. Decades of time to ferment their hatred of our enemies will make them strong – just as I was stronger after returning from my exile in the wilderness."

"If you're suggesting that I need to spend a decade or so in the wilderness to be ready to lead the true Purebloods in our fight against our enemies; come up with a new plan 'cause I am so not going to do that!"

Thomas laughed. "No, let's hope that you won't,' he agreed. "You should get back to the hospital wing and work on your good guy image, though; so if there isn't anything else; go on with that and we can talk again sometime after you get home."

Scorpius wasn't ready to leave yet; wanted to give Thomas the rest of the awards and feast report; and then he procrastinated for as long as he could before Thomas basically told him to go away and left him with no choice but to do that – or just sit and talk to himself. He didn't feel any better when he left, but then he did at least have the stealthy task of sneaking back into the hospital wing under cover of an invisibility charm; hiding near to the Averys and their buddies; and then getting caught by one of the St. Mungo's Healers when she did one of the rounds for checking the patients while the others were busy in Madam Pomfrey's office or elsewhere. She'd easily bought his story and excuses; gave him a note in case he needed it to get back into his House; and then he was back in his dorm room in time to have a nap before it would be time to get up and ready for breakfast and the trip home. Thomas had been right, and he'd impressed the few Slytherins he'd seen in the common room and bathroom; so he expected that word would get around that he'd been watching over their fallen friends for most of the night until being sent back to his dorm room just hours before sunrise.

That still didn't come near to matching the feats of the Animorphpotty; but it was at least something that might help him out heading into their summer break and the coming school year!

It was still well-before dawn when Al got the mirror chat call from Gwendolyn to let him know she was awake again and getting nearly ready to meet up with him. He left the Gryffindor common room; met up with her outside of the Ravenclaw entrance; and they shared a long hug and several kisses before moving out and toward the hospital wing.

"Have you heard much about everything we weren't around for while we were busy in the hospital wing last night?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head.

"Not really. Lily and Rose were waiting up for me in the common room – though Lily had been napping by the time I got there; but we didn't talk about much before they went to bed and I went to have a long shower and then pack up."

"You haven't slept at all?' Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head again.

"No, but that was only because I was pretty sure I wouldn't have woken again for quite a while – and might have missed the train too if nobody could wake me."

"Okay, but I hope that doesn't mean you'll need to sleep all weekend to catch up. I'm expecting to need a nap on the train and an early bedtime tonight."

"So much for my plan to have our first camping night of the summer and snog you senseless all night once we're home."

"Our parents will want us at our own homes for at least tonight," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Save that thought for sometime soon – when we're not both exhausted from all of this – and whatever else we have to deal with for the rest of today. We've gotten a bit off-track here. The rumors are sure flying around Ravenclaw tower. My roommates were all sleeping when I got back; but Toni and Renee left me a list of the top stories on my bed; so I did get some of the news. You're at the top of the gossip network chat topics; you can shoot emerald fire out of your eyes to defeat your enemies; and healed at least a hundred students with the touch of a hand – though there are rumors that you only helped some of them ease their way into the Light; since they haven't returned to their Houses yet."

"Nobody has passed on the news that all injured students will live and recover yet?"

"I have; but it'll be a while before that word gets around. I only talked with a couple of Ravenclaw Prefects – and they'd already pretty much known that for sure by then anyway."

"I haven't talked to anyone other than Lily and Rose. None of the guys in my dorm room woke while I was there before and after my shower. They were all likely up late too, though; so it might be tough for them to wake-up on time for breakfast too. They have enough trouble with that on a normal day."

"I didn't want to wake up this morning, but the nap helped a bit; and I was likely better off than you were because of that healing blast you shared with me last night. Speaking of that – how are you doing?"

"I'll need a few days to be back to normal; but that's mostly because I'm wearing down a bit now so the self-healing isn't really happening at all – beyond what's normal for anyone."

"You could ask for help from Madam Pomfrey or the other Healers, Al. That is allowed even for you."

"I know, but if I need the help later; I'll just ask Dad to give me a hand. Madam Pomfrey and the St. Mungo's Healers were all at least as tired as I was when we saw them last; and they've kept at it since then."

"Most of them are likely used to working all night or all day anyway," Gwendolyn pointed out. "You're not; and I really don't want you to be messed up for the next few days – or longer; since you're likely understating how you're really feeling."

"I'm okay for now and want to help; so let's both do that and worry about me later."

"I'll worry about you now – and probably forever," Gwendolyn advised him. "We'll do it your way, but if you get too run down; I reserve the right to tell you what to do instead."

"Deal," Al agreed.

They continued to talk quietly until they were at the door for the hospital wing; and then they were quiet as they opened the door and stepped into the room. There was a lot of activity going on in the main room, but Madam Pomfrey saw them and waved them over to her. Everyone working in the room was being as quiet as they could be too; but they were also getting the first group of patients ready to travel – with most of those students getting help to get out of bed, cleaned up, and dressed to travel.

"I'll have both of you go with one of these first groups of patients – the semi-mobile ones," Madam Pomfrey told them. "Professor Hagrid has two carriages ready to transport the bed-ridden patients; so we'll be able to send four of them along too; and then I'd like you, Al to stay with those patients until my fellow Healers are all on the train and can take over monitoring all of our patients. Miss McCormack; I'd like you to help the other patients in this group – get them comfortable and set up with anything they need. Some will at least need extra cushioning; but we don't expect many bigger problems until later in the trip to London if sitting becomes an issue later in the day."

"I can do that," Gwendolyn agreed. "Al and I have other friends and relatives offering to help out on the train too, but maybe someone can organize those volunteers some other way."

"Your Heads and Prefects will be doing that to help the Healers and others that will be on the train today to help out."

"Others? Aurors?" Al asked; and Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Yes. Our Headmistress wants to make certain that there will be no chance of trouble on your trip home. There are, apparently, a lot of very angry students right now; so that protection is as much for the injured student protagonists as for everyone else."

"That is likely for the best," Gwendolyn agreed. "I expected to see at least a few parents to still be here this morning – or more new arrivals."

"I'm sure you'll hear more about that later today, but we don't have time to go into that right now – though I will tell you that Professor McGonagall has convinced the parents to let us take care of their children at least until we can get them safely to London or St. Mungo's as needed. Why don't you see what you can do to help out with your fellow students who are trying to get dressed and ready to go. In your cases, I think it would be best for you to help the boys or girls as is appropriate."

"Definitely," Gwendolyn agreed with a grin for Al. "I've enough trouble with Al helping too many damsels in distress already without having him help them in any ways that would just be inappropriate." Madam Pomfrey joined Gwendolyn for a quiet laugh when Al blushed in response to that comment; but then he and Gwendolyn moved on and joined in to help out with whatever they could do for the students they'd been directed to help.

Madam Pomfrey continued to work with the first patients that would be leaving on what Al eventually found out were portable gurneys that were brought to the castle from St. Mungo's or Auror Headquarters. She had the first four patients ready to go by the time the other students were ready to be helped out to the carriages and then onto the train; but Al and Gwendolyn helped the other, semi-mobile teens and tweens while Healers and Professors took care of the more-seriously injured. Only one Healer and one Professor came with them in the carriages; Al was with one group and Gwendolyn with another in two different carriages; and they took the ride to Hogsmeade station very slowly to keep from further injuring any of the patients. When they got to the station, Al and Gwendolyn found out that most of the compartments in two cars were being used for the injured students. There were only going to be two bed-ridden patients to a compartment; and only four of the semi-mobile students in the other compartments that were being reserved for them – instead of the normal six students to a car. That was going to mean that the healthy students would need to pack more teens and tweens into the rest of the compartments, and there might be some overflow sent to sit in the Prefect car; but they didn't need to worry about that until later – if they ended up being relieved of duty sometime during the trip.

Al would have liked to stay with Gwendolyn, but once they had 'their' students on the train; Al really did need to stay and keep a close eye on his four students while Gwendolyn was busier with helping her teens and tweens to get settled into their compartments. Al's patients were all sleeping, but he checked each of them out once he was alone with them; helped with a bit of healing here and there where he could deal with some problems he found while doing those checks; and then he kept his senses open and watched over them to make sure they didn't have anything go wrong while they waited for all of the patients and then the rest of the students to get to the train from the castle. He was a bit surprised when bagged breakfasts were brought for all of the patients that were awake and for the volunteers too; but was grateful for the food because he was fairly-starving by then – in large part because of his extreme expenditures of magical power over the past ten hours or so.

It hadn't even been ten hours since the end of the feast!

To Al, it felt more like days worth of busy; but it had really only been from near-sunset until near-dawn. Their breakfast was nothing exciting, but it did help them to keep going; and they needed to do that for quite a while – even after the Healers and Aurors boarded the train and they left the station and headed for London. While the Healers took over the care for all of the patients, Al and Gwendolyn stayed and helped the students that were awake because many of them needed help for everything from getting to one of the washrooms to retrieving things they wanted from their travel bags – and that sometimes meant running errands to track down friends or relatives. They also got to talk with Teddy a couple of times; since he was one of the Aurors assigned to the train; though they kept those visits short because he was on-duty and that was for doing more than just keeping the peace.

The Slytherin students were not under arrest or anything –yet; but Al sensed that Teddy and his fellow Aurors were there in part to make sure that none of those students disappeared somewhere between Hogwarts and St. Mungo's. He really did have conflicting emotions about that, since he knew that James was as guilty for attacks that he hadn't been caught for as some of the Slytherins were for this latest attack; but this one was not only out of his hands; but quite possibly out of Professor McGonagall's hands too. He didn't have time to dwell on that or anything else as they kept busy until mid-morning; when they were replaced by two new volunteers and told to take the rest of the day off.

Al would have liked to keep helping, but knew that others really wanted to pitch in – and could help out as well as he and Gwendolyn could for what they'd been doing for most of the train ride to that point. They went for washroom breaks once they were set free; and then went in search of Lily, Rose, Jonah, and the rest of their friends. They were all together, and packed into their compartment with a total of eight teens and tweens; so two more was too much. They lived with all ten of them crammed in together for a while, but then Ray and Hugo offered to go for a walk and do some visiting so that Al and Gwendolyn could at least sit down for a while after being on their feet for most of the night and then the first third of the train ride. They sat next to Lily and Jonah; it was a very cozy fit; and Al leaned back into the corner contentedly with his arms wrapped around Gwendolyn as she leaned into him to make as much room for Lily and Jonah as possible.

"I'm glad that you were replaced by other volunteers," Rose told Al. "You look worse than you did when we saw you last night – earlier this morning."

"Does he?" Gwendolyn asked; and Rose nodded.

"Yeah, he does," Rose confirmed. "How bad to you really feel, Al?"

"I'm okay," he lied; and then smiled wanly when nobody seemed to believe him. "Okay, I'm not; but I will be – and we don't need to bother any of the Healers when they've more pressing problems to deal with today. We've given you our update, though, so instead of talking about me; I'd rather hear more about everything we haven't been in the loop for while we've been busy."

Rose, Lily, and Gwendolyn were still worried about him, but let Al off the hook at least for a while. While he cuddled with Gwendolyn, Rose and Lily led the gossip chat; he leaned back against the wall; closed his eyes; and let their stories carry him into the blissfully-painless darkness.


	34. Long, Lazy Holidays

**Chapter Thirty-Four – Long, Lazy Holidays**

Al drifted around in what felt like a pool of serene nothingness. Awareness returned slowly; and there was no sense of time as he enjoyed the peace and quiet. At some point, external 'noise' that he eventually determined to be his senses waking to the world around him began to intrude on the wonderful nothingness; but he didn't hurry to make the transition that he knew would lead to waking again. He didn't fight against that inevitable progression either, but at some point in that process, when he became aware of Gwendolyn's proximity to him – and then sensed her worry; he did make the rest of the journey to consciousness – and opened his eyes while turning his head to look directly and unerringly at her.

"I'll guess that you decided to start telling me what to do – as promised," he said quietly – and a bit hoarsely because his mouth and throat were dry. The hospital bed had been his first clue that he hadn't just had an extended nap while on the train; and he soon guessed that he'd been out for quite a while as his self-assessment gave him more and more information about how much he'd healed since the last time he'd checked – along with other clues that suggested he'd been sleeping for a day or more of his summer holidays. "I love you." Gwendolyn had been talking with his mother, Lily, and a Healer he didn't recognize; and they all turned their attention to him. Gwendolyn hurried over to him; leaned over the bed; and hugged and kissed him.

"You didn't leave me with much of a choice on that," she advised him. "One of these years, we are going to convince you that looking out for yourself is just as important as trying to keep the rest of us safe and well."

Al laughed; the sound a bit gravelly. "You likely won't have much success with that; since I'll always be sure that the people I love most are more important to me; so I'll just have to count on you when I go too far." He smiled at his mother. "I think I inherited that little flaw from some of those people I love so much. Are you okay, Mum?"

"I'm getting there again," she assured him. "It's been a very long couple of days."

"Two days?" Al asked in surprise; and he got nods from everyone that was now surrounding his bed. "What time is it?"

"Early-afternoon on Sunday," Ginny answered. She took a turn to hug him and kiss his forehead; Lily hugged him after that; and then they both stepped back and let the Healer get close-enough to speak with Al and check him over.

"How are you feeling?" the Healer began while using his wand and scanning it along Al's body from head to foot.

"More tired than I should be after napping for two days," Al half-joked. "There are some tender spots where I'm still healing from my injuries, but that isn't anything too intense; and we missed two very small pieces of metal fragments in and near my ear that I hadn't noticed before now. The one is causing a bit of a problem with my hearing in that ear." He'd indicated the ear on the other side of his head from the Healer, so the Wizard moved around to stand on Gwendolyn's side of the bed; used his wand again; and then nodded after a few moments of silence.

"I'll take care of that for you in a moment," he promised. "Your other injuries truly aren't bothering you much? I spoke with Madam Pomfrey on Friday after you were brought in; and it's obvious to us that your injuries were more serious than you let on to her – or your family and friends."

"I've had worse; and no – those injuries really aren't bothering me – though I will want to try to eventually understand why I couldn't heal them as I did most of the other injuries with my Animorphmagus change. There's obviously still a lot that I need to learn before I'll have more control over that – or it could just be that I was already too tired at the time to focus on all of the injuries at one time."

"I'd say that being too tired is a vast understatement considering your condition over the past two days; but you seem to have a knack for that. Let's take care of that shrapnel; and then I'll have you take a restorative while you're awake and able to do that."

The treatment only took time because there was some damage that needed to be healed once the pieces of metal were removed. The restorative had been fairly-awful, but Al didn't even grimace while draining the cup; and then the Healer left the room and got back to work with his other patients. With his mother, sister, and girlfriend around his bed; Al wasn't sure that he wanted to be that outnumbered by Witches; but he didn't sense any immediate risk of bat-bogey hexes or other danger.

"I really hope that I haven't messed up the best weekend of the summer," Al said once they were alone.

"We've needed to change things up a bit, but you likely won't feel too bad about the shopping you missed out on yesterday; and the family parties were just a bit quieter without you."

"Only because James didn't have you around to start a fight with," Lily added with a grin. "You'll love the news bomb he dropped on us this weekend. He's got a summer job with the Catapults. Mr. Peakes set it up for him; and he'll be starting tomorrow. Mum..."

"...doesn't want you to add any details to that while we're here," Ginny interjected quickly.

"Okay, but can I at least tell Al about the boy Rose met on Friday here in London?" Lily asked; and smiled when Ginny and Gwendolyn both laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. We haven't met him yet, Al, but Rose met a Muggle boy that moved into one of the houses on the street where her Granger grandparents live; and she's seriously over-the-moon for him."

"Good for her," Al said with a smile and nod. "Is she going to move in with her grandparents for the summer?"

"She's thinking about it – and has stayed there all weekend so far. I'm sure she'll thank you for helping her out with that; since you've been a rather good excuse for staying nearby – and she has been coming to visit you – whenever she isn't hanging out with Kyle – Kyle Cassidy."

"Should we get Dad to have the Aurors check him out; or has Uncle Ron already made that request – or done it himself?"

"Uncle Ron's been busy at the store and might not know about Kyle yet," Lily advised him. "I didn't think about asking Dad to find out more about him; but that's a rather brilliant suggestion."

"It was a joke; and Rose would hate it if we did that – though I'm surprised you haven't tried to find out about him on the Muggle internet. You have his name and know where he lives. If Kyle is on the internet; it should be easy-enough to learn a fair bit about him."

Lily laughed and leaned over to hug him. "I should have done that yesterday. Can I borrow your phone, Mum?"

Ginny pulled it out of a pocket and handed it to her. "Sure. Try not to have too much fun with that." She returned her attention to Al and smiled at him. "Your Dad will be back here in a bit, but he's been busy at Auror Headquarters this weekend too; so he missed out on most of our weekend plans too. He has quite the mess to deal with because of the problems on Thursday night at Hogwarts."

"What's been happening with that?" al asked; and Ginny's expression turned grim.

"All sorts of crazy – including Victor Avery's disappearance from this hospital. We still don't know how that happened; but he was in no condition to be leaving; so we'll have to hope that he's still getting medical care wherever he is now."

"I'd say he has more to worry about from the Aurors," Gwendolyn offered; and Al turned his attention to her.

"Have there been charges or arrests already?"

"No, but his disappearance is very suspicious – don't you think? The other Slytherin boys that are awake aren't saying anything; but their parents are sure going nuts – and a lot of them want your head on a platter for hurting their precious, innocent little angels."

"Some of them are innocent – at least for this attack," Al reminded her; and she nodded.

"True, but then I don't think that those parents are the ones making the biggest stink. It's the usual crowd doing that – and talking to any reporter dumb-enough to believe their idiocies."

"She means Rita Skeeter," Lily interjected while still surfing the Muggle web on Ginny's phone. "I do not understand why anyone even reads anything that two-faced liar writes. Aunt Hermione should have never let her out of that jar."

"We've said the same thing more times than I can count," Ginny told her; "but she'd never planned on keeping her in that jar forever – and maybe not even as long as she did. Getting back to the story, though; your Dad is dealing with a handful of very angry families of some of those Slytherin boys; but there are other parents that want justice for all of the innocent students that were hurt. As Gwendolyn said, none of the Slytherin boys are talking; their families won't let them; and this is going to get worse because your father has a lot of evidence that points to the Averys and their gang being behind everything – including your own memories from the fight and aftermath."

"I'm surprised that they're taking that stance," Al admitted. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"It does to me," Gwendolyn told him. "The Slytherin boys that are awake don't know what to do because they don't know what the Averys and their buddies are going to do – and won't know until they wake up and start talking with their parents. As for the parents; they don't likely have a clue about what their kids have truly done; so they can't allow the Aurors to do anything until they do know – and that could be why Victor has disappeared."

"You think he was taken so they could find out what happened?" Ginny asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Maybe – or his parents do know more; and they're doing damage control. Victor is over-age; can't be tracked by the Ministry anymore; and his family has enough money to help him disappear for a long time if needed."

"I should be asking about how all of the injured students are doing – and not worrying about what's going on with all of that," Al said; and needed to force himself to realign his thoughts to things that were really most-important.

"Including you, forty-three students were admitted to St. Mungo's," Ginny advised him. "Others were brought here for further treatment and released. They'll continue their recoveries at home – as will the teens and tweens that have been released over the past two days. Most of the Slytherins involved in the attack are still here along with a handful of others; but there may be some more students released today or tomorrow."

"Hopefully with me included in that group," Al said seriously. "This might work for James; but I really don't want to waste any of our summer holidays in this bed."

"We want you home too; but you're not getting out this time until we're sure you won't just end up right back here again."

"He'll take care of himself this time – or else," Gwendolyn told Ginny – while warning Al too. "Lily and I are going to make sure of that."

"Yes, we are," Lily agreed. She held up Ginny's phone toward Al and Gwendolyn; and had a picture of a handsome teen with sandy-blonde hair and eyes that were likely light blue or grey. "I think this is Kyle," she added. "Rose has good taste – or at least a good eye for the hot factor."

"He is good-looking," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's hope he's a good person too. I can't imagine trying to date a Muggle when you wouldn't be able to even have him come over to your house without him finding out about our world, but if it works for Rose; then good for her."

"Let's wait and see how that goes," Al suggested. "If they do start dating; we can help Rose out with extra visits to London – maybe go on some date nights with them – or maybe even an extra day or two at our favorite amusement park."

"Maybe she'll just take James' old job at the wheezes store so she has even more reason to be in the city – and go visit her grandparents," Lily suggested.

"We have other plans for summer jobs," Gwendolyn reminded her; and laughed at the expression on Ginny's face.

"You too?" she asked; sounding exasperated; and Gwendolyn and Al both nodded.

"Yeah, but it's something we want to talk about with you and Aunt Hermione – and we're sure you'll love what we've come up with."

"Al can't get a summer job with the Harpies; and Gwendolyn wouldn't go to work for the Cannons, Mum; so you've nothing to worry about," Lily teased.

"Rose might be more interested in babysitting a certain teen Muggle boy than in working for the Cannons right now," Ginny countered.

"That's a good idea," Gwendolyn told her with a laugh. "Are you looking for someone to keep an eye on Al this summer?"

"I probably should be – since he seems to get into a fair bit of trouble; but I'm still more worried about James this summer; and I doubt you'd want that job."

"Definitely not," Gwendolyn agreed. "I will still try to help with keeping Al out of trouble. If some of our favorite haters can finally learn something from this last attack; mayb we could even have fewer problems when we head back to school too."

"They'd better," Ginny agreed. "Hogwarts will start losing students if parents don't think their kids will be safe there anymore – just as that happened during the war."

"I hope that there weren't any parents involved in setting up that attack," Lily said seriously. "That was awful-enough if it was hatched by a bunch of stuck-up, Pureblood gits; and worse if they were being used by their parents to try and mess things up for all of us at Hogwarts."

"Dad will figure out what happened," Al said confidently. "We'll still have our fair share of haters regardless of what happens; but I hope that we won't have anything that bad happen again."

They didn't talk about that for much longer because Al wanted to get up for a washroom break; and then he needed to get something to eat and drink. He'd have liked to just go home, but knew that wasn't going to happen; so he settled for spending time with Gwendolyn, his parents, and a handful of other visitors during the rest of the afternoon and evening. He was allowed to go for a walk with Gwendolyn; they visited with some of the other students from Hogwarts; and Gwendolyn steered him clear of the area around the rooms where the Slytherin boys were being held to avoid any problems with them – or with their families. James didn't come to the hospital, but Al was okay with that. he and Gwendolyn had fun with Rose's visit after dinner; and Al was sure by the time she left that they would be getting to know her new Muggle friend and likely next boyfriend. Gwendolyn went home after her mother came to pick her up; Ginny and Lily went home after Harry stopped in for a last visit on the way home from Auror Headquarters; and then Al was given a sleeping draught and was happy to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

"Is there any chance the loser had a relapse and is in a permanent coma?" James asked when Harry, Ginny, and Lily got home from St. Mungo's.

"No, but that's as horrid as everything else you've said about him all weekend," Lily told him. "Some of us are hoping he'll be allowed to come home tomorrow."

James snorted. "Yeah – the delusional members of this family that still can't figure out that the loser is behind this mess – just as he is for everything else. I saw how many of those Slytherins he blasted – and from what I've heard from my friends; they were all innocent and had no idea what they were doing."

"If that's all true; then where were you on Thursday night?" Lily demanded. "I didn't see you jumping in to protect anyone except your own, selfish backside while Al protected dozens; stopped the attacks; and then went on to spend most of the night helping to heal the injured – even though he was hurt and exhausted from the fight."

"Of course he was exhausted – he was fighting on both sides," James sneered. "He hadn't been the hero of the day in months; and needed a big finale for the year so the lot of you dunces can fawn over him all summer!"

"That's enough, James," Harry told him sternly; and James just laughed at him.

"As always – not by half it isn't," he shot back obstinately. "It'll never be enough until the lot of you get your collective heads out of your arses and see the loser for the lying rotter he is instead of the saint he pretends to be."

They were all in the kitchen; Harry and Ginny had been putting snacks and drinks together by then; and Harry turned to glare at his eldest son. He just looked at him for a long minute; and then he pulled out his wand; waved it slightly; and his pensieve and a bottle of memories appeared on the table.

"Let's all go and take a long look at that fight and the aftermath,' he suggested – though that was stated as more of an order. "That way, instead of just spouting off; you can show us everything that you, Al, and everyone else did in the Great Hall, James. I'm sure that we'll all find the experience fascinating."

"Let me guess – those are the loser's memories," James said scathingly. "Why bother – he'll just be showing you what he wants you to see."

"Then you'll be able to point out all of the lies to us," Lily told him. "What's the matter, James? Are you afraid of a bunch of memories?"

"Of course not," he declared. "I just don't want to waste my time when you won't believe me anyway."

"Too bad for you," Harry said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice now too. "We're all going into the pensieve; and you really are going to find this fascinating – all of you will."

"I was there too," Lily reminded him. "Fascinating wouldn't be a word I'd use to describe that fight or anything else that happened afterward."

Harry laughed. "Let me know if you still feel that way when we're done."

With that said, he quickly put the memories into the pensieve; they all watched as they swirled around in the bowl; and then Ginny and Lily went into the pensieve first; Harry made sure that James followed them – and had been right to do that when James had tried to balk at the last second; and then he followed them in. He'd gone through Al's memories several times already, but he was still astounded as he 'landed' in the Great Hall. The clarity of the scene was extraordinary. Every detail was recalled with such precision that it made everything more-clear to the viewer than it would have been to them had they actually been there during the attack.

"Stop!" he commanded quietly; and the scene froze. It didn't need to be done that way; but that was how Harry had developed his own style when using the pensieve and sifting through memories. "Any first thoughts about what you see?"

"It's so perfect," Lily said as she looked around. "Al notices everything all around him. There was something else, but you stopped it before I could figure out what it was."

"Very good," Harry said approvingly. "I've watched dozens of memories of this fight, from a couple of Professors and other students. This one is by far the most-complete and clear. Do you see anything that isn't right yet, James?"

"For all I know; most of this is fake," James said derisively.

"You can't compare this to your own memories and know for certain?" Lily prodded. "I can. There is a lot here that I didn't notice, but the things that I did are exactly the same – and I do mean exactly!" She walked over to a spot near to where she was sitting with her firstie friends and pointed at something on the table. I know how that stain got there; but have no idea how Al could possibly have noticed that from all the way over there."

"He talks about having a photographic memory," Harry reminded her; but I'm sure he has an eidetic memory – and in ways that I never suspected."

"What is that nonsense supposed to mean?" James demanded; and Harry laughed.

"It'll be much easier to just show you instead of trying to explain it. In case you're not sure from what you're seeing; the fireworks will be starting in about five seconds." He paused for just a moment; and then said – "Go!"

"Watch the Avery brothers and their mates closely," he suggested as the scene leapt into motion again.

"Victor's counting down!" Lily exclaimed. I can feel the anticipation from them! Two, one – now!"

They all looked up as the first fireworks went off overhead; but then Harry said "Stop" again.

"Look around for a moment," he suggested. "The rogue fireworks are already heading toward their targets while nearly everyone is distracted. Most of the targets can be projected even this early."

"I also see that Al's already jumping up onto the bench and pulling his wand – almost as if he knew the attack was coming;" James said with a sneer and vicious victory in his tone. "Did you bother to notice that in any of your other visits?"

"I did," Harry confirmed; but then pointed to where James and Ollie were sitting. "I also noticed that you and Ollie were looking at each other instead of up like most of the others. Pay attention to that when we start it again; and you'll sense what Al did from the two of you. Be glad that he did, too; since it's what convinced us that you and Ollie could be excluded as suspects this time."

"We had nothing to do with it because Al was behind all of this."

"He wasn't," Harry disagreed; but I point that out because he knew you weren't involved either by the time he was standing on that bench – and he saved you from getting hit by that whizz-bang." the word 'that' was accompanied by him pointing out one specific rocket that was heading toward the Gryffindor table. "Go!" he added; and this time; he let the scene continue for quite a while.

They watched as Al launched his flurry of shields; felt his pain over the whizz-bangs he couldn't get to in time; and in fact felt so much that the sensory input was overwhelming. When Al's anger flared because of the attacks on Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose; they went along for the ride as he continued to defend as many teens as he could and counter-attacked. Even James looked stunned when what he was seeing and feeling this time around was so much more intense than what he'd felt during the actual fight. They could discern the difference in Al's counter-attacks as he dealt with each of the Slytherins. While understanding what they were sensing might take some time; they nonetheless discerned which Slytherins Al sensed were truly behind the attacks and which of them were pawns being used. The former were not defeated with any gentleness at all, but while many of those Slytherin teens and tweens in the second group were seriously injured too; they now saw that their most-serious injuries had been cause by their own rebounding curses and hexes – or by others that had joined in on the defense and counter-attack – even when Al was responsible for disarming and defeating them.

"Stop!" Harry said; and then turned to face James. "Well?"

"Well what?" James answered. "I told you he'd just show you what he wants you to see."

"What have you seen so far that isn't exactly as it happened?" Harry prodded. "You've some experience with memory charms. Show me even a hint that any of this is fabricated."

"I'd love to hear about the parts that are lies about your reactions to all of this," Lily told him. "Al must truly be brilliant to so accurately fabricate the way you were feeling about everything. Are you going to tell us that you weren't thrilled at the start; and then appalled at all of the carnage by the end? In fact, he's so good at this that he must have totally made up that flash of worry you had for that Hufflepuff Witch you saw get hurt. I don't know her; but could she be the Witch we've heard rumors about you spending time with over the Christmas holidays?"

"What?" Ginny demanded; and Lily smiled as she walked away from them over to the Hufflepuff table and pointed at one of the sixth-year Witches. "This girl," she advised her parents while James glowered at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he declared stubbornly.

"We can back this up and take a look again," Lily offered sweetly. "Don't look so grumpy – that was the only moment where I actually saw a glimmer of the brother that Al and I love so much. In case you didn't notice; Al actually kept you from getting hit by that whizz-bang; one killing curse; and four other very nasty curses and hexes. You saved yourself from five more; though you probably didn't notice that two of them deflected and hit other students behind you – one in Hufflepuff and one in Ravenclaw. Don't worry – it wasn't your Hufflepuff girlfriend that got hit by either of them – but then you know that now; don't you?" She nodded at his reaction. "Yeah – I saw too. You almost hit Bristol with another of your deflections; but were lucky and missed that one. You can spout off all you want, james, but the biggest difference between you and Al during this fight is that the best you could manage was a bit of worry over one of your girlfriends; but didn't even think about trying to help anyone else while we can all see and feel what Al sacrificed."

"Shut it!" James yelled; and Lily shrugged.

"I will – about that," she promised. "After all, your love life is none of my business; though I use the word 'love' loosely in your case – just as you do." She laughed when James reached for his wand. "We're in a memory, James. Trying to blast me would be silly."

"We won't be in here forever," James retorted; and Lily laughed again.

"True, but we can't use magic outside of school; so I'm safe until September."

"Not," James added ominously.

"Give it a rest – both of you," Ginny told them. "Quit playing games with this, James. We could go over and over these memories; but we don't really need to do that because you know everything we're seeing and feeling is the truth – and in far greater detail than you ever imagined was possible for your brother."

"There is no limit to his freakishness – and this just proves to me just how badly he needs to be muzzled and locked up in a kennel somewhere."

"You haven't seen the half of it yet," Harry advised him. "Go!"

With all of the antagonists down; they watched as Al started out on his healing vendetta by taking care of Rose, Lily, and Gwendolyn. They could sense all of the emotions swirling around them as he then began pushing his way toward the most-seriously injured as quickly as he could get to each of them.

"Shit!" James muttered at one point; and Lily grinned at him.

"She wasn't hurt that badly. Malorie. It seems we don't need to guess at why he stopped to help her."

"How do you know her name?" James demanded suspiciously; and Lily laughed.

"We're in Al's memory," she reminded him. "He just thought about her by name. Merlin, James – how much of this entire experience are you missing?"

"I wish I was missing all of it," he declared. "She's likely just one more pawn he's playing with to mess up my life."

"You are so clueless," Lily countered. "There was a huge difference between how Al reacted while healing Gwendolyn to that – and I can sense that he helped Mallorie because she means something to you – even if you won't admit it even to yourself after seeing all of this."

"Keep the delusion going," James told her; but then they both got back to watching the unfolding events as Al had continued to move on to the next student needing help with serious injuries.

Harry let the scene roll on and on until Al began healing Victor Avery – when he was about mid-way into healing the Slytherin attackers. "Stop!" he said quietly; and again turned to James. "Have you been paying close attention?"

"To what?" James asked. "Big deal – he's trying to undo the damage he did at his own hand. What a hero."

"Go back!" Harry said; they watched the scene reverse; and then he stopped it at the beginning of Victor's healing. "We sense everything Al did," he advised James. "This time; pay close attention to what Al discovers as he scans Victor's mind – and specifically watch for what he learns about the attack and implanted memories." He stopped and scowled at James. "You already know – and saw all of it the first time."

"This is all fake," james declared stubbornly; and Harry shook his head.

"Are you going to suggest to us that Al has fabricated fake memories that are exactly distorted the way that they normally would be to create a fake alibi for Victor that he then blows up by seeing past it and into the truth we can all see in Victor's mind – and make that as clear and precise as the rest of these memories? Tell us, James – how long does it take you to create even a short memory charm that is as fuzzy as that supposedly faked fake memory? This is hours' worth of memories – not to mention this full-sensory experience that goes way beyond anything I've even seen or heard of before for amyone's memories in a pensieve. Al also gave them to Professor McGonagall just minutes after he was done helping the students in here – and before he went on and worked for hours more in the hospital wing. I'm telling you flat-out that nobody could do what you're suggesting – not even your talented younger brother." James was shaking his head; but Harry waved him off.

"This has nothing to do with how you feel about Albus! We have other evidence to back up these memories; and we know which of these boys were involved in actually planning and launching this attack. We know which of them knowingly and by their own choices used unforgivable curses; which students they were responsible for injuring; and everything else – and I mean everything, James."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Would you like to look again and find out what the primary goals of this attack were?" he asked instead of directly answering; and then shook his own head. "We've been at this for quite a while now; so I'll just tell you. the top two goals was to kill your brother; and pin the blame for all of this on you and Ollie – in retaliation for what they believe you did to them the first night back at school after the Christmas holiday. Everything else was either meant to distract Al so they could blast him or simply just cause more mayhem than he could defend against."

"According to Lily, they tried to kill me too," James pointed out; and Harry nodded.

"Yes, and that would have been an added bonus for them too; since a dead scapegoat is much better than a live one. Think what you want about Al, but you should be glad that this lot didn't succeed in this plot – or this might have ended very badly for both of you."

"I don't believe you – or any of this," James said stubbornly.

"You do,' Harry disagreed; "and for more reasons than you'll likely ever admit to us. I think we're done here. Let's get back to the real world and have our bedtime drinks and snacks."

James was first to jump out of the pensieve; Lily followed; and Harry and Ginny stayed for a few moments longer.

"Do you think this helped or made things worse?" Ginny asked; and Harry shrugged.

"Too soon to tell. Hopefully when he has time to think about all of this a bit more; he'll come to at least understand that there isn't anything he can do that Al won't sense or find out about through James friends. It ought to help him to understand why Al's always so quick to respond to threats; and why he's so good at everything he does. He'll hate that too; but I hope he'll at least stay out of trouble." He looked around the room and shook his head. "If that attack in January had ended this badly; and we'd had this much evidence; he'd have been done at Hogwarts – and probably banned from ever using magic again."

"We can hope for the first part of that; and I'd better not comment on the last of it. What about this lot?"

"I don't know yet," Harry said with a shrug. "We'll exonerate the students that were truly turned into patsies and mindless weapons; but the rest is a real mess. Two of the overage boys could end up charged and in Azkaban – with Victor Avery being one of them if we can track him down. The younger brother was in on it, but was smart-enough not to use any Unforgiveables. We may just end up leaving his fate – and that of some of the other, younger Slytherins, in Minerva's hands."

"I can't help but wonder if we'd pressed the issue in January if this could have been avoided," Ginny said somberly. "It's horrid to think of what that would have meant for James; but I still feel some guilt about this."

"As do I," Harry agreed; "though there's no way to know whether doing anything differently then would have changed any of this at all. These boys could have just as easily tried to pin this on Al- just as James has been trying to do for so many things."

Ginny sighed. "I suppose, but the kids are waiting for us; so let's not go there and just get on with that snack break."

They did that; James continued to act nearly as horridly as he had before the pensieve visit; and his parents and sister soon just got sick of it; and went up to bed for the night. He did the same soon after instead of sitting up all night playing video or mirror games; but then he had his new summer job to get to in the morning; so staying up all night wasn't an option – at least for his first day of work with the Catapults.

Al woke up a couple of hours before dawn; took his time getting up and moving; and then he had a shower and got dressed in his own clothes for the first time since Friday and was back on his bed by the time the Healers came around doing their early-morning rounds. That had impressed his assigned Healer for the day; and he'd been approved for release by the time breakfast trays were delivered on his floor; so he was packed and ready to go by the time Ginny, Lily, Gwendolyn, and Jonah stopped in to see him once they'd finished their morning routine; met up at the McCormack's; and come to London using the Floo Network.

"Going somewhere?' Gwendolyn asked as they walked into the room. "I don't remember approving any travel plans for you."

"You haven't – yet," Al answered; and smiled as she closed the gap between them and then leaned over the bed to share a hug and kiss with him. He held out a few pages of parchment to her. "I have been approved for release; though I'm supposed to take it easy for the next week or so."

"Among other things; and likely for more than a week," Gwendolyn added as she took the pages and just handed them to Ginny instead of reading them. "You didn't give them a hard time last night and they're just glad to be rid of you?"

"No, but I have been awake for quite a while, and they decided that if I was well-enough to get showered and dressed by myself; I was well-enough to go home."

"Then let's get out of here," Lily suggested. She and Ginny had each hugged Al by then too; and she smiled at him. "Maybe you'll get lucky and the reporters will have slept in after staking out the place all weekend."

"That's funny; but you know it's already too late for that," Ginny said seriously. "They'll hound us until they get what they want, though; so we may as well just get it over with now so we don't have to look over our shoulders every time we're anywhere around Diagon Alley or the Ministry of Magic for the rest of the summer."

"Have they been bothering you and Dad a lot?" al asked; and Ginny smiled and shrugged.

"Harry's getting the worst of it; but that's only because most of my fellow reporters know by now that pushing me too far is a bad idea."

"Is it wrong to wish – just a little bit – that Rita Skeeter tries to push you too far today?" Lily joked.

"Yes – just a bit," Ginny agreed. "Since Al is good to go, though; let's head home – unless Gwendolyn wants to veto Al's release."

"I think we'll all be much happier to spend the day at home – even if Al has to take it easy all day," Gwendolyn decided. "Let's go."

Al hopped out of his bed; grabbed his bag; and took Gwendolyn's hand as they followed Ginny, Lily, and Jonah out of the room. They thanked several of the Healers and nurses on their way out; and then had to deal with a small pack of reporters when they reached the lobby – including Rita Skeeter. She led the pack; and blocked Ginny's way so that they couldn't just leave.

"Mr. Potter – would you care to comment on the reports that you were, in fact, responsible for the attacks at Hogwarts last Thursday evening; that you planned the whole thing; used memory charms on possibly dozens of your fellow students to force them to attack each other; and did it all just to have an excuse to make yourself out to be some sort of hero?"

"Yes," Al answered; stepping up next to his mother.

"Yes? You're confessing to all of that?" Rita crowed in delight; and Al laughed.

"I was answering your question. Yes, I would care to comment on your spurious, ridiculous claims. Your reports in the Prophet have been very entertaining, Ms. Skeeter; but filled with misinformation, half-truths, and flat-out lies. I had nothing to do with planning or carrying out those attacks. I defended myself, my family, and as many of my friends and fellow students as I could. Others joined in to help, and while I may have disarmed and defeated most of the Slytherin attackers; I had help with that counter-attack too."

"Forgive me if I don't believe a word of that rubbish," Rita told him scathingly, "but..."

"No," Al interrupted.

"No – what?" Rita demanded.

"No, I won't forgive you for doubting me," Al continued. "Others may be willing to put up with your foolishness, Ms. Skeeter, but I don't choose to do that. You've gone after my family – and many others – since my father was a young boy; and the biggest liar you've ever been around is you."

"How dare you!" Rita sputtered. "Do you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are," Al assured her. "You're a best-selling author, intrepid investigative reporter, and famous miror network personality." He smiled at her as she puffed up proudly at his comments. "You've earned that fame in unethical, underhanded, and occasionally-criminal ways that are also well-known; and choose to go after the best and brightest Witches and Wizards for reasons only you can know while ignoring and often abetting the Dark Witches and Wizards that those of us of the Light will forever stand against." He looked past Rita to the other reporters – many of them with cameras and microphones. "There is absolutely nothing to Ms. Skeeter's claims. Victor and Rupert Avery, along with a handful of their mates, were behind the attacks in the Great Hall at Hogwarts last week. They definitely used memory charms on some of their fellow Slytherin to dupe them into joining in on the attack, and I feel sorry for those Wizards just as I do for all of the innocent that were injured; but I will not stand here and put up with attempts to place the blame for any of this on me – or on anyone else that doesn't deserve it!"

"You lie!" Rita said flatly. "I have multiple sources that assure me they can prove you were responsible!"

"Sure you do," Al agreed. "I'll guess that all of them are the Avery brothers and their mates; or close family members or friends – right?" He paused for a moment and focused his attention on her when he sensed something odd. It took a moment to understand; and then he frowned at her.

"You've spoken with Victor Avery – after he disappeared from the hospital!"

"How – that's preposterous!" Rita stammered; and Al nodded.

"It is preposterous – that you would get involved in any way with a Wizard that is a person of interest in the Auror investigation into this attack that you're so quick to try and blame on me. I do hope that he gave you lots of evidence that you'll be willing to share with the Ministry of Magic because that would be the right thing to do – as well as reporting where you had that meeting with Victor and who has been helping him since he was taken – while still unconscious, I'll remind all of you – from the hospital."

"More lies! I did no such thing!" Rita declared; but Al knew she was the one telling the lies.

"You did, and now that I'm sure you're just a mouthpiece – or worse – for the Averys and their lot of bigoted haters; we're done here. Have a nice day, Ms. Skeeter."

He was already moving by then; Gwendolyn stayed right with him; and Ginny followed Lily and Jonah to make sure they weren't bothered by Rita or the other reporters. by then, there were a lot of people watching them, but Al headed outside; and then walked along the sidewalk for nearly half a block before Ginny asked him to stop and he was on the receiving end of three hugs and a couple of kisses.

"That was brilliant," Gwendolyn told him.

"It won't make much of a difference," Al countered. "She'll still write her awful stories; and there will always be some Witches and Wizards that will believe the load of rubbish she always dishes up."

"That's true," Ginny agreed, "but you've made her look bad today too – and it'll look even worse if the Aurors bring charges against Victor Avery and it's proven that she knew he'd gone into hiding to elude the Aurors."

"Then she'd best be very careful about her next stories about this," Al suggested. "Rita doesn't know everything that Dad and the Aurors do; so they may be able to figure out exactly who her sources are just by the supposed facts she includes."

"Your father has already been checking that for every news report," Ginny advised him. "Reporters don't have to give up their sources; but they can be watched as persons of material interest."

"I doubt that would help," Al told her. "Dad will want to know that she saw Victor at his parents' estate. If they're smart, and they probably are; then he isn't there anymore – or won't be by the time they hear about that little non-interview; but that is where he was last night."

"Is that another really good guess?" Ginny teased; and Al laughed.

"Sure – let's go with that," he agreed. "Where do you want to go from here? I didn't expect that you'd want us to use the Floo Network there with everyone gawking at us."

"We'll head over to the Leaky and go home from there," Ginny decided.

"There's a restorative I'm supposed to take for the next few days on that list the Healer gave me. We could pick it up in Diagon Alley on the way home."

"We'll go home and I can come back for it – or get your father to pick it up later," Ginny decided. "Getting you out of sight might be the best choice for the rest of the day."

"Why?" Lily asked. "That was a lot of fun – and Al is rather good at handling reporters; though that still surprises me when he's so shy compared to you, me, or James."

"I'll guess that Rita didn't find that fun at all," Gwendolyn offered. "Al's supposed to be resting for the next week or so, though; and that's reason-enough for us to get him home and away from anyone who might try to mess with him."

That's what they did, and while it took longer to get home by not just using the Floo Network access at St. Mungo's; it didn't take long to get home. The first thing Al did once he was able to go up to his room was unpack; since he hadn't been able to do that on Friday as he normally would. While he did that, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah set up the portable pool and some chairs in the back yard; they got drinks and snacks together; and then they only allowed Al to bring a book and his mirror with him when they made him go outside and get started on his first rest day. While they did that, Ginny was busy in the house – including having several long mirror chats with Harry, Molly, and Hermione; shorter calls with Gwenog, Fleur, and some friends; and then she did some work for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet before taking a break to go for a swim with the kids by late morning.

"You look tired again," Ginny told Al as she dropped her towel onto one of the chairs and got ready to hop into the pool with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. Al had been swimming with them too; but had gotten out early because he had been getting worn out even from that light exertion.

"I feel tired too," Al answered honestly. "This was different from some of the stories we've heard about you and Dad; but I do understand now why there were times when it took weeks to recover from your fights with the bad guys – and not just because of the injuries."

"There is a price to be paid when we push our magic beyond the limits," Ginny agreed. "Your fight last week was only different because you put most of your magical effort into healing others after the fight. What you accomplished was extraordinary; and I doubt your father could have done better."

"I'd have hoped that the Averys and their mates would have thought twice before even trying something like that if he'd been in the room," Al countered; and Ginny laughed.

"That's one thing that doesn't seem to change with that lot and their families – they don't ever seem to think that they'd be better off just leaving us alone and getting on with their lives." She looked around the back yard and smiled contentedly. "It's too nice out for such serious talk, though, so you relax; and I'm going to play with your sister and friends for a while before it'll be time to make lunch for us."

Al tried to do that, but the lack of activity left him with too much time to think; and it was no surprise that he needed to think about everything that had happened on Thursday and Friday. He also kept up with any news related to the fight and aftermath; but also did a bit of light reading and had a couple of very short naps before lunch and then in mid-afternoon while Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were playing a bit of Quidditch with Rose and Hugo. Molly had brought them over for a visit – and because she'd wanted to see Al too; and they stayed for the rest of the afternoon once she and Ginny had decided to have a small family dinner so that Arthur, Ron, Hermione, Gwenog, and Kirley could all come over and hang out with all of the kids. In addition to the naps, Al went for two more short swims; Gwendolyn and Rose took him for a walk; and they talked a lot about what had been going on over the past few days – including some fun with Rose about her new Muggle friend.

Kirley came over in the late afternoon; Hermione and Harry came from the Ministry of Magic together; and Arthur was only a bit behind them because he stopped in at home to get changed first and pick up a few things for Molly before joining them. Harry went to get James from work at the Catapults' offices, but came home without him because James had found out about the dinner plans before they left; and demanded to be allowed to do his own thing in Diagon Alley instead. Harry had allowed that because that was preferable to the stress that would have gone along with James making a scene at home; but then nobody was really at all upset about not having to put up with James' miserable attitude anyway. Gwenog was the last parent to get to the house in time for dinner; but only because Ron got held up at the store and ended up having to eat late – nearly an hour after everyone else had finished their meal and dessert. The fun highlight of the night for Al – and for Gwendolyn and Rose – came shortly-after dinner when they had a little 'meeting' with Ginny and Hermione while 'the boys' were taking care of the post-dinner clean-up. They did that in Al's room; and both Witches had been very curious by the time they were all there together.

"I don't think I've been in your room in years," Hermione told Al as she looked around and then smiled at him. "You did not get the gene for neatness from your Uncle Ron."

"Unfortunately, Hugo did," Rose added; and Hermione laughed.

"He's nott nearly as bad as your father was as a teen," Hermione assured her; and Rose laughed.

"He would be if you didn't help out as much as you do – and they'd both be lost without us."

"Under the pile of rubbish," Ginny added, "but instead of having fun with that; we'd like to know what has the three of you so excited – especially when you've said it's about summer jobs."

"We've been working on something that we'd like you to help us with," Rose told her aunt and mother after silently being voted spokesperson for the group. "This could partly be summer jobs for us too; but we think it's also something you can help us sell to one of the companies you've worked with for things you've made – like the mirrors."

"Are you looking to do something along the lines of the Christmas gifts you made up for your team mates?" Hermione asked.

"No," Rose answered; "but learning to make those action figures did help us with this. We've designed and created some prototypes for Animorphmagus toys." She was smiling brightly by then because Al was getting them out and putting them in a row on his desk. The last two – the soft, plush dolls; he gave to Hermione and Ginny.

"There aren't very many different dolls or action figures yet, but we spent more time on making them do more instead of making more, different toys," Rose continued. She stepped up next to Ginny and put a hand on the doll. "Hello, Annie," she said.

"Hello," the doll responded; and Rose joined in for the round of laughs.

"Annie the Animorphmagus?" Ginny asked. "That's adorable!"

"What's your favorite animal, Annie?" Rose asked next.

"I like puppies the best," the doll answered.

"Would you like to be one?" Rose asked next.

"Yes! That would be so awesome!" Annie the doll answered.

"Then change!" Rose commanded; and laughed again when Annie the doll changed into a soft, huggable Airedale puppy.

"That's extraordinary!" Hermione said; and put a hand onto the stuffed dog that Ginny was holding. "How did you do it?"

"That part of the toy is Al's thing," Rose told her. "Gwendolyn and I mostly-understand what he's done; but haven't learned to do that part of the magic yet. The Transfiguration is only between one doll or action figure to one animal form; and the word 'change' is the command to switch between them."

"It didn't change back," Ginny pointed out; but then she laughed when it did that for her.

"I wasn't touching it," Rose explained. "You were." She smiled at her mother. "Your doll is Kneazle Nick. Each doll has a few dozen things they can say, and while we didn't show you that yet; the animals can make a few noises too – barking or purring – that sort of thing."

"And the three of you created all of them – did all of the spellwork?" Hermione asked; and Rose nodded and looked quite proud.

"Yes – and the action figures can do more. In human form; they do pretty much the same things as normal action figures; but they can do a lot in animal form too – run, fetch, fly, or other things – all with commands that the kids can use to make them work."

She proceeded to show off everything the toys could do with help from Al and Gwendolyn; that took about fifteen minutes before Hermione and Ginny had seen enough; and then they sat and talked about what the three teens had hoped to get Ginny and Hermione to help them with.

"Do you think these will be as popular as we do?" Gwendolyn asked the two women.

"I do," Ginny assured her; "but they're very complicated toys; so it could be very difficult to make a lot of them the way other action figures are made."

"I think I have a way of copying them that will work – as long as we do that from sets of originals. it's something I tried with the trading cards at Christmas. The magic starts to break down in copies of copies; but one-offs from the originals worked fine."

"I think it's because Al's made the originals so strong," Rose advised her mother. "it's the same thing with our maps – the magic works in all of them; yet they're all copies of the original map we made."

"You and Gwendolyn took care of a lot of the spells in these toys," Al reminded her; "and I think it'll work the same."

"True," Rose agreed; "but there's a big difference between charming toys to talk and do other things and the Transfiguration that really makes them special."

"Either way, if they can simply be copied and still be magical-enough to work; that does make producing them in quantity much easier than putting all of the spells into each toy," Ginny advised them. "What do you think, Hermione?"

"I think our kids are brilliant – and I'm including you in that, Gwendolyn." She turned her attention back to Ginny. "If you'd like to see about setting something up to talk to some of our favorite business people; I think we could get something set up fairly quickly – and help the kids to keep control of their new toys so they don't get turned into something they wouldn't like."

"That'd be great – and we have other ideas too – like a line of AnimorphMonsters," Rose told her. "We were a bit too busy at school to work on them before we came home; but think that kids would love action figures and dolls that turned into magical creatures like dragons."

"Maybe you should do something like this instead of playing Quidditch when you're done school," Hermione suggested; and Rose laughed.

"Nice try, but we managed to do both this year – along with doing pretty well with our classes too. I can multi-task when I'm playing for the Cannons too – if I still want to do stuff like this on the side."

"We'll just need to come up with ideas for toys that adults will want to play with," Gwendolyn suggested; and smiled when Ginny laughed.

"You've already done that," she suggested while still holding Annie the Airedale in her arms. "Harry will want a set of those action figures for himself – even though our kids, nieces, and nephews are all getting too old to play with dolls."

"I'm not," Al assured her. "Getting back to these toys for a moment, though; we'd need to get permission to use magic for a while to teach others how to make them once we find a company interested in making and selling them – and maybe help out with making more prototypes. I'm not sure whether every Witch and Wizard can learn to do some of the spells, but if that's a problem; we could always make the originals after that while we're at school; and the company employees can make the copies."

"That might not be a bad idea anyway," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Keeping how you do it a trade secret will make the toys more valuable for you."

"That's true," Hermione agreed. "I could get them limited permission to work with us – and I'd prefer that over having them work in some dingy factory in London or elsewhere."

"That works for me too," Ginny said with a nod. "I'll see what I can do about getting the ball rolling tomorrow; and keep you all in the loop. This is a good time to do that – befoore I'll need to get into Quidditch reporter mode full time again in a couple of weeks."

Their little meeting pretty much wrapped up by then; Al put the toy prototypes in a bag that he gave to Ginny so she could have them when needed to shop them around; and then they headed outside to join the rest of their family for some quiet play time – or that's what Al was restricted to doing. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ginny got involved in a Quidditch scrimmage for a while; and then they all went for a swim to cool off after that. The parents and grandparents started heading home near-dusk; and that was not because James had gotten home – it was simply because it was a work day for half of the adults. Gwendolyn and Jonah went home with their parents; and Al and Gwendolyn didn't have plans to do anything together on Tuesday because she was going to be busy with her family for the day; and he wasn't going to be doing anything extreme for the rest of the week.

His instructions to rest didn't keep James from trying to rile him up, but Al was glad to be home; and wasn't going to let James bother him. Going to bed early was an option too; so he did that – and actually went off to sleep instead of just going to his room and staying up to read or do anything that didn't include being anywhere near James. Sleeping in until James left for work in the morning wasn't something that Al could do when he was used to getting up early every day – and was just wired that way; but most of his morning was pretty good except for the half-hour or so that he did have to put up with more idiocies from James while his brother had fun ranting at him while eating two plates full of the 'poison' that Al had cooked for breakfast. The chat time with Harry before breakfast had been fun, though; and Lily always brightened his day with her happy enthusiasm.

Once James was out of the house, it was easy-enough for Al to have a quiet day; though he helped out with some chores too. Ginny didn't want him doing that, but things just got done anyway whenever she wasn't right there to keep him from helping out. Ginny and Lily wouldn't let him play Quidditch, though; and Ginny took the time to have a Seeker duel with Lily so that she'd still have a workout. Al wouldn't have been allowed to practice with the senior or junior teams anyway, but then neither team was starting their summer practices yet this week because quite a few of the players on both teams were too busy with other holiday fun. While Gwendolyn was spending the day with her family; Lily took charge of making sure that Al had another rest day. The swim time was monitored; she only allowed Al to go for a short bike ride with her that was enough to get out and doing something without tiring him out; and she helped to keep him entertained so that he didn't get bored.

There was one family celebration event on Tuesday – Molly and Arthur's fifty-first anniversary. They didn't have a party, but there was a dinner at the Leaky; So Ginny and Lily needed to spend some time in the late afternoon getting dressed up for that; and then they headed out to London once Harry and James were home from work and they each took a bit of time getting ready to go out too. James had gone out of his way to bug Al while they were at home; he played nice at the Leaky; and had fun bragging about his great summer job with their cousins – though there was no way for them to know whether the Catapults' Managers, players, and other employees were as impressed with him as he claimed.

For Al, the dinner was supposed to be about their grandparents, though; and he was happy to get to hear a lot of old stories about them as their kids and friends roasted them while having a nice dinner that lasted for about two hours including the social time before they ate and the after-dinner drinks and chat time. It was still another work night, though; so they didn't stay out late. The reprieve from James' lousy attitude ended shortly after they got home, so Al went outside for a while; had a bedtime swim; and then wrapped up his day in his room with a bit of quiet music play and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn that was Al's last activity of the day because he fell asleep while talking to her – though that was nnly because they stayed connected as long as they could while waiting to fall asleep.

Gwendolyn and Jonah came over to spend the day with Al and Lily again on Wednesday. It was raining in the morning, so they played indoors; and that included some music fun for al and Gwendolyn. Lily and Jonah went to play mirror games in the sitting room while Ginny did some work in the office; so Al and Gwendolyn were alone on the second floor while hanging out in his room. They hadn't been alone very often since getting home from school – or at least not while Al had been conscious, so they had some fun with a bit of mid-morning snogging first; but then they got their guitars out and took their entertainment to a whole new level – with some new songwriting.

"I was playing around with this one a bit yesterday," Al told Gwendolyn as he started strumming a tune she hadn't heard before. "It's based on a song I remember from a Christmas special that had a Muggle ventriloquist-comedian and his puppets in it; and thought it'd be perfect for an Animorphmagus Christmas song."

"Sounds promising," Gwendolyn said with a nod and encouraging smile. "What have you got so far?"

"A verse and chorus; along with some ideas for the rest that we'd still need to work out," Al answered; and then began to sing what he'd come up with to her while grinning as he enjoyed her reaction to his song.

"A dog or a kneazle would be lots of fun; but a spider or snake would send me on the run. Reindeer would be perfect for this time of year; but a grizzly bear won't bring us holiday cheer!" He didn't need to tell Gwendolyn when he transitioned to the chorus; and she'd already been laughing by the time he'd finished the first verse.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas. What animal will we see next? It's an Animorphmagus Christmas. I do hope it's not a T-Rex!" He kept strumming; but didn't add anything else to the song yet.

"I was thinking that we could having verses about what you could do with different Animorphmagus animals; things they might do to mess up; and a big, permanent end to the saga that might have something to do with Christmas dinner. We could adjust the chorus each time too so they'd fit with those verses; and maybe even put a plug in for the toys."

"I think you'd do that just with the song," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "That's really funny, Al. I love it a lot!"

"Good. Then you can help me with the next verse. What animals would you play with over the Christmas holidays?"

"Something to cuddle with on cold winter nights," she suggested and mused. "Maybe a baby polar bear, seal, or penguin to play with outside; and I'd definitely want a horse to pull my sleigh – unless you'd like to use reindeer again – or for that verse instead – and have the sleigh fly. That'd be cool too."

"We could make the sleigh fly, but I'd have a tough time riding my broom while in reindeer form; so that wouldn't work out very well for us."

They had a blast playing with writing the song, and while they had more work to do before it would be polished-enough to share with Kirley – or anyone else; they did have a complete song by the time they packed up and headed downstairs in time to help Ginny with making lunch. The rain let up for a while after lunch, so while everything was still pretty damp; they still went outside to play for a while. Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel; they all went for a bike ride; and then they went for a swim with part of that water play time in the rain when it started to fall again by mid-afternoon.

Al and Gwendolyn didn't get together with Rose again, but Ginny had some toy news for them by the time they started to help her with making dinner; and she and Hermione were sure they had a company and investors interested in licensing the Animorphmagus toys and doing the production and wholesale distribution for them. Gwendolyn wasn't interested in the how or why of that; but Al learned a lot through what he sensed from his mother as she talked about that – though he didn't pass any of that information on to Gwendolyn – or to Rose either when they talked about it while having a bedtime mirror chat later in the evening after she got home from a day in London that included a fair bit of play time with Kyle Cassidy.

Before getting to that part of his day, Al had to say goodbye to Gwendolyn and Jonah when they went home in time to have dinner there with their parents; he had to put up with James at dinner and for a couple of hours after that while he alternately bragged about already becoming indispensable to the Catapults and razzing and insulting Al for being so pathetic and useless that he still couldn't get a job doing anything more than weeding gardens and other chores that were beneath 'real' Wizards – like cooking and cleaning. The rain had continued on and off for the rest of the day, so escaping outdoors hadn't been an option; so Al just put up with the nonsense while trying to have fun with his parents and sister until he could at least reasonably go up to bed without still having hours to go until he'd be ready to sleep.

He didn't want to be up late because Thursday was booked for a play day at Gwendolyn's house; and they were going to have their first camping adventure of the summer – or a sleepover if the weather didn't cooperate. While Al had enjoyed a bit more music time and the mirror chat with Rose before going to sleep; he was fired up by morning – and glad to be getting out of the house for the first time – his first outing of the summer; since he definitely didn't include his stay at St. Mungo's as a holiday adventure! Getting up early had been easy, and he was feeling nearly back to normal again as he showered and got ready for the day. He cooked breakfast again because James was enough of a bear even when he was well-fed; and worse if he only had cold cereal and other 'rabbit food' to eat in the mornings. Ginny had a busy day ahead of her with reporter work and meetings she and Hermione were having with a certain toy company, so she let Al and Lily take care of the clean-up after breakfast; and then she took them over to the McCormack's house once they were packed for their overnight adventure and she was ready to get to work.

Gwenog worked during the morning too, but took the rest of the day off to have some play time with Kirley and their four kids for the day. While they waited for her, Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah played Quidditch; went for a swim; though Al was ordered to take it very easy with the Chaser duel he had with Gwendolyn. He did as ordered; and was just happy that they let him play at all. Al and Gwendolyn had another blast of songwriting fun – though they did that quietly so that Kirley didn't find out what they were up to with their efforts to turn their music play time into a money-making part-time job. They worked on the Animorphmagus Christmas song; started writing verses and choruses for two others; and were quite happy with their progress by the time they wrapped up and went back outside to play with Lily and Jonah. Gwenog came home in time for lunch; she and Kirley took the kids out for lunch at a seaside cafe in a little village in the south-west; and then they spent the afternoon playing along the beach and in the water before going home and having a late dinner there.

The weather was nice-enough for camping, so Al and Gwendolyn set up the tent while Kirley and Gwenog made dinner; they ate at a table in the back yard; and then split their evening between some water play; games in the back yard; a campfire with music and treats to toast; and some post-campfire teen and tween couple cuddle time in the tent after the parents went to bed for the night. Lily and Jonah went off to bed by a bit after midnight, but Al and Gwendolyn stayed awake and played quietly for a while longer – and then happily snuggled close and had their first sofa sleepover of the summer. That had been a brilliant way to end the day; the wake-up snogging had been fun too; and then Al left Gwendolyn to nap for a while longer while he got ready for the day and then went out and over to the house so that he could help out with making breakfast for six. Gwenog had already been in the kitchen by then; so he joined in to help with the work already in progress.

"You're back to full power again this morning," Gwenog told him after they'd shared a quick hug. "I'd make a joke about that, but I'm not used to seeing you so worn down by the end of the day the way you were last night; so I'm glad that you're getting back to normal again."

"I do feel a bit better every day," Al assured her. "Compared to the last couple of months at Hogwarts; this week has seemed to be going along in slow motion." He smiled when Gwenog laughed.

"Sure, because you've hardly done anything at all this week – since coming out of your two-day nap. Your mother expects to have contracts for kirley and I to look at over the weekend for those toys you kids have come up with; and she seems sure that you'll do very well with them. It's sounds like the company owners they met with yesterday jumped at the chance to get their hands on those dolls and action figures."

"I'm glad to hear that," Al told her with a grin. "We'll need to do well with them to make enough to buy the Cannons by the time we graduate."

"Gwendolyn is going to play for the Harpies," she reminded – and warned – him; though she laughed too.

"That's the plan," Al agreed; "but I think Rose has convinced us that the investment would still be smart if we can buy the team while their in a bit of a slump and at the bottom – even if Gwendolyn doesn't want to help turn it around into a championship team."

"I have no idea whether the Cannons' owners would sell – not that they've had anyone interested in buying; but Rose might actually be right about that." She smiled and shrugged. "I don't have a problem with that – as long as it doesn't mess with Gwendolyn's future with the Harpies. Let me know if you actually get serious about that, though; since there might be some problems with the league when it comes to employees of one team being part-owners of a different team. That could lead to conflicts of interest."

"Rose is serious, but we're definitely just in the dreaming stage," Al assured her. "Do you have a lot of work to do with the Harpies today?"

"Yes – and some of that is toy-related too," she advised him. "The action figures for this coming season need to go into production next week; so I'll be dealing with that – along with a few dozen other issues that need to get done before I take most of next week off."

They talked about work, Quidditch, and summer holiday plans while they worked together; and the fun level moved up a notch each time they had someone join them in the kitchen. Kirley had been first; Jonah next; and then Gwendolyn and Lily had been last because they'd spent some time playing with their hair while getting ready for the day. Gwenog did need to get to work, so they ate as soon as the food was ready; and then she left for the Harpies' offices while Kirley led the clean-up crew for both the kitchen work and in the back yard. Ginny came over by the time the work was done and the kids were ready to go; Kirley went along to do some supply and grocery shopping; and then helped Ginny with getting the four kids home before leaving Gwendolyn and Jonah with Al and Lily for the rest of the day – and another camping night for Gwendolyn.

Their play afternoon included more Quidditch, swimming, and a bike ride; Al and Gwendolyn had a bit more songwriting fun; and Harry picked up take-out on his way home while Ginny popped over to the Catapults' offices to collect James when he was finished work. That was when the level of weird kicked up a few notches – and as usual; that was entirely thanks to james. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were outside; sitting by the pool; and waiting for Harry, Ginny, and James to get home. Even from there, Al still sensed the Floo Network in use – and then the arrival of more than two people; along with waves of very-strong emotions that had him getting to his feet and turning to look at the house while sorting out what he was sensing.

"Something wrong?" Gwendolyn asked; and she got to her feet too.

"James brought company home with him," Al answered quietly. "Bristol's here; and I'll guess that Mum got blind-sided again with another of James' stupid little games."

"Well, won't that be fun if you guys share the tent with them tonight?" Lily joked. "Maybe Ollie's coming and bringing a date too!"

"You're scaring us," Gwendolyn advised her – "and I'll be bunking in your room tonight before I'll stay in the same tent with James and Bristol."

"Here they come," Al warned quietly. A few moments later, the back door opened; Bristol stepped out as James held the door for her; and she was smiling brilliantly as she stepped out into the back yard. James followed; he was smirking victoriously as he looked at Al and Gwendolyn; and then they headed toward the tent that Al and Gwendolyn had already set up earlier instead of coming directly toward the pool.

"We'll be right back as soon as we drop off our bags in our room in the tent and get into our swimsuits," James called out. "You don't need to wait for us."

"Rooms – plural," Ginny told them as she followed them out of the house; but then headed toward the four kids and the pool. James and Bristol both laughed at that; though the sound was closer to derisive than amused. "Surprise," she said quietly to Al and Gwendolyn as she closed the gap between them; and then smiled when Al hugged her.

"Is that the only surprise?" Al asked. "Lily's worst-case for Gwendolyn and me had Ollie coming with a date too."

"I can think of worse worst-cases, but no; there are not any other overnight guests coming – and we'll figure out something else for Gwendolyn; since I'm sure you don't want to stay in the tent with James and Bristol."

"She can stay with me – unless you want to mess with James and let her stay in Al's room," Lily offered with a grin and laugh.

"One – we're not going to set that precedent for you; and two, that isn't going to happen anytime soon," Ginny advised her; earning more laughs. "Your father hadn't left Auror Headquarters yet when I let him know about the additional mouth to feed, but he won't be too much longer, so if you want to have another quick swim before dinner; you'd best get to that while I go and get everything else ready in the kitchen and dining room."

Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah did that; but Al didn't end up swimming for very long. There were two reasons for that – James jumping in both physically and literally to mess with him; and Bristol's choice of a swimsuit. He was sure that most – if not all – of his friends, and most other teen guys wouldn't have a problem with a very attractive girl in a swimsuit as small as the one Bristol was wearing, but Al didn't want to see that much of any of his friends; and he got out of the pool shortly after Bristol pulled off her top and shorts – partly because she felt the need to model for James for a while before sliding into the pool and paddling around with him. Gwendolyn didn't leave right away too, but he sensed that she hadn't been happy either – except for his response to the situation. Al didn't look at Bristol at all as he dried himself off; he ignored the taunts from James; and went into the house to help out with the pre-dinner work that Ginny didn't really need him to do for her.

"Is there any chance you can use a memory charm on me?" Al asked as he took a stack of plates from Ginny's hands; and she laughed.

"Yes, though with you; it's doubtful that it would hold for long. Are you okay?"

"No; but this is one of those times when the problem is definitely me. Bristol's free to wear whatever she wants; but I'm probably always going to be old-fashioned with what I think about what is and isn't appropriate - just as I have a problem with public snogging."

"Would you change your mind about that if Gwendolyn had a swimsuit like that one?' Ginny teased; and it was Al's turn to laugh.

"Yes and no – with the no being that I'd still have a problem with it if she wanted to wear something like that in public." He sighed and shook his head. "It's not as though I want other guys to be using their imaginations on Gwendolyn; but it'd be worse for me if they didn't need to."

"You sound like your father," Ginny advised him; and Al grinned.

"He feels that way about Gwendolyn too?" he joked; and Ginny nodded.

"I'm sure he does – just as he feels that way about all of the Witches he loves most. That's also why you'll never seem me wearing the swimsuits I have that are like that one in public."

"That is way too much information," Al advised her – "especially when I can tell you're not joking."

"Your powers of perception are growing much stronger," she said seriously; and Al nodded.

"Yeah – and that can be a bit scary for me too."

"Maybe," Ginny agreed; "but I'm sure you'll eventually find a way to handle it." She looked out of the window and shook her head. "Until then, though; I'll be glad to have all of the extra help you'll be offering me whenever that sort of thing is going on with your brother and his friends."

While Al was sure she'd be right about the last part of that; he was less-sure about whether he'd ever have a time when he wouldn't at least have some moments now and then when what he sensed from others made him uncomfortable. There were definitely too many of those moments happening to him pretty much anytime James and Bristol were around him. Gwendolyn came inside at nearly the same time that Harry got home from London; they took extra time getting their take-out dinner ready to go and on the table; and then they had to wait a while longer before sitting down to eat when James and Bristol needed extra time to get dried off from their swim and into their clothes again – even though that was just throwing a t-shirt on for James and shorts and a top for Bristol. They did eventually make it to the dining room, though; and they sat down in the chairs across the table from Al, Gwendolyn, and Jonah. Lily was at one end of the table next to Jonah and James; while Ginny sat next to Bristol at Harry's end of the table.

"Have you had a good first week of summer holidays, Bristol?" Harry asked her as they all began filling plates.

"Not really; but it's looking up now," Bristol answered with a smile for James. "Everyone in my family is busy with the bands – as usual. The band cousins that don't want to be in the music business pretty much get ignored – or drafted to work behind the scenes doing all of the worst jobs. I'm glad to get away from it for a weekend."

"A weekend?" Lily asked; and Bristol nodded and smiled at James again.

"Yeah – I get to spend the entire weekend with James – until he has to go to work on Monday morning."

"Are you coming with us to visit our cousins tomorrow too?" Lily asked next; and her grin was definitely mischievous now.

"No way!" James retorted before Bristol could say anything. "I've told you that I'm done with having anything to do with that Muggle freak show! We'll stay here and have fun while you go and play pretend with those fools – as if they'd have anything to do with you if they knew the truth about us."

"We had fun with our visit last summer at leastin part thanks to Al bringing Gwendolyn along," Lily reminded him. "Maybe if you brought Bristol this year; you would too."

"If that's such a great idea; why aren't you taking Jonah?" James shot back; and Lily shrugged.

"Maybe I'll do that next year – or the year after – if Jonah's my boyfriend by then."

"You go on dates with the loser and his potty-trainer, and he was your date for the Christmas dance; so I'd say he's your boyfriend already," James retorted. "Maybe you just like him too much to inflict our cousins on him and don't want to admit it." He smirked at Gwendolyn. "The loser obviously doesn't feel the same way about you; since he dragged you along for the annual freak show visit."

"That's enough, James," Ginny warned quietly. "There's no need for any of those insults."

"You mean there's no need for the truth," James countered. "I'm the only one in this family being honest about our cousins. If it wasn't for the lies; we'd have nothing to do with them at all – just as you'd all have to have nothing to do with the loser here if you weren't all sucked in by his lies."

"Keeping the truth about ourselves from your cousins isn't just about them," Harry reminded him. "Would you want to tell the truth about our magical world to all Muggles? That would be sure to end badly – for all of us."

"So you say," James retorted. "I'd say it could be great for us not having to waste time and magic hiding from the Muggles when we ought to be free to do whatever we want – and do that openly."

"You've taken four years of History of Magic now," Ginny told him. "There is no way that you can't know how wrong you are about that; and no – it would not be different this time. This is far too serious a discussion, though; so why don't we talk about more interesting things – like shopping. Have you done much summer shopping yet, Bristol? Lily, Gwendolyn, and I had some fun with that last weekend while Al was having his nap at St. Mungo's."

"That isn't more interesting – the loser woke up," James said with a snort; and Bristol laughed too.

"For Merlin's sake; stop it, James!" Ginny said in exasperation; and then she turned her attention to Bristol. "Did you know that Al protected you from several curses during that attack? Finding James' back-handed insults so funny hardly seems appropriate."

"It was just a joke – and James protected me, not the loser. From what I've read and heard so far; it's ounds more like he was behind the whole thing."

"Then you should stop listening to Rita Skeeter – and James," Lily retorted; and then took a deep breath that she let out with a frustrated sigh. "I want to play nice, Bristol; but if you and James keep insulting Al; I'm not going to be able to do that."

"Like James said; I haven't heard any insults – only the truth," Bristol told her stubbornly; and Lily shook her head in disgust.

"Fine – be that way," she said before turning her attention to her mother. "Okay, let's talk shopping. Can we go and do some after the visit with our cousins tomorrow; or do we have dinner plans with Teddy and Victoire again this year?"

"Their first anniversary is on Monday," Ginny reminded her. "I doubt they'll be interested in family dinners this weekend – especially when Teddy's working anyway."

"I'm surprised he isn't taking the week off," Lily said; and Ginny shrugged.

"He took time off for a holiday with Victoire after Quidditch season ended," Harry told her. "Last I heard, Teddy's going to try taking more vacation days on Victoire's off-weekends for this coming season. We're meeting with your cousins in the morning tomorrow; so we can have lunch out somewhere and go shopping in the afternoon if you want to do that instead of coming straight home again."

That offer had three out of four of the girls at the table talking about where they could do that shopping, but as with the earlier conversation that had included all of the insults directed at him; Al mostly stayed quiet while trying to enjoy the food. Doing that wasn't easy, since he was having a tough time being that close to James and Bristol. Their insults and jokes had been annoying, but their interaction with each other was far worse for him; and he seriously wished he could avoid them for the rest of the weekend as much as possible. To suggest that both teens had just one thing on their minds wouldn't have been far from the truth, but it was the dark nature of their attraction that repulsed Al; and he also understood that the way Bristol was acting toward him and Gwendolyn had everything to do with trying to make James happy so that she could get what she wanted from him.

Dark emotions were an undercurrent through dinner, but that turned out to be the easiest part of the night for Al and Gwendolyn. The insults resumed when it was time to clean up; and that work was beneath the great James Potter and his weekend guest – but perfectly suited for the loser and his potty-trainer. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all got razzed by James and Bristol while they had a Chaser and Seeker duel after the clean-up; and then Al and Gwendolyn got insulted some more when they opted to go for a bike ride after the Quidditch so that he didn't need to be anywhere near Bristol as she continued to play in and around the pool in her skimpy excuse for a swimsuit. The back-handed insults that were directed at Gwendolyn had been particularly galling for Al, but he continued to keep his mouth shut and played nice instead of blasting James and Bristol – no matter how much they deserved it.

Kirley and Gwenog stopped in to get Jonah after going out for dinner with some friends, and they stayed for a visit with Harry and Ginny, but while Al had hoped for a break from the stupid; James and Bristol continued to act the gits even around one of her Weird Sisters' uncles. Al knew that Kirley had been surprised by Bristol, but he didn't say anything either; and Bristol seemed to be oblivious to the disapproval that Al could sense in both of Gwendolyn's parents. It was near-dark by the time Kirley and Gwenog went home with Jonah; and then James insisted on having a campfire. Harry set that up for him, but when James and Bristol started insulting Al and Gwendolyn again while inviting them to be their campfire servants and entertainment; they soon found out that they were going to be on their own for the campfire – and the rest of the night.

Al and Gwendolyn went inside first; Lily wasn't far behind them; and then Harry and Ginny joined them in the sitting room after having a chat with James and Bristol that included orders that they were sure the two teens would ignore. They were going to need to be on the road early, so they didn't stay up late. Al would have preferred to have another camping night – and sofa sleepover – with Gwendolyn, but since that wasn't going to happen for them; they had to settle for being last to go up to bed – after being left alone in the sitting room for their goodnight hugs and kisses. Going to sleep wasn't as easy as Al had hoped it would be; and that was also thanks to James and Bristol.

First up, it was the parody of campfire singing that either proved that Bristol was an exceptional actress or explained why she wasn't going into the music business. After that, there was a loud conversation that included a lot of insults about Al, Gwendolyn, and what a horror it was to be part of such a boring family. James set off some whizz-bangs a few different times; there was a late-night swim that Al wished he hadn't been able to witness in any way but couldn't avoid thanks to the too-strong emotions being broadcast by James and Bristol; and then he found out that the tent wasn't far-enough away for his much-stronger senses either. He did what he could to counter those empathic inputs, but it was still quite late before he finally managed to fall asleep and into the welcome break from the world around him.

Compared to the problems on Friday after James got home with Bristol, Saturday morning went very well for Al as he got up; ready for the day; and then cooked breakfast for everyone. He'd needed to do that very early; which was why he didn't have any problems with James and Bristol again as they slept in until sometime after Harry and Ginny hit the road for London with Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily. Al also didn't cook extra food for them to have later, and while it was a bit petty; Al hoped that James would have a problem or two of his own when it came time to feeding himself and his weekend guest.

The drive to London always felt strange to Al now that they really only used the van to do that once a year, but it was fun getting to have that enforced, comparatively-quiet time with his parents, girlfriend, and sister. They made it to their cousins' house by nine-thirty; were ushered in as quickly as always; and then they jumped right into the entertainment with the meet and greet that included meeting Vernon's girlfriend and Margie's new boyfriend. Al and Lily had ben happy to discover that the change in their relationships with their cousins that had started with their last visit hadn't reverted again over the past ten months or so; and the new friends being added to the mix just made their visit more entertaining.

The two new teens were very different from each other. Vernon's girlfriend, Estella, or Ella for short, was modestly-beautiful with black hair and deep blue eyes; and she was quiet, gentle, and loving – as well as smart and self-assured in an understated way. Al and Gwendolyn immediately liked her a lot; and Al sensed that she was a very good influence on Vernon. In contrast to her, Al didn't like Margie's new boyfriend, Edward, very much at all. He was handsome, from a moderately-wealthy family with ties to the royals; and he was definitely an aristocratic snob that was far too full of himself simply because of his social standing. Margie and Edward were blissfully happy together, though, and Al also sensed that his cousin may have, indeed, found her perfect match – even if the teen wasn't anyone Al would choose to have as a friend.

After doing the initial meet and greet, the teens went to do their own thing again for the rest of the morning while the parents visited in the sitting room. They hung out in the games room for a while; went for a walk to the park where Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily found out that Pierce had several local girls flirting with him, and that while he didn't currently have a girlfriend; he seemed quite happy with the attention from all of the girls. That was a bit too much like James for Al, but then Pierce seemed to be having some problems this year with finding his own way as he was stuck following in the footsteps of his big brother and sister – and not quite measuring up to either of them. They didn't have any wild adventures together, but they did have a good visit; and then it was time to move on by shortly-before noon because the Dursleys had plans for the rest of the day that they needed to get to – though those plans weren't the same for all of them as Vernon and Margie were each going on to do something with their girlfriend and boyfriend respectively while Pierce was 'stuck' with his parents for the rest of the day.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily didn't think that they were stuck with Harry and Ginny as they went out for lunch and then went shopping for a few hours. Gwendolyn needed to be home in good time, so she went home with Ginny and Lily from London and then on to her own house after that; but Al went home with Harry in the van; they had a fast food dinner for two that they picked up and ate while continuing the drive; and got home late-enough that Al didn't have to put up with James and Bristol much at all before going up to his room for the rest of the night. While it hadn't been that late by then, he'd needed to pack an overnight bag that he'd need for Sunday night; did a bit of holiday revision; and had a bedtime chat with Lily and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn before eventually going off to sleep.

Sunday morning was very different from Saturday; mostly because they were staying home for the morning; and Al had to put up with James and Bristol treating him horridly right from the time they arrived in the kitchen for breakfast through until after they had lunch out in the back yard before Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily with them and they went to spend the rest of the day with the McCormacks. Whether that meant getting razzed about being their servant for the cooking and cleaning; a good little slave or House Elf while he helped with the gardening and yard work; or complaints about him being smelly and dirty when he wanted to cool off in the pool; James and Bristol went out of their way to annoy Al. They bugged Lily too, but to a lesser extent, and that wasn't as much fun for them; since she was happy to let them have it right back while Al mostly kept his mouth shut and tried to keep the peace. He was glad to escape when it was time to go and meet up with the McCormacks at the remote, lakeside cabin they were vacationing at for most of the week – until they needed to be home again on Friday ahead of the family wedding on Saturday. It hadn't ben a full day since Al and Gwendolyn had been together, but it seemed longer to Al; so their reunion had been a happy one – and fairly-enthusiastic too.

"If you're going to be that happy to see me; then James should have Bristol come over to stay with him every weekend," Gwendolyn teased.

"He definitely shouldn't do that," Lily interjected before Al could comment. "She's as much of a git as he is right now; and I'll be happy if I don't see her again for the rest of the summer."

"That bad?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily nodded.

"Maybe worse – though at least her swimsuit today was a bit more than the bits of string she wore on Friday and yesterday." She smiled at Al. "You'll be happy to know that she wasn't still wearing that stringy little thing anymore by the time Al got back last night."

"That might depend on what she was – or wasn't – wearing instead," Gwendolyn joked. "Al doesn't want to talk about James and Bristol, though; so let's get your bags into the cabin; and then Jonah and I can show you around. This place is awesome; and we're going to have a blast this week!"

Al and Lily were bunking with Jonah and Gwendolyn while staying with them for the two sleepovers they had planned for Sunday and Wednesday nights, but while the three-bedroom cabin was modest, it was also very nice; and the main attraction was the wonderful forest lot; and the quiet, pristine lake that only had a handful of human-occupied homes with lots of space between the cabins. That was partially because a large section of the lakeshore was owned by a Wizarding family that kept the Muggles from seeing how habitable their section of the lake truly was; so that added to the privacy that worked especially-well for the McCormacks and Potters. Gwendolyn and Jonah took Al and Lily for a walk through the woods; they ended up at the lakeshore; and went for a swim before returning to the cabin to hang out with the parents for a while.

"Good timing," Gwenog complimented them. "We were just about to get into talking contracts and summer jobs for you – with the 'you' being Al and Gwendolyn."

"Does that mean you won't be hiring me to work for the Harpies the way that James is working for the Catapults when training camp opens?" Lily joked; and Gwenog laughed.

"Enjoy being a kid while you can," she suggested. "it won't be long before you'll wish that you could have ten weeks off every summer."

"No doubt," Lily agreed. "Did you and Aunt Hermione help Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose sell their Animorphmagus toy idea already?" she asked Ginny; and her mother nodded her agreement.

"Yes; and I think that we've worked out a great agreement for them – especially when it comes to keeping control over the toys that will be made and sold. The company we'll partner with can offer suggestions and help with designs; but the kids will keep control of final decisions to make sure they don't sell anything that we wouldn't like."

"That's the same thing that we demand of the companies that work with the Harpies," Gwenog said with a nod – "and Kirley and his mates do that with the bands now too."

"Too bad we weren't smart enough to do that when we first started out; but at least we did learn eventually," Kirley told them. "Will they need to work at this a lot? I'd hate for it to get in the way of their future music career – I mean all of the Quidditch practices they'll be having this summer."

"We know what you meant; and that still isn't going to happen," Gwendolyn reminded her father – again. "As far as the business stuff; I'm okay with whatever you work out for us, Aunt Ginny. We'll be happy to play with making new toys – and it's sure to pay better than normal teen and tween summer jobs."

"We don't think you'll be disappointed," Ginny assured her – "though your parents might all want to renegotiate your allowances if you start making more than we do."

"Would that mean that we could get allowances from them?" Harry joked.

"Probably not – especially since we'd never live that down if we tried it and anyone found out about it," Ginny answered. "I can see the headlines now."

"We'll likely have to leave things the way they are," Gwenog advised them. "Al's already told me about the kids' plan to save up and buy the Cannons."

"If these toys sell as well as we expect; they might even be able to do that some day," Ginny said with a laugh. "Did you have any questions about the contracts?"

That question led the parents into a lengthy discussion about the business end of making and selling toys, and while Al and Gwendolyn were interested in some of those details – like the fact that they'd be getting to use magic while being supervised as they created 'master copies' of each Animorphmagus toy and how they would continue to do work when they were at school too. The potential to make money was great too; but they didn't worry about that very much – especially since they'd done okay with the songs they'd co-written and didn't really need to worry about money for at least a few more years anyway. They were glad that Gwenog and Kirley were happy with the deal that Ginny and Hermione had put together for their kids, though; and not at all surprised when all four parents signed on the dotted lines on behalf of their kids. There was still a bit more to do before they'd officially have the deal in place; but Ginny advised the kids that they could get started on making new toys whenever they wanted to do that – and could work out the parental supervision each time they wanted to work on their toys.

Once that bit of work was out of the way, it was time to play again; and they all headed down to the lake to do that. Swimming, canoeing, and other fun in or near the lake kept them busy until dinnertime; and then Harry and Ginny headed home so that they could feed and have dinner with James and Bristol. They'd partly needed to do that because Ginny hadn't been happy with the condition the house and yard had been in by the time she'd gotten home on Saturday; but also because it had become obvious that James and Bristol were equally-horrendous cooks. Al and Lily didn't mind missing out on the extra time with their parents, since they had gotten to hang out with them for most of the weekend; and they were glad to be staying with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and their parents for the extra day.

Dinner for six was the start of the wind down of their day and weekend. Al and Gwendolyn helped with the work because Kirley and Gwenog were supposed to be on holidays too – not working all of the time. They all went for an evening hike after they ate and cleaned up; there was another swim to cool off after that for anyone that wanted to do that; and then they had a very small, contained campfire for their after-dark entertainment. There was music, as always, as part of the campfire, but that was low-key too; and the cuddle and quiet chat time was most-important for all of them until they were ready to put out the fire and head for bed.

Harry and Ginny went into the office to do some work ahead of the start of the new work week; but they also needed to get away from James and Bristol after putting up with several hours of teen foolishness – along with all of the work they'd needed to do to clean-up the house and yard again. They had not been happy with the mess that the two teens had managed to make in just a handful of hours; but then the horrid attitudes had been worse. Al's absence hadn't kept James and Bristol from insulting and ranting about him, but without his favorite target around; James had needed to verbally attack his parents too – something that appeared to impress Bristol. The two teens were playing Muggle video games in the sitting room instead of going outside to play in the back yard or hang out in the tent; and James' choice to do that had as much to do with irritating his parents as it did with keeping himself entertained. Once they were in the office, Harry closed the door and sealed the room so that they didn't have to listen to the blaring cacophony of sound coming from the sitting room; and they both sighed with relief as near-silence enveloped them.

"Is this what our summer is to be like?" Ginny asked quietly as she went to sit in her usual chair – the one she used when they were both working in the office. "I should not be wishing that it would be September First tomorrow."

"Those two feed off each other in a bad way," Harry said thoughtfully. "They're practically the opposite of Al and Gwendolyn – which is ironic when you consider they each wish they were treated the same way – or at least that they were considered the better Witch and Wizard."

"We didn't know Bristol very well before Al and Gwendolyn started at Hogwarts, but I've really gotten the sense this weekend that she has very similar feelings about Gwendolyn as James has about Al – if not quite as dark."

Harry smiled wryly. "Well, if what we've heard at their campfires is her true singing voice and not an intentional parody; I'd say she has reason to be a bit jealous of Gwendolyn – at least when it comes to having talent in a musical family. That would be really tough for any kid – especially with the pressure so many of them have had to go into the business too."

"That's true," Ginny agreed; "but Gwendolyn isn't going into the music business. Speaking of business – what should we do about James for the new business that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose will be getting into starting this coming week? I'd have mentioned something about it tonight, but they were being such gits; that it seemed like a bad time to advise him that his brother is about to start making a fair bit of money and be behind what will likely be the hottest new toys of the year."

"We're in another no-win for that one," Harry suggested. "Whether we tell him or not; he'll be furious."

"As if he wouldn't be furious to find out that we're backing those toys with our own investments – and that the company making and selling them is ours too," Ginny added with a nod of agreement. "I'd suggest that we tell him more about our family finances; but I'm sure we can't trust him to keep our privacy about any of it."

"He'd definitely want to brag about it – and then put more demands on us. It's likely best to let him keep believing the worst about us – no matter how ridiculous he sounds most of the time. I was hoping that his summer job would help James with getting a new perspective on everything; but that just isn't happening."

"Not yet," Ginny agreed. "Let's wait and see if that changes – especially once training camp opens and he's around the players while their training full time again. The reserve squad players might be even more enlightening to him than the team stars."

"That would be great; but I don't see that happening with James. He'll have contempt for them – and likely won't even notice how hard they work; or understand how valuable those players are to a team's success."

"I didn't always appreciate that when I was a teen," Ginny reminded him. "That's why I always wanted to train against you as often as possible when I didn't think that my back-up Seeker was enough of a challenge."

"Your back-up wasn't talented-enough to challenge you until Gabrielle joined the team," Harry pointed out. "She still helped you – if not in the same way that other reserve players help their teams. Instead of switching tracks, though; I think we should talk about how we should handle things with James. We've done our best with him; but he is acting so recklessly; I'm worried that we're heading for another crisis with him. I also have no idea how much longer Al and Lily will continue to put up with him. Al was only playing nice this weekend because he still considers Bristol to be a friend – even though she apparently hasn't been acting like one for quite a while now."

"There hasn't been anything we've done that helps," Ginny reminded him. "The best thing we did for Al and Lily this weekend was to have them away from here as much as possible – and that might be the best we can do for them for the rest of the summer if James is going to be springing these weekend invitations on us."

"We both hate letting him get away with acting this way; but you might be right," Harry conceded. "It's a good thing that Jimmy helped us out with that summer job for James. I didn't like that little surprise either; but you'd already be half-mad if James had been home every day for the past week."

"As if I'm not that far gone anyway," Ginny joked. "I guess we've decided to just roll with the punches and try to ease the pain for Al and Lily as much as we can. Let's hope we can do that – and survive for nine more weeks of this teen drama and never-ending foolishness."

James was in a great mood as he sat next to Bristol in the sitting room and they played video games. The loser wasn't around; he'd run mental circles around his pathetic excuse for parents; and they'd sent themselves to their room – or at least to the office; leaving him alone with Bristol to do whatever they wanted. They'd pretty much done that all weekend, so between his job with the Catapults and his brilliant plan for dealing with his family over the weekend; his summer holidays were going even better than he could have hoped even a few weeks ago. It wasn't as if everything was perfect – the loser still had everyone fooled into believing him to be the greatest Wizard since Merlin, but since nothing he'd done so far was even putting a dent into that delusion; spending his summer doing whatever he wanted was at least an improvement over the past couple of years.

"These Muggle games are a lot different than the mirror games," Bristol told James; "Don't your hands get tired of using these awkward controller things?"

"We've had these gaming systems around my whole life," James reminded her. "I don't even think about it."

"Which is why I'm being so badly out-played," Bristol declared; and then tossed her controller aside. "This isn't any fun for me. Let's play a game that I like a lot more than that one – and that we can both get to win every time!"

"Right here in the house with Mum and Dad just in the other room?" James asked; feigning shock; and Bristol laughed as she leaned in and made her opening move in their favorite game.

"What's the matter, James? Are you afraid of getting caught by the Head of the Aurors – or your Mommy? I'm not."

She proceeded to prove that to James; the risk of getting caught in the act just made things hotter for them; and that ended up being just the start of the play time for two that they shared for the rest of the evening and late into the night. They moved out to the tent to continued their fun; went for a clothing-optional swim an hour or so after his parents went to bed; and wrapped up their weekend with a very hot shower for two before eventually climbing into a bed together and crashing into sleep for the handful of hours James had left before he'd need to be, um, up again in time to have breakfast and go to work.

They'd definitely need to book another weekend together soon, but James had already set up a weekend play date with Patricia next; and he'd be okay with doing the same with a few other Witches too – if he could work that into his busy schedule!

Waking up on Monday morning in the cabin wasn't an entirely-new experience for Al, since he had stayed in similar cabins before – including his aunt and uncle's home in Romania; but it was still quite different from home – or even compared to the seashore cottages that his parents usually preferred to stay at while on holidays. The morning sounds were very different – especially without the sound of the ocean waves on the shore; and the animal noises were very different too. Those differences made the start to his day more fun as he quietly got ready for the day and then went to start cooking breakfast for six in the small kitchen. He had that work about half-done before Gwenog joined him and began to help out once she'd poured a cup of coffee, and by then; the aromas from the coffee and cooking food had roused everyone else and they were taking turns getting cleaned up and dressed for the day too.

"Will you be missing much of anything with the Harpies today?" Al asked after they'd finished with the usual good morning greetings and pleasantries.

"It's Victoire and Teddy's first anniversary today," Gwenog reminded him. "I didn't book anything for the team today."

"I suppose you couldn't set a lot up for this week anyway with Candice's wedding on Saturday too – though she must have done more work earlier to get ready for the time off next week."

"She did; and will do a bit this week too," Gwenog agreed. "Off-season weddings are always a challenge for us; but we are used to dealing with them."

"That does make for a lot of Harpies' anniversaries all packed into a couple of months, though," Al pointed out. "I'm surprised you aren't busy every day with non-stop parties."

Gwenog laughed. "There are some parties, but we don't go to most of them; and there aren't very many of the milestone anniversaries with big parties in any one year. Your Mum and Dad might be next up for that with Harpies' alumni for their twenty-fifth in a few years."

"Four years and change to go," Al amended. "Should Lily and I be planning a big party for them?"

"Probably," Gwenog agreed; "but you don't need to start on that quite yet; and will have lots of help for it when it is a bit closer. That'll be a busy summer; since Gwendolyn will be starting with the Harpies that year; and you'll be with Rose on the Cannons."

"Good timing, Mum," Gwendolyn approved as she walked into the main room of the cabin and joined them in the kitchen. She hugged Gwenog first; and then hugged and kissed Al next. "I guess that Rose better keep that anniversary thing in mind if she still has your Mum on the short list for her Cannons' Seeker," she added with a grin. "Will that be on the weekend before training camp opens again that year? She might want more than a day off to celebrate."

"Maybe she could hire Dad to be Mum's back-up; and they'd be okay with a Quidditch anniversary getaway," Al joked in return. "That could work out for them."

"That's funny, but I'll hope that Ginny doesn't want to mess up her brilliant league record by coming out of retirement again to play for the Cannons. She's got one of the best Seeker records in the history of the game."

"A league championship with two different teams would be a nice addition," Al offered; and smiled when both girls laughed.

"Sure, and that might even be amazing – if she was still playing Quidditch when she's over one hundred – or maybe that'd be two hundred by the time the Cannons win again," Gwenog told him.

"Now I'm hoping that Rose will be able to recruit Mum," Al said seriously. "How many wins could she get for the Cannons on her own? Twelve or more?"

"That might be possible on other teams," Gwenog agreed, "and I'm not suggesting that your Mum can't still play; but she'd get pounded playing for the Cannons. Only having one top-tier player never works for a team – or for that player."

"That would be a valid concern," Al admitted; and then grinned as he added – "at least until everyone finds out that the rest of the players on Rose's team can play pretty well too. After that, the beat up on Mum game plan would fall apart fast."

"Is there more news that I haven't heard about yet for Rose's plans for the Cannons?" Gwenog asked; and Al shook his head.

"Probably not, but if she can get Mum and me on the team; I'll guess she'll do okay recruiting for the other spots."

"He could be right about that," Gwendolyn agreed. "There would be lots of kids that would jump at the chance to play Quidditch with one of their heroes." She laughed at the expression on her mother's and boyfriend's faces. "I'm going to play for the Harpies," she added. "Cut that out!"

"Okay, but we're at fault for getting that entire Cannons championship thing started with Rose back in first year; so we only have ourselves to blame for the years of entertainment everyone is getting out of it now."

"I'm nearly-positive that you started it," Gwendolyn countered. "We were talking about whether you'd join the Aurors when you grow up; and you made a joke about James suggesting that he would say that you weren't good-enough to play on the Cannons' reserve squad. Rose overheard you; and the rest is history."

"True," Al confirmed, "but you mentioned Quidditch as part of that; asked Rose about who would be on that future Cannons' team with you and me; and then we all had fun joking about it for a while after that."

"I don't remember anyone telling me about Gwendolyn being included with you and Rose right from the start," Gwenog advised them.

"That was just Rose making a joke about trying to play matchmaker with Al and me as part of her master plan for winning a championship with the Cannons," Gwendolyn explained with a laugh. "It's hard to believe; but that conversation happened before Al and I started dating."

"I didn't know she was playing matchmaker with the two of you either. What else have I been missing out on over the past three school years?"

"A lot, but we're teens; so that shouldn't surprise you," Gwendolyn teased. "None of that was any big secret, though; so I don't know how you didn't hear about that part of the original joke."

"Maybe I'm just blocking out anything that might mess with your future with the Harpies."

"If you're about to pretend that you can't see Al anymore; don't go there," Gwendolyn told her mother. "I can multi-task my future with the Harpies and Al without any problems."

"That'll be true – if you do that," Gwenog said meaningfully. "Instead of going there, though; let's talk about what you want to do today. Your father and I want to rest up this week, but I suppose we could take a walk into the nearest village if you want to check it out for future visits later in the week."

That offer sent their chat off in a new direction; Lily, Jonah, and Kirley each eventually joined them; and then they sat down to enjoy their morning meal and entertainment for a while. The kids were set free after they ate to go outside and wander around; and then they spent the rest of the day playing. There was a walk to town that included picking up ice cream treats, but they spent most of their time having fun in and around the lake and cabin. They had a picnic lunch; went canoeing; swam a lot; and explored the woods around them. Al and Lily stayed for dinner too, but then Ginny came to get them from the McCormacks; they went home with her after just a short parental update visit; and then Gwendolyn and Jonah were left to have some family fun with their parents – and with some aunts, uncles, and cousins that were coming over to spend the evening with them.

Al had to deal with the insults and taunts from James pretty much from the moment they got home, but keeping busy with chores helped to minimize those annoyances; he played Quidditch with Lily for a while as an unofficial warm-up for the junior and senior team practices they'd each be having on Tuesday evening; and then they went for a swim – until James decided to crash and splash that bit of fun. He soon had exactly what he wanted – the pool to himself; and Al ended up spending the rest of the evening in his room. He wrote a letter for Gwendolyn; sent it with Winter; did some holiday revision; and started doing some prep work for the Animorphmagus toys after going over the latest information Ginny had given him. That had mostly been suggestions and requests for the types of toys the company owners and employees had come up with for what they believed would sell well – or features that they thought would be awesome for the toys. Very few of them were anything that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose hadn't considered; and he was okay with most of those ideas. Gwendolyn was busy with her family until late, so they didn't try to have a mirror chat; and Al expected that he was in his bed and sleeping long before she was able to turn in for the night too.

Starting the day with another round of annoyances from James wasn't any fun, but Al had enjoyed the breakfast-cooking visit with his father; and the fun level kicked up a dozen notches when Rose and Hugo were dropped off shortly after Harry and James left for the day – and Al and Rose were getting to spend the morning playing with magic and their Animorphmagus toys. Ginny was supervising them all morning; but Hermione stayed and played with them for more than an hour too – mostly because she wanted to see the spells that had gone into making the toys. While they got ready to work, Lily and Hugo headed outside to play Quidditch for a while – and talk about the training they were going to do all summer with Fred and the other remaining junior team players. Once Al and Rose were ready to go; they had Ginny's and Hermione's undivided attention.

"Would you like to pick the first new toy we'll make?" Al asked Rose.

"Sure," she agreed with a smile and nod. "Let's go with one of the dolls; and I'll pick the lion cub idea. That won't be much of a change from Kneazle Nick; so we should be able to get that one finished fairly-quickly."

"Leona the Lioness it is," Al agreed amiably. "I'll get started on the Transfiguration magic if you'd like to work out what we'll want the doll and animal to say and do."

"We'll definitely want a roar for the cub," Rose suggested first. "I was also thinking that it might be cool if we could add something that lets the animals interact with each other – nothing too complicated – maybe just touching paws or claws and using one of their animal noises for a greeting."

"That would be cute," Ginny approved. "Hermione and I really want to have you show us all of the magic – and each step you take in making them. You didn't give us much on the details so far."

"Al invented the Transfiguration spells," Rose advised them proudly. "As I mentioned; Gwendolyn and I haven't been able to help with that part of making the toys. We think it's because Al has a different perspective on animal changes than anyone else – and he can picture what he wants the animals to look like so perfectly."

"That does help," Al agreed. "There are a bunch of different spells we start with that are really boring; but make the rest of the process a lot easier,' he advised their mothers next. "Stop me if you have any questions."

With that said, he got to work; Ginny and Hermione watched on in fascination as he used a combination of spells they knew well and others that the three kids had pretty much invented to do special taskes; with the combination creating something that truly was quite extraordinary – even if it was just being used for a toy. They stopped him frequently to ask questions; they experimented with the 'new' magic; and then admired the finished toy when Al and Rose had it completed. Hermione ended up staying for longer than planned, so she needed to get to the Ministry of Magic for the rest of the day, but after taking a drinks and snacks breaks with Lily and Hugo; Al and Rose went on to make two more prototype toys while Ginny supervised; and they kept at that until they had them ready – and they were ready to stop for the day and have lunch.

It was time to play after that; though Al and Rose helped out with the work for their lunch first. They ate by the pool; Al and Rose played with Lily and Hugo; and Ginny did a bit of running around that included showing the three new prototypes to their toy company partners. Rose and Hugo stayed for dinner; Ron and Hermione joined them; and then Al, Rose, and James all headed for the Wood's home for their first senior team practice of the summer while Lily and Hugo stayed and began welcomeing their junior team players and hopefuls. For the senior team, the practices were going to be in the evenings because all of the older teens had summer jobs; and they were doing them at Olivia's house because that wasn't an option at Lucy's house; and the two Witches had decided to practice at Olivia's because that was most-comfortable for them. Once everyone was there; Olivia took the lead as the rest of the teens gathered around her.

"Before we get started, and in case you haven't heard the news yet; I am very happy to announce that Dominique has accepted a job with Puddlemere United! We can't discuss any of the details, but she's very happy to be joining Belinda on our favorite pro team."

"We're very happy about that too," Lucy added; indicating herself and Olivia.

"Yeah – I'm sure she'll be very happy on the reserve squad," James offered with a mocking sneer. "Maybe she can cozy up to Calvin – unless doing that with an ex-girlfriend's cousin is too weird even for him."

"If you're going to go on like that, James, go home and take the summer off," Olivia told him. "I'm not your cousin; don't have to play nice with you; and won't put up with your idiocies this year."

"As if you've ever played nice with Ollie and me," James shot back. "Will we be on the reserve squad for the summer?"

"He will be," Olivia agreed. "Our returning team players will continue to work together; and Lucy and I have picked Gina to be our third Chaser because we like her a lot better than Magnus, Ollie, Ray, or Al. We'll rotate all of the other Chasers whenever we have more than three extras at our practices – like we do tonight; but that'll only be an issue during our scrimmages. Rose will be the reserve Keeper – or take turns too if we have other hopefuls wanting to work out with us; and Tiberius and Brock were nice-enough to bring along a couple of Beaters for them to practice against; so we should be able to have some great practices this year." She frowned when James and Ollie both snorted out derisive laughs.

"You are so delusional," James explained. "The only way you could have come up with a worse group to practice against would be if you'd let the loser there talk you into having practices against the potty-trainer and her senior team – and I'm sure her mommy will make sure it is her team too."

"We lost all three of our matches last season," Olivia reminded him in exasperation. "While we could learn a lot from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, we also have a lot of good players in our own House; so we're going to work together so that we'll all get better this summer. Until we can get back to winning senior team matches again, we've got nothing at all to brag or laugh about; and you just sound stupid, James, when you haven't been able to beat Pauline or Alex even once. You've got three seasons left to impress the scouts. I'd strongly-recommend that you shut it and start trying to get good-enough to win a few Seeker duels."

James looked ready to blast her, but Olivia waved him off angrily; and stepped up to stand in front of him.

"I'm not joking, James. you're either going to help us try to turn things around; or you won't be playing on our team. I don't care what you think or what you say about any of this to your mates or anyone else, but at these practices; we're going to work on Quidditch – without any of the stupid distractions we had last year. Get with the new program; or go home."

"We would rather have you with us, cousin," Lucy added as she stepped up next to Olivia in support of her friend. "I know you hated losing every match last season as much as we did. Let's put the teen drama aside and do something about that." James seemed to struggle with himself for a long few moments; but then he threw up his hands in disgust.

"Fine, but if you guys mess this up for me; I'm never going to let you live it down."

"No doubt," Lucy agreed. "That's to be expected in our family. If we're done with all of this, though; I'm sure that Olivia would really love to get the actual practice started."

Olivia did want to do that; Al and Rose were happy to get to the work; and they had a lot of fun – especially with Ray, Louis, Olivia, and Lucy. James led the flying workout, and while he kept his mouth shut; he wasn't happy when Al was second and right behind him for most of that part of the work-out. Al had pushed him hard, but had still held back; and that was entirely to keep the peace that Olivia and Lucy had so tentatively brokered with James. Gina – Regina – Rivers was the only addition to last season's team, and while she'd been happy to take Dominique's spot for the summer practices, she was a lot like her big sister, Daniella – a talented Quidditch player; but stuck in a House filled with just slightly-better players.

When it was time for the scrimmage; the fun level kicked up into high speed. Olivia had Magnus, Ollie, and Al start for the reserve squad; they had Rose in goal; and Brandon was happy to be their Seeker. Roland Baxter and Scott Holden were the Beaters that the McClaggens had recruited to practice with the team for as many of the summer workouts as they could attend, and while Al had been roommates with Scott for three years; he didn't know Roland at all – other than to know he was a classmate with Louis, Tiberius, and Magnus; and had never made even the reserve squad for their teams in his first five years at Hogwarts. Ray wasn't the only extra Chaser, so they rotated one Chaser out after every goal – with Al being the first to go after scoring the first goal of the match.

Olivia and Lucy got more than they bargained for with their reserve squad; and Al was the driving force behind that. When he was in the game; the reserve squad scored nearly every goal. When he was on the pitch; it was about fifty-fifty; with just a slight advantage for Olivia, Lucy, and Gina. Rose faced more shots than Louis; and made more saves. James caught the snitch to end the scrimmage after an hour and a half of battling hard against Brandon, but while he was happy with that victory; it hadn't come until after Al and Rose led the reserve squad to a one-sixty lead. Brandon backed off after that; and that was why James was able to make the catch for the loss – which Olivia ordered him to do as practice for that being a choice that would need to be made in a 'real' match in the upcoming season.

There were drinks and snacks for them to have after the scrimmage; they mostly had fun while winding down from the tough workout; and then Al and Rose each went home when most of the other teens left; while James stayed to hang out with Ollie for another couple of hours. Ollie hadn't been happy by the end of the scrimmage because he hadn't done very well compared to any of the other Chasers; so Al wasn't surprised that he and James wanted some time to hang out and complain about the injustices that were being heaped on them by their families and friends.

By the time Al got home, the junior team practice had been done for more than an hour, but Lily still had Kathryn and Melissa with her – mostly because Kathryn hadn't wanted to go home until after the senior team practice had ended too. Lily ended up offering to keep her after Al advised her that Ollie had been in as foul a mood as she'd expected by the end of the practice; and a mirror chat between their mothers soon had them swapping Kathryn for James for the night – and then Melissa was added so that she wouldn't feel left out. Al had been happy with that – especially when it meant another night without having to put up with James anymore; so he was glad to pitch in and help Lily with getting the tent set up for the night; a campfire ready to go; and the drinks and treats rounded up that they'd need to go along with the campfire and camping adventure. Once all of that work was done, Al had a visit with his parents in the office; he did some holiday revision in his room; and wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn once she'd turned in for the night after another busy play day with her family.

The last-minute change in plans for the night had made for more work for Al in the morning as he helped out by making breakfast for six while Harry and Ginny were busy with other things – including getting James to work from Ollie's house instead of home; and returning Kathryn and Melissa to their homes after breakfast too. Al had cooked; cleaned up; and done some other chores while his parents and sister were busy; and once Ginny only had Al and Lily left with her; they all headed out to the McCormack's cabin home-away-from-home to spend the day with them – though that was going to be most of two days again for Al and Lily. While they were going to play a lot too, Ginny had a toy-making session with Al and Gwendolyn first; they created two new prototypes; and completed the tweaks that had been requested for the three toys that Al and Rose had made on Tuesday. Ginny then stayed to play until after they all had lunch; and then she left to go and do some work again – including another toy company meeting.

Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were happy to spend the afternoon playing in the lake and doing more hiking and exploring. Gwenog and Kirley played with them some of the time too, but also let the kids do their own thing for a few hours; and enjoyed the chance to relax and rest up while they could do that. They ended up moving the fun indoors by dinnertime when rain moved into the area, so they had dinner in the cabin; and then spent the evening indoors too. That ended up being very entertaining for everyone because Kirley wanted to have music time, as usual; and Al and Gwendolyn surprised him with the four Christmas songs that they'd managed to finish writing by then. Gwendolyn got to spring that bit of fun on her father; and did so shortly-after tuning her guitar and settiling in to half-cuddle with Al while starting to strum the guitar.

"We're still not going into the music business no matter how often you try and get us to change our minds about that with these little sing-alongs," she advised Kirley," but we have been working on some new music this summer – sort of as another part-time job project. Wee thought that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers might be due for a Christmas album or two by now; and have been working on some songs that we think you might be able to sell to them."

"Well, it is July First," Lily offered. "I'm good with a bit of Christmas in July!"

"I don't know if the bands are even thinking about doing something like that again this year," Kirley advised Al and Gwendolyn; "but let's hear what you've got."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed; and grinned at Al. "The first one we wrote is called Animorphmagus Christmas; and it goes like this."

By then, she was playing the intro; everyone was grinning; and the laughter started soon after Al and Gwendolyn began to sing the humorous little song. Kirley had been seriously fired-up by the time they'd finished; and he was just as impressed when they sang and played Perfect Christmas; Have Yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas; and Yuri the Yeti – a parody of the Muggle classic, Frosty the Snowman. While there were other songs in progress, those were the only four that Al and Gwendolyn had been ready to share with Kirley, but that had been enough for him – and maybe a bit too much; since he then spent some time futilely trying to get Al and Gwendolyn to change their minds and record their own Christmas album. He couldn't get Gwendolyn to budge on that and eventually gave up for the night, but the music play time didn't end there; and Lily got Al and Gwendolyn to start teaching those new songs to her – and to Jonah and Kirley. She had some great ideas for dances or magic that could be put with the music at concerts or parties; they had fun with that too; and her ideas even gave Al and Gwendolyn some new ideas for more Christmas songs – though they didn't mention that to anyone else.

It had been a long day by then, so they were all ready to go and get some sleep sooner instead of later. Al and Gwendolyn were last to turn in because they were given some alone time to say goodnight to each other when Gwenog and Kirley, and then Lily and Jonah, went to bed, but they were still all in the cabin together; so that wasn't an opportunity for a major snogging session. They did have a fun little bit of cuddle time while saying goodnight to each other; and then they went to bed too. Al was first-up again in the morning; he cooked breakfast for everyone; and then they had a play day that included a lot of water-related activities through until Ginny joined them again by mid-afternoon for another work session with Al and Gwendolyn that allowed them to finalize the first five prototypes and make one new Animorphmagus toy before Ginny needed to take Al and Lily home for dinner – and their next Quidditch practices.

Dinner had been a chore to get through with James razzing Al pretty much the entire time; the senior team Quidditch practice was a lot of fun for Al and Rose – if not so much for James and Ollie; and then there was a bit more trouble for Al once he and James were home again because James felt the need to take out his bad mood on everyone – but mostly on Al because it was his fault that James' team hadn't won the scrimmage again. That was the main reason for why Al went to his room early; he studied again until Gwendolyn called for their bedtime mirror chat; and then he went off to sleep and was out for the count for the rest of the night.

His Friday morning began even worse than the night before – particularly when Harry and Ginny got into it with James for setting up another weekend guest without asking their permission first. This time, he'd invited Patricia to be his weekend camping buddy; that had just confirmed one of Al's worries for a summer with a revolving door of Witches spending time with James; and the insults and comments had gotten very crude – especially when James was only talking with Al. That news did have Ginny making changes to the weeknd plans for Al and Lily. They'd already been set up for a sleepover at the McCormack's house on Saturday because they were helping Gwendolyn and Jonah with a family kids' babysitting service while the adults and older cousins were at Don and Candice's wedding, but Kirley and Gwenog were bringing the kids home from the cabin on Friday afternoon; so Ginny set up a bonus camping night so that Al and Lily wouldn't need to be stuck with James and Patricia for most of the weekend.

That change meant that Al needed to help out with more chores around the house and yard on Friday, but Rose and Hugo came over for the day again too; he and Rose worked on more Animorphmagus toys; and she helped him with some of the chores. Ginny took them out to Diagon Alley for lunch; they did a bit of shopping after that; and had a visit with Molly at the Burrow on the way home. Al had time to chat with Rose in his room after that while he packed for his weekend away; she had her own plans to spend some extra time in London with her grandparents – and her not-quite-yet-boyfriend. No details on that were wanted or given, but they did talk about setting up a double-date sooner instead of later; and hoped they'd be able to do that in the next week or two. Rose and Hugo went home with Hermoine when she stopped by on the way home from work, and that was a bonus for them; since it meant that they missed out on the not-so-much fun when James and Patricia arrived with Harry after he was done work for the day too.

Patricia was possibly a bit more-enthusiastic than Bristol had been to help James out with his bragging and insults; and they'd started in on Al right away – especially when they found him in the kitchen cooking dinner with Ginny while Lily had been keeping them entertained after setting the table and doing a couple of other chores. Even though Al hoped that James was doing well with his summer job, what he sensed from James as he bragged to Patricia about it didn't give him any true clues about how much of what James said was truth and how much was simply his own perception of reality. The insults and razzing, on the other hand, were very clear; and James and Patricia both acted like snobs as they denigraded honest work that they both truly believed was beneath them while hurling their venom at Al for being a good little loser slave or House Elf. He put up with all of that and more through until they were finished dinner; and then he was happy to go to Gwendolyn's house with Lily – and proved that to his girlfriend with the hug and kiss he shared with her once they were there.

"I missed you too," she teased after that kiss; and Al laughed. "Was James on a roll tonight?"

"More like a horror," Lily answered before Al could. "Patricia was even worse than Bristol; so I hope it isn't going to get worse every weekend; or it'll be all-out war by the last weekend of summer."

"I get why your Mum and Dad are just putting up with all of that; but it isn't right," Gwendolyn said with a shake of her head.

"It isn't; but at least it works for us this weekend again," Lily said with a grin. "We get to spend the extra day with you guys; and that might not have happened if James wasn't being such a hippogriff-sized git."

"Okay, but I am not sending James a thank-you gift," Gwendolyn conceded and added. "We still need to get the tent set up; so we should go and do that next. Jonah and I have been busy helping out with the rest of the work we've had to get done since getting back from the cabin."

"This week has gone by so fast; it doesn't feel as though you were away very long at all," Lily said; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"I know, but while we could have stayed longer; Mum and Dad didn't want us babysitting the kids at the cabin – especially since we won't have any overage chaperones helping us while they're at the wedding and reception."

"We'll have fun here," Al offered. "You might wish we were going to the wedding instead; but I'm glad that we're not."

"Why?" Lily asked him curiously. "Mum and Dad are going; but James isn't."

Al shrugged. "I'd still feel like an outsider. "Even with Gwendolyn's cousins; they're enough older than we are that it just isn't feel the same as it does with all of the kids and teens closer to our own ages. It won't likely be many more years before we start having quite a few weddings every year. We'll have lots of them just with all of our cousins."

"Maybe – but they'll all be during the off-season; so that's only a few weeks between the end of school and the start of training camp," Gwendolyn joked.

"Including yours?" lily asked sweetly; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Definitely," she agreed. "Do you think we should just have the ceremony on the train that Friday we get out after our NEWT year; or have it on the platform at King's Cross?"

"Our Mums and Dads will want to be there," Lily pointed out. "The platform will be a bit crowded; so maybe you should at least wait until the Saturday – or maybe have it on Friday night."

"There's an idea," Gwendolyn approved. "A moonlight ceremony – or maybe a campfire."

"Campfires and wedding dresses might be a bad combination; but the moonlight idea is good," Lily pointed out and half-approved. "I don't want to think about that too much, though; since I'm going to wish that I was graduating with you that year so that I could start playing for the Harpies with you instead of being stuck at Hogwarts for two more years. With you and Victoire on the team; that could easily be two championships that I'll miss out on."

"Not if you win two Quidditch Cups those years instead," Al suggested.

"We'll see if I get to win any Quidditch Cups," Lily told him seriously; frowning as she remembered some of the taunts that James had thrown at her earlier when they'd been talking Quidditch at dinnertime. "That might not happen for us very often if James keeps acting and playing like such a git. He's right about having two Quidditch Cups when I haven't won one yet; but our House won those championships despite him; so he has nothing to brag about. At least we earned our junior team title last season."

"And you won the Seeker title," Gwendolyn added. "Don't let James bug you about that. I think that you and Jonah are both better Seekers than James is; and I wouldn't have ranked him top ten for last season."

"There are only eight teams," Lily pointed out; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I know. I'm including Stephanie and Brandon in that list; and there might have been one or two more that were better than James."

"I doubt that Hunter could best James," Lily said thoughtfully; "though I could be wrong about that. He might be able to frustrate James enough for him to get mad and do something dumb; so it might be possible. Hunter likely is better than Brandon at finding and catching the snitch; he's just way behind the curve on the training."

"That is still his biggest problem," Al agreed. "His strategy against Pauline in their last match ended up being the reason he got beat, but I don't want to go there; since I think he's a git for acting that way at all. As for you winning Quidditch Cups; I'll take the 'you will' side of that wager."

"Brave bet to make while you're here in Ravenclaw territory," Gwendolyn teased; and Al joined in for the round of laughs.

"You've won the past two Quidditch Cups," Al reminded her. "The odds are in my favor that Lily will win at least one sometime in the next few years – especially since we don't think that Slytherin should get a turn again until they clean up their game and start playing nice."

That comment sent their chat off in a different direction when Lily offered some suggestions about other things that Slytherins shouldn't get to have a turn at until they started being nicer in general. They also got to work; set up the tent; helped with some other chores; and then had a bit of quiet play time in the back yard while Kirley and Gwenog were both busy. After nearly a week of nightly campfires, they didn't have one again after dark; though that was as much because Kirley and Gwenog wanted to turn in early ahead of the big wedding day than for any other reason. They did get together for a bedtime snack and chat in the kitchen, but then the four kids headed out to the tent to hang out there while the parents went to bed.

While they didn't have a campfire, Al and Gwendolyn had some music time; and entertained Jonah and Lily while working on two of the new Christmas songs they were continuing to write. They were doing some of that writing and imagining on their own, so it was especially fun to bring those ideas and song snippets together to create new verses, choruses, and the rest of the different elements that all worked together to make a good song. Lily and Jonah happily offered their critique and some suggestions; had Al and Gwendolyn teach them the new songs as they went along; and then they eventually wrapped that up in time to watch Lee's nightly show while cuddling in pairs on two of the sofas in the tent sitting room area.

As always, Lee's monologue at the start of the show was entertaining, and while they were in the Quidditch off-season; he took that opportunity to have fun making fun of other things – like the Ministry of Magic; summer holidays; and other idiocies he pointed out that were part of everyday life in the Wizarding World. While they watched that opening segment of the show without talking much at all; they did have some quiet chat time to go along with watching the interviews and other, regular show features that included comedy sketches and an advert parody. Lily and Jonah had planned on going to bed after Lee's show to give Al and Gwendolyn a bit of alone time, but they stayed for a while longer – and then fell asleep on their sofa because Lily had been too comfortable and in no hurry to give that up for being on her own for the rest of the night. While that meant they didn't have a chance to do any snogging, it had been a long day by then; so Al and Gwendolyn were okay with staying cuddled on their sofa and going to sleep too – though they shared a soft, quiet kiss or twenty first before getting around to the sleeping part of their night.

Scorpius was up early on Saturday morning – or at least it was early for him. He wasn't sure what to call his mood as he showered and got ready for the day; but he was looking forward to getting away from Malfoy Manor for the day – if not quite so sure that he'd have fun because he didn't know what to expect from his first-ever visit to the Lestrange Estate. He'd been surprised by the invitation that had come by Owl Post from Raban Lestrange; since he hadn't expected to be offered the chance to practice with the remaining members of the senior team – especially considering the issues that some of them were having due to the Auror investigation into the attacks at the end-of-year feast.

His father and grandfather thought it was a great opportunity for them to get back into the good graces of the other pureblood families; and they had lots of useless advice for him – along with demands that he had no intention of doing anything about unless doing so helped his own cause. Thomas' advice had been more helpful, but Scorpius hadn't agreed with everything he'd suggested either. Until he knew more, though; he didn't want to make any plans at all. Victor Avery might be out of the picture now, but Raban Lestrange wasn't likely to be an improvement if he was named Captain of the senior team as he obviously expected. There was even a chance that the summer practices that Raban had planned would be a horror – especially if he wanted Scorpius and others there to be fodder for practicing dirty tricks and bludger hits.

While he did worry about that, Scorpius first had to deal with his father and grandfather again at breakfast as they once again 'discussed' with him the things he should do and how he should act around the other purebloods while at the Lestrange Estate. When it was time to go, Draco took him outside and they apparated to the laneway at the front gates of the Lestrange estate. Their arrival by apparition was all that was needed to alert the Lestranges to their arrival; and it wasn't long before a servant arrived to escort Scorpius up to the house while Draco was politely thanked for dropping him off; but not invited to join them. Scorpius felt a small flash of satisfaction at that; but didn't even bother with a backward glance as he walked next to the servant up to the old estate house.

He kept his eyes open as they went, but didn't try to look like some kind of idiot Muggle tourist as he took in everything he could about the estate grounds and the outside of the house. The Lestrange family history had been drilled into his head by his parents and grandparents as they prepared him for this visit; so there was a very good chance that he knew more about Raban's family than he did. Rolando and Tessyndra Lestrange were first cousins to his own aunt's husband; and they'd inherited the mantle of Head of the Lestrange family once they were next-in-line still standing after the war – and after their more-notorious cousins had all been rounded up by the Aurors and sent to Azkaban – or killed. His grandfather had suggested that at least a few Lestrange deaths had helped Rolando in his rise to power, but Scorpius had noted that no proof had been offered to those assertions; so he expected that it was more sour grapes than truth being spouted.

The estate home was quite grand, and Scorpius knew that the Lestrange family was still one of the wealthiest of all the purebloods, but he didn't think that their home was any nicer than his own – possibly because his parents and grandparents had nothing better to do than tend their estate while living in their luxurious exile. He didn't get to see much of the inside of the house, since he was led through it and out to a garden patio-balcony that overlooked the grand estate grounds. Rolando and Tessyndra were sitting at a table with their son and daughter; and Scorpius was led over to them by the servant.

"Mr. Scorpius Malfoy," the man announced formally with a slight bow.

"Thank-you," Rolando said with a nod and wave of dismissal. "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy," he added as the servant bobbed another bow and hurried away. "You're puntctual. We didn't expect to see most of Raban's team mates to get here for another half-hour or more."

"I can head out to the pitch and wait for the others there," Scorpius offered; but Rolando shook his head.

"No – I'm glad that you're here," he said. "Come and sit with us. Would you like a drink while we're finishing our morning meal?" Scorpius accepted that offer; sat down next to Lysandra because it was the chair that was indicated for him; and he nodded to her – and then to Raban. The older boy looked surprised at his father's actions; but Lysandra didn't; and she seemed to be interested in finding out why her father was paying any attention at all to her normally-ostracized classmate.

"I'm sure that you hear it a lot; but it is startling just how much you look like your father did at your age."

"Did you know him very well back then?" Scorpius asked; and Rolando shook his head.

"No, not well. I was already at Hogwarts by the time he was born; and thus finished school years before he was old-enough to go there too. Tess and I don't know your grandparents as well as others in our family either; though we did at least see them more often because of the relationship between your grandmother and great-aunt. How are they all doing?"

"Well-enough," Scorpius answered smoothly. "They keep busy with family affairs and their own interests."

"We've heard that your father has become something of a collector," Rolando offered; and that comment piqued Scorpius' interest; since he got the sense that his father's Dark Arts collection was of some true interest to Rolando.

"He could likely fill a small museum with his collection; and the search for new artifacts gives Mum and Dad excuses to travel now and then," Scorpius answered. "My father has become somthing of an expert in, um, magical devices and artifacts."

"So he's become something of a scholar," Tessyndra suggested; and Scorpius smiled as he turned his attention to her. While she was possibly fifteen years older than his own mother; she was still quite-beautiful. Sure, there was always the possibility that she used magic to help out with that, but she also looked nothing like the pictures he'd seen of some of her distant, Carrow cousins; and had obviously been an exception to the general tendency toward ugly for that family.

"That's an apt description of him – at least when it comes to his collection," Scorpius agreed with a nod.

"Sounds horridly boring to me," Raban interjected. "I don't plan on opening another bloody book at all once I'm done with Hogwarts in a year."

"There is much we can learn from ancient texts and artifacts," Rolando told his son. "Too many Witches and Wizards in our world are overly-impressed with new magical gadgets and toys; and have forgotten what true magical power is and is meant to be."

"I like learning about the old magics," Scorpius said quietly; and then grinned as he added – "but I wouldn't want to trade in my Lightningbolt for one of the old brooms."

His joke earned some laughs; and then the conversation moved on from there until Raban finished eating his morning meal. Don Rosier was the next player to arrive, and once about half the team was there; Raban led them out to the Quidditch pitch while leaving instructions with the servants to send the others along. The pitch was full-size, but old; and nothing fancy – just the basic goals at each end of the pitch; a row of benches along one sideline; and one small set of bleachers that were well-tended, but quite old too. Scorpius was on a bench by himself at first, but was eventually joined there by Davis and Blaise Zabini. It was soon clear to Scorpius that Raban had invited enough teens to have a full practice squad, and while they didn't have any spectators at first; he also learned that Lysandra had invited some of the sisters and other friends to spend the morning or day with her too. He tried not to think about her too much, since she'd looked especially-hot in a sundress that perfectly showed off her beauty; and he didn't need to be daydreaming of the impossible during the practice – especially when her big brother would be happy to take his head off with a bludger or his Beater bat if he even suspected that Scorpius was thinking about his sister that way.

Raban waited until everyone was there; and then stepped out onto the pitch so that he could face 'his' team – and tower over them as they were all sitting on the benches. Scorpius had a low opinion of Raban, but he was likely to be the new leader of the pack now that Victor had graduated – and apparently gone into hiding from the Aurors too; so he was going to have to put up with the stupid – at least while playing Quidditch with the senior team. He didn't really have a good feeling about that as Raban waited for everyone to pay attention to him; but he was determined to do whatever it took to make it onto the senior team – especially since he was almost certain that the Animorphpotty would earn a spot on the Gryffindor senior team despite having a lot of Chaser competition too. He put that thought aside; and focused entirely on the task at hand as Raban welcomed them and then began to talk about what he wanted to do with their summer training.

"You are each here either because you're a returning player for our senior team; or have been invited to train with us by one or more of those players," Raban advised them; and had Scorpius wondering which of the players wanted to invite him. Blaise might do it, but then he might not have; since Scorpius would certainly be the toughest competition he'd have for one of the Chaser spots on the team. "I will be Captain of the team this year – if Peakes and Slug-bore know what's good for them; so we're going to be doing our summer training here this summer."

"And giving my folks a break," Rupert added with a smirk. "They're thinking about going on an extra holiday with the money they won't spend on extra food this year."

"As if they need to worry about that," Raban said with a derisive snort. "I want to get right to our workout; so the only thing I want to add before we do that is to advise all of you that we are going to work harder than you've ever worked before! I am sick and tired of winding up in third or fourth place in the Quidditch Cup race every year and we're going to do something about that this season!"

"Starting in November when we'll hopefully get to bash the heads in for a couple of Gryffinpottys," Rupert added.

"We're going to do a lot more than just bash some heads," Raban promised. "I want to crush the other teams; run it up on them; and hopefully put every Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff player in the hospital wing for extended stays – though I'd be okay with them ending up in St. Mungo's for a year or ten too."

"That's a cheery thought," Don Rosier offered; "but I'd settle for the wins. How are we going to get there from where we are now? We also can't win the Quidditch Cup without at least some help from the junior team; and that isn't looking good when some of their best players won't be allowed to even play next year."

"Unless you know of some better younger players; I doubt there's anything we can do about that," Licentia told him. "We've enough to deal with to get ready for our own matches, though; so let's just worry about that for now. If we can find ways to help the junior team too; then we can do that later."

"We could just blast the competition in the week ahead of each match," Monty Crabbe offered with a snicker. "Maybe they'd have a chance against the reserve squad players on the other teams."

"That's an idea," Raban agreed, "but not something I want to work on in practice today. We're going to get tougher, stronger, faster, and meaner. By the end of this summer, when I'm done with you; the other teams are going to need to be afraid of us – very afraid!"

Scorpius had been afraid of just that from their likely new Captain; and Raban went on to prove that he was going to try and give their team a make-over in the likeness of the Falcons. He thought that approach was stupid, since the Falcons didn't care if they won or lost as long as they beat up on their opponents. From the start of their warm-ups, Raban pushed his team mates hard; failure to perform was dealt with harshly; and he expected everyone to go full-out with everything they did. For Raban, that meant pounding on each other while they spent no time at all on learning new plays or really working together as a team – unless it was to help hide the cheap shots that other players tried to use so that they wouldn't get caught. He really hated playing that way, but quickly learned that it wasn't a good idea to simply play by the rules – unless he enjoyed being the target of Raban's wrath. Even with his Lightningbolt, he couldn't avoid every bludger or cheap shot; so it was either hit or be hit – and he picked the less-painful option.

While Raban wasn't interested in teamwork, Scorpius did find an ally in Licentia Nott. The Chasers were switched up several times, but Licentia definitely liked working with him best; and they were the top two scorers for the scrimmage – and bested the other Chasers by quite a bit. That didn't make them very popular with the other guys, but Scorpius was happy to have at least one decent Chaser to work with – and that had him feeling more hopeful that they might do better against the other teams this year despite the brutish tactics that Raban was going to use again. While some of the guys seemed to think that really was a good idea; Scorpius knew that Raban's 'new' plan was really just a nastier version of what Victor had been doing for years; and he thought that it was dumb to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a better outcome.

When they started the scrimmage part of their practice, Licentia and the other Witches she'd invited over came out to the pitch to watch the show from the old bleachers. Scorpius didn't let them distract him, but the spectators did have him trying his best; and he was sure that most of the girls had been impressed by the time he'd won the Chaser battle – or at least tied with Licentia; since they had worked together more often than not. He'd been happy about that, since all of the Witches were among the best in their House, and while his family was still outcast from the other true pureblood families; he at least proved that he was better than the other Wizards at the practice – including the older brothers of more than half of those Witches. He might only be able to dream of being allowed to date any of them, but he did at least have the consolation of believing that at least a few of those Witches might be dreaming of him and wishing the same.

Raban's mates were staying with him for the rest of the day, but after joining in for the snacks and drinks that were brought out to the pitch by several servants; Scorpius was among the majority of players that left shortly-before lunchtime because they hadn't been invited to stay. He called his father using his mirror, so he didn't have to wait long after being escorted out beyond the estate gates, but it still felt as if he'd been tossed out while the 'in' crowd was staying and getting to enjoy the advantages of pureblood privilege. That had been annoying, but then the lunchtime grilling by his father and grandfather had been worse; so he'd been glad to get away from everyone after lunch and just go off for a walk out on the estate grounds as soon as he'd been able to do that. The rest of his afternoon hadn't been fun, but it had at least been quiet; and he'd welcomed the chance to be alone with his thoughts – especially since he'd wanted to be prepared before talking about his day with Thomas once he was able to do that later in the evening. He'd needed to get through dinner and an evening of tedium with his parents and grandparents first, so he was again relieved when he was able to retire to his rooms and have that little talk with his mentor.

"You obviously survived your first senior team practice," Thomas said once Scorpius had put his portrait on the table – and in a position where it could be hidden quickly if needed.

"Yes, though I'm more than a bit battered," Scorpius agreed. "Raban wants to practice twice a week for the rest of the summer – though he's going to change up the days for whatever works for him. Next week; it'll be Tuesday and Thursday mornings."

"Well, at least you're still being invited to them," Thomas pointed out. "Is there anything interesting that I should know about your visit to the Lestrange estate?"

"Raban's parents were surprisingly-nice to me; though I suspect they want something from me. They seemed particularly interested in my father's Dark Arts collection and expertise."

"They may be interested in both," Thomas suggested. "We've discussed how useful that collection could be for you someday; and the other pureblood families may be lacking experts in those artifacts with so many of their best and most-powerful wasting away in Azkaban."

"My father and grandfather would jump at the chance to rejoin the other families," Scorpius said dubiously. "They must know that."

"I'm certain they do," Thomas agreed, "but doing that openly might not be possible for them; and it would be good for you if they try to get what they want through you. Keep yourself open to any possibillities that might arise."

"I'll do that," Scorpius promised. "The Quidditch practice was nearly as bad as I'd expected. Raban is a brute; and his goal is to win all of our games by pounding the other players until they're out of the match and run up the score on all three teams. It's a ridiculous plan, but it's either his way or he pounds on you until you go along with playing his way – or quit."

"That isn't all bad for you," Thomas pointed out. "War can get ugly and sometimes there are no rules at all; so you must be willing to do whatever it takes to win – even when that is sometimes distasteful."

"The only thing I'm likely to learn from Raban is what not to do to win," Scorpius countered. "The only player on the team that was even remotely worth training with was Licentia Nott. We were the top two Chasers; and made everyone else look slow and dim by comparison. I'm fairly-sure that Rupert and G-Air have gotten worse over the past year – not better."

"That's likely just your own perception," Thomas suggested. "You do have a faster broom than you did the last time you played on the same team with them. You'll need to play nice – or not – with them; but that doesn't mean that you can't quietly work on your own game plans to help the team however you can. Is there anything else?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Not really. Lysandra had some of the other players' sisters and a few other friends over at the same time, and they seemed impressed with how well I did during the scrimmage while watching the match from the bleachers, but none of them would ever be allowed to have anything to do with me; so I doubt that's of any use to me."

"Maybe not right now," Thomas agreed, "but it could be very useful in the future; so don't discount that possibility either – and be ready should any opportunities become available that would give you another path to earning standing again with the other pureblood families."

"I don't plan on waiting that long until finding my next girlfriend," Scorpius only half-joked; and Thomas laughed.

"I'd suggest that you'd be better off raising your standards and going after what you want instead of settling for the best you think you can get. The other families may have forgotten it, my young friend; but you are descended of two of the great pureblood families; and they'd be fortunate to join their families with yours to ensure that you all might thrive – and return to your rightful places in the Wizarding World."

That statement stuck with Scorpius as they continued to talk for more than another half hour. Thomas offered counsel for how Scorpius could continue to take advantage of the small toehold that he now had with the Lestrange family, but his mind wandered off in other directions; and he took a more serious look at whether he really had lowered his own standards too far – even while he'd made fun of James Potter for his willingness to get close to even the worst sorts of Witches. Sure, there had been other Witches flirting with him since his break-up with Terri, but none that had seriously interested him; and maybe that was simply because the Witches he did find most-interesting were also the girls that he'd decided were off-limits.

If Thomas was right, and that wasn't necessarily true; then maybe his twice-weekly visits to the Lestrange estates could turn out to be much more interesting than he'd hoped! Those thoughts were still with him later when he drifted off to sleep; and helped to make for some very interesting, happy, and moderately-hot dreams!

Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had a busy work morning on Saturday as they had breakfast with Kirley and Gwenog; and then they kept busy doing chores around the house and yard while the parents were busy getting ready for the wedding – including popping out for hair appointments and to help out elsewhere with the wedding preparations. The kids that they'd be babysitting through until sometime on Sunday began arriving by mid-morning too, but Lily and Jonah kept them entertained while Al and Gwendolyn continued to work on the chores and setting up games and other activities meant to keep the kids busy and happy while they were all parent-free for the rest of the day. All of the family kids, tweens, and younger teens were together by an hour before noon; and they had a few extra kids of close friends too – though each of those kids were also friends with one of the cousins – or kids of Candice's Harpies team mates.

Greta Jones was the oldest of the kids, but Al and Gwendolyn made sure that she wasn't treated as one; since she was eleven and would be starting at Hogwarts in September. Her younger sister and brother were now eight-and-a-half and going-on-seven respectively, so they were more independent than the younger kids; but wanted to hang out with their older cousins, Al, and Lily. The youngest was Melody's five-year old daughter, Delilah; and she pretty much attached herself to Al and Gwendolyn from the time she was dropped off with her big brother. Kirley was there to help out with lunch, but then he left Al and Gwendolyn to deal with getting the kids fed and cleaning up again while he finished getting ready for the wedding. There was a short parental visit when he and Gwenog were ready to leave; and then Al and Gwendolyn were officially in charge for the rest of the day – and through until Sunday morning; since they didn't expect that Kirley and Gwenog would be back at all until sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning. While there had still been a bit of post-lunch work to do after the parents were gone, that didn't take much longer; and then it was time for a play break that included hopping in the portable pool to cool off.

"The parents are gone – when does the party start?" Greta asked Gwendolyn as she floated around near to her favorite cousin.

"Right after our nap," Gwendolyn only half-joked. "It's already been a long morning for some of us."

"You've had parties after all-day Quidditch matches," Greta pointed out. "A few chores and keeping up with a bunch of kids should be easy compared to that."

"Let me know if you still think so after your next junior team practice," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'm going to borrow Delilah for the day and have all of you try to keep up with her for an hour instead of doing the normal conditioning training."

"I can play Quidditch too," Delilah told them after giggling at Gwendolyn's comment.

"You can," Gwendolyn agreed. "We'll play later – with my old toy Quidditch set. Did you bring your broom?"

"Uh-huh," Delilah confirmed. "Will you and Al play with me?"

"Do you think we could keep up with you?" Gwendolyn teased; and Delilah giggled again.

"I'm not that fast yet," she advised Gwendolyn with all of the seriousness that a five-year old could muster; "but I will be someday – as fast as you!"

"I'm sure you will be," Gwendolyn agreed. "Will you play for the Harpies some day too?"

Delilah seemed to think about that for a long moment before answering. "I want to play on Al's team when I grow up. Wizards can't play for the Harpies; so I'll be on his team instead."

"You do know that our cousin wants him to play for the Cannons, don't you?" Lily teased. "Would you really want to have to wear all of that orange?"

Delilah shrugged. "Orange is okay. Al's the most fun to play with – and he can turn into animals. I wish I could turn into animals too." She smiled at Al. "Can you turn into a fish and swim around with us – or maybe a dolphin or shark?"

"Not a shark!" Gwendolyn told her. "He might decide to eat us if he was a shark."

"We just had lunch; so you'd likely be safe," Al offered with a grin. "I can be a fish for a while – as long as you promise not to go fishing."

Delilah hadn't been the only kid in the pool interested in swimming with the Animorphmagus fish, so Al ended up doing that for fifteen minutes or so; he changed into several different types of fish; and had fun letting the kids chase him around and try to catch him. His eventual exit from the pool was impressive as he leapt into the air; did a somersault with a full twist; and then landed on the ground next to the pool in human form – a feat that earned him a round of applause. After resting up for a bit, Al and Gwendolyn were both kept on the run by one or more of the kids for most of the day through until they were able to put the younger kids to bed near the end of their campfire. They played Quidditch; other backyard games; and dealt with all of the issues that came along with a small gang of kids. Lily, Jonah, and Greta all helped them, but it was still their job to keep everyone happy and entertained.

Al cooked dinner; he had lots of help with getting the younger kids fed and then cleaned up again after the meal; and then they took care of the clean-up and other work for a while and let Lily and Jonah play with the kids while they did that – including getting everything set up for the campfire that started at dusk. Along with the music and campfire stories, there were snacks to toast; some whizz-bangs for a bedtime show; and a lot of silliness as the kids ran around and wore themselves – and their babysitters – out. When the younger kids started falling asleep to the music that Al and Gwendolyn played and sang for them; they had Lily and Jonah take over the entertainment; spent an hour getting the kids tucked in for the night; and then only had five teens and tweens around the campfire once all of the kids were tucked into their sleeping bags in the tent.

"Now I know why the parents didn't think that it was a good idea for us to have more kids here today," Lily said as Al and Gwendolyn settled into their chairs again and got comfortable. "This gang was more than enough for us."

"I've had fun; but am really glad that we aren't babysitting for summer jobs," Gwendolyn told her. "Even de-gnoming the gardens is easier."

"And not much dirtier," Lily joked. "I needed to wash up as badly as my dinner buddies did tonight; and let's not even talk about our adventures with ice cream."

"I should've made smaller cones," Al apologized. "They melted in the heat faster than the kids could eat them."

"You were paid back in full for that little mistake," Gwendolyn assured him. "How many tees did you go through today? Four?"

"Yeah, and it would have been more if I'd have changed every time I got messy. It was easier to wait until after the meals and snacks to get changed." He looked over at Greta and smiled. "Have you changed your mind about a gang of kids being easier than an all-day Quidditch match? You look ready to have a nap right now."

"I'm okay, and no; I still think Quidditch is harder. Maybe that's because you guys aren't the ones bashing bludgers all day. That can be very tiring."

"That is true," Lily agreed. "You'll want to get ready for long matches too; since we've had some good ones between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Are you hoping to be on Jonah's team?"

"That'd be great, but as long as I'm not Slytherin; I'll be happy with whatever House I'm in."

"You might not want to be Gryffindor," Lily disagreed. "I'd be happy to have you in our House; but Fred and Orlando are really good Beaters; and you might have a better chance of playing most years in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

"I'd like to think that I'm good-enough to win a spot on any of the junior teams, and if I'm not; it might be better for me to practice for a year against the Beaters that are better than me instead of against players that aren't as good."

"That is a good point," Lily conceded – "though I'll still pick being the Gryffindor team Seeker over being someone's back-up."

"Says the Witch that had three catches and wins last season," Jonah told her. "I'm not sure that I wouldn't have been better-off if Stephanie had won our tryouts and I'd played Chaser with Gwendolyn and Alyssa instead."

"That might depend on how much fun you had playing Chaser with Alyssa," Lily teased. "Our duel could've gone either way, and you let Madison catch the snitch for the loss in that match, though; so I'd say you had a brilliant season too – even if that didn't show up with the snitch catches. Getting back to talking about Greta's upcoming first season of Hogwarts Quidditch, though; I should probably mention that all of the junior teams have pretty good Beaters returning in September; so it'll be tough making it onto any of the teams. I'm just biased; and think that Fred and Orlando are the best junior team Beaters right now. Besides, it might be fun to have you and Katrina as a Beater duo for Ravenclaw. I could totally see the two of you playing Beater for the Harpies when you graduate."

"With Lily and me on the team too," Gwendolyn added. "Mum would love that a lot."

"That would be awesome," Greta agreed. "We'll have to wait and see what happens. There aren't many Gryffindors in our family, but the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are pretty even – if you go back far enough. Do you guys have to stay awake until Uncle Kirley and Aunt Gwenog get home from the wedding? I hope that's all been going well. Don's never really spent all that much time with me, but I like Candice; and hope they'll be happy together."

"We're at the tail-end of the cousins on the Jones side of our family," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "I don't know why it's so different for us; but we really like getting to play with the younger kids in our family – and we're going to have the first of the next-generation of kids soon too when Tony and Jenny have their baby."

"Don't sound too excited about that; or they may decide to hire you to babysit until we head back to school," Greta joked. "This may have tired you out, but at least there weren't any dirty diapers to deal with; babies puking on you, or any of the other gross stuff that goes along with babysitting babies."

Her assertions sent their chat off in a new direction for a while, but they were all winding down toward being ready to sleep. Within a half-hour; they put out the fire and headed into the tent. Lily, Greta, and Jonah soon went to their beds while Al and Gwendolyn cuddled on a sofa and tried to stay half-awake in case any of the kids woke and needed them. They fell asleep instead; were woken a couple of times through the night to help a total of three kids in need of bathroom breaks, some comfort, and sips of something to drink before they could go back to sleep again. That meant that they didn't get much rest, but Al was still very happy when he woke up on Sunday morning. Gwendolyn woke for a few minutes too, but then went to sleep again while Al got ready for the day and then he also took care of the three kids that woke up then too. He helped them to get ready for the day; took them with him to the house; and had them 'help' him with making breakfast.

The breakfast work and fun rolled on for quite a while; included the wedding report from Kirley and Gwenog; and a lot of family and friends fun continued through most of the rest of the day for Al and Lily – at least until they went home with Harry and Ginny late in the afternoon; and then had to put up with James and Patricia for the rest of the day. For Al, part of the problem was in sensing far more than he wanted to know about what they'd been doing during the rest of the weekend, but the razzing and insults were as annoying as always; and another round of that foolishness was making it harder to play nice with James and his friends just to keep the peace for his parents and sister. Going for a bike ride with Lily and heading up to bed early had helped to keep him from doing or saying something he wasn't likely to regret, but by then; he was ready for James to go back to work again so that he wouldn't see him much – and wouldn't have to put up with the nastiness from his girlfriends either.

James was literally a happy camper as he lay in bed and waited for Patricia to join him there after she was done getting ready for bed – a process that seemed to take her forever compared to Bristol; who was more like him and only needed minutes to deal with those bedtime necessities. Another weekend of getting pretty much everything he wanted – including most of two days without the loser in the house; and a bonus Saturday afternoon and most of the night without the parents either while they were at Candice's wedding had all been better than expected. He didn't want to think about Candice, since the Starkeys were another of his father's pathetic charity projects – all because her sorry excuse for a mother got hurt in an Auror raid gone bad sometime in the year after the war. For all he knew, his parents gave her a house for a wedding gift too!

Turning his thoughts from there, he smirked as he remembered the fun that he and Patricia had with razzing Al after he got home from his weekend of babysitting with the potty-trainer. With a tent full of kids, there was no way they'd have had any fun at all – not that the loser would have a clue what to do when it came to satisfying a Witch. He really looked forward to the day when he'd be able to show the potty-trainer what she'd been missing out on while crushing the loser's pathetic little heart in the process! Maybe he could even make that happen this summer; since there was a very good chance that Gwendolyn was as, um, curious about such things as Bristol and Patricia were. That thought had him smiling as he envisioned a near-future where he had some clothing-optional play time with Gwendolyn and then got to watch the loser turn himself into a bug or something and then let himself get run over by a truck or train.

Now that was truly a cheery thought!

His smile brightened several notches when Patricia finally walked into the room wearing a nightie that didn't leave much to the imagination; and then they were both soon too busy to think about anything except enjoying the bedtime entertainment that helped to tire them out and keep them busy until they were ready to get around to the sleeping part of their last sleepover of the weekend.

Al cooked breakfast on Monday morning; ate before he had everything ready; and then went outside and let his father finish up and have that meal with everyone else so that he didn't have to spend any time with James and Patricia at all. Simply crossing paths with them had been too much for him to take; and his day and week took an immediate turn for the better once they were both gone. Patricia went home on her own because James 'ran out of time' and needed to get to work; but then Al thought that lack of courtesy was one of the least of James' long list of personal problems.

Fortunately, he had better things to do after that. Gwendolyn, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo all came over after breakfast; he and Gwendolyn and Rose then spent most of the morning working on their toys under Ginny's enthusiastic supervision; and then they took the afternoon off to play with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo in the back yard while Ginny went out to do some work – and have another visit with their toy-maker partners. Al and Gwendolyn didn't have any camping nights during the work week, but they did get together every day to work and play. Rose and Hugo joined them for two more of those days; but spent Wednesday in London so that Rose could hang out with Kyle for the day. Al and Rose had their senior team Quidditch practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings; and then the main family fun got started on Friday.

Harry and Ginny's twenty-first anniversary wasn't one of the big milestones, but Ron and Hermione set up a family and friends dinner for after work on Friday; and they recruited the kids to help them out with getting ready for that little party on Friday afternoon. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose still had a work morning with their toys after Al and Lily put on a special anniversary breakfast for their parents, but they did that work at Rose's house and then they all pitched in to work around the house and yard all afternoon to do the chores and extra set-up that needed to be done for the party. They also set up a tent for their teen camping night; but that was only because Ron and Hermione were also giving Harry and Ginny a kid-free night as part of their anniversary gifts. James was going to be at the party, but Ron had gotten him to set up a weekend away with Ollie, so while Al wasn't happy about James being at the party; he was good with the plan to have another weekend where he wouldn't need to see him much.

Ron and Hermione took half of the afternoon off from work on Friday, so they were around to supervise the work; and they eventually had more adult help arrive beginning with Molly and Arthur; and the six teens and tweens were set free after that to cool off with a swim and relax after hours of hot; sometimes dirty work. Al was always happy to have some girlfriend in a swimsuit time, though he actually went to get cleaned up first; since he'd done a lot of the dirtiest yard and gardening work. That's why he missed out on the first part of the swim, but he was sure that everyone else was happier that he hadn't just hopped in the pool and washed off all of the dirt in it instead. That bit of play time was fun while it lasted, but that didn't end up being long-enough for Al when Harry dropped off James and Bristol while on his way home from work – instead of bringing them along once he and Ginny were both ready for their party. Al didn't blame his father for that; but still wished that he could have had more of a reprieve from James – and he felt that way within seconds of James and Bristol sauntering over to the pool to join them and immediately start giving him a hard time.

"You know, Bristol, it really hurts me when I see how disappointed the loser there is every time he sees me. It's just wrong for someone to feel that way about his own brother."

"Don't let him bother you, James," Bristol counseled. "He just hates having you telling everyone the truth about him – and wishes he could be a tenth of the Wizard you are."

"Hello, James; Bristol," Al said as he swam to the edge of the pool closest to where he'd put his towel and other things. "How was your day? Ours has been pretty good. Are you ready to enjoy Mum and Dad's anniversary party?"

"That blather doesn't fool me for a second," James told him dismissively. "I saw the look on your face; you're getting out of the pool; and I haven't done anything to you at all!"

"So stay away from me and keep it that way," Al suggested, and while it was petty and pointless; he pulled himself straight out of the pool into a handstand and back-flip in an athletic display of acrobatics that looked very impressive – or at least impressive-enough that Bristol gawked and Gwendolyn laughed and whistled appreciatively. "Using Bristol to parrot your insults at me because she wants to impress you is the same as if you do it yourself from my perspective, but it is Mum and Dad's anniversary; so you get to have yet another day when I'll play nice – for them. That doesn't mean I'll sit here and let either of you razz and insult me all night. If you want to have a swim; I'll go do anything else."

"Well, in that case; run along and fetch us a couple of drinks, dog. We'll have two glasses of champagne – in celebration of Mum and Dad's anniversary, of course," James declared loftily with a grand gesture of an arm.

"Just bring the whole bottle," Bristol added with a dark smirk. "James has worked hard all day at a real job; and he's very thirsty."

"Sure," Al agreed. "Go for an underwater swim while I see whether the parents will let me do that for you; and don't hold your breath until I get back."

"As if we actually trust you to do anything for us and get it right no matter how nicely we asked," James told him while holding up the drink he'd been carrying along with a towel and the bag he always had with him when he went to work. "One of us is smart-enough to know how to make sure that he and his date for the party will actually get to party tonight."

"And that Wizard is definitely not the loser that is you," Bristol added. "What have you been drinking today, Captain Potty-trainer?" she asked Gwendolyn. "Iced Tea? Lemonade? That'd be appropriate, since when life gives you a lemon of a boyfriend; you may as well make lemonade!"

Gwendolyn was out of the pool by then too; had a towel wrapped around her so that James had less of an excuse to leer at her; and she shook her head and smiled ruefully in response to Bristol's taunts. "I like lemonade; so I guess that makes Al and me a perfect match. I'd say the same about champagne for you and James; but that would just be insulting; and I love you too much for that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bristol demanded suspiciously; and turned around and glared at Lily when she began laughing from where she was till floating around in the pool with Jonah, Rose, and Hugo. "What's so funny, loserette?"

"Lemonade from lemons; champagne from sour grapes," she explained. "That might not be nice, but I'd say it's appropriate – and really, really funny." She grinned then before adding – "if you had a sense of humor; you'd think it was funny too."

"Don't..." James began, but as usual; it was too late; and he and Bristol were both soon giggling like loons over anything and everything as they took a full hit from Lily's cheering charms.

Al and gwendolyn still walked away instead of watching the show, and Rose eventually joined them; but Lily, Jonah, and Hugo stayed to enjoy the entertainment; and other guests wandered over to do the same for at least a few minutes – if only to find out what was so funny and fun. It wasn't too long before the guests of honor arrived; Al and Gwendolyn spent a bit of time with them too; and then they were out of the loop for the dinner and roasting that Harry and Ginny's siblings, in-laws, and friends sat around with them for while the kids were mostly left to hang out together and do their own thing while having their meals too. James and Bristol made sure that they sat with the older cousins specifically so that Al and Gwendolyn wouldn't; having dinner with all of the younger cousins and a few kids of friends was okay with Al and Gwendolyn anyway. They still got to spend at least a little time with the rest of their cousins – and that wasn't really any different than the cameo moments they got to have with Al's aunts and uncles.

The only thing that Al was happy about with James was that he didn't cause any scenes around their parents. That didn't keep him – or Bristol – from insulting him every chance they got, and they tried to cause trouble here and there too; but Al was always ready to deal with those problems and keep James from messing with him in any way that would actually disrupt the party. That had been toughest during the clean-up, since James tried to cause a few clean-up 'accidents' around Al or Gwendolyn, but there was also an attempt to knock him into the pool; an 'escaped' bludger; and one silly attempt to make it look as though Al was making off with a bottle of fire whiskey. James hadn't liked the ending for that attempt to get Al into trouble because Hermione had put a little counter-zip on her defense of the bottle that had James dropping whatever he'd put the levitation charm on as if it had zapped or burned him – and that had revealed who had been responsible.

There was fun to be had too. A Quidditch scrimmage was fun for Al because it kept James out of his way for an hour and allowed him to have a nice long swim with Gwendolyn while chatting with the other swimmers or adults and teens hanging out around the pool. He had to deal with James while also being drafted for some Animorphmagus entertainment for the family that included rides, a game of Fanged Frisbee while in Samoyed mode, and some flying tricks without a broom. Later, starting at dusk, there was the campfire entertainment that Kirley recruited Al and Gwendolyn to help out with, and while the trio of duets they performed were all for his parents; the rest of the party guests enjoyed the show a lot – and there were quite a few couples that got up for some campfire dancing. They still mostly had fun through all of that despite James' efforts to mess with them while avoiding earning the wrath of their parents or other relatives, but then the party ended when Harry and Ginny were sent off for their kid-free night.

Most of the other guests left then too, but Ron and Hermione did have some help with the post-party clean-up; and then those remaining parents had a little thank-you surprise for their kids. The news that they'd all be going to their favorite Muggle amusement park in the morning and spending the day there had been a popular announcement; that had earned all of the remaining parents bonus hugs and kisses; and then it was time for them to split up and either head home, into the house, or stay in the back yard for a bedtime swim before heading to bed in the tent. George took care of getting James and Bristol to Ollie's house; Kirley and Gwenog went home; and Fred and Roxanne went home with Angelina. Once Ron and Hermione were alone with their six remaining kids, they advised Rose that she'd be meeting Kyle at the amusement park too; so she'd had an extra pair of hugs and kisses for them too before they went inside for the night and left the six kids to go for their bedtime swim with a strong suggestion that they don't stay up too much later so they'd be ready for their busy play day that would need to start in just a handful of hours.

"Do you think that your new boyfriend will be ready for a play day with your family?" Lily asked Rose after Ron and Hermione had gone inside and they'd jumped into the pool. "That could be quite a shock to his system."

"Not as much of a shock as this party would have been," Gwendolyn suggested with a laugh. "Your Mum would've needed to give him an entirely new set of memories for the night if he'd been here."

"I won't be able to invite him here," Rose said in response to Gwendolyn's comment before turning her attention back to Lily. "I am worried. James and Bristol will be bad-enough, but i won't be surprised if they insist on bringing Ollie – and maybe Lacey too; if a bit of what I overheard tonight is true and she's hanging out with them tonight too.""

"I heard that too, but thought it was better than it would have been if Bristol was having a co-ed sleepover with James and Ollie," Lily offered. "The way she's been acting lately; maybe Bristol would like having something like that added to her reputation. After the past two weekends, if we hadn't had these plans instead; I half-expected James to invite Bristol and Patricia to both spend the weekend with him."

"Don't even suggest that," Al told her seriously. "He'd think it was a brilliant idea."

"It'd be sure to get us another weekend away from home too," Lily pointed out. "That would be brilliant – for us."

"You're scaring me just a bit when you don't seem to have a problem with that," Al advised her; and Lily laughed and shrugged.

"That would definitely never be something I'd be into trying, Al, but it's also not my place to judge James or his girlfriends for the choices they make about their relationships with each other. They're not consenting adults yet, but they are all around the same age; so I don't have the same problems with them that you seem to have. James is a git and uses everyone around him, but that's obvious to anyone who isn't intentionally ignoring reality the way Bristol and Patricia are, and while I don't get that either; it's still completely up to them."

"Knowing it's none of my business doesn't make watching the train wreck happen any easier," Al told her solemnly; but then smiled ruefully and shrugged. "None of us really want to talk about that, but Rose has a reason to be worried; so maybe we can come up with some ideas for how we can keep James and Bristol from messing things up for her and Kyle tomorrow – ideas that don't require getting our parents to Obliviate Kyle a dozen times an hour."

That suggestion led their chat off in the direction he'd wanted it to go; they had fun talking about that while having their little swim; and then they headed for the tent and took turns getting ready for bed before gathering in the main room to talk for a while longer until they were all ready to get some sleep. Al and Gwendolyn had been tempted to stay cuddled on the sofa for the night, but decided against the idea while visitors at Rose's house, so while they did have a bit of alone time to say goodnight to each other; they headed for their own rooms for the night – and did that not long after everyone else went off to bed. They all needed to be up early for the trip to the amusement park; Ron and Hermione decided to pick up fast food along the way; and they kept themselves entertained as they sped along on the highways by adding to the cover story that Rose and her family had already used with Kyle and his family – though most of that was the same story that Hermione and her parents had been using pretty much since she'd graduated from Hogwarts.

Hermione coordinated their arrival with Kyle's parents, so they arrived at the park about ten minutes before Kyle was dropped off. The rest of their group was either already there or closing in on the park, but they didn't want to overwhelm Kyle; so it was just the eight of them there for the short visit that Hermione and Ron had with Kyle's parents. Al liked what he sensed from all of them; and he had a good first-impression of Kyle Cassidy too. Rose's new boyfriend was more than a half-year older than Al, but they were about the same height; Kyle's sandy-blonde hair seemed to be a bit lighter than it had been in the picture Lily had shown them at St. Mungo's; and his eyes were definitely a clear grey instead of light blue. He didn't look all that much like his father, but did have features that they shared; so Al could see the genetic links between father and son – even as Kyle inherited more features from his mother. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah stayed on the sidelines for most of the time until Kyle's parents left again; and then Rose and Kyle walked with Al and Gwendolyn when they were ready to head for the gates and go into the park.

"Do you like extreme rides – or have any that you don't like?" Gwendolyn asked Kyle. "We all love to go fast and spin our heads off."

"Most of us do," Hermione amended; smiling as she looked over her shoulder. "That usually works out because we have one or two people available to watch our things while everyone else is happily spinning their heads off."

"I like all of the extreme rides," Kyle assured her. "We don't go to parks like this very often because my parents don't like most of the rides anyway; but they have taken me to a few parks and just watch the shows or do other things while I go on the rides with my friends."

"We only get to go to amusement parks once a year most years; though we got to do a few parks during one holiday we went on in Eastern Europe," Gwendolyn said. "I'm including an adventure park and a couple of water park visits with that; but they're brilliant too – if in different ways."

"I loved that adventure park," Lily added. "Those rope pathways up in the trees were a lot of fun."

"I've heard of them; but have never been to one," Kyle told her. "Do you travel a lot on holidays?"

"Not usually," Lily answered. "We're doing a bit more since my brothers started to go away to school; but we're almost positive that Mum and Dad are just joking about having more money for things like that now that feeding them is someone else's problem for nine months of the year."

"That's practically the opposite of what my parents say; but maybe the academy I go to is just a lot more expensive than yours." He smiled a bit ruefully. "Don't take that the wrong way; 'cause I don't think that expensive means better – and some of them are the worst when it comes to the rubbish they teach their students."

"I know what you meant," Rose assured him. "My aunt and uncle do just joke about that, and we've always gone on at least one holiday every summer – just not anywhere special. Our Mums and Dads like to get places by the sea sometimes or we might go camping somewhere; so that trip to Eastern Europe was a big deal for us – and an amazing adventure."

"Speaking of adventure – what ride do we want to go on first once we're in the park?" Lily asked as they reached the back of the line.

"You'll need to pick one that's not too far from the gates," Hermione advised them. "We'll be getting together with everyone else first before splitting up again to go and play until lunchtime."

Hermione's instruction had made their options for that first ride fairly limited, but they did go on the nearest rollercoaster after clearing the gates; and then it was time for a lengthy meet-and-greet as Al, Lily, Gwendolyn, and jonah were reunited with their parents; George and Marietta caught up with them with Fred and Roxanne in tow; and James, Bristol, Ollie, and Lacey were last to join them because they'd ignored Ginny's orders and taken off and needed to be ordered to come back. James had done that reluctantly, but then he'd changed his mind about that as soon as he saw that Rose was there with her new boyfriend; and then he happily went out of his way to start messing with Rose – just as she'd feared that he would.

That began with James pretending to be friendly with Kyle, but he started interjecting little insults about Rose; offered up a handful of half-truths or flat-out lies about her supposedly-colorful dating history; and then he recruited help from Ollie and Bristol when Kyle made it clear that he didn't believe James – and didn't like him either. That part of his plan didn't work out very well because Lacey wouldn't play along, and she soon looked as annoyed as Rose and Kyle were when James dismissed her support of Rose; and just switched tactics to continue to try and ruin Rose's day. Al hated all of that, but there was nothing he could do about it outside of school in a park full of Muggles. Even some of the things he sensed from everyone around him was strained and weird whenever James, Ollie, and Bristol were around them. If Bristol hadn't joined in to try and mess with Rose, he might have been amused by her reaction to Kyle, but then her jealousy of Rose just made it easier for her to lash out.

It took a while for James to go too far because he'd tried to be careful not to mess with Rose and Kyle when the parents were too close, but he did finally make one mistake too many; and Al was much happier once Harry and Ginny stepped in and essentially forced James to go do his own thing for the rest of the day with his friends or go home. That had happened toward the end of the lunch break that they'd all gotten together for, and while most of the teens and tweens in their group didn't even know that anything had happened, Al had sensed and overheard that sidelines confrontation and ultimatum; and hoped that they would all be able to have more fun for the rest of the day. There was a good chance of that starting out well when he and Gwendolyn were set free with Rose and Kyle to do their own thing for a couple of hours while the parents played with the five younger kids; though Rose looked worried again as they headed toward the next extreme ride they wanted to check out.

"Well, your cousin and his mates went the other way; so maybe we'll get a break from them," Kyle told Rose; and then looked over at Al. "No offense – or at least only a little – meant, Al, but while you and your brother could be twins except for the eyes; he's a total git. What is his problem?"

"No offense taken; and he can be that and then some. Our current theory is that he wishes he'd been an only child; Lily and I messed that up for him; and now he takes out his frustration on us – and anyone that dares to like us better than him."

"I'm sure there must be some logic in there somewhere to explain how he expects being rude and horrid to everyone will make him more popular, but he did bring more friends than the rest of you; so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about," Kyle offered; earning a round of laughs.

"He does it by rejecting our reality and replacing it with his own," Gwendolyn advised him; and it was Kyle's turn to laugh.

"Are you a Mythbusters fan? I doubt that there are many teens our age that even know that line from the original series."

"I don't know anything about the show, but Al has a really good memory; mentioned that line to James one time when he was being a particularly annoying git; and James decided to make it his mantra."

"That probably works for him, since i didn't believe a tenth of what he was spouting off about the three of you. I don't know much about you and Al yet, but I do think I know Rose well-enough already to know she's too nice for any of James' claims to be true; and everything he said about you was just as unbelievable."

"Thank-you," Al told him sincerely; and then smiled at Rose. "Stop worrying so much," he counseled. "I'm hoping that James, Bristol, and Ollie will leave us alone for the rest of the day."

"You're always so optimistic," Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.

"I try to be, but in this case, I noticed Mum and Dad having a little chat with James right before he took off with Bristol, Ollie, and Lacey; and I think that he was asked nicely to leave us alone – or possibly bribed to do it."

"Does bribery work on James?" Kyle asked.

"He's usually more expensive than Lily or I ever are, but yes; he can be bribed to play nice. Mum and Dad might have said something to him sooner; but I don't think they knew about most of what James was doing and saying until that last round he went with us before lunch."

"My parents would never bribe me to be good if I acted like that; and I can't see any of your parents needing to do that with you."

"Okay, so we don't get bribed for that," Al conceded; "but we do still get bribed now and then for other things – like extra chores or doing other things that aren't any fun."

"Speaking of fun," Gwendolyn interjected; "we're James-free at least for a while; and that rollercoaster really looks like fun. Let's get back to playing and not talk about things like chores or annoying older brothers."

They were all happy to do that; and they managed to play for more than two hours before crossing paths with James again and having one very short bit of nastiness. That didn't last long because Harry just happened to appear and intervene; and then he invited Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Kyle to go with him for the next batch of extreme rides that the parents and younger kids were going on next. There was a snack and drinks break after that; they ended up playing longer and opting to have dinner outside of the park when they were ready to leave; and then they split up to do that – and eventually continue on to their own homes or other destinations. Al and Gwendolyn spent a bit of extra time saying goodbye to Rose and Kyle, since Ron and Hermione were taking him out to dinner and home befoer spending the night in London with her parents; while Al and Gwendolyn were going to be with their parents for the rest of the night.

Getting Kyle to move on had been necessary, since half of their group needed to leave by magical means that would have required a memory alteration if he'd been there to see too many parents and teens get into vehicles – or just disappear. Harry and George, for instance, took care of getting James, Bristol, Ollie, and Lacey back to Ollie's home for their second night of camping. Harry also made a second trip to pick up and drop off take-out food for the four teens because three out of four of them hadn't wanted to go out to dinner with Al and Gwendolyn. Angelina took Fred and Roxanne with her to go and meet up with George and do their own thing for dinner in Diagon Alley while George also checked out the store to make sure all had gone well there while he and Ron had both taken the day off; and Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley took their four remaining kids in the van to the restaurant that Harry met up with them at so they could enjoy a decent sit-down meal that wasn't just fast food or amusement park snack fare. Taking the extra hour and change for that meal meant getting home later for Harry and Al, but the McCormacks left for their place straight from the restaurant; Ginny and Lily were set free to apparate home too instead of spending hours on the road; and Harry and Al were happy to have the father-son time while getting the van back home. Saying goodbye to Gwendolyn had been a bit of a downer for Al, but he didn't want to leave his father to do the drive alone; and Gwendolyn was tired and ready to go home by then anyway. Once everyone else was gone and Harry made sure that those departures hadn't been noticed by any Muggles, he and Al hopped into the van; and were soon on the highway heading west toward home and away from London.

"Would you like to start with the small talk; or get right to what's bugging you?" Harry half-joked; and Al smiled at him.

"Is there any point in doing that?" he countered. "James has it all worked out now; and there isn't anything you or Mum can really do about it short of finding somewhere else for him to live for the rest of this summer and all of the next – or do that for me instead."

"We do keep hoping he'll come around," Harry said seriously. "That's looking less-likely every week, but I have seen worse people turn around; so I have to keep hoping that James will eventually start making better choices for himself."

"You've also seen bad go to worse," Al pointed out. "I'm not giving up on James either, but I don't get any sense that he's making any changes for the better – only finding new ways to get what he wants without getting into quite as much trouble. He seems to be doing a fair job of finding the happy medium where he's getting everything he wants; making life as miserable for me as he can; and doing absolutely nothing to help out at home or anywhere else. It's a good thing we aren't all like that; or nothing would ever get done."

"He loses more than he gains from all of this," Harry pointed out; and Al nodded.

"True, but that doesn't make any of this easier for us. It's a good thing that Rose has picked such a decent guy for her new boyfriend; or James would have likely succeeded in scaring him off today. I really don't want to vent about James. Whatever he has planned for the rest of the summer, I'll just deal with it; and hopefully be able to avoid him as much as possible."

"Ginny and I don't want it to be like this for the rest of the summer – or the next couple of years."

"Lily and I are sick of it too," Al assured him. "James doesn't care about what we want, though; so i don't see anything changing anytime soon."

Harry couldn't really disagree with that, though it still frustrated him that they seemed unable to deal with their family problems. Instead of going on about that to no purpose, though; they just moved on to talk of other things – like the imminent opening of the league training camps on Monday. They discussed Gryffindor team training for both the junior and senior teams; and Al especially enjoyed his father's perspective on the training that Lily was doing with Fred, Hugo, and the rest of the Junior team. For some reason, summer revision didn't come up at all, but they did talk about the Animorphmagus toys for a while; and that included coming up with some different ideas for toys that could be added to the line-up – including special toys for Christmas and other holidays. They managed to keep entertained all the way back home; and then it was time for a bit of busy as they unloaded the van; did a bit of clean-up work; and then pretty much just headed for bed after a short chat with Ginny and Lily while having a bedtime snack.

Sunday was a quiet day at home except for one supply shopping run by Ginny and Lily while Harry and Al were dealing with some yard and garden chores. Al didn't get together with Gwendolyn because she was busy with her family on the last day before training camp, and while they'd considered having him do that with her; he instead took advantage of having a chance to spend that time with his parents – especially after finding out that James wasn't going to be home again until Monday night after work. While some teens might find hanging out with their parents and little sister while basically doing nothing except relaxing by the pool and only having some light play time really boring; Al loved everything about their break in the action. They had easy-meals that didn't require much work on either side of lunch or dinner; Lily settled for just one blast of Quidditch fun; and Al read most of a new book while hanging out by the pool and enjoying a mostly-sunny day. They went for an evening walk; watched the mirror network for a while after that; and then Al spent the rest of the evening in his room. He did a bit of studying; worked on some toy ideas without using magic; and did a bit of Christmas songwriting – including doing that with Gwendolyn while they had their bedtime mirror chat.

Even with all of that, he was still sleeping early-enough to get a full night of rest; so he was at full-power by the time he woke up on Monday morning. Being an early-riser might still get him teased a lot, but Al preferred not having to wait for bathroom time; and the work in the kitchen while waiting for his parents and Lily to join him always felt good – a small bit of effort that quietly let his family know how much he loved them. Their morning meal and chat time was a bit rushed because of the busy day they all had ahead of them, and Al ended up doing the breakfast clean-up too while Harry left early to stop and deal with getting James to work on his way to Auror Headquarters; and Ginny and Lily finished getting everything ready for their opening day adventures. Ginny needed to go to work hours before Al and Lily needed to be at the stadium for the opening day ceremony and meet and greet luncheon; so Ginny dropped them off at the McCormacks when she was ready to go to work. Al and Gwendolyn were happy to be back together again – especially since they'd be staying together until Tuesday afternoon.

"We have a couple of hours – what do you guys want to do?" Gwendolyn asked after Ginny had left and they'd wrapped up the small talk and good morning greetings. She smiled at Lily's reaction to the question; and jumped in before Lily could offer the suggestion. "You're welcome to drag Jonah outside for a Seeker duel, but I am not going to get all hot and sweaty before we have to go to the ceremony."

"We could hop in the pool after," Lily offered. "Are you feeling okay? I don't remember the last time you didn't want to play Quidditch."

"It doesn't happen very often, but I was actually thinking about playing a couple of new Christmas songs for Dad that Al and I have been working on."

"Christmas is still more than five months away," Lily pointed out. "Team Tryouts are less than two months away."

"The songs have to be sold and recorded long before the albums could go on sale for the holidays," Gwendolyn reminded her. "If the Graves Robbers are interested; they'd need to learn and record the songs before some of them go back to school with us."

"You could always record them yourselves," Kirley offered; "and I'd love to hear the new songs before you go back into Quidditch fanatic mode later this morning."

"Part one of that still isn't ever going to happen; and I'm always a Quidditch fanatic," Gwendolyn advised him. "Do you guys want to come along or go out for that Seeker duel?"

"We'll come along – and have the Quidditch play time this afternoon," Lily decided when Jonah left the decision up to her. "Are the new songs more of the parodies?"

"One is," Gwendolyn agreed. "The other is more of a Christmas ballad."

They went to the music room; Al and Gwendolyn performed the new songs for Kirley; and then they did a bit of a songwriting workshop for more than an hour before wrapping that up in time for Kirley to deal with a bit of work he needed to get done before they left for the stadium. While he did that, Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah wandered around outside; tossed a Fanged Frisbee back and forth; and basically did nothing except enjoy hanging out together and talking until Kirley rounded them up and they headed over to Exmoor stadium. They met up with Molly, Rose, and Hugo once they were there, and while they had a good turnout for the rest of the family in support of Gabrielle, Victoire, and Dominique; they only had cameo visits with their aunts, uncles, cousins, and other friends that were there for the big event too. There was time to pick up drinks and snacks before they went to their seats, but the league and team souvenirs, toys, and the rest of the gear that would be available for purchase after the introduction ceremony wasn't on display yet – though those concession stands were all set up and ready to go too. Al had Gwendolyn and Rose on either side of him when they sat down about ten minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were in the row behind them; and Molly and Kirley were with some of the other adults two rows back.

"So is the big news of the day going to be that Brand Bletchley will be playing for the Falcons this season instead of for one of the Azkaban prison league teams?" Rose half-joked.

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed; "but Calvin and Tina should be the biggest story for United – especially since they're taking over for the defending league-champions Beater duo from last season. From what I've heard, some of the supposed experts should retire too; since they seem to think that the Puddlemere owners and managers are making a colossal mistake."

"Then they've obviously never seen Calvin and Tina play," Rose suggested. "United had a great season last year, and I won't take anything away from them; but there was a bit of good luck involved too."

"I like the way United is trying to transition to a younger team," Al told them. "They might not be sure of everything they're doing, and three new players this season is a big deal with some unknowns; but I think it's going to work out pretty well for them – especially if they add Lucy, Olivia, and Alex to their team."

"We know Belinda's helped to get Dominique on the team, and wants Lucy and Olivia too; but is Alex their top pick for the next United Seeker?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I'm sure he's on their radar, but I'm mostly saying that because I think he'd be a good fit – and he and Lucy would both be very happy playing on the same team."

"You have now enterted the Quidditch danger zone," Gwendolyn teased. "I am going to play for the Harpies!"

Al and Rose both laughed. "I'm sorry about that, but you know I'm right about Lucy and Alex, and while I wouldn't dream of messing up your Quidditch plans with the Harpies; we'd have even more fun than they would if we played on the same team – and you know it."

"You went there anyway," Rose said with a bright smile. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Will you still be proud of him after Mum turns him into a bug?" Gwendolyn asked archly; but couldn't stay serious as Al and Rose both laughed again.

"Yes; though I don't think we have to actually worry about that," Rose answered. "Just because Al's right about that doesn't mean that you can't still choose to play for the Harpies – though I don't get why you'd want that when you really do love playing Chaser with Al more than you like the duels against him."

"Make that two bugs," Gwendolyn declared. "I'll feel much better knowing that Al has another friendly woodlouse to talk with while you spend the next few years living in a jar."

"I love you," Al told her. "Let's drop that and talk about some of the other teams."

"Has James given you the inside scoop on the Catapults for this season?" Rose teased; and Al smiled and shook his head.

"Not unless you include what he's been bragging about for being the best Seeker working for the Catapults this year. I haven't heard of any new players for their team, and James hasn't been going around like he knows some big secret; so I'll guess they aren't doing anything new."

"Is James the best Seeker working for them?' Gwendolyn asked; and Al shrugged.

"Potentially, yes; and definitely in his own mind. I do think that the Catapults are interested in him for their team, but unless James changes a lot between now and when he's ready for the show; he'll only be interested in the team that offers to pay him the most – and have a chance to win championships."

"I think you're wrong about the last part of that," Rose told him quietly. "He'll think he can win championships single-handedly; so it'll just come down to the money for him."

"That's true," Al conceded; "though he's wrong about that too."

"He is," Gwendolyn agreed, "but the Catapults are likely only looking at the money too – and how much they'll make off of having a Seeker with your family's last name as their star player."

"I know that's high on my list for why I want Al on my Cannons' team," Rose assured her with a grin for Al. "Even the Cannons should be able to sell out all of their allotted seats for every match with that going for us!"

"Make that a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction for you," Gwendolyn told her; but Rose only laughed again.

"I didn't even mention you in that – and you already know that Al's sure he'll play on the Cannons with me; so what's the problem?"

Gwendolyn paused; and then laughed. "Nothing – that was just force of habit. Carry on."

Rose did that; and then they were soon temporarily bored while they had to put up with the usual speeches from Ministry and League officials. That took more than twenty minutes this year; and then they finally got around to the team introductions for the twenty-twenty, twenty-one season. The Appleby Arrows were up first; and the big news for them was the addition of Susan Cornfoot to their team. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose also cheered for Eddie Bones; though that didn't seem to be as big of a deal for them a year after Teddy and Victoire's wedding. They were truly happy for Susan, and while she didn't get as much attention as some of the other rookies on the other teams; Al did think that she'd be able to help the Arrows even in her first season with them.

There weren't any changes for the Catapults' team when they were introduced, but while he ignored it; Al didn't miss seeing James when he joined the rest of the Catapults' owners, managers, and staff after the team had been introduced and he looked as though he was the star of the show as he tried to show off whenever he thought anyone in his family was watching him. Fortunately, the Cannons were up next, so Al was soon distracted by the banter about Rose's favorite team as she and Gwendolyn traded jokes and comments about everything from the aging players to the prospects for another last-place finish in the league.

Brand Bletchley earned a lot of attention when he joined the other Falcons on the stage as their new Seeker, and the weird part of that for Al was what he sensed from a lot of people – and especially a lot of the Witches. Their interest in Brand was so jarringly-different than what he sensed from Brand that it was almost like sensing a split personality. That wasn't quite accurate, but it was instructional to discover how oblivious groups of people could be to basic truths about a person simply because of their focus on physical attributes. Al also noted that Theo and Gregor Nott were happy to be reunited with their Slytherin team mate; and he expected that Brand would help his new team too – though that might only be in exactly the way the Falcons wanted his help with beating up on their opponents.

There weren't any changes with their Harpies again this season, but Al and Gwendolyn cheered loudest for 'their' team; and they were still certain to be one of the top teams. Puddlemere United got most of the attention for the team changes for the rest of the teams, and while Calvin and Tina really should have been the bigger story; Dominique got a lot of attention for joining United instead of the Harpies with her big sister and aunt – and because she turned just as many heads as Victoire and Gabrielle still did even among the Quidditch reporters that got to watch them practice and play a lot. The United player introductions also had Al's attention turn toward where Belinda's family was sitting, and while he hadn't been anywhere near to Ollie or his sisters yet; that bit of change in focus helped him to suddenly be aware of the anger seething below the surface for Ollie – and some of that was being directed at him.

"I'm in trouble again," Al told Gwendolyn and Rose as quietly as he could; and smiled a bit grimly as both Witches turned their attention to him.

"Why?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al nodded toward where the Wood clan was sitting – though they were too far away for that nod to be very helpful.

"I get the feeling that Ollie's mad at me," he explained; "and I also notice that Lacey isn't here with him."

"You think they broke up – and that's somehow your fault?" Gwendolyn guessed; and Al shrugged.

"I sense the mad, and it involves Lacey; but I'd just be guessing about anything else."

"Well, even if they only had a fight; I don't see how it could be your fault," Rose told him seriously; and then shook her head when they all saw Ollie look their way and glare at them. "Okay, I'd say you're right about him being mad at you – or at us. Maybe Lacey had a problem with how he was treating us on Saturday."

"That's the only time we've seen him outside of our Quidditch practices so far this summer, though if he's mad at Al; maybe Olivia's got something new planned for tomorrow night – like putting Al on her side with Lucy for the scrimmages."

"She won't do that to Gina," Al told her seriously. "That'll be different if I can win a spot on the team in September, but Gina's been helping our teams all through her years at Hogwarts; and deserves the chance to play with Olivia and Lucy – even though I hope to get that third spot this season."

"That will never happen in the world according to James and Ollie," Rose reminded him.

"What will never happen in the James and Ollie world?" Lily leaned forward and asked them – "and what's up with Ollie? He's staring daggers our way."

"Al is sure that Ollie's mad at him; and it might have something to do with Lacey," Rose advised her.

"Lacey isn't with him," Lily said with a nod. "She wasn't happy with James, Bristol, and Ollie on Saturday; so maybe things went downhill after they went back to Ollie's home."

"That's my guess too," Gwendolyn told her. "Maybe you can ask Kathryn about it later if you get the chance to do that."

"Or I can talk to her at our practice tomorrow night," Lily offered. "That might be better than trying to talk to her here."

Gwendolyn and Rose had agreed with Lily, and they talked about it for a while longer; but then got back to watching the team introductions. Once the bigger story from the United team had been covered, the rest of the introductions were not nearly as exciting; though Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose still joined in for a lot of cheering for favorite players on the other teams – including the Campbell family connections playing for the Wasps.

Once that was done, the press did what they do best as they started the round of interviews with the players, managers, and owners. While that was going on, the spectators getting to stay for the luncheon spread out and did some shopping at the booths that now had their team and league wares on display. They all bought quite a few things, but some of the must-have items included the action figures for Dominique, Calvin, and Tina; new team clothes; and some souvenirs that ranged from pins and posters to the glossy team booklets that had all of the player profiles and stats. Al picked up more of those than usual, since he added the booklets for United, the Prides, Catapults, and Cannons to the one he always picked up for the Harpies; but he also picked up more of everything than most of the teens and tweens they were hanging out with while doing that because he picked up quite a few things for potential generic gifts to have ready when needed once they were back at school.

This year, they actually lucked out with pretty good seating for the lunchion; though Gwenog would surely have something to say about it later because Meghan just happened to get her brother, niece, nephew, nd their group of 'fans' with the Prides for the meal. Al especially loved that because he and Gwendolyn got to hang out with Alice and Daniella; while Rose and Hugo sat with Meghan and talked shop with one of the best Keepers in the league. Al was sure that Gwenog noticed that, but she didn't say anything about it to them when there were so many reporters around looking for any gossip they could use to spice up their opening day reports. While the bit of gamesmanship that went along with their lunchtime fun was entertaining, Al knew that Gwenog had nothing to worry about from the Prides; and Meghan had no chance of recruiting him, Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, Lily, or Jonah.

Once they finished having dessert, it was time for the teams to head for their own practice pitches and for everyone else to leave as well. Ginny still had to work, but so did Kirley, so he helped Molly with getting six teens and tweens to the Burrow; and then she put the kids to work for a while on some gardening that needed to be done after taking the morning off for the Quidditch entertainment. With six sets of hands to do that work, it didn't take long; they had a Quidditch workout after that; walked to town to get ice cream treats; and then took it easy for the rest of the afternoon until Harry and Hermione stopped by on the way home from the Ministry of Magic to collect their kids and get them home for the night too. This time, Ginny had drawn the job of getting James from work on her way home, and Al was sure that his day was going to take a turn for the worse just from seeing the expression on her face and what he could sense when they reached the kitchen after taking the Floo Network home from the Burrow.

"Should we be afraid?" he asked as he walked over to his mother and gave her a quick hug before making way for Lily and Harry to do the same in turn.

"Probably," she agreed. "I have no idea what's set him off. He was playing nice right up until we got home; and then he just started spouting off about anything and everything." She waved toward the back windows. "He's cooling off in the pool – and no; I didn't toss him in it from here."

"We might know why," Lily advised them. "Ollie didn't look happy when we saw him at the stadium this morning – and he wasn't with Lacey. If they had problems after they left the amusement park; that might have messed things up for James and Bristol too."

"James didn't say anything to me this morning," Harry advised them; though Lacey wasn't there – and Bristol was; if not for much longer. I didn't see Ollie; so I can't tell you if he looked mad this morning or not."

"Well, I didn't try to ask Kathryn about it while we were at the stadium with all of those reporters around us; but I will at our practice tomorrow night," Lily promised. "Even if James tells us his version of why he's in a foul mood again; I'm sure that Kathryn's version of the story will be much different – and likely closer to the truth."

"I suppose something like that could make James mad if it messed up the rest of his weekend," Ginny conceded; "but there's no reason for him to be mad at Al." She smiled when the kids laughed. "Okay, that has never stopped him before; but you know what I mean."

"We do," Harry agreed. "Would you like to go and hide, Al; or venture outside and try to get the nastiness over and done with now?"

Al sighed. "Why don't I go and give option two a try on my own. If that doesn't work; maybe Gwendolyn and I will bike to town; have a snacks and drinks dinner there; and then bike home – and hopefully get here sometime after James turns in for the night."

"I thought you'd offer to stay in your room all night – with Gwendolyn," Lily offered; earning a round of laughs.

"That's a terrible idea," Al told her seriously – "but only because I'd hate to set that precedent for James."

The girls needed to tease him about that for a few minutes, but then Al left everyone else in the kitchen and headed outside. He walked over to the pool, where James was floating around and pretending to ignore him as he approached. He sat down on one of the lawn chairs; leaned back; and crossed his ankles after stretching his legs out toward the edge of the pool. James continued to ignore him, so Al waited him out; sure that he wouldn't be able to do that for very long. He wasn't really impressed that James held out for more than two minutes, but then he could sense the conflict in his brother; and knew when James couldn't stop himself from taking a shot at him any longer.

"Where's the potty-trainer? Did she finally wise up and dump you, loser?"

"She's hanging out in the kitchen for a while," Al answered. "How was your first afternoon of work with the Catapults now that their into training camp?"

"As if you care," James retorted.

"I suppose I don't," Al conceded candidly. "Let's just move on to the part of this chat where you blast me for whatever you think I did to mess up your life this time and be done with it."

"You were born," James spat. "Die; and I'll be happy again."

"I doubt that," Al disagreed. "If I wasn't around; you'd just need to find someone else to blame every time you don't get what you want or if things go badly for you."

"That wouldn't be a problem; since I'd get everything I want if you didn't go around sabotaging my life," James spat back acidly. "Go away – you're bothering me; and the stench is going to make me puke right here in the pool."

"I would, but you really want to blast me; so I'll wait until you've gotten it out of your system."

"Did Mum cry to you about me being mean to her?" James asked derisively. "Is that why you're out here all alone? Nice try, but I'll wait until we're all together to make your lives as miserable as you make mine!"

"Mum's fed up, not crying," Al advised him. "So are the rest of us; so I actually am out here as much for you as for them." James had hopped out of the pool on the other side from Al and turned to sneer at him.

"You're lying again," he declared. "Get lost!" He was already jumping as he shouted that; hit the water doing a cannonball; and did a pretty good job of splashing Al. He laughed raucously as he swam backward toward the other side of the pool again. "I guess you should've left the first time I told you to get lost," he taunted; and Al shook his head; sending droplets of water flying from his now-wet hair.

"I don't mind getting wet; and I'm not lying. If you want to talk about what you're mad about this time; I'll be happy to do that. If not; I'll remind you that I've told you to leave me – and everyone else I care about – alone. How much longer do you expect me to keep playing nice before I'll decide that it's time to remind you of what will keep happening to you if you continue to mess with us?"

James snorted. "You can't use magic outside of Hogwarts," he retorted. "Go ahead – try it; and then even our pathetic excuse for a father will be forced to deal with you!"

"I don't need to use my wand," Al reminded him; and then he leapt straight into the air from a sitting position; and changed into a shark. He dove teeth-first toward James, his mouth opened wide; waited to see the terror in his brother's face; and then flipped and twisted so that he hit the water length-wise and still feet away from James. His massive body landed with a crash and splash that half-emptied the pool and sent James flying out of it along with all of that water. He then quickly turned into a rainbow trout before he hit bottom so he'd still have enough water to swim in. Swimming around to pick up speed; Al hurled himself into the air again; and changed back into his human form while in the middle of a twisting back-flip before landing on his feet again. He was facing James; but his brother was still on the ground; shaking uncontrollably; and curled in on himself where he'd come to a stop after landing and sliding for a couple of yards on the now-drenched grass.

"Keep hating me all you want, James. Do your own thing all summer – I don't care. Keep being such a rotter to Mum, Dad, Lily, and everyone else, though; and I'll be happy to come out here and play cannonball with you – or any of a hundred other games we could play until you agree to leave us alone." He walked around the pool and over next to James so that he could look down and be sure he had his brother's undivided attention. "I also don't need my wand to have a pretty good idea of why you're mad right now. You and Ollie are going to keep blaming me for everything, so I won't bother talking about what happened on the weekend, but I am telling you that I'm done playing nice if you refuse to do the same. Give that some serious thought while you're getting cleaned up for dinner. It's totally up to you, but I'd seriously advise you to pick the 'leave us alone' option. I'm only sick of all of the crap you've been giving us, James; and you really don't want to find out what'll happen if I ever get really mad at you again."

With that said, he walked away; didn't look back; and ignored James as he muttered – "I hate you and will kill you one day, loser" under his breath. He wasn't smiling when he walked into the kitchen again; but couldn't help but feel pretty good as Gwendolyn wrapped her arms around him for a long hug that ended with a soft, warm kiss. He looked around the room; knew that everyone had watched the show; and shrugged self-consciously.

"That might have gone better," he told his parents.

"You think?" Ginny asked rhetorically.

"I thought that was an amazing cannonball," Lily offered after Ginny turned to look at her as she laughed. "Mum and Dad might not want to fill the pool for us again, though; so I hope you have a seashell for that."

"None of this is funny," Ginny told her; but Lily just grinned unapologetically.

"I'm sorry, but that really was funny, and if it works to get James to at least shut it and stop being such a git toward us; then I say good on Al for doing it!"

"Except he's got yet another reason to hate me even more," Al reminded her. "I'm not going to fix that problem by scaring him with Animorphmagus games."

You won't," Harry agreed; "and you should probably just stop doing it before you find out that it's worse for you than it is for James."

"I already know that," Al assured him solemnly. "Am I in trouble with you and Mum for that? I plead guilty as charged, but won't apologize; 'cause I'm not really sorry – even if I do feel bad for James too."

"You didn't even touch him," Lily reminded him. "I thought you were going to eat him and spit him outagain; but maybe sharks can't spit and you couldn't do it."

"Lily!" Ginny exclaimed; but she put a hand over her mouth to keep the laugh from bubbling out.

"Okay, maybe that was a bit too much," she conceded while still grinning. She looked out the window and nodded. "James is up and heading this way."

"Then we – or I – should get out of his way," Al said seriously. "Does the dining room table still need to be set?"

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "Go do that – all of you; and then you'll have time to get set up for your camping night before dinner will be ready."

The needed dinnerware, glasses, and cutlery were rounded up in moments; and the four kids were out of the kitchen before James walked into the house. He didn't stop in the kitchen, but Al sensed the hatred from his brother in dark waves as he passed and glared at him for the moment he was in sight from the other room. While James went upstairs, Al and Gwendolyn helped to get the table set; and then they went outside to get the tent set up and ready with the help of seashells and charm bracelet. Lily and Jonah joined them; they had that work finished by the time Ginny called them in again; and then dinner was a fairly-awkward gathering for all of them as James ate in silence while ignoring everyone else at the table. He did at least eat quickly; and then he was gone into the sitting room for the rest of the evening – making it obvious that he'd staked a claim to the room and didn't want to be bothered by anyone.

That made the rest of the evening easier for Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah because they just stayed outside for the rest of the night. There was some Quidditch play time, swimming, and a bike ride for the entertainment until it was dark out; and then they had some quiet music fun in the tent before settling onto the sofas for some cuddle time while watching Lee's nightly show. Lily and Jonah left Al and Gwendolyn on their own after that show ended; there was a bit of minor snogging for a while once they were along; but then Al and Gwendolyn split up and went to their own beds for the rest of the night – mostly because they actually wanted to get the sleep ahead of their busy work and play day on Tuesday.

Al continued to have mixed feelings about the way he'd tried to deal with James, but couldn't argue with the results. James wouldn't appreciate his efforts during the rest of the week, but Al went out of his way to avoid his brother as much as possible. That was why he cooked on Tuesday morning, but then took breakfast for four out to the tent while leaving enough in the kitchen for his parents and brother. STaying in the tent or back yard until after James left meant that Al and Lily didn't get to spend any time with Harrry before he left with James and eventually went on to Auror Headquarters for the day; but they all just started to change things up a bit during the rest of the week so that they had some time together – though those chances to hang out together were limited as they all juggled a busy work week.

The work parts of the week for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose included working on their toys on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Ginny supervised them – and joined in to play with the magic – each day too, so while that was real work; it was also a lot of fun. All of the kids took those afternoons off except for a few chores at home or elsewhere; they also had fun with Quidditch, swimming, other outdoor games and activities, and a bit of music time for Al and Gwendolyn every day that included more Christmas songwriting. Dinners each of those days were awkward, but they were also the only times that Al and James were in the same room for the rest of the week for more than a few moments. They were at the senior team practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but didn't have to work together; and there were enough other teens there to make it easy to avoid each other.

Gwendolyn and Jonah went home on Tuesday in time for dinner and their own Quidditch plans, but they stayed for another camping night on Wednesday; and the extra time with Al and Lily was as much to help Gwenog while she was busy with the first week of training camp as it was for the four kids to have more time together. Al and Lily still camped in the tent on Tuesday and Thursday nights to stay out of James' way; so that helped to make life a bit easier for all of them too. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were taking the day off from work on Friday because Rose went to London after Quidditch practice on Thursday to spend the night with her grandparents – and hang out with Kyle, but Gwendolyn and Jonah still came over for the day on Friday morning; and they were staying for a date night in London and another camping night in the back yard. Al and Lily had some chores to do that took most of the morning, and they did that while Ginny went out to work for the day; but then they played for the rest of the day – including an afternoon of Quidditch, swimming, and a bit of Animorphmagus horsing around.

They weren't all going on the same 'date' in London, but they were all going out for the evening; so Gwendolyn and Lily needed extra time to get ready for their respective dates before Ginny came home and they all headed for London once she'd gotten ready too. Al and Gwendolyn were going out to dinner and a movie with Rose and Kyle – their first double date; and Lily and Jonah were going on their date with Harry and Ginny as their chaperones. While they were going to end up at the same movie theater for the entertainment highlight of their evening; they did not go to the same restaurant; and Al and Gwendolyn were dropped off at their favorite Muggle mall while Ginny, Lily, and Jonah went on to meet up with Harry at the Ministry of Magic because he'd been running late getting out of Auror Headquarters for the day. Rose and Kyle were on-time for meeting up with them, but Al and Gwendolyn were a bit early; so they had time to wander around the mall before the four teens were able to meet up near the food court.

"Is this a first for you?" Gwendolyn asked Kyle after they'd done the round of hugs and greetings. "This is the first chaperone-free date night for Al and me."

"I had a secret spy date with my girl-next-door friend when we were four or five and hid from our Mums that was technically unsupervised until they found us again. Does that count?"

"Probably not," Gwendolyn decided; "but that's a cute story. "I like Al's Mum and Dad a lot, so we've always had fun going on our dates with them along, but I'm also glad they're giving us a chance to go out on our own this time – or at least on a double date with you guys. Maybe next summer they'll trust us to go out by ourselves."

"It isn't a trust issue that's about you," Rose reminded her. "It's the dangers of the big city they worry about."

"With good reason," Kyle agreed with a nod, "but we'll be careful; and won't have anything to worry about. Do you guys want to go and eat now; or wander around for a while. We've lots of time to do both before the movie."

"Let's eat first and then shop," Rose suggested. "That way; you and Al will be ready for snacks by the time we get to the theater."

That was what they agreed to do; they went to a sit-down restaurant for their dinner instead of having fast food at the food court; the girls did almost all of the shopping after that; and then they spent a couple of hours immersed in a movie that was particularly-amusing for three of them because it was a fantasy film filled with Muggle imaginings of what a magical universe would be like in an interstellar confederation of the distant future. The special effects were decent, so that was at least worth the cost of the tickets; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose did find it very interesting to watch the show with Kyle and 'see' the movie through him from the perspective of a Muggle with no knowledge of the real magical world that they normally lived in every day. Al could partially do that during the show through what he sensed from Kyle; but the girls mostly got to do that by talking about the movie after they left the theater and went to have a desserts and drinks end to their day at a nearby diner.

"I like science fiction movies more than the fantasies most of the time," Kyle said in answer to Rose's question about the movie once they'd been seated and placed their orders. "That movie was pretty good, though; and using magic instead of technology to travel around the universe would be brilliant – and probably a lot cheaper than building spaceships or gateways."

"I've never really understood the whole gateway thing," Al told him seriously. "The movies I've seen with them in them always seem to have had ancient civilizations that needed interstellar travel to go from planet to planet while building them, but if they could already do that; then why bother with building the gateways at all?"

"Because they're faster once they're built," Kyle offered; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Maybe – though we dont' actually know that for sure," he countered. "Yes, I've seen movies where the characters go somewhere and return without much time passing at home; but we have no idea whether they arrive instantly into the same time on that other world or not. In fact, I can't think of any movies I've watched where they didn't end up somewhere with either a more-primitive or more-advanced culture. Ending up somewhere that is nearly-identical to their 'home' planet usually only happens in alternate-universe movies."

"They all seemed to be in the same time for this movie," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al nodded and shrugged.

"They were, and that seems a bit unrealistic to me; since time should be a factor for traveling long distances even with magic. At least with science fiction, there's passage of time; and you can usually calculate how much time should pass based on how fast the spaceships can go."

"That's one of the reasons I like science fiction movies better," Kyle agreed. "The books and movies can sometimes be unbelievable too; but they usually make more sense to me than magic." He waved his hands in front of his chest in an imitation of one of the 'moves' the actors used to summon their magic in the movie. "Creating something out of nothing just with a wave of your hands in a special way just seems silly to me. At least they didn't go with all of the old cliches for this movie – like having them use wands and fly brooms." He laughed at that. "Could you imagine if they had flown between planets on brooms? Now that would make for a hilarious episode of Star Trek!"

"Are you picturing a race to the nearest planet between the Enterprise and someone on a broom; or a head-to-head confrontation?" Rose asked; and Kyle shrugged.

"Either would be funny; though I still can't really picture a world or universe that is all magic instead of technology. What would we even have as an equivelant to our smartphones and computers? Would we even have an alternative to them – or to movies and television? There wasn't anything like that in this movie – unless you include those magic mirror-like windows they'd create to talk with each other – and that seemed to be a bit inconvenient."

"I certainly wouldn't want one of those things popping up in front of me at inappropriate moments," Gwendolyn offered with a laugh. "I expected that sort of thing to happen once or twice in the movie; but the closest they got to that was with the one guy that wasn't wearing a shirt."

"We might have been too young to go and see it if they'd added in those kinds of scenes," Rose pointed out. "I am glad that Al and Kyle weren't thinking about that sort of thing – unless they have been and just didn't say anything."

"No comment," Kyle joked.

Their orders arrived then, so they paused while their server delivered their drinks and treats; and then their conversation moved on as they enjoyed that last little blast of fun together. Al and Gwendolyn went along to the station with Rose and Kyle when they were ready to head home to her grandmother's house, but then they made an excuse about heading in a different direction; saw Rose and Kyle on their way; and then went to meet up with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Jonah so that they could apparate home. They had a bedtime visit with all six of them; and then the four kids headed out to the tent for the night while Harry and Ginny went up to bed. It was too late by then to watch Lee's show, but they did watch the mirror network for a while and cuddled in couples on the sofas while winding down and trading date night stories. Lily fell asleep first; Jonah decided to stay and cuddle with her all night; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to have another sofa sleepover too.

While their night out had gotten the weekend off to a great start, Al could easily-admit that being James-free was what really made for a great weekend. Patricia had invited him to spend the weekend with her, and while Al didn't want to even think about that too much; it was really great to be able to spend time with his parents, sister, and their friends without the ongoing teen drama – even if that had been muted and below the surface since Monday. They had some work to do around the house on Saturday morning, but then they played for most of the rest of the weekend. They were all at the McCormacks' for the afternoon and evening on Saturday because Kirley and Gwenog were having a family and friends drop-in-and-visit day; the four kids stayed overnight there – camping with some of Gwendolyn's and Jonah's cousins; and then the entertainment highlight for Sunday was an afternoon visit to the Burrow. That wasn't a full family gathering, but Ron and Hermione were there with Rose and Hugo; and Angelina stopped by for a visit with Fred and Roxanne for an hour or so too while George was busy at the store.

Gwendolyn and Jonah were at home for Sunday night, but then they were back with Al and Lily again on Monday morning. The fifth week of their summer holidays wasn't quite a repeat of the previous week; but it did rhyme in a lot of ways. There wasn't another opening day for the league Quidditch training camps, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose just added one morning to their toy-making work week. Ginny needed to juggle helping them with that while also working the training camp circuit with the other sports reporters, but she just did more work in the afternoons on that while the six kids stayed at home and played – or went out to play as they did on Wednesday so that they could spend the afternoon and evening hanging out with Kyle in London. Al and Lily had their junior and senior team practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings; and those two Quidditch practices ended up being the most time that Al had to spend around James all week – including the weekend; because James was having another weekend away thanks to Bristol and her invitation to have him stay with her instead.

The last weekend of July wasn't exactly the half-way point of their summer break, but it was only off by a day due to the timing for September First this year. Having a second quiet, family and friends weekend might have seemed boring for a lot of teens, but Al really liked having more time to just relax and enjoy the hot, lazy play time – especially when it meant having a lot of time with his girlfriend in a swimsuit! While their weekend was a bit different from the last one, the changes were really just with where the camping was each night – both at the McCormack's house; and the mix of people they got to play with – a few more friends; and fewer aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Some of the entertainment highlights were Quidditch-related, but Al and Gwendolyn also had another blast of music fun with Kirley as they shared four more Christmas songs with him; and he had some good news for them too – confirmation that their songs were going to end up on one or more Christmas albums that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were already starting to work on. The only thing that hadn't been decided was whether they'd create a compilation album with both groups – and possibly others; or make separate albums for each band. Al had been happy about that, and things were looking great for the Animorphmagus toys too, so while they hadn't actually seen any money from either of their summer job ventures yet; he was sure that they would do quite well from both the toys and music.

That was something that he was thinking about a lot on Sunday night as he studied in his room after getting home from Gwendolyn's house with Harry, Ginny, and Lily. He was there because James had come home too; and hadnt' been happy about not getting to spend the extra night with Bristol. Money had been on his mind because it was being talked about downstairs – and that conversation had been the main reason he'd left the sitting room and come up to his bedroom instead. While James was a bit obsessed with money – and getting as much of it for himself as possible; Al's perspective was definitely different – especially now that he was truly beginning to think about real goals for the future – like helping Rose with her plans for building their work future around the Cannons. While nearly everyone else continued to think that her dream was either crazy or just a silly, innocent teen fantasy; Al was becoming more-sure that Rose had a truly brilliant idea – if not a concrete plan yet for how to make that happen.

Spending a mid-summer evening thinking about things like that might not be normal for most teens either, but Al had no problem multi-tasking that with holiday revision and other musings about the fun and adventure he hoped to have with his family and friends in the second half of the summer. He talked more about that with Lily when she stopped in for a bedtime visit once she'd had enough of James for the night; and then his mirror chat with Gwendolyn had been all about their work and play plans for the last few days of July. They had a two-week vacation coming up with Harry and Ginny starting on Friday, so the toy work part of their summer was going to mostly be finished by the end of the week; though they'd be continuing to work on other new toys for what Al hoped would be years to come – if they wanted to keep going with all of the other ideas they had for expanding the Animorphmagus toy line.

All of that helped to keep Al entertained until he was ready to sleep, but when he did eventually end up in dreamland, he didn't dream of Cannons' Quidditch or Gringott's vaults filled with stacks of shiny gold galleons. He was, after all, a fairly-normal teen Wizard, so he instead dreamed of summer adventures that included Gwendolyn in swimsuits in a starring role as they shared in the fun and excitement that he hoped would be just as great in real life during the second-half of their summer holidays!


	35. Expedition - Fun

**Chapter Thirty-Five – Expedition – Fun!**

The last handful of days in July began on Monday morning with the usual early-morning wake-up call for Al; and he was in a good mood as he got ready for the day and then went downstairs to get started on making breakfast for five. James didn't try to mess that up for a change; and that was because Harry and Ginny had negotiated a compromise with him about their upcoming vacation plans. That news was part of the breakfast conversation; so that was when Al and Lily found out that James would be going with them for the first weekend of their vacation, but would then spend the two work weeks at the Burrow with Arthur and Molly when he wasn't working; and would be with Patricia and Bristol respectively on the second and third weekends. He and Patricia would also go to the opening day Harpies' match on the middle Saturday; but wouldn't go along for any part of the second week of their vacation. Bristol would also be with James for the first weekend at the seaside cottage they were renting for the first week, but while nothing was said about it; Al sensed that part of the deal included having James and Bristol play nice with everyone.

With that better-than-expected start to the week, Al was happy to get to work on making new toys once Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, and Hugo came over – and after James had left for work with Harry almost immediately after he'd finished eating. Gwendolyn and Rose had loved the vacation news too; since they'd both be along for that first week of vacation; and the good mood seemed to just keep getting better as the week rolled along. Toy making was the name of the game for the first three mornings of the work week; there were chores to do in the afternoons while Ginny worked the training camp circuit on Monday and Tuesday; and Al and Lily had Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, and Hugo all stay for a camping night on Monday – the only one they had for the week.

On Tuesday night, Al and Rose were busy with their senior team practice, and instead of staying at home on Wednesday afternoon; Ginny dropped all six kids off in London so that they could have a play afternoon with Kyle. That was the last chance Rose had to see him until after their week by the seashore, which was why she stayed at her grandparents for the night after Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo all left to go and meet up with Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Diagon Alley. They had dinner at one of the cafes; did some shopping to get ready for their trip; and then split up when it was time to head back to their respective homes for the night. Gwendolyn and Jonah went home then too, and once they were home; Al and Lily both spent the rest of their evening doing some chores and packing for their vacation.

Thursday was a chores day at the Potter home. Ginny still had to go out for work, but she split that up with two hours of work in the morning; and three in the afternoon; leaving Al and Lily to work on their own when she wasn't there. The lawn was trimmed; the gardens were de-gnomed and weeded; and all of the other regular weekly chores were all dealt with so that they could leave for two weeks and not have a major mess to deal with when they got back home again. Al and Lily were on their own for dinner because Harry and Ginny had a joint fortieth birthday dinner party to attend at the Leaky that was for Neville and Harry. James had opted to have dinner at Ollie's instead, but then Al went over there too in time for the senior team practice while Lily got to have Molly for her babysitter and junior team Quidditch supervisor until Harry and Ginny got home again after their extended dinner and Harry's birthday roasting.

Having that joint party on Thursday night had been done because Harry was taking his birthday off for the extra day of vacation; so he was technically on holidays from the moment he left Auror Headquarters on Thursday afternoon. That didn't mean he was able to take the night off after the party, though; and Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily all worked around the house until fairly late to get everything ready so that they could leave for their seaside cottage first thing in the morning – or at least after breakfast and once James had been taken to work for the day. That's why it was nearing midnight when Al had his bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn, so they kept that bit of fun short and then went off to sleep; knowing that they'd soon be back together again – and get to spend all of the next two weeks together too!

"Good morning, Thomas," Scorpius said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Deceased," Thomas joked. "You sound odd. What has you in such a strange mood?"

"I just thought that you might enjoy having a visit this morning – a sort of celebration of Harry Potter's fortieth birthday. I'm sure there will be a huge party for him at the Ministry of Magic!"

"Haven't they made it a national holiday yet?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius laughed.

"No, so you still have that over him for your birthday."

"You do know that I didn't find jokes like that about my birthday funny when I was alive," Thomas reminded him. "They haven't really become more amusing now that I'm not."

"I'm hoping that you will eventually get a sense of humor," Scorpius countered. "Would you like to hear the latest from my last Quidditch practice?"

"Not if it includes anything about your new, secret girlfriend," Thomas answered; and Scorpius laughed.

"You advised me to follow my instincts and see where that led," he pointed out; "but I'll spare you the snogging details."

"Good. What news do you have that you do believe I'll find interesting?"

"The Aurors are not charging the underage Slytherins involved in that attack at the school feast; Brand Bletchley worked out a deal that somehow kept him out of Azkaban; Vince Vaisey has been charged, convicted, and sent to Azkaban for an extended holiday; and Victor Avery is the only other Wizard being charged with the most-serious crimes – and that won't go anywhere further until and unless he's tracked down and captured by the Aurors."

"I take it that he isn't planning on turning himself in," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius nodded.

"He isn't – or at least that's what Rupert is telling us. We don't know if there will be any consequences for the underage teens at Hogwarts; but I expect we will know that by next week when the Hogwarts letters come out."

"I'm surprised that the boys don't know the answers about that already," Thomas said; and Scorpius shrugged.

"For all I know, the guys could just be keeping me out of the loop about any bad news they've gotten; but I don't think that's happening. Rupert is an idiot, but even he isn't dumb-enough to go around insisting that he's going to be one of our fifth-year Prefects if he's in a lot of trouble with the school; and I think he's a bit delusional to think he'd be named a Prefect regardless."

"Slughorn is a coward," Thomas reminded him. "He'd give that honor to Rupert if the Avery family insisted on it."

"We'll see," Scorpius said with another shrug. "There are better choices – and some of them are from powerful families too – like the Selwyns. I'm not sure whether I should home for the best for Rupert and the other guys; or hope they all get suspended."

"You're thinking about that because of Quidditch," Thomas accused. "The last thing you should want is to see potential future allies being hurt by your enemies – and messing up their education can be very harmful!"

"You could just keep teaching me; and then I'll teach them," Scorpius suggested.

"Training your followers will be important; but you do not want to get bogged down with teaching them the basics. If that's what you want to spend your life doing; apply to teach at Hogwarts after you graduate – and let someone else lead the pureblood revolution."

"You don't exactly make that leader job sound like much fun most of the time; so maybe I should let someone else take the job," Scorpius only half-joked; and Thomas shook his head.

"I always knew that I was destined for greatness; and you should believe that there is no-one better than you for the job," he chided. "You'll certainly never restore your family name and honor if you're not willing to make the sacrifices to prove that you're worthy of the respect and loyalty of the other true purebloods. Will you be content to be your young lady's dirty little secret – no different than that Mudblood Witch you've joked about James Potter sneaking around with last Christmas?"

"It is nothing like that for Lysandra and me!" Scorpius told him angrily. "You're just being intentionally insulting. Keep it up; and I'll just leave you in the dark for the rest of the summer."

"Stop acting the child," Thomas shot back dismissively. "You're a bit old for having temper tantrums over being told something that hurts your feelings; and you'll have no chance at making your hopes for the future a reality if you're not even strong-enough to stand up to mere words."

Scorpius paused for a long moment; and then shook his head. "You began the name-calling," he reminded Thomas, "and it wasn't done to test my mettle; but to divert us from the point I was making." He shook his head again and stood up. "Stating that you do not make being leader sound attractive is a simple truth; but also does not mean that I'm being dissuaded from my goals – as you seem to assume of me so easily." He picked up the portrait and held it in front of him.

"Call this what you want, and have fun insulting me, but we're done here; because I've better things to do than play your silly word games."

Returning to the same cottage they'd rented two years ago hadn't felt like coming home; but it had felt pretty good to Al as they pulled into the driveway and Ginny brought the van to a stop. Harry was already there; his motorcycle parked; and he sat on the sea-facing deck while enjoying a cold drink. He stood up and smiled as he walked toward them; and he was half-way to them by the time they had the van doors open and Ginny, Lily, and Jonah were first out and on the ground.

"Been here long?" Ginny asked; and Harry shrugged.

"Fifteen minutes or so. It's probably for the best that I'm not a Muggle police officer; or I'd have needed to write myself a speeding ticket or ten."

"We're still early," Ginny reminded him. "Last we heard from Ron and Hermione – through Rose; they're still a half-hour out."

"Only because Aunt Hermione won't let Uncle Ron go as fast as we did," Lily teased; earning a round of laughs. "I'm surprised he doesn't just let her drive and apparate here instead."

"He likes the driving practice," Harry advised her. "I've hardly used my bike this summer so far; so I'm glad for the chance to use it more this week too."

"Well, it is your birthday," Ginny told him. "You're allowed to play all you want today." She turned her attention to the kids. "We aren't that lucky, though; so let's get this van unloaded and our things put away. If we get to it; we'll be done by the time Ron, Hermione, and the kids get here."

"And then we'll be able to go and help them unload too," Lily added with a feigned sigh. "I wish my birthday was in the middle of summer."

"You'd have settled for the end of summer," Harry reminded her – "even though that three years between you and James worked out fairly-well for you last year."

"That likely did work out for the best," Lily conceded; "but it still doesn't seem fair to base being ready to learn magic solely on when you were born." She grinned then. "If that was different; James might still be home; and I'd have started years sooner."

"That's funny; but don't go there," Gwendolyn told her. "If you take that idea to the next level, Al might have started at Hogwarts when he was five; and been done by now."

"I wouldn't have wanted that," Al assured her. "There's no way I'd have made the Gryffindor team on my Firefly when I was five – not to mention that Mum and Dad wouldn't let me play at all with bludgers back then."

"Ditto that for Lily if she'd started early," Ginny told them. "The age limit has been around for a long time, though, and while it might not be fair to every student; it's generally proved to work well most of the time."

"Then there's the point that it could be tough for any underage teens if they graduated from Hogwarts too early; and then couldn't use magic until they turned seventeen," Harry observed. He grabbed two boxes out of the back of the van and smiled when Ginny gave him the look. "I'm heading back that way; so I might as well carry these while I'm going there anyway."

That excuse didn't really work for Ginny, but she let him get away with it; and they all got to work on unloading the van and getting unpacked. They didn't quite get done before Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo arrived at their cottage next door, but Lily and Jonah were set free to go and help out over there while Al and Gwendolyn stayed and helped Ginny with getting their food and other supplies put away in the kitchen and bathrooms. Once that was done, they made it next door in time for the last third or so of the work there; and then the six 'kids' were set free to go for a swim; so they went to do that while Ron and Hermione went to hang out with Harry and Ginny – and eventually start working on making lunch for all of them.

Having the early start to their vacation thanks to Harry's birthday worked for the kids and three out of four of the parents, but with the opening of the league Quidditch season now just a week and a day away, Ginny still needed to do some work – though she did that from the cottage on Friday afternoon instead of doing more visits to team training camps. There were chores to do around the cottages too; though that was mostly before and after meals; getting set up for a campfire; and being ready for guests that came over for dinner and the evening to help Harry with celebrating his fortieth birthday. That wasn't a major family and friends gathering, but it was the main reason for why they stayed around the cottages and by the seashore for the rest of the day instead of wandering farther afield in search of fun and adventure. They had lunch together as one big group; spent about half of the afternoon playing; and then Ron was happy to help Harry do no work while everyone else pitched in to get everything ready for dinner and their evening birthday entertainment plans.

One thing that was very different about the cottages was that Quidditch matches weren't an option because they had nowhere to do that. As Harry's guests began to arrive, Al and Gwendolyn were put in charge of 'the kids' and kept their cousins and friends entertained at the beach or in the water while the adults mostly gathered around the cottage and only wandered down to the beach for visits – or to cool off with short swim breaks. Bill and Fleur were first to get there with Louis and Noel. That definitely felt different for all of the cousins now that Dominique had joined the ranks for the working adults, and while she did stop in for a cameo visit – as did quite a few others; she was busy with other plans for dinner and the rest of the night too. Fred and Roxanne were brought over by Molly and Arthur while George was busy at the store in Diagon Alley, but Molly and Lucy were two more cameo visitors – in Molly's case because she got held up at the Ministry of Magic with her new job there. Al didn't think about that change very often either; though he had at least heard a few things about Molly's new job from his parents and sister as part of their Thursday evening Quidditch and dinner party story time.

They 'only' had twenty-three for dinner – including James and Bristol, but since the meal was grilled with a lot of cold side dishes; that wasn't too much work for Ginny and Hermoine to keep up with – especially when they had lots of volunteer help. Extra tables and chairs were conjured, and the adults happily roasted Harry while enjoying their meal while the kids mostly entertained themselves and left the parents and grandparents to that. James and Bristol weren't complete angels during dinner, but kept the insults and razzing about Al and Gwendolyn mild-enough to avoid any undue attention. They spent most of their time hanging out with Louis and Noel, but then they also ate quickly; and then headed off to the beach on their own – though James did manage to take a few dessert choices along so that he didn't miss out on those treats.

While Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah hadn't been able to spend time with Harry and Ginny during dinner; they did gather around with everyone when it was time for the birthday song and for Harry to open a handful of gifts between dinner and dessert. That blast of fun had been entertaining; they'd gone on after having dessert to help with the clean-up; and then Al and Gwendolyn ended up doing a bit more work to help Ginny out after overhearing that they were going to need to set up the tent because James had advised her that he and Bristol had no intention of bunking up with anyone else for the weekend. Since they were okay with that plan, that extra bit of work was worth the effort – even when it also meant a walk-by razzing from James and Bristol that included a back-handed insult to go along with the insincere thanks for being such good little slaves.

The rest of the evening until dusk was spent on the beach or in the water for all of the kids and teens, and the adults had some play time there too; but party central was still around the cottage; and that's where everyone gathered when it was time to wind down with the campfire. There were more than thirty Witches and Wizards in the group that settled in around the fire in chairs or on blankets. Kirley and Gwenog were among them; so Al and Gwendolyn were not surprised when they were drafted early to help out with the music entertainment – starting with a couple of ballads that the couples could dance to – or at least enjoy while cuddling with their partners. They had help along the way, but still ended up playing and singing for an hour – including a lengthy version of the Animorphmagus song where Al had to change into a dozen different animals; and Harry was goaded into taking a turn for the one and only animal he could do too.

It was Friday night, and most of the guests had the weekend off from work; so staying up late was an option. The campfire fun included scary stories and toasting treats; but there was also quiet chat time and other fun – like a moonlight swim for one group of teens and parents; and walks on the beach that were usually done by couples looking to have a bit of romantic alone time. Their guests began leaving by around midnight, but Harry and Ginny weren't alone with their four kids – six, including James and Bristol in the tent – until one-thirty. The campfire clean-up had been finished by then too, but instead of just going to bed; they gathered in the cottage sitting room for a bedtime chat.

"I think that I'm glad we won't be able to have a party for my birthday," Ginny said tiredly. "This was small compared to last night; but I'm exhausted."

"We have been busy," Lily agreed; "and our day started very early. I'm glad that we had everyone here, though; since we haven't been able to do that as much this summer – and likely won't get many more chances between now and when we head back to school."

"That's true," Ginny conceded. "I really noticed the changes tonight now that you have four cousins that have gone and grown up on us – including Teddy. Aiden and Lucy will be next; with Louis just a year behind them."

"Stop there," Harry suggested. "James and Charlene will take that list past the half-way point for all of the cousins; and we're not ready to go there yet."

Ginny laughed. "I'll give you that one tonight – but only because James has mostly played nice as promised for a change; so I'm not in as big of a hurry for him to grow up on us as I have been far too many times over the past year or two."

"Let's not go there either," Gwendolyn suggested. "We definitely don't want to jinx that when we still have the rest of the weekend to get through."

"Okay, then let's talk about what we need to do to get ready for our hike tomorrow – and making breakfast for twelve. Ron, Hermione, and the kids are going to do that with us instead of their own thing."

"I'll cook," Al offered. "You and Dad should get to sleep in a bit after everything you've done today."

"And we'll let you do that," Gwendolyn teased. "Lily, Jonah, and I will help with getting backpacks ready to go. Will we need to put together a picnic lunch; or are we going to plan the hike around having lunch in one of the villages?"

"Option two," Ginny answered. "Hermione has that all worked out for us; and there will be some sightseeing along the way too."

"Are we doing any caving?" Lily asked. "We'll want jackets and flashlights if we're doing that."

"Not this time." Ginny fielded that question too. "There will be a few places where some horseback riding will be an option; but only if Al can do that without Muggle issues."

"Maybe you should change all of the guys into horses," Lily suggested; and Ginny laughed.

"That would be a really bad idea. Animagus have full control of their animal forms. That's not true for Wizards or Witches that have been transfigured by someone else."

"Would that still be true if you left them in animal form and trained them?" Lily asked seriously.

"I don't know," Ginny admitted, "but Harry and Ron have jobs to go back to, and Gwenog might have a problem if we turned Jonah into a horse and left him like that for weeks or months while trying to train him."

Lily sighed. "Okay, but it just doesn't seem fair that Gwendolyn's allowed to have a horse and I can't have one too."

That lament needed to be commented on first before their chat moved on, but then they didn't stay up much longer before being ready to head for bed for the night. With James and Bristol in the tent, Gwendolyn got to have the extra room; and Jonah bunked with Al while Lily had her own room too. Al was the last to have a turn in one of the bathrooms while getting ready for bed; and he was the last still awake because his extended senses wouldn't just shut down thanks to too many nearby distractions. That didn't keep him from being first to wake in the morning; he was first to get showered and ready for the day too; and had breakfast half-cooked before Harry joined him in the kitchen and ended up helping out with the work while they waited for everyone else to join them. Having a late night meant that some of them did not get enough sleep; and it was the usual suspects that were a bit on the grumpy side as they gathered and then sat down to eat. James, Bristol, and Ron were at the top of the list for that side of the emotional spectrum; which was certainly why they were also the three diners that were most-annoyed by the most-cheerful members of their little group – Lily, Al, and Gwendolyn.

"How in Merlin's name can you be so bloody cheerful?" Ron finally asked Lily after she'd finished a happy little blurb about some of the things she hoped they'd get to do during their hiking adventure day. She laughed and grinned at him.

"Cheer up, Uncle Ron! It's going to be a beautiful day; we're going to get to go on an adventure; and the best part is that we're getting to do that together – with all of us!"

"Going back to bed until noon would be more fun," he suggested. "I'll need an imperturbable shield so I don't have to listen to all of these noisy bloody animals; but then I'll be good to go for sleeping until lunchtime."

"You wouldn't really want to waste half the day doing that," Lily countered; and Ron laughed a bit morosely.

"Yeah – I really would," he disagreed. "The only reason I haven't told the lot of you to sod off is because the food's good."

"Have you ever met any food that you didn't like?" Ginny asked him; and Ron nodded.

"Sure – you used to be a horrid cook," he declared.

"Maybe when I was four or five," Ginny agreed candidly. "You weren't so hot at it back then either."

"As if I'm much better now," Ron ofered. "That's why I don't cook – to save everyone from the potential for permanent damage to their tastebuds."

"Sure, that's it," Hermione said; pretending to agree with him. "It's amazing how you manage to help George with making all of those wheezes without blowing yourself up; yet simple recipes are beyond you."

"I know," Ron agreed with a nod and smile. "Fortunately for Rose, Hugo, and me; you can cook or we'd be in serious trouble."

"Keep going on like that and you will be in at least some trouble," Ginny suggested. "While it would be fun to watch you dig that hole deeper; let's not go there. Lily's usually this happy, so that shouldn't really bother you; and I'm glad that she can make up for those of you who aren't morning people."

"Hermione would be bored if she didn't have Harry and me around to make her go mental now and then," he declared. "It works for us."

Al actually thought that was at least half-true. Ginny and Hermione likely agreed; since the conversation moved on without much comment on Ron's statement. James and Bristol weren't happy campers as they woke up while having breakfast, but they also mostly played nice except for some whispered insults that Al could still hear; but expected that nobody else did – except for possibly his father. Ron and Hermione went back to their cottage after eating to finish getting their things ready for the hike; James and Bristol took off to do their own thing for a while; and then they all gathered together when it was time to head out to the place where they were going to start their hike – a trailhead at the edge of a nearby village a few miles inland from the coast. Al and Gwendolyn went there with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo, and while that left Lily and Jonah with James and Bristol in the van with Harry and Ginny; they later assured Al that they didn't have any problems while on that short little drive.

James and Bristol were given a smart phone and permission to go off on their own for the first couple of hours of the hike, but while Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride after James and Bristol had left; they mostly stayed with everyone else for about three-quarters of that leg of their adventure. The exercise part of the fun was only moderately-challenging, but Ron and Hermione were ready for the break when they met up with James and Bristol for the first sightseeing stop – an old ruin with a great story that Hermione told them and an even better view of the sea and surrounding area. From there, they had a walk down into the nearest village; where they stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping. When they were ready to head out of town again, they had a short hike to a very nice beach – and the walk was just long-enough to work off a bit of their lunch before going to play in the water and on the beach. James and Bristol again mostly did their own thing, and wandered off to a spot that was partially out-of-sight of everyone else; and they opted to stay longer when Hermione advised them that it was time to head out for the rest of their hike.

That was the one and only test that James put Harry and Ginny to for the day, but it didn't end up being a major problem because Harry simply apparated to where they were on the trail and unceremoniously popped them over to the cottage while Ginny drove the van back with the rest of 'their' kids. Saturday evening ended up being an early night for most of them because they were worn out after a busy hiking day and the late night on Friday. They had another barbeque dinner; hung around the cottages or by the sea until near-dark; and then James and Bristol were the only people interested in a campfire or staying up late while everyone else just wanted to wind down and go to bed. Harry helped them with getting set up for that campfire after Ron and Hermione took their kids back to their cottage; and then he went inside for the night – and off to bed when Ginny was ready to do that after a short bedtime chat with the kids. Al and Gwendolyn stayed awake for a while longer while enjoying some cuddle time on a sofa, and Lily and Jonah stayed with them for a little while too; but they were all still in bed and sleeping long before James and Bristol went off to bed in the tent sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was scheduled to be a quiet day around the cottages, and it started out that way because James and Bristol slept through breakfast; so Al was in a great mood as he and gwendolyn were set free for the morning after helping with the breakfast clean-up. Lily and Jonah had already gone over to meet up with Rose and Hugo; they went to join them; and then they decided to go for a bike ride – partly so that they didn't do anything to wake the sleeping brother bear or his girlfriend. They rode all the way to the nearest village; picked up ice cream treats; and then wandered around the place and by the small marina there before biking home again. Gwendolyn and Jonah had a nice surprise when they got back and found out that Kirley and Gwenog had come over; and an even better one when they learned that the main reason for the early visit was to let them know that their cousin, Tony, and his wife, Jenny, were now the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy.

Johnny Jones had just been born about two hours before they got the news, but while Kirley and Gwenog had been at St. Mungo's and gotten a first look at the newest addition to the Jones' clan; they'd decided to come and hang out with the kids for a while because mother and baby were both exhausted from a long labor; and didn't need the extra company around while they took some time to recover. Having all of their parents with them made the rest of their quiet play day by the sea all the better – and that really was all of the parents because Kirley invited Bristol's parents to join them for the afternoon; so James and Bristol were on their best behavior while her parents and brothers were there for some afternoon sun and fun. The Wagtails couldn't come over until after lunch, and had dinner plans with some of the other band families; but they did enjoy hanging out with the McCormacks, Potters, and Weasleys for a few hours – and that time reminded Al and Gwendolyn about why they had been good friends with Bristol before she'd hooked up with James and changed so much.

Kirley and Gwenog stayed for dinner, and then they took Al, Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Lily with them for a visit to St. Mungo's so that the kids could meet baby Johnny and have a visit with his happy, excited parents. Tony and Jenny both had large families and lots of friends, so that visit wasn't very long, but then they had a bit of family time in the waiting room too before they headed back to the cottage and Kirley and Gwenog headed home from there ahead of her training day curfew. While they'd missed the evening fun and games, the play day was winding down by the time Kirley and Gwenog went home; and they were all making an early night of it again because they had a busy day planned for Monday – another boating and diving adventure. James would be back at work instead; and that was why he didn't try to stay up late either. Al and Gwendolyn spent a half hour or so talking with Rose before she went over to her cottage, and Lily and Jonah went for a walk on the beach before bedtime; but then it was time to turn in for the night.

Life took a slight turn for the strange on Monday morning. Al and Harry cooked breakfast for eight while Ron, Hermione, and the kids did their own thing; that meal was drama-free; and then Harry took James to work while Al and Gwendolyn helped Ginny with the clean-up and Lily and Jonah helped with getting everything ready for their diving expedition. The strange part of the morning came when Bristol took Gwendolyn and Rose aside and asked them to let her join them for the diving day so that she didn't have to go home and do nothing all day while her family was busy with band work. While they all knew that had been a self-serving request, neither Gwendolyn nor Rose were going to reject a chance to repair their friendship with Bristol and maybe help her find her way back from some bad decisions; so they'd agreed – and helped to get the parental approval for the addition to their gang of kids.

Al had felt awkward during that entire scene and for the next hour or so as they finished getting ready and headed out to the marina where the boat they were renting for the day was moored; but then Bristol almost seemed to be her old self for the rest of the day – and she was as excited as everyone else when they began exploring the underwater reefs and a shipwreck that Hermione had picked out for them again this year. They spent two hours underwater in the morning; had lunch on the boat; and then spent another two hours diving in a second location during the afternoon before it was time to head back to shore again by late afternoon. Bristol went home not long after they got back to the cottages, and while the parents started working on making dinner; the six kids were set free to go and play at the beach. They all went for a swim first, but then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were ready to sit and enjoy the late-afternoon hot weather while having drinks and getting a chance for some teen chat time.

"I want to talk about tomorrow too," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn, "but let's start with what happened with Bristol today; since I'm sure we're all thinking about that a lot too."

"You and Gwendolyn might be thinking about Bristol and whatever you're referring to about tomorrow; but I've pretty much only been thinking about how much fun it is to spend so much time in one day around Gwendolyn while she's in a swimsuit."

"You know it's Hogwarts letters day," Rose told him after she and Gwendolyn both laughed at his comment; "and you've been thinking about Bristol too."

"I know she was just using us to get out of working at home with her parents," Gwendolyn said, "but we did end up having a nice day with her; so maybe it'll make a difference for how she acts around us – at least for the rest of the summer."

"That would be nice, and I'm glad that we had a good day with Bristol," Rose said with a nod; "but I'm actually wondering a lot about Bristol and James right now. Did you guys notice that she basically didn't mention him at all today once he was gone off to work? I didn't even hear a single – "I wish James could be here to see this" kind of comment from her."

"She liked getting to decide what she wanted to do today for herself," Al said quietly; earning the full attention of both Witches. He smiled ruefully and shrugged. "Does it surprise either of you that James calls the shots when they're hanging out together? When you think about it, she doesn't likely get to do that at home much either when the bands come first; and she's always in the shadows of her brothers and the other Weird Sisters' cousins."

"You're saying that's why she's been so awful to us," Gwendolyn suggested. "Bristol feels inferior to others in her family; and that's just worse when she compares herself to Rose and me. I'm not saying that James is entirely to blame, since Bristol is making her own choices freely; but he is taking advantage of her – and she's in the shadows with him too."

"In more ways than one," Al agreed. "I guess my point is that she wants more for herself; but doesn't know how to find her own way. It won't be by following around after us, but I hope she does get where she wants to go some other way; since that won't happen for her with James either."

"No doubt there," Rose agreed with a nod. "Let's shelve that for now – though I am going to think about ways to help Bristol with that; since I really did like seeing her like this today for the first time in ages."

"Okay, so why are you thinking about Hogwarts letters today too?" Gwendolyn asked. "None of us need to worry about whether we've done well or not – unless you've been keeping major secrets from Al and me."

"I'm not worried about our grades," Rose assured them. "I am wondering about Quidditch; who our new Heads and Prefects will be; and whether we'll find out anything about what's going on with Rupert Avery and his mates – or at least the ones that will be back at Hogwarts again if they haven't been suspended or expelled."

"Well, we know the Aurors didn't end up charging any of the underage boys," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Maybe they'll all be allowed back at Hogwarts too; though I'd expect that they'd at least get some sort of suspension – just as James and Ollie did after their attack on Stephanie, Al, and me."

"That might be helpful for us this year; but likely worse after they come back," Rose offered. "They'll hate us even more – just as James and Ollie did when they were suspended."

"They're not going to have any love for us whatever happens," Al reminded her – "especially if Victor gets caught by the Aurors and sent to Azkaban. You know they'll blame me for everything."

"That's what I'm afraid of happening," Rose told them. "It would be so nice to actually go to school in September and not have to worry about when the next ambush or attack is going to come – or who might get hurt along the way. I think you'll make our senior team, Al; and you can be sure that the Slytherins will be out to get you in our match against them."

"If Rupert and his buddies get suspended; they might not be able to do anything," Gwendolyn told her. "Let's not go borrowing trouble. We have our maps and can deal with any Slytherins if they give us any problems. Let's hope that we don't have any trouble; but be ready for it if needed – as always." She smiled and shrugged as Rose looked dubious. "Let's talk about the other things you're wondering about for tomorrow. Do you think that it'll be James or Ollie for one of the new Gryffindor Prefects? I'll pick Lacey for the other one; so that could end up being really weird for them if she and Ollie both end up being Prefects."

"As if it wouldn't be just as bad with James – and horrid for us," Rose said with a laugh. "Fortunately for us; it's very unlikely that either James or Ollie will get the job. I'll hope that none of our favorite Slytherin haters end up as Prefects either. Could you imagine what Rupert might try to do with that kind of power?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't end well for him," Al assured her. "He's no more likely to get to be Prefect than James or Ollie, though; and we haven't had any problems with any other Slytherin Prefects so far – even the ones that hate us."

"None of them want to risk losing the Prefect privileges," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't blame them – and hope that we'll get to be Prefects so that we can use the Prefect bathrooms and get those other fringe benefits."

"Will all of the work be worth it?" Rose asked. "I used to think that I'd like to be Head Girl some day, but after seeing Victoire and Molly go through it; I'm not so sure anymore – especially when we'll want to be at our best for Quidditch that year."

"I want to be at my best for that every year," Gwendolyn advised her. "That shouldn't matter for you and Al; since you'll be playing for the Cannons; but I'll need to be good-enough if I want Mum to hire me for the Harpies – and she won't do that if I'm not one of the best Chasers available by then." She laughed at Rose's sudden smile. "Don't even think about going there," she warned.

"Too late," Rose admitted, "but you already went there too; so I don't have to say anything."

"Who do you think will be the Heads this year?" Al asked; trying to divert the conversation away from the Cannons and Quidditch. "It's an off-year for the Weasley clan; so it won't be Lucy."

"She'd hate the job," Rose told him. "I'd be okay with any of the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw Prefects for our Heads this year; but doubt that Brandon or Savannah will get the job. Gryffindor has had a few too many turns lately; so they'll likely be passed over this year."

"Too bad – Brandon would be great," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't know Savannah well-enough to have an opinion on her."

"She's really nice," Rose assured her; and then grinned at Al. "You've always thought so, right?"

"Yes, and she's really pretty too; but that's not going to work if you're trying to get me into trouble with Gwendolyn."

"You managed to get through the day without getting into trouble despite that swimsuit Bristol was wearing," Gwendolyn told him; "so you are safe from a little-boy crush on one of your fellow Auror kids."

"I've never had a crush on Savannah," Al assured her. "There are older Witches that I like a lot, but just in case you didn't know it; my little-boy crush was on you."

"Should I leave now; or will you just save that thought for now and snog him later?" Rose asked Gwendolyn.

"I'll save it for later," she answered and promised; though she did hug and kiss Al too.

Gwendolyn may have saved that thought for later, but actually getting some alone time with Al didn't end up working out for them for the rest of the day. They stayed on the beach until the call for dinner arrived; enjoyed a quiet meal with the parents; and then they were on clean-up duty while Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione went for an after-dinner walk on the beach. Rain rolled in not long after that work and walk was finished; so they ended up spending the rest of the evening indoors, and while Al and Gwendolyn ended up spending the rest of the night together; it was because they fell asleep on the sofa they'd been sharing while watching a mirror network show; and Harry and Ginny had left them there instead of waking them up when everyone else headed to bed.

Al loved the bonus cuddle time when he woke up in the morning, but he only stayed with Gwendolyn until it was time to get ready for the day and started on the breakfast cooking for the gang they were having for that meal – including Kirley, Gwenog, Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo. He was first to hit the showers; and had the work well-underway by the time Harry joined him and started helping out. They had Jonah and all three Witches with them by the time Kirley and Gwenog arrived; and the food was ready to go just as Ron, hermione, and their kids made it over from their cottage. Their location didn't likely make a difference for the Owl Post deliveries, but they were mid-way through their meal by the time the three owls arrived with six Hogwarts letters. Harry took care of the owls and then handed out the letters to the kids.

"I guess we'll have to check in with James to find out how he did sometime later today," he told Ginny.

"Mum will let me know," she answered with a shrug. "He'll be glad that he doesn't have to open it in front of us this year."

"I don't want to open mine and have it compared to Al's," Lily told her with a grin for Al. "Let me guess – eleven O's for you, right?"

"Yes," Al confirmed, "and I'll guess that you did pretty well too; and have nothing to worry about from Mum and Dad being disappointed."

"I'm disappointed,' Lily told him seriously. "Didn't you recommend me to be the junior team Captain? There's no Captain's badge in here with my letter."

"I didn't submit a pick," Al advised her; "though Mr. Peakes did ask me about it. Most of our returning junior players could do the job; and it didn't seem fair for me to pick one of you over the others."

Lily sighed dramatically. "That whole being fair thing is getting very tiresome – especially when it doesn't help me at all; and I think you should get over it."

"I think so too," Gwendolyn told her. "Playing fair like that got your junior team three wins last season, and you beat our team, but Al's so nice about it; we couldn't really get mad at him."

"Then it's a good thing that he'll be playing for the Cannons,' Lily offered; grinning again. "You might be happy to lose matches to his team in the show – if he was playing on a good team; but your Mum and I wouldn't like that at all."

"No, we wouldn't," Gwenog agreed; "though that's a brave thing to say right here in front of half the Cannons fans."

"If we had Rose and Al playing for the Cannons this season we might be able to give the Harpies a run for it," Ron declared. "I doubt the Cannons will be able to afford them compared to what the other teams will offer when they graduate; but it is fun to dream about having our kids play for my team."

"You guys can talk Quidditch later," Hermione told him. "How'd you do, Rose; Hugo?"

"Ten O's for me," Rose reported; handing her letter over to her mother.

"Six O's; 1 E for me," Hugo answered next; and passed his letter to his father; since he was the nearer parent.

"You beat me too?" Lily demanded; and then sighed. "If I find out that James has been faking it and has great marks too; I may just decide to hext the lot of you the minute we're on the Hogwarts Express in four weeks."

"Am I safe from that with four O's and three E's?" Jonah asked hopefully; and Lily laughed and leaned over to hug him.

"Yes, you are," she confirmed. "I had five O's and two E's; so thanks for letting me be fifth out of six – or seven; if we include James."

"You're welcome," Jonah deadpanned. "Did you have straight O's too, Gwendolyn?"

She shook her head. "Eight O's; two E's for me," she answered. "I'm happy with that." She smiled at her father when he laughed.

"I would've been happy with two O's and eight E's," he explained – "not that I could have done that; since I didn't take three optionals."

"You probably wouldn't have been," Gwenog disagreed with a laugh. "That would've messed up your reputation if anyone found out you were that smart."

"Then I guess it's for the best that I wasn't," Kirley joked.

"Sure, because nobody knows how brilliant you are," Ginny scoffed. "We've got three Wizards here at the table that are perfect examples to prove that grades in school aren't everything – not that I'm suggesting that any of our kids should slack off because of that."

"Thanks for getting my hopes up and then dashing them so quickly," Lily said with another dramatic sigh. "Let's stop there, though, or the next thing I know; you'll be telling me that the Harpies are going to start requiring their new players to have ten NEWTs with straight O's to get hired by their team."

"We do look at Hogwarts records," Gwenog advised her; "but the Quidditch record is way more important than the number of OWLs or NEWTs. You might want to keep in mind that some of our best-ever players also did pretty well at Hogwarts – with your Mum and Victoire being two of those best-ever Harpies."

Lily laughed. "Are you excluding yourself from that list to protect your reputation; or can I hope to be on that other, not-so-brilliant academic list with you for the best-ever Harpies that weren't also top students?"

Gwenog chose not to answer that question with any details to prove her own academic status either way, but then their conversation moved on to talking about the other information included in their Hogwarts letters – like the books and supplies they'd need for the coming school year. Ginny was going to have a work day because she did still need to get ready for opening day on Saturday and keep up with her Quidditch News and Daily Prophet reporting responsibilities; so Ron, Hermione, and Harry decided that they'd take the kids to Diagon Alley for the morning to get those books and supplies – mostly because Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose wanted to get their new textbooks sooner instead of later so they could read ahead – and maybe even get to practice a bit of the new magic if they could do a bit of that with a little parental supervision. Once that decision was made, the kids were motivated to help with the clean-up and getting ready to go to London; Kirley, Gwenog, and Ginny helped with getting the kids to London; and then they moved on from there – heading off to work in three separate directions.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione got to wander around Diagon Alley with the kids while they picked up books and the rest of the usual supplies, but they let the kids do most of the shopping; and mostly helped out with carrying the bags – which was easy-enough thanks to the undetectable expansion bags that they brought along with them for the trip. They didn't bother to get the kids fitted for their school robes yet, but there was some particularly-brilliant bits of entertainment for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose – getting to see the all-new Animorphmagus action figures and dolls on the shelves in several stores for the first time! They'd known that the toys would be out in time for the back-to-school shopping season – or at least the first sets of them; but it was very different to see their own creations on display in stores. What was even better was seeing the response of the other Witches and Wizards around them to seeing the toys for the first time too. The one demonstration they watched at one store had been brilliant; and seeing a few happy kids leave with their new toys was great too. They weren't surprised when Harry and Ron picked up one of each action figure and one of the dolls for Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose, but while Lily happily took hers out of the box and carried it around with her in kneazle mode; the other toys went into the undetectable expansion bags along with the rest of their purchases.

They didn't run into many relatives or friends while they were in Diagon Alley, but Harry, Hermione, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose did have quite a few mirror chats along the way as they shopped – all of those calls related to the Hogwarts letters. Harry's top call was from Ginny after she was given the news about James' Hogwarts letter. He told Al and Lily about that; but didn't make a big deal about it – and made sure that he didn't advertise the news to anyone else around them. James only managed to earn one O, two E's, and five 'Acceptable' grades for his eight classes. Molly also told Ginny that James was planning on dropping his last remaining optional and only wanted to take the seven mandatory classes in his OWL year. Harry wasn't happy about any of that; but none of them had been surprised. Al was really just glad that James would be moving on to fifth year; though his worry over that had more to do with the jokes from a year ago than any real need for concern.

The news from around the family proved that the rest of their cousins were all very bright; though Al and Rose were still the top two remaining students in their family. Molly had done brilliantly too, but she was done now; and Louis was one of the top students in his year; earning all ten of his OWLs with six O's and four E's. Fred was happiest about getting the junior team Captain badge; Roxanne was thrilled to finally get her first Hogwarts letter; and Lucy was happy that Olivia got the senior team Captain job for Gryffindor so she could focus on playing her best without all of the responsibilities of leadership. Lily and Jonah hadn't teased Gwendolyn about it when Jonah hadn't been named junior team Captain for Ravenclaw, but they did do that after finding out that Ryan had gotten the job instead. Unlike Al, Gwendolyn didn't have a problem with admitting that she'd recommended Ryan over Jonah and Stephanie; and she believed that their cousin was best for the job – at least for this coming season.

All six kids were interested in who the Captains would be for all of the teams; though they didn't expect to hear about who would get those jobs for Slytherin until September First. They'd learned about Olivia and Fred first – no surprise there; and Gwendolyn had found out about Ryan and Pauline next. It wasn't really news that Alex Jordan would once again be the Hufflepuff senior team Captain; but Ricky Peakes was a minor surprise for their junior team – and possibly a biased choice made by his proud father over the other, returning junior team players. Rose and Hermione led the way for finding out who the new Heads and six of the new Prefects would be; though that was mostly through cousins, friends, or co-workers.

The news that Alex Jordan would be Head Boy as well as his House's senior team Captain came along with the Quidditch Captain news, but Hermione was first to learn that Miya Davies was Head Girl. Lacey Finnegan and Chris Cauldwell got the fifth-year Prefect spots for Gryffindor; it was Lisa Cornfoot and Brandon Graves for Ravenclaw; and Hufflepuff's newest Prefects were Vanessa Smith and Jonah Finch-Fletchley. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo weren't all that interested in the Heads and Prefects news, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose did have more interest in that news this year; since they were all hoping to get one of those Prefect jobs next summer. While all of the gossip helped to provide bonus entertainment for them, they were all also glad to have the shopping wrapped up by lunchtime. They stayed in Diagon Alley for that meal so they wouldn't need to cook and clean back at the cottages; they split up between two different cafes while doing that; and then headed back to the cottages for an afternoon of sun and fun.

James had been in a rotten mood when Arthur had dropped him off at the Catapults' training pitch. He'd been glad to get his Hogwarts letter without his parents, the loser, or Lily around; but hadn't liked talking about it with his grandparents – even though they didn't say anything to him that could even be considered remotely insulting or an expression of disappointment or admonishment. Sure, they'd gone through bad reports with George and Fred, and Ron hadn't been nearly as brilliant as the rest of his older brothers; but James still knew he was being compared to his brother, sister, and cousins – and he hated it!

The usual chores around the locker room, office, and pitch that were his responsibility tried his patience more than usual; and he had to force himself to play nice with everyone – particularly with some of the players that really annoyed him most. A few of the guys seemed to get their jollies out of bossing Harry Potter's son around; though that had been changing since the first few days of training camp. That was thanks to the one thing that he had that most of those idiots didn't – talent. That thought had him smiling; since it brought back the memory of the afternoon when the Catapults' reserve Seeker had challenged him to give his job a go if he thought it was so easy – a dare that had been thrown down after James had laughed derisively at a complaint the fool had made. He'd been happy to accept the challenge; and then had shut the idiot up when he then proceeded to battle the Catapults' Seeker to a draw for the last hour of their afternoon scrimmage.

After that showing; their team manager had invited him to train against their Seeker for at least a little while every day. He'd lost some duels over the weeks since then; but he'd won several duels too – something that their back-up Seeker never did. Thinking about all of that as he worked helped a bit, but the Catapults' manager must have still known something was bothering him; because he ordered James to join in on the flying workout; and then had him play Seeker for the reserve squad during the morning scrimmage. that worked for everyone except their team Seeker because that was exactly what James needed to vent his frustration and anger; and he not only won that Seeker duel; he earned two snitch catches because the first one had come too quickly.

"To hell with everyone else," James decided and told himself as he headed for lunch with 'his' team. "I'll show all of them soon-enough that I'm better than all of them – and don't need perfect Hogwarts reports to prove it!"

Scorpius sat at a table in the Lestrange Estate library not long after lunchtime on Tuesday. His books were open; Lysandra was sitting in a chair along the side of the table to his left; and they were both getting ready to work on their holiday revision after having lunch with her parents and brother. He'd come over for the morning Quidditch workout; and that had been a few hours of semi-insanity – thanks to the news that had come along with the Hogwarts letters.

"We'll be left alone," Lysandra told him quietly. "I know you must want to talk about what happened this morning as much as I do." She wasn't smiling, but Scorpius knew that she meant that he could talk freely with her instead of following the herd as he'd done all morning when he needed to say anything at all.

"Okay, but I'd like to hear what you think about everything first," he told her. There was more than one reason for wanting to do that, but Scorpius had learned over the summer that Lysandra liked having her opinion valued by someone – something that 'the men' in her family didn't do – especially Raban.

"I think that my brother is an idiot – and lucky that he was still underage by a month or so during that attack; or he might be on the run from the Aurors with Victor instead of merely expelled from Hogwarts. Don is obviously smarter than the others to avoid getting suspended for a year like most of the others did; and Blaise is just a poser; though he was at least smart-enough to followe Don's lead to stay out of the worst of the trouble."

"Your parents – and the others – aren't going to have any luck appealing those suspensions or your brother's expelling either with McGonagall or at the Ministry of Magic,' Scorpius suggested. "They're being treated a bit more-harshly than James and Ollie were when they were suspended for the last couple of months of our second year; but then there were a lot more injured students this time."

"And it happened after we've been given several warnings,' Lysandra added with a nod. "I don't really know why they all seem so surprised. If any of those students had died; they'd have all been expelled – and likely had their wands broken."

"Probably," Scorpius agreed. "This is going to make it an impossible year for our Quidditch team; and that's particularly-rotten for Licentia now that she's been named Captain."

"It is rotten," Lysandra agreed. "We finally get a Witch as Captain; and she might be the last one thanks to my brother and his mates. What really bugs me, though, is that she wouldn't even have been given the chance if Raban hadn't been expelled; since he would have been named Captain instead – even though she's ten times the player he is – and probably the best on the team."

Scorpius smiled at that. "I'd like to think I'd have a shot at that honor; but will concede she's likely the best of the returning senior team players." He joined in with Lysandra when she laughed quietly.

"Okay, you might be just a bit better," she conceded; "though I'm not sure that would be true if Licentia had a Lightningbolt too. She is going to have problems finding enough decent players for your team – especially at Seeker and Keeper. Maybe you should play Seeker instead of Chaser. You're fast-enough."

"I'm not good-enough at catching the snitch, though," he admitted candidly. "G-Air has never done well against the other Seekers; but he could at least catch it and give us a chance. If there's someone in our House that's better; I haven't seen him – or her – prove that at tryouts."

"You might be surprised," Lysandra suggested. "Some of our fellow Slytherin don't even go to tryouts because they're afraid of us – of my family, the Averys, and others. My parents are surprised that you're not afraid of Raban or the others."

"That's changed since we started at Hogwarts; though I wasn't ever truly afraid – more like annoyed that I get lumped in with the rest of my family instead of being seen for who I am."

"I'm as much to blame for doing that as anyone," she told him; and then smiled at him. "That has all changed this summer – even if I don't dare admit that to anyone except you – for now."

"It's enough to have you think better of me – for now," Scorpius said; enjoying another little laugh with Lysandra over those last two words. "Now if only we could get some of our Professors to do the same instead of messing with us just because we're Slytherins."

"We'd both be straight-O students if not for them," Lysandra agreed, "but maybe we'll do better this year if we work together."

"I think you're right about that," Scorpius agreed; though he said that in a way that had Lysandras smiling at him in appreciation for the multiple reasons he implied without saying anything more. "What would you like to work on first today?"

He'd meant that more than one way too, but they went on to actually work on their summer revision assignments for a couple of hours; they went for a swim after that; and then went for a walk around the estate grounds that included a bit of privacy and the chance for a minor snogging session before they needed to be back at the mansion and Scorpius needed to head for home. The need for secrecy annoyed Scorpius, but that was mild compared to the excitement that went along with starting a romantic relationship with Lysandra – and that was even more extreme thanks to the real and perceived dangers that went along with those choices for both of them.

Scorpius continued to think about Lysandra a lot during dinner and the rest of the evening, but the dinner conversation with his parents and grandparents was all about his news from the Quidditch practice. They hadn't exactly been happy with the news, but did seem to take some comfort from the troubles the other pureblood families were having with their kids while the path they'd taken had kept them all safe and well. He thought that was ridiculous; though he also had his own mixed feelings about having half of the team from last season either suspended or expelled. he wasn't able to talk with Thomas about it until late in the evening, but hadn't been surprised when his mentor believed that this was yet another great opportunity for him.

That might be true, but Scorpius had no idea how to take advantage of that opportunity. He and Licentia had been playing well together in their practices, but without much of a team around them now; that wasn't going to be enough to help them beat any of the other teams this year. Not having the normal 'leaders' in their House could make things better for Scorpius and a lot of the other teens and tweens; but he didn't expect the other pureblood teens to let him fill that power vacuum. He didn't even know for sure whether he and Lysandra would figure out a way for him to hang out with her study group – or to combine both of their groups. They'd need to be even more careful about getting together for any alone time, but at least with that; he had a reputation for going off and doing his own thing a lot anyway; so he wouldn't be missed if some of those absences were while he was with her.

He didn't talk with Thomas very much about his growing romantic relationship with Lysandra, but Thomas did approve of what he did know about – and continued to be sure that she could aid him in his return to respect among the other pureblood families. He also thought that it was fitting that two more members of the Black and Lestrange families were getting together – just as his great-aunt and her cousin had done decades before they'd been born. While he agreed with that, Scorpius also didn't think that he or Lysandra were really all that much like their linked anscestors – beyond their mutual desire to restore all true Witches and Wizards to their rightful place as rulers of their world and the dominion that was meant to be theirs over all other magical and mundane creatures.

When he was eventually ready to get some sleep, Scorpius left those weightier thoughts behind and happily dreamed of more interesting things – at least for teenaged Wizards – such as Lysandra Lestrange in a swimsuit!

Ginny finished up with her visits to training camps by mid-afternoon; she returned to the cottages to join in on the sand and surf play time; and then the parents decided to go out to dinner at a small Inn in the nearest town instead of cooking – supposedly as a gift for the kids for doing well on their Hogwarts letters. They were still okay with that plan even if they didn't really believe the excuse for having another meal that didn't need to be cooked or cleaned up after; and then they had a fun, quiet evening back at the cottages before turning in early so that they could rest up for their last big adventure day of the week. Sightseeing was the name of the game on Wednesday, and while they did a fair bit of walking while seeing the local natural and man-made wonders; they also drove from site to site; and covered a loop that required a total of nearly two-hours of drive time by the time they got back to the cottages by late-evening.

Thursday was another work day for Ginny and a stay-by-the-cottages day for everyone else, but they also had visitors drop by throughout the day; and had a large family and friends dinner to wrap up their week by the sea – and one last campfire that was the highlight of the evening entertainment for more than thirty Witches and Wizards of all ages. Al and Lily hadn't seen Aunt Muriel much so far over the summer; so her addition to the group from late afternoon until she wanted to be taken home at around eleven o'clock had been fun – and loud. She'd had a lot to say about their Hogwarts letters and all of the other school-related news she'd heard about from her friends over the past two days; but she was also quite-obviously proud of most of 'her' Hogwarts students – and she enjoyed getting to brag about them with the other old ladies. She pointedly did not talk about James, but a couple of her comments made it clear that he was the one exception that kept her from being proud of all of the cousins; and he was also the only cousin that wasn't specifically mentioned for praise of some kind.

Al and Gwendolyn had helped out with the work before and after dinner; kept their cousins and friends entertained between dinner and the campfire; and then they were the main musical entertainment during that last few hours of fire-lit fun. Their ballads brought Aunt Muriel to tears; the goofy songs were popular; and they even managed to play a few dance songs that got people up and moving even though their acoustic guitars versions of those songs weren't as loud or exciting as the originals were with the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers. It had been one of their last ballads that had seemed to be responsible for Aunt Muriel's desire to go home; and that's why she wasn't challenged on her claim that the smoke was bothering her eyes and she needed to get home and rest them.

Aunt Muriel's departure hadn't been the first, since some of the guests had needed to leave ahead of training day curfews, but the remaining guests began heading out then too over the next half-hour or so. Al and Gwendolyn then helped with the clean-up, but they didn't put the fire out yet; and returned to sit by it with Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo after all of their guests had gone home and the four parents had opted to go to bed instead of staying up with the kids for a while longer.

"Do you hear that?" Rose asked as she toasted a marshmallow and looked out toward the sea that they could actually see pretty well thanks to an only partly-cloudy, moonlit night sky.

"Hear what – the sound of comparative silence?" Lily asked; and Rose laughed.

"I was thinking about the possible echo of Aunt Muriel's voice getting back here from the Americas," she joked; but the quiet is nice too."

"She was in fine form today," Lily said with a nod. "Al and Gwendolyn turned her into a puddle tonight, though; so I'm not going to make any jokes about Aunt Muriel tonight. Maybe when you've been around as long as she has been, you need to be like that if you have such a big heart."

"From what Grandma has told us, I'd say she's been outspoken her whole life," Al offered quietly; smiling at Lily while enjoying the cuddle time with Gwendolyn. "She does have a big heart, though; and does love all of us a lot."

"Speaking of love – are you going to get your Mum and Dad to take you to London tomorrow, Rose?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin. "If Kyle's missed you as much as you've missed him; you might need the whole weekend to catch up on the snogging."

"Too much information," Hugo told her before Rose could answer; earning a round of laughs.

"We have so got to do a bit of matchmaking with you," Lily told him half-seriously. "If we do that soon-enough; we could all go out on a four-couple date or two before we head back to school."

"We'll be away next week," Al reminded her. "That only leaves a bit more than two weeks after that before we'll be back at Hogwarts."

"Don't remind me," Rose told him. "I've missed Kyle a lot and it's only been a week. Three and a half months seems impossible to even think about right now."

"The one, humongous downside of dating a Muggle," Gwendolyn told her sympathetically. "We mostly only hear about those stories from our Muggleborn friends and school mates; but it's always hard – especially when we can't tell them about being Witches or Wizards."

"That does stink," Rose agreed. "Unfortunately for us, though, our secrecy laws are even more important and necessary now than they were when first passed. Individual Muggles can be really nice, but they'd definitely try to destroy us if they all knew about our world and decided to gang up on us. Even Uncle Harry and Al might have a bit of trouble fighting against billions of Muggles armed with some of those awful weapons they've created."

"Let's hope that we never have that kind of war," Al said fervently. "It wouldn't end well for any of us."

"I'm not sure how you ended up there from where Gwendolyn started with that; but let's change the subject again," Lily suggested. "What do you think about some of the Quidditch news we heard tonight? Dominique seems pretty happy; and is sure United is ready for their first match. I wonder why she doesn't seem more nervous – especially when she and Calvin and Tina have a lot of pressure on them taking over three spots on the team that's the defending champions."

"This will be a tough first match," Al suggested. "The Wasps are going to want to win on Saturday too, but I'll pick United for that match-up; since I think that Dominique, Calvin, and Tina will go out and prove they deserve their spots on the team. There's a very good chance that Calvin and Tina will be the best Beater duo in the league this season – especially if too many of the scouts have forgotten how good they were at Hogwarts two years ago."

"What about the Harpies?" Gwendolyn asked him. "What's your prediction for their match on Saturday?"

Al smiled and hugged her a bit more tightly for a moment. "I pick the Harpies – as always," he answered. "They should keep winning over the Tornados – at least until Rachel and Lacey get some better team mates – if they ever do get that help from the team owners and managers."

"You sound as though you doubt they'll get that," Gwendolyn said; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know whether they will or not. The Tornados are in a tough place for that. They've got one of the top-five teams, and likely do pretty well on the money side of the business; so it might cost them quite a bit of profit to get from where they are now to a league championship. If they want those titles bad-enough, they won't care about the cost, but if they are more interested in the profits; then they're likely happy to keep things as they are."

"I am so glad that our team cares so much about both," Lily told them happily. "Being rich will be nice; but I want the trophies too!"

"Does that mean you'll think about coming to play for my team if Al and I can win a couple of championships between when we graduate and you do?" Rose asked; earning a round of laughs for at least two different reasons.

"I'm tempted to make a bet with you on that, but can't think of anything you can offer me when I'd win it,' Lily told her. "I can't help but ask how you're going to make that happen even if you and Al do get jobs with the Cannons when you'll be up against teams like the Harpies with Gwendolyn and Victoire – or United if they have their dream team put together by then too – and I think they will get Olivia, Lucy, and maybe Alex Jordan too."

"I'm still working on that plan," Rose admitted. "I've more to worry about in the near-future with the senior team tryouts in September. I'd feel bad for Louis, since I know he only has two years left to try and impress the league scouts, but I'd still really like to win the Keeper job over him this season – especially since if he wins it this year; he'll likely be Captain next year and I'll be out of luck for another two years."

"I'd say that's a much more realistic goal than two league titles for the Cannons during your first two seasons in the league," Lily offered. "You and Louis are both so good; we'd do well with either of you in goals."

"Louis is worried about you," Al told Rose; "but that's also making him work harder to get ready for tryouts. I think that's going to be an epic battle between you." he grinned at Lily. "You might have too much competition for your Seeker duel too if Riley gets sorted to Gryffindor. He was talking tough while he was here earlier tonight."

Lily shook her head as she laughed. "He can talk all he wants; but nobody is going to be me at tryouts this year – and hopefully not ever. I know I can't win every Seeker duel; but I'd better not lose the ones just to get on the teams or I'll never make it in the show."

"Gee, thanks a lot," Rose deadpanned; and Lily laughed again.

"Okay, that was insensitive; but you know what I mean – and it is different for Seekers than Keepers. It's an all-or-nothing game for us; while your battles are repeated dozens or hundreds of times in every match. Look at Louis last year. He didn't win a match; but was the best senior team Keeper. There aren't many Seekers that can have a losing record and make that claim."

"I resemble that comment," Jonah reminded her; and Lily hugged him.

"You do – and everyone knows that you should've been runner-up last season instead of Madison. Ravenclaw did have two wins, though; so it isn't exactly the same. Getting back to the competition thing, though; is Stephanie going to try out for Seeker again this year; or has she decided that she likes being a Chaser more now?"

"She's been practicing with our team at Chaser," Jonah said; though Lily knew that anyway. "I think we should do the same thing we did last year – try out for both and see who wins."

"I hope it's you," Lily told him; and then laughed. "Scratch that – I hope it's Stephanie; 'cause I think I've got a better chance of beating her in our match against your team."

Jonah laughed too. "I'd tell her you said that; except it might motivate her to beat me at tryouts – and she's tough-enough to play against without that kind of help."

"It's pretty good for our Houses that we even have that problem," Gwendolyn offered. "Slytherin seems a bit light on talent for both teams every season, and while Hufflepuff's senior team will be loaded with talent this year; I'm not sure they'll be able to say the same about their junior team – unless they luck out with some really good firsties."

"Let's not hope for that," Lily said; feigning a shudder. "It wouldn't be fun at all if all four Houses had equally-talented teams every year!" She smiled at what she saw on Al's face in reaction to her assertion. "Yeah, we know that you think last season worked out brilliantly," she told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Some of us want to win it all, though; and you should get on board with that program while you can."

"You mean before he goes to work for the Cannons?" Gwendolyn asked innocently; and joined in for the round of laughs.

"I didn't say that," Lily eventually managed to protest.

"You implied it," Rose countered. "How much do I have you down for with that bet for the Cannons to win a league championship before I die?"

"Ten galleons," Lily advised her. "The standard bet in our family. I was worried about you being able to make good on those bets until earlier this week, but you guys seem to have a hit with the Animorphmagus toys; so you'll likely be good for it – unless you blow it all on trying to buy the Cannons. The smarter plan would be to cut your losses and take a job with the Harpies – or one of the other top teams; if you absolutely must play on the same team with Al."

"It is weird that Rose wants to do that but Gwendolyn doesn't," Hugo offered.

"Only for Gwendolyn – not me," Rose told him. "I don't get why Gwendolyn and Lily wouldn't want to play on the same team with Al – especially when they know just how good he is at Quidditch."

"You are now enterting the future Harpies' danger zone," Lily warned with a grin. "Do you really want to risk spending your first month back at Hogwarts as a woodlouse with a bat-bogey hex affliction?"

That threat sent their conversation away from Quidditch after a few more jokes; they talked about Hogwarts for a while; and then eventually put the fire out; split up; and headed for their beds. Al and Gwendolyn had a stop along the way for some bonus cuddle time and a bit of snogging on one of the sofas; but they didn't try for another sofa sleepover – partly because the cottage sofas weren't really all that comfortable for an all-night nap. They did enjoy that last bit of play time, though; and were happy campers when they did eventually get to their beds and off to sleep.

Their decision to wrap up their week by the sea on Friday instead of Saturday had been made because they hadn't wanted to drive home on Saturday morning and then be rushed getting to the Harpies' Quidditch match. That choice did mean that they needed to be cleaned up and out of the cottages by mid-morning so that the next renters could take over by late morning or sometime later in the day. That's why they had an easy-breakfast; they rushed around to pack, clean, and load the van; and then they were on the road for home by nine o'clock. This time, Ron went with Harry on the bike – in the sidecar; while Hermione and Ginny drove the kids home. Harry sped off on the bike when they were ready to go, but Ginny and Hermione stayed close together in a two-vehicle convoy until Hermione took the cut-off that led toward home for them while Ginny continued on toward 'their' exit for Godric's Hollow. They got home before Harry did, since he'd needed to take Ron home first – or at least did that so he could get the extra time on his bike; and the four kids helped Ginny to get the van unloaded and the chores started before Harry caught up with them.

Having the rest of the day at home ended up being all about getting the chores done and re-packing for their second week of holidays; but they had fun while doing that – and when they took breaks to cool off in the portable pool or to have their meals – a late lunch and an even later dinner. Al and Gwendolyn set up the tent in the back yard, and while they planned on using it too; they also did that so they could make sure it was clean and ready for their trip – especially after James and Bristol had been using it on the first weekend of their holiday. The lawn was trimmed; the gardens were tended and de-gnomed; and all of the dirty laundry from the previous week was cleaned and either re-packed or put away by the time they stopped to have dinner for eight. Kirley and Gwenog joined them for that meal; though they couldn't stay for much more than a visit because of Gwenog's game day curfew and because she had more work to get done ahead of that first match of the season.

Kirley was going to be spending most of Saturday with Gwendolyn and Jonah, but that dinner was Gwenog's last chance to visit with them before they'd be leaving again for the second week of the Potter's summer vacation with Al and Lily; so they'd packed as much fun into that couple of hours as they could. That was easier for all of them because James wasn't there. He was spending the weekend at Patricia's; though they were going to the Harpies' match on Saturday – and would meet up with them at the Leaky for lunch too. James would have skipped the match if the Catapults had been playing on opening day, but they hadn't been one of the playoff teams; so they weren't playing until the following weekend. Not having daily fights with james was making the summer a lot more fun for Al now, but he was still happier when James wasn't around because even when he was playing nice; what Al sensed around James was still very dark and unpleasant. It was much better to be surrounded by joy and love; and that's exactly what he got to experience on Friday afternoon and evening.

After Kirley and Gwenog went home, Harry and Ginny stayed outside with the kids for another hour or so of play time that included a swim and a game of Fanged Frisbee, but then they headed for bed; and the four kids went into the tent to hang out there for a while before they were ready to get some sleep too. They watched Lee's nightly show that was also a Quidditch opening day preview special that was all about roasting the teams and favorite players without offering any predictions. Al and Gwendolyn got to have some alone time after that; they had a last bit of snogging-related fun; and then they opted to split up and go to their own rooms for the night instead of staying on the sofa together.

Rainy weather greeted Al when he woke in the morning, and while that only affected him for the walk between the tent and house through until after breakfast; it did make their morning chores a bit of a challenge – particularly when it came to packing up the tent again for their trip. For that, Harry needed to shield the area around it; dry the tent; and then pack it up. Al and Gwendolyn helped him with that with charm bracelet and seashells, but it still took longer; and then they needed to finish rounding up the rest of their gear before heading to Diagon Alley to do a bit of shopping ahead of their game day lunch at the Leaky. That bit of fun was all about picking up enough treats to last a week – at least for the kids; since they were going to be camping and far from civilization while on their expedition with the Scamanders at their research expedition base camp in the Canary Islands. Harry and Ginny needed to get some actual supplies for the trip too, but they took care of that; and let the kids do the fun shopping while they were busy.

Sweets and treats were high on the list for them, but Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah also picked up some books; a couple of games; and a pair of toys to give as gifts to Lorcan and Lysander – a pair of Animorphmagus action figures. They did not buy any wheezes for the trip, but while Al and gwendolyn weren't into pranks and practical jokes anyway; they couldn't even get any whizz-bangs because they wouldn't be able to use them around the magical and mundane wildlife they'd be spending the week getting up close and personal with while exploring the islands with Luna, Rolf, and the kids. They were able to get to the Leaky early; Harry, Ginny, and Kirley took care of welcoming the other members of their game day lunch and Quidditch party; and Al and Gwendolyn spent that time hanging out with Rose and some of their other cousins. Rose had ended up spending the night in London on Friday; she happily talked with Gwendolyn and the other girls about her date with Kyle; and she'd spent most of the morning with him too before coming to the Leaky with her mother and brother.

As usual, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose ended up sitting at the same table with their parents, brothers, and sister – excluding James and Patricia; but they got to have one surprise blast of fun with James that was especially-funny because the joke was actually on James while he tried to mess with Al using the Animorphmagus action figures he'd apparently bought sometime over the past week. Al knew that James would be furious with him whenever he did eventually find out who was behind creating those toys, but he was oblivious to those facts while razzing Al about being nothing more than an oversized toy that couldn't even do or say as much as the toys. That comment just gave Al the idea for a parrot version of the toy that would be able to learn new words and phrases from the Witches and Wizards around them, though; so he had fun as James paraded his toys around and made fun of Al.

They didn't have a lot of time for lunch, but Hannah was used to getting her game day lunch crowd fed and on their way to the various stadiums; and her staff always took extra-special care of Harry, Ginny, and their groups – possibly because they always tipped well. Since United was defending Champions; their match was at Exmoor; and that was also where the main event was held for the opening day ceremonies. While they would have still preferred having their team as champions again, that was a bonus for Al, Gwendolyn, and most of the fans that filled Bodmin Stadium; since it meant that they wouldn't have to listen to a half-hour or more of tedious speeches from league and Ministry of Magic officials before getting around to watching the match. They arrived early-enough to run the gauntlet of concessions booths; picked up the usual drinks, treats, and souvenirs; and then they went to find their seats and get ready to enjoy the show.

"Four years to go for you," Lily told Gwendolyn a while after they were in their seats and waiting for the smaller opening ceremony they'd have ahead of the second-best first match of the new season. "Then we'll be watching you play your first match with the Harpies. I wish I only had four years to go instead of six."

"You wish that you could be starting today," Al teased; and Lily grinned at him.

"True, but I do get why they want the players to at least be seventeen."

"Don't think about that too much," Ginny leaned forward and told her. "You are not going to quit school when you turn seventeen at the start of your sixth year."

"That's never even crossed my mind," Lily said innocently; and joined in for the round of laughter.

"Sure you haven't," Ginny responded skeptically. "Gwenog might even offer you the job if Gabrielle's ready to retire by then; but your father and I want all of you to earn your NEWTs before going on to those brilliant Quidditch careers."

"Yeah – you finally believe that Al's going to have a brilliant Quidditch career with me and the Cannons," Rose told her enthusiastically. "We're making progress, Al. Before you know it; she'll be signing up to be our star Seeker!"

"Mum didn't say anything about Al playing for the Cannons," lily pointed out. "She's just sure that he'll have a brilliant career – with one of the other teams."

"It's amazing how everyone else changes that story depending on how they want to tease us about the Cannons," Rose countered. "Instead of going there, though; that actually has me thinking about Dominique. We're not really being fair to her coming to this match and missing her first match with United. We were all here for Victoire's first match with the Harpies."

"I'm not going to miss her match," Al advised her; holding up his portable mirror. "She does have Uncle Bill, Aunt Fluer, Louis, and both sets of grandparents at that game, though; and we will get to watch her first match against the Harpies before we head back to school. That's going to be an awesome match-up."

"You'll be ready for the break going back to Hogwarts," Lily suggested – "especially after you're done watching the Cannons lose their first two matches of the season – again."

"I should really try to come up with something you'd want a lot so you'll make that bet with me," Rose told her seriously.

"What bet?" Ginny interjected; turning her attention back to the kids after overhearing Rose.

"Lily joked about making a bet with me about coming to play for the Cannons if Al and I win the league championships in both of our first two seasons with the team; but she doesn't think I have anything to offer that would make the bet worthwhile when she wins it."

"I can't think of anything either – not that I'm interested in helping you to steal our Harpies' next superstar Seeker from our team."

"Our team will be the Cannons in four years," Rose reminded her with a grin. "You're going to love getting back in the show again – and doing that with Al and me."

Ginny laughed. "Try that line on me sometime when I haven't just been reminded about how brutal the training is for the players – especially during training camp. That was tough-enough when I was in my teens and twenties; and I don't want to think about what it would be like now."

"I have a plan for that too; but wouldn't want to give away my future team secrets."

"You should consider going into politics," Ginny suggested. "That sounded too much like the sorts of games they play at the Ministry of Magic."

That comment sent their chat off in a new direction, but it wasn't much longer before the opening ceremony began. Their version of that was only minutes-long; and then it was time for their full-immersion into league-level Quidditch. The Harpies were ready to play, but so were the Tornados' players; and the battle was on right from the opening toss of the quaffle. Victoire was paired up against Rachel most of the time; and their rivalry was as heated as always. Rachel and Lacey were having a good match too; though they still weren't quite as good with their third Chaser as Victoire was with Candice and Hailey. Rachel seemed happy to just trade goals with Victoire, though; and didn't seem to mind when Victoire traded earning more goals for getting assists as she helped to set up her Chaser partners instead.

Using that strategy allowed the Harpies to out-score the Tornados by nearly two-to-one, but while that sounded great; there also wasn't a lot of scoring as both Keepers put on a great opening day show too. That all added up to an exciting match, though; and the spectators watching the show enjoyed every minute of the action – even when they started to get wet again as more rain rolled through the area an hour or so into the game. The weather did make some difference too, but not when it mattered most – at the end of the match. The third hour was winding down when Gabrielle won her Seeker duel with a spectacular play that proved why she was still considered one of the best Seekers in the league. The Harpies only had a ninety-to-fifty lead at the time; so her catch earned the victory too. All of the Tornados fans were disappointed, but some of the Harpies' fans were a little sad to have the great match end so soon.

Al and Gwendolyn weren't disappointed; since the early end also meant that they were going to be leaving for the Canary islands early too. They still waited for the first mad dash for the exits before getting up and moving, and Ginny went to do the post-game interviews for her game report article; but she didn't stay to do that for long; and met up with them outside of the stadium so that they could take the same international Portkey when they were all ready to go. Kirley stayed with them until they left so that he could say goodbye to Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then he moved on to the start of his kid-free week with Gwenog while Harry and Ginny took the kids and headed off on the second-half of their summer vacation adventure.

The base camp island that Rolf and Luna were working from was protected from Muggles and uninhabited except for explorers and researchers – which was why the base camp was semi-permanent – or at least there were always at least a few Witches and Wizards staying there while doing their explorations and research. Since they were early, their hosts were still out in the field, but other members of their team were happy to direct Harry and Ginny to a spot that Rolf had reserved for them near his own tent; and they had lots of time to get their tent set up and everything unpacked from their undetectable expansion bags. The camp wasn't located next to a beach, but it was near a small waterfall and freshwater pond at the base of the falls; where going for a swim to cool off – or to get cleaned up – was an option, so when the work was done; going for a swim was next on their collective to-do list. They all played for a half-hour or so; got dried off and dressed again; and were relaxing in chairs outside of their tent when Rolf, Luna, and the boys returned – along with another family of three – colleagues and friends that were regulars on their many expeditions.

"You're early!" Luna said enthusiastically. "Have you been waiting long?"

"The Harpies' match was shorter than we expected," Ginny answered before Luna was near-enough for a hug. "We've kept busy – and the extra time allowed us to get the tent set up and our things put away; so it worked out for us. You've obviously had another brilliant day of exploring. You look wonderful!"

Luna smiled and shook her head. "I'm a mess; but we have had a brilliant day. We can tell you all about it later, though; since that story will take some time." She smiled when Lily stepped up for a hug next. "You've grown a foot since we saw you last. I'm sure you always get told that you look just like your mother did at your age; but I can see the differences."

"I'm glad that someone can," Lily offered with a laugh. "This island is amazing. Thanks for inviting us to come an play here with you."

"It is; you're welcome; and haven't seen anything yet," Luna assured her. "The isolation of these islands has led to some wondrous adaptations of the magical creatures here – as is often the case in comparatively-remote places. We could spend years here and likely never finish studying all of the wonders."

"Maybe, but I'll be good with a week of exploring," Lily told her seriously. "I probably can't go much longer than that without Quidditch – and we didn't play at all last week while we were at the cottages."

"The boys would love to play Quidditch with you," Rolf assured her – "though we need to be careful not to disturb the animals. Lorcan and Lysander usually fly around on one of the beaches not far from here."

"That sounds like fun," Lily agreed with a nod and smile for the two boys.

Lorcan and Lysander were now eight years old, and while they looked a lot like their father; they'd also both inherited Luna's blonde hair and silver-grey eyes. Thanks to spending most of their childhood so far traveling the world with their parents and living the rough life of adventurers and naturalists; the boys were athletic, confident, and easy-going. They were also usually quiet – a quality that had likely become second-nature to them as they'd needed to be quiet for long periods of time while studying the magical creatures around them with their parents. While Al and Lily didn't see the twins more than a couple of times a year, they did always get along; and didn't need to do that just because their mothers were best friends.

The round of hugs and kisses took a while, and then Rolf and Luna wanted to take time to clean up a bit; so the kids were set free to do their own thing until dinner would be ready. Lorcan and Lysander went for a swim to get cleaned up a bit too, but then they took Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah on a short walking tour of the area around the camp – along with a trip out to the nearest beach along a trail that was worn-enough to suggest that the beach was a regular destination for everyone living at the base camp. The two boys were happy when they got back to camp and found out that they were having a special dinner instead of the usual camp fare, but while that was a big deal for them; it was just a standard camping meal for their four teen and tween guests – especially since it was a meal that Harry and Ginny were supplying for everyone. They had lots of help for the work, so Al and Gwendolyn weren't recruited for the prep work; and they got to hang out with the other kids and teens in the camp while they all waited to eat.

None of the teens were from Hogwarts, but then there were only a handful of kids anyway; and the explorers and researchers were from a dozen or more different countries. While Al was the most-reserved compared to Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah; they were all able to get along with all of the other kids – and were celebrities by association because of their parents. When it was time for dinner, they found out that communal meals were normal for the cooking and clean-up; but that they didn't usually gather together while actually having their food. Harry and Ginny weren't celebrities to everyone in the camp, since long-time associates of Luna's and Rolf's knew them well-enough now, but there were always new members on the expeditions; so they still earned a lot of attention from those Witches and Wizards.

"This is nearly as weird as when Grandpa Newt visits," Lorcan told them after looking around and watching the reactions of those Wizards and Witches that were most-awed by having dinner with the Potters. "Doesn't all of that drive you bonkers after a while?"

"Not really – and this is pretty mild compared to what it can be like," Lily answered; since he'd been looking at her while asking the question. "Haven't you gotten used to that happening around your grandfather?"

"No, but then it is a lot worse when he comes around and all of the younger researchers all start acting goofy," Lorcan said with a shake of his head. "It's probably like that for your Dad when he's around a bunch of young Aurors – or with your Mum with young Quidditch players."

"I've never had that problem around Aunt Ginny," Gwendolyn teased; "and I'm one of those young Quidditch players."

"You know what I mean," he countered after joining in for the round of laughs. "We don't get to go to nearly as many matches as you guys do; but we've seen the way people act around your Mums – even though they haven't even played for the Harpies in forever."

"Mum did play for the Harpies the year you guys were born," Lily reminded him; and then grinned. "You were even at some of her games – though I guess you were a bit young back then to remember."

"Does it count as attending a Quidditch match if you do that prenatally?" Al asked. "Mum's still pretty young, though, so maybe she'll come out of retirement again; and you'll still get a chance to see her play."

"Mum is not going to go an play for the Cannons with you and Rose," Lily told him.

"Mum told us about that," Lysander advised them; "and she thinks it's a brilliant idea."

"Rose will be happy to hear that," Al said with a grin that was mostly for what he sensed from Gwendolyn and Lily. He could also picture that story in the Quibbler; and was sure it would be given as much credence as all of the other conspiracy theories that Luna's father had written about for decades now.

Al let his mind wander as the conversation rolled along, and while some of his thoughts were amusing; he also spent some time thinking about what he was sensing around him. There were some definite differences from normal with a group of scientists and adventurers compared to being around more-diverse groups of Witches and Wizards. Most of those differences were good; and had a lot to do with the need to depend on each other every day – whether that was for the little things like taking care of their camps; or life-and-death situations while working in isolated locales. Some minds – like Luna's – were unique and fascinating, and though he'd known her all of his life; Al's growing abilities helped him to appreciate just how special his mother's friend truly was compared to other, 'normal' Witches and Wizards.

"Are you having fun?" Gwendolyn whispered; and Al returned her smile; sensing what she meant by the comment without her needing to elaborate.

"This is an interesting group to hang out around – especially since so many of them are so unique and brilliant."

"I could see you fitting right in with them," Gwendolyn told him seriously; and then grinned at him again. "It'd be a bonus that you could help out when needed as a pack mule or other handy animal."

"You're just trying to set me up to help out if you get tired on our hikes this week," he accused; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'll appreciate the help; but don't need to set you up for that; since you'll do that anyway just because it'll be fun to go for a ride or run while we're somewhere that we don't have to worry about Muggles."

"That's true," Al agreed with a nod and smile, "but let's find out about whether I'll need to worry about being eaten by any of the magical creatures around here first before going for any rides."

That comment had Gwendolyn asking Lorcan, Lysander, and the other kids and teens about some of the magical creatures they had to deal with on the islands – and in the waters around them. Talking about that kept them busy through until they were finished their meal and dessert; and then they joined in for the parts of the post-dinner clean-up that everyone did together before they were set free to play again. This was a working camp, though; and many of the adults were busy for most of the evening – whether that was making preparations for their planned outings on Sunday or sitting at tables and working on books, reports, journals, or writing articles that were being submitted to newspapers or magical journals. Normally, pretty much everyone turned in for the night very early – by shortly after dark; but Harry, Ginny, and the kids were responsible for another change to the norm – a campfire that included the musical entertainment from all four kids that really was a special event for everyone else in the camp.

While the campfire needed to be kept small, they didn't need it for warmth; and it was large-enough for the kids to sit around it and toast treats while the teens and adults sat farther back in two rows of chairs that surrounded the fire and kids. There were some campfire stories too, but the entertainment highlight really was the music that Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah provided – along with the dancing that Lily coordinated and the bit of Animorphmagus fun that went along with the song that Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah sang and played while Al did a dozen Transfigurations that the kids chose as they made up the verses as they went along. Staying up late was comparative to the norm for the camp, and the majority of the Witches and Wizards there were going to be up before dawn and heading out on their adventures for the day; so the campfire wrapped up by eleven o'clock; and they all headed for their beds – all except for a pair of researchers that were going to be studying nocturnal magical creatures until sometime near-dawn. Harry, Ginny, and the kids had been told that the night-time research could be quite dangerous, but that those magical creatures on these islands were just as amazing as the creatures they could only study during the day.

True camp life became much more-real for Harry, Ginny, and the kids by morning – starting with a breakfast that was designed to give them what they needed for the hike ahead without causing issues that might mess up their trek later in the day. Luna had been her usual, blunt self when explaining that to the four kids, but to put it a bit less-graphically; the food that they ate was designed to give them lots of energy without requiring the need to get rid of any waste in washrooms that weren't available out in the wilderness. Sure, adult Witches and Wizards could apparate back to one of the camps, but doing that always messed up their research with the magical creatures. The noise alone could scare off the creatures; the use of magic could do the same; and then there was the separate issue of what could happen if you did scare many of those creatures. That could end badly – particularly with the most-dangerous magical creatures.

The hiking part of the adventure wasn't just about not using magic, though, and as Rolf and Luna led the way out on the trail for the day; Harry, Ginny, and the kids were immediately immersed in the world that so-fascinated their friends even after decades of exploring the world. While Rolf and Luna usually studied just one or two magical creatures at a time, and they were happy to do that for days or weeks at a time; they took the Potters, Gwendolyn, and Jonah on something of a tour of the island for their first outing of the week. They taught their guests about most of the research currently going on with everyone on the expedition with them; they spent extra time talking about their own work; and they added in bits of fun here and there along the way – a morning swim break in a pond where they could cool off before hiking uphill until reaching a plateau where they could have lunch while enjoying a spectacular view of the island.

There hadn't been a swimming hole there, but they'd all been ready to relax and catch their breath by then, and that included all four Scamanders; since Harry, Ginny, and the kids had been able to keep up with a strong hiking pace all morning. The afternoon began with more uphill hiking until they reached the highest point of their trek for the day and began winding their way back down toward base camp. To that point, they hadn't crossed paths with any of the others, but they either saw or met up with nearly half of the other Witches and Wizards on the island – usually seeing them where they were watching or working with different magical creatures; or while they were on the trail too and in-between stops on their own treks. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, Lorcan, and Lysander would talk with the kids and teens they met up with for a minute or two, but those were just cameo moments of human interaction; and then they were back to the full-immersion into all of the wonders of nature.

When they got back to base camp, the six kids went for a swim to cool off and clean up; dinner was the more-normal fare of the camp with just a dessert treat for their smaller dinner group; and then the kids went to the beach with brooms, a quaffle, and a snitch in hand so that they could play a bit of Quidditch. They didn't have two full teams, but they did have two other kids wanting to play with them; so while Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel; Al and Gwendolyn had a three-on-three Chaser duel with no Keepers in the goals that Harry conjured for them to use for their game. They had some spectators stop by to watch the show for a while, but it was more about having some fun at a favorite game; and not at all serious – especially when they had four younger kids to keep safe while they raced around above the beach and over the water. They did not have a campfire after that, but instead headed into their tents or even straight off to bed by full-dark. Harry, Ginny, and the kids were as eager as anyone else in camp to get a good night of rest after their first full-day hike of the week, so even though Al and Gwendolyn did have a bit of cuddle time together on a sofa after everyone else turned in for the night; they still went to their own beds early-enough to get fully recharged and ready to go on another adventure on Monday.

Monday was Ron and Hermione's eighteenth anniversary, and they were celebrating it back at home, but Harry, Ginny, and the kids settled for a mirror chat with them at breakfast; and then spent the rest of the day hiking on a second island that they apparated to after breakfast; and thoroughly-explored through until returning to the base camp late and wrapping up their day with a bedtime dinner – or it was that for the kids and tweens that were ready to head into nap mode by then. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been nodding off while having that meal, and they helped out with the clean-up, but then they did fall asleep while having a cuddle and chat with the parents; and were left there to have a sofa sleepover – once Luna and Ginny both took some pictures before they split up and headed off to bed with their respective husbands.

Tuesday was Ginny's thirty-ninth birthday, so their morning started out with birthday best wishes and some gifts; but no special breakfast. Luna and Rolf did have special birthday plans for their day, though; and their nature adventure was aquatic. They took small, magically-powered boats out onto the ocean; went to a location between two of the nearby islands that Luna and Rolf explained was particularly unique; and went deep-sea diving in search of a rare magical sea monster. They found it; managed to observe it for a while without being eaten; and then needed to spend quite a bit of time returning to the surface to make sure they didn't get the bends by ascending too quickly. They still had sights to see along the way, so that wasn't ever boring; but they were also all glad to be back in the boats in time for a late lunch. They had that meal on the beach of one of those two islands; and then it was time for a lazy play afternoon at that beach – and in the waters of a partially-sheltered cove that was shallow-enough for the water to be warm and perfect for just floating around and playing in.

When they went back to base camp, the kids found out that Harry had set up another special dinner – one that he needed to leave the island to pick up and deliver. He brought enough for everyone in the camp, but they only had Rolf, Luna, and the boys in the tent with them for Ginny's birthday dinner. That was the final bit of birthday fun for the kids, but Harry, Ginny, Rolf, and Luna went out to play after dinner too; leaving Al and Gwendolyn in charge of the younger kids; and heading out to one of the inhabited islands to visit the only Wizarding Inn on the Canary Islands – a place where they could have a few drinks and do a bit of dancing while hanging out with the local Witches and Wizards. While they were gone, the six kids went for a swim; played Fanged Frisbee for a while; and then spent the rest of the evening in the Potter's tent playing mirror games and watching the mirror network until Lorcan and Lysander were ready to get some sleep. They were put into Al's room to do that; and then Al and Gwendolyn cuddled on one sofa while Lily and Jonah took the other; and they settled in to watch another show on the mirror network and enjoy a bit of quiet chat time while they waited for the parents to get 'home' again.

"I know that it's only been one year that I've had my birthday while at Hogwarts, but having a play day for Mum's birthday reminds me of how lucky summer birthday kids are to never get stuck in classes all day on their birthdays," Lily said after they'd been talking about their favorite parts of the day for a while.

"Your birthday was on a Saturday last September," Al reminded her. "You did get to play all day. It will be on a Monday this year, though; so you will have classes all day this time around."

"I don't mind having my birthday while at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn told them. "We do get to use magic on our birthdays now; and the kids with summer birthdays can't do that."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Lily admitted. "Maybe we should change the subject, though; since I also wasn't thinking about us being back at Hogwarts again three weeks from today."

"Aren't you looking forward to that?" Jonah asked her; and Lily shrugged.

"Yes and no. I want to get back to using and learning about magic, and playing Quidditch with our new junior team; but the summer is going to be over too soon."

"We should probably be happy about feeling that way," Al suggested. "This summer has gone better than we'd hoped it would, and if it hadn't; we'd have wanted to go back to school weeks ago."

He didn't specify that the comparative lack of trouble with James was the main reason for their better summer; but he didn't need to do that anyway. None of them wanted to talk about James, so they moved on from there to other topics; and mostly just enjoyed hanging out together and winding down from another long day of fun. Harry, Ginny, Rolf, and Luna didn't stay out late because they had another day of hiking and exploring booked for Wednesday, so when they got back; Harry and Rolf moved the twins over to the Scamander's tent; and then he and Ginny had a short bedtime chat with the four kids before they all went to bed for the rest of the night.

Their adventures during the last two 'work days' of the week were all about experiencing the actual, daily research that Luna and Rolf were doing, and while that work included a lot of sitting around and quietly observing the magical creatures they were studying; there was much more to it than just watching the creatures in their natural habitat. All six kids were recruited to help out with gathering things like lost feathers or finding other things – like broken-off nails or lost teeth. Rolf and Luna also temporarily captured a handful of different creatures to check them out; take samples; and sometimes treat them for injuries before setting them free again. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were taught a lot about the creatures, everything that Witches and Wizards could use the magical properties found in the creatures for in potions or other magics, and all about how all magical creatures needed to be cared for to prevent the problems of the past when certain creatures would be hunted to extinction.

Al found all of that more fascinating than his parents, Lily, Gwendolyn, or Jonah; and he got teased a bit for being Rolf and Luna's top student for the week. He knew by week's-end that Gwendolyn had been right, and he could be happy doing the kind of work that Rolf and Luna did, but while that was true; it didn't change the fact that he still wanted to play in the show after they graduated – and that he would be even happier getting to do that with Rose and the rest of their future Cannons' team mates. Going on future expedition holidays might be brilliant, though; and he hoped that he and Gwendolyn might get to do that now and then. After their play day on Wednesday, they didn't have any extra entertainment plans on Thursday or Friday evenings. They had another blast of Quidditch fun above the beach on Thursday evening after dinner, but they were back at camp before dark; and went to bed early.

On Friday evening, they stayed up late; split up into two groups; and went out with the explorers studying the nocturnal magical creatures on the island. They didn't stay up all night after already having a long, busy day of exploring, but they did get to learn a bit about the natural nightlife on the island until nearly-two; and then they headed back to base camp and their beds when they were ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

Saturday was their last full day on the island, and while Rolf and Luna didn't take the entire day off to play with them; they all went for a morning hike while they worked; and then they spent the afternoon playing at an isolated beach that they had all to themselves. They swam; had a picnic lunch; played in the sand and water; and just had a quiet, lazy handful of hours of family time until they needed to get back to the camp in time for dinner. They didn't have a special meal for that, and hadn't made any plans for the evening either, but ended up having a campfire with everyone after Rolf and Luna received a handful of requests for an encore campfire with the special musical entertainment before their guests headed home in the morning.

Al and Gwendolyn were happy to do that for Rolf and Luna; Lily and Jonah helped out too; and the campfire fun was a near-repeat of the first one they'd had – including the dancing and Animorphmagus play time. There were treats to toast and more scary stories to tell too; and those few hours ended up being a perfect way to wrap up their week-long immersion into the unique life of Wizarding World naturalists and explorers. The campfire still wrapped up comparatively early, since most of the Witches and Wizards would be back to their work in the morning; so Harry, Ginny, and their four kids were back in their tent by eleven-thirty – after spending a bit of extra time saying goodnight to the Scamanders. They had a little bedtime chat in the main room; and then Al and Gwendolyn were left on their own to cuddle on one of the sofas – and likely end up staying there for another sofa sleepover.

"Maybe we should get your Mum and Dad to leave us here for another week," Gwendolyn suggested once they were alone and comfortably stretched out on the sofa. "Another week on this island would be very nice – especially if we could just play at the beach every day like we did this afternoon."

"It would be," Al agreed; "but you don't really want to do that. We've missed out on two weeks of practices with our Quidditch teams; and only have four practices left to go before we head back to Hogwarts."

"True, but we do have an extra week before tryouts this year," Gwendolyn pointed out; "and we could have more Chaser duels here that would likely help me out to get ready for tryouts even more than the team practices. I do like the confidence you've got that we will make it onto our senior teams this year. You don't usually just come out and say it like that."

"I didn't exactly do that this time, though it's just you and me here; and I can admit that I think we will both do well at our senior team tryouts."

"Good for us," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically; and then smiled at Al. "Since you've brought up the fact that we are alone, and that's a first for today; let's take advantage of that opportunity and find something better to do than talk about Quidditch – or anything else."

She kissed him rather seriously then; Al lost all interest in doing anything else; and they went on to end their day with a rather brilliant, if quiet, snogging session until they eventually snuggled close and happily headed off to dreamland for the rest of the night.

James lay awake and stared up at the ceiling as his mind wandered along erratically and seemed to jump randomly from thought to thought with no sense of order or purpose. Bristol lay next to him, but had her back to him; and she'd gone off to sleep after only one too-short round of clothing-optional play time with him. He knew she was annoyed with him, and had even tried to take it out on him while having that bit of play time, but he'd just thought that was hot; and that had only managed to annoyed her even more while he'd just wondered whether he should try to annoy her more often – or at least do that when he was in the mood for that kind of play time with her.

Another random jump, and his thoughts rolled back to the Quidditch parts of his day. The Catapults had their first match of the season; so he'd worked most of the day with the team. He'd been in a great mood when he'd arrived at the team practice pitch; since he'd had a brilliant Friday night with Bristol at her house. They'd been alone while her family was out with the band at a concert; and they'd pretty much played all night. He'd been happy about leaving her sleeping in late while he went to work; since it obviously meant that he'd tired her out while he'd been up and ready to go again with time to have a decent breakfast before heading to work. He'd needed to fend for himself for that, but Bristol's parents were a bit oblivious to their daughter – and to him; so he'd taken the Floo Network to Diagon Alley; had breakfast at a cafe there; and then gone on to the Catapults' practice pitch.

His work on a game day proved not to be very glamorous, but he did have his own charmed devices now; so he didn't need to do much manual labor while dealing with equipment bags and the rest of the gear and supplies that the team needed to travel with to the stadiums. He was invited to join in for the morning warm-ups; handled the 'technology' for the team meeting that included watching a bit of game footage for their opponent on one of the mirrors in the conference room; and then he helped out with the team luncheon before they all headed for Ellis stadium an hour before game time. While the players headed for the locker room, James only went along to help with the bags; and then he was on the go again – this time to helpwith the set-up on the sidelines of the pitch and then to make sure everything was ready for the Catapults owners when they arrived.

That was something that was very different for James because the Harpies' owners weren't anything like the hands-on owners were with the Catapults – and he liked it a lot; since they went out of their way to show off their power and wealth. He'd be doing that too someday sooner instead of later. For now, it was enough to be part of that – and get the attention that came along with associating with the movers and shakers of the Quidditch league. Getting noticed included the attention of quite a few beautiful Witches – including some young and not-so-young overage women; and that, apparently, was why Bristol was annoyed with him tonight. Okay, she was annoyed because he was happy to flirt with all of those Witches, but he thought that was ridiculous; since she knew that they had an open relationship and shouldn't expect him to just ignore the attention and even several offers from other beautiful women.

He smiled as he thought about that; since he'd done more than just flirted with those Witches. He'd had quite a bit of fun with two of them – once while running an errand to the team locker room during the match; and one fairly-hot interlude with the bored, young wife of a team sponsor during the victory party after the match. Bristol had been at that party with him, and there'd been a fair bit of perceived danger for him by hooking up with her even in such a large estate home; but they'd gotten away with it – and he had a whole new appreciation for older Witches!

The actual match against the Magpies hadn't been anything special – though having the team earn the win while he was helping them out had been good; and he was sure that their Seeker won his duel thanks to the workouts he'd been doing with the guy. In fact, he was sure the winning catch had come thanks to a move the guy had copied from watching him. That pretty much made the win all thanks to him; since the Catapults' Chasers and Keeper hadn't been playing particularly well. Sure, they'd scored seventeen goals, but had given up twenty-one – and did that in two and a half hours.

If he was going to come and work for the Catapults, the first thing the owners and managers would need to do after hiring him would be to replace the rest of the losers they had on the team. Fortunately for them; he had lots of friends with the talent to help him out with turning the Catapults into the greatest Quidditch team in history!

Following that train of thought kept him entertained until he was ready to drift off to sleep; leading him into a dream world where Quidditch glory, fame, and fortune were all his – along with unlimited, willing, beautiful Witches helping to keep him entertained in between Quidditch victories!


	36. Summer's End with Family and Friends

**Chapter Thirty-Six – Summer's End with Family and Friends**

They still had a bit more than two weeks left of their summer holidays, but their vacation definitely felt as though it was over on Sunday morning as Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah helped Harry and Ginny out with getting packed up and ready to take their Portkey home from the island. Rolf, Luna, and the boys didn't stay until they left, and instead took care of their goodbyes early; so that they could still put in a full day of exploring. That helped to make the parting easier for Ginny and Luna; since they were both busy for the rest of the morning. Harry and Ginny had everything ready to go by mid-morning, including taking a short walk to the beach and back with the kids; and then they headed home – and got back to work reversing the process and getting started on the chores that needed to be done there.

Al wasn't surprised to find out that James had no intention of being home until he was finished work on Monday, but that just made his life easier; and it was much more fun working on the chores with Gwendolyn. With a lot of magical help, they had all of the work done by lunchtime; and then they headed over to the McCormack's home to spend the afternoon with them – and with the gang of family and friends that Kirley and Gwenog were hosting for a play afternoon. That reunion was short and sweet because they weren't the first guests to arrive, but the fun level kicked up a few notches as they joined in on the fun for the hour or so they had until they'd all be sitting down for a major lunch meal. Al and Gwendolyn spent a bit more time with her parents at first; but then they went and joined Lily, Jonah, and most of the other teens and tweens to go for a swim in one of the two portable pools that had been set up side-by-side so that the swimmers could still talk with each other even if they were in the other pool – or play games between the pools.

"Let's get started on the news we've missed from around home while we've been gone," Gwendolyn suggested as she and Al floated around in the water near to where most of the Quidditch playing teens and tweens were hanging out. "What's new, Tory? We haven't talked much all summer – and only crossed paths for a couple of minutes at the opening day match."

Tory shrugged. "Not much of anything. It's been boring around our house since training camp started. We practice Quidditch every day, and go to our team practices; but we haven't done much of anything else in weeks now. I'll be glad to get back to Hogwarts; and Drew can hardly wait to get there for the first time."

"This is going to be a big year for firsties from Harpies' families," Al suggested. "We'll have Drew from your family; Riley and Roxanne from ours; and Greta from Gwendolyn's family – though I guess that's a niece thing instead of a son or daughter."

"Maybe it's for the best that we're all moving up to the senior teams," Gwendolyn half-joked. "Earning a spot on the junior teams is going to be tough this year."

"Don't remind me," Jonah told her as he floated over and joined their group from where he'd been with some of the younger cousins. "I could end up playing Chaser with Stephanie if Riley ends up in our House."

"As if the firstie Chasers will be so much easier," Gwendolyn countered. "There are at least two kids from the Campbell clan starting this year too. They both want to be Chasers too, don't they, Al?"

"Yeah – Chris Madley and Bryson Campbell," he answered and added. "We haven't played any Quidditch with them yet this summer; but I'm sure they've been getting ready for tryouts. If I remember correctly; their parents were all either in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw."

"Madison's mentioned them," Tory said with a nod. "Chris is her cousin too through her Mum and his Dad. Maybe they'll both end up in Hufflepuff with Drew."

"I wasn't thinking about that connection," Al admitted. "Have they been training with the Hufflepuff junior team this year?"

"No, but Ricky's doing his own thing for summer practices; and Drew's the only firstie practicing with the junior team this summer."

"Maybe I'll talk to Ryan about them when he gets here," Jonah suggested. "We might be able to get them to come to our last four practices."

"I was hoping to do our practices together," Lily told him. "We'd need to take turns during the scrimmages; but we could all use the extra competition."

Jonah shrugged. "We can ask Ryan about that too, but I haven't even heard how their practices have been going while we've been away yet; so he may be doing something completely different by now."

"I doubt he'll mess with what's been working for Ravenclaw for the past few years," Lily offered, "but if that idea doesn't work for him; I'll be able to draft some of the parents to help out with our Gryffindor practices."

"Maybe you could get Rose to talk to the Cannons and have them play against your team," Tory suggested with a grin. "They are undefeated so far this season – and that isn't only because they haven't played a match yet as is normal for the start of most seasons. I still can't believe they beat the Bats in their first match."

"We heard about that yesterday," Gwendolyn advised her. "Santini got a bit lucky when the Bats' Seeker got hit by a bludger Santini managed to dodge. Even the Cannons can get a lucky break now and then – and it isn't as though they lose every match."

"No, just the vast majority of them – for more than a century straight," Lily added. Rose wouldn't help me out with that even if I wanted to embarrass the Cannons by having our junior team beat them in a scrimmage. She doesn't want to do anything that might mess up her plans for the future by having the Cannons find out that she's interested in their team in any way."

"Sure, because they don't notice half of their season's tickets holders," Gwendolyn joked. "She might be able to stay off the radar of the league scouts for the next couple of years if she's Louis' back-up at Keeper for Gryffindor; but she won't be able to avoid the attention in her sixth and seventh year – unless she's planning on getting Hugo to play Keeper for the senior team instead just to keep that from happening as part of that master plan." She smiled when Al laughed.

"I'm not sure if that's a brilliant strategy for Rose – or for you and the Ravenclaw teams for those years," he explained; earning a round of laughs too. "We do want to play for Gryffindor too, though; so I'll guess that she won't go for that idea – even though it is a good one."

"I don't get that; since she wouldn't get any decent job offers even from the pittance the Cannons would offer if she doesn't at least have a record of being good-enough to make the school teams," Tory told him; and Al shrugged.

"That won't matter if she figures out a way to buy the team," he pointed out. "How are the the Hufflepuff practices going this summer with the senior team? You must be having fun with Alex as Captain – and everyone must be fired up after an undefeated season."

"I'm not going to talk about our team with you," Tory told him seriously; and Al sensed the change in her attitude too late to do anything about it. "That's never worked out well for Madison and me while we were on the junior team; so we're going to do our own thing now when it comes to Quidditch – and with our studies too."

"I'm sorry," Al told her sincerely; knowing it was too late and that she was shutting them out again.

"Don't be," she told him bluntly. "I don't want your pity – I want to win Quidditch matches and prove that I'm good-enough to play in the show after we graduate. You might be okay playing for a team as awful as the Cannons some day; but I want to play for one of the best teams and win league titles and Quidditch World Cups!"

"Would that mean that this is a bad time to ask if you and Drew would like to get in on a scrimmage with Jonah on your team against Al, Gwendolyn, me, and anyone else we can round up to join us?" Lily asked sweetly; and Tory scowled at her.

"It would be a very bad time," she spat; not even remotely amused. "I knew that I should've insisted on staying home today. The last thing I need is to hear about how brilliant all of you are compared to me – including from my Mum. I'm sick of it!"

With that said; she swam away from them; climbed out of the pool; and stalked off after grabbing her towel and wrapping it around herself as she left.

"Note to Al – do not ask Tory or Madison about Hufflepuff Quidditch ever again," Lily said after a long, uncomfortable few moments of silence. "It's so wrong of me, but now I'm tempted to get that scrimmage together right now just to mess with her."

"It is wrong," Drew told her; "but I'd still sign up for it anyway – and then get the silent treatment from Tory for the next week or two."

"With that kind of bravery; you might end up in Gryffindor," Lily suggested; and Drew shrugged.

"I'll likely be Hufflepuff too, but as long as I'm not Slytherin; I don't care which House I end up in."

"From what we've just heard, it sounds like it'll be tough making it on any of those three remaining junior teams," Greta told him as she joined in on the chat for the first time. It's too bad that we can't know ahead of time which House we'd have the best chance in before we're sorted."

"We do know that for the second and third-year students we'll be up against – or at least we know that for the returning junior team players," Drew pointed out. "I don't know if I'll be good-enough to play for one of the House teams in my first year or not; but that won't be any different than it will be at every other level – and it'll get harder if we want to play in the show."

"Especially for the Wizards," Al added; laughing when that comment got everyone's attention. "Well, we can't play for the Harpies; so that's already fewer chances for us to get one of the spots on the other twelve teams – and that's not even including the teams most of us wouldn't want to play on – like the Falcons."

"True, but you should have an easy time getting to play in the show," Lily told him with a grin. "It's not as if there's a long line-up of players wanting to work for the Cannons; and you're already better than anyone they have now."

"Maybe, but they are a top-seven team right now," Al reminded her; grinning too. "There are only seven undefeated teams – eight if you include the one still left that hasn't played yet."

"Don't do that," Lily told him. "It'll be bad enough listening to Uncle Ron between now and when we head back – or at least until the Cannons lose their next match."

"Longer than that," Al guessed. "If they lose; they'll still be doing okay with a win and loss; so he'll be happy until they have a losing record again."

"He's happy when they have a four-win season," Lily only half-joked. "I didn't want to go there, though; so let's move on. Have you guys picked up your books and supplies yet? We've done everything except our school robes and we leave getting the sweets and pet food until right before we head back so it doesn't get stale – or eaten."

That question had been directed at the soon-to-be firsties around her; and they were happy to talk Hogwarts with her for a while. Al and Gwendolyn stayed and swam until lunch was ready; and then they went to fill plates and find a place to sit while enjoying their meal. They ended up at a table with some of her cousins of various ages; and had fun talking with them about everything from work and Quidditch to Hogwarts and home schooling. While they hadn't been put to work before the meal; they were on the clean-up crew; which is why they missed out on the first afternoon scrimmage match – and that was also why Tory agreed to play in that match along with her mother, brother, and a mix of adults, teens, and tweens. As usual, Quidditch was a big part of the afternoon fun at the McCormack's, but Al and Gwendolyn only played in one scrimmage; and managed to stay out of the spotlight for the rest of the day. They had fun playing and doing a lot of swimming through until the party began breaking up by late afternoon; and then Al went home with his parents and sister in time to have a late dinner there – and so that Harry and Ginny could both spend the evening getting ready to go back to work again on Monday.

When Al woke up on Monday morning, it felt as though life was back to normal again as he got ready for the day and then went downstairs to work on making breakfast for four. Harry joined him by the time the pot of coffee was done brewing; helped out with the work; and then they enjoyed the morning chat with Ginny and Lily while having that meal. Harry headed for the Ministry of Magic as soon as he was finished eating; Al and Lily took care of the clean-up; and Ginny went to spend some time getting organized for her work plans for the day. Gwendolyn, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo all came over to spend the day with Al and Lily, and once they were all there; Ginny worked with the three teens to make some new toys for a couple of hours while Lily, Jonah, and Hugo played outside.

The Animorphmagus toys that they were working on during the last two weeks of summer were for new additions that would come out for the Halloween season; so there weren't any cute and cuddly toys because the toy company had wanted a line of creepy, crawly action figures. The girls had ideas for a few dolls too, but they were still meant to be mildly-scary fun for the kids too – even if they could also be cuddled with by those kids. Ginny needed to get to work before lunch, though, because the Harpies had their next match on Tuesday afternoon and she had to spend time at the practice pitches for both teams, so when she needed to leave; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went out to play for the rest of the day. First up for the fun was joining their younger siblings in the portable pool for a swim, so they split up to get changed into swimsuits first; and then hopped into the pool with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo.

"How did the toy making go today?" Lily asked. "I hope you're all going to remember your favorite little brothers and sister when you're rolling in the galleons from having the hottest-selling toys of the year."

Rose grinned at her. "I'm already thinking about all of you – and we'll have a blast together after we use that money to buy the Cannons in about four years."

Lily rolled her eyes; but laughed too. "Jonah and I have already heard enough about the Cannons from Hugo to last us a month. "You shouldn't be happy about them winning any matches; since that'll just mess up that plan of yours if the team actually stops losing money every year between now and when you graduate."

"That really could mess up my plans," Rose admitted, "but if the Cannons actually started winning; it might just mean that we could get jobs with them and help take the team to the next level from there – not that I'm holding my breath for that being very likely."

"I'd rather talk about the new Animorphmagus toys," Jonah advised them. "You're working on Halloween-themed toys; so what did you come up with today? Spiders? Snakes? Wolves?"

Those rapid-fire questions sent their conversation off on a non-Quidditch vector; and they ended up tossing a Fanged Frisbee around while playing in the pool for a while. They went for a bike ride after that; had a pre-made lunch that only required putting together sandwiches to go with the cold side dishes, snacks, and drinks. Lily led the way for a Quidditch scrimmage after that; they had more play time in the pool; and Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for an hour of songwriting fun that only included a bit of snogging. Rose and Hugo left first when Ron stopped by to get them so that they could head to London again – and they did that because Rose wanted to spend the rest of the day with Kyle while visiting her Granger grandparents. Gwendolyn and Jonah went home with Gwenog after she stopped by to get them after work – and at the same time that Ginny came home from observing the Harpies' afternoon workout. Harry brought James home with him; and got there in time to sit down for the dinner that Al and Lily had helped Ginny to throw together in the interim between her return and theirs.

"You look happy, James," Ginny told him as they began filling their plates. "Tell us all about your week while we were gone. The Catapults' managers and players must be happy after their win on Saturday."

"They're happy with their Seeker – and with me," he answered. "Not so much with the rest of the team. I doubt they'd have won if I hadn't been having Seeker duels nearly every day while they had their useless old reserve Seeker have a nap or something. That old fool wasn't very good when he did play in the show back in the middle ages; and they ought to have him use a Firefly now instead of a good broom; since he hasn't a clue of how to use one properly. Did you see replays of that catch? He learned that move from me in our duels."

"I saw the replay," she agreed with a nod; and James didn't notice that her answer wasn't a full confirmation of his claim. "It sounds as though you're having fun at work; though you might want to be careful with how much you're helping their Seeker. If he gets too good; you'll have one less job opening available in a few years when you graduate."

"I'm winning half the catches against him now," James scoffed dismissively. "When I'm ready to play in the show; every team will want to have me – except the Harpies, of course. They'll only wish that they hired Wizards for the next fifty or sixty years after I'm in the league while they try to best the Cannons at most seasons without a league title."

"That won't happen," Lily told him. "You'd better hope to do well between the time you graduate and I do, 'cause once I'm playing for the Harpies with Gwendolyn and Victoire; you'll have to settle for no-better than second best for your team."

"Don't start that again tonight," Harry told them. "We haven't seen James in more than a week; and I don't want to spend the night listening to you fight."

"Then it's likely the wrong time to ask James about whether he's done any of his back-to-school shopping yet," Ginny half-joked. "Al and Lily still need to have a shopping day to get their robes and back-to-school clothes; but they picked up the books and supplies on their lists already."

"Of course they did," James agreed with a dismissive wave toward Al. "The loser's likely finished reading all of his textbooks by now too."

"Only about a quarter-done," Al offered mildly; earning a laugh from Lily.

"I've been busy with work," James continued after snorting in response to Al's comment. "There hasn't been time to shop for all of that crap."

"Then if you don't have time; get me your list and I'll make sure it gets done," Ginny told him. "You are starting your OWL year, James; and you need decent marks to continue on into sixth year – not to mention needing to pass as many of them as you can to be allowed to use magic at all once you're seventeen."

"I know all that; so you don't need to beat me over the head with it," James retorted; sounding a bit angry now. "Stop going on about it. I'll muddle through and do just fine – regardless of the fact that half of what they teach us at Hogwarts is total rubbish."

"I'd say only about a quarter of it is rubbish," Lily joked; doing her best imitation of Al while mimicking his response to James' earlier taunt; and earning a laugh from James for her effort.

Her joke sent their conversation off in a new direction that kept the mood at the table light, and while Al didn't escape more taunts and insults; they actually had a pretty good meal and evening together that included some Quidditch and a long swim in the pool befoer they all went inside for the night and watched mirror network shows for an hour or two – depending on when they each decided to head up to bed. Al was first to do that; and did some textbook reading, but he also worked on a couple of the Christmas songs that he and Gwendolyn were still trying to get ready for her father before the end of summer; and had a bedtime mirror chat with her that included going over those ideas with her until they were both ready to get some sleep.

Al and Lily ended up having a quiet morning on Tuesday while Harry, Ginny, and James all went to work and they stayed home and split their time between doing some chores and playing. They had a Seeker duel that Al won three catches to one because Lily insisted he try his best after deciding he'd slacked off for her first catch; they went swimming; and had some Animorphmagus play time with Al, Holly, and Poofy – though Al's Transfigurations just seemed to confuse both of Lily's pets. Kirley came to get them along with Gwendolyn and Jonah; they went to the Leaky in time to have lunch there with Ginny and some of the other game-watching members of their group; and then they headed for Exmoor stadium for the Harpies-Arrows match. They didn't take much time going around the concessions booths, and only picked up a few souvenirs to go along with the drinks and snacks; so they had lots of time to relax and watch the action going on around the stadium while waiting for the game to start.

"I do believe that we have a lot of Witches and Wizards playing hooky from work today," Gwendolyn told Al as she looked toward a group of people that she knew through their parents. "Your Dad was good today and stayed at work; but he's likely bogged down after being away for two weeks."

"He is," Al agreed; "but some of the spectators around here might just be taking part of the day off – or working different shifts."

"Sure," Gwendolyn agreed – "and the rest of them either went home sick or called in sick and took the entire day off. I don't blame them; since this should be another great match. Hopefully it won't be too good of a day for the Arrows, but I'm sure they'll be at their best today."

"Every team wants to play their best against our team – or their worst; in the case of the Falcons."

"True, but then we want to win every match too; so that only seems fair. I see quite a few kids carrying around their Animorphmagus toys. Should we have brought ours?"

"I thought you did," Lily leaned over and teased with a meaningful look at Al. "Maybe some of those kids are hoping that Al will make a few changes and help them to play with those toys."

"Why didn't we think about getting him a part-time job demonstrating them at one of the stores?" Gwendolyn asked. "That would have been a brilliant marketing gimmick."

"Or not," Al disagreed. "I'm already on the way to being a favorite party trick; let's not make that a problem for me everywhere we go in public."

"I suppose that would get old fast," Gwendolyn conceded. "It is nice to see that the toys are popular, though; so we likely don't need to have you do anything like that anyway."

"Maybe not, but Al could have so much fun if he'd just give it a chance," Lily told her. "I was just thinking that it would be hilarious if Al changed into different animals and pranked the pet shops in Diagon Alley."

"That wouldn't be funny for Al if he got locked up in a cage or sold to someone," Jonah pointed out; and Lily laughed.

"He could just change forms for getting out of anything but a sealed container," Lily reminded him; "and it would be even funnier if he got sold and had to run away from his new owners."

"I don't like that idea at all," Gwendolyn told her. "We've already had issues with family and friends' Witches wanting to take Al home with them. He is not going to play those sorts of games."

"That sounds like a few comments I've had about that sort of thing with Harry and his Animagus," Ginny told them. "I let him get away with going home with a cute little girl once or twice for work; but drew the line at playing puppy and getting hugs and kisses from beautiful women while Ron would flirt with them."

"I wonder why Dad doesn't tell that story quite the same way?" Rose mused. She joined the conversation then; but had been talking with Hugo and some of the others in their group – including Teddy, Louis, and Lucy.

"You likely don't," Ginny countered with a smile; "but probably don't want to go there either; so we won't. Did you have fun hanging out in London last night? It's a good thing that you visit us a lot and we have some Quidditch matches to watch; or we might not see you much between now and when you head back to Hogwarts in two weeks."

"I did have a good night," Rose assured her aunt; "and Kyle and I are trying not to think about not having much time left before we both head back to school."

"That will be tough to deal with," Ginny told her sympathetically, "but maybe we can help you out with that; and set up a couple of date nights or outings for you to do with Kyle, Al, and Gwendolyn."

"Jonah and I would help out with that," Lily offered with a grin. "A movie night or another trip to the amusement park would be fun."

Her suggestions led the girls into a chat about possible date options and available times to do that – with time being the bigger issue thanks to everything they all had on the go over the last two weeks of summer. They did come up with some tentative plans by the time the Harpies and Arrows were introduced and the game got underway; and then they were all into watching the match as the two teams battled hard to score goals and try to catch the snitch.

Right from the start, the battle was defensive as the Keepers both won their battles against their Chaser opponents. Eddie Bones had a slight advantage on saves over Vicky; but that was only because he faced more shots on goal from Victoire, Candice, and Hailey. During the first hour, the Harpies scored two goals; and the Arrows earned just one. They scored two goals each in the second hour; and the Arrows tied the match near the end of the third hour by out-scoring the Harpies three-to-two for that hour. Victoire got the lead back for the Harpies in the opening minutes of the fourth hour; and then that was all there was for goals because Gabrielle ended the game by catching the snitch at the three-hour and ten minute mark to give the Harpies the two-twenty to sixty victory.

Ginny needed to get to work for the post-game interviews, so Molly took care of getting Al and Lily home; and helped them with making dinner for seven because all three kids needed to eat early-enough so they could move on to their Quidditch practices – which for Lily meant hosting the practice with both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw junior teams. When she was done work, Ginny picked up James on her way home; Harry got there just ahead of them from Auror Headquarters; and Arthur came over to have dinner with them too – and stay to watch the Quidditch entertainment for the evening too. Harry took care of getting James and Al to the Wood's house for their practice; stayed for a short visit with Oliver and Katie; and then headed home again to help Ginny with kid control while his sons were busy playing Quidditch with their friends and cousins.

Al had been glad to be back and practicing with the team, but not everyone was thrilled to see him back – with Ollie at the top of that list. He found out that part of the reason for Ollie's annoyance with him was because the 'reserve squad' hadn't won a single Chaser duel during the two weeks he was away; and that fact was compounded when 'their' team did win the scrimmage – and did that despite having James catch the snitch. Sure, Al was fired up and had scored twelve goals on Louis, but Rose had played brilliantly too; and had held Olivia, Lucy, and Gina to just five goals. James hadn't been happy either for most of the scrimmage, but had been happy at the end when he'd ended up as top scorer for the match by thirty points over Al; so he was in a good mood despite earning that catch for the loss. He also flew off after his victory lap and was first to jump in the pool to cool off once Olivia had decided they'd worked long-enough to call it a night; so he wasn't around for the practice post-mortem that about half of the teens stayed for while rehydrating and taking their time getting out of their gear instead of leaving it dumped in a pile by the pool the way James and Ollie both chose to deal with their gear in the rush to jump in the pool.

"I think that we need to send Al on vacation for another week or so," Louis told Olivia as he sat down and just took some time to relax before even trying to take his pads off. "Our team was having much more fun over the past two weeks – not to mention that I wasn't nearly this tired by the end of those practices."

"You're suggesting that to the wrong person," Olivia advised him. "I want the toughest competition for you – and Al's a tough challenge for Lucy, Gina, and me too."

"For now," Gina told her; "and your job at Chaser is safe. If Al keeps playing like that; the rest of us Chaser hopefuls will all be fighting it out for the one spot on the team that'll be left after he cleans up at tryouts."

"Maybe Olivia should make the tryouts Witches only this year," Lucy joked.

"That's a great idea – if you want to have as bad a season as we did last year," Olivia told her seriously. "You and Gina and I might do okay; and Rose and Louis are closely-matched; but we'd be in big trouble at Beater and Seeker."

"I suppose it's too late to brew up a batch of Polyjuice ahead of tryouts; or I'd suggest a solution for that," Lucy offered with a grin for the guys in the group.

"Wouldn't that make your idea of a Witches-only tryout pointless – not to mention weird for all of us?" Rose asked her. "I'm sure the boys you're thinking about for using Polyjuice to change into Witches during tryouts will love to hear who you'll get hair samples from so they can do that."

"Or want a say in those picks," Tiberius offered with a grin.

"I so wish I hadn't gone there now," Lucy lamented; though she'd joined in for the laughs. "Try not to have too much fun with that."

"Let's just drop the whole thing," Louis told her. "Some of us have enough to worry about the competition that only let in five goals tonight without adding in any other issues."

"That isn't a big deal," Rose told him. "I have just as many problems against Al as you do; and it's even worse when he's playing on the same team with Gwendolyn."

"I've noticed that now and then at family parties," Louis agreed with a nod. "Do you guys hear much about how the Ravenclaw training is going this summer? The Hufflepuff team won't likely change much; but Ravenclaw will get better just from having Gwendolyn on their senior team this year – assuming she makes the team."

"As if they didn't already have enough going for them with Peter and Pauline," Olivia said with a shake of her head. "We have a lot of talent in Gryffindor too, though; so we'll have to try and make sure that we're doing everything we can to be better than the other teams – and I think we're on the right track for that this summer."

Al thought she was right about that, but let his thoughts wander off as the conversation continued around him. He had avoided commenting on what he knew of the Ravenclaw workouts; mostly because there were things that he and Gwendolyn talked about for both teams that wouldn't be fair to talk about with his own team mates. He did still feel good about their team too; and thought that the tough competition from the other Houses would be an exciting challenge. Most of the others might not agree with his attitude about winning and losing; but then he really did think that made a difference for him with how he played. Not stressing or obsessing about winning made it easier for him to play his best. As he thought about that; he came up with a list of his fellow players that were letting stress get in the way of their game. He didn't know whether he should do anything about that ahead of tryouts – unless he tried to help everyone; but it was something to think about working on once they did have their team picked after tryouts.

"You're being quiet," Rose told him. "Are you still in Quidditch mode; or off on some other mental voyage?"

"Thinking about Quidditch," he answered. "We had a great time on vacation; but I'm glad to be back to our practices again."

"I'm glad to have you back too; since our team won today," Rose offered. "Dad was late getting me here, so we didn't get a chance to talk before the practice; but I talked with Kyle after the match; and he's in for a date night on Friday; so we can work out what we want to do over the next couple of days."

"Sounds good," Al agreed with a nod. "Gwendolyn won't likely have a problem getting parental approval; so maybe we can decide what to do when we get together in the morning."

"We should do something different tomorrow too," Rose suggested. "Maybe we could bike to town after your Mum goes to work and hang out there for a while – or bike or hike somewhere else."

"Somewhere like London?" Al teased; and Rose laughed.

"Not tomorrow," she disagreed. "I can't explain away getting to London too many times in a week when it's supposed to be an hours-long drive each way for us. That's just one more problem I have with dating Kyle, but the good parts of dating him are still way better than the downside; so I'm happy."

"I've noticed that – and it's nice to see," Al told her seriously; though he was grinning too. "Is that helping you out with the Quidditch too?"

"It'll likely help out more once we're back to school and I need to keep busy doing anything other than missing Kyle."

"Should I warn Louis?" Al whispered; and Rose laughed.

"No – not that I have any idea whether that will make a difference or not at tryouts. For all I know; it'll mess me up."

"Or both," Al offered. "Let's go and hop in the pool for a swim. Mum or Dad will likely be here to get James and me soon; so I won't have much time for that."

They still ended up chatting for a while longer, so Al didn't get to have much of a swim before it was time to go; while Rose was able to stay longer while waiting for her father to get her after he was done work at the store for the day. The junior team practice was done by the time Harry got back with James and Al, but Lily was still having fun swimming with some of the other teens and tweens; and James joined them in the pool while Al gave his parents the practice recap and decided to stay dry. James wasn't being too obnoxious to him, but after having a pretty good day, Al didn't want to deal with even the smallest insults; so he headed up to his room after the last of Lily's Quidditch guests and their parents went home – at the same time she went up to her room to get changed and deal with her wet hair. He studied for a while; had a bedtime chat with Lily; and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn after that before getting around to the sleeping part of his night.

Wednesday and Thursday weren't a repeat of the first two days of the week, but there were some similarities. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had toy-making fun both mornings; play afternoons with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo while Ginny was busy working; and Thursday evening Quidditch practices for their respective Houses and junior or senior teams. Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed for dinner on Wednesday, but there weren't any sleepovers or camping nights until Friday. Al and Lily didn't have a gang over on Friday morning because Rose was in London for the weekend – and went to stay with her Granger grandparents after practice on Thursday. Ginny needed to work all day – including having a meeting with the toy company to drop off the latest toys that the kids had finished making; so Al and Lily went to spend the morning at the Burrow with Molly. They helped out with chores; had some baking play time with her; and then they all headed for Diagon Alley to meet up with Arthur, Harry, and Ginny for lunch. Al got a small bonus surprise when Kirley brought Gwendolyn and Jonah along for that meal; though they were just early for the planned play afternoon in London.

Harry and Ginny couldn't take the afternoon off to play too, but Al and Lily were happy to have lunch with them; and then go on to hang out with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah until it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to meet up with Rose and Kyle while Lily and Jonah were having their own evening out with both sets of parents. Since they'd been in Diagon Alley for lunch anyway; they wandered around and did a bit of window shopping once Kirley was on his own with the four kids; ventured out into the city for a couple of hours of random exploring that included a bit of music time and two rides on the underground; and they wrapped up their afternoon with ice cream treats and a bit of park play time. Al and Gwendolyn took Muggle transit to their favorite mall and had time to do a bit of shopping while waiting for Rose and Kyle to meet up with them. Gwendolyn picked up a couple of things while they waited; and then they made their way to one of the mall entrances in time to welcome Rose and Kyle.

"You've either been having a brilliant day; or you're really glad to be parent-free for a few hours," Gwendolyn told Rose while waiting for her turn to hug Al's cousin.

"I'd say both," Rose decided with a laugh; "though we were parent-free for most of the day too. How was your day?"

"Jonah and I did some chores this morning; got to London in time to meet up with Al, Lily, and their parents for lunch; and then Dad wandered around London with us for the afternoon until it was time for us to come and meet up with you and Kyle. I think that Lily and Jonah are a bit disappointed that they're not going out with us; but they do get the parents to themselves for a night; and I'm sure they'll have fun too."

"Hugo doesn't want to go out on dates with Kyle and me; but that's only because he doesn't want to be a third wheel – or ask any girls out."

"I think he's like I was not all that long ago," Kyle told them. "He won't be vertically-challenged for long compared to the girls his age – unless there's a short gene in your family I haven't seen yet."

"Hugo isn't much shorter than the girls his age," Gwendolyn said, "but if that bugs him; he should just look for dates with younger girls."

Kyle shrugged and smiled. "A guy doesn't need to be much shorter than the girls in his year for that to make him feel weird, but I don't know Hugo well-enough yet to say whether my guess is even right or not. Maybe he just isn't ready to start dating yet – or has other reasons. It's not as if the teen drama alone can't be scary-enough for any of us."

"Al and Gwendolyn can't relate to that," Rose advised him with a grin for them. "They've been friends since they were babies; and somehow manage to avoid the usual teen couple problems."

"That can be a problem too," Kyle suggested. "I only know a few couples like that, but they all have their haters; and that's usually teens around them that are jealous of them for being so happy."

"Or because they wish that they were with one or the other instead," Rose added with a nod. "They've had those sorts of problems too; though they're likely past the worst of that now that they've been dating for nearly three years."

Kyle laughed. "I thought we were doing great making it to two months. What was I thinking?"

"Are you counting that from two months ago today; or a few days ago for the day you met?" Al asked.

"Our first official date was two months ago today – though it was only an afternoon outing for ice cream sundaes," Kyle answered; and laughed at the expression on Rose's face. "I'll remember when we met for a lot longer than I'll remember having those ice creams in that diner," he advised her. "I knew I was in love with you before we were introduced to each other."

"I love you too," Rose assured him as she hugged him happily. She took his hand again after the hug and turned back to look at Al and Gwendolyn. "Let's go and have dinner now. I want to have lots of time to play tonight; and we're both hungry too; since we've been busy this afternoon."

"Do I want to know the details for that now; or should we save that chat for later when it's just us girls?" Gwendolyn teased.

"We were outdoors most of the time; hanging out with some of Kyle's friends; and didn't do anything that would get us kicked out of the park or the pool," Rose advised her. "We did have a lot of fun, though; so let's keep that going for all of us tonight."

Al and Gwendolyn were happy to get their date started; they had dinner at the food court, and while that was far from fine dining; it did allow them to eat and then get going again – and on to the little festival they'd decided to spend the evening at instead of going to the movies or doing something else. The music, shows, and games were family-friendly, but there were a lot of teens there in groups or couples; so they fit right in – and joined in for the dancing; played quite a few games; and even managed to win a few prizes along the way. They stayed and enjoyed all of the fun until eleven o'clock; and then headed home – to the Granger's for Rose and Kyle; and to meet up with their parents, Lily, and Jonah for Al and Gwendolyn. From there, the four kids ended up going home with Kirley and Gwenog after a side-trip to get overnight bags; they set up the tent; and wrapped up their Friday with a pair of sofa sleepovers that was unintentional for two out of four of them. The funny part of that was the fact that it was Al and Jonah falling asleep first; while the girls made the decisions for the sofa sleepovers instead of waking the boys up and going off to their rooms.

Ginny had to work one of the Quidditch matches on Saturday, and Al and Lily needed to make an appearance at Percy's birthday party in the afternoon, but Kirley and Gwenog were hosting another family and friends play day because Gwenog had the weekend off and would be busy with the Harpies on the last Saturday of the summer; so Al and Lily spent the morning helping Gwendolyn and Jonah with their party preparation chores through until their guests began arriving at around eleven o'clock. Percy's forty-fourth birthday party didn't start until after lunch, so they stayed to have lunch at the McCormack's; had fun playing with the other kids; and then Gwendolyn and Jonah both chose to go along with them to Percy's party when Harrycame to get them at one o'clock. They took the Floo Network to Percy and Audrey's home in London; and were welcomed by Molly and Lucy. Lily led the round of hugs with her cousins; Harry and Gwendolyn were in the middle; and Al and Jonah brought up the rear.

"Are you here in daughter mode or as a Ministry of Magic representative?" Lily teased after hugging Molly first.

"With Dad's parties; that doesn't really matter," Molly answered with a smile. "We've been part of the politics game since we were passed around as babies."

"Which is one of the reasons I'm going into Quidditch instead of the Ministry of Magic," Lucy added with a nod as Lily hugged her next.

"Why? Did you get dropped on your head by one of those Ministry of Magic people; and think that bludgers are safer?" Lily joked.

"Not that I know of; but that's a good line to use," Lucy answered. "This is your first visit here in a long time," she told Gwendolyn. "I'm sure you haven't been here since you started dating Al. Are you ready for it?"

"Should I be afraid?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lucy shrugged.

"Probably not – though it can get weird whenever there's a gang of Ministry movers and shakers all together in one place."

"Well, that explains why I feel weird most days at work," Harry offered. "It shouldn't be too bad yet, though; since half of the guests will need to be fashionably-late."

"You're among the first two dozen," Molly advised him – "and that mostly includes family so far."

"I'll walk out to the back yard with you," Lucy offered. "Mum's using the drawing room for the adults too, and the teens and kids can hang out in the yard or play room; but everyone is still in the yard for now – at least until we need to start spreading out to have room for everyone."

"We know the way if you need to stay here," Harry told her; but Lucy smiled and shook her head.

"It's all part of the service today; and gives me a chance to spend a minute with Alex too before coming back in here."

"Did he get drafted to help out this morning?" Lily asked her. "Al and I helped Gwendolyn and Jonah with getting ready for the play day going on at their house."

"He had to work this morning; but has the rest of the day off," Lucy answered with a shake of her head. "Mum hired help for most of the party work; and we handled the rest of the work around here ourselves. Molly's likely wishing she'd found her own place already, but the room and board here is a pretty good deal; so maybe she'll hold off on that for a while."

"I might stay for quite a while," Molly advised her. "Dominique and I have talked about getting a place together, since Teddy and Victoire don't seem to want to have her come and live with them; but we're not in any hurry to do that while we're both busy with our new jobs."

"She might prefer to be closer to Puddlemere anyway – if not right in town somewhere," Harry suggested.

"I expect she'll want to get a place close to the sea instead of in the city or out in the country somewhere," Molly said. "You can ask her about that yourselves – she's already here."

Those comments had delayed them a bit, so Lucy led them away and out to the comparatively-small back yard; though that was only compared to the homes and yards for everyone else in the family – and not at all unusual for a London townhome. Lucy set them free once they were there; had a quick visit with Alex; and then headed into the house again while Harry and the four kids spread out to make the rounds with Percy, Audrey, and the rest of their guests. Dominique was there with her parents and brother, but Al noticed that Noel wasn't with Louis – and sensed from his cousin that he was not just single for the day. Gwendolyn didn't know that, though; and asked Louis about Noel as soon as they'd finished the initial greetings.

"Is Noel working or busy with something else today?" Gwendolyn asked Louis.

"She isn't working; but isn't here because we've broken up,' Louis answered. "Before you ask, she broke up with me; but it was semi-mutual; and Noel was just a bit braver than me to be first-out with admitting that things weren't working out for us anymore."

"I'm sorry – or not; depending on which you prefer," Gwendolyn told him sincerely; and smiled when that earned her a laugh from Louis.

"Thanks – or not," he joked. "I think we're both okay, but this was the longest that either of us dated anyone else; so it feels weird not being together anymore."

"That'll likely seem even stranger when we're on the way back to Hogwarts. Did this just happen? Al obviously didn't know about it before now; and he only saw you a couple of days ago."

"We were on the way there for a while now; but it's only been official since yesterday."

"This seems to be a danger zone for break-ups," Gwendolyn suggested next. "Wasn't it about this time last year that Rose and Shane broke up?"

"Yeah," Louis agreed. "The summer break-ups mostly seem to happen right at the start of summer or shortly before we head back to Hogwarts. I guess this will give me a bit of extra time to focus on Quidditch, but we'll see if that helps me at all; since I've heard that Rose is going to be doing the same – if for a slightly-different reason. I hope she'll be okay. Going months without seeing her boyfriend is going to be tough for both of them. I don't know if I could do that; but wish them the best."

"Al and I get teased about it when we spend a day or two apart," Gwendolyn reminded him. "If we had the same problem that Rose and Kyle have; Al would be sneaking off in Animorphmagus mode all of the time and coming to visit me – or just stay with me."

"That's funny, but if you were in the same position as Rose; Al would be a Muggle," Louis reminded her. "That'd make it a bit tough for him to do magic."

"Then let's move on; and I'll be glad that we don't have that problem," Gwendolyn decided. "How are things with you at home? Is the upcoming sisters' first rivalry match causing any trouble there?"

"Not yet. We'll see if that changes after the match – depending on which team wins."

"Something's changed already; since you're supposed to pick the Harpies for the win," Gwendolyn reminded him; and Louis laughed.

"I am not going there, but need to move away from that sooner or later; since I won't be able to play for the Harpies in another couple of years."

"Rose can't recruit you for the Cannons either without putting herself out of a job," Gwendolyn added with a grin. "Belinda won't be going anywhere soon, and only Slytherins want to play for the Falcons; so that takes you down to nine teams. Do you have a favorite?"

"Yeah – the one that will pay the most and let me play in the show. You're scaring me a bit, though; since some of those other nine teams have very good Keepers already too. I should probably worry about my job with the Gryffindor senior team first, though; since Rose won both of our last two scrimmages." He was looking past Al and Gwendolyn as he said that; but Al didn't need to turn around to know that Rose and Hugo were taking the last few steps to join their little group.

"I've told you that it'd be different if I was up against Al instead of on the reserve team with him," she reminded him. "Don't worry about it – I'm sure you'll make the team easily-enough." She was grinning; and Louis laughed.

"You are not going to psych me out with a line like that one," he assured her. "The only way that would be possible would be if you slacked off at tryouts; and you won't do that."

"I won't," she agreed with a nod. "Have you been talking Quidditch the entire time you've been here?"

"Al and Gwendolyn haven't been here very long; and we've only been talking Quidditch for half that time. We started out with the break-up news of the week."

"You and Noel?" Rose guessed as she hugged Louis. "I'm sorry, but recognized the signs from personal experience; so I'm not surprised."

"Thanks, and I think we're both okay,' Louis assured her. "It seems that some of us just can't be as lucky as Al and Gwendolyn."

"Maybe they've been using Felix Felicis," Rose suggested. "That would explain how any Wizard could manage to go three years without any major mess-up with a Witch."

"I suppose that's possible; though I thought that Al is just worried about ending up as a bug if he messes up."

"A bug with a bat-bogey affliction," Lily offered with a grin for Al. "Mum or I would be happy to help out if he does mess up with Gwendolyn."

That little blast of jokes pretty much wrapped up that part of their chat; and it wasn't much longer before Al and Gwendolyn moved on to mingle with the rest of the members of their family and the handful of other guests that were there to help Percy with celebrating his special day. Spending a bit of time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins was a blur of cameo moments of fun, but as the number of politicians in the house and yard climbed; the party got stranger and stranger for Al – mostly because of his extended senses and insights that seemed to kick into overdrive. That was likely due to the games being played by those Witches and Wizards; along with the duplicity he sensed from many of them. It didn't take Al very long to be sure that there were still lots of problems within the Ministry of Magic, and while Kingsley, his father, and others were making a difference; there were still real dangers – and dangerous Witches and Wizards that were waiting for any opportunity to further their less-than-honorable, hidden agendas.

The weird kicked up a notch when James and Patricia arrived. They were among the fashionably-late, and Patricia's parents had apparently apparated them to London – and then came in with them; ostensibly to make sure they were safely passed on to Harry. That allowed her father, Patrick, to talk with some of the movers and shakers at the Ministry as he and Cicelia dragged out that drop-off for nearly a half-hour; and Al noticed that he seemed reasonably happy when they left again. While Al didn't miss much of anything going on around him – or anywhere in the house and nearby area either; he would have liked to avoid being around James and Patricia. The insults in front of a lot of guests that weren't family or friends was only slightly-more annoying than normal, but James happily jumped in to play the games going on around them with intent that was as dark as any of their father's enemies. He also flirted with Witches of all ages, and while that didn't really surprise Al; he was almost shocked by the reactions some of those Witches had to his brother – despite the age differences.

Al didn't try to concentrate on any of that, but couldn't keep from gathering all of the information and processing it even as he and Gwendolyn tried to have fun – and avoid the dangers of the portable political swamp that had temporarily descended on Percy and Audrey's home. They were both chatted up by some of those politicians seeking to gain some advantage through Harry's kids – or Kirley and Gwenog's; but they stayed out of trouble by keeping those chats polite, superficial, and short. They didn't make any new friends doing that, but then they didn't want to be friends with those posers and schemers anyway; so it worked out just fine for them. That wasn't true for James, though; and things just kept getting weirder for Al as the afternoon rolled along. He'd pretty much had enough by the time he saw and sensed what his brother was up to when he left Patricia behind and followed a Thirty-something, married Witch into the house and on to what Al sensed they both hoped would be an intimate hook-up.

"Should we get out of here sooner instead of later?" Gwendolyn asked him quietly after seeing the expression on his face – though James was already in the house by then; so she didn't know the reason for it.

"That might be a very good idea," he agreed; speaking in a whisper so he wouldn't be overheard. "I'm pretty much on sensory overload now – and it's almost certain to go downhill from here."

"Then let's see if your Dad will be okay with us heading back to my house – and see whether Lily and Jonah want to come now or wait until sometime after your Mum gets here whenever the match she's covering ends."

They did that; Lily and Jonah opted to go with them; and Harry only did a mirror chat with Gwenog to make sure they arrived by Floo Network safely instead of going along with them. Lily and Jonah went straight out to the back yard and hopped into one of the portable pools, but Al and Gwendolyn stayed in to have a few minutes alone because she really wanted to know what had happened at the party to upset him.

"I don't know how anyone can stand half of the two-faced games so many of those politicians play," he began, "but the last straw for me was seeing and sensing James going off to meet up with one of those politicians for some inappropriate play time. It was weird-enough that she's closer to Mum's age than ours; but she's also married; and her husband was there at the party."

"That's not just scary – it's gross!" Gwendolyn exclaimed quietly. "It's weird-enough to have Bristol and Patricia taking turns on the weekends with James; but why in Merlin's name would any married women be going after fifteen-year old Wizards?"

"Going on sixteen," Al joked; but shook his head. "This isn't a first for James," he added. "I know that we both look a lot like Dad, and maybe that has something to do with it in this case; but what I can't understand is why they both don't believe that what they're doing is wrong. I thought it was rotten when he went off snogging Bristol at the end of last summer when he knew she was still dating one of his roommates, but this is worse; since being bonded for life is supposed to mean something more than it obviously does for James – or that married Witch."

"We're old-fashioned," Gwendolyn advised him with a grim smile and shrug. "In my case, that has a lot to do with the stories I've heard about the old days with the Weird Sisters – including stories I wasn't meant to overhear. It's too bad that everyone doesn't feel that way about their families, friends, and oaths; but it's the way of the world more often than not. Let's try not to let it bother us too much; and be happy."

"That's tough to do when I'm someplace with such strong, negative emotions and darkness, but we're out of there now; so I'm good with having fun with you for the rest of the day." He smiled when Gwendolyn laughed and then shook her head.

"Let's not go with my first thought on that, since that would be weird; considering what you suspect James is up to right now."

"Definitely; but let's save that thought for later," he suggested.

Gwendolyn was good with that plan; they went outside to join the family and friends fun in the back yard; and that really was a complete change from Percy's party and the problems Al had been having there with the dark emotion overload. They went swimming; got in on a Quidditch scrimmage; had dinner with Lily, Jonah, and most of Gwendolyn's younger cousins; and then helped with the clean-up – the only work they'd been drafted for since getting back from London. There was more Quidditch and swimming after dinner; and a campfire that started at dusk. Al and Gwendolyn were drafted to help with the music; sang several duets; and Al was put to work doing animal changes for the Animorphmagus song – including one bonus dip in the pool when a shark was requested – though he went with a small, playful shark instead of a version that might have scared any of the kids in the dark.

Kirley and Gwenog's guests began heading home at midnight; Al and Gwendolyn helped with the work involved in getting kids ready to go and play day gear rounded up and packed too. As the last handfuls of guests headed out, they moved on to help with the post-campfire clean-up; had a short bedtime chat with Kirley and Gwenog; and then the four kids headed out to the tent for the rest of the night while Kirley and Gwenog went into the house and off to bed. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all took turns getting ready for bed first, but then they met up in the main room for some couples' cuddle and chat time. Lily and Jonah were first to be together on their usual sofa because Al was last to get bathroom time; so they – and Gwendolyn – were watching a mirror network show by the time Al joined them and got comfortably snuggled with Gwendolyn.

"Okay, the grown-ups are gone, and we've got time to hear the story; so what happened at Uncle Percy's party that had you running for the exits, Al? Did James do something to you guys that I didn't see? He was being a fat-headed git; but mostly playing nice around me."

"He hooked up with a married Witch," Gwendolyn answered before Al could say anything. "I didn't ask if it was someone we know; but maybe I don't want to find out the answer to that question."

"You met her today, and didn't act as though you knew her; so I'll guess you didn't. I didn't know her or recognize her; so she doesn't work directly for Dad, but might be in Uncle Percy's department; since she was at the party – and her husband doesn't work for the Ministry." He smiled and shrugged when Gwendolyn looked as if she wanted more of a hint – or answer. "Elaine and Warren," he added. "We weren't given last names. She has long, reddish-brown hair; gold-brown eyes; and is likely in her early-to-mid thirties."

"I remember seeing her," Lily told them. "It's no wonder that James would find her hot; but what in Merlin's name would she see in a kid half her age?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Well, I could take a guess at that, since I am dating your other brother for one or more of those reasons; but I still think it's gross. Could you imagine either of our Mums going off to have that kind of fun with one of our friends?"

"No, and I'm trying not to have that mental picture either," Lily said with a shudder. "It's bad-enough thinking about Mum and Dad doing stuff like that together let alone with anyone else of any age."

"That isn't at all the same," Al disagreed. "They love each other and their bond is bright and strong. I needed to get out of there today because too much of what I sensed from a lot of those politicians was really dark and ugly – including what was going on between James and that Witch."

"You've been around the Ministry and those politicians lots of other times," Lily reminded him. "Are your abilities getting that much stronger?"

"Yes," Al answered honestly. "I don't seem to be able to shut it off at all either; and I remember everything."

"That's scary," Lily decided – "both for you; and everyone around you." She smiled at Jonah. "Remind us to stop hanging out with Al and Gwendolyn if we do start officially dating some day. There are some things a sister just doesn't need her brothers knowing about!"

"That is pretty much why we left the party early today," Gwendolyn reminded her. "I don't think you'll have to worry about Al for things like that. He'll just find a way to not be around when you need to be left alone."

"I'm tempted to test that theory right now; but won't do that after Al's already been traumatized by James."

"I appreciate that," Al assured her while Gwendolyn laughed and Jonah blushed a bit – and wondered if Al could sense what he'd been thinking. "What other weirdness was going on there? Anything that Dad or the Minister of Magic should know about?"

"I'm going to mention a few things to Dad just in case he and Minister Shacklebolt don't know about some of what I picked up today, but there wasn't anything particularly scandalous or any imminent threat to the Ministry. There are way too many people at the Ministry that are just in it for the power, money, or other selfish motivation, though; and that's going to need to end if we're ever going to fix all of the problems we have in the Wizarding World."

"Careful, or before you know it; you'll decide to give up Quidditch and go and clean up the Ministry of Magic instead," Lily teased. "Rose would not be happy with you."

"I'm selfish too," Al advised her; "so I'll be playing in the show after we graduate – and for the Cannons; since I really do think that Rose's plan is brilliant. The difference between us and those Ministry of Magic posers is that we don't want to hurt anyone while trying to get what we want – or intentionally hurt others to get more power or wealth."

"That's true," Lily agreed; "so Gwendolyn and I will feel bad when our Harpies keep you from helping Rose out with that imposible dream to win league championships with the Cannons."

"You won't be able to win every year," Jonah offered – "not that I'm suggesting the Cannons would win any of the titles in the years you don't."

"If Rose manages to draft you too; I'll hope you're wrong about that," Al told him; and smiled when Jonah laughed.

"I'm still not sure I'll play in the show. Music is still an option for me; and there are no bludgers."

"No – only groupies that could be far more dangerous if you get too close to them – and happen to be dating Lily too," Gwendolyn offered.

"That is a good point," he agreed. "I'll take that into consideration when I get around to deciding what I want to do when I grow up."

They continued to chat for a while, but Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any alone time for snogging because Lily and Jonah both fell asleep on their sofa; they were too comfortable to think about moving into one of the bedrooms to spend a bit of quality time saying goodnight to each other; and they ended up going to sleep for the rest of the night too.

Sunday was a quiet family day at home for the Potters and McCormacks; with James being the only exception while he continued his last weekend away with Patricia. Al's morning started out with a fun little good morning kiss or three with Gwendolyn; he went on to be first to get ready for the day while she napped for a while longer – and Lily and Jonah slept on too; and then he took care of making breakfast for six with some eventual help from Gwenog once she was drawn to the kitchen by the siren smell of freshly-brewed coffee. They spent the morning puttering around the house and yard at the McCormacks; went over to the Potter's house in time for lunch; and then spent the afternoon together relaxing and doing nothing more strenuous than going for a swim. Lily even let them take a day off from Quidditch; and was happy to have a do-nothing day – possibly the last chance they'd have to do that before heading back to Hogwarts in just nine more days.

The McCormacks headed home before dinner because Gwenog needed to do some work in the evening ahead of the work week; and Harry and Ginny both had some work to do too. Once their guests were gone, Ginny and Al cooked a light dinner that was mostly leftovers; Harry and Al took care of the clean-up; and then Al and Lily ended their lazy day with a bike ride and some mirror gaming before deciding to head to bed early – even before Harry and Ginny were done their work in the office. Al had a bedtime chat with Gwendolyn after doing some textbook reading in his room; and was still sleeping before his parents came up to bed too – ready to get a decent night of rest ahead of what he knew was going to be a very busy last week of the summer.

On Monday morning, Al was up early; cooked breakfast for four; and then he and Lily stayed at home and did some house and yard chores while Ginny spent the morning visiting the Harpies' and United' practice pitches. She worked all morning so that she could go along for the robe fittings and back-to-school clothes shopping with Kirley, Molly, Angelina, and a handful or two of the cousins. Al also had a Seeker duel with Lily for a break from the chores and they went for two short swims too, but they had the work finished by the time Ginny picked them up and they headed for Diagon Alley in time to have lunch. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah met up with them for that meal; they ate at one of the cafes so they could sit outside and enjoy the nice weather; and then they went to do their robe fittings.

"You've grown a foot since last August!" Ginny told Al as she held a robe up to him and looked at it critically. "This is two sizes up from your last robes."

"It's only more like four inches," Al advised her. "You thought about going one size bigger last year; but decided that I'd outgrow my robes either way; and went with the ones that fit a bit better."

Ginny nodded. "I remember; and it seems I was right about that. Would you like to take a guess about whether we could do that this year or not?"

"Probably not," he answered. "Maybe we can do that next year, though – and that might get me through our last three years if we go a bit big and I take care of them."

"Deal," Ginny said with a nod and smile. "Now we need to decide on how many of them."

"Three regular robes are usually enough for me," Al told her; "and one dress robe is all I need for the special occasions."

"That might be enough for you with keeping up with the laundry, but I'd rather order the extras now instead of buying and sending more of them by Owl Post later if you have any of your everyday robes get damaged."

"Considering all of the things that have happened to him; it's a wonder he hasn't ruined more robes instead of just wrecking sweaters, shirts, jackets, and pants," Lily told them with a grin for Al. "If it's okay with you; I'd like to stick with five robes again this year. Some of us don't leave our bags of laundry for the House Elves every day."

"We'll go with five for each of you," Ginny decided. "We should definitely go one size up for you, Lily," she added. "We'll adjust the hems at Christmas – unless you need to have that done while still at school. You'll likely out-grow Al over this school year."

"Too bad I won't do that and get taller than him too," Lily pretended to lament; "but it will be nice to be a bit-less vertically-challenged."

"At least you're at the high-end for your year thanks to being among the oldest," Gwendolyn told her. "It's much tougher to be a firstie when you're closer to eleven than twelve and no bigger than a pixie."

"We're all past that stage now," Lily pointed out. "We want to get to the mall as soon as we can, though; so let's just get this done and move on to the best part of our shopping day!"

The girls in their group were especially-happy to help her out with that; Al, Jonah, and the other guys tried not to slow them down at all; and they were about to meet up with the rest of their shopping group at the mall – including Rose, Kyle, and Hugo. Al ended up doing a lot of his shopping with Kyle and the other guys; Kirley supervised them; and Gwendolyn and Rose were with the girls for most of the afternoon as they swept through the mall and loaded up on enough new clothes to get them through at least until Christmas. Al didn't buy nearly as much as Gwendolyn or Lily did, but he picked up enough for what he'd need to get through a normal school week and weekend; added in a few extras in case of future problems with James, Ollie, or their favorite Slytherin haters; and he only splurged on two really good pairs of trainers because they did put a lot of miles on while walking around the castle and school grounds – along with the walks to and from town for Hogsmeade weekends.

Ginny and Kirley began to lose parent and grandparent support by late-afternoon, but one or two cousins left with those adults; so it didn't make the shopping any tougher for them as they wound down that blast of fun. Harry traded places with Kirley after he was done work for the day; they eventually had just six kids with them for the fast food dinner they had at the mall; and then the kids were set free to go to the movies while Harry and Ginny went to Grimmauld Place for a visit with Teddy and Victoire. They collected James along the way after he'd opted to have dinner in Diagon Alley; and the fact that he'd even agreed to go along for that visit to Teddy and Victoire's place had been a welcomed change in his usual attitude toward the young couple since finding out they'd been given the Black family home.

While they were busy with that visit, the movie date night was a blast of fun for the three couples; they watched a monster-tries-to-destroy-the-world flick; and then Rose and kyle headed to his home while Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah went to meet up with Harry, Ginny, and James at Grimmauld Place. They had a short visit and snack break while there, but it was a training night for Victoire; so Harry and Ginny took all five kids home when she needed to turn in for the night. Ginny then went on to take Gwendolyn and Jonah home after that, but Gwenog was heading to bed by then too; so she only stayed for a few minutes to talk with her – and with Kirley; and then she came home again.

Al didn't need to wonder what was going on with James, since he could sense the way his brother was feeling, but while he still fired off the odd insult or razzing at Al; there was also no doubt that he was playing nicer – even though he still had a strong, simmering hatred just below the surface facade he was putting on for his own, selfish reasons. He'd apparently played nice the entire time he'd been at Grimmauld Place too, so while Al wasn't planning on letting down his guard around James; he was glad to see that he was at least faking getting along with everyone else. The darkness he sensed still gave him reason to stay away from James, though; so Al went to his room not long after Gwendolyn and Jonah went home and studied for an hour or so until he was ready to get some sleep.

Tuesday was a home day for Al and Lily, but Gwendolyn, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo came over to spend the day with them. Ginny did one last blast of toy making with the three older teens; they wrapped up a few final adjustments to three of the toys that would be out for Halloween; and then that was it for the toy work for the summer. Ginny worked all afternoon while the six kids stayed home and played; they all stayed for a take-out dinner that Ginny brought home with her while Harry collected James from the Catapults' practice pitch; and then Gwendolyn went on to her senior team practice while James, Al, and Rose did the same for their practice at the Wood's home. As with most of their senior team scrimmages, Al, Rose, and their reserve squad team won that match, but this time; they also won it handily because James and Brandon battled to a draw in their Seeker duel until time ran out for them and Olivia ended the practice. The fact that James wasn't mad about that was another change, but Al also sensed that it was part of some game or plan that James had - possibly to sandbag Brandon ahead of tryouts.

James' apparent attitude change was as welcomed by the other players as it was for everyone in his family, but all was not entirely-well at the practice. Ollie was definitely not happy; and neither were some of the other player-hopefuls – particularly at Chaser and Keeper. Al earned extra hate from Ollie, but even Olivia and Lucy seemed to get a bit annoyed when he consistently out-played them too. The only difference between them and the rest of the Chasers, though, was that Al sensed that they were also excited about the prospect of having him on the team with them this year as their third Chaser. For the Keepers, it was Louis and Rose that had the other Keepers feeling disappointed; since they were both significantly-better than the others – though there were only two Keepers still showing up regularly for the workouts. They didn't get much play time in the scrimmages, but that was of their own doing; since the switch-outs were done after every three goals; and they gave up those goals much more quickly than Louis or Rose did when it was their turns to play.

James had to work in the morning, so he and Al didn't stay for long after the practice – just long-enough for a cool-down swim and post-practice chat. Rose didn't even wait that long; but headed for London to meet up with Kyle for the rest of the evening. By the time they got home, Lily's fellow junior team players had all gone home; she was watching mirror network shows with Harry and Ginny; and they all watched Lee's nightly show before heading up to bed together – another bit of semi-weirdness; since they did that with James and didn't have any major issues with him yet again.

Wednesday was an away day for Al and Lily. Ginny dropped them off at the McCormack's home on her way to work; and they were staying for the entire day and a camping night. While getting to do that together had been the top reason for the play day plan; Al and Gwendolyn also spent a couple of hours with Kirley working on the last batch of Christmas songs with him. They played each of them for him; fine-tuned a couple of them with his help; and he was fairly-happy by the time they were done – though he still wished that they'd record the songs and put out their own album instead of just selling the songs to other artists. Gwendolyn insisted that wasn't going to happen, though, and Al was happy to go along with her on that decision; so Kirley was just going to have to live with the disappointment.

They did that music play time first, so they had the rest of the day open to them to play with Lily and Jonah. They had a morning Quidditch duel for the Seekers and Chasers that included a lot of flying tricks fun; swam and relaxed by the pool a lot for the rest of the morning and a lot of the afternoon; and went for one hike along a nearby trail with just the four kids while Kirley popped out to run some errands – including a stop to work on selling the new songs to the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers through his own band mates. The Graves Robbers only had a few more days left to do any additional recording before some of their members headed back to school; but the Weird Kids could continue to work on a Christmas album for at least another couple of months before they'd need to get it ready to be in stores in time for the Christmas season.

While they didn't play more Quidditch in the afternoon, they did keep track of the Cannons' Quidditch match on their portable mirrors. Al and Lily could have gone to the match with Ron, Rose, and Hugo; but Fred and Roxanne went instead. Spending the day with Gwendolyn and Jonah instead of going to the game had been an easy choice for them, but then they still got to watch most of what was a pretty bad match for the Cannons right up until Santini again shocked everyone by catching the snitch and keeping his team undefeated after their first two matches of the season! The Magpies' players and fans weren't the only spectators watching the match to be stunned by the result; and Santini caught the snitch in just forty-four minutes to give his team the one-seventy to forty victory. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had been on their hike at the time, but there wasn't any Muggles around them; so they'd been able to both watch the show and then talk about the unexpected results.

"Can you believe that the Cannons and Harpies are both undefeated?" Jonah asked incredulously. "Merlin – they could have a better record than us if we don't beat United on Saturday!"

"Maybe that's why Santini seems so motivated right now," Al suggested. "Their third match is against the Harpies; and this may have been his only chance to look like a winner to Aunt Gabrielle; since they normally don't play against each other until a bit later in the season – and the Cannons have never had a winning record going into that first match."

"They haven't since Gabrielle started with the Harpies for sure," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod. "Still, I didn't think he had it in him; so let's give the guy credit when due."

"Do we have to?" Lily complained. "Uncle Ron is going to be insufferable for the rest of the week – and he'll drive Mum nuts if we don't win on Saturday."

"I say let him have his fun," Al suggested. "He's actually got something to brag about with the Cannons for now; and that won't likely last for long. The Cannons are not going to have as much luck against the top-eight teams they'll be up against over the next few matches; so I'll feel bad for him when the Cannons disappoint him yet again this year."

"I suppose we can give him that," Lily conceded; and then grinned at Al. "Don't think I'll extend that consideration to you if you do go and play for them with Rose, though. You know what you're getting into; and won't deserve our sympathy."

"Maybe you won't have to worry about that at all," Gwendolyn suggested. "If the Cannons actually have a winning season; that might completely mess up Rose's plans. Then she could come and play for the Harpies with us; and Al can play for some other team."

"Sure," Jonah agreed. "I could totally see Al playing for the Tornados with Rachel and Lacey – or for Aunt Meghan with Alice and Francine. I'd suggest United too, but Dominique, Olivia, and Lucy have their own plans; and Al would mess that up if he took one of those spots from them."

"At least two out of three of those Witches are our cousins," Lily offered after laughing at Jonah's suggestions. "Gwendolyn probably doesn't like your other choices for Al's future team."

"I don't like them at all," Gwendolyn assured her. "That is part of my problem with Rose's plan for the Cannons. That might be the best place for Al from a Harpies' perspective; and I could also make sure that she doesn't hire any Witches to play on his team with him that I don't approve first."

"Rose might prefer to hire a team full of hot Wizards instead," Lily teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Now that would be funny. Could you imagine your Uncle Ron in that scenario? He'd be cheering for the team and worried about all of those Wizards around his little girl – except for Al, of course."

"That's true, but it would keep me out of trouble," Al offered with a grin. "I like the idea."

"Well, in that case; let's talk about the available Wizards for those jobs," Lily suggested – "and I mean 'available' for both Quidditch skills and hotness."

Her offer kept Gwendolyn and Lily entertained for a while, but Al and Jonah did not want to offer any opinions on the hot factor for other Wizards – including when Jonah was considered as both a prospect for Seeker and a hot, younger Wizard for Rose to 'play' with on the Cannons' team. They had a quick mirror chat with Rose to congratulate her, but she was more-interested in getting back to London to hang out with Kyle; so they kept that chat short because she was ready to leave the stadium by then anyway. Kirley was still out when they got back from their hike, so they relaxed by the pool and went for cool-down swims when they wanted to do that; and then Al and Gwendolyn helped him out with making dinner after he got home – and had that meal ready to go by the time Gwenog got home from work.

That meal was followed up with a play evening. The four kids had a bit more Quidditch fun while Kirley and Gwenog watched on and she did a bit of Harpies work at a table she conjured by the pitch. They all went for an evening swim; and then Kirley and Gwenog went into the house for the rest of the night while the kids stayed outside and played until they were ready to head into the tent in time to watch Lee's nightly show. The Cannons' win earned top billing for Lee's monologue; and he had a bit of fun with that – particularly when he pointed out that the Cannons were sure to be one of the few undefeated teams left standing after the weekend because four of those still-undefeated teams were playing against each other on Saturday; so only two of them would still be undefeated by the end of the day. Lily and Jonah cuddled together until Lee's show ended; and then they headed for their own beds and left Al and Gwendolyn to have some alone time – and another sofa sleepover without the extra company; if they chose to do that too.

With their younger siblings still in the tent with them, Al and Gwendolyn couldn't exactly have a major snogging session, and couldn't do anything until after Lily and Jonah had taken turns in the bathroom and then gone to stay in their rooms; but they did have a bit of quiet play time after that – a soft, intimate blast of fun that was a perfect way to end a really good play day before going with the sofa sleepover option for the rest of the night.

The countdown really seemed to be on by Thursday morning; and that was mostly because Al and Lily went to the Burrow after breakfast while Gwendolyn and Jonah were going to be busy with Kirley – and spending time with him; visiting family and friends; and getting ready for their return to school on September First. Al and Lily were doing a bit of that too; and Molly had wanted to spend extra time with them while Ginny needed to be busy with work. Fred, Roxanne, and Hugo came over for the day on Thursday too, but Rose stayed in London to spend the day with Kyle; both of them wanting to spend as much time together as they could before they'd be separated until the Christmas holidays. Molly didn't have the kids there to do chores for her all day, but they did help out for most of the morning; and then they played for the rest of the day. They went out to lunch with Arthur; he took the afternoon off; and let the kids play with his favorite airplanes, helicopters, and quad-copters whenever they weren't swimming or playing a bit of Quidditch in the orchard.

Ginny came and picked up Al and Lily early because she needed to get home and have them help her with the end-of-summer dinner that Lily was hosting for the junior team. Al helped out with that until he needed to be at the Wood's home for the senior team barbeque and practice, but by then; Molly and Arthur had come over to help out too – and brought Fred, Roxanne, and Hugo with them. Al had gone on to the Wood's house on his own; and he ended up being there early-enough to help out with some of the work that Ollie's mother and sisters were doing – though Kathryn moved on to his home not long after he arrived so that she could hang out with Lily and the other junior players instead. Harry dropped James off after they were both done work, but Rose didn't get there until right before dinner was ready to be served – and it wasn't because Ron had been running behind schedule as usual; but because she'd lost track of time while possibly having an afternoon snogging session with Kyle at his house.

That team dinner was a first for Al at someone else's home, but while his perspective as a guest was a bit different; it was his stronger, passive talents for sensing everything going on around him that made that couple of hours of fun more than a little strange too. Some of the interactions between the witches and Wizards of various ages wasn't anything new; yet there were still new things to learn – and not all of them were things he wanted to know. Ollie, for instance, hated that Al helped out with the pre-dinner work while he'd been avoiding both his mother and the work, but when Oliver got home; that attitude changed fairly dramatically. That wasn't for any scary reasons, and Ollie wasn't afraid of his father; but Al still didn't like what he sensed from Ollie when it came to how he felt about his parents. There wasn't the same darkness that Al always sensed now with James' reaction to him, but Ollie was so jealous of his sisters that he'd become a true sexist; and acted accordingly toward his mother – and really; around most Witches – even if he didn't overtly treat them badly.

Al found Ollie's reactions to his father more interesting; since it taught him a lot about the other boy. He could sense a strong level of hero worship and a desire to measure up, but underneath the bravado and outward show of confidence; there was doubt and self-disappointment that Ollie turned around and blamed on others – like his sisters, Al, and anyone else other than himself. While he could comprehend those feelings; Al didn't understand them. All of the Quidditch family kids knew the stories about their families from their Hogwarts years, so while Oliver had enjoyed a brilliant, successful career with Puddlemere United; he'd needed to work hard and go through many tough years along the way – especially at Hogwarts while he was Captain of the Gryffindor team. After that, there'd been years of training as a reserve squad Keeper before he finally earned his shot to play in the show; and then there'd been more tough seasons to go along with a few, well-deserved league championships.

The point that was lost on Ollie seemed to be that he didn't get just how much work his father had needed to put into learning his craft before reaching the elite level of the league. That thought had Al smiling to himself because he suspected that Ollie's mother might have more natural talent for Quidditch than his father, though Ollie would never believe that. His train of thought took him from there over to James, and while he didn't sense anything different about his brother; Al decided that at least part of the change in the way James had been acting was directly-related to his summer job with the Catapults. On the nights James had actually been home after work, Al had sensed his general disdain for most of the players on the team, but maybe being around the work ethic every day – and joining in for parts of the training – was rubbing off on him. As he considered that, a review of his team practice memories didn't reveal any added insights, but then he still suspected that James was playing some sort of game; so maybe he was just learning the strategy part of the game.

Al didn't let his wandering thoughts get in the way of having fun too, and once it was time to have dinner; he was happy to get in line with Rose and eventually fill their plates and find a couple of chairs to sit in – once the most-ravenous of their little gang had finished piling one or two plates full of food first. They ended up sitting with Gina and Brandon; making up a table of Auror and Ministry of Magic kids while most of the other teens were in Quidditch groups where that was an option.

"How long has it been since we've sat at the same table for any meals?" Gina asked Al and Rose.

"Seven years and change for both of you," Al answered with a smile. "You were put on kid control for a back-to-school family and friends play day – along with Teddy, Victoire, and some of the other, older teens and tweens."

"I didn't think it had been quite that long," Brandon said in surprise; and Al shrugged. "The year after that, Rose and I turned eight; and the parents let us move up from the supervised tables. Gina helped out with Lily, Roxanne, and some of the other, younger Auror kids for another couple of summers, but you were more into Quidditch and mirror games after that summer and sat with the other, older boys."

"You remember stuff like that from when you were seven and eight?" Brandon asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah. It comes in handy now and then."

"I wish I had that kind of memory to help out with our NEWT year," Gina told him seriously. "Half the battle is memorizing everything."

"More than half for me," Brandon agreed. "The magic is easy compared to all of the tests, reports, and research."

"That's likely true for most of us," Rose suggested; "though I guess we have a few classmates that have more trouble with the magic – at least in a few classes."

"You won't have as many problems with that now that you're in fourth-year," Gina told her. "There are still some mishaps while learning new magic, but by fourth-year; most of the students know better than to just fling the spells around; so there are far-fewer accidents."

"Thank Merlin for that," Brandon offered fervently. "The accidents we do see are bad-enough; and we wouldn't want that to be an every day thing like it was back in first year. I never, ever want to see another splinching accident in my life."

"Me either; though the one we did see was minor compared to some of the horror stories we've all heard."

"Possibly included the one about my Dad," Rose added; earning a round of laughs.

"That wasn't funny at the time; but the stories are now," Al said; smiling wryly at Rose. "Anyone that doesn't know your parents might think that it was love at first splinch; depending on how much of the story they heard."

"I always liked the snogging during the Battle of Hogwarts stories more," Gina told them. "That might even be one of the top craziest stories from the entire war."

"Maybe," Rose agreed; "but the war brought a lot of couples together – and helped everyone realize what's most important – at least for our side."

"Yeah, and look what that got our parents – all of us!" Brandon joked.

"That has worked out well-enough for us; considering the alternative," Gina pointed out; and then grinned at Al and Rose. "Now we might have gotten the chance to play more Quidditch if those Weasleys and Potters didn't have quite so many kids; but I guess it's too late to do anything about that – unless you want to try using a time-turner and going back to change the past."

"That might've helped you, but even if they'd all only had one kid each; I'd have still had the same problems with Victoire and James," Brandon reminded her. "We can hope for the best; but I expect we'll both be back on the reserve squad again this season."

"That used to worry me until Daniella got her job with the Prides," Gina admitted. "Now I know there's still hope for us to play in the show even without getting the chance to play for our team and get seen by the scouts."

"I think you'd both do great in the show," Al told them seriously; and seemed to surprise both of them.

"Really?" Gina asked. "Thanks; but why do you think that?"

"I think that you're one of the top seven or eight Chasers with the Senior teams," he answered. "You'd make a great set-up Chaser for any team in the league – or a go-to reserve Chaser. That isn't something that can be judged at tryouts; but you're better than Olivia or Lucy for that part of the Chaser game." Al turned his attention to Brandon. "I don't know if you'd ever get the chance for a Seeker job on any of the league teams; but any team would be lucky to have you as a reserve Seeker; and a team that can score a lot of goals would be a perfect fit for your defensive style. Seekers get hurt more-often than most of the other players; and you'd give that kind of team a chance to win matches even when their Seeker is out for injuries or other reasons."

Brandon sighed. "So you're saying I can only hope to play in the show if my team Seeker gets injured," he pretended to lament.

"For now," Al agreed candidly. "That could change if you can get better at catching the snitch." He nodded toward where Oliver and Katie were sitting a few tables over. "Ollie's Dad found a way to make the jump from the reserve squad with Puddlemere United; and that isn't easy to do; so you know it's possible."

"Maybe I should be talking to Rose about this," Brandon said; turning his attention toward her. "I hear she's looking to put a team together for after you graduate – though that would mean I'd need to wait for three years to do that with her."

"You are on my list," Rose advised him, "but don't sign up with the Cannons; since I'd rather have you play for some other team – or not at all – instead of learning all of the bad habits their current players have now."

"They're undefeated so far this season," Gina said with a laugh. "I thought that you'd be very happy with your team – and I've already heard that your Dad is thrilled – and razzing all of his old Auror mates."

"He is and has been doing that; but I know that Santini is the only reason they've won those matches – just as he's responsible for every win they've had since he joined the Cannons. Unfortunately, he's in the bottom-half of the Seekers in the league; and our team is down by more than one-sixty before he can win the Seeker duels he does have a real chance at winning."

"I'd actually put him in the top-half of that list," Brandon offered. "He's at a disadvantage thanks to the rest of his team; and would have a better record if he played for nearly any other team."

Rose shrugged. "That'd be true for any of the Seekers in the show; and I still think that there are at least seven Seekers among the rest that would do better than he does even if they were with the Cannons instead. Our Aunt Gabrielle would likely have a winning record with them."

"Except for the fact that they can't afford the best Seeker in the league," Gina said. "That's the part of your plan that I don't know how you'll pull off. Putting together a championship team won't be cheap – even if you could buy the Cannons as they are now at a bargain price."

"I haven't figured out any of that yet," Rose admitted; "but still think new owners will be needed before the Cannons can get better. The current owners just can't get that done – though I'll try to be nice and not offer any suggestions on why they can't or won't put better teams together."

"Well, your Dad is their biggest fan; so maybe he'd let you live at home and work for the pittance the Cannons pay everyone except Santini," Brandon offered.

"Are you trying to sell me on that; or dissuade me?" Rose half-joked. "I love my Mum and Dad; but don't want to live at home for long after we graduate."

"My first thought on that is really wrong; but aren't you expecting to get a new house from your Uncle after you graduate – or will the cousins only get them when they get married?" Her questions earned a round of laughs before Rose responded.

"I don't expect Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny to give me a house at all; but everyone seems to forget that the house was for Teddy; not Victoire – and Uncle Harry wanted him to have it because of his connection to the Black family."

"Sirius left Grimmauld Place to Dad; but I expect he'd have left it for Teddy instead if he'd lived long-enough to meet his cousin," Al told them earnestly. "Dad never felt right about getting that inheritance – especially when he thought that Mum's family – or Andromeda's – had more right to it."

"It worked out for the best this way," Rose offered. "Grandma and Grandpa Weasley would have never been able to fix that place up if it had been given to them; and the same goes for Andromeda – especially when both grandmothers were busy raising their grandchildren."

"Now that you say that – I'm glad that Dad got it too," Al told her. "Could you imagine what the chores would have been like at Grimmauld Place if we'd been there instead of the Burrow?"

Rose laughed. "Yeah, I can; since we've heard the horror stories about that place."

That comment had Gina and Brandon asking them about those stories; and that kept them entertained for the rest of their meal. All four of them helped Oliver and Katie with the clean-up; and then it was time to get started on their quidditch practice. For their last practice of the summer; Olivia decided to have a Witches against Wizards scrimmage – though she didn't have two Witches for Beaters or one for Seeker; and had to make an exception for them. She did put Rose on her team, though; and had Louis play on Al's team with the other guys – and with James too; since he'd wanted to make the switch for the night too. Al sensed that had everything to do with wanting to get the win over the Witches; though James pretended that he was doing Brandon a favor. He hadn't intended to do that; but actually did end up helping Brandon.

Al found the change-ups for their match very interesting; challenging; and entertaining. Rose might notice how the game changed for Al playing against her, but he suspected that no-one else would; so they didn't see that Rose won more of the battles with Al than Louis had been winning for most of the summer. He still scored a lot of goals, but he needed to set up more goals too as he adjusted for her goaltending style and skills. That was offset by Olivia, Lucy, and Gina having a better night against Louis; though that just proved to Al that Rose had been getting better all summer too. He liked Louis a lot, but he loved Rose; and couldn't help but hope that they'd both make the senior team in September – even if they'd each feel bad for Louis now that he was down to just two years left for impressing the scouts. That was even tougher after not being able to play in his fourth year and going winless in his fifth despite being the best Keeper among the senior teams; but Al still thought that Rose was going to be the better Keeper between the two of them – if she wasn't already the best in the school.

Those two differences kept the scoring closer than normal for the two teams; and they all seemed to be having more fun. Even James had fun as he caught the first snitch just fifteen minutes into the scrimmage; and that fifty points put his team even more-firmly into the lead – if still well-short of a one-sixty advantage. That early catch didn't help him, though; since he started to act more like his normal-self again in his battle against Brandon. Having the big lead instead of being behind affected him too; and he started showboating and goofing off – knowing that even if Brandon caught the snitch; his team was still too far ahead for that to matter. The one little detail that he did forget, though, was that he wouldn't win his Seeker duel if Brandon caught the snitch – which he did at the one-hour and twelve minute mark of the match. James hadn't even been in a position to try and stop him because he'd been busy flirting with one of the Witches watching the match and showing off for her; so it was too late by the time he realized that Brandon had seen an opportunity to catch the snitch that he took advantage of to get his first catch of the entire summer. Olivia called an end to the practice then, and while James hadn't looked happy about that, his team had still won; and he was soon more interested in resuming the flirting while Al and Rose joined in on the practice post-mortem with about a third of the other players.

"Thanks for switching up the teams today," Louis told Olivia. "I feel so much better now going into tryouts in a couple of weeks than I did after the practice on Tuesday."

Olivia laughed. "I am so not-glad that we helped you out with that. The Witches were supposed to win, and we can't even blame the boys on our team; since they at least plaed to a draw against your guys."

"Which I'm very happy about," Brandon assured her. "One catch for the summer still sucks; but it's better than zero."

"You'll only need one at tryouts," Lucy reminded him; and then grinned. "Fill the stands with pretty Witches for tryouts; and you might get that win. James is easily-distracted."

"I doubt that'd work at tryouts," Brandon disagreed. "I'll still hope for the best, but James is sure to bring his best game; and he is better than I am – when he isn't messing around."

"Maybe," Lucy agreed; "but let's not go there. I really had fun tonight; and I think that we all did – even while we also all played better too."

"That would have been exactly as planned – except for the part where we didn't win," Olivia told her; earning more laughs.

"This time; I'll agree with Al that winning isn't everything," Lucy countered. "We are all on the same team, after all; so these practices are supposed to be about helping all of us to get better – and I think we did that today."

"So you're saying that Al would be perfect for our reserve squad; but shouldn't be allowed to play in any matches?" Gina asked; feigning hopeful excitement. "Yes – the rest of us still have a shot at one of those Chaser jobs!"

Al had joined in for the laugh, but Gina's comment also had him focusing on what he sensed from the other Chaser hopefuls as they considered her joke. Some of them were realistic and hoped to make the reserve squad; while Ollie was at the other extreme and still seemed to be truly-delusional about his own prospects for making the team. Sure, he was biased against Ollie for obvious reasons, but that didn't make him wrong about his assessment of Ollie's current abilities compared to the other Chasers – including himself; and Al knew that Ollie might not even be good-enough to make the reserve squad. It was definitely wrong to hope for that, but if he didn't have to spend the season practicing three times a week with Ollie; he'd find a way to live with that personal flaw.

While the post-practice chat rolled along; they also got out of their gear and went for a swim in one of the two pools that had been set up for the end-of-summer party. James and Al stayed longer to join in on the fun; but still got home before the party for the junior team was finished – so they joined in for the tail-end of that too. James only did that because there were a couple of pretty thirteen-year old Witches still there and in swimsuits; but Al also helped out with the clean-up work that was starting by then because his parents didn't have a lot of adult support by then. Most of their dinnertime help had already gone home for the night because they had work in the morning; and the parents coming to collect their kids just wanted to pick them up and go home instead of hanging around to talk or join in on the fun. It was another hour before the last teens and tweens left, but Lily ended up keeping Roxanne for a sleepover; and they went off with Ginny for some girls-only time before bed while James went to play mirror games in the sitting room; and Al helped Harry with the rest of the work in the yard and kitchen. Al went to his room after that; watched Lee's nightly show; had a mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then went off to sleep once they'd finished sharing their practice and party reports.

Friday wasn't exactly a wind-down day for the summer, but it felt a bit as though it was to Al and Lily. They managed to get through the early-morning with no problems from James; they spent a bit more than half the day at the Burrow with their grandmother doing some chores and then playing until Ginny picked them up mid-afternoon and took them home; and then they had a quiet evening at home. James had been ordered to be home for the weekend and not have any weekend guests, and while he hadn't liked being ordered to do anything; he'd agreed after finding out that the order applied to Al and Lily too. He also continued to mostly play nice after he got home from work, so while he didn't help out with any chores after dinner and into the evening that Harry and Ginny had wanted to get done ahead of the weekend and the Harpies' Quidditch match on Saturday; he did have a short Seeker duel with Lily; didn't make an issue of it when she won; and then had fun playing in the pool with her afterward. Their family evening eventually wrapped up with watching Lee's show in the sitting room; and then they all headed up to bed – including James; since he had to work with the Catapults on Saturday for their match instead of going to the Harpies' match with his family and their friends.

James' attitude change hadn't been something that Harry and Ginny talked about with Al and Lily – or with their eldest son. Al was sure that four out of five of them were worried about jinxing it if they did do anything more than just enjoy the reprieve and be glad of the break from the past three years of awful. They didn't talk about it on Saturday morning either, but were again happy to have a meal that was free of any teen drama and only included a bit of razzing from James about how 'his' team would still be undefeated by the end of the day while the Harpies would be sure to have another loss to United. Al thought that the odds of both teams losing were higher than any other combination of wins and losses, but he didn't get involved in that banter; and left it up to his mother and sister to defend the Harpies. When they were finished breakfast, Harry took James to work while Ginny, Al, and Lily took care of the clean-up; and then he came home and they did some more chores until mid-morning.

They headed for Diagon Alley then; did some shopping and visiting that kept them entertained until it was time for the game-day lunch at the Leaky; and then they met up with everyone in their Quidditch-watching group – and were there early-enough to welcome all of them too. Thanks to the match-up against United, they had extra guests – mostly because Bill and Fleur had season's tickets for United now too; and had picked up extra tickets for this match. While the rivalry was now at a new level for the two teams; they sat together and had fun with that. Al was having fun by then simply because he'd been reunited with Gwendolyn; and they had a special bonus that came with getting to be at the same table with Aunt Muriel while having their lunch.

"It's a good thing that we have this Quidditch match today; or I might not have seen you again until Christmas," Muriel told Al and Gwendolyn after they'd all been sitting down and waiting for one of Hannah's servers to take their orders. "Molly and Dominique don't seem to be in any hurry to settle down and get married; so I didn't get to see you at any weddings this year."

"We were all at Uncle Percy's birthday party," Al reminded her.

"Yes, but we barely said ten words to each other – and then you took off early – probably because you didn't want to be around there while your brother was chasing after that married Witch all afternoon."

"That might have been a contributing factor," Gwendolyn agreed; smiling as Al blushed and Muriel earned the attention of a lot of the customers in the room because of her loudly-spoken pronouncement.

"Aunt Muriel, this is hardly the place to talk about such things," Molly admonished; but Muriel just laughed.

"It's not as if that story isn't all over the gossip network," she declared. "That grandson of yours is already earning quite the reputation for that sort of thing. Maybe that's even good for him. Gives the boy something to do instead of causing so much trouble – as long as he doesn't end up in a family way at his age while doing that." She laughed again. "Then again, maybe he'd just be helping out those married Witches; since their husbands obviously have a problem with keeping them happy – or too busy with kids of their own to be interested in flirting with boys."

"Aunt Muriel!" Molly gasped; and looked shocked. Muriel just waved her off dismissively.

"It's the truth – no point in sugar-coating it," she told her niece. "He's a good-looking Wizard, but still a boy; so that says more about those husbands than the Witches." She smirked at Al. "It seems I've turned young Albus into a beet, though; so we can change the subject to something that he isn't quite so embarrassed about – though that seems ridiculous; considering how long these two have been dating each other."

"He's a proper Wizard," Molly said defensively. "That's becoming quite rare these days; and I'm glad to see that most of our boys still treat their favorite Witches with respect and honor."

"So you're expecting Albus and Gwendolyn to elope as soon as they're finished at Hogwarts just as you and Arthur did?" Muriel joked; earning a round of laughs and banishing the awkwardness of the conversation to that point.

"That is a wonderful idea," Gwendolyn told her with a smile that had Muriel laughing again.

"You remind me a lot of my Molly. That's a good thing; since your Wizard will likely need a strong Witch to keep him under control – just as Molly's done with Arthur."

"We've managed to muddle through," Molly said modestly. "I don't know how well we'll do with these matches between the Harpies and United now that we have grandchildren on both teams."

"That won't get easier for us when the rest of the kids grow up," Arthur reminded her. "We could end up needing to cheer for half the teams in the league – and I might need to retire just to have time to go to all of the matches."

"Maybe you could get a job as a scout," Al suggested; and Arthur laughed.

"That would only work if I was doing that for one of the teams that didn't have any of our grandchildren playing for them; and I wouldn't want to help any of those other teams find ways to win against you or your cousins."

"Maybe Rose would hire you to help out with her Cannons," Gwendolyn teased; and laughed too when that suggestion had Muriel hooting with laughter. "Is there some reason for why that was funnier than I thought it would be?" she asked once Muriel had caught her breath.

"Probably not," Muriel answered. "That idea just seems ridiculously funny to me – no offense meant, Arthur."

"None taken," he assured her. "That isn't a job I can see myself doing – especially after spending decades teasing Ron about his choice of favorite team."

"Well, if Rose manages to accomplish the impossible; it'll be Ron's turn to razz us," Molly suggested.

"Is there really an 'if' about that?" Muriel asked. "Unlike the rest of you; I took Rose's side of that wager with a few of my friends after I told them about it."

"You did?" Gwendolyn asked in surprise; and Muriel nodded.

"I have – and if you haven't; then you're in denial."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I am going to play for the Harpies," she insisted. "Did Rose put you up to that?"

"No, but I have eyes; and know what I see," Muriel countered. "If it helps you out for now, though; just keep telling yourself that I'm just a senile, old windbag that doesn't know what she's talking about."

"You're not – and you're also the first person to scare me just a bit with that unspoken prediction."

Muriel actually had an expression on her face that looked tender as she smiled at Gwendolyn. "What I see shouldn't scare you at all, dear, but don't worry over it – you've years yet ahead of you and lots of time to get used to the idea."

Their conversation moved on from there, but Al stayed out of it as much as possible. As usually happened in crowds, his mind was working in overdrive as the sensory overload was processed in various ways – prioritized and stored for future reference – even when those details seemed to be completely-useless information. He'd also spent a bit of time thinking about Gwendolyn's true reaction and comments about the Cannons and Quidditch with his Aunt Muriel; and about how much that had changed for her over the past few years since Rose had made the original joke that had started both the entertainment and her interest in actually making that happen. Gwendolyn's feelings – and how that affected her childhood dream of playing for the Harpies was important to Al, but he didn't talk about what he sensed with Gwendolyn; and wouldn't do that until and unless she wanted to do that with him. There was good reason to trust Aunt Muriel's opinion, though, and while it had again been a bit uncomfortable to be in such close proximity to her loud, blunt observations; he also found what he sensed from her unique and interesting. That wasn't a label he applied to many people he'd met so far. Luna was one of those few, special Wizards and Witches; and it was all about having a different way of looking at the world from everyone else.

Aunt Muriel had a different way of looking at the Harpies-United Quidditch match too, and while Al and Gwendolyn didn't sit all that close to her; they weren't far-enough away to miss her comments during the match – or before and after it; for that matter. They did walk around the concessions booths with her – and with some of the parents, Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo; and that made picking up snacks, drinks, and souvenirs very entertaining – particularly when she attempted a bit of bartering with the booth owners or attendants. The first one found out that Aunt Muriel could be – at least temporarily – bad for business when she made sure that everyone within a hundred yards knew all about what his Great-Granny had said about him even being willing to cheat her with his outrageous prices; which was likely why the second vendor negotiated his way into her good graces – and loud praises.

When they eventually reached their seats; they soon found out that Muriel didn't need to use her mirror for Bill, Fleur, and their group to hear her from the far-side of the stadium where they sat with the United fans for the day. They had, apparently, offered a compromise for supporting Victoire and Dominique; but had been told to enjoy the match together instead of splitting up to do that. Al knew that had been an issue for some of the members of their family; but it hadn't been for him. He'd grown up a Harpies fan; and that wasn't going to change regardless of which teams his cousins, brother, or sister ended up playing for – and that was true for his own future in the show. Muriel didn't get any shout-outs in return; but their United-section contingent of family and friends did wave, smile, and laugh at some of what they heard from Muriel before and during the match.

Some of Muriel's pre-game fun included her commentary about only having three Wizards in the match, which she liked a lot; though she wasn't as certain about having Witches for three-out-of-four of the Beaters. Unfortunately for Calvin, she remembered him too well; and knew that his Great-Great-Aunt thought that he was an idiot for breaking up with her own Great-Great-niece, Molly. Al was able to enjoy all of that fun because he and Gwendolyn were not included in any of that commentary; so it just added to the afternoon entertainment. He couldn't help but wonder if James had inherited at least his need to offer game commentary from their Aunt Muriel, but while she could be blunt and a bit vindictive when protecting her own; Muriel's match commentary was usually also spot-on and insightful – proving that she knew more about the game than most of her family and friends might believe possible of her.

They did actually have the main event match of the day to watch too, though; and it was particularly fun to watch the first battle of the Weasley sisters in the show. Despite having two of the powerhouse offense teams battling it out; it was the defensive plays that earned most of the early highlights. In the first hour; Belinda stopped everything that Victoire, Candice, and Hailey threw at her – with a lot of help from her Chasers and Beaters. Calvin and Tina proved to be more than a match for their Harpies' counterparts; and Dominique was definitely motivated – and having a blast – while matched up against her big sister. She also scored the first goal of the match to take the lead in their Chaser duel – the first of two that United scored against the Harpies during that first hour. Belinda's shut-out didn't survive long into the second hour, though; and Victoire tied Dominique in their battle as the teams traded two goals each during that second hour. Victoire took the Chaser duel lead over Dominique during the third hour, but only by a goal; and the Harpies lost ground to United by giving up two goals to that single goal that Victoire scored on Belinda.

United's three-goal lead was insignificant as the match rolled into the fourth hour; and everyone watching the match was sure that it would come down to the Seekers to determine the winner and loser for the day. Gabrielle was in another tough battle; and that Seeker duel raged on through the fourth hour as the Harpies and United again traded just two goals each to head into the fifth hour with a score of one-hundred for United to seventy for the Harpies. There still wasn't any end in sight to the match as they blasted through the first three-quarters of that fifth hour – until it was suddenly over without any real warning at all. There wasn't a spectacular chase for the snitch or acrobatic catch to be worthy of the Quidditch highlights of the day. The United Seeker got one of those truly lucky breaks; crossed paths with the snitch; and managed to trap and catch it before Gabrielle had a chance to do anything about it or make an attempt at the catch instead. United and the Harpies had traded single goals during that last forty-seven minutes of the match; so the final score was two-sixty to eighty for United.

"Well, that sucks for us," Gwendolyn told Al quietly as they watched the United fans celebrate – and kept an eye on the fun above the pitch as Victoire and Dominique met up for a mid-air hug.

"Victoire did win her Chaser duel with Dominique four goals to three," Al reminded her. "It was still a good day for our family to have seven of nineteen goals."

"I'm sure Victoire would prefer it the other way around – just as I would," Gwendolyn said; not at all comforted by Al's 'good news' offer. "Dominique better not have too much fun this year with Jonathan and Dawn, though; or they might decide to stay on for a few more seasons – and that'd seriously mess up the plans Belinda, Olivia, and Lucy had for United."

"I don't think that will happen," Al advised her seriously. "Dawn and Jonathan are ready for a break from all of the work – and they will join Laura on the reserve squad next season to help with training their replacements while giving United the great back-up players too." He smiled as he focused his attention on the two United Chasers. "Our biggest worry this season will be if we can't keep them from earning another league championship during their last season."

"Unfortunately for us; they're looking very good for that right now," Gwendolyn declared with a shake of her head; and then sighed. "Okay, that was a lucky catch, and our team did play a great match; so I'd better let it go and move on. It's getting on in the day; so your parents are going to need help getting the dinner ready for the gang they've invited to come over after the match."

That was true, but while Ginny hurried off to work the post-game interviews; everyone else waited for the first wave of the spectator exodus to roll out of the stadium before packing up their things and heading for the gates. Harry and Ginny weren't having everyone in their group over for dinner, but they did have the MCcormacks, Ron, Hermione, and the kids; and Molly, Arthur, and Aunt Muriel. Angelina brought Fred and Roxanne for dinner, but George was working late at the store while Ron was off for the afternoon and evening; and they had plans to move on after that to spend the evening with the Johnson-side of their family. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all put to work once they got home; they helped with everything from cleaning and cutting vegetables to setting up tables and serving drinks and snacks as the other guests arrived. Harry and Molly had dinner ready by the time Ginny and Gwenog joined them after work; and they sat down to eat right away because it was already early-evening by then. Al and Gwendolyn ended up at one, large kids' table with the cousins; they mostly talked Quidditch as they ate; and it was a bit of a rush because Fred and Roxanne needed to hurry and be on their way again with their mother.

They didn't end up being the only early departures, but they were the first; and it was nearly an hour later when Muriel was ready to be taken home – and Molly and Arthur took care of getting her home on their way to the Burrow. By then, it was nearing dusk, so Harry and Kirley set up a campfire; the three remaining couples and six out of seven of their kids gathered around it; and they wrapped up their busy day with some quiet campfire music and stories time. James wasn't home yet because he'd opted to attend a party with the Catapults instead, but while he'd been easier to get along with during the last weeks of summer; Al was still glad for the continuing reprieve from even the milder razzing and insults – little annoyances that made it hard to have fun while always on-guard against those verbal attackes. Singing duets with Gwendolyn, cuddling with her, and having fun listening to campfire stories or the music that Kirley, Lily, and Jonah took turns leading was all much more fun for him without James around; and he was long-past apologizing even to himself for feeling that way.

James had been glad to be free of his family for the day after Harry dropped him off at work. Not having to put up with the idiocies over his cousins playing their first rivalry match was a bonus – along with getting to miss that match entirely. The work had been fun as he helped out with getting ready for the match between his Catapults and the Bats. The morning highlight was joining in for one last game-day warm-up with the team; the luncheon was great too; and then the fun level kept rising once they all moved on to Yorkshire stadium an hour or so ahead of game time.

The Catapults didn't have anything ridiculous like employee uniforms – other than the team robes; but he did have a team tee and badge that gave him access to most of the stadium that wasn't open to the spectators; and he really enjoyed the fringe benefits that went along with being associated with one of the league teams. Flirting with the prettiest Witches was even part of the job – or it was as far as the owners and managers were concerned. That fact had been one of the reasons that James had for respecting the Catapults' organization – even if they did do a lot of things wrong too. They knew how to use their power, money, and influence; and encouraged their people to take advantage of the benefits that came along with Quidditch fame and fortune – especially when that usually helped all of them to make more money!

The actual match hadn't gone well for the Catapults pretty much from the start, but James didn't really care all that much; since he was too busy having fun while occasionally helping out with the work too. He ended up getting to spend some hot, quality time with two different Witches – though both of those interludes were also a bit rushed due to the risk of being discovered. That was part of the excitement, though; and just made that play time even hotter.

He did watch the match between errands and cameo moments with Witches, though; and knew that the Catapults really needed help at every position. When they took a time-out around the end of the fourth hour; the Bats had built up a two-forty to one-thirty lead; and the time-out had been called because that lead had been growing rapidly over the last-half of that fourth hour as the Catapults' Chasers and Keeper ran out of steam while the Bats' players were doing much better. James gave himself full credit for saving the day for the Catapults when he offered some advice to their Seeker about something he'd noticed with the Bats' Seeker – advice that paid off sooner than even he could have expected.

The 'tell' he'd noticed with the Bats' Seeker hadn't been obvious, and he likely wouldn't have noticed it at all had he been playing instead of watching; but the Wizard had tried the move several times already in the match; and it was a fairly-simple attempt at faking-out his opponent. What wasn't very smart of the guy, though, was doing exactly the same thing every time – a misdirection that was done at exactly the same angle away from the snitch every time. The Catapults' Seeker was very lucky that the guy attempted the move again just seventeen minutes into the fifth hour; since the Bats scored two more goals to just one for the Catapults during that quarter-hour and change – resuming what had become a two-to-one scoring advantage that would have led to the Bats having the one-sixty lead very quickly. His suggestion had given the Catapults' Seeker the chance to make a play that he nearly blew after discovering that James had been right, but he did still get a free shot at the snitch when he didn't fall for the fake – and had an idea of where the snitch would be. He also managed to make the catch and earn the come-from-behind victory – again; all thanks to James.

The man hadn't publicly admitted that after the match, but he had praised James when they were all back in the locker room and it was 'just the guys' around; so that had been fun for James too – especially since the team manager later passed that news on to the owners at the post-game party – and did that while James was with them. Choosing that party over dinner with his family, the loser, and his potty-trainer's family had been an easy one, and that wasn't just because of the hot witches at the team party. He also got to spend more time with the types of Witches and Wizards he wanted to associate with once he was done at Hogwarts; and being around them helped him to learn how to get from where he was with his pathetic family to where they were at the top of the Wizarding World social ladder. Then there was a nice pair of bonuses from the owners and managers – a cash bonus for his work all summer; and a commitment to have him work for them again next summer. He'd accepted both gratefully, and while he'd once scoffed at the idea of playing for the Catapults, after working with them for a summer; he now envisioned a championship team that they'd build around him in a future where he became a member of their group of elite Witches and Wizards; living the kind of lifestyle that should have been his all along!

As he partied on into the night, doing whatever he wanted because he could do that – and was encouraged to do so among his new friends; he was even more-confident than ever that his future was going to be brilliant. That certainly wouldn't happen for the loser – even if he did manage to play in the show for the worst team in the league, so once he was rich and famous; everyone would know without doubt that he'd been right all along – and then he'd tell them all to sod off while he moved on to a life of privilege and power!

Scorpius spent the last Saturday of the summer celebrating his fourteenth birthday. His parents and grandparents could not out-do the Lightningbolt gift of a year ago for his presents this year, but they did throw a party for him; and he had more friends and team mates agree to attend than he'd ever have hoped for even a couple of years ago. That had partially been because the invitation had included tickets to the Falcons' match, and everyone had wanted to watch their former House mates play in that match.

The party hadn't started until eleven o'clock, but he'd had his favorite foods for breakfast; been given his gifts then; and had time to do his own thing after that until his guests began arriving. Davis and Blaise had been first – no surprise there; but the rest of his friends and some former and future team mates all made it to Malfoy Manor by shortly after eleven. That included some of the older teens like Licentia Nott, though she'd have been at the Falcon's match to watch her brothers play anyway; so she'd actually come to Scorpius' party for other reasons. Scorpius had been as surprised and happy as Lysandra had been when her parents had approved accepting her invitation to his party, though that hadn't meant that they could risk revealing to anyone how they actually felt about each other; and she'd advised him that her parents had an ulterior motive for allowing her to visit his home.

The luncheon hadn't been a major meal because of the time limit they had ahead of the Quidditch match, but the offerings had been exceptional and enough to impress his guests. His parents and grandparents didn't go out to many public events, but they made an exception for Scorpius; and earned a fair bit of attention for making the appearance at the match with a gang of teens – especially since they had some of the best seats in the stadium. Scorpius would have liked to sit with Lysandra during the match, but that wasn't an option; so he had to settle for being able to watch her from the row ahead and a few seats to his right while sitting next to Davis in an aisle seat. He enjoyed getting to watch the Falcons pound their opponent-players into the ground for the next two and a half hours; and then Brand caught the snitch for the win not long after his Seeker competition was knocked out of the match with a combination of his own hard hits and after a game-ending bludger to the head that was a lot like the play Brand had used to take-out James Potter in his last match against Gryffindor.

While that win had been a bonus for his birthday, Scorpius had been happy to head home again to resume his party. They went swimming to cool off; and then Lysandra instigated getting him to take a group of them on a tour of the house – the real reason she'd been encouraged by her parents to attend the party. He'd have rather done that with her and without the rest of the teens that wanted to go along – again, including Licentia; but that hadn't been an option either. While Malfoy manor was one of the great old homes of the Pureblood families; that only impressed the least-well-off of his guests – with the one exception of the room that contained his father's vast collection of Dark Arts artifacts and books. Seeing that through the eyes of others did help Scorpius to better-appreciate the value of that collection, though that appreciation was for the social connections that he might gain from it; instead of from any true interest in what the artifacts and knowledge could be used for in their future battle to regain the Wizarding World for all true purebloods.

Lysandra had asked a lot of questions; gotten everything she'd been tasked with discovering; and then had been able to go on to enjoy the party with Scorpius and the other Slytherin teens. She'd artfully walked the fine line between being polite with his parents and grandparents while maintaining her distance from them too, but while Scorpius had been impressed with her social graces; he'd have still preferred to be able to spend some quality time with her – the one and only downside to his birthday party plans. Dinner was an outdoor extravaganza; they'd eaten for more than an hour straight by the time they finished having dessert; and then there'd been a Quidditch scrimmage that worked out brilliantly for Scorpius and Licentia as they led their team to an easy victory over Blaise, Davis, and their team.

Scorpius had been glad for the chance to once again impress Lysandra; and then he'd at least gotten to enjoy a bit more time watching her in a swimsuit when they all went for one last swim. As it neared sundown, the party transitioned to a dance; that was outdoors too; and that did at least give Scorpius an excuse to spend a bit of time with Lysandra – though he didn't try to dance with her more than a couple of times – just as they each danced with other teens or just sat around chatting with their friends. The party rolled on until after midnight; began wrapping up then as some of the younger teens were picked up and taken home; and was pretty much over by one o'clock as the last group of teens waited around to be picked up.

Lysandra was one of those last teens, and she and Scorpius managed to get a brief moment alone that didn't attract any undue attention, but while Scorpius had liked that too-short hug and kiss birthday gift a lot; he'd also wished that he could have just kept Lysandra overnight and spent all of that time with her instead. That too wasn't an option – a reality that he didn't like at all, so when her brother arrived to pick her up; he politely and formally thanked her for the gift she'd given him and for attending the party; and then she'd been gone and back to her 'real' life again – a place that he still wasn't accepted and couldn't yet go.

He would be able to do that someday, though; and now he had one more, beautiful reason for wanting to make that happen!

After his guests were gone; Scorpius had needed to spend some time with his parents before they retired to their suite of rooms, but his grandparents had long-since gone off to bed; and it hadn't been too much of a chore to thank his parents for the party and then assure them that he'd had a great day. The near-total lack of any snogging with Lysandra had left him a bit restless and frustrated, though, so once he was back in his own rooms; he got Thomas' portrait out of its hiding spot; and sat down to have a talk with his mentor.

"I cannot tell just from the look of you whether you've had a good day or bad," Thomas told him; and Scorpius smiled.

"The Falcons won and my party seems to have been a hit with my friends and the other teens, but I could not spend any time with Lysandra where we didn't need to put on our public act for everyone; so it wasn't a best-ever kind of birthday."

"At the risk of being left in the dark for another extended period; I'll suggest that you always want something more and are seldom content with what you already have, Scorpius."

"You're not actually worried over that when we're just days away from being back to Hogwarts. We're both looking forward to resuming my lessons; so there is little you could say to make me mad-enough to give that up. Wasn't that something that was as true for you during your life as it is for me? Your starting point was surely more difficult than mine – at least when it came to money; but you did have the advantage of being Salazar Slytherin's heir. That truth alone raised you up above your peers in a way that I cannot ever hope for when my family is not above the others as yours was."

"That is all true," Thomas agreed; "and my own experience is part of why I mention this to you. I truly did rarely take time to appreciate what I had along my life journey – or enjoy my successes. You've pointed out that I do not know how to have fun, yet after having a full measure of it today; you are still restless and unfulfilled. I'm merely suggesting that you look for a balance that I never found and you have not yet worked out for your own life."

"I've hardly had any successes worth mentioning, and a comfortable prison is still a prison," Scorpius countered.

Thomas laughed. "Would you like to visit Azkaban; talk to some of my former Death Eaters; and get back to me on whether you still believe that to be true once you've done that?" he suggested. "You have had successes too; and they are not just small things. Three years ago you had no friends other than me; and now you are liked well-enough to draw a fairly-large group of teens to your home for a party. You understand what exponential growth is; so imagine what is possible in another three years – or a decade or three. You are doing well-enough with our plan; and I can easily envision you leading an army one day from these modest beginnings – just as I did in my lifetime. That did not happen overnight for me either, but took decades to achieve."

"Now you're scaring me again," Scorpius joked. "I do not want to wait decades to regain what has been taken from me – from all true Purebloods."

"That is just the impatience of youth; and will pass," Thomas assured him. "We are discussing finding a balance in your life, though; and I expect that you will find ways to have fun along the way to your greater destiny."

Scorpius hoped that would be true as they continued to chat for a while, but while he had enjoyed his birthday; he still couldn't keep from wishing for more – which in this case meant that he'd have been much happier if he'd been able to enjoy some quality snogging time with Lysandra Lestrange.

Making that a short-term goal as part of his future plans and musing about ways to make that happen once they were back at Hogwarts was more entertaining than the more serious things that Thomas preferred to talk about with him, though, so Scorpius wrapped up that chat sooner instead of later; and then he eventually drifted off into a dreamland where he could enjoy different scenarios where that new goal could at least be a mental reality!

The campfire had dimmed slowly because they didn't put any extra wood on to keep it going; and their evening fun wound down as their fire was reduced to glowing embers. It had been a very long day for everyone by then; Ron was working at the store all day on Sunday; and Rose was going to be in London for the day to spend that time with Kyle; so Hermione took her husband and kids home first; and then Kirley and Gwenog did the same with Gwendolyn and Jonah – once they'd each been given time to say goodnight to Al and Lily. All of that happened before Harry went to pick up James from the Catapults' party he hadn't wanted to leave – as did the yard and kitchen clean-up. Al and Lily both went to bed after the work was done, but Harry and Ginny stayed up a bit later – again because they were waiting for James – and trying to avoid any end-of-summer teen drama by just going to the party and dragging him home against his will.

Al understood the reasons for that, but had still been glad that James had missed the entire dinner and evening fun; so his contribution to making up for James' inconsiderate behavior on Saturday night was to get up early and make breakfast with their parents' favorite foods. He still took his time with that so that they could sleep in a bit too; which was why he waited until he was done most of the prep work before starting to brew the coffee and cook the food that would be sure to wake Harry, Ginny, and Lily as the aromas wafted upstairs from the kitchen. He hadn't expected to wake James too, since he'd been sure that his brother would be passed out for at least half of the morning or more; and that had been a bonus for him too when that's exactly what happened.

Harry, Ginny, and Lily had appreciated his efforts, and while they did some chores around the house and yard too; they had a quiet, do-nothing together day planned for the four of them. James could have joined them for that, but he'd accepted Bristol's invitation to go with her to Cora's fourteenth birthday party, so by the time he did eventually wake-up when Ginny had to go and rouse him in time to get ready for that party; he didn't end up spending any time at all with his parents, sister, and brother. he got ready to go; ate the breakfast leftovers Al had put aside for him; and then he'd been allowed to go on his own to Bristol's house using the Floo Network when it was time for him to be there to escort her to Cora's party.

While Cora was having a co-ed party this year, Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been invited; and Rose had declined the invitation so that she could spend the day with Kyle instead. Al would have liked to spend the day with Gwendolyn, but it was her last chance to spend some quality time with her mother before heading back to school; and the parents had decided that they'd do their own thing for the day instead of getting together. Missing Gwendolyn didn't keep Al from having a good day with his parents and sister. After James was gone, they spent the rest of the day outdoors; relaxed by and played in the pool; had some Quidditch fun with Chaser and Seeker duels; and had some bonus play time that included Harry taking the kids for rides on his motorcycle; a trip to Godric's Hollow for ice cream treats; and a horseback ride for Lily while Harry and Ginny went along for a short hike while their kids played. Their meals had been light and easy to keep the work to a minimum; and after one last evening swim; they wrapped up their play day and headed into the house so that Harry and Ginny could do a bit of work ahead of the upcoming work week while Al and Lily watched mirror network shows until Harry went to get James from Bristol's house and bring him home.

James hadn't wanted to return that early, so Al and Lily had expected to be in for some teen drama again – especially when they'd known that Harry and Ginny wanted to do their back-to-school meeting with their kids once they had James home again. Their brother surprised them when he got back and didn't do more than offer some mild insults when he was advised that it was family meeting time. He did demand service from 'the loser' for drinks and snacks before he'd be ready for that meeting; had pretended to be disgusted when his mother vetoed his demand for 'something strong-enough' to help him get through the next however-long he'd be forced to put up with his family all together in one room; and then had flopped onto his usual gaming sofa to wait for the inevitable boring that was about to be inflicted on him. Al had help with getting drinks for everyone; Harry and Ginny opted against having any adult beverages; and they all settled onto chairs or sofas once they had drinks – and the snacks that only James had wanted.

"Let's try starting with some good news this year," Ginny suggested with a wry smile. "Allowances should work for that; since they will be going up for each of you this year."

"Sure – that'll soften the blows when you drop the hammer on me," James offered; though he did that without the usual, outward malice. Al sensed that he was interested in the money news, though; and that helped to push aside the darker emotions – at least for a while.

"We'll try not to throw any knock-out punches," Ginny deadpanned. "You'll have more expenses for your OWL year; so we'll be sending you extra for that as well as the increase we're giving all of you." She smiled when a small pouch of money appeared in front of her – and Harry – and floated over to James. "These pouches are to get you through until after the first Hogsmeade weekend, as usual; and we'll send the same amounts as we've done every year so far." Harry delivered the pouches for Al and Lily next; but James was the only one to open it and take account. Once again, Al sensed that James was reasonably-happy with his new allowance; though he didn't admit that – or thank their parents. Lily and Al both did, though, and since that included a hug from Lily for each of them; there was a pause in the meeting while she did that.

"Next up, we want to warn all of you to be careful and watch out for your usual groups of Slytherin haters – and there could be more of them; depending on what Headmistress McGonagall has decided to do about the problems from last June."

"She suspended Ollie and me," James reminded her. "I'd say we should have nothing to worry about if she does the same with that lot."

"There will be other Slytherins hating on us if she does do that," Al pointed out quietly; earning a derisive snort from James.

"Maybe," Lily agreed before James could say anything; "but there might be some Slytherins that will be as relieved as we should be too if Rupert, G-Air, and some of those other Wizards are suspended or expelled. Some of them get bullied worse than anyone in the other Houses because they've got nowhere to hide from the worst bullies in their House."

"Maybe you'd like to help them out with that," James offered. "You did manage to handle your bullying problems last year."

Lily grinned at him. "Thank-you; but I'm not planning on training to join the Aurors by trying to deal with all of the bullies at Hogwarts. I'll be busy-enough playing Quidditch and trying to do well-enough in my classes to get through my OWLs and NEWTs on the way to my brilliant future as the Harpies' next star Seeker."

"Good timing," Ginny interjected with a smile; and then turned her attention to James. "I'm sure you'll hate this part of the meeting, but it's crunch time for you this year. You'll only be taking the seven mandatory OWL classes; and must have O's or E's on those end-of-year exams to be allowed to continue into your sixth year. You can't possibly want to risk repeating your OWL year, since that rarely happens at Hogwarts; so you'll want to earn those marks in as many classes as you can this year."

"So you want me to play nice and be a good little clone this year," James retorted. "What a surprise – not!"

"We want you to put your own future ahead of your vendetta against Al," Harry told him bluntly. "I think you've figured that out for yourself this summer – even if you haven't changed your mind about your brother. You are smart and talented, though; and you could have a brilliant year if you give it a chance."

"Especially with Quidditch," Lily added. "With our cousins, Olivia, the McClaggens, you, and Al; our Gryffindor senior team could be unbeatable this year – and I'd really like the help with winning my first Quidditch Cup." She laughed when James scowled at her. "I'm not taking a shot at you," she promised. "Lucy and Olivia need to impress the scouts this year – even if they are on the short list for United; and that's true for everyone else that wants to make the team too – except for Al. He's the only one of us with a guaranteed job offer from the future owner of the Cannons." James snorted out a laugh at the last part of Lily's comment; and then shrugged.

"I'll hope that Al gets his head knocked off at tryouts and doesn't make the team at all," he declared; "but if I do end up being stuck with him on my team; I'll deal with that too."

"You really should go into politics," Harry said with a sigh. "What you do in your classes and with Quidditch is in your own hands. We'll hope for the best; but aren't going to waste our time going on about it. You know the consequences if you don't earn any OWLs – you won't be permitted by the Ministry of Magic to use magic once you're overage. Quidditch is certainly different for all of you, since your last name will get you job offers; but I'm sure you'd also all prefer to earn those future jobs on your own merits; and that'll only happen with personal success. With Roxanne starting at Hogwarts this year too; this might be the best chance for that for all of you to put a pair of winning teams together – just as that worked for Victoire and your older cousins the two years that you guys started school."

"We could end up with more Witches on both teams this year; so you're likely right about that," Lily offered – the mild taunt directed at her brothers. "The only reason James looks like he has a problem with that is because too many of those Witches are related to him." She laughed at his answering, wolfish grin. "See – you make fun of the Harpies all of the time; but would likely love working on a team with six beautiful Witches."

"Except maybe for the two beautiful Beaters," Harry interjected. "That might be a bit too dangerous for him."

"I could handle them," James shot back smugly. "That won't work, though; since I do want the best players on my team – and then we'll have all of the beautiful Witches flocking around us."

"Some of us do not want to go there," Lily told him seriously. "What's next on the agenda, Mum?"

"The back-to-school checklist," Ginny answered; and then smiled when James groaned. "Don't worry, James. I've learned my lesson; so I'm willing to accept the lies this time around."

She hadn't been joking about that, but had earned the laugh from James – and then he didn't even bother offering up the lies as she went on to ask about summer revision; packing; and any last-minute back-to-school needs that they could deal with on Monday. There weren't any last-day family and friends play plans; but the kids were advised that they'd be spending the morning at the Burrow with their grandparents and younger cousins; and then they'd have lunch and a chance for that last-minute shopping in Diagon Alley before heading home again once Ginny was done work for the day. James had a minor moment of teen drama after finding out that Gwendolyn and Jonah would be meeting Al and Lily in London; but Ginny averted that potential problem by suggesting he could invite someone to meet up with him for the afternoon too. The rest of their little family meeting was easy and painless; they watched Lee's nightly show after that; and then four out of five of them were ready to head to bed after that.

Al wrapped up his night with some more textbook reading and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn. Trading their stories for the day took a while, so by the time they'd finished doing that; they were both ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night. By Monday morning, it felt as though summer was over; and that they were all just in limbo while waiting for the school year to start. Harry beat Al to the kitchen for making breakfast; so it was his choice to go with another 'favorites' meal that included kids' favorites this time. James hadn't been all that enthusiastic about the early wake-up call, but wasn't given an option to sleep in and stay home; so he grudgingly got up and ready for the day – and then demolished three plates-full of food before he was ready to escape the kitchen and avoid helping with the clean-up work.

Spending the rest of the morning at the Burrow didn't end up being the horror James had predicted. Arthur took the morning off from work; shared his toys with his grandchildren; and even James managed to have fun. Al had enjoyed spending the morning with Rose once she arrived from London; and then their lunch break in Diagon Alley had been even better thanks to getting to do that with Gwendolyn. Kyle couldn't do that with them, but Al and Gwendolyn did want to say goodbye to him and wish him the best for the first half of their school year; so after having their meal and then dealing with the last bit of back-to-school shopping; they went 'home' with Rose to her grandparents' house; took care of that with a short visit; and then went on to meet up with Kirley, Lily, and Jonah at the Leaky so that they could head home together – to Al and Lily's home.

Ginny had gone to do a bit more work after lunch, so she met up with them there; they had an hour or so to swim and play until Kirley needed to get home with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then Al and Lily had Ginny to themselves until Harry got home with James after picking him up after work from Diagon Alley – where he'd stayed so that he could spend the extra time with Patricia instead of going home early and 'hanging out with the losers' until dinnertime. Their last dinner at home until the Christmas holidays wasn't a major, special event, but it was a big improvement from past years; since they managed to get through it without any teen drama at all. The evening got even better for Al when James needed to spend most of those hours in his room getting ready to go back to Hogwarts in the morning.

While James did that, Al and Lily had one last Seeker duel and a swim in the portable pool before packing it up and getting it ready to go to Hogwarts with them. James did take a break from his 'work' to go for a swim too, but then he went back upstairs; and stayed in his room except for washroom and snack breaks. Al and Lily each spent some time in their rooms too; had private chats with each of their parents; and then wrapped up their evening by watching Lee's nightly show before they all headed up to bed for the night. Finally, after he was ready for bed, Al waited for Gwendolyn to call for their last bedtime mirror chat of the summer; and read further into his Transfiguration textbook until his mirror chimed with her incoming call.

"Quiet night?" she asked; and Al grinned at her.

"Not as quiet as my first night of the summer; but a big improvement over the past three or four years."

"Good. That should make the start to our school year better – unless James has just been saving up until he can use magic again."

"I do think that he does have a new plan for this year, so that's possible; but there is a chance that he is going to put aside his vendetta long-enough to make sure he doesn't mess up his brilliant future."

"Let's hope for that – and be ready if it's just another game he's playing to try and lull us into a false sense of security. Instead of going on about that, though; tell me about what you've been doing since I came home with Dad and Jonah."

"We've had a pretty good night. James has been in his room most of the time since dinner. Lily and I had a Seeker duel; a last swim before packing up the pool to bring with us to school; some alone time with Mum and Dad; and then we watched Lee's show before coming up to bed. That's not very exciting; but it worked for us."

"My night was like that too – though we had some music time instead of the Quidditch," Gwendolyn advised him. "I love Lee's back-to-school show – though the one he'll do tomorrow night for the start of the kid-free fall will be funny too."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "It'll be too much information for me, but then that's different this year; and Mum and Dad aren't so stressed that they're as glad for the break as they were last year."

"That is a bit amazing; considering how our summer started with James," Gwendolyn mused thoughtfully. "If everything continues to go so much better for us once we're back at Hogwarts; we might all need to send thank-you gifts to the Catapults."

Al laughed. "Maybe – though I'm not going to do that anytime soon. James is playing nicer; but hasn't changed how he feels about me at all. I'll take the reprieves when they come and for as long as they last; since we've no way of knowing how long this break will be – or what might happen to set him off next time."

"That's true, but I'm still feeling pretty good tonight – and I'm so glad that we'll be back together and get to see each other every day. Would you like to take any guesses about whether we'll have decent schedules this year? I'll like not having the Saturday Quidditch practices; but having the later times with the senior teams will be a bit of a pain for the studying between last classes and those practices. You'll have the late-morning practice time on Saturdays – or on Sundays for the weekends we're booked on Saturdays for matches or Hogsmeade weekends."

"That's going to be a first for me," Al reminded her; and then smiled when his comment startled her. "Rose, Ray, and I didn't get to play in our second year; so we missed out on those Saturday or Sunday practices."

"I hadn't been thinking of that," Gwendolyn admitted with a nod. "Missing out on that year of Quidditch was tough; so I won't make any jokes about that – though I'd be okay if you'd like to take an extra turn at the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday practices so we end up with three each instead of four for me."

"I'd be okay with that – but doubt the other teams and players would agree – especially those players that didn't miss that season."

"You're likely right about that," Gwendolyn conceded with a sigh. "What about our class schedules? Any thoughts there?"

"There isn't much point in speculating; but I'd be okay with having the same last class on as many days as possible. That way, we could just stay and study right there if we could work that out so we didn't have to take the time to get to our usual study classroom."

"I'd like to change that this year anyway," Gwendolyn advised him. "We're past-due for a new view."

"Probably, but do we want to do that and end up losing some of our study buddies to daydreaming while they watched the lake or Quidditch pitches?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "I might be one of those daydreamers," she admitted. "Let's give it a try, and if it turns out to be a bad idea; we can always move back to the old, boring view that you picked on purpose to keep us from getting distracted."

"If I wanted to keep from getting distracted on a regular basis; I'd have to switch to any study group you're not in," Al half-joked; earning another laugh.

"We manage to keep that from getting in the way of our studying – though we should probably re-organize our priorities on that; and make more time for you and me."

"If I manage to spend less time in the hospital wing; we'll have loads of extra time to spend together. We will do better with our studying this year now that we've gotten used to the workload; and I've been thinking about other ways for us to work a bit more efficiently."

"Then cut that out," Gwendolyn told him. "We're trying to work on your reputation; not mess it up even more because you want to come up with ways to study harder."

"I was thinking more along the lines of working smarter; but we can talk about that after we're back at school. How are your Mum and Dad doing? Mine are pretty happy tonight."

"No reason to wonder why they're happy after such a change with James pretty much since we got back from holidays. Dad's having a tougher time than Mum is for having us go back to school, but he'll be okay; and will be busy this fall with his band and other work he's doing with the Weird Kids and other groups and artists. Mum will just work a bit harder with the Harpies – though she's doing that anyway after that loss on Saturday."

"Then I guess they'll all be okay without us for a few months," Al joked. "Now we'll just need to hope for the best for us – though I'm not sure how we'll both manage to have a brilliant Quidditch season. The odds of having three Houses split the team victories for a second-straight year are slim to none."

"That's easy-enough. We'll both be happy if Ravenclaw wins the Quidditch cup and Senior team title; and we'll let Lily win the junior title again."

"Do you think that Jonah and the other junior team players in Ravenclaw will be happy to do that for you?" Al asked. "I'd expect that they'd have a problem with just letting Lily and her team win – especially when Jonah only has one Seeker duel win so far to her three."

"They'd survive if we win the Quidditch Cup again instead," Gwendolyn assured him without any honest conviction to that claim. It's funny that you seem more worried about Jonah and our team than in the implications that has for your senior team."

"You're not wrong. I would be happy for you – if you earn that Quidditch Cup over our team. That won't keep me from trying to help our team to win it instead, though; and you know that."

"I do," Gwendolyn agreed with a smile. "I just don't think I'll be able to be that happy if your team wins the Quidditch Cup instead."

"Well, in that case; we should probably cheer for Hufflepuff," Al teased.

"Only in their matches against Slytherin," Gwendolyn countered. "I'll cheer for my favorite Gryffindors in all of your games except for the matches against my House."

"That doesn't seem fair for Hufflepuff, but then I don't say that about the Slytherin teams when none of us cheer for them; so I guess we're not being fair even when I'm trying to do that."

"I'll cheer for Slytherin when they start playing nice – or I'll at least give them credit where due once they clean up their act – if they do that sometime between now and when we graduate. Until then; I'm never going to like their teams – especially when they get wins by cheating."

"That would be great – except for the Falcons. Who would they have to hire for their team down the road if all of the Slytherins start playing by the rules?"

"They do have other sources," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I'm sure they won't need to worry about finding the worst sorts of Wizards for their teams – though I don't really expect to see a major change with the Slytherin teams either; so that's likely a moot point."

"At least until we're in the show and have to deal with two matches a year against the Falcons," Al pointed out. "Then we'll be wishing that they'd learn to play by the rules too."

"Possibly, but let's not go there either; since we've years to go before needing to worry about those rotters. We should talk about meeting up at King's Cross – or on the train. If James has you running behind tomorrow; I could get on the train early and hold a block of compartments. How many do you think we should try a get? It isn't likely that we'll have many Hufflepuff friends wanting to hang out with us – unless Tory's done a major turnaround too since the last time we saw her."

"I think that Lily's going to have Roxanne hang out with her on the train; and she's going to want to spend a lot of time with some of her friends; so they'll want at least two or three compartments. I want to have Rose with us; since she's going to be feeling sad tomorrow; and I've got some bonus treats to help her out with missing Kyle."

"That's a good idea. Did you get those treats when we weren't looking earlier today?"

"No – I did that shopping during a couple of our earlier trips. That leaves us with three spots in our compartment for whomever you'd like to have sit with us. Whatever we end up being able to do in the morning; let's shoot for getting five or six compartments, and when they're full; we'll have done the best we can with that."

"And then next year; we'll likely be in the Prefects' car instead," Gwendolyn suggested. "That'll be a nice perk – though the extra work will be tough."

"Would you turn down the job?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Not a chance – even if that's just to get use of the Prefects' baths. I really miss being able to have soaks in the tub when we're away at school."

"Having Uncle George make a portable jacuzzi has been suggested and rejected before; so I won't do that again; but I'd better not think about that too much; or I'll never get to sleep tonight."

Gwendolyn had laughed; helped him out with doing exactly that; and then happily said goodnight to him when she was ready to get to sleep – and he was ready to go and take a cold shower. He didn't actually do that, but it was a while before his mind wound down enough for sleep to be an option. While there were some dreams waiting for him with Gwendolyn and a portable Jacuzzi involved in the fun, when he went to sleep; Al mostly hoped that they'd be able to have a great fourth year – and preferably one that would have a lot less danger and drama.

They'd all need to wait and find out whether that would happen or not, but while it was a risk to go there; Al was feeling moderately-optimistic that those hopes could, for a change, actually come ture!

***End of ATE Year 3***

A/N: Look for ATE Year 4 in time for Christmas 2017! While you wait for that Christmas gift; check out my original series - Heirs of the Magi at the Heirs of the Magi blog or get the books at Smashwords!


	37. Fourth and Goals

Chapter Thirty-Seven – Fourth and Goals

A/N: For Chirstmas 2017, my gift to you is the 12 Chapters of After the Epilogue - Year Four! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Scorpius stepped onto platform nine and three-quarters; pushing his trolley; and continuing to move so that he didn't block the way for his parents. Having both of them there with him was a bit annoying, since it was a work day for most parents, so that just emphasized the differences between his familyand others; but there hadn't been anything he could do or say that convinced them to stay behind. His annoyance level grew when he scanned the crowd – looking for Lysandra; and one of the first sights he was forced to endure was the sea of red hair that could only mean a gathering of the Weasel-Potty clan.

It took a moment longer to pick the loser and his potty-trainer out of that crowd, but they were there – joining in on the hugfest with the handful of parents that were there with the gang of teens and tweens. There seemed to be more of them this year, but he actually knew that wasn't true; since two of the cousins had graduated in June. All of the happy, hugs and kisses he saw disgusted him, but before he looked away so he didn't have to watch them anymore; he didn't miss noticing that they didn't have many full sets of parents in their group – if any; and while the loser's mother was there in the thick of the hug-fest; the Great Harry Potter was apparently too busy to see his kids off to school on a work day at Auror Headquarters.

His mood didn't improve when he didn't see Lysandra anywhere; so he didn't waste time saying goodbye to his parents and just got onto the train. That allowed him to have some choices for picking a compartment; he chose one in one of the 'Slytherin' cars; and sat down to wait for the trip to get started – not really caring who ended up sitting with him; since it was unlikely that Lysandra would do that. With the elevated view of the platform, he did eventually get to see her arrive on the platform, and while he wasn't annoyed with her; he was a bit envious to see that she'd come with some friends – and without any parents in tow. Without any need to say goodbye to anyone, they boarded the train right away; and he was disappointed to have such a short bit of time to see her – until Lysandra walked into his compartment with all three of those friends a handful of minutes later.

"Hello, Scorpius," she said in a neutral tone. "Mind if we join you for the trip?"

"Not at all," he assured her; smiling and standing to offer his help with putting bags into the overhead storage. Their trunks and other, larger gear had already been dealt with; so the four Witches were only carrying what they wanted to have with them for the trip. "Good morning, Lysandra."

He smiled and nodded while welcoming Viola Crabbe and Melana Macnair; and was a bit surprised to see that Andrea Avery was the fourth Witch in the group. She was starting second-year, but while the Avery and Lestrange families were close; she hadn't been part of Lysandra's group of friends in her first year at Hogwarts. He welcomed her with a smile too; and was again surprised when she was pleasant with him in return. Davis and Blaise arrived then; and Davis gaped in open-mouthed surprise when he saw the four Witches there with his best mate; and that had Scorpius laughing.

"We'll be a bit crowded, but the three of us can take turns standing," he advised the other boys.

"I'll likely end up visiting other friends a lot too," Andrea advised them. "I'm here with Lysandra because my parents were too busy to bring me here this morning."

"And your brothers couldn't help them out with that instead," Viola added with a dark smirk that had Andrea frowning at her.

"That isn't funny; and you wouldn't be talking about them like that if they were here," she shot back; but Viola just laughed.

"Don't bother defending them. We're all going to have a better school year without them – you included. If we're lucky, by the time Rupert gets back to Hogwarts in a year; the rest of us will have liked the break so much that we'll stop putting up with his idiocies and holier-than-thou attitude."

"They're my brothers, and if you keep bad-mouthing them; I'll give you reason to regret it," Andrea warned; putting a hand on her wand meaningfully.

"Calm down," Lysandra said; directing that suggestion at both girls. "Viola's likely right; but we're not going to start tearing Victor or Rupert down – especially when we should be proud of them for at least trying to go after the Animorphpotty and the rest of those losers. They certainly did more damage than any of our parents have managed against our enemies in well-over a decade."

"That's not saying much," Viola countered; but then held up her hands. "Fine – I won't go there either – though I know you're both as happy as I am to be free of our older brothers for the entire school year."

"We are," Lysandra agreed candidly, "but I doubt that Blaise, Davis, and Scorpius feel the same way; since we've also lost most of the best Quidditch players in our House with those suspensions and my brother's expulsion."

"They are," Davis said; indicating Scorpius and his brother. "I've got a Quidditch suspension this year – even though Jonathan Wilkes managed to get out of his while his brother and I got screwed."

"There wasn't a rule against trying to pound your own players last year," Andrea pointed out. "I'll wager they've changed that this year."

Davis snorted. "Sure, and the next thing you know; there won't be dueling allowed in DADA and they'll stop teaching hexes, jinxes, and curses so we can all live happily ever after and nobody ever gets so much as a hurt feeling. Our Professors collectively make me want to puke." He grinned when his comments earned a round of laughs.

"I'd be okay with that happening," Lysandra told him; and smiled when that statement earned the surprised attention of everyone in the compartment. "Seriously – and I'm not talking about Davis getting sick and throwing up! If the schools stopped teaching DADA, our families would just teach us all of those offensive magic spells, and in less than a generation; our enemies would be completely unprepared to fight against us when we next try to take back what is rightfully ours from all of those mudbloods and traitors."

"I've never thought about it like that," Davis admitted. "That's rather brilliant."

"Thank-you," Lysandra told him. By then, she was sitting across from where Scorpius had been sitting when they'd arrived; Melana and Andrea took the other two spots on that side; and Viola ended up as the odd-Witch-out on the same side of the compartment with Scorpius – though she ended up with Blaise and Davis at first while Scorpius offered to take the first 'shift' standing.

"You're welcome," Davis assured her, "but at the risk of messing this up; why are you choosing to sit in the same compartment with us? This is likely the longest conversation you've ever had with me."

"I asked Lysandra to help me out," Andrea advised him before Lysandra could answer; but her attention was focused on Scorpius. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'd prefer it if you'd keep this to yourselves; though everyone will know by Saturday. I'm going to try out for the junior team – and I wanted to talk with Scorpius about helping me to get ready for that. We'll only have three days, but I'd have never been allowed to ask for your help at home; so I had to wait until now to do this."

"I'd be happy to help," Scorpius assured her; "though I'll warn you that I'm a lousy Seeker."

"You want to be our next junior Seeker?" Davis exclaimed in disbelief. "How did you know that?" he then asked Scorpius while Andrea frowned at him.

"I'd be much better at it than Clarence was last year," she retorted before returning her attention to Scorpius. "You're the best player in our House – even if nobody else wants to admit that. I need help with my flying and learning some tricks that will help me win the job; so it doesn't matter to me whether you can catch the snitch or not. I know I can do that already."

"I took an educated guess," Scorpius advised Davis; "and agree with Andrea. Our junior team needs a better Seeker than we had last year. We all know that; though we don't need to spread that around either. If we go out to practice after dinner – or maybe at lunchtime; we might be able to keep your secret until Saturday, Andrea, but if anyone sees us; the kneazle will be out of the bag."

Andrea shrugged. "As I said; everyone will know soon-enough. I'd just prefer it to surprise the other Seekers; and it'd be way easier to deal with the razzing after I get the job."

"You should get it just on that confidence," Blaise suggested. "Are you really that good?"

Andrea shrugged. "I think so, but I don't exactly get to play against the best players at home; since my brothers and their mates are so sexist when it comes to Witches playing Quidditch."

"That'd be so much easier for them to go on about if they didn't keep getting their butts handed to them by the Witches on the other teams," Viola offered – "not to mention that they've played on teams with some fairly-talented Witches."

"Will your family freak out when they hear of this?" Melana asked; her voice soft and musical with a lilt to it that hinted at her heritage without anyone needing to hear her last name.

"Dad, Victor, and Rupert will be furious; but it'll be too late for them to do anything about it," Andrea answered with a shrug. "None of them have anything to brag about for their Hogwarts Quidditch; so maybe I'll actually be able to do better than they have so far."

"That would be great for our House if you could," Lysandra told her; "though we could be in for another tough year. Our senior team will end up with – at the least – a new Seeker and Keeper that have never played in school matches; and they'll be up against players with up to six years of experience."

"We'll be okay if our Beaters can bash J-Potty's head in again – and maybe they'll get the chance to do that to the Animorphpotty this year too," Davis suggested. He grinned when that earned him more laughs; but then frowned when he saw Lysandra shaking her head. "You don't think that Don and whomever he ends up with for his Beater partner can do that?"

"No," she confirmed. "In case you haven't noticed; Albus has never been hit by a bludger in any of his matches – not even once. As for James, I've heard through the grapevine that he worked for the Catapults all summer – and even practiced with the team a lot once training camp opened. He's an arrogant git, but has talent; and Merlin only knows whether working for one of the league teams will have helped him to get better or not. I certainly wouldn't count on an easy match against Gryffindor. We might have a close match to them at Chaser, but unless we get a really good Keeper; the Seeker duel won't matter for very long."

"Maybe you should try out for the team," Scorpius suggested; and she laughed.

"We'd lose for sure – not that I'd even make the team. I just know a lot about the game; since I've had to listen to guys talk about it incessantly my whole life."

"Haven't we all?" Viola asked. "I didn't know that about the Animorphpotty, though. Are you sweet on him or something to even notice something like that?"

"Get serious," Lysandra said with a laugh. "You should know that too; since we all watch and hope that the Potty kids will get their heads bashed in; and that's only happened once. Lily got knocked around a bit in her matches; but I'd be surprised if Albus has had anything more serious than bruises." She nodded at Scorpius. "You've never taken any serious hits in your matches either – and you've played three more than Potty."

"Bludgers hurt; so I try to avoid getting bashed by them," Scorpius joked. "The Lightningbolt helps quite a bit with that; so maybe I'll keep that streak going now that I'll be on the senior team."

"You hope," Blaise told him with a smirk; and Scorpius laughed.

"And you hope that I don't," he countered. "Licentia's Captain; so we'll be batling it out with everyone else for the other two Chaser spots."

"At least you'll be able to do that much," Davis grumbled.

"Let it go," Blaise told him. "You knew about that stupid new rule, and Mr. Peakes had already suspended the Harpers after their first match; so you should have left the Whitless one alone – or at least waited a day or two before blasting her."

"We should've blasted her a day or two before the match," Davis shot back darkly. "Maybe Timms would've had a chance against their back-up Seeker."

"You guys don't talk Quidditch for the entire trip, do you?" Melana asked. "If you do; I'll be on my way to visit with other friends for the rest of the trip – and we haven't even pulled out of the station yet."

"We can take a break from that," Scorpius interjected before Davis had time to put his foot into his mouth and say something stupid that would just annoy the girls. "How was your summer, Melana? Did you do any traveling or go on holidays anywhere exciting?"

His question sent the four Witches off on a chat about their summer highlights; Scorpius, Blaise, and Davis were invited to participate; and their trip got off to a best-ever-so-far start for Scorpius – if only because he was at least able to sit and talk with Lysandra when he'd expected that he wouldn't even be able to do more than exchange greetings in passing during the entire trip.

They still had a long trip ahead of them; but that little change had him feeling very hopeful for the now-imminent new school year!

Al stood up when Rose returned to their compartment from her first walk-around and visits with friends; he hugged her; and smiled as he handed her a chocolate.

"Thanks, but you don't really have to give me all of these extra hugs and treats quite so often," she told him. She smiled too; but looked sad; and Al hugged her again.

"Yeah, I really do," he disagreed. "It's a good thing that you're so much stronger than I am; since I'd be a puddle if I had to spend months apart from Gwendolyn."

"I'd say you'd be more likely to be a poodle – and follow her to school," Lily teased as she followed Rose into their compartment. "Do I get a hug and chocolates too?"

"Sure," Al agreed; providing both as everyone else laughed at Lily's joke. "Did you go along for the tour; or are you starting your own?"

"I went along," Lily answered before popping the chocolate into her mouth.

"Give her a moment to finish that treat; and then she'll want to tell you all about the hottest gossip we've heard," Rose advised them; and Lily nodded excitedly.

"We may have heard at least some of that news while you were away," Gwendolyn told her. "Does it involve some of our favorite Slytherin haters?"

"I wanted to be first to tell you," Lily blurted out after swallowing the last big chunk of her chocolate without taking time to enjoy it. "So far, we've heard that Raban Lestrange was expelled – probably because he would have been in his NEWT year; and they don't want him to just take a year off and come back next year. Rupert, G-Air, the Harpers, and Monty Crabbe all got suspended for a year; but Don Rosier managed to stay out of trouble somehow. We've also heard that Licentia Nott got the job for their senior team Captain; and that might be a first for their House."

"We didn't hear that," Gwendolyn told her. "That's great for Witches, but tough for her; since she won't have a bunch of their best – and worst – players for her team."

"True, but then she wouldn't be Captain if they were here this year," Al pointed out. "I am surprised that they didn't give the job to Don Rosier, though; since he has a fair bit of experience too."

"I think this might have been their best opportunity to give a Witch a chance," Rose offered. "We might not like her much, but Licentia can play the game; so it is too bad that she could end up having a tough season – especially since we've also heard that she wants to play in the show with her brothers."

"So she's going to be Slytherin's first Witch Captain in possibly forever; and also wants the Falcons to hire a Witch too?" Gwendolyn asked. "Merlin – and we thought you had impossible dreams with the Cannons!"

"Did you find out anything about the Slytherin junior team?" Al asked Lily; and she bobbed her head.

"Yeah. Derrick Selwyn got the Captain job. He's likely the best they have left from their last team – and the worst; since he's as much of a rotter as most of the gits that hang around with the Averys, Harpers, and their lot."

"Here's something else you'll find interesting," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn. "We don't have any news about them, but we saw Scorpius, Davis, and Blaise sitting with Lysandra Lestrange, two of her usual friends, and Andrea Avery."

"Sisters of the expelled and suspended," Gwendolyn mused thoughtfully. "Why would they be hanging out with the Slytherin outcasts today? Could there be trouble in Slytherin paradise for them because of what their brothers did in June?"

"Maybe they're taking advantage of the situation," Lily suggested with a grin. "Those three boys are among the hottest in their House."

"This sounds like a great time for me to go for a walk," Al suggested.

"To check that out for yourself and find out what you can for us?" Lily asked hopefully with a bright smile for him. "We'd appreciate that a lot!"

"Let's not go there; and we'll wait a bit longer for our first walk-around," Gwendolyn told Al. "If Scorpius and the Zabinis are getting a break this year, then I'm okay with that; since I've never thought it was fair for them to be outcasts just because of their parents."

"No, they should be outcasts for being pureblood elitist gits," Lily added. "I don't get why they'd want to be like that – especially when they're treated so badly by the other purebloods that hate the rest of us so much; but maybe they're not quite as rotten to us as the worst of the Slytherins because of how they're treated."

"Are there any other stories going around that we should hear about sooner instead of later?" Gwendolyn asked. "That's certainly more for Slytherin than normal."

Her question sent Lily off on the rest of the gossip report from their walk along the train; Rose helped out with that; and Al mostly sat back and let them have fun while he allowed his mind to wander. His own start to the new school year had pretty much been a best-ever-so-far; and that had been true right from when he woke up. Being first to shower and finish getting ready to go had been normal, but James had been in a good mood too – so good that he didn't even bother razzing Al, Lily, or their parents at all. James slowed them down when it was time to head for King's Cross, but while Ginny managed to make up that time in transit; they also avoided any stress by just going with the flow and not getting into any arguments.

Arriving in London with a bit of time to spare had been great because he and Lily had been able to say goodbye to Kirley, Angelina, George, and Hermione; though James had just gotten onto the train without even hugging his mother goodbye. The reunion with Gwendolyn had been great too; and then they'd loaded onto the train and managed to hold a total of six compartments that soon filled up with their cousins and friends. While he hadn't spent much time with Roxanne yet; Al was glad to see her so happy and excited; and Fred and Lily were making sure that she was taken care of while they were all on the train. Rose was with Al and Gwendolyn when they boarded the train; and they ended up with Renee, Toni, and Michael in their compartment by the time the train began moving toward Hogsmeade Station. The travel adventure wasn't nearly as exciting as it had been in first year; which is why it hadn't been long before Rose and Renee went for a walk; and then Toni and Michael had gone out for a tour of the train too.

On a train full of teens and tweens, having their compartment to themselves hardly meant that they were alone, so while Al and Gwendolyn stayed while the others were out; they didn't have the privacy that might have led to a bit of late-morning snogging. They did have fun, though; some friends and cousins stopped by for cameo visits; and everyone they talked with seemed to be as happy as they were to be getting back to school – and being allowed to use magic again. That idea sent Al off to thinking about the generally-upbeat mood that he sensed all around him. Sure, they were in the middle of their group of compartments, so the strongest sensations were coming from people he cared about; but that was different for him too compared to the wider-range of emotions he normally sensed in large groups.

Rose wasn't really an exception to that general rule, since she was happy to be heading back to Hogwarts while also being sad and missing Kyle, but that was different for him too; since what he sensed from Rose didn't make him feel uncomfortable. That was one of the reasons he hadn't been in a huge hurry to get out and go for a walk too, because the back-to-school teen drama was inevitable; and he wouldn't like being around the darker emotions. The news that Lily and Rose had brought did give him a bit of hope that he'd have fewer problems with that this year while some of their Slytherin haters were off for the year, but he didn't want to think much about Scorpius becoming popular with the Slytherin Witches now that they might all have fewer problems to deal with because of those suspensions and expulsion.

Not wanting that information didn't keep him from getting some of it anyway when he and Gwendolyn did eventually go for a walk after they had lunch. They still had their fair share of Slytherin haters, and some hated them more because of what had happened at the end-of-term feast in June – despite the fact that they'd only defended themselves and helped with the aftermath. Apparently, just being helped by a Potter was enough to taint some Slytherins. Al sensed that some also blamed him for being forced to help out, since if he hadn't been such a deserving target; the Averys and their mates wouldn't have used them as tools in their attack.

When they walked past the compartment that Scorpius was using, he was only there with Davis, Lysandra, and Melana, so he might have missed out on some of the teen drama going on in there; he did still sense a lot just in those few seconds – and likely found out more than at least two of them would want him – or anyone else – to know. Gwendolyn was grinning at him in reaction to what she saw on his face, but the train was crowded; so he couldn't talk about it with her at all – not even when they were back in their compartment. That hadn't been the only weird for him while on that walk; which was why he was happy to stay in their compartment for most of the rest of the trip. The visits with cousins and other friends had been fun, but some of the drama moments hadn't been fun to sense and witness – including the drama around James and Ollie.

For James, that meant the ongoing drama that was the relationships he had with Patricia and Bristol combined with not one, but two rounds of flirting he and Gwendolyn witnessed between James and two other Witches – once on their way to the other end of the train; and once on the way back to their compartment. He hadn't been surprised, considering how successful James had been with that sort of thing during the summer, but it still made him uncomfortable; and it was the darkness of his brother's emotions that bothered him as much as James' complete lack of respect for Witches. Fortunately, there was much more good to sense elsewhere – including in the area around their compartment; and James and Ollie stayed away and left them alone.

Overall, the trip to Hogsmeade station was pretty good; but they were all glad when the Hogwarts Express finally came to a stop and they could escape their long confinement – even though that meant heading outdoors into a light, cold rain. That was a first in four years for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of the fourth-year students; and Al suspected that the rain would take a lot away from the firstie boat experience. It certainly made the carriage rides for some of the teens and tweens uncomfortable – along with the wait; but Al could shield their group from the wet – and did that for their carriage ride. Getting to the castle felt as good as coming home always did; though Al wished that he could do that and stay with Gwendolyn too. That hadn't been an option, though; so they said their goodbyes with a hug and kiss; and split up to head to their own seats – that were now in the fourth-year sections of their respective House tables. Rose had waited for Al, so they did that together; and sat down to wait for the rest of the fourth, third, and second-year students to arrive in the Great Hall too.

"This feels different," Rose told him quietly after they were sitting down. "We're still in the middle of the pack; but we're starting to find out what it's like to wait around at this end for a while before the feast instead of waiting for carriages at the other end."

"That's good for us this year; so I doubt the NEWT year teens mind the long wait here," he suggested. "Maybe they should do that in reverse when it's raining; since the older students can protect themselves; but the younger kids will be very wet by the time they get here."

"Except for the kids you made Impervius charms or medallions for and gave to them," Rose amended; and smiled when Al laughed.

"I didn't want Lily hexing me," he advised her. "She does not like dealing with wet hair – even when she can use magic to help out with that."

"Grow your hair out and try it for a week or two; and I'm sure you'll understand her perspective on that a bit better. Dealing with our long hair twice a day is enough work; and all of that time adds up over the course of a year."

"So that's why you didn't want to take the fourth optional with me," Al joked; and Rose laughed.

"No, some of us really didn't want to take Divination, Al – and it would have sucked to have all O's except for one, lonely 'A' or worse on my report."

"Maybe you should grow Louis' hair out on him," Al offered with a grin. "He'd have less time to get ready for tryouts if he was constantly dealing with hair instead – or getting multiple haircuts a day."

"There's an idea, but I'd never cheat to get a spot on the team; so I'll either earn it – or Louis will be Keeper this season."

"I was only going for the joke," Al assured her. "Remind me next year – or in January – to hang out with Gwendolyn for a while when we get here. We could've had an extra fifteen minutes or more together right now."

"Says the Wizard that gets to be at school with his girlfriend," Rose told him with a half-serious scowl. "I don't even know how I'll manage to do more than exchange messages with Kyle while we're here. It isn't as though I can do video chats pretty much anywhere around or in the castle."

"I've actually thought about that," Al admitted. "Let's talk about that in the morning; since I don't want to do that with a lot of people around."

"Gee, thanks – get me curious and leave me hanging."

"You'll survive – and like my idea too," Al assured her.

Rose spent a few minutes offering other ideas about that, but didn't get anything else out of Al; and eventually moved on while talking with other Gryffindor friends and waiting for the rest of the students to arrive – including all of the youngest tweens that were led in during the firstie processional. They were looking forward to the sorting ceremony, and in addition to the first-year cousins; they also had family friends' kids starting at Hogwarts this year too. There was a pause in the action between the arrival of the last second-year students and the processional, but then the doors were opened and Professor Flitwick had the honor of leading the firsties this year – and overseeing the sorting. Al and Rose had fun watching their favorite new firsties, and while some of them were nervous; Roxanne, Riley, and Greta all seemed to be doing fine from what Al could sense from them. His own sorting seemed distant now, but Al could be amused in hindsight over his own fears and insecurity – though it had been just as real to him then as it was for many of the firsties now.

There was a large group of firsties – a bit bigger than a year ago; but that only added a few moments to the processional. Once the students were lined up into rows along the front of the hall; Professor Flitwick put the sorting hat down on the stool; stepped back; and everyone quieted down to listen to its annual, musical welcome.

I may not be a Pop Star; like some here in this Hall;

And my songs are never number one; not a single one at all!

But I get this gig once every year; and do my very best;

To find a way to welcome you; that is different from the rest!

That might seem like an easy task; and no big deal to you;

But I'm sure that you'd feel differently;

After a century or two!

For me, it's been a thousand years; plus centuries and more;

Yet a new year's still exciting; as we find out what's in store;

What adventures will we share?

What challenges will we face?

Who will win and lose at Quidditch?

Who will win the House Cup race?

These are questions I can't answer; Divination's not my thing;

So I'll get to sorting Firsties;

And see what fun this school year will bring!

"The sorting hat has heard some of the jokes we've made about it?" Rose asked as Professor Flitwick got ready to call the first student to be sorted; and Al grinned at her.

"Maybe – or he heard about how much Gwendolyn and I get paid for our part of the songwriting we've done over the past year or two."

Rose laughed quietly. "Yeah – that must be it. Should we get Gwendolyn to see if she can get the sorting hat added to the concert tour with the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers next summer? That'd make for an interesting warm-up act."

"Not to mention if it joined in for any duets or collaborations," Al added.

"You're already thinking about a love song for the Sorting Hat, aren't you?" Rose asked; and it was Al's turn to laugh again.

"Yeah, but let's not go there; and find out where our favorite firsties will be sorted instead."

They didn't have long to wait for that first family and friends firstie to be sorted, and the first one to earn bonus attention from them was Bryson Campbell – Jeremy and Pauline's oldest son. He was sorted to Ravenclaw, and Al and Rose were happy for him, since while he'd have been welcome in Gryffindor; they hadn't thought he'd have had as good a chance of playing Quidditch in his first year or two when their junior team was already loaded with talent. They thought of the Campbell clan as 'Auror' friends, but the first, official Auror kid to be sorted was Colin Creevey – Denise's younger brother. He was sorted to Gryffindor; and looked thrilled when he ran from the stool to where his big sister was sitting with Lily and the rest of their friends. He looked even happier after getting hugs and congratulations from both girls.

The sorting rolled on and on, but they had kids that they knew interspersed through the entire alphabetical process; and Al could also make many more family connections now in all four Houses. Riley Fawcett was sorted to Gryffindor; Hufflepuff got Gwendolyn's cousin, Greta; and her new House also got Tory's brother, Drew. Al knew that Greta would have liked being in Ravenclaw too; but didn't think she was too disappointed – and there were advantages to not ending up in the same House with your cousins or siblings. There was still a theme for that – as usual; so Al wasn't surprised when Chris Madley was sorted to Ravenclaw with his Campbell cousin – or that Roxanne was placed in Gryffindor. Roxanne was among the last to be sorted; and she ended up being the last of the friends and family firsties this year too.

Pretty much everyone in the hall was ready to eat by the time the sorting ended, but that didn't keep Headmistress McGonagall from her full, usual welcome message and rules review; and then, finally, she invited everyone to enjoy the feast. Al and Rose talked quietly together as much as with the friends closest to them. There was no shortage of gossip to talk about – including a review of the firstie sorting highlights for everyone. The food was as wonderful as always for the feasts; Al was among the majority of teens, tweens and staff that ate too much; and then it was time to head for their Houses for the night.

Al didn't walk Gwendolyn home, but they did meet up for a few minutes to talk and say goodnight. They both also got the chance to congratulate some of their favorite firsties from three of the Houses; there was a chaste hug and kiss goodnight; and then they headed for their own Houses with small groups of Ravenclaws or Gryffindors. Once in the Gryffindor common room, Al stayed with Rose and had some fun there. They spent some time with Lily, Hugo, and some other friends; watched Lee's back-to-school, kid-free night monologue with most of the teens and tweens still in the room; and then Al was among the first older teens to head up to the fourth-year boys' dorm room that he'd be calling home for most of the next ten months.

Once in his room, he did a bit of minor unpacking so he'd be ready for classes in the morning; he got ready for bed after that; and then he had a mirror chat with his parents – getting all of that done before half of his roommates joined him and started that same unpacking and bedtime process. He followed up his mirror chat with some guy talk time with Ray and some of the other guys, and when he was ready to crash for the night; he turned out his light and was happy to head off into a dreamland where Gwendolyn was there and happy to help him out with having a brilliant, amazing new school year!

"Okay, so what is your brilliant idea for helping me to at least be able to talk with Kyle on my smart phone that won't have him finding out anything about me – or our Wizarding World – by having him see or hear something he shouldn't?" Rose asked Al not long after they were out in the hall and on their first extended walk and talk of the new school year. She smiled sardonically in response to his expression of sympathy. "Yes, last night sucked for me; so give me something else to think about other than missing Kyle so much."

"The Room of Requirements," Al said simply; grinning when her eyes opened wide. "It can be whatever you need," he added in explanation. "In this case; I expect that you'd just have to ask it to be exactly the same as a current, Muggle school classroom – or some other room; and then you could talk or use video chats with Kyle and he'd be none the wiser about where you really are."

"You are so my favorite cousin of all time right now," Rose assured him while stopping both of them for an enthusiastic hug. "Do you use it a lot and have just kept that little secret from me?"

"I haven't used it at all – except for back when we were exploring the castle in first year and checked it out." He smiled and shrugged. "I haven't had a need for it, and I'm not positive what will happen when you try to use it for this; but I think it'll work."

Rose looked at her watch and laughed. "We've got time – let's go and find out!"

They needed to change direction to do that; back-tracked a bit; and then made their way over to the hallway in front of where they knew the Room of Requirements existed. Al helped Rose to decide what she wanted the Room to become for her; helped her to decide how best to frame that request in her mind; and then stood back and watched her walk up and down the hallway until a door magically appeared in the wall once she'd completed the necessary steps and repetition of the request. She'd laughed in delight at her success; led the way into the room; and then cheered for herself and hugged Al again.

"It works!" she exulted. "This will be perfect!"

"You could experiment and come up with different rooms too," Al suggested – "though Kyle would believe that this is just your special, quiet place to go to get away from your classmates when you want the privacy to talk with him – and it will be private while you're in here."

"I'll keep it simple," she decided. "It's way harder to keep a story straight once it gets too complicated – at least for those of us who can't pretty much remember every tiny detail the way you can."

"You have a fairly-extraordinary memory too," Al reminded her. "Mine might not even be any better than yours; since the extended senses are likely a bigger factor – and I'll admit that is different for me."

"Than for nearly anyone else except for maybe your father," Rose agreed and added. "We don't have time to sit around here and hang out, though; so let's move on."

"You don't want to try and call Kyle now?" Al asked; and Rose shook her head.

"No. We'll set that up by text message later – and I'll need to work out regular times that will work for both of us – and not get in the way of our classes, Quidditch, or studying."

"That doesn't leave many chances for you to talk with him before curfew on any weekday," Al reminded her as he opened the door again and held it for her to go out into the hallway first. He looked around them once he was out of the room and closed the door too. "You'll want to work out a way to make sure the hallway is empty when you come out – if you want to keep what you're going to be doing quiet."

"Maybe I'll borrow Lily's glasses and see if they'll work in the Room of Requirements," Rose suggested. "If not, opening the door a crack and using my super-sensory charm would work too – unless someone was right across the hall from the door and saw it appear and open."

If Lily's glasses work; we'll make a pair for you," Al offered with a nod. "I have no idea whether they will or not; since the room is protected from the outside. That might not be true from the other side, though; so it'll be fun to find out."

"Now you've got me thinking aobut our schedules," Rose advised him. "I know you want classes that work out best for you and Gwendolyn; but I'd like to see our daily classes work out a bit more evenly for the assignments – especially when we're likely going to need to spend more time in the Potions dungeons and greenhouses this year. Some of those projects are going to be longer-term; and need regular attention."

"Maybe we should think about creating our own potions to help our plants grow faster in Herbology," Al offered; and Rose laughed.

"Funny, but that might be a bad idea if we got it wrong and ended up with giant, Wizard-eating plants. Let's stick with the programs – at least for that sort of thing. I like some of the stuff we've invented together."

"Only because you're sure it'll help with your plans to buy the Cannons and turn them into a championship team again."

"That is a bonus," Rose agreed easily; "but the inventing is fun too. "I actually think we should be encouraged to do that here. Somebody had to invent all of these other spells, potions, and the rest of the things that we use our magic to do; and I think that we could do the same – like you did with the toys – and your prank flowers."

"I like the idea, but some of us have a much different perspective on that than most of the students here – or any Witches and Wizards," Al pointed out. "We're comfortable in the Muggle world as well as our own; so we see how fast things can change. Our Mums have helped a lot with that starting to change in the Wizarding World; but maybe our perspective messes things up for us too."

"How do you mean?" Rose asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I think about a lot of things like Mum and Dad do. Our mirrors and the mirror network are examples of applying Magic to Muggle technology – just as was done to make the Hogwarts Express, Knight Bus, and the original Wizarding Wireless Network. A lot of our true magic has been created to do things that have nothing to do with the Muggle world at all – or are completely different ways to do things. There's no Muggle equivalent for Apparating or the Floo Network; yet someone came up with those ideas and invented the magic. I don't usually think about completely-new magic in that way most of the time."

"You're right about that," Rose told him. "That's exactly what I do too. When you think about it, that does makes sense for my Mum and your Dad too, but not really for your Mum; since she grew up in the Wizarding World and basically knew very little about the Muggle world until after the war."

"True, but most of the ideas for the things they've invented were from your Mum, or based on something from the Wizarding World like the two-way mirrors that my grandfather and Sirius made when they were teens taken to a Muggle-tech level; and my Mum just helped out with making them a reality. The mirror gaming came about because our Dads liked the Muggle gaming so much, and when I think about that; our Mums made the first two-way and multi-way mirrors for them too."

"Then maybe we should think about inventing new things from both perspectives," Rose suggested next. "We could get serious about that pool version of Quidditch that Lily suggested. "That's a Wizarding game that would at least help us to have that different perspective. Just don't expect me to come up with new ways to hang Wizards upside-down or any other way like your middle-namesake did when he was a teen."

"That's funny, but I hadn't even thought of that as an example for coming up with new spells," Al offered with a laugh. "I was thinking that it would be nice if we had more happy magic and fewer curses. Witches and Wizards spend far too much time inventing nasty things to do to others; and our world might have been very different if we'd been nicer to each other."

"Says the Wizard that ate his brother and spit him out again," Rose teased. "There's a place for hexes and curses, Al – even if we might wish it otherwise."

"I know," Al agreed; "but it's still a nice dream to wish it was otherwise."

Rose had agreed with that; their conversation had moved on; and they eventually made it to the Great Hall. They were among the first-quarter of students to get there, so they had time to welcome most of their Gryffindor classmates; Gwendolyn stopped by to see Al in case they didn't get the chance to do that later; and then they enjoyed their first breakfast of the school year while mostly talking about what they each hoped for with their schedules and first day of classes. Quidditch was big for the first-to-third-year students, but now that they'd be trying out for the senior team; all of the fourth-year hopefuls had an extra week before their tryouts; so that wasn't a big deal for them. As the meal wrapped up; it was time for the Professors to fan out and begin delivering schedules. That was easy for the firsties and second-year students; but needed personal and individual attention for the third-year and higher students to make sure there weren't any problems.

Al and Rose didn't have any issues with wrong classes or dropped optionals to deal with, and they were near the third-year students; so they were among the first to get their schedules and be cleared to head out to their first class of the day. Gwendolyn had a longer wait for her schedule, so once Al and Rose knew that their first class wouldn't be with Ravenclaw; he went around to her table; advised her that they'd see each other for their second morning class; and then he and Rose went on with about a third of their fellow fourth-year Gryffindors to their House so they could get the books and supplies they'd need for Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies; and for Potions. The walk to Gryffindor tower allowed them the time they needed to discuss their schedules; though they did that with Ray, Cora, and a few others as they left the Great Hall together.

"Our Wednesday morning looks pretty good," Rose told Al. "Since I have my study class after lunch; you must have your Divination class then. Ending the day with Charms would be better if it wasn't with Slytherin; but at least we're not starting out our Mondays that way this year."

"No – we'll be starting Mondays with Arithmancy and Potions," Al pointed out. "That's good for us; but not everyone will be happy with that."

"I'm good with starting Monday with a study class," Ray advised him with a grin. "You should have gone with just two optionals instead of four."

"That's the worst time of the week for a study class," Rose advised him seriously. "You won't have been given any assignments yet for the day; and we'll have our weekend revision done by then too."

Ray shrugged and grinned at her. "You'll need to do that; but I won't – now that I have that study class on Monday mornings – or I'll just have that free time for goofing off. That works for me too."

"You might want to use that time to sleep in," Cora suggested. "We've got Astronomy on Monday nights this year; and that's going to be tough."

"We also have it at midnight – and with Slytherin,' Rose added. "Sorry, Al, but no snogging with Gwendolyn during Astronomy again this year for you."

"Does that mean that someone else will get to do that with her this year instead?" Cora teased. "Let's save that chat for later; since I'm still more-interested in my schedule. I like ending the week with double Charms on Friday afternoon – even if that's with Slytherin too. Why do we have three separate Potions classes? We have doubles for the other, usual classes."

"It's likely because we'll be doing more potions that take longer to make and need to be tended regularly," Rose answered. "I suppose it's possible that Professor Slughorn just likes to do it that way better, but either way; I don't mind – unless we end up being too rushed for some of the assignments."

"Aren't you more interested in whether you'll get an invitation for the Slug Club?" Ray asked Cora; and she shrugged.

"I doubt that I will. My parents aren't famous-enough; and he didn't invite my brothers to join."

"Al's Mum got invited because of her bat-bogey hex," Rose advised her with a grin for Al. "You don't always have to be from a famous family to get invited."

"I'm hoping we don't get invited," Al told them seriously. "That might not be an option for Rose, but he has skipped younger siblings with our family; so I'll hope that James stays in the club and I get left out."

"Slughorn would need to do that; or end up with a club full of Weasley cousins and a few others," Ray only half-joked.

"You'll likely get an invite," Cora advised him – "unless he has a limit each year for Harpies' kids too."

"He might," Al agreed. "This year alone, he'd need to invite four of us – including Gwendolyn and Tory."

"Now you're having me wishing a bit that I do get an invitation," Cora told him. "Add in a few Slytherins, James, and Ollie; and those Slug Club meetings could be very interesting."

"Just try to get a date to Slughorn's Christmas party instead," Rose suggested. "That'll be the only part of being in that club that will be cool – since you get to meet a lot of famous Wizards and Witches."

"I've already met everyone in your family," Cora joked; "and I'm not all that interested in getting up close and personal with Slughorn's vampire buddy."

There were a few more jokes and comments about the Slug Club, but then they got back to reviewing their class schedules. Al's hope for their schedule working out well for studying with Gwendolyn didn't really happen. Gryffindor either ended the day in classes with Hufflepuff or Slytherin every day; two afternoons ended with Herbology; and he expected that Gwendolyn's afternoon classes were not going to match up well with his for studying between last classes and senior team Quidditch practices. They would get to start three out of five mornings together; Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were together for six of ten of Al's morning classes; and they only had one morning class with Slytherin – History during second period on Tuesdays. Al and Rose split up when they got to their House; picked up their books and gear; and then met up for the walk to their Ancient Runes classroom along with a handful of the other Gryffindors taking that class with them.

They soon found out that their class was a bit smaller this year due to dropped optionals, but that wasn't as obvious as it would be in other classes; since it was usually the better students taking the two hardest optional classes. Dropping Ancient Runes or Arithmancy only happened when students found out that they had no talent at all for the subject – not because they didn't try hard to do well. The immersion into Ancient Runes didn't take long, since attendance wasn't a big deal now that Professor Babblin knew all of them. The assignment pile for the day was sure to be a bit scary if that trend continued, but it likely wouldn't; since Ancient Runes was a once a week class and they were given the normal workload for their optional subjects. Al and Rose had enjoyed the class, but he was much happier once he was reunited with Gwendolyn ahead of their Potions class. Another round of comparing schedules had ensued after the hug and kiss; and they managed to quickly do that before Professor Slughorn arrived and began taking attendance.

"Come, take your seats and let's get started," Slughorn told the last few stragglers. "We've a lot to get done this morning; and need to get at it!" He didn't wait for those students; but began at the front of the classroom with the first table to his right – the one that Al and Gwendolyn were sitting at.

"Mr. Potter and Ms. McCormack," he said as he checked off their names on his class list. "Your reputations – and those of your parents – precede you." He smiled at each of them. "See what you can do about staying out of trouble this year – at least in my classes!"

His comment earned a round of laughs; and he was still smiling as he moved on. There were comments that went along with the names for many of the teens as he moved around the classroom and took attendance – some comments positive; and others not so great. While he'd claimed the need for haste; it took him ten full minutes to take attendance; he followed that up with a fifteen-minute long outline of the course of study they'd be doing over the next year; and then, finally, got started on their first lecture. Al still enjoyed their lesson and the bit of time they had for doing some prep work for the first Potion they'd be making, but he didn't really like Professor Slughorn's teaching style – particularly when he needed to work in name-dropping as he taught and then supervised the practical work time. That was very different from their first three years of Potions classes, and while he earned fifteen points for Gryffindor in the class and impressed their Professor; Al had a strong feeling that Potions would drop a place or two on the list for his favorite classes.

Their lunch break was a blast of fun as the gossip network was buzzing with a lot of news from around the school. Al didn't walk Gwendolyn to her House before lunch, but they both ate quickly and then spend the rest of their lunch break together until they needed to get to their first afternoon classes. Most Gryffindors had that time slot for a study period; and Al soon found out that there weren't many students continuing on with Divination. The small numbers made that class much stranger for all of the teens; since it was impossible to have any real segregation between the Slytherins and Gryffindors. Al and Romeo were also the only teen guys in the room, and while Romeo loved that; Al didn't enjoy that extra attention much at all – particularly from Patricia or the Slytherin Witches.

He ended up sitting next to fellow Gryffindor, Fiona, on one side; Romeo was in the row behind him – and in the center of the room so he could keep an eye on most of the Witches; and Melana Macnair was on his right. She wasn't happy about that, but compared to what he sensed from Lysandra; Al thought Melana's reaction to him was practically warm and fuzzy. For Lysandra, her hate for him was just part of the weird for Al. The stronger emotions were none of his business, but he couldn't avoid them when being 'broadcast' so strongly; so he could only wish that he didn't learn as much as he did about Lysandra's secret relationship with Scorpius. That included getting more information than he'd already had from seeing them on the train; and the rest of the class just kept getting stranger for Al as they worked through their first lesson of the year with Firenze.

The Slytherins knew that he'd won the award for top Divination student, but seeing him in action was much different; and the reactions to him would have been even worse if he didn't hold back on what he did during the practical magic part of their lesson. It wasn't that there weren't other students with some talent for Divination; it was just that his talent was extraordinary – and possibly unique among Wizards and Witches. His fellow Gryffindor were used to having him succeed in every lesson, but that wasn't something that the top student from Slytherin, Lysandra, appreciated at all. Al sensed that she'd believed herself to be the best in the school; so she'd also been annoyed when he bested her in every part of their first lesson. All of the Slytherin Witches had a serious disdain for Firenze, though that seemed strange to Al; since he knew a lot about Divination and was talented in his own way. Knowing what their true problem was with Firenze didn't make it any easier for Al to understand the desire to hate other sentient beings – particularly among kids and teens that only learn that sort of hate blindly without bothering to discover the truths of the world for themselves.

Sure, he had been raised to respect all life, and would have been admonished for displaying hatred toward any creature, but none of the kids or teens he knew had any bad experiences with any magical creatures that could be even remotely considered bad-enough to be deserving of the hatred he sensed in the room – including the hatred directed at him. Changing that mind-set of hatred seemed a more-impossible task than Rose's plans for the Cannons or his Aunt Hermione's hopes for House Elves freedom from slavery, though; so he just dealt with the emotions as best he could; and was glad when it was time to move on to his last class of the day – Charms. That class was with Slytherin too, and that was weird walking there with some of the Slytherin girls, but he was then able to sit on the other side of the room from the Slytherins with Rose; and she helped him to move on – once she'd gotten him to give her the highlights from his Divination class.

Summoning and Banishing charms were going to be a big part of the school year for Charms class, so Al was way ahead of the curve on that; but he was looking forward to learning more about the subject – and getting to experiment with everything that could be done with that magic – particularly when it came to storing objects in Wizard's space. His Animorphmagus talent gave him a different perspective on that; and he hoped to spend some time this year experimenting with some ideas he had for the charms. He doubted that Professor Flitwick would let him try something really cool like banishing the castle into Wizard's space and then bring it back again; but he thought that it might be possible to do summoning and banishing on such a large scale. They didn't discuss anything like that during their first class, but Al and Rose did manage to earn twenty-five points for Gryffindor by the end of class – and further annoy quite a few of their Slytherin classmates while doing that.

The dynamics with the full group of Slytherins in the room had again been scary for Al, but that had mostly been because of what he sensed around and flowing between Scorpius and Lysandra. He wondered that it wasn't obvious to everyone, but then they didn't sit together; didn't say more than a few words to each other before or after class; and pretty much acted as they'd done toward each other over their first three years at Hogwarts. Okay, that was a bit different, but only in that Lysandra and her friends didn't totally ignore Scorpius and Davis as they'd done in the past; and were polite when they did talk with each other. Al didn't really have a label to put on what he sensed between them. It wasn't even remotely like what he had with Gwendolyn, but it wasn't all that much like what he sensed around James when he was focused on his desires for different Witches. He did also sense that their relationship was a priority for both of them, though; and could hope that it would make his own life a bit easier this year. That was selfish of him, but if James and Scorpius were both too busy with 'other' distractions; they might just leave him alone. Spending less time in the hospital wing would be a nice change!

Al and Rose went straight to their study classroom after Charms class so that they could get to work on their assignments – or get back to that for Rose; since she'd worked on her Ancient Runes assignment while he'd been in Divination. They didn't end up with any Gryffindors at first, since most of the other fourth-year teens had been more interested in taking a break, catching up on the gossip, or doing anything that wasn't studying. Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael joined them, but they were delayed while making a stop at Ravenclaw tower to pick up different books and so Gwendolyn could grab her Quidditch gear for the senior team workout that Pauline was having for her team and new player prospects. They worked on their Potions assignment until Gwendolyn needed to leave; and then Al and Rose did their Charms assignment – the last that Rose needed to do for the day. He still had Ancient Runes and Divination to deal with after dinner, but had been glad to help Rose with getting the evening off so that she could go off to the Room of Requirements and have a video chat with Kyle while he studied with Gwendolyn and whomever else showed up for the evening study session.

They weren't able to get together before dinner because Gwendolyn didn't get to the Great Hall until shortly-after the food was on the tables – and she arrived there with most of the other Ravenclaw senior team Quidditch players. Al missed getting to have that bit of time with her, but he was kept entertained before and during the meal with the ongoing and latest gossip news, and while the food was back to the normal school fare, it was still really good; and felt much more-normal compared to the first-night feast. It was too early for it to feel like any kind of routine was falling into place, but they were now closing in on twenty-four hours at school without any problems at all – not even a walk-by razzing from James and Ollie. Thinking about that didn't jinx him, and while he did check his map a few times to keep an eye on Rose – when he could do that; James and Ollie didn't even go out on any prank patrol. They instead split their time between the library and common room with the friends that were apparently going to be at least part of their study group this year. Those teens included Patricia and Bristol, but they didn't have Lacey or her friends with them; and there were likely others that weren't on Al's map anyway – though that was a guess based on space between them around the tables they were working at the different times he looked to see what they were doing.

For their own evening study session, Al and Gwendolyn had Toni and Michael with them again; Ray and Art joined them; and they had two surprise additions – Susannah MacMillan and Mackenzie Graves. Susannah had come to study with Al and Gwendolyn, and while Mackenzie was in his OWL year; he'd decided to study with his girlfriend instead of working with his usual study group. Gwendolyn and Mackenzie were also Weird Sisters' cousins – he was Gordon and Myra's younger brother. Like Bristol, he wasn't in one of the bands; and didn't seem interested in a mmusic career. Susannah hadn't had her first Divination class yet, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had taken two classes together; so Susannah had the same assignments to do that Gwendolyn still had left to deal with.

Al and Gwendolyn had been happy about the additions, since it had felt as though something had been missing during the last part of their third year without any Hufflepuff friends in their group. They didn't really know Susannah or Makenzie all that well despite their family connections, but they were two of the best Hufflepuff students; so it was fun having them to work with – especially when Susannah could keep up and didn't need much tutoring. Mackenzie was surprised when Al helped him out with a couple of questions he'd asked aloud, but then he'd been happy to have the bonus study resource; and had been as amused as everyone else when Al had answered his first question without thinking about it – just as he normally did when anyone else he studied with asked questions or needed tutoring.

They were able to finish their studying for the day with more than an hour to spare, and while some alone time with Gwendolyn would have been nice; Al wasn't surprised when Gwendolyn invited the other couples to stay for some mirror network watching time instead. Ray and Art left then along with the other singles; so Al set up three sofas – and Susannah and Mackenzie were impressed as they joined in for the cuddle and chat time that was a great way to wrap up their first full day back at school. Al walked Gwendolyn home when they still had about fifteen minutes before curfew; their goodnight hug and kiss was short and sweet due to company in the hallway; and then Al went on to his own common room and had a twenty-minute long chat with Lily and some of her friends to hear all about her day before heading up to his dorm room for the night. She'd had a really great day too; was looking forward to the one and only junior team workout they'd be able to do with all of the Gryffindor hopefuls ahead of tryouts on Saturday; and she'd long-since finished her first batch of assignments for her second-year classes. Once back in his dorm room, Al got ready for bed; did a bit of textbook reading; and then had a short chat with Ray and a few of the other guys when they joined him there and were getting ready for bed too. When he was ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night, he did that without worrying about being razzed for it by the guys; and he was soon out for the count for another night.

Thursday mornings were going to be good every week for their school year because Al got to spend most of that time with Gwendolyn while they took a double DADA class together. Al had been fired up about that when he woke up and got ready for the day; Lily joined in for the morning walk and talk with Rose – and helped to make that bit of time before breakfast more fun for all of them. Their morning meal was entertaining thanks to the ongoing gossip stories that continued to make the rounds in much higher volumes than what would be normal once they all settled into the usual school routines. Having Gwendolyn for his partner in DADA was nice, but not a factor for their actual lesson during Professor Proudfoot's first lecture of the year – though it made a big difference when it was time to play with the magic; and Al and Gwendolyn both had a lot of fun working together. Earning twenty points between them for their achievements in the second-half of their class was a nice added bonus; and it was even fun getting razzed about that by their friends for splitting those points at ten each for their Houses.

Lunch was a break between double classes for the fourth-year Gryffindors on Thursdays, and Al had fun then too – especially when he and Gwendolyn got together mid-way through after eating quickly; and then they spent the rest of the time together until they needed to get to their next classes. Double Herbology wasn't Al's idea of a fun afternoon, but at least it was with Hufflepuff this year instead of Slytherin; and having Professor Sprout this year instead of Professor Longbottom was quite a change too. Rose hit it off right away with their new Professor, but Al did well too; and they earned another batch of points for Gryffindor. Having Herbology all afternoon on Thursdays and then the senior Quidditch team practice at the stadium in the second time slot would likely mean that Al and Rose wouldn't end up studying with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group after last class once they got into their new routine, but they met up with Gwendolyn and the others in their regular classroom once Professor Sprout set them free because they didn't have any work that needed to be done in the greenhouse; and Al wanted to spend that time with Gwendolyn – even though they had less time to do their work before he and Rose – and Ray and the rest of the senior team hopefuls – needed to head out to the stadium for Olivia's first Quidditch workout.

They still managed to get a lot of their DADA assignment done, and Al was sure that their Ravenclaw study buddies would get that assignment done by dinnertime; but it was the Quidditch fun that was the afternoon highlight for most of the senior team player-candidates. Al and Rose got there early; ended up walking with Olivia, Lucy, and a handful of older teens to the stadium from the entrance hall; and they all got to watch the tail-end of the junior team workout while getting their gear on. They were ready to go before James and Ollie arrived at the pitch. The two, self-declared 'best players in the school' were with the last group of stragglers, so Fred was wrapping up his workout by then; but Al was glad to see that the two boys didn't try messing with Lily or their cousins – a definite improvement over a year ago. They also didn't sit near Al, Rose, or Ray; didn't bug them at all either; and had fun with Louis, the McClaggens, and some of their mates as they started to get their gear on too. Olivia didn't wait for them to be done with that before getting things started with a mini-lecture about what she was going to do ahead of tryouts a week from Saturday.

"Thanks for coming out today," Olivia began once she had the attention of most of the teens and the noise level had dropped low-enough that she could be heard without shouting. "Senior team tryouts are a week from Saturday, so these early workouts are meant to help all of us get ready to play our best that day. None of these workouts are mandatory, but we do have the pitch booked for most of our regular practice time slots. The one exception is this weekend, and since the junior team tryouts are on Saturday; we have the late-morning time slot booked on Sunday instead. We have the second time slots next Tuesday and Thursday afternoons; and that'll give us a total of four workouts ahead of tryouts." She smiled as she looked around from face-to-face.

"I don't want to discourage anyone from trying out, but do think that it's fair to warn all of you that we are going to take our practices up to the next level this season; and that could make things tough for some of us when we need to keep up with our studies too – particularly the OWL and NEWT-year students."

"Let's take it up to the three-win level," Tiberius called out. "It was not fun going winless last season."

"It wasn't," Olivia agreed; "and we are definitely going to do better this year – though I'm not going to do anything dumb like make any guarantees. The competition is going to be tough again this year."

"We'll be tougher this year too," Lucy added; and then turned toward James and Ollie when they both snorted out derisive laughs. "I'm not talking about the Slytherin kind of tough," she advised them. "Gryffindors don't need to cheat or bully our opponents around to win, but we do need to get tougher so we don't get pushed around or beat up on; and we need to play smarter too." James and Ollie laughed at that too; but she decided to ignore them and not continue to interrupt Olivia.

"My point," Olivia continued; "was simply to warn you that more will be expected of everyone that makes the team and reserve squad, so if you're not willing to put in the extra work, or can't do that and keep up with your studies; then don't bother trying to make the team. I won't be putting up with any slackers this season; and reserve the right to hex anyone that doesn't try their best and always do what's best for our team."

Al knew that was a direct threat and promise to James and Ollie; but both boys pretended to ignore her warning. He still sensed Ollie's reaction to his sister, though; and knew that he hated the fact that she'd been named team Captain – just as Belinda had been before her. That anger was going to be his own worst enemy, which is why James seemed to be such a contrast to his best mate. He still had a deep well of hatred within him that Al could always sense, but seemed to actually believe that he needed to play nice regardless of how he truly felt – at least as long as it helped him to get what he wanted and needed out of it. Relapses were always a danger with James, though; so they'd all need to continue to be careful around him – especially if anything bad happened to him that he'd need to blame on others.

Olivia went on to talk about what they'd do during the workouts ahead of tryouts; and then Al and Rose only had a minute to talk with Lily, Hugo, and some of the other junior team players before they needed to get started on their warm-ups. They didn't get many details, but Lily had been happy with their practice; and was sure they'd have another good team despite the fact that they'd be replacing at least three players this year. The senior team workout wasn't anything new for the players that had worked out with the team all summer or for the players that had trained with the team in the past, but it was tough for some of the teens; and Olivia didn't cut them any slack. That didn't mean that she took the training up a notch – just that she didn't slow things down for the handful of teens that couldn't keep up with even the warm-ups or flying workout.

That was true for the positions workouts that they split up to do; and bludger practice was a horror for some of the players. Two teens got hit hard-enough to need to drop out of the workout; and Al had sensed that one of them wouldn't be back – or try out for the team either. He found that a bit strange for the senior team, but after a no-win season; maybe some teens just got visions of grandeur that they couldn't back up with Quidditch skills. They had far too many players for any of them to play for long in a scrimmage, but Olivia put teams together; had the losing team switch out with the next team on-deck after every best-of-three goals or one snitch catch; and they played that way for the last forty-five minutes of the practice. Al and Rose were on the team that won the last scrimmage match-up, but they were also the last team to play; and beat Olivia's team to do that after her team had won the rest of the match-ups. He and Rose had both been okay with that set-up; since it gave them both time to watch most of the other players. That was particularly-important for Rose; and she learned a lot from watching the Chasers play against Louis and the other Keeper prospects.

They worked right up until dinner was starting in the Great Hall; had to hurry to get out of their gear and back to the castle; and then the top dinner conversation was about Quidditch – with the players passing along the practice news to their friends. Al had been hungry by then, so he mostly listened and ate; and then he was ready to get together with Gwendolyn so they could spend the evening together. He needed to finish his DADA assignment, and Gwendolyn didn't have Herbology homework; so they did their own work – and she finished more than an hour sooner than he did. Ravenclaw had their first Astronomy class at midnight; so Gwendolyn opted to leave early and try for a nap; her Ravenclaw classmates went with her; and Al ended up working until about an hour before curfew with Rose and the rest of their remaining study group. Rose headed for the Room of Requirements to have a bedtime chat with Kyle, and Al walked there with her; but then continued on to the Gryffindor common room and spent some time with Lily, Holly, Poofy, and their friends so that he could get the full school day and Quidditch report from Lily before heading off to bed.

While his day ended quietly on Thursday and he was well-rested and ready for classes by morning; Al was sure that Fridays were not going to be one of his favorite days. Their first Transfiguration class of the year first thing in the morning with Hufflepuff had been pretty good, and he'd had fun with Gwendolyn in their Potions class after that; but they'd also been loaded up with assignments for the weekend; and then he'd had a tough time enjoying a double Charms class afternoon because every success that he and Rose had during the class fueled the hatred of them that he couldn't avoid sensing from too many of their Slytherin classmates. Add in the sensory drama that nobody else knew about between Scorpius and Lysandra; and the distractions made it tougher to concentrate on their lesson and the charms practicing they did during the last half of the class. Other than muttered insults and grumbling, there weren't any overt issues with the Slytherins, so while Al understood that the problem was with his own, too-strong magical abilities; that didn't make it any easier to deal with the hatred – or the simmering teen drama between Scorpius and Lysandra.

That's why he was very happy to be done with his classes for the week by the time ProfessorFlitwick set them free for the day; and happier-still to spend a little time with Gwendolyn until she needed to get to her second Quidditch workout of the week with her Ravenclaw senior team. Studying too was still necessary, but they didn't have even half of their study group with them because most of their friends wanted to take a break until dinnertime. Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn planned on supporting their junior team siblings, cousins, and friends at tryouts on Saturday, though; so they wanted to stay ahead of the work too.

"Would this be a good time to ask you about those ideas you have for making our studying easier this year?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they got to work on their Potions assignment. "If it will give us time to goof off too; I'm all for giving them a try sooner instead of later."

"I don't have anything ready," Al advised her; "but one of my ideas is to put all of our textbooks either onto the wireless web or into a mirror game – sort of like what we have with our Muggle tablets and e-books. Using the wireless web the way we do with the Quidditch News or other information sites might be easier to set up than making a mirror game; but either would work for what I have in mind."

"That'd be great for not needing to carry our books around; but would that save us much time?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shrugged.

"I think it would if we set it up right – so that it's easy to find whatever information we're looking for while studying. With the mirror game idea; I'm thinking that we could write our reports the way that Mum writes her articles; and then charm quills to put those reports to parchment. Eventually, I'd like it better if we could write them onto the wireless web and then just have the Professors read them from their own mirrors instead of bothering with parchment at all; but it might take a long time before they'd agree to do that too."

"Merlin, Al – that's brilliant!" Rose told him. "Muggle students have been doing stuff like that for at least a handful of years now, but it took decades to get there with their computers; so you're right about that being a longer-term goal. We could write our reports like that right now though – as soon as we figure out how to charm those quills."

"Wouldn't your Mums know how to do that already?" Gwendolyn asked. "They must do something to take those wireless web articles and put them into the printed copies of the Daily Prophet. It wouldn't save us much time at all if we have to copy..." She laughed at the expression that popped up on Al's face at the word – copy.

"Or we can apparently just use a copying spell," Rose quipped. "Can you do that, Al?"

He laughed; got his mirror out; and brought up one of his mother's articles on the wireless web. He got a piece of parchment and his wand out too; and then gave it a try. He'd been grinning; but then frowned when his attempt to copy the 'page' failed and nothing happened.

"Make that an 'or not' – or at least a 'not yet' unless Al copied it using invisible ink," Gwendolyn offered.

"That seemed a brilliant idea," Al told them. "It worked for the maps."

"The maps were drawn on parchment with ink," Rose reminded him. "I've never bothered to ask what the wireless web pages actually are while stored in those remembralls. Are they just images; or something else – special files like Muggles use for their internet?"

"It's the latter," Al advised her. "I guess we'll need to work on the quill-writing charm idea; though I'll ask Mum about what they do at the Daily Prophet too; since that could help us out." He sighed and put his mirror away. "I guess there's no point in trying to write our reports that way until we have a way to put them to parchment."

"Back to the old-fashioned way for this study session it is," Gwendolyn agreed; sighing too. "Get working on that soon, though; since we are not getting to have as much alone time as Rose and Kyle have had so far this week – and they're hundreds of miles apart."

"You could always do mirror chats," Rose suggested. "Will you have time for that right now anyway, Al? What are you cooking up for Lily's birthday gift this year?"

"Give her what we've just been talking about along with all of the second-year books set up for her to use," Gwendolyn suggested; and Al and Rose both laughed. "She'd love it as much as we would; so it would just be an added bonus that we could use it too."

"I hadn't started on anything for Lily yet; so maybe that is the best idea," Al told her seriously. "Let's see what we can do about that tomorrow or Sunday. I'll talk to Mum later tonight and find out what I can about how things work between the mirror network and printed newspapers."

They continued to chat about that a bit, but got to work too; and got through about a third of their Potions' assignment by the time Gwendolyn needed to head for her Quidditch practice. Al and Rose were on their own after that; switched to Charms; and worked on those assignments until it was time to head for the Great Hall to have dinner. Many of the teens and tweens in the castle didn't do any work on their weekend assignments at all on Friday, but Al was happy to find out from Lily that she'd finished all of her work thanks to the second-year afternoon study periods that the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws again got to have together this year. He could only wish to have the weekend off too, but then the Friday evening study session got their group a long-way toward being finished all of their weekend assignments except for the few, bigger projects that had already been assigned to them in Potions and Charms.

Doing the work first didn't help Al's reputation at all, but they wrapped up with an hour to spare before curfew so that Rose could have her video chat with Kyle and the couples could have some alone time. Al and Gwendolyn were left in their study classroom while everyone else moved on; they had a moderately-brilliant snogging session; and then they needed to make a stop to help Lily and Jonah with packing up the sofas and Al's mirror once they were finished with their mirror network watching time with a handful of their second-year friends. Al walked Gwendolyn home; had Lily with him for the walk from there to Gryffindor tower; and then he went up to bed and had the mirror chat with his parents that helped out a lot with his new plans for Lily's birthday gift – and the study aids that would help his own study group too. He played around with those ideas for a little while, but was still off to sleep before any of the other guys returned to their dorm room for the night.

Scorpius was off on his own an hour and a half or so after dinner – resuming a trend he'd set back in first-year; while having an all-new reason for doing it now. His friends were used to him disappearing for hours at a time, so they had no reason to be suspicious. He'd gone out to the stadium right after dinner; had a quiet, low-level flying practice with Andrea Avery to help her with one more practice ahead of tryouts in the morning; and then she'd gone off to meet with her friends while he'd taken an indirect route back to the castle. He'd done that to help Andrea, but he was also meeting up with Lysandra for the first time since getting to Hogwarts – or at least it was the first time they'd be together and alone.

While going off on his own was normal for him, that wasn't true for Lysandra; so she'd needed to make up an excuse to get away from her friends – and not do that in a way that could link the two of them together. That's why it took more than a half-hour before they could meet up in an empty classroom that was as far away from pretty much everyone else in the castle as was possible on a Friday night. They were both smiling when Lysandra walked into the room and saw him already there waiting for her. She crossed the room; put her arms around his neck; and kissed him rather seriously.

"I hate this sneaking around," she told him after stepping away from that embrace. "I hate not being able to be like other couples in our House just because of your parents and grandparents."

"It's rotten," Scorpius agreed, "but it's enough for me that you have taken the chance to get to know me despite my family's reputation – for now. I'll still dream of the day when all true purebloods see me for who I am and not just hate me because of my last name."

"We can both hope for that," Lysandra told him as they both sat down on a pair of chairs at one of the work tables. She looked around the room and smiled at him. "I hate the Animorphpotty as much as you do; but I wish that we could conjure furniture that would be more comfortable than these stools."

"We can't exactly ask for help with conjuring, but some of the furniture I saw at that Christmas party had been real – and they shrunk them for easy storage."

"That's a brilliant idea. Maybe there's something around here we could borrow for that – or we could look for something in Hogsmeade while we're there two weeks from tomorrow."

"I'd have brought something from home; but couldn't use magic to shrink it there – and wouldn't ask my loser family for help with that either."

"That isn't even something I was thinking about – not that I'd ask my parents for help with something like that either. They'd know what I'd want a sofa for; and then they'd likely have me spied on if I didn't tell them who I was going to be using it with while here."

"I wonder if I'd be their worst-fear for that – or would it be one of the Hufflepuff mudbloods?" Scorpius joked; and Lysandra laughed.

"That one is easy – neither; because their worst-case would be if I hooked up with one of the Potty brothers. You'd be ahead of any Hufflepuff, since you are at least a pureblood Wizard. I'd never stoop so low as to do anything with a mudblood – or a Potty; so those options are both impossibilities that I'd hope my parents wouldn't ever seriously worry about with me."

"It's too bad that we have to be anywhere near any mudbloods – or the Animorphpotty and his lot – at all," Scorpius said with a nod. "I hate even being in the same classroom with Potty, the Potty-trainer, or the weasel-cousin stinking up the place while our Professors fawn all over them."

"Be glad we can't be in the same classroom with them when all three of them are in the same classes," Lysandra suggested. "That's likely even worse when the royal prince and princess are together. I'll wager that Slughorn drools all over them – and brags about being personal friends with all of them every chance he gets."

"No doubt," Scorpius agreed. "At least I won't have to worry about an invitation to the Slug Club. I'd hate that; since he'll likely have it full-up with weasels and potty-scum."

"He didn't have the lot of them in the club last year; so maybe that won't happen, but if it does, and I'm invited to join too; I'll bring you to his Christmas party – and just tell my friends that I'm doing that to mess with the lot of them!"

Scorpius laughed. "Now I'm half-wishing that happens; though I really hope those fools don't try to have another joint Christmas party for the Quidditch teams. Half the Slytherins that went to that party with me are still messed up from being there."

"The dimmest of us," Lysandra said dismissively. "We don't have all night, though; and I can think of a few things that we should be doing instead of talking about such things – so let's get to that while we can."

Scorpius was happy to do that; they snogged each other senseless for a while; and then they needed to split up with enough time ahead of curfew to get back to their House without arriving there at the same time. Lysandra left first, and Scorpius had enough time for a quick visit with Thomas; but ended up not doing that after having a close call, near run-in with Rose Weasley not far from the Room of Requirements. She'd been alone and hadn't seen him because he'd ducked into a classroom, but he'd never made a mistake like that during his first three years; and decided that he shouldn't risk a visit with Thomas while distracted with much more entertaining thoughts about Lysandra.

Suddenly, those thoughts had him grinning and laughing quietly. He'd test his theory out sometime on the weekend; but was sure that he'd just realized that he had a simple solution to the furniture issue he'd been talking about with Lysandra – one that had likely never even occured to the Animorphpotty! Once he was sure that the weasel was long-gone; he headed out again; taking a meandering path back to his House; and enjoying some daydreams about what he was sure would be an even better use for the Room of Requirements than even his special lessons and chats with Thomas had put it to so far – or at least he'd have more fun with Lysandra!

That might mean cutting back on those Dark Arts lessons, but it was a price he was willing to pay; and he was confident that his fourth year at Hogwarts had the potential to be a best-ever-so-far kind of adventure!

The first Saturday of the school year felt very different for Al right from the moment he woke up. What a difference just a few years made! As a firstie, he'd been nervous yet inwardly-confident about his first tryouts – even if he didn't really even understand those emotions all that well at the time. Second year tryouts hadn't ended up being an issue from a making the team perspective; but there had been a lot of Quidditch-related drama all year despite not playing on the team. Being team Captain a year ago had been a lot different; and the pressure he'd felt had more to do with having a good team and wanting to do better than James had done during his first three seasons. He wasn't out of the loop for the junior team tryouts, since he was interested in how well Lily, their cousins, and friends would do today; but hoping for the best for others was different again too compared to being part of the action. Gryffindor's junior team had the last tryout time slot of the day, so Lily had a lot of time to wait before her Seeker duel or duels, but she was still up early; and was with Rose when they met up with Al in the common room for their morning walk and talk. Al knew she'd be there; and handed her the good luck gift before she hugged him.

"Is it a time turner that I can use to skip ahead to tryouts; get them over with; and then pop back to now?" Lily joked.

"No – and they can only be used to go back in time," Al reminded her.

"Then you should probably make one for me today in case I need it after tryouts to go back in time and change things if Riley or Hunter beat me to the snitch," she countered.

"That'd be cheating," Rose advised her – "not that I'm sure you could figure out a way to do that anyway; since you aren't allowed to interact with yourself in the past. That sort of thing could end very badly."

By then, Lily had the gift unwrapped; and she hugged Al again. "I guess I'll just need to win my spot on the team then," she decided. "This is awesome, Al. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he assured her. The snitch earrings weren't anything fancy, and she had other, different pairs, but he'd decided to stay away from a charmed gift this time; though that was mostly to keep from becoming too predictable with his gift-giving. They headed for the portrait hole while Lily switched out her earrings while they walked; and were soon out in the hallway and taking a long way around to the Great Hall.

"I don't like having to wait all day for our tryouts," Lily said once they were on their own, "but it's supposed to be decent outside; so we're going to be out and watching the stadium to find out all we can about the other junior teams. Are you guys going to study all day?"

"We'll study all morning," Al answered. "Gwendolyn will be at the Ravenclaw tryouts after lunch, so if we have our work done by then; maybe I'll join you - or we will; if Rose wants to do that too."

"I might have a video chat with Kyle after lunch," Rose advised them; "but I'll be at the junior team tryouts for sure. We want to cheer for you, Hugo, and the others. Gryffindor is overdue for having two good teams in the same year – even though we've managed to win a couple of Quidditch Cups despite having junior teams with losing records."

"Technically, we were even for our first year with the win, loss, and tie," Al reminded her: "but we know what you mean. "It's always exciting when the Quidditch Cup comes down to the last two matches of the season; but it would be nice to not have the pressure that goes along with that for a change too."

"That really only works for the senior teams," Lily pointed out. "The last two junior team matches can only set that up for you – even if we're undefeated through the first four matches."

"Let's worry about making our teams first before looking that far ahead," Rose suggested. "Al might have that the easiest of the three of us, but you have some serious competition this year; and I'll need some luck on my side to beat Louis."

"Especially when Mr. Fair Play here isn't likely to give you a break and spot you a save or three," Lily teased with a grin for Al. "I am so glad that I only have to worry about the snitch, bludgers, and the competition. I think that Chasers and Keepers have it much tougher at tryouts."

"We have a few more things that can go right or wrong for us," Rose conceded; "but at least one of us would have no chance at all of finding and catching the snitch." She smiled at Al. "You're right about Al, but I wouldn't want him to cheat to help me win over Louis or anyone else; so I won't get mad at him for trying his best against all of the Keepers."

"I suppose that means I'll need to do the same if you get too many saves against me and I don't make the team," Al told her; earning laughs from both girls.

"That's funny; but totally unbelievable," Lily said. "You're the Chaser to beat for our senior team this year; and everyone knows it – even if Ollie pretends that he doesn't."

Al didn't try to deny that claim, but also didn't want to go there; so he changed the subject – or at least changed it to talking about the other junior teams. Lily knew more about the player prospects for the other three Houses – including Slytherin. That wasn't because she was making new Slytherin friends – just that she paid attention to the Slytherins in her classes and had watched to see which students went to their workouts. Knowing which students were attending the workouts didn't tell them much about how good or bad they were at Quidditch; but it did give them something to talk about – and they had fun making predictions about who would end up on each team; and how tough that competition would be for their junior team.

Junior Quidditch was the top gossip network topic during breakfast too. Rose had more fun with that than Al did; but then it was time to get to work – at least for Al, Rose, Gwendolyn, and nearly-everyone in the fourth-year version of their study group. Al sensed that their group was going to continue to change over the first few weeks of the year as they all settled into their new routines, but they were all fairly happy with how things were starting out – even as they missed having some friends with them - like Tory, Madison, and Bristol. Susannah and Mackenzie were proving to be great additions to their group, though; and everyone that studied on Friday too had their weekend revision finished by the time they needed to go for lunch. They were in the Great Hall early, and Gwendolyn was still with them when Lily and Jonah joined them – and had some of the morning tryouts report to pass on to them.

"All of the returning Hufflepuff players made the team again," Lily reported after the greetings and some hugs. "Drew got his sister's old spot with the Chasers, so he's really happy; and Luke Summerby has moved up from the reserve squad last year to win the Seeker job this year."

"Greta made the reserve squad," Jonah advised Gwendolyn. "She's playing it cool, but I think she's really upset about it; so you might want to talk to her later."

"I'll do that," Gwendolyn promised. "She was in for a tough time for the Hufflepuff tryouts with just one open Beater spot – especially when Lee worked with Jimmy last season and has a year of experience to go along with the natural talent."

"True, but we each made it on the Ravenclaw team in our first years, and we had tough competition too; so she's still comparing herself to us – and to Ryan and Katrina," Jonah said; though that wasn't anything that Gwendolyn didn't already know.

"Maybe I should go along with you for that visit," Rose suggested. "I had to wait until my third year to get to play Keeper."

Gwendolyn laughed. "We can try that, Rose, but you did still make that team as a Chaser; so it might not help Greta to feel better."

"It didn't help that I could have played Seeker or Chaser last year," Jonah advised them. "She actually mentioned that to me – in a razzing sort of way."

"That was funny," Lily added with a grin for Jonah. "Lunch will be on the tables soon, though; so let's talk about what we know so far about the Slytherin junior team."

"Are they done the tryouts?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily shrugged.

"They should be by now," she agreed; "though they were still in the stadium when we headed inside. Our guesses are based on which Slytherins didn't stay as each part of the tryouts was finished. I'll keep an eye out for who comes here with Derrick Selwyn – though he could have some of the reserve players with him too."

"So what do you know so far?" Gwendolyn prompted.

"We're fairly-sure that Jonathan Wilkes made the team at Beater because his brother looked happy and mad when he left the stadium not that far into their tryouts."

"He's just mad because his brother got away with what he tried to do to his own team mate; while he tried to pound Madison with some help from Davis," Rose suggested; and Lily nodded.

"We're also pretty sure that Grant Pritchard is back on the team at Chaser; and we're guessing that his sister will be one of his Chaser partners because we heard a few rounds of Witches cheering for something not long before a bunch of players left the stadium – students that we knew were trying out for Chaser. We don't know who the third is; since there were a couple of other teens and tweens that we were watching for, but they stayed in the stadium; and could have made the team or reserve squad. Derrick's their Keeper as well as Captain; so we still need to find out who will be their third Chaser, second Beater, and their Seeker."

"Assuming the other guesses are right," Jonah reminded her. "One way or the other; we'll know by the end of lunchtime – unless the gossip network has a major breakdown."

They didn't end up needing to wait for the gossip network to get hold of those stories, but Gwendolyn, Jonah, and lIly had all gone and sat down in their own, usual spots at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables by the time Derrick Selwyn led his team into the Great Hall – and caused quite a stir because there were two Witches in their little group. Lily had been right about Bethany Pritchard, but the surprise news was that Andrea Avery was with them too, and since Clarence Timms was not; it appeared that she was their new junior team Seeker. Al couldn't tell that from what he sensed from them, but all seven of the players were happy – and Derrick seemed particularly-pleased with his new team. That was a big change from what he'd sensed a year ago from Scorpius after their tryouts, but being happy didn't necessarily mean that they had a really good team – especially when happy could be a very dark place for some Slytherins.

Rumors did eventually confirm that Andrea was the new Slytherin Seeker; and that had been a surprise within Slytherin too; so she'd obviously kept her plans to try out quiet. Al sensed more, though; and wondered whether she'd have problems at home for choosing to play Quidditch – particularly when it appeared she was taking advantage of her brother's suspension to do what she wanted. The Quidditch news from the morning kept them entertained while they ate, but Al finished early so that he could go for a walk with Gwendolyn before she'd need to be at the stadium and cheering for her brother, cousins, and the other junior players. They ended up going for a walk by the lake and a ride around to the stadium; and then Al met up with Rose, Lily, and a handful of their collective friends so that they could play outside while waiting to find out how the Ravenclaw tryouts went – and then go on to the Gryffindor tryouts.

Gwendolyn was at the stadium early, so she picked a good spot that was goal-high in the bleachers so that she had a great view for the tryouts. Ryan, Jonah, Katrina, and most of the 'serious' player contenders were there too and getting ready to play, but the spectators rolled in closer to the tryouts start time. Most of her friends didn't come to watch the show, but Gwendolyn welcomed Peter and Pauline when they joined her; and Pauline sat next to her while Peter sat in the row behind them with his girlfriend. They had some of the other senior team players join them; and ended up being the core that all of the spectators gathered around.

"Do you have any predictions?" Pauline asked her. "You're the only graduate from the junior team; but I hear that the returning players could have some tough firstie competition today."

"Maybe at Chaser," Gwendolyn agreed. "Chris Madley is Jonathan and Dawn's oldest, and his cousin, Bryson Campbell, is Jeremy Campbell's son. I didn't see them play this summer; so we'll have to wait and see how good they are compared to Stephanie, Jonah, Alyssa, and Robin."

"Jonah's trying out for Chaser again?" Peter asked; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Unless something's changed; he and Stephanie are doing tryouts the same as last year. I hope he wins at Seeker, but I'm being selfish about that; since I think Stephanie could be a great Chaser partner for me again once she's on the senior team with us next year – if she keeps working at it."

"I'm hoping for that because I'd hate to be on the reserve squad at Seeker in my NEWT year," Pauline joked.

"We should all be hoping that we end up with another great junior team," Peter reminded them. "It isn't going to get any easier to win the Quidditch Cup again this year; and we sure can't count on having Hufflepuff and Gryffindor splitting up the wins and losses between their junior and senior teams again this year."

"I'd rather have our teams get all of the wins and leave them to divy up the losses," Gwendolyn told him with a grin. "They can have the Slytherin wins, though; since that'd only give them two wins each."

"Speaking of – what do you think of the Andrea Avery news?" Pauline asked. "She didn't even try out for the team last year."

"Al thinks she's taking advantage of being brother-free to do it," Gwendolyn answered. "If that's a problem with her family; I'll give her points for bravery; but have no idea whether she's any good or not – though she must have been better than Clarence Timms at tryouts."

"That isn't saying much, since he wasn't very good last year," Pauline declared. "Not having any game experience at all could be a problem, though; so I hope she has some talent."

"You do?" Peter asked; and Pauline looked back and smiled at him.

"Yeah – but only because I think it's good for the Slytherin teams to have more Witches playing; and that won't happen if they can't prove that they can keep up with the rest of the players on all four teams."

"This could be the year for Slytherin Witches, since they do have Licentia as Captain of the senior team," Gwendolyn pointed out; and then laughed. "On second thought; I'll hope that they have a lousy season. We do not want to worry about Gryffindor and Hufflepuff so much that we all underestimate the Slytherin teams. Licentia is a good player, and if Scorpius Malfoy makes the senior team this year too; they'll have at least two talented Chasers – and he has that Lightningbolt."

"He's likely getting better at using it too," Peter offered with a nod. "Their senior team is still going to have it tough this season. We can all hate them, but some of those suspended players were among their best; so they could end up with a fairly-weak team if they can't find a decent Keeper and Seeker."

"Or maybe we'll see some surprises like with their junior team," Pauline suggested. "It looks as though Ryan's ready to get the show on the road. Let's see how well he does with keeping control of things. Stephanie would've taken the job; but I think she's glad that Ryan got it instead so she doesn't have all of the pressure."

"I wouldn't want to follow you and Gwendolyn as Captain," Peter told them. "If Ryan doesn't do well, they might stop giving the job to Wizards in our House."

That joke earned him a round of laughs, and they continued to talk while watching Ryan get the tryouts started. He did a short warm-up; and then had the Beaters' battle first so that he'd have his picks for the team available to bash bludgers at the other players during the rest of the tryouts. Nobody was surprised when Katrina and Patrick earned their spots on the team again; and there didn't end up being any surprises during the rest of the tryouts either. Keeper tryouts were only for the back-up spot, but Ryan played too; and did the Keeper and Chaser tryouts at the same time. Stephanie ended up being top Chaser; Alyssa and Jonah tied for second; Robin Ackerley was a solid third – or fourth; depending on how you counted it; and Chris and Bryson were both two goals behind Robin and next best. They'd both had problems playing against Ryan; but still did well-enough to make the reserve squad. Finally, Jonah won the Seeker duel over Stephanie in twenty-six minutes – the only truly-tough battle of the tryouts. He'd been happy to win; and Stephanie hadn't been disappointed after winning the top Chaser honor and proving she was now the best junior team Chaser in their House.

Al, Rose, Lily, and Hugo knew some of the Ravenclaw tryouts results before they crossed paths with Gwendolyn and Jonah on the way into the stadium for the Gryffindor tryouts. That was thanks to Lily going and getting that news from Ravenclaw players and students that left the stadium before the end of their tryouts; so the only news that they didn't know until then was the results of the Seeker duel. None of them needed that to be told to them as they met up with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and the handful of Ravenclaws with them; and Lily had a rather enthusiastic and personal bit of congratulations to offer Jonah – a hug and kiss that he seemed quite happy to share with her.

"Now I'm really glad that he won," Stephanie joked. "That would just be weird if she was congratulating me like that."

Lily laughed and hugged her next. "Congratulations to you too. We already heard you were top Chaser – so you did win one of your battles against Jonah."

"I've had more practice against Ryan this summer; and it paid off today," Stephanie said modestly. "We also get the bonus of a rematch between you and Jonah next spring; and we've got three Witches for Chasers."

"That's awesome; but we'll have to hope that only works for you in two out of three of your matches," lily advised her. She hugged and kissed Jonah again. "Hugo and I need to get to our tryouts; so we'd better go and get into our gear. Wish us luck!"

She got that; added a hug for Gwendolyn; and then headed into the stadium with Hugo while Al and Rose stayed behind to talk with Gwendolyn for a few minutes. Stephanie and Jonah stayed too; but everyone else moved on – either into or out of the stadium. Gwendolyn gave them the team report along with a few bonus bits of story fun; she shared a couple of hugs and kisses with Al; and then went on to hang out with some friends while Al was busy watching his junior team tryouts.

There had been three 'graduates' for the Gryffindor team, and they were reigning junior team champions too; so the turnout for tryouts was one of the largest-ever. That was a problem for Fred, but they did have the last time slot; and there was extra time until dinner if he needed it. Since he was among the last to get into the stadium; Al went to sit with Rose in the spot she'd saved for him; and then had their older cousins and quite a few of the senior team players there with them to watch the show. James and Ollie were conspicuously absent, but Al hadn't expected James to show up in support of their sister and cousins; and Ollie had the same indifference – or antagonism – toward his younger sister and cousin too.

Fred started tryouts with the Beater duel; Orlando quickly proved that he was still next-best to Fred and earned his spot back on the team; and then the fun really got going with the Keeper and Chaser battles. There had been many more Chaser hopefuls than Keepers, and a few surprises with that; but not when it came to most of the results. Melissa and Kathryn Wood were the top two Chasers; Roxanne came in a close third; and the three players that ended up earning the spots on the reserve team were good; but obviously second-tier compared to the top-three. Kira Kirke had been disappointed after hoping to finally get her chance to play again for the first time since her one and only match in her first year against Ravenclaw. That didn't happen, and one of the surprises was that Hunter Hudak was ahead of her for the Chaser tryouts too. He'd decided to do that too as a back-up plan after the only workout he'd done with Lily, Riley, and the other Seeker hopefuls, and while he didn't make the team; being a reserve Chaser was still better than not playing at all if he didn't get one of the Seeker jobs.

Hugo won the Keeper job convincingly; and the back-up battle hadn't been all that exciting either – which was the only reason the Chaser battle hadn't been closer. There had been a lot of players, though; so it had taken a while to get through that part of the tryouts. Finally, it was time for the Seeker duel; and most of the Gryffindors in the stadium stayed to watch the show. There were four candidates hoping to win the job from Lily, but Al knew that Riley and Hunter were the only two serious contenders. Fred decided to have them all battle it out; set the snitch free; and then had them take off after a long countdown before letting them begin what soon proved to be the best Quidditch battle of the afternoon. While the Seekers competed against each other and searched for the snitch, Fred and Orlando had fun bashing bludgers at them – and had a lot to do with helping to keep the five-way duel raging on for much-longer than it might have without them making life interesting for Lily and her fellow Seekers. It was a good thing that they had the extra time because it took Lily fifty-eight minutes of hard work to earn the catch and successfully defend her spot on the team – and she caught a lucky break to help out with that when Riley and Hunter got a bit tangled up while trying to stop her from making that catch.

Al had been thrilled for Lily; and he'd been on his feet and cheering for her before she even caught the snitch thanks to a bit of foresight that helped him to know how the battle would end just moments before it did. He'd wanted to go and congratulate her and then go meet up with Gwendolyn, but stayed for the half-hour longer it took Riley to win the reserve team Seeker spot over Hunter and the others – and that battle had been just as great because it still took that long even after an hour-long battle and despite the fact that Fred and Orlando stopped playing because they'd been past-time by then already. The remaining spectators went as a group out onto the pitch once the Quidditch fun had ended; and Al was first to reach Lily and offer his congratulations – along with an enthusiastic hug and a peck of a kiss.

"That was brilliant!" he assured her happily; and she was laughing because he'd picked her up for the hug – something he didn't normally do with anyone.

"It was even more fun being up there," she assured him. "The other Seekers better watch out this year; 'cause I probably have the best practice competition at school again this year – and it was really great last year."

"Thanks, Lily, but I might need to give up my dream of being a future superstar Seeker now," Hunter told her; since she'd directed that last part at him. "The competition is getting even tougher; and I don't get to practice all summer the way some of you can from home."

"That didn't help me today," Riley pointed out; and Al sensed that he was really disappointed even though he'd known the odds were against him.

"I'd say it did," Hunter disagreed; "but at least we will both be on the reserve squad. It would have sucked not to get to play at all – or at least not get to do that against the best players in our House three times a week."

"Stephanie Boot has done pretty well switching to Chaser," Al reminded him. "Maybe you'll like the switch too."

"Maybe," Hunter said with a shrug. "It's dinnertime, though, and I'm starved after all of that work; so I'm out of here. Congratulations again, Lily, Riley. That was fun right up to the point where I lost."

Lily had laughed at that; hugged him before he left; and hugged Riley too before both boys went to get out of their gear and head for the castle. She'd already done that and had her gear bag ready to go; so Al took it from her; and they had a short chat with Fred, Orlando, Roxanne, Melissa, and Kathryn after that. Olivia and Lucy had spent some time with their cousins and sister too, but they headed out once Al, Rose, and Ray were all there with the younger teens and tweens. Having six members of the junior team from the Potter, Weasley, and Wood families might annoy some of the player-hopefuls; but it had been another good day for their families; and they had fun with a bit of quiet celebration through until they needed to split up once they were in the Great Hall. That included some fun with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and a few other Ravenclaw friends; but Al didn't get to spend much time with Gwendolyn until after they were finished dinner.

That last meal of the day was entertaining thanks to the junior team tryouts post-mortem and a bit of related gossip, but it was also more time away from Gwendolyn for Al; and he was glad to get back together with her again once they'd each finished eating. They were doing their own thing for the evening, but helped Lily and Jonah to get set up in a classroom for some play time with their friends before going off on their own. They set up the portable pool, some sofas, and Al's mirror; and then Al and Gwendolyn went on to their usual study classroom while Lily and Jonah began welcoming their friends to their little pool party celebration. While some quality snogging time was part of their entertainment plans; some music fun was up first on their alone-time to-do list.

"I've never really spent much time thinking about the kids that don't make it onto our Quidditch teams," Gwendolyn told Al as they got their guitars out and started tuning them. "It's always just been the way it is, but it feels different today because of Greta, Riley, and the other firsties we know from our families – and friends' families."

"It is more personal this year," Al agreed. "I'm glad that Lily won her Seeker duel, but that's going to be tough for Riley when he's just a year behind her."

"Or for her – if he starts winning the Seeker duels and she ends up being off the team for some of her last five years. Rose likely hopes that it will work out that way for her – or it'll be two more years before she can be Keeper for Gryffindor again."

"I'll be cheering for Rose to win her duel next Saturday; but it will be tough regardless of whether she wins or Louis does – and one of them will feel bad for the loser of that battle." He smiled as he thought about that. "I hope to make the team with Olivia and Lucy, but I'll feel bad too if I get a spot on the team and Lucy doesn't."

"From what we've heard in Ravenclaw; you'll both be on the reserve squad – behind Ollie and Magnus. Olivia wouldn't make the cut either if she wasn't Captain and able to keep her spot on the team regardless of her lack of talent."

Al laughed. "Of course – what was I thinking? Lucy and I will be lucky to make the reserve squad." He shook his head. "Ollie's his own worst enemy. I don't know how good he'll be whenever – or if – he reaches his potential, but he won't get there by deluding himself; and coasting along on natural talent without putting in the work that the rest of us do is a real problem for him right now too. That could be part of what's different with James – though I'm not sure if he's figured that out; or has just decided to use the rest of us to help get what he wants instead of butting heads with everyone."

"He's always blamed his problems on everyone else," Gwendolyn reminded him. "That would suggest that he's learned that he's part of the problem."

"I doubt that," Al disagreed. "If it works, it'll be because he's brilliant, and if it doesn't; it'll be my fault for messing everything up for him because he dares to be best mates with James."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Let's switch to music fun; since I'll have to hope that you're a bunch of pathetic losers – for at least one of your matches this season."

Al was happy to let her have the last word on that; happier-still to spend some time making magic together with their music; and then moving on to share a brilliant snogging session with his amazing girlfriend. They wrapped up their play evening for two in time to help Lily and Jonah with the clean-up that needed to be done in 'their' classroom; Gwendolyn and Jonah decided that they should walk Al and Lily home instead of the other way around for a change; and Al went up to his dorm room right away instead of hanging around to witness the snogging going on in the common room – particularly when that involved James and other relatives and friends. That early bedtime – at least compared to most of his roommates – wasn't very exciting, but by then; he was just ready to get some sleep and rest up for the second half of their first weekend of the new school year.

James sauntered into his dorm room in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and while the room was pitch-dark; he had no trouble making it to his bed without running into any beds, trunks, or other furniture. He thought that was fairly adept of him, since he'd had a drink or three, and after doing so well getting to his bed; he decided that one more drink before bedtime would be a perfect way to end the day. He opened his trunk; the lid hit the footboard of his bed a bit too hard; and he turned to look over at Ollie when the noise woke his friend.

"Wuzzup?" Ollie demanded sleepily.

"Me – and now you too," James answered. "Want a drink?" By then, he'd grabbed one of the bottles of fire whiskey he'd brought along; and held it up toward Ollie.

"Sure," Ollie agreed; though neither of them could see anything in the dark; and he had no idea what kind of drink James was offering to him. "What time is it?"

"Dunno – late – early," James said with a shrug. "Light up. I can't see to pour; and don't want to waste any of this stuff."

"Not when we've still got two more weeks to go before you can re-stock," Ollie agreed. He fumbled around in the dark; and then there was light on the table between his bed and James'.

"I could likely get bottles sent in the Owl Post now; but it's a bit early for that when my buddies on the Catapults just sent me off with this supply."

"At least we have new sources for that here already," Ollie said with a nod. "The price is even a bit better than last year."

"We were being gouged last year," James declared as he poured fire whiskey into two glasses; capped the bottle; and put it away again. He closed his trunk; took the two glasses around to Ollie's side of his bed; and handed one to his friend before sitting down on his own bed. "You came up to bed early. Trouble in snogging paradise?"

"No problems – just a bit too early in the relationship for all-night snogging." Ollie scowled when James laughed.

"I've had all-night snogging and more the same day I've met some Witches," he advised – reminded – his best mate. "There's no such thing as too early for that."

"You're the son of the most powerful Wizard in the world; so you get all the girls you want by association."

"Maybe true for some of them, but they come back for more because I'm just that good," James bragged with a smirk. "That's just one more thing that Dad's clueless about, but that's gross to even think about; so let's not go there."

"You're a freak," Ollie declared. "I'd never even think about my Dad messing around on Mum; though I'm sure he's had his offers."

"I don't plan on messing up my future by getting bonded for life to any Witch," James declared dismissively. "What's the point of being famous and rich if you don't take advantage of all the benefits?"

"You've got a one-track mind these days," Ollie advised him. "You haven't even wanted to go out on any prank patrols or try to blast the loser – and we've been here for days now!"

"I'm having more fun with the girls – and you know why I'm taking a break from messing with the Animorphpotty. As much as I'll be glad to be rid of this place for good, we need at least some OWLs to be able to do magic once we're overage; so I don't want to end up like Rupert and G-Airhead. We'll get him someday, you can be sure of that; but that's just going to have to wait for now – unless you've got some brilliant, can't fail plan to get rid of the loser. I'm all ears if you do; but I'm done with wasting my time and getting nothing but more crap dumped on me from all of the effort."

"I can't believe you're giving up," Ollie told him. "Your Uncles were just getting good at pranks in their OWL year; we've more reasons than ever to hate the loser; and you're more interested in spending all of your time messing around with Witches and studying! The firstie version of you would prank you for acting like this!"

James laughed. "Probably, and you've a point; but you also didn't offer that brilliant, can't fail idea either; so I'll guess that means you've got nothing either – and aren't interested in another round of being an Animorphpotty snack. If you've nothing better to do; feel free to go on prank patrol without me, though if I've got some spare time now and then; I'll help you out with that if you have anything really funny to do – or a particularly-deserving target."

"Well, at least I know why you need to drink so much these days – so you can stand to be around yourself," Ollie joked; and then drained his glass. "Thanks for the drink; but I'm ready to get back to sleep now; so try not to make too much more noise while getting ready for bed."

James snorted. "If you had my family; you'd drink more too," he declared. "Be glad that I do have better things to do than play pranks day and night, since after those insults; you'd be in big trouble – and going back to sleep would be a very bad idea."

The first Sunday of the school year was not a great weather day, so while Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group had their weekend assingments finished; they had an optional study session in the morning that included working around senior team Quidditch workouts that were not much fun in the rain. It was time to have some fun after that, and after they had lunch, with an afternoon pool party that was invitation-only – and a chance for siblings and cousins to hang out together for a few hours. That had been a blast, but after dinner, Al and Gwendolyn then wrapped up their weekend by spending the evening with Lily and Jonah; and they all hoped that they'd be able to resume their Sunday night family time for another year – especially now that they wouldn't be playing Quidditch together on the junior teams.

Monday was still a new school day for most students at Hogwarts because they still had classes they hadn't taken yet in their first three school days. For Al and Rose, that started first thing in the morning with their Arithmancy class. He would have preferred to start the week and take that class with Gwendolyn, but they did at least get to start the school week out with Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin; and he did still have fun when partnering with Rose in the classes he didn't have with Gwendolyn. While most of their classmates would not think that spending Monday mornings playing with Arithmancy and Potions was fun, Al liked most of their schedule – particularly the parts where he got to spend time with Gwendolyn in Potions; during parts of their lunch break; and then while they took Care of Magical Creatures together for the first afternoon class. Herbology with Hufflepuff wasn't as exciting for him, but Rose loved that class; and she was happy to stay after class to work on that assignment instead of heading back into the castle to their study classroom.

Gwendolyn came and joined them after stopping to get her Quidditch gear after her last class; and she only managed to do a bit of studying too until it was time to get to her team workout. Al and Rose didn't need all of that time to finish their Herbology assignment, but they stayed in the greenhouse and worked on their Arithmancy for a while too – and then Al met up with Gwendolyn after her practice so that they could walk to the Great Hall together. A long study evening was hardly the most-exciting way that they could think of to spend those hours, but the work needed to be done; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose led the charge for their study group. They worked until shortly before curfew; Al walked Gwendolyn home; and then he went on to his dorm room and got back to work until the Gryffindor fourth-year students needed to be on the Astronomy tower for their midnight Astronomy class with Professor Waffling – and Slytherin.

"This is a change of scenery," Rose told Al as he began setting up his telescope on the far-side of the tower from the entrance instead of near the Professor's worktable as he'd done during their first three years. "Are you trying to figure out a way to watch our backs all of the time even though we're in a round room?"

"Let's just say that I want to be more careful this year," he answered; whispering just as she'd done with her comment and question. "There's going to be a lot of hate for me in this class; and it's a long way down to the ground from here."

"Then wouldn't you be safer in the middle of the room?"

"Not if I don't see any problems coming before it's too late," he disagreed. "Let's just hope we don't have anything to worry about and it's just the dark and what I can sense around us that's making me feel so uncomfortable."

"I'll only be uncomfortable if we have to watch a lot of Slytherin snogging," Rose joked. "That's been weird-enough with some of our friends for me – including during the year that you got to snog Gwendolyn in this class."

"Funny, but I doubt that those kisses could be considered snogging; and I know it didn't bother you at all," Al countered. "I agree with you on the first part of that; though the really scary mental pictures I had when you said that were of inter-House snogging couples."

"Don't even think about suggesting that for me and Scorpius Malfoy," she warned; and Al laughed.

"You just went there; so I don't need to do that now. That would be a funny joke to play on your father; but that's likely a bad idea when you're currently dating someone."

"That's a bad idea anytime," Rose declared seriously. She glanced over to where Scorpius and Davis were hanging out with some of the other Slytherins and shook her head. "I seriously doubt that he'd ever be able to change enough for me to find him attractive; no matter how handsome he is on the outside."

"People can change that much – not that I'm suggesting that I can see that future with the two of you together." He smiled at the reaction he saw and sensed from Rose. "Take it how it was meant; and I'll shut up now."

Rose let him off the hook; and they were soon immersed in their first Astronomy lesson. They didn't have any direct problems with any Slytherins, but that didn't keep Al from feeling uncomfortable throughout the class; and he was glad to escape the Astronomy tower when their class was finished. He left with the distinct impression that he wasn't going to enjoy that class very much this year, and while that was partly-due to a bit of snogging that had gone on; it had more to do with the darkness he felt that seemed to be magnified by the night around them that was different from what he normally felt during the day whenever he was in close proximity with any groups of Slytherins. His thoughts kept him awake while his roommates went off to sleep, so he worked on Lily's birthday present for an hour or so until he was eventually ready to get a few hours of rest.

Tuesday was their last day of 'new' classes, but Gryffindor only had one class left that they hadn't already taken at least once – History. That class was with Slytherin too, but Al got to start the day with Gwendolyn in DADA; so he felt pretty good by the time he had to put up with more bad feelings from his favorite Slytherin haters during the last-half of the morning. While the magical play time with Gwendolyn had helped; Al had been ready to get out of their History class; had some lunchtime fun with Gwendolyn after they both ate and before they needed to get to their afternoon classes; and then he was happy to spend the afternoon immersed in one of his favorite classes – Transfiguration. Rose was his partner for that; and they had a much better time with their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends through until it was time to move on to their afternoon study session.

Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael met up with them in their study classroom for that, and they got their DADA assignment done before Al, Rose, and Ray needed to get to their Quidditch workout. Even though they'd practiced with the senior team for most of the summer, the workouts leading up to tryouts felt very different for Al because all of the hopefuls were much more serious about the impending competition for the jobs on the team. Most of them worked harder; and it defnitely wasn't as much fun now that they were just days away from the tryouts. There were other emotions and drama playing out among the players, but Al had to work through that and continue to play his best despite those issues. That was particularly true for how many of the Chaser hopefuls felt about him, but what was almost amusing in a weird way was the fact that he was holding back a bit with some of his play to avoid making anyone look particularly-bad by comparison – or while competing against him.

That practice had gone well for Al, Rose, and Ray, but it also left them with more work to do after dinner; so they needed to work until curfew and beyond it – though Al took the extra time to walk Gwendolyn home ahead of curfew before getting back to work in the Gryffindor common room again. They had extra study buddies for that part of the work; so Al and Rose did a bit of tutoring too while wrapping up their assignments for the day. After a late night on Monday, Al was ready to sleep by the time he went up to his dorm room, but after getting ready for bed; he still stayed up for an extra half hour to resume his work on Lily's birthday gift. He only had until Monday to get it done; so he needed to make the time to do all of the work – and that was a challenge when he was also trying to make something that could be expanded and used for students in every year.

By Wednesday morning, just having the first 'repeat' school day seemed to bring about a sense of routine for many of the students around the school, but while that was true for Al to an extent; it was the countdown to the tryouts for the senior Quidditch teams that was foremost in the minds of most of the teens looking to win one of those coveted seven spots on each team. Quidditch talk ruled the gossip network; so that also provided a lot of the entertainment for everyone – even when they were busy with the never-ending assignments and their classes. Al and Gwendolyn spent as much time together as they could, but there weren't any snogging sessions happening – partly because they were both focusing on the work and getting ready for their respective tryouts.

Al had especially-long days because he studied late every night and also worked on Lily's gift – including having some of that magical play time with help from Gwendolyn and Rose. They helped with putting a Witch's perspective and a few nice touches on the gift that Al hadn't thought about; but also helped out with creating the magic that went into making it all work the way they envisioned it. They were all sure that Lily was going to love what they were creating for her, though; and they had the bonus of making something that would soon help them with their own studies too! Gryffindor only had one workout left to go ahead of tryouts over those last three days, but Gwendolyn had two more; and those three practices affected their study times – particularly in the evenings; when they had to play catch-up on the assignments after missing out on some of the afternoon study time while busy with Quidditch. The only exception to the working late plan came on Friday evening. Al and Gwendolyn didn't trade in the extra work for snogging time – they wrapped up early and went to their dorm rooms to get a full night of rest ahead of the all-important tryouts.

Saturday morning finally arrived, and while he still had to wait until the afternoon for his tryouts; Al was fired up and ready to go early because Gwendolyn and Ravenclaw had the first tryout time slot this year; and he was sure that they were both going to have an amazing day. Rose met up with him early too, and while she wasn't nearly as confident as he felt; she was excited and hopeful too. They'd been alone in the common room when she caught up with him, but after sharing a good morning hug and greetings; they headed out into the hallway to get started on their extended walk and talk before breakfast.

"What should we talk about this morning?" Al asked once they were on their way. "Our study plans for the morning? The Cannons-Harpies' match we might miss most of this afternoon while at our tryouts? The latest gossip you've heard since the last time we talked?"

"We need to do the first – though I'm going to have a tough time concentrating on our work this morning; and I'm not going to let the Cannons' match mess with our tryouts either."

"Your team is undefeated so far," Al reminded her with a grin. "I'd have thought you'd want to enjoy that while you can – and mention it to everyone that has ever bugged you about them every year."

"I don't want to get distracted with that sort of thing either – and the Cannons won't be undefeated once the Harpies are done with them. Santini will never choose winning the match over spending as much time as he can with Aunt Gabrielle; so there's no way my team wins today."

"There are some ways that could happen; but I doubt the Harpies will risk losing to the Cannons by doing any of those things – like giving Aunt Gabrielle the day off and putting Victoire in at Seeker."

"Don't go there – I'm trying to stay focused on being ready for tryouts," Rose told him seriously; though she'd laughed too. "You'll get a spot on the team for sure; but I'm in for a much tougher battle at Keeper – and I'm definitely the underdog." She frowned at him when Al laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You are," he answered simply. "I'll be up against you and Louis – along with the other Keepers; yet you think that your battle will be tougher than mine. Then I could point out that only one Keeper at tryouts today had an undefeated season last year. I love Louis, but you're the better Keeper, Rose; and today would be a perfect day for you to truly start believing that."

"I want to do that; but it'd be a lot easier to do if it was anyone other than Louis."

"That's going to change," Al predicted. "We've both changed a lot since we were shy little firsties. You know that I used to feel the same way about our Chaser-playing cousins as you do about Louis, and I hope that I'll never get a swelled head over it; but I can at least admit to you and Gwendolyn and Lily that I do know that I'm better than Lucy – and Victoire and Dominique." He laughed again. "It will sure suck for me today if I find out I'm delusional about that, but my point is that you are better than Louis right now; so you shouldn't doubt that – or let worrying about him get in the way of what you want as much as I do – to play for our team again this year."

"I do want that," Rose agreed, "but don't get my hopes up too much; or I'll be crushed if I end up on the reserve squad – or worse; and don't even do that well."

"You're sure that you'll be the future owner and star Keeper for the Cannons and win League championships with them for the first time in over a century; yet you're worried about this?" Al joked. "That just doesn't make sense to me at all!"

"I'll worry about that soon-enough too," Rose advised him seriously. "That might have started out as a stupid joke, but if I don't deliver on it now; I'll never hear the end of it from anyone."

"You should be laughing at that too, Rose. How ironic is it that you sound like your Mum while worrying over Quidditch; yet don't do that with our studies?"

"She worried about Quidditch too – or at least she worried about our Dads when they played," Rose reminded him. "You already know that I stress about this because I want it so much."

"I do," Al agreed, "but you also know how good you are; and that's going to come out this afternoon during tryouts. I know it will!"

"Will you still be excited about that idea if I save everything you throw at me?" she asked archly; and Al laughed.

"Maybe – if you stop all of the other shots against you so that I don't end up behind any of the other Chasers. Let's hope that we're both brilliant-enough to make the team today without messing each other up."

"That could get complicated so I'll just try to do my best and hope that'll be good enough," Rose decided. "Gwendolyn will be confident today, but then she should be; and the Chaser competition is a bit weaker in Ravenclaw."

"Pauline and Peter will be happy to have the extra help on the senior team this year; and get that while still having a really good junior team too."

"That's scary for our House. We haven't heard much about the Hufflepuff team now that Tory and Madison don't want to hang out with us. They'll have the toughest tryouts of the fourth-year players – or at least I think they will. Madison isn't likely nearly as good as Alex yet; and I don't know if Tory's gotten good-enough over the summer to get one of the Chaser spots or not."

"She isn't better than Francine for sure," Al offered with a nod of agreement: "and I think that Alex is likely the best Seeker in the school this year."

"Lily and Pauline would argue that point with you," Rose advised him with a grin; "but you could be right about that – and he is defending the top senior Seeker title this year. I hate to admit it; but James could be the dark horse in that race this season – if he keeps on the way he has been in practices since we got here – and I guess a bit before that during the last couple of weeks of summer."

"He could be," Al agreed; and then he grinned too. "It's funny, but that idea is a bit scary for me; since I have no idea what would happen with James if he does actually have an awesome season. He might be unbearable to be around if his head gets too big again."

Rose laughed. "That really could be a problem for us – especially when we'd hate to lose our matches just to keep that from happening. The good news for us is that he'll never play for the Cannons; so we'll only have that problem for a few more years – and then our team can beat his in every match we play against him."

"You sounded just like Lily with that one," Al said; though her suggestion did make him smile. "Once we get past tryouts today; we should start talking more-seriously about that plan of yours. A bit less than four years seems like a lot right now; but you'll want to seriously get started on how to make that happen soon since it will take years to put together – particularly the part where you buy the team and then put everything in place to make them contenders in the league again."

"I'm surprised you can even think about stuff like that this morning – though I like hearing that you're interested in doing that. Change that 'you' to a 'we' and I'll be even happier."

"I'll be happy to help out, but if you pull it off; the Cannons will definitely be your team, Rose; and you'll deserve the credit."

"Now I'm worried that you're setting me up to take the blame if we manage to get some players on our Cannons team that might get us in trouble with certain parents and other teams."

"That probably wouldn't help me avoid being turned into a bug with a bat-bogey affliction, but if that did happen; I'm sure that one or two of those people would turn me back in time for training camp each year."

Rose had a bit of fun with that, but then their chat moved on; and Al did what he could to help her relax and not get too stressed about their tryouts. His morning continued to be pretty good; the hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn before and after breakfast had been two of the highlights; and they'd had fun with their Gryffindor friends while having that meal too. While Quidditch was the top chat topic in the Great Hall, there were other stories making the rounds; and Al always had to deal with his never-ending issues with collecting too much information from everyone around him. That was especially true on days when emotions were running high; and that was definitely the case for all of the senior team hopefuls. While knowing as much as he did could be uncomfortable far too-often; it wasn't all bad. He liked what he sensed from the players he hoped most would earn spots on his own team – and on Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. He was conflicted about James; but knew that his brother had at least taken tryouts seriously-enough this year that he'd gotten a decent night of rest and seemed to be ready to actually fight for his spot on the team – though he could still sense the arrogance and disdain for the competition too.

He was ready for a break from all of that 'noise' by the time he'd finished eating; and was glad to meet up with Gwendolyn to walk with her out to the stadium for her tryouts. He had two little good-luck gifts for her; with the first one being a horseback ride to the stadium instead of the walk; and that worked perfectly to help her relax and have a bit of fun before going into the stadium for the Ravenclaw tryouts. The other gift had only been a token that was meant to be as much for a laugh as anything else, but she'd loved it too; and proved that to Al with a rather enthusiastic parting hug and kiss that had earned them some razzing from Pauline, Peter, and the small group of teens that were with them when they arrived at the stadium too.

Once she was out of sight; Al headed for the greenhouses; met up with Rose and the available members of their study group; and they started their morning study session with some plant play time. That kept them busy for an hour; and then they headed outside again and found a nice place to sit and study while waiting for Gwendolyn and their Ravenclaw members to join them once tryouts ended – though Savannah and Mackenzie left to go and support their team shortly after Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael joined them. Before that happened, though, they continued to study as best they could while keeping an eye on the stadium too. Al hadn't been worried about seeing Gwendolyn exit the stadium early; but he was still relieved when none of their favorite Ravenclaw teens were among the disappointed teens that did leave the stadium early after obviously not making the team or reserve squad. Many of them had at least one friend along to help comfort them, but since Al sensed too much of what they were feeling; it was still tough for him to stay focused on his work. He didn't even try to do that when he saw Gwendolyn leave the stadium along with everyone on her new team and their reserve squad. He left his gear behind; got up; and went to meet her half-way.

"Congratulations to me – I mean you," he teased after stepping back from the hug and kiss she shared with him before saying anything.

"Thanks," she answered happily while joining in for the round of laughs. "I hope your tryouts will be as brilliant as ours just were!"

"You do – but most of us don't," Pauline teased with a grin for Al. "We hope they suck; and that all three of the other senior teams are awful this year."

"That's more like wishful thinking; so I'm going to hope that our team is a bit better than the rest," Gwendolyn told her Captain.

"You're the defending Quidditch Cup champions," Al reminded her. "Ravenclaw is the House to beat this year."

"Hufflepuff is the senior team to beat this year," Pauline disagreed; and then laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Don't go there – I'm a Witch; and consistency is not required."

"You're not being inconsistent," Gwendolyn assured her. "Ravenclaw and Gryffindor fought to a draw in our matches last season; and it's my turn to win a match against Al's team this year."

"I suppose it's Jonah's turn to win a match against Lily too," Al offered; and Gwendolyn smiled brilliantly at him.

"That would work out nicely for our House," she agreed. "Would you like the tryouts report now? Pauline wants to have a meeting; but I can do the condensed version before I go and do that."

"Let's take a half hour and then do that meeting," Pauline suggested. "I think we could all use a little break before getting that meeting out of the way so we can get back to work or playing for the rest of the day." She set that up with her team first; and then moved on with the other players while Gwendolyn and Al went back to where he'd been studying with Rose and the rest of their little group.

"Are you the only addition to your senior team this year; or did Landon get a Chaser spot too?" Rose asked Gwendolyn as they sat down next to her.

"Landon made the reserve squad," Gwendolyn answered. "Miya and Lee kept their spots on the team; and I got Susan's old spot. Mark's disappointed; but I don't think that Landon expected to be top-three; so he's doing okay."

"I might resemble that comment in a few hours," Ray joked; "but at least you had all three Chaser spots open for your tryouts."

"Maybe Olivia will surprise all of you and make her spot open too," Gwendolyn suggested with a side-long grin for Al. "It's happened before."

"That's a nice thought, but Olivia's smart-enough not to try that when she'd be up against Louis and Rose as two of the Keeper hopefuls," Ray disagreed. "Anything could happen today if they stop everything we throw at them."

"Including you making the team," Al offered. "We could end up with a lot of Chaser ties if none of us score any goals against Louis or Rose and it comes down to a best of three or six-goals playoff battle – depending on whether we have a Keeper tie-break to deal with too or not."

"I think we'll only have two other Keepers to start with; and you're scaring some of us with the prospect of that kind of battle for the spots on our team," Rose advised him. "We're supposed to be talking about the Ravenclaw tryouts, though; so let's get back to that while we can. Were you top Chaser, Gwendolyn?"

"Yes, but only by a goal over Lee and Miya. Peter didn't have a shut-out; but the three of us were the only players to score goals on him. Mark came close; but got an unlucky bounce that kept the quaffle out of the goal. He was fourth-best – two goals behind Miya and Lee."

"We didn't really expect any surprises," Rose told her with a nod. "Seth and Brandon are the best Beater duo in your House; Pauline didn't have to fight for her job as Captain; and Peter didn't have any real competition for the Keeper job either." She smiled ruefully. "Too bad I can't be that lucky for our tryouts."

"I think you are that lucky," Al advised her. "Whether Louis wins the Keeper job today or you do; you'll have the best practice competition in the school – at least for the senior teams."

"That won't feel lucky to me if I'm on the reserve squad," Rose promised; but thanks for trying to help. All of this waiting sucks. I wish we could have gotten our tryouts out of the way first thing like Gwendolyn did. Any predictions on how things will go for Hufflepuff? Did you see anything interesting on the way out of the stadium?"

Those questions had been directed at Gwendolyn, but she didn't have any news for them about the Hufflepuff tryouts; and the conversation moved on from there. Al walked Gwendolyn to her meeting when it was time to do that – and after she'd been fed snacks and given a drink; so his study break had been nearly three-quarters of an hour before he got back to it; and they all waited for the next round of tryouts gossip to arrive from their Hufflepuff friends. Gwendolyn was back from her meeting before they heard anything definitive, but while Hufflepuff had lost three players to graduation; there weren't any real surprises for their replacements – though there were definitely some disappointed teens that had hoped for more for themselves. Susannah and Mackenzie brought most of the news to their study group after tryouts were over, and while the Seeker duel had only been for the spot on the reserve squad as Alex's back-up; most of the Hufflepuff teens and tweens had stayed to watch Madison win that duel rather convincingly over the three older hopefuls.

Madison had been happy with that, since the team Seeker job wasn't available to her anyway; but Susannah reported that Tory had been very disappointed when she ended up as fifth-best Chaser. Al hadn't been surprised by that – or that Francine Longbottom, Roman Smith, and Jonah Finch-Fletchley were to be the three Hufflepuff Chasers this season; though Ray and a few others did seem to be genuinely-surprised by the news. Nobody had been surprised to find out that former junior team Beater duo Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes were now the senior team Beaters for Hufflepuff; and Myra Graves defended her Keeper job over just two competitors this year. None of the Hufflepuff players stopped by to see them on the way back to the castle, but it was near lunchtime by then, so when Al and Gwendolyn went to the Great Hall; they made stops at the Hufflepuff table to congratulate their favorite Hufflepuffs. Madison and Tory had not been happy about that, but had been included in those cameo visits; so Al was able to sense how they were feeling and could be sure that they wouldn't be rejoining their study group again even though they wouldn't be competing against Gryffindor or Ravenclaw this year.

Quidditch stories were the top chat topics at lunch, but by then; Al spent most of their lunch break trying to keep Rose from getting too stressed. He had limited success with that; Gwendolyn helped when they all walked out to the stadium together; and Al's good luck gift helped earn some laughs before he had to say goodbye to Gwendolyn and head into the stadium with the throng of Gryffindor players and spectators. Lily had hugs and best-luck wishes for both of them – and for their cousins and a few other friends too; but didn't do that with James because he and Ollie didn't show up until nearly the last minute – with just enough time to throw their gear on while Olivia got the tryouts started.

"Should we take notes?" Lily asked Fred as they watched Olivia get things started with the Beater tryouts. Everyone on the junior team was with them – along with a handful of friends.

"For the tryouts or the Harpies-Cannons match? You can take notes for either if you want to do that; but there won't be a test and you won't need to hand in any reports to me," Fred answered with a grin. "Al was into doing all of that extra studying, but I'm not; so don't expect a lot of that with our team this year."

"I won't miss any of that," Melissa assured him; "though we did learn a lot from Al last season."

"As if we won't do that today," Kathryn suggested. "He'll bring out his best tricks today – especially if the Chaser battle is as close as we expect it will be."

"We haven't gotten to see much of that this summer," Hugo pointed out; "though Rose says he's been the best Chaser at the senior team practices."

"Al might be the best Chaser ever some day," Lily told them; and then grinned. "Too bad for him that he wants to play for the Cannons with Rose."

"If that's true; I'd say it's too bad for the Harpies that they won't make an exception for him," Melissa told her. "The other teams don't have that problem, though, and it's still four years before he'll graduate; so maybe he'll get an offer from one of the other top teams that he won't be able to refuse."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "He loves Rose; she wants to play for the Cannons; and there isn't anything those other teams could offer that would get him to change his mind on that," she declared. "Are the McClaggens going to get any real competition today; or should Olivia just skip this and give them the jobs?" she asked Fred and Orlando.

"They're likely the best Beater duo in the school this year," Fred advised her. "Nobody is going to beat Tiberius and Brock today."

"Better than you guys?" Kathryn teased; and Fred nodded.

"Yeah; and I don't have a problem with admitting it. I'll hope that'll be different once we're all in the show, but they're still a lot bigger and stronger than we are right now; and we wouldn't have a chance against them this year if we only had one House team instead of two."

"Lily would love the chance to try and beat James for the Seeker job," Melissa suggested; and Lily laughed and nodded her agreement.

"Definitely; and I'll get one shot at that – unless he gets another shot at being team Captain in his NEWT year."

"That's a scary thought," Melissa said with a feigned shudder. "I'd have to think about taking that year off from the team – unless James changes a lot between now and then."

"I don't want to say anything about that and jinx things when we've had it pretty good over the past month or so," Lily told her seriously. "We need some senior team wins this season to have a shot at the Quidditch Cup; so let's all hope that he decides to play nice all year – and try a bit harder too instead of just coasting on talent."

Her cousins and team mates had agreed with that, but then they were all drawn into watching the Beater contest that the MacClaggen brothers won decisively – while also watching the Harpies-Cannons match as it got started at Ilkley stadium. Sixth-year teen, Roland Baxter, and fourth-year, Scott Holden, won the reserve Beater spots; and they were clearly next-best too while the other candidates were all eliminated – sometimes painfully; and they sent one of the boys to the hospital wing in need of medical attention – though he was still well-enough to get there under his own power. Olivia went with the standard Chaser-Keeper battle next; and had four Keepers and fifteen Chasers. She had recruited help to keep track of the scoring; made Louis and Rose wait; and sent the other two Keeper hopefuls up first to face three shots from each of the fifteen Chaser hopefuls while they all had to watch out for the bludgers that the McClaggen brothers batted around at them.

"Rose is going to hate waiting; but this makes sense; since the shots on goal should go faster in this first round," Lily offered as they watched the first two Chasers moved toward the goals at the opposite ends of the pitch while the other Chasers – including Al, Lucy, Ray, and Ollie – lined up in two groups at center pitch. "I'm surprised that Ollie didn't want to be one of the first to take a shot on goal so he could intimidate everyone else with his overwhelming brilliance."

"He has been talking a lot of trash – when he wasn't busy insisting that Olivia is going to screw him out of a spot on the team regardless of how he does today," Fred offered; "but I was actually thinking that Lucy would have wanted to go first to set the bar for everyone else to try and beat. Maybe they're all trying to hold back and see what the competition does first."

"Could be," Lily agreed; "though that isn't an option for Seekers and Beaters at tryouts; so I'd want to go first and score every time if I was trying out for Chaser."

"Well, if they wanted the Keepers to get some confidence before going up against them; that worked with those first two shots," Hugo said with a grin. "That's two-to-naught for the Keepers for those of you keeping score that way instead of the individual player numbers."

By that metric, the score was three-to-one for the Keepers when Al and Lucy each took their first shots of the tryouts – and they both scored easily to earn a temporary three-way tie for the Chaser battle with Gina Rivers – and change that overall number to three-to-three. Things went downhill for those two Keepers from there; and everyone watching really needed to pay attention to keep up with which Keepers and Chasers were ahead in their respective battles. Because there were fifteen Chasers, Al and Lucy did not match up again for their shots on goal as the eighth Chaser on one side took his first shot at the same time as the first on Lucy's side took his second shot. They also rotated from side-to-side as they took their shot attempts and then passed the quaffle on to the next in line on the other side of the pitch; so the pace of the scoring attempts was quick; and the Keepers didn't have a lot of time between the shots they faced – even though the Chasers had to wait to reach the front of the line of seven or eight after each of their shots. Ninety shots later; the first two Keepers were done; and it was time for Louis and Rose to replace them with just a short pause to do that before the battle resumed.

"Those two guys don't need to stay," Hugo advised the others. "Louis and Rose will both do way better than making half their saves; so they'll be the Keepers for our team and reserve squad now for sure. We'll just have to find out which is better today to get the spot on the team."

"Would you like to make a prediction?" Lily asked; and Hugo laughed.

"No, but only because I'd never live something like that down in our family – whether I'd get it right or wrong. Would you like to give it a try – or do that for Al or James instead?"

"Sure – I pick Rose, 'cause she's the Witch; Al to be top Chaser; and James to win the Seeker duel." She smiled when Hugo laughed.

"You can actually get away with that first one while I can't. We'll have to see how it goes for Al. He is the only Chaser to go six-for-six in the first half; but Lucy, Gina, and Ray are all close-enough to catch him. Yeah, Rose!" The cheer had come when Rose made her second save of the day against a good shot by Gina Rivers; and he and Lily were both happy to see her get off to a great start. "Make that one less chance for Gina to catch him," he added with a grin.

Louis was two-for-two saves by then too; but then the real differences between the Chasers began to show up with Al's and Lucy's first shots against Louis and Rose. Al was up against Louis first; and scored with a new move he'd saved up to use against the two best Keepers – and Louis was moving toward the wrong goal and couldn't adjust by the time Al sent the shot flying out of a counter-clockwise, horizontal flat-spin. While he'd done that; Rose earned another great save against Lucy – and took a temporary lead over Louis in her battle for the Keeper job. It was still early in their round of ninety shots, though; and it got tougher to keep track of the scoring for all fifteen Chasers. Lily was only interested in doing that for a few of them, though; so she could keep up with her favorite Chasers – and with how Louis and Rose were doing compared to each other without worrying about the total out of forty-five shots each.

"Ollie's out of the running for a spot on the team," Lily advised everyone around her after Rose earned her second save against him. "He may need to score on all three of his last shots to get a spot on the reserve squad since he's only three-for-nine so far."

"Really?" Kathryn asked; and Lily nodded.

"He might not know that yet; though he looks mad-enough that he probably has figured it out."

"He's looked that mad since the first save against him," Kathryn reminded her friend. "Olivia will be happy if she doesn't have to deal with him this season; though he'll blame her – and Al – if he isn't on the team. I get why he's mad, since his story falls apart a bit when he doesn't look like the best Chaser out there, but he does believe that Olivia is trying to mess with his tryout; so we shouldn't be surprised."

"You just sounded surprised a moment ago," Hugo pointed out; and Kathryn laughed.

"I did – silly me," she answered; "and I will be surprised if he doesn't make the reserve squad. He can play the game fairly-well – when he isn't letting that fat head of his get in the way. How's Ray doing compared to the others?"

"Tied for third with Gina right now," Lily provided. "They're both one behind Lucy and three behind Al; though they don't all have the same number of shots left to go right now."

"That won't matter if Louis and Rose keep playing like this," Melissa pointed out. "I'd say that it's all but over for Al getting one of those two Chaser spots."

She'd been right about that; but then it was a done deal soon after that when Rose earned another pair of saves against Gina and Lucy that made it impossible for anyone except Lucy to catch Al with two shots each left to go. Al won the Chaser battle with ten goals on twelve shots, and he was happy about that; but happier-still when Rose won the Keeper battle – and did that without him being responsible after going two-for-three against each of his cousins. Rose did end up with two more saves than Louis was able to earn; but that advantage had actually come from getting one more save each against Gina and Ray than Louis had managed against the third and fourth-place Chasers.

"Well, that's it; and Olivia gets Al and Lucy on her Chaser team this year!" Lily declared enthusiastically. "I didn't keep track of everyone; but I'm pretty sure that Ollie ended up sixth or seventh-best; so he is not going to be happy – especially with Al on the team and Ray making the reserve squad."

"Then we won't have to wait long for the yelling to start; 'cause he'll be losing it as soon as he finds out – if you're right about that," Kathryn predicted.

"Maybe we should check in on the Harpies-Cannons match," Fred suggested. "Do the Harpies have the one-sixty lead yet?"

Olivia had enjoyed the Chaser-Keeper battle along with everyone else through to the end, and had a pretty good idea of the winners and losers before putting her head together with the two friends keeping score for her while the players all landed after the eighth-Chaser out took his last two shots against Rose and Louis – and didn't score on either attempt. She soon found out that she was right about her top picks, but as everyone gathered around her to get the official results; she waited until the tally was done and double-checked before taking the sheet of parchment and announcing the results.

"With ten goals, Albus Potter is our top Chaser of the day," she announced; and smiled when Rose groaned – even as she hugged Al in congratulations. "To avoid torturing our Keepers right after they've all worked so hard; Rose Weasley is our new senior team Keeper this year with thirty-five saves out of forty-five shots!"

"Noooooo!" Louis pretended to wail despondently. "I mean, congratulations, cousin – well done!"

Rose laughed; smiled brilliantly; and hugged him a moment after finishing the bonus hug she had for Al as Olivia had given her the good news. "Thank-you," she told him earnestly. "I love you."

"I hate you – but will get over it," he promised and joked.

"Moving along," Olivia interjected; "Our third Chaser this year – second in this battle; is Lucy Weasley with seven goals on twelve shots. Our three Reserve squad Chasers are Ray Wood, Gina Rivers, and Magnus Finnegan; and..."

"What!" Ollie demanded; and roughly shoved his way through until he was standing right in front of his sister. "What are you trying to do to me, Olivia? I figured you'd screw me out of a spot on the team because that's what the Animorphloser told you to do; but now you're keeping me off the reserve squad too? I'm the best Chaser here – and everyone would know it if you weren't rigging this farce of a tryout against me!"

Olivia's expression hardened and she turned the parchment around for him to look at the totals for himself. "You're not taking Arithmancy; but the math should have been easy for you to keep up with; since you only scored three goals of six against the first two Keepers; and didn't score any against Rose or Louis. You were tied for seventh with four others."

"You set me up! I knew this would happen!"

"I didn't do anything," Olivia told him firmly. "That battle was fair for everyone; so get over yourself."

"How about I get over you screwing me again this year by opening up a spot for myself on the team?" he shouted. "Yours will do nicely!" he added harshly while drawing his wand out of his pocket with a vicious smile that turned to shock when his wand flipped out of his hand as he was raising it to point it at his sister and then his expression turned to fury as he watched it shoot into Al's hand instead.

"Don't do it," Al warned ominously as Ollie opened his mouth to summon his wand. "Olivia doesn't have time for this; and I'm sure that you don't want to mess things up for your best mate and have us run out of time for the Seeker duel again this year before we have to give up the stadium for the Slytherin tryouts."

"As if Olivia isn't going to screw James too; since she'll do anything you want her to do," Ollie spat. "Give me my wand!"

Al reversed it and held it outto Ollie. "Sure, but Olivia's ready now; so you should probably put it away – unless you think you can best her in a fair duel."

"As if you'd allow me a fair duel either," he retorted. "What'd you do? Confund me? Use one of your memory charms on me? You likely screwed all of us somehow."

"Give it a rest, Ollie," Louis told him. "Al didn't cheat – and neither did Olivia or anyone else. I'm not happy either; but I can at least admit and accept that Rose was the better Keeper today – with two more saves than I had; by my count."

"Yeah – the loser here screwed you too by helping out his favorite kissing cousin. Maybe you'd have gottent the job if you were a hot Witch too."

"You think Rose is hot?" Lucy asked with a laugh and grin. "No wonder you're mad you couldn't score with her!"

Ollie offered a nasty retort; but Al was the only teen around them able to hear it over the roar of laughter that followed Lucy's comments.

"I like being a Wizard just fine, thanks anyway," Louis told Ollie once the laughter died down. "We really do need to keep the tryouts going, though; so let Olivia do that; and you can file your official complaints after we're done here."

"I'll be filing them with Mr. Peakes and the Headmistress – not that it'll make a difference now that the loser's gotten what he wanted. Why not just come right out and admit to everyone that he's really Captain of this lousy team – since he obviously calls the shots."

"Believe what you want; but do it somewhere else," Olivia told him. "As I was about to say; our reserve squad Keeper is Louis Weasley with thirty-three of forty-five saves; and I'd like to thank everyone else for trying out today."

"Though we shouldn't have bothered; because the fix was in from the start," Ollie shouted as he shoved his way back out of the crowd and headed toward the bench where he had his gear.

"Let's have the Seeker hopefuls next," Olivia called; ignoring her brother and not even looking toward him as he stomped off. "How many candidates do we have this year?"

Two Wizards and one Witch stepped forward with James and Brandon; and Olivia nodded in greeting. "Okay, let's go with one duel with all five of you; since we can't split up into even groups for a run-off. I'll keep you on the ground a bit longer to make the start more fair – and you'll have Tiberius and Brock to deal with too while you're up there. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Ollie shouted out. "Who've you got ganging up on James so that he'll get screwed today too? I'm sure he'd love to know that before take-off."

"That would be nobody," Olivia said quietly-enough that Ollie wouldn't likely hear her, "and it shouldn't need to be said; but cheating will get you disqualified from playing on our team."

Al had stepped back out of the way with the other Chasers and Keepers, but had kept his senses open and watched James closely as Olivia got things started for the Seeker duel. His brother, unlike Ollie, had kept his mouth shut and acted as though he was simply concentrating on the job at hand. That was certainly true from what Al sensed; but then not everything he could feel from James was benign. He'd been happy with the decision to just have one duel with all five of the Seekers; but there was a darkness Al could feel to go along with the arrogant confidence and disdain for the other teens. He didn't like that, but then he didn't like what he saw as the Seeker duel began and James immediately took his game to a new level of physical intimidation that was far too-much like the way that Slytherins normally played. He didn't do anything that would be considered cheating, but he went out of his way to knock the other four Seekers around – or block them into bludger hits or each other.

The tactic was something that Al couldn't really argue with when it proved very successful for James; and even Brandon had his head on a swivel spending more time looking around for James or the bludgers than any of them spent looking for the snitch. James did both, though; and he caught the snitch twenty-one minutes into the battle – after setting up one of the other Seekers to take a bludger hit and then getting Brandon out of the way by creating a near-miss collision between Brandon and their lone Witch competition that had taken them both out of the play long-enough for him to make the catch. His victory lap was surprisingly toned down by James' normal standard – especially when his own little cheering section egged him on; but he still hadn't been very gracious as Brandon and the other teens congratulated him before getting ready to battle it out for the reserve squad spot. Al groaned silently when James sauntered over toward where he and Rose were watching what would be the final tryout battle of the day for their House.

"Congratulations, James," he said quietly; pre-empting the taunt he'd seen James getting ready to toss at him – even though he hadn't bothered congratulating anyone else during the rest of the tryouts.

"Don't sound so disappointed," James told him with a sneer. "You got everything else you wanted; so don't feel bad that your plan to mess with me didn't work again this year."

"You did get to play in every match last season," Rose reminded him. "Why don't you just give it a rest and be happy that you're our Seeker again this year?"

"Because I'm the Seeker on a team with losers like the two of you," he answered scathingly. "I'll be thrilled if you'll both quit and put Louis and Ollie on the team – since we might have a chance this year if you do that."

"How is it that you can give us such an awful vote of confidence and then wonder why we're not excited about you making the team?" Rose asked with a shake of her head. "You did well up there, James, and had a good strategy for a five-way Seeker duel; but you're still a total git. We are all on this team together; so I hope we all have a really good season."

"Having a bit of fun would be nice too," Al offered; and then smiled when James snorted out a scornful laugh. "Go ahead and laugh at that all you want; but I'll have fun whether you do or not. We talked about having a team almost exactly like this one for this season a couple of years ago; and I still think we'll do well if you just give it a chance."

"You are so clueless; it's a wonder you can fly on that broom at all without falling off for not knowing which way is up," James told him.

"Well, you could always just save the day in every match this year by catching the snitch while the rest of us fly around and keep Gryffindor from the need to forfeit for having too-few players," Rose suggested. "Work on doing that while we do our own thing; and then you can go on to be the Quidditch hero this year. Wouldn't that be a dream come true for you?"

"Only if the two of you ended up in the hospital wing for a month or more after every match too," James shot back; but Al sensed that Rose had hit her mark with what had really been a velvet-gloved taunt.

"That doesn't sound like much fun, and I'd rather get back to watching Brandon win this last Seeker duel; so you should move along and let me cheer for him."

"I didn't hear you cheering for me," James retorted; and Rose laughed.

"You didn't hear many teens cheering for you, but Brandon's always nice to everyone and you're not; so it shouldn't surprise you that he has more fans cheering for him today." She looked over to Ollie meaningfully and then back at James. "Your best mate isn't having near as good a day as you are. You should get over there and help him out instead of messing with us."

"Maybe I am helping him out by messing with you," James taunted with a smirk; and Rose laughed.

"He might actually agree with you on that, but if you won't move on; I'll go and find somewhere else to watch this Seeker duel from – and maybe check up on the Harpies-Cannons match to see how my team is doing. Maybe they'll shock the world and still be undefeated at the end of the day."

James laughed raucously; and then scowled when Rose laughed too. "What?"

"I just think it's funny that for you to think my comment so hilarious; you'd also need to cheer for the Harpies today to get the win over my team."

"I don't have to cheer for either team; and don't really care if the Harpies suck just a bit less than your Cannons – especially that fool, Santini."

"He's only a fool when it comes to playing against Aunt Gabrielle," Rose told him seriously, "and I'm not going to defend him, but your Hogwarts record so far isn't any better than his over the past four seasons."

"That's a flat-out lie," James declared angrily; but Rose just smiled at him.

"Look it up and do the math," she suggested. "You've both won about a quarter of your matches – and he's well-ahead of you on snitch catches – including the ones you've both made for losses. That is one of the reasons I'm so amazed that you aren't at least willing to try something new this season; since what you have been doing so far hasn't been working over the past two years."

James was angry; but decided to stomp off with a few parting insults for them. He went and sat down next to Ollie; and Al half-listened in with his extended senses as they began to exchange complaints while he also continued to watch the battle for the reserve Seeker job. Olivia had told the McClaggens to land to speed up the second duel, but that didn't end up being the deciding factor in that runner-up Seeker duel – Al was; and he knew he'd played a part right before Brandon caught the snitch. He'd been watching the battle, but also kept an eye out for the snitch; and Brandon had apparently learned that he was good at doing that; since he tracked down the snitch by watching Al – and then looking to where Al did when he glanced from the Seeker battle to where he'd been tracking the snitch too. That hadn't been a tactic that Brandon had been able to use when dealing with bludgers and James' style of play; but it worked for the second duel as he used that advantage to catch the snitch in just twelve minutes.

That had still been a tough half-hour and change of work for all four Seekers between the two duels; so they were all tired out by the time they landed. They'd had more fun without James or the McClaggens up there with them, though; and the round of congratulations and condolences after they were on the ground was friendly and heart-felt. Olivia thanked everyone again; called an end to tryouts; and then asked her new team and reserve squad players to gather around her on the sidelines of the pitch. She had to wait several long moments for James to saunter over, and Ollie came along; though he was just one of dozens of Gryffindors joining the fray so that they could meet up with their favorite players for various reasons.

"I've been told that the Harpies-Cannons match is still going on, and some of our deluded team mates actually want to go and watch the rest of the match; so we'll skip having a first team meeting this afternoon; and just meet up a half-hour early on Tuesday afternoon to do that." Olivia had been grinning at Al and Rose as she said that; though they hadn't said anything to her about watching the match – and most of them wanted to watch Victoire's match whether they were a Harpies' fan or not.

"Harpies – one-eighty; Cannons – forty," Lily called out; earning a quiet round of laughter.

"Thank-you," Olivia told her. "Congratulations to all of you. Go and have some fun – you deserve it!"

"Short and sweet – I like it!" Louis said quietly from behind Al and Rose; and they both laughed.

"I'll take it that you mean the speech; since Olivia isn't short," Rose teased. "Are you okay?"

Louis smiled at her. "You caught up to me faster than I thought you would – and hoped it wouldn't matter next year if I was Captain, but yeah; I'm okay." He grinned then. "You'll be in for an interesting day, but the more I think about it; this could be really awesome for our team too. Most of the other senior Chasers have never even played against you at Keeper; so they're not going to know what hit them when they come up against you."

"Do you think so?" Rose asked; and he nodded.

"Yeah, and I think we've got the best Chaser trio in front of you this year too; so it only sucks that I won't get to be up there with you in our matches. You're going to have a lot of fun."

"Thank you. That's about the opposite of James' prediction for us."

"He'll come around – and find his job a bit easier too if you guys can earn some big leads for him." He looked over to where James and Ollie were being surrounded by Bristol, Patricia, and their usual group of friends. "I have a feeling he's just trying to figure out a way to make some changes while keeping his bad-boy rep and ego intact right now; and things will at least be a bit better around him once he does that – even if Al is still his personal undesirable Animorphmagus number one." He grinned at Rose again. "Maybe I should make up one of those posters with a picture of you on it to hang on my dorm room wall – just as motivation to get ready for tryouts next year."

"That's funny – you should do it," Lily declared as she stepped up in front of Al and Rose – along with Hugo, Kathryn, and Melissa. "Congratulations! You were all brilliant today."

"Not quite brilliant-enough for some of us," Louis interjected as Lily hugged Al and Rose in quick succession. She laughed and nudged her way past Al so she could hug Louis next.

"You're amazing, and even though Rose might be messing things up a bit for you this season, you do have two sisters in the show; and can be sure that the league scouts will be keeping an eye on you whether you play in the matches this year or not."

"They must be using invisibility charms if they've been coming to our practices," Louis joked; and Lily laughed and hugged him again.

"We do have a coach and referee with league connections," she reminded him. "Something must go on around here to have so many reserve team players end up in the show – and that seems to be happening a lot more over the past five or ten years."

"That's true," he conceded. "We need to get out of here, though; so I'll talk to you later – or whenever we get time to do that again next. Sixth-year definitely isn't easier than my OWL year was; so I'll be up to my eyeballs in work all year if this first week and a half is any indication."

While he left and then met up with some of his friends for the walk out of the stadium; Lily and her little entourage stayed with Al and Rose as they went and got out of their gear; packed up; and headed for the exits too. By then, Licentia Nott was leading the way into the stadium with a small group of Slytherins, but other than the usual sneers and muttered jeers; there weren't any problems between any of the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Olivia wasn't far from Al with Lucy and their group of friends; so he overheard her wish Licentia good luck as they passed each other; but that offer only earned a slight nod of acknowledgement; and nothing more from her fellow Captain. By then, he was just looking forward to getting together with Gwendolyn again; so when they left the stadium; they headed for the lake – and to where Gwendolyn was studying and watching the Harpies' match with about half of their study group. The hug and kiss they shared was awesome; and then they sat down before getting started on the Gryffindor tryouts report.

"Al and Rose both made the team; and Ray was third-best Chaser today; so he was top pick for the reserve squad," Lily reported enthusiastically. "They were all brilliant; though watching Al disarm Ollie after the Chaser tryouts was fun too."

"Way to go, Rose and Ray!" Gwendolyn said first as she grinned at Lily. "The first part of your news was most important, but yes; we want to know the story behind that last part first before the rest of the tryout news."

Lily laughed happily. "Okay, and I probably shouldn't laugh, but Ollie was going to blast Olivia shortly after finding out that he tied for seventh-best with four other Witches and Wizards – though that might have been one Witch; since Olivia didn't give us the other names." She turned and looked at Al. "Olivia should do that for them later. It'll help those players to know how they compare to the rest of you – and how much they need to improve if they do want a shot at making the team in the future."

"That's a bad idea," Ray interjected with a grin. "I don't need even more competition when what I already have is tough-enough."

"You'll make the team next year after Olivia and Lucy graduate," Lily assured him. "We should change things up for Chaser tryouts anyway; since you're better at the rest of the Chaser game than the scoring anyway. Sometimes, having the top three scorers on the team isn't the best thing – especially if they're weak on defense or making and catching passes."

"I have Al to thank for that when we're on the same team in practices – which we won't be this season," Ray told her; and Lily nodded.

"That's partly-true, but you have to be really good too; or you'd never be able to handle those passes from Al – or keep up with him the way you can. Your bonus for this season, though, is that you won't have Ollie pestering you in practices. Gina and Magnus will be fun to play with – and learn from; since they each have different strengths that will help make you an even better player. Gina's another good example of a really awesome Chaser that would have a better shot at making the team if tryouts weren't just about scoring goals."

"So Ollie didn't even make the reserve squad; he lost it; and tried to blast Olivia?" Gwendolyn summarized; and Lily nodded.

"Yeah, that's about it. He didn't even get one spell fired off, though; because Al had him disarmed before he could have it fully-pointed at Olivia. He was shut out by Rose and Louis, and only scored three of six on the other two Keeper hopefuls; so Ollie's flat-out delusional to keep insisting that Olivia and Al are messing with him – especially when Al went ten-for-twelve; and Lucy was seven-for-twelve." She paused and smiled at Ray again. "Gina and Ray each had one more goal against Louis than against Rose; and that was the difference for the Keeper battle – two more saves for Rose."

"You haven't mentioned James; so I'll guess that he won the Seeker duel," Gwendolyn said next. "The McClaggens were sure to be your Beaters again; so it's no surprise they haven't been mentioned yet."

"James did win," Rose answered before Lily could. "We didn't like his tactics, but can't really fault him for them; since his plan worked perfectly – for him."

"Maybe he was just confused and thought that he was at the Slytherin tryouts," Lily suggested. "They're going to wish they had someone like James to play Seeker for them while G-Air is taking the year off from Hogwarts."

"He cheated?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shook his head.

"No, but he did a lot of hitting; blocked some of the other Seekers into bludger hits; and won the duel after setting up a near-crash that took Brandon and one of the other Seekers out – and could have been ugly if Brandon hadn't picked protecting the Witch over keeping James from getting that chance to catch the snitch. Brandon did get the reserve squad job during the consolation round Seeker duel; but he'd rather play fair and be second-best than hurt anyone to win."

"He might need to adapt a bit if he wants to play in the show starting next year; but we can all admit that James is the better Seeker – even if it would have been better for my team if Brandon had won instead," Gwendolyn said. "Rose is the big news story from your tryouts, though; so that is going to be fun for us at dinnertime. "You beat the top senior team Keeper from last year, and while I doubt you'll talk about it; I do think that's an advantage for Gryffindor when most of the senior Chasers have never played against you at that position. Is Louis okay? This is tough for him when he's only got two years left to show off to the scouts."

"Thanks; no, we won't be talking about that; and yes, Louis is doing okay," Rose answered. "I think he's doing better than I would have been if he'd won instead. I really, really wanted this a lot – even though I kept trying not to be too hopeful."

"Score update," Lily interjected. "We've got the one-sixty lead – two-twenty to sixty. Time for Aunt Gabrielle to back off and hope that Santini doesn't try to drag out this farce for a day or two."

"Or have the Canons call a time-out and offer to end the match again," Hugo added with a laugh. "For some reason; I almost hope they do – though it still seems wrong to just give up like that."

"They wouldn't need to do that if Rose was playing for them today," Lily offered. "The Harpies wouldn't have that lead if she'd been in goals for them."

"True, but Mum would never let either of us quit school early to go and play Quidditch; so they'll just have to wait for Rose to graduate in four years," Hugo said with a shrug.

"I'll need all of that time to get my plan together anyway," Rose advised him with a grin. "I still need to convince five more players to join the team; and figure out a way to buy the Cannons; since I don't plan on just going to play for the current owners and manager."

"Maybe you can get a loan against all of those bets you have," Lily suggested with a grin. "What kind of terms would you get for using those 'in your lifetime' bets as collateral?"

"Probably none," Rose answered as everyone else laughed. "After today, though; I'm feeling pretty good about my chances for winning those bets – even if Gringotts wouldn't want to accept them as backing for a loan."

"You should feel good," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "Not only did you win your Keeper duel; but you've also improved your chances for next year too; since there's now a good chance that Louis won't make the jump to team Captain from the reserve squad when that's decided next summer."

"I don't want to think about that," Rose decided. "He'll need to play on the team next year more than I will; but I'll still want the job again just as much as I do now." She smiled when Lily laughed. "Yeah, I know that you wouldn't have a problem beating James for the Seeker job – and might get the chance to do that in your fourth year; but I can't feel that way about Louis – or Hugo."

"Maybe that's because you beat both of us at tryouts the last two years," Hugo suggested. "Let me know if you still feel that way if Louis wins next year and I win the two years after that."

"That's a scary batch of thoughts – for me," Rose told him. "Let's move on, though; and maybe watch a bit of the Cannons' match – even if it's already too late for our team to earn the win to stay undefeated."

They collectively did that; watched the match on several portables; and the fourth-year teens all did a bit of studying too once Al, Rose, and Ray had taken a little break first. Gabrielle caught a break in her duel with Santini when he took a bludger hit at the two-hour and twenty-nine minute mark of the match that allowed her to get a great shot at catching the snitch – one that she took full advantage of to earn the four-hundred to seventy victory for her team. Santini was more hurt by the early end to his play time with Gabrielle than he was by that bludger, but Gabrielle was thrilled to be done with him for the day – especially after she had to dodge his attempted hug and kiss after they landed on the pitch. She had some team mate help for that; and then kept her distance from Santini during the rest of the post-game action on the pitch.

At Hogwarts, Al and Gwendolyn studied with their friends until it was near to what they expected to be the end of the Slytherin tryouts; and then they went for a walk and horseback ride that allowed them to have some fun and get a pretty good idea about which players ended up on the Slytherin team. They hadn't been all that close to the Slytherins as they left the stadium, but Al had seen and sensed enough to at least get names and an idea about how the teens were feeling. He talked about that with Gwendolyn for a while; but then they went for their ride; had a visit with Hagrid at his cabin on the way back to the castle; and then split up with enough time to spare to get ready for dinner in the Great Hall. Al then went with Rose, Lily, Hugo, and a handful of other Gryffindors for that walk to the Great Hall; where Quidditch news was the top chat topic before and during dinner.

"Let's start with the Slytherin team rumors," Rose suggested after she and Al sat down in their usual spots at the Gryffindor table. "We've heard that Blaise Zabini is their Seeker – and that Licentia got him to try out for that spot after earning a Chaser job because they didn't have anyone else with any talent at all for that job."

"He's a decent Chaser, but not a great one; so I doubt he'll do well against the best Seekers in the school," Ray offered. "Malfoy has that Lightningbolt; and I'm surprised they didn't get him to take the job instead."

"Maybe he can't play Seeker," Rose suggested. "Being fast won't help if you can't spot the snitch. I'd never be able to play Seeker."

"I suppose," Ray conceded. "The bigger story for Slytherin might be their Keeper. "Do we know anything at all about Gideon Parkinson's Quidditch skills?"

"No, and that's one thing we aren't hearing much about – how the Keeper tryouts went," Rose answered. "We know that Scorpius Malfoy earned his spot on the team, and Trace Davis must have been third-best if the rumor about Blaise is right and he gave up a Chaser spot on the team to play Seeker for them instead; but we have no idea how well or poorly they did against the Keepers."

"I got the feeling they did well," Al said quietly. "Gideon looks happy, and so are some of the others; but I'll also guess that at least a few of them aren't happy with their team – or they're at least worried about the weak links."

"They should be," Ray agreed with a nod. "The competition is going to be tough again this year; and they've lost some of their best players to suspensions."

"They have," Al agreed; "but maybe having a Witch for Captain will make a difference too."

Ray laughed. "That might be possible – though I'm having a tough time picturing Licentia Nott as the kind, fun-loving sort of Captain that will turn the Slytherin team into a model of good sportsmanship and fair play."

Al couldn't really disagree with that, but did still hope for the best for Licentia; since he did think that having a Witch get the chance to be team Captain could be good for her House – and maybe even for the school. Once everyone was there and dinner was on the tables; Rose's Quidditch news became the chat topic of choice for their friends; and most of them were very proud of her for joining Al as one of the few fourth-year teens to earn places on the senior teams. Gwendolyn and Scorpius had been the only other two fourth-years to do that; so the fourth-year teens only earned four of the twenty-eight spots on the four House teams – a number that was a bit low compared to other years. They all enjoyed that meal, but Al was also ready to meet up with Gwendolyn after dinner and get to their plans for some quality alone time for the rest of the evening until curfew.

They first walked with Rose to the seventh-floor so that she had company before going into the Room of Requirements to have a video chat with Kyle; they ended up going in with her so that they could say hello to him too – and do a bit of acting to help with Rose's school storyline; and then they moved on to a classroom not far from the Room of Requirements that was one of the rooms they used when not in their normal study classroom. They set up a sofa and the mirror; got their guitars out; and sat down to have a bit of music fun.

"What should we do tonight?" Gwendolyn asked as she began strumming random chords. "Write a song about Quidditch tryouts?"

"Break a leg... no, really, break a leg," Al sang; and Gwendolyn began to laugh at his reference to telling James that before his match against Ravenclaw. "I'm not wishing you good luck; 'cause I really, really want to play."

"Don't score that goal; don't make that save," Gwendolyn offered as she joined in to improvise the music along with Al. "I want to win a spot on our Quidditch team today!"

"That's awesome," Al approved. "It's a better chorus than a verse, but we could still start with it; and then make the verses about different parts of the tryouts."

"Beaters actually could break legs and get away with it," Gwendolyn suggested; "and that's usually the first part of the tryouts anyway – though it doesn't really fit with my line about not scoring goals or making saves."

"We could adjust the chorus to fit better with verses about Beaters, Chasers and Keepers, and Seekers," Al offered. "Miss that bludger hit; with your Beater bat; so I can win a spot on our Quidditch team today."

"That could work," Gwendolyn agreed: "though that'll be one less choice for the verse about the Beaters. Do you have any suggestions for doing that with the Seeker verse and chorus? I like the idea of having just three verses with the Chasers and Keepers together; since that's what we usually do in tryouts." She thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess we could ask around about whether that's true at other schools – or just leave it for the band we sell this to if it isn't the same and they decide to make changes that work better for their audiences in other countries."

They talked about that; had fun playing around with a new song; and then did some more work on Lily's gift – mostly working on some details that Gwendolyn thought would make it better from a Witch's perspective. They pretty much had it finished except for some tweaks that they wanted to talk about with Rose first; and then it was time for some quality cuddling and snogging fun. The mirror network was on too, but other than watching Lee's opening monologue; they ignored the shows and enjoyed the play time for two that they didn't get to do often-enough while they were so busy with everything else they had on the go every day. It was also a great way to wrap up the first half of their weekend; and while it would truly be time to get into their school routine now that tryouts were finished; they had good reason to take the break and celebrate what was turning out to be a brilliant start to their fourth year at Hogwarts!

Scorpius was in a great mood as he made his way to the Room of Requirements on Saturday night. He'd earned his spot on the senior team by blowing away the competition – and scoring on every shot he took against the Keeper hopefuls – though 'hopeless' would have been a more accurate description of those players. That had impressed everyone in the stadium, but his favorite part of the day had just ended – a too-short, but brilliant snogging session with Lysandra. She hadn't been able to get away from her friends for long, but had wanted to have at least a bit of private time to congratulate him for making the team – the only Slytherin fourth-year to do that over the past two years; and only the second in the past four years.

He'd nearly run into Rose Weasley again when he was close to the Room of Requirements, but had been able to get out of sight before she saw him; and he only wondered a bit about the odds of running into her so often already in the first week and a half of school. That might be something he'd need to spy on her over if it happened many more times – just to find out why she was in the area so often when he'd rarely seen her near the Room of Requirements in their first three years. He set those thoughts aside as he focused on opening 'his' room; entered a moment after the door appeared in the wall; and then he quickly had Thomas' portrait out of his bag and on the table before sitting down in the armchair.

"Is it time for the next Quidditch update?" Thomas asked. "You haven't had much time for me since getting back to Hogwarts this year."

"We haven't been here that long; and you always tell me to keep up with my work first," Scorpius answered with a grin.

"That smile suggests you weren't studying for hours before coming here to talk with me," Thomas told him. "Do you have any of your weekend revision finished yet?"

"About half of it," Scorpius answered dismissively. "We've got another day to deal with that; so I'm not worried about it – and I had reason for a bit of celebrating."

"You made the team. Congratulations. Did that go better than you'd expected?"

"For me it did," Scorpius agreed. "We've got the problems we expected to have at Seeker and Keeper. Blaise ended up as our Seeker. He doesn't want the job, but Licentia didn't have anyone else at tryouts with any talent at all; and talked him into trying out for Seeker too. He'd already been next-best to me at Chaser, but Trace Davis was only one goal behind him; so he'll do alright with Licentia and me at Chaser. Blaise has reason to dislike being Seeker; since he won't be near as good as the other Seekers; but we have even more trouble at Keeper."

"You've already told me that you aren't any good at Seeker either, but is that true for Keeper too? Maybe you could have helped your team more doing that if it's such a problem."

"I don't want that job either; but Licentia agrees that we're better off playing Chaser together. Blaise and Trace were next-best to me; but then there was a big drop in talent between them and the three Chasers that are on our reserve squad. Gideon Parkinson is thrilled to be our new Keeper, but he couldn't make one save against me; and only managed to save about half the shots against him."

"That doesn't sound promising," Thomas said; "but maybe that's just a sign telling you to stop playing for your House teams if they're perennially so mediocre."

"You'd love that," Scorpius said derisively. "Is this going to be one more thing I can't talk about with you anymore? I've had a great day; and now I'm wondering why I bothered to come here and talk to you when you never support me with the things that matter most to me."

"I thought that what mattered most to you was restoring your family honor and to help all true purebloods to regain their rightful place as rulers of the Wizarding World. Quidditch and stealing kisses with your secret girlfriend are just distractions from those goals."

"You may actually believe all of that, but I don't agree; and believe that Quidditch and my relationship with Lysandra will both help me to further my goals. Quidditch is making me more popular with my fellow Slytherin; and I'm beginning to think that Lysandra understands what we'll need to do to achieve our goals better than you do."

Thomas laughed derisively. "Of course; since there's no doubt that a fourteen-year old Witch knows so much more than I possibly could with a lifetime of knowledge and experience. Get a clue, boy – or at least stop thinking with the wrong parts of your body."

Scorpius scowled and stood up. "Honestly, I'm wondering why I don't just destroy your portrait and be done with you,' he snapped angrily. "If you were always this insulting to all of your followers; it's a wonder you had any of them at all."

"They followed me because I had the power and vision to lead our army," Thomas retorted. "I speak truths to you; which is more than you'll get from most Wizards and Witches around you – including from that Lestrange Witch you're so enamored with right now. If you don't want to hear the truth, then put my portrait away until you are ready for it – or don't; and we can get back to work on your lessons."

"I'll pick option one," Scorpius decided after only a moment of hesitation. "The lessons just aren't worth the hassle." He picked up the portrait and began to shove it back into the bag. "I'll achieve my goals with or without you, Thomas. I've felt like it's without you lately, so you should think about that until we speak next; since I am about ready to be done with you forever if you don't want to support me instead of always putting me down and insulting me about nearly everything I do."

"Do what you must; but you'll fail without my counsel and training," Thomas had time to say; though the last of it was muffled because the portrait was already in the bag and Scorpius wasn't interested in listening to any more of his mentor's blather.

Scorpius was angry; and that was mostly because Thomas had done his best to ruin his great mood. As he left the Room of Requirements and carefully made his way toward Slytherin House; he decided that he really didn't care about not having a lesson with Thomas – and that it really wasn't worth the hassle. He didn't have high hopes for his Quidditch team this season, but was still looking forward to playing on that team with Licentia; since she was the most-talented Chaser he'd been able to play with so far – and he believed they'd show how good they were to everyone even if the rest of their team wouldn't be good-enough to keep up with them. Lysandra was the brightest light in his now and near-future, and while they would need to keep their true relationship secret from everyone; spending time with her in classes and when they could study together – along with the occasional moments they could steal to be together in a snogging sort of way – were going to be the best parts of his days as they moved deeper into the school year. As for his continuing immersion into the Dark Arts – he could work on that himself; or maybe even do that studying with Lysandra if she was interested in doing that with him too!

While he still believed that Thomas was one of the greatest Wizards of his time, he continued to wonder whether the Wizarding World had moved beyond the comprehension of his mentor; and that his own dreams and ideas for attaining greatness for himself were right – and should be the path he chose to follow instead of the out-dated suggestions that his mentor favored while dismissing his own vision as being impossible. After all, Thomas' brilliant plans had ultimately failed; so it was quite possible that he would fail too by simply following his lead without question. Better to consider all of his options; and chart his own course.

For now, he decided that he'd much rather set sail on that continuing journey with Lysandra at his side instead of Thomas – and not just because she was a lot more fun to be around than his dour, deceased, painted old friend!

James sauntered into his dorm room not long after curfew, and while that was far too early for him to be heading to bed on a Saturday night; he was still in a great mood as he flopped onto his bed and turned to face Ollie. His best mate scowled at him; and he laughed.

"Back so soon?" Ollie asked scathingly. "I thought you'd be out all night again."

"Lara's not that kind of Witch – yet," James answered with another laugh. "She will be – once I've got her warmed up a bit more and ready to take a walk on the wild side with me."

Ollie snorted. "That one is more-likely to hex you once she figures out that you're just adding her to your harem. Was she impressed to be snogging the star Seeker of the Gryffindor team?"

"Very impressed," James confirmed. "You might be right about her wanting to hex me eventually, but I'll have fun while I can, and she's a magical midget; so I've nothing to worry about there."

"Well, I'm so glad that your day is so brilliant. Mine still sucks; thanks for asking."

"I can't do anything about what your sister and the loser did to you at tryouts," James told him.

"You mean that you won't," Ollie disagreed. "We should've gotten out there tonight and blasted them; but no – you were too busy snogging Lara to help me out with that. You could have stood up for me this afternoon and told the lot of them to sod off too after seeing them screw me over; but you didn't do that either. You should've walked out and let them find out how badly they'd suck with Brandon as their Seeker instead of you this year."

"You wouldn't have done that for me if things were the other way around," James told him, "but that might work out for you anyway; since I still expect the loser to mess things up for me again this season the way he's done in his first three years here."

"Then that's even more reason to quit," Ollie countered. "You'd have a lot of extra time for snogging your harem without all of those practices and matches."

"It sounds as though you need to hook up with a new Witch or three for a bit of that kind of fun. Get over Lacey, mate. She's an up-tight, stuck-up B-Witch; and you're well-rid of her."

"I'd rather come up with a new plan for destroying the loser – and another one for blasting my idiot sister while we're at it," Ollie told him angrily. "I'm the best Chaser in our House; and yet I've been screwed again this year and I'm sick of it! If you're not going to help me; then I guess I'll have to take care of them without you – though that's rotten; considering everything I've done for you whenever you've needed me to be there for you."

James sat up and swung his legs around to the side of the bed so he was facing Ollie more directly. "Come up with a way to do that where we don't end up playing one of the loser's horrid animal games; and maybe I'll help you out with that," he said sincerely. "I haven't come up with anything yet that doesn't end horribly for me, though; and I've already told you that I'm not going to do anything except watch and wait until I do find a way to truly destroy the Animorphloser and his potty-trainer in a permanent sort of way."

"Funny, it looks more to me like you've just given up," Ollie taunted.

"You're having a bad day, so I'll cut you some slack on that," James said with a note of warning. "I hate the loser as much as always – and way more than you do, Ollie. I will prove to everyone that I've been right about him all along one day, but that isn't going to happen until I've found a way to best him; so I'm going to start concentrating on finding a way to do that instead of blundering along from one disaster to the next."

"How?" Ollie demanded. "By snogging every Witch in the Wizarding World? Fat lot of good that'll do!"

James grinned at him. "I'd say it does me a lot of good; and is a worthy goal – at least for all of the hottest Witches and Muggle girls. As for being able to blast the loser; I'm planning on giving myself an alternate education in magic to help out with that."

"You're not talking about the Dark Arts?" Ollie whispered; but he said that as a statement instead of a real question.

"I'm talking about doing whatever it takes to put an end to that menace to my world," James told him. "We don't know who has been sending those anonymous gifts, but not even those cursed Fanged Frisbees stopped the loser; so I have no idea yet what it will take to get rid of him – but I do know that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen!"

That pronouncement seemed to shock Ollie, but James meant every word of it. He was going to be famous and rich; the greatest Seeker in the history of the game; and he'd top it all off by destroying the Animorphloser! Those goals didn't need to get in the way of having fun too, though; and he planned on having a lot of fun with Lara, Bristol, Patricia, and as many other hot, willing Witches as he could get to join his harem!

The Animorphpotty was a nagging thorn in his side, but everything else was looking pretty good; and James was looking forward to having a great school year! While he continued to chat with Ollie until they were both ready to get some sleep, his mind had already moved on from even thinking about Ollie's problems, and even if he had thought about that some more; he'd have done that without truly caring about how his best mate felt or whether there was anything he could do to support his friend. That sort of thing was for Witches or Animorphlosers – not for any true, soon-to-be rich and famous Wizard!


	38. Juniors Rule Haunted School

**Chapter Thirty-Eight – Juniors Rule; Haunted School**

With tryouts taking up a lot of their time on Saturday, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends had work to do on Sunday, but they got that out of the way in the morning; and then the Quidditch playing members of their group had a scrimmage after lunch that included Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and enough junior and senior team friends to make up two full teams plus a few extra substitutes. That play time kept them entertained for half the afternoon; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went off on their own to finish up Lily's birthday gift and get a few other surprises ready for the little party they were going to have for her after dinner on Monday. That kept them busy until dinnertime; and then Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their second weekend of the school year with an evening of quiet fun with Lily and Jonah that ended with a visit to the Owlery so they could send their weekly batch of letters with Winter. Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah 'home' before returning to their House; Al went to bed early; and then got up early on Monday morning – excited about giving Lily her special birthday gift.

"Happy Birthday, Lily!" Al said enthusiastically as he stood up and welcomed her with a hug and kiss as she and Rose joined him in the common room. He laughed inwardly as she stepped back from the hug and looked disappointed when he didn't immediately have a gift for her. "Before you decide to hex me, you have to wait a few more minutes to get your gift; since we need to meet up with Gwendolyn before giving it to you."

"Well in that case; let's get going," she decided. "Your gifts are always great; so I don't want to wait to find out what you got me this year!"

"You're right – she's gonna blast me when she finds out that we got her a James-worthy gift this year," Al pretended to whisper to Rose; and smiled when both girls laughed.

"You wouldn't do that to me," Lily declared; "and I doubt James will get me anything this year; since that worked out so well for him last Christmas."

"He might," Al disagreed. "Everyone around here will know it's your birthday today; so he might need to send something just to keep from taking a hit to his precious reputation – and he didn't need to do that at Christmas while he was here and we were at home."

"He likely bragged about doing all sorts of amazing things for us anyway," Lily countered; "and he could do that today without anyone knowing just by claiming credit for any of the gifts I do get from other people."

"That does sound like something he'd try," Rose agreed. "Instead of going there, though; why don't you tell us what you are wishing to get this year – and no; we didn't get together and buy you a Lightningbolt."

Lily pretended to sigh. "I was hoping; but expected to need to wait for my seventeenth before Mom and Dad will get one for me."

"We'll all be waiting for our seventeenth for that next round of broom gifts," Al agreed, "but that won't be a problem for you this year; and Rose and I won't be up against many players with the faster brooms either."

"Scorpius could be more of a threat this season if he's learned to use his broom better than he had when we played him last year," Rose offered; and Al shrugged.

"Every time I think about that; I wonder if it's true. Lucy has her Lightningbolt, but she can't use it full-out when her fellow Chasers can't keep up most of the time. Sure, it helps getting back into plays or if she can be launched ahead of a play; but most of the time it makes things tougher for her if she ends up on her own without anyone to pass to or help with blocking or other things."

"That might be true for Chasers," Lily conceded; "but I'd have a much better chance of winning my Seeker duels if I was flying a Lightningbolt."

"Maybe Lucy would lend hers to you for your matches," Rose suggested; and Lily laughed.

"Mum and Dad beat me to that; and she won't do it. That just doesn't seem fair to me; but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Did you try that last year with Dominique too?" Rose asked; and Lily grinned at her.

"Maybe – and I don't know why you and Al didn't try it."

"Because we knew our Mums wouldn't allow it," Rose answered. "Besides, while Al may be hitting the limits of our Firestorms; I haven't – and might never get there compared to either of you."

"For all we know; Al's made his broom better and faster than it should be to do all of his tricks." She suddenly looked at him suspiciously; and he laughed.

"I have not done anything to my broom," he assured her. "That's a great idea; but I don't really have time right now to get into a study of broom-making to do that."

"What are you so busy with instead – other than eleven classes; Quidditch; and toy making?" Lily teased. "It's a wonder you and Gwendolyn manage to find any alone time at all!"

"I can't say much about that after taking Saturday night off to have some of that alone time with Gwendolyn; but we have been working on other things – including music and other kinds of magic fun."

"Including for my birthday gift?" Lily asked; and Al and Rose both grinned at her.

"Maybe," Rose answered. "You'll know soon enough."

That was true; since Lily rushed them over to Ravenclaw tower; Gwendolyn and Jonah were both there and waiting for her; and she then had two gifts to open – one from Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and the other from Jonah. She opened the one she'd needed to wait for first; and then looked disappointed again when she found the un-marked 'game card' inside.

"What is it?" she asked Al; and he smiled at her.

"It's not actually a game," he advised her. "It's an upgrade and addition to the Wireless Web system on your mirror. Load it on and take a look." Lily had everyone in her little group watching expectantly as she got her mirror out and did that. It took a little while for the magic to make the changes to her mirror; and then she turned on the Wireless Web when Al instructed her to do that.

"Okay – it looks the same to me," she said; and he pointed out and activated a new feature she hadn't noticed; and then laughed when she saw the 'home page' pop up immediately. "You've put all of my second-year textbooks on the Wireless Web for me?" she asked; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose all laughed.

"We did a bit more than that," Gwendolyn advised her. "Let's start toward the Great Hall while we explain it to you." They headed off; and after getting nods from Al and Rose; she happily continued to tell Lily all about her gift.

"The books are all there, but you can also search them for anything you're looking for – even if you just want to find every reference to a certain word, spell, or anything else."

"That's really awesome!" Lily said enthusiastically; and started playing with doing that.

"We thought so, but the really awesome new toy for you is the ability to write or dictate your assignment reports using your mirror the same way your Mum writes her articles for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet."

"Really?" Lily exclaimed; and then frowned. "But even if I do that; how would I hand them in after I was done? I doubt the Professors would just let me lend them my mirror to read them."

"We're thinking about making that possible for them through the Wireless Web some day," Rose advised her, "but for now; we came up with this for you instead." She timed the 'this' for when Al had Lily's next gift ready to go; and she handed her mirror to Jonah so she could open it.

"A quill and ink?" she asked; and got three nods of agreement.

"You write your report on your mirror; and then the quill and ink are specially made and charmed to write the report to parchment – in your handwriting; once we set it up to do that with some sample writing we'll have you do before starting to use it." Al told her about that; and enjoyed the hug of thanks she shared with him first before she moved on to hug Rose and Gwendolyn too.

"This is so brilliant!" she said enthusiastically. "You did all of this just since we got back to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, and you're the first to have one," Gwendolyn advised her. "We still have more work to do to get a version ready for our classes, and while we want to get copies of yours to Jonah, Hugo, and some of your friends; it'll take a while longer to make more quills and ink; since that takes some special spell work too that's similar to what the Daily Prophet uses for printing the articles they get from the Quidditch News and other Wireless Web sources."

"I love this; and can hardly wait to try all of it out," Lily told them; and then smiled at Jonah. "Once I get used to it; we can probably share mine until Gwendolyn can get one for you too," she suggested. "This will be loads faster for writing reports."

"Jonah can put everything else on his mirror whenever he wants," Gwendolyn advised them. "He'll just have to wait for the quill and ink; since they'll be personalized once they're set up; so he wouldn't want to hand anything in with your handwriting."

"Or an exact copy of your work either," Al added. "This won't outsmart cheating-checker spells."

"I didn't expect anything like that from you," Lily assured him. "You made me promise not to use your old assingments and tests for anything more than study tools; so there's no way you'd make it easy for me to cheat."

"Would you do that if you could get away with it?" Rose asked curiously; and Lily laughed.

"I might – if getting away with it was a sure thing," she admitted candidly. "That's not very consistent of me, since I hate cheaters in Quidditch; but then that's way more serious and important than cheating on assignments or tests."

"With the scary part of that being that some of us agree with you on that order of importance," Gwendolyn only half-joked. "You're likely ready to open Jonah's gift next, though; so why don't you do that – just in case you need a bit of comparative privacy when it comes time to thank him for whatever he picked out for you."

Lily had laughed at that comment too; opened Jonah's gift; and then rather seriously thanked him with a hug and a couple of kisses that let him know fairly-emphatically that she loved the new earrings and a charm that Al had helped him out with making for her. They stayed together once in the Great Hall until about half of their fellow students were there too; and then they split up to sit in their usual spots at the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables. Al and Rose were out of the loop for the rest of Lily's breakfast fun – including visits from cousins and other friends; and the gifts that were delivered by Owl Post. They did meet up with her after breakfast to get the micro report on those gifts before moving on to their first classes of the week; and then it was time for all of them to get focused on their studies for most of the day.

Lily got together with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose after last class so that they could help her set up the quill and show her how to use her gift, and they took turns doing that so they could do their own studying too. Lily left them when Gwendolyn went to her senior team practice; and planned on meeting up with Jonah after his junior team practice while Al and Rose stayed and worked with the rest of their study group until dinner. They broke up the study session early-enough that Al and Rose could set up the room for Lily's birthday party; they went to the Great Hall for dinner; and then were back in 'their' classroom in time to finish the last bits of work for the small party – putting out the drinks, treats, cakes, and a few final gifts for Lily to open while they celebrated her special day and tried to continue their studying too.

Scorpius pulled Thomas' portrait out of his bag and placed it on the table before sitting down and focusing his attention on his mentor.

"I've got some news that I want to talk about with you," he said shortly. "Today is Lily Potter's thirteenth birthday; and the gossip making the rounds about her includes stories about a gift that the Animorphloser supposedly made for her – possibly with some help from the potty-trainer and Rose Weasel."

"Okay," Thomas said in acknowledgement of Scorpius' lead in comments. "What's so special about this gift?"

"They've apparently given her the ability to work with all of her second-year textbooks using her mirror the way that we can read news articles on the Wireless Web, and in addition to that; she claims she can now write all of her school reports on her mirror and then print them out using a special quill and ink that the loser created to work with her mirror. I suppose that's similar to other types of magic quills; but isn't anything I've heard of before – and the whole thing is brilliant if it works as rumored."

"I know little beyond what you've told and shown me about the new magical devices that everyone seems to use now," Thomas reminded him. "While I agree that it is interesting if the younger Potter boy is creating new magics; I fail to see why this is particularly brilliant."

"Well, from what I've just heard at dinner; she'll no longer need to use her textbooks; since she'll have them with her anytime she wants to read from them with just her portable mirror; and can do more with them – like search for all information about anything – which would save a lot of time when doing research. Writing reports - or dictating them as one rumor claims – would make short work of all written assignments. It could all add up to a huge advantage for her studies compared to the other second-year students."

"Well, if that's all true, and you believe it would be of some advantage for you; then learn how to do the same for your own mirror."

Scorpius laughed. "Sure – I'll just figure out how to do something when I haven't a clue where to even start."

"Well, you could start by learning how that Wireless Web of yours works; since you apparently don't know now," he suggested. "The articles you've shown me in the past get on there somehow; so it is safe to presume that the Potter boy learned how and then put his sister's textbooks onto her mirror in a similar manner. That could be just as true for making it possible for her to use it for writing her reports, and as you've already said; there are already different kinds of magical quills. This is likely just a variation."

"I'll look into it," Scorpius decided a bit dubiously; "but what do you think about all of it being done by a fourth-year teen? I seriously doubt that a bunch of kids developed things like the mirror network, Wireless Web, or even older devices like the Wizarding Wireless."

"That's true, but then we aren't talking about something that big – just an adaptation at best," Thomas pointed out. "I'd rate this as much less-impressive than Albus Potter's Animorphmagus – though I still find that nearly-impossible to accept that there isn't another explanation for the different animal forms you've seen him change into over the past couple of years."

"I can't exactly invite him here to demonstrate for you," Scorpius reminded him; "and also have no reason for that doubt when everyone around here has witnessed him change into many different animals – including at the Christmas dance last year when he literally did that on the fly while making changes into forms that were called out at him while the band played that stupid Animorphmagus song."

"My point is more-valid if you are correct and that isn't just a very good trick," Thomas continued. "While this gift may well-be helpful for students should it all work as rumored, it is still just a tool – like a book or quill; and I doubt you've ever been overly-impressed by the Witches and Wizards that print your textbooks or make your quills."

"I hadn't considered it from that light," Scorpius admitted thoughtfully. "Thank you. I need to get to my studies now; but will talk with you again when I can."

Thomas accepted the thanks before his portrait was returned to the bag and he was again plunged into the eternal darkness. His mercurial pupil had flipped the bi-polar switch once again, and while Thomas welcomed that change, he knew that could be a fleeting improvement that could turn again with the next perceived insult. For now, he'd hope that this change in attitude would hold for a time and lead to a resumption of Scorpius' training – and the furtherance of his own goals for the Wizarding World.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were among the teens and tweens waiting in the classroom when Jonah led Lily into the room for her little birthday party. It wasn't a big surprise for her, and they couldn't take the night off from their studies; but they did have a bit of social time while roasting Lily; she opened the gifts; and then spent the rest of the evening splitting her time between birthday fun and her own studies – which she assured everyone went faster thanks to her amazing new mirror upgrade and the special quill. The friends and family teens and tweens that got to see that in action had been impressed, and if there was a downside; it was that there were teens that weren't happy to find out that they couldn't just get the quill and upgrade for their own mirrors. That interest was intense-enough to have Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose sure that they needed to send a set to Ginny and Hermione and get another new business interest started; since making hundreds of the quills and making every textbook or even the entire Hogwarts library available to students on the Wireless Web was a bit too much for them to even think about doing when they were already so busy with everything else – including ongoing commitments for their Animorphmagus toys to have new ones available for Halloween and Christmas.

Getting all of their studying done before curfew didn't end up happening for anyone in their study group – especially when a major clean-up of the room was required before they could head back to their Houses, but Al got the rest of his work finished between curfew and his Astronomy class at midnight; and then he managed to get through that class without falling asleep despite being worn out by then after a too-busy day. It had been a really great day for Lily, though; so all of the extra effort had been worth it – and that was also the only major adjustment that had needed to be made to their schedule for the rest of the week.

While their routine wasn't changed up by any extra activities, Al, Rose, and Ray had their first 'official' practice on Tuesday afternoon as members of the senior team and reserve squad – and needed to be there early for the bonus first team meeting. Since they had less time between last class and that meeting, they didn't try to study after being set free from Transfiguration; and instead went to watch the first-half or so of the junior team practice while they waited for Olivia and the rest of their team to arrive. They didn't want to get in Fred's way, so they sat in the bleachers and didn't even do more than wish everyone well and share a few hugs with Lily when she arrived with Melissa, Kathryn, and Hugo. Fred got the warm-ups started fairly quickly, and while that wasn't much different; he did try to put his personal touch on those exercises too as part of his effort to transition the junior team from being Al's to his.

"I like what he's doing with them," Rose told Al and Ray quietly as they watched Fred leading a round of stretching exercises. "Do you think he hated some of the exercises you had us do, Al?"

"Yes, but he won't want to change too much; or that won't work for the players that need to be as flexible as possible. He is going to do a bit more strength training, though; and that was likely something I should have done more of last season."

"The guys might agree with that; but the girls wouldn't," Rose advised him with a smile. "Most of us don't want to bulk up the way so many guys want to do – particularly if they want to be Beaters in the show some day."

"True, but getting strong-enough to go up against the toughest Slytherin players is a good idea," Al offered. "We need to work on that this year too – especially when we'll be up against at least a couple of our favorite Slytherin haters when they'll have an excuse to pound on us."

That comment proved to be something that Olivia was concerned with for her team too, and she talked about it in her meeting with them, but before getting to that; Al had fun watching his favorite junior players as they warmed-up and then got started on the usual flying drills. Lily led the way for the flying; nobody passed her even once; and pretty much everyone else needed a break to catch their breath by the time she was done with them. What was really great about watching them work together was that even though their junior team had lost three of their best players; it was clear that they'd been replaced with quality players – though they were all a bit less-experienced and had different strengths and weaknesses. The Gryffindor junior team was going to be a tough challenge for all of the other teams, though; and Al liked their chances for winning the Quidditch Cup this year.

Olivia held her meeting on the bleachers around Al, Rose, and Ray; talked about her plans for training the team this season; and then dealt with the usual details like handing out robes and the rest of the 'administrative' necessities that came with being Captain – like going over the rules with her team and having them sign a couple of forms each. They had that wrapped up by the time Fred called an end to the scrimmage that his team won over the reserve squad – thanks to three snitch catches by Lily over Riley. While the junior team landed and headed for the sidelines; Olivia got the senior team warm-ups started; and kicked that up a few notches from their summer workouts and even the pre-tryouts practices. She had the McClaggens take the lead once they'd done the usual stretching and flexing; and had them push everyone as hard as they could for twenty minutes of heavy physical exercise.

Al didn't really think about it as he pushed through that workout – or at least he didn't do that consciously; but he was easily able to keep up with the two bigger, stronger boys while most of the other teens either couldn't or were pushed to their limits. He noticed that James did pretty well too; and expected that his summer job with the Catapults had helped with that. James was put in charge of the flying workout, and Al made sure that his brother stayed happy while doing that by doing no-better than trading places with Lucy for second or third behind him as they blasted around the pitch and basically played follow-the-leader until Olivia was ready to have them move on to the rest of their workout.

While they knew less about the new Slytherin team than about Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, they did at least know about their returning players – and Olivia decided right away that she was going to put Lucy up against Scorpius Malfoy to match up the Lightningbolts while she took up the perennial duel that Gryffindor Chasers had been having with Licentia Nott. While he'd have preferred another battle against Scorpius; Al knew that Olivia was counting on him besting Slytherin's weakest Chaser – especially when Trace Davis was also sure to be the most-likely of those three players to cheat and try to beat up on his opponent. Deciding that early gave them lots of time to work on their game plan, and while there was no guarantee they'd get the match-ups Olivia wanted; Al expected that Slytherin would like those pairings too – and then it would be a battle to find out whether it would work best for Gryffindor or Slytherin.

Olivia couldn't exactly have the reserve squad duplicate the Slytherin players, but she did have some talented players; and she could match up some of them pretty well. They were all sure that Louis would be a better challenge for them than the Slytherin Keeper; Olivia and Lucy were pitted against Gina and Ray respectively; and Magnus actually seemed a bit too happy to be asked to play tough and mean against Al in an attempt to get him ready to be pushed around by Trace Davis. Olivia put the McClaggens on Louis' side of the pitch for their scrimmage; and they too were asked to imitate Don Rosier's type of playing style; though they weren't going to do that for every practice because they still needed to work on their own game plans too. Finally, they knew nothing about how well or poorly Blaise Zabini could play Seeker, so James and Brandon simply battled it out as they'd done for more than a year now; and James was happy with that because he won their duel with the one catch that ended the match before they ran out of time for their practice and scrimmage. That catch also gave James' team the scrimmage win; though Al had already built up a big lead – and might have had the one-sixty lead had the scrimmage continued for much longer.

"Louis and I should switch teams for the scrimmages now and then too," Rose suggested to Olivia once they were all on the ground and beginning to take their gear off and pack up. "You guys don't want to back off on your defense, but you blocked more shots than I had the chance to save today; and I need to face shots that were as tough as Louis had today – or he'll be the Keeper most-ready to play in our first match."

"She's figured out my back-up plan already," Louis joked with a grin for his cousin. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that until the week of the match; and then offer to let me play instead – or maybe get Olivia to let me have a re-match Keeper duel."

"Could we do that for the other positions too?" Magnus asked Olivia hopefully. "That would make this season more interesting for those of us on the reserve squad if we could challenge for spots on the team ahead of the matches."

"That's an interesting idea," Olivia answered. "Let me think about it for a while and I'll get back to you on it."

"Are you serious?" Lucy asked. "That could be a very bad idea – especially if we spend months getting a game plan together and practiced up only to have to change it up or try to adjust for new players on the team at the last minute. Even the Seeker has plays set up with the Beaters; so the whole rhythm of the team could get messed up."

"All true," Olivia agreed, "but if our jobs were on the line all season, and could be won from us by the reserve players; we'd all have more incentive to work harder."

"You like the idea," Rose accused; directing that statement at Al; and he laughed.

"I do – though I'd suggest that those challenges would need to come far-enough ahead of the matches to make those adjustments that Lucy is talking about. It certainly wouldn't work for the junior team with their first match of the season; since that's so close to their tryouts; but it could work for all of our matches when we have months between them."

"As I said – I'll think about it," Olivia interjected; and then turned her attention to Louis and Magnus. "Don't get too worked up about the idea yet, guys. I want to build a team that plays together – not one that is continually fighting each other for the chance to play in our matches. We could tear our team apart if that competition got nasty or if that's all anyone cared about when we all need to care most about trying to win the Quidditch Cup for our House."

"Well, if you go for it; don't forget to make that an option for all of the players in our House," James told her with a smirk. "If you're going to allow challenges for our spots on the team; you should do the same for the reserve team positions too – since that would only be fair too."

"I'm surprised you're not against the idea," Lucy said; and she really did seem surprised as James turned his attention and smirk toward her.

"I don't believe anyone can beat me; so have at it if you'd like to do it. Can we challenge for team Captain too? That might be fun; depending on how we'd do that."

"I'd vote for a one-on-one Beater duel for that," Tiberius joked; earning a round of laughs.

"That's funny, but you're all well on the way to convincing me that challenges for spots on the team ahead of matches would be too much of a headache – though I will still think about it as promised," Olivia told them. "Some of us want to go back to our dorms and get changed before dinner, though; so let's get out of here so we can do that."

The post-practice chat continued while they did that, but they didn't all leave together. Al and Ray took care of getting the Quidditch set put away; Rose went on ahead without them; and they were last to leave the stadium and head for Gryffindor tower to drop off their gear and get the books they'd need for their evening study session. There were other students still out and about the castle grounds, but most of them were between the castle and lake; so Al and Ray didn't have anyone around them during that walk to the castle – and didn't cross paths with many students as they took a back way up toward Gryffindor tower. After having almost two weeks with no troubles, they also hadn't checked their maps; but Al had still been on alert; and was ready when they were ambushed from behind a secret passageway tapestry.

"Trouble magnet," Ray muttered as he drew his wand and shouted "Expelliarmus!" while safely behind the shield that Al had used to protect them from a multi-pronged attack that was both magical and physical.

"Don't touch it!" Al warned as a wand answered Ray's disarming spell. He used a cushioning charm to keep it from reaching Ray; and then let it drop to the floor.

"What is it?" Ray asked; and Al shook his head.

"No idea; but we don't want to touch it." He was still looking ahead of them toward the tapestry and secret passageway; and his expression was angry as he waited with his wand at the ready. "You may as well come out of there, Ollie. I've no intention of letting that shield drop; so this is your only way out."

He shook his head when he sensed what Ollie was going to do instead; and then he and Ray both watched as their unseen attacker blasted himself out of the passageway when his reductor curse rebounded on him instead of destroying Al's shield. Ray looked shocked as Ollie hit the wall across the hall from the secret passage and crumpled to the floor because he was mercifully-unconscious by then.

"Idiot," Al said under his breath as he dropped that shield and hurried to Ollie's side. He knelt on the floor; reached out to put a hand on the other boy; and then shook his head again. "He's seriously-hurt, Ray," he advised his friend even as he carefully put Ollie in a body-bind and got him ready to move to the hospital wing. "I need to get him to Madam Pomfrey right away. Can you deal with that wand? I don't know what's been done to it, or even what it is for sure, but whatever you do; don't touch it or try to use magic on it."

"You think it's cursed?" Ray asked; and Al shrugged as he stood again and levitated Ollie until he was floating waist-high off of the ground.

"I can't tell – and don't have time to try to figure that out right now. Maybe it'd be best to call for help and wait for one of the Professors to deal with it."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Ray agreed. "I'll call Olivia; get her to bring help; and meet you in the hospital wing once I can pass this thing off to someone else and let them deal with it."

"Okay," Al agreed; and then he hurried off with Ollie floating along beside him.

He didn't make it a quarter-way to the hospital wing before crossing paths with other students, but he didn't slow down or talk with any of them; so the rumors were sure to be wild and likely nowhere close to the truth by the time they started to make the rounds in the Great Hall at dinner. Madam Pomfrey wasn't alone when he walked into the main room of the hospital wing and levitated Ollie over to one of the beds, but she dropped what she was doing for her patient and hurried over to him.

"This doesn't look good," she told him. "What happened?"

"He tried to blast through my shield with a reductor curse at close range," Al answered quietly; though the other teen in the room was able to hear him easily-enough; and stared at them with wide eyes in open-mouthed astonishment. "The injuries along the front of his body are from the rebounded curse; and the ones in the back are from hitting the wall that had been about ten feet behind him."

"Oh dear," she said in dismay; and looked over her shoulder at her other patient while deciding what to do next.

"I'll get started on Ollie while you finish up with what you were doing," he suggested to her. "I can keep him stable until you can start dealing with all of the problems he has that I don't know how to fix."

"Very well," she agreed; and returned to her first patient again. "I'm almost finished here anyway; and I'm sure my young friend here will prefer to be able to get to the Great Hall in time for dinner – even if we no longer will be able to do that."

"We won't,' Al agreed as he released Ollie's body-bind and got to work on healing the injuries that needed to be dealt with first to keep his brother's best mate alive. "Try not to have too much fun with the rumors that are sure to be going around about this," he suggested to the other teen. "Ollie's mad at his cousin and me, and made a mistake; but nobody deserves to get hurt this badly – even if it's self-inflicted."

"Was anyone else hurt?" Madam Pomfrey asked; and Al shook his head.

"No. Ollie wasn't with anyone; and Ray and I were not injured at all. Ray's waiting for some help from our Professors with another little problem; and he'll catch up with me once that's done."

"Should I be worried about that other problem?" Madam Pomfrey asked next. "You've quite a gift for understating the seriousness of things."

"I didn't have time to figure that out; which is why we're leaving that problem to the experts,' he answered; and then frowned as he looked down at Ollie and tried to figure out what he was sensing from the other boy. "Merlin!" he exclaimed softly.

"What is it?" Madam Pomfrey demanded.

"Poison – or maybe some sort of venom," Al reported even as he brought his magic to bear to keep the small area of Ollie's leg being attacked by whatever it was that had gotten onto him from spreading beyond what it already had – which was just a tiny bit; since he'd caught it quickly. "Something he had on him got on his skin through his clothes – probably in a robe pocket." He was already looking; found the spot; and then unceremoniously banished Ollie's cloak and pants – getting the remnant of the substance that was on the clothes away from him – and from anyone else that might have accidentally touched Ollie's clothes in those spots.

"Do you need me there?" Madam Pomfrey asked next; and Al shook his head.

"Soon, but I've got that problem contained too until you're done there."

"I think I'd better be done now," she decided. "You're okay to go for now,' she advised the other teen; "but come back after dinner; and I'll finish up with treating that bite."

"Yes, Madam," her young patient agreed; though he sounded disappointed to be set free instead of getting to stay to watch the show. Madam Pomfrey finished wrapping the bandage she put on what Al sensed was a plant bite; and then she hurried over to the other side of Ollie's bed from where Al was standing and still working on the magical healing.

"I don't know what kind of poison or venom got onto him – though I'm pretty sure now that it's not a potion because I don't sense multiple ingredients,' Al reported. "It isn't a very big area, and while it won't be nice for Ollie; it might be easiest for you to cut out that area – unless you've a way to quickly discern what that stuff is and counteract it."

"Is that the most-serious problem right now – or at least the worst that you can't deal with?" she asked first; and Al shrugged.

"It's probably at a tie for top spot with the spinal cord injuries and a couple of other issues." He paused and re-assessed the unknown substance problem. "My magic isn't quite holding the progression of that stuff; so that will be a decision you'll need to make soon."

'Soon' was a relative term as Madam Pomfrey joined in to help with Ollie's healing. When she couldn't come up with a quick answer to what kind of poison, venom, or whatever the substance was that was attacking Ollie's body, she opted to remove the affected tissue while Al made sure that the nothing got into Ollie's bloodstream that could make the problem worse. She then cleaned and dressed that open wound before moving on to deal with the spinal cord injuries next – all of which had been caused by hitting the wall so hard. Al watched her work too, but they didn't have time for her to do any real training with him; since healing Ollie was the priority. He knew when Ray arrived with Olivia and Kathryn; advised them of what little they knew so far about what might have been on the wand so that they could pass that information on to whichever Professors were dealing with it; and then continued to work on Ollie until he'd helped out with everything he knew how to heal – whether that was the dozens of broken bones or the worst of the internal and external cuts and bruises. It wasn't until he was done that he was able to catch his breath and realize that he'd been doing that for hours; and he'd have laughed at the absurdity of the need for that as a result of one ill-advised curse that had only taken moments to cause so much damage.

"I've done what I can," Al advised Madam Pomfrey. "If he's as tired as I am; Ollie should sleep for a week or two."

"He'll be okay, though?" Olivia asked; and Al turned and smiled tiredly at her.

"Yes – except for the part where he's going to hate me even more than ever for all of this."

"From what I've heard and seen; it would be a good idea for him to finally learn from this and stop being such a git," she declared; but there was no real admonishment in her tone – just sincere concern for her brother. "Kathryn and I will thank you, though – even if Ollie won't do it too."

"Are you okay?" Gwendolyn asked quietly as she joined them – and stepped up next to Al.

"I'm tired; but okay," he assured her. "Am I in trouble for messing up our evening study session? I'll be up half the night catching up on that work."

"You're not in trouble; and probably will need to do that," she agreed. "Rose is leading the study group; and I've been working on my assignments while we've been waiting for you." She looked down at Ollie; but not with the same sympathy that Al sensed from Olivia and Kathryn. "I'm supposed to take you to see Professor McGonagall when you're done here. Do you want to do that now; or take a little break first?"

"I've a restorative to send with you that will help with the fatigue that you can take before you go to sleep," Madam Pomfrey told him before he could answer Gwendolyn and in response to the questioning look he'd directed her way. "I can handle Mr. Wood's treatment from here – and thank-you again for your help with him."

"You're welcome," Al assured her; and then returned his atention to Gwendolyn. "I'll take a quick washroom break; get that restorative; and then we can go to see the Headmistress."

They did that; Gwendolyn filled him in on the latest news and gossip surrounding his problems with Ollie; and then they had a short wait before Professor McGonagall invited them up to her office. Professor Longbottom was with her; and they both looked somber as she invited Al and Gwendolyn to sit down in the chairs across the desk from her – and next to the one Neville had been sitting in before standing to welcome them.

"Good evening," Professor McGonagall began; looking at Gwendolyn and then Al; nodding at each of them. "We've heard that you've been very busy helping Madam Pomfrey; so I'll keep this as brief as possible. Let's begin by having you tell me what happened earlier during your incident with Mr. Wood."

"The entire story," Neville added meaningfully. "In case you haven't yet heard, we have discovered that the wand was really a transfigured, magically-venomous snake; so it is very unlikely that you can conceal anything that will keep Ollie from being in a great deal of trouble."

Al sighed and shook his head sadly. "I was afraid of that," he admitted. "He might have been able to claim no knowledge of that wand if he hadn't gotten some of that venom on himself through his clothes; but can't do that with the evidence on his robe and pants."

"We'll want those clothes too," Neville advised him; and Al sighed again before getting his wand and summoning the clothes. He kept them levitated in mid-air so they wouldn't touch anything.

"Do you have something I can put them in that won't be affected by the venom?" Neville summoned a bag that he then put below the clothes so that Al could drop them in; sealed it; and then banished the bag again with the clothes in it.

"Did you notice how Mr. Wood ended up getting some of the venom on his clothes and body?" Neville asked; and Al nodded.

"The reductor curse broke what he'd been using to hold the wand; and there is apparently some venom residue on the inside of it that transferred to his clothes and then seeped onto his skin. That likely wouldn't have happened at all or been nearly so serious if not for the force of the blast – but then the thing wouldn't have broken in the first place if that hadn't happened."

"Thank-you," Neville said; and then nodded toward Professor McGonagall; indicating that Al should get started on his story.

"There really isn't much to tell," Al told her. "Ray and I were coming back from our team practice when Ollie ambushed us from behind the secret passageway tapestry. I shielded us from the hexes, curses, and a few things that were physically hurled at us; Ray tried to disarm him; and I kept that wand from reaching Ray when I sensed there was something wrong with it – though I didn't know what at the time. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have used another shield to block Ollie's escape through that passageway, but even though I know Ollie's mad at Ray and me because of how things went for him at tryouts; I didn't expect he'd lose it enough to try and blast through one of my shields – especially at such close range and with a reductor curse."

"Why did you try to keep him there?" Professor McGonagall asked; and Al shrugged self-consciously.

"Because we're not putting up with those ambushes and attacks the way we used to do before we decided we'd had enough of it last year, but I'd only planned on talking with Ollie about it; since this was the first problem we've had since getting back to Hogwarts." He paused and then sighed yet again. "He might have had reason to feel worried about what would happen to him if he couldn't escape; but I wasn't thinking about that at the time either."

"Considering what he apparently had planned for you or Ray; I don't think that it was unreasonable for you to try and stop him – though we would prefer that you ask for help with these sorts of problems instead of dealing with them yourself," Neville told him.

"They did ask for help with the wand," Gwendolyn pointed out; "and there aren't enough Professors here to watch over a trouble-magnet like Al all of the time."

"That's been too-obviously true every year he's been here so far, Professor McGonagall conceded; "though we still have hoped for better every year."

"I'd hoped for better this year too," Al assured her. "I'm sorry that Ollie got hurt, but by the time I knew what was happening; it was too late for me to do more than simply react to the attack and deal with the aftermath of his choice of curses as best I could."

"There was truly nothing else you could do?" Neville asked; and Al took a long moment to think about that before answering.

"Maybe – probably. I can hopefully learn from this, but nothing else came to mind at the time; and I have no idea what might have happened had I done something differently – like dropping that shield. That reductor curse could have just done a lot of damage at the other end of the passageway – or injured anyone walking past it at the time. Letting Ollie escape at that point wasn't the only concern. I don't know the answer for any of that now either, but I already feel bad about what happened to Ollie; and there's no point in second-guessing what I might have done instead – even though, in hindsight, it seems that the best choice would have been to just let him escape."

"Only because you know Ollie's hurt and in trouble," Gwendolyn advised him. "You didn't make him ambush you; use that transfigured snake in an attempt to seriously hurt you or Ray; or try to blast his way past your shield. All of that is on him – not you."

"I know; but it doesn't really help," Al admitted; and then returned his attention to their Headmistress. "Ollie really was seriously injured, so I put him in a body bind; took him to the hospital wing; and have spent the rest of the time since then helping Madam Pomfrey with his healing. She'll have more to do, and can let you know how long he'll need to fully recover; but I expect that'll be days or maybe a week – including a day or three just to rest up from all of the healing."

"Is there anything else we should know about the ambush?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Do you have anything you can tell us about that transfigured snake?"

"I didn't learn anything about that snake or wand directly," Al answered. "Madam Pomfrey couldn't determine what the substance – the venom - was while she was treating Ollie before choosing an alternate, pro-active treatment, but you likely know more about that than we did if you've identified the snake. I've no idea where Ollie got it from or whether he did the transfiguration himself or not. It is obvious to me that the wand had been the true attack; so his hexes and curses had just been a diversion – an attempt to get Ray or me to try and disarm him. I'll guess there was some kind of reversal spell that turned the wand back into the snake on contact?"

"Yes," Neville confirmed – "and the snake was not happy when we changed him back."

"Then I hope we never have to work with venomous snakes in Transfiguration class," Gwendolyn said fervently. "They're not exactly my favorite animal to start with; and I definitely don't want to be around them when they're mad."

"Note to me – don't change into a snake around Gwendolyn," Al joked; though he barely smiled and wasn't surprised when nobody laughed. "There isn't anything else I have to add to my story," he advised Professor McGonagall. "I wish that Ollie had left us alone, and I really am sorry he got hurt; but I'm also glad that his plan didn't work – especially since Ray would have been the one geting hurt had he caught that wand – assuming the snake didn't just go after both of us; since we were standing close together. That venom was bad-enough just getting a bit on Ollie's skin. An actual bite would be much worse – and likely much tougher to treat."

"You seemed to manage well-enough with Ollie," Neville pointed out; but Al shook his head.

"Madam Pomfrey helped him with most of that. All I could manage was to keep it from spreading while she cut out the infected or affected part of Ollie's leg. That worked; though I'm sure she'd have worked longer at trying to find an antidote for the venom had the damage been more-extensive. Either way; I didn't know what I was doing and couldn't help her very much for that part of Ollie's healing."

"Madam Pomfrey will send me a full report for Mr. Wood's treatment," Professor McGonagall said; "so we don't need to go over those details. You've missed dinner, so if you'd like to get something to eat; you're welcome to stop in to the kitchens and ask for something to hold you over until breakfast. That'll be all I'll need of you for tonight, so thank-you; and you may leave now."

Al and Gwendolyn stood; Neville stayed behind; and they headed out of the office with just the briefest of goodbyes for both Professors. They went to their usual study classroom to meet up with Rose and the rest of their friends; and Ray was there and waiting for them by then too.

"Well, you must not have been kicked out – unless you've come to say goodbye," Ray joked. "My meeting with the Headmistress didn't take that long. Did you have dinner with her or something?"

"No, but I'm allowed to go to the kitchens and ask for dinner if I want to do that," Al answered. "You didn't tell us you'd met with her while we'd been at the hospital wing."

"You were busy; and I thought it best not to give anyone reason to claim we colluded on our story about what happened," Ray explained with a shrug. "Is the Headmistress still angry?"

"Probably," Gwendolyn answered before Al could. "She was calmed down; but she isn't happy about how serious that attack was – particularly when it comes to that transfigured wand."

"Then Ollie better hope that she decides that his stay in the hospital wing is enough punishment – or he could be in detention for the rest of the year – or worse," Ray offered next. "Do you know if anyone else was in on it? Ollie isn't a horrid student, but that kind of transfiguration seems a bit beyond him – not to mention that I have no idea where he'd get his hands on that kind of venomous snake."

"He had help," Al said quietly; "but I doubt they'll find any proof to point to anyone. Ollie would happily rat us out, since he has done that sort of thing before; but he'd never do that to someone helping him out with his pranks and ambushes; so he'll likely take all the blame – while trying to insist that it's all our fault; or that we've set him up."

"No doubt," Ray agreed with a nod. "Before I forget – thanks for keeping me from catching that wand. Rumor has it that would have really sucked for me if I had."

"You're welcome," Al assured him; "and that's apparently one rumor that is actually true. Did you stay with Olivia and Kathryn for long after we left? Is there anything new we should know about Ollie?"

"I left when James showed up – and he just happened to do that about two minutes after you and Gwendolyn left. Olivia and Kathryn were staying because their parents were on the way; though they didn't look happy to have James there with Lara Bishop when I left."

"Was Lara impressed with his dedication to his best mate?" Gwendolyn asked; and Ray nodded.

"She seemed to be; though I didn't want to be around for any of that either. I'm sure that James was happy to get me out of the room so successfully with just a couple of insults."

"Then he'll be even happier to find out that I don't plan on going back there to visit Ollie – unless Madam Pomfrey wants me there for anything."

"Don't do that again tonight," Rose told him. "Most of us are nearly-done our assignments for the day; and you've yet to get started on them. Are you going to be able to catch up tonight?"

"I hope so," Al answered. "We've got our first Hogsmeade weekend ahead of us; and I don't want to fall behind and have even more work to do on Friday night and Sunday."

"You can get started then; and we'll try not to pester you with the rest of our questions until later – or tomorrow," Rose said and suggested to everyone. "I could do that run to the kitchen for food for you too – once I'm done this assignment."

She ended up doing that for him – and had Lily along for the trip when she stopped by with Hugo and Jonah to check up on Al and Gwendolyn and get the latest news. Al didn't get away with not talking about his adventures in the hospital wing and another visit to Professor McGonagall's office; but Gwendolyn answered a lot of those questions; and he did make some progress on his assignments. The food ended up being a sandwich and some cold veggies, but he had a few of his own snacks to supplement the meal because he really had needed to start making up for all of the energy he'd used up – and some of that always came from the Wizard or Witch – as well as from the patient and all around them when it came to healing magic. Gwendolyn wouldn't let him walk her home ahead of curfew; sent him to Gryffindor tower with Rose, Lily, Ray, and Hugo; and then went on to her own House with Jonah and the rest of the Ravenclaw members of their study group. They didn't get any new updates about Ollie, but did get an earful of rumors that James was spreading around about what a horrid thing Al and Ray had done to Ollie – an attempt that didn't seem to be working very well at convincing anyone that James had the story right and the rest of the rumors were all rubish and lies.

Al was asked a lot of questions too, but as usual; he didn't pass along everything he knew; and that didn't help his case very much. His roommates wanted to talk about it while he resumed his studies after getting ready for bed; Ray sat up with him for nearly an hour before crashing into nap mode; and Al worked until late – and until he had all of his work finished before taking the restorative and going straight off to sleep for a few hours.

Compared to the last-half of Tuesday, the rest of the week was blissfully-quiet for Al. He managed to wake up at his normal time on Wednesday; he had a great start to his day with the morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily; and then his latest round of being in the gossip spotlight began to fade by the end of breakfast as everyone got more interested in the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, Quidditch, or more-entertaining teen drama gossip as new relationships developed and others became broken as post-summer reunions didn't go as well as hoped for some couples. Al and Gwendolyn focused on their studies and Quidditch for the rest of the week, and while they kept up-to-date with the latest news about Ollie; they got that information from Lily, Kathryn, and Melissa instead of trying to visit Ollie in the hospital wing. They'd really been happy about that choice after finding out that James had pretty much set up camp in the hospital wing; and Lara wasn't the only Witch to spend time with him there while he stood vigil over his fallen friend – and then kept him company once Ollie woke up and then needed to continue his slow recovery. That waking didn't happen until Thursday night or Friday morning, and Ollie had not been happy; so Al and Ray were the last people he wanted to see anyway.

Okay, he didn't want to see Professor McGonagall either, and while there were no student witnesses to that meeting in the hospital wing; James and Kathryn both passed along the gossip that Ollie was sure that the Headmistress didn't believe his version of what had happened to him; and that 'the loser' was once again going to mess up his life. Al was sure he'd believe that, but no decision about whether Ollie would face any punishment was announced as the school week ended and most of the older teens in the castle started to get really fired-up about their first trip to Hogsmeade of the school year. Before getting to that break in the work, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and about half of their study group spent Friday evening studying until curfew, but while having some play time would have been nicer; they were also all planning on taking all of Saturday off wihtout any study sessions at all. That was something that Al and Gwendolyn were really looking forward to when they'd also get to spend most of that time together; and that had everything to do with why Al was up early on Saturday morning and waiting in the common room for Rose a full half-hour ahead of their normal meet-up time.

"I knew you'd be here early," Rose said as she crossed the common room and met up with Al only ten minutes or so after he'd sat down to wait for her. He'd been working on the fourth-year version of Lily's birthday gift; but had his mirror put away by the time she reached him and they could share a warm hug.

"Hogsmeade weekends won't be exciting by mid-winter; but the first one will hopefully be great."

"Especially if James stays behind to nurse his best mate back to health all day while he's missing out on the fun," Rose suggested with a grin. "Would you like to make any wagers on that one?"

"Not if I have to take the 'he will do that' side of the bet," Al answered; grinning too. "James will make the sacrifice of going to town instead and picking up everything Ollie needs for the next three weeks; since that's just the kind of true friend he is; and he'll likely need to recruit at least one Witch to help him out with that."

"No doubt," Rose agreed. "Are you surprised that Ollie didn't have a miraculous recovery so that he'd be able to go to town today?"

"I'm not," Al admitted with a shrug. "He's telling everyone that he'll get some kind of punishment for that ambush because of how dangerous that wand-snake was – since the Headmistress believes my lies over his truth; so he likely expects that a recovery would just mean polishing armor all day instead of going to town. He might try to milk his recovery as long as possible and hope that Professor McGonagall will take that into account if he suffers enough from his injuries."

"Well, James milked his Quidditch injury for months; so maybe that'll work for Ollie too. Change of subject. Did Hugo talk to you about something he wanted picked up today that he doesn't want me to do for him – or get Mum to send him from home?"

"Yes, but it's nothing you – or your Mum – should worry about," Al assured her. "Speaking of your Mum – when do you want to try calling to wish her a happy birthday?"

"We'll try right before breakfast. I don't want to wake her if she's getting to sleep in – and definitely don't want to interrupt if she isn't."

"That's a scary thought for any kid when it comes to their parents; so let's not go there."

"I wish that I could be there – wherever 'there' is; since Mum and Dad won't tell us where they've gone for the weekend."

"You might like to visit the place, but they didn't even take any other friends along this time; so you probably don't want to be there with them this weekend," Al offered. "Maybe they're at the same place that Mum and Dad won't tell us about that they've used for other getaways – supposedly to keep it a secret hideaway from us or something like that."

"As if your Dad couldn't hide from you anytime he wanted," Rose scoffed. "They have fun with that sort of thing, though; so I guess it doesn't hurt us to play along no matter how silly it seems." She smiled at him then. "Don't think that I didn't notice your diversion from what I really wanted to know about Hugo's request."

"Sorry, but if he wanted you to know; he'd have just told you – or had you pick it up for him. It really isn't anything weird, though; so just let it go."

"Easy for you to say – you at least know about the things that I pick up for Lily that she doesn't want your help with; while I've no clue about what might have Hugo too embarrassed about to ask for my help – unless it's girl-related."

"Fishing for clues isn't going to work for this one," Al advised her.

Rose sighed. "It was worth the try. Okay, what are you and Gwendolyn going to do first when you get to town? Any special stops you need to make today?"

"None that I'll be doing with you and Gwendolyn," he said pointedly. "Instead of going around and around about that, though; let's talk about some things we should be picking up for our fourth-year version of the mirror study app."

"Study app?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"We haven't really come up with a name for it, and it isn't exactly the same as the apps on Muggle smartphones or computers; but it sort of is a magical version of an app."

"More like a browser plug-in," Rose said thoughtfully. "We should come up with a name for it – especially since we're going to get our Mums to sell it for us too."

"Should I send a post to Minister Shacklebolt?" Al offered. "He's the one that came up with the Animorphmagus name for me; and that's doing pretty well for the toys."

"I didn't think about that," Rose said after laughing. "Let's hope he doesn't decide to ask for royalties because we used the name."

"As far as I know; that's never been a problem in the Wizarding World like it has with Muggles," Al pointed out. "If you have any ideas for a name for that study program; we can send them along to our Mums when we send a prototype with Winter tomorrow night."

"You'll send a copy of Lily's version?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"If we get our version done by then; I'll send both. There would still be a lot to do before selling them; since I doubt that many schools use exactly the same textbooks that we use; and I've never even thought about how it'll be different for all of the other languages."

"The Wireless Web translates automatically," Rose reminded him. "It should work the same for what we've done – and it'll just depend on which language the individual mirror is set to use. Adding in all of the textbooks will take time, though; so that'll make a difference on the selling prices if the versions for each school are a lot different. Some of the books must be the same; but others are likely different in every country – like the history books."

"You don't think that they learn about Hogwarts at all of the other schools the way we do?" Al joked; and Rose laughed.

"No more than we learn about all of those other schools. Most of what you and I know comes from our cousins and Aunt Fleur – not from what we've been taught here."

"That isn't likely to change with this app we're making," Al suggested. "We don't have time to make up hundreds or thousands of versions of it; so it'll be up to someone else to do that. I'm not even sure I want to make up five more of them for the other years in our school – though I suppose that would make a nice Christmas gift for our cousins and friends if we did that."

"It would make a nice Christmas gift to have in stores for the holidays," Rose countered – "and someone else could get that done between now and then – though we'd likely make more money for our Cannons-buying fund if we did the work ourselves."

They talked about that for a while longer, but didn't come up with any cool names for their 'app' while doing that; and they eventually moved on to talk about everything from shopping in town and lunch plans to Quidditch and Animorphmagus toys. Even after taking a long walk, they were still among the first of the teens and tweens to arrive in the Great Hall; they had time to visit with friends while waiting for breakfast to be served; and then they had fun chatting with their usual group of tablemates while enjoying the meal and waiting for it to be time to head for Hogsmeade. Gwendolyn joined them for the tail-end of that wait; Rose stayed with them for the walk to town; and then Gwendolyn and Rose both went off with a group of Witches to do a bit of fun shopping while Al got started on the boring supply shopping for all three of them – and for the younger kids they were doing some shopping for too.

It wasn't a hot, sunny day, but it was at least warm and rain-free; so spending the day wandering from shop to shop and making the usual rounds was more fun than it was on bad-weather days. In addition to the usual supplies, Al also picked up all of the quills and ink he'd need to charm to work with their wireless web app, plug-in, or whatever they ended up calling it. He didn't plan on making copies for everyone in the school; but did want to make copies of Lily's app for Hugo, Jonah, and some of their friends; and a version of the fourth-year app for everyone in their study group. Gwendolyn met up with him shortly-after he'd finished his visit to the apothecary; he'd been done with getting parchment, inks, and quills by then too; and they moved on to take care of everything from sweets and wheezes to a small list of personal supplies. The last part wasn't a big deal after only two and a half weeks of school, but then the girls took care of most of that anyway; since the guys that Al helped didn't need much of anything at all. Al had been glad to spend some time with Gwendolyn while they weren't with a gang; though that was relative when every store had crowds of teens happily doing their shopping too. They were just leaving one of the shops when Al's mirror chimed; and he quickly answered Lily's call.

"Ollie's been suspended!" she said in an excited rush without bothering to say hello or wait for Al to 'answer' her call.

"Good morning again, Lily," Al offered. "How's things going there at Hogwarts? Anything exciting happening while we're here in town?" His attempt at a bit of dark levity was matched by the grim expression that was on his face at her news; and he couldn't avoid the guilt that came right on the heels of his first, less-charitable reaction.

"Yeah – Ollie's been suspended," she repeated with a dismissive wave of her hand and a short laugh that wasn't one of amusement. "Kathryn just got back from the hospital wing and told us all about it. She and Olivia had gone to see their parents; and that's when they found out they'd come to get Ollie and take him home while all of the older teens are in town."

"Do you know how long he'll be gone?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily nodded.

"The rest of the school year! Olivia thinks that McGonagall is making an example of him – not that all of the suspensions of those Slytherins kept Ollie from trying to blast Al and Ray. You won't be surprised that he's furious – and is blaming this all on you, Al."

"I'm not surprised at that; but I am a bit surprised that he's been suspended," Gwendolyn told her. "He's the only one that was injured; yet he's getting nearly the same punishment as Rupert and his mates got for doing far more harm to other students."

"This isn't his first suspension," Lily pointed out; "and the only reason someone else didn't get seriously hurt was because Al kept that from happening. Maybe this is exactly what Ollie needs to make him wise up."

"There might be more to it than we know," Al suggested. "If the Professors have learned more about what happened than we know; it could have affected their choice of punishment."

"Like where he got that snake-wand," Gwendolyn added and offered. "That could be it – or maybe they came down harder on him if he wouldn't tell them where he got it from – or, more likely; he just continues to insist that he's an innocent victim no matter how much evidence they show him to prove otherwise."

"Whatever the reason; he's already out of here," Lily advised them. "He apparently complained about being too ill to go anywhere too, but then shut up about it when they offered to take him to St. Mungo's instead of home if he really didn't think he was well-enough to complete his recovery in his own bed. Kathryn said they were taking the Floo Network so they didn't risk messing him up by walking out to the gates and apparating from there."

"I wonder if James knows yet?" Gwendolyn mused. "We heard that he's doing all of Ollie's shopping today; so someone should let him know so he doesn't waste all of that money – or has time to return what he doesn't need anymore."

Lily grinned at her. "Gotta go. I love you guys. Pick me up an extra box of sweets. I may need them for the party tonight."

"Lily," Al admonished; but she grinned at him unapologetically.

"I'll celebrate on the outside while you do it on the inside at the same time that you feel guilty and bad for Ollie," she told him. "I've got another call to make, though; so I'll see you guys when you get back later this afternoon." With that, she was gone; Al put his mirror away; and then he and Gwendolyn decided to go for a little walk so they could talk about her news without being bothered – or overheard – by anyone.

"What do you really think about Ollie's suspension?" Gwendolyn asked Al quietly as they walked out toward the Shrieking Shack.

"I hate it – and I'm celebrating on the inside," he half-joked. "James pretty much led Ollie to this point, and while Ollie's earned some of the blame; he might have had no problems with me if not for getting involved in James' vendetta against me. This is bad-enough for him, but it could have been worse."

"Yeah – if he'd still been on probation; he might have been expelled," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "You're sure he got that wand from James and Scorpius, so I know what you're thinking; but Ollie did still have to choose to use it on you – unless you think he was under the influence of a memory charm."

"He wasn't," Al assured her; "but that doesn't mean that James isn't taking advantage of him being so mad at Ray and me for not even making the reserve squad this year."

"Well, that won't be a problem for him now either," Gwendolyn pointed out. "For all we know, a year of home schooling to get ready for his OWLs might actually help him compared to studying all year with James."

"I doubt he'll see it that way; so I'll keep my distance from him when we're home for holidays – and maybe next summer too."

"I don't know how you'll do that if you both practice with the senior team; but I guess that's a problem you won't have to worry about for a while; and not worth talking about now. Do you think we'll need to start worrying about James trying to retaliate?"

Al thought about that before answering; searching what he sensed and foresaw for his own near-future. "I don't think so," he decided. "He'll likely shoot his mouth off to anyone who will listen and insult me whenever he can; but I doubt he'll risk messing up his OWL year or Quidditch – unless he can find a sure-fire way to blast me without getting caught."

"I haven't heard any shouts or screams from town yet. Do you think that James has heard the news?"

"He might have answered Lily's call if he needed to impress the girls by playing nice with his little sister; but he might ignore her too; so he might need to find out about it elsewhere – or after we're back at Hogwarts."

They didn't find out about that, but did know that the rumors were beginning to make the rounds in town by the time they met up with Rose and some of their other friends for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Since they'd been given a one-off version of the rumor, their friends wanted to hear all about it as they had lunch, and since the place was crowded; they were sure to have been overheard – and that would just add to the rumors as they spread among all of the Hogwarts students in town. That was true at Hogwarts too; where all of the first and second-year students wanted to talk about Ollie's suspension during their lunch break. While Al and Gwendolyn didn't see James while in town, they did cross paths with Olivia once; and she'd come to town after her parents had left with Ollie. They didn't talk about Ollie, but Al had earned some teasing for giving his team Captain a hug – and that had worked to help her; since he'd been sure that he'd get teased; and the jokes had been what helped her to have a bit of fun on what was turning out to be a tough day for her.

Al and Gwendolyn stayed in town until mid-afternoon; didn't have any problems on the trip back to the school; and then they split up long-enough to go back to their own Houses and distribute supplies to their younger relatives and friends. They'd planned on spending the rest of the afternoon together and on their own, but they ended up hanging out with Lily and Jonah instead. Lily had wanted to talk about the 'Ollie story' with them, but since the extra company meant that Al couldn't do anything else with Gwendolyn that might have been more fun – like some afternoon snogging; they instead used that time to make quills and ink for Jonah and Hugo; and then set Jonah's mirror up so that he could use the new study app too. They had that done by dinnertime; and then the Ollie story was the top gossip entertainment at dinner too. Some of those rumors, along with what he sensed from James while his brother happily tried to convince his friends that his loser brother had managed to get away with once again messing things up for Ollie, helped to convince Al that spending the evening alone with Gwendolyn was a great plan – and not just because they were both looking forward to the alone time for some music fun and more than a bit of quality snogging! They each finished having their meals and desserts early; and then happily escaped the Great Hall – and all of the teen drama that they wished they had no part in at all.

"Ollie Wood's been suspended and sent home," Scorpius advised Thomas without preamble as he put the portrait on the table and then opted to pace the room instead of sitting down.

"For what?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius stopped and turned to stare at him for a moment as the question interrupted his train of thought.

"I haven't talked to you since before the trouble he had on Tuesday?" he asked; and then waved off his own question. "Sorry. Ollie tried to ambush the loser and his own cousin, Ray, after the Gryffindor senior team Quidditch practice on Tuesday afternoon. That didn't go well for him; he got hurt rather badly; and got caught trying to use the little gift we sent to James during that ambush. Before you ask, no, he messed up; and wasted that perfectly-good snake venom."

"Then if he failed and didn't hurt anyone; why would he be suspended?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius frowned.

"That's something I don't know for sure. We could speculate it's the next step in punishment for him; since he has been suspended before, but for all I know; there are other issues – like the fact that he had one of those snakes in his possession in the first place."

"Or he wouldn't tell anyone where he got it," Thomas added. "You can't exactly start hanging out with James when the school's filled with students; but this could be another opportunity for you – especially if you both stay here at Christmas again this year."

"Maybe, but if James is just going to give our anonymous gifts away to his idiot mates only to have them wasted; I'm not sure I want to bother doing that anymore."

"You'd have thought it was brilliant had it worked," Thomas pointed out. "Trying to get others to do his dirty work has been something he's tried before, and if he did that this time; then it says a lot that he's willing to put his own best mate at risk of being injured and suspended to avoid having that sort of thing happen to him."

"That's true; but then that might also make him unreliable as even a tool for our cause if he's always looking out for himself over everyone and everything else."

"There are ways to make sure that can't happen," Thomas reminded him. "Unbreakable vows, for instance, would ensure that couldn't happen. That's nothing to worry about now; and my point is still valid – James Potter is proving to be willing to go to any lengths to get what he wants. If you can convince him that he wants the same things you do; then he'd be a dangerous ally – and one that wouldn't care about the costs and sacrifices of others that will be necessary along the way."

Scorpius laughed. "I'm not sure I'd like that if I ended up being one of those casualties that he wouldn't care about; but let's get back to the news about Ollie. Today is Saturday; it was a Hogsmeade weekend; and Ollie was sent home while we were in town. The rumors are fairly-wild, but the funniest for me are the ones about it all being the loser's fault. James has likely started all of those rumors; and it's amazing to see how many students are willing to believe those lies without question."

"You do have information that most of them do not; but that's also something we've talked about in the past. Most people are easy to manipulate; and James seems to have a talent for doing that."

"Particularly with Witches," Scorpius agreed with a nod. "He's added a third to his harem from what I saw in town today." He laughed and then explained. "I was just thinking that he's just been getting ready to replace Ollie for the rest of the school year; though I can't picture this particular Witch going out on prank patrol with him." He looked at his watch and smiled. "Speaking of Witches – I've one to meet up with in a bit more than a half-hour. Do you have a lesson we could do that quickly? I definitely do not want to keep Lysandra waiting for me."

"You've done almost no work on our studies since returning to Hogwarts," Thomas reminded him. "You need to get back to the work if you want to be ready to lead the purebloods some day."

"I know, but as you remind me regularly, that won't happen overnight; and I've years or even decades to complete my training with you. Can you promise me the same for Lysandra?"

"Not for what you're most-interested in right now," Thomas answered. "Try not to let the Witch totally befuddle you – or you might find yourself happily wasting the rest of your life on inconsequential things."

"That's not going to happen," Scorpius assured him. "I am going to rise to greatness beyond anything anyone in my family has ever even dreamed of for themselves."

That wasn't going to happen anytime soon either, but he did have fun doing a short lesson with Thomas; and then he wrapped up his Saturday with a brilliant couple of hours of snogging with Lysandra. He left to meet up with her; but then returned to the Room of Requirements with her – choosing a room for them to use that was quite different from the one he used with Thomas. Lysandra had been impressed the first time he'd taken her to the Room of Requirements; it was the perfect place for them to hide from everyone else in the castle; and had the bonus of providing everything they needed to be comfortable while snogging each other senseless!

James made his way to his bed a bit unsteadily; moving slowly not just because of the darkness, but because he was fairly-seriously inebriated. That thought had him giggling a bit; but he did that quietly as he attempted to reach his bed without waking any of his roommates. He did that successfully; climbed onto his bed; and sprawled out on it with a sigh. Turning his head, he squinted toward Ollie's bed, but couldn't see anything beyond a shadowy outline in the dark; and his impaired mental state helped to dull his senses to the point where his best mate's absence didn't really bother him – even as Ollie's suspension had a lot to do with why he'd felt the need to drink a lot while allowing Patricia to comfort him in his time of need.

By morning – or whenever he got around to starting his Sunday; he'd convince himself that he hadn't been in need at all, but in the fire whiskey-fueled haze and dark of night; he could admit that he'd needed Patricia's company for more than the physical diversion and escape. What he couldn't do, though, was admit to any responsibility for what had happened to Ollie. The fault for that belonged solely and entirely with his loser brother! The Animorphpotty had messed things up for Ollie even worse than they'd first thought; and now he wouldn't have his best mate around for the rest of the school year – and he had no idea how Ollie would manage to pass any of his OWL's while studying for them from home.

He had warned Ollie about going after the loser without a sure-fire, can't fail plan, but then that anonymous gift had been delivered; and he'd known that Ollie would use it when he'd offered to hide it in his trunk – and then had borrowed the Marauder's Map later on so he could go out on prank patrol for something to do while James was at Quidditch practice. That attempt had ended as badly as the rest of their most-recent attempts to blast the loser, and despite his best efforts; not even Bristol and Lara actually believed the stories that he and Ollie told everyone about what had really happened. Patricia was likely only pretending to believe him to gain advantage over Bristol and Lara, but since that had worked out pretty well for him from a having fun with her standpoint; he was okay with that little co-deception.

What he wasn't okay with was not having a best mate to hang out with every day for most of the next year. Sure, they had other friends, but only Ollie shared and understood his hatred of the Animorphloser; had the same problems with his own sisters; and was willing to do anything to prove that they were right about their dirty, rotten loser siblings. None of the other guys would be able to replace Ollie for that, and while he could talk to Patricia about the Animorphloser; it just wasn't the same – not to mention that her responses to him were always self-serving and fake while Ollie truly shared his animosity and hatred.

His mind was too-dulled to hold onto the rage he'd felt all day after hearing about Ollie's suspension, but that would return; and he knew that he'd have no way to take that out on his loser brother. Ollie might decide to hate him for not avenging this injustice, but even in his current, inebriated state; James knew that it would be pointless to try only to get kicked out of Hogwarts for the rest of the year too – or worse. He had more to lose than Ollie had; since he'd been off the Quidditch team anyway, and as he thought about that; he wondered if being at home would be better for Ollie; since that would mean that he wouldn't have to watch the loser and his own cousin going to team practices three times a week and throw that in his face every time he had to even look at them. Sure, it would have been far better if the Animorphloser and the Dog-Wood had been kicked out instead; but not having to put up with them every day was at least a minor consolation prize for Ollie.

Maybe getting kicked out of school wouldn't be all bad after all!

James might have pondered that idea for a while longer, but passed out then instead; the victim of a technical knock-out by a bottle of fire whiskey that was sure to have him feeling as though he'd been hit up the side of the head with it when he did get around to regaining consciousness!

"I didn't lose track of time and forget to set my clock back an hour last night did I?" Al joked when he walked into the common room on Sunday morning and found Rose already there waiting for him.

"No, but I have something to talk about with you this morning; and woke up early." She'd said that while he'd been crossing the room; they shared a hug; and then she grabbed her book bag and waved for him to follow her out of the room.

"Did something else happen with the Ollie story that I didn't hear about while hanging out with Gwendolyn? None of the guys said anything last night that was news to me."

"No; though Patricia didn't get back to our dorm room until hours-past curfew and woke some of us up while getting into bed and passing out. This is about something entirely different," she said a bit cryptically. "Since you're smiling like that; I'll guess that you had a good night. I wish I could get together with Kyle; but that can't ever happen for us; so I'll have to settle for the video chats – when I can do that with him."

"You couldn't do that last night?" Al asked in surprise; and Rose shook her head.

"No, and that brings me to my top news of the morning. I couldn't use the Room of Requirements last night because Scorpius Malfoy was using it – with Lysandra Lestrange." They were out in the hallway and on their own by then; but she'd still looked around while telling him that. "We don't want to tell anyone except Gwendolyn about this; but I seriously doubt they're using the Room of Requirements for a study room."

"Did they see you too?" Al asked; and Rose shook her head again.

"No. I was checking my map on my way there because James wasn't in the common room when I left; and saw Scorpius between me and the Room of Requirements. James, by the way, was in another classroom; and while I thought he'd be with Lara at the time; I did find out that he'd been with Patricia instead – and heard about that before her late-night return to our dorm room. I expected Scorpius to move on, but he stayed in the area in front of the Room of Requirements; and I caught up in time to peek around the corner and see him open a room and go into it with Lysandra."

"I guess we should add her to our maps too if she's getting involved with Scorpius – though I don't really want to know where they're meeting up for snogging sessions."

Rose laughed. "Then you won't have to worry about that; since the Room of Requirements doesn't show up on our maps; and Scorpius disappeared from mine as soon as he walked into whatever room he created for them to use."

"Well, I'll give him credit for having a brilliant idea for that," Al offered. "That's likely much nicer than my idea for toy sofas and a bigger mirror for watching shows."

"You can do that; but he's messing with me for having video chats with Kyle; so I hope that isn't going to be an every day thing for them."

"Why am I picturing a sign-up sheet on the wall in front of the Room of Requirements?" he asked rhetorically; and Rose joined in for the laugh.

"Because you're wishing that you'd tried that with Gwendolyn; and it would be very popular if word ever gets out about something like that. If I do start to have too much competition for the room, though; I may have to come up with a plan 'B' for my video chats with Kyle. He wasn't happy that I had to cancel our talk last night and settle for some text messages."

"I'm not sure what else we could do for that; but will think about it. You could keep an eye on them, though, and just get into the Room of Requirements first if you see them heading that way – or if they start to have a pattern for the visits."

"That's an idea," Rose agreed. "They might even give up if they can't use it too many times in a row and don't know why it isn't working for them."

"Maybe, but Scorpius likely knows as much as we do about the Room of Requirements – especially if he's been told everything that his father knows about it."

"That's a good point," Rose told him. "He might even know more about it; so I'd better be more careful. It wouldn't be good if they know a way to walk in on me when I'm in there and on my own."

"You can always call for help if you need it; but I doubt they could get into a room you created without knowing exactly what you wanted when you created it."

"Could they get to it if what they really wanted was to find me?"

Al thought about that and then shrugged. "I have no idea. We could try it out sometime and see if I could do it once you're in the room. Since you want privacy as part of your requirements, though; I still think you'd get that and not have to worry about any unwanted guests."

They continued to chat about that for a few minutes before moving on to other topics; had lots of time for an extended walk; and then they got on with the rest of their day – starting with breakfast in the Great Hall. There was a make-up Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team, but Olivia booked the late-morning time slot; so Al and Rose met up with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group and got to work on the rest of their weekend revision first. The Quidditch practice was a bit subdued because of how many of them were feeling about Ollie's suspension. Those sentiments varied by quite a bit, and Al had to deal with all of that too; but that didn't keep him from having a good workout – and he was top scorer for the scrimmage too because James was having a bad morning and didn't catch the snitch at all before time ran out and they needed to head back to the castle for lunch. Al had needed to deal with James' animosity and a few insults, but the hangover he was dealing with kept James from putting any real effort into doing much more than getting through the practice – something that he obviously hadn't considered on Saturday while deciding to have a few too many drinks.

There was more studying in the afternoon; some work on the fourth-year version of the study app and some more quills and ink; and then Al and Gwendolyn spent another Sunday evening with Lily and Jonah. The music, mirror chats with their parents, and a bit more study app work was all fun; and then Al and Gwendolyn did the visit to the Owlery on their own – and not just because that gave them a bit of a chance for some alone time to say goodnight to each other. They also spent time with Winter and Blizzard; sent a copy of the study app prototype and their weekly letters out with Winter when it was time to head back to their Houses ahead of curfew; and they set Blizzard up with some extra treats in case he ended up stuck at Hogwarts for yet another week of tedium that only included getting to fly around the school grounds unless his master sent him on Owl Post runs. Al walked Gwendolyn home as always; returned to Gryffindor tower after that; and then went straight up to his dorm room for the rest of the night when he didn't want to be in the common room with Rose or the rest of their friends thanks to James setting up his study group at a table next to Rose – and had apparently done that so he could insult his brother, Rose, and Ray while supposedly sticking up for his poor victim of a best mate. Studying in bed and working on another little project he was playing around with was a much nicer way to end the weekend; and then Al went off to sleep before most of his roommates even came up to their dorm for the rest of the night too.

Their third full week of classes leading up to the last weekend of September was filled with a busy mix of classes, studying, and Quidditch; but Monday started out with some drama too – thanks to Professor Slughorn. He began handing out invitations to the Slug Club because he set up his first meeting for Friday evening; and apparently planned on having most meetings on the last Friday of each month – or the last available Friday for things like the Christmas party. The drama for Al and Gwendolyn came about because she was invited to join; and he wasn't – possibly because Ray and Rose were given the only two invitations for fourth-year Gryffindors. They found out later that it could have also been because James got an invitation too; and that was where most of the drama came from for Al as James needed to razz him about being excluded – and offering to have fun with Gwendolyn while she was getting to spend time with a real Wizard.

The Slug Club news was at the top of the gossip network for the rest of the day on Monday, and Al didn't enjoy the extra insults and razzing from James; but then he was actually relieved that he hadn't been asked to join. Gwendolyn hadn't wanted the honor either, but they both knew she couldn't refuse; since her mother really did consider Slughorn a friend. She hadn't liked the idea of being at those meetings with James, but Rose and Ray assured her that they'd run interference and help her with staying away from her; and they all hoped that would be easy to do when it appeared that Slughorn had quite a large group for his club – maybe as many as eight students for each of the fourth through seventh years. While that was big news around the castle, it didn't really get in the way of the work for Al, Gwendolyn, or the other members of their study group; and Al hoped the worst of it would be over by the time he eventually went off to sleep very late on Monday night – though he was also sure it would be an ongoing issue ahead of each monthly meeting.

"Lysandra and I have been invited to join the Slug Club," Scorpius advised Thomas as soon as he had his mentor's portrait out of the bag. He set it on the table; and then paced the room excitedly instead of sitting down in the armchair.

"Well done!" Thomas said approvingly. "We didn't expect that to happen; so it says a lot about Slughorn's opinion of you – since you wouldn't have been invited because of your family."

"It's certainly gotten me a lot of attention from the other Slytherins. Nobody's surprised that Lysandra was invited; but it's worked out brilliantly for us – and gives us another excuse to hang out together."

"You're spending more time with her than with me doing your lessons," Thomas accused; and Scorpius laughed.

"She's way hotter than you are, and while that might have been something you could ignore as a teen; it's rather important to me."

"I won't comment on that; since you have reason to celebrate this news."

"I've even more reason to celebrate because the Animorphpotty didn't get invited. His Potty-trainer did; but I'll guess that he didn't because Slughorn didn't want to invite both Potty brothers – and James is bragging about that with everyone."

"So you'll have reason to spend time around him too," Thomas mused. "That's better news for us – even if you are more interested in Lysandra. Try to work on your relationship with James too; since those meetings are a perfect opportunity to do that without drawing undue attention from the other Pureblood families."

"We'll see," Scorpius said without making any promises. "I've a study session to get to, so I can't stay; but thought you'd like to know. The first meeting is this Friday night; so I'll talk with you about how it goes sometime on the weekend."

They continued to talk for a few more minutes, but it really wasn't long before Scorpius put the portrait away again; and then left the Room of Requirements to go and meet up with Lysandra and the rest of their study mates so that they could get to work on the assignments they'd been given during their first day of classes for the week.

Quidditch moved up to top gossip topic for many students on Tuesday morning thanks to the Tuesday night match-up between the Harpies and Magpies. Al had more fun with his senior team Quidditch practice on Tuesday afternoon, but that was only because he'd needed to study while watching that Harpies match after dinner – just as Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends had needed to multi-task their work with the game-watching. While it would have been great to take the time off, their team made up for that by earning a hard-fought victory in a battle that took nearly four-and-a-quarter hours of non-stop action before Gabrielle won the game for her team. She'd taken advantage of a mistake by the Magpies' Seeker when he missed a high-risk catch attempt as the Harpies were closing in on the one-sixty lead – though that effort had been a bit premature since the Harpies had only been up by one-twenty; and that lead was growing very slowly.

While it would be unfair to claim that the school was noticeably quieter without Ollie there, Al and Gwendolyn did have fewer problems with James as the week rolled along and he tired of insulting them over Ollie's suspension or Al's exclusion from the Slug Club – especially once nobody wanted to listen to his blather anymore as the gossip network moved on to fresher stories. Ollie's suspension might have affected their Slytherin haters too; but Al thought it was too early to make that claim – especially when his problems with the Averys and their mates had ramped up into the end of each of their first three years. The fourth-year workload was a bit heavier than it had been in third-year, but that was just the next progression in their magical studies; and no tougher to deal with than the jump in the workload that came at the start of third-year with having optionals for the first time. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had help for their study group friends as the week rolled along. They finished their own copies of the fourh-year study app and the quills and inks to go with them first; and had enough made up for everyone in their group by Friday night. They all had a learning curve to deal with for using the apps and quills, but while Al learned fastest, they were all among the best students in their year; and they were all able to work faster using their new toys by the end of the weekend compared to writing their reports by hand.

The first Slug Club meeting on Friday night wasn't a big deal for Al; though it bothered Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray to be going to it without him. He would have liked to spend those hours with Gwendolyn, but everyone in their study group that wasn't going to that meeting opted to do something else; and that actually worked out brilliantly for Al. He went off on his own; blasted through a lot of his assignments because he could work faster than he even let on to Gwendolyn so far; and then he had some magical play time with Animorphmagus toys and his special project – something that he hoped would both be an amazing Christmas gift and another big business opportunity! He wasn't going to get to see Gwendolyn at all because they expected the meeting to last right to curfew or even past it; but he was in his dorm room early; and worked while sitting on his bed for the last hour or so ahead of curfew – mostly to avoid being around the snogging couples. He didn't spend any time with Lily, but that was only because she was busy with her own friends all evening; and didn't get back to their House until Jonah walked her home just ahead of curfew.

"Are you ready to enter the weird zone?" Rose asked Gwendolyn as she joined them in the hallway outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance.

"No, and I wish that I could skip it; but Mum wouldn't want me to snub Slughorn by doing that to him."

"My Dad's happier about my invitation than Mum is – especially since it's the reverse for Al and me to what it was for him and Uncle Harry."

"He's likely been razzing Al's Dad about that nearly as much as James has been bugging Al," Gwendolyn suggested. "That's silly, since James was likely only picked because he's oldest; though I suppose the Professors could be trying to do things that change James' attitude for the better too."

"Maybe," Rose agreed, "but if that's true; it's just another example of people picking trying to fix the problems with James at Al's expense – and I really don't think that's ever been fair for Al."

"It isn't," Ray agreed with a grin; "but it isn't all-bad being Al Potter. We might wish that we'd been him if this meeting is as weird as we expect it to be."

"We'll take that as you mean it and not suggest that you'd have other reasons for wishing you were Al," Rose teased with a side-long grin for Gwendolyn.

"Don't go there," Gwendolyn warned. "I'll have enough of a problem tonight with James."

"Okay, but don't worry about him. We'll make sure he can't bug you too much tonight."

"I hope," Gwendolyn agreed. "That might be easier said than done; since we've no idea how Slughorn will have this thing set up."

"We'll know soon enough," Ray suggested. "I don't even know what we'll be doing. Hopefully we won't just sit around listening to Slughorn drop names and tell us boring old stories about our famous relatives all night."

"That will likely be what we do tonight," Rose predicted. "That, and he'll want to have us talk about ourselves too."

"So you'll tell him all about your plans to buy the Cannons and turn it into a winning team?" Ray asked; and Rose laughed.

"No, but only because he likely knows the current owners and would go and tell them all about it. I don't want to say anything about that at all."

"Well, Gwendolyn can talk about playing for her Mum and the Harpies; but I've got nothing; and Slughorn will likely just predict that you'll follow your Mum into the Ministry of Magic – unless you'd like to mess with him and suggest you'll work at the wheezes stores instead."

That comment gave them something to discuss for the rest of the walk; they ended up with a group of eight teens by the time they reached the entrance to Slughorn's quarters; and they were all ushered in after only a few moments of waiting once Alex Jordan did the honors of knocking for them. About half of the invited teens were there by then – including their little group; and Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray were a bit surprised to see that James was already there – especially since he normally arrived late for nearly everything. He didn't have any of his girlfriends with them because none of them had been invited too; and he grinned at Gwendolyn wolfishly while patting the back of the chair next to his.

"Come and sit with me, Gwendolyn," he invited. "I've saved a spot for you."

"Let's not have any of that," Slughorn chided; and James kept the grin pasted on his face while turning his attention to him.

"Any of what?" he asked innocently. "I'm only trying to make sure that I'm sitting with the best-looking Witches instead of the other Wizards."

"We both know that isn't true in this case; so let's not begin our evening of fun with any unnecessary drama," Slughorn told him.

"If you insist, sir, but you should get your eyes checked; since most Wizards would say that Gwendolyn is quite attractive; so I really was telling the truth."

He'd earned some laughs for that and a frown and shake of the head from Slughorn; but then the Professor had moved on and invited his newests guests to take seats around the large table that he'd probably conjured and put in the middle of the room. Gwendolyn sat as far away from James as was possible while he just smirked at her – when he wasn't rather-lewdly staring at various parts of her body; depending on the view available to him. Rose sat on her left; and she ended up having Miya Davies on her right. They shared some small talk while waiting for everyone to arrive; and then Slughorn eventually sat down and welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Slug Club.

Gwendolyn didn't hate everything about the rest of their evening, since the drinks and snacks were good and there was some fun to be had; but it was also not her idea of fun to spend so much time bragging about relationships or personal talents the way Slughorn encouraged all of them to do. She supposed that Slughorn actually believed that he was helping the best and brightest of his students to 'network' with other, equally-talented teens; but only two of the teens at the meeting were there for reasons that didn't include famous relatives. While it was true that some of them could benefit from those potential new friendships; she thought that having that as the only purpose for the club was a bit silly – with that choice of description being kinder than some other names she could use that would be equally-true.

Slughorn spent an hour on introductions and talking about his connections to each of the famous relatives for the teens that applied to; he then went on to tell them stories about some of those famous friends; and then encouraged each of them to talk about themselves – a process that took quite a while for some and only moments for others. James was near the top for the long-winded braggarts; while Ray had one of the shortest – along with the two students that didn't come from a famous family and didn't have guaranteed, brilliant futures planned out for themselves. Gwendolyn and Rose were in the middle, in part because Slughorn wouldn't let them get away with less; and Rose didn't escape getting razzed about her Cannons because Slughorn brought up the rumors about her wanting to play for the Cannons after she finished at Hogwarts. James led that razzing; but wasn't allowed to take that too far before Slughorn moved on.

Hearing Slughorn talk about the Slytherin teens and their families was very different and actually interesting for Gwendolyn – and Slughorn went out of his way to make those teens look good to the rest of their group. Scorpius was a good example for that. Slughorn didn't mention his parents or grandparents; but talked instead about the proud heritage of his family – including the former Headmaster of Hogwarts that Scorpius could claim kinship to and a few other family members that most of them would consider to be infamous instead of famous. There was less need of that with Lysandra and the other Slytherins, but Slughorn still put them in a light that was better than was likely deserved. Hearing those teens talk about themselves was interesting too; though none of them offered any grand statements of their goals for the future – possibly because most of them were from wealthy families and would be able to do whatever they wanted for the rest of their lives.

The meeting dragged on and on, so by the time it wrapped up shortly-after curfew; Gwendolyn was ready to go – and in no mood for putting up with James when he tried to corral her and offer to walk her home and take care of the goodnight snogging that Al wouldn't be able to help her with while in his dorm room ahead of curfew like the good little loser he was. He'd waited until they were out in the hallway to do that; she'd not-very-nicely told him to get lost; and he'd backed off with some parting insults when Rose and Ray weren't the only teens to flank Gwendolyn protectively when he tried to insist on walking with her. That extra help also allowed her to get back to her House without needing Rose and Ray to go with her; though they checked Rose's map after splitting up from the small group of Ravenclaws that had volunteered to get Gwendolyn home safely to make sure that James didn't try an end-around – which he didn't end up doing.

Ray and Rose split up to head to their own dorm rooms after getting back to Gryffindor tower; and then Ray sat up and talked with Al to give him the meeting highlights. That had included telling him about James' attempts to get up close and personal with Gwendolyn, but while that annoyed Al; he hadn't been surprised. Al had also still been glad that he hadn't been invited; and was sure that he'd never enjoy being part of a club that didn't seem to do anything at all – unless you considered bragging about yourself to be a valid sport or group activity!

Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been sure whether they'd be able to have a bedtime mirror chat, since that could be a scary thing at bedtime in dorm rooms. They didn't end up doing that – or at least Gwendolyn didn't try to call Al on his mirror before he fell asleep about a half-hour after Ray had returned to their room. That was likely for the best anyway; and it gave them one more thing to do together on Saturday.

The last weekend of September was open – including having no Harpies' Quidditch matches on Saturday afternoon; so the weekend revision got done sooner than on busier weekends; and Al and Gwendolyn had more time to play. He had his Quidditch practice on Saturday morning, but that just gave her time to catch up on the studying he'd been able to do on Friday while she'd been at the Slug Club meeting. The news from that meeting had been a top gossip topic at breakfast, and Gwendolyn told Al all about it from her perspective while they studied before his practice; but then that was the end of it for them – except for more razzing that Al had to put up with from James whenever they crossed paths – and before and after practice.

The studying resumed after lunch, but they finished up mid-way into the afternoon; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose went off on their own to do some work on the Halloween Animorphmagus toys – wanting to get the last of them done for the deadline they had with the toy company so they'd have time to make enough to sell during the weeks leading up to Halloween. They split up while having dinner, but then Al and Gwendolyn took the evening off for some quality alone time. The music and a bit of magic play time was great; and then the snogging had been brilliant through until they'd needed to hurry to get back to their Houses ahead of curfew. Their Sunday entertainment included an optional morning study session to work on projects; an afternoon Chaser duel for Al and Gwendolyn while Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel; and some portable pool fun before dinner. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had a normal Sunday evening of music, mirror chats, and mirror network show-watching; and then Al eventually wrapped up his weekend with some bedtime work on his special project – and that was something he wasn't even talking about with Gwendolyn; since it was something he needed to do on his own if he wanted the hoped-for gifts to be a surprise for everyone.

As they headed toward October, life got a bit busier for Al, Gwendolyn, and pretty much everyone closest to them – starting on Monday with the added work and entertainment that went along with Kathryn Wood's thirteenth birthday. Lily, Melissa, and a few others hosted that party for their team mate and friend, and it wasn't a major event, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose helped out with the party set-up; and Kathryn had a lot of drop-in visitors to the room that they set up with the portable pool, an area for the sofas and mirror; and another area where the more-dedicated teens could study while sharing in a bit of the fun too. While Kathryn's birthday and party helped to get the week off to a great start; it was junior team Quidditch that moved up to number one on the gossip network chat topics list as the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams got ready to play their anual rivalry match. For the Slytherin players, that meant talking trash as usual, but Fred followed Al's lead from a year ago; and played nice with the Slytherins regardless of how nasty they were to him – and insisted on the same fair-play from the rest of his players. James was surprisingly quiet about the match; though Al sensed that his brother was more concerned about winning the Quidditch Cup for a change than he was interested in bashing Lily and predicting a bad outcome in the match for her.

Whatever the reasons for James' avoidance of any trouble with the junior team; those last two days of September and the first two days of October that rounded out the school week were pretty good for Al and Gwendolyn. Al even had it a bit easier thanks to Olivia giving up extra practice time to Fred's team on Tuesday and Thursday – though they still did workouts and then spent some time having team meetings to work on strategies and new plays for their own upcoming match against Slytherin. That allowed him to get a bit more studying done sooner both days, and thanks to their new study app and quills; Al and Gwendolyn even managed to have some alone time ahead of curfew two times out of those four days – including an hour on Friday night when they packed up early because Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and some of their study buddies had joined them to get some bonus help with learning to use their apps and quills. Lily and Hugo had needed to be back in their dorms for the early game-day curfew; so Al and Gwendolyn had taken that opportunity to go off on their own for a bit of quality snogging before they needed to be back in their Houses too.

Finally, it was game day! While he wasn't playing, Al was up early; ready for a fall-weather Quidditch match; and in the common room with lots of time to spare before meeting up with Rose and Lily. He wasn't surprised when Hugo joined him shortly before the girls caught up with them; and he was nervous about his first official Hogwarts Quidditch match with their House team. Lily wasn't nervous; and she just got more fired-up when Al gave her the good luck gift. She opened it quickly, sending wrapping paper flying; and then had another enthusiastic hug for him after finding another charm for her bracelet in the little box.

"I may need to get another bracelet," she mused as she clipped it on to her bracelet. "If I get too many more on this one; it'll be too hard to find the right one whenever I need them fast."

"I just put those must-have charms on one side," Rose advised her and demonstrated. "That way, I can get at them fast – not that I've needed to do that so far this year."

"Don't jinx us!" Hugo warned. "We're playing Slytherin; and Merlin only knows what they might be willing to try to mess with our team – including ambushing us before breakfast and trying to blast us."

"Well, this new charm won't help if that happens," Lily said with a smile for Al; "but those Slytherins would need to be idiots to try anything against all four of us this morning."

"I don't think you'll have any troubles with that sort of thing today," Al advised them. "You will have to watch out for the usual cheap shots and dirty tricks during the match, though; so be careful once the match starts."

"We're as ready as we can be," Lily assured him. "Don't worry about us – our strategy is simple for this match. I'm supposed to catch the snitch as quickly as possible so that the Slytherins can't pound on us all day."

"Should Mum be worried about any of her records?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"Definitely; though maybe not today. We don't know anything about more than half of the Slytherin players; so it would be a bad idea for me to take any serious risks going for any of the Seeker records – though that'd be awesome if I could get the fastest snitch catch some day. Some undefeated seasons would be good too."

"You've already had one of those," Hugo reminded her. "I'm okay with you playing it safe for the win; since this will be my first match with the team and it would be nice if it lasted for more than a few seconds."

"It's your first match; but you helped out a lot last year," Al told him seriously. "We wouldn't have been as good without so much talent on the reserve squad. We didn't mention that very often, but having such a good reserve squad might have been the biggest difference between our team and Gwendolyn's last year – and had a lot to do with why we won that match against Ravenclaw."

"That could be an issue for Slytherin this year – for both teams," Rose suggested. "They've lost so many of their best players to suspensions of various kinds that they might not have many good players left to practice against after filling in the gaps on their junior and senior teams."

"We can hope," Lily said with a nod. "I sure hope that Andrea Avery isn't going to be a surprise Seeker phenom. That would really suck for me."

"Or be a brilliant challenge," Al told her seriously. "She must be better than Clarence Timms, though, and you've played against him, but she's also in her first match; so she might not be ready to play at game speed."

"That's a good point," Lily decided thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll need to re-think that playing it safe plan; and try pushing her hard right from the start. If that doesn't help me; I can always switch back to plan A."

Quidditch was the only thing that Lily wanted to talk about while they took a long walk that eventually got them to the Great Hall. They were still early, so they had time to visit with family and friends as they arrived for breakfast too; and Lily and Hugo were offered a lot of best wishes for the game pretty much straight through until they headed for the stadium with Fred and the rest of their team mates after having their morning meal. Al met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast; took her for a horseback ride until it was time to go to the stadium for the game; and had a short visit with Hagrid outside of his cabin along the way while he was finishing up his morning chores before going to the stadium too.

It was warm-enough for early-October, but it had been a bit damp thanks to some early-morning rain; and they'd likely get more rain if the match lasted into the afternoon. When they got to the stadium, Al and Gwendolyn were responsible for one change to the normal for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw senior teams when they picked out seats on the border of the two House sections; and then convinced their respective team mates to join them there instead of ending up being apart while watching the game. They both got teased about it, and James offered a few insults when he arrived with a group of friends that included Lara, Patricia, and Bristol – though he seemed to be there with Lara while Patricia was unhappy about that; and Bristol flirted with some of the other guys in what Al sensed was an attempt to make James jealous more than any real interest in those other guys. While Al had been happy with everything except the razzing from James; he also found it interesting to pick up on the different reactions from the players on both teams – reactions that varied quite a bit.

Peter, Pauline, and Louis were at one end of the scale and had fun with the intermingling of their teams; but Al was a bit surprised that Olivia and Lucy were among the players that wanted to be on the fringe of their combined groups – a fact that was at odds to the way they were acting toward their fellow players and rivals. They weren't as radical about their feelings as Tory had become when it came to cross-House friendships, but they did have a line they didn't want to cross because they put Quidditch ahead of those potential friendships. Al thought that was particularly-strange in Lucy's case, since she was dating the Hufflepuff Seeker and Captain, but then they weren't sitting together for the match; and seemed to have their own way of dealing with the Quidditch rivalry while dating too.

"Anything interesting going on I should know about?" Gwendolyn whispered to Al; bringing him out of his mental musings. He smiled and shrugged.

"Not really – though I'm not sure we'd have any luck with another joint Christmas party with the senior teams this year."

"There are only ninety-one jobs in the show, and most of the senior team players are hoping to get one of those jobs; so this is a serious competition for those of us who don't already have a guaranteed job with the Cannons when we graduate."

"Are you really going to go there again today?" Rose asked. She was sitting next to Al because Gwendolyn was in the aisle seat so she was still with her own team too; and she'd overheard Gwendolyn's comment. "You can have a guarenteed job with my Cannons team too if that'll make you feel better."

"Thanks, but you're the ones who want to go there – to the Cannons," Gwendolyn teased. "I'd rather have Al play for a different team while you join Lily and me with the Harpies; but you've got your heart set on that impossible dream."

"We should add a galleon to your bet for every time you tell us something like that," Rose suggested. "You'd owe me thousands by the time it pays off."

"Or I'd get most of your estate if that league championship doesn't happen in your lifetime," Gwendolyn countered and mused as if seriously considering taking her up on the amendment to their original wager. "It's just too bad that I'd either be gone by then or too old to enjoy the money."

"James probably didn't think about that one when he made the bet with you," Al suggested to Rose. "Blowing his winnings on a major party just wouldn't work out very well if all of his friends needed to go to bed by eight o'clock."

"Well, at least you're optimistic that he'll still have friends by then," Rose joked. "Getting back to Gwendolyn's point; she is right about the first part – and you've just got a different perspective than most of us about that competition. The NEWT players especially want to look good for the scouts; and that's also going to include being compared to the other players on all four teams. You're happy if everyone does well; while that's not necessarily a good thing for most of us."

"I think you should work on that with him," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "Maybe if he starts thinking about the game like the rest of us; he'll start losing some matches. What he's been doing so far just isn't working out for my team."

"I'm not going to win every match – and haven't when you count all of them," Al said; "but you're not going to change how I feel about Quidditch – and we'd all have more fun if everyone would stop worrying so much about the winning and losing."

"And you still think you can win a league title with him on your Cannons team?" Gwendolyn asked Rose. "He'd be happy whether your team was first or last."

"I'd be a bit happier in first," Al countered, "but yes; I'd be happy as long as we had fun and played our best."

"And I'm still counting on our best being good-enough to win some championships," Rose added. "It looks as though Colin's nearly ready to start his pre-game show. Would you like to make any predictions on how he'll do as announcer for his first junior teams match? Kylie's left him with a tough act to follow."

"I've no idea," Al answered first. "He's always been even quieter than Denise when they've been around us; so I was surprised he tried out for the job and then won it."

"Let's hope that he isn't too quiet today – especially if he'll be competing with James for the game commentary and play-by-play," Gwendolyn said. "Jonah and I don't know the Auror kids as well as you guys do; so I don't know what to expect from Colin today."

They didn't have to wait much longer to find out; though they continued to talk about the match while waiting for Colin's pre-game announcements. Al watched him setting up the magical microphone and put out everything he'd need for announcing and keeping track of the match statistics, but when Colin was ready to go; Al was with the majority of spectators in the stadium that were shocked as the diminutive firstie began to speak.

"Good morning, Quidditch fans!" Colin said; his voice booming and echoing around the stadium; cutting through the loud buzz of crowd noise and getting everyone's attention. "Welcome to the opening day of this year's Hogwarts Quidditch season!"

"Okay, not so quiet," Rose joked quietly to Al and Gwendolyn. "Maybe he's charmed his voice or something to get that Gryffindor roar thing happening for him."

"It's a clean slate for the Quidditch standings, but before I introduce our teams; let's do a quick review of last season," Colin continued; and then proceeded to offer the junior team and Quidditch Cup results from last year. That took a few minutes; he went on to add a few announcements; and then began the team introductions.

"Give it up for Slytherin!" Colin said enthusiastically; inviting the Slytherin players into the stadium first. "Leading the way is Captain Derrick Selwyn; and he is also Slytherin's Keeper – and one of only three returning players from last year's team. He's flying with Slytherin's Beater duo for this year, third-year Jonathan Wilkes and first-year newcomer, Dan Derrick."

"They've got two Derricks," James crowed with a snort of laughter – "or should that be derelicts?"

"Following their Captain, we have Andrea Avery, Slytherin's new Seeker, and Bethany Pritchard; their first-year Chaser. Finally, we have Bethany's fellow Chasers in the third-row; her big brother, Grant Pritchard – the only returning Chaser from last season; and Richard Baddock; who has made the move up from the reserve squad this year."

"Put the emphasis on 'bad' for that one," James interjected; earning some more laughs.

"And now, let's hear it for Gryffindor!" Colin exclaimed once the Slytherin players had done their lap of the stadium and landed at center pitch next to Mr. Peakes. "Captain Fred Weasley and his Beater partner, Orlando Hooper, lead the way for Gryffindor. Next up is Gryffindor's all-Witch Chaser trio – cousins Kathryn and Melissa Wood; and Captain Weasley's sister, Roxanne. Bringing up the rear for the Gryffindor team we have two more cousins – Seeker Lily Potter; and Keeper Hugo Weasley. While we wait for them to land; let's have a cheer for our favorite Quidditch coach and referee today – former six-year veteran Beater for the Caerphilly Catapults – Mr Peakes!"

"Is that the first time Mr. Peakes has gotten any love from the announcers?" Gwendolyn asked. "Colin's doing pretty well so far."

"Probably; and I think so too," Al answered and agreed. "I'm still having trouble putting that voice together with the kid when I look over at him, though. It's kind of like hearing a lion's roar coming out of a Kneazle kitten."

That was true, but then Al was more interested right then with what James was doing – or not doing. He'd offered those two mild insults during the Slytherin team introductions; but had stayed quiet while their own House team was announced. He still sensed dark emotions and disdain for the younger players; but keeping those thoughts to himself was a big change for James – and one that Al welcomed. Colin took a little break while Mr. Peakes did his fair-play speech and got the teams lined up and ready to play. When he tossed the quaffle high into the air; Colin was right there with the play-by-play; his voice as strong and surprisingly loud as it had been from the start of his pre-game show.

While Colin's announcing was well-done; it was also politically-correct; and vastly-understated what was really happening above the pitch. Slytherin only had one more first-time player on their team, but it was immediately obvious to most of the spectators that Gryffindor was a much better team – or at the very least; better prepared. That showed up on the scoreboard right away as Kathryn and Melissa each scored a goal within the first ten minutes on just a handful of shots while Hugo stopped the first dozen shots he faced. While that was a great start for the Gryffindor Chasers and Keeper; Lily proved from take-off that Andrea Avery wasn't in the same league with her; and the only reason that she didn't end the game in the first five minutes was because she had to deal with Jonathan Wilkes as he tried his very best to take her out of the match in a permanent sort of way – and do that by any means necessary.

Fred and Orlando adapted their game to deal with that problem, though; and the Slytherin guys that were all trying to pound on the Gryffindor Witches soon had their own worries as Fred winged three of them with bludgers; and Orlando had one hit and several near-misses. Unlike their Slytherin counterparts, they did not try to hurt Andrea or Bethany; though some of the near-misses were aimed at the two Witches to break up plays or slow them down. The pace of the match was fierce; and the goals kept coming for Gryffindor. Melissa scored her second goal to earn the thirty-to-naught lead at the eighteen minute mark; Roxanne got her first goal just four minutes later; and then Grant Pritchard scored Slytherin's first goal at the twenty-seven minute mark of the match. He made the mistake of getting in Hugo's face about that after trying to bash him while scoring that goal; and that's why Gryffindor had a three-on-two Chaser advantage a minute later that Kathryn took advantage of to earn Gryffindor's fifth goal.

"At this rate; we'll have the one-sixty lead in about an hour and a half," Rose suggested.

"Or sooner," Gwendolyn agreed. "We knew that Slytherin had lost some of their best players; but there seems to be a big difference between their best and next-best."

"It's the lack of experience," Al suggested; and then nodded toward where Lily and Andrea were flying around in search of the snitch. "Lily's spotted the snitch again; and is trying to set something up so she can go after it."

"She'd better watch out..." Gwendolyn began; and then added – "what's she doing?"

"Trying to use Jonathan to block Andrea while she goes for the catch," Al answered with a grin as he could see what Lily was trying to set up – and was sure it would work.

Jonathan had bashed a bludger at her; she flew right at it – and him; and after dodging the bludger; she continued on toward the bigger boy – and he got ready to meet that charge head-on with his Beater bat flat against his forearm leading the way and a vicious grin on his face. Al was on his feet and cheering as Lily went inverted; pegged her broom at the last second; and flipped under Jonathan just as he tried to bash into her with his Beater bat – and then lost his balance when there was suddenly nothing there to hit. He got in Andrea's way while trying to recover and bumped her ten or fifteen feet off-course while getting turned around. By the time they were both able to focus on Lily again; it was in time to watch her catch the snitch after completing the flip and intercepting the snitch twenty-five yards past where she'd blasted past Jonathan.

"Yes!" Al said enthusiastically. He was still on his feet; and watched as Lily kept going and sped away from Jonathan and Andrea – and toward Fred.

"Good plan," Rose approved – "and an even better play to get that catch."

"It's brilliant when you pull something like that off; but wouldn't have been had she missed and run into that Beater bat face first," Gwendolyn offered. "Two-hundred to ten might be tough for us to keep up with in our first match against Hufflepuff; but that's probably the best we could hope for considering how this match was going so far."

"I'm glad that Lily's gotten the win early," Al told her. "The Slytherin boys were likely going to get meaner the longer the game went on – especially if they kept getting out-scored five-to-one like that."

"That's true," Gwendolyn conceded. "All of those guys look like they're ready to start a fight right now – and Andrea looks mad-enough to join in and help them out with that."

"She's showed a bit of talent today, but a real lack of experience; so that's why Lily looked so much better in that Seeker duel with her," Rose offered. "Instead of being mad at Lily; she ought to try learning from what happened – if she actually wants to seriously play the game even at our school league level."

"I agree with you," Gwendolyn told her, "but everyone knows that Lily wants to play for the Harpies after she done school; and I'm surprised that Andrea wasn't ready for a tougher battle."

"Her lack of experience is part of that," Al interjected; "and I'll guess that she bought into all of the hype her team mates have been spouting. According to some of those Slytherin guys; Lily was going to be too beat up to be a threat to Andrea; so this should have been an easy win for her."

"That's a good point," Rose agreed. "She knows better now, though; so it might be interesting to see whether she does learn from this match or not during their next two matches."

"Their next one is against my junior team; so I'll hope she doesn't learn anything," Gwendolyn declared with a laugh. "Let's grab our things and get down there and congratulate our favorite junior team Gryffindors."

"Okay, but what should we do with the rest of the morning now that we don't have hours of Quidditch to watch?" Rose asked.

"You'll have a party to get to," Gwendolyn reminded her; "and I don't know what I'll do until lunchtime – though I'll be okay with it if Al gets that party over with this morning so we can hang out together for the rest of the day."

"I was going to watch the Harpies match with you even if that meant missing most of the party," Al advised her. "They'll be in for a tough match against the Wasps."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "We need to work on that too; since we're splitting the wins and losses with them far too-evenly. We'd be lucky to make the playoffs every year if we had that record with all of the other teams."

"Well, once you and Lily are playing for the Harpies; that'll likely change," Al predicted with a grin. "You've only got one loss between the two of you for your combined junior team records so far."

"That's history for me," Gwendolyn advised him. "Now I need to shoot for a great record with the senior team so that Mum will want to hire me."

"I'd hire you regardless of your record here," Rose offered with a laugh. "That'd take all of the pressure off for the next four years if you'd just accept the offer."

"Keep that up, and Louis will need to step up and play for your team; since I doubt you'd do well in goals as a bug," Gwendolyn warned.

"Would you do that for me, Rose?" Louis asked; since Gwendolyn had timed that so he'd overhear.

"No, and I'm shutting up now," Rose answered; though she was still grinning. "Let's go and congratulate Hugo. I hope I can do as well in our first match as he did today."

"And I'll hope that you do something between now and then that gets you turned into a bug," Louis teased.

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were all ready to head for the pitch by then; they made their way to the center of the stadium where the two teams were hanging out – and conveniently-segregated by Mr. Peakes, two Professors, and four Prefects. That seemed to be an intentional measure that was being put in place to avoid any post-game incidents; and Al thought that it was a good idea. It also worked, and while he could sense the hatred and hostility; not even Jonathan Wilkes tried to start anything with a small gang of older teens and Professors there to jump in and stop him at the first sign of trouble.

The round of hugs, kisses, and congratulations was fun – and lasted nearly as long as the game did by the time the players headed for the locker rooms and the remaining spectators headed for the castle or elsewhere. Al walked Gwendolyn to her House first, but then he went on to the Gryffindor common room; joined in for the party that kicked up a few notches when Fred led his victorious team into the room; and then he continued to have fun through until it was time to go to the Great Hall for lunch.

Scorpius waited in one of the Potions dungeons; idly checking out the latest league Quidditch news on his mirror and wondering how long it would be before Lysandra and Andrea joined him there – a request that Lysandra had made of him – and that she'd passed along from Andrea after the match. He'd have agreed anyway, but Lysandra's promise to come with Andrea had made the stealthy request much more interesting for him. He also kept entertained speculating about why Andrea wanted to talk to him instead of being supported by her friends, but then he could make some educated guesses; and could also relate to how she was surely feeling after the loss. He put his mirror down and looked up as the door opened and the two girls walked in. Lysandra's expression was neutral as she played their usual game of cordial indifference toward each other, and while Andrea still looked angry; it wasn't as stormy as it had been immediately after the game.

"What went wrong out there today?" Andrea demanded of him; getting right to the point for what she'd obviously wanted to talk to him about. "I didn't try out for our team just to go out there and look like an even bigger idiot than my brothers have managed during their not-so-great school Quidditch careers."

"For the losing part of it, in your case; Jonathan Wilkes went wrong," Scorpius answered first. She made him look the idiot – and used him to mess up that play and get you out of the way."

"True," Andrea agreed; "but she out-played me at every turn too – and I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily, Scorpius – and no, I'm not blaming you. I want to hear the truth; not the load of rubbish I've been hearing from the guys on the team or my friends." Scorpius looked at her for a long moment; and then nodded.

"Okay. This was your first real match; the competition on your team isn't good enough, and while I think you have a lot of talent; you weren't ready to play at Potty's level today – and have a fairly-lousy team to play with compared to her Gryffindor team."

"Just as Scorpius and Licentia have had most years,' Lysandra added quietly.

"Then this was a stupid decision – and one that I'm stuck with; since I can't just quit without getting razzed about it for the rest of my life by my brothers – and likely my father too."

"I think you're brilliant," Scorpius disagreed; smiling when he saw the bi-polar reactions Andrea had to that statement. "I know, that's not saying much coming from a Malfoy," added self-mockingly; "but it's true all the same. You can be a really good Seeker – maybe a great one, Andrea. You just need to stop listening to the idiots that shoot their mouths off without being able to back that up with any talent; and start training the way that the Pottys, Weasels, and their lot do. We can hate them all we want; but there's no denying that they work hard to be the best players."

"That sounds more like you admire them," Andrea accused; and Scorpius laughed.

"I hate the lot of them – especially the Animorphloser and his potty-trainer. That doesn't mean that I don't recognize the advantages they have. Look at Lilly Potty – her back-up Seeker is the son of the best Seeker in the show. You're stuck with Clarence Timms. She does extra practices; we've all seen her have those Seeker duels with the potty-trainer's little brother; and Merlin only knows what else she does to keep getting better at Quidditch. I'm the only player on our senior team to even do any extra workouts at all – and I pretty much always do that on my own unless Davis is bored and goes out there with me."

"Well, if that's all it takes; I'll just go and talk to Jonah McCormack right now and see if he'd like to play Quidditch with me – not," Andrea joked. "I hate this! I hate losing! I hate that half-blood Potty-freak!"

"Welcome to my world – at least when it comes to Quidditch," Scorpius said dryly. "Licentia and I are hoping for better this year; but that's likely too much to hope for when the rest of our team is so weak."

"Then why should either of us bother?" Andrea demanded; and Scorpius shrugged; then grinned.

"I'm going to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time," he declared; voicing that idea for the first time to anyone other than Thomas; and he joined in when both Witches laughed. "I'll need to recruit some better players to help me out with that once I get to the show; but that's why I keep putting up with all of the crap around here."

"That's a fun, if impossible dream," Andrea told him; though she was still smiling; and seemed to appreciate the change in mood his half-joke had given to her. "I really can't just quit, though; so do you have any suggestions that might keep this entire season from turning into a total disaster for me?"

Scorpius took a moment to think about that. "I'd be happy to train with you," he offered. "Better yet, I wonder if Blaise would consider training with you – and I could work with Licentia at Chaser for parts of those extra workouts." He took a big breath; and then added – "I could lend you my Lightningbolt for your last two matches – though I'd want to work with you and make sure you'd be ready for using it without getting killed or busting it up in a crash."

"Let's give him five points for putting you ahead of his broom," Lysandra joked. "Our brothers would have put the broom first for sure."

"No doubt," Andrea agreed. "I'm okay with admitting that I'm not ready for the faster broom yet – but maybe I could be by next March if we work on that enough. My family will be mad if I train with you, though; and I'd get razzed about it by my friends too."

"They'd leave you alone if Licentia backs you up – or joins in for that extra training," Lysandra suggested. "I'd back you up too. I might not play Quidditch, but I'm as sick of the losing as everyone else in our House; so I think you should do whatever it takes to change that."

"Gee thanks," Scorpius said; and smiled when both girls laughed again.

"We may not be able to go against our families, Scorpius, but some of us know that you're a better Wizard than you get credit for; and don't deserve to be treated as badly as you have been by most of us – me included," Andrea told him. "You're willing to help me out despite all of that, and if you can get Blaise and Licentia to go along with your suggestion; I'll do it too."

"I'll talk with them later and see what they say," Scorpius promised. "Blaise should be interested; since his back-up Seeker is even worse than yours."

"Is Blaise any good?" Andrea asked; and Scorpius shrugged.

"Probably not compared to the other senior Seekers; but he's likely good-enough to help you get better and good-enough to really compete with the other junior team Seekers – and he's definitely better at catching the snitch than I'll ever be."

"You can help both of them with the flying and other parts of the training, though," Lysandra offered; and Scorpius shrugged again.

"I'll do whatever I can – and hope that the extra work helps our senior team too."

The girls stayed and talked with Scorpius for another five minutes; and then they left him to return to their friends. He waited a while to give them time to get away without being seen around him; and then he headed for the Room of Requirements and a visit with Thomas. He was careful as always doing that, but didn't see any sign of Rose Weasel or anyone else near to that hallway; so he didn't have any trouble getting into the room without attracting any attention.

"Are you ready for the Quidditch report?" he asked Thomas as he got the portrait out and onto the table. He sat down in the armchair and sighed. "Our junior team lost by a score of two-hundred to ten in a bit more than a half-hour of total futility. I'd hoped for better; but wasn't surprised. The news you'll really want to hear about, though, is that Andrea Avery wanted to talk with me after the match; and I just came here from that visit. I still need to set a few things up, but she's agreed to train with me – and hopefully with Blaise and Licentia too; doing extra practices and workouts to try and get better. I also offered to lend her my broom for her next two matches – if we can teach her to use it well-enough by next March and April."

"The news about the Avery Witch is good for you,' Thomas approved. "She's obviously of tougher stuff than her brothers to take such risks too; so she well may prove to be a formidable ally. Well done, Scorpius."

"Thank-you," Scorpius said with a nod and smile. "That's gone a long way toward making this day much better than it would have been after watching that loss – and then having to watch the Gryffindors celebrate as if they've already won the Quidditch Cup."

"Gryffindors have always been arrogant and seem to need to over-celebrate their victories. They'll usually pretend to be good sports while all of that blather is just a back-handed insult to their opponents."

"Been there; had it happen to me too often already," Scorpius declared. "I don't want to mess with the good mood I'm in now, though; so let's move on and do a lesson while I have the time."

"Shouldn't you be studying instead?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius waved him off.

"I'll be doing that after lunch – with Lysandra and our combined study groups. I still have my haters, but they're coming around too; since I can help out with the assignments for the classes that I'm better at than Lysandra is – and I think we're all doing better so far this year."

"Then that's working out well for you too – so far," Thomas agreed.

He'd been tempted to say more, but decided to hold off on another lecture; and instead went on to teach Scorpius a new curse that kept the boy challenged without pushing him too far beyond his current abilities. Scorpius would eventually need to put aside his childish infatuations with inconsequential things, but for now; it was enough that he was willing to resume his training in the Dark Arts – even though that was still far too-low on his list of priorities for Thomas' liking.

Teenagers! You can't live with them; you can't take over the Wizarding World from beyond the grave without them!

"Should we have invited Colin to this game-watching session?" Gwendolyn asked Lily as she helped Al with setting up sofas and Lily and Jonah took care of the mirror. Rose and Ray were on snack and drinks duty; and the rest of their friends hadn't joined them yet because they'd left the Great Hall early after having a quick lunch so that they'd be ready to go in time to catch most of Lee's pre-game show.

"I think we'll be okay with watching Lee's play-by-play," Lily decided; "but Colin did an awesome job today."

"Did you know he had that big voice hiding inside him?" Al asked her; and Lily laughed.

"Actually, yes. I've heard it before while at their house for sleepovers with Denise. I didn't know that he had the guts to use it in front of a stadium full of Witches and Wizards, though; so that was a fun surprise."

"It could also be a future career for him too," Jonah suggested. "He could be amazing as a stadium announcer for the league matches. He might be too loud for one of the mirror network shows; but I could be wrong about that."

"He could do that too – though we'd need to turn the volume down on our mirrors during the matches," Al offered. "I was glad to see that we didn't have a big drop-off from Kylie's announcing; since she's gotten pretty good at it too."

"She has; so it'll be interesting to see how much she gets to do this season," Rose offered. "Teresa still has two years to go; but I'm sure they'll work together somehow instead of making Kylie wait for two years."

"Maybe they should do tryouts too," Ray suggested. "That worked out for you this year."

"We're not allowed to share playing Keeper in a match," Rose reminded him. "That's not the case for announcing and doing the play-by-play for those games."

"Teresa and Kylie might not even want to go to those tryouts if they had to dodge bludgers while trying to win the job," Lily told them. "Instead of going on about that, though; let's talk about today's match instead."

"The one you played in or the one we're about to watch?" Jonah asked; and Lily laughed.

"I'm okay with doing both; but let's start with the harpies' match. I hope we win, but the Wasps probably need the win more; and will be very motivated today – and we're going into this match with just a week and a half since the last match."

"And that was a tough one too," Gwendolyn added. "Mum's birthday is tomorrow, though; so maybe she'll get an early gift from our players."

"Do you think she made a wish?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"She makes that wish before every match. I've never thought to look up whether she's had much luck with winning the matches closest to her birthday each year."

"I don't know about that either, but the closest match to your birthday is the League Championship game; so I'd be okay if you had a lot of wins for that one," Lily declared with a grin.

"I'd be good with that too," Rose offered – "if you'd both come and play with Al and me on the Cannons."

"Maybe we'd let you win the match closest to Al's birthday – as long as it wasn't against our team; and that will be the Harpies for Lily and me," Gwendolyn said. "You're on a roll about the Cannons today, Rose."

"Yeah – on a roll toward being a bug with a bat-bogey affliction," Lily added. "Why are you going on about it today?"

Rose shrugged. "I'm just going for the laughs – mostly. Al and I do need to work on our plans, though; since we have less than four years to put them together. We may spend most of that time trying to get the money together to buy the team; but we also need to work out how we'll put together that winning team – and what else we'll need to get to make that happen."

"Start with more than two decent players," Lily suggested; and then laughed. "Other players that don't include poaching future Harpies' stars."

"Does that mean that former Harpies' stars are fair game?" Al asked. "Mum and Aunt Angelina would make two very good additions to our team." He laughed then. "How funny would it be if you guys went to play for the Harpies while Gwendolyn's Mum joined the Cannons with her former team mates?"

"It'd be preposterous – and would never happen," Gwendolyn insisted; though she joined in for the round of laughs. "Mum will be a part of the Harpies' team forever."

"Now I'm picturing her in a Professor Binns sort of way as a ghostly team manager in the distant future," Al told her; earning more laughs.

"That would be scary – if she could use her ghostly powers to bash bludgers around at the players," Lily added.

"If she could do that; then I'd think about hiring her for the Cannons," Rose told them. "Maybe she's only bonded for life to the Harpies; and her ghost would be free to sign up with my team."

"You might still be looking for players to help you out with earning that championship in a century or two," Gwendolyn suggested; "but Mum still wouldn't take the job."

"We won't need to wait nearly that long," Rose assured her. "Your Mum might not want to play for my team; but Al's Mum might for the chance to play with him in the show. Aunt Angelina might do the same to play on a team with Fred and Roxanne – though I'll try to find enough good players so we start out our rookie season with a good team too instead of waiting a few years for Roxanne to graduate. I'd rather talk with Al about other things we'll need to do – like upgrade the Cannons' training pitch. I've been there with Dad before; and that place is likely the worst in the league."

That comment led them off on a discussion that actually did include some ideas for how they'd each want to do things if they could build a league team from scratch instead of just going to work for one of the current teams and owners. They watched Lee's pre-game show; the Harpies and Wasps earned a two-to-three split decision for the round of predictions that was in the favor of the Wasps even though Lee mentioned that Gwenog's birthday was on Sunday; and then the actual match was underway and they all settled in to watch it. As expected, it was a tough, close battle. Victoire helped her team to a slim lead, but the best they managed was a thirty-point advantage as they battled back and forth above the pitch for hours. Unfortunately for the Harpies, there weren't many hours to that battle because Aaron earned a clean win in his Seeker duel over Gabrielle; and did that shortly-before they reached the mid-way point of the third hour to give his team the two-thirty to one-ten victory.

The early end to the match left them with nearly half the afternoon open to them until dinnertime, but it had begun raining outside; so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose decided to try and get most of their remaining weekend assignments finished before taking the evening off for some play time – that for Al and Gwendolyn would include having that fun on their own until curfew. They didn't get much interest in that study time from their usual study group friends; but that just made it easier to get more done. By the time they packed up to go for dinner, they didn't have everything finished; but would be able to spend most of their Sunday study time on projects and only had a bit of 'must-do' revision left to wrap up. That was especially-good for Al and Rose, since they had a make-up Quidditch practice on Sunday morning too; and they were all very happy campers as they got back to having fun – starting with their evening meal entertainment in the Grat Hall that included some Quidditch chat fun and other teen drama stories that were almost all centered around off-pitch action at the Gryffindor-Slytherin match.

Snogging each other senseless for a while was definitely part of their plan for the evening, but before getting around to that teen-rated fun; Al and Gwendolyn started out their evening with some more music play time. They worked on a Christmas-themed Animorphmagus toy after that; and then they spent the rest of their time ignoring a mirror network show or two while enjoying the snogging part of their night. They had to hurry to get back to their Houses ahead of curfew; and Al earned some laughs at both ends of the trip between Houses when he 'flew home' to get to the Gryffindor common room with a full two minutes to spare ahead of curfew. He had a little visit with Lily and her friends before heading up to his bed; didn't have many roommates there while he got ready for bed; and did some work on his 'special project' until he was ready to crash and nap for the night.

"You must have already heard the news," Al told Rose, Lily, and Denise as they walked up to where he'd been sitting near one of the fireplaces. "Would you like to escape – or wait around to see how many invitations you'll each get before breakfast?"

"I won't be accepting any invitations; Lily will only want to accept one – and that won't be from any Gryffindor guys; and Denise can just make them wait if she wants to hang out with us," Rose told him. "Do you want to make a stop at Ravenclaw tower along the way so you can invite Gwendolyn?"

"We can do that – or not," Al answered with a shrug. "Did some of the girls head back up into your dorms to pass on the news?"

"Yes," Lily agreed. "I think it's brilliant – though this likely means there won't be a Christmas dance too."

"Probably not," Al agreed. "We've had more of them in a row than normal, though; so I'm not really surprised. Maybe they'll do another dance at Valentine's Day or around Easter instead."

"I'm glad we're having something more than just a feast for Halloween this year," Denise offered. "There are always big parties and other things going on back at home every Halloween; and we should do something every year here too."

"Trick-or-treating?" Lily suggested with a grin. "How about a haunted castle – oh wait; we already have that around here every day!"

"I don't know," Denise answered with a shrug after joining in for the laughs. "If we can't do dances every year, we could do other things – talent shows or plays or something. You're joking about a haunted castle, but that might actually be something we could set up like Muggles have with their Haunted Houses or Ghost Walks. That would just be way better for us with real ghosts scaring us."

"Peeves would love that," Al predicted. "Maybe you should get your Mum to send us some Muggle Halloween movies that we could watch and get some ideas for that sort of thing – or for a Halloween play."

"Or musical," Lily added. "You and Gwendolyn could write all of the songs for a musical."

"Would you and Jonah want to star in it?" Denise asked. "You know – as the leading Witch and Wizard?"

"I wouldn't," Lily assured her. "My thing is Quidditch. Music is just for fun."

"I'm sure there'd be lots of teens and tweens around here that would love to do something like that instead," Rose offered – "and no; I'm not one of them."

"Well, that won't be an issue this year anyway," Al offered. "I don't actually want to go there; but am a bit surprised that you aren't more interested in talking about potential dates for Denise – or for all of the other matchmaking opportunities that are now available thanks to the dance news."

"Well, I was trying to talk Denise into asking you to the dance; but she seems worried that Gwendolyn would turn her into a bug or something," Lily joked.

"Gwendolyn wouldn't turn you into a bug for asking," Al assured her – "she'd turn me into a bug if I said yes."

That joke sent their chat off in new and sometimes strange directions. The three girls wanted to talk about the dance and the teen drama that was sure to surround it as matches were made for some teens and hearts broken for others. They eventually went to meet up with Gwendolyn and Jonah in the hallway outside of Ravenclaw tower; Al and Jonah soon had dates for the dance; and then they went on to have a mirror chat with Gwenog to wish her a happy fifty-second birthday. She wasn't having a happy day, and while Kirley was taking her out for a birthday luncheon, she didn't want to celebrate her big day at all; and instead planned on working for most of the day because she really hadn't liked losing the match to the Wasps on Saturday.

Having that mirror chat wasn't the only birthday-themed fun for the day, but the breakfast entertainment was all about the dance and early gossip about dates made or rejected. After having that meal, Al and Gwendolyn got together with their study group and worked until it was time for the Gryffindor senior team practice. Gwendolyn and the rest of their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends went to the library to do some research while Al, Rose, and Ray were busy with Quidditch; and then they were all back in the Great Hall for lunch. The next bit of birthday fun was mostly for Rose, but Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah all went along with her to catch the first part of her video chat with Kyle to wish him a happy fifteenth birthday. That had been just a cameo bit of fun for four of them, but Rose stayed in the Room of Requirements to have a long visit with Kyle; and Al and Gwendolyn had opted to go out for a Chaser duel – and ended up without Lily and Jonah when they decided that an afternoon swim in the portable pool with some of their friends would be more fun – and warmer too.

While they'd done their own thing for the afternoon, Al and Gwendolyn still spent the evening with Lily and Jonah. In addition to the usual music fun and parental mirror chats; they played around with another Christmas Animorphmagus toy, and while the two younger teens didn't help with the magic; they had a lot of fun helping out with choosing what to have the toy say and do – with everything about that Christmas-related. The weekly Owl Post included all of the toy prototypes that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had ready to go, and while it was weird to think about it; they only had two or maybe three weeks left to finalize their Christmas toy line so that they could then be made in time for the Christmas shopping season. All of that play time had been a great way to end the weekend, and that had also been enough fun for Al by the time he returned to his dorm room; so he got ready for bed and went right off to sleep instead of staying up to study or do anything else.

There were two things at the top of the teen priority list for a lot of the students at Hogwarts in the week leading up to the second Hogsmeade weekend of the year – getting dates for the Halloween dance – along with the gossip making the rounds for all of the teen drama; and then number two was the Hogsmeade weekend that all of the third-year to NEWT students were excited about. Al and Gwendolyn were busy with their classes, studying, Quidditch, and toy making; yet still managed to find time before curfew on two nights for a bit of minor snogging – thanks mostly to their growing proficiency using their study apps and quills that were proving even better than they'd hoped. That was a good description for how they felt about a total lack of any serious problems from James or their favorite Slytherin haters. In fact, 'better than hoped for' applied to bullying in general as it seemed that all of the bullies were either suspended or decided that they didn't want to risk joining the ranks of the suspended troublemakers.

Al wasn't thinking about potential troubles when he woke up on Saturday morning – and that was a change that he would appreciate more when he did think about it; assuming that the welcomed trend continued for him after just one ugly blip in an otherwise decent start to the school year. The other fourth-year guys were all still sleeping as he got showered and ready for the day, but were starting to come to life as he went to the common room to wait for Rose; so Al was glad that he missed the imminent bathroom rush as nearly all of the older teens would want to be on-time for breakfast before heading to town. Rose was on her own when she met up with Al for their morning walk and talk; they enjoyed getting to do that with just the two of them; and that was especially-true because they talked about the Cannons for a lot of that time and were glad to do that when they wouldn't get razzed by everyone else. They still found that amusing most of the time, and it didn't seem to matter how good their ideas were for Rose's ultimate plan for her team; their friends just couldn't get past the psychological barrier that more than a century of Cannons' Quidditch futility had apparently bred into the younger generations that had grown up with the Cannons perennially being among the worst teams in the league.

Teen drama news ruled the school at breakfast, and dates for the dance had also led to new dates for the outing to Hogsmeade. Rose had more fun with their breakfast chat than Al did, but he enjoyed the meal; had fun too; and then was happy to meet up with Gwendolyn for the walk to town when it was time to line up and be set free to go and do that. Rose stayed with Al for the walk to town, but she was the only single teen in their group because Ray was spending the day in town with his date for the Halloween dance – Cyndia Finnegan. Gwendolyn only had Toni and Michael with her when she met up with Al; so they had seven in their little group when they headed out of the castle while the rest of their friends were in other groups – though most of them weren't far apart in the overall pack of teens making their way along the school lane and then the road into town.

"Aren't you going to razz Ray and me about hanging out together today – and going to the dance together?" Cyndia asked after they'd been talking for a while and there hadn't been even one joke directed at them. "Even Lacey hasn't been able to resist teasing me about going on dates with Ray after she'd dated Ollie last year."

"Consider that done," Rose suggested with a smile. "Some of us think that you and Ray make a much better pairing than Lacey and Ollie ever did; so we're happy for both of you."

"Really?' Cyndia asked in surprise; and Rose nodded.

"Yes, but let's not say anything else about that and jinx things for you. We're right next to the trouble magnet; and that's a serious risk."

"Maybe we should switch to another group for the rest of the walk," Ray suggested. "Al's way overdue for running into more trouble. What's the longest you've gone without something bad happening?"

"I haven't been put into a hospital bed since June," Al offered. "You'd have to be more specific about the level of trouble for me to be able to give you an honest answer. If you're just talking about getting insulted; that's been less than an hour. You were with me for the last ambush we had to deal with – and that's almost a month ago."

"Has it been a month already?" Ray asked in surprise; and then smiled ruefully. "Let's not go there either, though for those of you who might not know; we've heard that things are going a bit better for Ollie now that he's been home for a few weeks. He's being home-schooled with a tutor he likes; and isn't making life miserable for his Mum and Dad anymore."

"Nobody could stay that mad for weeks or months on end," Cyndia suggested. "I'm sorry he got sent home, but it has been nicer around here since then; and even the Slytherin rotters seem to have gotten Professor McGonagall's message this time – finally."

"That's true," Rose agreed; "and that's likely why the House Cup race is so close right now – though I wasn't thinking about it that way until you said that, Cyndia. I'd suggest that was affecting Slytherin the most; but it's made a difference for Gryffindor too despite the points Ollie lost along with his suspension."

"That did take your House from the lead to fourth place, though," Gwendolyn reminded Rose. "Slytherin was sure to do better without Avery, Mulciber, and their mates around here for the year, but you're both right; and we haven't had anything serious happen with any of the Ravenclaws beyond the usual insults and razzing so far either."

"Then let's really hope we haven't jinxed things by talking about it," Al told them. "This is only your second visit to Hogsmeade, Cyndia. Is there anything you didn't get to do last time that you want to do today?"

"I didn't go to the tea shop," Cyndia said with as straight a face as possible before laughing along with the other girls at Ray's reaction.

"Would you settle for checking out the Halloween offerings at the stores instead?" Al suggested. "The Halloween Animorphmagus toys are supposed to start coming out today – though I heard they'll spread out the release over the next few weeks – probably for some advertising gimmick to get people coming back for more."

"He's thinking toys; and I'm thinking about shopping for a new dress for the dance," Gwendolyn offered. "I packed expecting a Christmas dance – and that dress will not work for Halloween."

"Unless you're going to dress up as a Christmas decoration or something," Ray joked; and then grinned at Rose. "You're all set for the dance – you can just wear your Chudley Cannons' orange and go as a pumpkin!"

"Keep that up and Cyndia might find out that her date for that dance will turn into a pumpkin at midnight," Rose warned. "I won't have a date; and will have lots of time to take care of that if you want to keep messing with me."

"Why aren't you going to the dance with someone?" Cyndia asked; and then smiled and shook her head. "Never mind – I remember hearing that you've got a Muggle boyfriend back home."

"He actually lives in London near my grandparents' home – though he's away at school now too," Rose advised her; and then sighed. "I wish we could do stuff like this together; but we'll have to settle for spending time together on holidays – and he'll never be able to be a part of our lives here in the Wizarding World."

"Well, you can't do that; but we can cheer you up with shopping for a dress for the dance; send pictures to Kyle; and have him wishing he could be here with you for that dance," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Plus she'd have all of the guys around here wishing they were her date for the dance," Ray offered – "all the guys that aren't already taking amazing, beautiful Witches to the dance."

"You're actually trying to mess with me," Cyndia decided after giving him a hard look for a moment; and then she laughed. "How often do you get away with saying something like that without getting blasted?"

"Not very often," Rose answered before Ray could. "He's come a long way from when he used to just blurt stuff like that out without even realizing he was getting into trouble."

"Please don't go there," Ray half-begged. "Cyndia might change her mind about going to the dance with me if you tell her all of those horror stories about me."

"Most of us have stories like that," Cyndia told him seriously. "You likely just don't see that as much because you hang around with them so much."

'Them' was Al and Gwendolyn; so their friends moved on to make some jokes about them instead of razzing Ray about his dating disasters or other problems with foot-in-mouth disease. From there; the girls mostly talked shopping the rest of the way to town; and then they went off to shop for clothes before the best dresses and bargains were gone; and Al, Michael, and Ray got started on the supply shopping. They started with the Potions supplies; and worked together instead of splitting up the lists and fanning out around the store to try and get the work done that way.

"If this is supposed to be a date for spending the day in town; why are we not together with our Witches?" Ray asked.

"A better question might be – why don't we have a good excuse for doing the fun kind of shopping so that the girls can do this work instead now and then?" Michael offered.

"Guys do not go shopping for clothes in groups of other guys," Al reminded him. "The only fun shopping in Hogsmeade is in stores that the girls will want to visit with us – though I guess that Toni isn't interested in checking out Quidditch supplies."

"You wouldn't want Ray and me to help you out with shopping for clothes?" Michael asked with a pretty good attempt at looking shocked and hurt. Ray snorted.

"Do these pants make my butt look fat?" he asked; pretending to mimick Al; and doing a fairly-bad job of it.

"No, the pants look great – and have nothing to do with you having a fat butt," Michael answered; earning laughs from his friends.

"And now you know why at least two of us weren't invited to go along with the girls," Al deadpanned. "For the record, this part of the date in town fun is where we deal with the lousy jobs; and our girls appreciate that so much that we have even more fun for the rest of the day. While I'm thinking about fun, though; we should order flowers today for the dance. They might sell out at the next Hogsmeade weekend; since that'll be Halloween day too."

"What kind of flowers do you get a Witch for a Halloween dance?" Michael asked. "Something orange? Black? Creepy?"

"Great – something else for me to potentially mess up with Cyndia," Ray groused.

"Not necessarily. We'll ask for help," Al offered. "Do you think Lacey would give us some advice?"

Ray laughed. "I don't know. Do you think she'd want to really help – or help mess things up for me with her little sister?"

"That's a tough one. She might not want to help any guy make Cyndia too happy, but on the other hand; Ollie would hate it if you have a brilliant time while dating Cyndia when things didn't go nearly so well for him with Lacey." Al earned a couple of laughs for that; but then got serious about the topic again.

"I was planning on asking Lucy and Olivia about the flowers."

"Maybe you should just come up with a Halloween version of those snap-dragons," Michael suggested.

"How did you find out?" Al asked.

"Find out about what?" Ray countered; and then his eyes opened wide. "You're behind those flower pranks?" he demanded in a whisper; and Al grinned ruefully.

"Yeah," he whispered back; "but I thought that only a few people knew."

"You just told us," Michael advised him with a grin. "Before that, Toni and I had just guessed it was you – though I don't think I'd have believed you if you'd tried to lie just now."

"I've been tricked!" Al joked. "That's actually an interesting idea; but what could they do that would work – and not be more of a problem than fun?"

"Don't make them puke for sure," Ray declared. "The girls would not enjoy getting their dresses or shoes messed up." He frowned when Al suddenly laughed. "It's your funeral."

"I'm not laughing at that," Al assured him. "Would you be interested in the idea if I made them to work with Halloween Transfiguration wheezes?"

"Maybe – as long as the one we'd have for Cyndia doesn't keep trying to suck my blood or turn me into a werewolf all night," Ray told him.

"I think it's brilliant – and something that will really get some attention."

Al frowned. "I hadn't thought about that. I don't want everyone to know about this."

Michael shrugged. "So make extras; and Ray and I will spread them around with some of our friends – just as you must have done with Rose, Gwendolyn, and Lily for those other pranks."

"Okay," Al agreed. "Let's do that – and hope it'll be a hit with our girls; since I'm sure you'll let me take all of the blame if it's a disaster."

"Actually, for this – we won't," Ray promised. "Is there anything other than the wheezes that you need to get today for making them?"

That question led them off on a chat about that; they worked through the lists of supplies; and had the Potions supplies; quills, inks, and parchment; and the wheezes orders filled by the time that Gwendolyn, Toni, and Cyndia caught up with them. Rose wasn't with them; and she'd joined up with a few other single Witches so that she didn't have to be the odd one out with the three couples. Cyndia was getting along especially-well with Gwendolyn; and seemed to really enjoy the change from hanging out with her usual group of friends. They finished the rest of their shopping together; went for a late lunch at the Three Broomsticks so that they missed the worst of the lunch rush there; and then they headed back to the castle with plans to spend the rest of their afternoon hanging out in and around a portable pool.

They had to split up to go to their dorm rooms and distribute supplies to the younger teens and tweens; Lily and Jonah were among a handful of those younger friends invited to join in on the water play time; and they all had a blast with that until needing to pack up and head for the Great Hall in time for dinner. It was no surprise that the teen drama that went along with a Hogsmeade weekend would be top stories for the school gossip network, but by then; Al was more-interested in spending the evening with Gwendolyn. They had a busy day ahead of them on Sunday, so they started their evening out with a short study session that ended up being with about half of their group; moved on to some music and snogging fun on their own after that; and managed to make it back to their respective Houses enough ahead of curfew that Al didn't need to 'go Animorphmagus' to get to his common room on time.

The busy for their Sunday wasn't all fun; but Al and Gwendolyn had a great day. They studied from after breakfast until Al needed to be at the make-up practice for Gryffindor's senior team; and he had a lot of fun with that workout – especially when he was top Chaser again for the scrimmage and led his team to the win over their reserve squad. Lunch in the Great Hall was quick because he needed to move on and help Lily with setting up a classroom for Denise's thirteenth birthday party. Lily had extra help for that – including from Gwendolyn, Rose, and Jonah; but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose only stayed for the first ten minutes or so of the party after Denise arrived – just long-enough to wish her a happy birthday and give her their gifts.

That was actually when the day got more-interesting for Al and Gwendolyn. they'd booked the practice pitch for a Chaser duel. Hugo was busy with the party, but Rose offered to play Keeper; Gwendolyn added Ryan to the group after going to grab her Quidditch gear; and the big surprise came when Ray brought Cyndia with him and wanted to join in on the fun. The girls decided on a Witches against the Wizards battle, and while Al would have liked to play on the same team with Gwendolyn; he knew that had been as much for Cyndia's benefit as for the battle of the sexes opportunity. That was also why he didn't play full-out – and why the girls won that duel by thirty points. He'd loved watching all three of them having fun with that, though; and the hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn after they all landed had been great too!

"I'd forgotten how much fun Quidditch can be," Cyndia declared enthusiastically as they all wound down with drinks and snacks even before most of them started taking off their gear. "After first-year; I didn't think I'd want to play anymore."

"Well, you definitely should," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "You're flying a Nimbus; and still played great up there against three Wizards on Firestorms."

"Tell her she sucked," Ryan said with a faux-grimmace. "The last thing I need is another Gryffindor Witch with that much talent on their teams over the next four seasons. It's already going to suck to be me this year against Melissa, Kathryn, and Roxanne if that short little match against Slytherin is any indication."

"Thank-you," Cyndia said; directing that at Gwendolyn and Ryan. "We all know that the guys were holding back today, and I appreciate that; but this really was so much fun that I don't care that they were taking it easy on me."

"This is what playing Quidditch should always be like," Al offered. "Gwendolyn's right. You have a lot of talent, Cyndia. You're welcome to join us for our scrimmages anytime; and I'll wager that Magnus would like – and hate – the competition with you at home."

"We could see about borrowing a Firestorm for you too," Rose suggested. "I have a feeling that the boys wouldn't need to hold back for long once you got used to flying one."

"That all sounds great," Cyndia assured them with a bright smile; "but cut it out now. I've promised my friends that hanging out with Ray and his friends won't mess things up for me with mine; and I don't want to be wrong about that."

"Al and Gwendolyn can't really relate to that," Rose advised her. "They just mashed their groups of friends together into one when they started dating back in first year."

"We've lost some along the way – and gained others," Gwendolyn reminded her. "That's just part of dating – and at least Ray and Cyndia have the advantage of being in the same House. There are some nights when I'm sure that curfew is a curse-word."

"Curfio!" Ray offered; pretending to point a wand at Gwendolyn.

"What might that even do if it was a real spell?" Cyndia asked.

"I have no idea," Ray answered with a shrug. "I was just going for the laughs; not seriously trying to invent a new spell. I leave that sort of thing up to Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose."

Cyndia nodded. "Yeah – I wish I was in second or fourth-year and could get one of those study apps and quills. Do they really help as much as I've heard?"

"Yes," Ray assured her; "but we've been asked not to make any requests for more of them; since it apparently takes quite a bit to make each set."

"I expected that; but maybe you can put me on the list for the hand-me-downs for next year – and every year after that; assuming you keep making new ones for your last three years at Hogwarts."

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose didn't tell Cyndia about their plans to sell their study app and have a company make apps for every year – and hopefully every Wizarding school. They did talk about the app and quills for a while longer; moved on to chat about other things while packing up and heading back to the castle; and then Al and Gwendolyn did their own thing for an hour or so until they needed to get back to Denise's party to help with the clean-up. That was where they found out that Denise's best birthday gift had been an invitation to the dance from Hunter Hudak – and he'd done that by making the invitation part of the gift that she'd needed to unwrap. He'd apparently earned a lot of points for creativity from all of the girls, and while that had been for the way he'd asked Denise to the dance; there'd actually been a nice little gift that she'd loved too.

After a long, busy day, taking the evening off for the usual weekly family night with Lily and Jonah had been a welcomed wind-down for Al and Gwendolyn. They kept the music fun to a minimum; the mirror chats with their parents had been as entertaining as always; and then the cuddle time on sofas while watching mirror network shows had been a perfect way to end the day. Sure, there had been the visit to the Owlery; the walks back to their Houses; and Al spent more than an hour working on his special project once he'd gotten into bed for the night; but that had all been fun too – and ensured that he was ready to crash and nap for the entire night once he did finally close his eyes and head off to sleep.

The week leading up to – and through – the middle of October continued to be packed full of work and fun for Al and Gwendolyn. While their classes and studying took up most of their time, and Quidditch was becoming more important as they closed in on the first senior team matches of the year; the fun highlights of the week came from some unexpected places. The first happened on Monday when Wendy and Wanda Wintringham talked with them about helping their drama club with a Christmas musical they were writing – partly because they wanted to use some of the songs they'd written for the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers in that show. They'd been sworn to secrecy before the girls would even tell them what they'd wanted; given copies of what the girls and their drama club friends had come up with so far; and asked to help with fleshing the storyline out along with making the songs fit better to the story. The drama club planned on announcing tryouts for the musical the day after Halloween and then hold those auditions the following Sunday; so they had a bit less than four weeks to finish writing their script and music – though the two girls hoped to have it done sooner so they could focus on other jobs that they'd need to get done both for tryouts and getting ready to put on a big show.

Next up for the major, unexpected fun came on Thursday morning with Winter's delivery of the weekly Owl Post from home. That package included news from Ginny and Hermione that they'd made a deal with a group of companies that were going to work together on making and selling the study app and the quills and inks. They'd had some issues with working out deals for the authors, publishers, and other players in the business; but all that really mattered for the three inventors was that they were going to do quite well with the new business venture. Even better – those companies were going to attempt to have study apps, inks, and quills available for Hogwarts students as a test market in time for the Christmas shopping season!

They may not have gotten rich on what they'd done so far during the summer and fall; but they hoped for a really great year in twenty-twenty-one!

Neither of those stories made the rounds on the school gossip network, and weren't anything that affected anyone else either; but Al and Gwendolyn had fun spending a bit of time here and there reading the script they'd been given and then working on it too. They didn't need to do anything for their study app, but did need to keep working on Animorphmagus toys for the Christmas line. Rose helped them with that – though they didn't usually work together on that; and instead did that after curfew in their dorm rooms – or elsewhere when they needed to do some of the magic when they didn't want anyone else around them. That was especially-true when it came to testing the toys or doing some of the magic for them; though Al could usually work in his room whether he was alone or not because he could do the work without anyone else even noticing he was doing it.

The Harpies had a match on Saturday afternoon against the Bats, and while that was the only extra activity on the schedule for Al and Gwendolyn for the week and weekend; Lily had fun on Thursday by having a little birthday party for Holly's third birthday after her junior team Quidditch practice. Al and Rose had to miss that while busy with their own practice; but the Gryffindor teens that were in the common room had fun with that – and enjoyed the treats and drinks that Lily shared with everyone – at least as long as her supplies lasted. For Al and Gwendolyn; the Quidditch-watching plans for Saturday didn't really change things up for them very much at all. They studied a lot; had a bit of extra time for fun here and there thanks to being able to work faster on their assignments; and they took the last hour off before curfew on Friday night for a bit of quality snogging.

On Saturday, they studied in the morning; Al, Rose, and Ray had their senior team practice for the last half of the morning; and then Al and Gwendolyn got together with their usual group of Quidditch fans to watch the Harpies-Bats match in their study classroom. Cyndia was an addition to their group when she accepted Ray's invitation to join them, but it wasn't her first time at one of their group events; so she wasn't surprised to see the sofas and mirror when she arrived there with Ray and the group that they'd walked with from the Great Hall. Most of the teens and tweens were in the room in time for at least some of Lee's pre-game show; and they were all there when the Harpies earned a unanimous vote for the win.

"Are the Bats really that bad by comparison?" Cyndia asked. "I keep up with some of the other teams – including the Harpies; but don't really know much about the Bats."

"They haven't made the playoffs in years," Ryan advised her before anyone else answered. He didn't join them for every match; but had come along with his sister and cousins instead of watching the game in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Our team can't afford to start losing these easier matches," Gwendolyn told her. "We've been in tough against the top teams for a while now – and I hope we never get to a point in the league where all of the teams are so equally-matched that they all end up with records that are close to twelve-and-twelve."

"That might work ou for Rose's plans for the Cannons," Hugo joked. "It'd be much easier to get to that kind of record than to an undefeated season."

"There are some Muggle sports that are like that – and do well-enough even with comparatively-low winning percentages," Rose offered. "That isn't how I'd want to win my league championship with the Cannons; but there are examples of that being able to work for a sports league."

"It's actually like that for broom racing," Al offered. "There are rarely seasons when just one Witch or Wizard wins more than a few of the races on the circuit."

"Yeah, because the leader usually gets eaten while flying over the dragon reserves," Ray joked. "Those are the races you want to be near the last for to have the best chance to win – because the dragons are full by the time you get there."

"That hasn't happened all that often," Al countered after joining in for the laughs. "My point, though, was that it doesn't make their sport less-exciting just because the wins are spread around."

"Then maybe you should go into broom racing instead if you like that so much," Lily suggested with a grin. "That'd stop Rose from pestering Gwendolyn and me about her Cannons too; but that'd just be an added bonus for us if you'd do that."

"I want to play Quidditch as much as you do," Al reminded her. "Giving broom racing a try some day would be fun too, though; so maybe I'll do that if I can – in the Quidditch off-season."

"Maybe they could make a race just for you where you have to fly off into the sunset with a damsel in distress," Ray suggested; earning another round of laughs.

"That's funny – and not actually a bad idea," Al told him; and then laughed when Gwendolyn punched him on the arm. "I don't actually mean the damsel-in-distress thing – but a race that had other challenges. An obstacle course might be interesting; or maybe overcoming some sort of challenges along the race route."

"Sure, since dodging dragons isn't already a challenge for some of those races," Ray joked.

"That is a challenge," Al agreed; "but I'm thinking more along the lines of some Muggle extreme sports – bike racing; snowboarding; surfing; and others. Some of us have talked about coming up with new magical sports so we have more choices beyond Quidditch and broom racing; but we haven't actually done anything with that yet."

"Don't you have enough play options with being an Animorphmagus?" Cyndia asked. "You've basically got an unlimited number of play options without inventing anything new."

"He does, but the rest of us don't," Lily pointed out. "I still want to try and make a version of Quidditch for the portable pools – and maybe magical water slides to go with them." She laughed at some of the reactions from her friends. "Okay, maybe I'll just help out with the ideas and let other people do the heavy magical lifting and inventing; but you have to admit that the ideas are good."

"And you did come up with the idea for the pools in the first place," Gwendolyn pointed out.

"She did?" Cyndia asked. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, but my uncles are getting all of the profit out of it; so next time; I'm going to make sure I get in on that part of the fun too," Lily lamented.

"You're still their favorite niece or nephew," Rose pointed out. "That's worth something – and you got a free portable pool."

"We've been over that before, so I won't go there; but I'm definitely going to get paid for all of my future brilliant ideas,' Lily insisted.

Their chat moved on from there; they were soon immersed in the Quidditch match too; and they watched a game that ended up being fairly short and a bit bi-polar. During the first hour, the Bats didn't do too badly as they lost ground slowly to the Harpies' Chasers. That changed when their Keeper was injured by a really great play by both Harpies' Beaters; and then it went downhill fast from there. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were heading toward the one-sixty lead fast after that because the Bats' Keeper could barely stay on his broom let alone stop many shots on his goals; and they would have gotten there if Gabrielle hadn't ended the game before the end of the second hour with a fairly-easy snitch catch. She'd been able to do that because her Bats' opponent had gone for a high-risk attempt to win the match before the Harpies earned that one-sixty lead. He botched it; Gabrielle was happy to take advantage of the mistake; and the Harpies earned a fairly-easy, three-forty to eighty victory.

Some of their friends and relatives opted to switch to another match and continue the game-watching fun, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose decided to finish up their weekend assignments instead – and got that done by dinnertime. Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for the evening, but lent Ray and Cyndia the mirror and some sofas so that they could host a mirror network watching party with some of her friends. Not having his mirror didn't get in the way of the fun for Al and Gwendolyn. They started out with an hour of toy making that Rose joined them for; had some music play time after she left to go and have a video chat with Kyle; and wrapped up their night with some quality snogging that didn't include not watching shows on the mirror network on the mirror they didn't have with them anyway. After walking Gwendolyn home, Al pretty much went straight to bed – and off to sleep too; since he'd pretty much run out of steam by then and wasn't interested in staying up late to work on anything.

Sunday was uneventful but fun. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had a project study morning that included some library research and some play time in one of the Potions dungeons. The afternoon Quidditch scrimmage was with two full teams – and Cyndia came to play with Ray and his friends again too; and then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had another toy making session after the scrimmage that kept them busy until dinnertime. Rose and Hugo joined in on the regular Sunday evening family time; the extra mirror chat with Ron and Hermione added to the fun for all six kids; and they added one bit of fun to the mix – some work on actually making Lily's portable pool version of Quidditch a reality. They didn't get much of anything done for actual, physical equipment, but they did come up with ideas and talk about rules for the game; so Lily was very happy with getting that much done by the time that four out of six of them headed for the Owlery to send their weekly Owl Posts with Winter – and spend some time with Blizzard as james continued to mostly-ignore his bird – unless he needed to use Blizzard to impress the girls.

By Monday, the two-week countdown to the Halloween dance was on, but while the dance-related stories continued to feed the insatiable gossip network; it was the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match that took top spot as they all had that match-up to look forward to on the next-to-last Saturday of October. That game didn't affect Al's Quidditch practices at all, but Pauline gave up extra practice time to Ryan and his junior team; so Gwendolyn had easier workouts on Monday and Wednesday; and a longer practice on Friday while Ryan only did a light workout and a team meeting the day before the big match.

The Gryffindor senior team was into the three-week countdown to their first match, so they were working harder too; but the biggest news story for their team came on Tuesday morning – when Louis got a Lightningbolt sent to him in the Owl Post for his seventeenth birthday. That had caused a commotion; and had worried Rose – until she still won her Keeper duel in their scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon. Al might have helped her out with that if needed, but Louis had issues with getting used to his new broom; and didn't play as well as normal in that match – though he did move up a couple of spots in the flying work-out thanks to the extra speed.

Working a bit harder at Quidditch was just one part of Al's too-busy schedule. Having the study app advantage now just seemed to lead to using that extra free time to do more work on other things. A cameo visit to Louis' birthday party after dinner on Tuesday wasn't work; but they did have other things to keep busy with – like helping Wendy and Wanda with their musical; working on more toys; and getting more-serious about Lily's portable pool Quidditch invention. She hadn't really been joking about leaving the heavy magical lifting to Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; so they worked on designing and making goals, a quaffle, water-friendly bludgers, and a snitch that swam instead of flew so the Seekers would need to dive or swim underwater to catch it. They only got started on that with a bit of work on it here and there over the course of the week, but did make some progress; and Al especially-enjoyed having that extra time with Lily and Jonah; since she'd wanted to be in on those bits of play time.

As they headed into the weekend, Al and Gwendolyn didn't make much time for any quality snogging, but they kept ahead of their workload; had a lot of fun with the extra magical play time; and were in a good place with their school workload by the end of the night on Friday – though Al stayed up late and worked in his dorm room to help out with that – and with some more work on his special project. He was still up early on Saturday; had a great start to his day with the morning walk and talk that Lily and Hugo both joined him and Rose for; and then they missed out on having anything to do with their Aunt Angelina's forty-third birthday because she was on a weekend getaway with Uncle george; and for some reason they didn't want to know about; didn't answere their mirror chat attempt – or the calls that Fred and Roxanne attempted before breakfast. That was just a blip of fun for them, but it was time for full-immersion into Quidditch by the time breakfast was served in the Great Hall. Al met up with Gwendolyn after that meal; they wished Jonah and the other Ravenclaw junior players good luck as they headed for the stadium; and then Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride that included a visit with Hagrid so they'd keep busy and entertained until it was time for them to get to the stadium too.

They were still early; staked out seats on the border of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections; and then waited for the rest of their friends and team mates to join them. Olivia and Pauline allowed that again, but Olivia and Lucy still didn't like it; and Pauline didn't care – at least for now. Al and Gwendolyn expected that to change by March or April; but then that wouldn't even be an issue for the first four senior team matches; since one of their two teams would be playing in each of those games through until the junior team matches started again in March. As usual, Rose sat next to Al, but they also had all of their junior team players with them for this match too; and Lily sat in the row ahead of Al and Gwendolyn so that she could talk with them easily – and be an extra row away from James and his friends. They were all there with time to spare before Colin started his pre-game show, but it was cool out, and they were almost-certain to get rain during the match; so their chat time was a bit muted as they waited for the match to begin. That was likely why Colin's booming voice was still a shock to everyone when he did welcome all of the Professors, students, and guests; since the contrast from the low buzz of crowd noise truly was shocking!

"Welcome to match number two of the Hogwarts Quidditch season!" he shouted out enthusiastically. "It's a beautiful, soon-to-be-rainy, chilly fall day – perfect for what will hopefully be a long, thrilling day of Quidditch!"

"He's obviously never played the game if he thinks that's true," Ray offered. He and Cyndia were in the row behind Al and Gwendolyn; and he earned laughs from the other players.

"We're only one match into the season; so the statistics don't mean much in the races for the Quidditch Cup and junior team titles," Colin continued; "but our two teams today do at least know what they need to do to keep up with Gryffindor – or pass them to earn first place in both competitions!"

"Do you think that he talks like that in his classes?" Gwednolyn asked Al quietly. "I don't know if that'd be hilarious or annoying."

"I do – it would be annoying," Al assured her just as quietly while grinning at her. "I also know that he doesn't – and is so quiet the rest of the time that most Gryffindors don't even notice him when he's around them."

"Firsties aren't supposed to be seen or heard," Gwendolyn offered next; but then they just went back to listening to Colin's pre-game entertainment.

He eventually introduced Hufflepuff first; and offered as much detail about each player as he could fit into his commentary while the seven teens and tweens flew their lap above and around the stadium. Captain Ricky Peakes led the way with his Beater partner, Lee Johnson; and their introduction included commentary on Ricky's father and Lee's big brother and sister – and how well Calvin and Tina were doing in the show so far. Leanne Jordan and Luke Summerby were next in line for introductions, and while Colin could talk about Leanne's junior team record so far; he didn't have much to offer on Luke; since he'd been Madison's back-up in his first year. Justine Finch-Fletchley was the only third-year Chaser, so while Colin could talk about her record too; there wasn't nearly as much for him to say about the two Chasers flanking her in the last row – second-year Michael MacMillan; and firstie, Drew Summers.

Once the Hufflepuff players landed; it was time for Colin to welcome the Ravenclaw team into the stadium. Ryan had opted to lead the way flanked by his Beaters, but the most-notable difference for the Ravenclaw introductions was that their players had more team and individual accolades than the Hufflepuff players. Their House was defending Quidditch Cup champions; Ryan was an award-winning Keeper; and Patrick Thomas and Katrina Rivers were two of the best junior team Beaters in the school. Stephanie and Jonah were in the second row; and Colin had fun with them – pointing out that Jonah had earned the Seeker job on their team two years running now; yet Stephanie had the only Seeker title – and had earned that in her first year with the team. Bringing up the rear of their squad were Stephanie's Chaser partners; Alyssa Graves and Robin Ackerley. Colin had a few statistics to offer from Alyssa's first year; so Robin was the only member of the team without any game-play record for him to offer – other than that she'd been promoted this year from the reserve squad a year ago – and was replacing Gwendolyn on the team.

"No pressure, Robin," Lily joked as they watched the Ravenclaw players land. "You've only replaced the best Chaser ever on your House's junior team."

"She's not supposed to replace me," Gwendolyn told her. "Stephanie and Alyssa are supposed to step up. Robin is good, though; and don't forget that she had some tough competition at tryouts from Chris and Bryson." The two boys were sitting with the other reserve team players; and she'd offered that comment loudly-enough for them to overhear – and was smiling when they both turned to look at her.

"Not tough-enough – or we'd have made the team this year," Bryson told her. "We might be glad of that if we don't have another great season, though; so we'll see how it goes."

"Don't jinx our team," Gwendolyn pretended to chide.

"We're cheering for our team," Chris assured her; "but we'd still rather be out there playing instead of watching the match from here."

"None of us would play if we didn't want that," Pauline offered; and smiled when the boys both looked a bit dazzled when they turned their attention to her. "Don't let it bother you that you're not playing in your first year. Most of our parents didn't either; and some of your parents have gone on to have brilliant careers in the show."

"Don't include Mum in that," Peter offered with a grin. "Could you imagine her playing Quidditch?"

"Every time I look in the mirror," Pauline joked; "but no – not really. Mum doesn't really want us to play – though she's getting used to it; since all three of us plan on playing in the show after we graduate."

Al listened in as the chat continued; though he'd also been amused by Chris' and Bryson's reactions to Pauline. That had more to do with the fact that he didn't really think about her that way at all – though there was no doubt that she was as beautiful as her mother and aunt. His perspective likely had a lot to do with growing up around quite a few Veela Witches, so he could appreciate attractive Witches; but didn't ever get dazed and dazzled the way that other Wizards did – with Gwendolyn being the one exception to that general rule; and that had everything to do with how much he loved her.

He loved watching the game with her too; and Mr. Peakes soon had the match started. Having a great start to the Quidditch action above the pitch was part of the reason they had so much fun; but they also didn't have any major issues with james – possibly because Pauline and Peter were so near; and he didn't want to say too many awful things about their sister in front of them. He did make a few insults about other Ravenclaw players, with a focus on Jonah; but Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily ignored him; and he got tired of the jokes when he didn't get the laughs or any satisfying reaction from Al or Lily.

The match was a defensive win for Ryan and Leanne through the first hour; and they each did their very best to frustrate their opponent Chasers. Stephanie, Alyssa, and Robin earned a slight advantage for Ravenclaw; but had needed to take more shots on goal to get that slim lead; and that close ratio lasted through the second hour. Both teams scored more goals, but Ryan and Leanne were both still playing brilliantly too – and that continued until mid-way through the third hour before changing dramatically when Lee Johnson got a hard bludger hit in on Ryan that definitely broke bones and turned the tide of the match to Hufflepuff's favor.

Ryan did his best, and his Chasers put more effort into their defense; but he just couldn't keep up with the onslaught of attacks from the Hufflepuff Chasers anymore; and they quickly began piling on the goals while Leanne was able to continue a stellar defense against Stephanie, Alyssa, and Robin. Jonah knew his team was in trouble and redoubled his efforts to catch the snitch for the win, but while Luke Summerby wasn't as talented as Jonah was; he knew that he only needed to defend the snitch until his team earned the one-sixty lead. Hufflepuff did that by mid-way through the fourth hour despite Ryan's best efforts to keep his team in the match, and when he couldn't do that; he also gave Jonah the green light to go for the catch for the loss – without even waiting to see if his Chasers could get their team back into the game. Hufflepuff scored two more goals, Stephanie got one of them back; and then the game was over at the three hour and forty minute mark when Jonah earned the snitch catch unopposed for the two-ninety to two-seventy loss.

"Ryan must be feeling horrid to not even try for the comeback," Lily offered quietly.

"Let's get down there and I'll see if I can help," Al offered. "This didn't end well for your House, Gwendolyn; but Ryan and Jonah did the right thing; and only being down twenty points could end up being a big deal for the Quidditch Cup race."

"You'd think so," Lily told him. "I was hoping for a repeat of this match from last season. Jonah and I are tied for catches right now; and I don't like that at all."

"You do," Gwendolyn disagreed; "and would love to have a winner-take-all Seeker duel against Jonah when you play his team in April."

"That would be awesome – if I win that duel," Lily conceded; and then she shook her head. "They look so disappointed – and shouldn't. Lee won the day for Hufflepuff today; and Ryan just got a bad break – pun not intended."

Al already knew that she was right about that for Ryan; so he was glad to head out onto the pitch with Gwendolyn and help her cousin out as soon as possible. Ryan had two broken ribs and the lung on that side was only working at about half-capacity; so it was a wonder that he'd been able to keep playing for more than an hour when just moving around and trying to breathe was agony for him. He was grateful for Al's on-field help, but while he was healed quickly-enough; that didn't take away the pain of the loss – or his self-blame for not avoiding that bludger hit that led to messing everything up for his team. Al couldn't help Jonah either, but Lily did her best to cheer him up; and Gwendolyn was there for her cousins and younger friends too. They eventually took time to congratulate the Hufflepuff players too; though that didn't go on for very long because Tory in particular intentionally made that uncomfortable for them – even though her brother and the other junior team players didn't have a problem with accepting the praise from two of the best players in their school.

A late lunch was being set up in the Great Hall, so Al and Gwendolyn headed for the castle with about twenty minutes to spare ahead of that meal; they stayed together at the Ravenclaw table until the food was on the tables; and then Al went to have lunch with Rose and their Gryffindor friends – a short break before he and Gwendolyn were reunited and could spend the rest of the afternoon together. While Lily borrowed his sofas and mirror; Al and Gwendolyn led an optional study session – and got the rest of their must-do work finished for the weekend before moving on to some toy making with Rose that they worked on through until dinnertime. Their deadline for the Christmas toys was Sunday; and they needed to have them finished in time to send them out with Winter on Sunday night – though they'd have another week to work on them if the toy company wanted any final modifications before starting to copy them.

They didn't spend the entire evening on their own because Al and Gwendolyn had a musical work session with Wendy and Wanda for an hour or so after dinner; but that was really just a small change from their normal Saturday night music fun; and they still had lots of time left for a bit of quality snogging once Wendy and Wanda moved on to continue working on their musical with their drama club. That last couple of hours ahead of curfew had again been without Al's mirror, but they'd retrieved one of the sofas; and had been happy to focus on the snogging and forget about everything else for a while. They still managed to return to their Houses on time and ahead of curfew, but though it had been a long day; Al stayed up later and worked on his special project for an hour and a half before going off to sleep for the rest of the night – and that was still before half of his roommates were back in their dorm room and ready to turn in too.

Ray was one of those night owls on Saturday night; and that had everything to do with spending time with Cyndia. That was a change for Al, since his best mate hadn't been around to join in on the bedtime guy talk, but he was glad that things were going well for Ray and Cyndia; and they were both very happy – which was all that really mattered. Having Cyndia spend more time with Ray and his friends continued to change things for all of them too, but on Sunday; that was only because she joined in for the Chaser duel with Al, Gwendolyn, and Ray while Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel during the early afternoon time slot. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get any interest for a full scrimmage after many of their friends had make-up practices on Sunday morning – including the one for the Gryffindor senior team; but the duels were always fun too; so they were okay with doing that instead.

In addition to Quidditch, Al and Gwendolyn had a study session in the morning that she continued without him while he was at his practice; and then they spent the second-half of their afternoon working on toys with Rose until dinnertime. Lily and Jonah spent the evening with Al and Gwendolyn; it was just the four of them for that; and they all enjoyed the quiet wind down to their busy weekend. They'd expected to need that extra rest ahead of the last week of October; and they even did their visit to the Owlery early and were in their own Houses well-ahead of curfew so that most of them could get the extra sleep too. Al didn't do that because he had work he wanted to get done first, but being back in his room early allowed him to do that and still be sleeping well-ahead of most of his roommates – especially the guys that needed to stay up late to catch up on their weekend assignments.

Their upcoming Halloween adventures were at the top of the gossip network by Monday morning – and Rose had wanted to talk about the Hogsmeade weekend and dance too during her morning walk and talk with Al. Quidditch took a back seat to those two topics for most of the teens and tweens, but in addition to having less than two weeks left to get ready for the Gryffindor-Slytherin senior team match; the league officials proved that they had a warped sense of humor by booking the Harpies to play the Falcons on Halloween – a truly scary event for all of the Harpies players. There was an entire school week to get through before they could get to all of the holiday fun, though; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose worked even harder than ever to keep up with their workload of classes, assignments, Quidditch, and other activities or work.

With all of that going on for them, and despite jam-packed schedules; there really wasn't anything particularly newsworthy going on in Al's life during the first four days of the week. On Friday, he had a fun little birthday chat with his grandparents that Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Hugo joined in for to wish their grandmother a happy seventieth birthday; but that was the extent of their involvement in her happy day. She was having a birthday party dinner at the Leaky, but was also staying home for the weekend because of Halloween plans that included going to the Harpies-Falcons match. The only other event at Hogwarts on Friday didn't involve Al at all – the second meeting of the Slug Club. He was still happy about being excluded from that meeting, and while the rest of their study group took the night off; he happily blasted through all of his must-do weekend assignments; worked on his special project; and he finished up making the batch of snap-dragon corsages that would be given to a dozen or more Witches along with some extras that would be put out on the tables for the entertainment of everyone at the dance. He was back in his dorm room ahead of curfew; and off to sleep so he'd be ready for a busy Halloween on Saturday!

"Hello, Gwendolyn. I see you're on the way to Slughorn's Halloween party too."

Gwendolyn groaned silently; but nodded her acknowledgement to James. He'd stepped into the hallway from a secret passage – one that wasn't on the way to Slughorn's office from Gryffindor tower.

"James,' she said; her voice frosty. "Did you get lost on your way there?"

"No, I'm right where I should be – with you at my side," he pretended to joke; and then frowned when Pauline took a side-step that provided a buffer from him for Gwendolyn.

"I expect that her boyfriend would have a problem with that," Pauline advised him; and the tone of her voice was closer to deep-freeze than frosty.

"Probably," James agreed; "but I'll still keep trying to save all damsels in distress from the horrid fate that would befall them from too much exposure to the Animorphloser."

"That is just about the worst line you could possibly use around Pauline and me," Peter told him bluntly.

"Maybe, but then you're just helping to prove my point; and you should be hating on the loser instead of me." He returned his attention to Gwendolyn and smiled. "Sit with me at the party," he cajoled. "You'll have way more fun than you would hanging out with this lot – and it'll be off-the-charts brilliant for you compared to any time with the Animorphpotty!"

"The only thing that amazes me about all of that bluster is that you actually seem to believe that it would work on me," Gwendolyn told him. "Go away and leave me alone for the rest of forever, James. I'm never, ever going to want to have anything to do with you!"

"I'm crushed – and you're so wrong about that. Sooner or later – preferably sooner – you'll come around to seeing the loser for the horror he is; and I'll be there to help you find out what it's like to be with a real Wizard."

Gwendolyn drew her wand; and James held up his hands. "I'm going – but I'll save you a spot in case you come to your senses and change your mind."

He strode ahead of Gwendolyn and her little group of Ravenclaws; waited until he was a half-dozen paces ahead; and then appeared to raise a hand to wave a farewell; but tossed something over his shoulder instead. Gwendolyn had been watching him warily – and angrily; so she saw that he'd thrown something at them and reacted instantly by raising her shield to stop it from reaching them. Whatever it was, it burst when it hit the shield; released a bright orange gas; and it spread quickly out and around Gwendolyn's shield. She didn't wait to find out what it was; used and air shield; and then watched in satisfaction as all of the gas blew down the hallway and enveloped James. He'd turned around to watch them with a broad smirk on his face; that turned to shock when he wasn't prepared to defend himself from what was really a counter-attack from Gwendolyn; and then he coughed as he inhaled the gas.

"What do you think will happen?" Pauline asked almost-conversationally. "Thanks, Gwendolyn. I'm so glad that you still had your wand out; or that might have ended badly for us."

"I'm going to guess love potion," Peter offered. "His eyes are glazing over and he's getting a goofy grin on his face."

"Could be a memory charm instead," Pauline suggested, "but if you're right; then he's likely tried to make Gwndolyn fall in love with him."

"He's already in love with himself," Gwendolyn told them. "You'd think that a love potion with him as the target would be redundant if he got it on himself."

"Actually, it might take things to a hilarious new level," Peter disagreed; and then laughed when James caught sight of a reflection of himself in a suit of armor and began staring at it while touching his hair and face.

"Well, he must not have thought that prank through," Brandon told them; joining in on the conversation for the first time since James had appeared. "If Gwendolyn hadn't acted so quickly; we'd have all been hit – and then I'd have had to pound him once that stupid love potion wore off!"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Now I'm half-wishing that it had worked," she joked. "What should we do with him? I'd just leave him; but Al would hate it if I did that – even while he'll hate what James just tried to do to me too."

"Get a mirror out and point it at him as wee pass," Pauline suggested. "He'll follow us all the way to Slughorn's quarters – and we'll let him deal with James."

"That could be fun," Peter agreed. "Let's do it."

Hilarity ensued as they got James to follow the mirror like the love-sick fool he temporarily was; the teens that were already there had fun with it while Professor Slughorn helped James with his little problem; and then the best part of the scene for Gwendolyn was that James completely ignored her for the rest of the evening once he came to his senses again and was razzed about what had happened to him. that made the meeting-party more fun for everyone except James, and while Slughorn still spent too much time on name-dropping and stories about famous people he knew; the Halloween-themed treats, drinks, and music was all really great. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Ray were also becoming better friends with most of the other teens in the group – except for the Slytherins; but even those relationships were a bit better because of the need to be social in a comparatively confined space.

The party rolled on until a half-hour past curfew; Gwendolyn walked back to her House with the other Ravenclaw members of the Slug Club; and then she ended her day with a long girl chat with her roommates that included having a lot of fun with her full recap of the Slug Club party!

"It's early – before breakfast on Halloween; but I thought you'd like to hear the news from the Slug Club meeting," Scorpius told Thomas as he placed the portrait on the table and then sat down in the armchair. "I won't be able to visit with you for the rest of the day while we're busy with the trip to town and the Halloween dinner and dance."

"Okay," Thomas agreed. "What's new with the Slug Club?"

"The top story around here today will likely be that James had a prank back-fire and got hit with a love potion that had him madly in love with himself. He'd apparently tried to use it on the potty-trainer and the Ravenclaws she was with while on the way to the meeting. I didn't hear how they stopped him; but I guess that doesn't really matter. They did; the love potion hit him instead; and then they brought him along so that Slughorn could help him out with an antidote."

"That's amusing; but not really very interesting," Thomas told him; unimpressed.

"I think that it's interesting that James tried to make his brother's girlfriend fall in love with him the night before the Halloween dance," Scorpius disagreed. "It's the closest he's come so far this shcool year to trying to mess with the Animorphloser – and it would have done that if he'd succeeded."

"Possibly," Thomas conceded; "but the chances for success were very low – especially when the girl was among friends; and they'd have known something was up and likely helped her out anyway."

"I suppose," Scorpius agreed. "As for the rest of the meeting, I was allowed to join in with the other Slytherins a lot more last night; and that should help me out with some of the others if some of the best and brightest in our House start treating me better the rest of the time."

"That's better news than the story about the Potter boy," Thomas decided. "Work on those connections too – don't just wait for them to make all of those choices."

"I doubt they're ready to come to parties or hang out together in Hogsmeade," Scorpius said doubtfully.

"Look for opportunities to do things to help them – no matter how small. If the older teens have younger siblings; you might do well with helping them too – and Hogsmeade weekends are a good opportunity for that with helping the kids that can't go to town with getting supplies or treats."

"I don't want to become the supply shopper for our House," Scorpius said with a hint of disgust in his voice. "What do I look like – a House Elf?"

"You know what I mean; so don't twist it to be something it isn't," Thomas chided. "The dance tonight is another opportunity. Slughorn is helping you with making stronger connections with your fellow Slytherin – do the same for others in your House. Dance with some of the single Witches in your House; do a bit of socializing instead of just sitting around wishing you could be at the dance with Lysandra; and try to be more outgoing than is your nature. You're in your fourth year too, and that sort of thing can go a long way toward being considered for one of the Prefect jobs for your OWL year."

"I'm by far the best choice for that in our year," Scorpius declared.

"You are," Thomas assured him; "but you've a lot of family baggage to overcome. Anything you can do to distinguish yourself over the others in the eyes of your Professors could be the difference between success and failure for earning that recognition."

Scorpius shook his head and then laughed. "How did we get to here from love potions?" He glanced at his watch; and then stood up. "I need to get to the Great Hall. I'm not sure when we'll be able to talk next. I'm busy for the rest of the day; have an extra Quidditch practice on Sunday; and still have most of my weekend revision to do tomorrow too. It very well could be next weekend – after our match against Gryffindor – before I can get away for another visit; and hopefully a lesson too."

"Very well," Thomas said with a hint of disappointment. "Try to do better with that once you're past that Quidditch match, though; since you're falling well-behind where we wanted you to be with your lessons – and that will not get easier for you over the next few years."

Scorpius agreed to try and do that without any real conviction or intent to try to do better. As he left the Room of Requirements; he turned his attention toward the fun he expected to have all day – whether that was while in Hogsmeade; at the dinner and dance; or with the snogging he hoped to get to do with Lysandra if they could manage to sneak away from the dance for a while to have a bit of that kind of Halloween fun!

Having an early bedtime allowed Al to wake up even earlier than usual on Saturday; he was showered and ready for the day a full half-hour before he was to meet up with Rose; and spent the extra time working on his special project while waiting for her in the common room. He was alone while doing that, but put it away when he sensed Rose and Lily heading out of the girls' dorm. He didn't usually think about that at all; but could sense everyone around him all of the time now.

"What news do you have that I'm going to hate?" he asked Lily as she and Rose crossed the common room and he stood to welcome them with hugs and kisses.

"That's rather annoying," she advised him; with a faux-pout on her face before she grinned again. "James tried to use a love potion on Gwendolyn last night before the Slug Club party."

"I'd go blast him, but since you're still grinning like that; I'll guess that my girlfriend is brilliant and stopped him."

"She did – and rebounded the prank on James so that he fell in love with himself," Rose advised him before Lily could. "Some of the other Ravenclaws were with her at the time, and would have been hit too; so she saved them too."

"They used a mirror to get james to followe them while admiring himself," Lily added with a laugh. "Slughorn helped him out after that, and then James must have been embarrassed – or mad; because he totally ignored Gwendolyn after he was back to normal."

"I'll guess mad," Rose advised them. "He didn't talk to me all night either – though it'd be more-true to say he didn't go around insulting me; since we don't exactly talk to each other."

"He hardly ever talks to me either anymore," Lily said with a shrug. "It would be nice if things were different; but this is still a big improvement over the past few years. Tell Al the latest date rumors for James and the dance."

"James may have three dates for tonight," Rose supplied; though she was frowning now. "He could be in for a bad night if that's actually true. Bristol and Patricia might be happy to keep their battle over him going indefinitely; but I expect that Lara will blast him if she isn't actually his only date tonight."

"And it is so wrong of me to hope she does just that," Lily added with an impish grin. "In this case, it isn't really even James' fault, since as far as I know; he's never even pretended to be a one-Witch kind of guy. Lara, Bristol, and Patricia are all delusional if they think they'll change him into something he's not."

"Lara might change him into something he's not if she gets mad enough," Al suggested; earning laughs from both girls.

"Maybe, but if she does do that; don't change into one of your animal forms and snack on him," Lily teased.

"That would be funny for Halloween," Rose offered. "Speaking of that, though; should we talk about watching each other's backs tonight? I don't have a date; and am willing to volunteer to help if you think we need to be extra-careful at the dinner and dance – or while some of us are in Hogsmeade today."

"After what you told me about last night; I'd have thought that would be a given," Lily told her seriously. "We can joke about it; but trying to use a love potion on Gwendolyn to make her fall in love with him is a horrid thing to do to her – and to Al."

"He's not the only Witch or Wizard to think it's okay to use love potions on others," Al pointed out. "That's scary; but sad too."

"You'd think so," Lily agreed; "but I'll stick with thinking it's horrid. Sure, maybe a few Witches and Wizards never get shown much love and don't know the difference; but most use things like love potions because they just want something they can't have and don't care what harm they do to get it."

"Or they don't want to put in the effort it takes to truly love someone," Rose added seriously. "I think that both apply to James."

Al thought that she was right about that; but tried to move their conversation on to less-serious topics – like shopping in Hogsmeade and setting up dancing for Rose that wouldn't risk messing things up for her with Kyle. They kept themselves entertained until they got to the Great Hall; had fun with some of their cousins and friends as they stopped by for cameo visits before breakfast; and then the meal conversation was lively with so much to gossip about! While he enjoyed the meal and chat time with Rose and their friends; Al was happiest when he was reunited with Gwendolyn and they got in line to be set free for the walk to town. They had some friends with them, but Ray was with Cyndia and some of her friends; and he was going to be doing what she wanted for this visit to town – and hanging out with her friends for at least some of that time too. Rose had met up with some of the other single Witches; but she was also near the edge of Al and Gwendolyn's group too.

The weather was cool and windy, but dry as they left the castle and headed for Hogsmeade. The wind was in their faces a lot of the way; so it took a bit more effort than normal to make the trek – at least for those teens that couldn't just apparate most of the way to town once they were beyond the school gates. Al could have given Gwendolyn a ride to town, but they stayed with their friends; and then split up once there so that Gwendolyn could go with some of the girls to the salon to get her hair done and then do a bit of fun shopping before meeting Al for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. That wasn't as much fun for him, but he was happy to do the supply shopping work while she played with her girlfriends; and Michael helped him out with the work – even though the other guys opted to have fun too for most of that time.

Halloween wheezes and sweets were on every list, but Al and Michael did that shopping last. Getting the boring shopping done first really did work out well for them this time; since the vast majority of the teens in town opted to play first – leaving those 'boring' stores mostly empty until later in the day when those teens couldn't put off doing the work any longer and the rush was on for the school supplies they all needed to re-stock on a regular basis. The girls missed out on the stop at the wheezes store, but caught up with Al and Michael at Honeydukes; and helped out with picking out all of the sweets and chocolates that they'd all want or need to get through the first three weeks of November. They had a late lunch at the Three Broomsticks; so they started watching the Harpies' match on their portable mirrors; and continued to do that through until they got back to the castle and met up with Lily, Jonah, and all of the teens and tweens they had with them for the game-watching party.

"You've been watching this?" Lily asked as Al and Gwendolyn walked into the classroom. "The Falcons are pounding us to pieces!"

"We have been – and they are," Gwendolyn agreed. "We still have the lead, though; and we're hoping that Gabrielle can catch the snitch soon."

"That's easier said than done. Brand pounds Aunt Gabrielle every time he so much as thinks she's seen the snitch," Lily said with a shake of her head. "He's already up to six penalties; and that doesn't cover a quarter of the cheap shots that he's gotten away with. Those gits are really taking this Halloween Horror match-up thing way too seriously."

The match had been going on for nearly an hour and a half by the time Al and Gwendolyn sat down on the sofa with Lily and Jonah to continue watching what truly was a scary show for all Harpies' fans. The hits kept coming, though; and things went downhill at every turn for the Harpies. A Halloween Horror was a perfect description for the match – again, for the Harpies; and the scariest moment came when Vicky was knocked out of the match with a vicious combination of bludger hit and cheap shot that put her lights out and sent her off to her bed at St. Mungo's. The Harpies had still held a small lead at that point, but the Falcons took the lead from them soon after – and then only increased that lead slowly while having more fun continuing to pound on the remaining Harpies. That didn't work very well for the Beaters, but the Falcons had great success with pounding Victoire, Candice, and Hailey; while Brand got to pound on Gabrielle with just a bit of help from the Nott brothers.

When they earned the one-sixty lead, the Falcons went on to toy with the Harpies by letting them get that goal back three times while continuing to pound on them mercilessly. They had built a two-goal buffer for the one-seventy lead at the end of the third hour, but then the Falcons made one mistake as the fourth hour began; and Gabrielle took advantage of it to end the match and catch the snitch for the loss. She took yet another vicious cheap shot from Brand immediately after making that catch, but the mistake had been his; and that late hit wasn't much of a consolation prize for him – and the Falcons all looked disappointed that the match was over despite the fact that they'd won.

"Dad's already on the pitch," Lily exclaimed as the view on the mirror switched to him even before the Harpies' players began landing. "He looks furious."

"No surprise there," Al said with a nod. "He's not the only Harpies' fan feeling that way right now. I hated every single minute of that match. Even when we scored points; those gits had to mess that up by pounding on our players."

"You'll likely be up against that sort of thing a week from today; so stay mad and take it out on Slytherin," Lily suggested. "As much as James bugs me; I don't want to see him end up in the hospital wing with his head bashed in again this year – and definitely don't want Slytherin to win that match either."

"Well, at least you put James first for that," Al joked; though he wasn't smiling; and didn't really earn much of a laugh for his joke. "I will hope that the Slytherin players don't learn anything from this match that they try to use in ours, though; since I really don't want to have anyone on our team pounded on like that next Saturday."

"We can hope," Rose agreed. "She'd joined the game watching about a half-hour after Al and Gwendolyn did; and had been especially-upset by Vicky's injuries.

"It's something we still have time to work on too," Al reminded her; "though I don't think that we'll have it as bad in our match. Slytherin only has maybe three players that'll play like that."

"Including both of their Beaters," Gwendolyn added. "Let's not go borrowing trouble – which is exactly what the Nott brothers will be doing if they get in your Dad's face."

"Haven't they learned their lesson for that yet?" Lily asked in disgust. "They must be two of the dimmest Wizards ever to think that messing with Dad will ever end well for them."

"They'd be in good company for that," Rose pointed out – "or I guess that'd be bad company with all of those Dark Wizards that still try now and then to mess with Uncle Harry."

"True, but they're not dumb-enough to go after Dad with Beater bats," Lily pointed out as they all watched Harry defend himself against that ridiculous attempt at bashing him – by breaking both bats with what was likely shield-protected bare hands. He then knocked both young men back a full ten paces; and then had Teddy and a few others deal with keeping the two teams separated so that a brawl wouldn't get started.

"I'm going to get out of here," Al decided; and stood up after sharing a brief hug with Gwendolyn. "I don't want to watch the rest of that; and the Witches in the room likely want to head back to their Houses to get ready for the dinner and dance anyway."

"What time is it?" Gwendolyn asked as she stood too.

"Not too late," Al assured her. "You've an hour and a half to get ready – give or take a few minutes for the walk to the Great Hall."

"And the walk back to Ravenclaw tower from here," she reminded him. "The other girls are likely already getting ready – and some of us will have to fight for shower time."

"Do you actually have fights for that?" Hugo asked; and then laughed self-consciously. "Never mind – don't answer that; since I don't actually want to know."

He earned some laughs for that, but then the girls all hurried out of the room, and while Al had started the exodus; he ended up being among the last to leave because he had to pack up the sofas and mirror – and then clean the room before heading out too. None of the guys needed the extra time to get ready for the dance, but Al still got ready early; and then distributed his snap-dragons to Ray and Michael – which required meeting up with Michael to do that with him in time for Michael to pass some of them out to his Ravenclaw friends. With lots of time to spare, Al went for a walk by the lake; ended up having a short visit with Hagrid as he made a loop of the school grounds on his way back to the castle; and then he was one of the first guys in the hallway outside of Ravenclaw tower when it was near-time to meet up with Gwendolyn for the walk to the Great Hall. He was grinning when she stepped into the hallway – and that was only partly because she looked so amazing. Toni and Michael were with her; Toni already had her snap-dragon; and they were apparently having fun with it already – since it had been transfigured into a bat that was flapping around and trying to fly off – but was tethered to Toni by the stem.

"Hi, Gwendolyn. You look beautiful," he said earnestly as he held out the snap-dragon that was a color that matched her dress by then; and she laughed happily as she closed the gap and then hugged and kissed him before taking the corsage from him.

"Thank-you – and thanks for the flower too." She laughed and held it away from her hair when the snap-dragon tried to nibble on it. "These are perfect for Halloween."

"We hoped that you'd like them," Al said with a self-conscious shrug. He smiled as he handed her a bit of a Halloween wheeze for her to feed to the flower. "Give it this before trying to put it on," he suggested; and Gwendolyn did that – and then laughed in delight when her snap-dragon turned into a mummy a few long moments later.

"Why didn't you suggest that to me?" Michael asked Al. "Gwendolyn and Toni had a real time of it getting her flower pinned on her dress while it kept trying to bite them."

"I only thought about it while going for a walk by the lake while waiting for it to be time to come here," Al admitted. "I like that vampire bat transfiguration a lot – though it might be a bit annoying during slow dances."

"Not as annoying as the vampire one," Toni suggested. "That would just be weird to have someone or something nibbling on both sides of your neck at the same time."

"Does Michael nibble on your neck a lot during slow dances?" Gwendolyn teased; and laughed when Michael blushed a bit. "I'll take that as at least a maybe. Help me with my corsage before it changes back from being a Mummy?" she asked Toni; and her friend quickly did that for her.

"These flowers really are adorable," she said happily. "Do you have a supply of the Halloween wheezes for Gwendolyn too?" she asked Al; and he nodded and got a little bag of them out of a pocket.

"Would you like to put this in your handbag; or just take a few of them for now?"

"I'll put them in my bag," Gwendolyn decided. "I don't want them melting in my hand while waiting to feed them to it." She took the bag from him, took one more bit of the treats out; and then put the bag away.

"We didn't see these flowers in town anywhere; and definitely didn't hear anyone talking about them," Toni said as they began walking toward the Great Hall. "Where did you find them? Are we the only Witches to get them for the dance?"

"You already know the answer to the first part of that," Al stated; "and you'll have to wait and see whether your flowers have any friends at the dance or not."

"I'll guess that they will; since it'd be a shame if there were just these two," Gwendolyn decided.

"You're likely right," Toni agreed; "though I'd suggest that's because our dates wouldn't want all of the other guys in the hall coming around wanting to get close-enough to us to feed the snap-dragons all night." She and Gwendolyn both laughed at the reactions from Al and Michael. "Okay, maybe they didn't think about that."

"Apparently not," Gwendolyn agreed while squeezing Al's hand. "It will still be more fun if there are lots of these flowers, though; and the not being pestered by all of the other guys will be a nice added bonus for us."

She was right about that, but it wasn't until they reached the Great Hall that they found out that the snap-dragon corsages were already becoming a huge Halloween hit with their fellow students. Al had been out of the loop – as planned; so that was his first time seeing the flowers that were set out on all of the tables – including the Professors' table. There weren't nearly-enough of them for everyone to play with, but they were spaced out so that everyone could enjoy the entertainment as they were fed and changed into various Halloween wheezes forms. Al didn't want to have any trouble with James during the dinner or dance; so he and Gwendolyn sat at the Ravenclaw table with Toni, Michael, and some of their friends. Rose wasn't left alone – she sat with some other Gryffindor singles – or teens that were single for the dance for the same reason she was.

They had some time to socialize while waiting for dinner to start, and while that was almost all fun; there was some unwanted drama too. When James arrived with Patricia and Bristol on his arms, he acted as if nothing was wrong; but rumor ran ahead of them; and it wasn't long before Al and Gwendolyn found out that the triple-date stories about him had been true – and that Lara had refused to go with him when she'd met up with him and found out that he'd seriously expected all three Witches to go to the dance with him. Lara eventually arrived in the Great Hall right before dinner was served, but she did that on her own; looked furious; and then only stayed long-enough to eat before leaving again and presumably returning to her dorm room.

Some surprises were much more fun. The school ghosts were out in force as dinner began; and they brought friends along for the fun; so the dinnertime entertainment was spirited in more ways than one! Al and Gwendolyn enjoyed the food and fun with their friends; and Al was glad to see that all of his favorite relatives and friends seemed to be having fun too. While the snap-dragons were entertaining; Halloween wheezes were being used all around the hall; and most of that fun was entertaining too – with only a few unwanted exceptions. The dinner rolled along for more than an hour through until they all finished dessert; and then there was a half-hour or so of social time while the tables were cleared and the Graves Robbers got set up for the dance. The differences between a Halloween and Christmas dance became very obvious as the Graves Robbers began their first set – and they started out with a trio of holiday-themed, upbeat dance tunes that soon had the party kicked up into high gear as most of the teens and tweens crammed onto the dance floor and joined in on the high-energy fun.

"Peeves alert," Al warned even as he nudged Gwendolyn away from poltergeist flight path danger. "Someone has helped him out – and he's having way too much fun with his Halloween haunting."

"That's sounds like something James would do," Gwendolyn suggested. "I haven't seen him doing anything yet – other than messing around with his dates."

"Maybe he's mostly going to play nice tonight. That'd be a nice change from every other dance we've had so far."

"Tell that to Lara. She's picked missing the entire dance over watching James fool around with Patricia and Bristol all night." She looked over to where the three of them were dancing together and shook her head. "I don't get it; but to each her own. I feel bad for Lara, but she must've heard all of the same rumors we did; so I don't know why she wouldn't have believed them – though I guess we don't actually know that; and something else could have happened to get her mad at James."

"I'm going to try not to even think about any of that drama with James and just try to have fun tonight with you and the rest of our friends," Al told her. "The Graves Robbers sound good tonight. "Do they practice using mirror chats? It doesn't sound as if they haven't played together in two months."

"I've never asked any of them about that," Gwendolyn admitted with a shrug. "They likely did do that at least a few times to get ready for tonight – especially since they wouldn't normally play all of these Halloween-themed songs. Myra's still got another year to go after this one, but the last two boys will be done in June; so I wonder if they'll try to do some gigs without her next year while she's finishing her NEWT year. The Weird Kids didn't try doing that; but their youngest members are more integral to the band than Myra is with the Graves Robbers."

"I know what you mean by that; but don't know whether they could make that change and do well without her," Al offered thoughtfully. "For all we know, she'd like that; since she could do well with Quidditch after school too."

"I've never talked seriously about that with Myra either; but then I think that's because she's always overshadowed by the Keepers in the other Houses."

"And by the other players in her own House," Al added with a nod. "I wonder if the snap-dragons can drink water. Yours is looking a bit wilted right now."

"It's likely tired after all of that flapping around earlier when it was a vampire bat," she suggested. "We can give that a try and see what happens – or I can pop it into one of the vases with the other snap-dragons for a while if that doesn't work."

"That's an even better idea," Al agreed with a nod as he looked over at one of those vases and saw that those flowers looked just fine. "I didn't think about that when, um, picking out that corsage for you."

Gwendolyn smiled at him. "Even if I need to take it off for a while; it's still brilliant," she assured him. "I'm only surprised that your uncles don't have them in their stores already."

"I've wondered about that too," Al admitted. "Maybe Uncle George preferred having something special just for his twin. If that's the case; I hope this won't mess that up for him."

"There could be something to that," Gwendolyn agreed – "or they're just too tame to make a good wheeze."

"Now I'm picturing a version of them with Monster Card teeth and you have to figure out how to tame them."

"And thorns," Gwendolyn added. "Big, spiky thorns; and maybe other things that they could do – like the stinky mistle-toes."

Those ideas gave them something to have a laugh about as they dance; they took several breaks along the way; and had a brilliant evening together. They didn't have a single problem with James; only got caught up in two wheezes that were of the entertaining variety; and Al only stopped one nasty prank from happening to an adorable firstie couple. Gwendolyn had him dance with Rose twice; they got her up to dance with them during a handful of upbeat dance tunes; and had one visit with her during the Graves Robbers' intermission when there was mirror network music to listen to for nearly three-quarters of an hour. While some of the couples wandered off and disappeared from the dance early – particularly when it came to inter-House couples; Al and Gwendolyn stayed through to the end of the dance. They went on after that to help with the clean-up; getting the Great Hall back in order so it would be ready for breakfast; and helping their Graves Robbers friends with packing up their gear too. Professor Clearwater had been in charge of overseeing all of that, so they got their late passes from her on the way out; and then Al walked Gwendolyn home.

"We made it – and not a sign of trouble in sight!" she said tiredly. The hallway was empty; and she sighed as she put her arms around Al and hugged him while leaning her head against his shoulder. "A bit of you and me time would have been nice too, but this really has been a brilliant night; so I'll just be glad of that – and for finally getting a break from the awful for at least this one dance."

"Me too – for all of that; I think," Al half-joked; since he felt as tired as he sensed that Gwendolyn truly was. "Let's call it a night; and maybe we can have a bit of you and me time tomorrow night instead of spending the entire evening with Lily and Jonah."

Gwendolyn leaned back and grinned at him. "I'd say they might like that too; but then they left the dance a full half-hour before they needed to – and I don't think it was because they were too tired to stay to the end."

"I'm pretending that I didn't notice that – though that wasn't as weird for me as it was watching James disappear from the dance twice – while leaving one of his dates behind each time."

"You definitely don't really want to go there," Gwendolyn decided. "Kiss me goodnight; and then get going. These passes don't keep us from getting into trouble indefinitely."

Al did that; didn't rush getting back to Gryffindor tower; and then he went straight up to his dorm room and tried not to think about the snogging going on all around him in that room. Ray was still with Cyndia – and they'd been one of those snogging couples, but some of the other guys were there already; and they traded dance stories while he got ready for bed. By the time he was in his bed, Al was pretty much ready to crash, so he didn't bother trying to wait up for Ray; and didn't really need to do that to be sure his best mate was having a best-ever so far school dance and date.

That had been true for Al and Gwendolyn too, so he was very happy as he drifted off to sleep; and hoped that the trend toward having a best-ever-so-far school year would continue in November too!

James roused to consciousness slowly; his mind foggy and disoriented. It took a while, but he eventually began to work things out through the haze of fire whiskey. Bristol was pretty much draped over him; they were still together in the classroom they'd picked for their post-dance play time; and they'd obviously both fallen asleep after having a lot of fun together. That thought had him smiling – or at least he thought he might be smiling.

It was no wonder he'd fallen asleep after doing a great job of keeping, um, up with two Witches all night. It would have been three if Lara hadn't thrown a fit when he'd advised her that they needed to wait for Bristol and Patricia. Sure, he'd made jokes about it and hadn't actually directly answered her when she'd questioned him about the rumors that he had three dates for the dance, but it wasn't as if she hadn't known that he was going around with all three of them anyway; so that shouldn't have been a surprise to her at all. It apparently had been, though; and he'd have to see whether he could patch things up with her later or not.

Lara's 'break-up' had been annoying, but it had been her loss; and he'd had a brilliant night without her – while she'd gone off to sulk and missed out on the dance and what could have been a brilliant evening for her too! He paused those thoughts and tried to focus on his watch. He guessed that it said three o'clock and something; but the time would have only been an issue if it was past-dawn. He thought about waking Bristol and seeing if they could stagger back to their House without getting caught out past curfew, but didn't think that he could muster up enough focus for an invisibility charm anyway; was too comfortable; and decided that they'd have more fun sleeping right where they were than in their own beds.

As he drifted off to sleep again, James was sure that the brilliant end to October and start to November would continue through the rest of the year, and for a change, and thanks in part to the fire whiskey; he didn't even have a single thought about the Animorphloser; and that was a brilliant break from reality too!

Scorpius lay awake in his bed an hour or so after the dance; though he pretended to be sleeping so that his roommates wouldn't pester him as they sat up and talked incessantly or did their own thing while getting ready for bed.

He was in a great mood; though he couldn't reveal that to any of the guys either. Some of them had razzed him about not having a date for the dance, but he wouldn't have done that to Lysandra – just as she didn't accept any offers – and she'd been asked to the dance by at least eight guys that he knew about – including some of his roommmates. That had worked out great for them because they'd sat near each other with the other single Slytherins around their age; they'd danced with some or all of the teens in that group for the up-tempo songs; and Lysandra had gotten away with accepting two slow dance invitations from him because it was Halloween; and the dance was supposed to be scary!

He'd both hated and loved that, but the best part of their night had come when they managed to meet up for a half-hour of rather brilliant Halloween snogging near the end of the dance – yet one more advantage to not having dates that allowed them to each leave the Great Hall without attracting any attention. Nobody was likely to time them for how long it took to get to their House from the dance, so the risks had been low for Lysandra; and the rewards had made for a best-ever-so-far non-date!

That thought had him laughing silently. Their Halloween couldn't have gone any better – all things considered; and Scorpius hoped that everything would continue to be just as brilliant for him – and for Lysandra – as they headed into the transition month from Halloween to Christmas. His hopes weren't nearly so high for Quidditch, but then he'd changed his goals for that instead, and instead of obsessing about what he was sure wouldn't be; he was going to focus on personally doing his best – and helping some of his new friends to do their best too.

He didn't think about that more deeply, but sometimes, all it really took to change everything from horrid and abysmal to brilliant was a change in perspective and attitude!


	39. Seniors Shine at Quidditch Time

**Chapter Thirty-Nine – Seniors Shine at Quidditch Time**

"What's the commotion all about this morning?" Rose asked as she joined Al in the common room. There was a small group of teens and tweens gathered around the bulletin board; and they were talking animatedly about the latest poster that had been added overnight. "It can't be about another dance."

"It's an invitation to tryouts for a Christmas musical that the drama club is going to be putting on instead of a Christmas dance," Al advised her in a way that earned Rose's suspicion.

"You knew about this before this morning?" she guessed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Gwendolyn and I were sworn to secrecy; and we only knew because Wendy and Wanda asked us for some help with the script and music."

"Are you guys going to audition?" Rose asked next; and then smiled and shook her head. "Of course not."

"I might be able to do it – if I actually wanted to; but Gwendolyn's first Quidditch match isn't until the end of November; and she wouldn't trade Quidditch practices for all of the work that'll go into putting on a musical – and she doesn't want to do it either."

"I think it might be a lot of fun – except for the parts where you'd have to get up on stage and sing and act in front of a hall full of Witches and Wizards. I'd never be able to do that."

"Says the Witch that isn't bothered by playing Quidditch in front of an entire stadium full of people," Al teased. "Tryouts aren't until next Sunday, though, so if you wanted to give it a go; you might be able to do it along with Quidditch – depending on when the rehearsals will be."

Rose shook her head. "I don't want to do it," she assured him. "I bet that Bristol might, and I'd ask her about that; but she didn't get back to our room until I was getting up to go and grab a shower; so I won't wake her up to tell her about it."

"Maybe she read about it on her way up to bed," Al offered. "Do you want to go and gossip about it with those girls; or get going on our walk?"

"Let's get out of here," she decided. "I love the idea of a Christmas musical; but just the thought of all of that work on top of everything else we have on the go around here ought to be scary for anyone considering trying out for a part in the show."

"Not everyone has Quidditch three or four times a week like we do; and we've been busy with a few other things that most of the students around here don't have either – like our part-time jobs." He'd said that quietly so he wasn't overheard; but still avoided talking about their toy-making business around anyone else.

"I suppose," Rose conceded. "There is one really good thing about this news – it should push some of the not-so-nice gossip off to the sidelines this morning. Since I mentioned Bristol already; you know that she and James didn't make it back here before curfew, but you likely haven't heard that Patricia isn't happy about being dumped early while James went off with Bristol; and it seems that Lara had quite the little scene with James before the dance; so I think that it's safe to say that she won't be giving him a chance to make up with her."

"Then you should likely warn the other girls that James will be on the prowl for a replacement," Al suggested half-seriously. "He's never been satisfied with going back to less of anything in his entire life; so I doubt this will be any different."

Rose laughed; but not with any real amusement. "I think this is quite a bit different than back when we were little and he'd count the number of presents. You used to make sure you never got more on your birthday than he got on his."

"I had to hide three of them one year," Al advised her with a rueful grin. "Some gifts came by Owl Post that year; 'cause we weren't having a party with the whole family."

"You never told me about that," Rose said with a frown. "What other secrets are you keeping from me?"

"I can't tell you – or they wouldn't be secrets anymore. That wasn't a secret – it just isn't something I've told anyone before. I don't even think that Mum noticed I'd done it – or she just thought that I'd opened a few before anyone else got up that morning."

"Okay, but getting back to what we were talking about; I don't think that James would be amused if I put out warning posters all over the castle. That shouldn't be necessary, though; since his reputation is well-known. He'll likely find other Witches willing to have some fun with him without any strings attached. I guess if you can do that; maybe it isn't all bad; but I don't actually think there are all that many people on the whole that can have relationships like that without getting emotionally involved."

"We joke about snogging not being a spectator sport, but James treats his relationships with Witches as if it was a sport; and I will never, ever be able to see things his way."

"Which is very good for you; since your girlfriend wouldn't hesitate to turn you into a bug if you ever did start acting like James," Rose reminded him with a grin. "That does remind me to ask you about why you weren't back in our House by curfew – and I heard about that from one of my roommates after she got back to our room."

"Gwendolyn and I stayed to help with the clean-up and getting the band's gear packed up. That took a lot longer last night than I expected; and no – we were both too tired by then to sneak off for a bit of late-night snogging."

"Then you didn't plan that very well did you?" Rose teased. "I saw Lily take Jonah away from the dance so that she'd have time to snog him goodnight – and they're not even dating."

"Not officially. I'm glad they had a good night – that we all did. It was a nice change from our first three school dances."

"Yeah. Keep this up; and you'll totally ruin your reputation for being a trouble magnet."

"Don't jinx me," Al warned. "We've got our match against Slytherin on Saturday; and they're sure to want to cause some trouble for me if they can."

"In a put you in the hospital wing sort of way," Rose added. "Maybe I should hope that all of that sort of trouble goes your way – instead of toward me."

"If that would work; I'd be okay with that," Al assured her. "We do need to watch out for them; but I think that we'll be okay – especially since the McClaggens are likely better than the Slytherin Beaters."

"You ought to be a Beater for as much credit as you give them," Rose accused; and Al laughed.

"You know I'd be lousy at that; 'cause I wouldn't ever actually try to bash anyone – even though I am pretty good at hitting bludgers."

"You're good at Keeper too; though you never even play the position and risk showing off."

"I like playing Chaser the best," Al hedged. "You and Hugo play Keeper because your Dad did – and you're good at it; Lily wants to grow up to be like Mum; and James plays Seeker because he thinks it's the most important job on the team – and where all of the glory is to be had."

"He's usually right about that; but there are stars in the show at the other positions too. That's got me thinking about that musical again. If the drama club is putting it on; wouldn't they expect their members to get most of the lead acting jobs?"

Al shrugged. "I don't know." He paused and then smiled as he shook his head. "Actually, I don't think that Wendy and Wanda have even mentioned to me how many students are in their club. It isn't just the two of them because they have gone from working with Gwendolyn and me to a meeting with their club; but it could be small and they'll need quite a few students for all of the parts – and more still to help out behind the scenes."

"Well, I might think about helping out off-stage," Rose mused. "Maybe I could learn a thing or two about showmanship that would come in handy for when we're trying to make a go of it with the Cannons."

"The Caroling Cannons?" Al joked; and Rose laughed.

"No way! Some showmanship around the matches could turn into more profits, though; so it's something to think about. Most teams just leave it up to the players to promote the team outside of the games or through team events and parties. We should do more than that with our team."

"I've thought about stuff like that before – though not specifically for the Cannons," Al said more seriously. "League teams and players should do more with kids and families – and less with adult-rated partying."

"I can't picture you ever being one of the players that like to party all of the time. We could definitely make our team family-friendly, though; and I like that idea a lot. We'd be the opposite of the Falcons."

"Let's not go there," Al suggested. "Our favorite Harpies are likely still hurting from their match yesterday – even if Dad completely healed all of them."

Rose frowned. "I didn't even look to see how Vicky is doing this morning. Tory dodged me last night; so I couldn't find out from her."

"She was back at home last night," Al advised her. "I don't know whether Dad went to St. Mungo's to help her or not, but either way; they didn't keep her there overnight; and she isn't expected to miss any matches."

"I'm glad of that. Did you or Gwendolyn talk with Tory or Madison last night? I wish I knew why I'm getting the cold shoulder from Tory to the point where she doesn't even want to talk with me anymore."

"If I had to guess; it's because we're on our team and she isn't on hers – and that's bugging her more the closer we get to the senior team matches. Gwendolyn and I didn't even try to talk with them; but then Tory's been shutting us out pretty much since the last Harpies' families day we had in the summer at Gwendolyn's house. I said something that got her mad at me; and she's been ignoring us since – unless she's had no choice but to be around us in our joint classes."

"I remember you guys telling me about that," Rose said with a nod. "She's reminding me a bit about some of the teen stories about my Dad, but he got past that sort of thing eventually; so maybe Tory will come around too – and I think that Madison mostly goes along because they're best friends and she needs to do that for Tory."

"We can hope," Al offered; though he didn't actually think that there was much of a chance of Tory coming around anytime soon when she continually compared herself to Gwendolyn and didn't like how she measured up.

That was the end of their chat about Tory or Madison, though; and they moved on to talk about their plans for the day. While Al had gotten his weekend revision done on Friday; everyone else in their group still had a lot to get done by Monday; and they needed to juggle that work around Quidditch practice and possibly an afternoon Chaser duel or scrimmage. Al got to have a cameo moment with Gwendolyn before breakfast, and had fun while having that meal; but then he really enjoyed the morning study session because he had no pressure; and could help Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends as they worked to get caught up with him on their assignments. He also puttered around on a couple of his bigger projects; but didn't try to get too far ahead on them either – and then he and Rose and Ray went on to their Quidditch practice while Gwendolyn stayed and continued her work.

Al and Rose had an awesome third-to-last practice ahead of their first-ever senior team match; but that wasn't true for everyone. James had a horrid practice – so bad that Brandon caught the snitch for the first time since he won the back-up job on the reserve squad. Al knew that James had been 'under the weather' thanks to a massive hangover, but didn't feel much sympathy for him – and didn't even offer to help him; since the memories of what James had used that little gift on his last birthday still lingered and annoyed him. Brandon ended the scrimmage and won his duel; but not the match. Al, Lucy, and Olivia had their team up by one-eighty by then, and while they were playing great together; that had as much to do with Louis continuing to misjudge the speed of his broom and making mistakes that allowed for too many easy goals. It was something that was obviously bugging Louis; and he sat down next to Al and Rose after the practice to talk to them about it.

"You can likely guess that I was hoping for a miracle after getting my broom so I could play this season," he half-joked as an opening line; "but that isn't exactly working out for me so far. I'm beginning to wonder if I should switch back to my old broom. Victoire and Dominique didn't have this many problems when they got their new brooms."

"It's tougher for Keepers," Al told him seriously. "Have you heard stories from the Harpies about that as they moved up to the faster brooms over the last twenty years? Vicky had the toughest time because the mistakes are a much bigger problem for Keepers because they usually end with goals getting scored on them."

"I haven't heard any stories that I can remember about that," Louis admitted. "There have been lots of stories about Chasers and Seekers crashing the faster brooms, though; so I thought it'd be the same for everyone."

"It isn't," Al assured him. "Unfortunately, there isn't an easy fix for it either. You'll need to spend more time practicing and experimenting with what your Lightningbolt can do – and try to ease off a bit and not try so hard until you can get up to that speed."

"Al took advantage of that all morning with you," Rose added. "In fact, I'd say he likely used that against you; and counted on you over-shooting the mark when you reacted to what he was doing."

"You're giving away my secrets," Al complained; and Rose and Louis both laughed.

"Except that's obvious in hindsight," Louis told him. "Half of your goals went into goals that were behind me because of my mistakes." He thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "I make most of my mistakes when I get excited – and then lose control of the broom when I push hard. That's what you mean about me easing off a bit. Thanks, Al – and Rose. I feel a lot better now."

"Well that's not good – for me," Rose joked. "Now you're getting your confidence back and have the faster broom."

"That won't make a difference in a week; and you're definitely the right Keeper for the job next Saturday – and I'm not just saying that because I don't want to get pounded by Slytherins again this year!"

His joke led them off on a more-entertaining tangent, but it wasn't warm out; and they all wanted to get out of their gear and into the castle in time for lunch. Al didn't get to visit with Gwendolyn before that meal, but he ate quickly; and then got together with her after that – and then they headed outside again for some more Quidditch fun – or at least it was more for him; while only the first of the day for her; and for Lily and Jonah. Nobody else came out to play with them this time; though Rose chose not to do that because she still had a lot of her work to get done. Al and Gwendolyn rejoined their study group after that bit of play time; but worked on projects until dinnertime with only a bit of tutoring help mixed in here and there for some of their part-time study group members.

Al and Gwendolyn still took Sunday evening off, but they also changed things up with Lily and Jonah – and only spent half of the evening with them. They had their music play time; worked on Lily's portable pool Quidditch game; and had their mirror chats with the parents before Lily and Jonah were invited to get lost so that Al and Gwendolyn could have some alone time. They had some fun while parting ways; but then the two older siblings were too busy snogging each other senseless for a while to care about anything else. they came up for air in time for the weekly visit to the Owlery, but didn't spend much time there before sending Winter on her way with their letters and the finalized Animorphmagus toys. Al walked Gwendolyn home; returned to his dorm room after a short round of visits in the common room; and then he worked on his special project for a while until he was ready to call it a night and get some sleep.

The first school week of November was a wild ride of busy and crazy for Al and Gwendolyn. By Monday, the Slytherin gamesmanship was kicked up into high gear with the usual suspects going out of their way to try and intimidate their Gryffindor rivals – as well as insult everyone while also predicting another pounding that would be on the scoreboard as much as physical. Rose got nearly as much of that as Al did; and the Harpies-Falcons match was used regularly to try and scare her. That tactic did and didn't work, since Rose did worry about it; but also got mad at the Slytherins for thinking her so weak as to cower in fear over just the thought of getting pounded on by a bunch of big-mouthed, cheating gits.

As with the junior team matches, Fred and Olivia worked things out so that she could have more practice time on Tuesday and Thursday while he did alternate workouts – including one workout using a portable pool that was a big hit with all of the junior team players. Al would have liked to do that once or twice too, but Olivia was much more serious about their practices than he was; and pushed them hard both days to get them ready to play on Saturday. While that probably wasn't the best approach for Al; it did seem to work for James, Tiberius, and Brock; and even Olivia felt pretty good as they headed into the weekend. For his part, Al didn't feel as good as he'd have liked, but that was because he was getting worn down by Friday night. He'd worked hard every day; stayed up late to keep up with the work every night; and dealt with the ongoing extras – like putting in a bit of time here and there on things like Lily's pet game project and helping Gwendolyn with more, ongoing requests for assistance from Wendy and Wanda that were all related to their musical.

By Friday, Al was running on empty before even getting around to their evening study session, and he wasn't the only one; since most of their friends bailed on them and took the evening off – even though they might end up taking most of Saturday off too. When they met up in their study classroom after dinner; it was just Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Susannah, and Mackenzie while even Toni and Michael had had enough for the week and had gone off to do their own thing for the night.

"I'm not surprised that you want to work tonight; but isn't that tough to do when you've got a big Quidditch match to focus on in the morning?" Mackenzie asked; directing his question at Al and Rose. "I know that my Hufflepuff player-friends get very distracted about everything else while getting ready for their matches. They've even been known to run into things while not paying attention to where they're going."

"Which players are you talking about?" Gwendolyn asked. "That might be good to know – if I happen to bump into them in the halls ahead of our match."

"Funny; but you wouldn't do anything to them even if I did tell you," Mackenzie declared; and then waited expectantly for Al or Rose to answer his question.

"Al doesn't stress about Quidditch," Rose answered; "and the studying keeps me busy so I don't get freaked out. It's when I've got nothing to do that it's hard for me to stay focused."

"That works for us," Susannah assured her. "We could have taken the night off too; but I'd rather get the work done first; since I don't seem to have much luck having fun if I'm behind on my studies."

"though I was glad that you made an exception for the dance last weekend," Mackenzie added with a smile for his girlfriend.

"That will likely be the only Halloween dance we'll have while were here; so that seemed a good reason – even though it was tough to get through all of the extra work last Sunday."

"You'd have been up half the night without that study program," Mackenzie suggested. "I'd have been up late too, but writing my reports that way is a lot faster – even if I don't have all of my textbooks on the study app like the rest of you do."

"That wasn't a request," Susannah assured Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose. "We know how much work went into the second and fourth-year versions; and you'd never keep up with the demand if you made up versions for the OWL and NEWT students too."

"That's the one part of making it that hasn't been fun," Rose admitted. "We're either loved by the friends and family that have the study app and quills now; or hated for refusing to make a version for every year – and enough quills and inks for everyone in the school."

"How much would that even cost to do for everyone?" Mackenzie mused. "Does anyone think of that? It isn't just about the time you put into the magic."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed. "How much have you spent on all of those supplies, Al? I haven't really thought about it before now either."

Al smiled and shrugged. "I'd rather not say – though we'll need to talk about that when we start getting requests for ink refills and replacement quills. I'm not going to buy them for everyone all year."

"Do you think the quills will need to be replaced a lot?" Susannah asked. "It did take a while to set each of them up for our own handwriting."

"I bought good quills that should last," Al assured her; "but they do get broken for various reasons all of the time around here; so I do expect to need a supply of replacements. I'm working on some ideas for charming bulk amounts of inks that would make that cheaper and easier for us; but that's still a work in progress."

"I don't really get why you have to charm both, but it works; so I'm okay with not knowing the 'how' of it all."

Susannah hadn't been joking about that; though she'd offered the comment as a half-joke. They also got to work after that; so the conversation turned to their assignments as they immersed themselves in their work for a couple of hours. Al and Rose had an early team curfew; and they wrapped up with enough time left ahead of it for Al and Gwendolyn to share a bit of minor snogging once they were left alone – and until she needed to walk him back to his House so he wouldn't be late for that very important, Captain-ordered deadline. Their goodnight kiss in the hallway was witnessed and they were teased about Gwendolyn seeing Al home, but that had been entertaining; and Al was in a great mood as he had a couple of short visits in the common room on his way up to bed. He was sleeping not long after the start of team curfew, and that was even easier to do than normal because he had the room to himself until long after he was asleep – since he was the only fourth-year Gryffindor Wizard on the team. He didn't dream of Quidditch glory or anything else – he was just out for the count until his normal, early wake-up call on Saturday morning.

"Please tell me that my good luck gift is a cheap shot deflector charm," Rose told Al as she met up with him and accepted the gift he held out to her.

"That'd be a great idea – if it wouldn't be considered cheating too," Al said with a smile as she hugged him before opening her gift. "This won't help with our match today; but I hope you like it anyway."

"I do," Rose assured him a few moments later. "My favorite chocolates will help whether we win or lose today."

"I'm hoping a lot for the 'we will win' side of that; but let's not do anything silly like offer any guarantees of that."

"I actually think that it's a good sign that we haven't heard about James doing that to anyone – or even really going after the Slytherins. I know that Olivia told all of us to shut it and not do anything stupid to get Slytherin riled up; but James has been known to ignore the Captain's orders in the past."

"Including his own," Al joked; "but let's not go there either. I'm glad that James is playing nice too – and hope that'll make a big difference in the match today. Do you know if he was back in our House ahead of team curfew?"

"Patricia and Bristol were," Rose answered. "I didn't see James before going up to my room; but then I was a bit early. Olivia was still in the common room, though; so maybe she was keeping an eye on all of us."

"Then I'm glad that I wasn't late – though Gina might have been hoping that I was."

"But not Ray?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"Gina's in her NEWT year. If Olivia needs the help; she'll get the chance to play over Magnus or Ray."

"I wish there was a way to give more players a chance to play in school matches; but I don't see that happening without adding in more matches to the schedule than we could handle – or that most students would want to go and watch."

"There are still lots of open time slots every week after dinner or on the weekends; but not even the team players take advantage of that very often. We have the only regular scrimmages or duels – though I've seen some of the Slytherin players getting together for extra workouts after dinner over the past few weeks."

Rose nodded. "I've heard that – and hope that we won't be in for any surprises today because of that. Licentia has sure looked as serious about the match as Olivia is; so I expect she'll be ready to play today. Do you think that they'll like the same match-ups at Chaser that we want to have?"

"Yes, but if it doesn't go well for them; they may try to change things up."

"Or we'll do that if it doesn't work for us – though we don't exactly have a plan 'B' that's nearly as good as our game plan is with those pairings."

"Probably not; though we do plan on mixing it up just to try and get some mismatches or force mistakes. Let's get away from Quidditch for a while, though; since I don't want you stressing about the match the entire time – especially when I think you're going to have a brilliant day."

"Okay, but one of these times, you're going to get my hopes up one too many times; and then be in trouble when I get crushed."

"I'll always have chocolates available to help you out with that – and I'm sure you'll eventually forgive me when we win that first league championship with the Cannons."

"Now you're scaring me – and that's my dream we're talking about – so don't mess with me, Albus Severus Potter!"

"You do that nearly as well as Mum," Al complimented. "Speaking of – is your Mum a bit freaked out right now? She must be more worried about you after watching that Harpies-Falcons match."

"She is – and that's not taking this chat somewhere that's going to make things easier for me, Al."

He'd realized that by the time he'd finished saying it; so he changed the subject as quickly as possible; and got back to work on making sure that Rose was as calm and ready for their big match as possible by the time breakfast was served in the Great Hall. The sensory overload before and during breakfast had good and bad elements to it. The mood all along the Gryffindor table was pretty good; and the animosity elsewhere wasn't so much fun – including from a few unexpected places. Having a lot of Slytherins hopeful that some Gryffindor heads would get bashed in during the match – with his head at the top of that wish list – wasn't a surprise; but it was a bit sad to him to discover that some teens in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff hoped for the worst for Gryffindor too.

So much for a friendly rivalry among those small pockets of Quidditch fanatics!

The breakfast entertainment included a lot of best wishes from their friends and others in their House, but while Al accepted those offers of support graciously; he also ate quickly and then met up with Gwendolyn for the walk to the stadium. That was the best part of his day to that point, and while she didn't give him any physical good luck gifts; her love and support – along with a fairly-brilliant hug and kiss – was more than enough to have him smiling, happy, and quietly-confident as he went into the Gryffindor locker room to get ready for the biggest match of his school Quidditch career so far.

"Do I get a good luck snogging like that from you too?" James asked; and Gwendolyn groaned. She'd been nearing the castle on her way toward the lake for a walk while waiting for it to be time to go back to the stadium in time to get seats along the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor sections so she could sit with many of her friends from both Houses.

"No, you don't."

James spun around in surprise; and Gwendolyn needed to take a step to the side to see Lily; though she'd recognized the voice immediately.

"I thought you might be up to something like this when I saw you leave and follow them, James," she declared angrily.

"Good for you; now go away – you're bothering me," James retorted.

"You're the one who is leaving," she advised him; emphasizing that declaration by pulling out her wand and pointing it at him. "I've had enough with the way you've acted toward Gwendolyn, and you're going to leave her alone now; or really hate what happens every time I so much as hear a rumor that you've been trying to mess with her."

James snorted; and Lily's expression turned dark. "It'd be a shame if you miss the match today – and I get a detention for blasting you; but you'd better believe that I'll do it, James. I mean it – I'm done with all of this, and while I might not be as talented as Al or know as much as you do about magic yet; I can blast you – and you know that!"

"You ambushed Ollie and me with an entire gang of your friends," James pointed out; and then frowned when Lily grinned at him.

"What makes you think I'm not ready to do the same – right now?" she asked meaningfully. "Thanks to all of your pranks over the years; I've no shortage of Witches and Wizards willing to have my back when it comes to protecting the people I love from you."

James looked around; but didn't see anything. "You're bluffing."

"I'm not," Lily assured him, "but instead of taking that risk; go and win a Quidditch match for our House today. I think that you can do that this year; and I'd really, really like to have something to be proud of you for – instead of being mad at you for the awful things you try to do." She studied him for a long moment as he seemed to need the time to decide; and then smiled brightly and put her wand away. She took the last few steps to him; and hugged him tightly. "I do love you, James – even when I'm mad at you. Good luck. I think that you're going to have a brilliant day!"

James returned her hug briefly; shoved her away beyond arm's length; and then walked away – toward the stadium. The two girls watched him go; and then it was Gwendolyn's turn to hug Lily.

'You were totally bluffing," she accused in a whisper; and Lily grinned at her; but managed not to attract James' attention by laughing.

"Yes, but it worked – and I did have back-up. He just wasn't thinking about that being you."

"That's true; but I'd have hated to miss this match too; so I'm glad your plan worked – and thanks for saving me from another stupid scene with James. It's gotten worse since the start of Slug Club; and I'm fed up with all of that lewd and crude."

"Well, I'm here to protect you now; and the good news for you is that I'm not nearly as nice about these things as Al is – and I won't even talk about the things that I might be willing to do that no guy would even think about doing to another."

"Lily – that is so wrong! Come for the walk with me and we'll talk about that!"

Al looked up and tried not to look disappointed when James walked into the locker room. He continued to check out his gear as he was getting ready for their pre-game warm-ups – and for the rest of their team to arrive.

"You can thank our sister for getting to keep your Potty-trainer for another day,' James told him with a smirk. "If she hadn't followed me and then threatened to blast me if I didn't leave Gwendolyn alone; I'd have gotten that good luck snogging – and she'd have forgotten all about you by now."

"Lily threatened to blast you?" Al asked; and couldn't keep from grinning – and noticed that James was trying to hide an amused smile under the taunting smirk too.

"Yes, she did – and claimed that she had brought back-up to help if needed. I'm almost certain that she was bluffing about that; but decided it wasn't worth it – just in case she could mess things up for me this close to game time."

"I'd be afraid of her without any help – and Gwendolyn would have helped her even if she was bluffing about having her friends hiding and ready to back her up," Al offered. He smiled again when James laughed derisively. "She's Mum's daughter in a lot of ways, and has a bit of Dad mixed in too; so yeah – I really am afraid of her. You do know that there are things that Witches can do to defend themselves that guys would never even think about, right? Some of those things can happen in what would be very uncomfortable places for us."

James burst out laughing. "She just might have been willing to do something like that to me," he conceded; and then laughed again. "It's too bad that you've gone and ruined her already; or I could actually start liking our fiery, audacious little sister."

"If you go out there and win your Seeker duel; she'll have a lot of love for you," Al predicted. "She really wants to win the Quidditch Cup this year; and knows we'll need both teams to have winning seasons to get it."

"Then don't blow it for us," James retorted. The smirk was back; and that cameo moment of brotherly fun was gone – and already forgotten by one of them.

Al hadn't wanted to mess with that one decent moment – the only one they'd had in a long time; so he simply promised to do his best not to mess things up for their team; and went back to getting ready for the match. Olivia, Lucy, and Rose led Tiberius, and Brock into the locker room in one group; they all looked surprised to see Al and James there together – and not getting into it; but then Olivia got going with her team pep talk and a review of their game plan while they all got ready to play. Their warm-ups didn't take long, but went well; and then they had another break that allowed them to keep talking about the match and get focused on the job at hand while waiting for it to be time to line up at 'their' team entrance a few minutes before game time.

Gwendolyn and Lily had enjoyed their walk by the lake; they'd have a visit with Hagrid outside of his cabin and helped with feeding some of his 'pets' while doing that; and then they went on to the stadium in time to get good seats in their usual joint-House section. With the Gryffindor senior team playing, Gwendolyn missed sitting with Al the most; but also found it interesting that the Gryffindor reserve team players and all of the junior team players still chose to sit with her – as did her own senior and junior teams. Lily had saved a seat for Jonah, so he'd ended up three seats into the Gryffindor section; but was willing to take some razzing for that in exchange for holding hands and snuggling with her.

"The first big story of the day might be finding out what Teresa and Kylie will do with their announcing now that Colin's become a sensation with the junior team matches," Gwendolyn said as she looked over to where the two Witches were getting ready for their pre-game show. They seemed to have a lot of extra gear with them; but she didn't know whether that was for something new or because they brought extra supplies along in case of a long, chilly day of Quidditch.

"I hope they have fun – and make their announcing more like Lee's shows," Lily offered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"How great would that be if they start out with a stand-up monologue?" she joked.

"Wouldn't that be more like what James has been doing with some of his game announcing?" Jonah asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"No. Lee is happy to make fun of people; but he's never crude or mean-spirited about it. I don't really picture Teresa or Kylie doing that, though; so it was just meant as a joke."

"The announcing entertainment will be a bonus; but I'm hoping that our team will have a brilliant match – and not get pounded to bits," Lily told them.

"Al seemed to be in a really good place when he headed into the locker room," Gwendolyn offered. "I don't think he'd have been like that if he was seriously-worried about actually getting pounded today."

"Let's hope he's right; since that's the only way Slytherin will win today," Jonah predicted. "Al's playing brilliantly in all of our scrimmages and duels; and it sounds as though James is not going to make the same mistakes he made last year."

"Plus he won't be up against Brand Bletchley," Lily added. "We may not know anything about whether Blaise can play Seeker or not; but he isn't the brute that Brand is proving to be even more this year than last."

"He is, but then he's also actually winning some matches for the Falcons; so he's a threat to his opponents in more ways than just being a brute and cheat." Gwendolyn shook her head. "Let's not go there – I'm still mad about that Halloween day match; though I guess I'd have been over it by now if we'd won instead of lost."

"No doubt," Lily agreed. "It's time for the pre-game show, though; so let's see what the girls have come up with!"

Al stood next to Rose in the entrance to the stadium. They were in the back row; Olivia and Lucy were going to lead the way; and James was getting to send a message to the Slytherin team by being flanked in the second row by the McClaggens. That wasn't just a statement – Olivia was going to make sure that their Seeker was protected this year – even if that put the rest of them at a bit more risk. Rose was second most-important for Tiberius and Brock, though; so Al was happy about that – and was sure he'd be able to handle whatever was thrown – or bashed – his way.

"You're going to be brilliant," he told Rose quietly as she fidgeted and stepped from foot to foot in anticipation of being called out into the stadium.

"Okay," she said shortly; and then smiled at him. "Now shut-up – I'm trying to hear what Teresa and Kylie are saying!"

"Welcome to opening day for the Hogwarts senior team Quidditch season," Teresa called out.

"And the third match of the season," Kylie added just as cheerfully.

"That's right, Kylie; and our junior teams put on quite a show in those first two matches!"

"If a bit short for that first one," Kylie again interjected. "I hope that doesn't happen today; since it'd be disappointing to wind up spending more time on getting set up for this match than we spend announcing it."

"Anything can happen in Quidditch; but we'll hope for the best," Teresa offered. "Before we introduce our teams, though; let's take a quick look at the standings for the Quidditch Cup race so far."

"Gryffindor in first with one win and the tie-break over second-place Hufflepuff; with Ravenclaw and Slytherin in third and fourth due to the one-loss side of that same tie-break," Kylie reported. "Quick enough? Can we get on with the Quidditch now?"

Teresa laughed. "I'd say so – for both; so let's hear it for Gryffindor!" She paused as Olivia and Lucy led their team out and up above the pitch. "Captain Olivia Wood is leading the way with fellow NEWT year student and fellow Chaser; Lucy Weasley. OWL year and five-year veteran Seeker, James Potter, is following them with Beater-protectors, Tiberius and Brock McClaggen. These five returning players from last year's senior team have collectively earned too many awards for me to list in the time we have before they land; so let's just say that they're all hoping to return to their winning ways after a tough, no-win season last year! Finally, we have newcomers to the team, Keeper Rose Weasley, and third Chaser, Albus Potter. Yes, they are new to the senior team, but we'll see if they can make the transition to the faster, tougher game this year – and bring their winning-records mojo with them!"

"I'm glad that I won't be out there playing against them today, but we all know who will be," Kylie declared – "Slytherin! Come on out; it's your time to show us what you've got!" She took a moment as the Slytherin players took off; and then she began the introductions. "In a first for Slytherin House, we have a Witch at Captain! Licentia Nott leads the way flanked by her Beaters this year – Don Rosier and Brian Bletchley. Brian is playing for Slytherin House for the first time, but he is cousins with the Falcon's new star Seeker and Hogwarts alumni, Brand Bletchely; so we can expect that he'll be as fierce a competitor as his older cousin!" She paused again as a round of cheers and jeers met that part of her introduction; and then continued. "In the second row, we have all four of our remaining Slytherin players, and since they're all Wizards; I'll introduce them using my personal opinion of their hotness!" That comment earned a roar of laughs and cheers from many of the witches. By that standard alone, first up is Scorpius Malfoy; Slytherin's top junior Chaser for the past three seasons; and let's be honest, girls – he's hotter than that Lightningbolt!"

"She ought to be Gryffindor with that kind of bravery – though she isn't wrong either," Lily whispered.

"Next up; I'll choose Slytherin's new Seeker – Blaise Zabini!" Kylie continued. "I cannot be the only Witch in the stadium that wishes she was the snitch today and he was chasing them instead!"

"Look at the guys," Gwendolyn told Lily. "They don't know whether to love this or hate it because it's coming from a Hufflepuff Witch!"

"It's coming from a hot Hufflepuff Witch," Lily pointed out. "I think they'll like it – and it'll help their reputations among the Slytherin Witches too."

"I'd say it helps with all of the Witches – me included," Kathryn leaned back and offered from her seat in the row in front of Lily.

"Now I wouldn't want to insult any of the guys, since I think that Quidditch players in general are hot; so let's call it a tie for third on the podium for NEWT-year Chaser, Trace Davis, and sixth-year Keeper, Gideon Parkinson. For the Witches in the stadium that might have a different opinion; keep in mind that age does matter when you're fourteen; and you're all free to have fun with that and make up your own rankings!"

"Okay, that was a best-ever-so-far pre-game for both of them," Lily decided. "Good for them!"

Teresea and Kylie took a break while Mr. Peakes did his fair-play speech; the Captain's handshake was actually civil for the first time in years with the Senior teams; and then the players lined up and got ready for the quaffle toss. Olivia and Licentia paired up for the opening chase for the quaffle; and it seemed that both teams got the match-ups they wanted when there wasn't any jostling for position as Scorpius and Lucy were the second Chaser pairng; and Al was left with Trace Davis.

"Get ready for the pain; 'cause we're gonna drop a load of it on you today," Trace taunted; and Al smiled but didn't look away from Mr. Peakes – ready to take off the moment he released the quaffle. "What's the matter – cat got your tongue, dog?" Trace did look away when Al laughed at that; and then cursed when Mr. Peakes chose that moment to get the match started – and Al took off a full two seconds ahead of him. At the speed a Firebolt could accelerate, that was a huge opening advantage; but Al had to wait to find out whether Olivia or Licentia would win the race for the quaffle. Licentia got there first, but Al was still able to use his advantage over Trace because she immediately passed to Scorpius; and he blasted between them – from behind her; and got the interception. That also gave him a breakaway because Olivia and Lucy blocked Licentia and Scorpius from following; he used a flip-and-roll move on Gideon; and scored the first goal of the match at the six-second mark!

"You should probably not be the loudest Witch in the stadium while cheering for your boyfriend," Pauline told Gwendolyn while she was still on her feet and offering her support for Al's brilliant first goal.

"I'd have cheered that goal from any Chaser," Gwendolyn declared. "It's just a great added bonus that my boyfriend was the one getting that goal – and just six seconds in!"

"I haven't seen him do that move," Lily told her as they both sat down again and continued to watch the action above the pitch. Slytherin was on the attack; but putting together a comparatively slow-moving play. "He got extra speed on that shot with the counter-clockwise rotation that made up for the flip slow-down."

"That's why it was so brilliant," Gwendolyn agreed enthusiastically – and then she was on her feet again as Rose earned her first save of the match against Licentia – and then immediately passed the quaffle out to Olivia as she peeled off in the opposite direction from 'her' opponent. "If you go the other way, the Keeper might have time to catch up to the quaffle before it gets to the goal."

"Instead of gushing over both of those plays; why don't you tell us what you'd have done differently to defend the first and score on the second," Pauline suggested; and Gwendolyn turned and smiled at her.

"Do you really want me to do that in front of all of these Gryffindors? I thought we'd need to save all of that up and talk about it in a team meeting later."

"Are you predicting that your boyfriend will be busy with a victory party and you'll have time for that meeting?" Peter teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Yeah, I am," she confirmed confidently. "Yes!" she added while jumping to her feet again. That hadn't been to cheer for a goal or save – but because Al had taken a cheap shot hit from Trace; but had done that for the chance to steal the quaffle from him and then blindly pass it to Lucy so that she and Olivia could go on the attack again while he kept Trace out of the way and messed up Licentia's attempt to turn around and get back on defense by making her fly around them.

"Keep that up and I'm going to make him your problem in our match against Gryffindor next May," Pauline threatened; and gwendolyn laughed.

"I sure hope you do that," she assured her Captain. "That would be a brilliant challenge for me – and I won't make the same mistakes that Trace is making while trying to bash Al."

"No – you'll be too busy cheering him on if the start of this match is any indication," Peter joked. "Is snogging opponent players against the rules during a match? Maybe you should just try that and see if we can win a two-on-two Chaser duel. That'd definitely be easier for me."

"That'd be fun; but yes; it actually is against the rules," Gwendolyn advised him. "Be glad of that; or Pauline might have liked that idea and suggested you try it out against the Gryffindor Keeper."

"I am so glad that Rose beat Louis out for the job; or that would have just been weird for you to suggest," Peter offered; and joined in when Louis – and most of their friends that heard his comment – all laughed.

"And I'm wishing she'd been sorted to Ravenclaw this year," Louis shot back. "Rose might work better for that snogging joke; but you might wish it was me in goals next May." He laughed self-consciously. "Take that how it was meant; not as a self-insult."

The banter continued for a while, but the match settled in to a fast-paced rhythm that kept them all busy just trying to keep up with everything that was going on. As many had expected, it was the unknowns on the Slytherin team that were proving to be a big deal right from the start. That wasn't for the good with Gideon Parkinson; and he quickly proved to be a much less-talented player than Rose. On the positive side, Blaise Zabini seemed to have adopted a very similar Seeker style to Brandon's, and while he didn't get any serious chances to catch the snitch; he proved to be a tough, capable opponent that James needed to work hard against – while also dealing with the Slytherin Beaters as they tried to knock his head off again.

While James and Blaise battled to a draw in the first hour; the Gryffindor Chasers earned seven goals while Rose only gave up two goals on twenty-eight shots. That trend continued through the second hour, so while the shots on goal were actually in Slytherin's favor; Gryffindor extended their lead to one-thirty to fifty. The Slytherin Beaters focused a lot on James with only a bit of extra attention for Rose and Al, but they didn't have much success with their efforts thanks to getting nearly all they could handle from the McClaggens. Rose's Keeper performance was a huge difference, but the biggest miss-match was between Al and Trace.

As the third hour ended, Gryffindor had a one-ninety to eighty lead. Of that scoring, Trace had yet to earn a goal; and Al had eight for Gryffindor. The other two Chaser battles were a near-draw, so while Trace and Gideon weren't having fun; the other twelve players all seemed to really enjoy the challenges they were facing against their respective opponents. That was something that the spectators picked up on; and there almost seemed to be a sidelines competition going on as everyone cheered or jeered for their favorite team or players. That was sometimes more entertaining than expected; since Licentia and Scorpius in particular earned cheers for their efforts from all three of the other Houses – which was particularly-weird when Gryffindor Witches cheered for Licentia's best goals against Rose.

"Is this proving to be the strangest game between your Houses in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch?" Lily asked as she sat down from cheering for Licentia's latest goal. "Rose might blast me if she finds out I was cheering for that."

"Maybe, yes," Gwendolyn ansered; "but that was an awesome goal. Licentia's better than I expected – and so is Scorpius. I didn't think that he'd match up this well against Lucy. He could be good-enough to play in the show too."

"I doubt that would be allowed for the future head of the great House of Malfoy," Lily offered – "though you're right about him being good-enough. They're likely both doing a great job of impressing the scouts today."

"If they're doing that, then Rose and Al better be careful or they'll have so many offers from other teams that they'll forget all about their plans for the Cannons," Jonah suggested. "What do you think about the Seeker duel?" he asked Lily.

"Blaise looks as though he's been watching Brandon in practices over the past two months," she answered. "He'd need a really lucky break to beat James – and I'd say he'd better do that soon if he can; since we're well on the way to the one-sixty lead."

Lily was right about all of that, but the game rolled on through the fourth hour, and while there was no pause in the action above the pitch; Professor McGonagall made the early call to offer lunch on tables outside of the stadium for all of the spectators – and had that out and ready as they began the fifth hour of the match with Gryffindor now in the lead by two-sixty to one-twenty. As usual, Al had picked up his game as the game went on and on; and that really showed up on the scoreboard in the fifth hour. Licentia didn't agree to a time-out; Olivia wouldn't use one of hers up unilaterally; and they played on without taking a food break. Hindsight likely wouldn't help out for that decision, but if Licentia expected Gryffindor to crumble first; she was wrong about that.

Trace had earned a goal in the fourth hour – though not against Al on defense for a play that got messed up; but he also wasn't used to game speed; and started to get beat by Al on nearly every play. All of the other Chasers seemed to slow down compared to Al by that point in the match; and he earned five of the six Gryffindor goals in that hour – leading his team to the all-important one-sixty lead by mid-way through the hour. Olivia gave James the signal to back off with his Seeker duel after that, but while he pretended to do that; he didn't really – and continued to fight as hard as he could to win his marathon battle with Blaise.

Licentia didn't give Blaise the all-clear to try for a catch for the loss anyway, but her hope to pull her team back into the match with help from Scorpius was a bit unrealistic – and she likely should have hoped that Blaise could earn that snitch catch for the loss. She and Scorpius were actually winning their Chaser battles against Olivia and Lucy during the sixth hour, but Al scored four goals while they'd only managed two against Rose – and then James finally ended the match at the five hour and twenty-two minute mark with a really great play that Tiberius helped to make possible by forcing Blaise to dodge a perfectly-timed bludger.

Final score – five-hundred and ten to one-hundred and seventy for Gryffindor!

Al had been on defense, but he'd known that James was going to catch the snitch right before he did – and then Teresa announced it; and Mr. Peakes blew the whistle to end the match. Trace was still in front of him; had just taken a pass from Scorpius; and then he swore and threw the quaffle right at Al's face. He swore again when Al batted it harmlessly away and then avoided the not-so-accidental attempt at running into him. He rolled backwards; flew over to Rose; and made sure that she was protected from any additional post-game idiocies – though none came; and they were soon able to have some fun with a mid-air hug to celebrate their brilliant win!

"I knew you'd be that awesome!" he advised her enthusiastically.

"Seventeen goals doesn't feel all that brilliant to me – and I'm seriously ready to have a nap – so quit looking as if we just took off and are getting warmed up."

"You had more than one hundred and fifty saves to go along with those goals," Al advised her. "I'd say that you've got every scout in the place wishing you were in your NEWT year right now."

"Including the Cannons scout?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"Sure; and I'm sure he'll be crushed when you don't even want to talk to him."

"I'm hoping that he'll think he'd never have a chance at hiring us," she countered; and then let out a huge sigh. "Merlin, Al – this was brilliant! Congratulations!"

"To you too," he said with a bright smile and nod. "Let's land and get on with the celebration. You may think that I look okay; but nearly five and a half hours on this broom has been enough – and it's been all I can do for the last hour not to fly past some of the spectators and steal one of those sandwiches."

Rose laughed. "That would have been hilarious – and I'd have loved it if you'd gotten one for me," she joked. "Maybe Gwendolyn and Hugo have saved something for us from lunch."

That didn't end up being an issue because food had been saved for all of the players, but before they could get to that; the meeting between the two teams at center pitch was a very strange mix of good and bad sportsmanship. Al and Rose certainly didn't get any love from Trace and Gideon, but Blaise wasn't the only one to be surprised when James offered his congratulations to him for a well-played match; and the interaction between Olivia and Lucy, and Licentia and Scorpius was just as positive. Both teens shook hands with Al and Rose too – as they did with all of the Gryffindor players; but there wasn't nearly as much love for them and the undercurrents of animosity that Al could sense from them showed that they still had a lot of hate for him.

Fortunately, that didn't last long; and then Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and quite a few of their friends were there and ready to help Al and Rose with celebrating their big win. Al wasn't even slightly jealous when Lily congratulated James first; and knew that she'd done that intentionally – while also allowing him the time to celebrate with Gwendolyn. They earned some whistles and razzing over their first hug and kiss, but then they simply enjoyed being together as Al, Rose, and the rest of their team mates were lifted up by their friends and family – metaphorically speaking.

"Thank-you – for everything," Al told Lily after she'd stepped back from an enthusiastic hug. "Have you been having as much fun as I have?"

"No, but that was a lot of fun to watch," she assured him. "You're a bit of a slow-starter; but did pretty well toward the end there." She turned toward Gwendolyn when she'd laughed. "What's so funny about that?"

"It's obviously been a longer match for some of us than others; or you'd remember that Al scored his first goal in six seconds," she explained; and it was Lily's turn to laugh.

"Actually, I did forget about that – temporarily. Aren't we all glad that he wasn't playing Seeker and did that?"

"I caught a really good break," Al advised them. "Trace was talking trash with me and looked away from Mr. Peakes at exactly the wrong time. That's why I got that big opening play advantage over him at take-off."

"The first of many mistakes for him," Lily declared. She looked over toward Trace; and shook her head. "He and Gideon look furious for obvious reasons; but the rest of the Slytherin players look as happy as they should be for matching up so well against our team. Maybe we'll get lucky and this will be the start of a trend – at least for this season."

"Yeah – because all wagers are off on that once Avery, Mulciber, and their mates can play again next season," Jonah offered. "We might not want to make our teams in our fourth year."

"We will," Lily disagreed; "but we've years yet to worry about that; so let's just enjoy how well things went today. That was a brilliant match; nobody got seriously-hurt; and nearly-everyone seems to be happy."

"For now," Al agreed. "Some of us need to hit the showers soon; or we'll be scaring everyone out of here just by smell alone," he joked.

"That's why we're upwind of you," Gwendolyn teased. "It's not so bad from here."

While he'd been exaggerating, Al wasn't the only player interested in hitting the showers and getting out of sweat-soaked gear that was getting uncomfortable as they cooled down in the chilly fall air. It was still nearly a half-hour before they could do that, though; and some of them were shivering noticeably by the time they were in their locker room – and found food and hot drinks waiting for them there.

"Leave a nibble or two for us," Olivia chided the McClaggens and James as they went for the food first while Al and the three girls sat down and started taking off their gear.

"I'd appreciate one of those hot drinks too if you could bring one over on your way to the benches," Lucy added. "I feel like I got hit by the Knight Bus. If there was going to be a next time for us; I'd tell you to put Al up against Scorpius next season. He plays fairly-enough; but never, ever lets up and went full-out pretty much all of the time."

"Let's wait and see how battered Al looks," Olivia suggested. "He may have won his duel against Trace; but he took a lot of pounding that we might not have survived."

"Are you okay, Al?" Lucy asked; turning her attention to him in real concern. "You were playing so much better than us by the end there; I didn't think you might be playing hurt."

"I've a lot of bruises; but nothing broken – and I can deal with that problem later; once I've had a chance to recover from the game."

"Good – well, not good that you got hurt; but you know what I mean," Lucy said with a nod and tired smile. "Just in case I forgot anyone – or fall asleep during the party in our common room – congratulations everyone! We were brilliant out there today!"

"I'd say that we've all but locked up first place in the Quidditch Cup through until the New Year," Tiberius suggested. "I seriously doubt that Hufflepuff can win over Ravenclaw by enough to catch us on the tie-break; and it'd be great for our House if Ravenclaw wins that match and they each only have the one win."

"Let's just be glad of the win," Brock suggested. "I like this start to our season a lot more than the last – though I'll wager that James is the happiest of us by comparison; since this sure beats a week in the hospital wing."

"It does," James agreed; "though feeling nothing for a day or three might have been better than how I feel right now after all of those hours on my broom." He smiled then and shrugged. "I expected Blaise to crack early, but while I hate to give a Slytherin any credit; he never gave up all day – even there at the end."

"None of them gave up," Olivia said with a nod. "Trace and Gideon weren't quite up to the task compared to the rest of us; but they never gave up either – and they took some hits from Tiberius and Brock too."

"Nothing serious there; but I'm sure we left a mark or five on each of them," Tiberius suggested modestly. "Don likely got the worst of it from us of the seven Slytherins."

"That's because he was being the biggest rotter until we gave him something better to do for the rest of the match," Brock suggested. "After that; our Beater battle was a lot of fun."

Al sat back and listened in as the others talked – and Rose was fairly-quiet too. He eventually ate a sandwich before going to grab a shower; he took care of his equipment while packing it up; and helped out with some of the overall team chores that included things like getting the towels and robes bagged up and ready for the House Elves to pick up and have laundered. That's why he and Rose were last to leave; and they met up with Gwendolyn and the friends wating and chatting with her so that she could walk with them to the castle – and on to their House before Al would be busy with the celebration party in the Gryffindor common room.

"Much better," Gwendolyn approved after hugging and kissing him; earning a round of laughs from the girls. "You'll be happy to know that Lily protected me from James again when he left for the castle – and then went along with him and the rest of your team mates. Why didn't you go along and be with them for the big welcome back to your House?"

"I volunteered for the extra work; Rose stayed to keep me company and help out; and I'd rather spend the extra time with you. Now there's no real hurry for me to get back to our House."

"Except that now I have a team meeting to get to soon," Gwendolyn advised him. "We'll be having an extra practice tomorrow now too – thanks to the two of you doing so well today. Pauline's worried that we'll need to worry about points in every match for the rest of the season now that you've opened up such a big advanage with your first two matches."

"She better not worry about that too much going up against the defending senior team champions in three weeks," Al warned. "I don't know whether Blaise is any good at catching the snitch, but he didn't try once we had the one-sixty lead; so I'm glad that James could put an end to the match before things really got out of hand for Slytherin."

"Sure, because scoring three times the points they did isn't getting out of hand," Gwendolyn teased; and Al shrugged.

"We were only up one-ninety when James caught the snitch; so if Slytherin had played it differently; it could have only been forty points."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn conceded; "but for the record; it didn't look to me as though James really let up once you had that lead – though he pretended as if he did."

"That didn't end up mattering," Rose offered. "As Al said – Blaise didn't try to make the catch for the loss. Licentia was likely hoping that we'd crash and burn if they kept the match going long-enough."

"Probably," Gwendolyn agreed. "That'd be my only complaint about Licentia, though; since she really did prove that she could keep up with Olivia and Lucy today – and we know that United is looking to put them on their squad with Dominique."

Al laughed; and then shrugged self-consciously. "Sorry. I just had a mental picture of Licentia playing on the same team with Dominique – or Victoire. the only thing weirder than that would be if Rachel Rosier was the third Chaser for either of those scenarios."

"I can't picture that without laughing either," Rose assured him; "but there really must be some scouts that will be interested in talking to Licentia after today."

"Would you include future team owners for that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Rose laughed.

"I don't know – would you mind having Licentia playing Chaser with Al on that team?"

Gwendolyn laughed too. "I so wish that I hadn't gone there now – and you better not be daydreaming about having Licentia and Rachel as your future Chaser partners."

"That'd be more like a nightmare," Rose said with a shudder. "They might decide to help out the other team's Chasers against Al."

"Note to you – don't hire the Slytherin Beaters for the Cannons either," Al joked.

"Right now, the McClaggens would be my top pick for those jobs with Fred and Orlando in second place – in part because I doubt that Tiberius will want to wait until we graduate to play in the show; so he'll get snapped up by another team first – and then Brock will follow him to that team." she smiled at Gwendolyn's reaction to that. "Don't have too much fun with it; but yes, the irony for having the McClaggens on my team for Mum and Dad would not be lost on me – and would be funny."

"We'll give you a break on that – for today," Gwendolyn offered. "I missed out on your chat with Louis. How's he taking the news that you've managed to make the jump to the senior team level rather successfully?"

"He's disappointed – if he wanted to be honest about it," Rose answered. "It messes me up a bit to know that not playing on the team could seriously affect his future playing in the show; but we both want that – and can't both play for Gryffindor at the same time."

"Well, if he's that worried about it; he could just come up with his own plan to buy a team and hire himself," Al teased.

"Most players don't want the hassles that would go along with that," Gwendolyn pointed out – "me included. I've seen how hard Mum works – and she's only the assistant manager."

"I wouldn't say 'only' for that," Al suggested. "Glynnis does pretty much let your Mum run things now and mostly handles the administrative and promotional stuff – and they've been rather brilliant at all of that stuff for our team."

"You mean 'her' team," Rose joked. "Start getting used to thinking of your team as being the Cannons."

"I'll work on that," Al promised; "but the Harpies will still and always be 'my team' too – especially while Gwendolyn and Lily are having their own brilliant careers playing for them while we're winning our championships for the Cannons."

"You are so going to get into trouble with comments like that one," Gwendolyn warned; though she'd laughed along with everyone else.

Their chat moved on from there after only a bit more teasing directed Al's way. Gwendolyn's little group of friends split off once they were in the castle; she walked with Al and Rose to the hallway outside of the portrait hole; and then spent a few minutes saying goodbye to them before they went into their common room and she moved on to meet up with her team mates for the post-game, competition analysis meeting that Pauline had wanted to do while the match was still fresh in everyone's mind.

"I love what you've done with the place," Thomas told Scorpius. "What do you call it?"

Scorpius laughed and shrugged. "I don't have much time; so it should probably be called half-baked or something. The Room of Requirements can wind up giving you strange things if you're not precise about what you wish for."

"True enough," Thomas agreed. "You look happy. Did you win the match; or is that still to come in your near future?"

"We did not; and I've just come from it," Scorpius answered. "Five out of seven of us played very well, though, and Licentia and I battled our Gryffindor opponents to a near-draw for nearly five and a half hours; so our fellow Slytherin were very impressed. The score ended up being fairly-awful because our Keeper gave up thirty-six goals and Trace had a lousy match too, but we can't fault Blaise for losing his Seeker duel to James; since we didn't expect him to be able to keep up with a real Seeker for anywhere near that long."

"You're not telling me anything about the younger Potter boy; so I'll guess that Trace had a bad day because he didn't fare well against him."

Scorpius frowned. "True, but let's not go there. I was assigned to Lucy Weasley because she has a Lightningbolt too. She's also almost-certain to join her cousin and Olivia Wood on Puddlemere United; so battling her to a draw proved to everyone today that I'm one of the best Chasers in the school – and I'm sure to be better by the time I'm in my NEWT year."

"That is good news for your plan to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time," Thomas joked. "Well done, Scorpius."

"Thank you." He glanced at his watch and shook his head. "I'm sorry that we can't do a lesson today, but I need to get going."

"That expression on your face suggests that you could make time for a lesson – if you weren't on your way to meet up with young Ms. Lestrange," Thomas told him with just a hint of disapproval. "It seems you've some small reason to celebrate, though; so I won't chide you today for neglecting your training so much of late."

"While doing that in a back-handed way anyway," Scorpius said with a smirk and shake of his head. "Point taken; and I'll try to do better now that we have until the New Year to get ready for our next Quidditch match."

"It's funny, but not surprising that you measure time by Quidditch events," Thomas mused.

Scorpius grinned. "Would you prefer to have me mark time with intervals between snogging sessions instead? That would be a bit convluted, since we need to make those times random; but I could give it a go and see how well that works out for us instead."

Thomas laughed. "Feel free to put my portrait back into the bag again – you're scaring the mentor."

The party in the Gryffindor common room was already in full swing by the time Al and Rose walked into the room. Their arrival earned a short round of cheers; but then everyone got back to the partying – which for many of them included watching league Quidditch on the mirror network or dancing to music that was playing from a smaller mirror that had been set up on the far side of the room from the big mirror that was usually used for most mirror network show-watching. They picked up drinks and snacks first; and then went to sit down with Ray, Cyndia, and a bunch of their third and fourth-year friends.

"We were beginning to wonder if you'd decided to skip the party," Ray told them. "Did you get lost?"

"No – it just took a bit longer than expected to clean up the mess in the locker rooms; and then we spent a bit of extra time with Gwendolyn while walking here. She's gone on to a team meeting; since they apparently didn't want to do their game breakdown with all of the Gryffindor players around them during the match."

"No doubt; since that'd help us a lot to know what they found most-helpful from watching our team play today," Cyndia offered.

"It might help us a lot to know what you thought about watching that match too," Al told her seriously; and smiled when Cyndia looked surprised and pleased.

"Thanks, but the others are likely better at that sort of thing than I am," she said a bit self-consciously.

"You never know," Al counseled. "You might be brilliant at it. We've got time – why not give it a go?" Cyndia laughed and then paused a moment while seriously thinking about it.

"Okay. If I was playing for Ravenclaw and analyzing our team – not Slytherin; the most-obvious places to start would be with you and Rose. You cleanly won your Chaser battle against Trace; and Rose was the far-better Keeper today." She paused and smiled self-consciously again. "From Ravenclaw's point of view; that's likely the wrong thing to do."

"Why?" Al asked; though he knew the answer.

"Because Gwendolyn is a match for you – in more ways than one; and Peter is much more-closely matched for skill to Rose than the Slytherin Keeper is. If I was Pauline, I'd be most-worried about how James played today; with working on ways to counter the McClaggens; and with my match-ups for Olivia and Lucy." She paused again; but Al encouraged her to continue; so she did. "I haven't seen as many of James' matches as the rest of you have; but this was the first time I saw him play without losing his cool even once. He was never in any serious risk of losing the Seeker duel, and while Pauline is a better Seeker than Blaise; she'll be in for a duel that's just as tough if James doesn't get mad or mess up in other ways – like he did last year with all of the taunting and show-boating."

"So far so good," Al approved. "What do you think they'll decide to do about that?"

"For the Seeker duel? I'd suggest doing the same thing that Lily did last year. Try to push James to the limit and hope for a mistake – or that he'll wear down first. If he had any weakness today; conditioning might be it. He looked tired toward the end of the match – and that's despite the fact that Blaise never really took the game to him at all."

"See – you've got that one spot-on," Al said approvingly. "What were you thinking about for Lucy and Olivia?"

"Licentia and Scorpius were better than I expected, but that probably won't be the case for Ravenclaw's second and third-best Chasers."

"Lee and Miya are pretty good," Rose offered; and Cyndia nodded.

"Yes, they are; but I don't think that they match up all that well against Lucy and Olivia – and we'll have to wait a few weeks to see if Lee's as good without his sister."

"I'd like to think that Gwendolyn is a pretty good replacement for Susan," Al deadpanned; and earned a round of laughs.

"She is – but that might not be true for how well Lee plays," Cyndia pointed out. "We're actually talking about our players from a Ravenclaw perspective, though; and they ought to be worried about those two pairings. They'll need to try to slow Lucy down; since nobody on Ravenclaw has a Lightningbolt; and they'd want to try to find a way to break up the teamwork between Lucy and Olivia; since that's actually their biggest advantage – and something they're better at with Dominique than they were with Al today."

"The three of them scored thirty-six goals," Ray reminded her; and Cyndia smiled and shrugged.

"True, but Al had twenty of them – and most of them for the last hour and a half or so – and that was again because everyone else started to run out of steam by comparison and couldn't keep up with him. Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia have almost always shared equally in the goals and assists – with the exception that Olivia and Lucy went out of their way to make Dominique look good to the scouts in their match against Ravenclaw last May."

"So if you were Pauline; you'd try to slow Lucy down and get in between Olivia and Lucy to disrupt them," Al summarized; and Cyndia nodded.

"Yeah, and if they do that; I'd counter it by making you the playmaker for that match," she agreed and added. "Lucy and Olivia won't score as many goals against Peter as you would on a shots-to-goals percentage, but give them enough shots; and that won't matter all that much."

"Why not just let them battle to a draw like they did today and let Al pile up the goals?" Ray asked; and cyndia laughed.

"I've got two very good reasons for that. First, I doubt he could do that against Gwendolyn, and second; he would not want to be turned into a woodlouse if I'm wrong about that and he could out-score his girlfriend by twenty-to-one like he did against Trace today – and that one goal didn't happen while Al was defending him."

Everyone around them laughed; but then Ray stopped and stared at her. "Wait – are you telling us that Al didn't give up any goals on defense today? Are you sure?"

Cyndia nodded. "Yes – though that was partly because rose didn't give up a goal on any of the shots that did make it on goals while Al was primary Chaser-defender." She smiled when several others seemed as surprised as Ray. "Would any of you like to double down on those Cannons bets of yours with Rose now?" she teased; earning another round of laughs.

"Not today," Ray decided. "That is something that I'm going to start paying attention to in practices – and try to take advantage of too if I can figure out a way to do it."

"Thanks for the warning," Al told him with a grin. "Cyndia's on a roll with her analysis, though; so let's hear what she thinks Ravenclaw should do to try and deal with Tiberius and Brock. Brandon and Seth are pretty good too and have done well-enough against our Beaters every year."

"They have," Cyndia agreed; "but that won't be good-enough this year. Barring one of those lucky breaks that are always possible in Quidditch; I think that Ravenclaw needs to win the Beater battle to make up for the problems they'll have with the Chaser shortfall." She smiled and shrugged again. "That was fun, and I appreciate the moment in the spotlight, but we're supposed to be partying; so let's get back to that – especially since there's a very good chance that I'm just shooting my mouth off and have no idea of what I'm talking about."

"You did a great job of it," Al assured her – "though I may wish that I hadn't asked you about it if Ray figures out a way to score more goals against me in our scrimmages and duels."

"I'd suggest that I'll do that by getting Cyndia to play with us every Sunday," Ray suggested, "but we're heading into winter; and I'll likely stop going to those extra scrimmages and duels fairly soon."

"I might still want to do them," Cyndia told him seriously. "It's been fun playing again; and taking another break from Quidditch until spring would be disappointing after just getting back into it."

"I predict some very cold Quidditch outings for you this winter," Romeo told Ray. He'd joined their group mid-way through that chat to offer his congratulations to Al and Rose; and had waited for the chance to jump in so he could do that. "Before you get on with all of that; congratulations, Rose and Al. I somehow missed you for doing that out on the pitch while everyone was milling around. Thanks for putting on such a great show for all of us today!"

"You're welcome," Rose assured him; and then laughed. "You're doing it again," she advised him; and Romeo returned his attention to her and grinned.

"Sorry – it's likely a flaw that I should work on, but can't seem to manage to pay attention to the problem long-enough to do anything about it," he joked; and then looked away again as one of the girls he currently liked caught his attention again.

"Fly and try not to be too free with all of that love you have for all single Witches," Rose told him with a dismissive wave of her hand."

"I love Witches that aren't single too – just not in the same way," Romeo offered in parting; and then he was gone and in pursuit of his next potential, future girlfriend.

"That isn't the same Witch he took to the Halloween dance," Cyndia said as she watched him leave. "Did I miss out on some gossip?"

"Probably not," Rose answered. "I'm pretty sure that date went okay; but I'm not the only Witch in the school that has a problem with Wizards that have roving eyes and short attention spans."

"What was that last part?" Cyndia joked after pretending to look back at Romeo again.

"That was almost-convincing – you should try out for that Christmas musical tomorrow," Rose suggested; and Cyndia shook her head and pretended to shudder.

"No way! I'd never sing in public; and don't even like doing those stupid presentations in front of our classes that some of the Professors make us do every year. I wish good luck to anyone that does give it a go; but I won't be one of them. Are you going to audition?"

"No, but I may offer to help out behind the scenes," Rose admitted. "I haven't decided on that yet. We're so busy; I don't want to try and take on too much more. I like what they're doing, though, so if I can help out a little bit; I will."

Al hadn't been thinking about the Christmas musical all day to that point – or about the fact that tryouts – auditions – were going to be held on Sunday afternoon. the change in topic did lead them away from talking Quidditch for a while; and he got to enjoy the party as it rolled on through until it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner. He didn't have a single problem with James, and while his brother was enjoying the time in the spotlight; Al preferred to stay on the sidelines as much as possible and leave that part of the celebration to his team mates. Rose was somewhere in the middle between him and James when it came to enjoying the extra attention; while Olivia, Lucy, and the McClaggens were closer to James than Al – and really enjoyed being the center of attention.

There was one other difference that Rose shared with him – they each spent some time talking with the younger – and most-shy – kids at the party. Making that effort earned them some junior admirers and fans; but they did all of that for the fun of it – and earning potential future fans for the Cannons was just a nice bonus!

Though he'd had some of the food that had been provided for them after the match and enjoyed a few snacks too; Al was ready for a decent meal by the time they sat down to eat in the Great Hall – and focused on that instead of getting very involved in the dinner conversation. He knew for sure that he'd been ravenous when Gwendolyn joined him after having her meal – and he hadn't even started in on having any dessert yet. She sat and talked with him while he finished up; and then they went off on their own to end their day with an evening of music, magical play time; and a celebration-worthy snogging session! They stayed out until right before curfew; Al walked her home; and then he went straight to his dorm room, got ready for bed, and then quickly passed out for the night as he allowed exhaustion to win out over all else – including the need to do more studying or work on his toys, Lily's game, or his special project.

Thanks to the impending tryouts for the Christmas musical; the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match was old news by Sunday morning. Quidditch wasn't entirely out of the news, since Hufflepuff was having a make-up practice after breakfast; and Pauline had booked a bonus practice for her team in the late-morning time slot that Gryffindor didn't take for their senior team since they'd just played a tough match, but for everyone interested in the musical for various reasons; any story related to the auditions was avidly listened to and discussed. Al and Gwendolyn weren't going to have anything to do with those tryouts; but did keep up with the latest gossip – even as they were busy with their work and Quidditch all day too. They studied all morning – or until it was time for Quidditch practice for Gwendolyn; they studied all afternoon except for an hour of Quidditch play time that Lily, Jonah, Ray, and Cyndia joined them for out above the practice pitch; and then they had a normal Sunday evening of family fun with Lily and Jonah after dinner.

By then, there had been lots of stories floating around about the tryouts, but the casting wasn't being announced until Monday; so the gossip was mostly about the best and worst auditions – with the worst almost all related to really bad singers – including some that were obviously delusional about their musical talents. Al and Gwendolyn were happy to hear that Bristol earned favorable reviews for her audition; and other friends had apparently done well too; but nobody was making many predictions about who would win the leads in the musical – especially since none of them had even seen snippets of the script or music yet. The drama club had handed out well-known Christmas songs and a handful of speaking role scenes for the teens and tweens to choose from for their individual auditions; and had only offered a minimal synopsis for the musical – mostly because they didn't want too much known about it ahead of the performance.

While Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had fun speculating on the musical and discussing the gossip; the best parts of their evening was the music, mirror chats with their parents, and the couples' cuddle time while winding down and watching a couple of mirror network shows. They had a longer visit in the Owlery; spent extra time with Winter; and then Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah 'home' before returning to their own House for the night. Al ended his day with some work on his special project; had a bedtime guy chat with Ray once he eventually came up to bed after saying goodnight to Cyndia; and then it was lights out for him for a second straight night in more ways than one as he really needed to get the sleep and be ready for another long, busy school week.

"You must've done well to look this happy," Scorpius suggested as Lysandra met up with him in one of the Potions dungeons. That wasn't the best place for them to meet, but as long as they didn't get caught snogging each other; they could make excuses for why they happened to be there at the same time.

"I think so," Lysandra agreed. "We'll find out tomorrow if I get one of the lead parts or not."

"They'd be crazy not to make you the star," Scorpius declared.

"We'll see. I'm not going to get my hopes up; and maybe this was a stupid idea; since my family will be horrified."

"Our families want to hide in the shadows and look to the past for a way to regain what is rightfully ours. We see a different way to get there – and you'd shine at whatever you choose to do. If you'd like that to be a future in theater – or as a mirror network star; then I say go for it. Between the two of us; we'll take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch, theatre, and mirror network shows' fan at a time!"

Lysandra laughed; put her arms around him; and kissed him rather seriously. "That sounds brilliant, Scorpius. Let's do it!"

James was still awake in the wee hours of Monday morning; working on his weekend revision at one of the work tables in the common room. He was alone; tired; and not at all motivated to get all of the work done – and he still had loads of it after taking most of the weekend off for Quidditch and partying. That had included fun with Patricia and Bristol – and with Rosinda; his first choice for replacing Lara in his harem. He expected that he'd need to do that sooner instead of later, because Bristol was becoming obsessed with that stupid Christmas musical, and if she was given a part in it on Monday; she'd likely be spending all of her time working on it – and have less time for him. She'd been mad at him too. He'd laughed off her suggestion that he try out for the musical too; and had apparently insulted her by making fun of both the musical and the drama club. He was right about theatre being for losers – and that shouldn't even have been an issue; since you never heard of starving Quidditch players while there were plenty of starving artists to go around!

All that mattered to him, though, was that Bristol would have less time to help him with his rather-frequent needs for the kind of fun they both liked a lot; and Rosinda could very well help him out with that - as long as she didn't have the same problems with doing that sort of thing as Lara did with her out-dated, idealistic fantasies of what romance and relationships should be like. It was really just too bad that every Witch didn't look at snogging and the rest of it as a sport!

"Get back to work," he chided himself; and then ignored his admonishment.

Except for the not getting his assignments finished; he'd had a brilliant weekend. He'd won the match and his Seeker duel; was getting all of the praise and adoration he deserved for playing so brilliantly; and only had one idiot try to mess with him by pointing out that the match had already been won by the time he'd caught the snitch; so he'd only helped out by ending it. That thought had him smirking; since he was sure that git was regretting those insults – even if he'd have no proof that James had been behind his little accident.

He'd stayed, um, up late on Saturday night – with Patricia; since Bristol had needed her beauty sleep ahead of her tryout for that stupid musical; and then he'd spent more time goofing off on Sunday than he did on his studies – including spending some quality time flirting with Rosinda while she studied and he pretended to work. That wasn't ending well for him now; but then he had high hopes that it would end well with Rosinda – if not for how well he'd do on his weekend revision. Reminding himself that he needed to get back to that work; James tried to focus on the report he was writing – a Potions assignment that he thought was stupid. He was great at making potions; so it was ridiculous to waste his time with the rest of the nonsense Slughorn tried to force them to learn.

Winning Quidditch matches wouldn't earn him any OWL's, though, and while he hated the truth of it; he needed to earn at least a few of them to be allowed to use magic once he was overage and done school; so he gritted his teeth and got back to work.

Being rich and famous once he could escape from all of the idiocies in his life would be worth it!

The casting news for the Christmas musical was the top story on the gossip network by breakfast time as the postings went up; and there was one particularly-unexpected surprise – Lysandra Lestrange's winning of one of the lead roles! For Gryffindors, having Bristol earn a lead was news too and put her in the spotlight for the day; but the news about Lysandra had been something that all of the teens and tweens in every House wanted to talk about. for Al and Gwendolyn, Bristol's news had been welcomed; and they'd also been glad for Mackenzie Graves – the only member of their study group that had even gone to tryouts – and he'd won one of the male leads for the musical too.

As with Bristol, Mackenzie had stayed out of the music business so far, and Al doubted that the Weird Sisters' cousin connection to Wendy and Wanda had anything to do with getting roles for either Mackenzie or Bristol; but he did think it was interesting that the 'professional' musicians in their musical family collectively stayed away from the tryouts – and thus weren't going to be in the musical. Since he and Gwendolyn had helped out with the script and music, he knew better than the fledgling actors what they'd be doing in the musical that they had yet to see – unless Wendy and Wanda had made more changes that he didn't know about; and he hoped that there wouldn't be any major teen dramas come out of the rehearsals and show for any of the actors that would need to work so closely together over the next month and a half.

Whatever happened with that, he also hoped that they had success with it – and was glad that he wasn't involved or would need to try to add in three practices a week to his already too-busy schedule. While the Christmas musical continued to be the top gossip topic of the day around the school; Al and Gwendolyn got into their daily routine after breakfast; worked hard – through until late Monday night for Al thanks to Astronomy class and extra studying and a bit of special project work; and then they had to also fit in the Harpies-Wanderers Quidditch match on Tuesday evening while studying after dinner – their top, and only entertainment activity of the school week. After a busy day of classes and a tough Quidditch practice in lousy weather, Al would have liked to take a few hours off to just relax and watch the match, but that wasn't something he could do; so they set up for studying while watching the match on his mirror. He set up some sofas too because Lily, Jonah, and some of their friends wanted to watch the match with them instead of in their respective common rooms; but Al put a bit of space between the two groups so that the younger fans wouldn't be too distracting for their study group. They were one short in the group because Mackinzie was at his first rehearsal for the musical; but Susannah hadn't wanted to audition; and was with them for the studying.

"Maybe I should start a study group on the side for nights like this one," she suggested half-seriously with a wry smile as they were all getting into their first assignment while Lee's pre-game show was still on. "Between the drama club and Quidditch fanatics; there's nowhere for a Witch to go to get away from it all and get some peace and quiet!"

"Is that a joke, or are you being serious?" Ray asked; and Susannah laughed.

"Maybe I shouldn't answer that – and let you all think that I'm a brilliant actor; since you couldn't tell."

"I don't know if you'd have much interest in a get-away-from-it-all group," Rose offered; "but we all feel like that sometimes and need to find somewhere to hide for a while. I've been doing that fairly frequently the last year or so when I don't want to be around all of the snogging couples. That's been a bigger deal this fall while I can't be with Kyle through until the Christmas break; but I'd go for walks or do other things a lot last year on the nights that were worst for snogging in the common room or elsewhere around the castle."

"Including this match; there are only three Quidditch matches for us to watch between now and Christmas," Gwendolyn told Susannah; and smiled when their comparatively-new friend laughed.

"For you – for the Harpies," she agreed. "We also have the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match – though I guess we can cut you some slack on that one; since you'll be playing in it instead of watching it. Add in all of the other leagues matches, the mirror network shows about Quidditch, and everything else; and it can get to be a bit too much for the casual fan of the game. Now I'm also going to be boyfriend-less on Tuesday and Thursday evenings; Sunday afternoons; and likely whenever he wants to work on memorizing his lines and the songs for the show." She smiled at Rose. "Maybe I'll start going for those walks or whatever with you if I get too lonely."

"There was a lot in there; but what's a casual Quidditch fan?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin.

"Me – anyone who likes Quidditch; but in moderation. I like going to the matches here at school – though I'd be okay with missing the winter games. I like seeing a league match now and then too; but am okay with doing anything else instead of watching them on the mirror network where you don't even get to see a quarter of what's going on in the overall game."

"I don't like that part of it," Gwendolyn admitted, "but it's still way better for me than just reading about the game statistics on the Wireless Web – or in the paper like everyone used to do before that."

"Maybe you should have auditioned for that show," Ray suggested. "I had no idea that you didn't like watching the games with us."

Susannah laughed. "I was there for the cudling with Mackenzie – not the Quidditch. I didn't need to act happy about that."

"Getting back to your other comments about not getting to spend much time with Mackenzie while he's busy with the musical; that's a problem for some of the Witches or Wizards dating Quidditch players around here," Gwendolyn said more seriously. "Al and I have six practice times a week where we don't get to spend time together, but we're also busy with our own practices for three of those times; so it doesn't seem as tough as it is for couples where one of them doesn't play Quidditch at all. The couples that seem to deal best with that just find other times to spend together – and make that a priority." She smiled at Al before continuing. "We do well-enough with spending lots of time together; but seriously need to work on having more alone time – since everything else always seems to come first – like this studying and that Quidditch match."

"That's good advice," Susannah decided. "I'll talk about it with Mackenzie if this musical thing becomes an obsession for him – sort of like Quidditch is for you guys."

"Quidditch – need... more... Quidditch!" Ray joked.

"Funny you should say that while Gwendolyn's over there saying she needs more snogging time," Toni told him with a laugh; joining in for the first time since she'd sat down with Michael and started working on her assignments.

That comment sent the girls off on a fun little side trip that the guys wanted no part of; but they eventually got focused on the work too – while keeping an occasional eye and ear out for the mirror network Quidditch action. Lee's experts each picked the harpies for the win, but they had messy, cold weather at Ilkley stadium; and that made for a messy match for both teams. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey out-scored the Wanderers Chasers two-to-one; but they weren't exactly having a stellar defensive night either; so the fans of high-scoring games loved the show they were putting on in the wind and rain. Gabrielle caught the snitch a bit more than half-way into the fourth hour to help her team to the four-thirty to one-forty victory – just ahead of what would have likely been the one-sixty lead by the end of that hour; so Al, Gwendolyn, and all of their friends and relatives were able to watch the end of the match ahead of curfew – if not with all that much time to spare before they needed to pack up for the night.

Al had to wait until Wednesday morning to get the first news from the rehearsal on Tuesday evening because they'd apparently kept busy with that until curfew; and Rose had some of those stories thanks to Bristol and some of the other girls in their House. Bristol seemed to be finding herself through her temporary association with the drama club; and Rose seemed to like what she was seeing in their wayward friend. Al wished her the best, but wasn't sure whether Bristol's new-found interests would make any difference for her relationship with him and Gwendolyn. He didn't get any sense of a major change in direction from her – though things had thawed a bit between Bristol and Gwendolyn since the day she'd gone diving with them in the summer. The drama club drama wasn't really something that Al wanted to know too much about; though he did hear about most of the gossip stories. On the funny side, Bristol's brother, Lee, was apparently a very convincing 'bad boy' despite his all-around good guy reputation; while none of the other teens seemed to think that it was a stretch for Lysandra to be a really mean Witch.

Staying focused on his classes, studying, Quidditch, and other work kept Al busy for the last three days of the school week; and he was looking forward to one of their rare weekends where they didn't have anything extra going on – the last one they'd have through until the Christmas break. That gave them lots of extra time for their weekend revision, but Al and Gwendolyn chose to push hard on Friday evening and Saturday to get the must-do work done so that they could take the rest of the weekend off except for doing some project work to keep ahead of those bigger assignments too. Working through until curfew on Friday night and then all morning on Saturday – which included the Gryffindor Quidditch practice for Al, Rose, and Ray – wasn't all work and no play; but when they were done by lunchtime; they were all ready to play for the rest of the day.

"Pool party!" Lily said enthusiastically as she walked up to Al and Gwendolyn – though she said that quietly so they wouldn't be overheard by too many of the teens around them. "You guys have been working too hard from what I've heard; it's too cold outside to have any fun out there; and I'll wager we'll have no trouble rounding up some friends willing to come and play with us for the afternoon – and maybe bring snacks and treats contributions to share with everyone."

"I'll vote for that," Gwendolyn assured her with a smile for Al. "So will you – unless you'd rather go study or something while we have a Witches-only pool party."

"You're overdue for one of those; but I'm definitely voting for the you in a swimsuit time," Al assured her. "Let's get what we need; invite a few friends; and meet up in our usual study classroom."

That little cameo blast of fun thanks to Lily led to a brilliantly fun afternoon. Al and Gwendolyn did a lot of the work for the set-up, but then they played for the rest of the afternoon until needing to clean up ahead of dinner; and they especially enjoyed getting to have the play time with newer friends that were becoming closer to them – like Susannah, Mackenzie, and Cyndia. While the water-fueled entertainment was great; taking the evening off for some alone time was even better; and Al and Gwendolyn made a brilliant few hours of memories together after dinner that included music, magic, and a lot of up-close-and-personal snogging time! As always, they didn't let their fun get out of hand, and they were back in their Houses ahead of curfew; but then Al actually took a night off from the extra work he did most nights; and instead chose to get a better night of rest ahead of the second-half of their weekend.

Studying on Sunday morning was optional; so they only had about half of their group there for the project research in the library and a visit to the greenhouse to work on their longer-term plant projects. Al and Gwendolyn only had Lily and Jonah for their afternoon time slot at the practice pitch because of the weather; but had a lot of fun together while having their flying fun and separate Seeker and Chaser duels. The second-half of the afternoon ended up being a work session on Lily's game, but they had a lot of fun with that – including setting up the portable pool again so that they could do some testing of the underwater snitch and to make sure that the bludgers would be good, painless fun. The Beater bats could still sting a bit if you got hit by mistake, but they couldn't seriously hurt you or do anything worse than leave a red mark behind; so they didn't try to make any changes to them that might make them too flimsy to even hit their special bludgers.

While they'd been busy with Quidditch and game-making; Al and Gwendolyn had been out of the loop for the Christmas musical rehearsal that had kept the cast and everyone else involved busy from lunchtime until dinner. Getting through the first week of rehearsals seemed to be a milestone for many of the actors, but some stresses were showing up as some of the teens struggled to learn lines and songs; and then a word-of-mouth call for help started circulating by dinnertime as the core drama club members decided that they needed more help with things like sets and costumes – including a lot of magical help; since they had special effects planned for the show that would require transfigurations, charms, and even a bit of conjuring here and there. Rose decided that she was going to help out as they talked about that at dinner, but Al planned on staying out of it as long as possible – despite getting a strong sense that Wendy and Wanda would be coming back to get more help from Gwendolyn – and from him too.

The entertainment from all of that made the dinner break more fun, but Al was again happy to get back together with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah for their usual Sunday evening family time. They collectively agreed to take a break from any work; and stuck to the music, mirror chats with their parents; and cuddle time while watching mirror network shows parts of their usual fun that allowed them to wind down and get ready for the second-half of November. The visit to the Owlery to send their weekly Owl Posts was only a surprise because Blizzard was apparently away on a rare trip; the walk 'home' was switched up when Gwendolyn decided it was again time for her to walk Al home for a change; and then Al spent twenty minutes visiting with Rose and some other friends before heading up to bed. He couldn't keep himself from ending the weekend with a bit of special project work, but while the countdown to Christmas was still a couple of weeks away from starting; he felt the clock ticking anyway – and he already had way too much time invested in his project to have to shelve it at the last minute and do something else for some of his planned Christmas gifts. He did eventually go off to sleep, and did that before most of the guys were in the room; but not before he'd finished everything he'd wanted to get done before calling it a night.

"You look a bit stormy," Lysandra told Scorpius as she met up with him outside of the Room of Requirements. "Is something wrong?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah – I can't get into our room in there,' he advised her.

"You can't? Do you think it's broken?"

"More likely someone else has found it and is using it right now," he said with a dark scowl. "I'd suggest that we stay and figure out who it is; but then we'd waste the little bit of time we have together instead of having fun – unless the rumors going around about you and Lee Wagtail are true and you're ready to be done with me."

"Are you jealous?" she teased; and Scorpius laughed.

"Maybe – yeah. He's getting to spend way more time with you than I can."

"Now you know how I felt when that Hufflepuff wench ranked you as the hottest Wizard on our team – and a lot of the witches around here seemed to agree with her. Those rumors are total rubbish; and you've nothing to worry about from Lee or any other Wizard. I choose you – get used to it, Malfoy!"

He looked around as he laughed at that; and then put his arms around her for a hard hug. "Thank you," he said sincerely and then invited her to walk with him. "Let's go and find a plan 'B' place where we can be alone – and I'll worry about who it is that's messing up our special hiding place another day."

James lay awake on his bed and stared at the blackness of the ceiling that he couldn't really see in the darkness. The other guys were all sleeping, and he should be; but hadn't been able to get there while his mind wandered aimlessly and seemed to refuse to shut down. He was a bit frustrated – partly because Bristol had been too busy to spend any quality time with him at all since taking her obsession with that musical to the next level where it was all she seemed to think or talk about. That had been annoying enough, but then Patricia hadn't been 'in the mood' to play with him either – her code for advising him she was having another round of her women's issues. That did give him some chances to work on things with Rosinda, but she was going to need more time before she'd be ready to join his harem – though he was sure that she would do that eventually.

The lack of, um, stimulation and opportunities to enjoy his favorite activity had even led James to thinking about trying to hook up with Malorie; but he decided that would be too much of a risk to his reputation with so many potential witnesses – and with the gossip network running at top speed thanks to that stupid musical and all of the stories floating around because of it. Spending some time with her over the Christmas holidays might be an option – if there weren't any better opportunities; but that possibility was still a month and more away – and waiting that long was simply out of the question!

While that was his, um, biggest issue in at least a couple of ways; the past week had been a real let-down after his brilliant Quidditch victory. Again, thanks to that stupid musical; his moment in the spotlight ended far too soon; and he was plunged back into the mundane, daily life that the Professors all tried to make a horror for their students. He smirked to himself when he thought about that as being a problem for him because fifth-year was only meant for Ordinary Wizards – not extraordinary ones! It was no wonder that he was bored all of the time – especially when the loser had conspired to make sure that he didn't have his best mate to hang around with for most of the school year.

"Maybe I should do the same to him and get rid of his best mate for a year or forever," he mused darkly in the silence of his mind; and then smirked again. "Then again; it'd be way more fun to steal his girlfriend away and add her to my harem. That'd kill two birds – including one Animorphpotty pidgeon – with one stone!"

That was a fun thought to run with; though that didn't happen without also seeing visions of Lily messing that up for him with her little gang of do-gooders. The more he thought about it; the worse either idea seemed to him – especially when the images of getting eaten or suspended too kept getting in the way of the more interesting imaginings of some quality time showing Gwendolyn what it would be like to be with a real Wizard.

Mired in the muck among the mediocre it would be," he decided somewhat morosely – for now. The countdown to his brilliant future was something that he kept track of every day too, and while he might have to bide his time and wade through all of the rotten in his life; he'd get his revenge eventually – especially whenever he finally, preferably fatally destroyed his Animorphloser brother!

After a comparatively-quiet and fun-filled rest weekend; the third week of November kicked up into a higher gear on a lot of levels. The classwork and assignment load got heavier as their Professors needed to cram in lessons to meet goals ahead of the Christmas break. Quidditch workouts picked up for the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players; which meant that Gwendolyn worked a lot harder on that too. On the gossip network; rumors continued to swirl about the musical rehearsals; there were more stories related to the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend; and there were even some early signs of trouble in paradise for some couples that was a bit early for Christmastime break-ups; but that could end up being that sooner instead of later.

Al could hardly ignore any of that – even the constant barrage of gossip; but he could buckle down and do the extra work; help Gwendolyn as she worked harder too; and try to add in cameo moments of fun here and there to keep from getting bogged down and worn out by all of the work. There weren't any extra activities for them during the five days leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend, though; so that helped a lot – as did their continually-developing prficiency with their study apps and special quills. There was both the trip to town and a Harpies' match on Saturday; so working on Friday evening was a must for everyone in their study group – though not everyone studied with them as Ray opted to work with Cyndia and some other friends; and Mckenzie talked Susannah into studying with some of their Hufflepuff friends while he needed to do some OWL-year team work with some of his mates. As usual, a smaller group allowed Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose to get more done; so they were in good shape by the time they wrapped up for the night shortly before curfew.

That was definitely an unexciting end to their week, but being ahead of the curve made it much easier for Al on Saturday morning when he woke up and knew he could take the entire day off if he and Gwendolyn chose to take that extended break and deal with the rest of their weekend work on Sunday. His morning walk and talk with Rose had kept the early-morning good mood going; there was a bit too much fun going on for his liking at breakfast; and then heading out on their Hogsmeade adventure with Gwendolyn was brilliant – despite the blustery, cold, and wet weather that greeted them when they stepped outside with their little group of friends. The walk to town was actually faster than usual as everyone wanted to hurry and get out of the light, chilling rain, but then even Al and Gwendolyn were in for a number of holiday-themed surprises – starting with finding out that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were offering a special early-release of their brand new Christmas album to stores in Hogsmeade only – mostly because their next Hogsmeade weekend wasn't until the Saturday before the Christmas break.

"This is brilliant!" Gwendolyn told Al excitedly as they gathered around the display of the albums with the small crowd of teens that were either looking at them or simply grabbing a copy to buy it.

"It is," Al agreed. "I'll get one for Lily too; but do you think that we should get very many extras for our younger cousins and friends?"

"Call Lily and have her ask around and get back to us," Gwendolyn suggested. "If she gets us a number by lunchtime; we can get them on our way back to the castle – and I still want to be there in time for the Harpies' match if we can swing that." She looked around and shook her head. "Honestly, I didn't think that they'd be full-on into Christmas today. We'll need to pick up some Christmas wheezes and maybe some sweets too."

"That's a good idea," Al approved first; "and I'm sure you're right about the rest. Let's pick up the albums we know we'll need and a few extra; and then I'll get on with the boring shopping while you go and check out the Christmas sales and fashions at your favorite shops."

"Deal," Gwendolyn approved – "though I'll want to put this album on my mirror so I can start listening to it too." Al groaned quietly; and Gwendolyn laughed. "You'll survive – and have some fun too," she assured him.

She was likely right about both parts of that too, but then Al actually got through a fair bit of the supply shopping before he started having other teens play the Animorphmagus Christmas songs when they saw him – and it was another fifteen minutes after that before he actually got razzed about it by anyone. Gwendolyn was back with him again by the time everyone seemed to feel the need to play or sing the song around him; he got requests to change into some of the animals while the song played; and the jokes and razzing kicked up to the next level. They had set a time limit to shoot for, though; so they continued to wade through the crowds in each store they visited; picked up everything they needed; and then stopped to pick up the extra albums that Lily had ordered from Al once she'd asked around and had a handful of takers on the offer. They ordered a light lunch at the Three Broomsticks once they were able to get a table there; had that meal with Rose, Ray, and Cyndia; and then had all three of them along for the walk back to the castle.

They sped up that hike by charming some shoes for three of them while Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride and carried all of their things along with him in Wizard's space until he changed back near the main castle entrance. Gwendolyn wanted to stop in to her dorm room to drop off her supplies and get changed out of damp clothes, so Al walked her there; headed for his dorm room to do the same; and then hurried to their usual study classroom to meet up with her again – and with everyone that wanted to watch the Quidditch match with them. Lily had mastered engorgement charms so she hadn't needed the help with Al's toy sofas this time; and everyone looked very comfortable as Al walked into the room and then began delivering supply orders for the teens and tweens he'd been in charge of shopping for this week.

"Have we missed much?" he asked. "I haven't been checking my mirror; and we raced back here from town."

"Did you win?" Lily asked; and Al grinned at her.

"Yes, but Rose is getting faster with that charm; so she wasn't far behind us. Ray slowed down a bit to help Cyndia; since it was her first time giving that a try."

"I still like the bouncing bubbles the best; but the shoe thing is cool too. Were you able to get those extra Christmas albums, or were they sold out by then?"

"That wasn't a problem; though it looked to me as if they brought more from somewhere to the store we got them from. Even the Three Broomsticks had a small supply of them out on their counter; so that really was a special offer just for Hogsmeade today."

"Well, I can't wait to hear it," Lily told him enthusiastically. "Maybe we'll play that in the background while we watch the game. Oh, and no; you haven't missed all that much. The Kestrels have scored two; we've scored one; and they seem to be making a slow start of it today."

"If it's cold and wet there too; they're likely not all that excited to be out in it at those speeds," Al suggested. "I likely only got here first because Gwendolyn and Rose wanted to deal with wet hair before coming here."

"Which you will appreciate for Gwendolyn when she's cuddling with you all afternoon," Lily pointed out. "Come and sit with us when you're done that; and I'll keep you entertained while we wait for everyone else to get here."

Al did that, though it wasn't very long before Gwendolyn caught up with him; and then they both had fun cuddling together and watching the Harpies' match – for as long as it lasted. The good news for them was that Gabrielle earned the early win for her team in just sixty ticks over an hour and a quarter; and the better was that they then had a lot of time to play after that through until dinner time. There was some bad with that, since nearly everyone in their group wanted to listen to the new Christmas album; and then Al got razzed about each of the songs that so much as mentioned Animorphmagus. All of those jokes were fun, but by then; Al was already half-wishing that he and Gwendolyn hadn't written it in the first place.

The jokes and insults got a lot darker before, during, and after dinner in the Great Hall – starting with James' first walk-by razzing. Pretending not to see Al and then ask whether the meat tasted funny was a popular joke among his tablemates – and elsewhere around the hall; and Al tried not to think about what he sensed from quite a few Slytherin. Escaping from all of that for the evening with Gwendolyn was a relief; though they listened to the entire album again; played and sang along with each of the songs; and decided that for the most part, they loved what the two bands – and their special guests – had done with their songs. The Weird Sisters had contributed one new song and some back-up help on other songs; and Wendy and Wanda sang the lead duet for another – one that Al and Gwendolyn had written; and just happened to be one of the songs in their musical too.

After the music play time, they spent the rest of the evening cuddling, snogging, and not really watching the mirror network until they needed to be back in their Houses. Al walked Gwendolyn home; headed for his own common room; and walked into a musical ambush. He only stopped next to the portrait hole for a moment when he heard the song start up, but it was loud; had gotten the attention of nearly everyone in the room; and it was too late to duck out into the hallway – even if he could do that without being out past curfew for a few minutes. There was a roar of laughter when the majority of teens and tweens figured out what was going on; and Al hadn't needed to see james to know he'd been behind it.

"Come on over, Al," James called out exuberantly. "We'd like to see you show off some of these animals for us!"

Al only needed to change direction a bit to do that; and decided he'd be better off trying to get it over with sooner instead of later; since James wouldn't let it go until he'd gotten his full measure of fun out of trying to mess with him over yet another parody song about his Animorphmagus.

"Why don't you leave him alone," Lacey told James from where she was sitting at the furthest corner of the table from him with a couple of her friends. "I've heard he's been razzed about that song all day."

"I'm hoping he'll get razzed about it all weekend – and every Christmas holidays season for the rest of his life," he retorted. "Come on, Al – turn yourself into a turkey; we'll cut your head off; and serve you for dinner tomorrow night!"

"James – that's awful!" Lacey told him; standing up and glaring at him.

"I'm just having some fun with him. I didn't hear you sticking up for me with that Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie song. I'm planning on buying copies and sending them to everyone the Animorphloser knows so he won't be able to go anywhere without being laughed at or razzed about it." He frowned when Lacey suddenly burst out laughing – a flip that baffled him.

"Go ahead – do it!" she said enthusiastically. "I'll hope that I can be there when you find out that the joke for doing that would be on you!"

"What nonsense are you spouting off about now?" James demanded; and Lacey laughed again.

"Should I wait until he's bought all of those albums, Al?" she asked; and he couldn't resist grinning too.

"Probably, but he'll be mad-enough either way; so it's up to you."

"What?" James demanded; and Lacey laughed again while returning her attention to him.

"I'm really glad that you think the song is so brilliant," she began. "I thought so too – which was why I looked to see who wrote it." She laughed again when she saw the light of sudden comprehension come on in his eyes. "That's right, James – Al and Gwendolyn wrote it; so I expect they'll get paid a bit for every single album you buy. Better yet, they wrote most of those songs on the entire album; so I expect they've done very well for themselves just with the sales in town. Aren't you proud of your little brother – and glad that you've helped to support him like that?"

"Son of a B-Witch!"

"That's a rather nasty thing to say about your Mum," Lacey chided; but had to fit that in around the laughs that she'd joined in for while Al decided that he might need to add Lacey to the list of Witches that he loved a lot.

"Get lost, loser – before I do something I won't regret," James spat angrily.

"Going now," Al agreed. "Have a good night, everyone."

He left and walked over to where Rose was waving him into the seat next to her; and everyone at that table was grinning at him; since nearly-everyone had heard most of that conversation. Rose hugged him as soon as he sat down; and Lily leaned in from where she sat with Denise and Kathrn on either side of her.

"I'll guess you're having fun now," Lily teased with a wicked grin. "I'm going to leave a bedtime treat for Lacey on her bed tonight. That was brilliant!"

"I'd have waited until after he'd spent all that money instead," Kathryn joked; and then laughed. "Maybe that's exactly what I'll do if Ollie tries to do the same thing!"

"He likely won't," Lily disagreed; "but it will be fun for you if he spend the next month or so making fun of it and then you get to be the one to give him the bad news about who the geniuses are behind the song."

"That would be good too," Kathryn agreed. "Knowing Ollie; he's likely coming up with new verses for the song."

"Actually – he can't yet," Al advised her; and Kathryn looked confused. "The album only came out here in Hogsmeade today. I don't know when it'll be on sale everywhere else – probably next weekend for the usual start to the Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley. We just don't start that as early as they do in the Muggle world."

"We should go up to our room," Lily suggested; and the wicked grin was back. "Ollie would really, really love to hear that song ahead of everyone else outside of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade; don't you think?"

"He really would," Kathryn agreed enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"

With that, there were several fewer girls at the table; and Al was able to talk with Rose and the rest of their friends for a little while – until he was ready to head up to his dorm room too. By then, the snogging had resumed among the usual couples; so Al was glad to get out of there – even if the change in mood toward him had been fairly dramatic as word spread that he and Gwendolyn had been behind the new Christmas hit that poked fun at his Animorphmagus.. He didn't go straight off to sleep, but instead did more work on his special project; and took another small step forward toward getting it finished by the time he was ready to crash and nap until morning.

"Have you scared off whomever was usurping our special place?" Lysandra asked as she caught up with Scorpius and he held the door open for her – the one leading to the room he'd just demanded of the Room of Requirements.

"I haven't tried to track him – or her – down yet," Scorpius admitted. "We've been a bit busy this week."

"We have," she agreed – "and we're long overdue for a bit of me and you time. I only wish we could do this more often – and be open about how we feel about each other."

"I think about that a lot too – and was wondering if you'd consider staying here at Hogwarts with me over the holidays."

"You're not going home again this year?" she asked in surprise; and he shook his head.

"No. I was better off here - though this time; I expect that Licentia won't be happy to find out that I won't be available to practice with the team – if she's even planning on doing that this year. I made more progress with my training over the Christmas holidays last year without all of the deadweight anyway."

"By yourself?" she asked. "My brother plays worse if he doesn't have anyone to train with."

Scorpius grinned at her. "Try not to be shocked; but I trained with James Potter."

"You're messing with me – you're not!" she stated; and then laughed. "We thought you'd lost your mind to stay behind last year – now I know you truly did!"

"I hadn't – and haven't," he disagreed. "The guys would blast me if they found out, but I've really hated losing despite knowing that I can be a great Quidditch player, so when the opportunity came up; I took advantage of it – and followed what turned out to be some pretty good advice."

"Someone told you to train with James Potter? Not in our families."

"No – someone told me that if I want to get better at Quidditch; find someone who is good-enough to teach me how to get there."

"I'd have said that you'd picked the wrong Wizard for that; but he proved to be much better than he's shown in the past in his last match." She shook her head. "I still think you've lost your mind."

"Would you still think so if I told you that he likely hates his family as much as we do?" he asked; and smiled when that comment earned her full attention.

"We know he hates the Animorphloser, and stayed here so he didn't have to be at home with him; but what makes you say that?"

"He told me – fairly graphically," he explained. "The loser's messed up his life pretty much since birth, but he really hates his parents too. You've heard about Victoire Weasel marrying Teddy Lupin and moving into my Black family ancestors' townhome in London, right?"

"Of course," she agreed. "My parents think that it should have gone to my family – in trust for my great-uncle; should he ever get out of Azkaban. They hope they're very happy in that house of horrors."

"Did you know that James' parents gave it to them – and apparently fixed it up to be a showplace home? I'm guessing at that last part; but James was furious about it; so it must be very nice now – or he wouldn't care."

"Your cousin left Grimmauld Place to Harry Potter?" she exclaimed. "I think my family believed that he left it to Andromeda just to spite her sisters – or to her daughter; whatever her name was before we killed her."

"James had no reason to lie about this," Scorpius assured her. "He kept making up jokes about what his parents would give away for Christmas this year – last year; assuming they weren't broke after setting his precious God-son and his new wife up for life."

"Now that sounds stupid," Lysandra said scornfully. "She was a star Quidditch player for the Harpies, and while he won't get rich at the Ministry of Magic; Aurors are among the best-paid of the lot of those losers. If Grimmauld Place is fixed up, though, that's a big deal."

"It is," Scorpius agreed; "though my point was more about the fact that James hates his family – with the possible exception of his little sister. He only seems to hate her for siding with the Animorphloser over him most or all of the time."

"You thihnk he might be someone we – our families – could use one day over our enemies."

"If he continues to hate them; he'd likely join in and kill them himself," Scorpius declared; and looked quizzically at her when Lysandra laughed.

"If he doesn't know yet; he's got one new reason for hating the Animorphpotty today. Did you get a copy of that new Weird Kids and Graves Robbers Christmas album?"

"No. I figured that I'd hear it enough around here without spending the money on it."

"I bought a copy because some of the songs in our musical are on it. I'll ask tomorrow; but it's obvious in hindsight that Wendy and Wanda – Wintringham – got the songs for their musical from the album – and they sing the lead for one of the songs on it too."

"Okay, but how do you get from there to James being mad at his family over it?"

Lysandra grinned at him. "Because the Animorphpotty and the potty-trainer wrote most of those songs – including that parody about Animorphmagus that everyone's having so much fun with!"

"You're messing with me – you're not!" he mimicked; earning a laugh from Lysandra. "Why don't you hate that too? You'll be stuck singing some of those songs in that musical."

"That's why I took the time to look at the fine print," she admitted; but was still smiling. "I can hat that all I want, but the musical is going to be amazing; so I'm just going to ignore the fact that I hate finding out about one more thing that the royal couple is good at doing. I'm only surprised that they didn't just put out that album themselves – and audition for the musical too."

"I'm glad they didn't – or you'd have likely skipped the audition if you'd seen them there."

"I likely would have," she agreed. "Until we saw the script for the first time; I was worried that they'd have written in a part especially for the Animorphloser."

"That song isn't in the show?" he asked; and Lysandra smiled at him.

"We're sworn to secrecy," she reminded him. "I'm probably on the borderline of that just by talking about the songs being from that album."

"You can trust me," he assured her.

"I know, but while we weren't told what would happen; we were told that it would be something gross and embarrassing if we break our vows of confidentiality; so there was likely a spell built into the parchment we all signed before getting the scripts and music."

"Drama queens – and kings," Scorpius joked. "Before we go on any longer with this, though; how long do we have before you'll be missed? I don't want to waste any more time talking about the Animorphloser if it means less time for us to have an early birthday party for two." He held out the gift he had in hand by then to her; and she laughed in delight – and then hugged and kissed him first before taking it from him.

"How did you find out that it was my birthday tomorrow?"

"You have had a few birthdays here since we started at Hogwarts he reminded her. "I was going to try to do something with you tomorrow, but now that you have those rehearsals; I didn't want to take the chance that we can't get together – especially when your friends are sure to have a party; and we'll need to study too after taking today off from the work."

"I think this is a brilliant surprise," she assured him. A few moments later, she was hugging and kissing him again. "I love this!" she assured him. "Did you find it in town today?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No – I picked it up during the summer. I'm glad that you like it; though I suppose you'll have to be careful wearing it."

"Maybe I'll just tell everyone I got it from a secret admirer," she suggested with a bright, warm smile. "I'll have to wait until tomorrow to wear it; but I definitely will – including for a little while right now! Help me put it on; and then I think I'll snog you senseless for the fun part of this little birthday party for two!"

James fumed impotently as he lay awake in bed – yet again; and wished that he could find a way to destroy his loser brother sooner instead of the later he kept promising himself.

It was all so stupid!

He'd been having a brilliant day that had kept getting better from the time he first heard about the Animorphmagus Christmas song on the new album from the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers. Everyone had been having fun with it! Everyone had found his jokes about it hilarious! And then that B-Witch, Lacey Finnegan, had gone and ruined it for him – while making him look the fool in front of everyone!

A series of appropriate punishments scrolled across his mind, but while those thoughts were entertaining – and a few of them were hot; he discarded the idea of a revenge attack on Lacey. She'd know it was him; and wouldn't hesitate to blast him in return – assuming the Animorphloser didn't just ride to her rescue before she could get so much as a hurt feeling.

What quite possibly infuriated him most was having to admit that he'd truly thought that the song was brilliantly funny – still thought so; if he wanted to be honest about it. Now maybe the Potty-trainer had written most of it, but he didn't really believe that; and it didn't matter anyway – they'd been behind it; and he needed to hate them for it! Once again, the loser was messing up his life. He'd lost out on the chance for some after-curfew fun with Patricia to set up that ambush for when the loser got back to their House from his bedtime walk with his Potty-trainer; it had worked brilliantly; and then it had all fallen apart; thanks to the loser – and Lacey Finnegan.

Sure, Patricia had tried to fawn all over him, but it was too late to leave their House by then; he was soon sick and tired of the behind-the-back snickers and in-your-face razzing; and couldn't get in the mood for much of a snogging session with her. He hated that, since he was basically always in the mood for that kind of fun and hadn't had enough of it lately; but Rosinda had found Lacey's revelations as hilarious as the rest of his friends – though if Ollie were here; he'd have been just as angry about having a joke turned back on him as James was about what that B-Witch had done to him.

He could really use Ollie to talk to right now – to vent with; but that wasn't an option. It had been a while since he'd checked, but Ollie's parents had either taken his mirror away or made it so Ollie couldn't talk with him. He'd finally tried sendning an Owl Post; but didn't get anything in return yet; and Blizzard hadn't apparently been kept so that Ollie could send a letter back to him. There's no way that Ollie would have told his parents anything – unless they forced it out of him with Occlumancy or Veritaserum; so he didn't understand why they were being kept from even talking to each other. Sure, that could be part of Ollie's punishment for getting suspended, or maybe he was just mad at him again and it was Ollie's choice; but he didn't think that latter was the problem. Regardless, it had been months now without his best mate around; and he could have used the support once everyone turned on him.

All thanks to the Animorphloser!

Just when he started to believe that the worst was behind him; the loser again found a way to mess with him – and mess up his life. This time, it was with a stupid song, and the more he fumed about it; he decided that it wasn't even a very good song! Word would get out about what Lacey had done to him by morning, though; and he hated knowing that everyone in the school would have a good laugh about it – at his expense.

Stupid song! Stupid freaking Animorphpotty and his ugly hag of a Potty-trainer! Stupid B-Witch, Lacey Finnegan!

Sleep did not come for a long time; and that was yet one more thing for him to hate the lot of them for!

Taking the entire day off on Saturday had consequences – even for the best students in the school. For Al and Gwendolyn; it meant working pretty much all day on Sunday. Al had a good start to his morning, including his walk and talk with Rose before breakfast; and that meal had included some entertainment that he shouldn't have enjoyed as much as he did – particularly since he knew how mad James was over the news making the rounds that Lacey had made him look the fool for trying to give Al a hard time about a song that he and Gwendolyn had written.

He'd put that aside while studying during the first half of the morning, but it came back to haunt him during the make-up Quidditch practice because James let his anger get in the way of his game; and Brandon probably even surprised himself by winning a second snitch catch of the year over James – and he had the bonus this time of also giving his reserve squad the scrimmage win! Al had actually been happy about that; since it was good for those players to know that they were talented-enough to get wins now and then while also reminding his team that they were beatable. James hadn't seen it that way, though; he'd sent a fair bit of viperous hate Al's way; and then stormed off without waiting for anyone else to make the trek back to the castle with him.

That had been a fairly-awful blip in his day, but after taking the lunch break; it was back to studying again for the rest of the afternoon – though that was only for some of their study mates/ or only for parts of the afternoon. Gwendolyn had a bonus team practice because they were down to a week to get ready for their match against the defending senior team champions; so she missed half of that study time. Mackenzie had his rehearsal for the musical all afternoon; and Ray studied with Cyndia and a joint group with some other friends in the Gryffindor common room – the compromise they seemed to be working out between them so that she could still spend time with her friends and favorite study buddies while he still had other opportunities to study with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose when he needed the extra help from them.

Thanks to the Quidditch and other issues, the studying needed to continue into the evening, but Al and Gwendolyn only had Rose with them for that work; and they still had Lily, Jonah, and Hugo join them for the evening so that they could have the family time and mirror chats with the parents even while getting the last bits of work finished. The three younger kids ended up working on Lily's game too; though parts of that 'work' were in the portable pool as they tested out their game and then had Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose help them out with some fine-tuning of the game. By the end of the night, they nearly had it perfected; and made plans to make sets of them up to give as Christmas gifts – including the sets they wanted to give to George and Ron as a sales pitch for selling it to them – though they planned on letting their mothers handle that negotiation for them; since they'd done fairly well with everything else they'd done so far!

Al didn't end up doing the visit to the Owlery – Lily offered to go early and take care of that – and take care of Winter and Blizzard; so that Al and Gwendolyn could have a bit of extra time together without the siblings and cousins; and Jonah, Rose, and Hugo all opted to go along instead of just returning to their Houses a half hour and change ahead of curfew. That didn't leave them a lot of time for a major snogging session, but they did have as much fun as they could with the limited opportunity; and then Al walked Gwendolyn home before heading on to his own House and dorm room. While he'd been tempted to go to sleep as soon as he was ready for bed, he instead did some work starting in on the first steps for making the next sets of Lily's game; and he did more work on his special project. He was tired by the time he crashed into sleep, but the countdown was on with just four weeks to the Christmas holidays; and he would find a way to keep up with all of his responsibilities – including the self-imposed goal of making what he thought was going to be a hit Christmas gift for some of his favorite people!

While there were less than four weeks to go to the holiday break from school, on Monday; it was the countdown to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match that everyone was most-interested in. The Hufflepuff players were hoping to keep up with Gryffindor and earn a second victory for their House; and Ravenclaw wanted to keep that from happening – and possibly move up as high as second in the Quidditch Cup race. That Quidditch reality was something that Al had liked; since it meant he had another reason for cheering for Ravenclaw; and the opposite had been true for some matches last year. He expected that James would hate that – especially right after the too-public revelation that Al and Gwendolyn had co-written his favorite new song. Quidditch did push his latest newsworthy gossip off the front page, though, and while the players in each House didn't offer much fodder to chat about beyond good-natured banter; there was the usual flurry of teen drama stories.

Al didn't escape the spotlight as everyone got back to their classes and daily revision, since he stopped trying to count the number of times his fellow students would sing the Animorphmagus Christmas song around him; and making up new lyrics was very popular too – just as it still was for the original song. That gave him an extra incentive to stay out of the way and study hard whenever he could, though; and they had lots of opportunities to do that – especially when Gwendolyn was busy with double practices on Monday and Wednesday. Ryan had traded his junior team pitch time to Pauline for extra time on Friday; and he did the same thing that Fred had done with alternate workouts instead. The extra work for Gwendolyn meant that she neede to work harder on her studies in the evenings or in her House after curfew, but Al helped her out again as much as possible; the study app helped a lot too; and she also did more work at other times when she'd normally take breaks – like at meals; when she could catch up on her reading while eating instead of chatting with her friends.

There weren't any extra activities for Al all week; but the monthly Slug Club meeting was on Friday evening – a choice that Slughorn likely should have made differently in hindsight. All of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff members of the club sent their regrets because of the match on Saturday; so the Professor wasn't going to have most of 'his' students from either of those Houses. Al was happy with Gwendolyn's decision on that; since it meant that he got to spend some of that time with her instead – though they used that time to work on her weekend revision; and she had to be back in her House in time for the game-night curfew that Pauline had, as usual, set at an hour ahead of normal curfew. While it had been all work without a lot of play for Al and Gwendolyn – and most Hogwarts students; there was a lot of fun going on outside of the school – particularly on Friday.

Christmas came late to the stores in the Wizarding World compared to some Muggle countries that seemed to change straight from Halloween to Christmas on November first, but it arrived with quite a bit of fanfare to Diagon Alley on Friday. Al and Gwendolyn were out of the loop for that for obvious reasons, but if they hadn't been so busy with their own lives; they might have paid more attention to what was going on with that – particularly since it was sure to have a big impact on their Gringotts accounts! Al had been sure that studying with Gwendolyn would be the highlight of his Friday; but it turned out he was wrong about that when his mother called him when they were about an hour into their evening study session – a rare event; since she didn't initiate many calls with any of her kids. Al had his mirror out because he'd been using the study app; so he answered her call on the first ring.

"Hi, Mum," he answered. "This is a nice surprise."

"Probably a better one than you might be thinking," she said with a bright smile. "Have you watched any mirror network shows or news reports today?"

Al shook his head. "No – we've been a bit busy. I haven't even been on the Wireless Web today."

Ginny laughed happily. "Good, then I get to be the one to tell you that the two of you – and Rose – are the biggest unknown hits of the Christmas season already after just one day!"

"The Animorphmagus Christmas toys came out today?" Gwendolyn asked; and Ginny nodded and laughed again.

"The toys, the new Christmas album you wrote all of those songs for; and RevisionWizard – in a limited Hogwarts-only version. That's what the companies that are collectively making it decided to call your study app. They finished a version for each year at Hogwarts; and have the special quills and inks to go with them – though they've limited stock of them too. From what Hermione and I have been told; they had people working night and day to get about five hundred 'starter sets' ready for Christmas sales. They might be able to make enough for every student by year's-end; but since it's apparently getting a lot of attention and decent sales already today; they expect that they'll need them."

"That's brilliant!" Gwendolyn said enthusiastically.

"No – that's really great," Ginny disagreed. "The toys are brilliant – and they're flying off the shelves. Some stores didn't order enough and sold out – and we're not just talking about Diagon Alley. They're going to be the Christmas gift for kids this year. As for the Christmas album, your Dad's told us that sales might break a first-day record in the Wizarding World. I hadn't thought of it; but it's apparently been a long time since a Christmas album has come out with a lot of new, original songs instead of just using remakes of the usual favorites. Thanks to adding in the Weird Sisters for a song and the other collaborations; it seems that everyone wants a copy."

"I'd suggest that Al, Rose, and I will be able to do a bit more this year with our Christmas gifts; but we won't likely see any of the money from the Christmas sales in our accounts until sometime next year."

"Probably not," Ginny agreed, "but if you do want to do something special; I'm sure that your Mum and Dad would spot you the loan – you'd be good for it."

"Gwendolyn can do that," Al offered with a grin; "but Rose would blast me if I don't save up as much as I can to help her buy the Cannons – and she'll likely want that to be a done deal by around this time for Christmas in three years."

"The families that own the Cannons haven't changed much in centuries," Ginny advised them. "Getting them to sell might be impossible – no matter how much Rose wants that to happen. Far be it for me to try to stop the two – or three – of you from trying, though; so save away!"

"If it doesn't work out for them; they'll at least be all set to take care of us in our old age," Harry called out; and Ginny laughed while turning her mirror so that Al and Gwendolyn could see him where he was sitting at his desk.

"According to James; we'll need the help," Ginny joked; "but I'd be okay with it if our kids were all able to get a good start to their lives outside of Hogwarts as they graduate. Speaking of your brother; would it be too scary to ask how he's doing? He doesn't write; and rarely answers my mirror chat requests."

"He did call you the weekend he won the Quidditch match," Harry reminded her. "I'd have thought that Gryffindor would have needed to forfeit with just one player in the game; but I am happy that he won his Seeker duel."

"The rest of us just flew around and waited for him to catch the snitch," Al deadpanned. "James is mad at us again right now after finding out that we'd written his favorite new Christmas song; but he's mostly been playing nice – or at least we haven't had any problems with ambushes or any seriously-nasty pranks."

"Al thinks that he's decided to play nice at least for this year because of his OWLs and to get a better record at Quidditch. All bets may be off next year – especially if he only has a few classes that he can keep taking into sixth-year."

"So we probably shouldn't expect him to come home for Christmas this year," Ginny said a bit sadly and with a soft sigh. "If he's really mad at you right now; he'll sign up to stay again."

"Do you want me to talk to him – offer to stay instead?" Al asked unenthusiastically; and smiled when Gwendolyn frowned and Ginny shook her head.

"Your father and I talked about that; and don't want you to do it. James would just resent the offer; and we don't think that you should mess up your Christmas by making any sacrifices. I – we – miss James, but he'll either come around and rejoin our family or he won't; and none of us need to keep changing up our lives just to try and make him happy."

"He needs to find that in himself first," Gwendolyn suggested. "Thanks for deciding that; since I'd have really missed being at home this Christmas if I'd needed to be here with Al instead."

"That might have been a consideration," Ginny advised her with a smile – "not that we were all that worried about the two of you being there for two weeks with only minimal adult supervision."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Maybe we should sign up to stay," she teased.

"We'll have more fun at home," Al assured her – "though I'm a bit too tempted to start a rumor that we'll be staying just to see what James would do if we did that."

"Don't go there," Ginny warned. "We might be done with going out of our way to placate James; but that doesn't mean it's okay to try and goad him into hating you even more than he professes that he does already."

"Then I guess that I shouldn't ask you to send me one of those fifth-year RevisionWizard starter sets to give James before we head home either," Al pretended to lament. He knows we made them for Lily and then for our study group; so he'll hate that even as he'll want one so his work will be easier for the rest of the year."

"You won't be doing that; but we're going to send one to him for an early Christmas gift so that he'll be able to use it and get used to it over the holidays."

"Okay," Al agreed; "but send it on Saturday so we're already gone when it arrives. The train ride would be rotten if he blasts me; and I'd hate for him to spend the holidays in detention."

"Good idea," Ginny approved. "You've likely got loads of revision this weekend, though; so I'd better let you get back to it. Good luck in your big match tomorrow, Gwendolyn. We love both of you very much."

"Thanks," Gwendolyn said with a smile before she and Al chorused – "we love you too."

With that bit of fun out of the way, they did get back to work; though they talked about the news for a while too. That mirror chat had improved their moods too; so the studying went along better than it had to that point; and they wrapped up in time for a minor bit of snogging before Al walked Gwendolyn to her House and then went on to go for a walk; visit the Owlery; and then meet up with Rose and Lily for a visit in their common room once they were back there – after a play evening with Jonah and some ofther friends for Lily; and the Slug Club meeting for Rose. That meeting had ended a bit early due to the lower participation and because even Slughorn wanted to be well-rested for the Quidditch match on Saturday. The visit in the common room lasted until a half-hour after curfew; and then Al headed for his dorm room; did a bit of work on a little tweak to Gwendolyn's good luck gift before moving on to his special project until he was ready to sleep; and still managed to be off to dreamland long-before Ray made it up to his bed after staying up late for some snogging fun with Cyndia.

"This is a nice surprise," Gwendolyn told Al as she walked toward him from the Ravenclaw tower entrance. "Did you lose Rose?"

"She slept in and told me to go on without her," Al answered as he held out a gift to her.

"Yes! Now I don't have to wait until after breakfast to find out what it is!" she said enthusiastically. It was small, so she took it first; and then hugged and kissed him. "Is this the first time Rose has slept in since we came here?"

"No, but it has only happened a few times. The Slug Club meeting ended early; but she apparently stayed up late talking with some of her roommates."

They'd started walking by then; and she began to unwrap her gift. He smiled and she laughed when she pulled out one of his undetectable expansion bags – the one he usually used for his mirror and sofas. He'd needed to put a bit of effort into getting it into the little box; and she'd needed to shake it back out to normal size before opening it. She laughed again after peering into the bag; but stopped Al for another long hug and kiss before reaching in and pulling her gift out.

"You've finished another set of..." she paused and then laughed again before adding – "...the AquaQuidditch game? Did you come up with that name?"

"I suggested it; but Lily had final approval. "We talked about it last night; and I got the idea from the name they've given our study app."

"It's as brilliant for this as RevisionWizard is for our study app," she assured him. "Thank-you, Al – I love it!"

"You're welcome," he assured her after they shared another hug and kiss. "Are you ready for the big match?"

"I am," she assured him. "Pauline's a bit stressed this morning, but win or lose; I'm as ready as I can be. I'm also going to try to be more like you today; go out there and have fun; and hope that we'll get the win too."

"I hope so too," he assured her; and Gwendolyn pretended to frown.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me we'll win for sure? What good is all of that Divination if you can't even predict the outcome of a Quidditch match a few hours ahead of time?"

Al laughed. "Because I'm either not that good at it; or there are too many possible outcomes to make a proper prediction."

"Win or lose seems simple-enough to me," Gwendolyn teased.

"Sure – until you add in every little win and loss that goes into a match," Al agreed. "I suppose that I might know a bit ahead of time in a match with one of those snitch catches that happen in seconds. In normal matches; it might be impossible to Divine all of those little wins and losses through to the final outcome."

"That does make sense – though I was only teasing you," Gwendolyn said with a smile. "I know that you don't even tell me about everything you're able to 'see' about the future. I'm glad that you can't know everything before-hand. How boring would that be if there were never any surprises?"

They had fun with their little walk and talk; though they didn't take the long way to the Great Hall while doing that. Al sat with Gwendolyn until most of her fellow fourth-years arrived; and then he moved on to sit with Rose while having that meal. He didn't get to have any alone time with Gwendolyn after breakfast; because they ended up walking to the stadium with the other members of her team and a few other friends. They got teased about the good luck hug and kiss; Pauline pretended to drag her 'star' Chaser away and into the locker room so she wouldn't be left befuddled or confunded right before their match; and then Al ended up going and helping Hagrid with some of his morning chores caring for his animals instead of going for a walk by the lake or doing something else instead. He'd still never be a friend to Hagrid the way his parents were, but he did like the half-giant; and enjoyed learning the down-to-earth lessons that Hagrid shared with anyone willing to take the time to learn from him – though his ways of doing that could often be a bit rambling in nature.

When it was near-time to head for the stadium, Al went on ahead of Hagrid; met up with Rose, Lily, and most of their usual group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends in the section of the stands that they'd already staked out; and sat down between his sister and cousin as they made room for him there. Jonah had the aisle seat this time so he was reasonably close to the rest of his junior team players; so that put Al third-in for their row. Olivia and Lucy had joined them already too; but it was a while longer before they had all of the senior team and reserve squad players with them – with James arriving with his little entourage just before Teresa and Kylie began their pregame show.

"It's Quidditch time again!" Teresa called out happily. "Winter's definitely on the way with this chill in the air, and we might even get a few snowflakes landing on us before the day's done; so we may all be glad that this is the last match of the season – until after the Christmas holidays that are now just a day short of three weeks away!"

"That's right, Teresa," Kylie interjected smoothly, "but before we get to the review and update of our season so far; let's give a shout out to our pre-game sponsor – the Hogwarts' Drama Club!"

"Yes, let's do that," Teresa agreed. "Two weeks from tonight, our Drama Club will be presenting the Wizarding world premiere of an all-original Christmas Musical – Home for Christmas!"

"Don't forget about the Christmas feast we'll get to enjoy ahead of the holiday entertainment," Kylie added. "The boys will be much easier to keep under control after they've been fed first."

"To the extent that's possible for any Wizard," Teresa offered. "This Christmas extravaganza is going to be the social event of the holidays here at Hogwarts, though; so everyone will want to be there to catch every minute of the action!"

"And we're not just saying that because we're being paid to do so with an assortment of Christmas sweets and guaranteed front row seats!" Kylie joked; and smiled when Teresa turned to stare at her.

"You got sweets and front row seats? I so need to renegotiate my deal with the Drama Club!"

"I love what they're doing with working together," Lily said as the two teens moved on to give them the Quidditch update that all of the players and most-avid fans had memorized anyway.

"I'm sure that even the Slytherins are enjoying their announcing," Rose suggested. "Maybe they're planning on a career in announcing as a team."

"If they are; Lee had best watch out," Al suggested. "They could end up putting him out of a job."

"He might not mind that – since he's got about six of them on the go most of the time," Lily only half-joked.

"The only problem they'd have with that plan is the two years Teresa would have to wait for Kylie to finish at Hogwarts," Al offered; and then grinned at Lily. "Sort of like Gwendolyn will have to wait two years for you to join her on the Harpies."

"Don't do it, Rose," Lily warned when she saw her cousin grin at Al's comment. "Gwendolyn will do just fine with Victoire and Aunt Gabrielle while waiting for me to graduate – and so would you if you'd join the Harpies too and save yourself all of the pain and anguish that would go along with playing for the Cannons."

"It just doesn't seem fair that you're allowed to insult my team and dreams as often as you choose; but get mad if I even hint at how great it would be for certain Witches and Wizards to play on my Cannons team with Al and me."

"That's because it isn't fair," Lily explained. "Get used to it; since that isn't going to change anytime soon."

"Now, let's get this show started!" Kylie suggested once Teresa had finished the last bit of their season recap. "Today, we are going to give the alphabetically-challenged House the chance to be introduced first; so let's hear it for Ravenclaw!" She paused while Pauline and Peter led the way for their team and they soared high above the pitch for their lap around the stadium. "Captain and Seeker Pauline Boot leads the way with her twin and team Keeper, Peter Boot at her side. While they were runner-up Seeker and Keeper respectively last season; Pauline and Peter have been two of the best players in the school every year; and helped their House to win the Quidditch Cup last year – for the second year in a row!" She waited for the round of cheers and jeers; and then continued. "In the second row, we have Ravenclaw's Chaser trio. Lee Cornfoot seems happy to be in the middle of the pack between fellow NEWT-year veteran, Miya Davies, and senior team rookie, Gwendolyn McCormack. The youngest member of the team will have a job of it taking over from Susan Cornfoot now that's she's gone on to play for the Appleby Arrows." She took a sip of water while the cheers for Susan were shouted out.

"Lee and Miya have had a lot of success during their years at Hogwarts, and while this is Gwendolyn's first season with the senior team; she had an exceptional record with the junior team – earning pretty much every award she was eligible for at least once; and only having one loss in her three seasons!" There were more jeers than cheers for that announcement; and Kylie laughed. "I'd say that's a vote of confidence when the majority of students in the other three Houses don't like you, Gwendolyn," she joked. "I'm out of time as they're ready to land, though; so bringing up the rear of their team is Ravenclaw's Beater duo – Brandon Graves and Seth Bradley! They've won their share of individual and team awards over the years too, but before you jeer them too; try to remember that they carry Beater bats and know how to use them!"

That comment earned laughs that ended the cheers and jeers; and then it was Teresa's turn to introduce Hufflepuff. She called them out into the stadium; paused for the first roar of cheers; and then began her individual player introductions.

"Our defending senior team champions is led out by Captain and Seeker Alex Jordan – and he is also defending top senior Seeker as well!" she declared enthusiastically – despite the fact that she was Ravenclaw. "He's flying with fellow NEWT-year player and Hufflepuff's senior Chaser, Francine Longbottom! Next up, we have Keeper, Myra Graves flanked by Francine's Chaser partners, Roman Smith and Jonah Finch-Fletchley! Myra and Jonah are returning members of last season's undefeated team; while Jonah is replacing Zack Smith this year after a one-year stint on the reserve squad that likely allowed him to rest up from his undefeated junior team season the year before that!" Another pause was needed for those cheers and jeers; and then she wrapped up her Hufflepuff introductions.

"Finally, Alex has his Beaters watching their team's backs too; and Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes are surely hoping that they can help their team to have another brilliant season! For the record; Hufflepuff is fielding a team with a very rare combination of undefeated returning seniors and junior players joining the team after having their own undefeated season – though that was two years ago for Jonah, Eldon, and Calvin!"

"And now; let's hear it for Mr. Peakes as he gets this match started!" Kylie suggested; earning a roar of approval that was more for getting the action going than for their school coach and referee.

"Do you think they did opposite Houses to be impartial?" Rose asked Al as Mr. Peakes did his usual pre-game speech for the two teams. For some reason, that took a bit longer than normal, but then he had Alex and Pauline shake hands; and then had the teams line up and get ready for take-off while he released the bludgers and snitch – and then waited for them to be set and ready for him to toss the quaffle.

"Probably," Al agreed. "It's a good idea – and earns them some fans in the other Houses for doing a good job with those introductions."

"I hadn't thought about the fact that all of the Hufflepuff players had undefeated seasons the last year they actually played," Lily advised them. "That was a fun little bit of Quidditch trivia."

"That was one statistic that was to the good for Hufflepuff," Rose pointed out. "They're defending senior team champions; but have a lot-fewer individual awards – and Ravenclaw is defending Quidditch Cup champions too."

"Which is why we'll need to beat both of them to get that Quidditch Cup back from them – and hopefully the junior and senior team titles too – though I wouldn't want to win one of them again and lose out on the big prize for a second year."

"I'd better not say anything I'll regret next June; but winning the junior Seeker title from you this year would be nice," Jonah told her with a grin. "I didn't like being third-best at all last year."

"You were second-best," Lily told him. "You just got messed up by the scoring for Seekers; so Madison nudged you out because they don't take it into account when we back off for good sportsmanship. Maybe if they did that; we'd all have more incentive to play nice."

"I doubt the Falcons would care if they tried that in the league," Rose told her.

"For your team; they ought to have a special Seeker award for most catches for losses," Lily suggested; and Rose rolled her eyes.

"It really isn't fair," she muttered. "Oh good – we've a game to watch!"

The quaffle was in the air by then; and Francine and Miya took off after it. Al and Gwendolyn had talked a lot about the match-ups that Pauline hoped to have for the day, but with the two senior players starting out paired up; Ravenclaw didn't get that at first; so Gwendolyn was paired against Jonah while Lee faced off against Roman. He knew that Pauline thought that Gwendolyn would do best against Francine and that Miya and Lee could win battles against Roman and Jonah respectively; but Francine and Alex must have decided that those match-ups would be bad for them – and the battle was on for which team could impose the game pairings that they wanted to have.

Francine won the race to the quaffle; kept it; and turned back toward her own goals so that she could have the extra time to set up the first offensive play. The three Hufflepuff Chasers did a great job setting up some misdirections that had Ravenclaw scrambling to defend; Francine eventually got the first shot on goal; and Peter made the first save. The Chaser battle was on after that, and while each team had some quick shots on goal; it took nearly twenty minutes to score the first goal; and Miya earned that thanks to a great pass from Gwendolyn and a well-timed bludger that Myra chose to dodge while guessing wrong on what Miya would do while following that bludger toward the goals. While that duel warmed up; Alex and Pauline resumed their annual rivalry with a friendly vengeance.

"Pauline's trying my game plan out on Alex," Lily said with a grin. "She hasn't seen the snitch even once yet; but is trying to run Alex all over the stadium so he's too busy to look for it at all."

"With the downside being that neither of them have much time for that," Rose countered; and Lily shook her head.

"Pauline has more time to do it because she knows what she's going to do next while Alex has to react to her all of the time."

"What would happen if he didn't?" Jonah asked. "Would she have to stop and pair up with him again?"

"Maybe," Lily agreed. "It'd be a big risk for both of them to just search for the snitch and get too far apart to defend a true chase for it."

"Alex won't let Pauline set the pace for long," Al predicted. "That strategy works best against Seekers with less experience. It'd never work in the show."

"So much for my big plans to win every match by tiring the other Seekers out," Lily faux-groused.

Al let the others continue the conversation after that while listening in and enjoying the show above the pitch. The shots on goal were close, but Ravenclaw earned a small advantage on the scoreboard as the first hour rolled along. Gwendolyn earned her first senior team goal to get the twenty-to-naught lead for her team; and one of two more for her team while Francine managed to score the only two goals for Hufflepuff. Francine also got the match-up she wanted against Miya instead of Gwendolyn, but while that allowed her to eventually gain a slight advantage over Miya as the match rolled on; pitting Roman Smith against Gwendolyn proved to be as big a miss-match as Al's pairing against Trace Davis had been in the first senior team game of the season.

That forty-to-twenty lead wasn't a big deal heading into the second hour, but the ratio continued to hold; and Ravenclaw scored six goals in the second hour to just three for Hufflepuff. In the third hour, Hufflepuff closed that imbalance by scoring four goals to another six from Ravenclaw; but the one-sixty to ninety lead was becoming a problem for Hufflepuff as they battled into the fourth hour. Gwendolyn began to impose her will on the game then; and Roman faltered under the pressure. She'd scored half of Ravenclaw's sixteen goals to that point, but she scored five of the next seven goals for Ravenclaw while Hufflepuff only managed three. The two-thirty to one-twenty lead at the end of that fourth hour really turned the tide of the match to Ravenclaw's favor as Alex needed to take more risks trying to catch the snitch; and the Hufflepuff Chasers tried to switch things up to adjust for Gwendolyn's decisive victory to that point over Roman.

Professor McGonagall had lunch served outside of the stadium, but Al didn't even consider leaving to go and eat. Some of their friends did offer to take the risk and make the food run for all of them; and that ended up being easy for the food – and a bit of a juggle for the hot drinks. Those teens didn't miss too much of the action, but while Francine managed to slow Gwendolyn down by taking her head on; Gwendolyn just changed tactics – while also keeping Francine from scoring any goals against her. Roman scored a goal while up against Miya, but she scored two; Gwendolyn helped distract Francine so that Miya could help Lee score two more; and then she still scored three against Francine – and on Myra Graves. Miya earned the first one-sixty lead for Ravenclaw mid-way through the fifth hour; and Pauline immediately backed off and gave Alex the opportunity to make the catch for the loss.

She had to jump back in for the Seeker duel when Jonah scored a goal to take the lead back to one-fifty; but Gwendolyn got that goal back again on the very next play. Alex didn't try to catch the snitch either while hoping that his Chasers could get that goal back again; but that didn't end up happening. Fatigue likely played a factor – as did the disappointment of falling behind by one-sixty twice in quick succession; but Pauline also won her Seeker duel with a decisive snitch catch that she cleanly and clearly won over Alex to end the match and give Ravenclaw a four-hundred and fifty to one-hundred and forty victory.

"Yeah Ravenclaw – we're still in first place!" Lily declared excitedly. "Congratulations to all of us!"

"Are you channeling your inner Al?" Rose teased; and Lily laughed.

"That did sound just a bit too much like him," she agreed with a grin for her brother. "I'm glad we're still in first place; but that three-ten difference also gives Ravenclaw the tie-break over Hufflepuff for second; doesn't it?"

"Yes," Al agreed. "Their junior team only won by twenty – thanks to Jonah."

"Thanks, but it's also at least partly my fault that we didn't win by ten or more too," jonah reminded him.

"Quit going on about that," Ryan told him bluntly. "Seekers are supposed to have short memories; and you need to be looking ahead to the next matches instead of back to the last one."

"Are you looking forward to our duel?" Lily asked winsomely; smiling brightly at Jonah and dazling him for a moment.

"Yes and no," he answered. "If I win, that'd be brilliant; but if you lose, I could end up with a Bat-Bogey affliction right after the match."

"Possibly," she agreed easily; "but don't let that keep you from trying your best. I'd blast you if you let me win too."

"And have everyone on your team help her do that," Ryan offered with a grin for Lily. "We need to go and congratulate our favorite senior players now, though; and then we've a party to get to after that – finally!"

Al had already been packing up his things by then; he led the way out to center pitch with the first group of family and friends to be ready when he was; and then it was time to help Gwendolyn celebrate her brilliant match and victory – and he really thought that she had earne that win; since everyone else had pretty much played to a draw up until Pauline finally won her duel over Alex. It was quite a bit colder than it had been for the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, though; so the post-game festivities didn't take as long because the spectators wanted to get indoors and warm again; and the players wanted to hit the showers before they switched from over-heated to frozen.

While Gwendolyn was in the locker room, Al offered his magical help to the stadium clean-up crew – and ended up taking care of about a tenth of the work by himself before meeting up with Gwendolyn for the walk back to the castle. She was again with her entire team, so they didn't get to have any alone time – and they again got razzed over their goodbye hug and kiss. Gwendolyn went off with Pauline when she was 'dragged away' for a second time in one day, and instead of going to hang out in the common room; Al opted to get his books and do some work in their study classroom. Rose eventually joined him; and they split the rest of the afternoon between revision and making up another complete set of AquaQuidditch. They worked through until a half-hour before dinner; went for an extended walk to stretch their legs; and then they were in the Great Hall early-enough to have a dozen cameo visits with friends and cousins while waiting for that meal to be served.

"To what do I owe this rare pleasure?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius laughed.

"It hasn't been that long since we spoke last," he advised his painted mentor. "I have a bit of time; and thought that you might like the latest Quidditch report – along with a few other tidbits that you'll find interesting."

"Maybe we should skip all of that and try and fit in a lesson; since you've been dodging them for weeks now."

Scorpius shook his head. "Sorry – I've got a study session to get to soon. Lysandra doesn't want to lose another full day after needing to take the night off last night for the Slug Club meeting – especially when she's got her rehearsal tomorrow afternoon."

"That's as much a waste of time as – oh never mind," Thomas said with a sigh. "You're teens; and I'll just hope that you outgrow this phase sooner instead of later."

"I'm beginning to regret coming here," Scorpius warned.

"And I'm wondering if you'd be more-interested in our true goals for the future if we could change that game and include bludgers to dodge and Witches to snog," Thomas retorted. Scorpius laughed.

"Actually, that might work," he assured Thomas. "Do you think we could do that? I'll wager the Ministry of Magic would be a much more entertaining place to work if they added both."

Thomas sighed in defeat. "Just give me the report and be done with it."

Scorpius did that; but the visit didn't end up being at all satisfying; Thomas hadn't found much of his news interesting at all; and he decided that it might be a while before he bothered to try and spend time with his mentor while he seemed to be incapable of having any fun anymore.

Fortunately for him – that wasn't the case with Lysandra; and if everything worked out for them; their Christmas holiday had the potential to be a best-ever for both of them!

Al and Gwendolyn met up after dinner and headed for their study classroom; but they weren't alone because Rose and Susannah had decided to join them for an optional study session. Everyone else had opted out, and while that wasn't a surprise for the couples; Susannah hadn't been happy when Mackenzie begged off because he wanted to study his lines and practice the music ahead of his rehearsal on Sunday afternoon. While some alone time would have been nice for them too, Gwendolyn didn't want to leave the rest of her work for Sunday, and while Rose had studied with Al in the afternoon; she still needed to play catch-up after taking Friday night off for the Slug Club meeting.

"Is there any chance that we can avoid talking about Quidditch or the Christmas musical tonight?" Susannah asked hopefully – though she looked sad too. "i think that I've hit my limit for both today."

"We can try," Gwendolyn offered – "though that's asking a lot of me; considering the fact that I grew up immersed in Quidditch and music."

Susannah laughed. "I don't know why I keep forgetting about the music side of your family – especially after all of the gossip going around when we all found out that you and Al had written a bunch of those new Christmas songs."

"Dad has to share the spotlight with his band mates; while Mum stood out on her team back in the day – at least when it came to her bad Witch reputation."

"Nicely done with not talking about Quidditch or music for so long," Rose teased. "We won't have the big news of a Christmas dance tomorrow morning, but the Christmas decorations have been going up today as normal; so maybe we could talk about Christmas wish lists."

"Dear Santa – Rose would like the Chudley Cannons for Christmas," Gwendolyn teased – "the franchise; not the players!"

"Not this Christmas," Rose disagreed. "I'd be stuck with the losses for the next three and a half seasons while we're still in school. Don't think that Susannah and I didn't notice that you went right back to Quidditch again."

Gwendolyn laughed. "The scary part there is that I wasn't thinking about that from the Quidditch perspective; but the business one. Do you have anything special that you want for christmas, Susannah?"

"Not really. I'm pretty easy-going about gifts. I had toys that I really wanted when I was little; but I guess that I'm boring now by comparison – though Mum thinks I'm hard to buy for when it comes to Christmas and birthdays."

"Then maybe you just need to come up with a wish list," Rose suggested. "Your Mum likely just wants some help to make sure she gets things that you'd really love to have most."

"You could have a lot of fun with that," Gwendolyn suggested. "Put a bunch of really outrageous things on the list; and see what happens."

"That might work in your family; but not in mine. We don't even do things like Christmas wheezes – at least at home. Michael uses them here or out with some of his friends; but Dad really doesn't have a sense of humor for things like that."

"He may have been scarred for life as a kid by our uncles," Rose suggested. "He wouldn't be the only one."

"Okay, so asking for wheezes might be a bad idea – or really get your parents going," Gwendolyn decided. "Your Mum's an Auror – is there anything we can think of along those lines?"

"Would she be amused if Susannah asked for Undesirable Number One?" Al only half-joked; and all three girls laughed.

"If that's currently Victor Avery; then no thanks," Susannah told him. "This is weird for me, though; and I wouldn't want to do even that much to prank my parents."

"What are you into outside of studying and being brilliant?" al asked; and this time he was being completely serious. "We really don't know what sorts of intersts you have. Maybe that would be a good place to start."

Susannah thought about that for a few long moments. "i don't really have a lot of hobbies that aren't about learning everything I can about everything. I read a lot; i go for lots of hikes when I'm home; and I guess I do a bit of volunteer work at home too."

"Doing what?" Rose asked.

"I help some old Witches and Wizards that Mum and Dad know who can't do everything on their own anymore. Some of them are relatives; while a few others lost their families in the war; and Mum got involved with them because of what happened to her aunt – just as she joined the Aurors because of her."

"That's an awesome thing to do," Rose said enthusiastically. "Maybe you could ask for things that would help you with that work – or maybe with help paying for fun outings you could do with them."

"That's an idea," Susannah agreed thoughtfully. "That might be more fun with some kids we help with too; but that's a bit different; since the kids change as the ones we help don't need us once their families are in better shape; and new families pop up wanting or needing the help instead."

"I didn't know your Mum and Dad were so involved in different charities. Mum did a lot of that sort of thing when she was younger; but had to give a lot of that up as her jobs at the Ministry got tougher."

"She helps everyone with her work at the Ministry," Susannah reminded her. "My parents think your Mum is brilliant."

"Before you give Susannah a year's worth of volunteer time, Al; try to remember that we're rather busy this year too," Gwendolyn teased.

"Actually, I was thinking about what Susannah had said about reading; and thought that she'd love a Muggle tablet and e-books like you have."

"We don't have Muggle electricity at home," she advised them. "I've some Hufflepuff friends that have showed me their Muggle games, smartphones, and other things like laptop computers; but I'd have no way of using them once the batteries died."

"We could teach you a spell for charging the batteries," Gwendolyn advised her. It takes a bit of practice to get that right; but it's easy once you've figured that out."

"And we could help you out with getting Muggle books," Rose added. "All we'd need to know is what you want to read."

"I haven't met a book that I didn't like," Susannah declared; and then laughed. "Okay, i don't like the rubbish that writers like Rita Skeeter puts out, but even the Quibbler can be very entertaining."

"I'll tell Aunt Luna you said so if I see her at Christmas; and she can pass that along to her father," Al offered. "I agree with you; but most Witches and Wizards don't."

That topic shuffle sent their chat off in new directions, but they also got more-serious about their studies; and worked until an hour before curfew when Rose called an end to the studying; she and Susannah left Al and Gwendolyn on their own; and the last couple standing were soon snuggled on a sofa instead – and spent the rest of their available time snogging each other senseless! Al walked Gwendolyn home; and then went on to his dorm room with just a short visit with Lily on his way up to bed. He did a bit more work on his special project, but had needed to put that aside when he conceded that he was too tired to do that without potentially making mistakes; and ended up falling asleep before half of his roommates even returned from the common room.

Here he was again – another Saturday night; another too-early bedtime – though it was two hours past curfew; and he'd been an hour late getting back to Gryffindor tower after spending the evening having fun with Patricia. She'd been happy about that, but he'd only accepted her offer to go and play with him because Bristol had blown him off because she'd once again wanted to practice for the stupid musical instead of having fun with him. That had bugged him, but he was furious now because not only had Bristol blown him off; she was still out of their House – and with Mackenzie Graves!

The fact that she was obviously getting cozy with another Wizard didn't bother him in the least – it didn't! He was only angry because she'd let that get in the way of what he wanted and needed! Right now, what he needed most was variety. Patricia would never be enough for him – and he doubted that any one Witch ever could be. Bristol had agreed to hook up with him tonight, and as far as he was concerned; that should've been the end of it – and been a brilliant night of extreme fun for both of them. It was ridiculous that she'd pick spending any time with Mackenzie Graves – or any other Wizard – over him!

Then, suddenly, he had a brilliant idea! An awful, wonderful, brilliant idea! A Grinchy laugh echoed silently in his mind.

"Max – bring me my cloak!" he crowed just as silently; channeling his best imitation from the Muggle movie he'd loved to watch as a little kid.

He'd need to wait until sometime tomorrow morning, but he was going to make sure that Mackenzie Graves was paid back with interest for daring to mess up his life – and if he was careful about it; nobody would even be able to suspect that he had anything to do with the ambush that he'd drop squarely on the stupid git's ugly, fat head!


	40. This Will Be Our Perfect Christmas - P1

**Chapter Forty – This Will Be Our Perfect Christmas – Part One**

School Quidditch was done until the New Year – at least for matches. Everyone knew that there wouldn't be any special announcements to kick off the Christmas season this year; and Al was expecting to have a busy study day because some of his academically-challenged friends were going to want to get serious about finishing projects that were due in before the Christmas holidays. He had his make-up Quidditch practice too; so he had his gear with him for that along with his book bag when he went to the common room to meet up with Rose; and was surprised when she was waiting for him. they shared a hug and the usual greetings; but then she hurried him out of their House and down the hallway quite a distance before telling him what was obviously bothering her.

"Bristol didn't get back to our dorm room until hours-past curfew last night," she advised him – "and she hadn't been out with James."

Al had sensed that bad news was coming; and his heart sank as he understood where she was going with this before telling him the rest. "She was out past curfew with Mackenzie?" That was really a statement instead of a question; and she nodded.

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure that she wasn't humming so happily as she got ready for bed because they'd stayed out late practicing with the rest of the teens in the show."

"Merlin!" Al breathed; and then sighed. "What should we do? I sure don't want to be the one to tell Susannah, but she's our friend now; so how can we keep something like this a secret from her?"

"That's why I'm so freaked out this morning," Rose told him – "and half-wish that I hadn't been woken when she got back; or that I knew that James had been out with Patricia."

"Or that we knew that Mackenzie had been off practicing last night too instead of hanging out with Susannah," Al added. "That's why she was studying with us."

"Well, that explains it – trouble magnet," Rose joked darkly. Unfortunately for Al; that statement sent his thoughts racing; and his heart sinking a bit further.

"Maybe more than you know," he admitted quietly; and Rose turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" she prompted; and Al sighed.

"Gwendolyn and I wrote all of the songs – and helped with some of the scenes for the script," he explained. "Nobody involved is supposed to talk about it, and I won't break our trust with Wendy and Wanda; but I have a pretty good idea which parts Bristol and Mackenzie got in the musical. There's a very romantic duet for two of the characters – and a story for them to go along with it."

"The Christmas Miracle," Rose declared with wide eyes and just as quietly. "I've heard that some of the songs are from the album. That's the only truly romantic duet – and I cried most of the way through it the first time I heard it."

"I'm feeling a bit sick," Al said; and he did – if heart-sick could be counted as being ill.

Rose stopped him and gave him a hug. "There is no way that you could have known who would get the parts in the musical – especially back in the summer when you were writing the songs; and Wendy and Wanda hadn't even likely come up with the idea for the musical yet."

"I know; but that doesn't help – and might not matter to Susannah." He shook his head sadly. "I really like her, Rose; and will hate to lose another friend over something I've apparently had a hand in – even if that was completely unintentional."

"You're borrowing trouble that might not happen, Al. Don't go there; and don't beat yourself up over it. We do need to talk it over with Gwendolyn this morning, though; and decide what we should do about this. I don't want to tell Susannah either, but if she doesn't know already – and she might if she's heard that Mackenzie was out late too; then we'll need to do something."

"So much for a quiet day of studying and Quidditch," Al said a bit morosely. "Do you think that Gwendolyn would mind if I stayed home after Christmas and got home-schooled?"

Rose laughed. "Yes – and so would I; so don't do it. Gina might be able to play the game well-enough; but you help our team get from good to great."

"With as much trouble as I cause just by being around; I'd think you'd want me out of here too – and reconsider having me on the Cannons."

"I get it; but stop that right now," she ordered. "You're not responsible for the choices that Mackenzie and Bristol make – and neither is anyone else. We also can't know what'll happen in the future. I thought that Mackenzie and Susannah were a great match; so Merlin only knows what'll happen with them, but whatever that is; it isn't your fault. It's also not the first time that Bristol's messed up like this. the only difference this time is that she's messing around with someone else's boyfriend instead of messing around on her own guy." She thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. "I don't know whether that would be true for her and James, since he goes around with other Witches all of the time; but she'd still be spending a lot of time with him until getting started with the drama club."

"I'm not going to go there," Al decided; "though I expect that James has two standards for his views on dating."

"I'd say that he only has one standard," Rose disagreed. "He thinks that he should get what he wants from any Witch he fancies. It's the one great thing about being his cousin – I don't have to worry about being one of his targets."

"Can you adopt Gwendolyn so she can join that club?" Al asked hopefully; and Rose laughed.

"We could try; but I doubt it would matter to James. It likely won't matter once she's his sister-in-law one day either."

"Probably not," Al agreed. "It's a good thing that Lily's decided to become Gwendolyn's protector against James."

"That actually should help Gwendolyn," Rose said with a nod and smile. "Do you want to have me call Gwendolyn and meet up with her before breakfast?"

Al looked at his watch and thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I suppose we'd better. There might not be a chance for it before our morning study session; we have Quidditch after that; and we don't want to leave it until lunchtime or later."

Rose took care of the mirror chat to make sure that Al didn't have any issues with seeing anything he shouldn't from Gwendolyn's roommates; she met up with them soon after; and they gave her the latest gossip that definitely hadn't reached the Witches in Ravenclaw tower yet. She'd agreed that they'd need to talk about what they'd learned with Susannah sooner instead of later; but didn't get the chance to do that before or immediately after breakfast. Before they could get to doing that, though; Al had some very uncomfortable moments while in the Great Hall – and also didn't get time to talk about what he'd sensed with Rose or Gwendolyn because they didn't get the chance to be alone so he could do that.

The first bad moments came when Susannah arrived with a few of her friends; and he couldn't avoid sensing that she was upset – though he couldn't tell enough yet to know what was upsetting her for certain. The bad went to worse when he saw James follow her in – and tuck something into her bag before moving away again and heading for his normal seat next to Patricia. The malice he sensed from his brother allowed him to take a very good guess at what he'd just done – and that was a wild contradiction with how he acted toward Patricia as she welcomed him with a hug and kiss. Al didn't like what he sensed from her either; and suspected that she knew more about what Bristol had been up to than she was putting out on the gossip network so far. Bristol and Mackenzie were conspicuously absent; though that would only be true for anyone that knew what had been going on last night – or at least enough of it to piece it all together.

Al knew when Susannah found the note in her bag; sensed her reaction to it; and had to hurt with her in silence as he ate as much breakfast as he could manage – and he only ate because he knew he'd need something to get him through the Quidditch practice. There was nothing good about the situation, but the problem of figuring out a way to talk about it with Susannah became a moot point when she decided to talk about it with her study group friends not long after they'd gotten started on their first assignments of the day.

"The drama in the air is killing all of us; so I'll just come out and say it," Susannah said quietly without looking up from her work. "I've heard the rumors about Mackenzie staying out way past curfew last night – and that he wasn't alone." She paused; and then looked over at Rose. "I got an anonymous note sometime between packing my bag and sitting down for breakfast that advised me that my boyfriend was out cheating on me with Bristol half the night. Then they both skipped breakfast; so it's just a matter of time before everyone in the school knows." She sighed and shook her head. "It's likely all true; though I obviously haven't been able to talk to Mackenzie about it yet. He's barely talked to me in days, though, and has been avoiding hanging out with me; so this would explain why – and that it's more than just being busy with the musical."

Rose looked to Al first; but then seemed to decide for herself how she'd respond.

"I woke up when Bristol got back to our dorm room last night – early this morning," she advised Susannah. "That isn't unusual for her, but this time; I knew she hadn't stayed out past curfew with James – and that there was likely a reason for why she was humming songs so happily. We didn't talk, and as far as I know, she hasn't said anything to anyone else; but I've heard enough over the past week or two that I was planning on talking to you about it this morning."

"I knew that they've been learning their lines and songs together," Susannah advised her; "though I thought that was always with some of the other teens in the show." She sighed again. "I am not going to fall apart or freak out before I even talk to Mackenzie; but this might be really awful. I've thought that we have something special; and I don't want to even think about the possibility that I've been wrong about that." She looked around at each of her newest friends; gauging the reactions from each of them. "Is there anything else I should know sooner instead of later?" She caught Rose's warning glance at Al; and turned her attention to him. "I saw that, Rose. What is it, Al?"

He sighed too; but faced her head on; eyes-to-eyes. "Gwendolyn and I helped to write the script for the musical – and wrote all of the songs." He smiled with rueful relief when Susannah laughed.

"Oh, Al – how long have you been feeling guilty about that?" she asked with a shake of her head.

"Most of the morning to now," he admitted. "I was oblivious to the effects that spending time around a trouble magnet was having on you before then."

Susannah laughed again. "Well, thank-you; since the laughs are helping right now; but you've nothing to feel guilty over – and you should really stop doing that sort of thing to yourself. Where would it stop? If this is all true, should I blame Bristol's parents for not having an ugly kid? Blame the stores that sold her clothes that help her look beautiful? Blame the drama club for casting them in the musical? That would all be as ridiculous as blaming the script and songwriters."

"Um, at the risk of sounding the idiot – you guys wrote that musical?" Ray asked; earning a few laughs – including from Susannah.

"The songs," Gwendolyn agreed. "We only helped with the script – and we can't really say more; since we're sworn to secrecy – just as everyone else involved with the musical is so that it really will be something nobody has ever seen before."

"Well, I may decide that I hate it before even seeing it," Susannah advised them; but don't take it personally."

"We won't," Gwendolyn assured her. "We'll also be here if you need us, so whatever is going on – if anything; you don't need to go through it alone."

"There's going to be fire with this smoke," Susannah told her seriously; "but I'll still wait to talk with Mackenzie before I just give up on us – or decide to go and blast him first and ask questions later."

"That might be what I'd do," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al. "Keep that in mind before messing up with me."

"I'm a Wizard and the ods are against me; but I really am going to try to never do anything to hurt you," Al promised.

That answer had Susannah getting a bit teary-eyed, but she brushed them away; and they all immersed themselves into their studies through until Al, Rose, and Ray needed to get to their Quidditch practice. The rest of their study group headed for the library after that to do some project research – and to keep Susannah busy; but Al didn't get back together with Gwendolyn and a larger study group again until after lunch because their Quidditch practice went right up until lunchtime. They started that study session in one of the Potions dungeons to work on one of their project Potions; wrapped up their afternoon in their study classroom with some practical magic fun for some of them while others worked on writing up reports; and then they split up early for a break ahead of dinner – which for Al meant doing his own thing while Gwendolyn went to get changed and have some girl time before going on to the Great Hall.

The rumors about Mackenzie and Bristol had moved to the top of the gossip network food chain by lunchtime, but the two leads in that teen drama skipped that meal too; and Al knew that Susannah had gone in search of Mackenzie after their study session broke up so that she could have that talk with him. He knew that she'd been able to do that as soon as he saw her in the Great Hall and sensed that she was truly broken-hearted. He'd have gone to her right then; but knew that'd just start an entire new batch of gossip that would make things worse for her. This time, Mackinzie and Bristol each showed up for the meal too – though they didn't arrive together. Al sensed some guilt in each of them; but no hint of true regret for the emotional pain their actions had inflicted on Susannah. James' reactions to watching all three of them made Al sick – especially when he tried to act as normal with Bristol. she fended him off, but only half-heartedly; and Al tried not to think about what he sensed from her about his brother – since she was still very-strongly attracted to him even as she was messing around with Mackenzie.

He kept a mental eye on Susannah; knew that she was having problems with even her best Hufflepuff friends; and was ready to go when she got up and left the hall – to the accompanying whispers that included a wide-range of reactions from sympathy to dark, malicious delight at her obvious suffering. He didn't wait for long; got Rose to go with him; and Gwendolyn joined them by the time they were walking out of the Great Hall. Al didn't need his map to find Susannah because she was waiting for them at the top of the first flight of stairs; and they hurried up to her. Gwendolyn and Rose each hugged her, and while Susannah hesitated for a moment; she then accepted Al's offered hug too.

"That wasn't horrid," she told him tearfully; "but I still hate Wizards right now."

"I'm not very happy with at least one or two of them right now too," he assured her. "Let's go and find a different classroom than the normal so you won't be bugged by anyone else."

"That works for me," she agreed as they all began walking along the first-floor hallway instead of continuing up the stairs where they might be more-easily seen and followed. "I think that dinner was even worse than I expected it to be." The tears fell faster now; and Rose put an arm around her while handing her some tissues.

"We've been on the ugly side of the rumors enough times to relate," Rose assured her. "My break-ups weren't this public, and one of them was in the summer; but I also know that some Witches can be really awful – even when they're friends."

Susannah nodded. "I've already heard a dozen or more 'I told you so' lines from my roommates – including from my best friend. They were right when they told me to be worried about Mackenzie working with all of those Witches in the show; but I don't think that they need to rub it in – and I'm not going to give up on trusting people just because that didn't work out with Mackenzie. You may as well not have any friends if you can't bring yourself to trust and love them."

"Well, I'm a bit worried about Al falling in love with you – and you're the second or third in the last month; but he assures me that he'll always love me best and he keeps getting away with it."

"Do you love me, Al?" Susannah asked.

"Yes, but it's in a sister or cousin sort of way," he answered; and she laughed through her tears.

"That's probably for the best; since I'm not interested in getting involved with any other guys right now – and don't want to get turned into a bug either. I am wondering who else you've fallen in love with over the past month, though; since that seems a bit odd for Gwendolyn to be taking so casually."

Al shrugged and smiled ruefully. "The most recent addition was Lacey Finnegan, and while I should feel guilty for the reason she's been added to my list of favorite Witches; she was brilliant the night she stood up to James and defending me from his insults over the Animorphmagus Christmas song."

Susannah laughed again. "One of you told me about that – I think it was Rose the first time. You're the only Wizard I know that actually tells friends that they're loved."

"Well, if you think that's weird; it seriously freaks Ray out when I tell him that," Al offered; earning laughs from all three Witches.

"And James has tried to blast him for it," Gwendolyn added.

"I saw him – in the Great Hall," Susannah said; her tone and expression turning somber again. "He didn't seem to care at all – about Bristol and Mackenzie. I guess that shouldn't surprise me, since he juggles two or three witches all of the time anyway; but I don't get that at all."

"None of us can either," Rose assured her. "What would you like to do that doesn't include going to your dorm room; curling into a ball; and having a nice long cry? It's way too early to start that; so you should save it for later."

"I think I'll work on my projects that need to be done by Christmas," she decided. "That might leave me with too much time on my hands next weekend; but maybe everything will be a bit brighter by then."

"They will be – a bit," Rose assured her. "Studying it is; and I'll guess that Al came prepared – though I have everything I need on my mirror to keep busy too."

"You lost me on that part about Al being prepared," Susannah advised her.

"He's a good guesser," Gwendolyn told her with a grin. "We think it's a Divination thing."

"I'm a fair student at Divination too – and didn't see this coming," Susannah reminded them.

"I never think about that; since I don't take the class," Gwendolyn admitted. "Would it help if we let you in on a little secret?"

"Probably not; but I still love a good secret."

"Al holds back in his Divination classes," Gwendolyn explained without needing to get a nod of approval from Al first. "He's actually extraordinarily gifted at Divination."

"If that's true, why didn't you warn me off before I started dating Mackenzie," Susannah pretended to accuse; and Al laughed.

"You know the answer for why I wouldn't be able to know something like that so long ago, but even if that was possible; you'd have likely just thought that I was daft and ignored me."

"I sometimes think you're daft now," Rose joked, "but then you are a Wizard; so that's to be expected now and then – even for one of the good ones."

That joke led the girls to a bit of Wizard-bashing fun; they picked an out-of-the-way classroom; and got set up to study. Susannah took a break from the drama for a little while and focused on the work while Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose picked safe topics to talk about – or they did the best they could at that; since break-ups messed with every part of a person's life – especially just weeks ahead of the holidays. They worked on practical magic too, since that gave Susannah an added bit of fun to go along with the studying diversion; but the research and report or presentation writing took up more of their time. Al was sure that nothing they'd been talking about had been a trigger; but he also knew when Susannah decided that she was ready to talk about her problems again.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this to yourselves," she prefaced before adding – "but I need to talk about what happened this afternoon – and don't think I can do that with my Hufflepuff friends right now."

"We'll keep your confidence," Gwendolyn promised. "What happened?"

"I'll skip over the search for my missing boyfriend – ex-boyfriend; and just tell you that I found him with Bristol in the room they've been using for rehearsals." She sighed and shook her head. "They were alone; and busy snogging each other senseless when I opened the door and walked in."

"I'm so sorry," Rose told her; leaning close and putting an arm around her. "That's about as awful as possible for something like that."

"It was," Susannah agreed; her eyes filling to overflowing with tears again. "I knew the moment that Makenzie looked at me that we were over. There was a bit of guilt; but no regret." She laughed then; but it was bitter. Bristol lied right to my face and tried to tell me they were just practicing for one of the scenes in the show. She did a pretty good job of it, so maybe she's got some talent for theatre and acting; but I still knew it for a lie."

"She's been practicing that since we were little," Gwendolyn offered quietly. "It's not as though she'd lie all the time – as far as I know; but she would try lying first whenever she got into trouble for something."

"Well, she wasn't happy with me, but I didn't get into it with her; and just told her to leave before I did something I wouldn't regret. Makenzie asked her to go too because he knew I'd do it."

"That was smart, but I'll only give him a half point for at least having the guts to face you alone," Rose decided. "That won't make up for all of the points I've taken away from him by a long-shot, but I can't give or take actual House points; so don't worry about it affecting how Hufflepuff is doing in the House Cup race."

"I gave him credit for that too, but then that chat didn't last very long. I asked him to tell me the truth about what was going on with him and Bristol; he did; and the only thing he's truly sorry for is that he didn't break up with me as soon as he was sure he'd fallen for Bristol over the past couple of weeks."

"He's an idiot for not being able to tell the difference between what he had with you and what he's started with her," Al told Susannah earnestly; getting the attention of all three Witches. "Sorry – did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, but why would you say that?" Susannah prompted.

"Because I sense it – and believe it to be true. What's right doesn't keep people from making the wrong choices, though; and it isn't my place to judge anyone on their choices in life."

"You also can't know what might be right for anyone in the future," Susannah suggested thoughtfully – "or can you?"

"Not usually," Al answered seriously. "Sometimes I can be sure that bad choices have no chance of ever working out for the best, but most times; making mistakes can lead to better things for the future."

"Yet you can sometimes sense that too," Susannah guessed. "Is that part of the reason for why you seem to have such a knack for healing too?"

"It helps," Al agreed. "I've gotten you off-track from what you wanted to talk about, though."

"There isn't much else to tell. I told him he was a git for cheating on me; he agreed; and we were done because I decided it was pointless to blast him when that wouldn't change anything."

"I'd have blasted him – both of them – the moment I saw them snogging," Gwendolyn assured her – and Al.

Susannah sighed. "I still love him – and couldn't." She started to cry again; though very softly; and Rose had her arms around her again while it took Gwendolyn a moment to get around the table to join in.

"I think that this is a good time for me to pack up and leave," Al told the girls quietly.

He got up as he pulled a toy sofa out of his bag; enlarged it to be big-enough for the three girls; and set up his mirror – though he wasn't sure they'd use it. Finally, he pulled out a large box of chocolates and put it on the table after he'd packed up the rest of his things.

"I really do love all three of you," he assured them. "Take care of each other; since it isn't likely that having a good rest of the night will be an option; and I'll see you tomorrow."

Susannah continued crying, and Rose stayed with her; but Gwendolyn walked him out of the room; shared a long hug and short kiss with him; and then went back inside to help their friend for as long as Susannah needed them. Al went to the Owlery before going back to his House; sent Winter with the Owl Posts he'd already gotten ahead of time from everyone that wanted to send one this week; and then he only stayed in the common room for a short visit with Lily and some friends before heading up to his room. None of the other guys were there, since it was still early; but he got ready for bed; had a mirror chat with his parents that helped a bit thanks to some good advice from them; and then he worked on his special project and new sets of Lily's game for a long time until he could settled down and get some sleep.

Lysandra preceded Scorpius into the Room of Requirements; waited for him to close the door; and then put her arms around his neck and floored him with a long, fiery kiss. It was several minutes before she let him go.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked with a grin; and Scorpius laughed.

"I don't beleive I can remember my name right now. What were you trying to get me to believe?"

"That you've nothing to worry about from any of the guys in that musical stealing me away from you like Bristol did with Mackenzie. He's an idiot too; since she'll be on to the next shiny bauble before he knows what hit him."

"Maybe he stole her from James," Scorpius suggested; and Lysandra laughed.

"You may have hung out with him last Christmas, and know him better than I do; but that didn't happen – and she'll likely still mess around with him too the same way he goes off with any Witch dumb-enough to fall for him."

"I'm still a little jealous; but do trust you, Lysandra," Scorpius told her; and tried his very best to believe it.

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of jealousy," she told him. "It just proves that we care about each other. I'm still seriously considering hexing Kylie Cootes."

"You definitely have nothing to worry about from the likes of her," Scorpius assured her. "Are you ready for tomorrow? How long do you think it'll be before you parents – and Andrea's – hear about you signing up to stay?"

"Not long," she answered. "Owl Posts will likely go out tomorrow; so they'll find out the next day at the latest – if they don't hear about it from someone else. There's sure to be at least a few gits in our House that will call home to pass along the gossip when word gets around our House."

"You're likely right," Scorpius agreed. "So we'll find out if you'll be allowed to stay by Tuesday at the latest."

"I'll be allowed to stay," Lysandra assured him. "Mum and Dad might get mad about it; but they'll let me stay if I insist – and I will do that. I really want to stay here and spend the Christmas holidays with you."

"I want that too," Scorpius assured her. "Will that work for Andrea too?"

"She's going to suggest that her parents could go and spend Christmas with Victor – and take Rupert along; and if they do that before the Hogwarts Express is due home; they could likely avoid being followed by the Aurors."

"That would be a good time for them to try and keep an eye on them – when they'd be expecting them to get their daughter from the station."

"Could they even take her along – or Rupert, for that matter?" Lysandra mused. "We can all be tracked by the Ministry of Magic until we're over-age."

"That's a good point. You should mention that to Andrea before she has that chat with her parents – though they ought to know that."

"I'll do that," Lysandra promised. "We don't have much time before we need to meet up with our study group, though; so let's get back to what we'd both rather be doing most while we still can."

James was in a buoyant mood as he cuddled with Rosinda while she had a little nap. Sure, his plans for revenge hadn't worked out quite as well as he'd hoped, but then while Bristol had again gone off after dinner to be with Mackenzie; Rosinda had offered her condolences – and eventually; a lot more than even she'd likely expected to give when they'd first gone off together. She hadn't been disappointed – and had really been amazed to find out what she'd been missing out on now that she'd spent some quality time with a real Wizard! Bristol was surely missing out on that; though she'd likely try to teach Mackenzie - and then find out that he wasn't a quarter the Wizard she'd left behind. the good news for her, though, is that she was hot and a lot of fun to be with; so he didn't have a problem with hooking up with her again once she was done with her latest boy-toy – assuming he had time in his busy schedule for her!

There was a real chance she'd have to get on a waiting list; but then he thought that was okay – since he was definitely worth the wait!

The last day of November was a busy one for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose; and that was mostly because the Professors continued to pile on the new lessons and assignments now that they were down to just fourteen days of classes ahead of the Christmas break – and the last four days would just be used to accept completed assignments or projects and hand out the holiday revision. Monday was also the annual sign-up day for the students wishing to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; and there were some big surprises for that from Slytherin House – and those new stories hit the gossip network by lunchtime. Al had been sure that James would sign up, and wasn't surprised that Scorpius did too; but he was with the majority of teens and tweens in the school that were all surprised when word went out that Licentia Nott, Lysandra Lestrange, and Andrea Avery all opted to stay too. Gwendolyn and Rose found the news interesting-enough that they wanted to have a private chat about it with Al after eating their lunch meal quickly to give them some time to do that ahead of their first afternoon classes.

"Okay, tell us what you know about all of that gossip," Rose told Al after he'd closed the classroom door behind them.

"The same things that you do from the rumors," Al answered with a grin.

"Don't try to tell us that you haven't learned more than that over lunch. "You wouldn't have been able to control yourself."

"Okay, but I really don't have that much to add to the stories we know so far. I get the sense that Licentia and Andrea are staying to train every day with Scorpius. Andrea's also staying because she doesn't want to go home and face her family after taking the risk to play Quidditch and not have it pay off yet with anything to prove she's good-enough to deserve their respect. Lysandra partly wants to stay here with Scorpius; and doesn't want to go home and deal with the fallout of choosing to audition and be in the school musical."

"We could have guessed most of that," Rose decided. "So you don't think there's anything else going on with the families?"

"Not that I know of," Al answered; and then paused for a long moment. "Allowing Andrea to stay here could give her parents the opportunity to go and spend Christmas with wherever they have Victor stashed. Dad might have planned to put Aurors to watching them two weeks from Friday to see if Andrea and her family try to do that; but now they'd be able to leave any time – and it would be tough for Dad to put teams of Aurors on the Averys to watch them day and night for a month."

"They could still track Rupert," Rose suggested; "but either way; you should let your Dad know. I doubt the Aurors get a report on things like that from Hogwarts." she grinned at Al then. "Even if they did; it might be next summer before your Dad would find it on his desk."

"Easter tops," Al pretended to disagree. "I actually don't think this is a bad thing; since getting Slytherin kids away from their families at holidays might give them some perspective on what should really be important to them instead of always seeing the worst."

"You hope that they'll be saved from their pureblood-obsessed families; and Rose and I will hope that they won't make life miserable for everyone that does normally stay here at Christmas," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "Some of those kids look forward to the break from all of the bad treatment they get around here – and at home too for too many of them."

"Bigotry isn't just for the purebloods," Al agreed. "Speaking of those kids; you've just given me an idea for something that Susannah might be very interested in doing and being in charge of – and it would give her something to do to help out with keeping busy over the next few weeks."

"So far so good – what's your idea?" Gwendolyn asked.

"How about getting together a list of those teens and tweens most in need; finding willing sponsor-parents in our parents' extended groups of friends; and getting each of them the appropriate study app for their year – and a mirror too; if they'd need one of those as well?" He laughed when Gwendolyn hugged him enthusiastically; and then Rose took a turn to do the same.

"That is brilliant, Al," Gwendolyn assured him – "and Susannah will love the idea!"

"I'll talk to Professor McGonagall about getting that list if the two of you would like to talk to Susannah about leading the project," Al offered. "I could probably get in to see the Headmistress after last class today. She probably wouldn't have all of the information we'd need; but we could get the rest of it ourselves."

That was what they eventually ended up doing, but they had afternoon classes to get to first; and moved on to get back to work for a few hours. Al didn't know if every student was given such easy access to the Headmistress, but he'd only waited minutes after making the request before she met with him. She'd loved the idea too – though hadn't known much about RevisionWizard beyond hearing that it had come out for the Christmas shopping season. She made up a list of the teens she expected would be most in need of that kind of gift while also being unlikely to get one from other sources; and Al promised that they'd keep those names confidential – and make the gifts from Santa or something to keep them anonymous and avoid any problems those students might have over receiving charity.

By the time he got to their study classroom, Susannah had enthusiastically accepted the challenge; everyone in their study group volunteered to help her – including getting parents involved in helping for the search for donors or getting the extra information they needed about each teen and tween; and a new, temporary charity was born! Al had missed some study time while making his request to the Headmistress, but he caught up to Gwendolyn while she was busy with her Quidditch practice; and then they worked for most of the evening except for the last three-quarters of an hour so that they'd have time for mirror chats with their parents to get the ball rolling with them for what Susannah had by then dubbed Operation RevisionWizard for All – if only among their little study group. Once they were alone and had a sofa set up; they decided to just call both sets of parents at the same time and make it a bit of a conference mirror chat – though Al called his parents first.

"Has it been a week already?" Ginny asked as she smiled brightly at Al and gwendolyn. "How time flies when you're having fun!"

"This is a bonus chat so we can talk with you and Dad about something," Al answered. "Hang on while Gwendolyn calls her Mum."

"Okay, and I'll go around to Harry's side of the desk so he can see you too."

"Call Mum," Gwendolyn said; and her mother answered on the third chime.

"You know it's past curfew," Gwenog said without preamble. "Is something wrong?"

"Only if I don't want to know what you and Dad are doing," Gwendolyn answered; earning laughs from all four parents.

"I wouldn't have answered if that would have been an issue," Gwenog advised her. "What's up – pun intended."

"Al came up with a good idea for something he thinks that we should do for some of the students that are staying here at Hogwarts for Christmas. Susannah MacMillan is going to be in charge of the project; but the rest of us are supposed to talk with our parents about helping out."

"What are you trying to do?" Ginny asked – "oh, and hello Gwenog and Kirley."

"We want to get RevisionWizard for each student; and mirrors too for the teens that would need them because they don't have one now," Al answered. "I actually got the idea from Susannah after she talked to us about some of the things that she liked to do at home. I didn't know that she – and her parents – were into charity work with seniors and kids."

"So you also thought this would help her between now and Christmas too," Ginny guessed.

"Help her with what?" Gwenog asked.

"Mackenzie was Susannah's boyfriend; and got caught messing around with Bristol," Gwendolyn advised her. "It's been a lousy couple of days for Susannah.

"Mackenzie Graves?" Kirley asked; and Gwendolyn nodded. "They've known each other their entire lives; and this is the first I've heard that they've had that kind of interest in each other."

"Well, that's apparently changed; and Mackenzie didn't bother to break up with Susannah first before taking up with Bristol." She shook her head. "I can talk to Mum about that another time. "Professor McGonagall agreed to give Al a list of the students that won't likely get a gift like this from anyone else; we're working on finding out which of those teens will need the mirrors too; and we're looking to the parents to quietly put the word out and get sponsors for each kid – and hopefully help out by taking on one of the kids too."

"You do know that those starter kits are a bit pricey, right?" Ginny told them. "All of the books get paid for again in this first version – though that isn't quite as much as buying all of the printed books."

Gwendolyn smiled and shrugged. "So suggest co-sponsoring to your collective friends. We don't want these kids to feel like charity cases, so we won't do any fundraising here; but that's actually an idea for other projects in the future."

"That's a good idea too," Gwenog told her. "Put the Harpies down for two kids for sure; and I'll let you know if we'll take on more."

"Let's go with two more for the band," Kirley offered.

"I'd say you're well on the way," Ginny told them. "We'll need to know the details for the totals of what you'll need for the different years of the study app kits; and how many mirrors you'll need too as soon as you can get them. Your father and I will ask around and see how many sponsors we can get for you. Is there anything else?"

"I've something quick to talk about with Dad; but that's it for all of you."

"Good, then I'll get back to trying to get to sleep," Gwenog told them.

"And I'll get back to trying to mess that up for her," Kirley added with a grin.

"Way too much info, Dad," Gwendolyn told him; though she was grinning at her parents too. "I love you. Thanks for the help with this."

"You're welcome," Gwenog assured her before ending the call.

"Okay, what's part two?" Harry asked Al once Gwendolyn had returned her attention to Al's mirror.

"Nothing major – just a heads up for you," Al answered. "You know that today was sign-up day for staying at Hogwarts over the holidays. We thought that you might want to know that Andrea Avery signed up to stay."

"She did?" Harry asked in surprise; and Al and Gwendolyn both nodded.

"Al doesn't think that it has anything to do with Victor; but that her parents might use the opportunity to go and spend Christmas with him while the Aurors would expect them to wait for their daughter to get home first."

"We've considered that," Harry admitted; "but haven't made any decisions. I appreciate the heads-up; but this likely won't change anything. Putting eyes and ears on Victor's family just isn't a priority compared to other problems we have out here in the Wizarding World."

"Hiding out for years will surely be more-comfortable for him," Al suggested; "but it'll still be a prison of sorts to Victor – and he'll hate every minute of it."

"That's my thinking on the matter too," Harry agreed. "It'll also likely keep him out of trouble – which is more than I can say for most of the adults in his family."

That comment led to a wind-down of their mirror chat; Al and Gwendolyn followed that up with a too-short bit of snogging; and then he walked her home before going on to his dorm room. He spent an hour working on his special project after that; had a bedtime chat with Ray and some of the other guys; and then went off to sleep for the rest of the night.

The first day of December was cold and blustery outside, but Al and Gwendolyn got their favorite month of the year off to a great start as they worked through their classes; had fun with Susannah while doing a bit of work on Operation RevisionWizard for All; and Al even had a great Quidditch practice despite the lousy weather. In fact, the rest of their school week was fun even with all of the work. Highlights included the entertainment that Al and Gwendolyn got out of their breakfast visit with Francine on Wednesday to wish her a happy eighteenth birthday. Gwendolyn took the blame for messing up Francine's early birthday wish by helping Ravenclaw to beat Hufflepuff in their senior team match, and while Francine had liked their little gift; she didn't think that it was an acceptable consolation prize for a something as important as a messed up birthday wish!

By mid-week, Quidditch fams were looking forward to the weekend match-up between the Harpies and Catapults; though the Catapults fans weren't getting too worked up over their chances for victory; since their season had gone downhill since the first two wins of the season. Al and Gwendolyn were looking forward to that match – and to having what would hopefully be a comparatively-quiet weekend ahead of what was sure to be a too-busy two weeks leading up to the holidays. Before getting to the fun, though, they wrapped up the rest of the school week with a lot of study work; one or two more tough, cold Quidditch matches; and extra activities – like their charity project and Al's special project that was still a complete secret from everyone else.

They were out of the loop for the musical rehearsals, but knew that Wendy and Wanda had their little troupe working harder too as their countdown to show time was down to days instead of weeks. The rumors persisted about the show, but most of that gossip was about the actors and the teen drama; not the actual contents of the musical. Bristol and Mackenzie still got talked about, but they'd publicly hooked up as a new couple by Monday or Tuesday; and ignored the gossip while spending a lot of time together through the rest of the week.

By Friday night, Al was wearing down a bit, but instead of taking some time off to be alone with Gwendolyn after their evening study session; they instead had a meeting with Susannah; put what they hoped would be their final numbers together for everything they'd need for Operation RevisionWizard for All; and then had mirror chats with five sets of parents to pass that information along to them – and ultimately to the sponsors that would pay for their Christmas gifts. There was still a bit of time left before curfew once they had all of that done; so they sat back and relaxed on the sofas before they'd need to pack up and get back to their respective Houses.

"I think I'm disappointed that we're all but done with this already," Susannah told the rest of the teens in their little group.

"You're not done with it," Gwendolyn disagreed.

"What's left to do?" Susannah asked.

"We'll need to decide what we'll do for packaging and wrapping those gifts; get all of those supplies; get cards if you think we should do that too; wrap the gifts; and get them to the Headmistress – all before we head home for the holidays – unless we need to wait until we're home to deal with some of them and then still get those gifts here to the school by Christmas Eve Day."

"I guess that we shouldn't leave all of that to the parents and sponsors too," Susannah mused; already looking happier again. "It'd be better to have all of the gifts look the same too – or at least be the same for all the Witches and all the Wizards respectively.

"I like that idea," Rose told her approvingly. "Tags are likely better for anonymous gifts than cards; since we might mess up if we tried writing up personal messages for each of them."

"We might be able to continue this after Christmas too," Gwendolyn suggested. "What we're doing now is just for the teens and tweens staying here. There are sure to be students going home for Christmas that won't be able to have the study app. We could keep an eye out for them in the New Year; get more sponsors; and send them the gifts too – maybe for Valentine's Day; if not sooner."

"If most of us have them by the New Year; they would feel left out – and left behind; since these study apps will make every student better," Susannah said with a nod. "I'm up for the challenge if at least some of the rest of you are."

She had everyone sign on for that; though not everyone in their study group had stayed for that bit of work and fun. When it was time to go; Al walked Gwendolyn home; had a visit with Lily and some of their friends in the common room; and then he once again wrapped up his night with some work in his bed – this time an hour or so of game-making to get more sets of Lily's AquaQuidditch ready. Unlike the Animorphmagus toys, each game needed to be made with raw materials, and while that could be done differently in a magical equipment maker's shop or factory; it was more time-consuming to do individual sets – even for Al and his special abilities. He eventually went to sleep before most of his roommates returned, but while he might wish to be able to spend hours with Gwendolyn after curfew, even if that could be possible for them; they'd never be into the public snogging that too many other couples didn't have a problem with in Gryffindor tower – or in the other Houses either.

While Al and Gwendolyn were planning on taking Saturday afternoon and evening off, they had their usual study session in the morning; and Al still had his senior team Quidditch practice in the late-morning time slot too. For him, the studying was great; and the Quidditch was a frigid blast of fun because he had another brilliant work-out – though that wasn't true for most of the other teens on either their team or reserve squad. They found out that Al had a distinct advantage over the rest of them – and he even won the flying workout over Lucy and James. That didn't help him to thaw out any faster once they were back in the castle and having lunch in the Great Hall; so he also took the time to go to his dorm room after lunch to drop off his Quidditch gear; grab a hot shower; and get changed into something warm and comfortable before meeting up with Gwendolyn and the rest of their game-watching gang in their study classroom. Gwendolyn was already there; everything was set up; so he only made a slight side-trip to add his contributions to the snacks and drinks table before going to sit and cuddle with her.

"Have I missed much?" he asked.

"You still have a few minutes before Lee and his experts will make their predictions for the matches today – not that we'll have a surprise for that with the Harpies."

"Unless one of those experts is a fraud," Lily added. "Did you have to listen to any more of James' rubbish about the Catapults while you were in the common room, Al? The way he's talking today; it's a wonder he isn't going home for the holidays just so he can help the Catapults win another game or two over the holidays."

"Maybe he's hoping they'll do so poorly the rest of the next few years that they'll offer him a huge contract to come and save them when he's done," Gwendolyn suggested; and then grinned at Rose while adding – "or he's interested in buying the team."

"James wouldn't want the responsibility," Lily declared after joining in for the laughs. "If he could figure out a way to do it; he'd play in the matches for whatever team he ends up with; skip the practices; and party the rest of the time."

"Working twenty-four to twenty-seven days a year would be a sweet deal," Ray suggested. "I actually like that plan!"

"You'd like that plan if you could do it here," Cyndia suggested. "That'd be what – about two and a half days of classes a month; with no study time on top of that?"

"Do you think that the Professors would go for it?" he countered hopefully. "That'd be brilliant."

"Right up until it was time to write our OWLs and NEWTs," Al reminded him. "Would you still be having fun when you couldn't use magic after you're over-age?"

"Party-pooper," Cyndia teased. "I liked the idea a lot too; and now you've gone and ruined it."

"Pretend I didn't and enjoy the delusion then," Al suggested with a shrug. "I'm happy to enjoy the afternoon off from the work; but like learning all of the magic."

That comment sent their chat off in a new direction, but Al stepped back from that chat; had fun cuddling with Gwendolyn; and they both immersed themselves into the Quidditch match once it started. While the Harpies didn't end up playing a near-duplicate of the Gryffindor-Slytherin senior team match; there wre some definite similarities. The Harpies had the definite advantage from the start; they grew their lead slowly; and had about a three-to-one scoring advantage over the Catapults. There was also a meal involved in the action – at least for the Hogwarts' spectators; and it wasn't until early-evening that Gabrielle caught the snitch to give her team the five-thirty to one-ten victory. The Catapults' Seeker wouldn't catch the snitch for the loss despite how badly things were going for his team; and seemed incapable of doing anything different when it came to his animosity for Gabrielle and the Harpies – even though he was still one of the better Seekers in the league when he didn't let his pride get in the way of his game.

The long match was great from a Quidditch fan perspective; but not quite as fun for Al and Gwendolyn when they missed out on having any alone time. Sure, that had been an option, but the rest of their combined families and friends hadn't wanted to break up the game-watching party until curfew; and they chose hanging out with them too over being rude and blowing them off to go and have some alone time, snogging kind of fun instead. That choice had also been made because they'd missed their usual Sunday night family time with Lily and Jonah, but Susannah was having another tough day; and they stayed to support her too. They watched mirror network shows; goofed around; and then eventually headed back to their Houses ahead of curfew. Al opted to actually go off to sleep instead of doing any extra work; he did that before any of the other guys were in their dorm room; and slept through until his normal Sunday morning wake-up time.

On Sunday, Al and Gwendolyn started out their day with some fun because she received an Owl Post with the first batch of RevisionWizard starter kits. They passed them on to Susannah, and lent her an undetectable expansion bag so she could carry them around or keep them hidden as she received more of them; and then spent the morning studying. Some weekend revision tutoring was involved, but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah worked on their major projects so they could get them done and out of the way ahead of the holidays. Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Ray, Cyndia, Lily, and Jonah for an early-afternoon bit of Quidditch fun – though Ray had only gone along because Cyndia had talked him into it. She'd also decided after their chilly play time that she completely understood why Ray avoided extra Quidditch workouts in the winter – and offered to work with him on 'alternate' training that was a comment that Al found just a bit scary and too much like things that James and Bristol had told him too many times.

He and Gwendolyn went back to their project work with Rose and Susannah for the rest of the afternoon; finished everything; and would only have their regular assignments to deal with over the second-to-last week of classes. Best of all; they'd also be able to get a head start on their holiday revision the week after that while too many of their friends would be playing catch-up on all assignments and projects that would need to be in before they headed home for Christmas. Al and Gwendolyn went on from their to have dinner with their respective Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends; they met up with Lily and Jonah after that meal for their family fun evening; and Al didn't feel guilty about doing that because Rose had met up with Susannah to make sure that their friend was kept too busy to have any problems with being lonely and boyfriend-less.

The music fun was Christmas themed; the mirror chats with the parents were very entertaining too; and then it was time for some cuddling in couples while watching Christmas shows on the mirror network. Catching up to the Muggles for things like that was still going to be years or decades away, but Al actually thought that older Muggles might find the shows that Wizards and Witches watch nostalgic – from the sense that those shows were like what Muggles had in the infancy of television and motion pictures – though he was sure that the quality of the images and sounds were much better from the start for the mirror network.

Once again, there wasn't an opportunity for any alone time for Al and Gwendolyn, but they had a really great night with Lily and Jonah; wrapped it up with the usual visit to the Owlery; and then Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah home on their way back to their House. They had a bedtime visit with Rose, but she'd only stayed in the common room to do that with them; and then they all went up to their dorms and beds for the night. Al couldn't take two nights off from his extra work, so he did that once he was ready for bed; talked with the guys while he worked and they didn't even really notice he was doing that; and then went off to sleep once he'd completed a couple of next-steps on his special project.

Life accelerated into the fast lane for Al and Gwendolyn during that last full week of classes of twenty-twenty. Their classwork seemed a mad dash for a holiday finish line; their revision kept them busy when they weren't dealing with Quidditch or other activities; and they also had the addition of parties into the mix. Michael's fifteenth birthday party was more like an appetizer for the Christmas fun to follow, but they helped with the work; left it up to Toni to do the hosting; and tried to have a bit of fun while also getting their assignments for the day finished too – since they had far too much on the go on the weekend to fall behind. Al still managed to have fun with all of the work and bits of play time mixed in, but by Friday; he was not looking forward to attending Slughorn's Christmas party with Gwendolyn.

To keep his mind off of that, he threw himself into his weekend assignments after last class on Friday, and since there wasn't much to them as their Professors gave their students a break so they'd have one more chance to catch up on other assignments and projects; he got everything done by dinnertime. Gwendolyn still had her Quidditch practice before dinner, so she didn't get done too, but Rose and Susannah did; and they were happy to take the evening off – especially since Rose had invited Susannah to Slughorn's Christmas party as her 'date' for the night. Al had liked that, and hoped they'd have fun; but couldn't shake the feeling that he was not going to enjoy very much of Slughorn's idea of holiday fun.

He also planned on blasting that vampire friend of Slughorn's if he so much as looked the wrong way at Gwendolyn!

There was time between dinner in the Great Hall and the party, so they all had dinner first; went to get ready for the party after that; and then Al met up with Gwendolyn in the hallway outside of Ravenclaw tower for the walk to the party. They ended up doing that with a group of Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff date for the party; and then Al caught a bit of a break by being at the back of that pack with Gwendolyn when Slughorn welcomed them in. He might even have escaped notice, but he and Gwendolyn had a joint gift for their host; and she presented it to him as they followed their group into the room.

"What's this – a gift?" he asked; looking pleased and surprised. "Why thank-you, Ms. McCormack!"

"You're welcome," she assured him with a bright smile. "Al and I hope you'll enjoy it over the holidays."

"Mr. Potter – of course!" Slughorn said as he reached out and shook Al's hand enthusiastically. "Would've had you in the club too, but if I did that with you, your brother, and all of your cousins; we'd have no room left for anyone else!"

"They're a bit crowded at family gatherings; so that's likely true," Gwendolyn agreed. "Have my parents arrived yet?"

"No, but they will be here – and your mother won't need to leave early this year due to a game day curfew!"

"She's glad of that too," Gwendolyn assured him. "There's a good chance that her ghost will one day manage the Harpies; but she does like to have a night off from the work now and then."

Slughorn laughed at that; and then needed to catch his breath. "That's quite possibly true; though it would be a sight I'm unlikely to ever see. We've more guests arriving, though, so come in; and Merry Christmas to the both of you!"

Al ended up putting their gift for the Professor onto a table with the other gifts; he and Gwendolyn wandered around the room doing a first bit of socializing; and then stopped to get drinks.

"See, that wasn't so bad," she teased as he poured the drinks from a punch bowl.

"It has been fun so far," Al agreed. "This still reminds me too much of parties at Uncle Percy's house, though; and that's a bit scary."

"Especially after the last one we were at was even scarier than usual for you," Gwendolyn agreed as she looked around the room. "James brought his new girlfriend, though, so maybe he'll play nice tonight."

"He might," Al admitted. "There are enough celebrities here that he could manage to have fun just rubbing elbows with them – and he'll get attention from them just because of his last name."

"Attention that you'll get too and wish you didn't," Gwendolyn added with a nod and smile. "I need to work on that with you, though that seems silly; since you are really good with people even when you feel uncomfortable in crowds."

"There'll be one less person in this crowd if that vampire doesn't stop checking you out," Al warned; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"He's checking out every Witch in the room; so don't take it personally – he can't help himself."

"To you," Al added. "Instead of going there, though; what would you like to do next?"

"Let's find Rose and Susannah and hang out with them – at least until my parents get here. I hope we'll get to at least have a bit of time with them; though Professor Slughorn is sure to monopolize at least some of their time tonight."

They did that; she was right about how much time they'd get to spend with her parents; and they only managed a few cameo visits with them – including one blast of fun where Slughorn dragged them along with Kirley and Gwenog for visits with other friends that were also avid Harpies fans and interested in meeting one of their future star players. Despite his worries ahead of the party, Al had fun for almost the entire evening with just a few exceptions that were each thanks to James. His brother hadn't been able to resist the big-stage opportunity to set off some Christmas wheezes; he razzed Al and Gwendolyn a couple of times; and snuck off for a bit of fun with a Slug Club alumni that looked to be maybe a year or two older than Teddy; and had been as interested in doing that as James had been. His brother had temporarily ditched his date by getting her involved in a group chat she'd found interesting; and Al didn't get any sense that Rosinda had suspected that James had been up to anything when he eventually returned to her side.

All of the action was exhausting to him – as was the barrage of sensory overload from the crowd around him. Spending those hours with Gwendolyn was brilliant, though, and on the whole; the party turned out to be far-better than he'd expected. It also went on and on well-past curfew; so he was glad when Gwendolyn decided she'd had enough. They spent another fifteen minutes doing a round of goodbyes that included her parents and thanking their host; and then Al walked her back to her House.

"Thank-you for inviting me to go along," Al told her as they headed down the hallway away from the party. "I doubt I'll ever feel comfortable at things like that; but we did have fun tonight for the most part."

"I had fun for the whole part," she advised him. "What'd I miss?"

"I didn't like James' walk-by insults; the wheezes he set off; or his little interlude with a Witch he met in there."

"You didn't say anything to me – and I didn't notice."

"It was a bit crowded to even whisper something like that; and they were reasonably discreet. I don't think that Rosinda noticed either; but he definitely hooked up with that other Witch."

"Did I meet her?"

"Yes," Al confirmed. "Long black hair; dark brown eyes; and about two years older than Teddy. She was wearing a reddish dress that was cut a bit above the knee; but not too under-done for the type of party."

Gwendolyn nodded. "Wilma or something. You can use names with me now and then instead of describing them to me – though I'm glad that you didn't start with beautiful and hot while doing that; since she's both."

"Velma," Al corrected; "and I'll remember that too."

"Even as you wish you'd remember less about what she and James were likely doing while sneaking off together. That's still weird to me – and wrong of James to do it; but that party was likely boring for any of the single Wizards and Witches that weren't either students like us or older friends like Mum and Dad."

"Maybe, but declining the invitation is always an option – as is going home early," Al offered.

"Not always," Gwendolyn disagreed; "but you can't really relate to that perspective when you're from a famous family. Getting that kind of opportunity to hang out with important people might be the only chance that Witch gets to do something like that all year – and that's assuming she gets an invitation every year since graduating."

"I suppose," Al conceded. "Two long days in a row will be tough for us, though; so it would have been nice to get a bit more sleep tonight ahead of the Hogsmeade weekend and Christmas feast and musical."

"You could always heal the both of us in the morning,' Gwendolyn suggested. "Problem solved."

She'd only been half joking, but Al had been sure he'd do exactly that in the morning as they completed the walk to her House and he then went on to his dorm room. For a change, he was one of the last to arrive; he didn't wake anyone while getting ready for bed; and then he crashed into nap mode for the handful of hours of sleep he could get before getting up and ready for what he hoped would be a brilliant day of Christmas fun with Gwendolyn and their friends.

"How are you doing this morning, Dad?" Rose asked with a broad smile as she joined Al in the common room.

"Dad?" he asked as they hugged and then she stepped back again.

"Well, you and Gwendolyn did help to give birth to a bouncing baby Christmas musical," she teased. "Won't you be a proud father if it grows up to be brilliant and amazing?"

"I'll be happy for Wendy, Wanda, their drama club, and everyone else involved in the show," Al hedged. "If I don't get any attention at all over it – beyond what you've just been doing right now; I'll be good with that too."

"I'm not complaining, Al; but sometimes I get why James hates you."

He laughed and smiled ruefully. "Maybe I have James to thank – at least in part – for being like this. I probably tried for the opposite of him from an early age because his constant bagging seemed so wrong to me."

"Possibly," Rose agreed. "Switching subjects; do you have any help for the supply shopping today while some of your favorite girls are busy at the salon getting our hair done?"

"Not officially; but I'm hoping that Michael will volunteer. Ray's spending the day with Cyndia, so unless she has an appointment too; he won't be hanging out with us."

"She didn't book one when we did for this weekend; but then we did that on the Halloween Hogsmeade weekend so we wouldn't miss out this time."

"I'm only surprised that you didn't have to book for this weekend in September."

"That's a good idea for next year," Rose said with a laugh. "Maybe we'll see about booking them for the rest of the school year today too – though it isn't a big deal except maybe fore Valentine's Day. That one might be booked already – though I'm not worried about that one when I won't see Kyle anyway."

"We should try to set up a date outing or two for the four of us over the holidays; but that might be a problem juggling all of our schedules."

"Not to mention that I may just stay with Grandma and Grandpa Granger and snog him straight through until we need to head back to school," Rose joked.

"I'm not giving you your gift early, so if you do that; you'll have to wait until the New Year to get it."

"That would be a sacrifice I might be willing to make," she assured him. "Nearly four months apart has been awful; but at least it's almost done now."

"Does he come home for Easter break?" Al asked next.

"Probably; but I'm not going to look that far ahead and just be glad that we'll be back together by next Friday afternoon or evening."

"Have you thought about what to get him for Christmas? An Animorphmagus reindeer is probably out of the question."

"Yes it is; and yes I have – though I'll need to go shopping in Muggle London to get it – which could be a bit of a problem if I'm too busy snogging him to go shopping."

"We'll likely be shopping on that first Sunday," Al pointed out. "This is a family at home Christmas this year."

"Yeah, but I don't know what my 'away' family schedule is yet – or what he'll be doing with his family," Rose pointed out. "I should probably work on that before we get home."

"It's so great to be a Wizard and just do what I'm told," Al teased. "Life is simple."

"Sure it is – not. That is funny, though; and will come in handy when I'm running the Cannons and you have to do what I say."

"As if I haven't done that most of the time since we could crawl around at the Burrow whenever Grandma watched us. I'm okay with that too."

Their chat moved on from there as they took an extended walk that only left them with about ten minutes to go before breakfast; and the Great Hall was more than half-full by then. The trip to town and the musical were the top two stories while they ate that meal, but Al mostly just wanted to fill up and then get together with Gwendolyn so that they could get on with their play day. The line-up in the entrance hall was long because of the holiday rush for the exits; but Al was happy for the extra time with Gwendolyn because they would be splitting up for about half the morning once they were in town. There wasn't much snow on the ground yet, but it was snowing lightly and it was cold out as they walked to Hogsmeade – which was why all of the teens that could do it apparated there once they'd cleared the gates.

The first part of his morning in town wasn't all that exciting, but Al and Michael managed to have some fun while they worked through a supply list that was light for everything except wheezes and sweets. That allowed them to get everything done by the time their girls were finished getting their hair done; and then they followed Gwendolyn, Toni, Rose, and Susannah around as the girls did some fun shopping before having lunch at the three broomsticks. Gwendolyn and Rose talked Susannah into a new outfit to wear to the dinner and musical, but Susannah wouldn't let the girls even make jokes about trying to do that to mess with Mackenzie – if for no other reason than that she believed that Bristol was hands-down more attractive than she could ever hope to be on her best day. Physically, she was right about that, Al knew, but where it mattered; Bristol couldn't hold a candle to the beauty that Susannah showed in everything she did – something that all of her new friends had come to see and treasure about her.

They also picked up all of the supplies they'd need to wrap all of the gifts they'd be leaving with Professor McGonagall; added the gifts they'd need for friends they wouldn't see over the holidays or 'secret santa' gifts they'd need for team parties; and made a bonus stop for Christmas sweets and chocolates when the girls decided they might need extras while getting through the last week ahead of the holidays. Lunch at the Three Broomsticks was fun; they didn't have to wait for tables because a lot of teens had wanted or needed to be back at the castle early; and they were even able to take their time having that meal before trudging back to the school by mid-afternoon.

That was when Al found out that he'd have more time apart from Gwendolyn because her Ravenclaw girlfriends needed her for the rest of the afternoon – even though they weren't going to a dance; and the lights would be out in the hall during the entire musical. Gwendolyn had been skipping girl time events all year, though; so he couldn't really get upset about her need to do that ahead of the dinner and show. That did give him time to work on the AquaQuidditch sets, though, so after delivering his supplies orders to Lily, Hugo, Roxanne, and the others; he went to their study classroom and finished up the goals for all of the sets they wanted to have in time for Christmas – one of the few jobs he couldn't do in his dorm room if any of the guys were around because they were a bit too large to hide from view. He wrapped that up an hour before he was due to pick Gwendolyn up ahead of the Christmas feast; he hit the showers; got dressed up; and then walked to the entrance for Ravenclaw tower with ten minutes to spare. Gwendolyn arrived right on time; and Al was sure that the extra time apart during the afternoon had been worth it!

"Now this is just getting ridiculous!" Toni declared; and then sighed dramatically. "Your name is Albus Potter; she's your girlfriend, Gwendolyn; and you so need to stop looking as though you've fallen in love with her for the very first time every time we have one of these special events and she gets dressed up for them. You're just messing things up for every other Wizard in this school!"

"I don't have a problem with leaving Al speechless on a regular basis," Gwendolyn advised her friend. "It's a brilliant compliment."

"I love you," Al told her. "I didn't do flowers this time; but thought you might like this instead." He held out a gift he'd pulled from a pocket; and smiled when she laughed happily – and then hugged and kissed him before opening it. There was another hug and kiss once she saw what it was; and then she showed the delicate littel necklace to Toni.

"Musical Christmas notes with little emeralds in them," Toni described. "Would you like me to help you put that on before I hex your boyfriend?"

"You do that; and I'll hex him for you," Michael offered with a grin for Al that was actually a silent thanks; since they'd picked out gifts for their girlfriends together.

"I was just going for the joke; and I love the earrings you gave me a few minutes ago," Toni assured him. "We'd better hurry with this and get going, though; or we'll be stuck with whatever seats are left in the Great Hall."

"As long as we can sit together for dinner; I'll be okay," Gwendolyn assured her. "Al and I would like to sit with Rose, Susannah, and as many of our friends as we can for the show, though; so I hope we can do that when they change things around for that."

"If they haven't done something different to start with," Toni suggested. Sitting on those benches for three or four hours might not be much fun; so I hope they've something else in mind at least for the musical."

"If they don't; do you think anyone would care if Al sets up his sofas for us at the front of the hall?" Michael suggested. "that'd work nicely for us."

"Right up until the riot started," Toni agreed. "Then the last thing we'd want is to be right next to the trouble-magnet."

By then, she had Gwendolyn's new necklace fastened; and they headed for the Great Hall with the rest of the Ravenclaw teens heading that way in a sporadic stream of teens and tweens. When they arrived; they found out that everything was the same except for some new decorations for the tables; so Al expected that the stage and seating would be set up during an intermission between the feast and start of the show. They ended up sitting at the Ravenclaw table because Rose went to sit with Susannah with some of the Hufflepuff single teens and tweens; and they didn't have to wait long before the feast was served.

The food was amazing; Al enjoyed every minute of the fun with Gwendolyn; and everyone in the room seemed to be in a festive mood – though that was comparative for some of the normally-dour or angry students. It was a bit more than an hour between the start of the feast and when the tables were cleared; and then it was announced that the intermission would be in the entrance hall – where drinks and sweets were available while the Great Hall was set up for the show. Al and Gwendolyn were among the majority that took advantage of the break to visit the washrooms; they then tried to get together with everyone they wanted to be with while watching the show; and then they stayed as a group when the doors opened and they were all allowed back into the Great Hall.

"Thank-you!" Toni whispered when they got their first look at the padded chairs taht were set up in wide rows with three center aisles so that there were four sections.

"This will be great for watching the show," Gwendolyn agreed. "The Slytherins will be happy too; though I hope we're not expected to sit with our own Houses if we don't want to do that."

They weren't at the front of the pack, but soon found out that the seating was first-come, first-serve; and only the Slytherins ended up with their own section as the other teens and tweens were happy to mix and mingle with friends and family from other Houses. Gwendolyn and Rose picked seats mid-way to the stage in the section to the left of the center aisle; staking out a spot with enough empty rows and seats for everyone in their group so they could be together – even though that meant being back from the stage farther than they would have been if they'd split up while getting spots nearer to the stage. They'd also each been handed little booklets as they'd entered the hall; so they spent some time looking through them once they were seated and waiting for the show to start. Al had Rose next to him; Lily and Jonah were directly in front of him and Gwendolyn; and everyone else was around them in the seats to each side and a total of four rows.

"You know the stories for each character," Rose told Al quietly. "Any surprises for you with the actors doing those roles?"

Al smiled at her. "I've mostly managed to keep my mouth shut this long; I'll let you decide that one for yourself."

"Didn't we just have a talk this morning about Wizards just doing what they're told?" she teased; and Al laughed quietly.

"Yes, but that doesn't apply to something like this."

"And they say that Witches keep changing the rules whenever it suits them," Susannah offered. "How about this, then – am I going to hate you by the end of the show?"

"Probably," Al admitted; "but Gwendolyn and I will still love you anyway."

They didn't have a lot of time to chat, but they did contribute to the expectant buzz of noise in the room through until the lights were doused except for the lights illuminating the curtained stage that now took up about a quarter of the hall. There was no introduction; and Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone else settled in and waited expectantly.

The sound of a train chugging along the tracks rolled over them from left to right; a cold wind followed; and then there was a screeching of brakes as 'the train' sounded as if it came to an abrupt stop directly in front of them. The curtains drew back to reveal several compartments of a Hogwarts Express passenger carriage – from the outside looking in; and a scene of blowing snow that was kept in the background and to the sides except for the snow piled up on the stage in front of the train. They could see students in each of the cars and more in the background milling around in the aisle, and as the screeching ended; the howl of a winter storm replaced it – or could just be heard more-easily. The center-most compartment was where Wendy and Wanda Wintringham were sitting with two of their 'friends' and the audience's attention was directed toward them through the use of magical spotlights.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked pensively. "The train never stops out in the middle of nowhere."

"For all we know with this storm going on out there; we could be in the middle of a city and not know it," Wanda countered.

"Uh-Uh," Wendy disagreed; pointing to her watch. "I know about where we should be right now – in the middle of nowhere."

"You can't be nowhere," one of the other kids declared dismissively. "You're always somewhere."

"Oh yeah – then where are you when you apparate?" Wendy challenged.

"I don't know – I'm not allowed to apparate yet – and neither are you," the same friend shot back.

"You're where you started; and then you're where you wanted to go," Wanda told them. "Everyone knows that."

"You're somewhere – or nowhere – in between places," Wendy disagreed.

"Wizard's space," the second friend offered. "That's a somewhere – or maybe a nowhere – or how about an everywhere; since you can get through it to anywhere."

"I'd like to be anywhere that isn't stuck wherever we are in the middle of this snowstorm," Wanda told the others.

There was a transition of sorts from that conversation that was used to suggest the passage of some time while the train was stuck; and then the two girls and there friends were back in the spotlight again. Wanda pretended to peer out into the snow toward where two teens were trudging into view from the right. "They're teens from Hogwarts!" she exclaimed. "Why would they get off the train in this blizzard? Are they mental?"

"Definitely,' Wendy agreed. "We should go and tell one of the Prefects."

Al watched as the two girls proceeded to walk around to the car next to them; they drew the attention of Bristol and Mackenzie to the teens out in the snow; and then, for some unfathomable reason; they followed the two apparent Prefects off of the train and onto the stage – along with four other gawkers. Lysandra and Lee had been the two teens in the snow; they faced off with the group of 'do-gooders' and refused the order to get back on the train. They were still fighting about it when the whistle blew and the 'train' began to move – and actually did move through magical means. Two of the 'extras' jumped on in time, but Wendy and Wanda both fell in the snow; and then the rest of them were left behind as the train rolled out of sight. There was a little round of blame game after that, and some other students that had apparently gotten off the train from other, off-stage carriages joined their group, but then they eventually all trudged off into the snowstorm together in search of shelter; and the curtains were drawn while the main set for the show was rolled out.

While he and Gwendolyn new the script – and he'd memorized it; Al still enjoyed the show as the story resumed and the teens and tweens successfully arrived, some of them shivering and frozen, and a few of them with apparent injuries, in the hunter's cabin they stumbled across miles from where they'd been left at the side of the tracks. Mackenzie tried to take charge; fought with Lee and Lysandra as he tried to get them to help out and care for the injured, the younger kids, and the ones that were suffering from the cold most because they hadn't been wearing their cloaks when they'd left the train. He managed to get everyone to pool their resources of food – which was mostly sweets and treats; got a fire going for warmth; and then worked on helping the younger tweens.

Wendy and Wanda were among the hurt and frost-bitten; and they were at the center of the stage in a make-shift sitting room near the fire. They were the youngest of the group; and obviously the most-vulnerable.

"This is horrid," Wanda told Wendy as they huddled together under Mackenzie's cloak. "My feet hurt; my arm's likely broken; and I'm scared half to death."

"We'll be okay," Wendy told them. "The kids that got back on the train will get help. They'll come back and find us!"

Wanda shook her head. "Did you see those boys? They're notorius pranksters; and nobody will believe them. We'll be lucky if anyone misses us before King's Cross – assuming the train doesn't break down and get stuck in this storm somewhere else!"

"It's going to be okay," Wendy insisted.

"It won't be okay until we can be home – where we belong," Wanda disagreed.

"Well, then we'll just have to get there!" Bristol stepped forward and told the two girls with a bright smile – and then she began to sing as the background sound-effects of the howling storm was replaced by the music for the song.

"If I was an Animorphmagus, you'd see;

I'd turn into a reindeer and fly home like a bee."

"It's more likely she'd wind up a right fat old cow," Lysandra sang from the side of the stage where she was sitting with Lee in isolation from the others.

"You're just saying that 'cause we're so hungry right now," he added; their 'comments' earning more laughs than Bristol's first-half of the verse had gotten.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," Bristol sang along with Mackenzie, Wendy, and Wanda as they joined in for the chorus – "What animal will we see next? It's an Animorphmagus Christmas - I do hope it's not a T-rex!

There was more laughter from their audience; and then Mackenzie took a turn at cheering up the kids.

"Reindeer cannot fly, but an Owl would do.

"You'd look good in a cage; filled with your own poo," Lee offered insultingly.

"I could fly home real fast; have help back in a flash," Mackenzie continued while pretending to ignore Lee.

"You'd get lost in this storm; and freeze off your ass-sh!" Lee sang with a dark smirk that he managed to hold despite the roar of laughter from the audience.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," they all sang. "That would be our way out of this mess!" Bristol and Mackinzie sang together. "It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," they all chorused again. "Time to take a delusion recess!" Lysandra and Lee retorted.

"I think that a horse might be what would work best," Wendy offered next.

"We could make a sled; hop on; and let you do the rest,' Wanda added.

You'd have us sing carols as we rode out of sight," Lysandra sang with a sneer.

"Like we're doing right now? Not without a fight!" Lee offered; earning more laughs.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," they all sang.

"We really miss our Mum and Dad," Wendy and Wanda sang together.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," they all repeated.

"While they're probably, really quite glad!" Lysandra and Lee offered; earning frowns from the others on stage.

"If you were all Animorphmagus your fate; Would be rather dire; 'cause you'd be on my plate," Lysandra offered as insultingly as possible.

"I would help you with that for a lamb chop or steak," Lee offered with a grin – "And getting rid of these whiners would be a nice break!

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," everyone on stage sang.

"You don't need to be so darn mean!" Wanda told Lysandra and Lee.

"It's an Animorphmagus Christmas," they all chimed in again.

"Yeah I do, 'cause you're you, drama queen!" Lysandra retorted.

That version of the Animorphmagus Christmas song had been an obvious hit with the audience; Al loved how brilliantly Wendy, Wanda, and their troup pulled it off; and especially loved seeing how happy Gwendolyn was with watching one of their songs performed for the first time in front of a reasonably-large group of Witches and Wizards – and have it so well-received. More drama followed as the battle to survive the elements in the cabin with meagre supplies continued. Hours turned into days as the progression of time sped along quickly from scene-to-scene. There were more songs interspersed, but the next highlight for Al and Gwendolyn was the first act finale that led into the intermission. Mackenzie had gone out and found a lame-looking sapling; set it up near the fire in a broken cooking pot; and Wendy and Wanda launched into song as Mackenzie stepped back out of the way and the two girls became the focus of the show with help from some added lighting that put the others in the shadows for a while.

"It isn't much of a Christmas tree; but it's perfect to me," Wanda sang.

"It helps me think of fav'rite memories; what Christmas is meant to be," Wendy offered. "And even though we're miles away; we're gonna find a way to get back home in time for Christmas Day."

"I wanna be home – for Christmas," they sang together with a sweet, heart-wrenching harmony. "I need to be home – for Christmas. There isn't a chance that I'll miss it this year. I wanna be home – for Christmas. I need to be home – for Christmas. There's no better place; I want to be home – for Christmas."

"Sometimes we hurt the people that we love; and never make things right," Wendy sang.

"But it's so easy to forgive; at this Christmas time of year," Wanda assured her sister. "And even though we're miles apart; we'll find our way back home when we keep Christmas in our hearts."

"I wanna be home – for Christmas," they harmonized again; switching places with the melody and harmony. "I need to be home – for Christmas. There isn't a chance that I'll miss it this year. I wanna be home – for Christmas. I need to be home – for Christmas. There's no better place; I want to be home – for Christmas."

"Everything I've ever wanted; is right in front of me," Wanda continued.

"Christmas is the greatest gift to share; with friends and family," Wendy declared.

"I wanna be home – for Christmas," they sang along with the rest of the cast with a multi-part harmony this time. "I need to be home – for Christmas. There isn't a chance that I'll miss it this year. I wanna be home – for Christmas. I need to be home – for Christmas. There's no better place; I want to be home – for Christmas."

The music faded; and they sang the next lines A Cappella. "I wanna be home – for Christmas; I need to be home – for Christmas. There isn't a chance that I'll miss it this year." The music resumed as they all continued singing; all of the teens and tweens now gathered around Wendy, Wanda, and their little Christmas tree. "I wanna be home – for Christmas. I need to be home – for Christmas. There's no better place; I want to be home – for Christmas. There's no better place; I want to be home – for Christmas!"

The applause began enthusiastically as the curtains were drawn; and then the lights in the Great Hall were on again; and most of the students and Professors got up and headed for the entrance hall to get drinks and Christmas treats – or to line up for a turn to use the nearest washrooms. Al and Gwendolyn went up to the second floor with some of their friends, Lily, and Jonah; and used the washrooms up there – a choice that proved to be a good one; since they were able to do that; get in on the drinks and snacks; and be back in their seats again with time to spare ahead of the second act.

"This really has been brilliant so far," Gwendolyn told Al quietly after they were sitting down again. "They could take this show on the road and have a hit for sure."

"Or a mirror network special," Al suggested. "The songs are enough different that they'd likely do well with an album of the musical too."

"You're talking business; while I just want to find out what happens next," Lily leaned back and told them. "It must be nice not to have been left on the edge of your seat like that."

"You're welcome," Gwendolyn teased. "Here's hoping that you'll think that act two is worth the wait!"

They didn't have much longer to go before the lights went out and they were immersed into the show again, but they did have fun chatting together until then; and Al and Gwendolyn were both happy to hear that their friends and families were all enjoying the show as much as they were. When the curtains were opened again; the actors quickly set things up for an opening number – a mash-up of new songs that the teens sang almost as a battle of the Christmas carols.

It's the most magical time of the year," Bristol began; "lights fill the streets bringing so much cheer. I would be playing in the winter snow; if not for that stinky magic mistletoe!"

"I don't want to miss out on the holiday," Mackenzie continued; "but I can't stand the smell or the look of my face. I would be playing in the winter snow; if not for that stinky magic mistletoe."

Everyone on stage joined in for the chorus. "Oh no – ew! Smell like a swamp – Pe-ew! Look like a troll. Thanks to that stinky mistletoe!"

"Everyone's gathering 'round the fire," Wendy sang next; "Chestnuts roastin' – hear them crackle and fry. I would be chillin' with my folks, I know; if not for that stinky magic mistletoe!"

"Muggles say that Santa Claus is coming tonight," Wanda added; "Rudolph leads the way with his nose so bright. I could be with you, watching Christmas shows; If not for that stinky magic mistletoe."

All of the girls took the next round of the chorus. "Oh no – ew! Smell like a swamp – Pe-ew! Look like a troll. Thanks to that stinky mistletoe!"

And then it was the boys' turn. "Oh no – ew! Smell like a swamp – Pe-ew! Look like a troll. Thanks to that stinky mistletoe!"

"Jingle Bombs, Jingle Bombs, Jingle all the way!" Lee and Lysandra interjected raucously. "Oh what fun it is to watch a Christmas Dung Bomb go off! Jingle bombs, Jingle bombs, Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to see all the kiddies run away!"

"Have yourself a merry Quidditch Christmas," Lee countered; "May your team win twice! If they do your troubles will be out of sight – yeah-e-ye-ah!"

"Yuri the Yeti; Was a jolly, happy soul," Wendy and Wanda sang together. "With a wife, two kids, and their pet bear, Roar; Happy in their ice cave home. Yuri the Yeti is a fairy-tale they say. He hides in the snow; but the children know;

that he'll come for them one day!"

"Silent knight; holey knight," Bristol jumped in and offered; "All is calm; after the fight! Round Camelot's table; King, Wizard, and Knights. Gather together to honor the lost. Knights have given their all for the Light; given their all for the Light!"

"And this Christmas will be," Lysandra interjected; vocally stepping on Bristol's toes; "a very crappy Christmas – for me! We're stuck here together; and you'll make this Christmas a fright – yes you will!

"Merry Christmas; Merry Christmas; Merry Christmas; and happy holiday!" Bristol, Mackenzie, Wendy, and Wanda retorted forcefully.

"Crappy Christmas; Crappy Christmas; Crappy Christmas; and crappy holiday!" Lysandra and Lee countered just as enthusiastcially.

"It's the most beautiful time of the year," the 'good' kids all sang together; "lights fill the streets bringing so much cheer. I would be playing in the winter snow; If not for that stinky magic mistletoe!"

"You should want to miss out on the holiday," Lee and Lysandra battled back. "'Cause we can't stand the smell or the look of your face. You should go and hang out in that winter storm; and take along that stupid, stinky mistletoe!"

Everyone on-stage again joined in as they sang – " Oh no – ew! Smell like a swamp – Pe-ew! Look like a troll. Thanks to that stinky mistletoe!"

"Everyone's gathering 'round the fire," Mackenzie sang.

"Chestnuts roastin' – hear them chrackle and fry," Bristol continued as the 'good' kids took turns singing

"We would be chillin' with our folks, we know," Wendy and Wanda sang together – "if not for that stinky magic mistletoe!"

"Muggles say that Santa Clause is coming tonight" Lysandra interjected with a sneer; "that they believe just proves they're not very bright!"

"I'd never waste time watching Christmas shows," Lee added; "or get caught by a stinky mistletoe."

"Oh no – ew!" Lee and Lysandra chorused with about half of the others.

"Merry Christmas," Wendy and Wanda coutered with help from the others.

"Smell like a swamp. Pe-ew!" Lee and Lysandra continued.

"Merry Christmas!" the 'good' kids insisted.

"Look like a troll," Lee and Lysandra countered; though with a bit less help.

"Merry Christmas!" most of the teens sangout defiantly.

"Thanks to that stinky mistletoe!" Lee and Lysandra added half-heartedly; looking defeated.

"And happy holiday!" everyone except Lee and Lysandra sang as loudly as possible. "Happy holiday!"

The storyline wove along as Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone else in the audience watched on, but while they joined in for the laughs and applause and had a lot of fun; Al was also anticipating the next big musical number. That was entirely because he was interested to find out what Lee and Lysandra would do with the song that he and Gwendolyn had re-written for their roles in the show. He smiled when that moment arrived and Gwendolyn squeezed his hand tightly while they likely both had the lead in to the song humming in their heads.

Lysandra and Lee stalked off from the others after losing yet another battle for control with the 'good' kids; and then sat down a few feet apart; facing away from each other as the rest of the stage lights dimmed and they were each highlighted by a pair of magical spotlights.

"I've dreaded this day all year," Lysandra sang softly and earnestly. "Hoped that it wouldn't get here! 'Cause I know nothing goes exactly like you plan. I'm glad that we got stuck here. Would rather stay here all year! 'Cause even with that lot of gits here; I'm better off!"

"There's never anything I want under my Christmas tree," she lamented darkly; "and now I realize that there is just one gift for me: it's a perfect Christmas; a perfect Christmas; it's a perfect Christmas – away from you!"

"No parents 'round here yellin'," Lee saing bitterly. "So this snowstorm is chillin'. And I could really use this holiday from getting scars. Look at those gits - so happy! They're clueless and so sappy. But while they wish they could get home; I'll hope we have to stay! 'Cause underneath this tough guy is a kid just reaching out. I've never known the Christmas cheer they keep yammering about! It's a perfect Christmas; a perfect Christmas; it's a perfect Christmas – away from you!"

Hey, Hey, Hey! Tell the parents – take a hike!" Lysandra declared.

"Hoh, Hoh, Hoh! Merlin, can you dig it?" Lee asked.

"Here we go! Spread the bad mood everywhere!" they sang in unison. "Hey! Hoh! Everybody shout out loud!"

The music faded; and they continued to sing with Lysandra taking on the harmony part. "It's a perfect Christmas; a perfect Christmas; it's a perfect Christmas – away from you!"

"Away from you!" Lysandra sang alone.

"Away from you!" Lee echoed.

"Away from you!" Lysandra repeated again.

"Away from you!" they finished together before they turned away from the audience; pretended to bump into each other; and then crossed paths and stepped out of the spotlights while the scene moved back to the other teens and tweens.

"They put a nice touch on it," Gwendolyn leaned close and whispered to Al. "She's really good – darn it!"

He smiled; but didn't answer as they both returned their attention to the stage. The next song was one of his favorites; he knew they wouldn't have to wait long for it because it was next-up; and he both wanted to watch it and was dreading it too. When they got to it, the start of the scene was very much like the one that Lee and Lysandra had shared; though the interaction between Bristol and Mackenzie had been very different as they tried to help the other stranded kids while dealing with their feelings for each other.

"Outside the snow is falling," Bristol began in a heart-wrenchingly sweet lament. "Oh how I wish that I was home! 'Cause I'm missing my family – even my brothers – so. There's no place I'd ever rather be," she continued while turning to look wistfully at Mackenzie while he pretended not to see her. "But having you here helps to comfort me."

"Though I can't face the truth," she continued earnestly with choral help from the shadows behind her. "That I'm in love with you. But Merlin, if we could just let it be; a Christmas miracle could come of you and me."

"Sometimes I feel I'm falling," Mackenzie declared; his tenor voice haunting and emotional; "that I'm losing all control. But my destiny is calling. What I hope for pays the toll. Wishing for a dream won't help me out. Though I will always love you; I've no doubt."

"And I can't face the truth," he sang sadly with the chorus now adding the wistful harmonies that emphasized the hurt. "I can't ever have you," he added; turning toward Bristol while it was her turn to act as if she didn't notice that he was watching her. "But Merlin, if we could just let it be; a Christmas Miracle could come of you and me."

"I hope," Bristol sang as she stood and turned toward Mackenzie.

"And I pray," he countered; doing the same.

"That someday," she continued as they each took a step toward each other.

"You will see," he completed as they took the last steps that put them face-to-face; with Bristol looking up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

"And finally face the truth," they sang together; Mackenzie's voice taking a high harmony that wove effortlessly with Bristol's low melody. "That I'm in love with you. And then our hearts could finally be free to have a miracle; come of you and me."

The music faded into a dramatic pause before Bristol and Mackenzie sang on without any support. "A Christmas miracle," they sang in soft wonderment; "is here for you and me."

As the song ended in a first, sweet kiss; Al's attention turned to Rose and Susannah. Rose had an arm around their friend; had a steady supply of tissues flowing to her; and he leaned close and whispered – "I'm sorry."

"And I hated that; loved that; hate you; and love you," Susannah advised him in a sobbing whisper that broke his heart.

"I'd get you a pony, but Gwendolyn wouldn't even let one of her younger cousins take me home for a pet kneazle; so I'm sure she'd have a problem with that idea too."

Susannah stifled a laugh; Gwendolyn poked him in the side; and he sat back in his seat to return to watching the show. Maybe they'd have time to talk with Susannah later; but Rose would take care of her through the rest of the musical.

That had been the last of the heart-breaking scenes, and the storyline turned more light-hearted as all of the teens began to deal with the growing likelihood that they'd be spending Christmas together in the cabin. They sang a couple of straight-up renditions of songs from the Weird Kids – Graves Robbers Christmas album; got ready to spend Christmas Eve together; and then they were finally, miraculously rescued. The flurry of activity after that included the arrival of their families; some happy moments that even included the 'bad' kids and their families; and then the musical wrapped up with a reprise of 'Home for Christmas' that segued into a carol sing that the audience was encouraged to join in for – and that carried them through the curtain call.

Scorpius sat back in his seat – or it felt that way as what he really did was relax his focus and mental energy as the curtains were drawn closed for the last time and the 'house' lights were turned on again. Lysandra had been mesmerizing – or at least he thought so. There was no doubt in his mind that Bristol and Mackenzie – and those two Wintringham girls – would get most of the accolades; but Lysandra had stolen the show for him – just as she'd stolen his heart over the past six months or so.

"I'll likely get razzed for this," Davis told him quietly; "but I liked that; and don't want to make fun of even those sappy scenes."

Scorpius laughed quietly. "Well, you sort of are making fun of those sappy scenes by mentioning them; but I know what you mean."

"Lysandra can sing," Davis continued. "Best of them all; I'd say."

"She'll love that compliment – especially with all of those Weird Sisters' kids in the show with her," Scorpius suggested; and Davis grinned at him.

"Would she love it enough to think about going out with me? I know I'm not the hottest guy in our House like you supposedly are, and we're outcasts; but a Wizard can dream."

"Stick to the Witch you really dream about," Scorpius suggested. "That one might actually have a chance of happening for you some day."

"Do you think so?" Davis asked; looking a bit surprised.

Scorpius shrugged. "We've come a long way since we were firsties. Who can know what's possible in another three or four years?"

James stood up; held a hand out to Rosinda; and helped her to stand too within moments of the lights coming back on again.

"Let's see if we can get in on the drinks and snacks before they're gone," he suggested. "I'm starving!"

"Is that your first reaction to that show being over?" she asked – "not to mention that you might have eaten half the food at intermission on your own."

James grinned at her unapologetically. "Trust me – you do not want me to sing any of those songs to you – unless you've got your Herbology earmuffs on first."

Rosinda laughed. "Okay, that line will get me to go along – and get you off the hook for not saying anything about the musical first."

"It was okay," James offered half-heartedly. "I'm likely just wired wrong for watching theatre – though it might have been more interesting if they'd done that while flying around at two hundred miles an hour while dodging bludgers and trying to catch a snitch."

"So you're saying that you'd have liked it best if they'd just added those songs to a Quidditch match," Rosinda summarized; and it was James' turn to laugh.

"Sure – as long as they wouldn't try to get me to sing any of those songs!"

Al and Gwendolyn ended up following Lily and Jonah's lead after the show because Lily had been in a hurry to get out of the Great Hall. He wouldn't have dreamed of making fun of her over it; but Al had sensed the discomfort she didn't even hint at to anyone; and knew that her motivation was biological in nature. They again went up to the second floor for those washroom breaks, and while they didn't need to wait in line – which might have been too much for Lily to do and still remain composed; there were more teens ranging further into the castle to do the same thing instead of lining up at the nearest washrooms.

There was to be a reception in the entrance hall for the cast, but since they had time before their favorite actors would be changed out of their costumes and make-up; Al and Gwendolyn went back into the Great Hall and offered to help with the clean-up that was already in progress. Rose and Susannah went along for that – mostly because Susannah was glad for the make-work; and the sixth-year Hufflepuff in charge of that crew was happy to have the extra wands to help out with the work. The seats had been conjured, so that was one of the easiest jobs, but even with the use of a lot of magic; it still took quite a while to deal with the stage and set; and then get all of the tables and benches back in place and ready for the morning meal. Al would've stayed to the end, but Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah wanted to make sure that they didn't miss out on the chance to offer their congratulations to their friends in the show – though Al knew that it would be hard for Susannah to face Mackenzie and Bristol. Gwendolyn led him off once they finished the latest of the tasks they'd been assigned; and they followed Rose and Susannah out into the entrance hall again.

All of the members of the cast were at one end of the hall – near the front doors of the castle. They weren't right next to each other because there were groups of teens and tweens around them; but it did look like some sort of disjointed, segmented reception line. Rose decided to start at the end of that line closest to the Great Hall; which was why they ended up talking to Lee and Lysandra first.

"Nice job channeling your inner bad boy," Gwendolyn told Lee as she stepped forward and offered to hug him.

"Thanks, but that was just my evil alter-ego coming out," he told her after they shared a quick hug. "You know – the little voice that tells you what you really want to do when something makes you mad instead of playing nice like we're supposed to do."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Sometimes I listen to that voice," she advised him.

"I've heard that a time or two," he agreed; and then turned toward Lysandra. "You know each other, of course; but I expect that you know Lysandra a bit better now," he suggested.

"I hope so," Gwendolyn agreed as she held out a hand to Lysandra next. "You have a true gift with that voice," she offered sincerely. "If you've had as much fun acting as we had watching you; I think you'd do brilliantly with it – or in music." She smiled back at Lee. "You do have a connection to the music business standing next to you; and I know that our Dads would love to talk to you about a career in music."

"Wendy and Wanda are already talking about getting all of us to record an album of these songs to put out there next Christmas," Lee advised her.

"You should," she agreed. "This would make a brilliant mirror network Christmas special too – unless you're planning on taking the show on the road and doing a world tour."

"Wouldn't that be brilliant?" he asked with a bright smile. "That'd keep us busy every Christmas for twenty years!"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Maybe for a few," she countered. "You might have a bit of trouble convincing your audiences that you're Hogwarts students when you're forty."

Al had exchanged a handshake with Lee by then and offered his congratulations while Gwendolyn had been talking to Lysandra; but then it was his turn to hold a hand out to her; and he smiled as she hesitated – and then held his hand for a brief second or two.

"Thank you," he told her quietly. "Gwendolyn's right; and that was a really great Christmas gift for all of us."

"Um, thanks," she said just as quietly. "I'm glad you liked the show."

"I'd say that's high praise," Lee told her with a grin for Al. "All I got from him was a well done – though maybe that was an Animorphmagus joke and he really meant well-done." He paused while that comment earned some laughs. "My point, though, is that in the music business; there's no better compliment than to have the songwriters approve of what you've done with their music."

"We thought that you were brilliant too," Gwendolyn assured him, "but Al can't get all mushy with you."

"It's a guy thing," Lee agreed. "We're bogging down the line, though; so you'd better move on."

They did that, and Gwendolyn really enjoyed talking with everyone while Al was quieter most of the time – except for when they talked to Wendy and Wanda. They'd wanted hugs from Al and Gwendolyn; they were thrilled with how perfectly the show had gone – and thought that the handful of glitches and bloopers had just made everything better. There'd been another little group of actors between Wendy and Wanda and Bristol and Mackenzie; but Al and Gwendolyn made sure that they were right with Rose and Susannah when it was their turn to talk with the happy couple. Al smiled when Susannah stepped up to Mackenzie; punched him playfully in the stomach; and then hugged him.

"The punch was for making me cry. I hate you," she advised him. "The hug was because that was so beautiful; you made me cry – and I love you." She turned to Bristol next, and surprised her by stepping in and hugging her next. "I hate you and love you for that too. bit just consider yourself punched; since everyone around us would totally take that the wrong way if I actually did it." She sighed and smiled wanly. "Now I'm going to run off – with slow dignity – before I lose it again."

She did just that; Rose went with her; and that left Al and Gwendolyn next in line to talk with Mackenzie and Bristol.

"She'll be okay," Gwendolyn told Mackenzie quietly as she took her turn to hug him. "You were both brilliant tonight," she assured them as she hugged Bristol next. "If you're not sure that you've found your calling; ask Al to give you a copy of his memories from the show and I'm sure watching it from our perspective will convince you."

"We know we've found something we love to do,"Mackenzie told her, "but just for the curiosity of it; why Al's memories instead of yours?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "He has a rather exceptional memory," she explained. "His memory will be perfect in every tiny detail."

"That will come in very handy when he goes to play for the Cannons," Mackenzie offered. "He'll be able to remember everything about every player he goes up against."

Gwendolyn laughed; and then pretended to glare at Al. "Wait a minute – that would include me when I'm playing for the Harpies," she complained.

"Then maybe you should play for the Cannons too," Bristol suggested. "Problem solved."

"Did Rose pay you to say that?" Gwendolyn accused; and Bristol laughed.

"No – and I should have talked to her aobut it first; since she might have offered me some Christmas sweets or something to do it."

Al grinned and held a wrapped chocolate out to her; earning laughs from everyone close-enough to have heard their conversation.

"Congratulations," he told her – and Mackenzie. "That really was a brilliant show."

"And now we're going to run off – with slow dignity – so that I can find a nice quiet place to hex Al for paying off Bristol for that Cannons crack," Gwendolyn advised them; earning more laughs as she took Al's hand and tugged him along.

They didn't actually leave, since there were still other teens and tweens from the cast to talk with first; but then they left the entrance hall and went in search of Rose and Susannah. Gwendolyn checked her map once they were on their own; and Rose had made that easy for them by taking Susannah to their usual study classroom. It didn't take long to get there; they found the two girls sitting on a sofa; and Al set up another sofa so that he and Gwendolyn could sit down too.

"I'm better now," Susannah assured them. "It's amazing what a half-box of Christmas chocolates can do if you eat them fast enough."

"Sugar rush," Gwendolyn agreed. "I'd give fifty points to Hufflepuff if I could for what you did back there, Susannah."

"Thanks, but even if you could do that; I'd still hate and love both of you," Susannah advised her. "I'm sorry, but I think I was wrong when I told Al that it wasn't your fault. That song might make pretty much any Witch fall in love with a troll – or a Wizard fall for the ugliest hag. Mackenzie and Bristol never had a chance."

"They wrote the Christmas album version of that last summer," Rose advised her gently. "Wendy and Wanda hadn't even come up with the idea for a Christmas musical back then."

"Unintended consequences, then," Susannah said with a wave of her hand. "Let's not go there again. I'm done crying for tonight."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's talk about finding time tomorrow to wrap gifts. We're done our work; but our friends are going to want tutoring help."

"I could do most of that if the three of you would like the time off so that you can do the wrapping instead," Al offered. "We've other gifts to wrap too – for our team Christmas parties."

The girls decided to take him up on that offer with a couple of tweaks to their plans for Sunday. There wasn't a lot of time to hang out together ahead of the extended, post-musical curfew; and they needed to pack up their sofas and leave sooner than they'd have liked. Susannah protested, but Rose still walked her friend back to her House while Al walked Gwendolyn home; and then met up with him for the last part of her walk back to Gryffindor tower. As with a school dance, there was some major snogging going on in the common room by the time they got there; so they pretty much went straight up to their dorm rooms and got ready for bed.

Al was still fairly wound-up, so while a few of his roommates went off to sleep and others were too busy and among the snoggers in the common room; he worked on his special project. He was fully at the making copies stage now; though he'd worked on making those sets as he went along for a lot of the work; since it had been easiest to do it that way. He didn't get everything finished before going to bed; but was sure he would do that with just one or two more work sessions. He went to sleep once he felt that he could; and still managed to do that before Ray got up to their room from his snogging session with Cyndia.

After the excitement of their Hogsmeade visit and the Christmas musical; Sunday was almost a rest day by comparison – though Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their friends and relatives were also busy all day too. They couldn't say 'all' for that because some of their friends got a late start to their day after having a bit too much fun for too long on Saturday night; but that just gave those teens and tweens a bit more to do during the rest of the day – and another late night for a few of them.

Olivia had not booked a make-up practice for her team on Sunday morning, so Al was able to work with their friends and offer his tutoring all morning while Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah wrapped gifts – and then delivered all of the mirrors and RevisionWizards to Professor McGonagall. She'd been impressed; awarded twenty-five points to each of their Houses; and sent the girls on their way with her sincere thanks and appreciation. Al and Gwendolyn took a little break for a short, frozen Chaser duel after lunch, but then they both spent the rest of the afternoon helping their friends with getting revision and projects done ahead of the holidays.

They didn't offer to do that after dinner despite still getting requests for assistance, but Rose and Susannah offered to help instead; so they didn't feel guilty about going off to spend the evening playing with Lily and Jonah. Their music fun was especially-great because they did that while multi-tasking the mirror chats with their parents – and Kirley had been blown away by their musical recap of the show. He'd also been very interested in talking with his band mates about their suggestions that they should seriously talk to Wendy, Wanda, and the other teens and tweens about both the album idea and a mirror network special or theatre production. Doing both the music and the chats had actually taken a bit less time than normal when they did them separately; so they ended up with more time for cuddling and watching mirror network shows.

Al would have been okay with that being the end of his day – or the end of it after they sent Winter off with her last Owl Post before the holidays and the walk 'home' to their respective Houses; but he decided to stay up late and finish his special project. That took a while, but by the time he was done; he even had each gift wrapped, tagged, and tucked away into the bag he was going to be taking home with him for the holidays. With that done, getting to sleep was easy; and he was soon out for the count until morning.

The final four school days leading up to the holidays was a jumble of contrasts for Al pretty much from first thing on Monday morning through to the time he went to bed early on Thursday night so he'd be ready for the early wake-up call and trip home on Friday. His morning walks and talks with Rose – and with Lily for two of those mornings – were each filled with chats about Christmas and hopes for their holidays. Their classes were all easy as there weren't really any new lessons; holiday revision was handed out; and they either had some Christmas-themed fun, watched project presentations, or worked on their holiday assignments in class while their classmates were allowed to use that time to try and get late assignments done and handed in.

Most of their friends were not particularly interested in working ahead on their holiday revision, but Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah still led that effort each night – at least for the first three nights of the week. Gwendolyn couldn't do that on Monday afternoon while having a joint junior and senior team Christmas party instead of their practices, and Al and Rose had that same issue on Tuesday afternoon with their joint-team party; but they all worked together all three evenings – and on Wednesday afternoon too. It wasn't possible to get everything done, since they were given more work on Thursday too and some of the assignments needed to be done in stages that would take days, but they did get more than half-done by the end of the evening; and a lot of that was possible thanks to their study apps and quills making it possible to get the most-tedious parts of the work done so much more-quickly than was possible without that advantage.

Al actually preferred the work over some of the other activities they were busy with – and his team Christmas party was included in that. He was part of the problem for that, since everyone else had fun, but too many of the Christmas wheezes were set off at his expense; James had too much fun trying to mess up the party for him; and his brother wasn't the only senior team player to have a drink or three of alcohol-based Christmas cheer. The fact that he found that harder to deal with every time suggested that his powers of perception were still expanding – if not as obviously as they had over the past few years. He couldn't even guess at whether that would affect his own ability to enjoy glasses of wine or other 'adult' beverages in the future; but he knew for certain that he didn't like how some teens – including his brother – were affected by it.

In a nutshell; drinking too much brought out the worst in some Witches and Wizards – and that was far more-likely to happen for the people you least wanted to see acting that way!

Over on the good side of life, Al and Gwendolyn got to have a bit of alone time each night before curfew as they wrapped up their study sessions a bit early so that they could do that; and their dinner on Thursday night was great too. That wasn't another Christmas feast, but it was more than a normal school-night meal; and the dinner conversation was a lot of fun as friends prepared for the two-week separation. While he had friends that he wouldn't see over the holidays, Al knew that there were actually quite a few teens and tweens that didn't get to see any friends at all at Christmas, Easter, or during the summer breaks. There were lots of reasons for why that happened ranging from going away on vacations to having parents that didn't allow that to happen; so he was simply grateful that he was able to spend time with Gwendolyn, his cousins, and at least a handful of their friends.

The visits with friends continued on Thursday after dinner, and Al got involved with some of that after walking Gwendolyn home; but he also went up to his dorm room early so he could finish a last bit of packing – and wrapped up his last school day of twenty-twenty having a bit of guy chat time with his roommates. They didn't all come up to their dorm room early, since a few of them were more interested in saying goodbye to their girlfriends in the common room – in a snogging sort of way; but he did have fun talking with the guys that were also turning in early.

What Al was happiest about, and not really guilty over at all; was that he was again able to truly look forward to this Christmas holiday because James wouldn't be there too – and that practically guaranteed that he'd be able to have a perfect Christmas!

James woke up early-enough to get ready for the day and catch the tail-end of the time they had for breakfast, and that worked out well-enough; since he didn't have to even see the Animorphloser, the potty-trainer, or the rest of their lot of loser friends because they'd likely been on the first carriages heading to the train station. The tables had, obviously, still been set up as normal, but he'd been glad to see Malorie O'Malley still at the Hufflepuff table; and a glance was enough for him to be sure that she hoped that he'd hook up with her again over – and over and over again – the holidays. It was too soon to know whether there'd be any better opportunities; but then he was okay with the idea of having fun with two or more Witches while he was enjoying his family-free Christmas!

He managed to get through two plates full of food before the tables were cleared; grabbed his Quidditch bag; and headed out for the stadium with a jaunty wave and smile for Malorie that had exactly the effect on her that he'd wanted. A light snow was falling by the time he was outdoors, but it wasn't anything that would get in the way of his workout. There weren't any footprints in the snow on the ground, so Scorpius wasn't ahead of him this time; but he was sure that the other boy would show up and had likely just decided to go back to his dorm room for his gear after breakfast; since Slytherins didn't have nearly as far to go to do that as Gryffindors did. When he got to the stadium and out to the pitch, he dragged his bag along one of the benches to clear it of snow; decided that was a nice gesture for Scorpius; and then cleaned off a second one before sitting down. He was nearly ready to go before he heard the sound of crunching footsteps in the snow, but frowned when it clicked in that he was hearing several sets of feet. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Scorpius had brought company – Licentia Nott and Andrea Avery! He jumped to his feet; drew his wand; and pointed at them warningly.

"We're not here to fight," Scorpius told him; stepping in front of the girls and holding up his empty hands palms-out.

"Then what are they doing here?" James demanded. He pointed his wand at Andrea. "Her brothers tried to kill me last June." Pointing to Licentia next; he added – "and her brothers only gave up on trying to blast me at every turn when they couldn't take the embarrassment from the wheezes and pranks anymore."

"Licentia's here to train over the holidays with Scorpius," Andrea told him, "and while I think he's lost his mind; Scorpius thinks that you'll help to train me."

James laughed. "You're right – he has lost his mind. Why, in Merlin's name would you think that I'd help your teams?" He directed that at Scorpius; but put his wand away as they continued to walk toward him.

Scorpius grinned at him. "I've quite a list of reasons for that," he assured James. "My personal favorite for both of you is that it'll drive your parents bonkers – if they ever found out. Next up would be that Gryffindor has already had their matches against our House; we lost both of those matches; and anything you can do to help us for the rest of our games helps your House against the teams that are still in the running for the Quidditch Cup."

"You could still get four wins," James pointed out; and Scorpius shrugged.

"Maybe, but even if we could do that; you're sure you can win at least two more; and would win a tie-break over us – and don't actually believe we can win four anyway."

"Okay," James conceded; "but Andrea will be up against Lily every year if she keeps playing – and against my House in those matches."

Scorpius grinned at him. "Thanks for helping me out; since you'd love it if Andrea could win that Seeker duel every year – or at least do that in the years after you're done at Hogwarts."

"What did he tell the two of you to get you to even consider this ridiculous idea?" he asked the girls.

"He told us that you hate the Animorphloser even more than we do; and that was good enough for us," Andrea joked. "Seriously, though, for me; Scorpius knows that I didn't join our junior team to look the fool all season, and while he's helped me a lot; he isn't a very good Seeker. You are. I hope you'll help over the next two weeks, but if you don't; I'm going to come out here every day and follow you around anyway – and try to catch the snitch before you can. Hopefully, I'll still learn a thing or two while doing that."

"You're as audacious as Lily," James told her before turning his attention to Licentia.

"I'm going to train with Scorpius," she advised him. "If we learn some tricks from you while doing warm-ups and flying workouts; I'm okay with that too."

"Finally," Scorpius told him; "you'll get one thing out of this that the Animorphpotty will never, ever have – friends in Slytherin House."

"Well now you've gone and done it!" James declared; pretending to be disgusted. "Now I'll have to take all of this gear off and put it away; since we can't destroy more than a thousand years of school tradition and have any of that sort of thing happening here!"

Andrea laughed. "That's a yes, isn't it?"

"Call the Head of the Aurors," Al declared as he stepped up and got in line to hug Ginny. "There are likely several laws being broken right now; since I'm fairly sure that a mother of three teens is not supposed to look this great!"

"Thank you," Ginny told him after the round of laughter ended. "You look great too – and happy."

"I've managed to stay out of trouble most of the time – and out of the hospital wing; so we've had a pretty good school year so far."

"You've grown another inch too," she decided after their hug. "A hair taller than your father now, I'd say."

"I'll slouch over the holidays; but might not be able to hide it by next summer," Al offered with a grin that had Ginny laughing again as she moved on to hug Gwendolyn next.

"Is Dad running late?" she asked.

"He'll meet up with us at home," Ginny advised her. "The guys needed his help with something – I think that it has something to do with Christmas parties that the bands are doing tonight and tomorrow night."

"Well, he's done fairly well so far; so I guess we can give him a break for missing one pick-up here at King's Cross." She smiled brightly at Ginny. "You really do look amazing, Aunt Ginny. Be careful, or Rose will have you signed up for the Cannons before the end of the holidays."

"I doubt she'll be interested in any of that while she's home," Ginny disagreed. "We may have to come and visit her here in London if we want to see her at all."

"You might not want to do that," Lily offered. "It won't be much fun to just sit around and watch her snog Kyle senseless all day, every day."

"We'll come up for air for visits now and then," Rose promised with a grin. "Have we got everyone rounded up? I've places to be and a boyfriend to snog senseless."

"He won't be back yet," Molly reminded her granddaughter. "If we're ready, though; we do have some visits to do before we head for our homes or elsewhere. George and Ron want us to stop in; since they may not see some of you very often before Christmas Day."

"That's going to feel strange this year," Gwendolyn told them. "This is the longest we've had so far between getting home and Christmas Day. I'm not sure which I like better – the early Christmas and extra holiday time after; or the way it works out this year."

"I'd like a version where we get a month off," Fred offered.

"That's because you're like your father," Molly advised him. "He'd have rather had the rest of the year off and only had school for a month or two a year."

"I like that idea a lot," Fred assured her.

"I don't," Al advised him. "We'd have nine months a year when we couldn't do magic until we're seventeen."

Fred shrugged. "So change the law so we can use magic outside of school. Problem solved."

"And a thousand more created," Ginny told him. "Let's stick with what's been working fairly-well for a millennium or so."

"If we're going to meet up with Uncle Kirley at home, does that mean we won't get to have a shopping night and fast food fix?" Lily asked.

"You've until next Thursday to get most of your shopping done this year," Ginny reminded her. "We thought that it would be nice to have a quiet night at home – and Gwenog has a game night curfew and match tomorrow."

"I suppose that I can survive another day or three without the junk food," Lily decided.

"As if you haven't likely enjoyed a lot of Christmas treats over the past month," Ginny told her – "and we do still have a special desserts and some of your favorite foods planned for dinner."

By then, Al was finished his round of welcome home hugs and kisses; and it wasn't long before they headed for the platform exit. The trip to the Leaky was uneventful; there was a short visit with Hannah and Francine; and then their next stop was the wheezes store. George had apparently really missed his little girl; since he actually took time for a long visit with Roxanne; while Ron kept his welcome home short; got back to work; and drafted Fred and Hugo to help him with stocking shelves. From there, they wandered around Diagon Alley for a while; did a bit of shopping; and then took the Floo Network home – after saying goodbye to Molly and Rose before they headed out into London and over to the Granger's home. Al and Lily took their bags up to their rooms first with help from Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then they met up with Ginny in the kitchen to have a snack while she got started on the dinner prep work with some help from Al and Gwendolyn.

"Where should we start?" Ginny asked. "With school; or home news?"

"Let's go with the weekend plans," Lily suggested. "Will it be non-stop shopping and Quidditch?"

"That actually could be it if you'd like," Ginny agreed. "Your father and I have the Ministry Christmas party tomorrow night; and Gwenog will be there because the Weird Sisters are playing at it – though she'll be late if the Harpies-Prides match goes long. You'll be at their house tomorrow night – and we're going to keep Gwendolyn and Jonah here tonight; since Kirley is going to be busy with the band tomorrow morning too."

"That so works for us so far," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "Do I want to know if we've been drafted for cousins' babysitting service tomorrow night at my house?"

"Not if you're hoping for a 'no' on that one," Ginny joked. "I don't think you're booked for a huge gang like for the wedding last summer; but you might have the baby."

"We'll let Al take care of him," Lily suggested to Gwendolyn. "Maybe he has a banishing charm seashell by now that'll help with dirty diapers."

"Wouldn't that just put the mess into Wizard's space?" Jonah asked. "Could it end up on other stuff that's there with it – wherever 'there' is?"

"I've never arrived anywhere after apparating with anything gross on me," Ginny teased. "As far as I know; nothing in Wizard's space actually bumps into anything else."

"That's likely for the best," Lily suggested with a grin for Al. "It'd be bad for Animorphmagi if someone could go into Wizard's space and steal their clothes while they're in animal form." Ginny stopped what she was doing and turned to stare at Al with an astonished expression on her face.

"Your toys put the clothes into Wizard's space!" she exclaimed. "I knew that; but wasn't thinking about it that way until just now. Al, that's extraordinary!" She thought about that; and then laughed. "I'll have to talk that over with Hermione soon. Portkeys are the only thing I can think of off-hand that even comes close; and that isn't the same as what you've come up with for those toys."

"I'd suggest that's too bad," Gwendolyn said with a smile, "since that could be good for sales if kids had to buy new clothes for the doll every time; but I suppose they just wouldn't buy the dolls at all."

"Or there'd be a lot of naked Animorphmagus dolls around all of the time," Lily added. She laughed at the expression on Gwendolyn's face. "Don't go there – some of us don't want that mental picture of your personal Animorphmagus going around naked all the time."

"You don't seem to mind when he's doing that while taking you for a horseback ride," Gwendolyn reminded her; and Lily laughed again.

"Not the same; and you know it. Al's turning red, though; so we should probably move on."

James sat next to Malorie at the one large table that was set up for dinner in the Great Hall. He'd done that at lunchtime too; picked up with her as if they'd talked together every day instead of not even once since the Easter holiday. She'd gone for a walk with him after that; they'd spent the afternoon having the kind of fun they liked to do best together for most of the afternoon; and had only split up so that they could grab showers and get changed before dinner. He was sure they'd get together after dinner too; and Merlin only knew how late they'd stay out. If their afternoon play time was any indication; there was a very good chance that Malorie would try to keep him, um, up all night!

While that was an entertaining thought to ponder; James also assessed the group of teens and tweens staying with him over the holidays. The best-looking Witches were actually Lysandra and Andrea; so hooking up with them was not going to happen – even though Andrea had made the Quidditch work out a lot more fun – and brought a better view to the mix too! She was also still a kid by comparison; and it had been a while since he'd been interested in snogging twelve or thirteen-year old Witches. Lysandra was old-enough to be of more interest to him, and she'd been the second-hottest Witch in that stupid musical on Saturday night; but he wasn't even sure that she was into Wizards at all. She certainly wasn't dating anyone this year; and he couldn't remember if she'd gone to any of the dances with a date – though he was almost-positive that she hadn't been with any one guy at the Halloween dance.

He turned his attention to Licentia Nott next, but then dismissed her out-of-hand. He'd never be able to look at her without seeing the resemblance to her brothers. She didn't help herself out at all with the clothes she picked or with how she did her hair, and probably could be half-decent looking if she gave it a try; but he couldn't imagine ever being interested in her that way. Unfortunately for him – though it wasn't all bad; Malorie was the next-best of the rest. Again, if their afternoon adventure was any hint of what to expect for the next two weeks; she would manage to keep him happy – and busy – until Patricia, Bristol, and Rosinda returned from their holiday.

That thought had him smiling. Bristol might have been off that list – at least temporarily; but they'd hooked up for one memorable little blast of fun on Wednesday night that had him sure she'd need to come back on a regular basis for more of what Mackenzie obviously couldn't give her – and he was okay with that!

"I've lost you again," Malorie said quietly; the lilt in her voice tinged with amusement.

James grinned at her. "I seem to have had a problem with getting my brain to work properly all afternoon," he advised her. "I wonder why?"

"Or don't," she added; her grin turning decidedly wicked now. "If you're really not sure, though; we can go somewhere and, um, talk about it after dinner."

Ginny enjoyed her time with the four kids while working in the kitchen and waiting for Harry, Kirley, and Gwenog to join them after work. Having a quiet first evening at home with them was something she was looking forward to as well – especially since she'd already had a very busy work week while following the Harpies and Prides ahead of their match on Saturday. She was working that full game, including the interviews after the match this time; but she'd been overdue for getting more of those assignments for the holiday matches and it worked out reasonably-well this year to do that. Kirley ended up being first to arrive, but Gwenog and Harry weren't far behind – and neither had been held up at work for a change; so they had time for a visit and drinks too before they all moved into the dining room and sat down to eat.

"What are you kids each going to need to schedule for team practices, studying, and anything else you have on the go?" Gwenog asked not long after they'd all pretty much finished filling their plates. "We've a very busy three days booked over the Christmas weekend, and Kirley and the boys are working New Year's Eve too; but we can likely be flexible the rest of the time."

"Except for the Harpies' play day," Lily reminded her. Two of us won't be booking practices or studying on that day."

"You were sent an invitation again?" Gwenog asked in faux-surprise. "I thought I'd heard somewhere that you were going to play for the Cannons and we shouldn't bother to send one!"

"Reverse psychology will not be necessary on me," Lily advised her after joining in for the laughs. "I am going to play for the Harpies – and if Aunt Gabrielle started that rumor; I am so going to win our duel at that scrimmage!"

"I'm tempted to tell you she did just to see that," Gwenog said half-seriously. "I should also likely be worried that I'm cracking Cannons jokes now."

"Probably," Ginny agreed. "If Lily keeps winning all of her matches as quickly as the first one for Gryffindor this season; nobody would have time to get the one-sixty lead on the Cannons anymore."

"Did Rose slip a charmed something into your pocket; and Aunt Gwenog is sitting too close to you?" Lily accused. "You should both be the last people talking up the Cannons to me."

"Not that I noticed," Ginny answered. "We've gotten off-track from Gwenog's question, though; so let's get back to that."

"Olivia's going to let us know about our practices," Al answered first. "She's hoping for two a week, but the only way we could really do that is if we have them on Mondays and Wednesdays both weeks." He looked at Gwendolyn inquiringly next. "We'll likely need two study sessions; but should do them once a week – or we can start our Potions assignment together and finish it on our own."

"Maybe we should just do that one on our own anyway – or at least do that for everyone else," Gwendolyn suggested; and then turned her attention to her mother. "We're more than half-way done our holiday revision. One assignment we need to do over several days; and that Potion Al's referring to will take about a week from start to finish."

"If James got that same potion assigned last year; it must've been tough for him to get it done on that Sunday night," Lily joked.

"Impossible, actually; but I have no idea whether Professor Slughorn changes that up from year-to-year," Gwendolyn told her. "My point, though, was that we could get everything except those two assignments done in a half day."

"Jonah and I will need more time than that," Lily told them. "That doesn't seem fair!"

"Did you and Jonah work on your holiday revision all week like we did?" Gwendolyn countered. "We missed out on some of the holiday fun there; and hope to have more of it while we're here."

"Partying all week seemed like such a brilliant idea at the time," Lily pretended to grouse. "We'll need two study days plus some work on our own," she advised their parents. "Fred's looking at Mondays and Wednesdays for our practices too; and would like to do them here at least for next week; since his Dad will be at the store day and night through Christmas."

"He might be too if Ron drafts Fred and Hugo every day," Ginny suggested. "I can work with that."

"Ryan hasn't confirmed anything for our team," Jonah told his mother. We have the kids day thing with the Prides; some of our team mates are going to be away some of the time; and he doesn't seem all that worried about it if we can't practice much when we have until March for our next match."

"You can always come over and train with me," Lily assured him. "I'll be out at least a little every day that I can play."

"Pauline's going with Monday and Wednesday afternoon practices so that we'll likely have the warmest too-cold part of the day," Gwendolyn advised her Mum and Dad next. "We'll only have two weeks until our next match once we're back; so I'll likely be busy with that for the entire afternoon each day."

"Too bad, so sad for you, Al," Lily teased. "Maybe we should study on both Monday mornings," she suggested to Jonah. "Then we'd have the rest of the week to play – or shop."

That comment sent their chat off on a different track; and Al was mostly happy to just sit back and enjoy the show. There was a lot to talk about as they ate. Kirley was busier than usual with the band; and was sure it had a lot to do with their participation in the new Christmas album. The Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were going to be busy over the holidays too; including working at Christmas parties over the next week; and New Year's Eve the week after that. Gwenog had her work with the Harpies; and would have issues working around the holidays each Friday – particularly with their match the day after New Year's Day; and Ginny was working both Harpies' matches and a third match on the middle Saturday. Harry was working the Christmas weekend; and had the other weekends off – though he was, as always, on call if needed by his Aurors.

He didn't have any issues with that on Friday evening; and they all had fun hanging out together and not really doing much of anything for a handful of hours. After dinner, the guys took care of the clean-up; they watched a couple of Christmas shows on the mirror network; and then had a bedtime snack break before Kirley took Gwenog home ahead of her game night curfew. Harry and Ginny stayed up and watched a Muggle Christmas favorite with the kids after that; went to bed; and pretended not to notice that the two younger couples were setting up for a movie marathon that was sure to lead to a pair of sofa sleepovers. Lily took care of setting up the next movie; Al and Gwendolyn got drinks and snacks refills; and they were soon cuddled under warm blankets in pairs and watching the start of one of Lily's all-time favorite Muggle Christmas movies – the Grinch.

"I am never going to get tired of watching this every year," Lily told the others. "Mum likes all of those romance movies; but I like the comedies the best."

"Maybe we'll do a 'Home Alone' marathon sometime over the next week," Al suggested; and Lily grinned at him.

"That'd be fun – and a good excuse for another sofa sleepover. How many of those movies have the Muggles made now? Thirty or forty?"

"Only five," Al advised her. "You're likely adding in some of the knock-offs that weren't part of the original series and exaggerating the rest."

Lily nodded. "Okay, but there are others we could pick instead – like the Santa Clause movies. They're funny too."

"What's your favorite, Al?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Santa Slay," he joked – "that's spelled s-l-a-y; and I'm kidding. I like a lot of the Muggle Christmas movies; so I probably can't pick one. I like at least a dozen versions of A Christmas Carol; probably more. They have so many Christmas movies and shows; I doubt that anyone could ever watch all of them."

"We'll get there with the mirror network eventually," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Is that the 'all-of-us' we; or are you and Al going into making mirror network movies?" Lily asked with a grin. "Bristol and Mackenzie were brilliant in their show; but you guys would have been even better."

"No, we wouldn't have been; because we'd have never auditioned," Gwendolyn disagreed. "Weren't you the one complaining earlier about the Cannons' jokes? What's up with trying to get me doing something other than playing Quidditch for the Harpies?"

"It's called multi-tasking," Lily explained dismissively. "You could make movies in the off-season."

"Sure, except for the years we'll want to play in the Quidditch World Cup, and while we haven't been directly involved in it in a while for our families; winning a Europe Cup or two with the Harpies could be fun too."

"I haven't even followed that in years," Lily said thoughtfully. "When will they have the next one?"

"Twenty twenty-five," Al supplied. "They'll skip the one that would have been in twenty twenty-two because that's a Quidditch World Cup year."

"It seems as though we just had the last one," Jonah interjected. "That's only the summer after next."

"But too soon for us to play for our national team," Lily lamented. "The timing is all off for us; and we'll likely end up waiting until twenty-thirty."

"You don't expect to get picked in twenty-six?" Gwendolyn asked. Viktor Krum played for Bulgaria the summer before his last year of school."

"I'd love that," Lily assured her; "but I'll still be at Hogwarts; and they'll have players like Pauline and Alex to pick from that year based on more than a half-season of matches to just two for me. Bulgaria didn't have anyone better; while we'll have lots of them."

"You didn't include James in that group," Jonah pointed out; and Lily grinned at him.

"No, but I might have to add him if he ever starts winning matches against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"Let's hope he doesn't," Gwendolyn suggested. "I might be okay with catching the snitch for the loss for him; but that's as far as I'll go."

"Do you think that he's already hooked up with that Hufflepuff Witch again this year?" Lily asked next.

"Yes, unless there are other options he likes better," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's not talk about James anymore. Things have been better at school this year so far, but I doubt that would be true if he was sitting here in the room with us right now; and we're all happier with having separate holidays."

"Not all of us," Al disagreed. "Mum and Dad would be happier if James would come home for Christmas and want to be part of our family again."

"True," Lily agreed; "but they're happier with this than the constant fighting going on up until a year ago. James is doing a bit better, though; so I'll hope he'll keep improving. Merlin only knows what things will be like in a few years."

In general, Al knew that Lily was right about that, and he certainly hadn't foreseen the twists and turns his life had taken since starting at Hogwarts, but he also knew for certain that James' hatred of him wasn't going to diminish anytime soon; and was likely to grow the longer it had to simmer without any chances to vent or retaliate. Putting those thoughts behind, he went on to enjoy watching the movie while cuddling with Gwendolyn. Sure, Muggle movies could sometimes seem ridiculous when viewed from the perspective of a Witch or Wizard with true magical power; but that didn't keep them from being entertained. Lily helped with that as she kept a running monologue going while the Grinch rampaged through Whoville with his pranks; went on to steal Christmas; and then saved the little girl before proving that even the worst sort of Who – who is really more of a 'what' – could be redeemed!

"You know, the Grinch is sort of like a before and after character with James as the before part of him; and Al the after," Lily teased as they let the credits roll and listened to one of her favorite Muggle Christmas songs.

"Especially the part where he saves the girl," Jonah offered – "though the Grinch takes her on that crazy sleigh ride instead of flying off into the sunset on a broom."

"Maybe the drama club should do a version of that show into a musical for next year," Gwendolyn suggested. "They could have a village of House Elves instead; with a Wizard dressed up as some hairy, deformed version of an elf."

"I'd rather see a really hot guy instead," Lily offered. "Maybe that could be the deformity from the House Elves' perspective."

"That's an idea," Gwendolyn mused; "though the pranking and being mean might be tougher to pull off; since in that scenario; it'd make more sense for that person to be nice instead."

"Tell that to James," Lily countered. "He'd be perfect for that role."

Talking about the idea of a magical version of the movie kept them entertained for a while; they started another show; and none of them lasted to the end of it before falling asleep. Al must have been tired, because Harry woke all of them in the morning – after taking pictures first; and then the rush was on to get ready for a day of shopping and Quidditch while he finished making breakfast for six. Ginny had Gwendolyn and Lily share her master bathroom while Al and Jonah took turns using the other bathroom, but the guys still made it to the kitchen ahead of the girls; since Ginny also had some hair and dress-up fun with the girls too before dazzling their boys when they arrived as the food was hitting the table. They had fun making their shopping plans while having that meal; cleaned up; and then headed for Diagon Alley. They didn't have any cousins with them for that first blast of Christmas shopping; and that felt more than a little strange for all of them.

"Is this a sign that we're growing up?" Gwendolyn asked as she and Al wandered around the book store – one of their first stops of the morning. "I'm not surprised that Rose picked spending the morning with Kyle over anything else; but the rest of your cousins are all busy with other things too."

"Probably," Al agreed. "There's also a good chance that quite a few of our cousins will choose to avoid the Muggle world as much as possible – just as Teddy and Victoire do."

"They live right here in London," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al nodded.

"They do, but I never hear them talk about going to malls or doing other Muggle things. Sure, we all have to pass through the Muggle world; but most Witches and Wizards don't get involved in it the way that we do. There likely isn't many more than a dozen students at Hogwarts that aren't Muggle-born who have gone to see a Muggle movie in a theater."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Do you think we should buy a bunch of tickets and send them out to all of the Slytherin students for Christmas?" she joked. "That could be very entertaining – especially if they were all together for watching that show."

"Depends on the movie you'd have them go and see," Al offered; grinning too. "A disaster movie might just give them good ideas for ways they could take over the world."

They had a bit of fun with that train of thought, but they also actually had lists of gifts to buy; and they spent the morning picking out most of the magical gifts they wanted to get for the members of their families and friends that they wanted to buy for. While most of that could be done together, the girls and guys split up once for some of the shopping; Al and Gwendolyn did their own thing when looking for gifts for Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Jonah; and they eventually ended up back at the Leaky with time to spare ahead of their game-day lunch. That allowed Harry and Ginny to welcome everyone; they all got their lunch orders in early; and Al and Gwendolyn got to have lunch with Rose while Lily and Jonah opted to sit with Hugo and some of the other cousins.

"You seem to have survived a half-day or more of non-stop snogging without any serious injuries," Gwendolyn teased as Rose sat down with them after a round of hugs. "It's great to see you this happy again."

"We only snogged a quarter of a day tops," Rose joked. "Kyle and I were at the mall doing Christmas shopping this morning; and we'll get together again after dinner too."

"Will you be doing any family Christmas stuff with him?" Gwendolyn asked; and Rose nodded happily.

"Yes – tomorrow and next weekend; and he'll be with me for our Granger family Christmas too. The only problem I have is the need to lie to him about what I'm doing when we can't hang out together – like while we're at the Quidditch match today."

"Just think of those fibs as the little white lies we all use to play nice with everyone else," Gwendolyn suggested.

"I try," Rose assured her; "but that's getting more complicated as Kyle gets to know me better."

"Maybe you could make up a storyline that works better to explain the lies," Gwendolyn told her. "Your Mum and Dad are really super spies working for the crown; and you and Hugo go off and help them regularly on their missions because nobody suspects parents with kids of that sort of thing."

"You were watching Muggle Christmas movies last night," Rose accused. "Is there a new one out that I haven't heard about yet with spies that save Christmas?"

"We watched the Grinch and fell asleep and missed most of one of the Christmas Carol movies," Gwendolyn confirmed; "but I can't even think of any Christmas spy movies."

"Well, I can't think of any off-hand either; but your idea wouldn't work anyway – or at least I don't think it would work with Kyle. I'm fairly-sure he knows I'm lying to him about what I'm doing this afternoon; so he'd never believe anything that convoluted – especially when you're talking about my parents."

"Your Dad was an Auror," Al reminded her. "Spying was actually his thing for years – and he even technically worked for the crown a time or too – even though the royal family would have never known that."

Rose laughed. "Okay, I'll give you that point; but I doubt that any Muggle is ever going to look at my Dad and be able to picture him as a super spy without laughing at the notion."

"Then go back to plan 'A' and just snog Kyle senseless on a regular basis so he won't care about the lies anymore," Gwendolyn told Rose seriously. "Problem solved."

"Temporarily," Rose agreed. "It'll likely work to get us through the Christmas holidays – and maybe Easter too."

"One step at a time," Gwendolyn counseled. "Instead of going on about that, though; tell me about anything you saw at the mall this morning that I'll want to check out when we go there tomorrow. I really want to get a couple of new outfits for Christmas."

James landed on the pitch along with Andrea; and then they both sat down on the same bench while Scorpius and Licentia continued their Chaser duel above them. It was near to dinnertime, though, and they all needed to get back to the castle soon; so they'd ended their Seeker duel with James' most-recent snitch catch. He'd had a great day so far; starting with a trip to town for some Christmas shopping; lunch at the Three Broomsticks; and then the Quidditch workout they'd been doing for the last half of the afternoon.

"I'm going to go back to hating you if you keep getting every single snitch catch," Andrea told him after taking a long drink of half-frozen water.

"You're doing well-enough," James told her seriously. "I'm bigger, stronger, and have years more experience than you do so far. You've got some talent, so if you really want to play badly-enough; put in the time and work; and you've a good chance of being a really good Seeker too."

"But never as good as you?" she challenged; and James laughed.

"Merlin – I hope not. That might seriously mess with my plan to be the best Seeker in the history of the game!" He smiled as he looked at her speculatively. "Do you really want to do more than play for your House team? I'd have thought that a career in the show would be out of the question for you."

"Sure, because the idea of being some rich Wizard's trophy wife must sound so wonderful to you," she stated scathingly. "Wizards!"

"Yeah, well, good on you if you choose your own path," James told her in a tone that was almost gentle. "I can relate to that; since it's been no picnic being the eldest son of the great and powerful savior of the Wizarding World, Harry Potter."

"Destroyer of all things good and right, you mean," Andrea joked; and James laughed.

"To-may-toe; to-mah-toe," he countered. "We should change the subject, though; or risk finding out that we have too much in common. You're Slytherin; and it's against the rules for me to like you at all."

Ditto that for me, Gryffindor," she assured him. She looked up and watched as Scorpius scored a goal against Licentia. "We're quite the lot of misfits," she mused. "I don't just want to be some prize pawn for my family to use to make more bonds with the other wealthy pureblood families; Licentia wants to be treated as an equal to her big brothers at Quidditch; Scorpius wants his family pride and honor returned to him; and you want out from under the shadow of your parents' towering reputations."

"We're all more than our families see," James offered; and Andrea turned to look at him again.

"You're more than I was willing to see up until even a day ago," she advised him; and then grinned. "Don't go getting too puffed up about that; since your starting point for that was very, very low."

Lunch at the Leaky had been a blast of fun; and then their gang had gone on to Exmoor stadium with enough time before the start of the match to pick up hot drinks, snacks, and souvenirs before going to find their seats and settling into them under warm blankets. Al and Gwendolyn shared a blanket with Rose so that they could continue to chat together during the game, though Hermione ended up getting teased by the other adults a bit when she ended up under a blanket with Kirley because her kids had opted to sit with their friends instead. While it was cold out, there were only a few bits of snow in the air; and no major bad weather was expected during the afternoon.

"I haven't thought about it much, but Hannah must really hate missing most of Alice's games with the Pride while she's stuck working at the Leaky," Rose mused with a nod toward the other side of the pitch where the season's ticket holders for the Prides were sitting. "Professor Longbottom is over there with Francine; though I'm a bit surprised that she's there too when we heard they've a big Christmas party going on at the Leaky tonight."

"That shouldn't be a problem for Francine working the party unless this turns into a marathon match," Gwendolyn suggested.

"If that happens; your Dad will need to leave," Al reminded her – "and Mum and Dad have that same Christmas party to be at tonight."

"Well, let's hope that isn't a problem; since we also have babysitting to do tonight," Gwendolyn reminded him.

They hadn't actually expected that to be a problem while talking about it; and were soon immersed in the match once it got underway. As usual, Meghan and Vicky were closely-matched at Keeper, but Victoire, Candice, and Hailey still had a distinct advantage over Alice, Daniella, and their Chaser partner – and that showed up on the scoreboard right from the start. Erin fought as hard as always against Gabrielle; so the battle above the pitch was fierce as all of the players on both teams fought hard for every little victory and loss. For the Chasers, the Harpies didn't quite have a two-to-one advantage on the scoring, but that did begin to add up as the match rolled on an on.

In the first hour, six goals to four wasn't that big of a deal as the match continued into the second hour. one-twenty to seventy looked better for the Harpies heading into the third hour; and one-ninety to one hundred looked great by the start of the fourth hour. What proved to be a big difference in their perennial rivalry, though, was that Erin Connelly did not run out of gas as she often did now in the long matches. She fought on and on; and Gabrielle never earned any serious opportunities to make the snitch catch unopposed – or thanks to one of Erin's infamous high-risk catch failures. While the match was brilliant to watch, some of the spectators in the stadium, unfortunately, had to start making some tough decisions by the start of the fifth hour.

Kirley had no choice but to leave then and get to the Magick Hall to get set up for the Ministry of Magic Christmas party. Babysitting services at the McCormack house didn't need to start until shortly-before the doors would be opened for that party, but Al and Gwendolyn decided to go along with Kirley so that someone would be at the house when those kids were dropped off – and so that they could get everything ready for hosting Gwendolyn's cousins for the night – since they were all going to be there for the sleepover too. Lily and Jonah were able to stay at the party because Ginny could get them home after she finished working the game; but Harry and Hermione both had responsibilities with their jobs this year that required them to be at the party on time – and they opted to leave the game early too. Rose and Hugo stayed longer because Molly and Arthur offered to get them back to London; though they would need to leave the game early too if it went on too long – or miss the dinner part of the party and just go to the dance. Others had similar issues; though the reasons were varied; since it wasn't just about the Ministry Christmas party for many of the spectators.

Al and Gwendolyn heard about some of those stories later, but they didn't really mind getting out of the cold or the work they did at her house instead; and they were able to watch the rest of the match on a combination of their portable mirrors and the larger mirrors in the sitting room and play room. Their first kids were dropped off at a bit before six-thirty; the last was dropped off at seven; and they all had fun playing games; watching Quidditch; and basically goofing around. The marathon Quidditch match didn't end well for the Harpies and their fans; and that was especially tough for them because they'd had a three-eighty to two-fifty lead when Erin ended the match by actually catching the snitch with another of her desperation, high-risk attempts that failed the majority of the time. She was the heroine of the day for the Prides this time, though; and that was impressive to pull off a bit more than seven and a half hours into a frigid winter match!

"Why are they hugging?" Brett asked Al and Gwendolyn. Greta's seven-year old brother had been playing with Al – and with a pair of Animormhagus action figures; but had been watching the game too. "I thought that they hated each other."

"Gabrielle and Erin have been rivals for a long time," Gwendolyn told her cousin; "but they don't hate each other."

"Nuh-uh," he disagreed. "That's not true. Everyone says so – even your Mum and Aunt Meghan – I've heard her say it!"

"I'm sure you've heard them say that Erin or Gabrielle hate losing to each other, and Erin might really even not like Gabrielle very much because she doesn't win their Seeker duels very often; but I'd hope that they don't really hate anyone." She smiled at his look of doubt. "You hate losing games to Greta and Christy; but you don't hate them," she offered for an example.

"That's different – they're my sisters; and Mum and Dad say I have to love them – even when they make me mad." He pointed to the screen. "They're not sisters."

"True, but we should feel that way about everyone – not just our family. Anyway, in this case they hugged because Gabrielle was congratulating Erin for winning such a brilliant Seeker duel and match. It's not that big of a deal."

"Okay," Brett said agreeably. "I'm hungry. Can I have another snack?"

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "While the parents are away; the kids get to do whatever they want – within reason; and as long as they don't get the babysitters in trouble tomorrow."

"I'm not a baby!" Brett declared.

"I know that," she assured him. "It's not my fault that the grown-ups picked that word for the job Al and I have tonight. File a protest with them – or come up with a better name for it."

"It's dumb anyway," he said scornfully. "You don't sit on the babies or kids you watch."

"That's a good thing for the babies," Gwendolyn agreed.

"Especially the ones with the stinky diapers," Brett offered with a giggle. "That could get very messy."

That devolution in their little chat ended in kid-rated hilarity; and Al and Gwendolyn got on with the play time fun. They also switched from Quidditch to Christmas shows for the kids; and had another hour of play time before Ginny dropped off Lily and Jonah – and then hurried off again to get cleaned up; dressed up; and over to the Ministry party. A few additional kids that had been at the game were dropped off in between; so they had all of them by then – and a few of the younger kids had already fallen asleep and been put to bed for the night by the time Lily and Jonah had gotten changed and joined the fun in the play room.

"We should have come with you – though it was still brilliant watching the entire game at the stadium," Lily told them. "It'll be morning before I'm thawed out."

"You've missed out on a lot of fun around here too," Gwendolyn advised her. "Before we get off-track with that, though; tell us about what went on with the family after we left. Did Rose stay to the end too? She had plans with Kyle tonight."

"She didn't," Lily answered. "Grandma and Grandpa left it up to her – and to Hugo; but she opted to leave early so that she could be on time for Kyle – and Grandma and Grandpa still had just enough time to get to the Ministry party in time for dinner – though they'd have missed all of the social hour."

"So Rose won't even know who won until tomorrow – or later tonight at best," Gwendolyn said with a shake of her head. "I'd hate that."

"She's a Cannons fan," Al reminded her. "Maybe she doesn't care who won today."

"Maybe not, but Aunt Gwenog isn't happy about the loss," Lily reported. "I hope that doesn't mess up the party for her tonight."

"I'll hope that the party helps," Gwendolyn told her. "It's the total for the first half of the season that she hates."

"Four losses is more than normal for our team," Lily agreed. "Eight and four is still pretty good, though; and we can hope for better in the second-half."

"Let's hope for that with the next match," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "We've lost the last few first matches of the New Year; and back-to-back losses would suck for us."

"That one is against the Falcons," Al reminded them. "I'll hope that our team doesn't get beat up again."

"Mum is not going to let our team lose to the Falcons twice in a season," Gwendolyn insisted. "Not – gonna – happen!"

Al laughed; and she grinned ruefully when she realized why. "Oh shut it," she told him. "I am not required to make sense while spouting off about our favorite team!"

"That's okay," Lily told her. "I'm just glad that we know for sure that we will win that first match of the New Year this time around. I haven't liked those losses."

"Have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas; may your team win twice," Jonah sang; and Lily smiled at him.

"No chance of that this year – again; but nice timing. Maybe we can put a few more kids to sleep with a Christmas song sing-along."

They didn't do that right away, since most of the kids didn't want to stop playing to do that, but they did eventually have some music fun; followed that up with some 'quiet time' that included lots of cuddling while watching Christmas shows; and then it took Al and Gwendolyn until near to one o'clock before they had the last kid in bed and sleeping. That was just in time for baby Johnny to wake up and want to be changed and fed a bottle; so they had an extra little cuddle buddy while doing that and continuing to watch shows with Lily and Jonah and keeping an ear out for any issues with the other kids. At five months old, Johnny was very entertaining – when he wasn't a messy or unhappy handful, but he'd been happy and pretty good for Al and Gwendolyn; and he was cuntent to be held by both of them while having his bottle.

Ministry parties tended to go on late into the night, so Lily and Jonah were asleep too by the time Gwenog got home. Kirley wasn't with her because he'd needed to stay later and help with the band's end of the post-party tear-down. Even using magic, that took a while; since they brought everything with them – including the magical sound and lighting gear. That sometimes seemed weird to Al, but then he preferred to play his guitar instead of just using magic on it, and beyond that; Wizards and Witches didn't really even need the instruments; since it was possible to simply use magic to create identical soundwaves. Gwenog was exhausted by then, so she only had a short chat with Al and Gwendolyn before going to bed; and Kirley basically did the same thing when he got back – though he did that with Al because Gwendolyn had dozed off by then too. Al hadn't needed to stay awake, but for some reason; he felt the need to do that until everyone was safely home; and he was happy to go off to sleep and cuddle with Gwendolyn for a few more hours until it'd be time to get up and going again.

James woke groggily; and it took a while for his wine-hazed mind to figure out where he was. A few moments later; he was able to work out what woke him. He shifted around; freed the arm that had gone numb from under Malorie; and then briefly considered waking the rest of the way when her body shifted in interesting ways against his as she moved around in her sleep to snggule against him again.

Time enough for more of that sort of fun in the morning, he decided; and then drifted off to sleep again.

Al wasn't able to avoid waking Gwendolyn when he woke up, and they shared a few kisses and caresses before he went and took his turn getting ready for the day; but she was content to drift off to sleep again – until Johnny decided that she'd had enough rest and she had to go and take care of him. She beat Al to that because he'd needed to answer the baby call from the kitchen by then; so he went back to work on breakfast for their entire gang while she took care of the kids with some eventual help from Lily, Jonah, and the older cousins. Gwenog and Kirley eventually came to life too; though they were the least-enthusiastic members of their group while having breakfast.

With a big Christmas shopping day ahead of them, having the parents come for their kids sooner instead of later helped out with allowing them to get to their own fun plans, but there was a delay for that compared to most years; and Harry and Ginny came over and spent more than an hour with the McCormacks before the last kids were picked up and they could head for their favorite mall. That had given them time to make a few plans while the parents took on an extra hit or two of coffee and caffeine; so they were organized and ready to shop once they were in London; at their favorite mall; and ready to wade into the fray that was the annual Muggle Christmas crush.

"Two sofa sleepovers down; what should we come up with to have another one tonight?" Lily asked Gwendolyn as they wandered around their first clothing store.

"We are getting together to study at your house in the morning; and Mum will want to get to work on her game plan for the Falcons tonight; so you could invite Jonah and me to stay with you again," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin that was more for their mothers than for Lily.

"How about if you go with the sleepover part of that without the sofas and cuddle buddies this time?" Ginny suggested. "I need to work in the morning too; so that'd save us some time."

"As long as you do plan on spending some time at home with me over the holidays," Gwenog added. "I haven't seen you very much so far this weekend."

"I can be home every night for the rest of the week," Gwendolyn suggested – "though I'd be okay with having Al and Lily spend one of those nights with us again too. We'll get to spend most of three days together over the holiday weekend too."

"Sure, just you, me, and fifty to a hundred people at a time," Gwenog countered. "You can have Al and Lily over for the night you're babysitting while Kirley and I are at the Harpies' Christmas party if you want, but that's on a work night; so we won't be out late – it's really just going to be an extended dinner party for the team, staff, and some VIP's this year."

"I liked getting to go to the party last year with the rest of the kids," Gwendolyn assured her; "but it was a bit too much to do that and then have the double-family Christmas so soon after that."

"Which is why we're not doing the bigger party with the Harpies; and splitting up the family Christmas," Gwenog advised her. "I'll try to enjoy the family Christmases while we can; since it may not be much longer before your cousins will be too busy with their own extended families to do that with us every year."

"We'll have that issue with our family eventually too," Ginny said with a nod. "Even now, Teddy and Victoire are having issues juggling their combined families – including Andromeda's gang of new in-laws."

"She's been remarried for quite a while," Gwenog pointed out; and Ginny laughed.

"True, but the 'new' is just to distinguish them from the 'old' Tonks' in-laws," she explained. "Andromeda and Teddy do still keep in touch with his grandfather's family."

"Sometimes, it is so nice to just have one family to keep track of," Lily offered with a grin. "What do you think, Mum?" she asked; holding up a top she'd been admiring.

"For a Christmas gift for James?" Ginny teased. "I don't think it's his color. For you? Try it on and let's decide."

James hadn't been felling particularly-well when he woke up on Sunday morning, but Malorie had diverted his attention from his discomfort for a while; and he was starting to feel half-human again after downing cups of hot chocolate and two plates full of food. He hadn't been expecting any deliveries when the Owl Post arrived; so he was surprised when his mother's owl, Snowflake – the second, delivered a package for him. He accepted it, ignored the silly bird when she insulted him in her owl way because he hadn't had a treat for her; and then set the package aside instead of opening it.

"You can't just leave me hanging like this," Malorie told him. "What'd you get?"

"It's from Mum," he hedged; but Malorie wouldn't let him off the hook.

"Come on, James. I never get Owl Posts. Show me what you've got!" He grinned at her then; and she laughed. "Don't go there – right now," she chided. "Please?"

He gave in; pulled the package back; and quickly had it opened.

"It's one of those new RevisionWizard starter sets for your year!" Malorie exclaimed loudly-enough for everyone at the table to hear; and he groaned silently. "That's brilliant, James," she added more quietly as she noticed his reaction. "What's wrong? That's an amazing gift! I wish I could have one for the rest of my NEWT year; but couldn't get one even if I used all of the money I'm allowed for buying supplies for the entire year."

James shrugged. "It's as I've told you before – Mum and Dad give me stuff like this because they think they have to keep up appearances. It'll likely help with my work too; but I hate it."

"Because of why they do it?" she guessed; and then her eyes opened wide. "Because your brother made them!" she whispered. "I'm sorry, James – I should've realized."

He shrugged again. "It's okay. I was sure this would happen – I just expected to get it on Christmas morning. Mum must've decided that I'd be better off having it early so I can use it on my holiday revision."

Malorie laughed. "Well, then she doesn't even know you as well as I do; since you won't be starting that until two weeks from today!"

The girls had gone off on their own so that they could shop for clothes as well as gifts for a while; so Harry and Kirley were on their own with Al and Jonah for the first hour or so. They started their shopping with fun stops too – just not the same kind of fun as the girls were having.

"Are you looking for games for your brother?" Harry asked Al as they wandered into one of the video game shops. "He wouldn't be able to use them until next summer."

"I've heard there's a new portable system out," Al answered. "If it looks good; I'll get him one – and some games to go with it."

"Let's take a look at them, but if they're a bit on the pricey side; your mother and I might be willing to go in on it with you."

Al smiled at him. "You do know that isn't really an issue for me, right?"

"It is if you're planning on saving up to help Rose with her dream," Harry countered with a laugh. "Besides, if we help out with something new and cool; he might get over being mad at us for the RevisionWizard he likely got in the Owl Post this morning."

"Let's not go there; since I really dislike the way he talks about you and Mum about things like that."

"You mean how we only buy him stuff like that to keep up appearances and never get him anything he really wants?" Harry asked. "It's at least a little funny that he can convince his friends of things like that; while nobody believed me if I talked about some of the gifts my aunt and uncle gave me."

"Maybe, but it's still wrong," Al insisted. "On one hand, he pretends to be less than he is; while believing he's more on the other."

"That's actually the rest of us you're talking about for the first part of that," Harry amended; "so it works out logically – for James."

"He wants to believe that," Al agreed; "but he feels both too – even if he would never admit it." He paused; but then shook his head. "Let's just check out that new game system and move on."

Scorpius was smiling happily as Lysandra came into sight at the end of the hallway in front of the Room of Requirements. He'd already created 'their' room; and waited for her to join him while he held the door open for them. She preceded him into the room; waited for him to close the door; and then hugged and kissed him enthusiastically.

"I need to set up my Potions gear and get our assignment started," she advised him. "Nobody's likely to ask for proof; but I'll have it ready if needed to explain why I'm disappearing nearly as often as you do."

"Well, if our parents were as awful as James' are; we'd just be able to make up a bunch of fake work with that new RevisionWizard study app on our mirrors."

"We'll likely both get a set for Christmas anyway," Lysandra predicted; "so maybe our parents are as bad as his – if just in different ways. How'd your Quidditch practice go?"

"Really good – though it's too cold out for us to call it fun. Andrea hates losing to James, and hasn't caught the snitch even once during their duels, but he is teaching her a lot of tricks; and she's learning how to catch the snitch the way he does – and defend against other Seekers' runs for the snitch too."

"She'll only be happy about that if it pays off in wins," Lysandra suggested; and Scorpius shrugged.

"I know, but now that I've been stuck with years of futility for that; I'm learning to have more realistic goals – at least until I can get a team around me that doesn't include so many incompetents."

"Well, you might get to have Andrea on your team in our NEWT year – unless she can beat G-Air at tryouts in our sixth too. Maybe our team will have a chance to win some matches during one of those years."

Scorpius laughed. "You mean in the same year that the Animorphputty and is baby sister are playing for Gryffindor with their cousins and a few of the Wood kids? That's very optomistic of you."

Lysandra laughed too. "Okay, things might not get any better between now and then for our team," she conceded. "I'm glad that your workouts are going well, but while you're busy with that; it's a bit boring around here for me."

Scorpius grinned; stepped up behind her because she'd already started putting her Potions gear out on the table by then; put his arms around her waist and pulled her close while leaning in to nuzzle her neck.

"Let's see what we can do about making life a bit more fun for you, then; since that just doesn't seem fair for you at all."

Lysandra had time to laugh again, but then they both had something better to do for a while – and getting her Potions assignment started just had to wait for a while!

Lily was very happy to finally get a fast food fix when they had lunch in the food court. They'd all made good progress with their holiday shopping by then, but they didn't tie up a table at the food court for long – just enough time to enjoy the food that was so bad for them and compare notes on the shopping. They couldn't talk specific gifts for some of that; but they did talk about gifts they each got for other members of the family. for the guys, that was partly to get approval for some decisions; but they hadn't actually expected to have any problems with making returns and then going in search of 'better' gifts.

When they waded back out into the mall again, they stayed together for most of the rest of the afternoon; worked through the rest of their gifts lists; and then they all went back to the Potter's home to have dinner there. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah took a side-trip home first to drop off their purchases and pick up book bags and the clothes that the kids would need for their overnight stay and study session. While they did that, Harry and Ginny got to work on dinner; Gwenog was ordered to take a break with a glass or two of wine; and Al and Lily took their shopping bags up to their rooms before returning and taking care of setting the dining room table to be ready for dinner for eight.

That meal wasn't a major event – just another chance to have some fun together and fuel up before Gwenog took Kirley home so that she could get to work on her game and training plans for the Falcon's match; and Harry and Ginny went into the office to do some work too while 'the kids' opted to have a gift-wrapping party in the sitting room while watching more Christmas movies.

"Why didn't you bring the rest of your gifts down here, Al?" Lily asked when he was last to get back to the sitting room. "That can't be half of them."

Al grinned at her. "This is all of the gifts I'll be wrapping with the three of you around – and Mum and Dad in the other room. I only brought the gifts for Grandma, Grandpa, some friends, and the cousins Gwendolyn and I were assigned when they drew names. She has our gifts for her family."

"We could wrap them after we're done babysitting on Wednesday night," Gwendolyn suggested. "Did you bring the games down too?" she asked Al; and he shook his head.

"No, but I should've thought of that. I'll go back up and get them."

"We can do that later," she assured him. "Stay and we'll work on what you have brought with you."

"Okay," Al agreed. "What were you talking about before I interrupted?"

"You," Lily joked. "We can take that up again later."

"We were talking about next weekend," Gwendolyn advised him. "You only have the one family Christmas on Christmas Day; so two of us think that Lily should come with you for our family Christmases on Saturday and Sunday; and she thinks that your parents will be bored if she does that."

"Mum has to work a game on Saturday and Dad's working the entire weekend," Al reminded Lily. "You could come along on Saturday and then have a play day with Mum on Sunday."

"Or bring her on Sunday too," Gwendolyn suggested.

"I wasn't thinking about that game," Lily admitted. "I'll talk to Mum about going along on Saturday; but she won't want to crash your family Christmas on Sunday; so a Mum and daughter day sounds good to me – and we can still have meals with Dad."

"That's a fair compromise," Gwendolyn decided with a nod. "What's next on the chat agenda?"

"How about your game plan for Slytherin," Lily suggested. "Maybe Al and I could help you out with that; since he did play against them and I watched him do it."

Lily had made that sound like a joke, but had been serious; and their chat moved on from there as they had fun wrapping gifts and watching Christmas specials. There was a Christmas movie that Harry and Ginny watched with them after dealing with their homework; and then they all went up to bed for the night – ready to get the sleep they'd need to be ready for what was sure to be a brilliant week of Christmas fun and adventure!

Just five more sleeps to go until Christmas!

A/N: The Christmas musical songs are based on Muggle songs. Check out the videos of those songs on YouTube. The Animorphmagus Christmas song lyrics go to the tune of 'Road Kill Christmas' by Jeff Dunham and Bubba J; Home for Christmas lyrics are from a song of the same name by George Canyon; The Stinky Magic Mistletoe mash-up is from a 'Mistletoe' mash-up by The Janes; A Perfect Christmas is from the title song of the Barbie movie; though I changed it to be a slow ballad to fit the scene for the musical; and, finally, The Christmas Miracle is from another George Canyon song of the same name; and all videos are available to watch on YouTube as of when this chapter is posted!


	41. This Will Be Our Perfect Christmas - P2

**Chapter Forty-One – This Will Be Our Perfect Christmas – Part Two**

 **J** ames was in a great mood as he trudged out to the stadium for his Quidditch workout on Monday morning. The first extended weekend of his Christmas holidays had been about as good as possible, and while having some hotter Witches around to play with would have been great; there was no doubt that Malorie was both enthusiastic about being with him – and apparently interested in having months-worth of fun while she had the chance to be with a real Wizard!

The Quidditch surprise on Friday morning was turning out better than he could have even dreamed possible with a group of Slytherins; and that truly was one place that his father and brother couldn't go. He thought about his temporary training buddies as he walked; and mentally shook his head. Licentia Nott was a better player than he'd expected. He'd been busy during their match and hadn't really paid attention to the Chasers, but after practicing with her for a few days; he saw that she was likely as good as Lucy or Olivia – if not quite as good as Victoire or Dominique. This was his second holiday working with Scorpius, and while he was better than Licentia; he wasn't sure how much of that was due to his faster broom. Finally, Andrea Avery was a very different personality to her brothers. She was also quite possiblymore-talented than Victor and Rupert combined. There was no way that she – or any other Witch – would ever be a better Seeker than he was, but James thought that she might be able to give Lily a run for it with a year or two of work – and he decided that he'd be okay with it if Andrea could take Lily down a notch or two – especially if Lily had another undefeated season in her second year on the junior team.

By the time he reached the stadium pitch, he saw that all three of the Slytherins he'd been musing over were nearly ready to go, but he'd needed the extra plate-full of food after a third busy night in a row with Malorie; and he wasn't worried about missing out on anything – especially since he was the player the others were looking to learn from. It might not be quite the same as it was for Witches with his most-favorite activity, but there was one thing that both had in common – he was worth the wait!

Al was first to wake on Monday morning. Jonah slept through as he got up and ready for the day; and he was a quarter-way to having breakfast cooked by the time Harry joined him in the kitchen and poured his first cup of coffee of the day.

"You seem a bit on edge this morning – or maybe distracted is a closer word for what I'm sensing from you," Harry told Al after they'd exchanged the usual pleasantries and he'd taken a few sips of coffee. "I felt something a few times yesterday too – particularly when we were talking about James. Is there something you're worried about – or that I should be worrying over?"

Al smiled at him. "Leaving aside the fact that I think that's as weird when you do it to me as you do when it's the other way around; I'm not sure what I've been sensing – or maybe getting a bit of foresight about. I sense that we're heading toward something fairly-significant for all of us; but have no idea what." He let his mind roam for a moment; and then shook his head. "I don't get a strong sense of bad; there are some hints of good, but I guess that's because the strongest sense is an anticipation; and I've never felt that in connection with anything truly awful that's happened."

"Well, that's about as vague as any good prophecy should be," Harry joked. "Can't you just go into a trance and give it to me the normal way?"

"I predict that breakfast is going to burn if I don't get back to it," Al intoned in his best imitation of a prophecy trance.

"I can work that one out just from the smell," Harry advised him. "Your pan has gotten a tad too hot."

"Already on it," Al promised. "Lily likes her pancakes and bacon on the well-done side; so we'll be fine."

"Getting back to that sense of anticipation; do you really have nothing more than that?"

Al thought about that as he worked on flipping pancakes. "It isn't something that will happen before Christmas – or at least it won't affect me before then – and maybe not until after the holidays. James is connected; but I don't know how; whether that's for good or ill either; or really anything else." He paused again. "I sense you, Mum, and Gwendolyn involved the most; but I've got nothing at all on the 'what' of it all."

"Anyone else?" Harry prompted.

"Lots of others; but not as strongly," Al answered after another, shorter pause. He thought about it some more; trying to work it out further. "I don't know, Dad. If I had to take a guesss; things are fuzzy because some important choices have yet to be made. Until that happens; what I'm feeling isn't anything that's sure to happen."

"So if that anticipation disappears; the future will go a different way," Harry mused. "That could get very awkward for you if that happens to you a lot."

"I have a lot of that going on in my life on a regular basis now," Al assured him. "Contrary to popular belief among the most-avid followers of the Hogwarts gossip network; there is such a thing as too much information."

"Especially when you can't ever forget anything," Harry agreed. "Since you don't seem to have any sense of imminent danger, though; let's just hope that you're anticipating something great. A school year without any further trouble would be a really nice change for you – and for your mother, Gwendolyn, and me too."

"That would be good; but might be too much to hope for – even while my favorite Slytherin haters are taking some time off from Hogwarts."

"That has me thinking about your team practice this afternoon. Are you expecting any trouble from Ollie while you're at his house with the team?"

"I hope not," Al answered. "Olivia must not expect any problems for Ray or me; or she'd have asked to have our workouts here instead."

"Okay, but if you have any trouble; try not to let it get out of hand – even if that means skipping those practices. Oliver and Katie aren't exactly happy with our family right now; and we don't need to make things worse over the holidays."

"They blame all of us for Ollie's suspension?" Al asked; and Harry shrugged.

"I think they're sure that Ollie's biggest problem has been being best mates with James; and that it should have been our son getting that second suspension instead of Ollie. They're not talking with us right now; so they likely believe that we know what really happened in September and let Ollie take the full measure of punishment; which they're right about. We did do that."

"I've been trying not to think about that for months now," Al advised his father. "Ollie's got the worst of things by far this year, and it must be tough trying to get ready for his OWLs at home; but I really do hope he'll be better off after nine months of James-free time."

"I'd say they're a bad influence on each other," Harry offered, "but getting back to my point; just do what you must to avoid any new trouble."

"Okay," Al agreed. "I can do that – and do my own workouts here if the team practices don't work out for me there."

Their chat moved on; Al had the work under control without any help; and Harry enjoyed the chance to relax ahead of a long, busy work day. They both had fun talking with Jonah and their favorite girls while having their morning meal; Harry headed for work after that; and Ginny helped with the clean-up and set-up for the study morning while waiting for the rest of the study group teens to arrive. It was eight-thirty by the time the last 'kid' was dropped off; Ginny headed out to work then; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah sat down and got to work with the rest of their friends and cousins.

"I've some news for you," Susannah told Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose once they were getting into their first assignment. "Professor McGonagall sent me an Owl Post requesting another study app. It arrived this morning; and she apparently discovered that they'd missed a student that's staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. He signed up with his Professor; but got dropped rom the list that went to the Headmistress. I guess she likely found that out on Friday morning; and then realized sometime on the weekend that he'd need one of the study apps too."

"Do you want us to ask around for another sponsor?" Rose asked; and Susannah shook her head.

"No – Mum and Dad had some extras; and Dad's got it covered already. They'll pick it up for me; I'll wrap it; and send it out in an Owl Post tonight. That'll have it at Hogwarts by Wednesday at the latest – even if it goes to the Owl Post office in Hogsmeade first."

"I was about to offer to lend Winter to you, but then she might not get back home in time for Christmas; so I don't want to do that."

"Do your Owls sit around the Christmas tree with you and open gifts?" Susannah asked in amusement; earning a round of laughs.

"No, but they do get gifts and extra treats," Al answered. "Lily's kneazle and pygmy puff sit with us, though; and that's usually a lot of fun."

"Our kneazle thinks it fun to climb the tree and use the gifts as scratching posts," Susannah told them. "That can seriously mess with the surprises if she shreds enough of the wrapping paper."

"A fact that would have Lily leaving Holly in the sitting room to do that," Al joked loudly-enough so that she'd hear him.

"Definitely," she agreed. "Try decorating a scratching post as a tree with some gifts around it; and see if that helps," she suggested to Susannah. "Holly prefers to bat around balled up pieces of wrapping paper more than scratching or climbing the tree. I have a theory that Dad went Animagus and scared her off from doing that sometime during her first Christmas."

"I suppose your Dad's Animagus might scare a kneazle kitten," Gwendolyn suggested; "but everyone else just finds it cute and adorable – or amusing. Holly isn't scared of the animal forms she's seen Al do so far."

"I'd never try to scare her intentionally," Al said seriously. "Your cousin wouldn't have wanted to take me home for a pet either if I'd changed into something large and scary."

"She might have," Gwendolyn disagreed. "You've had requests for things like sharks from them before."

"Have you tried to be a shark?" Susannah asked curiously.

Al laughed. "Once, but I had to change into something smaller really quickly; and still emptied half the portable pool by the time I got that done. I've thought about trying that – or being a dolphin or something else bigger – in the ocean; but wouldn't want to end up being on the wrong end of a hook or harpoon."

"That would leave a mark," Susannah agreed. "We've work to do, though; so let's not get started on writing any new verses for the Animorphmagus songs today."

Al was good with that suggestion; though Lily needed to have a bit of fun with that first. While the second-year group worked in the dining room the entire time, the fourth-year gang moved into the kitchen for a while when they needed to get started on the potion-making part of their Potions assignment. They set up their gear around that table; and got to work on the first stage of prep work that would require days of intermittent brewing and storage to complete the potions successfully. Doing the work part of that didn't take all that long; and then they left their masterpieces-in-making to simmer in their cauldrons and returned to working on other assignments until it was time to pack their partially-completed potions and gear again ahead of Ginny's return home with take-out pizza for lunch. They packed up the rest of their things and set the dining room table for lunch then too; and then had just a bit of time left over before having lunch for a mini gift exchange for the friends that wouldn't see each other again until after Christmas.

"You've given me one of those Muggle computer things you suggested to me that time we were talking about Christmas gifts," Susannah exclaimed.

"We guessed that you wouldn't put it on a list for your Mum – if you gave her a list at all," Rose told her with a smile that broadened when Susannah laughed. "Al and Gwendolyn took care of getting it charged and set up for you; I'll show you how to use it before you go; and if you need to charge it again before next Monday; call me on my mirror and we'll work something out."

"We'll teach you the magic for charging it once we're back at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn added. "There are a bunch of different books for you to try so that you can tell us what you like best after that – except for Muggle romances. We didn't get you any of those."

It was Susannah's turn to laugh. "Probably for the best for now," she agreed. "This is brilliant. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Rose assured her. "Books have saved me from feeling bad a lot over the last few months; so I'm sure they'll help you too."

"I am too," Susannah agreed. "Are you going to be back in London with Kyle later today after your practice?"

Rose shook her head. "Not until tomorrow sometime. "It's tough to work out the stories with him when I'm supposed to live hours away from London. As far as he knows; I went home last night – which I did; but that makes it a bit tough to just suddenly show up again in London today."

"That's inconvenient," Gwendolyn agreed; "but it might be worse if you lived closer and he just tried to pop over for surprise visits."

Rose laughed. "The surprise would be on him when he couldn't find our house."

"Why wouldn't he be able to do that?" Susannah asked in momentary confusion; and then she smiled ruefully and laughed. "Never mind – Muggle-repelling charms. He'd need to be with you to even notice your house."

"Yeah, and that might really mess things up for him too," Rose agreed and added. "I have no idea how long a Muggle would wander around trying to find a place that they know is supposed to be there; but that the Muggle-repelling charm forces them to ignore."

"That might be an interesting experiment; but not one that we should try out on your boyfriend," Gwendolyn told her. "You'd better start showing Susannah how to use that new toy, though; or we'll run out of time before we all need to head out after lunch."

It had taken James an hour and a half of hard flying to earn three snitch catches over Andrea; so their morning workout had gone a bit longer than planned. She was happy with that progress after just a few days; and James was feeling pretty good because he was responsible for that improvement – even as he also still proved that he was a significantly-better Seeker. They were all sitting down having drinks of water and getting out of their gear when Andrea received a mirror chat call from one of her friends. She answered it; talked for a few moments; and then promised to call her back once she was back in the castle again.

"I don't know what I'd do without my mirror," she said; directing that comment at all three of her companions. "I use it at least a thousand times a day!" She turned toward James when he laughed. "What's so funny?" she demanded.

"Only that I'm surprised that you'd use one at all," he explained; but didn't elaborate.

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked in confusion. "Everyone does."

"Because you hate Muggle-borns," he added; and then grinned as he pointed at her mirror. "They were co-invented by a Muggle-born Witch; and we wouldn't have them at all if your family and their mates had won the war – 'cause she'd have been dead."

"You're just messing with me," she declared; and James laughed again.

"You really didn't know?" he asked in true, amused surprise. "My Mum and Aunt Hermione made the very first mirror communicators." He nodded toward Scorpius. "One of his disinherited Black family cousins and my namesake made a pair of two-way mirrors when they were here at Hogwarts that my Mum and Aunt Hermione based them on; but they've taken the idea from there to where it is now – including with the mirror network, mirror gaming, and the Wireless web." He smiled at Andrea. "Are you going to need to throw it away now and go back to the old ways where you'll only have Owl Posts, the Floo Network, and our Patronuses to communicate with?"

Andrea shook her head as if trying to clear it; and Scorpius and Licentia looked a bit stunned. "You should have auditioned for that musical," Andrea suggested. "I can't even tell that you're lying."

"Maybe he could have played the bad boy next to Lysandra instead of that git she was stuck with," Licentia added with a laugh.

"I can't sing; and I'm not lying," James assured them. "My point, though, was directed at how much you hate Muggle-borns; yet you find their inventions indispensible – and those mirrors are just one example."

"You use it; yet told us that you hate your parents," Andrea accused; and James nodded.

"True, but I hate them for the things they do; not their blood status. I also don't have a problem with everything they do – just as you all have things that you like and hate about your families." He nodded toward Scorpius again. "I doubt he'll return that broom to his parents just because he hates what they've done in the past – and I know I won't do that either when I get one for my seventeenth birthday a year from February."

"I still can't get to the point where I even believe you," Andrea decided.

James grinned at her. "Then pretend that you don't know it. Sometimes life is much easier when you stick with the illusions – or delusions; depending on your perspective. There are certainly enough Witches and Wizards going around in that state all of the time."

Al and Rose went over to Olivia's house after lunch – and after seeing everyone else off first. Lily and Hugo already had Melissa and Kathryn with them for the study morning; so they'd only needed to wait for Fred, Roxanne, and Orlando to join them for their junior team practice – along with some of their reserve squad players and a couple of volunteer stand-ins for the players that couldn't come to their holiday workouts. Dealing with all of that didn't make them late, but Al and Rose were among the last to arrive at the Wood's home; and they hurried to get their gear on and catch up to Olivia, Lucy, and the other early-arrivals. Ollie was out there with them, but he pointedly ignored Al and Rose; and didn't say anything to them at all. He did talk with the McClaggens, Magnus, and a few others; but ignored Olivia and Lucy too. They didn't have everyone there, since James was still at school and they were missing two reserve team players too; but Olivia and Lucy had recruited some stand-ins – including Ollie; so they had fourteen players.

When everyone was ready, Olivia got right into the practice; the warm-ups and normal exercises and work-outs soon had them all sweating and heated despite the cold; and she spent extra time on the positions practices that included everything they were working on to specifically get ready for their match against Hufflepuff. That part of the workout had been a lot of fun for Al because he got to practice some of his favorite new flying tricks; and then he was able to have fun with the scrimmage too because Olivia pitted him against Gina – and kept him separated from Ollie to avoid any problems between them. Sure, they still had some plays where they ended up head-to-head on defense or offense, but Al took it easy the few times that happened; and didn't attempt to do anything that would get Ollie riled up. For his part, Ollie mostly shut up and played – and had a half-decent practice too despite looking decidedly rusty after months without any competition. Olivia had a team meeting after the scrimmage, but they did that indoors while having hot drinks and warm snacks; and Ollie took his drink and treats to go instead of sticking around – and took the other two 'extra' players with him.

"That went well," Olivia began once everyone was sitting down around the dining room table. "We're not going to have a practice on Wednesday after all because too many of us are busy with work or family; but I still want to try and have two practices next Monday and Wednesday – even though a lot of us will have the league team teen day to do on that Thursday too."

"Which team will you be playing with?" Brock joked; and Olivia laughed.

"The one that Lucy and I hope we'll be playing for come next summer," she answered. "Instead of getting side-tracked, though, between now and Monday; I want all of you to think about anything else we can do to get ready for Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw managed to win their match; so Alex and his team are going to be motivated. They do not want to go from undefeated to a losing season."

"Why not?" Tiberius asked. "We're sure hoping to do the opposite this year."

"Keep up with the jokes; and I'll be putting your names into the hat for the Cannons next Christmas for their teen day," Lucy threatened with a grin for Rose.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Tiberius said with a feigned shudder. "Our Dad would hate that nearly as much as he'd hate it if we could play for the Harpies!"

"Though we've heard that their future owner is hot," Brock joked; grinning at Rose too.

"Like father; like sons," Al joked quietly; and it took the others a moment to realize what he'd said – and that he'd actually joined in on the jokes. He smiled ruefully as everyone else laughed. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yes, and I'll cut you some slack just because it was so unexpected," Olivia decided. "Now let's get back to work – all of you!"

Scorpius put Thomas' portrait on the table; sat in the armchair; and jumped straight into talking about what he'd had on his mind since James had dropped his little news bombshell after their Quidditch workout. "James was doing a bit of bragging with a side of insults this morning; and advised us that his Mum and Aunt Hermione invented the original mirror communicators; the mirror network; mirror gaming; and the Wizarding Wireless Web – all of it!"

"Good for them," Thomas said with an indifferent shrug. "Was that the insult too – or is there more?"

"The subject came up after Andrea said something about not knowing what she'd do without her mirror because she uses it all of the time; and the insults were all about James finding it funny that she'd use it at all considering the fact that it was co-invented by a mudblood."

"He has a point there," Thomas conceded. "You should all give them up immediately!"

"That isn't going to happen," Scorpius advised him; "but that does bring up another point that James had that does make sense to me. I've been raised to blindly hate mudbloods and half-bloods for what they are. James hates based on what Witches and Wizards do – and doesn't let that get in the way of taking what he wants even from those he hates most. We don't live in caves just because Muggles invented houses."

"That's really just semantics," Thomas told him dismissively. "We hate mudbloods because they've all stolen from us – stolen magic that is meant to be only for purebloods. Call it what you want, or look at it from that other perspective; but hate them all. So what if a mudblood made all of those toys you're all so fascinated with? It was done with stolen magic that is rightfully yours, so from that perspective; you made those mirrors possible."

Scorpius thought that was too much of a stretch to be believed, but didn't want to get into it with his mentor; since Thomas truly did seem to be stuck in one mental gear without the capacity to change or accept anything outside of his own beliefs.

"I'll pass that on to Andrea later; since she's sure to want to talk about it again. That has messed her up a bit; and I think she might be developing a thing for James too. He's definitely helping her to become a better Seeker, but I wonder if that'll be undone if she gets too close to him – not that I think that he'd be interested in her until she's a bit older."

"That might be a connection you'd want to encourage in a few years," Thomas suggested seriously. "It would alienate both families; and tie them to you and your cause."

"I thought that we wanted to get in good with the other pureblood families; not break away from them."

"Sometimes you need to tear down the old to make way for the new," Thomas suggested. "You will need to break the power of the older generations before they'll follow you; and that won't happen until you've proven yourself – which we've discussed many times before. Having their kids devoted to you would both give you the power and likely keep them from trying to destroy you to keep the power for themselves."

"Okay, but instead of talking about that; let's do a lesson while I have time; since I'll need that kind of power to reach my goals too."

After getting home from his Quidditch practice on Monday afternoon; Al was in for about a day and a half of comparative quiet after three days of non-stop fun. He helped his mother cook dinner after she got home; enjoyed a quiet night of Christmas shows with his parents and sister after that meal; and Tuesday was a chores day at home and the Burrow as he and Lily helped out at home all morning while Ginny worked; and then helped out at the Burrow all afternoon to help their grandmother get ready for hosting the family Christmas dinner and party on Friday. They had a second quiet evening at home; there were more chores to do on Wednesday morning; and then Ginny dropped Al and Lily off at the McCormack's home after lunch so that they could help out with getting ready for the babysitting service that the four teens were providing for all of the younger Harpies' kids while their parents were busy with the team Christmas dinner party. Al and Gwendolyn had only talked via their mirrors since splitting up on Monday; so their reunion began with a fairly-enthusiastic hug and kiss.

"I think that they missed each other,' Lily joked.

"As much as I missed you," Jonah told her; and then blushed when that quiet assertion earned her full attention.

"I missed you too," she advised him after sharing a bonus hug and kiss with him. "Instead of getting all mushy, though, let me put my bag into my usual room; and then you can tell me all about what you've been doing since Monday."

"Work around here; some music fun with Dad; a Quidditch practice this morning; and a little bit of studying yesterday when I got bored for a while." Jonah answered. "Your turn."

"We had fun with Mum and Dad the last two nights; did a lot of chores at home and the Burrow; and didn't have a Quidditch practice because half the players were too busy with other things today," she answered. "Now what will we do for the rest of the afternoon now that we have that out of the way so quickly?"

"I'm sure we'll figure that out as we go along," Gwendolyn told her; "though maybe we should all have naps once the work is done. My Quidditch workout was tough this morning; and those kids are sure to be wound up and a handful for us tonight – especially if they've been snacking on Christmas treats all day."

"I know that Pauline wanted the extra practice," Al said; "but did she get a full turnout?"

"We had alternates for our reserve squad; but the full team," Gwendolyn reported. "It wasn't fun out there today, though; and I hope that I won't be too sore later – especially when you can't help me out with that while we're home."

"Dad could if you needed him to pop over," Al offered; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"That'd just feel weird – not to mention that the Head of the Aurors has better things to do with his kid-free night off."

"Don't go there," Lily warned. "That's a scary thought for at least two of those kids."

"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's talk about how we'll keep the kids entertained for about four hours tonight. Jonah and I were talking about having some games and prizes instead of just sitting around playing with toys and watching Christmas shows."

"I like that idea," Lily assured her. "Can the junior babysitters win prizes too? I'd hate to miss out on that if they're really good prizes!"

Ginny watched the Quidditch action going on in the air above her at the Catapults' practice pitch. She was sitting in the usual press area with a few other reporters, and they talked among themselves while watching the scrimmage; but most of her fellow journalists were a closed-mouth group when it came to sharing their opinions – particularly when they all had a tendency to steal good ideas for their own reports! She'd been assigned the Catapults-Cannons match, and while most Cannons games were easy to work; since you just assumed they'd lose and go from there; she didn't have that feeling for this match after watching each team work during the past few days.

Sure, the Cannons looked as hapless as always, but Santini seemed to be having a good series of practices; and she couldn't say the same for the Catapults' Seeker. She suspected it had a lot to do with losing their match against the Harpies – and that Gabrielle yet again beat him in their duel. She knew that Seekers needed to have a short memory; so if he couldn't move on; there was a chance that even Santini could beat him. That thought had her smiling; since Ron would love that – and hate it; since he wouldn't be at that match. He'd be working the Diagon Alley store on Saturday; and it was sure to be very busy with all of the teens, tweens, and kids interested in spending their Christmas money during the busiest day of the post-Christmas holidays.

Returning her thoughts to the Catapults, she tried to assess whether her personal feelings were clouding her judgement and assessment of the team workout. She and Harry had decided that the opportunity for a summer job that they'd given to James with help from Jimmy – Jim – Peakes had turned out to be a good thing for their eldest son – for the most part. She hadn't liked the way they'd allowed him to join in on the partying and the way the owners flaunted and abused their power and wealth; but other teams, owners, and players acted that way too and James would need to navigate those potential pitfalls just as she'd done while playing in the show. The Catapults might even be a good fit for James – particularly if their current Seeker continued to be so bipolar in his game play. He seemed to either be really good or really bad – and today was an example of really bad.

She still planned on waiting until after her visits with both teams in the morning; but was seriously considering giving Ron a bonus Christmas gift and picking the Cannons for the win on Saturday!

With two extra days off because of the holidays, Gwenog didn't let her team take extra time off before their party; but the kids were dropped off early so that the parents could then get ready for their evening out; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had their little group with them early-enough that they needed to feed them dinner as well as watch them for what was going to be closer to five hours than four. Al and Gwendolyn cooked that easy-meal; they had it ready to go by the time Kirley and Gwenog were ready to leave; and then they were in charge as they fed their voraciously-hungry little kids; and then cleaned up the mess while Lily and Jonah kept the younger kids entertained with some help from Drew, Riley, and Caylee. They hadn't been surprised when Tory chose to do anything else, but Drew had wanted to hang out with Riley – and with them; so he'd risked the potential for trouble at home and come over for the evening too.

Once that blast of work was done, Al and Gwendolyn joined in for the fun – and got the Christmas games started. Gwendolyn and Lily had put most of those games together; they were all holiday-themed; and most of them were silly-enough to keep the youngest kids very entertained. They all loved the prizes too; since Christmas sweets and chocolates were involved along with what ended up being one little toy for each kid as Al and Gwendolyn managed to make sure that each kid won one of those 'grand prizes' by the time they finished the games and moved on to playing with toys and watching Christmas shows on the mirror network. They didn't get to have a break then, but they did sit together while playing dolls with the younger girls.

"Whatever will you do for fun on nights like this once all of my favorite Harpies' cousins are too grown-up to play dolls with you?" Gwendolyn asked Al; earning a round of laughs and giggles.

"Maybe you'll have little girls of your own," Delilah suggested with a shy smile and another giggle.

"That might work out for us one day," Al agreed, "but Gwendolyn is going to play for the Harpies after we're done school for a while first; so I'll hope that some of our older cousins will have some kids for us to play with until it's our turn to do that."

"Victoire and Teddy say they're not going to have any kids for years and years," Caylee advised him; "though their house is big enough to have like a hundred of them."

"A dozen or more for sure," Al suggested. "I hope that Delilah will play with us for years and years more too, though; so that might work out just about right – even if you and Ethel will be too grown-up for dolls in another two or three years when you each start at Hogwarts too."

"Why would they have to be too grown-up?" Delilah asked. "You're not."

"Jonah, Riley, and Drew won't play dolls with us anymore," Ethel pointed out. "Most boys won't even play with them at our age."

"I don't know why not," Al told them. "This is way more fun than those mirror games; and the dolls don't mind most of the time if the action figures come over and play with them too."

"He learned stuff like that from Uncle Harry," Caylee told the other girls. "He still plays with dolls too."

"Do you think he plays with them at work with the other Aurors?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin for Al.

"No – they're too busy catching bad guys to play with dolls," Caylee advised her seriously. "I've been to Auror Headquarters to see Dad before; and they don't have any toys there."

"Maybe they hide them in their desks when they have visitors," Al suggested. "I've heard stories about the Aurors playing with action figures of Mum back when she played for the Harpies and Dad was just starting out with the Aurors."

"I guess Mum told us that they did that to Dad with her action figures too," Caylee conceded. "That's still not the same as playing with dolls, though."

"No, but maybe if the Aurors and the bad guys played with dolls together; the bad guys would learn to play nice instead of doing bad things," Al suggested next.

That had been a concept too far for the girls, so Gwendolyn rescued him; and they got on with their fun and games. When Delilah got tired; she cuddled with Al and Gwendolyn on a sofa; they watched a Christmas show; and she fell asleep. Al ended up cuddling with her while Gwendolyn took care of the other kids when needed; and that was where he was when Delilah's parents came for her – and her brother, Melvin. They didn't have all of the parents there in one big rush. Kirley came home with the first set while Gwenog stayed at the party to see everyone out and safely home; and joined them with Gabrielle and Casey – the last parents to come for their kids. Once everyone else was gone, Kirley and Gwenog had a short visit with their four remaining kids; and then headed for bed because it was already past Gwenog's training night curfew. When they were alone in the game room, Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah paired up on two sofas under warm blankets; and settled in to not really watch another show while winding down from all of the babysitting fun and games.

"Is that the last babysitting service you have booked for the holidays?" Lily asked Gwendolyn. "We really should just round up those kids and chase after them for our Quidditch conditioning."

"Well, that made up for you not having a practice today," Gwendolyn offered first before answering. "It's the last babysitting we have; but we'll be on kid control for the family Christmases on Saturday and Sunday – we just won't be doing that here this year."

"I'll survive one more round of little kid play time," Lily decided; "but it'll be nice to hang out with our cousins on Friday and be able to do teen things all day too."

"We did more teen things tonight than Al and Gwendolyn did," Jonah reminded her. "They took care of playing with dolls while we played mirror games."

"True, but Al still likes to play with dolls," Lily teased. "I think it's because that was one thing he could do that James wouldn't do too – or insist that he needed to win like in most games he plays."

"So that's really why he's a Chaser too?" Jonah asked.

"No, it isn't," Al answered before Lily could offer her opinion. "Not having James – or Lily – mad at me is just an added bonus; and I really do play Chaser because it's the most fun for me."

"The only thing that we might never know is whether you'd have thought differently if James had been a good sport when we were little instead of always making your life miserable anytime you had the audacity to win at anything over him," Lily offered more seriously.

Al shrugged. "That's true; but I'm okay with how things worked out for me when it comes to Quidditch."

"Let's see if you're still saying that while still trying to win that league title with the Cannons a century or two from now," Lily joked.

"How do you manage to have so much confidence in me when it comes to our Gryffindor team; yet you're also sure that Rose and I have no chance of doing well with the Cannons?" Al asked – for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"That's easy. We both play for Gryffindor; and you won't be playing for the Harpies while we win all of the league titles once Gwendolyn and I are on the team."

"You're welcome to take the Cannons as high as second as many times as you want," Gwendolyn added with a grin; "but that's still coming up short on Rose's bets; and I'll be happy to collect on mine some day."

"I'll take that as you mean it; since I hope you won't actually be happy if that happens," Al teased.

"You lost me on that one," Jonah told him; and Al shrugged.

"Rose's bets are all for a league championship in her lifetime," he reminded Jonah.

"I remember now," Jonah said with a nod; looking a bit embarrassed. "Lily and I still have five and a half years to go at Hogwarts; and that seems like a long time right now; so I'm not going to worry about what I'll do after school."

"You should worry," Lily disagreed. "You're on Rose's short list of Seekers for her Cannons team."

"So are you," Jonah countered. "Aren't you worried?"

"No. I'm going to play for the Harpies, and if Rose tries to mess with that; your Mum will turn her into a bug."

James was in his dorm room – the only Gryffindor guy in his year staying for the holidays; and he was ready for, and in bed despite the fact that it was barely-past curfew! Shockingly, for him, that had been his choice; and he'd actually needed to make excuses for Malorie to explain why he didn't want to stay, um, up all night with her. The truth was that between his Quidditch workouts and all of the play time with her; he needed the rest!

That thought made him laugh; since it seemed ridiculous, but an extra few hours of sleep would be all he'd need to be ready to celebrate Christmas Eve and the holiday weekend with Malorie – and he'd be, um, up to the challenge of making this a even better Christmas for both of them than they'd had last year!

For now, though; he just needed the sleep; allowed his mind drift off toward the darkness; and let the exhaustion carry him into blissful oblivion.

Al woke up Christmas Eve morning and enjoyed a bit of quiet cuddle time with Gwendolyn before waking her temporarily when he needed to get moving and ready for the day so that he could make breakfast for six while she napped on for as long as she could before needing to get up and started on her day too. He didn't wake Lily and Jonah; and he managed to shower, get ready for the day, and have the cooking well underway before Gwenog was first to join him in the kitchen – as usual.

"You seem to be appropriately-excited for a Christmas Eve day," Gwenog told him as she joined in to help with the work after taking a few sips of her first cup of coffee of the day.

"We've had a brilliant holiday so far; and the next four days are going to be even better," Al answered.

"You don't have a match against the Falcons to worry about over the holidays; and have your Slytherin match out of the way already this season," she pointed out. "I do not want our team to lose both of our holiday matches – or get the New Year off to a bad start."

"I'd offer to help you out with that; but Wizards can't play for the Harpies," he joked. "The Falcons could be more of a problem from now on. Brand isn't a top-tier Seeker, but he's big, strong, and is good-enough to keep his opponents from catching the snitch for hours while happily pounding on them. That takes away the best way to beat his team – by catching the snitch early before they can really hurt your players."

"So what would you do?" Gwenog prompted.

"I don't know if there's anything that I could suggest to help," Al answered honestly. "It'll be years before they'll fall for any tricks again; so you'll likely just be in a tough battle every time. Score as many goals as you can early; hope that Aunt Gabrielle can get you the win before the tide turns; and if it turns into another marathon pounding; hope she gets the win before the Falcons can get the one-sixty lead – or knock her out of the match."

"And now you know why I'm not as filled with Christmas cheer as you are," she deadpanned. "I like it better when you come up with good ideas that help."

"You could try asking Santa for new, faster brooms for Christmas," Al suggested; and Gwenog laughed.

"It's a bit early for whatever broom will come next after the Lightningbolt. I think that they may be working on something for twenty twenty-four to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Firebolt; but faster won't make much difference at this point – at least for Quidditch."

"We'd need a bigger pitch first,' Al agreed. "Faster would be great for broom races and going on longer trips, though; so I hope that brooms do keep getting better."

"Apparating and Portkeys will always be faster," Gwenog pointed out.

"True, but flying brooms is more fun; and we might do that to go on long trips if we could fly at – or beyond – the speed of sound."

Gwenog laughed. "I must be getting old; since my first thought on that is about how much it would hurt to crash at those speeds."

"Only until you'd pass out," Al joked. "I'm not saying that'd be for everyone; since you would need to be a talented flier to do that and not get killed; but then that's likely what Witches and Wizards from centuries-past would say about the Lightningbolt."

"I'm sure you're right about that," Gwenog agreed. "Having brooms that fast won't help for Quidditch, though; so I'll leave that sort of thing to the broom racers to dream about.  
Speed helps a lot, but the best players aren't necessarily the fastest. Victoire's one of the exceptions; since she's among the fastest Chasers in the show; and Candice is a good example of a slower, smarter player."

"She is," Al agreed with a nod; "but that hurts her against teams like the Falcons – literally – because they can catch her more-easily for those cheap shots. I like Candice a lot; but that might shorten her career as it gets tougher for her to keep taking those hits year after year."

"Are you trying to make room on the team for Gwendolyn so that I don't have to worry about firing someone to make room for her?" Gwenog joked; and Al laughed.

"No – and I don't think that Candice will wear out quite that quickly. I just don't think she'll want to keep playing into her forties or fifties."

"We'll see. She's tougher than she looks; and the urge to keep playing can be tough to ignore."

"Are you considering a comeback for when Gwendolyn and Lily join the team?" Al asked with a grin; and Gwenog laughed.

"I'm thinking about a comeback for our next match so that I can personally pay the Falcons back for that loss on Halloween."

"Then I'm glad that we have tickets for that match," Gwendolyn told her mother as she walked into the kitchen. "I think you'd do brilliantly!"

Gwenog laughed. "I'd likely end up in St. Mungo's, since I'm in no condition to play league-level Quidditch right now; but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I hope that you'll try to have a bit of Christmas fun over the weekend and not obsess about the Falcons the entire time."

"I'll try to do that," Gwenog promised. "Aren't you a bit underdressed for the day?"

"Lily and Jonah are getting ready first – in separate bathrooms," she explained. "I'm just here for a drink of juice or something while I'm waiting. Have you been talking Quidditch the entire time?"

"Pretty much," Gwenog agreed. "Al doesn't have any brilliant ideas to help me out with that Falcons' match, though; so I'm no closer to a winning game plan than I was when we started."

"I'd suggest bashing Brand in the head with a bludger, but even if you managed to do that; there's a good chance that he'd never notice."

"That would be funnier if not also likely true," Gwenog offered. "I'm glad that you won't have to play against him this year at Hogwarts."

"I'd have been okay," Gwendolyn assured her with a grin. "He would've been Pauline's problem – not mine."

"You'll find a way to deal with him eventually," Al predicted. "Brand is having a lot more success with the Falcons than he had with Slytherin, but that was mostly because the other teams usually managed to win early before getting pounded. Slytherin hasn't won any short matches in years."

"Neither do the Falcons," Gwenog pointed out. "They like to keep the matches going too – since they don't think they've earned a win until they've put all of their opponent players in the hospital."

"Instead of going there; let's talk about what we're going to do today," Gwendolyn suggested; and then laughed. "Okay, let's talk about what Al and I are going to do while you spend the day obsessing about the Falcons," she added after seeing the exression on her mother's face. "I actually don't want to talk about Quidditch all day – shocking as that might be for everyone."

"Al and I did talk about newer, faster brooms a bit too," Gwenog advised her. "Would you still feel that way if there was a chance of a new broom under the tree for you in the morning?"

"Yes, but that isn't going to happen this year; so don't tease me," Gwendolyn said with a laugh; and then grinned at Al. "I reserve the right to beg for a Lightningbolt for next Christmas if Gryffindor beats my team again this year, though; so I won't promise that I'll be okay with waiting until I'm seventeen to get one."

"Just turn him into a bug before your game," Gwenog suggested; grinning too. "Problem solved; and that would be a lot cheaper for your father and me too."

"You'd only need to get the one for Jonah and me," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I'd be able to pass it on to him once I start with the Harpies and get a team broom."

"Victoire kept hers and took a better signing bonus instead," Gwenog advised her. "You might want to find out about that before making that decision."

Gwendolyn agreed with doing that; stayed to chat for a while longer; and then went to get ready for the day while Al and Gwenog finished getting breakfast ready for everyone. That meal didn't take long to eat because Gwenog needed to get to work and Kirley and the kids had plans for the morning too; but they had fun while spending that time together; and then Al and Gwendolyn took care of the clean-up while Kirley got ready to head out for the day and Gwenog went off to work. Ginny came over to get Al and Lily, and while they were going to spend time with Gwendolyn and Jonah in the afternoon; she took them to the Burrow so that they could help Molly with more chores that needed to be done ahead of the family Christmas while she went on to spend the morning checking out the last day of team workouts for the Cannons and Catapults ahead of their holiday weekend match on Saturday.

Rose and Hugo were in London because Rose was spending the day with Kyle, but she wasn't going to be able to see him on Christmas Day; so they were going to do their own little Christmas celebration before she headed home for a couple of days. Fred and Roxanne were busy too; so Molly only had Al and Lily helping her; and Al took care of the tougher, cold, outdoor jobs while Lily helped out in the house and with some holiday baking. Al did get to do some taste-testing of those treats in thanks for taking on the worst jobs, so that worked out for him too; but he also needed to grab a shower and get changed again after finishing up in the garden, shed, garage, and yard.

Ginny joined them for lunch, and then they went to meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah in Diagon Alley. The Christmas crush there was as crazy as always on Christmas Eve Day, but they only wandered around for a little while and had a visit to the wheezes store and a couple of other short stops before going on to spend the rest of the afternoon dropping off family gifts with friends that they wouldn't get to see over the rest of the holiday weekend. They split up for some of those visits, since only about a third of their visits were for friends that they had in common, but Al and Gwendolyn stayed together all afternoon; and took turns with Lily and Jonah when going to different homes or other places with Ginny or Kirley. All of those visits were short; some of them took moments as they left gifts behind for friends that weren't at home when they stopped by; and the cameo visits that they did have were all entertaining little blasts of holiday fun that kept them happy and filled with Christmas cheer!

Ginny had Al and Gwendolyn with her for the last two stops on their little tour; they got home first; and then Kirley, Lily, and Jonah joined them there once they were finished with their last stops to drop off gifts for two of his band mates' families. Ginny and Harry were hosting a Christmas Eve dinner for eight with the McCormacks so that the kids could hang out together for a while – and so that Gwenog didn't have to do any extra work after a busy day of training with the Harpies. Al and Gwendolyn joined in to help with making dinner while Lily and Jonah set the dining room table and then went to play video games in the sitting room. The work was easy-enough, but while most of their friends would likely complain about the chores; Al and Gwendolyn liked having that time to talk with Ginny and Kirley.

Having fun at dinner was really good too, but their quiet evening plans were messed up just a bit when Harry got called back to the Ministry of Magic to deal with a foiled Christmas robbery that had ended with both victims and criminals being injured in the fight that had erupted when the group of Wizards had been caught in the act. Kirley and Gwenog had still stayed with Ginny for a while longer after Harry had left again, but they took Gwendolyn and Jonah home earlier than planned once it was clear that Harry would be stuck at Auror Headquarters and St. Mungo's for at least several hours while dealing with the mess. Al and Gwendolyn went up to his room for a little while before she left; and he'd wanted to do that so he could make sure that she was first to get one of his 'special project' gifts.

"I know we're doing our Christmas gifts tomorrow, but I wanted to give this one to you tonight," he explained while handing the little gift-wrapped box to her.

"Okay, but now I'm feeling bad that I didn't bring a gift for you to open tonight too," she told him as she accepted it and then happily began to unwrap it. He waited a bit pensively as she did that; his excitment growing as she then opened the box and pulled out a slightly-smaller box that he'd designed and made himself too. "Mirror Messaging," she read aloud. The package was a bit rudimentary; but the picture was still good-enough to show her what was inside; and she looked up at him with a bright smile. "Weren't the toys, study app, and games enough to keep you busy this past few months?" she joked.

"I got the idea for this in part from the study app," he advised her – "and in part from talking with Rose about how much she exchanges text messages with Kyle on their smartphones. We'll be able to send messages to each other; and not worry about me seeing anything I shouldn't while you're in your dorm room."

Gwendolyn laughed; shared a long hug and kiss with him; and then got Al to show her how to get it to work with her mirror. The 'kit' included a piece of permanent parchment that he'd tinkered with quite a bit with a lot of magic going into it that fit exactly to the back of the portable mirrors. He'd made the 'connector' spells automatic; so it became a permanent attachment to the mirror that would need to be magically removed – though he didn't expect that anyone would want to do that once they had the mirror messaging. The quill and ink were special too, and once everything was ready; he began to show her how to use her new toy.

"The first part is easy," he advised her while holding his own mirror and quill. "Just write your message on the parchment; and then the command is 'send to' when you're ready to send it to someone." He wrote 'I love you' on his piece of parchment; and then said – "send to Gwendolyn." They both watched as the ink disappeared from his mirror and then appeared on hers almost instantly – along with some action 'buttons' at the bottom that included 'Reply' and 'Delete' and 'Save' as the three main options for dealing with the incoming message.

"I love you too," Gwendolyn assured him; "and this is brilliant! How do I answer this?"

"Tap the 'Reply' button with your quill two times; the parchment will clear; and you can write whatever you want to say before tapping the 'send' button that you can already see – though you could also use that 'send to' voice command too. I added a second tap after finding out that it was too easy to send an unfinished or blank message with accidental single taps."

"This is brilliant," Gwendolyn told him again while also sending that exact same message. She smiled at him again as she looked up from the parchment. "You're giving this to some others too; aren't you? That's why you want me to have it tonight."

"I didn't have time to make one for everyone I love most, but I have made as many as I could – including one that I'll send home with you for your Mum to have in the morning. They're linked to the mirror communicator magic, so anyone your mirror can connect to that also has the mirror messaging will be able to exchange messages with you. Nothing will happen if you try to send a message to someone that doesn't have it." He smiled and shrugged. "I'll add in an error message or something in future versions; but I didn't do that with these first sets."

"You've made something extraordinary, Al; and you'll have another hit product too when your Mum and Aunt Hermione get it sold for you."

"We do have a Quidditch team to buy in three years or so," he only half-joked. "This might help with that a bit."

Gwendolyn laughed; and then set her mirror and quill aside. "We can play with this later after we go to bed," she suggested. "Right now; I think we should use what bit of time we have left for something a bit more fun – in a snogging sort of way!"

Scorpius would have liked to spend some quality time with Lysandra for all or part of the night, but that wasn't to be; so he had to settle for getting to spend the evening in the same common room with her – and with Licentia, Andrea, and the few other Slytherins spending the holidays at school – though none of those teens and tweens were friends with him – or with any of the girls. There were Christmas shows to watch on the mirror network; holiday treats and drinks on one of the tables; and they'd settled into four chairs that were close to one of the fires. Having Lysandra within reach was both great and really hard; but they couldn't risk even holding hands where anyone would see them; so they played their roles as needed and tried to have as much fun as they could.

"What would you be doing at home on Christmas Eve, Scorpius?" Andrea asked him. "Do you get together with your Mum's side of the family over the holidays?"

"No. Mum's family doesn't do anything with ours – though they do still talk with her now and then. Christmas is really boring at home. That's why I'd rather be here."

"Well, when you're finished at Hogwarts; just change that for yourself," Andrea suggested. "My Mum and Dad always have parties and family get-togethers, but I won't do as much of that when I'm older; since a lot of the people they hang out with are just posers or suck-ups." She smiled at him. "I've had a better holiday right here with our odd little group of misfits."

"I'll let you get away with that when it's just us,' Licentia told her," but try to call me that around our usual friends; and I'll blast you."

"I'll try to remember that," Andrea promised, "and I'm not sure how I feel about applying that word to me either; but it is how I've felt all week – and not really in a bad way."

"And you and I have our brothers to thank for that," Lysandra said quietly. "We'd have never taken the chances we have this year if they'd been here."

"Your brother won't be back," Andrea pointed out. "I could be in for a lousy Easter and summer; and next year might be a horror for me."

"It won't be," Lysandra declared forcefully. "I'll be there for you; and our friends will back you up too."

"So will I," Scorpius added quietly – "if you'd want that and let me."

"We'll see," Andrea told him, "but if you're going to suggest that James would help too; don't go there!"

"He would help," Scorpius assured her; "but only because he really likes messing with your brother and G-Air anyway."

"That is at least part of the reason he has for training with us," Licentia pointed out. "Rupert will hate it if you become a better Quidditch player than he is – and I think that you might get there if you keep at it for another year or two."

"Do you think so?" Andrea asked hopefully; and Licentia smiled and nodded.

"Yes, but don't tell him I said that – go out and prove it."

James might have spent some time being glad that he wasn't home and would have been glad for that if he had, but he'd met up with Malorie after their Christmas Eve dinner; and she'd kept him far too busy to think about anything beyond having fun with her!

Let the loser and the rest of his family have a very dullest of Christmases ever – he was sure that he was having a happiest-ever-so-far Christmas; and he was definitely, um, up to the challenge of making sure that it was a best-ever night for Malorie too!

Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been able to have too much fun with their bit of Christmas Eve snogging before she headed home, but they'd both been very happy when they split up for the night; and Al had gone on to enjoy a few hours of quiet Christmas entertainment with his mother and sister until Harry got home from the Ministry of Magic again. They were all tired by then, so they only had a bedtime snack and chat before heading up to their rooms; and then Al had waited for his parents and sister to each take turns 'playing Santa' before taking his gifts for them downstairs and putting them under the tree. He and Gwendolyn traded some mirror messages while he waited, and that was a lot of fun too, but once he was finished in the sitting room; he went straight off to sleep within minutes of returning to his bed and room. Lily allowed him to sleep in until nearly a half-hour before dawn, and while that was later than most Christmas mornings; her parents and brother could not be out of sorts over the lack of sleep when her wake-up calls were so filled with joy and love! Al didn't attempt to get ready for the day first, since Lily would not have waited that long to start opening presents, but he did go into the kitchen; start a pot of coffee brewing; and get drinks for himself and Lily before joining her on the floor next to the tree so that she'd have company while waiting for their parents to join them.

"I don't see any presents under there that look suspiciously like Lightningbolts for us; but maybe Mum and Dad just hid them in undetectable expansion bags," Lily suggested with a grin.

"Gwendolyn made some jokes about that yesterday morning while Aunt Gwenog and I were cooking breakfast. Did she mention that to you; or is it just coincidence?"

"First I've heard of it," Lily assured him. "Is she hoping for a new broom for Christmas too?"

"I'm sure she'd love one, but no – she was joking about wanting a Lightningbolt for Christmas if Gryffindor wins a second match in a row against her Ravenclaw team this year."

"Well now she's put herself into a fix," Lily suggested. "If I had that choice; I might have to cheer for the other team to win if it'd mean getting a Lightningbolt next Christmas."

Al laughed. "I should have suggested that to her yesterday. Did you want to try calling James to wish him a Merry Christmas again this year?"

Lily shook her head. "Maybe we can all try to do that later," she suggested. "I don't really feel like messing with him – or just have him yell at me and end the mirror chat anyway. I do hope he'll at least talk to Mum for a few minutes."

"I hope so too," Ginny assured her as she and Harry walked into the sitting room. "It sounds as though the coffee is still brewing, so go ahead and get started; and we'll get drinks in a bit."

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed excitedly.

She'd already lined up a first gift for each of them; tossed one each to Harry and Ginny; and handed a third to Al before putting one in her lap and immediately tearing into the wrapping paper. Al watched her for a few long moments; enjoying the sight of true Christmas joy shining in every fibre of her being; and then began to unwrap his first gift too. There weren't mounds of gifts under the tree for them to open, and Al loved what his parents and sister got for him; but his true happiness came from the overwhelming sense of love in the room – and from getting to watch the happiness that his gifts brought to three of his favorite people. He'd still needed to wait a while for Lily to find the two 'special' gifts that he'd put under the tree at the very back so that she wouldn't find them too soon; and his day just got that much better as he watched his sister and mother open those gifts at the same time.

"Mirror Messaging," Lily said as she pulled the inner box out of the plain box he'd used to disguise all of those gifts while geting them ready at school. Her expression was a lot like Gwendolyn's had been when she'd opened her gift; and Al laughed happily.

"You've made this to work with the mirror communicators?" Ginny asked; and Al nodded.

"Rose has been texting with Kyle since September, and I got this idea after making the study app; so I've been working on it since then. The permanent parchment attaches to the back of your mirror; and there isn't much else to it; since the magic is automatic and just becomes an added feature of the mirrors – just as you and Aunt Hermione did with integrating the mirror network, gaming, and the Wireless Web."

Ginny laughed. "Apparently he isn't aware that we spent years putting all of that together," she told Harry; and then laughed when he pretended to pout while looking down at his empty hands. Al laughed too.

"I'll work on making more of them in the New Year," he promised his father. "I could only get a certain number of them made; and I'm giving them to as many of my favorite Witches as possible – though I don't have enough for all of them either." He turned his smile and attention toward his mother. "If we can get time next week, I could go over all of the spells with you and Aunt Hermione; and I'm hoping you can sell this to one of the companies that make the mirrors."

"There won't be any maybe about that if this is as brilliant as it looks, Al," she assured him. "Lily already has hers out, though; so you'd better show her how to connect it to the mirror and then use it."

Al did that; his sister and mother were soon having fun sending messages to each other – and to him; but held off on sending messages to Gwendolyn just in case she hadn't given Gwenog that gift yet – or they were still sleeping; since not everyone in the Wizarding World got up before dawn on Christmas Day! Harry and Al spent some of that time getting breakfast snacks and cups of coffee or other drink refills; they played for a while; and then Al took the first shift in the kitchen when it was time to start making breakfast while Harry went upstairs and got ready for a work and play day. He took over when he was ready so that Al could hit the shower once Lily had moved on to play dress-up with Ginny; and then they all met up in the kitchen to have that special morning meal.

Harry had needed to get to work after that, since he was on duty for the weekend; and Al took care of the clean-up while insisting that Ginny and Lily take the time to have fun and play with their new gifts and toys while they could before it would be time to head over to the Burrow for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn was going to be at the family Christmas too, but she spent the morning with her parents and brother; and was going to have lunch with them too before getting brought over to the Burrow. Al knew that Jonah would have come too, but Lily chose not to invite him; and mostly did that because she wasn't ready to get razzed about him by her family – and that was sure to happen whenever she did decide to include him for more family gatherings where he would only be there as her date instead of with his own family too.

Al didn't need to go straight from the kitchen clean-up to the Burrow, so he joined in for some fun in the sitting room too; they played games and listened to Christmas music for more than an hour; and then rounded up everything they needed to take to the Burrow and headed over there using the Floo Network. Molly and Arthur had been busy all morning to that point too; and they were glad to have the extra hands as they took care of the prep work that went into a major Christmas dinner – along with mounds of treats and sweets that their guests would snack on throughout the day. Since he'd done all of the outdoor chores earlier in the week, Al was able to stay clean and warm while helping out in the kitchen and sitting room; and he even had time for a game of Wizard's Chess with his grandfather – though that had really been a diversion that kept Arthur out of the kitchen and away from helping out quite so much with the taste testing.

They didn't have lunch because their Christmas dinner was going to be mid-afternoon when they had the chance to do that instead of holding off on dinner until late the way they did the years that George and Ron had to work at the store until close – or because some of them were busy with Quidditch matches or other work too. The first 'guests' began arriving at a bit after twelve-thirty, so once his grandparents had more company to hang out with; Al went over to Gwendolyn's house with Ginny and Lily so that he could pick her up; and they could all wish her parents and brother a Merry Christmas. Lily also did a gift exchange with Jonah then; Al had some fun with Gwenog when she thanked him for her mirror messaging gift; and they ended up getting back to the Burrow to find a near-full house as most of the kids and grandkids had arrived while they were gone. Rose was there, so Al and Gwendolyn went to hang out with her in the sitting room once they'd finished with the round of Christmas hugs and kisses.

"You've obviously been having fun since I saw you last," Gwendolyn told Rose. "Have you and Kyle had a fun few days together?"

"We did," Rose assured her; "though I wish we didn't have to wait until tomorrow night to see each other again. Our holiday is nearly half-over; and I want to spend all of the time I can with him before we'll be apart again until Easter."

"This is likely a bad time to tell her that Olivia wants everyone to stay at Hogwarts over Easter so we can get ready for our last match," Lucy teased as she and Alex stopped by to see them for a moment.

"If that's going to be mandatory; she may have to toss me off the team," Rose said seriously; and Lucy grinned at her.

"I'm sure that Louis might like that a lot, but I'm kidding; and Olivia wouldn't do that to you – even if she might want you and Al to stay." She laughed. "Honestly, I'm not even sure when Easter is this year; so I don't know how close it is to our match against Ravenclaw."

"Easter is the first weekend in April," Al advised her. "We'll have seven weeks to get ready for our match after we get back – and the last two junior team matches are back-to-back the first two weekends after the Easter holiday."

"Then Olivia likely won't worry about it – and concentrate on our NEWT studies that week instead," Lucy suggested. "We're just passing through, though; so Merry Christmas. Maybe we'll get a chance to talk later – if we're not all too busy to do more than have these little cameo chats with everyone."

With that, and an echoed best holiday wish from Alex; the two older teens were gone; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose continued their little chat.

"We'd like to get together with you and Kyle next week if we can," Gwendolyn told Rose. "I guess we cant' do that sooner; so we should send the gift we have for him with you to give him tomorrow night."

"Tuesday might be the only day we have for that," Rose advised her. "Kyle has things to do too, but we have studying and Quidditch on Monday; Quidditch again on Wednesday; and the teen day on Thursday morning. You're booked for New Year's Eve at home; Kyle and I are going to a party in London; and we have the Harpies match on that Saturday."

"Maybe we should book an extra week or two off before going back to school," Gwendolyn suggested. "We really are a bit too busy this year – though everything except the studying sounds like fun."

"We'll have fun with the studying too," Al assured them. "Let's talk to our Mums later and see if we could work something out for Tuesday. Maybe we could even pretend to drive to the city in the morning and we could make that date for the afternoon so that you could still hang out with Kyle for the rest of the day and we could head home so we're not keeping Mum and Dad out late on a work night."

Rose had liked that suggestion a lot, and they talked about some ideas for an afternoon date in London; but then they soon had other distractions that kept them busy and entertained as they played with their family for a couple of hours until it was time to sit down and have dinner. Al and Gwendolyn didn't spend all of that time with Rose; though they were together a lot. There were changes over the past year; with the most-obvious being Molly's and Dominique's graduation to the ranks of the adults. Lucy and Aiden were both in their final year of school, so they were making the transition from 'the kids' to 'the adults' – as were Alex and Shay-Lynn. Al was the only younger teen with a date, and they didn't have any extra visitors this year; but that didn't seem to make a difference for the noise-level in the house – and that wasn't just because of Aunt Muriel!

Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to spend much time with her before or during dinner, but Molly tried to mix things up from year-to-year; and they ended up sitting closest to George and Angelina while having dinner. That was good and bad, since wheezes were involved, and they got caught up in a couple of them each; but they still had fun while enjoying all of the amazing food. By the time they finished having dessert, Al was getting excited about the imminent gift exchange – and that was mostly because he was looking forward to seeing his family's reactions to Lily's AquaQuidditch game and his mirror messaging gifts. The kitchen clean-up needed to happen first, so Al helped the other, older guys with that; and then he rejoined Gwendolyn in the sitting room when they all gathered there for the gift exchange. Lily and Roxanne were in charge of handing out gifts; and Lily started out with a gift each for George and Ron.

"Should we be afraid?" George asked – "or should you be afraid if you're about to attempt pranking the masters?"

"I've learned from the best," she advised them. "If I was going to prank you; I wouldn't get caught – and you wouldn't see it coming!"

"You'd hope," Ron added; but then his attention was all for his gift because he had enough of the wrapping paper off by then to discover what it was. "AquaQuidditch?" he asked; looking back toward Lily. "Never heard of it."

"That's because I invented it," she advised him happily. "Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, and Jonah all helped with making it and putting together the rules for the game; but it was my idea."

"Well, your portable pool idea has done well," George told her. "If this is any fun; I'm sure it will be too."

"I hope so," Lily told him with a grin. "Mum and Aunt Hermione will negotiate the deal if you're interested in puting them in your stores, but if you're not interested; I expect that the Quidditch supply stores would love this game a lot too."

"You can't give us a gift and then sell it to us too," George protested; and Lily laughed.

"We're giving you those games as gifts – not the right to make and sell as many of them as you'd like. I learned my lesson on that with the portable pool idea." She pointed at the game. "A lot of work went into designing them – especially the underwater snitch and the bludgers. It'll be worth it for all of us; and you'll just build our cut into the price anyway."

"She's got you there," Angelina told George. "Well done, Lily. I expect that you will have a hit game – and the boys have been looking for ideas to expand the portable pool product line and sales. I think it's a brilliant idea."

"Well, it's not as brilliant as Al's new mirror..." she trailed off; and smiled ruefully at Al. "Sorry, but since I've nearly given the surprise away; Roxanne and I can hand out those gifts next."

With that said, she grabbed the stack of gifts that he'd brought – and that were all identical except for the tags; and had Roxanne help her with passing them out – including the one that was for Roxanne. Gwendolyn squeezed his hand in silent support as all of the Witches that had received the gifts opened them. He was a bit surprised when it was Aunt Muriel that was first to get to the inner box and turn her attention to him.

"What in Merlin's name is Mirror Messaging, Albus?" she asked him; and he grinned at her.

"It's a way to write messages and send them to anyone your mirror is linked with – or anyone who also has the mirror messaging on their mirror too. Sometimes we're not able to have mirror chats; so now we can send little notes instead."

"That's a brilliant idea, Al," Victoire told him; "but aren't you forgetting about half or more of us?"

Al smiled and shrugged. "I made as many as I could get done before coming home. You'll notice that most of them are for the Mums with daughters still at Hogwarts. Grandma and Aunt Muriel are the two exceptions because I love them best."

"Hermione and I will see what we can do to help Al with making more," Ginny advised everyone. "Lily, Roxanne, and the rest of you will want to keep the gift-giving going, though, so go ahead and do that; and we'll make sure that everyone gets a chance to see what Al's amazing little invention can do."

Al and Gwendolyn were drafted to help out with teaching his grandmother, aunts, and cousins how to install and then use the mirror messaging; Rose had punched him for keeping such a huge secret from her for months; and then they were all busy with opening gifts that Lily or Roxanne had dropped off for them while they'd been busy. They had fun with that too, since their gifts included Animorphmagus gag gifts for both of them, but Al's favorite part of that time together was exchanging gifts with Gwendolyn and making a few special moments together even in the middle of the family Christmas chaos. The gift exchange was followed by some play and chat time, but it was also a work night for some of the parents, young adults, and teens; so the party began to wrap up by early-evening.

Since they'd put in a lot of time earlier in the day, Ginny wasn't allowed to stay late and help with the post-party clean-up. Al and Lily were with her when she took Gwendolyn home on their way back to their own house, and hwile she did that; Harry took Aunt Muriel home and then popped over to Auror Headquarters for one last check of things there before calling it a day. He'd made it to the Burrow in time for dinner and stayed for the gift exchange; but had been busy while at the Ministry – and the Aurors and Hit Wizards seemed to be having a busier-than-normal holiday weekend dealing with the bad guys coming out to play while most Witches and Wizards were distracted with their Christmas adventures. Al and Lily would be spending the day with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and their family on Saturday, so the goodbyes didn't take long; and then it was time to do a bit of work at home – if only to haul gifts to bedrooms or elsewhere and run a load of laundry. Christmas Day then ended early in the Potter home because by the time Harry got home too; they were all tired out and just ready to get a decent night of rest after a long, fun-filled day that had started before dawn.

"Merry Christmas, James!" Malorie said enthusiastically – but quietly too; since she saw that he still wasn't feeling well after their play night that for him had included drinking a couple of bottles of wine.

"It will be – when it starts sometime around noon the way it should," he joked; and she laughed.

"I'd say that it has been brilliant – from before midnight-on," she disagreed; and laughed again when that earned a wolfish grin from him despite the discomfort. "There was also a brilliant surprise on my bed this morning," she advised him. "I got one of those portable mirrors and the NEWT-year RevisionWizard starter kit!"

James turned and looked at her in surprise. "You did?"

She bobbed her head. "Yes – and I think that nearly everyone here got one of the RevisionWizards. I've talked to two other Hufflepuffs that got the mirrors too; so I think that was done for those of us that didn't have them before."

"The RevisionWizard wouldn't be much use without one," James pointed out. "I'm glad that the Professors did that for you – though I wish they'd waited until closer to noon – which is when any perfect Christmas should really start."

"I like mornings quite a lot, but I came prepared today; so here's a bonus gift that will have you feeling better in no time," she advised him; holding out a potion bottle.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

"A cure for what ails you this morning," she answered. "Don't worry – I added a few ingredients that keeps it from tasting as foul as is usual for that Potion."

James took the little bottle and pulled the stopper. "At this point; I wouldn't care how awful it was," he advised her before grimacing and downing it. She smiled when his eyes opened wide in surprise. "That was actually rather tasty!" he declared; and then smiled too as the potion quickly went to work on him. "Fast-acting too. Thank-you, Malorie. I'm feeling better already."

"Good,' she said with a nod. "Then my plan is working; since I'm sure that we can find more interesting things to do today now that you won't be dealing with that hangover anymore. Did you get anything for Christmas that you actually liked this year?"

James laughed and grinned wolfishly again – this time without the discomfort. "Yes, but the gifts that were left at the foot of my bed were the usual things I get every year – clothes, school supplies, a few sweets, and some spending money for Hogsmeade weekends."

"I'll find a way to help you get over the disappointment," she promised, "and while I couldn't get you any really awesome gifts; I did make up enough of that potion to give you a decent supply of it."

"That'll come in handy between now and the end of the holidays – for both of us," James suggested meaningfully.

"Yes, it will," she agreed.

By then, James was fully-recovered; he went on to demolish three plates-full of his favorite breakfast foods; and then they left the Great Hall and went on to have a very hot Christmas morning filled with clothing-optional holiday cheer! Lunch in the Great Hall was followed by more play time – including some portable pool entertainment where swimsuits were optional too; and then they joined in for the Christmas feast and party for a while bfore going off on their own again to wrap up their best-ever-so-far Christmas with one more round of play time for two that ended their day as brilliantly as it had started!

James did not answer any mirror chat attempts from anyone in his family or even from a couple of friends; Malorie helped him out by not talking about his family at all; and that really did add up to a brilliant, perfect Christmas!

Spending a lot of the weekend with Gwendolyn and her family didn't feel the same as Al expected that it would if he had been able to grow up knowing everyone on both sides of his own family, but it was pretty good – and he had the added bonus on Saturday of getting to have that fun with Lily too while their parents were busy working anyway. The Jones' family Christmas was the holiday event of the day; and that dinner and party was at Gwendolyn's grandparents' home this year, and while their house was modest compared to Gwenog and Kirley's estate; Al thought that it felt a lot more like Christmas at the Burrow to have everyone closer together pretty much wherever they were in the house.

Quite a bit of the family fun was the same too; except with fewer wheezes – and that was definitely a change that Al enjoyed a lot. Playing with the younger cousins was fun too; and Gwendolyn and Lily enjoyed sitting close to Candice and talking Quidditch while having their Christmas dinner. While talking about the Harpies had been part of that; the big Quidditch news story of the day by then was that the Cannons had earned an upset win over the Catapults thanks entirely to Santini. He'd pulled out the come-from-behind win; and the Catapults' Seeker continued on the downward spiral that had begun with his loss to the Harpies. Al and Gwendolyn had kept an eye on that match, but hadn't watched most of it while busy with their family fun. Their day was planned out differently than it had been at the Burrow, so the gift opening had come in the early afternoon; they'd played with the toys and games after that; and then they'd had some quiet time after the meal and clean-up that included having Kirley and his four favorite junior musicians help out with the entertainment.

Al had not been surprised to be drafted to add more fun to the mix with the Animorphmagus Christmas song, but Gwendolyn made sure that her little cousins didn't try to keep him for a pet; and they had more fun singing a couple of the songs from the Christmas musical that most of Gwendolyn's family hadn't heard before – but hopefully would get to hear again if the plans that were being tossed around by Kirley, his band mates, and their kids worked out for them. Unlike on Friday, nobody in Gwendolyn's family needed to go to work on Sunday, but they did have kids fall asleep, and some of the younger couples had plans for the rest of the night too; so the party began to wrap up at a bit after nine o'clock. Another difference was that Kirley and Gwenog hadn't helped out with the work all morning – though they'd worked from home with all four kids while getting their contributions ready to go; so they stayed and helped with the post-party clean-up.

It was heading toward eleven by the time they left for home, and Gwenog and Jonah did the side-trip to take Lily home while Al was spending the night with Gwendolyn ahead of the McCormack family Christmas on Sunday. Not spending much time with his parents on the Christmas weekend felt really strange to Al, but then he wouldn't have spent much time with them anyway if he'd gone home for the night; and getting to have some quiet cuddle time with Gwendolyn after her parents and brother went to bed was more than worth the trade-off! They'd helped with the work after getting home first; had a bedtime snack and drinks with Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah after that; and then they stretched out on a sofa in the play room after everyone else went off to bed for the night.

"I don't know if I have a third day of this much Christmas cheer in me for tomorrow," Gwendolyn said tiredly. "I love getting to have more time with everyone while doing our separate family Christmases; but there's something to be said for getting it all over with in one day like we did last year too."

"It doesn't work out this way all that often – where Christmas Day is right ahead of the weekend," Al pointed out. "I may have trouble getting my broom off the ground at my Quidditch practice on Monday afternoon after I have one more Christmas dinner over my belt."

"Under," Gwendolyn corrected; and Al laughed.

"No, by tomorrow night; that food could definitely be over my belt," he countered. "We can't even beg off and eat light; or the cooks will be insulted."

"That is a problem," she agreed, "but have you tried fixing that little problem while doing your Animorphmagus thing? If you can change and come back again with healed bones; couldn't you come back with an empty stomach? Something must happen with your food; since I've never seen you change into something small that has a ginormous stomach."

"I've never thought about it," Al admitted. "Maybe I'll experiment with that after we get back to school. I'd need to be careful with that if it can be done, though; since there could be some unintended consequences."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Sure – like being able to eat anything you want all of the time," she joked. "That'd be a problem that every Witch in the world would hate – not!"

"Speaking of other Witches; I'm going to pick up extra supplies while we're home and make mirror messaging sets for your Hogwarts cousins and aunts – or I'll at least try to get them for Greta, Katrina, and their Mums."

"Let's talk about that next week," she suggested. "It might be better for you to just leave that to your Mum and Aunt to deal with; and we could see about getting some of them from whatever company they sell mirror messaging to – probably the same company that makes the mirrors. You can't make them for everyone – just as we couldn't do that for everyone at Hogwarts with the study app."

"I know," he agreed; "but wish I'd been able to make more of them in time for Christmas."

"Sure, because you weren't busy-enough with that, Lily's game, and everything else we've done over the past three months. When you think about it; we've had a brilliant school year so far."

"We have, though all of this work will be for naught if the Cannons somehow manage to pull off a winning season," he joked. "They'd have never won a match over the Catapults even a couple of years ago."

"And your Mum got razzed by a lot of the other reporters for picking the Cannons for the win today," Gwendolyn added. "She looks brilliant now, but before I get side-tracked; you won't need to worry about the Cannons having a miracle season – unless you consider not being last in the league this season a miracle. They do have a decent shot at being eleventh or twelfth."

"Rose might like to have a couple of no-win seasons for them – especially if the current Cannons owners would lose even more money than normal those years. Buying profitable teams is likely impossible; but then each team seems to be very different."

"What do you mean by that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al shrugged.

"Teams like our Harpies or United likely make less money for their owners because they spend more to have the chances to win championships – so the players get a bigger cut than is likely the case for other teams where the owners are only interested in making as much money as possible for themselves. Other owners just coast along and don't really care either way; and then there are a few teams, including the Cannons, where the owners likely cause most of their team problems by being misers. The Cannons are just the extreme of that – and shows what happens to a team after doing that for decades."

"I'd suggest that Rose might be better off if the Cannons disbanded and she started a brand new team, but the league would likely offer a new team out for the highest bidder."

"I'm sure they would; so let's hope that the Cannons' owners don't think about doing that. It's been a long time since the league has dropped or added teams – though I hope that we do add teams overthe next few decades. There are a lot of talented Quidditch players coming up behind us; and I'd hate to only have a job with the Cannons for a few years."

"Now that's really funny; since most of us would never want a job with the Cannons at all," Gwendolyn pointed out with a laugh. "I am getting tired, though, so we should probably get around to a bit of Christmas snogging before I fall asleep – or you do."

Scorpius was alone in his dorm room; wide awake; and wishing that he could be spending the night with Lysandra. Sure, his Christmas holiday weekend had been going well so far, and he'd been able to get together with Lysandra for an hour or so of alone time on Friday and Saturday; but that seemed like nothing compared to the amount of time James was spending with that mudblood wench of his – and she was nothing but a toy to him – and an ungly and revolting one at that! His mind wandered to memories of the bragging James had been doing after their morning Quidditch workout, which he'd waited to do until Licentia and Andrea had gone on ahead of them; but then he pushed those thoughts away because that was enough to disgust him all over again.

Fortunately, the good far outweighed the bad of the past two days. He had been able to spend a lot of time with Lysandra – even though that was while they were with Licentia and Andrea too and couldn't even hint at their true relationship; they'd had a lot of fun too – whether that was in their common room or while joining in on the holiday merriment in the Great Hall. He'd done well and had been happy with the gifts he'd been sent from home; Lysandra had loved the gifts he'd given her during the hour or so of alone time they'd been able to have on Christmas Day; and that Quidditch workout had gone well too – even if he hadn't liked listening to James' ridiculous bragging during the fifteen minutes or so that they'd been on their own in the stadium after the girls had left.

On the not-so-much fun side, Lysandra and Andrea had wanted to spend some time learning to use their new RevisionWizards, and while he had to admit that the thing was brilliant and would be a huge help with their assignment workload; he really hated knowing that it had been invented by the Animorphloser, his Potty-trainer; and Rose Weasel. Lysandra and Andrea hated that part of it too while loving what they could now do with the add-on for their mirrors; so he also resented that bit of admiration they both had for James' loser brother.

"Maybe you just need to invent something brilliant too," he mused to himself; and then laughed morosely. "Too bad you haven't even got a good idea for an invention!"

He did get a mental picture of an Animorphmagus-killing invention without any concrete image of what it would look like, but then even if it worked; there was only the one Animorphloser; so it would be a one-use-only invention and then be useless!

Forcing his thoughts elsewhere; he considered ways that he might be able to spend more time with Lysandra during the second-half of their holiday. The one issue he hadn't considered had been Andrea's need for someone to hang out with; and Lysandra had been her go-to Witch for that. It hadn't been easy for Lysandra to shake her off even for an hour here and there; and that was sure to be an ongoing problem. The idea of pairing her up with one of the other boys close to her age in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw was only good for a laugh; but he might be able to rope James into an extra Seeker duel or two with Andrea that would get her out of the way.

A brilliant idea for making that happen suddenly popped into his mind – and he was suddenly smiling to himself; sure that he would be able to get that extra time with Lysandra that he wished for most; and that James would be happy to help him out with that!

He'd get to have some bolt-of-lightning, electrifying fun with Lysandra where they could get away without being bothered; and James would get to have something he really wanted too – fly a Lightningbolt!

Family Christmas adventures day three began quietly-enough for Al as he woke up; shared a few kisses and caresses with Gwendolyn; and then had her go back to sleep while he got ready for the day and then joined Gwenog in the kitchen to help with making breakfast. That meal, the clean-up, and some more work around the house kept them busy until it was time to head over to Gwendolyn's McCormack grandparents' house; and they did that early-enough so that they could help out with a bit of pre-party work there too. While all of that had been at least a bit different compared to Friday or Saturday for Al; the actual family party and dinner almost felt like déjà vu to Saturday andfternoon and evening. The early gift-opening; play time; later dinner; and evening wind-down could have been a replay if not for the change in cast members of the show from Gwenog's family to Kirley's.

The only really obvious difference between Saturday and Sunday was the ending – and that was because Kirley and Gwenog headed home early ahead of Gwenog's training night curfew; Gwendolyn and Jonah packed overnight bags; and then Kirley went with them to Al's house to drop all three of them off with Harry and Ginny so that he wouldn't need to take Gwendolyn and Jonah there in the morning for their study session. Kirley stayed for a little visit; but then went home again while Harry and Ginny took a break from the work they'd been doing to trade stories with the kids about their respective work and play weekend adventures.

"I'm sure you've had fun today," Lily told Gwendolyn as they settled onto sofas and got comfortable; "but Mum and I found out that we were too late for some of the best after-Christmas sales because the stores were already sold out of all of the most-popular items by this morning."

"We didn't even think about that yesterday," Gwendolyn said with a smile and shrug. "Maybe that's for the best; since we'd have spent the money if we had been able to get in on those sales – and don't really need more new clothes or anything else – other than our school supplies. Theyre not sold out of them; are they?"

"Not for most things; but they are temporarily out of inks and replacement quills for RevisionWizard," Lily reported. "I don't get that, since they're sure to carry those supplies in Hogsmeade, but if that becomes a problem; we'll just get Al to make more for us."

"We already know how many pages we can get out of a bottle of ink," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Most students won't – and don't know how good the quills are either; so I'm not surprised that they've all gone out and bought more than they'll need. Did you find much in the stores that you did want to buy today?"

"A few things," Lily confirmed with a bob of her head. "Mum and I shopped in Diagon Alley for part of the morning; we had lunch with Dad at our usual mall; shopped there before and after lunch; and then we went to see an afternoon matinee movie before meeting up with Dad again for dinner."

"The show was funny – in a bad sort of way," Ginny added. "If you decide to go to the movies for your date afternoon with Rose and Kyle; you might want to pick something else."

"Though you will laugh if you do watch it despite – or because of – all the stupid," Lily added with a grin. "The other movie we were thinking about seeing instead is an action flick; and probably a better bet for Kyle anyway."

"Well, I've heard the shopping and movie stories already," Harry told them, "and have a bit more work to get done tonight; so let's hear about the McCormack family Christmas fun before I get back to that – since I'm sure that none of you are interested in the work I've been doing today."

"Not if it's all about year-end budgets and the rest of the paperwork and meetings," Al agreed. "There haven't been any bad guys to chase down since that botched robbery on Christmas Eve?"

Harry laughed. "No, and don't look so disappointed. No trouble is supposed to be a good thing for the Aurors – though we haven't had a trouble-free weekend. There wasn't anything too serious, though; and the Hit Wizards hanndled most of those incidents."

"I worry a bit when we have these long lulls without any major issues with the Dark Wizards," Ginny admitted. "Maybe they just need a break too; but most times it just means they're busy plotting something more elaborate – and dangerous."

"Let's not go there," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al. "We could say the same about how things are going for us at Hogwarts so far this year; and I really hope that doesn't mean that something big is being planned for us again this year."

"I think that most Slytherins are enjoying the break from the awful as much as we are," Lily interjected seriously. "We still get razzed and insulted; but James isn't the only bully taking a break this year – and some of the worst of them aren't at Hogwarts." She smiled at Al. "Love him or hate him, everyone also knows that Al – and Gwendolyn and Rose – are behind RevisionWizard, and when they see for themselves how much easier their studies wtill be; it ought to be enough to at least have them laying off of him – even if that might only last until the next time they get mad at him for something again."

"Let's hope for the best with that," Al suggested; "but some of my favorite haters will just hate me more now." He turned his attention to his father. "We've had a really good day with Gwendolyn's family. It was a bit quieter than on Saturday too – though not by a lot."

"And that was quieter because of fewer kids," Gwendolyn added. "The adults were loudest today."

Those comments led them on to a full recap of their day; Ginny and Lily added more details about their mother-daughter play day after that – while Harry went back to getting his work finished; and then they all eventually headed up to bed. Al and Gwendolyn had been last to do that, but only because they took care of the snacks and drinks clean-up; and the chance to be alone for their goodnight hugs and kisses didn't turn into a full-out snog-fest! The early bedtime had more to do with too many late nights in a row than anything else; but they did want to also be rested up for the second-half of their Christmas holiday. Al was also last to get ready for bed; Jonah was sleeping by the time he got back to his room; and he was soon in nap mode too – a state that he remained in through until his normal wake-up time in the morning.

The Christmas fun was behind them by Monday morning, and while they still had six full days left of their holiday break from Hogwarts; Al still felt a sense of time compressing on him as he got ready for the day on Monday and then cooked breakfast for six with help from his father once Harry joined him in the kitchen. That feeling stayed with him as they spent the morning studying, and while they all finished their holiday revision; that accomplishment just seemed to be a milestone on the countdown to their return to school on Sunday. An afternoon of Quidditch with Rose and the rest of their available Gryffindor team mates didn't feel that same way; but Al did get a sense of ongoing accomplishment as he helped 'his' team to win a duel with their reserve squad despite having Brandon win the Seeker duel. Monday evening was a quiet night a home for Al and Lily, but their parents each had some work to do; so they kept themselves entertained most of the time after dinner and just had a half-hour or so of chat time with Harry and Ginny before they all headed up to bed for the night.

On Tuesday, Al and Lily spent the morning helping out around the house while Ginny was busy with work; Gwendolyn and Jonah were dropped off an hour or so before lunch; and then Ginny came home long-enough to take the four kids to London; and then dropped them off at the mall where they met up with Rose and Kyle. Their three-couple date afternoon included a fast food lunch; some shopping; and an afternoon matinee movie. They'd all loved getting to spend that teen time together, but it also seemed to be another check mark on Al's holiday to-do list; and seemed too short when it was time for Rose and Kyle to move on to their dinner plans with his family. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah ended up meeting their parents at the Leaky to have dinner there because Ginny and Gwenog decided not to bother cooking when they needed to be in London to get the kids anyway; and then they did a bit of supply shopping while in Diagon Alley after that – including most of the back-to-school supply shopping for the kids.

Al didn't get to see Gwendolyn at all on Wednesday. He and Lily spent the morning at the Burrow – mostly to spend some extra time with their grandmother; they had their respective Quidditch practices in the afternoon; and that was another holiday milestone – their last team workout of the holidays. Lily was spending the night at Gwendolyn's house ahead of their teen day with the Harpies on Thursday; and that allowed Al to have his second-annual chance to spend an evening with his parents. This year, there was no teen drama; Harry and Ginny didn't feel the need to talk with him about anything serious at all; and they had a fun evening that included a take-out pizza and wings dinner; and a quiet evening that included a bit of video gaming; a couple of mirror network shows; and an early bedtime.

Ginny was covering the teen day for the Harpies and Falcons on Thursday morning, since those were also the teams she was covering for the weekend games; so after having breakfast with his parents; Al saw them off to work; and then spent the morning doing chores around the house so they'd be out of the way ahead of the New Year's Day holiday weekend. His work for the ay wasn't done once he'd finished those jobs; and he was on his own for lunch too while Ginny had that meal with the Harpies and their teen guests. That luncheon took a bit longer than planned, so Ginny was also running behind when she stopped in to get Al and take him over to the McCormack's for the rest of the day – and the New Year's Eve sleepover that he and Lily would be there for along with all of the kids and teens spending New Year's Eve with Gwendolyn and Jonah. By then, they were down to hours until the start of the party, and the four teens had a to-do list to get through while Kirley left to meet up with his band and get set-up for the New Year's Eve party they were headlining at this year.

Gwendolyn and Lily were happy to tell Al and Jonah all about their morning with the Harpies while they worked; Jonah took a turn telling them about his play time with the Prides; and for some reason, they weren't at all interested in hearing about Al's morning chores or his cold veggies and sandwich lunch for one! They had the work done and some New Year's Eve decorations put up too by the time the first teens and tweens were dropped off by parents taking care of that between work and getting ready for their night out. Their party guests included some of Gwendolyn's and Jonah's cousins, but they'd invited some friends too; so Ray, Melissa, and Cyndia were part of that group; Lily and Jonah had invited a half-dozen friends including Hugo and Kathryn; and the younger kids that they'd be babysitting included a few cousins – like baby Johnny; and a couple of Harpies' cousins. Kirley stopped in when he needed to actually get ready for the concert; brought take-out food for the kids; and then left the teens to deal with feeding the entire gang while he and Gwenog both got ready for their night out. Gwenog was going to spend some time with the kids during the evening, but would be at the party for dinner; and would be there to ring in the New Year with Kirley and a lot of their friends.

Feeding the troops was still a work in progress by the time that Gwenog and Kirely headed out. There was a break in that adventure while they did a round of goodbyes; and then Al and Gwendolyn were officially in charge for the next three hours or so before they expected Gwenog to make her first visit. Their dinner didn't descend into chaos once the parents were away, but the youngest kids were able to make quite a mess; and the tweens eventually ate and then ran for the play room to get on with a gaming marathon while Al and Gwendolyn were left with the mess. Ray and Cyndia were their only volunteers to help with all of the work, and they hadn't had time to eat while busy with the younger kids, so they filled plates from the leftovers first; before getting to the clean-up. Lily and Jonah helped them out too, but that was with kid control; and they had some help with that from the other younger teens too.

"And I thought that teen day with Puddlemere United was crazy," Ray said with a sigh as the four teens left in the dining room sat down with their plates of food. "That was enough to convince me not to have kids."

"You don't want to have kids of your own someday?" Cyndia asked.

Ray laughed. "That's one of those questions that Witches ask that are dangerous for any Wizard to answer," he hedged. "I probably will want to have one or two kids eventually, but not anytime soon; and I won't ever want to have a gang like this to take care of even for parties; so I'll need to get a decent job so I can hire unsuspecting teens to do that work for me."

"We knew what we were getting in for when we were drafted," Gwendolyn advised him; indicating herself and Al. "We really appreciated the help, but if the kids are messing with your fun tonight; we'll figure out a way to keep them from bugging you for the rest of the evening until they go to bed."

"They a bit scary in a gang; but I've still been having fun," Cyndia offered. "Lacey hardly ever wants to play with our dolls anymore either; so I'll be happy to join in for that too."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Ray asked. "Al loves to play with dolls; and he'd have likely sat down and done that with you anytime if you'd just asked him."

Al laughed too. "I probably would have; though we'd get razzed about it if we tried doing that in the Great Hall or common room."

"No doubt," Cyndia agreed. "Do the kids have you change into different animal forms while playing with their Animorphmagus dolls and action figures?"

"They ask fairly-often; but I try not to do that more than one round of that a night – and only a few different animals."

"I have to keep the younger girls from trying to keep him for a pet too," Gwendolyn added. "Now they think it's funny; so it's another game for us to play."

"Letting one of them take him home might be funnier," Cyndia suggested; "but I suppose that might be a bad precedent to set for your boyfriend."

"Would you want to have me do things like that if you were an Animorphmagus?" Ray teased; and Cyndia laughed.

"I might want to let some of the hottest Wizards you know take me home," she coutnered – "and don't try to tell me you wouldn't be thinking the same thing about Witches if you could turn into any animal form you wanted. I could definitely picture you trying to sneak into the girls' dorms – and possibly doing that in all four Houses!" She laughed again when she saw Al start blushing. "Yes, you quite possibly might be the only Wizard or Witch that should ever be allowed to have that talent; since the rest of us almost certainly would abuse the power!"

"Most of us might take advantage of the talent," Gwendolyn suggested; "but I don't think that we'd abuse it the way that someone like Rita Skeeter did with her Animagus; and I don't even want to think about what a Dark Wizard or Witch would do with that ability."

"A Dark Wizard would think the talent useless – except maybe for spying – the way Voldemort used Peter Pettigrew's Animagus to spy on my family during the war," Al said quietly. "They usually just have contempt for what they consider to be all lesser creatures; so most of their lot wouldn't even consider stooping to such low levels."

"Likely all true," Gwendolyn agreed; "but then they have all sorts of warped perspectives and may never understand our point of view for anything."

"This is far too serious for New Year's Eve," Ray told them. "I get the babysitting thing for tonight, but your parents thought that James was old-enough to go to a major party last year; so why didn't you guys get tickets for the party the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are playing at tonight?"

"That's easy," Al answered before Gwendolyn could. "Those kids don't want to play with dolls; while the kids at this party do. That was an easy pick for me!"

"Is this the one night of the holidays when you wish you were home?" Malorie asked James as they started in on their desserts. She'd waited for him to finish his third plate full of food before choosing one treat while James filled yet another plate with all of his favorite dessert treats. "You'd be at that big party that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are playing at tonight; and likely having way more fun than we'll have at this little party." She didn't say it; but was thinking that he'd also be at that party with some suitably-beautiful Witch that wouldn't be her.

"That wouldn't be worth all of the hassles that would go with it," James assured her. "I probably won't go to parties like that once I'm out of here and in the show anyway. That's kid stuff compared to the parties the team owners throw – and I'll never need to buy a ticket for any of those parties."

"I doubt you'll have to buy tickets to any party once you're a famous Quidditch star," she pointed out – "though you might have to pay to host a party now and then – especially if you have a big mansion that would be perfect for those major parties."

James laughed. "Maybe I should re-think that part of my plan if that'll be expected of me too. I like parties; but wouldn't want to do any of the work."

Malorie shrugged. "That's why you'll likely have House Elves or servants doing that for you instead." She smiled self-depracatingly; though he didn't notice. "I can totally picture you with a mansion with a staff of beautiful, young Witches at your beck and call."

James grinned at that. "Suddenly, those House Elves that my family got for Teddy and Victoire don't seem all that great at all," he mused aloud.

"House Elves are amazing, but they're also a huge responsibility for Wizarding families that have them; and may be nearly as expensive to care for as hiring employees is; since you do care for them all of the time; year-round. Employees go home at the end of the day – unless you want live-in staff."

"Well, you did say they'd all be beautiful Witches; so I might want them to live with me," James only half-joked; "but that's a good point too. Either way; I'll still take the free parties over any other option – and we're going to have fun tonight."

"We will," she agreed, and believed that; but she also felt a tinge of sadness too. The start of the New Year meant the end of the Christmas holidays for her; she knew that James would be done with her by Sunday night; and she needed to accept that this last few days together would have to last her a lifetime. There's no way he'd spend time with her at Easter when all of his friends would be staying to study for their OWLs; she'd be done school in June; and then she'd likely never see him again unless it was at a Quidditch match or on the mirror network.

"Are you okay?" he asked; bringing her out of those melancholy thoughts. "You've barely touched that dessert."

Malorie pasted a smile on her face. "I'm just taking my time so that I'm not done too far ahead of you," she joked. "You're lucky that I'm not the jealous type; or I'd hex you for being able to eat like that and never need to worry about putting on a lot of weight."

James grinned at her. "Have a few extras – and I'll make sure you won't need to worry about that sort of thing later while we ring in the New Year together!"

The New Year's Eve party at the McCormacks' was quite possibly the least-exciting ever – especially considering some of the epic parties that the Weird Sisters had been responsible for over the decades! Al thought that it was just his speed, though; and had a lot of fun playing with Gwendolyn, their friends, and all of the younger kids. After cleaning up from dinner; they played some games with everyone that helped to tire the youngest kids out; they had an hour of wind-down play time and mirror network show watching that helped to put some of the kids off to sleep; and then they played mirror games; watched the mirror network music channel that was covering the teen and young adult New Year's Eve party while the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids were on stage; and enjoyed some teen and tween fun through until midnight.

Gwenog stopped in and joined them for a half-hour or so, but since all was well; she headed back to the party at the Magick Hall and left Al and Gwendolyn to keep the quieter party going without her. There was some dancing involved while watching the mirror network special, and Al and Gwendolyn danced to a few songs too, but by then; they were also happy to relax; cuddle on a sofa; and have some quiet chat time with everyone else. That was mostly through cameo moments as the other teens, tweens, and kids took breaks from the mirror gaming, dancing, or other fun; but that just kept the entertainment going for them – and made it feel as though they were spending some quality time with everyone – even if those moments never seemed to last for long either.

Fate didn't likely step in and take a personal hand in their lives as it neared midnight, but Al and Gwendolyn still ended up ringing in the New Year without any personal fireworks. Johnny decided to wake up and want their attention at twenty-to-twelve; they'd needed to make good on two promises to wake kids up in time to ring in the New Year with them; and that's how they ended up doing that with three kids in their combined laps. They still thought that was a great way to start the New Year, since the extra cuddles and kisses with the kids had been pretty good; and they got teased about that a fair bit after sharing the Happy New Year best wishes with everyone – especially since even Hugo had a hotter first New Year's embrace than they did – though he tried to pretend that he hadn't thought that the pair of kisses from Kathryn and Melissa hadn't been brilliant for him!

With three kids to deal with, the fun immediately after midnight was a long way from even teen-rated entertainment; but then Al and Gwendolyn were too busy with getting those kids settled down and back to sleep. Then Gwenog was home again because she didn't want to be out until all hours with just a day left to get ready for the Harpies' match against the Falcons; so they were busy talking with her for a while too before she headed for bed shortly after they got the last of the older 'kids' to bed too. The single teens and tweens in their gang went to bed then too; so Al and Gwendolyn only had a few friends, Lily, and Jonah still standing after that – or sitting; since they were all cuddled in couples when they were finally ready to wind down before heading off to bed too.

"Next year, we should leave the parents at home with the kids and go out to the parties instead," Lily suggested with a tired smile that she directed at her brother. "Al might think that this is a perfect way to spend New Year's Eve, but when we go back to school on Sunday; my contributions to the gossip is going to be laughed at by the other girls."

"You don't think that they'll want to know that Johnny tried to use Al's kneazle form as a teething ring?" Gwendolyn joked; and earned a round of laughs.

"I must've missed that bit of fun," Lily admitted; "but I wouldn't do that to Al. James would have a field day with that story."

"Speaking of James; I wonder if they're having a strange night at Hogwarts," Ray interjected. "New Year's Eve with James, Scorpius Malfoy, Lysandra Lestrange, and the other Slytherins we heard were staying for the holidays must be very strange – or dangerous; if they get into a fight or something."

"There won't be any problems," Al predicted. "If they didn't want to go home for Christmas; then there's no way they'd get into trouble and get sent home with suspensions instead."

"I wasn't thinking about it that way," Ray admitted; "but it could be too much to expect James to give up on the chance for New Year's Eve pranks and wheezes – and Merlin only knows what might happen if he gets too many Slytherins mad at him."

"You can't picture the lot of them hanging out together; toasting the New Year; and sharing hugs and kisses like we did tonight?" Cyndia teased.

"Not without laughing I can't," Ray assured her. "If they all hang out together in the Great Hall, though; that must still get a bit weird with so few teens in the room – especially when the Slytherins always treat most of the other students so horridly. There'd be no getting away from it with such a small group."

"Well, Lily's looking for something different for next New Year's Eve – maybe the four of you should stay and try to liven things up for those students," Gwendolyn suggested.

"You wouldn't want to stay for that too?" Cyndia asked.

"Not if it meant missing out on this two weeks at home with our families – and as Lily pointed out; Al and I like getting to play with the kids. He doesn't like big parties; so we'll try to avoid them when we can."

"Is it possible to avoid parties and have a career in the show?" Ray asked.

"If you play for the Cannons," Cyndia offered with a laugh. "I suppose they do have something to party about tonight, since they did win their match last weekend; but I wouldn't want to party much if I played on a team with a record as horrid as theirs has been for more than a century."

"Then you'd better stop playing so well in our scrimmages and Chaser duels," Al warned with a grin; "or Rose will put you on her short list for the team."

"It's New Year's Day now, not Halloween; so quit trying to scare me," Cyndia told him. "I'll leave it to Gwendolyn's little cousins and friends to dream about playing Quidditch on your team, Al; and I doubt I'll ever get a chance to play in the show – not that I expect that I'll even want to do that anyway."

"What would you want to do instead?" Gwendolyn asked. "While we're talking about the future; do any of you have any New Year's resolutions you want to try and break – I mean, keep – this year?"

Since those questions had been meant for Cyndia to answer first, she did that; and then the New Year's resolution topic kept them entertained for a little while as they all wound down until they were ready to crash and nap for a few hours. Kirley's return home was the catalyst that got them moving, but he'd had enough for the day by then; and only stopped in to say goodnight to them before continuing on to his room. Al and Gwendolyn would have liked to stay cuddled together on their sofa while getting that too-short bit of rest, but that would have been a bit too weird with all of them sharing the limited sofa space; so they all headed for their rooms then; Al was among the last to get bathroom time before he could turn in; and so he was probably the last teen to actually get to the sleeping part of their night.

He was also first up thanks to Johnny giving him a wake-up call an hour and a half after he dropped off to sleep; and he managed to get to Gwendolyn's cousin before he woke anyone else. Changing messy diapers was not ever going to be a favorite way to start any day for him, but once he was clean and dry; Johnny was very happy to keep Al entertained through until it was time to start cooking breakfast. Doing that work was a fairly-ambitious undertaking with a small gang of teens and kids to feed, but Al still had a lot of fun with it – thanks to his junior supervisor and official taste-tester. For his part, Johnny was fascinated to watch Al work with his seashells to make cooking magic. He also tried to help his cook out a bit too much, but Al managed to keep the bowl and platter from being dumped or smashed when Johnny attempted to get what he wanted without waiting for any help.

Learning first-hand just how interesting life could be around Wizard or Witch babies gave Al yet another little nugget of wisdom that helped him to appreciate all of his favorite parents and grandparents just a bit more, but the New Year's Day fun and entertainment was just getting started – even though he and Johnny were already a couple of hours into their day by the time everyone else began to gather around in the kitchen and dining room so that they could enjoy that morning meal. The parties post-mortem chat kept them entertained while they ate; Al was sent off to play with the kids instead of cleaning up after that; and by the time that the other teens that had been drafted for that work joined him in the play room; Al was fairly-sure that the work in the kitchen would have been easier than keeping up with the kids.

By then, he was ready for another nap, but didn't get the chance to do that. The first wave of parent arrivals and teen and kid departures began soon after that work in the kitchen and dining room was done; Al and Gwendolyn helped with getting the kids ready to travel with their parents; they saw their friends and older cousins on their way with best New Year's wishes; and then it was time for Al, Lily, and Hugo to head home with Ginny. Al and Gwendolyn needed to say goodbye then too, but while they would have liked to spend the rest of the day together; Gwenog really only had the rest of the day to spend with her kids because she'd be busy with work on Saturday and they'd be returning to Hogwarts on Sunday; so Gwendolyn wanted to have that time with her parents – and Al and Lily had that same issue with Ginny; though not quite to the same extent. Hugo went home with them because Ron and Hermione were joining them for lunch before heading to London to meet up with Rose and Kyle – and to spend the rest of the day with Hermione's parents.

While that lunch had partly been set up so that they could spend some time together when they all had a rare shared day off; Ginny and Hermione also wanted to talk business with Al and have him teach them the magic behind his Mirror Messaging. The two women led Al into the office not long after Ron and Hermione arrived at the house. They left Harry and Ron playing games with Lily and Hugo, but while that might have sounded like more fun to the others; Ginny and Hermione were both fired up as they sat down in two of the chairs and waited expectantly for Al to begin his tutorial.

"Now that we've had most of a week to play with our new toys; we're even more impressed than we were last week with what you've done with the mirror messaging," Hermione advised Al as he was getting a few things set out and ready to go so that he could go through the entire process with them. "Where did you even get the idea for what you've done with the ink? It does physically transfer from where it's written to the destination parchment, right?"

Al smiled a bit sheepishly. "It does, and while a few things came together for that; it was actually the stories I've been told about blood quills being used on Dad and other students at Hogwarts when you went there that helped me to create the spells that worked best for making that happen."

"That's surprising and a bit weird; but at least you've put the idea to a much nicer use than Umbridge did," Ginny suggested.

"That was a horrid use of the magic," Al said sincerely. "I really don't get why so much of the magic we've created has been invented to do such awful things." He smiled at the expressions he saw on the faces of both women. "I know, there has been need for curses, hexes, and jinxes; but maybe there'd have been a lot less need for any of it if we'd tried a bit harder to find other ways to deal with our problems."

"We don't disagree with you," Hermione assured him; "but we do all need to live in the real world. Dark Wizards and the magical creatures and beings that tend to choose the Dark over the Light aren't likely ever going to play nice; and we need to be able to deal with that fact and constant battle – even when doing so can be distasteful for us."

"Maybe you can work on changing that for all of us another time," Ginny suggested with a grin. "For now; we want to see everything you've done with the mirror messaging. You've another sure hit with this, Al; and I'm wishing that Hermione and I had given it more than a glancing thought years ago."

"We were distracted by other ideas back then," Hermione reminded her – "and then we just got busy with kids, work, and everything else we've done since making the mirrors and everything else."

"You would have needed most of what you've done to have the current portable mirrors to get the mirror messaging – or at least to have it the way I made it," Al advised them. "The magic I tied in with is a combination of the communicators, the Wireless Web, and the mirror network. There's even a couple of things that I borrowed from the way mirror games are designed." He thought about that; and then nodded to himself. "Now that I think about it; mirror messaging won't work with older mirrors that are only communicators."

"The Witches and Wizards still using those old mirrors won't likely be interested in mirror messaging anyway," Ginny suggested. "We'll want to sell some version of these kits you've made for a number of years; but we'll also want to integrate mirror messaging into new mirrors too."

"We will," Al agreed; "but I think that we should fine-tune it first before going there so that the mirror messaging can be upgraded as easily as can be done for everything else our mirrors can do. It doesn't quite do everything I think it should yet – and I've been offered a lot of suggestions over the past week too." He smiled then. "By the way – color change charms do work on the permanent parchment if you'd like yours to be different colors. Thatt was one of the comments; and something I'd tested while working on them. Just don't go with a dark color or you can't see the ink."

"Having other ink colors would be an option, though," Ginny mused.

"Maybe," Al agreed; "but that might cause more trouble if everyone used too many different combinations of colors that aren't visible on every mirror." He thought about that for a moment too. "An integrated color change charm might be possible; but I'd likely need to completely re-do the way I've made the permanent parchment so that the color could be changed by the message-sender."

"Let's start with what you have done," Ginny suggested. "Upgrades can wait for another time."

Al had agreed with that; he began by showing them how he made the permanent parchment; movedon to the spells that made it attach to the mirrors automatically and then link to the magic that made the communicators, wireless web, and mirror network possible. Quills and ink were next, and while that might seem to be the simplest parts of the mirror messaging; Al had designed everything to work together; so the magic in the parchment, quill, and ink all needed to work together – and be matched with the Wizard or Witch using it – just as he'd done with the study app. Ginny and Hermione had a lot of questions for Al; they actually made a few changes to the set that Al had made for them right then and there; and then it was time to break up that meeting and go make lunch. It was going to take longer to put mirror messaging on the shelves in stores because it wasn't just possible to make copies the way they'd been able to do with the Animorphmagus toys – mostly because of the spells that made everything about portable mirrors personalized for each owner. Al thought that there might be a way to do that at some point in the future, but that might just prove to be a wasted effort; since it wouldn't matter once mirror messaging just became an integrated part of new portable mirrors. Ginny and Hermione were sure that mirror messaging would be another huge success for Al whenever they did get it out there and available for everyone, though; and they were sure that the work involved in making them would be worth the effort for whichever company wanted to partner with them for the new product!

Malorie woke up early on New Year's Day morning feeling decidedly-unwell. James didn't rouse as she extricated herself from him; hurriedly got dressed; and then needed to run for the nearest bathroom – which, unfortunately for her; was down the hall and around the corner from the out-of-the-way classroom they'd picked for their New Year's Eve sleepover. She'd needed to conjure a bucket before getting there; puked as if she'd eaten a box of the silly wheezes; and then finished emptying her stomach once she was in the bathroom.

Considering the fact that she'd only had a couple of glasses of wine all night while James had over-indulged yet again; Malorie would have laughed if she hadn't felt so awful. She knew James, though, and was sure that he'd blow her off for the rest of the weekend if he even got a hint that she might be unwell; so she pulled herself together while in the bathroom; and then returned to him and pretended that she didn't feel horrid. That was easy at first, since it was a while before he woke up anyway, and then he'd needed to take another dose of the potion she'd made up for him before he could get past his own, self-inflicted bout of feeling hung over and ill.

Playing with him for a while after that had been both brilliant and awful, but she had less than three days left with him before James would go back to his privileged life with his beautiful or handsome friends; and then forget all about her. Going for breakfast after that had been worse, but she apparently managed to pull off an award-winning performance because James didn't notice a thing – even when she needed to run off to the bathroom and throw up again. James didn't have another Quidditch workout after breakfast as he'd done every day except for Christmas Day, so while she'd have rather gone to her room and had a nap; she went off with him again and resumed their play time through until nearly-noon. Trying to have fun hadn't been any easier, but she clung to the happy and joy as if it was a lifeline because that's exactly what it seemed to be for her.

That reality didn't keep her from being glad and sad when James went off to have a Quidditch workout after lunch, but then she had a nap in her dorm room while he was busy; and actually felt a bit better by the time she met up with him again by mid-afternoon. That made the pool party for two a lot hotter and more fun as she helped him to get warmed up again, and other than their dinner break in the Great Hall; she made sure that the rest of their day was filled up to overflowing with the sort of best-ever memories that she expected would need to last her a lifetime!

With Rose staying in London to spend every moment she could with Kyle; the lunch meal felt a bit incomplete for Al. He still enjoyed that time with his aunt, uncle, and Hugo; but it wasn't the same either – and something he'd need to get used to as he and Rose both began to have their own lives beyond the connections that they shared with family and at school. That meal was also another of those holiday milestones that continued to count down the days and hours to their return to Hogwarts. In fact, their entire afternoon ended up feeling like that to Al as they stayed at home; but had a series of visitors stop by to see them. Some of those visits were very short – like the one that Teddy and Victoire made specifically so she could say goodbye to Al because she didn't expect to see him again before Sunday – and hadn't seen him on Thursday when she'd spent time with Lily, Rose, and Gwendolyn. Others were a bit longer; and Molly and Arthur had the record for that because they came over by mid-afternoon and stayed for dinner – mostly because the rest of their 'local' kids were busy doing other things for the day anyway.

Arthur and Harry popped over to get Aunt Muriel in time for dinner too; so their last meal of the day was also a very entertaining and noisy event. Without anywhere to hide among the rest of the family like he tried to do most of the time, Al couldn't escape Muriel's attention – not that he likely would have anyway when she'd wanted to spend some time talking about what she loved and hated about mirror messaging. Ginny allowed him to solve their Great-Aunt's biggest complaint by making her quill self-writing, but that seemed a bit silly to him; since he was sure that his aunt could have done that herself had she really had an issue with writer's cramp as she claimed.

While he'd have been happy to spend the evening with his grandparents and aunt too, Al was just as glad to spend those few hours with his parents and sister after Molly and Arthur decided to go home ahead of a busy Quidditch day – and took Muriel home then too. Ginny had a bit of work to do ahead of her work on Saturday, but got that out of the way quickly; and then she and Harry spent the rest of the evening with Al and Lily. They played mirror games; watched television and the mirror network; and talked a lot about their plans for the first weeks of the New Year at home and Hogwarts. They'd all been up late on New Year's Eve, so they also went up to bed right after Lee's first show of the New Year – one in which he spent some quality time making fun of New Year's resolutions. Al wrapped up his day having a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn, but they kept that short; and that was entirely because he fell asleep while having that chat with her – and then she went off to sleep after watching him nap for a while and deciding not to mess with him by trying any wake-up shouts or other options that would have worked to shock him awake again.

Al had really needed that extra rest; and he felt a lot better by the time he woke on Saturday morning. He was fired up about getting to spend the day with Gwendolyn and their families and friends; so he was in a great mood as he got ready for the day and then cooked breakfast with his father while Ginny and Lily played dress-up and had their own bit of fun until the food was ready. Ginny had to go to work not long after they ate that meal, but Harry, Al, and Lily puttered around the house for another hour to take care of some chores before heading to London and Diagon Alley. They met up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah at the Leaky; and then got started on the school supply shopping that they always left to the end of the holidays so that their sweets, treats, and other perishable supplies would be fresh when they headed back to Hogwarts on Sunday.

"Maybe we should change this up for future holidays,' Gwendolyn suggested to Al as they were picking up their potions supplies. "Doing this on the Saturday before we go back might be best for a lot of reasons; but it also means that our holiday is almost done too."

"Would you have us do the same thing for the Quidditch matches?" Al asked with a grin. "Maybe the Harpies would like to only have one match over the holidays instead of two."

"The only way that happens is to finish the previous season out of the top eight," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I would definitely hate that!"

"Well, the match today might mean that our holiday is all but up now, but at least you'll get the win this year instead of another loss," Al offered; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"You'd better not throw that against me if the Harpies lose," she warned. "I really don't think that our team will lose two in the same year to the Falcons, though; so I hope that I don't end up being wrong about that."

"I hope you ar right – especially if the Falcons end up in the playoffs against the Harpies too," Al suggested. "That way, the Falcons won't be able to win that match either!"

"Great – now I'll need to worry about that declaration coming back to bite me in May," Gwendolyn pretended to grouse.

"We might not even be thinking about that by then," Al told her seriously. "This will be our first year having our last match of the school year at the end of May instead of in April. The league playoffs might just feel like a distraction to us while we're getting ready for our big match."

"I should likely be feeling that way about this match when my next match is two weeks from today," Gwendolyn mused. "I don't, though; and I'm not sure why Im not obsessing about that game."

"You can start doing that on Monday," Al told her. "We will take notes today, though; since some of those Slytherin players may try to use anything they see the Falcons do today against your team – especially if the Falcons have some success pounding on our team today."

"That isn't a very cheery thought,' Gwendolyn complained. "I'm hoping that Slytherin will play nice in our match – or that Pauline will catch the snitch early if they don't so we don't get pounded.

"Isn't that your Mum's game plan for today in a nutshell?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"No wonder it sounded familiar even as I said that," she joked. "It's also brilliant – if Gabrielle can pull that off today for us."

"That's a tough one for me," Al said with a smile and shrug. "The early win would be best for our team, but a short match would mean less time with you today."

"Now you could end up in trouble if we get that marathon match you're suggesting you'd like best – and all of our favorite players get pounded all day too," she warned.

"I can always ask Mum and Dad to let me use a bit more magic and help with the healing to make up for that if I get into trouble for that; but you might have a problem with that too."

"I'd only have a problem with you doing that for the six Witches on the team that aren't your cousin – and including the one that is one of mine now that she's married into my family. I'm not actually expecting a really short match though, and while I wish it could be different; Gabrielle really did have a tough time against Brand on Halloween; and that'll keep happening until she finds a way to beat him – and defend against all of the cheap shots and cheating."

"What a surprise- they're talking Quidditch," Kirley told Harry as they met up with Al and Gwendolyn. "I keep waiting for them to switch to talking about music all of the time; but that never seems to happen."

"We wouldn't want to get your hopes up only to dash them," Gwendolyn teased. "Aren't you talking Quidditch too with the big match just hours away?"

"Actually, we were talking about the party and some of the weird that we each saw from our perspectives in the crowd or on stage," Harry advised her. "I'm trying not to think too much about the Falcons right now; since I usually need to fight the urge to go and blast them before the match for what I know they'll try to do to Victoire, Gabrielle, and the others during the match."

"Would you arrest yourself afterwards if you did that?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin; and her smile brightened when that question earned a round of laughs.

"I'd never let it get past the happy thoughts stage," Harry assured her. "We can hope that the Falcons will come around some day, though; and start playing by the rules."

"Well, Mum did; so I suppose it could happen for them too," Gwendolyn offered; earning more laughs.

"While you're hoping for that; I'll hope that you didn't just jinx things for your Mum," Kirley told her. "It's been years since she'd gotten into trouble with the league for blasting anyone she was mad at; and the Falcons are two-faced cheats that will whine and complain whenever anyone cheats against them."

"Now that sounds exactly like the Slytherin players," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement.

"And they don't even need for there to actually be real cheating," Al added. "They're happy to blame their losses on imaginary cheating."

"That's nothing new with them," Kirley offered, "but some of us really don't want to talk Quidditch this morning; so let's move along – and do that literally; since I've about had enough of the smell of all of these potions ingredients to last me for a while."

Al and Gwendolyn weren't quite ready to pay for their supplies yet, but they did get back to the shopping – and changed the subject. Lily and Jonah had been done in that store by then, so they waited for them instead of going out into the cold or moving on to the next store without them. The shopping didn't really take all that long by the time the four teens finished getting everything from sweets and wheezes to a book or two that were all of the fun-reading variety instead of for their magical studies. They had last visits of the holidays with George and Ron at their store; there were some cameo visits with friends and family they crossed paths with along the way; and they were at the Leaky early so that they could have hot drinks and warm up while waiting for their lunch party to arrive at the Inn too.

Ginny joined them for lunch, and all of the Hogwarts students opted to sit with their own parents for that meal. The sense of milestones that Al had sensed all week kicked into a new level during that meal – and that was partly because they were now officially down to hours ahead of their trip back to Hogwarts instead of days. Another hour ticked off of the countdown clock while they enjoyed their food and family fun; and then they were on the go again – this time to take the Floo Network to Exmoor stadium. They didn't have everyone with them for that trip; since some of their lunchtime gang were attending the United game instead in support of Dominique and her team; but most of the die-hard Harpies fans were with them. Harry, Ginny, and Kirley kept their four kids with them while running the gauntlet of concessions booths; they took their time with that; and then went to find their seats as close to game time as possible so they didn't have to sit out in the cold for any longer than necessary. Al and Gwendolyn ended up with Rose next to her and Ginny next to him thanks to a seat shuffle that was meant to help out the 'extra' guests that had been given the tickets that hadn't been needed because of the group split between the two main matches of the day.

Scorpius settled into an armchair in the Slytherin common room as everyone in the room got ready to watch the Falcons-Harpies match. Lysandra sat in the chair to his left; Andrea was next to her; and Licentia was to his right because she'd want to talk Quidditch with him while they watched the game. He was looking forward to the Quidditch entertainment, but as they watched Lee Jordan wind down his pre-game show with the round of expert predictions for all of the matches of the day; his mind wandered a bit aimlessly too – mostly because he was thinking more about Lysandra, the end of their holidays, and his hopes for the New Year.

Their day so far had been pretty good. They'd gone to Hogsmeade to shop for supplies in the morning – with the 'they' being himself and the three girls he was currently sitting with; they'd had an early lunch at the Leaky; and then returned to the castle with time to spare ahead of the match they were about to watch. He'd earned some points with the girls for doing some of that supply shopping for all of them while they shopped for clothes and other 'fun' things; and Licentia had thanked him by picking up an extra bottle of fire whiskey for him that he'd smuggled back into the school – and that would help him earn still more points with some of the guys if he doled that out to some of them over the next few weeks. He wasn't really into drinking much himself, but had already learned the value of plying others with strong drink. He'd been tempted to ask Licentia to get him a good bottle of wine instead, but that would have just raised questions that he couldn't answer; so he'd have to wait for a better opportunity to share something like that with Lysandra.

He wished that he could be sharing more with her right now than an afternoon of Quidditch fun, but that wasn't to be either; so they settled for at least being able to sit next to each other while still playing their 'public' roles. That was getting tougher for him to do all of the time, since he had the urge to put his arms around her and snog her senseless pretty much every time he saw her; but he managed to keep up the act – and thought that she was brilliant at doing the same thing. With just a bit more than a day left to go before all of the students would be back and their holiday would be over, he knew that by Sunday night or Monday at the latest; he'd be wishing to still have this much of a connection with Lysandra. That wouldn't happen, since they'd all go back to their 'normal' lives, and he'd hate that; but then he also wouldn't change much of anything about the past two weeks just to avoid the disappointment that was sure to come when all three girls would go back to treating him the way they must around their friends and the rest of the teens from the other, most-powerful pureblood families.

"Of course they'd pick the Hapless Harpies for the win," Licentia said scornfully; bringing Scorpius back from his musings to focus on the mirror again. "We pounded them to bits and won that match on Halloween; but don't give our team any respect or credit!"

"I'll hope for the best," Andrea told her quietly; "but I agree with them." She laughed when Licentia glared at her. "The odds are against the Falcons," she elaborated. "If they've ever won both matches against the Harpies in a single season; that hasn't been in a long time. We can hate them all we want, but the Harpies are still one of the best teams in the league; and their Seeker is still one of the best in the world."

"She won't be all that if my brothers manage to bash her head in," Licentia shot back. "The only problem the Falcons have is that they don't care enough about winning matches – or think that they've won as long as they've done a good job pounding their opponents. I'd like it better if they'd do both."

"Most of their fans would riot if they tried to put winning ahead of bashing heads," Scorpius pointed out; "and it's a lot tougher to get the wins if you want long matches and don't care about the score while pounding on the other team's players."

"You think we've messed up doing the same thing with our House team," Licentia suggested; and Scorpius shrugged.

"Yes, I do," he agreed. "If we had a couple of better players on our team this season; we'd likely be able to prove that too."

"You and Licentia can still prove that you're a match for any two Chasers on the other teams," Lysandra suggested. "Do that; and even the Falcons will have to take a serious look at Licentia for a job with them – unless they'd rather find out how good she could be playing for the Tornados with Rachel and Lacey."

Licentia laughed. "Now that's a tough one for me. It'd be fun to play with Rachel and Lacey; but I wouldn't like playing against my brothers twice a year when they'd have an excuse to pound bludgers at me."

"Wouldn't they likely do that to you every day at practices if you join the Falcons?" Andrea asked. "I'd pick the twice-a-year thing over a daily pounding!"

"That might be a good thing to find out before taking a job with the Falcons," Licentia conceded. "I don't know if I'd even have a chance for a job with them anyway. It isn't as though they've ever hired many Witches."

"That's dumb," Andrea declared; "though I guess it's true that Witches aren't as good as Wizards when it comes to bashing in heads – in Quidditch." She nodded to the mirror. "Even the Harpies' Beaters get pounded by your brothers; and they've been playing in the show for a lot longer than Theo and Gregor have been."

"Long-enough that they ought to retire," Licentia offered; and then grinned. "Maybe my brothers will help them out with doing just that today!"

"That's a fun idea; but we all know they'll be too busy trying to bash Victoire, her aunt, Tory's Mum, and those other two Chasers – whatever their names are," Lysandra told them. "I'll pick the Harpies for the win today too; but I'll also predict that this win is really, really going to hurt!"

James and Malorie were the last two students leaving Hogsmeade on Saturday afternoon. Most of the others had returned early-enough to watch one of the Quidditch matches, but he didn't care whether the Harpies or United teams won or lost – though he'd be happy to find out that they both lost; and Malorie had offered more interesting entertainment! Sure, they'd done the supply shopping, but then she'd suggested a bit of rather risqué fun that had included a visit to the shrieking shack that he'd not soon forget; and then there had been some more fun in the snow that had been hot-enough that he was surprised they hadn't melted the snow for a mile around them! By the time they went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, they were the only teens still in town; they took their time enjoying that meal – though Malorie didn't eat much; and he ended up eating all of his food and most of hers too. She picked up the wine and fire whiskey that he'd wanted while there too; they'd stopped for sweets and chocolates on the way out of town; and then she side-along apparated him to the gates so that they didn't have to do the full, long walk to the castle.

They split up to put their things away in their dorm rooms and get changed; met up in one of the classrooms they'd been using over the holidays; and then they got back to playing the kinds of games they both liked best for the rest of the afternoon while not even getting a mirror out to keep up with the scores for the Quidditch matches.

Keeping up with Malorie was, um, hard-enough for James without any pointless distractions; the score didn't matter to either of them; and he was sure that they were having a much hotter afternoon than he'd have ever had hanging out with his loser family in a freezing-cold stadium!

Al was happy to cuddle with Gwendolyn under a warm blanket as the game started, but it wasn't really fun to watch as the Falcons got right to the bashing from the moment the quaffle was tossed into the air and the fourteen players took off. Victoire won the race to the quaffle, and scored the first goal of the match just a few minutes into the game; but even that first success cost her as she'd already been fouled four times by then – with the referee missing all of those cheap shots while distracted by other Falcons' players.

"Mum may need to call some time outs for healing if Victoire is going to take one or two hits like that every minute," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Maybe, but those gits really ought to worry a bit about getting Teddy mad at them for hits like those," Al told her. "Getting any penalties might be the least of their worries today."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Teddy wouldn't actually use being an Auror against them no matter how tempting that might be; so they've nothing to worry about at all – as long as they keep their cheating to Quidditch. All bets are off if they try to start something again after the match." They both cheered when Candice scored the Harpies' second goal on a pass from Victoire; and then they had to watch two more tough hits – one on Victoire; and the other on Candice.

"How is it possible for a match to start out both as well and as badly as we'd have hoped?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Because the Falcons don't mind letting your team score goals while they have fun softening up your players," Rose leaned in and answered before Al could. "We'll need to come up with a way to counter that between now and when we graduate; since I do not plan on letting those gits pound on me like that when we're in the show."

Gwendolyn grinned at her; though it was a bit grim. "You'll be all set; 'cause they'll all want to beat up on Al instead," she joked; and then shook her head at the sudden grin on Rose's face. "No, that is not a reason for me to play for the Cannons instead of the Harpies."

"I'd say that it's a very good reason," Rose disagreed with a nod toward where Victoire had just taken yet another cheap shot foul. "You'd be able to score a lot of goals while most of the Falcons were happily keying in on Al while ignoring us, and he can always heal himself; so we don't have to worry about him getting hurt."

"That might work for you," Al told them; "but I'd rather come up with a plan 'B' for the Falcons that doesn't include me getting pounded to bits in every match. It does still hurt a lot when I do get blasted; and the healing can suck a lot too."

"Doing that won't be easy," Gwendolyn pointed out. "If it was; then our favorite Harpies wouldn't be getting bashed like this right now."

"It does hurt the Falcons' players too," Rose reminded her. "If we could make those hits more painful for them than us; they'd lose that advantage of being masters at cheating."

"Do you think that the league would let us put spikes on our pads?" Gwendolyn only half-joked. "That'd hurt them more to run into for sure."

"Right up until they started using bigger spikes," Al pointed out. "A bludger hit to the point of a spike might end badly for us too."

"I was actually thinking more defensive than that sort of thing," Rose advised them. "Finding a way to make hits less-painful for us; and only more-painful for them by comparison."

"That would only work if it was something that none of the other teams could do too," Gwendolyn said – "and that's Al's point about my suggestion – that everyone could do the same thing and overcome the advantage very easily."

"I'd be okay with my Cannons having an advantage that nobody else has," Rose assured her. "We've done pretty well with some of our inventions so far; so maybe we could come up with something for this too."

"I like the idea," Al assured her; "but there's one problem that we'd have with the league. All new equipment has to meet all regulations, and be tested and approved; so keeping any secrets is all but impossible. League officials are likely easy-enough to bribe."

"Not to mention the reporters that would happily help out their own favorite teams despite the confidentiality agreements," Gwednolyn added with a nod. "Has any team gotten away with any big secrets since the year the Harpies shocked everyone with having a full set of Firestorms before anyone else got them?"

"All true," Rose agreed; "but I still think we could come up with something that could work that others might not be able to just replicate all that easily. Look at the Lightningbolts. That's a good example, since I'm sure the other broom companies would love to make a broom as good and fast; and yet they haven't done so because they can't figure out how to do it. We just need to think about what we want to do the same way – instead of doing whatever isn't working for those other broom makers."

"That is a good way of looking at it," Al approved – "and it's what you want to do with the Cannons team too – look at it in an entirely different way from how everyone else sees the team now."

"I thought that you want to make the Cannons like the Harpies – except for allowing Wizards to play so that Al can be on your team too," Gwendolyn said. "Isn't that why you're really going to the Harpies' teen day every year?"

"I want to learn from them – and then do my own thing too," Rose advised her seriously. "If we try to make the Cannons the same as the Harpies or the other top teams; we'll just be a copy – and probably not as good. The teams that win league titles get there by doing something special – whether that happens with a bit of luck; or because they've just found a way to do something different that works for a while until the other teams catch up. In a way, you could say the Falcons are doing that this year; though we hate how they're doing that with all of the cheating and brutish tactics."

"So you've a plan to get that kind of advantage with the Cannons?" Gwendolyn persisted; and Rose grinned at her.

"Not yet, but we will – and then we won't be able to tell you about it unless you want to sign up and play for the Cannons with Al and me."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Is it too late for you to make a New year's resolution to stop doing that to me?" she asked.

"Yes, and I wouldn't anyway," Rose advised her. "Even when I didn't say anything about the Cannons, the rest of you messed around with me anyway; so I'm going to give as good as I get for that from now on."

"Then it's game on," Gwendolyn told her; and then grimaced as she saw Candice take another hard hit while trying to pass the quaffle to Hailey. "At least we'll play nice with that – unlike some gits playing in this match today."

Al was sure that Gwendolyn and Rose wouldn't start blasting each other while having fun with their banter about the Cannons and Harpies, and he wished that the Falcons would play nice; but they didn't. As usual, they were only interested in pounding on the Harpies to the exclusion of nearly everything else at first. Victoire led her team to an eighty-to-twenty lead during the first hour; they extended that to one-forty to forty in the second hour; and one-eighty to seventy by the end of the third. The tide of the match turned to the Falcons after that as they continued to beat up on the Harpies; and the injuries mounted. The Falcons won the scoring battle in the fourth hour – if not by much; and really started to make progress on the comback during the fifth hour.

Heading into the start of the sixth hour, the Harpies still held on to a two-sixty to one-eighty lead, but Vicky was barely holding on by then; and Victoire was the most-mobile Harpies' Chaser – and that wasn't saying a lot when it was obvious that she was in pain all of the time. While all of the Harpies' players pushed on and held on as best they could, the Falcons kept up the pounding; and Brand didn't even attempt to catch the snitch even once. He'd been ordered to keep attacking Gabrielle; and his goal was apparently to knock her out of the game.

That proved to be the one mistake the Falcons made in their game plan. They'd scored three goals so far in the sixth hour; only given up two; and had narrowed the Harpies' lead to just seven goals when their effort to destroy the Harpies came to an abrupt end. Brand whiffed on an attempt to foul Gabrielle while she was making a run for the snitch; he had to dodge a bludger meant for her; and then had to watch with impotent fury as she went on to make the catch that gave her team the four-thirty to two-ten victory.

"You're not at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn warned Al quietly when they saw Brand go after Gabrielle. "Let your Dad and Teddy deal with those idiots!"

"They won't need to – yet," Al said as they both watched Gabrielle hit the brakes; watch Brand whiff on that attempt to bash into her too; and then she took off in the opposite direcction while also heading down toward the pitch and the general vicinity of the match referee. The rest of her team mates each had issues with Falcons too, but avoided any additional hits or injuries; and then they had help on the pitch as Harry and Teddy both apparated from their seats to center pitch and placed themselves between 'their' team and the seven angry, bitter Falcons players, their Manager, and a handful of team employees.

"I wonder if the Aurors do that for every Falcons match?" Gwendolyn mused. "I've never thought to ask your Dad about that before."

"I'm sure the Aurors would step in if they're at a match and need to do that to avoid a brawl," Al suggested; "but I am sure that Dad doesn't assign Aurors to be at every Falcons' match."

"So our team really is special," Gwendolyn declared with a nod and a side-long grin for Rose. "Too bad for you and your future Cannons team."

"Uncle Harry would help me too," Rose assured her. "United might be under his protection against the Falcons now too."

"Maybe that's why United really wanted Dominique – and will want Lucy," Al offered; earning some laughs for his suggestion.

"If that's true, let's hope that the Falcons don't figure that out or they might try to hire you," Rose teased.

"They couldn't pay me enough to give them an excuse to pound on me every day in practices," Al said seriously. "For all I know, they'd help the other team out and pound on me during their matches too."

"Now that would take their motto to a whole new level," Gwendolyn said with a laugh. Would you be allowed to keep a match going if you put all of your opponents in the hospital and then started working on pounding your own team mates?"

"No, but that's a funny suggestion – in a horror match sort of way," Rose advised her. "It doesn't seem as though the Nott brothers want to play with Uncle Harry and Teddy today; so we won't get to see them knocked down or sent flying without their brooms today."

"Are you still here?" Al asked in feigned amazement. "I thought that you'd be heading for the exits and London by now." He laughed when Rose looked at her watch; then looked around for her mother; and stood up and began to gather her things. "We'll save you a seat tomorrow. Should I bring a pillow so that you can nap all the way to Hogwarts?"

"I'll just use my cloak or something for a pillow," Rose decided. "I really do need to get going – and let Kyle know that I'm running late. have a good rest of the day; and I'll see you tomorrow at the station – or on the train."

"Okay, and Al will be able to help with any snogging-related injuries once we're on the train," Gwendolyn teased. "Have a fun night."

Rose wasn't able to just take off right away, but she did nudge Hugo into motion; and they were part of the first from their group to head for the exits while most of them waited for that first mad dash to pass before packing up their things and heading out too. Al and Lily stayed with Kirley while Harry was busy helping his favorite Harpies players with some on-pitch healing and Ginny went to join the other reporters for the post-game interviews. They all ended up heading for the Potter home once Harry re-joined them; the two Wizards opted to pick up take-out food for their dinner meal instead of cooking a late dinner; but didn't need to go and get their order until Ginny got home and they knew that Gwenog would soon be able to join them too.

Their dinnertime chat was all about the Quidditch match – and the news from the other games of the day; they didn't really take a lot of time having that meal; and then the McCormacks headed home so that they could spend some time together before Gwendolyn and Jonah headed back to school in the morning – and so that Harry and Ginny could do the same with Al and Lily. That round of goodbyes came after dessert, but before the clean-up; Harry and Al took care of that work while Ginny went to write up her articles for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet; and then they all met up in the sitting room to have the usual back-to-school visit and chat.

"I do hope that you'll both be good once we're back to school tomorrow; and stay out of trouble," Lily joked. "It's tough enough for me to try and keep Al out of trouble when we're at Hogwarts; so I don't have time to worry about you too."

"I'll be busy with work – and making deals for your new game and Al's mirror messaging," Ginny reminded her kids. "Harry can't make any promises; since his job is to deal with trouble; but you don't have to worry about him. He has lots of friends at his back whenever he does have to go out to play with the bad guys."

"We should be the ones worrying about you," Harry added. "Things didn't start out well for you after the last Christmas holiday." He looked at Al speculatively. "Do you have anything new to add about what you've been sensing over the past couple of weeks?"

"No," Al answered with a shake of his head; and then smiled at Lily's obvious interest. "I've been having this odd sense of anticipation over something that I think is going to happen soon. There might be a bit of bad mixed in; but it's mostly a good feeling – or maybe 'exciting' is a better word for it. That isn't a sense of danger-excitement, but I can't figure out what it is either; so it's likely just something that is going to be a new experience for me."

"For you," Harry half-asked and mused. "Do you get that same feeling of newness for the rest of us?"

Al closed his eyes as he focused and thought about that for a few long moments. "Not for you or Mum; yes for Lily and Gwendolyn."

"You think that we'll all be involved?" Lily asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes, but don't read too much into what I just said. We're younger; I really don't have a clue about the 'what' behind what I'm feeling; and it doesn't surprise me that Mum and Dad have more life-experience than we do."

"That's true," Harry agreed; "but it does say something that you don't sense something new for Ginny or me."

"You've had a fairly-interesting life so far," Lily pointed out after finding his comment amusing and laughing. "Is there really much of anything you haven't experienced?"

Harry laughed too. "A few things – like everything in life from a Witch's perspective." He saw something in Al's reaction to that comment; and turned his attention back toward him. "That just gave you a new clue?" he guessed.

"My perspective – or lack of one – might be part of it," Al agreed. He paused again for another few moments; and then shook his head. "I just don't know. Whatever it is, though; I don't feel worried at all; so you shouldn't worry either."

"That's good to know that we'll only need to worry about the usual things for you – like your Slytherin haters; prank-master brother; and let's not forget that Quidditch injuries are always a possibility too."

"Especially immediately following Quidditch matches for Al," Lily joked. "We do have that Slytherin match in just two weeks; and Al is not going to like watching some of those gits trying to bash Gwendolyn the way the Falcons pounded on our Harpies today."

"I won't," Al agreed, "but if the Nott brothers can figure out that it's a bad idea to mess with Dad and Teddy when they're mad after a match; then there's hope for the Slytherin players to get a clue too."

"A slim one," Lily countered; "but you are an optimist."

"We'd like to be optimistic about the rest of the school year for both of you," Ginny told her seriously. "Gwendolyn wants to play in the show; so Al will just need to get used to the dangers for her – just as Harry had to do that with me when I played in the show."

"And may need to do again in a few years if Rose drafts you to play for the Cannons," Al reminded her; and smiled because his parents and sister laughed – and because he wasn't really making a joke.

"I've never gotten used to watching the people I love getting hurt at Quidditch or anything else," Harry said; "but I've also managed to keep from blasting anyone during Quidditch matches – no matter how tempted I've been."

"Including during that match today," Lily added with a nod. "I wonder if the Falcons know that getting you mad helps the Harpies so much. Would you be able to heal all of them so easily if you didn't have all of that mad built up in you by the end of the game?" She smiled at Al. "That's what started things with you for learning to heal, right? You got mad about students getting hurt; and decided that you needed to do something about it. You're like Dad for that; and I'm like Mum. When we get mad; we blast the gits responsible and ask questions later."

"Sometimes I don't bother asking those questions at all," Ginny advised them with a laugh. "Your father didn't run around healing all injuries back when we were teens – though he's always had that same need Al has for trying to save damsels in distress."

"I was going to suggest that he never flew off into the sunset with any of those Witches," Lily offered with a grin; "but I guess that he did fly off with you out of the Chamber of Secrets."

"With a little help from Fawkes – and we weren't alone," Harry added. "Ron and Professor Lockhart were with us for that little trip."

"We'll give you that one," Lily decided; "but it is still interesting that Al and I seem to be turning out to be a lot like you and Mum – and just a bit scary for at least one of us."

"You're not really scared," Al disagreed. "If you were really worried about growing up to be just like Mum; you'd agree to play on the Cannons with Rose and me just to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Didn't you just tell us that Mum is going to be drafted for the Cannons?" Lily countered. "Stop trying to mess with me. I am going to play for the Harpies!"

"And then the Cannons after that if Ginny does sign up for Rose's team?" Harry asked.

"Now I really am getting scared," Lily assured her parents and brother. "Rose's delusion seems to be spreading – or she really did brew up or charm something at Hogwarts that she's been using on everyone over the holidays."

"If she was going to try to do anything like that for the holidays; she'd have tried to do something that would give her more time with Kyle," Al suggested. "Rose isn't worried about her plans for the Cannons 'cause she's sure that everything will work out brillaintly for us."

"You'd better mean 'you and Rose' for that 'we' if you know what's good for you," Lily warned. "I'll be able to use magic again by late tomorrow morning; and we've already established that I'm not afraid to blast a Wizard if he's got it coming to him."

That threat was real-enough that Al stopped talking about the Cannons at all, but they did still talk about Quidditch a bit as their conversation moved on to discussing what they'd all be doing over the next weeks and months. Lily still had months to go until her next Quidditch match, and Al still had a month and a half to go until the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match; but Ginny was going to do more work for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet over the next couple of months – and then wanted to do less work over the Easter holiday. Al and Lily were good with that plan – and not just because it was just weird to think about what their parents might do with a kid-free house and too much free time on their hands!

They stayed up long-enough to catch the monologue for Lee's nightly show; the Quidditch recap part of that was particularly-entertaining; and then they shared a round of hugs and kisses when they were ready to head up to bed for the night. Al wrapped up his holiday with a bit of light reading and a mirror chat with Gwendolyn once she'd gone to bed too, but they were both tired by then; and kept that chat fairly short. By then, they were down to about a half-day to go before they'd be together again and on the way back to Hogwarts anyway, and while they were each going to miss their familiies; they were also excited about getting back to school.

The added anticipation that Al was sensing – and that was getting stronger every day now – was only part of that excitement. He was looking forward to their ongoing lessons in all things magic; he hoped that the upcoming Quidditch matches would be brilliant for him – and for Gwendolyn and his favorite Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players; and there was so much more to look forward too – with Valentine's Day being one of the events on the schedule that would, hopefully, be a best-ever-so-far kind of day for everyone.

Of course, with his track record at Hogwarts so far, that likely was too much to even hope for, but Al did still feel a lot of hope that they would have a brilliant rest of the shcool year as he drifted off to sleep; and maybe he'd surprise everyone and actually get through the next couple of months without any major teen drama or the need for spending quality time in the hospital wing!

He was surely only imagining the laughter that came along with that thought as his mind wandered into dreamland, but even if everyone else truly was laughing at the notion; he still chose to believe that it could happen – really, it could!


	42. Winter Wonders

**Chapter Forty-Two – Winter Wonders**

Malorie felt ill, empty, and wrung out as she lay on her dorm room bed and wept quietly on Sunday morning. The ill and empty feeling had more to do with James blowing her off at breakfast than with the remnants of the flu bug or whatever it was she'd been fighting for the past few days while still trying to have every last moment she'd ever get to have with him while she still could – sure that she'd never, ever get to feel that way again with any other wizard.

She'd laugh if it didn't hurt so much – and if she didn't feel so horrid!

James had advised her that he wouldn't have time to hang out with her at all for their last day of the holidays – and that was supposedly because he still had too much of his holiday revision left to get done by the end of the day! Well, that was actually certain to be true, but wasn't keeping him from yet one more Quidditch workout. She shouldn't be bitter about that, since she'd known that Quidditch was more important to him than anything else, and she wasn't even an after-thought by now regardless of how she felt about him; but the bitter taste of it still threatened to send her running for the bathroom again. She picked up her new mirror from the bedside table and looked at her reflection in it.

"Why did you have to be born so ugly that all you can ever be to a Wizard like him is a dirty little holiday secret?"

The mirror didn't offer an answer – and couldn't; since she didn't have anyone linked to it to call anyway. She hadn't even bothered to ask James to link mirrors – knowing it would just hurt more when he refused – as much as it had hurt a year ago when she'd found out that she'd just be a toy for him to play with over the holidays. Sure, she'd known the score this time around, and knew what it would cost her in the end, but even now; she knew that it had been worth all of the heartache she was now facing to have the memories that would need to last a lifetime – though that future seemed dark, hollow, and horribly-endless right now!

"I love you, James Potter," she declared in the silence of her mind as she began to sob anew. "I will always love you!"

James was off his game, but played nice as he landed; and offered a smile and his congratulations to Andrea. He was also glad to let her have the last snitch catch of their holiday workouts – the only one she'd earned in two weeks of trying – including the extra workouts he'd done with her while flying Scorpius' Lightningbolt.

Now that had been a deal that had worked out for him – though he now really just wished he had his own Lightningbolt; and it sucked to know he'd be waiting for another year and a month for his parents to give him that token gift that wouldn't come close to making up for giving away his inheritance to Teddy and Victoire! Instead of going there; he returned his attention to the here and now. Andrea had earned that last catch because he'd gotten distracted by his own thoughts. Sure, he'd earned two catches by then anyway; but he shouldn't have been thinking about Malorie at all. She was already in the past; he knew that'd be the end of it for them because she'd graduate in June and move on to whatever dull life is out there for the plain and ordinary Witch or Wizard once they were done with Hogwarts.

She'd also had no illusions this holiday about what could and couldn't be, and to her credit; she accepted that without making a scene or even a cross word for him. All of that was true, but she also hadn't quite escaped the Great Hall after breakfast before she started to lose it; and he didn't like feeling the git for advising her that he didn't have time to hang out with her because he had too much work to get done. Malorie had accepted that explanation too; though she hadn't quite managed to hide her first reaction – which had been to glance down at his Quidditch gear bag that he'd brought along with him to breakfast.

Maybe it was all an act!" he mused; reaching for any idea that would make him feel better. "That was likely it – she was just more adept than he'd given her credit for; and was trying the subtle approach to guilting him into – what?

He had nothing for that part of the excuse.

"I'd feel better about making that catch if you'd stop zoning out like that," Andrea told him; and James laughed.

"That's all part of the game," he advised her. "You still had to catch me off-guard and make that catch. More than half the wins you will get will likely come in some part from the mistakes of your opponents instead of through clean, outright better offensive plays."

"Maybe that'll be true for me one day," Andrea agreed; "but that hasn't been the case these past two weeks. You've definitely won our battles. I'd hate you for that, but can't; since I've learned a lot. I wish we could keep having these duels; but that won't be an option once everyone gets back here tonight."

"You can go back to training with Blaise," James reminded her. "He'll give you enough of a challenge that you'll keep getting better – and a lot of what we've been doing is training you can keep up with on your own; since it all just takes lots and lots of practice."

"I'll do that," Andrea promised. "Whatever happens for the rest of this season, though, I will still thank you for all of the help with my training. Now I at least know that I can play – and what it takes if I want to be one of the best Seekers."

"You're welcome," James assured her – and meant it. "Just don't thank me publicly – especially if you start winning your duels with Lily over the next few years!"

"I'd have thought you'd like the credit for that," Scorpius told him after joining in to laugh at James' comment with Andrea and Licentia.

"No more than you'll want to take credit for training with me when I win our next match against your team," James countered. "That doesn't mean that I won't enjoy it a lot if Andrea does earn some wins over Lily – just as I'll love beating her Harpies' team when – and if – she makes it into the show in another five and a half years or so."

"If it wasn't for the fact that I hate the Harpies; I might try to get that job instead – just to keep your sister from it," Andrea told him; and James laughed again.

"Now that really is a fun thought – along with the picture of Lily as your back-up on the Harpies' reserve squad."

"She could always go and play for the Cannons with your cousin and the loser," Scorpius suggested with a derisive laugh. "That'd be a fate worse than the reserve squad on any other team!"

"It would be," James agreed; "but I like that idea a lot too – and that'd have the bonus of getting to make the lot of them look like idiots with just two matches a year."

"Every team will have fun pounding on the Cannons – just as they have every season for the past century or two," Licentia suggested. "It's really the perfect team for the Animorphloser – and the rest of the losers that are dumb-enough to hang out with him."

"I am really going to miss this holiday from the Animorphloser bandwagon that nearly everyone else in Gryffindor is on," James told the other three teens seriously.

"Don't go all Hufflepuff on us now," Licentia warned. "You're the first Gryffindor we haven't wanted to curse first and hex later; so we should all quit while we're ahead."

James knew that they'd all do exactly that; he was okay with that reality too; and best of all; that conversation had helped him to move on and forget all about Malorie O'Malley – at least for a while!

Al's Sunday morning was just about as good as was possible for a travel day to London and Hogwarts. He and Lily had enjoyed the last hours they got to spend with their parents; they took the Floo Network to London instead of driving; used the Knight Bus to get from the Leaky to King's Cross; and were early-enough to get in on bonus rounds of goodbye hugs and kisses with some of their favorite parents while also being able to get compartments on the train held for some of their cousins and most of their closest friends. Platform nine and three-quarters had been as packed as usual for a Sunday departure; but Al had still been able to get in the last goodbye waves with his parents, Kirley, and Gwenog as the Hogwarts Express pulled away and headed for Hogsmeade; and he always felt better when he was able to get that last sight of them – the last he'd have in person until Easter.

The train ride after Christmas and Easter always felt a bit longer to him, but Al had a lot of fun along the way too – though sharing most of that travel entertainment with Gwendolyn had a lot to do with why he enjoyed the extended confinement in their compartment. Sure, they went for a couple of walks that included a lot of visiting with families and friends, but the aisle was crowded most of the time; and it was easier to hang out in their compartment. Christmas stories were a major part of the entertainment; there was a lot of gossip that the girls especially had fun with; and Al and Gwendolyn also spent some time helping Rose out as she needed to cope with the start of another extended separation from Kyle. Susannah helped Rose too; and she was well on the way to becoming one of Rose's best friends.

Getting to Hogsmeade station wasn't quite the end of their travel, and since it was bitterly-cold out when they arrived; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their fourth-year friends were glad to be in the middle of the pack for the carriage rides to the school. The wait was tougher for the first and second-year teens and tweens, but Al helped some of them out with warming spells before leaving them behind; and couldn't do anything about changing the way things had worked for the rides to the school for centuries now. One change that Al and Gwendolyn did make was to stay together longer once they were in the Great Hall – and Gwendolyn stayed with him so that they could keep Rose entertained while they waited for their first school dinner of the New Year.

"Should we be sitting on the other side of the table from Al just to be safe?" Gwendolyn teased.

"I am so not in the mood to be messed with by anyone; so trying to blast us tonight would be a very bad idea," Rose answered. "We should likely be asking Al for a heads up on the rumors we're sure to hear about soon for what's been going on around here over the past two weeks and change."

"The best stories from here might be out of Slytherin; so there's a chance we won't hear about them at all," Gwendolyn suggested; and then smiled at Al. "Al's reaction to your comment suggests to me that at least one story will be about James and the Witch or Witches he kept himself entertained with over the holidays."

"The same Witch?" Rose guessed; directing that at Al.

"Yes," he agreed quietly with a reluctant nod. "That's already too much information for me, though; so let's all pretend that I don't know more than that and move on."

"I'd suggest that a Witch would do much better with that particular talent of yours," Rose suggested, "but in the wrong hands; it would be a horror."

"I wouldn't even want to think about what someone like Rita Skeeter would do with that ability," Gwendolyn said seriously. "She'd happily dish out the dirt on anyone and everyone without the slightest care for the consequences."

"On everyone but herself," Rose amended. "Her self-reflections are more like self-delusions."

"She has a lot of fans that believe every word she says or writes," Al reminded the girls. "Some people just prefer the delusion."

"Or use them to hide the truth from those Witches and Wizards," Gwendolyn added. "That's too serious to keep talking about, though; so maybe we should talk about what we can do to keep Rose busy for the next week or twelve so that she won't have time to miss Kyle for more than eighteen or twenty hours a day."

"I'm going to put a lot of extra time into Quidditch," Rose advised them. "That'll keep me busy – and tire me out so that I don't lay awake every night thinking about him."

"You want to put in extra practices during the week?" Gwendolyn asked. "You'd only be able to do that after dinner – and it is going to be very, very cold out there after dark." She turned to look at Al when he suddenly grinned. "What?"

He leaned in close to both girls and whispered – "Room of Requirements." He laughed when Rose and Gwendolyn both had wide-eyed expressions of surprise on their faces. "We might not be able to do everything we'd want in a practice; but we do know that it's been large-enough in the past that my Dad and Rose's parents could use brooms to fly out of it. Let's find out if we can ask it for a room big-enough to practice in!"

"And don't even think about telling anyone else," Rose added. "I'd never be able to talk to Kyle again while I'm here if everyone in the school starts using the room all of the time."

"Okay, but that is brilliant," Gwendolyn declared before hugging Al.

"Let's see what happens when we give it a try first," Al suggested. "It won't be brilliant at all if we crash into walls or the ceiling."

"True, but if it does work; I'd love to have a Room of Requirements for our Cannons team when we buy the team; so we should learn all we can about how it was made so we can do that in a few years," Rose suggested.

"That can't be easy – if it would be possible at all," Gwendolyn said thoughtfully. "If it was possible and easy; then every team would have one instead of their practice pitches."

"I was picturing a bunch of those rooms in the Quidditch museum with hundreds of thousands of Witches and Wizards showing up to watch matches there," Al offered with a grin. "That might be a bit impossible for the Ministry of Magic to hide from Muggles in the middle of London; but I suppose there might be a way to do it."

"Like a Muggle movie theater?" Rose asked in amusement. "Now that really would be brilliant!"

"Maybe," Gwendolyn agreed; "but we've only ever heard of this one Room of Requirements; so maybe it really is just magic that's too hard to do – or even something that nobody knows how to do anymore."

"I hope that isn't true, and that we can make a room we can practice in," Rose told her – "and I'm not just saying that because having indoor training might even be enough to get you to re-think your career with the Harpies."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Why didn't I see that one coming?" she asked rhetorically. "That's scary because I'm not sure you wouldn't be right about that one."

"Note to me – get an indoor practice pitch," Rose said while pretending to write that down; and then smiled at Al. "Did I just give you another good idea?"

"Yeah – an addition to the study app that you could use for notes; or maybe a schedule too that you could use to keep track of things you're planning or have coming up – like assignment due dates or test dates."

"Like Muggle day planners," Rose mused with a nod. "I use the one on my smartphone to keep track of Kyle's schedule. We can talk about it and maybe work on it between now and Easter. It'd make a nice upgrade for RevisionWizard to include in the versions that will need to come out in August."

"That's going to be weird for us," Gwendolyn suggested – "needing to buy our OWL-year version of the study app. It'll likely be a bit different than the version that just came out at Christmas too; so those versions can't just be handed down to younger kids."

"That will be true for some of the books every year," Rose agreed, "but we can't really be upset about that; since it will mean more sales for us every year. We should all keep thinking about things we can do to improve the study app too; since anything we add will help with that too – and get us a step closer to owning the Cannons!"

"You really weren't kidding about giving as good as you get when it comes to the Cannons," Gwendolyn told her. "I am going to need to work on new material just to keep up with you." She looked around and then turned to face Al. "I'll have to do that later. It's time to get over to my House table." She hugged and kissed him; and then stood up. "Let's just head back to our own Houses after dinner. I'll send you a message later when I have time; and we can check out how well the mirror messaging works for bedtime chats."

"Haven't you been using it a lot since Christmas?" Rose asked. "Mum and I have used ours quite a bit so far."

"We've used it," Gwendolyn answered; "but we've still been having mirror chats at bedtime. That won't be an option now that we're back here."

"It's technically an option – if not one that Al wants to do because of that towering need to be a good and proper Wizard," Rose countered. "Do you think that he knows how careful you and I need to be in our dorm rooms because most of the other guys don't have that little problem – and their girlfriends don't seem to care whether they see anything of us that they shouldn't?"

"If he didn't; he does now," Gwendolyn teased. She hugged and kissed Al again; and then left to go and join her Ravenclaw friends and sit down in her normal spot.

"And wish that I didn't," Al added as he watched her leave.

"True, but then that wasn't news to you; so that's just one more thing that you wish you didn't know," Rose told him. "How many more years do you think she'll fight the inevitable before agreeing to play for the Cannons with us?"

Al turned to look at her seriously. "She'll never choose the Cannons over her dream to play for the Harpies."

"You sound very sure of that. Is there any chance you're wrong? I really have been hoping that she'll be our second Chaser."

"Not about that," Al assured her; "but why let that impossible obstacle get in the way of your impossible dream?"

Rose laughed. "Good point. Since we're there again anyway, and I need a break from the gossip; let's talk a bit about our plans for the Cannons."

Al was happy to do that with Rose for a while, since it kept her entertained and not thinking too much about Kyle, but they also got involved in the general dinner conversation around them too before and after the food hit the tables. Stories from the train ride made the rounds of the gossip network first; and there were only dribbles of news about the holidays at Hogwarts because the only sources were the handful of teens and tweens from each House as they traded stories with their friends. It would take a day or two for those stories to make the rounds to everyone; and Al and Rose didn't hear anything that he didn't already know more about just from all of the information he was soaking up all around him with the help of his extended senses. Those stories did sometimes help him to focus his senses or call up related memories to get that extra information, but that wasn't always a good thing either; since there really were things he just didn't want to know about his fellow students!

While they enjoyed their meal, after a long, tiring travel day; Al and Rose didn't spend much time in their common room after dinner; they were among the first Gryffindors to head up to their dorm rooms; and Al got ready for bed and was tucked in for the night long before any of the other guys joined him. The reasons for that were evenly split between last-minute holiday revision work and girlfriend reunion-snogging, but then part two of that had a lot to do with why Al had wanted to go up to bed for the night anyway. He read for a while; had a short mirror chat with his parents; and traded a few mirror messages with Gwendolyn – and then it was lights out for him for the rest of the night.

Sure, that wasn't exactly an exciting way to start the resumption of the school year – especially compared to snogging or other fun, but while he might have a reputation for being boring; he would at least be back at full power by morning and ready to play with the magic again – and get to do that with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends!

If any of the teens and tweens at Hogwarts had expected to be eased into their first classes of the New Year; they were soon disappointed – and that was true for the students in every year; since they found out that it was actually possible for the workload to get even heavier compared to previous years. Being told that by older students never quite seemed to measure up to the reality when it hit, but, as always; some students thrived on the new challenges while others struggled just to keep up. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah were in that first group, and while some of their friends weren't having as much fun with the workload right from the start of the day on Monday; they helped their friends as much as they could so that they were able to keep up and continue to do their best too.

For Al, one of the highlights of the day came before dinner when Rose had him pack up from their study session early; they went to the Room of Requirements; and were happy to find out that they could 'require' a room big-enough to practice Quidditch in whenever they wanted to do that! Rose was right, and they really couldn't just make that another of the worst-kept secrets in the school if they actually wanted to get times to use it, and they still needed to train for playing in the cold weather anyway; but it was a nice option to have when they weren't able to book times to use the stadium or practice pitches.

Gwendolyn loved hearing about that too, but Al didn't get a chance to show it to her on Monday evening. They managed to take some time off ahead of curfew, but they hadn't wanted to get in the way of Rose's first video chat of the week with Kyle; so they planned on taking a look at it either before Al's practice on Tuesday or after dinner. Before getting there, though, they wrapped up their Monday evening with a bit of snogging time ahead of curfew; Al had his Astronomy class at midnight with his fellow fourth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins; and then a full day of classes on tuesday. What neither of them expected, though, was for that plan to go completely off the rails.

Al's second morning of the week had begun quietly-enough. He woke at his normal time; was ready to go before half of his roommates were even awake; and the walk-and-talk with Rose had been fairly-entertaining as she told him about her video chat; teased him about why he didn't have anything interesting to report from his pre-curfew fun with Gwendolyn; and they talked about what they expected for the day and their Quidditch practice. There wasn't anything going on internally for Al that offered him any warning during any of that – or while having breakfast and mostly listening in on the latest gossip making the rounds. That's why it was such a shock to him when his senses and foresight kicked into high gear as he was leaving the Great Hall with Gwendolyn, Rose, and some of their friends.

As usual, they were part of the exodus of students heading out for first classes of the day. It was surely just random chance that Malorie O'Malley brushed past him while hurrying out of the room; and he knew that it had taken that nearness to set off the bells and whistles in his head. This time, it wasn't happening as a warning of danger. What was happening instead wasn't unrecognizable for Al, but it was new; and part of the shock was because everything that hit him all at once also brought clarity to the sense of anticipation he'd been feeling since before Christmas. The shock had also been enough to have him stop in his tracks; he stared at Malorie as she hurried off and was oblivious to him; and he barely even noticed when his hold on Gwendolyn's hand forced her to stop too.

"Al?" she asked; looking worried at whatever it was she saw on his face as she turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Merlin!" he breathed; needing a moment to try and collect his thoughts – something that momentarily seemed impossible to him.

"Al?" Gwendolyn asked again; stepping closer and dragging his visual focus from Malorie to her. Rose, Ray, and a few other friends had stopped too and were looking at him expectantly.

"Sorry," he told all of them; though his voice was unsteady and he felt light-headed and dazed. "I'm okay."

"Another hit of too much information?" Rose guessed; and Al smiled gratefully as she made that question sound light-hearted despite the concern he sensed from within her.

"Scary and true," he confirmed. "Where were we; since I really don't want to go there – and won't."

That was a flat-out lie, since he really did want and need to go there, but he couldn't do that with anyone other than Gwendolyn; and couldn't do that until they could get some time alone – which didn't happen until after they had lunch. They went to DADA class together; there wasn't time to talk between DADA and History – other than to set things up for them to both have a quick lunch and then meet up again ahead of their afternoon classes; and then he had to get through History with a half-room full of Slytherin animosity that added to the mix of emotions he was dealing with – and that all added up to making it tough for him to stay focused on his studies. At least he hadn't needed to worry about messing up any magic in History class, but Al was still glad when they were done with their morning classes; he ate as much of his lunch as he could manage before meeting up with Gwendolyn; and then they went off on their own and kept going until he led her too – and into – a room in the Room of Requirements.

"I'll guess that this is about what happened to you this morning; since this room is a bit small for Quidditch practices," Gwendolyn joked; though her demeanor was serious. She went along as Al went and sat down on the sofa that was apparently something he'd needed to be in the room too; and she sat next to him but far-enough away that they could still face each other easily. "What has you so shocked, Al? That seems the best word for what you seem to be right now."

"I've been so shocked that I don't even know how to tell you about it – and I've tried to figure that out all morning – along with everything else."

"Then just say it and get it out there," Gwendolyn suggested. ""Should I be sitting down?"

"You already are; and yes you should be," he said before taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly. "Malorie O'Malley is pregnant."

"Malorie..." Gwendolyn began to say when the name didn't ring a bell, but then it did click in; and her reaction was exactly what Al would have expected – since it was at least a shadow of what he was still feeling. "She brushed past me as we were leaving the Great Hall," he continued to explain while she was left speechless. "I sensed the morning sickness she was dealing with first; and then the rest hit me like a ton of bricks a moment later."

"Merlin!" Gwendolyn finally breathed; and Al laughed.

"Yeah – that's what I said when I found out," he joked; and Gwendolyn laughed too.

"Do you think she knows?"

"No," Al answered simply. "I had no sense that she's aware of it; and likely just thinks she's come down with a flu or cold bug."

"Merlin!" she repeated. "You've decided that you need to talk to her – get involved."

"Yes," he agreed. "She's Muggleborn; won't have the support she'll need from her own family; and I'm sure you can guess as easily as I can what James' reaction will be when he finds out."

"Yeah – he'll blame it on you," she declared; and then her eyes widened with shock again as what she'd said hit home. "Merlin, Al – he will do that!"

"Especially if he sees that I'm getting involved with Malorie," Al agreed; and then smiled ruefully. "Take that as meant; and not how it might have sounded."

"I did," she assured him. "What are you going to do, Al?"

"First up, I need to talk to Malorie sooner instead of later," he answered. "I'd like you to do that with me; but understand if you don't want to do that yet."

"Yet," Gwendolyn repeated; and Al nodded.

"Malorie will have choices to make, but I've been hit with a bit of foresight too, so regardless of what James or anyone else does; I am going to be the very best uncle I can be; so I hope you'll want to be one of two amazing aunts."

"I need to sit down," Gwendolyn joked again. "If this is a very convoluted way for you to ask me to marry you, I'll give you points for originality, but it's a bit early; and I wasn't planning on becoming an aunt for at least another decade or two."

"I'm definitely going to marry you after we graduate from here, but this isn't a proposal; and you really don't have to get involved with any of this right now – beyond knowing about it; and what I'll do about my impending uncle-hood."

"You're not going to tell Rose – or Lily?" she guessed.

"Not yet," he agreed. "That will – at least partially – be a decision for Malorie to have a say in."

"What if she doesn't want anything to do with us – or your family?"

"I'll hope that won't happen," Al answered. "It is a possibility; but I don't get a sense that we'll have that kind of problem with Malorie."

"Well, I guess we'll see what happens," Gwendolyn said; and then smiled at him. "You know I'll go with you for at least this first meeting with her. If you're not going to tell Rose or Lily yet; I'm certainly not going to leave you to do that alone – and not just because that could be bad for us in the future if you're suddenly seen hanging out with her on your own a lot."

"I love you," Al assured her. "Thank you."

They talked about what to do next for a while; and then needed to hurry when it was time to get to their afternoon classes. For Al, that was a full afternoon of Transfiguration with Professor MacDonald and Hufflepuff; and then they got back together to study until Al, Rose, and Ray needed to get to their Quidditch practice. He was still distracted while having that workout, but the effort he needed to put into that training was also a great outlet for the pent up energy and he won the Chaser battle by even more than usual during the scrimmage. By the time he was back in the castle, though; the tense anticipation of what was sure to be one of the weirdest experiences of his life took hold; and he had a tough time just getting through dinner – especially when his senses invariably insisted on focusing in on Malorie – and on James as well to a lesser extent.

He tried not to think about what he sensed from James because it was so out-of-place from what was now most-important in his own life – though it wasn't fair to place any blame on James for the way he was acting while still oblivious to his role in a new teen drama that was just beginning to play out. Gwendolyn met up with him after dinner, and while they had a half-formed plan for approaching Malorie once she moved on from that meal too; Al didn't feel as if he'd had near-enough time when they did orchestrate crossing paths with her because she left the Great Hall early too. They'd been ready to move out in different directions depending on whether Malorie headed for her House, the library, or elsewhere, so they were ready when she headed for the library. Most students were still in the Great Hall, so they didn't have crowds around them; and nobody paid any attention to Al and Gwendolyn when they caught up with Malorie and fell into step next to her. They definitely had her attention, though; and Al sensed that she wasn't happy to see them. He felt like an idiot, but pushed ahead and just got on with what he knew he had to do.

"Hi, Malorie," he said quietly; and saw the spark of surprise in her eyes and face. "I'm sorry to bother you, since I'm sure you're busy with your studies, but I really need to talk with you for a few minutes – in private."

"You've never even said a word to me since you started here – not even when you..." she trailed off and her expression revealed a conflict of emotions as Al sensed her recalling when he'd healed her back in June. "I doubt we have anything to talk about," she declared dismissively. Since she'd taken her thoughts back to June; Al improvised on the fly and took advantage of the opening she'd never know he got from her.

"This is about how you've been feeling," he advised her quietly-enough that only Malorie and Gwendolyn would hear him. "You brushed past me this morning on the way out of the Great Hall after breakfast; and I could sense how sick you were feeling. That's what we need to talk about."

Malorie was once again surprised by that; but then she switched gears and immediately took him more-seriously.

"Alright," she said with a nod. "Let's go into one of these classrooms and you can tell me the bad news; since I seriously-doubt that you'd bother tracking me down over food poisoning, the flu, or a bad cold."

"It isn't – and I likely wouldn't have," Al answered and agreed. He and Gwendolyn followed Malorie to the next-closest classroom on her side of the hallway; she led the way into the room; and then looked wary when Al closed the door and then used his want to seal the room.

"Why are you doing that?" she demanded. "I'm no threat to you, but if you try messing with me; I'll at least put up a fight."

"I've just done that so we'll have privacy," Al advised her as soothingly as possible. He opened his bag and got out two of the toy sofas; set them up; and then invited her to sit in one of them while he led Gwendolyn to the other.

"Cute idea; but now I'm wondering if I should be really afraid if you think that I'll need to lay down once you've told me what's wrong with me."

"You'll want to sit down for sure," Al assured her. "There's also no way that I've been able to come up with to make this easier for you; so I'll just get on with it. You're not sick, Malorie – you're pregnant."

He knew what was going to happen next in a flash; practically leapt across the space between the two sofas; and had a supportive arm wrapped around Malorie when the shock had her collapsing and fainting. Gwendolyn was right behind him; she sat down next to Malorie too; and used her wand to get some cold water on a handkerchief that she then held to Malorie's forehead.

"I'd say she took the news rather well," she suggested in a whisper. "Nice catch – we'll talk later about saving yet another damsel in distress."

"The sofa would have broken her fall back into it, but..." he trailed off and his eyes got big and round as his focus again turned inward – and he sensed something new with Malorie. He placed his free hand over her stomach; closed his eyes; and honed in on what he'd felt to bring it into perfect; wondrous clarity. "Twins!" he whispered as a sense of joy and awe seemed to rush through him in an overwhelming flood. There were tears in his eyes when he opened them again and looked at Gwendolyn. "She's carrying twins!"

"You're scaring the future aunt," Gwendolyn told him, "and I'll cut you some slack on that close contact with Malorie because of that; but it's a good thing for you that I did come with you; since that wouldn't look good for you if anyone had walked in here and seen you holding Malorie with your hand on her stomach like that."

Al didn't want to break that contact yet, but he did do it after only another moment or three. The sense of joy and wonder stayed with him, though; and he didn't even bother trying to brush away the tears.

"I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry; and this is brilliant!" he told her; the joy palpable in his words.

Gwendolyn sighed dramatically. "And just like that; you've added at least one – and as many as three – new Witches to your list of girls you're in love with."

"Witches that I love," he amended. "You're the only Witch I'm in love with." He paused and turned his attention to Malorie. "She's coming around again."

They didn't stop talking while waiting for Malorie to regain consciousness, but they ended that train of thought. Malorie saw Gwendolyn next to her first when she opened her eyes; but then sat up quickly when she realized that Al had been the one holding her. She accepted the drink that Gwendolyn had ready for her by then; took a few sips of it while Al and Gwendolyn returned to the other sofa when he was sure she was steady-enough not to need them again; and then she set the bottle on the floor in front of her before turning her full attention to Al.

"I'm pregnant," she stated. "You've no doubt – I can see that; but how do you know?"

"I can show you that," Al offered, "but while you had that micro-nap; I learned a bit more that you need to know about too."

"I'm having a bit of trouble with what you've told me so far," she reminded him. "Maybe we should save up any additional shocks for another day – or year."

Al laughed; and then smiled ruefully. "Sorry; but saving this news up for a year would be impossible. You're carrying twins."

Malorie waited for nearly a half-minute before saying anything while processing that; and then shook her head before putting her head in her hands.

"I am not going to repeat everything you say," she decided. "I believe you too; but show me anyway – please."

Al drew his wand; smiled as he summoned a chocolate; and then created a memory charm out of it with his memories from his contact with her after breakfast and the one he'd just had while finding out that there were two tiny embryos making a temporary home for themselves in her uterus. He shrugged as he handed it to her once he had it ready.

"Maybe the chocolate will help. You can eat it once the memory charm has kicked in."

"Can I have one too?" Gwendolyn asked. "Chocolate seems like a very good idea right now."

Malorie thanked him, and then used the memory charm right away, so while she lost focus while experiencing those memories; Al summoned another chocolate and made a second memory charm for Gwendolyn – knowing that she'd meant that she'd wanted to see what he had through his special talents. He was on his own for a few minutes while both Witches were busy with those memories, but Gwendolyn was still done first – likely because Malorie spent more time going over the memories. She'd started to cry long before her eyes refocused on Al and Gwendolyn; and Gwendolyn handed her another handkerchief once she was aware of her surroundings again.

"You love me – us," Malorie told Al; and he laughed.

"Strictly in a sister or cousin sort of way for you; and in a nieces or nephews sort of way for the babies,' he advised her.

"You don't even know me," she said next; seemingly in a futile attempt to deny what she'd felt from his memories.

"Let's call it love – in a sister or cousin sort of way – at first sight," he suggested.

"Would you feel that way if you weren't so sure of who the father is?" she asked. "It's obvious that you do know." She thought about that for a moment. "You knew about James and me last year. That's why you healed me after the end-of-term feast even though my injuries were comparatively minor."

"I did; and can't answer the first part of that because this is a first for me; and I don't know how I'd react to sensing a pregnancy with a student that didn't have this kind of connection to me."

"Is there a reason for why you're telling me now? You do know I'd have figured it out eventually, right?"

"Not for any health reasons," Al assured her – "though I might be able to help out a bit with the morning sickness."

"I can deal with that on my own – now that I know why I've been sick," Malorie advised him. "You're dodging that answer."

"I am doing that," Al agreed. "The problem is that I don't really have a good answer. Just as I could sense your pregnancy; I sense that this is what I'm supposed to do."

"You think that you need to step in and save the day," Malorie suggested; and then scowled at him. "Will you ruin my life just so you can throw this in James' face and try to ruin his life? You've done everything you could to mess things up for him until now."

"Is there any chance that you could try to keep an open mind about me and consider the possibility that James' opinion of me is a bit wrong-headed?"

"I'd expect you to tell me things like that," she countered.

"Would you expect me to tell you that I love him – or that part of the reason why I love you now too is because I can sense how much you love him too – truly love him?"

"How could you possibly know that?" she demanded; but looked unsure now.

"Part of the reason I have a talent for healing seems to be because I also have a hyper-active sense of empathy. That can be really great sometimes; and fairly awful when I'm anywhere around dark emotions. Instead of wandering off from what we're talking about, though, the point that I should be trying to make is that we won't say anything to anyone about this right now; and I promise we won't tell anyone without talking to you about it first."

"That's a bit evasive too," Malorie decided. "So what are you sensing that you are supposed to do now?"

"Nothing," he answered simply. "You've some choices to make; and nothing else matters past that right now."

"You must be a terrible liar," she told him; "since you're not even very good at avoiding saying what you really mean. Why do you do that?"

"Because he tries to think about everyone else first," Gwendolyn answered; and smiled when Malorie focused in on her for a moment. "What you decide to do with the baby – babies – is your choice. So is how you'll handle this with James. If you prefer being blunt, though; he hopes you'll want to go through with your pregnancy and keep the twins. Regardless of what James does; he'll want to be involved in their lives; so will Lily; and you can be sure that Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny will want to know their first grandchildren. Al doesn't want to scare you, but contrary to what you may have heard, he's from a very loving, close-knit family."

"And I'll have no choice in that," Malorie stated; looking decidedly unhappy again.

Al summoned another chocolate; drew his wand again; and Malorie and Gwendolyn both watched on as he created another memory charm. He held it in his hand when he was finished; but didn't try to pass it on to her.

"If you want to take a look at that later; it's a few of my Christmas holiday memories. It's entirely my perspective, so take them for what they are with that in mind, and I wouldn't dream of suggesting that our family doesn't have its fair share of problems; but this will show you a bit of the love that I'm blessed to have in my life."

"And that you make sure James gets to have no part of," Malorie stated.

"James hates me right now for a lot of reasons, and I'm sorry about that; but I'm also not going to say anything bad about him – and this isn't about our problems." He shook his head at her reaction to that comment. "I'm sure that whatever happens next, I'll have more problems with James, but I'll still try to do whatever I can to do what's best for you and your babies; and help you anyway I can."

"As long as that doesn't include walking away and pretending that you don't know about this at all and letting me get on with my life however I choose."

Al held out the foil-wrapped chocolate to her. "I can promise to leave you alone for now if that's really what you want. I can't and would never want to forget about those little miracles that you and James have made."

"I don't know what to think about any part of that," Malorie told him, and while she accepted the chocolate; she took it reluctantly and just dropped it into a pocket on her book bag.

"Then don't right now," Gwendolyn suggested. "You've enough to worry about without adding in the family drama. You can talk to Al or me anytime – and should; unless you've someone else close that you'd rather confide in."

Malorie laughed. "The last thing I'll be doing is telling any of my friends. The story would be on the gossip network by breakfast; and I'd be out of here by tomorrow night. Say goodbye to my NEWTs and any chance for even a moderately-decent job." She laughed again; self-mockingly. "What am I thinking? Even in the Wizarding World there can't be anyone out there idiot-enough to hire a Witch who is six or seven months pregnant – which I will be by summertime!" She put her face in her hands and fought to hold back the tears. "I'm more the idiot for landing myself in this mess!"

"It's a bit of a mess," Al agreed as Gwendolyn took a turn to go and sit next to Malorie and put an arm around her. "It's also a brilliant miracle; and I think that everything is going to work out for you."

"Says the Wizard-half of Hogwarts' royal couple," Malorie said with more than a little bitterness that Al sensed was all James' influence. "You'd never give someone like me a second thought when you're from such a famous family and can date Witches as beautiful as Gwendolyn. You can't possibly know what this will mean for my life."

"I'd like to think you're wrong about that, but I'll never know for sure; since I've been in love with Gwendolyn since before we were old-enough to know that our families were famous. You're definitely right that I have no idea how hard this could be for you; but that still doesn't change how I feel and if I'm right; then you shouldn't worry about any of that right now either."

"If there is such a thing as a delusional optimist; you're it," Malorie stated; earning laughs from Al and Gwendolyn.

"Well, he does think that he and Rose can make a go of it with the Cannons," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'd say that's an apt description for both of them. Do you mind if I use it now and then? It might come in handy – especially now that Rose has been going full-out trying to convince me to play with them instead of for my Mum and the Harpies."

"Have at it," Malorie told her with a wave of a hand. "I think that I'd like to be alone now. Do you want to leave; or should I go?"

"We'll go," Al answered; and stood up. Gwendolyn did too; and watched him as he shrunk the sofa he'd been on and then put it back in his bag. "You can keep that sofa and get it back to me later," he suggested.

"Which conveniently means we would need to get together again for me to do that," Malorie suggested; and then shook her head. "Sorry. We will need to talk again; so that was just obtuse of me. I need some time; but we will talk about this again – once I've had time to think about all of this; and make some of those decisions."

"Okay," Al agreed. "Can we get anything else for you before we leave?"

"No – just go so that I can sit here and have a nice little cry in peace."

Al's eyes welled up with tears again; he knelt in front of her and then reached out to pull her into a hug. She resisted; but he held on for a long few moments anyway. "I am so not sorry for being the one to tell you this news; but I'm sorry about the bad parts for how you're feeling right now."

"Get out of here before I decide to hex you," she warned as he let go and stood up.

She wouldn't look at him; and he took Gwendolyn's offered hand and walked toward the door with her. He'd removed his protections on the room by the time they reached the door and he opened it. There were no parting platitudes from any of them; Al followed Gwendolyn out into the hallway; and he closed the door behind them as quietly as possible. He sensed Malorie's protections go up as soon as the door was shut; and he turned toward Gwendolyn and stepped into a long, fierce hug with her. Sounds from one end of the hallway had them breaking that up; and they headed away from those approaching footsteps – and toward their study classroom. They were late for their evening study session, but they'd make up an excuse to explain their absence; and then try to get on with their normal daily routine.

Al felt guilty over just having that thought; let alone the reality and truth of the fact that he could just resume his life so easily. Malorie wouldn't be able to go back to her 'old' life at all; let alone so easily. He had no claim of responsibility for the choices that Malorie and James had each made over the holidays, but that made no difference when it came to the sense of responsibility he felt toward Malorie and her babies now; and no decisions she made from now on would ever change that reality and simple truth.

He and Gwendolyn did still meet up with Rose, Susannah, and the rest of their group; they got to work; and then needed to keep at it straight through until right before curfew – and beyond for Al; since he needed to keep working once he was back in his dorm room for the night. His heart and mind were elsewhere, but the work did at least keep him busy while trying to discern what would happen with this new drama in his life while he was relegated to the sidelines and he had to wait for Malorie to make the next moves.

Malorie stretched out on the sofa once she'd sealed the room; let the tears loose; and cried a small flood of tears that were a mixture of heart-wrenching despair and a faint glimmer of joy.

She was pregnant – with twins!

Babies that she'd made with James!

It was awful and awe-inspiring news all rolled up into one – two – tiny little packages!

A hand rested protectively on her stomach as she wept, and she wished that she could just shut down again and not think at all for a while, but that wasn't an option; and her mind raced along as she re-hashed everything that had just happened to her. Emotions warred with logic as she thought about everything that Al and Gwendolyn had told her. She wanted to hate them as much as she knew that James did, but how was that possible after experiencing the memories Al had shared with her? He loved her – in a sister or cousin sort of way; and she knew it for truth – just as she'd known every time he'd been hedging or avoiding saying what he really meant.

Nobody had ever loved her even like that in a very long time – if ever. sure, her parents might have loved her before all of the weird had begun happening around her, but they'd long since moved on; and would forget about her now that she'd be done school and would stay in the Wizarding World instead of trying to return home and make a life for herself there. They'd be horrified at this news; and would definitely never want anything to do with more 'freak' children in their family. Instead of going there; she decided to cling to that faint lifeline of love and joy that Al had thrown to her.

"Why?" she asked aloud and mused. "There must be something I'm missing!"

There was just one problem that got in the way of every horrid scenario she tried to envision – Albus Potter was a truly horendous liar! As she thought about that, she conceded that her thought on that was actually just a guess; since she didn't believe that he'd actually lied to her even once – he'd only attempted to avoid telling her truths that he thought would be hard on her to hear. Picturing him going out there and bragging to the world that his brother had messed up and gotten her pregnant – and destroying her life in the process; just seemed absurd. Darker visions of custody battles with James' powerful family were terrifying; but just didn't fit in with anything that Al and Gwendolyn had said or done while talking with her – particularly when those feelings of love and joy kept bubbling up to the surface of her mind over and over again.

"I'm loved – we're loved!" she told her two tiny little miracles.

She hadn't wanted to tell Al and Gwendolyn anything about what she would do next, though as she thought about the things she'd said; she had basically told them that she'd be continuing the pregnancy and keeping the babies. That might be a serious choice for Witches and Muggle women alike, but whatever the cost to her own future; she'd never even consider the not-being-pregnant-anymore option. She wouldn't even intentionally kill a bug; so that was at least one, easy to make, one-choice-only decision.

While her thoughts continued to race ahead toward visions of the coming weeks and months, though; she knew that the next step would be to tell James the news. Al had made it clear that he would want to be involved in the lives of his new nieces or nephews, and that his parents and sister would want that too regardless of what she or James wanted, and while she hadn't liked hearing that; she'd loved it too. As her thoughts turned toward James, though; she knew that his reaction was quite possibly going to be the polar opposite.

The scenes for that 'meeting' with James that began playing out in her mind all ended badly – for her; yet she didn't picture any scenario where James professed his undying love for her – in a way that definitely wasn't sisterly or cousin-like; promise to marry her after he finished school; and live happily ever after with their beautiful twin boys or girls! That last thought did have her wondering if it would make a difference if the babies were sons, but it'd be a while before they'd be able to know that; and she couldn't picture James opting to wait months to decide what he'd do.

He wasn't quite sixteen yet – not for a few more weeks; and she wouldn't blame him for any reaction he would have to the news. As the most-likely responses played in her mind, Malorie decided that she'd accept whatever James decided for himself. Even if she wanted to have him involved in their babies' lives; there was likely no way to force that in the Wizarding World anyway – especially when she was an overage Witch hooking up with a fifteen-year old Wizard!

The notion that she might be portrayed as some sort of temptress using her feminine wiles to lure in unsuspecting young and impressionable Wizards was laughable; but then nobody would likely believe that she'd fallen in love with James practically from the first moments they'd spent together at the start of Christmas break just over a year ago.

"Al believes that you love his brother," she reminded herself.

That was another truth too; though it was more than a bit freaky to find out that anyone could sense things like that in others without even the need for Occlumency or Veritaserum. That was something to think about another day, though; and she got back to pondering what would happen when she talked to James.

She also pulled herself together; got her books out; and tried to get started on her assignments. Her new mirror and the RevisionWizard app helped a lot with that work – though she was still learning to be proficient with using it; but it was also really hard to focus on the work with her mind so completely crowded with all things babies-related. Imagining her future even when it came to simply trying to finish her NEWT year seemed an impossible mountain to climb; and no visions of her life after Hogwarts looked very good – beyond the joy that would come with getting to share her life with her children – with James' children!

A life with him was still surely never going to happen, but whatever happened next; she couldn't help but feel joy at knowing that she was going to have far more than brilliant memories of her time with the Wizard she would always love to last for the rest of her life!

Knowing that helped to make even the worst of what might be ahead of her now at least bearable. Malorie stayed in that classroom for more than another hour until she felt composed-enough to pack up and move on to the library to work for the rest of the evening with her usual small group of study friends. They weren't truly-close friends – she didn't have any best mates like most of her fellow Hogwarts students had; but she was included in one of the better groups of teens in her year because she was a bett-er-than-average student that was also safe, plain, and no threat to the 'beautiful' Witches in her House. That had been a vast improvement from her first few years at Hogwarts, though, so while she hated herself sometimes for settling for superficial friends; she also had never been able to bring herself to trust anyone enough to risk being crushed again as she always had been by her own family's rejection of her.

Until James; she reminded herself. She should have known better, since he'd already had a reputation by then; but she'd fallen anyway – and been crushed when he'd blown her off at the end of that first Christmas holiday together. she'd then hated herself for hooking up with him again at Easter, but after endless months of emptiness in her life by comparison; she'd vowed to have enough fun with James for this last christmas they could have together to last a lifetime!

"Well, you succeeded at that beyond your wildest dreams!" she told herself; the thought making her laugh.

Thoughts like that one played out over and over again for Malorie through the rest of the evening. She'd expected to stay awake most of the night, but by the time she finished her assignments and went to bed; exhaustion claimed her instead, and if she dreamed; she didn't remember any of them when she woke on Wednesday morning. A fresh day and the sleep helped a lot – and so did knowing what was 'ailing' her; since she could deal with the morning sickness very effectively. She felt pretty good by the time she went to the Great Hall for breakfast, but frustration set in soon after as she tried to get a chance to talk with James without attracting any attention; but he was always with one of his girls or with other classmates. She tried to get his attention during and after breakfast; made extra effort to try and catch a moment with him between morning classes; before, during, and after lunch; during the mid-afternoon class change; and during the time between last class and dinner. Finally, she simply walked up to him right before dinner; handed him a note; and didn't even bother to try and make up any excuses for why she'd be delivering messages to him. With that done, though, she had a tough time getting through that meal; and her anxiety and anticipation only became more difficult to deal with after dinner when she left early and went to the classroom she'd picked – and then waited to find out whether he'd show up or not.

It was soon obvious that he hadn't simply followed her out of the Great Hall, but instead of giving up; Malorie got her books and mirror out and got to work on her latest assignments. That kept her busy, and as time rolled along with no sign of James; she decided to stay and work instead of joining her study group because she didn't really want to talk with anyone else anyway. Focusing on the work; she lost track of time; and was startled when the door opened and James walked in.

"I'm a bit busy if all your'e looking for is a study buddy," he said derisively as he also quickly closed the door behind him as if worried about being seen with her. "What's the deal? I thought that you understood the way it has to be for me; yet all of my friends are wondering why you're passing me notes in the Great Hall."

"I'll guess you had no trouble coming up with a reasonable excuse," she countered; setting her mirror down and giving him her full attention. "This is important, James. Please come and sit down; since this might take a bit of time."

"I've only got a few minutes," he advised her brusquely. "What's the matter? Did you lose some underwear over the holidays and hope I have it so it isn't found by any students in one of the classrooms because your name is sewn on them?" He made no effort to cross the room to her; and simply leaned against the nearest work table to the door.

"I'd say it's a bit more serious than that – though I would have worried about that sort of thing even a day ago."

"Okay, so you've a problem worse than missing undies," James said with a shrug. "Still not seeing why you're looking to me for help with anything."

"Did you notice that I've been sick since near the end of last week?" she asked.

"A bit," he admitted. "You had a touch of flu or something." He grinned then. "That didn't seem to slow you down at all – and you look well-enough now." His grin turned to a bit of a leer. "Were you hoping to get me to help with celebrating now that you're all better?"

"I'm not better," she advised him; "and I found out why I've been sick." She watched as he took that in; and then hardened herself to his first reaction.

"Are you telling me that you've gotten something that you've passed on to me? One of those horrid Muggle sex diseases?"

"I dont' have anything that you can catch from me," she advised him. "I'm pregnant – with twins."

James gaped at her in true astonishment. She might have given him credit for recovering quickly; except that he didn't deserve any credit at all for what came out of his mouth next.

"You're lying!" he declared vehemently. "Is that why you wanted to spend so much time with me? To try and trap me? Good luck with that! Try spreading those sorts of lies about me around school; and I'll destroy you!"

"You're taking the news better than I expected," she deadpanned without any trace of humor. "If that's what I wanted; do you think that I'd bother trying to talk with you about this in private? I'm telling you because you've a right to know. Do you think that I'd want to mess up the rest of my NEWT year if everyone found out about this?"

"Then what do you want from me? Are you expecting me to pay to help you get rid of the problem for you?"

"No!" Malorie declared forcefully. "There are only two reasons I'm telling you – and I've already given you the first."

"So the second is that you want me to take care of you and this mistake – if this isn't all a disgusting ruse – for the rest of your life!"

"No, the other reason is because your brother and his girlfriend know."

"What?" James shouted; his expression turning to fury. "You ran off and told the Animorphloser that I got you pregnant?" He stopped and stared at her for a long moment; and she could see the wheels turning in his mind. The sneer that appeared on his face next chilled her. "What'd he do? Get you pregnant and now he's going to blame that on me too?" He practically crowed in delight. "This is brilliant! I told everyone he'd get that fat cow he's dating pregnant; but this is even better!"

"I've never even talked to your brother before last night," Malorie told him angrily – "not even back in June when he helped me after that attack in the Great Hall. You call me a liar; yet here you are making them up as you go along instead of just admitting the truth – even to yourself!"

"I may not have proof yet; but the truth of things is very clear to me now," James retorted. "Did you do it Animagus style?" he asked derisively. "Is that why you're having a litter?"

"Stop acting the git, James," she told him with a note of true disgust in her voice. "I've only been with one Wizard – you. Your brother found out because I bumped into him on the way out of the Great Hall yesterday morning after breakfast; and he found out that I was pregnant with those super healing powers of his."

"So you're just taking his word for it," James retorted.

"Not at first," she disagreed. "I have checked for myself since then, though; so I know he wasn't lying."

"Then you're both lying," James declared. "Did he warn you that you could end up in Azkaban for going along with this attempt to blackmail me – or whatever you both expect to get out of me? you're overage and he's a kid. They'll likely lock you up if I don't go along with this – and I definitely won't do that!"

"Newsflash, James – this isn't about you!" Malorie advised him. "I've told you the truth; and you are the biological father of these babies – I won't know for some time yet whether they'll be boys or girls – or possibly one of each, I suppose. I'm also telling you that I'm going to have them and keep them. You can be a part of their lives if you choose to do that – or don't and that's fine with me too – better, in fact; considering how you've taken the news so far! I've also decided to try and keep this as quiet as possible and try to get through to the end of my NEWT year so that I can write those exams and have a chance at a better future with them than I'd have without them."

"Good luck with that," James told her. "I'm going to get out there and tell everyone the truth before the Animorphpotty can spew his lies and try to ruin me first! You dare to try and mess with me? I'll see you in Azkaban by week's-end; and he'll likely be expelled!"

"Will you agree to talk to the Headmistress and Aurors about all of this under Veritaserum and hand over all of your memories too?" she asked quietly. "I will, and while that will be embarrassing for both of us; your silly accusations wouldn't stand up to that sort of scrutiny – and you know it." She looked at him critically for a long minute. "You're really mad because you're sure that your brother will tell your parents and sister." She nodded at his reaction to that statement. "He's all but promised me that he will do exactly that; and I'm flat-out scared of what will happen when he does."

James snorted. "Sure you are. You're hoping that you'll be set for life now that you've taken a ride on the James Potter Express and picked up a couple of souvenirs along the way!"

Malorie laughed scornfully. "Would you like to reconsider that load of rubbish?" she asked. "You've told me all along that your parents are basically broke; gave away the only thing they had of any real value to your cousin and her husband; and are so horrid to you that I've good reason to be afraid for how they'd react to finding out that I'm carrying your children! Are you now telling me that most of that is complete rubbish beyond the one fact that we all know that your sousin and her husband were given a house? You laugh while I've been terrified of the idea that your all-powerful family will just swoop in and ruin my life!"

"Sounds like a great reason to get rid of the problem so that they could never do that,' James told her. "If my parents had done that for me – with the Animorphloser; the world would be a much better place! You'd be doing yourself a favor; and I'm sure there's some simple potion that will clear the problem right up in no time!"

"I've already told you that I'm keeping the babies," she advised him. "I've done as I should by telling you about this; so that's done now too – at least for my part. You've choices to make now too, but know that whatever happens and whenever word gets out – which I hope won't be before summer; I won't lie about any of this; and that includes admitting that you're the father."

"I'll deny it!" he declared venomously.

"That's up to you. I knew what I was getting into with you, James. This is a bit more than I bargained for, but I'm grateful for every moment I got to spend with you, and while this is really scary for me; it's also brilliant!"

James laughed at that; and his sneer was malicious. "Sure it is. You've a dream life ahead of you with a litter of Animorphpuppies on the way; no money; no family that wants anything to do with a Mudblood freak; and no prospect for a job doing anything in either my world or with the Muggles. You'll likely end up raving mad and your puppies will end up in a dog pound."

"Well, that's clear-enough," Malorie said; looking decidedly ill now. "I think we've said all that needs saying. You should go now – unless you want to hang around and gloat while I break down and have a good cry."

"Get used to it," James retorted. "The crying and the break downs. Take my advice – get rid of those mistakes before they ruin your already pathetic excuse for a life."

With that, he turned around; left the room; and slammed the door behind him loudly enough to make her jump. Her shoulders slumped with relief from the tension once he was gone; she put her face in her hands with her elbows on the work table; but didn't cry. She'd lied about that to get him to leave – and it had worked. She didn't want to cry – she wanted to be mad! He'd acted even more-horridly than even her worst imaginings, and while that didn't change the fact that she loved him; it also allowed her to come to terms with the parts of James that she didn't like – and that she'd intentionally ignored so that she could have fun with the parts of him that she loved best. She put a hand over her stomach – something she'd been doing a lot over the past day and needed to stop before her friends began to wonder at it; and smiled.

"Don't worry, guys – or girls. Your father is being a total git right now, but he's going to be famous, and even if he wants nothing to do with us; we'll be proud of him – and I'll love you enough for both of us!"

Al and Gwendolyn had been busy since talking with Malorie, but he'd also been a bit on edge while out of the loop as much as he was when it came to what Malorie was doing. That didn't mean that he didn't know what was going on. He knew on Wednesday morning when Malorie started to try and get in touch with James while also trying to avoid messing with his precious reputation. He knew when she passed him the note at dinnertime; and knew when James had met up with her a couple of hours later. He didn't need to know how that went, since he'd been able to make a good guess without the exact details; and then he'd learned more than he wanted just from walking through the Gryffindor common room after seeing Gwendolyn home thanks to the intense hatred rolling over him from James – along with knowing from several sources including some foresight that James was going to take the 'blame Al' route for this little problem too – no matter how ridiculous the assertions would be in the face of simple truth or proof.

The hardest thing for him to do was to sit by and do nothing at all. He'd promised to give Malorie some time; she'd promised to talk to him when she was ready to do that; and he could only hope that she'd check in with him sooner instead of later. His classes on Thursday kept him busy, as did the study session and Quidditch practice between last class and dinner. All of the busy really had helped, but he still felt better after dinner when he met up with Gwendolyn after they ate; and he caught a signal from Malorie that clearly advised him that she wanted to meet up with him again. He made an excuse to wait in the entrance hall with Gwendolyn; Malorie nodded approvingly when she passed them; and they followed her to the same classroom they'd been in together on Tuesday evening. Al was last in and sealed the room again; and was smiling when he saw Malorie getting the toy sofa out of her bag and then enlarging it again so she could sit on it. Al got a sofa out and ready too; and then sat facing her with Gwendolyn at his side.

"I should begin by apologizing for some of the things I said to you on Tuesday night," Malorie told them after they'd traded a few generic greetings that felt a bit awkward for all of them. "I've a bit of a different perspective on that now, so if it's alright with you; I'll just toss out everything I thought I knew about you; and start over with a blank slate – except I'll keep that sister or cousin sort of love thing; since that's helped me out a lot over the past two days."

"Apology accepted," Al said earnestly; sensing that platitudes would just annoy her. "You've told James; and it didn't go well."

Malorie laughed. "Did you get that from me – or from him?"

"From him when i was going through the common room last night just ahead of curfew," Al explained. "He was thinking some very bad thoughts about me."

"No doubt," Malorie agreed with a nod. "Is every story he's told me about you as wrong as the stories he may go with for this when word does get out?"

"Some likely are; others get blown up into something new from a grain of truth; and there might have been a few true stories mixed in; since that helps to make it hard to tell the truth from the fibs."

"Well, in case you don't know all; I'll warn you that he may claim that these babies are yours and that you're trying to use me to ruin his life; there's also a chance that this is all a ruse that you've concocted to ruin him; and I'm sure to wind up in Azkaban for this because you'll hang me out to dry while messing up his life."

"So I won't need to guess that he's not overjoyed with the news and has promised to be the best father ever?" Gwendolyn joked; and then held up her hands in response to the look on Malorie's face.

"My turn to apologize," she said sincerely. "You don't need me bringing my bad history with James into this, and since that'd be a horrid thing to do to any kid; I'd best start right now with playing nice when it comes to James whenever I'm around you or the babies."

"They're a bit young yet to need to worry about that," Al teased; "but I agree with you. One of the things that happened to Dad when he was a kid that he still hates even now was being told really awful lies about his parents. No kid should have to go through things like that."

"Says the Wizard that gets told awful things about his Dad all the time," Gwendolyn told him; and smiled when Malorie did laugh at that.

"I'd ask you about that, but I have a lot of work to get done tonight; and all of this excitement has made it tougher to keep going late into the night to keep up with everything."

"You could be getting tired in part because of the pregnancy,' Al suggested; and then smiled ruefully. "I may have read up a bit the last couple of nights," he admitted. "It seemed like a good idea."

"I'll keep an eye on that," Malorie told him with a nod. "Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem. Afternoon naps aren't exactly an option for me this year."

"If it does become an issue; I can help," Al told her. "Mornings would be best for that, since healing you at night might just keep you awake all night; but we could figure that out."

"We'll see," Malorie said without any hint of agreement. "I did want to warn you that things could get ugly for all of us with James, and he threatened to tell everyone before we could; but I don't think that he will say anything – unless too many people do find out and he's forced to do and say something. I've told him that I'm going to be honest – including about him; and he didn't take that news well at all."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "Are you okay?"

"I actually am," Malorie assured her. "As I told him, I knew the score, and while I didn't expect anything like this; I'll deal with the consequences."

"You won't have to do that alone," Al told her earnestly.

"I'm willing to talk about that," Malorie told him, "but you'll both be here at Hogwarts for three more years after I'm done; Lily has five; and these babies will be nearly half-way to Hogwarts age by then, so yeah; I'll need to do a lot of this on my own – unless you've some image in your head about an Auror daycare center in your Dad's office. I'm sure this story will go over well for the Head of the Aurors."

Al grinned at her. "The Aurors would all dote on a pair of babies," he advised her. "James, Lily, and I were always popular when we went into work with Dad – though that was rarely for more than a morning or afternoon while Mum was busy with something else and Grandma couldn't take us on too."

"You get my point, though," Malorie said; and Al nodded.

"I do," he agreed, "but we will be home three months out of each year; there are other things we can do even from here; and Mum and Dad will offer any help too."

"Even if everyone finds out?" Malorie asked.

"Everyone will find out for sure," Al advised her as gently as he could. "Reporters like Rita Skeeter will have a field day with this when that does happen; and we'll all need to deal with it as best we can. Mum and Dad have been through this sort of thing before."

"When the stories were all lies," Malorie countered. "That won't be the case this time."

"The truth back then was that they loved Teddy with all of their hearts," Al told her. "They'll love their grandchildren that much and more; and..." he stopped; looked at Malorie in amusement; and then laughed. "No, they don't have another mansion sitting around to give to them," he advised her; and Malorie and Gwendolyn both laughed too.

"That talent of yours is going to be very annoying for me sometimes," Malorie advised Al.

"We all feel that way sometimes," Gwendolyn assured her. "Even Uncle Harry gets annoyed with him sometimes."

"Why do you call him that?" Malorie asked. "You're not actually distant cousins or something, are you?"

"Our parents aren't big on formalities; and we all just got in the habit of using 'uncle' or 'aunt' for our parents' best friends. We both have Harpies' aunts and their husbands where applicable; I do the same thing with my Weird Sisters' uncles; and Al has some Auror aunts and uncles too." She grinned then. "I guess you'll have to go with Grandpa Harry and Grandma Ginny after the kids are born." She laughed as another thought hit her. "Rose might love that if she gets Al's Mum to play for her Cannons team. And at Seeker for the Cannons – Grandma Ginny!"

"That'd be former World Cup and multiple League Champion Seeker, Grandma Ginny," Al amended after joining in for the laughs. "Don't try that one out in person for the first time," he added. "There is a very good reason why the Head of the Aurors is afraid of my Mum."

"He's really only afraid of doing anything to hurt Aunt Ginny," Gwendolyn advised Malorie. "You'll never find this story in the history books, but Uncle Harry seriously messed up with Aunt Ginny during the war by running off to fight Voldemort without her; and he's done his best since then not to hurt her like that again."

"I don't really know any stories from the war except for what's in the history books," Malorie advised them. "Muggleborn Witches and Wizards like me can't really relate to the history you have with your families."

"That is something that your kids are going to have," Al pointed out. "You'll love learning all about that too; though it'll take years – or maybe decades. I doubt that James, Lily, and I know anywhere near all of the collective family stories yet."

"Let's worry about getting through today, tomorrow, and maybe the next week or two first," Malorie suggested. "I've said all I want to about what passed between James and me last night. I'll make it clear that I'm going to keep the babies; but I've also decided to try and keep this news private for as long as I can possibly hide it – to the end of the school year if I can manage that. I want to get my NEWTs – and need them more than ever now that I'll have a family to care for on my own."

"We'll do what we can to help you with that too," Al promised; "but i can't keep this from Mum and Dad for long, and while it might amuse both of you; I do not want to find out what Lily would try to do to me if I keep this from her for long either."

"That already sounds like too many for this secret to last long at all," Malorie said in a tone of frustration. "Is there really no other way?"

"Not for me," Al assured her. "I still think that you'll be okay – though I can't promise that we can keep this quiet until the end of June. After all; you will be six months along by then, and with twins; you might look as though you're farther along than that by June – according to one of the books I read."

Malorie had smiled at that; but suddenly frowned. "Wait! Have you been borrwoing books from the library?"

"No – I got them using my Muggle tablet. I can lend it to you sometime soon if you'd like to read them too."

"Maybe," Malorie agreed after sighing with relief and relaxing again. "Moving along, my current plan is to survive my NEWT year; write my exams; and then I've got nothing worked out at all. That will hopefully give me five months to figure it all out, though; so I will at least have that."

"I like it," Al advised her. "Do you have a preference about me talking with my parents – that doesn't include waiting until we're home again in June? Would you like to be there for that mirror chat?"

"Could we do that and stay out of sight?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin for Al. "There's a chance that this news might have the Head of the Aurors saying a bad word or two; and hardly anyone ever gets to hear him when he's that mad."

"He will be mad," Al admitted to Malorie as he sensed her reaction to Gwendolyn's joke. "Mum will be too – and then they'll fall in love with you and the babies too."

"You're so sure of that," Malorie mused – "an you believe it for truth."

"You will too," Al assured her. "Would you like some time to think about both when I'll talk with them and whether you'd like to be there for it?"

"No, I guess not," she decided. "Sooner is likely better than later; and yes, I'd rather get the bad over and done with sooner too. Will James be in a lot of trouble with them?"

"He won't likely answer any mirror chats from them; and will be here for Easter; so they'll be long-since done with the mad at him by the end of June," Al answered. "Right now is a bit too soon for me; since I really don't want Mum and Dad going to work tomorrow morning being too freaked out; but maybe we could get together tomorrow night and have that mirror chat. Our study group usually works on Friday nights, but we could knock off a couple of hours early – and that'd make sure that Mum and Dad are home too; since he sometimes get stuck working late on Fridays."

Malorie took a deep breath and then let it out in a rush. "Okay – and we won't have to be freaked out for our classes tomorrow either," she added. "Just the three of us and your parents? I probably can't handle more than that – especially if yelling is going to be involved."

Al grinned at her. "I'm counting on Mum and Dad to play nice while meeting a new friend," he advised her seriously.

"It isn't as if either of you have reason to be worried," Malorie pointed out; and Al shrugged.

"Maybe not, but it'd still be a good idea to think about how we want to break this to them."

"I like – 'Hi, how's it going tonight, Grandma and Grandpa?' quite a lot," Gwendolyn offered.

"She got that sense of humor from her Mum," Al told Malorie.

"Okay, but that sounds better than my first thought." She smiled at Al and then pretended to try her line out on him. "Hi! It's so nice to meet you – and right on time too; since I've just learned that I'm pregnant with your older son's babies – yes, that is plural – two babies; and now your younger son insists that he loves me and we really thought that you should know! Isn't that just brilliant!"

"In a sister or cousin sort of way," Al amended while Gwendolyn and Malorie both laughed.

"And I like that a lot better than the grandma and Grandpa thing," Gwendolyn assured Malorie. "They're still fairly-young and could take the shock."

"They will, and might even find both of those options funny eventually," Al suggested, "but I'd still like to try and do better at this with them; since I could've done better the first time around with Malorie."

"You did well-enough; since there's no good way to break news like this to anyone," Malorie told him. "I'll think about that between now and tomorrow night, but I don't know your parents at all; so I have no idea what might work to make this easier for them – if that's even possible." She turned toward Gwendolyn when she laughed. "Another brilliant idea?"

Gwendolyn laughed again. "No – just a mental picture of playing six degrees of separation. Al and I talked about that Muggle game with some of my cousins the Christmas before last; and we tried making up a Wizard's version of it later that night for a while. I have no idea why; but I was picturing us trying to get Al's Mum and Dad to figure out the links between them and you."

"They know about Malorie and James," Al reminded Gwendolyn; and then turned his attention to Malorie when that statement froze the smile that had been on her face.

"What? How could they know that? You told them?"

"Not intentionally, but yes, I did," Al admitted. "Dad's the Head of the Aurors. He took that attack in the Great Hall last June rather seriously; and got directly involved in the investigation. I gave my memories of the fight and aftermath to Professor McGonagall; and she passed it along to the Aurors – along with the rest of the evidence the Professors collected before the Aurors took over the investigation." He shrugged as she nodded; but hadn't quite made the connection yet. "You've seen what my memories are like from what I gave you in those charms on Tuesday night. Dad found out what I knew and was thinking about when I healed you."

Malorie took that in; closed her eyes; and was obviously taking another look at at least some of those memories. She looked startled when she opened her eyes again and focused on him.

"Your memories include what you're feeling," she stared instead of questioning him. "I didn't know that was possible. Normally, the emotion that goes with viewing memory charms comes from the person watching them; not the memory."

"True," Al agreed, "but including everything you sense is possible – just as a good memory charm will include all five sensory inputs while others that aren't as good might only include sight and sound without touch, taste, or smell."

"Well, that might make a bit of a difference tomorrow night," Malorie suggested thoughtfully; but then laughed again. "Making jokes about my reputation preceding me and going on from there probably won't help either."

"Whatever we come up with; I think you will like them a lot," Gwendolyn assured her. "We'd all best get on to our studies though. I have Astronomy tonight too; so i won't want to be working on assignments after that class."

Malorie and Al agreed to wrap up their little chat too; they packed up the sofas; and then Al and Gwendolyn moved on to their usual study classroom while Malorie headed for the library – where her little group usually worked so they'd have access to all of the books they needed for their NEWT-year work. Rose had been most-curious about their second late start to their evening studies of the week, but she didn't push them on their story; and Al and Gwendolyn got right to work – and stayed busy through until curfew. Gwendolyn did more studying with her Ravenclaw friends until their Astronomy class started, but Al did the rest of his work from his dorm room instead of working in the common room. It was late by the time he was done, but that allowed him to have a bedtime mirror messaging chat with Gwendolyn; and that had been a nice way to end the day before he was ready to crash and nap until morning.

James lay awake in his bed; unable to sleep for a second night in a row as he fumed over this latest disaster that threatened to ruin his life- and once again it was all thanks to the Animorphloser!

Sure, nobody would believe that; but it was true all the same. If not for the loser, he'd have never wanted to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays; wouldn't feel the need to drink so much; and certainly wouldn't have hooked up with a Witch like Malorie O'Malley! Then again, it was looking more and more to him as though the loser had a hand in that too. It was a good thing that he'd decided to keep an eye on them; or he wouldn't have known that they'd hooked up after dinner – probably to plan how they were going to screw him over!

He'd spent half of Tuesday night trying to work out a way to get the jump on them before they could mess with him first, but he couldn't come up with anything that didn't end badly for him – or at least worse than what would happen if Malorie got what she professed to want. Sure, the loser would be sure to run off and rat him out, but he never answered mirror chat requests from his parents anymore anyway; so he'd be able to dodge them until summer – and then he'd just work as much as he could for the Catapults; stay away from home as often as possible; and maybe just camp in the tent whenever he was stuck at home.

Assuming the Catapults will still want him to work for them once they found out about this!

That might be a true problem; and sent his thoughts back toward his original plans to place all of the blame where it belonged – on the loser and his Mudblood pawn, Malorie O'Malley! After seeing them hook up tonight – through the Marauder's map; he was more-sure than ever that it had all been a trap meant to finish ruining his life. He could easily picture a scenario where the loser expected their father to force him to 'do the right thing' and leave him chained to an ugly, Mudblood mutt and her litter for the rest of his life while the Animorphloser usurped his rightful place as the Potter family heir – along with his Potty-trainer princess! They were all delusional if they actually thought that would happen; and he needed to be ready to fight back – and destroy the lot of them before they could get him!

As he thought about that; he wondered if it would really be that difficult. Sure, he'd take some heat too, but not nearly as much as the Head of the Aurors would for having a litter of illegitimate grandchildren thanks to the Animorphloser and a Mudblood gold-digger willing to do anything to escape her pathetic excuse for a life. A mental picture of his father being forced to resign from the Aurors had him smiling; and he could also see Rita Skeeter being happy to tell his side of the story to the world. He briefly considered contacting her with the story right away, but discarded it just as quickly as the idea had come to him. It was an option; but one that would work better for him if he was villified first and could use her to get the idea out there that he was the victim of a scheme meant to put him in his place for having the audacity to be his own Wizard and stand up to his over-bearing parents – and against his dirty, rotten cheat of an Animorphloser brother!

If he played this right, the publicity would likely help launch his career as the next big Quidditch star – the biggest of all time! Using Rita Skeeter and her ilk to tear down the Animorphloser and everyone else conspiring against him would just be a brilliant added bonus!

The classes and studying parts of Al's day on Friday felt like something he had to do to keep busy while waiting for the big event of the day that couldn't happen until near to the end of the day. While foresight and his senses didn't leave him feeling as though the mirror chat with his parents would be anything to fear; he also didn't know how it would go for sure or how they'd react to meeting Malorie and finding out that she was pregnant with James' babies. That uncertainty was why he felt a bit on edge as the hours passed from his early-morning wake-up through until they wrapped up their studying a bit more than two hours ahead of curfew. He and Gwendolyn had gone to meet up with Malorie; she arrived in the classroom a few minutes after they did; and they set up two sofas again – though Malorie sat down with Al and Gwendolyn when they were as ready as they thought they could be for the mirror chat.

"Call Mum,' Al said after getting a last confirmation from Malorie that she was ready – though she looked nervous; and he sensed that she was trying to control more than a little fear. Ginny answered his mirror chat request on the third chime.

"Hello, Al; Gwendolyn" she said with a warm smile. "Good timing – I just finished up my work for the night ahead of the Quidditch match I'm covering tomorrow. Have you had a good first week back? I didn't expect to hear from you until our usual Sunday night chat."

"It's been an interesting week," Al told her. "Is Dad around?"

"He's rounding up a bedtime snack and drinks for us," she advised him. "I was about to head for the sitting room to meet him there; so give me a minute to do that." She was already on the move by then; but continued to talk with them. "Should I be ordering a glass or two of wine? The last time you asked to talk with both of us; we found out that you'd become an Animorphmagus."

"That wasn't the last time I asked if Dad was around or to talk with both of you, but yeah; you might want to order that glass of wine," he answered seriously.

"That had been meant as a joke; but now I'm glad that the wine order was already in," Ginny advised him; and then looked away from the mirror. "Your timing's apparently pretty good too," she told Harry. "Al and Gwendolyn want to talk with us about something that will apparently go down better with glasses of wine."

"Well, we have been wondering how long we'd have to wait to find out about what would happen that Al's been anticipating since before Christmas," Harry offered; though the kids couldn't see him yet. "Apparently the answer to that question is a bit less than a week."

Al turned away from his mirror as he sensed Malorie's reaction to his father's comments and silently promised to explain. Ginny saw him, though; and brought his attention back to the mirror again.

"You have company with you for this chat," she stated. "Are introductions coming; or do you just not want to show us that you've taken a prisoner into custody?"

"We prefer to catch and release the gits that try to ambush or prank us," Gwendolyn offered with a grin.

"You're trying to soften us up with the jokes," Ginny decided. "Why don't you introduce your mystery companion and just get on with whatever it is you need to tell us?"

"Yes, Grandma," Gwendolyn answered a bit glibly; her eyes opened wide; and she put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Um, oops?"

"Possibly in more ways than one," Ginny told her. She sat down; took the glass of wine that Harry offered to her; drained it; and then handed the empty back to him. The kids didn't see it; but Harry either passed her another glass or the same one with a refill. "Go back to the jokes. I was apparently not as ready as I expected for the news."

"Well, we have come up with a few good ones about the Cannons' next star Seeker, Grandma Ginny," Gwendolyn offered. "Would you like to hear some of them?" She joined in – and smiled brilliantly – when Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"I think we'd better get to the introduction," Al interjected. "We've lost control of this little chat; and Malorie is likely about ready to hex one or more of us – and I'm closest to her." He turned his mirror so that his parents would be able to see Malorie. "Mum, Dad – this is Malorie O'Malley. Malorie – my parents – Harry and Ginny Potter."

"Hello, Malorie," Ginny said; and she was smiling at Malorie; though in a reserved way. "You're obviously at the heart of this news, or we'd be having this mirror chat with Gwendolyn's parents too; so I have to ask how you're doing. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm freaked out right now," Malorie said honestly; glancing toward Gwendolyn. "We weren't sure how this would play out; but I didn't expect this." She returned her attention to Harry and Ginny. "Hello. It's nice to meet both of you. Small talk, small talk, small talk; oh, and by the way, though I know we've just met; I'm pregnant with your first-ever grandchildren because your oldest son and I are idiots."

"Don't forget the part where their younger son loves you and your babies," Gwendolyn reminded her.

"In a sister or cousin and Uncle sort of way," Malorie added with a nod before Al could jump in and do that first. She looked at Ginny and seemd to be assessing her reaction. "You don't really look all that surprised."

"I am," Ginny assured her, "and I could likely muster up a bit of outrage and yell at you if that would help, but I'll guess that you've done a better job of that yourself; and could use a bit of understanding and support more." Malorie looked overwhelmed and overcome; and Ginny smiled at her. "It's going to be okay, Malorie. Not easy; but then that's true regardless of how old you are when you start a family."

"I'm sure that's true," Malorie agreed; "though my perspective on that is a bit skewed right now when I see a lot of bad to go along with the babies part of this that is brilliant."

"Babies are brilliant," Harry told her with a smile. "I agree with Ginny, so if it won't be too disappointing for you; we'll save the yelling and venting for later when we can do that without bothering anyone else; and use this time to find out what you want to do – and what, if anything, we can do to help."

"Okay," Malorie agreed. "While I'm busy trying not to break down and cry my eyes out; why don't you tell me what you meant with that comment you made about Al knowing something before Christmas?"

Harry smiled and looked at Al before answering. "He has some talent for Divination; and began sensing that something important was going to happen in our lives sometime soon."

"I didn't know what," Al added – "until the moment I sensed what was going on with you. Now I get why I began feeling like that two or three weeks ahead of time; since this is such a big deal."

"Not yet; but I'll be huge sooner than I want to think about," Malorie joked.

"Do you know how far along you are?" Ginny asked.

"The way Muggle doctors would count it; it's been about four weeks from my last, um, cycle. I can't be sure for exact date of conception," Malorie answered; though she looked at Al and there was a note of question for that too – along with just a tinge of embarrassment.

"I'm still reading up on this, but I'll guess two to two and a half weeks for the embryos," he offered. "Do you think that Lily would be happy with nieces or nephews for her birthday in September?"

"She'd likely try to help Malorie with going into labor early so they'd be born in August," Ginny suggested. "She really doesn't think that it's fair for September babies to be stuck waiting for an extra year to go to Hogwarts. Instead of going there, though; let's have Malorie tell us what she wants to do. You're in NEWT year, right? Do you think that you can handle this and that workload too?"

"I want to try – if I'm able to keep this quiet and stay here. That might not be possible if everyone at Hogwarts hears about it."

"That shouldn't be a problem for these first few months," Ginny told her. "I can offer some suggestions for some of the problems you'll have, and you'll have some tough days when you're tired and want to sleep a lot; but your school robes and baggy sweaters or tops will conceal any of the physical changes at least until spring." She glanced at Al and smiled. "We should save most of that chat for another time when Al isn't around. Have you told your parents?"

Malorie frowned and shook her head. "No, and I won't be doing that," she said firmly; her tone harsh and a bit bitter. "I don't want to talk about that; but I'll be on my own from now on – just as I'd expected to be in June anyway."

"Well, you won't really be alone then, and prenatal babies are great listeners, but since I'd be scared right now about being saddled with over-bearing pushy grandparents; I won't offer much more than I already have – and ease you into the over-bearing, pushy grandparents thing over the next ten or twenty years."

Malorie laughed. "I thought you were going to say weeks or months for a moment there; so years actually sounds pretty good."

"It's been known to take years for some Witches and Wizards to simply get used to my family," Ginny advised her.

"Or longer," Harry interjected. "I'm still working on that – though I'm mostly-past being afraid of Ginny's Mum and brothers." He laughed; and then grinned ruefully. "Sorry, but I was just thinking that if you had Ginny's brothers; James might look like a large, yellow bird being chased by a dragon while dodging curses and hexes from multiple sources."

"Thanks to the prank master; curse breaker, Auror, and Dragonologist brothers," Al explained. "I'm not sure whether Dad was including the dueling master mother in that mix or not."

"You're not just being nice to me so that you can save up all of the mad for James, are you?" Malorie asked. "I'm as much at fault as he is – more; since I'm older and should have been more careful."

"He's safe at Hogwarts; and we won't be mad by the time he has no choice but to come home in June," Ginny assured her. "I don't want to make things too uncomfortable for you; but did he take the news as badly as I'd expect he would?"

"That depends on how low your expectations are," Malorie hedged; and Ginny laughed.

"I'm sorry, Malorie, but let's leave that there; since I'm definitely the wrong Witch to talk to when it comes to how mean-spirited James can be when he gets hyper-defensive."

"I'll be happy to help out with some James bashing if Malorie ever feels the need," Gwendolyn offered; "but we've already agreed to play nice around the babies; so we may need to save that up for sometime after they're born – and while they're off playing with Grandma and Grandpa – or Uncle Al and Aunt Lily."

"You are having way too much fun with thiss," Ginny told her; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I am," she confirmed; "but the idea of being an aunt is really growing on me fast too – even though I'll have to wait a few years for that to be official."

"Well, that's good to hear," Ginny told her. "An Easter wedding for you and Al would have just been a bit too much on top of the babies news."

"I'd suggest saving that idea for our NEWT year, but staying here in separate dorms and studying for those exams would make for a truly-awful honeymoon; so we'll wait to have the wedding for the night we get home on the Hogwarts Express that June."

"Are you sure about that?" Ginny asked. "I'm fairly sure that your Mum has a meeting set up for you with the Harpies for right after you get home that day."

"I can multi-task," Gwendolyn assured her. "We can have that meeting during the final dress fitting or something."

"This can't be what it's like around your family all of the time," Malorie said; directing that comment at Al; and he smiled.

"We shoot for this with the happy every day, but the extra jokes are to help deal with the stress. This is going better than I'd thought it would – by quite a bit."

"It's nice to know that we can still surprise you now and then," Ginny told him; and then turned her head a bit to look at Malorie. "We haven't talked about this yet, but at least for now; Harry and I will keep this to ourselves. I won't even talk about it with my mother – though I'll need to know right away if word does get out so that I can warn her of the media storm that will follow. Al will need to tell Lily, and I'd suggest that he tell Rose too if you're going to be spending much time together; but I'll leave how you collectively handle things there up to you." Her smile brightened then. "When you do tell Lily; do it somewhere she won't have easy access to James –at least until she gets to the point where she thinks this is brilliant. She really is a lot like me, and at her age; I blasted first and asked questions later – though sometimes I didn't even bother asking the questions at all."

"Thank-you for the first part of that," Malorie said sincerely.

"And we'll let Al handle Lily so he gets blasted instead of us," Gwendolyn offered helpfully; earning a short laugh from Malorie.

"I don't want anyone blasting James," she told all of them. "We both messed up; he made it clear that he wants no part of what I choose to do about the babies; and I'm okay with that – since it wouldn't be right for me to expect to have a family forced on him when I'm insisting on that same right to choose what I want for me."

"We'll go along with that; but should talk later about why the rules that apply to Wizards don't apply to Witches," Gwendolyn told her. "Now that Al's heard that; it could take me months to undo the damage!"

"Maybe that's true for some Witches," Malorie suggested; "but there's an extra set of rules for Witches like me."

"You must mean pregnant Witches," Gwendolyn told her; and Malorie laughed with a tinge of self-pity.

"Sure; go with that – it'll be a happier place than the one I'm living in."

"Try not to worry too much right now," Ginny counseled. "Trust me – I know from experience what it's like to be in a tough situation; if not quite the same as the one you're in. You're safe and well cared-for there; and we can talk later about what you want to do once you're finished school."

"This isn't your problem," Malorie told her; and then glanced at Al. "I've been told that you'll all want to be involved with the kids, and we can talk about that; but I don't expect or want anything else from you."

"We'll really try not to do anything you won't want," Ginny promised, "but I have been through three pregnancies; and know you will need someone there for you more-often than you can imagine right now – though that'll be a bigger deal in the last trimester than it will be right now. When that happens; you will have any help that you need." She smiled again at Malorie's reaction to that. "Don't worry about that either. We'll answer any questions you have for us, but before we move on; I'd like to set up at least one little mirror chat with you for sometime this weekend so that we can at least talk about a few things that will help you out over the next few weeks with any morning sickness or extreme fatigue problems you'll need to deal with – and that really could make getting through your classes and studying really tough on you some days."

Malorie agreed to do that; they set up a time for Saturday morning while Al was busy with Quidditch practice and Gwendolyn would have an excuse to get away from their study group for a break. There weren't many questions that Malorie wanted answered, but she did talk with Harry and Ginny about a few things that were unrelated to babies or James; and it was another twenty minutes before they ended that chat. Al had handed out drinks and snacks by then, and when they ended the mirror chat; Malorie got up and moved over to the other sofa so that she could face Al and Gwendolyn.

"I've a lot to think about after that; but would you mind telling me why your parents didn't completely freak out on me over this?"

Al smiled and shrugged. "Honestly – I have no idea," he admitted. "I was sure they'd come around from being mad fairly-quickly; but I did expect to see some mad first."

"I'll offer my two-sickle explanation," Gwendolyn offered; "but try not to get mad at me about it." The last part of that comment had been directed solely at Malorie. "James has been, um, involved with a number of Witches over the past year and a half. My guess is that Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny have spent some time talking about what they'd do if something like this happened. They'll still have a lot of problems to deal with from this, but from their perspective; you're quite possibly their best-they-could-hope-for scenario."

"I'd never believe that about me," Malorie said dismissively. "Just about any other Witch would be better than me."

"Well, you'd be wrong about that," Gwendolyn insisted – "and I'm not just saying that because I'd be far worse. None of us want to talk about any examples from James' personal life to back that up, though; so let's agree to disagree – and we are talking about what Al's parents might be thinking; so we could both be wrong. If they have talked about this possibility, though; then they may have decided how they'd deal with the fallout – and decided that blasting either you or James would just be pointless."

Malorie mulled that over for a few long moments while taking a few sips of her drink. "I haven't really put any thought into what this will mean for them – or for you guys and the rest of Al's family," she stated quietly. "Almost everything I've talked about with you has been all about what I want and what this will mean for my life." She shook her head. "Even when we talked about how this will be a huge, messy story when it gets out; I've been thinking about how that will affect me – and James. It'll be a thousand times worse for your parents."

"It'll be reasonably awful," Al agreed. "They'll take as much of the heat off of all of us as they can too; but the story will blow over in a year – two years tops."

Malorie laughed; but looked at him soberly. "You're not really joking."

"No, but Mum and Dad can handle it – and I get the feeling that you'll be able to deal with it too."

"And we're going to try and stay out of the news at least until the end of June," Gwendolyn added. "We will have to figure out what to do after that; but we'll all hopefully have time to get ready for the summer."

"Sure, since figuring out things like finding a place to live and how I'm going to find a job to pay for anything when I'll be six months along will be easy by comparison."

"You can have Al's room; and he can come and stay with me over the holidays," Gwendolyn joked. "What did you want to do after you graduate?"

"Work at the Ministry of Magic – or get some other, hopefully half-decent job. I don't want to get stuck doing something just to get by; but that might be my only option right now."

"It isn't," Al assured her earnestly. "I get that you want to make your own way, Malorie, but our parents and families have a lot of connections; so you can have choices – and there are jobs available that allow parents to work around taking care of their families. My Aunt Hermione started the program at the Ministry of Magic when she started there the second summer after the war when they were having trouble getting enough staff to replace everyone that had been lost during the war. Some of her first hires were Witches who had lost their husbands during the war – or had been affected in other ways. Now there are all sorts of positions at the Ministry where jobs are shared by Witches and Wizards that can work part days – or evenings, nights, and weekends."

"I didn't know about any of that," Malorie admitted. "Maybe there really will be a lot that I'll need to talk about with you – and with your parents."

"Any time," Al assured her. "Speaking of that, if I promise not to call you at all; would you consider linking mirrors with mine and Gwendolyn's so that you can call us if needed?"

"That would be easier for you than tracking us down at meals or elsewhere – especially if you need anything in the evenings or after curfew."

"What would you do if I needed something after curfew in my House?" Malorie asked. "Use the Animorphmagus delivery service?"

"I am definitely against having Al do any late night deliveries to the girls' dorms. We can be there if you need someone to talk to, though; and we might be able to help out with other issues overnight – like having things you need sent here by Owl Post."

"The only Owl Posts I've had in seven years have been my Hogwarts letters," Malorie advised them. "That would get way too much attention – at least with my handful of friends. I guess nobody else would notice; since they don't notice me either."

"Enjoy the anonymity while it lasts," Gwendolyn suggested. "It isn't all fun and games being connected with famous families – not that I'm complaining; since it is brilliant most of the time."

"Maybe – if you're..." Malorie began to say; and then grinned ruefully.

"...born into one?" Al finished and asked. "That's true; so I hope you'll have fun too while your kids get to find out what that's like."

"I'm not ready to think about that yet," Malorie decided. "If you want to link with my mirror; I guess that's okay with me. I don't have anyone else to do that with anyway. I could get it to you before the next Hogsmeade weekend if you want to do that while you're in town. I don't want to get any attention for hanging out with you; and i doubt you want that either."

"I wouldn't have a problem with that at all," Al assured her; "but I can link our mirrors right now if you want to pass it over for a minute."

"I thought that could only be done at stores that sell the mirrors," Malorie said; and Al shrugged.

"I needed to learn how while making Lily's study app birthday gift," he explained. "My Mum and Aunt Hermione know the spells; and they helped me out with learning some of the things I needed – though none of that is actually anything that you'll see going on in RevisionWizard yet. I didn't have time to do everything with it that I think would be great to have it do – like being able to send assignments directly to our Professors for them to read on their mirrors instead of using the quills."

"If you've always been like this; I totally get why an older brother might grow up hating you," Malorie told him while also holding her mirror out to him. "Being so nice about it while basically bragging about doing something that most adult Witches and Wizards wouldn't even dream up in the first place could get irritating after ten or twelve years of it – and yes; I know you're just explaining and not bragging. That wouldn't matter to the siblings that don't measure up by comparison – and that's an explanation from someone who can relate to not measuring up to most other Witches and Wizards."

"You're more than most Witches and Wizards," Al told her earnestly – "and that's coming from someone who senses way more than I wish I did from everyone around me."

There was a pause in their chat as he linked her mirror with theirs; he handed it back; and then Gwendolyn took a minute to show her some tricks for using the mirror communicator part of her mirror; since Malorie really hadn't ever used it for mirror chats – or tried to do that with any friends that did have the mirrors. Al and Gwendolyn had no idea as to whether she'd try to actually call them anytime soon; but he was sure that they would get more involved with Malorie – and do that far-sooner than she thought they would as they wrapped up their little meeting ahead of curfew. Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; had a bedtime visit with Lily because she'd waited to see him after getting back from hanging out with Jonah and a bunch of their friends; and then he went up to bed to get out of the way of the sensory overload coming from too many of the snogging couples in the common room. He got ready for bed; did a bit of bonus studying; and then went off to sleep.

There was a lot to think about as Al got ready for the day and then waited in the common room for Rose to join him for their morning walk and talk. It wasn't as though every first week back at Hogwarts had been the only times of his school years so far to be crazy and eventful for what had usually been bad reasons; but the odds were higher than most weeks – except for around holidays, school Quidditch matches, end-of-term, and random weeks when someone had simply been mad at him about something or nothing!

Okay, he was basically a trouble magnet year-round!

Finding out that he was going to be an uncle was now right up there with all of his best-ever memories, so while there was sure to be a lot of trouble too; he was in an amazing mood and really looking forward to the weekend. That didn't change for him when Rose arrived in the common room with Lily; and he sensed that an 'intervention' was imminent. He and Gwendolyn had talked about what to do with Lily and Rose, though, so while he hadn't planned on talking with them about what was happening on his own; he was ready to deal with them when they did get around to demanding answers about why he and Gwendolyn had been acting so secretive and going off on their own for suspect reasons. That didn't take long, since Lily barely waited until they'd be out of range for the Fat Lady to listen in before confronting her brother.

"I can see that you already know that I'm not here just because these walks and talks are so much fun – even if they are," Lily told him. "Something's been going on with you and Gwendolyn for days now. James is acting weird – which I noticed because that's the first place I looked to see if he was involved, but since that's all we've got so far; we're coming directly to the source. Start talking; or you're going to be in big trouble if we find out that you've been keeping us out of the loop of something really good."

"Or bad," Rose added. "You didn't have to eat James again, did you?"

"No, but let's pick a classroom and sit down for this talk," he told them quietly. "It isn't something that I want to take the chance of anyone overhearing."

"If it's that good; I may blast you for holding out on us for this long," Lily warned. "I'm your favorite sister in the whole world; and it's just wrong to do something like that to me, Al!"

"You'll understand soon enough," he promised – "and a bit sooner than I expected – though I can work with that."

Lily didn't want to wait, but Al wouldn't say anything more beyond small talk until they were in a classroom; he'd sealed it for privacy; and set up two sofas. Rose and Lily chose to sit across from him so that they could face him – or maybe have the advantage if they decided to blast him.

"Anything else?" Lily asked a bit sarcastically. "Would you like to get drinks and snacks? Catch the morning Quidditch news show?"

"No, I'm good now, Aunt Lily," Al told her; and grinned as it took Lily about three seconds longer than it took Rose for that to sink in. "Thanks for not assuming that Gwendolyn and I are in a family way," he added; and he really was grateful that he hadn't sensed that from either of them.

"You'd be a wood louse with a bat bogey affliction right now if that had been the case," Lily joked.

"Which begs the question – why isn't James looking a bit singed instead of just angry and obnoxious?" Rose mused. "You must've told your parents by now."

"Just last night after our study session," Al answered. "Malorie – Malorie O'Malley – needed some time to make some decisions of her own after Gwendolyn and I told her about it on Tuesday night."

"And you knew she was pregnant after breakfast on Tuesday morning," Rose said with a nod. "I knew something had happened that was more than that lame excuse you gave us for being temporarily freaked out."

"Malorie brushed past me; I sensed that she was sick – having morning sickness through that bit of contact; and the rest hit me with a combination of what I sensed and a bit of foresight. I've been sensing something important was going to happen since before Christmas; and knew this was what I'd been feeling and anticipating."

"So Mum and Dad will be visiting the school today," Lily said with a nod. "Good. Maybe they'll let me help with blasting James."

"They won't be doing that – and you won't be blasting him either," Al advised her. "Nobody else is going to even know about this for as long as we can manage to keep it a secret. Not our friends, nobody else in our family – nobody."

"You'll never be able to do that," Lily told him bluntly.

"We're all going to try – for Malorie's sake," he insisted. "If you can't keep quiet about it; you'll forget we had this chat before we leave the room." He shook his head when she looked ready to protest. "I'm serious, Lily. Malorie's in her NEWT year. She's got nobody except us to help her – and she's not sure she wants anything to do with us beyond conceding we've a right to be a part of her babies' lives – and yes, she's carrying twins. I don't know if we can manage to keep this a secret until the end of June, and it'll be impossible after that – once we're home for the summer; but we are not going to make this even tougher on Malorie than it already will be."

"James obviously knows," Rose interjected so that Lily could take a minute to think about that before saying something she shouldn't. "Do you know how that went?"

"Badly – for Malorie," he answered. "I don't want to tell you about what I've sensed from them, and Malorie didn't tell us much about it beyond warning us about what James might do when this does come out; but it's a safe bet that he'll be one of Malorie's problems; and won't want to have anything else to do with her or the kids."

"So he basically took advantage of Malorie all through the holidays, and when he finds out that she's pregnant; he blows her off – and likely in the worst possible way," Lily declared angrily.

"He did all of that and likely more," Al agreed, "but Malorie more than accepts her part in it – and she truly loves him, Lily. That's why she got together with him again over the holidays – because she knew it was likely the only chance she'd have to be with him for the rest of her life. She's really scared right now too; but she's also thrilled that she's going to have a bit of him with her through their kids." He sighed at the mix of emotions he saw and sensed from Lily.

"Take some time to think about that," he suggested. "Her perspective is very different than ours. I basically weaseled out of a true answer when she told me that I'd never give a Witch like her a chance by telling her that I'd loved Gwendolyn since before either of us were old enough to know that we were from famous families, but if I was being honest; she's right and I wouldn't be attracted to her romantically. Yes, James took advantage of her, but what would any of us do if we'd been in her shoes and been given the chance at a dream – even now; when she knew it would only last for two weeks?"

"Okay, but even if I give you all of that; James still really deserves to be blasted," Lily insisted.

"To what end?" Al asked. "Do you think you can get him to come around and decide to be the best father ever? Marry Malorie after he's done school? Play nice with the rest of us and live happily ever after?"

"How about because he shouldn't be allowed to get away with dumping yet another mess on the rest of us and walking away while likely blaming it all on you!" she shot back; looking truly annoyed.

Al got his wand out; summoned two chocolates; and began to put memory charms on them. There was a pause in the conversation as he did that; since Lily had been very curious about why he'd suddenly started to do that instead of answering her.

"Take one each and see if the chocolate will help," he suggested. "From his perspective; James will think that he will get out of this free and clear; but he'll be wrong about that."

"What did you do with these?" Lily asked; and Al grinned at her.

"I thought you might like to see the reasons for why you shouldn't blast James. Be mad at him for being such a git to Malorie; but he's going to miss out on what might be the best thing that will ever happen to him."

Al watched and waited as Rose and Lily both ate their chocolates; their eyes glazed over while watching the memories; and then Lily got up and came over to hug him for a long minute once she came 'back' from those memories.

"You love her," she teased.

"In a sister or cousins sort of way," he agreed. That line might get old with his family and friends sooner instead of later; but he still liked it a lot.

"Did you show that to Malorie?" Rose asked quietly; and Al nodded.

"She needed a bit of convincing before believing me about being pregnant. "She'd fainted from the news – which is why she was napping during that memory of when I first sensed that she was carrying twins."

"Gwendolyn keeps cutting you a lot of slack on this habit you have of falling in love with Witches left and right, Al; but you'd better stop making a habit of doing that every month or so or you'll be getting into trouble," Rose warned; and Al laughed.

"Then I might be in trouble, since there is fairly good odds that I'll be falling in love with at least two more Witches between now and September."

"Or we could all end up falling in love with two little Wizards," Lily added – "though Witches would be very nice – and potential future Harpies' team mates!"

"You mean Cannons' team mates, right?" Rose teased; and Lily laughed.

"Let's keep that to ourselves; since Malorie might not like that kind of fight over her kids."

"Gwendolyn and I have also agreed not to say anything bad about James around her – or them," Al advised her. "We should all start with that now; so it'll just be habit by the time they're able to sense any bad vibes."

"Is there more you're not telling us?" Lily asked; and Al shrugged.

"Probably, but in this case; it's just from reading up on prenatal babies. They'll be able to hear and feel once they're far-enough along; and stress and bad vibes can affect them as much as the mother."

"Wait a minute!" Lily exclaimed; though she'd nodded in response to Al's explanation. "You said between now and September! That's when they're due?"

"Yes," Al agreed; "though Mum wasn't sure whether you'd think that would be a brilliant bonus birthday gift or whether you'd spend most of August trying to help Malorie go into labor early so they wouldn't get stuck waiting an extra year to go to Hogwarts the way you did." Lily and Rose both laughed while Al grinned at his sister.

"I'll likely want to do that," Lily admitted.

"I'd hope for the September birth," Rose told them. "Al and I won't be out of school for another three and a half years; you have two more after that; and that extra year will be more time we'd all have to play with them before they'd be at Hogwarts for nine months of the year when it's their turn to come here."

"They'll be going on five by the time I graduate," Lily said in surprise as she realized that; and then shook her head. "I'd still want it my way. It really does suck for most of us 'fall' babies to wait that extra year – plus we're nearly a year older than everyone else when we're done school. Al and Gwendolyn will barely be eighteen when they graduate; but I'll be nearly nineteen; since there's no way Mum will let me quit when I turn seventeen."

"That's because she'll want to come and play for the Cannons with Al and me to keep that Seeker spot warm for when you graduate," Rose told her with a broad grin. "If you quit when you turn seventeen; she'd only get to play in the first two or three matches during our first season in the show."

"Harpies isn't a big word; so I shouldn't need to keep spelling it out for you," Lily countered; though she was grinning too. "I hope the rest of your plan is better than what you've got for the Seekers; or you'll be working at stadium concession stands before and after the matches just to keep up with the losses – both in those games and financially."

"You're going there, while I'm wondering that we have any non-Quidditch friends at all when even a chat that starts out with news about a pregnancy and twins can turn into a talk about Quidditch," Al told them.

"Merlin only knows," Lily agreed; "and we should get back to that while we have time. You told us that Malorie doesn't have anyone; so does that mean no help from her family; no truly-close friends; or both?"

"Both," Al answered; his tone turning serious again. "She needs time to deal with all of this, Lily; but will need help – and we're going to be there to make sure that happens."

"While James shirks all responsibility," Lily added; sounding disgusted and angry again.

"He'll miss out on all of the joy too," Al pointed out. "That's what I sense more than anything else right now – for this. I really don't have anything specific; but I feel that those kids are going to bring a lot of joy to our lives – and I can't wait to see how that plays out for all of us."

Rose and Lily had a lot of questions, so they talked for as long as they could before needing to head for the Great Hall; and then they needed to put that aside while having that meal with their friends. Al managed to find a moment to let Gwendolyn know that he'd needed to have 'that' talk with Rose and Lily before joining the rest of their study group to work until he needed to go to his Quidditch practice; and she passed that news on to Malorie when they met up to have their mirror chat with Ginny. He didn't find out until after lunch that Lily had gone and tracked Gwendolyn and Malorie down after her junior team practice and joined in on that mirror chat, but he hadn't been surprised; and sensed at lunchtime that Malorie had felt pretty good about the girl chat time she'd had with three of his very favorite Witches. He also found out after lunch that Lily had convinced Malorie to allow her to bring Jonah in on the secret – mostly because she also invited her to join their Sunday night mirror chats with Harry and Ginny.

Al had that little chat with Gwendolyn before she went outside for her extra Quidditch practice with the Ravenclaw team. They were down to just a week until their annual match-up against Slytherin; and he was a bit worried about the new distractions getting in the way of Gwendolyn's training. He certainly didn't want to be responsible for messing up her Quidditch season, but wouldn't have even considered keeping this secret from her until after that match; which was why he hadn't hesitated about telling her as soon as he'd been able to do that. While she played Quidditch with her Ravenclaw friends; Al studied with Rose and about half of their study group; Gwendolyn joined them after she was done; and they wrapped up their weekend revision by dinnertime.

Taking the evening off for some teen-rated play time for two seemed really strange to Al – considering the recent events with Malorie; but Gwendolyn didn't have any trouble convincing him that things didn't need to get weird for them just because he was going to be an uncle at fourteen or fifteen. It was definitely too much information when she suggested that his parents wouldn't likely be getting separate beds now just because they were grandparents; though he was sure she'd be right about that. There was some music time and they watched Lee's nightly monologue at the start of his show; but the snogging fun had really been the highlight of the evening – and at least part of the reason for that was because they'd had almost no alone time since getting back to the school.

While their must-do revision was finished already, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah had a morning study session with most of their usual group plus a few extras; they tutored while working on projects; and then took the rest of the day off to play. For Al and Gwendolyn, that included a bit of indoor Quidditch experimentation in the Room of Requirements. They only had Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah with them for that, but it was a successful test; so they planned on using the Room of Requirements for at least some of their extra workouts; and would decide as they went along about whether to invite many others to join in on that fun and little secret. The entertainment highlight of the day for Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah was their first-ever Sunday evening family night with Malorie joining them for part of the fun. She'd looked shy and nervous when she first arrived in the classroom that they'd picked for the night; and that felt a bit strange to Al, since while that was closer to normal for her; she'd been much more assertive during their first few visits with her.

"You do not want me to join in for a sing-along," she warned them as she walked across the room to where Al and Gwendolyn had set up the sofas. They had their guitars out; and Lily had been setting out drinks and snacks while Jonah took care of putting Al's mirror on one of the work tables.

"Maybe you'll like to give it a try," Gwendolyn suggested. "Jonah and I have had fun teaching Al and Lily; and they're pretty good for a couple of kids from a family tree that's apparently devoid of a single leaf of musical talent."

"We don't have any professional musicians in the family," Lily countered. "There is a bit of amateur talent here and there."

"Well, I don't sing in front of anyone," Malorie advised them; "but I do like music – and I'm glad that family night doesn't mean playing Quidditch."

"You'd need to take a break from that even if you did like to play," Lily teased. "We've had enough Quidditch fun for this weekend, though; and we don't do that on Sunday nights." She smiled as she glanced at Jonah. "Before I forget – Malorie O'Malley – Jonah McCormack. No, he isn't my boyfriend; but is at the top of the list for the job whenever I do decide that I'm ready for that."

"That's a refreshing change from what I normally hear around here – and I'm sure the Hufflepuff girls your age will be happy to hear that; since they seem to think that he's off the market."

"I am – off the market," Jonah advised her quietly. "Hopefully, the Witch I love will figure that out eventually."

Lily stopped what she was doing and stared at him. "What?" she practically whispered; and Jonah's smile became rueful.

"I love you, Lily," he told her. "It's probably because of something I've heard recently that convinced me that I need to actually say that to the people I love – and I do love you."

Lily laughed; closed the gap between them; and gave him an enthusiastic hug and kiss. "I love you too – and you're still at the top of my list of potential boyfriends," she assured him with a brilliant smile that she turned on Malorie when the mother of her future nieces or nephews laughed. "It works for me, and Jonah apparently loves me; so he'll be okay."

"Once he remembers his name and where he is," Malorie suggested. "It's no wonder that you're a Seeker too – I think you might be even more extroverted than James – if in different ways."

"I am," Lily agreed, "and there's no doubt that you have to be a bit like that to play in the show – unless you're planning on a career with the Cannons. Then you need to be like Al so that you're not crushed every time you lose."

Malorie laughed again. "I don't claim to be a Quidditch expert, but isn't Al undefeated in his Hogwarts Quidditch career so far? If he goes to play for the Cannons; I might be willing to place a small bet on them to win."

Lily grinned at her. "Well, I only have ten galleons on the line with Rose over the Cannons winning a league title in her lifetime; so I could probably make that bet with you too if you'd like. You are a few years older, though; so maybe you wouldn't want to do that."

"You're a bit scary, but I can probably make enough between now and then to pay up that ten galleons if needed after I'm gone; so I'll take the bet," Malorie decided.

"Done!" Lily agreed. "At this rate; my kids or grandkids will be set for life!"

"Well, you could always leave those winnings to your first nieces or nephews," Al joked; earning laughs from all three Witches and a grin from Jonah when he caught up to the joke.

"I love that idea too," Lily told him. "Let's do that instead."

"And then we can talk about anything other than Quidditch," Malorie suggested. "Your family really is a bit obsessed with the game."

"We are," Lily agreed. "Do you have any preferences for music? Now that Christmas is over; we'll be moving on from singing all of those songs that Al and Gwendolyn wrote and do something different tonight."

Malorie grinned at her. "Sure – do you know many Beatles songs?" she joked.

"I'm tempted to joke about why you'd want us to sing songs about bugs," Lily advised her, "but Dad grew up in the Muggle World; so James, Al, and I have grown up with all of the Muggle tech and entertainment along with all things magical. The Beatles aren't one of my favorite groups; but we know a lot of Muggle songs."

"I should know that about you anyway," Malorie said thoughtfully. "Some of those Christmas songs were based on Muggle Christmas classics or newish songs."

"Well, you're into music enough to know that," Gwendolyn told her with an approving nod. "That's good; since we'll want to sing to you and the babies a lot if you'll let us. I doubt that I actually remember it; but I know that Dad sang to me and Jonah a lot during the months before we were born. I think he was sure we'd have a better chance of being musical too if he did that."

"Will you want to fly me around on a broom during Quidditch practices too?" Malorie asked in amusement.

"No – I was going to start feeding you chocolate snitches instead," Lily teased with a grin. "It might be nearly impossible for your kids to not have a talent for the game. James wouldn't agree; but I'd say we're three-for-three with that for our family; and all of our cousins are pretty good except for Molly. She could likely do well-enough; but has never wanted to play – or at least she hasn't wanted to play for as long as I can remember."

"Maybe more of us would like the game if it was played without those steel bludgers," Malorie suggested; and then laughed. "How did you turn this conversation back to Quidditch again from music so easily?"

"You did that with the joke about flying you around on brooms during practices," Lily reminded her with a grin, "but feel free to blame it on us; since some of our Quidditch fanaticism is likely starting to rub off on you."

They settled in over the next few minutes; Al and Gwendolyn led the music; and while Malorie didn't join in to sing along; Al knew that she enjoyed the entertainment – and was impressed. The mirror chat with Harry and Ginny was a lot of fun too; but the mirror network watching was a bit awkward for Malorie – though Lily only held hands with Jonah while also sitting next to Malorie and leading most of the conversation that went along with the shows. When it was time to start packing up so that Al and Gwendolyn could have time for the visit to the Owlery, Malorie thanked them; agreed to join them again for their next Sunday night get-together; and then headed for her House. Gwendolyn waited until after she was gone to have a quick mirror chat with her parents, and that was a bit weird because they couldn't tell them the real reason for why they'd left that chat until later than normal; but they still had fun with that – and then again with their visit with Winter and Blizzard before Al sent Winter on her way with the usual weekly Owl Posts for home.

Lily was with Al when he got back to the Gryffindor common room; and he ended up staying to talk with Rose and some other friends for quite a while before going up to his dorm room for the night. A few of the other guys were there, so he had a chat with them while getting ready for bed, but then he settled into his bed and basically puttered around with his mirror because, for the first time in months, he didn't really have anything to keep busy with at bedtime. Mirror Messaging was in the hands of his mother and aunt now; Lily's AquaQuidditch would likely be in stores by summer; and he didn't want to work on any projects and get too far ahead of Gwendolyn and Rose.

Thinking about Rose did lead him toward the Cannons, though; so he created a new 'assignment' in his RevisionWizard app; and began writing down all of the ideas that he and Rose had been talking about – along with a list of what he thought they'd need to do over the next three and a half years to make that happen. That list soon looked daunting as more and more ideas came to mind. He added side-notes for the time frame he thought they'd need for some of the bigger issues; and had fun with ideas for how to really get a bit radical about the game and try to do things that would give Rose a real shot at making her ultimate dream for the Cannons happen for her. He really got focused on what he was doing; totally lost track of time; and was surprised when Ray waved a hand in front of his face when he got back to their room too and saw that he was still awake.

"That must be good for you to still be awake when the rest of the guys are sleeping," Ray told him. "What are you working on – a cure for Dragon Pox?"

"No, but that would be cool if I could do that some day," Al told him while looking at his watch. "I didn't realize it was this late."

"Neither did I – and ditto that for Cyndia,' Ray advised him with a lop-sided grin. "So what have you been staying up late and working on – or is it another of your secret projects."

Al grinned at him. "Maybe you'd rather not know," he joked. "It's all about the Cannons."

Ray laughed. "Then you must be sick if that's taken you hours to work on, Al. Here's an idea for you that only takes seconds – forget about the Cannons and go play for one of the best teams."

"You don't even like the idea of trying to build a great team basically from scratch?" Al asked; and Ray shook his head.

"Not even a bit," he assured his friend. "Maybe you could do all of that work and be great at actually playing the game, but some of us really need to work hard to keep up with guys like you; and don't want to work day and night seven days a week. I'll be thinking about you while having fun, though, so have at it if you must."

"Okay, but maybe Cyndia will still join the team even if you don't want to sign up."

"Now you're just messing with me," Ray decided with a dismissive wave. "She's liked playing Quidditch with us; but I don't think she's even seriously considering trying out for the team again next year."

"And she'd have a tough time of it with so much competition," Al offered, "but she's got some talent for the game that doesn't show up just with scoring goals; so I'd take her on my team any day. It's just too bad that tryouts would need to last a month to show that for some players; and there'd be a lot of unhappy players if tryouts weren't fairly straight-forward with something as simple as most goals or snitch catches. Even Beater tryouts sometimes get messed up when it isn't an obvious pick for the Captain."

"You're serious?" Ray asked; and Al smiled and nodded.

"I was messing with you too; but I'm serious about believing that Cyndia could be a really special Quidditch player. We are talking about building a great team from scratch. The right players are a big part of getting that right."

"Sure, but I'd expect you to be picking players like you and Gwendolyn for that; not players like Cyndia and me."

"This would be a very short exercise if Gwendolyn turned me into a bug," Al pointed out. "Seriously, though; I am trying to look at this a different way; and having fun is part of that – which you would have if you practiced every day with Cyndia."

"I have no idea whether I'll still be dating Cyndia next week; and you're looking at us for jobs with the Cannons three and a half years from now."

"Which should either scare you or offer you a lot of hope," Al teased. "Take your pick."

"Possibly both," Ray decided. "Instead of going there, though; why don't you try out some of your other ideas while I'm getting changed. That should at least be good for a laugh."

"Okay," Al agreed. "I actually really like an idea we've talked about before – having enough talent on the reserve squad so that we could take turns playing in the matches all season. Not being beat up and tired by the time we get to the playoffs could be a huge advantage."

"Which is a great idea until it comes time to pay for those players," Ray countered. "The Cannons can't afford seven good players. How are you going to afford fourteen?"

"I'm working on that," Al assured him; "but that's mostly business stuff and really boring; so I'd want to leave the doing it to Rose or someone else. I want to do the fun stuff – like designing new Quidditch gear."

Ray laughed. "Sure, since that's a given when you're starting from scratch," he agreed with mild sarcasm. "How fast will your team brooms go? Faster than the Lightningbolt?"

"Faster for acceleration; slower for top speed; and more maneuverable," Al answered seriously.

"If you want slower brooms; just stick with the ones we have now," Ray suggested. "You're obviously too tired to be doing that if you think that slower is going to help you build a better team."

"Chasers never fly at top speed," Al pointed out. "Stadiums aren't big-enough for three hundred miles per hour. Seekers can do it if they fly laps and pick up speed; but they basically never actually catch the snitch at top speed – they win Seeker duels with better tricks. That's what I'd be looking at making possible with a new broom design – getting brooms to do things that they can't do right now."

"You're already doing tricks that most of us can't do," Ray pointed out; and Al nodded.

"Yeah – and I'd like a broom that could make some of those tricks even better."

Ray yawned. "Well, good luck with that. I'll be back in a minute; and then it'll be lights out for me." He grinned then. "I'm all snogged out tonight."

"Too much info," Al advised him. "See you in a few."

Ray left then; Al finished what he'd been working on; and put his mirror away. He wasn't sleeping by the time Ray returned; but neither of them were awake for much longer once they turned their lights out and allowed the quet darkness to lull them into nap mode for the rest of the night.

Their second week of school for the New Year got busier for Al and Gwendolyn, but while that seemed as though it should be impossible; it was true all the same. For Gwendolyn, that was because she put in extra time getting ready for her match against Slytherin – including double practices on Monday and Wednesday. Pauline only did a light workout with her team on Friday; but had a long meeting after that to go over their game plan and make final adjustments to what they wanted to do on Saturday. Al was busier too because he helped Gwendolyn to keep up with the work; and with a short Chaser duel on Tuesday evening before curfew in the Room of Requirements to work on some new plays that Gwendolyn wanted perfected by Saturday. He also kept an eye on Malorie when he could do that, but she didn't call either of them at all; and he didn't sense that she needed his help for anything so they just got on with their own normal lives.

Classes, assignments, and Quidditch took up most of their time, but the big game on Saturday wasn't the first Quidditche entertainment event of the week because the Harpies had a Thursday evening match against the Kestrels. As usual for a weeknight match, Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends couldn't take the time off from their studies to just enjoy watching the game, but they set up sofas for Lily, Jonah, and their friends; and had his mirror set up so that they could keep an eye on the match too while they studied. Al, Rose, and Ray had just pushed through a tough, frigid, and uncomfortable Quidditch practice before dinner, so they felt for the players on both teams; while also being glad that they were warm and indoors instead of at Ellis stadium where temperatures after dark were sure to plunge and make it even harder to play the game. That was the topic of choice as they studied and the match got started.

"I know that a lot of us want to play in the show after school, but daytime winter matches are tough-enough; and I'd be okay with never playing night matches when it's cold and the weather is lousy," Ray said; directing that comment mostly at the other Quidditch players at their study table.

"They can be awful," Gwendolyn agreed, "but they're also meant to be a test – along with giving some teams the chance for one of those lucky breaks that can happen sometimes when things are going on beyond the control of the players."

"There are some players that really do well in night games too," Rose offered. "Players with bad night vision have problems; and Seekers that aren't careful can mess up if they get night-blinded by the lights and then can't see the snitch in the dark."

"That sounds like another idea for Al to add to his list of things to do for your Cannons team," Ray suggested. "Make some equipment to keep that from happening. Finding better ways to stay warm in these winter matches would be good too."

"Or cool in the summer," Gwendolyn added. "That can be tough for us too."

"Ray was talking about new equipment for the Cannons," Rose reminded her with a grin. "What makes you think we'd sell stuff like that to the competition?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "You might not – at first," she conceded; "but you would eventually; since there'd be a lot of money in that for your team."

"But fewer championships," Rose countered. "I won't be in it for the money."

"Is there a number of championships below zero?" Gwendolyn shot back; grinning too. "You'll need the money to cover the losses."

"Wouldn't it be better to just go into the Quidditch equipment business then?" Susannah asked; but then smiled at Al. "If the best Arithmancer in the school can't do the math on what they're planning and get it right, though; then they should likely just scrap the whole idea."

"That works for me," Gwendolyn assured her. "I'll play for the Harpies; they can play for a couple of different teams that aren't the Cannons; and my team will keep winning a lot of championships."

"I did say they should give it up if they can't get it right," Susannah told her. "Do you actually think that they won't be able to come up with a brilliant plan?"

"I can hope," Gwendolyn answered; and Susannah laughed.

"You're hoping that your boyfriend will fail at something he really wants to do," she explained; and she joined in when that earned her a round of laughs. "I'm so glad that I'm not the only one to find that funny."

"It is; but won't stop me from teasing Rose about her dream for the Cannons – even though it really isn't fair for me to expect Al to support my dream with the Harpies and make fun of his delusions – I mean dreams – for the Cannons."

"You'll need to support him," Ray offered; "since he won't make money with the Cannons."

"Will that matter?" Susannah asked him. "Nearly every student in this school has a copy of RevisionWizard now, and I expect it will be popular in every Wizarding school within a few years; so they'll do pretty well just with that every year even if they just get a little piece of the action with every sale – and students will need to get the next version every year – just as we have done with our books. Al and Rose could likely work for the Cannons for free."

"Now let's not get silly here," Rose told her. "Just because I think that winning championships is more important than money doesn't mean that I'm not a big fan of the stuff."

"Then you're definitely looking in the wrong place for either with the Cannons," Gwendolyn assured her. "Come and play for the Harpies with Lily, Victoire, and me. We might win every year with all of us on the team."

"Thanks, but no, and hwile this is fun; we'd better get back to our work – and watching your Harpies hopefully win this match."

Rose's half-order wasn't really followed, since they did continue to chat as they worked and kept up with the game. The younger teens and tweens in the room did some studying too, but most of them could do that while sitting on the sofas; or they sat around two other work tables. The studying went well-enough; and so did the Quidditch match – for the Harpies. The Kestrels did well-enough at first, and didn't fall too far behind during the first two hours, but their Keeper got injured early in the third hour; and things went downhill quickly from there as Victoire, Candice, and Hailey took their game to the next level and the Kestrel's Chasers just weren't good-enough to help their injured Keeper as the goals piled up for the Harpies. They had the one-sixty lead by early in the fourth hour; Gabrielle backed off; but then she still caught the snitch at the three hour and twenty-two minute mark to earn the four-ninety to one-sixty victory.

They still had a bit of time to watch the post-game entertainment until they all needed to pack up and head back to their Houses – though Gwendolyn and her fellow Ravenclaw still had their Astronomy class to attend at midnight. Since she was going to do that anyway, Gwendolyn walked Al home; Jonah went with her to say goodnight to Lily; and then they headed back to their House to either head for bed or work in the common room until going to the Astronomy tower for what was sure to be a very cold hour of star-gazing. Al didn't go straight to bed, but he only stayed in the common room to have a few visits with cousins or other friends; and then he worked for a while in bed once he was changed and ready to do that. Some of the work was on projects for his classes; but he also goofed around with his to-do list for the Cannons; and that included a bit of daydreaming for some of the equipment improvements. He really did add Ray's suggestions to his list; and thought that there really might be ways to help players with vision and temperature issues. He didn't stay up too late this time, and was sleeping before Ray came up to bed after spending some time with Cyndia in the common room; but he did get a fair bit of work done; and felt pretty good about where he was at with even his bigger assignments and projects as they headed into their last day of classes of the week.

Friday was just a twenty-four hour period to get through for the Ravenclaw and Slytherin players as they focused almost entirely on their Saturday morning match. Gwendolyn did better than most of the other players when it came to paying attention in classes and actually doing some of her weekend assignments, but she was also tired out by Friday evening after a late night on Thursday; Al put an end to their studying even sooner than she'd needed for team curfew; and walked her home to make sure she got there early. He hadn't needed a promise that she'd head for bed, since she was happy to have him order her around so that she'd have an excuse to go straight up to her dorm room; and he went to bed once back in his House too – though he didn't go to sleep for quite a while and did some extra work instead. He did get to sleep before any of the other guys came up to bed, though; and he was at full power and ready to cheer Gwendolyn and her team mates on in the match by the time he got up on Saturday morning.

He didn't need to go outside to know that it was cold out, but then he hadn't needed to see the frosted windows either; and had been sure for at least a few days that they'd all be in for a tough weather day for the match. That wasn't unusual for the winter games, but it had been something that had been on his mind with his planning and dreaming for the Cannons; so he was thinking about new ways to deal with cold weather through until Rose met up with him for their morning walk and talk. She was in a good mood too, and while she hadn't been thinking about 'her' Cannons team all morning to that point too; she was happy to talk about them – and Quidditch in general – as they got started on their bit of daily cousins' time.

"It would be a very bad strategy if it didn't work, but if Pauline could pull it off before freezing solid; she'd likely have a huge speed advantage today if she didn't wear all of the winter gear we need to wear to stay warm in these matches," Rose suggested after Al told her what he'd been so focused on when she'd met up with him. "At the speeds they'll be flying, I doubt you'd last more than a half-hour, and I wouldn't want to get hit by a frozen bludger without the extra padding; but I'd be tempted to try something like that if I played Seeker."

"Wouldn't you have that same advantage at Keeper?" Al half-teased; and Rose shook her head.

"You know that wouldn't work for the other positions. The only way it would pay off would be with an early snitch catch. Scoring more goals or letting in fewer of them won't shorten the match, so once you froze; the other team would pound you to bits in no time."

"Well, that is a brilliant strategy – for our team," Al suggested with a grin. "Did Olivia or Lucy suggest it to you? A quick Ravenclaw win would also mean a comparatively-small points difference; and we've got that advantage right now for any possible tie-breaks."

Rose laughed. "That's my idea – and it would work out well for our House; so you should definitely suggest it to Gwendolyn! Is there any chance you could skip telling her about the side-benefits for us?"

"Probably not," Al admitted with a shrug. "She'd figure that out anyway, though; and there is one thing that you haven't considered for this plan. Pauline could call a time-out if it didn't work and get into the rest of her gear if needed."

"Darn – you figured out the real flaw in my plan," Rose told him; trying to sound crushed. "I thought I'd totally hooked you!"

"You were hoping for a Slytherin win today?" Al asked in amusement; and Rose laughed.

"Of course I am – and so should you; since that would be best for our House. We won both of our matches against them, so if they can get some splits for their matches against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and we have the same or better happin in the rest of our matches; we'll win the Quidditch Cup."

"You might really want to reconsider having me play for your Cannons team," Al told her. "I'm always going to cheer for our family and friends whether that's good for our team or not."

"I know," Rose agreed, "but you'll also try your best to win our matches against their teams; so I'm okay with that trade-off; since I think you're the best player in our family – and we always have fun when we play. With a bit of luck, that'll actually be one of the things we'll change about the league."

"Making the game more fun would be great," Al agreed; "though I don't see that happening for the Falcons anytime soon."

"No, it won't," Rose agreed; "but then I'll have a lot of fun if they don't get to have their kind of fun anymore. That could be a downside for my idea in this match against Slytherin too – if any of their players can actually catch Pauline to try pounding her."

"I'll mention that to Gwendolyn too; but don't really think that would be a problem today," Al told her seriously. "Don't forget that the Slytherin players wouldn't know why Pauline would be faster if she gave this a try, and once the match has started; it'll be too late for them to do anything about it."

They had fun talking about that for a while longer; moved on to more daydreaming about their future Cannons team; and a bit of gossip news that Rose had picked up since they'd seen each other at the end of their study session. The Great Hall was still mostly-empty when they eventually got there; they had fun talking with their friends as they arrived or stopped by for cameo visits on the way to their usual seats; and Al had the most fun with Gwendolyn both before and after breakfast. He'd needed to wait until after breakfast to hit her with Rose's last-minute game plan suggestion; she'd liked it a lot; and promised to pass it on to Pauline – though she also had no idea whether her Captain would want to take that kind of risk – or pay the price that would go along with the attempt. She'd been less-amused by Al's offer to help Pauline after the match if needed; but still had fun razzing him about why he'd make an offer like that when it basically meant he was offering to warm Pauline up after the match. She definitely had a problem with him doing things like that with other Witches!

That post-breakfast visit had been in the entrance hall. Gwendolyn had liked her good luck gift too, but wouldn't allow Al to trudge out to the stadium with her just to come back and wait until closer to game time to make the trip again, so they did their goodbyes there; and she went out into the cold morning with the rest of her team mates when they were all ready to go too. Al met up with Rose, Ray, and some of their friends; they basically did nothing at all while waiting until near the last minute to join the rush for the stadium with everyone else that had waited as long as possible; and then the Gryffindor members of their group went to sit with Olivia, Lucy, and the rest of their senior team friends – and didn't get to do that on the Ravenclaw border of their section. That was also why Lily didn't end up sitting with them – because she went to sit with Jonah and some of their friends instead. Al got teased about it as he and Rose got settled into seats a row ahead of Olivia, Lucy, and their best friends; but he didn't mind the change too much – as long as they'd let him sit with Gwendolyn for as many of the remaining matches as he could.

"For those of us that don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend playing in this match; I'll remind all of you that we should all want a Slytherin win today," Olivia told her team mates and friends. We'll cut Al some slack today; but feel free to cheer for Slytherin if you can manage to do that without laughing."

"That might just mess up their game if we do," Lucy suggested, "and I'm okay with giving Al a break today, but if he flies around cheering for Ravenclaw in our match against them in May; I reserve the right to hex him after we get that win."

"Or curse him if we lose," Olivia added with a grin for Al. "Save that kind of good sportsmanship for when you're playing for the Cannons. Their fans won't care if you lose every match."

"Try telling that one to Uncle Ron," Lucy suggested with a laugh. "He hates every loss; and still keeps coming back for more every season. He's the poster fan for their team motto."

"That's a brilliant idea!" Rose told her enthusiastically. "I bet we could sell a lot of posters like that."

"Sure – in the wheezes stores," Louis offered. "You could even have one for each of the Cannons' six fans!"

"I'd buy your poster," Brock told Rose with a grin; "but your Dad might not like the idea very much if your poster became a best-seller."

"Don't have too much fun with that idea," Tiberius warned his brother. "If you decide that you like Rose too much and want to go play for the Cannons; I'll be on the look-out for a new Beater partner."

"As if you wouldn't replace me in a second if Tina would give you a shot at playing with her instead," Brock countered.

"I'd be okay with that without the Quidditch," Tiberius admitted with a grin. "I haven't lost hope for that dream quite yet."

"Good luck with that," Brock told him. "I do not ever want to date a Beater – especially one who is better than me and could knock my head off if she ever got mad at me."

"While that's fascinating; let's get back to the match at hand," Olivia suggested. "We've played Slytherin, but should still watch the players that will likely be back next season; and we need to learn everything we can about Ravenclaw. They won their first match; I'd say they're the favorites today; and we'll be playing catch-up to them for the senior team race if they do win today."

"Go Slytherin!" Lucy declared enthusiastically.

"Go Ravenclaw!" Al whispered to Rose.

"I heard that, Potter," Olivia advised him; though he'd whispered loudly-enough that at least the teens closest to them would hear. "You're not going to get kicked out of this team event that easily. Moving along, for this match; I'm going to be watching Peter Boot – and don't give me any crap about that; since I'm seriously just looking at trying to get different perspectives today from most of us." She grinned at Al while saying that last part. "Al's the one exception, and since he'll be watching Gwendolyn all of the time anyway; there's no point in giving him a different assignment."

"What are you going to have Tiberius and me do?" Brock asked. "I seriously doubt we'd be much good at giving you an analysis of the Seeker duel."

"You might be okay at it," Olivia disagreed; "but you'll be getting two of the Chasers instead. "Tiberius can keep an eye on Scorpius; since he'll be back here next season; and you can follow Miya Davies because Tiberius wouldn't learn anything if he did that; and some of us would like some ideas for how to beat Miya in May – and when we're all in the show in the future."

"Too bad for you," Brock told his brother with a grin. "Maybe the girls will help you out with watching the hottest Wizard on the Slytherin team – or at least he is according to Kylie Cootes."

"I hate this plan," Tiberius groused to Olivia.

"Good," she answered easily. "I want us to feel uncomfortable – and learn something new along the way."

She went on to hand out the rest of the assignments to her team mates, including the reserve squad members; and had that done by the time that Teresa and Kylie started their pre-game show. That was a very short blast of fun because nobody wanted to drag out the start of the game in the cold; the teams were introduced; and Mr. Peakes did a very short fair-play speech too. Pauline and Licentia made quick work of the Captains' handshake; and then the game was on!

Miya and Licentia were matched up for take-off, and Scorpius was paired with Gwendolyn, but the Slytherin opening play worked perfectly as Licentia pushed Miya out of the way while Scorpius used his speed advantage to get to the quaffle first. Gwendolyn hadn't tried to keep with him when she saw the play develop; and instead got into a defensivve position as Slytherin went on the attack. She forced Scorpius into a pass that Licentia caught; and then she went on to get a decent shot on goal that Peter stopped and then immediately passed over to Miya because she'd been caught out of position and had been trying to catch up to the play.

Al was happy with his 'assignment' for the match; but not as thrilled when Slytherin tried to get Gwendolyn matched up against Trace Davis – even though that was likely exactly what Pauline wanted too – and it also meant that Gwendolyn wasn't paired up with Slytherin's hottest Wizard! Trace tried to pound on Gwendolyn right from his first chance to do that, but he didn't have any luck with that; and Gwendolyn scored on her first shot of the match – the second for Ravenclaw.

"Pauline's trying my idea; isn't she?" Rose asked Al in a whisper that this time was only meant for him. She'd been assigned to watch Brandon Graves, but had been interested to find out whether Pauline would like her idea or not.

"Yes, and she's flying around like that to keep from freezing," Al agreed. "Now we wait to see if she can find and catch the snitch – or whether Ravenclaw will be calling an early time-out."

"I hope she doesn't leave that too long," Rose suggested – "or hope that she does; since we're supposed to be cheering for Slytherin."

"She won't let it go to the point where she's too-befuddled to call the time-out," Al assured her. "Yeah, Ravenclaw," he added as they watched Gwendolyn score another goal.

Watching his girlfriend rather emphatically prove that Trace was no match for her was a lot of fun; but the match didn't all go Ravenclaw's way. As with their match against Gryffindor; Licentia and Scorpius were a good match against Miya and Lee. Scorpius scored Slytherin's first goal thanks to a great play and pass from Licentia that cut the Ravenclaw lead to just one goal. Gwendolyn got that goal back a few minutes later on a penalty shot. Trace managed to get that cheap shot in on her, but he'd been caught too; and Al sensed that he hadn't actually hurt Gwendolyn – and she did a bit of acting that had drawn Mr. Peakes' attention to the foul. Miya scored the fourth Ravenclaw goal at the twenty minute mark thanks to an attempt by Licentia to double-team Gwendolyn that gave her a chance to make a brilliant pass that left Miya with a great scoring chance.

Slytherin and Ravenclaw traded two more offensive plays that didn't change the score at all; and then the match came to an abrupt end that surprised nearly everyone in the stadium except for Al and Rose. Pauline had been racing all around the stadium the entire time; the Slytherin Beaters were always a step behind her; and she'd managed to lose Blaise a half-dozen times – including the last time when she made a true run for the snitch; left him far behind with a perfectly-timed direction flip; and she earned the easy-looking catch to end the match at the twenty-two minute mark to give her team the one-ninety to ten victory.

"Boo! Yeah!" Rose said and teased while Al quietly cheered for Gwendolyn and her team mates. "That was brilliant!"

"It was," Al agreed as they watched Pauline speed over to her brother and they shared a mid-air congratulatory hug. "She's nearly frozen-solid though; so would you mind if I borrow our blanket and help her out with that little problem?"

Rose laughed and offered her side of it to him. "It's the least we can do," she agreed; and then laughed again as he used his wand to heat it up and then banished it with another wave of his wand and a non-verbal. They were both watching as it appeared in front of Pauline. She and Peter were both startled; but then they laughed and she happily pulled it around herself and then huddled under it as they were surrounded by their team mates and all seven of them headed down toward the pitch. Al and Rose had a laugh too when Gwendolyn looked over at them and silently advised Al that they'd talk about his help for Pauline when he caught up with her at center pitch; but then they'd earned the attention of their own team mates by then too and had to deal with that before getting up and going to meet up with Gwendolyn.

"What's going on, Al?" Olivia demanded. "Why did you just sent your blanket to Pauline like that."

"She's freezing," he explained. "That's partly my fault; so it only seemed fair to help her out."

"We're all freezing," Olivia pointed out; "Out with it, Potter. There's something that you know that you're trying to avoid telling me."

"Pauline isn't using her winter-weather gear," he answered simply. "That's why she was so much faster than Blaise and the Slytherin Beaters."

"You said that it was partly your fault," Olivia pointed dout. "did you give them that brilliant idea?"

"He did," Rose answered before Al could; "but he passed it along to Gwendolyn from me. It seems that Pauline thought it a good one."

"Oh it is," Olivia agreed. "What's not so brilliant is the two of you thinking that it was a good idea to offer that kind of birlliant help to the team we wanted to lose today! Have you lost your minds?"

"What's worse is that if you'd talked to us instead; we could have tried that out in our match against Hufflepuff," Lucy added; and she sounded as angry as Olivia truly was.

"It wouldn't have worked against Hufflepuff," Al told them seriously; ignoring the temporary glee he sensed from James as he and Rose got blasted.

"It might have,' Olivia disagreed. "Now it never would; since word will get out about this. Merlin, Al – there is such a thing as taking good sportsmanship too far!"

"I don't think that's true," he disagreed; and Olivia laughed derisively.

"Did you offer this idea to Slytherin?" she countered. "That would have been very good of you – and more helpful to us."

"The strategy wouldn't have worked for them either," Al insisted. "It wouldn't have," he repeated when he saw Olivia's obvious skepticism. "The advantage would only be with the Seeker for maybe a half hour or so; and Pauline was getting close to that limit today. It would never have been enough of an advantage for Blaise to out-duel Pauline that quickly; and Alex is too good for that to work for James either. I think that Rose's idea was brilliant for that Seeker duel, but it's just a gimmick play; and wouldn't work in most Seeker match-ups."

"And if it hadn't worked for Pauline; we'd have expected a time-out soon so that she could get her winter gear on," Rose added. "Al gets part of the blame because he didn't fall for my true plan."

"And what was that?" Olivia asked; but then she turned toward Lucy when her friend started laughing.

"You thought that Pauline might try that and freeze herself out of the match?" she asked and stated while directing that at Rose. "I thought that you love Al. If that had worked; he'd have had a House full of Ravenclaws mad at him – including his girlfriend."

Rose joined in for the laughs. "It would have been a small price to pay – for the rest of us – if it had worked," she teased; earning more laughs.

"Okay, you're off the hook," Olivia decided; "and I'll think about whether or not Al will be doing double Quidditch practices for the rest of the season or not by the time we have our practice tomorrow morning."

Al still got teased for a few more minutes as he and Rose gathered up their things; and then they had most of their team mates with them for the walk out to the pitch. The jokes and razzing continued when he met up with Gwendolyn and she punched him before sharing a hug and kiss with him. There was more fun with Pauline, Peter, Stephanie, and others as they all celebrated the win; and Lily was happy to join in on the razzing when she found out about the revised game plan that Al and Rose had given to Gwendolyn. It was still bitterly cold out, though; so that was also a short blast of fun before everyone was ready to get out of the cold – either to the locker rooms, castle, or home for the handful of visitors that had braved the cold to come to the match from Hogsmeade or elsewhere.

With such a short match, they still had a lot of morning left until lunchtime, so Al and Rose opted for a bonus study session while Gwendolyn was busy with her House party anyway; and only ended up having Susannah join them for that while everyone else opted to play instead. The three of them pushed through three assignments by the time they packed up and went to the Great Hall for lunch; and then they had more of their friends with them – including Gwendolyn, Toni, and Michael – for the afternoon work session. For that, they split their time between the library and one of the Potions classrooms so that they could work on making the potions that were part of their weekend assignment. They'd all been in a great mood while doing that, and while Gwendolyn teased Al and Rose a bit about how their suggestion for Pauline had messed up her chances for catching up to Al in the battle for top Chaser; she really was happier to have had a short match instead of an hours-long battle that would have been as much about the weather as the Quidditch.

The highlight of the day, at least for Al, was the alone time with Gwendolyn after dinner. After a too-busy couple of weeks; that had been a great way to end the day – even if Gwendolyn had to pick her Quidditch victory first for the best event of her day! Music, a mirror chat with her parents, some mirror network show-watching, and a rather brilliant snogging session kept them entertained through until curfew; and then they both turned in early after getting back to their respective dorm rooms. They still had half the weekend to go, and a lot to pack into that day; so catching up on their sleep was something they both really wanted to do more than anything else.

Scorpius put Thomas' portrait on the table in the Room of Requirements; and then sat down in the armchair and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Tough day?" thomas asked.

"Not really," Scorpius answered. "It's about an hour ahead of curfew, though; and I have had a long, not-much-fun day."

"Okay, then if you're tired; why are you here instead of just heading off to bed early?" Thomas asked. "Another day or two would be of little difference to me when you've spent so little time with me as it is."

"I'll try to do better now that we have our Quidditch match out of the way," Scorpius offered; but didn't seem to make it a promise. "That work was a waste of time anyway. We lost the match to Ravenclaw this morning in just twenty-two minutes; and I scored our only goal."

"Considering your expectations; you seem to be taking it well-enough."

Scorpius shrugged. "Licentia and I were doing well-enough against our Chaser opponents to that point, and while we expected better of Blaise; he got beat because Pauline Boot took a risk we weren't prepared for; and it paid off for her."

"What did she do?" Thomas asked; though he wasn't really all that interested.

"She didn't wear any of her winter gear," Scorpius explained. "She likely froze half to death doing that, but it also made her faster than Blaise; and he just couldn't keep up with the faster turns and tricks that she could do without all of that extra gear slowing her down. We didn't find that out until after the match; so we just thought she was that much better than James until that bit of gossip made it around to us."

"So you only know that from gossip – not fact?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius shook his head.

"No – we know it for fact. We all saw someone send a blanket to Pauline not long after she caught the snitch – while she was still in the air; we found out soon after that the Animorphloser had been the one to do that; and then we later learned that he and Rose Weasel had come up with the idea for Ravenclaw and passed it along to Pauline through the Potty-trainer."

"So the younger Potter boy earns another little accolade," Thomas mused. "He once again proves to be more like his father – and less-likely to be of any use to us as a tool or ally."

"I've had no doubt of that in quite some time," Scorpius told him. "He's stayed out of the spotlight so far since getting back here, though; and this is hardly a big deal."

"You're making progress," Thomas suggested. "A year ago; you'd have been furious at the intervention."

"It was lousy weather out there; we'd have lost anyway; and probably by more than we did," Scorpius pointed out. "Things could have turned out far worse for us than it did; so I can't really complain – even if I would have preferred proving that at least Licentia and I are good-enough to play with the other top Chasers in the other Houses. We'll just have to try and do better for that in May against Hufflepuff."

That was pretty much the end of their Quidditch talk; they did a short lesson; and then Scorpius headed back to his common room ahead of curfew. He didn't stay there for long, since he didn't want to hang out around all of the snogging couples – and because one of the fifth-year guys was trying to hit on Lysandra while she was watching a show with some of her friends. She had to deal with that fairly-often as the best-looking single Witch in their House, but he couldn't overtly do or say anything about it to those guys or anyone else; so he tried to find somewhere else to be so that he wouldn't get too jealous and do something he couldn't take back or that would reveal their true relationship to anyone else.

Hopefully that wouldn't be something he'd have to do for years, but he had no idea how long they'd have to keep their relationship a secret; and there was no point in getting his hopes up for better when years was a distinct possibility.

Even after a short Quidditch match on Saturday, Al and Gwendolyn were still busy on sunday. The Quidditch pressure was off for her until May now, but Al found out at the Gryffindor team practice on Sunday morning that the Ravenclaw win had motivated Olivia to start working her team even harder to get ready for their match against Hufflepuff – though they still had a day less than five weeks to get ready for it.

Before getting to that cold, tough workout, Al was happy to spend the first half of the morning hanging out with Gwendolyn while they worked on projects or helped with some tutoring with their study group and a few extra friends looking for help with their current assignments. He played well-enough in the scrimmage to be top Chaser, but while that annoyed Olivia and Lucy; Olivia did not retaliate – or order him to start double workouts for helping Ravenclaw; though she'd been given a majority vote from the other players interested in getting her to do that and maybe slow him down in the process. That seemed to be poorly thought-out to Al, since he'd expect to get better with even more practice, but let his cousins and friends have fun with it; and then got on with the rest of his day. He and Gwendolyn had another indoor Quidditch duel that only rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah were invited to in the Room of Requirements after lunch. There was a bit of portable pool fun that came next – and included a handful of friends added to the mix; and then Malorie joined Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah for her second family fun night after dinner.

"Hi, Malorie!" Lily said enthusiastically in welcome She'd been sitting down with Jonah; but stood up so that she could offer a hug too before inviting Malorie to sit with her too. "How are you feeling tonight?"

"A bit tired tonight," Malorie answered with a hint of a sigh in her voice. "It's been a bit tough keeping up with the work this weekend."

"They can relate," Lily assured her with a wave of her hand toward Al and Gwendolyn. "Jonah and I still have it pretty easy in second year – and can get most of our regular work done by dinnertime on Friday thanks to having the afternoon study classes."

"You'll miss them next year; depending on how many optionals you take," Malorie offered as she sat down. "Congratulations on winning your match yesterday," she added and directed at Gwendolyn. "I really appreciated the short match a lot."

"Thanks, and I'm sure that nearly everyone did," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "You're likely worried about that starting us off on a Quidditch chat, though, so let's not go there; and talk about something else – unless you'd all like to just get right to the music fun first."

"The music might put me to sleep," Malorie suggested. "It was all I could do this afternoon to keep from having a nap instead of studying with my group."

"But you're okay other than that?" Al asked seriously.

"As far as I know," she confirmed. "You want to check and be sure of that," she guessed. "I suppose that's okay with me – as long as Gwendolyn doesn't mind."

"You get a blanket exception to my general rule on that with Al," Gwendolyn joked – "for the next nine months or so."

"I think you're okay too," Al assured her, "but yes; I'd still like to check – and can show you how the babies are doing too if you'd like that view from my perspective."

"I'd like to see that," Lily interjected – "especially if I can get bonus chocolates out of the deal."

"That might work for you," Malorie told her; "since you won't be as big as a house by summertime."

"Your condition will be temporary," Lily reminded her; "and you won't be as big as a house until closer to the end of summer."

"We'll see," Malorie told her; but she didn't add what Al sensed that she was feeling – and he silently promised her that he'd help with that little worry – or, to be more accurate; her worry about getting big and staying that way. She turned her attention back toward Al. "What do you need me to do?" He got up; went over to the sofa she was sitting on while drawing his wand; and held his hands out for hers as he knelt down in front of her.

"Just take my hands," he instructed even as she did that anyway. "This won't take more than a few moments."

He closed his eyes; let his power flow into her; and quickly assessed her condition before checking on the embryos. Malorie relaxed into the sofa and closed her eyes too as he healed some aches and strains and helped out just a bit with the exhaustion too – though not enough to leave her so rested that she'd end up being awake all night. When he was finished; he sat back on his heals; summoned three chocolates; and made up memory charms for Malorie, Lily, and Gwendolyn. He passed them out as he went to sit down with Gwendolyn again; and then summoned a fourth chocolate and tossed it to Jonah.

"I didn't think that you'd want the babies update memories," he explained before returning his attention to Malorie. "Call me on my mirror if you're having issues with being that tired and sore, please," he told her. "I really do want to help; and you don't need to be that uncomfortable. I can't help with everything, since there are some things that can't be messed with because of what the babies need; but you'll feel better with the help; and it's better for all three of you than brewing up potions to help with the fatigue."

"What did you do – read an entire medical library to know that?" Lily asked.

"No, but I am still reading books so that I know more about what I can and can't do to help Malorie."

"So you're telling us that you don't actually know what you're doing?" Malorie asked; and Al smiled at her.

"Not for everything yet, but don't worry about that. I seem to have a built-in warning system that came with my healing talent that warns me to back off when I don't know what to do. I haven't had any problems with that for you yet; but it's kicked in enough times in the past that I know when it's time to stop and leave things to the experts."

"I'm in NEWT year," she reminded him. "Even the bit of what I've seen and felt for myself is enough for me to know that your talent for healing is beyond what most of us are taught – and likely beyond what even some trained healers can do." She smiled then too. "I'm not going to complain, since I feel much better now; and I will call you or Gwendolyn if – when – I need this kind of help again."

"Good," Al said with a nod. "Is there anything else we can do to help you? Anything extra you need when we're in Hogsmeade next Saturday?"

"I'll cut back on a few things that I don't need so that I can get the things that your Mum suggested for me; but i don't want that kind of help from any of you. Somehow; I'm going to figure out a way to do this without becoming some kind of charity case."

"Grandma – our Grandma – is going to love you," Lily advised her. "I totally get that too, but when you think about it; every kid in this school is a charity case; since someone has been taking care of us so far."

"Some of us just get more charity than others," Gwendolyn added. "We're simply offering to share some of our charity with you and the babies."

"Thanks for trying; but we all know that isn't the same at all," Malorie told them. "I hope that I don't ever change the way I feel about this; since I've known for a long time that I wanted to make it on my own once I was finished school."

"Okay," Lily agreed; "but cut us a bit of slack on that if you do need anything really important. I'll be happy to accept allowance IOU's at reasonable rates – like bonus baby cuddles or something."

Malorie laughed. "I'll at least think about that," she offered. "I hope that I won't need all that much more between now and when I graduate. After that; I'll have come up with a brilliant plan that will make sure that my kids and I will all be okay."

"That sounds easy compared to Rose's plan for the Cannons," Lily suggested with a grin, "but you don't want to talk about Quidditch; so I won't go there."

"We've a bit more time to work on our plan," Al pointed out; "and Rose would be freaked out if the situation was even remotely the same as it is for Malorie."

"Will it be any different?" Gwendolyn asked. "If she's got to deal with you and very many other wizards on her team; two babies might seem easy by comparison to that."

"That almost sounds as if you think she'd be better off hiring twelve Witches to play on the team and reserve squad with her and Al," Lily told her; "but that can't be what you meant."

"Keep offering comments like that from the peanut gallery; and you might be stuck with a job on Rose's team," Gwendolyn warned. "I am fairly close to the Harpies' managers; so you don't want to mess with me."

"Yeah, I do; and you'd never actually do anything like that – especially if I'm the best Seeker for the job by the time I graduate."

"Have any of you ever gone an entire day – or even an entire evening without talking Quidditch?" Malorie asked.

"Probably not since we learned how to talk," Lily admitted. "We can switch to music. Would you like to hear the Quidditch song that Al and Gwendolyn have been working on? I think it'll be another hit for the Graves Robbers on their next album."

She'd only been half-joking about that; so she'd gone on to get Al and Gwendolyn to sing and play that song for them; and then the music fun was on from there. They did that for an hour; had their mirror chat with Harry and Ginny after that; and then watched mirror network shows until Malorie was ready to go back to her House for the night an hour or so before curfew. Al and Gwendolyn accepted Lily's offer to take care of the visit to the Owlery; used the bonus alone time for a bit of minor snogging; and then they met up with Lily and Jonah outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance before splitting up for the night. Lily had walked Jonah home so that she could have that last bit of time before curfew to talk with Al as they walked back to their House; and then he wrapped up his weekend with a bit of work on his mirror while winding down until he was ready to sleep.

The first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year, along with all of the related teen drama gossip, was the top news topic of the week by Monday morning; but Al and Gwendolyn had a very busy week to get through before taking that day off to have some fun and get away from the school for at least a few hours. Classes, studying, and Quidditch were all part of the regular schedule, and while they had more assignments piled on by Professors trying to do more ahead of the inevitable distractions that would come with Valentine's Day; there was a lot more going on to keep Al and Gwendolyn on the go all of the time pretty much from early morning until late each night.

On Monday, Al had some bonus, indoor Quidditch fun with Rose while Gwendolyn was busy with her practice. Rose followed that up with a short video chat with Kyle; and mostly did that because they had to add in a visit to Bristol's fifteenth birthday party after dinner. Mackenzie put that on for her, so it was in one of the classrooms so that they could have inter-House friends join in; and Bristol had been thrilled with the effort – unlike her last birthday party. Rose stayed at the party for nearly an hour, but Al and Gwendolyn pretty much only stayed for a cameo visit; and then they went to meet up with Susannah and the other members of their study group that weren't at Bristol's party or doing something else. Susannah had needed a bit of extra support, since she was still dealing with getting over her relationship with Mackenzie; and Gwendolyn was happy to help her out with that – which made that study session a lot of fun even with all of the work.

The top weird of the week happened on Monday night for Al too; though he didn't know that until Tuesday morning. He and Rose hadn't been surprised when Bristol didn't make it to their Astronomy class at midnight, but it wasn't until he was at breakfast in the Great Hall that Al found out that Bristol had blown off that class to be with James instead of Mackenzie – and that they'd apparently stayed out until fairly-late having their kind of birthday celebration for two. Rose had already given him the news about Bristol being out late during their walk and talk, but had thought that she'd been out with Mackenzie; so she'd eventually been surprised by the rest of the story when Al had been able to pass that on to her – and to Gwendolyn. While that was the weird for the week; Al also had some quiet fun on Tuesday morning too because Malorie had called Gwendolyn to ask for help; he and Rose met up with her while on the way to the Great Hall; and he'd helped her with another bout of exhaustion and soreness so that she could get through the day without feeling as awful as she had by the end of the day on Monday.

The rest of Tuesday was just normal busy with classes, studying, and Quidditch; and then Al started his day out on Wednesday with another morning healing for Malorie as she continued to have some trouble with the rapid changes that were going on thanks to her pregnancy. That bit of baby-related fun was the only bonus entertainment through until Friday morning; but Al still worked day and night to keep up with everything – and didn't get to have much alone time with Gwendolyn beyond walking her home on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. On Friday morning, they had a bit of pre-breakfast birthday fun with Gwendolyn's cousin, Meg Rivers. She was celebrating her eleventh birthday; had been thrilled to get a new broom from her parents; and was especially-happy to be down to just months before she'd get to be at Hogwarts along with Ryan and Katrina.

That mirror chat had been a great way to start the last day of the school week, but Al didn't have a birthday fun kind of day after that. Their Professors piled on the weekend work; he and Rose studied the entire time between last class and dinner; and they worked through until near-curfew after dinner so that Gwendolyn could get as much work done as possible after missing half of the afternoon study time while at her Quidditch practice. They needed to do that to take the entire day off on Saturday; though more than half of their study group didn't agree with them about that and took some or all of that time off to play instead. While he really did want to blow off all of the work now and then too, Al couldn't do that; and he was lucky-enough to have Gwendolyn and Rose – and now Susannah too – there to support him when he needed that kind of help to keep pushing on when it was easiest and most-tempting to choose the 'have fun' option. In addition to the evening studying; Al stayed up late after going to his dorm room to work on a few different things, but once he had that bonus work out of the way; he felt pretty good about taking the day off on Saturday by the time he did go off to sleep for the night.

James felt very uncomfortable as he walked to Hogsmeade with Patricia on Saturday morning; and didn't like that at all – especially since he'd been having a very good week; and hoped that would continue all weekend. Pulling off his brilliant birthday strategy for Bristol – and doing it practically right under her new boyfriend's nose had been a rush – as had the hot playtime that had kept him, um, up until the early hours of Tuesday morning. That sort of entertainment hadn't ended there, since Patricia and Rosinda had both wanted to have some fun with him during the rest of the week; and he'd been happy to do that with them! Sure, his assignments ended up being a bit shoddy, but he didn't really care about that, since unlike his fellow OWL students; he knew that only the OWL test scores mattered this year – and he had months yet to go to be ready for those exams!

The reason for his mood today, though was walking to town with some friends three groups ahead of him; and he'd be in trouble if Patricia even suspected that he was keeping an eye on another Witch – though she'd never even dream of that happening with someone as plain and ordinary as Malorie O'Malley. James was following her because he was worried about whether she'd do something stupid that would mess up his life while in town for the first time – like go shopping for baby clothes! Sure, her secret hadn't gotten out yet, so maybe she really was going to try and hide her pregnancy until the end of the school year; but he didn't trust that she didn't have her own plans that would screw him; and he was convinced that the Animorphloser was behind the whole thing – and was surely trying to ruin him!

That's likely what they were doing every Sunday evening since she'd told him about being pregnant – plotting his downfall! His mother had stopped trying to pester him with endless mirror chat requests; but he was sure that the loser was telling their parents all sorts of lies too. Whatever their plans, though, he'd do what he could to be ready for whatever they threw at him; do whatever it took to defend himself; and then he'd make them all pay for trying to ruin his life!

"What do you want to do first when we get to town?" Patricia asked; and he wasn't happy about her intrusion on his thoughts.

"Split up and do our own thing for a while," he told her a bit too harshly; and then forced a smile on his face. "I have some shopping to do that you can't be around for; since I don't plan on leaving that until the next Hogsmeade weekend the way the dimmer Wizards at the school will."

Patricia looked dubious; but decided not to challenge him – or suggest that she could help him pick out the Valentine's Day gifts for the other girls she really hated competing with for his attention.

"Okay," she agreed. "How long will you need for that; and when can we meet up again? I don't want to do my supplies shopping only to follow you around later and go to all of those stores a second time."

"I'm not sure how long I'll need," James answered; and he really didn't know how long he'd need to follow Malorie around before he'd be ready to move on and hope that she didn't do anything that would ruin the rest of his weekend – or school year. "I'll call you on your mirror as soon as I'm done. Why don't you save up the boring shopping; and we'll do that together after we have lunch at the tea shop."

That suggestion got her off of his back; though she kept chatting incessantly all the way to town despite the fact that he made it fairly-obvious that he didn't really want to gossip or talk about anything with her. He'd put a bit more effort into the goodbye hug and kiss; since he did have a reputation to worry about with all of the other teens around; but then he had to work a bit harder to track down Malorie again after losing sight of her because of that little diversion. He was soon annoyed again because Malorie did all of her supply shopping first – and he'd needed to do the same to have excuses to be in those same stores. It wasn't as if he was hoping that she'd mess up, and their visits to Hogsmeade on the holidays had been equally boring for him; but it was still all her fault that he felt the need to follow her; and he resented the passive intrusion on his life!

Keeping all of the mad bottled up didn't help, but he couldn't vent; couldn't blast Malorie – or the loser; and wasn't even able to risk talking to anyone about it. Then again, even if Ollie hadn't been screwed over by the loser and sent home for the rest of the school year; this wasn't something he'd talk about even with his best mate. Seeing Malorie walking around as if nothing was going on at all and as though she hadn't a care in the world just had him wondering even more about what she was going to do. Whatever it was; she was obviously sure that she'd be living on easy street now.

Not if that was going to be at his expense!

"Stop following me."

James jumped; but didn't even look at Malorie as she reached past him and pulled a bottle of ink off of the shelf just a bit to his right. She'd whispered that order; so he wasn't going to be the one to make a scene that everyone in the store would witness.

"I'm not..." he whispered back; but she cut him off.

"Don't bother," she interjected. "I've known you've been around since we left the castle. You've made yourself clear, so go away and get on with your life; and I'll do the same with mine."

With that; she walked away; and James had to fight the urge to blast her – even though she'd been the one to make sure that they weren't together long-enough to cause a scene or even get the attention of any of the other teens. She also left him with no choice but to move on, though, since Merlin only knew what she might do if he kept following her; so he waited until she was gone; paid for his own supplies; and then moved on. he didn't go and meet up with Patricia right away, but wandered off on his own for a while so that he could continue to think and fume over the certain-danger to his brilliant future that the Animorphmagus and Malorie held poised over his head – ready to drop the bomb on him at any moment.

He still couldn't work out a way to pre-empt their inevitable attack on him, but he did see lots of ways to counter them when everyone did find out about Malorie's pregnancy; and he really enjoyed imagining his revenge on everyone that was out to get him.

That revenge was going to happen too. The only question remaining was whether it would start or end with the downfall of the Animorphloser!

Al and Gwendolyn had a great visit to Hogsmeade, though since he took care of a lot of the boring shopping while Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah went to have some fun shopping with the other girls; so she had more fun with that part of the trip than he did. While doing that work, Al crossed paths with Malorie two times, and saw James following her; but stayed out of the way for both of them after sensing that he didn't need to get involved – and that Malorie was well-aware that she was being followed. She noticed him too; but James was too preoccupied and oblivious to nearly everything else that was going on around him.

Gwendolyn and Rose did have one assignment as part of their fun shopping; and that was to pick out a gift for Malorie that Lily had wanted to go in on with them to get for their newly adopted member of the family – though Malorie would balk at the idea that she'd ever be a part of their family without having that happen through her relationship with James. They could hardly get her a baby-themed gift, but Al left it entirely up to the girls to come up with something that would be nice – and wouldn't offend Malorie. He didn't have any guy-friend support for his supply shopping because Ray and Michael were taking the opportunity to do some Valentine's Day gift shopping. Al had taken care of his shopping for Gwendolyn over the holidays; so he only needed to deal with flowers and sweets; and could do that on the next Hogsmeade weekend on the Valentine's Day weekend. He had all of the supply shopping done except for wheezes and sweets by the time he met up with Gwendolyn again; they finished that shopping; and then went for lunch at the Three Broomsticks.

The lunch crowd was a bit of a crush, but they dealt with that so they could have their meal and then get back to the castle to catch most of the Harpies' match. Lily, Hugo, and Jonah had taken care of the game-watching set-up with some help from their friends; and the Harpies-Magpies battle had been well into the first hour by the time that Al and Gwendolyn joined their younger siblings, cousins, and friends after making stops in their dorm rooms to drop off supplies and get changed out of their winter weather gear. They hadn't missed much because the weather was lousy at Ilkley stadium; and the defenses were winning so far – mostly because the windy conditions favored the Keepers. If a long shot went in; it was mostly a lucky break; and none of the six Chasers tried that very often when it was just a wasted opportunity that usually ended in a turnover.

Hugo and Ryan enjoyed the low-scoring match; and Rose was with them for that when she caught up with Al and Gwendolyn after staying in town with Susannah for a while longer; but the Chasers in the room had more fun with the teen and tween chat time when they had so much time between goals. Al was happy to let everyone else do the talking while he cuddled with Gwendolyn; watched the match; and allowed his mind to wander as he spent some time thinking about everything from babies to the plans for the future that seemed to creep into his mental musings more and more often since finding out that he was going to be an uncle. He had lots of time to do that, since it took Gabrielle nearly three hours to catch the snitch for the two-thirty to sixty victory; and an average of just three Harpies' goals per hour was one of the lowest totals they'd had in years for any match that hadn't ended quickly.

There was still time after the game to watch Lee's post-game show and have a bit more friends and family time until dinner; but then Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for the evening and wrapped up their day off with music, a bit of mirror network show watching, and a lot of teen-rated snogging! That kept them entertained until shortly before curfew; Al walked Gwendolyn home; and then had a short visit with Rose, Lily, and a few friends in the common room before heading up to bed. He hadn't quite been ready to sleep by then; so he did a bit more work on his Cannons' plans; did a bit of studying; and then he crashed for the night when he'd had enough of that kind of fun. Even with the work; he was still one of the first guys in his dorm room to go to sleep; and less than half of them had even made it there because staying up late with their girlfriends or playing mirror games in the common room with their mates was more fun.

The second-half of the weekend did not include much play time for Al and Gwendolyn. They had more work than normal left to do after taking Saturday off; and Al had his make-up Quidditch practice during the second morning time slot; so he had to put in extra work to make up for that too – as did Rose and Ray. Their afternoon studying wasn't quite enough time for everyone to get everything done; but Al and Rose were the only members of their group still interested in working after dinner to get everything on their weekend to-do list done; and the other teens that still had work to do opted for alternate entertainments for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and Malorie were with Al and Rose while they worked and multi-tasked the family fun night; and they all helped to make the extra studying more entertaining – if not faster. The 'congratulations, you're pregnant' gift for Malorie had been one of the highlights; Al had helped herout with some healing; and the music, mirror chats, and the chat time all added up to a nice end to the weekend – even if the extended studying wasn't the way Al or Rose liked to deal with their revision workload.

The last week of January proved to be just as busy for Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends. There weren't any 'extra' activities during the week, and they had an open weekend too; but every day was filled from morning to bedtime with classes, studying, Quidditch, and a bit of fun here and there. Al needed to meet up with Malorie for a total of three early-morning healing sessions to help her out with the bad days she had on Monday, Thursday, and Friday; but she had a couple of good days too where she felt pretty good and had no trouble keeping up with her classes and revision. With the Valentine's Day weekend just two weeks away and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match the following Saturday; Al took advantage of the extra time on the weekend to do more studying – particularly on bigger projects. His Quidditch practice on Saturday morning went well for him – and for Rose, James, and the rest of their team too; but the fun highlights were the indoor Chaser duel with Gwendolyn on Sunday after lunch; and the family time on Sunday evening that included a bit of swim time that Malorie really enjoyed because she'd been feeling the stress and had been sore after a long two days of studying.

Transitioning from January to February on Monday might not have been noticed at all beyond the change in dates on assignments; but it was a notable week for the Weasley clan. Al hadn't been involved in Aiden's eighteenth birthday on the last Friday in January, and his big day wasn't lumped in with the February birthdays; but there were still three of them in the first week of the new month; starting with James' sixteenth birthday on Tuesday. Al and Gwendolyn had gotten him gifts each year since they'd started dating, and they didn't skip doing that this year; but Al did attend James' birthday party because Lily threw it for him between the junior and senior team practices – and managed to surprise James when he showed up, as usual, just ahead of the senior team warm-ups.

"Happy Birthday, James!" Lily shouted happily – a cheer that was echoed by everyone around them as James trudged into the stadium. She laughed when those chorused best birthday wishes had him stopping and staring for a startled moment before he grinned at her and closed the gap between them before she welcomed him with an equally-enthusiastic hug.

"What'd you do – order an ice cream cake; and need to have the party out here where we'll all freeze?" he asked; and she laughed.

"No, but I'll keep that in mind for next year. We're doing this here because I love you; but not as much as I love my Harpies – and they're playing tonight."

"I should've guessed," James told her; feigning disappointment. "How long has Olivia given you for doing this? The entire practice time?"

"You wish," Olivia answered before Lily could. "We've less than three weeks to get ready for Hufflepuff; and we're not going to start slacking off now when we're doing so well with getting ready for that match!"

"We do have time for you to open some gifts and have some cake," Lily added; linking her arm with his and pulling him toward the bench where Lucy had conjured a table for her; and she'd set out those gifts, cake, and some drinks. "I'll light the candles and let you make a wish – as long as you promise not to wish for the Harpies to lose tonight."

"Tempting; but I wouldn't waste a perfectly good wish on that," James assured her with a grin. "I can wait until I'm in the show for them to start sucking in every match they play against my team."

"You'll have three seasons to give that your best until I'm in the show too, but it's your birthday; so I'm not going to get into any fights with you today."

She didn't, and they all had fun with that cameo bit of birthday entertainment; but Al had those unexpectedly-good feelings dampened by the darkness that he sensed when James made a rather nasty wish when it was time to do that and blow out the candles. Thankfully, Al didn't sense even a hint that James was considering trying to make that wish come true, but it was still tough to know that his brother wished the worst for Malorie – and for the two little miracles that he'd helped to create. Instead of focusing on the bad, Al chose to enjoy the bit of good; though James didn't even talk to him while opening his gifts and having fun with pretty much everyone else except for Rose and Ray. Olivia ended up letting them have twenty minutes for that mini-party; and then she worked them harder through until they needed to pack up and get to the Great Hall for dinner to make up for that lost time.

Getting back into the warmth of the castle had been as welcome as the food had been for Al; and then he'd really liked getting together with Gwendolyn for their study session and game watching plans once they'd both finished that meal. They were with the first group to get to their study classroom; had lots of help with the set-up for the sofas and mirror; and then they got right to work while even the younger teens and tweens opted to study at work tables first; and then switch to the sofas once their assignments were finished. As usual, the studying didn't keep them from talking Quidditch; with the Harpies-Arrows match what the Harpies' fans in the room wanted to talk about most.

"I hope this isn't going to be another boring, low-scoring match," Lily said as she sat next to Jonah and worked on one of her assignments.

"Maybe you should hope that it is," Hugo suggested. "You'll get your revision done a lot faster if it is; and still have half of it to do after curfew if it's too exciting."

"And it'll be the opposite for you if the Keepers have another good night," Lily countered. "I'll take the late work with more fun option – unless Aunt Gabrielle catches the snitch with some brilliant, early play. That might be okay too."

"It might be cold-enough out tonight that even the spectators at the game would agree with you," Kathryn offered; "but I'd hate to spend that much money and then watch a match that only lasted minutes. The league should come up with a back-up entertainment plan for those really short matches."

"Well, James has suggested a clown brigade for the Cannons," Lily offered; directing a grin toward Al and Rose. "Maybe they could have a circus – or comedy show."

"Those short matches don't happen all that often in the show," Rose reminded them; and she was grinning as she turned her attention to Lily from her work. "If you start winning a lot of matches in under a half-hour once you're playing in the league; then maybe they'd just change the rules and make it a best-of-three catches – or make the snitch faster. I do like the idea of a pre-game show; but you wouldn't want that to be too long; since that would just make the long matches even longer for the spectators."

"So you'd actually have a clown brigade for your Cannons do a little show before the games?" Lily teased; and Rose laughed.

"No – though I might be tempted to dress up for my first match against whatever team James ends up with just to mess with him. I'd want to do something that got the fans involved; though I don't know what might work. Maybe a little scrimmage or skills contest would be fun."

"That might be a bad idea," Hugo suggested. "The fans would want to do stuff like that with the players on the team; and that would just be a distraction from getting ready for the match."

"That's a good point," Rose agreed; "but there might be other options – like using former Quidditch stars." She laughed too when that comment earned an amused reaction from nearly everyone in the room. "Okay, maybe that isn't the best example for the Cannons; but it would work for other teams."

"Maybe you could do a reserve squad challenge," Gwendolyn half-joked. "Didn't you tell us about that being suggested to Olivia back in September for your senior team?"

"That's actually an interesting idea; but I could see that back-firing if someone got lucky and actually won one of those contests."

"Or maybe you'd get a hidden talent out of the deal," Al suggested. "You wouldn't necessarily need to make the contest about a spot on the reserve squad. You could just have prizes for scoring goals, making saves, or catching the snitch."

"And the Beaters get left out again," Katrina complained with a sigh after waiting a long moment for Al to add something about the Beaters. "It just isn't fair!"

"It isn't," Al agreed easily. "That would be a contest that would need to be worked out with a bit of care, though; since you wouldn't want anyone getting hurt when we're talking about a contest that's meant to be fun and entertaining; not serious."

"Well, that does sound like it could be fun in the summer or fall; but it would suck in winter matches," Lily told them.

"So you do something different in the winter," Rose said with a shrug.

"How about a giant snowball fight?" Hugo asked with a laugh. "I could totally see thousands of Witches and Wizards doing that."

"Sure – right up until you needed to deal with getting rid of tons of snow after the fight and before the match," Susannah toldhim; and then smiled when her comment earned a lot of attention. "Do the Arithmancy. Tens of thousands of people tossing around maybe dozens of snowballs each adds up to tons of snow."

"It's still a fun idea," Lily told Hugo. "I could see it getting out of hand with the really bitter rivalry matches too; but it would be a lot of fun the rest of the time."

"Especially if half of our families were doing that on the Harpies' side while the rest are fighting for United," Melissa offered.

"Why didn't you suggest that with the Harpies and Cannons?" Rose pretended to complain; and Melissa laughed.

"Because the six Cannons fans wouldn't stand a chance against everyone else in the stadium."

"Now I'm picturing the section around Dad piled high with snowballs – with us buried under them," Hugo told her; earning a round of laughs.

"We could build an igloo with them and stay warm," Rose told him. "It could work out."

That bit of goofiness set the tone for the start of the studying; but the Quidditch match was more serious once it got started – and it was another defensive battle that was helped out by the lousy weather that challenged the Chasers to get any decent shots on goal. Unpredictable winds definitely favored the Keepers, since they had a better chance of making saves if the Chasers needed to get close to the goals to score; but Eddie Bones was also having a brilliant night for the Arrows as Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were earning nearly three shots on goal against him for every one that his Chasers were getting against Vicky. The Seeker battle was a good one too; so the game blasted along for hours. The first and second-year members of their expanded study group were done their assignments by the end of the second-hour of the match at the latest; but Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their study group kept going until they needed to pack up ahead of curfew.

The timing for that ended up being bad for all of the Quidditch fans; since Gabrielle won the game for the Harpies while most of them were in transit to their Houses. Even after battling it out for nearly four hours, the Harpies only earned a two-eighty to seventy victory; so the Arrows had a lot of good to take away from the match too – even if they were still unhappy over the loss. Al had been walking Gwendolyn home when that happened; they hadn't been watching the match on a portable mirror; and he didn't find out that the match had ended until he got back to the Gryffindor common room. He got razzed about it, but couldn't really argue that he'd been too busy saying goodnight to Gwendolyn to notice the cheers from Harpies fans all around the castle; and he wouldn't have skipped those goodnight hugs and kisses even if he'd known it would mean missing the end of the match.

Curfew and the Harpies' victory post-game chat in the common room wasn't the end of the night for Al. He stayed in the common room for longer than normal for a school night; wished he hadn't when James and Bristol became a top gossip topic when word started getting around that they were both out past-curfew; and then he stayed up and did some bonus studying after going up to his dorm room. He did a bit of work on his Cannons plans too; but that was mostly just adding in a few notes about some ideas he'd liked that had been talked about earlier in the evening. Even with the extra work, he was still among the first guys in the room to fall asleep; though Ray and some of the other guys were entertaining themselves with guy talk that included speculation about James and his harem; so he tried to stay out of that – and wished that he didn't hear and sense as much as he did from his friends.

"This is the last time," Bristol told James as she was pulling on her top and getting ready to leave.

"That's what you said after we finished celebrating your birthday," James reminded her with a lewd grin as he enjoyed the view. "You don't mean it."

"I do," she insisted. "I love Mackenzie; and he'd never understand this."

James snorted derisively. "Sure, since he wasn't going around with you while dating Susannah MacMillan."

"That's totally different," Bristol insisted; though she didn't sound as though she believed her own assertion.

"The only difference is that she wasn't willing to share," James offered. "I don't have a problem with sharing, and if your new boyfriend does; then he's a hypocrite if he only has a problem when it comes to sharing you – all things considered."

"I love him; and don't want to be with you anymore," Bristol insisted. "This was a mistake."

"Let's hope not," james shot back. "The last thing I need is for you to end up with a belated birthday gift for me to deal with too."

"What?" she demanded; staring at him with a stunned expression on her face. "Did you get one of your other girls pregnant?"

"Of course not!" James lied; but his face had paled; and he knew that he'd just messed up – probably thanks to the wine and fire whiskey. "You said this was a mistake; and I just made a bad joke."

"You said that you didn't need that kind of trouble to deal with too – and we both know you were talking about me getting pregnant," she countered. "Who'd you get pregnant? Patricia?"

"I told you – nobody!" James told her angrily. "I was just making a stupid joke; so excuse me if I messed it up."

"If you were looking in the mirror right now; you'd know why I'm sure you're lying," Bristol told him. "Now I've one more reason to stay far away from you – I've a rule against messing around with anyone's father!"

"That isn't funny!" James told her; and she laughed.

"Yeah, it is,' she disagreed. "So who's the lucky girl – or should my friends and I just have fun speculating about it until it becomes obvious in a few months?"

"Try spreading lies like that to anyone; and I'll tell them that it's you," James threatened. "How long will Mackenzie stay in love with you if he finds out you've been messing around with me the entire time you've been hooked up with him – and he thinks that I got you pregnant?"

"I'll deal with the first; and can prove the second isn't true," she retorted. "don't threaten me, James. I'm not some scared little firstie for you to push around." She turned around to get her book bag; and James grabbed his wand and whispered – "Obliviate!"

He stood up; physically guided Bristol back onto the sofa; and then made sure that she forgot everything that had just happened. while he was at it; he messed with her memories from right before that too; and by the time she returned to full consciousness; Bristol wasn't interested in leaving the room at all – though her interest in some more of that kind of fun with him would only be temporary.

That potential crisis had been averted, though, so James was happy to resume their birthday play time; and he was confident that he was so good at what he did best that she'd be back for more without the need to mess with her memories – though that was always an option!

Al's day started out pretty well on Wednesday. He and Rose enjoyed their morning walk and talk; Gwendolyn joined them for a cameo moment or three with Lucy that included getting in on a birthday mirror chat with their Aunt Audrey for her forty-sixth birthday; and then his week took a turn for the weird when Bristol sat down close-enough for Al to sense a few things that he wished he couldn't. The reason he'd been able to do that was because she was having such a 'loud' mental struggle. Part of that was self-inflicted as she tried to figure out how she was going to deal with the rumors that were making the rounds about her being out past curfew with James; but Al was also able to sense the mess that had been made of just a bit of her mind – and knew that James had done that to her. It took a little bit longer to figure out why James had done that, but his brother's use of magic was as imperfect as his assignments always were; so he'd been able to sense that too – and then confirm it with what he sensed from James when he focused his attention there instead.

Reversing the damage wasn't really an option, and Al hated that; since the reason he couldn't do that was because Bristol would then remember what James had so ineptly made her forget. He was angry about what James had done to keep Bristol with him last night when she'd wanted to leave, but he couldn't do anything about that either; since the mess he'd left behind was too inter-woven to be separated – even if he wasn't also conflicted over whether he had the right or not to mess around with Bristol's mind too. Good intentions weren't necessarily enough to make that right. It was a moot point anyway, but one he should think about; since it might be an issue for him sooner or later – especially if James was starting to use his talents for modifying memories for that – or any – kind of personal gain.

Those feelings of anger and disgust stayed with Al all day – even after he talked about it at lunchtime with Gwendolyn after they'd eaten; but he didn't allow that to get in the way of his classes or studying. He and Rose did have a bonus Quidditch workout in the Room of Requirements while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice; but they studied hard for the rest of the afternoon and evening; and worked through until right before curfew so that Al didn't even have time to walk Gwendolyn home – and she went back to her House with Toni, Michael, and the rest of their Ravenclaw study buddies for the night. They'd had extra freinds join them because they were all looking for bonus tutoring to get through a couple of particularly tough assignments; and that trend continued on Thursday evening too.

With just a bit more than two weeks left to go until the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, the toughest part of Al's day on thursday had been Olivia's team workout, but the extra tutoring made it harder to get their own assignments done – with the 'their' part of that being Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah. They were all glad to help their friends; but there was a price to be paid for doing that. For Al, that price was staying up late to study after going to bed; and he was awake late-enough to have a bedtime mirror messaging session with Gwendolyn after she got back to her dorm room from her Astronomy class. That was something they didn't really even think about anymore – using mirror messaging. Sure, they had to be careful with what they wrote when they were somewhere that the teens or tweens around them could read; but they did exchange messages a lot every day.

The weirdest part of Al's week came on Friday morning. He and Rose had Gwendolyn, Lily, and Hugo with them for the pre-breakfast mirror chat with their grandfather. It was his seventieth birthday, and the weird happened when they found out that he was busy having a birthday breakfast with all of his kids – and that they were having the early celebration because he'd been given a week-long vacation with their grandmother – a romantic sort of getaway! Even the Witches in their little group of grandkids found that weird – and maybe a bit gross, but by the end of that chat; Al and Hugo were both sure that they'd been given way too much information than they ever wanted to know about what their grandparents might be doing over the next ten days through until Valentine's Day a week from Sunday!

While his grandparents left on their vacation; Al had to get to work again. They did have another free weekend to look forward to, though; and that made life easier for him – and for Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah too; since they had a study group of just six after last class and during the evening study time too. Toni and Michael had opted to study with them too; but Ray spent all of his free time with Cyndia and other friends; and the part-time members of their study group wouldn't want the extra tutoring until sometime on Saturday or Sunday. Al was okay with that; since it meant that he could kick his own studying into high gear – and he finished about half of his must-do weekend revision by the time they wrapped up for the night on Friday and he walked Gwendolyn home. he went up to his dorm room after that; took care of another quarter of his work before going to sleep; and then finished the rest on Saturday morning by the time he and Rose needed to wrap up that study session and get to their Quidditch practice.

That extra effort really paid off for the rest of the weekend. Al and Gwendolyn had a bonus Chaser duel after lunch on Saturday with Rose and Hugo playing Keeper; Lily and Jonah having a Seeker duel; and Susannah coming along so that she wouldn't be on her own all afternoon with nothing to do. She'd been impressed with their use of the Room of Requirements; and had been fascinated by the magic that was involved to make it possible. She also came up with some interesting suggestions; which was why they ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the Room of Requirements. Al had been given the job of imagining a swimming hole getaway; he soon proved that the girls were right about his memory being very helpful with imagining what they needed; and they had a blast while having their water play time in a warm pond that even came complete with a small waterfall that they could play in – or jump into the pond from a convenient outcropping that stuck out from the side of the falls about ten feet above and over the pond.

That had been something new that they definitely didn't want to share with everyone; though Al wondered whether there were any limits on what the Room of Requirements could provide. for all he knew; they could imagine a miles-long seashore with enough space for every teen and tween in the school to come and join in on the fun!

He didn't attempt to make something like that happen, but then he was more interested in having some quality alone time with Gwendolyn by the time they went to dinner in the Great Hall. They'd already had a busy day to that point, so he didn't rush through dinner – especially since he'd used up a lot of energy with his Quidditch workouts and the swimming; but he was happy to get back together with Gwendolyn and head off in search of a classroom they could use for their evening entertainment plans.

Okay, their plan was to snog each other senseless until curfew; but they might have a bit of music fun and watch something on the mirror network too!

Rose checked her map as she neared the Room of Requirements and then sighed in frustration when she saw Scorpius hanging out in the hallway that she'd only been one stairway and a corner away from reaching. She'd ended up hanging out with Susannah after dinner, since she'd still had lots of time to spare before she was to have her video chat with Kyle; but now that was messed up because she wouldn't be able to use the Room of Requirements for that and would have to go with the more-risky back-up plan that could be a problem if she wasn't careful all of the time and Kyle saw anything he shouldn't.

Instead of going there; she scanned her map in search of Lysandra. She was still in the Slytherin common room; which was why it took Rose a minute to locate her because she started her search expecting her to be on the way to meet up with Scorpius. By the time that she looked back to where Scorpius had been standing; she saw that he was on the move – but the hope she'd felt was fleeting as she saw him turn and retrace his steps.

He was opening the Room of Requirements!

Curiosity took hold; she moved as silently as she could up the stairs; and fingered the invisibility charm on her bracelet before taking a huge risk and stepping out into the hallway so that she could see Scorpius as he made the turn at the other end of the hallway and walked back toward the spot where she knew the door would appear once he succeeded in opening it – which he did as they both walked toward each other. She held her breath and hoped that he wouldn't hear her, but he seemed to be preoccupied and oblivious to anything. The adrenaline rush she'd been feeling kicked up another notch as she closed to within two steps of Scorpius, but when he opened the door; she didn't hesitate to act as he took a moment to look around – and walked right past him and into the room. Her heart jumped when he suddently looked right at her, but he looked away again toward the end of the hallway she'd come from; so she guessed he'd just felt a bit of air hitting him as she'd passed.

The sheer idiocy of her actions hit home when she got her first look at the room he'd created. It wasn't large; the only furniture was an armchair and small table; and there was absolutely nowhere for her to hide!

"Merlin! What if he's planning on being here for hours?" she asked silently while also berating herself.

She had to keep moving to avoid having Scorpius bump into her as he followed her into the room; and she picked the corner of the room furthest from the table and chair. Scorpius went straight to that table, though, and made a fair bit of noise as he put his book bag on it and began undoing the straps and taking things out of it; so she took advantage of that and sat down in the corner as quietly as she could while holding on to her charm bracelet and concentrating on keeping the invisibility charm active while holding on to that charm for dear life. It was a good thing that she was doing just that when she saw Scorpius pull a small portrait out of the bag and place it on the table – though it was what he said when he spoke for the first time that shocked her – and nearly had her blowing her invisibility cover.

"Hello, Thomas," Scorpius said conversationally. "I'm here – as promised."

"Good," Thomas told him with a nod that Rose could see because Scorpius was already putting his book bag on the floor and there was only a drink and snack on the table with the portrait.

"Thomas?" she asked herself silently, but as her mind reeled; she was also sure about the identity of the handsome young Wizard in the portrait – and the knowledge sent chills of fear shooting throughout her body.

"You are spending far too much time on other diversions," Thomas continued. "I am glad to see you taking your training with me more seriously again."

Scorpius laughed as he sat down in the chair. "Thank Lysandra for that," he suggested. "If she could have gotten away from her pesky group of friends for an hour or two tonight; I wouldn't be here with you right now. No offense, Thomas; but she's a lot more fun than you are."

"I'm sure that will be very comforting for you after decades of mediocrity under the collective thumbs of the Mudbloods and traitors that have usurped all that is rightfully yours," Thomas sneered; and Rose watched as Scorpius frowned at him.

"This is going to be a very short visit if you're going to start badgering me again."

"You need someone to push you right now while you're so easily distracted by unimportant things," Thomas countered, "but you are here; so I will leave it at that; and we can focus on those more important matters. What news do you have from around the school or the Wizarding World?"

"Not much from around here," Scorpius answered – "unless you're interested in how many Witches James Potter celebrated his sixteenth birthday with on Tuesday. Rumor has it there were three – including one that he was with after curfew."

"Information that's only useful because he continues to show both that weakness and potential," Thomas told him a bit dismissively. "Did you send him our little gift?"

"Yes, but he hasn't used it yet as far as I know – and I don't know that he will."

"Valentine's Day is coming up – unless it has passed and it has been longer than you're saying since our last visit. Let's hope that he can't resist having another go at attacking his brother – or get someone else to do it instead."

"I don't think he'll do that this year," Scorpius advised him. "He may think about it and want to do it, but the Animorphpotty is on his Quidditch team; and wouldn't be able to play in their match two weeks from tonight if our gift worked and he ended up in St. Mungo's for a month or ten. He hates it; but must understand that their team is better with the loser than without him – and Hufflepuff does have a really good team."

"We shall see," Thomas suggested. "Your friend has little self-control; and may be incapable of resisting the urge to have another go at a Valentine's Day attack." He paused and then shook his head. "I'm tempted to suggest that you have a back-up plan if he doesn't, but we do not want to risk getting him into trouble – and he'd be the first suspect for any Valentine's Day attack on the younger Potter boy."

"I'm hoping to have better things to do on Valentine's Day," Scorpius advised his painted friend with a grin; "but you don't want me to go there. I really don't have any news for you from school, but I do have the latest from the Ministry of Magic and the Aurors; so let's go over that and then get to my lessons."

Rose had been in shock right from the start; and it was literally all she could do to hold on to her charm and keep up the invisibility charm while she listened to Scorpius tell Thomas all sorts of news from the Ministry of Magic and the Aurors – including news that she didn't know about at all; and then she really wished she hadn't been in the room for the Dark Arts lesson that followed – even as it was fascinating in a terror tours sort of way. The strees and tension was exhausting as Scorpius worked on perfecting a truly-awful curse; and Rose was starting to feel desperate by the time that Scorpius decided that he'd had enough for the night. She was shaking by the time that he packed up and left the room; and she remained for a long time before even taking the chance of standing up again on legs that threatened to give out on her. She waited longer still before checking her map to locate Scorpius; and stayed protected by her invisibility charm until she was both sure that he was well on the way to his House – and she was out and away from the Room of Requirements. She didn't have a lot of time left until curfew; but she found Al and Gwendolyn on her map; and then headed in that direction.

"Am I boring you?" Gwendolyn asked when Al suddenly broke off from their snogging when they both heard his mirror chime with an incoming mirror message. Her teasing smile disappeared when she saw the serious expression on his face as he retrieved his mirror and read the message. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Al answered. "Rose is on the way here. Something's happened; but I don't know what. She'll be here in a minute, though; so we won't need to wait long to find out."

They had time to get ready for her arrival; including setting up a second sofa; and then Rose rushed into the room and hurried over to them. She threw herself into Al's arms; and held on to him fiercely.

"I'm an idiot," She advised them in a rushed whisper. "I've never been so scared in my entire life!"

"What happened?" Gwendolyn asked even as Al was sensing everything from his cousin and figuring that out.

"I snuck into the Room of Requirements to figure out what Scorpius Malfoy was using it for while keeping me from being able to use it to talk with Kyle – and found out that he has a portrait of Voldemort that was apparently made sometime back when he was a young Wizard! Merlin – he's being trained in the Dark Arts by Voldemort! I just finished watching them do an entire lesson!"

"Merlin!" Gwendolyn echoed. "I thought you were going to tell us that you got caught in the room while he snogged Lysandra – or worse."

"Well, I'd say this is worse," Al deadpanned. "You're okay, Rose," he added; and then held out a chocolate to her that he'd summoned. He smiled and repeated the process so that he could give one to Gwendolyn too. "There isn't a lot of time; but let's sit down and talk about it before we need to get back to our Houses ahead of curfew."

Rose laughed without a trace of humor. "You're still worried about curfew; and I'm wondering if we need to call in your Dad and the Aurors!"

"We'll definitely want to talk to Dad about this," Al assured her; "but tell us everything first; and we'll all have a better understanding of what we're dealing with. We're not in any imminent danger."

"Anymore," Gwendolyn added. "How long were you stuck in the room with them?"

"Nearly two hours," Rose answered shakily. "I was starting to panic there near the end because I didn't think I'd be able to hold the invisibility charm any longer." She flexed the fingers on her right hand. "My fingers are still sore from clenching that charm for so long."

"Let's sit down," Al suggested. "Start at the beginning; and tell us everything."

"Starting with why you decided to go into that room with Scorpius in the first place," Gwendolyn added.

"I did that because I was annoyed that he was messing up my video chat plans with Kyle," Rose answered. "I checked my map when I was nearly there; saw him in the hallway; and then noticed that Lysandra was in their common room and not likely going to be joining him. Like I said – I'm an idiot; and wanted to find out what he was using the room for that was so important that he had to mess up my life to do it." She laughed again at that and shook her head. "I guess I know why now – and wish I didn't."

"You may wish that right now," Al told her sympathetically; "but what you've found out tonight is huge." He got a drink for her because he sensed she needed it; and Gwendolyn sat down next to Rose on the extra sofa they'd set up while Al sat on the sofa they'd been using during the rest of their evening play time. "Tell us the entire story, please," he said once they were all settled in.

Rose did that in a rush – and not just because they didn't have a lot of time. She was wound up, coming down from the extended rush of adrenaline and fear; and needed the outlet. Al picked up as much from what he sensed from her as the story; so his first assessment of the news was different from hers too – mostly because he wasn't viewing the events through a haze of fear mixed in with horror over what Thomas – Voldemort – was teaching to Scorpius. He and Gwendolyn asked some questions; he got her to give him a copy of her memories; and he created a memory charm for Gwendolyn so that she could review them after getting back to her dorm room – though he used another chocolate for that so it would be a one-use-only memory charm that couldn't be used by someone else by accident.

There really wasn't a need to panic now that Rose was safe, so they agreed to sleep on it; and then have a mirror chat with his parents whenever they could fit that into their day on Sunday. Rose stayed with Al and Gwendolyn for the walk back to their Houses; she needed to talk with Al as they walked between Ravenclaw tower and their common room; and then she opted to go up to her dorm room instead of staying in the common room with him. Al was sure she'd be okay, and was glad to go up to his dorm room too so that he could get ready for bed and then replay Rose's memories of her ordeal in the Room of Requirements. That news had come completely out of the blue for him, but now that he had the information; his mind raced on and on for a long time as he tried to work out what he sensed; what he foresaw for the near future because of it; and he wondered what his father would decide to do about Scorpius once he found out about it!

Harry had worked on Saturday while Ginny was busy with her Quidditch assignment anyway; and they'd both worked late because her match had gone on into the evening and then they'd decided to get their work done once they were at home before taking Sunday off. They'd slept in; had a bit of fun together while waking up and eventually getting ready for the day; and were having brunch when Al's mirror chat request came in to his mirror instead of Ginny's.

"Well, that can't be good," Ginny suggested when she saw who was calling before Harry picked up his mirror and answered it.

"Good morning," he said; smiling as Al's image appeared – and he had Rose and Gwendolyn with him. "You've worried your mother; since you never call me with good news or just to chat."

"I should work on that," Al said; smiling too, "but unfortunately; Mum's right – though we're not having any trouble and nobody's been hurt. Can we talk freely?"

"Yes," Harry assured him. "What's up?"

"Rose found out about something rather serious last night," Al advised him after glancing at her. "She'll tell you the entire story, but it's about Scorpius Malfoy. He's somehow acquired a magical portrait of Tom Riddle when he was a young man; and he's being taught the Dark Arts by his painted mentor."

"They seem to be taking that news well," Gwendolyn said into the drawn-out silence. "You really do have a gift for this sort of thing, Al."

"I'm pretty sure that you were the one with the gift for that the last time we had to drop a news bombshell on them," Al pointed out. "Are you okay?" he asked his parents.

"Not yet," Harry answered. "I don't need to ask whether you're sure; but how did you find out about this – and how do you know it's a portrait of a young Voldemort?"

"Let's deal with the first part of that," Al suggested. "Rose can tell you her story about what happened last night; and then we can go from there."

Harry had agreed with that; Rose proceeded to tell her aunt and uncle everything from the beginning; and then he and Ginny had a lot of questions for her. That took a while; and then Harry turned his attention toward Al.

"What have you got for me?" he asked. "There must be a lot going on in your head right now."

"There is; but I don't have any sense of direction for what should be done about this. Scorpius isn't actually doing anything that's illegal that we know of for sure."

"He's apparently making or acquiring cursed objects that he's passing along to James – and possibly to others," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al shrugged.

"Yes, but he isn't selling them, and even if he was; that isn't always illegal either. If it was; most of the shops in Knockturn Alley would be out of business."

"We certainly can't bring him in for having a portrait," Harry agreed. "Scorpius can't be convicted for things he hasn't done yet either – and there's no hint in what you've told me that there are any actual, concrete plots in the works. In fact; even their conversation about James and Al ended with a decision to do nothing."

"So there's nothing we can do about this?" Rose asked a bit incredulously. "Uncle Harry – he's being trained in the Dark Arts by Voldemort!"

"For all we know; his father and grandparents are doing that too," Harry pointed out. "They may have given him the portrait so that his training could continue while he's at Hogwarts. We don't know enough of the situation."

"We know that Scorpius pushes back when he doesn't like what he's being told," Gwendolyn offered. "Rose said that he threatened to make that a short visit if Thomas – Voldemort – kept badgering him about spending too little time on his lessons."

"That might suggest that his family isn't involved," Al suggested. "He might be more worried about what he said if Thomas could just run off to another portrait and tell his father or grandfather that he wasn't cooperating."

"I'm having a tough time picturing the Dark Lord ratting out a teenager like that," Ginny admitted with a short laugh. "You could have a valid point, though; and Merlin only knows where Scorpius got that portrait – or how long he's had it. For all we know; he found it at Hogwarts somewhere – like in the Room of Requirements." She looked at Harry. "You don't believe it could be more than a portrait, do you?"

"No," Harry assured her. "That doesn't mean that he couldn't still wield significant influence – even if he would be powerless to do more than talk to anyone at Hogwarts – or through other portraits; if any exist. I tend to agree with Al that his family doesn't know about the portrait. It would be of great value to their side – if it's the only one; and I doubt they'd waste it on Scorpius when it could be used to earn their way back into the good graces of the other pureblood families."

"Wouldn't that be true for Scorpius?" Gwendolyn asked; and Harry nodded.

"It would be," he agreed. "Maybe he's even working on that; since you have told us about his relationship with Lysandra Lestrange – and the help he's been offering to Andrea Avery. We don't know enough about that either."

"Let's also consider that Scorpius might be dealing with other pressures – even if that wasn't obvious from what you witnessed, Rose," Ginny told them. "Is there a chance he could be caught up in a curse or other magic?"

"We'd need to examine that portrait to know," Harry answered.

"Should I be worried about that?" Rose asked; and Harry shook his head.

"I doubt it – or you wouldn't be talking about this with us. That also means that the portrait isn't protected by a Fidelius Charm either."

""Which is another clue that this might well be something that Scorpius is doing on his own," Ginny said with a nod. "That would be the best way to protect both the portrait and Scorpius."

"We're going around and around with this," Rose said; sounding frustrated. "What can – and should we do about it? For all we know; Scorpius Malfoy is well on the way to being as dark and dangerous as Voldemort!"

"He might," Harry agreed – "or he could choose to turn away from that path. As for what we can or should do; my answer for right now is to do nothing beyond giving me time to think about all of this for a while. If I just go ahead and hire Rose as a junior Auror and mess up her plans for the Cannons; Ron might never talk to me again; Hermione would get mad at me because he'd rant at her all of the time instead; and Merlin only knows what other problems I could cause."

"Thanks, but the one thing I did learn last night is that I'm not cut out for that sort of job," Rose told him seriously. "I was so scared it's a wonder that I'm not still hiding in that corner and too afraid to move – and that was just with a 'before' portrait of Voldemort in the room. I don't know how any of you managed to face him in person the way you did during the war."

"Some of us were terrified," Ginny advised her. "Nobody in their right mind went up against Voldemort and his Death Eaters without being afraid. There was no way for you to know what you were getting into last night, but you did brilliantly; and have discovered this problem early-enough that whatever Harry decides to do – and you all need to let him deal with this; it will be much better for all of us than it might have been if you hadn't been in the wrong place at the right time."

"Why am I just a little disappointed?" Gwendolyn asked; earning a round of laughs.

"Because you've a dash or ten of your mother in you," Ginny answered. "Thanks for doing the right thing this time – by bringing this to us."

"I will get back to you when I've had time to figure out what I'll do about this," Harry promised; and then grinned at Gwendolyn. "Maybe I'll even need your help; but we'll see about that." He looked at Al quizzically when he laughed.

"Sorry, but for some reason; I just had a mental picture of you and Mum going under cover and pretending to be Gwendolyn and me," Al explained.

"You wouldn't want me to mess up your grades by doing your asignments and writing your tests," Harry joked. "We definitely wouldn't want the two of you pretending to be us while we did that either; so stop grinning like that."

"Me or him?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Both of you," Ginny answered before Harry could. "Will we still have our mirror chat tonight? How's Malorie doing?"

"We will, and you can ask her then; but she's doing pretty well this week," Al assured her. "The big news around here for everyone else today is that we'll be having a Valentine's Day dance on Saturday night. We've been a bit preoccupied with this; but the short notice has some of the teens and tweens around here a bit freaked out."

"Maybe that's why you were given such short notice," Ginny suggested. "Your Professors didn't want all of their students obsessing about a dance for weeks or a month instead of worrying about their studies – and they won't get much accomplished next week anyway."

"With a Hogsmeade weekend and dance on Saturday and Valentine's Day on Sunday; they'll need to keep their expectations low," Rose offered with a nod of agreement. "Susannah and I could be the only two teens in our study group to get our work done this weekend."

"Don't forget the Harpies' match," Ginny added. "That match against the Tornados should be a good one."

"We won't," Gwendolyn promised – "though that might make for a strange evening if we're at the dance and watching a marathon match too."

"I hope that doesn't happen; since we have a dance to go to on Saturday night too," Ginny advised the three teens. "Is this getting in the way of your studies?"

"We're done the regular work; and will get back to the project studying once we're finished this chat," Al advised her. "Susannah's dealing with the usual Sunday morning tutoring while we're busy."

"Then you should likely go and rescue her from that," Harry suggested. "We can talk again tonight."

They needed a bit more time before wrapping up that chat, but then they ended the call; and got on with their respective plans for the day to either play or work – with the parents picking the play option – though they did discuss the news from Hogwarts first before getting back to enjoying their day off.

Al didn't get the day off. Gwendolyn and Rose joined him for the resumption of their studying after that mirror chat; he had a second tough Quidditch workout of the weekend because Olivia had booked an extra practice after lunch on Sunday; and there had been more tutoring and project work after that as their friends played catch-up on their work. The dance news was a motivating factor now that they had one more distraction on the Valentine's Day weekend, but while some of their friends worked after dinner on Sunday too; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took the evening off. For Rose, that was to go and have a make-up video chat with Kyle; while Al and Gwendolyn went to have their usual play night with Lily, Jonah, and Malorie.

"Hi, Malorie," Al said in welcome as she walked into the classroom. "You made it here ahead of Lily and Jonah. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Hi; thanks, but I brought my own tonight; and Lily and Jonah won't likely be far behind me. I saw them talking with some friends outside of the Great Hall on my way here. How are you guys doing tonight?"

"Al's a bit tired," Gwendolyn answered before he could. "He's had extra Quidditch practices, and after the news about the dance this morning; some of our friends suddenly felt the need to study harder today."

"I know it's motivating me," Malorie joked; "though I've hardly had any time to study at all while I've been busy breaking the hearts of all of the Wizards who have been asking me to go to it with them."

"Well, it's possible that you will be going to the dance with two little wizards," Gwendolyn teased. "That's one more boy than most of us will be going to it with."

"And you can call it a Witches' night out if they're girls," Lily added as she and Jonah joined them. "How many guys have really asked you out so far?"

"None – as always," Malorie answered. "You?"

"Just one. For some reason; none of the other guys have asked me out since the Christmas dance in my first year."

"I can't imagine why not," Malorie deadpanned.

"You're thinking about that being because of Jonah; but those other guys might be thinking about it because her Dad is Head of the Aurors," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Jonah doesn't look too worried about that," Malorie pointed out; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"He thinks that our Mum could beat her Dad if needed," Gwendolyn joked. "Instead of going on about that, though; I'd like to hear about how your week has been."

"You don't really want to hear about my morning sickness or the rest of it so soon after dinner," Malorie told her half-seriously. "It's been a better week; but still not a lot of fun." She smiled at Al. "I didn't call because it wasn't anything I couldn't handle on my own – and the more I ask for your help; the bigger the risk that my little secret will be found out and end up on the gossip network. I haven't even figured out what I'll do if I can keep this quiet until the end of the term. I have no idea what I'd do if I had to leave school now."

"We could talk about both for a while tonight," Al suggested. "Make a list of what you'll need and want. Gwendolyn and Jonah have a new baby cousin, so while we don't know all that much about it; we have seen and heard about all of the things her cousins have needed for their baby – and how much gear they haul around just for a family gathering or to leave with babysitters when they go out."

"They get to go out?" Malorie asked in feigned surprise. "I don't expect to be able to do that for the next couple of decades."

"Eleven years tops," Lily offered with a grin. "After that; they'll be at Hogwarts three-quarters of every year. Teddy's grandma started dating again once he was at Hogwarts – and met her second husband through one of Teddy's Hufflepuff team mates."

"I remember hearing about that," Malorie said with a nod. "It was a big story in my first year because everyone thought that was funny. He used to get razzed about going on double dates with his grandmother – or about going on dates with one of her boyfriend's granddaughters."

"I don't remember the second part of that," Lily mused. "Maybe he didn't tell us about that."

"That's possible," Gwendolyn told her. "You were only five back then; and I doubt that Teddy talked with you about his love life."

"I could've told him back then that Victoire was in love with him," Lily stated. "He should have asked me for advice; since he was clueless."

"He may have been clueless about Victoire; but he was very popular with all of the Hufflepuff Witches," Malorie advised them.

"Including you?" Lily teased; and Malorie laughed.

"I suppose," she admitted. "Teddy was always nice to all of the younger kids; though I doubt he noticed me enough to even remember my name. He is five years older than me – not that Victoire would have had anything to worry about from me if I was closer to their ages."

"She managed to keep from blasting the Witches that did go out with Teddy," Lily pointed out – "and she's even gotten to be pretty good friends with one or two of them now too."

"I've heard that," Malorie agreed; "but wonder if that would still be the case if one of those other Witches had caught her Wizard instead."

"That probably wouldn't change anything for the Witches," Lily declared confidently; and then grinned. "Teddy, on the other hand; might not be doing as well as he is if he'd picked someone else."

"I'm not sure whether that should be unfair for the Witches or Wizards," Malorie told her seriously. "We joke about stuff like that all the time; but why does it always seem that the Wizard is the one that gets to make those all-important choices?"

"They don't get to make all of the choices," Lily assured her. "We just never talk about the choices that Witches make that turn out badly because we can't blast ourselves when that happens."

"Well, that explains it," Malorie said with a nod and smile. "Thanks for clearing that up for me."

"Anytime," Lily promised. "Somewhere before we went there, though, you were talking about not knowing what you were going to do in June if we can get you there from here without any major gossip network issues, so let's go back to that; and maybe you could start by making a list of what you'll need. I'd suggest more; but that might be enough for one night."

"A place to live; a job; and a plan to keep my life from becoming a circus when this story does get out," Malorie offered. "That didn't take long."

"I thought there'd be more to it," Lily told her, "but if that's all there is to it; we can move on to talk Quidditch."

"It might not be possible to come up with much of a plan for part three of that," Al suggested; "but there's a lot that goes into getting a place to live; and Malorie would want the right job – not just anything."

"I may not have a choice for that," Malorie told him. "Even if I cut corners on my school supplies between now and the end of term; I'll be lucky to have a few galleons to my name. Do you know much about Muggle money? My family isn't poor, but they're not well-off either; and they barely helped me at all with anything while I've been here at Hogwarts. Most of the money I have had has been from some fund that the school has for students like me."

"Mum and Dad take care of getting Muggle money for us when we need it," Lily advised her; "so I don't know much about it – though I know how much of it you need to buy everything from food and movie tickets to clothes, games, and toys."

"There's actually a big difference between galleons and Muggle money now," Al advised her. "When Mum and Dad were teens, they could get about five or six pounds for every galleon – though that isn't exactly how the exchange was done through Gringotts; since we can't exactly just trade galleions to Muggle banks. The difference now is about twenty-five to one because our money is made with gold and that's worth more now – in terms of their money."

"So it's way more expensive for the families of Muggleborn students," Gwendolyn surmised with a nod.

"And then some," Al agreed; "since prices have gone up a bit over the past twenty years in the Wizarding World – if not nearly as much as they have for Muggles."

"I'm surprised you know that much about Muggle money," Malorie told him. "Even most Muggleborn students are more like Lily than you or me. They know prices of stuff; but not the differences between the money."

"That's mostly because our money is so different," Al suggested. "There was a reason for the weird numbers between galleons, sickles, and knuts when they were first created, and I guess it still applies to a certain extent; but it does make it tough to do the Arithmancy between the two."

"Twenty-five to one seems easy to me," Lily told him; and Al shrugged.

"Sure, but that changes a bit nearly every day; and it would be a pain to work out the numbers for converting sickles and knuts into smaller – or larger – denominations of Muggle money – and that isn't even going into the differences between Muggle money in all of the other countries of the world."

"Ignorance is bliss sometimes," Lily decided with a grin. "I keep getting us off-track, though; so let's talk about the place to live thing. I take it that you're thinking about everything Malorie would need for an apartment or house – like furniture, dishes, cooking utensils, and everything lese." She looked at Malorie speculatively. "Have you even learned how we do things like cooking and chores in the Wizarding World?"

Malorie smiled and nodded. "Sure – we have House Elves to do all of that – or teens and tweens doing the work for detention. I learned that back in first year."

Lily laughed. "I love you," she said enthusiastically. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"Magical cooking and chores lessons," Gwendolyn said; pretending to write that down; and then laughed when she saw Al actually do that on his mirrror in a new 'assignment' he'd created by then. "Don't get that mixed up with your plans for the Cannons or you'll have the team training by cooking lunch and dinner and scrubbing the practice pitch until it shines," she teased.

"You're really making a list?" Malorie asked; and Al shrugged.

"I get razzed about it now and then; but I like lists and plans. Even when things get a bit crazy; being organized makes it easier to deal with the problems."

Malorie laughed. "Did it help you with this problem?" she asked; putting a hand over her stomach to emphasize her point.

"No, but I've tentatively penciled the twins in for future Cannons' superstars," he advised her with a grin. "If they're as talented as their great-uncles were; they'll be brilliant!"

"Their great-uncles?" Malorie asked; looking confused.

"Our Uncle George and Uncle Fred," Lily explained. "Didn't you know that twins run in our family? There weren't any in our generation; but there have been twins on the Weasley side of our family. Uncle Fred was killed during the battle of Hogwarts."

"I remember," Malorie said; and then looked at Al speculatively. "Have you been behind the snap-dragon flowers? That's what they were for the past couple of springs, right? The first time was the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts; and last year, it was April Fool's Day."

"Also our uncles' birthday," Lily added. "That isn't going to be a secret you can keep much longer, Al. That's what you get for coming up with inventions like the study app."

"I didn't do that on my own," Al pointed out; "and I'll hope that it'll be a while yet before too many people find out about the flowers. We won't get far on this list if we keep getting distracted, though; so my next question for Malorie is – do you really not know anything about housekeeping and cooking in the Wizarding World? You must know that most Wizarding families don't use Muggle technology like electricity and other utilities. Some use both; but there isn't much that we can't do with magic."

"Al and Lily's family is a bit of an exception," Gwendolyn advised Malorie. "They use quite a bit of Muggle technology – but then they also use magic to run most of it – like washing machines or their stove and oven."

"Mum's happy to use anything that makes it easier or better for us," Lily explained. "They also wanted us to be able to learn about Muggle computers, video games, and everything else. If we hadn't; then our visits with our cousins would have been really messed up – and they think we're freaks anyway."

"Not as much now as they used to," Al reminded her. "We got along pretty well during our last two visits."

"We did," Lily agreed; "but we'll likely be done with those visits in another year or two. Vernon's done school this June too; so it might not even be that long before they'll all be too busy to even do our annual visit."

"James has mentioned your cousins to me before," Malorie told them. "He didn't have anything nice to say about them."

"He's never liked the story we've been stuck with because of what their grandparents have told everyone about our Dad," Lily explained. "It is fairly rotten, but he's said worse about our parents – and Al and me; and it isn't as if we can tell them the truth even if Dad would let us. Dad's aunt, uncle, and the cousin he grew up with know some of the truth; but the rest of them don't. What does your family tell everyone about you? I've heard good and bad stories from other Muggleborn friends for that."

"I don't get to be one of the 'gifted' kids," Malorie assured her with a frown. "I'd rather not say anything bad about what my family does say about me; since it won't matter for me anymore anyway."

"Which is a bit funny; since we all actually are gifted," Lily pointed out. "We've taken this chat off-topic again. Did you actually get a chance to answer Al's question?"

"No – and that would be a yes; or maybe a no,' Malorie told her. "No, I don't know anything about how cooking and chores are done in the Wizarding World; so yes, I really don't know."

"It won't be hard to learn," Al assured her. "You know all of the magic you'll need; so it's just a matter of getting used to using it around the house – and multi-tasking. A lot of it can even be automated when you charm different objects."

"That is still something that I haven't even thought about yet," Malorie said with a shake of her head. "What else don't I know?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "Don't get Al going there," she suggested. "He wants to know everything."

"Then I'm so glad that I can help him out with this little part of that," Malorie joked. "What else don't I know about setting up a home in the Wizarding World?"

"You know the most important things," Al told her. "Fill it with love – and the rest will all work out."

"Lesson number one for you is that you're wrong about that; and sometimes everything doesn't work out."

"Our family knows that better than most," Al assured her quietly. "I can't offer you any guarantees either, but I can promise you that our family stands together through everything; and you'll have that going for you and your babies for the rest of your life." He watched as Malorie seemed to struggle with something; and addressed what she was thinking before she decided whether to tell them what she was thinking. "If James truly needed us; we'd be there for him," he assured her. "He's choosing his own way right now, but Mum and Dad still pay for everything he needs – just as they do for Lily and me."

"That's not what he's told me," Malorie began; but then shook her head. "Okay, I guess when I think about it; that is what he's said – that your parents pay for what they feel they must to keep up appearances."

Al laughed and she frowned at him. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "My perspective on that is different than yours. You've learned about my Dad as the Head of the Aurors and a war hero, but I know that he basically grew up with nothing; and Mum's family is pureblood; but despised by the wealthy purebloods for being so poor. When you think about our parents from that perspective; everything they've done for us since the war has been brilliant – and far beyond what either of them could have hoped for as kids."

"That doesn't fit with everything I thought I knew – or have been told," Malorie advised him; and Al shrugged.

"It isn't the entire story, and Mum and Dad aren't poor anymore; but my point is that what James takes for granted includes a lot of things that we get to have that our Mum's family could never have even dreamed of for their kids; and the only things that Dad had as a teen of any true value were given to him by Wizards and Witches that loved him."

"Dad would tell you that his best gifts ever were Mum and the love of our family,' Lily added earnestly. "He was too young to remember his parents when Voldemort killed them; and wasn't shown even an ounce of love until he got to know our Uncle Ron and his family." She reached out and took Malorie's hand in hers. "That's where we're coming from when we want to be part of your life now – and share that kind of love with your babies."

"That might be amazing – if I could get past being annoyed that Al seems to know what I'm thinking without needing to say anything."

Lily grinned at her. "Welcome to the club. Dad does stuff like that sometimes too, but try not to let it bug you too much; 'cause you do get used to it eventually."

"Though that doesn't mean it still can't be annoying sometimes too," Gwendolyn added. "If we're going to work on this list, though; let's start with what kind of home you'll need. A two-bedroom flat would be enough to start with – even if you have split twins – a boy and a girl. Two babies will mean some doubling up – like two cribs."

"Double the diapers," Lily added while wrinkling her nose. "I'm so glad we'll be at school for most of that stage – even if I'll wish I could cuddle with your babies every single day. I'll be able to go to Hogsmeade next year – maybe you could bring them for visits to town those days – and to the school matches!"

"Living in Hogsmeade is an option for Malorie to consider," Al told them. "Winters are a lot tougher than in southern England or Ireland; but it's also one of the few Wizarding communities in the isles that doesn't have any Muggles around to deal with. That's actually where we should start. Where did you want to live when you finished school before finding out about the babies?"

"London – or somewhere near-enough that I could get a job at the Ministry of Magic," Malorie answered.

"London's an option," Al assured her; "but you're not limited to anywhere for where you live even if you work in London. "The Floo Network is extensive; there's the Knight Bus; and flying is always an option. Have you tested your limits for apparating yet?"

"No, but then I haven't done a lot of traveling; and don't know many places well-enough to travel that way. I haven't learned to drive yet either; but may want to do that depending on where I live and work."

"Mum and Dad could help you out with learning more about apparating," Lily suggested. "Dad's likely the best-ever at that. He even apparated to America once."

"Seriously?" Malorie asked; and Lily nodded.

"Yeah – though he still uses International Portkeys most of the time when traveling to other countries – except maybe for Western Europe."

"I think this is getting more confusing," Malorie decided. "You're telling me that I have all of these choices; and I haven't considered any of them – and don't know enough to make any informed decisions."

"We are jumping around a bit too much," Al agreed. "Let's stay away from the where for now; and try working on the 'what' that you'll need for things like furniture and everything else we have in most Wizarding homes – along with anything you'd like to have from the Muggle world – like television or computers."

Narrowing the focus helped; and they discussed everything from sofas and beds to what Malorie would need to be able to cook meals by magical means. Al, Gwendolyn, and LIly talked with her about the magical side of that, but while Jonah wasn't totally out of the conversation; he left all of that to them; and was mostly happy to sit next to Lily and hold her hand or cuddle with her as they talked for quite a while. They integrated their mirror chat with Harry and Ginny to be part of that discussion; they made some offers to come up with apartment and home options for Malorie to look at and consider; and they promised to help her out with the job hunt when it was time to do that too – though it was a bit early for that at the Ministry of Magic because they waited until late spring to start looking seriously at the graduating class for new recruits beyond the teens that had already expressed an interest through teen days or summer jobs. Malorie was a bit overwhelmed by the time they'd all had enough of that; but Al was actually glad that she had a more realistic view of just how daunting things were going to be – especially if that would make her more receptive to accepting help from them.

Malorie did appreciate the bit of healing that Al helped her with before she left for her House an hour or so ahead of curfew; they'd had a bit of music fun; and watched a mirror network show too. After Malorie left them, Al and Gwendolyn had a bit of chat time with Lily and Jonah; they had an extended visit to the Owlery; and then Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah home on the way back to their dorms. Al ended his night with a bit of light reading and some guy talk time; but he also turned in early – sure that they'd have a busy school week ahead of the Valentine's Day weekend.

Valentine's Day, and everything going on for that entire weekend kept the gossip network humming with news all of the time throughout the week. Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends stayed out of the spotlight for that; but couldn't avoid keeping up with the latest teen dramas. That didn't keep them from concentrating on their studies and Quidditch, but while Al and Rose put in extra time on Quidditch using the Room of Requirements during Gwendolyn's team practices on Monday and Wednesday; she used the extra study time without them on Tuesday and Thursday to get ahead on her assignments. She especially wanted to do that because there was a special Valentine's Day Slug Club meeting on Friday evening – the first of the New Year; and she didn't want to be left with all of her weekend assigments on Sunday after taking Saturday off for their Hogsmeade weekend; the Harpies' match; and the school dance.

Al didn't have that problem because he was able to work all evening on Friday while the rest of their study group was either at that meeting or taking the night off; and he used all of that time to get his weekend revision finished – after working with Rose, Susannah, and a few others between last class and dinner so that they could get a decent start on their weekend work too. As always, Al was glad to be excluded from the Slug Club, and while he sometimes wished that he could be more like Gwendolyn and Lily; he accepted that he would always have an aversion to the types of entertainment that Professor Slughorn and too many other witches and Wizards thought was so important. Fortunately, at least for this year; he wouldn't have to deal with any of those games!

"What a perfect way to start the weekend," James whispered silkily as he leaned close and put a hand on Gwendolyn's lower back. "You, me, a party; and not an Animorphloser in sight."

He smiled cajolingly as Gwendolyn turned her atention to him; and she smiled too – for a moment. The hand felt warm and good; the sound of his voice was mesmerizing; and her first thought was that their weekend would be starting out more-perfectly if there weren't so many other teens and a blow-hard, old fool of a Professor at the party with them. Then one of the charms on her bracelet began to glow; her mind cleared; and Gwendolyn's expression hardened as she noticed the wand that James was holding in the other hand and knew what he'd just tried to do – and that one of Al's charmed gifts had just prevented.

"What's the matter, James," she whispered back while shoving his arm and hand away from her. "Have you irritated so many Witches that the only way you can get close to one is by using magic on them? It must be crushing your precious ego to stoop so low to try and get what you want – especially when there are laws against such things. We all know how important you think that laws and rules are – when you want to apply them to others."

James pretended to look confused; but Gwendolyn could see the chagrin and anger in his eyes. "What are you babbling about?" he asked. "I suggest this is a perfect way to start the weekend; and you go off on a rant."

"Don't play the idiot card – though I see why you didn't audition for the Christmas musical," she retorted. "Go away, James. Congratulations on coming up with yet one more way to disgust me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James insisted stupidly; and Gwendolyn shook her head.

"Of course you don't," Gwendolyn said scathingly. "Pretending ignorance or blaming others is as much your thing as using magic is to try and get what you can never have without resorting to lying and cheating. You can't even see the irony."

"You're the one that can't see anything clearly," James retorted. "The loser messes with everyone; and you're as weak-minded as the rest of the fools that aren't strong-enough to stand up to him. One of these days, I'll find a way to save the lot of you from yourselves; and you'll want to spend some quality time thanking me – in all sorts of interesting ways!"

"I'll thank you if you'll just go away," Rose told him as she stepped up beside him. "Lily's asked me to let her know if you bother Gwendolyn tonight; and you likely don't want to find out what she'll do if I tell her that you have been pestering Gwendolyn."

"Oh, I'm so scared," James scoffed; and frowned when both girls laughed.

"If that isn't honesty; it should be," Rose suggested. "Move along, James. I'm sure we'll all have more fun if you leave us alone for the rest of forever."

"That's an awful thing to say about your own cousin," he declared. "Keep that sort of thing up; and I won't bother trying to save you from the Animorphloser when I rescue Gwendolyn and everyone else from his mass delusion."

"Promise?" Rose asked sweetly. "I prefer that delusion to your warped, disgusting sense of reality."

"You would; since you need that kind of delusion to live in a world where the Cannons aren't losers – just as you and the Animorphpotty are!"

"That's true," Rose agreed with a grin; "but then you've a thousand reasons to hope that our delusion doesn't become your reality."

"Stay in that delusion; and your lifetime won't be long-enough for that bet to ever go your way," James told her. "You're boring me, though; so I'm out of here." He leered at Gwendolyn suggestively. "You really should hang out with me this weekend. I'd make sure this Valentine's Day weekend is better than anything you've even dreamed possible so far."

"You'd need more than memory charms to make that possible – and it could never happen for me at all if it was with you," Gwendolyn declared; and then turned away from him and focused her attention on Rose. "Is this just an intervention; or are you going to sit with me for the meeting?"

"Both," Rose answered before James could offer another retort to Gwendolyn's last statement to him. "James needed rescuing before he did something that would get him hexed by Lily; and I thought that we could hang out together so that neither of us have any problems while we're here and our boyfriends are elsewhere."

"As if you'd have any luck getting any wizards interested in you," James scoffed. "It's a wonder you found a Muggle guy dim-enough to want to have anything to do with you."

"Are you still here?" Rose asked. "You're one to talk about others when you're acting too dim to take all of these not-so-subtle hints."

"That should just show Gwendolyn how much I care about saving her from the Animorphloser," James told them. "I put up with all of this abuse; but won't give up until I've rescued her from the delusion."

Rose got her mirror out of her bag and brandished it in front of James. "Should I just call Lily now?' she asked. "I'm sure that Professor Slughorn would love to see one of her bat-bogey hexes so that he could compare it to your Mum's hexes that so impressed him when she went to school here."

James didn't get a chance to offer a retort because Professor Slughorn called the meeting to order and invited everyone to sit down. Gwendolyn was then flanked by Rose and Pauline; and James was left with no choice but to move on – and he ended up sitting with Tory and Madison on to his left; on the other side of the table – and about as far away from Gwendolyn and Rose as possible because Tory always made sure that she wasn't near Gwendolyn or Rose. Tory seemed to have mixed feelings about that, since she seemed to like the attention from James while not wanting to fraternize with the enemy; but Madison simply ignored him; and talked with some of the other teens around them whenever Tory was giving any of her attention to James. That annoying start to the meeting wasn't Gwendolyn's only issues with James, but while she needed to deal with those problems; the rest of the meeting was a lot of fun.

Professor Slughorn certainly was far too fond of dropping names and enhancing his own reputation by association with some of the great Wizards and Witches of his time, but Gwendolyn always learned a lot from his stories too; and even his perspective on her own parents, grandmother, and aunt could be entertaining. She and Rose were making some new friends through the club too; though those relationships were friendly and casual – and they hadn't spent any time with those teens outside of the meetings. That could change over time, just as their groups of close friends had changed over the past three years; but that wasn't really something that Gwendolyn thought about at all. She liked hanging out with most of the teens that Slughorn chose for his club, and while it might be more fun if Al could be there too; it was also okay that they did have differences – and different interests to go along with everything they had in common.

The Valentine-themed treats and drinks were great; Gwendolyn and Rose got into the games that were part of the entertainment; and they played until about a half-hour past curfew. Gwendolyn avoided any post-meeting problems with James by making sure that she had a group of Ravenclaw friends with her for the walk back to their House, but he disappeared before she left; and they didn't cross paths while she was out in the hallways. Rose let her know through a mirror message that James hadn't been in the common room when she got back there – and that Patricia hadn't been in her dorm room either, but while Rose still worried about her roommate for a few different reasons now; Gwendolyn had just been glad that James had moved on and stopped bugging her for a while. When she went off to sleep not long after that; she hoped that could be a trend that would continue for the rest of the weekend!

Rose's Slug Club meeting recap had been a mix of good and bad for Al during their morning walk and talk; and had worried him a bit ahead of two days when James would have many opportunities to mess with him – as he had for every Valentine's Day so far since he'd started at Hogwarts. He didn't sense any imminent danger as they had breakfast or while waiting to head to town with Gwendolyn and a few of their friends, but he was on alert for anything; and just having that worry was enough to mess up his ability to just enjoy the day off from all of the work.

Then again, it wasn't as if he didn't have work to do too!

Gwendolyn and Rose had a group of girls with them for a block of hair appointments and some 'fun' shopping ahead of the dance; so Al, Michael, and Ray were on their own and tasked with picking up all of the boring supplies – along with some Valentine's Day gifts for their favorite girls. While he'd picked up his 'main' gift for Gwendolyn at Christmas; Al still ordered flowers and chocolates to be delivered by Owl Post; helped Ray and Michael with their shopping; and picked out a few other gifts for Lily, Rose, Susannah, and Malorie – though some of those purchases were joint gifts that had been decided on with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily – or at least with help from one of them. Al ended up spending most of the morning apart from Gwendolyn, but she was very happy when they met up again; they did the stops for some of the more-fun supplies and treats; and then they had lunch at the Three Broomsticks with Rose and Susannah before heading back to the castle to catch as much of the Harpies' match as they could once they joined Lily, Jonah, and their game-watching gang in their usual study classroom.

Susannah really wasn't all that interested in watching Quidditch on the mirror network, but she joined Rose anyway; and had fun talking about their adventures in town with Lily and her friends as they settled onto sofas after stops in their respective dorm rooms and once they'd finished distributing the supplies and treats that they'd brought with them to pass along to their favorite younger teens and tweens. The Harpies were playing the Tornados at Exmoor, and the irony had surely been intentional; since league officials were well aware of the new rivalry between the Harpies' and Tornados' Chasers. The match had been going strong for an hour and change by the time Al and Gwendolyn cuddled on the same sofa with Lily and Jonah; and the Harpies had a comfortable lead thanks to Victoire having a particularly good start to her game – at least compared to Rachel and Lacey.

"I'm not complaining, but is there something I haven't heard about to explain why Rachel isn't playing very well – or why Victoire might be more motivated than usual today?" Lily asked as they all watched Victoire score another goal. "The Tornados have been much better against our Harpies the past couple of seasons – at least at Chaser."

"Maybe Rachel's distracted by Valentine's Day," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "She is, supposedly, one of the most eligible bachelorettes in the league right now."

"It looks to me as though their entire team is having a bad match so far," Al offered. "I can't tell just from watching them why that might be; but haven't read anything about any team drama or problems with them getting sick or anything."

"Me either," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I haven't seen anything glaring to suggest they're all having problems today."

Al shrugged. "It just seems to me that they're a bit off – out of sync or something. Even Rachel and Lacey aren't really taking any risks the way they normally would against Victoire and Candice. Playing it safe when Victoire's having a great match isn't going to end well for them."

He was proved right about that as the match rolled along, but they didn't get to stay together for the end of the match because the girls needed to leave to get ready for the dinner and dance before Gabrielle ended the match, and while the guys had a bit more time; Al was getting ready for dinner too by the time the match ended. That happened long after the Harpies had the one-sixty lead, but shortly after a Tornados time-out where their manager blasted their Seeker for refusing to try and catch the snitch for the loss. That didn't work out for the Tornados either because that just made their Seeker mad; he messed up just a few minutes later; and Gabrielle caught the snitch for the five-ten to one-thirty victory. Al watched that on his portable mirror while still in his dorm room; and caught part of Lee's post-game show until it was time to go and meet up with Gwendolyn.

James was hanging out in the common room with some of the other guys that were waiting for their dates to join them from the girls' dorm room; and pretended not to watch as Al crossed the room and headed out of the portrait hole on his way to meet up with his potty-trainer. He had to keep the sneer on the inside – just as he kept the hatred bottled up, but every time he saw the loser; he was tempted to draw his wand and blast him to bits in a permanent sort of way. This time, he was still annoyed at the potty-trainer too; and still hadn't figured out how she'd even caught on to his attempt to use a memory charm on her. The loser likely would have noticed, but he hadn't been there; and he knew for sure that Gwendolyn hadn't even touched her wand or that blasted charm bracelet of hers. None of the other Witches he'd used his memory charms on before that had even noticed him doing it – though his success with them had been mixed; and usually quite temporary.

He'd expected that to be good-enough for what he'd planned last night; and he'd been sure that messing around with the potty-trainer until well-after curfew would have been enough to crush the Animorphloser's tiny little heart forever. Unfortunately, the effects of his memory charm had lasted mere moments; and then his plans had fallen apart. Gwendolyn and Rose had both gone on to verbally bash him; and there'd been nothing he could do about it with Slughorn and the rest of the teens in the room. The only good part of his night had been that he'd had the good sense to set up a back-up plan with Patricia. When Gwendolyn made sure that she'd be surrounded by Ravenclaws for the walk back to her House; he'd given up; gone to meet up with Patricia; and had some fun with her while venting the pent-up energy that he'd planned on sharing with the potty-trainer so she'd forget all about her freak of a loser-boyfriend and be hooked on him instead.

Sure, Patricia had her own motives, but that hadn't changed his plans – which was why he was waiting for Rosinda instead of Patricia – and he'd managed to hook up with Bristol after she'd gotten back from her 'date' with her boy toy – and had a quick bit of fun with her too. He'd barely needed to nudge her mind at all to get what he'd wanted; and she'd likely wish that she was with him before they were half-way through the dance; since Mackenzie was obviously such a dud that he couldn't keep her satisfied for even a full day without having Bristol's attention wander.

That thought had him musing about messing with Mackenzie even more by going after his ex-girlfriend too, but he discarded that idea; since Susannah just really wasn't all that hot; too much of a book-worm; and probably more trouble than she'd be worth when her mother was one of his father's Aurors. There were other options for him to use instead – though he expected that Mackenzie would be history for Bristol before long anyway. His thoughts took a dark leap to the side; and he grinned as an idea came to mind that could take care of all of his current problems in one brilliant move! He didn't literally run with that idea, but it had him getting up and heading for his dorm room to fetch a little package from his trunk – the latest anonymous gift that he was suddenly sure he could use for something great! He made it back to the common room before Rosinda got there; but didn't mind the wait because it gave him time to flesh out the brilliant plan that had suddenly given him hope that he'd have a brilliant night – while having some fun messing with a few very deserving losers!

Al held out a single-rose corsage to Gwendolyn as she met up with him in the hallway outside of the Ravenclaw common room and smiled brilliantly at her. She was wearing a curve-hugging top and sweater with a matching skirt instead of a dress, and while it wasn't ballgown-fancy; she looked beautiful.

"I love you," he told her in welcome. "Happy almost-Valentine's-Day!"

"Thank you," she said before stepping into a hug and kiss. "I love you too, and hope you're ready to have fun tonight; since we've reason to party after that big Harpies' win today."

"I'm sure they'll be happy to party a bit tonight too," Al suggested with a grin. "Maybe that's why they played so brilliantly today – they didn't want to spend Valentine's Day thinking about what your Mum would have them doing by Monday if they'd lost!"

Gwendolyn laughed. "That might have been very motivating, and for all we know; she might have threatened them with a Valentine's Day of hard training if they lost another holiday match like they did at Halloween and Christmas," she agreed and added. "Help me with the corsage? Toni's going to be another minute; but sent me on ahead because she supposedly didn't want to see that look of vapid adoration on your face again tonight."

"I'll try to get a handle on that before she catches up with you," Al promised. "Do you really want to risk having me try pinning this on?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "It isn't really all that challenging," she assured him; "and you should likely learn how sooner instead of later. It'll get weird for us if we have to call Toni over to help with flowers every time we go out somewhere special once we're done school and out on our own."

"Okay," Al agreed; "but it's likely a good thing for you that I have a talent for healing; or this could end badly."

Fortunately for him, Gwendolyn helped with his impromptu training in the art of pinning a corsage. He didn't have a problem with attempting to pin it too low on her sweater, but it was apparently possible to try and put it up too high and too far to either side of some point that Gwendolyn chose as the perfect spot for it. He didn't draw blood or put unwanted holes in her clothes; and then she shared a successful 'test' hug and kiss with him once that was finished. Since he did have a good memory, Al was sure he could get better at the process next time; and only got teased about it a bit when Toni and Michael joined them and they all headed for the Great Hall.

The Valentine's Day dinner was still going to be on Sunday, but the Great Hall was decorated for the holiday; and there was a lot to take in as they entered the room. Al and Gwendolyn led the way along the Gryffindor table; since they were hoping to sit with Rose, Susannah, and a few other friends; and Toni and Michael followed them. As always; Al had to deal with the sensory overload that came with a large group of teens and tweens; and that was more intense during events like special school dinners and dances. James was already sitting down with Rosinda and some of their friends by then; so Al nearly had Michael run into him when he stopped a few paces away from his brother and focused his full attention on him. James had seen them, but while he'd pretended not to pay any attention to them at all; his emotions and thoughts had screamed warnings at Al that were impossible to ignore.

"What is it?" Gwendolyn leaned close and whispered.

"A problem that I need to deal with," Al answered grimly before turning to face Michael and Toni. "Can you go ahead and save us seats? I need to talk with James for a minute."

"On purpose?" Toni asked; and Al laughed – though not in a way that convinced his friends that he was actually amused.

"Yeah, but I'll keep Gwendolyn with me in case I need protecting."

"Come on," Michael told Toni. "That's as good a hint as we'll ever get to move as far away from the trouble magnet as possible."

"No doubt," Toni agreed. "Try not to mess up the entire night for us – or you."

"I'll try," Al promised; and then moved to Gwendolyn's side of the aisle so they could pass. He waited another moment; and then took the last few steps until he was next to James. He tapped him on the shoulder twice before James turned and acknowledged that he was there.

"What?" he demanded shortly.

"I need to talk to you for a minute," Al told him; and needed to work hard to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Make an appointment," James retorted. "I should be able to make time for you in about a century or two."

"Now, James," Al said quietly.

"No," James shot back. "I'm on a date. Get lost."

Al didn't budge. "Fine. I'll just deal with it and we can talk later – when you've more time."

"What are you..." James began; and then his eyes opened wide when he saw that Al had already drawn his wand and pointed it at him. He reached for his wand; but it was already too late.

"Problem solved," Al told him as he then put his wand away. "Don't even think about attempting a plan B, James."

"What'd you just do? Use one of your blasted memory charms on me?" James demanded; and he was pointing his wand at Al now – though not so obviously that more than a couple of friends closest to them noticed.

"No – I just needed to banish that thing that I wanted to talk with you about," he answered, and while he said that mildly; his eyes were sparking with emerald fire. He leaned close so that he could make sure that what he said next wouldn't be overheard by anyone else – not even Gwendolyn. "That plan wasn't brilliant, James – it was horrid and colossally-stupid. Don't so much as use a wheeze for the rest of the weekend; or we are going to have that talk – and you really, really won't like how that ends for you."

With that, he took Gwendolyn's hand; and walked away while James had to pretend that nothing serious had just passed between them – at least to his friends. Al continued to focus his attention on James' emotions and thoughts, though; and he knew that his brother was both furious and stunned. Gwendolyn squeezed his hand; and he turned and leaned close so that he could whisper to her.

"He was getting ready to do something truly awful and dangerous," he explained. "I banished the thing he was going to use – probably the 'gift' Rose overheard Scorpius talking about. I'll need to deal with that in a bit; but can wait until the intermission between dinner and the dance."

"I was hoping he'd resist the urge this weekend," Gwendolyn whispered back.

"He should have done that," Al suggested. "Right now; it's all I can do to not go back there and drag him out of here to go have that talk with him."

"That bad?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al nodded.

"I'll tell you later," he promised; but then they'd caught up with Toni and Michael; and it was time to sit down with their friends.

They still had a bit of time for socializing until dinner was served, and Al tried to get back into a festive mood; but that wasn't easy to do when he was angry and he could far-too-easily see what might have been had he not intervened before James could even put his idiotic, dangerous plan into play. Even dumber was the fact that James was somehow able to continue to delude himself into believing that he could get away with anything. If his plan hadn't been so dangerous; Al might have been tempted to let him find out the hard way that he was wrong about that. Fortunately for James; he wasn't willing to take any risks with some of the targets his brother had wanted to attack. He really wanted to talk to his father about doing something to end the problem sooner instead of later, but that wasn't imminently-important; so he wasn't going to mess up his date – or his father's night out with his mother when that chat could wait for sometime on Sunday.

Gwendolyn decided to intervene then; and she made sure that Al needed to divert more of his attention to her – and their friends – as they began to enjoy their meal. While they weren't getting to have a bonus, special feast, there was a holiday theme for all of the food – and especially for the desserts. Al tried to enjoy the food as best he could; managed to have some fun with Gwendolyn; and then she went with him to talk with Professor Longbottom while the Great Hall was emptied so that the dance committee and their volunteers could get everything set up for the dance. Unlike James, Neville had been happy to go with Al and Gwendolyn so that Al could talk with him; and he led them to a classroom on the first floor that was well-away from the crowds of teens and tweens milling around in the entrance hall or elsewhere nearby.

"Okay, what's up, Al?" Neville asked once the door was closed; and then looked somber when Al drew his wand and protected the room before answering.

"I had to deal with a problem before dinner," Al advised him. "It was something that I sensed and foresaw; so I took steps to deal with it – and now I need to give a rather dangerous artifact to you." With that said, he summoned the small box that he'd banished from James' book bag; placing it on the work table closest to them.

"What is it?" Neville asked; and Al shrugged.

"I'm not positive. It's likely cursed, but I sense more than that; so it's also likely a combination of magics and maybe a potion or two as well."

"And where did you get it?" Neville asked next.

"I stole it – and don't want to say from whom; since I didn't even let it get to the attempt stage of an attack." He smiled grimly at Neville's reaction to that. "I know, and I'm conflicted about it too, but there's more going on here; and Dad's ordered me to leave the problem to him – though he doesn't yet know that this is related to what he's dealing with."

"So you actually want me to get this to him," Neville surmised; and Al nodded.

"Yes, and he should probably pass it straight on to Uncle Bill. I may not know exactly what it is; but I am sure that it's horrid – and should be destroyed if possible. Dad might want to bring you into the loop too – and Professor McGonagall; but that's his choice to make. I'll talk to him tomorrow too; but don't want to mess up the entire night for all of us."

"Just me," Neville joked.

"It'll give you an excuse to go home for a while instead of chaperoning the dance," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "That isn't all bad."

"Sure, because helping Hannah out all evening at the Leaky will be so much more fun," Neville told them. "Is that thing safe to pick up?"

"Probably," Al agreed; "but handle with extreme care. From what I sensed; I'm not sure I'd be able to help if anyone got hurt by it – and it would be fatal for some."

"Then I'd say a bit of care is in order," Neville decided as he got his own wand out and summoned a box of some kind that he then used to put the other box into for safe transport. "It's unbreakable and isn't affected in any way while traveling by magical means," he explained.

"I've seen them," Al said with a nod. "Dad said they came up with the idea after trying to deal with captured dementors."

Neville nodded. "Yes, we did," he agreed. "The curse breakers use them now too, and as far as I know; they've never had an issue with apparating or taking the Floo Network with cursed objects since then. Is there anything else you want to tell me about this?"

Al shook his head. "I'd better leave that up to Dad to decide. We really don't need to deal with the rest of the problem before tomorrow, though, and with that thing out of here; we've nothing to worry about for the rest of the night."

"You're sure of that?" Neville asked; and Al smiled – again, without any amusement.

"If I'm wrong about that; there's a very good chance that I'll be the one getting into trouble because I'm not very happy right now; and every prankster in this school ought to be worried if they're even thinking about trying anything that's meant to be truly-hurtful to anyone."

"Here's a novel concept – ask for help from your Professors," Neville suggested. "Things like this don't have to end badly for you – or for those troublemakers."

Al shrugged. "I really don't sense any trouble ahead, and I am really mad right now; but I don't actually expect to be acting dance protector tonight."

"At least not anymore," Gwendolyn amended. "Speaking of the dance; it'll be starting soon. We should get back to it – if you're done here."

"I'd say that we are," neville decided. "Your father better have more than this for me, though; or we may be having another chat sometime tomorrow, Al."

"This is part of something that really needs to be dealt with," Al offered; "so I think that Dad will want you involved – and for all I know; he's already talked about at least some of it with Professor McGonagall."

"Okay," Neville acknowledged. "I'm goint to talk with the Headmistress first; but then I'll get this to your father straightaway."

"He's at the Ministry Valentine's Day dinner and dance by now," Al advised him. "I hope that this won't mess up the whole night for Mum, but that thing is scary-enough to me that I didn't even want to leave it banished to Wizard's space."

"You didn't even say that about those Fanged Frisbees," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Thank Professor Longbottom for helping you out; and then let's get out of here. I suddenly feel the need to be anywhere that thing isn't – and I've even lost my curiosity about what it is – or at least I don't want to personally find out what it does."

"I'll make sure that nobody finds that out the hard way," Neville assured her.

"Thank you," Al told him seriously; though doing what he'd been told had Gwendolyn smiling at him. "Can you let Dad know that I'll call him sometime around mid-morning? We can do something different if the two of you decide otherwise; but then you can always set that up with me at breakfast if needed."

"I actually like that idea better; but will wait to see what your father says first," Neville decided. "Let's go; and I'll let you know what we decide either way in the morning."

With that decided; Al and Gwendolyn went to meet up with their friends again; and Neville was soon on his way to London. Al was still thinking too much about what might have been as the Graves Robbers got the dance started, but they kicked up the fun level a few dozen notches right from the first song; and Gwendolyn made sure that he had fun even while he couldn't resist the need to keep an eye on James and a watch out for any of the nastier pranks. There had ended up being a few attempts to mess with some of the younger kids, and Al quietly took steps to block those rotten little attacks, but not even the intended victims knew about his intervention; and he didn't go after the pranksters beyond making some wheezes disappear from the stockpiles for those gits involved.

The dancing was great – particularly for the ballads; but the undercurrent of hate he sensed continually from James put a damper on the night for him – which was why he was all for taking a break with Gwendolyn despite knowing when they left the Great Hall that she'd wanted to talk instead of going somewhere to snog each other senseless for a while. He also wasn't surprised when Rose just happened to meet up with them while on the way to their usual study classroom. By then, he was ready to talk, though; and hoped it would help a bit with his own ongoing anger issues.

"We'll really get talked about if anyone saw the three of us come in here," Al joked as he put up the protections around the room.

"We need to know what happened earlier; and you need to get it off your chest before you burst," Gwendolyn told him. "What was James going to do tonight?"

"And how did you know?" Rose added.

"He was going to use that gift that you overheard Scorpius talking about," Al advised her. "I'm having a tough time not losing it on him because Gwendolyn and I were secondary targets." He paused for a moment; but then just pushed on. "I really suck at passing along this kind of news, but he was going to use that artifact – or whatever it is – against Malorie and the babies; and he was going to use Mackenzie to do it and then hopefully get the two of us in the fallout."

"He was trying to get rid of the babies?" Gwendolyn asked in shock; and Al nodded; his expression turning hard as his eyes literally began to glow a fiery emerald-green again.

"Take a deep breath," Rose told him; putting a hand on his arm. "You sensed all of that when you got to the Great Hall?"

"Sensed and foresaw it," Al confirmed and added. "I think the warning hit me so early and hard because it might have worked – at least for the main part of his plan. That's a guess; but I knew that I had to act right then. James acted as usual when I told him I wanted to talk, which is why I just banished the thing out of his book bag and dealt with it that way instead of making a huge scene."

"Professor Longbottom has it now," Gwendolyn advised rose – or Al's Dad or your Uncle Bill does; since he's likely passed it on to them by now."

"Al, this is awful," Rose told him. "You can't just do nothing this time if you're right about what James was trying to do. Is there no chance that he just didn't know how dangerous that thing is?"

"I'm sure he doesn't know that," Al agreed; "but he knows enough – and his intention was clear to me." He shook his head. "It makes me sick, but he doesn't even think that what he wanted to do would be murder."

"A Wizengamot court might agree with him on that," Rose suggested; "but let's not go there."

"Okay, but I'll add that he'd likely have also been thinking that none of us would say anything if he'd succeeded – either to protect Malorie; or protect your family,' Gwendolyn told them. "Even now; what can we do about this?"

"We're not going to do anything," Al advised them – "other than tell Dad everything tomorrow. It'll be up to him to deal with this – and with the rest of the problem. Scorpius couldn't possibly know what James was planning for tonight, but Dad seriously needs to deal with him too."

"When you tell him about this; I've no doubt that he will do something about it," Gwendolyn predicted. "Merlin, Al – is there nothing that James won't do to protect himself – or while trying to destroy you?"

"It doesn't seem so," Al answered. "I was afraid tonight, Gwendolyn – really afraid. What might be even scarier, though, is that I'm not sure how far I'd be willing to go to defend the people that I love from him – or anyone else trying to hurt them. There's a very good chance that I'd be packing to go home right now if I'd done what I really wanted to do and blasted James."

"He'd deserve it; but you're likely right," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "I'm glad that you waited until now to tell us about this; or I might have offered to help you with that – and been on my way home too."

"James would've loved that," Rose told them. "for the record, though; I have more faith in you to always do the right thing – even for the bad guys." She looked at her watch. "My date is going to wonder where I've gotten to; so we'd better get back to the dance again. I'd make a suggestion about that for the two of you; but that isn't going to be an option for you tonight."

"And my brother manages to mess up another Valentine's Day for us," Al lamented with a sigh. "Sometimes, I wish just a bit that I could hate him right back; but I can't do that even when I'm this mad at him."

Harry and Ginny were surprised when Neville tracked them down at the Ministry of Magic Valentine's Day party in the Magick Hall; but then Harry immediately knew that he wasn't there for a social call. He also knew that they earned a lot of attention when Neville wanted them to leave with him; though nobody could follow when they went outside and apparated away. Since they didn't want to give anything away to anyone who might overhear; Harry side-along apparated Neville; Ginny followed them; and they were all soon in the kitchen at Harry and Ginny's home.

"Is there a problem with our kids?" Ginny asked; and Neville smiled ruefully and shrugged.

"Maybe I should get you to answer that for me before I tell you why I'm here," he suggested; though he directed that comment more toward Harry. "Al's told me tonight that you're dealing with something that he implied was a problem at the school – and what he dealt with tonight is apparently part of that bigger problem."

"Tell me what happened; and I promise to fill you in on at least some of those details," Harry told him. "Should I brew up a pot of coffee?"

"I'm off-duty now," Neville advised him. "Something a bit stronger might be nice right now."

"That bad?" Harry asked; and Neville shrugged again.

"I don't know that for sure either, though I suspect so; since your younger son is afraid of what he gave me – and that ought to worry any sane Wizard or Witch."

"Was there another attack tonight at the dance?" Ginny asked next.

"No. Al told me that he stole this thing to keep that from happening. He wouldn't tell me from whom; but suggested that Harry would know that too."

"He was going to use it?" Ginny asked Harry. "That thing the kids told us about?"

Harry sighed. "It seems so, but instead of being so cryptic; I'll get those drinks and we'll sit down and talk the entire thing out with Neville."

Talking with Gwendolyn and Rose hadn't been a case of sharing the misery; since Al had mostly been dealing with extreme anger. It had helped, though; and he and Gwendolyn had gone on to do their best to have fun through to the end of the dance. They then went on to help out with the clean-up despite not being official volunteers; that included helping her Graves Robbers friends with their packing up; and then they shared a fairly minor goodnight hug and kisses when Al walked her back to Ravenclaw tower on his way 'home' to his House. He knew that James hadn't gone to bed early, and that he was out past curfew with one of his girls, but while that bugged him; it was likely for the best that his brother hadn't been anywhere that they might cross paths and he might have cause to blast him. He was still wound up when he was finished getting changed and ready for bed; so he worked on his mirror for a long time – and was up late-enough to have a bedtime chat with Ray when his best mate made it up to their dorm room after spending some quality time with Cyndia in the common room.

Not getting as much sleep as normal only had a bit of impact on how Al felt in the morning, but he was also having a tough time trying to get into the spirit of the holiday as he got ready for the day and then waited for Rose to join him in the common room. He was early, so he did some more work on his mirror; and then had two gifts ready to give to Rose and Lily by the time they reached the common room – after he sensed that they were both going to be joining him for the morning walk and talk. Lily hadn't joined them because of any rumors that were going around about him or James, and she wasn't in the loop for what Rose had found out about Scorpius; so he didn't have to deal with any of those problems before breakfast – and he did his best to have fun with his sister and cousin – and then with Gwendolyn too when she met up with him in the Great Hall and he gave her a couple of gifts that she was able to actually open without having any prank or ambush issues.

They did get teased, though; and Al would have been on his own for breakfast if Lily hadn't come to sit with him – and brought Hugo, Kathryn, and Melissa with her; though that had supposedly been because it was just too crowded in their usual spots with so many fourth-year students crowding the third-years into the second-year section.

They had a special Valentine's Day breakfast, and Al tried to have fun with that; but then he knew that his life was going to get more serious again before Neville got his attention and indicated that he wanted to see Al after that meal. After finding that out, Al finished off the rest of the food on his plate fairly-quickly; met up with Gwendolyn; and then was again sure in advance of their next destination – Professor McGonagall's office. There were other students out in the hallways by then, so they earned some attention for being out and about with one of their Professors; but that was also why Neville didn't talk to them about anything serious while they made their way to see the Headmistress. When they were close to the office, Al sensed that his parents were both there, but he didn't have time to warn Gwendolyn; so she was a bit surprised when they were invited into the office and she saw them there. The hugs and kisses were fun; but the mood in the room was too somber for that to be a joyous reunion for any of them.

"I take it that you decided we needed something a bit more personal than a mirror chat or trading mirror messages,' Al suggested after he and Gwendolyn were invited to sit in the chairs next to his parents – and Neville sat on the far side of them next to Ginny.

"I've decided that we all need to hear your story about what really happened last night; and then work out what we need to do about it next," Harry told him. "Bill has looked at the necklace you gave to Neville, and has confirmed that it is a very dangerous item that has been cursed, coated in some sort of Potion that is also cursed; and possibly has other things done to it that he's yet to discover."

"A necklace," Al repeated. "That can only mean it was originally meant to hurt Gwendolyn – and probably get to me through her."

"That isn't what you think was going to happen last night?" Harry asked; and Al shook his head.

"No," he confirmed; but didn't add more.

"We talked with Neville last night; and Minerva this morning," Harry advised him. "Sorry," he added for the Professors. "Let's dispense with the formalities right now while it's just us."

"Agreed," Professor McGonagall said with a nod. "Tell us what happened to have you decide to pre-empt this apparent plan to attack you – or someone – with this cursed artifact."

"When Gwendolyn and I got to the Great Hall for dinner last night, and as we got near to where James was sitting with his friends; I sensed that he was planning an attack for sometime during the dance." He paused and thought about that for a moment. "I sensed a fairly dark excitement; hatred when he saw me – though he pretended that he hadn't; and then I had a blast of foresight that scared me half-witless."

"And made him furious," Gwendolyn added.

"It did," Al agreed. "James' plan was to go after three other people that he's mad at right now; use another as a patsy; and he hoped that I'd get caught up in the mess because he assumed that I'd attempt to try and rescue his victims." He paused again before continuing. "I didn't have the total picture, but whether that could have happened or not; he definitely believed that others could be affected or infected beyond the initial targets."

"Maybe there's a delay before anything happens once the necklace is handled," Neville suggested.

"I'll mention tht to Bill and he can look into it," Harry promised. "So you sensed and foresaw all of that," he summarized. "What did you do next?"

"I didn't want to leave it because I sensed that I might not be able to help any victims with whatever that thing would have done to them; so I asked to talk to James about it. He refused and told me to get lost, so instead of making a big scene and forcing him to go with me so we could do that; I stole it out of his bag by banishing it. Then I quietly told him what I'd done so nobody else would overhear – and then I threatened him to be good for the rest of the weekend or I'd make sure that we'd have that talk and do it in a way that would end badly for him."

"I'm sure you have a logical explanaition for why you didn't call for help from your Professors right then?" Professor McGonagall asked; and Al shrugged.

"Not unless you think that it's logical that I was furious and wanted to make sure that there was no way he could act before I did," Al answered honestly. "I could have made a scene and likely prevented him from getting rid of the evidence before I could get it to you; but I didn't do that. Assuming that I could have done that, though; the worst you'd have James for is possession of that thing – and he can't be punished for something I only foresaw."

"But as you said; it wasn't a risk you were willing to take to let his plan play out," Ginny pointed out.

"You can also be sure he'll just blame it on Al even now," Gwendolyn told them. "I can't even corroborate anything Al's told us; since I didn't even know what he'd done beyond talking to James and pointing his wand at him for just a moment."

"So that proves I'd make a lousy Auror," Al declared, "but I know what was going to happen; and Dad needs to find a way to put a stop to this."

"You know that too?" Harry asked.

"Actually, yes," Al agreed. "I don't know what you'll decide to do, but I sense that if it is going to stop; it'll be because of you."

"No pressure there," Ginny teased without humor. "That isn't much of a story for details. Is there nothing else you have to add? Anything he told you, Gwendolyn?"

"No, and before anyone asks; I don't want to tell you who his targets were. They've done nothing wrong; don't know anything about this; and deserve to have their privacy respected." Al knew that his parents had already guessed the 'three targets' by then; but that comment had confirmed it for them; and he sensed the change that knowledge had with both of them – but especially with his father.

"Their identities might shed some light on the matter, though," Neville suggested; but Al shook his head.

"Not really," he disagreed. "The root of James' actions comes down to how much he hates me, and while he's mad at others for his own selfish reasons; the real problem here is his source for these dark arts artifacts and cursed objects – along with James' willingness to use them regardless of the danger they pose to anyone who comes in contact with them – including himself. I don't believe he knows that Scorpius is the one sending them to him; but I doubt it would make a difference to him if he did."

"I'm as worried about what your parents have told us about Mr. Malfoy's portrait of... Thomas," she said after just a moment of hesitation that seemed to be because of the group of former Heads that were listening to them with great interest.

"That's a difficult issue too," Neville told her. "Mr. Malfoy breaks no laws or rules by having it, but considering what we've been told so far; we also might never find it if we tried to search for it in an attempt to confiscate it."

"That's something that we can discuss without Al and Gwendolyn," Harry suggested. "You must have a lot of work to get done today – and won't likely want to be stuck doing that past curfew tonight."

"I do," Gwendolyn agreed. "Al got more work done on Friday while Rose and I were busy with our Slug Club meeting. He does have a make-up team practice soon, though, so if you don't need anything else from us; we should get going."

James was in a foul mood. He'd been livid before and during dinner after the loser had ruined his plans; stolen his anonymous gift; and then threatened him!

Worse still, he'd been forced to pretend as though nothing had happened at all; and fake having a brilliant time at dinner and the dance that followed to keep Rosinda happy. He'd seen the loser and potty-trainer go off with Professor Longbottom; and then he'd had to worry that he'd get hauled off and have another dance ruined by the Animorphloser – just as he'd done so many other times. Sure, that had given him lots of time to work up his story should he get hauled into McGonagall's office, but the tension had still messed up his night; and he'd hated on Al the entire time – especially when he went around with his dog-trainer as if he was having a brilliant night.

Maybe he should go into acting, since Rosinda hadn't noticed a thing, and hwile the rest of his night had been crap; she'd been happy to give him an entertaining way to release all of his pent-up anger. The wine and fire-whiskey helped too; they stayed out and partied until near-dawn; and then he'd only been able to get a few hours of sleep before being woken rather unceremoniously by Tiberius McClaggen and told to get up and ready for Quidditch practice.

Passing out had helped him to forget his troubles for a while, but it all came crashing back down on him the moment he saw the Animorphpotty at the practice – and the hangover had just made all of that even worse. Add in having Olivia scream at him for playing so horridly that he lost his Seeker duel to Brandon, and the fact that the loser scored twenty-three goals to help them win the scrimmage anyway; and he'd been seeing red by the end of practice – and not because of the bloodshot eyes. As if all of that hadn't been bad enough; Olivia wasn't happy with just badgering him during the practice; she needed to sit down with him while he was taking his gear off and threaten to put Brandon in for their match against Hufflepuff if he couldn't pull himself together and be ready to play better during their final two practices.

She had no idea how tempted he'd been to tell her to go ahead and do that – and he'd have laughed his head off when Alex made a fool of his pathetic excuse for a back-up Seeker!

Olivia hadn't bought his lies, but then he hadn't put much effort into them – and didn't care what she thought of him anyway; since she'd always hated him pretty much since he'd become best mates with her brother. After putting up with that stupid intervention; he'd packed up; left the pitch before anyone else had even been half-ready to go; and had gone on to the Great Hall for lunch – which he was on time for; but everyone else on the team were late for. He'd been tempted to skip that meal too, but he'd missed breakfast; and had needed to do some sucking up to Patricia if he wanted to have any hope of some fun with her later after dinner. That hadn't been easy while in such a rotten mood; but he'd managed to pull it off – which was why Patricia was with him when he was ready to leave after lunch.

Things were looking up for him again – right up until Professor Longbottom intercepted them; ordered James to go with him; and rather abruptly dismissed Patricia after explaining that the invitation wasn't being extended to her too.

Harry sat in Neville's office – in the chair behind his friend's desk; and watched James with a stoic expression on his face when Neville let him into the room and then closed the door behind him as he left again. James was startled for a moment; masked that reaction quickly; and then pasted a blank look on his face.

"Come and sit down, please," Harry told him.

"Yes, sir!" James snapped back with a flop of a salute. he flopped into the chair across from his father too; and threw a leg over one arm jauntily. "To what do I owe the displeasure?"

Harry sealed the room before answering. "I'm here because you're an idiot," Harry told him bluntly. "That must be it; since the only other option would be that you've been colluding with Dark Wizards or Witches in an attempt to destroy your own family!"

"Let me guess – the Animorphpotty has come to you with more lies about me," James retorted dismissively. "You're the idiot to believe anything that the loser says."

"We're way beyond name calling, son," Harry toldhim; drawing his wand and pointing it at James. He was ready when James jumped to his feet; and disarmed him before he could even attempt to defend himself. "Not bad; but I do this for a living," he reminded him. "Let's just cut the crap and get on the same page here." With that said; he watched as James' eeyes glazed over and he forced his eldest son to sift through every memory he had related to the latest cursed object with simple, direct efficiency. Fake memories were shredded and discarded, and if he hadn't been so mad; he'd have laughed at the juvenile attempts. When he was finished and James' eyes regained focus; he glared at Harry with open hatred.

"You break the laws you're supposed to uphold!" he snarled; and Harry met his glare with fire in his own eyes.

"Sit down – unless you'd prefer that I make you do it," he ordered. "You're underage, and as one of your parents; I gave my consent to that – so give it a rest. I knew the truth without the need for a trip down your personal memory lane; so it was for your benefit – not mine."

"What a load of hippogriff dung!" James spat back. "Congratulations – you've caught me for thinking about doing something bad. I'm sure the penalty for that is severe!"

"You attempted to kill my first grandchildren and seriously injure or kill their mother," Harry told him with cold fury in his eyes now. "You hoped to catch your brother and his girlfriend in the trap; and you don't think that the consequences might be serious?"

"Did the loser get his little potty-trainer in a family way?" James asked; but the sneer he'd pasted on his face disappeared when Harry stood up; his chair went flying across the room; and he – and it – crashed into the wall and he was pinned there as Harry came around the desk and strode up to face him eyes-to-eyes. He could do that because James was also now a good two or three feet off the ground.

"Let me tell you a little story, son of mine," Harry said angrily. "It's one that I've never told you before because your Mother and I decided that you didn't need to know about this." He held up his wand hand when James was about to offer another retort; and made sure he couldn't interrupt.

"My enemies attempted to kill you while Ginny was pregnat with you; and then again the night you were born." He nodded when James' eyes went wide. "The first time, a group of Dark Witches and Wizards attacked us outside of our home, and the night you were born; they faked an attack on Azkaban to lure me away from St. Mungo's; and then tried to poison you and your mother." He let that sink in for a moment; and then continued.

"Fast forward to now; and imagine how your mother and I must feel about finding out that you tried to murder your own children – using an incredibly dangerous, horrid Dark Arts object that you were sent anonymously – and it apparently never occurred to you that someone might be using you and your hatred for Albus for their own reasons!"

"If the loser's gone and..." James had time to say when Harry gave him a chance to respond; but then he was silenced again.

"That's the first place you try to go after I tell you all of that?" Harry demanded. "Did you actually listen to anything I'm saying?" He shook his head in angry frustration. "You're being used, James. The choices you're making for what you do with those 'gifts' are your own, but you're being helped toward choosing the Dark by enemies of your family – and of the Light! You've willingly, if unwittingly done their bidding, and while you've your brother to thank for saving you from your own horrid actions once again by pre-empting your plans for last night; we're having this visit so that I can advise you of a few things." He paused for a moment; but didn't give James the chance to say anything.

"First – I'll be putting an end to those anonymous gifts." He nodded in answer to the reaction he saw on James' face. "Yes, I can do that; but you'll know I've succeeded when those gifts simply stop arriving – so you don't need to just take my word for it. Next up, I'm here to tell you that if I even hear a hint that you've so much as tried to do harm to anyone else; I will be coming here next time to bring you home – and you will not return to Hogwarts again. Don't give me that look, James. I'm still tempted to simply do that right now and be done with it!" He blew out a frustrated breath of air.

"You've refused to talk with your mother or me about Malorie; so let's deal with that while you're here. She has asked us to keep your secret for as long as possible, and we will do that for both of you, but when the time comes; we will acknowledge our grandchildren regardless of what you choose to do. We'd hope for the best from you, but frankly, we don't expect it; and certainly have no intention of demanding anything of you. We will tell the truth though; and your mother and I are prepared to deal with the inevitable consequences. This shouldn't need to be said, but just in case you haven't figured it out yet; don't even so much as think about trying to hurt Malorie or those babies again." He paused again and then seemed to make a decision.

"I'm going to release you now, but don't start spewing any of your idiocies to me once I do; or this little visit is going to end badly for you."

"Then I've nothing to say at all," James retorted when he was freed and even before his chair settled back onto the floor. "Are we done? Can I go now?"

"You may as well," Harry agreed. "I love you, James, but you still aren't listening to anything I'm telling you; so I'll just have to hope that you figure things out for yourself before it's too late."

James snorted derisively. "I've heard you just fine," he assured his father. "Your real problem is that I choose not to buy into the lies. That's why all of this was again a total waste of time!"

"It isn't for me," Harry assured him. "I'll guess that there won't be any goodbye hugs; but do you want me to pass on anytthing to your mother?"

James smirked at him maliciously. "Yeah – tell her to do me a favor and dump you. She can get a nice place in the city; and Lily and I will be happy to go live with her while you and the loser hang out together in that shack in the boonies."

"Well, I'm sure that she'll find that suggestion horridly entertaining; but don't hold your breath expecting that to happen. Don't do anything that will have me coming back here to get you before the end of term," he warned. "I don't expect you'll be home for Easter holidays; so I guess that I'll see you when you get home for the summer."

"Not if I see you first," James retorted. "Never seeing you again would work for me."

Scorpius had been having a pretty good weekend – if not quite as great as he might wish. His visit to Hogsmeade had been fun because Lysandra arranged it so that they could hang out together as part of a larger group of friends – including having lunch together at the Three Broomsticks. They'd spent as much time as they could in town; and then gone back to the castle in time to get ready for the Valentine's dinner and dance. The highlight for the evening was sneaking away from the dance for nearly an hour of quality snogging with Lysandra, but unlike at the Halloween dance; she wasn't willing to take the risk of dancing with him to any ballads when she couldn't explain doing that to her friends or other teens that might run off and rat her out to their families.

On Sunday morning, he'd enjoyed watching his 'anonymous' gifts arrive by Owl Post for Lysandra; and she got away from her friends for just a short visit with him after breakfast that included a bit of thank-you snogging. Listening to her friends speculate over who the secret admirer might be while they studied during the rest of the morning had been annoying; but he had at least been able to sit close to Lysandra while they'd worked because she'd sat down next to him – supposedly to get a bit of help with two of her assignments.

Also on the not-so-fun side of the day was the need to keep studying after lunch. They'd taken the rest of the weekend off because of the Slug Club meeting on Friday night and the trip to town and dance on Saturday; so they'd still had all of their weekend revision to get done – even though it was Valentine's Day and every couple in the school wanted to be having fun with that instead. His mind was focused on his assignments and Lysandra, so he was completely thrown off-guard when Professor Slughorn tracked him down and asked him to pack up and go with him without any offer of explanation. That was an unprecedented event for him; and earned far too much attention from all of the Slytherins around him – attention that he didn't like at all. Professor Slughorn didn't look happy either; so he was more than a little worried as he followed the Head of his House in near-silence all the way to Professor Longbottom's office and quarters.

Harry had taken a bit of time to talk with Neville after James had left; got ready for his next meeting; and was back behind Neville's desk when Professor Slughorn let Scorpius Malfoy into the room and then closed the door behind him with only a curt nod for Harry. Scorpius looked stunned; and more than a little afraid.

"Come and sit down," Harry told him; feeling a sense of déjà vu as Scorpius hesitated and then complied reluctantly.

"You've asked to see me? Why?" Scorpius half-demanded.

"Because you've been under investigation; and I've decided to attempt an intervention before it's too late for you to avoid having problems with me that wouldn't begin and end with a conversation like the one we're going to have today."

"I've been..." Scorpius began; but trailed off and swallowed hard while trying to mask even the hint of the emotions those words had evoked in him.

"Under investigation," Harry confirmed – "and so we can just get on with this; I know everything."

Scorpius forced a laugh. "Nobody can know everything – not even you," he joked.

"Tom Riddle," Harry said evenly; and watched as Scorpius' eyes went wide with shock that he couldn't hide this time. "Also known as Voldemort, the Dark Lord, and He Who Must Not Be Named – though I've never been able to bring myself to use that last one." He kept his eyes locked on Scorpius' face. "For the record; it's never been Thomas – just Tom. I also know about the gifts you've been sending to James; so part of this intervention is to advise you that I will not be permitting you to continue to do that. Before we really talk about that, though; we're going to take a pensieve trip to the past; and I'm going to teach you a lesson about your painted mentor."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not doing anything with you – and I'm out of here!" Scorpius declared.

"You're not going anywhere – and you'll do exactly as I say," Harry assured him. "I am doing this as a courtesy to you, Scorpius. Everything we're about to do and talk about will be strictly between the two of us unless you choose to make it otherwise; and you have nothing to fear from me – unless you don't start making better choices for yourself." He waved a hand toward the pensieve on the desk. "Let's begin; since the rest of what we're going to talk about will be pointless without having this lesson first."

Scorpius tried to balk at entering the pensieve, but Harry didn't really have to push him all that hard to do it; since there was a aprt of him that was curious too. The first memory they dropped into was the one he'd been shown by Dumbledore of the Gant family.

"This is a memory of Tom Riddle's family," Harry advised Scorpius as they both looked around the yard and Scorpius took it all in. "I don't actually know everything, since I don't know where you got that portrait or how Tom convinced you to allow him to become your mentor; but I can make some educated guesses – including about what he's told you about his own story."

"He's told me the truth – truths that not even my own family knows," Scorpius told him. "I know about all of the lies that have been spun about him since the war too." He waved a hand dismissively. "I know about this; so you won't shock me – or be able to fool me with your lies either."

"I'm not going to attempt to do anything except give you information,' harry advised him. "It'll be up to you to decide what you'll do with that knowledge." He nodded toward the house. "Let's go in and meet your mentor's family. He is, after all, only able to speak to you through the portrait; so actually showing you his memories isn't possible."

"This is a waste of time," Scorpius declared; but Harry didn't need to do more than nudge him to get him to go along.

He didn't use the memory the same way that he'd done the first time with Dumbledore, but there were limits; so Scorpius was able to see that scene with the Ministry official play out as Harry talked with him – and introduced him to Tom's mother, grandfather, and uncle. Despite his claims, Harry knew that Scorpius was shocked by what he saw; and he took extra time discussing the Gant family and their valid lineage back to Salazar Slytherin – including the family plunge into poverty and ruin. Once that groundwork was laid; he moved on to introduce Scorpius to the paternal side of Tom's family – and hit his first mental roadblock.

"Meet Tom Riddle," Harry told him as they watched the memory of the handsome young man. "Your mentor's father and namesake."

"He's not!" Scorpius spat. "That's one of the lies you've told about Thomas!"

Harry laughed. "You can look at him and still say that when his son looked just like him as a teen and young man? You didn't doubt my confirmation that Tom was truly Slytherin's heir; but now choose to ignore what you see just because it doesn't fit with what you've been told? That's your bias – not mine; since I don't believe in judging anyone on their blood status or family – you included."

"This is a lie!" Scorpius insisted; but didn't sound as though he was even convincing himself with that declaration.

"It isn't," Harry insisted. "Tom Riddle was the son and heir of a wealthy Muggle family. Tom's mother enchanted him for reasons that should be obvious to you; and then messed up by thinking that he'd love her – and their child – without the enchantments. She was wrong about that, and as you'll see next; she likely died of a broken heart after giving birth to Tom in the Muggle orphanage where he was then left and grew up."

"I don't believe you," Scorpius declared stubbornly, but Harry was moving them along to that next memory by then; and gave him no choice but to watch what happened next.

Harry had a lot of memories to show Scorpius, and hwile the boy fought against what he was shown more often than not; he couldn't avoid the truths he was shown – even if he could continue to deny them. While he used all of the memories he'd viewed with Dumbledore, Harry added in many of his own memories straight through until Tom's death at the Battle of Hogwarts. That took a long time to do; so it was late-afternoon by the time they 'jumped out' of the pensieve. Harry summoned two cold drinks; and didn't need to invite Scorpius to sit in the chair again.

"Take some time to think about all of that," Harry suggested after taking a long drink and sitting down too. "While you're doing that; let's get to the point of this meeting. Possessing a portrait of Tom Riddle is not a crime; and neither is studying the Dark Arts. You can, however, be held accountable for any crimes committed using the sorts of Dark Arts artifacts and objects that you've been sending as anonymous gifts; so I'd strongly recommend that you stop doing that immediately because you will not like how this will end if you do not stop – or if those gifts are used to hurt anyone here at Hogwarts or elsewhere."

"If you know as much as you claim; then why am I not on my way home?" Scorpius asked suspiciously.

"Because we've decided to give you this chance to choose another path for yourself than the one you're currently on," Harry told him earnestly. "The one you're on – the one that Tom wants for his own selfish reasons – leads to certain trouble with me – and you've just seen for yourself how that ended for him."

"You're threatening to kill me?" Scorpius asked in shock; and Harry shook his head.

"I didn't kill Tom," he pointed out. "His own rebounding killing curse did – along with his ego and inability to concede defeat. I felt sorry for him, Scorpius. He was likely never shown any love by anyone, or if he was; he rejected it and chose hate and the dark. This has nothing to do with blood status – it's a choice we all make; and need to do over and over again over the course of our entire lives. You're loved, and have the capacity to love; or you wouldn't be risking so much to have your not-so-secret romance with Lysandra Lestrange." He smiled at Scorpius' reaction to that unexpected news flash.

"I'm not going to drag this out endlessly. You know the risks to your future now should you continue to cause harm to others – even when you try to do that indirectly through your aid or manipulation of others. It's time for you to take a serious look at what you want for your life. I can't see what will come of your choices anymore than you can, but I have seen where the dark path leads, and win or lose in life; it ends in an eternity of the complete opposite of love and light – as Tom Riddle now knows all too well."

"You're trying to frighten me into doing what you want," Scorpius protested.

"I'm pointing out to you what should be obvious to any Dark Wizard or Witch – that I will be here to stand against you should you decide to try and impose your will on others; cause harm; or take what you want by force."

"Yet you don't have a problem with imposing your will on us," Scorpius shot back.

"I don't do that – and if I did; we'd be having this conversation at Auror Headquarters," Harry advised him. "You need to look no further than your own home for proof of that. I do not agree with many of the things your father and grandparents choose to do with their lives, but they do no harm to anyone except themselves; and they've a right to do as they wish – as long as they keep it that way. The 'we' you're referring to could only be Dark Wizards and Witches if you mean that I impose laws and rules that they don't recognize because they believe that they should be allowed to do whatever they want regardless of the impact on others. From that perspective; you're right. While you're thinking about all of this, though; don't forget that true Dark Wizards and Witches believe that for everyone. That's a serious problem too if a more-powerful Dark Wizard or witch wants what you have. Tom Riddle certainly had no qualms about killing even his closest followers if he thought it would further his own goals."

"He was always true to the cause," Scorpius declared.

"The Pureblood cause? Do you still believe that after all that I've shown you? Seriously?" Harry challenged. "Tom Riddle was a powerful Dark Wizard and a megalomaniac with delusions of ruling the entire world – including enslaving all Muggles." He laughed; but not really with any sense of amusement. "I don't know why anyone would want that! I've been Head of the Aurors for well-over a decade now; and I can assure you from experience that being in charge of even a department at the Ministry of Magic can be a royal pain in the butt."

"Then do us a favor and quit," Scorpius suggested.

"I will – eventually," Harry assured him. "What I was getting at, though, is that any leader has to give up a lot – and in the case of would-be Dark Lords; to what end? A certain eternal darkness? A lifetime of never-ending battles that would include always needing to watch your back to be sure that one of your followers doesn't decide to try and take over? I've had to give up what I'm sure could have been a brilliant Quidditch career if I hadn't joined the Aurors instead. Ask yourself what price will be expected of you – whether you could succeed with whatever goals your portrait-mentor has promised is possible for you or not!" His expression hardened; and he allowed his power to shine for the second time of the afternoon. "Whatever you decide, Scorpius; be sure that if you come after me and mine; the cost will be high. This will be the one and only chance I'll give you; so I'd strongly suggest that you take it." He gave that a few long moments to sink in; and then he stood up.

"That's it, Scorpius. "What you do from now on is entirely up to you, but I will be watching; and, as you should have figured out by now, not even the Room of Requirements can protect your secrets from me."

Al had sensed at lunchtime that something was going on without actually seeing Professor Longbottom together with James; and had felt more as the afternoon rolled along, but he also kept busy helping Gwendolyn and their friends with a blast of weekend revision work for most of the afternoon. He had been searching for answers by dinnertime, though, so while he didn't have many details; he knew that James and Scorpius were having their own private issues because of the encounters they'd each had with the Head of the Aurors. In James' case, he didn't think that anything had changed at all. The hatred directed his way was as strong as it had been on Saturday night, and while his brother was conflicted about what to do next; Al didn't feel even a trace of regret or guilt over his most-recent actions.

Scorpius, on the other hand; was an emotional and mental mess – though you wouldn't know that from looking at him. Al didn't know how much of that his father would have been able to sense – quite possibly all of it; but there was no doubt that his intervention had a true impact on Scorpius. There was no hint of foreknowledge that came with what Al sensed from Scorpius, but that wasn't good or bad; since it meant that Scorpius wasn't too far down the path to the Dark to return and go a different way.

The mixed feelings that came with all of that for Al affected the rest of his evening, but he put on a show too; since he and Gwendolyn went ahead with a special Valentine's Day family fun evening with Lily, Jonah, and Malorie. They met up after dinner; started their play time out with some gifts for Malorie that they assured her the babies would have picked out for her had they been old-enough to do that for their mother; and then Al had offered a bonus gift of a bit of healing while doing the weekly mother and babies check-up. There'd been music time; the mirror chat with Harry and Ginny; and then a wind down bit of teen time before Malorie wanted to leave; and then Lily and Jonah went off on their own too so that Al and Gwendolyn could have a bit of Valentine's Day alone time.

Ending the day and weekend with a bit of quality snogging made for some great Valentine's Day memories, but their time was up too soon; they packed up; and Al walked Gwendolyn home with just a short side trip to the Owlery to send Winter off with her weekly Owl Post. Once back in his own House, Al had a few cameo visits with Rose, a few friends, and with Lucy and Louis before heading up to bed. He didn't see James at all because he didn't get back to the common room before curfew; but then that hadn't surprised him at all. That was one little show of defiance against authority that he managed to get away with more often than not; and it was, after all, Valentine's Day – even if it wouldn't be anymore by the time James did get 'home' and back to his dorm room.

They still had half of February ahead of them as Al settled into his bed and began to read himself to sleep, but Valentine's Day felt like an ending to Al as he wound down from a weekend that had ended up being another crazy ride of good and bad moments. That was partly because they had a full school week ahead of them before they'd get to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match, so that couldn't quite be lumped in with the holiday this year; but it was also because they were about to start the annual slog through the last weeks of winter that would take them through to the Easter holiday.

For this year, that would be seven weeks of intense studies; extra revision; and the usual added activities – including three school Quidditch matches. As he thought about that, Al wished that he could know more about what to expect - even though he usually wished that he knew less than he did. In this case, though, he wished that he didn't need to worry about potential problems with James or Scorpius as they reacted to his father's interventions with each of them. Malorie's pregnancy was proving to be an unexpected joy in his life, but there were real risks with that too – especially if word got out about her secret before she could finish her NEWT year and write her exams.

Whatever might be ahead of him, Al resolved to be ready for anything. He also wanted to have fun along the way with Gwendolyn, Lily, and their family and friends. Getting to help and watch Gryffindor win a Quidditch match or two would be a nice bonus if they could manage that too; but having fun with that really was still most-important to him – even if he was sure that they'd have more fun with the wins!

Life was proving to be as unpredictable as Quidditch matches often were, though, so as Al eventually drifted off to sleep – and did that before half of his roommates finished with their Valentine's Day fun with their respective girlfriends; the only thing he knew for sure was that his own, personal adventure would continue in the morning. He'd need to leave it to fate and time to find out what mix of good and bad would come his way, but as always; he hoped that love and happiness would always win out – and more than off-set the inevitable not-so-much fun moments that everyone faced from time-to-time in their lives.

Seven weeks without any trouble or major teen drama might be too much to hope for, all things considered, but that was still a possibility – even for a major trouble-magnet; so Al dreamed well during those transition hours that led him through to the second half of February; crossed his fingers; and hoped for the best!


	43. March Matches

Chapter Forty-Three – March Matches

Hogwarts Quidditch began to take over the school gossip network by Monday morning; but Valentine's Day teen drama still had top billing too as relationships blossomed or ended because of good or bad experiences. James and Scorpius didn't make a splash on the gossip scene for anything that Al had a hand in bringing about; though James was gossiped about for his Valentine's Day weekend activities with Bristol, Patricia, and Rosinda.

Al kept a mental watch on both of them, but he also needed to get focused on his own studies right from first class on Monday because their Professors really did start to pile on the work again with Valentine's Day out of the way. That wasn't easy with the distraction of another big Quidditch match; and Al and Rose put in extra time on their Quidditch on Monday and Wednesday afternoons while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practices. Roxanne's twelfth birthday was on Tuesday too, and while Al couldn't go to her party because Fred and Lily hosted that for her between the junior team practice and dinnertime; he and Gwendolyn and Rose all helped with the set-up for her party while the junior team practice was in-progress; so they lost even more study time while doing that.

Other than the Quidditch and birthday distractions, though, Al spent the rest of his time in classes or studying – not including the breaks for meals. RevisionWizard became increasingly more important to him for keeping up with the workload – and was the main reason that he didn't need to stay up half of every night that week to keep up with the workload. One of the bonuses that came along with being too busy, though, was that it seemed as though Friday arrived very quickly; and even their team curfew-shortened study evening seemed to be a blur of busy that was done with before Al was ready to make the transition to Quidditch game mode. All of that work still helped when it was time to go to sleep on Friday night, though; and the extra rest after four late nights helped to make sure that Al was at full-power by the time he woke up on Saturday morning.

"I hope you got me a one-sixty lead for my good luck gift," Rose told Al as she accepted the gift and then hugged him. "Good morning. You look rested and ready to play; so I guess that you didn't sneak out after team curfew and party all night."

"Is that a lead in for some news I won't want to hear?" Al asked; and Rose laughed.

"No – though Bristol did wake me up temporarily when she wandered into our dorm room and got ready for bed a few hours after curfew. I doubt she was in the common room playing mirror games or watching a show – unless there actually are some rumors I haven't heard about yet. Let's get going and I'll open this along the way."

"How are you doing this morning?" Al asked as he grabbed his gear bag and then took hers too before following her toward the portrait hole.

"You likely know better than I do; but thanks for asking," Rose teased with a smile. "I feel pretty good about our chances today. We couldn't have done more than we have to get ready without letting our school work slide. You helped me a lot with those extra practices; and I hope to do pretty well against Francine, Roman, and Jonah. If we get the Chaser match-ups we want; our biggest worry might be the duel between James and Alex. We won't know until the game starts which James will show up."

"James played well-enough on Tuesday and Thursday," Al pointed out. "He'll likely be ready today – and we can hope that his ego is too big for him to even think about messing up just because he's furious with me again."

"I keep hoping; but then he seems better; and then goes and tries something horrid like he did last weekend," Rose told him seriously. "Maybe having him keep it all bottled up inside just makes things worse; and he gets to a point where all of the rotten needs to explode."

"That's an interesting idea," Al mused thoughtfully. "Maybe we could come up with a way for James to vent all of that hate without hurting anyone."

"It's too bad that he has such low regard for the other spots on the team; since being a Beater might do that for him," Rose offered. "I don't know if he'd be any good at it; but bashing bludgers around is one of the most tiring jobs on the team."

"Francine wants to play in the show with Alice," Al reminded her. "Let me know if you still feel that way after the game."

Rose laughed. "Al, there's a very good chance that the player having the toughest match today is going to be Myra Graves."

"Maybe I should be worried about that," Al suggested with a grin. "I might regret having a good day against her if she gets one of the bands to come up with another song about me."

"Well, if she got James to help her out with that; it might work for that venting thing for him; so it might be exactly what we need – and the funny song would just be a great bonus!"

The scary in that was having the start of a song pop into his head, but Al didn't share that with Rose. She opened her good luck gift; they had a fun walk and talk that centered on Quidditch and getting ready for the match; and then he had more fun before and after breakfast with Gwendolyn as she helped him to get ready for the match by putting a bit of fun into his life. The hugs and kisses were great too, and part of the fun; but she also reminded Al that it really was all about the fun, and while she thought that he'd help his team win too; that would just be a bonus. Gwendolyn walked him out to the stadium because the weather was actually pretty good for three-quarters of the way through February, but they kept that last good luck hug and kisses short so that he could get into the locker room and focused on the job at hand.

He was first to get there, but it wasn't long before Olivia, Lucy, and Rose joined him; the McClaggens weren't far behind; and James brought up the rear – though he was still on-time; and played nice with everyone except Al and Rose. Ignoring them as if they weren't even there actually worked for Al, though, and while he didn't like what he sensed from James; he at least had definitely come to play – even if that was in a way that wasn't with a joyful heart and love of the game.

"Are you ready for some Quidditch?" Teresa shouted out and asked her audience.

"Yes, we are – and thanks for asking!" Kylie answered. "Good morning; and welcome to game six of the Hogwarts Quidditch season!"

"And a big match-up it's going to be today," Teresa said enthusiastically. "Our defending senior team champions, Hufflepuff, need this win to catch up to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in the race for the Quidditch Cup; while Gryffindor will want to stay undefeated this season and get a one-win lead over Ravenclaw heading into the second half of the season!"

"Well, you and I are both biased about what we want for that," Kylie suggested; "so let's stick to the facts and hope for the best."

"We can do that," Teresa agreed. "Our top fact of the day might be the weather; and I'm happy to report that we are expecting the temperature to warm even a bit more today; and no snow or rain is expected."

"I'll hope that won't be the most exciting news of the day," Kylie told her; "and I don't expect that it will be. This is only the second match of the season for each of these teams, but while Gryffindor won their first match; Hufflepuff played hard right to the end in their tough loss to Ravenclaw; and they'll be hoping for better today."

"Quite a few of us in three Houses are hoping right along with them; but we're showing our bias again; so let's get back to the facts. For the Quidditch Cup race; Gryffindor currently has first place with two wins and no losses – though they also have the points tie-break too if you only want to count the two wins when comparing them to second-place Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff can move up today from third place with another win; while Slytherin will stay in fourth place at least until their next junior team match in two weeks against Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaw has the lead in the race for the senior team title with their two wins, but I probably shouldn't have mentioned that; since it's one more reason for Gryffindor to want the win today – to set up a winner-takes-all showdown between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in May!"

"That could happen for the senior team title," Teresea agreed; "but it's still a bit early in the season to say that about the race for the Quidditch Cup."

"True, but it isn't too early for us to invite the teams out into the stadium and tell you all about them; so let's do that right now! Come on out, Gryffindor – you're the alphabetically-first contestants for today's Quidditch match!"

Al felt the adrenaline kick in as he and Rose took off side-by-side and they followd James and the McClaggens into the stadium – and then high into the air above the pitch. That was a feeling that he hoped he would always have at game time; and he smiled brilliantly as they made their lap of the stadium while Kylie Cootes introduced each of them. He was a bit embarrassed about his own stats, but only because they were better than anyone else's on the team. He was happy for Rose, though; and especially loved the joke that Kylie made about Rose being undefeated as a Keeper – with the joke being tinged with hope that her winning streak would come to an end today. It was also fun being jeered by a majority of fans in three Houses while the Gryffindor faithful cheered for them; and the best part of that lap around the stadium was the brief moment of eye contact he was able to make with Gwendolyn as he passed that section of the stadium and he'd been able to locate where she was sitting with Lily and Jonah.

They landed; Hufflepuff was introduced; and he watched their entrance while listening to Teresa's introductions. Alex looked best when it came to his stats, but Al knew that Francine was better than her statistics suggested – just as that had been true for Alice during her last season with Hufflepuff. That was true for Myra too, but Al was hit by a strong sense that both Witches were going to be in for a tough day as he continued to watch them. There was a tinge of empathy for them mixed in with that, but it was also a good sign for his team; so he couldn't help but feel happy too. The Hufflepuff introduction didn't take any longer than it had for Gryffindor, but it felt longer while waiting on the pitch; so Al was glad when Mr. Peakes ripped through his fair play speech; Olivia and Alex shook hands; and then Lucy and Francine lined up together as the Chasers their Captains had designated to make that all-important first race to the quaffle.

Al took up position to Lucy's left while Olivia was to the right; and he wasn't surprised when Jonah Finche-Fletchley stepped up next to him and nodded. He didn't look happy; so that was a huge contrast between them as Al smiled happily and quietly wished him good luck just before Mr. Peakes tossed the quaffle high into the air and they took off. Francine chased after Lucy until she was more than a broom-length behind; and then she peeled off on an angle that would give her the defensive advantage. Jonah had stayed with Al, and tried to stay between him and Lucy to prevent a pass once Lucy grabbed the quaffle and turned toward the Hufflepuff goals; but Al had changed his angle too; and pulled off his part of their preferred opening play by blocking Francine and Jonah into one direction while Lucy crossed paths behind him and was then able to get behind Francine and in on goals against Myra. She didn't score with that first shot, since Myra made a great save; but she couldn't control the rebound; and Al was able to recover it to help keep his team on offense.

He hadn't been able to go in for another shot with Lucy still in the zone around the goals, but he was able to get a pass to Olivia; she got it back to Lucy; and Myra made another great save on shot number two. The game just got faster and tougher from there; but Al loved the challenge – and was having a blast as he settled into his Chaser battle against Jonah – and did his best to work with Lucy and Olivia in their overall battle against Hufflepuff. Jonah wasn't having nearly as much fun, but then that was true for all of the Hufflepuff players – and their fans. While Myra opened with a brilliant start to her match, that didn't last long; while Rose had an even better start – and then had a shut-out going through the first hour of the match while Al, Lucy, and Olivia scored two goals each against Myra.

The shots on goal in that first hour were fairly-close between the two teams, but Al was able to take Jonah out of every play; and that made Rose's job a lot easier when she could narrow her focus to Francine and Roman – and Francine was having a tough time against Lucy and her Lightningbolt. While she was brilliant in goals; Al was having an equally-brilliant Chaser battle – and he kept getting better and better as the match rolled on. While he tried to help Lucy and Olivia as best he could, his Chaser battle was the biggest mismatch; he scored on a higher percentage of shots than they did; and that began to add up through the second hour as he had six of Gryffindor's ten goals. Hufflepuff only scored one goal in that second hour, but while that did crack through Rose's shut-out; it wasn't the breakthrough that Hufflpuff needed – and Al earned the one-sixty lead for Gryffindor early in the third hour.

Francine led a furious counter-attack to try and get that goal back, but that attempt left them vulnerable too; and Al scored three more goals in a row before Hufflepuff was forced to back off and try a different tactic. They were able to score two more goals on Rose in that third hour, but Al had been on a roll by then and scored ten of twelve for Gryffindor; and they took a commanding two-eighty to thirty lead into the fourth hour. Alex hadn't tried for a catch for the loss during that third hour; so Al didn't back off from playing his best as the lead continued to build; but he did finally let up after scroring two more early goals in the fourth hour. The game wasn't as much fun for him after that because even though Alex did start trying to catch the snitch for the loss; James only pretended to back off – and he wasn't playing nice with Alex as he continued to fight for the Seeker duel win even though the match was getting out of hand through that fourth hour.

For her part, Olivia wanted her team to collectively back off, but then she and Lucy couldn't resist the challenge against Francine, Roman, and Myra; and they each scored more goals while having fun with their personal battles – and because Al switched to setting up plays instead of scoring goals himself. The score was three-ninety to forty as they rolled into the fifth hour, and it took the announcement that lunch was being served for Olivia to finally decide that she needed to take steps to end the match. Gryffindor scored one more goal before she called a time-out; and the players on both teams were able to have some food and drinks while taking that little break. Olivia waited until their food was delivered by some volunteers; and then she gathered her team into a huddle around their team bench.

"It's time to end this match," she advised them; directing her statement at James. "You haven't really backed off in your duel with Alex, and I get why, James; but we can't run it up on Hufflepuff like this – it isn't right."

"I'm trying to end it," James retorted. "Tell Alex to back off; and I will do that."

"You know he doesn't want to give up another hundred and fifty points," she pointed out. "It's up to you to do the right thing."

"So I get screwed again," James shot back angrily. "I won't do it!"

"You will; or I'll go and talk with Alex right now and I'm sure he'll agree to just end this match with a Captain's agreement. That would actually be better for us, but he might go for it and split the difference instead of risking a three hundred point turnaround if you'd be able to catch the snitch."

"What do you want more, James – a Quidditch Cup or a Seeker duel win?" Tiberius asked him.

"I want both," James shot back. "I didn't hear our glorious leader telling the rest of you to back off. She didn't seem to have a problem with the loser there running it up on Hufflepuff; but now I'm expected to suck it up and take one for the team – so that their team doesn't look as pathetic as they are!"

"So do that with a bit of flare," Brock suggested with a grin. "Olivia isn't bluffing, so if I had to pick; I'd go with putting on a show while we wait for Alex to end the match – which shouldn't take long if Tiberius and I back off too."

"Don't back off so much that Calvin and Eldon can knock our heads off," Olivia told him; "but I'm okay with that – as long as you don't get insulting about it – and for the record; Al did back off during the last hour – Lucy and I are to blame for having too much fun in our battles against Francine and Roman; so I'll take the hit for letting this get out of hand."

"And we'll let you do that," Tiberius offered with a grin. "Do you agree, James; or should Olivia go and talk with Alex now?"

"As if I've a choice," james groused. "You should have just had Brandon play today if you wanted to lose the Seeker duel."

"You've kept Alex from winning it until we could have the match won," Olivia pointed out. "Brandon might have been able to do that too; but you were our best shot at that – and we should all give a lot of the credit to Rose today; since we wouldn't have this lead if she wasn't playing so brilliantly in goals for us."

James had snorted at that, but Al was happy to have Rose get the credit she deserved while being left out of the spotlight. It wasn't much longer before the game resumed, and while Al would have preferred that James didn't have as much fun as he did while Alex was completely left alone to search for and catch the snitch; James definitely entertained all of the spectators with his flying tricks as he goofed off with some help from Tiberius and Brock as they even earned some roars of laughter for bashing bludgers at James that he happily avoided with more flying tricks that made it look like they were playing some aerial version of Muggle dodgeball. They played at that for another eleven minutes until Alex ended the game, and while they'd backed off too; Olivia had still ended up scoring one last goal for Gryffindor.

Final score – four-ten to one-ninety!

For Al, the post-game fun and the party in the Gryffindor common room were activities he needed to get through so that he could get to his evening plans with Gwendolyn for some quality alone time. He'd also tried his best to downplay his own successes on the day; but he still earned more attention than he'd have liked because of his twenty-three goals and sixteen assists. Too many teens and tweens noticed that he'd been in on thirty-nine of their team's forty-one goals; but then that also helped Rose quite a bit when that was compared to her brilliant Keeper performance. Only letting in one goal for every ten that her team scored really was stellar; and she was certainly the hands-on favorite to win the senior team Keeper title.

James had changed his tune by the end of the game because he'd earned a major boost to his reputation for the way he'd ended the game. Unlike Al, he'd been happy to bask in the spotlight as he was praised for his good sportsmanship and entertainment skills. None of his team mates called him out on that, and everyone else was oblivious to the team drama during the time-out; so it was all fun and games for James for the rest of the day. Okay, it was all fun and games for Al for the rest of the day too; but their ideas of what that should include were still very different. Al watched the Quidditch match that was on the mirror network during most of the party; and James' idea of fun included setting off whizz-bangs right there in the common room – along with setting off a half-dozen different wheezes while also playing around with as many Witches as he could flirt with – and get to share hugs, kisses, or more with him.

There had been lots of time in the afternoon for that party, but while some of the teens and tweens kept the party going after dinner; Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own. They played a bit of music; talked about the Quidditch match; watched a show or two on the mirror network; and spent the majority of that time snogging each other senseless! Ending their 'day off' with those hours of teen-rated time for two had been brilliant, but Al was worn out by the time he got back to his dorm room just after curfew; so he got ready for bed; and happily went off to sleep without any need to wind down with any work or studying before being ready to crash into nap mode.

Scorpius waited nervously for Lysandra to arrive. He had the Room of Requirements opened already; and his head was on a swivel as he looked everywhere around him for any sign of being watched. Of course, he hadn't seen a thing any other time that he'd actually used the room; and simply had to hope that he'd be right about his guess that the Aurors would not be so voyeuristic as to spy on a teen couple – even if he was being observed right then and there.

That thought sent a thrill of fear shooting through him; and that was a feeling that had been with him a lot over the past week since Harry Potter's intervention. Fear was just one emotion that he'd been dealing with as he tried to process everything he'd seen and been told – particularly the things that had shattered some deep-set beliefs and shaken his trust in his mentor. He had new perspective on his own family too; and that had been troubling him as well. At first, he'd wanted more than anything to reject everything he'd learned, but hwile he hated the messenger more than ever; he couldn't ignore the truths that had been in that message.

Thomas had lied to him.

Not about everything – but he had lied for reasons that were now-obvious in hindsight. Now, he felt no sense of pride or anything else at being the Dark Lord's chosen protege – Slytherin's heir had practically been a mudblood with his Muggle father and a pathetic-excuse for a mother who had barely been more than a squib! The admission enraged him, but Harry Potter had been right about what Tom Riddle had truly been – and that had not been a champion of the pureblood cause.

Once he came to terms with that change in his perception of reality; he'd needed to resist the urge to simply take Thomas' portrait and destroy it! That would have been an easy end to it, but then the more he'd thought about it; the more he'd considered how everything that had happened would affect his own plans and goals. Regardless of what he now knew that Thomas was and wasn't; he still wanted the same things he'd been working toward before the 'intervention' from the Head of the Aurors. He wanted his rightful place among the Pureblood families – and he wanted to help them to regain all that had been taken from them too! New ideas for how to achieve those dreams without allowing Tom Riddle to use him any longer for his own, true goals had led him to asking Lysandra to meet with him, and while he wasn't going to be able to be completely-honest with her about everything, he knew what he wanted and needed to do; and hoped that she'd want to help him to work toward a new future where they could be together and make all of their dreams come true.

Step one in that new plan would be to turn the tables on his painted, lying, deceitful mentor; and use Thomas to get what he wanted for a change!

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching; and the sense of nervous fear spiked within him again. He sighed audibly when he saw Lysandra arrive in the hallway; wished that she'd run to him; and then waited impatiently as she caught up with him and then went ahead of him into the Room of Requirements.

"What's going on?" she asked as he closed the door behind them. "You're acting very strangely; and I'm taking a big risk tonight."

"I know, and I'm sorry; but this is really important – and I need your help."

"You know I'll do that if I can," she promised. "What's happened? Does this have something to do with why Slughorn came looking for you last weekend?"

"Yes; and what's wrong is that I'm being watched by the Aurors," he advised her; and she stared at him in disbelief. "Seriously," he insisted. "Slughorn dragged me off to a meeting with Harry Potter in Longbottom's office. He looked around nervously; and then shrugged to himself. "I'm hoping they're not watching me right now because you're here with me."

"Scorpius, this doesn't make any sense," Lysandra told him. "Why would the Aurors be watching you?"

"Because they've somehow found out that I've been behind some anonymous gifts that have been used by James Potter and others to cause some problems around here," he admitted in a rush; and nodded as her eyes went wide again.

"You had a hand in some of the things that James has been doing to the Animorphloser and some of the other attacks?" she breathed; and he nodded.

"There's more," he advised her; and walked over to the table that had an extra-large armchair that was large-enough for two next to it. He put his book bag on it; opened it; and pulled out Thomas' portrait. By then, Lysandra was beside him; and looked at him in confusion. "Lysandra – meet Thomas – also known as Lord Voldemort." This time; her jaw dropped in open-mouthed astonishment; and he smiled grimly. "I believe she's heard of you, Thomas," he added; and then frowned when Thomas didn't so much as budge. He had to keep the flash of anger hidden deep inside as he looked at the portrait for the first time since his meeting with Harry Potter, but there was a hint of worry now too; since his plans for this meeting with Lysandra would not work out at all if Thomas refused to reveal himself to her.

"We don't have time for games, Thomas. In case you didn't hear anything I've just said; Harry Potter has found out about everything I've been doing around here – and knows about your portrait – and the fact that you've been mentoring me in the Dark Arts. Lysandra is here because I don't think the Aurors would spy on me if they think I'm just in here snogging her; but I also think that she can help me – us – to decide what to do next." He paused; but Thomas didn't move or speak. Glancing at Lysandra, he was glad to see that she didn't show any signs of doubting him; but he looked annoyed when he turned to face Thomas again.

"Okay, here's the deal. Harry Potter had a meeting with me last Sunday afternoon – on Valentine's Day. He made it very clear to me that his visit was an intervention; threatened to come after me if I don't stop what I've been doing; and strongly recommended that I choose a different path."

"Why isn't he saying anything?" Lysandra asked after Scorpius paused; and Thomas still didn't so much a move as a painted muscle.

"Because I've brought you here – and in on my biggest secret," he answered. "He has been teaching me magic for years now; though I couldn't actually practice any of it until we started here at Hogwarts." He glanced back at Thomas' portrait; but there was still nothing. "If he is going to refuse to talk to us, though; then I'd like you to help me with deciding what to do. I don't think that it's safe for me to keep his portrait anymore. I've been thinking about it all week; and just think it's too risky. Harry Potter told me that I wasn't breaking any laws by having it, and admitted that he no grounds to stop me from studying the Dark Arts; but he also made it clear that he was going to be watching and ready to act if I do anything he can nail me for – like giving anyone my anonymous gifts." He shook his head and sighed. "Merlin, Lysandra, when I saw him in that office; I thought I was done for!"

"Are you certain that he knows everything?" Lysandra asked; and Scorpius shrugged.

"I doubt that he does – and I guess he admitted that he doesn't; since he doesn't know where I got the portrait; and that likely means he doesn't know how long I've had it either."

"But he knows you've been behind some of the things that have been used in attacks on students here at the school?" Lysandra said; and Scorpius nodded. "Do you know which ones he knows about?" Scorpius thought about that for a minute before answering; and Lysandra had him sit down with her while he did that.

"He didn't specify even one of them," Scorpius answered, "but he obviously knew about them; and the timing of the meeting last Sunday suggests that an attempt must have been made to use the last one I sent – though that attempt must have failed or we'd have heard about it for sure."

"That's a bit cryptic," Lysandra decided. "What did you send – and to whom?"

"A necklace with multiple curses and other surprises that were also time-delayed so that there'd be a good chance that at least a few people would be affected by it before the first victim showed any symptoms – and I sent it to James."

"And thought that it would be a nice Valentine's gift for the Animorphloser and his potty-trainer," Lysandra said with a nod. With a bit of luck; you'd take out a few of their friends along the way."

"That's pretty much what I was hoping, yes," he agreed. "I've thought about giving up on those gifts before, since they've been misused and wasted most of the time; but Thomas has always convinced me to keep trying." He looked at the portrait again; but Thomas still refused to 'come to life' and talk with him. "In hindsight; maybe I should have done that."

"There's no way you could have known that the Aurors were watching you," Lysandra suggested. "Then again – maybe they weren't. The Animorphloser could've done that and you'd have never noticed – unless you've been on the lookout for suspicious-looking insects or any other small animal that could have hitched a ride with you – or simply flown in when you opened the room."

"That is possible," Scorpius agreed – "and I wouldn't put it past the Animorphpotty to do just that and then run off to rat me out to his father."

"Whatever happened, though; you're right about needing to decide what to do," Lysandra said thoughtfully; and she looked at Thomas' portrait now too. "Where did you get it?"

"I found it among my Great-Aunt Bellatrix's personal things," he answered. "Grandmother likely took a few family heirlooms when her things were sent to us; but the rest was put away in storage. I rummaged around in all of that old stuff when I was younger; came across the portrait; and then Thomas and I spent quite some time getting to know each other before he trusted me with his story – and revealing his true identity."

"Well, it doesn't seem as though he's going to trust me," she suggested.

"I hope that he will," Scorpius told her. "I've been thinking about this all week; and what I think that I should do is give the portrait to you to pass along to your parents. That will only be useful if he's willing to talk with you – and with them. I've no doubt that I am being watched now, though, however that's being done; so I don't see any way to continue my lessons with Thomas – or continue making our plans for the future if everything we talk about is overheard."

"That's all true," Lysandra agreed, "but if you think the Aurors won't watch you when I'm here with you; maybe we could continue – though I'd want to know what you mean by 'making plans' for the future."

Scorpius grinned at her. "I want to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time; while Thomas thinks we'll likely have to take it back for all true Purebloods by force."

"That's a worthy goal to be sure," Lysandra approved. "Why couldn't we do that together?"

"We could," Scorpius agreed; "but I still don't think that we can do that with Thomas' direct help without putting you at risk with the Aurors too. Then there's the fact that it would be seriously awkward to have thomas' portrait here with us whenever we want to have the me and you kind of alone time – and I mean that for all of us."

"There is that," Lysandra agreed with a small laugh. "What's your alternate plan?"

"Destroy the portrait tonight and be done with it," Scorpius said; his expression turning very serious. "If Thomas doesn't want to come up with a new plan or help your parents and their allies in the fight against our enemies; then there is no point in keeping the portrait – and I'm not willing to just leave it somewhere for any fool to stumble across."

"This portrait is priceless, Scorpius – if Thomas will help us." She looked at it again speculatively. "You must be listening to everything we're saying," she told Thomas. "I'll guess that you wouldn't be fond of plan 'B' for what Scorpius thinks he should do about this; but he's right – and you know it. I should tell you that his preferred plan might not work out for you either; since I've no idea what my parents would decide to do with your portrait. Things have changed quite a lot since your Death Eaters were in charge, but my family and our friends still want many of the same things that you did, and if you were willing to help them; I suspect that they'd at least give you a chance to do so."

"But you think there's a chance that they'd discard him?" Scorpius asked; and Lysandra shrugged.

"There's a chance," she agreed; "but that would likely be a decision that all of the family Heads would make together." She smiled then. "Actually, I might have a suggestion that would help you and Thomas with that – something I've been thinking about for a while."

"What's that?" Scorpius asked with true interest.

"If we presented Thomas' portrait to them along with a plan for something big; they'll be more interested in using his knowledge and council. My idea is for us – our families – to orchestrate an amnesty for all of the members of our families that are still in Azkaban. The twenty-fifth anniversary for the Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the war is in about two years, and if they started working on it now; I think we could get enough votes in the Wizengamot to make that happen."

"Would your parents and the others even want that?" Scorpius asked. "If they succeedded; they'd no longer be in charge of your family fortune."

"They may be in charge, but they can't do whatever they want," Lysandra pointed out – "and they'd be well –rewarded if they could get all of the former Death Eaters out of prison. We'd also have the best and strongest of us back again – and maybe have a real chance to finish what they started during the war."

"It is an interesting idea," Scorpius conceded.

"I really think it could work," she advised him. "Azkaban is expensive to run; we'd likely have no trouble fooling the soft-hearted idiots on the Wizengamot; and they're going to need to do something eventually anyway. From everything I know of how the prisoners are treated; those life sentences could last a century or more for some of them. They can't seriously plan on keeping a prison full of Death Eaters until they die."

"What do you think, Thomas?" Scorpius asked his painted friend. "Would you like to have a say in this; or should I go ahead and end this connection you still have with the Wizarding World?"

"You would not truly do that," Thomas told him; his expression solemn and unhappy.

"I would not want to do it," Scorpius corrected; silently sighing in relief while also fighting the urge to lash out at Thomas in retaliation for the years of lies and deceit. "If you leave me with no other choice; I definitely will before I'll leave your portrait just lying around – not even here in this room; since I've no idea whether someone could stumble across it by accident."

"Leaving it to fate might be interesting," Thomas suggested; "but do you truly understand what you're giving up if you do this?"

"You're suggesting that I cannot achieve my goals for the future without you," Scorpius deduced; though he masked the true bitterness he felt as he mixed in a few truths and admissions meant to help his cuase with Lysandra. "Most of the things that I want for our future are the same as what all true Purebloods want, and while I may or may not be destined to lead us to victory over our enemies; I am also not so egotistical to believe that I'm the only Wizard brilliant-enough to make that happen." He smiled at Thomas; and enjoyed getting in that back-handed insult without Thomas seeming to even notice the true meaning behind the comment. "Be honest – you've expected all along to be the brains while I was to be the magical power because that's beyond you now. If you could help the current pureblood leaders – and your former Death Eaters too; if you think that Lysandra's idea is a good one; then I would be willing to do my part – and then maybe earn my right to lead once Lysandra and I have finished taking over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan, theatre lover, and mirror network viewer at a time. Whatever the case, I am sure that we cannot continue to do what we have been when I am sure that Harry Potter was not bluffing about his ability to keep an eye on me – however he's doing that."

"It seems that you have given this some serious thought," Thomas conceded; and then turned his attention and gaze toward Lysandra. "You're not what I expected," he told her. "While your family was always among my most-loyal Death Eaters and followers, to be blunt; they usually left the heavy thinking to others."

"My parents gave all of that and then some to my older brother," Lysandra joked. "You're not what I expected either – and I'm finding it difficult to match your reputation to this portrait of you."

"This portrait was created long before I came into my full power, but as Scorpius just pointed out; I can no longer use magic anyway; and am no threat to anyone."

"That's not true," Lysandra disagreed. "You can still be a great threat to our enemies – and they know it; or they wouldn't have come here and threatened Scorpius."

"Yet Harry Potter did not, apparently, even attempt to confiscate my portrait," Thomas pointed out. "There may well be more to this situation than meets the eye."

"Possibly," Lysandra agreed; "but it could also be as simple as the fact that all Witches and Wizards have rights now that may not have been around when you still lived. Not even the Aurors can just do whatever they want; and I'll guess that our current Head of the Aurors went about as far as he could without involving Scorpius' parents and possibly the Wizengamot. They certainly couldn't just search his things and confiscate whatever they wanted without just cause and parental consent." She smiled at Scorpius. "You did tell us that Harry Potter told you that having the portrait and learning the Dark Arts from Thomas wasn't against the law. Even if he wanted to charge you with something to do with those anonymous gifts; that wouldn't give him the right to do anything about the rest – or take the portrait from you. On top of that, if he did go after you; he'd be forced to do the same with James."

"All excellent points," Thomas told them. "Maybe we should take more time to discuss this before you decide anything."

"Even if all of that is true; it doesn't change the fact that we can't ever be sure that I'm not being watched; and that would make it pointless to continue as we have been," Scorpius reminded him. Yes, that might be temporary, and I know that time means nothing to you; but I am trying to decide what is best; and believe that for now; that is to offer the benefits of your wisdom to Lysandra's family – and the other treu Pureblood families."

Thomas looked at him for several long, drawn-out moments; and then laughed in amusement.

"You are hoping that using my portrait as a gift will allow you to be accepted by the other families," he stated – "and that they'd then allow the two of you to be together openly."

"That would be a brilliant added bonus," Scorpius agreed unapologetically; and then laughed too when Lysandra grinned at him. "My motives don't invalidate the facts, though; so I don't see a problem with it."

"There's an excellent chance that you'd be right about that too," Lysandra assured him enthusiastically. "Deliver your father's collection to them; and they might even think about putting you in charge."

"I think it'd take more than that – like killing the Head of the Aurors – which I would be happy to do if I could; but let's take all of that one step at a time."

James made his way to his bed through the darkened dorm room with unsteady steps; felt his way around to the side of it once there; and then carefully tested the top of it to make sure he hadn't messed up and gone to the wrong bed. It was empty; so he crawled onto it and rolled over onto his back; sprawling out and waiting for the world to stop spinning in a dark kaleidoscope of shadows.

If he'd been able to put enough effort into it, he might have worried about the hangover he was sure to have in the morning, but that concern wouldn't have changed anything about his 'night out' fun; since he preferred his current state to the reality of his life whenever he was sober.

Thankfully, the stomach-churning spinning stopped, but that was only because he followed that spiral down into the midnight bliss of unconsciousness. He preferred that too; since it meant that he didn't dream; didn't think; and most-importantly – didn't ever have the Animorphloser follow him there to continue the torment that infested the rest of his life!

Senior team Quidditch was done at Hogwarts until May, but while there was still post-game gossip going on at breakfast on Sunday morning; the countdown to the next junior team match-up between Ravenclaw and Slytherin began – mostly because both teams were having extra practices sometime during the day. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff junior teams were having make-up practices; but Olivia and Alex each gave their teams the day off after their match on Saturday. The extra practices had the stadium and pitch nearly-completely booked, but Al and Gwendolyn still had a Chaser duel – they just did that in the Room of Requirements after lunch – and after spending the morning studying with their friends. There was more studying after the Quidditch break; and then Al and Gwendolyn took the evening off for their weekly family night with Lily, Jonah, and Malorie.

Their family fun on Valentine's Day hadn't included any talk about Malorie's plans for her post-Hogwarts future, but that did mean that they were now two weeks closer to the end of the school year; so they spent more than an hour talking about everything that Malorie would need – including while having their mirror chat with Harry and Ginny. 'Grandma and Grandpa Potter' offered to take a look around for options that Malorie might be able to choose from for her first home for herself and the babies; and promised to get back to her with pictures and details as they located apartments or houses that she could reasonably expect to be able to afford – depending on the job she was able to land; since she insisted that she wanted to make her own way without regular financial help from Harry and Ginny. They had some fun with music and watching part of Lee's nightly show; and then Malorie headed back to her House while Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah wrapped up their night with a visit to the Owlery that included a bit of extra attention for Blizzard while they got Winter ready to leave on her weekly trip home.

The final school week of February included a lot of work as assignments were dumped on all of the students and some testing was thrown into the mix for many of the teens and tweens too. Al and Gwendolyn had a bit of a slow-down for their Quidditch practices, but the entertainment highlight of the week was the Harpies-Cannons' match on Wednesday night; so Quidditch was still important for Al, Gwendolyn, all of the Harpies fans – and even the handful of Cannons' faithful! The overload of assignments wouldn't allow for taking the night off to watch that match, but then that was really only an issue for the first half of the game thanks to Santini once again proving that he was an idiot; but also a fool with enough talent to keep a Seeker battle going with Gabrielle for seemingly endless hours.

That didn't end well for the Cannons, since he kept that battle going until a few minutes into the eighth hour, and Gabrielle got the chance to end the game shortly after a time-out – possibly because Santini hadn't enjoyed getting blasted by his manager and team mates for not ending the match and minimizing the damage that the loss would have to their standings – particularly when they'd been having a better than usual season so far to that point. Santini hadn't been happy when Gabrielle ended the match either; but then there weren't any Cannons fans happy about a seven-ten to sixty loss – and that had been so awful despite the fact that the Harpies had collectively backed off after the first few hours; and had still scored more goals in the later hours than they'd have liked.

Al had worked with Gwendolyn and most of their usual group of study friends until shortly before curfew; he'd done extra work while in bed and watching the rest of the game; and had spent a lot of time thinking about the plans for the Cannons that he and Rose had started talking about again once their own Quidditch match had been out of the way. Staying up that late meant a short night of sleep, but he got up at normal time; helped himself out with a bit of healing to banish the fatigue; and then he helped to get Thursday off to a great start during his morning walk and talk with Rose.

"You might not want to talk about the Cannons after that game last night," Al began once they were out in the hallway and taking one of the long routes to the Great Hall; "but I've been mulling this idea over in my head for what feels like the entire night; and wanted to talk to you about it."

"Should I be afraid?" Rose teased; and Al smiled and shook his head.

"No. It's something I'd like you to think about for your – our – future Cannons' team – though I'm thinking about this part of that future starting fairly soon."

"Just say it – and I promise to at least think about it; regardless of what it is."

"I'm thinking that we could give Malorie a job," he blurted out; and it did seem to help to just get it out there. "We've talked about creating a business to keep the current Cannons owners from finding out that we're a couple of kids, and though she's really young too, if we started that business this summer; she could run it for us – and be the person to negotiate the purchase for us."

"That's a good idea, Al, but we wouldn't need her to do that for at least another year or two; and she won't take a make-work job from you."

"It wouldn't be make-work," Al insisted. "We haven't talked about it much so far, but we're going to need to know everything we can about the Cannons; and she could spend the next year or more doing that research for us – finding out everything she can about the owners, the business side of the team, and everything we'll need to know about the league. If she could do all of that for us by next summer; we could work with her while we're off for those holidays to put together our plan to buy the team; and then she'd have about a year and a half to negotiate that deal – and work on everything else we've talked about doing along with owning the team to help make the whole thing a success."

"That makes sense too," Rose agreed; "but I'm still not picturing that taking a year or more to do for the first part."

"We'll want to know everything to make an informed offer for the team," Al reminded her. "On top of that; we'll need to know how much we'll need to spend to take the team from where it is now to league champions. We want this a lot, but even if Gwendolyn's willing to support me if we lose money; we can't do that indefinitely and need to make sure that we don't wind up as desperately-broke league champions."

Rose laughed. "I might be okay with that, but it seems like a bit of a contradiction to talk about that while also suggesting that we start spending a lot of money far sooner than I'd expected. I thought that we'd do all of that work on our own."

"And we likely could," Al agreed, "but we'll be in our OWL year, and if we're Prefects too; then we'll already be in for a very tough year. I guess that it isn't a small expense to have an employee plus whatever expenses we'd need to go along with setting up a business, but if she can give us an advantage when it comes around to buying the team; it ought to be worth it."

"You're right," Rose agreed with a nod; "and i don't really even need to think about it – though we will need to decide how much to tell her before we make that offer."

"I'd like to talk to Mum and Dad about setting up that business first too – and doing that now is part of the advantage we could have with buying the team; since the Cannons' owners might take us more seriously if they see that we've been working on the plan for more than a year before we even talk to them for the first time."

"I don't know if that'll matter when we don't want them to know that we're behind that company; but it can't hurt. Are you going to get your Mum and Dad started on rounding up our investors now too?"

Al shrugged. "We can talk about that too, but we've done pretty well with the toys so far; and could afford to pay for this first part on our own – and that might make the investment side of this cheaper the longer we can go without needing any actual money until it's time to pay for the team."

"That's a good point," Rose agreed. "There's also no turning back once we take on those investors."

"I'd say we've been beyond that point for a while already," Al suggested. "Fortunately for us; I think we're going to do brilliantly!"

"We'd better," Rose said half-seriously. "I really have taken on quite a few of those bets, so if we do end up broke; I'd have a problem paying them off after I'm gone."

Al laughed. "I did say we'd be broke league champions,' he reminded her with a grin, "so if you really have that many bets now; I'll be broke and you'll be just fine."

After two fairly-intense weekends, Al and Gwendolyn were glad to have one of their off-weeekends without any major distractions. They were involved in the first of Hugo's thirteenth birthday celebration days as they ended the month on Sunday, but they were also able to take extra time off from studying after getting that work done by lunchtime on Saturday; and Al was still able to do that even with the Gryffindor team practice that was at the normal time for the first time in weeks too. Hugo's 'official' party was on Sunday afternoon, and Al and Gwendolyn helped Rose and Lily with that – and attended it too; but they didn't hang out with Hugo, Lily, Jonah, and their friends when they had a mirror network watching fun night after dinner. They did meet up with Rose and Malorie, though; and spent a quiet, fun few hours together that included the usual baby check-up; a long chat about their future plans; and a mirror chat with Harry and Ginny. Al and Rose weren't ready to talk about jobs with Malorie yet, but they did talk a bit about the plans they were making for the Cannons that was in part to nudge Malorie along in thinking bigger than just figuring out how to survive on her own once she was finished school.

The trainsition into March included day two of Hugo's birthday adventure, and while he never liked getting teased about only having three 'official' birthdays so far; he did like celebrating twice during the years when there wasn't a February twenty-ninth. Monday was also Ron's forty-first birthday, but while Hugo shared a bit of birthday fun with his father through a mirror chat before breakfast; it was Melissa Wood's thirteenth birthday that he had to share the spotlight with this year – unlike during their first year at Hogwarts when they each had their own special day. Ray, Cyndia, Lily, and Jonah headed the party plans for Melissa's special day, but while Hugo's birthday was celebrated again too; that was mostly done in fun while having that party after dinner. As on Monday, Al and Gwendolyn helped with the work for that party and had some fun too, but they also needed to study; and then they both needed to work in their dorm rooms after curfew because of the party – and the lost time Gwendolyn also had from her Quidditch practice.

Their late night on Monday was repeated on Tuesday thanks to their third birthday party in three days – this time for Riley Fawcett's twelfth birthday. Al had the Quidditch practice instead of Gwendolyn, but other than that; the extra work and bits of fun were the same – as was the extra studying that was needed after curfew. With all of that on the go for the start of the month; the last three days of the school week seemed easy by comparison as they only had 'normal' classes, studying, and Quidditch to deal with. The Ravenclaw-Slytherin junior team match on Saturday kept the younger players busy and entertained, but Al concentrated on the work and Gwendolyn only helped Jonah out with some moral support as he got ready for his second match of the season. With that match on Saturday, Al and Gwendolyn opted to work through until curfew on Friday, and Al again put in extra time after curfew to get even more of his weekend work finished because he expected to take most or all of Saturday off so that he could spend it with Gwendolyn, their family, and friends.

James was grinning as he led his little group of six Gryffindors into the Slytherin section of the stadium – and earned the attention of every Slytherin teen and tween that saw them. He held hands with Rosinda, and she was with him for the day because Patricia proved to be too timid to go along with his audacious plan to sit with the Slytherin senior team and cheer for their junior team while the loser would be sitting with his potty-trainer and cheering for her team instead. While Patricia had chickened out, Rosinda had proved more daring; and had thought the idea was brilliant. So had Tiberius; and he'd convinced his current girlfriend, Louis, and his girlfriend, Bonnie MacMillan, to go along with them. It took a couple of minutes to make their way across to where Licentia Nott was sitting with her team and their friends gathered around them; and his smile broadened as he moved to sit in the seats two rows ahead of her – one row in front of Scorpius, Davis, and a few fourth-year teens sitting with them.

"Did you get lost or something?" Licentia demanded. "You're on the wrong side of the stadium, Potter."

"We're here to cheer for your team today," he advised them. "Unlike the deluded members of our House; some of us actually want your team to win."

"Then you should get out of here before you jinx us," Davis retorted; and James grinned at him.

"I'm hoping to jinx the Ravenclaw junior team instead – and I don't mean that in a cheating sort of way."

"You're not lost – you've lost it," Davis declared.

"I think so too," Louis told him, "but Tiberius convinced me that we'll have fun; and James had a valid point that we haven't been fair and come over to support your teams like we do with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw – even when we should be doing that because it's best for our team too."

"We even got our team Captain's blessing," Tiberius added – "though we couldn't convince her to come along."

"You couldn't convince your brother," James reminded him; and Tiberius laughed.

"That was a girlfriend issue; not because he didn't want to do it. At least I asked my brother. I didn't see you invite your brother or sister." James wasn't the only teen around them to laugh at that.

"As if they'd have come," he scoffed dismissively. "Lily will be cheering for her 'he's not my boyfriend' boyfriend; and the Animorphloser only believes in fair play with his loser friends."

"You're not exactly well-known for good sportsmanship either," Lysandra told him; and he grinned at her.

"Not for the teams I'm playing against," he agreed unapologetically. "We're here now because it's what's best for our team too – and because I think this is hilarious and will mess with a lot of the teens and tweens around here – including some of your friends and House mates." He looked over toward the announcer's booth; and nodded. "It looks as though Colin's about ready to go, though, so is it safe to sit down; or should we get ready for the duel?"

"Sit down," Licentia told him. "We'll blast the lot of you later if we get sick of having you around."

There was a round of laughs for that while the five Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff teens sat down and settled in. James continued to lead the chat with everyone around him; and then began to offer his own game commentary as Colin began his pre-game show. While the Quidditch Cup race update didn't include any good news for Slytherin, he intentionally skewed his comments to be funny for the Slytherins around him; and earned a lot of laughs while also praising some of the Slytherin players and insulting his brother, sister, and most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players. He also offered to pay Pauline back for winning her match against Slytherin if Licentia and her team would do him a favor and do the same and beat Alex after he'd been forced to lose his Seeker duel in the name of good sportsmanship. He really kicked up his alternate commentary when the teams were called out into the stadium – starting with Ravenclaw.

"Finally!" he declared. "You know that a pre-game show is going on for way too long when I'm getting tired of the sound of my own voice" he joked. "Once again, Slytherin gets screwed because their founder had the audacity to have a last name that was alphabetically in fourth place; but I'd better hurry and catch up to Colin on the player profiles. First up is Captain Ryan Rivers. He's proved that he can't take a hit; so bashing him will go a long way to helping your team win today. He's got his little sister and her Beater partner flanking him; but I doubt they'll be able to protect him today; so he's likely just trying to earn points with his parents for next Christmas." He paused for the laughs; and then continued.

"In the second row, we have Ravenclaw's two Seekers. Yes, the baby boot-licker is playing Chaser today; but that's where all second-rate Seekers go – though I hope your Captain checked the team list; since I wouldn't put it past Ravenclaw to try a sneak trick and have her written down as the Seeker instead. They're landing, though, so I'll just add that they have two other players with them to keep from needing to forfeit; but you don't really need to know their names; since you won't hear Colin call them out very often." He took a break while waiting for Colin to call for Slytherin's team; and then resumed his alternate commentary.

"Unlike one of the game announcers this year, I'm not going to rank the Slytherin Witches by hotness, since they're a bit young and there are only the two of them; but that might have something to do with why your junior team Captain has Andrea Avery flying with him today," he joked. While she didn't have a very good first match against my sister, it was her first-ever 'real' Quidditch match; and I'll predict that she'll do much better today now that she knows what to expect. In the second row, we have Derrick number two flying with his Chaser partners, the Pritchards; and they could have a good day if your Beaters can bash a few bludgers into the Ravenclaw Rivers."

There was another break in his commentary while Mr. Peakes did his little speech and got the game started; but then James was happy to compete with Colin as he offered his own play-by-play that was ridiculously-biased toward Slytherin. He continued to have a blast with that, since he earned a lot of laughs and attention for his efforts; and there was no doubt that he was proving to be an entertainment hit with everyone near-enough to hear him.

"Should we be worried that James – and everyone around him – is having so much fun right now?" Gwendolyn asked Al as they watched the action above the pitch. He glanced across to the other side of the stadium; but returned his attention to the Ravenclaw Chaser attack underway even as he shrugged and smiled.

"Maybe, but even though James has his own reasons for doing that today; I actually think that it's a good thing."

"Slytherin doesn't have much to cheer about yet," Gwendolyn pointed out. "They shouldn't be that happy."

"True, but we can be sure of what James is doing to have everyone around him laughing so much of the time. He's giving Louis, Tiberius, and all three of their girlfriends a chance to make an impression on those Slytherins too, though, and every time that happens; it's a chance for the start of some new connections and better relations between our Houses."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Okay, but I'm only laughing because it's funny that you're thinking that way; and I'm wondering if James is busy turning the lot of them to the dark side."

"It would be funnier if some of those Slytherins could turn him to the Light instead," Al suggested; and Gwendolyn laughed again.

"That would be funny," she agreed. "What do you think of the Slytherin team so far?"

"They're definitely better than they were in their first match. Andrea's playing well against Jonah; so she's come a long way since her duel with Lily."

"She has," Lily leaned in and interjected without looking away from the Seeker duel. "If she makes the team next year; I'll be in for a much tougher battle."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "I don't like what I'm seeing so far from Derrick Selwyn. He's giving up more goals than he would if he'd worry more about that and less about trying to get hits in on your Chasers – or setting them up for bludger hits."

"He'll need to stop doing that if we get too far ahead," Gwendolyn suggested.

"Maybe," Al half-conceded. "They're playing to try and hurt your players; and the tactic might work if they manage to do that. Hufflepuff won because Ryan got hurt, and from what I've seen so far; I'd say that's exactly what Slytherin is hoping for with their game plan today."

"Andrea's not just trying to defend the snitch," Lily pointed out; proving that she was still paying attention to them even as she continued to focus on the Seeker duel. "That doesn't fit with your suggested strategy."

"She's not making any mistakes so far the way she did in your duel," Al pointed out. "I'd say that Andrea's a better Seeker than Luke Summerby too – though we'll see if he's improved a lot since October when you play against him."

"Luke only lost his duel because he backed off and let Jonah get the catch for the loss," Lily reminded him. "I'm not going to underestimate him."

"You won't," Al agreed; "but Luke had a lot of bad habits in his first match, so if he hasn't worked on fixing them; you'll have a good day. Jonah didn't have the advantage of getting to see him play first; and probably didn't notice many of those bad habits from up close."

"But you did," Gwendolyn added; looking back at Lily and smiling. "You'll know whether he's learned from those mistakes or not fairly early on."

"He'll have done that – unless Alex or Madison don't help him out with that," Lily offered.

They'd need to wait for that match to learn the answer to that question, but their chat moved along as they continued to watch the battle going on above the pitch. Slytherin really was playing better than in their first match, and the two teams seemed fairly-evenly matched; but Derrick Selwyn's strategy had a lot to do with why Ravenclaw ended the first hour with a seventy-to-twenty lead. Al thought that was a mistake, since the score would have been closer if not for Derrick's attempts to hurt Stephanie, Alyssa, and Robin. The Slytherin players continued with that same strategy during the second hour; which was why Stephanie led her team to a one-fifty to fifty lead as they headed into the third hour. Unfortunately for Ryan, the Slytherin plan began to work when he was injured by a combination cheap shot and a bludger hit. The cheap shot had drawn a penalty, and Stephanie scored a goal; but the damage had been done; and Slytherin went on the attack while Ryan's Chasers switched to defense to try and help him as much as they could.

There were likely a lot of spectators sensing some déjà vu as they all watched Slytherin slowly begin to cut into the one hundred and ten point deficit they'd had at that point; but Al didn't share that sense of impending loss that he even overheard some teens around him predicting. He knew there were a lot of differences between that first match and this one; but it was what he sensed from all of the players that had him expecting a better outcome this time for Gwendolyn's brother and his team. If he didn't just go with his feelings, though; there were facts to back him up too. In their loss to Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw hadn't earned a big lead first before Ryand was hurt; Leanne was a much better Keeper for Hufflepuff than Derrick was for Slytherin; and their Chasers were fairly well matched. It had still taken Hufflepuff hours to get the one-sixty lead; and Luke Summerby had done well to block Jonah's attempts to that point – but he hadn't been taking any risks either.

That wasn't true in this match for Andrea; and she'd been fighting hard for more than two hours. Her inexperience began to show when she continued to fight just as hard – and tried to win her duel with Jonah instead of going on full-defense. Al actually thought that was the right move for her, but only because he sensed that she didn't have the conditioning to play as hard as she was for hours more – which was what he expected would be needed before Slytherin could earn the one-sixty lead. The battle really was a lot of fun to watch, and Slytherin definitely had the advantage during the third hour, but had only closed the gap to one-ninety to one-twenty when the match came to an abrupt end that most of the spectators didn't even see because Jonah had put on a brilliant play to catch the snitch. Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily all saw it though; and they'd been on their feet and cheering before Andrea even realized that she'd been beaten.

"Yes!" Lily shouted as they watched Jonah grab the snitch while Andrea hadn't even turned around yet. "That was brilliant!"

"It was," Gwendolyn agreed; and she was laughing and smiling brilliantly. "I can't remember the last time I saw a Seeker use that kind of fake-out!"

"He might need to get a new elbow pad," Al suggested; "but that really was perfectly-timed – and obviously something that Andrea has never seen before. He did a good job blocking her from seeing the snitch too; or it would have never worked."

"I think that she was getting tired," Lily told him. "Her skills have come a long way; but she needs work on the stamina now."

"No!" James wailed; drawing out the 'o' and sounding as if he was truly in pain. "I can't believe he got away with that!"

"Got away with what?" Davis asked; and then scanned the stadium in search of the Seekers with wide eyes as they all heard Mr. Peakes blow his whistle to end the game.

"For those of you who missed it; Jonah just got away with an old fake-out by pretending to lose one of his elbow pads. Andrea fell for it; and he got a free shot at catching the snitch,' James explained. "She's played brilliantly, but still has a lot to learn to avoid that kind of mistake."

"Are you making all of that up?" Licentia asked him; and James laughed.

"No, and you'd have seen it too; but Chasers are notoriously oblivious to the Seeker duel when watching a match – or playing in it; for that matter."

"No more oblivious than Seekers are to the rest of the game," Licentia countered; but James just laughed again.

"Maybe, but it's the Seeker duel that mattered today – and does in most matches. Everyone else on both teams mostly just fly around and wait to find out who will win the Seeker duel."

"Is it time to blast him yet," Davis asked Licentia hopefully.

"You're welcome to try," she told him. "Nobody on our team better help you, though; since we've one more match to play and I don't want to lose anyone to suspension for getting into trouble for blasting him."

"We can do a one-on-one duel later if you'd like," James offered to Davis. "There are rules for that sort of thing – though I wouldn't advise it unless you're a fair DADA student." He looked at his watch; and pretended to be making some sort of decision. "I guess we've got time before lunch to offer our condolences to your junior team mates. It's too bad about that last play; since I think they'd have won today – especially if they could've bashed a few more Ravenclaw so that Captain Rivers would have some company in the hospital wing."

Al was happy for Gwendolyn, Jonah, and all of his Ravenclaw friends, but their junior team win wasn't for the best for him – or for Gryffindor; since James was right about the fact that a Slytherin win would have been better for their chances at winning the Quidditch Cup. Gwendolyn was also going to be busy with the victory party for the afternoon; so he wasn't going to have his favorite cuddle buddy to watch the Harpies' match with after lunch. They did get to have fun together while joining in for the post-game festivities, but then they split up for lunch; and Al needed to go to their study classroom early so that he could get everything set up for the game watching they had planned for the friends and relatives that wanted to do that instead of partying or picking other 'have fun' activities. Rose and Susannah came along to help him; Lily and Hugo joined them a bit later; and they had a bit more than half of their usual game-watching gang with them by the time Lee and his team predicted a win for the Harpies shortly before the game was to get started.

"They're not giving the Wanderers much credit," Rose said as they waited for the teams to be called out into Ellis stadium. "I'm not suggesting that they'll win, but this is a short break for the Harpies after a seven-hour match. They might be getting tired out."

"The Wanderers have had the extra few days," Al agreed; "but maybe Lee knows something they're not able to talk about; since he really does seem sure that it'll be an easy match for the Harpies."

"Good job not calling them 'our team' or something else just as personal," she complimented with a grin. "Now I just need to get you talking about the Cannons as your team; and we'll be all set."

"To cheer for the losing team for every match they play against my Harpies," Lily added; and she was grinning too. "While we're waiting for the game to start, though; I'd like to talk about the Ravenclaw junior team and see what you think that our junior team will need to do to get ready to play them next month."

"I'd tell you to break up with Jonah the night before that match," Hugo offered; "but you'd need to officially start dating him first."

"With a sense of humor like that; I'm surprised that you didn't go and sit with James in the Slytherin section today," Lily shot back.

"He didn't invite me or I might have," Hugo admitted. "We can talk about the match; but let's not get distracted from our Hufflepuff match."

"This won't get in the way of that," Lily assured him – "and it's a good time for it when we don't have our Ravenclaw friends here with us."

Hugo shrugged. "Okay, but it shouldn't be that tough. Fred and Orlando need to bash Ryan; and then we can just let Melissa, Kathryn, and Roxanne win the game for us – if you don't win your duel with Jonah first."

"Ryan is going to need to deal with that problem," Al told them seriously. "He won't survive Hogwarts Quidditch to get to the show if he keeps getting so many injuries in every match."

"Is there something he's doing wrong that we can take advantage of?" Fred asked. "The cheap shots were rotten today, but Lee's bludger hits in their first match were clean."

"Ryan needs to figure out when he's better off giving up the goals to avoid the really bad hits," Al suggested. "He's not actually doing anything wrong – other than using a bit of bad judgement. The cheap shots are something else, but unless you're planning on adding that sort of thing to your game plan; he won't need to worry about that with your team."

"I'd rather lose than cheat," Fred said bluntly. "Slytherin didn't get away with it today, but I don't get how anyone can feel good about a win if they have to cheat to get it – and that's what would have happened today if they'd won."

"I'm glad that Jonah won," Lily advised him – "even if it sucks that he's in the lead for the junior team Seeker title now; and we'd have been better off it they'd lost."

Fred shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned; I'd rather not have cheating from other teams help us either; so I'm okay with that too."

"I get that, but would like to win," Lily told him; "so let's talk about the Ravenclaw players instead of getting off-track with the jokes and commentary. Since Hugo brought it up already; let's start with Ryan – or the Ravenclaw Chasers."

She insisted on doing that, so most of the teens and tweens in the room got involved with that discussion to various levels. Al and Rose were asked their opinions a lot, but they were more interested in watching the Quidditch match. The chat distractions ended up making the game seem even shorter than it was – and they ended up with a lot of afternoon left to go when Gabrielle caught the snitch in just forty minutes to earn a one-eighty to naught, shutout victory for the Harpies. While that was good for the Harpies after a couple of tough matches, it was a bit disappointing even for the Harpies' fans. Lily also led the way when it came to switching to one of the other matches instead of watching the post-game show, but while most of their friends and relatives did that; Al, Rose, and Susannah opted for some bonus studying. Al was happy to do that because it would allow him to get ahead of his work when he and Rose were going to have a make-up Quidditch practice on Sunday morning; and he wanted to make sure that he was finished his work when Gwendolyn got her work done on Sunday too.

The work made the rest of the afternoon go faster for Al, and while it wasn't as much fun as a party; he was really just glad to get through until dinnertime so that he could be reunited with Gwendolyn and go on to have a teen-rated play evening with her. Ending the first half of their weekend with the music, mirror network show watching, a mirror chat with her parents, and a fairly-brilliant snogging session was definitely the hightlight of the day for Al – even if Gwendolyn had to count it as part of a really great day for her along with the House Quidditch victory and party!

Sunday was a comparatively-quiet day for Al and Gwendolyn. They studied and he had Quidditch in the morning; they had an outdoor Chaser duel after lunch that Ray and Cyndia joined them for – along with Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah for Keeper and Seeker battles; and then they ended up doing a bit of tutoring with some of their friends after that until dinnertime – though they worked on some projects while doing that. The family evening fun was quiet and a bit serious for some of it as they continued to talk with Malorie about her plans for after Hogwarts. Her morning sickness issues were winding down as she neared the end of her first trimester, but Al still helped her out as part of the weekly baby check-up; and they all tried to help her out with the worry for her future that continued to stress Malorie for obvious reasons.

While there was always new teen drama available for the goossip network, if there was any real news during the school week leading up to the only Hogsmeade weekend between Valentine's Day and Easter; it was that the four-week countdown was on to their Easter holiday. The workload continued to be heavy for all of the students; so Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends kept busy day and night to keep up with the work and Quidditch. There wasn't time for major entertainment breaks; so it was convenient that they didn't have any birthdays or other events to distract them from the work – at least until they got to Saturday and their trip to Hogsmeade.

Since they planned on taking all of Saturday off, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah worked until right before curfew on Friday night; Al did some bonus work after heading to bed; and that put him in nearly the same position for Sunday as he'd been in a week ago. Getting his weekend revision finished by lunchtime on Sunday even with a make-up Quidditch practice and taking the day off on Saturday would be great, but by the time he woke up on Saturday; he was just ready for the break and a chance to have some fun with Gwendolyn and their friends. It was a bonus that they had decent weather for mid-March; and they were going to be able to spend more time in town too because they didn't have a Harpies' match to get back to the castle to watch with their younger siblings, cousins, and friends. Al met up with Rose in the common room as usual once she was ready to go for the day; and started their day out with another entertaining walk and talk.

"You don't want to hear the latest gossip about James," Rose suggested; "so let's talk about our plans for the Cannons this morning."

"We can do that; but is there some reason you're thinking about that so early in the day?" Al asked; and Rose shrugged.

"I talked with Mum last night; and our Mums have everything set up for the partnership. GO MagiSports is officially born – if not actually doing anything yet."

"That works out great, since we were hoping to have that done by next weekend before offering that job to Malorie."

"Do you want to do that this weekend instead?" Rose asked; and Al shook his head after thinking about it for a moment.

"Let's stick with the original plan. It'll give us the extra time to get her ready to take the idea seriously. That's something else we'll need to keep a secret too; since not even your Mum knows about Malorie yet."

"That's been weird – especially when I need to be so careful about that when talking with Mum about other things. I can't really do a very good job of explaining why we want to set up the partnership now beyond telling her that we have plans for the holidays that'll be easier to do if that's done and out of the way before we're home."

"We might need to come up with something to do if she's thinking you mean the Easter holidays for that," Al suggested.

"She likely does," Rose admitted. "I didn't specify for sure." She paused and thought about that. "We could talk to her about wanting to hire someone and look for an office or something."

"Maybe we could combine that with an apartment for Malorie and the babies somehow," Al suggested. "I wasn't thinking about an office at first, since she could work from home; but an office would be better for the partnership image if we did that sooner instead of later."

"I like that idea – especially if it's more affordable for Malorie," Rose assured him; "but we'd need to talk to her about where we'd want that – and whether she'd be okay with living in or near Chudley. She's mostly talked about living in London."

"We can work with Malorie on that, but it gives us something to do while we're home – and we really do need to get to know Chudley better if we are going to make the team and town such a huge part of our lives."

"Should we look for a home for you and Gwendolyn too – or just get an entire apartment building for everyone on the team?" Rose half-joked; and Al grinned at her.

"Actually, let's wait to see what we'd have with the properties the Cannons own first," he suggested. "If they own enough land around their practice pitch; we might be able to build some houses – or an apartment building."

Rose laughed. "Why am I getting a mental picture of one of those Muggle stadiums that have a hotel with rooms that overlook the field?" she asked; and Al laughed too.

"I don't know; but that's a cool idea – though we'd need to make the windows bludger-proof."

"Okay, I wasn't picturing that; so maybe it isn't such a good idea – especially if that would make a lot of noise even if bludgers just bounced off. Malorie, for instance, might not be impressed if her babies were woken from an afternoon nap because of our team scrimmages."

"Her babies will be at least three before we could even build something like that," Al reminded her – "and that's assuming we did that the summer after we graduate."

"Okay, maybe naps wouldn't be an issue," Rose conceded, "but the more I think about it; the more I like the idea – especially if our practice pitch would be indoors."

"Or with a roof that could open in nice weather," Al agreed with a grin.

"Couldn't you just banish the roof to do that?" Rose asked seriously; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted. "That'd be a lot of mass to banish – and you definitely wouldn't want to make a mistake when it was time to put it back. If we're talking about expanding a room like is happening with the Room of Requirements when we use it for our extra practices; that would change everything too."

"I'm beginning to see why every team doesn't have an indoor practice pitch," Rose told him. "There's obviously a lot more to consider with making that happen compared to just making rooms in a home or elsewhere a bit bigger than they'd be without magic."

"Well, if that doesn't work; we could always talk about having a second practice pitch somewhere warm in the winters," Al offered. "Do you think that your grandparents could find us somewhere we could do that in Australia?"

"Now that would be brilliant," Rose agreed; "and I'd love getting to see them more often when they're at that home – once we're done school. It wouldn't really work; but it's fun to think about."

"It could be done," Al disagreed; "though I'll concede that the time change would be tough when we'd need to come back for matches; and it would cost quite a bit more."

"Don't you think that what we have been planning so far is enough?" Rose asked. "We've also gone a bit off-track from where we started with talking about an office and apartment for Malorie."

"True, but we really would want to visit Chudley over the Easter break and take a look to see what's available. For all we know; there might not even be anything we could use for both. Malorie might like the idea, but I've actually thought that it would be nice if she found a place in Hogsmeade."

"So that you can visit on Hogsmeade weekends?" Rose asked; and Al nodded and smiled ruefully.

"Yeah – and that's totally selfish; since it would be tougher for everyone else in our family – and for Malorie too. She has some magical talent, but isn't especially powerful; and probably couldn't apparate from here to London in one jump. It would definitely be better for her to live somewhere in the south – if not in or close to London."

"Chudley fits with that suggestion," Rose pointed out; "though your parents might like her to think about Godric's Hollow."

"I doubt they'll even suggest it – though they would like having them that close. We're getting ahead of things, since we don't even know if Malorie will take the job offer, but if she gives us an answer before Easter; we will be able to work on it over the holiday. The rest of our team mates will be here that week; so we'll even have more time to do that – though I'm sure that I'll practice most days with Lily – and with you and Gwendolyn when we can do that too."

"That works for me," Rose agreed. "Is there anything else we can work on?"

"Would you want to do anything else?" Al asked seriously; though he was grinning too. "I'd have expected that you'd want to spend a lot of time in London."

"I do, but it's been tougher to have video chats with Kyle since Christmas; and I don't know how things will be with him over Easter. The long-distance thing is part of the problem; but all of the lies and half-truths I have to tell him are a bigger problem the more he gets to know me."

"You're being honest with everything you can be; but you might want to talk to some other teens around here who do manage successful relationships with Muggle boyfriends or girlfriends. They'd likely have some suggestions for you."

"That's an idea," Rose said thoughtfully. "I may need to ask around for that; since I can't think of anyone off-hand who is in a long-term relationship with a Muggle; but there are likely at least a few couples."

"Look at the NEWT year students first," Al suggested. "They'd be making plans for after school now – though that might be weird too; since a lot of Muggle teens go on to college or university educations for years more after we're finished school."

"I'll do that," Rose promised. "I do want to do some work while we're home too. Maybe we'll have more toys to work on while we're home."

"Some summertime Animorphmagus toys?" Al suggested. "Maybe toy dolphins for the portable pools or playing at the seashore?"

"A line of water toys would go great with Lily's AquaQuidditch," Rose agreed and added. "What other water creatures could we work on? Maybe we should start that while we're still here if we have a lot of possibilities."

That diversion sent their chat off in a new direction – and kept them busy through until they reached the Great Hall. They didn't talk about that around anyone else, but then it wasn't long before they were busy with their friends again. Next up on the fun schedule for Al, Rose, and Gwendolyn was a very short, weird visit with Madison to wish her a happy fifteenth birthday and drop off a joint gift for her. They knew that Tory was throwing a party for her after dinner, but they hadn't – and wouldn't be invited; so they'd opted to drop off the gift before breakfast instead of getting in the way of her birthday fun in town or at dinnertime. The weird had been because Tory had not been happy to see them; and Madison had needed to deal with that by pretending to be barely-civil with her former friends. She accepted the gift and best wishes rather cooly; made it obvious that she wasn't going to open it while they were there because she shoved it into her book bag instead; and allowed Tory to divert her from paying more than the briefest bit of attention to Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose so that they'd have no choice but to move on quickly – which they did. They did stay together for a few more minutes, though; and then Gwendolyn went to sit with her friends after sharing a short parting hug and kiss with Al before sending him on his way too.

Once Al and Rose sat down in their usual spots at the Gryffindor table, the conversation before and during breakfast was all about their trip to town and what they wanted to do while they were there. Al met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast; they ended up with Ray and Cyndia for the walk to town; and then Gwendolyn and Cyndia went to do some fun shopping with the girls while Al and Ray did the boring supply shopping. Not having the girls with them, and dealing with the work part of their visit to town didn't keep them from having fun – especially when Al started to get razzed by some other teens while at the first store they were shopping at – and Ray was happy to join in.

"Are you going to hop around the castle in Easter Bunny mode for the week ahead of Easter?" Ray asked him after the new toy had been pointed out to them and Al had already had a dozen jokes tossed his way. "Please tel me you're not getting one for your collection."

"I'm thinking about it," Al admitted – "buying one; not the hopping around the school thing," he added when Ray had grinned at the first part of his answer. "Nice job with the attempted set-up. Don't you want a cute, fuzzy Animorphmagus doll for your collection too?"

Ray shook his head. "No – and you're getting a bit old for playing with dolls, Al. You probably have more dolls and action figures in your trunk than half the guys in our House have combined."

"Maybe," Al agreed; "but I'm okay with that; since I like playing with them – and there will always be kids around to do that with – even if the rest of you get old and boring."

"The rest of us aren't getting old or boring – we're just more interested in having the kind of fun that wouldn't be at all appropriate for little kids," Ray disagreed. "You're the boring one who wants to study and work all of the time. Speaking of work; let's get on with it so that I can get back to having fun with Cyndia. Are you going to get one of those things; or would you just like to change into one and hop around from store to store carrying all of the supplies in your basket?"

James had been wandering around town on his own for a half-hour or so while Patricia was getting some 'girl stuff' shopping done with Anna. He hadn't really minded; though it was irritating that her best friend was around while his was at home – and still hadn't so much as had a mirror chat with him since the Animorphloser had gotten him suspended. He hadn't been thinking about that until he saw the display of Easter Animorphmagus toys. He'd joined in on the jokes that some of the other teens in the store made about the loser; but then he was considering whether it was worth the money to get one or two of them and then try to mess with his brother."

"I'd go with the bunny," Rosinda leaned close and told him in a sultry, suggestive whisper; and then laughed when he'd jumped because he hadn't seen or heard her approaching him. "Could you learn to be an Animorphmagus by Easter? It might be fun to find out what it would be like to play with you while you were a big, fluffy, pink bunny."

"There's only one Animorphfreak that we know of; and some of us still aren't convinced that it isn't just some stupid trick," James advised her. "I probably could be an Animagus if I wanted to waste my time learning how; but there's no way I'd be a pink bunny."

"What would you be, then?" she asked with a grin. "Anything that might be just as much fun to play with?"

James laughed and shrugged. "I have no idea, but it doesn't matter; since I'm never going to be one."

"Too bad – for you," she teased; and then reached past him to get one of the Animorphmagus Easter Bunnies; brushing her body against his while doing that. "I guess I'll just have to settle for cuddling with this bunny instead."

"I could pick up a pack of Easter wheezes for the holidays," James offered; and Rosinda laughed.

"You'd be more likely to use them on me; but I suppose it might be fun if we were both bunnies. Do that; and we'll talk again over the holidays – sometime when you're not busy spending the day with one of your other girls."

With that promise and offer made, she moved on; and James suddenly wished he'd picked Rosinda to play with for the day instead of Patricia; since she was obviously, seriously in the mood for some hot-rated fun! Then again, so was he after that exchange and the close contact with her upper body. Making a choice that would likely get him into trouble; he grabbed one of the stupid Easter toys; hurried to catch up with Rosinda; and was soon sure that she was as interested as he was in turning the heat up on their Hogsmeade visit – though they did leave the store in search of someplace private first before taking their weekend fun level from good to scorching hot!

Al was so used to trying to get the shopping done early so that they could get back to the castle after lunch to watch Quidditch that he had all of that work done by the time he met up with Gwendolyn again – except for the stop to get sweets that they always saved to do together so that the girls could pick out what they wanted. That was especially-true ahead of holidays; since there were always new or different sweets and chocolates available at Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter. While Ray stayed with him for most of that shopping, he moved on to hang out with Cyndia and some other friends when she wanted to do that before Gwendolyn was finished with her 'play' shopping.

Gwendolyn did still meet up with Al an hour or so before they were planning on having lunch; they did their own thing for a while; and then ended up having lunch with Toni, Michael, and two other couples after putting together a group for one of the larger tables at the Three Broomsticks while waiting in line for a turn to sit down and have that meal. The other two couples had been together, but while they knew the four older teens; it was really only the chance to sit down sooner that put them together for that hour or so of food fun. As usual, Al was the least-sociable of their foursome, but Gwendolyn and Toni more than made up for that; and they really enjoyed getting to talk with the rest of their tablemates – and get to know the four teens a bit better. Al knew that Gwendolyn was thinking about that as they moved on from the Three Broomsticks with Toni and Michael; but waited for her to be ready to talk with him about it – which she waited to do until they were wandering around Honeydukes – and had split up from their friends while checking out different displays.

"You need to work on your social skills when we're doing things like that," she advised him quietly. "They didn't understand why you're like that; and totally got the wrong impression of you."

"I know," he agreed, "but it's been pointed out to me that I'm a lousy liar on more than one occasion; so faking it at parties or even a small lunch like that isn't going to work for me." He smiled ruefully. "They'd have an even worse opinion of me if they knew that I didn't really need to ask any questions to get to know them; since I already knew more than I wanted to just from sitting near them for an hour."

"Well, we need to figure out something," Gwendolyn insisted. "It bugs me that so many people assume the worst instead of seeing the best in you. Our friends understand because they've gotten to know you; but too many Witches and Wizards won't bother to even try to do that when they get the wrong first impressions; and then never get to find out how amazing you are."

"You're biased; and my favorite haters would tell those Witches and Wizards that they're well-rid of me," Al pointed out; and then sighed quietly. "I'm probably not going to change," he advised her. "Sometimes, it's all I can do just to deal with the sensory overload in large groups; and shutting up is better than talking about everything I sense and learn about everyone around me – especially when a lot of that information is way more than I want to know."

"Should I be asking about some of those details – strictly for an example or two?" Gwendolyn joked; and Al laughed.

"No, but if you want an example; I can tell you that I wanted to tell one of those guys to keep his mental paws off of you," Al advised her. "I'll take a wild guess that his girlfriend wouldn't have liked to hear me talk about what was on his mind for the entire meal."

"Were any of the Witches around us having similar thoughts about you?" Gwendolyn asked archly instead of commenting on his example; and Al laughed.

"You can't have it both ways," he told her. "Didn't this little conversation start out with you advising me that our lunch companions got the wrong impression of me?"

"Yes, but now you're proving that you're a lousy liar," she countered. "I won't ask you to tell me names for those Witches; but it does say something that you always use examples that aren't about you."

"I'm okay with that," Al assured her. "Bragging about that sort of thing would be wrong; and I'm only interested in what you think of me when it comes to that sort of thing."

"Speaking of that sort of thing; did you see Patricia and Anna at the Three Broomsticks? Patricia looked furious; and Anna looked annoyed. Do you know why?"

"James," Al answered simply. "I'll leave the details alone – though they may make the rounds of the gossip network, but my brother was apparently supposed to spend the day in town with Patricia; but isn't doing that."

"And you're not adding that you saw him with someone else," Gwendolyn guessed. "Rosinda, Bristol, or someone new?"

"Rosinda," Al confirmed; "and I definitely don't want to say more about that."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Well, we'll definitely hear about that if they've done anything to get kicked out of any of the stores," she joked.

"Did someone get kicked out of a store for doing something they shouldn't?" Toni asked as she and Michael rejoined them.

"Not that we know of," Gwendolyn answered. "That was just a joke."

"That needs explaining to the late-comers to the conversation," Toni added.

Her implied request kept Gwendolyn entertained for another minute or two; but they all moved on from there and resumed the shopping for sweets and treats. After that, they wandered around town; went for a walk that ended up including some weird when they crossed paths with James and Rosinda while they were on their way back from the 'alternate' entertainment they'd been busy with while he'd dumped his lunch date. Gwendolyn and Toni had some off-color fun with that, but Al again kept his mouth shut and didn't get involved with suggestions about why the noise-level in the shrieking shack had been especially-loud. Those jokes hadn't been as bad for Al as what he'd sensed from his brother and Rosinda, but he tried not to think about that either; and just enjoy spending the day with Gwendolyn and their friends.

They stayed away from school for nearly as long as they could; though they didn't need to hurry to get back in time; and they were still able to split up and deliver all of the supplies to their first and second-year relatives and friends before going to dinner in the Great Hall. Al and Gwendolyn took the night off too, and since they didn't have Madison's birthday party to attend this year; they were happy to spend the evening on their own and wrapped up their day with some music, a mirror chat with her parents, a bit of mirror network watching, and a lot of teen-rated snogging! While that had been a great way to end the day, Al didn't go to sleep as soon as he got back to his dorm room – mostly because he just wasn't ready to sleep by then. He could have worked on another assignment or two, but instead he opted to play around with one of the Animorphmagus summer toy ideas that he and Rose had come up with – the dolphin; since he'd thought that one would be an awesome addition to the toy line.

After his minor issues with James in town, he'd been tempted to start with a shark, but decided he'd be better off doing that when he wouldn't be so tempted to make it a wheezes-worthy toy instead of something that kids would love to play with. That didn't keep him from envisioning a pool-sized shark transfiguration that could replicate what he'd done to James while trying to get him to stop being such a git to him last summer. Instead of going there, he managed to get the Transfiguration part of the toy done before being ready to go to sleep for the night; and had been happy with the toy that would be able to swim around a pool and even jump out of the water like a real dolphin – though he'd still need to test that to make sure it worked as he'd envisioned while creating the magic.

He must've still been thinking aobut the shark more, though, since when he dreamed; it was about sharks – and involved James curled up and lying in shivering puddles while promising to stop treating everyone so horridly!

The birthday party gossip that made the rounds on Sunday didn't involve Al at all, but it did have him thinking a lot about how much things had changed in just a year. There'd been some friendship stresses, but Ray and Tory had still been dating – as had Madison and Scott; they'd still been part of the study group; and it hadn't been until Tory's big break-up with Ray the night before their Gryffindor-Hufflepuff junior team match that everything had changed for all of them. Even with his talents, Al didn't foresee those changes, but as he thought about that; he realized that the main reason for that was because he hadn't imagined that those changes would happen; so it had never occurred to him to 'look' for any of it in his future.

As he considered that, it seemed to go against what Witches and Wizards generally believed about Divination, but then basically all prophecies that had ever been recorded were made by Witches and Wizards that had no idea they were doing it; and they had no control over it. Divining things like the weather was intentional, but you did need to imagine what you wanted to look into the future to see; and there were a lot of factors that clouded the ability to do that beyond the short term. It didn't take much imagination to focus on the weather, but it was impossible to look at every detail for the future about anything, so not being able to imagine one of those details – like whether someone would still be your friend a year from now – made it a bit tough to get a heads up for things like that for your future.

He didn't think about that all day, but the theme did pop up here and there. The morning study session was quiet; their Quidditch practice was a lot louder because Olivia spent too muc of her own time yelling at some of them for sub-standard play; and the afternoon Chaser duel with Gwendolyn in the Room of Requirements included one of those cameo thoughts about a 'now' that he couldn't have imagined a year ago – with indoor Quidditch that was a lot more fun than an outdoor duel would have been on a cold, rainy afternoon. The portable pool swim time included a bit of extra fun while Al tested his Animorphmagus dolphin, but while that was entertaining for Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Jonah too; his favorite part of the afternoon was the girlfriend in a swimsuit fun that went along with the portable pool adventure part of their afternoon.

Spending part of the evening with Malorie gave Al the strongest sense of just how significant the changes in his life could be in such a short time. She'd had a good week health-wise; was feeling pretty good about everything as physically feeling better every day made the school work easier for her; and Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily in particular kept Malorie entertained while also helping her to feel a bit less stressed about her future as they spent more time talking about that too – including doing that with Harry and Ginny during their weekly mirror chat. While they had a good evening, Al's night didn't end when he got back to his House after the visit to the Owlery and walking Gwendolyn home. He ended up doing some tutoring for friends that had procrastinated a bit too much, and while he'd have rather gone to bed and done his own thing; he stayed in the common room and tutored for more than an hour until he wasn't really needed anymore and could move on and turn in for the night.

The end to the first half of March on Monday – or midday on Tuesday, depending on how you wanted to count that for a thirty-one day month – was fairly-quiet after a busy gossip weekend. Al was glad of that – especially when the push through to Easter had the Professors continuing to pile on the work for their students. Even with the advantage of RevisionWizard; keeping up with eleven classes was tough. The Quidditch workouts were tougher too – even though the Gryffindor senior team still had more than two months to get ready for their final match of the season. Rose hadn't wanted to do extra practices with Al yet, but Lily got him to help her out with a Seeker duel on Wednesday afternoon while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice; so that was one extra bit of busy that left Al with more work to do at night – and he needed to work after curfew every night – including on Friday.

The only entertainment event of the school week was the Thursday night match between the Harpies and Catapults, and as usual for a school night; Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends worked on their assignments while keeping an eye on the match using his mirror. After a short match, the Harpies were in good shape heading into the game; and that showed up on the scoreboard as Victoire led her Chaser partners and they steadily out-scored the Catapults' Chasers three-to-one. They built up a one-sixty lead by mid-way through the third hour; and then it was another match that was downhill from their for their opponent as the Catapults' Seeker was the third in four matches to refuse to attempt to end the match for the loss – and incredibly dumb trend; particularly for any team with even a glimmer of hope for making the playoffs!

"Too bad you're not playing for your team," Patricia told James as she studied with their usual group and he pretended to do that while watching the match. "I know that the Catapults' players have let you practice with them and most of them like you; but that guy's an idiot not to try for the catch for the loss. Just because he blew it in the playoffs a few years ago doesn't make it okay to mess things up for his team over and over again because he doesn't want to lose to your Aunt and the Harpies."

"She's not actually my aunt," James reminded her. "My family can adopt all of the strays they want; but I don't have to pretend to do that too anymore. I get along with the Catapults' players, but if their team owners make me the best offer and I go to play for them; I won't have a problem with replacing their current Seeker – and he is an idiot when it comes to the Harpies. If they're smart-enough to hire me, though; it'll be Gabrielle who will be catching the snitch for the losses."

"Not if you have those same Chasers on that team with you," Brock disagreed with a snort. "That lot looks as bad as the Cannons' Chasers did in their last match against the Harpies. As for that first part of your comment – you're just saying that because Gabrielle's hot; and you wouldn't be able to put her on your list of potential future girlfriends if she was your aunt because that'd just be weird."

"If I wanted to hook up with a Veela; I'd just call one of the cousins I fooled around with at Victoire's wedding. They're our age; and I'm not interested in dating someone's mother."

"If she was my Mum; I'd still be getting home-schooled," Brock countered; earning a round of laughs.

"Careful," James warned. "If Riley hears you talking about his Mum like that; he'll have to at least try to blast you for it."

"Would you rather have me talk about how hot your Mum is instead?" Brock joked; and James snorted out another laugh.

"Go ahead – and then go and get your eyes checked; 'cause you've obviously gone blind."

"I'd say that you're the one needing the eye exam," Brock countered. "If they had posters for Quidditch reporters; I'd have one of your Mum posted on the wall behind my bed."

"Don't expect that to bug me," James retorted. "In fact, go ahead and ask my Mum out; and we'll see what happens. It'd be weird; but having you for a step-father would be a huge improvement for me."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, mate, but you must think me the idiot too; since any Wizard would have to be insane to make a move on the wife of the Head of the Aurors – no matter how hot she is."

"You're talking about the hotness of other Witches and being home-schooled by them right in front of your girlfriend," James pointed out. "You didn't need my help to establish that you're an idiot."

While James had a point, there were a lot of Quidditch fans watching that match deciding that the Catapults' Seeker was certainly the biggest idiot of the day or week when he fought on in his Seeker duel until Gabrielle caught the snitch just minutes before the end of the fifth hour to give her team the five-hundred to one-ten victory. James had actually been good with that, since the more dumb matches the current Seeker made; the better his chances were for getting an offer he wouldn't refuse from the Catapults' owners.

It was late by then, so most of the other teens still in the common room headed for bed, but James still needed to finish two assignments that were due on Friday; Patricia stayed to keep him company; and then they had some late-night snogging fun that he thought was worth the lack of sleep he'd have before morning – and he could always catch up on his sleep during one or two of his classes!

Friday marked the two-week countdown to the Easter holiday, but other than that; there wasn't anything particularly notable about the day. For Al and Gwendolyn, they had more work dumped on them; she had her last Quidditch practice of the week; and they both did as much studying as they could through until and beyond curfew so that they'd have more time to play during the rest of the weeekend. Having another 'free' weekend was actually something that got talked about around the castle because it was the last one they were going to have through to the end of term – and that was a bit of a novelty compared to most school years. Knowing that didn't make a difference for how Al and Gwendolyn approached their weekend plans, but then Al was looking forward to their family fun night on Sunday evening more than anything else because he really hoped that the job offer that he and Rose were going to present to Malorie would be a big part of the life she would begin building over the summer for herself and for the twins.

Before getting to that, they had to work through a morning study session on Saturday; Al had his Quidditch practice with Rose, Ray, and the rest of the senior team; and then they finished up their studying including project work in the afternoon while helping out with some tutoring too. There was a bit of time left over before dinner to have some fun, but Gwendolyn did that with some of her girlfriends while Al ended up doing a bit of toymaking with Rose until she wanted to stop in to her dorm room to get ready for dinner – and her evening plans with Kyle and Susannah. Dinner was just a chance to take on some food before getting together with Gwendolyn again; and then Al was happy to spend the evening with her while they played music and enjoyed spending some quality time at their favorite alone time activity – snogging each other senseless!

With their work for the weekend finished and even their projects pretty much done and ready to hand in ahead of Easter, Al and Gwendolyn – and Rose and Susannah – could have taken Sunday off and just had a play day. They didn't do that, since some of their friends wanted their help, but Al and Gwendolyn only helped out in the morning; they had a Chaser duel after lunch while Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel; and then they had another private pool party with just a handful of relatives and friends. That kept them busy until near-dinnertime; Al and Gwendolyn needed to split up while having that meal; and then they got together again after eating quickly so that they could get their chosen classroom for the night set up for their all-important evening plans. Malorie must've been excited about getting together with them too, since she caught up with them before they had the work done; and then Rose, Lily, and Jonah all arrived together – and were there by the time the sofas and mirror were set up; and they could all settle onto the sofas with drinks and start their evening out with Malorie's 'check-up' – once she was ready to have Al do that bit of magic with her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You seem agitated; and this is taking longer than usual."

"You're doing great – and so are the babies," he assured her. "Sorry. I got a bit distracted while trying to sense magical talent from your babies. There isn't a lot written about it; so I'm curious to see whether I'll be able to sense anything as they grow. I don't sense anything yet, but didn't expect to this early, since even if it starts this early; it might not be possible to sense that – or distinguish it from your own magical aura."

"Why am I getting a mental picture of the babies summoning toys to play with sometime over the next few months?" Lily asked with a grin; and earning a round of laughs.

"Because you likely would have if you could have done it," Al suggested. "Mum's always told us that you were the busiest baby – the most restless of us."

"Maybe she was just trainng for her future Quidditch career," Gwendolyn suggested. "She was trying to do the Harpies workouts in the womb."

"Malorie will hope that she won't have the twins trying to have Chaser or Seeker duels," Rose offered. "I won't even suggest that they'd practice being Beaters like our uncles were when they were at Hogwarts."

"I might have a very different opinion of Quidditch if they want to play the game when they're old-enough," Malorie suggested; and Rose grinned at her.

"I hope they do want to play; since we've already got them down as future players for our Cannons." She glanced at Al and he answered her unspoken question with an imperceptible shrug that left it up to her if she wanted to take that little opening to make their job offer to Malorie. "We have a job with the team for you too – if you want it."

Malorie laughed. "You want a mother of twin toddlers to play for your team when you finish school in three years and change?" she asked in amusement. "Did you get hit by one of those bludgers in practice yesterday? I don't even play Quidditch – and don't think I'll be taking up the sport anytime soon."

"No, Al and I have something else in mind for you – and we'd want you to start that job this summer."

"You're not joking," Malorie decided; and then frowned. "Are your parents trying to help me out by getting you to set up some kind of fake job for me?" she asked Al; and he smiled and shook his head.

"No, though they'd like to help you out more than you want them to," Al answered. "The Cannons will hopefully be Rose's, though; so I'll let her explain it."

"Even though it started out as his idea," Rose added with a nod for Al before returning her attention to Malorie. "His idea was a good one, though; which is why I thought it was brilliant. We've talked about some of our plans for the Cannons with you before, and a bit about some of the things we expect to do before we can hope to make an offer to buy the team. I thought that we'd do a lot of that work ourselves, but Al convinced me that we need to hire someone to do a lot of the research – and then be the person we use to negotiate with the current Cannons owners to buy the team so that we can keep our investors confidential."

"You have investors already?" Malorie asked in surprise. "That isn't something you've told me before."

"Al and I are the only investors right now," Rose explained; and smiled when Malorie frowned again. "We're very confident that we'll get the investors when we need them; but Al and I can handle what we want to do now."

"Then James has been lying to me about how much he gets for allowance," Malorie declared – "or your parents give you a lot more than they give him."

"I have no idea what he's told you about that," Al advised her; "but Rose and I have our own money; so you don't have to worry about whether we can afford your salary – or any of the expenses you'll have while working for our new company."

"And now you're telling me that you own a company already too?" Malorie asked. "How did you get here from the dreaming of a years-from-now future where you own a championship Quidditch team?"

"With some help from our Mums," Rose answered. "The company has just recently been set up because we want it to have a history by the time we do start our negotiations to buy the team; though there are other reasons to do that – including having a company for you to officially work for while doing all of the research we'll need to be able to put together a winning plan – and offer for the Cannons."

"Aren't you already an expert on the team?" Malorie asked. "That really does sound like make-work to me."

"I know a lot about the Quidditch side of the team," Rose agreed. "What we don't know is the business side of it – or really all that much about how team owners work with the league and Ministry of Magic. Al and I think that if you start this summer, you could get an office set up; do all of the research, and help us with some other jobs we want to do over the next year. We'll be busy with our OWLs while you do that; we can spend the summer heading into our sixth year getting everything lined up for negotiations with the team; and then you could work on that during our sixth year. We'd have until around Christmas of our NEWT year to make that deal, and then, assuming we get that done; you'd spend that next six months setting up the transition so that we could take over the team after the end of that season."

"And you think that I could do that while taking care of twins – and during the last couple of months of my pregnancy?" Malorie asked doubtfully.

"We'd be able to help during this summer," Al assured her; "and you will have lots of babysitters willing to help you out when needed – though you'd be able to do quite a bit of the work from home."

"You know that all of this sounds way too good to be true," Malorie told them. "I'm supposed to believe that two fourteen-year old teens can afford to own a company; pay me some unspecified wage to work for that company on a plan to buy a professional Quidditch team that I can't even guess at what that would cost to do; and not believe that this is all just some set-up because I'm refusing to just take charity from your family. Why would I believe that?"

"I think that you'll believe it because we're going to share a little secret with you," Rose advised her. "You know that Al is mostly behind RevisionWizard with a bit of help from Gwendolyn and me. There haven't been a lot of sales for them yet, since they're only out for Hogwarts students, but they will be developed for all Wizarding schools; we have plans to make them do a lot more over the next few years; and we'll get a piece of every sale. What you don't know, though – and only a handful of people are in the loop for this; is that we have a few other inventions – including the Animorphmagus toys."

"You invented them?" Malorie asked in amazement; and Rose smiled and nodded.

"Yes, and we create all of the originals. The point is that we can afford what we want to do with GO MagiSports – the company we've set up to be the partnership that owns the Cannons; and this is definitely not a make-work job for you. We're also not getting obscenely-rich from those toys – or anything else Al's doing, like the music with Gwendolyn; but we can offer you a wage that's a bit better than an entry-level job at the Ministry of Magic; and there will be some nice bonuses along the way if we actually manage to pull this off over the next five years or so – with the last part of that being the Quidditch side of the plan that Al and I will worry about while you handle all of the boring business stuff."

"Do your parents know about this?" Malorie asked.

"My Mum knows about the business because she helped to set it up," Rose answered. "Al's parents know more; since we can't tell mine about you quite yet. "Al and I wanted to talk to you about this now because we're hoping you'll be able to decide whether you'd like the job or not by the time we go home for Easter. We want to do a bit of work while we're home – including a visit or two to Chudley to look around and get to know the town better – and maybe look for an office to rent there that you'd be able to set up for us this summer."

"I don't even know where Chudley is exactly," Malorie admitted. "Would I need to live there too?"

"It's about two hundred miles south-west of London, give or take," Al answered. "You wouldn't have to live there if you don't want to do that; though I should admit that we have talked about the possibility of finding a place where you could have an office and apartment or home – though we don't yet know enough about Chudley to even tell you whether that's an option or not."

"Do I want to know how close it is to your home?" Malorie asked Al next; and he smiled and shrugged.

"You'd be closer to Rose's home – and our Weasley grandparents too; but our house is within fairly-easy driving distance too – probably under an hour. Distance doesn't really matter much for my parents. They can both apparate from home to pretty much anywhere in the country; and the Floo Network could get you back and forth to Chudley from anywhere you'd want to live too. If you take the job; we'll take pictures when we visit over the holidays – unless you'd like to think about coming along."

"There is no way we could do that and keep my secret – even if I didn't really need to stay here and study. I'm going to need some time to think about this; but should be able to decide before you head home for Easter. I will need a few more details, though – like how much you're offering. Then I'll need to figure out if that'll work with the sort of budget we've been talking about for what I'd need to get out on my own and have a place big-enough for me and the babies."

"As Al said, we haven't even visited Chudley yet," Rose told her; "but I do know that it's cheaper to live in or near one of the small towns that we – Wizards and Witches – seem to gather around than in London or one of the other big cities. That doesn't mean you couldn't pick other places. Our Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur love their cottage by the sea; while Teddy and Victoire love London – even though she has to go to Holyhead for work or to one of the stadiums." She grinned at Al. "At least one of my cousins thinks that it would be nice if you'd live in Hogsmeade so that he could visit the twins on Hogsmeade weekends."

"I'd be okay if Malorie could come to town for visits with us – or come to some of the Quidditch matches," Al offered.

"I'll definitely be picking someplace warmer to live," Malorie advised them. "The where for that might still be a big question; but my next home won't be Hogsmeade for sure."

"As long as we can visit now and then – and you can come to see us with your babies; I'm okay with wherever you live," Lily advised her. "Maybe you should check out Holyhead. If you take that job with Rose and do well at it; Gwendolyn and I know the Harpies' managers fairly-well; and they might be interested in stealing you away from those Cannons – and then you'd have fourteen babysitters willing to help you out with the kids every day."

"I wouldn't make a promise like that," Gwendolyn warned. "Mum would not go for that idea at all if it distracted her team from getting ready for their matches."

"Haven't you occasionally suggested that running around after a bunch of toddlers would be a great workout for your teams?" Lily countered. "I'm just trying to help out with a way to do that!"

"Running around after kids for the physical work-out is one thing; having toddlers or kids around for the rest of the team practice is something else," Gwendolyn answered. "I don't see that working out very well – or being safe for the kids."

"Note to us – take a look at having a daycare for our team," Rose told Al. "That could be good for keeping our employees if we have that for them on-site."

"It likely would be," Malorie agreed – "especially if the Witches on the team could spend time with their kids during the day too."

"Well, if you like the idea – take the job; and then submit a plan to Rose," Al suggested; and smiled when all of the girls in the room laughed.

"That is so not fair to tell a pregnant Witch," Gwendolyn told him; and Al shrugged.

"If it works; I'm okay with it. Why don't you give Malorie those details she'll want while thinking over your job offer, Rose; and then we can move on to whatever will be next on the entertainment agenda."

Rose did that; they talked about jobs and future plans for a while; and then moved on to have a bit of fun instead of just talking about serious stuff. That job offer and conversation was the highlight of the day for Al, though; and he felt pretty good by the time he went to bed about a half-hour after curfew. Sure, the music, mirror network shows, mirror chat with his parents, and the visit to the Owlery were all fun too, but even though they'd have to wait to find out whether Malorie would take the job or not; he had a strong feeling that they were heading in the right direction – and that there was a lot of really good to look forward to over the next few weeks.

By Monday, a lot of teens and tweens at Hogwarts were looking forward to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match between their junior teams. They had a Harpies' match to watch on Saturday too, and Rose's fifteenth birthday to celebrate on Sunday; but that all added up to the need to work harder all week. For Al, that included getting things ready for Rose's special day; helping Lily out with two bonus Seeker duels on Monday and Wednesday while Gwendolyn was busy with her practices; and all of the extra studying that went along with the last push for new work into the Easter holiday. Al was up late every night; started each day a bit earlier; and used a bit of healing magic on himself to keep going – as well as offering a bit of that sort of help to Gwendolyn and Rose when they needed it. While they had fun as often as they could while working so hard, Al and Gwendolyn were both happy about taking Saturday off by the time they wrapped up their work on Friday night and headed for bed – though they didn't do that until more than an hour past curfew; and they'd used their mirror messaging to trade last good night best wishes once they'd finished their late-night studying.

The weather on Saturday morning wasn't looking all that good for a Quidditch match, but it was March; and having a cold, rainy day to deal with was better than freezing and snow. Al was up early; had fun with his morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily; and then enjoyed a hot breakfast before getting together with Gwendolyn and hanging out around the castle until it was nearly game-time. They were with a gang of friends and team mates for the walk out to the stadium; sat in their usual seats on the border between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections; and they expected to have a very uncomfortable morning regardless of how good the Quidditch match entertainment would prove to be for everyone. They didn't have to wait long for Colin to begin his pre-game show; and he made quick work of that thanks to the rain too.

"Good morning, Quidditch fans!" he shouted out; still startling some of the spectators even as he began announcing for his fourth match of the season. "We've a beautiful, wet, rainy day for our match today; so i won't keep you waiting for it and make quick work of the Quidditch Cup update!" He paused for a moment; but didn't get much of a reaction from the already-soggy crowd.

"Tough crowd," he joked. "Through our first seven matches, we have Gryffindor in first place with three wins; Ravenclaw in second with two; and Hufflepuff in third with one. Slytherin is in fourth-place, and I'll wish them the best for their final two matches; but I'll also have to report that they're already out of the running for the Quidditch Cup title this season regardless of what happens in the final five matches." He earned some boos for that; and then moved on.

"In the junior team race, we have three teams with a win each, and since the teams we have playing today are two of them; the winner will take the lead for that battle – so I won't bother getting into which team is in the lead now based on tie-breaks or wins and losses. We'd all rather just get to the Quidditch, so without further delay; let's hear it for Gryffindor!"

The rain was putting a damper on the fun for most of the spectators, but Al enjoyed watching Lily as she flew into the stadium with her cousins and friends – and mused that his day was a bit sunnier just from seeing her fired-up, brilliant smile. That was something that she was exactly like their mother for; and it was how he always felt when playing – even if he wasn't able to show that as demonstratively as some of his favorite Witches were able to do so easily. Fred and Orlando led the way for their junior team; he had Lily and Hugo in the second row; and then had Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne bring up the rear for their team. He had to listen to a bit of commentary from James while Colin was doing his introductions, but compared to what they'd heard about what he'd done while sitting with the Slytherins for the last match; he was playing nice. That was true while it was the Hufflepuff team's turn for introductions; but Al knew that James was doing that intentionally – since he could sense the real feelings behind the words. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long for the match to get started; and then he could focus on that and less on everything he sensed going on around him.

"Good luck," Lily told Luke Summerby as they lined up for take-off.

"Thanks – you'll need it," he pretended to joke; but Lily got the impression that he'd actually meant the barb.

"Do you really think so?" she asked innocently; and he nodded; but didn't look at her as he watched Mr. Peakes and waited for the quaffle to be tossed.

"You will," he confirmed. "I'd like to catch the snitch, but unlike you and Jonah; I'm okay with letting you catch the snitch for the loss once we have the one-sixty lead."

"That's awfully sweet of you," she pretended to gush, "but I hope you've the game to back that up, since while you've been watching Mr. Peakes; I've been keeping an eye on the snitch."

Her timing wasn't perfect – but then again, it was; since Luke had been startled by that; looked at her; and then missed the quaffle toss. She took off, smiling brilliantly and laughing, and while she hadn't actually seen the snitch; she pretended that she had and led Luke on a wild goose chase that kept him from looking for it while trying to catch up and then keep up.

"Lily's having way more fun than I did in my match against Luke," Jonah told Gwendolyn and Al as he watched her flying around while Luke seemed to be having trouble keeping up with her.

"Are you worried?" Gwendolyn teased; and Jonah smiled ruefully and shrugged.

"A bit, since she is single; and all of the guys our age think she's amazing and beautiful. Right now; I'm trying to figure out what she's come up with for this duel; since she's playing a bit differently than I expected."

"Right now, she's testing how good he is at reacting to attacks with different times between them," Al advised him. "I'd say she's on to something; since Luke seems to get distracted easily – and that's also why she's picking the places for those stops." He smiled as Jonah and Gwendolyn both watched the Seeker duel for a while – and they could do that because Leanne and Hugo were having a good start to their match and hadn't given up a goal yet.

"She's trying to distract him with her own Chasers?" Jonah guessed; and then laughed. "I am so glad that she didn't try that on me last year – especially if it had worked."

"If it had worked on you against Al and Ray; that would have just been weird," Gwendolyn reminded him; earning a round of laughs from the friends closest to them. "Now you'll be ready for it if she tries it in your match next month."

"He'll be more likely to be watching Lily than any of the other girls," Ryan suggested. "Before you start to even think about that being a good idea for a strategy against me, though; keep in mind that I won't be getting distracted by anything. I've had enough fun getting bashed by bludgers this year; and won't be getting my head knocked off just because Gryffindor has pretty Witches on the team."

"That's too easy; so I won't go there," Katrina told her brother. "I'd rather talk about the Beaters anyway. Fred and Orlando have the advantage so far; but Ricky and Lee are keeping up with them – and breaking up some plays too."

"I thought you were going to rank them on hotness," Alyssa joked; and Katrina laughed.

"Is that going to be the Quidditch joke of the season? I thought that it was funny back in November; but it's getting a bit old now."

"I think that she's afraid of telling us what she thinks," Alyssa countered.

"Are you a closet Gryffindor?" Stephanie asked. "Taunting one of the Beaters on our team seems like a very bad idea to me – especially when we still have a couple of practices to go before the Easter holiday."

"That's a no-win for Katrina anyway," Gwendolyn suggested. "If she did rank the Wizard Beaters on the junior teams; what would she do about Patrick? Rank him too high or low; and either could be a problem."

"Would you have that problem ranking the Chasers on the senior teams?" Alyssa challenged; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"Of course not. We already know that Scorpius Malfoy is the hottest senior team Chaser!"

"Kylie didn't say he was the hottest Chaser out of all four Houses – just Slytherin," Stephanie pointed out. "You don't have to say that just to mess with Al."

"I'd still rank Al top five for sure," Gwendolyn offered.

"Aren't there only six Wizard Chasers on the senior teams this season?" Alyssa asked. "I'd rank Al higher than fifth out of sixth."

"Gwendolyn obviously does too – or she'd be dating one of those other guys instead," Pauline interjected. "Are any of you actually watching the game and trying to learn a thing or three?"

"We're learning that both sets of Beaters are focusing on breaking up plays more than trying to actually hit any of the players so far," Katrina reported. "If that's because of having so many Witches in the game, those guys better get over that before they're in the show; or the Harpies' Beaters will make short work of them."

"Mum will be happy to hear you say that – especially if you're going to be one of those future Harpies' Beaters," Gwendolyn told her; and Katrina grinned at her.

"Maybe I'll go play for the Cannons," she teased. "I hear they're going to have one of the top-five hottest Wizard Chasers on their team by the time I graduate."

"You're already on my list as a possibility for one of those jobs," Rose advised her. "Do you have any preferences for Beater partners?"

"None that I'll be admitting to right now," Katrina assured her. "I'd consider the job if you pick a particularly hot Wizard for the other spot though; since I'm not actually interested in having my cousin turn me into a bug for taking the jokes about Al too far."

"I haven't even learned how to do that yet," Gwendolyn reminded her, "and when I do; I'm going to come up with something different just so that I don't keep getting, um, bugged about that just because it was Mum's thing when she was younger."

That statement sent their conversation off on a new tangent with lots of suggestions for Gwendolyn as to what she could turn Wizards and Witches into instead of bugs. The banter helped to pass the time, but then they didn't end up having all that much game time anyway. Leanne and Hugo each gave up their shut-out attempts in the first half-hour, but the Chaser duel was very close; and Gryffindor took a slim thirty-to-twenty lead into the second hour. They traded a goal each with Hufflepuff early in the second hour; and then Lily ended the match at the one hour and sixteen minute mark after she once again caught Luke off-guard – and watching the pretty Gryffindor Chasers; and then made a fairly-spectacular catch of the snitch that included avoiding a crash into a goal post – and then avoiding Luke when he lost control dodging that same post on the other side of it before nearly knocking her out while he fought for control of his broom.

While having such a competitive match end so quickly was a bit disappointing, most of the spectators were okay with not spending hours out in the rain; and the post-game fun on the pitch was kept short too. There was still lots of time until lunch, but while Al spent as much time with Gwendolyn as he could; he also needed to go to his common room for the early start to the victory party – and was there by the time that Lily arrived with the rest of their junior team. There was one thing that worked out great for him, though, and that was the fact that he could skip the afternoon side of that party because he'd been there for the start of it; and he could instead go and watch the Harpies' match with Gwendolyn and the other friends that opted to do that after lunch. He ate quickly; headed for their study classroom with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah; and had everything set up by the time Lee's pre-game show started.

"I'd suggest that we talk about the morning match while the victors are busy partying; but Jonah's likely already done that with his team – and can't talk about it with us," Rose suggested with a grin for Jonah as the Harpies-Prides match got started and they had everyone there that they expected to have – unless the game went long or the Gryffindor party got boring for Lily and Hugo.

"You're welcome to talk about it," Jonah assured her. "We'll be happy to pass on anything you learned today that will help us in our last match if you have anything really good."

"Now I'm tempted to make some stuff up just to mess with you," Rose joked – "not that you'd believe me if I spouted off a bunch of total rubbish."

"The biggest news from that match is that we still don't know all that much about your junior team," Ryan suggested. "They haven't had two full hours of actual game time so far this season. We've had more than three times that in our first two matches."

"That could help you," Gwendolyn suggested. "Gryffindor might not be ready for a marathon match when they play your team; since they haven't had one of those battles since last year."

"I'd lean toward that helping them," Ryan disagreed; "but I guess it isn't a big deal when we have so much time between matches."

"Your teams are so evenly-matched; I think that the only way it'll be a short match will be if Lily or Jonah get a lucky break," Rose offered.

"Don't say break," Ryan said; pretending to wince. "I don't want Lily's next lucky break to be on me – and I mean that literally."

"You're getting a bit obsessed about that," Gwendolyn warned. "Don't get so worried about the hits that it messes up what works for you."

"Any suggestions on how to do that without getting my head knocked off or breaking other parts of my body?" he asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Nothing that I'll talk to you about with the enemy in the room," she half-joked. "You do need to win that match to have a shot at the junior team title – and for our House to have a shot at the Quidditch Cup; since we'd need to win both of our matches against them to win the Cup now."

"No pressure there," Jonah joked. "Should you be hoping we'll win so that you have even more pressure on you in May; or hope that we lose so that the pressure is off and Al might not care if he loses his match against you?"

"We'd still be playing for the senior team title," Rose reminded him. "Al had better care about that – not to mention that it's also Olivia's and Lucy's last shot at impressing the scouts before they graduate."

"I'd prefer the stress and chance to win the Quidditch cup," Gwednolyn added, "and Al won't slack off; since I'd blast him if he tried to lose the game on purpose."

"Why does that sort of thing keep coming up?" Al asked. "I always try my best in all of these matches; and that has nothing to do with being able to be happy for my friends if they win instead."

"Because we don't need to let reality get in the way of a good joke," Rose advised him with a grin. "I'm hoping that a lot of players in the show will underestimate you because of that reputation you're getting for good sportsmanship."

"That isn't exactly reality either," Jonah suggested. "Don't you actually need to lose now and then to prove you're a good sport? Al hasn't lost a House match yet."

"Don't let that secret get around," Rose warned conspiratorially. "Most of our fellow students don't remember that – especially when he's been blamed for so many of the losses during our first three years."

"I thought that he'd played in seven so far and lost nine," Gwendolyn joked. "I don't wonder why he has that good sportsmanship reputation at all!"

Their conversation rolled along, but there was a pretty good Quidditch match to watch too – at least until Vicky got hurt. After that, the game went downhill fast for the Harpies and their fans. Alice Longbottom led the way for the Prides; and Erin actually played defense against Gabrielle the way she should with that kind of advantage for her team. It still took the Prides a long time to earn the one-sixty lead, but once they did that, Erin backed off; and then it didn't take Gabrielle very long to catch the snitch for the loss. She did that at the three hour and twenty-two minute mark; kept the damage from the loss to just a thirty-point deficit with a score of three-forty to three-ten; and still wasn't happy about not being able to out-duel Erin for the win – especially when that meant giving up two losses to the Prides on the season.

That loss was disappointing to the Harpies' fans too, but they'd been on a roll for most of the second-half of the season so far; so they didn't have anything to complain about. Al didn't feel sad at all, since he'd gotten to cuddle with Gwendolyn all afternoon and have fun with their friends. Having an evening of alone time with her to look forward to made the separation at dinnertime easy too; and he didn't really think about the Harpies or that loss at all except for while they talked about it with her parents during the mirror chat they had with them between their music play time and the major snogging session that followed their conversation with Kirley and Gwenog. Al was in a great mood when he went up to his dorm room not long after curfew – after a short visit with Lily, Rose, and a few of their friends; he took care of a couple of last-minute details for Rose's birthday; and then he went off to sleep feeling pretty good about what he hoped would be a really great day for his cousin on Sunday!

"Lily beat me to first gift of the day," Al said as he stood and welcomed Rose and Lily with hugs and kisses for each of them before handing a gift to Rose. "Happy Birthday, Rose."

"Thank-you," Rose said as she happily began to unwrap the gift; handing the torn paper to Al as she worked her way into the box. She laughed and hugged him again when she saw what was inside; and then lifted it out and showed it to Lily.

"Rose Weasley – Manager, Chudley Cannons, twenty twenty-four to blank," Lily read and interpreted. "A gag gift? From Al?"

Rose laughed again and handed it to her. "It feels real-enough to me; so maybe it's something he divined for our future."

"I thought about adding – 'team owner' too, but that wouldn't really work; since we want to be anonymous for that part of the plan."

"This is perfect, Al; and a fun way to start the day – along with Lily's gift and the play time we had while getting ready today."

"Kyle will be wishing that he could be spending the day with you when he sees you in that new top," Al predicted. "Are you ready to get going?"

"Sure," Rose agreed. "Are we meeting up with Gwendolyn?"

Al grinned at her. "No – we're going to make you wait until the party for our gift," he advised her; and then laughed when she frowned at him. "I'm sure you'll have lots of gifts to open once the Owl Post arrives; and we wanted you to still have some gifts to open at your party."

"I guess that I'll survive the wait," she decided with a dramatic sigh. "Would you like to get the latest rumors out of the way next?"

"Not if that includes stories about Mackenzie catching James out past-curfew while walking Bristol home," Al answered; and then joined in when Rose and Lily both laughed.

"Did you mean that Mackenzie was walking her home – or James was?" Lily teased.

"Either would be bad," Al decided. "We talked right before I went up to bed, though; so I'm surprised you have any new rumors."

"Well, I don't think that James got caught out late," Rose advised him; "but I can tell you that Patricia and Bristol were both out past curfew. They didn't get back at the same time; and neither of them seemed to be happy when they did come into our dorm room. I'd rather that I wasn't such a light sleeper sometimes, and will spare you the details; but I heard enough to be fairly sure that Patricia was out late doing a bit of spying; and Bristol wasn't out past-curfew with Mackenzie."

He was on-duty," Al advised her; and then turned his attention to Lily when she laughed.

"I was just picturing Patricia going to Mackenzie and ratting James and Bristol out, but then she'd have been in trouble for being out past curfew too; so I suppose that wasn't really an option for her."

"You're thinking about stuff like that; and I'm thinking about what an idiot Mackenzie is for blowing what he had with Susannah for the drama he's in now with Bristol," Al told her seriously. "We haven't exactly talked much since Christmas, but if Mackenzie is okay with having that kind of relationship with Bristol; then he's changed his mind about things like that."

"Maybe he has," Rose suggested. "James and Bristol aren't the only teens around here to mess around with more than one guy or girl at the same time – and take that as it's meant, Lily. You find all of this just a bit too entertaining compared to Al and me."

Lily laughed and shrugged. "Yes I do," she agreed; "but I'm also as old-fashioned about dating as you are – even if I do like to think about what it might be like to just play around like that and not care about the consequences."

"I am so glad that you have that future plan with the Harpies keeping you from going down that road," Al only half-joked; since he knew that her Quidditch dreams really were a contributing factor – along with her feelings for Jonah.

"A teen Wizard can be a father and still have that career," Lily pointed out. "That wouldn't be nearly so easy for a Witch – even if the team had an on-site daycare."

"I didn't think that was a good idea as a recruiting tactic for you," Rose advised her; since Lily had added that last part while grinning at Rose. "It is still a good idea for a team, though; so I am seriously thinking about how to make that happen. I want the career and a family; and don't plan on giving up the career when I'm ready to have kids. It's tough-enough on a player's career taking a season off for each pregnancy."

"How did we get here from where we started with the hugs and birthday gift?" Al asked. "Wouldn't you rather talk about anything else on your birthday?"

"She was a baby the day she was born," Lily pointed out. "It makes perfect sense to me."

The rest of their walk and talk had been a lot of fun, but Al really enjoyed getting to be with Rose for all of her birthday entertainment at breakfast – including the arrival of the Owl Posts. That wasn't something he could do with Gwendolyn or even Lily; and he really loved getting to see his cousin in the spotlight with their friends and cousins; and enjoying all of the gifts and happiness that came along with celebrating her special day. There wasn't a special meal, and they had to move on to a morning study session after taking Saturday off; but then there was some bonus birthday fun before their Quidditch practice with the team. Lucy and Louis led the way for that, and while James didn't cause any trouble for Rose; he also stayed out of the way and didn't even offer her any best birthday wishes. The junior team players were invited to stay for that bit of fun after their practice; so Lily and Hugo were among the well-wishers; and then Olivia had her team get to work after that – and was happy when Rose went on to earn a shut-out during the scrimmage thanks to being especially fired-up.

There was a bit more birthday fun at lunchtime, but then Al ate quickly so that he could go to their study classroom with Gwendolyn and some volunteers to get things set up for Rose's party. Since not everyone had their weekend revision finished, they set up work tables too, but made room for the portable pool and a section of the room with sofas, chairs, and Al's mirror so that their friends and relatives could play too. They had everything ready by the time Susannah brought Rose to her party and the rest of the guests were either already there or soon on the way; and then it was time for Al to take a break after hours of busy – and Gwendolyn was happy to sit down and do that with him while they let others deal with the first round of social time.

"I'd say this is going well," Gwendolyn decided as they relaxed on a sofa with drinks and mostly watched the action going on around them.

"So far," Al agreed with a nod and sigh. "Once I restup for a few minutes; we should probably do the studying next."

Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Are you afraid that you won't be able to do that later if we go for a swim first? I am wearing my swimsuit right now."

"Not afraid, but I am sure it would mess up my ability to concentrate," Al answered; and then grinned too. "My first thought at your question was that I'd have been scared if you'd told me you didn't have your swimsuit on."

Gwendolyn laughed; leaned close; and kissed him. "Don't change, since little moments like that wouldn't be as much fun if you were like that all of the time; but thanks for that – and I'll remember it for future reference."

"Now I am scared," Al joked. "I do hope that our friends want to get the studying out of the way first, though; since I really would rather get it done and then play for the rest of the day."

"We might not get that lucky," Gwendolyn advised him. "Do you know how many of our classmates still don't have their major projects finished? We basically need to have all of them in before we go home for Easter; and too many of our friends have been procrastinating."

"I'd rather take the time off today and help more over the next three days," Al told her seriously. "Rose gets the day off, though; so we may be stuck with the extra work today whether we want it or not."

That actually ended up being true, but they managed to have fun here and there all afternoon too. After their little break; they studied for an hour; had a swim and play break that included having Rose open her gifts and serving birthday cake to everyone; there was more studying after that where Al, Gwendolyn, and Susannah mostly tutored their friends; and then there was some play time after that as they also wound down and cleaned up from the party when it was near-time to head for dinner in the Great Hall. Rose continued to have fun while enjoying that meal with Al and their usual Gryffindor friends; and then they moved on to an abbreviated family night because Rose only had an hour to spend with them before she needed to get to a scheduled video chat with Kyle. Malorie, Lily, and Jonah joined Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose for that; and Al was as fired up as Rose was with one of the birthday gifts that Malorie brought for her.

"You're accepting the job!" Rose exclaimed as she head the birthday card. "Malorie – thank-you! That's brilliant!"

Malorie laughed. "You're welcome – even though I feel like it's a birthday gift I'm giving to me instead of you."

"It's still a brilliant gift for me too," Rose assured her. "Now I'll just hope that you'll love the job as much as Al and I are sure we'll love our jobs with the Cannons."

"Careful, or you'll scare her off," Lily teased with a grin. "The players get the worst of it, I'm sure; but the rest of the Cannons' employees must get razzed a lot by their families and friends too."

"I'll be working for this GO MagiSports," Malorie reminded her. "Maybe nobody will notice the connection for at least the first couple of years."

"Maybe for a while," Lily agreed, "but some will find out that you're researching the Cannons; so there will eventually be questions – and then they might think you and your investors are even crazier than the Cannons' players, staff, and owners."

"We're hoping to stay under the radar for any of that for as long as we can," Rose advised both of them; and we'll work on ways to do that."

"We can keep some of the research very general," Al offered – "like while Malorie finds out everything she can about the league. The things we'll need to know will apply to every team – though I suppose it's possible that there are some differences between how the league handles things with the top teams compared to the teams at the bottom of the league."

"We'll need to know that too," Rose offered; "since we plan on going from the bottom to the top."

"Good point," Al agreed. "That makes sense for looking at the team too, since our investors would be interested in not just what the Cannons are worth; but what they will be worth once we've turned things around."

"In a century or three," Lily joked. "I hope all of your investors are really young – and can afford to lose money for a decade or thirty before you get there."

"Maybe you should invest," Malorie suggested. "You're young, and if I had the money; I'd want to bet it on Al and Rose to succeed – which is one of the reasons I'm taking the job."

"I'm thinking about it," Gwendolyn advised them – though Al knew that already. "Mum's said that we should check and make sure it wouldn't be a conflict of interest for me to do that – or at least to still be involved after I go to work for the Harpies, but even she's admitted that if Rose can pull this off; the Cannons could be the bargain of the century for buying a league team."

"You'll be in on the investment one way or the other unless you're not planning on marrying Al after you graduate," Lily reminded her. "That can't be a conflict; since there are other couples that have worked for different teams – like Madison and John's parents."

"Would that be an option for you too if Rose recruits Jonah for her team?" Malorie asked; and smiled when Lily laughed.

"Possibly, since he is still at the top of my list for potential future boyfriends; but I'll still think about your suggestion anyway – even though I've still got that bet with Rose and don't think I'd want to take the sorts of risks they're planning on taking with all of this. I have a lot more faith in the Harpies; and Gwendolyn and I will be sure to do well with them – just as I think that Rose could do better with them instead of the Cannons."

"I'll do better with the Cannons," Rose assured her. "Doing well on the business side of it will be a great bonus, but as much as I love you, Gwendolyn, and Victoire; Quidditch just wouldn't be as much fun if I didn't get to play on the same team with Al – and he can't play for the Harpies."

"Maybe you have picked the perfect plan – for you," Lily offered. "I'll pick the league titles and other personal and team wins over the fun; and making a fair bit of money without the huge risks for losses that you'll be taking – and Gwendolyn's already agreed to support Al if needed; so he'll be okay."

"So you're suggesting that Rose needs to find a future husband to take care of her if needed?" Jonah asked. "What does Kyle want to do when he grows up?"

"You are lucky that you went there," Lily advised him after joining in for the laughs. "Rose might have put you on her short list for that too instead of just for her future Cannons' Seeker."

"She couldn't do both," Gwendolyn pointed out. "You were talking about that as a financial back-up plan in case of investment losses with the Cannons. Jonah would need to play Seeker for another team for that to work."

"And I'd rather have the Seeker," Rose added with a laugh – "unless you'd like to sign up instead."

"Maybe you should wait and see how the rest of their Seeker duels turn out between now and when they graduate," Al suggested. "You could make the job offer to whichever of them win that best-of six or seven matches."

"Six?" Lily asked; and Al shrugged.

"You could have a fourth-year issue with James for a spot on the team; and Jonah could have issues with Stephanie if she continues to try out for Seeker and Chaser. Then there are also the players coming up behind you – like Riley and Hunter for Gryffindor. Louis really didn't expect Rose to beat him this year – and she's getting better every week."

"You don't think that I can beat James?" Lily asked with a hint of danger in her tone; and Al laughed.

"I know you can beat him, but not every time; and I have no idea which of you would win a tryouts duel."

"If you even get the chance for that," Gwendolyn added. "James could be Captain again in his NEWT year; and then you'd only be able to be on the reserve squad that year."

"Louis didn't make the team this year," Lily pointed out. "We don't even know what Olivia will recommend for next year. She might pick him so that he'd be sure to play instead of Rose, but that wouldn't be fair – especially if Rose keeps helping her and Lucy to look so good to the scouts this season. I suppose that Tiberius is an option, but then I'd say that Rose or Al would be better picks."

"Choosing me would be unfair to Louis," Rose pointed out; and Lily grinned at her.

"We're Witches; and life isn't supposed to be fair for Wizards," she reminded her cousin. "Wouldn't you make the Keeper tryout open if you were Captain the way that Al did last year with the Chasers?"

"Maybe – but I'm not sure of that," Rose admitted candidly. "I'm certainly not thinking about buying the Cannons and then having open tryouts for Keeper."

"That is one advantage to your plan," Malorie offered. "What's the average career with one team for most players in the show? There are always new players being added to teams every year; so is the average seven? Less or more than that?"

"Less on average; quite a bit more for the very best players," Al advised her. A few of the better players manage to do well going from team-to-team; and then there are a few, like our Mum, who choose to have short careers; and more that have career-ending injuries. There are still more that work for years on reserve squads and then get to play some matches; but there are also lots of reserve players with very short careers because they get injured in practices a lot."

"It's very dangerous for average players to practice against the best Beaters," Gwendolyn added and explained for Malorie.

"That isn't surprising to me," Malorie assured her with a nod. "It's like that for a lot of Muggle sports too. The top players get better medical care and other benefits; while the average players get discarded because there are always more waiting for their shot."

"I don't usually even think about the students graduating each year from Hogwarts and other schools that get jobs with reserve squads on the league teams," Lily admitted – "unless they're like Calvin Johnson."

"Because he's hot?" Malorie teased; and Lily laughed.

"No – because he was only on the United reserve squad for a year while waiting for Tina to graduate. He was good-enough to play on most teams, but it was a good move for him to learn from the United Beaters for a year; and that's proved out this season. Calvin and Tina replaced the league champion Beaters; and I'd say that United is better this year – whether they win another championship or not."

"You shouldn't be so happy about that," Gwendolyn advised her. "That isn't good for our team."

"It isn't," Lily agreed. "We'll need new Beaters for our team eventually too; but we do have two potentially great ones with your cousins; so let's hope we'll be okay with that when the time comes."

"Maybe Malorie has that solution with us right here and now," Gwendolyn offered.

"Are you predicting girls?" Al asked; earning a round of laughs.

"I wasn't even thinking that," Malorie advised him – "especially since I was thinking boys when she said that; and that would've excluded them from playing for her team. Will I have to listen to jokes about the twins playing for the Harpies or Cannons all of the time from now on?"

"Probably," Lily agreed. "Don't hope for boys just because of that, though; since I would really love to have nieces instead."

"Al would be okay with that too," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Baby boys wouldn't want to play dolls with him like girls would."

"You're brilliant!" Al told her; and then hugged and kissed her.

"Okay – what for?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed.

"Animorphmagus babies!" he exclaimed; and earned a round of laughs for that. "Baby dolls that turn into kittens, cubs, or whatever." He grinned at Malorie. "Twins would be awesome for siblings or best friends to buy and share." He stopped smiling when Malorie went from laughing to frwoning; and then his senses caught up with the why for that a moment later. "Okay, that twin thing might be a problem for us if we came out with them too soon this year," he told her; "but we could always save that up for something to do in a year or two."

Malorie sighed in relief. "That's still annoying; but does come in handy now and then too," she advised him. "Animorphmagus babies would be adorable; and I suppose it even makes sense for there to be litters of them for some animals."

"That's even better," Al agreed. "Not just two – and sets would give kids extras to play with when they have their friends around."

"You could likely do that without starting a batch of rumors about us," Malorie decided. "Rose doesn't have much time before she needs to go have that birthday chat with her boyfriend, though; so we should catch up on the latest news and anything else you want to talk about before she needs to leave."

That prompt worked to send their chat off in a new direction, and that included everything from quick personal updates to Malorie's check-up and some discussion of things that Rose and Al would do over the Easter break to look into office and home space for Malorie; and then she moved on when Rose was ready to go and talk with Kyle; while Lily and Jonah stayed to have some music fun with Al and gwendolyn – along with mirror chats with their parents; and some mirror network watching and cuddle time that kept them entertained until it was time for the visit to the Owlery just ahead of curfew. Al would have been glad to head up to his bed after getting back to his House, but he ended up helping some friends with their studies for more than an hour; and then he had a bit of bedtime fun work while playing around with the Animorphbabies idea before eventually heading off to sleep.

They had four school days left until the Easter holiday trip home on Friday, but al expected that his week would be comparatively-easy. Quidditch practices might still be tough, but he only had two of them to deal with; the work on their holiday revision would just make things easier while they were home; and the only extra event on the schedule was April Fool's Day. That was also Fred and George's birthday, so al planned on another round of fun with his snap—dragons; but he also hoped to get through the day without any problems from James or anyone else; since that would be the first big test since Valentine's Day.

Whatever happened with that, though, Al was sure that he was going to have an amazing Easter holiday; and he was looking forward to the home time before they'd need to be back at school for the big push to the end-of-term exams!


	44. Happy Easter Holiday

Chapter Forty-Four – Happy Easter Holiday

James woke up on Thursday morning; and then swore to himself as he first became aware of the other guys in the room and knew that they were all busy getting ready for their last day of classes before the Easter break – which they were all staying for this year while supposedly taking the entire week to study hard and get ready for their OWL exams. He'd planned on waking early and finding out for sure who was behind the snap-dragon prank-memorials. Maybe his subconscious kept him from waking on purpose so that he couldn't learn the answer to that question – or confirm his suspicions; since he didn't believe that Rose had been behind them; and Fred continued to insist that it wasn't him either.

Whatever the reason, he soon saw that it was far too late to find out, but some of the other guys were talking about going to take a look before breakfast; so he got up; hurried to get ready to go for the day; and ended up heading for the Great Hall with that detour along with Brock and three other roommates. He wasn't surprised to see a boquet of snapdragons in the window alcove; and knew that the prank was a hit from the laughter they all heard before even turning the corner into that hallway.

"The Ministry of Magic has issued a warning to all Witches and Wizards to use the Aguamenti spell with extreme caution as dihydrogen monoxide has been found in excessive amounts after extensive safety testing by Ministry officials!"

"What the heck?" Brock asked as they heard another round of laughs. "What's so funny about that?"

"Dihydrogen monoxide is the chemical name for water," one of their Muggleborn friends advised Brock before James could answer. "It's an old Muggle April Fool's Day prank that still gets used now and then – and still freaks people out."

"You're not supposed to give it away that easily," one of the other guys told the first. "Let's watch and find out how many students – or Professors – get tricked by it today."

"The snap-dragons are telling jokes this year?" James surmised as they joined the group of temporary flower enthusiasts; and he got a round of nods in answer to his question.

"Yeah," one of the teens answered. "We've heard a couple of old Muggle jokes with a twist like that one; and other stupid one-liners."

"This is funny," one of the Witches stated; "but I liked the Transfiguration one from last year better."

"Maybe you can still feed them wheezes," another one of the guys suggested. "There's no warnings on the sign or anything; but it can't hurt to try."

"I didn't bring any with me," the Witch told him. "Maybe I'll try that later. We need to get to breakfast anyway. Any last jokes before we go, flowers?"

"If you really have to go; the nearest Witches' bathroom is down the hall to the right; around the corner; and on the left," the flowers chorused; earning another round of laughs.

"That is so lame," James declared.

"Lame and brilliant," Brock told him. "I don't even know what you'd need to do to make those things interactive like that. Do you?"

"Yes," James lied; but didn't say more as Brock took his meaning the wrong way and ran with it. He didn't admit to anything else, but the rumor was started; and he was okay with that – even as he was irritated; and suspected even more than ever that the Animorphloser was behind the snap-dragons. He doubted that most NEWT students would have a clue how to make those things; and the list of suspects narrowed a long way just from having knowledge of Muggle pranks and jokes.

Lame and brilliant was more credit than he was willing to give to his loser brother, but then he decided to just forget about the stupid flowers; and get on with his own prank and practical jokes plans for the day.

It had been a good week for Al and Gwendolyn through to Thursday morning – about as good as Al had hoped that it would be. With their 'in by Easter' assignments and projects out of the way, while many of their classmates rushed to get that work done and handed in; they were able to get holiday assignments early; work on them in classes and in the afternoons and evenings; and get a great start of that work so they'd have more play time available over the holidays. April Fool's Day had started out great for Al with the snap-dragons and morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily; so he was happy as they sat down for their morning meal – shortly after a bonus good morning hug and kiss with Gwendolyn when she stopped by on her way to the Ravenclaw table.

That was likely why the weird, when it hit him, was so startling – though he also knew that what began happening to him was something new too. It started not long after James arrived in the Great Hall, and while he'd sensed the hatred directed at him because of the snap-dragons; that hadn't been new or surprising. No, the weird began with the first April Fool's Day prank he sensed being put into motion; and the new was a jolt of foresight that came along with it. Unlike pretty much every time to that point, the foresight wasn't just one clear vision. Instead, he was hit with a myriad of possibilities that overwhelmed him – and kept him from acting to stop the prank from happening. Because of that indecision, it went off; a couple of tweens were caught up in it; and it was embarrassing-enough for them that they left the room and presumably went to get cleaned up before first classes. Al also knew that James had been behind it; since he sensed the dark happiness within his brother as he'd watched the aftermath of his handiwork.

"You can't save everyone," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al; and he turned to face her.

"I could've stopped that one," he whispered back. "Something I sensed through my foresight kept me from doing it." He frowned and struggled with that. "That's not exactly it, but whatever just happened to me; it had me hesitating for too long."

"Then maybe there was a reason for you to do nothing," Rose suggested thoughtfully; still whispering. "Everyone has bad things happen to them, Al. If you – or anyone – could stop that from happening; Merlin only knows what effect that would have on each of us." She smiled at him. "You do the best you can, Al; but could you ever know all of the unintended consequences that go along with doing your best – and I guess I mean that for everything you do."

"Should I change that before our match against Ravenclaw?" he joked; and Rose laughed.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't always do your best – only that those consequences happen – and aren't always for the best for others. I love you, but that doesn't keep me from being annoyed when you best me at school or in our Quidditch battles." She nodded toward the doors to the hall, since the two tweens were already gone by then. "You didn't help them and feel bad about it; but maybe something good will come of it for them – or maybe someone else won't get hurt because the prankster got mad and tried something worse had you stopped that prank."

"That isn't anything we haven't talked about before," Al reminded her. "What I sensed was different this time, though; since I've always seemed to know what to do. This time; I didn't."

"Or you did; and just didn't like the answer," Rose suggested. "Think about it and try to work it out. Our abilities don't always grow – or end – the way we want; but we have to deal with our own realities."

"That is something to think about," Al agreed; "but I'll hope that my new reality isn't going to be regular bouts of that kind of indecisiveness with everything I do."

"I don't expect you'll have to worry about that," Rose assured him. "Let me know if you do keep having this problem all day, though; and we might have to take a look and make sure you haven't been pranked too."

That idea had startled Al too, but when he checked; he didn't find any hint that he'd been hit with any magic or anything else to explain what had happened. "I'll keep that in mind too; but don't think that's it," he advised rose after a long pause while he'd done that internal check.

He did continue to have that same problem off and on all day, though; and it was entirely-related to April Fool's Day jokes and pranks that went off around him. Studying that on the fly was weird too, but he began to understand that what was happening really was just an expansion of his magical abilities – just as other senses and his ability to foresee the near future had come a long way over the past four years. Over the course of the day, he stopped several pranks; did nothing for others; and tried to take in as much as he could about the new, multi-faceted insights he was sensing so strongly. It was going to take time to process all of that – or maybe to learn how to process that information more quickly; but he actually didn't think at all about the fact that this new distraction kept him from worrying about pranks or ambushes directed at him, Gwendolyn, or the rest of their friends.

That didn't keep him from staying alert to the potential for danger; but then he also didn't end up having any issues with James or anyone else beyond 'normal' wheezes or the entertaining variety of practical jokes. One of the highlights of his day was an early check-up for Malorie that Gwendolyn went along with him for between dinner and the start of an abbreviated study session that had been optional because they were heading home in the morning anyway. Malorie had agreed to that because she hadn't wanted to go two or three weeks without a check on the babies, but the reason that had been a highlight was because she'd shown a fun side of herself with a bit of an April Fool's Day joke for Al and gwendolyn too; and that had proved to him that Malorie really had come a long way in the past few months.

The Thursday evening studying was with Rose and Susannah while the rest of their study group took the night off. They couldn't get all of their holiday revision finished, but the four of them were more than half-done by the time they packed up; and they went back to their own Houses early because the girls had each wanted to spend some time with their girlfriends before heading home for the week – particularly with the girls they wouldn't see until after the holiday. Al spent a bit of time visiting in the common room after walking Gwendolyn home; he was first to his dorm room; and was mid-way through packing his bags for the trip home when James sauntered into the room. Al had sensed him coming, but nothing more that had him more on guard than usual; and he tried to keep his reaction to James' arrival neutral.

"Hello, James," he offered. "How are you tonight? Ready for the holiday?"

"I've nothing to get ready for," James retorted; but mildly for him – as well as dramatically-different from what Al sensed from him. "You'll be out of here in the morning; so it'll be great around here after that."

"That's true for you; so why risk messing up a perfectly good April Fool's Day by coming to see me at all after you've had so much fun today?" Al countered.

"I came to warn you not to mess things up for me while you're home – and by that; I mean stay out of my business."

He'd said that with quiet venom; and Al drew his wand and protected the room so they could continue the conversation without being interrupted or overheard. James had taken a step back and reached for his wand too; but stopped when he realized what Al had done.

"I'm only surprised that you've waited this long," Al told him seriously. "There isn't anything that I'll be talking about or doing with Mum and Dad regarding Malorie and the babies that I haven't been talking about with them for months now. You won't like any of that, but then we're also not doing anything that you shouldn't expect. Those babies are innocents and part of our family now; and we'll love them accordingly – whether you do or not."

"So that's the deal," James declared. "You get Malorie to mess with me; and then get Mum and Dad to foot the bills to pay her back when I don't play along and let you ruin my life!"

"Save that rubbish for anyone who might believe your excuses," Al told him. "Do you even realize that you come up with the ideas for those claims because of your own perspective? For Merlin's sake, James, if I truly wanted to mess with you; I don't need to get anyone else involved. I'd certainly never use or hurt someone else the way you do far too often."

"And you can save that rubbish for everyone you've conned into believing your perfect little Wizard lies," James snarled scathingly. "This is all your fault, and if you try to pin it all on me; I'll make sure the world knows the truth!"

"You didn't need to come and tell me that in person," Al advised him. "I've been sure that you'll try to blame this on me pretty much since finding out that Malorie was pregnant. There's no doubt that you'll get some people to believe you, but I can deal with that; and the threat won't change anything. Mum and Dad will acknowledge their grandchildren when the time comes – hopefully sometime after Malorie finishes her NEWTs; Lily and I will have relationships with our nieces or nephews; and it'll be your loss if you don't want to have anything to do with your sons or daughters."

"You mean your puppies," James retorted. "You're not as brilliant as you think you are if you can't tell whether they're boys or girls."

Al laughed; and James scowled at him.

"That won't be clear for the fetuses for a bit longer," Al explained. "Malorie will be able to find out about that by the end of April or early May; and I can pass that news on to you if you're interested."

"I could care less," James assured him. "They'll likely be Mudblood freaks like you!" He sneered maliciously. "That's likely what happened with you – too much of our Mudblood grandmother in you – and in Dad. The puke-green eyes are a dead giveaway! I got the pureblood side of the family in me, and Lily's obviously a Weasley like Mum; but you and Dad are abominations and freaks! It's no wonder that all true Wizards and Witches want you dead."

"Well, you ought to at least be glad that they didn't succeed with Dad before you were born," Al deadpanned. "That wouldn't have ended well for you."

James shrugged. "I'd have just had a different last name," he declared stupidly.

"There isn't really anything to say about something that ridiculous," Al decided. "If you're just going to spew all of that hate, though; you should just move on and get on with the start of your Easter holidays. I love you, and hope you have a good week, James. Nothing you've said tonight will change that."

"You're lying," James shot back; and Al shook his head while drawing his wand and pointing it at him.

"I'm not," he assured his brother; and then proved it with a feat of minor magic that was actually far more profound than it appeared to be as he 'showed' James that he truly was loved.

"Stop that!" James snarled angrily. "I know that for the lie it is too; so stay out of my head!"

"You hate that it's true," Al countered as he dropped the protections around the room before putting his wand away again. "Have a good night, James – and take that wheeze with you; since it'd just be a waste to leave it here only to have me stop it and throw it out." He didn't get his wand out this time while levitating it from the floor by his bed and letting it hover in front of James' chest.

"I hate you!" James snarled as he took the wheeze and dropped it into a pocket before turning and stalking out of the room.

"I know that too," Al agreed silently but without the sense of sadness that he just couldn't bring himself to feel anymore – especially when he was about to spend a week at home – and away from all of that hate.

Harry was smiling as he held Ginny's hand and they watched the Hogwarts Express glide into the station and alongside platform nine and three-quarters. He'd left work early to join the welcoming committee, in part because he was taking the weekend shift at Auror Headquarters so that others could have the weekend off; and this gave him a bit more time with the kids – even if it was only an extra hour or two. He and Ginny were part of a larger group of parents that included Kirley, a couple of his Weird Sisters' brothers, Angelina, Ron, and a handful of other Quidditch or Auror families' friends. That combination earned them a fair bit of attention, but he only took serious note of that with the Wizards and Witches that exuded hatred as they watched him – and did that strongly-enough for him to sense it from them.

"Maybe you should have come in disguise," Ron leaned in and told him; and Harry laughed.

"The last thing I need is more rumors going around from a bunch of witnesses that would see Ginny going around with another Wizard if I did that," he joked; and Ginny laughed too.

"You could always disguise yourself as a Weasley again," she suggested. "They might not suspect anything if I was holding hands with one of my brothers or cousins."

"From what I saw when I got here; you'd have needed to be kissing cousins," Ron offered; though Harry and Ginny knew that he was making that up because they hadn't shared any kisses since getting to the station. "Your haters seem to be out in full force today, though," he added thoughtfully. "You didn't just track down Victor Avery and I didn't hear about it, did you?"

"No, but they might be wondering if I'm here to keep an eye on some of them through their kids – or to follow the Averys when they leave," Harry suggested. "It likely never occurs to them that I might be bright-enough not to just let them see me if I was going to do that."

"Well, you don't look all that bright," Ron joked; "so it's an easy mistake to make."

"You're in good form this afternoon," Ginny told him. "I'm so glad that we can help to keep you entertained so you don't have to think about being the second-favorite Wizard your little girl is looking forward to seeing while she's home this week."

Ron shrugged; but frowned too. "He's a decent kid, so I'm not going to say anything about that, but I hope Rose will be okay whenever they have to end it; since they'll never be able to work things out long-term when she definitely wants to live in the Wizarding World – and he can never do that."

"It's not impossible; but it is pretty rare," Ginny offered. "We've incoming, though; so let's leave that there. You will at least get the first hugs from Rose – even if you might not see her much once she's reunited with Kyle for the week."

Scorpius prepared to step down from the train, but then hesitated for a brief second of fear as he locked eyes with Harry Potter for just the briefest of moments. In the second they had that contact; he felt as though he'd been turned inside out; and he fervently hoped that wasn't actually true. The moment passed, though, and he stepped down onto the platform; headed toward where he'd seen his parents; and actually felt better once he was with them – something that he hadn't felt in a long time. He still felt off-balance as his mother hugged him and he shook hands with his father; and he felt a bit diffused as he talked with them and they began to make their way toward the platform exit. Catching sight of Lysandra with her mother had only helped a bit – until he remembered what she had in one of her bags; and he again hoped desperately that Harry Potter hadn't been able to read his mind or know what he and Lysandra – and Thomas – had planned for the holidays.

Merlin, he hoped not!

Al and Gwendolyn were with Lily and Jonah as they made their way off of the train; but they needed a bit more time to get to their parents because Lily was much better at snaking her way through the crowd while they waded through more slowly – and had a few parting chats with friends as they went along. They were still among the first of the teens and tweens to meet up with the overall group of parents that were hanging out with Harry, Ginny, and Kirley; so they also made it through the round of hugs and kisses and then had time to chat while waiting for the rest of their cousins and friends to join the welcome home party.

"I should've stayed at work – or worn heels," Harry told Al. "Now everyone around here can see that you're taller than I am now – and it's too late for you to try slouching to hide that fact."

"You could conjure those heels if you really wanted that," Gwendolyn pointed out, "but I doubt that bugs you nearly as much as it bothers James."

"Probably not," Harry agreed. "I can't relate, since I don't have any brothers; but there's no doubt that James will hate being shorter than Al – unless he puts on a late growth spurt and catches up."

"Let's talk about how James is doing another time," Ginny suggested. "I'll hope that he doesn't have too much fun over the Easter break – and that his OWL studies go well. While we head for Diagon Alley, though; I'd like to hear about your trip home – or at least we can start with that."

Lily and Gwendolyn led that bit of storytelling for Harry, Ginny, and Kirley; and there were little pockets of different chats going on within their larger group as they made their way out of King's Cross. They had a smaller group for the ride over to the Leaky, but that was because they'd needed to split up to do that; and then that smaller group went on to the wheezes store to either stay or have a visit with George before doing a little tour of Diagon Alley and picking up a few things on their way home. For Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and their four kids, that meant heading to the Potter home; and Gwenog was going to join them there for dinner once she was done work for the weekend.

Once they were home, Al and Lily took their bags up to their rooms; Al unpacked while enjoying a bit of alone time with Gwendolyn – the first chance they'd had for that all day; and then they joined the fun in and around the kitchen while dinner was being cooked and they were all kept entertained with more stories from school and home. They didn't talk about anything important; simply enjoyed being reunited; and had a really great family dinner that kept the fun going once Gwenog caught up with them. She brought the latest Harpies' stories with her; wanted full recaps of the school reports; and was especially-happy that she could actually enjoy the entire evening without having to focus on a major Quidditch match on Saturday – and most Easter holiday match-ups were against top-tier rivals for the Harpies pretty much every year. That was true this time around – they just had their match against United at the end of the holiday week instead of the beginning. That was good news for the McCormacks for the Easter weekend; but meant that she'd have less time during the work week for the kids once she needed to focus on her work instead.

Harry and Ginny were working on Saturday, though, so while they didn't need to do any homework on Friday night; they couldn't stay up late partying either. The weather was decent for early April, so after cleaning up from dinner; they all went for an hour-long hike; and then they had some more chat time in the sitting room until Gwenog and Kirley decided that it was time to take their kids home for the night. Al would have preferred a sofa sleepover with Gwendolyn instead, but knew that her parents needed some alone time with their kids while that was an option – just as he knew that his parents wanted to have some alone time to talk with him and Lily. Those goodbyes took a little while, and once the McCormacks had gone home; Harry and Al took drink orders; brought a bowl of snacks to the sitting room with them; and then they sat with Ginny and Lily respectively so that they could semi-face each other while having that bedtime conversation.

"Let's start with a Malorie and babies update," Ginny told Al and Lily. "I want to know how they're doing; but do you have any sense that we should be worried about her while she's there at Hogwarts with James, Al?"

"I hope not," Al answered. "James came to see me in my dorm room last night. I didn't get any sense that he was thinking about trying anything to hurt Malorie or the twins. He mostly wanted to talk about me messing up his life with you while I'm home – and to offer the usual insults. He's also made it clear that he'll blame everything on me when word does get out; so I'll need to be ready for that – and so will the rest of you to a lesser extent."

"Malorie already gave us that heads-up from the beginning," Harry said with a nod. "You're definitely not sensing any danger to Malorie?"

"No," Al agreed. "If that changes; I'll let you know. I couldn't exactly ask Malorie to be careful, since she doesn't know what James was going to try to do to her, but I think she'll be careful anyway. There are other things that we should talk about with her, though – like getting her a portable pool to use between now and the end of June."

"For the babies?" Lily asked.

"Going for swims will help her with that," Al agreed; "but I'm thinking about that for staying clean too. I'm sure she's being careful with when she's taking showers already, but it won't be much longer before she won't just be able to pretend she's been putting on a bit of weight if any of the other Hufflepuff girls see her in the shower. I thought that we could borrow one from somebody for the rest of the school year – maybe one of the prototypes; if there are still a few of them around."

"We could just buy her a new one," Ginny assured him; and Al shrugged.

"Yeah, but Malorie might not like that kind of gift. She's come a long way since January; but we still need to be careful about how much help she'll accept from us."

"She took the job," Ginny reminded him. "I wasn't sure that she would."

"And Ginny isn't just saying that because Malorie might end up working for Rose's Cannons team."

"What makes you think that the job is all about Malorie?" Al asked with a grin. "Maybe Rose actually expects that Mum will take that Seeker job if it means getting to spend time with her grandchildren every day!"

"I can't tell if you're joking about that or not," Ginny decided.

"He gets that from you," Harry advised her; "but then I don't sense that he's lying. Would it work?"

"It might," Ginny conceded.

"You can't be serious,' Lily declared; though she'd joined in for the laughs at Al's suggestion. "If you want to play Quidditch again; just ask Aunt Gwenog for a job."

"As Gabrielle's back-up?" Ginny countered. "Do you really think that'd be more fun than playing on a team with Al and Rose?"

"I think it'd be a healthier career move," Lily told her seriously. "Don't mess up your reputation like some of the other players have in the past by playing for any team that'll give them a job regardless of how badly it messed up their league records."

"That's a risk," Ginny agreed, "but maybe I'm getting old and senile; since I warm up to the idea a bit more every year since those jokes started back in Al's first year at Hogwarts. You have to admit that it would be brilliant to be one of the players to win that next championship for the Cannons."

"Would you still feel that way if you had to beat our Harpies to do that?" Lily asked. "You've razzed Uncle Ron about his team your entire life. That doesn't make any sense at all!"

"It doesn't," Ginny agreed. "Let's hope that my sanity returns before I do something really stupid – like signing up for that job."

"And while you're waiting for that to happen; we can get back to talking about more current events," Harry suggested. "Did you do a check-up with Malorie last night, Al?"

"Yes, and they're all fine," Al answered with a nod and smile. "Malorie is taking care of herself; and is actually physically stronger than she was back in January because she is eating better and exercising more – though that's mostly through going for walks and doing some of the exercises she's read about for pregnant women."

"She'll be glad of that when she's in labor – and while trying to keep up with twins after that," Ginny predicted. "She isn't getting worn out trying to keep up with the NEWT year work? I know how tough that was to do without having her issues; and it might seem impossible to her some days as she gets through to the end of the second trimester."

"She's been better since she got past the morning sickness; and I'll be there to help out if she has some more rough patches," Al advised and promised. "Right now, Malorie is most-stressed about how she'll get her life worked out once she's done school; so that's where we can help most."

"The job sure helped with that," Lily told their parents. "Now we just need to find her a place to live; get it set up for when we're done in June; and then spend the summer getting everything she'll need for the twins."

"Have you and Rose decided when you want to do that visit to Chudley?" Ginny asked Al.

"We may want to go on Monday afternoon; but we haven't decided for sure," Al answered. "Gwendolyn, Rose, and I won't have team practices this week, but depending on what Rose sets up with Kyle; we might try to practice once or twice with the junior teams. We'll only need Monday to get our holiday revision done, but will have a second study session on Wednesday to help our study friends that didn't do as much of that work this past week."

"I'll be able to help you out with that a bit," Ginny advised him. "I stopped and took a look around for places to rent or buy; and have the listings for you to look at with Rose before going there. That should make your visit a bit more productive – and there were quite a few places that might work quite well as both an office for your new business and a home for Malorie."

"Thanks, Mum," Al said gratefully. "We wouldn't be taken seriously by anyone while doing that research; though we figured we could get away with claiming we were doing some sort of holiday revision project to get what we needed."

"I'm sure you can do that," Ginny agreed. "We'll have to see whether Malorie thinks she could handle living in a small town, but I think that financial reality will set in once she sees her options."

"Most junior Ministry employees need roommates to afford to live in London," Harry added with a nod of agreement. "Even young couples find it tough – unless one or both of them have better-paying jobs. Living in smaller towns really is best – and isn't a problem even for Witches and Wizards who can't apparate very far; since the Floo Network works just fine for them instead."

"We'll work with whatever she decides," Al suggested; and then grinned. "She's already refused my own preference; but I'll still hope that she'll bring the twins for visits on Hogsmeade weekends – and maybe to some of the nice-weather matches."

"You're just asking for trouble with that, magnet," Lily predicted with a grin; and Al laughed and shrugged.

"Yeah, but I don't want to miss most of their first three years while I'm at Hogwarts – and unless they arrive early; we won't even get to meet them in person before we go back to school in September."

"Not if I can do anything about that," Lily promised; her grin broadening. "My nieces are not going to be stuck waiting for an extra year before starting at Hogwarts just because they're born in September instead of August. I'll get Dad to conjure a buggy and get you to take us for rides, if needed, Al."

"You don't want to just have Dad take her for rides on his motorcycle?" Al joked.

"That might work – if she can fit into the sidecar by mid-August," Lily agreed. "Taking her to a few Quidditch matches might help too. She's never been to a league match; so the excitement might be enough to set her off into labor."

"Don't hope for that to happen too soon," Ginny warned – "and don't be too disappointed if they're nephews instead of nieces."

"I have to hope for girls," Lily told her mother seriously. "If their Mum is working for Rose's Cannons; that'll be the only way I'll still have a chance of getting them to play for the Harpies when they grow up."

"That could mess up your career if one or both of them want to be a Seeker like their aunt and grandmother," Harry teased. "You've always told us that you're going to play for the Harpies until you're older than Aunt Muriel."

"That's the plan,' Lily agreed. "I'd be okay with them being future Beaters or Chasers for the Harpies, though; and our family does have a history of the first with our twins."

"I don't think you can use that as much to go on with just one set of twins playing Beater," Ginny told her. "We've had more Seekers, Chasers, and Keepers than Beaters in the family – at least for the past few generations."

"Our little corner of the family has skewed that number for the Seekers," Lily countered; "but we can leave that for now – until we find out for sure that Malorie's going to have Witches instead of Wizards."

"Is there anything else we need to discuss about Malorie?" Harry asked.

That question moved their chat along, but there really wasn't much else to talk about for that; they went on to discuss GO MagiSports; Animorphmagus toys; and a handful of other topics that kept them busy through until they were ready to clean up from their drinks and treats and then head up to bed. Al and Lily didn't have shopping or Quidditch to look forward to on Saturday, but they did have chores to do in the morning and then they'd be joining the McCormacks for a Jones family play day while their parents worked; so they wanted to turn in early and be well-rested for what was sure to be a busy holiday weekend!

Lysandra took a deep breath; steeled her resolve for what was sure to be a difficult confrontation with her parents; and then walked into her father's study. As usual, her father was behind his desk; her mother sitting in a comfortable armchair near the fireplace; and they both looked at her in surprise as she intruded on 'their' after-dinner time. She put her book bag down; and sat down in one of the armchairs across the desk from her father. She'd waited for Raban to leave the house after dinner to have this chat with her parents; and wished that she could be doing that with Scorpius. She expected that would come sometime over the holidays; but this part of their plan was hers to do alone; so she got on with it.

"I need to talk with you about a couple of things," she advised them; "and no – this can't wait for another time."

"What could possibly be so important?" her father asked skeptically. "Have you come to tell us that you're about to do something to embarrass us even worse than you did at Christmas with that musical?"

"In part," Lysandra agreed. "Since you brought that up; I've been asked to attend a meeting with some of the other drama club members to discuss making that Christmas musical into a mirror network holiday special and possibly putting on the show at the Magick Hall next Christmas."

"That's out of the question," Rolando declared. "You're done with all of that nonsense, Lysandra."

"I'm not," she disagreed evenly. "I loved everything about that musical, father; and I'm really good – everyone that saw it said so!"

"You went around consorting with the worst sort of trash; embarrassed your family; and think that it's okay because that lot of losers claim you have talent," Rolando scoffed. "Grow up, Lysandra. You're not a child; and it's past-time to stop acting like one." He shook his head. "You're lucky that your brother wasn't there to stop that foolishness. He'd have had more than strong words for you!"

"He might have been able to stop me," Lysandra agreed, "but it's too late for that now; and I've found something that I truly love to do – and I am going to do it, father!"

"You're not!" he repeated.

"I am," she disagreed; "and you're going to allow me to do it."

"You're delusional to think so, but just for the amusement of it; why would you think so?"

"Because I've brought you this," she told him; picking up her bag and carrying it over to his desk. She set it down; opened it; and then lifted the portrait out and turned it to face him. "Father; let me introduce you to Lord Voldemort."

She nearly laughed as her parents both jumped to their feet and stared either at the portrait or her as they were stunned speechless. Her mother rushed over to her father's side; and stared at the portrait.

"Good evening," Thomas said mildly; smiling at them. "You're a bit older than the last time I saw you; but then it has been a while."

"Is this some sort of joke?" Rolando demanded; looking from the portrait to his daughter and back again. "Who are you?"

"I am who Lysandra claims that I am," Thomas assured them. "This portrait portrays me as I was as a young Wizard not many years out of Hogwarts."

"I don't believe it," Rolando declared.

"Would you feel differently if I told you that Scorpius Malfoy gave this to me to pass along as a gift for all of the other pureblood families?" Lysandra asked. "He discovered it years ago while exploring his home as a child – among the personal effects that had been sent to his grandmother that had belonged to his Great-Aunt Belatrix."

"Could it be?" her mother asked; her voice tinged with awe.

"I don't believe so," her father disagreed.

"It is a simple matter to prove the truth of it," Thomas offered. "I know things about you that no others would, and while that might be something you'd prefer to do without your children around, if that isn't proof-enough; any of my original Knights would recognize me for who I am at a glance of this portrait."

"You mean your Death Eaters," Rolando corrected scathingly; and Thomas shook his head.

"You know I did not miss-speak,' Thomas countered immediately. "The Knights came first; the Death Eaters followed. Your own Knights are named in honor of mine – are they not?"

"How could you..."

"...know that?" Thomas finished. "You and your fellow purebloods may have ostracized the Malfoys, but they are still wealthy and powerful; so it should be of no surprise to you that they manage to keep well-informed."

"If that's true, then why would they send you to us?" Tess asked; her tone guarded, but a bit fearful and definitely respectful – just to be on the safe side.

"Scorpius has not yet told them of me – and seeks to earn favor with you and the other purebloods for his own reasons."

Lysandra couldn't see Thomas; but she guessed at the meaning he'd conveyed to her parents without words because they both looked up at her. This had not been part of the plan; but she had no choice but to deal with it.

"Yes, Scorpius fancies me," she admitted; "and I care for him as well. We don't believe that it's fair for him to be excluded from his rightful place among us because of anything his grandparents and father may have done during a war that ended nearly a decade before we were even born. Thomas – Lord Voldemort – has deemed him worthy-enough to mentor; and I know that you could never find a better Wizard for me than the grand-nephew of one of the Dark Lord's most-loyal Death Eaters."

"The boy has a great deal to learn and can be as trying as any teen, but he also has as much or more magical talent as any I've taught before him," Thomas added; drawing her parents' attention to him again. "You're now likely wondering why he would give up my mentoring to offer my services to you instead," he continued; and Lysandra tried not to hold her breath while waiting to find out what he'd tell her parents about that.

"It is far from the only question; but yes, that would be one of them," Rolando agreed.

"I believe that there may be an opportunity available in the near future for all true purebloods to regain what has been taken from them," Thomas explained. "My young protégé will not be ready to lead such an endeavor; but you and your contemporaries could take advantage of my plans and knowledge."

"To what end?" Tess asked curiously; and Thomas turned his attention to her.

"The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts is in two years. I believe that your families could orchestrate an amnesty for all war prisoners. If you could succeed in that effort; then you would again have the strength of numbers and power that would be necessary to take back all that is yours; and none would be strong-enough to stand against your combined power!"

"Merlin!" Tess breathed.

"I don't trust any of this," Rolando said; but even Lysandra sensed that he did believe what he was hearing. "You may go, Lysandra," he told her firmly. "We will talk about this again once I've had time to ask my questions and hear this claim of proof, but I'll warn you now that I will deal harshly with you should this prove to be some stupid, belated April Fool's Day prank."

"It is not; and Thomas – Lord Voldemort – will prove that to you," Lysandra said as she handed him the portrait and then picked up her book bag.

"Why do you repeatedly call him Thomas?" Tess asked.

"It is his name – and the name that he preferred to have Scorpius use with him," Lysandra explained. "I mean no disrespect, and while I've only spoken with him a few times since Scorpius approached me with this offer; I think that his ideas for helping our families is rather brilliant." She smiled when Thomas laughed at that; but that laugh seemed to startle her parents; and they looked at the portrait again.

"I suppose the laughter is quite different from what you'd remember of me," Thomas told them, "but I have learned to find humor in unexpected places through my new, young friends; and Scorpius has spent years now trying to teach me to have a bit of fun now and then – a lesson that I now wish I'd learned in life; since it is obvious in hindsight that I was maybe just a bit too serious."

"That doesn't sound at all like the Dark Lord," Rolando told him; and Thomas shrugged.

"As I've said; the proof is a simple matter – and we can get to that as soon as you'd like so that we do not waste your time with these doubts."

"I'm going," Lysandra assured her father before he needed to repeat his order. "Please take care of that portrait. If you decide that you don't want the gift, I am to return it to Scorpius; since it is likely quite priceless."

"We shall see about that," her father declared; and she stopped and turned back to face him.

"Not about that," she told him with deadly seriousness. "If you choose to accept Thomas' offer of his knowledge and guidance, then that is what he wants, but if you don't; then you will allow me to return it to Scorpius because that is also what the Dark Lord wants."

"You are in no position to demand anything of me," Rolando told her angrily; but Lysandra stood her ground.

"Actually, I am,' Lysandra advised him ominously; but then shook her head. "This is pointless. You will believe Thomas; and will realize – just as I do – exactly how priceless Scorpius' gift truly is for all of us."

With that; she left the room; went straight to her own bedroom suite; and cheered for herself for a while after standing up to her father for the first time in her entire life!

Al woke early on Saturday morning; got ready for the day; and then went downstairs and got to work on making breakfast for four. Harry joined him ten minutes later; poured a cup of coffee first; and then joined in on the work.

"While we have some time to talk in private; is there anything you can tell me about Scorpius and Lysandra that you might have learned yesterday?" Harry asked; smiling despite the serious question and knowing that Al would have sensed what he wanted to talk about before he'd said anything.

"I know that Lysandra had Voldemort's portrait with her yesterday," Al answered first. "You scared Scorpius when he saw you while getting off of the train – I sensed that even with all of the distractions and I was three train cars away at the time. My guess is that she'll be giving that portrait to her parents over the holidays – likely has done so already." He paused and looked at his father. "You're hoping for that. Why?"

"Partly to get it away from Scorpius," Harry answered; and then smiled again when Al looked confused.

"There's something more," Al mused while trying to puzzle out what he was sensing from his father; and then he understood. "I'm sensing a blank because you know something that's magically-protected," he declared. "A Fidelius Charm."

"You've worked that out far sooner than I did the first time I ran into that problem with things that I sensed happening around me."

"I seem to be having a week for a growth spurt in my abilities," Al offered. "On Thursday, it was all about sensing unintended consequences. Rose came up with that; but I think she had the right of it."

"A bit of hindsight in your foresight could come in very handy," Harry half-joked; and al laughed.

"I don't know about that. It made me a bit indecisive while trying to figure out whether to stop certain pranks and practical jokes. That could be a problem in a really serious situation."

"True, but I expect that you'll work something out with it – and this could help you to make better choices once you've done that. Was James involved in those pranks?"

"Some of them," Al confirmed. "I just can't find most practical jokes funny, but he didn't do anything dangerous; and his pranks usually earned lots of laughs – if not always from the victims."

"You may not like the nasty pranks; but I've heard that your April Fool's Day prank was a big hit again this year. Lily told your mother that more than half of her classmates fell for that water in your Aguamenti charms joke."

"Which just suggests to me that we might need to add a bit of basic science to our firstie classes if too many kids aren't learning the basics before they start at Hogwarts. It must be a bit hard to use magic on physical elements if you don't even know what they are."

"James would tell you that we don't need to know what's in water to use that spell," Harry pointed out; and Al shrugged.

"I doubt that he'll ever look at magic the way I do. The more I learn; the better i get at magic – and I'm talking about the details. If I hadn't learned how to be an Animorphmagus; I'd have never been able to imagine how to create the magic for the toys. Maybe it can be as simple as James wants it to be for other Witches and Wizards; but it isn't like that for me."

"You're like Hermione for that," Harry told him. "Ginny's somewhere between Hermione and me; though I've ended up closer to them when it comes to learning about magic than I was when we were teens."

"We've gotten off-track from what you wanted to talk about," Al said as he nodded his agreement. "I did sense a bit more from Scorpius and Lysandra, but while there's more to whatever they have planned; the strongest feelings I got from them were of a more personal nature. They're hoping that what they're doing will make it possible for them to be together openly; and Lysandra is expecting that the portrait will distract her parents and allow her to pursue her dream of being an actress – starting with being part of whatever Wendy and Wanda come up with for that Christmas musical. They've been talking about a mirror network holiday special and also taking the stage show on the road next Christmas."

"Is she any good?" Harry asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes, she is," he confirmed. "I'd say she was the surprise hit of the musical; though that was partly because nobody expected it – while they did expect that the Weird Sisters' kids would all be talented."

"You and Gwendolyn could be amazing at that too," Harry pointed out; and Al smiled.

"Has her Dad drafted you to help him?" he joked. "I won't suggest that we'll never try doing something like that, but Quidditch is going to come first. Even the music we are doing has become part of the Quidditch plan now."

"You're still writing new songs?" Harry asked; and Al nodded.

"Not as many as last summer, but we have written a few while at school; and will likely sell all of them to the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers. We've been working on Animorphmagus water toys too."

"I don't know how you do all of that and keep up with eleven classes and Quidditch too."

"Mostly, we work day and night; and then get a bit of sleep here and there when we can," Al offered with a shrug. "We are ready for the week off, though; and I'm glad to be home."

"This might be your last Easter at home until after you graduate," Harry pointed out.

"It likely will be," Al agreed. "Louis and most of his sixth-year friends wanted to stay this year. We'll likely do the same to help our friends; though Gwendolyn, Rose, Susannah, and I could work from home just as easily."

"You'll have a better idea of that after next year – especially if you're a Prefect too – not that I actually have any doubt that you, Gwendolyn, and Rose will be three of the Prefects for your year."

"That could make things a bit more challenging for us," Al agreed. "Maybe Professor McGonagall will choose someone else instead of me – like Professor Dumbledore did with you."

"You can hope; but don't count on it," Harry suggested. "That's enough serious talk for today. Are you going to need to pop over to Diagon Alley or our favorite mall in London to get anything for Easter? I suppose we could do that when I head for work – or your mother could take you after the chores are done and before she's to drop you off with the McCormacks on her way to Exmoor."

They talked about that; had Lily and Ginny join in when they arrived in the kitchen too; and then they enjoyed their morning meal until Harry needed to get to work. He left for the Ministry of Magic while Al and Lily took care of the kitchen clean-up; they'd opted to do the chores first and the shopping last; and they worked with Ginny until ten-thirty before getting cleaned up again and heading for London. Al didn't need to get much, but he went and did that on his own while Ginny and Lily played dress-up and had fun at the mall for an hour or so. They made a short stop in Diagon Alley; and then Ginny took al and Lily to the McCormack's house in time for a snack lunch while she went on to the stadium to work the pre-game part of her job.

Al had been happy to be reunited with Gwendolyn; they enjoyed their little snack lunch; and then they headed for Grandma and Grandpa Jones' home; loaded down with their contributions to the Easter dinner and a handful of gifts that were mostly for the younger kids. They were among the first to arrive, so while the initial meet and greet didn't take long; they were kept busy with a series of cameo moments like that first one as the rest of the family and a few family friends arrived over the next hour. The weather was a bit cool, but it wasn't raining; so the kids and teens eventually ended up outside; Lily led the way for a bit of Quidditch fun; and then they had a break in the action while taking off their gear again and putting it away.

"We don't usually think about it; but maybe we should be more-impressed about playing Quidditch in the same field that your Mum played in when she was a kid," Al suggested to Gwendolyn. "There aren't as many obstacles here as there are in the orchard at the Burrow, but having to deal with trees and poles probably helped our Mums a lot with getting so good at the game – and at flying."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "Are you going to suggest that to Olivia when we get back? Maybe you could have one or two practices a week in the Forbidden Forest."

"Would you still think that was a good idea if Al ended up being on the dinner menu for one of the monsters in there?" Greta asked; earning a round of laughs. "That would be one way to improve your odds of winning your match in May; but I thought that you liked him a bit more than that."

"I'm sure the Acromantulas would like him a lot too," Lily teased. "You do have a point, Al, but I think we do well-enough with our flying workouts and the rest."

"Mum had a lot to do with designing those workouts," Gwendolyn reminded her. "They ought to be better than flying here or in orchards."

"I think that it's a bigger deal that they flew on such awful brooms," Greta's little sister, Christy, offered. "Grandma and Grandpa still have a couple of old Cleansweeps around here; and I tried one out once. It was awful even compared to my Firefly!"

"Your grandchildren might say that about our bestbrooms one day," Gwendolyn suggested; "and the Cleansweep and Comet brooms have gotten a lot better too – if not as good as the Lightningbolts."

"I really don't get why the other broom-makers haven't caught up to even the Firebolt yet," Greta said with a shake of her head. "You'd think that someone else would have figured it out by now."

"It's likely as tough to make brooms as it is to make wands," Al advised her. "Broom-makers guard their secrets as much as wand-makers do – which is why Wizards and Witches come from all over the world to get their wands from Olivanders – or go to one of the other top wand-makers."

"If that was easy; our parents would just make our wands for us," Gwendolyn added with a nod.

"Maybe that would explain why some of our classmates have such trouble with magic," Lily suggested with a grin. "Homemade wands!"

"If they're having trouble because of the wand; it's usually because they've damaged it," Al offered. "I've never heard of anyone actually having a home-made wand – though I suppose that would be true for any kids of wand-makers."

"I wish that I didn't have to wait more than another two years before I'll even get my wand," Christy advised them.

"We've all been there – or still are," Lily assured her; including the other, younger kids in that latter group. "I wouldn't want to wait either if I was you, but it might not be all bad for you when it comes to Quidditch; since there are a lot of really good junior team players right now; and not many firsties got onto the teams this year."

"And they likely won't over the next couple of years," Jonah added. "I love you a lot, Christy; but wouldn't give up my spot on the team so you can play Seeker instead; and Lily's already got two other really good Seekers in Gryffindor who would take her job in a second if they could get it. We'll at least have all moved up to the senior teams by the time you start at Hogwarts."

"You'll still have lots of competition, though," Lily warned. "There are a lot of Quidditch family kids around our ages; so we can all be glad that we have the junior and senior teams now. When our parents were kids; most of them had to wait years to be good-enough at Quidditch to play with the older teens."

"It's not that much different now," Gwendolyn told her. "We have more than twice the students at Hogwarts now; so there are actually fewer chances to play on the House teams."

"I suppose," Lily conceded; "but it would be fun to find out how I'd do against Pauline and Alex."

"You'll get your chance for that – once you're in the show," Gwendolyn assured her with a grin – "though you might have more to worry about from Christy and the other Seekers coming up behind you; since some of them want your job with the Harpies."

"That would be great," Christy agreed with a grin for Lily; "though it'd be fun to play on the same team with Al too."

"I am hearing that far too often from my cousins and the Harpies' kids," Gwendolyn told her with a faux-frown; and Christy laughed.

"I've heard that," she admitted. "Don't worry – I don't really want to play for the Cannons. Orange is not my color."

"Orange isn't anyone's color – unless you're a fruit or vegetable," Lily stated. "If Rose does make her plan happen; the first thing she should do is lose the orange."

"Or switch the orange and black," Gwendolyn offered. "Just the logo in orange would look okay."

"That's an idea – though it might be too much of a break in tradition for Rose to seriously consider it," Al told them. "I'm surprised you're suggesting something like that; since it'd mean giving up on one of your reasons for never wanting to play for the Cannons – the awful team robes."

"Good point," Gwendolyn agreed after joining in on the laughs. "Forget I suggested it – and let's wrap this up and get inside. I'm starting to feel chilled now that we're not playing anymore."

They did that; headed indoors; and joined in on the family fun in the sitting room until they were called to have their Easter dinner. That was a fairly-major event; and Al and Gwendolyn had fun talking with some of her older cousins while enjoying that meal. There was some play time for the younger kids after dinner, but Al and Gwendolyn helped with the clean-up; and then the party began to break up so that parents could get kids home and in bed before the Easter Bunny would come; and the younger adults moved on to other plans that mostly included Easter fun with their friends at parties or going out on dates. Al and Lily eventually went home with Kirley and Gwenog; but then they went on to their own house from there once they'd helped out with the post-party work and made sure they had all of their own Quidditch gear and anything else they'd brought along for the day.

Al would have liked to stay with Gwendolyn, but wanted to at least have Easter breakfast with their parents before his Dad would be off to work; so a sleepover wasn't an option. He and Gwendolyn did take a bit of time for goodnight hugs and kisses before he took the Floo Network home with Lily; but they didn't exchange Easter gifts because they decided to do that when they got back together again for the McCormack family Easter by late morning. After getting home, Al put his things away; spent the rest of the evening with Lily and their parents in the sitting room; and then they all went up to bed early so they'd be ready for a busy Easter Sunday.

James was restless as he sat up in his bed late on Saturday night. Most of his roommates were sleeping, but a few were still in the common room having fun with their girlfriends in a snogging sort of way; and he was more than a little annoyed that Rosinda had refused to go off with him for some after-curfew fun. They still had eight days left for their Easter holidays; yet she was already worried about getting her revision done – just because they'd taken most of Friday and Saturday off. She hadn't even taken all of that time off, since she'd studied while he'd been busy with his Quidditch practices; so she was already hours ahead of him for that work!

Their holiday had been going brilliantly too – right up until it hadn't anymore. On Friday, he'd waited until the loser had left for the train station to go for breakfast; he'd won the Quidditch scrimmage for his team during the morning practice that Olivia had set up for after breakfast; and he'd gone on to have a lot of fun with Rosinda and some of their friends for the rest of the day – and more fun that was only with Rosinda until hours after curfew on Friday night! The trip to Hogsmeade had been shorter than he'd have liked due to Olivia's second practice of the week, but he'd had as much fun as he could with Rosinda; he'd had more fun already with the Easter wheezes he'd picked up; and had won scrimmage number two of the holidays at that practice while making Brandon look the idiot once again. Finally, he and Rosinda had fun at dinner and into the evening; though they mostly did that with their friends in the common room until she'd advised him that she was going to bed early – and wouldn't be doing that with him outside of their House somewhere because she actually wanted to sleep!

That was supposedly because she didn't want to lose more study time on Sunday morning from sleeping in or feeling too tired to concentrate on the work – especially when they had a lot of Easter fun and a special dinner on their schedule for the day too. While she was right about all of that, he didn't see the problem; since he'd had no intention of studying on Easter Sunday anyway – and none of them would normally do that on Easter if they'd been home instead! Pointing out facts like that to Rosinda hadn't mattered; his attempts to cajole her into doing what he'd wanted had back-fired; and she'd gone to bed even earlier than she'd planned when she got mad about him pestering her and had stalked off to the girls' dorms.

There hadn't been any last-minute companionship options for him; since Bristol and Patricia had both gone home for the holidays. Sure, he'd had at least a bit of fun with each of them before they'd headed home, but it was obvious in hindsight that he should have managed his harem better; since Rosinda hadn't been able to keep up with him for two full days before he'd worn her out! The other, best-looking Witches still around the castle were either currently 'taken' or were too dim to know what they were missing by not getting to know him in an intimate sort of way; and hooking up with Malorie was, even more-obviously, out of the question! He hadn't wanted to take his thoughts there again, but that seemed to be inevitable far too-often and despite his efforts to avoid thinking about her at all.

No, he wasn't even remotely-interested in finding out what it would be like to hook up with the fat, pregnant cow that was Malorie O'Malley now – though he assumed that; since she'd done a surprisingly-good job of hiding the extra pounds under her robes and clothes so far. He had been spending more time pondering ways to deal with her while the Animorphloser was away, but this time; it was his father's warnings that kept him in check – a fact that he hated and pretended wasn't true. Instead of following a train of thought that led to home-schooling horrors, though; James instead turned his dark musings toward his options for handling the 'Malorie problem' whenever that news did get out – and Malorie publicly named him as the father of the two parasites that were trying to ruin his life.

Thinking about them as parasites helped, but then if he wanted to be fair – which he didn't; this mess wasn't their fault. The Animorphloser was to blame! As always, the loser was manipulating everyone; and he was sure that Malorie would have kept her mouth shut if not for the fact that the Animorphpotty had insisted that he'd be involved in the parasites' lives – and make sure that their parents and sister did the same. Sure, that was all just a ruse to justify destroying his brother's life; but it was a ginormous lie that his family fell for over and over again – no matter how hard he tried to convince them of the truth!

"I'll make sure that you're paid back for all of this a thousand times over!" he promised himself silently.

The question remained on how best to make that happen; but that was a more-distant problem to deal with another time. As for Malorie and the parasites; his first instinct to get out ahead of the story still seemed best to him; but then following his instincts hadn't worked out very well for him of late – with the most-recent example being the Valentine's Day weekend debacle. He hated that indecisiveness – and blamed that on the loser too. Those doubts seemed darker at night; but he fought against them. He knew what he needed to do – get his story out there; and protect himself from the Animorphliar! There were Witches and Wizards out there that would be more than happy to help him out with that – people that weren't fooled by the mass-delusion created by his parents and the loser!

Working out the best way to do that – and when it would be best to launch his pre-emptive or counter-attack wasn't nearly as much fun as playing with a hot, willing Witch would have been, but as he immersed himself in the problem; James managed to keep himself entertained in a very dark way as he plotted and schemed for quite some time until he was eventually able to drift off to sleep. A nightcap or three had helped with that – and had more than a bit to do with bolstering his confidence in a plan that seemed more-brilliant as he continued to work it all out – and with each subsequent shot of fire-whiskey!

Al was the first to wake in the house on Easter morning; he got ready for the day as quietly as he could; and then headed downstairs so that he could get started on cooking breakfast for four. He smiled as he walked into the kitchen and saw four Easter baskets on the table. There had always been gifts every year for their parents too; but they didn't put out the extra baskets every time. There was a plush, Animorphmagus Easter Bunny next to Lily's basket that earned a soft laugh from him; and he sampled a chocolate egg from his own basket on the way past to the fridge to start getting out the things he'd need for cooking their special holiday meal.

Parents, kids, and special holiday moments scrolled through his mind as he got to work, but there was a new twist on that this year; and all of those thoughts were filtered through a perspective that included Malorie and her babies – his nieces or nephews. Malorie hadn't wanted to tell him much about her own Easter experiences at home while he'd done her last check-up, so he could guess that they hadn't been filled with love and joy; and that had him wanting to make sure that she – and the kids – would have much happier experiences from now on. While he wasn't really able to make sure that started with this holiday, he had hidden a gift in her book bag before she'd left after that check-up, so she would have found that little surprise; and the Hogwarts Professors would do what they could to make the holiday special for the students staying at the castle for the week.

Those musings morphed into thoughts about how he – they – would help Malorie – including with learning the basics of daily life in their magical world. The cooking he was doing was a perfect example; though he used a mix of magic and physical labor because of the limitations of his seashells. He could easily picture Malorie doing lessons with his Mum on how to use her magical talents to cook and clean; and that led to a mental list of things that would make Malorie's life easier – particularly when she'd need to keep up with two babies once they were born. He made mental notes that he could add to his list for that; though Malorie would need to make all of the decisions about what kind of mix of magic and Muggle technology she'd want to have in her home – and pay for; when it came to the Muggle tech.

"Deep in thought and smiling," Lily said as she walked into the room. "It's Easter; so I'll guess that you're thinking about Malorie and our nieces instead of Gwendolyn or your Cannons' delusion."

"Happy Easter, Lily," Al said first; "and you're spot-on with that guess."

"I should have sent her a gift," Lily offered as she sat down at the table and began looking into her basket.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to do that; since she never gets Owl Posts," Al reminded her. "Gwendolyn and I left a gift with her. She would have found it in her bag long before now; but I hope it'll help to make her holiday a bit happier. We will have some gifts for her when we get back to Hogwarts next Sunday, though; so you could always add something to that gift box if you'd like."

"Is there more going on with that than I know about so far?" Lily asked after finishing her first sample of candy.

"We haven't even really worked all of that out yet," Al answered with a shrug. "I hope we'll get a portable pool for her to use; some discreet maternity clothes would be a good idea for her last two and a half months at school; and I'm sure there are other things she should have that Mum will think of that will help with the last two and a half months of school to send along with us."

"Shopping for maternity clothes or other pregnancy-related things could be a bit tricky," Lily pointed out; and then grinned as she added – "especially if you do that with Gwendolyn."

"I was hoping to leave that sort of thing up to Mum – though you and Gwendolyn could likely help. I'd suggest Rose too; but she's going to be a bit busy this week."

"Not to mention that we do want to keep this quiet until June; and a big shopping trip like that would get too much attention. Was it your idea to package the bunnies in the animal form? Most of these toys are in doll or action figure form when you first get them."

"The toy company must've decided to try it," Al told her. "We talked about that back at the start when we set up the first line, but they'd decided to go with the human form so that the animal change would be more dramatic. If that novelty has worn off, though, then I'm not surprised that they'll start mixing it up now."

"The animals are usually cuter – except for the Halloween line. This one will be a nice addition to my little collection."

"Your nieces or nephews will love them too," Al offered; and Lily laughed.

"As if they won't have tons of their own toys by the time they're old-enough to play with them. You'd better keep that in mind when you go looking for offices and homes with Rose and Gwendolyn this week."

"That's actually a good point," Al told her seriously. "We've talked about only needing two bedrooms at first, but an extra bedroom or a play room would be a good idea. Mum and Dad used to get a bit frustrated when we had our toys all over the sitting room or a mess in the kitchen or dining room."

"You really mean James and me for that; since you usually cleaned up after yourself; but that is true. That's something to think about for that office too; since Malorie will eventually want a play area for the kids for that too. Have you even decided what you'll need for that? Will you need space for visitors? A reception area? A conference room?"

"We're still working on all of that," Al answered. "Malorie will mostly be doing research the first year, but we will eventually likely need to have all of that. The problem will be juggling that with the fact that we are talking about a temporary office."

"Whether you buy the Cannons or not," Lily agreed with a nod. "If you do it; you'll own the Cannons' offices and practice pitch – whatever they're like. If you don't; you won't need the offices anymore – and Malorie might be out of a job."

"I'd find something else for her to do," Al promised. "That's something to consider too, though; since that could mean a longer-term need for whatever we do come up with for that office."

"Not to mention that what you do find will likely be better than whatever the Cannons have now," Lily suggested. "You really ought to go and take a look at that too while you're in Chudley. Has Rose even seen it before? I know that Dad and Uncle Ron were there for that birthday practice day that Mum and Dad gave Uncle Ron; but I don't know whether Rose and Hugo have been there."

"They've both visited before," Al assured her. "I'm sure you've heard about that before; but likely weren't impressed-enough to put that info into long-term memory."

"I didn't put the last Cannons' match into memory," Lily joked. "Either way; you should take a look for yourself. If it's as bad as I expect; seeing it might convince you to drop the whole idea."

"Even if that meant putting Malorie out of work before she even starts her new job?" Al asked; and Lily laughed.

"Nice try; but you've already said you'd just come up with something else for her to do – and I don't actually expect you to be dissuaded from all of that – even if all the Cannons have is a big hole in the ground or some shack for an office."

"I'd be happy with some decent land that can be well-protected from Muggles," Al admitted. "We could build from the ground-up if needed."

"Keep selling the toys – you'll need all of the money you can get from them," Lily predicted. "You're talking about spending a lot of money that the other teams don't have to spend; and the Cannons aren't likely the only money-losing team in the league."

"Probably not," Al agreed; "but Rose and I don't expect a championship-caliber team will be cheap – even if two of the players are willing to work regardless of how much – or little – we get paid."

"It'll be the low-end for that," Lily predicted – "as in negative; since you are talking about putting all of your own money into it too."

"I'll save some to spend on our nieces or nephews," Al offered. "When the time comes; you really should think about getting in on that investment, Lily – even if you don't want to come and play Quidditch with me. Rose and I might be taking some risks right now, since we will lose all of the money we're going to spend over the next couple of years if we can't buy the team, but if we do make the deal; I'm sure we can do better than anyone else thinks we can with the Cannons – and I mean that from a financial perspective for what we're talking about right now."

"I'll think about it," Lily promised. "Have you had any of your Easter treats? I should likely stop now; or I'll be too full to eat breakfast."

That question and comment sent their chat off on a tangent that moved away from Quidditch, Malorie, and the babies. Harry and Ginny joined them when the food was nearly ready; they enjoyed having that meal together; and then Harry went to work while Ginny, Al, and Lily took care of the clean-up. They did some chores after that; went for a walk; and then packed up to head for the McCormacks or the Burrow. Ginny went with the kids to the McCormacks; had a visit with Kirley and Gwenog; and then she went on to the Burrow to have lunch with her parents and help out with the work there to get ready for their family Easter dinner that would only be with the Potters, Molly, Arthur, and Aunt Muriel while the rest of the family was celebrating the holiday with the 'other side' of their respective families.

Al and Gwendolyn managed to have a bit of alone time between his arrival and their McCormack family Easter dinner so that they could exchange Easter gifts, but they also helped out with the meet and greet as Gwendolyn's family and a few friends arrived; and then they were on kid control all the way through until they needed to go to the Burrow with Lily and Jonah for their second Easter dinner of the day. Those hours of extreme fun included a social hour; an amazing meal; and then a couple of hours of outdoor play time that had included a Quidditch scrimmage with all of the kids, teens, and about a third of the adults. That Quidditch fun was also when Al and Gwendolyn had really made an impression on her family; since they'd played two-on-three at Chaser; they'd been up against Gwendolyn's Aunt; and they'd still led their team to the win with help from Ryan and Jonah. They were definitely at the center of the post-game fun after they landed and while the players and spectators all wanted to talk about the just-finished scrimmage.

"You must be glad that there aren't any reporters around to write about this match," Kirley teased; directing that comment at his sister and wife. "Gwenog's retired from playing now, but it's a good thing for you that Ryan's still got a few years left at Hogwarts; or you'd be out of a job, sis!"

"I get more-serious about retiring every year, and think about it more after scrimmages like that one; but I'm not ready to give up all of the excitement just yet." She grinned at Gwendolyn and Al. "I also don't have to worry about playing against the two of you in the show either; since Al can't play for the Harpies – and if you do decide to play together instead; I'll hope that you'll come and play for the Prides."

"I'm not too tired to turn you into a bug," Gwenog warned. "Stop trying to steal one of my future players."

"As if you're not trying to do the same with my daughter," Meghan countered. "You've had your eye on Katrina and Greta for your team since they were old-enough to tell you they wanted to be Beaters just like you when they grow up."

"Greta might want to play for the Harpies," Katrina told them; "but I'm not sure I want to play for either of your teams anymore. I might be better off playing for a different team and not have all of the family pressure. You still have that because of Grandma even after all of the years you've been in the show."

"I think that helps me," Meghan said seriously; "but I hope our jokes about this doesn't keep you from coming to play for the Prides with Ryan after you graduate."

"I rest my case," Katrina declared. "Jonah's so lucky that he doesn't have to worry about playing for his Mum's team – since he can't play for the Harpies."

"I'm on Rose's short list for the Cannons, though," Jonah pointed out; "so that might be scarier for me."

"Katrina's on Rose's list for the Cannons," Al advised them. "All of the best players at Hogwarts are on that list."

"She hasn't included any of the current players in the show?" Meghan asked; and Al grinned at her.

"Should I suggest to her that you might be interested?"

Meghan laughed. "She's a Keeper," she reminded Al. "I don't think she'd want to hire someone to take her job – and you didn't answer the question."

"My Mum's on her list, but other than that; no, Rose's plan doesn't include hiring veteran players. She has reasons for that; but I don't think she'd want me talking about that with the competition."

"We can guess at those reasons easily-enough," Gwenog advised him. "Creating a new team culture can be done with the right veterans, but we have a different perception for the value of experience; and probably shouldn't comment more on that with a member of that future competitor."

"I'd still rather have Al and Gwendolyn on my team instead of split up on the Harpies and Cannons," Meghan told her, "but I'll take that over having them both on the same team as rivals. They're getting better every time I see them play; so it's a bit scary to think about just how good thy'll be in another three years."

"I'm hoping that Victoire and Gwendolyn will be just as scary – for the other teams," Gwenog told her seriously.

"They'd be great; but it wouldn't be the same," Meghan offered. "We don't need to go there again, though; and I'll just be glad that I won't have to play another scrimmage against them at least until sometime this summer."

"If they're that good; you should hire them to train with you this summer," Kirley suggested with a grin that turned into a frown when Gwenog punched him. "Ow!"

"Quit trying to mess with my team – especially when Meghan and I both know you've got some ulterior, music-related motive behind pretty much anything you suggest for Al and Gwendolyn."

"That's true," he agreed easily, "but I don't see a problem with joining in on this competition."

"It isn't a competition," Gwendolyn told all three of them. "I'm going to play for the Harpies – end of story."

"Your loss if it is," Meghan murmured; though she did that quietly-enough that Al was sure that nobody else heard her – something that was likely confirmed when nobody commented on that statement.

They continued to talk Quidditch for a while; had some more outdoor play time after that; and then Gwendolyn and Jonah packed overnight bags, including their book bags and Quidditch gear; and once that was done, they headed for the Burrow with a side-trip to Al and Lily's house so that they could drop off those bags and so that Al and Lily could freshen up and get changed before going on to their second Easter dinner of the day. By the time they arrived at the Burrow, Aunt Muriel had been there for a while; she was holding court at the kitchen table; and she welcomed the four teens with her usual vociferous candor.

"Happy Easter, everyone!" Lily offered happily as she led the way into the kitchen with Jonah at her side and Al and Gwendolyn following her from the sitting room after taking the Floo Network to the Burrow. "Hello, Aunt Muriel. How are you today?"

"Happy Easter to you as well; and I'm well-enough. I see you've brought your young man along today. Have you finally decided to make it official?"

"Not yet," Lily answered with a smile for Jonah. "He's patient with me, though, and the other Witches are afraid of what I might do to them if they try chasing after him; so there's no rush."

"Maybe you should have tried that with Harry back when you were their age, Ginevra," Muriel suggested.

"He likely wouldn't have noticed if I had," Ginny offered. "Harry was a bit oblivious about such things back then."

"True, but he's turned out alright," Muriel said with a nod. "Gwendolyn, you look more lovely every time I see you. I hear you've had better luck this school year keeping your Wizard out of trouble."

"Thank-you; and he has stayed out of trouble - for the most part," Gwendolyn agreed. "It's nice to see you. Have you been having a happy Easter?"

"I suppose," Muriel answered; "though it has been a bit quiet around here this year while the rest of the family is away."

"Some of us like having the quiet Easters every other year," Ginny told her. "I'd suggest that Al and lily should enjoy them while they can; but it might already be too late for them; if this weekend is any indication."

"Probably so," Muriel agreed; "though they don't seem to mind that at all. You've gotten even taller, Albus," she said next as he took his turn to lean over and hug her. "You must've gotten that from our side of the family; though I suppose there have been some tall Wizards on your father's side as well – though that's going back a few generations."

"His true Animagus form is taller than mine too," Harry joked. "Maybe there's a connection that we should have seen long before now."

"He'd need to be part-giant for that comparison to fit," Muriel suggested – "and I'm sure we'd have noticed by now if that was the case."

"I'd have noticed before he was born," Ginny declared with a laugh. "That does remind me that I need to ask the kids about how Hagrid is doing; though we can talk about that a bit later while they give you the school update stories."

"We want to hear Aunt Muriel's stories – especially if there are any good ones that we can use when we get back to school."

"You're not one of those Witches that go around gossiping about everyone, are you?" Muriel asked; and Lily laughed.

"You'll never hear me repeating any gossip – so you'd better be sure to listen close the first time," she joked; and Muriel barked out a laugh that was certain to be heard in town.

"Have you been watching random, old, Muggle videos again?" Al asked; and Lily grinned at him.

"Yes – and quit giving away my secrets. I get some of my best one-liner jokes that way. I'm surprised that you recognized it."

Al shrugged. "I seem to have a knack for remembering a lot of useless information right along with the more important stuff."

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Muriel asked; though she didn't seem to be directing that question at anyone in particular.

"Not specifically," Ginny answered. "The videos they're talking about are little clips from Muggle shows, movies, or other things; and the kids seem to like them because they're short – so they can watch them without taking up a lot of time."

"Unless you add up all of the hours they spend doing that," Harry added.

"I don't spend much time doing that sort of thing very often – and nowhere near as much time as a lot of the boys spend on mirror or video games," Lily protested. "I'd rather be out doing stuff – like playing Quidditch."

"I've heard that you won your last match," Muriel told her. "Ginevra's told me that you've also already won more junior team matches than either of your brothers. Well done!"

"That's a fun fact; but I'll be much happier if I can help our House to win some Quidditch Cups. James may have only had three junior team wins and a tie; but he's also won two Quidditch Cups- and will stay ahead of me for that every year until he graduates. Al has one too, so I could still do better than both of them for Quidditch Cup wins; but I'd need to win out my last three seasons to do that."

"You have won a junior team title and you were top junior Seeker in your first year," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Some of us have a problem with the idea of you winning the next six Quidditch Cups."

"Al's been happy while you've won the past two Quidditch Cups," Lily pointed out. "Won't you be happy for him if he wins the next couple – or four?"

Gwendolyn laughed. "No; so don't be too disappointed when that doesn't happen. Your Aunt and Grandparents probably don't want to talk Quidditch for the rest of the day, though; so let's agree to disagree and move on."

They did move on from there, and Aunt Muriel resumed her usual role as the conversational force of nature that her family loved so much – even when her words of wisdom were a bit too blunt and honest. Her gossip stories were always entertaining, and while the kids knew that she was regularly dismissed as a bit of a nutter by other Witches and Wizards, if you actually paid attention; you found out that Muriel was very well informed by all of those old friends of hers; and her perspective truly was unique. The gossip she shared that was related to teens they knew at school was fun; and so was Muriel's ongoing repertoire of jokes about herself – with one of the newest being about the fact that she was now into her fourteenth decade – or fifteenth; if you included that she prenatally caught the last bit of the eighteen-eighties.

Molly had put together a major holiday feast for them even though they were a small group this year, but while it was the second big meal of the day for the kids, the Quidditch fun had helped them to burn off the first meal; so they managed to do well-enough with the second – and avoided any potential insult to the cooks. The girls were sent off to the sitting room after they finished dessert while the boys took care of the clean-up; they spent an hour or so after that continuing their holiday visit; and then Harry took Muriel home and stopped by Auror Headquarters for one last check of the weekend shift while Ginny got the four kids back to their house; and there was a bit of work to do there before they gathered in the sitting room to watch Lee's mirror network show and wind down from a busy, fun Easter.

That last bit of quiet entertainment didn't last all that long for Harry and Ginny, but that was true for the four teens too; since they collectively fell asleep not long after Harry and Ginny went up to bed. The sofa sleepovers had been intentional for both couples; though they had expected to stay awake a bit longer than they did. Al was okay with getting the extra sleep – and with getting to cuddle with Gwendolyn all night for the first time since the Christmas holidays. They had a fun start to their day, if not particularly-hot with their brother and sister in the room; and then Al left Gwendolyn to nap for a while longer while he got ready for the day and then met up with his father in the kitchen to cook breakfast for six.

His day seemed to speed up from there, though that was mostly a perception of busy; since they really didn't have all that much action going on with their breakfast entertainment. The clean-up that followed was rushed a bit, but only because their study buddies began arriving early as they were dropped off by parents on the way to work; so that work needed to be done while the meet-and-greet was going on – and those parents all had cameo visits with Ginny – and with Harry while he was still at home too. Lily and Gwendolyn took care of getting the dining room set up for their studying while Al and Jonah helped Ginny with the clean-up; they had all of the teens and tweens in the house by the time that Ginny was ready to head out to work for the morning; and then they gathered around the dining room table when they were ready to get started on their holiday revision. Al and Gwendolyn sat at one end of the table; they had Rose and Susannah next to Al; and Ray and Cyndia next to Gwendolyn. The rest of their fourth-year friends rounded out 'their' half of the table; while Lily and Jonah had a gang of second-year students at the other end of the table.

"I'm glad that we've an excuse to get together a couple of times this week – especially when we won't have Quidditch practices, but this doesn't feel much like a holiday when we have all of this work to do; so I don't know why we call them holidays at all," Ray said in an attempt to divert the conversation from the girl chat in progress.

"This will feel like a holiday compared to our next three Easter breaks," Susannah advised him. "Most of the students still at Hogwarts this week will be studying every day; and we only booked two mornings to get our work finished."

"Some of us will be doing more than that to get done," Ray countered – "and yes, I know that's because I didn't work as hard as you did last week. It doesn't really help – and I still think that we should actually get to have a holiday from the school work."

"Are you sure you want to go into Quidditch then?" Susannah asked. "That's a fairly work-intensive job – and you don't really even get to have all that much time off during the off-season while getting ready for the next season."

"Are you actually starting a Quidditch discussion?" Rose asked in amusement; and Susannah laughed.

"I was thinking about that from the work perspective," she admitted. "Ray thinks we should have holidays – and weekends – off; yet he wants a job that requires working six and seven days a week. Quidditch players don't even get many holidays off either; since there are more matches during holidays."

"That does seem a bit inconsistent, Ray," Gwendolyn told him – "and we do know how hard professional players work."

"Not all of them," Ray countered. "Some of them party all of the time instead. I want to be one of those players."

"I know how hard you work in our team practices," Rose told him, "so if that's a back-handed attempt at getting me to take you off of my short list for the Cannons; it isn't going to work."

"It was worth a try – though you ought to do that anyway; since I don't want to play in the show if I can only do that on the worst team in the league."

"If Rose manages to make the Cannons a better team; which team will we need to pick on for that honor next?" Cyndia asked. "Everyone's been bashing the Cannons for so long; that could be a problem."

"Does anyone even know which team has the second-worst record over the past century?" Susannah aasked. "That's an even tougher question than asking which team is second-best."

"It might not mean much anyway," Al suggested. "Teams that might be in either of those spots likely aren't right now – or over a shorter period of time. The Kestrels, Wanderers, and Magpies would likely compete for last place when the Cannons start winning with Rose's teams; but that could change a lot – and the next, worst team could be a surprise."

"Why do you say that?" Cyndia asked.

"Some of the top eight teams every year get there by beating the worst teams while not doing so well against the other top teams," he explained. "Reverse that for some of the bottom teams that win more of their matches against better teams but might split or lose more matches with the bottom five teams. It's that combination that usually explains why the fifth-to-eighth place teams change so much from year-to-year."

"Everyone tries to beat the number one team," Gwendolyn added. "It makes sense – and it's also why it's so rare for a team to stay number one for an entire season – and even tougher to win back-to-back championships."

"So that's a point in our favor this season for the Quidditch Cup," Ray offered with a grin. "Too bad for your House."

"I said it was tougher – not impossible," Gwendolyn pointed out. "All of the Houses have won two or more Quidditch Cups in a row over the centuries."

"Can I take back my comment about Ray's work ethic inconsistency and chang the subject?" Susannah asked. "I'm already regretting that I said anything at all."

"We can do that – and talk Quidditch later," Rose promised. "Did you have a busy Easter weekend?"

That question moved the conversation back towards the girl chat that Ray had tried to change up, but then they got to work too; and spent the next few hours immersed in their holiday revision. Al did a bit more tutoring than Gwendolyn, Rose, or Susannah; but that was partly because he helped more with the younger teens and tweens. He could multi-task that without really slowing down his own work; but then he was farther ahead than everyone else anyway. They worked until shortly before Ginny was due home with fast food for lunch; Al and Gwendolyn led the effort to pack up and get the table set for that meal; and then Ginny joined them for a chicken and sides lunch that everyone stayed for before moving on to other afternoon activities – or staying for the Gryffindor junior team practice.

Ginny was staying to supervise that practice while Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were in Chudley for the afternoon, but she helped them out first by side-along apparating them there in two trips. She also summoned three bikes for them to use so that they could ride instead of walk around town and the nearby countryside; and then left them to have fun for pretty much as long as they wanted to hang out and explore the place. She dropped them off on the western edge of town to avoid getting much attention from the Muggles; so they biked along the main street toward the town center. Chudley was quite a bit bigger than Godric's Hollow, but still had the small-town, country feel to it – and Al liked the place quite a lot.

"Let's start with stops at a couple of the Estate offices," Rose suggested. "I did some research online, and we have the listings that your Mum gave us; but we can make sure there isn't anything new – or places for sale or rent that aren't listed online."

"Sounds good – and then we can map out a route so we don't do a lot of back-tracking," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement. "Biking will be faster than walking; but I doubt that any of us want to try riding every road in the area in one afternoon."

"If we could even do that," Al agreed. "What do you think of the place so far, Rose? This could be your home town in a few years too."

"Don't you mean 'our' home town?" Rose countered; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I'll have to talk about that with Gwendolyn. She may want to live near Holyhead – or somewhere else."

"Well, if everyone else is right, she will be paying the bills while we go broke winning our championships with the Cannons; so I guess it ought to be her choice," Rose joked.

"We don't think you'll win any championships while you go broke," Gwendolyn countered. "Al and I haven't ever talked about where we'd want to live after school. His parents might want us to have his family home; since it's obvious that James will never want it."

"I don't think it'll be for us either," Al advised her. "They'll want to keep it in the family, but they're still young; so it'll likely be passed down to one of their grandkids – or maybe great-grandkids."

"Okay, so we'll need to work that out eventually," Gwendolyn said with a nod; "but it's a bit early to go house hunting for us right now – especially when you're saving up all of your money to buy the Cannons with Rose."

"Maybe Rose wants to look for her future home," Al offered.

"I don't know whether I'll live here either – though I do like what we've seen so far a lot. I wonder if the current Cannons owners live around here? I never thought to ask Dad – or your Mum. She's likely met them at least a few times over the years since she became a reporter – or when she was a player."

"Haven't you met them?" Gwendolyn asked. "I'd have thought they'd know all of their fans by name."

"I should've said that I don't know anything about them," Rose amended. "They don't exactly rub elbows with the fans; and give their owner's box seats away more often than they show up; and I doubt any of them have said more than a dozen words to Hugo or me."

"Malorie will find out about all of that," Al offered. "If your Dad and my Mum can help her out with that; then it'll just make her job a bit easier."

"Let's be careful with that; since she is still a bit worried that we've offered her a make-work job," Rose suggested.

"She won't think that anymore once she starts it," Al assured his cousin. "For me, it'll be worth what we'll be paying her not to have to deal with the Ministry of Magic officials for all of the research she'll need to do there. If the Cannons' office staff live here in town; that might work out for Malorie. She could get to know her neighbors; chat them up; and get a lot of informal information about the team that way."

"Especially if any of those employees are Witches with young kids," Gwendolyn added. "Your Mum might know about that; but maybe not if the Cannons' office is separate from their practice pitch like it is for the Harpies."

"I really don't know as much about my team as I should," Rose decided. "Maybe we should try to learn a bit more about that sort of thing while we're here too."

Al and Gwendolyn agreed to do a bit more of that if they could, but their primary 'mission' was still to look for an office for their new business and a potential home for Malorie and her twins too. They checked out two Estate offices; used a story about an Easter holiday revision project for their interest in real estate; and had no trouble at all getting help from Muggles at both places. Once they had that done; they got started on their bike tour of the town and surrounding countryside. Unlike the Muggles in town, they were also able to see any places that were protected by Muggle-repelling charms; so they were able to see homes and businesses for the wizarding community too. That was something that Al and Rose talked about as they also got ideas for what they should do for their office – and for Malorie's home; should she choose to move there to live and work. In a small town, there was a limited supply of both homes and businesses for sale, but they did still have options both in and on the outskirts of town. They did their entire tour before taking a late-afternoon break; they picked up treats and drinks; and biked to one of the parks so that they could have a bit of privacy while talking about everything they'd seen.

"Gwendolyn and I know that you loved that farm we saw best; but it is definitely not in our price range for an office – and Malorie could never afford the rent we'd need to charge for that house."

"You don't think she'd believe that we could rent it to her for twenty-five galleons a month?" Al joked; and both girls laughed.

"No, she wouldn't," Gwendolyn assured him. "I loved that place too, so since I know what you're really thinking; we can keep it in mind – if it's still available once we're able to afford something that big some day. As for your office; my favorite was that little shop that had the two-bedroom flat above it; that barn conversion was cool; and that three-story house had a great view of the countryside; but might be too many stairs for Malorie to deal with every day while taking care of two babies."

"That one needed the least amount of work too," Rose pointed out; "but you're likely right about too many stairs – especially if we turned most of the ground floor into the office. That little shop and flat needs the most work, but that's why it was cheapest of those three too; and it could be fixed up easily-enough. Malorie might even like the idea of spending part of the summer doing that – as long as we had the major work done so she could live in it while she worked on the nursery, office, and anything else she'd want to do herself. I like the barn conversion for more privacy; but Malorie might not like the extra traveling she'd need to do to get to the stores in town."

"She'd need to learn to drive and we'd need to look for a car for her with that one," Al suggested – unless there's a public Floo Network destination here in town that she could use instead. I doubt she'll side-along apparate with the kids at least until they're older."

"We can find out about the Floo Network; and should consider the car thing; since that'd be an added expense she wouldn't need to have with the place right in town – unless she wanted a car sometime in the future. What'd you think about the Cannons' office?"

"It's a dive," Gwendolyn answered before Al could. "Any of the places you're looking at would be better; and it'd likely be easier to tear that place down and build new instead of trying to fix it up."

"The good news is that it doesn't add any value to the team," Al told them. "We could exclude it from the deal – or demand a discount to take it off their hands."

"That's actually a great idea," Rose told him. "I keep thinking about how much we'd need to fix up the offices and practice pitch; but maybe we won't want to include either."

"Why am I suddenly picturing the Cannons' training pitch in our back yard on that farm," Gwendolyn only half-joked.

"Probably because you're thinking that building an apartment building overlooking the practice pitch isn't going to work if the training pitch is as bad as the office," Rose suggested. "That would be convenient for going to work though – for Al."

"I still like that idea," Al told them – "even if there would be lots of issues we'd need to work out first. Dad could take us over there when he comes to get us after work and we could at least see what's there. Maybe we'll at least like the property – even if the building is a dump."

They still had time to enjoy a bit of fun and adventure time in Chudley before Harry came to get them – and brought Hermione along so that she could take Rose to London while Harry took Al and Gwendolyn home so that they could get changed and ready for their date night in London – and take Lily and Jonah with them when it was time to meet up with Rose and Kyle at their favorite mall. They made that side trip to the Cannons practice pitch first before splitting up; and it wasn't much to get excited about – even if it wasn't as decrepit as the offices in town had been.

Date night for the six teens included dinner in the food court and a movie. Al and Gwendolyn had been happy to spend a bit of time with Kyle, but the movie had proved forgettable; which said a lot when Al wished that was an option for him. Sometimes, having a great memory was more of a curse than a blessing!

After the movie, Rose went home with Kyle while Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah met up with Harry and Ginny at the Leaky and headed home from there. They all went over to the McCormacks while taking Gwendolyn and Jonah home; had a bedtime snack and recap of their adventures with Kirley and Gwenog; and then the Potters went home and pretty much went off to bed once there; since it was getting fairly-late by then. Al did a bit of 'work' on his Cannons' project before going off to sleep; but that was just a summary of their visit to Chudley and some notes he'd mentally made while there; along with a bit of number crunching to come up with information that Malorie would want to have when they got around to showing her the places they'd found for her to look at and think about for her future workplace and possible home too. He was definitely ready to crash by the time he was finished that; and it was lights out until morning once he was off to dreamland.

Scorpius had been nervous when he arrived at Lysandra's home on Monday morning. As usual, his father had dropped him off; but this visit was very different; since he knew it wasn't just so that he could join Lysandra for a holiday revision study session. Her invitation hadn't specified anything else; but he'd been sure all the same; and he was positive about that when the servant led him to her father's study instead of to one of the rooms they'd normally studied in when they'd done that after Quidditch practices during the summer. He did sigh in silent relief when he entered the room and saw that her brother wasn't there – and neither were any of the Heads of the other families. Lysandra looked serious, but not worried; and her parents appraised him speculatively as he was announced and then left behind as the servant bowed and retreated from the room without another word. The door was closed behind him; and he knew that the room was being sealed because Lysandra's father made a rather theatrical show of doing that.

"Come and sit down, Scorpius," Rolando invited – ordered. "You've already guessed why you've been invited here today; so let's dispense with the pleasantries and get right to the point of this meeting."

"Yes, sir," Scorpius agreed even before he sat down in the chair next to Lysandra – the one that had been indicated for him to use. He nodded toward Lysandra; and she inclined her head in return; but neither of them dared to do more than that while under intense scrutiny.

"Let's begin with a series of questions," Rolando said; his tone stern; and his focus on Scorpius very intense. "We have talked with the portrait of Lord Voldemort at great length since Lysandra presented us with your gift; so there will be serious consequences to both of you should you attempt to be anything less than completely honest with us."

"I will answer any questions you have of me – within reason," Scorpius answered.

"You will do whatever I tell you to do," Rolando declared – "or we will get what we want out of you the hard way!"

"That would be a mistake to try," Scorpius told him evenly, so either you haven't questioned Thomas very extensively at all, or if you have; then he either didn't tell you much about my training – or you didn't believe him."

"Well, I see where Lysandra has been learning her recent tendency toward impudence and rebellion," Rolando told him. "You, however, cannot use magic outside of Hogwarts beyond the bits you're permitted for your studies; so I'd say that puts you at a distinct disadvantage at the moment, boy."

"I can defend myself,' Scorpius disagreed; "and then you'd have fun explaining to the Ministry of Magic why I'd have needed to do that here in your home. I doubt that is what either of us want, though; so why don't you just ask your questions, and as I've said; I'll answer them – within reason."

"I'm tempted to find out whether you've the magical goods to back up that bravado," Rolando seemed to muse aloud; though his voice hinted at some real anger at Scorpius' audacity. "If it's questions you want asked, though; let's begin with the real reason behind your gift."

Scorpius wasn't really surprised by the attempt to shock him with the first question. He didn't look at Lysandra directly; but noted her reaction through his peripheral vision. She was worried; so she didn't appear to know what thomas may or may not have told her parents – or at least she didn't know everything. She did blush slightly; but he wasn't sure whether that was because of something she did know or because she was worried he'd cause her trouble with a too-honest answer.

"Thomas has surely stated his reasons; so you must want to know mine for agreeing to do this," he began. "I want to regain my rightful place among the other pureblood families that has been denied to me through no cause of my own." He guaged the reactions from Lysandra's parents; and then continued with just a bare breath of a pause. "The timing is because of the amnesty idea, but I would have made this request of you and the other families soon anyway because I would never be permitted to date your daughter otherwise."

"You would not," Rolando agreed. "Do you think that this changes anything?"

"If it doesn't; then I will find another way to prove myself – or wait until we're seventeen and Lysandra and I can choose our own way."

"Lysandra will do what I say – or would you doom her to your mother's fate?" Rolando asked derisively.

"I will not be like my parents or grandparents," Scorpius assured him firmly. "They've accepted the consequences of their actions – though they are not as they once were; and it is a waste for the other families to shun their power, talents, and wealth. Thomas disagrees with me about how to regain what is rightfully ours; but I've no doubt that I will help to make that hapen – or lead the way if others cannot do so before I am ready for that responsibility."

"And how do your ideas for that differ from the Dark Lord's?" Tess asked; and Scorpius grinned at her.

"I want to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time. Thomas expects that it'll take another war."

"Yet you don't believe so?" she prompted.

"Oh, I think there will be a war," he assured her. "I just want to gather every like-minded, true pureblood from all over the Wizarding World to our cause; and believe that can be achieved through the power of the mirror network and Wizarding Wireless Web – which, by the way, would be ironic; since it means using magical devices created by some of our enemies to do that."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rolando demanded; and Scorpius glanced at Lysandra before answering – surprised that she hadn't said something to her parents about what they'd learned at Christmas – and then remembered that she hadn't really talked with them very much since getting into trouble over the musical.

"We've learned that Hermione Granger and Ginny Potter are two of the inventors of both – and the mirror communicators, mirror gaming, and other magical devices."

"And how did you come by this supposed information?" Rolando asked scornfully – with a large dose of disbelief.

"I learned it while training for Quidditch with James Potter over the past two Christmases. Before you dismiss that; he hates his parents and brother as much as we do, and in this case; he was explaining to Andrea Avery why he'd found her devotion to her portable mirror so amusing. He wasn't braggging about it; probably because those are just added reasons for why he hates his family."

"You consort with the likes of a Potter; and wonder why your family is ostracized from the rest of us?" Rolando asked; acting as if he hadn't even heard anything that Scorpius had said.

"I did – and do – so at Thomas' direction," Scorpius shot back. "He believes that James Potter could either be an ally or tool to aid in bringing down our enemies. It remains to be seen whether he's right about that or not; but I am always open to his suggestions; since he has taught me a lot – far more than most of those fool Professors at Hogwarts have managed in the nearly-four-years I've had to put up with them so far."

"Yet you would give that up, to be blunt, because you fancy my daughter?" Rolando declared. "I'd suggest that you're no better than your grandparents and father from what you've told us so far."

"Well, if you're not interested in any of this; then return my portrait and I'll be on my way. Maybe we'll try for that amnesty at fifty years. I'm sure that your own relatives – and all of the other former Death Eaters – will understand and be happy to wait for me to grow up and recruit my own followers while you sit back and allow Harry Potter and his lot to continue to usurp all that is rightfully ours. My family at least has the excuse that they've been left isolated and ostracized. What's your excuse?"

"How dare you!" Rolando shouted; pushing his chair back and getting to his feet. He drew his wand; but then gaped when Scorpius did the same.

"I dare because I am a true pureblood; and I am done with allowing you or any of the others to decide that isn't so!" he declared. "You do not want to test me, Mr. Lestrange. I have been an apt pupil; I am Lord Voldemort's chosen protégé; and it would not end well for you – though I would regret the need for it; since Lysandra is rather fond of you."

"Put your wands away," Tess told them. "Please, Rolando," she added; reaching out and placing a hand on his arm. "You were that brash once in your youth; and he reminds me more than a little of you – which might have something to do with why our daughter finds him so interesting."

"I would not have spoken so to my elders," Rolando countered; and Tess laughed.

"No, but you might have if you were certain you had the power to do so with impunity. Scorpius has been trained by the Dark Lord for years; so I would not discount the possibility that he is more-capable than his years and looks would suggest."

Rolando seemed to need to force himself to change his perceptions, but he did put his wand away and sit down; so Scorpius did the same.

"I will grant you the benefit of the doubt – for now," he told Scorpius – "if only to ensure that we won't be pestered by the Ministry of Magic due to your use of underage magic. Leaving aside all of that; let's get back to our questions."

Scorpius heaved a huge, silent sigh of relief as he agreed and then the questioning – interrogation – resumed. He'd had no idea whether he could have successfully defended himself, but his instinct had proved correct; and standing up to Lysandra's father had worked while he'd thought that acting submissive would not have. The questions that followed ranged from wanting to know his history with Thomas since finding the portrait to his own thoughts about the amnesty plan and what Thomas suggested that the pureblood families do should that amnesty happen. They talked for more than an hour and a half, and by the time he and Lysandra were sent off to get started on their studies; he was sure that her mother was truly impressed with him; and her father seemed conflicted between liking and hating him.

There was no way to ensure their privacy once they were alone in the library, so Scorpius and Lysandra got to their studies and didn't talk about the meeting or anything that might get them into trouble. That didn't mean that they couldn't communicate; and they used their RevisionWizards and mirrors to do that – by creating reports that they then used to exchange messages. That allowed them to share their thoughts; Lysandra passed along news that she'd picked up from her parents over the weekend; and they were both happy with how things were going. They were, after all, still being allowed to study together; so there was reason to hope for the best!

James wandered along the main path that followed the lake shoreline; using that extended detour from the stadium as an excuse to delay his return to studying in the library with his friends. His opinion of them – at least as a group – had dropped significantly even over the past two days as they insisted on studying hard while also proving that most of them weren't all that bright. Sure, he'd known since first-year that he didn't need to study nearly as hard as most of his classmates did simply because the magic they were learning was so easy, but this supposedly all-important Easter study week was proving just how much difference there was between him and most other Witches and Wizards.

It was all so stupid! Was he the only OWL student in the school with enough sense to realize how pointless all of the reports and projects were? It was the OWL exams that mattered this year; so it really didn't matter if you earned straight O's on every assignment and test or failed them all – as long as you passed enough of your OWLs. Even then; who cared if you passed History, Astronomy, or any of the other totally useless classes? DADA, Transfigurations, and Charms were really the most-important for any Wizard and Witch to know out in the 'real' world, and Potions came in handy now and then; but the rest was just useless, time-wasting information.

Rosinda was among the deluded masses, and she was one of the reasons he was out for the walk; since she wasn't interested in having fun with him instead. She'd continued to insist that her studies needed to come first since Saturday night; and James was more than a bit frustrated by the comparative lack of that sort of play time. He smiled suddenly when, as if in answer to those musings and his desires; he caught sight of a Witch sitting on one of the benches overlooking the lake. He couldn't tell who it was from his viewpoint, but she had long hair and was slim-enough that size wasn't an obvious turn-off; so he changed directions and made a bit more noise as he approached to avoid startling her. His smile broadened when she turned to see who was coming up from behind her; and recognized Alexa Johnson. She didn't smile in return; but didn't warn him off either; so he closed the gap between them and sat down next to her on the bench.

"I didn't expect to see anyone out here this afternoon," he told her quietly as he stretched his legs toward the edge of the cliff and relaxed. "Did you need a break?"

"I should've taken the break and gone home," she answered with a sigh. "My holiday revision is pretty much done except for two projects that need more time to brew or grow; so I don't really have anything to do with the rest of the time."

"Well, I could help you out with that," James offered suggestively; and Alexa laughed.

"It didn't take you long to go there," she told him; sounding half-amused. "What's the matter, James? Are you bored with just one of your girlfriends around here for the week?"

"Definitely," he agreed. "Is that an offer to help me out right back?"

"You'd think so," Alexa answered with another laugh. "I should really only be surprised that it's taken you this long to try hitting on me again. How is it that you're not worried about what Uncle George will do to you if you mess with one of his nieces? Aunt Angelina might be even scarier; since she loves me a lot."

James shrugged. "I'm Gryffindor. Do you really need to know anything else to explain why I'm not worried about a bit of potential danger? As to the first part; I've only flirted with you now and then. You'd know it if I'd hit on you; since we'd know a lot more about each other than we do right now if I had."

"I'm not bored-enough to be interested in finding out whether you'd be right about that or not," she advised him.

That didn't keep James from chatting her up and flirting with her, and since Alexa didn't run off; it seemed that she enjoyed the attention. His timing for that seemed to be great too; since he discovered that she was apparently over her last boyfriend, and while she verbally rejected his flirting – as she always had; they still ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together until it was nearly-time to head to the Great Hall for dinner.

No snogging – or more – was involved; but James was sure that his week had just started to look up again!

Tuesday was hardly the beginning of a lull in the holiday action for Al, but it was the start of a couple of 'home' days for him – and for Lily. Ginny had to do some work too, but while she did that; Al and LIly took care of some chores on Tuesday morning; Gwendolyn, Jonah, and some cousins and friends came over for a late-morning Quidditch workout; and then Ginny took them to Diagon Alley for lunch and a round of school supply shopping. She only had Al and Lily with her when she went home – after helping to get the other teens and tweens reunited with one or more of their parents; and she and Harry were happy to have Al and LIly to themselves for the rest of the day. Their family fun time included an easy-meal dinner and an evening of play time that included more Quidditch, a swim in the warmed up portable pool, and some quiet family time in the sitting room until they were all ready to head for bed.

Wednesday was filled up with their second morning study session and the afternoon Quidditch practices. Al loved spending the morning with Gwendolyn again, but she went home with Jonah for lunch and the Ravenclaw Quidditch because she was getting her workout by helping Ryan with his team practice – along with some other Ravenclaw volunteers and junior reserve team players. Al did the same with the Gryffindor junior team; and had fun annoying all three of his favorite junior team Chasers by winning that battle – and giving their 'reserve squad' the win on the day despite Lily's Seeker duel win over Riley. Hugo hadn't been happy about that either – but then he had been; since Al had given him all of the competition he could handle and then some; so he hoped it would serve him well when it came time to play Ravenclaw after they returned to Hogwarts.

A second quiet night at home wasn't quite a repeat of the first one because Harry and Ginny both needed to get some work done after dinner, but Al and Lily had a fun Seeker duel while their parents worked; and the pool time and quiet play time in the sitting room after that was pretty much the same – right down to nearly the same bedtime. This time, Al didn't go to sleep right away. He worked on his Cannons project; had a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn, and then did a bit of toy making work after that when he still needed a bit more time before he was ready to sleep. That was to be the end of the quiet part of their holiday, though; since they were going to be very busy over the last three full days of their Easter break!

Scorpius was on edge as he walked up to the Lestrange mansion on Thursday morning because he was accompanied by his parents – and they'd all been invited to a meeting and luncheon that was in addition to his study plans with Lysandra. He didn't know what to expect; but then the past day or so had been rather strange for him – ever since that invitation from Lysandra's parents had arrived by Owl Post. His parents and grandparents had been surprised by the invitation; and shocked when he'd offered his explanation for why he thought that the invitation was being extended. His grandfather had been angry with him for not discussing the matter with them first – and for keeping the portrait a secret from them, but his grandmother had surprised him by supporting his efforts – and didn't think they could have done better. His mother was thrilled with the opportunity to socialize with anyone important; and his father was as reserved and cautious as always.

The invitation had not been extended to his grandparents, but they had not been upset about that; since Draco and Astoria were closer in age to Lysandra's parents. All four of the Malfoy adults were hopeful that this would be an important first step toward reconciliation. For his part, Scorpius didn't have a problem with that – if it helped him with his own goals. He was definitely worried about this visit; since it could very well change his life. He stayed in firm control of his emotions as they were invited into the house and led to the drawing room; but had to keep it together when he saw that Lysandra and her parents were there with the Heads of a handful of the most-powerful pureblood families – including the Averys, Rosiers, and Mulcibers. Lysandra was the only teen in the room; which suggested to him that the meeting was about something they didn't want to share with their kids – or at least they didn't choose to do that yet.

"Welcome," Rolando told them after the servant had announced them and left the room. He was smiling, but left Draco and Astoria with no choice but to approach him; since he didn't try to meet them half-way – or even take a step toward them.

The games were on; Scorpius thought as he followed his parents and eventually shook hands with Lysandra's father too as he welcomed each of them as if they were subordinates. He thought that was both a mistake and silly; but his parents went along with the show while displaying quiet confidence and dignity. He liked that; since he was sure it would be a mistake for them to act submissive in any way to the other family leaders. Introductions were next, and Scorpius mostly kept his mouth shut and listened and watched as the formalities continued and he could use that time to assess the other adults in the room.

He knew who they all were, of course, but hadn't met most of them in person; and was acutely aware of the attention they were all focusing on him – even as they generally did a poor job of masking that interest. The Averys were an exception, since he had met them through Rupert, but then they looked at him differently now too; and he wasn't sure that was for the better or not. He liked Andrea, but if her parents were more like their sons than their daughter; then there was a good chance that they'd simply be jealous of him; and potentially dangerous whether allies or foes. After the introductions, they were offered drinks; and then Rolando invited everyone to sit in chairs that were set up in a large circle that took up maybe a third of the room – and that had obviously been set up for the meeting.

"Draco, Astoria, we have asked you here to discuss your son; the gift he's delivered to us through Lysandra; and the issues and potential opportunities that may come of that." He glanced at Scorpius. "Has he told you anything about this yet?"

"Yes – to explain your invitation to this meeting," Draco answered; inclining his head instead of nodding – a subtlety that was lost on half of the other adults in the room; but not by the others. "You have verified the portrait's authenticity?"

"You doubt your son?" Rolando countered instead of answering.

"No, but if you hadn't; my father had suggestions for a few, impartial Wizards that could do that for you. That portrait isn't an artifact; but I expect you've wanted to treat it as such while making sure that it is a true magical portrait of the Dark Lord."

"We have authenticated it to our satisfaction," Rolando admitted. "You truly knew nothing of this until yesterday?"

"My mother hadn't even looked through most of her sister's belongings when they were returned to her from your family," Draco answered. "I was not surprised that Scorpius kept this secret from us; since we surely would have taken it from him had we known of it. I expect the Dark Lord has his own reasons for counseling our son to keep his portrait a secret – just as he has reasons for what is happening now."

"Would you care to guess at those reasons?" That question was from Donatien Rosier – Don Rosier's father; and all attention turned toward him for a moment – until Draco offered his opinion.

"I have not spoken with the portrait, and I was too young to be one of the Dark Lord's confidants, but unless he has changed a great deal; my guess is that he is impatient and possibly bored with mentoring Scorpius and is looking to be part of something more interesting and exciting. He was not known for his patience in life; so he may have decided that this idea that has been presented to you will be much better than the years or decades of training that Scorpius will need before he'd be ready to lead an uprising against our enemies."

"And what do you think of this plan?" Donatien asked next.

"A war amnesty could be possible. You'd want to conceal your involvement, but our enemies are always suckers for forgiveness and second chances."

"Interesting choice of words; considering the fact that we've been debating whether to extend a second chance to you and yours," Viola Avery told him; her tone disapproving and cold.

"My parents and I have never asked for one; but then we don't believe that we deserved to be shunned by the other true pureblood families."

"Then you have learned nothing since the war; and we are wasting our time with you," Andrew Avery declared; looking pleased about that.

"I was there and remember everything," Draco advised him. "You're all a bit older than me; yet none of you were still there at the Dark Lord's side at the end. A few of the Death Eaters stayed and managed to escape after Lord Voldemort was killed; others, like my own aunt, fought to the death; but the rest of our army ran off – or didn't answer the call in the first place. We all made mistakes. I expect that the Dark Lord would admit that he did as well now that he has the benefit of hindsight and a lot of time to ponder his defeat and death. Regardless of any of that, though; I don't expect that this meeting is about offering my family second chances. It's about what we might be able to do for you if you're considering this plan – and the obvious end game that would be the goal should you succeed."

"We will speak of that soon-enough," Rolando told him; "but this issue of second chances is hardly inconsequential – particularly to your son; since that is his goal in all of this."

"Scorpius has done nothing to deserve the treatment he has gotten from you and your children," Draco toldhim bluntly. "He is a true pureblood; a direct descendant of two of the greatest families in the Wizarding World; and he is among the best and brightest of his generation. Shunning him – and our family – is your loss; not ours."

"You were a sneaky, conniving brat as a kid; and you're an arrogant git now," Andrew told him; and scowled when Draco laughed.

"Of course I'm arrogant – we all are," he stated dismissively. "We believe that we're better than our enemies and that we have the right to rule this world as we see fit. That's pretty much a definition of arrogance." He looked steadily at Andrew. "If you're expecting apologies, groveling, or contrition from me; that isn't going to happen. I was a teen during the war and still did all that was asked of me by the Dark Lord regardless of the personal cost. I did not always succeed; but then, ultimately; neither did he – or we wouldn't be where we are now. We don't yet know what you want of us either; but know that I am not a kid anymore; so don't expect me to just jump in and do what I'm told simply because you're willing to allow us to rejoin the club."

"This is a waste of time," Andrew declared.

"Do you truly believe that?" Tess asked him. "What were you hoping for? Strong allies; or a weak link that could lead to our undoing? I am glad to see that Draco appears to have grown into his heritage."

"You've ever been a sucker for handsome Wizards," Viola countered; and Tess laughed.

"That's a nice bonus, but now you're scaring the kids – and possibly my husband and Draco's wife."

"I'm not scared," Astoria assured her; speaking for the first time since they'd sat down. "If the Wizards in the room are just going to go on like this endlessly, though; maybe you should get to the point of why you've invited us here. You don't necessarily need to involve us if you've decided to extend your friendship to our son, and Rolando has already advised us that you've verified the authenticity of the Dark Lord's portrait; so what do you want of us?"

"That's actually a question that we're still exploring the answer for," Tess told her seriously. "We are not in agreement on this, obviously, but the Dark Lord has suggested to us that you could be valuable allies; and we have agreed to at least explore the possibilities. Rolando is even less enthusiastic about doing even that much for your son; but that has everyting to do with Scorpius' obvious interest in our daughter – and hers in him."

"I doubt that Draco feels the same way about Lysandra," Astoria suggested – "or that Rolando would have the same reaction if we were talking about your son and our daughter – if we had one."

"Probably not," Tess agreed. "That's also something that most of us don't want to talk about anyway, though; so why don't you get things back on track, Rolando; and we can move this along."

Rolando did that, but while Draco was the center of attention for most of the adults; Scorpius and Lysandra were not even invited to comment on the discussion – and may as well have not even been there. Scorpius was still glad that they were, though; and he knew that Lysandra was paying close attention to everything going on around them – just as he was doing. The conversation was only part of that; since they learned as much from the actions and reactions of the adults to what was being talked about. For example; Scorpius was confident that he knew which Wizards and Witches were in favor of reconnecting with the Malfoys and which were not. There were some, like Rolando, that wanted the benefits without offering anything in return – or taking on any risks. Some were worried about including the Malfoys in their group because they might be too powerful; while others hoped for that – and the advantages that would come with that added power.

While he continued to watch and learn; Scorpius also began to feel better about his own near-future. By the time they moved on to the luncheon part of the visit; it was clear to him that what had been started with his 'gift' would continue to develop after he returned to Hogwarts; though all of the adults were going to be very cautious as they explored new possibilities for all true purebloods with his parents and grandparents. He sat nextto Lysandra during that meal, and they were again pretty much ignored by the parents; but that didn't remain so for very long after they'd finished eating. His parents were invited to stay behind as the other couples were seen out by their hosts; and then Lysandra's father led the way to his study. Drinks were served; they all sat down in chairs around Rolando's desk; and he finally gave his full attention to his daughter and would-be suitor.

"I'm sure you're eager to get on with your holiday revision; so I will again get straight to the point," he told them. "You've hoped that your gift of the Dark Lord's portrait will bring you personal gain – and my daughter," he told Scorpius. "I am not inclined to grant you anything; regardless of the value that there truly may be in again having Lord Voldemort's counsel – if not the advantage of his magical power. However, my wife disagrees; and has pointed out valid reasons for why I should reconsider my stance." He looked sternly at Lysandra. "Our daughter's recent displays of independence, rebellion, and stubborness may be, in part, because of you; but Tess believes that is a point in your favor – if only because Lysandra will need to find a Wizard strong-enough to stand up to her. I may not like it; but you have shown strength and resolve; and that is a quality that is lacking among many of your peers."

"You're going to allow Scorpius to court me!" Lysandra declared with happy excitement. She got out of her chair; hurried around to her father; and seemed to surprise him with an enthusiastic hug. Scorpius was a bit surprised too; since it was the first time he'd witnessed any display of that kind between Lysandra and either of her parents. She hugged her mother next; which allowed her father a few moments to regain his composure.

"We are," he confirmed – "though you can both consider this concession to be probationary in nature; and I reserve the right to put an end to it should it prove to be a mistake."

"That won't be a problem," Lysandra assured him. "Scorpius and I will make sure of that!"

"It seems we'll have no say in the matter, Draco," Astoria joked; and smiled as her comment earned a round of laughs.

"I've seen enough with Scorpius and Lysandra to know that I do not need to say or do anything," Draco said seriously; and smiled at his son's reaction to that. "They would, I'm sure, prefer to have our blessing, and I will offer mine when the time comes; but they will do as they want with or without those blessings." He turned his attention to Tess when he noticed her reaction to his comments. "You've come to that same conclusion."

"I have," she agreed. "Rolando will catch up eventually, but we are talking about his little girl; so he just needs a bit more time to get used to this new reality."

"This conversation has completely gotten off-track," Rolando complained; but he still smiled wryly at his wife.

"I know," she agreed, "but our kids understand the situation; so we do not need to go on about this endlessly." she turned her attention to Scorpius and Lysandra. "You know what is expected of both of you. The other families will be watching closely; so it is up to you to prove that you deserve this opportunity. It will reflect badly on our family if you mess this up; and Scorpius likely risks even more and worse for himself and his family should this end badly."

"Is it too late to consider requesting a say in the matter?" Draco joked; and smiled when even Rolando had a true laugh about that.

"Yes, it is," Lysandra assured him as she took possessive hold of Scorpius' hand. "We won't always agree on the things that Scorpius and I want to do – like being involved in theatre for me; but we will never do anything to dishonor our families."

Rolando hadn't been ready to just let things go with that declaration, but Tess didn't allow that 'meeting' to go on endlessly either; and Scorpius and Lysandra were eventually dismissed and sent off to the library to get on with their holiday revision. they again used caution – and their mirrors – to discuss everything that had happened, but there were changes too; and all of them were for the better. Lysandra sat next to Scorpius instead of to one side of the table. They held hands when they could; and there were even a few hugs and kisses. While they worked, Draco and Astoria stayed with Rolando and Tess; they went for a hike of the Estate grounds that Draco hadn't seen since before his aunt had died in the war; and they seemed to be starting what might lead to a true friendship that was in part because of their kids.

Scorpius knew that all would not simply, instantly be changed for him when he and Lysandra went back to Hogwarts on Sunday, but their holiday was turning out to be even better than their best hopes; and it was more than enough just to know that they would be allowed to be together openly as a couple.

Regardless of whatever happened next, they'd be able to face it together, and with that going for them; their future was sure to be brilliant!

Al still managed to be first to wake and get ready for the day on Thursday even after staying awake later than his parents and sister, but he was motivated; and even had his overnight bag packed and ready to go before going to the kitchen to cook breakfast for four. He did not get any help for that, but everyone else had been busy too; and they rushed through that meal and the clean-up a bit because Harry needed to get to work early; and Ginny wanted to leave early too so that she could head to the Harpies' morning workout with Gwenog after dropping Al and Lily off at the McCormacks' on her way to work. Gwenog had been ready to go by the time they arrived; so the two Witches headed out again after just a brief visit for Ginny with Kirley and the kids; and then he was on his own with four teens for the rest of the work day.

Kirley had work to do too, so he did that while leaving the kids with a list of chores that included setting up a tent; since the weather was going to cooperate and give them the chance for a camping adventure. Gwendolyn and Jonah had some other chores too, but Al and Lily helped them out with that; and they still had time for some Quidditch fun before they met up with Kirley in time to help out with making lunch. By then, he had some big news for them; and he was fired up about it as he gave them the latest gossip from around the Weird Sisters' families.

"While I was working; I found out that some of the guys have worked out a deal to make a mirror network Christmas special for Wendy and Wanda's Christmas musical – and they'll do a run of the show at the Magick Hall next Christmas too."

"This is a good year for it," Al suggested; and smiled when that got everyone's attention. "Christmas is on a Saturday this year, so we'll get out a week ahead – and they can probably have five or six shows depending on whether the hall is booked for any Christmas parties already – maybe even one more if they want to try a show on Christmas Eve."

"More," Kirley advised them with a grin and nod for Al. "You aren't thinking about matinees, and if the sales are there; they may have two shows every day except for the night of the Ministry party and Christmas Eve day – though they are at least going to do a matinee on that Friday."

"They've booked the shows already?" Gwendolyn asked; and Kirley nodded.

"Yes, and if you're interested in getting involved; they'll be shooting that mirror network special this summer."

"We're not," Gwendolyn assured him. "Won't they be using the Hogwarts drama club cast?"

"Yes, but not all of them want to do it; and I'm sure the investors would be very interested in a couple of bigger names if you and Al – or Jonah and Lily – wanted to take on some of the lead roles."

"Al would never pull off that bad boy role," Lily suggested with a laugh. "Having him do the animals for that song would be brilliant, though!"

"Maybe we could write in an extra character that nobody else even notices," Gwendolyn mused. "Al could run around in the background as each of the animals they sing about while he's ignored; and then he could just fade into the background again."

"Didn't you just tell your Dad that there's no way we'll be getting involved?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I did, but I'm not talking about 'we' for this; and Lily's right – that would be brilliant."

"Would you still think so while I was stuck doing that through the entire first week of our Christmas holidays – or during the holidays every year for the next decade or two?"

"Good point," Gwendolyn conceded. "You should just do that for the mirror network special. That'd likely only take a day – especially if you're ignored so badly that nobody notices you leave in animal form and head home on your own."

"Maybe that could be how they're found in that special," Lily offered helpfully. "I guess he'd have to be in that last scene too – though they could likely all just act as if they don't even know he'd been there with them and make up some excuse for why Al's character wouldn't be in the finale."

"Or you could have a real animal at the end; and somebody messed up and brought that instead of the Animorphmagus student," Jonah offered; earning a round of laughs.

"That's brilliant too," Lily assured him enthusiastically. "I like that a lot!"

"Is there any chance the lot of you could keep this entire idea to yourselves and spare me the years of extra jokes and notoriety?" Al asked hopefully; and then shook his head. "I didn't think so. For the record; this is not fair."

"It isn't," Gwendolyn agreed; "but you'll survive – and that notoriety might come in handy when you go to work for Rose and the Cannons."

"Sure – if I play as a different animal in every match," Al half-groused.

"That'd be brilliant too – if you could do it," Lily told him. "I wonder if that would even be allowed. I don't think there are any rules against it."

"There likely would be soon after he tried it – if it helped his team," Kirley told them. "I don't even know if there's ever been an Animagus to play in the show. There aren't that many of them to start with, so even if there was one or two of them playing for professional teams; I doubt they'd have an animal form that could play the game better than we can in our normal form."

"Why am I picturing Rita Skeeter in her ladybug form flying around on her broom right up until she gets squashed by a bludger?" Lily asked whimsically.

"Wishful thinking," Gwendolyn offered. "There might be another Animorphmagus song in there too; but maybe we should give Al a break from that for a year or two – especially if he does end up with an animal bit part in that musical."

While everyone else had fun with that for a while longer; Al really hoped that Kirley and Gwendolyn wouldn't push the idea onto Wendy, Wanda, and the rest of the teens that would be doing the show – and not just because he was actually more-worried about being a hit than about getting razzed all of the time. Picturing a mirror network career as a stunt Animorphmagus might be amusing to everyone else, and a dream-come-true for the people making shows that wouldn't have to worry about uncontrollable animals anymore; but it wasn't his idea of a fun way to spend the rest of his life!

The conversation did eventually move on to other things; they enjoyed having that meal together; and then they spent the afternoon having some music play time with Kirley and more Quidditch fun. Al and Gwendolyn helped Kirley with making dinner; they had it ready for when Gwenog got home; and then they split their evening between some parent and kid time that included an evening hike and some quiet chat time in the sitting room with teen time in the tent while Gwenog and Kirley both did a bit of office work before her training night curfew. Part of the plan for the camping had been helped by the weather – both in that it was going to be a dry night and because it would be chilly-enough that cuddle buddies and sofa sleepovers for both couples was an option that worked for all four of them. They all got ready to do that after getting to the tent; so they were ready to settle in for the night by the time they were paired up on two sofas and began watching mirror network shows.

"Another day down; just two more play days to go before we'll be heading back to Hogwarts," Lily said as they began watching the first show that had already been in progress. "This holiday is going by way too fast."

"Aren't you excited about going back?" Gwendolyn asked/ "You'll only have to wait two weeks for your last Quidditch match, and we'll have two junior team matches in a row; so it should be fun around the castle pretty much for the rest of the month."

"We'll be busy through to the end of the school year," Al suggested. "After those two matches, we'll have a Hogsmeade weekend; the senior team matches and league playoffs in May; and then our exams in June."

"I don't want to think about exams yet," Lily told him. "We only have seven of them, and we did okay last year; but I don't really like them – and it seems dumb to put so much importance on them – not to mention the pressure on us."

"The real pressure comes in our OWL and NEWT years," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Our finals are to help us get ready for them – and they really are all or nothing tests."

"If James has figured that out; his assignments are likely even more-shoddy than norml," Lily suggested. "Yes, I get why you need to do the work anyway, but if those marks really don't matter in the end; it really wouldn't matter – as long as you did learn what you need to know for those exams."

"It matters for the written exams," Al disagreed. "Some students only care about pasing their OWLs, but there really aren't that many teens that don't care if they go on to NEWT studies; so most of us need to do well-enough to do that – which means earning E's and O's on those exams. I suppose it doesn't matter for NEWTs as long as you pass; but better marks will mean better jobs for the best students."

"And it isn't like it was right after the war when there were a lot of vacant jobs and not enough Witches and Wizards to fill them," Gwendolyn added. "I'm glad that we don't need to worry about that."

"Al doesn't," Lily corrected. "You and I still need to be good-enough to earn our jobs with the Harpies; and Jonah will want to be good-enough not to have to settle for the Cannons."

"I still haven't decided whether I want to play in the show or not," Jonah reminded her. "Music is as much fun as Quidditch – and there are no bludgers or bullies to worry about when you're on stage or in the recording studio."

"Have you narrowed it down to two options?" Gwendolyn teased. "Last I heard, broom racer and Dragonologist were still among your career options."

Jonah smiled and shrugged. "I have time to decide, and haven't ruled out anything – though I might drop the dragon thing if Care of Magical Creatures doesn't go well for me next year."

"If that doesn't go well for you; it could mess with any career you might want to have," Gwendolyn offered. "Have you filled out your optionals form with Mum and Dad yet? I know you've talked about it; but haven't seen you actually do that yet."

"I haven't," Jonah answered; "but we've agreed on Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. You and Al convinced me that I don't want to take more than that. You work way too hard with ten and eleven classes."

"They do," Lily agreed. "I've done my form with Mum and Dad; but I pre-negotiated back when James went through it; so I didn't have any trouble with Mum and Dad."

"Is Care of Magical Creatures still your back-up plan for a job on the Dragon Reserve?" Al asked; and Lily laughed.

"I'd forgotten about telling Mum and Dad that as my reason for taking it," she admitted. "I just made that up and want to take it because magical creatures are fun."

"Right up until they eat you," Gwendolyn offered. "I'll take it next year again; but don't plan on going on with it in sixth-year. That's when things really start to get dangerous – and it really is a bit tough to play Quidditch or music if you're missing fingers, hands, or other required body parts."

"Good point," Lily agreed. "Maybe I'll need to do the same – though by then; I might take a page from James' playbook and make sure I can only take three or four classes in sixth year."

"Is that what he's doing?" Gwendolyn asked. "Which classes does he want to go on with – other than DADA?"

"Probably Charms and Transfiguration," Lily answered with a shrug. "He might want Potions too; but probably doesn't care if he fails the rest; and won't mind not having Potions." She smiled at Al. "Any insights you'd like to share on that?"

"Nope," Al answered; glad that she'd worded the question in a way that he could answer honestly while not telling her about things that he did know, suspect, or foresee about their brother. "It's wrong, but I'm trying not to think about James at all while we're here and he's at Hogwarts."

"Sorry about messing that up for you," Lily faux-apologized. "My point, though, was that it'll be easier to focus on Quidditch if I don't have nine classes to take in sixth and seventh year."

"That'd leave you with a lot of time for training," Gwendolyn agreed; "but you might be a bit bored if you don't have anyone to train with – or are you going to convince Jonah to do the same thing so you can have Seeker duels all day every day with him instead?"

Lily smiled and shrugged. "It's likely just wishful thinking. I don't have the same need for perfect grades that Al has; but I wouldn't intentionally slack off and fail on purpose – or just barely pass; so I'll likely have to negotiate my sixth-year plan with Mum and Dad once I get my OWLs. There's no way I'll be taking nine classes, though; so I will have some extra time for Quidditch."

"Do you really think there would be a fight for that with you after whatever happens with James this summer?" Gwendolyn asked. "You'll have it easy if his OWL report is as bad as we all expect it to be."

"A fact that doesn't make any sense," Lily said with a shake of her head. "James insists he's the best Wizard ever; yet he intentionally does a lousy job in most of his classes. There are a lot of Witches and Wizards out there that wished they had half of his natural magical talent; while he wastes his and is happy to half-learn what he does know."

"So what number for slacking off is okay?" Jonah asked; sounding amused. "Ten percent? Twenty? More or less?"

"I get your point; but don't think it's the same for me," Lily said after laughing at his half-joke. "Most of the time, if I don't get a good mark on something; it isn't because I didn't try to do well – and I've never intentionally tried to fail or just not do the work at all like James does. I'd suggest he'll regret it some day; but he probably won't."

"He will always have Al to blame when things mess up," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Problem solved."

"Do you think he uses Al for excuses when he doesn't get his assignments finished on time?" Lily asked. "The Animorphmagus ate my homework?"

"That won't work when he stays at Hogwarts for holidays," Jonah offered. "Will we even be able to use that sort of excuse anymore now that we have RevisionWizard? The dog can't eat our portable mirrors; and we can just reprint our assignments if the printed copy gets messed up."

"We had messed up assignments in mind while making the app," Gwendolyn advised him. "Everyone has messed up assignments before and needed to start over. Now we don't have to worry about those mistakes or accidents."

"It's a bit scary when you tell me stuff like that; since I'd have never thought about making that app at all. The things that you guys thought about while making it might be obvious in hindsight; but most teens wouldn't think about them either – even if we can appreciate the finished product."

"If you think that's scary; just wait until you learn about the things that Al thought about ahead of time and set up for future versions of RevisionWizard," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'm sure none of us want to talk about that, though; so let's change the subject. Would you like to talk about what we'll do tomorrow; or move on to predictions for the Harpies-United match on Saturday?"

Lily picked chatting about their Friday play options first and Quidditch second, bot for Al; it was the quiet cuddle time with Gwendolyn that he enjoyed the most as they wound down toward their sofa sleepover. While he really had tried not to think about James very much, the earlier comments did have him going there in a scary-amusing way as he mused about the impossibility of having a night like he and Gwendolyn were having with Lily and Jonah with James and one of his girlfriends instead – for either him or Lily. He didn't let that train of thought take him on a very long trip; but he couldn't resist wondering about whether he and Gwendolyn would want to end multi-couple sofa sleepovers first – or if Lily would cross that line ahead of him; and take Jonah along with her.

That wasn't a problem yet, and hopefully wouldn't be anytime soon. The top mirror network entertainment came from Lee and his nightly show; Lily and Jonah fell asleep first; and then Al ended up having some even quieter time when Gwendolyn fell asleep too; and he got to enjoy the cuddle time while he watched her sleep for a long time before being ready to drop off and sleep too. Once he was out, he stayed asleep until near to his normal wake-up time. He couldn't extricate himself from Gwendolyn without waking her, but she was happy to go back to sleep for a while after a few good morning kisses and caresses; and napped until he was showered, dressed, and ready to head for the house so that he could get started on making breakfast for six – or helping Gwenog with it if she beat him to the kitchen.

He knew it was going to be the latter of those two options before he walked into the kitchen because he sensed Gwenog's presence in the room. That wasn't something he really thought about anymore as he'd gotten used to his still-growing, expanded senses, but he was smiling as he joined Gwenog in the kitchen; and that was because of what he was musing about as they then exchanged good morning greetings and a quick hug. Their breakfast-making moments were different than the fun he usually had when doing that with his father, but his relationship with Gwenog had been changing gradually since he'd started dating Gwendolyn; and he was reasonably-sure that it was different than for most teens with their girlfriend's or boyfriend's mothers.

Sure, it made a difference that their parents had been friends for decades now, and he doubted that they'd get along nearly as well if he was more like James; but then Gwendolyn wouldn't be dating him if that was true anyway. They were very different personalities, though; so he did find it interesting that they got along so well. They had a love of Quidditch in common – along with a love for some of their favorite people; but that didn't entirely explain the little unknown factors that made some relationships work despite differences. Al didn't take those thoughts too deeply as he pitched in on the work; and instead enjoyed the quiet chat time with Gwenog until Kirley, Jonah, and Gwendolyn and Lily joined them in that order. Breakfast was rushed just a bit so they could get the clean-up finished; and then Kirley went with the four teens to Al and Lily's house while Gwenog went to work; and he had a short visit with Ginny before getting on with the work he had booked for the day with his band mates.

With a Quidditch day ahead of them on Saturday, Ginny wanted to get some chores done before setting the kids free to play for the day, but with charm bracelets, seashells, and medallions; it didn't take very long for that; and then Gwendolyn and Lily opted for a bike ride to town and back that also allowed Ginny to head out and do some work too while they took a picnic and went out on their little adventure to Godric's Hollow. They had lots of time for that round-trip, so they took their time as they enjoyed a fairly-nice spring weather day while they covered the miles between home and town.

"We apparently need to come here more often," Lily suggested quietly as they rode along the main street toward the town center. "Al might recognize everyone around here; but half or more of them don't recognize us."

I'd suggest that we could do that this summer, but we'll be a bit busy; and probably won't come here very often," Al told her.

"Unless Malorie picks Godric's Hollow for her new home," Lily offered with a grin. "We might be here every day if she does that."

"Al thinks she'll pick one of the places in Chudley," Gwendolyn advised her. "Malorie might like the idea of living in London or elsewhere more, but I doubt she'll pick a big city when she works out how much less-expensive it is to live in small towns – even if she decides to learn to drive and gets a car too."

"Those places didn't look all that great to me from the pictures you showed me," Lily told her. "We could find better for her – and my nieces."

"We couldn't do better and still be affordable for Malorie," Al advised her. "We would fix up any place she does go with, though; and that's something we could likely get away with helping to pay for without her refusing the help – especially if our company is her landlord. It'd be our job to make sure her flat or house is well-tended."

"That sounds a bit inconsistent," Lily told him; "but I suppose she wouldn't believe that she can rent a home like Grimmauld Place for the same price as a room-for-let."

"Probably not," Al agreed. "Chudley is still my second-best pick; since I really would rather have Malorie live in Hogsmeade for the next three years so we could see the twins on every Hogsmeade weekend – and maybe every Quidditch match too."

"James would love that," Lily offered sarcastically. "Malorie might not want to bring the babies to the school either – in part because she wouldn't want any scenes with James."

"You could be right," Al conceded; "but I'll hate it if we can't see the twins except on holidays – especially when they'll change so much during our last three – or five – years at Hogwarts."

"I was going to suggest that Uncle Al and Aunt Gwendolyn could bring the twins to see me during my last two years; but you'll likely hardly-ever have the same weekend off from Quidditch matches; so that might not happen – and Malorie would likely rather take the twins to Harpies' matches so the girls can get hooked on their future team."

"Thanks for reminding me," Al told her with a grin; and laughed when Lily looked back at him suspiciously. "Rose and I should probably see about getting an extra season's ticket for Malorie; since getting involved with the Cannons' fans would be a good idea as part of her research. We do want to know what our fans want – other than to finally win a championship."

"Why bother inflicting those matches on her?" Lily asked. "She can learn all about what half the Cannons fans want just by talking to them at a family picnic or something. Harpies matches would be way more fun for her – and before you say it; Mum and Dad always have extra tickets available when we're at school; so nobody would need to buy extras."

"Do you think they'll buy a ticket for James this summer?" Gwendolyn asked. "He doesn't want to go to those matches anymore; so they must give away his ticket for every match this year."

"I think they made some changes for that last year," Al advised her. "That wasn't for James – it was because of Dominique. We didn't need as many tickets for the Harpies; and I expect that Mum and Dad paid for at least a couple of the tickets that our family collectively picked up this year for Puddlemere United."

"I wonder who will be cheering for United from those seats tomorrow?" Jonah asked with a grin for Lily. "It really isn't fair that you guys haven't supported Dominique yet."

"I can support her without cheering for her team," Lily told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Al won't sit with the United fans either; since he wouldn't trade that for sitting with Gwendolyn."

"I'd be okay with going to some of the United games with Al to do that – with any of their other matches."

"We can't really do that for the holiday matches," Al reminded her. "They usually end up playing on the same weekends because they're both top-eight teams. There are more chances for that during the rest of the season, but by the time we could do that; we'll be busy with our own Quidditch careers."

"With the Harpies and Cannons," Gwendolyn added. "Don't even try hedging on your comments for that."

"Instead of going there; have you ever wondered why Godric's Hollow never had a league team – or Hogsmeade, for that matter?" Lily asked. "They are two of the most-famous Wizarding communities in the country; yet they have almost no Quidditch history."

"Hogsmeade does if you include Hogwarts Quidditch," Al pointed out. "Mum's the most-famous Quidditch player from our home town, but if you want to change that; you could always see about starting a new team and getting the league to expand to fourteen teams."

"I'm going to play for the Harpies – and would be okay with being the new, most-famous Quidditch player from here," she suggested. "You and Rose might be nuts-enough to want to take on all of the work and headaches of being team owners and managers; but some of us just want to have fun with our jobs when we grow up." She smiled when Jonah laughed at that. "Don't go there," she warned; and he laughed again.

"I wasn't actually thinking about the Cannons for that laugh," he advised her. "I was just wondering why you'd think that Mum's training program will be fun. I thought that all of the players hate that part of the job."

"It's a love-hate thing," Lily told him. "Rose doesn't even need to be here to mess with us. I'm so used to the Cannons' references for everything; I go there even when others don't."

"She'd tell you that's all part of her master plan," Gwendolyn offered with a nod of agreement. "I don't want to go there either, though; so what do you guys want to do first? Pick up drinks and treats; go for a ride around town; or hang out at the park?"

Lily was ready for drinks first, but they eventually did all of that; had a bit of teen and kid time with some of the Muggle locals at the park; and then they biked home again after a couple of hours of fun. They went for a swim after getting home; had a Chaser or Seeker duel after that; and then still had time for one more cool-down swim before helping Ginny with making dinner – or in Lily and Jonah's case; providing the chat entertainment while Ginny, Al, and Gwendolyn cooked. Harry was late getting home, so dinner was put on hold for a while; Al and Gwendolyn set up their tent for another camping night while they waited; and then they spent most of the evening having a quiet play night with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Jonah. They went for a hike after dinner, but then they spent the rest of the evening indoors playing mirror games or watching the mirror network until Harry and Ginny were ready to head for bed.

The four teens didn't go straight to bed after going out to the tent, but they didn't stay together for all that long before Lily decided that she and Jonah should split up for the night and use their rooms so that Al and Gwendolyn could have a bit of alone time before they'd all be heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday – something that they wouldn't be able to do on Saturday. She had a bit of fun with that first – including spending some time in Jonah's room while supposedly tucking him in for the night; but then Al and Gwendolyn were semi-alone for the rest of the night; and wrapped up their day with some quiet snogging fun before having another sofa sleepover that really would be the last they could have until they were home again for the summer holidays.

That was something to be a bit sad about, but Al and Gwendolyn were both very happy when they eventually fell asleep; so they didn't even think about the sad when everything else about their day had been brilliant!

James was frustrated as he sat up in bed late on Friday night. About half of his roommates were in bed and sleeping. The others were hanging out in the common room either with girlfriends or because they were still playing mirror games. He wasn't doing either because Rosinda had blown him off again; Alexa seemed to be playing some game of her own with him; and he'd gotten bored with the mirror games a long time ago.

The games he'd been playing with Alexa for most of the week had been fun most of the time, and he'd enjoyed the challenge; but he was beginning to suspect that she'd had no intention of ever letting him get anywhere with her. Pursuing Alexa probably had something to do with why rosinda had been less-interested in playing with him – though he didn't get that; since she'd had no trouble with sharing him with Patricia and Bristol. It was the combination of getting all worked up and then having no release for those pent-up urges that was irritating him the most, but after his recent problems with Memory charms; he hadn't wanted to risk going there – particularly with Alexa; since he had no idea of how talented she was magically beyond the fact that she was one of the top students in her House.

His growing frustration had even affected his Quidditch; and he'd only managed a draw with Brandon during their last two work-out scrimmages. That bugged him too despite the fact that 'his' team had still won those scrimmages – and did that without the Animorphloser, but then it also bugged him that Brandon continued to use his own bad moods against him; and was just-bearely good-enough to earn those draws in their duels despite the fact that he was a mediocre player – just as his sister was, at best, a sidekick for Victoire with the Harpies.

That thought sent his musings toward the Harpies-United Quidditch match on Saturday, and while he could care less about United either; he did hope that they'd ruin the Easter holiday for his family and beat the Harpies – even though he'd like that better if they weren't wasting their money by hiring some of his least-liked Gryffindor Witches. Picking the least of two evils to cheer for in that match was only important to him in that it gave him an excuse to take even more time off from holiday revision – or at least procrastinate a while longer. He didn't really want to think about that work. Despite the fact that Rosinda had her holiday revision finished; she'd insisted on continuing her studies to get ready for their OWL exams; and that was another excuse that kept him from having fun with her.

He would need to throw something together for his holiday assignments by Sunday night – or as each assignment was due in during his classes next week, but he didn't care about any of that; since it really did only matter how he did on those exams this year – a fact that he just couldn't seem to pound into the heads of his classmates as too many of them obsessed about trivial, meaningless things. That thought brought him back around to thinking about what was most-important – and the current lack of that kind of fun for too much of his holiday. Unfortunately, once Alexa and Rosinda blew him off; there hadn't been any other options for hook-ups with other Witches.

Somehow, he was seriously going to need to figure out a way to make sure that sort of thing wouldn't happen to him anymore, but he didn't come up with any answers to that problem as he continued his frustrated musings while unable to sleep; and that just added to his sense of frustration. No brilliant plans came to mind either, and while he could hope for more options while home for the summer; that wasn't even a sure thing when the Animorphloser and his pregnant pawn would be doing their best to ruin his life – if they managed to keep from doing that until after their exams.

As usual, he didn't want to go there, but couldn't resist while in such a dark mood anyway; and his thoughts roamed through all of the best and worst scenarios he'd come up with over the past few months for what would happen when the news did come out about Malorie and the twin mistakes she was carrying.

He still didn't come up with a sure-fire answer to those problems either, but he was not going to let the Animorphpotty ruin his life. Somehow, some way; he was going to make all of his dreams come true. Once he was rich and famous, he'd never have to worry about whether there'd be a willing Witch around whenever he needed one to have some fun with; and he'd use that wealth and power to destroy the Animorphloser.

Problems solved!

Scorpius was in a great mood on Saturday morning. Sure, he'd been in a great mood off-and-on all week – when not freaked out and worried about whether the plans he'd made with Lysandra would work out for them or not, but that had turned out even better than they'd hoped; and the fact that he was going to be spending the day with her and doing that out in public was proof of that!

Getting up 'early' at Malfoy Manor was relative, but he had been awake earlier than usual; had taken extra time getting ready for the day; and had even enjoyed having breakfast with his parents and grandparents – something that he'd been able to do most days while at home this week too. That had been thanks to his own plans and actions too; and he was discovering that his family wasn't all that horrid to be around now that they actually had a bit of hope for the future – and possibly some purpose and meaning for their previously-pathetic and shallow lives since the war.

A lot of what was happening for all of them was beyond anything he'd even thought about in the week after his 'intervention' meeting with Harry Potter, but he didn't even think about thanking the Head of the Aurors or his former painted mentor for anything; since the brilliant choices for how to deal with the situation had all been his!

In fact, he didn't really care at all about what Lysandra's parents and the other family Heads decided to do with Thomas' portrait. It had served its purpose for him, and now that he knew truths about Thomas that he hadn't before his intervention with Harry Potter; he could care less about what happened to that portrait – just as he could care less about any Mudblood or Half-blood freak! He didn't see any downside to what was happening now. If Thomas aided the pureblood families with new plots and plans, then he'd get a lot of credit for his priceless gift to them, and if he led them to disaster; then that might just pave the way for him – and Lysandra – to step into the power vacuum and take control of their family fortunes and lead the way to the brilliant destiny and future that he was sure would be theirs! Whatever happened, he was well-rid of Thomas and his lies and deceit; and he was sure that he and Lysandra were far better off without him – though they were being very careful too while under very close scrutiny from their parents and the other pureblood families.

His first official 'date' with Lysandra was sure to be a bit weird because both sets of parents, her brother, and his date would be with them, but they were going out for lunch and to the Falcons' Quidditch match; and they could likely do their own thing while in Diagon Alley for the back-to-school supply shopping. They were meeting up with Lysandra and her family in Diagon Alley, so while he'd been ready to go too soon and had too much time on his hands while waiting for it to be time to go; Scorpius was smiling brilliantly and very happy when they arrived in Diagon Alley and then only needed a few minutes to meet up with Lysandra. Their hug and kiss was appropriately-short and proper for such a public place, but still drew some attention to them – and a glare for Scorpius from Raban. Lysandra's brother did not look happy about what was going on with his parents, sister, and the Malfoys, but he didn't say anything to Scorpius beyond a nod and greeting; and that was likely because he didn't want to mess things up with his own date. Fortunately for him, though, it wasn't long before they split up for the shopping; and he and Lysandra were allowed to wander off on their own – if only within each store while their parents stayed together and seemed to half-supervise from a distance while Raban went off with his girlfriend and she did her own supply shopping.

"We'll be the top gossip story on the Hogwarts Express," Lysandra told Scorpius quietly while nodding subtly toward a trio of fellow students that were doing a poor job of trying to surreptitiously watch them. "Do you think that the adults around here will be gossiping about our parents too?"

"Probably," Scorpius agreed. "Let the lot of them talk about us all they want; and I'll just be glad that we're being allowed to be out in public together. Raban isn't happy about that, but we'll be back at Hogwarts tomorrow; so maybe he'll get over that by the time we're home for summer."

"He doesn't know everything about this that we do," she whispered. "Raban might be the heir for our little corner of the family, but Dad knows he's a bit untrustworthy when it comes to keeping secrets."

"It's so hard to brag if you can't talke about the best secrets," Scorpius joked; and Lysandra laughed.

"True, but we've proven we can keep secrets; and that won't change for us now." She smiled as the same group of teens moved in their direction. "Should we keep them guessing when they get near-enough; or feed the gossip network?"

"Your choice," Scorpius answered with a smile and shrug. "Either way, I'm sure you'll have fun with the gossip on the train and around the castle tomorrow."

"And likely for the next few weeks," Lysandra added. "The good news for us, though, is that we'll have way more fun getting to hang out together without needing to keep that little secret anymore."

Scorpius agreed with that – and was looking forward to it too. They had fun with starting some gossip about themselves with those other teens; with the rest of their shopping adventure; and with their lunch at the Leaky. That had been especially-entertaining thanks to crossing paths with the Animorphpotty, his potty-trainer, and the rest of their gang. He was sure that there'd be more rumors going around because of that, but they hadn't been forced to hang out anywhere near to some of their most-hated enemies because Lysandra's parents had reserved one of the private dining rooms for their meal so they wouldn't need to associate with mudbloods or blood-traitors.

That social reality was an ego boost, since that was obviously something that the Animorphloser and his family couldn't do, and from what he saw when they left for the stadium; he doubted that the Potters and their lot of loser friends had enjoyed a meal that was nearly as fine as the one that the Lestranges had ordered for their group. Moving on to the stadium, Scorpius and Lysandra enjoyed more entertainment that included fun with some Slytherin students while wandering among the concessions before going to their premium seats that were next to the owner's box for the Falcons.

The good times rolled on for the rest of the day; Scorpius enjoyed every minute he got to spend with Lysandra as they cheered on their team and got to watch the Falcons pound their way to another win in every way – including putting three of their opponents out of the match and into beds at St. Mungo's before Brand ended the match after more than six brutally-brilliant hours of non-stop Quidditch action. They followed that up with a late dinner at the Lestrange estate; and then he was even allowed to have a bit of alone time with Lysandra while their parents had a little after-dinner meeting and drinks before he went home with his parents. Raban and his girlfriend had come home for dinner, but then they'd gone out to party with friends; so that had worked out for Scorpius and Lysandra too. The snogging kind of end to their day-long date had been brilliant; it had been a perfect way to end their Easter holiday; and then Scorpius had the bonus of happy parents and grandparents when he got home again – all thanks to his brilliant gift!

Now, he really only wished that he'd come up with the idea long before he'd needed to deal with Harry Potter's threats to his safety and future – especially after learning so many unpleasant truths about his painted, former friend and mentor!

"Okay, we've got some time before the game starts; so out with it," Gwendolyn told Al as they settled into their seats at the stadium. Rose, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo were the closest teens to them; while they were a little island of kids surrounded by parents and grandparents.

"Out with what?" Al asked; though he knew what she wanted from him.

"The inside-of-their-heads scoop about what was going on with Scorpius, Lysandra, and their parents," she stated while giving him a shoulder bump. "You've made us wait long-enough!"

"Would you believe that true love overcomes all and that Scorpius and Lysandra have brought their families together thanks to an Easter miracle?" he asked; and smiled when Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily all laughed.

"No; but that's funny," Gwendolyn assured him.

"Well, in a way; that is what seems to have happened," he advised the girls half-seriously. "The Malfoys and Lestranges are definitely spending the day together because of Scorpius and Lysandra." He looked around and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I got the sense that a certain gift was exchanged; and that Scorpius and Lysandra came up with the idea as a way to convince her parents to give him a chance to be accepted by the other pureblood families. His parents have apparently been given the same opportunity; but I don't think that Scorpius cares about that beyond the fact that their inclusion might help him to get what he wants."

"If he truly cares for Lysandra – and she cares for him in return; then I'd say there's hope for both of them," Rose offered just as quietly. "I have to wonder how much they've told their parents, though; since there reactions seem a bit odd in context of everything we know."

"They haven't told them everything," Al advised her. "That could end badly for them, since lies often do – even when they're lies of omission; but I didn't sense anything more specific for that from them."

"Well, we know that Lysandra is signed up for that Christmas musical project this summer," Gwendolyn reminded Al – and smiled when she realized that was news for Rose. "Dad got some of that news from his band mates a couple of days ago," she explained and added. "Her parents must be very happy with them to be allowing that – unless the rumors we heard about them being mad at her for doing the musical were wrong." She turned her smile on Al next. "Did you get anything new from them on that?"

"No, but their thoughts while around us were all about the other issue," Al answered. "Thanks for reminding me of one other reason why I shouldn't want to be part of that project, though – even if it wouldn't be a big role."

"Is there something else you havent' told me about yet?" Rose asked; and Al sighed while Gwendolyn grinned at his cousin – and then proceeded to tell Rose all about her brilliant suggestion for the mirror network version of the Christmas musical.

That did divert their chat from Scorpius and Lysandra, though; so Al didn't mind the change of topic – even though that meant getting razzed a bit about becoming a 'trained' animal star instead of a future Quidditch player. He was eventually saved from that by the start of the match; and then they were all into watching another brilliant battle between the Harpies and Puddlemere United. Both teams were fired up right from the start; and Victoire and Dominique seemed to be especially-enthusiastic as they faced off against each other for their second sibling rivalry match-up.

It was hard to believe that they were only playing against each other for the second time when they were now so close to the end of the regular season, but that did work out well for the fans of both teams now that Dominique had the extra league-level experience and was more-comfortable with her Chaser partners. The Chaser duel between the sisters got a lot of the attention from all of the spectators, but as Al watched the action above the pitch; he paid attention to everything going on in the game – and continually analyzed the players, game plans, and even environmental factors affecting the gameplay – including everything from wind changes to sudden crowd noise or activities that affected the players.

He also knew that Dawn and Jonathan Madley would be going into semi-retirement after the end of the season and moving to the reserve squad with Laura to make room on the team for Lucy and Olivia; so he spent extra time watching them too – and comparing their play to what he saw at every practice and match from his own fellow Gryffindor Chasers. Lucy and Olivia wouldn't like his assessment, but that didn't change the fact that he was sure that he was right; and that the two Witches would not be as good as Dawn and Jonathan – at least not at first.

Sure, they'd do well-enough in the show, and would get better with experience, but Dawn and Jonathan were still a formiddable Chaser duo; and they were more than a match for Candice and Hailey – if not as good as Victoire. Al mentally added an 'anymore' to that thought; since they well may have been as good as Victoire at her age. What mattered most for that assessment, though, was that he suspected that United would have a bit of a drop in scoring power next season – and that it would be partly-due to Lucy and Olivia bringing Dominique down to their level – especially if they all returned to their Gryffindor team style of play where they shared goals and assists evenly instead of having any one of them stand out as the 'star' Chaser.

As he thought about that, Al also mentally worked on game plans to counter the strengths that each team had – and would have in a few years when he and Rose were ready to play for the Cannons. Weaknesses to exploit were a bit tougher to put into those future plans, since the problems each team and player had now likely wouldn't be the same three years from now; but then the top teams also had fewer weaknesses than the worst teams in the league anyway. That didn't keep Al from coming up with a lot of ideas, though; and he had a lot of fun with doing that. There was a difference now as they got closer to the start of their own league careers; and that was a sense of needing to keep his good ideas to himself – or only share them with Rose. The Harpies would still always be one of his favorite teams – especially when it came to cheering for some of his favorite witches, but he also needed to start thinking as much about what was going to be best for his future team too.

Multi-tasking those thoughts didn't keep him from enjoying the game; and it was a great match for the fans of both teams – right up until Vicky got injured again; and then the tide turned fully into United's favor. That injury hadn't happened until early in the sixth hour; so the battle really had been brilliant to that point as the six Chasers had battled two determined Keepers. The score had stayed close – within forty points either way; so Vicky's injury really had been the game changer. Even with that advantage, it still took United nearly an hour and a half longer to earn the one-sixty lead; and their Seeker had needed to give his all to block Gabrielle from her non-stop attempts to end the match before United could do that. She wasn't successful, but then the United Seeker backed off as soon as they had that lead; and then she ended the match at the seven hour and thirty-eight minute mark. The loss was hard to take for the Harpies, but her quick catch at that point meant only losing by ten points; and that was important for the league standings.

It was already getting late by then, but the Potters and McCormacks had planned on being at their own homes for the last night before the kids went back to Hogwarts; so that really just meant that al and Gwendolyn had gotten to spend more time together than they would have with a shorter match – and less with their parents. Ginny had to work the post-game interviews, so Harry and Kirley took their kids home – and they all made a side-trip together to pick up take-out pizza for their respective late dinners. That gave Al and Gwendolyn one last bit of time together before they said their goodbyes and then went home with their respective father and sibling; and then Al and Lily got to have some time with Harry while they waited for Ginny to join them. Al was not surprised when his father wanted to talk with him about what they'd seen in Diagon Alley and at the Leaky with regard to the Malfoys and Lestranges.

"I've already surmised that Scorpius and Lysandra have successfully passed his mentor's portrait along to her parents," Harry told Al as they sat around the kitchen table and munched on first slices of pizza – though they planned on only having one each to tide them over until Ginny joined them. "Some of that I got from Scorpius, but I can also guess that he didn't tell his parents – or Lysandra's – about the meeting I had with him. I didn't sense anything from the four adults to suggest that they had any new worries about me."

"He didn't tell them," Al agreed; "but he did tell Lysandra; so they both chose to withhold that from their parents."

"Probably because their plan wouldn't have worked if their parents knew that Dad knew about the portrait – and the things that Scorpius has been doing at Hogwarts," Lily suggested. "Isn't it a bad thing for that painting to fall into the hands of the Lestranges and their lot?"

"Dad was hoping for that," Al told her; and then smiled when his statement surprised her.

"Why would you want that, Dad?" Lily asked.

"Partly to get it away from Scorpius," Harry answered. "He may still follow the path he's been on into the Dark Arts, but without tom Riddle's influence; there's a much better chance that he will not. I have other reasons; but none that I can talk about with you." He smiled at Al. "Don't read my mind and try to find out," he only half-joked; and then frowned because Al was frowning suddently too. "I mean it," he warned; and then looked worried when Al suddenly smiled instead.

"Too late; but then there's nothing for me to learn anyway; is there?" Al told his father meaningfully.

"That doesn't make any sense; but then you're not going to explain it to me," Lily deduced with a sigh. "If you're trying to get me to join the Aurors just so I can get in on all of the secrets you keep; it won't work."

"As if Quidditch players don't have secrets," Harry countered. "Your Mum always had little secrets about her training when she played for the Harpies."

"If she kept them from you; it was so that she could surprise you," Lily guessed. "The rest of the time; she'd have talked things over with you – and gotten you to help her to get ready for her matches."

"I was actually thinking about that sort of thing a lot during the game today," Al advised them. "Now that Rose and I are really getting serious about our plans for the Cannons; we'll need to keep things that we're working on secret – even from Lily and Gwendolyn."

"You're not going to share all of your good ideas with us so that we can use them against your team?" Lily asked with feigned, wide-eyed astonishment. "That doesn't sound like you at all!"

"It doesn't," Al agreed; "but it's still likely going to happen; since we do want to turn the Cannons into a Championship team."

"Well, you won't get me to change my mind about playing for the Harpies just because of those secrets either," Lily told him.

"I wasn't even thinking about that angle," Al assured her. "You're getting a bit obsessed about that; and I don't really get why. I've told you and Gwendolyn that I'd never, ever try to get in the way of your dreams to play for the Harpies; so it really ought to be a non-issue."

"Then why are we both worried about it?" Lily asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"Because you're worried that you're beginning to like Rose's dream more than your own," he answered honestly; earning a laugh from Lily and a grin from his father.

"That is it – and the real reason why it's so scary for me," Lily admitted. "Let's not go there; since I really don't want to even think about that little truth bomb."

"We've gotten off-track from where we started anyway," Harry told her. "What else did you sense from the Malfoys and Lestranges, Al? Anything you have might help me with making sure that my Aurors and I stay a step ahead of the bad guys."

Al gave him the full update; had that done by the time Ginny got home; and then they enjoyed their pizza dinner before moving on to the sitting room for a bit of quiet time. They talked about their plans for the last two and a half months of the school year; watched Lee's mirror network show; and then headed for bed. Harry and Ginny split up for bedtime chats with Al and Lily; and Al had his mother first and Harry last. It wasn't until then that Harry talked to him about James; and Al knew that he hadn't wanted to do that around Lily.

"Well, I guess we're done with our bedtime chat," Harry joked. "Did you get all of that?"

"Yes, but we can talk about it anyway," Al answered with a grin. "You're worried about James."

"I'm worried about you – and about Malorie," Harry corrected. "James may have temporarily lost his mind back in February, since he'd mostly left you alone before that; but he might get worried enough about what's going to happen with Malorie to act rashly again – and lash out at one or both of you. He's likely trying to figure out a way to get out ahead of the story too."

"He might," Al agreed; "but I doubt that I could sit back and let him do anything else rotten – especially if he puts Malorie and the babies in danger."

"I wouldn't want you to do anything less," Harry assured him. "Maybe I'm worried about nothing, but James is going to feel more cornered the closer we get to June; and that's going to make him unpredictable."

"There seems to be a lot of things that can happen to make him unpredictable," Al suggested. "He intentionally made things worse for Susannah before Christmas just because he was mad at Bristol; and we don't even know what set him off before the Valentine's Day dance – though I am sure it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. He blames me for everything, Dad; but I'm far from the only problem he has right now. I'd expect him to get worried about his OWLs eventually; Olivia made him let Alex win their Seeker duel in February, so he'll want to win against Pauline in May; and he's always at risk of messing up with the girls while trying to juggle three or more of them at a time."

Harry laughed; though only with a half-amused expression on his face. "Sometimes I think that I should be jealous that he can do that at all when my dating experiences at Hogwarts were generally dismal; but I don't remember ever really being interested in more than one Witch at a time back then anyway. That's off-track, though; and I want you to be even more careful than you already are around James. Your Mum and I don't wish anything bad on him either; but we all know he deserved to be sent home in February – and back in September too; since he was involved in Ollie's attack on you and Ray – even if he didn't try to help out with the actual ambush."

"I'll be careful," Al promised – "and hope for the best."

"As any future Cannons player would," Harry joked. "Let's talk about Malorie next. There is a real risk that her pregnancy will be found out before the end of June. Are you ready to deal with that if needed? Your mother and I can deal with the problems we'd have here; but wouldn't be able to help you much until you're home from Hogwarts."

"If her secret comes out, we'll be honest and support Malorie, but if that does happen before her NEWT exams; I'll make helping her to get through them my focus regardless of the rumors or other issues."

"You have your own exams to deal with too," Harry reminded him; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"I'll be ready for them – and don't get stressed about exams at all. Helping Malorie will be as much about the twins as her own well-being. The last thing she'll need is even more stress. She's reasonably-talented, Dad; but her NEWT studies don't come easy for her."

"They aren't supposed to be easy for anyone," Harry reminded his son. "We'll help any way that we can from here; but that's more-likely to be with things like getting some basic necessities into whichever home she chooses and anything else we can do to make her transition from Hogwarts as stress-free as possible."

"That'll be a juggling act to help without doing everything for her," Al suggested. "We will need to work something out with her, though; since she'll be starting out with almost nothing but a tiny bit of money and whatever personal belongings she's brought with her to Hogwarts."

"Your Mum is sure that Malorie will come around the closer she gets to her due date," Harry reminded him. "Let's hope she's right about that."

Their chat moved on from there, but they didn't really have anything else important to discuss after that; and it wasn't much longer before Harry headed off to bed with Ginny and they left Al and Lily to head off to sleep once they'd each dealt with a last bit of packing for their trip back to school. Al ended his night with a very short mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then he headed off to sleep. He dreamed and hoped for the best for the rest of their school year; but he really would be ready for anything – and would only be truly-surprised if they did actually get to the end of June without any trouble from James or anyone else!


	45. Awesome April Dramazing May

Chapter Forty-Five – Awesome April; Dramazing May!

"What a difference a week can make!"

"For some," Al agreed; smiling as he and Gwendolyn watched Scorpius meet up with Lysandra on the platform from their vantage on the train. "They're likely to be the top story of the day; and I'll guess that they'll be in for an interesting first week back – especially in their own House and dorms."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "I wonder if that'll be a major distraction for their junior Quidditch team?"

"It'd be nice if it distracted them from the usual nastiness they bring during the week of a match," Al suggested. "Rose just got here," he added with a nod toward the entrance end of the platform. "I'd better get her favorite chocolates out. She looks even sadder than I expected."

"You'd likely look worse than that if we had to be apart for a week or two,' Gwendolyn told him. "I love Rose, and like Kyle a lot too; but she knows it can't work out for them long term – no matter how much she loves him. It's getting tougher for her with every separation; and I'll be surprised if they manage to stay together beyond this summer."

"Some Muggles can handle the change to the Wizarding World," Al pointed out; "but that is comparatively-rare – and I doubt that Kyle could be able to do it."

"I don't know how any of them manage that," Gwendolyn admitted. "It must be as awful for them as it is for squibs."

"Maybe not quite that bad," Al disagreed. "Squibs have to deal with not having magic while others in their families do – and growing up in our world. I'm sure there are Muggle equivalents – like kids with disabilities; but I really can't imagine how hard it must be for squib kids – especially if their families treat them badly."

"That happens way too often," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement. "Maybe the Ministry of Magic should look into baby exchanges – Muggleborns traded for squibs."

"Would you give up your baby if he or she was born a squib?" Al asked. "I'd consider adopting Muggleborn babies; but I'd never be able to give up one of our own in exchange."

"Okay, maybe we'd need to make that voluntary," Gwendolyn conceded. "You do get my point, though; so it isn't really fair to mess with me about what I'd do in that situation."

"You have a point that we should do better for squibs and squib kids," Al assured her. "I just don't think the answers will come easily."

"This is also too deep a topic for a back-to-school train ride," Gwendolyn decided. "Do you think that Lily and Jonah sat in one of the other compartments to avoid all of the sad that Rose will be bringing with her?"

"Lily probably just wants some hang-out time with their friends. She didn't even get to see Denise much this past week except for our study mornings; and she didn't see some of her other girlfriends at all."

"We didn't see our friends much either," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Should we invite a different group to sit with us today?"

Al shrugged. "As long as we're together; it doesn't really matter to me who else we hang out with."

"Including Rose?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al shrugged again and smiled.

"She probably needs a break from me more than the other way around. I do want to help her out today; but Susannah will likely help more than I will. They really have gotten to be best friends since Christmas."

"Boyfriend break-ups can be a bonding experience for Witches," Gwendolyn only half-joked.

"Maybe so, but I don't plan on breaking up with you now and then just so you can make new best friends," Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"We may not have any personal experience with that sort of teen drama, but that doesn't mean we don't empathize with our friends – and you do that more than most of them ever know."

Al didn't really want to talk about himself, but then they soon had company in their compartment; and it wasn't long after that before they were busy with their friends – and with Rose. The train headed out toward Hogsmeade soon too, and once their families were out of sight; it felt to Al as though they were fully-immersed into the alternate world that would be their reality as Hogwarts students for the next two and a half months – give or take a few days.

Feeding favorite sweets to Rose only helped a bit with her melancholy mood, but she had lots of help to keep busy and entertained during the long trip back to school. Scorpius and Lysandra were the top gossip story, but there were many others – break-ups, hook-ups, and other teen or family dramas from the holidays. While Al heard all of those stories and sensed more than he'd like; he had fun during most of the trip too. Spending the day with Gwendolyn was the best part of that, but he also had a long chat with Rose about their plans for the Cannons – and Malorie; they talked Quidditch for the upcoming junior and senior team matches; and he and Gwendolyn went on two walks along the train that included dozens of cameo moments with friends, family, and just random students.

They had to play hurry up and wait once at the Hogsmeade station, but by then; Al was most-interested in getting to the castle and making sure that Malorie was okay – even if he couldn't check up on her personally until at least after dinner – and possibly not until Monday if she couldn't get together with them between dinner and curfew. Gwendolyn stayed with him for a while once they were in the Great Hall, and while he should take turns doing that with her; it had been her choice to do that so they could keep Rose company. While he wouldn't be happy until after doing a check-up for Malorie, Al was able to sense that she was okay and reasonably-happy even from a distance; and he also didn't sense anything rleated to her from James either. His brother had some extra hate directed his way, and apparently hadn't had a brilliant holiday, but he was also darkly-happy to hook up with Patricia and Bristol again.

That was a scary place that he didn't want to go; but then that could be said about the mental musings for a lot of the teens in the room. A mass case in point for that was the general reaction all along the Slytherin table to Scorpius and Lysandra as they arrived together and then sat at the table together too. Al could sense that many of the Slytherin teens and tweens were still not in the loop for why the couple would be together when Scorpius was supposed to be one of the outcasts; but then all of the older teens that had stayed to study were stunned by the news as they began to hear the rumors. There was a lot of speculation about what had happened, and some of those stories were sure to get a bit wild; but Al expected that the truth would not come out anytime soon – and this was one case where the truth would be stranger than anything the gossip-hungry teens would come up with to explain Scorpius' sudden elevation in social status.

Things settled down a bit by the time dinner was served, but the dinner conversations going on around the hall were lively; and the noise level stayed high – including the mental noise level for Al. He enjoyed the meal and chat time with Rose and their friends; but he was also glad to escape the Great Hall and reunite with Gwendolyn. Even better; he caught the signal from Malorie that she'd like to meet up with them; so they met up in their usual classroom about fifteen minutes after dinner. Rose, Lily, and Jonah didn't join them, but they didn't have time for a full family night anyway; and Malorie really just wanted to have Al check and make sure that all was well with the twins after a fairly-intense week of NEWT studies.

"I'm glad that you wanted to do this tonight," Al told her after they'd exchanged the usual greetings and he and Gwendolyn had each hugged Malorie.

"I'd have called if there had been any problems this week," Malorie assured him. "The babies are likely just fine; and I was as interested to hear about how your trip to Chudley went as I am about the check-up."

"Rose and I were going to go over that with you as soon as we could; but I can at least give you the information we brought back with us; and you can look it over before we talk about your options with you."

"We loved Chudley," Gwendolyn added; "but it might be too small-town for your liking. Al and I have grown up in the country near small towns, though; so you might have a much different opinion."

"I made up a memory charm with a sort of overview of our bike tour of the town too," Al advised both Witches. "We don't just have options for you from Chudley – except for the office space options. Mum tracked down places you could rent in Diagon Alley and a few other cities and towns too."

"Sounds good," Malorie said with a nod. "I won't be living here, but I did take a look at rentals in Hogsmeade to get an idea on how much it would cost. I don't really know how helpful that was; since they don't have many choices at any given time."

"That's true for any small town," Al said with a nod. "We only found two or three that we liked well-enough in Chudley."

"Plus a farm outside of town that Al loves," Gwendolyn added with a smile. "He hasn't started to work on me for that yet; but he did fall in love with the place at first sight."

The property that the Cannons' practice pitch is on was nice too – even if the building ought to be demolished," Al offered; and then smiled at Malorie's reaction. "Their office in Chudley was even worse, but don't worry; we'll either exclude both in our offer to buy the team; or we'll ask for a discount to take them off their hands; tear them down; and start over."

"That might be even scarier for one of the employees that might have to deal with that work," Malorie suggested; and Al laughed.

"It isn't as big of a deal as you might think. Magical construction is very different than anything you've ever seen in the Muggle world. Even big projects don't necessarily need to take all that long. We'll want to talk about that with the options for your next home. The size of a flat or house doesn't need to matter much to us; since we can magically modify any room to be whatever we want it to be – whether that's the size of the room or other options."

"What do you mean by that?" Malorie asked curiously; and Al shrugged.

"There aren't really any limits," he answered. "For an example, though, I guess we could use built-ins such as cupboards or counters."

"Magical power is a limit," Gwendolyn amended. "Most of us have furniture and everything else, but it is possible to just conjure everything as you need it and let it disappear when you don't."

"So I could just save the money and conjure an entire home?" Malorie half-joked.

"If you're strong-enough to hold that conjuring in place, you actually could," Al agreed seriously. "That might be a bit inconvenient if it went away on you in the middle of the night during a rainstorm – or the winter. It's much easier to start with a physical place and modify it to what you want. In our house, Mum and Dad will change the room size as needed – though that's usually just in the kitchen or dining room. That doesn't have to be temporary, but it's also nice to have the right size rooms for the number of people in it too. I wouldn't want to have a normal morning meal for four in a kitchen big enough to hold fifty."

"While my house resembles that," Gwendolyn added with a grin. "My Mum and Dad like their big spaces. I think it has something to do with spending so much time in Quidditch stadiums or concert halls."

"I have so much to learn," Malorie mused aloud. "How am I ever going to be ready by the end of June?"

"By letting the people that care about you and the twins help out," Al answered seriously. "Let's do that check-up; and then I'll give you everything I have for your home and office rental options. We don't really have all that much time before curfew."

"Did you want to have a mirror chat with Al's parents tonight too?" Gwendolyn asked. "We could likely multi-task that too."

"We don't need to do that tonight," Malorie decided. "I don't have any news for them; and you'll likely pass on anything from your holiday to me."

"We will," Gwendolyn promised. "While Al's checking on the babies, though; why don't you tell us all about what you've been doing while we were home?"

Malorie did that; though she really didn't have much to tell them beyond long, tiring study sessions every day and extra sleeping when she wasn't working in the library or elsewhere. Al was soon sure that Malorie and the babies were all healthy and doing fine; though he offered a bit of healing to Malorie for some minor strains and aches. He also surprised her with the portable pool loan; and gave that to her while retrieving all of the paperwork and the Chudley memory charm. He'd felt good about her first reactions to the potential homes choices she'd have, but didn't push her on any of that; since she'd need time to look everything over and think about those choices and what would be best for her for a while.

They spent three-quarters of an hour together; Malorie moved on first; and Al and Gwendolyn stayed together and had short mirror chats with their parents before he walked her home and then went on to his own House and dorm room. By then, he was tired out, so other than getting ready for bed and getting his book bag packed for his Monday morning classes; Al pretty much went straight to bed and crashed for the night.

"It's been a long time," Harry said silently as he approached the Fidelius Charmed house in Tutshill. The number – 217 – looked more-weathered; but then it had been years since his last visit.

After watching the place with all of his senses for more than an hour; he was now reasonably-sure that nothing significant had changed since his last round of visits; and he expected that the place was empty – since it was a bit early for any of the Knights to be making their visits – or gathering for a meeting. He did expect one of those meetings to be happening soon; which was why he was out in the field for the first time in years again too. He was going to miss being home with Ginny, but had to admit that it was exciting to get out from behind his desk and away from Auror Headquarters – though he would be at work in the morning again too. This mission was entirely off-the-record, and while he might need to take a sick day here and there if his surveillance dragged on for very long; he just planned on working double shifts and napping when he could.

Before entering the house, he waited and was as cautious as always; and then he opened the door and stepped into the entrance hall that was only illuminated by the light coming into the house from the street lights. Nothing seemed to be different there either as he looked around and waited for his eyes to adjust to the lower light. He didn't want to wait too long before getting into position, though, so as soon as he could move around safely; he headed upstairs to the hallway that was also the entrance to the Room of Requirements that was the true secret being protected by the Fidelius Charm that Rolando Lestrange had unwittingly revealed to Harry nearly seventeen years ago.

Moving silently into one of his 'normal' hiding spots; Harry settled in for what could potentially be a long, boring wait. At forty, he had a very different perspective on stake-outs; and more appreciation for his older fellow Aurors – along with an understanding for why they hadn't liked the outdoor winter work or other, bad-weather assignments. The job was definitely meant for younger Witches and Wizards, and while he kept physically fit thanks to the morning workouts and other activities; he did still feel the strain and aches set in much sooner than they once did when he first started out with the Aurors. Experience and patience off-set that to an extent; and he kept mentally alert by thinking about his current case; making contingency plans; and reviewing his now-lengthy history battling the Death Lords, the Dark Knights, and their army of minions.

That last word had him silently laughing as he pictured the animated characters from the Muggle movie series that featured the amusing followers of various 'evil' leaders; but the foot soldiers for the Death Lords were no laughing matter.

They were also involved in the majority of crimes committed in the Wizarding World – along with more criminal activity involving Muggles than the Muggle police would ever know about – thanks mostly to the Aurors and Hit Wizards. Sure, he and the Aurors had managed to deal with every major plot or attack by the group of Dark Wizards and Witches, but too many of the leaders had managed to avoid justice, and there was always another to take the place of the Lords or Knights they did manage to capture along with their underlings.

This time, Harry wasn't even sure what to expect beyond having the strong feeling that Scorpius Malfoy's actions were going to lead to a new plot for the Death Lords. He had nothing beyond that sense, but then that was enough to get him out in the field again; and he'd long-since learned to trust his instincts. In this case, they'd served him well for his first goal of getting Scorpius separated from his portrait-mentor; though not in one of the ways he'd expected. The temptation to simply try and confiscate the portrait had been strong; but had felt wrong too – not to mention that he had no legal basis for doing that in the first place. That would be true now too; but then he didn't expect to see that portrait anytime soon.

One thing that was true of the Death Lords was that they'd become ultra-cautious; they usually stayed out of direct danger of getting caught in the act of their crimes; and doled out only the minimum of information to their underlings so that they were protected at all times. Mistakes did happen now and then, but those incidents were usually because of arrogance or over-confident mistakes. Tom Riddle had been arrogant to the end, and hwile he had no idea beyond what he'd seen from Rose's memory of her experience with Scorpius and his mentor to go by; he suspected that hadn't changed over the years – even though it seemed clear that he'd adapted his demeanor in his effort to mold a young teen and turn him down the Dark Arts path.

Harry also didn't know what Tom's true goals were; though it was likely a fair guess that he was simply looking to achieve the goals he'd had in life vicariously through others – and possibly to avenge his own death. That was a moderately-scary thought, but then he was reasonably-sure that Tom Riddle could not do anything more substantial in the 'real' world beyond offering his counsel and knowledge. Sure, that was formidable and potentially very dangerous, but it might also offer opportunities for him to deal more-effectively with the Death Lords than he'd been able to do so far. That would only happen if Rolando and the others became more overtly active again; and he'd need to get the inside scoop for those plans.

Amazingly, he didn't end up needing to wait for all that long before some of those answers came his way in fairly-dramatic fashion. Harry had only been watching over the Room of Requirements entrance hallway for a bit over an hour when the first pair of Wizards arrived and opened the special conference room. They were nice-enough to prop the door open; making it easy for Harry to enter under cover of his invisibility cloak and move to the corner of the room he usually used when sitting in on one of the meetings. It wasn't long before he knew that he was hitting the surveillance jackpot as only Death Lords began arriving in quick succession until they were all in the room and gathering around the table. The first two Wizards had set up the table with drinks and snacks; so he guessed that this was also going to be an extended, important meeting. Rolando brought the meeting to order once the greetings had been done and they'd all sat down around the large table.

"Ladies and gentlemen; thank-you for coming tonight," he began while glancing from face-to-face. Harry saw that everyone in the room looked excited and eager; but he also sensed some concern among more than half of the Death Lords.

"You're welcome," Andrew Avery responded, "though none of us would've missed this gathering; considering the news you've brought for all of us. Speaking of – did you bring it?"

"Of course, but before I retrieve the portrait; let's ensure we are all on the same page for what we will and won't discuss with the Dark Lord," Rolando suggested.

"You have concerns you have not shared with us before now?" Donatien Rosier asked.

"We should all be cautious – as always," Rolando answered. "Lord Voldemort – and the Malfoys – may know more than has been disclosed to us so far, but even if that is so; I do not believe that we should risk confiding in any of them to any large extent until we can be confident that there can be trust and that they will not put all of us in danger."

"Should this plan succeed; we may all be in danger – from our own families," Zander Selwyn offered. "Some of us remember what our Death Eater aunts, uncles, and cousins were like after their last mass release from Azkaban."

"Most of them were half-mad after more than a decade of imprisonment while guarded by Dementors," Andrew reminded his fellow Death Lords. "That is not an issue now; and they are all quite sane and, in some cases, in better health now than ever before."

"Let's cut through to the heart of the matter bothering many of you," Rolando suggested. "You're worried that we'll be supplanted by our former family Heads should we succeed in getting them out of Azkaban. That is almost-certain to happen, but if you've all followed our plans; we are prepared for that – even if we are not rewarded for our efforts to get that done for our incarcerated family members!"

"We will not simply be discarded," Tess offered. "Our children are the future leaders for our families; and that fact alone will ensure that we will survive and thrive – even if we well may need to give up some of the power we now hold."

"Power that, I'll remind all of you; we hold in trust for relatives that have sacrificed much for all true purebloods," Betina Mulciber pointed out. "What would you have us do? Leave them to rot in that prison until they die off?"

"Of course not," Rolando said soothingly. "That is why we're here right now – to discuss this plan to orchestrate a war amnesty."

Harry was stunned by that statement; and listened on in fascination as Rolando then went on to discuss what he thought that they should and shouldn't talk about with Tom Riddle before eventually retrieving the portrait from a case that was, apparently, magically-protected in multiple ways – including protections that kept the portrait of the youthful image of the Dark Lord from eavesdropping on any conversations going on around him. There was a respectful sense of awe in the room as Tom Riddle's picture was placed on a wall so that everyone around the table could see him – though everyone on that side of the table needed to swivel their chairs around to do that.

From his perspective, Harry was a bit underwhelmed by the big reveal. It was easy-enough for him to recognize Tom from his own memories – particularly those of their confrontation in the Chamber of Secrets. He'd wondered if there would be any reaction to the portrait from his scar, but there was none; and he sensed nothing unexpected from the portrait – not even any sense of danger. As the Death Lords began conversing with the magically-animated portrait; Harry synchronized all of his memories of Tom Riddle with what he was hearing now, and while there were differences; he determined that it was all just another superficial act meant to manipulate his 'audience' into doing what he wanted.

There was a lot of information for him to take in. While the entire story wasn't repeated, Harry heard enough references to it that he could piece together the new life story that Tom was now using to explain away truths that had been revealed to the Wizarding World during and after the war. For the Death Lords, the plan to earn an amnesty for their 'war hero' relatives was the bigger story, but while he understood that the situation was serious; Harry couldn't help but also be amused that what they were proposing wasn't illegal! Sure, if they succeeded, then those former Death Eaters very well would be a potential danger to the Wizarding World, but even if he hadn't been present for the early warning; the process they discussed would have still given him a lot of time to prepare for those dangers.

Was that hubris on his part? Over-confidence? Harry thought about that as he continued to listen to the lengthy discussion over how best to initiate the plan. The answer for that might need to be deferred until after he talked about all of this with Ginny, Kingsley, Hermione, and a few others; but his instincts led him to a good place – even as he got the feeling that this new plot by his enemies actually had a very good chance of succeeding! Not only was the amnesty idea completely legal; it was something that he'd discussed in the past with Kingsley and others. The problem of long-term prisoners was quite real – and expensive for the Ministry of Magic. There was no real concept of parole for most Wizarding prison systems; so life sentences could and did mean just that – despite the long lives that Wizards and Witches could enjoy when safe from the dangers of their world or magical mishaps.

When he was still a teen, Harry hadn't thought about that at all – not even in relation to Grindelwald. He'd spent more than fifty years in prison before being killed by Tom Riddle – longer than his own life so far by more than a decade! He'd survived that long in abysmal conditions; and Merlin-only-knew how long well-tended prisoners might survive – a century and more was certainly not out of the question. There were always new prisoners too, and while it was easy-enough to magically expand Azkaban; the costs for each prisoner were real-enough – and getting more-expensive every year. Nobody had come up with a viable solution to that problem; which was why Harry was sure there would be great appeal from certain quarters of the Ministry and the Wizarding World population for an amnesty – despite the risks that would surely have others firmly against the idea.

From what he sensed around the room; at least a few of the Death Lords privately hoped for failure, and while that was for selfish reasons instead of from fear; that internal division among his enemies could be very important both to their current plan and to what might transpire in the future if they could augment their collective power with all of the surviving former Death Eaters and their fellow war prisoners. It was far too soon for that information to be of any actionable use to him; but Harry did store it in memory for future reference. The meeting dragged on endlessly, but Harry was never bored. The Death Lords did eventually make some preliminary decisions and wrap up their meeting with Tom Riddle, but after Rolando replaced the portrait into it's magical case; Harry found out that they weren't yet quite ready to adjourn the meeting.

"Now, before we call it a night; we need to discuss the issue of what to do with the Malfoys," Rolando told the others.

"You should've suggested that before making such a public display with them yesterday," Zander suggested.

"I am not talking about socializing with them," Rolando advised him. "We also do not need to make any hasty decisions about how much we will or won't bring them into our group. Young Scorpius has done us a great service – if for his own, juvenile motives, but Lord Voldemort insists that the boy shows true potential and a gift for the Dark Arts worth nurturing; so it seems prudent to keep an eye on him."

"Is that what you're calling allowing him to date your daughter," Andrew joked; earning a round of laughs.

"That's a family matter, but if you must know; Tess convinced me that we're better off knowing what they're doing instead of having them sneak around behind our backs – not to mention that it's partly my fault for encouraging her to play nice with the Malfoys to find out more about Draco's collection – which she was able to do for us; I might add."

"A collection that has everything to do with why we're even considering restoring the Malfoys to their place among us at all," Zander added with a nod.

"Some of the discussions Tess and I have had with Draco and his wife suggest that his expertise would be an asset for us too," Rolando advised them. "He has become quite the scholar of the Dark Arts and the making of cursed objects and artifacts. I think that we've all forgotten that he was still a teen at the end of the war. He is a well-spoken, possibly brilliant Wizard, and while I have doubts about what to do about Lucius and Narcissa; we may have wronged the younger generations. Draco made youthful mistakes to be sure; but do we actually have any information to suggest that he was ever, in any way, disloyal to our cause? Lord voldemort has told me that Draco did at least try to accomplish every task assigned to him, and as far as he knows; never betrayed his trust."

"And did you ask him about Lucius and Narcissa?" Viola asked scathingly. "We do know what their crimes against us were."

"Lord Voldemort was not as kind in his comments about many of his followers," Rolando reported – "and he remembers precisely the names of every Witch and Wizard that deserted him at the end when they realized that Harry Potter had survived his killing curse. Lucius and Narcissa are far from the only cowards to fail him while choosing to save themselves and their son. We've made a list that we will share with the rest of you, but the Dark Lord also pointed out to us that he had always been aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each of his Death Eaters and all of the members of his army, and accepts some responsibility simply from his failure to lead us to victory."

"That does not sound at all like the Dark Lord," Donatien stated; "but then he has had more than twenty years to reflect on his life – even if time truly does have no meaning for him now as he claims."

"None of us were among his closest confidants," Zander pointed out. "We followed because the Heads of our families commanded it. This is not anything that we don't already know about leadership. We must deal with the strengths and weaknesses of our own Knights and foot soldiers; and it reflects on our leadership both when those Witches and Wizards succeed and when they fail us."

"True," Rolando agreed. "My point for that list is to simply give us more information from a new – or old – source about potential weak links that we may not have been aware of before now. I will add that Lord Voldemort does not recommend putting too much trust in the elder Malfoys – though he also insists that they could still be useful because of their connections, money, and whatever power and influence they might still have behind the scenes at the Ministry of Magic and elsewhere."

They talked about the Malfoys for a while longer, but then the meeting began to wind down; and there wasn't a lot of idle conversation once the meeting was adjourned. They did still take their time leaving in small groups; which is why it was easy for Harry to get out of the room and return to waiting in the hallway. He had a specific reason for doing that; and wasn't disappointed when Rolando and Tess were last to leave; and then he opened a new room that he only visited for a couple of minutes before returning from it without the portrait. Harry knew that once they were gone, he could go in search of that room – starting with Rolando's personal room, but decided that would be pointless when the portrait was magically protected anyway. He couldn't exactly bring in expert help to handle it; and he certainly didn't want to risk getting injured or killed when he was sensing that he shouldn't do anything about the portrait anyway.

It was late by then, but Harry waited for a long time before leaving the house in Tutshill; so he was only going to have time for a nap by the time he got home. He tried not to wake ginny as he got ready for bed, but she woke anyway; and wanted to hear all about his adventures in the field. That left him with less time to sleep, but her perspective had been interesting; and they were both happy to conclude that the news didn't warrant an extended surveillance of the bad guys – at least by the Head of the Aurors. In fact, Ginny suggested that they should do nothing at all until the first signs of the plan being put into action appeared; since Harry might just give away his advantage if he did anything that might worry the Death Lords and their minions.

He'd still want to talk the matter over with Kingsley and Hermione for sure, but it did all come down to the fact that it wasn't illegal to petition the Wizengamot for a war amnesty – or anything else; so there was really nothing to do anyway – other than prepare for what might come after should the Wizengamot actually decide on a mass release of prisoners from Azkaban!

'Normal' is a relative term, but it was also an apt description for Al's first week back at school following the Easter holiday. He got right back to his classes on Monday morning as if they hadn't taken a break at all; their study sessions resumed starting with the first one after last class on Monday; and Quidditch practices were at a new level as all of the junior and senior teams got ready for their final matches of the season. For Al, that also meant extra workouts with LIly during Gwendolyn's practice times as she got ready for her match against Jonah and the Ravenclaw junior team, but by comparison; that was a fun break – even when Lily complained about him winning each of their Seeker duels.

The gossip network was loaded up with Easter stories too, but by Monday; the Hufflepuff-Slytherin junior team match on Saturday was big news too – particularly among the Quidditch players and younger teens and tweens. Al was out of the direct loop for the cross-House banter going on between Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but compared to past years; it was actually fairly subdued – possibly because one of the two teams would end up with a no-win season by the end of the day on Saturday. Even the toughest-talking Slytherin players were at least a bit worried about making too many promises or threats that might come back to crush their precious reputations later!

Having that game to watch on Saturday – along with the make-up Quidditch practice that Al would have with his team on Sunday – meant that he couldn't take time off from his studies on Friday – though some of their study group friends did do exactly that. Al and Rose did take a break from the studying for some Quidditch with Lily and Hugo while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice; but then they studied straight through until curfew to get as much of their weekend revision finished as possible – and they had a lot of it to do as the regular workload had been augmented by an entire new set of major projects that would take them through to the end of the term. Al had enough time left on Friday night to walk Gwendolyn home and still make it to his House ahead of curfew, but he was also tired out by then; so he pretty much went straight up to his dorm room and was off to sleep long before most of his roommates even started thinking about going to bed too.

"Are these the least-expensive matches you have during the school Quidditch season?" Rose asked Al as she met up with him on Saturday morning for their morning walk and talk before breakfast. "I don't know why I was thinking about that this morning; but you do hand out good luck gifts at all of the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw matches."

"That doesn't seem fair to our friends in the other Houses," Al joked. "Maybe I should change that up next season."

"You'd just baffle the Slytherins if you did that," she suggested after laughing at his joke. Madison might accept a gift if she makes the team next year; but Tory just gets even madder if you try to be a good sport with her."

"Getting mad helps some players," Al offered. "Unfortunately for Tory; that isn't true for her and it hurts her game."

"Have you taken advantage of that playing against her?" Rose asked; and then laughed again. "You don't need to answer that one. I really hope that our plans for the Cannons work out. It is going to be brilliant watching you prove all the nay-sayers wrong!"

"We'll do that together – with a little help from our friends," Al assured her.

"With the biggest question still being – which friends?" Rose added.

"Or relatives," Al offered. "It's too bad that Aiden's graduating this year. He likely won't wait three more years for us – if he's even going to try to play professional Quidditch. Charlene will only be out a year ahead of us, and she'd do well as one of our Chasers; but I don't think that either of them will want to move this far from home."

"Probably not," Rose agreed; "but it might be fun to have two Weasleys taking Quidditch to the next level with one of their pro league teams."

"I'm pretty sure that our Cannons project is big-enough for us without trying to improve professional Quidditch all around the world," he teased. "We think that Mum can play on our team; maybe we should look into some of the aunts and uncles."

"You don't think that your Dad would take a year or three off to play with us?" Rose asked with a grin; and Al laughed.

"He'd love to do that – but wouldn't. You can be sure that Mum would have him help with her training again, though; so he will be involved. That's going to be one of our bigger issues at first – having enough decent reserve squad players to compete against while training."

"Well, if we can't hire our aunts and uncles; maybe we should just get them to do that training with us after they're finished their day jobs," Rose suggested; and then laughed at the expression on Al's face. "I was joking," she advised him.

"I know; but it is an idea worth considering, Rose. Your Dad would need to work up to it again, but he was a decent Keeper. Dad could train with Mum – assuming she'd take the Seeker job; and Uncle George and Aunt Angelina can still play too." His grin widened before he added – "Do you think that Gwendolyn's Mum would come and train with us as Uncle George's Beater partner?"

"If they were on our reserve squad; we'd want to use them in every match," Rose suggested. "We don't have two top candidates for those jobs graduating with or ahead of us; and we don't know whether we'll get any of the younger talent – like Fred – when they graduate. We definitely won't if our team isn't doing a lot better than it has in the past during our first year or two in the show."

"You're right about that," Al agreed – "which is another good reason for why nobody should bet against us. We have a lot of reasons for why we'll need to turn the Cannons around in a big way right from the start."

"That would be brilliant; but don't get my hopes up too high, Al. We still have years to go before we'll even know if we'll be able to do anything with the Cannons. That's going to be a problem for me if we can't; since I'm so stuck on this plan that I don't know what I'd do if it falls apart."

"Then we won't let that happen either," Al promised. "Since we were talking about players, though; do you have any favorites that we should be watching today for our future team?"

"Well, we might need to keep an eye on Andrea Avery if she improves as much in this match as she did between her first and second game."

They both knew that there was zero chance that Andrea Avery would ever want to play on the same team with them regardless of how talented she might be in a few years, but they went on to have fun with that – including talking about the other Slytherin players as well as a more-serious assessment of the Hufflepuff players. That kept them entertained for most of their walk to the Great Hall; and then they had fun with friends and family as they had cameo visits with quite a few teens and tweens as all of the students and most of the Professors arrived for their morning meal. The imminent Quidditch match was the top gossip story; though sidelines teen drama was part of that; and Al didn't comment on any of those stories while enjoying his food. He was glad to meet up with Gwendolyn after they'd each finished eating; and they went outside with quite a few of their friends because it was really nice out – though there was the potential for rain in the forecast – if the match was a long one. They headed for the stadium early, but since they wouldn't be able to sit together because of team commitments – and because the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections were across the stadium from each other during Hufflepuff-Slytherin matches; Al stayed with Gwendolyn for as long as he could while Rose and Lily saved him a seat among the Gryffindor teams and their friends – or most of them.

"You're back," Licentia told James as he sauntered up to the section of the bleachers where she was sitting with her team mates and the usual group of friends. "We obviously should have blasted you the first time."

James laughed. "That's funny. I had so much fun last time; I'm thinking about sitting with the Slytherin teams for all of the matches I'm not playing in – unless we need to cheer for the other team for any of those games."

"Let him sit with us," Lysandra offered. "If our team loses again today, we can blame him for being a jinx – and then blast him."

"Keep holding on to her wand hand, Malfoy," James shot back. "Congratulations, by the way. We've all been impressed at the news – with both of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lysandra asked suspiciously; and frowned when James laughed again.

"That love can apparently conquer all – even in Slytherin House," he declared enthusiastically. "If I knew such miracles were possible; I might have tried asking you out – and now it's too late for me!"

"Keep that sort of thing up; and you'll be watching this match without me," Rosinda told him half-seriously.

"I'm only having some fun," he protested – "and have no intention of being the Romeo side of a Romeo and Juliet story with Lysandra or any other Slytherin Witches. That always ends badly for both of them."

"That joke doesn't make any sense to half of our friends," Lysandra advised him, so if you're going to sit down with us; do it – before somebody decides to take offense and blast you."

"You should file a protest with your Captain," Lily told Al as he sat down next to her. "It doesn't seem fair that James gets to sit with his Slytherin mates and you can't sit with Gwendolyn."

"Let's call this payback for helping Ravenclaw in their last senior team match," Olivia suggested; since Lily had really directed that joke at her. "You should be glad that I didn't allow that; since he'd likely have helped out their junior team ahead of your match next weekend. That'd be the good sportsman thing to do – wouldn't it?"

"I'd suggest that would come in handy for us when we're all in the show," Lucy offered with a grin; "but then none of the rest of us will need that kind of help when our teams play the Cannons."

"That's funny," Lily assured her cousin; "but this isn't really fair to Al. He's managed to work things out with Gwendolyn even with the Quidditch rivalry; and they always manage to have fun whether they're playing on the same team or not."

"His teams have won or tied Ravenclaw in his first three matches," Louis pointed out. "I'm only surprised that he hasn't been turned into a bug long before now."

"As long as that doesn't happen until after our next match; I won't have a problem with that – if we win," Olivia said after the round of laughter. "Instead of going there, though; let's talk about our assignments for this match."

"Even for those of us who are graduating and will never play against any of these kids?" Lucy asked. "I thought that we'd get to take the day off."

"The practice will be good for you – and we might play against some of these kids if they end up in the show too."

"I doubt that anything we learn today would help five to seven years from now," Lucy pointed out; "but I get the practicing thing. Who will I be watching today?"

Olivia started pasing out her assignments; and Al was eventually asked to learn all he could about Justine Finch-Fletchley – the only third-year Chaser that might have a chance of making the senior Hufflepuff team next season. Fred did his game-watching assignments differently – possibly to make sure he wasn't simply following Olivia's lead. They had lots of time to do that and chat while waiting for Colin to start his pre-game show, but Al mostly listened in to the conversations going on around him and only talked a bit with Rose and Lily. When Colin did get started on his pre-game entertainment; he quickly had the attention of everyone in the stadium with the booming voice that still surprised most of the spectators since it was really such a contrast to the diminutive tween.

"Plug your ears if our junior match announcer is too loud for you – or you don't want to here the bad news for your House when he gets to the Quidditch season update," James faux-shouted as if he needed to do that to be heard over Colin's opening welcome."

"We have your House to blame for half of that bad news so far," Licentia reminded him. "You must be Gryffindor to be both dumb and brave enough to point that out to us."

James laughed. "I am cheering for your House today," he reminded her.

"We're cheering for Slytherin," Tiberius amended. "Don't leave the rest of us hanging out there, James – especially when we're here because you asked us to come along."

"You came along because you're sure we'll have more fun – and you get out of doing Olivia's game and player analysis," james retorted. "It's too bad that I'm not Captain. We wouldn't waste our time with all of that work."

"Licentia has given us game watching assignments," Scorpius advised him. "Would you like to dig that hole a bit deeper before she buries you in it?"

"And puts an outhouse over it," Davis added with a malicious grin. "Now that'd be appropriate."

"Wrong brother," James told him; "but nice try. Have at all of that team and player analysis if you want. I just think it's a waste of time – especially when your junior team players are going to learn all they want about the Hufflepuff team during the match – and half of your team will never play against any of those players anyway."

"We have our match against Hufflepuff coming up soon," Licentia told him a bit stiffly as she took offense to his comments. "There's a good chance that we can learn things today that will help us against their senior team."

"Get a big lead and let Alex catch the snitch for the loss," James said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "That worked for us."

"I wouldn't have thought you'd want that," Lysandra told him. "Pauline already has two snitch catches, and if Alex has two as well; you could end up with a three-way tie for top senior team Seeker this year."

"The tie-break would go to the Seeker on the undefeated team," James advised her. "That'll be me."

"Another bold prediction by James Potter," Licentia declared. "It'll be fun to find out if you finally manage to get one of them right this time!"

Colin's Quidditch update didn't include any news surprises for Al or any of the other players or die-hard fans of the game. The possibilities for the Quidditch Cup race were narrowing rapidly, though, and with four matches left to go; only Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were still in the running for top spot. That wasn't true for the junior team race; since Hufflepuff was still in the running – if they won their match against Slytherin and Ravenclaw kept Gryffindor's junior team from an undefeated season too. Colin didn't do a senior team review, but then pretty much everyone knew that the senior team title would come down to the winner of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match in the season-ending battle of the undefeated senior teams.

The junior team introductions were definitely under-whelming. Sure, Hufflepuff did have the win over Ravenclaw to their credit, but neither Hufflepuff nor Slytherin had much for Colin to comment on from the short matches they'd each had against Gryffindor that hadn't even been long-enough to score many goals against Hugo. Not having a lot to talk about while introducing the players made quick work of that, though; so everyone was happy when it wasn't all that long before Mr. Peakes got the match started and the fourteen players took off and got right into their battle.

"Early advantage – Hufflepuff," Rose told Al quietly hust a handful of minutes later as they watched Drew Summers score the second goal of the game – and the second for Hufflepuff. "He'd better be careful; or Tory will stop talking to him too." she smiled ruefully when he glanced at her with a slightly-reproachful expression on his face. "Let's pretend that I didn't say that out loud," she suggested with a shrug – "even if it might be both petty and true."

"Drew sees something that Derrick is doing wrong," Al told her. "I don't think that he's just guessed right both times."

"I haven't noticed any tells," Rose told him. "Have you?"

"Not yet; but it might be something small that you need to be near-enough to see. Whatever it is, Derrick better do something about it – or get his Beaters to distract Drew."

"They're more-likely to go after the Witches," Rose suggested. "Drew is having too easy a time of it against Slytherin's Chasers so far, though; so Slytherin might need to change that up too."

"This could be the best match-ups they can get already," Al told her. "Justine's in a close battle; and Michael and Bethany are at about the same level too."

"So what would you do if you were coaching Slytherin?" Rose asked; and Al smiled at her.

"I'm not sure that I should answer that; since I seem to get into trouble for offering my advice to the other teams."

"I wonder if you would have been in trouble if you had offered advice to Slytherin in that match instead," Rose mused. "You're dodging the question."

"Michael's the lowest-risk Chaser for Hufflepuff. I'd be tempted to try a double-team on Drew; and see if Derrick could stop any one-on-one chances he might get against Michael."

"Derrick should double-team Drew," James suggested after 'announcing' the latest Hufflepuff goal. "He ought to be able to stop anything that Michael Macmilan can throw at him; but Drew's making him look really bad right now."

"For someone who doesn't want to analyze the game or players; you seem to be a bit too happy to offer advice," Davis said derisively. "Richard just needs to pick up his game and get that kid more worried about getting pounded than anything else."

"Softening him up would help," James agreed, "but until they do that; the double-team would keep Hufflepuff from getting too far ahead – which at this rate won't take two hours."

"We'll get some goals," Davis protested; and James shrugged.

"You hope; but you'll need to soften Leanne up a bit too before that'll happen. It's early; but you haven't even had a close call for a goal against her so far."

"Why not pull Grant from battling Justine?" Lysandra asked. "Don't you think that Derrick could stop her as easily as Michael?"

"No, I don't," he agreed. "Drew might be doing better right now; but Justine is the best Hufflepuff Chaser – maybe even for their House."

"Now you're just full of it," Licentia told him. "Francine is their best Chaser. Go back to watching the Seekers; since you apparently don't have a clue about Chasers."

"The Seeker battle is a bit boring right now," he reported. "Luke Summerby plays the same way that Brandon does. Andrea will win that duel – unless she falls asleep from the boredom. I'm thinking about having a nap."

"Feel free to do that – we could use the break from all of that nonsense you keep spewing," Davis told him with a sneer.

"You'd all be bored without me," James retorted. "And here comes Drew for another shot on goal," he announced. "He fakes – no; it's a stop and go move – and he scores!"

The advantage stayed firmly in Hufflepuff's favor as the game rolled along through the first and second hour. Leanne was having a brilliant match; and didn't give up her first goal until early in the third hour. That goal came shortly before Hufflepuff earned the one-sixty lead, but instead of getting Andrea to attempt a catch for the loss after that; Derrick Selwyn instead got the guys on his team to redouble their efforts to batter the Hufflepuff players into submission.

Unfortunately for the Hufflepuff players; Slytherin succeeded with that plan. Drew and Justine were first to be slowed down by mounting injuries, and even though the Slytherin players earned some penalties; Drew and Justine couldn't take advantage of those penalty shots or quaffle turnovers. When Leanne was nearly incapacitated by two cheap shots and a bludger hit; the tide of the match turned fully to Slytherin. By then, they had a bit of work to do to get back into the game, but Andrea kept Luke from catching the snitch as he tried desperately to do that once it became clear that his team mates were in trouble.

All of that effort on Luke's part proved to be his undoing. It took Slytherin's Chasers until mid-way through the fifth hour to cut the Hufflepuff lead to one-fifty. That was a blow to Hufflepuff; Slytherin cut the lead to one-forty a few minutes later; and then Andrea won her Seeker duel at the four hour and thirty-eight minute mark when she managed to fake out her exhausted, disappointed opponent to earn the huge, come-from-behind victory for Slytherin!

"Well, that's going to suck for Jonah and me next season," Lily stated. "I'd say that Andrea's just proved she can play the game. She pulled off that move as well as James ever has – and that's definitely one of his favorites."

"If it's one of his favorites; then she'd better not try it against you," Rose told her. "You must have a defense for it."

"I do," Lily agreed; "but that doesn't mean that I think my next match against Andrea will be as easy as the first. She really has come a long way this season – and Merlin only knows how much better she'll be by September."

"Maybe you'll have as much of a rivalry with Andrea from now on as Victoire's had with Rachel Rosier for years now," Al offered; and then turned his attention toward Colin as something their young Auror cousin said caught his attention. "Drew and Justine are still both behind you and Jonah in the race for the top junior team scoring," he advised Lily. One of you will win it; and I'm pretty sure that Stephanie is the only one left among the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Chasers with a chance for the runner-up spot if she has a particularly awesome match next Saturday."

"Then I'm all set," Lily declared with a grin. "Right, Al?" she added warningly; and he laughed.

"I'll be cheering for you the most; but it'll be up to you and Jonah to duel it out to find out which of you will be top Seeker this year."

"Olivia's right – there is such a thing as too much good sportsmanship," Lily decided. "You really are perfect for the Cannons." She'd said that loudly-enough for Olivia to overhear; and grinned when a lot of their team mates laughed.

"Maybe we should be glad of that," Lucy offered. "The Cannons might be the best possible team for Al to be on – for the rest of the Chasers in the show."

"We'll let Dominique play against him in our matches," Olivia suggested. "That works out well for us too."

"She is older; so that seems fair to me," Lucy agreed. "We should let her keep going with the sisters rivalry with Victoire too."

"Two teams down; ten to go," Olivia agreed and added. "Who else should we match her up against?"

That question gave them a new topic, but Al didn't stay all that long because he was already packing up by then; and he headed out onto the pitch as soon as he could to meet up with Gwendolyn again. That was a fun reunion, the congratulations they offered to the Slytherin players was awkward and unwanted by most of the players; and Al got teased for helping Leanne and Justine with their injuries. For some reason, Gwendolyn didn't have a problem with him helping Drew too; but then he did that so quietly that only Drew and Gwendolyn even noticed.

Lunch had been served outside the stadium at the start of the fifth hour, but the tables were still out; and more than half of the spectators were just getting around to eating by the time that Al and Gwendolyn left the stadium with Lily, Jonah, and a small group of friends. Some of them picked up bonus snacks on the way past; but then they headed for the castle and their usual study classroom because some of them wanted to watch Quidditch on the mirror network while Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah had decided to get back to their studies again while Lily led the game-watching.

Al didn't have any matches that he wanted to watch, since the Harpies and United both had the weekend off, but the countdown was on to the playoffs now; and there were some important games as the contenders fought for best spots in the top-eight – or for one of those last two spots. Spending the rest of the afternoon on their studies wasn't always fun, and the extra company in the room could be distracting, but Al was glad to get that extra work done; and felt a lot better about taking the night off to have fun with Gwendolyn after dinner.

Their temporary escape from the work, Quidditch, and everyone else wasn't the only break they had over the week between the final two junior team Quidditch matches of the season; but it was a brilliant mix of music, mirror chats, mirror network shows, and a major snogging session. On Sunday morning, it was time to get back to work, and while they were well-ahead of most of their study buddies on the weekend work; they were still able to keep busy all day with the work on their bigger projects. Al, Rose, and Ray had their make-up Quidditch practice too, so they didn't take extra time off in the afternoon to make sure they were done for the day by dinnertime; and could take the evening off for their weekly family time.

Al hadn't even talked with Malorie all week, and while that had been entirely her choice; he was glad to be able to make sure she was doing well; and they all had fun working on Malorie's plans for her life after Hogwarts. She still wanted more time to think about her choices for a first home for herself and the babies, but they did talk about her options more thoroughly – including some important factors that Malorie hadn't considered such as proximity to babysitting, parks, and other environment and social considerations. She was most-worried about her 'start-up' costs, but while she didn't like it at all; she was coming around to accepting at least some of the offers that Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily came up with to solve that particular problem. Those options included having the new company rent her a furnished flat or extend her a loan to be paid back over years. Al and Lily were sure that their family would help out too; but didn't push that too hard with Malorie.

Family was still a big part of Al's life for the week leading up to the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw junior team match; but most of that was also Quidditch-related. Lily wanted to have more Seeker duels with him; and they once again did all of those workouts while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practices. They also had to multi-task their studies on Tuesday evening with the Harpies match against the Wasps; but that ended up being a fairly-short distraction. Gabrielle caught the snitch in just-over an hour to give the Harpies the one-ninety to thirty win, and while it was a good catch too; she got the chance for it thanks to a bad break for Aaron Lynch that took him out of the play thanks to one of his own players.

The final bit of family fun was Fred's fourteenth birthday on Friday. Al and Gwendolyn did their birthday gift with him in the morning, and made a cameo appearance at his party after dinner; but didn't take the evening off with a busy weekend ahead of them – and after already losing study time before dinner thanks to their respective practices with Lily or the Ravenclaw senior team. Everyone was certain that Fred's birthday wish would be for a Gryffindor win over Ravenclaw, but he obviously couldn't risk messing up his wish by confirming that – or denying it and getting everyone guessing at what he might wish for more! His party couldn't go late because of his self-imposed game night curfew for his team, but Al and Gwendolyn left both most of the partying and the clean-up to the rest of their family and some of his friends; and studied with Rose and Susannah until shortly before the normal school curfew.

James had found out as soon as he'd arrived at Fred's party with Patricia that there was a bonus benefit that came along with showing up fashionably-late – no Animorphpotty in sight! Of course he should've known that the loser would pick studying all night over partying; and the freak didn't even know how pathetic he was for being such a bore. Fred's party had been fairly-boring until he got there too, but it didn't take long to liven things up a bit; thanks to some well-placed wheezes and a bit of 'extra sauce' in the punch bowl – so to speak. If anyone noticed the latter, they didn't say; but the party certainly kicked up a few notches once his best contribution to the fun started to kick in.

Unfortunately, they were all just beginning to have fun when Fred called an end to the party. Obviously, he hadn't quite had enough to drink; since he couldn't be dissuaded and insisted that his team mates stuck with their game night curfew despite the fact that it was his birthday. His father ought to be embarrassed over that display of responsibility, and his teen self likely would've pranked his son for being such a bore; but the end of the party didn't mean the end of the night for James.

Patricia had been happy to go along to have some fun with him through and beyond curfew; they snuck back into their House behind one of the Prefect patrols; and then he ended up snogging Rosinda for a while after Patricia went up to bed because she came looking for him – probably after finding out that Patricia had turned in for the night. He eventually ended up in his bed; and had been having a restless night since then. A few nightcaps had taken the edge off; but sleep still evaded him as the night dragged on and on.

The problem, as always of late, was that he couldn't keep from worrying about the still-imminent threats being dangled above his head by the Animorphpotty and his pregnant pawn. It was coming up on four months now since he'd found out about this latest plot that the loser had put in play to ruin his life; and the endless wait for that anvil to drop on him was likely part of the plan – torture him for months before trying to destroy his life!

Sure, his counter-attack, whenever he launched it, would likely salvage his Quidditch career that they were threatening to ruin before it even started; but there were still risks – and he had no idea what the Animorphschemer might come up with that would tear him down anyway.

He'd lost count of the numbr of times that his instincts told him to get out in front of the story and do something, but he went there again next; and replayed the many scenarios he'd built up for that. Waiting just wasn't his thing. It felt all wrong; and he needed to be acting – not standing idly by while his familial enemies tried to destroy him! At best, he likely only had nine weeks before the story was sure to get out the first weekend home for the summer break – though he doubted that Malorie would be able to hide her pregnancy from her roommates until then.

That thought led him to a review of previous musings he'd had about how to beat the loser at this game, and while he'd discarded it before; a combination of actions he could take seemed to be brilliant this time around. He mentally ran with that; plotted and schemed his pre-emptive strike; and felt pretty good about the whole thing when he eventually passed out not far from dawn on Saturday morning as the series of nightcap refills finally caught up with him.

Al welcomed Lily with an enthusiastic hug on Saturday morning. She'd hurried ahead of Rose to do that; and smiled brilliantly as he handed her the good luck gift before Rose caught up and he hugged her next.

"Are you a bit fired up this morning?" he asked; and both Witches laughed.

"I am," Lily agreed even as she tore into the wrapping paper and sent it flying while working her way into the little box. She had another happy hug and a kiss on the cheek for Al once she saw what he'd picked out for her; put the golden snitch pin on her top; and then led the way out of the common room with Al and Rose following her.

"Would you like the morning gossip first; or would you rather tell me about how brilliantly I'll play today?" Lily asked Al once they were out in the hallway.

"You sounded a bit like Al there when you left out any reference to winning too," Rose advised her; and Lily laughed.

"I was waiting for Al to tell me we'll win – so that I can blame him later if that doesn't work out for us."

"I won't do that; and I don't really even have any last-minute ideas for your duel against Jonah. You've trained hard; know how he plays better than anyone; and I'm sure you're both going to have a brilliant match today. The only thing I don't like is that I won't get to share all of the fun with Gwendolyn."

"You could send mirror messages back and forth," Lily suggested – "or have a very long mirror chat."

"We could," Al agreeed; "but holding our mirrors instead of cuddling together just isn't quite the same. You'll at least get to have a lot of up-close-and-personal time with your non-boyfriend."

"Possibly more than he'll like if he wins today," Lily offered ominously; though that didn't work very well when she was grinning too.

"Don't do that right after the game," Rose warned. "You wouldn't want to get a Quidditch suspension for all of next season."

"Good point," Lily agreed more soberly. "Thanks for the reminder. Waiting would be better anyway. If Jonah wins, we won't be having a victory party; and that'll give me lots of time to plot my revenge!"

"Don't get to enthusiastic about that idea or you might subconsciously want to lose," Al teased.

"No, I wouldn't; but that's funny. Do you think that sort of thing actually happened to James in any of his matches?"

"I don't know," Al admitted; sounding thoughtful. "It's possible, but he's had so many other issues – like anger – that I doubt you could figure out whether his subconscious messed with him too."

"As if he doesn't have enough trouble with his conscious mind," Lily joked. "Has he been getting worse since Easter? Maybe it was just my imagination, but I think that James was drinking enough at Fred's birthday party that I got a buzz just from being around him." She frowned when Al reached out and stopped her. Rose only took an extra step before stopping too and both girls turned to look at Al in surprise.

"You felt buzzed?" Al asked even as he faced Lily and put both hands on her arms. "How strongly?"

"I don't know," Lily answered. "It isn't a big deal, Al. I felt..." she trailed off as she saw the anger flare in his eyes even as his healing power suddenly infused her. It only took moments; and then he'd pulled her into a fierce hug.

"You were buzzed for real," he advised her. "Not serious; but I could still sense the traces in you – and that might've caught up to you later today."

"I didn't have anything like that to drink," Lily insisted.

"That you know of," Al pointed out. "You did, though; so I'll guess that something you drank was mildly spiked."

"By James?" she asked.

"He'd be a prime suspect for me; but we might not ever know. Even with what I can sense; he'd have to actually be thinking about that while I was near-enough to mentally overhear."

"Well, I won't convict him outright, since there were other teens from other Houses that might have better reason for doing that to me; but do you really think it could have made a difference in the game? I feel even better now; but I felt great from the moment I woke up today too."

Al shrugged. "I have no idea – and have no idea how much you drank – or might have drank if you had many unfinished drinks at the party. Either way, it definitely won't be an issue now."

"Okay," Lily agreed. "How did you know? Just from me saying the 'buzz' word?"

"Basically, yes," Al confirmed. "You said that; and I sensed something a bit off. It really was very minor, but I have dealt with that sort of thing before; so I recognized the signs."

"You have?" Lily asked; and then laughed when she saw his expression turn sober – mental pun for that facial interpretation intended. "You've healed James before," she guessed.

"On his fifteenth birthday," Al agreed. "He was being a git to me as he got back to our dorms while I had just finished getting ready for the day; so I sobered him up rather abruptly. He demanded that I help him one other time the morning of one of his Quidditch matches, but I didn't want to do that; and don't plan on helping him out like that ever again."

"Maybe not with him, but I'll be okay with you having that little talent when we're all adults and I might need the help now and then after our Harpies victory parties."

"Your Harpies victory parties," Rose corrected. "Al and I will have our victory parties with the Cannons."

"Maybe – but not very often," Lily teased – "and Gwendolyn will bring Al to our team parties." She laughed then. "I was about to suggest we set you up for a date so you can go too; but that's a problem when we only have Witches on the Harpies' payroll!"

"That is a problem," Rose pretended to lament. "If you feel bad-enough about that; maybe you should come and play for the Cannons with us. Your Mum might be ready to retire again after two seasons; and you could take over from her."

"Has Mum signed up and nobody told me?"

"Not yet; but we hope she will," Rose answered. "Don't you think she'd jump at the chance to play again – especially if it was with Al and me?"

"I hope not," Lily said – and was mostly-serious about her answer. "I'll still be here at Hogwarts; and it'd be awful to deal with posters of Mum – and worse if my roommates all put posters of Al up on the walls behind their beds!"

"I wonder if Jonah would put a picture of Mum up behind his bed?" Al mused; earning a pair of laughs.

"He might and then send a picture just to mess with me," Lily admitted. "He doesn't let that side of him out to play all that often – since he's a lot like you for that; but he does have a wicked sense of humor."

Those comments led them away from Quidditch for a while, but Lily did still want to talk about the game too; and Al and Rose did their part to keep her feeling good about her readiness for the battle. Lily had a lot of support from cousins and friends once they were in the Great Hall before and during breakfast; though Al noted that James was conspicuously-absent from that group of supporters – because he was absent from the Great Hall and missed the meal entirely. He'd also learned that James' absence was annoying his girlfriends, since he apparently had a date with two of them for the match, but he also sensed that Rosinda didn't have a problem with making alternate plans while Patricia – as usual – chose to wallow in anger over yet another let-down from James after she'd spent extra time to look her very best for him.

A lot of that was too much information for Al, but then that was true for other teen and tween drama that he sensed and saw going on around him. That was often more-obvious during date opportunities like Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade weekends. While the drama was unavoidable for him, Al still had fun during breakfast; and then he and Gwendolyn got together and went outside to play for a while before going on to the stadium – and this time; they did that on their own before they'd possibly end up spending most of the rest of the day apart. One of their Houses would be having a victory party after the game, and depending on how long the battle lasted above the pitch; they might or might not get to have any time together later in the afternoon or in the evening.

They didn't try to even think about that as Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride; they walked out onto the dock and sat at the end and talked for a while; and then made their way to the stadium shortly before game time before splitting up to sit with their respective teams and Gryffindor or Ravenclaw friends. Rose had saved a spot for Al; and hugged him in welcome after he sat down next to her.

"You'll survive the separation; and this will still be an awesome match to watch," Rose half-teased. "Did you notice that James hasn't made it yet?" she added in a whisper. "Rosinda seems to be taking the disappointment well-enough; but Patricia isn't happy."

"I won't comment on that; but I am a bit surprised that James isn't here. You'd think he'd want to be here to see if Lily can win back-to-back undefeated seasons – and another Seeker title in the process."

"Jonah isn't the only Wizard Lily knows and loves with a wicked sense of humor that he doesn't let out to play very often," Rose told him after laughing quietly. "Brock told Olivia that James had still been out cold when he'd left their dorm room for breakfast; but that's all of the news I have about James that you haven't already heard on the gossip network."

"He'll likely show up eventually – unless this ends up being a really short match."

"Neither of us think it will be," Rose suggested. "Ryan and Hugo are too good to give up any big leads unless they get hurt; and Lily and Jonah will be in for their toughest Seeker duel of the year."

"All true, but anything can happen; so we'll have to wait and see."

"You're just hoping for a quick match so you can spend time with Gwendolyn later today," Rose accused; and Al laughed.

"Definitely," he agreed; "but I do hope we'll get to see a brilliant Quidditch match too."

Lily had stayed fired up all through breakfast and while getting ready for the big game with warm-ups and Fred's rather sorry excuse for a team meeting and pep talk. She loved her cousin, but didn't mind admitting to herself that Al had been a better Captain – and she would be too; if given the chance next season. Fortunately for all of them; they had a great team; and he let them do what they did best without any micro-management.

They were now lined up for take-off in 'their' player entrance to the stadium. As the 'seniors' playing in their last junior team match; Fred and Orlando were in the first row today; Fred put Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne in the second row; and that left Hugo with her to bring up the rear – last but not least again! Lily was amused by that – not jealous about being relegated to the last row. Sure, she likely had the biggest ego on the team, but unlike James; being part of that team was very important to her – and she appreciated what everyone brought to the game too.

Her excitement level began to build again as they all heard Colin begin his pre-game show; and there was some pride involved as he anounced that her House was in first place in the Quidditch Cup race; pointed out the few remaining possible outcomes for that race with just three matches remaining; and added in the same for the junior team and player stats. That dragged on a bit long for her, but then, finally; Colin invited... Ravenclaw into the stadium!

"I am so going to have a talk with Colin later," she whispered to Hugo; though loudly-enough that the three Witches in front of them all turned and grinned back at her.

"He's just trying to mix things up," Hugo pointed out. We'd have just ended up with a longer wait on the pitch instead."

"And Jonah will get to watch you fly around instead," Melissa added; whispering too. "Use that to psych him out; and then snog him for good luck right before take-off. That'll give you an advantage in your duel for half the match."

"Or all of it," Kathryn added. "I'd like to actually get to play for a while today; but would take the undefeated season any way we can get it."

"Even if that means snogging your Chaser opponent senseless right before take-off?" Lily teased; earning a round of laughs that earned them a glance and frown from Fred.

"That just wouldn't work for any of us," Kathryn reminded Lily; indicating herself, Melissa, and Roxanne. "Ditto that for Hugo – unless you expect him to snog all three of the Ravenclaw Chasers before the game."

"That'd be more likely to mess him up than them," Lily teased – "but that might work for the three of you with Ryan."

"I'd rather see Fred snog Katrina senseless instead," Roxanne offered with a grin for her brother. "We might wish for a break from the bludgers she'll be bashing at us all day."

"I doubt that any Wizard would be dumb-enough to snog a Beater without her permission," Lily suggested, and this time; even Fred snorted out a small laugh.

She'd been half-listening to Colin's introductions of the Ravenclaw team, but focused all of her attention on that when he did Jonah's recap. It bugged her a bit that he didn't have any real accolades yet when he was one of the best junior Seekers in the school, but even as she thought about that; she firmly re-focused her own mind on the job at hand. As Al had said earlier in the morning; she didn't want her subconscious to mess up her game. She wanted to win; wanted another undefeated season; and really, really wanted her first Quidditch Cup! If Jonah was going to get some of those accolades for himself this year; he'd need to earn them the hard way!

Al watched as Gryffindor was finally called out into the stadium as the last Ravenclaw players landed at center pitch. Fred and Orlando led the way; and looked focused and determined as Colin talked about their junior team careers that would end today with either two undefeated seasons or a still-impressive six-and-three record should they lose their final match. They'd been one of the best Beater duos every year; so there really wasn't much more that could be said for any Beaters when they weren't eligible for any other honors anyway.

Colin didn't have a lot to talk about for Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne thanks to two short matches that didn't show off the Gryffindor Chasers, and while Kathryn had done well in her first season with Al and Ray; she had yet to earn any individual awards – and might not again this year without a big final game. Lily and Hugo were last; and while Al watched them with pride as they flew around the stadium; their personal accolades were notably-different. Sure, Hugo had two wins and was frontrunner for the junior team Keeper title so far this year, but Lily already had a Seeker title; a junior team title; and was undefeated at Seeker in her first five matches. Al was proud of her for all of that, but it was her love, joy, and enthusiasm that really made her special. Her smile and excitement as she flew around the stadium was infectious; and Al hoped that everyone felt at least a bit of the way he did when watching her play!

Mr. Peakes did his thing once both teams had gathered around him; he had them line up; and then the Captain's handshake between Ryan and Fred went largely-ignored by nearly everyone in the stadium because it was much more fun to watch Lily share a rather-fiery good luck kiss and hug with Jonah.

"That must've been part of her game plan," Rose offered with a grin for Al as they watched all of the players get ready for take-off. "Will you be trying that opening move with Gwendolyn in our match?"

"Will you try it with Peter?" Al countered. "I won't suggest it for James; since he'd be all for trying to snog Pauline."

"Right up until she blasted him," Rose amended. "He earned a lifetime ban from Pauline for messing with her little sister – though I'm not sure that she'd have ever been interested in him. From what I've seen; her taste in Wizards doesn't lean toward guys like James."

"Oh look – a Quidditch match is starting!" Al said enthusiastically – though quietly too. "I'm saved!"

"You are," Rose agreed. "Now tell me what you think of that opening take-off."

"Advantage – Ravenclaw," he answered seriously. "Stephanie and Alyssa have the right play on. Robin didn't fool Roxanne; but Kathryn and Melissa got beat."

"And Hugo – makes the save," Rose added as they watched her brother do that against Alyssa after not falling for the fake pass.

Her comment was at the same time as Colin excitedly announced that play-by-play to everyone; and he continued to follow the Quidditch action above the pitch – whether that was with the Chasers and Keepers or the Seeker duel that Lily and Jonah had blasted into at high speed right from take-off. Keeping up with that play-by-play on multiple levels really did take some talent, but Colin's gift for that was under-appreciated by most of the spectators when it was the Quidditch action that held their attention.

Al could do both, and more; since he also exchanged mirror messages with Gwendolyn and kept up with everything he heard and sensed around him. For the most part, that was all good; since everyone was enjoying the Quidditch fun – and the game was very competitive. Gryffindor scored the first goal, but Hugo and Ryan won the early battles against their opposing Chasers. The lead changed hands a few times as the game rolled along, but Gryffindor did eventually earn a small lead that Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne managed to hold on to with some help from Hugo, Fred, and Orlando.

The Beater battle didn't get a lot of attention from Colin, since there weren't any major hits or injuries, but Fred and Katrina in particular were having a lot of fun as they dueled to something of a draw with neither of them able to gain advantage over the other. By the third hour, the Chasers were having more luck against Hugo and Ryan. Stephanie actually took a slight lead in the Chaser battles; but the Ravenclaw trio still came up a bit short against their Gryffindor opponents. Lily and Jonah each had good chances at catching the snitch, but couldn't quite get the job done as one or the other would come up with a defense to keep the game going.

"We'll have a tough act to follow in our match if they keep this up all day," Rose suggested after cheering Roxanne's latest goal near the end of the fourth hour. "Even you and Gwendolyn might not be able to have a better duel than your junior teams are having right now."

"Wouldn't you and Peter hope that we don't?" Al asked in amusement. "Hugo's playing well-enough; but I think that having two short matches before this one really is affecting him. Maybe we should work on that between now and our match – though when we'd have time for marathon practices will be a problem."

"You always get better as the game goes along," Rose reminded him. "Getting tired is a problem for the rest of us 'normal' players."

"I probably don't," Al disagreed. "It might look like that; but I think it's just compared to everyone else. Gwendolyn's the same way; though we get there in different ways."

"What do you mean by that?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.

"She's more tenacious than I am; and pushes herself even harder as she tires out. She'd likely keep playing for days straight and never give up on a match. In my case, it's partly how I am; but I also conserve my energy as much as possible. I do as little as possible to burn energy when I don't need to do that during a match."

"Keepers do that too," Rose reminded him.

"They do; but you have other things to deal with that can be just as tiring – and a lot of that is mental fatigue. Chasers are almost always going. You have breaks every time the quaffle is at the other end of the pitch; but still have to worry about things like bludger attacks." He nodded toward Ryan. "Gwendolyn's cousin has been caught off guard a couple of times now thinking he was safe and could take it easy only to find out he was wrong about that."

"Which, by the way; he's doing better with today," Rose said with a nod. "There haven't been any serious hits so far today."

"Let's hope it stays that way."

"Shouldn't we be hoping it doesn't?" Rose teased. "We do want our team to win, you know."

"We do, and getting hurt is part of the game; but I still like it better when the best team wins without that being due to injuries."

"You'll have to make exceptions for that in the show, Al; or our Cannons team will not do as well as we hope. It might not feel good, but one of Ravenclaw's weaknesses on their junior team this year has been Ryan's ability to play once he's injured – and his susceptibility to buldger attacks. We'll need to take advantage of those sorts of weaknesses in our opponents when we see them."

"So get your Beaters to do that; and I'll focus on playing my best at Chaser and taking advantage of other weaknesses that aren't injury-related," Al offered. "I'm more-likely to have problems in the show if you or any of our team mates get pounded and hurt by the other teams – especially the players that always want to cheat to try and win."

"Well, at least you didn't include Gwendolyn and Lily in that list of players you'll want to protect," Rose offered with a grin. "It'd be awkward if you blasted our own Beaters for hitting either of them during our future matches against the Harpies."

That joke had been overheard; led to a bit of fun at Al's expense – including in relation to their upcoming match against Gwendolyn's team and whether Tiberius and Brock should be worried about Al or not; and then it was back to the game watching. Lunch was served outside of the stadium; Al and Gwendolyn met up to have lunch together and then continue to watch the match from the sidelines of the pitch for nearly an hour. Al was happy to extend that time with Gwendolyn in part because James finally timed his arrival at the stadium for when the food was set out; and Al wasn't in any hurry to be anywhere near his brother – especially when what he could sense from James at a distance was enough to have him sure that he didn't want to be any closer to him than necessary.

They did eventually split up and return to their seats, but that wasn't until after Fred and Ryan agree to a time-out for food at the five hour mark; and they helped their respective junior teams during that break. The battle resumed before Al got back to his seat, and the Quidditch action was still fierce without any kind of ramp up to full speed because all of the players tried to take advantage of the break to catch their opponents off-guard. Fatigue was setting in, though; so the speed of the game did begin to slow down a bit compared to the first few hours of the match. For Al, the game continued to be a lot of fun to watch, but he could have lived without having James nearby. He was still feeling the effects of having too much to drink the night before; tried to mask that by acting a bit too enthusiastic about everything – whether that was the quidditch action or his interaction with the girls around him.

They were exactly three-quarters of the way through the seventh hour when the outcome of the game was finally decided by Lily and Jonah. Gryffindor had been holding a sixty or seventy point lead for more than an hour and a half by then as the two trios of Chasers had been reduced to trading goals without either team being able to make a dent in the lead – or increase it. The three-seventy to three-ten score wouldn't have looked all that good for the Keepers without knowing that the game had turned into a marathon – or that Hugo and Ryan had faced hundreds of shots each by then. It was definitely one of those matches when it was just too bad that one team had to lose, but there wasn't going to be a tie with a sixty-point lead; and it was Jonah who edged Lily to earn the catch and come-from-behind victory for Ravenclaw.

"Do you think she'll get suspended for punching him; or will Mr. Peakes call it even because of the follow-up hug and kiss?" Rose asked Al. "Oh, and sit down – we're not supposed to be cheering when our team lost!"

"I'm cheering for all of the players," Al advised her after laughing at her question. "Lily won't get into trouble – unless they fall off their brooms or something. I can cheer for that catch too; since it was an awesome chase; and Jonah made a good, clean play to get the win."

"Did Lily make a mistake?" Rose asked next. "She'll be mad at herself if she did."

"Yes, but maybe she didn't notice," Al answered honestly.

"She'll ask you either way," Rose pointed out. "What will you tell her?"

He shrugged. "The truth. She won't be happy, but she'd be mad at me if I didn't help her to get better – though in this case, we're talking about something that has more to do with being tired after nearly seven hours of Quidditch than anything else. Lily and Jonah each made other mistakes – just not at the wrong – or right – time; depending on their perspective."

"That is a big downside for being Seeker," Rose offered with a nod. "The rest of the players can make little mistakes that might cost a goal or a missed hit or something; but a mistake at the wrong time for Seekers means the end of them match."

"You should go celebrate with your team mates," Lily told Jonah after leaning back from the hug and kiss; and then grinned at him. "I have to wait until sometime later in the day or weekend to blast you for winning our duel; since rose reminded me that I could get suspended for doing that right after the game."

"I'm sorry – and not," Jonah offered. "If it's okay; I'd rather stay with you – and celebrate a really great match with all of our friends and cousins."

Lily hugged him again. "That's definitely okay," she assured him. "You should be careful about saying things like that. You're sounding a bit too much like Al; and that sort of thing could lead to a career with the Cannons."

"I'm not sure which is scarier – that comment or the fact that I'm beginning to think that it would be brilliant to be part of that plan Rose and Al have for the Cannons."

"That one is easy – option number two," Lily declared. "Did I miss you taking a bludger hit to the head?"

"No; and you're just saying that because you're starting to like their plan too and don't want to admit that it might be more fun to play on their team instead of the Harpies."

"Keep that sort of thing up; and you really will be in trouble later," she warned. "What is the time limit for that post-match fighting ban?"

Al met up with Gwendolyn before going out to center pitch to join in on the post-game fun with Lily, Jonah, and everyone else that had gathered around the two teams. All of the players were tired; and Al sensed that had a lot to do with why none of the Gryffindor players were all that disappointed over the loss. They had, after all, won five of their last six matches; and they did tie Ravenclaw with two wins each – though they also soon found out that Ravenclaw would win the junior team title on the points tie-break not long after they'd landed. Colin made that announcement as part of his post-game wrap-up; and he also pointed out that the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw senior team match would now be a winner-take-all battle for the Quidditch Cup now that both Houses had four wins and a loss heading into that last match of the season.

The weather had been decent after the game, so it took a while before the stadium cleared; and then Al and Gwendolyn went for a walk by the lake for a while until she needed to be back at her House for the victory party. By then, there wasn't going to be a lot of time for that party before dinner; so Al was sure that Gwendolyn would be busy all evening with that celebration. She would have more fun with that than he ever did with any of the Gryffindor House parties; but he still have a plan 'B' for his own entertainment after dinner – a study session with Rose and Susannah.

Their evening was far from party-worthy fun, but Al and Rose were going to have a make-up Quidditch practice on Sunday; so doing the work on Saturday night would just off-set the extra study time that Gwendolyn would get to have on Sunday mirning. Susannah didn't have the Quidditch issue, but they did have lots of extra project work on their plates too; so none of them were going to run out of work to do anytime soon. Gwendolyn came looking for Al a half-hour or so before curfew so that they could spend a bit of time together and share a couple or five goodnight kisses, but then she was back at the party in the Ravenclaw common room; and he went pretty much straight to bed after just a short visit with Lily in the common room on his way up to his dorm room. He'd only been a spectator for the game, but it had still been a very long day; and he wanted to get the extra sleep while he could.

"Come on, kiddies!" Olivia shouted. "Most of you are playing as if you partied all night! In case you didn't hear yet – we lost yesterday; and now it's up to us to win the Quidditch Cup for our House!" She'd blown her whistle to pause the scrimmage in progress; and everyone slowed or stopped in mid-air and turned to face her.

"We have five weeks to get ready," James protested. "Relax, Captain Serious."

"I thought that Sirius was your middle name – not hers," Brock joked; earning a round of laughs – from everyone except Olivia, Rose, and Al.

"I'll relax – and get a sense of humor – once our Quidditch season is over – and after my NEWTs," Olivia shot back. "You've yet to win a Seeker duel against Pauline and haven't won a match against Ravenclaw, James. Why aren't you the most-serious of us about getting ready for this match?"

"You don't pay me enough to be serious about anything," James joked. "How's that for a good reason. You're also not very consistent either. Last match, you wouldn't let me play my best; and now you're mad if I don't go full-out all the time. Why should I bother?"

"Because if you don't care enough to try your best; I'll have Brandon play instead."

James scowled at her. "I am so sick and tired of you holding that stupid threat over my head," he advised her. "You don't do that to anyone else on the team – just me." He shook his head in disgust. "You know what? Go ahead – do it; and see how that works out for you!"

"Don't tempt me," Olivia warned; and James laughed derisively.

"I'm not tempting you – I'm out of here!" He sneered at Brandon. "Good luck – you'll need it."

With that, he headed for the pitch; landed next to his gear bag; threw his broom against it; and sat down before starting to yank off his gear.

"Is he serious?" Olivia seemed to ask of everyone else except James.

"Yes, I am," he insisted and shouted up at her. "You've always treated me like this while wanting to take advantage of me being the best Seeker in the school; and I'm done with it. You're such a brilliant Captain; I'm sure you'll have no trouble winning without me."

"Oh, quit being such a drama queen," Lucy told him. "You're blowing this way out of proportion – especially since Olivia was yelling at all of us."

"Really?" James retorted. "Was she yelling at the Animorphloser or Rose or you? How about at herself? How many goals do either of you have? Half of what the loser has scored while hogging the quaffle – as always?"

"I was including everyone that was slacking off – you included," Olivia advised him. "Stay or go. At this point; I just don't care what you do, you selfish git."

"Olivia – that isn't helping!" Lucy complained.

"Maybe it is," Olivia disagreed. "James is right. I don't like him for a lot of reasons; treat him accordingly; and I'm a hypocrite for doing that while wanting him on the team just because he gives us the best chance of winning at Seeker – no offense, Brandon."

"Is that an apology?" James asked; and Olivia laughed.

"No – it's me wishing that you'd quit the team months ago – like the day after you won the Seeker tryout. You don't want to put up with the way I want my team to play? Well good for you; since I'd rather play Quidditch with anyone that isn't you!"

"Thanks so much – for admitting what I've been saying all along," James stated triumphantly while emphasizing that by slapping his elbow pads into his bag. "You're also right that I should've done this the day after tryouts – before getting the lot of you losers a winning season." He didn't have all of his gear off yet, but he stood; grabbed his bag and broom; and offered a rather rude, one-finger salute. "I'm sure that the United scout will be impressed – with the Ravenclaw players."

He strutted across the pitch; leaving the remaining thirteen players to watch him leave with wide-ranging reactions. Al sensed all of that, and he didn't like what was happening; since it felt wrong on a lot of levels. A bit of self-berating was needed too; since he didn't like his own reaction to the prospect of being James-free for the rest of their Quidditch practices of the season. The pause as James 'left the building' seemed to drag on too long; and then the rest of the teens on Olivia's team turned to her to find out what they'd do next.

"Congratulations, Brandon – you've been promoted," she told her new team Seeker. "I'll see what I can do about getting you some practice competition by Tuesday afternoon; but you're on your own for the rest of this scrimmage. As for the rest of you – let's get back to work!"

She blew her whistle for emphasis; and then didn't give anyone a choice as she flew over to Louis and grabbed the quaffle from him.

"time-in in three-two-one," she shouted; and then threw the quaffle at Gina so that the reserve squad could go on the attack.

Al jumped into the defensive play; intercepted the second pass that had been meant for Ray; and went on to score a goal against Louis. He felt terrible, but instead of letting that control him; he put all of his focus on the scrimmage and made playing his best his only mission even as his mind raced and processed everything he sensed and was possibly foreseeing that was making him so uncomfortable. He wasn't the only one feeling that way, and everyone else worked hard, but he was on a tear; and so focused that he almost missed the end of the scrimmage when Olivia again blew her whistle after Brandon caught the snitch forty minutes after James had left. He was tempted to keep working until he'd worked through everything he was feeling, but that wasn't really an option when it was nearly lunchtime; so he landed with everyone else and went to sit next to Rose.

"Okay, I feel a bit better now," Olivia said once everyone was on the ground. "Would you like to have a vote on whether to keep me on as Captain next; or let me run with this and watch to see if I fall flat on my face?"

"I'll vote to keep you on; but I've reason to be biased," Brandon answered first; earning a round of subdued laughter.

"I don't think we should have a vote at all," Lucy told her, "and James really did blow that way out of proportion; but I don't like this, Olivia. He really can be a git too; but isn't he right? I certainly haven't treated him very well all year while expecting him to win his Seeker duels for us; and then messing up his chances for a Seeker title by making him let Alex catch the snitch for the loss."

"It was the right thing to do," Olivia insisted; and Lucy nodded.

"To not run it up on Hufflepuff," she agreed. "The problem, from a Seeker's perspective, is that we never ask the Keepers to let more goals in or have the Chasers help the other team to get back into the match. Think about it, Olivia. How mad must James be to blow off his chance to win a Seeker title – and a Quidditch Cup?"

"There might be something to that," Olivia conceded; "but it's more-likely that it was the hangover talking; and I really am sick and tired of having to put up with his crap all of the time just because he's a talented Seeker. I don't like this either – and love it just a bit, but it's done now; and Brandon does at least still have most of five weeks left to get ready to play against Pauline."

"So you won't even think about going and trying to talk this out with James?" Lucy asked.

"Short of a major public apology that I don't think he deserves and a lot of groveling; do you actually think that anything else would work?" Olivia countered. "If that's what the rest of you want done, then vote me out as Captain and give that job to someone willing to do it – 'cause I'm not."

"Any volunteers?" Tiberius asked after long moments of silence.

"I am tempted to say yes," Louis told him; "but only because I'd get to play too if I was Captain."

"Why didn't I think of that first?" Gina joked. "Now you have half of us thinking about that, so we should likely just keep Olivia; since we might not get a replacement with each of us voting for ourselves."

"Does anyone else want to comment?" Olivia asked.

"My vote is with you," Brock told her; his voice more-serious and subdued than normal for him. "James is my roommate and friend, but it won't be worth the cost to all of us for what it'd take to get him to come back now, so win or lose next month; I think that we'll just have to deal with what's happened and move on."

"Rose? Al?" Olivia prompted.

"I'm too biased; so I'll stay out of it," Rose answered first; and then turned to smile at Al. "Will you be braver than me?" she asked; and he joined in for the laughs.

"I'm biased too; but still need to let you all know that this feels wrong to me and our chances of winning against Ravenclaw could be a lot lower without James." He smiled ruefully at Brandon. "I'm sorry, Brandon. That isn't meant to be a hit on you, but Ravenclaw matches up so closely to us, and this will be an all-or-nothing match; so Pauline will not give up or catch the snitch for the loss regardless of the score."

"So you're saying we need James," Olivia said; sounding disappointed in him.

"He's not telling you that he could do it," Brandon interjected; looking disappointed too; and Al hated what he sensed from him because it was his fault – even if he hadn't come out and stated what Brandon was now admitting. "It's okay Al," he added. "It sucks for me – and for you; but the right move here is to put Gina in for you at Chaser and have you play Seeker for us."

"I don't want to do that," Al said seriously. "It isn't right either."

"No, but it is what's best for our team and House," Brandon countered.

"There is no way for that to end well for Al," Rose interjected. "He's saying this wouldn't be fair to Brandon; but it wouldn't be fair to him either – or to Olivia, Lucy, or the rest of the players that would want to impress the scouts in that match."

"Now you've lost me," Brandon admitted; and Rose smiled as she saw some of the others nodding and looking confused.

"Show them, Al," she told her cousin. "Who has the snitch?"

Brandon still did; she took it from him; and set it free. "You've got to the count of getting your broom," she advised Al.

He sighed, mostly because he'd already seen what was most-likely to happen with this entire bit of team drama, but grabbed his broom anyway; stood; took off; and then amazed most of his team mates when he made a bee-line for the snitch and caught it in under ten seconds – even though it tried to speed away from him.

"Al doesn't play Seeker because if he tried his best every time; that's about how long each match would last," Rose told the others while Al was still making his way back down to the pitch. "I think it's an Animorphmagus thing, but my point is that a one-fifty to naught win would be great for the Quidditch Cup, but James wouldn't be Al's only hater for being able to do that; and it'd suck for us to train so hard for nothing."

"I knew you could easily keep an eye on the snitch," Brandon told Al as he landed; "but I had no idea you could do that."

"It isn't something I've wanted to show off – and I really don't want to play Seeker."

"If you can do that whenever you want, then you could just defend the snitch from Pauline and then catch it sometime later in the game once we've had a chance to show off for the scouts," Lucy suggested.

"So you'd like me to give my girlfriend a false sense of hope during the match for however long you want to play, and then, whether we're in the lead or they are; you'd want me to pull the rug out and crush her," Al re-phrased. "I hate that idea."

"Before you get going on that; I have a different suggestion," Rose advised them. "What if you ask Lily to practice with us – and against Brandon? The junior team is finished for the season. She could practice with Brandon over the next five weeks, and then we could put whichever of them is playing best in for the game. Before anyone brings it up; there wasn't actually any rules put in place to restrict the age of players for the senior teams when the junior teams were started. Lily could play in that match."

"Does anyone else have any comments or ideas?" Olivia asked. Her expression was serious and unhappy; and nobody else seemed interested in offering an opinion or other options for what she might do. "Okay, I'm going to think about all of this; I may talk with some of you over the next couple of days; and will decide on what we'll do by the time we get together for our next practice. That, by the way, will be in the early time slot now because we can use the junior team practice time too – so expect longer workouts."

"Is it too late to request that vote of confidence?" Tiberius joked after feigning a groan. "Some of us are busy-enough without adding in double Quidditch workouts."

"That one-fifty to naught win is looking pretty good right now too," Brock added. "We could skip the practices; and could handle keeping up with Ravenclaw for a minute or two – if it'd take Al that long to get us the win."

"Don't talk about that with anyone," Olivia warned. "If I decide to go there; we'd want it to be a total surprise. Al might be able to do that in any normal Seeker duel; but that might not be true if Ravenclaw knew about that little talent and stacked up obstacles in his way."

That impromptu meeting wound down from their; they all finished getting their gear off and packed up; and then they headed to the Great Hall for lunch. By then, James had already made sure that his Quidditch news was the top gossip story; and Olivia had been portrayed in the worst possible light. While some of his team mates offered their stories to the mix; Al didn't say much of anything except to Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Lily at different times later in the day – and even then; he didn't include anything he wasn't allowed to talk about. Not telling Gwendolyn everything wasn't good for him, and she knew he was holding back too; but also understood that he couldn't talk about what Olivia was going to do to deal with the situation when those plans were all about playing against her team.

With that drama going on around the castle for the rest of the day, Al was glad to get away from it and study all afternoon; there was more of it to deal with at dinner; and then he was able to escape again to their Sunday evening family time. Rose was with him when he met up with Gwendolyn; they had their classroom ready and were tuning guitars by the time Malorie joined them; and then Lily and Jonah were last because they'd been held up by their friends for an inter-House, post-dinner gossip session. Theyre would have been even more gossip about their family had anyone found out about Malorie, but then she had some news for Al and Rose too; and Al in particular welcomed some good and happy news to off-set the not-so-much-fun parts of his day.

"I think that you might need something happy right now, considering the top gossip of the day, so before we get to the baby check-up thing; I've decided which place I want to try for my first home for the twins and me," Malorie told Al and Rose.

"That's awesome!" Lily said enthusiastically before Al could comment. "Did you go with a flat in Diagon Alley? That cottage that wasn't far from the sea?"

"I want to get that little office and the flat above it in Chudley," Malorie answered; her attention all for Al as she was most-interested in his reaction.

"You'll love it there," Al predicted earnestly. "We can tell Mum and Dad when we call them; and she can help us with getting it for our company – and for you."

"You're sure?" Lily asked. "I thought you'd go for that cottage; and Diagon Alley would be convenient."

"The twins won't be able to enjoy the space for that cottage yard for at least a couple of years," Malorie pointed out; "and I decided that Diagon Alley might be too noisy too much of the day for babies. With twins, I might not get much rest to start with; so I'll want them to be able to sleep when they can. Chudley will be much quieter – even in town. I liked some of the other places better, but not enough to pay the extra for them when it wouldn't make any real difference for the kids. That flat will be fine; and I can hopefully save some money so that I can do something better for them when they're old-enough to enjoy it."

"You've been hanging around Al too much," Lily teased; and Malorie laughed.

"Actually, I'm more like that than he is for most things in my life," she advised Lily; smiling ruefully as she put a hand over her stomach.

"With one – or two – exceptions," Lily offered with a grin. "Al looks happy. Did you figure out whether he knew what you'd do in advance or not? I noticed you watching him rather closely while telling us your pick."

"I think that he knows that Chudley will be a good place for us – the twins and me. Most of the other places would have been okay too, since they were all picked with what I'd need in mind, but if we want to make this plan for the company and team to work; at least some of us will need to be part of the Wizarding community there – or we'll always just be outsiders."

"Now you're scaring Gwendolyn," Lily joked. "I suppose Chudley isn't much different to Godric's Hollow for the commute to the Harpies' office and practice pitch; but I think I have a mental block against anything related in any way to the Cannons."

"That could be a problem in a few years if your brother and I are both working for Rose," Malorie countered. "Will you have to mentally block all of us – and your nieces or nephews – out too?"

"Good question," Lily answered. "I guess we'll have to see what happens."

"Well, I love your pick," Rose told her. "Now we can talk about decorating and furnishing the office and your flat tonight for the future plans part of our family fun."

"Did you decide whether you want to rent a furnished flat from the business or not?" Gwendolyn asked; and Malorie nodded.

"I'll go with unfurnished. "That was really tempting, but I want to start having things of my own; and don't mind starting out a bit sparse until I can afford to buy everything I need. I can always conjure temporary furniture for if I have guests over too."

"Well, Al came up with a good idea for those toy sofas to use here," Gwendolyn reminded her. "They're not that expensive; and could work short-term too."

"I hadn't thought of that," Malorie mused. "Do you think that would work for toy cookware and the like too?"

"Probably not for pots and pans," Rose answered after thinking about that for a moment. "It might work well-enough for some dishes, glasses, cups, and cutlery – depending on how good the toys are. We do have a list already of what you'll need, but now that you've picked a place; this might be a good time to advise you that house-warming gifts will be part of your near-future with our family – and there's likely nothing you can do to stop the tsunami."

"The tsunami?" Malorie asked; and smiled when everyone else laughed.

"Big family," Gwendolyn explained. "Your flat won't quite get furnished or anything; but the giftswill add up – and help out a lot. I'm sure we've never mentioned it to you, but while Teddy and Victoire's place did have a lot of furniture and Black family heirlooms in it too; they were given a lot of wedding and house-warming gifts to help them get started."

"That's changed over the years; but our family did that as best they could with all of our aunts and uncles," Lily added. "I'm pretty sure that birthday and Christmas gifts were home-related for a while after each kid moved away from home too." She looked over at Rose and nodded. "Didn't your Mum get those recliners for her house-warming gift?"

"And the dining room set for the birthday she had shortly after moving there."

"Your Mum and Dad didn't move into your house together?" Malorie asked.

"Mum got our house before they were engaged – after breaking up with my Dad for being a hippogriff-sized git and messing up with her. Aunt Ginny has the best stories about that, but basically, my Dad spent a couple of miserable months figuring out that he really couldn't live without my Mum; they got back together; and have occasionally lived happily ever after since then."

"Occasionally?" Malorie asked next in amusement; and Rose laughed.

"Dad can still be a git now and then; and Mum can sometimes forget that there's more to life than work, rules, and regulations; so it can get weird sometimes." She looked toward Al and Gwendolyn and nodded. "Every couple can't be as happy as they are – or Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny always have been."

"They do have to work at that," Al said seriously – "and their perspective for a lot of things is different than for most Witches and Wizards."

"Well, your Mum did marry the most famous and powerful Wizard of all time," Malorie reminded him. "If she can't be happy – what hope is there for the rest of us?"

"Mum used to get teased about stuff like that by her team mates when she first played for the Harpies,' Lily advised her with a grin. "They had a different take on that most-powerful Wizard thing, but they're our parents; so I won't go there."

"And I really don't want to say anything either," Malorie assured her; though she was grinning too while putting a hand over her stomach again.

"I so wish I'd kept my mouth shut," Lily told her after laughing at Malorie's comment. "That's a mental picture that is going to hang around for a while, and I don't really want to think about James right now; since I'm a bit put out with him tonight."

"Why?" Malorie asked. "His quitting the senior team won't affect you. Your season is over for the juniors."

"It could cost us the Quidditch Cup," Lily advised her. "He hasn't beaten Pauline yet, but Ravenclaw has an awesome team, so if we could get a one-sixty lead at all, it wouldn't come easily; and Brandon isn't good-enough to hold off Pauline for endless hours of Quidditch. James might be able to do that, and while Pauline wouldn't try to catch the snitch for the loss in a match where only a win will earn the Quidditch Cup; he could likely eventually earn the catch too if she needed to play defense against him all of the time."

"So the rumors about what James has been saying are true?"

"Some of them," Rose admitted. "He took Olivia's comment about our collective team slacking off too personally and blew it out of proportion; but he does have a point about some of us being hypocrites for wanting his talent to help our team while not treating him very well – or like anyone else on the team. We all know what the problems are; but we don't seem to be able to work it out."

James was a bit frustrated as he sat next to Patricia and only cuddled with her while she insisted on watching some stupid mirror network show instead of really having fun – though she'd promised to get around to that soon-enough. They hadn't been on their own in the classroom for very long, but 'soon-enough' wasn't going to be soon-enough for him when he really needed to do something to burn off the extra energy and take his mind off of his problems.

He'd been hung-over and out-of-sorts during the morning Quidditch practice, which was why he'd lashed out at Olivia, but then she'd threatened him again; and he'd lost it. Now it was too late to change anything; and he was going to be screwed yet again by the Animorphloser! It had taken a while for him to think the whole thing through, and by the time he'd done that; he knew that he'd needed to play in that match more than he'd realized. Now, if Pauline won the Seeker duel; she'd be top senior team Seeker. He had no doubt she'd beat Brandon; which meant that Ravenclaw would win the Quidditch Cup too – and the senior team title. Sure, that'd keep the Animorphloser from those prizes too; but he'd likely get the blame – especially since hardly anyone was siding with him over Olivia so far.

The whole thing had turned into such a stupid mess!

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and after a pause; it opened – and Olivia walked into the room. He frowned and glared at her; and then looked at Patricia because of something he'd seen out of the corner of his eye. She wasn't surprised; and was already putting her mirror away.

"What's going on?" he demanded of her; and Patricia waved a hand at Olivia.

"You need to talk before it's too late to fix your problems,' she answered. "I offered to help." She leaned in and kissed him briefly; and then stood up. "I'll meet you back in the common room. Play nice, James. Don't let being mad at the loser mess up what's best for you and your future Quidditch career."

With that, she headed out of the room; nodded to Olivia on the way past; and closed the classroom door behind her. James watched her go, undecided on whether to be mad at her or not; and then glared at Olivia.

"Okay, you've cornered me – temporarily. What do you want?"

"The same thing you do – a future career in the show," she answered; and looked a bit angry too. "Thanks to your little tantrum this morning; that's likely messed up – unless we can work this out and you come back on the team."

"So you admit you can't win without me!" James gloated; and then frowned when Olivia laughed.

"Actually, we could – which is my current biggest problem."

"How is that a problem – except for me?" James asked.

"It's a problem because if you don't come back and play; the only option I have left for doing what's best for our team and House is to go with the sure win that Al could get for us – probably in under a minute. We'd win the Quidditch Cup and senior team title; but none of us would get to show off what we can do for the scouts; and all of the work we've been doing would be a total waste of time."

"Why would you even think about putting the loser in at Seeker – and what makes you think he'd be able to do that?"

"Brandon suggested it – though it killed him to do it; and Rose had Al show us what he could do – though she did that because she thinks it's the wrong thing to do too – even though it is what's best for our House if you won't play."

"Well, that'll suck for you, but I've still got two years to impress the scouts; so it's no big deal to me."

"I'd say it is," Olivia disagreed. "You've been running around telling everyone we'll lose without you, so that won't work out so well for you when we win. It'll also be fairly-awful for you to have Al get an easy win; and worse-yet for him to do that over Pauline – a Seeker you've yet to best even once. Finally, if we can win and you catch the snitch; then our three wins would also give you the tie-break for top Seeker – even if Alex wins his match against Slytherin and the three of you have two catches each. We'll be playing this game until someone wins, James. That means you'll either win it outright; or you'll need to keep Pauline from winning for hours before we'll be able to get a one-sixty lead – if we can ever do that against Peter and the Ravenclaw Chasers. Either way; I'd rather play that match than my current best-option if you aren't our Seeker."

"Even if I give you most of those points; it doesn't change anything about what I hate most about our team and practices," James pointed out. "I don't see any way to work that out."

"I'm sorry that I threatened to replace you with Brandon," Olivia told him sincerely. "You're right that I'm letting my personal feelings affect how I treat you compared to the others – but I was right that you – and more than half of the others – were slacking off. I'll try to do better, James, but let's be honest – you're not the type of player that cares whether your team mates like you or not. You do really want to win and be a star, though; and coming back to the team will help you with that. Tell everyone I apologized and we worked things out – Patricia can vouch for the fact that we are having this little chat; and then let's move on. I really don't like any of my other options. What do you say? Deal or not?"

"Deal," James told her; paused for the drama moment; and then added – "if you also recoomend me for Captain next season."

"What?" Olivia exclaimed; her expression turning from one of relief to disbelief.

"You heard me, but if it helps; nobody else has to know about this – that's entirely up to you. Your turn – deal or not?"

Olivia looked angry now, but even as she shook her head in disgust; she ground out a very grudgingly-given – "Deal!"

"Nice try, Animorphloser," he told himself gleefully as Olivia glared at him while also looking relieved that she wouldn't be forced to go with her next-best game plan. "I'm ba-ak!"

Al's family evening had been great; a bit of alone time with Gwendolyn had been a nice added bonus; and the visit to the Owlery and walking Gwendolyn home had been a nice wind-down to a busy day. He'd expected that to be the end of it for him too, but Rose and Lily had other plans when he returned to the common room – along with the news that James was back on the senior team; and that Olivia had apologized to him and asked him to come back – the one choice she'd had that none of them expected her to take; or that James would agree to do it whether she tried it or not. Al understood what had happened soon after that because his extended senses sought out and found those answers for him.

He was actually glad that Olivia had tried and succeeded – if not all that happy about her reasons for preferring to get James back over her other options; and he really disliked the price she'd agreed to pay to get James to agree to the deal. The fact that they'd gone back to the status quo for their team didn't affect him as much as other options might have, but his real take-away from Olivia's actions had more to do with a changed perception of his team Captain – and that wasn't in a good way. That news was what everyone in the Gryffindor common room was talking about while he was there; and it was quite a while before he could get away and head up to bed.

They had a busy week coming up, but Al was awake with his thoughts for quite a while; his sleep was a bit restless; and his dreams a strange mix of surreal with a large dose of weird that made for an uncomfortable night.

The 'James is back on the team' story migrated along the gossip network to the other Houses by Monday morning, but Al tried to stay out of that; and get focused on his classes and studies again. He had one bit of family birthday fun to add into the mix, but a short mirror chat with Teddy to wish him a happy twenty-third birthday with some help from Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Hugo didn't take long – and added just a bit of fun to an otherwise busy work day. Work was the word of the week as they rolled through to the end of April on Friday.

For Al, the work included all of his classes; five Quidditch practices – including three workouts with Rose in the Room of Requirements while Gwendolyn was at her practices; and a lot of studying anytime he wasn't in classes, playing Quidditch, having meals in the Great Hall, or sleeping. There was some strange going on for Al and Rose during their team practices; since James was more than a bit insufferable after his 'victory' over Olivia, and for her part; she stopped saying much of anything to him at all beyond the must-have communications that couldn't be avoided. James basked in the gossip network spotlight for a few days too, but the Hogsmeade weekend supplanted his Quidditch drama by mid-week; and kept most of the students in the castle entertained while keeping up with their studies – though 'keeping up' was subjective and different for every teen and tween.

That was certainly true by Friday night – and obvious as the serious students studied all evening ahead of their plans for a play day on Saturday while more than half of their fellow students still took the night off for an extended break after a long, challenging school week. As always, Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah needed to do most of their work before playing, and in Al's case, since the weekend workload was so heavy; he not only worked until shortly before curfew with the girls; he stayed up late in his dorm room and studied until even his night owl roommates had come up to bed from the common room.

By the time he was done – in more ways than one, Al was ready for a day off, though; so all of the extra effort was worth it.

James had played all evening with Patricia while Rosinda had insisted on studying, but then he'd switched Witches and had fun with Rosinda until hours after curfew once she'd finished her work for the night. His 'nightcaps' had helped him to eventually get to sleep, but that had still been a bit too late; and he'd nearly missed breakfast after sleeping in too long. He'd still managed to fill up before heading to town with Patricia – since Rosinda hadn't waited for him; and then they'd wandered around town and shopped just as any other happy teen couple.

That was all an important part of his plan, and all it took was a tiny little memory charm to give him the minutes he needed to put his new plan for dealing with the Animorphloser into action – along with a disguise that made sure there were no witnesses when he sent off his anonymous Owl Post at the Hogsmeade office – a letter with information that he was sure would pique the interest of a certain investigative reporter with a kindred hate for his parents and brother.

With stage one of his master plan complete; James was happy to move on and really start having some fun!

A Hogsmeade weekend combined with the Harpies' final match of the regular season against the Bats was a great way to start the month of May!

Al's early morning routine had been uneventful; he and Rose had enjoyed their walk and talk before breakfast; and the morning meal had been entertaining thanks to their friends and all of the gossip that went along with a trip to town. His day kept getting better as he met up with Gwendolyn and they were soon on the way to town; and they had the added bonus of some decent weather – though it was a bit foggy for the walk to Hogsmeade.

The shopping wasn't all that exciting for Al, since he dealt with getting the boring supplies while Gwendolyn went off to have some fun with a handful of her girlfriends, but, as always; Al thought that her grateful hugs and kisses were always worth the little sacrifices. They did want to be back at the castle in time for the Harpies' match, so that meant rushing through the shopping and having an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks, but trading off the extra time away from Hogwarts for cuddle time with Gwendolyn while watching the game was something else that Al was okay with doing – and that match was fairly-important for the Harpies and where they'd place in the standings ahead of the playoffs. That was what Lily, Jonah, and the rest of their game-watching buddies were talking about when Al and Gwendolyn caught up with them in their usual study classroom. Al was a bit surprised to see the portable pool set up too, but Lily was obviously expecting a long, hard-fought match; and wanted to be prepared to keep everyone entertained.

"Have we missed much?" Gwendolyn asked as she and Al went over to the 'food' table and began to drop off their freshly-bought contributions – including some bakery and sweets shops treats. "It sounds like you're having a serious chat about the standings. Has something happened that we haven't heard about while in town? There weren't that many changes that could happen from today's games."

"This last bit is about the Bats," Lily advised her. "I think they still have a small chance of making the playoffs even if they lose today; but nearly everyone else thinks that if they lose they'll be out."

"This is one of the early matches," Jonah reminded her. "The Catapults play one of the late times; so the Bats will need to play to win so they don't risk losing the tie-break – whether the Catapults and Bats both win; or they both lose. If one of them wins and the other loses; then none of this matters anyway. I think they'll lose big today while fightingfor the win."

"Well, I obviously think they'll both lose," Lily pointed out. "I also think that if that Catapults' Seeker can figure out a way to mess up his team's playoff chances; he'll do it."

"She has a point there," Gwendolyn told Jonah. "We also don't want our win to be too close; since that could mess up our own possible tie-break issues with the Wasps or Tornados."

"It'll only matter for the tornados if they win and both the Harpies and Wasps lose today," Lily pointed out. "Those odds are worse than a tie-break win for the Bats would be."

"We can hope," Al agreed – "or maybe we shouldn't."

"You've lost me," Lily admitted; and Al laughed.

"The wrong combination of wins and losses today could land us with a first-round match-up with the Falcons," he explained. "Even scarier for us, is that they have one of the late matches too – and might want to win or lose to make sure they end up playing against us; so it might not matter what we do."

"I'm trying to block that nightmare scenario from my mind," Lily only half-joked.

"So am I," Gwendolyn assured her with a grin. "I still have to worry about my prediction last December that the Falcons would never win two matches in a season against our Harpies; so I'll hope they end up playing one of the other teams – and then get beat out before they'd be our problem."

"Will it be wrong to cheer for the Falcons just a bit today just so we could have fun with that next weekend?" Jonah asked; and Gwendolyn and Lily both laughed.

"Yes, but funny too," Lily assured him before sharing a hug with him. "How'd the shopping in town go today?" she asked Gwendolyn as she and Al came over to them and moved on to pass along supplies and treats orders to their younger siblings, cousins, and friends. "I am so glad that we're not far away from getting to go to town with you in the fall."

"It was pretty uneventful compared to Easter," Gwendolyn answered. "Most of the older teens are just doing their shopping quick and then coming back here to study; and there wasn't anything special to see this weekend either – like new toys or special holiday treats."

"Not everyone was hurrying back here to study," Al added. "Some of us have a Quidditch match or two to watch – though that can be done in town too – if you don't mind missing some of the game if it lasts longer than we're allowed to have in town."

"We might have done that when we could if we didn't have sucha nice set-up here," Gwendolyn suggested. "Nice idea to add the pool party too, Lily. That was your idea?"

"Yeah, but the guys especially seemed to think it was a good idea."

"Your girlfriends are happy too," Denise assured her with a grin. "Boyfriends in swimsuits is just as much fun for us as girlfriends in swimsuits is for them."

"I don't have a boyfriend," Lily pointed out, "but if that works for you; go for it."

Malorie stepped down into the portable pool that had been adapted especially for her and sighed contentedly as the water soon enveloped her to the shoulders as she sat down on the seat that was also conveniently just the right height for her – little details that she'd appreciated right from the first moment she'd used it. The water was maybe a bit warm, but then that was the only thing about the pool that she'd set herself; and likely had more to do with her own reaction than anything else – something that was simply a fact of life. She turned her head to look at the mirror in reaction to something she'd heard from Lee Jordan, but that wasn't very comfortable; so she summoned her portable mirror to her and held it uncomfortably-high above the water.

That habit made her laugh, and just for emphasis of the thought that had led to the laugh; she dunked the mirror under the water just to see what would happen. The water phobia she'd grown up around for portable Muggle electronics was silly for magical devices like the portable mirrors. Laws of science did still apply to things like underwater sound, though; so she lifted it out of the water again and set it on the floor next to the pool. Leaning back, she closed her eyes and just listened to the pre-game show while enjoying the soothing water after a tough morning.

It had been the walk to and from town that had been such a trial for her. Putting a hand over her modestly-expanding waistline, she idly wondered how much more difficult the second-half of her pregnancy was going to be even for keeping up with everyday things like getting around the castle. Okay, she'd only need to do that for eight more weeks before being done school, but it seemed to be getting a bit harder each day to climb all of the stairs she needed to use every day to get around the school; and going down them wasn't actually easier because her center of gravity was changing and she had to adjust for that. Keeping up appearances around everyone else was part of the challenge; since the physical changes were accompanied by some discomfort and other restrictions.

Well, at least she wouldn't lose points for her House for running in the halls!

The pre-game commentary caught her attention again; and she 'tuned in' to listen as Lee and his team of experts made their game-day predictions. She still didn't know enough about the league or game to have any idea of how expert those predictions were, and she wasn't a big fan of any team; but she was glad to hear that they picked the Harpies to win – if only because her friends – and quite a few members of her babies' family – were avid fans of Grandma Ginny's former team. She laughed at that thought – and the follow-up one that pictured her kids watching their Grandma Ginny playing Seeker for the Cannons.

Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah were all sure to be watching the Harpies match even as she was soaking in the portable pool that they'd loaned her; and she half-wished that she could be there with them. They were three and five years younger than her; yet they were also now her best friends – even though that didn't really go both ways; and they had their own groups of best friends. That fact didn't really bother her; since she simply had a feeling that it wouldn't matter – particularly once the babies arrived; and then as they all got a bit older. She sighed again; slid off of the seat; and floated out into the pool.

It wasn't just the steps and seat that had been changed for her – the pool was all one depth and shallow-enough that she could stand and be head-and-shoulders above the waterline. The thoughtfulness that went into it still touched her heart, and even though she still hadn't met Harry and Ginny in person; she was pretty sure she'd fallen in love with them. That ought to be shocking to her; considering where she'd started after initially judging them through James' stories about them – and her own parent-related bias. Making that shift had taken a while; since it really was a challenge to accept that any kid would have a problem with having amazing, loving parents.

Sure, there were kernels of truth at the core of James' issues with his family that she could understand. It had to be tough to live up to his parents' towering reputations; there was no doubt that his younger brother was blessed with some extraordinary gifts that would make any sibling jealous; and his own extroverted personality and desires for fame and fortune was bound to be in conflict with a family that cared more about the things that money couldn't buy. If the problems that conflict caused weren't so serious; James' problems with his family might be amusing – especially since the good things about him really were so amazing; and he was both a gifted Wizard and Quiddich player too. It was the self-comparisons to his father and brother that James hated; and Al had been part of that problem too because he'd intentionally hidden his true talents for most of their early childhood to avoid conflicts with James.

There was no way to know in hindsight whether acting differently would have changed anything other than fanning the flames of James' jealousy and anger sooner instead of after Al started at Hogwarts. Malorie suspected that it wouldn't have made a difference at all beyond adding years to the battle and more stress for their family. She stopped – mentally – and wondered at the fact that she was thinking of his family as a 'theirs' at all. When had that happened? A cursory review of the past few months didn't offer any definitive answer for that, and it made her uncomfortable and a bit afraid; but she did still feel that way now.

Her thoughts continued to jump around from there, but she eventually noticed that the Quidditch match was on too; went back to the seat at the edge of the pool; and watched the action for a while – though it was a bit underwhelming on the small viewing surface. Watching Victoire Weasley – Lupin – blast around above the Quidditch pitch brought out a tinge of jealousy in her, but that had everything to do with her stunning beauty; and nothing at all to do with her Quidditch skills. That had her idly wondering if James was jealous of his brother for inheriting their father's emerald eyes. Al was going to be a bit taller than James too, but those were minor differences; and both of them were among the best-looking Wizards in the school – or anywhere else.

As she watched the game – and Victoire; her mind turned toward pondering her certain, upcoming brush with infamy. She could hope that would only be the proverbial five minutes of fame, but that seemed to be wishful thinking at best; since her babies' father was determined to become a Quidditch star – and that would undoubtedly affect her life too – whether any of them wanted that or not. That had been one of her considerations while thinking about the job offer that Rose and Al had made to her, but then deciding to accept the job ended up being all about finding the challenge of what they wanted to do interesting and exciting. It was funny that Al and Rose were so much different than James, but in their quiet way; they were even more audacious when it came to their hopes and dreams to own and build a championship professional Quidditch team basically from the ground up.

She believed they could do it – just as she believed that James could be a star with whichever team he ended up playing for – the one that offered him the most money; if he did as he'd told her he would when he was done school. After what had happened with his team last weekend, she wondered how many teams would give him offers to choose from if he seemed to be a potential diva-type player, but he did still have two years to go; and wouldn't be the only star player in the show with that kind of attitude.

The Harpies-Bats match rolled on and on, but Malorie finished her swim – and wash-up time; she packed up her pool; and then continued to watch the game while doing some studying. It really was a good game, and going well for the Harpies; but it couldn't hold her attention for hours on end; since it just wasn't the same to watch a match on a small mirror compared to actually being at a stadium – not that she knew that beyond getting to watch the school matches. That was why she skipped parts of the game while going for a walk when she needed a break from the studying; and when she decided to lay down after that walk for a bit of a rest before dinner.

A lot of students in the school were watching the game on portable mirrors while in the Great Hall for that meal; so they were all together when Gabrielle ended the match and gave the Harpies a four-hundred and fifty to ninety victory over the Bats. While Malorie didn't join in on the post-game analysis that her Hufflepuff classmates got into next, she did listen in; and learned all about the possible playoff implications for the win – and the loss for the Bats; since they might end up out of the playoffs because of the big points difference that might help one of the other contenders for the last spot in the top-eight to make it through to the first-round of the playoffs.

With the Harpies' match finished, though, Malorie was ready for a break from Quidditch; so she didn't get into any of the other matches still in progress. Unfortunately, she also didn't have anyone to go off with for an evening of couples-rated play time either; so she headed for the library and went back to work on her never-ending studies.

Okay, they'd be ending in a bit less than eight weeks, but that ending was also going to be a beginning; and the real-life tests might prove to be even scarier than her upcoming NEWTs!

"Yeah!" Al said quietly as he and Rose watched Gabrielle celebrate the Harpies' victory with her team mates on his portable mirror.

"You're just saying that because you get to go and spend the evening with Gwendolyn instead of more game-watching with all of your friends," Rose teased; and Al laughed nearly as softly as he'd called out that little cheer.

"Definitely," he agreed. "What are you going to do? Study with Susannah? Have a video chat with Kyle? Watch one of the other matches?"

"I'll try a video chat with Kyle first – if I can get through to him. He's been a bit busy since Easter too; and we've exchanged more messages or texts than we've actually talked since I got back here."

"Are you okay?" Al asked; and Rose sighed.

"Yeah, but I see the signs for what will come sooner or later; so I seem to be subconsciously trying to get ready for the inevitable."

"I'm not sure what to say to that," Al admitted. "I like Kyle; but can't picture him hanging out around the Cannons' practice pitch to pick you up after our daily workouts."

"Or having anything else to do with our world," Rose agreed. "Let's not go there. We'll be home in eight weeks; and I'll just hope that Kyle and I can enjoy our summer – or most of it – before we'll likely be done. I definitely don't see us being able to survive a second school year apart."

"Moving on – do you have any predictions for the top-eight now that this match is done?"

That question gave Rose the diversion she needed; Al helped to keep her entertained through the rest of the meal; and then he went to meet up with Gwendolyn and they went off to have a quiet evening for two filled with music, mirror chats with their parents, some mirror network show watching, and a fair bit of snogging! That had been a great way to end the first day of May, but by the time Al was in his dorm room; his thoughts turned toward Sunday – the twenty-third anniversary of the end of the war at the Battle of Hogwarts. There wasn't going to be any special events at the school, but he knew that his parents would be commemorating the day – and remembering the loved ones they'd lost during the war. Those thoughts kept him awake for a while, but that wasn't in a bad way – he just seemed to need to seriously think about the war and be grateful for what all of those sacrifices led to for his own life.

He hoped that all of those war heroes that had passed into the Light could feel how grateful he was for everything they'd done for him – and for everyone else in the Wizarding World.

Rita Skeeter was alone as she sat at her large dining room table on Sunday morning; eating her breakfast and going through the small stack of letters that had arrived with the Owl Post. Sunday was usually a slow day for fan mail, but she was diligent to the duties and responsibility that came with being famous. Sure, a lot of her fans could barely write a coherent sentence, but then that was okay with her; since the best audience she could hope for was one she could do the thinking for and simply tell them what to believe.

When she got to the letter from Hogsmeade, she didn't think anything of it beyond noting that it was the first she'd had in a while from there; but then she wasn't thinking about anything beyond the contents of that letter from the moment she connected the words story, pregnant student, and Albus Potter.

"Happy Anniversary to me!" she said enthusiastically as she realized that the timing of the letter might not be a coincidence at all.

She'd need to begin investigating immediately, of course, but if this anonymous source was correct; she had just been handed the bombshell news story of the year that might take down the Head of the Aurors – and put that runt of the litter Animorphmagus son of his in his place too!

With dreams of a public humiliation and resignation for one of the Wizards she hated most dancing in her head, and her morning meal and fan mail forgotten; she got up, left the room, and got started on her new investigation!

Harry and Ginny walked into the cemetery where they'd buried her brother nearly twenty-three years ago; arriving just ahead of sunrise – and after already visiting the resting places for most of their fallen friends from the Battle of Hogwarts. They were not the first to arrive. Arthur, Molly, Bill, and Fleur were there already; and the rest of Ginny's brothers and their wives would make the annual visit – even Percy and Audrey. Ginny let go of Harry's hand once they were close-enough for her to take the last couple of steps to her parents; and she shared long hugs with each of them before hugging Bill and Fleur in turn too.

"You've made the rounds already?" Molly asked them; and Harry and Ginny both nodded.

"Yes," Ginny answered. "Teddy and Victoire were just getting to the cemetery to visit his parents; but we were at the other cemeteries too early to see anyone else."

"Will they go straight to the Burrow from there?" Molly asked next.

"Probably," Ginny agreed. "They'll wait for Andromeda and Mark; and then meet us there in time for Victoire's birthday breakfast."

"Maybe we should stop doing these sunrise visits," Molly suggested. "Victoire's birthdays shouldn't always start so sadly when it should be a day for her to celebrate."

"Teddy would visit his parents anyway," Harry reminded her gently. "Victoire understands; and there are some bonuses that go along with being the best thing that happened to so many people by giving us something really great to off-set all of the sadness."

"Who could possibly be sad on such a beautiful morning?" George asked cheerfully as he and Angelina walked up to them. "I've got wheezes with me; and I'm not afraid to use them if you're all going to get all maudlin and depressing on us today. Fred would hate that – and prank us for it if he could!"

"You need to get your story straight," Bill told him. "Last year, you told us that you were Fred and have been fooling us all this time."

"That was a cute trick to temporarily switch the missing ear to the other side of your head, though," Ginny added after hugging George. "We are trying to do better; but just can't help being a bit sad today. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. The Harpies made the playoffs; and Angelina won't be out there with them next Saturday when the Falcons try to put all of them into their beds at St. Mungo's."

"That's funny, since she's likely thinking the same thing I am today – that it'd be fun to be playing and have a chance at another championship," Ginny told him.

"Fortunately we manage to come to our senses before doing anything dumb – like trying to sign up with the Harpies again," Angelina said; and Ginny laughed.

"If you think that's bad; I don't know what I'll do if Rose actually does offer me the Seeker job for her future Cannons team."

"I'd recommend running," George told her. "You've spent decades razzing Ron about his team. Are you going to throw all that away just because one of our nieces has an impossible, delusional dream?"

"That would be a down-side," Ginny agreed, "but it would be a brilliant challenge to help her take a team like the Cannons from the bottom of the league and turn them into contenders – and maybe champions again one day."

"If you'd gone to play for them instead of the Harpies after you finished school; they might have already been champions again," Ron offered as he and Hermione caught up with the rest of his family. Percy, Audrey, Charlie, and Julianne were all approaching them too; so there was a bit of a hug-fest going on while their quiet conversation continued.

"I doubt that," Ginny disagreed; "and the Cannons wouldn't have out-bid the Harpies for me anyway." She smiled at Ron and Hermione. "I may still want to take George's advice and run if Rose does offer me a job; but I'll at least listen to her offer." She turned her attention to Fred's headstone for a moment and shook her head. "We can talk about that later. Let's get back to why we're here."

"Maybe Fred would like to hear about Rose's ideas for the Cannons," Ron suggested. "He'd likely have a hundred ideas for wheezes if she can get our team out of this little slump they're in right now."

"You'd sell wheezes making fun of your own daughter?" Molly asked; and Ron grinned ruefully.

"Probably," he admitted. "If she wins a championship with the Cannons; I'll be very proud of her too."

"You should be proud of her right now," Molly admonished; and then teared up a bit. "Sometimes, life is too short, so don't forget to appreciate every minute you do get to share with all of the amazing gifts you've each been blessed with through your kids."

That bit of advice turned their thoughts and discussion toward remembering Fred and talking about the past for a while – until about fifteen minutes after sunrise. When Molly was ready to go, they all headed over to the Burrow; she had lots of help for making Victoire's birthday breakfast; and they moved on to celebrate Victoire's special day once everyone had arrived and the food was ready. Victoire had some gifts to open; they talked about everything from Harpies' Quidditch to off-season vacations and summer holiday plans; and then Harry and Ginny stayed behind when everyone else left to help with the clean-up and to eventually take Aunt Muriel home.

They didn't have any plans for the day after that, so they headed home; and tried to enjoy a quiet rest day before they'd both be back to work on Monday – and Ginny would be even busier than normal during the playoffs.

Al and Rose ended up doing most of their morning walk and talk outside – including a solemn visit to Dumbledore's tomb. That was really the only chance they had to do more than think about the Battle of Hogwarts anniversary; since they were busy for the rest of the day with their studies and the tough Quidditch workout that Olivia put them through that more than made up for the missed practice on Saturday. Their study time included work in their usual classroom, some research in the library, an hour in the greenhouses, and another hour and change in one of the Potions dungeons. They got a lot of work done by dinnertime; and then were glad to take the evening off for their usual Sunday night family time with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. For Al, that fun began with Malorie's weekly check-up – and that turned into the highlight of the weekend for all of them!

"Congratulations, Malorie – they're girls!" Al told her earnestly – and within moments of making that discovery and determination. I can't tell whether they'll be future Harpies or Cannons players; but they're definitely girls."

"Yes!" Lily said before Malorie could comment; and she leaned over and hugged her favorite mother-to-be; since Malorie was sitting on the other side of Lily from Jonah while Gwendolyn and Rose were on the other sofa and Al was kneeling in front of Malorie while doing her check-up. "If you're finished, Al, move back so that Gwendolyn and Rose can congratulate Malorie too – and you can make up some of those memory charm chocolates so that we can all see the girls too."

"Please," Malorie added – "and thank-you!"

"Well, now that you know; have you picked out names already; or will we get to do that tonight instead of talking some more about decorating and furniture – or whatever else was on the agenda for tonight?" Lily asked as Rose, then Gwendolyn each stepped up and leaned over to hug and congratulate Malorie.

"Actually, I do have names picked out for girls," Malorie admitted. "What do you think of Jaimie and Lorie?"

"After you and James?" Lily asked in return. "I like those names a lot." She smiled brilliantly then; and Al knew why before she said anything else. "We need to call Mum and Dad! This news will be nearly as good as Victoire's birthday for them!"

"Because it's the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts," Gwendolyn advised Malorie when she didn't make that connection right away. Lily's Mum lost a brother the night of that last battle here at Hogwarts; and then Victoire was born on May second two years later; so her birthday is really special to everyone in their family."

"And now we have another special moment to remember today,' Lily added enthusiastically – "thanks to you!"

"Well, the timing is thanks to Al; but go ahead and have fun with that if you'd like."

Lily did that; they had a fun little chat with Harry and Ginny; and then they moved on to the rest of the usual Sunday evening fun that included making plans for Malorie's near-future; some music; and a bit of mirror network show watching. Even with the bits of healing Al had done to help her, Malorie was ready to head back to her House and go to bed an hour or so ahead of curfew. Everyone else stayed until it was time for the visit to the Owlery; Rose went on to the Gryffindor common room; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah took care of sending their weekly Owl Posts with Winter and having a visit with Blizzard before Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah home on the way back to their common room.

Al ended his weekend with a quiet round of visits with his cousins, but he was tired by then too, so when he went up to his dorm room; it wasn't long before he was ready for bed, off to sleep, and out for the count – and the rest of the night.

The first school week of May was hectic and too-busy for Al, but he was also in a great mood all week too thanks to the news that he was going to be the uncle to twin nieces, Jaimie and Lorie. Happy thoughts about that really did help to get through classes that were getting tougher now that they only had a month or so to get ready for final exams; and the push was on with Quidditch too as the senior team players in all four Houses practiced even harder – whether their last match was on Saturday or still a bit less than four weeks away.

Quidditch was the top gossip topic of the week – whether that was for the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match or the first round of the league playoffs. Al kept up with all of that news, but tried to stay out of it too while focusing on his studies and training. He and Rose had extra workouts in the Room of Requirements during Gwendolyn's team practices, and their own team workouts took up most of the double time slot they could use now that the junior team didn't need their time slot anymore. Being busy with his studies and Quidditch was also why Al didn't have a party for his fifteenth birthday on Thursday. Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and some of their friends made sure he had a bit of fun here and there – like before and during breakfast, and while Gwendolyn had reluctantly agreed to not having a party for him; she did make sure that his special day ended well with the hour of alone time she insisted on them having ahead of curfew that she then filled up almost entirely with a brilliant snogging session!

With a full day of Quidditch ahead of them on Saturday, taking even an hour off from their studies on Friday wasn't an option for Al and Gwendolyn. Rose and Susannah were with them for the evening studying, but Friday nights seemed to have become Ray's night to hang out with Cyndia and her friends; and even Toni and Michael were in need of a break from the work as their study group friends continued to diverge a bit with how well they excelled at each subject – or how hard they wanted to work for their marks on assignments and tests. Al didn't really mind the break from tutoring – even if that usually meant more of that kind of work on Sundays. They got more done with just the four of them working together; and they were in a good place for their weekend assignments by the time they packed up and headed for their respective Houses ahead of curfew.

The lack of alone time with Gwendolyn was a definite downside, but then they were going to get to spend most of Saturday together; and she was tired out by the time they said goodnight outside of Ravenclaw tower after a busy week – and she never got enough sleep on Thursday nights thanks to her Astronomy class. Al didn't go straight off to sleep after getting back to the Gryffindor common room, but he only had a short update visit with Lily on his way up to his dorm room; and then he ended up chatting with some of the guys in the room before settling in to read himself to sleep with a 'fun' book instead of one of his textbooks or one of the library books that he was currently using for project research. He was still sleeping long before Ray came up to bed, but that was normal now that Ray and Cyndia had joined the usual gang of snogging couples that stayed up too late most weekend nights – and the occasional weeknight too.

It was game day – finally!

Scorpius was awake early; ready for the day; and then went for a walk out by the lake since he had the extra time while waiting for breakfast to be served in the Great Hall – and to spend a bit of time with Lysandra before needing to go to the stadium to get ready for the match against Hufflepuff. Lysandra was rarely ready for the day early, but was always worth the wait; so he didn't have a problem with the self-pampering time she needed every morning before being willing to appear in public.

The solitary walk also gave him time to get mentally-ready for what was likely going to be a disappointing day for Slytherin quidditch fans. He knew that their Keeper wasn't going to have much of a chance against the Hufflepuff Chasers, and while he could hope for better for himself and Licentia against Myra Graves; there was zero chance that Blaise would win the Seeker duel against Alex Jordan. The best that he and Licentia could hope for would be if Blaise could keep Alex from catching the snitch for a couple of hours to at least give them a small chance to show off their own Quidditch skills to the scouts before they lost the match.

That low standard helped him to feel good about his chances to at least have a personally-successful day, but then he had one additional personal goal – to do everything he could to make Licentia look even better than she was to those scouts so that she'd get her shot at playing in the show. Sure, he had his own reasons for doing that, since he'd look good to everyone if he could pull that off, but he did also wish for the best for Licentia too; since she'd been the only Slytherin player he'd worked with so far that actually made the game fun for him thanks to having some serious talent that challenged him to be better too.

The Animorphpotty might get all of the awards again this year, but Scorpius decided to try and be content with making the best of the lousy team he'd been dealt; and be glad for everything that was going great in his life – like being allowed to date Lysandra!

Al met up with Rose for their morning walk and talk, and while Quidditch was high on the list of chat topics; they talked more about the league playoffs and what the Harpies might be planning to deal with the Falcons than they did about the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match. If they wanted to be honest about that to anyone else; they just didn't really care all that much about the second-to-last match of the school Quidditch season; since it was their match against Ravenclaw that would decide the Quidditch Cup. The match was a big deal for Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but despite the trash talking from some Slytherins; Al doubted that anyone believed that the Slytherin team had much of a chance to beat Alex and his team.

After splitting their regular season matches, the outcome of the Harpies-Falcons match was certainly up for debate; and the Falcons fans at Hogwarts were feeling pretty good about their chances to survive the first-round contest. Al didn't agree with that, but he did expect another brutal match; and Rose decided not to make any predictions for that match – though she was more decisive about picking Hufflepuff, United, and the Prides to win three of the four remaining matches of the day. She didn't make a prediction for the Wasps-Tornados match, but the game between the fourth and fifth-place teams was a toss-up anyway – and the Wasps had been a very hot and cold team all season.

Breakfast in the Great Hall was as entertaining as always on a game day, but Al was quieter than usual because he started to get an uncomfortable feeling – not a warning of imminent danger; but not a good feeling either. He didn't get any more on that at breakfast, or while hanging out with Gwendolyn after breakfast and before they headed for the stadium; but then he didn't have to wait long for some clarity either – and it came the moment he spotted Rita Skeeter walk into the stadium along with some other visitor-spectators that had come to watch the match from Hogsmeade and elsewhere. The first group of visitors always arrived in a bunch because they gathered by the gates and waited for the school grounds to be opened for them – which required dropping some of the magical defenses.

He was still with Gwendolyn then, since there was still quite a bit of time until Teresa and Kylie would be starting their pre-game show; and she must've sensed something from him because she squeezed his hand while continuing the conversation-in-progress with their friends. While she stayed with that for nearly two more minutes before being able to work her way out of the center of that conversation, Al tried not to be obvious about watching Rita – just as he sensed she was doing with them – and he also found out why she was not just scrutinizing him; but Gwendolyn as well.

"Problems?" Gwendolyn whispered in his ear when she was able to turn her attention to him.

"Did you notice Rita Skeeter come in with that first group of visitors?" Al asked just as quietly; and she shook her head.

"No. Should I be worried?" Al smiled grimly; and shook his head in turn – and in visual answer to her question.

"The good news is that she's already decided that you're not the story she's here to investigate. Unfortunately, that looks worse for me."

Gwendolyn's eyes opened wide as she quickly processed and deduced his meaning. "That's what she's here for?" she breathed so softly that most people wouldn't have even heard her had they been as close as Al was – and she'd whispered that into his ear.

"It seems so," he agreed. "Aren't you glad that you just brought the bulky sweater along in case you needed it later?"

"There's nothing we can do about this, is there?"

"Not directly," Al confirmed. "We can talk about it later, and I'll try to find out everything I can; but this isn't good."

"Is James behind it?" she asked next; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know yet – but expect that I will know once I'm over in the Gryffindor section with the team."

"If James isn't sitting in the Slytherin section again."

"Now that'd be a story for Rita," Al offered, "but as far as I know; he'll be sitting with the team today. Olivia really only cares about a game analysis for the players she might end up playing against in the show – or with, if United offers a job to Alex too; but some of us should do that to help get ready for next season."

"We'll see how much we can learn about Slytherin,' Gwendolyn offered. "They may only have three players back on their team next season – unless Rupert, G-Air, and the others aren't ready to jump back in and play again in September after their year off."

"Hufflepuff has two players graduating; and could have some serious competition for spots on the team from the fourth and fifth-year students in September," Al pointed out. "It could be that the most-interesting tryouts next year will be with Slytherin and Hufflepuff."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Sure, because you won't have any potential drama in your House; and there won't be any issues in mine between our graduates and having players like Stephanie looking to earn a spot on the senior team."

"Maybe I'm just looking ahead to the Seeker battle between James and Lily the year after next," Al joked. "That could be epic."

"Let's see how James does on his OWLs," Gwendolyn suggested. "From what I keep hearing; he'll be lucky to be taking anything except DADA in September."

"He'll manage at least a few E's," Al assured her with a shrug. "Your sources for that are forgetting how much of the OWLs test marks are allocated to the practical part of the exams. He'll ace some of them; and then the written exams will drag him down to an E – or worse."

"So you're saying he'll be out of luck for the exams that don't have a practical test – like History," Gwendolyn half-mused. "He won't care about those subjects; so I guess that doesn't matter."

"I think he'll be happy if he can take DADA, Transfiguration, and Charms." He nodded toward the announcers' booth. "They're getting set up; so I'd better get over to my seat in time to find out what my assignment will be today."

"I should've talked to Olivia to make sure you won't be assigned the best-looking Witches on each team," Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.

"Does that mean I should be worried about you being assigned the best-looking Wizard in Slytherin – or any of the Hufflepuff guys?" he countered.

"You don't – and won't be," she assured him; and then leaned close before whispering – "let's give Rita something to watch us for; and then you can get going."

With that said; she hugged and kissed him rather enthusiastically; and Al wished that he was staying with her instead of trudging across the pitch to the Gryffindor section. He sat down between Rose and Lily; soon found out that they'd seen Rita Skeeter already too; and had been worried about why she might be bothering to be at their school for the game – particularly when there should have been more interesting stories at any of the league playoff matches. They hadn't liked his quiet confirmation for them that Rita wasn't there because she was a big Hogwarts Quidditch fan; and then he was able to learn that she was there because of James – not long after he arrived and then eventually spotted Rita.

There wasn't anything he could do about the actions James had set in motion, but he did at least now have the heads up; and they could all get ready for the media storm that he suspected would now come sooner instead of later. Knowing that didn't really help him feel better about the situation, but they did have a Quidditch match to watch; and he was okay with immersing himself into that entertainment – though he kept an eye on Rita Skeeter all of the time too so that he'd know everyone she talked to, and, where possible; learn what kinds of questions she was asking.

James kept his jubilation well-hidden, but he was thrilled to see his plan working out exactly as he'd hoped when he saw Rita Skeeter among the Witches and Wizards in the visitor section of the bleachers. In fact, it was working out even better than he'd hoped; since he hadn't been sure whether she'd come to the game or be too busy with the league playoffs. She wasn't a sports reporter, but still went to a lot of matches to report on the sidelines gossip – or start some of her own if she saw anything she could spin into a juicy story for her column.

Well, she was going to have a story here – though he wasn't going to make it too easy for her to get. There was a risk that she wouldn't believe it if it was too easy; which is why she was sure to only get hints of the truth today – all thanks to him. He patted himself on the back for having this contingency covered; and had to work hard to keep the glee from showing when his first, memory-charm nudged 'plant' went to get Rita's autograph. Each of his targets for being gossip links to the story had been chosen with care, and for this part of his plan; each of the Witches he nudged were from Hufflepuff – and they were actually true fans of Rita's. one of them was a roommate of Malorie's; and her role as a source for Rita was just beginning.

He kept an eye on the loser too, but couldn't tell whether he'd even noticed the presence of the Witch that was going to soon make his life a daily horror! That was something that worried him, but he had taken it into account; and was sure there was nothing that the Animorphpotty could do to stop him!

Sure, he'd tell his lies about what had really happened too, but by then; it would be too little, too late!

"We're back and ready to take your Hogwarts Quidditch up to the senior team level again!" Kylie announced.

"That's right, Kylie," Teresa agreed. "The junior teams have put on a great show for us over the past two months – and set the stage for what will hoepfully be two brilliant matches here in May!"

"Well, you're sure that one of these matches will be brilliant; since your House is still in the running to win the Quidditch Cup thanks to Ravenclaw's junior team victory two weeks ago. Half of the students in the stadium today can only have the consolation of cheering for our teams as they battle to find out whether their House will end up in third or fourth-place this season."

"Don't forget that every player on these teams with a dream to play in the show one day will be playing to impress the league scouts," Teresa reminded her. I've heard that both team Captains have been getting a lot of attention from the scouts this year – as is your pick for hottest Slytherin Wizard!"

"A comment that is still true – and one that everyone is having way too much fun with at my expense!" Kylie declared. "Let's move on, though, and take a look at the Quidditch Cup and senior team standings."

Al listened in as the two Witches did that, but nothing they covered for any of the statistics was news to him; and he found it much more interesting to focus his extended senses toward Rita, James, Malorie, and a few others – basically anyone he saw come in contact with Rita in the lead-up to the start of the match. The team standings couldn't really be dressed up for this match, since Hufflepuff and Slytherin were battling it out to avoid a no-win season for their senior teams, but their junior teams had at least each won a match; so the season wouldn't be a total disaster for either House. Teresa took care of the player introductions for Hufflepuff; and spent extra time talking about Alex and Francine – the two NEWT-year teens playing in the last match of their Hogwarts Quidditch careers. Kylie took over for the Slytherin introduction, did the same with Licentia; and earned more laughs for new comments about the hotness of certain Slytherin Wizards.

While all of that was going on, Al noted that Rita Skeeter seemed to be constantly taking notes; and he wondered if decades of being an Animagus affected her senses and perceptions as much as his Animorphmagus talents helped him with so many things – including all five of the 'normal' senses. Whatever she was learning from being at the game, though; it appeared to take up a lot of parchment and ink to keep track of it all!

Mr. Peakes did the usual pre-game speech with the players; Alex and Licentia actually had a fairly-extended handshake that Al sensed included an exchange of sincere best luck wishes; and then the players lined up and got ready for take-off. There were no exchanges of hugs and kisses between any of the players, but then that would have only been news – and shocking – if it had happened. The quaffle toss was slightly-delayed due to a rare false start from Slytherin's nervous Keeper, but Mr. Peakes got them set again; and then the game was on!

"Nice opening play," Rose approved quietly – "for Slytherin."

"it is," Al agreed as they watched Scorpius blast toward the Hufflepuff goals after Licentia blocked Francine from the quaffle and then used her broomtail to bat it to Scorpius as he easily out-raced Jonah Finch-Fletchley on their take-off thanks to his much-faster broom. Myra Graves was already in position by the time Scorpius roared in to take the opening shot of the match, though; she guessed right; and managed to make a tough save – though she wasn't able to totally control the rebound.

Fortunately, that bounce went in Hufflepuff's favor; and the match was on!

Rita only half-watched the Quidditch match as she sat in an aisle seat along the edge of the visitor section and continually took notes about everything she saw and heard. It had been a long time since she'd visited Hogwarts; and she'd forgotten what a treasure-trove the place was for gossip! Most teens didn't even think about just how vibrant their gossip network was – and that said quite a lot about it when she was one of the best-connected Witches in the Wizarding World!

Quite a lot had obviously changed at Hogwarts too – or at least the kids had changed. She apparently needed to do more to keep up with her younger audience; since she hadn't suspected that there'd ever be even the semblance of civility between Slytherins and Hufflepuffs – or any of the light-hearted, if childish banter like what she'd already heard from the Hufflepuff half of the game announcer duo. One of her notes included keeping an eye on that pair, since they seemed to be very popular with their peers; and might have a future in the quidditch reporting business, but Quidditch was really just a cover for her attendance; and she was acquiring a gold mine of information about all sorts of things – if not much so far about her primary investigation.

She had already – and trivially – been able to exclude Albus Potter's girlfriend as the pregnant Witch she was searching for, but while that would have been a salacious story; she was good with the idea that Albus would look even worse for going on like he had been before the match with his girlfriend while apparently going off and getting another Witch pregnant behind her back and keeping it a secret from her. Taking down three famous families would have been more fun, but she hadn't expected the story to come that easily. The anonymous letter had specified that the girl was about half-way through her pregnancy, and since Gwendolyn McCormack was a star Quidditch player for her House; it would have been obvious – and she'd have needed to stop playing or practicing for the rest of the year.

Thinking about that part of the information she did have led to another cursory, but time-consuming look around the stadium. Focusing only on the Witches; she tried to pick out possible candidates that could fit the description she was building in her mind. That wasn't as easy to do as it might sound. Sure, many of the most-beautiful Witches were dressed to impress – which made it easy to exclude them; but most were still dressed in clothes that could hide a lot – and then there was the added problem of trying to weed out all of the Witches who were plus-sized for other reasons. Narrowing that list was important, but Rita was also sure that it would be her investigative skills that would ferret out the truth; which was why she didn't just enjoy making personal connections with the Witches and wizards around her – they were all potential spies or sources that could help her to get to the bottom of the story.

One of her best chances for that was through her own fans; which was why she spent extra time talking up the young Witches who approached her for autographs or just to be seen hanging out with the most-famous person in the stadium. All it took to turn them into spies was a few carefully-crafted questions that would get the girls looking around a bit more carefully for the signs that would reveal which of the Witches among them had such a big secret to hide.

That thought had her jotting down another note. The Witch she was searching for must be reasonably-bright to have managed to keep her secret this long in a place where she had no choice but to share bathrooms and showers with the other Witches in her House – not to mention the lack of privacy with roommates. She could get her hands on reports for any of the initial suspects she came up with to help narrow the field – or even get OWL results. She wasn't ruling out any of the Witches simply based on age, since Albus was from such a famous family; and there were some Witches willing to do nearly anything to catch that kind of prize.

Catching a side-long look at the younger chip off the old block-Head of the Aurors, she had to admit that he was a good-looking kid. He was also as arrogant and disrespectful as his parents; so she was going to take a lot of pleasure in breaking this story! She turned her attention just a bit to look at his cousin. Now that would be a great story, but she was obviously slim and trim too; so there would be no kissing cousins angle to exploit – while taking down another of her most-hated enemies. Ditto that for the little sister – not that she'd have expected that despite the fact that the pair of them were close-enough matches to their father and mother for the resemblance to what she remembered of their parents as young teens was a bit too vivid.

She'd been ignoring the Quidditch match for a bit too long, so she returned her outward attention to it; but continued to mentally work her story and investigation as she did that. There was a reason why she was the best at her job, and though nobody was there to witness and appreciate her skills; the fact that she was the only reporter at the stadium and investigating the biggest story of the year was proof-enough for her!

"What's so funny?" Rose asked Al as she caught sight of a small smirk and heard the soft sound of a laugh under his breath. "It had better not be for that cheap shot I just saw don Rosier try to make on Myra while the Chaser action was at the other end of the pitch."

"No, and you'll be happy – and amused – to find out that Rita's excluded you from her investigation," he leaned in and whispered. "She's a bit disappointed. Lily's in the clear now too."

"No offense, Al, but that's just gross," Rose whispered back.

"Compared to everything I've sensed so far this morning from other places; that wouldn't make the top-fifty of things worth taking offense to," Al advised her. "Myra did a nice job dodging that hit at the last moment. She's been working on that."

"You can't give them time to react or they'll manage to hit you anyway," Rose said with a nod. "Do you think these are the match-ups that Hufflepuff wanted? They're looking pretty good for Slytherin right now."

"I expected the battle between Francine and Licentia. Trace is the weakest of Slytherin's three Chasers, so I'm a bit surprised that they don't want him matched up against Jonah instead of Roman; but they may have other reasons for what they're trying to do. It won't matter enough to Hufflepuff for them to care; since Roman and Jonah are closely-matched for skill; and Scorpius is quite a bit better than both of them. He's playing a bit different too. I'll guess he's intentionally trying to make Licentia look good; though that's also at Trace's expense."

"He's taking a page from what Olivia and Lucy did for Dominique last season," Rose mused aloud. "Maybe there really is hope for him if he can care enough for others to do things like that."

"Well, if it works; maybe I'll try it out in our match against Ravenclaw," Al joked.

"You'll make Olivia and Lucy look good anyway," Rose whispered. "The big problem will be how good you will or won't make Gwendolyn look."

"I think she looks beautiful all of the time," Al offered. "As for that match, though; she'll look great all on her own – and likely at my expense every time she does shine."

"And mine," Rose reminded him. "Let's not be too happy about her successes. We do want to win that match just as much as she does."

"I'd say both of these teams want to win too – even if nobody expects Slytherin to do it. Blaise is having a much better start to this match than he did back in January. He's playing more like he did against James."

"He is," Rose agreed. "Maybe he's a fair-weather Quidditch player. Some of them never do well during winter matches."

"Is that a reason for indoor pitches; or a worthy challenge to keep our current stadiums and league schedules?"

"Let's stick with the idea for an indoor practice pitch for our team; and you can work on winter weather gear that allows us to play in the winter and be comfortable."

"I'm working on that," Al promised. "If I manage to come up with something good, though; you know that could get me into trouble with Gwendolyn when we don't share that advantage with any future Harpies' players."

"Share what?" Lily asked; smiling at Al as she turned her attention to him for just a moment before going back to watching the Seeker duel. He'd offered that comment loudly-enough that she would overhear; and he laughed quietly.

"We're just talking about some things we want to have for our Cannons team – like better winter weather gear."

"That's okay if you don't want to share," Lily said dismissively. "We'll just get Gwendolyn to raid your closet or equipment bagat home; borrow your gear; and return it again once we've figured out how to make our own."

"I don't know if that's better or worse than some other suggestions you might have offered for how Gwendolyn could get those team secrets out of Al," Rose joked; and Lily laughed.

"I decided not to go there," she admitted. "It doesn't really matter, since I expect Al would share with Gwendolyn and me anyway – even if you wouldn't like that."

"If I have a choice," Al told her. "I will be working for Rose; so that might not be an option."

"Good luck with that," Lily said with a shrug. "Blaise is playing a lot like Brandon again. it's a good strategy for him, but if it wasn't for his Beaters keeping Alex on his toes; this match might be over already."

Al didn't quite agree with that assessment, since he didn't think she was giving Blaise enough credit – just as James never gave Brandon the credit he was due. That Seeker battle did offer the other players the chance to really shine, though; and four of the Chasers managed to do that – as did Myra Graves and three out of four of the Beaters. Don Rosier would only impress the Falcons' scout; but then Al had never heard anything about Don wanting to play in the show anyway. For today, it was enough that he helped to keep his team in the game – even as Eldon and Calvin proved that they were a match for any other Beater duo in defense of their Hufflepuff team mates.

That was why there also weren't any major injuries. It wasn't entirely all fair play, since Don and Trace in particular tried to pound on their opponents, but they didn't do that with any major success. In fact, the biggest mismatch went to Scorpius in his battle against Jonah Finch-Fletchley. His broom and skills were so obviously faster and better that even a novice fan to the game could see the difference. Scorpius and Licentia also earned more shots on goal than Francine, Roman, and Jonah managed – though the actual score remained close – and the lead changed hands three times in the first two hours.

Al took a break for a visit with Gwendolyn early in the third hour; and then another one when lunch was served outside of the stadium at the end of the fourth hour. Alex and Licentia agreed to a joint time-out a quarter-way into the fifth hour, and while Licentia couldn't know it at the time; that break messed things up for Blaise in a bad way that led directly to the end of the match. That wasn't something that Al and Gwendolyn knew at the time either, but they'd been busy getting food and then catching the start of the Harpies-Falcons' match.

United had the top spot in the league and their match was at Exmoor, but while Al and Gwendolyn wanted to keep an eye on that match because of Dominique and her friends; they didn't plan on missing any of the Harpies' action. They'd drawn Ellis stadium for their match; and they were the second 'early' match for this round because the number two and four teams had drawn the late matches – not that it mattered a lot for ticket sales at the stadiums or with the mirror network audience. All four matches would be sold out; and there would be Witches and Wizards from all over the world watching the matches on their mirrors.

That made the game-watching a bit disjointed for Al and Gwendolyn once the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match resumed, but then it really didn't last much longer because Alex caught the snitch for the slight come-from-behind victory – erasing the twenty-point lead that Slytherin had managed to hold over his team for more than an hour and giving Hufflepuff the four-ninety to three-sixty victory – along with third place in both the senior team standings and the Quidditch Cup. The game stats had been impressive for Licentia, Francine, Scorpius, and Roman in that order, and while Myra had given up thirty-six goals; she'd faced a lot more shots; and had looked great too. Alex was still top scorer for the match with his one-hundred and fifty points, but while he was happy with the win; this season had still been a disappointment for him coming off of an undefeated season last year.

The post-game festivities were also a bit strange for Al and Gwendolyn – and not just because they kept watching the Harpies' match while congratulating their friends – and their foes; since they offered congratulations to their Slytherin rivals for their personal successes and a well-played game. For Al, what he sensed around him was often strange – including the addition of having Scorpius celebrating with Lysandra after the game and being able to do that with her openly. Rita Skeeter was in the mix too; since she got out on the pitch and mingled with the other visitors, the team scouts that she knew; and as many teens as she could 'network' with. Finally, one last bit of news that he got from Malorie without talking to her directly advised him that she'd somehow learned that Rita Skeeter was there investigating 'her' story. He sensed that she was taking that news pretty well, but then he couldn't just lead Rita right to her by trying to help anyway; and Malorie understood that as well as he did.

Wanting to keep an eye on Rita didn't keep Al from leaving the stadium when their friends were ready to move on and get set up in their classroom to watch the rest of the Harpies' match. He did get to witness one last bit of strange on the way out – when James and Patricia stopped to have a word with Rita. He sensed that James had multiple reasons for doing that, and he was happy with that exchange – and Patricia's reaction to the casual visit with a celebrity that she admired, but Al also had a pretty good idea of where James was leading Rita; and maybe even the when he wanted it to happen; so he didn't really need to see everything – though he did keep his extended senses active and kept a mental eye on Rita for as long as he could.

He was eventually a bit surprised to find out that he was able to do that straight through until Rita apparated to one of the stadiums once she was on the far side of the Hogwarts gates and could do that; though it had taken quite a bit of concentration on his part to maintain that connection and pick her out from the dwindling crowd still at or near the stadium. There was no way for him to talk to Gwendolyn, Rose, or Lily about everything he'd learned from her – or James; but then he expected to be able to do that later in the evening – even if that meant cutting in on his alone time with Gwendolyn.

They didn't have any of their younger Hufflepuff friends with them for the game watching; since they were all at the House victory party, but they did have extra friends and cousins that picked hanging out with their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends instead of staying in their own common rooms. Watching the ongoing match, though was like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion – for the Harpies. As usual, the Falcons put the emphasis of their game plan on pounding the Harpies first and didn't really care about scoring points. The good news for their team was that Victoire, Candice, and Hailey soon built up a one-sixty lead – and kept growing it throughout the afternoon. the bad news was that the Falcons didn't care; and just relentlessly kept pounding on them for hour after endless hour.

The tide began to turn in favor of the Falcons by dinnertime, but the Harpies still had a big lead; and continued to nearly-match the Falcons goal-for-goal as the game blasted on late into the evening. Al and Gwendolyn had to split up for dinner, but they'd continued to watch the game on their portables. By then, United had won their match over the eighth-place Bats; but that hadn't been a surprise – and wasn't a tough match for Dominique and her United team mates. The Harpies-Falcons match was the top gossip story at dinner even over the Hufflepuff-Slytherin gossip; and as a Harpies' fan; Al was a bit annoyed at just how many teens openly or secretly hoped that the Falcons would win simply because they wanted to see one of the top teams go down in the first round.

By late evening, the Falcons really began eating into the Harpies' lead, but still hadn't quite cut the lead to under one-sixty by the time Al and Gwendolyn needed to pack up his mirror and the rest of their things ahead of curfew. That meant no alone time for them; and no chance to talk about Rita Skeeter and what her visit would mean for Malorie. He had continued to think about that all day, but there really was nothing he could do about it; and he stayed in Quidditch mode after getting back to the common room and joining Rose and Lily to watch the rest of the game on the big mirror there instead of going up to his dorm room and watching it on his portable.

The Harpies and Falcons had collectively taken a handful of timeouts over the course of the match to that point; and they took another time-out at the end of the tenth hour. Candice called for that one; and she mostly seemed to do that because the Falcons were on the verge of cutting the Harpies' lead to one-fifty – a huge milestone for the Falcons – even if it still left them a long way from completely turning the tables on the Harpies and earning a one-sixty lead of their own. You certainly wouldn't have known just from looking at the players that the Falcons weren't the team with the big lead, but after ten hours; Al was sure that it was all an act – even if their players were all feeling pretty good about how close they now were to having a chance for Brand to try for the snitch catch again – once he could do that for the win!

That was surely exactly what Brand was thinking when his Falcons earned that next goal just a few minutes into the eleventh hour – and not long after the end of that time-out. He got into Gabrielle's face; taunted her; celebrated his impending victory – and then promptly lost the game for his team. Al knew what was going to happen before it did; and was on his feet cheering for Gabrielle. The reason he did that was because he'd seen something that nobody else in their common room noticed – and he knew that the Harpies had used their time-out to set up a potential game-winning play. Victoire and Vicky had put on a nice show of it, but Al knew that they'd let that goal in; and he knew why as soon as the view on the mirror switched to follow Brand's antics.

The pompous rotter was left gaping in open-mouthed astonishment when Gabrille suddenly flipped and blasted away from him. Al watched with pride as his adopted Aunt then went on to catch the snitch before Brand had managed to get turned around and half-way to her – and then she did another hard turn and raced for the relative-safety of her team mates – and they all made a beeline for the Harpies' goals as if they might need to make a final stand in a battle.

"Yes!" Lily shouted enthusiastically – along with most of the teens and tweens in the room. "Way to go, Aunt Gabrielle!"

"How did you know – and what did I not see?" Rose whispered to Al; leaning close to be overheard above the cacophony of cheers and whistles.

"The goal and catch was a designed play," he answered. "Brand fell right into the trap."

"He'll be falling into more than that if he doesn't back off," Rose suggested as they watched him race around the pitch to pick up speed.

Whatever he was planning on doing didn't happen because the entire Harpies' team was suddenly protected by a massive shield; and then the cameras showed Harry standing at center pitch with his wand raised; and a fiery, angry expression on his face. A moment later, he raised his other hand; a small shield apeared; and the bludger that blasted into view of the camera hit it hard and then was sent screaming, literally, out of the stadium.

"Do you think he's a bit mad right now?" Lily asked with a grin; and then laughed because the room had gone nearly silent and everyone heard her comment. "How far is it from Ellis stadium to Falmouth? They might find that bludger in the middle of their practice pitch tomorrow morning – while they're packing up for the off-season."

That earned a roar of laughter; but all eyes were still on the mirror as Harry proceeded to make sure that the Harpies were all protected – and then went on to heal them just in case the Falcons had the stupid idea that they'd won anyway and they'd made sure that the Harpies would simply be too sore and tired to do well in the second round of the playoffs. It was late by then, so Al didn't hang around the common room for much longer before heading up to his dorm room. He watched some of the post-game action on his portable mirror while getting ready for bed and talking about the game with some of the guys that had decided to come up to bed too, but he had a big study and Quidditch practice day ahead of him on Sunday; and he needed the rest to be able to keep up – especially when Olivia was sure to work them even harder if any of them slacked off.

He hadn't had any alone time with Gwendolyn, but they'd had a brilliant day off, so even though they had some new worries to deal with too; Al still felt pretty good as he drifted off to sleep and was out for the night.

"What an idiot," James thought to himself for the umpteenth time since the end of the Harpies-Falcons' match. He was in his bed now; some of the guys were still talking about the game; and he was already sick of it.

Everything to that point had been going brilliantly for the Falcons. They'd patiently pounded on the Harpies for ten hours; looked ready to do that for ten more; and then Brand Bletchley proved that he was still a moron with a premature partying syndrome that allowed Gabrielle to finally win their Seeker duel – and make him look foolish in the process! There was just nothing like snatching defeat right out of the jaws of victory. The Nott brothers should've tried pounding some sense into their team mate instead of wasting the effort going after his father. They'd just looked dumb again too, and thanks to getting him mad; they'd again helped the Harpies thanks to a round of express healing that likely left the lot of them better than new instead of broken and bruised.

Fortunately for him, the rest of his day had been brilliant!

Rita Skeeter was right on track to get her story of the year exactly as he wanted it to come out. Slytherin had lost the match, but Scorpius and Licentia had looked great – thanks to him! His cousins' teams had both advanced to the second round of the playoffs, but thanks to a bit too much Quidditch; he'd gotten to have some fun interludes with Patricia, Rosinda, and Bristol. That third little blast of fun had been because Bristol had been bored while her boy toy was at the Hufflepuff victory party; and he'd been happy to give her something better to do!

Of course, she'd felt guilty again afterwards, but he didn't care; and she did – most of the time – come back for more of her own volition.

His only mistake of the day was to put any faith in the Falcons. The decision to stay in the Gryffindor common room to watch the rest of the match had been made because he'd hoped for an all-night match that would allow him to legitimately cuddle with one or more of the girls until morning. In hindsight, he should have just taken his portable mirror and gone off for some more play time with one – or more – of the girls. Sure, he hadn't been able to get any of them to try that with him; but a Wizard could hope and dream!

Thinking about dreams brought his thoughts back around to Rita Skeeter. He still had more to get done if his plan was going to work, but everything was going brilliantly so far, and while he could be sure that what happened next wouldn't be all fun and games for him; he would at least start with the upper hand. That would be enough to save his rich and famous future; might take down the Head of the Aurors; and with a little luck, do some serious damage to his Animorphloser brother!

More than anything else, Al wished that he could get to their Sunday evening family time sooner instead of later pretty much from the moment he woke up and started to get ready for the day. He was able to have a quiet chat with Rose during their walk and talk about what he'd sensed from Rita, James, and others on Saturday, but didn't get to do that with Gwendolyn after breakfast or anytime during the rest of the day. He had to force himself to focus on his studies after breakfast; Quidditch practice was tough because he had to be around James when he had a barely-controlled urge to blast him for being such a deceitful git; and then he'd been busy all afternoon working on projects and tutoring his less-enthusiastic study buddies.

There was some fun mixed in with the work, but he couldn't even really get enthusiastic about the Quidditch talk – and there was a lot of that going on around the castle thanks to the playoff matches on Saturday. While he'd been glad that Victoire's and Dominique's teams had advanced to the second round, Saturday had been good for the Prides and Tornados fans – and not so hot for the Arrows and Wasps. Gwendolyn had been happy that her aunt's team had advanced too, but the downside for that was a Harpies-Prides battle in the second-round that would mean one of her favorite teams would be out and the other would advance to the Championship match.

Al hoped that the Harpies would win for obvious reasons, but also because he thought it would be brilliant if Victoire and Dominique could go up against each other in that championship match a week from Saturday!

By dinnertime, he wasn't thinking about Quidditch at all; he ate his meal too fast; and then had to wait a while for Gwendolyn to be ready to head for their classroom and family fun evening that might not be very much fun at all once they got into dealing with the Rita Skeeter-sized problem they needed to get ready for before the inevitable media storm hit them.

"I'm okay, Al," Malorie told him after closing the door behind her and walking over to where the sofas were already set up. Al had stood, but Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah stayed in their seats; and she was glad that they didn't mob her with a suffocating round of commisseration.

"How did you find out?" Al asked; and Malorie smiled ruefully and shook her head.

"I'm sure I'll find out most of the news from you tonight, but while my House mates might not know anything about the big scandal that Rita Skeeter is investigating; I was able to put the bits and pieces I overheard at the game together and it added up to my story." She sat down next to Lily after accepting Al's hug for only a moment; and sighed in relief. "There haven't been any rumors, and I haven't even heard a peep from my roommates – the most likely place where rumors about my expanding waistline would come from; so I probably don't want to know how Rita Skeeter got her hands on it."

"You don't," Lily agreed. "We also only have Al's annoyingly-acute senses to go on and don't have any proof we could use against James in a Wizengamot court – if what he's doing was even illegal; but it's obvious that he's decided to get his version of the story out there before we would do it sometime after you graduate; and he's picked the perfect investigative reporter to do the dirty work for him."

"So what do we do now – and how long do you think we'll have before Rita knows enough to splash this story all over the front page of the Daily Prophet?" Malorie asked – directing that question at Al.

"My guess is two or three weeks," Al answered honestly; his tone as gentle as possible. "Rita can't come back here again for three weeks, but she can be in town for our next Hogsmeade weekend. We can try to be even more careful and try to delay that a bit, but Rita talked with several Witches in your House while she was here yesterday; and that included one of your roommates."

"I know which one," Malorie confirmed with a nod. "She needed to tell all of us that she'd met Rita, showed off her autograph prize to prove it, and then she bragged about getting the inside scoop that her favorite investigative reporter was hot on the trail of a huge scandal right here at our school. The way she was talking; I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she was offered a reward for any information she could learn that would help Rita to break the story."

"I wouldn't put that past Rita," Rose said; "but then she likely gets all the tips she wants from her fans for free – or for no more than credit as an anonymous or named source."

"Too bad – I was going to look into how much she'd pay," Malorie joked. "How great would it be if she'd pay enough to furnish my apartment and maybe get me a few months ahead on rent?"

"The sad thing about that joke is the fact that there are Witches and Wizards willing to rat you out for free; and they don't care what the cost might be to you or anyone else – or how much someone like Rita makes on big stories. Some of her best get pulled out and dusted off every so often just so she can make just a bit more off of someone's misery – and the truth is not required."

"I don't like the idea of being one of those stories that never goes away," Malorie mused. "Instead of getting sidetracked, though; what should we do? I've already guessed that you'll want to tell your parents so that they can get your grandparents, aunts, and uncles ready for the shock."

"We do need to call them – and talk it over," Al agreed. "I wish I had any suggestions that could help you to avoid this until after your exams; but I don't get any sense that will happen now. James has put this plan in motion; and there's no way to stop it. There's nothing to gain from coming out sooner with the truth; since that'll just make things tougher for you for longer."

"Assuming I don't just get sent away from here as soon as the Headmistress finds out," Malorie said with another sad sigh. "At least I'm pretty much ready for my exams; and will only miss a couple of weeks of review – depending on how many weeks I have left before everyone finds out that I'm pregnant."

"I don't think that you'll be asked to leave this close to the end of term," Al told her seriously.

"You hope," Rose teased. "If they kick her out; then it only seems fair that they kick the father out too."

"What?" Gwendolyn asked; and Rose and Al both laughed – while he looked sheepish and his smile was rueful.

"I haven't been able to tell anyone else the rest of what I picked up yesterday," he reminded his cousin.

"Rita thinks that you're the father?" Lily demanded; and then growled. "Can Jaimie and Lorie get those bad vibes from me yet? I'm seriously thinking some bad things right now."

"I told you that he promised to blame Al," Malorie reminded them; and Al sensed that she hadn't been surprised. "If Rita thinks that Al is the father; then we know for sure that she got the tip from James. Even if someone else found out about me; there'd be no reason to connect my pregnancy to Al at all – and there are some teens around here that know I at least went for some walks and sat with James for a lot of our meals over the past two Christmas holidays."

"What else haven't you told us yet?" Gwendolyn asked Al.

That question led to a drawn-out question and answer session; they followed that up with a short discussion about how to handle the mirror chat with Harry and Ginny; and then Al and Lily both made mirror chat calls so that they would all be able to see Harry and Ginny without needing to move one mirror around.

Harry and Ginny were working in the office when their mirrors both chimed with incoming calls. The kids had done that with them before for the family night chats; so that wasn't worrisome; but then they both knew that they were in for one of those mirror-visits from the moment they could see the expressions on the faces of the trios of teens that they could each see in their respective mirrors.

"They've guessed that something is up already," Lily stated. "Now we won't get to have any fun with this."

"I'd say that you're making due," Ginny suggested. "Should we get glasses of wine for this; or just drink straight from the bottles?" She laughed when a bottle and glass appeared on the table in front of her.

"Apparently it's to be your choice," Lily answered. "Hi, Mum, Dad – how has your weekend been so far?"

"The Harpies won; so we're good," Ginny assured her. "How are all of you?"

"Jaimie, Lorie, and I are fine," Malorie answered first when Lily invited her to do that. "You really want to know what has all of us looking like this, though; so I'll add that Rita Skeeter happened; and then pass the torch to Al or one of the others to give you the details."

"What is she up to?" Ginny asked. "I saw her at the stadium last night. She came to the match late – after attending one of the other games first."

"She also attended the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match," Gwendolyn advised her. There is apparently a major scandal that she's investigating at Hogwarts that involves the younger son of a very famous family taking advantage of an innocent young Witch and getting her pregnant."

"Maybe you should write the story for Rita," Lily suggested. "it's already gotten better than the last time we heard it just a few minutes ago."

"I might prefer that story to the one where I'm a gold-digger trying to entrap the innocent younger Wizard," Malorie offered; earning laughs from the girls.

"You all have a knack for dropping these bombshells on us in interesting ways," Ginny told them. "Let's back up and start again from the beginning – which probably starts with Al seeing Rita Skeeter show up at the stadium and then sensing or foreseeing things about why she was there. Take your time so I can live in denial for a while longer that James isn't involved in somehow putting Rita on the trail for this story – and spinning it to put the blame on Al."

While he was happy to do that for her, Al still got through the story much faster this time because he didn't need to stop and answer many questions. His parents had a lot of experience with Rita Skeeter and other reporters that hated them; so nothing he told them was at all surprising. They talked about what they'd all do next to get ready for whatever Rita did; and Ginny in particular had good advice for Malorie – including being honest with her friends and roommates if they started asking tough questions. Ginny also advised Malorie that Rita would likely try to talk to her once she had a name to put on the pregnant Witch in her story; and that she'd need to be both careful and honest to avoid problems later on. Rita was, after all, a master of half-truths and spin; so any comments made to her needed to be clear, concise, and not open to interpretation. Ginny also suggested that it was perfectly-fine for Malorie to refuse to answer questions; since Rita Skeeter didn't have a right to know everything about her.

That mirror chat took a long time, but Al still did a check-up for Malorie and the twins; helped her out with some minor healing; and then they had time for some music before Malorie was ready to go back to her dorm room and turn in early. Al and GWendolyn were soon on their own after Rose, Lily, and Jonah all decided to leave them alone for the last bit of time they had left ahead of curfew, and while that didn't allow a lot of time for snogging each other senseless; they made the best of the time they had. They also visited the Owlery; sent Winter on her way home; and offered extra treats and attention for Blizzard – probably the most-neglected Owl at the castle. Al walked Gwendolyn home just ahead of curfew changed forms to get back to his House before he ran out of time; and then went straight up to his dorm room to avoid spending any time around James while he supposedly studied at one of the work tables with some of his classmates.

He wasn't quite ready to go to sleep then, so he worked on an Animorphmagus toy; did a bit of reading; and talked with some of his roommates as they came up to bed too. The second week of May was going to be another busy one as the Professors made the annual end-of-term push to get all of the required lessons taught ahead of final exams. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw still had three weeks to get ready for their match; but Al was sure that Olivia would take their training up another notch or three – if she could manage to do that without going beyond what her players could handle. The second-round playoff matches were the only extras on Al's schedule for the week, but he also expected to be dealing with rumors about Malorie – and possibly about him too; though there was no certainty that anyone would connect the dots before James was ready for them to do that.

By the time he was eventually ready to drop off to sleep; Al was in a pretty good place; so whatever the next two or three weeks would bring his way – the good and the bad; he was going to be ready to handle it all; and felt certain that everything was going to be just fine!

The second week of May – and the lead-up to the second-round of the league playoffs – proved to be at least as tough as Al had expected it to be from the school work and Quidditch perspective. He was glad that they didn't have any extra events like birthdays to deal with too; since he was up early every day and worked late each night just to keep up with his eleven classes and the heavy study load that went with them. He was able to stay focused on what was most-important; but the strange in his life kicked up a notch as he also kept an eye out for any hint of Malorie's story hitting the gossip network. Rumors were floating around about rita Skeeter and the big story she was working on, but most of the strange for Al came from the things he sensed on all levels from the little band of fan-spies that Rita had manipulated on Saturday into helping her investigation.

Those junior sleuths were suddenly more-interested in watching all of the other Witches around them in fervent search of the one that might be – gasp! – pregnant! Al didn't actually witness any of the memory charms being used, but he sensed James' internalized gloating and the effects his magic had on the girls he and Rita were targeting; so he also knew how close those girls were getting to the heart of the story as the week progressed. He knew that Malorie hadn't been confronted by her roommates or anyone else yet as they wrapped up their school week on Friday night, but she was being watched.

It wasn't possible for him to put his worries for Malorie aside for even a few hours, but the busy at least forced him to stay focused. On Friday night, that meant getting as much of his work done as possible before curfew – and ahead of the Quidditch-watching afternoon and evening they expected to have on Saturday. His morning study session was short because Olivia ordered an extended team practice that lasted for more than two hours through until lunchtime; and then Al ate quickly so that he could get to their study classroom and get everything set up for the game-watching fun.

With just two matches, United got the first and best time slot for their second-round match against the fifth-place Tornados – the lowest-ranked team still in the running for the coveted league title. The second-place Prides got the late game time; and definitely had the tougher match against the third-place Harpies. Al and Gwendolyn had everything set up in time to catch the end of Lee's pre-game show; nobody in the room was surprised when the experts picked United for the win in their match; and Lee had a split panel for predicting the Harpies-Prides match winner.

By the time Al sat down and got comfortably-cuddled with Gwendolyn as the United-Tornados match started at Exmoor stadium, he was ready for the break; but the sudden change in speed also gave him too much time to think about Malorie, the twins, and the impending news storm that would be crashing over them sooner than they'd wanted – thanks to James. The Quidditch was exciting, and the United and Tornados players put on quite a show; but the outcome never seemed in doubt to Al; and United went on to a convincing victory – led there by Dominique and Belinda with some timely Beater assists from Calvin and Tina Johnson.

There was time for some Quidditch commentary between the first and second match; and then it was time for the Harpies and Prides to shine. Everyone watching the games with Al and Gwendolyn had been cheering for United in the first match, but the second game was more entertaining due to the team rivalry between the Harpies fans and the Prides' faithful. Ryan and Katrina were the top cheerleaders for their mother's team; while Gwendolyn and Lily were most-vocal for the Harpies as they led the good-natured banter between the two groups.

Because the Harpies were playing the late match of the day, they didn't get to watch all that much of it before needing to pack up and head to the Great Hall for dinner, but while they had to settle for watching some great Quidditch action on portable mirrors; the game was still going strong as they finished eating; so they headed back to their classroom to watch the rest of the game. Gwendolyn's Aunt Meghan was having a stellar match and had only given up seven goals to the Harpies as they closed in on the end of the fourth hour. Vicky had been playing well too, but Alice and Daniella had earned one-hundred points for the Prides on a third-fewer shots on goal.

Unfortunately for the Prides, the match came to another abrupt end thanks to Erin Connelly with just minutes to go before the end of the fourth hour. She went for another of her now-infamous high-risk catch attempts; she missed; and gabrielle took advantage of the mistake to hand the victory to the Harpies – and send them to the championship match against United. While the Prides' fans in the room were disappointed; they still had a bit of party-like fun during the rest of the evening before curfew; Al walked Gwendolyn home; and then went off to bed after only a short round of visits in the common room with some cousins and friends. The weekend was only half-over, but Sunday was going to include a lot of studying and an extra Gryffindor Quidditch practice; so he wanted to get the sleep he'd need to be ready for that – and any problems that James might send their way.

James was in a great mood as he drunkenly-weaved his way to his bed in the wee hours of Sunday morning. This time, he'd been out late with Rosinda; and she'd been interested in playing with him to get some stress relief from her studies – and to get away from the never-ending Quidditch talk in the Gryffindor common room.

It hadn't been a good Quidditch day for him. He hadn't caught the snitch during his practice scrimmage even with the extra time Olivia had allowed for that mock-match; and then United and the Harpies had both won their second round matches. He'd cheered for the Tornados and Prides just because it annoyed most of his fellow Gryffindor; but then he wasn't really as disappointed as he pretended to be with the outcome.

A United-Harpies' championship match had the potential to work out brilliantly for the plans he continued to work on through Rita Skeeter and the little band of fan-spies he'd been cultivating for about two weeks now. By the time he flopped onto his bed and was waiting for the room to stop spinning from the effort; there were visions of a brilliant near-future dancing in his head. There were a series of headlines and scenes at home and school that went along with that – starting with a front page story announcing to the world that Harry Potter was grandfather to a litter of Animorphpotty pups! Visions of his father resigning from the Aurors in disgrace mixed with others where Ginny was fired from her reporter jobs for being an unfit, clueless mother; and still more where the loser was dumped by his girlfriend and left crushed while she came running to him for comfort and so much more!

He was oblivious to any sense of reality as he passed out, but then it didn't matter to him what was dream or conscious fantasy anyway. It was all brilliant, though; and he hoped that fall he was about to bring down on his family would crush the lot of them – and pay them back for everything they'd done to try and mess up his life!

The weird level in Al's life went up yet a few more notches beginning on Sunday. It might have started at breakfast – if James had shown up for that meal, but he hadn't; and the reason for that was obvious when he did manage to show up for the extra Quidditch practice that Olivia had booked in the late-morning time slot. James had played badly; Brandon had won the Seeker duel with a rare snitch catch; and Al had to put up with all of the hatred he sensed from his brother – along with a lot of vindictive confidence that he was about to finally do some serious damage to his parents and brother as his plan picked up speed to it's headline-grabbing end.

Al hated all of that, and too much of what he sensed around him over the next five and a half days was just awful to deal with – especially when the worst of it was directed at someone he loved – and her babies. In the grand scheme of things, Malorie's story developed on the gossip network from nothing to a big deal very quickly – all of it orchestrated by James. It started after dinner on Sunday when she was followed to her usual Sunday evening family time with Al, Jonah, and the girls; and thanks to more help from James; it didn't matter to that Hufflepuff roommate of hers that Malorie wasn't spending the evening alone with Al. He later learned that she didn't even remember seeing him leave the room with Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah a half-hour after Malorie had left – or that Lily and Jonah had arrived after Malorie and she'd witnessed that too.

That round of truth-shaping memory charms from James was just the beginning; and the first rumors about Malorie and Al hit the school grapevine by Monday morning. Those whispers began mildly-enough, but grew like some kind of monster plant-gone-wild in one of the greenhouses. Asking the subjects of those rumors didn't seem to be required at first, but on Friday morning; Malorie was flat-out accused of being pregnant by the 'spy' roommate – and then the rumors took off when she didn't deny it.

That drama with her roommate had been enough to get Malorie to call Gwendolyn, and by the time she met up with Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose a half-hour before breakfast; she was more mad than sad to find out that someone she'd always gotten along with for nearly seven years of school and dorm room life cared so little about her that she'd run off and started telling everyone she crossed paths with that Malorie was pregnant – and that from everything else she'd seen and heard; the 'Animorphpotty' was the father! Malorie had wanted to give them the heads up in person, and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were grateful for that, but they were also seen together – or at least Al and Malorie were seen together; while Gwendolyn and Rose were somehow, conveniently, not seen with them at all.

The rest of the day on Friday was reasonably-awful for all of them – and for Lily too; since she got badgered about the stories and razzed by some of the Slytherins too. With the news out, though, it didn't matter what Al and Malorie did; so they got together with their usual Sunday night group after dinner so that they could talk about what to do next – and to let Harry and Ginny know that the rumors and their problems at school had hit the gossip network fan.

"Where is everyone else, Al?" Malorie joked as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah were all there; but she looked around the room dramatically as if she couldn't see them – and earned a round of laughs for her effort to add a bit of fun to what had likely been one of the most stressful days of her pregnancy so far.

"By morning, Al will have come here on his own too – though we were all together; and saw both of the Witches trying not to be seen while following us." Malorie grinned at her; took two steps back to the door; and opened it quickly.

"Do you mean these two Witches?" she asked as the two teens were caught with ears to the door and gaped into the room in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Next time, try picking up one of our Uncles' extendable ears," Lily suggested. "They work great; and will save you from awkward moments like this."

The two girls didn't say anything to them; scurried off together; and Malorie closed the door again.

"You might want to seal the room," Gwendolyn suggested to Al. "It seems that there is a lot of interest in what you and Malorie are doing when you get together like this – all on your own while your girlfriend is wandering around the castle oblivious to what a two-timing jerk you are."

"That isn't the rumor I heard," Lily teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I didn't want to go there," she advised Lily.

"That's what I heard," Lily countered meaningfully; and then laughed again. "I'm sorry, and I hate all of this as much as the rest of you do, but if the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for James; he could have a big future in writing fiction or scripts for mirror network shows. I've been amazed all day at just how rotten even some of our friends can be – not to mention the fact that so many teens and tweens just believe whatever they hear without bothering to wonder if any of it is true or not."

"As if the truth seems to matter," Malorie said with a shake of her head. "I get that the rumors – and their sources – are being manipulated; but this is more-frustrating than I expected when the only answer I've given that everyone seems willing to believe is admitting that I'm pregnant. Do you think the story has gotten out beyond Hogwarts yet?"

"Maybe," Al answered. "I'm not getting a good sense of that one way or the other right now; but the timing with this blowing up today isn't a coincidence."

"Because of the Hogsmeade weekend?" Malorie asked.

"Because the league championship game is tomorrow," Gwendolyn guessed. "This weekend will be one of the biggest news events of the year."

"And James wants to ride the wave to get his lies – I mean his version of the story – out there for the world to hear and see; and it's a deviously-brilliant plan."

"You've lost me on that last part," Malorie advised her; looking confused now.

"He's going to get his story out when the most Witches and Wizards possible will hear about it, and by the time the truth gets out; the Wizarding World will have moved on to the next shiny headline – and never notice it when we try to set the record straight."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Malorie asked; and focused her attention on Al in search of an answer.

"Mum and Dad still have lies told about them from back when they were teens," Al reminded her. "We should do the same thing they do; and not worry about what other people choose to believe or think."

"I'd feel a bit better if you'd rephrase that," Gwendolyn advised him with a grin that had the other girls laughing. "We know what you meant; but Rita would have a field day with a comment like that one."

"I don't plan on talking to her at all," Al advised everyone. "She's sure to be in Hogsmeade tomorrow; and will get all of the rumors and likely then some – since I'm sure James will make sure of that."

"You're not going to defend yourself?" Malorie asked; and Al shrugged.

"I will – when it will make a difference. Rita and I haven't exactly gotten along during our first two run-ins; so it wouldn't matter what I say to her. She's going to take her swing at me anyway; and I'm not going to help her with that."

"Maybe I should stay here tomorrow," Malorie mused. "She can't do anything to me if I'm not there – or at least she can't until next weekend at your big Quidditch match."

"I think you should go – and hang out with some of us – maybe with Susannah and me," Rose suggested.

"But not with Al?" Malorie teased. "If tomorrow is as bad as today, the gossip will be about how Al and I were the only two teens in town – and that everyone else was banned so that we could have Hogsmeade to ourselves!"

"I am so glad that we'll only have five weeks of that sort of joke before we're home," Gwendolyn decided.

"It'll be the worst for the next two weeks," Lily predicted. "After that; we'll all be busy with exams – even James."

"Well, you might be right about that – if I'm allowed to stay," Malorie told them. "I wonder how long it will be before Professor McGonagall wants to see me? She must've heard the rumors by now."

"Everyone in the castle has heard the stories," Al agreed; "but Professor McGonagall won't just jump to conclusions; and she's always been fair with us. If it's okay with the rest of you; let's do the mirror chat with Mum and Dad; and they'll have some advice – and might be able to help with the school end of things too. They do have a pretty good relationship with most of the Professors here."

The girls were good with that and Jonah was just happy to sit and cuddle with Lily while trying to stay out of the more-serious parts of any discussions they had about Malorie. Harry and Ginny were in the sitting room at home when they called; and weren't surprised by the chat request coming two days early or with the news.

"Let's begin with what you can expect from Headmistress McGonagall," Ginny suggested after Al and Malorie led the storytelling with help from Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily. "You may not have thought about this yet, but you are over-age now; so she will not contact your parents; since that is now your choice as an adult in our Wizarding World."

"I hadn't thought about that," Malorie admitted. "That's good to know – thank-you."

"You're welcome," Ginny assured her. "Don't be surprised if she wants to talk to you sometime this weekend – before classes on Monday. I'd expect that she'll require that Madam Pomfrey gives you a check-up too, and as long as she clears you; my guess is that you'll be allowed to stay and write your exams."

"And if I'm not?" Malorie asked.

"Then we can cross that bridge if we must," Ginny assured her. "Your flat and office rental does begin at the first of June, though, so at worst; we're only talking about needing to find a place for you to live for a week or so – and we could simply put you up at the Leaky for that long." She smiled at Harry before adding – "Harry spent half a summer there one year while we were in school."

"Best summer of my life to that point," Harry added – "or at least the best that I could remember. I've been told that the first two were pretty good even if I was a bit too young to appreciate that at the time."

"I was hoping you'd suggest that she stay in James' room," Lily teased. "He won't need it until the end of June anyway."

"Malorie would be welcome to stay with us; but I doubt she'd want that – especially if that meant staying in James' room."

"Well, you can't have her stay in Al's room," Lily pretended to protest. "Think of the rumors that sort of thing could lead to around here!"

"You're having too much fun with this again," Ginny told her daughter; and Lily smiled and shrugged.

"I'm making jokes instead of hunting James down and doing something he'll regret. This is a lousy thing to do to Malorie. I just don't get why he couldn't wait until she was finished taking her NEWTs."

"It's funny, but I'm not as stressed about all of this as I thought I would be if my secret came out before the end of the year." She smiled at Al and Gwendolyn. "Maybe it's because I'm not in it alone."

"You're not," Gwendolyn agreed – "though I'm not quite sure whether you meant to mess with me or not with that comment."

"Only a little," Malorie assured her. "In case I forget when this really blows up; I really do want to thank all of you for being here for me. That is why this is so much easier for me." She paused and then switched tracks. "I'm going to town tomorrow, and if Rita Skeeter wants to confront me; I'll figure out what I'll do by then. I won't say anything about James or the rest of you if I can avoid it, but I will be honest about Al's involvement."

"As I've mentioned before; try to keep it simple with Rita so she can't twist anything you say," Ginny counseled. "Yes and no work best for that without anything extra added; and I personally like using 'it's none of your business' with Rita – just because I know that annoys her. She thinks that everything is her business and nothing should be private – for anyone else but her."

"I'll do that too," Malorie promised. "This isn't all bad for me. If I get to stay; at least I won't have to keep wearing all of these heavy clothes for the rest of the school year. It's been getting tough-enough doing all of the walking and climbing stairs without being over-heated too."

"So you should definitely go shopping with Rose and Gwendolyn tomorrow to pick up some nice tops and maybe even a pair of maternity shorts or something," Lily suggested. "I wish I could go along and help you."

That suggestion sent the girls off on a shopping tangent for a while; they all enjoyed the rest of their chat; and then they wrapped it up so that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose could get back to their studies with Susannah, Toni, nd Michael while Malorie, Lily, nd Jonah moved on to do other things too. While their friends were interested in talking about the major gossip story revolving around Al and Malorie, they were also all firmly supportive of Al and Gwendolyn. That didn't keep them from adding to the growing list of jokes, but as with Lily's and Malorie's jokes; it was all about having a bit of fun to help them deal with a tough situation that was certain to get worse over the next weeks – or even months.

Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any alone time before curfew, but he did walk her home; and then he didn't spend any time in his own common room because he ran into a small wave of jokes and insults from the moment he got there – and none of them were of the fun and amusing variety from his perspective. Going straight up to his dorm room seemed prudent too, since James helped out with that scene in the common room on several levels; and he was too tempted to blast him for being such a rotter! Instead of doing that, he got ready for bed and went to sleep.

That wasn't in the hopes that things would be better in the morning – he just expected the extra down time would help him to be ready to deal with the storm that was likely going to have the gale winds turn into a hurricane over the next few days!

Rita Skeeter, the greatest investigative reporter in the history of the Wizarding World, knew when a big story was about to come together – and put her in the spotlight where she deserved to be!

For her current investigation; that time was now. Another anonymous letter had arrived, confirming reports she'd already been sent by some of her little spies at Hogwarts; and adding in some key details that she hadn't yet learned. That's why she was in Hogsmeade; and why she was sure she'd be ready to send her story to print by the end of the day – and be sure to get another front-page headline – and maybe even a special section in the next edition of the Daily Prophet! Mirror Network shows would line up to interview her, and thanks to the nature of the story; it would be one that she'd be able to milk for months – and then for years more as the kids grew up.

Her timing for arriving in town was only a bit off because she hadn't added in the walk time to town from the castle for the kids, but even once the first teens arrived – the older students that apparated from the gates to the edge of town; she took her time and mingled and just listened in to the teens as they talked among themselves and gossiped while doing their shopping. 'Her' story was, as expected, the top gossip news; and she was very happy to hear a lot of awful things being said about the teens at the heart of the story.

The Hufflepuff Witch was being described as an opportunistic tramp; and it seemed that there were a lot of students interested in seeing Albus Potter being taken down in the scandal. Some of those conversations were so interesting, that it ended up being nearly an hour before Rita began tracking down some of her 'sources' for a last round of interviews with them to get the latest news from them – including the fact that Albus Potter and the Hufflepuff Witch – Malorie O'Malley – had gotten together after dinner – probably to cry over the fact that they'd been found out and would likely both be expelled once the Headmistress got involved!

She'd loved every minute of that, but then her morning really got interesting when she began to follow Malorie after getting two of her sources to point her out to them. Her first impression was that the girl was so plain and uninteresting that she couldn't imagine any Wizard finding her at all attractive, but when magic could be involved; that didn't necessarily mean anything at all. There didn't seem to be any doubt that the girl knew Albus Potter when the first time Rita saw her; she was with the boy's cousin, girlfriend, and a few other Witches. She was on her own when her second source confirmed the girl's identity; which was why Rita began to follow her.

That had been a boring waste of time, since the girl didn't do anything interesting; didn't talk with anyone beyond pleasantries with shopkeepers or teens she knew from school; and she didn't do anything worthy of adding to the story. Since Malorie wouldn't help with that on her own; Rita gave up sooner than she normally would; and literally bumped into the girl in one of the stores – that contact enough to confirm that she at least had a swelling stomach; with the reaction of a protective hand over it a good hint that she was, indeed, pregnant.

"I wondered how long you'd follow me around before doing something like that," Malorie told Rita; momentarily surprising her. "What brings you to town today, Ms. Skeeter? I would have thought that all of the reporters in the country would be busy with the League Championship match."

"Apparently, you've already guessed why I'm here," Rita answered; recovering quickly. There were many reasons for why she was the best investigative reporter ever; and this forgettably-faced kid was no match for her!

"Yes, but I'm impressed with just how good the gossip network is at Hogwarts to get your attention two weeks ago – unless you have a time-turner; and went back to do a bit of research – or plan on doing that later."

"You're not what I expected," Rita told her. "Would you like to comment on those rumors – on the record."

"No," Malorie answered with a thin smile; and Rita frowned when she didn't offer anything else.

"Okay, then let me ask you this – Is it true that you're pregnant – and became pregnant while attending Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Malorie answered.

"You admit it," Rita said; and then frowned again when Malorie didn't answer. "You admit that you're pregnant?"

"Yes," Malorie confirmed; and enjoyed watching the effect her one word answers were having on Rita – just as Ginny had suggested it would.

"Will you also confirm that Albus Potter is the father?"

"No," Malorie answered; and wanted to laugh at Rita's response to that.

"You won't confirm that?" Rita demanded.

"No," Malorie agreed.

"My sources assure me that Albus Potter is the father," Rita advised her.

"Yes," Malorie agreed; and Rita looked victorious.

"So you admit that he is the father!"

"No," Malorie disagreed.

Rita stared at her in a moment of consternation; and then nodded.

"I see. Let's be clear here. Is Albus Potter the father – the Wizard that got you pregnant?"

"No," Malorie assured her.

"Then if not him; who is the father?" Rita demanded.

"That's none of your business," Malorie said bluntly.

"You're wrong about that," Rita disagreed. "You attend a school that's partially-funded and under the purview of the Ministry of Magic. The public has a right to know about anything that happens there!"

Malorie didn't respond; but didn't try to leave either.

"Would you not like to have the opportunity to explain your actions – and those of Albus Potter?"

"No," Malorie answered. "Will that be all, Ms. Skeeter? I need to finish picking up my supplies so that I can get back to the castle in time to watch that championship match."

"No," Rita answered; smirking as if she'd won some victory with a one-word answer of her own. "Is it true that you intentionally manipulated an underage Wizard because you're a gold-digger looking for a free ticket with a famous family? Did you use magic of any kind to hook up with Albus Potter? Did he hook up with you because you'd do, um, things that his girlfriend wouldn't? Are you blackmailing the Head of the Aurors to keep this secret from geting out? Is Harry and-or Albus Potter threatening you if you don't keep quiet? I can help if that's the case. Wouldn't you like my help?"

"No, No, No, No, No, and definitely – No," Malorie answered. "Have a nice day, Ms. Skeeter."

Rita's momentary confusion gave Malorie the opportunity to walk away; and she watched the girl go to the counter; pay for her supplies; and walk out of the store before following and then watching her for a while longer as she decided whether to pursue more questions with her or not. She caught sight of James Potter out of the corner of her eye; and decided to go there instead – especially since the pregnant girl was proving to be uncooperative and as boring at talking as she apparently was at everything else. The eldest Potter son was heading toward the tea shop with a beautiful young Witch on his arm; and she followed them there – and then invited herself to sit at their booth shortly-after they'd sat down and began looking at their menus.

"Mr. Potter," she said with a nod and smile. "I've heard around town this morning that you're the Wizard I really need to talk to about the rumors that are going around here today – and about the investigation I've been working on. Would you consider allowing me to interview you for my story?"

"James," he said in answer. "Mr. Potter is my father. This is Patricia Parker." He smiled at her. "Do you mind if Ms. Skeeter interviews us for her story?"

"I'd like that," Patricia gushed. "I'm a huge fan, Ms. Skeeter. "Please, sit down with us – join us for lunch, if you'd like."

"Thank-you," Rita said; sitting down next to Patricia. "I'll order a drink, but wouldn't dream of interrupting a romantic luncheon; and I'll need to ask my questions and move on anyway. I need to get to work at the World Cup stadium soon."

"For the championship match," Patricia said with a nod and bright smile. "You'll have the only report on that I'll read in the Prophet tomorrow!"

"Only because we don't care which team wins," James offered with a snort.

"Won't you bee cheering for your cousins today?" Rita asked curiously; and James shook his head.

"No. They'll be rivals when I get to the show, and cousins or not; I'll be playing to win. Puddlemere United and the Harpies will only be also-ran teams once I'm in the show too."

"I'd like to talk to you about that another time; but let's talk about what every teen in town seems to be talking about today," Rita suggested. "What do you think about the rumors that your brother has gotten a young Witch pregnant?"

"I've been expecting something like this for years," James answered. "The only thing I'm surprised about is that it wasn't with his supposed true love." He looked at Patricia. "When was the first time I told you that he'd end up getting Gwendolyn pregnant?"

Patricia pretended to think about that. "At least two and a half years ago – maybe around Christmas during my second-year – your third." She smirked then. "I'm not surprised. "The princess half of our school's royal couple wouldn't dare mess around with the Animorphloser; so he had to find another dog to have a litter with. Did you hear the rumor about her being pregnant with twins? I'd believe the loser did it just on that. Twins do run in his family, you know."

"I do know that – and did hear that rumor too," Rita advised her before returning her attention to James.

"Do you believe the rumors?" she asked. "Have you heard anything about it from your brother?"

"I believe it and then some," James declared. "I don't talk to the loser because of all of the awful things he's done to me and my friends, but I see what goes on around me. He's been sneaking around with Malorie – probably trying to keep this secret of theirs – for months now. Not only that, but my sister is in on the secret for sure – as is Gwendolyn and my cousin, Rose Weasley." He smirked darkly. "If you really want a story – ask my parents how long they've known they're going to be grandparents. I'd wager it's been months too."

"You're telling me that the Head of the Aurors is keeping a teen pregnancy at Hogwarts story a secret to protect your family?" Rita asked in feigned amazement. "Are you certain?"

"Well, I haven't talked to my parents about it, but I can see the pattern; and know what the loser is doing – getting ready to blame this on me!"

"What!" Patricia exclaimed loundly-enough to get the attention of a lot of the teens in the shop. "You can't be serious!"

"I am," James assured her. "He's always blamed me for his mistakes – or set me up to take the fall for the horrid things he does. Mark my words – he's likely already told our parents that I'm responsible – and he's riding in to save the day again so that he can be the hero while trying to mess up my life!"

"Well, we won't let him get away with it this time – will we, Ms. Skeeter?" Patricia declared and asked.

"I investigate and report the truth," Rita answered. "Is there anything I should know that might corroborate this alternate claim?" she asked James intently.

"Well, I do know Malorie," James advised her. "I met her for the firs time the Christmas before last when I stayed here for the holidays. Not very many teens stay here over the Christmas break; so we've sat together for some meals and I went for some walks around the castle with her too." He paused and then opened his eyes wide. "I wonder if she was looking to get to know me because she'd already hooked up with Al even back then!"

"Or entrap you first," Patricia offered. "In fact, she might go along with the loser trying to blame you just to get the Wizard she really wants!"

"You're suggesting on one hand that Albus initiated the relationship and that she did on the other," Rita pointed out.

"Who's to say they aren't working together to get what they each want?" Patricia offered. "She's obviously a gold-digger; and he's a dog that wanted to do what dogs do – and couldn't get his little princess to help him out with that. If she really is in on that secret; then he must be blaming James for it – unless she doesn't care that he's gotten the girl pregnant. Maybe she likes that; since now she has a great excuse not to ever hook up with the Animorphpotty."

"Animorphpotty?" Rita asked; and Patricia laughed.

"That's just one of his nicknames," she explained. "Animorphpotty, Animorphloser, Animorphliar – you get the idea."

"Yes, I do," Rita agreed; already getting an idea for her story headline. "If you've known about this for months; how has this story managed to stay a secret for so long?" Rita asked James.

He shrugged. "Most of what I know only means something now in hindsight," he answered. "I knew that the loser was hanging out with Malorie; that my sister, Rose, and Gwendolyn have all been acting strangely; and that something was going on with them. Now we all know why; so everything else makes sense. I am just guessing about getting blamed for what the loser's obviously done here, but I'll only be surprised if he doesn't blame me – and gets Malorie to go along with it for whatever reason. I'm sure he'd have no trouble bribing or threatening her to go along with his plot. Considering some of the things he's done to me; I wouldn't even be surprised if the loser tried to get her to hook up with me over the last couple of holidays, and when that didn't work; he came up with this for a back-up plan to permanently mess up my life."

"You wouldn't believe the things the loser has done to James – and others. He got Ollie Wood suspended for most of this year. Ollie told everyone that the loser – and his own cousin, Ray, blasted him in an unprovoked attack; planted a horrid Dark Arts object on him; and then pretended to be heroes to supposedly save him from the awful injuries they inflicted on him. Blaming you for this would be just like the loser. At least you won't end up in the hospital wing this time – or like Ollie did."

James laughed. "Give it time," he suggested. "I could end up at St. Mungo's not long after Mum gets her hands on me when we get home from school – since I've no doubt she'll believe the loser. Mum and Dad always believe him over me."

"If that's true; aren't you worried about telling me all of this on the record?" Rita asked.

"I've nothing to lose," James declared. "They've been caught and the story is out there. I don't know how long my family planned on keeping this secret. For all I know; they'd have tried to keep it a secret forever to protect their reputations. That isn't an option now; so who better to blame than the black sheep of the family that the loser has conned everyone into making me out to be." He sighed with just a hint of self-pity. "If that's what they do after you break your story and the entire Wizarding World finds out; then at least I've had the chance to tell my side to you – so thank-you, Ms. Skeeter."

"You're quite welcome," Rita assured him. "Is there anything else you'd like to add to what you've told me so far?"

"I'd suggest that you be careful; but you know as well as I do how dangerous it is to cross my family. I'll pay for it if I'm right and the loser blames this on me because I won't go along with whatever they try to make me do about it; and they'll come after you if you break this story – just as they've done before."

"What do you mean by that?" Rita demanded; her attention fully-diverted now.

"I don't know the full story behind it, but I have heard some jokes about that interview that got you into trouble for being an unregistered Animagus," he explained. "I've heard that the love potions my uncles sell in their store can be used to make a Witch or Wizard fall in love with anything – including the truth."

Rita's eyes opened wide and her mouth fell open for a moment – and Patricia's expression was just as stunned.

"So that's what happened!" Rita exclaimed in a whisper. "I've always wondered..." She trailed off and then shook her head. "That's long-past and done with," she said; though that statement was all for show. Now she had even more reason to take this story and run with it! "If that's everything; I'll let you get on with your lunch. She opened her bag, pulled out a small handful of money; and dropped the half-dozen shiny galleons onto the table. "Thank-you," she told the two teens. "That should cover my drink – and your lunches. I really appreciate your time and candor." She smiled at James. "It's rather refreshing to get a bit of honesty and candor from someone in your family."

James laughed. "Maybe you could have more luck with that – if you shopped more often at my uncles' stores," he suggested meaningfully. "Good luck with the rest of your investigation."

Rita left the tea shop then; spent the rest of the time she had available before the big game to talk with a hadful of other teens for more comments; and then she left for Exmoor stadium and the gameday assignment she had with the Daily Prophet – to cover the sidelines action and gossip that went along with every Quidditch match. She didn't get a chance to talk with Albus Potter because he'd apparently already returned to the school by the time she'd finished interviewing his brother, but then he'd have been sure to lie to her – just as the young Witch was obviously doing; so that didn't really matter for her story anyway.

The only problem she still had with her story now was the need to keep it to herself and deal with working the Quidditch match when she'd rather be writing her next brilliant special report and then earning all of the accolades that she'd deserve for being so brilliant!

Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had caused a minor commotion at the castle when they'd met up with Malorie for the walk to town. Susannah and some of their friends were with them; and they collectively buffered Malorie from the whispers, jokes, and insults going on around them. As usual, when they got to Hogsmeade, Al and Michael left the girls to do some fun shopping; they took Malorie with them; and it was time to do the boring supply shopping for an hour or two.

While he and Michael were busy with those shopping chores, Al used all of his senses to learn everything he could about what was going on around town that was in any way related to Malorie and the twins. He'd known before getting to town that rita was in Hogsmeade, and after her visit to the school for the last Quidditch match; it was easy to 'lock on' and keep track of her for the rest of the morning. He knew who she talked with; monitored her 'interview' with Malorie; and was able to learn everything she talked about with James and Patricia. Doing that would seem strange to anyone else, since it wasn't the same as hearing the conversation – it was more like listening into their thoughts and interpretations of what was being said.

That was actually better, since thoughts were more-honest than the words a lot of the time, but what mattered most was that he knew pretty much everything that Rita thought she knew about the story; so he'd be able to take very good guesses about what she'd put into her exclusive bombshell of an investigative report. He'd been back together with Gwendolyn before Rita had talked with Malorie; they'd been having lunch at the Three Broomsticks while she talked with James and Patricia; and they headed back to the school by the time she left the tea shop because he'd wanted to make sure that he didn't run into her – and because they didn't want to miss the pre-game show for the biggest league match of the season!

Malorie was nervous as she neared the classroom that Rose had invited her to so she could watch the league championship match with her friends – her only friends; since the few teens and classmates she had considered friends were proving that they hadn't truly cared about her at all. she was nervous because Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were going to have a lot of their friends in the room too; and she wasn't sure what to expect. It had certainly been awful in her dorm room last night; she'd been on her own for breakfast – or at least she'd been ignored by everyone around her even as they insulted her and gossiped about her – and seemed to get extra enjoyment from doing that while she was right there with them. The visit to town had been fun despite the gossip, snickering, and jokes; since all of the rotten had been off-set by the shopping with the girls and her interview with Rita Skeeter.

She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but she'd taken a verbal walk on the wild side; and she was sure that she'd given Rita nothing to use for her big story; and it had been fun sparring with her – especially when she seemed to handle herself against someone like Rita without making any mistakes the other Witch could've jumped on and exploited. Then again, plastering her personal life all over the front page of the Daily Prophet was exploitative-enough; and she wondered how much worse things were going to get for her before they started to get better again.

Hopefully, it wouldn't get worse again the moment she walked into the room she was now steps away from, but if it didn't go well; there was likely somewhere she could hide – for the rest of the school year! Taking a deep breath; she opened the door when she reached it and went inside.

"You made it!" Lily said enthusiastically; hopping up and hurrying over to welcome Malorie with a happy hug. "The match hasn't started yet because the old windbags from the Ministry are still droning on as if anyone cares about what any of them have to say. It's almost over, though; so good timing for you!"

"Minister Shacklebolt still has to do his speech," Kathryn reminded her; and Lily smiled and shrugged.

"True, but he always keeps his speeches before these matches really short; so that's probably why we keep him around. Merlin only knows what kind of vapid old windbag we could end up with if we ever replace him!"

"That's not a very nice thing to say about our Aunt Hermione," Roxanne joked. "Isn't she sure to be the next Minister of Magic?"

"Maybe – if Uncle Percy doesn't try to get the job – and he'd definitely be scary when it comes to speeches. I still remember him droning on endlessly to Lucy about broom safety on platform nine and three-quarters on September First of Al's first year – and I'm pretty sure he didn't wrap it up until ten minutes after the train left the station. I don't even get why he was doing that; since Lucy was in her fourth-year that year. I'm fairly sure she could handle her broom just fine by then."

"There was probably some new transportation regulations from Uncle Percy's department that he needed to explain," Fred offered. "Before we totally get into Quidditch, though; you should do the official introductions – and then one or more of you should assure Malorie that she'll be safe with us today – mostly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily demanded. "If you mess with her – you'll be messing with me, cousin."

Fred laughed. "She won't even be completely safe from you when it comes to making jokes," he pointed out. "That sort of thing is genetic or something in our family. We will all play nice, though – and not just because we're afraid after you threatened to blast us if we don't."

"He's not actually joking about that part," Lily admitted; "but you are safe from all of the bad while hanging out with us. Okay, everyone who hasn't met Malorie yet – this is Malorie O'Malley; the mother-to-be of my nieces, Jamie and Lorie. You'll have to wait to meet them until sometime in late August – unless I'm not able to help Malorie go into labor early; since she's not actually due until early-September. Malorie – this is everyone; and I'll do the introductions along the way as we watch the game."

"Come and sit with Susannah and me," Rose invited. "We saved you a spot so that you don't have to sit with any of the cuddling couples – and Lily's lending Holly to us for the game."

"I can sit with you," Malorie agreed, "but it won't matter, since by dinnertime; the rumors will be that Al and I were alone in here for the entire match."

"Even for our school gossip network, that might be a bit of a stretch," Rose told her. "Have you watched many of these championship matches since starting at Hogwarts? Some of us have really missed not being able to go to them while we've been here."

"I've watched at least a bit of each of them," Malorie answered. "It can get a bit noisy in the Hufflepuff common room, though, and I didn't have a portable mirror for any of the last six matches; so I didn't stay to watch every match to the end – and I barely watched any of the match two years ago when I was more interested in studying for my OWLs."

"Aren't you worried about studying for your NEWTs even more?" Susannah asked.

"Actually, I'm not," Malorie admitted – "and I'm not just saying that because I might be kicked out of here before the end of the weekend and have lots of time to study after that without all of those pesky classes to go to," she joked. "I don't have as many classes for my NEWTs, and thanks to RevisionWizard; I'm much better-prepared already for them."

"How many OWLs did you earn?" Lily asked her; and Malorie shrugged.

"All ten that I took; but I only went on with my best six classes for sixth year. I thought that would be enough to keep up with for my final two years."

"That's what I'm going to do too," Lily assured her. "There's no way I'm going to let my classes get in the way of Quidditch when I'll really need to impress the Harpies' scouts those years."

"Victoire and Dominique managed to do both," Rose reminded her; and Lily shrugged.

"That worked for them – and four or five classes will be enough for me; since Mum would never let me get away with only taking two or three."

"I'll want to keep learning everything I can about my favorite subject," Melissa told her. "That could end up being seven of eight for me; depending on how much I like my optional classes over the next few years."

"Congratulations – you've managed to bore some of us even more than those politicians have," Hugo advised them. "We're supposed to be taking the day off from our classes and studies."

"I'd file a complaint; but you're right," Lily decided. "I'd like to hear about Malorie's trip to town. Did you have fun shopping with rose, Gwendolyn, and the other girls?"

That question changed the subject of their chat, but since not everyone was in the loop for everything that was going on with Malorie; she didn't tell them about everything – and Lily didn't try to get the news about what happened with Rita Skeeter. They also had an amazing Quidditch match to watch; and they all got into the thrills of every amazing play and the play-by-play entertainment that Lee and his team provided for all of their mirror network viewers.

Belinda and Vicky started the match with huge defensive plays and saves; and it was soon obvious to everyone watching that the 'old' veteran and one of the hottest young Keepers were going to battle it out to find out whether youth or experience would win out against six of the best Chasers in the entire league. When they began watching the contest; nobody watching could guess at just how badly all of the players on both teams wanted the win – and none of them were willing to give up even the slightest little victory without a fight as the action above the pitch raged on furiously all afternoon.

Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their game-watching gang had a lot of fun watching the game through until dinnertime; they continued to watch the game on portable mirrors while having that meal; and then they were glad to get back to watching the game in their classroom – especially when Al and Malorie had to put up with a lot more nasty from too many of their fellow students while having that meal. Belinda and Vicky didn't manage to keep a shut-out going for long at the start of the match, but they also fought on and on; and were very stingy with the goals that they did allow. Belinda never gave up more than two goals in any single hour; and the worst that Vicky did was to give up three.

Gabrielle was having a brilliant Seeker duel with her United counterpart; and Al wasn't the only person to suspect that the United Seeker was trying to earn one more championship before retiring – just as Dawn and Jonathan wanted to go out on top before giving up their spots on the team to Olivia and Lucy. There was no end in sight for the match as curfew approached, and while Al would have preferred to keep the gang together and keep watching it from their classroom; he felt better about leaving Malorie to head back to her House when Susannah quietly promised to help her fellow Hufflepuff with any problems she had once they were back in their House again.

Al walked Gwendolyn home, but when he got back to Gryffindor tower; he didn't stay in the common room to watch the rest of the match – even though Rose, Lily, and most of the others did join the party in progress there. He was alone in his dorm room; got ready for bed; and then sent mirror messages back and forth with Gwendolyn while watching the rest of the match. That still took hours longer, because the two teams were so evenly-matched and determined that neither could gain a decisive advantage.

There had been a handful of timeouts called, so it was near-dawn by the time the game ended at the fourteen hour and twenty-two minute mark of the match. At that moment, United had a three-thirty to two-sixty lead, but that advantage wasn't enough when Gabrielle finally won her Seeker duel with a brilliant play that had managed to fool the exhausted United Seeker. Al was happy for his team and all of their fans, but he was as tired as every other spectator after about two-thirds of a day of Quidditch-watching; so he exchanged some mirror messages with Gwendolyn and his mother and sister; and then he fell asleep so that he could have a nap before they'd all need to get up and started on a busy Sunday of studying and a make-up Quidditch practice for his own team.

Al needed to cheat a bit first thing on Sunday morning with a bit of self-healing to pull himself together in the morning; but that wasn't really due to the lack of sleep – it was thanks to catching the headline for the front page of the Daily Prophet. If the story hadn't been so awful; he'd have been impressed with the fact that Rita Skeeter had managed to get it out there without at least another day to get it written and in the paper while working the league championship match too. The physical copies of the Prophet would arrive with the morning Owl Post deliveries, but the Wireless Web version had been posted; so it was a safe bet that Rita's version of the story would spread like Fiendfyre by the time they all reached the Great Hall for the morning meal.

"HARRY POTTER: GRANDFATHER TO SECRET ANIMORPHMAGUS LITTER!"

On his portable mirror; that headline took up the entire viewing area, and from his perspective; the details that followed were worse as some of the people he loved the most were journalistically-shredded by the scathing article that offered up not just his head and Malorie's on a platter; but tore into everyone that was in any way involved in keeping the secret or raising such a horrid, irresponsible Wizard. Not content to just run with the facts, Rita called for a Wizengamot inquiry into the Headmistress, Professors, and staff at Hogwarts that could have such a scandal happen right under their noses; another into the Head of the Aurors for attempting to cover up a possible crime and what was certainly a breach of school rules that would have earned his younger son an expulsion; and then she called on the Daily Prophet to fire Ginny for being an unfit mother unworthy of the prestige and ethical responsibility expected of the journalists working for the most prestigious newspaper in the Wizarding World!

He'd read every word of the story before going to shower and get ready for the day; and he knew before they met up with him in the common room that Rose and Lily had read it too – or in Lily's case; was still working her way through it after getting the heads up from Rose. They'd each had long, hard hugs for him; he'd grabbed his book bag and Quidditch gear; and they'd headed for the exit before saying much of anything about the story where they might be overheard.

"I warned Gwendolyn and Malorie," Rose advised him. "I know how you feel about morning mirror chats into girls' dorm rooms."

"I sent Gwendolyn a mirror message," Al advised her; "but we didn't try to talk about it with all of her roommates around. I'm sure we'll do a lot of that once we get started on our morning study session."

"You're still going to have that/" Lily demanded incredulously; and Al shrugged and nodded.

"We still need to do the work. I'll invite Malorie to study with us. From what she said yesterday; I doubt she'll be studying with her usual group for the rest of the year."

"You're forgetting that you'll likely be hauled into Headmistress McGonagall's office this morning," Lily told him seriously. "She won't be able to sit back and do nothing now."

"Have you gotten to the part where Rita is calling for an inquiry into the school," he asked; and Lily shook her head.

"Not yet, but Rose gave me the condensed highlights while warning me about it; so I know she wants to go after Mum and Dad too." She turned her attention to Rose when she suddenly laughed. "Did I miss something?"

"No," Rose assured her with a grin. "It isn't funny; but I was just thinking that it might be fun if your parents pretended that Rita was right and resigned so that they could stay home and take a firmer hand with their troublesome teens. Don't you think that James would love that kind of twenty-four hour a day attention? As far as Rita's concerned, it's likely already too late for the two of you; but maybe there's still hope for James if they get right on that."

"That's hilarious," Lily assured her; though the laughter had been enough to prove that to Rose. "I so need to tell Mum that one – or get you to do it. I wonder if they've even woken up yet and heard the news?"

"Mum was likely still awake when it hit the Wireless Web," Al reminded her. "She had a deadline for the paper too; and didn't have much time to get that done after the match."

"Call Mum," Lily said; switching modes on her mirror so she could do that.

"You've heard the news already too," Ginny said without preamble as she answered Lily's mirror chat request on the first chime. "I wasn't as happy about it as you seem to be."

"I'm not happy," Lily assured her. "The smile is because Rose just helped us out with a good laugh by suggesting that you and Dad should take Rita's great advice and resign from your jobs so that you can take care of us kids full time – and maybe still save James before it's too late for him too; since it's obviously too late for you to help Al or me. I think you should go for it!"

"Okay," Ginny said; and she and Harry both laughed at the stunned silence that greated her answer. Her eyes sparkled with amusement when she heard Al start laughing too.

"You're not joking," Rose said in amazement. She'd been at Lily's side by then; and switched her gaze from the mirror to Al and back again. "I was just making a joke."

"I thought you'd love the idea," Ginny told her; still grinning a bit mischievously. "With all of the extra time we'll have on our hands; I might even think about doing a lot of Quidditch training – just in case I might get any offers to play in the show again that I wouldn't be able to refuse."

This time, Rose laughed. "I love you so much, Aunt Ginny. If I manage to buy the Cannons; that offer will be there – or you can just sign up now."

"Actually, I've been thinking about doing something different for a while now; so I'll be able to keep busy while waiting for you to buy the Cannons."

"And what will Dad do if he quits the Aurors?" Lily asked. "He's been doing that his whole life – and has always said it's the only thing he's ever wanted to do."

"Well, we're going to try and save James before it's too late for him," Harry called out from where he was apparently making breakfast for two. "After that, we'll have grandchildren to play with, and if I get really bored; maybe I'll see if Rose will hire me to be Ginny's back-up with the Cannons. It'll mean making some changes, since we'll be unemployed for at least a few years, but we'll scrape by somehow; and I'm sure that you and your brothers won't mind making a few monetary sacrifices in exchange for all of the extra time we'll be able to spend with you – at least when you're home on holidays."

"If by that you're suggesting that the broom budget for my seventeenth birthday is busted; then you'd better reconsider retiring," Lily warned. "I love you a lot; but that's asking for too much of a sacrifice!"

"Do you think that James will feel the same way?" Ginny teased; and Lily laughed again.

"That is so bad, Mum!"

"That's me – a bad Mum," Ginny agreed unapologetically. "Is there anything new that we should know from your end this morning?"

"Not that Rose and I have heard," Lily answered. "Most of our roommates haven't even heard – or are just reading up on it now after overhearing us. Do you have anything, Al?"

"Yeah, but it's something from yesterday in town that I haven't been able to talk about with any of you before now. "There isn't anything in Rita's story, but James told her that I'll try to blame Malorie's pregnancy on him; and offered several possibilities for what I was or will be doing."

"Like what?" Ginny demanded; looking angry now.

"That I tried to use Malorie to mess with him from the first time he met her, but when she couldn't get anywhere with him; I came up with this plan 'B' to still make it work," he answered. "Another hypothesis is that I hooked up with Malorie because Gwendolyn wouldn't do that sort of thing with me, a third is that Malorie went after him first and then me when she couldn't get him to hook up with her; and a fourth is that it's a combination of options three and four and that Malorie and I are working together – me to try and ruin his life; and Malorie to try and get the brother she really wants. He's not going to play along, though; and he's hoping that by getting the truth to Rita; we won't be able to get away with it."

"And she bought all of that," Ginny deduced.

"He was very convincing," Al assured her. "Rita was hooked the moment he professed kinship because our family had tried to ruin her too – and told her just enough of the love of truth potion story to get her riled up and hating us again."

"You were able to learn all of that from them?" Ginny asked in amazement. "Were you sitting at the table with them?"

Al laughed. "No. My sensory talents are just getting stronger and I'm getting better at using and focusing them. It might come in handy for something like this, but trust me – it hasn't been fun the rest of the time around here. That's sure to get worse today."

"No doubt," Harry told him. "We're expecting to have an interesting day out here too."

"You're not going to just go ahead and resign today, are you?" Lily asked.

"Quidditch season is done for me as of yesterday," Ginny reminded her. "Harry will need to give Kingsley a bit of time for the transition to whomever he can get that's crazy-enough to take his job; but I expect he can be done by no later than the end of your school term."

"Why am I just a little bit scared right now?" Lily asked half-seriously.

"Because you're afraid that you'll find out that you like having us home every day," Ginny offered helpfully. "Be glad instead – it could've been worse. Your father could have decided to go and teach at Hogwarts instead."

"That isn't funny," Lily told her mother. "I suppose that a summer-long holiday is out now too, but then I didn't actually think we'd be going on holidays at all; since we'll be a bit busy with Malorie and the twins – and with other things like Quidditch training and whatever else Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose will have going on with their various businesses this summer."

"We usually work on that between now and when you get home; but you're likely right about that." She grinned at Lily and Rose again. "Look at the bright side – you'll be able to train every day with the future Seeker for the new and improved Chudley Cannons!"

"That actually doesn't scare me as much as you deciding to come out of retirement and play for the Harpies again," Lily admitted. "The Quidditch play time with you sounds great, though; so I like that part of your new plan."

"Will you be dealing with all of this starting today – or wait until tomorrow when Dad goes to work?" Al asked.

"We're going to see what happens today," Ginny answered. "Kingsley may be foreced to at least haul Harry into his office today, and if that happens; we'll just get it out of the way and start moving on. When you warn Malorie, make sure she knows that we're actually very happy with these choices. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm about to be unemployed; I'd splurge and send some thank-you gifts to Rita, James, and a few others for giving us a great reason to move on; try something new; and take a few risks!"

"Don't take too many risks," Lily warned. "I will not be amused if you end up having kids and grandkids in the same year at Hogwarts in about twelve years."

"Now I'm the one feeling scared – because that sounds brilliant," Ginny teased. "Harry has breakfast ready, though, and I need to make some other calls to warn your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins; so I'll let you go and we can talk again tonight."

They exchanged the usual goodbye love and best wishes; and then Lily switched back to the Wireless Web on her mirror to resume reading the rest of Rita's extensive investigative special report as they wandered the castle hallways and continued to talk about their chat with Harry and Ginny.

"I can't believe that your Dad is actually going to resign," Rose told Al and Lily. "I always thought he'd be Head of the Aurors until he was a wrinkled up old Wizard."

"I think that it's brilliant," Al declared quietly. "We'll all still have a mess to deal with right now, when we get home, and when the twins are born; but Rita and the other reporters like her will have nothing to go after us for beyond that."

"Until Mum goes to play for Rose on the Cannons," Lily joked. "Then she'll be a bad Mum again – or a bad grandma."

"The baddest – in a brilliant sort of way," Rose added. "Getting the best players for my team this way won't work every time; but maybe I just need to look at other options; since I would've never even dreamed of this one."

"Probably because you wouldn't want your Mum playing for the Cannons if it had been Hugo in this situation instead of Al – I mean James."

"What are we going to do about that?' Rose asked more-seriously. "It won't matter now how easy it is to prove which of you is the father. Most Witches and Wizards wouldn't trust the Muggle tests for that sort of thing, and the moment any of us name James as the father; he'll have Rita right there to claim we're all liars; and the truth won't matter."

"I think we should go with Mum's suggestion and just keep our answers simple," Al suggested. "If we don't say anything beyond confirming that James is the father and never say anything bad about him in public; then that's about all we can do to avoid what would just be a media circus if we tried to get into a big, messy, public fight with James."

"So you'll take the hit to your reputation; and James likely ends up getting everything he wants from doing this to you and Malorie," Lily said angrily. "I hate that plan."

"I know," Al assured her, "but we need to think about what's best for Malorie and the twins. Handling this the wrong way could mess things up for Jaimie and Lorie for their entire lives. We know better than anyone what can happen to kids because of things that happened to their parents – or things that they actually did. I won't do anything to make that worse for them if I can help it."

Rose and Lily wanted to talk about that for a bit longer, but then they moved on to go over the rest of the story and talk about things they could do to help Malorie – assuming that she'd be allowed to stay at Hogwarts for the final five weeks of school. They had to change what they talked about in public once they were in the Great Hall, but life got tougher for Al, Malorie, and anyone too close to them as Rita's story was the only one everyone in the castle wanted to talk about. Al and Malorie each got notes to meet with Professor McGonagall after breakfast too; and that news spread quickly as well.

With his study plans for the morning delayed, Al would have preferred to have Gwendolyn and Rose go and study without him, but they refused to do that; and went with Al and Malorie after they all finished eating and met up in the entrance hall for the walk to McGonagall's office. She was already there by then; invited Malorie to see her first; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose waited on the bench in the hallway. They were a bit surprised when Malorie wasn't with Professor McGonagall for long, but Al didn't get the chance to talk with her at all because he was next to see the Headmistress – and he was told to come alone.

"Come and sit down," Professor McGonagall instructed. "This will not take long."

"Yes, Professor," Al answered even as he was crossing the room. She waited until he was sitting down before continuing.

"You know better than I do what's been going on with Ms. O'Malley," she stated. "Your friend was frank and forthcoming with me, and while I would not use Veritaserum on a pregnant Witch, she readily allowed me to use Occlumency on her so that I could, for the most part, verify her claims. Ms. O'Malley has assured me that you are not the father of her babies, so that is simply the end of it for you when it comes to Hogwarts – except for one thing. Ms. O'Malley will be going from here to an appointment with Madam Pomfrey. You are to accompany her and provide Madam Pomfrey with all information she wishes to get from you about the medical care you've apparently been offering to your friend for the past four and a half months. She will be taking over the medical care for Ms. O'Malley immediately."

"So Malorie will be allowed to stay and write her NEWTs?" Al asked.

"If Madam Pomfrey clears her to do so," Professor McGonagall agreed. "She has taken full responsibility for the situation, and while we take these problems very seriously; she has made a mistake; and we will not compound the problem by simply abandoning her. In this case; it seems best to me to allow her to finish out her final school year. That will give her the best chance for success going forward with what will certainly be difficult times as she accepts the consequences of her actions."

"Thank-you," Al said simply. "Will there be anything else?"

"No. I believe that you have quite enough to deal with right now; so I will not keep you from getting on with your day." She smiled at him; though the expression was a bit grim. "I may not agree with your choices over the past months, Mr. Potter, but you have, it seems, acted with kindness and compassion – and served your friends as you thought best. It is shameful that too many others won't see the truth of that – or will simply refuse to believe it."

"Yet something else that I seem to have in common with Dad," Al quipped. "Thank-you again – for helping Malorie, Professor. This is important for her – and for my nieces." He grinned then. "They're amazing, brilliant miracles; and that's all that really matters – regardless of what anyone thinks about how they got here."

"You're welcome," McGonagall said; her voice subdued for a moment; and then her 'Headmistress' face was back. "Now get out of here and over to see Madam Pomfrey. She's expecting you; so don't keep her waiting!"

Harry and Ginny arrived in the Ministry of Magic Atrium at ten-thirty on Sunday morning, but instead of a nearly-empty room; they were greeted by a swarm of reporters and gawkers looking to get first-hand information from them about the 'story of the year' that everyone was talking about by then – unless they were still sleeping in after staying up all night to watch the league championship match. They were not surprised to see Rita Skeeter in the vanguard of the reporters; and they all deferred to her as they surrounded the couple and waited to hear what questions Rita would ask of them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, would you please confirm for all of us that your son, Albus Potter, has gotten a young Witch – Miss Malorie O'Malley, pregnant while they were both on the premises of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry – and that you will be grandparents to his Animorphmagus litter?"

"No," Ginny answered with a grim smile.

"You'll continue to attempt to lie and keep this latest dirty little family secret?" Rita crowed. "It's far too late for that!"

"We've never lied about anything to do with your story," Ginny answered.

"You just did!" Rita countered.

"I didn't," Ginny disagreed. "Now, if you'll excuse us; we have a meeting to get to with the Minister of Magic; and we wouldn't dream of keeping him waiting – especially when he's been forced to come in here on a Sunday – and just hours after many of us got home from being lucky-enough to watch one of the all-time best league championship matches."

"There's no excuse that I can see for a pair of lying, deceitful parents like the two of you," Rita declared loudly as she walked along with them as Harry, Ginny, and the entire mob slowly made their way toward the security checkpoint. "Will you lie to Minister Shacklebolt's face too?"

"No, we won't," Ginny assured her. "You don't want the truth anyway, since Malorie did tell you that Albus is not the father of her babies – just as you reported in that hack job you call a story. Tell us, Rita, how is it that you were able to determine that she's lying about my son while your anonymous sources are telling you the truth?"

"A better question would be how you seem to know so much about Miss O'Malley. Could it be that you've known her for months – just as my sources claim?"

"Yes, we have known her since January," Ginny agreed – "though we haven't met her in person yet."

"So you lied – you are the grandparents of her children!"

"I didn't lie – and yes we are," Ginny answered; and then smiled at the round of gasps that followed that statement.

"Aha – you admit it!" Rita crowed; and Ginny laughed.

"It's interesting what you choose to believe I'm telling you the truth about, Rita."

"I've caught you in the lie – by your own admission!"

"Really?" Ginny taunted. "So far, I've told you that Albus isn't the father, we are not the grandparents of his Animorphmagus litter – because he isn't going to be a father anytime soon; that we won't be lying to Minister Shacklebolt; and that we are the grandparents of Malorie's twins. None of those answers are lies."

Rita got a calculating look on her face. "So you're going to protect your younger son by blaming your eldest?" she asked derisively.

"No," Ginny answered.

"Then you admit that Albus is the father!"

"Rita, now you're just being obtuse. Albus is not the father. That part of your story is a flat-out lie and your anonymous sources are wrong."

"You're saying that James is the father," Rita stated; and Ginny shook her head.

"No – you're saying that. I haven't said anything of the sort."

"Is James the father?" Rita ground out between clenched teeth.

"Yes," Ginny confirmed.

"So you've been caught in another lie; and you are blaming him!"

"I'm not blaming him," Ginny disagreed. "It's a fact – and a rather important one that you seemed to have missed in your rush to get your story printed on one of the biggest news weekends of the year. For the record, we don't blame Malorie either. She's a wonderful young Witch; she'll be an amazing mother to our granddaughters; and we feel blessed by the Light that we'll get to have all three of them in our lives."

"So you're going to blame James and force him to take on this manipulative Witch and his brother's litter?" Rita demanded. "How could any mother do that to a fifteen-year old boy?"

"You're making up those claims out of thin air," Ginny retorted. "I've said no such thing; and have not and will not ask anything of James regarding Malorie or his daughters. He's sixteen as of last February, by the way; and Harry and I have agreed to respect his choice in this matter – which is to have nothing to do with Malorie or the twins."

"Why should he? They weren't his mistake!" Rita countered.

"Those babies are not a mistake; they're a gift – just as all children are!" Ginny declared loudly. "What is the matter with the lot of you? None of you would care a whit about this story – or Malorie and her babies – if it wasn't connected to our family! Will you all feel better if you can go home today after doing your part to try and ruin the life of a sweet, young, single mother-to-be of twins? Will you be satisfied if you can destroy my – our – family? What will be enough of a response to satisfy all of you just because two teens had sex and made a couple of babies?" She looked around at the Witches and Wizards nearest to her and shook her head in disgust.

"We love our family and friends, and always try to do our best by all of them. We'll continue to do that as best we can, so I really don't care what everyone else thinks about Rita's story – or whether you choose to believe what I've told you is the truth or not." She smiled at Rita. "I do want to thank Rita Skeeter for once again showing us the worst that our fellow Witches and Wizards can be with her half-baked story. It's helped to make a lot of things very clear to us; so we are very grateful to her for that unintended little blessing!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rita demanded; and Ginny laughed.

"Stick around and find out," she suggested.

Al was blissfully-oblivious to what was happening at the Ministry of Magic as he headed out to his Quidditch practice with Rose. They were barely going to make it on time, since he'd been busy with Malorie and Madam Pomfrey for quite a while after his meeting with the Headmistress; so everyone else was there already – and they walked into more trouble – and that was again thanks to James!

"Well, the AnimorphDaddy has finally shown up; so now we can talk about him to his face – and you can kick him off the team!" James said loudly while smirking darkly at his brother. "Come on over, liter-bug," James taunted. "We've just been discussing the big news of the day – and whether you deserve to be kicked off the team – unless you've just come to say goodbye and tell us you're being sent home."

"James has insisted that we talk about this," Lucy offered seriously. "The rest of us don't know what to think because you're not really saying anything, Al – other than denying that you're the father of those babies."

"Have you been suspended?" Olivia added and asked; sounding almost hopeful that he was being sent home – and Al knew that's how she truly felt too because she didn't want to be forced to make a decision about his status with their team.

"How can you even ask that?" Rose demanded before Al could answer. "He's told us that he isn't the father of Malorie's babies, and if you've read Rita's hack job; then you know that Malorie has said the same thing! That should be the end of it; and we should just get on with our practice."

"Rita's also reported that you've been in on the lie all along," James shot back. "As far as I'm concerned – you should be off the team too!"

"James – that's enough!" Olivia warned. "We've less than a week until our match; and even switching out one player could be a very bad idea – regardless of what we do or don't believe about the gossip going on around here about Al."

"It isn't gossip – it's fact!" James shot back. "You can't just let the loser play next Saturday – he doesn't deserve the honor!"

Al sighed as he sensed the reactions to that from all of the other teens except for Rose and Ray. "I have told the truth," he said quietly; "and so has Malorie. If you don't want to believe us; then I won't play on Saturday if that's what all of you want."

"Al – no!" Rose shouted. "This isn't right – especially when..."

"...the majority of our team mates agree with James?" Al interjected before Rose could say something she shouldn't. "It's your call, Olivia. What do you want me to do?"

Olivia pretended to look conflicted; but she really wasn't – and for her own, personal reasons. Al knew she was wrong to think that she'd look better to the scouts without Al than with him; but she'd never believe that – just as she didn't really believe his denials about Malorie and the twins.

"I want you to leave," she declared with a sad sigh that was just as fake as the rest of her reaction. "You're off the team, Al. I'm sorry."

"You're not," he said seriously; "but that's okay. Good luck on Saturday." With that said; he turned and walked away.

"Al – Olivia!" Rose stammered; looking from Al's retreating back to her team Captain. "Don't do this!"

"You're welcome to go with him," James taunted. "I'm sure that we'd be better off with Louis in goals anyway!"

"Are the rest of you going to just sit there and go along with this?" Rose demanded instead; looking from face-to-face and hating the responses she saw in those expressions. "Al doesn't deserve any of this; and you should all be ashamed of yourselves!" Turning her attention back to Olivia; she put her hands on her hips. "Al stays – or I go too!"

"Yes!" James declared enthusiastically.

"We need to get ready for our match; and this will all be too much of a distraction," Olivia told her. "I want you to stay and play; but Al's off the team – and that's final."

"Then I'll have no part of this," Rose told her. "You're all wrong about Al – whether you come to believe that or not; and it makes me sick to see how easily you turn on your family and friends over a bunch of horrid lies!"

"This isn't personal," Olivia tried to insist. "I'm just trying to do what's best for our team and House!"

"Well, it's very personal to Al and me, but it's your call; so I hope you're right about that," Rose told her with a sigh instead of going off on her – which was what she really wanted to do. "Good luck on Saturday."

She'd hoped for better, and was saddened when nobody tried to stop her either. It didn't take long to catch up to Al because he'd slowed and waited for her; and he had a hug and a favorite chocolate waiting for her too.

"You should've fought to stay," she told him.

"You didn't have to leave too,' he countered. "I couldn't win that fight without hurting others; and I'd have looked like an egomaniac if I'd suggested they can't win without me."

"You mean that you don't want to just come out and admit that James is really the father," she whispered while unwrapping her chocolate. "That's sure to come out today – tomorrow at the latest."

"True, but that won't be from me; and we'll see how many of our team mates believe it – if they even care at all. This does work out nicely for Louis and Gina."

"Maybe – if they win on Saturday," Rose suggested. "You obviously didn't think this through, though; since Gwendolyn's likely to turn you into a bug when she finds out."

That warning didn't keep him from going to their study classroom to meet up with Gwendolyn, Susannah, Toni, and Michael – the only teens from their study group to decide to work with them all morning; but they went back to their dorm rooms to drop off their Quidditch gear first; and did that after an extended walk around the castle so they could finish talking about their problems with the team. Gwendolyn had not been happy to hear the latest drama news, but she settled for verbally blasting Al instead of trying anything more-drastic. Their study time wasn't very successful thanks to the drama distractions, but then they also stayed out of the loop for the latest gossip because they were too busy to check the Wireless Web or mirror network news shows to know about the drama that Harry and Ginny were at the center of at the Ministry of Magic.

Nothing really changed when they got to the Great Hall and were jumped with that latest blast of gossip. They weren't early for lunch, but they were there before the Gryffindor team arrived straight from their workout; so they had time to process that news from the Ministry of Magic Atrium scene – and be ready for James when he heard the news too; and immediately denied his mother's claims while blaming Al for setting him up and turning his parents against him. He also helped to spread the news rumors about Al and Rose getting kicked off their team – another proof that Al was guilty and Rose had been a willing accomplice in keeping the secret! All of that added up to a mess of emotions and thoughts for Al to deal with all around him; and the majority of teens and tweens didn't really care about the truth – they were just enjoying getting to see him being torn down – whether that was because of hatred, jealousy, or no reason at all.

While having their meal, Al and Rose watched replays of the atrium highlights on his mirror; so they were still doing that when the repeat of that story was interrupted to cover a surprise press conference with Minister Shacklebolt – and Harry and Ginny Potter.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Kingsley began somberly. "It is my sad duty to announce today that Harry Potter has tendered his resignation to me this morning for personal reasons. While I attempted to dissuade him from this decision, he has assured me that he wishes to retire from the Ministry of Magic so that he can spend more time with his family. Auror Potter will stay on for a number of weeks to ensure a smooth transition for the Aurors and the entire Magical Law Enforcement Department; and I will be announcing his replacement sometime over the next few days." His expression became stern as he looked at as many of the reporters as he could make eye contact with in just a handful of moments.

"Finally, while I am confident that Auror Potter will leave the Ministry of Magic and our corner of the Wizarding World well-protected by his superbly-trained team; I cannot say the same for the disservice all of you have done to all of us today!"

"Revealing the failings of our Ministry of Magic leaders is not a disservice – it is a duty!" Rita called out indignantly; and he pinned her with an icy glare.

"Harry and Ginny Potter did nothing more than attempt to protect a vulnerable young Witch from exactly what you and your willing cronies did to her today! Your motivations, on the other hand, have nothing to do with anything beyond petty self-enrichment with no care whatsoever for the consequences to those kids involved. Well, congratulations, Ms. Skeeter! You've managed to convince the Head of the Aurors to retire. Will that be sufficient consequence for this supposed injustice? Will you leave that young mother-to-be in peace now – or will you need more? Should we spend money on an investigation of Hogwarts over this? I'll save everyone the effort and pointless expense! There are hundreds of teens at our school; and I know this is going to be shocking to everyone watching and listening; but some of them occasionally hook up and do more than snog each other in the common rooms or secret passageways! Here's another shock for you – this young Witch is not the only teen to get pregnant at Hogwarts over the long centuries since it opened!" He shook his head.

"We should all be celebrating what had been, before this morning; a brilliant weekend instead of saying goodbye to one of the finest Aurors to ever possess the title while demonizing a pair of teens for what should have been left as a private matter. With that in mind, I am going to go home to my family. Harry and Ginny have agreed to answer some of your questions for a while, but like them, I know what really matters in life; and want no further part of this foolishness."

With that, Kingsley walked away; and Harry and Ginny quietly stepped up to the podium. They were holding hands; and looked calm and serious as they waited for Rita to ask the first questions – sure that the other reporters would defer to her again.

"So – you've resigned," Rita stated. "While this is a refreshing change; I can't help but wonder how much more there is to this story that is yet to be revealed for you to choose to leave instead of risk even more salacious revelations. Is that what's going on here?"

"We've simply decided to take your sage advice, Ms. Skeeter. By the time our kids are home for the summer holidays; we'll be ready to be proper, full-time parents – as you suggested in your story this morning. I'm sure that every parent can relate to the challenges of juggling work and family. We've decided that you're quite right about that particular issue; and are looking forward to spending that extra time with our children and grandchildren!"

"Forgive me; but that sounds like total rubbish," Rita declared dubiously; and Harry laughed.

"Well, it was your idea and advice; so you're welcome to your opinion, but if you thought that it was rubbish; then why suggest it to us?" he joked; earning a roar of laughter. "What's really funny to me, though, is that we really do think that was the only part of your investigative report that wasn't worth tossing into the Owl cages."

"How dare you speak to me that way!" Rita sputtered; and Harry laughed again.

"Get used to it, Rita," he told her. "I've resigned from the Ministry and will be done here shortly, so I'll be a private citizen; and free to say whatever I want to you or any other reporter without concern for repercussions or worry that I might tarnish the Ministry of Magic in any way. I haven't felt so free in decades – so thank-you for that too!"

"What did you mean by 'we' a bit earlier?" one of the other reporters asked; and Harry waved for Ginny to answer that question.

"As of this morning; I resigned from the Daily Prophet and Quidditch News," she advised everyone while looking directly at Rita. "I have been considering pursuing other interests for a while now, but this latest, frivolous attack on my family has prompted me to just move on now during the off-season; I can spend the summer with Harry and our family; and then move on to something new that will also allow me to be there for my children and grandchildren."

"More like you quit before you were fired," Rita scoffed; and Ginny laughed.

"You've gotten what you demanded in your story, Rita. Does it really matter so much whether we resigned from our jobs or were sacked? Enjoy your glorious victory while we enjoy the love and joy of spending time with our family." She looked around at the other Witches and Wizards in the room. "Any other questions?"

There were, but Al and Rose watched all of that while getting together with Gwendolyn, Malorie, and just a few of their study group friends for the walk to their classroom. Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and a few other friends were going to join them; but planned on catching up once they picked up the things they'd need for their own study afternoon plans.

"Your Mum apparently didn't want to take her own advice today," Malorie told Al once they were well-away from the gawkers in the Great Hall and entrance hall. "I've loved every minute of what she's been saying to Rita, but that'll just get her more angry and vindictive; and I still can't believe they're quitting their jobs over this!"

"Mum was serious when she told us that they're very happy," Al reminded her. "Free grandparent babysitting services will just be a really great bonus for you anytime you need it – or just need a little break from twins."

"They may be happy; but you can't tell me that they'd be quitting right now if not for me," Malorie countered.

"That's true," Al conceded; "but I think that's a good thing. I've got three years left of school before I'll need to go out and live in the real world, and Lily only has five. If they're serious about making this kind of change; what better time for it?"

"I don't know," Malorie admitted. "None of that is really going to keep me from feeling awful about this anyway – and I feel even worse about what I've heard happened to you and Rose with your team."

"Maybe Olivia will change her mind about kicking Al off after that press conference," Rose suggested.

"She can't," Al advised her quietly. "If she did, that'd mean believing Mum and Dad; and then what would she do – kick James off instead?"

"That's what would be the right thing to do," Rose countered; "but you're likely right. She won't do that – especially after taking the hit to get him back on the team."

"We'll be okay for that too, Malorie,' Al assured her.

"Why don't you just shelve all of that for now and not worry about it," Gwendolyn added and suggested. "For all we know right now; it'll be all of us wishing they hadn't quit before we're half-way through the summer; and I'm seriously thinking about doing all I can to make sure that Olivia regrets kicking Al off their team instead of sticking by him." There was a pause as they all listened in to one of Ginny's answers to a question about James.

"She's putting such a nice spin on both James and me; I don't get how so many believe all of the rubbish in Rita's story."

"They feel better about themselves at your expense," Susannah offered quietly. "Look at some of them – they're unhappy simply because Al's Mum and Dad choose to see the love and joy in their lives even as they believe they should be devastated by this supposed scandal. I've seen that sort of thing so often when helping my Mum and Dad with their charity projects. Too many Witches and Wizards just can't figure out how to be happy regardless of your lot in life."

"I need to remember that sometimes," Malorie told her; and Susannah smiled and shrugged.

"We all have pity moments; but people like Rita Skeeter only seem to feel good about themselves at the expense of tearing others down for whatever reason. Haven't you wondered today why it matters to her which Potter son is your babies' father?"

"It's a better story the way she's trying to tell it," Malorie suggested; and Susannah nodded.

"It is; but I'll guess that she prefers to go after Al because he messed things up for her by becoming an Animorphmagus. She was one of a special few until he came along; and now she isn't – compared to him. Nothing else changed for Rita, and Animagi are still very rare; but she can't stand being outdone. That's exactly what's going on around here against both of you – just to comparatively-milder levels. Nothing has changed over the past week for anyone who is enjoying your misfortune; yet they feel better by comparison. A few might be privately jealous of you instead; but it's sad how few see the beauty and joy in what's happening for you."

"Well, all of that may well be true, but I'm glad for the break from all of the drama – and really need to get working on my revision now that I'm being allowed to stay," Malorie said. "I'll need to work even harder now that my old study group has basically told me to get lost."

"Their loss – our gain," Rose told her with a smile. "I'm glad that we can hang out whenever we want now. If you can't get any study help anywhere else; we can ask Mum or Aunt Ginny to help with some tutoring. They were both top students in their classes."

The conversation moved on from there, and they watched the rest of that press conference; but then they got to work for the afternoon and immersed themselves in their studies straight through until dinnertime. More drama was to be had while in the Great Hall again for that meal; but then Al and Gwendolyn were happy to have their usual family night with Rose, Malorie, Lily, and Jonah – especially when they were able to add Hugo to their group and have mirror chats with three sets of parents. The music time was great; and the mirror network watching included the highlight of Lee's nightly opening monologue because he went on a hilarious rant that was all about making fun of Rita Skeeter along with some jokes about what to do with a still-moderately-young and reasonably-healthy former Head of the Aurors.

Al and Gwendolyn had a large Owl Post package to send home with Winter; they made that visit to the Owlery to get a bit of alone time ahead of curfew; and then Al walked Gwendolyn home and went on to his own dorm room with plans to go straight to bed and crash for the rest of the night.

James was up late, sitting in the common room, working on assignments that needed to be handed in on Monday; and wishing that he could just go up to bed; take a couple of nightcaps; and pass out for a few hours.

That wasn't for any specific reason – more like a case of everything catching up with him all at once after a too-busy and emotionally-draining few days. Okay, that was more like a draining couple of weeks as he'd put his big plan into play. It had been brilliant to watch it all come together in a way that had been about as perfect as he could have hoped; and the Animorphpotty was such a loser that he basically didn't try to defend himself at all – not even to try and stay on the team for the final match of the season! Of course, that didn't mean that others didn't come to his defense – which was likely the loser's counter-attack plan; since that was the way he rolled; and it worked to con their family and his closest friends – even if it failed miserably with most Witches and Wizards.

He hadn't decided what to think about the bombshell that his parents had dropped on everyone in reaction to Rita's story. At first, he'd been elated – he'd single-handedly taken down the Head of the Aurors – probably got him to agree to resign instead of being sacked; since that had been announced right after he'd been hauled into the Minister of Magic's office on a Sunday morning! Having them name him as father of their grandchildren had sucked, but he'd expected that; and Rita had been quick to help him out with that – and it had worked with a lot of the teens at Hogwarts too; so he hadn't even needed to work very hard on keeping them believing his side of the story for that either.

No, what he was beginning to worry about was just how awful his summer was going to be with his parents unemployed and home every day. Lily had surely been messing with him when she'd asked him about that and had gone on to suggest that it was going to suck for them now that their parents were out of work and would likely have to spend their Lightningbolts-for-the-kids fund to keep paying the bills instead. He hadn't been able to tell whether she was joking or not about how tough it might be having their parents home every day all summer keeping an eye on their every move, but the more he'd thought about that; the more-sure he became that they'd be doing exactly that with him!

"It's a good thing that you have a summer job with the Catapults," James told himself.

Making plans for ways to turn that job into a six or seven-day a week haven from his family distracted him from his assignments, but then he was just putting together a bunch of nonsense that likely wouldn't fool even the dimmest of his Professors. The only reason he was bothering at all was because he'd been threatened that if he didn't get the rest of his assignments and projects handed in; he wouldn't be allowed to take his OWLs in those subjects. He'd get them handed in; but they didn't say anything about those assignments being anything better than total rubbish fit for Pygmy Puff cages!

His worries over his family and pregnant Witches were far from over, since that story would be around to annoy him now and then for as long as those kids lived, but he was sure that he'd done what he could to minimize the hit to his reputation; he'd managed to get a lot of people to put the blame on the Animorphloser; and he'd also, finally begun to seriously pay his parents back for always picking the loser over him by getting them sacked from their jobs – and it didn't matter to him whether that was official or whether they'd been allowed to 'resign' in disgrace instead!

All-in-all, even with the ongoing annoyances – like time-wasting, inane assignments from idiot Professors, things were looking pretty good for him, so with this latest success; he was fairly-confident that his rich and famous future could proceed exactly as planned!

The big story of the weekend – the biggest of the year, from some perspectives – continued to top the gossip network at Hogwarts and elsewhere during the week leading up to the final Hogwarts Quidditch match of the season. Al couldn't stay out of it entirely, and he had to put up with a lot of jokes and razzing from all around him – though that was actually mild compared to the sensory overload that most people were completely unaware of – and would likely be horrified if they ever found out just how much he could and did know about them.

With just two weeks left to the start of exams, though; he had a great excuse to hide away with his study group and work all of the time – especially now that he didn't have to worry about getting ready to play against Gwendolyn and her Ravenclaw team. Gwendolyn still had all of her practices, but while he'd have been glad to help her with extra training; she wouldn't let him do that and risk adding more fuel to the gossip fires that were burning all around them. His one social outing was one he didn't end up missing out on – Ryan's fourteenth birthday party on Tuesday. Katrina, Gwendolyn, and Ryan's friends had that party between last class and dinner; so he was able to do that with Gwendolyn thanks to not being busy with his team practice instead. He helped with the work at both ends of the party; had fun despite some of the jokes, insults, and drama; and especially liked that break in the work because it meant a bit of extra time with Lily, Jonah, and some of their younger friends and cousins too.

In addition to the studying, Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends had Malorie with them for nearly every study session. She would've liked to have other NEWT students to work with again, but could get by on her own; and did have help whenever she needed it – either from Al for some things that he knew how to do even though only a fourth-year student; or from Ginny or Hermione. Ginny had more time to do that, since she was, after all, unemployed now; but Hermione was happy to help out too – and seemed to enjoy those mirror chat tutoring sessions. Al and Rose were happy to learn first-hand that Malorie was a good student; since that confirmed that she'd be able to handle the job they'd hired her to do, and while she wasn't one of the best in her year; she was a solid O and E student with a good understanding of all of her magical subjects.

Al and Rose didn't have to worry about game night curfew on Friday evening, but Gwendolyn needed to be back in her dorm room an hour ahead of normal school curfew, so they studied until then; Al took a break to walk Gwendolyn home; and then he rejoined Rose, Susannah, and Malorie to continue working while the rest of their study group friends took that opportunity to move on and have fun for the rest of the night. Even though they weren't still playing for Gryffindor, Al and Rose did expect to be taking most of Saturday off; so they wanted to keep working as much as Susannah and Malorie did while they were all in exams-prep-mode now that their end of term assignments were done and they were doing exam review in every class for the final week and change ahead of those all-important tests. That extra study time wasn't the end of the night for Al, but he only stayed in the common room with Rose for a little while before heading up to his dorm room – just long-enough to have a short chat with Lily, Denise, and a few of their friends.

He might have stayed longer if not for the resumption of some insults and razzing – along with the snogging he didn't want to be around, but then he'd wanted to stay away from crowds all week anyway; so that wasn't really a change from his recent normal routine. He was on his own in his dorm room as he got ready for bed, but instead of enjoying that alone time; he opted to just go to sleep and make sure he was ready for what he was sure would be a really tough weekend.

"Good morning, Rose – Lily," Al said warmly as two of his favorite Witches crossed the common room to meet up with him on Saturday morning. "I didn't expect you to join us this morning, Lily. Couldn't you sleep?"

"No, and I'm seriously thinking about blaming you if we don't win the Quidditch Cup today," she advised him before sharing a quick hug with him and then making way for Rose to do the same. "If you were a bit more like James, we wouldn't be in this mess; and you'd still be on the team."

"If I was more like James, those stories might all be true – and I'd be a bug with a bat-bogey affliction," Al joked. "Either way; I'd be off the team."

"He has a point there," Rose conceded after she and Lily both laughed at his joke. "Let's get out of here, though; since we don't want to talk about this around here."

"Why not?" Lily asked with a scowl. "Everyone else is – and the majority are going with the delusion that our team will be just fine without our best Keeper and Chaser."

"Which is why we shouldn't sit around here saying things like that," Rose told her seriously. "You shouldn't even be suggesting that, Lily; since you do want to win that Quidditch Cup."

"Don't you?" Lily countered.

"Sure – though that's for our House; since I have no idea whether Al and I would still get any credit for that now."

"What about you, Al?" Lily asked next.

"I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best – like any good future Cannons' player would."

"You think that we'll lose today," Lily declared; though she said that in a whisper – and they were out and on their way down the hallway by then.

Al shrugged. "If we do; just add it to the list of everything else I'm being blamed for these days. One more won't really make a difference to me at this point."

"I hate this!" Lily declared in exasperation. "If we don't win today; I'll have five wins in two seasons; and still not have a Quidditch Cup to show for it – while James already has two – despite having a lousy junior team record!"

"That doesn't seem fair," Rose offered sypathetically; "but let's not pile the blame on Al – even if he is too-willing to take it on regardless of the fact that he doesn't deserve any of this!"

"He is a trouble magnet," Lily reminded her cousin. "Maybe he does – and you might want to keep that in mind before hiring him for you future Cannons' team. You could end up with these sorts of blunders happening to you and your team every season."

Rose laughed. "I don't plan on hiring James, Ollie, or any of our favorite Slytherin haters too; so I think we'll be okay. We're just borrowing trouble with all of this talk anyway. Louis is a really good Keeper too; Gina's a decent Chaser; and this could work out exactly as Olivia hopes."

"Okay – let's go with that and stay in a happier place while we can," Lily decided; and then grinned at Al. "We can always go back to plan 'A' if that doesn't work out, blame Al; and then blast him for costing us the Quidditch Cup!"

While that walk and talk was pretty good – even with the bits of serious mixed in with the jokes and Lily's not-so-faux threats; breakfast in the Great Hall wasn't as much fun for Al. While the seven members of their senior team were lifted up and offered best wishes by their fellow Gryffindor, the fact that he wasn't one of those players seemed to drag 'his' story back into the spotlight again; and there were a lot of teens and tweens in the room enjoying his ongoing downfall with the scandal that had not just cost him his spot on the Gryffindor team; but had also cost his parents their careers!

There were a few more believers on his side than at first – and that was mostly thanks to his parents sticking up for him too; but the haters were still in the majority – particularly since he had almost nobody in his corner in Slytherin House. He was happy to escape the castle after he ate; enjoyed the bit of time he was able to spend with Gwendolyn before she needed to go into the Ravenclaw locker room and get ready for the big match with her team mates; and then he opted to go for a fly and just stay away from everyone for as long as he could until game time.

Rita Skeeter was in a great mood as she walked onto the school grounds at Hogwarts with the first group of visiting spectators from town and elsewhere. She wasn't the only reporter in the group, but other than exchanging a bit of small talk while waiting at the gates; she ignored the others. They were just a bunch of second-rate hacks trying to glom onto her story – just as so many others had been trying to do over the past week. Some of them tried to bolster 'her side' of the story; while a few tried to tear her down and side with the Potters.

Her side was winning.

That was great for her, but not everything was working out the way she'd hoped. The Daily Prophet owners and managers had been angry over losing their top Quidditch reporter – and had placed the blame for that squarely on her shoulders instead of where it belonged with Ginny Potter herself for being such a horrid mother and person! Worse, at least for the newspaper; they lost a notable amount of advert revenue when a number of businesses simply pulled their adverts out of the paper as soon as they could do that over the past week. Fortunately, that was off-set by selling more papers thanks entirely to her daily contributions reporting on the ongoing effects of the scandal, but that would be temporary; and the lost advert revenue might take much longer to replace.

That wasn't going to be an issue for a while yet, though; and Rita was happy because she was certain that there would be a lot of material for future columns to be had today – especially since the Animorphloser had been kicked off of his team over the scandal; and that could make for a great story all on its own! That thought had her envisioning a brilliant match for Gryffindor while the Animorphpotty was forced to sit like a good little dog and watch his brother win the day – and prove that the loser-themed nicknames that she loved so much were well-and-truly deserved! She was about to make the turn toward the stadium when she spotted Malorie O'Malley in the distance on the path that was on the lake side of the castle; and she headed that way instead – looking to intercept her and the friends she was walking with. That took a couple of minutes, which worked out well; since it also gave her time to recognize that Rose Weasley was one of the Witches with Malorie; and none of the girls looked happy to see her when they eventually started to pay attention to her approach. That didn't bother Rita at all, and she smiled as she forced the three teens to stop instead of trying to turn around and walk with them.

"Good morning, Malorie," she said sweetly. "It's a lovely day for a walk before we'll all be sitting down for however long the match lasts today. Hopefully it won't be quite as long as that Championship game last weekend. That might be a bit too much for you – all things considered."

"I managed to watch all of that match," Malorie advised her – "though I'll admit that the seating was more comfortable than it'll be today. I'm sure that you recognize Rose well-enough, so no introduction is needed there; but do you know Susannah Macmillan? I'm sure she knows you by reputation if not personally."

"We've met," Susannah advised Malorie – and reminded Rita; since she hadn't recognized the daughter of the newly-appointed Head of the Aurors. "Good morning, Ms. Skeeter."

"And to you," Rita answered with a nod before returning her attention to Malorie and pointedly ignoring Rose altogether. "Would it be alright if I ask you some follow-up questions to our little interview last weekend? I've learned quite a bit during my ongoing investigation since then; and would like to give you the opportunity to share your side of the story with my readers."

"You're welcome to walk with us and ask your questions," Malorie answered; "but I seriously doubt you actually want to do more than get my answers and then call me a liar – just as you did in that story on Sunday – and with every article you've written since then."

"All of the evidence I have gives me cause to believe you're lying," Rita told her somberly with a fake shake of her head. "I have only written the truth."

Malorie laughed. "I'm pregnant – that's true," she declared. "Harry and Ginny Potter are my babies' paternal Grandparents – that's true too. The rest of your supposed truths are either flat-out lies that you've cobbled together from rumors or your own opinion or commentary on what responsibility lies with others because I got pregnant while at Hogwarts – assuming that's true."

"Are you saying that you didn't?" Rita snapped; jumping on what seemed to be an opening she could exploit.

Malorie grinned at her. "I'm saying that it's possible you should have the Mayor of Hogsmeade investigated along with the school too; since the actual location of conception isn't something I can be sure of; when we're not talking about a one-time fling. You should likely have them ban Hogsmeade weekends altogether. I'm sure the store owners in town would love you for that suggestion; but you do want to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again; so losing all of that business seems a small price to pay for the moral safety of our children."

"Just how long have you been in an intimate relationship with Albus Potter?" Rita demanded next; and Malorie shook her head.

"I have never been in an intimate relationship with Al – and I told you already that he isn't the father. You just choose not to believe one of the eye witnesses."

"Multiple sources claim otherwise," Rita reminded her.

"There were only two of us involved in the acts in question; and I can assure you that we didn't have an audience – which is also why I have no intention of simply offering to show those memories to anyone."

"Of course not – because they'd implicate Albus Potter; show you to be a liar; and prove that my story is accurate and true!" Rita countered.

"No, it's because I don't think that anyone has the right to view that kind of thing – and it would be creepy and voyeuristic of you to want to do that, Ms. Skeeter. You'd likely still find a way to deny what you saw and continue to blame Al anyway – or worse; pass them around to all of your buddies to have a laugh at. I have a fairly low opinion of you, so maybe that's going a bit too far; but then I think you've already gone too far with this story anyway."

"You're much more opinionated now than when I couldn't get more than a one-word answer out of you last weekend," Rita told her. "You're also attacking me to avoid answering my questions."

"I answered your question – you just don't accept no for an answer."

"Not when it's a lie," Rita agreed. "You wouldn't name the father last time – told me it was none of my business. Would you like to change that answer now; since Harry and Ginny Potter have acknowledged that they are the paternal grandparents – as you've also just admitted."

"Do I really need to do that?" Malorie countered. "I've stated that it isn't Al; it quite obviously can't be Lily; and I'm almost positive that you're bright-enough to work out the rest without my help."

"For the record – you're claiming that James Potter is the father of your babies?" Rita demanded.

"Yes," Malorie agreed.

"Why should I believe you?" Rita demanded; and Malorie shrugged.

"I don't care if you – or anyone else – believes me or not."

"You care whether Harry and Ginny Potter believe you, I'm sure," Rita retorted scornfully. "It must be nice to be set for life now that you've hooked yourself a nice famous family to take care of you and your babies." She frowned when Malorie laughed.

"They already have three kids and are unemployed now – thanks to you, Ms. Skeeter. Harry and Ginny – and Al and Lily – want to be involved in Jaimie's and Lorie's lives, but I didn't expect anything beyond that from them before this story came out; and still plan on taking care of my family on my own."

"Jaimie and Lorie?" Rita asked; seeming to ignore the rest of Malorie's response. "Are you expecting everyone to believe that James is the father simply because you name one of them after him and the other after you?"

"I'm doing that because I love James," Malorie said; her tone suddenly quiet and earnest – a change that even Rita paid attention to. "You want honesty from me – here it goes, Rita. I know what I was to James – a holiday fling over the past two Christmases. I'm not the sort of Witch that ends up with Wizards like him. I fooled myself into thinking that wasn't so the first Christmas holiday and got crushed when I found out the truth."

"Yet you supposedly tried to hook up with him again this past Christmas – and then settled for the brother to get what you wanted instead," Rita declared.

"No!" Malorie spat angrily. "I got back together with James that following Easter – and again last Christmas because I didn't want to go through the rest of my life never getting to feel that way again! James doesn't love me; doesn't want to have anything to do with the children we made together; and I'm okay with that – just as I planned on being okay with never being with him again after Christmas anyway. I knew I was graduating and would never see him again – unless it was watching him play Quidditch in the show someday. Al isn't the father, Rita. He's the nice, little brother of the bad boy Wizard that I'm dumb enough to be in love with. Is that enough honesty for you?"

"Why would you tell me all of this? I'm not that gullible," Rita told her.

Malorie laughed; though it was as much to clear away the emotions in her throat than anything else. "You believe me," she disagreed; "and I'm telling you all of this because I know you won't use it in any story."

"Why not?" Rita asked. "I'm sure there is a nugget of truth mixed in with all of the lies."

"It's all true; and you won't use it because your story falls apart if you do – and I seriously doubt that your big fat ego would let you make that kind of admission. That's why I'm so sure that the real story is safe with you – and it's also why you now fully believe me." She smiled then. "Would you like a couple of bonus comments off the record?"

Rita looked suspicious now. "Why off the record?" she countered.

"Because I won't say anything more if it isn't," Malorie explained bluntly.

"Fine – off the record," Rita agreed grudgingly.

"One of the reasons I love James is because he's brilliant in a dangerous sort of way, Rita. You'll likely catch up to this soon, since you do believe me now – I can see that; but you've been played – and James did that brilliantly. He knew you hate his family – especially his parents and brother; used that against you to get Al blamed for my pregnancy. Now you're stuck protecting his version of the story because to do otherwise would exonerate Al and prove his parents were being honest and simply trying to protect me until I could finish school – which is exactly what they did until the story was leaked to you – likely by an anonymous source of some kind."

"And why would James do that?" Rita demanded.

"Because he's afraid that this scandal would have ruin his plans to be a rich and famous Quidditch star," Malorie answered. "Don't worry, though – you've made sure that won't be a problem for him. As a bonus, you get that big story; got two people that you hate to quit their jobs; and the only price you have to pay for it now is knowing that you've been played and this amazing victory of yours is all based on a lie. That must make you feel wonderful!"

"I don't believe any of this!" Rita declared stubbornly.

Malorie laughed again. "You do – and I feel sorry for you, Rita. I at least get to have these two amazing miracles to share my life with now. What do you have now that James has finished messing around with you too?"

Lily got her friends and the other members of the junior team to sit along the border with Hufflepuff; and got some friends from that House to save two seats for Malorie and Susannah. She'd kept an eye out for them; and was worried when she saw them – and Rose – walk into the stadium with Rita Skeeter following not far behind them – though she turned off and headed toward the visitor section of the stadium when Rose, Malorie, and Susannah headed toward her. It took them a bit of time to make their way up to their seats, and Lily was annoyed to hear some of the insults directed at Malorie, but she had a warm hug for each of the girls when they arrived; and she was all set to help Malorie out with being comfortable during the game.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she handed Malorie a large cushion that she pulled out of one of her undetectable expansion bags. "Did Rita give you a hard time out there while you were on your walk?"

"I'd say that Malorie gave far worse than she got," Susannah reported with a grin. "She was brilliant!"

"And not a word of what we talked about will make it into her next column," Malorie predicted – "unless it's to report my answers and then call me a liar."

"No doubt," Lily agreed. "I hope she tries to interview me. Mum played nice, but I can use magic here; and think that Rita would look much better with a bat-bogey affliction – especially if it has one of my fun little twists on it."

"Have you been working on improving them?" Susannah asked; and Lily grinned at her.

"I'm working on one that makes them smaller with the counter-hex," she answered – "microscopic-size to be exact. They'll think they're gone; but they're really just very small. I'm hoping that my victims will go days or weeks before they figure out what that itching is all about – and Merlin only knows what might happen to Wizards that like to pick their noses and have snacks."

"Lily – that's so bad!" Malorie exclaimed; and Lily grinned as she got a round of laughter from everyone that overheard her. "It's brilliant – but bad!"

"Thank-you,' Lily said immodestly. "I thought so to – though I still have a few bugs to work out of it before I have it perfected."

"Did you make this cushion?" Malorie asked next. "It's a great idea too. I brought something too; but not nearly this nice."

"Al helped me with a bit of a Transfiguration on it," Lily admitted. "The person behind you will either need to give you space for the back or volunteer their shins for support."

"I can do that," Susannah offered – though I expect to need to get up and walk around now and then if it's a long match."

"There's a good chance that it will be," Lily predicted. "This is a winner-take-all match; so we could be in for a very long day; since neither James nor Pauline will be interested in catching the snitch for the loss."

They continued to chat as they all sat down and settled into their seats. Rose sat in the row behind Lily; kept a spot for Al; and they weren't surprised when he didn't show up until the last minute. He was greeted with a couple of hugs too, but Rose and Lily both kept that to a minimum to avoid drawing more attention to him; and then they all had the distraction of the pre-game 'show' just moments after Al sat down next to Rose.

"Welcome to the final match of this Hogwarts Quidditch season, everyone!" Teresa exclaimed enthusiastically. "We have a beautiful spring day for this Quidditch battle; so let's hope that the action above the pitch will be as brilliant as the weather!"

"It should be that and then some; since one of these two teams will win the Quidditch Cup and the senior team title for their House today while the other will go back to their tower without either," Kylie advised the spectators. She smiled at Teresa. "We know which team you'll be cheering for today, but we already know that my House will end up in third-place for the Quidditch Cup; and half of our fellow students are free to pick either – or neither – team to cheer for today!"

"I'll try not to be too biased; but can't make any promises," Teresa offered. "You've already mentioned that Hufflepuff locked up third-place in the Quidditch Cup race – and for the senior team contest too; so let's run with that and cover the rest of the Quidditch season story-so-far before we invite the teams to join us and get this show started!"

Olivia stood at the player entrance to the stadium with Lucy and Gina on each side; and they all turned to face the four Wizards standing behind them. She smiled, but looked a bit grim and serious as she did that; and they all seemed to have that same shared sense of serious determination – a feeling that wasn't at all tempered by the sense of fun that Al would have brought to the game had he been with them and looking forward to having a brilliant battle against Gwendolyn. None of them were even thinking about that – even though some of them were thinking about Al and Rose for other, generally-darker reasons; and they were okay with taking the work ahead of them seriously too.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen; we're here; and it's time for us to get out there and prove to everyone that we're the best team at Hogwarts this year!"

"We are now that we're rid of the Animorphloser and his weasel of a sidekick," James offered with a snort. "Maybe you'll even get to score a few goals today without the quaffle-hog around to mess things up for you!"

"Give it a rest," Olivia told him. "We don't want to be distracted by anything – and you may well have the toughest battle of the day against Pauline. Focus on that; since you will need to win that Seeker duel today, James. Even if we can manage to earn a one-sixty lead against Peter; Pauline will never catch the snitch for the loss; and we know that Ravenclaw will never give up until they either win or we beat them!"

"Good – then I won't have to worry about you forcing me to intentionally lose another Seeker duel," James retorted. "I'll be okay with Tiberius and Brock beating up on the Ravenclaw players too. They might even be able to bash the potty-trainer's head in now that she won't have her Animorphloser up there helping to keep her safe."

"...let's hear it for Gryffindor!" Kylie shouted out; getting their attention before anyone could respond to James' comments and insults.

"Let's go out there and kick some Ravenclaw broomtail!" James had time to add before Olivia, Lucy, and Gina led them out into the stadium.

"Okay, before we get called out there; who are we supposed to watch Gwendolyn do her good luck snogging with today now that she can't do that with Al?" Miya asked with a grin. "She won't want to snog Gina instead; so that just leaves, Louis, the McClaggens – and James."

"Al snogged me good luck before I came into the locker room," Gwendolyn advised her; "and I'm not in to mood to be wishing anyone on the Gryffindor team good luck today. Don't let that keep you from any good luck snogging if you think it's such a brilliant idea."

"Seth and I will not be snogging the McClaggens," Brandon joked; "and I seriously doubt that Pauline will want to snog James – regardless of which side of those baby rumors you choose to believe."

"As if anyone with a whit of sense should have any doubt about that," Pauline scoffed. "I won't ever be sharing good luck hugs and kisses with James Potter, but I wouldn't dream of stopping any of the rest of you from going for anything like that – especially if it might mess up one or more of the Gryffindor players!"

"If Seth and Brandon snog the McClaggens; that'd likely mess them up," Peter suggested.

"Yeah – and then it would mess us up when they pounded us to bits," Seth told him. "You've obviously forgotten that Louis is playing today instead of Rose; or you'd think this whole idea a bad one too."

"I'd say it'd be a bad idea if Rose was playing," Gwendolyn offered. "She might be more dangerous than Louis – and I'm not just saying that because you and Brandon are on her list for potential future Cannons."

"We are?" Seth asked. "Should we be happy about that or afraid?"

"Afraid," Brandon assured him. "We want to play in the show; but not if it means being on that team."

"Don't go there," Pauline warned. "We want to win today – not just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best."

"Snap out of it, Al," Lily teased while waving a hand in front of his face. "Yes, your girlfriend looks amazing; but we're supposed to be cheering for our team – not sitting there looking dazed and dazzled by the competition!"

"You mean he's not supposed to look at Gwendolyn the way that Jonah looks at you?" Rose asked with a grin. "Oh wait – that could be good for our House – or might have been if Al was playing today; since that did work out pretty well for Jonah in your match against him."

"We agreed not to go there," Lily reminded her. "Let's not talk about how fired up and determined Gwendolyn looks either; since that could be scary for our team too. I really hope that Olivia is ready for the game Gwendolyn is going to throw at us today."

"Will Gina be up against her today?" Susannah asked; "or is that still a secret we need to wait to find out about?"

"It won't be for much longer," Lily advised her, "but it's too late for that news to make a difference even if you could pass it along to Gwendolyn; so I can tell you that Gina is just taking Al's place – mostly because Olivia and Lucy have spent too much time getting their game plan ready to go up against Miya and Lee. They didn't want to mess all of that up by starting over and switching everything up."

"That isn't fair for Gina," Rose told them; "but it doesn't surprise me. Maybe it'll even work; since Gwendolyn doesn't know much of anything about how well Gina plays – and Gina will be motivated too; since this will be the only match of her Hogwarts Quidditch career."

"The good sport next to you is probably hoping that Gina does have a good day," Lily suggested – "even as he wishes that he was out there getting ready to have another Chaser duel with Gwendolyn."

"I can hope they'll both have a brilliant day," Al offered quietly – though he'd been happy to stay out of the conversation up to that point as he tried to avoid attracting any attention.

"We so need to work on that," Lily told him half-seriously. "We need this win; and while I love Gwendolyn too; that means we need to hope she'll have a lousy match – not a brilliant one!"

"Would you be saying that if you were in Al's place?" Hugo asked her seriously. "I'd expect you to be wishing the worst for our team – assuming, of course, that you hadn't already put the lot of them in the hospital wing if they'd messed with you like that." Lily grinned at him and joined in for the laughs.

"That does sound like me," she agreed. "Maybe it's not all bad that Al's such an annoyingly-good sport – at least for our team and House."

Gwendolyn had just the barest of smiles and a nod for Gina as they paired up and got ready for take-off after Mr. Peakes finished his fair-play speech. She'd lined up first; and hadn't really been surprised when Gina stepped up next to her instead of Lucy – and she'd been sure that Olivia would want to do the quaffle-toss race for first possession herself. It made more sense to her to have Lucy do that with her Lightningbolt; but Olivia was likely sure that she could best Lee at take-off.

"Good luck," Gina told her quietly; and Gwendolyn sighed. What Al team mates had done to him wasn't really Gina's fault, and she was a good person, so while she could have turned down the job as Al's replacement; it wasn't fair to fault her for taking her one chance to finaly play in a school match.

"Good luck to you too," she answered quietly. She tried to really mean that, but she wasn't like Al when it came to too much good sportsmanship; and might need to apologize to Gina after the match if things went as badly for her as she hoped.

Mr. Peakes tossed the quaffle a few moments later; and they were off! She was ready when Lee won the that race over Olivia, and while she didn't earn an immediate advantage over Gina; Lee did catch Olivia and Lucy off guard and going the wrong way – giving Ravenclaw the three-on-one advantage. Thanks to her faster broom, Lucy had already been far out ahead of the expected opening play; so she was completely out of the way as Lee passed to Miya; and Gwendolyn simply blocked Gina from getting in the way so that Lee and Miya could have a clean two-on-one against Louis. Olivia caught up to Lee just in time to block him too, but he hit the brakes; passed to Miya; and she went in on goals alone and got a great shot in on Louis. He barely managed to make that first save; didn't control the rebound; and Gwendolyn reached it first. She used her broomtail to bat it straight back to Miya; and her team mate immediately took the second shot – and scored!

With that brilliant start to their match, the Chaser battle was on; and they all got to work!

Malorie leaned back against Susannah and watched the wild action going on above the pitch and around the stadium. It was impossible for her to keep up with everything that was going on; so she mostly took turns watching James and Gwendolyn – and found it fascinating to compare the two of them as they each did their best in their respective Seeker and Chaser duels. This comparison wasn't the same as the one she'd done between James and Al back in February – and not just because it had been a lot colder for that match and she was enjoying the warm weather this time around. This time, she noticed that the biggest difference – and similarities were because James had a dark sense of what fun should be; and Gwendolyn wasn't having the good kind of fun either without Al in the match too – and her 'fun' came from trying and successfully besting the Gryffindor Chasers and Keeper.

As the battle raged further into the first hour; she found herself comparing the brothers on different levels – even as she half-did that for Al thorugh the lens of Gwendolyn's game play. That felt weird, but that was partially because she began with exploring why she still felt the way she did about James – and still didn't find Al interesting in that way at all. Was that entirely due to James' bad boy image? When she compared them physically – though that wasn't really possible while James wore his team robe; she knew that Al was a bit taller and a bit more fit and stronger, but they still looked a lot alike – and they were both hot. Al got the nod for the emerald eyes, but then they could also be very unsettling when it seemed he was looking into your soul; so she gave James the advantage for that – at least for her own, personal assessment.

Outside of the stadium, James was extroverted, confident, and more than a little arrogant and selfish. Al was about as geeky as possible and stand-offish to people that didn't take the time to get to know him; but he also had more love and compassion in him than anyone she'd ever met before. She wished that her father had those qualities, and she was growing to love the support that Al was giving to her and the babies so unconditionally; but she didn't even remotely find Al's personality to be any kind of turn-on at all.

Of course if he looked at her the way he was looking at Gwendolyn while completely-focused on her every move; that might be different! Ditto that for if he looked the way he did while playing Quidditch – which was completely-different from his 'normal' geek image. While nobody was getting to see that side of Al today, she oculd compare what she was watching today to previous matches; and the differences really were startling. In his first two matches of the season, Al had been happy, having fun; and he showed off his love and joy of the game even when he was in tough against Slytherin. In the Hufflepuff match, he'd had fun with his opponents too; he'd been the only player on either team to offer encouragement to his opponents; and he'd also shared more than a few laughs with them – even when that was sometimes at his own expense.

That wasn't the case today – and she realized that was what was truly missing in this match – any of that sense of fun.

Switching back to watching James, his duel with Pauline wasn't anything like that kind of fun either. Sure, he laughed too, but it was bawdy and insulting; she occasionally picked up on his taunts and even an inappropriate offer; and Pauline was not having fun as she seemed to get increasingly-angry the more James taunted and insulted her. She understood that ast leat part of what James was doing was his game strategy – as were his attempts at a few cheap shots and other things he continually tried to throw Pauline off and gain advantage over her; but she didn't find that part of his game fun to watch at all. A lot of Witches and Wizards would likely disagree with her on that, but then they'd also be the same people that were having fun with the mess that James was trying to make of her life with help from Rita Skeeter and others.

Maybe it was just her own perspective that was the problem.

That might be true, but as she continued to watch the game; she couldn't help but wish that Al was playing and sharing his love and joy with everyone while also feeling sad and disappointed when she watched James and Pauline – or Gwendolyn as she played on with fierce determination but without any sesne of joy or happiness.

"You love James," she silently reminded herself – "for both the good and the fun that you had while you were both being more than a bit bad!"

That was definitely hypocritical of her, but it was also true; and she'd just have to accept that bit of uncomfortable personal reality.

Rita Skeeter was not having nearly as much fun as she'd hoped for when she'd arrived at the school. The need to put on an act to hide that fact annoyed her – and she hated where her thoughts kept taking her ever since her interview with Malorie O'Malley. Her investigation since then had included a lot of gossip that she could use to fill up her columns for another week or more; but that had been off-set with just a few other teens that had approached her and defended the Animorphloser while corroborating Malorie's assertions – though she'd needed to put those pieces together for it all to make sense.

She watched James race around after his Seeker rival – Pauline Boot – and silently cursed him. What really burned her most was that Malorie was absolutely correct – she could never admit that she'd been wrong – that a kid had played her so that she'd implicate his brother – someone they both hated; and then force her to defend him regardless of the truth. That had been brilliant, and she wouldn't have a problem with it – if she'd used the tactic herself; or had been able to expose that sort of thing about someone else. It was having it done to her that she hated!

Then there was the Animorphloser – the innocent, good, younger brother! She turned her attention toward him. He was sitting next to his cousin, and from what she'd observed so far; he'd barely spoken a word to anyone since joining them there. The problem, though, was that he didn't look devastated or crushed. He looked great – happy even, and when he was watching his girlfriend right before and during the match; the fierce joy and excitement in his eyes was enough to stir her own emotions even from half-way around the stadium! She hated that; and she hated watching Gwendolyn – the potty-trainer – as she played brilliantly and led her team – and kept them in the lead over Gryffindor.

That thirty-to-ten lead they earned through the first hour was small; but then it wasn't at all important to Rita anyway. What mattered to her was that the Animorphloser wasn't giving her anything she could use in her stories – and the Gryffindor team wasn't playing brilliantly without him. She could still hope that James would earn a brilliant, come-from-behind win for his team, and she'd be able to work with that too; but that idea annoyed her too when she knew that it also meant that she was still being played by the older Potter teen.

"What do you have now that James has finished messing around with you too?" she silently mimicked with more than a tinge of derisive anger.

The story of the year; two of her most-hated enemies to quit their jobs in disgrace; and a life-long stigma attached to the supposedly-perfect, brilliant, and seemingly endlessly-talented chosen son of the chosen chump!

That thought had her laughing and suddenly feeling much better. Why should she be mad at James Potter for any of that? She'd have likely gone along with the plan if he'd come forward and proposed it to her! She looked over toward where Malorie O'Malley was sitting and smirked.

"Nice try, mudblood, but you can have your snot-nosed miracles. Have fun wiping their dirty butts while they suck you dry in every way while I enjoy the benefits of being the Witch that brought down Harry and Ginny Potter!" She laughed silently.

"Oh yeah – and watch your back. I'm not done with you yet!"

Gwendolyn really hated not getting to play this match against Al, and was sure that she'd be in a happier place if he was having a Chaser duel with her; but she also had to admit that she was still having fun sticking it to her Gryffindor opponents – and it didn't matter to her that this fun was of a much darker variety than anything she'd ever have in a match with or against him.

Her advantage over Gina and Louis had started out slowly through the first hour, but as she adapted to Gina's playing style and began to take advantage of mistakes that Olivia, Lucy, and Gina were all making; that small advantage became a big deal. The thirty-to-ten first-hour lead had been small; but she worked with Miya and Lee to extend that lead to eighty to thirty by the end of the second hour; and the Gryffindor team really began to crack through the third hour as her team built up a one-sixty to fifty lead heading into the fourth hour.

She wasn't in the mood to let up – and didn't. Miya and Lee were tiring by then – as were all of the other players on both teams; but Gwendolyn just pushed harder and harder – until earning the one-sixty lead for her team near the end of that fourth hour. That was something that she was sure wouldn't have happened against Al and Rose, and she felt a bit guilty about that too; but she allowed the anger to win out over that bit of guilt – and felt more than a little satisfaction and pride in that accomplishment.

Al wouldn't celebrate watching his team lose – even as he'd be happy for her success, but as they headed toward the fifth hour; Gwendolyn had no doubt at all anymore that her team was going to win and pay his team mates back for messing with her boyfriend – whether Al appreciated that or not!

"Ladies and gentlemen – let me take this momentary break in the action to announce that lunch has been served outside of the stadium in front of the main entrance," Kylie interjected a moment after Teresa announced Ravenclaw's latest goal. I know that none of us want to miss a minute of this brilliant match; but please get some food and drink while it's hot – or cold; and don't forget to keep your drinks filled! It's rather warm out here; and we don't want anyone getting sick from the heat."

"Speaking of sic," Teresa said as she resumed the play-by-play – "Gwendolyn McCormack just intercepted that pass from Olivia to Lucy; she flips; and heads back toward the Gryffindor goals! Gina's right there with her; Gwendolyn hits the brakes – and passes the quaffle straight up to Miya while upside-down! Miya goes in on Louis – and scores!"

"I am not going to ask how she did that again – let's just enjoy the impossible and move on – 'cause the Chasers already have!" Kylie declared.

"Do you want to stretch your legs and go for food; or stay here and have me bring something back for you?" Al asked Malorie quietly – the first time he'd talked with her directly since getting to his seat and the initial greetings with everyone around him. He knew that just talking with her would draw attention; but also knew she was getting very uncomfortable.

"I'll come along for the walk; a washroom break; and the food and drinks," Malorie answered. "That'll work out for anyone that wants to stay. I've been getting razzed all week about how I'm eating for three now; so nobody will say anything if I bring half the food back with me."

"That is a bonus," Lily agreed, "but I'll come along and hlep out too. Any other volunteers – or special lunch orders?"

Al ended up heading out with a small gang that included Lily, Rose, Malorie, Susannah, and about half of their friends as they collectively decided that they could take the break then while Ravenclaw had a lead that would keep the game going for quite a while longer – as long as James could continue to keep Pauline from catching the snitch and giving their team the chance to cut that lead to below one-sixty again. That was about the percentage of teens and tweens going out for food right away instead of waiting for the first rush to pass; it took quite a while to get to the washrooms – and then more time just to get to the line-ups for the food. Malorie's pregnancy earned her a promotion to the front of the line for the washroom break; but didn't help at all with the food; since the guys in particular were like a pack of ravenous werewolves, and if they noticed her at all; it was only because they wanted to razz her or crack jokes with their friends about her – and about Al too once he and a few of the other guys caught up with the girls after having a longer wait in the line-up for the guys' washrooms.

While they had some wait time for the food; they didn't end up missing too much of the match because Olivia and Pauline agreed to a food and drinks time-out not long after Kylie made her announcement; so that break in the action allowed them lots of time to get everything they needed; and for most of them to get back to their seats. Lily was the exception, because Jonah met up with her; and they decided to hang out together for a while along the edge of the pitch so they could still watch the game once it resumed after the time-out.

"Thanks for consorting with the enemy for a while," Jonah told Lily.

"You're welcome," Lily assured him with a playful smile. "You're in the lead; but that will only be a problem if James messes up and loses his Seeker duel with Pauline. If that happens; you might have reason to worry about being this close to me."

Jonah laughed. "That doesn't seem fair – I wouldn't want to blast you if your team wins."

"Al's the fair-play sibling in my family," Lily reminded him. "I'm a Witch; and reserve the right to change the rules whenever I want."

"Did you add that to the fine print for AquaQuidditch?" he teased; and Lily laughed.

"Why didn't you suggest that while we were making it? That would've been brilliant!"

"I think that the game you did come up with is brilliant. I should say the same about this match, since it is going pretty well for Gwendolyn and my team; but I'd have liked it more if she'd been up against Al today instead of Gina. I have been thinking that it might be nice to play Chaser with Gwendolyn for a season or two, though; since she does seem to be having more fun than Pauline is – if in a bit of a vindictive sort of way today. We can only catch the snitch once in a match – they get to have that feeling every time they score a goal."

"Play Chaser next season," Lily suggested. "Maybe I'll have better luck against Stephanie."

"She'll be fourth-year," Jonah reminded her. "I don't know what kind of competition I'll have for the Ravenclaw Seeker job in September. She'll try out for Chaser; unless Pauline isn't Captain again. She might try to beat her at Seeker if she isn't and gives the job to someone else."

"I doubt she'd do that – unless she wanted to give it to Peter," Lily suggested. "Stephanie will have tough competition for a Chaser job next year."

"It isn't unusual for most fourth-years to spend that year on the reserve squad," Jonah reminded her. "You might want to hope that James is Captain in his NEWT year."

"Your mixing me up with Al again,' Lily told him. "James would have more to worry about from me than the other way around – no matter how mad he might get at me for being a better Seeker."

"I've overheard some of the things he's been saying to Pauline; and I don't know how she puts up with it."

"It's part of the game – for Witches," Lily advised him. "There are always going to be guys like that, and while I don't like that James is one of them; but it isn't against the rules to be a git. He's also an idiot; since Pauline plays really well when she's mad. James ought to be trying to find a way to get her to play worse and make mistakes."

"Is that what you do?" Jonah asked; and Lily grinned at him.

"Definitely – it just didn't work against you in our last match; so I'll need to do better next year."

That time-out for food and drinks didn't help or hurt either team, but that was bad for Gryffindor; since it meant that Gwendolyn continued to lead her team as they extended their lead while James strictly played defense against Pauline and she was able to just take it easy and look for best chances to catch the snitch and end the match. James succeeded in keeping her from doing that, but he also wasted a lot of energy doing that – and with the never-ending attempts to mess with Pauline both physically and verbally.

Ravenclaw extended their lead to three-ten to one-ten by the end of that fifth hour; and out-scored the Gryffindor Chasers two-to-one – even though the shots on goals difference was much closer to even with just a slight advantage that was in Ravenclaw's favor too. Some spectators might think that Gryffindor was making progress in the sixth hour when Ravenclaw only out-scored them by fifty-to-thirty for that hour, but they were wrong about that; and the effort to earn that slight improvement had cost Olivia, Lucy, and Gina a lot.

They took another time-out at the start of the seventh hour, but that break just made it harder for everyone to get back on their brooms and resume the battle. That was true for Gwendolyn, but that just made her push harder; and she scored five of Ravenclaw's six goals in that seventh hour. With that display of Quidditch brilliance, even the most-hopeful Gryffindor supporters were having doubts about the chances of a comeback, but James had been able to stop Pauline each time she tried to make a run for the snitch; so there seemed to be no end in sight for the battle regardless of how well Ravenclaw was doing.

That's why the end of the match, when it came, was so shocking to everyone!

Al had both been enjoying and hating the match as it rolled on hour-after-hour, but unlike most of the teens and tweens in the stadium; he knew that it wasn't going to go on indefinitely because he knew how each of the players were feeling – and how close some of them were to utter exhaustion. That's also why he knew before anyone else that the end of the match was at hand – even before Pauline and James did. He didn't get up and cheer; didn't show any outward signs about what he sensed and foresaw; and didn't draw anyone's attention to the Seeker duel in time for them to watch it come to an end.

Pauline didn't even see it coming until the last moment either, since she'd been happy to let James fly off on his own and abandon his defense of her – along with giving her a break from the non-stop insults, crude offers, and cheap shots. She and Al weren't the only people in the stadium to bear witness to James' catch of the snitch, but she was certainly the most-shocked that he did that for the loss – and all she could do was stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment as Mr. Peakes blew the whistle and Kylie somewhat-hoarsely announced that James had caught the snitch. Tereesa sounded shocked to as she followed that up with the news that Ravenclaw won the match by a score of four-forty to three-thirty at the seven hour and seventeen minute mark.

Then, pandemonium broke out both above the pitch and around the stadium as the Ravencalw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin students cheered nd jeered; and the teens and tweens in the Gryffindor section couldn't quite figure out how to react to the catch and loss!

"I need to sit down," Lily declared; and slumped back onto her seat on the bleachers. "What, in Merlin's name, just happened? Why would James just suddenly up and catch the snitch for the loss? Did he get hit in the head with a bludger and I missed it?"

"He didn't," Rose assured her, "and if I had to take a guess; i'd say that James' ego happened."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Malorie interjected; and Rose turned to look at her instead of Lily.

"I think he's done in," she explained. "If he couldn't keep up with Pauline anymore; I think he picked getting the catch over letting her get both the catch and win."

"But now we've lost the match – and the Quidditch Cup and Senior team titles!" Lily exclaimed hotly. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"To you," Rose agreed; and then smiled at Al. "Maybe you should run now before she decides that this is all your fault."

"I'll be safe for a little while longer," Al said quietly. "Lily won't try to blast me right after the match and risk getting into trouble. She'll wait and blast me later when there aren't any witnesses."

Gwendolyn flew over to Pauline as soon as she heard the whistle blew and she heard the announcement that James had caught the snitch. She was as stunned as everyone, but she didn't know what to expect next; and their team game plan included protecting Pauline at the end of the match – and she reacted on instinct. She was there with Pauline before James flew over to them; holding the snitch like a prize and with a dark, vicious smile on his face.

"Congratulations," he told Pauline insincerely. "I'm sure the scouts will be impressed – with me and the potty-trainer there." He leered at Gwendolyn next. "You should kick the dog to the curb and hook up with me. This is just a hint of how good your life would get without the Animorphloser messing up your life."

"Only you could put that kind of spin on all of this," Gwendolyn told him with a disbelieving shake of her head. "Congratulations on catching the snitch – and handing our team the Quidditch Cup and senior team title. I'm sure that all Gryffindors will be as impressed as we aren't."

"I won the Seeker duel," James declared dismissively. "It isn't my fault that the rest of my team couldn't get it done today."

"We might have – if you'd kept the game going," Olivia interjected as she and Lucy joined the gang gathering around James, Pauline, and Gwendolyn. "Did you lose your mind? You knew this was an all or nothing match!"

"I did," James agreed unapologetically, "but we all know that you were never going to come back from being down by two hundred and sixty points – and were losing more ground every hour." He smirked at Pauline. "I could've kept, um, up with Pauline for days; but that would've just been a waste of time – so I ended it. You can thank me later for saving you the embarrassment of a blow-out loss. Only being down by one-ten will still look good to the morons you want to work for on the Puddlemere United team; so I've likely made sure that you'll actually have a job in the show next season too."

"It's done; and there's nothing we can do to change that," Lucy interjected while Olivia turned red and looked ready to explode. "Let's just land and move on. Right now; I really just want to get off of this broom and go have a nap."

The Ravenclaw players and fans had reason to celebrate, but the mood out on the pitch during the post-game action was muted as they all had a problem with the unfulfilling way the match had ended. James happily spouted off his narrative for why he should be considered the hero for making the tough choice that their team Captain had been too selfish to make for her team; and he managed to win over some supporters – even among his fellow Gryffindor.

Al stayed as far away from James as he could, but then he didn't stay long anyway because the entire scene was too awkward for him – with his former team mates; with his Ravenclaw friends; and with having Rita Skeeter hovering around while also pointedly pretending to igore him. He would have liked to spend more time with Gwendolyn, but the best he could do with that was to congratulate her after the match; walk with her to the Great Hall before dinner – once she was finished up in the Ravenclaw locker room; and then walk with her to Ravenclaw tower before she had to go in and party with her team and House.

There was a party going on in Gryffindor too, but not the kind of party that Al, Rose, or any of their more-serious House mates wanted to be a part of; so he got his book bag; he and Rose left the common room together; and they went to meet up with Susannah and Malorie for a bonus study session. They talked about Quidditch; discussed Rita's visit to the school and what to expect from her in the coming days; and then mostly just focused on their work until they were all ready to call it a night an hour or so before curfew. Al walked back to Gryffindor tower with Rose; went straight up to his dorm room instead of spending any time at all at the so-called party; and got ready for bed before deciding to do a bit more studying when he decided that he was still a bit too wound-up to sleep. He hadn't been at that for long before sensing James' approach; and he was already putting his mirror down and turning his attention toward the doorway by the time he sauntered into the room – weaving a bit thanks to the effects of a half-dozen shots of fire-wiskey.

"What a surprise – the loser is already in bed," James slurred while sneering at him. "You may as well just get home schooled for as much time as you spend hiding in your room like the good little Animorphloser you are."

"I'd say that the real surprise right now is that you're stopping in for a visit," Al suggested; and then smiled ruefully at the half-baked thoughts he sensed within his brother – thoughts that he could currently make more sense of than James could in his present condition. "I'm sure you want to figure out a way to blame me for that loss today – and losing the Quidditch Cup and Senior team title too, but I'm not going to help you out with that; and I'm sure you'll find a way to get that done – you always do."

"That's always easy – since you're always trying to mess up my life!" James retorted. "Nobody around here appreciates that I saved our team from a drubbing by ending that match before it was a total blow-out – and it's definitely all your fault that happened!"

"Sure it is," Al agreed with just the barest hint of sarcasm that was totally lost on his inebriated brother. "If you're only here to inslut me for a while; consider that done and move on. I've exam studying to get back to; and I'm sure you'll be much happier if we don't talk at all between now and when we're home for the summer. It'll be a nice break for you before we'll be stuck in the same house for the holidays."

James snorted. "One of us has a real job; and I'm going to do everything I can to never actually be at home. Unlike you, I'm on my way to the top; while the best you can hope for is a permanent dirt nap – or even worse; a brilliant career with the Cannons Clown Brigade!"

"Well, good luck with that, James. I love you, but this isn't fun; and I'm going to get back to my work now."

"You're not having fun?" James taunted. "I am; so maybe I'll just stick around and keep showing you just how much I hate you!"

"Have at it if you must," Al said with a sigh as he drew his wand. "I still love you anyway. Have a good night, James."

He didn't wait for an answer; put up and imperturbable shield; and went back to his studies. James yelled at him for a few moments; tried to blast his shield after that; and Al just ignored him while focusing his attention on his mirror. He continued to do that while James left; kept his shield up and was ready when James tried to come back and blast him; and stayed protected until a few of his roommates joined him and started getting ready for bed too. A bit of guy chat time followed as he put his studies aside; he wrapped up his night by exchanging a few mirror messages with Gwendolyn; and then he was ready to turn in and get some rest.

Quidditch season was over, and while he expected to have more trouble ahead while they continued to deal with the big family scandal, Al was also looking foward to the magical challenges that came along with their final exams; he was looking forward to a summer holiday where he'd be able to spend a lot of time with his parents – now that they were unemployed; and he hoped that they'd all get to have a lot of fun to go along with all of the work and drama.

Whatever happened over the last month of school, Al was sure that it would all continue to be an adventure; and he was looking foward to sharing the good and the bad with Gwendolyn, their families, and friends!


	46. Endings and Beginnings

Chapter Forty-Six – Endings and Beginnings

"Don't look so stormy," Al counseled as Rose joined him in the common room on Sunday morning. "I'm okay with Rita's special report."

"Of course you are – she's mostly picking on you instead of Malorie or anyone else," Rose said with a shake of her head. "I'll guess that her sampling for that student poll was biased in favor of the teens that either hate you or are jealous; and she likely couldn't include Malorie in that because she couldn't get a majority of Witches to agree that a pregnant teenage mother should be kicked out to the curb and keep her from writing the exams that might mean all the difference in the world for her future."

"Well, I'd have guessed that Rita would get a solid vote against me from Slytherin," Al pointed out. "Depending on whether she took that poll before or after the match; she may have gotten more or less than half of the Ravenclaw votes – depending on whether they want to blame or thank me for their big win. Hufflepuff would be a tough call, and if that poll was after the game; a majority of our fellow Gryffindor may well have voted against me too."

Rose laughed. "I don't think that the logic or Arithmancy works for you on that one – but then I'll guess that her survey was biased in the first place." She shook her head again in response to Al's reaction to her comments. "Okay, maybe she actually did get those votes; but it's still stupid – and so is everything else she wrote about you. She was obviously at a completely different Quidditch match from the one we were watching yesterday; and I especially-loved her spin on how James won the Seeker duel for Gryffindor after making the tough decision to catch the snitch for the loss. I thought it was great that Olivia earned such high praise – for doing the right thing and kicking you off of the team despite apparently knowing that would cost our House the Quidditch Cup; but her reporting of the game seemed a bit one-sided – especially since she didn't even mention thn Ravenclaw or any of their players."

"She mentioned Gwendolyn," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed.

"Not in rleation to the match," she countered. "Writing a rant about you for snogging Gwendolyn right out there in public while the mother of your Animorphlitter watched on doesn't count."

"Doesn't that help your plan for the Cannons?" Al joked. "The worse the impression everyone has of me; the better for you when it comes time to buy the team and then turn it into a league leader again."

"I can't believe you're trying to look on the bright side for any of that rubbish in the Prophet, Al."

"Rita may think this is the story of the year, but it's nothing compared to what she tried to do to our parents during and after the war."

"I'd say that the main story is exactly the same," Rose reminded him. "She did claim that Teddy was their son – still does; since there was that comment about the apple not falling far from the tree. She still sticks to that stupid story despite the fact that Teddy looks nothing like a Potter or Weasley."

"Actually, there are a few traces that we all inherited from the Black side of our families; but I know what you mean and he does look like a fairly-awesome mix of his parents. You have a point about this story being similar too; but I was thinking more about the earlier war stories."

"What happened to our parents during the war was awful, but what Rita Skeeter did wasn't really any worse than the things she's trying to do to you," Rose offered seriously. "Sure, she called your Dad a liar over something more serious; but she was proved wrong about that – and she probably already knows she's wrong about this too; and just has to go with it because she can't admit that most of what she's written is completely wrong."

"You're right about that," he advised her. "Malorie made sure of that when Rita interviewed her yesterday. We've done well hiring her, Rose. She's changed since meeting James, but I expect there's always been a bit of strong metal in her, and if she can stand up so well against someone like Rita Skeeter; she'll do well by us with the Cannons owners and managers."

"We hope," Rose agreed. "Since you've given me that little story teaser, though; why don't you tell me about what happened with Malorie and Rita. If Malorie got Rita mad at her; I'm surprised that she didn't get blasted more than she did with this batch of stories."

"I'm sure Rita will milk this story for as long as she can," Al told her; but then went on to relay Malorie's interview story – which he'd talked about with her while doing her post-dinner check-up – as well as what he'd picked up from eavesdropping through his extended senses.

The Rita Skeeter news stories for the Sunday edition of the Prophet were the top gossip topics of the morning in the Great Hall too; and Al had to deal with the fallout from that – including the insults that James happily sent along the school grapevine while changing his Quidditch story to match Rita's assessment of the match that put him in such a brilliant light. Facts didn't matter; and he wasn't the only member of the team to conveniently forget about things they'd said before and after the match so that they could run with the new narrative that Rita had been so kind to provide for them! Al didn't eat and run from the hall, but he didn't hang around any longer than needed; and then he went on to their study classroom with Rose, Gwendolyn, and Susannah to get ready for their morning exams study session. Malorie joined them, as did the rest of their usual study group and a handful of part-time study buddies that were now getting nervous about their exams and looking for tutoring help.

Those friends had the sense to leave the nasty jokes and insults at the classroom door, but it was still a bit weird for Al to find himself helping classmates that were happy to both take advantage of his help and have fun at his expense – whether they believed the stories about him or not. Being away from most of the students in the school did make it easier to get through the day, though; so Al had a pretty good day. They studied all morning; had a Quidditch scrimmage break after lunch; and then studied outdoors after that – on the bleachers of the practice pitch. Most students in the school studied after dinner too, and for a change, that was true for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Susannah, and Malorie too. They didn't do that with their regular study group, though; and Lily, Jonah, and Hugo joined them for a family play and study night.

Mirror chats with parents were still a go; they watched Lee's nightly show because his opening monologue was hilarious despite the fact that he picked on Al as much as he picked on Rita Skeeter. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo did some studying too, but played more and kept the older teens in their group entertained while they did more work. While they had fun together; it also meant that Al and Gwendolyn had yet another day without getting to really have any alone time – and with exams just a week away; there was a very good chance that they wouldn't get to take much time off to be alone until they headed home for the summer.

It was knowing what to expect over the next four weeks that had Al going to bed and off to sleep early again after doing the Owlery visit and walking Gwendolyn home. Work hard and rest well wasn't going to be Al's motto for the next month; but it was going to be a daily goal!

The last day of May began with the usual walk and talk with Rose, and she was unhappy to talk about Rita's latest hit piece on Al and Malorie; but Al was ready to put all of that drama aside and get focused on exams. By then, even the most-inattentive students were waking up to the reality of the fast-approaching end-of-term tests, and while the quality and quantity of studying was still wide-ranging; the party atmosphere from the weekend was in the past – and was likely to stay there until the exams were finished for another year.

While Quidditch season was over, Quidditch scrimmages or Chaser duels helped Al, Gwendolyn, and some of their friends blow off steam for short breaks a couple of times during the first few days of the school week. There was no fanfare to welcome in the month of June on Tuesday; but there was some muted birthday fun on Thursday as Al quietly helped Gwendolyn to have a happy fifteenth birthday. It was also Lucy's eighteenth birthday, and they had gifts for her too; but each Witch only had very small celebrations in the afternoon or early evening; and those bits of fun were not allowed to get in the way of getting ready for the exams when they only had four days left to do that ahead of the first one. Al and Gwendolyn did cut their evening study session a bit short so they could have a cameo moment or three of alone time ahead of curfew, but even that was study-related because they did that on the Astronomy tower so that they could do a bit of studying while enjoying the wonder that was a clear night sky at Hogwarts.

The only serious break in the studying that Al and Gwendolyn planned on taking was the last trip to town on Saturday – and only because they needed to stock up on the supplies and treats they'd need to get them through the final three weeks of school – and pick up everything their younger siblings, cousins, and friends would need too. Just taking that time off, though, meant that they wanted to work late on Friday, so they worked through until right before curfew; and then Al studied for another couple of hours after walking Gwendolyn home and going up to his dorm room. That was a bit different than normal because he actually ended up with two study buddies that wanted to get some tutoring help.

Ending his day helping roommates he didn't normally spend a lot of time with felt pretty good; so Al was in a good mood when he woke up on Saturday – even after reading Rita's latest offerings that continued to take shots at him – and at his parents. Malorie was apparently given a day off from the abuse, so that was nice; but Al fully-expected Rita to be in Hogsmeade looking for more gossip that would keep her in the spotlight for at least another week or three until the end of the school year. He got ready for the day; met up with Rose; and they again had a mildly-dark chat that was mostly about the news and a bit of gossip that Rose had picked up in the girls' dorms since they'd last talked on Friday evening. Breakfast in the Great Hall had been getting a bit better every day for Al as the teens and tweens around him got bored with the regnant teen story now that it was practically-ancient from their perspectives. For their usual group of tablemates, the trip to town was the main conversation topic while they enjoyed that meal; and then Al was able to meet up with Gwendolyn, Malorie, and some other friends for the walk to town.

Rita Skeeter waited impatiently for the Hogwarts students to arrive in town – even though she'd just popped into Hogsmeade; and the over-age teens were already apparating from the school gates. She knew this would be her last chance to get any new information or gossip from those teens to use for her ongoing columns about the Potter pregnancy scandal; so she needed to make the most of every minute she'd have before they'd be heading back to the castle again – and that would be earlier than normal for most of them as they were down to just two days to get ready for their exams.

The vanguard of the pedestrian teens finally arrived; she watched them closely – searching for the most-likely kids to interview; and then she honed in on the group of teens that included the Animorphloser, Gwendolyn, and Malorie! That was perfect; she took pictures; and then watched as the girls went off to shop without the boys in their group. She chose to follow Al; since part of her longer-term plan for the story had been to set him up by ingoring him and not even attempting to interview him until she thought the time was right to do that. When she saw that he was apparently shopping for a lot of kids at his first stop; she decided that it was finally time to confront him directly.

"Good morning, Ms. Skeeter," Al said quietly; pre-empting her opening comment just a breath before she was going to speak. He hadn't looked around toward her until he said that; and surprised her. The intensity of his emerald eyes had the same effect on her – and then some; but she shrugged that off and focused on the job at hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter," she said just as quietly. "You seem to be well-enough – all things considered."

"I am, thanks," Al agreed. "You've had a pretty good couple of weeks. I thought you'd look happier today."

"You knew I'd be here today?" Rita asked; and Al nodded.

"Yes," he agreed. "It's your last chance to talk in person with any of the Hogwarts students before we'll be busy with exams until end-of-term. We don't have to do the small talk thing. Ask your questions. I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time when you'll want to talk to as many teens as possible before we all head back to school and get back to our studies."

"If that's what you'd like," Rita said magnanimously with a fake smile. "I saw you arrive in town with your girlfriend and the mother of your children. That's fairly-audacious of you; and I'm surprised that either Witch is okay with openly flaunting your cheating and impropriety."

"I've never cheated on Gwendolyn; and have never done anything inappropriate with either Gwendolyn or Malorie; so your statement is baseless – and you already know that I am not the father of Malorie's twins. I'm their uncle."

"So I've heard claimed by others," Rita said with a dismissive nod. "There seems to be a long pattern of you blaming your problems and mistakes on your older brother – and turning your family against him."

"That isn't true," Al disagreed. "I love James – even when I don't always like him very much."

"I find that impossible to believe," Rita scoffed.

"I know," Al interjected. "James doesn't believe it either; but then you both need to do that; since you hate me."

"Your brother has reason to hate you; from everything I've learned through this investigation," Rita retorted. "As for me; that's absurd. I'm an impartial journalist above reproach!"

Al laughed quietly; but didn't offer a comment on that declaration.

"You find it funny that your brother hates you for the things you've done to him?"

"No, I find your personal assertions amusing," he answered. "I know exactly why James hates me, but none of that is relevant to the story you're having so much fun investigating beyond the fact that James is angry because I found out about Malorie's pregnancy and insisted that I'd want to be involved in the twins' lives regardless of whether he chose to do that too or not."

"How exactly did you find out about the pregnancy?" Rita asked skeptically.

"I bumped into Malorie after breakfast a couple of days after we got back to school in January and sensed it – though it was the morning sickness that I noticed first," he answered.

"That's impossible," Rita stated. "You're lying."

"It isn't – I just have a talent for healing. Madam Pomfrey could confirm that for you; but then you know it's true anyway."

"I know nothing of the sort!" Rita retorted. "It's much more likely that you knew because Malorie told the father of her children first; and then you hatched this plan to pin it on your brother because he's the Wizard she truly wants – and you need to both destroy him and look like the hero – probably because you want to live up to your father's questionable reputation!"

"You should be careful with the details of your accusations; since they tend to fall apart when they don't fit together anymore – though you're very creative; so I'm sure you can gloss over those inconsistencies and most of your readers will never notice. I can hope to grow up to be a good Wizard with as much love for his family and Wizarding World as my father has always shown to me in everything he does," Al answered sincerely. "It's interesting that you suggest that when James, Lily, and I actually want to be like Mum and play Quidditch in the show – not join the Aurors and follow in Dad's footsteps."

Rita snorted. "From what I've heard over the past few weeks – and saw last Saturday; you'll fit in perfectly with the team you apparently want to join with your cousin."

"Well, I can't play for the Harpies, and have a lot of fun playing Quidditch with Rose; so helping her out with her favorite team is going to be great."

"Thank-you for enlightening me – and my readers – about how pitiful your goals and standards are," Rita told him. "It explains a lot!"

"You truly have a gift for picking and choosing what facts you believe – or simply interpret to fit your story," Al told her.

"Meaning?" she prompted.

"You twist comments about wanting a future filled with happiness, love, and fun into a personal attack on my goals and standards – while implying that it would also bolster the lies in your reports about me. That isn't true, but you need to ignore a lot of other facts about me for that to work for you, and if my goals and standards are so low; then that totally messes up your theories related to James; since I wouldn't care about any of the things that you imply must be important to me with goals and standards so low."

"You're attempting to brag about yourself without simply coming out and saying it," she challenged.

"No, I'm not," he disagreed; "but I am pointing out the inconsistencies in your investigation and reporting of the facts. It won't matter, since we both know you'll need to stick to the story you started with, but I hope you can work that Cannons angle into your follow-up reports; and look forward to the entertainment that'll come of it. The other pundits should be able to come up with lots of material – as if Lee Jordan and others haven't been doing well-enough already."

"You find the jokes about your indiscretions and lies amusing?" Rita asked keenly; and Al laughed.

"Of course I do," he agreed. "You do know the truth; so the better question might be – why don't you find all of that amusing and entertaining? You are familiar with my family. I expect there to be new wheezes in the stores related to this story by the time we get out of school – unless they're in the Hogsmeade store today already."

"I do not find any of this a laughing matter," Rita told him; "but I'm sure that my readers will be fascinated to know that you can be as carefree about this as you've been careless."

Al had continued to pick up the supplies he needed to get, but was finished in that store; they were at the sales counter by then; and the shopkeeper was listening intently without trying to look as though she was doing anything more than ringing up his purchases.

"Malorie and I have now personally told you that I am not the father; yet you continue to insist otherwise – despite the fact that you believe us. I get why you need to stick to your story now to protect your precious reputation; but why continue to do that with me? It's not as if you'll actually include anything we've talked about in your future articles or interviews that contradict your version of reality; so you must be doing that for the simple joy of insulting me. For the record, I take Malorie's pregnancy very seriously – as well as my responsibilities as Jaimie and Lorie's uncle. I laugh at your stories and the jokes from people like Lee Jordan because it's all so absurd – and not just because I'm a virgin."

"What!" Rita exclaimed; looking shocked for the first time. The shopkeeper looked at him with an open mouth too; the work momentarily forgotten.

"You heard me," Al countered. "Virgin isn't a bad word, and I don't have a problem with admitting that I am one; so I don't see why you should be shocked – unless, of course, you believe me. Don't let that fact bother you either – we all know that isn't something that a guy can physically prove anyway. You don't want proof, though; since it would be a simple matter to ask me these questions using Veritaserum – and do the same with James as well. We do have a handy witness here, though; so for the record once again; I'd be happy to have you ask me those questions under Veritaserum."

"An under-age child would need parental consent for that," Rita reminded him; and Al nodded.

"True, but Mum and Dad are unemployed now – or soon will be, in Dad's case; so I'm sure they'd be happy to come here and give that consent – for James and me."

"Again, you're trying to drag your brother in to your mess," Rita told him derisively. "I will not be party to your foolish schemes."

Al laughed and she scowled at him. "Unless you've uncovered a way to beat the effects of Veritaserum; you do relize that the only way I could pull off that supposed scheme with you questioning both of us using it would be if it worked and we both told my version of the truth, right?"

"You're still as arrogant and disrespectful as you were in our previous encounters," Rita said angrily. "I see that I have just been wasting my time trying to get you to come clean and maybe begin to make amends for your indiscretions and lies – and will make sure that my readers learn about what a wretched young man you truly are – just as your father was at your age!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Al told her. "Would you like to continue this farce of an interview as I head to the next store; or do you have enough quotes already that you can cobble together and take bits and pieces out of context for to put me in the worst possible light for tomorrow's edition of the Prophet?"

"This has been quite enough," Rita sniffed. "Good day, Mr. Potter!"

With that, she strode out of the shop; her back straight; and the expression on her face stolid and angry – until she needed to paste on a smile and get back to work again. The anger within still burned, though; and it was the reason for why she went searching for Gwendolyn McCormack – and Malorie O'Malley; if they were still together. They were; and she caught up with them – and with Rose Weasley and Susannah Macmillan outside of one of the clothing stores.

"Excuse me ladies," she said sweetly. "Could I take a few moments of your time to answer a few questions for me? I'm continuing to follow up on my investigative story; and would appreciate your comments."

"I doubt you'd appreciate mine," Gwendolyn retorted; "but have at it with your questions, Ms. Skeeter."

"You're welcome to do that," Malorie told her. "I believe Ms. Skeeter has everything she could possibly need from our previous interviews."

"For the most part," Rita told her. "I'd like to know how the two of you feel about openly sharing the same Wizard. Have you lost many friends over it? Did you just accept having your boyfriend cheat on you without any complaint, Miss McCormack? How do your parents feel about you being part of this scandal?"

"You're seriously going to keep asking questions like that after everything Malorie told you last weekend?" Susannah demanded before Malorie or Gwendolyn could answer.

"I wasn't talking to you, young lady," Rita retorted.

"That's true," Susannah agreed; "but I'm talking to you now. Leave my friends alone, Ms. Skeeter. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for reporting this story in the first place; and embarrassed about carrying on with the lies even though you know the truth. I'm sick of it; and you're going to back off – or else!"

"Are you threatening me?" Rita demanded; and looked surprised when Susannah nodded.

"Yes, I am," she confirmed. "You're a bitter, old gossip-monger boosting your ego by getting another five minutes of fame at the expense of the Potters and a kind, gentle young Witch whose only crime is to have the audacity to fall in love with a Wizard who is, unfortunately for him, a bit too much like you."

"And I have done nothing but tell the truth and revealed the lot of you for a bunch of depraved, lying young hooligans," Rita sneered. "Do not threaten me, girl – you are way out of your league!"

"I didn't find out about Malorie's pregnancy until after you broke your report full of lies with just the one nugget of truth," Susannah advised her. "You've no reason whatsoever to call me a hooligan or liar."

"You're obviously in on it – and as depraved as your friends to dare to threaten me!"

"Wouldn't you like to know what I'm threatening before you get quite so defensive and vindictive?" Susannah asked.

"There's nothing you can do to me," Rita retorted. "Your threats are childish and baseless."

"I could give copies of my memories of that interview last weekend to certain reporters and mirror network personalities that might be interested in the parts of it that you chose not to include in your special reports and columns," Susannah suggested. "I'd love to see a special mirror network show done on that memory like some others I've seen where the show host takes a mirror network camera into the pensieve with him or her. I don't know how that works; but it is pretty cool."

"Memory charms are easy to fake and alter; and nobody will believe you," Rita declared.

"I don't need to state the obvious about that comment," Susannah told her bluntly. "Do whatever you want with what I've told you I'll do if you keep after my friends; but be sure I'll do it." She smiled at Malorie. "Would you like to stay and answer those questions now? I can meet up with you at the next store."

"I'll go along," Malorie told her. "Ms. Skeeter is just being dumb now to insist on asking a bunch of questions about all of the accusations she now knows are completely baseless."

"You go ahead," Gwendolyn told them. "I'd like to stay and talk with Ms. Skeeter for a minute or two."

"I'll stay with you," Rose offered; "and we can catch up with Malorie and Susannah when you're done."

There was a pause while Susannah led Malorie away; and then Gwendolyn and Rose turned their attention fully on Rita again.

"I am so glad that you finally wanted to interview me, Ms. Skeeter," Gwendolyn told her. "Would you like to start by asking me more ridiculous questions like that first batch; or move on to the parts of the story I can actually tell you about because I was a witness?"

"I don't want to waste my time listening to you spin lies to protect your lying, cheating boyfriend," Rita sneered. "You must not be anything like your mother to put up with that sort of thing and not turn the Animorphloser into a bug."

"Then why are you talking to me at all?" Gwendolyn asked. "To insult my boyfriend and see if you can get me to say something juicy for you to use against us in the court of public opinion?"

"I'm here to give you the opportunity to tell the truth – not that I expect you to do so. You've obviously been fooled by your mongrel boyfriend; or you would have dumped him the moment I revealed this scandal to the world!"

"Well, you won't like my version of the truth; but I think that you will believe it," Gwendolyn told her. "I love Albus Potter; I know he has never cheated on me; I am positive that you are a selfish, egotistical poser without a shred of integrity; and finally – I am definitely my mother's daughter!"

With that; she drew her wand and let Rita Skeeter have it with a trio of hexes that stunned the woman; blasted her off of her feet; and tossed her like a rag doll a dozen paces down the street. Everyone around them stopped and stared in astonishment as Rita Skeeter landed hard on her backside; slid to a stop; and then started screaming in pain and rage.

"You wanted a good story from me?" Gwendolyn called out angrily. "Now you've got one and then some – with a street full of witnesses! Thanks so much for coming to town so I could explain to you why it's such a bad idea for you to keep telling lies about my boyfriend here where I can do something about it!"

"Gwendolyn!" Al exclaimed; hurrying up to her and looking past her to Rita.

"Don't even think about saying it," Gwendolyn warned. "I'm not you – and she had it coming to her!"

"Don't do it!" Al shouted; and then drew his wand and disarmed Rita so quickly that he was catching her wand before anyone else could react.

"Help me!" Rita screeched; and there was pain in her voice and it was muffled because of the bat bogeys rushing out of her nose.

"Don't you dare!" Gwendolyn again warned Al; and he sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry; but I'm not you either – and won't leave her like that – no matter how I feel about her personally."

Rose put her hand over Gwendolyn's wand arm and kept her from pointing it at Al. "You wouldn't be able to stop him anyway," she whispered.

Al walked up to Rita and looked down at her. "I stopped you because that bat-bogey hex has a twist that would've made it worse if you'd tried the normal counter-hex without knowing the trick of it," he advised her. "I'm going to take care of that now; and then help you out with the other problems."

He took care of the bat-bogey hex first; and then he knelt down and put his hands gently on her arms and allowed his healing power to flare out and deal with the minor injuries that had been caused by Gwendolyn's attack. He didn't stop there, because he sensed other problems; and he healed them too. Rita was shocked as she felt those chronic problems disappear; and she stared at him in stunned amazement. When he was done; he pulled her to her feet; returned her wand; and smiled ruefully at her.

"Is there any chance you'll believe in the impossible now?" he asked so softly that she had to strain to hear him. "You're welcome, Ms. Skeeter."

He turned around and walked back to Gwendolyn and Rose; took Gwendolyn's hand; and led her away while Rose fell into step beside Gwendolyn.

"I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for that," Gwendolyn hissed at him. "It isn't worth it for that little bit of suffering on her part; so I am not happy with you right now, Al."

"I know," he agreed. "You did a great job keeping me from sensing anything until it was too late, though; so you must be happy about that. I love you a lot too – and wish I could be more like you sometimes; but I just can't do that."

Gwendolyn sighed and squeezed his hand. "I know; but would it really have killed you to just pretend that you didn't see or sense anything and left her to fend for herself? She so deserved that and a lot more!"

James heard about Gwendolyn's unprovoked attack on Rita Skeeter within minutes of it happening; and didn't have any trouble convincing Rosinda to go along with him to find out if the famous reporter was okay. Tracking her down was easy too; since she hadn't gotten far from where she'd been blasted thanks to a gaggle of gossip-hungry Witches interested in discussing the horrid attack that had left her – completely unharmed. He talked Rita into going to the Three Broomsticks with them for a drink; and they were soon sitting around a table with iced drinks and something a bit stronger for Rita.

"Now you've seen first-hand what I've had to deal with for years now," James told Rita after she told him – and Rosinda – her story. "I wouldn't be surprised if the loser set the whole thing up just so he could demonstrate how brilliantly he can ride in and save the damsel in distress – which in this case was you, Ms. Skeeter."

"You believe that whole scene was a set-up?" Rita asked intently; and then turned her attention to Rosinda when she laughed. "You find Miss McCormack's unprovoked attack on me to be amusing?"

"Definitely," Rosinda agreed; "but not as funny as watching James manipulate you into potentially writing another ridiculous hit piece of a column blaming his brother for something he didn't do. It's apparently even easier for him to do that than it is for him to talk Witches out of their panties." She laughed again at Rita's reaction. "Yes – me included, but unlike some of his other girls; that's really the only thing I'm interested in him for."

"Your candor is rude and crude, but his suggestion does make sense of why I was attacked for no reason at all," Rita protested.

"You've been attacking Gwendolyn's boyfriend in your newspaper special reports and columns with ridiculous, baseless accusations," Rosind stated. "Then, if what we just heard is true, you tried to interview her about your story; and now you're pretending to be surprised that she blasted you?"

"If you believe that my reporting about this scandal is wrong; then you're siding with your boyfriend's brother – and implying that James is the father of those children instead of the Animorphloser."

"He's not my boyfriend – he's one of my paymates. I'm not implying anything either," Rosinda said quietly. "Can't either of you even speak honestly about what we all know to be true here when you don't have a gullible audience to baffle with all of your usual double-speak?"

. "If you're telling me that you've been sucked in by the Animorphloser's lies too; I won't be talking with you at all," James warned; and Rosinda laughed.

"News flash, James – I've never been interested in you for conversational skills. Just because I don't care about how many other Witches you mess around with doesn't mean I'm dim, and here's another news flash – I know the truth because of things you've said after you've had a few too many drinks. If you want to turn on me too just because I also don't have a problem with the truth; then I'll be on my way now and leave you to have fun messing around with Ms. Skeeter – metaphorically-speaking, of course! I'm sure that Patricia will be very happy to temporarily have you all to herself until you find a replacement for me. We won't likely be seeing each other all summer anyway; so starting my holidays from you early is really no big deal to me."

"Then feel free to go and do that," James retorted. "Run on over to the Animorphpotty camp and tell him what a good little traitor you've been for him. I'm sure he'll reward you handsomely with a nice, tasty dog treat!"

Rosinda stood up and smiled at him. "I could care less about your one-sided sibling rivalry," she advised him. "It's usually been fun, and maybe we'll hook up again sometime, since I do appreciate certain talents of yours, but if that does happen; leave this sort of stupid out of it – or there won't be any future you and me play time."

With that said, she walked away without looking back; James and Rita watched her for a moment; and then turned back to face each other.

"Well, the good news is that you apparently do not need to worry about Rosinda rushing to my defense and blasting you," he joked. "Where were we before she went off on that love-fest for my loser brother?"

"You were suggesting that the attack on me was a set-up so that your brother could come to my rescue," Rita prompted. "Can you prove that?"

"Probably not," James admitted; feigning rueful disappointment. "I can tell you that she has a school record that includes other unprovoked attacks that she's been caught and punished over – and Merlin only knows how many more she's gotten away with. She blasted Ollie and me once a couple of years ago and we both needed to have Madam Pomfrey treat us for our injuries. We didn't even have time to draw wands. She took offense to something we said – I don't remember what; and just let us have it – just as she apparently did with you just now."

"Well I'll be making sure that the Headmistress deals with her for this too," Rita promised. "I'll also continue to look into what appears to be a serious lack of discipline and control of the students at your school."

"Only when it comes to the Animorphloser and his crazy, potty-trainer," James retorted. "Pick any problem we've had at Hogwarts since they started there; and it's a safe bet that they're behind it. This little attack is nothing compared to that fight in the Great Hall that the loser set up and then managed to blame on the Slytherin teens he used to get the whole thing started – again so he could be the hero. You tried to report the truth on that story too; and had the right of it! The loser has been messing with the Averys and their mates since his first year; and I'm sure you've heard a lot over the past few weeks about how much he's hated by virtually every Slytherin. I had some bullying issues with some Slytherins when I first started at Hogwarts, but eventually worked out a truce; and have even managed to make some friends with a few of them."

"Really?" Rita asked; sounding more than a bit skeptical.

"I have," James insisted; "and I've learned a lot from them too – enough to now believe that my family bears most of the responsibility for the problems with the other pureblood families. Everything I was taught as a child is the lie, and the only reason everyone doesn't know that is because the victors get to re-write history to make it what they want it to be; and the truth is lost along with the war. If not for you and a few others brave-enough to reveal those lies; my generation wouldn't even be able to find out just how messed up our Wizarding World actually is!"

"Well, thank-you,' Rita said with faux-modesty. "I am visiting town to follow up on my investigation before you and your fellow students will be locked up for the end of term exams, though; and I'd like to ask you some additional questions about that before we run out of time and you need to get back to Hogwarts."

"Ask away," James invited magnanimously. "I'm in no hurry to get back to the indoctrination center."

Gwendolyn walked toward Professor McGonagall's office with Al going along despite her insistence that he didn't need to do that. He could've studied for at least another half-hour before dinner; but had packed up too and wouldn't take no for an answer. When they reached the stairs leading up to McGonagall's office, they were advised that they'd need to wait for a few minutes; they sat and talked while doing that; and then Gwendolyn was invited in while Al remained behind and waited for her.

"Please come in and take a seat, Ms. McCormack," Professor McGonagall told her. Gwendolyn did that quickly; and waited to learn what the consequences would be for blasting Rita Skeeter in Hogsmeade.

"A rather serious complaint was filed by Ms. Rita Skeeter regarding an incident that she had in town with you," McGonagall said solemnly. "Is it true that you attacked her with a number of hexes without provocation or need to defend yourself?"

"I wasn't physically attacked or provoked," Gwendolyn confirmed, "but she did have it coming to her; and I definitely blasted her. I accept the consequences – though I would have been happier with that if Al hadn't jumped in and helped her out with the counter-hexes and some healing that likely fixed her up better than she was before I blasted her."

" came toher aid?" Professor McGonagall asked intently; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Rita didn't tell you that," she surmised. "How very much like her to pick and choose which parts of the truth to tell and what to lie about – even if that's by omission. I was rather put out with him about it; since I'd hoped that she'd mess up the counter-hex for my bat-bogey hex at least a few times before seeking professional help, but he wouldn't leave well-enough alone; and I wouldn't have been able to stop him if I'd tried." She sighed dramatically. "It's really too bad that he's so much like his father; but insists on helping the bad guys too."

"Be that as it may, your conduct in attacking Ms. Skeeter is completely unacceptable; and reflects poorly on our students and school," McGonagall told her sternly; though Gwendolyn thought that she was having difficulty keeping a straight face. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"No," Gwendolyn answered. "I'm also not at all sorry; and have no intention of offering any apologies to Ms. Skeeter. She can be mad at me all she wants; but I'll wager that she'll think twice about coming here and trying to use me to hurt any of the people I love the way she's been going after Al and his family with this ridiculous scandal of hers!"

"I see," Professor McGonagall said with a nod. "Then you leave me no choice but to take all of that into account – particularly your lack of remorse. Fifty points from Ravenclaw; ten hours of detention to be served before end-of-term working with our peer-tutors; and you will not be permitted to go to Hogsmeade or attend any special school events for the remainder of the school year. There are other ways to resolve our problems, Ms. McCormack. Spend some time thinking about that while helping your fellow students. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Headmistress," Gwendolyn said with a nod as she stood; and then she hurried out of the office and back to Al – ready for the comfort that came along with the hug and kiss he was ready to share with her.

As with all good gossip stories; the news about Gwendolyn's trouble spread around the castle very quickly – partly because everyone wanted to know why Ravenclaw had the sudden big drop in their points. There were more than enough teens and tweens enjoying Gwendolyn's misfortune, but unlike in Al's case – or Malorie's; Gwendolyn also had a lot of support too for having the audacity to publicly and literally blast Rita Skeeter. Gwendolyn hadn't liked losing so many points for her House, but knew the rest of McGonagall's punishment for what it was – a slap on the wrist that only looked good on paper because ten hours of detention was a lot for the three weeks they had left – and during their exams. The Ravenclaw leader of her House's peer-tutors talked with her after dinner and set up some times that she could work with some of the younger kids needing help getting ready for their exams, and since she offered to help with subjects that the peer-tutors usually worked on collectively in classrooms or the library with students from the other Houses; Al volunteered too; and would at least be able to spend that time with Gwendolyn – as well as help out some tweens in need of the extra support.

They didn't start that on Saturday night, but they did still study with their friends; Lily and Jonah brought their study group along; and they kept busy through until curfew – and beyond for Al; since he did a bit more dorm room tutoring after getting ready for bed because he had three roommates getting seriously-stressed now that it really was crunch time and their first exams were imminent. Sunday was all about studying too, and hwile Al had to deal with new stories from Rita Skeeter – including the one about Gwendolyn's horrid attack on her that she'd likely be recovering from for weeks; that was only an issue at meals. The rest of the time, he was too busy with his studies, tutoring his friends, and serving two hours of Gwendolyn's detention time with her after lunch instead of taking some of that time off for the Quidditch scrimmage and swim in the lake time that their friends got to have instead.

They worked all evening too, and while Al wanted to go to bed early; he delayed that for an hour and again helped his roommates for a while as they continued to cram for their Charms exams on Monday. The extra sleep would have been better for him, but he really did want to try to do better than he usually did with everyone around him – regardless of how challenging that could be when he also sensed too much of what everyone truly felt and thought instead of being blissfully ignorant and able to go with all of the social white lies that keep things civil in any community.

"I do not want to start talking Charms," Rose told Al as she met up with him in the common room. "What's the latest news from the world according to Rita Skeeter? I haven't had time to look while being quizzed this morning by my roommates. I couldn't even get through my shower without having questions called out to me."

"No comment; and keep the mental pictures to yourself," Al joked. "You'll be happy to hear that Rita decided to write about the failings of parents and our education system today instead of going after Malorie, Gwendolyn, or me – or at least she didn't do that directly. We are definitely the catalysts for her calls for Ministry of Magic intervention and investigations. There's more than a hint or three to suggest that James was a primary source again; but that's no surprise to me."

"They did have a long visit in the Three Broomsticks from what we heard on Saturday," Rose reminded him. "I doubt they were discussing options for coming clean and having James admit that everything that you've been accused of is a bunch of lies – and that rita went along with it because she hates you and your parents."

"I'd settle for having all of this blow over so that we can just focus on our exams and then enjoy our summer holidays once we're set free."

"You'll be lucky if you can do anything without having Rita Skeeter dogging you everywhere you go – assuming she doesn't do that to Malorie instead."

"We'll see. I don't even know how we're going to work things out for our first weekend home right now. It's going to get weird with James and home and helping Malorie to get set up and settled into her new flat."

Rose grinned at him. "I don't see the problem. Your Mum and Dad are unemployed. One of them can help Malorie; and the other can spend a lot of time with James so that they have a chance of saving him while they still can!"

That joke gave them something to have a bit of fun over; but then they mostly talked about what they'd want to do to help Malorie with being out on her own and starting her job with their investment company. Rose was expecting to spend a lot of time with Kyle too, and Al wanted to do the same with Gwendolyn – and with their families; but Malorie was going to make for an interesting new dynamic to their home lives – and she was going to need all of the support they could give her as she neared her due date.

The mood in the Great Hall was very somber as a lot of teens and tweens continued to cram for exams even though it was a bit late for bothering to do that. Al and Rose did what they could to help their Gryffindor classmates; but also tried to relax and get ready to take the written portion of their Charms exam first. Al met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast; they walked to the exam classroom together with a lot of their friends; and then they sat in the same row with Al right behind his girlfriend – with Rose and the rest of their friends spread out in the seats and rows around them.

That hours-long test was thorough and stressful for the least-prepared of their classmates, but Al had fun; blasted through it; and had time for a lazy review of his handiwork that wasn't really necessary before he handed it in and then went to wait in the hallway for Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends. It took a while to get everyone together for the exam post-mortem, since some of their friends tried to get extra time to finish before handing in their tests too; and then they wanted to 'ask the experts' about answers they'd given but hadn't been sure of – or questions they hadn't been able to answer at all.

As usual, Al tried to help; but couldn't relate to obsessing over an exam that was in the past and couldn't be changed regardless of how well or porrly you did on it. He was more-interested in relaxing and getting ready for the practical half of the exam. He and Gwendolyn had a bit of extra time to do that, since they were in the middle of the pack for the time slots they'd drawn; but they also went along to help with some more last-minute tutoring and practice instead of going out for a walk or horseback ride. They weren't in the same group for their afternoon exam, but they were close together, with Gwendolyn going in two groups ahead of Al and Rose. That worked for him, since he got to see that she aced her exam before going to take his; and then he went all-out to impress Professor Flitwick - particularly with a couple of impressive feats using summoning and banishing charms.

Once they were finished with that exam; they took a short break; and then got to work on studying for their next exams. Al was voted in as leader for that effort because he was their group's best Astronomy student; and he did his best to help his friends to get ready for the written part of the exam through until it was dark out; and then they got ready for the practical exam with some star gazing that they worked on until shortly before curfew. Al didn't end up needing to do extra studying in his dorm room; but that was entirely because none of the guys wanted to stay up late when they'd all be doing that on Tuesday night for the practical part of that exam – and then they'd need to write their Herbology exam on a short night of sleep.

All of the studying didn't leave them with many chances for entertainment, but Al and Gwendolyn actually had a fair bit of fun while doing all of the work. She still had to deal with her detention, but while they didn't do any extra tutoring on Monday; having the afternoon and evening off between the Astronomy exams allowed them to take another two-hour study shift in the evening while some of their friends opted for a nap before another cram session after dark and before they needed to be on the Astronomy tower for their practical exam. Gwendolyn's peer-tutor gig wasn't turning out to be punishment at all, since she and Al worked together and had a lot of fun with the first and second-year tweens and teens they were put together with. They were also good at teaching; and Al came up with some great new ideas for RevisionWizard – though he expected that a lot of work would be needed to put together a built-in tutor that would both help students and be acceptable for teachers.

He did enjoy the mental entertainment that went along with envisioning a Professor-to-teen-speak translator!

On the exam side of his day; Al aced both the written and practical Astronomy exams; Herbology took some more serious concentration to get through because he wasn't as rested as he would have liked to be for the written part; and then he managed to get through the practical exam in the afternoon without getting scratched, bit, spat on, or otherwise injured by the plants they needed to demonstrate proficiency in handling and caring for properly. The exams and prep work fun didn't end for the ay after that, though; since they needed to jump into their History studies for their Thursday exam.

While many of their friends were stressed about being ready for it because so much memorization was required for the class; most of the fourth-year teens were happy too because they'd have three and a half days off between History on Thursday morning and Transfiguration on Monday. Only the Arithmancy students had an exam on Friday; so getting History out of the way meant a chance for some play time for the majority of Al's classmates.

The tutoring sessions before and after dinner on Wednesday was easy-enough for Al, but while some of his roommates stayed up late to study; he needed the down time after two long days; and he didn't stay up to help them. Having the extra sleep would have likely been better for those guys than the late-night cramming session; and it definitely helped Al as he breezed through that exam with a lot of time to spare; and then he had to wait while Gwendolyn finished writing her exam before they could take a break together before lunch. Her third peer-tutoring session was booked for the last half of the afternoon, so they studied Arithmancy after lunch; worked with their assigned younger teens after that until dinnertime; and then they went back to Arithmancy for the evening.

Al basically had no involvement in his Aunt Fleur's forty-fourth birthday on Wednesday, but Jonah's thirteenth on Friday was another matter. He had Rose and Lily with him for the morning walk and talk on Friday morning; they met up with Gwendolyn and Jonah; and had a little bit of a birthday celebration before breakfast that included a fun mirror chat with Kirley and Gwenog. Jonah had more fun during breakfast and with the gifts that came with the Owl Post, but while he was having fun with that; Al was busy with some last-minute Arithmancy tutoring through until they sat down to write that exam. He wrote a perfect exam and was sure of that when he left the room, but then the post-mortem was probably the longest of the week because some of their friends had a lot of questions about things they'd done; and the nature of the test meant that it sometimes took a while to explain every step in the problem-solving to get to the correct answer.

The second-year students had their History exam on Friday, so Lily and Gwendolyn opted to have Jonah's birthday party in the afternoon. They set it up outdoors at the practice pitch; there were two scrimmage matches for the guests to join in on; swimming in the lake; and food and drinks that eventually ran out thanks to party crashers stopping by to help out with that. Al and Gwendolyn took some time off to play too, but they studied some of the time; and then they went on to split their evening between another round of peer-tutoring and studying for Transfiguration with just a handful of their friends while most of them took the evening off. Al and Gwendolyn only took a bit of time ahead of curfew to have a bit of time together; and that wasn't of the snogging variety – just an extended walk back to Ravenclaw tower.

"I love our friends, and wish that we could just take a night off like they do even in the middle of exams; but it would be better for us if they wouldn't do that and then expect us to help them cram day and night when they do finally decide to put in the time," Gwendolyn told Al quietly.

"That's something that I just seem to be going along with this year without letting it bug me," Al advised her. "Our peer-tutoring is part of that; and I'm wondering if we could have done more at the first of each year to teach our friends how to study smarter. Everyone is learning to use RevisionWizard at different speeds; but nearly every first and second-year teen never bothered to learn about everything it can do; so they waste a lot of time fumbling around for answers when they don't need to do that."

"We did just make them this year," Gwendolyn reminded him. "That's something worth suggesting to the peer-tutors for September, and maybe we can help out with that a bit; but don't forget that we'll be a bit busy with Quidditch in September too – and however many classes we end up taking in our OWL year."

"Won't that be ten and eleven?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"Eleven for you; and nine or ten for me. I'm thinking about dropping one – though I haven't decided yet. I know it's shocking, but even Rose and I are feeling the stress trying to keep up with all of the work – and with you."

Al grinned at her. "I don't even know if I'll be playing next season. If James is Captain; I could be out of luck again."

"Well, I should probably hope for that – for my team," Gwendolyn suggested; grinning too. "Rose did mess that up a bit getting the Keeper job over Louis. He did get to play in that last match, so I guess he could still be given the job as Captain next season; but that wouldn't be fair for Rose – especially when she had two wins and he doesn't have any wins as a senior team player."

"Whatever Olivia recommends – and then Mr. Peakes and Professor Longbottom decide; I expect to have some extra stress for our Quidditch team," Al predicted. "I'll just have to hope that we work that out before we play your team again."

"And I'll hope you don't," Gwendolyn teased. "At the risk of messing things up for us; I just realized that you haven't said anything all week about how James is doing with his OWL exams. Is that good news or bad?"

"From his perspective – probably good," Al answered. "I can sense how others feel they've done on their exams; but that doesn't necessarily reflect reality. James thinks he's done well-enough on his first three exams; but there's no way for me to know if he's right about that or deluding himself. He's also trying to hit certain targets too – good-enough to move on in sixth-year for some classes; and scrape through for passes with others."

"That seems silly, since your parents would cave in and let him do what he wants whether he can take all of his classes in sixth-ear or not."

"I doubt he'll have to worry about that; but I do hope he doesn't mess up that part of his plan. He really will have parental problems if he can't take any classes next year."

"Well, I'd suggest that would be good for my team too; but you'd likely get all sacrificial and go for the Seeker job instead of playing Chaser – and then totally mess up my Quidditch season yet again."

"It's funny that you think that despite the fact that you have two more Quidditch Cup wins than I do," Al reminded her. "I really don't know what will happen next year, but neither of us have anything to complain about; since we've both done pretty well with our school Quidditch so far."

"We have," Gwendolyn conceded. "That's likely a good thing for you, since if my record was more like Tory's; you might be in a lot of trouble."

That joke led to a change in topic; they enjoyed that bit of quiet chat time; and then they each headed for bed and went off to sleep not long after they got back to their respective Houses. The entire weekend was still ahead for them, but they were tired after a long week while getting about half of their exams done and out of the way; so sleep was definitely at the top of their to-do list so that they could get rested up and ready for the second-half of their final exams adventure – or ordeal; depending on the student's perspective!

The weekend weather was a mix of damp and dreary with just a break or three where going outdoors for some fresh air was an option; but wasn't nice-enough for outdoor study sessions. Al and Gwendolyn spent most of their time studying with their fourth-year group, but they also finished and went beyond Gwendolyn's peer-tutoring detention time by helping out with that for at least two hours each day. Transfiguration was the top subject for the weekend exam prepping, but they did some work on the other three or four exams that they'd be taking during the rest of the week; mostly because some of their friends needed to multi-task as they crammed for those tests and wanted the tutoring support.

Malorie worked with them a lot too, but also had one former study group friend break with the rest of her old group and ask to work with her too because the rest of her friends were lost for some of their classes without Malorie's help. Al had sensed that the Witch made that choice entirely out of self-interest, but Malorie had been happy; and it wasn't really any of his business if she wanted to help her classmate or not. He was glad to know that Malorie was happy with how her NEWT exams had gone so far, and while she didn't ask for a lot of help; she still had three mirror chat tutoring visits with Ginny or Hermione – and that help had definitely impressed her classmate.

Taking a lot of time off to play wasn't an option, but Al and Gwendolyn did take a couple of breaks each day; wrapped up a bit early on Saturday evening so they could have a bit of quiet snogging time; and had mirror chats with their parents on Sunday evening before doing the visit to the Owlery ahead of curfew. Al ended his weekend with more tutoring in his dorm room after he returned there from walking Gwendolyn home, but while some of his roommates stayed up much later as they continued to cram for their Transfiguration exams; he only worked with them for about an hour before calling it a night and getting the sleep he needed to be at his best for taking those tests.

Their second week of exams was just a blur of busy with cameo bits of fun mixed in for Al – and a bit more fun for Gwendolyn because she only had four exams to write. Kirley's fiftieth birthday on Tuesday was the only extra event on their schedule; and their involvement in his special day was only a morning mirror chat while he opened their gifts. The rest of the time, they were busy with exams or studying; and they only took short rest breaks each day when they could fit them into their schedule. Al breezed through the Transfiguration exams on Monday; aced Divination on Tuesday while Gwendolyn got to have the extra study time to get ready for DADA on Wednesday – and did an extra peer-tutoring session while he wrote that exam; and then they each did exceptionally-well with that DADA exam and the Care of Magical Creatures exams on Thursday.

The toughest exams of the week were the written and practical exams for Potions on Friday. By then, they were really getting tired after weeks of long study days and nights; and Professor Slughorn's exams were thorough and challenging. He also did his practical exams a bit differently in that it was a much tougher test of their Potion-making skills – and required the use of multiple dungeon classrooms because it was an all-afternoon test that required each student to be very prepared and organized as well as have a thorough knowledge of the two potions they needed to make. Al was wiped out by the end of the afternoon; and he completed both potions perfectly. From what he sensed from the rest of his classmates after the exam and at dinner; more than half of them had been physically and mentally destroyed by the stress and strain.

That was why most of their friends and study group buddies took Friday night off – though that was also because only a few fourth-year students still had two exams left to write during the final two days of exams on Monday and Tuesday. The schedule for those last two exams hadn't worked out in Al's favor in third-year; but it did this time around; and wrapping up his exams with Ancient Runes on Monday was going to allow for three and a half days of fun before they'd be heading home on Friday while more than half of the fourth-year students would be writing their Muggle Studies exam on Tuesday.

Then again, that gave them an extra day to get ready for one of the easiest exams; which was another good reason for taking Friday night off – and more time off during the rest of the weekend. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had a different mix of study buddies for the weekend anyway; since there weren't very many students taking Ancient Runes; and several of them wanted the tutoring help while the rest of their friends did their own thing when getting ready for Muggle Studies. There were a few fourth-year teens that were finished their exams, but not many; since Muggle Studies was one of the 'fluff' optionals that most of the less-dedicated students took – along with Care of Magical Creatures.

While Al and Gwendolyn did take a bit of extra time off here and there over the weekend; they also did two more peer-tutoring sessions; and joined in for one Quidditch scrimmage and swim break each day too. They did not take either evening off to play, but they did wrap up an hour early on Saturday for a bit of snogging fun for two; and had a short bit of family fun on Sunday ahead of curfew that included the last Sunday night mirror chats with the parents before they'd be home for the summer and a last visit to the Owlery to send Winter home ahead of the summer break too. Al didn't need to do any extra studying after curfew; so he pretty much went straight to bed; and then was out for the night so he'd be fully-rested for one, final, tough exam.

"I'd be wishing that I took Ancient Runes too instead of Muggle Studies; but that stuff might as well be gobbledegook for as much sense as it makes to me," Scorpius told Lysandra as they cuddled together in the Slytherin common room and she continued to study for her Monday morning exam. "It would have been nice to be finished my exams tomorrow too – and have the extra day to spend with you."

"You're ready for your last exam on Tuesday; and it won't take long to write; so we'll still have most of the next four days together – five, including the trip home," Lysandra told him. "We'll work out a way to spend lots of time together this summer too; so the fun will just be getting started once we're done with these last exams."

"I'll try to have fun; but we still have to go through the Animorphloser lovefest on Thursday – I mean the end-of-term feast and awards ceremony."

Lysandra shrugged. "We've done the best we can this year," she reminded him; "and there's nothing we can do about the way most of our Professors fawn all over the Animorphpotty Prince and his Princess Potty-trainer. Let's just be glad for how well this year has turned out for us and celebrate that. We're the best Slytherin students in our year; you proved that you and Licentia can play with the best Chasers in the school – even if the rest of your team couldn't; and best of all – we're allowed to date each other now! I'll take all of that over any stupid awards from the fools we call Professors around here." She grinned then. "Our House might still have a chance for the House Cup too – especially after the potty-trainer lost all of those points for blasting Rita Skeeter in Hogsmeade."

"Don't get too hopeful of that," Scorpius warned. "McGonagall will likely come up with some special points to hand out to the loser too if there's even a hint that we might win."

"Probably true," Lysandra conceded. "I need to concentrate on this, though; so let me get back to it so that I can get done." She leaned back and kissed his cheek. If I hurry; we'll still have a bit of time for a proper, non-verbal bit of goodnight snogging before I'll need to go and get some sleep. I don't have to worry about really getting hurt in the Ancient runes exam; but it still sucks if you mess up and get them wrong."

His last exam day of the school year felt different for Al this year, but not in a bad way; and he was in a great mood as he woke on Monday morning and got ready for the day. He and Rose had an extra-special walk and talk because they went outside for it; and enjoyed an early-morning stroll by the lake before heading into the castle again and meeting up with their Gryffindor classmates for breakfast. Meeting up with Gwendolyn after that meal for the walk to the classroom that had been booked for the Ancient Runes exam kept the fun going; and then they spent the rest of the morning immersed in a tough, challenging test of their knowledge of Ancient Runes. Al was finished first; waited in the hall for Gwendolyn and Rose; and they were all very happy with how they did on that exam – and to also have three and a half days ahead of them where they could just play and wind down from all of the weeks of busy!

"Food first; and then I want to go swimming," Gwendolyn advised Al and Rose.

"Judging by that grin; Al doesn't have a problem with some you in a swimsuit time," Rose teased. "I think that's a great idea too, though; so I'll be happy to go along. Let's ask around at lunch and see who else wants to come and play. Susannah was one of the lucky few to be done her exams on Friday; so she might come with us. We'll have to see whether any of our friends taking Muggle Studies will want to take a break or not."

"I'll guess that they will," Gwendolyn predicted. "Susannah might actually be busy if she's doing any last-minute peer-tutoring this afternoon."

"We should check later to see if they need help for the last tutoring sessions tonight," Al suggested; and Gwendolyn smiled at him.

"You're right, and we'll do that, but in case you hadn't noticed; i did do more than double the detention time I needed to do – plus they got all of your bonus tutoring time along with mine. It would be okay for us to start catching up on all of the me and you time that we haven't had in what seems like months now."

"Save that thought for sometime when I'm not around," Rose told them. "I still have to wait until Friday night to get back together with Kyle – assuming he still wants to do that. We haven't had much time to even have many video chats while we've both been busy with exams."

"You do want to get back together with Kyle, don't you?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Of course," Rose assured her. "We've both changed over the past year, though; and it just isn't going to be the same as last summer."

"Al's changed quite a bit too," Gwendolyn offered with a grin for Al, "but I guess I've gotten to watch him do that; so it isn't a big deal for us."

"He has grown up a bit," Rose said; looking at Al as if assessing him. "An entire school year without spending any time in the hospital wing is a step in the right direction – especially for a trouble-magnet like him!"

"Don't jinx me – we still have three and a half days to go to the end of the year," Al warned.

"We're not going to have those sorts of problems this year," Gwendolyn told him firmly. "This time around; we're going to have fun every day and then the three of us are going to clean up with the fourth-year awards at the end-of-term feast."

"Starting with lunch and that swim," Rose agreed. "What do you want to do after that? Have a Quidditch scrimmage? Have some Animorphmagus play time? Blow me off and go off somewhere on your own so you can start catching up on all of that alone time you've missed so much?"

"I thought you wanted us to save that last thought for later," Al pointed out; and Rose laughed.

"It's apparently too late for that," she advised him. "I really hope that Mum and Dad expect me to be staying in London with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend."

"I expect to be spending lots of time in Chudley this weekend – or at least doing stuff with Malorie," Al told the girls. "Do you think she'll be freaked out if Mum and Dad have something set up so she can meet our entire family?"

"I wasn't thinking about that," Rose mused. "I might not be able to stay in London all weekend – though Lucy and Aiden are both done school; so they might be busy getting started on their new lives out in the real world."

"Or we might be having a family party for them too," Al suggested. "I guess we'll know soon enough, but we should make sure we're here for Malorie the rest of this week too. She isn't getting any support from her old friends or roommates; and these last few days at Hogwarts might be tough for her."

"We can do that," Rose agreed; "though Malorie might just want to sleep between now and Thursday. If you hadn't helped her out with some regular healing sessions; her NEWTs might have been too much for her."

"She's done brilliantly," Al said, "and after watching her go through this, when it's our turn; I am not going to complain even once no matter how hard they are."

"That might be against the rules," Gwendolyn joked. "OWLs and NEWTs wouldn't be scary at all if not for everyone saying how horrid they are to go through."

Al grinned at her. "Nobody believes anything I say anyway; so it won't matter if I tell everyone that they're easy and a lot of fun."

"I don't think that they'll be either; but you did just give me another idea for RevisionWizard," Rose told him seriously. "It would be awesome if we could give our Professors the ability to put tests on it for their students to take using their mirrors instead of writing on parchment – and then they'd be able to grade them using their mirrors – just as we've talked about having them do that with assignments in future versions."

"OWLs and NEWTs are standardized tests," Gwendolyn pointed out. "The written parts of those exams would be easy to do through RevisionWizard – and make marking them easy except for the essay questions. The Ministry officials would still need to read and grade those parts of the exams."

"Let's add that idea to our to-do list for the summer," Al suggested. "I don't think we could get that done in time for this next version of the app; but it's a great idea for the next one."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. "I like Gwendolyn's idea a lot – and the timing would be perfect for our OWL year."

"It would be," Al agreed, "but you know how slowly things go at the Ministry of Magic. For all we know; it'll take decades to get that kind of radical change to happen."

That unfortunate truth led their chat off in a new direction; they split up to drop off book bags in their dorm rooms while getting swimsuits, towels, and Quidditch gear for their afternoon play time; and then they went to lunch in the Great Hall. A lot of their fellow students were still in exam mode – either because they still had tests to take in the afternoon or on Tuesday; but there were also more teens that were finished now too and could enjoy themselves for the rest of the week.

Gwendolyn wanted to make sure that Al did that too, and while they did ask if their help was needed for the peer-tutors; they weren't needed anymore because there just weren't that many students still in need of help for the exams that were booked for Tuesday this year. They had lots of friends with them for the swim; their Quidditch fun ended up being a Chaser duel with Rose playing Keeper as Al and Gwendolyn took turns on offense and defense; and then Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride before they went off on their own for a bit of afternoon snogging fun.

By dinnertime, the firsties were finished their exams – as were well-over half of the teens and tweens. Lily and her fellow second-year students still had to take their Potions exams on Tuesday; so they continued to study into the evening – just as they had for most of the day except for breaks to blow off some steam and de-stress from all of the work. Al and Gwendolyn didn't need to help them out, though, so they went for an evening walk with Rose, Susannah, Malorie, and a few others; and then they set up the sofas and Al's mirror in their study classroom for a quiet few hours of mirror network show-watching fun that included some quality cuddle time for the couples.

On Tuesday, while the last exams of the school year were being taken, Al and Gwendolyn spent the morning hanging out with Rose, Malorie, and other friends – though the 'other friends' time happened through a series of cameo visits as there were a lot of different activities going on around the castle and school grounds. They joined in for some of the games; enjoyed some quiet chat time that included a lot of dreaming about summertime fun – and work, family, and new babies adventures. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose helped Malorie out with her strolls down memory lane as she spent time remembering the good and bad that had come with her seven years at Hogwarts.

The afternoon fun was more active as the weather warmed – and as the rest of their fourth-year friends could join them to play once they finished their Muggle Studies exam. Swimming, Quidditch, and other games kept them entertained through until dinnertime; and then Al and Gwendolyn went off on their own for an evening of teen-rated snogging that helped to make for a brilliant end to their day!

With all of the teens and tweens finished exams; Wednesday was a full-out play day where they could all let loose as much as they wanted and just have fun. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, Hugo, and Jonah started the day out with a pre-breakfast mirror chat with Grandma and Grandpa Weasley to wish them a happy anniversary. That seemd a bit weird, since they'd eloped after their own graduation from Hogwarts, but that had just been how the school schedule had worked out this year. That had been a fun start to the day, but there was a lot more going on to keep them entertained after that. Al and Gwendolyn spent a lot of time with Lily and Jonah; and that included playing with their friends; a mass visit with Hagrid that their parents' friend had loved a lot; and what began to feel like an endless series of cameo visits with cousins and friends.

Rose had to attend a Slug Club luncheon, but Gwendolyn had to miss it because of her 'punishment' for blasting Rita Skeeter, so while Al didn't have Rose with him while having lunch in the Great Hall; he and Gwendolyn had fun together during the extra half-hour or so that the Slug Club event lasted beyond the normal lunch hour; and then there was more swimming, Quidditch, and other fun around and in the lake. That play time included one particularly-entertaining bit of fun thanks to Lily and her AquaQuidditch set. Al and Gwendolyn weren't in on that game at first because Lily had been with Jonah and some of their usual group of friends when she'd come up with the brilliant idea; but they had been near the lake and enjoying watching the fun while taking a break with Malorie and making sure that she wasn't getting too tired or over-heated. Al got everyone's attention when he saw what Lily was doing and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al grinned at her.

"I love my sister; but sometimes she can be a bit oblivious,' he answered; and then laughed again when nobody else caught on to what he thought was so funny. "They're playing AquaQuidditch – in the lake," he added.

"We noticed that," Gwendolyn agreed. "It looks like fun. Do you want to go and play too?"

"I expect they'll want me to do that," he agreed. "Lily's a brilliant Seeker; but not such a great swimmer that she'll be able to chase down that AquaSnitch when it has the entire lake to play in!" He grinned as that comment finally explained to his cousin and friends why he'd been so amused.

"We designed it for pools," Rose said; grinning too. "Now I'm getting a mental picture of future Hogwarts myths about rogue AquaSnitches zipping around in the lake after escaping from the game."

"That will be fun for those future students," Gwendolyn agreed; "but let's go and have some fun with that now," she suggested. "Who wants to come along with Al and me? I definitely want to be there when he has to go Animorphmagus to try and catch that thing." She smiled at him. "Will you go fish or try to catch it using a diving bird form or something?"

Everyone in their group, including Malorie, didn't want to miss the show; so they had the entire gang with them for the walk to and out onto the dock. The AquaQuidditch match was going on beyond the far end of the dock from shore, and there were already some other spectators, but while everyone else either sat on the dock with the other teen and tween spectators or hopped into the lake to cool off; Al conjured a chair for Malorie before sitting down in front of her with Gwendolyn and Rose.

"Who's winning?" Gwendolyn called out to Lily and Jonah.

"The Witches – of course," Lily answered. "Sixty-to-thirty. Would you like to get in on the next match once I beat Jonah to catch the AquaSnitch?"

"Sure," Gwendolyn agreed. "How's that going for you so far?"

"It's tougher in the lake," Lily admitted. "The AquaSnitch is a lot easier to spot in portable pools."

"No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "For all you know, the silly thing could be all the way over on the Hogsmeade Station side of the lake by now."

There was a roar of laughter from everyone around them when that comment had Lily and Jonah both turning to stare at Gwendolyn in open-mouthed astonishment.

"I don't think they thought about that when they set it loose," Rose deadpanned.

"I didn't," Lily admitted. "Merlin – I might never find it again!"

"We were thinking that too," Gwendolyn advised her. "That's why we brought our favorite Animorphmagus along to help you out with that."

"Do you think you can find it, Al?" Lily asked hopefully. "If not; I'll need you to help me out with making a new one for my set."

"I can give it a try," Al agreed. "Let me try flying around first and see if I can spot it from above."

He stood after Gwendolyn gave him an encouraging hug and kiss; leapt into the air; and blurred into bird form. While he flew around the lake in search of the elusive AquaSnitch; word spread along the gossip network; and the audience watching him – and the AquaQuidditch match – grew quite a bit. He didn't actually find the AquaSnitch that way because he guessed that it was too deep to see from the air. Swooping down close to the surface of the lake – and near to Lily; he changed into a dolphin and earned a round of laughs and applause as he dove into the lake and began to use is fishy senses to locate the silly toy. He found it that way soon-enough; chased it down; and then had to catch it in his mouth. Once he had it, he sped back toward his sister, Jonah, and the rest of their team mates; hurled himself into the air and over Lily's head; and dropped the AquaSnitch so that she could catch it – which she did while joining in for the laughs. By the time Al landed in the water again; he was in human form; he swam to the dock; and climbed out to be welcomed by Gwendolyn with a towel and another happy hug and kiss.

"That was fun," he assured her; and smiled as he looked out over the lake. "The squid may come along to investigate, but that might be fun – especially if it tries to join in on Lily's game."

"That was brilliant – though we couldn't see much of your chase from here."

"Next time, we'll get him to let us attach one of those underwater mirror-cams to him first," Rose suggested. "That way; we'll be able to watch the entire show!"

"The parts we did see were fun," Malorie told Al quietly. "Your nieces are going to love playing with you if you're going to do stuff like that with them as they grow up."

"Dad will be able to do that with them too – just as he did with James, Lily, and me when we were little. Get Mum to show you the pictures of him having nap time with Lily while in his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel form."

"Have you ever used that form and then pretended to be him?" Malorie asked; and earned a round of laughs for that question.

"I haven't tried to pretend to be him; but I have changed into that form while trying to learn the limits of what I could do – and small dogs are always popular with the kids when they want me to play Animorphmagus games with them."

"Though the boys like to try and get him to do scary animals – or creepy-crawly ones," Gwendolyn added. "I usually want to leave the room when they do that."

Some of the other girls agreed with her on that, and there was a bit more fun as they talked about Al's Animorphmagus talents; but then they moved on to either go for a swim or do other things. Al and Gwendolyn played a quick match of AquaQuidditch without the AquaSnitch; and then they moved on to play some other games out on the school grounds – including some more Animorphmagus fun with a Fanged Frisbee. Dinner in the Great Hall was followed by a quiet family night with Lily, Jonah, Rose, Hugo, and Malorie; and that fun included final mirror chats with their parents, some music entertainment, and a bit of mirror network show-watching.

After walking Gwnedolyn home, Al spent some time visiting with cousins and friends in the common room; but then he went up to his dorm room and started to pack up everything except for what he'd need for their final play day before heading home on Friday. Some of his roommates did the same and he had fun talking with them while they worked on packing bags and trunks, but he was also done, ready for bed, and off to sleep before half of the guys had even come up to the room – mostly because those guys had been more-interested in staying up late and snogging their girlfriends in the common room instead. For some of the guys that was because they wouldn't be getting to see their girlfriends very much – or at all – during the summer holidays. Al was glad he wouldn't have to worry about things like that with Gwendolyn, but then he didn't worry about anything at all as he fell asleep and was then out for the night!

Thursday wasn't just a day to get through before heading home, but after having two play days already; Al did feel as though yet another day off was a bit too much time to wind down from exams before heading home for the summer. There was still lots to do, though, and he and Gwendolyn were able to spend more time saying goodbye to friends and acquaintances they wouldn't see again until September; and they had more visits with Professors than they normally would too. As with all gossip stories, the news about Malorie – and Al – was getting old by then; and he didn't really even have anyone making jokes or insulting him anymore as everyone was more-interested in their own lives and looking ahead to the summer.

While the cameo visits and games changed a bit on Thursday, fun was still the priority; and Al and Gwendolyn had a really good day through until they needed to split up to get ready for the end-of-term feast and awards ceremony. Gwendolyn was more excited about that than Al was, but while he was proud of their accomplishments all year; he really didn't like getting as much attention as he had every year because of those successes. He was happy for his cousins, girlfriend, and friends, though; and he really enjoyed the start of their evening when he met up with Gwendolyn outside of her House for the walk to the Great Hall. They weren't on a date and wouldn't get to sit together, but she was amazing and looked beautiful; and he felt as blessed by the Light as always that she'd chosen him!

"Mission accomplished," Toni advised Gwendolyn, "but that might not be fair – especially if you decide to blast him later when he cleans up on all of the fourth-year awards."

"He might not notice if she does blast him," Michael offered with a grin for Al. "Do you remember how to walk; or do we need to give you a minute?" he asked Al.

"I'll manage to catch on again," Al promised as he held out and arm for Gwendolyn. "You all know how I feel about the awards; so let's not go there."

"We know," Toni agreed; "but it's okay for you to be at least a little bit proud of yourself, Al – even if you get embarrassed by the attention."

"I'm proud of what we've all been able to do together this year," al answered. "Is there even any good way to deal with winning awards? Whether you brag about them or try to be modest; someone will have a problem with what you do."

"That's true," Gwendolyn agreed; and then grinned at him. "I am looking forward to how everyone reacts if you get the father-of-the-year award!"

Her joke was just the start of the entertainment as they made their way to the Great Hall. The room was more than half-full by the time they arrived; and Al only stayed with Gwendolyn for a few minutes after escorting her to her seat before going on to the Gryffindor table and sitting down next to Rose. She had help with some more jokes about him cleaning up with the awards again this year; but he didn't actually expect to need to self-heal by the end of the awards ceremony because of getting punched in the shoulder too many times. It wasn't all that long before everyone was there and Professor McGonagall stood up to get the awards ceremony started.

"Good evening, and welcome!" Professor McGonagall began; and smiled thinly as she looked around the room and the noise level dropped to near-silence – except for the normal crowd noise that felt like silence by comparison. "Tonight, we are going to begin the awards ceremony with a special presentation." Al sighed inwardly as he sensed and foresaw what was coming next before she explained. "Albus Potter – would you please join me?" she invited. He stood and wished that all eyes were not on him as he needed to walk half the length of the tables to get to her and then step up onto the low platform that covered the front of the hall and that the Head Table was also sitting on so the Professors had that slight height advantage to be able to see all of the students more-easily.

"The award I am about to present was actually earned at the end of the last school year, but it is for Mr. Potter's extraordinary acts immediately following the end-of-term feast last June," Professor McGonagall stated. "While I'm sure that all of you either remember what happened that night or have heard about it from your fellow students for those of you who hadn't yet started at Hogwarts; I am going to take just a moment to explain why I am presenting Mr. Potter with his second gold shield award for special service to the school." She paused as a ripple of noise greeted that announcement; and then continued once her audience quieted again to listen.

"During the attack that was started just as our last end-of-term feast was ending, Albus Potter led the defense of all of us with remarkable, incredible skill! I have had the opportunity to study the memories of dozens of witnesses – including memories from many of you; and think that it will be educational to point out just how much Mr. Potter did for us that night. During the initial attack, he personally protected more than a dozen of you from being struck by killing curses." She paused as that little fact hit home with the teens and tweens in the room. "Yes, and that was only the beginning," she added. "Mr. Potter defended more than fifty students in addition to those he saved from certain death before the attack was ended." She looked around the room again; and smiled.

"I am going to pause here for a moment because I also want to acknowledge that he had a great deal of help with defending, repelling, and ultimately defeating that attack. In recognition of each of those defenders; we have special, silver shield awards for you as well; and I would like each of you to now stand as those awards appear in front of you so that we can recognize your heroism that night as well!"

Those awards appeared on the tables then; and Al watched in pride as Rose, Lily, Gwendolyn, and many other teens stood and looked thrilled to have been given the awards and recognition. Most of the awards were spread out among the students in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff; but there were a few in Slytherin House too; and Al took note of all of the other teens with a quick glance and while processing everything he was sensing from all around the hall.

"Letters of commendation explaining your individual heroism are included with your awards; and I wish to thank each of you for your service to your school and fellow students!" She needed to pause again – this time for a round of applause; and then she turned her attention back to Al.

"While we do not have enough time to speak of every heroic deed performed during and after that attack; I do want to speak to Mr. Potter's actions because they exemplify the best that we hope for in all of our students! His efforts defending his fellow students were incredible, but it was in the aftermath of the fight that Mr. Potter showed a love and concern for both his friends and foes as he worked to use his extraordinary talents for healing to aid as many of the injured as he could – including the students we'd needed to defeat to end the attack." This time, her pronouncement was met with a wide-range of reactions – and there were as many of them ugly and dark as the good ones.

"We do not even know how many of you he aided that night. Well-over a hundred of you were injured to some degree, and while we don't know the exact total; we do know for sure that he aided more than half of you – either on his own; or with help from Madam Pomfrey and the other Healers that came to Hogwarts to help in our time of need." She looked around the room again; and now her expression was more-serious.

"Now I would ask all of you to take this news into consideration going forward from tonight. I would not tell any of you what to think or believe, but I will tell you that I have been greatly disappointed by the way many of you have treated some of your friends and fellow students in regards to recent revelations and rumors. None of us are without fault; and you would all be well-served to remember that. Do you not agree that Mr. Potter's example of showing love and compassion for all as he helped and healed his friends and foes is what we'd all want for ourselves in our time of need? In fact, he was there for many of you in your time of need! Have you repaid him – or others – in kind in recent weeks? Have you offered love and support to others who do and will continue to need that help in the coming weeks, months, and even years?" She smiled a bit ruefully.

"I did not mean to turn this into a lecture," she apologized. "Please take a moment to thank Mr. Potter and all of our young heroes, and while you do that; I will invite our Transfiguration Professors to come forward and begin our academic awards presentations!"

She handed Al his gold shield, shook his hand, and then he hurried back to his seat while most of the students and Professors clapped. The awards presentations continued within moments of him sitting down; but he didn't get to stay there for long because he was named top fourth-year Transfiguration student and needed to stand again along with the other award winners. Gwendolyn won the runner-up award, so that was fun; and so was the playful punch Rose hit him with after all of the Transfiguration awards were announced and he could sit down again.

Each awards ceremony was a bit different, and this year, while the order of subjects was rotated again; the Professors also went back to presenting the core classes first and then they moved on to the optionals that were, obviously, only presented to the third-through-NEWT-year students. Al also won the top awards in those core subjects for Astronomy, Charms, DADA, and Potions; and then was runner-up for History. He was really happy when not only did Rose win the top prize for Herbology and History, but Susannah was runner-up for Herbology ahead of him – and it gave him a chance to pretend to punch Rose in return after she'd had a handful of chances to punch him in the shoulder. Gwendolyn was also runner-up for Astronomy and Charms; while Rose took that honor for DADA and Potions.

While Al was happy for Rose, Gwendolyn, and Susannah; Lily, Jonah, and Hugo all did pretty well in second-year and earned nine of those fourteen awards between them. Louis was one of the big award winners for sixth year; Fred won two runner-up awards for third-year; and Roxanne won the top Charms award for the firsties. Lucy and James didn't win any academic awards. Lucy hadn't expected to since she'd never been interested in being one of the top students in her year anyway, and while Al was able to sense that James actually thought that he should have won for DADA; it was his perception of reality that was flawed – not the decision-making processes of the Professors.

With all seven years to cover for the core subjects, it was a while before they got to the awards for the optional subjects; and then it was time for Rose to have more fun razzing Al over his ongoing successes. Al won top spot for all four of his optionals; Rose was runner-up for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes; and Gwendolyn was runner-up for Care of Magical Creatures. Lysandra Lestrange was next-best to Al in Divination instead of Susannah this year; but Al sensed that she hadn't been happy with that award simply because he'd still been better.

With all of those awards, nobody had been surprised that Al was top overall fourth-year student – or that Rose was runner-up. It was a good night for that award for the Potter-Weasley clan because Louis won for sixth-year and Lily surprised more than a few – including herself – when she was named top second-year student. Rounding out those successes; Hugo was runner-up to Lily – and that gave Rose yet one more thing to tease Al about as they waited for Professor McGonagall to wrap up those overall academic awards presentations. Once that was done; it was time for Mr. Peakes to shine a bright light onto the Quidditch teams and players!

As always; he began with the individual awards for the junior team players; so Al enjoyed watching those presentations. That started out with a surprise when Mr. Peakes named is son, Ricky, and his Beater partner, Lee Johnson, as top junior team Beater duo – not because they didn't deserve it; but because he didn't let his relationship with Ricky keep him from acknowledging that the two teens had played exceptionally-well even though that hadn't translated into a winning season for Hufflepuff. Fred and Orlando were the runner-up duo, and while Al thought that they likely were a bit better than Ricky and Lee; they had the disadvantage of having played in two very short matches that didn't allow them to show off their talents compared to the other Beaters – and they'd been on the losing side of the one long match that they had played in.

Other than that one exception, there weren't any surprises for those individual awards. Jonah was top Seeker thanks to his three catches; and he was top scorer too – again thanks to there being so many short, low-scoring matches. Lily was runner-up Seeker with her two catches; and then she and Stephanie tied for top scorer runner-up with three hundred points each. Stephanie was top junior Chaser; Drew Summers was runner-up for that award; and Leanne Jordan won for top Keeper over runner-up, Hugo – again mostly because Hugo had two short matches and despite playing better than Leanne during the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match. The junior team awards weren't a surprise either, and hwile Al knew that Lily was disappointed that their junior team was runner-up to Ravenclaw; that was mostly because she was mad at herself for not paying more attention to the points part of the equation that came back to haunt her when they'd needed to use the tie-break and Gryffindor had come up just short.

Once Mr. Peakes had finished awarding that junior team title to Ravenclaw; he paused for a few moments while those players were all cheered for by their House mates; and then he started in on the senior team awards – beginning once again with the Beaters. There was no surprise for that when the McClaggens were named top Beaters. The runner-up race was likely a bit closer, but Brandon Graves and Seth Bradley got the nod for that award. The fun kicked up a few notches for Al as he got to watch Rose win the award for top Keeper with Peter Boot as her runner-up. He hadn't been surprised at that, but Rose had been; since she'd expected that only playing in two matches while Peter had three wins would have knocked her out of top spot. The top Chaser awards were next; and he laughed when Gwendolyn stuck her tongue out at him after he was named top Chaser and she was runner-up. That bit of fun didn't last long because Mr. Peakes then named Pauline top Seeker and James as her runner-up – and likely used the 'wins' tie-break; since Pauline, James, and Alex each had two catches for the season. That announcement infuriated James – and he mentally sent all of that hatred in Al's direction. The bad vibes got stronger as Gwendolyn was named top scorer next and Al was her runner-up; and then he was tops for assists with Miya Davies coming in just one assist behind him thanks to her brilliant final match of the season.

James wasn't the only hater in the room as the senior team individual awards wrapped up. Olivia and Lucy were upset that they hadn't been able to catch up to Al and pass him for any scoring statistics even with the extra match – and that was practically true for Gwendolyn and Miya too; since they'd earned their awards despite having such a short match against Slytherin. Their anger with him was closer to happy thoughts compared to what Al sensed from Scorpius, Licentia, and some of the other Slytherins, but that wasn't a surprise; and there was at least some good feelings to go along with the bad – especially from the surprise winners and their friends.

Olivia was far from overjoyed to sit and watch on as the trophies for the senior team title and Quidditch Cup appeared on the table in front of Pauline. Mr. Peakes presented those two awards in quick succession – along with the runner-up awards that appeared in front of Olivia for Gryffindor – the only awards for her efforts as team Captain; and recognition that she didn't appreciate at all. The cheers for those last Quidditch awards took a little while, but by the time all of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players from the junior and senior teams were sitting again; Professor McGonagall had replaced Mr. Peakes at the front of the hall and everyone quieted to find out which House was going to win the top award of the year!

"Thank-you, Mr. Peakes – and congratulations to all of our Quidditch players for yet another exciting season!" Professor McGonagall declared. "I'm sure that we are all ready to find out the winner of the House Cup – and get on with the feast; but before I make that announcement; I would like to first congratulate all of you for having one of the best school years ever for the House Cup race. In most other years, even the fourth-place House this year would have had enough points accumulated to win, and by that standard; I'd suggest that we all won this year!" There was a round of applause for that declaration; and then everyone quieted to hear the results.

"That said, we do still have a winner to announce; so let's get right to that without further delay! In fourth-place with sixteen-hundred and fifty points – Hufflepuff!"

Al sensed the disappointment from the Hufflepuff students, but there was polite applause from three out of four Houses; and then quiet again as Professor McGonagall continued.

"In third-place, with seventeen-hundred and thrty points – Ravenclaw!

Now that announcment changed the dynamics in the room as everyone suddenly realized that Slytherin was still in the running – and the Slytherin students seemed to be most-surprised of everyone!

"Yes, well-done, Ravenclaw," Professor McGonagall stated as the applause subsided. "Our top two Houses are separated by just twenty points after all of the points awarded tonight have been tallied. With eighteen-hundred and ten and seventeen-hundred and ninety points respectively; I am pleased to congratulate this year's House Cup winners – Slytherin – and second-place Gryffindor!"

Al had known what was coming well-ahead of the announcement; and he was the first Gryffindor student on his feet as he faced the Slytherin table and loudly clapped and cheered for them – loudly-enough that he earned the attention of a lot of the students in the room even as the Slytherin students overcame the shock and began to celebrate.

"You're not supposed to be so happy that our House lost," Rose whispered as she stood too and joined in on the growing roar of applause that he sensed was largely being ignored by many of the Slytherins.

"We haven't had reason to give Slytherin House much credit for anything," he whispered back. "They've obviously done even better this year than most of us had even noticed; and they deserve credit for it."

"They do," Rose conceded. "Our House has done well-enough; so we've no reason to complain."

"I'd say we've had a brilliant year," Al suggested with a smile. "They still need some work on being good sports; but there is hope there, Rose."

"I'll hope that they won't just revert back to the norm when Rupert Avery and his mates are allowed back in September – assuming they do well-enough with the home-schooling to do that."

"Now you're scaring me just a bit," Al advised her. "If Rupert and G-Air dont' pas stheir OWLs, they'd still be coming back – and they'd be in our classes for the next three years!"

"I'm scaring myself – and hope that can't be true for James and Ollie either."

"That'd be more like something Terror Tours would offer," Al joked. "I was first-up; so let's sit down now. These awards ceremonies aren't actually getting longer; but I think I need to start having a snack before them from now on; 'cause I'm about ready to start gnawing on the table if the food doesn't get here soon!"

He didn't need to do that, since Professor McGonagall began the feast just moments later; and then it was time to enjoy the food and have fun talking with Rose and their friends. The next hour was a blur of food and conversational entertainment; Al definitely ate too much by the time he finished dessert; and then he packed up his awards into his undetectable expansion bag and went to meet up with Gwendolyn so he could walk her home. They had a side-visit with Malorie to make sure she was okay; took the long way around to Ravenclaw tower; and stopped once for a bit of minor snogging because they didn't want to just have a little goodnight hug and kiss outside of Ravenclaw tower as their only joint-celebration for what had been a very good night for both of them.

When Al eventually got back to the Gryffindor common room, he didn't spend a lot of time there because James was there too; and it was tough to be around all of that hate even as he goofed around with his friends and flirted with as many Witches as he could. He did talk with some friends and most of their cousins before going up to his dorm room – and congratulated Lily on her awards; but then he wanted to get ready for bed after that and turn in early. He was surprised when Ray joined him in their dorm room not long after he'd finished getting ready for bed.

"Are you just stopping in to get something or did you lose Cyndia?" Al joked.

"She still needs to get packed – and so do I; though I'd have been okay with doing that later," he answered with a wry smile. "I know, it's shocking; but we'll still get to spend most of the day together tomorrow – even if we won't get to see each other every day all summer like you and Gwendolyn likely will."

"Not every day – just most of them," Al suggested. "I'm glad that we'll get a chance to talk while you're packing though; since we might not see each other very much over the holidays. You've got a summer job; and I have no idea how crazy my summer will be – especially if Malorie has the babies sometime before we come back here in September."

"I thought she was due in September," Ray said; and Al nodded.

"She is, but it isn't unusual for twins to arrive early – sometimes by weeks. I hope that we do get to see them before we come back here, since if we don't; we likely won't meet them until Christmas."

"I hadn't thought about that either," Ray admitted. "Your summer could end up being really weird – not just crazy. A part of me wants to get you to invite Cyndia and me to come over anytime Malorie and James are going to be there at the same time to watch the train wreck; but then I'm also glad that I won't likely be involved at all."

"I doubt that James and Malorie will be at our house at the same time. Malorie will visit – especially when we host anything for the family; but I'm also sure James will make sure he isn't around anytime she is – or the twins are after they're born."

"Should we start calling you Uncle Al so you can get used to that?" Ray joked.

"That'd be better than some of the nicknames I've been called since Rita broke her story," Al said with a shrug and smile. "There's no hurry on that. It will be another year or two before Jaimie and Lorie will be able to talk."

"I suppose," Ray conceded. "Hopefully, I won't have to find out what that's like for a long time."

"Melissa will agree with you on that one," Al suggested. "Instead of going there, though; why don't you tell me about what you're going to do this weekend. You don't start your summer job until next week, right?"

That suggestion and question moved their conversation along, and Al ended up talking with Ray and some of the other guys for more than an hour before eventually deciding he'd had enough and going off to sleep while most of the other guys stayed up later and packed for home or did other things. He might get razzed about being boring compared to the rest of his roommates, but that didn't really bother Al; and he preferred being rested and at full power first thing in the morning instead of tired and cranky.

"I'm glad that we won the House Cup, and it's nice to have good-cause for a party; but I'd feel better if I wasn't going to have to go home tomorrow and explain how I ended up with one of these special awards to my parents and brother," Lysandra told Scorpius quietly. "It's stupid – all I did was keep a couple of my friends from getting blasted by ricocheting curses that weren't meant to hit anyone in our House – and now my brother and the other guys will think that I joined in on the fight against them."

"Just tell them the truth," Scorpius suggested. "They can't fault you for defending your friends. It's not as if you blasted your brother or anything. At least you deserved an award – unlike the Animorphloser. He must've been winner or runner-up for every award he could even have a chance of winning tonight. It's a wonder I was able to eat dinner after being forced to watch that love-fest."

"He didn't win anything for Herbology," Lysandra reminded him. "I hate it that he's got some freakish talent for Divination, and won't admit that to anyone but you; but I can't deny that he's far better at Divination than any of the rest of us – so runner-up is the best I could hope for anyway."

"Freak is a good word for the loser – or maybe Animorphfreak. By September, I guess we'll have to call him Papa Animorphpotty or something similar. It's a good thing we didn't have dinner first. McGonagall's little rant about love and compassion would've made me puke for sure."

"That was meant more for teh Mudblood than the loser," Lysandra advised him. "I don't feel sorry for her – I feel sick for the rest of us that will have two more horrid little abominations sucking up more of the magic that is rightfully ours!"

"Not to mention the stench," Scorpius joked. "The smell of Potty gets on everything and is impossible to clean."

"You might want to switch that to 'Animorphpotty' the next time you hang out with James," she suggested. "He might take offense if you don't at least pretend that you believe his side of that pregnant mudblood story."

"You're right," Scorpius said with a smile and nod. "I really should support our only Gryffindor friend – especially when our Headmistress chastised us for not doing so recently! I think I'll talk to James tomorrow and invite him over for some visits this summer. I'm sure that Andrea would love to come over and do some more training with him; since G-Air likely won't help her; and I'm sure that my father and grandparents will be fascinated by his stories about his own family."

"Okay, but if you're going to suggest double dates with us; you'd better pick his dates; since I wouldn't be able to stand being around any of the Witches he slums around with around here!" Lysandra warned.

"Do you have any girlfriends or roommates that you secretly don't like enough to fix them up with James?" he joked; and Lysandra laughed.

"Maybe. I'll think about that and get back to you."

James was in a foul mood as he sat on his bed and used his wand to 'organize' and pack for the trip home. As if that stupid awards ceremony hadn't been bad-enough; he hadn't been able to convince any of his favorite playmates to go off and have a last bit of fun with him before they'd all be heading home in the morning. They'd wanted to pack, or needed their beauty sleep, or just didn't want to do anything because of that pesky, monthly biological issue that he'd also been told he should learn to love – since it meant that the girl he was messing around with wasn't pregnant!

Rosinda had been happy to point that out to him; laughed at his reaction; and then had wished him a happy summer before walking away and leaving him alone and frustrated with no way to work off some of the pent-up anger that was eating away at him thanks to the Animorphloser love-fest that he'd been forced to endure. On top of that, he and Lucy had been the only cousins to be completely shut out of the academic awards – and then he'd had to settle for being runner-up Seeker while the loser and weasel were named top Chaser and Keeper despite only playing in two matches! Sure, it was no surprise that Louis and Rose got a bunch of them, but Lily had done way better than he'd expected; and even Fred and Roxanne had earned individual awards. He hadn't – all thanks to the loser! The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. The loser was responsible for everything that hadn't gone his way again this year! He'd gotten his best mate kicked out of school for the year, so that explained his messed up academics; he messed up his Quidditch season and still got fawned over and handed awards anyway despite losing the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor; and, well, that was it; but it was more than enough to be deserving of the hatred boiling hot and bitter!

"I get why you put that bottle of fire whiskey out while you're packing like that, but if you're not going to share; then put it away so your mates don't have to look at it and wish we were having a nightcap while we're having our annual parting of the ways bedtime chat and ritual," Brock told him; and James laughed.

"Bring glasses," he suggested. "Having a drink or two sounds like a great idea to me right now – and I'll be able to get more once we're home anyway."

Drinking with his mates wasn't as much fun as play time with one of his favorite Witches, but it was a diversion; and the fire whiskey would take the edge off!

It was time to go home for the entire summer!

Al was at full-power and happy s he got up in the morning; got ready for the long travel day; and then met up with Rose and Lily for their last morning walk and talk of the school year. They were happy and excited too; they talked a lot about what they expected their first weekend home to be like – though Rose did expect that she'd be 'at home' at her grandparents' house instead of her own. Al and Lily were most-excited about what their parents had set up for Malorie. Sure, she was making most of the final decisions, but there were still a few things that Harry and Ginny were sure to do on their own for her too. They'd flat-out insisted on at least getting her a bed and a kitchen table and chairs so she'd have somewhere to sleep and sit for her first night at home, and it was a safe bet that they'd pick up some basic groceries for her too; but Al and Lily were sure that would just be the beginning.

Lily definitely hoped that she'd get to help out with the shopping and decorating that would go into getting Malorie's flat ready to live in and then for the twins too; while Al knew that he'd spend more time with Malorie helping out with getting the office up and running and her job going than Rose would be able to do all summer when she'd want to spend lots of time in London. He wasn't sure how they'd work that out, since Malorie would want her space too – and he had other commitments for toy making and more too; but he was still looking forward to having an amazing summer – if not one that was completely filled with fun and long, lazy play days!

As always on a travel day, breakfast was served early; they ate quickly; and then Al and Rose met up with Gwendolyn, Susannah, and Malorie for the carriage ride to the train station. Meeting up with Malorie had earned them some attention; and Al sensed a few things as they left the Great Hall; so he had some bonus entertainment for the girls as they headed out from the castle in their Thestral-drawn carriage.

"Call Mum," Al said as he got his mirror out.

"What's up?" Gwendolyn asked him; but he only had time to grin before Ginny answered her mirror.

"It's a bit early," she said with a smile. "You do know that we're old, retired grandparents-to-be; need our rest; and don't need to be at the train station to get you until late this afternoon, right? What's up?"

"That's what I want to know," Gwendolyn teased before Al could answer.

"Good morning, Mum, Dad," Al said first; smiling at them. "I should've waited until we were on the train, but thought that you should know that Ms. Skeeter had her junior spies keeping an eye on Malorie and me this morning. She already knows that we're together for the carriage ride to Hogsmeade Station; and I'll take a not-so-wild guess that she'll be at King's Cross when we get there too."

"We expect there to be a bit of a media frenzy there," Ginny advised them. "It is interesting that Rita is trying to gain some advantage over the other reporters; but not really a surprise. Are you all going to stick together for the train ride home?"

"We haven't decided," Al answered. "Why? Do you think we should toss Malorie off the carriage in Hogsmeade and have her take the Floo Network home or something?"

"Well, I wouldn't advise tossing a pregnant Witch off of anything," Ginny teased; "but no – we have other plans for dealing with that at this end. Trying to hide now would just make life tougher for Malorie later. Leave that for us to handle. We may be old and unemployed; but we do know what we're doing."

"You'll only be unemployed until Rose gets you to take a job with her Cannons team," Al reminded her, "and if nothing else comes up for Dad; he can always be a stay-at-home Grandpa and do a lot of babysitting for Malorie!"

He earned a round of laughs for that joke. "I'd likely love that," Harry admitted, "but instead of going there; let's stick to the reason for your call. Did you sense anything that we should be worried about – particularly for the train ride home?"

"No, but I'll point out the Witches involved with Ms. Skeeter to Malorie so she can watch her back anytime she needs a break from us and wants to go visiting or for walks along the train."

"Keep an eye on James too," Harry suggested seriously. "This is going to be a weird homecoming for him; and he can be rather unpredictable when he's worried about what's going to happen to him."

"James wasn't in the Great Hall when we left," Al advised his parents. "He's probably still furious with me because of the awards ceremony last night, so I'll keep an eye out for him; but I doubt he'll try to do anything stupid now. He's already done what he thought he needed to do to protect himself; so he pretty much needs to stick with his story and leave us alone."

"In public, anyway," Gwendolyn agreed. "Speaking of privacy; we need to talk with you about Al and Lily after we're home. It was bad-enough over the past three years, but now that Lily's been named top student for her year too; Rose and I just don't think it's right for us – and our brothers too – to constantly end up as runners-up to them in nearly everything we do!"

"Jonah was top junior Seeker; you were top senior team scorer; and Ravenclaw won both top team awards and the Quidditch Cup," Al pointed out at the same time that Ginny said – "Lily was top student for her year?"

"Yes," Rose confirmed; "and Hugo and I were the second-best to them in our respective years. I'm pretty sure I hurt my hand more than Al's shoulder with all of the punches."

"I'll guess that you and Gwendolyn are both exaggerating a bit," Ginny deduced. "You've all done well with the annual awards every year."

"They have," Malorie chimed in with a grin. "I didn't win a single award."

"I didn't win many," Harry advised her. "It likely had something to do with being in the same year with the smartest Witch of our time; but I only won a couple of Quidditch awards."

"Plus a gold shield award for special service to the school," Malorie reminded him. "Professor McGonagall mentioned that when Al got his first one two years ago."

"His first one?" Ginny asked. "You've been given another, Al?"

"Yes," he admitted; sounding a bit embarrassed. "Professor McGonagall presented special awards to all of the students that defended others and fought back during that attack last June. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily were all given those awards too."

"Ours were silver instead of gold," Gwendolyn advised Harry and Ginny. I think that Professor McGonagall had them specially-made."

"I was just glad that everyone else was recognized," Al offered. "Professor McGonagall still hauled me up to the front of the Great Hall to do that presentation, but while I'd have rather stayed out of the spotlight; Professor McGonagall did take that opportunity to not-so-subtly tell everyone to stop being so rotten to Malorie; so that was at least one good thing that came of it."

"Did that help, Malorie?" Rose asked. "I was going to ask if your roommates and old study group friends were nicer to you after that last night and this morning."

"I haven't been insulted to my face since then and didn't hear any of the usual whispers behind my back; but no, it wasn't all love and happy last night or this morning. I'd say it's likely to be a bit lonely for me now that I'm out on my own; but that'll only be temporary until I have Jaimie and Lorie to be my new best mates."

"With the good news being that they'll be great listeners – at least at first; and the bad being that you'll have to change the messy diapers of your best mates," Ginny teased. "You really will be a bit busy with them, but that'll give you chances to make friends too – with other young mothers."

"You'll meet a lot of young Witches and Wizards through your work too," Rose reminded Malorie. "Most of the Ministry officials and the office staff of the league and teams will be young; since those jobs are usually entry-level positions. Making friends with them will make your job easier."

"Now you're scaring me; since my track record on doing that isn't so hot."

"I'd say you're doing alright," Susannah disagreed – "and some of us like you a lot without having any family strings attached."

Susannah's warm words moved their chat along, but they didn't actually talk with Harry and Ginny for much longer before ending that mirror chat and then talking about more-immediately relevant things – like Malorie's thoughts on her last view of Hogsmeade – at least as a Hogsmeade student. That carriage ride was Al's first with a departing NEWT student; so he was interested in what he sensed from Malorie as she quietly said goodbye to the home she'd known for most of the past seven years. Sure, they'd been helping Malorie with that over the past few days, but the trip to the train station really was one final chance to do that before they'd all be heading to London – and the graduating teens would be moving on to start their new lives in the 'real' Wizarding World!

Harry and Ginny had been awake when Al had called, but they hadn't been in any hurry to get their day started – and didn't rush around afterward either. That was a nice bonus that they were enjoying after decades of early mornings for work or other reasons, but they did have plans for the day while the kids were in-transit from Hogwarts; and they eventually got around to having breakfast and then heading out to Chudley. The office and flat that Malorie had picked for work and her first home in the Wizarding World wasn't anything spectacular, but they'd already made sure that it was a nice as the first apartments that Harry had rented to Ron and Hermione after she and Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts. They went there first once in town; and they were both smiling as they took one last tour of the office and flat to make sure everything was ready for Malorie.

"I would have liked to do more with the office, but I guess that is something that Malorie should do with Rose and Al," Ginny suggested. "It is clean and ready to be decorated and furnished, though; so at least Malorie won't be doing any of the cleaning or repairs that were needed."

"She'll have enough to learn and do already," Harry suggested. "Our biggest problem will be working out how to help without crowding her – especially once the twins are born."

"No doubt," Ginny agreed. "This is a small space; but I guess she won't need a lot of room at first except to have a place to work and keep her files organized."

"She'll want a play area eventually, though," Harry mused. "I can help make it a bigger place when she's ready for that. For the first year; a big playpen would be enough."

"Are you thinking about going into the baby furniture-making business?" Ginny teased; and Harry laughed.

"No, but I do expect that we'll get to help out with a gift or ten here and there."

"I'm sure there will be a lot of gifts," Ginny agreed. "Lily and I are going to have fun with as much of the shopping too – especially when it comes to shopping for baby clothes for twin girls!"

"You'll have fun today," Harry predicted. "I wish I could be here when you first bring Malorie here."

"I'd like that too; but we both know there's no way that James is going to play nice when they get home – especially if Rita or any of the other reporters we expect to be there goad him into defending his precious reputation and needs to tear into us to do that."

"Well, if he thinks today is going to be bad; he'll be in for a shock for the rest of the summer," Harry suggested; and he was grinning again while saying that.

"We'll see if our plan makes any difference at all; but we can hope for the best."

"Don't forget to keep your fingers crossed," Harry teased. "You'll need to remember that to play for Rose's Cannons."

James was stretched out across the seats on one side of the compartment that he'd been sharing with Patricia, Brock, Anna, and their respective girlfriend and boyfriend for the trip home. Patricia was allowing him to use her lap for a pillow; and they were on their own for a while because the rest of their friends had wandered off to go for a walk and visit other friends and relatives. He'd had his eyes closed, but opened them when there was a knock on the door frame; and he smiled when he saw Scorpius and Lysandra.

"Come in at your own risk," he joked. "You must be bored to wander into enemy territory like this – and without an army to help if needed."

"I think we'll be safe-enough in here," Scorpius suggested as he led the way and then sat down with Lysandra. "Tough night? We're a bit old – or young – for nap time."

"It's a wonder we don't all feel ill after all of the garbage we had to swallow last night," James offered.

"I thought the food was okay," Scorpius joked, "but if you're referring to the Animorphloser love-fest, we didn't like the taste of it; so we didn't swallow any of that load of hippogriff dung."

"I have so missed having someone to talk with about the loser without all of the stupid," James said; and then smiled up at Patricia. "Other than you," he amended. "You've always seen the loser for what he is too."

"Thanks so much for noticing," Patricia teased.

"You're welcome," James offered magnanimously before returning his attention toward Scorpius and Lysandra. "I doubt you stopped by to talk about the loser. What would you like?"

"To talk to you about getting together this summer to hang out and maybe do some Quidditch training," Scorpius answered. "Things are likely to get weird for you this summer; and you'd be welcome to come over to hang out with me. Andrea would like to do more training with you – we talked to her about that a bit earlier today; and you could even get away from your family for a weekend or two if you'd like to stay at Malfoy Manor – and I'm not just suggesting that because it would drive your parents mental to do it."

James laughed; and the girls joined in. "It would – and I'm not just going to accept that offer because of that alone. I do have my summer job with the Catapults starting on Monday, though; so we'll have to compare schedules and work out when we could do those practices or weekends at your place."

"We could meet up in Diagon Alley and get our mirrors linked," Scorpius suggested. "Then we could work that out later – once we both know more about what we'll be doing all summer."

"I was planning on working every day and doing as many sleepover or camping trips the rest of the time to get away from my family," James advised him; and then laughed. "We don't have to meet up in Diagon Alley to link our mirrors – Mum knows how to do it – though maybe you wouldn't want to get in the middle of what's sure to be a media storm at King's Cross with Rita and all of the other reporters looking to make a big deal of the Animorphloser and his litter-carrier."

"You're definitely looking to mess with your parents if you want to do that," Scorpius mused; and then grinned too. "I like it – and it would be even more fun if my parents – and Lysandra's end up in the mix too!"

"Well, that might be a bigger story if my Dad was still Head of the Aurors, but he's an unemployed bum now; so it might not be that big of a story."

"What is your father going to do now that he's done with the Aurors?" Lysandra asked.

James shrugged and shook his head. "I have no idea, but if he's going to try to stay at home and be the best Dad ever; I am going to want to come and spend the entire summer at Malfoy Manor – when I'm not at work with the Catapults."

"You are supposed to spend some weekends with me – or me with you," Patricia reminded him; and James grinned at her.

"Maybe we could go out for weekend-long double dates with Scorpius and Lysandra," he suggested. "The Malfoys likely have one of those top-of-the-line tents too; so maybe we could blow off all of the parents and go camping somewhere."

"We do – though we rarely use it," Scorpius advised him. "I like that idea; but we'll have to see what our parents would say about that. I don't want to push it so soon after I've been allowed to court Lysandra."

"No parental supervision at all won't be an option," Lysandra told him; but I might be allowed to stay at your house now and then – or you at mine – especially if we're doing stuff like that as part of a group of teens."

"We can talk about that too," Scorpius suggested. "Maybe something like a Quidditch training weekend or something would work."

"That sounds like fun – not," Patricia pretended to complain; and Lysandra laughed.

"They could play Quidditch and the Witches that don't want to do that could do anything else – like go shopping," she suggested. "Would you really want to hang out with a bunch of Slytherins, though?"

"I wouldn't have thought so," Patricia admitted, "but as James said; it is refreshing to hang out with teens that aren't on the Animorphloser bandwagon; so maybe I just need to give it a try instead of just assuming it'd be awful."

The four teens talked for a while longer; agreed to meet up on the platform again so that they could get Ginny to link their mirrors; and then Scorpius and Lysandra moved on – his mission accomplished to an even greater degree than he'd hoped!

Al had been having fun all day during the trip home, but as they neared London; he was really looking forward to getting to King's Cross – and reunited with his parents. Sure, they were still going to have a long drive ahead of them – or some of them would; but that was going to be fun too – especially the part where they got to show Malorie her new home and help her to get settled in. He was ready for the weird that was sure to come along with the reunion and Malorie getting to meet his parents for the first time in person, but thinking about it in those terms made him laugh too – since he didn't think about it as having Malorie meeting James' parents instead.

He and Gwendolyn were with Malorie, Rose, and Susannah as the train slowed on approach to King's Cross; and they all looked to be as excited and nervous as he was. Okay, he knew for sure how they were each feeling, but that wasn't a problem for him; and it didn't change his own feelings either. As they closed in on Platform nine and three-quarters; he extended his senses beyond the train and was bombarded by the mental and emotional cacophony of the hundreds of Witches and Wizards waiting for their kids to arrive. He could pick out his own family; Gwendolyns; and more. Having locked onto Rita's mental 'signature' before, it was easy to track her down in the crowd too; and then it took a bit longer to pick out other reporters that were looking to get in on the story or get a new scoop of their own. By the time he'd done all of that; the train had rolled to a stop; and it was time to get going.

Harry and Ginny were both smiling happily as Lily ran on ahead of Jonah and Hugo so that she could hurl herself into their arms; and they all laughed as they shared a group hug. There was a large group of parents with them; so that was just the beginning of the hugfest; and the fun level continued to rise as all of the cousins – including Lucy and Louis – joined their group – and created a very large buffer around Harry, Ginny, and their kids. Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Malorie caught up with them only a couple of minutes after Lily's enthusiastic arrival; and Al had not been surprised when his mother had a warm hug and welcome for Malorie while he got in line with Gwendolyn and Rose.

He was 'monitoring' Rita and the other reporters he'd identified so far, and they had held back to watch the show at first – which was why most of them got caught out of the loop as the gang of parents and teens around Harry and Ginny quickly grew and blocked them out – everyone except for Rita. Al knew what she was up to the moment she glommed on to James and followed him into the fray – along with Patricia, Scorpius, Lysandra, and the parents that had come to the station to get them.

"Rita Skeeter warning," he whispered to his parents. Gwendolyn and Malorie likely heard him too; but the warning had been for his parents. "She's in the wake of James and his entourage."

"Thanks," Ginny said just as quietly; and moved a bit to better-protect Malorie – just as Al and Gwendolyn were able to do as they moved to the side to make room for James to meet up with Harry and Ginny.

"Hello, James; Patricia," Ginny said warmly with a bright smile. "Welcome home!" She turned her attention toward their 'friends' and her smile brightened. "Have you and James managed to do something that your fathers couldn't, Scorpius?" she teased. "Be careful – you could well change the entire Wizarding World if Slytherins and Gryffindors start getting along and become friends!" She returned her attention to James. "I haven't seen you since September. Am I allowed to hug you; or would that mess up your reputation with your friends?"

James laughed. "We're becoming friends despite all of your efforts to mess up my reputation – not to mention that I'm even related to any of you in the first place. They'd rather not be here, but we want to link our mirrors; and thought we'd save time and just ask you to do it for us instead of having to meet up at one of the stores in Diagon Alley."

"Well, I'll trade you that little favor for a hug," Ginny suggested.

"Okay," James agreed. "Do you want to hug her, Scorpius; or should we get one of the girls to do it?"

"She didn't specify it had to be any of us," Scorpius suggested with a smirk. "Get the Animorphloser to do it; and then we can be on our way."

"I can go with you?" James asked; feigning surprise. "That works for me."

"It doesn't work for me," Ginny told him; "but I'll give you points for the jokes – if not the crude insult. Let me have your mirrors for a moment; I'll take care of that for you; and get the hug later."

They did that, but as she started to link them; Rita pushed her way to the fore; and got everyone's attention.

"I see that your younger son arrived with his girlfriend and the mother of his Animorphlitter," Rita stated. "I also have it on good authority that they were together for most of the train ride from Hogsmeade as well. Now that you have both of your sons together; would you like to finally come clean and tell all of us the truth – or will you continue to pick the Animorphloser over your eldest son?"

"Telling the truth has nothing to do with choosing one of my sons over the other, Rita," Ginny said conversationally.

"Believing one over the other is a choice," Rita retorted.

"Should I believe that you've been reporting the entire truth of this story, Rita?" Ginny countered. "I'd suggest that you're choosing one of my sons over the other for your own, personal reasons and profit. I love all of my children unconditionally, and since that concept may be unfathomable to you; it means that it wouldn't have mattered to me if the truth had been something other than what it is here. I will still love our kids; Harry and I are coming to love Malorie because she is a wonderful young Witch; and we will certainly love our grandchildren and be grateful for the blessing they will be for our family." She smiled at James. "Getting to the grandparent stage has come quite a bit earlier than we expected, but we believe that James and Malorie have, if unintentionally, given us two very special gifts; and we will always be grateful to them for that." She returned her attention to Rita even as she handed Scorpius' mirror back to him once she was done with it.

"If you look at this story from that perspective, Rita; then what reason would I have for being anything other than honest about what we all know to be true – including you?"

"You've no proof of your truth; while I have mine from dozens of trustworthy sources," Rita retorted.

"I have the truth of it from Malorie and James," Ginny advised her while continuing her mirror linking and handing the next one to Lysandra. "He wasn't happy about that, but unlike you, we are his parents; and have the right to insist on the truth from our children – though we generally only do that when there is no other choice."

"You used Veritaserum on your own child?" Rita crowed. "That's a horrid thing to do to James!"

"Actually, I used Occlumency on him this time," Harry advised her; "though we have allowed him to be questioned using Veritaserum for a previous incident at Hogwarts."

"Even worse!" Rita declared. "You forced yourself into his mind and violated his right to privacy!"

"You're not being very consistent, Rita. If you believe that I'm horrid for getting the truth out of my son that way; then you would also have to believe that I was able to learn that most of what you've been reporting is nothing more than a pack of lies and rumors."

"Or you're simply making all of this up to muddy the waters and divert attention from your younger son," she retorted angrily. "I don't believe anything you have to say."

Harry laughed. "I'm so glad to hear you say that, Rita. Make sure you point that out when you write your next article claiming that I'm horrid for using Occlumency on James; but probably didn't really do that because if I did; that would mean that I'm telling the truth – and you don't believe that I'm doing that!"

He earned a roar of laughter for that; and Ginny was grinning as she handed the last two mirrors back to James and Patricia.

"There you go," she told the four teens. "Are you going to try and hang out together this summer too? Harry and I suddenly have a lot of extra time on our hands; so you're welcome to come and visit James now and then. I'll leave that up to James to talk about with you; since he has his summer job with the Catapults again this year; and will be a bit busier than Harry and I will be."

James snorted at that. "As if they'd want to intentionally visit your house – or get that close to the Animorphloser. If we do get together; it won't be there!"

"Well, we can discuss that later," Ginny offered. "We should get going soon. Do you need a minute to say goodbye to your friends? You're with your father for the rest of the day while your brother, sister, and I help Malorie get to her new home and settled in; so he can wait if you need to do that first while we move on."

"You've set Ms. O'Malley up with a place to live?" Rita demanded; and Ginny shook her head.

"No, we helped Malorie with the search for a new home; she picked it out; and then we've helped to get the paperwork done for it."

"That's funny – my sources tell me that she's basically broke," Rita stated. "It seems unlikely that she can afford anything at all; let alone renting a flat or house."

"I told you that Harry and I are not taking care of that for Malorie – though we would have if she'd allowed us to help. You're welcome to ask her about her personal finances; though I'd say that's none of your business, mine, or anyone else's either."

"Well, Ms. O'Malley?" Rita demanded. "How is a penniless, single, unemployed young Witch able to afford any sort of accommodations – let alone a place that is decent-enough for your babies once they arrive?"

"You've added in a few too many assumptions there," Malorie told her, "and the details truly are none of your business; but I actually do have a job that I'll be starting soon; and the flat I'm renting is included as part of my employment contract."

Rita snorted. "What are you going to be – a live-in housekeeper for the Potters? That'll be cozy for you and the Animorphloser!"

Malorie shook her head. "It truly amazes me that everyone in the Wizarding World doesn't see what a pathetic fraud you truly are, Rita."

"You insult me; but don't deny my suggestion!"

Malorie laughed. "Possibly because it's so ridiculous that it shouldn't need answering. I am not going to be working for Harry and Ginny Potter; I won't be living with them; and my personal life really should be none of your bsiness – not to mention too boring for any of your readers to care about." She nodded toward James. "If you want exciting, follow James around; since he's sure to be rich, famous, and have a brilliantly-exciting life. Now, if there's nothing else, I'd really like to go and see my new home in person for the first time; and get started on my quiet, boring life."

"Where is this supposed new home?" Rita demanded. "What company would want to hire someone in your situation – not to mention your less-than-favorable reputation as a cheat and liar?"

Malorie's expression turned stony. "Rita, I am sick and tired of you. James Potter is the father of my children. I've never lied about that, and since I've never been romantically-involved with anyone else; I didn't cheat either. You know all of that and simply refuse to admit that you've been wrong. Well, you're the greatest investigative repoerter in the history of the Wizarding World – figure it out for yourself. I'm done with answering your questions; and I'll hope that all of these other reporters will decide that the better story should be investigating why you're so determined to blame Al for something he didn't do despite knowing for sure that he's innocent of your spurious claims."

"I don't know that at all!" Rita retorted; and Malorie laughed as she drew a small potions bottle out of a pocket and held it up in front of her.

"You were warned," she advised Rita.

"What's that supposed to mean?' Rita demanded.

"This is a gift from Susannah Macmillan," she explained; and then turned and handed it to Harry. "Do you think that you could pass that on – to everyone around us that might enjoy watching the interview Rita did with me when she visited Hogwarts to follow up on her big story?"

"I'd be glad to," Harry agreed as Rita shouted – "Don't you dare!" and lunged for the bottle.

"Well, I'll guess that we'll all find this very interesting," Harry told her as he easily avoided her attempt to knock the bottle out of his hand. "For anyone listening in that might not know; Susannah Macmillan is the daughter of our new Head of the Aurors, Susan Macmillan." He smiled at Rita. "Raise your hand if you'd like to get in on this little round of memory charms. I wouldn't dream of forcing it on anyone who doesn't want to find out what has Rita so upset!"

He laughed when every single hand except Rita's was raised – including those of James' new friends and their parents.

"I'll have you arrested for defamation if you dare spread those lies!" Rita warned; and Harry laughed again.

"I'm not doing anything except passing along the memories in this bottle," he pointed out. "Whatever the contents; I'm sure that everyone here can decide for themselves whether what is contained within them is true or not."

With that said; he delivered that memory to everyone – again except to rita; since she apparently hadn't wanted Susannah's memory. There was a long pause as everyone else blanked out while receiving those memories. He smiled as Rita glowered at him; and then it was Rita's turn to be the center of attention.

"You are a fraud, Rita Skeeter!" one of the other reporters declared loudly. "I'd say that not only is there apparently ample doubt about the facts in your so-called investigative report; and your own reactions to the girl's assertions show that you believed her!" He smirked at her. "What's the matter, Rita? Do you need to tear down the younger Potter boy because he's a better Animagus than you are – and has made you look the fool on more than one occasion? I don't know about the rest of my fellow reporters, but I've seen enough – to investigate you instead of the targets of your nasty smear campaign!"

He didn't wait for a response from Rita or anyone else and walked away – taking his cameraman with him; since he was a reporter for one of the mirror network news shows and had been recording the entire scene. Only one other reporter followed his lead; while everyone else stayed to see what happened with Rita next.

"It's all a lie – fake memories!" Rita declared.

"How would you know?" Harry asked. "You didn't raise your hand; so I didn't send you a copy of the memory charm!"

"I don't need to see it to be sure of that!" Rita declared.

Harry smiled at her. "Easy enough to prove," he said mildly and held out the now-empty bottle to her. "Put your memory of that interview in here; I'll pass it along to everyone; and they can compare the two for accuracy."

"My interviews are all confidential; and some of it was off-the-record," Rita stated; and then frowned again when Malorie spoke up.

"It isn't anymore; and I give you my full permission to show everyone every word of that interview – and the other conversations we've had before and after that; if you think that would help your cause." She turned and smiled at Ginny. "While this is all fascinating, I'm ready to get out of here if you are; and don't really care what Rita does next."

"Well, if you've really had enough; I guess we can go now," Ginny said with a dramatic sigh of regret. "Al, Lily – you're with us." She turned her smile on James. "Have fun with the father-son time while I'm busy. We're glad you're home; and I'll talk with you again later – once we get back from taking Malorie home."

Ginny had quite a gang with her when she left with Malorie, Al, and Lily. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah came with them – as did Hermione, Rose, and Hugo. Others in their group began to spread out too; but about half of them stayed with Harry. He watched them leave and then turned his attention to James and ignored Rita.

"Do you want me to give you a minute to say goodbye to your friends; or are you ready to head out?"

"Go on ahead without me," James suggested. "I'll come home later – after I'm done doing anything other than being anywhere near you!"

"That isn't an option for you," Harry advised him. "We can visit Diagon Alley first if you'd like, but then we'll be heading home; and hanging out there for the evening while Ginny's busy."

"Getting the loser and his litter-carrier set up in a nice cozy flat," James suggested with a snort.

"Look around, James," Harry suggested. "You and Rita should have both quit while you were ahead. We all saw that memory – except for Rita; and she was there and knows the truth of it anyway – even if she wants to keep on lying about that to anyone who will listen. It's pointless to keep going on like this, but it's also sad that you can't appreciate the gift that we're each blessed with by love that's given so unconditionally to us by others – even when you can't or don't feel the same way about that person in return."

"As if you'd know anything about that!" James snorted; and Harry smiled ruefully.

"Have you already forgotten how oblivious I was to how much your mother loved me before I did finally figure out that I loved her too? Is it so hard for you to believe that I cared for others – or they for me – when those feelings weren't returned in kind?" He smiled ruefully and shook his head. "I think we've provided enough entertainment to everyone for one day. What's it going to be? Diagon Alley first; or straight home? There are some pretty cool new toys and gadgets out on sale today for the start of the summer holidays. You, Patricia, and your new mirror communcator buddies will likely all want to get the mirror messaging sets; and your sister is going to be fired up when she sees her AquaQuidditch sets in your uncles stores."

Ginny had brought the minivan, but she and Harry also had a game plan to keep any of the reporters from following her to Chudley. Malorie would be tracked down eventually, but they hoped that she'd at least get a day or two without having to deal with Rita or anyone else bothering her while she settled in to her new home and got it furnished and decorated. Before getting into the van and hitting the road, there was a lengthy round of goodbye hugs and kisses before Hermione and Kirley took their kids and moved on to their own plans for the rest of the day. Gwendolyn had needed to pick between going with Al and spending the evening with her parents, but while she'd wanted to go to Chudley; she knew that her parents needed to spend time with her – and Jonah a lot more.

Malorie sat in the front passenger seat next to Ginny, with Al adn Lily right behind them; and their bags and trunks taking up most of the remaining space in the van – even though Al and Lily had their things in their undetectable expansion bags. Holly and Poofy had come home with Lily in their cages; but Harry had taken care of getting them home so that they wouldn't be stuck in the van for hours. Ginny's disappearance act wasn't really all that spectacular, but it did work; and Al was able to confirm for her that the reporters attempting to follow them lost the trail thanks to a couple of tricks, some fancy driving, and one van-encompassing invisibility charm.

Getting out of London on a Friday afternoon took a while, but even after a long travel day to that point; Al, Lily, and Malorie had fun as they talked with Ginny and Malorie really got a first chance to get to know the paternal grandmother of her children. They made better progress once they were out on the main highway, and while it was nothing new to Al and Lily; Malorie was fascinated by the little magical tricks that Ginny used to speed up their journey a bit here and there – including confunding one too-observant police officer. They were all getting excited as they closed in on Chudley – and not just because they wanted to be out of the van and not sitting anymore for a while! Ginny drove past the front of the shop and flat so that Malorie could see it first; but then drove around to the back lane and the small parking area that had room for just two vehicles.

"You're in charge of getting Malorie's things up to her flat," Ginny advised Al as they all began to get out of the van. Give me a minute to put up Muggle-repelling charms; and then you can use your seashells for that instead of carrying her trunk up those stairs by hand."

"And we'll go exploring while he does all of the work," Lily said enthusiastically. She stretched and groaned. "Is there any chance I can take the Floo Network home from here – or stay for a sleepover? How far did you say it is from here to home, Al?"

"About an hour," he answered. "Maybe a bit less with Mum driving."

"I've done it in forty-five," Ginny advised them. "Don't tell your father."

"As if he doesn't know – and possibly made the trip even faster if he's come here with his motorcycle."

"Your father has a motorcycle?" Malorie asked; and Lily nodded.

"A really old one with a sidecar that he inherited from his Godfather. James loves that bike – though I doubt he'd still admit that anymore."

"I wonder why I can picture James on a bike; but not your Dad?" Malorie mused; and Lily grinned at her.

"Wait until you see Dad play Quidditch for the first time," she suggested. "After that; you'll have no doubt."

"Is he that good?" Malorie asked.

"He's at least as good as Mum," Lily assured her.

"Better," Ginny added. "We'll need to find a new job for him over the next couple of years, or Rose will want to hire him instead of me for her Cannons team."

"You're really scaring me the more you talk about that," Lily advised her mother. "It just isn't funny anymore now that you talk as if you actually want the job."

"If Malorie does a great job with her new job and helps Rose to pull off her big plan; then I think it might be brilliant to sign up too – and not just because that'd mean I might get to play with my granddaughters every day while their Mum and I were at work!"

"Well, that would be fun," Lily conceded; "but I'd really hate to have to play against you once I'm with the Harpies – or watch your career stats for the league tank if you play for the worst team in the league for very long."

"Wouldn't you rather get on with exploring Malorie's new office and flat?" Al suggested. "You can always talk Quidditch with Mum and me on the drive home – if you don't take the Floo Network instead."

"Do I have a Floo Network connection here?" Malorie asked.

"Yes, and we'll need to teach you all about it to make sure you know how to use it – and keep unauthorized visitors from popping in without your permission," Ginny answered.

The three Witches continued to talk as they headed inside – with Malorie doing the honors of unlocking the doors once Ginny had also helped her to 'change' the magical locks to only work for her – or anyone she set up with a magical key. While they started to explore the office and storage areas first; Al unloaded Malorie's things; used his levitation seashell charm; and took everything up to her flat. He thought that the stairs might get a bit tough for her later in the summer – and when she needed to haul two babies up and down them, but unlike Muggles; it wouldn't be an issue for carrying things like groceries; since she could just summon and banish things into her flat – or use levitation charms. He had all-new summoning and banishing charmed seashells too, but hadn't tried to do that until he'd seen the flat again and knew what furniture was there and might have been in the way if he'd just sent Malorie's things up there without knowing that for sure first.

Once done that work, he went downstairs to catch the tail-end of that tour; folloed the girls around as they finished up there and then moved on up to the flat; and then simply enjoyed watching Malorie's reaction to the place as Ginny talked to her about what had been done; showed her the few things that they'd picked out for her – including her bed; and then they sat down at the modest kitchen table with drinks once they'd finished the tour and talked a bit about ideas for decorating and furnishing the place.

"This is all way more than I expected or hoped for," Malorie said as Al sat down after filling and delivering the drink orders. She'd said something similar to that at least a dozen times so far.

Ginny smiled at her. "I'm glad you like it – and Lily and I will be happy to help with as much of the shopping and decorating as you'll want us to join in for – though we're also hoping you'll go shopping with us tomorrow. We'll mostly be shopping for summer clothes; but we could look around for some things for here too; since we do most of that shopping at our favorite Muggle Mall in London."

"I can go along; but won't be buying much until after my first paycheck," Malorie told her. "I'll barely have enough for food until then."

"Let's talk about that next," Ginny suggested; and smiled when Malorie suddenly looked wary. "Harry and I have set up a couple of things that you won't be happy about," she warned; "but we also took care of other things that you'll need – and you just won't have time to do everything by yourself between now and when the girls are born – especially when you'll be working too."

"If you got her a Lightningbolt and she doesn't want it – I'll take it," Lily said hopefully.

"We didn't," Ginny assured her daughter before returning her attention to Malorie and summoning a document-sized envelope. "You do need a Gringotts vault, since your pay will go into it directly from the vault we set up for GO MagiSports; and we transferred a bit of money into it to get you started – both Muggle and Magical money."

"You're not supposed to be helping me like that – I don't want that kind of help," Malorie insisted.

"We know, Malorie, and we're not at all sorry; but we can't help ourselves." Ginny reached out and took hold of one of Malorie's hands. "I've been really poor, Malorie – for basically all of my childhood through until my last year at Hogwarts. I don't regret any of that, and my parents always did the best they could for all seven of their kids; but it doesn't – and won't – need to be that way for you, Jaimie, and Lorie."

"I'll be fine once I get my first paycheck," Malorie insisted. "I won't use whatever money you've put in there."

Ginny smiled. "Just take a look at these papers later – and your vault key is in there; so make sure that gets kept safe. We're not talking about very much money, Malorie – just enough to help you to get set up here, including some of the things you'll need for two babies; and to make sure you have a bit extra in your vault in case of emergency. There are things here in the Wizarding World that are different from what you've known growing up in the Muggle world. You'll have expenses that we've talked about – and others that we haven't covered yet." She smiled at Lily again. "If you don't need to use much of that money, then that's great – you can save it up for when your little girls want to have the fastest brooms in the world in about eleven and seventeen years."

"And every year in-between," Lily added. "I'd be okay with it if you want to change the rules for that – or just make an exception for me. I'm sure that James and Al won't mind if there's a different rule for future Harpies' players."

"You're trying to distract me," Malorie accused; and Lily grinned at her next.

"Is it working?" she teased. "Mum and Dad set up vaults for James, Al, and me; and I can guess at what they've done for you and the twins; so it just isn't a big deal. You'll be glad of the buffer; and there isn't enough there to buy a bunch of luxuries." She glanced at Ginny and then back at Malorie again. "I'd also suggest that you do use a bit of it, since you'll just end up having things that you need show up out of nowhere if you don't."

"I don't like this at all," Malorie told them seriously.

"I know," Ginny agreed again; "but try to get used to it. Jaimie and Lorie are part of a big family; and that is going to mean that you'll be getting a lot of gifts for things like birthdays and Christmas – not to mention the possibilities for some pretty nice hand-me-downs from the cousins."

"Roxanne and I lucked out with being the two youngest girls," Lily offered. "Victoire and Dominique especially had some great clothes and other things – and took care of them way better than any of the boys do with their stuff."

"I doubt that's true about Al," Malorie pointed out.

"True," Lily conceded; "but then he prefers to hang out with Witches most of the time anyway; so we were bound to rub off on him."

Harry sighed as he carried the pizzas into the kitchen while James stomped upstairs to take his bags to his room. They'd gone to Diagon Alley; James had been able to stay together with Patricia for a while until her mother was ready to take her home; and then he'd done his very best to annoy and anger his father with everything he did after that regardless of what they did – which had been whatever James had wanted to do. Even their visit to the wheezes store had been fairly-awful; since James had not been happy to see AquaQuidditch prominently displayed – and enthusiastically-hyped by George and Ron.

The rest of their Diagon Alley visit hadn't gone any better, and James had complained or tossed out endless insults at every opportunity. Just going with the flow was part of Harry and Ginny's new plan for trying to deal with James, though, and while he'd had a bit of success with subtly directing James' actions and thoughts over the hour and a half or so that they'd spent in Diagon Alley; his eldest son's pent-up anger wasn't in any imminent danger of depleting after being brought to a boil at King's Cross. While James stomped around upstairs and yelled about the invasion of privacy that had been Ginny's latest foray into cleaning his room; Harry got everything ready for their dinner; and was sitting down at the kitchen table and waiting when James finally sauntered into the room and sat down on his usual chair.

"Is it time for another father-son talk now that you have me stuck here at home with no witnesses around to hear you treat me like crap?" James asked derisively as he pulled a quarter of one pizza onto his plate; grabbed one of the slices; and then took a troll-worthy bite as soon as he'd finished his question.

"No," Harry answered. "I thought we'd talk about Quidditch instead. "I have a lot of extra time on my hands right now; and thought that we could do some training together this summer." James snorted; but had to finish swallowing the mouthful of pizza before commenting.

"I'll be training with the Catapults this summer – I don't need to work with an old has-never-been like you."

"That'll help you a lot too, James, but if you're serious about taking your game to the next level; you need to get serious about your training – and do it against the best Seekers you can work with – which for you would be your mother and me."

"You're obviously becoming senile," James told him scornfully. "I've been able to beat you at Seeker since I was eight or nine."

Harry smiled at him ruefully. "I held back a bit – or more like a lot. You'll be seventeen next February, and only have two years left to go before you'll want to be playing in the show, so while I have the time; I'm offering to train with you. Training camp doesn't open for two weeks. Give it a try and you might be very happy with the results."

"Sure, Dad – I'll be happy to kick your butt all over the Quidditch pitch if that's what you really want," James declared pompously. "Don't expect letting me do that to change anything around here. I hate the lot of you; and you're going to regret picking the loser over me." He smirked at Harry. "Being unemployed is just the beginning."

"Well, I haven't technically been unemployed for very long, and I had some vacation time built up that I got paid for on the way out; but I'm going to like having a rest from all of the hassles that go along with working for the Ministry of Magic. I have been at that Auror gig for twenty-three years."

"Like I said – this is a good start," James told him. "If you'd like the next step in your demise to be having me destroy you on a regular basis in Seeker duels; then I'm good with that plan too."

"Then let's give that a go after we eat," Harry suggested. "Show me what you've learned over the past year since I saw you playing last summer."

Ginny had gone over everything she needed to talk with Malorie about for her new flat and tips to help her get off to a good start in a town that was a mix of Wizarding and Muggle communities. They went on a little walking tour around her neighborhood; picked up a few groceries that were in addition to some staples that Harry and Ginny had already stocked in the fridge and pantry; and then they'd picked up take-out food for a late dinner. By the time they ate and cleaned up, Malorie was exhausted; and it was time to say their goodbyes so that she could get on with her first night in her new home and Ginny could take Al and Lily home. Those goodbyes took a while, but then Malorie was left in her flat and only 'allowed' to watch them go from a window while Ginny, Al, and Lily got into the minivan and were soon on their way to their own home.

"I think she's going to do brilliantly there," Lily declared. She was up front with Ginny; and Al was in the seat behind Ginny so that she could see him through the rear-view mirror and Lily could turn her head and see and talk with him. "That job thing might not go as well; but at least she has a nice place to live while looking for a better job."

"You don't think she can do the job?" Al asked. "I think she'll do very well – and if she does; then that part of Rose's plan will work out exactly as we hope."

"You're just talking business," Lily pointed out. "I'm thinking about how her job will affect the rest of her life – like making friends; or maybe even finding a nice, young Wizard to share her life with one day. Neither will be very likely while being asociated with the Cannons."

"She won't be associated with them at first – except among the few people that know what she'll really be doing," Al reminded her. "Rose's Cannons will also be league champions; so everyone working for her team ought to be very popular."

"You are so lucky that Gwendolyn loves you; or you might end up as a shriveled up, disillusioned old bachelor one day," she teased. "The Cannons are the worst team in the league. Try to remember that; and maybe you won't be too disappointed when that doesn't change – even with you and rose on the team."

"We're going to have a lot of fun trying to change that," Al promised; "and I think we'll also surprise everyone – or at least everyone we haven't turned into believers by then."

"I know you said you'd talk Quidditch later," Ginny interjected; "but I want to talk to the two of you about your brother before we get home. With everything going on with Malorie, we're sure to have more than a bit of trouble with him this summer; but your father and I are going to try to spend more time with him too – and we'll all need to work out what's the best way for us to survive through to September – and maybe make things a bit better for us along the way."

"That's a lot optimistic when it comes to James," Lily told her. "I don't have Al's talents for that sort of thing; but even I can be sure that James is not going to change from being such a selfish, rotten git anytime soon."

"We're shooting for him only being a selfish git by the end of the summer," Ginny half-joked. "If we can get him to stop being so horrid to everyone he thinks has wronged him; then maybe he can come the rest of the way around some day too."

"What do you think the odds of that are, Al?" Lily asked.

"No comment," he answered with a wry smile. "What do you want us to do to help, Mum?"

"The only way you could likely help would be to move out," Lily joked. "James goes a bit mental every time you're even in the same room lately."

"Actually, we do want Al to make himself a bit scarce," Ginny advised them. "Start thinking about doing a lot of camping. We're going to spend a lot of time with both of you too; but probably in shifts – just as we did tonight."

"There are lots of places we could camp near Chudley," Al advised her. "We could do some camping there during some weekdays, and if Rose was with us; she and I could work with Malorie – getting the office ready and helping her to get started on her research and work plan for the next year."

"Wouldn't that get in the way of your Quidditch training this summer?" Ginny asked.

"I'm leading that for the junior team," Lily told her before Al could answer. "We're hoping that Tuesday and Thursday mornings will work for you and Dad – and yes; that camping wouldn't work for me when I'd need to be home those mornings."

"I don't know what I'll be doing for Quidditch yet," Al answered. "James will likely try to control what the remaining members of our team will do, and if he gets his way on that; then Rose and I will likely be shut-out."

"Do you think that Tiberius and Brock would go along with that – or Louis and the other remaining reserve squad players?" Lily asked.

Al shrugged. "I expect we'll see soon-enough."

"You could take control instead," Ginny suggested seriously. "I love you, Al, but sometimes you are far too easy-going about things like that. James would hate it and have more cause to be mad at you; but you'd be the best choice for the next Gryffindor senior team Captain – not James or Tiberius."

"Rose would be great," Al protested; and Ginny nodded.

"She would; but that'd cause other problems that you could save her from. If you were Captain and she wins the Keeper job over Louis; he'll have to accept that. If she's named Captain and he has no chance at the job; it's a bit unfair to him, and if she gives him that chance and loses both the Keeper job and Captaincy; it'd be doubly-hard on her. I love James too, but he's proved to be a horror as Captain; and things have not changed so much since then that you can expect him to be any better at it."

"And Tiberius?" Lily prompted; earning a laugh from her mother.

"He's a talented Beater," Ginny answered. "Let's leave it at that; since there's no point in explaining – especially since he's a decent Wizard and has been a good friend for Louis."

"So you want me to make myself scarce and also get into James' face by trying to take charge of the senior team summer workouts," Al summarized. "I'll guess that you're invoking the appropriate Witches' rule for that to make any sense at all."

"I'm saying that you need to take control," Ginny agreed; "and it'll be up to James whether he wants to be a part of that or not. He does have other options – like training with your father and me – and he'll be training with the Catapults this summer too."

"Is that good or bad for him?" Lily asked. "Sure, he seems to get along famously with the owners and managers; but they're not exactly the team to beat for high morals and clean living."

"I know," Ginny agreed. "Your father and I talked about that last year before giving our consent for that job, but James would have those same risks with every team; and he'll need to find his own way around all of that if he wants to survive in the show for long."

"He also wouldn't likely last long with a team like the Harpies or United," Al added. "James will play loosely with any rules; and some of the team owners and managers won't put up with that no matter how talented the players."

"There's that too," Ginny agreed. "Getting back to my point, though, it's your choice, Al; but sometimes you just need to lead by more than passive example. This might be one of those times that you should do that."

"I'll think about it," Al promised. "Have you decided whether we're going to go on any holidays this summer?"

"We're going to do some day trips; but will stay home all summer," Ginny advised them. "James wouldn't go with us; and your father and I are serious about spending time with all of you – even if we do expect to need to split up to do that when James is home."

"Okay, then we can also spend some time with Gwendolyn and Jonah at their house," Al offered; "we can camp in the back yard or somewhere near to home a lot; and maybe we can book a weekend a month each for James to get you and Dad to himself – or with friends; and then he can have an away weekend a month."

"Look at you going all-out and taking charge," Lily teased. "How come you didn't suggest a mother-daughter weekend?"

"That's actually a brilliant idea," Al assured her. "A shopping weekend with a hotel sleepover – and maybe you could do that with other mothers and daughters. Do you think that Aunt Natalie and Denise would sign up?"

That question proved to be a great diversionary tactic for Al; and he enjoyed getting to just listen in for quite a while as his mother and sister discussed that possibility. He was especially-glad for that last blast of quiet; since he expected that James would not make his homecoming at all pleasant – and there were a lot of doubts about just how brilliant and awful his summer might end up being – with large doses of both a very high probability!

"Don't get mad," Harry told James when he caught the snitch for the second time in a row after only a half-hour of Quidditch play time. "I did tell you that I've always held back playing Quidditch against you – and ditto that for most of our friends, your brother, sister, and cousins. You've inherited the talent from your mother and me – you just need to learn to use it better; and stop beating yourself."

"I didn't beat myself – you've a faster broom," James retorted. "Let me use Mum's Lightningbolt; and we'll see how well you do then."

"I didn't go any faster than your broom can go," Harry advised him. "I made that catch because I took advantage of you getting mad and frustrated. There's a place for gamesmanship in Seeker duels – your Mum does that all the time when we play – or when she played in the show. Those taunts were a waste of your time with me, though; and they distracted you from looking for the snitch – or seeing everything I was doing. Let's put the snitch away for a while and work on that."

"Oh let's do that!" James agreed with deep insincerity. "I'm sure this will be fascinating for me to learn from the great and powerful Wizard of Potty!"

James might have been sure that he'd learn nothing, and wouldn't admit later that he'd been wrong about that; but Harry had enjoyed the father-son time because they did have fun; and that had been a rarity with James in recent years. He felt better about quitting his job too, and while he had no illusions of everything being fixed after one evening of Quidditch play time; he did feel better about the decisions that he and Ginny had made to change their lives and put in the extra time with their kids – and grandkids – while they could do that and still make a difference in their young lives.

James had agreed to play Quidditch until near-dark; they went for a cool-down swim after that; and then they played video games in the sitting room while having drinks and snacks until Ginny got home with Al and Lily. While James continued to play his games, Harry helped with unloading the van; and once everything was put away in bedrooms or elsewhere; they all went into the sitting room again and got ready to face the wrath of James.

"Did you get the Animorphlitter-carrier settled into the cozy little home you're likely paying for?" James demanded of his mother without looking away from his gaming.

"We did get Malorie home and set up to spend the night there," Ginny answered. "It took a bit longer because we picked up a few groceries and take-out dinner, and we did a walking tour of her new neighborhood, but she was getting tired by then; so we headed for home once we had all of that done."

"Too bad you didn't leave the loser there with his litter-carrier. We'd all be a lot better off if you had."

"Those insults really are especially ridiculous when it's just us at home and we all know the truth, James, but have at being foolish if you must," Ginny told him. "Since you brought up living arrangements, though; let's talk about that first – since your father and I do have some ideas about doing what we can to make this summer a bit better for all of us than we've had over the past couple of years."

"I'll be at work during the week and some Saturdays; have lots of offers to stay with friends on weekends; and I can always stay out late every night so that I'm only here to sleep when I absolutely have no choice but to be here," James told her. "My best-ever-so-far summer is all set."

"Except for the part where that isn't going to happen the way you're planning," Ginny advised him. "Two – or maybe three – weekends away I can work with; and we're thinking about having a weekend a month where it would just be you, me, and your father – and maybe a friend or three of yours too; but we are going to spend more time with you this summer, James – and with Al and Lily too."

"We'd prefer to do that with all of you," Harry added; "but we'll split our time instead; since we doubt you'll agree to doing that beyond things like having meals together and everything else that goes along with living in the same house together."

"Thanks, but I'll stick with my plan instead," James said dismissively.

"We're not going to argue about this," Ginny advised him. "You're all going to be stuck with us this summer; so just get used to it."

"I'm sixteen," James advised her as if she didn't know that. "If you know what's good for you; you'll leave me alone to do whatever I want."

"If you insist," Ginny agreed. "How are you planning on getting to work on Monday without our help?"

"I can use the Floo Network all by myself," James retorted derisively. "I don't need my mommy to take me there."

"You do need to use my connection to the Floo Network and my Floo Powder," Ginny pointed out. "You also need my continuing consent to have that job with the Catapults."

"I'm sure that one of my friends will be happy to let me stay with them for the summer," James countered; finally turning away from his game to glare at her with a dark smile on his face.

"That's true," Ginny agreed; "but then you definitely won't have our consent to work for the Catapults this summer. We're also unemployed and have nothing better to do than hang out with you, Al, and Lily – even if you're not here at home. Imagine a summer where we follow you everywhere except for to your friend's home. How does that sound compared to approved weekends away and weekends here with the three of us – or with us and a few of your friends? We'll also want to work things out for weekday evenings, but you're likely to have Quidditch practices two nights a week; and Fridays will be part of most weekend plans; so that shouldn't be a big deal either."

"She isn't bluffing," Al advised James; offering that comment as an intervention to what he sensed from his mother and brother. "I'll do what I can to stay out of your way – except for meals and team workouts."

"As if you won't be busy all summer taking care of your litter-carrier," James snorted.

"I will help Malorie as much as I can," Al agreed. "Let the hype of the story die down; and nobody will care what either of us do regarding Malorie and the twins. You can get on with your rich and famous life as planned; and we can do the same – while making them part of our lives too."

"As if any of you will let me do that," James said in disgust. "You've made sure of that – and the rest of our family will pick you over me yet again this time. When I get to the show; I'll be well-rid of the lot of you!"

"You'll believe so," Al offered. "Until then, though; I'll stay out of your way as much as I can; and you might even manage to have a bit of fun with Mum and Dad – and maybe Lily too – now and then while we're home." He grinned at his parents. "Merlin only knows what they might decide to do if we can't keep them entertained most of the time now that they're unemployed."

"We have heard some jokes about having kids and grandkids the same age," Ginny offered; grinning too; and then laughed at James' reaction.

"Don't even joke about that!" he told her in disgust. "That is so not funny!"

"Then give playing nice with us this summer a try," Ginny suggested. "We're planning on playing a lot; the fun expenses are on us; and we're going to do things that we all like to do. Even you can't find fault with that."

"Except for the part where you want me to hang out with a bunch of losers," James retorted. "I'd say that's one big fault."

Malorie had a cat nap after Ginny, Al, and Lily left – and ended up sleeping until a bit after eleven o'clock. Nature's call needed answering; she got a cold drink; and then decided to wander around her flat and the office for a while and do a bit of day-dreaming about what she would do with both places. Being there on her own felt very strange. She'd never been alone in her own home. That thought had her laughing; since she wouldn't be alone in this new home for all that long – less than three months for sure! It did feel like home, though; and she'd felt comfortable from the moment she saw the place in person for the first time.

Harry and Ginny had taken care of a lot of work that she'd expected to be doing, but she couldn't be mad about that; since those jobs would not have been fun. The work that remained wouldn't always be easy; but it would be fun to decorate and furnish the office and her flat. Though it was late, she took her time doing that tour and considering her options; and then sat at her kitchen table and read over the paperwork that Ginny had left for her – including the information for her Gringott's vault. She didn't want to smile as she read over her account summary that was up-to-date as of just a dozen hours ago; but couldn't resist the urge. Ginny's idea of a modest amount of money wasn't absurdly-understated or anything; but it was a lot of money to Malorie – more than a year's worth of her new wages!

She also didn't like the idea of using any of it, but as Lily had pointed out to her; she was backed into a bit of a corner for that – though Lily hadn't phrased it quite like that. If she didn't buy her own things; they would just start showing up anyway – and then she'd have no control over what was given to her. Maybe that wouldn't be all that bad, since the bed Harry and Ginny had picked out for her was wonderful; but she still wanted to make the flat her own home. She was also looking forward to having things in her home that she hadn't been allowed to have showing anywhere in her childhood home – Wizarding World things like portraits and paintings or even just simple, everyday things like cauldrons and magical books and devices. Maybe she'd even think about getting a magical creature or two – or grow some magical plants!

"One step at a time, Malorie," she told herself aloud – enjoying the fact that she could actually do that without being overheard.

That statement was going to be her plan for the near-future; since this was going to be all-new for her in so many ways. She had the weekend to get settled into her new home; and then the next step would be starting her new job on Monday. Finding out how that was going to work out for her was a bit of a worry, but not as much as it had been now that she'd seen her office and flat. Now she was truly beginning to believe that everything really would work out for her – and that she could have a brilliant life with Jaimie and Lorie in her charming new home town!

"You've survived your first night at home?" Gwendolyn asked after exchanging the greetings small talk with Al as they began their bedtime mirror chat. "I should've asked about Malorie first," she added. "How did that part of your trip home go?"

"Malorie's happy with her flat and the office; but she was exhausted by the time we left after having a late take-out dinner with her. She was likely napping not long after we left; so it might be morning before she gets to enjoy much of her new independence."

"And life at home since getting back?" Gwendolyn prompted.

"Other than a lot of insults from James; it wasn't too bad. Mum and Dad are planning on taking turns hanging out with us so that James won't have to be around me very much, and I'll guess that your parents are in on the plans; since weekends at your house were mentioned for Lily and me."

"We did talk about that a bit as part of our summer plans chat – which isn't really much of a plan this year. We're not doing any holidays; and Mum isn't even going to have much time to spend with us between now and training camp."

Al grinned at her. "Well, my parents are unemployed; so you're welcome to share them with me a lot instead," he offered.

"That's going to be great – especially when Quidditch season starts and your Mum won't need to be working at that nearly every day."

"We won't be going on any holidays either," Al advised her. "Mum told Lily and me that we'd be doing some day trips, but that they didn't want to do another holiday that James won't go with us on anyway."

"I'll just hope that we can survive the summer without regular drama moments like we had at King's Cross today," Gwendolyn suggested. "How are your parents going to handle the shopping trip tomorrow with James and Malorie both going along for that?"

"James will be with Dad; Mum will have the rest of us; and I think they might have a surprise distraction or two for James too."

"Will they be good surprises for us too – or bad ones?"

"We'll have to wait and find out," Al answered. "We'll also want to get some sleep to be ready for our shopping adventures, though, so tell me all about what you've been doing since we split up at the train station; I'll tell you a bit about our visit to Chudley; and then we can get some sleep."

Scorpius was in his room late on Friday night; he was in a great mood; and looking forward to the summer in a way he hadn't in – well, never!

The arrival at King's Cross had turned into a ridiculous farce thanks to James Potter, but it had also help him out too because his parents – and Lysandra's – had both enjoyed witnessing the Potters involved in such a public mess and because they got to witness first-hand just how much James hated his family. He'd kept his own opinions about all of that to himself, since some of the things he'd heard resonated a bit too personally with him; but what was really important was that their parents had agreed that they should allow Scorpius and Lysandra to get more involved with James and explore where that might lead them – either to a willing ally or a pawn they could exploit and then throw away.

His thoughts wandered from there to musing about the changes that had been happening with his family since the Easter holiday. Lysandra's parents had continued to spend time with his parents; and even his grandparents had been invited to a couple of luncheons with other families and former contemporaries. From what he'd witnessed during the dinner and evening he and his parents had spent with Lysandra's family; their parents weren't just getting together because of their kids – they were finding common interests and slowly developing their own friendships. All of that added up to some respect for him from his parents and grandparents for helping to make something happen they'd given up on – a chance for a return to their rightful place among the pureblood families.

That was still a goal that was going to take time, but he wasn't really all that worried about that anyway. He and Lysandra were going to be allowed to have a brilliant summer, and if they could continue to impress their families with valued contributions to the pureblood cause along the way while having fun together; then that was okay too!

The first morning home from school usually felt special for Al; and Saturday morning was not one of the exceptions to that general rule. He was up early; ready for the day before anyone else was up and moving around; and spent a bit of time with the owls before getting started on making breakfast for five. Harry joined him shortly after the coffee had finished brewing; and they enjoyed a quiet bit of father-son time while Al finished the work and Harry sat at the table because his help wasn't needed. Ginny and Lily had a bit of mother-daughter time upstairs too; so they ended up coming downstairs along with James after the call went out advising them that the food was ready. There was a bit of small talk as they filled plates and began to enjoy the meal; but then Ginny wanted to talk about their shopping plans for the day.

"We're going to have a bit of a gang with us for the shopping today," she advised the kids. "Roxanne will likely be your only cousin joining us; but we're going to have some of your friends; and I'll swing by and pick up Malorie on my way to the Leaky."

"You expect me to go shopping with the loser and his litter-carrier?" James demanded. "I won't do it!"

"I didn't say anything about you going shopping with Malorie," Ginny pointed out. "You will be going along today – unless you don't plan on having anything decent to wear to work on Monday. We haven't cleaned any of your dirty laundry yet, but I did take a look at what you gave me; and I'm going to burn most of it. While I'm tempted to comment on why that will be so easy to do, I won't; and you will want to go along with us – unless you don't want to go shopping with Ollie."

"Are you messing with me?" James asked suspiciously. "I haven't been allowed to even exchange Owl Posts with him all year since the loser messed with Ollie and got him framed and sent home."

"You'll be allowed to hang out together again starting today," Ginny advised him. "There are some conditions involved, but they aren't ours; and you can talk about them later with Ollie and his parents."

"What kind of conditions?" James asked warily.

Ginny shrugged. "I didn't ask. Like I said – they're not our conditions; and it's entirely up to you whether you want to agree to them or not."

"Who else will be going with us today?" Lily asked – "other than the McCormacks. I already know that."

"Did you have a bedtime chat with Jonah to find that out?" Ginny teased. "I know that we didn't mention that to you last night."

"They usually go; and Al wouldn't look that happy if he wasn't going to be spending the day with Gwendolyn," Lily answered.

"And you had a bedtime chat with Jonah," Ginny added with a grin. "I am okay with that, you know."

"A bit too much okay with it for my liking," Lily countered with a grin. "Mother-approved takes points off for Wizards on my potential boyfriends list."

That comment earned a laugh from James; and derailed their shopping chat for a minute; but then the rest of the news wasn't really news for Al anyway. He let everyone else talk; enjoyed the food; and then helped with the clean-up before they all headed for London – with Ginny going ahead a few minutes early so that she could meet up with Malorie for her first Floo Network trip to the Leaky. Harry and the kids were first to arrive, but Angelina and Roxanne weren't far behind; and Ginny and Malorie were fifth in line for arrivals. The McCormacks, Creeveys, and Wood members of their group joined the fray; Patricia surprised James when she showed up with her family; and they had the rest of their group with them by the time they were ready to head out into Diagon Alley and the magical shopping side of their adventure.

Al and Gwendolyn paired up with Ginny and Malorie as they headed out into Diagon Alley while the rest of their group split up and fanned out into the street and shops to the left and right. While 'the kids' were there for summer clothes shopping; there was a lot to see in Diagon Alley – whether that was the animals, latest Quidditch gear, or the hot new magical devices and toys. Al's mirror messaging was one of those hot new, must-have magical devices; Lily's AquaQuidditch was apparently becoming a hit with the kids and teens too; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had the summer line of Animorphmagus toys out too – all of them either water-themed or otherwise summer-playtime themed.

Malorie was a reluctant shopper, but she did have fun as Ginny and Gwendolyn went through the shops with her and helped with picking out quite a few things that she needed sooner instead of later in her new flat – like magic-friendly cookware and other things for the kitchen and bathroom. A couple of magical plants were picked out; Ginny insisted on buying her a mirror messaging kit so that they'd be able to send messages when making mirror chat requests might be inconvenient for them; and Ginny also took Malorie to Gringotts so that she could teach her how best to deal with the Goblins and visit her vault for the first time. They didn't buy many clothes in Diagon Alley because they planned on doing most of that at their favorite Muggle Mall; but Al and Gwendolyn did pick up some summer reading books and a few other things along the way.

It didn't always work out that they'd get the full shopping group interested in going out into Muggle London for that part of the shopping; but they did get that this time; so they had a very large group with them for that trip – though they again needed to split up while getting there by various means. Al and Gwendolyn were side-along apparated; others – including Ginny and Malorie – took the Knight Bus; and yet others took Muggle transport. They did gather together again in the food court; and Al and Gwendolyn helped with getting food for everyone before they sat down to have that meal with their parents, Malorie, Lily, and Jonah.

"It's probably for the best that I'll be in a small town," Malorie told Ginny with a smile after swallowing a bit of her burger. "I don't want to get anyone started on the jokes about eating for three right now; but I really will need to stay away from mall food courts and fat – I mean fast – foods."

"This is your first weekend home – and in your new flat," Ginny reminded her. "I think we can make an exception. I can't say that we don't do too many fast food meals, since we do like to have take-out of some sort once a week, and we usually end up having a meal out when we're in London like this; but living in the country does help with that."

"You can always call for help if you need it to deal with cravings too," Harry offered with a smile for Ginny. "We know from experience what that's like."

"Yes, we do," Ginny agreed. "I'll tell you some of those stories another time, but Harry was very good at tracking down what I wanted when those cravings hit; and just the fact that he could do that sometimes annoyed me. What fun is a really exotic, impossible craving if the people that love you don't go mad trying to find a way to get them for you?"

"You did manage to drive me a bit mad now and then," Harry disagreed – "especially when I'd get that food you just had to have only to have you take a bite and decide you didn't really want it anymore."

"Well, I don't plan on asking anyone to do stuff like that for me," Malorie told them. "Everything you've done so far is already too much."

"It's just the beginning," Ginny offered, "but you still have lots of time to get used to the meddling, too-helpful big family; so don't worry about it. Let's talk shopping. We'll want to get organized before we head out into the fray or we'll be here all weekend – and there are a couple of other stops we should make after we're done here."

"Where else do you want to go, Mum?" Lily asked.

"To a furniture store; and then a market to get a bit more fresh food for Malorie – and there are a few things we need at home too."

"Are we going to re-do my bedroom?" Lily asked enthusiastically; and Ginny laughed.

"No, but nice try. We can talk about redecorating this summer if you really feel the need; but that seems a bit silly to do when you're away from home three-quarters of the year now."

"I can probably manage to have fun living vicariously through Malorie for that urge to decorate," Lily decided. "As for the shopping plan for here; I think we should send the boys off to do their own thing. We'll be able to get more done without them – and they'll be done their clothes shopping in an hour without us."

"Or less," Kirley agreed. "Jonah needs more time to pick out shoes than anything else."

"Maybe I won't care when I'm older and don't have to walk everywhere," Jonah suggested. "Until then; I want shoes that are comfortable for the long haul. It is not fun sitting through classes all day with sore feet."

"I agree with you," Al told him, "but just in case nobody else has told you this; we do have other options to help with that sort of thing regardless of what kind of footwear you've got on."

Jonah laughed. "Let's pretend that I'm not an idiot and move on – though I still don't plan on switching to cheap, ngly shoes anytime soon."

Lily couldn't quite let him off the hook without making a few jokes about that, but then the conversation did get back to planning out their shopping – including delegating some jobs that could be split up so that they didn't need to each do everything on their collective lists. Al was sent off with the guys while Gwendolyn went with the mothers and daughters after they ate, and while it took a bit more than an hour to get their shopping finished; it really wasn't that tough to pick up new shoes, swimsuits, tees, shorts, and summer-weight pants and jeans. Al picked up one set of dress shirts and a pair of pants that could be mixed and matched for date nights or other special occasions; but that was actually the only stop that he took time to try the clothes on instead of just picking out what he wanted and buying it.

Harry sent their purchases home as they went along, and he picked up a few things too while with Al, but then he went on to spend time with James, Ollie, and the other guys in that group while Al, Jonah, and the rest of the Dads and sons in their group rejoined the girls and did side-trips into the fun stores while the girls continued on their mission to find the best summer clothes and sales. That took another couple of hours, and then Ginny took Malorie, Al, and Lily with her to do the rest of the shopping she wanted to do; Harry was again left with James; and everyone else moved on to other plans for the day – including the McCormacks. That meant saying goodbye to Gwendolyn for Al, and they would have liked to spend more time together – and maybe have their first camping adventure instead; but that just wasn't to be this time – and they really did want to spend time with their parents too.

For Al, that meant furniture and grocery shopping with Ginny, Malorie, and Lily; a stop in Chudley when they were done so that Malorie had help putting her things away and checking out the one furniture purchase she'd agreed to – a modest sofa to be the eventual centerpiece of her sitting room furnishings; and then they wished her a good night before going home from there. While they'd been busy, Harry and James had spent a bit more time with Ollie and his family; they'd picked up take-out food on the way home; and had gone for a swim while waiting for Ginny, Al, and Lily to catch up with them. James offered up more insults for Al on a regular basis from the time he got home, but also seemed to be very happy; and managed to get along with his parents and sister – and even have a bit of fun with them.

They had that meal in the dining room; Al cleaned up while Ginny and Lily went off to deal with their clothes purchases and Harry and James went outside for a Seeker duel; and then they had a family swim and a quiet evening in the sitting room after that – though Al went up to bed earlier than everyone else after hitting his limit for being insulted by James and ended his day with some reading and a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn.

Their first full day home for the summer wasn't perfect for Al, but it was generally a pretty good start to the holidays. Now he and Gwendolyn just needed to work on having some alone time so they could catch up on all of the snogging they hadn't been able to do during the last month and more at school!

Sunday was a play day at the Potter house. Sure, there were some chores to do, but they didn't have any plans; and weren't going out on any day trips. There was an open invitation for friends and family to stop in for visits; and there were at least a few guests hanging out with Harry, Ginny, and the kids from mid-morning to late-afternoon; but most of those visits were cameo moments – a half-hour here; an hour there; and only a few extras for the lunch meal that was just a couple of grilled meat options with side salads and snacks. Malorie did not come over, but Ginny did check in with her with a mirror chat; and was assured that Malorie was enjoying having an entire day to herself – something she'd never had before – either at home or at Hogwarts.

Al didn't stay at home all day, but he was there for some visits with his grandparents, Teddy and Victoire, and a few other cousins and friends. He also spent about half of the afternoon with Gwendolyn at her house because her parents were hosting a play day too – with their combined families and a lot of cameo visits from friends. For the McCormacks; they'd set that up because Gwenog really didn't have a lot of time left in her off-season; so it was their best chance for a family gathering before she'd be busy with training camp – as would Gwendolyn's aunt and other player-friends on both teams.

As usual, Al and Gwendolyn ended up playing a lot of Quidditch at her house, so while he had fun with that; he also didn't get to spend a lot of time visiting with anyone – including Gwendolyn. They won their scrimmage; that set off another round of team rivalry fun thanks to more job offers that somehow also included a career change to music to help them avoid the tough Quidditch choices; and then there was also a bit of swimming fun that included a shorter game of AquaQuidditch. Al would have liked to stay longer, but had orders to be home in time for supper with the grandparents; so Gwendolyn eventually saw him out and he was home in time to help out with some of the dinner cooking and prep work.

Arthur and Molly were the only dinner guests, and Al was glad to actually have some time to sit and talk with them while they enjoyed that meal. James even managed to get through dinner with only a half-dozen insults for Al; and then he went outside to play again after dinner – giving Al even more time with their grandparents while he helped with the clean-up. The wind-down to the end of their weekend after that was completely uneventful. Al went for a swim; spent a little time in the sitting room with his family after they all came indoors for the night; and then he went to get ready for the start of his first week of summer holidays. That was going to begin with a couple of work days in Chudley so that he and Rose could help Malorie get started on her new job, but since Gwendolyn was going to be with them for that too; he was sure that they were going to have a brilliant time!

"The food is supposed to be on the table when I arrive, slave," James told Al as harshly as he could manage. "Why isn't it?"

"Because the young Master is fifteen minutes early for the first time in years," Al offered in a poor imitation of whiny subservience. "You're welcome to fend for yourself, but you might as well just grab a drink and wait; since I can likely have your first of three plates-full ready in a few more minutes."

"Some of us have summer jobs and need the extra energy," James retorted. "I'll wait; but make sure you're not late tomorrow!"

"And if I'm early; you'll berate me for letting the food get cold, soggy, or some other fault you'll find with it," Al added with a nod. "You are either going to go through a lot of employees when you're rich and famous; or drive some poor House Elf insane."

"As long as they're all beautiful servants; I don't have a problem with variety," James shot back with a grin. "If I make uniforms – and clothing – optional; do you think Gwendolyn would take one of those jobs?"

"You're welcome to ask her," Al told him. "She has some new charms for her bracelet this summer that I'm sure she'd love to try out."

James snorted. "Oh, I'm so scared!"

"You should be," Lily advised him as she walked into the room. "I told you to leave Gwendolyn alone; I have those new charms too; and I'm not afraid to use them on you!"

"Why don't you go out and get a summer job too? Getting away from the loser as much as possible would be good for you."

"I don't need the extra money; and I'd rather get to spend the extra time with Mum and Dad while they're unemployed and can have fun with us instead."

"Getting away from them is the second-best part of my job," James declared; and then leaned back as Al startled him by delivering the promised first round of food. "Took you long enough, slave. Now get back to work – our little sister is likely hungry too despite being around the stench that is you!"

"Have I mentioned lately that you don't deserve to have a brother as nice as Al?" Lily asked. "Instead of going there, though; why don't you tell me about what you'll be doing for the Catapults over the next couple of weeks ahead of training camp." She grinned at him. "A couple of those guys are a bit on the ugly side. Maybe they'll use you for a model for the action figures and posters. They'd likely sell more of them if they did – though don't get a fat head over that; since I don't have a problem with admitting that you're handsome and a hippogriff-sized git too much o the time."

"That is a brilliant idea," James said enthusiastically. "I'd be the first player in the league to get an action figure before I even started in the show!"

"Well, it can't hurt to make the suggestion," Lily said with a shrug. "Now, what will you be doing this week – other than chasing after every pretty Witch you cross paths with while on the job?"

Al didn't tune out the rest of that chat, but he sometimes wished that he could; since the words coming out of his brother's mouth didn't match the thoughts or emotions very often – except when James insulted him or offered pompous declarations about himself or the Catapults. Harry and Ginny joined them at the same time; they enjoyed the meal; and then Harry took care of getting James to the Catapults' office while Ginny and Lily helped with the clean-up and then they headed for Chudley with a side-trip to get Gwendolyn and drop Lily off to hang out with Jonah for the day while Al and Gwendolyn were doing boring business stuff.

Ginny apparated them to Chudley, and by the time they got to the new, as yet un-opened office for GO MagiSports; Rose had already been dropped off by Hermione; and she and Malorie were walking around in the office and talking about what Malorie would like to have for decorations and furniture. There was a round of welcoming hugs; and then Al mostly sat back wile all four Witches continued that chat.

"Don't you want to offer any suggestions?" Gwendolyn came over and asked Al after nearly twenty minutes of play time with the other girls.

"This is Malorie's office," he answered. "I'll be glad to help out with the work; but this part of it is all her decisions to make."

"Are you sure? Rose is talking about an orange color theme," Gwendolyn advised him – and wasn't joking.

Al laughed. "Rose – don't go with orange," he called out; and laughed again when that got everyone's attention.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because we want to keep what Malorie is really doing a secret for as long as possible," he reminded her. "A bright-orange office with a black GO MagiSports logo on the walls here in Chudley might be just a bit too obvious."

Rose laughed too. "Okay – you win that one; but orange and black will be an option after we buy the team!"

"Thank-you!" Malorie said with a grin for Al. "I'm not against the idea eventually; but bright orange might seriously-impact the twins during those first important months and years."

That joke sent them off on a tangent for a minute, but then the girls got back to work; started making a list; and then they went up to Malorie's flat to have drinks and sit at her kitchen table to work up a plan of action for the next couple of weeks. While getting the office furnished and decorated was at the top of the list for Malorie; they also talked about getting ready for the actual research work and how Rose wanted that organized. By late-morning; they were ready to go and do a bit of shopping. Harry had caught up with them by then too; and he and Ginny went along for the fun because some of the places they wanted to go required a bit of hopping around that couldn't all be accessed through the Floo Network; so some side-along apparating was needed instead.

The girls picked up paint and wallpaper borders; a U-shaped office desk; and a small conference table with eight chairs. Malorie's office chair was picked with care so she'd be comfortable during the last months of her pregnancy nd then afterward too; but including a cafe lunch break; that was all the time they had for their first work day before Malorie had put in her time and Ginny was ready to get home and have a break before cooking dinner for seven. Harry took Rose home first before catching up with Ginny, Al, and Gwendolyn; and Malorie advised them that she was going to take a little nap after they were gone – and wouldn't keep working or start in on painting that she shouldn't do while pregnant anyway.

Once home, Al and Gwendolyn went for a swim. Harry and Ginny joined them once he was back too, and then, after that blast of fun; Al and Gwendolyn got busy setting up the tent for their first camping night of the summer; Harry went to get Lily and Jonah from the McCormacks; and Ginny got started on making dinner. Setting up the tent didn't take long, so Al and Gwendolyn were able to help Ginny too; and that's why they were in the kitchen when James got home from work and sauntered into the room after arriving on his own through the Floo Network.

"Did you get done work early?" Ginny asked him. "Harry was going to head over to get you once he got back from the McCormacks."

"I don't need you taking me there or picking me up," James told her bluntly, "but yeah; we were done early today – thanks to me. What's for dinner? I'm starving!"

"Hi, James," Ginny said instead of answering. "How was your first day on the summer job? Did you get a chance to enjoy any of the nice weather today – or was it even a nice day in Caerphilly? Would you like to hear about how our day went? We had a lot of fun while you were busy working."

"What's for dinner? I'm starving!" James repeated with a smirk. "I'm sure you'll all bore me to death later with everything I don't care about that's going on in your pointless little lives."

Ginny laughed. "You must've had a good day. Go for a swim or something. Dinner won't be ready for a while; since I was timing it for a half-hour after you'd normally be home. Grab a snack on the way out if you really are worried about starving between now and then."

"Care to go for a swim with me?" James offered with a dark leer for Gwendolyn. "Swimsuits are optional."

"No, James," Gwendolyn told him bluntly; looking disgusted.

"Go, James," Ginny added – "unless you want your parents to join you for that swimsuit-optional swim."

"Leaving now," James said hurriedly while Ginny and Gwendolyn laughed; and he actually looked a bit horrified at the idea.

That joke-threat actually ended up working out very well for Al and Gwendolyn. James went for a swim; stayed outside until dinnertime because he ended up playing in the pool with Lily and Jonah; and then he backed off from messing with Gwendolyn when that joke was again used as a threat and then modified once to fit the indecent proposal he'd made toward Gwendolyn while they'd been having dinner. Harry had then talked everyone into having some Quidditch fun after the dinner clean-up was out of the way; he then had them all work together on flying tricks and some extreme Quidditch tutoring that he and Ginny took turns doing with the kids; and then they had a little scrimmage match. For that, Harry was on Al and Gwendolyn's team; James had Ginny, Lily, and Jonah; and 'his' Chaser trio played three-on-two against Al and Gwendolyn. James had thought that was still unfair, and had wanted to switch Jonah for Gwendolyn, but even though Lily liked that idea; Gwendolyn refused. Harry had offered to switch sides instead, but James decided that he'd rather lose than be on the same team with the loser.

The result of that scrimmage was easily-predictable – even though Al and Gwendolyn were out-numbered and Ginny and Jonah were both talented Chasers. They out-scored Ginny, Lily, and Jonah by six goals; and Harry caught the snitch twice before they wrapped up the battle after a bit more than an hour. James and Lily had both been unhappy; so they teamed up to file complaints once they'd all landed and began packing up their gear.

"If we do this again anytime soon; we really need to have Gwendolyn on our team," Lily declared – "no offense, Jonah."

"None taken," he assured her. "I like playing against Al and Gwendolyn, though; and I'm surprised that you don't want to keep doing it."

"Why do you say that?" Lily asked.

"Because he doesn't want to switch sides and then lose with the loser," James explained derisively before Jonah could answer.

"Because I don't think that I can learn the things they were teaching me tonight if they're on opposing teams," Jonah told Lily while ignoring James' comment. "As Seekers, we don't play the same way as Chasers because they need to work as a team. Your Mum was the best Chaser on our side, but we couldn't help her as much as we should have been able to do because we couldn't keep up with what she was doing."

"Well, I'm not going to be a Chaser; so that's okay," Lily told him.

"Neither am I – I hope," Jonah said. "My point, though, is that the more I learn about the game; the more I see that I can learn a lot from the way Al and Gwendolyn play together. They have way more awareness of everyone else around them than I have while focusing on my Seeker opponent and finding the snitch. They use different tricks; work around other players; and always seem to be thinking several moves ahead – kind of like you need to be doing in Wizard's Chess."

"Okay, but how do you think that'll help you at Seeker?" Lily prompted. "We do need to focus to find the snitch, and if we don't watch our opponent closely-enough; we'll get beat."

"I'm not entirely sure," Jonah admitted. "It might be easier to narrow down the search for the snitch by starting with a wider awareness of everything going on around us and then focusing in if we catch a glimpse of it. Using other players or obstacles like the goals to get separation from our opponent would help a lot too; and I wonder if we can learn to use some of those flying tricks to help with catching the snitch."

James snorted. "That's totally different for Chasers and Keepers," he said derisively.

"Really?" Jonah countered. "Have you watched that drifting move that Al uses to get better angles on the goals? I think that could be adapted for changing the angle of attack when going after a snitch."

"It'd slow you down and your opponent would beat you to the snitch," James disagreed.

"Not if that drift was at the right place and time," Harry disagreed. "Then you'd have a blocking move that your opponent would need to go around; and the slow-down would make it easier to catch the snitch." He smiled as he held up the snitch. "Want to give it a try?"

"Maybe another night," Ginny told him. "Let's go for a swim; and then I want to turn in early – even though we dont' have any work nights right now. All of this playing is tiring me out!"

Al was okay with the go for a swim plan – except for having to deal with James acting the git toward Gwendolyn and what he sensed was even worse. While that wasn't anything new for him; knowing how his brother thought about Gwendolyn – and Witches in general – didn't make it any easier to deal with the problem – and it continued to be his problem; since he couldn't avoid everything he sensed around him. Gwendolyn didn't like the attention from James either, so they didn't stay in the pool for very long; and then they moved into the tent and got things ready for a bit of mirror network watching and music time with Lily and Jonah that they were ready for by the time their younger siblings caught up with them.

"Four nights and three days into a holiday before your first camping night or sleepover," Lily said while grinning at Al and Gwendolyn. "Is that a record for you since you started dating in first year?"

"If it isn't; it feels as though it should be," Gwendolyn answered. "We'll need to have them somewhere else for the rest of the summer too if James is going to be such a pig anytime we're here with him."

"He just can't comprehend why you don't fall all over him instead of Al," Lily offered seriously. "Malorie sums it up pretty well – she's attracted to James for all the wrong reasons – and not at all attracted to Al because he's too good and geeky. James has no shortage of Witches who feel the same way that Malorie does; so you're doubly-challenging to him."

"For all of the wrong reasons," Gwendolyn added. "I get all of that, but knowing it doesn't make dealing with him any easier; and I am so sick of it that I just don't want to be around him at all anymore. I'm not joking about camping elsewhere if he's home too – or not at all. I may need to skip any family events you have too if he's going to be there."

"I don't think that he will be," Lily suggested. "Malorie is going to be introduced to the rest of our family; and she'll be going to those family gatherings; so James will likely refuse and do something else."

"Will you take Malorie to meet with your Dursley cousins?" Gwendolyn teased; and earned a round of laughs for that.

"Actually, I haven't thought to ask when we're doing that visit this summer," Lily admitted. "It was early last year because they went on holidays for the rest of the summer. I don't know what they'll be doing this year."

"Mum and Dad might have a bit of an issue with those visits now," Al suggested. "They're about to become grandparents; and that could be a real problem to fit into the story we use with our cousins. If they tell them now, that's one set of problems, and if they don't; how do they explain the grandkids somewhere down the road?"

"That could be a problem,' Lily agreed; and then grinned. "Maybe they won't want to go this summer and admit that they're both unemployed either."

"That'd give them an excuse for not making the trip," Gwendolyn offered – "though if you bumped into them in London any other time; that excuse would fall apart."

"Well, I'll go along if we do make that trip; but I won't mind if we don't," Lily declared. "The last two visits have been okay, but it isn't as if that changed anything between us and our cousins; and James is right about one thing – we won't likely visit them anymore once we're all over-age anyway. We'll still see our Weasley cousins, but it isn't as if we'll spend a lot of time with most of them either. I likely haven't spent an hour with Victoire since last summer; less than that with Dominique; and hardly any time at all with Aiden and Charlene – or Molly."

"We'll get to spend lots of time with Victoire once we're playing for the Harpies too," Gwendolyn reminded her. "You'll see Dominique and Lucy at least twice a year when we play against United; and we'll see Rose a lot while visiting Al – or Malorie and the twins."

"You think that their plan to buy the Cannons will work?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.

"I wouldn't bet against Rose. She has been the second-brightest student in our year four years running now – and has the Wizard that keeps besting her for that helping out with the plan."

"Okay, but I still don't get why she'd want all of the hassles. It'll be way more fun for those of us who just get to play the game and enjoy all the benefits of being famous Quidditch stars."

"She wants to turn the Cannons into a championship team," Al reminded her – "and get all of the benefits that go along with the work it'll take to do that; instead of having most of that go to owners who haven't really cared about the team or fans for a long time."

"And why are you doing it – other than because you love our cousin?" Lily asked – "the real reason."

"Because I want to play for a team I'll have fun with – and be able to really change that up too. At least a third of the teams are like the Catapults – a lot of partying and flaunting their wealth and celebrity. Another third are serious – like the Harpies, Prides, and United. The rest are like the Cannons are now – they coast along and either make money or they don't; but they don't really care all that much about anything – or at least they're okay with settling for mediocrity and don't really make much effort to do the best they can for their fans. I really want to be part of a great team; but I also want to have fun – and include the fans – and especially the kids – in the adventure of the game. The Harpies players are good with their fans, and they have the annual kid day; but I'd go way further."

"Such as?" Lily prompted; and Al grinned at her.

"Join the Cannons with me and find out," he teased. "I'm not going to give up all of our good ideas to even the future stars of other teams."

"Would it be wrong for me to use one of my new charms on him after he was nice-enough to make them for me?" Lily asked Gwendolyn.

"Probably, but he is messing with us about the Cannons; so an exception might be justified. Keeping secrets will not work to get us to change our minds about playing with the Harpies – and we can always steal the good ideas later once we see them in action."

"Good point," Lily agreed. "We've gone down that road before, though; so let's move on. Do you think you'll have a good turnout for your senior team practice tomorrow night, Al? James is sure hoping it'll be a dismal failure so that he can take over – and get you, Rose, and Ray out of the way."

"I am so glad that I haven't had those sorts of problems with my teams," Gwendolyn offered. "Al has his problems with James; and Hufflepuff and Slytherin have had their fair share of drama too."

"You and I can hope that we won't have any major drama with the senior team this summer," Al suggested – "while Gwendolyn and Jonah can hope that we do – even if they do that quietly."

"We'll do that," Gwendolyn assured him. "Now that Brandon's graduated; did you have anyone to invite to work with the team as a reserve Seeker?"

"I expect that Mum or Dad will train against James this summer; since we don't really have anyone we've worked with at school now. Brandon has had that job for so long now; it's left a bit of a void while nobody else has had a chance to train at our usual team level. That could be a problem in September too if we can't find someone to give James a bit of a challenge."

"Sounds good – for our team," Gwendolyn said with a grin.

"Even the part where he spends the summer training with Mum and Dad?" Lily asked. "If he'll actually try to learn from them; that'll be good for our House."

"Both at school and here at home," Al agreed. "I do hope we have a good turn-out. It's going to be a word-of-mouth thing for most of the teens. Louis will do his part, and Tiberius and Brock will help out too; but we might end up a bit short at Chaser – at least at first."

"And have too many Beaters," Gwendolyn suggested. "Fred and Orlando will be coming for sure; so where does that leave your reserve Beaters from last season?"

"Out of luck," Lily answered; and then grinned at Al. 'Maybe you'll need to have summer practices tryouts."

"Could Mum and Dad be allowed to tryout too?" Al joked. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did," Gwendolyn assured him after joining in on the laughs. "That won't happen, though, since your parents have made it clear that they want to spend a lot of time with all of you this summer. That's not so hot for you; but I'll be at my practices and won't have to deal with James while you're doing that either."

"Well, I'll be glad to have Mum and Dad to play with during my team practices," Lily told them. "I'm hoping they'll help to train my team."

"You're sure that you'll be Captain?" Jonah asked.

"If Fred knows what's good for him I will be."

"What about Hugo – or Kathryn or Melissa?" Gwendolyn asked.

"If they get the job, I'll pretend to be happy for them," Lily promised – "and find somewhere private to blast Fred and make sure he regrets not picking me instead."

That wasn't a joke, but they had fun with that for a few moments before their chat moved on. They eventually had a bit of music play time; watched a couple of mirror network shows; and then had a double-sofa-sleepover. Having younger or older siblings in the room meant no snogging fun, but getting to cuddle all night with their respective favorite cuddle buddy was an acceptable trade-off; and they were all very happy as they eventually all fell asleep.

Tuesday began with some early-morning fun for Al and Gwendolyn thanks to a quiet bit of wake-up snogging before he went to get ready for the day and she had a cat nap while waiting for a turn in the bathroom. Al then joined his father in the kitchen to cook breakfast; and then that meal was mostly James-trouble-free because the entertainment highlight was a mirror chat with Teddy and Victoire to wish them a happy second anniversary. Though they were in the off-season, Victoire didn't have the day off, and neither did Teddy; so there wasn't going to be a major party. Harry did send their gifts to them while having that chat, though; and Victoire had fun opening them before they needed to move on to the next mirror chat from Teddy's grandparents – and likely go on from there with cameo mirror chats with everyone that wanted to wish them the best for their special day.

Harry took James to work after they finished eating; Al and Gwendolyn took the Floo Network to Chudley so they could spend the day working with Malorie and Rose; and Jonah went home to his Ravenclaw junior team practice while Lily got ready for her friends and team mates to come over for the Gryffindor practice that Harry and Ginny were going to help her out with all morning. In Chudley, Al didn't have much trouble convincing the girls to go out on a shopping trip for the morning and an afternoon visit to the Ministry of Magic so that Malorie could get the tour and meet some of the people she'd need to work with for her research; while he would stay and paint the office so that Malorie wouldn't be around the paint fumes all day. He was far from an expert at painting, but he did know how to do it right, so once the girls were gone; he got to work.

Lily was a happy camper as she and her friends got ready for their first Quidditch workout of the summer. She had a great turnout – including from some soon-to-be firsties; and she was sure that having her parents helping out was going to be brilliant. When she was ready to go, she stood up; stepped a few paces away from the benches; and turned to face everyone else.

"I'd like to again thank everyone for coming out this morning," she began. "We're going to have practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning all summer; and you're all invited to come as often as you can." She smiled at her parents. "Thanks to recent events, we get an awesome training bonus this year – my unemployed parents."

"I'm so glad we could help you out with that," Ginny teased. "You may wish that you didn't ask for the help with your training by the end of the morning; but we will do our best to help you out."

"That should actually scare you just a bit," Lily advised her fellow teens and tweens, but we're going to start out with something very different today that I think you will like. I'm going to ask Dad to teach us parts of his Auror training – Tai Chi to be specific."

"Why would you want us to learn that?" Kathryn asked.

"Because it's a good physical workout; and will teach us different ways of moving and add flexibility we might not have now. It won't hurt to learn the self-defense part of it too – and that might come in handy now and then."

"I thought you were going to have Ginny teach you the Harpies' workout," Harry told her; and Lily grinned at him.

"We've based our Gryffindor workouts on that for years now, Dad. I want to mix things up a bit and see if it can help us to get even better."

"If that's what you want," Harry agreed. "I've missed those morning workouts; so that'll be fun for me."

Lily didn't give her friends a choice in the matter, so once they were ready; Harry took over and began to teach them the Tai Chi warm-ups. That really was very different for all of the kids, and hwile everything they did was a low-impact workout; he explained along the way what each exercise did for their bodies and how it would help them. Once they worked through that; he taught them one of the simplified Tai Chi forms – though it would take his new pupils time to master even the base twenty-four forms that the more advanced work-outs expanded from. It also took time to get through all of that while teaching and correcting what the kids were doing; so they took a break after that and then Ginny led them through their first flying workout. While she did that; Harry worked with individual kids having difficulty keeping up; helping them to learn new flying tricks and encouraging them to do their best while also keeping safe.

Harry and Ginny took turns helping with the rest of the workout; and then they also coached all of the kids during their scrimmage. Ginny worked with Lily and Riley most of the time; and Harry worked with the rest of the kids. Lily's team won the scrimmage by quite a bit, but they all had a lot of fun; and the score really hadn't mattered to most of them at all. Following all of the Quidditch up with a swim was popular too; and then Harry and Ginny fed lunch to the entire gang before more than half of the teens and tweens moved on and Lily was left with just a handful of cousins and friends to play with all afternoon too. Harry and Ginny were able to stay and play with them; and they enjoyed simply being able to do that for a change instead of having work get in the way of having those hours of fun with some of their favorite teens and tweens.

Al sat back and took a critical look at his painting handiwork. He'd started with the back rooms where little mistakes wouldn't matter; and painted the main office last. That precaution hadn't really mattered, since the back rooms paint jobs were near-perfect anyway; but he was even happier with the main office – especially when three colors had been involved. The clean-up was already magically underway thanks to his seashells. Brushes and rollers were being cleaned; leftover paint and drop cloths were being packed up and stored; and Al did all of that while using his extended senses to be sure his painting had turned out as well as he'd hoped.

"You've finished the entire room already?" Malorie asked in amazement as she walked into the office with Gwendolyn and Rose. The two younger girls had take-out food bags and a tray of drinks with them.

"The back rooms too," Al advised them with a smile. "How has your morning been going?"

"Probably better than yours from a fun perspective; but not so much for the work we've done so far," Gwendolyn answered. "Did you rush this so you could come and play with us this afternoon?"

Al laughed. "Do I want to go to the Ministry of Magic with you and Malorie and cause a big scene?" he asked rhetorically. "No. I was thinking that we could do something else while Rose gave Malorie the tour – or we could both paint Malorie's flat and just get that done and out of the way too."

"I think you've done enough for one day," Malorie told him. "You definitely shouldn't come to the Ministry of Magic with me; but I'm sure you could find something else to do."

"Not without parental approval," Al pointed out; and laughed at the reactions from all three Witches. "I know, but it's the way I am; and I won't be changing anytime-ever. Let me see what else I can get done here this afternoon; and maybe we can book a bonus fun day instead of doing something else for the day we did have booked for painting your flat – especially since Mum and Dad were going to help with that."

"So you'd rather have a play day with your parents than an afternoon of alone time with Gwendolyn," Malorie summarized. "Book an appointment at St. Mungo's and get your head examined!"

"I'll stay and paint with you," Gwendolyn offered. "Malorie will likely love her first visit to the Ministry of Magic; but I can live without another visit there." She smiled at the other two girls. "If you get back later and none of the painting got done; you'll know why."

"And won't want the details," Rose suggested. "Let's eat while the food is still warm, though; and then Malorie and I need to meet up with Mum in her office before she takes us on the tour – or gets someone else to do it for her if she gets tied up."

"Does that happen a lot?" Malorie asked; and Rose shrugged.

"Probably every day – or several times every day. Mum has more than her fair share of haters there, but she's also brilliant and knows how to get stuff done; so lots of Witches and Wizards come to her for help with their problems – whether they're in her department or not."

"Does she like all of that responsibility?" Malorie asked next as they all sat down around one end of the conference table.

"I think so," Rose answered. "Dad joined the Aurors because of Uncle Harry – and because he thought he needed to do that after the war. Uncle Harry hated all of the politics and paperwork that went along with being Head of the Aurors; but he had at least always wanted to be an Auror. It may sound a bit arrogant; but Mum thinks she usually knows what's best for the Ministry of Magic and all of the Witches, Wizards, and Magical Creatures they're supposed to serve. I doubt she'll ever quit until she's sure she has done everything she can to fix all of the problems she sees in the Wizarding World – and at the Ministry."

"Her ghost will have to keep working there," Gwendolyn predicted – "just like Professor Binns is still teaching at Hogwarts."

"This is really wrong; but I might be okay with that – if her pays kept coming to her kids and grandkids," Rose joked.

"You won't need the money if all of those bets you have for the Cannons pay off," Al reminded her. "Speaking of work; I was thinking about the Cannons and Malorie's research while doing the painting." He turned his attention to her from Rose. "If you get along with any of the Cannons' office staff when you get started on your research; you might be able to get away with spending more time at their office and practice pitch than with other team visits just because of the convenience of them being close – and since a lot of the work they do would be the same with any team."

"But we want to learn about all of the teams," Rose pointed out. "We decided that months ago."

"We did," Al agreed; "and I'm not suggesting we don't want Malorie to do that too; but more time with the Cannons' staff would give her more time to learn about more than just how the team business works. She might learn a lot of personal stuff about the owners and managers that could help us when it comes time to negotiate for buying the team."

"I can see how that goes," Malorie agreed. "Did you come up with any suggestions for how to do that?"

"Not specifically," Al answered. "You'll want some flexibility with that depending on who they have working for them. We can add room in the budget for taking new contacts out for meals or things like thank-you gifts; but it'll mostly be up to you to make those friendships. I'm hoping you'll find some friends along the way."

"Friends that would lose their jobs if you manage to buy the team?" Malorie asked next. "I don't like the idea of playing anyone like that."

"We are going to start over with the Cannons if we buy them," Rose said seriously; "but that doesn't mean we wouldn't help any friends you make with the team – even though that wouldn't be working for the Cannons. I really don't believe we can make any exceptions with that and be sure that we can build an entirely-new culture for the team."

"Okay, but if I need to; I'll hold you to that promise," Malorie told her seriously. "Will you do that for all of the players you'll put out of work?"

Rose shook her head. "No. They'll either get on with other teams or they won't. Most of them are only in the show or on the Cannons' reserve squad because they're the best the Cannons can get for what they're willing to pay. Santini's a talented Seeker, so he'd likely get at least a reserve squad offer – or could work for one of the teams in Spain, but I wouldn't want him on my team; and he certainly isn't good-enough to get one of the Seeker jobs with a top team in our league."

"He'd take the reserve squad job with the Harpies for free," Al joked.

"Which is why it's a good thing for Gabrielle that the Harpies don't hire Wizards – not that Mum would want that vain, arrogant airhead working for her anyway."

Rose laughed. "I was about to say that he isn't an airhead, but he is around Aunt Gabrielle; so I guess in this one case; he is that and then some."

"So if you manage to buy the Cannons; you'll be your Aunt Gabrielle's favorite niece for getting him off the team?" Malorie teased.

"Probably – and despite the fact that we're not technically related," Rose agreed. "I do actually expect that he'd get another job in the show, though; since he really will be willing to take almost any deal to still get a chance to play Quidditch against Aunt Gabrielle.

They didn't really want to talk about Santini, so their chat moved on from there while they enjoyed their lunch; Rose and Malorie moved on to the Ministry of Magic after that; and Al and Gwendolyn got to work on painting Malorie's flat. With both of them doing that; they actually got everything done except the room that would be the nursery for the twins – and that didn't get done too because Malorie hadn't picked out what she was going to do for the twins' room yet. They were finished before Malorie got home, so they went out for ice cream treats; took a walk while enjoying their snacks; and then they were back with time to spare before Malorie joined them.

They did a tour of the flat with her; talked about her visit to the Ministry of Magic; and discussed what Malorie was going to do for work during the rest of the week while Al and Rose were busy with other work and play plans. Ginny came and collected Al and Gwendolyn about a half-hour before dinner; they went to the McCormacks' house first to drop Gwendolyn off; and then Al went home with his mother and they got to work on making dinner while Harry went to get James from work and Lily saw the last few friends off on their way home for the night after their play day fun. Dinner was quick and easy; and then Al got everything set up for the senior team workout while James took care of welcoming all of the teens as they arrived by apparating or through the Floo Network.

Al was glad to see a good turnout, but he also sensed the approaching conflict that James was going to lead as he attempted to take control of the team and summer training. While he wasn't thrilled with the idea of yet another public confrontation with James; Al had reluctantly agreed with the advice he'd been given about doing what he thought best instead of just letting James do what he wanted – which was to have team practices without him, Rose, or Ray. He didn't just jump in when James stepped up and got everyone's attention once all of the teens were there; but he was ready to act when he sensed it was time to do so.

"Thanks for coming out," James said enthusiastically. "It's nice to see that word got around so quickly."

"Some of us need to get back to work right away now that we have a new Beater duo looking to take our jobs from us," Tiberius offered with a grin for Fred and Orlando. "I'm surprised that you called us together. Did Olivia make you a deal to name you as next Captain back when you agreed to come back on the team after quitting? She didn't tell Brock or me anything about who she was going to recommend for the job – and we asked."

"Al asked me to send word around for tonight," Louis advised the others; earning a dark frown from James. "He suggested we could figure out what to do for the rest of the summer from here."

"I've no idea who will be named Captain," James told Tiberius. Al knew that wasn't technically a lie; but he also knew that James had intentionally avoided answering Tiberius' actual question about a deal with Olivia. "Do you want the job until we find out?"

Tiberius laughed. "Not a chance. I'm sure you do, though; so maybe we should just ask if anyone else wants to stand for the temporary job and we can take a vote."

"I'd like to suggest that we do something different," Al offered earnestly. James scowled at him and sent silent waves of hatred his way; but he also had the attention of everyone else too. "I'd like Mum and Dad to coach us all summer – like they're doing with our junior team. In addition to that; I'd like to invite some of our parents to help out too. Ray's Mum and quite a few of your fathers could help us with learning more about the game, and while they might not have as much time available to help as Mum and Dad do, if they each took a night or two; we'd get to learn from a lot of different teachers by the end of the summer – or at least until we have our new Captain and he or she decides how we'll practice during the rest of the summer."

"I didn't know you were going to train the junior team," Louis told his aunt and uncle. "Do you really want to work with us too?"

"It would be fun – and we have lots of spare time now that we're unemployed," Ginny joked. "If you'll let us help out; we'd love to spend the time playing with all of you."

"Sorry James," Tiberius told him. "Your Dad isn't Head of the Aurors anymore; so I don't have a problem picking the beautiful Witch for one of our Coaches this summer over you as interim Captain."

His comment earned a roar of laughter that James pretended to join in on, but he was not happy even as he accepted defeat without much more than some glares for Al and a lot of hatred that he wanted to burn off but didn't have any way of venting it. He was even less-happy when Ginny got things started by talking with the teens about their training options; and the majority opted to give Harry's Tai Chi lessons a try for their warm-ups and physical workout. Al hadn't voted, but he had loved doing that workout – and helping his fellow teens to learn the warm-ups and then the twenty-four movements in the simplified form that Harry taught to them.

The flying workout was a challenge for everyone; Ginny led them through that; and Harry helped with some one-on-one training for the least-skilled teens – even though they were all experienced fliers by fourth-year and above. The bludger practice that came next was a bit wild with four very talented Beaters; but then the scrimmage was the highlight of the evening. For that, Harry coached them; Ginny played Seeker against James; and she had Al, Rose, Ray, Cyndia, Fred, and Orlando on her team. James got to have his picks; so Louis, the McClaggen brothers; Ollie, Magnus, and Scott ended up on his team. There were also alternate players for both teams; and Harry took care of making sure that they all got a chance to play too.

Al hadn't exactly been interested in seeing how Ollie was playing after spending most of the school year at home, but he was actually a bit surprised to discover that James' best friend hadn't gotten any better than he'd been a year ago while everyone else he had seen play before had at least improved a bit. Ollie was still second-best Chaser on his team, but unfortunately for their side; Magnus and Ollie were fourth and fifth-best Chasers behind Al, Ray, and Cyndia – a fact that they didn't even realize during or after the scrimmage because Cyndia didn't make a big deal of the fact that she'd quietly scored five goals with lots of help from Al and Ray. Nobody scored five goals on Rose – she didn't give up five goals total; so the win for her team was a bit lop-sided.

"Maybe we should have taken that vote after that workout," Tiberius suggested ruefully. "I didn't think we'd get our broomtails handed to us by the coaches."

"I didn't play," Harry reminded him; "and the other coach could still play in the show if she wanted to; so that shouldn't have surprised you."

"I'm okay with taking another vote," James told everyone. "Ollie's offered to let us practice at his house; and I think we'd be better off training without the dog and Animorphpotty – I mean pony – show."

"I don't like losing anymore than you do," Louis told him, but I'll get better training against Rose – and with help from your parents. You also just implied that you want to exclude Al – and likely Rose, Ray, and Cyndia from those workouts too; and I'm not okay with that."

"You should be," James retorted. "The loser is the reason you only got to play in one match last season – and why that didn't end well for any of us either. If I'm Captain; I'll make sure you don't get cheated out of a spot on the team for your NEWT year – your last chance to show off for the schouts."

"If you get to be team Captain; you'd better be fair to everyone – or I won't play on your team whether you want to give me the job or not," Louis advised him. "I'll either win a spot fairly; or I'll be happy for Rose or anyone else that can best me. This should be about what's best for the team, James – not about you or any one of us getting what we want."

"Speak for yourself," Tiberius told him. "I want my last shot at impressing those scouts!"

"Then I call for another vote!" James declared. "All those in favor of having me as interim Captain and moving the practices to Ollie's – raise your hands." Six hands were raised – including his own and Ollie's.

"All those in favor of letting our Mum and Dad – and some of your parents – coach us all summer?" Al asked; and knew he had the majority – even without counting the hands that didn't get to actually have a vote; since Lily and their parents weren't really allowed to vote too.

"I'd say the majority is with your new summertime coaches," Ginny declared – "and we didn't even need to tell you about the pizza snacks we've pre-ordered for you as a potential bribe!"

"Pizza that I'll pop over and get while the rest of you get out of your gear and go for a swim if you'd like," Harry added.

"We could get other players to join us if you don't want to go along with the majority," James told the teens that had voted for him. "If you want extra coaches; I could likely get my buddies on the Catapults' team to help us too."

"Will you offer us pizza bribes too?" Tiberius asked. "If not; I'll definitely change my vote – or just go with the majority; since they did win that second vote too."

"You're not going to get better Seeker competition doing your own practices either, James," Louis told him seriously. "Aren't you sick and tired of losing your duels to Pauline? You've got one shot left before she graduates – or until you're in the show too. If you train with your Mum and Dad all summer; maybe you'll finally get that win next May."

"If you think it's such a great idea – why don't you invite us all over to your house and get your Mum and Dad to train us?" James retorted; and Louis laughed.

"Dad could do well-enough; but Mum would have us doing shopping workouts and give us lessons on why the French do everything better than we do," he joked.

"The shopping workouts sound like fun," Cyndia offered with a grin. "Maybe we could just have your Mum be guest coach for a workout or two."

Their chat devolved into teen humor from there; James gave up; and Harry went to get the pizza while most of the teens went for a swim – and Ginny went with them while Al took care of getting drinks out to the poolside tables and everything else they'd need for the pizza snacks. Harry insisted on leting the girls get food first, which proved a good plan; since the guys demolished the remaining pizzas in short order once they were set free to devour everything edible in their path. It was getting dark by the time Harry and Al began cleaning up and the visiting teens headed home; but that process still took more than a half-hour before Harry and Ginny were down to just three kids and they were all in the sitting room and ready to wind down after a busy day – or get wound up; in James' case.

"Nice job taking over the team by using Mum and Dad to get everyone to do what you want, loser," James told Al angrily while waiting for his video game choice to finish loading and getting it set up with his player preferences.

"Thank-you," Al answered; and James snorted when he didn't say more.

"Well, at least you're admitting it this time. That's refreshing. Enjoy it while it lasts; since you'll regret it in a month or so when I'm named Captain and then things will be done my way."

"I hope not – and hope you're not named Captain," Lily told him bluntly. "I totally get why you don't want to do things Al's way – it's boring, hard work, and it sucks that he's the best player on his teams; but if you want to impress the Catapults and the league scouts; then you really do need to train with the best. You've played five seasons for Gryffindor and won two Quidditch Cups, but your own record on teams without Al is two wins and nine losses; while it's undefeated with him – including the tie against Ravenclaw in your second year. I feel like I have something to prove next season; and really, really want to finally win my first Quidditch Cup – just as I'm sure you do too. Here's some tough love for you, brother dear – suck it up and let Mum and Dad help you to be a better Seeker. Ignore Al – he's a Chaser; he's only got a few good years of Quidditch left before he joins the Cannons; and that'll be the end of it for him. I'm the sibling you ought to be worried about – especially if I win the Seeker job at tryouts in your NEWT year."

"Isn't that a good reason for you to not want James to train with Mum and Dad?" Al asked in amusement; and Lily laughed.

"Good point," she agreed. "Forget everything I just said, James. You and Ollie should go off and start your own summer training program. Mum and Dad are over-the-hill, washed up, unemployed has-beens; and couldn't possibly help you at all. Training with them would be a complete waste of time; and I'm sure you'll be much happier playing Quidditch with Ollie and your mates."

"You're all a bunch of freaks," James declared; though he couldn't quite hide the smirk that was on his face because of Lily's bi-polar banter. "I hate what we're doing and it'll likely be a disaster for our team and House next season; but Al's made sure I can't do anything about it now – even if I wasted all of my money bribing the guys with free food. I'm surprised they can even do that – or are you paying room and board with your stupid songs money to help them get by now?"

"We're using the broom fund," Ginny teased; and laughed when that comment got James' full attention. "I'm joking – there is no broom fund."

"Remind me to get a summer job with the Harpies like James has with the Catapults when I'm old-enough," Lily told Al. "Maybe they'll give me a Lightningbolt the summer I turn seventeen; since it seems we might be out of luck for getting one from Mum and Dad now that they're out of work." She smiled at James. "I'd blast you for your part in that, but it has been nice having them home so far; so it might end up being worth not getting the brooms on our seventeenth birthdays to have all of the extra play time with them instead."

"I won't be surprised to get screwed for that too," James retorted. "What's one more broken promise and lie in our family?"

"You'd know better than the rest of us," Lily retorted. "Thanks for the reminder, though. How did things go in Chudley today, Al? Did you have fun painting?"

"Were you painting the kennel for your Animorphlitter/" James asked with a snort.

"No – Malorie hasn't decided what she wants to do with the nursery yet," Al answered. "I painted all day; Gwendolyn helped out after lunch; and Rose kept Malorie busy and out of the way so she wasn't around all of those paint fumes."

"I thought she was starting her job this week," James retorted; and Al nodded.

"She has," he agreed. "She's started to get her office set up, and since she'll need to do things at the Ministry of Magic; Rose got her Mum to take Malorie on a tour so that she could see where everything is and meet some of the contacts she'll need there."

"Whatever," James said indifferently; though Al sensed that he was curious and worried about what Malorie would be doing and how that might continue to mess up his own plans. "I'm sure that your litter-carrier will get along famously with all of the other losers at the Ministry of Magic!"

Al didn't answer that comment; James got on with his gaming; and Lily got him to tell her a bit more about the painting he and Gwendolyn had gotten done before moving on to talk about other things with him – and with their parents. They all watched Lee's nightly monologue, but didn't stay up for the entire show; and Al wrapped up his day with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn that included trading Quidditch workout stories and talking about their plans for the rest of the week.

As they got ready to get some sleep, the end of the day wasn't a notable ending or beginning for anything; yet it still felt a bit like both to Al. After a busy first weekend at home and a couple of work days to get Malorie's new life and job off to a good start; it was now time to get started on some summertime fun and his own summer jobs. His parents weren't ending or starting anything either, but Al was still looking forward to spending a lot of time with them over the next two months. There was sure to be lots of family drama ahead too as they all counted down the weeks until Jaimie and Lorie arrived in their lives, but Al was still feeling pretty good about the possibilities that they were going to have a best-ever-so-far kind of summer!


	47. Super Size My Summer

Chapter Forty-Seven – Super-Size My Summer!

Wednesday started out quietly-enough for Al as he got ready for the day and helped to cook breakfast for five. James could only manage a half-dozen insults before heading off to work; and then Al and Lily helped out with some chores around the house and yard before they went to pick up Gwendolyn and Jonah and head for London. The four teens were having a date day with Rose and Kyle, and while it would be weird for most teens; Harry and Ginny were going along with them for the adventure! They took the Floo Network from the McCormack's house to the Leaky; Muggle transit to meet up with Rose and Kyle at her Grandparents' house; and then they headed out from there for their play day.

"I'm surprised that you didn't want to take your van," Kyle told Harry and Ginny as they hopped a bus. "My Mum and Dad never take the bus; and only take the trains or underground if it's more-convenient than driving and trying to find parking."

"Half the adventure is the travel time," Harry offered with a smile and shrug. "I'm happy to leave the stress of getting around the city to the bus and train drivers. Ginny and I do the opposite of your parents – we drive the van around the city when it's too inconvenient to take city transit."

"And that's usually a time thing when we have a lot of running around to do," Ginny added. "Are you going to be able to survive a play day with parents along?"

"I might take a hit to my reputation if any of my friends run into us, but we did have fun at the amusement park last summer; so this probably won't be too horrid."

"It'll be cheaper for the teens in the group," Lily offered. "that's a bonus fur us."

"Unless you're about to try and change the plan; we weren't going to be doing anything all that expensive," Ginny reminded her daughter. "I don't think you'd have blown your allowance for the month if you did have to pay for everything yourself."

"I know," Lily agreed; "but it'll be more fun if I get to play and save the money too."

"Careful – that's the sort of thing that can lead you into a boring job when you grow up – like accounting," Kyle warned.

"She's more-likely to end up with a career in extreme sports," Rose disagreed.

"Do you play extreme sports, Lily?" Kyle asked.

"There probably isn't an extreme sport that I wouldn't like to try," Lily answered. "Should we try booking a day of that sort of thing for our next group date? I hear that skydiving with whatever they call their version of a snowboard is a blast; or we could go to one of those adventure parks with the zip lines and all of the other physical activities instead of the extreme amusement park rides."

"Well, we don't have any of that on the schedule for today, but if you want to try something different that we could do anywhere; have you ever tried parkour?"

"Not really," Lily answered – "though we have done that sort of thing while on some hikes. I'm game, but if we do meet up with any of your friends while Mum and Dad are doing that with us; I am not responsible for what happens to your rep."

Kyle laughed. "If they're any good; they'd just be impressed," he predicted. "The park we'll be going to later is a great place for parkour – though you can pretty much do it anywhere in the city as long as you don't irritate anyone too much along the way."

"So no bus-surfing," Lily teased. "Got it."

That joke led to a chat about parkour etiquette, and they had fun while getting into the city; but then it was time to play after that. A bit of sightseeing was involved – along with some alternate shopping in ecclectic shops and a market; they had lunch at an outdoor cafe; and the parkour and park play during the afternoon was great too. Rose and Kyle had dinner plans, so they went off to that on their own when they needed to do that; while Harry and Ginny took Gwendolyn and Jonah home on their way back to their own house. Once there, Al helped Ginny with making dinner; Harry went to collect James; and then they wrapped their day up with a play evening that was partially segregated because Harry and James had another Seeker duel while Ginny went for a bike ride with Al and Lily to stay out of the way for an hour or so.

Al ended up spending time in his room too so that he could stay away from James; but then he didn't end up spending much time around him for the last two days of the work week anyway. On Thursday, while James was at work; Al and Gwendolyn worked on toymaking. Ginny worked with them some of the time too; but she also helped Harry with the junior team practice for half the morning; and they all had some play time in the afternoon that included swimming and playing games in the back yard. The one exception to his luck with James-avoidance was their Thursday evening dinner and senior team Quidditch workout, but Al had more trouble with Ollie during the practice; and James went out of his way to ignore Al while all of the other teens were there. That was partly because he seemed to be trying to win everyone over so that they'd be on his side when he was named team Captain; but he also played hard in his Seeker duel too – and even managed to earn one catch during their scrimmage – though Ginny earned two to help win that duel and the match for her team.

Quidditch had been the game of the day on Thursday, but on Friday; Al was happy to get back together with Gwendolyn and get started on the three days they were getting to spend together – including camping all weekend near Chudley. They started their day on Friday with more toymaking fun that Ginny did with them while Harry and Kirley had some play time with Lily and Jonah; they followed that up with getting their gear and four bikes ready to go; and then they all headed to the campground near Chudley that the four kids would be staying at for the weekend with some occasional support from the parents. Setting up the tent didn't take long; they had a late lunch together; and then they spent the afternoon playing together before Harry and Ginny went home to get ready for their weekend with James and Patricia – his weekend guest pick. Kirley stayed; Gwenog joined them after work; and then went into Chudley for dinner instead of cooking at the campground.

Harry and Ginny split up to go and get James and Patricia; brought them back to the house; and then gave them time for Patricia to put her things in the tent while James got ready to go out on their date night. When the two teens were ready to go; they apparated to Caerphilly – a destination that did not seem to impress James when they arrived there.

"Why are we here?" he demanded. "I thought that we were going somewhere special for this farce of a night out with the two of you."

"You seem to be taking a serious interest in the Catapults," Ginny explained. "We thought that you'd both enjoy finding out more about the town you, James, might call home in a couple of years. We'll have dinner here; go for a tour; and then maybe wrap up our evening with a sunset walk on the beach somewhere on the coast."

"Do you think you will play for the Catapults?" Patricia asked James; and he shrugged.

"If they're the highest bidder. They could sure use the help, and they aren't getting that this year; so maybe they're saving up for me."

"What would you do if the Cannons offer you the most money?" Harry asked. "Ron would love it, and you might like that it'd mess up Rose's plans; but that'd be off-set by the fact that you'd be playing for the Cannons."

James snorted. "You're suggesting something that'll never happen. The Catapults owners and managers love me, though; so I expect they'll beat any other offere I get."

"Well, this is a lovely place," Ginny told him. "It could be a great place to live."

"I'll likely get my mansion in London," James declared. "We'd have been better-off going there than here; since I'm never going to live in some hick town or out in the boonies ever again!"

"Well, maybe we can do London another weekend this summer," Ginny offered. "We're here now, though, and have reservations at a nice little bistro; so let's go and have dinner. Maybe you'll be happier once you've been fed."

Dinner in Chudley was a fun little adventure for Kirley, Gwenog, and their four teens, but it was the campfire back at the kids' campsite that was the highlight of the evening for all of them. As usual, Kirley got them going with the campfire music; and Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah impressed everyone near-enough to hear them.

"I love the songs you keep sending to me," Kirley told Al and Gwendolyn during a transition between songs; "but can't help but want you to go after a music career every time I hear you sing together." He smiled ruefully. "I know – you've picked Quidditch. I just still think that you could have both."

"Couldn't you have done that too?" Gwenog asked him. "The stories get a bit over-done the older we get, but even if half of what your parents say about your Quidditch skills as a teen are true; you'd have done well in the show too."

"That's a set-up question that I have no intention of answering," Kirley advised her – "and one we've talked about before. In their case, though, they can't tell me that they're only focused on Quidditch – especially after spending most of their week working on other things – like their toymaking."

"The work on Monday and Tuesday was Quidditch-related," Gwendolyn pointed out – "though Mum probably isn't happy about me helping out with Rose's future plans for the Cannons."

"I haven't decided what to think about that yet," Gwenog advised her. "There is a good chance that the Cannons would be the best place for Al – for our team."

"You're trying to divert me from my point," Kirley protested.

"Yes, but you know that what you want isn't at all the same, Dad," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "Hardly anyone knows about most of our toymaking, but it's also work we can do whenever we want; and doesn't include any of the problems we'd have with a very public music career. You're not happy that we don't want to do this now; and you'd be even more unhappy if we did it and then walked away to go after our Quidditch dreams."

"True, but at least you'd have given it a shot – and might decide that you like music better," Kirley pointed out.

"No, I wouldn't," Gwendolyn insisted. "I like doing this – just with us; or some of the other people we love most. I'll stop if we have to go over this again and again; 'cause it just won't be fun anymore."

Kirley sighed. "I'll drop it – and try not to keep bugging you about it anymore either." He turned his attention to Jonah and Lily next. "Your turn," he suggested ambiguously.

"To sing – okay," Lily agreed. "To start a music career – not gonna happen for me either. Jonah's still undecided, though; so you might still have a chance with him."

"What would you recommend?" Kirley asked her. "A solo act for Jonah – or maybe Jonah and the Weird Witches; with an all-girl band backing him up?"

"Keep coming up with brilliant ideas like that; and you might end up with a father-son duo – Jonah and the Whale," Lily suggested. "Your wife might be partial to bugs; but I'm more of a go big or go home kind of Witch."

"What is the deal with your parents?" Patricia whispered to James as they walked along the beach. They'd gone on ahead of Harry and Ginny, but it was comparatively quiet as sunset approached; and she wasn't sure how far sound would carry on the water or breeze. "Have they lost their minds as well as their jobs?"

James laughed and squeezed her hand. "They lost their minds a long time ago," he advised her. "Now, instead of saving the world; they think that they'll save me with all of this extreme parenting. I'm glad to see that you're not falling for any of it either."

"They're clueless," she offered. "The free food was pretty good, though; so maybe you should take advantage of stuff like that – and then be happy and well-rid of them the minute we're done at Hogwarts and you get started on your career in the show!" She laughed quietly then too. "They really don't know you at all to even think that you'd be happy living in that little town. Taking the Draught of Living Death would be more exciting than a week in that place."

"No doubt," James agreed. "I suppose we have to put up with having places like that as long as the Ministry of Magic insists that we have to hide from Muggles; but some of us are meant for more – and I think that it's stupid that we shouldn't be able to do whatever we want – and we ought to own this entire planet instead of hiding from Muggles just because there are a lot of them."

"There are a lot of bugs too," Patricia pointed out. "We don't hide from them – we squash them."

"Well, maybe we'll get to step on Muggles the same way some day," James offered darkly. "For now, though; I guess we'd better make the best of this farce of a date night with my parents."

"Sunsets on beaches are nice," Patricia said with a smile and nod – "and we can always make up for all of this boring later once we're home and alone for the rest of the night in your tent."

That promise had James smiling and looking forward to the moment they could be free of his meddling parents for the rest of the night – though he'd like it a lot better if he could just be done with them forever!

Having fun was the name of the game for the weekend – whether that was at the Potter home; with the campers in Chudley; or for Kirley and Gwenog as they split their weekend between having some alone time ahead of the start of training camp in a week and spending some time at the campground or in Chudley with the kids. Swimming, biking, hiking, shopping, and a long visit with Malorie were all parts of the fun mix for Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. Another campfire with all four parents on Saturday night was great too; and they did that because James took Patricia out to dinner and a Muggle movie because they'd supposedly needed a break from his parents after a day of swimming, Quidditch, and other fun around the yard at home. The play time on Sunday was more of the same, and while James felt the need to insist that he wasn't having any fun being an only child for the weekend; Harry and Ginny were sure that their summertime fun plans were working out even better than they'd hoped by the time they headed for bed on Sunday night after returning home from their second dinner and evening out of the weekend with their eldest son and his most-dedicated girlfriend.

Al and Gwendolyn weren't going to have a weekly routine because of different things they had going on each week while they were home, but it felt a bit like that for them on Monday. They were on their own with Lily and Jonah for breakfast and packing up their tent and gear, and when they finished doing that; Ginny met up with them and they went into Chudley once she sent their things home first. Harry joined them at Malorie's office after getting James to work and taking Patricia home too; and then they had a nother work and play day in and around Chudley – along with one shopping trip for the girls while Harry and Al took care of assembling some furniture for both the office and Malorie's flat. Rose was in on more than half of that fun; and she and Al also had a work meeting with Malorie that included a progress report and plans for the coming week.

That meeting was the last bit of GO MagiSports work that Al and Rose had planned for the week; but they did have lots of other work to do along with the play time they wanted to have every day too. Al and Gwendolyn had to say goodbye for the night on Monday when she and Jonah were picked up by Kirley before James got home from work, but he managed to have fun despite dealing with James' combination of bragging and the never-ending insults for the rest of the afternoon and evening. He was able to enjoy their dinner; a hike with Ginny while James and Lily both had a Seeker duel with Harry had been special; and he'd enjoyed a bedtime swim after James had moved on from the pool to some mirror gaming. After that, he went up to his room; and ended his day with some summer revision work and a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn.

The next three days were filled with a mix of work and fun for Al and Gwendolyn. On Tuesday, Rose joined them for a toymaking morning and play afternoon that Lily, Jonah, and Hugo joined them for after their morning Quidditch practices. Harry and Ginny played with Lily and her team mates in the morning; and then with the six remaining teens all afternoon before the evening senior team practice that they coached for Gryffindor while Gwendolyn moved on to her own team practice. Ginny worked with Al and Gwendolyn on Wednesday with more toymaking while Harry and Kirley had a play morning with Lily and Jonah; and then they all went to the beach for the afternoon. Wendesday night ended up being Seeker play time for Ginny with James and Lily while Harry took Al for a motorcycle ride; and Thursday was a near-repeat of Tuesday except that Rose didn't come over to play until late-afternoon after spending most of Wednesday and Thursday with Kyle.

The Thursday night Quidditch practice was a lot of fun, and even James had stopped complaining about what Harry and Ginny were doing with their training because he was figuring out that he really was getting faster and better with every workout. Ollie didn't share that sentiment; and it was causing some stress between the best friends – though Al had been sensing that all was not back to normal between James and Ollie since the start of summer. Ollie was expecting more from James after his 'sacrifice' back in September; and wasn't happy that James just seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened at all and that everything was just as it had been before Ollie had been suspended. Ollie also wasn't happy that he wasn't doing well even compared to Cyndia; hated that she was dating Ray while things hadn't worked out for him with Lacey; and he felt out of the loop because he hadn't been part of the lives of his friends and former team mates – and couldn't relate to even a lot of the gossip and teen drama they talked about.

Al searched inwardly for a way to feel sorry for Ollie, but really couldn't do it; since his brother's best mate still hated him; and hadn't learned anything from his time away from Hogwarts. Sure, it was totally unfair to Ollie, but James was family; and that was the only difference that mattered for Al when it came to dealing with the hatred and anger he sensed from both teens. Dealing with the double-dose of hatred did affect him, but Al was sure that it either didn't affect his Quidditch play at all; or made him better because he needed to focus more to play his best while dealing with the negative vibes around him.

Fortunately, those issues were only a problem for him so far during their team practice evenings, and by the time everyone went home for the night on Thursday; Al could look forward to four and a half days and change of comparative mental calm. That included having James leave him alone for the rest of the night while he packed for his weekend away – with Scorpius Malfoy and his family! That was a turn of events that would surprise him if he didn't sense from his parents that they had their own reasons for allowing that friendship to develop. He had his doubts, but hoped that his Mum and Dad knew best; and he did welcome yet another few days where he wouldn't have to deal with James at all.

James' weekend away wasn't also a weekend at home with the parents for Al and Lily. All three kids were being shipped off for a kid-free weekend for Harry and Ginny's twenty-second anniversary. Al and Lily were spending the weekend with the McCormacks; though they'd all be at Harry and Ginny's anniversary party at the Burrow on Saturday. Before getting to all of that fun, though, Al and Lily went to the Burrow on Friday morning after James left for work and his weekend away; they were two members of the group of cousins drafted to help Molly out with the work in and around the house to get ready for the party; and Harry and Ginny were only allowed to hang out with them too if they didn't do much work except for picking up a take-out lunch for everyone as a treat for the cousins in thanks for all of their work.

Gwendolyn and Jonah had not helped out because they instead spent the day with their father, but they did some work around home along with the play time; so they also had the tent ready by the time Ginny dropped Al and Lily off late on Friday afternoon once the work was done – and while Harry dealt with getting James and Patricia to Malfoy Manor. By then, Al and Gwendolyn had barely been apart for a day, but the hugs and kisses were enthusiastic-enough to earn them some razzing during the short visit that Ginny had with all of them before going on to the start of her kid-free weekend. After she left, Al and Lily took their bags out to the tent; and then it was time to play after a long day of hot, sometimes-messy chores.

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor," Scorpius told James and Patricia as he and Lysandra stood and watched them as they were led out onto the stone balcony by one of the servants. Draco and Astoria were standing by then too; but their attention was mostly for Harry as he followed the two teens. "We've been looking forward to having you here for the weekend all week."

"Your home is amazing," Patricia gushed – "what we've seen of it so far!"

"Thank-you," Scorpius said without much modesty. "Have your bags been taken to your rooms; or have you just packed very light?"

"Their things are being delivered to the rooms you chose for them as we speak, young master," the servant answered before James or Patricia could. "Will there be anything else?"

"Possibly," Draco answered. "Will you stay for a visit, Harry; or are you just dropping James and Patricia off?"

"Thank-you, but I have a kid-free anniversary weekend with Ginny to get to next, and she's likely already finished delivering Al and Lily to their weekend getaway; so I'll need to get going soon."

"Then please stay and then escort Mr. Potter to the gates again when he's said his farewells," Draco instructed the servant. "If it's alright with you, Harry; we can make sure that James and Patricia get safely-home or to work on Monday morning so that you don't need to make the trip here again – especially if you won't have the other kids home before then either."

"That's fine with me if you don't mind," Harry answered before turning his attention to James. "Have a good weekend, James. I'll likely see you around the stadium on Monday while we're all there for opening day of training camp."

"Not if I see you first," James joked. Patricia started to laugh, but nobody else did; so she stopped abruptly; and James frowned slightly. "Have fun on your kid-free weekend," he added; trying to salvage the momment – "but I definitely don't want to hear all about it after I get home again." This time he did earn a few quiet laughs; and was glad that he'd managed to smooth things over.

"Thanks – enjoy your weekend too," Harry told him. "Thank-you again for inviting James and Patricia," he added; turning his attention back to Draco and Astoria. "Who knows? If our kids can become friends like this; maybe there's even hope for us one day."

"Well, if you're worried about that; we should likely cancel this weekend before it's too late," Draco offered seriously. "We certainly don't want to take the chance of that sort of thing happening."

"I'm not worried," Harry assured him, but while Draco kept a straight face; he grinned as he glanced at the four teens. "I will have something to worry about if I mess up my own weekend plans with Ginny, though, so I'll shut up now; and be on my way."

"Good plan," James muttered; and looked relieved as he watched his father being led back out to the gates of the estate for a second before turning his attention back to Scorpius and Lysandra. "How has your summer been going so far? Ours just got a whole lot better!"

"He's going to be so disappointed when he finds out that their rooms are in the dungeons," Lysandra teased.

"The one Dad was put in the last time he was here?" James asked. "I'd like to see that – or better yet, him in it again; but I doubt that Patricia and I would like to stay the weekend there."

"Your Dad was..." Patricia began to ask; but then trailed off when she couldn't finish the question as everyone turned their attention toward her.

"Dad was Undesirable Number One back then," James offered with a grin. "Scorpius' grandparents were only doing their civic duty."

"I doubt that would be how your father would phrase what happened back then," Draco offered; and James laughed.

"No, and I guess I can't complain about his escape; since Merlin only knows what I'd have looked like or what my last name would have been if he hadn't and Mum had ended up with another Wizard; but I'd still be okay with it if you could put him back into that dungeon again – and stick the Animorphloser in there right beside him."

"Well, we didn't include anything like that into your entertainment plans for the weekend; but we'll try to make your first visit here a good one," Scorpius told him. "Would you like to go on a tour before dinner? We have a bit of time before Lysandra's parents and the other guests get here."

"Sure," James agreed. "Do we need to dress up for that dinner too?"

"No – it's casual tonight – and we can play a bit of Quidditch after dinner too; though we won't have enough players for two full teams."

"I've heard that your Dad was one of Dad's Seeker rivals at Hogwarts. Maybe he'd like to have a Seeker duel with me," James suggested.

"You're welcome to talk him into that sometime this weekend," Scorpius offered, "but Andrea will be here tonight; so she'll want to have a duel with you instead."

"Will Rupert be here too?" James asked; and Scorpius nodded.

"Yes, but everyone we've invited has promised not to hold being related to the Animorphloser against you," Scorpius joked. "Let's get started on that tour. We won't have time to show you the entire estate; but we'll get to most of the highlights of the manor – and make sure that you can get around without getting lost."

James and Patricia were happy to follow Scorpius and Lysandra; and they were also impressed by pretty much everything they were shown. Draco's Dark Arts Artifacts collection and the dungeons were two of James' favorite stops along the way. They were both impressed with their guest suites; and the gardens immediately surrounding the manor house were amazing – if not all that impressive to James beyond being a display of opulence. Scorpius and Lysandra eventually led them back to the balcony again; and they were there with enough time to get drinks before the rest of the dinner guests began arriving.

Lysandra's parents were first, but they didn't bring her brother along. The Averys were one of four other families that had been invited, and to his credit; James was not even slightly-nervous about being surrounded by Witches and Wizards that collectively hated his family. Knowing that he was somewhere that he wouldn't even have a random chance of crossing paths with one of the deluded masses that did believe that the Wizarding World revolved around his famous parents was a welcome reprieve from his normal daily life; and that shared hatred just gave him something in common with his hosts and the rest of their guests.

There wasn't a reception line, but Scorpius and Lysandra kept James and Patricia with them and offered introductions when needed for the parents; since all of the teens knew James and had at least seen Patricia around Hogwarts. James was oblivious to the plan being implemented by all of the parents that was targeting and testing him, but that was being done very passively, and once the first round of introductions was done; the teens gathered in one group while the parents were temporarily segregated for the social time they all had before dinner was to be served.

"It's a good thing that strong drink is available," Rupert said quietly but with a dark, insulting tone. "I take a vacation from Hogwarts for a year; and look what happens – the entire order of the Wizarding World is turned upside-down!"

"Dogs and cats living together," Andrea offered. "Oh, wait – wrong brother for that one."

"The Wizarding World could never change enough for us to have the Animorphpotty over for dinner – unless he was on the menu," Rupert retorted.

"I wouldn't advise doing that," James told him. "I doubt you could get the stench of my brother out of the food; and it'd likely make you deathly-ill to actually eat it."

"We did think that the loser would look good in the dungeons here, though," Patricia advised the other teens.

"Chained to the wall like the dog he is," James added. "The entire Wizarding World hasn't changed," he added while turning his attention toward Rupert. "Some of us have just decided to reject our families' old, out-dated reality and replace it with our own."

"A new reality that some of us like a lot," Andrea told her brother. "Don't worry, Rupert – we don't expect many Gryffindors to embrace our alternate reality. The rest of them are still happily deluded fools and incapable of thinking for themselves."

"I'd say that you're delusional too," Rupert retorted – "as if I didn't know that from the moment we found out you think that you can play Quidditch."

"Let's compare records after we're both done at Hogwarts and see which of us is better," Andrea suggested. "We won't count your OWL year or my first, since you couldn't play last year and I didn't try to play in my first year, but if I make the senior team in my fourth year; that definitely counts."

Rupert snorted. "As if you'd have a chance at beating G-Air," he scoffed derisively.

"I might – especially if I can get James to keep training me this summer and next season too," she shot back.

"What?" Rupert demanded; and Andrea smiled sweetly at him.

"I wasn't stuttering," she answered. "You and Victor wouldn't let me play Quidditch with you or your mates; so I went out and found some friends who would – like Scorpius, James, and Licentia." She turned her smile on James. "Did you hear that she got two job offers to play in the show? We don't get to find out until Monday which one she took; but she definitely got to pick the team she'll be playing for this season."

"I didn't – though I know she won't be working for the Catapults," James answered. "Good for her. Maybe she'll show up my cousins this year the way she and Scorpius did last season."

"They lost that match," Rupert reminded him; and James nodded.

"True, but Licentia and Scorpius were at least as good as Lucy and Olivia – better, really. It wasn't their fault they had a lousy Keeper and third Chaser. Blaise did pretty well in his duel against me – for a Chaser."

"Yeah, well the best players on our team will be back again in September; so get ready to lose our next match against your team,' Rupert told him.

"Good luck with that," James countered. "G-Air hasn't won a duel over me yet; and I doubt that any of you will be able to play well against the stench that is the Animorphloser while I'm winning the only battle that matters in November."

"They can all wear noseplugs," Lysandra offered. "That might help."

"It'd be a start," James agreed. "Let's change the subject to anything that isn't the loser. I'd hate for us to collectively lose our appetites this close to dinnertime."

While James and Patricia were enjoying themselves with teens and families that Al wouldn't like being around – not that he'd be invited in the first place; he and Lily were having fun playing with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and their parents. They went for a swim before Gwenog got home from work and they sat down for a casual dinner. There was some Quidditch play time after that meal and clean-up; another swim that Kirley and Gwenog joined them for; and then some music play time that included working up a new song that Kirley helped the kids to write. When it was time to head for bed or the tent; Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any alone time; but they did have fun ending their night with some quiet cuddle and chat time while watching Lee's show with Lily and Jonah; and then the two teen couples happily enjoyed a pair of sofa sleepovers instead of splitting up for the night.

Saturday began quietly-enough with breakfast and some morning chores, but then Kirley and Gwenog took their four teens over to the Burrow by late morning so that Al and Lily could be there before their parents were due to arrive for their anniversary party – and so that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose could also go to Chudley and get Malorie so that she'd have familiar faces around for her first big introduction to the family. Kirley and Hermione went along to help with the side-along apparating; Malorie was ready to go – if very nervous – when they got to her flat; and then made the return trip to the Burrow very quickly. They were still walking into the yard when Molly came outside to meet them; and she was smiling invitingly as she met them half-way.

"Welcome to the Burrow, Malorie," Molly told her warmly; following that up with an even warmer hug – though she was much gentler with that than usual before stepping back and putting a hand on Malorie's swollen stomach. "Welcome to you too, Jaimie and Lorie," she added. "Your family has been – and is – looking forward to meeting all of you!"

"Thank you," Malorie told her shyly. "I don't know if we're ready for this; but thank-you for inviting us today."

"We're glad to have you here – and to finally get to meet you,' Molly assured her. "Have you been settling in to your new home since getting out of school?"

"I am," Malorie assured her. "Thanks to a lot of help; everything is going so much better than I could have ever hoped."

Molly laughed. "I've felt the same way more times than I can count over the years since the war. Harry and Ginny have quite a talent for helping others like that; so I expect you'll be able to relate fairly-regularly from now on."

"From what I've been told about your family so far; your kids and grandkids think that they've gotten everything that matters most from you and your husband,' Malorie told her seriously.

"We've done our best, and are blessed to have such a wonderful family," Molly offered modestly. "Arthur's busy getting his toys ready to play with this afternoon; so why don't we do the tour of the house now; and then we can start introducing you to everyone as they arrive."

"You don't need all of us for that," Hermione suggested. "Why don't you go along, Rose; and the rest of us can stay out here – unless you need some help in the kitchen while you do the tour, Mum?"

"Go and have fun," Molly answered. "Everything is under control for now – and most of the work is done."

Al sensed that wasn't totally true, but also that his grandmother really didn't want any extra help right then, so while she took Malorie and Rose with her for a tour of the Burrow; he went with Gwendolyn, her father, and his aunt in search of his grandfather and everyone hanging out with him – or around the field or orchard as he got his flying toys set up and ready to play with for the afternoon. Gwenog was the only other adult with him, and while she wasn't particularly-interested in his Muggle flying machine obsession; she was having fun with the kids – and Lily, Jonah, and Hugo did all love helping out with the various planes and copters.

Malorie's tour of the Burrow didn't take long, but it worked to give her a distraction that kept her busy until the family introductions began. While he'd been ready to step in if needed; Al didn't need to do that because his grandmother stayed with Malorie through the entire first round of meet and greet fun with his family – and her mere presence was enough to keep even George and Ron on their best behavior. Percy was on 'Aunt Muriel' detail for bringing her to the party; and that proved to be the most-discordant sensory experience for Al to that point. When Percy met Malorie, he was polite, formal, and cool; while Al sensed darker undertones that reminded him just a bit too much of James – a deep disapproval and superficial judgement that proved to Al that his uncle still didn't really understand what was most-important in life. He hadn't liked that; but then he'd needed to move on and brace himself for whatever his unpredictable Aunt Muriel would do and say.

"So, we finally get to meet the Witch at the heart of the latest family scandal!" Muriel declared expansively – and loudly-enough to get the attention of everyone within a mile or two of the Burrow. "Don't be shy, girl – let's have a look at you!"

"Aunt Muriel, I'd like you to meet Malorie O'Malley. Malorie – Jaimie and Lorie's Great Aunt Muriel – with a few greats added in for them."

"It's nice to meet you," Malorie told Muriel as she held out a hand and smiled a bit nervously. "I've been told that the girls are going to be very lucky to have their own Aunt Muriel – and not need to buy the wheezes from the store."

Muriel laughed raucously; and then had to wheeze a bit herself to catch her breath. "There's a bit of steel in you, I see – if not enough sense to stay away from a smooth-talking Wizard. As you've found out – they're nothing but trouble!"

"I thought that Al was the trouble magnet,' Malorie mused; and Muriel grinned at her.

"According to Rita Skeeter; they're one and the same, aren't they?" she countered.

"No, they definitely aren't," Malorie assured her – "but you know that. I probably still don't have a whit of sense when it comes to James, but love doesn't always work out the way it's supposed to do in fairytales, so I'll just be grateful for the blessings I will have because of my foolishness; and try not to regret too much what I already knew could never be."

Muriel had taken the offered hand and held it, but her eyes and demeanor had softened at Malorie's words; and she stepped in and hugged her.

"Oh, child – you are a blessing for us – as I'm sure your babies will be."

"Thank you," Malorie said sincerely; sounding surprised and looking a bit teary-eyed.

"Now, where is young James hiding? I'd like to have a word or three with him!" Muriel said gruffly.

"He won't be coming today," Molly advised her. "Believe it or not; he's spending the weekend at Malfoy Manor and has apparently become friends with Scorpius Malfoy."

"He has?" Percy interjected; looking truly surprised. "I hadn't heard about that!"

"They started playing Quidditch together the Christmas before last when they both stayed at Hogwarts instead of going home," Malorie advised them. "Last Christmas, James trained with three Slytherins over the holidays, and then he sat in the Slytherin section during a couple of matches this past spring to cheer on their team when Gryffindor wanted the other House to lose to help out with the Quidditch Cup race; but openly hanging out together as friends is new."

"Well, maybe they'll give us reason for hope that we can have improved relations with some of the old pureblood families," Percy offered; and then frowned when Muriel snorted derisively at that statement.

"You're ever the politician, aren't you?" she declared. "When will you learn that there is no compromise possible between the Light and Dark? Instead of thinking that way; you should instead be worried that one of your nephews might be lost to their side – as you yourself was once nearly-lost to us!"

"There is nothing wrong with seeking to co-exist with all Witches and Wizards in peaceful harmony," Percy declared a bit stiffly. "We need to work through our differences – and forgive old wrongs if that is ever going to happen."

"There cannot be compromise between the Light and Dark," Muriel insisted.

"I do not believe that," Percy told her stubbornly. "In fact, an effort is just beginning at the Ministry to offer an amnesty or pardon to all Azkaban prisoners from the war."

"You'd be fools to let any of them out again," Muriel declared.

"It's coming up on twenty-five years since we locked them away," Percy pointed out. "How long do you suggest is long-enough for them to pay for their crimes? How long should we all have to pay to keep them locked up? Do you even know how much it costs?"

"Forever would be long-enough; and we could cut costs if you'd just turn the lot of them into bugs and keep them in a good strong box," Muriel suggested. "You worry too much about costs – especially in terms of money. Do you not believe that the cost to our family in to wars against Voldemort were too high? How many brothers are you willing to sacrifice during the next one after you let them out and give them yet another chance to destroy us?"

"That is not fair, Aunt Muriel; and uncalled for! I'm sure that your concerns will be shared by many – and fully-considered as we study this new proposal," Percy told her; and Muriel snorted.

"Don't patronize me," she told him bluntly. "I can see your mind is already made up. I'll hope that your brother-in-law will be able to save as many of us as posible once again when the Ministry of Magic makes yet another foolhardy mistake – even if he isn't Head of the Aurors any longer!"

"We're going to let his – and Ginny's – anniversary party save us from taking this political discussion any further," Molly ordered. "Let's get some drinks and go and sit in the shade for a while. Harry and Ginny will be here soon; and then we'll have another round of guests arriving – most of the friends we've invited to spend the afternoon with us."

"How many people are going to be here?" Malorie asked; looking nervous again.

"No more than two hundred," Molly answered; and then laughed at Malorie's reaction. "Most will just be stopping by for visits and to offer best wishes. We won't have half that for the meal."

"Is twenty-two a special number in the Wizarding World for anniversaries?" Malorie asked next.

"No – this is just convenient for the family this year," Molly advised her. "We have two graduates this year – three, including you; and four if we include Lucy's boyfriend, Alex. With training camp starting on Monday; we may not get the chance to have everyone together again for the rest of the summer." She sighed and looked a bit wistful for a moment as she looked around at the members of her family that were in the yard or field. "It won't be many more years before we'll be lucky to get everyone together even once a year." She smiled at Malorie. "I'd say the timing for Jaimie and Lorie is near-perfect for that; and the three of you will be welcome to visit as often as you can. I've missed not having any kids around here now that our grandchildren are either grown or at Hogwarts three-quarters of every year."

"You're glad that there will be two more girls in the family," Percy teased; earning a smile from his mother – and her appreciation for choosing to play nice instead of getting defensive after his little chat with his Great-Aunt.

"That is a nice bonus," she agreed. "Fortunately, you and your brothers and sister have helped me out with that too."

"That's likely for the best," Percy told her. "I don't know if it would have been different if we'd had boys instead; but Audrey definitely wasn't going to keep having children until we got a son the way you did until Ginny came along."

"You've done well with your girls, Percy, and you and Audrey have been happy with your choices for that; so it seems that has all worked out for the best – and there has never been a shortage of Wizards to carry on your family name."

"I've meant to ask someone about that," Malorie interjected. "Al and Rose have told me that they have a lot of Weasley cousins; but I've only gone to school with your grandchildren – not any other cousins."

"You may have back when you first started," Molly suggested. "I'd have to check on that. Not all Wizards and Witches go to Hogwarts or the other schools, and some of Arthur's cousins were taught at home or elsewhere; but the reason there haven't been any with our grandkids is just the timing. Our kids didn't have many cousins their ages – they were either a bit older or younger. Bill and Charlie had some cousins at Hogwarts ahead of them; but then their kids were done school before our grandkids started – and there are still others that just have young families right now. Lily and Roxanne will have some cousins join them at Hogwarts before they graduate; but I don't think there are any that will start before Al and Rose graduate. I'd have to check on that for Fred; since there might be one starting in his NEWT year – I'm just not sure if that cousin will be eleven before September first or not that year."

"Well, I suppose with all of those boys it would just be very strange to have a quarter of the students in the entire school with the same last name," Malorie joked. "It's probably for the best to have them spaced out a bit."

"We have had between eight and ten cousins at Hogwarts the last four years running," Percy advised her. "That's not insignificant out of just seven or eight hundred students."

"Especially when they're all among the best and brightest," Malorie added and agreed with a nod – "just as their parents, grandparents, and great-aunt all are."

"I've already taken a liking to you," Muriel told her. "Sucking up to me is not required."

Malorie laughed. "As far as I know; you'r the only aunt in the entire Wizarding World – or the Muggle world – to be so popular that everyone wants to have one just like you,' she reminded her a bit whimsically. "I didn't need to know about those wheezes to know you're special, though; because Al, Lily, and Rose talk about you with so much love that there's nothing more than that needed for me to be sure you must be amazing."

"For a senile old windbag?" Muriel added; and Malorie laughed again.

"I won't mention who I heard that line from," she advised Muriel; "but I'd say you're only two-for-three on that one – and I wish I had your lung capacity right now. I've been getting winded just climbing stairs lately."

That joke sent Muriel off into another fit of laughter; but then they moved on and Molly got her aunt and Malorie to sit down and let their family and friends come to visit them instead of anchoring a reception line or anything. Harry and Ginny arrived; they did a round of hugs and kisses with everyone already there; and then they did have a bit of a reception line for the incoming friends for the half-hour leading up to the 'official' start of the party. Al and Gwendolyn got to spend a few minutes with them, but they mostly hung out with the other 'kids' – and that was usually at the edge of the field or around the two portable swimming pools that had been set up near the field and between the Burrow and the orchard.

They spent extra time with Malorie too, and had a lot of fun with her; but Al was also glad to have some longer visits with Aiden, Shay-Lynn, Charlene, and Pietr – especially after finding out that they likely wouldn't be back home again during the rest of the summer thanks to Aiden and Shay-Lynn starting their full-time jobs already and Charlene having a summer job that was going to keep her busy on most weekends. There were lots of weird moments for Al too – including the transition from being one of Lucy's team mates to having her move on to being an adult with her own new job and life that was about to kick into another level of busy on Monday once she was announced to the world as one of the new members of the Puddlemere United team.

The fact that the party was for his parents' anniversary was hardly-noticeable more often than not. Their play day was all about having fun together, and other than a cake and a few gifts, the anniversary roasting was just about the only other activity going on related to the happy occasion; and Al and Gwendolyn were mostly out of the loop for that because the kids were on the edges of that fun while Harry and Ginny were taken down memory lane by their peers. While they didn't join in on that fun, Al and Gwendolyn did get in on a Quidditch scrimmage; they played with his grandfather's toys for a while; went swimming three times; and joined in on some other games – including an Animorphmagus bit of Fanged Frisbee entertainment that was more of a dog tricks show for the whole family to enjoy.

Harry and Ginny were having a kid-free weekend, so their party was not an all-day-and-night event. They had the barbeque dinner at mid-afternoon; the party wrapped up by seven o'clock; and Kirley and Gwenog had their four kids at home again by then too; since they left the Burrow just minutes after Harry and Ginny were sent off with a final round of hugs, kisses, and well-wishes. Molly took care of getting Malorie home because she'd wanted to see her new home and office, and since Rose and Hermione went with them; Al and Gwendolyn decided that they didn't need to go along for that side-trip on their way back to her house. Lily was still fired up then, so they instead ended up having a Seeker or Chaser duel; they went for a swim as it neared dark; and then Kirley and Gwenog joined them for a comparatively-short campfire.

"Are you finally running out of steam, Lily?" Gwendolyn asked as she snuggled with Al on the opposite side of the small fire from Lily and Jonah. Kirley and Gwenog were to her right – between the two pairs of teens, but they weren't cuddling too; because Kirley was getting ready to play his guitar.

"It happens to me now and then," Lily answered. "We have had an awesome day; so that's no surprise – though I should probably get Al to tell me all about everything that happened at the party that I was oblivious to while I was busy playing and having fun."

"Isn't that what we were all doing?" Kirley asked. "If anything major happened; I missed it too."

"There likely wasn't," Lily admitted, "but Al doesn't miss much of anything going on around him; so I could be wrong about that."

"I was just really glad to see everything go so well for Malorie," Gwendolyn offered. "She even managed to get along well with your Aunt Muriel. Did she have any problems at all, Al?"

"Not really," he answered. "Anyone at the party that couldn't play nice with her just stayed away, and while I'm sure she noticed; that wasn't as bad as problems she had at school. I think she preferred Aunt Muriel's honesty over the niceties from anyone trying to be politically-correct with her without being at all sincere."

"Well, they might be able to get away with that until after the twins are born, but they'd better all play nice with Malorie after Jaimie and Lorie are born; or I'll start hexing anyone that tries messing with my nieces," Lily warned. "Do you have any idea how long it'll be before Aiden and Shay-Lynn get married? I've no doubt that they will."

"I've no idea," Al answered; since she'd directed that question at him. "Don't be surprised if they wait a while. I didn't hear either of them even talking about moving out of their family homes anytime soon; so maybe they want to stay and save up so they can get their own place sooner."

"There aren't likely to be many flats to rent around the dragon reserve," Gwendolyn pointed out. For all we know; buying their own place is the only option unless they want to move to one of the cities and apparate back and forth to go to work."

"Or take the Floo Network," Al agreed. "Are you hoping for a spat of weddings over the next couple of summers, Lily?"

"That'd be nice – though maybe that won't happen next summer. It's a Quidditch World Cup year; and some of our cousins may be hoping to play for our National team."

"Maybe Aiden would get invited to play for his country," Jonah suggested. "He is a really good Seeker."

"He doesn't want to play in the show – here or there," Lily reminded him. "Now that he's done school; I doubt he could stay in game shape until next summer – even if he likely is one of the best players in Romania."

"I don't know if he'd even consider something like that," Gwendolyn said; "but you could be right about a wedding being out next summer for Lucy and Alex; since they could each have a shot at a spot on our national team."

"I think it'd be brilliant to have a lot of our cousins on that team," Lily said enthusiastically. "Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy could be our Chasers; Alex could be Seeker; and maybe they could give Louis the Keeper job – since Rose won't be old-enough."

"What about James?" Gwendolyn teased. "He'll be old-enough."

Lily laughed. "That'd be brilliant for him – and a horror for the rest of us! Merlin – could you imagine what he'd be like if he got that job offer? He'd be unbearable – and even worse if our team actually went on to win the Quidditch World Cup!"

"You don't likely have anything to worry about with that," Gwenog told her. "Any Hogwarts player would need to do something extraordinary to even be noticed by the national team selection committees for England, Scotland, or Ireland over the professional players."

"I'd be okay with Jonah playing Seeker for Scotland and me playing for England," Lily suggested. "We can't do that next year; but maybe we'll be able to impress those committees in our NEWT year."

"Maybe you could talk Rose into letting you play a match or two for the Cannons that year," Al suggested. "You'd be seventeen the September after we graduate; so you could even play the Christmas matches in our rookie year!"

"What about Mum?" Lily asked. "Wouldn't she be mad if I took her job away from her like that?"

"She'd likely be okay with sharing," Al assured her.

"Well, I hate the idea – and think it'd be brilliant if I could do that for the Harpies instead."

"What if Gabrielle has a problem with you taking her job?" Gwenog asked; and Lily grinned at her.

"It'd give her extra time to get used to the idea- sort of a semi-retirement."

"You do vaguely remember that she's only in her thirties, right?" Gwenog pointed out. "I don't know if she'll be ready to retire in five years."

"Well, then I'll just have to be ready to win the job from her," Lily told her seriously. "I'd be okay with having her as my back-up. Isn't that what most of the United players are doing right now – taking jobs on the reserve squad to help train our cousins and their friends?"

"It is," Gwenog agreed with a nod. "It's going to be interesting to see how that works out for them. That's not usually the way it works; and we're not sure it's a good idea."

"You don't think that it will work?" Lily asked. "Mum trained Aunt Gabriel for a year; and that worked out well for our team."

"Your Mum was our Seeker," Gwenog reminded her. "It was up to Gabrielle to develop her own style after Ginny retired. I'm not sure that will happen with the United players if they train for years with the players they've replaced. It's possible that a team could stagnate by doing that – and then other teams could improve and pass them by before they realize there's a problem."

"Well, when you're ready to let me play in some of those matches after I'm seventeen; you'll know whether it'll be time to have Aunt Gabrielle retire or stay on to help with my training," Lily suggested with a grin.

"I'll keep that in mind," Gwenog promised – without promising Lily anything about her future Harpies' career or an early start to it.

Kirley was ready to have them do a bit of campfire singing; so playing an intro into one of Al and Gwendolyn's songs was all that was needed to get them to move on from the chat time for a while. They played and sang for a bit more than a half hour; wrapped up the campfire after an hour or so; and then split up to head for bed in the house or tent – though it ended up being another pair of sofa sleepovers for the four teens instead of going to bed in their separate rooms. Those sleepovers started fairly quickly too; since Lily and Jonah fell asleep soon after getting comfortable on 'their' sofa while Al and Gwendolyn only stayed awake long-enough for a very quiet, tender bit of snogging before they were ready to nap too.

Sunday was a quiet play and work day at the McCormacks' house. Gwenog wanted to relax and only do a bit of Harpies' work ahead of the start of training camp; Kirley got the kids to help with some chores in the morning that they hadn't been able to do on Saturday; and they played the rest of the day – whether that was at Quidditch; swimming; other games around the yard; or just hanging out and doing nothing much at all for a lazy hour here and there. Meals were all easy-work both on the cooking and clean-up sides of the food; and their evening wind-down for the weekend included a walk; another blast of music fun; and a bedtime swim before they all turned in early so they'd be ready for the big first day of training camp – whether they'd be at the ceremony as a manager or spectator.

They were all fired up on Monday morning; Al was awake early and took care of making breakfast; and then Kirley and the kids had some extra time on their hands to do some more chores around the house and yard before they met up with Ginny, Harry, and Malorie for the trip to Exmoor stadium. With Lucy joining the ranks of family players in the show; they had a big turnout of aunts, uncles, and cousins, but while they talked to all of them at least once; they didn't end up sitting with all of them – mostly because there was a minor family split between Harpies and United supporters – with parents and grandparents going with United in support of their newest members.

Al and Gwendolyn were happy to hang out with Malorie – even when they gained a bit too much attention from a few reporters, but their story was getting old fast; and they were able to handle the questions and insults easily-enough until those news hounds got bored and moved on to greener stories. Malorie's first experience with professional Quidditch was actually in part for work; since it was a great opportunity for her to see and meet a lot of players, managers, and owners as well as Ministry of Magic officials. Ginny, Harry, and Kirley helped her out with that here and there too; but spent more time with Lily and Jonah while they wandered around the stadium before the start of the ceremony. They were all together when it was nearly time for that to start, though; and Malorie sat with Harry, Ginny, and Kirley in the row behind Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah as they settled in to wait for the boring part of the ceremony when they'd all have to listen to the speeches from the Ministry and league officials.

"I didn't realize that the start of training camps for the league teams was such a big deal," Malorie said as they settled in and watched the seating around them fill up quickly with hundreds of Witches and Wizards. "My parents didn't want me to have anything to do with the Wizarding World while I was at home; so I didn't even see copies of newspapers or get to watch matches on the mirror network until I was back at Hogwarts each September."

"This is fun every year – except for the boring speeches; but you'll really love opening day of the Quidditch season," Lily promised. "That's even better when our team is the defending champions."

"If we win that first match," Gwendolyn agreed. "It isn't so much fun when we don't."

"Are there going to be any surprises today for your team?" Malorie asked.

"No – our team will be the same again this year," Gwendolyn answered before Lily could. "Mum's a bit worried about that; but they didn't see any rookie prospects out there better than the players we have now; and she's not sure they'll make any changes between now and when I graduate."

"They'd better not hire any Seekers between now and when i graduate," Lily warned – "though Pauline is the only Witch playing Seeker ahead of me at Hogwarts; and I expect that she'll want to play on the same team with Peter; so I should be safe anyway."

"You may have more to worry about from Rose than any competition with the Harpies," Malorie suggested with a grin. "She does still think it would be brilliant to have you on her team instead."

"If you'll be doing recruiting too; then do that somewhere else," Lily told her with a grin. "I am going to play for the Harpies!"

"I wouldn't have a clue what to look for in players to put a good team together," Malorie advised her. "Instead of getting started on a debate over the two teams, though; why don't you tell me about some of the things that I should be watching for today? I heard a bit about the Harpies and United teams on Saturday; but what about the other teams? Do you think there will be any big shake-ups this season?"

"I don't expect the Cannons to go from worst to first this season," Lily joked. "Speaking of impossible dreams, though, is Rose skipping the show today? I thought that she and Hugo were coming with Uncle Ron."

"She is," Ginny advised her. "You know your uncle, though; and Hermione isn't able to come today – or make sure he's here on time."

"As long as he's here for lunch with the Cannons; he won't care," Harry suggested. "Hopefully he won't brag about his Quidditch-playing kids the entire time or that might start messing with Rose's plans."

"Then I hope he does," Lily told him. "If he messes that up for her; I won't have her bugging me anymore."

"I'd like to keep my new job a while longer," Malorie advised her. "Let's not hope for that at all."

"Okay," Lily agreed – "but I'm only doing that for you and the twins." She paused and switched conversational gears. "Getting back to your question; I don't think we'll have any major changes happening this year from the overall team standings point of view. United will be good even with three new players; the Prides should be better with Francine on their team with Alice and Daniella; and there might not be any surprises from either the top eight or bottom five teams – though anything can happen in Quidditch."

"It isn't a big deal for the seventh-through-tenth-place teams to change places – or the top six," Ginny added. "There aren't usually many wins and losses separating them anyway. It's a lot harder to go from the middle of the pack to the top – or the bottom to the middle."

"But easy to go the other way?" Malorie half-joked; and earned around of laughs for that.

"It's as easy as giving up and not trying anymore – or doing something to mess up a team," Ginny assured her. "James' Catapults team is a recent example of that. Their owners spent a lot of money to get a championship team; fell a bit short; got mad about it; and messed up the team to the point where they fell straight to the bottom of the league in just a couple of seasons."

"James thinks they want to rebuild their team around him," Malorie stated more than suggested; and Ginny nodded.

"I think they do want to hire him," she agreed. "They certainly tried to impress him last summer – and will likely do the same this summer too. It remains to be seen whether that will work – or he'll be able to do that."

"You don't think he's good-enough?" Malorie asked.

"I think he's better than he's actually played so far; and could be brilliant," Ginny assured her. "What we won't know is whether he'll beat himself or not. Some players thrive and survive having a huge ego; while it can work against others and they never reach their full potential – or can't be content if they hit limits that they can't accept."

"That sounds like Erin Connelly," Lily offered. "She's a really good Seeker and has always done well; but she's never been able to get over the fact that she will never be the very best Seeker in the league or Wizardhing World."

"She is a good example," Ginny agreed. "I know that Erin still blames me for losing her job with the Harpies, but Glynnis knew what she was doing back then, and to be honest; I've been surprised that the Prides have stuck with her this long."

"Maybe they blow the annual budget on my aunt," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "She doesn't talk about it a lot, but I do think that they've lost a few bidding battles for players over the years; so maybe they just haven't been able to sign anyone better."

"That's possible," Ginny agreed. "There haven't even been all that many Seekers joining the league recently that have been as good as Erin. Alex could be that good; but we'll have to see how he does in the show. It's going to be the next ten years or more that could be a lot of fun for new Seekers – including the ones in our family."

"Families," Lily amended. "Jonah's got some potential too – for a Wizard."

"Are we still talking Quidditch?" Ginny teased.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I don't think he has potential in other ways too," Lily assured her mother – and Jonah. "Don't change the subject – we've good reason to talk Quidditch all day today."

"Well, in that case; I have another Quidditch question for you," Malorie told her. "If you're going to insist on playing for the Harpies; doesn't that put you in a bad spot for negotiating a contract with them? More generally; how do players deal with that? I've already heard that many player contracts are confidential; so how do any of you know what the going rate should be for the best players – or for any players in the league?"

"Well, if Lily ends up being Mum's future daughter-in-law; she'll likely make sure she gets a good deal," Gwendolyn suggested; "but that sort of thing likely doesn't work out for most players."

"That has been a problem in the past," Ginny told Malorie seriously. "There have even been times when team owners colluded to keep pay rates down. Now the league has some pay standards – particularly for reserve squad players, and while there are confidentiality agreements for higher-paid players too; word gets around about teams that don't want to pay top wages for the best players. There are usually enough players shopping around at contract renewal time to keep the wages playing field fairly-even right now. There likely isn't much difference in pay between players of near-equal talent except in cases where the players are motivated by other things more than money."

"Like winning championships," Lily added. "It's weird, but some players need to be paid more knowing that they'll never get a real chance at winning league titles. If Rose's plans work out and Santini is out of a job in a few years; he might go to work for any other team doing anything at any price as long as he could still play two matches a year against Aunt Gabrielle."

"Whatever will he do after you replace her?" Kirley teased; and Lily laughed.

"He'll likely make me his undesirable number one and hate me forever; but I can live with that. Aunt Gabrielle will think that not having to deal with him anymore will be a bonus retirement gift."

"If Mum replaces him on the Cannons; she'll appreciate that too," Al suggested. "She'd be at the top of his list for that job – especially if he can't get on with another team."

"Along with Rose," Gwendolyn added. "We've gotten quite a bit off-topic for Malorie's question, though; so why don't you tell her what you do know about player pay?"

Al did that with some help from his mother, Gwendolyn, and Lily. Rose eventually joined them along with Ron and Hugo; but they didn't catch up with them until after the speechers were done and they missed the team introductions for the Arrows and Bats. The Arrows added Lee Cornfoot to their Chaser trio with his sister, Susan, but the first real news of the day came with the team introductions for the Catapults; and their surprise was comparatively-minor. They'd hired Miya Davies to become their newest Chaser, but while she was a good player; Al and Gwendolyn knew that Miya and Lee had both looked better thanks to Gwendolyn; and she was probably the lowest-ranked Chaser to graduate from Hogwarts from a pretty good group that included Lucy and Olivia.

James had been watching Al and Gwendolyn when she was announced; and Al sensed the smug satisfaction that came with being in the know for that team secret – and then being sure that he'd known something that his brother hadn't. Sensing that might have been amusing to Al; but he also sensed that James didn't give much credit to Miya – and didn't expect that she'd last long with the Catapults – or in the show at all. He had a different opinion of Gwendolyn's former team mate, and while she wasn't the most-talented Chaser; he was sure that she had the drive and work ethic to do well with the right team. He didn't know whether the Catapults would be that team or not; but he was happy for all of the Hogwarts teens that were getting to have a chance to play in the show this year.

While there weren't any changes for the Harpies or some of the other teams, Al and Gwendolyn joined in to cheer for their favorite players; and then there was some bonus fun while the Prides added Francine to their team roster and Puddlemere United introduced Alex, Lucy, and Olivia – the final three additions to their 'team of the future' that had already included Belinda, Dominique, Tina, and Calvin. Al liked that combination of youth and talent; and hoped that his cousins and their friends would do well with and for the United team and their fans. The Tornados had one of the last news stories of the day for the teams; and that was because they'd hired Licentia Nott to join Rachel and Lacey on their team; and they too were building a team around a trio of former Hogwarts Quidditch team mates.

Al hadn't gotten very close to Scorpius and Lysandra, but he had seen them at the stadium earlier; and had focused on them a few times too – like when the Falcons were being introduced; but he hadn't sensed anything particularly-newsworthy from them any of those times. He and Gwendolyn did eventually hear some rumors about Licentia and a bidding contest to hire her that the Tornados won over the Falcons, but that hadn't surprised them; since the Falcons generally had low regard for Witches playing in the show anyway; and had rarely hired any for their team over the centuries. Al was sure that Licentia would be happier playing for the Tornados – and would likely do well with Rachel and Lacey too.

The team introductions took a while, but it was the meet and greet and luncheon that followed that made opening day of training camp so special. This year, Ginny and Harry were able to be spectators too; since Ginny didn't have to work as a reporter. Thankfully for all of them, they didn't have lunch with the Catapults; but they also didn't spend that time with the Harpies, Cannons, or Prides this year either – or most of them didn't. Ron, Rose, and Hugo were with the Cannons for the luncheon; and Kirley was with Gwenog instead of the kids. Harry and Ginny wanted to do something different with their five teens, though; so they had reserved their VIP spots with the Montrose Magpies.

That choice made Harry and Ginny the most-famous Wizard and Witch at their table, but Al sensed the reason behind that choice; and he was happy to take advantage of the opportunity – both for himself and for Malorie and his fellow future league players. Geoffrey Hooper, the Magpies' long-time Keeper, was a friend and former Gryffindor Quidditch team mate of Ginny's, but she also knew the other players, the Managers, and team owners because of her work as a reporter; and they all, obviously, knew Harry and Ginny. The food was good, if not memorable; but it was the up-close-and-personal time with the Quidditch teams that was what the luncheon was all about.

For Harry, Ginny, and their little group; the fun ranged from getting teased about Ginny switching teams and becoming a Magpies' fan to chats about what was most-special about playing for the Magpies. Those messages weren't received the same way by the five 'kids' in their group, but Al got a lot out of that hour of food and fan fun; and he knew that Malorie did as well. When the players and Managers moved on to their practice pitches for the afternoon, Harry, Ginny, and Kirley took their gang to the Potter home from Exmoor stadium; and they stayed out in the back yard to have some quiet fun by the pool – and talk about their morning adventure.

"Did you set up that luncheon for us, Al?" Malorie asked him. "If that's the team you want to model the new Cannons team on, I like the whole family thing; but Rose will not be okay with a team that is satisfied with being average – or a bit below-average."

"Harry and I set that up," Ginny advised her. "We wanted all of you to see that there's more to Quidditch than championships, winning, and losing."

"You liked to win – and win championships a lot," Lily said from where she was floating around in the pool – "and the Harpies are just as much of a family as the Magpies."

"We are a family," Ginny agreed; "but did you not see and hear the differences for the Magpies?"

"Their owners are part of that family," Gwendolyn offered. "Our team owners leave it up to Glynnis and Mum to be the parents of their Harpies' family."

"That's definitely one big difference," Ginny agreed. "If you went to one of their workouts; you'd also find out that the owners are involved at least a little bit every day; and the managers and players work differently than our team does."

"I haven't seen any teams train – other than going to some Hufflepuff team practices just to see what they did; but what do you mean?" Malorie asked.

"Everyone on both teams are supportive of each other," Ginny answered; "but Harpies push each other hard to always play our best. Magpies players encourage each other more passively and do a lot more peer-training. For them, the friendships and relationships matter most – including with their fans and even their rivals. We've known Geoffrey Hooper since our Hogwarts days; and he's a perfect example of that. He isn't the best Keeper in the league, and has never won a championship during all of his years in the show, but he's loved by his team and their fans; and he's earned the respect of most players in the league because he's both a tough competitor and a good person who is kind to everyone."

"He seems to be a great guy, Mum, but if you think it's possible to have a team full of players like him and win championships too; then why aren't the Harpies just like the Magpies for that too?" Lily asked.

Ginny laughed. "Well, in my case, when I played for the Harpies; it's because I wasn't that nice," she offered half-seriously. "I also don't know if anyone could manage a team the way the Magpies do and get them to championship-level game play, since big egos go along with big talent; but I do think it'd be awesome to play for a team like that if it could be done."

"You've signed up for Rose's future team and now you're messing with Gwendolyn and me," Lily accused; and Ginny laughed again.

"I haven't, but am unemployed; so I do need to keep my options open. It's funny that you go there with that instead of thinking about doing that with the Harpies. I wonder why?"

"That's a good point," Lily agreed. "Maybe that's exactly what Gwendolyn and I will do when we start playing for the Harpies."

"Al's being suspiciously-quiet about this," Malorie pointed out. "Do you have some ideas for the Cannons after that luncheon?"

Al grinned at her. "Yes, but we'll have to talk about that sort of thing later; since we don't want to give away any good ideas to our future rivals."

"More likely he doesn't want to get Gwendolyn and Lily mad at him," Harry suggested. "Since you've brought up work, though; what are your plans for the rest of the week? James will have some longer work days now that training camp has started; so Ginny and I will have extra time to play with you – or help out with anything Malorie needs in Chudley."

Those comments led their chat off in a new direction – and saved Al from talking about ideas he was working on for the Cannons. They swam; played Quidditch; and mostly just had a fun afternoon together until Kirley went home to make dinner for two for himself and Gwenog; Ginny took Malorie home; and Al and Gwendolyn got the tent set up for a camping night while Harry went to get James – and pick up pizza for dinner because they didn't want to do the work to make dinner or have a major clean-up.

James was in fine form when he got home; bragged about how he'd caught the snitch twice in an afternoon scrimmage while keeping the Catapults' Seeker from earning any catches at all despite being on a slower broom. He had to razz Al and Gwendolyn a lot too, so by the time they were finished eating; Al decided that it was a perfect time to go for a long bike ride with Gwendolyn. Lily and Jonah opted to stay to play Quidditch – and watch James have another Seeker duel with his father – a battle that Al and Gwendolyn later learned hadn't gone nearly as well as the Catapults' team workout had thanks to Harry's three-to-naught victory – while borrowing Lily's broom just to make it fair.

While that hadn't ended in a blow-up between James and Harry, Al and Gwendolyn still stayed out of James' way for the rest of the evening. That was easy-enough; since James stayed in the sitting room and played video games until he went up to bed; so Al and Gwendolyn split their time between a swim near dusk and hanging out in the tent. They wrapped up their day with some music fun and mirror-network watching with Lily and Jonah; and then the two couples went with the double sofa sleepover option again – even though that also meant no alone time for either pair of teens.

After such an exciting start to their week, the next four days seemed calm by comparison for Al and Gwendolyn. While the league Quidditch players all got to the serious work of getting ready for their upcoming season; Al and Gwendolyn met up with Rose in Chudley for a work day with Malorie. Ginny joined them for part of that so that she could help with running some errands and do a bit of shopping with the girls, but Lily and Jonah had their respective team Quidditch workouts; Harry did that with Lily and her team; and then she hosted a lunch for her friends too. Jonah and Kirley joined them for a play afternoon with some cousins and friends too; and Ginny, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose all joined in for the tail-end of that fun once the kids were finished working with Malorie and Rose had approved Malorie's work plan for the rest of the week.

The evening entertainment highlight at the Potters' home on Tuesday was the Gryffindor senior team workout; and Harry and Ginny continued to coach all of the players – while also having a lot of fun with them along the way. Oliver was their 'guest coach' for the night; so that was especially-fun for Louis and Rose as he worked with them more than anyone else – at least during the practice time they had for position player groups and the scrimmage. As usual, not everyone was happy by the end of the workout, but even Ollie couldn't complain that he wasn't getting a great workout – even if he wasn't playing as well as the other Chasers.

With their Cannons-related work done for the week on Tuesday, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose turned their work attention elsewhere – though Rose didn't work with Al and Gwendolyn every day. They did all get together at Al's house on Wednesday morning for some toy making with Ginny while Harry played with Lily, Jonah, and Hugo – and took care of a few yard chores. They went out to lunch in Diagon Alley before Rose went to meet up with Kyle and spend the rest of the week in London with Hugo and their grandparents. Hugo didn't go with her for the afternoon; and instead stayed and played with Harry, Ginny, and his cousins.

The news of the day on Wednesday was from James; and it was because he had an invitation to spend the weekend with the Catapults' owners – along with a plus one guest. It was already to be his weekend away, and since he'd been booked to spend it with Patricia; he didn't have any trouble convincing her that they'd have more fun accepting the invitation and going to the team events and parties that were booked for the entire weekend. Fortunately for Al and Gwendolyn; they only had to put up with his razzing and bragging for a few minutes between the time James got home and they left for her house with Lily and Jonah; since they were spending the night there – and away from James. Escaping the house didn't mean getting away from the news, though; and Lily led that conversation once they were at the McCormacks' and hanging out with Kirley while Al and Gwendolyn helped out with making dinner.

"Maybe we are the problem," Lily suggested as she sat down next to Jonah at the kitchen table. "James is so popular; yet we're all glad to spend as little time with him as possible. Mom and Dad will likely have lots of fun with him tonight while we're away too; so what is it about him that we just don't get?"

"I'd say it's what we do get," Gwendolyn told her. "Just now, that was heaps of insults; along with a ton of bragging about how great and popular he is with 'real' Witches and Wizards."

"We all have fairly-large egos," Kirley advised her. "James is just very overt compared to the rest of you."

"We should be happy for him," Al suggested quietly. "I don't like the way he treats us, but do hope for the best for him, so if that's the kind of life he wants for himself; then I'll hope he'll be happy – and successful."

"Do you know something we don't?" Lily asked suspiciously; and Al grinned at her.

"Absolutely, but I'd hate to spoil the surprises; so I won't do that to you."

"No – you'll do something worse – keep secrets," she countered. "I do not like that at all, Albus."

"Uh-oh – she used your full name," Jonah teased. "You'd be in real trouble if she'd used your middle name too."

"Maybe, but if Al really does know things about the future that the rest of us don't; I'll be happy to stay blissfully-ignorant," Kirley interjected. "I don't know the Catapults' owners all that well, but I do know them; and it doesn't surprise me at all that they'd like James a lot. They like their Quidditch players to be larger-than-life, and unlike some of the players they've fired over the years; James may be able to back up his ego with real talent. I've seen teams do early recruiting like this before; and I've no doubt they're going all-out to get James to join their team after he's done at Hogwarts."

"Well, the future Cannons' owner has been recruiting for her team for a couple of years now; so I guess that it's no big deal that James is being recruited two years early," Lily teased. "He's getting a better deal than Al too; since Rose isn't really offering Al anything at all beyond her gratitude for going along with the crazy scheme!"

"Did you really have to go there and give Al that opening?" Gwendolyn asked. "I do not want to talk about the Cannons – present or future."

"As if there's anything to talk about at all with the present team," Lily scoffed.

"They started out last season undefeated," Al reminded her. "Your team wasn't undefeated when they went up against the Cannons last September."

"Since when was my team not your team too?" Lily asked. "My team also pounded your team in that match; so don't get me started on that either."

"Not to mention that our team is defending champions while the Cannons were firmly down in the league dungeons again by the end of the season," Gwendolyn added.

"Right where Rose wants them to be for the next few years," Al pointed out. "Lily doesn't want to go there, though; so let's talk about something else – like the Christmas musical. Is there anything new about how things have been going for the mirror network special?"

"Are you getting excited about your big debut?" Lily teased; and Al laughed.

"No, and I'd be okay with my little part in it being uncredited."

Lily snorted a laugh. "Sure, because there are so many Animorphmagi in the world that nobody could possibly figure out which one of you got that bit part in the show!"

Al's quiestion did successfully divert their chat from talking about James or Cannons Quidditch; and they had fun together while getting their evening meal ready and then enjoying that food with Gwenog after she got home from training camp. She had work to do after dinner too, but they all went for a walk first; had a bit of Quidditch fun; and a long swim in the pool before Gwenog and Kirley both went inside for the night to get a last bit of work done ahead of Gwenog's training curfew. The four teens left standing played outside for a while longer; and then moved into the tent to wrap up their day with some quiet cuddle time while watching some of their favorite mirror network shows – including Lee's nightly show. The transition to sofa sleepover fun was gradual; but that was also a favorite part of the day for all four of them!

Al and Gwendolyn split their last two days of the work week between morning toymaking fun and afternoon play time. On Thursday, they made toys with Ginny while Harry took care of the Quidditch practice with Lily and her junior team and Jonah had his team practice at his house. Their afternoon fun included a bike ride to Godric's Hollow followed by an hour or so of swimming before Gwendolyn and Jonah went home with Kirley and she eventually moved on to her senior team workout. Harry and Ginny coached the Gryffindor practice after dinner with help from guest coaches, Aunt Angelina and Uncle George, but while they all had fun with the actual training; Al was also happy when it was over and he could get away from James. Playing nice wasn't always easy, and after putting up with hours of sensing the never-ending dark emotions and putting up with a lot of razzing and more bragging about his brother's amazing weekend plans; he was ready to just go to his room and work on holiday revision just to get as far away as possible from all of the nastiness.

Al was glad to see James leave for work and that weekend away on Friday morning; happier when Gwendolyn and Jonah came over; and in a great mood by the time they started in on another round of toymaking with Ginny while Harry, Lily, and Jonah went outside to have a three-way Seeker duel and some other play time. They did some chores too; went out for lunch in Diagon Alley; and then they split the afternoon between doing a bit of supply shopping; visiting Malorie in Chudley to make sure she was doing well; and then wrapping up their afternoon with some lazy play time in and by the pool. Kirley and Gwenog joined them for dinner, but then they went home for the night; and left Gwendolyn and Jonah with Al and Lily for a camping weekend at home.

While James and Patricia were immersed in the lifestyle of the rich and powerful from Friday evening until Monday morning; Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were happy to have a quiet play weekend at home with Harry and Ginny – and with Kirley and Gwenog when they came over for some family fun on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Sure, there were some chores to do in the mornings and work to deal with around every meal, but the rest of the time was all about having fun together – whether that was swimming, going for hikes or bike rides, even more swimming, playing Quidditch, or having a campfire filled with music and scary stories entertainment. That campfire was on Saturday night, and Kirley and Gwenog stayed for that too, but while the adventures with their parents was brilliant; Al and Gwendolyn really liked the teen time with Lily and Jonah; wrapping up each night with quiet cuddle time in their tent; and three really awesome sofa sleepovers!

Monday was going to be a very busy day for Al because he was booked for his big scene in the Christmas musical. He was not really all that fired up about doing that Animorphmagus act, but Gwendolyn was excited about it; and he was doing the show because she wanted him to do it. He was still awake early; ready for the day; and had breakfast well-underway by the time Gwenog joined him in the kitchen; they had breakfast as soon as it was ready and Kirley, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah had made it to the kitchen too; and then Kirley took all four kids to the location where most of the Christmas musical was being 'filmed' with some apparating help from Ginny.

The set for the musical was an actual run-down old cabin out in the middle of nowhere. While it looked the part outside; the dozens of Witches and Wizards around the cabin didn't make it look all that remote. Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah immediately went to hang out with some of their teen friends, but Kirley took Al with him so that they could meet with the other Weird Sisters working on the project and find out what they wanted Al to do as they got ready to shoot the scene that Al would be doing his Animorphmagus act in – while the cast sang their version of the Animorphmagus Christmas song. That wasn't the only scene being done during the day, but it was the first; since that had been part of the deal for getting Al to agree to taking the little job.

There was still some work going on to get ready for that scene, but Al didn't need to worry about make-up or costumes; so he had some time to wait before heading into the run-down cabin with the rest of the cast and the members of the crew that were actually recording the musical and a handful of spectators – including Ginny, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. Scorpius Malfoy was a spectator too; and hadn't been happy to see Al and Gwendolyn there too – even though Al sensed that he'd known about this little addition to the mirror network version of the musical. It was a bit weird to see Scorpius and Lysandra two Mondays in a row, but while Al had to deal with the bad vibes from them; he didn't talk with either of them.

There were some bad vibes from some of the other teens in the cast, but Al understood why; and did his best to be as unassuming and un-noticed as his 'character' was supposed to be compared to the 'stars' of the show. He did need to coordinate with the young Wizard playing the student with the Animorphmagus talent, but he didn't have any speaking lines during the Animorphmagus song scene; so that was easy-enough to do. When everyone was ready; they started shooting the scene; Al watched from off-camera as the song was set-up and then the cast launched into it; and then he performed each of the Animorphmagus animal suggestions; walking – or flying – across the room in the background once for each animal while the teens all pretended to ignore him. His part in the scene ended with the last animals named in the song – though technically, Lee talked about the food instead of the lamb and cow that the lamb chops or steaks would come from.

While he didn't have any problems with his part in the scene, there were things that happened in that first take that the director didn't like; and it took three takes before he was happy with the results and Al was finished his 'work' for the day and the set-up was done for the next scene. That worked for him, since his exit from the shoot was nearly as un-noticed as the scene exit of the Animorphmagus student was from the musical as the storyline had that teen leaving to go for help on his own. Kirley needed to do a couple of things with his band mates before he was ready to go, but while they waited for him; Al and Gwendolyn waited outside with Ginny, Lily, and Jonah; and then they went to meet up with Harry at home. He'd done some running around while having a family-free morning, but had gotten home ahead of them; and was puttering around the yard doing some chores while waiting for them to join him there.

"How'd the big scene go?" he asked Al as he welcomed everyone back. "Did you have fun?"

"Al was brilliant; and we had fun," Lily answered before Al could, "but he was so good; nobody even noticed when he left the set after they were done with him."

"The teens that were glad to see me go noticed," Al only half-joked. "I hope you'll all love that show when it comes out this Christmas; but I'll be glad to never do that sort of thing again. Actors must need to have a lot of patience to do the same scenes over and over again until the director is happy with the results."

"You only had three takes," Kirley pointed out. "That's really good for a scene with that much going on in it."

"And Al might think it's boring; but it will be a brilliant littlle addition to the story," Gwendolyn added. "I like it better than the way they got rescued in the original script."

"Will they use that in the stage show version they're going to do over the holidays?" Ginny asked. "Al doesn't want to do that; but it would actually be possible for them to just use real animals or magical special effects instead of getting him to do the shows."

"They haven't decided," Kirley answered. "I think they'll wait to see how the mirror network version turns out before doing that; though they likely have a better idea about it after today."

"Well, I wouldn't want to be the one in charge of the real animals for the shows," Lily offered with a grin. "It could stink if any of them have accidents while on the stage too."

"Or really funny," Jonah suggested with a laugh. "Maybe they could have the cow or sheep take offense to Lee's line in that song about lamb chops and steaks."

"Where was that brilliant suggestion a few hours ago?" Lily asked him. "That would have been fun to at least have them try."

"Not for me," Al advised her. "I'll get razzed a lot about this; so what you're suggesting just wouldn't happen – because I'd refuse."

"Even if Gwendolyn asked you really, really nicely?" Lily teased.

"Even then," Al agreed. "I've enough trouble with potty-themed insults and nicknames; thanks all the same."

Lily laughed. "I wasn't actually thinking about it like that," she admitted. "What did you do all morning so far that was so fun you didn't want to come and watch Al's dog and pony show, Dad?"

"I went to Gringotts and did some other errands," Harry answered. "You didn't miss out on anything interesting."

"Though you did miss out on an Owl Post that might prove to be interesting," Ginny advised the kids. "Harry and I have been invited to a meeting with the Catapults' Managers this afternoon. We'll need to go there when it's time to get James from work."

"What for?" Lily asked. "Did James get into trouble over the weekend?"

"Not that we know of," Ginny answered; "and we don't know what it's about – other than that it is likely about James; since we don't have any other connection to the team."

"Maybe he's told them that you both beat him in every Seeker duel you have with him; they heard you're unemployed; and want to offer you the Seeker job," Lily suggested with a grin.

"That's funny – except that your brother would never admit something like that to anyone," Harry pointed out. "We do hope that there wasn't any trouble on the weekend, but if there had been; James likely wouldn't be working there today."

"That's true," Lily conceded. "I suppose I should hope for the best for James instead of expecting the worst."

"You're right," Gwendolyn told her with a grin – "which is why I'm not going to say a word about the first five or six ideas that popped into my head about what they could want to talk to your Mum and Dad about with James."

"Thanks a lot," Lily pretended to complain. "Now I'm going to wonder about the rest of those ideas; since I only came up with two to start with – or three, if you count the extra set of twins as two."

"Lily!" Ginny exclaimed; but she laughed too.

"What did you think when you saw that Owl Post from the Catapults this morning?" Lily asked unapologetically. "I doubt your first thought was a good one."

"No comment," Harry answered before Ginny could. "We do think that you should cancel any camping plans you're thinking about for tonight, though – just to be on the safe side."

"We could camp at our house," Gwendolyn offered.

"You could, but your parents are already getting you this weekend again," Harry reminded her. "We'll keep that in mind if we do have problems to deal with and need to do that without Al and Lily, but for now; I don't want to have any plans for tonight that we'd need to get you to cancel."

"Good or bad news might be bad news for Al and me regardless of what it is," Lily pointed out. "Are you sure we wouldn't be better off booking a camping night anywhere just to be safe?"

"I'm almost positive that we need to stick together tonight," Harry advised her. "I'm not as good a guesser as Al is; but we'll go with my gut feeling on this one – and you'll survive one night at home with James now and then this summer."

"You hope," Lily added. "Sorry, Jonah – I guess we'll have to cancel that sleepover in my room plan."

"You'd have been canceling that plan regardless," Ginny promised her. "Instead of going on about that, though; let's talk about what we want to do for the rest of the day until your father and I need to go to that meeting."

They did that, though Kirley's only involvement was with what to do for lunch because he had work booked for the afternoon and Gwendolyn and Jonah were going to spend that time with the Potters while he was busy. The barbeque meal was quick and easy; Kirley left after enjoying that bit of fun with them; and then they ended up just having a play afternoon at home that included some Quidditch entertainment; a lot of swimming; and one short bike ride for the kids while Harry and Ginny did a few things that included getting ready for their meeting with the Catapults Managers. When they were ready to go, they took Gwendolyn and Jonah home on their way to the Catapults' office; and Al and Lily were left on their own.

After everyone else was gone, they went for a swim; and then they went into the house and Al started in on making dinner for five while Lily kept him company. It was no surprise that they talked about what might be going on with their brother and why the Catapults would want to have a meeting with their parents, but while Al was getting some strong feelings about that; he didn't share them with Lily. Harry and Ginny ended up being gone for more than an hour and a half, but Al had been getting a sense of when to expect them home too; so he had their dinner ready within minutes of their arrival back home with James in tow; and he had them grinning at him when he greeted them with glasses of wine to go along with the hugs that he and Lily both had for them.

"Well?" Lily demanded. "What was the big meeting about? James isn't in a full-body bind or anything and is grinning like an idiot; so what's up?"

"I'm to be the Catapults' new Seeker – starting this summer!" James crowed enthusiastically. "They want me to play in every match, but Mum and Dad won't even talk about allowing me to leave Hogwarts to practice with them when I can and play in every game; so I'll only be playing in all of the summer and Christmas holiday matches."

"We're going to talk that over and still need to make that decision," Ginny reminded him. "Nothing's been decided yet."

"I've decided that I'm doing it," James declared. "You'll sign those contracts too; or there'll be hell to pay around here if you try to mess this up for me!"

"Sign the contracts," Lily pretended to order while grinning at her mother – "and I'm totally saying that to get the precedent set so I can play for the Harpies when I'm sixteen too – which will be in my OWL-year!"

"Thanks for the support," James deadpanned after the round of laughter that Lily's comments earned.

"I do think it's brilliant for you too," Lily assured him. "Is that why the owners wanted you to spend the weekend at their mansion?"

"Probably," James agreed – "though it seems they've been working on the idea for a while now."

"It would seem so," Ginny agreed, "but let's sit down for dinner; and we'll talk about it now that we're on our own."

"What's there to talk about?" James asked; though he did sit down and started to fill his plate from the bowls that had already been put on the table even before Al had the rest of the food moved there from the counters or anyone else was sitting down too. "I play – or you pay if you try to stop me."

Ginny laughed. "I'd say there's a lot to talk about, James – and whether you play this summer or not is just one small part of it. You're sixteen, and I'm sure that the numbers they were throwing at you sound great compared to your allowance; but we need to go over all of the details; since there's a lot more that goes into a top player's pay than you likely realize."

"They said it's the most they've ever offered a rookie," James countered. "That's good-enough for me."

"That might be true," Ginny agreed, "but that doesn't mean it's anywhere near what other top Seekers get paid now; and I haven't even looked at the details for things like bonuses for merchandising and other things that teams make money on – or what all they can demand of you beyond practices and matches. For some teams, that ends up being more work than the Quidditch side of the job."

"I did work for the team all last summer," James reminded her. "I saw everything they had the players do – which was mostly a lot of parties. I think I can handle that too. The contract is only for one season. After that, I'll be over-age; and what I do from that point on will be none of your business."

"Then you missed the five-year extension clause," Ginny advised him; finally, actually getting James' attention. "Like I said – we need to read that contract over very carefully. That might not be a problem; but it could be – depending on how it's worded."

"Six years sounds good to me," Lily told them. "That'll make sure James is still in the show the year after I graduate. I really want to win our first two matches against each other in the show once I'm playing for the Harpies."

"That can seem like a very long time in a job if things don't work out the way James hopes with the Catapults," Harry pointed out. "We haven't agreed to this, James; but we haven't said no either – we just want to talk about everything; make sure you understand both the benefits and risks; and that we all make the best decision for you."

"Don't go there," Ginny warned in response to the expression she saw on James' face. "We're serious about this; and you should be too. We have signed a confidentiality agreement that's standard, though, so we can't talk about the contract details with Al and Lily around; so let's start by talking about the job and the non-financial risks and benefits."

"Okay," James agreed. "You can go ahead and spend the broom budget to keep us fed and living in this shack; 'cause I'll have a Lightningbolt of my own as part of the deal."

"So far, so good for my future deal with the Harpies too," Lily offered with a grin. "New broom in time for my OWL-year Quidditch season – check!"

"We appreciate your help with that," Harry deadpanned, "but being safe on that faster broom – and playing in the show against much tougher competition is something for you to at least spend some time planning for and making sure that you're ready to handle two years sooner than is normal for most players. It won't matter how much they offer to pay you if your career is ended by a serious injury."

"My career could be ended by a serious injury playing for Gryffindor," James pointed out – "and I don't even get paid for those matches."

"It isn't the same," Ginny advised him. "The Catapults' first match is the week after opening day, though; so you would have nearly four weeks to get used to a Lightningbolt and get up to league-match speed."

"I'm there now," James declared arrogantly. "That's why the Catapults want me instead of that has-been they've had at Seeker until now."

"We're not questioning your talent, James," Ginny told him; "but I'm not sure you're ready to play in the show yet – and it might be a mistake for you to start too soon."

"Viktor Krum played for his National team when he was seventeen,' James pointed out. "I'm only months younger than he was back then. If I can do this; I've a chance at playing for our National team next summer!"

"So playing for a professional team two years early isn't a big-enough goal for you?" Ginny asked; sounding amused. "That does bring up another good point, though – whether you can have success with the Catapults without having a very strong team around you."

"Santini plays for his National team despite working for the worst team in our league," James shot back quickly; and Ginny laughed.

"You've got a comeback for everything so far," she complimented him. "I'll guess that you don't want to have a career like Santini's had; so maybe that's not the best example for you to use – even if it is a valid point."

"I'm going to be the best Seeker ever," James insisted. "The Catapults' owners have promised to build a championship team around me, so they'll either do that and I'll stay with them; or they won't – and I'll move on to a team that does want to be a winner as much as I do."

"What teams would you be playing against this summer?" Lily asked him. "The Catapults will only have two matches; since they weren't top-eight."

"The Wanderers and the Cannons," James answered with a smirk. "Mum should let me do it just for the fun of seeing the look on Uncle Ron's face when I beat his team."

"You want to do that to a Wizard with stores-full of wheezes to use against you?" Harry joked.

"Mum didn't worry about that when she played in the show – and won every match against his team," James retorted dismissively.

"Ron was an Auror back then," Ginny reminded him – "and George charged him double for wheezes."

"I was just thinking that those would be two matches James would have a good chance at winning," Lily interjected seriously. "Having a Lightningbolt for our senior team match against Slytherin – especially if James will be up against G-Air again – will be a bonus too; and then he'd have months to get better on that broom ahead of the Christmas holiday match or matches. Do you know the schedule for that too, James?"

"Yes – I'd be playing against the Prides and Magpies."

"Erin would be out to get you just because you're Mum's son," Lily suggested; "but that could actually help you. She makes more mistakes when she makes her duels personal the way she does with Aunt Gabrielle. The Magpies are likely an even match with the Catapults; so that could be another good match-up for you."

"Would we even be having this discussion if Lily or the loser had gotten this offer instead of me?" James asked.

"Your brother wants to play for the Cannons with Rose," Ginny reminded him. "There's no place to go but up for them on that team."

"And why do you think I'm trying to help you right now?" Lily asked in return. "I did mention that I'm all for setting this precedent for me."

"Which is why we would have this same chat with you," Ginny advised her. "Taking over from Gabrielle will be a huge risk for you to take on before you're ready – assuming you're good-enough to take the job from her if she's not ready to retire by then."

"See – I've told you all along that the loser gets treated differently than you and me," James told Lily; and she laughed and shook her head.

"Mum was making a joke about the Cannons, James. She's not worried about having this kind of chat with Al at all because he can't go to play for the Cannons early if Rose wants to have any chance of her plans working out – not to mention that he has eleven Outstanding NEWTs to earn before he's done at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, 'cause those NEWTs will be so helpful while working for the Cannons' clown brigade," James said with a snort. "You haven't offered any good arguments against me taking the job so far, Mum. What do you want to try next – or do you concede defeat?"

"This isn't about your father and I winning or losing anything, James," Ginny told him. "We really do need to go over everything; and it's a bad idea for you to underestimate the risks. Lily's made some good points about your competition in those first four matches, but let's be honest; and admit that the Catapults are more like the Cannons than one of the top teams right now. You could be the hero when you win matches; or the best player on the losing team if you can't get the win before your team mates fall too far behind against the best teams in the league."

"I'll pick being the hero," James declared with a laugh. "I could live with winning every Seeker duel I'm in even if my team loses until the Catapults can hire better players – and they are going to do that!"

"We're going around in circles," Harry suggested with a sigh. "You're not going to talk your point of view into him, Ginny. Take him out on our brooms after dinner and try to knock some sense into him at full speed."

"You want to let him use your broom?" she asked in surprise. "We're unemployed, Harry. If he breaks it – and himself; you're not getting a new one."

Harry laughed. "I'll take my chances – and if we do end up letting him do this; he needs to start putting in the extra time and work right now." He looked to James when his eldest son snorted out another laugh. "You know how hard the best Seekers work, James. If you're serious about this; then you'd better get serious about your training. We're glad to hear that you're doing so well training with the Catapults, but if you want to beat the other top Seekers; that won't be enough to get you there."

"I'm practically practicing day and night right now," James pointed out, "but if it'll get you to sign those contracts; I'll play along."

"That's a start," Ginny decided. "Let's talk about something else while we finish eating; you and I can have that workout after that; and then we'll sit down in the office and go over that contract you're in such a hurry to have us sign and go over every word of it and make sure you know exactly what is in it – and whether you want to agree to all of it or go back to the Catapults with a counter-offer or some changes to it."

James needed to make some comments about that first, but then he focused on plowing through two plates-full of food while Ginny and Lily did most of the rest of the dinnertime entertaining. Then he wanted to rush Ginny out to the pitch; and Al sent his father and sister out to watch the show while he took care of the clean-up. He'd wanted the space from James for a little while – and so that he could think about everything he'd heard so far and also sensed from his parents and brother. That was partially because he needed a break from the dark emotions; but also because he wanted to sort out his own emotions and reactions – which weren't all happy and pure of heart.

The simple fact that he was doing that while cleaning up from the meal that he'd also cooked probably should have annoyed him, but the more he thought about everything; the more he was amused by the twists in life that affected him – even when they didn't really have much to do with him at all. Other than the inevitable razzing and insults that would come with James' early rise to Quidditch fame and fortune – and Al was sure that their name alone would earn him some fame regardless of how well he did with the Catapults; there was no reason for him to do anything more than hope for the best for his brother. Having some envy was dumb, since while he sometimes wished he could enjoy some of the benefits that went along with being like James; he also didn't think the trade-off would be worth it.

He thought about that as he watched his mother and brother take off and start a flying workout with Ginny going all out while James tried to keep up with her – and did pretty well at that for the most part. Even from the distance between them, he could sense the differences between his siblings and parents. There was joy from his mother; a dark determination from his brother; pride for both of them from his father; and enthusiasm, excitement, and just a tinge of jealousy from Lily as she wished that she could be up there and flying her father's broom instead. His own thoughts were arrogant and unfair to his mother and brother; so he was thankful that he had the self-control to keep them to himself.

That did lead him to more-fully consider what the job offer could mean for James – while also trying to sense or foresee anything that would lead him to a better understanding of what might happen next depending on that one, fairly-important decision. Bi-polar options could be easy to discern outcomes in Divination, but unlike a simple yes or no answer to questions like 'will it rain today?' or something else that simple; that wasn't the case with big-impact decisions because they usually caused a cascade of other issues and choices. That complexity didn't keep Al from considering the matter, and as he did that; he became more and more sure of what was likely best for James – if not necessarily best for the rest of his family.

By the time he went outside to join his father and sister and watch the rest of the Seeker duel that was in progress by then, he felt better; and was able to enjoy the admittedly-entertaining battle above the pitch. He wasn't surprised that his mother won that duel, but James had done very well; out-raced her to the snitch once; and had several close calls that could have gone either way. They all went for a swim after that; and then Lily drafted him to have a Seeker duel with her when their parents took James with them into the office so that they could have that thorough look at the contract that the Catapults were hoping to get them all to sign. Lily kept Al playing Quidditch until dusk; and then they went for a swim to cool off again while they continued to wait for that meeting to wrap up – and so that they could find out what the big decision would be. That didn't happen soon-enough for Lily; and she and Al were watching mirror network shows in the sitting room by the time that James led the way out of the office – and looked as though he'd just won the Quidditch World Cup as he sauntered into the sitting room.

"You may now, unofficially, bow before your new Quidditch King," James announced grandly. "Get used to groveling, loser. Your five minutes of Animorphpotty fame will be long-forgotten once I've shown everyone that I'm the best Quidditch player in the history of the game!"

"Yes!" Lily said enthusiastically. "You do that; and then I'll take over in three years and you can be second-best after that!"

"In your dreams," James scoffed.

"Don't get started," Ginny told them – "and you're skipping over the part where the Catapults will still need to agree to the changes we want before we'll sign off on that contract."

"They'll agree," James said confidently. "Your changes aren't that big of a deal – and I still don't think it's even worth worrying about."

"They'll understand that the differences could be a big deal," Ginny assured him. "You'll be glad about being protected if anything really bad happens to you – and if everything goes brilliantly and you all do really well."

"If they agree to those changes; it'll be up to you to deal with your contracts after that first year," Harry added. "I'd learn from what your Mum taught you tonight, since she does know a lot about the business side of Quidditch; but that's totally your call too."

"You're both unemployed and on the way to being destitute while I'm going to be rich and famous," James retorted. "I'm only going along with this to get what I want – and those changes better not mess that up for me."

"Well, I'm happy for you," Lily told him; and then grinned at her parents. "Now that James doesn't need a new broom for his next birthday; can I have a new Lightningbolt for mine?"

"James did just point out that we're unemployed," Harry reminded her – "and I thought that you said something earlier about doing the same thing with the Harpies after you turn sixteen; so you'd be all set before your seventeenth birthday too."

"That would be a no," Ginny added. "Nice try; but no new broom."

Al had basically been a spectator for all of that; and continued to be one – as well as a verbal punching bag for James as he started playing video games while bragging about his imminently-brilliant future that was going to be so much better than anything Al could ever hope for – especially if he did manage to end up working for the Cannons' clown brigade with Rose. He did eventually offer his congratulations, but it took a while before James demanded that of him after realizing he hadn't gotten that 'show of fealty' from his brother. James did have reason to celebrate, though, so even though his ways of doing that grated on Al's nerves; he stayed in the sitting room – and helped with putting together the snacks and drinks celebration; and he didn't go up to his room until everyone else was ready to turn in for the night. He was last to get washroom time after the Quidditch King and Lily, but he was ready for bed and waiting when Ginny knocked and then came into his room.

"You seem to have survived all of that razzing," she teased quietly as she crossed the room and then sat on the side of his bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Al assured her; and then smiled ruefully. "Would you like to go on with the small talk for a while; or get straight to what you do want to discuss with me?"

Ginny laughed quietly. "That really can be annoying, but it's been a long day; so I'll take option two. Is there anything you can tell me that would help with making the right decisions for James with this?"

"I've been thinking about that a lot all night; and spent some time earlier trying to see if there was anything I could sense or foresee," he advised her. "There's a lot that I doubt anyone could know; but I think you need to work this out with the Catapults and let him do it."

"Do you have any particular reasons for believing that?" Ginny asked next.

"You mean other than getting that precedent set for Lily?" he joked.

"I wouldn't mess things up for you by telling her – or James – if you think we shouldn't let him do this," Ginny assured him seriously.

"That wouldn't matter for James; but it isn't an issue this time anyway. I actually do get a strong sense that this is what is meant to be for him – though it probably won't be best for you and Dad – or Lily and me. Not letting him do it would be worse for all of us, though; and you might lose him beyond any chance of recovery if you don't sign off on that offer. A lot of what I sensed wasn't clear, Mum, but if he doesn't do this; I'd say that it's near-certain that he would quit school when he's seventeen and go play for the Catapults for the rest of this season instead."

"You think he'll stay in school if he does get to play?"

"No, but that's not so clear," Al answered. "There are more issues involved. That will depend on how he does in his sixth-year classes; what happens with our Gryffindor Quidditch team; how well he does with the Catapults – and how well they do without him; and a handful of other things."

"Why is that last part just a bit scary for me?" Ginny deadpanned. "You don't sense any problems we should worry about?"

"Yes, but not for James; and that is what we're talking about – not about what's best for us."

"We can take that into consideration," Ginny advised him. "Should Harry and I be worried about those consequences that won't be so good for us?"

"I don't know anything specific – just a general sense that we'll have problemes either way. In this case, I think that you and Dad need to put James first too. This might be his big chance to get everything he wants."

"You're holding something back," Ginny guessed; and Al grinned at her.

"Well, if Rose's plans work out; you and I will be helping her to totally mess up James' plans to be the best Quidditch player in history. He will have his shot at three years of fame until then if he starts now."

"And then you think it'll be our turn?" Ginny asked in amusement.

"I am hoping that we'll get to have a couple of years before Lily takes her turn with the Harpies," he joked – "unless she decides she wants your spot on our team by then instead of Aunt Gabrielle's job."

"Is Rose's plan to just get me to play for a couple of seasons until she can get someone better?" Ginny teased. "Maybe I'll want my next job to last longer than that."

"We don't think that you'd want to play for more than another year or two no matter how much fun we'd have doing that together, but if you would like to play for a decade or two; we could likely work that out – and wouldn't find anyone better."

"You've managed to distract me from what I was asking you about," Ginny pointed out. "What sorts of problems do you think we will need to worry about?"

Al shrugged. "I don't know for sure," he answered seriously. "Probably more of the same as we've had with Malorie. If things go well, it'll be all about James, and if they don't; it'll be my fault – or ours; depending on which works best at the time. We do still have at least one more round of problems to deal with when the twins are born, and with James in the spotlight with this job; that could be even more-intense."

"That's putting it mildly," Ginny suggested with a nod. "Okay, I guess there's no point in trying to take that any further. Your father and I think this is what's best too; but it's nice to hear that you think so too – even if it won't be all fun and games for us."

She stayed and talked with Al for another few minutes, but then she headed for bed; and Al ended his night with a long mirror chat with Gwendolyn. There were some confidentiality issues with James' news that was a problem for Al, but Gwendolyn had been able to guess at why he couldn't talk about what had happened in that meeting; and he was sure that would be the case with anyone else that knew about the meeting when nothing more was said about it until after James' debut in the show. He wasn't worried about getting into trouble over that, since the McCormacks would keep that secret; but it was something that he needed to be careful with talking about with or around anyone who wasn't in the know about James' new job.

That wasn't all bad, since it also meant that James couldn't brag about it to anyone either, but that didn't keep him from taking his arrogant attitude to new levels of obnoxious by Tuesday morning. Thanks to that blast of annoying razzing and insults, Al was glad to see James go; and happier still to spend the day working in Chudley with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Malorie. While they had fun with that, and Malorie was glad about being given the chance to truly make her own life without too much meddling from Al and his parents; Al would have liked to include Malorie in more family and friends fun. That wasn't really an option anytime that James was around, and Malorie really was happy to do her own thing and seemed to be enjoying her new job a lot too; so Al tried to be happy for her – and have as much fun as he could for the rest of the week with all of the work and while playing with his parents, sister, and their friends.

While Al had been busy in Chudley on Tuesday, Harry and Ginny had split a lot of their day between James and Lily. For James, that was because of meetings with the Catapults in the morning and late afternoon – though Ginny only went to that afternoon meeting to finalize and sign off on James' new contract with the team – after getting pretty much everything she'd suggested that James ask for in changes and additions to the original offer. They both helped out with Lily's team practice in the morning; fed lunch to a gang of teens and tweens; and then had a play afternoon with Lily and some of her cousins and friends until Al and Gwendolyn got home from Chudley and took over while they were at the Catapults' office with James.

They brought a take-out dinner home; fed the smaller gang still at the house; and then it was time for the Gryffindor senior team practice. Gwendolyn and Jonah had stayed for dinner, but then they'd moved on so that Gwendolyn could get to her senior team practice too. Al would have preferred to stay with her, but he was able to have fun during his team practice; and he played as well as always – in part with some thanks to James' attitude. He could play well in any situation, but being annoyed with his brother did seem to give him cause to stay more-focused and channel those emotions into his game play instead of sapping his abilities with the distractions. James played well too, though; and impressed his friends by tying his mother with one catch each for the scrimmage.

Compared to Monday and Tuesday, the rest of the week was very quiet for Al. He and Gwendolyn had toymaking play time with Ginny each morning – and with Rose on Wednesday; he and Lily did a camping night with Gwendolyn and Jonah at the McCormacks' house on Wednesday night; and they played all three afternoons with either two or three parents and different combinations of cousins and friends. They wrapped up their play afternoon on Friday early-enough that Al and Lily could be at the McCormacks' home long before James got done work and started on 'his' weekend at home with Harry and Ginny.

For Al and Lily, their weekend away from home included a family play day on Saturday that Kirley and Gwenog hosted because it was one of the last chances they'd have to do that before the start of Quidditch season. That party and play day meant some bonus chores for the kids to do on Friday evening and Saturday morning, and they helped out with the work and kid control on Saturday too; but they also had a lot of fun playing Quidditch, other games, doing a lot of swimming, and the campfire that wrapped up the party on Saturday night. Sunday was a quiet, lazy day with just Kirley, Gwenog, and the four kids; and they'd all been happy to have that time to rest up and get ready for the last work week of July.

While he and Lily were away, Al was glad to be out of the loop for whatever James was doing over those two days; and happier-still to find out on Monday that their parents had managed to have a good weekend with James and his friends. They were continuing to do their best with James, so their efforts with doing that included a lunch with Victoire and Teddy; a dinner out in London; and a play afternoon at the seashore. They worked on his Quidditch skills too; though they needed to do that without letting his friends know about the surprise that the Catapults were going to have for the league in a few weeks.

They were going to wrap up the month with a busy weekend thanks to birthdays and an anniversary, but the last five weekdays were filled with work and fun that kept everyone happy and entertained; though not with anything happening that was especially newsworthy. On Monday, Al and Rose worked with Malorie in Chudley, but Gwendolyn was busy with her father and brother; so she – and Jonah – didn't catch up with Al until he was finished with the Cannons-related work. Lily joined them too; and they had a camping night in the same campground near Chudley while Harry and Ginny had a bonus Seeker workout with James at home.

Tuesday through Friday mornings were all about various kinds of work for Al and Gwendolyn. That included some toymaking with Rose on Tuesday; some chores around home on Wednesday; more toymaking on Thursday; and work on mirror messaging and RevisionWizard when Al could work that into the schedule – including during most of Friday morning. In the afternoons, they had play time each day, with hiking, biking, swimming, and one afternoon at the beach. Al and Lily had Gwendolyn and Jonah over for a camping night on Wednesday; and managed to have fun despite James' best efforts to make life miserable for Al and Gwendolyn. Harry and Ginny had a birthday dinner to attend on Friday, but they avoided any problems with their kids by leaving Al and Lily at home and dropping James off after work to hang out in Diagon Alley and have dinner there while they were helping Neville with celebrating his special day.

Gwendolyn and Jonah were at their own home on Friday night, but that had mostly been because Gwendolyn chose to do what her parents had planned for the night over another camping night with Al when they were already likely to have trouble with James on Saturday while they collectively celebrated Harry's birthday. Al cooked an easy dinner for two; he and Lily had a Seeker duel; and then they swam and took it easy for the rest of the evening while waiting for Harry, Ginny, and James to get home from London. They all went to bed early; since they were also going to be up early so that they could still have a birthday breakfast for Harry before hitting the road for their favorite Muggle Amusement Park!

"Happy Birthday, Dad!" Al said quietly; smiling and glancing over his shoulder at his father as he walked into the kitchen. "You didn't need to help out this morning – and are supposed to get the day off from working."

"I did need to vacate the bedroom to make room for your mother and sister to have some play time with getting ready for the day," Harry advised him. "If you have the cooking under control; I'll just get a cup of coffee and keep you company while we wait for them – and for James."

"I know that you needed to wake him up; but couldn't that have waited until right before we left?" Al half-joked. "You might regret having him with us for breakfast if he got you anything truly awful for your birthday."

"Not as much as I'd regret getting a truly-awful gift while we were at the amusement park – or a Howler in the van while on the trip there," Harry pointed out. He hasn't been doing gifts for any of us since the Christmas before last, though; so I didn't really expect that to be an issue at all."

"I've enjoyed that break," Al admitted, "but let's change the subject; since I should at least try to play nice with James today – even though my hopes for having him do that in return aren't very high."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "What do you want to talk about instead?"

Al looked up and 'scanned' what he could sense from upstairs before answering. "I was thinking about Malorie while cooking, and while she wouldn't exactly have had much fun with us today; I'm wondering about how we should handle Quidditch matches this summer. Rose and I could buy her tickets for a bunch of matches; but that won't be much fun for her to do on her own; and I don't think she should be at any of the stadiums alone when she's so far along – especially when the twins could decide to come early."

"James doesn't want to go to any of the Harpies matches with us," Harry advised him. "She can attend those matches with us; and it'll be up to her if she wants to go to James' matches or not – though we can't say anything about that until the last minute for the first one; so you may have to work something out with how to handle that with her. After you're all back at Hogwarts in September; we'll just play it by ear. Malorie might not be able to go to any matches for a while once the babies are born. I'd say that if she goes to three Harpies and two Catapults matches; that'd be enough for the summer – unless you're going to get tickets for every Cannons match for her too."

"Rose wants her Dad to offer Malorie a chance to see some of the matches with him instead. We want Malorie to get involved a bit; but not get too noticed either."

"That'll be tough to hide a young mother with twins among their six fans – especially while two of them are away at school," Harry joked with a laugh; "but that's likely the better plan anyway when Malorie might need to make those sorts of plans on short notice."

"The Cannons don't play at the same time as the Harpies all that often," Al pointed out. "We expect that Malorie will have no trouble getting grandparent babysitting services for any matches she can get to this season."

"Your mother and I are unemployed. Babysitting will be an option every day if Malorie needs it."

"How long are you going to try and milk that one-liner?" Al asked. "Are you going to look for something to keep busy with starting in the fall; or take a year or two off?"

"Maybe I'll train up and compete with Ginny for that Seeker job with the Cannons," Harry suggested.

"You could both join up and take turns all season," Al offered. "We've talked about that for the team before – having enough good players to take turns and stay fresh and healthy all season."

"That'd be expensive," Harry pointed out; and Al nodded and shrugged.

"Yes, and we're still not sure about whether you could do that and keep the chemistry with the team; but it could work."

"I don't know if you could find fourteen players as good as you'd want them to be without the egos to match the talent," Harry told him. "Would you really be satisfied to play in half the matches in a season – including the playoffs?"

"If we could do that and still have the best team in every match; I'd be okay with that," Al agreed. "We want to make the job more fun; and being able to play in the show would be part of the way to do that for everyone on the team."

"Well, it'll be fun watching what happens if you give that a try," Harry decided. "Don't count on your Mum being interested in sharing the Seeker job if she signs up with Rose too – not even to share it with me."

"She might be willing to let you play against the Falcons," Lily suggested as she and Ginny walked into the room. "Happy Birthday, Dad!" She hurried over to hug and kiss him and then grinned at Al. "What'd you do – get Dad an offer for a job with the Cannons for his birthday?"

"No, but that would have been funny," Al told her. "You should've suggested it to Rose and me last week sometime."

"As if you didn't have his gift picked out weeks ago," Lily countered. "That does have me thinking about Malorie though, and maybe we should take her to the amusement park later next month if it's getting close to September First and the twins haven't arrived yet."

"They don't generally recommend that pregnant women ride roller-coasters at all," Ginny advised her with a laugh. "It could end badly for the kids and the mother-to-be."

"Muggles can't use magic to protect themselves," Lily suggested; "and you could use Muggle-repelling charms so they don't even notice us going on those rides."

"Or we could let nature take its course and Jaimie and Lorie will arrive whenever they're ready to do that," Ginny suggested.

"Does that mean that you won't let Dad take Malorie for motorcycle rides either?" Lily protested. "I have other ideas for helping her out next month; but it seems that you're not going to like any of them!"

"I'd suggest that you don't try anything you wouldn't want someone to do with you when it's your turn to start a family; but you'll likely try all of them if you have the choice for an August or September baby."

"That won't be a problem for me," Lily assured her. "I'll definitely plan to have my kids around Quidditch season to make sure that I don't miss more than one season at a time." She grinned at Al. "Most of us can't just have a litter in the off-season and then get right back to work again by August."

That re-hash of an old joke needed to be played with for a couple of minutes, but they'd moved on from there by the time James joine them; they had breakfast fairly-quickly; cleaned up; and then hit the road for their favorite amusement park – as soon as Patricia was dropped off by her mother and they could load up into the minivan. The trip was fairly-uneventful, but while Al would have liked to spend that time with Gwendolyn; he was glad that she didn't have to be there for the forced small-spaces time around James and Patricia. They'd opted for the back bench seat so that they could cuddle and more; and they both offered quiet insults and razzing of Al and Lily – or not-so-quiet if they wanted to make sure that Harry and Ginny heard those comments too.

They were meeting up with a large gang at the amusement park, and while some of the other families drove there; others got to the park by other means that were either magical or Muggle-transit based. Ginny co-ordinated some of that using her mirror, but they also didn't wait long before going into the park; and then they waited until Harry could at least greet everyone and be offered best birthday wishes. James and Patricia only stayed until Ollie and Rosinda arrived with his parents and younger sister; while Al and Gwendolyn stayed until the last group of friends checked in except for one extreme ride break with Lily and Jonah. They didn't have to stay with the parents, but they did stay in the same areas so that they could have fun with as many of the teens and parents as possible even while going on the rides with their smaller group of six teens. Rose and Kyle were matched up with them; and so was Ray and Cyndia while Lily and Jonah ended up with Hugo, Melissa, Kathryn, Denise, Roxanne, and Colin – though there weren't any date pairings among that younger group of teen and tween friends.

Al was glad to get the chance to hang out with Rose, Ray, and their dates, but while everything seemed to be going great with Ray and Cyndia; what he sensed from Rose and Kyle was a lot like what he'd sensed from her the summer she'd ended up breaking up with Shane. There were some differences, since they both still cared a lot about each other, but Rose had been right all along; and the secrets and necessary little lies were becoming more of a problem for their relationship. Their play day at the amusement park was actually emphasizing that problem for Kyle; since it made no sense to him why he could do things with her family in public; but couldn't be part of her home life the way she could be with his family and friends. Fortunately for all of them, they had a lot of extreme fun to be distracted by, so while Al sensed all of that and more within Kyle; he knew that it wouldn't be until later that Rose's boyfriend would have time to actually think about that very seriously. That was why he went out of his way to try and help them to have a good, happy day; since he was sure they wouldn't have many more of those days that they'd be sharing together before they'd be deciding to move on and go their separate ways.

Everyone that was part of their overall group was there to help Harry to celebrate his birthday; so all of the teens and kids tried to help out with that too – even as they all had a blast on all of the extreme rides and with everything else they did at the park. Al included James in that thought, but in his case; that was entirely because he spent most of the day away from his parents, brother, and sister except for some razzing and insults if he crossed paths with Al and Gwendolyn and while getting in on free food when they had a group birthday luncheon. Having James there wasn't really a problem for Al and Gwendolyn, since they needed to spread out around a fairly-large area while having that meal; and none of the kids ended up being all that close to Harry and Ginny because he got roasted by his in-laws and friends while having lunch and watching one of the shows that kept people entertained while having food and drink breaks.

The hours of extreme play time that followed that meal was amazing; they were able to stay as late as they wanted – which was until the park closed for some of them; and then Al and Lily went home with Kirley, Gwenog, and their kids because Harry was getting a kid-free night as one of his gifts. James was with Ollie for the night; and Patricia and Rosinda were going to camp with them too. Al tried not to think about that at all, since he didn't like anything about what he had been able to sense from them the last time he saw them before going home with Gwendolyn. That worked for a while, but Gwendolyn and Lily wanted to talk about James as part of their adventure day recap while they had a take-out pizza dinner with Gwenog and the boys.

"I think that we did a great job helping Dad to celebrate his big day, and was going to suggest that at least four of us don't want to know the details about the rest of his fun tonight, but after seeing James and Ollie with Patricia and Rosinda a little while ago; that story might be even scarier than kid-free nights for parents," Lily offered after they'd filled their plates.

"If the four of you were anything like them; we'd be scared," Kirley offered with a grin.

"And you'd never be allowed to have camping nights anywhere," Gwenog added seriously; and then grinned before adding – "though I don't know why you'd find kid-free nights for parents scary at all. Kirley and I think they're brilliant."

"You have parents too and know what we mean," Gwendolyn told them; "and I don't even know where to start with talking about James and his little group of friends today. The only way that combination could have been weirder would have been if James had invited his Slytherin friends along."

"I'm fairly-sure that's against the rules for any Slytherins that don't want to be shunned by their families," Lily suggested. "James and Patricia are easy-enough to understand, but I honestly don't get why Ollie would want to go on a double date when both Witches are really his best mate's girlfriends; and I don't get Rosinda at all. She seemed to be playing some game of her own today – with James, Ollie, and Patricia as her toys."

"That's exactly what it seemed like to me," Gwendolyn agreed with a nod. "She's actually more like James that he pretends to be, since he couldn't pull off pretending that he wasn't getting jealous of how she was acting around Ollie; while she wasn't jealous of Patricia at all."

"Why should she be?" Lily asked. "For all we know; she had fun snogging both of the boys today – or will do that tonight."

"You think that would be fun?" Gwendolyn teased; and Lily laughed.

"Maybe – but not with those particular two boys," she answered. "That also isn't something I'll have two standards for, though; since I am going to eventually be a bonded-for-life kind of Witch – once I get around to being ready for boyfriends and husbands."

"You do know that you can't have that and multiple husbands without a bit of tragedy, right?" Gwendolyn pointed out; and Lily laughed again.

"Okay, but then I'm not sure that I'll want to have multiple boyfriends either. That's why I'm not in any hurry – I don't want to go through all of the heartache that some of our cousins and friends have all gone through."

"Which brings us conveniently to Rose and Kyle," Gwendolyn said with a nod. "Would you like to make a prediction on how long it will be before they break up?"

"I'll guess end-of-summer," Lily answered seriously. "They both still love each other, but they won't try to go another school year apart; and Kyle won't settle for being a small part of Rose's life. It's sad; but even Rose knew this would happen eventually if they dated for very long."

"That isn't exactly true," Kirley disagreed. "Some Witches and Wizards have chosen love over staying in the Wizarding World."

"Leave it to the musician to point that out," Gwenog teased. "Don't forget to tell them that those choices rarely turn out for the best."

"Maybe for Pureblood Witches and Wizards," Kirley agreed, "and it's tougher for any Witches or Wizards raised in our world; but it's likely closer to fifty-fifty for Muggleborns that end up with Muggle spouses."

"That makes sense to me," Lily told him with a nod. "Muggleborns have a tougher time learning to live in our world; but they're used to the Muggle world. Look at all of the stuff Malorie's been learning this summer so far – and most of them are things we learned as kids. We're lucky to have parents that have helped us to learn both – and that we get to do stuff like going to Muggle amusement parks. I don't want to live in the Muggle world; but it's a fun place to visit for all of the best parts of it – and it's amazing how many of our friends can't even do that; and wouldn't be able to blend in even if they tried."

"We're still learning to fit in," Kirley reminded her. "I had to confund a handful of Muggles today after saying something I shouldn't – or catching one of the kids doing that; and your father probably dealt with two dozen little incidents or more."

"Jonah didn't make a single mistake that I heard today," Lily advised him. "Did you have any problems today, Gwendolyn?"

"No, but I'm on my best behavior around Kyle; since I don't want to mess things up for Rose. He gets Confunded or Obliviated too often without me making it worse – usually thanks to James and his buddies trying to mess things up for Rose."

"The practice is good for all of us," Gwenog suggested. "I think that all Witches and Wizards need to learn to blend into the Muggle world – or we'll need to find new ways to stay hidden. It's getting tougher to do that with all of the Muggle technology; and that's becoming a bigger job for the MInistry of Magic."

"Oh for the good old days when we only had to worry about Muggles camping too close to our Quidditch stadiums," Kirley joked. "Now we have to deal with spy satellites, smart phones, and all sorts of other problems."

"Just having billions more Muggles on the planet makes it tougher for us," Lily offered. "That's too serious to talk about tonight, though; so why don't we talk about what we'd have in the Wizarding World's first magical amusement park? I still think that's a brilliant idea for a business that someone needs to start."

That comment led them into a chat that was fun and occasionally silly as Lily encouraged everyone to offer ideas for extreme magical rides. She wasn't interested in the 'how' for any of it, but it did keep them entertained; and Al liked the distraction from more-serious matters – or any talk at all about James and his friends. After eating and cleaning up; they went outside to play for a while; Kirley and Gwenog turned in for the night not long after dark; and the four teens were left to do their own thing for the rest of the night. That fun included a moonlight swim, some music time and mirror network show watching in the tent; and then they wrapped up their day with a pair of sofa sleepovers.

Sunday was the first day of August, and Bill and Fleur's twenty-fourth anniversary, but there weren't any big family plans for that celebration because the happy couple were busy with a weekend getaway for two; and would only be doing a small family dinner at Grimmauld place with their kids after getting back from their little trip. The Potters and McCormacks had a quiet family day planned; though they did that at the McCormacks' home; and James opted to stay at Ollie's until late afternoon – until after Harry and Ginny got home from their play day with Al and Lily. Kirley and Gwenog had some other visitors stop in here and there too, but they had a lazy day after starting out the morning with a few yard and house chores that all four kids pitched in to help with; and even the lunch meal was mostly self-serve with an easy clean-up.

Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah played a lot of Quidditch, including a match of AquaQuidditch; they played in the pool a lot too; and really had the most fun getting to just hang out with their parents without many distractions – even when they had the small groups of visitors with them. Ginny wanted to do a 'real' meal for dinner, so while Harry went to get James after they got home again, Al helped her with that work; and Lily took care of some pet chores after being away from her best furry friends for most of two days. The weird in Al's day kicked up a few notches when James got back, but he put his bags in his room and went out for a swim before dinner; so it wasn't until they sat down to eat that Al had to work to play nice as he disliked all of the nastiness he sensed from his brother – and had to put up with the usual razzing and insults.

"We have a couple of very busy weeks coming up ahead of us; so I'd like to go over everything with all of you while we eat so we can make sure we're all on the same page for what we'll be doing," Ginny said after three out of five of them had exchanged a micro-recap of what they'd been doing since going their separate ways from the amusement park.

"We do know your birthday is coming up," Lily teased; and then laughed. "Okay – James didn't know that; but does now – and still has time to get you something nice. Is that why you agreed to let him play for the Catapults this summer? So he can afford to get you a really nice birthday present?"

"No, but that's funny," Ginny told her after joining in for the laughs. "Some or all of us do have several birthdays and an anniversary to celebrate over the next two weeks; we have two fairly-important Quidditch matches; and Hogwarts letters come out on Wednesday. You're each either here or away over the next two weekends; and I want to know about anything else you want to do or have already booked with your friends. We'll also need to add in a shopping trip or two for books, supplies, and back-to-school clothes; though we don't need to do all of that this week."

"The loser will need to run out and get his new books right after he gets the list," James said with a sneer for Al. "You should have him take the year off from Quidditch too so that he can keep up with all of the work for eleven OWLs – and save the rest of us from having to be anywhere near the stench of him. What'd you do today anyway, loser – get mixed up and go for a swim in a swamp?"

"Just because you've got a job with the Catapults doesn't mean that they'll want to keep you if our senior team sucks this year," Lily told him. "Feel free to keep on hating Al, but don't mess up the Quidditch season for our House – or yourself – again this year. I'm still looking to win my first Quidditch Cup; and I will not be happy if you mess that up for me yet again this year!"

"The Catapults recognize a real superstar when they see one – unlike the rest of you; and we'd be better off without the loser."

Lily laughed; and he scowled at her. "I'm sorry, James, but that doesn't even make sense in your reality. You blame Al for everything bad that happens when he's not on the team, right?"

"Yes – because he is behind messing everything up for our team."

"Okay, so if that's true – which it isn't; then keeping him off of your team will mean that he'll go back to messing things up and you'll lose, but if he's on the team; you'll win – even though you'll hate being around him because he's always the best player on his teams. Keep that in mind if you're named Captain on Wednesday."

"There ought to be no 'if' about that; but I'm sure the loser has already found a way to mess that up for me too."

"Didn't Tiberius ask if you'd negotiated that into whatever deal you made with her after you quit the team and then joined up again?" Lily asked. "You never answered him."

"I did," James disagreed – "and I don't know who will be Captain anymore than you know who will be junior team Caption."

"I know who Fred better have recommended if he knows what's good for him – though I guess that it is still up to the Head of our House and Mr. Peakes to make the final decisions; so it would help your case to have a Puddlemere United Chaser in your corner."

"I'm a Seeker with the Catapults," James pointed out. "That should be all that's needed to be said about who is best for the job."

"Nobody knows that yet," Lily reminded him – "and they won't find out before the letters go out; so it won't matter. Don't feel bad if you don't get the job, James – I wouldn't pick you for our next senior team Captain anyway."

"Of course not – you'd pick the loser; as always."

"Actually, I'd pick the Witch and give Rose the job," Lily countered. "That'd be a tough break for Louis, and I'd feel bad about that; but Rose would be brilliant as Captain – and then we'd have two Witches with those jobs in our House this year!"

"Stop thinking like the Harpies," James retorted dismissively. "All of the disappointment will likely crush your itty bitty heart if you keep spouting off that nonsense."

"It isn't, but to be honest, other than getting access to the Prefects' bath; I don't know why you'd want the extra respoinsibility again – especially now that you have that job with the Catapults. You must see all of the extra work their Captain has to do, and if you get the job with our House team and do well; they might stick you with the job once you're done school with their team."

"If I ever get to pick between me being in charge and anyone else; I'll pick me," James assured her. "I'd certainly be a better Captain than the git the Catapults have doing the job now."

"That's all very entertaining; but not at all helpful for what I want to talk about with you," Ginny told them. "I'm fairly-sure that shopping was the last point James mentioned that was relevant; and getting the first batch of books and supplies on Wednesday actually might be our best option; since we have Quidditch practices on Tuesday and Thursday – and James won't care if we get his books and anything else he needs for his classes without him. Do you want to set up your own shopping trips for getting robes and clothes?" she asked him.

"Sure, 'cause I'll have so much time for that between now and September First with all of the work I'll be doing," he scoffed.

"Well, you should get it done before your first big match," Ginny told him; "since that could be a real problem once you're famous and have to deal with the rest of the work the Catapults will have you doing for them in addition to the matches and practices. I'd suggest a visit to Diagon Alley after work one night for the robes; and maybe a weekend visit to London for a day of mall shopping."

"I'll be busy every weekend," James advised her; "and there's nothing wrong with my robes from last year."

"Except that most of them are gone," Ginny advised him. "I donated some; and turned the worst of them into rags. Getting new clothes is totally up to you, but don't forget that you have a dress code for the team now; and you'll be expected to look good whenever you're in public – including in public at school or Hogsmeade."

"That's ridiculous," James retorted.

"We did discuss this, James," she reminded him. "You will be in the spotlight even at school; and the Catapults won't be happy if you get caught on camera in any way that reflects badly on them. Get used to it; since that's just something you'll be stuck dealing with from now on. That's also another good reason to make sure that you have some new clothes before that first match – so you'll look your best for the interviews and party after the game."

"Well, in that case, if he's really too busy; I'll volunteer to help you pick out clothes for him," Lily offered with a grin. "Didn't I hear that pink is in for Wizards this year – or was it puking pastille green?"

"You are not going to shop for me," James told her bluntly. "The last thing I'd want is to have you and Mum running around telling every reporter that you pick out all of my clothes for me."

"As if you won't blame us if anyone makes fun of your clothes," Lily countered. "That's one thing you just can't blame on Al no matter how much you might want to tell us that everything is his fault."

"My eyes were watering from the stench of him being in the same mall; so I couldn't see how awful the shirt was," James offered.

"Okay, you can come up with a way to do that," Lily conceded. "Congratulations."

"And we're off-topic again," Ginny told them. "James might be interested in eating all night, but the rest of us won't; so let's get back to talking about our plans for the next week or two."

They did that with more side-trips, and James continued to razz or insult Al every chance he got to do that; but they did actually discuss everything from work to birthday and anniversary parties too. Unfortunately for Al, too much of what they talked about either triggered thoughts of memories or future plans for James; and he especially didn't like sensing more than he wanted to know about what James had been doing on the weekend – or hoped to do during his last half of the summer. He stayed out of the conversation as much as possible except for anything he was asked about directly – like about things he'd be doing with Gwendolyn and her family, but once they were through all of that; Ginny did start talking about something that he did get involved with right from the start.

"Well, it's a good thing that Harry and I are unemployed," she said after finishing up the last question she had about their plans for the weekend of James' big first match with the Catapults. "I'm going to miss reporting on the matches next weekend – and being on the inside for all of the latest team news; but I'll survive."

"Just because you're not working for the Quidditch News or Daily Prophet doesn't mean you can't still report on the games," Al suggested. "Just start your own Quidditch site on the Wireless Web."

Ginny laughed. "Sure – because that wouldn't be much work – not to mention that there are already lots of Quidditch sites – and the Quidditch News gets more than half of all of the visitors to Quidditch sites."

"So do something different," Al said with a shrug.

"How about for Witches only?" Lily suggested with a grin. "Maybe the Harpies would sign up as your top advertiser!"

"The Harpies don't need to advertise anything," Ginny told her; "but I like the idea of a site geared toward Witches."

"Quidditch Pros and Mums," Al offered. "Instead of writing about the latest gossip for the players; you could write about being a player and mother – and maybe get some of the other current and retired mothers to help you out with it. I'll bet there are lots of Witches out there that would love to know how players keep up with work and family. You could likely have an entire site just about Quidditch fitness, healthy eating, and keeping your kids from driving you mad."

"That's stupid," James told him with a snort. "Next thing you'll suggest is that Mum start one of those Muggle exercise shows on the mirror network!"

"I think it's brilliant," Lily disagreed. "Add in fashion and beauty secrets; and you'd get all of the teen Witches hooked too."

"Sure, because there aren't enough sites out there for that sort of thing already," James said with a dismissive wave of a hand. "It's bad-enough having Witches around the school wanting to dress like our cousins; and now you think they'd like to dress like our Mums!"

"I like the way your Mum dresses quite a lot," Harry advised James with a grin. "There are younger mothers playing in the show too, though; so those fashion tips could go after a lot of Witches of all ages." He smiled when Al laughed at that.

"Sorry, but that gave me a mental picture of Gwendolyn's grandmother being one of the contributors to that site."

"Old-fashioned tips and tricks might be a nice touch," Ginny suggested with a nod. "A bit of Quidditch history would be good too."

"You're not seriously considering any of that, are you?" James asked. "Whatever happened to staying home and trying to save me from turning out as rotten as the loser?"

"I do have nine months of the year when you're at school," Ginny reminded him – "and it wouldn't need to be that much work if I have enough mothers helping out with it."

"You could start it with a back-to-school special first edition,' Lily offered.

"It wouldn't have to be daily either," Al added. "Sure, you'd want to keep the Quidditch stats up-to-date, but you could always just buy them from the Quidditch News just as the Prophet and other sites do; and then just have a weekly or monthly publication."

"Quit yapping, dog," James told him derisively. "They're unemployed because of you. What are you trying to do to them now – make sure they waste what bits of money they have left so they're left destitute next?"

"That sounds more like what you want for the rest of us," Lily told him. "Wouldn't that make Al's ideas brilliant from your alternate reality too?"

James laughed. "You're right again, Lily. Go for it, Mum. I think it's a brilliant idea!"

The funniest part of that for Al was sensing that James actually believed that it was a dumb idea and that his mother would fail at it if she gave it a try. It was fun talking about it for a while, though; and he did that with his mother after dinner too while James and Lily went outside to have a three-way Seeker duel with their father. The more they talked about it, the more Al was sure that if his mother did move forward with the idea; it would be a longer-term project instead of something she'd just rush into – if only because she didn't want to get tied up with a big new job that would keep her from doing all she could for Malorie and her granddaughters. Once the clean-up was done, they all had some flying tricks fun after Harry won the Seeker duel; they went for a swim after that; and then wrapped up their weekend with some quiet time in the sitting room – though Al only did that until he'd had enough of James and went up to his room to do some of his summer revision and have an early bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn.

As usual, they weren't exactly at the half-way point of the summer on the first day of August, but it always felt that way to Al. This summer was a bit different than in past years, since the second half of their summer really was almost-certain to be busier and possibly-crazier than the first half, but even with a lot of uncertainties; Al was still looking forward to pretty much everything they had going on through until they headed back to Hogwarts on September First.

He just had to hope that James wouldn't do anything to mess with what could still prove to be a best-ever-so-far kind of summer!


	48. Family First and Worst

Chapter Forty-Eight – Family First and Worst

Al was up early on Wednesday morning, and while he was excited; he was expecting that his morning would be a mix of brilliant and horrid – with the awful coming from James as soon as their Hogwarts letters arrived. He was showered and dressed before anyone else woke up; and had the cooking started in the kitchen by the time he began to hear and sense signs of life coming from the rooms above him.

The quiet before the storm gave him time to think; and he started out by reviewing his week so far. On Monday, he'd spent the day with Gwendolyn and Rose in Chudley. They'd worked with Malorie; his parents, Lily, and Jonah had joined them for lunch; and then they'd worked until mid-afternoon and stopped because Malorie was getting tired and needed the break. Gwendolyn and Jonah had gone home for Monday night instead of hanging out with Al and Lily while James was home and in a foul mood; but Gwendolyn and Rose had both come over to spend the day with Al on Tuesday as they made toys in the morning; played all afternoon; and then Rose stayed for dinner and the Gryffindor Quidditch workout while Gwendolyn went home and hosted the Ravenclaw practice.

James had been in a bad mood on Tuesday too – at least whenever he was at home; which was why Al was sure that trend would continue with the arrival of the Hogwarts letters. He didn't really need to guess that James was now a bit worried about his OWL results; and he sensed that it wouldn't go over well if anyone else was named senior team Captain – especially if Lily got the job for their junior team! The good news, for Al, was that James would only be home until shortly-after breakfast; and then he was going to be able to have a shopping play day with Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and three out of four of their parents. It was also Wednesday, so if things proved to be really bad with James; they could always stay away from home for the rest of the day – and Lily wouldn't need to be home again until Thursday morning for her Quidditch practice – unless someone else got the Captain job and opted to move their practices elsewhere.

Al didn't actually expect that to happen, but then he didn't know who Fred recommended for the job – or whether he made a choice at all; since they did have four players that could all do the job well-enough – including Kathryn and Melissa. For that matter, Roxanne was an option too; and picking his sister might have been the smartest move for Fred – as long as Lily didn't decide to hex him for doing that. He was about half-way through making breakfast when the Owl Post arrived with the three Hogwarts letters; so he took care of the owl; sent it on its way; and put the letters on the table while getting back to work. He knew enough just from the feel of his envelope compared to the other two that his morning was about to go downhill – while being brilliant; but he didn't open it and felt a strong urge to hide it until after James left for work. That wasn't really an option, and Lily must've been watching out for any owls because it wasn't long before she rushed into the kitchen and tore into her envelope.

"Are we excited about being able to go to Hogsmeade this year?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.

"There's a Captain's badge in my envelope, and you knew that; so quit messing with me," she told him as she held up the badge and ignored the paperwork. "Going to Hogsmeade will be great too; but I'd have hated it if I'd been the only one not to be Captain of our junior team."

"I know, and congratulations, but was thinking earlier that we really ought to give some of the other families a turn a bit more often."

"They'll all have between next year and whenever..." She trailed off and then laughed again. "Okay, they'll have twelve or thirteen years to do that before the next batch of Potters is at Hogwarts and eligible for the job. That's lots of time."

"Not for Kathryn and Melissa," Al pointed out. "You have a lot of really good players in your year – including a few that might not ever get the chance to play on one of our teams."

"We do," she agreed, "and maybe I'm a bit too much like James for this; but I'm glad that I'll be Captain – and think I'll be pretty good at it too."

"I think you'll be brilliant. How'd you do on your report?"

Lily took a moment to look at it before answering – "five O's and 2 E's; same as last year. How come you haven't opened your letter? It isn't as if you need to worry about whether you have eleven O's or not; and I'm sure you're a Prefect to boot."

"Then I should definitely wait to open it until after James goes to work," he suggested. "I have a feeling that he is not going to be happy today."

"I don't need to take Divination to know that," Lily told him with a laugh. "He's been working up to this all week; and I expect he'll still be disappointed. The good news for you is that no matter how badly he's done; James won't take his OWL year again. He'd likely keep playing for the Catapults before doing that – especially since he already has that underage permission thing going on."

"That's true – which has me wondering why he's getting so worked up about his letter," Al mused thoughtfully; searching what he'd been sensing for an answer.

"He'd hate getting left behind," Lily offered. "If he has problems with the advanced studies, he might quit before he can flunk out, but he'll be furious if he fails and everyone finds out." She picked up James' envelope and squeezed it. "Uh-oh – he's going to be furious anyway. I don't feel a badge in there."

"Maybe you could run it upstairs and slip it under his door."

"And miss out on all of the fun? No way!"

"You have a seriously-warped sense of what is and isn't fun."

"You're the one that gets blamed for everything bad that happens in James' life – I just get to sit back and watch the show," she reminded him. "It's a matter of perspective."

It was also an imminent show; since their parents and brother joined them in the kitchen a minute later. Al had sensed the danger from James long before they arrived; it went downhill when Lily flaunted her Captain's badge; and just got worse from there. He'd grabbed his envelope; sat down; and tore it open. Some very bad words followed when there was no letter or Captain's badge; and the foul language continued and darkened as he read over his OWL results.

"I don't recognize any of those grades," Lily teased. "Can you translate them into the usual O's, E's, and the rest for me, please?"

"No," James snapped; and then threw the letter at his mother. "Read it and weep. I'll only be taking three classes this year; so I'll have lots of time to keep training for my career with the Catapults."

"Three?" Ginny exclaimed. "What in Merlin's name happened?"

"Thank the loser," James retorted. "He got my best mate and study partner thrown out of school last year; so I was stuck with the rejects that nobody else wanted to work with during our first four years on every project and assignment."

"Told you," Lily told Al with a grin that she then turned on James. "I'm going to tell Rosinda you said that; since I saw you studying with her a lot last year – or could it be that you weren't really studying at all?"

"It's no wonder you don't have a boyfriend if you can't tell the difference between snogging and studying," James retorted.

"Don't be mad at me too," she told him airily. "In fact, I'm not sure why you're mad at all. If you'd gotten all O's and E's; you'd be in a fight and mad about Mum wanting you to go on with every class. Now you have no choice – and three classes really will leave you with lots of time to practice and train. The more I think about that, the more I like the idea a lot; so maybe I'll try to do that in my OWL year too. Thanks for setting the precedent!"

"Don't try it," Ginny warned; and then turned her attention to James. "This obviously turned out worse than you expected, but you'd practically need to intentionally write down the wrong answers to do that badly on those worst-three exams, James!"

"Whatever," James said angrily. "It's over and done with now; so you may as well stop wasting your breath bashing me about it. Move along and you can fawn all over the perfect loser – or is that Prefect Loser now?" he asked with a sneer.

"He wants to wait until you go to work to open his letter," Lily advised him.

"Well, we can't have that," James declared; he stretched out across the table and grabbed Al's envelope. He was already tearing it open before Ginny could say – "Don't do that!"

"Let's see – what do we have here?" James asked derisively as he roughly yanked the sheets of parchment out of the envelope. "Congratulations – you're a Prefect Animorphpotty," he declared before crumpling the first page up and tossing it over his shoulder. When he saw the second page; he began to swear loudly; he shredded it; and then dug into the envelope for the two badges that hadn't come out with the parchment. "You got them to name you to Captain?" He tried to tear up the badges, but couldn't; so he grabbed a knife and sliced them until he could rip them apart before throwing the pieces on the floor and stomping on them. "I hate you! You've screwed up my life since the moment you were born; and you just can't stop cheating and lying your way into turning everyone against me!" He rushed around the table; and physically went after Al – fists pumping; and both of them enhanced with his little hand-held shields. "I'll kill you!"

"You won't," Al said quietly as he stepped back two quick paces and used a shield charm seashell to keep James from getting to him. "Now you know why I didn't want to open that until you left."

"You knew?" James demanded; and then laughed raucously. "Of course you did – you did get Olivia to recommend you for the job."

"I felt the two badges in the envelope," Al advised him; "and I seriously doubt that she broke her deal with you."

"What deal?" Lily demanded at the same time that James asked – "How did you..." before stopping himself and glaring at Al furiously.

"He's just telling more lies," James declared. "How'd you do it loser? Confund everyone? Get Dad to order the Professors to give you the job over me? Come on – out with it you sneaky, lying little thief!"

"I didn't do anything, but it won't matter what I say; since you won't believe me anyway." He sighed and shook his head. "You're not going to get past this shield; so you may as well go sit down again and let me finish getting breakfast on the table."

"Why don't you drop it and stop being such a coward?" James retorted.

"Once you get past being furious; you'll remember why," Al suggested. "You're going to be the starting Seeker for the Catapults for their first two matches of the season; so you're still way ahead of me – and I won't be playing in the show early; so you'll always have that one over me. Compared to that, is being Captain of our House team really that big of a deal for you?"

"As important as it is for you," James retorted – "and don't tell me that you don't care; since that'd be a lie unless you'd like to give up the job and just put it to a vote at tryouts."

"Well, you were all for the idea to have challenges for spots on the team when that was suggested to Olivia last year," Al told him seriously – "and you suggested challenging for Captain too. Maybe I will do something like that this year – once we have our team after tryouts."

"That is a really bad idea," Lily told him. "You'd have everyone fighting each other for those spots on the team all season instead of working together."

"We talked about that last season too; though Olivia didn't end up doing anything at all. I was thinking more along the lines of one chance per player for a challenge for the entire season," Al advised her – "and a cut-off period ahead of each match."

"You're just messing with me," James declared.

"I'm not – though you won't believe me about this either. For the record, I know I can do the job, and have reasons for doing it; but I'd have been okay with it had you or anyone else been named Captain instead."

"Like I said – you're just messing with me," James retorted. He did walk back to his chair as he said that, though; since Al hadn't dropped his shield the entire time; and he'd lost focus of his little shields and they'd stopped working anyway.

"I'm not," Al repeated; and then grinned. "If I really wanted to mess with you; I'd decide to play Seeker and then have fun all season with you as my back-up!" That comment earned a round of laughs from his parents and sister; but James just glowered at him.

"You're a freak and ought to be put down like the rabid dog you are," James declared.

"That's Captain Freak to you," Lily joked; but didn't earn as many laughs for her effort to lighten the mood.

"More like Captain Concussion," James retorted as he picked up his plate and threw it like a Fanged Frisbee at the back of Al's head. He was smirking viciously right up until Al spun and caught it in his hand about six inches in front of his face.

"I'm cooking – not filling everyone's plates," he deadpanned as he handed the plate to his father because he was closest. "Thanks for trying to help out, though."

"Why don't we just take a break," Harry suggested. "Give your mother your books and supplies list, James; we'll drop the whole Hogwarts letters thing; and move on." He focused his attention on Lily; smiled; and shook his head. "Don't do it," he warned. "We'll congratulate you later when it won't just annoy James."

"You're messing up all of the fun I expected to have," Lily complained; and Harry laughed.

"You have a warped sense of what is and isn't fun," he advised her; and it was Lily's turn to laugh.

"That's basically what Al told me a little while ago, but it is a matter of perspective; and my point of view is much more entertaining."

"Maybe, but we aren't going to go around and around with this; so talk about something else – like your shopping trip."

"Okay, can Al and I get new brooms for the gifts you're going to get us for making Captain and Prefect? James already has one, so he won't mind – even though he has to wait until a week from Saturday to show it off to everyone."

"Sure," Harry agreed; surprising everyone in the room except Al before he added – "we'll be happy to get you a brand new Cleansweep."

"That is so not funny," Lily complained; though she laughed too when even James couldn't resist snorting at that little 'gotcha' moment.

"Be glad that James has set the bar a bit lower for getting a Lightningbolt," Ginny suggested. "Now you just need to convince the Harpies to hire you early and get one for you – since we are unemployed and will use up the broom budget between now and when you're seventeen."

"This is not fun at all," Lily complained. "Let's go back to watching James yell at Al and try to blast him."

They weren't allowed to do that, but James still complained about everything; insulted Al about everything from the food to his clothes, looks, and smell; and then he tried to hit him one last time right before Harry took him to work. Al had help with the clean-up; so he was able to sit and take a break to talk with Gwendolyn when she called him. It wasn't until then that he even thought about the fact that he and Lily hadn't talked with anyone else yet about their Hogwarts letters, but that didn't really bother him; and he was glad to see Gwendolyn's smiling face in his mirror.

"Were you too busy talking to Rose again this year to call me first?" she teased; and Al laughed.

"No, I was too busy getting blasted by James to want to inflict that on anyone else. You must be having a good morning."

"I am," she agreed. "The extra work may be a pain, but the Prefect baths will be wonderful. I had eight O's and two E's again this year too; so Mum and Dad are happy."

"Congratulations," Al told her enthusiastically. "That's brilliant!"

"You must be a Prefect too," she said next. "Is that why James is so mad at you?"

"That didn't help," Al answered; "but he lost it when he found out I've been named team Captain too."

"And James found that out himself because he didn't want to wait for Al to open his Hogwarts letter and did it himself," Lily called out cheerfully. "You should've been here – it was brilliant!"

"Olivia picked you for Captain?" Gwendolyn exclaimed; though she laughed at Lily's comments first. "That is brilliant!"

"I don't think that she did; but Professor Longbottom and Mr. Peakes definitely gave me the job – or I think they did."

"What does that mean?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed.

"Well, I haven't actually looked at the letter. Mum put it back together after james shredded it; and cleaned and fixed my badges because he stomped on them for a while after cutting and ripping them up before trying to pound me; but I didn't actually see the signatures yet."

"It's all official," Ginny assured him – "and you should let Rose know soon too; since she'll want to know who ended up with the job."

"She'll be the other Gryffindor Prefect for sure," Gwendolyn declared confidently. I don't need to ask if you have straight-O's – you were first or second in almost every class; and probably third in the other one you didn't win an award for in June."

"How did Jonah do?" Lily asked. "If he beat me; I should probably know that before we meet up in Diagon Alley – just to make sure I bring along the right charms on my bracelet."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Five O's, two E's – and he's Captain of our junior team. I haven't talked to Pauline yet; but can tell you that she recommended giving the Captain job to Peter this year so he could get a turn at it before they graduate."

"That's a brilliant idea – Al should do that for me next year!" Lily suggested with a grin. "I'd love to be a five-year team Captain."

"Has that even happened since we started having junior teams?" Gwendolyn asked; and then smiled ruefully and answered her own question. "Never mind – I was likely just blocking out Victor Avery's name for a moment there. He was Captain six-out-of-seven years for Slytherin."

"True, but he had a fairly-awful record," Lily pointed out. Did he even get six wins in those six years? You have five in two seasons as Captain, Gwendolyn; and Al will hopefully have six after his second year."

"You're not supposed to give her that kind of incentive to beat us next May," Al told Lily; and she laughed.

"Gwendolyn will not need any help to be motivated; so you'd better be ready for that match too. If Peter does end up being Captain, though; I don't want to see you wishing him good luck the way you did that with Gwendolyn in your third-year match!"

That joke earned a round of laughs; they talked for a few more minutes; and then Gwendolyn ended the chat so she could make some other calls since none of them had any information about the highlights of Hogwarts letters day from any of their cousins or friends. Al got back to work on the clean-up and let Lily take a turn making some calls – with the first one to Rose and Hugo. While Rose had been happy to be named a Prefect too and that Al had been named senior team Captain; Ron had some fun razzing Al, Lily, and Ginny about getting those team Captain jobs over his kids. AFter the clean-up, Lily and Ginny both continued to get more information about the Hogwarts letters from around the family and for some friends, and while they learned some news quickly – like that Louis had been named Head Boy; it took until after they were in Diagon Alley and with a bunch of their cousins and friends to get a better picture of some of the most-important details that they all wanted to know. By then, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were teamed up for the supply shopping; and they talked about all of that gossip as they worked through getting their books and everything else they'd need for the start of their OWL year.

"I'm not surprised that Louis is Head Boy," Rose said as they wandered around the book store, "but I guess that I don't know Deanna Thomas very well; since I didn't even think about her for Head Girl."

"She was one of our Ravenclaw Prefects," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Teresa just overshadows her twin because of the Quidditch announcing. They are both really good students too."

"I guess that I knew that," Rose said with a nod. "She'll do well-enough as Head Girl; and I am happy that Louis is Head Boy."

Gwendolyn laughed. "Of course you are," she agreed. "He'll have less time for Quidditch; and that gives you a better chance of keeping your job on the team again this year – or getting it back again; depending on how you count that last match."

"That might work out nicely for me; though I'd still feel bad for Louis. He does want to play in the show too."

"He will whether he makes the team or not," Al predicted. "Any team would be lucky to have him."

"Including yours this season?" Rose teased; and Al grinned at her.

"Definitely; but then we'd be just as lucky to have you. You're trying to mess with me, but I hope you do make the team; because I have more fun when you're on the team with me – and I do think that you're better than Louis."

"Thanks, but I'll still worry about making the team – and keep working my tail off to be readyf or tryouts," Rose declared seriously. "Let's hope that tryouts go as well for us as the Prefect picks have for our study group; since we're four of eight for that – and only had a shot at six without any Slytherin members."

"You could say that we're five-of-six," Al offered; "and we don't know who got the other Hufflepuff spot with Susannah yet. Landon was in our study group back in first year."

"Maybe it'll be Shane; and then Rose can be two-for-two with former boyfriends as Prefects," Gwendolyn teased; and then laughed. "You know, he actually does have a good chance at that; since he is one of the best Hufflepuff students in our year."

"Let's not go there," Rose suggested; though she'd laughed at Gwendolyn's joke and comment. "I don't want to be thinking about ex-boyfriends right now when I'm getting so close to having my next one."

"Is there anything new going on with Kyle that you haven't told me about yet?" Gwendolyn asked.

"No, but he knows that I'm lying to him about what I'm doing today – again; so that's just one more stone in the wall that's building up between us. He doesn't trust me anymore – with good reason; and there's nothing I'm willing to do to fix it between us. I ought to just break it off with him sooner instead of later; but can't bring myself to do it."

"Then let's change the subject to something really scary," Gwendolyn suggested. "What do you think James will do with all of the extra time he'll have this year with only three classes?"

"That'll depend on how many good-looking Witches are available to hang out with during all of those study classes," Rose suggested. "I seriously doubt that he'll practice Quidditch for hours a day – or study his way up to top student for each of those classes."

"He might train more every day," Al disagreed. "I doubt he'll study any harder this year; and might even do less."

"You don't think he'll even try to pass this year?" Rose asked; and Al smiled ruefully and shrugged.

"That might depend on how well his Quidditch season goes. I'm guessing that the two will be opposites one way or the other."

"Well, I don't like that at all," Rose told him. "If he has a bad season, so will our team, and if he has a great year; you're saying he could end up in sixth-year again – with us!"

"I think he's predicting that James will quit and go to the show early if he has a good season," Gwendolyn offered; and then grinned. "That's probably a good idea for him; since he'd hate it if Lily won their Seeker tryouts next year; and he's sure now that Al will not recommend him for Captain – so he'd need to have that duel with her!"

"That's a great point," Rose agreed – "and Al and I have reason to hope for a great Quidditch season for James."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I'll cheer for him for your first two matches; and hope that'll be enough. Since we're talking Quidditch; who can we call to find out about the Hufflepuff Captains? Their House might have the most-interesting tryouts this year; and we don't know much about what they've been doing for training so far this summer."

"That might be a job for Lily or Jonah," Rose suggested. "Hugo doesn't have many friends linked to his mirror; so he'd need to bump into some of them while we're here to talk with most of his friends."

Talking to friends that came to Diagon Alley to get books too ended up being exactly how they found out that Roman Smith and Lee Johnson got the Hufflepuff Captain jobs for the senior and junior teams respectively. They also found out about how most of their study group friends did on their reports; and even had a few cameo moments with some soon-to-be-firsties – though that was mostly through the parents and their music, Quidditch, or Ministry of Magic connections. That was most-notable for the fact that there weren't any new firsties from the Weasley clan; though Gwendolyn would continue to have some of her cousins starting at Hogwarts – with Ryan and Katrina's sister, Meg, being the newest Hogwarts student from their family.

While gossip was as sought-after as the latest versions of RevisionWizard; they did also want to get their shopping done too. They had a lot of fun with that; and they managed to get everything from new robes to potions supplies, inks, and quills. Ginny wasn't exactly amused with her RevisionWizard purchases; but it was still funny to have such a wide range in prices from James' version with just three classes and the books for those subjects through to eleven classes for Al's version that was also fairly-expensive. They had lunch at one of the cafes; shopped until mid-afternoon; and then the Potters and McCormacks split up long-enough for Al and Lily to take their things home and pack overnight bags before they went on to spend the rest of the day with Gwendolyn and Jonah – and stay for a camping night so that they wouldn't be around James when he got home again.

"Are you and Dad going to be okay?" Lily asked Ginny as they shared a good-bye hug when she was ready to go home again after dropping Al and Lily off and having another little chat with Kirley.

"We'll be fine," Ginny assured her. "We'll go out for dinner with James; take him shopping; and then tire him out with a Seeker duel. That should be enough to dull the worst of the rage for a while." She smiled at Al. "You should spend some time thinking about how you're going to deal with James before your Quidditch practice tomorrow night. You'll officially be in charge; and he'll have Ollie and the other guys around to try and impress."

"Remind me to send Professor Longbottom and Mr. Peakes boxes of wheezes-gone-bad for a thank-you gift," Al joked. "Maybe I should've stayed at home tonight and tried to work this out with James ahead of time."

"You'll need to do the job despite him," Lily said seriously. "There's nothing you'll be able to do to work it out with him short of refusing the job – and you can't do that unless you want me to hex you the minute we're on the Hogwarts Express. James will be mad at you no matter what happens, but he does want that rich and famous future of his; so he'll play along – even as he treats us horribly no matter how much we're all helping him to get there."

"You're likely right about that," Ginny agreed. "Al will need to take a stand tomorrow night, though; or he won't be able to keep any control over James and Ollie at all."

"I'll try to do that," Al promised without mentioning that he didn't think that Lily was right about what James would or wouldn't do. "I still want you and Dad to keep training us. Everyone is getting better; and that's good for our House and team – and for James' brilliant future in the show."

Ginny pretended to sigh. "I guess we can do that – though you're taking a big risk to your reputation by continuing to have your Mum and Dad help out like that."

"You don't think that any Hogwarts team Captain would get a boost to their rep from having the future star Seeker of the Cannons helping out with summer workouts?" Al joked.

"Well, if you and Lily don't want the help; I'm sure that all of the Ravenclaw players would like your Mum and Dad to help us," Jonah suggested. "Should I sign them up for our workouts tomorrow – or do that next week?"

"They're booked for my team workouts for the rest of the summer," Lily told him. "Get your own future Cannons star players for your workouts."

"Isn't Rose considering him for one of those jobs?" Gwendolyn teased. "He can train himself."

That joke was one of the last before Ginny left; Kirley went to do some work in his office; and the four teens went outside to go for a swim and play for a while until it was time to help Kirley with making dinner for six. With opening day for the league just days away, Gwenog couldn't take the night off to play once she was finished with the team workouts, but they did have fun while having dinner together; and then Gwenog needed to do more work while the kids spent their evening playing Quidditch, swimming, and watching mirror network shows in the tent before having a pair of sofa sleepovers.

"This is your big surprise?" James asked scornfully as he looked around. "One of us has actually worked today, so if you think I'm going to start shopping for my school supplies now; you've thought wrong."

"We are going to do some shopping too; but we're meeting your mother here and going out for dinner," Harry advised him. "Your books and the rest of your school supplies have already been picked up; so we only need to get your robes – and some new clothes that you'll need for a few important days you have coming up over the next few weeks."

"Bringing me here won't keep me from blasting the loser," James warned; and Harry laughed.

"No, but he and Lily are at the McCormacks for the night; so that will work for a day. You need to get over being mad about Al getting the Captain job. You don't have to like it, but Lily was right about everything she told you this morning; and you need to make the best of the situation."

"No, I don't," James disagreed. "I'm going to make sure that Captain Animorphloser regrets ever getting everyone to pick him for the job over me."

"How will you do that?" Harry asked quietly. "Will you do everything you can to mess up your House team? You could sit back and lose your first Seeker duel to Slytherin; but you'd be replaced after that – and have everyone in your House mad at you for doing it. Your Slytherin friends might appreciate the help, but the Catapults won't be impressed; and you've lost your mind if you actually want to lose a match on purpose."

"I'm still working on my master plan; and I certainly won't be telling you what it is so that you can run off and warn the prefect loser."

"Well, in that case; I'll offer a suggestion for your master plan," Harry told him. "Practice hard and try your best; Al will do the same; and you can get your revenge when all of that effort pays off and you're a rich and famous Quidditch star."

"Letting Slytherin win is looking better and better," James retorted; and Harry laughed.

"If you think so; don't bother trying out for the team at all, James. You'd be better off not getting that loss. I don't think you're going to do any of that, though; so this is really a bit silly."

"Why do you say that?" James asked suspiciously.

"Because you've mentioned playing for our National team next summer – a few times now," Harry answered. "Normally, I'd say that a Hogwarts student would have no chance at all of a spot on one of the national teams, but you're going to have a unique opportunity this year. If you play well-enough; you're going to get the kind of attention that could get you nominated to our national team – even over players like Aaron and the other top Seekers in the league. You have been working hard this summer, James, and if you keep doing that; I think you could be on that team next summer."

"You're just messing with me to try and get me to play nice," James retorted.

"I'd like you to play nice; but I'm not messing with you," Harry assured him. "Whether you get taken seriously by the nomination committee will be up to you – and how well you compare to the other top Seekers this season; but I think you could do it. This could prove to be a really good year for our family if you could make the team along with some of your cousins."

"You almost had me there; and then you had to go and add that last comment and ruin the whole thing," James deadpanned. "Back to working on plan 'A' it is."

"I guess that's up to you, but there's your Mum; so let's go and get something to eat. You may think that your summer job with the Catapults is tough, but I'd take a double training day over the hours of shopping we did today with a gaing of teens."

Scorpius and Lysandra were out for a walk after dinner with their parents and his grandparents – a celebration of sorts to congratulate them on being named Prefects for their House; and for earning good marks in all of their classes. It was also the first time they'd been on their own all day; and they were both glad to finally have a chance to talke freely without having parents or other teens around them for a while.

"Would you like to start with talking Quidditch or chat about the news that James had for you when you had that mirror chat with him earlier?"

"We're not surprised that the Animorphloser, Potty-trainer, and Rose Weasel were all named Prefects," Scorpius said scornfully. "Let's hope that we won't have to actually spend much time with them."

"We'll be stuck with them for the trip to Hogwarts," Lysandra reminded him. "Merlin only knows how often our new Head Weasel will want to have Prefect meetings; and let's not even talk about running into any of them in the Prefect baths."

"As if I'll use them once they've been stunk up by the Potty," Scorpius said derisively. "We'll have to put up with them when we have no other choice; but I'm not going to be pushed around or given the worst jobs; so the Head Weasel better not try to mess with us."

"I'm not really worried about that," Lysandra told him. "We're more-likely to have that sort of trouble from the sixth and seventh-year Slytherin Prefects trying to give us the worst Prefect jobs around our House."

"We won't let them do that either," Scorpius assured her. "Mulciber and the Selwyns might think they can boss us around; but they'll find out differently the first time they try. I was glad to see that Don didn't try to act like that when he got us together for a team meeting and workout. I'm glad that he got picked to be Captain instead of Avery, Mulciber, or anyone else."

"You'd have been better; but Don's likely next-best – and he might even be able to keep Rupert and G-Air from looking like idiots this season."

"That might be beyond anyone to do," Scorpius only half-joked. "At least they managed to pass some OWLs. We'd have hated having them in our class this year if they'd needed to do their OWL year over again."

"Now that would be scary," Lysandra agreed. "They are going to be on probation all year, though; so they'll have to play nice – even with the loser."

"Unless they don't care anymore," Scorpius suggested. "I'd hope that they'd go for it anyway, but they are still two of the best players in our House; so we'll need them to have any chance of a better season than we had last year."

"That would be great, Scorpius, but from what I saw today; you'd be better off with Andrea than G-Air; and you made Rupert look the fool during your scrimmage. I don't like our chances against Gryffindor or Ravenclaw; and we'll have to wait and see what kind of a team Hufflepuff ends up with after losing their best players to graduation."

"Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have lost some players too," Scorpius reminded her. "James is better than G-Air, but he sounded so mad at the loser; I wouldn't be surprised if he throws matches just to mess with him for being named Captain."

"We can talk to him about that this weekend, and he might think about it; but I doubt he'd actually do that," Lysandra suggested. "He might consider helping us out with pounding on the loser during your match, though; and might have some ideas about how you could do that."

"Do you really think that we should take advice from him on besting the Animorphloser?" Scorpius asked seriously. "Even when he's blasted his brother; James has still managed to find a way to lose every time."

Lysandra laughed. "Maybe you need to think about that like the Falcons do," she suggested. "Sometimes it's okay to lose as long as you bash in some heads along the way."

"I'd rather win," Scorpius declared.

"I know, but if that isn't going to happen; then I do get taking advantage of a legitimate reason to pound on the loser – or the Potty-trainer."

"You must be mistaking me for Rosier," Scorpius told her. "That isn't really my game at all."

"It should be part of it," Lysandra told him a bit bluntly. "Maybe that's what you need to take your game to the next level – and give your opponents something to be worried about beyond your speed and skills. I think that they know you've played too nice all of the time so far; and they take advantage of that."

"That's a fair point," Scorpius conceded. "Don will want us to play tougher too – if not to the extent that your brother wanted when he was leading us for the first half of last summer."

"I really do think that playing tougher will help you – and it would be a good idea to get Don to match you up against the best Chasers in the other Houses – whether you win or lose those battles against them." She smiled at his reaction to the second-half of that comment. "You had a good match-up against Lucy Weasel last season, Scorpius; but we both know why you didn't want to go up against the loser or the potty-trainer. You do want to play in the show, though; so you need to find out for sure how you match up against them – and get the game-time practice against the best players before you'll know what more you need to do to be ready for that."

Scorpius sighed. "Sometimes, it might be nice if you weren't so bloody perceptive," he half-joked; and Lysandra laughed.

"You've come a long way since we were firsties, but if we want to take over the Wizarding World one Quidditch fan at a time; you need to go for it – and be willing to learn from our enemies so we can be ready to defeat them."

"Now you sound like Thomas," Scorpius told her with a laugh. "I miss being able to talk to him sometimes; so maybe that's a good thing – and it's a nice bonus that you're so much hotter than he is!"

Lysandra was happy with those compliments, and they went on to continue that chat for a while; but eventually found a nice, secluded place for a bit of outdoor snogging fun that really took their celebration and fun to a much hotter level! Scorpius wasn't happy about all of the Hogwarts letters and Quidditch news he'd heard – particularly from James, but there was a lot of good too; and it was brilliant to get to share so much of the great parts of his life with Lysandra!

Thursday and Friday were fairly-quiet, uneventful days between the arrival of Hogwarts letters and opening day for the new league Quidditch season. Al and Lily had gone home on Thursday morning; she'd had her first team workout as Captain; and he'd worked on mirror messaging upgrades that they were looking to have ready for the Christmas shopping season. Gwendolyn and Jonah came over after his team workout; and they had a play afternoon – though they did some chores first that Harry and Ginny wanted to get done ahead of the weekend. They didn't have any dinner guests, since Gwendolyn had her team practice to get to after dinner, but while James was horrid with Al while they ate; he pretended to play nice with just the normal insults and razzing during Al's first team workout as Captain.

That was the worst part of those two days for Al even as he did pretty well leading that practice. While James didn't try to make things too awful for him; that wasn't true for Ollie; and he went out of his way – unsuccessfully – to try and make Al look bad. Ollie's best chance to do that was during the scrimmage, but whether he tried to bash Al when paired up against him or tried to gang up on him when someone else had that job; it ended badly for him every time. That just made Ollie angrier, but with Harry and Ginny there; he was forced to seethe in silence – particularly after the practice was over. Fortunately for Al; most of the other players he was likely to be working with all season were generally happy with his pick for the Captain job – or they were at least willing to work with him and play nice.

While he sensed that Tiberius would have taken the job if it had been offered to him; Al was also sure that he wasn't terribly disappointed not to have the responsibilities that went along with being Captain. Louis would've been happy to be Captain instead, but hadn't expected to get the recommendation after losing all four senior matches he'd played in so far; and he was going to be busy-enough as Head Boy anyway. That thought had made Al smile, since he might be in charge of the team; but Louis would be in charge the rest of the time – particularly when it came to telling his prefects what to do. Since he still had his parents lead the training parts of their workout, nothing else really changed – including the after-practice snacks, drinks, and cool-off swim time.

James went back to being horrid to him after everyone left, but Al went to bed early; only had to deal with James at breakfast on Friday; and then he had three James-free days to look forward to once his brother left for work after breakfast. Once he was gone, it was time for some chores around the house and yard; Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily to London to meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah; and they went out for lunch and a bit of back-to-school clothes shopping with Rose, Kyle, and Hugo. They had that meal and play time at their favorite Muggle mall; went home by late afternoon; and then the Potters and McCormacks were together for dinner and some quiet play time in the back yard before Gwenog took Kirley home ahead of her first game night curfew of the season and left Gwendolyn and Jonah with Al and Lily for the weekend.

Once Harry and Ginny were on their own with the four kids, they all opted for some mirror network watching in the tent. Lee's monologue that was all about a preview of opening day for the Quidditch season was the highlight of that entertainment; though all three couples liked the cuddle time a lot. Harry and Ginny went back to the house after Lee's show; and were sure that there would be two sofa sleepovers going on in the tent for the rest of the night. Doing that was a brilliant end to the day for Al and Gwendolyn – and Lily and Jonah; though none of them managed to stay awake for very long before getting to the napping part of their first camping night of the weekend.

James had a crooked smirk on his face as he wove his way across the bedroom to the bed and listened to the sounds coming from the ensuite bathroom. He briefly considered trying to join the young, naked Witch apparently having a bedtime shower in the other room; but wasn't sure he could navigate his way that far without falling down; so he instead decided to surprise her by getting into her bed and waiting for her to join him. He managed to get his clothes off; climbed into the bed; and then he waited for the room to stop spinning as he relaxed into the luxurious bed and pillows. The singing coming from the bathroom seemed quite good to him; he drifted along as he listened; and then he passed out as the music and effects of too much wine and a busy training day caught up with him and he crashed for the night.

Lysandra frowned as she walked into the bedroom of the guest suite that she'd been using every time she'd stayed overnight at Malfoy Manor; the sound of soft snoring catching her attention immediately. There was a large lump in her bed too; and she shook her head in disgust. She knew what her family wanted of James Potter, and would put up with him because she'd been ordered to do so; but there was no doubt that he was a Hippogriff-sized pig; and as bad or worse than many of the Slytherin Wizards – especially when it came to how he treated Witches.

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked quietly without expecting an answer.

She knew that there was a chance he'd just been too drunk to find Patricia's room, but since he'd flirted with her too; there was an equal chance that he'd thought that she'd love a surprise bedtime visit from him. Her level of disgust moved up to the next level when she walked around to that side of the bed and saw his clothes thrown on the floor and realized that he was also naked.

"Now what do I do?" she asked herself – again speaking aloud; and not expecting James to hear a word. She sighed; went to get her robe; and then left her rooms and went to knock on Patricia's door.

"Come in, James," Patricia said with a sultry tone to her voice; Lysandra opened the door – and then wished she'd called out first when she saw that Patricia wasn't wearing any clothes either. "Lysandra?" Patricia asked in confusion as she yanked the sheet up over herself and stared in shock. "I didn't expect... was expecting..."

"I gather that," Lysandra said as smoothly as she could manage; and smiled slightly because she could see the comedy in the situation even as she was annoyed and disgusted. "Sorry to bother you, but James apparently got lost on the way here and ended up passed out in my bed. If you can throw something on, I'll let you deal with him; grab my things; and move to one of the other guest rooms for the rest of the night."

"I'm sorry," Patricia said seriously; looking stricken. "He didn't, um, try to bother you?"

"He got into my bed while I was having a shower," Lysandra answered. "I may blast him tomorrow if I find out he tried to take a peek while I was in there, but since he left his clothes on the floor; I'll guess that he thought he'd be surprising you and then passed out before I was finished in the bathroom." she shook her head and smiled ruefully. "If you want to just leave him there, I can understand that, but please come with me so I can get my things; since I'd hate to have anyone come along and see me in my room with James like that and have them jump to any wrong conclusions. Scorpius would not be amused – and neither would any of our parents."

"I'll come," Patricia promised.

"Okay," Lysandra agreed. "I'll wait for you out in the hallway while you get dressed."

She was still waiting out in the hallway when one of the servants came along and was surprised to see her. The squib had pretended to be happy to help get another room ready for Lysandra after finding out why she'd been out and about after her hosts had all retired for the night; so that had worked out – even though Lysandra hadn't been happy to have witnesses when that gossip was now sure to get back to Scorpius' parents – and hers. It wasn't long before Patricia joined her; they went to Lysandra's room; and then Patricia decided to just stay with James instead of trying to move him; and Lysandra went with the squib servant to her new quarters. Once she was settled in and in the bed; she got her mirror out and called Scorpius.

"Can't sleep either?" he asked after answering on the first ring. "You're welcome to come over to my room for a while until we are both tired-enough to sleep."

Lysandra laughed. "Let's talk about making some you and me time for another night. I just called to warn you in case you decided to try and sneak into my room later."

"Warn me of what?" Scorpius asked; and then grinned. "Did you forget to pack a nightie?"

"Wizards have a one-track mind – which is likely why James Potter is passed out in my bed right now."

"What!" Scorpius demanded; and Lysandra laughed.

"I'm in a different room now," she advised him. "Patricia is dealing with her drunk, unconscious boyfriend in my room." She laughed again. "Stop looking like that – though I was disgusted when I found him there after I was finished getting ready for bed in the bathroom. Our new friend really is a pig, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the story that he was just too drunk to find Patricia's room. She was expecting him when I went to get her to help me with James. That's why I'm calling you; since it would really be weird if you snuck into my old room and ended up in bed with them instead."

"Thanks for the warning – though I'm still going to be mad at James for being such a git. He'll likely be a git about all of this tomorrow too – once he finds out about what he did."

"No doubt," Lysandra agreed. "If he keeps acting like he did tonight around me; we're going to need to have a chat with him about that once we're back at Hogwarts and can use magic again. Our parents – and Thomas – may want us to be best mates with James; but he has got to learn that there are limits on just how friendly he can be with me. Sleepovers in my room are definitely not going to be part of that deal."

"I am so glad to hear that!" Scorpius assured her. "Let's talk about something else, though; since I really don't want to think about this too much. It would be very impolite for me to go and blast one of my guests while he's passed out."

"We should get some sleep anyway," Lysandra suggested. "We do have a busy day planned for tomorrow – including the Falcons' match."

Scorpius agreed with that, but they talked for a while longer before going to sleep. Wanting to change the subject didn't allow him to stop thinking about James being in Lysandra's room – while she'd been in the shower; and within the privacy of his own thoughts; he had more than a few doubts about whether James had ended up in Lysandra's room by accident or not, but while that didn't actually surprise him, and he was sure that he didn't have to worry about how Lysandra would deal with James; he still couldn't keep from being angry about it.

There was a lot that he liked about James, and he sometimes wished he could be more like his confident, outgoing friend; and he even sometimes wondered at what it would be like to hook up with lots of different Witches, but that had all changed for him now that he was with Lysandra; and she was right that they'd need to deal with James and get it through his thick skull that messing around with her was off-limits.

That didn't keep him from wishing that he'd been the one to sneak into Lysandra's room, but while he thought she might let him stay if he did; they were both going to continue to be careful and make sure that they didn't do anything that might mess things up with her parents and undo everything they'd accomplished over the past year.

Getting closer to James – and learning more about their most-hated enemies was part of those ongoing efforts, so they'd find a way to deal with him without getting him too mad at them, but that was something he could deal with in the morning; so Scorpius eventually managed to get to sleep – and then have some very happy dreams that included Lysandra in a starring role that was much hotter than anything he'd seen while she'd been rehearsing and acting in the mirror network version of the Christmas musical!

As usual, Al woke early; shared a bit of cuddle time with Gwendolyn before going and taking his turn in the bathroom; and then he went to cook breakfast for six while she napped for a while longer and Jonah took second turn getting ready for the day – and then joined Al and Harry in the kitchen. While the Harpies-United match was to be the entertainment highlight of the day, it was also Ray's fifteenth birthday; and his parents were including that match as part of his birthday celebration – and having a big party for him back at their house after the game. Their usual lunch at the Leaky wasn't officially part of Ray's party, but he was going to be there with Cyndia and his family; so the birthday and Quidditch fun was going to start then.

Before getting there, though, they had breakfast; took care of the clean-up; did a few chores; and then they went to Chudley to spend a bit of time with Malorie before taking her along and going to the Leaky. They hadn't set up any specific plans, and ended up doing a bit of work in the nursery that Malorie was still setting up – or Harry did that with Al and Jonah; and the girls split their time between supervising that work and running an errand to pick up a few things that they'd needed to do those jobs but that Malorie hadn't had in her flat or the office. That kept them busy until lunchtime; and then they got to the Leaky early-enough so that Harry and Ginny could welcome their game-day gang – and so that Malorie could be there from the beginning instead of attracting a lot of attention with a grand entrance after nearly everyone else was there instead. They sat together at one table; and only had Kirley join them so that Malorie had a small buffer from some of the gawkers in the room – and there were quite a few Witches and Wizards watching her at least in part because she was now down to weeks to her due date and very, very pregnant with the twins.

"They're all just watching our Mum and Dads," Lily told her with a grin. "You may not have heard; but they're rather famous."

Malorie smiled at her. "I have heard that, and might believe you; except that most of them look as though they're watching a beached whale or something – and I'm the only one at the table that resembles one."

"You only feel that way," Ginny told her. "Been there – three times. "They really are all watching you, so thank –you; since it's nice to get a break from all of that now and then."

"I'm so glad to be able to help you out with that," Malorie deadpanned. "If I wasn't so excited about getting to see my first league match in person at a stadium; I'd think about going home and hiding again until after the twins are born."

"Well, I'd recommend at least coming out of hiding in time to get to St. Mungo's," Lily teased; "but that's up to you."

"You're on a roll today," Malorie complimented her. "Have fun, 'cause I'm going to remember all of this every time you're around and the girls need diaper changes."

"Which will be a lot with twins," Ginny advised Lily. "If that doesn't scare you – it should."

"I'll just do what Gwendolyn has been doing when we've babysat her newest cousin – get Al to do those diaper changes," Lily said dismissively. "He'll love doing that."

"I'll love spending time with Jaimie and Lorie," Al promised. "Nobody with a sense of smell loves diaper change time."

"That's a stinker of a lunchtime chat topic,' Harry joked. "Why don't you try moving on to something else?"

They did that; kept entertained as they had their meal ; and then they headed for Exmoor stadium with the last members of their group that had stayed behind to settle bills before moving on to the extreme Quidditch fun part of the day. Malorie had been at the stadium for opening day of training camp, but it was still fun to see her reaction to being there for the first time with tens of thousands of Quidditch fans – her first experience ever in a single place with that many Witches and Wizards. Going through the concession stands with her for the first time was an adventure too, since while there had been booths at the stadium for the team introductions too; it wasn't quite the same – and the crush for drinks, snacks, and souvenirs was amazing for any first-timer. Al had some extra fun with that by buying some souvenirs for Jaimie and Lorie, since it was their first professional match too; and he and Gwendolyn stayed close to Malorie to make sure she was buffered from the press of the crowd.

They had lots of time to pick up everything they wanted before the game; and were in their seats with a few minutes to spare before the annual bore-fest that was the opening day ceremony. Al and Gwendolyn sat with Malorie and Rose on one side and Lily and Jonah on the other, but for this match; they were also behind Ray and Cyndia; and most of the teens and tweens invited to his birthday party were around Ray in a total of four rows. Malorie felt a bit out of place in that group, but had Harry and Ginny directly behind her; and Rose had wanted to be able to talk with her during the game – including being able to talk Cannons business. She didn't try to do that before the game, but that was mostly because they were all involved in some birthday chat time with Ray and Cyndia instead – or they were until the opening ceremony began.

"If you need a nap; this is the perfect time for it," Gwendolyn suggested to Malorie. "They should do something to make these ceremonies more exciting. There ought to be a discount on tickets for this match just for making all of us listen to these boring speeches"

"Some Muggle sports have things like pre-game mini-concerts or other activities," Malorie offered. "Hiring bands might not be something they could do without charging quite a bit more; but games for fans – like skills competitions – don't have to cost much – just some prizes."

"I don't know if you'd get many fans interested in trying bludger dodging," Al joked. "Broom races or maybe Chaser or Seeker duels might be possible – or even a timed scrimmage."

"That might work for opening day or during the playoffs; but I don't see that sort of thing being something they'd do for every match," Rose suggested. "Hearing new ideas is better than listening to these speeches, though; so maybe we can talk about what we can do for our Cannons' opening day in twenty-twenty-four to make it more memorable than this snooze-fest."

"Well, we could start with Animorphmagus-themed ideas," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al – "or is that too obvious?"

"If you really wanted to have fun with that; you'd need a different team," Lily suggested. "Al's talent would come in very handy for the teams with animal names – like the Bats."

"I'm so glad that you didn't use the Falcons for that example," Al joked – "though being a falcon is more fun than a bat."

"Well, you'll be playing for the Cannons; but I like that idea for having some sport with those other teams," Rose suggested. "We could have you fly out into the stadium with the rest of our team as each of those animals."

"He'd be tough to spot as a Wasp," Gwendolyn teased.

"Or scary if he just made himself very large," Malorie added. "If you're looking for something quicker but still entertaining, though; you could try doing something more than just flying a lap or two around the stadium like all of the teams do now while being introduced. I've seen some of you practice your flying tricks before – maybe you could turn that into a little pre-game show."

"That's an idea," Rose agreed thoughtfully. "Add that to your list, Al, and we can talk about how we might be able to do that."

"Along with everything else you already have on that list," Gwendolyn said with a smile and shake of her head – and then laughed. "Actually, you should go ahead with that, since if you're busy doing stuff like that; you won't be concentrating on the Quidditch."

"We'll definitely be doing that first; and adding in the bonus fun when we can do that too," Rose assured her. "We are going to have fun. Can you be sure that'll be true if you work for your Mum?"

"Lily and I will trade a bit less fun for more championships," Gwendolyn countered.

"Maybe I should start a new round of bets for whether the Harpies or Cannons will win more championships for a certain number of years starting the season we all start playing in the show."

"James would tell you that number will be zero for both teams because he'll win them all with the Catapults," Malorie advised her; and Rose laughed.

"We really are an arrogant lot," she declared. "That may show up in different ways, but we all think that our team will be the best; and I'm going to feel bad when Gwendolyn, Lily, and James find out that they're wrong and are forced to take that hit to their egos."

"You're on a roll today," Gwendolyn complimented. "The delusional optimist is rubbing off on you, though; since now you've gone from winning one championship in your lifetime to winning more than the Harpies will over some unspecified time – or while we're all playing in the show."

"That'll be a long time too; since Lily's planning on playing for at least one hundred years," Al reminded them; and then smiled at Rose. "You might want to take that into consideration before making those bets; since I don't plan on playing in the show for nearly that long."

"Good point," Rose conceded. "Do you think anyone would take the bet for however long we're all in the show?"

"That might depend on how long that would be," Gwendolyn told her. "You've lost track of the topic – unless you're thinking about starting each match with the bet of the day."

"I don't like that idea," Rose answered; "but we might be able to do team raffles for charity."

"Would you get Susannah to run that for you too?" Gwendolyn asked. "She did a great job with the RevisionWizard project at Christmas."

"What are you talking about?" Malorie asked. "Did Susannah – and the rest of you – have something to do with the RevisionWizard and mirror that I got for Christmas?"

"We wanted to keep that quiet," Gwendolyn answered, "so I shouldn't have said anything; but Susannah did lead that project; and a bunch of us helped out; but it was really our parents that made it happen because they made all of the donations or rounded up the sponsors that paid for everything."

"The Harpies and Weird Sisters were two of those sponsors," Al added; "and I like the idea of having a charity linked directly to the Cannons – and getting our fans to help out with it."

"Well, the six of them could probably help out with a Christmas gift or two," Lily teased. "You'll be Gwendolyn's personal charity case for the Harpies while you do that and she has to support you while you try to Keep your Cannons team from losing too much money."

"Wouldn't that make the entire team a charity case?" Gwendolyn asked her; and Lily laughed.

"Well, then Al won't need to do anything – he's already got that charity thing covered."

All joking aside, Al did like that idea a lot; mentally added it to his to-do list for the Cannons; and they all went on to keep themselves entertained until the speeches were over and the Harpies and United teams were introduced with extra fanfare and a lot of spectator enthusiasm. It wasn't long after that to the start of the match; and the two teams – and some of their favorite players – put on an amazing show right from the first race for the quaffle.

For Al, watching Victoire battle against Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia – three of her former team mates – was brilliant, but then he loved getting to watch Malorie enjoy her first experiences at a live league match. That really was different from a school game. Being among tens of thousands of fans was part of that, but the action about the pitch was faster and more-extreme – especially when it was a battle between two of the best teams in the league. United had more unknowns with their team after adding Lucy, Olivia, and Alex to the team, and they also now had the youngest team in the league too with Belinda as the closest thing they had to a veteran player. That was a marked contrast to the Harpies with Victoire as their youngest player when she had one more year in the show than Belinda – and their veterans now had decades of experience in the show.

Experience didn't win out as the game rolled on and on, but the difference was minimal – and really came down to the Keeper duel. Belinda won that battle every hour both for saves, since she faced more shots on goal than Vicky did; and for actual goals given up. For the second part of that; she only won by one or two goals per hour, so that didn't add up very quickly; but it did add up as the game moved on for hour after hour. That was something else that affected Malorie – her advanced pregnancy didn't make sitting in stadium seats for long hours very comfortable. She didn't want to miss any of the action, but Al kept an eye on her; and got her to go for breaks as often as needed – whether that was for washroom breaks or just a walk to releive the aches, pain, and discomfort.

Juggling all of that with some birthday fun participation kept him busy, but then Ray was enjoying the match; and wouldn't have missed having the rest of his friends around as long as Cyndia was there with him. Al could appreciate that, since he felt that way about Gwendolyn; and he was happy for his friends. In fact, everything about Ray's main birthday entertainment was brilliant for them – right up until Alex messed that up for Ray – and all Harpies' fans. Alex's league-debut Seeker match-up couldn't have been tougher than to be up against the reigning Quidditch World Cup and League Champion Harpies' Seeker, but he played brilliantly against Gabrielle all afternoon; and proved that he was ready to be a star in the show long before he caught the snitch at the five-hour and nineteen minute mark.

At that point, his team had earned a hard-fought three-sixty to two-eighty lead, but the Harpies had been in no danger of giving up the one-sixty lead anytime soon; and the catch and win was on a clean, well-executed play that got Gabrielle out of the way just long-enough for Alex to make the catch. That made for a tough end to the match for the Harpies, but Al had still thought it had been a brilliant match; and he was happy for his cousins and friends on the United team – even if he was in the minority for that among all of the Harpies' faithful around him.

Including the opening ceremony, they'd been in their seats for about six hours by then, though, so while some of their group stayed and watched some of the post-game festivities; most of the teens were ready to get up and moving again – and quite a few of them had Ray's birthday party to go on to once they were ready to leave the stadium. Malorie wasn't on the original party guest list, but while Ray's parents had exteneded her an invitation during the match; she decided that she'd had enough by the end of the match and just wanted to go home. Ginny took her home after a long round of goodbyes – mostly to make sure that Malorie got there safely and had everything she needed – including some food for dinner, and while she did that; Harry and Kirley took care of getting their kids to Ray's party.

Ray's parents had invited a lot of people to that party; and the long Quidditch match just meant that they needed to compress some of the fun into less time – and do fewer things. They also needed some extra help, since they didn't have much time to get dinner out and on tables in the back yard; so Al and Gwendolyn volunteered for some of that work – along with Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and quite a few of the parents and grandparents. There were also games to play, a lot of socializing, and two portable pools available for anyone needing to cool off after a hot day at the Exmoor stadium. Al and Gwendolyn managed to have a quick swim after the work too, but then they were brought into the center of Ray's party when it was time for everyone to sit down for dinner because Ray and Cyndia picked them to be their best friend tablemates along with his parents, sister, and grandparents.

"This feels strange to me," Gwendolyn told everyone once they were all seated after filling plates and getting drinks. "I haven't had a birthday party at home since we started at Hogwarts; so there haven't been any parents around to celebrate with – and I wouldn't be able to have a birthday meal with all of these Gryffindors while we're at school."

"I think that we should be allowed to make some exceptions for that at school," Cyndia offered, "but I suppose that with all of the birthdays during the school year; that'd just happen too often." She looked around and smiled. "Summer weather would be nice for my birthday, but the only way that'll happen for me would be if I could fly south for the winter."

"Ray had better hope that Rose doesn't draft him for the Cannons; or he wouldn't be able to go south with you," Gwendolyn teased.

"He wouldn't be able to do that playing for any team in the league," Cyndia reminded her – "and he does want to play in the show as much as you and Al do."

"We can still go south in the winter," Al suggested. "Weekend getaways are an option when we don't have matches; and I think that's a brilliant idea for endurance training for the team. We could fly south on our brooms on a Monday; train for a few days somewhere warm; and then fly back on Friday!"

"That does sound like fun – right up until you can't handle the cold on game day after all of that warm weather," Gwendolyn offered. "Even weekend getaways could make training the next week a bit tougher."

"I've done that a couple of times; and it really does make it tougher to practice during the next week," Ray's mother, Trish, interjected. "That isn't much fun; but the mini-holidays at the beach seemed worth it to me."

"Longer winter holidays in the south now that Ray and Melissa are both in school are worth it now," Wesley suggested with a grin that had their son groaning and their daughter rolling her eyes.

"Quit trying to scare the kids," Ray complained. "Al will not be talking me into playing for the Cannons with offers like that one. I want to win championships – not just play for the worst team in the league."

Al grinned at him. "What makes you think I was suggesting that for you?" he only half-joked. "I've told you before that I think that Cyndia has a lot of potential to be a great player too – and she started this out with talk about flying south for the winter."

Cyndia laughed. "That might work for me too, but don't think that we don't know that you'd hope that Ray would sign up too if I did."

"That would work out nicely for both of you," Al agreed; and then turned his attention to Gwendolyn when she pretended to punch him.

"I'm going to play for the Harpies," she reminded him. "Cut that out – and don't try to deny that you're including me in that little trap!"

Al laughed and shook his head. "I absolutely will deny it," he assured her. "All I've done is come up with an idea for the Cannons that Cyndia would like too. The rest of you have put together all of the other suggestions from there. I have promised you more than once that I'd never mess with your dream of playing for the Harpies."

"You have," Gwendolyn agreed; "but it doesn't feel that way when you talk about doing things like that – especially when it would mean doing that without me."

"I don't want to mess with your dream either," Cyndia told her, "and I do get why you want to play for your Mum's team; but is it really that impossible for you to decide on a different dream? I couldn't even count the different things I wanted to do and be when I grow up. Didn't you ever dream of anything other than being a star player for the Harpies?"

"No – I've always wanted to play for the Harpies," Gwendolyn assured her. "That bugs my Dad, since he wants me to go into music instead; but I've never even thought about doing that. Jonah has; but I think he'll pick Quidditch too. What about you, Melissa? Ray can't play for the Harpies; but you must've wanted to play for your Mum's team."

"That would be brilliant," Melissa agreed, "but there were already a lot of Harpies' kids around by the time I was old-enough to remember dreams about anything I wanted to do when I grow up; so I didn't really think I'd have a chance against other Chasers like you and Tory – or Victoire and Dominique."

"Well, I'd say that Dominique is doing pretty well with United instead of the Harpies," Trish offered. "You could do well with other teams too – maybe even with the Cannons."

"Has Rose gotten to you too?" Gwendolyn complained; and Trish laughed.

"No, but I have seen all of you play Quidditch; so I don't doubt that the Cannons could have a better team if Rose can pull off her plans for the team. I think that Melissa is better than she thinks too; but she could be right about having too many Harpies' kids ahead of her interested in playing for our team; so she likely will end up on a different team – if she still wants to do that when she's done at Hogwarts."

"Maybe Melissa and Kathryn will pair up on a team like Dominique and Lucy have done," Cyndia suggested. "That worked out well for them today."

"I think that United won today because Alex has grown up watching Gabrielle play while she doesn't know much about the way he plays yet," Al offered. "Belinda won the Keeper battle too, but they are a really young team; and we'll have to see whether that works for them all season or not."

"Aren't they exactly the kind of team that you expect to have with the Cannons?" Gwendolyn teased. "Oh wait – I forgot that your Mum is on the short list for Rose's Seeker. You'll only have six teens and one grandmother."

That joke earned a roar of laughter; and the conversation moved along to baby talk after a couple of jokes about Grandma Ginny. While Malorie was mentioned in that; they also started to roast Ray thanks to a request from Cyndia for baby stories about him from his parents. Al and Gwendolyn had fun with that; though they were spectators for most of that part of the dinner conversation. Their meal took a while to get through by the time Ray opened some gifts and they had dessert; so it was dark outside by the time they finished eating and cleaning up. A campfire was the final party entertainment; Kirley was drafted to help with the music; and he got Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah to help him out with that.

They put together a mix of new and old songs; couples danced or cuddled together in front of the fire; and the kids took care of toasting most of the treats over the fire. Al and Gwendolyn had fun with all of that, but he had to deal with a few annoyances too – thanks to Ollie. Ray's cousin had not been happy to be there, but apparently hadn't been given a choice. The dark feelings were bad-enough for Al, but Ollie insulted or razzed him anytime they crossed paths; tried two wheezes pranks; and managed to do all of that without getting noticed or caught by any of the parents. Al knew that he wasn't just mad about the usual things – he was also angry about not having a date for the party or the Quidditch match either. Somehow, that was Al's fault too, and while he didn't think that was funny; Al couldn't keep from being amused anyway when he sensed that even Ollie couldn't come up with an actual reason for why that was supposedly true.

Other than that annoyance, they did have a fun night; and they stayed and played until a bit after midnight – when Harry and Ginny were ready to take their kids home and get some sleep after a long, busy day. They were home by twelve-thirty; the four teens were in the tent by one; and Lily and Jonah were having a sofa sleepover – and actually sleeping – by one-thirty. Al and Gwendolyn were still awake for a while after that, and enjoyed a bit of extremely-quiet snogging; but then they went off to sleep too so that they could get some rest before moving on to the second-half of their 'at home' weekend.

James sat up in the bed in 'his' suite at Malfoy Manor late on Saturday night. He was alone, and while that bugged him, he wasn't surprised that he'd once again managed to get Patricia mad at him. She hadn't been happy with him when he woke in the morning and she explained to him why they were both in Lysandra's room instead of hers or his; she'd been even more annoyed as he went on to have fun with the story at breakfast and during the rest of the morning; and then she'd been furious with him when she actually caught him messing around with another Witch while they'd been at the Falcons' match. He likely could have still worked that out with her, but he'd had a few drinks at the dinner party they'd all been invited to; he hadn't been careful-enough; and she'd caught him a second time – with another, different Witch.

Fortunately for him; those other Witches had been worth the consequences; and he was sure that Patricia would get over being mad at him – and if she didn't; it didn't really matter anymore. In a week, he was going to be the most-famous Hogwarts student; and the Witches would be lining up to get a piece of him!

Looking around the room; he decided that he was going to enjoy having this kind of luxury in his life too – though after spending a few weekends surrounded by opulence and servants doing everything for him; he wasn't sure he'd want everything the Malfoys or the other super-rich families had. Sure, he'd have all of the luxuries; but a luxury flat in the city would work better for him; and a couple of hot Witches willing to do anything for their Master would be better than having to deal with the hassles that came with having a lot of servants. If he eventually changed his mind about that; he could always buy an estate in the country like the Malfoys, Lestranges, and Averys all had for their homes.

The Falcons-Bats match had only been fun for him because of the flirting and play time with a hot, willing Witch. He didn't like the Falcons; they pounded their way to a win over the Bats; and he'd hated watching Brand Bletchley have any success in the show – especially after losing his one and only match so far to him; and getting his head bashed in along the way to that loss. He'd get revenge for that soon-enough, but until then; he'd hope for the worst for Brand – and the Nott brothers. There had been good news in the other opening day matches – with the best news for him being the United win over the Harpies. Sure, he hoped for the worst for all of his cousins – and Ollie's sisters; but he'd still pick the Harpies for the loss in every match! The Tornados won their match too, and he took a measure of credit for that; since he'd helped Licentia to get to the show.

He'd watched parts of that game on a portable mirror with Scorpius and Andrea while at the Falcons' match, and while he still didn't have much respect for Chasers; he could admit that Licentia fit in well with Rachel Rosier and Lacey Zabini – even if she wasn't as hot as her new – and former – Chaser partners! The Tornados had won too; and then he'd also been happy to find out that Francine had lost her first match with the Prides to the Arrows. If he'd wanted to be fair, her team had lost thanks to a blown play by Erin that had lost her the Seeker duel against her Arrows' counterpart; but she lost nonetheless; so it had been a great opening day from his perspective. The only way it could have been better would be if United could have lost too – and preferably done that while he'd won that match with the Catapults.

The countdown was truly on now, though, and in a week; the big secret would be out – and everyone would find out who the next superstar Seeker was going to be when he won the first match of the season for his Catapults!

That was going to be brilliant – and a huge step toward getting his revenge on the Animorphloser, his family, and anyone else that had messed with him!

He didn't have a bedtime playmate, but as he eventually fell asleep; dreams of his imminent revenge kept him entertained – and were fairly-hot too as he celebrated that revenge with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed trophy that was destined to be his once her loser boyfriend had been destroyed!

Sunday was a quiet play day at the Potter home, and while Gwenog and Kirley came over to spend the day with Harry, Ginny, and their kids; they only had a few cameo visits here and there while getting to spend the rest of their day relaxing and enjoying a lazy, hot summer day together. They all needed that break to rest up for another busy week; though that was for different reasons for each of them. Gwenog needed the rest before getting obsessed about the next match for the Harpies – and trying to make sure that they didn't start the season out with two losses. Kirley had music business work to deal with that was mostly helping his band mates out with work for the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers. Harry and Ginny might be unemployed; but they were possibly the two busiest out-of-work parents in the Wizarding World.

James' first match with the Catapults was the biggest event of the week for their family, but Ron and Hermione's anniversary was on Tuesday and Ginny's birthday was on Wednesday; so adding all three of those events into an already busy week was going to make for a fun-filled six days. For Al, getting to spend as much of that time without James as possible helped to keep his fun level high; so he really enjoyed spending Sunday with Gwendolyn and their families; they actually got to have some alone time on Sunday night when Lily decided that she and Jonah needed to help them out with that by going to sleep in their own rooms in the tent; and then they went on to have a productive, entertaining work day in Chudley on Monday while James was at work.

Rose joined Al and Gwendolyn for that; they did most of the work with Malorie in the morning; they had a small gang along for a take-out picnic lunch at the park; and then they did some work in Malorie's flat in the afternoon before Gwendolyn and Jonah went home and Al had to put up with James for the rest of the day after they got home – and after he got back from his workout with the Catapults.

Harry and Ginny hosted Ron and Hermione's nineteenth anniversary dinner party because they were still hosting the Gryffindor senior team's practice; and that meant some extra work on Tuesday – along with Lily's junior team practice and Al and Gwendolyn's toymaking session with Ginny. Some play time was still fit in around the work; the dinner was a success; and then the teens provided the after-dinner entertainment with the Quidditch workout and scrimmage. Al took over a bit more of the workout leadership so that his parents could spend more time with their family and friends, but they still had lots of parental support – including from Ron and George as they helped the Keepers and Beaters respectively.

By the end of Tuesday night, James was really getting on Al's nerves, so he went to bed early; and was glad to see James leave after breakfast in the morning. He'd played nice because it was Ginny's fortieth birthday, but James had managed to bug him for that too by supposedly pretending that their mother hadn't turned forty – by not getting her anything or joining in on the celebration. He had a lot more fun after that – especially once Gwendolyn and Jonah came over. Ginny worked with Al and Gwendolyn on their toymaking for a while because they had deadlines coming up, and Harry helped Lily and Jonah with a bonus Seeker workout; but then they went out for lunch at a seaside cafe; and then they spent the afternoon playing at a nearby beach and in the water until it was time to head home and get ready for a night out in London.

Getting to London took longer than planned thanks to James; since he'd needed extra time to get ready before going with Harry to pick up Rosinda – his date for the evening – and camping buddy; since he'd insisted on being allowed to do that after finding out that Al and Lily had planned on a camping night too. They did eventually get to London and the Leaky Cauldron; but were also late-enough that most of Harry and Ginny's guests were already there and waiting to help Ginny with celebrating her special day. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been around James for very long by then, but they were ready for a break; so they went and sat with Rose, Hugo, and some of the other teens that were there with their parents while Harry and Ginny had dinner with her parents, brothers, and their spouses.

"You look even less-happy than we are," Gwendolyn told Rose. "Haven't you had a good day here in London with Kyle?"

"We tried; but not really," Rose answered with a sigh. "He's mad that I didn't invite him to Mom and Dad's anniversary dinner last night or this birthday party; and I've no good reason to offer for why I can't bring him along – especially when we do things with Mum's side of the family. This may not be the last straw for him; but it's probably a big step closer to the end for us."

"I'm sorry," Gwendolyn told her sincerely. "Our troubles with James aren't any fun either; but we won't bother you with those stories when you have enough trouble of your own."

"Don't let that stop you," Rose told her. "The entertainment might be just the distraction I need from my problems." She looked over toward where James and Rosinda were sitting with the 'older' teens. "Is Rosinda giving you a hard time too? She's usually nice with me – though we've never really gotten to know each other very well. She's quite a bit different than most of our friends – a lot like James without all of the rude and nasty."

Gwendolyn laughed. "That's an apt description. "I was a bit surprised that James brought her instead of Patricia; but maybe he's just gotten bored after spending so much time with Patricia this summer."

"Or she's mad at him again," Rose offered. "They did just spend the weekend together; so that was lots of time for James to mess up with her."

"I'll guess from Al's failed attempt to look like a normal, oblivious Wizard that you've got that one right," Gwendolyn told Rose while grinning at her boyfriend. "Once you're back in your dorm room with Patricia in September; let us know if you find out how this latest spat is Al's fault; since she blames him for all of her problems with James."

"She does," Rose agreed. "Maybe we should try that out and see if it helps us feel better when things go bad for us too. Do you have any suggestions for how my problems with Kyle could possibly be Al's fault?"

That question kept the two girls entertained for a while, but they moved on to talk with the rest of the teens at their table while staying mostly out of the loop for Ginny's birthday. They still had fun; enjoyed the meal; and then Al and Gwendolyn went out to see a movie with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Jonah. James and Rosinda went to a movie too; but James made sure that they didn't go to see the same one that Ginny picked, and from what Al sensed from them; he was glad of that. Those over-active senses made for a strange, uncomfortable contrast for Al between what he was aware of from not only James and Rosinda, but also from other couples around him and the light-hearted, action-comedy-romance movie that they were immersed in for a couple of hours.

The level of weird kicked up a few notches after the movie; since Harry and Ginny took their six teens home and then Al had to put up with more insults and razzing from James while he and Gwendolyn took care of the work needed to set up a second tent so that they weren't in the same tent with James and Rosinda; and they skipped the moonlight swim entirely – though Lily and Jonah did that with James and Rosinda while Harry and Ginny went indoors for the rest of the night. Ginny didn't get a kid-free night for her birthday, but she did at least have a kid-free house – and Al was glad that his parents made it possible for him to – mostly – tune out to what they were doing to wrap up her birthday celebration. He would have liked to avoid sensing anything from James and Rosinda too, but that wasn't really an option; so the rest of his evening until he and Gwendolyn fell asleep on one of the sofas continued to be bi-polar between the fun with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah; and the annoying background 'noise' coming from the other tent.

Sleeping helped, but James was in fine form in the morning again; so Al was glad to be rid of him shortly after breakfast – and James actually did escort Rosinda home before going on to work. With Ginny's birthday now in the recent past; Thursday and Friday were days they needed to get through ahead of James' debut with the Catapults. The toymaking on Thursday morning was fun for Al, Gwendolyn, and Ginny; Harry and Lily had a good workout with her team while they did that; and then they had a play afternoon at home ahead of another busy evening of Quidditch with Al's team. The actual workout went well for Al, but James was even more-annoying; that got worse after their team mates went home; and Al went to bed early. Friday morning wasn't any better; which had a lot to do with why Al and Gwendolyn wanted to hit the road for Chudley in the morning instead of later in the day.

Harry and Ginny apparated all four teens to the same campground they'd used for their other camping visits; spent the day with them – and with Malorie; and then they went home early-enough to do some work before James got home after work. While their fun had included some play time at the campground too; they also did some shopping; worked on Malorie's flat for a while; and had lunch at her favorite cafe in town too. Al and Gwendolyn were technically in charge of Lily and Jonah for the rest of the weekend after that; but they were only going to be alone each night. Gwenog and Kirley joined them for dinner, some play time, and a campfire after she was done work; and then they went home for the night while the four teens wrapped up their first day of camping with some mirror network watching and a pair of sofa sleepovers.

The real fun for the weekend began first thing on Saturday morning for Al and gwendolyn with their quiet bit of early-morning snogging before he went to get ready for the day and cook breakfast for four. That meal was fun; so was the play time that followed; and then they had time for a long swim before Harry and Ginny came to pick them up and then pop into town to meet up with Malorie ahead of their lunch plans – and the surprise they had for her – and for quite a few of James' friends too. That lunch was going to be at the Leaky, but while Harry and Ginny were going to keep that surprise to the last minute for the rest of James' friends; they let Malorie in on the secret first before heading to London.

"Are you ready to find out what we're doing today?" Ginny asked Malorie after they'd finished the round of hugs and kisses and the usual small talk greetings.

"That'd be nice – especially if I'm going to be under-dressed for whatever that is," Malorie answered. "Should I be scared?"

"Maybe a little," Ginny agreed. "That is why we want to tell you now – though we'll keep the surprise until the last minute for everyone else we'll be spending the day with. We're going out for lunch at the Leaky; and then we'll be off to Yorkshire stadium to watch the Catapults-Wanderers match. The big surprise that everyone else will find out about at game time is that James is going to be playing Seeker for the Catapults today. We thought that you and the girls would like to be there to see his very first professional Quidditch match."

"Wow!" Malorie exclaimed breathlessly. "I don't know what I expected the surprise to be; but it wasn't that." She shook her head as if trying to clear it. "I really do want to be there; but my first thought is that James won't want me to go anywhere near that stadium today."

"He doesn't want the rest of us there either," Ginny advised her. "Too bad for him; since we're going – and bringing a lot of his friends with us."

"That's even worse for me," Malorie told her seriously. "The last thing I want is to spend the day hanging out with James' girlfriends – or his best mates." She laughed self-mockingly. "I seriously doubt that Ollie Wood will want to be friends with me."

"Probably not," Harry agreed, "but we have taken that into consideration; and have two blocks of seats so that you won't have to sit with most of James' friends. You'll be with Al, Gwendolyn, Ginny's parents, and some others we've invited while Ginny and I will host the friends' group."

"Okay, so you're warning me so I can get ready for the potential media storm if I'm spotted by any reporters," Malorie decided; and Ginny and Harry both nodded.

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "That's another good reason to have you with my Mum – and with Aunt Muriel. They'll make sure that nobody gives you a hard time today."

"Will Jonah and I be with them too?" Lily asked. "I'd love to see Aunt Muriel go at it with Rita Skeeter."

"I'd love to see that too; but doubt that Rita would be that dumb," Ginny told her. "The last time she tried tangling with Mum; that didn't end well for her either."

"Your mother has had problems with Rita Skeeter too?" Malorie asked; and Ginny smiled and shrugged.

"Mum and Andromeda took her on – and the Daily Prophet too – when she tried to claim that Teddy was actually Harry's child – and mine. They won, and while Rita still stands by her story; the Daily Prophet printed a retraction and never touched that story again."

"So she'll stick with her story about me until the bitter end too," Malorie said with a tone of disgust. "I just don't get that – well, I do; but it's all just so stupid!"

"It is," Ginny agreed; and then grinned again. "That's still bad for Al, but there is one good thinga bout it for James that's bad for Rita too. As you said, she'll stick to her story to the bitter end; so that means she can't change it now and make a big deal about it with the new star Seeker of the Catapults."

"No," Malorie agreed. "She'll have to save it up for a few years until Al's the new star Chaser for the Cannons."

"She'd think that would be just what I'd deserve," Al advised her – "and certainly won't suggest that I could be a star on any team."

"Probably, but let's not go there," Ginny suggested. "James might not care about what we're doing, but we are still going to make this his special day; so let's got to that and try to have fun!"

Al wasn't as enthusiastic about doing that as his parents, sister, and Malorie were, but he did still hope for the best for James – even when he was sure that any success for his brother would be bad for him. Gwendolyn knew that too; stayed close to him; and did what she could to help him to have as much fun as he could while they had lunch and then moved on to the stadium with the large gang that Harry and Ginny had invited. Word of James' surprise was making the rounds for the teams and some Quidditch insiders, but it was still a surprise until the Catapults were introduced for most of the spectators in the stadium; so that was the next blast of fun – though they kept entertained until then with the usual run of the concession booths while picking up drinks, snacks, and souvenirs. While Al, Gwendolyn, and Malorie weren't in the same block of seats with Harry, Ginny, and James' friends; they weren't far away either and he was able to sense their reactions to the news as James flew out into the stadium – leading the way for the Catapults' team.

"I wish I had a camera right now," Malorie said with a mix of wistful joy and sadness. "He looks amazing up there; and the kids won't get to actually see this."

"Actually they could," Al disagreed. "Just make a memory charm of it later. You could bottle it; but it's a bit tougher to get a pensieve – though Dad used to have one as head of the Aurors."

"Your Mum is taking pictures," Gwendolyn advised Al. "I'll guess she had Malorie and the twins in mind for that. There are sure to be posters and action figures of James available at the souvenir booths by now too; so we can pick up a few things that you can save for the girls too."

"Well, I didn't think about something like a poster of their father for the nursery; but I suppose I can figure out a way to work it in along with the unicorns and pixies."

"That isn't as scary as it will be at Hogwarts if any of my roommates put his posters up on the walls behind their beds," Gwendolyn suggested. "Instead of going there, though; Let's just watch the show – and dont' forget that we do have a Ravenclaw alumni new to the team too. Miya looks pretty good too – and really happy!"

"She'll wish that you were out there playing with her today," Al predicted. He paused as he focused his attention on the rest of the Catapults' players and then frowned. "Maybe that'll be for more than one reason," he added quietly. "There are some problems in Catapults paradise."

"What's wrong?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Other than Miya; their players are mad about how their Seeker is being treated. I get the sense that they aren't interested in cooperating – or helping James today."

"He does have that sort of affect on some people," Gwendolyn suggested. "Are you sure they aren't just mad at him?"

"No – this is definitely about supporting their team mate – though it's a stupid idea."

"It is if they want to keep their jobs for much longer," Gwendolyn agreed.

"You think they'll try to sabotage the match to make James look bad?" Malorie asked; sounding worried now.

"I think they'll slack off and not try to play their best," Al suggested. "James had best watch his back too; since their Beaters may not have his the way they should."

"Can we warn him?" Malorie asked; and Al shook his head.

"Not now – it's too late. If they don't help him, though, James will know that soon-enough; and hopefully be able to deal with the situation."

"He may be able to do that, but if they don't try very hard; then he won't have long to try and catch the snitch for the win," Gwendolyn said seriously. "I wonder why the Catapults' Managers weren't on top of something like that; since they should have noticed something was wrong."

Al turned his attention toward the Catapults' managers and staff on the sidelines and picked up everything he could from them. "They don't seem to be aware of the problem right now," he advised the girls. "Could it be that the rest of the team just found out today too? That might explain why they seem so mad."

"Then that's a dumb move too," Gwendolyn declared. "They'll all lose faith in the team if they're not even included in such a major part of a game plan – and decision for the team. We should check and see which team Lee picked to win. I wonder if he knew about this ahead of time; or if it was a surprise for him too?"

"I don't know. They'll have made the picks already, but this is the top match of the day; so Lee's likely covering it – and I'm sure they'd be talking about James by now; so you might be able to find out about whether he knew ahead of time or not."

Gwendolyn got her mirror out and started half-listening to Lee's commentary, but by then, the Wanderers had been introducd too; and the match was about to start. Lee did offer up some facts that suggested he'd either had some advance notice or had a really good team that was able to put together some basic information about James from his Hogwarts years. He also spun that news in a much better light that didn't include all of the facts; but then that also left him with few facts to pass along beyond advising his audience that James had been on two Quidditch Cup Champion teams and had been Captain of the Gryffindor junior team in his third year. Miya had likely been given some attention in the pre-game show, but the commentary and play-by-play for Lee's show – and with the stadium announcer; was heavily focused on the Seeker battle from the start of the match.

While five of the Catapults players soon showed that they were having a game-time protest that was all about putting in the minimum effort while doing a horrid job pretending that they were playing their best, there was one consequence that Al hadn't expected – his Aunt Muriel's reaction to their actions; or lack of them. The first time one of the Beaters intentionally whiffed on a chance to protect James from a bludger that he'd then needed to dodge; she'd bellowed at him; and things went downhill from there for those five players. That was highly-entertaining for everyone that knew Muriel, though; and Al also sensed that she had a lot of support from most Catapults fans.

While James didn't have the support of most of his team, Miya Davies didn't play along – and she actually played brilliantly as she needed to try to work on offense and defense without much help from her fellow Chasers, Beaters, or Keeper. Her efforts weren't enough, and the Wanderers were happy to take advantage of the rift between the Catapults players and management. They scored the first three goals; and won the first hour six goals to just two – and Miya earned both of those goals for the Catapults. James was in a tough Seeker duel, but as Al watched all of that action too; James' biggest problem was the lack of Beater support and the need to constantly dodge bludgers – not the Wanderers' Seeker.

Through the second hour, Miya continued to battle her hardest, and while that was also wearing her down; she managed to score four more goals by the time they moved into the third hour. The Wanderers, however, had scored ten; so they took a one hundred point lead into the third hour. They scored two more early in the third hour; Miya got one in return; and then James thrilled all of the Catapults fans when he tried an old play that had been one of Ginny's favorites; put a small twist on it; and caught the snitch for the win after it completely fooled the Wanderers' Seeker. Al didn't like the aerial celebration that followed, but there was no denying that the two-twenty to one-eighty, come-from-behind victory was a big deal – and James deserved a lot of the credit for the win.

"There you go, Jaimie and Lorie – you were here when your father won his first match in the show!" Malorie whispered quietly enough so that only Al overheard her – and she didn't know that he had. "Maybe you'll grow up to be brilliant Quidditch players too!"

"Don't take this the wrong way," Al told Malorie with a smile while getting her attention; "but I was wondering if you'd like to try and get out to one of the washrrooms before the aisles are clogged with the first mad dash for the exits – and we could pick up those posters and toys too; since I'm sure they'll be popular purchases on the way out for a lot of Witches and Wizards too now that James has won the day."

"So my need for a washroom break is just a good excuse for you to skip the post-game festivities on the pitch?" Malorie guessed; and Al smiled and shrugged.

"That is a nice bonus for me," he agreed. "I am happy for James – I really am," he insisted when she looked dubious. "He just celebrates his victories in ways that I don't like; so I'm better off getting out of here."

"Well, the good news for you is that I do need that washroom break sooner instead of later; so let's do that."

"You could watch Lee's post-game show on your mirror," Gwendolyn suggested. "You'll likely see more doing that than from here anyway – and be able to hear everything that James tells the reporters too once the press gets to him."

"That's a good point," Malorie agreed. "Nobody seems to be in a hurry to leave yet; so I guess we should get moving while we can."

They did that; Molly and Muriel wanted to go along; and they ended up with about half of their group heading out with them – though they split up once they were into the concourse where the washrooms and concessions booths were located. Al took a quick washroom break too, but then he picked up some toys while waiting for the girls to join him – including two action figures for Jaimie and Lorie that he gave to Malorie when she and Gwendolyn caught up with her – and still had his grandmother and aunt with them. The girls all bought bonus souvenirs and toys – even Gwendolyn; which was more than a bit weird for Al. She got teased about putting a poster of James above her bed in her dorm room; but didn't buy a poster too.

While they'd been away from their seats early, Al, Gwendolyn, and Malorie had to wait for Lily and Jonah to join them; and then for Harry and Ginny to help them out with getting back to Chudley. That took a while too, since there were a lot of goodbyes to deal with – and that was partly because most of James' friends were staying to try and get a chance to spend a few minutes with him once he was finished with all of the post-game activities. Al and Lily got teased about that too – with some of those jokes of the insulting variety; but neither of them were interested in a big, public scene with James. They were happy to go back to their tent; swim and play for a while; and then bike into Chudley and go out for a celebration dinner with Malorie.

James wouldn't care about that at all beyond being glad that they weren't celebrating with him, but Malorie had appreciated their efforts; and she was very happy and proud of him. That was a perspective that Al tried to learn from; though he didn't expect to be able to act that happy for his brother while around him; and expected that James was going to be even tougher to live with during their final two and a half weeks of the summer.

He was certainly glad to be away from home for the weekend; and planned on having as much fun as he could with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah before he'd get to find out just how bad his home life might be by the time James got home from work on Monday afternoon.

James knew that his first victory in the show was just the beginning of his brilliant, rich and famous future, and there would be many more, even-better days ahead of him; but this one had been a best-ever-so-far kind of day; and he'd loved every minute of it!

Even dealing with the anger and jealousy from his new team mates had been brilliant; since most of them also understood that he was the future; and they'd be part of the team's history soon – just as 'their' Seeker would just be working as a placeholder until James could start working with the team full-time! He still thought that hiring her had been a mistake, and he hadn't paid any attention to her while winning the match for the Catapults, but the team owners and managers were very happy with Miya Davies and how well she'd played in her first league match too; so he'd likely be stuck with her for as long as it took to push her out.

Then again, she was reasonably-hot, so if she started being nicer to him; he might decide to keep her around for a while – as long as she didn't mess things up for his team and lose matches for them. She didn't like him, so that wasn't very likely, but Miya had also stayed out of his way too; and even more-importantly – she hadn't tried to steal any of his glory after the match or during the dinner and party that followed.

The rest of their team mates had not been bright-enough to know better, and two of them had even tried to hog the attention of the reporters by shooting their mouths off and complaining about how they – and their useless Seeker buddy – were being treated by the team owners and managers. Their idiocies just proved that the Catapults needed to get rid of the old and build their new team around him; and he was sure that would be exactly what the Catapults were going to do! They'd certainly been happy with getting the win; all of the attention they got after the game; and probably all of the money they made as they apparently sold a lot of his posters, action figures, and anything else that had his picture on it during and after the match.

Winning his Seeker duel had been brilliant – though his opponent hadn't even been as good as Andrea Avery or most of the other, lesser Hogwarts Seekers! The reporters had loved him; and then he'd had at least ten times the fans wanting his autograph when they left the stadium on the way to the celebration dinner and party at one of the owners' estate. That thought had him smiling, since those fans had included most of his friends – and his parents. He'd enjoyed treating his mother and father like any other lowly fan; and his friends had all been appropriately deferential to him – and impressed. The loser and his potty-trainer hadn't been there, and Lily had, as always, picked the wrong brother, but while he'd have liked to rub the Animorphpotty's nose in his success; the loser likely would have just found a way to ruin it all for him; so not having him there was likely for the best.

Not having his parents at the dinner or party had been brilliant too; and not saddling himself with a date had proved a good choice – particularly with the Witches interested in finding out what other games he was good at playing! He'd hooked up with one of those Witches during the social hour before dinner; another not long after that amazing meal; and a third that he was expecting to spend the rest of the night with whenever they were ready to head for the suite of rooms that had been given to him for the night as a bonus for earning the big win for the team. That thought had him looking over in her direction and smiling.

She had long, blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and a body that was way-hotter than the Potty-trainer! The only reason they weren't already hooked up was standing beside her, but by the look of him; he'd be passed out somewhere soon-enough; and then she'd be his for the rest of the night. When she glanced his way and caught him watching her appreciatively, her smile brightened too; and the heat he saw in her eyes had him sure that his brilliant day was going to end with some scorching-hot fun!

"Try to pace yourself," Ritchie Cootes said quietly as he stepped up next to James – "and be careful. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can burn out in this business; and messing around with other Wizard's wives can be bad for your health too – even for pompous rich gits like that one."

James laughed. "Is that the voice of experience?"

Ritchie nodded. "Actually, it is," he agreed; and grinned at James. "If you're not worried about anything else; be afraid of waking up in another twenty years and seeing me looking back at you in the mirror."

"You look okay for an old guy," James told him after laughing again. "I'd have rather had you up there playing Beater today too."

"You handled all of that well-enough," Ritchie assured him. "We didn't expect that they'd take the news about you quite as badly as they did today, but they'll either come around; or be left behind."

James turned and gave his assistant manager his full attention. "They know they're to be left behind regardless," he said seriously. "This could be a tough season for our team."

"You'll soon find that every season is tough," Ritchie countered. "The team owners want to win championships, though, and think that you'll help us to do that; so they'll put up with a bit more pain to get there – if only for a while longer. They will want results, James; and that's the main reason for why I'm cautioning you now. Enjoy this success and have fun tonight because you deserve it. Just don't lose sight of the real prizes that last forever – like league championships. Jimmy and I never managed to help our team to get there, but I think you could do it – if you want it badly-enough."

"I want it all," James assured him – "and I'm not going to wait long to go out and get it either."

"You do seem to have a talent for seeing what you want and going for it," Ritchie joked as James' gaze wandered back to the beautiful blonde again. "Keep putting that much effort into your game; and we will get there."

He moved on then – yet another cameo moment in his night; and James moved on from there to enjoy the rest of the party until the blonde gave him something better – and hotter – to do.

There were so many perks to being the star player of a team that would soon be the best in the premier Quidditch league in the Wizarding World!

Harry cooked breakfast for two on Sunday morning while Ginny took extra time getting ready for the day. It wouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that he was thinking about his eldest son on the morning after his surprise debut with the Catapults that had worked out brilliantly for him. He'd watched James play that game with pride, and was happy for his success, but it was hard to deal with the reality of a child that didn't want to share that victory with his family – or any part of his life at all. Nothing about the way James had acted after the game had surprised him – just as he and Ginny hadn't been surprised with how he'd treated his cousins and friends. Sure, James had pretended as though he was just acting like a diva, but he'd also been oblivious to the hurt he'd caused Patricia, Ollie, and a few others; and there'd been nothing he or Ginny could do to help those friends.

They hadn't expected an invitation to the victory dinner party, so they'd gone out to dinner with Ron and Hermione instead, but then they'd come home after that; and eventually decided that staying up late to wait for James to come home – or request help getting back – had been a pointless waste of time. Okay, that last part wasn't true, since they'd had fun cuddling on a sofa and watching some mirror network shows – including Lee's show that had included an entertaining, comedic take on James' debut with the Catapults; but it was still frustrating to not even be able to get James to let them know what he was doing so that they didn't wait around and worry about him. This was supposed to be a 'home' weekend for James too, but Harry didn't really expect that they'd see him for the rest of the day; so he and Ginny would need to decide whether to wait around for him all day again just in case he showed up; or do something else for the day.

"He's wanted out of here for at least a couple of years now," Ginny said as she walked into the room and was smiling as she walked over to Harry and shared a hug and kiss with him. "We may as well get used to this sort of thing; since it's probably too-late to change anything at this point."

"I'll try to do that; but will never understand so many of his choices."

"We understand them well-enough," Ginny disagreed. "Believing that he's making so many bad choices isn't the same as not understanding. Is he really acting much differently than Percy did at his age – or even now, for that matter. Yes, he's long-since reconciled with us, but our relationship with him isn't anything like it is with my other brothers and sister-in-laws – and likely never will be. Percy wants to be a star in his own way too; and cares more about money and power than anything else."

"He loves Audrey and the girls," Harry pointed out. "I'm not going to say anything about Percy when the same could be said of me often-enough considering how many times I had to choose my work with the Aurors over you and the kids."

"There's an important distinction to be made for your motivations," Ginny countered; "but this is too-serious a conversation for a nice summer day. James is doing what he thinks will make him happy – and maybe it will be enough for him. I'll hope that he'll come around just as Percy did; but we're not going to wait around for that to happen – or for him to come home today. I think we should head for Chudley and join in on the camping play day with the rest of our kids."

"Do you think they'll want to have us there?" Harry joked; and Ginny laughed.

"For now. We'll see if they still feel that way in another year or two, but Al and Lily are glad that we've been home with them all summer."

"Now that's something we can talk about over breakfast – next summer," Harry suggested. "We've stayed home this year; so maybe we should try a summer-long vacation next year."

"Are you thinking about having us go around as national team groupies to all of their World Cup matches?" Ginny asked in amusement.

"Well, we'd want to go to at least some of those matches, and could spend a week in each location before or after the games; but I'd be okay with picking match-ups with other teams depending on the places we'd like to visit too. We are unemployed. Maybe Kirley would hire a couple of Roadies to help with the bands; since they're sure to be doing concerts around the World Cup matches again."

"I like the idea, but James wouldn't be able to do that with us for most of the summer – and would likely refuse even if he could. That'll be our last summer with him; so I don't think we should just take off an not get to see him very much while he's home."

"I don't think he'll be home next summer," Harry told her seriously; and that comment immediately had her full attention.

"You think he's going to quit school?" she demanded.

"That's possible," he agreed, "but even if he goes back for his NEWT year, he'll be seventeen; he's already getting paid quite a lot of money; and I think he'll get his own place by then – probably somewhere in London."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Ginny admitted with a sigh. "You're saying that this next two and a half weeks might be our last chance to see James before he leaves us forever."

Harry grinned. "Well, we will get tickets to as many of his Catapults' matches as we can get to – at least until you go to work for the Cannons; but yes, he may not want to spend any time with us after this summer. The good news, though, is that we are going to get to spend a lot of time with his daughters once they're born; and I'm sure that we can think of something to do if there's much of a break between when the kids go back to school and when Jaimie and Lorie are born."

Al cooked breakfast for four; took care of the clean-up too; and then they went for a bike ride out into the countryside around their campground. They were still out doing that when they got the call from his parents; so they cut that ride short and returned to the campground so that they could meet up with what ended up being all four parents and turning their teen play day into a family fun day instead. They went swimming; met up with Malorie for lunch in Chudley; and did some shopping while in town before moving on to a hike and more swimming back at the campground that kept them busy until dinnertime. That meal was cooked over an open fire, and then Harry and Ginny went home to meet up with James because he was due home ahead of the Catapults' team training curfew that was apparently never enforced. Kirley and Gwenog stayed a bit longer, but she had her own team curfew to deal with; so they only stayed until dusk before leaving the four teens alone again for the rest of the night.

They had a campfire after dark that included an hour or so of music fun; went into the tent by a bit after eleven; and then Lily and Jonah went into their own rooms after just a short bit of mirror network watching so that Al and Gwendolyn could have some alone time – or as much of that as they could get while having younger siblings in the tent with them. A bit of quiet snogging was a great way to wrap up their camping weekend, but they didn't get carried away; and then they were happy to snuggle close and get to the sleeping part of their third sofa sleepover of the weekend.

On Monday morning, Al cooked and cleaned agan; they packed up their gear; and then Harry and Ginny helped them out with getting their things back to their homes before moving on to Chudley so that Al could meet up with Rose and Malorie for their weekly work day. Gwendolyn stayed with Al for most of that work and their planning meeting, but Harry and Ginny went out to play with Lily and Jonah for the morning; and then they worked with Malorie on her flat and helped with some shopping because that was getting tougher for Malorie to keep up with as she neared full-term and was down to weeks instead of months to her due date. She was worn-out by mid-afternoon, so Ginny took Rose to London before helping Harry with getting the rest of the kids home – including eventually getting Gwendolyn and Jonah to their own home so that they wouldn't have to deal with whatever happened with James when he got home from work – and was around Al for the first time since his debut in the show.

Al more than half-wished that he could have stayed with Gwendolyn, but knew that he was better off dealing with James without anyone else around – especially when their Tuesday night practice might prove to be a problem now that everyone knew that James was actually playing for the Catapults instead of just working a summer job for them. He still had time to wait to find out what would happen after Gwendolyn and Jonah went home, but Lily helped to keep him entertained and busy while they waited; they went swimming; and then helped out with making dinner – which was what they were still doing when Harry went to get James and then brought him home from the Catapults' practice pitch.

"I'm here, but please – no autograph requests!" James announced grandly as he swaggered into the kitchen. "I've already signed thousands of them over the past few days; and need to start resting my hand or I'll be too cramped up to catch the snitch in my next match!"

"Did you ever try that line with your fans when you played for the Harpies, Mum?" Lily asked Ginny.

"No – I'd just get Harry to help me out with any Quidditch-related injuries," she answered. "Welcome home, James. How was practice today? Are the other players still giving your manager a hard time?"

"I had fun; but might as well have been practicing by myself; since my back-up didn't even try to catch the snitch today; and our Beaters sat back and let the reserve squad Beaters try to pound me without helping at all."

"The Catapults' managers are putting up with that?" Lily asked. "Aunt Gwenog wouldn't put up with anyone not trying their best for five seconds."

James snorted. "Which only makes me wonder why any player would put up with her for any longer than that. The managers aren't worried – we're playing the Cannons next week. I can win that match with my eyes closed and a hand tied behind my back."

"It won't be easy at all," Lily disagreed; "and if your team doesn't even try; even the Cannons might be able to get a one-sixty lead over your team before you can beat Santini."

"He's the worst Seeker in the league!" James retorted; and Lily shook her head.

"I know we've talked about this before, James, so if you go into this match thinking like that; you're going to lose for sure."

"Want to make a little wager on that?" he retorted; and Lily laughed and shook her head.

"No – I want you to take what I'm saying seriously. Santini has battled against Seekers like Aunt Gabrielle for seven or eight hours; and he is going to be motivated to play hard against you. He never one a single Seeker duel against Mum; so you should be expecting him to bring his best game against you and the Catapults. The Cannons probably haven't earned a one-sixty lead without a snitch catch in decades, but if Miya's the only Chaser trying her best in that match; you will be in for a tough day."

"Mum beat him every time," James said dismissively. "So will I."

"Mum still beats you most of the time," Lily countered. "Don't get mad at me, James. I think that you played brilliantly on Saturday and deserve all of the credit. Don't mess up all of that good by underestimating Santini."

"Just invite Gabrielle to that match," Harry suggested with a sudden grin. "Santini won't even know that James is there."

That joke lightened the mood; earned him a round of laughs; and gave Al a reprieve before James started in on messing with him for the rest of the evening. The worst of that was while they had dinner, but then he took on the full clean-up and sent the rest of his family outside for some Quidditch play time while he did that work and got a break from his brother. James didn't get a break from his parents and sister, though, and while he took some bonus anger out on Al after the Seeker duels and mini-workout because of his lack of success even against Lily; Al sensed that it had helped to remind James that he couldn't just coast and expect an easy win over Santini. If that helped him, Al would try to be happy for his brother; but was also sure that he'd never give his family any credit for whatever successes he did have no matter how much they might deserve it for helping him to take his game to the next level all summer – or for most of his life too.

Al did have to put up with a lot while he stayed and played with his family until they moved into the sitting room after dark, but then he went up to bed instead of staying up and watching mirror network shows; did some OWL-year studying; and had a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn. Tuesday was a Quidditch and toymaking day, and the only real difference to past weeks was that Rose didn't join Al and Gwendolyn for the toymaking; and instead stayed in London until she came over for the evening team practice. James was the center of attention for that because of his new status as a league Quidditch star, and Al let him run with that while having a play workout that was more about having fun and letting James have a bit of a celebration instead of a serious workout. That mostly worked to help him get through the night without any major teen drama; but he sensed that there would be potential problems; and was sure that a challenge over who should really be team Captain this season was a near-certainty – and that there would be lots of support for taking the job from him and giving it to James.

That didn't happen on Tuesday; and the Quidditch was less-personal on Wednesday – if just as bipolar. The Harpies' second match of the season was against the Falcons; since their matches from a season ago had been ranked very high; and earned a lot of attention from the fans of both teams. Harry and Ginny had a gang going with them to that match; and they met up with everyone for lunch at the Leaky; but they spent the morning doing some chores before going to get Malorie and meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, Jonah, and the rest of their group in time for an early lunch. They moved on to Bodmin stadium. Malorie wasn't a veteran spectator yet, but she didn't need a lot of time for souvenir shopping either; so they mostly picked up drinks and snacks; and kept the souvenir buying to a minimum – with Al being the top shopper because he picked up some gifts that might come in handy for gifts he might need during the first few months at Hogwarts with new friends or firsties he didn't yet know.

They were in their seats in good time; though the excitement and anticipation was mixed with worry over how tough the Falcons would be on their favorite Harpies – especially when they were the undefeated team in the match while the Harpies really needed to get their first win of the season. The Falcons didn't waste any time before showing everyone in the stadium and watching on the mirror network that they planned on doing whatever it took to beat the harpies into submission, and while they earned three quick penalties; they didn't care about that – or the goals that Victoire scored because of those fouls. While Malorie had now been to a couple of league matches; this one was very different for her; and she was more than a bit appalled by just how vicious some players could be while playing the game.

"Would you like to take a break?" Al asked her quietly when they were only about fifteen minutes into the match. "You're looking a bit green right now."

"No doubt," Malorie agreed; though she shook her head in the negative in answer to his question. "This isn't the same as watching the Falcons on a mirror network show. I can practically feel those hits from here."

"It is tougher to watch in person – especially when they're trying to beat up on some Witches that we care about quite a lot," Al agreed. "I don't like the way that the Falcons play, but Rose and I will need to play against them; so we need to learn from every match we can watch and try to find ways to best them." He nodded and pointed out one of the Falcons. "We can hate what they do; but they are very good at cheating. That Beater just got in the way of the referee so that he couldn't see that attempted foul on Aunt Gabrielle." He'd pointed out that part of the 'play' to Malorie too; though she hadn't reacted quickly-enough to see that attempted cheap shot.

"They've already had four penalties," Malorie pointed out; and Al nodded.

"Yes, but they've already had closer to two dozen fouls and that many again that have missed. My point is that we can't count on the referee to get the Falcons to play by the rules; so what would we do to counter all of the cheating – without resorting to cheating too?"

"I have no idea," Malorie answered with an unamused laugh. "Aren't you glad that you didn't hire me to be the future team Manager for your Cannons?"

"For all I know; you'll be such an expert on the game in three years that you might be able to do that job," Al suggested. "As for my question; I'm asking because I think we'll need to think about this in a different way to get an answer – other than getting an early snitch catch so they can't pound on us for hours. Maybe you know something from Muggle sports that could help with getting that different perspective."

Malorie thought about that while they continued to watch the action above the pitch. "I'm not much of a fan of some of the tougher sports like rugby or boxing, but if you're looking for something different; then it ought to be possible to have magical help for the referee for playing by the rules. In tennis, for example, they use Muggle technology to be able to tell whether the tennis ball lands within or outside of the boundaries of the court. You could likely do the same for the boundaries you have in Quidditch around the goals to make sure that there isn't any cheating with those rules. Other sports allow teams to make a certain number of challenges to plays that allow the referee to look at replays and then make a call – which would make it very hard for teams to cheat just by blocking the view of the referee."

"Those are both really good suggestions," Al approved. "Maybe we should get you to submit those ideas to the Ministry of Magical Games and Sports and see what they think of them."

"And if you do that this year; they'll likely have a decision about it within the next century or two once they've finished studying the ideas and then debating the issues until nobody remembers why they're doing it," Gwendolyn leaned in and added.

"You're not joking," Malorie decided.

"She isn't," Al agreed. "I love your ideas, but getting changes made to Quidditch rules – or even how they're enforced – can take a long time. Add in that those changes are usually coordinated with all of the leagues and countries in the Wizarding World; and it can be so daunting that people don't even bother trying to make changes at all."

"Then I don't want to do that either," Malorie told them seriously – and then grinned at Al. "You've never been seriously-hit by a bludger or cheap shot in a match. If the Falcons bash on the rest of your team mates; maybe your answer should be to just keep them playing on and on until they give up or fall off their brooms in exhaustion."

"That's a funny idea," Gwendolyn told her. "You've got me picturing Al flying around against all seven Falcons while they try to corner and pound him; but I also don't see that ending well – even for Al."

"It might be impossible," Malorie agreed; "and that lot might not even learn anything from it if Al could pull it off. He was talking about thinking about new ways to look at the problem, though; so I was thinking the opposite of a quick snitch catch."

"When a team loses a Seeker in a match, and if they don't have at least a one-sixty lead; a forfeit is the only other way they can still win the match," Al said thoughtfully. "No team would ever do that on purpose; but they could be forced to forfeit if they ran out of players – or as you suggested; they all fell off their brooms."

"That's all true," Gwendolyn agreed, "but you're still talking about trying to do that against a team that plays like the Falcons; and I doubt that the rest of your team mates would appreciate that strategy at all – even if you could avoid all of the hits and keep playing. Would you want to have the Falcons beat up on Rose – or your Mum – for a day or two straight?"

"No, but maybe we can take Malorie's idea and do something with it," Al suggested; and then smiled at Gwendolyn. "Then again, maybe Malorie and I should talk about all of that later with Rose; since we wouldn't want to give any really brilliant ideas away to the competition."

That joke led to a change in topic, but they did all still stay focused on the Quidditch action too; and there was a lot to see – if not a lot that was fun to watch as even Harpies' goals were almost-always accompanied by cheap shots or other dirty plays from the Falcons. Those goals didn't come quickly because of the need to fight through to the Falcons goals, so the Harpies only took an eighty to ten lead into the second hour, and by then; they were already starting to have problems with the mounting injuries. It got harder to play their best as the second hour rolled on; so all of the Harpies and their fans were very happy when Gabrielle caught the snitch at the one-hour and fifty-one minute mark to earn the two-ninety to thirty victory. She did that on a great play that made Brand look like a bit of a fool; and then he went on to try and prove he was one for sure by trying to chase her down and pound her long after the whistle had blown.

"So what do you do now?" Ginny asked Harry with a grin. "You're not Head of the Aurors anymore; so you can't use that authority to keep those gits from starting a brawl."

"He can't," Teddy agreed – "but I still work for the Aurors; so sit back and enjoy the show."

With that, he apparated to center pitch; and proceeded to make sure that there weren't any post-game fights. That didn't keep the Falcons players from shouting at him – and the Harpies, but even the Nott brothers didn't try to actually attack Teddy. Al sensed that he wasn't the only person in the stadium to be amused by that; since they'd gone after Teddy a number of times when he was simply backing up his boss; yet the Falcons seemed more-wary of Teddy than they had ever been of the former Head of the Aurors.

"Maybe I should've retired years ago," Harry joked. "It seems that the Aurors have a better reputation now than when I was in charge."

"You've trained Teddy well; and they've good cause to respect his abilities," Ginny told him. "Dark Wizards just seem to have a pathological need to underestimate you."

"It's more-likely that they're just afraid of taking the hit to their reputations if they try anything and are bested," Gwendolyn suggested. "Being bested by Harry Potter is one thing, but if the lot of them were taken down by one of the youngest, least-experienced Aurors; they'd just get laughed at and mocked."

"Well, whatever the reason; I'm glad that we won't be having any trouble today,' Harry told her. "Ginny can check with your Mum later and see if anyone needs my help with a bit of healing; and I can help them out with that if needed."

"I'll do that, but thanks to Gabrielle, we still have some time left to play; so why don't we all head back to our house and go for a cool-down swim. This has been fun; but it's also hot out here!"

She had a lot of takers for that offer; nearly-everyone headed home with her; and they needed to set up a second portable pool to have enough water space for all of the swimmers. Malorie came for the swim too, but insisted on going home before James would be done work. Al had enjoyed that part of their day a lot; and then he'd been even happier to accept Gwendolyn's invitation to go home with her for the rest of the night and not even see James at all because they went home with Kirley and Jonah before James got back too. Lily had been invited as well, but had decided to stay at home instead of needing to run around and get home again in time for her Quidditch practice on thursday morning – though she told everyone that she was making the sacrifice of putting up with James instead so that Al and Gwendolyn could get some alone time instead of being stuck with her and Jonah all night. That did work out for Al and Gwendolyn, and they did get to have some quality alone time for a major bedtime snogging session – and then they were on their own for a sofa sleepover in the tent too while Jonah stayed in the house with his parents.

While that was a brilliant end to their play day; Al was excited about having another play day on Thursday – with the top entertainment being a birthday party for Malorie to celebrate her eighteenth. Lily still had her team practice, and Al and Gwendolyn did a bit of toymaking with Ginny too; but they also helped out with getting everything ready for the party; and then Ginny and Gwendolyn went to get Malorie and bring her over in time for a lunch that included at least one representative from all but one of the brothers and sister families as well as Molly and Aunt Muriel. That was why most of Lily's team mates went home after their practice and a snacks and drinks break. Hugo and Roxanne were the exceptions for that; Jonah came over after his practice with Kirley; and Molly went to London and brought Rose with her so that she could both help celebrate Malorie's birthday and then stay for her team practice after dinner.

While Ginny and Gwendolyn were getting Malorie from Chudley, Al helped his father with the last bits of work for getting everything ready for lunch. He kept working while Ginny then hosted a bit of a social time as all of the guests arrived; and then Al and Gwendolyn got to sit down with Malorie, Rose, and his parents while having lunch – and as everyone else sat down at the handful of tables set up around the one that Al had put in the middle so that everyone could still mostly be involved in the celebration – and be able to talk with Malorie.

"This is all really wonderful," Malorie told Harry and Ginny, "so if I start crying; blame it on being pregnat; since it won't be from being sad or upset. As far as I know; I've never had a real birthday party before this one."

"I can relate to that," Harry assured her earnestly. "When I was little, I just didn't understand it at all. My cousin's birthday is a bit more than a month before mine, and he'd always have parties and loads of gifts; and then my aunt and uncle wouldn't do anything for me – or at least they didn't do anything good."

"We're going to make this a happy day, though," Ginny told both of them. "Will that mean that we'll need to skip the birthday roasting?"

"It will if that means telling you about my birthdays-past. That definitely wouldn't be a happy place to go."

"Then we'll start making new memories today that we can tease you about in the future," Ginny declared. "That's basically what we did with Harry, and since your first birthday with us is while you're also near the end of your pregnancy; we'll have no trouble coming up with material for those future jokes."

"That sounds like a fun alternate to the usual roasting," Gwendolyn suggested. "Malorie's been teased a lot about eating for three; so does that mean she should get triple the normal birthday gifts?"

"Hugo thinks he should get double for all of his non-leap-year birthdays," Rose offered. "I wish you'd suggested that sooner; since that would have been a fun idea for Malorie's gifts – getting her gifts that would work in sets of three."

"We have a starting point," Gwendolyn declared. "Gifts that Malorie could actually use in sets of three! Ready, set – Go!"

Al didn't get involved in that bit of fun beyond getting teased about Animorphmagus options that could come in threes – including through animal life-cycles. Some of the suggestions were practical; but most were amusing; and Ginny and Gwendolyn soon even had Aunt Muriel joining in to help out with the silliness. That kept the party mood light, though; and helped to make that hour or so a lot of fun for Malorie. Her fun included opening a lot of gifts; and she'd been overwhelmed by that – especially when so many of the gifts were things she either needed for her flat or would need for the twins. The generosity had her in tears several times, but Ginny and Lily worked to make her laugh during those moments too.

There was a lot to love about his family; and Al was very proud of them for taking Malorie in and offering her so much love and support. Aunt Muriel had taken a liking to Malorie after meeting her for the first time, but Al was sure that his Great-Aunt had fallen in love with Malorie too by the end of the party – when they were both ready to go back to their homes and have naps. After lunch, they'd had some quiet play time that had included going swimming and going for a short hike, but while Lily had tried to get Malorie to go for a motorcycle ride with her father; she couldn't convince Malorie to do that – and shoot for having a bonus pair of gifts arrive before the end of the day!

Malorie really did want to have a nap by mid-afternoon, so Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose helped out with getting her – and her gifts – home to Chudley. They then helped out with putting things out or away while Ginny made sure that Malorie took it easy and had everything she needed. They all gathered in the sitting room once the work was done; and Rose got the honor of giving Malorie one last birthday gift.

"We wanted to save this until you were home again," Rose began as she handed an envelope to Malorie.

"Should I be scared?" Malorie asked; since Rose had sounded so serious.

"No, but we didn't want to do this with everyone else around; and hope that you won't get too upset – even if Lily might think it'd be okay for you to get worked up and then go into labor." She smiled when Malorie hesitated and didn't try to open it. "It really isn't scary," she assured her friend. "Al and I wanted to give you a gift from the company; and our collective family joined in and donated to the cause."

"You've already collectively done too much," Malorie said; though she did also open the envelope and pull out the card. She read it first; and then read the Gringott's letter that had been folded up and tucked inside. Her eyes went wide; and filled with tears. "This is brilliant, Rose; but I can't accept it."

Rose was sitting beside her; and leaned in for a long hug. "You can – and don't really have any choice," she explained gently. "The galleons are already in your vault; we're not going to tell you who donated what; and we think that you and the twins deserve that and a whole lot more."

Malorie shook her head. "I don't deserve any of this just because I'm an idiot and wasn't careful-enough while messing around with James," she declared bluntly. "If you told him about this; he'd be sure that half of the awful things he said about me have proved out to be true!"

"Yet he has never had a problem with the gifts we've all given to him," Rose countered.

"He's your cousin – or son or brother," Malorie pointed out.

"And you're the mother of my grandchildren," Ginny told her with a warm smile. "Let James think whatever he wants. This is no different to me than buying gifts for him or giving him money; and that gift is actually quite small when you consider how many members of your family pitched in – including quite a few cousins as well as grandparents, aunts, and uncles."

"And a few friends," Rose added with a nod and smile for Gwendolyn. "This also won't be an every time thing either, Malorie. Some of us might be oblivious to the real world, but all of our Mums and Dads know exactly how much it costs to take care of newborns; and you'll be glad that you won't need to make any tough choices while you're also busy trying to keep up with Jaimie and Lorie."

"Ask Ron sometimes about how he felt while growing up," Ginny suggested. "I was lucky being the only daughter. He rarely got anything new – just hand-me-downs from five older brothers – and Fred and George were very hard on their things; so there wasn't much that ever got to Ron that wasn't broken or worn-out. That is why we need to do things like this now – though I've mentioned that to you before; so let's not go there again. I will add that you can do the same thing we've tried to do once we could get by on our own – pay it forward to thank everyone who helped us in the past. James hates that too; but it's exactly why Harry always planned on giving Grimmauld Place to Teddy; and for the record – he never thought that he deserved the kind of generosity that his God-father bequeathed to him."

"So he passed it along to his own God-son," Malorie added with a nod. "I get it."

"He and Teddy both lost their parents to the Dark Lord and his minions; so that's part of it too," Ginny told her. "James used to be very close to Teddy, so his reaction to all of that has actually surprised us; but we hope he'll come around eventually."

"Right up until Victoire caught Teddy and supposedly ruined everything," Rose joked. "Maybe James thought that they'd grow up and be a couple of wild and crazy single Wizards and party animals."

"And instead he got stuck with the Animorphparty animal," Gwendolyn joked.

Those comments and that last joke diverted Malorie's attention from her final birthday gift; they didn't talk for much longer after that; and then Ginny took all three teens home so that they could get on with their day and Malorie could have a nap. Even then, they still had time for a long, lazy swim before Gwendolyn and Jonah needed to go home and Harry and Ginny fed the remaining teens and a few parents too ahead of the senior team Quidditch practice. After letting James take the spotlight on Tuesday, Al had a bit of trouble re-asserting himself as Captain, but Harry and Ginny helped him with that; and they managed to get everyone to have a more-serious workout – if for no other reason than they reminded them that they only had weeks left to get ready for tryouts; and they'd be back at school – or on the way there – for the last week and a half of that time.

That fact had Al thinking about when he should have the last practice of the summer and talking with Lily about having a party for both teams in the afternoon between their practices. They didn't make any decisions, but instead decided to work that out over the weekend and then deal with inviting everyone once they'd made those decisions. The post-practice snack break didn't last long – even with quite a few teens going for a swim too, but by the time they'd seen everyone on their way home or elsewhere; Al had been ready to just go up to bed and get away from James. His brother hadn't actually been all that nasty to him outwardly; but he'd been sensing a lot of dark thoughts from James and Ollie – along with some unhappy, bad thoughts from some of the other Chasers too. He did some more reading ahead for his OWL classes and had a mirror chat with Gwendolyn; but then he also went to sleep early too – wanting to be rested up and ready for another camping weekend in Chudley.

This time, their camping weekend away was mostly so that they'd have an excuse to check in on Malorie a lot and do anything she needed help with – as well as keeping her entertained, happy, and when possible, comfortable. Al and Gwendolyn did some toymaking on Friday morning, but they also headed for their campground near Chudley by late morning with Lily and Jonah; Harry and Ginny helped them; and then they popped into town to have lunch with Malorie. Harry and Ginny helped her with a supply shopping run too; but then they went home to get ready for a second attempt at a 'home' weekend with James after he skipped their attempt to do that with him for the rest of the weekend after his big debut match with the Catapults. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah stayed in town for a while longer; they'd been left there with their bikes; and then they rode them back to the campground when Malorie was tired out and ready for a late-afternoon nap.

The rest of their weekend was all about having fun. Some of that they did with Gwenog and Kirley; they spent Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon with Malorie; and had small campfires each night – with Kirley and Gwenog joining them for the one they had on Saturday night. There wasn't any extreme fun – just lazy, fun, family and friends days that were nothing like the kind of action that they missed out on back at home.

"Okay, you've got me home now," James groused after Harry apparated them into the back yard and he didn't need to play nice anymore now that he wasn't at work. "What..." he trailed off as he spotted the teens in and around the pool; and realized that they weren't his brother, sister, and their friends.

"Surprise," Harry told him. "You haven't had much time to spend with your friends; so we invited some of them to spend the weekend with you. Get changed; go for a swim; and then we'll all get ready to go out for dinner and some play time in London."

"You're going to come with us?" James asked; suddenly looking annoyed.

"We need to eat too, so unless you'd like to pay the dinner and entertainment bills for all of your friends; that's part of the deal," Harry advised him. "We will do our own thing while you're all at the show you'll be attending after we eat – the show that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers are doing tonight."

"Your surprise is approved," James decided a bit grudgingly; and then he walked away and went to visit with his friends for a few moments before going to get into a swimsuit so he could join them in the pool.

Harry went inside to help Ginny out with a few things that they needed to get done related to other plans they had for what was likely going to be their last chance to spend much time with James at all before he went back to school; and then they nudged the teens along when they needed to get ready to go out. Dinner was at a very nice Muggle bistro, and while they'd insisted on going along for several reasons; the most-important was so that they could deal with the memory alterations that were needed for the Muggles around them as the teens made little mistakes and talked about things that they shouldn't while in 'mixed' company. James hadn'tbeen able to find any reasons to complain about that meal, but he didn't even try to be gracious or grateful to his parents; and then blew them off as soon as they got to the Magick Hall – where the bands were having their show that wasn't really a dance or concert; but more like a mini music festival that included other entertainment options geared toward teens and young adults.

While James and his friends partied there until late, Harry and Ginny had a pre-arranged visit with Teddy and Victoire for an hour or so; they did a bit of shopping; and then they went home and made sure that the tent was ready for James and his overnight guests. They had some quiet cuddle time after that; picked up the teens after the show wrapped up for the night; and then went to bed after leaving James to host his friends for the rest of their camping fun – starting with a moonlight swim and a campfire.

On Saturday, Harry and Ginny fed the gang a major breakfast; the teens were set free to do their own thing for the morning; and then they had more friends come over for an afternoon sun and fun party – starting with a buffet lunch in the back yard. Scorpius and Lysandra were included in that invitation, and while Harry and Ginny hadn't been sure whether they'd be permitted to attend; they apparently were allowed to do that; and likely so that they could get an inside look at the home of their greatest enemy. For his part, James had done his best to denigrate his 'home, sweet hovel' to his Slytherin friends; and then he'd gone on to have fun with everyone anyway. There were Quidditch scrimmages; other games, like Fanged Frisbee and AquaQuidditch; and a lot of just hanging out and goofing off while having tons of snacks and drinks through the afternoon and after a major take-out dinner event.

Harry and Ginny set up another campfire for the main evening entertainment and had 'canned' music for the teens to have a bit of a backyard dance too, but once everything was set up; they left their son and his guests to that fun and only helped out when needed to refill coolers, snack bowls and trays, and deliver the midnight pizza-buffet. Most of the teens began heading home after that, but once they were down to having just the teens that were staying for the night; Harry and Ginny went up to bed and went off to sleep while those teens partied on until near-dawn. They took that into account on Sunday morning; put on a brunch after their guests began to wake up by late-morning; and then they just had a quiet play day through until all of the teens except for Patricia went home before dinnertime. They went out again for a dinner-for-four at another seaside restaurant; followed that up with a walk on the beach; and then they went home and split up for the night as James and Patricia opted to do their own thing in the tent for the rest of the night – and Harry and Ginny pretended that they didn't know what that activity was likely going to be.

The amount of quality time they'd been able to have with James hadn't been as much as they'd have liked, but they had managed to have a good weekend that had kept James happy most of the time; so they considered their efforts a job well-done!

The last full week of summer was going to be a busy one for Al and Gwendolyn. Their fun began with a work day on Monday as they packed up their campground; had help with getting everything to their homes again from Harry and Ginny; and then Al spent about five hours working with Malorie and Rose while Gwendolyn had some play time with his parents, sister, and her brother. They did all get together for lunch/ but then Al and Rose wrapped up their work as soon as Malorie was tired out and in need of some rest. Rose went on to London after that; Gwendolyn and Jonah went home by dinnertime; and Al and Lily had a relatively-quiet night at home – in part because James was actually tired after partying a bit too much on the weekend and then going through a tough team workout as the Catapults got ready for their mid-week match against the Cannons.

Tuesday began with a Quidditch practice for Lily and toymaking for Al and Gwendolyn. Harry and Ginny led a supply shopping trip that included lunch in Diagon Alley; and the supplies were mostly for the end-of-summer pool party that Al and Lily were going to host for their team mates and some friends on Thursday afternoon. The senior team practice after dinner was the Quidditch highlight for Al; but he also went to bed early because he'd really disliked how James had acted around their friends ahead of his second big match with the Catapults on Wednesday. While he still hoped for the best for his brother; the overt arrogance – and lack of respect for anyone else – grated on his nerves; and he really didn't understand why their cousins and team mates didn't collectively tell James to shut it instead of playing along and feeding his ego.

That was why he was happier about spending the morning with Gwendolyn and Rose as they made toys with Ginny than he was about going to the Ellis stadium for to watch the Catapults and Cannons. Rose – and then Ron and Hugo – had fun with the situation; and they were all happy to support their Cannons – and wish the worst for James and the Catapults. That helped to make their lunch at the Leaky very entertaining; and Al even managed to be in a pretty good mood by game time. They'd invited Malorie again, so she'd been with them for lunch too, but she was also why they had to deal with some annoyances before, during, and after the match too thanks to the reporters that wanted to ask her questions about James – and mostly try to trap her into saying something controversial that they could use for their shows or newspaper articles.

The actual Quidditch match was a mix of really good and really bad. For both teams, the really good only happened with their Seekers, and while he had a lot that he didn't like about James; Al could still appreciate that his brother went out there and proved that he could play brilliantly against a very good Seeker – and do that without any support from most of his own team mates. That was the worst of the really bad for the Catapults; but they also had one other bright spot – Miya Davies. She earned a lot of respect from Al as she worked her broomtail off despite the lack of support from her fellow Chasers and managed to out-play all of the other Chasers so well that she kept her team in the lead over the hapless Cannons' Chasers.

Santini proved that Lily had been right about her assessment of how he'd want to play against James; and he brought his 'A' game to the battle – which is why James had to fight as hard as he ever had in a 'real' match before just to keep Santini from beating him – though he got some good chances to win the match for the Catapults too. Miya only managed to give her team a one or two goal lead through the first two hours of the match; but began increasing that lead slowly – and even got a bit of help from her fellow Chasers when she set them up for goals that were so easy; they couldn't miss the shots without looking even more-ridiculous than they did most of the time while not really trying to play very hard at all. She'd built that lead to eighty points by the end of the fourth hour; and then kicked her game up to another level as they headed into the fifth hour; and had the Catapults in the lead by two-sixty to one-forty when the Seeker duel went white-hot and the match came to a brilliant, thrilling end – for the Catapults!

For that Seeker duel win, James tried using one of his mother's old plays again; Santini tried to defend it; and then James changed it up and added in a nice little twist that Al's memory advised him was a move that Pauline had used against him in one of her duels against James – a move that Santini hadn't been able to defend and that had given James a great chance to make the game-ending catch. That play really had been brilliant; which was why Al packed up his things and headed for the washrooms right away so that he wouldn't need to watch James' post-game antics. That hadn't been soon-enough to keep him from watching and sensing the fly-by razzing James had offered up for his uncle and cousins over in the Cannons' fan section, but while that had made him mad; he also noted that Ron and Hugo had actually been amused by the stunt that had included offering those insults while flying inverted as he passed by about ten feet above their heads.

Gwendolyn and Malorie had gone with him because Malorie had needed another washroom break too; they'd waited for Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their group to catch up with them; and then they'd gone out for dinner in Chudley before seeing Malorie home and then heading home too. James hadn't been available because he was busy with a team dinner and VIP event for the rest of the evening, and once again, while the team technically had a training day curfew; their own owners and managers ignored it while partying until after midnight. Al was okay with that, since it meant getting to have a fun night at home with Gwendolyn, their parents, his sister, and her brother; and then he went to bed early after the McCormacks went home in time for Gwenog's team curfew.

The Catapults' blown curfew was a problem for James on Thursday morning, but that was also when Al and Lily found out that he was finished with the Catapults for the summer and had the final week of their holidays off while the Catapults put their Seeker back on the team until James got home from Hogwarts for the Christmas break. Al would have hated having him at home all morning, but James slept in until near-noon, and while Lily had her junior team practice; Al and Gwendolyn helped out with getting the back yard set up for the end-of-summer pool party. James was still in rough shape even after sleeping through most of the morning, but he tried to pull himself together in record time when he learned that he didn't have much time to do that before some of his team mates and friends would be arriving for the lunch part of the pool party. Al and Gwendolyn had been set free from the work when their guests began arriving, and as one of the team Captains; Al needed to play host and get involved in the social and play time with all of the teens and tweens.

Gwendolyn and Jonah might have gotten teased for being at a Gryffindor party, but dates had been encouraged; so they weren't the only Ravenclaws; and there were a couple of Hufflepuffs attending with their dates for the day too. Jonah had been a bit late because he'd had a morning party with his team and just a short workout, but he'd wanted to do that so he could spend the rest of the day with Lily. Gwendolyn had a team party booked too, but Peter and Pauline had set that up; and they were having it during and after their Ravenclaw senior team workout. It almost felt wrong to Al, since he'd expected the worst; but he and Gwendolyn managed to have fun all afternoon – and they didn't have many problems with James at all because he'd ended up being too busy having fun with his own friends – and with one of the girls that had come as a date and had been newly-impressed with James now that he was a star in the show with two match wins to his credit.

Their afternoon wasn't trouble-free, but they really did get to have a lot of fun too that more than off-set the small irritations – like having James leering at Gwendolyn in her swimsuit or the walk-by razzings that James hadn't been able to resist the few times they'd actually crossed paths while mostly doing their own thing. Al and Gwendolyn also had fun with his parents, and that was a real contrast compared to James; since he did his very best to stay away from them too. Despite the morning workout for the junior team and the senior team practice that was going to follow dinner; there were still some Quidditch scrimmages as part of the afternoon entertainment; and that play time was very popular – especially for the younger teens and tweens that wanted a chance to play on the same team with James – or against him. Al didn't play in any of those matches, but Gwendolyn joined in for a Witches against Wizards scrimmage along with Ginny, Lily, and Rose; and Al watched that match along with his father and about half of the teens at the party before moving on for more swimming fun with Gwnendolyn after the Witches won and she wanted to cool off.

Gwendolyn didn't stay for the dinner because she needed to get to her Ravenclaw Quidditch party and workout; which was why the fun level went down quite a bit for Al after that. He hung out with Rose during that meal; followed that up with a light workout that was all about having fun; and then there was a social hour or so after that while they all wound down and their guests all began heading home – or most of them did. James ended up keeping Ollie and two of the girls for a camping night; and they took over the back yard once everyone else had left while Al and Lily went into the house with Harry and Ginny and left the four teens to have fun swimming, having a campfire, and then doing whatever they wanted for the rest of the night.

That strange end to his night had been tough for Al – especially since the Witch staying with James was not one of his current girlfriends; and that had been even worse for him in the morning as he had to both put up with being insulted by James and Ollie while helping to cook breakfast for eight – and then needing to clean the tent so it would be ready for the weekend while James first saw his playmate for the night on her way home and then welcomed Patricia before Harry took them over to Malfoy Manor ahead of their weekend away with Scorpius, Lysandra, and some other Slytherin friends.

While James didn't want to have anything to do with his own family on the last weekend of the summer; Al and Lily were looking forward to three days with their parents – and with Gwendolyn and Jonah. Kirley and Gwenog were going to spend a lot of time with them too; but not until after the Harpies' match on Saturday for Gwenog. Kirley brought Gwendolyn and Jonah over after James and Patricia had left; Al and Gwendolyn had one last blast of toymaking to finish up a few requests for changes to already completed Animorphmagus toys; and then they went out and had lunch with Malorie in Chudley. That visit was mostly to check up on her, but other than needing to rest a lot; she was doing well; and the twins were fine too. After lunch, they helped Malorie out around her flat for an hour; and then left her to rest again while they went home and played for the rest of the afternoon.

Gwenog and Kirley had dinner with them after she was done work, but they went home early; and left Harry and Ginny to continue to have a quiet blast of fun around home that included going for a hike; swimming; and mirror network watching in the tent that Harry and Ginny joined the four teens for until they were ready to go to bed – and the two junior couples were ready to get on with one of the last sofa sleepovers they'd be able to have before heading back to Hogwarts on September First. There wasn't any snogging going on between the time that Harry and Ginny went into the house and when Al and Gwendolyn fell asleep, but they still enjoyed that end to their play day; and were looking foward to the rest of the fun they had planned for the weekend.

Their trip back to Hogsmeade wasn't until Wednesday, so they didn't need to do the last round of back-to-school supply shopping on Saturday morning before the game, so instead of doing that; they went on a little tour to visit some of the friends and family that they wouldn't get to see again until the Christmas holidays. Their last stop of the morning was to get Malorie on their way to the Leaky; and they were there early-enough to welcome their luncheon guests – and have a bit of fun with Neville and Hannah with a bit of team rivalry fun as Hannah had the Leaky decked out in Prides' colors and banners in support of their daughters' team. Al and Gwendolyn met up with Rose and she sat with them for that meal; but she wasn't having nearly as good a weekend as they were thanks to more trouble with Kyle.

She hadn't wanted to talk about it, and they hadn't broken up yet, but she knew they were going to do that before heading back to school; so their time together was awkward, heart-breaking, and a bit desperate as they both wished that things could turn out differently while knowing that the end was truly at hand. There wasn't really anything Al or Gwendolyn could do to help Rose with that other than being there for her when she needed them. They did what they could for that during lunch and while they were at the stadium, and tried to do that without pushing too hard; or trying to make Rose have fun when she really just wanted to be with them, watch the Quidditch match, and try not to think about her problems with Kyle for a few hours.

The Harpies really did land a tough start to their season as defending champions by playing three of the top-eight teams in just three weeks. Both teams were one-and-one going into the match, so they both had incentive to play their best; and everyone expected that they'd be in for a brilliant, hard-fought battle between the perennial rivals. While they'd been at the Leaky early, Harry, Ginny, and the teens with them were among the last to get to Yorkshire stadium. They didn't need to pick up many treats, drinks, or souvenirs, though; so they were still in their seats with a bit of time to spare before the teams were introduced and flew into the stadium. For this match, Al and Gwendolyn were with Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo; while Malorie sat with Harry and Ginny in the row in front of them – and had some bonus comfort that included a body pillow behind her back that also allowed her to lean back against Al's knees. That had earned them some attention, but Al hadn't cared; and was glad to help her out with staying as comfortable as possible.

Malorie's needs actually ended up becoming a major focus for Al and Gwendolyn – and Harry and Ginny – as the match began and the Harpies and Prides got into what really did prove to be an epic battle! While all six Chasers fought hard and got lots of scoring chances; it was the two veteran Keepers that really put on a show. The lead changed hands – but not often; since Vicky and Meghan only gave up, on average, three goals per hour each – a true statement considering that they were battling against two of the best Chaser trios in the league. That contest had something for all types of Quidditch fans, and Al and Gwendolyn loved every minute of the action; but they also spent a lot of time helping Malorie.

Sometimes, that meant going with her for washroom breaks or when she needed to walk off discomfort and cramps; they took care of getting her anything she needed; and they also continued to keep her entertained by continuing her Quidditch education while adding in bits of fun here and there with sidelines commentary. Harry and Ginny helped Malorie too, and for Harry's part; that included a bit of healing here and there – particularly as it got tougher for Malorie as the game rolled on beyond the third and fourth hours. She didn't want to go home, though; so they continued to do everything possible to keep her as comfortable as they could – and enjoyed the family and friends Quidditch experience too!

Everyone in the stadium was having fun right up until about half of them weren't anymore – and it was the Prides' team and fans that ended up going home disappointed despite getting to watch a brilliant match and effort from their team. Gabrielle got the blame for that – and was the heroine of the day for her team and fans. The sixth hour was winding down fast when her battle with Erin ended, but while her perennial rival still hated losing; she at least had the consolation this time that she didn't beat herself with a mistake – Gabrielle won their battle with a brilliant play and catch that Erin had simply been too-tired to react to quickly enough to stop her. Since the Harpies had only managed to earn a one-ninety to one-eighty lead at that point, the match really could have gone either way; so the Harpies were thrilled to get their second win of the season while the Prides couldn't help but be disappointed with another loss.

Including time-outs, it was heading toward eight o'clock by the time the post-game action on the pitch started, and they really needed to get Malorie home and comfortable again; so Harry and Ginny didn't wait to get moving toward the exits – and actually exerted a bit of influence to get to the washrooms and then out of the stadium. They split up from there; Harry and Kirley got most of their kids home to the Potters' house while Molly helped Ginny with getting Malorie, Al, and Gwendolyn to Chudley; and other parents and grandparents helped out with moving their kids – or Aunt Muriel – to other destinations. Once in Chudley, Al went and picked up a take-out dinner for Malorie while Ginny and Gwendolyn put Malorie to bed; their Mom-to-be didn't stay awake until Al got back; so her food was put in the fridge and then they headed for home too.

Harry and Kirley were doing a take-out dinner too, but they didn't go and get that right away. They all went for a swim first; got a campfire ready; and then picked up the food in time to have it ready for when Gwenog joined them once she was done at the stadium. Dinner around the campfire after dark was a fun way to wrap up their day – if a lot dull compared to a six-hour blast of Quidditch excitement, but it seemed perfect to Al – just as the music and cuddle time that followed was amazing too. The parents were all ready to go home or inside and off to bed by a bit after eleven o'clock, but the four teens stayed out and around the campfire until midnight before dousing the fire and heading into the tent. Both couples wanted to have another sofa sleepover again, so there wasn't any alone time for Al and Gwendolyn; and that meant that they missed out on another opportunity to have any snogging fun in their day. They weren't ready to take the step to spending the night together in one of the bedrooms, though; so they accepted the no-snogging consequences of that ongoing choice.

In the end, it likely wouldn't have mattered; since all four of them fell asleep not long after getting ready for bed and cuddling on the sofas in two pairs anyway.

It was already Sunday by then, and with their last Quidditch match of the summer over and in the past; they were now down to just three days and four sleeps until summer would be over too and they'd be heading back to Hogwarts!

"It's way too early for you to look that happy," James groused as he squinted in the bright morning sunshine; his eyes blood-shot; and his face contorted and pale.

"It's closer to noon than sunrise," Scorpius advised him, "and I'm allowed to be happy today; since it is my birthday."

"Right," James said with a nod. "You're smiling like that because Lysandra's already snogged you senseless for your birthday. Good for you – and Happy Birthday!"

"She didn't, but we'll keep that in mind for later; and thanks," Scorpius told him. "Sorry about waking you up before noon, but I thought that you'd like to have a bit of time to pull yourself together before our guests begin arriving for the party."

"Where are the girls?" James asked.

"They went off somewhere with Mum a while ago; and should be back soon." By then, James had flopped into the chair next to Scorpius – the one facing away from the sun. "I don't want to sound parental or anything; but don't you hate feeling so awful in the morning after partying so hard?"

"Yes, I do, Dad," James agreed. "It always seems like a good idea at the time, though, and I did likely have a lot more fun than you did last night; so I'd say it's worth the small sacrifices."

"I'm sure you had more fun too," Scorpius agreed, "but I don't like feeling sick; so I'll let you have fun with that – or not, as the case may be; and be happy with having a bit less fun."

"You're choice – but you're really missing out," James assured him. "I had a lot of fun yesterday."

"I noticed that," Scorpius said with a laugh and shake of his head. "That seems to work for you somehow too, but if I tried messing around on Lysandra with other Witches; I'd end up in St. Mungo's – or worse."

"Well, I'd offer to help you out with that by distracting her while you give that a try, but she didn't even want to take advantage of having me in her bed and naked when she had the chance – though I suppose it's possible that she did and just didn't want to admit it."

"You really need to stop talking like that about Lysandra – and stop flirting with her," Scorpius told him seriously. "I like you for a lot of reasons, James; but we're not going to be able to remain friends if you keep treating my girlfriend like that."

"She's hot; but why would you ever want to be stuck with any one Witch?" James asked. "I really just don't get that at all. You'd be considered crazy if you would insist on only eating one thing or obsessing over one of nearly anything else. Why do so many Witches and Wizards get hung up on that whole bonded for life thing instead of getting out there and enjoying some variety?"

Scorpius grinned at him. "Well, if you really think that's true; then you should use a Cleansweep in your match against my team in November," he joked. "Then you can use a different broom in every other match you play in for the rest of the year – including games you'll be playing in with the Catapults at Christmas. Let me know if you're still interested in variety for everything after that."

"That's funny, but not a very good analogy; since I actually have tried flying most of the lesser brooms. That's exactly the same as trying out lots of different Witches to find out which of them are best to take along with you to the big game!"

"Okay," Scorpius agreed, "but do you still plan on flying Comets or Cleansweeps now that you have a Lightningbolt?"

"No, but I'll also be happy to trade up the moment something better comes along – and won't have a second thought for my old broom. There are also, you may have noticed, quite a few more choices for Witches compared to brooms; so I expect it'll take a lifetime to try them all – and there are always newer, hotter Witches coming of age all the time!"

"This is just going to be one of those things we won't agree on," Scorpius decided. "I used to think the way you do about Witches, but I don't anymore; and that isn't going to change."

James shrugged. "Your loss – and more Witches for me."

"That's okay with me too – as long as you stop bugging the Witch that I have picked."

Al knew that he was going to have an amazing day from the moment he woke up on Sunday – and why that would be true. He also couldn't talk about it with anyone; so it was tough to keep all of the happy bottled up inside while getting ready for the day and then going into the house to cook breakfast for six. Everyone did notice the extra happy, but since he didn't offer any explanation for it; they just teased him about it instead – and offered various reasons for why he was so especially-happy. That had him glad that his sofa sleepover with Gwendolyn had been in the same room with Lily and Jonah, since that ensured that they couldn't be accused of having too much fun while parent-free overnight; but he was also, definitely, not so fired up because they were down to three days left before heading back to Hogwarts.

They had a quiet morning at home; Kirley and Gwenog came over in time for lunch; and then they had a quiet, family and friends play afternoon. Malorie was brought over for that – mostly because Ginny wanted her to have extra time hanging out with Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily before they headed back to school; and they had drop-in visits from other members of their family and some friends – with most of them wanting to visit with the kids ahead of the return to school too. There were games being played all afternoon; a lot of pool time; and even more lounging around while doing nothing more than enjoying the summer day and some quality chat time with favorite people.

Al's level of excitement and happiness continued to soar as the day went along; and that was quite a contrast to the comparative calm of their actual play time. That building anticipation didn't keep him from having fun with everything he did – it made everything better. That got him into trouble now and then – like when he helped the Wizards win the scrimmage over the Witches – and outscored Gwendolyn by nine goals; but he couldn't keep from having fun with all of that too. He happily worked so hard helping out with making dinner that he didn't end up needing much help; he enjoyed that meal more than most; and had a blast with everything from the post-dinner clean-up through to when he headed into the tent for the night at dusk with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah after Kirley and Gwenog went home and Harry and Ginny headed into the house with plans to go to bed early so they'd be ready for the last couple of days they'd have with the kids before they'd be back at Hogwarts.

"Okay, Al – what is up with you tonight – and all day?" Lily demanded. "If you were me; you'd be bouncing off the walls right now – and that's definitely not like you."

"Nothing's up – I'm just very happy today," Al lied; and then laughed at the reactions to his answer.

"You know what an awful liar you are," Lily told him bluntly. "Out with it!"

"No," Al told her with a grin; and then laughed when his sister was not happy with his answer – especially when he wouldn't elaborate. He really hadn't wanted to say anything, but knew the secret was out and turned his attention to Gwendolyn before she guessed the secret he'd been keeping all day.

"Malrie's going to have the babies soon," she declared; and then laughed and hugged him happily when she saw the confirmation of that in his reaction. "You've known all day – or longer!"

"Probably longer," Al agreed; "though I've only been sure since waking up this morning. "I'm pretty sure that Mum will get the call from Malorie fairly-soon."

"I knew that it'd work if we kept her busy all weekend!" Lily said enthusiastically – "even if she wouldn't go for a ride on Dad's motorcycle!"

"That did help," Al agreed – and wasn't entirely dishonest about that confirmation. "Now that you know; would you like to skip the mirror network watching and try to have a nap while you can?"

"As if I could sleep now," Lily answered. "How soon is soon?"

Al shrugged. "I can't be positive on that one. We're down to hours now for sure; and probably before morning."

"You should have at least told Gwendolyn and me," she accused next.

"I didn't want to tell you now," Al countered. "It's been fun today, but there is a down-side to what I sense and foresee – especially as it seems to get stronger the more I use it. I sure hope I never get to a point where I know everything about what is going to happen in my life before it does."

"Well, I might like that a lot – especially if I could change what I see in the future – like if I was going to lose a Quidditch match or Seeker duel," Lily offered with a grin for Jonah. "Instead of going there, though; should we be getting cleaned up and ready for a trip to St. Mungo's?"

"I was just thinking the same sort of thing," Gwendolyn advised her with a laugh; "and that really says a lot about us – and maybe why Al has good reason not to let us in on these sorts of things when he knows about them ahead of time. We're thinking about looking our best instead of about Malorie's well-being – and that the babies will be okay. What exactly would you be willing to do if you knew ahead of time that Jonah was going to beat you in your next Seeker duel next April? Make sure he didn't make it to the stadium on time?"

"First, we don't have to worry about Malorie and the twins or Al wouldn't be so happy – he'd be worried. As for that hypothetical – thanks for the good idea! I might just use it if that ever happens."

There was a good chance that she was joking about that, but the two girls had some fun talking about foreseeing the future and what they might be willing to do to try and change it. Their camping night wasn't interrupted within minutes of Gwendolyn making the leap to figuring out why Al had been so happy, but it wasn't hours later either when Ginny came to get them after Malorie called with her concerns that she'd gone into labor. She took Al and Gwendolyn with her right away; they went to Chudley; and then on to St. Mungo's from there with Malorie. Ginny stayed with her as she was processed and admitted, but Al and Gwendolyn were shunted to the side – and into a maternity ward waiting room. Harry, Lily, and Jonah met up with them there; and the waiting began – along with the crazy.

It wouldn't actually be unfair to state that Rita Skeeter – and others – had recruited spies to help them at St. Mungo's; though Al sensed that those people didn't think of themselves in that light as he was able to detect them and knew both when they were lurking around and trying to learn what they could for their 'spy masters' about Malorie and his family. He knew when the reporters started to arrive at the hospital too – though not even Rita Skeeter tried to go after them or get to Malorie directly while she was being cared for by Healers and Ginny was in the room with her. The good feelings weren't diminished by any of that, but Al didn't like it; and he stepped in once at a bit after midnight. He'd done that suddenly; surprised everyone around him; and had his father at his back when he rushed out of the waiting room and intercepted one of the hospital workers before she could go into Malorie's room.

"Excuse me," the older Witch said with a smile that faded when she actually looked at Al and saw the stony, angry expression on his face and sparking emerald fire in his eyes.

"No, I don't think so," he answered seriously. He reached out quickly; snatched something off of the tray she was carrying before she could pull it out of his reach; and held it up in front of his face. "Whoever gets to watch this – or may be watching right now; stay away from Malorie and her babies!" He continued to hold the mirror network camera in place but focused his attention on the Witch; and she'd paled as she listened to him. "I don't know how much they offered to pay you, Madam, but it makes me sick to know that any Witch would want to treat a young, pregnant mother who is about to deliver her babies so callously as to try to record a video of her in such a vulnerable state using a hidden camera for Merlin only knows what reason!"

He was speaking fairly-loudly by the end of that statement; had attracted too much attention; and shook his head in disgust as he tossed the camera to his father. "I'd best go back to the waiting room before I do something I'll regret, Dad." He hadn't taken his gaze away from the Witch; and pinned her with a hard look. "Stay away from Malorie – and from her daughters once they're born. I may be underage, but I'll take that as a personal threat; and you won't like how that ends for you."

"That won't be necessary, Al," Harry interjected. "Go on; and I'll deal with this from here."

Al did turn to look at his father then because of what he sensed; and then simply nodded and let Gwendolyn take his hand and lead him away.

"That sounds like Al out there," Malorie panted out as she tried to catch her breath after the latest contraction had passed. "Can't a Witch deliver her babies in peace without the Wizards around her getting all worked up and making so much noise?"

Ginny laughed. "I didn't catch all of that; but I did get enough to guess that he put a stop to someone trying to get in here who didn't have your best interest at heart. Be glad that he got that from Harry, 'cause if he'd gotten it from me; there'd be magical fireworks to go along with the yelling."

"I've never seen you get mad at all," Malorie told her seriously. "It's hard to picture you as a hothead."

"You'd have seen it if whomever that was out there had gotten in here and tried to mess with you," Ginny assured her. "It's been quite a while since I've felt the need to blast anyone, but when I was Al's age; it didn't take much to set me off. James and Lily are exactly like me for the quick temper – though they handle it very differently."

"Lily doesn't stay mad," Malorie observed. "You're not personally responsible for that rule about taking wands away from Witches while they're in labor?"

"That was put in place centuries ago," the Healer attending Malorie advised them; joining in for the first time after returning from going to see what the commotion had been all about. "It's much easier to take care of the mother and babies now that we don't also need to help hexed or cursed fathers too."

"Is everything okay out there now?" Ginny asked; and the Healer nodded.

"Yes. Your husband and the hospital night manager are dealing with the problem." She smiled at Malorie's reaction to that and sighed. "Someone tried to get in here with a mirror network camera. Do not let it worry you; since it seems you are well-protected by your friends."

"I won't worry," Malorie said and then squeezed Ginny's hand as the next contraction began to hit. "I've enough to deal with; and anyone trying to mess with Al's nieces is an idiot as well as a git."

The yells and mental stress that Al sensed and heard from Malorie's room made it really hard for him to stay out of the way and wait when what he wanted to do was rush into the room; take over; and help to ease the stress on Malorie and the babies. Compared to other labors, Malorie's wasn't horrendously-long, but it was hours before they heard the first, wondrous cries from Jaimie at two twenty-four in the morning. Lorie apparently didn't want to be left behind for long all on her own; and she arrived at two thirty-three. While Ginny was busy with Malorie and her granddaughters; Harry and the kids had to wait impatiently for quite a while before being given an opportunity to have short visits with Malorie and meet the girls. Harry went in first; Al insisted on having Lily get the next turn with Jonah; and then, finally; he and Gwendolyn went into Malorie's room at a bit after four o'clock.

Al and Gwendolyn took turns hugging and congratulating Malorie; and then Ginny handed each of them a baby – with Al getting Jaimie and Gwendolyn getting Lorie – a subtle, unspoken statement that Al didn't miss; but also didn't comment on. It also took about a micro-second for him to fall in love with his nieces. They were tiny – even for newborns. Ginny advised them that Jaimie had weighed in at five pounds, ten ounces; and Lorie was six ounces lighter than her first-born twin. The fine, silken bits of hair that each girl had was still visibly-red; and they were beautiful.

"They look like Grandma Lily," Al declared – his first comment after taking temporary possession of Jaimie.

"We've never seen baby pictures of your grandmother," Ginny reminded him. "Are you waxing nostalgic or something?"

"No – they really are going to look like their great-grandmother," Al answered seriously. "I think you should keep them, Malorie – they're amazing!"

"I will," Malorie assured him. "They are beautiful, aren't they?"

"As beautiful as I thought that Lily was when she was born," Al assured her. "They have very strong magic too. I can sense the glow of it within them."

"That sounds great – but can be scary for any mother," Ginny advised him with a smile. "Babies and toddlers with a lot of magical strength can be very challenging."

"They're going to be brilliant," Al insisted. "They're tired right now, though – and Malorie needs to sleep too."

"Then this seems like the perfect time for us to give them one of our gifts," Gwendolyn suggested.

"You have a sure-fire sleep aid for babies?" Ginny asked in amusement. I could have used that when I was a young mother – even with Al now and then."

"This might help," Gwendolyn assured her; "but it's a song that we wrote for Jaimie and Lorie. We hope they like it."

With that lead-in, she began to hum out an introduction; since they hadn't brought a guitar – and had their hands full anyway. Al joined in to hum a harmony for the introduction; and then they began to sing the lullaby they'd written for Jaimie and Lorie.

"It's been an unexpected journey; but you're finally here tonight. Filling up our hearts with love so brilliant, pure, and bright. And as the darkness fades to morning; we hold the future in our arms. There's nothing like this feeling;

As we look into your eyes. Our dreams came true; now we have you. We love you; our miracles."

Al was smiling down at Jaimie as they sang and he and Gwendolyn switched up harmony and melody in a soft, intricate way that was subtle and beautiful. Jaimie had opened her eyes to stare up at him in what seemed to be adoring astonishment; and his love for her deepened with every moment as they bonded forever in those moments. His heart soared as they moved on and sang the first chorus of their song.

"If you could see what I see; the Light that's shining in your hearts. And if you could feel the tenderness I feel; you would know; it would be clear; that magic brought you here." Al sensed the tears and joy from his mother and Malorie; but his focus was all for the music he was making with Gwendolyn and the babies that they rocked and sang to as they moved into the bridge of their song. "Brought you here to be with me. We'll be forever grateful; oh, forever thankful; Our dreams came true; now we have you – our miracles."

Al moved to face Gwendolyn so that he could watch Jaimie and Lorie; and the twins each tried to look from him to her; though focusing on either of them was a bit beyond their ability. They moved into the chorus with a softly-swelling key change higher; and Al's heart swelled right along with the music.

"If you could see what I see; the Light that's shining in your hearts. And if you could feel the tenderness I feel; you would know; it would be clear; that magic brought you here." They held on to that last word of the chorus for long moments with an entwined harmony that was breath-taking; and then wrapped up their lullaby with a repeat of the last half of the chorus.

"And if you could feel the tenderness I feel; you would know; it would be clear; that magic brought you here."

"You made their Mum and Grandma cry," Ginny told them. "Should we hex or thank you?"

"I don't have my wand," Malorie reminded her. "I can't hex them."

"Then I guess we'll thank them – and then get them out of here so that you and the girls can get some sleep," Ginny decided.

There were hugs and kisses involved in that thanks and parting; Al and Gwendolyn tucked Lorie and Jaimie on each side of Malorie after trading babies so they could cuddle the other twin for a few moments each too; and then they headed out to the waiting room again while Ginny stayed and helped Malorie out with getting the girls off to sleep – and then moving them into a single crib so that Malorie could sleep for a while too. She took a break once they were all resting comfortably; and Harry had a drink and snacks ready for her – along with more hugs and kisses that the four kids helped out with before she sat down and started in on her snack.

"I'm tired; but that was a lot easier for the grandmother in the room," she joked. "Don't run off on me yet, but you – or Al – could likely help Malorie out with a bit of healing. She's strong, and everything went well; but I'd feel better if you helped to speed up her recovery – especially when she's sure to need all of the energy she has to keep up with twins."

"For the next decade or two," Harry added.

"Al told us that they look like your Mum," Ginny advised him. "Could you see that in them?"

"They remind me of our Lily, so I guess that's possible; but I don't know what my mother looked like as a baby."

"I know they look like her," Al assured his parents. "Maybe they'll be like her too; and you'll get to watch what it might have been like if you'd been able to see your Mum growing up – just as we get to do with Lily."

"That would be fun; but I don't see how that could be the same; since they won't be growing up in a Muggle family," Harry reminded him. "You're very sure about this; so I'm glad to know that they'll grow up to be as beautiful as I think they are right now."

"They are amazing," Lily agreed. "Better yet – they've arrived ahead of the September First deadline for Hogwarts; so they won't have to wait an extra year like I did!"

"That is very important – to you," Ginny agreed with a laugh. "We should take a few minutes to make plans for the rest of the day. I don't want to wake anyone yet, but we will need to start making some calls; and then we'll need to work out how we're going to handle the family visits – though that won't be too bad this morning; since it is a work day. We're likely to have more issues at lunchtime and later – though it's possible that they'll send Malorie home today if she's well-enough."

"Will you stay with Malorie for a while if she does go home today – like for a few days or a week?" Lily asked.

"That'll be up to Malorie,' Ginny answered. "I'll offer; and she'll need a lot of help at first whether she realizes that yet or not; but I'm sure she'll want to work out what's best for her too."

"Well, Al can't do sleepovers at her house; but Gwendolyn and I volunteer to help out too while we still can."

"After that visit; I'm thinking about staying home and getting Mum to home school me," Al said half-seriously; and then smiled at Gwendolyn. "Sorry, but I have two more Witches that I love now; and they had me hooked at first sight."

Gwendolyn laughed. "You'll get another exception for them, since their future aunt has fallen in love with them too. That doesn't mean I'm okay with you staying home instead of going to Hogwarts with us – even if your Mum might love that idea a lot."

"I was thinking that James would be the one to love that idea," Lily offered with a grin. "We'll figure out a way to spend time with our nieces – even if that's just through mirror chats."

"They're a bit young to have their own mirrors," Ginny teased, "but they loved the lullaby that Al and Gwendolyn wrote for them; so maybe they could sing it to them through Malorie's mirror at bedtime every night."

"That might make their evening study sessions entertaining," Lily suggested – "especially if their song put all of their study buddies to sleep too."

"They can always study History if they want a nap," Jonah joked. "Half of our classmates can't stay awake during History class let alone when it's time to work on the assignments."

"I'd be okay with doing that every night," Al interjected, "but that might not work for Malorie; so maybe Gwendolyn and I should get her Dad to record us using a mirror network camera and give it to Malorie to play for Jaimie and Lorie when we can't do that – like at nap time."

"You don't think that our Professors would let us take breaks to do that every afternoon?" Gwendolyn teased. "I don't like the idea of getting Dad to do that. The next thing you know; he'd accidentally slip a copy of it to one of the mirror network music shows."

Al laughed. "I can't picture that lullaby as a top ten pop hit – especially in the Wizarding World."

"It could be a love ballad with a few tweeks of the lyrics," Ginny suggested. "Let's not go there either; since we all know that Gwendolyn is going to play for the Harpies and not go into music."

Their chat moved on from there; Ginny eventually took Harry and Al into Malorie's room with her and Al ended up getting another magical use exception and helped to heal Malorie as she slept on – and with oversight from her very-impressed Healer. Malorie didn't get to sleep much longer before Jaimie and Lorie woke up, and since it was past-dawn by then, while Ginny helped to teach her how to nurse her babies – and do that with twins; Harry, Lily, and Gwendolyn began making mirror network calls to their family to spread the news.

"James – answer your mirror – it's likely your Mum or Dad wanting to set up when they'll be picking us up," Patricia told James as she walked into his room from where she'd been getting ready for the day in the bathroom. She had her own room too; but hadn't used it at all except for a place to store her luggage and occasionally get changed. "Come on, James," she insisted. "That's the third time it's been chiming.

"Alright!" he groused. "What's the big hurry?"

"I don't know. Answer the mirror chat and find out."

She stayed out of the way as James did that; but watched as he scowled and looked bleary-eyed as he accepted the chat request.

"Hello," he said roughly. "What do you want?"

"Good morning," Harry said cheerfully. "I wanted to call and make sure you can be ready to go in an hour. Grandma Ginny and I have been at St. Mungo's most of the night; we're going to be a bit busy today; and I won't have time to hang around and wait for you to pull yourself together and get packed when I get there."

"If you're suggesting that the Animorphlitter has arrived; shouldn't you be at the animal hospital?" James retorted.

"Not even your insults could mess up all of the happy this morning, James," Harry advised him. "Jaimie Lee and Lorie Lynn Potter were born a few minutes each side of two-thirty this morning; they're perfect, beautiful, and amazing; and your mother and I love you for your part in giving us those little miracles. I'm also sure that you don't even want me to talk about them, though; so I won't do that around you if at all possible. I want to pop over; pick you up; and then your mother wants you to go ahead with the back-to-school supply shopping plan – if you can handle that without her. We'll need to be here at St. Mungo's for most of the day; so we'll need to play it by ear for what we'll be doing today – and likely tomorrow too."

"Just forget about me and I'll get by on my own between now and when I need to be on the train on Wednesday," James told him.

"No," Harry answered bluntly. "I'll be there on-time to get you and Patricia. Be ready to go. This is going to make our last two days of the summer a bit complicated, but your mother and I still want to spend time with you, Al, and Lily; so suck it up for another forty-eight hours or so and play nice until you're free of us again once you're aboard the Hogwarts Express on Wednesday."

"Whatever," James retorted. "Anything else you want to order me to do; or can I hang up on you now?"

"That's it," Harry told him. "Hello, Patricia. I hope you've had a good weekend." He laughed at the expression he saw on James' face. "I saw the extra shadow on the wall behind you," he explained. "Feel free to invite Patricia to spend the day with you too if she isn't too busy with her own family."

"Hanging up now," James told him – and had done that before he finished saying 'now' while also dropping his mirror into his lap. "That's just great – not!"

"I thought that she wasn't due until mid-September," Patricia said; and James scowled at her.

"I don't want to talk about this!" he said harshly. "The last thing I needed right before we head back to Hogwarts is the loser trying to mess up another school year for me right from the start!"

"Well, we don't have to talk about it; but I was just thinking that this is proof that you've been telling the truth; since the loser likely got her pregnant before the Christmas holidays last year for her to be giving birth to them today."

That got James' full attention; but he still looked angry. "What do you mean by that?"

"Do the Arithmancy," she suggested. "Sure, it's possible that she's given birth early; but it's just as likely that she was pregnant in early-December – and that blows up their entire story about you being the father."

"That's true," James conceded; looking suddenly happier. "Maybe this won't be a totall horror after all."

"It ought to be enough to get the loser's Prefect and Captain badges taken away and given to someone else – though I know that the Headmistress will never do that to her perfect little Animorphpotty."

James had agreed with that, but then her suggestion had helped him out with something that he and Ollie had talked about several times over the past few weeks – an idea that he thought might actually work out for him too! He was in a much better mood; took some time to share some of that newfound happy with Patricia; and then they'd both needed to hurry to get ready and pack their bags before going to have breakfast with Scorpius, Lysandra, and his parents and grandparents.

Monday proved to be a very strange day for Al and Gwendolyn. After staying awake all night, they were tired out; but too fired up to do more than have a cat nap here and there during lulls in the action. Grandma and Grandpa Weasley were first to come and visit Malorie and meet their first great-grandchildren. Arthur had to work too, but Molly stayed; and took over watching over Malorie and the twins while Harry and Ginny took the kids out for breakfast and Harry took care of James and Patricia – getting their bags home and then leaving them to do their shopping for the morning in Diagon Alley while he went back to St. Mungo's with everyone else. That was when they had a run-in with Rita Skeeter; and it was no surprise that she had a small gang of other reporters and gawker with her.

"I hear that congratulations are in order," Rita began as she used her little entourage to block Harry, Ginny, and the kids from continuing through the hospital lobby on their way to the maternity ward. "Would the proud grandparents, father of the Animorphlitter, and his girlfriend care to comment on how the mother and her puppies are doing – and about rumors that the Animorphloser threatened a hospital employee and then got her fired?"

"Good morning, Rita," Ginny said with a smile and a cheerful tone to her voice. "You're in fine form this morning. I'm happy to confirm that Jaimie Lee and Lorie Lynn Potter were born early this morning; they – and their mother – are doing well; Harry and I are proud to be their grandparents; and Albus and Lily are Jaimie and Lorie's equally-proud uncle and aunt."

Rita snorted derisively. "Still protecting the Chosen Chump's favorite son over the son who refuses to blindly believe your lies and thinks for himself, I see. Being unemployed has apparently done nothing to improve your parenting skills."

"Probably not," Ginny agreed, "but Harry and I have really enjoyed spending the summer playing with our kids, family, and friends; so we really do want to thank you – since it was your sage advice that convinced us that we should quit our jobs and put our family first. In fact, feel free to take full credit for that; since we think that our kids are doing quite well."

"I'm sure that's a comforting delusion for you," Rita scoffed; and Ginny laughed.

"Is it?" she countered. "James has done quite well as Seekere for the Catapults; Al will be one of the fifth-year Prefects at Hogwarts; and he and Lily have been named Captains for the Gryffindor Quidditch teams. Aren't you proud of your contributions to their successes, Rita?"

"I'm sure that James' success has come despite you; and I wouldn't call the rest of that anything more than a fraud against more-deserving Hogwarts students. The Headmistress at Hogwarts ought to be sacked for awarding a Prefect honor to the underage father of a mongrel Animorphlitter and proven liar and cheat; and your daughter is nearly as bad as her loser brother!"

"You obviously don't need us here for this non-interview," Ginny told her. "You've already spewed more than enough of your own jaded, ridiculous opinion to fill your column for a week; so we'll get back to having fun with our family; and you can go and enjoy yourself writing your vapid, pointless little diatribes. Have a nice day, Rita – ours has already been brilliant!"

"So you won't even bother to defend your lies and your horrid younger children any longer?" Rita sneered. "I'm glad to hear that you've at least saved me from the need to refute those falsehoods and just report the facts."

"I don't need to defend Al or Lily from you or anyone else," Ginny retorted dismissively. "You'll write your hit pieces on us regardless of what we say and despite what you know to be true; so have at it. Some of your readers will believe you; most of us use your column to have a laugh and then paper our pet cages; and we – my family and I – could care less what you or anyone else chooses to believe about us. We're happy, grateful to have so many blessings in our lives, and not even your viperous attempts to goad me into getting angry could win against all of the love and joy in my heart today." She smiled brilliantly; startled Rita by stepping to within inches of her; and then she wrapped her arms around Rita for an enthusiastic hug that was awkward because Rita was still holding quill and notebook in her hands – and could do nothing in response. "We have to go now, Rita. Have a wonderful day!"

With that, she walked away; Harry and the kids followed her; and they all ignored Rita's attempts to call out non-questions that were really just opinions and insults. They didn't talk about her at all after that beyond a few jokes once they could do that without being overheard by anyone; and instead got back to having fun with their family and friends. Al would have liked to spend all of his time with Jaimie and Lorie; but really didn't get to do that when he had to compete for baby cuddle time with everyone else – and they also needed a lot of time with Malorie. While she wanted to go home, and probably could have; her Healer convinced Malorie to stay in the hospital overnight if for no other reason than because she'd have the extra help with the twins without the need to have anyone stay with her at home instead.

Harry or Ginny were with her for most of the day except for meal breaks; and they had someone else stay with her for those breaks. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah took some time off from St. Mungo's in the afternoon to go and do their back-to-school supply shopping with Kirley so they wouldn't have to do it on Tuesday; and Kirley and Gwenog were both with them for dinner at the Leaky with Harry and Ginny. The McCormacks all went back to the hospital with the Potters after dinner and got to have a visit with Malorie and the twins; but then they went home so that Gwenog could spend that time with Gwendolyn and Jonah now that they were running out of time before their kids would be heading back to Hogwarts.

James had, obviously, not wanted to go anywhere near the hospital, so he spent most of the day with Patricia; and then he went to Ollie's house for dinner and the evening until Harry picked him up and took him home shortly before visiting hours ended at the hospital. Al and Lily stayed with Ginny; they got to be the last visitors to spend time with Jaimie and Lorie; and Al sang them to sleep after they'd been fed and changed – and while he and Lily had cuddled with the twins while he did that; and then Grandma Ginny put each of them to bed with bonus hugs and kisses from their mother and grandmother while on the way into their crib. Malorie needed to sleep when Jaimie and Lorie did, since she'd need to be awake when they were – and they would be up every two or three hours; so Ginny, Al, and Lily left within minutes of having the twins tucked into their crib.

The last thing they did at St. Mungo's before leaving was have a little chat with the Healer and nurses that would be in charge of Malorie overnight – and with Pat Towler – the Auror-Trainee that Susan Macmillan had assigned to spend the night at St. Mungo's to ensure that nobody would bother Malorie or her babies – and to protect them if necessary; since the twins were, after all, Harry Potter's granddaughters. Al sensed that Patrick wasn't all that happy with the assignment, but his parents were still friends of Hermione's, and while he had his own feelings about the situation; Al sensed that he would do his job and make sure that Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie would be safe while he was at home. Pat's less-than-charitable feelings seemed minor by comparison by the time Al got home with his mother and sister; and he walked into a verbal ambush from James.

"How's it going, AnimorphDaddy?" James asked with a raucous laugh. "I'd hoped that you'd get arrested for littering; but I guess the new Head of the Aurors is as bad as the last one."

"I'm surprised that you want to talk about this at all," Al told him.

"Why wouldn't I?" James retorted derisively. "Now that they've arrived so soon; it just proves that I've been telling the truth all along and that they're your mutts – not mine!"

"If you believe that; then why not come to the hospital and meet the twins?" Lily asked him. "I'd say your story falls apart because you don't want to even see Jaimie and Lorie. I get that, since if you did; you'd likely fall in love with them too; and then you might be too tempted to admit that they're yours instead of sticking with your idiotic stories."

"Why would I want to have anything to do with the loser's litter?" James asked scornfully. "They're sure to be freaks as bad or worse than he is!"

Lily had only been two steps away from James; she needed about a second to reach him; and then she slapped him along the side of his head as hard as she could.

"Talk about my nieces – your daughters – like that around me again; and you'll regret it, James! Jaimie and Lorie are beautiful, amazing, and very likely the best thing you'll ever be a part of in your entire selfish excuse for a life! I'm going to keep on loving you because of them; but I really don't like you at all right now!"

"Don't," Al warned as James roared and jumped to his feet from the sofa he'd been sitting on and playing his video game. "Lily and I will leave and let you spend the rest of the evening with Mum and Dad; since you haven't gotten to see them much in days." His eyes blazed and he jumped into action too when James ignored him and went after Lily. He didn't get to her – and ended up flat on his back on the floor – after hitting it fairly-hard. "Dad – you'd better take over," Al suggested as he pinned James in place. "I really don't want to do anything right now that I won't regret later."

"That's right," James ground out between clenched teeth. "Get Dad to take your side yet again – as always! I am so glad that I'll be out of here on Wednesday – and I'm never going to come back to this stinking shack in the boonies again!"

"Good," Lily told him hotly. "Mum and Dad will be able to stay here instead of giving the family home to you; and then maybe one of your daughters will want to make it their home some day instead."

"Those mutts are not mine!" he insisted. "They're your loser brother's litter! Do the Arithmancy – he obviously got that mudblood mutt pregnant weeks before she claimed I supposedly hooked up with her! Now everyone will know the lot of you for the liars that you are!"

"I warned you, James," Lily said ominously. Al had already been stepping back to let his father take over dealing with James, but only felt a tiny bit of guilt for doing nothing despite sensing what was going to happen; and just staying out of the way as Lily let James have it with a half-dozen of her charm bracelet charms. "I'm going to send myself to my room now," she added when she was done blasting him. "Don't come near me for the rest of the night – or better yet; the rest of the summer. I really am sick of you, James. We all know that you took advantage of Malorie; have treated her horridly; and don't deserve the love she still has for you even after everything you've done to her. You're so selfish; you can't even see the blessings in your life, but that's okay, James. You get on with your shallow, empty little life; and we'll make sure that your daughters – and Malorie – have all of the love and support they deserve!" She smiled grimly at Al; took his hand; and tugged on it to get him to go along with her. "I'm sending you to your room too; since we all know that you could have stopped me and let me blast him anyway."

They both took one last look at their brother as they left the sitting room, and Al could admit that he enjoyed seeing James both bound and flopping around on the floor while also silenced and laughing on the inside as Lily had given him a full measure of her cheering charm along with the not-so-fun – for James – charms. He thought that she might want to talk with him for a while, but Lily instead hugged him for a long minute outside of her bedroom door; and then went into her room and left him to go on to his. Al could sense what was going on in the sitting room after they'd left, but while Harry countered the charms and set James free; his brother wasn't grateful for the help; and it wasn't long before he was left in the sitting room on his own while Harry and Ginny decided to go up to bed too. There weren't any parental visits after that either, so Al did some studying; had a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn that included telling her about their problems with James; and then he went off to sleep and was out cold for the rest of the night after being awake for most of two days.

James did not go to bed early, and Al was okay with that because he also didn't get up for breakfast; nobody wanted to wake him; and they were happy to eat, clean up, and then head for St. Mungo's to both visit Malorie and the twins and then take them home to Chudley once they were released from the hospital. Ginny didn't want a gang at the hospital for Malorie's move home with Jaimie and Lorie; so she only had Harry, Al, and Lily with her for that – and Harry went back home to hang out with James once Malorie and the girls were home. The only blip in that little trip was another attempt by Rita Skeeter to earn some personal attack points and more fodder for her newspaper columns. That didn't go well for her because Jaimie and Lorie were so beautiful that they enchanted everyone else around them – and Rita soon discovered that insulting the adorable pair earned her nothing but scorn and disdain.

Al had been in Malorie's flat dozens of times now, but having Jaimie and Lorie there for the first time made it suddenly feel like a true home to him – though he knew that Malorie had felt at home there pretty much from the beginning. They all felt the new sense of love and joy the came home with the two babies; and that was all they needed to have an amazing day! Their family made sure that they had lots of help for that, and the only wrinkle in an otherwise brilliant day was having Harry and Ginny take turns spending time with James – something that Al encouraged them to do; since he truly did sense and foresee that his brother was going to do all he could to break away from his family once he was seventeen – and likely at Christmas too somehow despite his plans to play for the Catapults while on the Christmas break from Hogwarts.

Kirley brought Gwendolyn and Jonah over to Chudley by late morning; they had a visit with Malorie and the girls; and then they went out for lunch with Al and Lily while Ginny helped Malorie with a feeding and getting Jaimie and Lorie down for a nap. She went home to spend time with James after that and left Al and Gwendolyn to help Malorie with anything she needed. Gwendolyn and Lily both helped Malorie with the afternoon feeding; Al and Gwendolyn took care of the diaper changes and lullaby into nap mode; and then they took care of babysitting the twins for the first time while Malorie was taken out for dinner. Rose came over after dinner to see Malorie and the girls; and she needed to have that little blast of happy in her life because she and Kyle had ended things during the afternoon before Hermione had picked her up to take her home for the last night before going back to school after spending most of the past four days in London with Kyle and her grandparents. Since Al and Gwendolyn had done the babysitting for the 'early' dinner; they went out for a 'late' dinner; Hermione and Rose went with them; and they did that with Kirley, Gwenog, and Ron – and they al did that after meeting up for a visit with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie.

Al and Gwendolyn did what they could to comfort Rose, but she'd also been getting herself ready for the big break-up for weeks, so while she was still heart-broken; she was also ready to deal with the reality of the situation and move on. They enjoyed that break, but it was also a comparatively-quiet dinner; Al and Gwendolyn went back to Malorie's for one last chance to see her – and the babies – before they'd be leaving for Hogwarts in the morning; and then Kirley and Gwenog took Gwendolyn and Jonah home; Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily home; and Ginny only stayed with them – and James – long enough for a short, last night of the summer visit with them before she was to head back to Chudley and spend the night with Malorie and her granddaughters.

"You can skip the annual back-to-school drivel," James told his parents once they were all in the sitting room. He was still playing his video game; and obviously didn't plan on stopping for any reason. "Keep your stupid allowance and your even dumber rules; and I'll take care of myself from here on in!"

"I suppose that means that you don't want to come over here and have one last cuddle with your Mum before you head off to Hogwarts tomorrow. You've also told us that you won't be back here again; but I thought that we should at least talk about Christmas; since you can't stay at Hogwarts and play for the Catapults."

"I'll stay somewhere else," James retorted. "Don't worry about it."

"We will nonetheless," Ginny advised him – "just as we'll still love you after you're seventeen and can choose your own way." She shook her head at what she saw on his face. "We're open to you making other plans for the holidays – though we'd rather have one last Christmas with you instead; but we do insist that we know what those plans will be – since you are still our responsibility until next February."

"A responsibility that you've failed at miserably," James shot back acidly. "Are we done now? Can you leave me in peace to play my game?"

"You seem to be managing both," Harry deadpanned. "We do have your allowances for you, but there isn't really anything we want to talk about for your school year. I'd like to thank all of you for making this, for the most part, a wonderful summer that your mother and I are very grateful for getting to spend with you."

"Which just proves that your standards are far too low for you to actually believe that," James shot back with a snort. "I had all of my fun when I wasn't anywhere near the lot of you!"

"Well, we've had fun with you," Harry insisted; "so thank-you, James."

"You'll get to keep having fun thanks to James after we're at Hogwarts," Lily offered meaningfully; and then laughed when James scowled at her.

"Don't get into another fight," Ginny warned. "I'll need to get going again soon; and don't want to spend this bit of time with all of you doing nothing but fighting."

"Okay – let's talk about how badly the Harpies are going to beat the Catapults this season," Lily suggested; laughing again when that suggestion earned some laughs and glares.

"They wouldn't win if I was playing in those matches," James retorted. "Be glad that they're not playing my team over the holidays or they'd find that out!"

"You'll want to focus on your classes and studies, since you'll need to do well in all three of them to be allowed to continue on into your NEWT year," Ginny pointed out, "but you should try to work out every day too and focus on getting ready for your Catapults' matches over the holidays."

"Don't worry about me – it'll be the Prides and Magpies you should be worried for," James said dismissively. "Ditto that for the other senior teams at Hogwarts."

"Maybe you should try talking about Hogwarts food," Lily suggested. "James shouldn't be able to say anything horrid about that; since he personally eats about a quarter of the food alloted to Gryffindor at every meal."

James snorted. "If you want me to be happy, stop talking at all; then you can hold your breath so i don't have to listen to that; and once you've done that; try not to disturb me while you die!"

"Can I come and stay with you at Malorie's?" Lily asked Ginny. "I'm not going to be able to play nice with James, so I'll either go up to bed now; or go with you."

"If you can't all shut it and die; then feel free to go to your rooms and stay there," James told them.

Ginny sighed. "I guess that this isn't going to work out," she decided. "I love you, James," she added as she stood up; and then smiled as she summoned her camera.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Taking a picture," she explained. "It might be the last one I'll have that'll be more personal than one of your team posters or trading cards. Say cheese!"

"Cheese off and die!" he shouted while making a horrid face at her as she took the picture.

"Well, that'll be memorable," Harry joked. "Why don't you go and have a chat with Lily; Al and I will put together a bedtime treats package for you to take with you when you go; and then you can say goodnight to Al on your way out."

Ginny went with Lily to her room to do that; Al enjoyed the time with his father while they made up bedtime snacks for everyone; and then he spent ten minutes with his mother before she left to take care of Malorie and her granddaughters for the night and left Harry to take care of their own kids. Harry left the snacks and drink he'd gotten for James in the sitting room; he had a long bedtime visit with Lily; and then stopped in to say goodnight to Al in his room.

"Is there anything I can do to help with whatever you're worried about happening once you're back at Hogwarts?" Harry asked as he sat on Al's bed and watched him finish a final check of his Quidditch gear bag.

"No, but I am expecting to have a strange start to our school year – and there's a good chance that I will have some problems of some sort again."

"Are you expecting any trouble from Rupert Avery and his buddies now that he'll be back at Hogwarts again too – or from Ollie?"

"Not the fighting kind of trouble," Al answered. "Most of them will be on probation all year; and they won't mess that up – or risk drawing attention to their families right now either."

"Okay, but that still leaves a lot of non-fighting potential problems," Harry surmised. "You don't need to keep dealing with those problems on your own, Al."

"In this case; you might be wrong about that," he suggested; adn then shrugged while smiling ruefully. "Whatever's meant to happen will, and I'll be okay; so try not to worry about me. You take care of Mum, Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie; and I'll have all of the support I need at Hogwarts while doing the same with everyone we care about most there."

"Including James?" Harry half-joked; and Al laughed.

"Almost always – even though he'll never believe that or understand why."

"Okay,' Harry said with a nod. "You did manage to stay out of the hospital wing last year; so maybe you really will have a safe and happy OWL year."

That wasn't the end of their chat; but they moved on to talk about unimportant things; and then Harry went downstairs to try and play video games with James and have a last bit of time with him too while Al and Lily both eventually went to bed early – after having bedtime mirror chats with Gwendolyn and Jonah respectively.

When Al was finally ready to sleep; he was ready for the adventures he was sure were ahead in the coming months – and knew that he could handle the good and the bad. He really wished that he could do that and still spend a lot of time with Jaimie and Lorie, but that was a big unknown for whether he'd get to see them at all before Christmas; so he'd start by trying to have regular mirror chats with Malorie and his nieces. He wasn't worried about them, since he was positive that they'd have a brilliant fall with more than enough help and support from Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Harry; and that was actually an emotion that he was happy not to be feeling about anything – worry.

That certainly didn't mean that he expected to have a perfect OWL year. In fact, he sensed and foresaw that trouble was on the way for him in the very near future, but those feelings came along with a hope that the bad could lead to eventual changes for the better for him – and hopefully a combination of what was best for everyone else he cared about too! It was surely too much to hope for to expect a best-ever-so-far school year for everyone – including for his favorite haters, but he did that anyway – even as he knew that the opposite of that sentiment was wished on him by all of those teens and tweens.

Fortunately, he was reasonably-sure that those worst-wishes for him wouldn't keep him from the hope, love, and happiness he hoped to continue to have in his life – and share with all of his family and friends – whether at home or at Hogwarts.

***End of ATE4***

A/N: While you're waiting for ATE-Year 5 to be written and published; please check out my origianl book series - The Heirs of the Magi. Just Google Heirs of the Magi to find the blog or links to my Smashwords author page; or my books are also available at many e-book retailers including the Applie istore; Barnes and Noble; Kobo; and many more! Happy reading, and again - Merry Christmas 2017!


	49. A Not-So-Prefect Animorphmagus OWL Year

**Chapter Forty-Nine – A Not-So-Prefect Animorphmagus OWL Year!**

 **A/N: Happy 38** **th** **Birthday to Harry Potter! Here is Year 5 of Harry Potter – After the Epilogue (Chapters 49-60); and I hope you enjoy this latest installment in this epic story!**

 **There was only one thing on Al's mind on Wednesday morning – and it wasn't the trip back to Hogwarts. While he'd only met them two days ago, Jaimie and Lorie really had captured his heart in a way that was just as profound as what he felt for Gwendolyn – if in a different way. Missing them wasn't the same as how he'd felt the first time he'd been away from his parents and sister, or how Rose had felt during separations from boyfriends while at school or home; but it was just as hard on him.**

 **That was why he convinced his father and sister to switch up their travel plans for the morning; Harry took his time getting to London with James; and he took Al and Lily to Chudley first so that they could have one last visit with Malorie and the twins. Al still cooked breakfast first and cleaned up, but while James ridiculed him; even he couldn't complain about taking the Floo Network to London and Muggle transit to King's Cross – especially when that meant he didn't need to rush around and spend any time with Al at all after breakfast. Malorie had approved the bonus visit; and she and Ginny were able to work with that; since they'd planned on trying to have Jaimie and Lorie awake then anyway so that they'd sleep while Ginny was in London saying goodbye to her kids. Once Al and Lily were there; she popped home to spend a bit more time with James – a bonus chance for what might be a last, happy, personal moment with her eldest son for a long time.**

" **Make sure you count them before we leave," Lily teased as she cuddled with Jaimie while Al held Lorie and hummed 'their' lullaby to her softly. "I think he might just try to hide one or both of them in his undetectable expansion bag when it's time for us to leave."**

" **I wouldn't do that to Malorie," Al assured them. "I'm going to miss them like crazy, though; and home-schooling is looking really great right now."**

" **You wouldn't need me doing my new job if you were home," Malorie told him – "even if I am taking time off that I don't deserve."**

" **We took that into consideration when making our bigger plan – and offering you the job," Al assured her. "You wouldn't have to worry about me doing your job if I was home either – I'd want to babysit instead."**

" **If the last two nights are what I should be expecting for the next few months; I'll likely wish that you could do some babysitting for me," Malorie told him. "It's not that I didn't believe everything your Mum told me, but I did expect that I wouldn't need so much help right from the start; and I don't know how I would have managed without all of the support."**

" **You'd have found a way," Lily declared; "and we're glad that you don't have to do that because we love all three of you a lot. Yes, we do," she told Jaimie; and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'm glad Al asked for this visit. If you can bring them for a Hogsmeade or game day visit or three when it's warm-enough to do that with them; I'd love that too. They'll be three and a half months old by the time we're home for Christmas; and we're going to miss so much!"**

" **You will," Malorie agreed, "but we'll do what we can so that you still see them a lot – even if that's just with mirror chats and pictures."**

" **We'll send Winter with special Owl Posts for all of you too," Al told her.**

" **Okay, but don't send tons of toys for the girls," Malorie warned. "Their room is already half-filled – and they won't even be able to play with most of them for months – or longer for a lot of those toddler toys."**

" **So I should probably save their charm bracelets for their first birthday or something?" Al joked.**

" **What kinds of charms would you put on them for toddlers?" Lily asked curiously. "I can tell you right now that the mother in the room will not approve of you giving our nieces any invisibility charms."**

" **Or any others that would actually give them that kind of power," Malorie agreed. "I don't know what age limit I'll put on for different magical things with the girls; but they won't be getting charm bracelets like Lily's when they're babies or toddlers."**

" **Mum and Dad got us our first brooms for our first birthdays," Lily advised her. "I don't know what Mum would've done if Al had been a bit older than he is; and had tried to give me the charm bracelet when I was younger instead of starting with my eleventh birthday."**

" **We used magic as babies and toddlers," Al reminded her. "Has Mum talked with you about that for Jaimie and Lorie yet, Malorie? It might not be very much longer before things start happening around them. It can start as soon as they can use their eyes well-enough to focus on things – and then decide that they want them."**

" **I expect to have a very different perspective on that soon – and a better understanding of why my parents were so freaked out by me," Malorie suggested.**

" **I wish that had been different for you," Al said seriously. "I even get why it's hard for Muggle parents to find out that they have a Wizard or Witch in the family; but that doesn't make it okay to mistreat any child. You get that – just as Dad did; so Jaimie and Lorie are as lucky as James, Lily, and I were – and are."**

" **That's way too serious for our last bit of time with Malorie and the girls," Lily declared. "Let's talk about anything that's more fun – like all of the shopping you'll get to do with Mum; the Quidditch matches you'll get to go and see live while we're stuck at Hogwarts; and how much fun you're all going to have while we have to work and study day and night."**

 **She made sure that they did only talk about fun things from then until Ginny came back to get them; there was a long round of goodbyes with lots of hugs, kisses, and a few tears; and then there was a bit of fun as Al took a tiny little side trip to bring a snack and hot drink to Patrick Towler to thank him for working late so that Malorie and her babies were being watched over while Harry and Ginny were both busy – and there was a true, obvious opportunity for reporters or bad guys to consider taking advantage of to cause trouble. Al didn't actually think that would be a problem, or he might not have been willing to leave, but he was grateful; and he also liked the change in attitude he now sensed from the young Auror-trainee. Patrick had apparently seen Jaimie and Lorie sometime while working at the hospital on Monday night; and that had been enough to change his perception about them – and Malorie – for the better.**

 **Ginny, Al, and Lily moved on and met up with Harry and James at King's Cross – though James didn't stay with them once they were on platform nine and three-quarters. Al and Lily stayed with their parents while waiting for Gwendolyn and Jonah. Rose and Hugo made it there first – a bit of a shock; since Ron had been in charge of getting them to the train while Hermione had needed to work instead. The biggest change for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose was that they all needed to get on the train and head for the Prefect car this year while Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and most of their cousins and friends went to find compartments to sit in elsewhere on the train.**

 **The Prefect car wasn't completely off-limits to other students, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had only ever looked in and seen it before while on walks along the train; so the simple act of going there and being part of that exclusive little club was exciting – and the first perk that went along with being Prefects. Louis and Deanna Thomas were there to welcome them – along with the rest of the Prefects – and about half of them were there by then. Having their Head Boy and Girl from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was great for them, but there was more than a little weird for them too with just twenty-four teens gathering in the large, open sitting area of the Prefect car – and that was entirely because of the six Slytherin Prefects that all exuded a lot of hate for Al that he could sense in far more detail than he'd ever want to reveal to any of them.**

 **Louis and Deanna kept them busy with a round of introductions that continued with the Prefects that arrived after them; they stored their bags; and then settled in for their first Prefect meeting as they waited for the train to move out toward Hogsmeade. Al got to have a few glimpses of their families, but didn't have a very good view of that section of the platform; and didn't really get to have a last, bisual good-bye with his parents because Louis didn't wait for them to be underway before bringing the meeting to order.**

" **Welcome to our first Prefect meeting of the school year – and congratulations to our eight new Prefects," he said easily while relaxing back into his seat next to Deanna. Al sensed a new, strong connection between their new Head Boy and Girl, and while he hadn't heard anything about Louis dating anyone since his last break-up; he suddenly had a pretty good idea about who his cousin's next girlfriend would be – something that was far from uncommon among Hogwarts Heads and Prefects. "We have a fair bit to cover, so let's get to it; and we can save up the getting to know each other a bit better for later in the trip. Deanna – would you like to start with the basics for our fifth-year Prefects?"**

 **Deanna did that; tried to get through the boring parts of the rules and responsibilities; and then handed off to Louis again so that he could discuss and set up duty schedules that included everything from supervising the carriage rides from the station to the school to monitoring common rooms, dorms, and patrolling the castle. Louis and Deanna were willing to work with their Prefects to set all of that up, but didn't do that beyond the weekend; since they'd still need to get their class schedules; and that would affect availability for some of them – particularly for Astronomy classes or particularly-heavy study days. Al and Gwendolyn were happy to be paired up for as many Prefect duties as was possible for inter-House friends; but Landon and Shane were terribly disappointed when Rose and Susannah chose to pair up for their patrols and other duties around the castle – which left the two boys to team up too.**

 **Al had tried not to be as amused over that as the three girls were, but that wasn't easy; since Shane and Landon had each gone out with Rose; but neither of them would have picked her for their Prefect team. He didn't find Landon's ongoing interest in Gwendolyn funny at all; and that was one more thing that he wished that he knew less about than he did. By the time Deanna wrapped up the meeting; Al was sure that he was going to be busier than ever before pretty much every day of the week with their added duties, so while they settled in for the long trip, and Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah got into a chat with some of the other Prefects; he spent a bit of time trying to work out how he was going to juggle his classes, studying, Quidditch, Prefect duties, and everything else he was going to have on his plate over the coming months – including work and making time for family and friends. His first reaction to those musings was that he didn't really want to try to do it all, but that was something so contrary to everything the girls and other friends had talked about with him over the past month; that he wasn't willing to even go there himself let alone talk about it with Gwendolyn or anyone else.**

" **Have you actually hit your limit for busy?" Susannah teased while smiling at Al. "You look as though you're a bit overwhelmed – and I haven't seen any sign of that for you before, Al."**

" **We haven't exactly had long, lazy summer days; but this is going to feel like too much by comparison – at least until we get used to our new schedules and the extra responsibilities. I don't need to get into OWL-year Divination to predict that we are not going to get as much sleep this year."**

" **No doubt," Susannah agreed. "Instead of going there, though; I'd like to hear about Malorie and the babies. Is there any chance you have pictures?"**

" **We do," Al assured her. "Do you have one in your bag, Rose? I put mine in with my book bag."**

" **I've got one right here – though I'm surprised you didn't have at least one ready to show off to everyone," she teased.**

" **I wanted to wait and see what it was going to be like for us today," he answered seriously. "There's a good chance that Gwendolyn will wish she could patrol with someone else today when it's our turn to do that later – and maybe for the next few days."**

" **We'll deal with those problems together," Gwendolyn assured him. "You should keep a picture or two with you, though, since I think that most teens wouldn't be able to keep messing with you about Jaimie and Lorie once they see how adorable they are."**

" **They didn't have any effect at all on Rita Skeeter," Al reminded her – "and she saw them in person; not just pictures of them."**

" **Let's not go there either," Gwendolyn suggested. "She's been horrid toward you, Malorie, and the girls with every word she's written over the past couple of days; and I'm sick of it!"**

" **Then it's likely wrong of me to wish just a little bit that Rita will try to come to Hogsmeade again – or the first Quidditch match – and try to mess with you," Susannah offered. "That would be a bit unbecoming of a new Prefect."**

" **So would blasting her," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I might do that anyway – even if it got my Prefect badge taken away."**

 **Al knew that she hadn't been joking about that, but her comment had more of an impact on him because of what he sensed from Scorpius and Lysandra. He hadn't really paid attention to the fact that they were able to hear nearly anything going on in the Prefect car, but while he'd been aware of everything; he was learning to filter out the noise – though he could still recall every detail if needed for future reference. In this case, his interest was piqued because Scorpius had thought that Gwendolyn's comment was worth passing along to James – and maybe on to Rita from there; since he thought that having her – or all of their – Prefect badges taken away would make for a great start to their school year. That news flash made it clear to Al that they were going to need to be cautious about what they said and did around the other Prefects – even when they were just making jokes. It also revived his musings about his impending school workload – and led to a bit of contemplation over what his life might be like without some of the less-fun responsibilities.**

 **The train ride to Hogsmeade station was definitely different for Prefects. Having the perks of their own train car and the comfort that went with sharing all of that space with just twenty-four teens was great; but Al and Gwendolyn also missed getting to spend lots of time with their families and friends too. They still got to see everyone, but those visits were all short, fun, cameo moments while they were on their Prefect patrol or while helping out with some of the little problems that arose along the way. Those problems were generally brought to the attention of the Prefects by one or more of the teens or tweens involved, but while Al was glad that their efforts didn't attract a lot of attention; he and Gwendolyn did make a good impression on every student they helped.**

 **Their Prefect work was really just beginning by the time they arrived at Hogsmeade station; though Al and Gwendolyn had one of the easier jobs once there – to help with getting all of the luggage to the castle. That was also one of the most-boring jobs; which was why they'd volunteered when nobody else did. Al was particularly-good at getting that work done; so it wasn't long before they had everything loaded up and could catch a ride up to the castle well-before the Prefects assigned to the second-year students could do the same once making sure that all of the students were accounted for and on a carriage or boat.**

 **Keeping busy right up until minutes before the start of the sorting ceremony and feast didn't leave them with any time to socialize with their friends, but Al was happy to get to be with Gwendolyn that entire time; so he was in a great mood when he was finally able to sit down next to Rose and among all of their fifth-year Gryffindor friends. He didn't have a chance to do much more than catch his breath and exchange a few greetings before the firsties arrived and began their processional. The group of tweens was at least as large as in each of Al's first four years, but he also knew that this was the first year in a long time without any Weasley clan kids; Gwendolyn only had one cousin in the group; and they didn't even have many family friends' kids this year either.**

 **The walk to the front of the hall and then crowding into rows once there took a few minutes; which gave Al lots of time to pick out those few kids that he did know – and take in the range of emotions from all of the firsties that ranged from confident self-assurance to moderate fear of the unknown. As a Prefect, he found himself taking note of kids that might need more help than others; thought about ways he could offer them assistance; and wondered just a bit why he hadn't really considered taking the initiative to do that in previous years. Becoming friends with Susannah certainly had something to do with a different perspective on charity and helping others; but he also had to admit to his own, selfish inattention to the needs of other teens beyond his own circle of family and friends.**

 **Al didn't stop thinking about those things as the Sorting Hat was put on the stool, but he did focus his attention and senses on the ancient, magical hat and listened to the song that it had come up with for his OWL year.**

 **Lend an ear young lads and lasses;**

 **As I sing this little song.**

 **I've advice to help with Hogwarts life and your classes;**

 **And would never steer you wrong!**

 **If you think I'm old and dusty;**

 **Wait until your lessons start.**

 **Though your Professors may seem crusty;**

 **Wondrous wisdom they'll impart!**

 **It's my sage knowledge that I've offered;**

 **And unlike our prankster poltergeist, Peeves;**

 **I've no tricks here being proffered;**

 **Nothing hidden up my – I have no sleeves!**

 **My advice, if you will take it;**

 **Is to listen to your heart.**

 **If you do, that's to your credit;**

 **For you'll know the course that you should chart.**

 **Don't think that gives you leave to cheat and lie;**

 **Or do your very worst!**

 **It's not a sure-fire path to an all-time high;**

 **A way to get from last to first!**

 **Don't fear to follow where your heart leads;**

 **To it you always should be true;**

' **Cause that's the way to do good deeds;**

 **And bestow honor upon you!**

 **So go forth to where-ere the winds may blow;**

 **Learn of magic and the rest;**

 **For that's all you'll ever need to know;**

 **To be your very own very best!**

" **I liked the song from last year better," Rose leaned in and advised Al. "The teens and tweens around here that could use that advice most will be the ones that don't hear the message at all – or just make fun of it."**

" **That's true, but it's funny that I've been thinking that this is the first year when I've been concentrating a lot on what other students around here need – notice those needs more than I've ever done before. Maybe that message is something we need to take seriously for ourselves."**

" **You already do a lot, Al," Rose reminded him. "It would be impossible for you to help everyone all of the time."**

" **Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't do more – just as Susannah does with all of the volunteer work she's involved with around here and at home."**

" **You do your part – and I'm not just talking about the never-ending entertainment you provide with all of the teen drama around you."**

 **Al pretended to shudder. "Now you've gone and done it – I'm jinxed for sure!"**

 **He made light of that, but then he also sensed that he was headed for some imminent and near-future trouble; and those feelings grew stronger as the sorting began and the firsties were placed into their House families. That took time, as it did every year; and Al and Rose talked quietly with the friends closest to them while keeping ears and eyes open for the sorting. Al was happy for Gwendolyn's cousin, Meg Rivers, when she was sorted to Ravenclaw with her brother and sister – though that did mean that Ravenclaw got another talented Quidditch player. They had a happy bit of a surprise when Nina Madley was sorted to Gryffindor instead of into Ravenclaw with her brother and cousin, but then the only other firstie that Al knew much about at all to be sorted to their House too was one of Gwendolyn's Weird Sisters' cousins, Winston Wintringham.**

 **That was going to make Lily's job as junior team Captain tougher with just two days to get to know all of the Quidditch-playing firsties in their House, but then she was so much more out-going than he was that there was no doubt that she was up to the task! Winston was among the last firsties to be sorted, so it wasn't long after that before their Headmistress began the feast; they spent most of an hour enjoying that food and eating too much; and then Al and Rose were in charge of getting the firsties to their House while Louis and the three older Prefects had other responsibilities. It felt odd to Al to be on the leader side of that little trip; Rose took care of passing on the new password; and then they showed the firsties around the common room before setting them free for a while to socialize and settle in before they'd need to round up the boys and girls and show them to their dorm rooms.**

 **While they waited to do that, Al and Rose sat at one of the work tables with some of their friends; talked quietly; and had a lot of walk-by cameo visits – including from Lily and Hugo. She was making the rounds and had taken Hugo along with her; so she had gossip tidbits to pass along – including about prospects for her junior team. Al played along, but also began to steel himself for the imminent drama that he was going to be dragged into the middle of – and it wasn't really all that long before that confrontation was started by Ollie Wood. He climbed onto the work table he'd been sitting at with James and a group of their sixth-year friends; whistled loudly to get everyone's attention; and then waited for the few moments it took for the chatter to die down and for most sets of eyes in the room to be focused on him.**

" **Thank-you," he called out; looking serious; but with a wry smile that didn't hide the malevolence that Al sensed being directed his way. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Ollie Wood, and while I'm sure you're all excited about getting on with reunions with your friends or exploring Gryffindor tower and meeting new friends if you're one of our firsties; this is the best chance I'll have to speak with all of you at once – and I have something rather important to ask of all of you!"**

" **If it's to keep away from all of the Witches you fancy this year – forget it," James called out; earning a round of laughs.**

" **I want to talk about our senior Quidditch team – and call for a vote to replace our named Captain!" Ollie declared; and that statement put an instant end to the laughter – and pretty much all of the background noise too. "Again, for those of you who don't know, the Animorphloser was named Captain by Mr. Peakes and Professor Longbottom – against the recommendation made by my sister and outgoing Captain, Olivia! I think that is a travesty – especially when the loser has just come here to Hogwarts while leaving his new litter of puppies behind for others to care for while he gets to run around with his potty-trainer here as if he hasn't a care in the world. He doesn't deserve to be our team Captain – especially when we have the much-better choice of a professional Quidditch player right here in our House! Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that James Potter is undefeated as Seeker for the Caerphilly Catapults; he will be the future superstar for their team; and I put his nomination forward and call for a vote to determine whether you want to have a senior team that is led this year by the best player in our school – and in the show; or a lying, cheating dog who doesn't deserve anything more than our scorn and to be shunned by all of us!"**

" **I second the nomination!" Patricia declared loudly and proudly – "and call for a vote too!"**

" **The Captaincy of our teams is not subject to a vote," Lily countered. She'd walked over toward Ollie and glared up at him. "What's the problem, Ollie? Afraid that you won't make the team again this year without help from your best mate?"**

" **We ought to take a vote for the junior team Captain's job too; since you're nearly as vile as the loser," Ollie retorted. "I don't have a problem. The loser himself has insisted that he wants to have fair and open tryouts for all positions on the team – and to allowing challenges too! I'm just demanding a Captain's challenge and vote right here at the starte – when we can all have a say in the matter!" he smirked darkly at Al. "Come on, dog – we're all waiting for you to back up your claims of fair play. What say you – or does the cat have your tongue?"**

 **All eyes turned to Al when he stood and faced Ollie. "If you all want to have a vote for senior team Captain; I've no problem with that," he answered earnestly. He then walked over to stand next to Lily; and surprised everyone in the room when he held the Captain's badge up and out to Ollie. "I'll trust you to count the vote fairly and award that badge to the winner."**

" **Then I call for the vote!" Ollie declared.**

" **Just like that?" Lily demanded; and then rounded on Al. "Aren't you going to at least say anything on your own behalf? Fight for the job – and what's best for our House?"**

" **My record is well-known," Al countered easily; "and I'll leave it up to all of Gryffindor to collectively decide what's best for our House. If the majority truly believe that our senior team would be better-off with James as Captain; who am I to presume otherwise?."**

" **There you have it!" Ollie crowed. "All those in favor of the Animorphloser; raise your hands." He waited for about ten seconds while also making a turn to pretend as though he was counting hands; which Al knew he wasn't doing at all. "All those in favor of giving the job to the Caerphilly Catapults' star Seeker, James Potter?" The second spin as he looked around the room and continued to pretend to count took twenty seconds, since that apparently was proof that he had more hands to count. "Well, that wasn't even close! James Potter, congratulations – you're the new Captain of our Gryffindor senior team! Let's all give him a round of cheers and there's no need to hold the applause!"**

 **Lily looked furious, but Al just gave her a gentle hug; and then turned her away from him as the cheers and applause began. "We should go and congratulate your new fellow Captain. There was no good way for me to ever win that battle," he whispered.**

" **Nothing about this is good," she hissed. "We are going to talk later; and you are not going to like that at all!"**

 **Ollie had hopped down from the table by then; his smile was vicious now as he handed the Captain's badge to James; and then joined in on the applause.**

" **Congratulations," Al told James. "Good luck this season."**

" **What's that supposed to mean?" James retorted suspiciously; and then smirked. "Let me guess – you're going to whimper off with your tail between your legs; and refuse to play with our team now that our fellow Gryffindors have picked me over you."**

" **I'll be at tryouts to support you and our new team," Al assured him, "but I haven't decided whether I want to play on the team with you or not – and don't bother pretending that you'd want me on your team either. Now that I'm not Captain; I have the chance to decide that for myself; so maybe I should thank you as well as congratulate you for this brilliant victory. You don't want me hanging around you, though; so I'll get out of your way and let you have fun with the celebration."**

 **Lily stepped up close to James and leaned over to hug him. "Congratulations, you stinking, rotten, selfish git," she whispered vehemently. Al overheard her; but nobody else except her intended target did. "You make me sick!"**

" **Thanks, Lily," he said loudly as if she'd actually been happy for him. "I think that our chances of another Quidditch Cup just went up from unlikely to a sure thing too!"**

 **Lily didn't respond; took Al's hand; and walked away. They both ignored the raucous laughter and some parting insults; went back to where Al had been sitting; and then Al smiled ruefully and pretended to be hurt when Rose and Lily both punched him.**

" **I can't believe you just let that happen without putting up a fight at all," Rose told him. "You do know that you haven't just likely ruined this season for yourself, right? I want to play again this year; so does Ray; and I think that Cyndia would have a good shot at making the team too – or would have if you'd been Captain. Merlin only knows what sorts of games James will play now that he's in charge!"**

" **What would you have had me do instead?" Al asked seriously. "Start a minor war with James and Ollie on our first night back? Cause a rift within our House? I'm sorry if this messes things up for us – for you, but if you don't like it – feel free to make your own challenge for the Captain's job – or nominate someone else."**

" **You know I don't want to be Captain so that I can win the Keeper job over Louis fairly," Rose retorted.**

" **I do know that," Al agreed. "Do you think that Louis will feel the same way if tryouts aren't fair for you – as you're implying they won't be; or will he take the job anyway because it's his last chance to show off for the league scouts – and because our new senior team Captain has undeniable connections to some important movers and shakers in the league?"**

" **You knew this was going to happen," Lily leaned in and accused quietly.**

" **I knew something was going to happen," Al agreed. "That shouldn't surprise you."**

" **It doesn't," Rose told him. "So – are we going to be out of luck for playing Quidditch this season?"**

" **Lily won't be," Al hedged; and then sighed. "For me - probably. Like I just told James, I'd have been Captain and played this year for my own reasons, but I wouldn't have liked playing with James or being his team Captain; and I'm seriously thinking about not playing this year now that I don't have to do it because I almost-never have fun playing Quidditch with him. That doesn't have to be true for the rest of you; and I don't know whether you'll be able to play this season or not. There is a chance that James won't listen to the sorting hat and follow his heart."**

 **That joke earned a few laughs; but the mood at their table was solemn after that; and Al was glad when it was time to round up the firstie boys and take them to their dorm room and show them around to where the baths were and offer some tips about dorm life along with assuring them that if they needed anything; they simply needed to ask any of the Prefects for help. Since he and Rose had been assigned to the firsties; they did not have any patrols ahead of and after curfew, so once the firsties were settled in; Al was able to go on to his own dorm room; unpack a bit; and get ready for his classes on Thursday morning. He didn't need to worry about getting books, since he had all of them on his mirror too; so he'd only need to stop in to his dorm room again after breakfast if he needed anything special for his first morning classes – like his potions-making gear and supplies or Herbology gear. He had one more chat with Ray, and his best mate wasn't happy with him either for not even really trying to keep his Captain's badge, but he hadn't had a good answer for what Al could have done differently either – and hadn't thought that he could have won the job over James even if he had thrown his hat into the ring too.**

 **The one thing that Al didn't tell any of them – and hadn't decided whether he would admit to anyone else; was the fact that he had actually won that challenge by seventeen votes despite Ollie's nasty comments and lies. That truth wasn't something he took comfort in; he still thought it was a rotten situation; and he felt more than a little guilty for being partially-responsible for what he did expect to be a mess for Rose, Ray, and Cyndia. His biggest problem, though, was weighing what was best for everyone; and making choices that went against his own best interests – and he now sensed that his choices were not only going to affect his Hogwarts Quidditch career for another season.**

 **Ending his day like that hadn't been any fun, but he was sure that he was doing the best he could for everyone; he had to be content with that as he went off to bed and sleep; and tried not to think about the cascading problems he knew would come next. There would be time-enough for that starting again in the morning.**

 **The first day of classes for Al's OWL year started out quietly-enough, but then there was one notable change to his morning routine – he needed to check in on the firstie boys as part of his Prefect duties; help out when needed; and then meet up with Rose in the common room and offer more help to any firsties that wanted it for getting back to the Great Hall for their morning meal. Many of the tweens were too cool or adventurous to want or need help, but they still ended up leading about half of the firsties out of Gryffindor tower; and they went on a little mini-tour along the way that likely didn't help many of the firsties with getting their bearings or make it easier for them to get to their classes. Fortunately for them, they only had two days to go to the weekend; and then they'd be able to spend a couple of days exploring the school and trying to find the best ways to get around.**

 **Their Prefect duties meant no morning walk and talk with Rose, though, and while that wouldn't be an everyday or permanent change; Al was actually glad that they couldn't do that when he knew that Rose would have wanted to talk about Gryffindor Quidditch – and know more about why he'd so passively allowed James and Ollie to take over the team from him. That was the top gossip story in the Great Hall as word got around that James had been voted Captain – complete with all of the insulting details for Al and more, all-new lies. Gwendolyn was mad at him when she heard the news too, but she had Prefect duties to deal with too; so they didn't get to talk much before breakfast.**

 **That meal was a bit tough for Al to get through, and then he and Rose had to get to work again as they helped out with firsties once they had their class schedules and needed some nudges to get going to pick up books and find their way to first class. They were able to do that while waiting for their Professors to get around to making up schedules with the OWL-year students; and then they had a longer wait as it took extra time to set up those schedules for each teen as changes were made for many of their classmates – usually with dropped optionals. Al and Rose knew before getting their own schedules that they'd be starting their first day of classes with History; and Al was happy because he was going to be taking that class with Gwendolyn. Their second class of the morning was going to be Charms with Hufflepuff, so they didn't need to go back to their dorm rooms to get anything; and they headed for History class once they had their schedules and could meet up with Gwendolyn and some of their Ravenclaw friends.**

" **Okay, what really happened last night?" Gwendolyn demanded of Al once they were on their way up the stairs and on their way to History class. "Please don't tell me that you just let James and Ollie insult you; convince everyone in your House to vote you out as Captain; and give the job to James instead."**

" **Well, that's pretty much it in a nutshell," Ray advised her – "though Ollie did all of the insulting; supposedly took care of fairly counting the votes; and judged the winner with a show of hands. I've slept on it though; and now I'm still absolutely-sure that Al's an idiot for just going along with that farce when it was just a flat-out mutiny."**

" **It was definitely that,' Gwendolyn agreed angrily, "but didn't anyone come to Al's defense? Not even you or Rose?"**

" **Don't put this on them," Al said quietly as he sensed Gwendolyn's accusations dig in and hit home with his cousin and friend. "Lily confronted Ollie; and that didn't matter or make a difference. I don't blame anyone except myself for what happened, and while I'll be upset if this messes things up for anyone else; I'll still pick this over causing bigger problems in my House."**

" **Then Quidditch doesn't mean nearly as much to you as it does to me," Gwendolyn retorted in angry exasperation. "We may not know what James and Ollie will do next, but it's a safe bet they'll try to keep you off the team somehow; and I'd never let that happen to me without a fight!"**

" **That's actually all true," Al admitted candidly. "I love playing Quidditch; but don't need to be on our House team to do that and have fun – and I don't have fun playing on teams with James either. I want to play in the show too, but if that doesn't happen for me; there are other things I love to do too – and I don't need to play for a league team to be happy."**

" **Then why are you putting so much effort into helping Rose with her dream?" Gwendolyn countered. "Playing for Gryffindor is part of her plan; and you've likely just messed that up for her – and for Ray and Cyndia too!"**

 **Al sighed. "I don't want to have a fight with you over this," he said earnestly. "Nearly everyone else in the castle seemed to be very happy with the news at breakfast – in all four Houses."**

" **They're happy over seeing you torn down yet again," she countered. "That says a lot about them – and you too; since you seem to enjoy being treated like dirt instead of standing up for yourself."**

" **That's exactly it," Rose interjected with a nod; "but I don't want to make all of this tougher for him either – even if he is being an idiot."**

" **Well, maybe you should," Gwendolyn retorted. "He'd be useless to you on the Cannons if he just gives up so easily just to avoid confrontations. You're mad at him too – I can see it; but be mad at yourself too, Rose. I'm mad at the lot of you for letting James and Ollie walk all over Al! You sat back and expected him to lead the way – and just followed along into this mess without fighting back either!"**

" **Gwendolyn..." Al began to say; and she rounded on him.**

" **Don't admonish me!" she told him angrily. "I put up with a lot of insults and the rest because of you – for you! I have to stick up for you all of the time! What do you care enough about to fight for? Would you let James take me from you without a fight?"**

" **You're not some prize to be fought over," Al answered; "so no – I wouldn't fight him – or any other Wizard – for you."**

" **So you don't even believe that we're worth fighting for?" Gwendolyn demanded dangerously; and Al knew that she was truly getting angry with him – even though it had all started with her being most-upset over the likelihood that they once again wouldn't get to have another Quidditch rematch in May – for the third time in five years. He was on dangerous ground for real; but didn't offer platitudes that would have just been lies she'd see right through.**

" **I love you," he stated simply. "That – and who and what I am and want to be – will either be enough for you, or it won't be; and you'll choose another Wizard. If you truly think that I need to fight for you to prove anything; then I am not the Wizard you think me to be – and we're probably not meant to be."**

" **So now you don't think that we're meant to be?" Gwendolyn demanded loudly.**

" **I don't think that – and you know full-well I'm talking about what you feel and think," Al countered. "You're mad at me – I get it. So is everyone else that might be hurt by having James as Captain instead of me. There are others who are very happy, though, and when you think about it; you should be one of the happy majority – especially if you believe our senior team will be worse-off this season because of this change. Are Peter and Pauline happy? How about the rest of the teens and tweens in your House?"**

" **You're changing the subject," Gwendolyn accused.**

" **No, I'm getting back to where we started, since this didn't begin as being about us," he disagreed. "You think that I needed to fight and do what was best for me with this with no regard for anyone else – or at least only with consideration for a select few. I won't do that, and while I don't know whether I've done what's right for anyone else at all; I've done the best I know how; and will live with the consequences."**

" **Well, guess what, Al – you're wrong – and the rest of us have to live with those consequences too! What's even dumber is that you get my point; yet still don't think that this is worth fighting for," Gwendolyn surmised. "You don't want to fight for the job you earned and deserved; you don't seem to care about what's best for your team; you're abandoning Rose and your best friends; and it seems you don't care about what this means for you and me!"**

" **Gwendolyn!" Rose exclaimed. "That isn't fair!"**

" **Neither is what James and Ollie did last night," Gwendolyn countered. "Where was your outrage for that? Go back to doing nothing and let me try to knock some sense into your cousin."**

" **Your cousin," Al repeated; sounding stunned because he truly was surprised by what he sensed from her in that eye-opening moment.**

" **Have you gone so mental that you can't recall that you are her cousin?" Gwendolyn asked scathingly.**

" **No, I remember that just fine, but that's the first time I've ever sensed you think of me as that – instead of as your boyfriend – at least since not long-after we started dating," he explained quietly. "I'm sorry, Gwendolyn. I love you, but this is who I am, and if you're truly sick and tired of all of the razzing and insults – and hate that I'm such a pushover; then maybe you should take that break from me that you're thinking is such a good idea right now."**

" **Stop doing that! My thoughts are none of your business!" Gwendolyn told him; her eyes now sparking with blue fire.**

" **Okay," he agreed. "I love you. Have a good morning." With that said; he went Animorphmagus; ran off ahead of everyone else in their group; and got out of sight – though it was impossible at that point to get away from her soul-crushing thoughts.**

 **He cursed his hyper-active senses and foresight; seriously considered skipping his first class; and wished that he didn't know that Gwendolyn was having true doubts about them – and that she really was sick of starting yet another school year with being the butt of so many horrid jokes and really believed that he needed to fight back against those attacks no matter the cost. She'd been mad at him before, but this was their first real fight, and all of his abilities didn't provide an easy answer for how to deal with the problem – or give him any clues about whether they'd work things out or not. He certainly hadn't foreseen this consequence to allowing James and Ollie to take over their Quidditch team, but then that said something about him too, since he knew that even if he had known; he wouldn't have changed anything.**

 **History class with Gwendolyn suddenly wasn't with her anymore; and that sucked all of the fun out of his life. He didn't skip the class no matter how much he wanted to do that, but he made sure he was last to go into the classroom; and he sat as far away from all of his friends as he could. Professor Binns didn't notice, but everyone else did, so he kept his head down; wished that he couldn't sense all that he could; and was ready to go and first out of the class the moment they were set free. Again, that was partly because he sensed more from Gwendolyn than he wanted; knew that she wasn't ready to even talk with him again; and couldn't give her what she at least temporarily thought that she wanted.**

 **Their second class on Thursdays was going to be Charms with Hufflepuff, and then they'd be with Hufflepuff again for a double Potions class all afternoon. That worked out for Al even if nothing else was working out for him; and he continued to avoid Rose and the rest of their usual group of friends while in those classes too. Rumors about trouble with 'the royal couple' were making the rounds of the school by Charms class; which is why he hated being there and surrounded by more nasty thoughts and being forced to sense how happy his misery was making others – including former friends like Tory Summers. She'd already been thrilled at the Quidditch drama news; and ecstatic to find out that Gwendolyn had blasted him over it – and possibly broken up with him too. The last part of that was rumor and speculation, but then for all Al knew – that could be a rumor that proved to be true.**

 **Skipping lunch in the Great Hall seemed prudent, so after going to his dorm room and getting his Potions kit and supplies; he avoided Rose and Lily without any trouble; went outside; and then he made sure that he wouldn't be found or bothered so that he could be alone with his thoughts until he'd have to put up with another round of too much information among his Gryffindor and Hufflepuff classmates all afternoon. Once again, he made sure that he was last to that class; was able to sit at a work table by himself; and he kept his mouth shut and just focused on the lesson and then the potion assignment until he could leave again and get away from everyone. He knew that he couldn't dodge everyone indefinitely, but he didn't go to their study classroom – he went to the one place that he couldn't be tracked down by anyone. That was how he discovered something new about the Room of Requirements.**

 **Picturing in your mind what you wanted of the Room of Requirements was more important than the words, so Al didn't even realize the extent of what he'd requested for several long moments as he was just relieved to be safely away from everyone. The total, absolute silence did capture his awareness soon-enough; since it was a jarring contrast to the cacophony of sensory overload he'd been dealing with all day – and really, for years now as his abilities had grown. The Room of Requirements had given him a room that shut out all of the 'noise' from the emotions and thoughts of everyone else in the castle and surrounding area. The quiet really was blissful, so he just enjoyed it for a while; and then sat down and got to work on his History, Charms, and Potions assignments.**

 **He didn't lose track of time – he just ignored it. Hunger didn't keep him from skipping dinner; he worked through until it was time for him to deal with some Prefect duties; and then he had to deal with all of the awful again as all of the mental noise crashed in on him the moment he stepped out of the Room of Requirements. That got worse when he reached Gryffindor Tower and the common room, but Rose and Lily didn't try to talk with him – because they weren't there; and since his Prefect duties were in the boys' dorms; he went directly there and didn't talk with anyone. Throwing himself into his work again didn't help – especially since he knew from the start that he was going to have another, imminent confrontation with James and Ollie. That visit happened sooner instead of later; and he knew that James and Ollie had used the Marauders Map to track him down as quickly as possible once they'd made excuses to leave the common room.**

" **You really don't want to bug me right now," Al told James and Ollie as they sauntered into the third-year dorm room that he was currently inspecting.**

" **Yeah, we really do," James retorted. "I've been voted team Captain; your ex-girlfriend has finally wised up; and we don't want to miss out on your descent into despair and madness."**

" **We're just getting started with our revenge," Ollie taunted. "You got me kicked out of here last year; now it's payback time!"**

" **Good luck with that," Al said indifferently.**

" **I guess the stories are true, and you won't fight for anything," James taunted. "Gwendolyn's well-rid of you; and now she's mine for the taking!"**

" **Why don't you just quit school and go home to your mudblood and her puppies?" Ollie added derisively.**

" **Go away," Al told them bluntly. "I've had just about all I can take today; and you really don't want to get me mad right now."**

" **You can't get mad – you're a Prefect," James reminded him. "If you so much as touch us; you'd lose that job too – not that you deserved it in the first place either."**

" **Stop, James," Ollie wailed theatrically. "I think the loser's about to cry."**

" **I'm not," Al disagreed. "I am done with all of these hassles, though; so thanks for the help with that." Both boys jumped back when he drew his wand; but then they just stared at him even with half-drawn wands as he simply used his magic to remove the Prefect badge from his robe and then deftly caught it with his free hand.**

" **What's that supposed to mean?" James demanded; and Al laughed.**

" **It means that I've decided that you're all absolutely right; but don't worry, James. I'm not going to get mad – I'm going to get happy instead! Now if you'll excuse me; I need to go to the Heads office and resign."**

" **You're bluffing," James retorted.**

" **No – I'm fed up," Al disagreed. "Congratulations – you win again!"**

 **He was already walking past them by then; they followed him all the way into the common room; and then they stayed with their friends while he left the room and did go straight to the Heads' office – while they began bad-mouthing him to their friends and made sure that everyone knew that he had told them he was going to quit as Prefect but that they were sure he was bluffing and wouldn't give up all of the perks like the Prefects baths. They were wrong about that – as they were about so many other things they conned themselves into believing. He'd hoped that Louis would be in the office alone, but Deanna was there too; and he knew that before knocking and then waiting to be invited in. That wait was only moments-long; but seemed a lot longer because the consequences of this choice really were crashing in on him even as he still knew it was what he needed- and wanted – to do.**

" **What's up, Al?" Louis asked. "Are there problems in Gryffindor tower?"**

" **No – I've come to resign as Prefect," he practically blurted out; wanting to just get it over and done with as quickly as possible.**

" **What?" Louis exclaimed. "Al – what's this about? The Quidditch team? It can't be about Gwendolyn. You're just having a little fight – it happens to all of us."**

" **It's about both of those things and a lot more," Al advised him seriously; and tossed his Prefect badge onto the desk that Louis was sitting behind while Deanna had pulled a chair up to one side. "This has been yet another lousy start to my school year; and I'm done with it! Give the job to someone else."**

" **Sit down and we can talk this out," Louis suggested. "I won't just accept your resignation."**

" **Then you'll just have to kick me out when I don't show up for any of my duties," Al countered. "I don't want to talk it out with you, Louis. I don't want any of this!" He waved a hand around the office for emphasis. "There's nothing that you could possibly tell me or do that would change anything about what's going on in my life right now." He smiled at his cousin. "Be honest – even you're happy about that vote last night. You weren't there, and didn't get a say in the matter; but it may work out better for you with James as Captain instead of me."**

" **That isn't fair!" Louis countered.**

" **It may not be," he agreed. "That remains to be seen; and it may be a while before we know how it all turns out. It doesn't really matter what happens with that because I'm only trying to make the point that most of our fellow students will be just as happy about this as they are about how that vote turned out for me and everything else that's being tossed around to tear me down. You can't do anything to fix that for me – anymore than I can. That's why I'm choosing to be done with all of it."**

" **Quiting isn't the answer," Deanna told him; and it was all he could do to keep from laughing because he sensed that she thought her life would be simpler without having a trouble-magnet for one of her Prefects.**

" **That's exactly what my friends think I've done by not starting a war with James and Ollie over who should be Captain of our team. In this case – you don't even believe that – and Louis agrees with you about both," he said honestly; and then felt bad as they both looked guilty. "I'm sorry. I don't want to act or be bitter and angry about this – what I actually want is the exact opposite. I am going to take my own life back again, and before I can find my way back to being truly happy again; I need to start by getting away from all of the drama and getting rid of the unimportant distractions."**

" **And you think that being a Prefect – or Head – is unimportant?" Deanna challenged.**

" **For me – yes," he agreed. "Nobody believes me, and That won't change even after this; but I truly don't care about gaining honors and accolades. That doesn't mean that I don't still want to be the best Wizard and person I can be – it just means that I am going to find my own way to do that – and that won't happen through being a Prefect or as Captain of our Quidditch team."**

" **I don't like this, Al," Louis told him. "You've had a bad day. Suck it up; take your badge back; and get on with it."**

 **Al looked at him steadily for a few long moments – until he sensed Louis' discomfort at the intensity of his focus; and then shook his head. "You really don't know me very well at all; or you'd know that wouldn't work on me."**

" **Well, what would work?" Louis countered.**

" **Nothing," Al assured him. "That is what I've been trying to tell you. I am going to do everything I possibly can to get out of the spotlight; figure things out for myself; and put the focus back on being happy – just as Mum and Dad have been doing since quitting their jobs."**

" **They shouldn't have quit overy your little baby scandal – and you're making another stupid mistake too," Louis declared bluntly. "You know that being a Prefect is a big commitment and responsibility. Gwendolyn will need to spend lots of time at her duties – time that she won't be able to spend with you if you quit. You may as well forget about working things out with her if you walk away from this too."**

" **My little baby scandal," Al repeated; hating what he sensed from his cousin; and then he shook his head yet again. "You really don't know me at all to believe that, Louis. As for Gwendolyn, I'm sure she'll agree with you, but maybe you think that's for the best for Gwendolyn too; since I've obviously already messed things up for Mum and Dad with those other mistakes you just brought up."**

" **That isn't what I said," Louis protested; but Al knew what he was thinking and feeling.**

" **That's exactly what you said – and apparently truly think of me as well," Al disagreed. "This is probably a good time for me to walk away, since I don't want to say anything I'll regret – especially when you should care even-less about this than you do about me being voted out as team Captain." He headed for the office door. "Give the gossip a day to die down; and you'll be sure that you're better off without me on the Prefect team."**

" **Al – please don't do this! Quitting the Prefects just isn't done!"**

" **Well, in that case, if there's an award for being first for that – keep it too; 'cause I don't want it," Al only half-joked. "Goodnight, Louis, Deanna. I don't expect to see you around much after this; so have a good school year."**

 **Al didn't feel good or free as he walked away from the Heads' office. He didn't really want to feel anything at all for a while – though going back to the Room of Requirements wasn't an option when it was near-curfew. That thought had him laughing to himself, since if he'd been a Prefect still; it wouldn't have mattered how late he was out. Then again, his day wasn't done because he still had Astronomy class at midnight – and it wasn't going to be fun because they had that class with Ravenclaw too – which meant that Gwendolyn would find out about his resignation sooner instead of later.**

 **He still had lots of time before that class, though, so he went back to Gryffindor tower; passed through the common room and pretended to ignore all of the stares, whispers, and insults; and went up to his dorm room. Rose had been elsewhere, and Lily didn't try to stop him; so he made it to his dorm room without talking to anyone. That was fine with him; he put shields up around his bed; and read ahead in his Astronomy textbook until he needed to get to the Astronomy tower for that class. It took going Animagus to be left alone for that walk; he got small to wait until everyone else was on the tower; and then he did his best to stay away from Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of his friends through until the end of class. Gwendolyn was ready for another fight by the time they were set free, and while he didn't want to do that as publicly as he knew it would be; he didn't try to run off in animal form again – but waited for her in the hallway once out of the tower.**

" **Have you completely lost your mind, Albus Potter?" she demanded hotly as she stormed up to him – and all of their classmates loitered around to watch the show. "You've quit as Prefect now too?"**

" **I have not lost my mind; and yes, I did resign earlier tonight," Al answered quietly.**

" **So letting James take over your team wasn't enough – now you've walked away from this too? Am I next to go?"**

" **Possibly – if you can't accept that none of that is important to me," Al agreed. "I love you, Gwendolyn, and I want to share my life with you, but I don't want to be team Captain or Prefect; so you'll need to decide whether you want to date me when I'm not either of those things."**

" **You are both!" Gwendolyn declared angrily. "You're the best student in our year! You earned both of those titles that you're so easily throwing away. I Don't want you to quit - I want you to stand up for yourself – and if you would; your friends would stand with you!"**

" **Why do you insist that I have to do that? I mean – to what end? You're right – I won't fix this because I don't want to play the game anymore. I get dumped on whatever I do – and it splatters over onto the rest of you. You've been wondering all day whether you'd be better off without all of the drama and the crap you have to take – and whether we're worth it. I've been wondering the same thing – about being a Captain or Prefect; and I've decided that it isn't worth it. Now it's your turn. If you need your boyfriend to be a Prefect or team Captain, or have had enough of all of the drama and always getting dumped on; then I'm never going to be the Wizard you want me to be."**

" **That's a load of hippogriff dung," Gwendolyn told him. "You're being a coward."**

" **Yeah, that's me – a coward," Al agreed. "I'm such a coward that I'm willing to walk away from the best thing in my life just because I don't want to fight for a couple of petty titles that I care nothing about!" Gwendolyn was about to offer a hot retort but he cut her off. "You're going to tell me that I should be fighting for Rose, Ray, and the rest of my friends – that it's a fight for you too – if for no other reason than you want that match in May to be against me instead of other Gryffindor Chasers. Why does it have to be me? The rest of you are welcome to fight as hard as you want – assuming, of course, that there will be a fight at all!" He closed the small gap between himself and Gwendolyn and locked eyes with her. "I'm not going to fight for you," he assured her quietly. "I'm going to keep on loving you with all of my heart; find my own way to be happy; and hope that you can love me for who I am and want to be – 'cause I can't be the Wizard that you would need me to be to fight the cheating, lies, and dirty tricks that others are using against me." He closed his eyes to the pain of what he sensed from her; but there were no tears when he opened them again. "Feel free to blame that on me too." He leaned in; kissed her; and then turned around; changed forms; and flew away.**

 **Life did not immediately get better for Al thanks to his newly-declared freedom from trying to be what everyone else wanted of him. He got blasted – verbally – by Lily on Friday morning before breakfast; that meal was a horror of malevolent sensory overload for him; and then he had to put up with all of the Slytherin glee during a full morning of Transfiguration while also having Rose insist on sitting next to him in stony, disapproving silence – though she did join in on answering questions and earning points for their House. He earned some points too for being first to achieve two different Transfigurations, but he barely acknowledged the praise with the slightest of nods; those achievements annoyed Rose even more; and yet she was equally-annoyed that he only answered two questions that were asked of him directly.**

 **He skipped lunch again in favor of some much-needed relief from the mental and emotional stresses that was possible for him now in the Room of Requirements, but this time; he also made the room big-enough for a solo Quidditch workout. Divination after lunch was with Ravenclaw, and since he and Romeo were the only Wizards still taking the class in their OWL year for their two Houses; there was a lot of hate directed his way by all of the Witches in the room that were happily siding with Gwendolyn. There was nothing that he foresaw in his near future to suggest that would change anytime soon; so he was not very happy when he moved on to Care of Magical Creatures for what would be the last class of the week for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for the entire school year.**

 **As with Slytherin, there was more dark, happy feelings around him thanks to some of the teens in both Houses that were continuing to enjoy his latest fall from the heights of two days ago to being alone and apparently ostracized by everyone now. He flew off after Hagrid set them free for the weekend; went back to the Room of Requirements; and stayed there until shortly-before curfew. By then, Rose was busy with her Prefect duties, but he avoided Lily by going invisible and following a group of his fellow Gryffindor into the common room – and then going up to his dorm room. Ray stayed up late in the common room with Cyndia, and the rest of his roommates left him alone as they came up to bed; but then that was because he used a shield so that they would do that – and kept it in place all night even as he slept. He was first to wake – as usual; and he was out of the dorms before any of the other guys were up and going too. He didn't get past Lily, though; and she needed to tear into him again – though she waited until they were out in the hallway and away from the Fat Lady.**

" **Your new plan is working out brilliantly so far," she told him sarcastically. "I've never seen you so happy in my entire life!"**

" **You may have noticed that I have a few problems to work through first before I'll be on my way to the being happy part of my plan,' he countered.**

" **Those problems are all your doing. You're also the one responsible for messing up the only happy parts of your life," Lily disagreed. "Gwendolyn's crushed – and you're lucky that I haven't blasted you for doing that to her."**

" **Gwendolyn's furious and isn't sure she wants anything to do with me anymore; but she isn't crushed. You know me well-enough to know what it's costing me to take this stand."**

" **A stand that's totally ridiculous!" Lily shot back angrily. "You're an idiot to just walk away and let James win yet another victory by cheating you out of something you earned and deserved."**

" **If I had done that – and won; then what?" Al asked. "What would I have to look forward to then? A fun-filled Quidditch season – or a never-ending battle with James and Ollie trying to make my life miserable and tear me down every chance they'd get? I'd have to deal with a new challenge every week! Merlin only knows what else I'd have to deal with – all to keep a job I didn't want in the first place!**

" **You wanted it," Lily disagreed.**

" **I didn't," Al insisted. "I preferred me over James; didn't want Rose to have to make a Captain's choice over Louis – or risk the downside if she had an open tryout for Keeper and lost; and thought that Tiberius would be a lousy Captain. I love playing Quidditch because it's fun and exciting – when we're actually all trying to play for fun. I had a blast playing with you, Mum, and Dad all summer – and when I got to play with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and everyone else except for James, Ollie, and some of our friends that are sick and tired of me besting them every time we play. I'm tired of all of that, Lily."**

" **Then you should tell Rose that you're done with the Cannons too," Lily told him. "The best players in the show always have their fair share of haters."**

" **Do you expect to have a lot of haters on your Harpies' team?" Al asked. "You're talking about rivals now – not team mates. Rose and I want to build a team that plays for the joy of the game."**

" **No – that's what you want. She wants to build a championship team. You won't help to get her there if you give up every time someone tries to cheat or push you around."**

" **If Rose wants to let me play for the fun of it, I think I'm good-enough to help any team win matches. If not; then maybe that won't work out for me either."**

" **I'm getting the urge to hex you," Lily warned. "You're not even the same Wizard I left home with on Wednesday morning."**

" **It likely seems that way to you," Al agreed. "I'm not going to change my mind about the choices I've made; so where does that leave us?"**

" **With me hexing some sense into you!" Lily declared hotly – and then she blasted him – or attempted to do that. He didn't try to stop her, but he'd stepped back as he sensed her make that choice; and simply put up a shield to protect himself from her hexes and jinxes.. "Come on, coward! Fight back! Do something and prove you're not the hippogriff-sized chicken that everyone thinks you are now, you git!"**

" **No," he answered; his voice sounding flat because of the small space he allowed in his shield so they could still talk – a space she couldn't take advantage of with her attack. "Do you feel better yet?"**

" **No," Lily mimicked derisively; and blasted his shield again despite the futility of it. "Wake up, idiot! I am not going to let you go around acting exactly like James is telling everyone you are – like a whipped, loser of a mongrel dog!"**

" **Then I guess I'll need to stay away from you too," Al said sadly. "Good luck with your tryouts today. I love you."**

 **It didn't feel at all good to change forms and fly away from his sister – and not just because of the hexes and Lily's ongoing, failed attempts to blast him as he left that just made her more-furious with him. Her insults had cut more-deeply; but changed nothing. That confrontation did convince him to skip breakfast, though; and he went to the Room of Requirements again to get away from it all – though he didn't actually have anything to do once he was there since he'd been able to get his weekend assignments finished on Friday night. Lily had the first tryout timeslot of the day for her team, so he didn't stay in the Room of Requirements for very long; but he also chose to get to the stadium using an invisibility charm; and then he went Animorphmagus after picking out a spot to sit and watch the tryouts where he wasn't likely to be found or noticed by anyone else in the stadium.**

 **Jonah met up with Lily after breakfast as she was getting ready to head out to the stadium for her team tryouts; but neither of them looked happy as they shared a hug and then headed out of the hall. She hadn't been alone, but her Gryffindor friends and team mates gave them some space and let them go ahead on their own as Lily took Jonah's hand and he squeezed it in silent support.**

" **Should we talk about how things are going on day three of the big sister-brother fight; or do you want to get focused on your tryouts instead?" he asked quietly.**

" **My brother is an idiot," Lily declared. "I couldn't even hex some sense into him this morning."**

" **As if you could have done that," Jonah scoffed – "though those are two statements that I'd have never expected you to say about Al. James for sure; but not Al."**

" **Facts didn't keep me from trying," Lily advised him. "He wouldn't do anything beyond defending himself against me, though; and then he just flew away when I wouldn't stop trying to blast him. It's like he doesn't care about anything anymore!"**

" **That isn't true," Jonah disagreed; and then smiled ruefully when Lily glared daggers at him. "I'll shut up now," he decided – "and won't be adding politician to my future job short list."**

 **Lily laughed. "I don't deny that he still loves all of us," she said seriously; "but he has stopped caring about things that are important to us."**

" **Like winning Quidditch Cups, being team Captain, or wearing a Prefect badge?" Jonah countered.**

" **Exactly," Lily agreed.**

" **So what do you think he'll do instead?"**

 **Lily shrugged. "Last time he took a season off from Quidditch he learned to be the only Animorphmagus in the history of theWizarding World," she reminded him. "Merlin only knows what he'll come up with this time."**

" **Maybe he'll decide to start a band. Dad would love that," Jonah teased.**

" **Maybe you should go back to shutting up again," Lily countered. "Gwendolyn and Rose might both hex or curse him if he did that."**

" **Probably," he agreed, "but what I was actually wondering was whether it would make a difference for how you're feeling right now if he did do something amazing instead of being a Prefect or team Captain. For that matter, what if he did nothing except have fun while doing absolutely nothing special at all?"**

" **We'd still be mad at him for wasting his talents and giving up on us just because James and Ollie called him names and stole the team from him."**

" **You didn't answer the first part of that," Jonah pointed out.**

" **And you're trying to rope me into saying something using pointless arguments," she insisted. "Playing Quidditch or being a Prefect wouldn't keep him from doing other, possibly-great things. He might have been an Animorphmagus whether he'd played Quidditch or not in his second year."**

" **Okay," Jonah agreed. "If you truly think that he's wrong, then have at it and keep trying to convince him of that. On the other hand, if this is just because you think he's your main chance at another Quidditch Cup, or for some other, personal reason; then you should support Al's choices."**

" **Do you?" Lily challenged; and Jonah grinned at her.**

" **Shutting up again now."**

 **Gwendolyn was angry, frustrated, hurt, and it was all she could do not to lash out at anyone and everyone around her. She was lousy company, but Toni, Michael, and Susannah had gone with her for a morning study session while Rose and Ray had gone to the stadium to support Lily, Hugo, and the rest of their junior team cousins and friends. She hated not having Al at her side; hated that he seemed to have given up on everything; everyone; and himself! This was far-worse than when they were kids and he just let James push him around without ever putting up a fight; and she wasn't going to even pretend to support him for doing that!**

 **What had gotten into him? How had things gone so horribly-wrong in a week – just a few days, really; from the amazing morning when Jaimie and Lorie were born until Wednesday night and Thursday when he'd decided to mess up everything? She wanted to hunt him down and blast him; hated knowing that she likely couldn't do it – if what she'd heard about Lily's confrontation with him before breakfast was any indication; and wanted to do it anyway if for no other reason than he'd walked away from them because of what he'd sensed and picked up on from her own thoughts and emotions. It wasn't his fault – he couldn't change the fact that it was one of his talents; but that didn't mean it was right that he could know her mind and use her thoughts against her.**

 **Hardest of all – and what made her angriest; was the posibility that she really didn't love him enough to want to be with him if he couldn't be the Wizard she knew he could be if he'd just accept the consequences that came along with his gifts and stop letting lesser Wizards and Witches cheat and lie to take what they want from him without a fight!**

 **Be selfish. That's what he'd call it. Be more like James! He'd basically said that – though in his usual, back-handed way to try and avoid saying anything hurtful to anyone.**

 **Well, James was currently an undefeated Seeker so far in his fledgling career in the show; he was now team Captain for the Gryffindor senior team; and he was a very popular guy – particularly with the Witches that were impressed with that sort of thing.**

" **You mean Witches like you," she chided herself in silent derision. She'd certainly been impressed and proud of Al when he was Captain and a Prefect!**

 **On the other hand, James was also a hippogriff-sized cheat, liar, git, and worse!**

 **While Al is the nice, safe, brilliantly-talented, but utterly-boring brother – as Malorie had pointed out on several occasions. Now, that was a statement that seemed rather important in hindsight as she was forced to come to terms with the fact that she might, in fact, feel the same way about the docile side of Al's personality!**

 **So where did this apparent, ridiculous impasse leave them?**

 **For now; in a really bad place - apart.**

 **Rose sat with Ray, Cyndia, and a few other friends while Lily got the team tryouts started. She'd been sure that Al would come to support Lily, but he'd never be late and was nowhere in sight; so maybe he'd decided to stay away – particularly after Lily had tried to hex some sense into him until he chose to run off again instead of standing up to her – another choice that just got her angry with him all over again!**

" **Lily was worried about who she'd end up with for Beaters," Ray said quietly. "It seems she has reason for that."**

" **Winston Wintringham is doing alright," Rose suggested. "Al would be able to tell for sure; but I'd say he's nearly as good as Fred was in his first year."**

" **Maybe, but the rest of them are more-likely to get knocked out by the bludgers than making accurate, clean hits with them. It's a good thing for our House that we only lost Fred and Orlando this year; and have a really good Seeker, Keeper, and Chaser trio."**

" **Well, if that's all decided already; we should've just gone and studied with Gwendolyn and the rest of our group," Rose suggested.**

" **You can do that if you'd like," Ray told her. "I'm thinking about studying with Cyndia and her group until Al and Gwendolyn work things out. Our study classroom is not a Wizard-friendly zone right now."**

" **I thought Al would be here," Rose said – admitted aloud – instead of responding to Ray's comments.**

" **Sitting here with us?" Cyndia asked seriously. "Why would you think that? We're all mad at him because he's likely screwd us out of what could have been a brilliant Quidditch season for us with him as Captain; and I'd be happy to blast him for doing that to us! I didn't have so much fun on our team the last time James was in charge, but that doesn't really matter; since he and Ollie will make sure that we won't even be on the reserve squad now!" She laughed at that. "Actually, now that I think about it – I am surprised that Al isn't here. That would be as stupid as everything else he's done over the past few days!"**

" **He's gone way beyond stupid," Rose declared. "He was named Captain! That vote didn't need to happen at all; and Mr. Peakes would've backed him up."**

" **Sure," Cyndia agreed. "And Al would've looked like a hypocrite and liar – but let's not let facts get in the way of being mad at him for screwing everything up for us. He won the vote in the summer for our training with his Mum and Dad before we knew who was to be Captain. This time, he lost the vote and challenge. We'll need to skip over that fact too; but I'm okay with that."**

" **Is that really a fact? Did he lose the vote?" Rose asked. "Why do we believe that? Because Ollie said it was so and he's so well-known for honesty at all costs?"**

" **You think he lied too?" Ray asked; and Rose nodded.**

" **Yeah, and none of us called him out on it – including Al. Ollie would've never been able to get away with that if the vote had only been in a challenge with the team and reserve squad; but most of our fellow Gryffindor likely didn't even care much one way or the other."**

" **It doesn't really matter how they did it," Cyndia suggested. "I don't think he'll come around – especially when you add up everything that's been dumped on him. The big question for us, though, is are we going to try to band together and fight if James doesn't have fair tryouts next Saturday; or are we going to give up and walk away too – and end up doing exactly the same thing that Al's done by letting James and Ollie do that to us too?"**

 **Al sat through Lily's tryouts, and other than ending up with a comparatively-weak Beater duo; there were no surprises as Hugo, Roxanne, Kathryn, and Melissa all earned their spots on the team again. He waited until he was out of the stadium to send a mirror message congratulations to Lily that included offering the same to the other thirteen players to make the team or reserve squad, but then he turned his mirror off and returned to the Room of Requirements – where he had his own Quidditch workout for the rest of the morning. That wasn't as much fun as playing with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, or the rest of the people he loved to play the sport with the most, but it gave him time to play with new tricks and do some serious thinking about what he'd like his broom to do if he could design it himself and then figure out how to do all of the magic that went into broom-making.**

 **He knew that he couldn't keep skipping every meal, but he didn't go to the Great Hall for lunch. Staying in the Room of Requirements was far more peaceful; and he even had a nap for a while on the sofa he'd kept for himself after giving the rest of them – and his mirror – to Rose in case she'd needed them overthe weekend. Okay, he'd magically dropped them on her bed and sent a mirror message; but it was the thought that counted. Thoughts were what he focused on for most of the afternoon – and all of them were about what he wanted to do to have fun and be happy – whether that ended up being with Gwendolyn, his sister, cousins, and friends in the short or long-term or not.**

 **Problem number one – how to make his classes and study time fun if he didn't get to do that with Gwendolyn, Rose, and his friends? Ditto that for Quidditch – problem number two. He wanted to help others – problem three; and while doing that was easy-enough – the actual problem was helping without drawing attention to himself for those efforts. He had a talent for sensing things like the needs of others; so finding teens and tweens in need of help would be easy-enough too; so he just needed to work out how to act on things he learned when the last thing he wanted was to trade being in one big spotlight for another; but he thought that could be done if he was very careful. Next up – getting out there and playing with or without his usual playmates; since he couldn't stay hidden in the Room of Requirements for the next three school years! Well, the school grounds were immense for small animals. He could likely experiment with that all year and never get bored!**

 **True, but without Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and everyone else around to share the fun with; he foresaw a future where he was the happiest, lonliest teen at Hogwarts!**

 **After her team tryouts, Lily spent a lot of the rest of the day trying to find out about the other junior teams – which meant spending time outdoors with some friends; and doing anything except studying. Quidditch was the top chat topic, but bashing Al was a close second; and she had help for that with friends of all ages from three out of four Houses – four, if you included the walk-by razzings from some Slytherins.**

 **The Hufflepuff tryouts were up next for Quidditch, and with three players graduating to the senior team level; they were likely in for an eventful tryout compared to Gryffindor where only the Beater contest had been particularly-exciting. Unlike their senior team players, Lily, Hugo, and the rest of their friends had quite a few Hufflepuff friends; and they didn't even need to wait until lunchtime to get most of the news as some spectators and disappointed hopefuls left the stadium as each part of tryouts ended.**

 **They learned early on that Greta Jones earned the second Beater spot on the team with Captain Lee Johnson; John Whitby finally got his shot at being team Keeper now that Leanne had moved to the senior team level; and Anne-Marie Summerby was the lone addition at Chaser with Drew Summers and Michael Macmillan each winning their spots on the team again. The only position they had to wait to hear about was Seeker; and Lily knew as soon as she saw him at lunchtime that Luke Summerby had kept his spot on the team – and would get to play for Hufflepuff with his younger sister.**

 **Slytherin had their tryouts after lunch, but while it ought to have been tougher for them to find out about their new team; that didn't end up being a problem at all – thanks to the combined efforts of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw members of Lily's little gang of outdoor playmates. There were some unknowns to be sure, but no major surprises. Andrea Avery, and Grant and Bethany Pritchard, kept their spots on the team at Seeker and Chaser; Derrick Selwyn, as Captain, was their Keeper again; and Dan Derrick switched from Beater to Chaser. That ended up making the Beaters the main unknown for Slytherin's junior team too; and Lily knew that they would have to wait until they played against them to find out whether firsties Carson Thicknesse and Ferguson Pucey would be any good – or at least how they'd stack up to her own, new Beater duo.**

 **The results for Ravenclaw wasn't a problem either, and while she got teased about it; she didn't need to snog that news out of Jonah before – or after – dinner. Jonah didn't end up having any surprises either; and his tryouts went very smoothly – with just one minor exception because Robin Ackerley didn't keep her spot on the team. That hadn't really been a surprise, since Chris Madley and Bryson Campbell had been nearly as good as Robin in their first season on the reserve squad; and they'd won the next-best two Chaser spots behind Alyssa Graves after she earned the top spot at tryouts. Meg Rivers won the Keeper spot and replaced Ryan, but while some of the other hopefuls had been surprised by that; nobody actually 'in-the-know' had expected it to even be close; since Meg was very much her mother's daughter! Ravenclaw's only unknown was at Beater, but Katrina was certain to be one of the best junior Beaters, so she'd be able to work with her new firstie partner, Andy Goldstein.**

 **Quidditch was still the top news topic at dinner for Lily and her friends, but by the time she'd finished eating, she was glad to get away from all of the drama; and go spend a quiet evening with Jonah. That alone time with him still included some Quidditch talk and more venting about Al's ongoing stupidity – including skipping another meal in the Great Hall; but Jonah did help her out with a half-hour or so of music fun, some quality cuddle time, and even a bit of minor snogging that at least gave them better things to do for a while even if it didn't solve any problems.**

 **Al didn't get any of the junior team Quidditch news while spending the rest of the day in the Room of Requirements, but he did pick up most of that news from everyone around him after returning to his dorm room ahead of curfew and the few times he ventured out into the castle or outdoors on Sunday – though he generally did that while either in Animorphmagus form or using an invisibility charm to stay hidden and left alone. He skipped all three meals again; and the only 'real' human interaction he had for the entire day was his first mirror chat with Malorie since getting back to Hogwarts – a chat that he'd left for too long already before deciding that he couldn't put it off anymore – even if it would mean finding out that she didn't want to have him talk with her – or the twins – either. He sent a mirror message first; and then she called him after just a few minutes instead of sending a message reply.**

" **You didn't need to wait this long to talk with us," Malorie told him with a wry smile after he'd answered her chat request. "Your parents heard the news from Lily days ago – and I'll let you know right away that they're here with Jaimie, Lorie, and me right now; so it's too late to avoid them if you were hoping to do that for a while longer."**

" **I was going to call them next," Al advised her; smiling too. "Hi, Mum and Dad. How are all of you doing?"**

" **We're fine," Malorie assured him. "That's not true for you, from what we've heard; though you don't look too bad to me."**

" **I probably wouldn't if everyone that wants to blast me right now actually did that," Al only half-joked. "Are you, Mum, and Dad all interested in getting in line to do that too?"**

" **I'm not," Malorie assured him. "Jaimie, Lorie, and I were happy to hear that James is team Captain now; since that'll be something for them to brag about when they're older." Al sensed that wasn't entirely a joke, but joine din for the laughs with his parents.**

" **We've been waiting to hear your side of the story before deciding whether to blast you too or not," Ginny added; calling that out from somewhere nearby. "What in Merlin's name happened between the time you left on Wednesday morning for you to have your year start out so horridly within a day?"**

" **If Lily talked to you already; then you know what happened," Al countered. "I'm sure she told you all of the important details."**

" **Okay, then why have you just let James take over the team – and why quit as Prefect?" Ginny asked more-pointedly. "The first didn't need to affect the other."**

" **I wouldn't have been able to do any good as a Prefect with everything else going on around here," Al answered seriously. There's no point in going into the details for that; since it won't change anything." He sighed. "I've botched things with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and pretty much everyone else; but I just don't want to play all of those drama games anymore. I don't know what'll come of this with some of the people I care about the most, and you can imagine how I feel about that; but I'm also happy to get away from as much of the awful as I can right now – and it will blow over eventually."**

" **Does that mean you won't be trying out for the senior team now either?" Ginny stated more than asked, and while Al couldn't see her; he shrugged.**

" **I'm leaning toward that," he agreed. "I've got the week to think about that and decide for sure, but even if James and Ollie would let me play; it wouldn't be any fun."**

" **You had fun playing Quidditch with your team this summer," Harry offered.**

" **I had fun where I could," Al amended. "All of the bad feelings around me were not fun – just as that isn't fun around here either. That's part of what I need to get away from right now; and I really am happier without constantly battling all of those bad vibes."**

" **You can't avoid them forever," Harry countered – "and isn't it worse having more of those bad vibes coming from Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose?"**

" **Compared to what?" Al challenged. "That is fairly-awful for me, but there are also a lot of very happy teens and tweens around here balancing that out – including other people that I care a lot about too." He smiled ruefully. "James is having a brilliant time so far; and that definitely wouldn't have been the case if I'd put up a fight – or kept him from getting the Captain's job that he wanted so much more than I did anyway. That could work out very well for some of the others we've played with all summer too; and I'm sure that one of my fellow fifth-year Gryffindor roommates will be very happy to be Prefect instead of me. Maybe this is what's best for everyone."**

" **Including Gwendolyn – or you?" Malorie challenged.**

" **It's a bit funny that you suggest that when Gwendolyn's been wondering if you've been right about me all along," he advised her. "Everyone thinks that I'm being a coward and that I won't do what's best for me while I actually think that I'm being selfish for doing exactly what I feel is best for me – to get out of the teen drama game and just do things that make me happy. I don't know what will happen with Gwendolyn and me, but I am sure that she'll need to decide whether she can love me for who I want to be; since I don't want to be the Wizard I'd need to be to stay on as team Captain or to be a Prefect that would be hated by half of the students here – not to mention dealing with all of the rotten that goes along with having that job even for the Prefects that don't have the problems that I attract."**

" **You really need to work on that tendency to brag without seeming to do that," Malorie suggested. "You may as well have just told us that you're too good to be Captain or Prefect – and I mean that to be the nice kind of good more than too-talented – though you may have meant that too."**

" **Is that what you got from what he said?" Ginny asked seriously; and Malorie laughed.**

" **Didn't you?" she countered. "He's telling the truth about being selfish for this. I don't know whether Al can be happy if he's all alone there, or whether he's really doing what's best; but I'm sure we all get why he'd want to just say the heck with it all. That is, in part, why you quit your jobs, isn't it?"**

" **It is," Harry agreed. "The play time with our kids and grandkids has just been a really awesome bonus!"**

" **I hope that you'll still let me have some play time with my nieces too," Al told Malorie – "even if that can only be through mirror chats between now and Christmas. As for being happy the rest of the time; I'm still trying to figure out how I'll do that – whether that ends up being with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and the rest of my friends or not."**

" **Well, you don't have to worry about having those mirror chats with us," Malorie assured him. "Jaimie and Lorie have seemed more restless since you left; so I hope they'll settle down after talking with you – and maybe getting to hear their special lullaby. I also don't have many friends; so I don't want to lose one of them – even if everyone else does think you're an idiot right now."**

" **Thank you," Al said sincerely. "I'm likely going to really need the happy moments with you and the twins while waiting to find out how all of this turns out around here."**

 **They talked about that for a while longer; Ginny and Harry each took a turn talking with him while using Malorie's mirror; and he got to have time watching and talking and singing to Jaimie and Lorie. That mirror chat lasted for more than a half-hour; and then he was on his own again until curfew while his parents helped Malorie with the 'bedtime' feeding for their granddaughters. He was on his own in his dorm room at first; used a shield again to be sure he was left alone; and went to sleep before any of the other guys joined him anyway because he was sure he'd need the rest to get through the first full week of the school year.**

 **James was having the absolute best start to any school year since his first – and he was sure it was going to just keep getting better once he'd finished making sure that everyone in the school hated the Animorphloser! The plan that he and Ollie had hatched for taking their team back from the loser had worked perfectly – even better than they'd hoped; since it had led to him quitting as Prefect and having his potty-trainer dump him too! Even Lily and Rose were mad at the loser now – and that was going to get worse once they found out what he had in store for the lot of them next! They had no idea what was coming, and while he was sure that Rose, Ray, and Cyndia were likely plotting ways to steal his team for a second time; they didn't have a chance of out-smarting him!**

 **Watching the Animorphpotty's descent into madness – and making fun of him every step of the way – had been brilliant; but everything else about his first week and a half of school had been brilliant too. His first day of classes had started with the morning off; followed by an afternoon of DADA. His only class on Friday was Transfiguration; so he was basically going to have three-day weekends every week! Mondays were going to start with double Charms; but then he had the rest of the day off; and didn't have another class until he wrapped up with DADA for the last class on Tuesdays. Wednesdays were his 'long' day; he had double Transfiguration in the morning; and one period of Charms after lunch.**

 **He should've dropped down to three classes years ago!**

 **All of that free time allowed him to do whatever he wanted most of the time – and that's exactly what he did! He did a Quidditch workout every day – but didn't offer any team workouts – since he wanted to be fair to everyone at tryouts, of course! Ollie and some of the other players did do their own workouts during their time slots; but James stayed a way so he could remain impartial. He spent extra time razzing and insulting the loser the rare time he actually showed his ugly face anywhere in public; and had fun hitting on the potty-trainer – sure that it was just a matter of time now before she'd be another notch on his broomstick!**

 **While life was brilliant at school; he also had some bonus fun on Tuesday night thanks to getting to watch his Catapults team fall apart without him and lose their match to the Harpies. He wasn't cheering for the Harpies – he was simply happy to see that everyone on the team except for Miya had given up as fully as the loser had after he crushed him. It had only taken Gabrielle thirty-one minutes to win her Seeker duel – and since his back-up Catapults' Seeker hadn't even tried. That just proved to him that she was over-the-hill and past-due to retire; but he didn't have a problem with proving that to her a few dozen times before she got the hint – while beating the Harpies every time too! Now, he'd even have reason for payback after the Harpies made his team look so incompetent!**

 **Finally, as if everything else hadn't been brilliant enough for him; his rising star attracted a lot of attention from Witches of all ages. Sure, some of them would need to grow up before he could make them future playmates; but Patricia, Rosinda, and Bristol weren't the only Witches he'd snogged and more during his first week and a half of school! Bristol wasn't the only Witch with a boyfriend to play with him either; which just made the fun all the more exciting!**

 **The loser, on the other hand, was getting exactly what he deserved - nothing!**

 **Scorpius was a very happy camper as Lysandra shared a congratulatory hug with him after their senior team tryouts wrapped up. Unlike last year, they'd had the first tryout time slot; so they still had the rest of the day open to them instead of having to wait around all day just to find out what kind of team they'd end up with. By then, they needed to vacate the stadium to make room for Ravenclaw; so Lysandra stayed with him as they headed out with everyone who had stayed to watch the final battle for the reserve Seeker spot on their team – after G-Air had won the top job in under fifteen minutes thanks to his shiny new Lightningbolt.**

" **I hate to admit it, but maybe it's nice to have some of our best players back again this year," Lysandra joked – saying that loudly-enough to be overheard by Rupert and G-Air. "your team looks pretty good this year."**

" **We'll look brilliant if your idiot Gryffindor buddy ends up with a team as bad as he had the last time he was Captain," Rupert offered with a snort. "From the rumors we've heard; I wouldn't be surprised if he picks an all-Witch team – and Quidditch skills would not be necessary."**

" **Now why didn't I think of that?" Don asked with a laugh. "That's a brilliant idea!"**

" **Right up until game time," G-Air said with a derisive snort. "You'll have better luck with the Witches by actually getting some wins this season."**

" **You're just glad to have girls around again that aren't related to you," Don retorted. "Getting back to Lysandra's original comment, though; I'm happy with our team this year too. I'm not going to guarantee any wins, but whatever happens with the other teams; I think we'll have a chance to win in every match."**

" **That's very Hufflepuff of you," Rupert retorted. "Do you feel bad for the Animorphpotty too?"**

" **I feel bad that I might not get one more chance to bash his head in."**

 **Rupert laughed. "From what I've heard – why bother? He's practically in a coma now anyway."**

" **He's doing as well as always in the classes we have with Gryffindor," Lysandra advised him. "Don't believe every rumor you here – there's more going on there than we know."**

" **Well, you should know; since you guys are buddies with the Animorphpotty's brother," G-Air suggested with a sneer. "Personally, I'm hoping the loser decides to throw himself off the Astronomy tower – like his namesake did!"**

 **That joke earned a raucous round of laughs; and they had more insults and commentary when they crossed paths with Gwendolyn on her way into the stadium for the Ravenclaw tryouts. As usual since the start of her big fight with the loser, she didn't look broken up – she looked perpetually ticked-off. Her responses to their taunts had been blunt and earned laughs from the guys – along with two fairly-lewd offers. That scene was fun for Scorpius and Lysandra, since they were as happy as anyone to see the royal couple torn apart; so they were in an even-better mood as they moved on and spent most of the rest of their day having fun and celebrating Scorpius once again earning top spot for Chaser on their senior team – and doing that convincingly!**

 **Gwendolyn was on a devil-may-care tear as she went in on the attack against Peter for her third of five shots. She'd been the only Chaser so far to earn two goals on her first two shots; and Peter looked nervous because she'd nearly taken his head off the first time; and had ricocheted the shot off of his back on the other – after getting him completely turned around. This time she went straight at him; pulled up at the last second as if trying to go over the top for the shot; dropped the quaffle as he reacted to that play; and then did a vertical three-sixty and used her broomtail to knock the quaffle into the now-open center goal – while Peter also backed away from the face full of broom he'd have gotten if he hadn't done that.**

" **Hi, my name's Peter Boot – your team Captain," he pretended to introduce himself. "You may have mistaken me for another Wizard; so please don't take my head off!"**

" **You're a Wizard – guilty by association," she advised him without any real sense of humor.**

 **That was the full-extent of their verbal exchange; she retrieved the quaffle; whipped it over to Landon – who looked as nervous about getting that pass as Peter had looked for the shot; and then she got back in line behind Stephanie – who was now one goal behind her after earning her second on Peter.**

" **I should've had you go first," Stephanie joked quietly as they watched Landon take his time setting up his next shot on goal. "You've got Peter more rattled than I've ever seen him before."**

" **He's lucky I didn't try out for Beater."**

" **I'd say we all are," Stephanie amended. "Well, that last goal of yours didn't help Landon on that shot. Maybe I'm right where I should be in this line – and Peter is just looking past me to you."**

" **Don't even think about meaning that in any way other than Quidditch," Gwendolyn warned.**

" **If I was going to make a joke like that; it'd be about me looking past you to Al – if it wasn't for the fact that I only love him in a sister or cousin sort of way," Stephanie told her with a grin.**

" **Now you're just trying to get into my head and mess me up," Gwendolyn decided. "I'll let Peter know he can thank you for what happens with my next shot."**

 **She actually told him that after she scored her fourth goal in a row, but she didn't feel any satisfaction – especially as she got back into line again to wait for her last shot and suddenly realized that she'd scored every single one of those goals using moves that Al had taught her, worked with her on, and helped her to perfect. That fact just made her even angrier again – if that was possible. Everything reminded her of him, and the more she thought about it; the more she wondered when she'd lost herself. For years now, she'd just passively gone along as she'd become his girlfriend – his potty-trainer! Nobody ever seemed to even think of him as her boyfriend – she was the Animorphpotty's girlfriend! She tried to look back and figure out when she'd lost her own identity; and couldn't come up with a specific moment – it had just happened. One day, she was her own Witch, and the next; she was a side-kick to Albus Potter.**

 **She could pinpoint exactly when the floodgates had burst on all of the pent-up anger she hadn't even wanted to admit was there within her – during their fights on Thursday morning and after Astronomy class that night. Even then, when she wanted to have it out with him, he had been so nice, kind, and loving that she'd wanted to punch him in the face! He'd gone into hiding since then, and now, except for in their joint classes and a rare glimpse of him around the castle or school grounds; she didn't see him at all. He hadn't worked things out with Rose or Lily either; and she didn't know what she'd do about it if or when they did – since she couldn't picture studying with Rose if Al was in the room with them. She didn't know whether to like the idea of changing study groups or not – and wondered if Toni and Michael would make that change with her if needed.**

 **So many problems – and all because her idiot ex-boyfriend... her ex-boyfriend? When had she decided that she'd gone from fighting to breaking up with him? Whatever – add it to the list of things that were now messed up in her life all because Al decided to give up on everything – including them!**

 **She was in the perfect frame of mind for her last shot on goal – except for the part where she again used one of Al's best tricks to earn her fifth goal – and the top Chaser spot on her team! Stephanie was second, Mark Goldstein rounded out their trio; and Landon tied for fifth to earn one of the reserve squad jobs. Peter then had his new Chaser team help him to choose his back-up; she couldn't bring herself to feeling bad when she actually hurt Ryan on one of her goals against him; and still went on to score on every shot against every Keeper. Ryan still won the back-up spot; and then she sat and took her gear off – and then watched the entire Seeker battle while Pauline and Stephanie put on a brilliant show for their fellow players and the spectators. Pauline eventually won that battle; but Stephanie was much closer than anyone had expected; and gave her big sister all of the competition she could handle and then some!**

 **That was good for their House, since Stephanie replaced Miya; that was the only change to their team; and they were going to be even better than last year!**

 **Al made his way into the stadium under cover of another invisibility charm as his fellow Gryffindor were arriving either to try out for the team or watch the show. Some of them were sure to be disappointed when he didn't show up – not because they cared whether he tried out for the team; but because they were hoping for yet another opportunity to see him humiliated by James and Ollie. That actually hadn't been a factor in why he was choosing not to try out – though he'd foreseen a near-certainty that he'd be kept off the team regardless of how well he did if he had tried. No, as he'd thought about it all week; he'd decided to pick being happy; and knew he wouldn't be able to do that while playing Quidditch with James and Ollie..**

 **He truly did feel good – happy – as he made his way to an out-of-the way spot in the stadium with a good view but nobody around that might accidentally bump into him. That had a lot to do with how brilliantly his day had been going so far; and he really liked the routine he was getting into now as he made the adjustments to his life that everyone around him thought was insanely crazy. The more he made the changes, though; the less he cared about what anyone else thought of him. He was making progress on that every day, and he was feeling so good because he'd started his day with a meditative martial arts workout in the Room of Requirements; followed that up with breakfast for one by the lake; and then he'd quietly gone forth into the castle and helped a total of four younger students – including two that had no idea he'd intervened in their lives by keeping two would-be bullies from messing with them. Those two Slytherins didn't know what happened either – only that they weren't able to move each time they'd tried to ambush their victims. After the second bout of immobilization; they'd given up and moved on. He also sat down with an overwhelmed firstie in the library; helped her out with a long chat and some study tips; and he had one second-year boy that he helped with a charm-gone-wrong problem that he'd been too embarrassed about to ask for any help from Professors or Prefects.**

 **None of those efforts earned him any attention or recognition – he was in it for the fun and joy of those moments. That wasn't the case for these tryouts, but in this case; it wasn't what he sensed and foresaw that bothered him – it was being comparatively-near to some of his favorite people while they were having some very bad thoughts about him that made being there to watch the tryouts such a trial for him. He couldn't avoid all of the dark emotions around him, but he tried to push those senses to the side when James called the prospective players to gather around him and got the tryouts started..**

" **Welcome to the senior team tryouts for what will be our best season ever-so-far for those of us lucky-enough to make the team this year!" James declared. He smiled encouragingly as he looked around from face-to-face; and Al sensed both the dark hatred and glee that his brother was feeling simply because he wasn't there among the player-hopefuls. "Before we begin, I'd like to announce that I have decided to do things a bit differently this year. Instead of choosing our team today; I'm going to start training with the top fourteen players from tryouts today – including myself, of course; and then I will decide which six players will play in each match this year!"**

 **That announcement wasn't news for Al, but it was for everyone else – including Rose, Ray, and Cyndia. He found all of the varied reactions from the players and spectators interesting; but nothing he sensed changed anything about what he foresaw in the near-future – for the results of the tryouts or the short-term after that.**

" **I know – it isn't the way we normally do things here at Hogwarts, but we're going to try it this year and see if this new incentive will help all of us to get better – and give us a better chance to bring the Quidditch Cup back to our House this season! As usual, we'll start with the Beater tryouts; put the Chasers up against the Keepers; and then pick our second Seeker last. I'll pick the top four Beaters, six Chasers, and two Keepers; and I've already explained how we'll do things ahead of each match this year. Any questions? No? Okay – let's get right to it!"**

 **He sent the Beaters up first, and Al watched the battle with detached interest. Now that James had declared that he was simply picking the top four Beaters, he'd be able to choose Tiberius, Brock, Fred, and Orlando without upsetting any of them; while that was also why he saw that none of them pushed all that hard – just enough to show they were better than the other Beater hopefuls. That made ranking them based on those performances pointless; but Al still gave Fred the win, with Brock, Tiberius, and Orlando earning the next three spots on the team.**

 **James called for the Chasers and Keepers next; he got them to do that exactly the same way Olivia had done a year ago; and started out with the two Keepers stepping upp to try out against Louis and Rose. Each Chaser was allowed three shots against each Keeper too; they had eighteen Chaser candidates looking to earn one of those six spots; and James just let them go at it for as long as it took to get through the two hundred and sixteen shots that the four Keepers faced from all of those Chasers. Al knew which eight players were going to be picked for the team before the first shot was taken – and that the scoring wasn't going to matter. That didn't keep him from enjoying himself as he watched most of the Chasers battle it out against the Keepers – particularly when it came to watching Rose, Ray, and Cyndia really shine as they proved that they were the best Keeper and top two Chasers on the day. When Louis and Rose finished facing their last shots; all of the players still in the air landed; they gathered around James; and waited while he made a theatrical show of having the totals tabulated and double-checked before being ready to announce the results.**

 **.**

" **Sorry for the delay," James said loudly as he turned his attention to the players standing around him; smiling as he held up the sheet of parchment he'd been working on. "We wanted to make sure we got this done right and fairly! Let's start with our Keepers. Louis and Rose Weasley – congratulations! You're our top two Keepers this season!" He paused while there was a round of applause; and Al noticed that James was smirking as he watched Rose's reaction to the news that she'd made the team. Al knew what James and Ollie were doing, and he didn't like it; but could also admit that their plan was working brilliantly as they made sure that Rose had no reason to complain about being treated fairly – unless she wanted to argue the point that James had implied that Louis won the Keeper battle by naming him first when she'd won with three more saves than Louis had earned.**

" **I don't want to keep anyone waiting, and we do still have a Seeker duel to get to; so in no particular order; our six Chasers are Magnus and Cyndia Finnegan, Ollie and Ray Wood, Eric Talbot, and Romeo Remillard! Congratulations to all of you – and well-done!"**

 **Al knew that Ollie had actually been tied for seventh by a goal, but nobody noticed or offered a complaint, and just as with Rose; James and Ollie had made sure that Ray and Cyndia had nothing to complain about now that they were on the team too. They were messed-up and baffled by the news; and he watched as they joined the rest of their new team mates on the sidelines near James and began to watch the battle for the 'second' team Seeker.**

" **What the hell just happened out there?" Lily demanded as she watched Rose, Ray, and Cyndia join their new team mates; and she was as stunned as they looked.**

" **Your older brother just finished pulling off his coup while we're all sitting around here letting Al get screwed," Hugo suggested; and then laughed when Lily glared daggers at him. "Don't shoot the messenger."**

" **He isn't wrong, either," Melissa offered. "You don't have to like it, Lily; but it's brilliant – in a rotten, under-handed way. Rose, Ray, and Cyndia have nothing to go after James or Ollie about – they're on the team. Now, if they don't try their best; they won't have any chance of playing in the matches – and James can string them along all season if he plays his cards right."**

" **While Al didn't even try out for the team when we all know he's the best Chaser in our House," Lily retorted. "Why did he bother training all summer only to quit on us like this?"**

" **That's likely for the best," Kathryn suggested. "If he had come here; I expect that James and Ollie had some way to keep him off the team and publicly-humiliate him yet again anyway."**

" **Well, are we a bunch of hypocrites?" Cyndia asked quietly so that only Ray and Rose would hear her. "We were all set to fight if James tried to screw us out of a fair tryout, but now that we've all made the team; we're okay with going along with the lies and cheating – even though Al's still getting screwed."**

" **He could've fought for himself," Ray offered; sounding a bit angry at Cyndia's blanket claim implying they were now as guilty as James and Ollie for trying out for the team instead of standing by Al and taking the season off too – which was obviously what Al was doing by not even bothering to show up for tryouts.**

" **And if he doesn't want to fight for himself; why should we fight for him?" Rose added; looking angry too.**

" **Well, the cynic in me would say we should have fought now because James is likely to string us along all season and never actually let us play a match," Cyndia suggested. "I've been wrong to this point, though; so maybe I just have no idea at all what James is up to with this game of his."**

" **Other than his ongoing mission to destroy Al," Rose said quietly. "That's working out great for him – and Al's helping him out by just giving up on all of us!"**

 **Al watched the Seeker duel; Kira Kirke was the surprise winner of that battle; and Al was sure that James would be happy to have another attractive Witch to compete against this season – especially since she wouldn't be good-enough to ever even come close to besting him even on his worst or her best day. He moved on to have dinner for one by the lake, and while he wasn't interested in going to the Great Hall for any meals; he was going to need to think about other food options he could pick up while in town for the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year; since chocolates and candies wouldn't keep him going indefinitely. He flew back to the castle after that snack-meal; stopped into his dorm room while everyone else was having dinner so that he could pick up a few things he wanted in his book bag for the evening; and then he'd gone on to the Room of Requirements and was there well-ahead of the post-dinner exodus from the Great Hall. He studied for a while; and then set up his sofa got comfortable, and called Malorie for their daily mirror chat.**

" **Skipping dinner again?" she asked as her image appeared in his mirror. "Did you change your mind; try out for the team anyway; and then that went as badly as you'd expected?"**

" **I didn't try out; and they went exactly as I'd expected," Al answered. "James was fair with nearly-everyone today; and Rose, Ray, and Cyndia all made the team."**

" **They did?" Malorie asked in surprise. "If that's what you expected; why didn't you tell me that before now?"**

" **I didn't want to spoil the surprise," Al half-joked. "James is doing things a bit differently this year," he added and explained. "He's going with a team of fourteen players; and will pick the six-best players to take into each match with him sometime shortly-ahead of each game. I don't have all of the details yet about how he'll do that; but I'd say that his plan for that worked perfectly. Nobody can accuse him of not being fair today; and Rose, Ray, and Cyndia either have to play the game his way and hope that he actually lets them play on the team with him if they're the best players during their practices."**

" **You're sure they'll do that," Malorie deduced.**

" **They will – and now they'll blame me for whatever happens for the rest of the season too. It's a brilliant plan, really."**

" **And so successful that you're reduced to mirror chats with me – and you really just want to talk with your nieces," Malorie joked.**

" **You actually know who I am at the core – even if everyone else thinks that you're just joking about me being the good, boring brother," he suggested. "My problems haven't gone away and I miss Gwendolyn like mad; but I truly am starting to be happier now that I'm trying to simply be who I am without all of the distractions."**

" **You're semi-bragging again," Malorie chided; and Al laughed easily.**

" **Sorry – I'm still a work in progress. "How has your day been going?"**

" **Really good," Malorie answered with a soft, happy smile. "I'm not getting much sleep, but the girls are so amazing! Your Mum and Dad have only stopped in once today – though they'll be back tonight to help out with the bedtime ritual – if that's what I should call it. "I don't know why I think of that as bedtime when they're up again every two or three hours."**

" **The good news is that it sounds as though they're mostly doing that together," Al reminded her. "You'd get no sleep if they took turns sleeping and wanting to wake up."**

" **If Jaimie could sleep through Lorie's cries; I'll likely need to get her hearing checked when she's a bit older. Don't go around starting any jokes about it with your family, but I'm already wondering if I should've waited a week or two before deciding on naming them."**

 **Al laughed. "I wouldn't dream of doing that to Jaimie and Lorie – I'm still the quiet, good one."**

" **While James is still the loud, brash one," Malorie added with a nod. She turned her head when they both heard a baby gurgle nearby. "As usual, your timing is good – and I think that they've recognized your voice. Let's go see if they recognize you yet, Uncle Al."**

 **Malorie went over to where the girls were in a shallow, raised playpen. She pointed her mirror toward the girls; and Al could see them swaddled in their blankets and propped up a bit so that they could look at each other. They were both looking up at Malorie and the nirror she held over them; and they both cooed and hiccupped in response to seeing him.**

" **I'd say that's a yes," she declared. "Say hi to your Uncle Al, girls," she added with a laugh in her voice. "He's had a tough afternoon and could use the cheering up."**

" **Hi, Jamie; Lorie," Al said gently as he smiled at them. "Are you being good for your Mommy today? You both look beautiful. Are those new blankies?"**

" **You know they are," Malorie interjected. "I'm pretty sure that I have about a one-month supply of them – thanks to your collective family."**

" **Don't be surprised if that's more like a three or four-day supply some weeks," Al countered. "Let's not give them any ideas for tonight, though; and move on. Did you have any other visitors today other than Grandma and Grandpa? Go on any outings? Meet any new friends?"**

 **Those questions had been directed at Jaimie and Lorie, and they cooed at him in response; but Malorie had that conversation with him; and they talked for another fifteen minutes before the girls started to get fussy and she needed to end the call and take care of them. Al switched to surfing the wireless web for a while after that; but his thoughts were with Malorie and his nieces for quite a while.**

 **His first chat with Malorie after his fights with Gwendolyn had felt awkward, but while she'd been blunt and had her own perspective on what he was doing and the problems he was having; it had meant a lot to have her assure him that he could still call and talk with her – and the twins. He'd called once a day since then, because he didn't want to be a pest, and while Malorie might not want that longer term; she seemed happy to talk with him for now – as long as he didn't do any bragging about how good he thought he was being with his new choices and changing perspective. He had no idea whether that would last – he certainly hadn't foreseen the full-extent of the mess he'd made of things with Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and the rest of his friends, but then he was also learning to be happy with the here and now – and not worry so much about whether there would be good or bad in the future.**

 **Right now, he had no idea what even the near future was going to bring for him. He wished more than anything that he could make things right with Gwendolyn, but everything he sensed about their situation told him that the next choices had to be hers – and all he could do was wait, hope, and keep loving her with all of his heart. He didn't want to dwell on that, so he got up; went back to the work table and stool; and returned to his studies.**

 **Susannah had gone to their study classroom with Rose after they had dinner in the Great Hall. Ray and Cyndia joined them next; and Gwendolyn came on her own – and advised them that Toni and Michael were taking the evening off because they were finished their must-do weekend assignments. She sighed silently as it didn't take long for the Al bashing to begin – starting with the Gryffindor team tryouts report that Rose, Ray, and Cyndia got to pass along to Gwendolyn. The rumors had already made the rounds to the other Houses, so she hadn't been surprised by the details, but she didn't like the way her friends were each reacting to the news – particularly when they continued to blame Al for messing everything up for them despite the fact that they hadn't, as yet, had James do anything to them – other than take the Captain's job from the Wizard they were currently hating on anyway. Sure, she expected that James was stringing them along, but if he really wanted to be brilliant about that; he'd put one or two of them in to play in one or more of the matches too; since his divide-and-conquer tactics really were working out perfectly for him so far.**

 **It was the anger and insults directed at Al that she really didn't like – even if she understood why Gwendolyn and Rose in particular were lashing out at him. Her own problem, though, was that she understood why Al had made those choices – and she was proud of him for having the courage to take his stand. Part of the reason she felt that way was because of her kindred talent for Divination, and while his abilities were leaps and bounds beyond hers; they had a shared empathy that put everything they experienced in a different light; and most of all – he kept on loving everyone regardless of what they heaped on him simply for choosing to be kind and good.**

" **When is Lily going to go on that Animorphpotty hunt she told you about after your tryouts?" Gwendolyn asked. "If the rest of you are going to help her with that; I might want to go along – though I might just sit back and watch the show instead of helping out."**

" **Are you sure?" Ray asked. "I expect to feel better after blasting him a few times. You might feel the same way."**

" **Why?" Susannah asked quietly; getting everyone's attention; since she hadn't joined in on the coversation since Rose had started with the update.**

" **Why what?" Ray asked in honest confusion.**

" **Why will you feel better if you can blast Al – especially when we all know he'd need to stand there and let all of you do it?" She put her mirror down and looked from face to face; her own expression disapproving and serious. "You'll be mad at me next; so consider that fair warning." She only paused for a moment; but didn't give anyone time to jump in with any comments.**

" **You're all mad at Al for walking away from the team instead of fighting back when James and Ollie tried and succeeded with taking it from him. Now, you're mad at him because James had the audacity to play fair and put the rest of you on his team without Al. Yes, we all know that you may very well be right, and that James and Ollie will just play you all season; but you're also mad because he's shown that you're all a bunch of hypocrites."**

" **We're not hypocrites – we just aren't going to fight for Al when he doesn't even care enough about any of us to fight for himself!" Rose retorted hotly.**

" **Really? He doesn't care enough about you to accept that Captain's job in the first place just so you didn't have to choose yourself over Louis to play Keeper this year? I've been right here all week, Rose! Do you think I didn't hear all of you talking about what you should do if James tried to cheat during tryouts? Well, did he? What did you do about it? If you're right about what he'll do for the rest of the season; will you call Louis or the other guys out for going along with him if they get to play and you don't? Let's look ahead while we're at it. How fair do you plan on being with Hugo if you're Captain over the next two seasons? Will it be fair for him to wait his turn for a couple of years just because you were named Captain fairly?"**

" **That's not the same!" Rose protested; but Susannah saw that she didn't believe her own assertion.**

" **It's only different in that they cheated and lied to get what they wanted; and in this case – you've all gone along with the plan because they've only gone after Al this time." She smiled grimly at Ray. "Don't look at me like that – you could be in the exact same position with your sister and cousin next year! Cyndia, you were all set to blast Magnus if you'd been treated unfairly today – expected him to quit if James and Ollie messed things up for you. I don't see you and Ray doing the same for Al." She looked at Gwendolyn next. "I wonder if Ryan feels as though he got messed with today too? You scored on every shot against all of the Keepers from what I heard earlier today. It's awfully convenient for Peter that Pauline gave up the Captaincy of your team in a season when he might have been up against a Keeper that might be good-enough to beat him for the Keeper job – but I'm sure that Ravenclaws are above those sorts of games; and you'd certainly never stand for seeing your own cousin being treated unfairly – even by two of your friends and team mates!"**

" **Fine – we're all hypocrites," Gwendolyn ground out; sounding angry; and Susannah sighed inwardly again – knowing justas Al had where this was going to lead. "What's your point? Al obviously doesn't care – why should we?"**

" **My point is that Al knew all of this – probably saw it all happening before it did. He knows how everyone around him feels all of the time; knows what they think more often than not; and has to deal with all of that from the perspective of the most gentle soul any of us have ever known. You've all joined in to tear down the one person who has proved over and over that he loves us unconditionally – and still does. I don't know whether any of you will ever be able to accept that he doesn't want to be like that – make those sorts of choices."**

" **He's done it before," Gwendolyn countered; and Susannah shrugged.**

" **Maybe, but he's always tried to do his best; he'd be the first to tell you that none of us are perfect – and he's still trying to do that now. You sit here again tonight insulting him nearly as badly as James, Ollie, or his Slytherin haters have been doing over the last week and a half – and I'm sick of it. Now you want to blast him too – or try to go and gang up on him to do that despite the fact that we all know that he can stop all of you if he chooses to do that! You're acting no differently than James for that. If you can't love him for the Wizard he's trying to tell you he wants to become; then don't – and move on without him! You don't have to destroy him to do that, do you?"**

" **We don't want to destroy him – we want to knock some sense into him!" Rose insisted.**

 **Susannah shook her head; stood up; and began to pack up her things.**

" **He's the only one of you who does make sense," she told them quietly; and then smiled ruefully at Gwendolyn. "Be glad that he'll only ever love me in a sister or cousin sort of way; 'cause I'd give anything to have a Wizard as amazing as he is look at me the way he looks at you every time you're near to him. He is never going to be flashy and extroverted like you and your parents are – or his own Mum, brother, and sister. If that's what you need; then I wish you well with finding that Wizard; but I'll also think you're an idiot for giving up on Al just because he doesn't want to fight for what you want." She sighed aloud this time. "Do you not even understand why he doesn't want to do that? It out to be obvious."**

" **No – please enlighten us; oh great fount of wisdom," Gwendolyn said sarcastically.**

" **You know how strong he is - magically," Susannah told her. "He could literally have anything he wanted and I wouldn't be surprised if nobody else is strong enough to stop him." She laughed at their reactions. "Come on – you go on about him being a coward while he could have simply made every Gryffindor in your House – including James and Ollie – forget that there ever was a vote. Heck – he could have stopped Ollie from even calling for that vote in the first place!"**

" **So why didn't he?" Rose demanded. "That just makes me angrier!"**

" **Really? So every time you get angry about something or someone, Al should do whatever he can so that you get what you want? James and Ollie – or anyone else you don't like – shouldn't have free will because Al has the power to take it from them? Where should that level of control start and stop? Al could make Kyle your devoted boyfriend or future husband forever – and make sure that he's oblivious to anything he shouldn't know about you or our Wizarding World. Why go through all of the trouble of building your plan to buy the Cannons? Just get him to go and force them to sell the team to you for a knut or sickle – depending on how generous you want to be. He could do that, I'm sure; and never, ever get caught."**

" **I'm not asking him to cheat," Rose protested; and Susannha laughed.**

" **You just finished saying it made you angrier that he could have made Ollie forget about even asking for the vote – or make everyone forget it happened. Does the how matter if the results are what you want at the expense of others?"**

" **Of course it matters!" Rose agreed.**

" **And that's why Al's made these choices," Susannah concluded as she finished packing her bag and picked it up. "I love all of you too, but it's time for me to make my choice too – and I choose being happy."**

" **You're going to hang out with Al?" Gwendolyn demanded darkly; and Susannah shrugged.**

" **Possibly – though he won't want me to throw myself to the wolves like that – especially when there's a good chance you'd join that pack now to help out with shredding my reputation too. Don't worry – if I do study with Al now and then; you've nothing to worry about from me, Gwendolyn. I've already mentioned that he only loves me like a sister or cousin."**

" **You haven't said how you feel about him," Gwendolyn countered; and Susannah nodded.**

" **I haven't," she agreed – and then headed for the door. "Good night. I've loved studying with you, but apparently, it's just another new school year and time for yet another big change in our lives."**

 **Lily and Jonah had gone off on their own after dinner; they had one of Al's sofas and his mirror; and they'd eventually set it up in an out-of-the-way classroom after going for a long walk that took them to that classroom by way of a meandering route that had spanned the castle from the dungeons to the seventh floor – not that she'd wanted to do that in search of Al so that she could try blasting him again.**

 **That would have just been an added bonus!**

 **They played and sang music for a while; had a bit of snogging fun; and then called her parents to have a bedtime chat that included getting to say goodnight to Malorie and the twins because they timed it for the bedtime schedule that Malorie was trying to get set up for Jaimie and Lorie. Ginny answered the call on the third chime; and was smiling as she held her mirror with one hand and one of the girls with the other.**

" **I thought that you might call sooner with the Quidditch report," Ginny told her.**

" **Do you really want to know that one of your sons is an evil genius and the other is an idiot?" Lily countered.**

" **Careful – you're talking about their father and uncle," Ginny teased. "We have already heard enough to know why you're saying that, but why are you saying that about Al when he was only at tryouts as a spectator?"**

" **What are you talking about? He wasn't there today!" Lily asked and stated.**

" **You may not have seen him; but he was there," Ginny assured her. "That's how we know what we do so far about how your senior team tryouts went this afternoon."**

" **Then he's more the idiot if he was there and watched on while James finished off his coup by putting Rose, Ray, and Cyndia on his team – and proved that we're all a bunch of hypocrites for going along with his deviously-brilliant plan to get everything he wants while giving us no reason to fight him. I've been trying to hunt Al down to try and blast some sense into him again; but he's still skipping every meal and has gone into hiding again."**

 **Ginny sighed. "Get over yourself, Lily," she said bluntly. "You know Al well-enough to know that he could have stopped that vote or done any number of other things to win that fight and keep his job as Captain – or Prefect for that matter; though he gave that up voluntarily. You think he's messed up your chances to win a Quidditch Cup, but what is really going on with him is that he's decided that the price you want him to pay for finally getting your name on that trophy for the first time is more than he's willing to pay. For all we know, he's seeing the consequences of his actions ten or twenty years down the road; didn't like what he saw had he done what all of you seem to be demanding of him; and decided he needed to stop now."**

" **Or what?" Lily demanded. "He'd go on to win three more Quidditch Cups and get Gwendolyn mad at him for besting her team every year? Well, she's furious with him now anyway – and I think she's done with him!"**

 **Ginny laughed. "I was done with your father more than once when I was a teen. I'm not saying they'll work it out – they may not; and that would be too bad for them. If they don't, though; it won't be because of anything your brother did – it'll be because Gwendolyn can't accept him for who he is instead of what she thinks a son of the most powerful Wizard in the World is supposed to be."**

" **What's wrong with wanting him to stop being afraid of showing everyone just how amazing he is?" Lily demanded crossly.**

" **Everything, if he wants none of it," Ginny answered. "You think quite a lot of your father too, don't you?"**

" **Of course," Lily agreed.**

" **So what would you ask of him? Right now, he's an unemployed bum with a new part-time gig as half of a grandparent babysitting service that we get paid for in cuddles, dirty diapers, and the occasional spit-up. You didn't start insulting and hexing us for walking away from our jobs."**

" **So you're saying that all of this is your fault for setting a bad example?" Lily joked; and smiled when she earned a round of laughter for that line.**

" **I'd suggest you submit that idea to Rita Skeeter; but it wouldn't fit in with her current narrative that Al's getting his due with everything going on there. Then again; you think he deserves everything he's dealing with too – and then some extra hexes, jinxes, and curses too, right?"**

" **Quit trying to mess up my being mad at him," Lily told her half-seriously. "You would have felt exactly like this at my age."**

" **And did more than a few times when I'd get mad at one of my brothers," Ginny agreed with a nod and smile. "All you're saying with that statement is that your brother is wising up to what's most-important in life – and it isn't about being Quidditch Captain, Prefect, or filling shelves with awards so that everyone knows how amazing you are."**

" **He's still working on that back-handed bragging thing," Malorie called out; "but I think he's come a long way in the last week and a half."**

" **You're talking with him?" Lily asked in surprise.**

" **I think that it was Sunday before he tried calling; and we've talked once a day since then – and he talks with the girls."**

" **Why didn't any of you tell me?"**

" **Because we didn't want to mess up your fun with being mad at him," Ginny joked.**

" **Al hasn't quit or walked away from anyone," Malorie added. "You've all just chosen not to walk with him on a new path."**

" **Because we don't like where it's going," Lily countered.**

" **That might not ever change for you," Malorie suggested. "You and Gwendolyn really like the spotlight – and you shine when you're in it; so Al's choices may prove to be incompatible with what you want – and very lonely for him – until he surrounds himself with like-minded Wizards and Witches."**

" **There'd better not be any Witches if he knows what's good for him," Lily declared; and Malorie laughed.**

" **Even if Gwendolyn decides she can't accept this new, introverted version of Al and moves on to someone more exciting? No wonder you're not sure about whether you want to date Jonah or not – he's certainly more like Al than you or Gwendolyn."**

" **And he's sitting next to her," Ginny advised Malorie with a grin.**

" **Oops," Malorie offered without any real hint of embarrassment. "Still true. Maybe you both need to go and hang out with some other Wizards to appreciate the ones that love you the way I wish James could love me."**

" **While still being an extroverted, moderately-dangerous bad boy," Lily added.**

 **Malorie laughed. "Also true," she agreed. "I hope that you all get things figured out – and I'm not just saying that because I don't want to end up unemployed if Rose and Al go their separate ways."**

" **She'd go ahead with her plans without him," Lily assured her.**

" **Maybe," Malorie agreed; "but would my job still be any fun?"**

" **You should stop talking to Al too," Lily suggested. "Before you know it; you'll stop having a thing for bad boys at all and start thinking that guys like Al aren't so bad after all."**

 **Malorie laughed. "That all depends on what you want them for," she offered. "Your boring, good brother calls and talks to his nieces every day; makes sure that they know they're loved; sings them beautiful songs; and is sure to be an amazing father someday too. Here's some more truth, Lily. I'm an idiot for not waiting to find someone like that to share my life with. You're an idiot for not seeing that you have that and more in the Wizard sitting right next to you; and Gwendolyn is an idiot if she doesn't choose all of that love over whatever fantasy she thinks she needs her Wizard to be – or because what others try to do to Al makes her life a bit messy too."**

" **Maybe I should just talk with the twins," Lily suggested. "I'm sure they'll understand the benefits of a good mad!"**

 **Al was changing his schedule to avoid as many problems as he could with all of his friends – and that was driving wedges between them that he didn't like; but were preferable to the alternatives of hurting them with truths that they didn't want to hear or accept. He went to bed early – before Ray came up to their dorm room; he woke up a bit earlier than he had before; and he was out of their House before anyone else. On Sunday morning, the weather was half-decent; so he went outside for his morning workout. He went with a Tai Chi long form instead of something more-energetic and flashy, but while he was able to sense some spectators watching from the castle; nobody came outside or anywhere near him while he worked through those forms near the cliff's edge of one of his favorite spots overlooking the lake.**

 **After that, he had time to go for a fly; he went into the castle and quietly prevented a pre-breakfast attempt to bully a pair of Hufflepuff firsties; and then he went to the Room of Requirements to have his breakfast for one away from all of the mental noise that he could avoid while in that special place. With all of his weekend work finished, Al ventured out around the castle for a while to try and quietly do some good deeds – and crossed paths with Susannah in the library. He hadn't tried to avoid her despite knowing what she'd wanted; and he'd hated hurting her feelings by turning down her offer to study with him now that she'd left their study group too. She'd understood the consequences of that offer, but he wasn't willing to let her pay that price just to continue to be his friend; and that was also one more thing that he didn't want to be responsible for – the hurt that came along with being his friend in any way.**

 **They'd both been sad when they'd parted after that chat, but Al needed to keep busy; so he stayed in the library; helped a few kids in study distress; and added in a bit of project research that gave him a legitimate excuse for being there. That kept him busy until lunchtime; he went off to the Room of Requirements to have that meal on his own too; and then he spent half of the afternoon doing his own Quidditch workout along with some work on one of Lily's birthday gifts. He got that gift finished; wrapped it; and put it away with the store-bought gift he'd picked up for her over the summer holidays.**

 **By dinnertime on Sunday, and while he was blissfully-ignorant while in the peaceful environs of the Room of Requirements, the Quidditch gossip was moving down the list of top stories; but he was still involved in new stories that were making the rounds. Despite the fact that he'd only talked with Susannah for a few minutes in the library, there was speculation about them that was a story quickly gaining traction; but there was also news that Louis and Deanna had offered Ray the extra Prefect job – and he had accepted it. Al didn't find out about any of that until he returned to the Gryffindor common room ahead of curfew, and most teens didn't have much more than the basic details from those stories; but Al was able to find out more than he wanted to know – whether that was knowing Ray's true reasons for accepting the job; Rose's mixed feelings about having him as her new fellow Prefect; or even Louis' reasons for offering his best mate the badge that he'd cared so little about! On the even darker side, he found out that Gwendolyn had started that rumor about him and Susannah; and she hoped that Ray's new status as Prefect would make Al mad-enough to stop being a coward and stand up for himself – even though deep-down, she knew that wasn't going to happen.**

 **That return to sensory-overload had Al coming up with an idea for wireless magical earbuds for his mirror while wishing he could block out all of that 'sound' around him; and he had the how for doing that worked out in his head by the time he was ready to get some sleep, so while the problems in his life continued; he still felt that there were good things happening for him too – even if nobody else believed that. The good was still a long way from off-setting all of the bad, and Gwendolyn was always in his thoughts on some level, but he continued to hope that everything would work out for the best; and that he'd again get to share all of the good and happy he wanted in his life with her – and with everyone else he loved-most.**

 **His daily routine continued to evolve, and while not all of it was for the good – like not being involved in Lily's fourteenth birthday beyond magically delivering her gifts to the foot of her bed early on Tuesday morning; there was more good happening. He explored his magical talents with a new freedom now that he didn't do hours of tutoring every week. He used his Animorphmagus abilities regularly because he didn't care what anyone else thought about it if he decided to fly or run between classes – or go outside to play around the school grounds or even in the lake! He continued to use his abilities to help others – including his mission to stop the particularly-nasty bullies – another scan-and-locate twist that he honed to find both those bullies and victims dreading the next attack.**

 **Unlike James with all of his 'study' classes; Al's school day was simple – he had classes in every time slot. He enjoyed all of the magical play time – though it wasn't always easy to deal with the environment around him. On Mondays, he had three of four classes with Slytherin, and the one that would have been his best of the day was tough because he had to be in the same greenhouse with the Witch that he loved like crazy – and who, at least temporarily, was hating on him more-deeply every day. There was one change for the good – his complete and total focus on the plants was making him a more-appreciative student of the subject. Sure, some plants might try to poison or eat you, but other than that; they could be quite nice and were great listeners!**

 **More rumors were started when Susannah switched class partners in the double Charms class they had together on Tuesday morning – a change that angered Rose because one of her recent best friends had picked 'his' side – and told her that she was on the wrong side of the fight – or in the wrong for fighting with Al at all. Rose's mad and the rumors were especially-stupid because Susannah didn't sit with him instead – though she ended up at the table in front of his; and his efforts to be happy and have fun were again tested as Susannah had to put up with insults and jokes regardless of what either of them actually did.**

 **While he couldn't celebrate Lily's birthday with her because she wanted to stay mad at him; he'd actually been glad to sense that his gifts had been appreciated – but hadn't changed anything between them. He wasn't going to change the path he'd stepped out onto, but he also didn't want anyone to be part of his life simply because of things he could do for them – or cool gifts. He had double classes of Herbology and DADA in the morning and afternoon on Wednesday; the plants kept him company while Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, and others hated on him all morning; and he had his magic to play with while the Slytherins added their hate and scorn to the emotional ether around him.**

 **Al was completely out of the loop for Hogwarts Quidditch – beyond hearing all of the rumors and picking up on all of the good and bad he sensed from the players on all of the teams. Quidditch was still part of his life, though, and while he didn't have anyone to compete against; he continued to try and hone his skills and take his game to the next level – finding joy in the effort without the need to deal with the hard feelings or even hatred. He continued the daily chats with Malorie and the twins; kept ahead of all of his homework with ease as he also got faster and better at using his RevisionWizard – and did a bit of tinkering with it too just to make it even better.**

 **He worked and played pretty much from before dawn until curfew; went to bed early every night; and even with all of his classes; he had his weekend assignments finished by the time he went to sleep on Friday night – so he only had projects left to work on over the weekend – along with the fun he planned on having that would include his first Hogsmeade weekend and a Harpies' match. On the downside, it was also going to be his first Hogsmeade weekend without Gwendolyn; and he wasn't going to get to be a part of Lily's first Hogsmeade weekend either. That was a cost he had to pay on a spiritual level, but he refused to let it deter him from his new goals. He woke up early as usual; went to the Room of Requirements for his morning workout; had a quick breakfast for one after that; and was first in line to leave for Hogsmeade – and he had quite a wait for that before he was set free to leave the castle. He flew off toward town as soon as he was out of the castle; ignored the taunts that were shouted out after him; and made it to town faster than even the over-age teens could because they still had to walk to the gates before apparating to town. His joy level kicked up a dozen or more notches when he sensed that his parents, Malorie, and the twins were there; he headed unerringly straight for them; and shared a happy round of hugs with them in the main dining room of the Three Broomsticks.**

" **Thank you!" he told all of them simply; his smile bright and happy as his father handed Lorie to him for a cuddle. "I so needed this today!"**

" **Malorie thought that you might – though we won't be staying for long. Jaimie and Malorie will only be good for an hour or so before they'll be getting fussy again and want to be nursed," Ginny told him. "You look well-enough – especially since we've heard that you've skipped almost all of your meals since getting back to school. If you wanted to fast; why didn't you do that during the summer instead of eating us out of house and home? You did know that we're unemployed." Al laughed – joined in for the laughs; and realized it was the first time he'd done that with a group in weeks.**

" **I'll be able to re-stock my food supplies today," he advised her. "I'm pretty much out of them now – and that's definitely a first for me."**

" **Try going to more meals in the Great Hall," Ginny counseled. "You can't stay healthy eating nothing but sweets all day."**

" **I'll pick up other, healthier foods today too," Al hedged and promised; while turning his attention to Lorie. "Good morning, beautiful. I am so glad to see you in person again. This past nearly three weeks without any cuddles has been very hard for me."**

" **We are passing along all of the cuddles and kisses you ask us to give them," Malorie advised him. "Before you get totally focused on your nieces, though; how did you get here so fast? We thought that we still had fifteen minutes or more before the Hogwarts students would get here – and didn't plan on going outside until we heard the older teens apparate here."**

 **Al grinned at her. "I was first in line – and flew."**

" **Now I wish we'd been outside to see that," Malorie said with a laugh – "though that doesn't exactly fit with you trying to stay out of the spotlight."**

" **That would have been worse if I'd walked to town without Gwendolyn – or with Susannah; since she's the only friend or relative at Hogwarts who is talking to me right now."**

" **Ron would tell you to try suffering a bit more obviously," Harry told him.**

" **I can't do that – because I'm not suffering," Al advised him seriously; though he was still smiling as he gave his outward attention to Lorie. "Maybe I'm just not being clear about what I'm doing," he suggested next. "I'm trying to learn to simply be happy and have joy in my life. No hate; anger; frustration; sadness; regret; or any other negative emotions – just happiness and love." He looked up at his father. "Open your senses to Jaimie and Lorie. That's what I want to have again – without all of the baggage."**

" **That's likely impossible," Harry told him just as seriously; but Al shook his head.**

" **It's unlikely that everyone will ever want that or try to achieve it. That means I'll have all of that negativity around me, but it doesn't mean that I can't learn to feel that way all of the time. I don't feel as though I'm anywhere near getting to that point again yet; but I am making progress."**

" **Well, we're not going to have long for this visit, so let's not waste the time we do have with such serious matters," Ginny suggested. "Let's switch babies. I'm sure that Jaimie wants her cuddles and kisses with you too."**

 **Al spent another couple of minutes with Lorie; five more with Jaimie; and then the rest of his short amount of time withall of them before wrapping things up with a round of goodbyes and as many hugs and kisses as he could fit in before insisting that they should go and meet up with Lily, Rose, and whomever else they wanted to see – especially since his parents were also getting to have an only-slightly belated birthday visit with Lily instead of waiting until the Christmas holiday to see her in person again. Only his father saw him go when he was invisible by the time he was outside again; and he didn't hang around to watch the reunion – though he did know what went on while he got started on his shopping.**

 **He was happy for the surprise that Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, Jonah, and some others got to have and the half-hour of fun that followed before Harry and Ginny took Malorie and the twins home again; and he was doubly-glad that Gwendolyn did not decide to include any of them in her current hate-on for him. This Hogsmeade visit was also different for him because he didn't have any supplies to get for any younger cousins or friends. He did, however, have his own shopping list for that; and it felt a bit like Christmas for him as he picked up things that he wanted to give to some of the students he'd been helping. The biggest gift for that was a new mirror and a copy of RevisionWizard, but he also picked up some supplies; a new school robe in exactly the right size; and a fairly-substantial supply of sweets and treats.**

 **Getting his own supplies along the way was easy-enough, but he did extra shopping there too – including an old, used Cleansweep that he planned on using to learn the basics of broom-making; and a couple of books on the subject that he knew weren't available in the library because he'd already checked to see what they had on the subject – and had read a couple of them too. He made a point of avoiding Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and the rest of his friends to keep the awkward moments to a minimum; but wasn't as successful at being less mentally intrusive because he couldn't help but to know what was going on with all of them. He didn't have lunch in town; picked up fresh food for that to have back at the castle so he could skip lunch there too; and went to the Room of Requirements with time to spare ahead of the Harpies-Bats match.**

 **Watching that game by himself while having a lunch of a sandwich, veggies, and fresh fruit wasn't as much fun as cuddling with Gwendolyn and being with his friends would have been – if they were all getting along, but he was content; and enjoyed watching the short match that Gabrielle won for her team in just over an hour – another short match that helped the Harpies a lot as they headed deeper into the season. The short match gave him lots of time left in the afternoon to go forth and quietly share the love. He delivered anonymous gifts; protected a firstie in imminent risk of being bullied; helped two kids in the library; and one more in one of the Potions dungeons – all before going back to the Room of Requirements for his lonely, rather boring dinner-for-one.**

 **Finally, he wrapped up his day with an evening of quiet play time in the Room of Requirements that was all about magic fun – whether that was broom-making or one of his other ongoing projects – like new Christmas toys. He stayed there until near-curfew; had some Animorphmagus fun for the trip back to his dorm room; and then he got ready for bed and went off to sleep.**

 **The first, not-quite-three-week cycle of the new school year had not gone at all as he'd ever imagined even during the last couple of days of summer. His entire perspective on what a best-ever school year would be was completely changed now. There were a lot of unresolved problems and issues – with the status of some of his most-important relationships at the top of that list; but he knew that what he was doing was truly best for him; so he was going to listen to the sorting hat's advice; follow his heart; cross his fingers; and hope for the best!**


	50. A Fall Into Love and Halloween Happiness

**Chapter Fifty – A Fall Into Love and Halloween Happiness**

 **Gwendolyn had been mad when she went to bed on Saturday night; she was still mad when she woke after too-little sleep; and she expected to stay mad all day – again!**

 **In fact, the only time she hadn't been angry in days had been the half-hour she'd spent with Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and the twins – and she shouldn't have done that anyway; since it didn't look as though she was going to be anything more than a friend to Jaimie and Lorie now either – if that. She doubted everything when it came to Malorie and her girls now; since she didn't see any relationship with them lasting for long if she wasn't with Jaimie and Lorie's uncle anymore.**

 **That oasis of comparative-happy hadn't lasted long; and she'd soon been mad again – mostly because she hated the fact that he'd messed things up for her with his parents, Malorie, and the girls too. Sure, they'd been wonderful with her, but that wasn't a surprise; and it just made her feel worse to know that she wouldn't get to have many of those moments anymore – all because Al had decided to become some sort of Hogwarts Hermit who didn't want to step a toe out into the sunlight – even as he seemed to get more attention for doing that instead of less!**

 **Okay, that made no sense at all, but she was a Witch; and logic was not necessarily required when lambasting and hating on a Wizard!**

 **Sure, she'd been mad about how she felt now around his parents, but then she got mad at him for leaving all of the boring supply shopping for her to do on her own too – and she got to find out once again just how tedious it was to pick up everything from inks and quills to potions supplies and parchment. She and Rose had to walk all the way to and from town – no horseback rides from ex-boyfriends! – and she had to carry everything back to the castle again as well as distribute those supplies to the younger kids on her own too. The Harpies match hadn't ended up lasting very long, but she hated sitting with Rose – no offense to her – instead of being a member of one of the happy, cuddling couples that included Lily and Jonah – though they still weren't officially a couple and might never be one.**

 **Now she faced another Sunday where she'd study with their now-tiny little study group; she'd do a make-up Quidditch practice with her team; and then hang out with the girls – or at least do that with the girls that weren't with their boyfriends instead. She'd probably volunteer for extra Prefect duties too; and then join Rose, Lily, and Jonah for Sunday night family night – which they'd likely just cancel soon, since they weren't really having any fun while spending that time mostly complaining about the mess that Al had made of all of their lives.**

 **For most of her first fifteen years, she'd been sure that she would love Albus Potter forever. Now, after his last, stupid act of supposed self-sacrifice; she had serious doubts about whether she would ever even like him again!**

 **Al's journey into self-discovery and the happy little adventures he had along the way continued on Sunday with happy cameo moments filling up his days – whether that was a birthday mirror chat with his Aunt Hermione that included his uncle's version of advice on Witches that he had no intention of following to some project research in the library and more quiet help for a half-dozen teens and tweens around the castle. His mirror chats with Malorie and the twins, and then with his parents, had been fun – especially the stories about Jaimie and Lorie that helped a bit with being away and missing out on those special moments.**

 **Over the next week, he missed out on a lot of moments with the people he loved most too, but also knew as they went along that they were all dealing with the situation in their own way – with fairly-radical differences in how they were doing that. For Al, the next step in his transformation was beginning to help his classmates in their classes – usually teens that he hadn't helped very much in the past; but also his closer friends too. He didn't do much of that overtly – most of the time; he simply offered timely suggestions; lent out supplies that usually just appeared on worktables when needed most, or he helped out with learning spells or whatever else they were doing in their different subjects.**

 **He didn't extend any kind of help when it came to Quidditch, and didn't start up a new study group, but he did sometimes help some of his fellow fifth-year classmates right along with the other teens and tweens that he sensed in need of help in varied ways. While quietly building new relationships was a side-effect of those efforts – at least with the kids he openly helped; he didn't draw attention to that and tried to make sure that none of them ended up having more trouble just from being associated with him in any way. Most of his aid continued to either be anonymous or simple, small kindnesses that meant something; while also not making him a memorable part of those incidents – as if he was a generic, kind person where only the act was remembered and appreciated.**

 **All of that worked for him; and he was also okay with the things that he missed out on. He didn't miss Quidditch practices with all of the hate and jealousy from James, Ollie, and others. He was glad that he didn't go to the first Slug Club meeting on Friday night – though he'd been invited to join; and had politely declined Professor Slughorn's offer. Some of his classmates had known of the invitation to join, since he'd been handed it rather publicly along with the others that Professor Slughorn had delivered that day, but nobody except the Professor found out that he'd turned him down; and the rumors suggested that he just hadn't shown up because he didn't want to be there with Gwendolyn.**

 **They were wrong about that – he just didn't want to be there at all! That wasn't even a change for him – he'd always felt that way about the Slug Club, and while he was happy to learn everything he could from their Professor because he was a master at his craft; he would never like Slughorn on a personal level. While everyone in the Slug Club discussed things that he considered vain and pointless; he spent Friday evening helping two kids with study troubles; stopped a bully from hurting a scared, timid, Hufflepuff firstie; and worked on his fledgling broom-making and trying to create a pair of magical, wireless earbuds for the mirrors. He had fun with all of that; some of the play time was challenging on a lot of levels; and while he would have loved to share all of that with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and their friends; he could also admit that he wouldn't be able to do some of those things if he was tied up with other demands – like being a Prefect with Gwendolyn; Captain of their Quidditch team; or even a member of the Slug Club – which he might have been had he still been dating Gwendolyn when that invitation had been given to him. Oh –and he got all of his weekend revision finished on Friday night too!**

 **They had an open weekend at the school – no Quidditch or other activities; which again left Al with lots of time to continue to pursue his interests and new activities. After what was now weeks of hidden help with bullies, he was happy to note that many of those bullies were just giving up – though some of them tried to hunt down their tormentors first – since they were sure that they weren't being bested by a single person. Al was never in any danger of being caught; and those bullies gave up on that too when they couldn't find so much as a clue to help them in that hunt.**

 **He had one new issue come up with Malorie because her time off from work was coming to an end, and while she was supposed to start back part-time and work around what the twins needed; she did want to get back to actually earning her wages again. The problem Al had was that Rose still wasn't talking with him; she was in charge of GO MagiSports; and he had no right to help out with anything that she didn't want him to do. The answer proved to be simple – Rose wanted to continue to work with Malorie; and didn't want Al's help. That bit of drama didn't change things between him and Malorie – they just wouldn't talk about her work to any details beyond the basics and how it was working out with the twins' needs.**

 **Even for Al, the wind-down to the end of September and the start of October meant focusing some of his attention on Hogwarts Quidditch – particularly when his sister and cousins were playing in that first match of the year on Saturday! He was aware of the extra work she put into getting ready to play her best – and have her team ready too; and wished that he could help her with the stress and fatigue. He couldn't; but he did take some of his extra time to make her good luck gift during the week; and wished her all of the best – even if she didn't want to hear those best wishes directly from him. The rest of the time, he continued on as he had been over the past few weeks; had fun with his studies and magical adventures; and kept busy straight through until he finished his weekend assignments ahead of curfew on Friday night.**

 **He might be glad to be out of the spotlight for Quidditch; but he was still going to be at the stadium to cheer for his sister and her team – and he would have fun doing that too!**

" **You should look happier," Rose told Lily as she met up with her in the third-year dorms and they headed for the common room. "Is there something I haven't heard about yet that is going to be a problem today?"**

" **No – I'm annoyed with Al," she answered.**

" **Why this time?" Rose asked; and then shook her head. "He dropped off a good-luck gift on your bed, didn't he?" she guessed; and Lily nodded.**

" **Yeah, and it was funny and thoughtful; it will come in very handy today; and I hate it – and him!"**

" **Then I don't want to know what it is," Rose told her. "I'm still mad at him for every minute I've had to be anywhere near Captain James this week and for messing things up with the work I'm doing with Malorie. How is it that she can both think that he's the boring brother that she doesn't find interesting in any way and that he's the only reason for why her job was fun – and isn't fun anymore?"**

" **It does suck when another Witch's lack of logic over a Wizard messes with ours, but let's not go there either," Lily joked and suggested. "We all have more work than we used to have now that he's off having fun and trying to be the happy hermit of Hogwarts instead of doing all of the worst jobs for us like the good brother or cousin he used to be until he walked away from us."**

 **Rose laughed derisively. "Yeah, we sure noticed that on our first Hogsmeade weekend; and I feel as though I have twice the Prefect work than what I should have – and would have had if Al hadn't quit."**

" **Possibly because Al's replacement keeps talking you into doing his jobs for him because he bit off more than he can chew by taking the job," Lily suggested. "I love Ray, but we're getting to find out first-hand why Prefects aren't picked from among the middle of the pack; and Ray has only been one of the better students because of working with you, Al, Gwendolyn, and Susannah."**

" **That's all still entirely Al's fault," Rose pointed out; and she sounded angry-enough that his decision to quit on them might have happened hours ago instead of exactly a month ago now – on the first couple of days of September.**

" **It is," Lily agreed. "So is all of the pressure I'm feeling this morning; so that good luck gift doesn't come close to making up for that. My team needs to win every match to even give us a shot at the Quidditch Cup because neither of us have any faith that James and Ollie won't screw it up for us while playing their stupid games – and that's yet one more thing for us to blame on my coward-brother."**

" **Well, if he shows his face at the stadium; do you want me to blast him?"**

" **No," Lily decided after seriously considering the idea for a long moment. "We can't afford to lose the points you'd have to take from our House for doing that in public. If I lose today; we'll track him down later and blast him together somewhere we can do that without any witnesses around."**

" **The other Houses are losing as many points as we are – and add that to the list of things you can blame Al for. He isn't trying to earn points in any of our classes; so lots of them are going to the other Houses instead – or they're just not awarded at all."**

" **Ditto that for Gwendolyn going around handing out detentions like they're candy and knocking off points from everyone along the way. He doesn't care – and isn't really a part of our House family anymore either," Lily pointed out. "We should be talking Quidditch – and you're supposed to help me to get ready to go out there and win today!"**

" **Okay," Rose agreed. "Get out there and win – and then we'll celebrate by tracking down your idiot brother and blasting him just for the fun of it!"**

 **Brock McClaggen looked down at the catatonic forms of James and Ollie as they were passed out in their beds on Saturday morning; shook his head; and didn't even bother to attempt to wake them. The smell of Fire Whiskey on the pair of them was still strong and a bit stomach-churning so early in the morning. Even if he could manage to rouse them; they'd be horrid to be around; so it was best to leave them to sleep off their over-indulgence – again.**

" **No luck?" Tiberius called out from the doorway; and Brock shook his head.**

" **I didn't bother to try," he answered. "Maybe they'll make it out to the stadium in time for lunch – if the match lasts that long."**

" **Well, I can't say much, since I like to party as much as the next Wizard; but he's not much of a Captain, is he?"**

" **No, but he may very well be our ticket to playing on one of the best teams in the show; so we'll ride his broomtail all the way to the top if that's what it takes."**

" **Yeah, we will," Tiberius agreed – "and I'm not just saying that because of all the hot Witches he seems to attract like some kind of magnet!"**

" **That is a really great added bonus, though," Brock agreed.**

 **Al left the Room of Requirements with fifteen minutes to spare ahead of game time; and literally flew to the back-side of the stadium so that he could change back to his human form without being noticed. He used an invisibility charm to get into the stadium unseen; and went up to the worst seats in one of the visitors' sections where he could watch the match without being observed by anyone – or razzed and insulted. He also didn't want to be near Gwendolyn – not that he didn't sense the continuing anger that simmered within her all of the time now. While his own reactions to what he sensed from her would have been guilt and self-loathing a month ago; Al found that he could know everything he did about what she was going through and still feel love and happiness – especially for her!**

 **That thought had him smiling; since she'd likely tell him that it was all his fault that she was having a tough time finding any joy and happiness in her life. The problem with that, though, was that he understood that he couldn't give that to her – or to anyone else. The biggest problem Gwendolyn was having right now was that she wasn't happy anymore; and didn't know whether she'd find that again with him – or whether she'd need to find her happiness elsewhere.**

 **Happy was a state of mind, though, and Al needed to keep focused on that, so he let all of the sensory inputs settle into the background; and focused his attention on the match that was about to start and having fun watching the game that he loved so much being played by a few of his favorite people!**

 **Lily pasted a smile on her face that she didn't feel; led the way out into the stadium; and didn't really have any fun at all as she flew a lap of the stadium while Colin shouted out the player introductions; and then she landed at center pitch next to Mr. Peakes. She scanned the Gryffindor section and then had to frown on the inside when she didn't see either of her brothers anywhere – though Rose, Louis, and Fred were all there among the twelve players from the senior team that had shown up to support her team. The junior reserve squad players were there too; and Gwendolyn and Jonah were in the Ravenclaw section with their team mates and friends. She eventually located all of her friends, but while she hadn't expected Al to be cuddling with Gwendolyn or hanging out with Rose; she had expected him to be there – regardless of how mad she was at him! She wasn't disappointed by her brothers' actions – she was bitter and angry!**

 **It wasn't long before the Slytherin team was on the pitch too; she smiled sweetly as the guys in particular glared at her and shared a few nasty comments under their breath. Mr. Peakes did his pre-game fair play speech; Derrick Selwyn tried to break her fingers with the handshake; and she silently cursed Al for the 'handy' gift that kept him from doing that because her grip was stronger than his thanks to the magical 'helping hand' charm!**

 **She lined up next to Andrea Avery; didn't exchange any best luck wishes that would have been lies on both sides; and then took off as soon as the quaffle was tossed into the air.**

" **I'm so glad that your brother showed up today," Cyndia told Rose with a dark smile after they watched him make his first save of the match.**

" **That's funny, but I was just thinking that the brothers that didn't show up today will help our junior team a lot – if Lily takes all of that mad out on Slytherin."**

" **James might show up eventually," Brock offered from the row behind Ray – "if this match goes on long-enough and lunch is served out here."**

" **Maybe," Rose agreed with a shrug of indifference. "I hope Lily doesn't use up all of her mad during the game. We have plans to go Animorphcoward hunting later. We're going to blast him if we lose; or celebrate by blasting him if we win."**

" **Head Boy in the House," Louis reminded her – "and you're a Prefect."**

" **Are you saying you'd like to come along and help?" Rose countered. "Trying to knock some sense into him is what's best for him at this point."**

" **Is it?" Louis countered. "Why? Because you don't think that James should be Captain? Al's made it clear that he didn't really want the job, and other than the fact that James isn't here this morning; you can't say that he hasn't done well-enough as Captain so far since tryouts – even by you; and it isn't as if you've made that easy for him."**

 **Rose snorted. "As if I don't have reason for suspicion," she retorted.**

" **People change," Louis countered. "Al has – you have. Is it so hard to believe that James wants what's best for our House too – even if he doesn't do things the way you or I would?"**

" **Yes – I absolutely can't believe that," she assured him.**

" **Then why are you here – with our team?" Tiberius asked her seriously. "If you don't trust James and think that he's just messing with you; then quit. I'm sure the Animorphloser would love the company."**

" **She doesn't want to quit," Brock offered. "She was sure she was going to get cheated at tryouts, but that didn't happen; so now she's stuck because James is playing fair with her." He laughed when he saw Rose's reaction. "Don't worry, Rose. You've been playing as badly as I've ever seen you play since making the team, so you'll have reason to complain come November; and James will be right to pick Louis over you for that match."**

" **Don't tell her that," Louis told him with only a faint attempt at making it a joke. "I want to play in that match as much as the rest of you do; so I don't want Rose to change a thing about how she's playing in our practices!"**

" **Can someone remind me again which team is Slytherin?" Stephanie asked. "I've been watching that Seeker duel; and I'm having trouble figuring that out."**

" **Gryffindor is the redhead seeing red," Gwendolyn answered shortly; biting off each word and spitting them out. "Maybe Lily's ticked off that her brothers were either too hung over or too much the coward to show up for her first match as team Captain. They're Wizards, though; so I don't know why she might have expected better."**

" **They're not all bad," Stephanie countered. "Pauline and I generally like ours quite a lot; and you've always seemed happy with yours."**

" **Give them time," Gwendolyn shot back. "they're sure to mess up and disappoint you eventually."**

" **Well, that's a cheery thought – not," Pauline offered. "Instead of getting started in on any Wizard-bashing, though, we don't have any pesky Gryffindors around; so let's help our junior team out and talk about the two teams up there that they'll be playing against next March and April. Jonah's going to have a cuple of tough Seeker duels from what I've seen so far from Lily and Andrea."**

" **That'll be the toughest battle against Slytherin," Peter suggested. "The rest of their players seem to be trying to play like the Falcons, but while they're getting in lots of hits; I don't see any sign that their Chasers are good-enough to claw back from a one-sixty lead – especially if Hugo keeps playing that well."**

" **Just get Katrina to bash his head in during your match against Gryffindor," Gwendolyn suggested to Jonah. "Problem solved."**

" **You want Katrina to put one of our best mates in the hospital wing just to win the game?" Jonah asked; turning around to look up at his sister. "You would've never ordered a hit like that when you were Captain."**

" **I've a new perspective," Gwendolyn shot back. "As far as I'm concerned; bashing in Wizards' heads should be a new sport for every Witch to play all of the time!"**

" **Will you include Dad and me in that new game?" Jonah asked her. "How about our grandfathers, uncles, and all of the male members of our family? Will you have an age limit? Our newest cousin is a bit young yet for having his head bashed in, don't you think?"**

" **I'm a Witch – logic is not required," Gwendolyn retorted. "Keep it up; and I'll be starting today's round with you!"**

" **Shutting up now," Jonah said; choosing that option over telling his sister what he really thought of the way she'd been acting for more than a month now – since Al had apparently sucked all of the love and joy out of her when he walked away and decided that he didn't want to be the kind of Wizard that she'd need him to be to continue on in the drama game that everyone else was playing.**

 **He got that and sometimes wished he could do the same – even though is own problems were nothing compared to the way everyone seemed to need to treat Al lately just to get what they wanted or to somehow feel better about themselves by comparison. As of late, though he hated to admit it; he wasn't sure that even his own sister deserved to have a person as kind and loving as Al for a boyfriend – or even a friend of any sort!**

 **.**

 **All of his good intentions were tested as Al watched the Slytherin guys go after the Witches on the Gryffindor team – including Lily and Roxanne. Derrick Selwyn continued to develop his style along the traditional Slytherin lines – cheat and bash his way to victory. It was challenging to stay happy and positive with all of the nastiness going on above the pitch, but he tried to do that; and there were reasons-enough to be happy. While the Slytherin guys fought and clawed at their opponents; Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne put on a clinic for how to work as a Chaser trio to overcome those attacks. Yes, they took some hard hits; but they also scored a lot of goals too – while Hugo was playing brilliantly in goal for Gryffindor.**

 **In fact, Al could see the parallels to how the Falcons played; and Derrick didn't seem to mind that the score was getting out of hand quickly. That should have been a problem for him, but he was likely oblivious to the fact that Andrea was in a seriously-tough Seeker duel with Lily, and while the Slytherin Beaters tried to bash Lily - and succeeded regularly; they couldn't coordinate that to happen when Andrea might have a chance to catch the snitch. That strategy proved to be stupid – though it took Gryffindor a bit more than three hours of hard play to earn the one-sixty lead. That was the difference in the match too because Lily backed off and didn't try to stop Andrea from doing anything; but Derrick wouldn't give his Seeker the green light to make the snitch catch for the loss.**

 **There was no end in sight for the match when lunch was served outside of the stadium, but even though the two teams agreed to a mutual time-out shortly after that so they could get food and drinks; Al stayed hidden and in his seat for the duration of the match. Resumption of a match after time-outs sometimes led to quick ends to Quidditch matches, but that didn't happen in this case – which proved to be a bit of a problem for Al because he couldn't use his mirror to watch the Harpies-Tornados match when it started. He could listen in to other mirrors that had been gotten out by others to watch the big match too; but that wasn't quite the same as watching the show too.**

 **Fortunately, there was lots to see with the match right in front of him, and while Lily had her team mates switch to defense too so that they could protect themselves better and not totally run up the score on Slytherin, she also had to keep fighting on in her own duel. That was a strange dance because she didn't try to defend against Andrea – but against the Slytherin Beaters and some of the other guys who would take a shot at her if they got the chance to do it. For her part, Andrea had to chase Lily all over the place – with almost all of that effort for no reason at all because it was just Lily's way of wearing her down.**

 **That strategy eventually worked, but it took Lily about two and a half hours to do that from the time of their one-sixty lead – not including the time-out.**

 **Her catch came at the five hour and thirty-six minute mark of the match; and Al was in a great place to watch her catch because she did that no more than thirty feet away from him. As she'd done other times, Lily had flown hard for more than ten minutes; she'd taken a break for long minutes of doing nothing more than watching the Chasers and Keepers battle it out; and then this time, she attacked the moment Roxanne scored the last goal of the match and Andrea was caught going the wrong way and distracted for too long by the goal and Colin's shouted announcement of both the goal and the current score.**

 **Al didn't make any noise; didn't jump to his feet; or do anything else that would have brought attention his way. He did cheer on the inside, though, and as he watched his sister with all of his senses on high; he knew that he was happier by far than she was – and he wished more than anything to see the spark he was used to seeing when she was playing brilliantly and having fun along the way.**

 **He also knew that she blamed that lack of enthusiasm and excitement on him.**

" **Yeah for us," Lily said dully as she met up with her team around the Gryffindor goals and they shared a round of muted, mid-air congratulations. "You all played brilliantly. Now let's land before I fall off my broom."**

" **I'm glad that I'm not the only one feeling that way – or not,' Roxanne said tiredly. "You know what I mean."**

" **Yeah, we do," Hugo agreed. "We're very inconsistent, since we complained about the match being too short last year; and now we wish that this match had been that short. I've got bruises on top of bruises; and don't even want to find out how bad the damage is."**

" **Well, let's all suck it up until we're safely in the locker room," Lily suggested. "Our fans await us – and we need to try and pretend to be good sports with our valiant opponents instead of blasting them – which is what I really want to do right now."**

" **Don't," Kathryn told her firmly. "We're Gryffindor; and that's not the way we're supposed to do things."**

 **Lily laughed derisively. "Tell that to all of the gits on our senior team,' she suggested; and then shook her head. "Let's save that up for another time. I'm just too sore and tired to care about much of anything right now – not even this brilliant win."**

 **Al watched and waited as the stadium began to empty and the meet-and-greet on the pitch went on far-longer than Lily and her team mates would have liked. When he had the opening; he made his way to the Gryffindor locker room; went inside without being seen; and then dropped the invisibility charm and sat down to wait for his sister, cousins, and the rest of the junior team. That took a while, but they did eventually join him there; and then they collectively stopped and stared at him.**

" **What are you doing here?" Lily demanded. "Get lost! This is our team locker room; and you're quite obviously not a team player anymore!"**

" **I'm not," he agreed quietly as he stood and quickly crossed the room to her. He didn't pause and stepped right into a hug. She fought that for just a blink of an eye and then stiffened and her eyes went wide with shock as he hit her with a full-power blast of healing that was overwhelming. She felt as if she'd just woken from the best sleep ever when he was finished; and he stepped back quickly and smiled wryly at her. "I love you, Lily. Congratulations – you were brilliant out there today. Now, before you try to blast me or kick me out; look away, pretend that I'm not here, and let me help your team mates too."**

 **He didn't actually wait for an answer, but Lily pointedly did exactly as he'd asked while he either hugged or made other contact with everyone else for as long as he needed to while healing all of them – if maybe not to quite the same state as for what he'd done with Lily. Roxanne, Kathryn, and Melissa had each returned his hugs; but hadn't attempted to say anything – just those silent thanks. When he was done; he walked out of the locker room as Lily said – "five, four, three, two..."**

 **Rose was heading toward the castle with Gwendolyn and a few of their friends. They were most of the way there when she happened to be looking over her shoulder to hear what Cyndia was saying and caught sight of a beautiful falcon taking to flight from around the Gryffindor locker room side of the stadium.**

" **He was there!" she declared; getting everyone's attention.**

" **Who – Al?" Gwendolyn demanded; and then frowned when she looked to see what had Rose's attention and saw the falcon too. "Do you want to go bird hunting?"**

" **He's leaving from the locker rooms," Rose advised her; and smiled grimly when Gwendolyn caught her meaning right away.**

" **He was there – and he waited until they were there to heal them," she deduced.**

" **That's my guess," Rose agreed. She kept her eyes on the bird. "He still seems to have all of his body parts. How badly was Lily hurt for her to let him fly off in one piece?"**

" **I thought that she was just mad – not hurt," Gwendolyn admitted; "but I'd rather spend a month in the hospital wing than have Al come near me with his magic healing touch."**

" **Is that really true?" Rose asked; and Gwendolyn glared at her.**

" **You'd better believe it!" she insisted. "In fact, I'm going to guess that Lily will be mad at him once she comes to her senses again, and if she were me right now; she'd do this!" With that, she drew her want; and fired off a curse at Al. They all watched as it seemed to hit him full on with a brilliant flash of light. Feathers went flying everywhere; and he plummeted toward the ground.**

" **Gwendolyn!" Rose exclaimed; drawing her own wand; but then gaped as they all watched Al spread his wings again at the last monent; practically brush the ground with his talons; and then soar back into the air and fly off with a parting, acrobatic flare that was breathtaking to watch!**

" **See – nothing to worry about," Gwendolyn declared with a derisive snort. "He's likely already healed – if that even hurt him at all in the first place!" Rose stared at her in consternation; and Gwendolyn just laughed. "You've talked about hunting him down and blasting him all day, Rose! If you didn't find that fun too; then don't bother going out on that Animorphloser hunt with Lily and whomever else goes with her; since I'm sure they'll be trying to do much worse than that to him!"**

 **Al went straight to the Room of Requirements from the stadium; and was still smiling – though he expected that most people would think he was nuts to be amused by Gwendolyn's attempt to blast him while in Falcon form. She'd surely be furious with him if she found out that he'd just pretended to be knocked out of the sky by her attack, but he thought that had been fun and at least a bit funny; and he'd enjoyed the play time while recovering from that dive and then flying away – even if it had hurt more than a little to know that Gwendolyn had really hoped that he'd crash to the ground and really get hurt.**

 **That wasn't very nice, but you had to give her points for accuracy hitting a flying, moving target, though, right?**

 **Jokes didn't really help him to deal with all of the anger that Gwendolyn was still directing at him even now, and while it wasn't the same as it had been for him while dealing with all of the dark emotions and cheap shots he had to sense and watch from the Slytherin players during the match; the combination of all of the anger and darkness added up and was tough to deal with for so many long, draining hours. His new goals weren't just meant for the good times, though, so he got his portable mirror out; tuned into the Harpies' match in progress; and immersed himself in that dose of Quidditch fun while quietly working to mentally get back to the happy place he wanted to strive for having all of the time.**

 **Lily frowned as James sauntered over; flopped down onto the chair next to her that Hugo had recently vacated while going to get them drink refills and a snack; and threw an arm casually around her shoulder and pulled her into a half-hug before leaving his arm draped around her shoulders.**

" **How are the Tornados doing today? Kicking some Harpies butts, I hope!"**

" **Better than your Catapults did against us; but we have a small lead," Lily answered shortly.**

" **They'd have won had I been playing in that match," James declared. "I'm okay with the problems the Catapults are having without me. It'll make them appreciate me even more when I can play for them again over the holidays." He laughed at that. "Maybe I'll even come home for Christmas if the Animorphhermit stays here wherever he's hiding and licking his wounds."**

" **He won't stay here," Lily assured him. "There's no way he'd miss out on our nieces' first Christmas."**

 **James laughed. "Finally – you admit that the Animorphlitter is his!"**

 **Lily elbowed him – hard!**

" **Ow!" he exclaimed. "Don't take your being mad at the loser out on me!"**

" **I'm not mad at him – I'm furious!" Lily hissed; "but that doesn't mean I pick you instead! Right now, I hate the both of you! For this particular moment, and in your case; it's mostly because you were passed out and too drunk or hung over to bother to come to my first Hogwarts Quidditch match as team Captain; you come over here and pretend to be all buddy-buddy while heaping crap on me after I got pounded all day to get that win for our House; and then you deny the truth about Jaimie and Lorie while idiotically implying that I'd even for a second go along with your lies about them! In Al's case, while I'm hating on him for a lot of things too, he gave me a brilliant good luck gift that I hate because it was so bloody thoughtful and kind; I now know that he was there for my match today; and then, to top it all off – he was wating for us in the locker room and healed the lot of us just because he knew that we needed the help – and despite how horrid I've been to him!" She'd hissed all of that out in a whisper that only James would hear; stood up; and leaned over and put her head next to his – her mouth to his ear. "Stay away from me James. I hate Al right now for being so nice that he's decided to say the hell with the rest of us while still going around and doing his best by us – including you. I hate you because you're an egotistical, selfish git who doesn't give a damn about anyone; and you'll do anything, no matter how horrid or regardless of who you destroy along the way, to take what you want."**

" **Even when you're mad at the loser; you still believe the lies," James retorted. "I beat him this time; and that's the simple truth."**

 **Lily laughed. "Did you? Congratulations!"**

 **With that; she walked away from him and the celebration in progress; left the common room; and went outside to find somewhere by the lake where she could stew in silence.**

 **Al didn't venture out from the Room of Requirements for the rest of the day. He studied; worked on some toys and other projects; and kept his mirror close while he worked and played so that he could keep an eye on the Harpies' match. He had another dinner for one that was, admittedly, geting boring due to lack of food variety now that his fresh food supply had run out, but he still preferred the quiet to the mental noise that bombarded him during meals in the Great Hall – even as he did miss spending that time with Rose and their Gryffindor friends. The Quidditch entertainment continued to be great through until Gabrielle won the match for the Harpies at the six-hour, twenty-four minute mark to earn the brilliant, hard-fought, five-twenty to three-twenty win.**

 **After that many hours of Quidditch, Al decided to switch to music for a while. Playing guitar helped to keep him feeling happy even though music wasn't as much fun for him without Gwendolyn, but that didn't keep him from enjoying himself – and he worked on two new songs before he was ready to move on to a bit of magic play time that kept him busy until it was time to head for his dorm room and bed ahead of curfew.**

 **Gwendolyn entered the Ravenclaw common room with Toni and Renee; frowned darkly when she spotted Michael waiting for Toni with a rose in his hands; and then saw the gang of Witches around the notice board while Toni passed her and hurried over to meet up with Michael.**

" **Great – a Halloween dance!" she groused. "Just what I need on top of everything else!"**

" **Maybe it's exactly what you need," Renee suggested with a bright smile. "I'm certainly looking forward to breaking a few hearts – unless a particularly-hot Wizard asks me out sooner instead of later!"**

" **You can have them all," Gwendolyn told her; sounding disgusted. "I'll skip the stupid dance and go have a soak in the Prefect baths for the night."**

" **You wish," Renee said with a laugh. "Prefects have to work school dances. You'll have to do patrols or something else; so you should get a date; make the best of it; and try to have a bit of fun for a change!"**

" **If I wanted to have some fun, I'd go track down my ex-boyfriend and blast him again!" Gwendolyn declared darkly.**

 **They had continued through the common room without waiting for Toni and Michael; so it was only a minute later when they reached the hallway and found Al waiting there; holding a small gift and smiling brilliantly the moment he saw Gwendolyn.**

" **Well, that's convenient," Renee deadpanned. "Now's your big chance!"**

" **What do you want?" Gwendolyn demanded angrily as she stalked up to Al and glared at him.**

" **I just heard that there's to be a Halloween dance the Saturday night before Halloween," he said easily. "I know we haven't met before, but I think that you're the most amazing Witch I've ever seen in my life; and was hoping that you'd go to the dance with me."**

" **Did you get hit in the head with a bludger?" she demanded; and then sneered at him. "Oh wait – you couldn't have; since you quit on your team, your House, your friends – and me! That must mean that you've just lost your mind!"**

 **Al laughed easily; and that just made her even angrier. "I'm introducing you to the new me," he explained; holding out the gift to her. "Would you go to the Halloween dance with me, Gwendolyn McCormack?"**

" **Not if you were the last Wizard on this stinking, rotten planet!" she answered; batting the gift away and ignoring it as it hit the wall and dropped to the floor. "I hate you, Al. We were all set to have a brilliant school year, and the minute we got here; you threw it all away – threw us away!" She was shaking with anger now as she drew her wand and blasted him point blank. He hit the same wall the gift had; but didn't cry out; and landed gracefully on his feet.**

" **I guess that's a no," he decided; his smile wry now as he continued to focus his attention on her. "I love you, Gwendolyn – forever." He said that quietly-enough that only Gwendolyn and Renee heard him; though their confrontation and her attack was drawing way too much attention. "Have a good day – I'll leave you to get back to it."**

 **He turned and walked away from the normal direction to the Great Hall; went Animorphmagus; and didn't stop or seem to react as Gwendolyn appeared to hit him with two more spells that she'd been sure would hurt him in any form.**

" **You can stop now," Renee told her. "I'm fairly-sure he gets the point." Looking down, she stepped over to the wall; picked up the gift; and held it out to her.**

" **I don't want that stupid bribe!" Gwendolyn spat venomously.**

" **Can I have it then?" Renee asked; and Gwendolyn glared daggers at her that Renee ignored.**

" **Keep it, burn it, throw it away – I don't care!" Gwendolyn insisted; but then she didn't storm off when she saw Renee simply go ahead and start unwrapping it. The eyes of both Witches widened when Renee opened the little jewelry box and saw the small ring with a pair of exquisite blue and emerald stones that were a match for her eyes and his sparkling up at them in the morning sunlight from the windows.**

" **Holy sh...molly!" Renee gasped; and had to force herself to look away from the ring and into Gwendolyn's eyes. She held the ring box out to her again. "Thanks – and I really mean that; but I can't keep a gift this great."**

" **Then throw it out," Gwendolyn ordered darkly; refusing to take the box from her friend. They were both startled when Toni reached in and took it instead. Then she grabbed Gwendolyn's arm and tugged on it.**

" **Come with me," she ordered. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall," she told Michael when he moved to go with her. "Gwendolyn and I need to have a little talk first before we go there."**

" **There's nothing to talk about," Gwendolyn spat; but found that she had to go along because Toni didn't give her a choice – and was strong-enough to do that short of Gwendolyn getting into a physical fight with her.**

" **Shut it!" Toni whispered quietly. "We'll talk once we're alone!"**

 **Gwendolyn was tempted to lash out, but Toni was acting so far out of her norm that she went along if for no other reason than that she'd be able to blast her friend once they were alone – if needed. Toni led her into a nearby classroom; closed the door behind them; and then used her wand to seal the room before turning to face Gwendolyn.**

" **You, my friend, are a colossal idiot!" she said loudly and angrily. "I've really only gotten to know you since we started here at Hogwarts together – though we had met before through Al's parents at a couple of parties they'd had for both Auror and Harpies' friends, so I only have these last four years to go on, but over the last month; I've come to wonder if I knew you at all!"**

" **What's that supposed to mean?" Gwendolyn demanded.**

" **Can't you figure that out for yourself?" Toni countered. "In our first four years, you were happy, kind to everyone around you, and only got mad if someone wronged you or someone you cared about. In the last month, to be blunt; you've been a Witch with a capital 'B' to everyone. So what I have to ask myself now is if this is the real you – what you're truly like as a person without having all of that love from Al to soften the true, inner you? Is this who you are, Gwendolyn? You're supposed to be one of the best Ravenclaw students – a Prefect, House Quidditch player, and role model for the rest of us to be proud of and the kind of person we should all want to aspire to be like! Instead, you've become a Prefect that nobody wants to go to for help; you've taken hundreds of points away from students all over the castle for the dumbest of reasons; and I'll wager that you haven't awarded a single point for any good deeds because you don't see any good around you at all!"**

" **If you want to file a complaint..." Gwendolyn began to retort; but Toni cut her off with an angry wave of her hand.**

" **I'm not done!" she declared hotly. "While you've been going around treating everyone as horridly as you possibly can and pushing everyone away; some of us actually pay attention and see what's going on around us! Do you know what I've seen and heard of from Al?"**

" **No," Gwendolyn had time to snap before Toni continued anyway.**

" **I've seen and heard enough to guess that he's been going around the castle helping out with everything from keeping kids from being bullied to tutoring firsties having trouble getting started with learning magic and more! I heard of one kid getting an anonymous gift of a mirror and RevisionWizard that was just there on his bed one morning – and that's just one example of gifts that have just been showing up for kids in need."**

" **Big deal – so he's going around helping a few kids," Gwendolyn shot back. "He could have done that as a Prefect – and just threw that away!"**

" **You mean the way you've been helping everyone?" Toni countered. "Do you think that he'd have liked going around punishing other teens and tweens for breaking rules? Dressing them down in front of their friends so that they'd be ridiculed and laughed at? Face it, Gwendolyn – you've been a horror of a Prefect so far! Actually, you've just flat-out been a horror in general. Is that who you want to be?" She opened the ring box and held it out to her. "This ring obviously isn't from a store in Hogsmeade," she observed. "That means he bought it for you before we came back to school. Even after the awful way you've treated him over the past month – including just now; he still wants to offer you his heart forever!"**

" **What about the way he's treated me?" Gwendolyn demanded furiously. "We had it all goiing for us – and he threw it away without even talking about it with me!"**

" **He hasn't handled any of this very well with you; but you haven't tried to work things out with him either. You really did have it all too, Gwendolyn," Toni agreed. "The problem is that you still seem to think that all of the love and happiness isn't what was really special about you and Al – which brings us back around to my main point of this little chat. If you truly do only care about all of the superficial things that Al has never cared about; then you should just admit it to yourself; move on; and if this is the real you – go out and find some like-minded friends and a boyfriend that cares as much about those things as you do. I hear that James Potter would be interested in hooking up with you – and if you really want to hurt Al for having the audacity to mess up your brilliant vision of what your life with him was supposed to be like; then that'd be the way to do it!"**

" **Maybe I'll do just that!" Gwendolyn declared. "I've heard there's to be a Halloween dance I could invite him to be my date for it!" she added in dark mimmick of Al's invitation. "Are we done here? I've a breakfast to get to; studying; and a make-up Quidditch practice after that to do before I'll have any time at all to go around the castle making sure that everyone is following the rules and staying out of trouble!" Toni shook her head sadly. She tried to give Gwendolyn the ring and box, but she refused; so Toni put it on the nearest work table – leaving the lid open so the blue sapphire and emerald still sparkled out at them.**

" **If you follow through on that date threat, you're even more the fool than I expected," she told Gwendolyn solemnly. "Then again, if this is the kind of Witch you truly are; then you and James will be perfect together – and he'll have been right about that all along!"**

" **Get out of here before i blast you next," Gwendolyn snarled.**

" **Now you sound exactly like James every time we've seen him turn on his friends – usually for daring to stand up to him or try telling the truth."**

" **Yeah, well I've been learning to understand lately how he feels to have his friends stab him in the back," Gwendolyn retorted. "Good on you, Toni – well done!"**

" **No – not good on me," Toni disagreed. "If it was, you'd be on the way back to being the Witch and friend that I've come to know and love over the past four years instead of the one you've become lately – a person I don't want to have as a friend at all." She sighed unhappily. "I'll let Rose know that Michael and I won't be joining our study group anymore – at least for now. It just isn't fun anymore."**

" **So you're going to quit on me too? Like the Animorphcoward? Like Susannah? You all make me sick! go on – get out of here! I'm sure you'll all be very happy together!"**

" **Michael and I will study with some other friends," Toni advised her. "Susannah's already told me that Al wouldn't let her study or hang out with him – not that it kept you from starting those nasty rumors about them. We're also not quitting. We're just following Al's lead – and choose to be happy and put love and fun back into our lives." She shook her head again. "This is so dumb! Make your choice too, Gwendolyn, but if you don't choose love; don't be like James and decide that you need to destroy Al to prove whatever you think that you need to prove before you can get on with your own life! Nobody deserves to be treated like that; and that's especially-true for the people that love us most – the way that Al loves you."**

" **Hexing you in five... four..." Gwendolyn threatened; and glared angrily as Toni shook her head again; dropped the wards she'd put up; and walked away from her friend – just as Al and Susannah had already done before her! "And good riddance!" she declared to the empty room.**

 **The sparkling ring caught her eye and she turned her glare on it next. She pointed her wand at it and snarled out – "Revulsio!" and then watched in satisfaction as the box and ring were blasted across the room and hit the wall hard before once again falling to the floor. That felt good; so she levitated it and floated it back to the same work table to do it again – until she saw that she'd already all but destroyed the box. Instead of blasting it again; she walked over and looked down at it. The ring was still there and didn't look the worse for wear, but instead of blasting it again; she picked the broken mess up; shoved it into a pocket; and stormed out of the room. She headed straight for the Great Hall; stalked straight up along the Gryffindor table; and stopped in front of James. He turned and smiled as he looked up at her – and did that immediately because she'd gotten the attention of everyone around them.**

" **Good morning, Gwendolyn. To what do I owe this honor?"**

" **I've heard there's to be a Halloween dance," she told him. "Do you want to go to it with me?"**

" **Absolutely!" James assured her enthusiastically.**

" **You've already asked me to the dance!" Patricia told him indignantly.**

" **Sorry, but I've just gotten a better offer," James told her with no hint of apology.**

" **Don't feel bad," Gwendolyn told Patricia. "He's just the perfect revenge date to me – you can have him back when I'm done with him."**

" **I'm okay with that," James assured her with a grin – "though I expect that you won't be able to resist coming back for more – again and again and again!"**

 **Gwendolyn waved him off dismissively. "Try those sorts of lines on the Witches gullible-enough to believe you. I've gotta go now. We'll talk later about that date."**

" **Anytime; any place," James assured her; his grin now vicious and victorious as he watched her walk away – and appreciated the view. She really was hot – now that she was about to be his while they crushed the loser's pathetic little heart!**

 **Gwendolyn continued along the table to where Lily was sitting; pulled the broken up ring box out of her pocket; and dropped it so that Lily had to react quickly to catch it.**

" **Tell the Animorphcoward that I've decided to go to the Halloween dance with a real Wizard instead of the Hogwarts' Hermit!" she spat.**

" **What's this?" Lily demanded; and then sucked in a breath when she caught sight of the ring in what was left of the box.**

" **A bribe," Gwendolyn snarled. "You can tell him I can't be bought either! See you around, Lily. Feel free to hex him once or twice more for me – he ran off before I could finish blasting him this morning."**

 **With that said; she walked away – leaving a stunned group of Gryffindors behind her. She went over to the Ravenclaw table; sat down next to Renee; and began to fill her plate.**

" **What's going on?" Renee whispered. "If I didn't know better; I'd say that you just asked James Potter to the dance!"**

" **That's exactly what I did," Gwendolyn agreed- and nodded across the table to Toni. "Thanks for the brilliant idea! If everyone thinks that I'm just like James now – I may as well find out if I have been hung up on the wrong brother all along!" She looked on unsympathetically when Toni began to cry. "Those must be tears of joy," she offered maliciously. "I really want to thank you for making everything seem so clear to me now!"**

 **She laughed derisively when Toni got up and ran off – and Michael followed as soon as he could grab their bags.**

" **Don't go!" she called out. "The fun is just getting started!"**

" **What was that all about?" Kathryn demanded of Lily. "What did she give you?"**

" **Did she just tell us that she's going to the dance with James?" Milissa added.**

" **Yes, she did," Lily answered; still stunned – "and she wants me to return this to Al." She held up the ring for emphasis; and both of her friends gasped and stared at it with wide, astonished-looking eyes.**

" **That's a promise ring!" Kathryn breathed. "It must be!"**

" **I'd say so," Lily agreed. "And I'm supposed to take it back to Al and tell him that she doesn't want it – and is going to go out with James to prove it!"**

" **Merlin!" Kathryn whispered.**

" **Yeah – what she said," Melissa agreed.**

 **The rumors about Gwendolyn raced around the Great Hall – in part because neither she or James were shy about admitting that the rumors were true – along with a fair bit of embellishment on both sides. Rose, Ray, and Cyndia talked about it with their friends while having breakfast; they met up with Lily and her friends after they finished eating; and went on to their usual study classroom to talk about it.**

" **Who wants to start?" Lily asked.**

" **More like – where do we start?" Rose countered. "With Al being idiot-enough to think that Gwendolyn would just forgive all if he walked up to her as if nothing had happened over the past month and asked er do the Halloween dance?"**

" **Don't forget that he came bearing a rather impressive peace offering," Kathryn pointed out.**

" **You mean the bribe," Lily countered. "I think that I'm on the other side of the fence with Gwendolyn on that one."**

" **So if that was you and Jonah; you'd throw away the ring – and him; and then go hook up with whichever Wizard would hurt Jonah the most?" Melissa asked her. "Have you all lost your minds?"**

" **Apparently," Rose agreed – "and now Gwendolyn may have gone too far for any of us to come back from!"**

" **I haven't even come close to going too far," Gwendolyn told her as she walked into the room. "In fact; I haven't even gotten anywhere with James – yet. Having fun talking about me behind my back?"**

" **No, but we'll be happy to talk with you about this to your face," Lily told her bluntly. "What are you trying to do, Gwendolyn? Make Al jealous? Get him to come running out of the Room of Requirements and have a duel with James over you?"**

" **That'd be a good start," Gwendolyn agreed candidly. "Do you think that this will finally get his attention?"**

" **You've never lost his attention!" Lily told her seriously. "You know that I'm furious with him too; but this isn't going to work! What were you thinking? Al will never, ever tear James – or anyone else – down to keep you – no matter how much either of you want to hate him for being that compassionate and caring of everyone else! You didn't think this through at all, did you? Let me guess – you blasted Al; Toni called you an idiot; and you decided that a revenge date was a brilliant way to knock some sense into Al when nothing else we've tried has worked so far!"**

" **You should've said hello if you were there," Gwendolyn said scornfully; but her face had paled and she was trembling with a mix of anger and horror as what Lily told her sank in.**

" **I don't want to make jokes of this!" Lily told her seriously. "You've crossed the line, Gwendolyn! What's worse, is that the more I think about this; he'd let you go as far as you choose to take that revenge dating with James – go all the way; if you know what I mean. He'd forgive anything of you – of any of us!"**

" **I'm not dating him anymore," Gwendolyn retorted; her anger flaring again. "What right would he have to forgive me when I'm doing nothing wrong!"**

" **You're trying to use James to either get Al to fight for you – or to hurt him in the worst sort of way," Rose told her bluntly. "Are you going to stand here and tell us that you don't believe you're doing something wrong?"**

" **Look at you all high and mighty!" Gwendolyn sneered. "Would you still feel that way if i could get James to give you the Keeper job over Louis in every match this season? I'd wager he'd do that for me – just to finish off the Animorphcoward!" She laughed derisively at Rose's reaction. "You're lying to yourself!" she crowed. "You've all gone along with James' plan – and now you dare to call me out for this? Give me a break!"**

" **We've all gone along with James' plan," Lily said quietly; her voice tinged with hurt and regret. "I'm done being played." She took the broken ring box over to Gwendolyn and forced it into her hands. "Don't tell me to do anything with this. You call Al a coward – prove that you're not; and take it back to him yourself. I get it now – finally; and I quit too!"**

 **With that; she walked out of the room without waiting for her friends to join her – though they did follow instead of staying to watch whatever happened next.**

" **Are you going to quit too?" Gwendolyn sneered; turning her attention to Rose. "Go ahead – and while you're at it; quit your Quidditch team and being a Prefect while you're at it!"**

" **I honestly don't know what to do," Rose admitted candidly. "Lily's right – we are all being played – and have been going right along with it while putting all of the blame on Al and none of it on ourselves! On the other hand, I want some of those things that Al's walked away from now – things that I am willing to fight for!"**

" **No matter the cost?" Cyndia asked. She looked up at Ray. "If James starts playing you against me, and gives you a chance to play on the team at my expense; could you go along with it? Would you hook up with Lacey for a revenge date if things didn't work out with me? Could you actually go from loving me to hating me that much?" She turned her attention to Gwendolyn. "I'm sorry, but I can't help but be disgusted at even the idea of doing that – and I could never hate Ray enough to hook up with Ollie." She sighed. "I guess I'm with Lily; don't want to be like this; and quit too." She returned her attention to Ray. "I'll be okay with whatever you decide to do about all of this; but I'm done with being played too. I want to go back to having fun again – and we aren't having fun with any of this."**

" **I'm with you," Ray told her; and then looked from Rose to Gwendolyn and back again. "I pick both of you too," he advised them. "Let's figure out a way to work this out. Cyndia and I will be happy to help you come up with a new game to play – one that doesn't tear us apart the way this one is doing."**

 **He took Cyndia's offered hand; and walked with her out of the room too; leaving Rose and Gwendolyn alone to face off against – or with – each other.**

" **And then there were two," Gwendolyn said scornfully.**

" **Funny you should put it that way," Rose offered with a wry grimace. "I really need to thank you – though I'm not happy about that."**

" **I'm sure that makes sense to you," Gwendolyn retorted; and Rose nodded.**

" **It does. Thanks to you; I've a brand-new reason to be mad at Al – for proving to me that I really don't like who I am without my favorite cousin in my life." She held up a hand when Gwendolyn was about to offer another retort. "This isn't about you,' she continued. "You can choose to move on from here however you want – with Al; with James; or any other way you want to go. I hope we can stay friends. I love you a lot, Gwendolyn. I also really do need to make some other choices too, but one of them is easy – I'm going to track Al down and ask him to forgive me for being such a total rotter to him over the past month." This time, she smiled ruefully at Gwendolyn. "After that; I'll likely have to take a stand and try to stop you from blasting him anymore. Would you like to return that ring and have one more chance to do that before that'll be a new problem for us?"**

 **Gwendolyn ground her teeth as she reached the hallway in front of the Room of Requirements and the door appeared just in time and opened up for her. She kicked it open the rest of the way; and was disappointed when she saw that Al wasn't standing on the other side. Instead; he was on one of his sofas; playing with one of his Animorphmagus toys; and looking as if he hadn't a care in the world! He smiled at her as she walked in and then slammed the door as loudly as she could with an angry wave of her wand.**

" **You knew I was coming?" she spat derisively. "Of course you did! You know all!"**

" **I got the foresight heads up a few moments ago," he agreed; "but I don't know all. If I did; I might have left the door closed."**

" **What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded; feeling a strong sense of déjà vu as she felt as though she'd been asking that question a lot all morning.**

" **I hadn't heard the hottest gossip of the morning before you walked in," he explained.**

 **Gwendolyn snorted. "You likely knew before I asked James to go to the dance with me," she retorted; and then tossed the ring and busted up box at him. She was annoyed when he caught it deftly instead of letting it hit him in the head – and her aim had been so good too!**

" **I didn't," he disagreed; and annoyed her even further by silently repairing the ring box without looking as though he'd even thought about it while making it happen. "Do you notice anything different about this room?"**

" **It's the most boring one I've been in so far," she offered scornfully; and frowned when Al laughed.**

" **That's actually true," he advised her seriously. "The Room of Requirements gave this room to me when I needed it most last month. It blocks out everything that I normally sense about how everyone around me is feeling or thinking. It's the one place I can come to actually find any peace from all of the mental noise I have to deal with the rest of the time."**

" **Good for you!" Gwendolyn told him. "I'm so happy that your response to finding out that I'm going to go on a date with your brother is to tell me about your special quiet place!"**

" **Maybe that's exactly the reaction I should have," Al suggested. "You've known for years now that I sense a lot more around me than anyone else does, but I haven't told you everything, Gwendolyn. I've had reasons for that; but let me try to explain why this room has become so important to me."**

" **Why should I care?" Gwendolyn countered.**

" **Because maybe it'll help you to at least understandwhy I've needed to walk away from the things that don't matter to me – and why I won't even fight for you." He sighed at what he sensed from her. "I sense everything around me, Gwendolyn – not just nearby anymore – for miles around me. Every emotion, every 'loud' thought – everything! Now, we all have dark emotions and thoughts – that's normal. For some of us; those are small things – moments of darkness in an otherwise bright, happy life. For others; darkness is just the way they are – the way they choose to live their lives. Now, imagine that you could sense all of that darkness all of the time – day and night!" He paused for a moment as all of that began to sink in for her.**

" **The Room of Requirements didn't just give me this room when I needed it most – it gave it to me when I was ready to understand what it would mean for me! I needed to change before it was too late!"**

" **Change from what?" Gwendolyn demanded. "You were already the kindest, most-loving Wizard I know! You're brilliant; you could be a great Quidditch player – even with the Cannons; and it doesn't hurt that you're reasonably-hot. You earned those Captain and Prefect badges; and should have stood up for yourself!"**

" **I could have done that," Al agreed candidly – "but at what cost? The last time I tried to get James to leave us alone I ate him and then puked him up again. Where do I go from there? How far should I go? How far to too much? I'm not afraid for him – or anyone else I might have needed to fight, Gwendolyn. I'm afraid of what I could become something even-worse than Voldemort!"**

" **That's ridiculous!" Gwendolyn retorted. "If you're just trying to get me to stroke your ego; then I'll have no part of it!"**

" **That isn't what I want; and I'm not trying to sound ridiculous either," Al disagreed. "I've been very busy over the past month, but the one thing I'm working on all of the time is trying to fill my spirit up with nothing but happiness, joy, and love. I've come to think of it as a shield against all of the dark emotions I feel around me whenever I'm not in this room." He stood up; carried the toy he'd been working on over to the worktable where his book bag and other things were spread out across the surface of it; and set it down before turning to face her again. "I need to do all of that because I can see what I could become if I did stand up for myself the way you want me to do against James and Ollie – or anyone else that wrongs me."**

" **Blasting you yesterday and this morning has been a waste of time," Gwendolyn declared angrily. "You're spending all of your time having happy thoughts in your Hogwarts hermit hideaway; and still refuse to care a whit for the rest of us – or even try to spend a little time fighting for me – for us!**

 **Al closed the gap between them until they were within inches of each other; and smiled wistfully. "I won't fight for you," he confirmed. "My new plan was to love you back into my life."**

" **By bribing me?" she demanded; waving a hand at the ring he still held. "What the hell were you thinking with that idiotic stunt?"**

" **Originally, I was going to give that to you for our fourth anniversary. I was hoping for another Christmas dance so that I could give it to you when I asked you out on that date – or on the night of that dance. When I found out that there was to be another Halloween dance; I sensed that I was supposed to ask you out and give you a chance to get to know the Wizard I'm trying to become now – and I truly am changing in ways that I hope are for the better, Gwendolyn."**

" **As long as I give up everything that's important to me so that I can be your sidekick again," Gwendolyn retorted – "your happy little potty-trainer!"**

" **I've never asked you to give up on anything that's important to you – not ever," he countered. "I also won't do anything about what everyone else wants to think about me – or us." He smiled again. "I really can't promise you anything other than that I am going to love you forever."**

" **Right – and how exactly did you plan on loving me back into your life?" she asked; and Al laughed.**

" **I am so glad that you asked!" he answered before reaching out; pulling her close; and kissing her.**

 **Al threw himself into that non-verbal answer; let go of everything else; and snogged both of them senseless as if it was his last chance to do that – just in case that's exactly what it was! They'd eventually ended up on the sofa; and when they came up for air; he realized that they'd managed to lose track of more than a half-hour while sharing those moments of love and happiness.**

" **Well, that was quite an interesting part of your new plan," Gwendolyn offered breathlessly.**

" **Please go to the Halloween dance with me instead of James," Al asked with heart-breaking sincerity. "Whatever you decide, I'm going to continue to do what I must to be the kind of Wizard I need to be; but I will never, ever be the Wizard I'm meant to be without you."**

" **I'll think about it," Gwendolyn told him; and then frowned when she caught him tucking the ring into one of her pockets. "That wasn't a yes," she advised him; and he smiled and nodded.**

" **I know," he assured her. "If you decide to give me another chance, then keep it; and I'll know you accept the promise I'm offering you if you choose to wear it."**

" **And if I don't?" she half-demanded.**

" **Then keep it and use it for something to blast whenever you get mad at me. I made it unbreakable; so it'll work great for that – and hopefully save me from any future urges you have to hex or curse me."**

 **Al had felt better by the time that Gwendolyn had needed to leave him and get to her Quidditch practice. Life did not just go back to normal for him because of that chat and brilliant bit of snogging; but then he didn't want his life to go back to the way it had been a month ago. While Gwendolyn was busy with everything she already had on the go for the rest of the day; he moved on with the work and studying that he wanted to do – while staying far away from the drama that he was sure would come from everything that had happened – though he could still only hope that everything would work out for what was best for everyone.**

 **James was not happy as he headed to the Great Hall for lunch. His morning had begun brilliantly when Gwendolyn had finally come to him and asked him out – though maybe, in hindsight, he should've made her beg for a week or two instead of just agreing to go out with her so quickly! Patricia had made a big scene – though she'd at least waited to get him alone before blasting him and then storming off. He hadn't cared about that – she'd be back for more of him, as always; and he really was now on the verge of totally destroying the loser!**

 **No, what had turned his morning from brilliant to crap was that Lily had met up with him in the common room and blasted him in front of everyone. Then Ray and Cyndia had been next – and quit the team; so now he wouldn't be able to string them along all season the way he and Ollie had planned. They hadn't tried to blast or blame him for anything – they'd just told everyone that it wasn't any fun playing on his team. Finally, Rose had just finished talking to him less than twenty minutes ago – and she'd quit the team too without even complaining about not having any fun or any other explanation. She just didn't want to play on his team.**

 **Well, good riddance to them! Coddling them all season would've just ended up being more trouble than it was worth anyway!**

" **James?"**

 **He turned and smiled wolfishly at Gwendolyn while Ollie elbowed him in the ribs and snickered.**

" **Hey – couldn't wait to see me again?" he asked; and laughed when Ollie snickered again.**

" **Not exactly," she answered seriously; her voice low so that only James and Ollie could hear her. "I wanted to talk to you before lunch – to tell you that I've changed my mind. I don't want to go to the Halloween dance with you. I'm sorry, James. I was furious with Al this morning; and thought that I could use you to get through to him – or get revenge if that didn't work to get him to stand up and fight for me."**

" **And I don't have a problem with that," James assured her. "We can make that happen for you right now – no need to wait for Halloween!"**

" **That isn't going to happen," she advised him. "I won't be going to the dance with you either – or doing anything else with you. This is my fault, and I'm especially-sorry if this has messed things up for you with Patricia; but I was wrong – and don't want to be that kind of person."**

" **So you're going back to the Animorphloser?" he demanded derisively. "Is he on his way here to fight me for you?"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed; and her smile was genuine this time. "I haven't decided what to do about Al yet. He assured me that he wouldn't fight for me, but he also told me about his new plan to love me back into his life; and I'm considering giving him another chance."**

" **I'd be happy to love you in ways you can't even likely dream of yet – without any of the loser strings attached – not to mention in ways that he likely couldn't figure out how to do even if he had a library full of books on the subject," James offered. "Come on – take a ride on the James Potter Express! I'm on my way up to the top; while the loser is just going to be Cannon fodder!"**

" **No, James," Gwendolyn told him bluntly. "I've apologized – twice now. We're done here."**

" **You think so?" James demanded; his tone turning low and dangerously-angry as he grabbed onto Gwendolyn's arm hard-enough to keep her from walking away. "We're done when I say..." He yanked his hand back as if burned – because he had been! Gwendolyn's eyes were wide too; and then she laughed as she quickly stepped out of his reach.**

" **Well, what do you know?" she said as she held up her still-glowing charm bracelet. "Al might not be willing to fight to win me from you; but it seems he's always been ready to fight you to protect me – as if I've ever had a doubt about that. Thanks, James. I still have some thinking to do; but you've definitely helped me out with that a lot today!" She lost the smile and glared at Ollie when he took a step toward her. "Don't do it," she warned. "I'll cut James some slack because he has reason to be mad at me right now. That doesn't give you a free pass to attack me – and I'll remind you that I am a Prefect!"**

" **A Prefect B-Witch," James spat. "Leave her be," he told Ollie. "You're on probation and can't afford to get into any trouble." He sneered at Gwendolyn. "If you'd rather end up six-feet under with the loser once we're done burying him; I'll be happy to help you out with that – and picking him over me yet again is definitely your loss!"**

 **Rose and Lily tracked Al down after lunch – while he was on the way from the Room of Requirements to the library to do some research and help some of the other teens and tweens if he could do that too. He was happy, but still cried a few tears when Lily hugged him for the first time in a month; and he held on to her for a long time before she stepped back and Rose needed to hug him next.**

" **You know how we're feeling; I'm not going to make a big deal of this; and I love you," Lily told him. "I'm still mad at you too; but we'll figure out a way to work this out."**

" **Okay," Al agreed. "Gwendolyn came and talked with me this morning. Do I have you guys to thank for that?"**

" **You're back together?" Lily asked excitedly; and then frowned when Al both smiled and shook his head.**

" **No, but she's thinking about giving me a second chance – so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best."**

" **As any good future Cannons' player should," Lily teased; and then hugged him again. "We did talk, but then Toni had it out with her too after Gwendolyn blasted you and before she asked James out right before breakfast." She stopped and frowned at him. "She told you about that?"**

" **I sensed it when she first came to see me," he admitted.**

" **Is that why she's thinking about giving you a second chance? You got mad about that?"**

 **Al laughed. "No. We had a long talk; I explained that my new plan earlier this morning had been to start trying to love her back into my life; and then I tried to explain the rest of the plan to her in a snogging sort of way – for a half-hour or so." Lily began to laugh and couldn't stop for long moments while Al and Rose grinned at her.**

" **I love you, Al," she finally managed to wheeze out. "I don't know where I thought you were taking that; but it definitely wasn't where you ended up."**

" **Then let's hope it was surprising-enough to convince Gwendolyn that he's worth hanging on to after all," Rose suggested.**

 **Al still went on to the library after spending a bit of time with Rose and Lily; and they moved on too. All of that had been brilliant for him, but he still had his now-normal dinner for one in the Room of Requirements; and then went on to spend the rest of his day either helping others or working in the Room of Requirements. His new normal continued without any changes at all on Monday and Tuesday; with the only addition to his schedule being a birthday mirror chat with Gwenog to wish her a happy fifty-third birthday. He talked with Kirley too, and since neither of them threatened to blast him at Christmas; he took that as a hopeful sign that they thought that he and Gwendolyn would be okay too.**

 **Gwendolyn didn't surprise him when she caught up with him after breakfast on Wednesday – shortly after he got to the greenhouse; made his week by agreeing to go to the Halloween dance with him; and then she sat with him for the rest of the morning. Rose and Ray had eventually joined them, and while they took baby steps with working out how things would be between them too; it was a good start. The rumors, of course, were making the rounds at lunchtime, so his afternoon of DADA with Slytherin had Al ready to retreat to the Room of Requirements for a break from all of the hate – and too many of the Slytherin teens really did hate finding out that things might work out for 'the Royal couple' after all.**

 **Al needed the changes toward spending more time with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends to happen slowly; but there was something new every day through the rest of the week. On Thursday morning; he had his first walk and talk with Rose and Lily – though they'd needed to trackhim down to do that after he'd gone to the Room of Requirements early for his morning workout. He didn't know whether they'd start doing that more often or not, since Rose did often have morning Prefect duties too; but it was another cameo bit of happiness that helped to make his day a bit brighter! Later, after last class; Gwendolyn and Rose wanted to see what he'd been doing in the Room of Requirements without them; so he took them there; talked about his Quidditch workouts and new projects; and he gave them the upgrades that he'd finished so far for RevisionWizard.**

 **They left him alone after that – including while they had dinner in the Great Hall and he continued to do his own thing instead; and so that he could have the break from the mental cacophony for a while and do a few other things too – including eventually leaving the Room of Requirements and working with a group of kids needing help with a lost pet and two teens in study distress. On Friday, he had some company for an after-school Quidditch workout; and Gwendolyn agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him after joining him for his daily mirror chat with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie – a choice that was helped along after finding out that they'd be in Hogsmeade for another visit too. She once again left him on his own for the rest of the night – in part because she had Prefect duties to attend to; but then Al still needed to keep up with everything he wanted to get done every day – including the speedier completion of his weekend assignments. He had to work in his dorm room after curfew for a while to get that done ahead of their second Hogsmeade weekend – and his first outing with Gwendolyn of the school year!**

 **Al couldn't fly to town on Saturday morning, but he did make the trip there as much fun as he could by taking Gwendolyn for a horseback ride from the castle steps to the Three Broomsticks – and they were still among the first to get there. Their arrival was fun too; since his parents and Malorie met them outside; and then Jaimie and Lorie were introduced to Al's stallion version of Sabre. Ginny took pictures; they had a few laughs; and then the babies both seemed to be astonished when they got to watch him change back into Uncle Al. He and Gwendolyn were each given a baby; they went inside the Three Broomsticks; and got started on the visit that again had a time limit of around an hour. Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Susannah joined them when they got to town; they shared the baby time while having drinks and a really awesome visit; and every minute of their time together was better for Al thanks to again having Gwendolyn there to share the love and fun with him. It was still time to say goodbye eventually – and too soon; so Harry took care of their drinks bill and they did their goodbyes in the main dining room because the adults and babies in the group were going to head home using the Floo Network.**

" **Thanks for taking him back," Ginny told Gwendolyn as they shared a long hug – "even if it's only on a trial basis."**

" **Don't thank me yet – I still reserve the right to blast him if he messes up again."**

 **Ginny laughed. "I still reserve the right to do that to Harry; and don't ever plan on giving up that option."**

" **Well, I have a much better appreciation for why the former Head of the Aurors is afraid of getting you mad at him," Al offered seriously; though he smiled at Gwendolyn. "I really, really hope that I've learned my lesson."**

" **You're a Wizard – I wouldn't count on that," Gwendolyn told him as she made way for him to hug his mother next.**

" **I'd say that it wasn't fun blasting him when I couldn't leave a mark on him and he just flew off instead of standing up for himself – but it still was very entertaining," Lily interjected – "and I reserve the right to blast him again if our House doesn't win the Quidditch Cup again this year."**

" **What'll you do if Gwendolyn promises to blast you if her House doesn't win the Quidditch Cup instead?" Rose asked Al with a grin.**

" **Run – no matter who wins," Al suggested. "Thanks for coming to see us again today. Jaimie and Lorie are growing so fast; we might not recognize them by the Christmas holidays if you didn't help us out like this."**

" **They won't change quite that much," Ginny assured him; "but I won't deny that you're missing out on a lot of fun with them."**

 **Their farewell chat wrapped up soon after that, and once the twins had taken their mother and grandparents with them back to Chudley; Al and Jonah were sent off to get started on the boring shopping while the girls went to have some fun. It was different doing that shopping work with Jonah, but they were a lot alike, and Al was sure that as they got older; they'd likely end up being more like brothers should be than he'd ever have happen with James regardless of how much they both might change over the years.**

" **I know that you're serious about not messing up again with Gwendolyn," Jonah told Al once they were on their own, "but I really hope you don't; since I didn't like my sister very much last month." He smiled ruefully. "Dad told me she's just like Mum used to be for that and can keep a hate going on for years – like Mum did with Aunt Wilda when she quit the Harpies to go play for Puddlemere."**

" **We still have things to work out," Al advised him, "but we both learned a lot over this last month; and I think we can do that now that we both understand our differences a lot better than I think we did before the fight." He smiled ruefully. "I certainly get now why Dad has never really been joking when he talks about taking the easy way with Mum in the days right after the War while Uncle ron took the hard way with Aunt Hermione."**

" **Now you're scaring me," Jonah joked; and Al laughed.**

" **You've nothing to worry about – Lily is still only considering you for a potential boyfriend."**

" **Sure – nothing to worry about – unless I mess up and she takes me off that list," Jonah countered. "Then I'll likely end up as the next Hermit of Hogwarts!"**

" **Fair warning – the next person that tells me it's nice to see me looking so happy again is going to get hexed," Gwendolyn only half-joked. "I get it, and I am happier; but I am not having fun finding out that everyone thinks I've been a git over the past month."**

" **You're not the only one getting that," Rose advised her with a smile; and nodded toward Susannah. "I'm really glad that we're getting one of our best friends back again."**

" **You're getting two of your best friends back," Susannah reminded her. "I hope you won't get offended; but we need to take care of your other friend better than we did." She lowered her voice for that comment; and kept it at a near-whisper. "From some of the things you've told me, I don't think any of us truly realized just how tough having all of those extra-sensory abilities is on Al – though maybe we should have known; considering how gentle we all know he is. I don't know how I'd handle things if I could sense every dark emotion and hear every nasty thought all of the time, every day without ever getting a break."**

" **Well, he can get a break from it now," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Maybe he'll even be able to figure out how the, um, it does it; and can make it happen anytime he needs it."**

" **Maybe," Susannah agreed, "but if he can't; then what he is trying to do makes sense – he's basically trying to make a love and happiness shield for himself."**

" **I hope he doesn't get too good at that," Lily declared. "If that gets to be as good as his other shields; he'd likely cover the entire castle with it!"**

 **Susannah laughed. "Yeah, 'cause it'd be terrible to have everyone in the school as happy and full of love as Al wants to be," she deadpanned.**

 **Without a Harpies' match to get back to the castle to watch; Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their families and friends' group were able to stay in Hogsmeade as long as they wanted – until they needed to be back at the castle by late-afternoon when the gates and school protections would be closed again. That's why they shopped longer in the morning; had a late lunch at the Three Broomsticks; and then picked up their sweets and chocolates last before heading back to the school. Staying out later also left them with less time to distribute supplies to their younger cousins and friends, so by the time they had that done; it was time to get to the Great Hall for dinner.**

 **Al went with Rose for that meal, and earned a fair bit of unwanted attention for actually showing up with her to do that, but instead of doing something together with everyone in their study classroom; he only had Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah with him for part of the evening after they ate; and they went to the Room of Requirements so that he'd have the mental quiet that was helping him out so much – while also spending that time just having a long, quiet talk about everything from more details about what he'd been doing while being the temporary school hermit to his shorter and longer term plans for changing his life – and how they could all work that out while everyone else had their own goals that were just as important to them.**

 **Some of the solutions included supporting each other while doing their own things; which for the latter part of Saturday night for all three Witches meant leaving Al in the Room of Requirements and getting on with their Prefect duties. Gwendolyn was still mad at him because they weren't doing a lot of those duties together the way she'd expected they would, but she was starting to truly understand why having that responsibility would have been so hard on him – which also explained why he'd never really been interested in being an Auror – even if he would join up and fight if there was ever the need for it again.**

 **While Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah went out on Prefect patrol or did other jobs for Louis and Deanna; Al spent the rest of his evening playing with his toys and a bit of broom-making experimentation. For that, he was quickly discovering that it was a craft, that like wand-making, took time and dedication to master. Even after a month, he was still just learning the basics; and knew that it would be quite a while before he'd be anywhere-near ready to start magically building his own broom design ideas into any prototypes. He was learning fast, though; and had fun with a craft that was, for the Wizarding World, akin to Muggle craftsmen that built custom, quality things – whether that was a house, vehicle, furniture, electronic device, or anything else that required skill and experience to become a master of the trade.**

 **Self-exploration continued to be a big part of Al's life as he again moved forward with Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and their friends. They all began to repair friendships; Al began to get more involved; and yet he also continued with the new things that mattered to him too – quietly helping others and making everything in his life as happy and full of love as he could. On Sunday, that included helping four of his fellow students with different things ranging from tutoring to fixing a broken wand – something that the kid had been told wasn't possible by her friends; so she hadn't tried to get help while despairing over her sudden inability to do her magic properly anymore. That hadn't been a major feat of magic, since the wand simply hadn't been broken beyond repair; but it had meant a lot to the young Witch; and Al had really felt good about his efforts.**

 **Gwendolyn had been busy all morning with some Prefect duties and her make-up Quidditch practice; but she spent the afternoon with Al – and they were both with their study group for either weekend assignment or project research work that they did in the library. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose wrapped up their afternoon with some Quidditch play time in the Room of Requirements that Susannah went along for to watch; and all three Witches were impressed with the tricks Al had been working on – and helped him to make that part of his day brilliantly-fun too! Dinner in the Great Hall wasn't as much fun for Al, since it meant full-immersion into the emotional mess that came along with a room filled with hundreds of teens and tweens; but then he went on to have a great evening as he and Gwendolyn resumed Sunday family night with Lily and Jonah.**

 **They moved that to the Room of Requirements too so that Al could continue to enjoy the mental peace and quiet; they filled up those hours with music, chats with parents, Malorie, and the twins; and a bit of cuddle time while watching a mirror network show before Gwendolyn needed to do more Prefect patrol work and Al, Lily, and Jonah took care of the visit to the Owlery. They had a bit of bonus fun with Gwendolyn when she just happened to meet up with them at the Ravenclaw tower entrance while Lily was saying goodnight to Jonah; and then escorted Al and Lily back to Gryffindor tower to make sure they didn't get lost and stay out past-curfew. The girls had fun with the goodnight kiss she shared with Al, but he really hoped a lot that she didn't kiss every Wizard she caught out past-curfew like that while dropping him off at his House entrance!**

 **Al's return to more active involvement in the lives of his friends over the next week included attending Denise Creevey's fourteenth birthday party. Lily hosted it in a classroom with help from Colin and some other friends, and while Al and Gwendolyn didn't stay long because they had a lot of homework to do too; it was the simple fact that he did get involved that was important - especially the part where he began to interact more with groups of teens while personally keeping in his happy place regardless of what was going on around him. During the rest of the week, the biggest change in his life was that Rose began doing the Quidditch workouts with him. She wanted him to add in others, but didn't ask him to do that right away; since the extra things he was doing came at the cost of giving up more and more of the quiet, self-improvement time he'd come to enjoy so much during September.**

 **Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends were making compromises too. They had two study sessions in the Room of Requirements with him; gave him space when he needed it most; and changed up the schedules they'd each worked out for themselves – whether that was Ray's times to hang out with Cyndia's friends or changing Prefect duty times for Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah. Holly's fourth birthday on Friday wasn't a big deal for most of them, but Al did make sure to spend some time with Lily's cat and give her a gift; and then he got on with the rest of his day – including his continuing effort to get most or all of his weekend assignments done on Friday night so that he could spend more of his weekend hours having fun.**

 **The middle weekend of five for October wasn't a 'free' weekend, since there was a Harpies-Cannons match to watch, but Al had a lot more freedom than Gwendolyn did because she had a team Quidditch practice and the ongoing Prefect duties that required some of her time every day. She did both all morning on Saturday, so while she was busy with that, Al skipped the study session that Rose and Susannah led; and completed work on his magical wireless earbuds. He only made three sets to start with, and planned on sending two of them to his mother for samples to sell to one of their magical devices companies – likely the same one that was already making Mirror Messaging for them; so he'd need more time before he could make more to give to Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah. He didn't know whether he'd make many more sets than that, but then he also expected his magical earbuds to be in stores in time for Christmas; since they really were amazing!**

 **After taking the morning for himself, Al spent the afternoon and evening with Gwendolyn – and part of the afternoon with their usual gang of game-watching siblings, cousins, and friends. That didn't end up being all afternoon because the Harpies won their match over the Cannons in a bit under three hours – and Gabrielle caught the snitch to seal the three-eighty to twenty victory about five minutes after Santini was carried off to his bed in St. Mungo's because one of his own team's Beaters messed up and bashed in his head with a bludger. Everyone watching the match was sure that losing all of the extra time with Gabrielle would hurt Santini more than the bludger hit that knocked him out – but not until after he woke up again.**

 **While the rest of the teens in the study classroom stayed and watched the other match of the day still in progress; Al and Gwendolyn spent the rest of the afternoon together in the Room of Requirements – and then did the same for part of the evening until she needed to move on to her scheduled Prefect duties for the rest of the night. Some snogging was involved, but other than that first major snogging moment on the first Sunday in October; they were taking that part of their relationship slowly too – mostly because they both wanted to put more focus on other parts of their relationship – along with seriously working out how they were going to juggle everything they each wanted now so that they could make their relationship work and avoid hitting any future roadblocks that might just mess them up again.**

 **With a week to go until his first match of the season, Jonah had an extra team practice on Sunday morning, but then he and Lily also had a bonus Seeker duel on Sunday afternoon while Al and Gwendolyn had a Chaser duel against Ray and Cyndia with Hugo on their 'team' and Rose playing in goal for Ray and Cyndia. That had been the entertainment highlight for Al, but he'd also spent time studying in the morning and helping some teens and tweens along the way; and the Sunday night family night was a near-repeat of the one they'd had a week ago – including the group mirror chat with Malorie and the twins that might become a weekly event if they could work that out – and Jaimie and Lorie continued to cooperate and make that mirror chat part of their Sunday night bedtime routine.**

 **In the week leading up to the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff junior team match, Al did a pretty good job juggling everything with only one bit of weird and awkward – Louis' eighteenth birthday. That had more to do with sensing his cousin's own, ongoing guilt – a feeling that was brought back to the fore thanks to the gifts that he was still given from Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Hugo, and Lily – feelings that didn't change the fact that he was also happy to now have a spot on the team now that Rose had quit. While Louis' sense of guilt was real-enough, he managed to justify his own actions – or inaction easily-enough, and compared to his developing new relationship with Deanna; he usually didn't even think about the Quidditch drama at all. They were, by then, a semi-official couple, and since they seemed to be a really good match; Al was happy for them. With everything Louis had on the go, that party wasn't a major event; and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group friends that stopped in to wish Louis the best didn't stay long anyway before moving on to their own evening study session.**

 **The rest of the week through to game day was quiet for Al. He did his own thing a bit more on both days, but had fun with Gwendolyn here and there too – particularly as she rediscovered what she loved most about Astronomy classes with Al – and that wasn't just sneaking a soft kiss or two during the class! While Al didn't study with their group on Friday evening; they were all getting used to the need for those changes; and it was proving to be good for all of them. Sure, Al was the only one getting all of his weekend assignments finished by the end of the night; but it helped the others to learn not to rely quite so much on his eidetic memory and learn to get faster at doing the research instead – particularly research they could do using RevisionWizard. Al still had to do some work from bed to get his weekend assignments finished, but he was still sleeping long-before Ray went to bed for the night after staying up late with Cyndia; and he was awake at the normal time so that he could get through his morning workout and go for a fly around the school grounds before having breakfast in the Great Hall and then meeting up with Gwendolyn ahead of Jonah's big game.**

" **Maybe you'd have been better off hiding somewhere while watching this match," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al when she spotted James and Ollie making their way up into the Gryffindor section of the stadium.**

" **I'm surprised they're here at all," Gwendolyn interjected. "They slept through Lily's entire match – or at least that's what we heard they did. Wasn't there any reason to party last night – or did they just run out of party juice?"**

" **They're here because of me – of us," Al advised her quietly. "I'm only surprised that it's taken this long for James to try and have more of that kind of fun at my expense." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "I guess we'll get to find out how much progress I'm making with the be-happy-at-all-times plan this morning."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Maybe we'll find out how well we're doing with the part of that plan where we each do the things that make us happy and accept and support each other."**

" **Does that mean that Al can't counter anything we do – the way he helped Rita that day you blasted her?" Lily asked with a grin. "I like that a lot if it's one of those new changes!"**

 **Al actually thought about that for a long moment even as he joined in for the round of laughs. "We should seriously talk about that later," he suggested, "but for now; let's tentatively say that I'll agree with that except if there's a risk of you causing permanent harm or life-threatening injuries."**

" **We can work with that," Gwendolyn promised with another laugh. "Maybe you'll even be able to be happy with that – if you're just a spectator instead of a participant in the fight."**

" **I still don't get how Al plans on playing Quidditch in the show if he isn't going to fight anymore," Lily told them seriously.**

" **I'm going to convince Rose to build a team of players that want to have fun and be the best they can be while doing that – and always playing by the rules," Al advised her. I haven't suggested that'll be easy – especially when that'll mean finding ways to have fun even when the players on some of the other teams won't be like that while playing against us."**

" **No wonder I'd rather play for the Harpies," Lily suggested with a grin. "They don't mind if you get mad and turn your opponents into bugs."**

 **There wasn't really a pause in their chat then, but they took that down a few notches and watched as James and Ollie led their entourage up toward and past them – and then they sat three rows behind Rose, Lily, and her team mates and their friends. Al was across the aisle and sitting next to Gwendolyn while she was surrounded by her Ravenclaw team and their friends. James didn't try tearing into Al or Gwendolyn right away – he waited for the rest of his team mates to join him; and for Colin to start his pre-game show.**

" **We can all ignore the midget with the giant's voice," James said while pretending to bellow that out while only actually speaking loudly-enough to be heard by Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone around them too as well as his own group. "The only thing you need to know about today's match is that Gryffindor is currently in first place; and we'll still be there at the end of the season!"**

" **Unless your baby potty-sister messes that up for us," Ollie told him with a sneer he directed at the back of Lily's head.**

" **True-that," James agreed with a nod and laugh. "She did manage to avoid blowing it for us against Slytherin, though; and she should be able to keep from messing up in her other matches too; since the competition is so pathetic in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. My new friends in Slytherin may give us the only competition we'll have all season – and they won't have a chance against us in November!"**

" **True-that too," Ollie mimicked, "but the mouse with the big roar is about to bring out thes pathetic excuses for Quidditch teams; so you should get started on the honest player introductions instead of the load of dung he'll be spewing to make everyone feel happy."**

" **I can do that for you – and he's going with Ravenclaw first so that they don't feel bad about being alphabetically-challenged," James said. "Leading the way is my potty-sister's not-my-boyfriend Captain of the Ravenclaw team, Jonah the whale; along with his firstie cousin and their team's new Keeper, Meg Rivers. For those of you who don't know this, he's continuing a tradition of sucking up to his family that was started by the potty-trainer; though I've never actually bothered to find out whether the tactic actually works to get better Christmas gifts or not!"**

" **I'd say it worked for Gwendolyn," Lily suggested quietly. "It's gotten her two Christmases without James around to mess them up for her."**

" **Moving on, since there's nothing of worth to talk about in the first row; we have Ravenclaw's trio of Chasers. Don't bother learning their names – they're even more forgettable than their Captain and Keeper! Finally, we have the Ravenclaw Beaters bringing up the rear – just as they're likely to do in the battle for best junior Beaters this year despite the fact that all of the best Beaters from last season have moved on to the senior teams level."**

" **Isn't one of those Beaters one of Jonah the Whale's cousins too?" Ollie interjected. "That shoots down your sucking up to the family theory."**

" **Not really," James disagreed. "He's likely just shooting for favorite nephew with their Mum by picking the cousin that wants to grow up to be a Keeper like his Aunt instead of a Beater like his own mother."**

" **That's a stretch," Ollie told him, "but Hufflepuff's up next; so don't let me stop you while on a roll!"**

" **Okay, but we're already at the bottom of the junior team Quidditch hill; so that won't take long. They probably have the best of those lousy four sets of Beaters; and the rest of their team will be useless and forgettable. Their Beaters lead the way, since Lee Johnson is Captain; their forgettable Chasers follow; and they're flying in reverse order to Ravenclaw with Luke Will-Never-Be a real Seeker and John Whit-less at Keeper. It's a good thing that it's a nice fall day – we'll be comfortable while cuddling with our girls and having a nap through the imminent snooze-fest that we're about to see starting in a few minutes – if Mr. Peakes doesn't put us to sleep with his fair-play speech first!"**

 **With a changing perception of the world around him, Al found that he could listen to his brother's commentary without putting too much of a dent into his happiness – even when he took shots at Gwendolyn, Lily, or their cousins and friends. He also found it interesting to sense the varied reactions from the other teens and tweens around them to James' commentary and supposed expert analysis. He didn't do that to be judgemental, but to compare it to his own thoughts and feelings now – and how he reacted too often in the past. It was also, however, interesting to note that outward and inner reactions to James could be very different too – or exactly the same for the teens that didn't try to hide their real feelings. It might surprise some that the 'bad' teens were more-likely to be true to their inner selves; while some of the 'good' teens hid their darker inner nature – or simple enjoyment they derived from the misfortune of others.**

 **There was soon a Quidditch match to watch, though; and Al enjoyed watching the game with Gwendolyn – and found that he loved it even more now that he was trying to do everything from a happier place. There was extra fun with watching the players on both teams too because he truly didn't know much about many of the new players and hadn't seen how much the returning players had progressed over the summer either. He talked about that with Gwendolyn and the others around them – and that was usually a fun counterpoint to James' play-by-play – and even Colin's announcing too.**

" **I'm going to give the early nod to John for Keeper over Meg," Al said as Madison's younger brother passed the quaffle out to Drew Summers after making a good save on a shot from Alyssa Graves. "Meg is playing well in her first school match, though; and doing that against some good Chasers too."**

" **I'll give you that," Gwendolyn agreed. "Alyssa, Chris, and Bryson are working together a bit better, though; so I think it will even out."**

" **That's good for your team," Al agreed and added. "Luke is good, but he's another defensive Seeker – quick reactions to his opponent while not going on the offense very much at all. He might not have much of a knack for spotting the snitch except at close range; though I'm not sure about that."**

" **He might just be doing that intentionally because Jonah has a faster broom," Lily suggested. "You're right about his reaction time, so since he could get a jump on Jonah by going after the snitch; I think he might just be waiting until it gets closer to him so that Jonah doesn't have time to catch up and pass him. The problem is that Jonah then spots the snitch before Luke gets to the point where he can make his move first."**

 **Al nodded. "Okay – you could be right about that. It's still advantage-Ravenclaw either way. Hufflepuff gets the slight edge for Beater, though. Lee and Katrina are a draw; but Greta's quite a bit better than Andy." Andy Goldstein was Mark's younger brother, and while he was playing well-enough; he was having a tough time keeping up with all three of the other Beaters – which was why Katrina was having him play defense instead of trying to get him to do too much and risking having him making mistakes that might harm their own players.**

" **From what Mark has told us, Andy's a good Chaser, but likes playing Beater; so he tried out for that job instead – even though he's a bit small yet for a Beater."**

" **So he didn't do that just so he could be Katrina's Beater partner?" Lily teased. "That's what we've heard from some of the firsties."**

" **That's probably the firstie boys starting that rumor," Stephanie suggested. "The girls would be more-likely to gossip about whether he'll get together with Meg because they're the only two firsties on our junior team."**

" **How did we get here from where we started with talking about how well the players were doing in the match so far?" Al asked in amusement.**

" **Well, we can't sit here and help the competition with analyzing our team for Lily and her team," Stephanie countered. "They'll have to do that work on their own – and we'll hope they'll do that very badly."**

" **Right back at you," Lily told her with a grin. "We're not going to talk about what we see with your team so that you can tell them and give them a chance to fix things before playing against us." She turned her attention to Al and pretended to frown. "Ditto that for you. Good sportsmanship does not extend to helping Ravenclaw out today."**

" **Well, in that case – have fun with the teen and tween gossip; and I'll just go back to shutting up and watching the game," Al told her.**

 **The girls were happy to do that; and Al was able to stay in a happy place thanks to getting to watch an awesome Quidditch battle while cuddling with Gwendolyn. In the first hour, the lead changed hands twice, but Hufflepuff took a ten point lead into the second hour; and Ravenclaw wasn't able to do more than get back to a tie after that. All six Chasers were putting on a show, and while John and Meg made a lot of sometimes-spectacular saves; some great goals were scored too as the match rolled on and on and Jonah and Luke continued their Seeker battle without any hints that either Wizard was gaining an advantage over the other.**

 **Lunch was made available near the end of the fourth hour, and that ended up being a very big deal for the match. Lee and Jonah agreed to a time-out for food and drinks just minutes into the fifth hour. Al helped Gwendolyn with picking up that food and drinks for her brother and his team mates; and since they did that before eating; they nearly missed the end of the match while they were out getting food too. They did catch the big finale just moments after they re-entered the stadium with their lunches and drinks – and only because Al quickly directed Gwendolyn's attention to the Seeker duel.**

" **Note to Luke – be careful what you eat during time-outs," Al said quietly with a grin as they watched Jonah gain the advantage in the run for the snitch while Luke had missed his chance to react quickly-enough to have a chance to stop him. Jonah still needed to make the catch; but Al knew he wasn't going to miss before watching the catch happen.**

" **Why do you say that?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed.**

" **He's feeling a bit queasy right now," he explained. "Apparently he needs to wait a bit after meals before doing any extreme flying."**

" **Seriously?" Gwendolyn asked; since he'd made that sound more like a joke than a fact.**

" **Definitely," Al agreed. "The only way that would work for him would be if he lost his lunch on his opponent and then got a chance to catch the snitch himself."**

" **That's kinda gross – and funny," Gwendolyn told him with a laugh. "Yes!" she shouted as Jonah ended the match and gave her House the three-sixty to two-thirty, come-from-behind victory. "I'm glad we got back in time to watch that!"**

" **Me too," Al agreed. "If you want to stay here; I can go and get our things from our seats and meet you out on the pitch after I do that."**

" **I'll let you – but only because you can fly there and back if you want to do that."**

 **Al grinned at her. "That would be fun," he agreed; and she laughed as he handed her his drink. "I'll be right back."**

 **With that; he changed forms; flew up to where they'd been sitting; changed back while everyone around him either laughed or made fun of him; and then he rounded up their things and flew back with everything as the laughter and razzing continued after he left again. Doing that earned him a lot of attention, but it really had been fun – and he'd loved how happy it had made Gwendolyn too. She was at center pitch with her brother and junior team friends when he landed again; so there was another round of laughter and more-good-natured razzing – including because of the hug and kiss Gwendolyn shared with him in thanks for running that errand and the entertainment too.**

 **While the Hufflepuff players and their fans were disappointed by the abrupt end to the match so soon after the time-out, they had gotten to play or watch a brilliant match, and with most of the afternoon left to go; they were all also going to move on to other entertainments – including a celebration party for Ravenclaw House. Gwendolyn had to go to that party in support of her junior team – especially since she was now both a member of the senior team and a Prefect, but before she had to do that; she had Al stay with her for the on-field fun and then the walk to Ravenclaw tower. He was happy to do all of that; and then he was ready for the chance for some mental peace in the Room of Requirements after a total of a bit more than five hours of intense 'noise' while with a stadium full of teens, tweens, and the smaller group of adults visiting the school to watch the match.**

 **He didn't spend the entire afternoon on his own. Once he'd had a break and chance to get his mind and spirit re-centered; he went out around the castle in search of teens and tweens he could help; and also did a bit of research in the library while offering a bit of tutoring here and there too. That kept him busy until near-dinnertime; he surprised Gwendolyn by meeting her outside of Ravenclaw tower; and walked with her to the Great Hall before they split up to have that meal. Gwendolyn was able to spend a bit of time with him after dinner too, but had more Prefect work to do than usual because the Ravenclaw Prefects had the afternoon off for their party while the other House Prefects – including Rose and Susannah – picked up the slack. They didn't go off on their own – they got together with Lily, Jonah, and a bunch of their friends for a play evening that included a portable pool and mirror network show watching.**

 **Gwendolyn in a swimsuit time was always a happy place for Al, so he had fun with that; the cuddle time that followed; and then the goodnight hugs and kisses after he walked her home – though she would just be moving on to a Prefect patrol instead of staying in Ravenclaw tower for the rest of the night. Once he was on his own again, Al went to the Room of Requirements for a while; did some work on an Animorphmagus Christmas toy; and then went back to the classroom again in time to help with the clean-up and to get his sofas, mirror, and portable pool. He was back in his dorm room a few minutes ahead of curfew; got ready for bed before any of the other guys were there; and went off to sleep after exchanging goodnight mirror messages with Gwendolyn.**

 **Sunday wasn't a busy day for Al, but he did end up having a lot on the go – possibly even-more than Gwendolyn did with her studying, Prefect duties, and make-up Quidditch practice. The mirror chat for his Aunt Angelina's forty-fourth birthday didn't take up much time, but it was a great little blast of fun because Lily and Roxanne rounded up all of the cousins on both sides of her family to do that; so they had the Johnson cousins in on that bit of entertainment too. While Al studied in the morning with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah; he spent the second-half of the morning doing his quiet help-work around the castle while Gwendolyn was busy with her team. She had other things to do in the afternoon; so he spent half of that time in the Room of Requirements; and the rest in the library – including with Rose, Susannah, and some other OWL-year friends doing research or weekend revision.**

 **Dinner in the Great Hall was a mix of good and bad for him; but family night with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah was great – and they all especially liked the joint chat time that was with Harry and Ginny as well as Malorie and the girls because they'd all been together when they'd called Malorie after having dinner and a play evening together. They had music time with Kirley; a lengthy Quidditch chat with Gwenog that was more about Jonah's success than news from the Harpies as they were getting ready for what would hopefully be a better Halloween weekend match against the Arrows than the one they'd had against the Falcons a year ago. Al and Gwendolyn did the visit to the Owlery on their own while Jonah walked Lily home; and then Gwendolyn walked Al home too before meeting up with Rose and going on curfew patrol. Al didn't go right off to sleep after getting to his dorm room because he ended up talking with a couple of the guys who had wanted to turn in early too, but it wasn't too much later than he'd planned when he was able to turn out his light and crash for the night so he could get well-rested for the last school week of October.**

 **By Monday morning, Quidditch was temporarily forgotten as all of the Halloween weekend fun took top billing on the school gossip network. Al was looking forward to their Hogsmeade weekend, the Harpies' match, the dance, and Halloween as much as most of the teens and tweens in the castle, but he also had a lot of work to keep up with – including his continuing mission toward self-improvement; so he kept busy and actually spent a bit less time doing other things or spending time with his friends. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah were all busy too, though it was with different things – like Quidditch, Prefect duties, and the Slug Club Halloween party that Professor Slughorn hosted on Friday evening. Al kept up with his daily doses of quiet good deeds around the castle, but he was getting better-organized with that; mentally sought-out the kids in need as much as possible during meals in the Great Hall; and then worked out how to help them while also keeping up with his classes, studies, and the rest of his work and play time. He added one, not-so-small special project to his to-do list, but while he needed to put some time and magical effort into it; he was working on that as part of his journey toward a happy and joy-filled life.**

 **He was coming up on the end of two months since beginning that life-change; so it wasn't a surprise to him that he thought about that a lot and evaluated how he was doing so far. There was no doubt that he was having more fun in his classes and felt happier even when he had to deal with dark emotions. That was better-still now that he could once again share in that happiness with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of his friends, but it truly was the internal changes that were making the biggest difference. His study skills were growing in what felt like leaps and bounds, and while that was partially thanks to the improvements he was continuing to make to RevisionWizard; his improving ability to focus without letting the distractions get in the way had the biggest impact on how well and quickly he could do his assignments. Not having Quidditch, Prefect duties, or the Slug Club party was also why he had his weekend revision finished by the time he went to sleep on Friday night – and he did that long-before that Slug Club party even ended!**

 **A good night of rest had everything to do with why he was the happiest person in the Great Hall at breakfast, and while he didn't say a word about that; he actually knew for fact that it was true. Rose and Gwendolyn weren't far behind him on that, but he'd needed to help each of them with a bit of silent healing that went along with the good morning hugs; or they'd have been as over-tired as most of their fellow Slug Club members were – or all of the teens and tweens that had stayed up late getting an early start to the Halloween weekend fun. It maybe wasn't nice to admit it, but it was still true that Al had more fun at breakfast because James and Ollie didn't make it to the Great Hall before he was ready to line up to be set free to head for Hogsmeade – and he and Gwendolyn did that early so they could be among the first to leave – and again go there while having a bit of fun horsing around. That had been entirely because they wanted to get there early and meet up with his parents, Malorie, and the twins, but while he couldn't give everyone a ride; Al did help to make sure that the friends that wanted to be able to run there faster along with Rose and Lily could do that if they wanted before he took Gwendolyn on their speedy little trip to the Three Broomsticks.**

" **Are you shooting for a new record with every run to town?" Ginny teased as she and Harry met them outside. "We just got here a couple of minutes ago."**

" **Al's just working on having fun; and taking me along for the ride," Gwendolyn joked as she stepped up to Ginny for a hug while Al was still changing back to human form. "We'll need to do something else next time; or I'll freeze solid going that fast during the winter. That was a bit on the chilly side for comfort."**

" **Which is why we kept the girls inside so they'll stay warm," Ginny advised the two teens. "Let's go and join them; and you can order hot drinks if you need to warm up while we're having our visit."**

" **Will Jaimie and Lorie be done with going along for Harpies' Quidditch matches for the winter now too?" Gwendolyn asked; and Ginny nodded.**

" **Yes, but we're thinking about taking turns so Malorie can still go to a match or three. She's not sure whether she wants to do that – except for doing at least one winter match so she can find out for herself what they're like – and that'll help with her research work."**

" **Well, she'd be able to get a lot of Cannons fans at winter matches if she could come up with a way for them to be more comfortable," Gwendolyn suggested. "In fact, if she could do that; I expect that all of the fans for the other teams they play against would want to buy seats in the comfortable side of the stadiums."**

" **That would be good for the Cannons," Ginny agreed; "but I don't see that happening anytime soon."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "We don't see the Cannons winning their next championship in Rose's lifetime – or we wouldn't have taken our side of her bet on that."**

" **I may have hedged that bet a time or ten," Ginny admitted with a grin. "That still doesn't mean I think it'll happen anytime soon either – just that it's more-likely to happen in Rose's lifetime than not."**

" **Even if you're the Seeker on Rose's team?" Harry joked.**

" **Even then," Ginny agreed. "It's been more than a decade since I last played in the show; I'm older; and have no idea whether I could handle the grind and hard work all season and still have anything left by the end – let alone keep going into the playoffs."**

" **It won't be like that for Rose's team," Al advised her. "I'm going to convince Rose to make every day at work fun."**

 **Ginny laughed. "Well, we'd all love that; but you've just convinced me to re-hedge those bets the other way."**

 **They were heading into the Three Broomsticks by then; Al ended up leading the way to where Malorie was sitting at a table near one of the fireplaces; and happily took temporary custody of Jaimie while Gwendolyn was cuddling with Lorie less than a half-minute later. Thanks to his help, Rose, Lily, Jonah, and Susannah weren't far behind; but the rest of their friends moved on to get started on their shopping because they did all want to be back at the castle again in time for the Harpies-Arrows match. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily also had hair appointments, but that just meant that they were first to say goodbye before going to do that; and Al got to stay for last cuddles with the twins before they headed home with their mother and grandparents and he went with Jonah to get started on their supply shopping.**

 **While Jonah's list wasn't very long; Al had a lot to get; since he was doing all of the extra shopping for the girls and their younger cousins and friends – or most of it. There were a few things that the younger girls did not want him to help out with – and they'd likely hate knowing that he was aware of those things that they didn't want him getting for them. While a lot of that work was tedious, Al and Jonah had fun together – though they split up a few times so they could get more of the work finished more-quickly. That worked for Al because he wanted to make some purchases that wouldn't be noticed by his friends; and got that done while on his own.**

 **Gwendolyn, Lily, and the other girls met up with Al, Jonah, and some of the other guys in time for an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks; they headed back to the castle as a group after that; and then they eventually all ended up in their usual study classroom in time to set up and catch the tail-end of Lee's pre-game show and predictions for the day before settling in on the sofas to watch the big game. As Al sat and cuddled with Gwendolyn, he knew that most of their friends and some of their cousins didn't even know or notice the changes to their relationship – or his with everyone else. The being happy was chalked up to getting back together with Gwendolyn; all was well; and that was as deep as it went.**

 **That wasn't true, though, and while he enjoyed the entertainment that went along both with the Quidditch match and the fun going on in the room around him; Al's happy place within came along with an ongoing self-diagnostic that included analyzing and choosing the way he interacted with everyone that absolutely was different. He stayed away from talking about himself – particularly if any sort of bragging could be construed. He tried to find a middle-ground for involvement in the conversations going on around him to be more of an active participant, but while he added to the fun; he tried to only speak positively. That certainly wasn't always easy, but he kept working at it; and wasn't going to give up on purging the personal negativity.**

 **Having that ongoing analysis happening silently in his mind while the Harpies and Arrows were playing a really great match had him musing about how well he'd be able to keep that up when faced agan by other challenges in life. Just today he'd been teased about the perceived impossibility of having a happy work life combined with a successful Quidditch team. Could he remain happy all of the time without winning too? Rose certainly wouldn't put up with that for long for sure, but then he liked to win quite a lot; and had yet to experience what it was like to lose. That egotistical thought had him laughing silently, but the point was valid; and worth thinking about – not that he'd think about losing matches intentionally just to find out what that was like whenever he next did get to play for a school or league team. Envisioning being the happiest player in the league on the worst team was just amusing, though; and it was much easier – and happier – to picture himself as the happiest member of the league Champion Cannons!**

 **If the Arrows players were having visions like that; they got in the way of winning their Halloween weekend match. Okay, Gabrielle got in the way of that; and she caught the snitch to earn the win for her team just a few minutes into the fourth hour. The two-seventy to eighty score proved that the Arrows played their best in a good, defensive battle, but Halloween fun must have been a priority for everyone once the game had ended because not even the reporters seemed to want to drag out the post-game action. The girls in the room with Al certainly wanted to move on to get ready for the dance, so they did that; while Al had a couple of the guys stay to help him with the clean-up.**

" **Okay, they're gone," Ray said with a feigned sigh of relief. "What are we doing this year for the girls? I was so busy this morning that I forgot to ask."**

" **You mean like the snapdragons we did last year?" Al asked; and Ray nodded. "I didn't plan on doing anything like that."**

" **If that's a Halloween scare; it isn't funny," Ray warned seriously; and Al laughed.**

" **I'm not trying to be scary – that's just the truth. I have a gift for Gwendolyn this year – not flowers."**

" **I am so dead," Ray predicted morosely. "Why didn't I just pick up flowers while we were in town?"**

" **We could raid the greenhouses," Jonah suggested with a grin. "Do you think she'd like to try wearing a baby Mandrake? That'd be scary for Halloween."**

" **And knock her out in a bad way," Al added. "You can't really start a date with – here, put these protective earmuffs on over the hair you just spent an hour getting just the way you wanted it."**

" **Good point," Jonah conceded. "It's a good thing I have a back-up plan for Lily."**

" **A very good thing," Al agreed before turning his attention to Ray. What did you have in mind? We might be able to put something together for you if it isn't too elaborate or we'd need something we can't get around here."**

" **Would it be too last year for another snapdragon?" Ray asked half-hopefully.**

" **Definitely," Al assured him. "Even if we had it do something different; you're forgetting that we made a bunch of them last year to keep everyone from finding out about who has been making them."**

" **Maybe you could carve a pumpkin, shrink it down to pin size; and make it do something that Cyndia would find funny or a bit scary or both," Jonah suggested.**

" **We could get a pumpkin easily-enough," Al advised Ray as he thought about it. "If we helped you with something like that; what would you want it to do? I wouldn't advise one that eats puking pastilles when you'll be the person dancing with Cyndia all night – and that sort of thing would definitely be a turn off when you're hanging out in the common room later." He turned to Jonah at what he sensed from him and laughed. "That's brilliant. Gwendolyn might even let me do it – just for the laughs."**

" **What's brilliant?" Ray asked in confusion. "He didn't say anything."**

" **No, but I was thinking that it would be brilliant if the pumpkin pin changed into a carriage at the end of the dance – sort of a reverse Cinderella thing; and I was picturing Sabre pulling it up to the entrance to Gryffindor tower from the Great Hall."**

" **I think we have a winning idea," Al decided after sensing Ray's reaction. "Let's get this done and get to working on that. We don't have all that long; but I think we can get it done."**

 **Al needed to put all of the magical muscle into the effort for that pumpkin pin, but he insisted that Ray make the jack-o-lantern; Jonah helped with rounding up a few things that they'd need to make the horse and carriage gimmick work; and they eventually split up to get ready for the dance too. Even with that added bit of action; Al still made it to the hallway outside of the Ravenclaw entrance with time to spare – and crossed paths with Jonah along the way as he headed for Gryffindor tower to pick up his date. Gwendolyn couldn't surprise him with her dance date gift for him, but then even if he couldn't sense so much of everything going on around him; he'd have been suspicious when she had a small entourage with her when she stepped out into the hall and was smiling brilliantly at his reaction to seeing her – and seeing the shiny new ring on her finger.**

" **I love you," he whispered as they shared a long, enthusiastic hug. "Thank-you!"**

" **I love you too – forever," she promised right back before kissing him. "Are we going to have a brilliant night; or should I keep my wand at the ready?"**

" **We're going to have a brilliant night regardless of what happens," Al assured her – "or at least I already have had one." He handed her the gift he'd brought for her; and she happily tore into the wrapping paper. She laughed when she opened the box and found the pair of earrings inside that matched the ring. "You were pretty sure of yourself, weren't you?" she asked archly; and Al laughed happily.**

" **Actually, I thought that'd be a not-so-subtle hint. You surprised me – I've just had a bit of time to have fun with that before you got here."**

" **Well, we were really hoping for more of a show; but that's sweet," Renee told him. "Let's get going. I don't want to take whatever spots are left for dinner this year."**

" **I'd suggest that Al and I will save thatshow for later because we're not into public snogging, but I'll have Prefect patrol after the dance; so we'll have to see about making some time for that tomorrow."**

" **Sure," Toni said in disbelief. "You'll have loads of time for that while we catch up on all of the weekend revision we haven't even started yet; the Halloween fun around here; and your make-up Quidditch practice and whatever Prefect duties you'll have tomorrow."**

" **Scary and true," Gwendolyn conceded with a sigh. "Maybe I should deputize Al and take him along on patrol tonight."**

" **Or get him to stay out past curfew; catch him; and then snog him senseless until he promises to never break the rules again," Renee suggested with a grin.**

" **Do not start making jokes about the hundreds of reasons for why that would be a very bad idea," Gwendolyn warned her friends.**

" **Ditto that for any guy in this group that is now thinking about breaking curfew tonight just so that Gwendolyn can catch them," Toni added with a grin and then an elbow for Michael. "You included, buddy."**

" **I was just thinking that you could pretend to be a Prefect and catch me out past curfew," he protested; earning a round of laughs. "I love Gwendolyn too – but that's in a sister or cousin sort of way."**

" **You are off the hook," Toni advised him with a grin – "and we'll talk later about your suggestion."**

 **That entertaining little start to their date had been a lot of fun for Al and Gwendolyn; and they continued to enjoy themselves as they had dinner with their friends. He focused his attention on Gwendolyn, but also spent some time quietly making sure that the Halloween fun did not extend to any nasty, hurtful pranks or ambushes. He didn't make an issue of doing it – he just made sure that none of that nastiness happened. Sometimes, that was as simple as banishing a prankster's wheezes, potions, or other magical objects; while at other times, he had to intervene more-directly while never being found out by anyone other than Gwendolyn. He was usually too close for her to miss what he was doing, but she whole-heartedly approved of his efforts – and it saved her the need to go into Prefect mode to deal with the consequences if he hadn't stopped those tricks from playing out.**

 **While that felt great to help make the night better for others, it was being happy and helping Gwendolyn to enjoy her dance that mattered most to Al – and they truly did have an amazing night – including near the end of it when Gwendolyn had to take her turn on patrol. Al went with her for that while the dance was still going on; so that gave him a chance to tell her about the Halloween dance surprise that he and Jonah had helped Ray with – and that they'd be taking to the next level immediately following the dance. That's why Gwendolyn made sure that she was patrolling the entrance hall as the dance ended – and while Al got ready and in position for the big finale of Ray and Cyndia's date. He was ready to go when Ray escorted Cyndia out of the Great Hall; would have laughed if he could have at her reaction as her pumpkin pin made a joke about fresh air and then detached itself from her dress; and then it began to shimmer, grow, and transform into a beautiful crystal carriage!**

" **What – oh, it's beautiful!" Cyndia gasped; and then laughed when the black stallion appeared – like magic; since nobody noticed the Animorph-mouse scamper into place while watching the carriage transfiguration. She hugged and kissed Ray enthusiastically. "Ray – this is brilliant!"**

" **Your carriage awaits, milady," Ray said grandly even as the harness was magically attaching to the beautiful black stallion. "Shall we go for a ride before we retire to the common room for the night?"**

" **I would love to," Cyndia assured him.**

 **He helped her up into the carriage and onto the cushioned seat; climbed up next and sat next to her; and didn't have to close the door because it did so magically. There was a lot of magic going on that probably had all of the amazed and amused spectators trying to figure out who was behind it, but they wouldn't have been able to do that; and the spectacle was entertainment-enough anyway. Al had to navigate around all of the teens and tweens in the entrance hall, but he turned around; trotted to the front doors; turned again, and then whinnied to get everyone's attention before heading toward the main staircase; picking up speed; and then racing up it with some magical, levitation assistance that kept the ride luxuriously-smooth for Cyndia and Ray.**

 **He didn't just head up to Gryffindor tower – he took them on a long ride that took them all around the castle on a total of five different floors. Some parts of the ride were just a tiny-bit Halloween scary in a rollercoaster sort of way, but Al had a blast giving his friends that adventure – and didn't even mind the few snogging moments they shared along the way as Cyndia took time to thank Ray for the brilliant surprise. They had a post-dance curfew time limit for that fun, so they needed to be back at their common room ahead of that- which was when Al ran into the only problem he hadn't really thought about ahead of time – the crowd of teens and tweens that wanted to be there to witness their arrival.**

" **You didn't have to wait up for us, Mums and Dads," Ray joked as he got out of the carriage and then helped Cyndia to step down. "We did promise to be home on time!"**

" **Maybe they're hoping to get rides too," Cyndia suggested; but then turned her head and watched as the carriage shimmered again and began to shrink. Some of the teens – including Lily and Jonah – saw Al take that opportunity to disappear; but most of the gawkers watched as the carriage turned back into a pumpkin pin – but this time it was an orange-colored; crystal pumpkin-faced carriage that was exquisite and perfect in every detail by the time it floated over to Cyndia and dropped into the palm of her hand when she held it up just beneath it.**

" **Merlin!" she breathed; and then laughed and rather seriously thanked Ray in a non-verbal sort of way.**

" **Okay – show's over," Lily called out loudly. "For those of you here from other Houses; your Prefects will escort you back so you don't get into trouble for being out past curfew. Gryffidndors – get into your common room – or up to the bathrooms for those of us in need of a cold shower!"**

" **Ravenclaws with me," Gwendolyn added with a grin as lily's comments earned a roar of laughter. "Hurry up and kiss your date goodnight, Jonah – I'd hate to need to take points from you for being out past curfew; but I'll do it if I must!"**

 **Lily didn't give Jonah the chance to decide; kissed him rather soundly; and then happily headed for her common room while there were more laughs and some jokes directed at them – particularly when Gwendolyn pretended that she needed to steer her brother toward Ravenclaw tower as if he was too befuddled to know which way to go. Al witnessed all of that; but stayed invisible through until he was in his dorm room to avoid attracting any attention – or diverting it from Ray and Cyndia. All that mattered to him was that Jonah's idea had worked out brilliantly for their friends – and had really been a blast to do for them too! That had been a lot of magical and physical exertion, though, and at the end of a very long, busy day, so while Ray and Cyndia stayed up late; he got ready for bed; exchanged goodnight mirror messages with Gwendolyn while she was still out on patrol; and then he happily went off to sleep.**

 **Al woke up early, got ready for the day well-ahead of any of his roommates; and hurried on to the Room of Requirements for his morning martial arts workout. He did a short version of that; and then got a sofa ready; sat down with a drink; and called his father.**

" **Hello, Al," Harry said as he answered the mirror chat request. "I expected your call a bit later. Couldn't you sleep?"**

" **I wanted to be in time for your visit to the cemetery," Al answered solemnly. "I slept fine; but always seem to have dreams about you and my grandparents each year."**

" **Me too," Harry stated; though he knew that wasn't news for his younger son. "I was thinking that it can't be forty years since they died, but we do have three teen kids; so I guess it has been."**

" **As if we can't keep track using our birthdays," Ginny reminded him with a smile as she leaned closer to him so she could have a good view of Al too. "Hi, Al. Did you want to talk with us about your granparents? We've only been here for about five minutes; so we haven't really started in on that yet."**

 **Al smiled softly at his parents. "We can do that, but if you didn't find them yet; I put two little gifts in your bag yesterday – a couple of foil-wrapped chocolates."**

" **You did?" Ginny asked in surprise. "How'd you manage that without me noticing?"**

" **I can use magic in Hogsmeade," he reminded her.**

" **So what are they? A couple of your semi-famous memory treats – or did you go with tricks because of the holiday?"**

 **Al laughed. "I thought about both,' he admitted; "but the trick today is that they're just normal chocolates. If you're looking for happy memories to help out with the anniversary; go out and get some with Malorie and your grandchildren. I can't possibly top the fun you'll get to keep having while watching twin versions of Grandma Lily grow up right in front of your eyes."**

" **Maybe not," Ginny agreed; "but the chocolates help anyway – and the thoughts and love."**

" **I've wondered about Grandpa James for that over the past couple of months," Al admitted. "He must have gone through some kind of transformation here at Hogwarts too, since all of the stories I've ever been told suggest that he went from being maybe more than a bit like James to a Wizard that was someone Grandma could love with all of her heart; but we really don't know how or why that happened."**

" **We don't," Harry agreed. "I'm not sure there's a comparison; since you're trying to change from good to extra-good."**

" **I'd actually suggest that the comparison is more-true for Gwendolyn," Ginny told them. "Your grandmother's love and kindness is likely what changed your grandfather – just as Gwendolyn is a better person with you than without."**

 **Al grinned at them. "So if we run with that; you and Dad are both best together and the opposite apart?"**

 **Harry and Ginny both laughed. "That is absolutely-true," Ginny assured him. "Gwendolyn's good for you too, Al – just not in the same way."**

" **What you're doing must be rubbing off on us, though; since this anniversary doesn't seem nearly as tough as it felt to me even a little while ago," Harry told him – "so thank-you for helping me out with getting through today."**

" **We're also going to Malorie's next and making breakfast for her while getting Jaimie and Lorie to help us too," Ginny advised Al. "Let's get on with the stories next. It's a bit chilly out here this morning; so I think that your grandparents will understand if we move this little visit with them right along."**

 **They did that, though Al mostly listened to those stories again; and he ended the chat early-enough that his parents could wrap up that visit on their own. He still had lots of time after that before breakfast, so he had some Halloween-themed magical play time; and then he headed for the Great Hall. There was some jokes and razzing that he had to deal with while having that meal because of his end-of-dance horse-play, but James and Ollie were late for breakfast again, so most of that was fun; and even Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily couldn't resist teasing him about it. After breakfast, he went on to spend a lot of his day helping to make Halloween a bit happier and safer for his fellow students. He spent some time with Gwendolyn too when she could get together with him, but he also split the rest of the morning and afternoon between the Room of Requirements, the library, and just wandering around the school helping out wherever he sensed he was needed most while continuing his mission at self-improvement.**

 **The Halloween-themed fun was in full swing all day, and nearly-everyone had fun with that, but Al did continue to do what he could to keep the truly-nasty pranks and ambushes from going off – even though that didn't help those pranksters to have fun or be happy at the expense of their would-be victims. He couldn't stop everything no matter how much he wanted to, but he tried his best; and had to be content with that effort. Lunch in the Great Hall wasn't anything special except for some appropriately-colored food and drinks; but they had a bigger meal at dinner that was about half-way between normal Sunday night fare and one of the feasts.**

 **Al had been looking forward to that meal all day with some happy anticipation; and he had fun as he enjoyed the food and fun with Rose and their nearest tablemates. He was most-excited because he was doing his own little Halloween surprise for his fellow Hogwarts students, but he still waited patiently until dessert was served befor springing it on everyone. He pretended not to be anywhere near the first to notice when his Halloween treats began to fly into the Great Hall; but it wasn't long before everyone in the room began to take notice.**

" **What in Merlin's name is going on?" Rose demanded; drawing Al's attention to the bats that were flying in from the entrance hall by the dozens now and joining the small swarm of them flapping around.**

 **The lights in the hall were low for the spooky effects, but the bats could be seen easily-enough because they had a glowing stone of some sort on their chests. As more and more of them joined the fray overhead; the glowing became a dancing pattern in the darkness that was a bit mesmerizing and beautiful – even for the Wizard making it all happen.**

" **You're doing this!" Rose leaned in and whispered into his ear; and he turned and grinned at her.**

" **Happy Halloween," he whispered back before returning his attention to making sure the little show continued as planned.**

 **He had the bats – hundreds of them – fly around for a while; and then, just as they'd arrived; they began to land on the tables in front of the Professors and students – seemingly at random.**

" **Happy Halloween – now bite me!" each bat said – their final act as animated creatures before they turned into small chocolate bats with a candy embedded into their chests.**

 **Those best wishes and taunts weren't individually-loud, but it created a cacophony in the room – particularly as the laughter from the teens and tweens was added to the mix. There were enough bats for everyone; one landed in front of each student or Professor; and there were only a few extra at the very end – and they flew off in search of the Witch or Wizard they'd been charmed to seek out. Al played along as his bat arrived and taunted him; and didn't hesitate to pick it up and take a bite out of it. There had been some reluctance for actually doing as the bats had told them at first, but by then; enough of the teens around them had taken the risk for everyone to know that the chocolate and candy treats didn't come with any final tricks.**

" **Well-done, you," Rose told him in another whisper. "You're making progress – apparently in a lot of ways!"**

 **Al smiled and shrugged. "I am really happy tonight," he offered. Something caught his mental attention for a moment; and he laughed – and then needed to lean in and explain why to Rose. "James is pretending to not take credit for the bats while doing exactly that." He laughed again at Rose's reaction. "I really do find that funny – though he won't if anyone calls him out on it and he can't make another one to prove it."**

" **There isn't a delayed-reaction cheering charm or something in those chocolates, is there?" Cora asked from across the table. "Maybe I've chosen well to wait before eating mine."**

" **Al's still giddy over Gwendolyn deciding to wear that ring he gave her when he tried to ask her to the dance and she blasted him," Rose suggested. "The bats are delicious; and don't seem to have any tricks built into them."**

 **Her supposed explanation for Al's happiness sent the girls around them off on a chat about that bit of gossip and other new stories from the dance; and Al went on to enjoy his dessert choices before going to meet up with Gwendolyn and heading for their study classroom. They couldn't just do their normal family fun night because she still had assignments to get done. Rose, Susannah, Ray, Cyndia, and a few others joine them – and Lily and Jonah – for the evening; they studied until Gwendolyn, Rose, Ray, and Susannah needed to move on to their scheduled Prefect duties an hour or so before curfew; and Al had Lily and Jonah with him for the visit to the Owlery to see Winter and Blizzard – and then send Winter with her weekly Owl Posts. Gwendolyn again met up with them outside of Ravenclaw tower when Lily walked Jonah home; shared her own bonus goodnight hug and kiss with Al; and then he walked back to Gryffindor tower with Lily while she went out on curfew patrol.**

 **Al didn't go right up to his dorm room once they were 'home' because he did a little round of visits with cousins and a few other friends first – and then ended up doing a bit of tutoring along the way. Roxanne and her friends were happy for a bit of help with a Transfiguration assignment they were having issues with; and a trio of firsties including Nina Madley appreciated the walk-by hints he offered after sensing their confusion with the assignment they were trying to work through before going to bed too. When he did go up to his room, he wasn't alone – and had roommates trying to get their weekend revision done too – in a quieter place than the common room. He got ready for bed first; helped them out for nearly an hour; and then once again wrapped up his night – and the month – with good night mirror messages with Gwendolyn before turning out his bedside light and crashing into nap mode after what had proved to be his best-ever-so-far Halloween!**

 **He had some hints about what to expect in the weeks ahead as senior team Quidditch took center stage at Hogwarts – and he wouldn't be a part of that action this season; so many of his fellow students might be surprised to discover that he was still happy and looking forward to those annual weeks of transition from Halloween to Christmas adventures. That wasn't all about going on that journey with Gwendolyn, but that was an important part of why he really did feel so great! His relationships with Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and everyone else around him was all important to him, but there was a lot more going on both within and all around him; so what Al was most-excited about was the simple joy he expected to have with every big and small adventure that would be part of their collective, continuing journey!**


	51. Not So Quidditch November

**Chapter Fifty-One – Not So Quidditch November**

 **Al didn't totally return to hermit mode during the first week of November, but he did start spending more time in the Room of Requirements and skipped some meals. That had everything to do with the negativity that he didn't want to be around as James, Ollie, and the McClaggen brothers went toe-to-toe with the worst of the Wizards on the Slytherin team ahead of the annual rivalry match – proving once again that at least some of the best and bravest of Gryffindor could be neither now and then.**

 **Doing that led to the start of some rumors that he was off sulking because he wasn't getting to play for Gryffindor this season, but he just found those insults amusing. Sure, he would have loved to play Quidditch for his House – with Rose, Ray, Cyndia, and anyone else interested in playing the sport for the love of the game; but he truly was finding it easy to do other things instead that made him just as happy – and he did just that! While Quidditch became the top gossip story, other than the related jokes and insults about him; Al kept what he was really doing all week out of the news entirely. On a business level, there were very few people in the know about the sale of his magical earbuds; though they were going to be a big deal for him from a financial perspective. Ditto that for the toys he worked on, and hwile Gwendolyn and Rose were too busy to help him much with that work; he did get everything done ahead of their Sunday deadline for the final Animorphmagus Christmas toys that were being added to the line this year.**

 **That wasn't the only business-related fun he had, but his broom-making studies took a back-burner to the other work; and he was more-interested in making time to start work on some Christmas gift ideas he had for some of his favorite people. None of those efforts got in the way of his classes or studies; and he spent as much time helping others in his new, quiet way too; so his days were filled with a lot of busy fun that only included a bit of Quidditch here and there – and nobody saw that either; because he did that in the Room of Requirements either on his own or only with a few playmates.**

 **The what he was doing was certainly more-diverse than would have been possible if he'd been focused on Quidditch instead, but it was the being happy that mattered most; and it was the finding joy in everything he did that continued to be the biggest difference in Al's life!**

 **James was in the Quidditch zone!**

 **He wasn't worried about the match against Slytherin – they were delusional if they thought they'd have a chance against him! He was currently the only undefeated Seeker in the show this season, and compared to that feat; Hogwarts Quidditch was child's play!**

 **That didn't mean he wasn't training hard – he worked out for hours a day, every day of the school week; and then partied most nights – just as he intended to do once he was in the show full-time! That did lead to missing or being late for a morning class or two, but he was a star, after all; and that sort of thing was just expected of him anyway. In contrast, he didn't push his team very hard to get ready for the match – if they wanted to impress the scouts too; then they could take the initiative – just as he'd done over the past couple of summers. They could do nothing at all and still be better than the rest of the Catapults players; so he wouldn't have to worry about them messing things up for him – not to mention that he was well-aware of the fact that Louis, Ollie, and the McClaggens were all hoping to ride his broomtail into the show as he took the Catapults straight to the top of the league.**

 **If that worked out for them, he didn't have a problem with bringing them along, but if it turned out that any of them were a drag; he'd cut them loose in a second – and without a backward glance or thought!**

 **Not everything in his life was perfect – the loser was still a thorn in his side; and the potty-trainer had lost her mind and hooked up with her dog again before he'd been able to seal the deal; convince her that he'd been right all along; and prove that she'd have more fun with him instead. That was even more annoying after she'd asked him to the Halloween dance only to break that date hours later, but it was definitely her loss; and he knew she'd come around eventually – it was inevitable. That date-no-date day had also been the day that Rose, Ray, and Cyndia had collectively quit the team too, but that had worked out for him since then – and both the broken date and defections had earned him a lot of sympathy – particularly from the Witches! Replacing them on the team had been a pain, but then it didn't matter who the extras were on the team – he and Ollie were sticking with the plan anyway – and they'd known from the start who would be playing in the matches with them. Keeping that news a secret outside of the team was really just part of the game – and to earn some drama points.**

 **Speaking of drama, the loser had messed with him over the Halloween weekend too – whether that was preventing some of his pranks from happening to that stupid stunt with the horse and carriage ride that all of the Witches around him had gushed over as being so wonderfully-romantic to the point where he'd needed extra strong drink just so he could blot out the idiocies with the fire-whiskey-induced, happy haze that always helped when he didn't want to care about anything at all. He did enjoy not taking credit for the chocolate bats Halloween treat while word spread that he had been the mastermind behind them, but he'd been sure that Al had made them; so that had only helped a bit with knowing that the loser had again done something big and flashy – and it didn't matter to him in the least that he didn't take credit for it – or for anything else he'd been doing lately.**

 **On the other hand, the loser had been making himself scarce again while he was in the spotlight all week; so James was happy with that – though he'd be happier if his Animorph freak of a brother would just do him a favor and die!**

 **Now that would truly be something that would make him happy!**

 **Scorpius was having a great first week of November. His Halloween weekend had been brilliant; all was well with Lysandra; they were doing well in all of their classes; and he was finally on the way to not just being part of the 'in' crowd – he and Lysandra were on the way to leading it!**

 **His magical education had been the least-important part of his time at school, but he had to admit that it was more fun with Lysandra – even compared to the lessons he used to have with Thomas; and this year was proving particularly-great because the Animorphloser was no longer showing off by trying to answer every question and brag about how great he was by being first to master every new lesson – even after patching things up with his potty-trainer. He and Lysandra still had to deal with the Weasel trying to pick up the slack, but they were a match for her; and managed to prove themselves to be top students despite the bias in most classes against Slytherin students!**

 **On the Quidditch front, he thought that his team was as ready as they could be for their match against Gryffindor; and they were quite a bit better than a year ago when he and Licentia had needed to put up with sub-par team mates. He didn't actually think they were good-enough to win, since G-Air was delusional to think he was finally going to best James on Saturday, but he liked his chances for looking like the best Chaser out there – whether he ended up battling Ollie or one of the also-ran guys. He knew that he had James and Ollie to thank for that, but while he was going to be up against a weak trio of Chasers; Louis would be a good challenge at Keeper – even if he might not be quite as good as his cousin. Rupert was becoming a better Keeper too, but if he looked good on Saturday; it would be because of the lack of competition – and help from his own Chasers.**

 **Anything could happen in Quidditch, but instead of hoping for the unlikely; Scorpius was going to be happy with achieving personal bests – whether that was in Quidditch, his magical education, or his relationship with Lysandra!**

 **It was game day for the big Gryffindor-Slytherin match; Al was up early; and was off to the Room of Requirements for his morning workout before any of his roommates came to life and started getting ready for the day too. The quiet and martial arts workout helped Al with getting centered and ready for however many hours he'd be spending in a stadium full of intense emotions and mental noise; so he was in a happy place when he surprised Gwendolyn by meeting up with her for the walk to the Great Hall for breakfast.**

" **Good morning," Gwendolyn said quietly with a bright smile as she closed the gap and then hugged Al. "Did you lose track of time and thought that I was playing today?"**

 **Al laughed. "No, but I have missed you. We've both been a bit busy this week."**

" **We have," she agreed. "I never expected to be looking forward to Quidditch matches just so we can spend time together."**

" **You never expected that Al wouldn't be playing in the match today," Toni suggested with a grin as she and Michael joined them after giving Gwendolyn a bit of space for the good morning hug and kiss. "Sorry – but it's true."**

" **It is – and quite a bit funnier than the last truth bomb you laid on me," Gwendolyn teased – "even if I needed that one a lot at the time."**

" **Is there any chance you're going to let me live that one down?" Toni asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **Probably not; but I love you more for caring enough to try to get through to me when I needed that kind of a friend the most."**

" **I'll remember you at Christmas," Al promised with a grin. "Gwendolyn and I might not have had that chat last month if not for your help."**

" **I think you would have worked it out anyway," Toni said modestly – but I am glad that happened sooner instead of later. We're all a lot happier now."**

" **We are," Gwendolyn agreed. "Instead of going on about that, though; what's the latest from Gryffindor House for pre-match gossip?"**

" **I have no idea," Al admitted – "especially if you're talking about the Quidditch news instead of the teen drama news."**

 **That joke earned a round of laughs; and then he had fun spending that bit of time with Gwendolyn before they needed to split up shortly after they reached the Great Hall. The game day teen drama gossip wasn't anything he wanted to be a part of, but it wouldn't have been a joke to admit that hearing those stories was better than dealing with the Quidditch drama and dark emotions from too many of the teens that were playing in the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. Ignoring any of that wasn't an option for Al short of going back to the Room of Requirements, Doing that wasn't an option because he was going to be there in support of his team and House – and because he had a date for the match with Gwendolyn. The hot breakfast and the chat time with Rose helped him out with getting through that meal; and then he met up with Gwendolyn and they went outside for a walk, ride, and short visit with Hagrid before heading on to the stadium to meet up with her team mates and their usual game-day group of Quidditch-watching friends.**

" **We saw you out there horsing around earlier," Lily told them in welcome. "Maybe you should come up with some Animorphmagus pre-game entertainment for all of us instead of just Gwendolyn.**

" **Hay rides from the castle to stadium?" Ray suggested. "That'd be fun."**

" **For everyone except the horse," Al countered.**

" **I was thinking more along the lines of a show here in the stadium," Lily interjected; but hay rides would be fun – if not quite as brilliant as a romantic carriage ride after a school dance."**

" **That was brilliant," Cyndia assured her. "What would you suggest for that show? Dogs and ponies? Something with birds? I know – you could join in and have a lion taming act!"**

" **If they did that last one; James and Ollie would revive all of the jokes about the Cannons Clown Brigade," Rose suggested.**

" **I'm sure they would," Lily agreed, "but I have issues that aren't much different from that; since at least a tiny little part of me is hoping that James and Ollie end up looking like fools today."**

" **You're not the only one," Cyndia assured her. "Magnus might be playing a bit nicer than your brother and Ray's cousin; but he's still been a bit annoying to me – especially when I think that he knows that it ought to be Al, Ray, and me getting ready to play Chaser today. It's wrong for me, but I'll admit that I would feel some guilty pleasure over it if he has a bad match."**

" **Wouldn't that be bad for your team and House?" Jonah asked them. "Lily does really want to win the Quidditch Cup this year." He smiled when she laughed.**

" **I do, but what does that say about both of us that I'm thinking bad thoughts for James and Ollie while you're pointing out that we should want our team to have a great match – and we're both thinking the opposite of the way we should be for what's best for our own Houses?"**

" **Let's not answer that one," Rose suggested. "If Al manages to convince me to put together the kind of team he wants to play for in the show, though; Jonah's still on the short list for one of our future Seekers – and you might be off of it, Lily!"**

" **Yeah!" Lily cheered. "If it was that easy to get off your list; you should've just crossed my name out years ago!"**

 **Rose grinned at her. "I am talking about the list for Al's dream team – not mine," she pointed out. "After that last junior team match; my dream team might have Al as the only Wizard on it; since I think that Katrina and Greta might make an awesome Beater duo for the Cannons."**

" **Sure – because Mum hasn't been keeping them in mind for the Harpies since they first decided that they wanted to be Beaters just like her; and Aunt Meghan might want them too – even if she is really happy with Jensen and Stanley."**

" **I wouldn't pick them as a duo," Al offered quietly; earning some attention – including from Katrina; since she wasn't sitting far from them.**

" **Why not?" she asked dangerously. "Don't you think we'd be good-enough for your dream team?"**

" **Either of you as part of the Beater duo on my dream team would be fine," he assured her. "I just don't know if you and Greta would make a very good Beater duo. I can picture better pairings for both of you."**

" **Really?" Lily interjected with a grin. "Now that sounds like an interesting topic to gossip about. "They're the only two Witches playing Beater right now; so which Wizards do you think they should be paired up with instead?"**

" **Have fun with that," Al told her. "I'll be shutting up now."**

 **James led the way from the locker room to the player entrance into the stadium. Ollie was at his side – just as it should be for any good sidekick; and they were both smiling, happy, excited, and confident that they were going to have a brilliant day.**

" **Okay – it's finally time to get out there and prove to everyone that we're the best team in the school!" James declared enthusiastically. "Let's go out there and kick some Slytherin broomtails all over the stadium until they beg for mercy!"**

" **That's not a very friendly way for you to ask us to treat your Slytherin mates," Tiberius joked; and James laughed.**

" **We're not here to be friendly – we're here to win! Save that sort of nonsense for Animorphloser-quitter-cowards. We're all here because we're willing to do what it takes to be winners; and I won't think twice about doing whatever it takes to win today – just as my Slytherin friends will do too."**

" **So keep that in mind – or you might end up getting your heads bashed in," Ollie added with a smirk.**

" **Thanks for that reminder," James shot back with a grimmace. "Tiberius and Brock are going to be making sure that doesn't happen this year – right guys?"**

" **We'll make sure that doesn't happen to any of us," Brock assured him. "Slytherin-hunting season is about to open, though; so we make no promises about them!"**

" **As it should be," James agreed. "Too bad I don't have that kind of support from my Catapults' Beaters."**

" **Well, if they want to hire Brock and me for those Christmas matches; Dad would sign an under-age waiver for Brock so we could do that," Tiberius suggested – "even though Mum would likely freak out."**

" **That's an idea," James said with a nod; and then grinned. "Play well-enough; and maybe the Catapults' scout will suggest to my managers that they just hire the lot of us to play in those Christmas matches."**

" **Miya's hot," Brock told him. "Maybe we should only take the top two Chasers with us from today and keep her."**

" **If you could have a team with you and six hot Witches; you wouldn't care whether you win or lose matches anymore," Ollie offered with a snort. "Most of us prefer to have our Witches where they belong – naked and in our beds."**

 **That assertion earned him a raucous round of laughs, and since one of the Witches that at least some of them would like to see in that state called them out into the stadium then; they all looked as though they were ready to have a blast as they flew out into the stadium!**

" **James is a bit busy, so should I do his version of the player profiles today?" Lily asked sweetly with just a hint of malice as they watched James and Ollie lead the way out and around the stadium.**

" **No, you shouldn't," Al told her with a smile – "even if everyone around us would find your version entertaining."**

" **Some of us find Teresa and Kylie entertaining," Cyndia pointed out. "Do you think the Gryffindor guys will be upset if Scorpius is named hottest Wizard in the match today?"**

" **Teresa might get in trouble if she picks Louis instead," Gwendolyn suggested.**

" **She and Deanna are twins – maybe they've switched places for the match just to mess with all of us," Pauline suggested.**

" **Have you ever done that with your twin?" Gwendolyn shot back; and Pauline laughed.**

" **No – and I'm not curious-enough about finding out what it's like to be Peter to brew up a batch of Polyjuice so we could find out."**

" **Not to mention that if we tried that on a game day; our team would be in big trouble with me at Seeker," Peter joked. "Teresa and Deanna can look alike if they try to do that; but I could always tell them apart – even when we were little."**

" **I don't even think about them being your cousins," Lily admitted. "That must've been different growing up in a family with two sets of twins."**

" **Three sets – including our Mums," Pauline reminded her; and then grinned at Lily. "Maybe you'll get to find out what that's like with your kids – and your nieces – someday."**

 **Lily laughed. "I might actually be okay with that – if it meant only needing to miss one Quidditch season in the show."**

" **I'd make a comment about that; but it's likely still too-early to make jokes about getting that out of the way before your rookie season," Ray suggested; and then laughed when Cyndia elbowed him. "Yep – definitely too soon for that!"**

" **But not actually a horrid idea," Lily told him. "Malorie ended up with all O's except for one E on her NEWTs; and thinks that being pregnant might have actually helped her to get more focused on those exams."**

" **Malorie didn't want to play for her House team," Rose pointed out. "That'd be a bit of a problem for you – and if you don't play that year; you'll have no chance of impressing the selection committees for the national teams to have a shot at being Seeker for our national team in the Quidditch World Cup the summer after you graduate."**

" **Okay, that won't work for me," Lily agreed; and then smiled at Pauline. "Are you hoping to get picked for this next Quidditch World Cup?"**

" **I'd love that," Pauline assured her; "but there's not much chance of that. I'll have to settle for getting my shot with the next one too – so good luck with that in advance."**

" **Thanks – break a leg," Lily offered impishly.**

" **Did you help out with writing that song for the band?" Pauline asked after joining in on the round of laughs.**

" **No, but Jonah and I did get to hear it a few dozen times while it was still a work in progress," Lily answered. "We should probably get back to this match; since I've managed to avoid saying anything I shouldn't while the players on both teams were being introduced."**

 **Al hadn't missed out on those introductions that Teresa and Kylie took turns doing; but he was glad that none of his friends took the chance to make fun of any of the players on either team. Their game announcers needed to get creative with those player introductions on both teams; and somehow managed to do that well – whether they were introducing Romeo with his near-total lack of match-history to the Wizards on both teams that hadn't been able to play at all while suspended from Hogwarts or playing Quidditch last season. Ollie was the only member of the Gryffindor team in that group; but half of the Slytherin team had nothing for Teresa or Kylie to talk about at all.**

 **It wasn't much longer before Mr. Peakes got the match started; and then it was time to watch the show as Scorpius easily won the opening race for the quaffle over Ollie despite Ollie's attempt to knock him out of the way at take-off. Al found it easier to remain in a happy place as the Quidditch action heated up and the Slytherin hits began to add up, so that was progress since the first match of the season; but then his own team was playing tough too – if without the cheating attempts from most of the players. That wasn't totally true, since James and Ollie were both, at the very least, bending the rules when they thought they could get away with it; but then their primary opponents were doing the same.**

 **Leaving those parts of the match aside; Al found himself enjoying the game play – and could do that without comparing what he was watching with what might have been had 'his' team been playing today instead of the team that James and Ollie had put together. He did think about how the action above the pitch would look to the other spectators – and the league team scouts; and he was sure that James' plan for that was likely working out exactly as he wanted too – with him looking like the best player out there! He didn't even suggest that to anyone, since that really would sound like sour grapes; but that didn't make the statement untrue.**

 **Louis was playing great, and he really was almost as good as Rose; but then he had a tough job because he was up against a quality Chaser in Scorpius while not having the Chaser defense support that would have made that battle a bit easier. That wasn't entirely a hit on Romeo – he should've never been matched up against Scorpius in the first place while Ollie opted to battle against Blaise Zabini – or Davis instead; whenever he could get the weakest match-ups. That made Louis' job harder – and Rupert Avery's defense of the Slytherin goals easier. The net effect, though, was that the two teams looked very evenly matched.**

 **That was true at every position including Beater. Tiberius and Brock were once again among the best Beater duos in the school; but so were Slytherin Captain, Don Rosier, and his Beater partner, Monty Crabbe – another of the Slytherins returning from his suspension a year ago. The one, obvious exception was at Seeker, and while James played it up; Al knew that G-Air hadn't kept up with the progress James had made over the past year – two years; since he hadn't played for Slytherin in his fourth-year either. James' theatrics hid that fact for most of the spectators; but didn't fool Al – or any of the other Seekers in the stadium either.**

 **Putting on a show for the scouts was the only reason for why the match lasted as long as it did – and James ended it at the two hour and seventeen minute mark with a flashy, spectacular-looking play that included making Tiberius look good too thanks to a perfectly-timed bludger hit on G-Air that gave James the chance for the fancy flying ahead of the snitch catch. The one-ninety to sixty score looked great for Louis and Rupert; Scorpius appeared to be next-best to James with five of six Slytherin goals in the loss; and Ollie was top Gryffindor Chaser with half of his team's four goals while not giving up any on defense – if you didn't count the mistakes he made that led to goals that ended up technically being against Magnus or Romeo.**

" **You're doing well-enough; but don't think we didn't notice that you weren't on your feet and cheering five seconds before that catch like you would have been with Lily," Gwendolyn teased quietly; earning a laugh from Al.**

" **Actually, I had to do that on the inside for Lily's last match. It would have blown my invisibility cover had I started cheering while hiding behind that charm." He was still smiling as he watched James take a victory lap; but then go and start offering mid-air congratulations to his Slytherin friends – even before he went to celebrate with his own team.**

" **Well – that's new," Gwendolyn said in surprise. "Is that show of good sportsmanship part of his master plan?"**

" **Yes," Al agreed simply. "It's working for him too."**

" **No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed – "and I seriously-doubt that Peter will be sharing any high-fives with Don Rosier after our match in January." She'd offered that comment more-loudly; and earned a round of laughs.**

" **He'd likely use his Beater bat for that if I tried," Peter offered.**

" **And miss your hand and hit you in the head," Pauline added with another laugh. "We shouldn't make fun of that, though; since James has managed to make some Slytherin friends – and that's something that most of us can't claim."**

" **You're asking a lot," Peter joked; "but I'll give you that one – if only because it's nice not to end these Gryffindor-Slytherin matches with any of the nastiness we've had in other years."**

 **Al actually agreed with Peter on that one – though it didn't keep others from making a few jokes before the conversation moved on. He and Gwendolyn gathered up their things; went along with pretty much everyone in their game-watching group out to center pitch; and managed to get through congratulating James without incident because he got Gwendolyn to time that for when the Catapults' scout met up with James – and his brother had to play nice while trying to also talk up his team mates – and his Slytherin friends too. He and Gwendolyn didn't hang around for long; moved on; and spent the rest of the morning in the Room of Requirements so that he could have a bit of a break from the mental noise before going to have lunch in the Great Hall.**

 **They didn't have a must-watch Quidditch match booked for the afternoon, and while there was a victory party going on in the Gryffindor common room; Al only made the briefest of appearances – on his way to and from his dorm room while getting what he wanted for an afternoon of studying, research, and tutoring. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah all joined him for some or all of that; they split their time between the library, one of the Potions dungeon classrooms, and the greenhouses. Al and Gwendolyn split up while having dinner; and then they took the evening for themselves – and did that in the Room of Requirements so that Al could have another break from the world around them while they played a bit of Quidditch; had some music fun; and then wrapped up their day with a fairly-brilliant snogging session!**

 **Gwendolyn had to go out on Prefect patrol shortly-before curfew, so she walked Al home; met up with Rose; and went out to do that while he went to bed. On Sunday, while she was busy with a make-up Quidditch practice and other things; Al spent the morning working in the Room of Requirements on toys and Christmas gifts. She was busy for most of the afternoon too; so he did research in the library; helped some teens and tweens in need in his now-normal, quiet way; and then they spent the evening together with Lily and Jonah for family night. The mirror chats with their parents, Malorie, and the twins were highlights of the evening; but the music play time and cuddling while watching mirror network shows was great too. They all went for the visit to the Owlery, and while the weekly letters were important for all of them; Winter also took the finalized 'master' toy prototypes that were the final versions of the new toys that would be in stores for the new Christmas line-up. Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah home this time; and then Al was happy to wrap up his weekend with that bit of quiet brother-sister time as they walked back to Gryffindor tower before he went on to his dorm room and off to sleep – and did that while half of his roommates were still in the common room and not even thinking about heading up to bed too.**

 **The second week of November was a strange, mixed bag of fun and work for Al. There were two family birthdays, but he didn't have anything to do with Charlene's seventeenth on Monday or Molly's twentieth on Saturday other than the gifts that he and Gwendolyn had already sent for each of them – and through a family birthday package for Charlene. Their Professors were pushing hard to get new lessons and assignments done while they could do that ahead of the inevitable holiday distractions in December; so the OWL and NEWT students in particular really got dumped on.**

 **Continuing the efforts toward a return to normal while making the changes they all needed led to more complications that needed to be worked out, but Al spent time with Gwendolyn every day, and while they'd never done everything together before their fight; they each became more-independent of the other where needed too. For Al, that meant having some time for himself every day – usually in the Room of Requirements; where he'd work on his various projects or kick his studying up to the next level to keep ahead of the workload. While Gwendolyn was busy with Quidditch or Prefect duties; he'd help out around the castle with everything he was trying to quietly do to help his fellow students of all ages.**

 **He needed to work on his relationships with Lily, Rose, and the rest of their friends too, and while he sometimes did that with Gwendolyn; there were other times he just spent time with others on his own – like morning walk and talks with Rose or Quidditch workouts in the Room of Requirements that included a few more friends more often. Those workouts went a long way toward helping Rose, Ray, and Cyndia get past being mad at him for messing up their team hopes for the season; and that was entirely because he once again put the fun back into Quidditch for them while also helping them to get better at the game too.**

 **They had another open weekend to look forward to, but it wasn't a Quidditch-free week for the players-without-a-team members of their group – the Harpies just had their next match on Thursday evening. With a full day of classes all day and Astronomy at midnight; Al and Gwendolyn couldn't take the evening off, but they did set up his mirror and sofas; and had most of their usual game-watching relatives and friends along for their evening study session – and Al joined them for that work and Quidditch fun time. Most of the teens and tweens in the room studied at first too, but there were some of the spots on the sofas taken up right from the start too. Al sat at the usual work table with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their study group, and they were furthest from the sofas; but he was glad to have Lily and Jonah at the table next to him so that they could talk together while they all worked and half-listened to the pre-game show. The multi-tasking slowed all of them down a bit; but they had more fun!**

" **It's been a while since I've watched a match that Lee wasn't doing," Lily said after hearing the prediction for a Harpies' win over the Wanderers. "I know he can't do every match along with the rest of the work he has with his nightly show and the rest; but the Quidditch News Network could use a few better options for the rest of their shows. If I had a History assignment to work on right now; I'd be asleep."**

" **Would you need the Quidditch too?" Hugo teased. "I don't."**

" **You certainly don't when we're in that class," Lily shot back; "but you guys know what I mean – and I'm not just saying that because we're biased for Lee because of the family ties."**

" **Teresa will be done this year," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Maybe they'll give her a shot – and then have Kylie join her after she graduates."**

" **We've talked about that before," Lily answered with a nod. "I think they'd do great; but have no idea how long it takes to work up to actually being on one of those teams. Lee was first, so he didn't go through that; but there are a lot more people working for the Quidditch News doing all sorts of different jobs. For all I know; it might take years now to be an announcer or commentator."**

" **Your Mum would likely get a job on one of those shows in a second if she wanted one," Jonah suggested.**

" **I don't want Mum to get a job this year – or at least one that would take up that much time," Lily said seriously. "If Mum and Dad are still unemployed next summer; I'm hoping we'll get to go and see Quidditch World Cup matches all summer!"**

" **Wouldn't you be able to tag along if that was her job?" Jonah asked?" Maybe you could even get a summer job working for her doing that – unless you want to work for the Harpies like James has been doing the last two summers with the Catapults."**

" **Going to those matches without the work would be more fun," Lily countered. "It's so hard to go sightseeing, shopping, and the rest if you have to work for days before the match and then move on to get ready for the next one the day after the game."**

" **Which works out great except for the part where it's hard to do any of the fun stuff without making the money to pay for it first," Hugo pointed out. "I expect to be at one of those matches every week – helping Dad out with the wheezes booths."**

 **Lily nodded. "Honestly – I wasn't thinking about that. Fred and Roxanne will likely get drafted too. Are you going to help with that too, Rose?"**

" **I don't know yet," Rose answered with a shrug. "I'd like to go to at least one match every week next summer, but if Dad needs extra help the rest of the week; I'd rather do that at one of the stores instead of being away from home from the time we get done school until after the Quidditch World Cup championship match."**

" **If you're hoping to be gone for more than half the summer; would you be taking Jaimie and Lorie along with you?" Gwendolyn asked Lily. "Malorie won't be able to take the summer off from her job."**

 **Lily frowned. "I hadn't thought about that either. Malorie does get holiday time; so she might be willing to come along for a trip or two, but the girls will only be coming up on a year old; so that's a bit early to send them off for long summer holidays with their grandparents, aunts, and uncle."**

" **You're including me in that again?" Gwendolyn asked; and Lily laughed.**

" **You're wearing the ring," she pointed out. "Jaimie, Lorie, and I are going to hope that Al doesn't mess up with you again so that we get to keep you."**

 **That half-joke led to some girl chat that meandered along from Al's chances of staying out of trouble to the consequences of accepting certain types of jewelry gifts. The Harpies-Wanderers' match eventually got started too; and the studying and game-watching continued through until near-curfew – though the Quidditch match only lasted for two hours and forty minutes of that time thanks to a great snitch catch from Gabrielle that helped her team to a two-thirty to twenty victory. Victoire had led the way for the Harpies' Chasers to that point, but the Wanderers' Keeper had played very well; so it could have been a very long night had Gabrielle not won her Seeker duel sooner instead of later.**

 **While the open weekend was something that Al welcomed having because it gave him extra time to work on other things beyond his classes and studies; Gwendolyn was happy too because she would get to have her normal team Quidditch practice on Saturday; she had fewer Prefect duties than she did when there were other activities going on; and it allowed for some bonus play time with Al too. They didn't get involved in Andrea Avery's fourteenth birthday or party on Friday, but that was a big gossip story thanks to having it outside of Slytherin House so that James could attend. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't expected an invitation, but while they didn't have nearly as much fun as the party-goers apparently did; they did get all or most of their weekend revision finished by the time Gwendolyn needed to go out on patrol.**

 **Extra free time allowed Al and Gwendolyn to have more fun on Saturday and Sunday, but they each helped out around the castle too – in their own ways. For Gwendolyn, that was almost always through her Prefect duties; while Al continued to help out wherever he sensed the need and could make a difference in all of the small, quiet ways that didn't attract attention and allowed him to stay out of the spotlight. Even he recognized the inconsistency of those efforts to the obvious attention when he was seen playing in animal form around the castle and school grounds pretty much daily now, but he actually had a plan for that too – use his Animorphmagus talents often-enough that nobody thought of it as being a big deal anymore.**

 **Having fun along the way to that goal was just a really awesome bonus!**

 **While Gwendolyn was busy for most of Saturday morning, Al worked on Christmas gifts and other magical play time in the Room of Requirements. The girls ended up having an afternoon pool party, so Al split his time between the library and Room of Requirements doing good deeds or having fun with extra magical play time; and then he and Gwendolyn took as much of the evening off for themselves as she could get before needing to get back to being a Prefect again. On Sunday, they had a group research session in the library and some greenhouse time after that before going for lunch and taking the rest of the day off. They had Quidditch in the Room of Requirements and a co-ed swim during the afternoon; and then Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their weekend with another family night that continued to be their best chance to spend some quality time with Lily and Jonah.**

 **That was to be the last open weekend through to the Christmas break, but with less than two weeks left until the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match; Al and Gwendolyn worked through the next school week in very different ways. For her, it was all about Quidditch – and keeping up with her studies and Prefect duties was just work she had to do that got in the way of the most-important thing in her life. Al, on the other hand, helped her out with that training with three bonus Chaser duels in the Room of Requirements, but he continued to focus on being happy and helping others while having fun with all of his classes and assignments too.**

 **Quidditch wasn't the top gossip topic during those five days – the Hogsmeade weekend and the teen drama surrounding it had that honor. The first 'real' snow of the winter arrived on Thursday and Friday, and while there wasn't a lot of it; the ground was covered in a thin blanket of white as they headed into the weekend. Al and Gwendolyn had a little bit of fun with that – after her practice on Thursday; when he surprised her with some Sabre-Samoyed snow play that included having him pull her around on a conjured dog sled for a while before they had to get into the Great Hall for dinner. They didn't have any play time on Friday night because they needed to study, but Al worked with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah while the rest of their group took the night off; and they got all of their weekend assignments finished by the time the girls needed to head out and get started on their nightly Prefect duties.**

 **Finally, after a very long week, it was time to take a day off to play in town and watch a Harpies match! Al started his day with his early workout, but then he met up with Rose and Lily for a morning walk and talk before breakfast; they all enjoyed the hot meal in the Great Hall; and then he was happy to meet up with Gwendolyn for the walk to town. She did not want to go for a too-cold horseback ride, and he couldn't pull all of their friends on a wagon or carriage; so they walked to town with Lily, Jonah, and a dozen cousins and friends; Rose and Susannah went with them into the Three Broomsticks; and they met up with Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and the twins for the now-regular Hogsmeade weekend visits.**

" **While you're waiting for baby cuddles; don't you have something you really need to show me?" Ginny asked Gwendolyn as Lily and Al got first-cuddles with Jaimie and Lorie.**

 **Gwendolyn looked at her blankly for a moment; and then her face lit up and she laughed. "I forgot that I didn't start wearing it until after we saw you here on the Halloween weeekend. We did show it to you on that next mirror chat."**

" **That's just not the same," Ginny assured her while also taking Gwendolyn's hand and looking down at the ring with a happy smile on her face. "Your story for this is a lot funnier than mine is for the promise ring that Harry gave me before I headed back to Hogwarts after the war while he stayed behind to play Auror with Ron and Neville; but I'll guess that it feels as awesome for you now as it did for me back then."**

" **It does," Gwendolyn assured her – "though maybe Al should be worried about that."**

" **Why?"**

" **Because he told me that if I didn't want to wear it or give him another chance that he made it unbreakable; and I should blast it instead of him anytime I got mad at him again. Well, I'm not going to blast it when that'd end badly for my hand – even if it wouldn't hurt the ring." Ginny laughed and hugged her.**

" **I take it back – you may well have one of the funniest promise ring stories in the Wizarding World!"**

" **I don't know about that, but it definitely isn't anything I'd have ever dreamed up while making up my happily ever after stories as a little girl."**

" **It is still a story with the Wizard you had in all of those little-girl fantasies; so it's all good," Lily suggested with a grin. "Let's get you into the baby rotation," she added while passing Jaimie to her. Aunt Rose and Aunt Susannah want to get in on the fun too."**

" **Aunt Susannah?" Susannah asked in amusement. "Did I get adopted?"**

" **Sure," Lily agreed. "All of Mum and Dad's best friends are our aunts and uncles; so I think that Jaimie and Lorie will be okay with doing that too. Besides – aren't you going to be a member of Rose's Cannons family?"**

" **I might think about that charity job – if it actually happens some day," Susannah admitted. "Mum and Dad think I could do well at the Ministry of Magic too; but I don't really think that I'd like all of the hassles that go along with most of the jobs there."**

" **Well, I like my new part-time job with the grandparent babysitting service a lot more than my last gig," Harry joked with a grin.**

" **Well, when something stinks in this job, you can fix it with a diaper change," Lily joked. "The Ministry of Magic is more-likely to make the mess worse – assuming they actually get to the bottom of what's making the stink in the first place."**

 **The baby-themed humor rolled on for a while, and Al had fun with that; but it was the cuddle time with the twins that he loved best – including some cuddle time where he shared a baby with Gwendolyn. They sat down and had hot drinks too; heard the latest baby stories from Malorie; and then it was time for her to take the girls home too –soon while Harry and Ginny needed to help her with that before going on to their usual game-day plans. The goodbyes took a while – in part because they collectively decided that it would be the last Hogsmeade visit for the twins when it was just four weeks to the Christmas holidays. Ginny went with Malorie right away when they were ready to go, but Harry stayed behind for a while because he wanted to take that opportunity to track James down when he wouldn't be able to dodge him or ignore mirror chat requests. He didn't do that with Al and Lily; but went off on his own while they moved on to do all of the supply shopping they needed to get done before heading back to the castle for the Harpies match.**

" **Good morning, James," Harry said quietly as he stepped up next to his eldest son. He nodded at Rosinda and smiled at her. "Rosinda. It's nice to see you. Have you been having a good school year so far?"**

" **Hello; and yes, I have," Rosinda answered as James said – "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be taking care of the loser's litter or something?"**

" **I wanted to talk to you for a minute, and since you're not answering our mirror chat requests; this was my best chance to do that. Before you get offended about it; your mother and I just want to ask you about a Christmas gift that we'd like to get you; and need an answer about whether you'd want it or not soon-enough to get it for you."**

" **If you're offering to get me a dead Animorphloser for Christmas – go for it!" James retorted with a dark smirk. "You shouldn't have needed to ask."**

" **I really hope you get over all of that hate some day," Harry said sadly. "No, what we thought you might actually like for Christmas was a room at the Leaky for the two weeks you'll be home – instead of either jumping around and staying with different friends or spending the entire two weeks with one of them. You've also made it clear that you don't want to spend Christmas with us or come to the family Christmas again this year; but we'd like to take you and a date out for dinner somewhere in London while you're home – if you'll let us spend at least that much time with you before you're seventeen and can choose to stay away from us after that if you really don't want to have anything to do with us after that."**

" **What's the catch?" James asked suspiciously. "You'll have your friend keep an eye on me the whole time?" Harry laughed at that; and James scowled darkly.**

" **I'm sorry, but I don't need my friends to help keep an eye on you, James – and you ought to know that well-enough by now. If your Mum and I were worried about that; we'd prefer to have you stay with your friends' families instead. Honestly, James, we just thought you'd like to spend your holidays in London. You're not seventeen yet, so you'd be right there at Diagon Alley; could use the Knight bus or Muggle transit to get around; and can either use the Floo Network, or I'll come and help you get to and from work while you're training with the Catapults. I do need to know, though; since Hannah's already holding a room for you that she could have booked if you don't want it."**

" **If he doesn't want it – can I have it?" Rosinda asked with a grin for James. "I want to spend lots of time with my family too, but having somewhere quiet to go and get away from them at bedtime would be really great!"**

 **Harry laughed. "Maybe Ginny and I should've thought this through," he joked. "That actually sounds like a brilliant idea that we should have considered for ourselves!"**

" **Gross!" James said in disgust. "I'll take the room – especially if that'll get you to shut up and get out of here before you embarrass me anymore than you already have."**

" **Don't be embarrassed," Rosinda told him with a smile. "If you think that's scary – just think about how scary life will be for us if that part of our lives was over by the time we were in our thirties!"**

" **He's in his forties," James shot back; and Rosinda's smile just brightened.**

" **Good for him – and you," she offered meaningfully. "If you don't get my point now; keep me on your mirror chat list; call me in thirty years; and I'll explain it to you again when you're old-enough to appreciate it."**

" **Now you're scaring the parent," Harry joked. "I'm leaving now. We'll get that set up for you, James; and you can get yourself there from King's Cross – unless you need me to help you get somewhere else once you're home for anything you have booked with the Catapults."**

" **I'll take care of myself," James retorted; paused; and then smirked at him. "Are you still here?"**

" **Just leaving," Harry assured him; and then paused before heading for the store exit. "Sorry – there was just one more thing for me to tell you just in case we don't talk again before you come home for the holidays. Any meals you want to have at the Leaky will be covered too, but you'll need to let Hannah know if you'll want in on the Christmas Day dinner ahead of time; since that's only for their family and guests that don't have other plans."**

" **Fine – now get out of here before you completely ruin my reputation!"**

" **Do you know what's up with Dad going to track down James?" Lily asked Al after they left the Three Broomsticks.**

" **Yes," Al agreed; and then grinned while not saying anything more.**

" **And?" Lily prompted.**

" **And it's Christmas-related and none of our business – yet."**

" **That is not an acceptable answer," Lily declared. "He is not going to ask James for advice about gifts for us, so if he's talking Christmas; it's for a gift for James that, obviously, isn't meant to be a surprise for him. Now out with it!"**

" **That was pretty good," Al complimented her. "I'll make you a deal. If I sense that James decides that he wants that Christmas non-surprise; I'll let you know what it is. If not – it doesn't matter."**

" **It might – if it's a really, really awesome gift!" Lily countered.**

" **Maybe your Mum and Dad want to give him a mansion," Gwendolyn joked. "Then what would James do?"**

" **Find every reason to hate it for not being Grimmauld Place," Lily offered. "That isn't it, but since Al won't tell us; I guess we can speculate. What might Mum and Dad want to get him that they also can't surprise him with at Christmas?"**

" **Another underage waiver so that Al can play for the Catapults over the holidays too?" Rose asked whimsically. "That'd be funny."**

" **That'd be a horror for all of us," Gwendolyn countered. "On the other hand, James might like the gift a lot if they wanted to buy the team for him."**

" **Aren't they unemployed?" Susannah pointed out. "That seems a bit too much to hope for – not to mention that their Mum would want to buy the Harpies if she could afford to buy a league team." She smiled at Rose. "Do you even have much of an idea yet how much it would cost to buy even the worst team of the last century – let alone any of the top teams?"**

" **Not yet," Rose admitted. "Millions of galleons for sure. I doubt that the owners for teams like the Harpies or United could have a price on them because the owners would never sell at any price."**

" **That's a funny suggestion, but James would be the worst if he was team owner," Lily offered. "I was thinking more along the lines of a new Muggle car or truck. James will be seventeen soon; and will be able to get his Muggle driver's license. That's something that Mum and Dad definitely wouldn't want to buy first and find out he's decided not to do things like that."**

 **Taking their chat in that direction had them all talking and thinking about gifts that really would need to be discussed first – even though Al knew what his father actually wanted to get for James. He wrapped up that chat by telling Lily about it once he did sense that James had wanted the holiday stay at the Leaky; and that news had surprised all four of the girls. That wasn't something they could talk about with anyone else – unless James started bragging about it with his mates; so they moved on with their shopping fun from there. Al did a lot of the boring shopping with help from Jonah; the girls helped with getting sweets and other treats; and they had bonus fun thanks to the Christmas toys and other gift-worthy things that were in stores for the holidays.**

 **Al's magical earbuds for all types of mirrors were out in limited supply, but they also weren't cheap; so there weren't a lot of sales. The top-selling Christmas-themed item in town was likely the soundtrack album for the Home for Christmas musical that all of the teens and tweens wanted. Al bought several copies; since they'd be good for gifts too; and bought two of the new Christmas Animorphmagus toys too. Holiday wheezes and sweets were also out, so they collectively bought some of both to go along with the usual treats; but they had fun browsing the stores too – since it helped them get new ideas for the Christmas shopping they'd do once they were home for the holidays. They were pushing the time limit for the start of the Quidditch match by late morning; so they split up; Rose and Susannah went to the Three Broomsticks to get in line for a table and then pre-order the food for all of them; and Al and Gwendolyn led the charge to finish up their shopping.**

 **They were able to get the work done; had a quick lunch, and headed back to the castle, but once there; they split up again and Al and Jonah were put in charge of getting the study classroom set up for the game watching. Some of their younger game-watchers were there already, so they had help for that; and had everything ready by the time Lee and his team got around to their weekly predictions. The rest of their older friends caught up with them eventually; but most of them missed the start of the match. Gwendolyn was there before the first goal was scored; and Al was happy to cuddle with her and watch their Harpies battle the Wimbourne Wasps.**

" **I'm not suggesting that the Wasps aren't still one of the top teams in the league or that they can't win today; but they are going to need to take a look toward the future sooner instead of later," Gwendolyn told Al quietly as they watched Victoire switching to defense after scoring a goal on the Wasps' Keeper. "Jeremy looked slow on that play – and all three of their Chasers are having a tough time keeping up with ours – at least so far."**

" **Your team has four veterans their ages or older," Al reminded her. "There is one difference, though – they've all taken seasons off while having their children."**

" **Should you be worried about where you're taking that?" Gwendolyn asked archly; and Al laughed quietly.**

" **I don't think so, but if I'm wrong about that; give me a head start. My point was that fifteen or twenty years without any real breaks is a long time to stay focused on any goals – especially when the big prize is so hard to win."**

" **That may be true, but taking that time off is always a problem for the team," Gwendolyn pointed out. "We were lucky to have your Mum step in when Gabrielle was off to have Riley and Caylee; but had to settle for weaker teams in other years – which really is one of the reasons that some teams prefer not to have any – or many – Witches playing for them."**

" **The question is, are teams like the Harpies more-successful over the long term because of those breaks; or not?" Al suggested. "Maybe Rose should get Malorie to add that to her research. Some Muggles take a sabbatical year off once every seven years from their jobs to do other things – whether that's going off to study or explore; or to just take a break. Maybe something like that could work for our Quidditch team."**

" **Your team – her team; not our team," Gwendolyn clarified with a grin. "Whenever I do get around to having kids; I don't want to space them out quite that far apart."**

" **I meant that for an example – or longer term plan," Al told her with a shrug. "One in seven years might be too far apart for Quidditch. What would really be awesome, though, would be to have that full team of fourteen really good players like we've talked about before that could rotate in and out while taking turns with those breaks without any major drop in the quality of play."**

" **You really do love that idea a lot, don't you?" Gwendolyn asked seriously; though she was smiling too. "Have you worked out how to pay for that yet?"**

" **I have some ideas," he assured her. "You'd definitely need owners crazy-enough to give some radical ideas a try, though; so I don't know if I could even sell Rose on my ideas for that."**

" **Especially when the fourteen good players idea sounds a lot like what James claims he's doing this season," Gwendolyn teased.**

" **I didn't have a problem with his general idea – except that he's made it a faux-competition. That isn't what I'd want for the Cannons."**

" **You'd want everyone to play in peace and harmony," Gwendolyn suggested. "My next question, though, would be to ask how you plan on doing that while also wanting your players to be driven to compete well-enough to win matches and championships – hypothetically; since we are talking about you doing this with the Cannons."**

" **I don't think those two goals are incompatible," he insisted. "Maybe James' team this season is an example of that too – if only in concept. They've won their first match, and while we could talk about what would have been different had I stayed as Captain and picked a different team; the fact remainst that he did put a team together that was good-enough to beat Slytherin's team."**

" **So you're suggesting putting the best team you'd need to have a good shot at winning for each match?" Gwendolyn asked thoughtfully. "Egos would clash if you gave all of the easier matches to others on your team while playing in all of the big matches against the top teams."**

" **Not if you convinced everyone to check their egos at the door and care more about what is really important – having fun with people you love to hang out with while playing a game that you all love to play. This isn't an idea for most players, but if you could get the right mix; I really do think that you could have fun and be happy all of the time – and still win a lot too."**

" **It is something to think about," Gwendolyn admitted – "though I'd still want to play in every match; so it's a good thing I'll be with the Harpies. Getting back to the Wasps, though; you don't think it's time for them to be looking to recruit some new talent? The other teams have got to be looking at United and wondering how they're going to keep up."**

" **The Catapults are doing that for sure," Al offered with a grin; and then shrugged. "I don't know. I'd still rank Aaron top-three for league Seekers. Jeremy's still good too, but then he's part of a trio of Chasers that are more-like Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia; and they're not working as well together as they have in the past. If they can get the balance back; they'd be okay too. If not; then they'll likely need to change things up. I don't want to pick on any of the individual players, but if I was going to make changes; it'd be at Beater and Keeper for the Wasps. I don't know whether they have the budget for that, but there are going to be some pretty good Beater duos coming up out of Hogwarts over the next five or six years – including the McClaggens."**

" **Won't you need four of them for your hypothetical Cannons team?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.**

" **That would be great, but even if that would be brilliantly-funny; I don't see Tiberius and Brock waiting for Rose to graduate to play in the show. They'll get snapped up by one of the other teams; and not for just a one or two-year contract."**

" **It's weird to think about it, but we don't have any top Beaters in our year," Gwendolyn mused. "That'll be a problem for Rose if she can't hire decent Beaters for her new and improved version of the Cannons."**

" **According to pretty much everyone; we'll have trouble finding five more players to join us," Al reminded her – "especially after the mess I made of my Quidditch season this year."**

" **I'd have agreed with them – until I found out that you just kept getting better while practicing on your own. That, by the way, is very annoying. Most of us need the challenges from others to get better."**

 **Al shrugged. "I just like to have fun. Coming up with new tricks is a nice bonus; so I'm okay with that part of my Quidditch play time." He grinned at her then. "So is playing with you."**

" **Save that thought for later – and not necessarily in a Quidditch sort of way," she suggested meaningfully.**

 **He was happy to do that, but 'later' really meant just that because the Harpies and Wasps got into an epic battle. During the next few hours, Victoire led her team to a one-sixty lead. They didn't get much beyond holding that lead, though; so Aaron didn't try to catch the snitch for the loss; so he and Gabrielle kept the Seeker battle going but on a defensive tactic for him while she could wait around for best chances to end the match. Aaron kept her from doing that; so the match was still going on when Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone watching the match with them needed to go to the Great Hall for dinner. Al and Rose watched the match on his portable mirror while having that meal; and got to see the tide turn in favor of the Wasps when Vicky was injured and practically-incapacitated.**

 **Gabrielle had, at that point, tried her best to catch the snitch, but as the game-watching returned to the classroom and Al's bigger mirror; she wasn't able to do that before Jeremy got the Wasps back into the game by cutting the lead to one-fifty. The Seeker duel heated up after that as Gabrielle and Aaron took turns on offense as the Harpies' lead switched above or below one-fifty, but it was Aaron's turn to win that battle – and he did that to earn a narrow three-ninety to three-eighty victory after a bit more than five and a half hours of grueling Quidditch.**

 **With timeouts – and there had been more than usual for various reasons; it was past-eight by then; so most of the game watchers just switched to watching other mirror network shows. It was later, though, so Gwendolyn took Al to the Room of Requirements; he happily joined in for a brilliant snogging session; and then he went back to their study classroom to help with packing up ahead of curfew while she went out on Prefect patrol – both of them very happy with how great their day off had been! Al went back to his House with Lily and the other Gryffindors, but Rose had Prefect duties with Susannah; so they had to stay out and work too while he got to go up to his dorm room and go off to sleep not long after getting there.**

 **The perks that went along with being Prefect were things that Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah really loved a lot, but they also liked the benefits that came with Al not being a Prefect. Helping them out on Sunday morning with some healing to wash away the fatigue that came with not getting as much sleep as he did was definitely something they enjoyed – though he got teased about doing that for Susannah – just as he did any time he helped other Witches that he wasn't either related to or dating. His help went a long way toward making Sunday more fun for all of them; and it really was easy to have fun again – even though their OWL year was supposed to be the toughest so far for them.**

 **Their proficiency with RevisionWizard had a lot to do with getting their assignments finished more quickly, and the upgrades that Al had only given to his own study group friends were part of the mix of things that had changed to make their studying efficiency improve so much; but the only thing that really mattered was being happier as they kept entertained on Sunday. They studied or tutored all morning – though Gwendolyn had another make-up Quidditch practice with her team too; the girls had some Prefect duties to attend to after lunch for a while; and Al played in the Room of Requirements while they were busy with a Prefect meeting and the rest of their work. He had a late-afternoon Chaser duel with Gwendolyn once she was able to hang out with him again; and then they wrapped up their weekend with the Sunday night family fun. The Owlery visit and the walks to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers were followed by another early bedtime for Al – though he did a bit of walk-by tutoring along the way – something that he did on the fly fairly-often without even thinking about it anymore.**

 **On Monday, Quidditch was back in the gossip news in the lead-up to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match; but Al and Gwendolyn had a bit of weird in their life too – thanks to Lysandra's sixteenth birthday. That really was just a cameo visit, but Scorpius put a party on for her in a classroom so that they could have other friends attend – including the other Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl. Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah had gotten her a gift in Hogsmeade that Al and Ray only helped out with for splitting the cost, but they didn't stay long because Al knew that he wasn't welcome – and Gwendolyn didn't want to stay there without him. James was also in fine form; he and Ollie had spiked one of the punch bowls; and Al was sure that it wasn't going to end up being the kind of party that he wanted to be at whenever it did eventually wrap up for the night.**

 **He hadn't needed the post-party gossip and mental feedback to confirm that on Tuesday, but got it anyway; and James and Ollie were not the only teens having a bad morning after partying too hard on a school night. There were some annoyed Professors too, since some assignments didn't get finished and they had to deal with student issues ranging from hangovers to grouchy, tired teens. Al and Gwendolyn didn't earn any points from their haters for being so happy and well-rested by comparison, but then they really did have a good day – and rest of the week! They both worked hard – and that was especially-true for Gwendolyn as she got ready for her big Quidditch match; and Al helped her out with that in every way possible – while also staying out of the Quidditch spotlight. He helped her with bonus Quidditch workouts; they put in extra study time every chance they had to keep up with that work; and he did all he could to make sure she was happy and having fun along the way instead of getting stressed and anxious.**

 **Game day did finally arrive, though, and while they didn't get all of their weekend revision finished on Friday because of everything else Gwendolyn had needed to do in addition to those assignments; she put everything else aside and focused all of her attention on the job at hand – trying to win her first Quidditch match of the season. Al helped her out with that too, but only with a horseback ride to the stadium; a good luck gift; and several hugs and kisses. The rest of his early-morning fun on Saturday had either been on his own as he did a Tai Chi workout in the Room of Requirements; his morning walk and talk with Rose; or the visit he had with Hagrid between seeing Gwendolyn into the Ravenclaw locker room and when he needed to be back at the stadium to meet up with Rose, Lily, and the rest of the group they wanted to watch the match with.**

 **James groaned; closed his eyes to block out the too-bright light; and rolled over in his bed.**

" **I died – nobody's home." he croaked.**

" **You only wish that," Tiberius told him unsympathetically. "We've a Quidditch match to go and see – and it starts in a bit more than a half hour. You should shower and clean up; since you're a bit fragrant right now."**

" **Go on without me," James told him bluntly.**

" **We have to play both of those teams," Tiberius reminded him. "Don't you want to at least see how good they are before we do that – especially since this will be our only chance to see Hufflepuff before we play them in February."**

 **James snorted. "I don't need to see anything. Madison isn't half the Seeker I am; and I don't need to know anything more about Ravenclaw than I already do – and could care less about them anyway."**

" **You're team Captain," Tiberius reminded him. "You should be there."**

" **Fine – I'll meet you there. Now quit pestering me, Mum."**

" **Try to wake Ollie too. We tried; but he's apparently in even worse shape than you are."**

" **Yeah – whatever," James groused. "Now go away – that's an order!"**

" **Yes, Captain Cranky," Tiberius answered with a salute that James didn't see. "We'll save seats for you – unless the girls you're supposed to be at the game with decide to replace you with other cuddle buddies." James was passed out again already; and Tiberius shook his head.**

" **I told you," Brock said from where he'd been packing his book bag with the things he wanted to have with him at the stadium. "Look at the bright side – we won't have to sit behind the Animorphloser and his little gang while listening to James spout off on them for endless hours of stupid."**

 **Tiberius laughed. "I find all of that very entertaining," he advised his brother. "If you don't like it, though, you're welcome to sit with Rose; and then maybe you'll go and play with her for the Cannons when you grow up!"**

" **She's hot; but not so hot that I'd lose my mind and want to take a job like that!" Brock declared with a laugh. "Let's get going – or our own dates for the game will be mad at us and possibly go looking for replacements."**

" **Poor Al – it's the coldest day of the Quidditch season so far; and his cuddle buddy isn't available to sit with him today," Rose teased as he joined her; and he grinned as she held up her blanket so he could get under it with her.**

" **That works out for both of us; since Susannah is sitting in the Hufflepuff section today to support her team," Al offered. "Gwendolyn will have the problems trying to stay warm while flying around in this cold."**

" **She's been training in cold weather all week," Rose reminded him. "Do you think that Pauline will try the same trick she did against Slytherin last January?"**

" **No," Al answered simply. "Madison's a bit of an unknown, since we don't know how much she's improved since third-year now that she and Tory don't want to play in scrimmages with the rest of us anymore; so I wouldn't advise taking that kind of risk."**

" **That could be a good match-up," Rose suggested; "but I'll be more-interested in seeing whether Tory's gotten a lot better over the past year. Do you think that Peter wants to match Gwendolyn up against her – or against Roman or Jonah?" She'd wrapped up that question with a meaningful grin; and Al laughed.**

" **For Ravenclaw; I'd want to have Gwendolyn play against Roman; Stephanie against Tory; and Mark against Jonah."**

" **Any particular reason for that?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.**

" **We won't know for sure until we've seen them play for a while, but Roman is likely Hufflepuff's best Chaser this season; so Gwendolyn has the best chance of defending against him. I'm suggesting Tory for Stephanie because I think that Tory has a tendency to underestimate other Witches; but doesn't usually do that for Wizards."**

" **Except with you," Rose added. "That seems to be something else you've inherited from your Dad. Tory would be a bad match-up against Gwendolyn. She hates not measuring up; and plays worse when she's mad."**

" **Which is why I don't expect Roman to let that match-up happen. I hope that Gwendolyn has fun today, but I actually think that we'll be in for a defensive battle with Peter and Myra battling it out the same way Rupert and Louis did in the last match. The only way that won't happen will be if Roman, Jonah, and Tory don't work together as a trio."**

" **They've played together before," Rose reminded him; and Al nodded.**

" **Yeah, but their only win that season was practically a three-against-you Chaser duel," he reminded his cousin. "They'd better be ready to bring it today; or they'll be in for a very tough day."**

 **They continued to talk quietly together, but the cold changed things up for them a bit when it came to talking with everyone around them because nobody wanted to get too jostled or move around much when that'd send wafts of frigid air under their blankets. Lily was also sitting on the Ravenclaw side of the aisle so she could cuddle with Jonah; while the rest of her team mates sat in front of Al and Rose. Ray and Cyndia weren't even with them; because they'd opted to sit with her friends for a change while Gwendolyn and Susannah were busy anyway. Rose was happy to point out some good news for them; but Al had sensed it already; and it hadn't been a surprise.**

" **We're not going to get the James and Ollie show!" Rose exclaimed quietly. "Louis and Tiberius are taking their entourage elsewhere – and James and Ollie aren't with them!"**

" **That'll be great for us," Al answered with a smile and nod. "I'd better not say more; since James has mostly left us alone so far this fall – and you know what I mean."**

" **I do," Rose agreed, "but he's likely just quit while he's ahead. I'm not complaining either; but it's dumb for him not to care enough to at least check out the competition when he has the chance."**

" **He's a bit like Tory for that – except that he underestimates Witches." He smiled ruefully at Rose's reaction. "You know that's true," he added. "I'm sure that James believes he can easily beat Pauline and Madison – especially now that he's won two matches in the show."**

" **Well, he'd better hope that he wins those matches in February and May – and that they play well-enough to make it look as though he actually had tough matches against them."**

" **That might not fit into his plan," Al suggested. "Winning tough matches in the show will be one thing, but if he can make his wins here look relatively-easy; that contrast might mean more than tough wins."**

" **Maybe, but I don't see that happening – especially since he's yet to win a Seeker duel against Pauline – and Madison has beaten him too."**

 **Al laughed and then grinned ruefully. "Sorry, and it's wrong of me; but that had me thinking that James got beat by the second-best Chaser on this Ravenclaw team in a Seeker duel a few years ago too."**

" **You're right – that's really wrong," Rose teased. "Stephanie nearly-bested Pauline in their tryouts this year, though; and that says a lot about her skills that she did that while spending most of her practice time playing Chaser."**

" **It really does," Al agreed. "You should definitely keep her on your short list for the Cannons."**

" **I can do that, but we're down to a bit more than two years to go before we want to have the buying the team part of our plan to be a done deal; so we do need to come up with an actual plan to get those other five players we'll need for our rookie season."**

" **You don't think they'll come to play with us if I just go around saving a few more really good Quidditch players?" Al asked whimsically; and Rose laughed.**

" **They might, but if all of those players are Witches as beautiful as Stephanie; I'll need you to save six so that I have someone to take your spot on the team after Gwendolyn gets through with you."**

 **That joke was right before Teresa and Kylie began their pre-game show; so they settled in to stay warm and listen in while they advised everyone of the current Quidditch Cup standings and added in some other details before introducing the two teams. Gryffindor's two wins had them in first place, and Ravenclaw was in second at least until the outcome of their about-to-start match was known; and Hufflepuff was in third, but could end up anywhere between second and forth depending on whether they won or lost – and by how many points. The player introductions weren't news for Al and Rose; but they did pay extra attention to the Hufflepuff players as they flew around the stadium while being introduced.**

 **Roman Smith was their NEWT-year Captain; he'd opted to lead the way with his fellow Chasers, Tory, and Jonah; and that was a bit sad for Al because Roman had the only award of note of the three of them – the senior team title that Hufflepuff had won two seasons ago. Jonah had been a senior team reserve player that season, and Tory didn't have much of a record to talk about with the junior teams; so Kylie focused on more-generic positives – like making it onto the team or reserve squad every season so far.**

 **Feeling bad about that didn't keep Al from staying happy, but it did get him musing about whether he'd feel bad for himself if he'd be in that position instead of having so many successes. It was one thing to want to avoid bragging or walk away from accolades; and something else to want to stay out of the spotlight when you had none or few personal or team accomplishments to your credit. That definitely sounded egotistical even in his head, and there was no real way to test that when you wouldn't be under the same bright light without those successes; but it was still something to think about. He sure hoped that he could be happy in any situation, but to continue on with more internal bragging, he might not have any of the problems he did in his life if he didn't have some or all of his talents; and then none of what he was thinking about would matter at all!**

 **Those thoughts didn't get in the way of following the Hufflepuff players and thinking about them too. Myra Graves and Madison were in the second row,and while their awards were sparse too; Al thought that they were two of the best players on the Hufflepuff team. Without Rose playing for Gryffindor; Al thought that Myra and Louis were likely a near-tie for talent – with both of them a bit behind Peter. He hadn't seen Madison play in more than a year now, but she had true talent; and he expected that she'd worked hard to keep getting better while waiting for her next chance to play – and she had gotten to train against Alex all last season too! Eldon Cadwallader and Calvin Cootes were back at Beater for Hufflepuff, and while they were likely the lowest-ranked of the senior team Beater duos, that was relative; and they were still good – if not quite on the same level as the McClaggens.**

 **Al's visual attention was all for Gwendolyn as the Ravenclaw players did their lap of the stadium, and he was definitely in a happy place while watching her fly around with fierce joy and determination; but he didn't miss everything else going on around him too. He'd loved seeing Peter lead the way flanked by his sisters; and Teresa had a long list of accolades to talk about for them – including Quidditch Cups, junior and senior titles, and individual awards for all of them too. Gwendolyn and Mark followed them, and while Gwendolyn had all of the individual awards that Mark hadn't earned; he proved that being a really good player could pay off too; since he'd been part of many of those award-winning teams in his first five years at Hogwarts. Ditto that for Seth Bradley and Brandon Graves; though Al thought that they were under-rated because of their playing styles. They were both well-liked, nice guys; and played accordingly.**

 **Mr. Peakes did his fair play speech; the teams lined up; and Al's happy level kicked up a few notches – right along with the joy and enthusiasm he sensed within his amazing girlfriend as she won the chase for the quaffle over Roman and then went immediately on the attack. Myra made a great opening save on Stephanie after she took a great no-look pass from Gwendolyn; and the battle was on! Al and Rose talked about the action going on above the pitch, and while James would certainly never want their advice or analysis; they enjoyed doing that; and had fun as they broke down the plays and discussed how each of the players were doing in their first match of the season.**

" **I'm keeping Gwendolyn on my short list – but don't tell her that," Rose told Al after she scored her first goal on Myra. That had taken a little while because Myra and Peter were both playing well; but Gwendolyn actually beat her thanks to a Hufflepuff Chaser mistake.**

" **Couldn't you have done that without telling me?" Al pretended to grouse. "I won't lie to her if she asks."**

" **Then let's hope she doesn't ask. Gwendolyn and Stephanie are looking great, but if you were in that trio instead of Mark; I can see you as one of the best Chaser trios ever."**

" **Now you're even scaring me," Al teased. "Didn't you just razz me a little while ago about filling our team with beautiful Witches that I've saved and then needing to replace me once Gwendolyn got done with me? What happened to Ray? I thought that he – and Cyndia – were on your short list too."**

 **Rose grinned at him. "I'm looking at the bigger picture," she suggested. "I'd rather have Gwendolyn and Stephanie on my team than see them with Victoire and Lily on the Harpies."**

" **Gwendolyn's Mum might be picturing that if her scout is seeing what we are today," Al suggested. "I was expecting you to suggest that we could get all of them on our team; and then we'd just need one more to get to our six really good Chasers."**

" **Don't let Gwendolyn hear you talking like that," Rose warned; and Al laughed.**

" **I was talking about what I thought you might say," he reminded her. Before we move on, though; would you like a moment to think about that sixth Chaser – especially if you want to find a match for Stephanie too?" That suggestion kept them entertained for a few minutes; but then they got back to talking about the actual match and game play.**

" **Tory will hate me saying this; but she hasn't kept up with how much everyone else is improving," Rose told Al quietly-enough that nobody else would hear that comment.**

" **She's getting frustrated," Al advised her – "and she's blaming Roman and Jonah for her lack of success."**

" **I'd say they're all a bit of a mess today," Rose said seriously. "Ravenclaw is imposing their game plan on them, and while I get trying to change things up to break out of that; they aren't going to succeed by getting in each other's way. Gwendolyn and Stephanie see something too; since they've crossed Tory and Roman up a dozen times already."**

" **Tory's fixating on the quaffle," Al advised her. "Gwendolyn and Stephanie are using that to lead her into those cross-ups with Roman or Jonah. The only thing I'd change for the Ravenclaw Chasers right now would be to have Gwendolyn take more shots. Myra's guessing right every time against Stephanie and Mark right now. Gwendolyn should change that up – and then change back again once she gets predictable with that – and has a chance to rattle Myra a bit. She'll get stressed too – especially if Peter continues to save everything they throw at him."**

" **He's not getting the tough shots that Myra's getting," Rose said defensively; and Al nodded.**

" **True, but that won't matter if Myra's still facing a Keeper with a shut-out as the game rolls along."**

 **That assertion proved out, but Myra still fought hard – and nearly every goal she gave up was partially due to her Chasers getting in the way. Gwendolyn scored all three of the goals in the first hour to give her team the thirty-to-naught lead. She had four of five in the second hour as Stephanie managed to score one on Myra after a long spell where she and Mark didn't take any shots at all. Peter kept his shut-out going, and if anything; the quality of shots he faced went downhill as the match continued into the third hour. Al wasn't communicating telepathically with Gwendolyn, but she still followed his suggestion and switched things up in the third hour to set Stephanie and Mark up to take most of the shots on goal against Myra. That's why Mark scored his first two goals of the match and Stephanie added her second too while Gwendolyn only scored her next two goals early in that hour.**

 **Her tenth goal came on another switch in the first minute of the fourth hour; that gave her team the one-forty to naught lead; and definitely spooked Madison as her team was just two goals away from being down by the all-important one-sixty lead. Al knew that she'd made a mistake before Madison did – and knew in advance that Pauline was going to be able to take advantage of that mistake too. The snitch catch that she made at the three hour and four minute mark wasn't spectacular, and most spectators wouldn't even realize that it came thanks to Madison's tiny little mistake; but all that really mattered was that it ended the match and gave his girlfriend and her team an impressive two-ninety to naught victory!**

" **Are you going to fly down to the pitch now to congratulate Gwendolyn – or just land on her broom for a mid-air celebration?" Rose teased; and then laughed at the grin on Al's face.**

" **What a brilliant idea!" he told her enthusiastically. "See you on the pitch in a bit,"**

 **With that; he got up and out from under her blanket; leapt into the air; and blurred into his snowy owl form. That earned a lot of attention; but then there was soon a roar of laughter as he flew over to Gwendolyn and deftly landed on her broom just inches in front of her hands. She'd been in the middle of a mid-air celebration with her team mates; so he'd earned a round of laughs from them too – as well as a hug and scratch on the top of his head from Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Pauline before he took off again and did some happy acrobatics while flying down to the pitch with Gwendolyn.**

" **Nice job staying out of the spotlight with that – not," Gwendolyn teased as they shared a hug once he was in human form again and she was off of her broom.**

" **I couldn't resist the chance for that bit of fun after Rose came up with such a brilliant idea," Al admitted with a rueful smile. "For a moment, I was tempted to change into something more cuddly for you as I landed; but that might have ended badly if I'd slipped and fallen from that high up – even if kneazles do usually land on their paws."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed and kissed him again. "The owl was fun; but I'll keep that in mind for later if my feet are still frozen..." She laughed as Al started to heal her – and warm her up.**

" **You were saying?" he teased; and she laughed and kissed him again.**

" **You could still keep my feet warm later," she suggested. "Thank you. I feel much better now."**

" **You're welcome," he assured her; and then the post-game celebration was on – along with the congratulations and condolences that were shared between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff players.**

 **For the most part, Al had fun with that, but it wasn't all happy thoughts around them. Tory was mad at them – and it didn't matter that Al wasn't even playing Quidditch this season. Gwendolyn had scored ten goals and assisted on the other four that Stephanie and Mark had gotten past Myra. It didn't matter to Tory that Peter had played brilliantly – she hadn't scored any goals; and Gwendolyn had shown her up yet again. Madison wasn't happy either, but she could at least take some comfort in knowing that she'd lost to the overall best Seeker at Hogwarts – or Pauline at least had the best record for her first six years. Lily might have a chance to beat that if she kept having great seasons too; but Pauline was the Seeker to beat this season – and had gone out and proved that over Madison.**

 **Ravenclaw was going to have a House party to celebrate the win, but the timing worked out that Al could hang out with Gwendolyn until she went to the locker room with her team mates; he waited for her so that they could walk to the castle together before going to the Great Hall for lunch; and then he walked with her to Ravenclaw tower before moving on to the Room of Requirements so that he could take a break from all of the mental noise and do some play-work on Christmas gifts along with work on a few other projects including his self-taught broom-making lessons. That kept him entertained while Gwendolyn was busy, but he only stayed there for about half of the afternoon; and then went out and around the castle to spend the rest of the time until dinner doing not-so-random good deeds.**

 **James was not a happy camper, but Louis and Tiberius had insisted on getting together with their Captain and team mates after lunch to talk about the Quidditch match that James and Ollie had missed because it had been over before they'd finally woken and gotten ready. They'd planned on making an appearance in time for lunch, but the match was over before a decision needed to be made on having lunch outside of the stadium; so they'd stayed indoors and warm – and then they'd gone to the Great Hall for lunch. He'd offered his usual sort of congratulations and condolences to Peter and Roman too; though neither of them had been amused. His team mates didn't look amused either as they gathered around a pair of work tables that Louis had pushed together while putting the stools around them.**

" **Okay, we're here," James told him. "What's got you so riled up that this couldn't wait for never? From what I've heard about the match so far; we've nothing to worry about at all!"**

 **Louis shook his head. "I'd offer to borrow McGonagall's pensieve and give you a replay; but you'd still say the same thing after you watched the show."**

" **No doubt," James agreed. "Are we done then?"**

" **No, we're not," Louis told him bluntly; looking annoyed now. "This isn't all about you, James. Some of us have a lot riding on this season – and don't have guaranteed jobs in the show when we graduate. Peter had a shut-out today against three really good Chasers. Ollie, Magnus, and Romeo – or whomever our Chasers are for that match – ought to care a lot about that. Myra's probably close to as good as I am at Keeper, yet Ravenclaw scored fourteen on her – and Gwendolyn had ten of those goals!"**

" **She won't get ten shots on you playing against me," Ollie declared; and Louis snorted out a derisive laugh that had Ollie glowering darkly at him.**

" **She'll make us both look the fools if you go into our match in May with that attitude," Louis predicted. "I'm sorry, mate, but you need a bit of tough love right now. I've played against both of you; and you're not even in her league right now – so if you want to be in a couple of years; you'd better start paying attention!"**

" **You just wish that you could score with her instead of the other way around," Ollie told him with a sneer. "Don't blame me if she makes you look the fool."**

" **You just told me she wouldn't get ten shots on me with you defending; and now it won't be your fault if she scores a lot of goals," Louis shot back. "Make up your mind! Better yet – get your head out of the fire-whiskey bottle!" He sucked in a breath to calm himself. "I don't want to do this – I want us to take our opponents seriously and do what we all need to do to impress the scouts! Don't you care about that Ollie? Tiberius and I do – and that's why we insisted on this meeting!"**

" **We've already impressed the scouts in our first match," Ollie countered obstinately. "We'll do the same against the other loser teams!"**

 **Louis laughed. "Tiberius and Brock impressed the scouts," he stated; waving a hand at the McClaggens. "James impressed the scouts – not that it matters for him unless he's hoping to get a shot at making a Quidditch World Cup team next summer. Scorpius Malfoy scored five of Slytherin's six goals on me and impressed the scouts too. The rest of us – not so much!" He blew out a frustrated breath at Ollie's reaction to his assertions. "Do you honestly think that scoring two goals a match is going to impress any scout?" he demanded.**

" **That's two more than all of the Hufflepuff Chasers scored today," Ollie interjected with a smirk.**

" **And eight less than Gwendolyn as well as tied for third-best behind Gwendolyn and Scorpius along with Stephanie and Mark – if you don't include all of the assists they earned on Gwendolyn's goals. Oh, and by the way; Gwendolyn had four assists – so she was in on every Ravenclaw goal. How many assists did you have again, Ollie? Zero, wasn't it? I'm sure that'll impress the scouts too!"**

" **If all you called this meeting for was to bash me; I'm out of here!" Ollie declared.**

" **I'm only bashing you because you're not hearing what I'm trying to say!" Louis shot back angrily. "You've another year, and so does James – assuming either of you pass your sixth-year classes; but this is it for Tiberius and me. We want you to take us seriously and help us!" He looked around at everyone else and then offered an open question. "You weren't there, Ollie, but can anyone else tell me why the Ravenclaw Chasers were so successful today; and better yet – offer ways to counter them?" He paused for long moments while nobody offered any sort of answer.**

" **Okay, so you've got nothing," James told him. "So what? You've until May to figure that out. I'd say you could worry about Hufflepuff, but as Ollie's already pointed out – they can't even score a single goal! I'm fairly sure that our Chasers can do better against Myra than that!"**

" **I didn't say that I didn't have answers," Louis advised him; "and Hufflepuff won't be up against the Ravenclaw Chasers." He shook his head and sighed at what he saw on the faces of his Captain and Ollie. "You don't care," he concluded. "Neither of you give a damn about the rest of us; and Ollie's just deluding himself – or is sure that you'll be able to get him a job with the Catapults regardless of how he plays on our House teams."**

" **I care enough to help some of you to come along with me to the show," James retorted. "We'd be a better Catapults team right now than the one they have without me. That doesn't mean I'm going to do more than I already am to help our team win. I'm training every day; I'm not asking any of you to help me find ways to beat my Seeker opponents either here or in the matches I have coming up over the holidays; and I don't think you should demand that in return for yourselves! If you want to impress the scouts – do it!"**

" **You're team Captain," Tiberius pointed out. "That's a rather important part of your job."**

" **I'm doing my job," James insisted. "Louis wants to offer some tough love for Ollie? Well here's mine – if you want to play in the show badly-enough; then go out and make that happen for yourself! I'm happy to help with the connections, and would like to have the best players on the Catapults with me; but the rest is up to you!"**

" **So, do you have it all figured out now?" Stephanie asked as she sat down next to Gwendolyn. It was mid-afternoon; she'd been off celebrating with some of her friends; and Gwendolyn was taking a break after playing some mirror games – in a Witches against Wizards mini tournament. "You look happy – and your Hogwarts Hermit sidekick is nowhere in sight."**

"" **Maybe I shouldn't answer that," Gwendolyn suggested. "If they post an announcement for a Christmas dance tomorrow, I'd hate to say yes; only to have Al mess that up the way he did the last one."**

" **Did he?" Stephanie asked. "If I remember what happened correctly; he likely thinks that having you blast him that morning was the best thing that ever happened to him."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "I doubt that; but that did bring our fight to a boil."**

" **And an end," Stephanie reminded her. She looked around the room; and sighed. "Now if only I could be so lucky."**

" **Would you like me to help you out with finding the right Wizard for you?"**

" **I'd settle for a 'right-for-right-now' Wizard," Stephanie only half-joked. "If there is to be another school dance, though; then maybe I'll get to have one of those for and early Christmas present." She sighed again and smiled at Gwendolyn. "It's not as if I expect that Mum and Dad will get me one to put under our tree Christmas Eve."**

" **Instead of going there; let's talk about what we really might have a chance at getting under our trees this year," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'd be okay if Mum and Dad would give me a Lightningbolt so that I'd have it in time for our match against Slytherin in January."**

 **Stephanie laughed. "Do you think you've a better chance of that than my 'right-for-right-now' Wizard under the tree suggestion?"**

" **No, but we can both still dream," Gwendolyn countered. "Maybe I should ask for a carriage so that Al can give a bunch of us rides to town and back again on Hogsmeade weekends while we could stay warm inside."**

" **Are there any birds that are big-enough that he could change into so you could have a flying carriage?" Stephanie asked. "I know he can't be magical creatures; so a Thestral is out."**

" **Not that I know of," Gwendolyn answered. "Even with a carriage; he'd have limits on how many of us he could pull."**

" **As long as he can do that for you, me, and that as-yet-unknown 'right-for-right-now' Wizard; I'm okay with that," Stephanie assured her. "What was Al going to do this afternoon without you? Hiding out; or off saving the school one revision emergency at a time?"**

" **Is that becoming yet one more thing he can't do without drawing attention to himself?" Gwendolyn asked; and Stephanie smiled and shrugged.**

" **That's funny, considering his bird on a broom act earlier, but he does get noticed because he's helping so many kids around here; and I think he might be okay this time because we all appreciate that help."**

" **He's saved you yet again?" Gwendolyn teased.**

" **Yes, but only from getting bad marks on a couple of assignments. If the Cannons Quidditch thing doesn't work out for him; he'd make an awesome Professor some day – and I'm not just saying that because he'd be the hottest Professor too."**

" **Remind me to talk to Rose later about keeping you off of her short list for the Cannons. I should probably be a bit worried about you."**

" **No, you shouldn't," Stephanie assured her. "I'd be okay with playing with you and Victoire on the Harpies – even if we'd both have more fun playing on the same team with Al instead."**

" **You should've been Gryffindor," Gwendolyn told her. "First, you mess with me about my boyfriend; and now you're trying to mess with my lifelong dream to play with the Harpies. You're not going to need a 'right-for-right-now' Wizard – you'll need to find a nice little woodlouse to hook up with for the holidays at the rate you're going!"**

 **Al was in the Great Hall for dinner with Rose, Ray, and Cyndia, but then he was happy to meet up with Gwendolyn so that they could go off and spend the rest of the evening together – at least until she needed to do her curfew patrol. They started their play time out with some music fun; moved on to some mirror network show watching; and multi-tasked that with a fair bit of snogging! There was some quality cuddle time and a long chat about what they hoped and dreamed for as they headed into the Christmas holidays; and then Gwendolyn walked Al home before going out on patrol with Rose again – something they did together more often while Rose let Ray do other jobs that allowed him to stay with Cyndia.**

 **Once he was back in his common room, Al had a short visit with Lily and her friends; helped a pair of firsties trying to figure out an assignment they were having trouble with; and then he headed up to his dorm room and got ready for bed. There were still three days left until the end of November, but the Christmas decorations were going up around the castle, and Christmas was just four weeks away; so Al was starting to feel the Christmas cheer while looking forward to the holiday fun – and getting to be home for a couple of weeks where he'd hopefully get to spend a lot of time with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie!**

 **They still had three weeks of school to go before they'd be home, and they were going to be very busy even with Quidditch season on hold now until January; so there was a lot to look forward to before they even got around to heading home! Al knew the answer already about whether their Hogwarts holiday adventures would begin in the morning with a Christmas dance announcement, but he didn't pass that news or non-news on to anyone else; and looked forward to all of the surprises that would be coming their way.**

 **He didn't dream of dancing sugar plums, but he was in a great mood as he got started on his long winter's nap; and then had fun with the somewhat hot holiday dreams that waited for him in the silence of his subconscious – dreams that Gwendolyn was there for to help out with all of the hot parts of those holiday dreams.**

 **They'd need to wait a few more years to try making some of those dreams a reality, but others were definitly potential dreams-come-true for Christmas, and after a tough start to their school year; Al was going to do everything he could to make their Christmas a best-ever-so-far for everyone he loved most!**


	52. Have YourselfaMerry Quidditch Christmas

**Chapter Fifty-Two – Have Yourself A Merry Quidditch Christmas**

 **Al smiled brilliantly as Gwendolyn stepped into the hallway from the Ravenclaw tower stairs; and he loved seeing her reaction – an amazing, wonderful contrast to what had happened nearly two months ago – the day of the last announcement for a school dance! She quickly closed the gap between them; shared a hug and kiss; and then happily accepted the gift.**

" **Was that a yes?" he asked whimsically. "I was about to ask you to go to the Christmas dance with me; so maybe you've just learned to read my mind."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "I wish. The gift, smile, and the rest was a big hint, though; and it's definitely a yes to going to the dance with you," she assured him while already beginning to open the gift. She laughed again when she got the box open and found yet another jewelry gift. "Was this to be another hint?" she teased.**

" **Maybe – if needed," he agreed. "In this case, though, we can call it a fourth anniversary gift – though we're off by a few days for the actual first-date-making date."**

" **It's close enough; and I love it, Al. Thank you!" She hugged and kissed him again; and then showed the necklace to Toni and Renee – a match for her ring and earrings.**

" **I'd hex you for messing up dance invitations for every other Wizard around you, but all things considered; just consider that done," Michael joked; earning a round of laughs and a hug from Toni.**

" **He can't actually really do that," she advised him. "There's no perfect way to ask a Witch out – or I guess it's more like almost any way can work if the invitation is coming from the right Wizard and offered to the right Witch."**

" **Maybe," Renee agreed, "but even then; some Wizards still manage to have things go horribly wrong – and I submit Al and Gwendolyn as proof of that."**

" **That's true," Toni conceded – "yet they still found a way to turn horribly-wrong into perfectly-right, didn't they?"**

" **We're working on just being happy," Gwendolyn advised her. "Perfect is highly over-rated."**

 **Lily practically-danced over to Jonah, her smile bright and heart-warming as she launched herself into an enthusiastic hug before kissing him next and then stepping back again to smile at him happily.**

" **Give me a moment; and I'll remember why I'm here – and my name," Jonah joked; though he looked dazzled for real. He looked down at the gift; and then held it out to her with a nervous smile. "Oh yeah – now I remember. Lily Potter, would you please go to the Christmas dance with me?"**

" **I would love to," she assured him as she took possession of the gift – and then hugged and kissed him again before starting to send wrapping paper flying everywhere while opening his gift. "If this is something you've picked up on from hanging around with Al; I'm totally okay with you learning that from him," she said; and then had yet another hug and kiss for him in thanks for the gift.**

" **I really hope that isn't a no to going to the dance with Jonah," Denise teased as she caught up to Lily – and had Melissa and Kathryn with her.**

" **No kidding," Kathryn agreed. "If that was a no; a yes would have Jonah so confunded that he'd still be messed up when we head home for the holidays!"**

" **I'm sure he'll be okay in a few minutes," Lily suggested. "Did you cross paths with Al on the way here, Jonah?"**

" **No, but I'm sure he'll be waiting for Gwendolyn," Jonah answered; and Lily nodded.**

" **I'm sure," she agreed. "Let's hope he doesn't get blasted this time for asking her out to this dance!"**

 **The Christmas dance announcement hadn't been the only news that had been posted by Sunday morning, but it did get top billing on the gossip network – along with every bit of date-making or breaking news. The other top announcement, though was that there was to be a special showing of the new mirror network version of the Home for Christmas musical on a jumbo mirror in the Great Hall on the first Saturday night of December; so both of their weekends leading up to the Christmas break were going to be special – and very busy!**

 **Al didn't have to wait a week to be busy – he and Gwendolyn had a lot to do on Sunday – including getting weekend assignments done and work on projects and research that needed to be done and handed in ahead of the holidays too. That was a bigger deal for some of their friends, since they'd been working hard all along, but Al put in extra time on the tutoring and other help all day instead of spending extra time in the Room of Requirements. He didn't need the respites from the usual mental noise thanks to all of the bonus happy that came with everything going so well for him with Gwendolyn – and because there truly was more happiness all around him as Christmas joy began to fill the hearts of the majority of Hogwarts students.**

 **He didn't get to spend all of his time with Gwendolyn, since she had some Prefect duties and other things on the go too, but that just gave him extra time to help more of their friends – and other teens and tweens – with tutoring and helping out with a few other, minor needs ranging from a cheer-up chocolate to a repair on a broken RevisionWizard quill for a desperate second-year Ravenclaw Wizard who had been on the verge of panic over getting his completed assignments from mirror to parchment by Monday when it was too late to get a new quill.**

 **Lily's date for the dance with Jonah had been the gossip that had been closest to home for Al during the morning, but other stories with family and friends began to make the rounds too – and some of them were really a lot of fun for Al – especially thanks to his extended senses. The top new date story for Al was the news that Brandon Graves asked Rose to the dance – and the mirror network musical show while they'd both been at the Prefect meeting after lunch. She'd found that a bit awkward, since she'd had the one date with Landon in their first year, and because he'd been in the room when Brandon had come to talk with her; but she'd also agreed to go with him too – her first tentative step back into the dating game after her break-up with Kyle at the end of August.**

 **With just two weeks to get dates for the dance – and with the mirror network special less than a week away; the pressure seemed to be on for pairing up on Sunday. For his cousins, Louis had those dates set up with Deanna; Fred asked Katrina Rivers to go with him – and immediately started a round of Beater-related jokes and razzing for both of them; and Riley Fawcett asked Roxanne to the dance too. Al tried not to think about what James was doing – once he actually came to life in time for lunch in the Great Hall, but he got to have a bit of quiet fun with Hugo – even though his cousin wouldn't have agreed with him about calling Al's little intervention fun. As with everyone else he tried to help, Al sensed the need from Hugo while stopping in to his dorm room to switch from book bag to the things he'd need for the Sunday family night with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah. He grabbed his things; and then stopped into the third-year dorm room where he found Hugo on his own and looking forlorn while sitting on his bed and pretending to surf the wireless web without seeing anything on his mirror.**

" **Was I thinking too loudly?" Hugo asked without smiling as Al walked over and sat on the one end of his trunk.**

" **A bit," Al agreed easily. "Would you like to talk about it; or just have me save time and get right on with the advice?"**

 **Hugo laughed; but without amusement. "Let's skip the small talk – though I doubt I'll take your advice." Al paused and assessed what he was sensing before responding.**

" **You're not like your father for this," He stated quietly; and that definitely got Hugo's attention. "You're like me – or your mother. I get why you've been careful and avoided dating anyone – especially Melissa or Kathryn, since you didn't want to choose one and hurt the other cousin when you care for both of them; but this isn't the same."**

" **No – I'd say it's worse,' Hugo said morosely. "That's what I get for waiting too long. Now Rose has a date with Brandon; and I'd be an idiot to ask Alyssa to go with me."**

" **Why? Because you'll get teased about brothers dating sisters – especially when Lily and I are with Jonah and Gwendolyn?"**

" **Yes," Hugo agreed. "I don't want my dating history to be a joke like it is for our Dads now. Rose is likely already getting teased about dating both brothers."**

" **She is," Al confirmed. "You're going to have those worries regardless of who you date, Hugo, but if you worry about that too much; your dating history will end up being a blank piece of parchment. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Alyssa is your perfect match, but she is a really special Witch; and you shouldn't let who your sister is going to the dance with affect whether you ask Alyssa to go with you. It's easy to find excuses not to do something as scary as a first date, but you were ready to take the chance on Alyssa; and I think you should go for it anyway."**

" **That's what I expected you to say," Hugo told him – "and I still doubt that I'll take your advice."**

 **Al stood up; shrugged; and smiled. "That's up to you. Alyssa will still be an amazing Witch tomorrow, next month, and next year. Maybe you'll keep feeling the way you do about her too; and you'll find a better time to ask her out. I'm sure she'll understand – and might even feel the same way. Maybe you'll be able to dance with her a few times – unless she gets asked to the dance by someone else."**

" **Now you're trying to mess with me," Hugo accused.**

" **It feels that way to you; but I am just stating a fact. This doesn't keep you from asking someone else either – it's how you feel about Alyssa that will do that for you."**

" **That's for sure," Hugo said morosely. "This seriously stinks!"**

" **Only if you choose to let it," Al countered. "This doesn't have to be so complicated for you. I'm working on trying to be happy with everything I do, and a big part of that is figuring out what does and doesn't make me happy – and then doing the first while staying away from the second as much as possible. In this case, take some time to think only about Alyssa and how you feel about her. Don't worry about the baggage – like who your sister is dating. Decide what will and won't make you happy – and then make your choice."**

" **I'll choose wallowing in self-pity," Hugo only half-joked.**

 **Al laughed; and Hugo scowled at him. "Sorry, but I was just thinking that maybe I'm wrong and you're more like your Dad than I thought. Isn't that exactly what he chose to do – right up until he couldn't stand the thought of being without your Mum and came to his senses again?" He grinned at Hugo then. "If it turns out that Alyssa's a lot like your Mum too and decides to blast you for not getting around to asking her out; don't hesitate to come and ask for help with the Healing. I'll be able to relate; since I won't ever forget being blasted by Gwendolyn back in September and October."**

 **Hugo frowned at him. "Are you trying to messwith me again?"**

" **No – it really does hurt a lot when you're being blasted by someone you love – even if you do manage to protect yourself from all of the hexes and curses. I also wasn't suggesting that Alyssa would blast you – that was just a joke. The point I was trying to make was more about following your heart instead of your head. If Lily would do that; Jonah would be her boyfriend by now instead of just a name at the top of her potential boyfriends list."**

" **As if Jonah isn't her boyfriend in every other way except for having the title," Hugo scoffed with a snort. "She still has a valid point about dating him while you're dating Gwendolyn."**

" **So you think that they shouldn't just because of that?" Al countered.**

" **I think that's none of my business – and you're not going to set me up that easily."**

" **You've already done that to yourself," Al told him. He summoned a chocolate – one of Hugo's favorites; and tossed it to him. "Here – maybe this will help if you really do decide to choose wallowing in self-pity over being brilliantly-happy for the holidays."**

 **Al was able to leave then because he had a good feeling that Hugo would figure out what was right for him – and that it wouldn't take him long to work that out. He didn't find out about the top 'friends' date news until Monday, but while he went on to have dinner and a family fun night with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah; Seth Bradley asked Susannah to go to the Christmas dance with him. That likely had a lot to do with Brandon going out with Rose, but Al and Gwendolyn were both happy to hear that Susannah was taking a chance on dating again after taking a year off after breaking up with Mackenzie. That was the most-unexpected pairing for friends too, but Christmas cheer continued to be infectious; and there wasn't any serious teen drama among their best friends.**

 **The transition from November to December was actually a bit quieter for Al and Gwendolyn now that her first match of the season was finished. Quidditch practices continued for her as Ravenclaw needed to get ready for Slytherin next – and had less than two months to do that; but they skipped most of the extra Chaser duels and focused on other things instead. Studying was at the top of the work list, but there were other fun little cameo moments that they fit into their days. A mirror chat with Uncle Bill on Monday for his fifty-first birthday was one of those special moments, but there was snow play fun here and there too – including a couple of dogsled rides to and from the greenhouses for Gwendolyn and some other Animorphmagus-related winter fun.**

 **Having the mirror network special to look forward to on Saturday was just part of the weekend fun because they had a Harpies match to watch on Saturday afternoon too, but that meant taking most of the day off on Saturday; so they worked accordingly every day – including on Friday evening. Al needed to do some work after curfew here and there too, but by the time he went to sleep on Friday night; he pretty much had all of his assignments and projects finished – everything that was due ahead of the Christmas break. He was glad of that because it would give him time to do other things over the last two weeks of classes. Getting a big head start on holiday revision was high on his to-do list too, but he also wanted to do more to help out around the castle; and would have time for that too.**

 **That effort began with his friends on Saturday morning with a study and tutoring session that was in the library for half the morning and then one of the Potions' dungeons through until lunchtime. They had a big turnout for the game watching thanks entirely to the extra teens in attendance with their dates for the musical and dance. Brandon and Seth came with Rose and Susannah; Alyssa was with Hugo; and Riley was with Roxanne. Katrina and Fred were together, but then she came to watch the Harpies with them fairly-regularly anyway. That meant more work for Al to make room for everyone, and his mirror was a bit small for that large of a group; but they had fun – and that was all that really mattered.**

 **The Harpies and their fans had fun all afternoon too; but the Magpies didn't have much to cheer about even if their fans at least got to enjoy a brilliant match by their opponent. Okay, that wasn't totally-fair, since the Magpies did play hard and scored six goals, but the Harpies scored fourteen in the three hours and sixteen minutes they got to play before Gabrielle caught the snitch to earn the two-ninety to sixty victory. More than three hours of quality cuddle time with Gwendolyn had been brilliant, but the girls in the room loved the timing for the end of the match too; since it gave them extra time to get ready for their date night in the Great Hall. That's why Al only had guys with him for the clean-up while the girls all headed back to their dorm rooms for some primping and pampering fun with their girlfriends.**

" **You have a great set-up for these game-watching afternoons," Brandon told Al as he and Seth pitched in for the clean-up. "It's really a wonder that we don't hear about other students doing this sort of thing with inter-House friends."**

" **Maybe because nobody wants to haul all of this stuff around – or can't do the conjuring and hold onto the furniture magic for hours," Seth suggested.**

" **I have an undetectable expansion bag to put everything in," Al advised him. Rose and Hugo's Mum has a talent for them; and gave it to me for Christmas in my second year – when Mum and Dad gave me the mirror. We started out with the toy sofas; since we knew how to do engorgement charms by then."**

" **Well, it's brilliant," Seth told him. "Now we can all hope that they'll do the same thing this year for the musical tonight. That was a great set-up last year too."**

" **It was," Al agreed. "Muggle movie theaters are a bit different; but those seats were comfortable-enough for watching that show."**

" **I wonder if they'll have an intermission?"**

" **There isn't supposed to be one for the mirror network special," Al advised them. "Gwendolyn's Dad helped out with it; and it won't be the same as a stage show because they don't need breaks for set or costume changes."**

" **Did you and Gwendolyn get to go to work on that with her Dad?" Brandon asked. "If I didn't want to play in the show; getting into some job with one of the mirror network channels would be fun."**

" **We visited the main set one morning," Al admitted without offering any details about why they'd been there. "It'll be fun to see how what we saw them doing looks as part of the show."**

" **Let's hope that it isn't like watching Quidditch on mirrors," Seth suggested. "You miss a lot of the action compared to watching at a stadium – and they hardly-ever show the Beaters."**

" **Yeah," Brandon agreed. "They'll show the bludger hits on other players; but hardly-any of the actual bludger-bashing moments."**

" **That doesn't seem fair," Al agreed. "Maybe you should come up with something to do that they'd want to show on the Quidditch News shows."**

" **The Hogwarts Hermit is offering advice on drawing attention to ourselves," Brandon told Seth. "Do you think he's aware of the irony?"**

" **I expect so," Seth agreed. "It's an idea – though I have no suggestions for how we might do that."**

" **That's what team managers are for," Brandon offered. "I'm okay with just having fun and playing the game."**

" **As long as we get paid for that too," Seth reminded him. "Just 'cause you think that Rose is hot doesn't mean you'll talk me into signing up to play for the worst team in the league."**

" **Too much information," Hugo interjected from where he was packing up leftover snacks.**

" **Ditto that for talking about my sister," Brandon told him with a grin. "You're definitely Gryffindor. Most of the Wizards that we know really well wouldn't ask Alyssa out at all."**

" **Why not?" Hugo asked. "Because you're a Beater?"**

" **No – because Mum was," Brandon advised him with a grin; and then laughed. "You did know that Mum played for the Harpies, right? She was Aunt Gwenog's Beater partner for years."**

" **And she's taught Brandon and me pretty much everything we know," Seth added. "I'd hope your dates with Alyssa go well; or you could be in trouble when we get home."**

" **Does that mean that Rose should be worried too?" Al asked. "I'm pretty sure that Gwendolyn's Mum is more-protective of her little boy than her daughter – though that hasn't kept anyone from razzing me about getting turned into a bug on a regular basis."**

" **You're lucky that you've worked things out with Gwendolyn again or you might have been spending the holidays in a jar," Brandon suggested.**

" **Possibly," Al agreed. "I think it's funny that you're razzing Hugo about being brave; yet you did ask Rose out – and her Dad is a former Auror and he now has access to every wheeze ever invented – including the ones that either never worked out or are still being worked on. Her Mum's second-in-charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement too; so you've twice as much to worry about as Hugo does."**

 **Brandon shrugged. "I'm not worried," he assured Al seriously. "I've messed up with Witches too, but you know that I'm not the kind of Wizard that would mess around and hurt any Witch the way too many guys will do."**

" **I do know that," Al agreed with a nod and smile. "Seth likely has more to worry about from Rose's plans for the Cannons than you have worries about my aunt and uncle."**

" **As if you don't," Seth countered; and Al laughed.**

" **I'm already drafted," he reminded Seth. "It's far too late for me – and I think it'll be brilliant helping Rose out with getting that league Championship for the Cannons."**

" **It's a wonder Gwendolyn took him back," Seth joked. "He's a bit mental."**

 **James and Ollie lounged in the Gryffindor common room while waiting a bit impatiently for their dates to the musical special to make their grand entrance from the girls' dorms. They'd been there for a while so that they could have fun razzing their fellow Gryffindor and setting off some Christmas wheezes, but they'd fortified themselves for the ordeal ahead with a few shots of fire-whiskey; and had more with them should they need the 'booster shots' to get through a second round of theater torture! While their attempts at entertaining themselves and their fellow Gryffindor hadn't caused major havoc, and James was sure that was entirely thanks to interventions by the loser; they still managed to enjoy themselves – and annoy most of the teens and tweens they targeted.**

" **Did we sleep through an entire week?" Ollie groused. "It must be time for the Christmas dance for the girls to take this long to get ready for dinner and that stupid musical we're stuck with watching tonight."**

 **James laughed. "We wish; since that'd be one less week of time wasted in our classes – and I'd be a week closer to two weeks of non-stop partying over the holidays!"**

" **Don't remind me," Ollie told him. "While you're partying every night; I'll be stuck at home with Mum, Dad, and my baby sister."**

" **You'll do some partying with me too," James assured him. "This is going to be our best Christmas ever-so-far – and just the first of many more to come!"**

" **Says the Wizard most-likely to have a different, hot Witch in his bed every night over those two weeks," Ollie suggested with a leer; and James laughed again.**

" **Possibly, but I'd be okay with having more than one staying over some nights too."**

" **Do you think that Louis would mind if you invited Deanna over and asked her to bring Teresa along?" Ollie asked; his grin turning wolfish. "That might be fun – especially if Teresa does the play-by-play while you're, um, at it!"**

" **Don't let Louis hear you talking like that," Brock suggested as he and Tiberius joined them and sat down in two more chairs. "Tiberius thinks that Louis is done for now."**

" **His loss – our gain," James told him with a shrug and smirk. "Deanna's hot-enough; but way too boring for my tastes. Her idea of foreplay is likely to have an Arithmancy or Ancient Runes debate!"**

" **Thanks so much for putting those two thoughts together for me," Tiberius told him. "Now I'll have a mental picture of having a strip-debate with her running through my head all night!"**

 **Brock nodded toward the entrance to the girls' dorms. "If you do that – don't tell your date about it. Our timing is perfect; 'cause our dates are on the way over here."**

" **While we're still waiting," Ollie complained quietly. "We should've stayed in our dorms and had another drink or two."**

" **You definitely shouldn't have," Brock disagreed – and then tossed him a candy mint. "Take the hint," he added as he and Tiberius both stood again. "If you're going to drink and date; keep a supply of breath-fresheners handy."**

" **Get out of here," Ollie warned; though he did pop the mint into his mouth. "We have wheezes and aren't afraid to use them!"**

 **Al was in a great mood as he met up with Gwendolyn and escorted her to the Great Hall. They were being allowed to sit together for dinner, so that had a lot to do with it; but he'd enjoyed his quiet efforts at helping some of his fellow Gryffindor – including keeping James and Ollie from inflicting any serious harm with their wheezes and pranks. Gwendolyn looked spectacular, and while they'd both dressed up semi-formally; they'd also picked clothes that would be comfortable for sitting still and watching a mirror network show for a couple of hours. The biggest difference from recent dates for Al was that they sat at the Ravenclaw table – and also got to have Rose and Susannah with them because they ended up sitting with most of Gwendolyn's team mates and their dates for the night.**

 **Rose and Susannah both looked happy, but Al also sensed that Susannah was both a bit sad and worried. It was at least modestly-strange to have her first date since breaking up with Mackenzie on the night that they'd be watching him in the mirror network version of the musical with the Witch he'd picked over her, but Al didn't know whether he'd be able to do anything to help her; and could really just hope that she'd be okay – and not have any of that drama be a problem for her date with Seth. That wasn't anything they talked about as they sat down for dinner, though; and he and Gwendolyn ended up being spectators more than participants at first as the new couples around them carried most of the conversation. They quietly talked with each other a bit too; and enjoyed the entertainment going on around them.**

 **That was something of a theme for the night – enjoying the entertainment around them – while the best part about everything was getting to share every experience together. Their meal wasn't extra-special, but it seemed so thanks to having Gwendolyn at his side; their walk around the castle during the break between dinner and the show while the Great Hall was being set up for it was a nice chance to spend some quiet time together even while Gwendolyn was officially on patrol as a Prefect; and then they ended up sitting in the row ahead of Rose, Susannah, and their dates, with Stephanie next to Gwendolyn, and Peter and his date next to Al.**

 **The screening of the musical wasn't just for them – they were just getting to watch the Wizarding World premiere on the mirror network. That meant a scheduled start time; but 'their' show started a half-hour early with a live re-introduction to the cast; a bit of story-time with some background information about shooting the special; a teaser, live song mash-up; and a draw for the lucky winner of two tickets to the opening night of the live musical they'd be doing at the Magick Hall. That prize was awarded with just a few minutes to go before the show started; the lights in the hall went down; and they were all immersed into a mesmerizing, magical experience for the next two and a quarter hours.**

 **While Al and Gwendolyn knew more about the show than most of the Wizards and Witches watching the show with them – and all around the Wizarding World; they were as amazed as everyone else as the opening scene unfolded before their eyes – with the Hogwarts Express chugging through a snowstorm out in the wilderness that could only be glimpsed through the storm around it.**

" **This looks more like a Muggle movie," Gwendolyn leaned in and whispered to Al. "Do you think they used a broom-cam for those aerial shots? They're wonderful!"**

" **That would likely be easier than levitation and locomotion charms," Al suggested just as quietly. "The opening music is new. I like it."**

" **Me too. I hear a bit of Dad's influence in it too – though it's weaving in some of our songs into it too."**

" **That is something they didn't need in the live musical, though," Al mused. "I wonder how much more of this background music they needed to create?"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed quietly. "Well, if you include all of the sound effects that'll be in it; I'd say about two and a quarter hours of it," she pointed out. "With that storm going on around them; they'll need sound effects all the way through." She grinned and leaned closer. "Maybe they'll even have sound effects for your little part in the show."**

" **Why am I suddenly afraid – very afraid?" he whispered back.**

 **While they shared regular, whispered moments like that as the show moved along; they also simply cuddled close and enjoyed the adventure. The storyline wasn't changed all that much from the musical they'd watched a year ago; but the experience was still very different – and quite possibly the most-polished mirror network show that any of them had ever seen! The first main scene – the train breakdown, was particularly realistic to them because they'd all been on the Hogwarts Express and so the parts of the story that included camera views from within and looking into the train compartments was something they could all put themselves into the moment while experiencing the events going on for the teens and tweens in the show.**

 **The timeline for that scene was lengthened quite a bit too; so there actually was a sense of passage of time – and that worked better than in the live show because they could also show the progression of those hours simply by filming at different times of the day from the breakdown through to when the students that had gotten off the train were left behind. The trek in search of the cabin was a heart-pounding, desperate journey; and it was dramatic as the group of teens faced the dangers of being lost in the wilderness while in the middle of the storm and as they were plunged into darkness with nothing more than wand tips to guide them.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn could recognize the cabin because they'd been there, but it looked very different on the giant mirror – particularly at first while it was a dark, foreboding place when they first arrived and then had to break in to get out of the storm. That was a bit of an underwhelming moment, since they could use magic to unlock the door, but while that wasn't as dramatic as a break-in would be in a Muggle movie; it was still tense as the teens didn't know what they'd find once inside. Their first efforts – and conflicts – as they tried to deal with basic survival needs and the medical attention that some of them needed was much more dramatic on the mirror network, but while the musical numbers were still brilliant; Al and Gwendolyn agreed that they loved the live performances better – in part because this version of the songs were too-polished – just as it was sometimes true that live band performances were better than just listening to the magical recordings on the mirror network or from the albums.**

 **There was no intermission, and no breaks for adverts because the sponsors of the show wanted it that way for the premiere and were only mentioned briefly before the show started and after it was over. Because of that, the transition from first to second act was done differently – while still having places where adverts would be fit in for the handful of encore showings that were planned for the weeks leading up to Christmas Day – and for showings in future years. Al was aware of all of that, but that didn't get in the way of enjoying the show.**

 **He didn't have any problems while they watched the show as the scene with his bit part played out, but it was very strange for him too as he got to watch his own animal transformations from a third-person perspective; and also had to deal with what he sensed all around him as his fellow Hogwarts students reacted to both the changed storyline and watching his Animorphmagus act in the background as the cast sang the Animorphmagus Christmas song. Some, like James and Ollie, hated it; others thought it was hilarious; and then there was a wide-range of reactions that fell somewhere in-between the extremes.**

 **That scene did not steal the show – Wendy and Wanda did – at least through until the two big duets of the musical. The mirror network cameras truly loved them; and they were easily the best actors in the show as everything they did was completely believable. Al's own assessment put Lysandra a close second behind Wendy and Wanda; Mackenzie and Bristol were next; and the rest of the cast fell in down the line from there. While that was totally subjective; he could also sense that he wasn't alone as the majority of the teens and tweens in the audience agreed with him.**

 **One thing that was exactly the same as the musical was the reactions from the audience. They laughed and cried in all the right places; and were totally caught up in the adventure and drama. Al had kept a mental eye on Susannah, but while she had a tough time with Mackenzie and Bristol's duet and kiss; she was also grateful for how well Seth handled the situation with quiet comfort and a couple of whispered jokes that included assuring her that if he'd been singing that song; Bristol – and everyone in the room – would have all been crying for a very different reason.**

 **The wind-down to the big, musical reunion and finale was filled with more drama moments than in the live musical, so that was more exciting too; and Al and Gwendolyn both liked the way the ending was changed for the Animorphmagus rescue – particularly when everyone in the cast continued to act as if the Animorphmagus, fellow-student actor wasn't there – including the group of parents he'd led back to the cabin. There was actually still a Christmas song sing-along at the end of the show; and that was a bigger event in the Great Hall because the cast stood in front of the mirror, encouraged everyone to sing along; and they also all watched the combination of credits, singing, and some out-takes as they played out on the mirror. That was definitely like the way some Muggle movies were ended; and the out-takes in particular were very funny.**

 **That last bit of musical fun lasted for nearly ten minutes; the cast then received a standing ovation; and they followed that up by leading a recessional walk out to the entrance hall and the post-musical mini-celebration. Al and Gwendolyn went along for that; talked with most of the cast members for a minute or two; got razzed about Al's cameo scene in the show; and then Gwendolyn moved on to Prefect duties while Al helped out in the Great Hall with the clean-up and getting everything back to normal again. He and Gwendolyn met up again to say goodnight to each other, but she was on curfew patrol; so they kept that short; and then he headed back to his dorm room and pretty much got ready for bed and tucked in while the rest of his roommates opted to stay in the common room with dates or to play mirror games with their friends.**

 **Ending his date with Gwendolyn that way hadn't been very romantic, but they'd known she'd be busy after the show; so it hadn't been a surprise – or a problem for either of them. Al wasn't able to go straight off to sleep, so he worked on a Christmas gift for a while; surfed the wireless web; and then used his magical earbuds to listen to the musical soundtrack while allowing those songs to lull him off to sleep.**

 **James and Ollie weaved their way toward their beds; singing raucously; and rousing most of their roommates a couple of hours after most of them had turned in for the night. Their songs were horribly off-key; they made up the words as they went along; and were slurring so strongly that they were basically incomprehensible.**

" **For Merlin's sake, idiots – shut it!" Brock told them. "You could give a baby mandrake a run for it with all of that screeching!"**

" **We're not screeching – we're singing," Ollie declared with a grand wave of his hand that seemed to be an attempt at a bow that nearly had him falling over. "Don't you want to sing along with our encore of those songs from that stupid musical?"**

" **No – I want to go back to sleep. Some of us have two days worth of assignments to get finished in one tomorrow. Do us a favor and just pass out like you normally do once you're this drunk!"**

" **We're not done with the partying yet," James advised him. "Anyone else want a drink? You'll find out that all of those songs from the show tonight sound much better once you've had a few shots of fire-whiskey."**

" **Thanks, but no," Brock told him bluntly. "You've had enough for the lot of us."**

" **If your date was a disaster – don't take it out on us," James retorted. "It must've been pretty bad for you to come up to bed so long ago."**

" **Feel free to gossip about that sort of thing without me," Brock retorted. "I've better things to do – like going back to sleep!"**

" **Whatever, but you need to work on your partying if you want to hang out with us once we're all in the show!" James advised him. "Come on, Ollie – I'll buy you another drink!"**

" **Make mine a double," Ollie told him. "I can still remember too much of that Horror in the Great Hall; and would like to forget it forever."**

" **Too bad I couldn't do that for every memory I have of the Animorphloser," James suggested morosely. "It's a good thing that we can re-stock our supplies next Saturday. We'll likely need two or three bottles just to get through that dance with the stench of the loser in the room."**

" **No doubt," Ollie agreed. "He sure helped to stink up that show tonight – and probably dumped a load right there on the set while doing it!"**

" **Yeah – good thing our mirrors are only sight and sound. We'd have likely all died on the spot if we'd smelled him too."**

" **I could smell him from where he was sitting half the hall away from us," Ollie assured him; and then pretended to wretch. "If the potty-trainer ever had any sense of smell; it must be long-gone now."**

" **Don't go there," James warned half-seriously. He was pouring drinks for them by then; and handed one to Ollie. "Patricia wasn't in the mood tonight; so I was tempted to blow her off; get the potty-trainer to catch me out of our House past-curfew; and then detain and interrogate her until she came to her senses like she did for that few hours back in October before losing her mind again."**

" **I don't know why you bother," Ollie told him. "She's not that hot – and Merlin only knows how badly she's been contaminated by the loser. You're better off with all of the Witches you've already got on the go!"**

 **James snorted. "It isn't about that – it's about destroying the loser," he reminded his friend. "We were so close – and now the job's not even half-done again."**

" **You got the team; he isn't a Prefect; and he's now also the Hogwarts Hermit," Ollie pointed out. "I'd say that's all worthy progress!"**

" **It's a start," James conceded a bit grudgingly. "I won't stop until he's taking the long dirt nap, though; and that will happen sooner instead of later!"**

" **I'll drink to that!" Ollie offered while holding his glass up toward James.**

 **It took them three attempts to actually tap glasses, which had them laughing raucously again and annoying the rest of their roommates, but then they happily went on to do some more Al-bashing; climbed into their beds while doing that; and passed out before finishing their drinks.**

 **It was snowing on Sunday morning – not hard; but the light, cheerful, and Christmassy snowfall that filled Al's heart with holiday joy each time he saw it from different castle windows as he moved around from getting ready for the day through his morning workout and then on to his walk and talk with Rose before breakfast. The internal happiness continued as he worked with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends; which for him included helping out with some tutoring and working ahead on bits of the holiday revision they'd need to get done over the Christmas break and that he had already begun to pester their Professors for so that he could get an early start on that work.**

 **Gwendolyn, Rose, Susannah, and Ray had their afternoon Prefect meeting with Louis and Deanna, so Al did his own thing while they were busy with that, but he mostly helped out in the library and two different Potions' dungeons; and then did more tutoring and studying with their usual study group through until dinnertime. After having that meal, it was family fun night time; they met up with Lily and Jonah for that; and wrapped up another weekend with music, mirror chats, and some quiet cuddle time. The visit to the Owlery was a bit short because they were cutting it close on curfew, but Winter was happy to see them before heading home again; and Blizzard didn't seem to mind trading extra treats for the lack of attention they didn't have time to give him. Al and Lily walked Gwendolyn and Jonah home because Gwendolyn's Prefect work was in her dorm rooms instead of on patrol; so that gave Al a bit of time with Lily before they split up and headed for their respective dorm rooms once they were back in Gryffindor tower. After a busy weekend, Al was ready to just crash and sleep, so he got ready for bed; and did just that – and was out for the count until morning.**

 **The week leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend and Christmas dance was as busy as always for Al and Gwendolyn, but while he was looking forward to the rest of the weekend fun; he just couldn't get excited about the Slug Club Christmas party on Friday night. The first party they'd attended had gone better than Al had expected, but even with his new perspective – or maybe because of it; he didn't want to intentionally be in the middle of that ego-fest. Gwendolyn truly did like the spotlight, though, and doing things like that with her was one of the compromises that he needed to make for her – just as she'd done the same for the things he needed – like quiet time in the Room of Requirements.**

 **Before getting around to all of the weekend Christmas entertainment, they did have five school days to get through; and that went fairly-well for Al and Gwendolyn thanks to having all of the assignments and projects finished. There were some class presentations to give for projects they'd already finished, but most of their class time was devoted either to getting current work finished or learning lessons they'd need for their holiday revision. It was the holiday revision that Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah worked on, but they tutored their friends – and other teens and tweens too; and also kept busy with Prefect duties or other things every day too. The one exception to all of the work was a mini-party for Michael's sixteenth birthday on Thursday, but while he and Toni took extra time off from their studies to celebrate his special day without any help from their friends; the actual party was really just an extra dessert and treats visit with his friends and family before everyone else got back to work.**

 **That bit of fun didn't lead to a later night for Al and Gwendolyn – their Astronomy class took care of that. Having to stay up for the class allowed Al to do more work instead of trying to have a nap, but then he also helped Rose and Gwendolyn with a bit of healing on Friday morning because they'd each still been tired after only getting a handful of hours of rest. Thanks to the Slug Club Christmas party, studying on Friday evening wasn't an option; and the girls didn't want a study group after last class either because Gwendolyn was having an early team practice; and the other girls going to the party too wanted time to get ready for it. Al used most of that time to hang out in the Room of Requirements and get as ready as he could be for the party; got ready for their date; and then went to the Great Hall for dinner before meeting up with Gwendolyn and heading to the party with some of their friends – including Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth.**

" **I am so glad that you invited me to the party," Seth told Susannah. "Brandon wouldn't take me last year; and I was down to just two more chances to find out what all the excitement was about for myself!"**

" **You're welcome," Susannah assured him. "I hope you have fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves last year – though I was with Al and didn't like a lot of what was going on at it."**

" **Wait – you were at the party with Al?" Seth teased. "I thought he went with Gwendolyn!"**

" **It doesn't surprise me that you don't like all of the bragging," Brandon interjected after the round of laughs. "I can relate – but still want to grow up to be one of those famous Wizards and Witches that Slughorn likes to brag about so much."**

" **Al would rather be studying," Gwendolyn offered with a smile for her boyfriend. "I can't really even relate to that; but we're compromising – and he's doing what I want to do tonight."**

" **Do I even want to ask what your part of that compromise is?" Brandon asked.**

" **Maybe she has to let him stay out past-curfew so that they can study later," Seth suggested.**

" **It'd be funnier if she caught him out past-curfew for that and he got detention for studying too much," Brandon countered.**

" **That sounds like a joke that would fit better for Ravenclaws," Rose told them. "That is funny, but totally impossible; since Al would never be out past curfew without permission – like for this party; or when he'll likely help out with the clean-up after the dance tomorrow night."**

" **If I was an Animorphmagus; I'd never get caught out past-curfew," Seth told her meaningfully.**

" **No – you'd likely get caught trying to sneak into the girls' dorms," Brandon suggested; and then he grinned at Al. "Have you tried?"**

" **I think if he had; we'd have heard about it," Gwendolyn told him.**

" **Only if he got caught," Brandon countered; and then sighed and shook his head at the answer he saw on Al's face. "You're either the best or worst Wizard to have that talent, Al. I wouldn't want someone like Rupert Avery to be able to do that; but it seems like such a waste not to have a bit of fun with it that isn't, shall we say, always pure of heart or thought."**

" **You're absolutely right," Al told him as if having a eureka moment. "I should try that out later tonight. You won't mind if I start with your sister's dorm room, would you?" He laughed at the radical change of expression on Brandon's face. "I rest my case," he added; and then grinned ruefully as everyone else laughed. "Sorry, but that's just how I think about stuff like that – from the perspective of a brother or cousin."**

" **He usually won't even try to have mirror chats with Lily, Rose, or me at times of the day that might be inconvenient for us – or the other girls in our dorm rooms," Gwendolyn added. "I'd suggest that if I was an Animorphmagus, I'd try sneaking into the boys' dorms to have a look around; but the majority of guys wouldn't have a problem with Witches sneaking into their dorms."**

" **We'd encourage it," Brandon agreed. "Fortunately for me, though, we're here; so I won't get into trouble with Rose for taking that thought any further!" He stopped and looked curiously at Al. "Is something wrong, Al?" That question got everyone's attention; and they all turned to look at Al – and he did suddenly look unhappy – a huge contrast to the happy smile that had been on his face pretty much since he'd met up with Gwendolyn after dinner. He shook his head and turned to face Gwendolyn.**

" **I'm really, really sorry; but I can't go in there with you – won't do it," he told her seriously.**

" **Why not?" Gwendolyn demanded; though she kept her voice quiet too.**

" **Because that party will end badly for us if I do," he answered simply. "I don't want that to happen – especially when you have the chance to spend time with your Mum and Dad tonight."**

" **This has something to do with James," she deduced; and he nodded. "Why would he be here – he isn't a member of the Slug Club this year!"**

" **He's a famous alumni of the club," Susannah suggested quietly. She didn't sense as much as Al did; but she could still use her own talents to make some educated guesses.**

" **Okay," Gwendolyn conceded; "but we managed to deal with him last year, Al. What makes you so sure that won't be possible tonight?"**

" **I just know it isn't," he assured her. "I really am sorry; but the only way you'll have a chance of having fun in there tonight will be if I don't come along."**

" **I hate this!" she declared; and he stepped in close and hugged her tightly.**

" **I know," he agreed. "While you're in there having fun; I'll try to come up with a way to make this up to you."**

" **You got a ring out of the deal the last time he tried to make things up to you," Susannah half-teased. "I'd take the deal."**

 **That suggestion had earned a round of laughs and lightened the mood, and Gwendolyn had reluctantly agreed to letting Al leave; but she hadn't been happy as they watched him walk away again – and then blur into his Samoyed form so he could work off his own unhappiness with a bit of Animorphmagus play time.**

" **Come in, come in!" Slughorn said enthusiastically. "Welcome, and Merry Christmas!"**

 **Gwendolyn only half-heartedly pasted a smile on her face, but couldn't completely hide her reaction to seeing James standing next to the Professor with a victorius, vicious smirk on his face the moment he locked eyes with her before moving on to leer at her while taking a long, lewd, head-to-toe look at her before pasting a fake, cheerful smile in place by the time Slughorn was ready to start the introductions that weren't necessary but that he insisted on doing anyway.**

" **Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce my guest of honor tonight – the first member of my Slug Club to ever be a Slug Club alumni and a famous Wizard guest while still being a student here at Hogwarts! James Potter – currently the undefeated Seeker for the Caerphilly Catapults as well as Captain of the Gryffindor senior Quidditch team!" He paused for the drama moment; and then continued with the introductions. "Yes, you know each other, but James, I'm still pleased to present these lovely young Witches – Gwendolyn McCormack, daughter of my dear friends Gwenog and Kirley; Rose Weasley, your own cousin and daughter to Ron and Hermione Weasley; and Susannah Macmillan, whose parents, Ernie and Susan, have both done quite well for themselves at the Ministry of Magic – especially now that her mother is also now your own father's replacement as Head of the Aurors! With our young ladies, I see that we have Seth Bradley and Brandon Graves – sons of Wimborne Wasps' Chaser, Ryan Bradley and Holyhead Harpies' former Beater, Lysa Horton Graves! Ms. McCormack has apparently decided to come to the party unescorted."**

 **Gwendolyn smiled and handed him the gift that she'd only had to carry through the door after Al had passed it along to her. "Al sends his regrets and best Christmas wishes – along with our gift," she advised him.**

 **I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised if he turned down your invitation too. He is, after all, the only student to ever decline membership in my Slug Club – as well as being the only student I'm aware of to ever both be voted out as a team Captain and also quit from being a Prefect too!" He pretended to make that all sound as if it was a merry joke; but Gwendolyn wasn't at all amused. It seemed to her that Professor Slughorn was not above being petty and vindictive over a perceived insult.**

" **Don't forget about him being the father of the first Animorphlitter," James offered cheerfully. "For all we know; he snuck off and hooked up with his litter-carrier to make those puppies with her the night of your last Christmas party. The timing to when they were whelped would've been about right!"**

 **Gwendolyn stepped forward and slapped James as hard as she could across the face; shocking pretty much everyone in the room. "Shut it; you lying, horrid rotter!" she hissed at him.**

" **Ms. McCormack!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed, looking stunned; and then gaped as she turned and glared at him with true, fiery anger in her eyes. "Don't Ms. McCormack me! Friend of my mother's or not, those comments about my boyfriend were completely uncalled for, Professor – and gave James the opening to continue spewing his viperous lies about his daughters, their mother, and his brother!" She took a deep breath and fought to get her anger under control again. "I'd best move on before I say or do anything else I actually might regret later," she decided. "Merry Christmas, Professor, but I totally get why Al didn't want to come in here with us now; so I'd really appreciate it if you and your horrid, pathetic excuse for a guest of honor don't so much as even look at me again for the rest of the evening." She turned and glared at James when he opened his mouth to respond – and didn't need any of Al's talents to be sure she didn't want to hear another word from him.**

" **Shut it – unless you'd like to find out just how much I really am like my mother!"**

" **And she will be here soon too," Rose added angrily. "It would be very hard for you to play those holiday matches for the Catapults if you're a woodlouse by night's-end!"**

 **She stepped forward and had to paste a smile on her face as she turned to their Professor. "Merry Christmas, Professor," she said as pleasantly as she could manage. "You have many other guests to mingle with and introduce to your guest of honor; so we'll move along and give this bit of unpleasantness a chance to blow over."**

" **You don't have to run off," James told her even as he watched Gwendolyn walk away. "I'm sure that everyone would love to meet the future star Keeper for the Cannons' clown brigade!"**

" **You're in fine form tonight," Rose told him frostily. "Congratulations – you're truly on the way to getting everything you deserve; so Merry Christmas to you too!"**

 **Brandon, Susannah, and Seth had little gifts for Slughorn too, so it took a few moments before they could move on; and then Rose led the way across the room to get drinks before meeting up with Gwendolyn again in the spot she'd staked out that was about as far away from Slughorn and James as was possible."**

" **So, is the party as exciting as you'd heard, Seth?" Gwendolyn joked darkly.**

" **Yes, but not at all in the way I expected; and now I feel like a git for coming here even after Al's choice should've been a big warning to the rest of us that we could be in for some trouble."**

" **Maybe, but you can't say that wasn't an exciting start to the party – and I don't mind admitting that I enjoyed watching Gwendolyn slap James like that – even if that's bad of me to feel that way."**

" **James ought to be glad that you didn't have your Quidditch gear on – or I might ahve borrowed your bat and hit him with that instead," Gwendolyn declared with a dark smile. "I think that I'm most mad right now because I really want to have fun at parties like this; yet I also get why Al doesn't want any part of them when so many of the guests – and the host – are so petty, vain, and superficial!"**

" **We're not all like that," Susannah disagreed. "That whole scene was ridiculous, though; and I just don't get it at all. Professor Slughorn talked about our parents – or at least the well-known parents – for the rest of us, but he only talked up James' own accomplishments and then insulted Al without even mentioning their Mum and Dad – and they're only the most famous couple in the entire Wizarding World." She sighed and then smiled ruefully. "This is supposed to be a party. Let's just try to move on and make the best of it."**

" **Okay," Rose agreed, "but Al will be mad at us later when he finds out that we blasted and pranked James all night."**

" **That's not what I meant," Susannah told her while Gwendolyn, Brandon, and Seth all laughed.**

" **We know – but that was still funny," Brandon interjected with a grin for Rose. "I'm glad that we are staying; and we won't need to do anything like that to have fun either. I'm pretty sure that Professor Slughorn is currently worried about what Gwendolyn's Mum might do to him when she finds out about that weird little start to the party for us."**

" **Well, Susannah got him a jar of his favorite candies," Seth advised them. "We can always empty it if he needs a smaller home to live in for a month or three."**

" **I hope she wouldn't leave him like that for months," Gwendolyn countered with a true grin now. "I don't speak woodlouse – and some of us wouldn't want to try and teach ourselves all of our OWL-year potions lessons for the first couple of months of the new year."**

 **Those jokes were the last that Rose and Susannah would allow about the Professor – at least while they were within earshot; they changed the subject; and then tried to make sure that they all had fun for the rest of the evening – and mostly-succeeded in doing that. They stayed away from James; had some fun, interesting moments with many of the guests – including with Kirley and Gwenog; and they stayed through until a bit after curfew before making their escape when they'd all had enough of Slughorn's kind of fun for the night. Rose and Brandon went out on Prefect patrol straight from the party, but Gwendolyn went back to Ravenclaw tower with Susannah and Seth; and then left them alone in the hallway to say goodnight to each other while running up to her dorm room to change and get more comfortable before meeting up with Susannah again so that they could go out on the late patrol too – and Louis had scheduled that specifically because of the party and the likelihood that other students would try and take advantage of the change to stay out of their Houses past normal curfew. They moved on from there so that Susannah could stop and get changed too; did a tour of 'their' section of the castle; and then took a break when they crossed paths with Rose and Brandon.**

" **I'll try not to be jealous, but I was supposed to be doing stuff like this with Al while you were on patrol with Susannah this year," Gwendolyn teased. "Has there been any excitement on your patrol so far? It's been quiet for us."**

" **We caught one Wizard attempting to crash the party late," Rose answered. "Maybe he thought the guests would be too-far into their drinks to notice; but we did."**

" **And then she let him off with a warning and we escorted him back to his House," Brandon added.**

" **That warning will be in my report for the Heads," Rose assured him. "That bit of Christmas kindness won't help him if he gets into trouble again." She smiled at Gwendolyn. "Speaking of trouble – have you talked with the magnet?"**

" **I didn't bother trying," Gwendolyn admitted. "Knowing him; he was likely sleeping by not long after curfew. You know that he's likely the happiest hermit in the school after getting out of going to that party with us."**

" **I can't tell from the way you said that. Are you mad at him?" Rose asked; looking a bit worried; and Gwendolyn laughed again.**

" **No, but I probably should be a bit mad at myself – and I'm still mad at Slughorn and James. I'm only mildly-irritated with Al for being right. If he'd have gone in with us and I'd had to watch him put up with being treated like that to his face; I'd have likely done worse than slap James."**

" **Now I'm mad at him," Rose pretended to complain. "That might have been a lot more fun than some of the things we did instead – and it can be a pain to deal with the gits and posers just for the chance to have fun with the Witches and Wizards that truly are interesting and fun to get to know."**

" **You and Gwendolyn know more of those famous people than Susannah and I do," Brandon offered; "so maybe that's why I was more-impressed. He smiled ruefully at Gwendolyn. "Don't shoot the messenger; but I was wondering if having all of those important guests around had something to do with James' insults setting you off tonight. It's not actually as if he said anything worse than normal for him when it comes to Al."**

 **Gwendolyn took a moment to consider that; and then shrugged. "Maybe it was a factor," she admitted. "I really hate it when Al is lied about like that around others – especially when they don't get the chance to find out how amazing he really is. He doesn't care about that anymore – if he ever did; but it matters to me – and likely always will."**

" **If that's a back-handed way to try and get me to take you off of my short-list for my future Cannons' team mates; it won't work," Rose teased. "You wouldn't be embarrassed about being part of my league champions team!"**

" **And you'd better hope that you don't scare Brandon off with jokes like that one," Gwendolyn countered. "We need to get back to our respective patrols, though; and hope that we're not out here half the night while waiting for that party to end."**

 **James was the last guest in the room in the wee hours of Saturday morning. As guest of honor; he'd stayed with Slughorn to see all of the other guests out; and now it seemed very quiet by comparison to the loud that had filled the room for most of the party.**

" **How about a nightcap?" Slughorn suggested. "It's been quite a night – quite a success, I'd say!"**

" **Sounds great, Professor," James agreed. "Take a seat – I'll get those drinks for us." He was a bit unsteady as he went to do that, but then Slughorn was more than a little drunk too; so he didn't notice. He filled two glasses with some sort of champagne or sparkling wine; took one to Slughorn; and then sat in a chair that was to the Professor's left. "You do know how to throw a party, sir," he said with a contented sigh as he stretched his legs out in front of him – toward the fireplace in front of them.**

" **Yes, well – thank-you," Slughorn managed to answer; though he looked near-ready to have a nap. "Here's to a grand night of Christmas cheer with the special friends I hold so dear!"**

" **I'll drink to that," James agreed – "and to all of the beautiful Witches you have a knack for making friends with too!"**

 **Slughorn laughed quietly. "That isn't something I consider when choosing my friends; but the best and brightest are often quite attractive too – as you well know; considering how much attention some of those Witches were paying to you tonight."**

 **James grinned at him. 'You were still kissed far more often than I was," he joked. "Why did you never pick one of those beautiful Witches out for yourself – or were you like me in your youth and preferred to share the love?"**

 **Slughorn sighed. "Alas, while I have a talent for connecting others and encouraging them along the way to greatness; I've never found that bonded-for-life kind of Witch to share my life with. I sometimes regret that – and not having a family of my own, but then, in a way; I do have a rather-extraordinary family! Their connections are just in ways other than blood relations."**

" **That does have some nice benefits," James suggested. "You can have fun with them the way you did tonight; and then get to send them home at the end of the day so that you don't have to deal with all of the pesky day-to-day boring that fills up most of their lives!"**

 **Slughorn laughed. "It is nice to be my own Wizard," he agreed. "Some Wizards, like your own father, are better because of the Witch they've chosen to bond with, but that is not so for many, many others, and my choices have likely been for the best; since I'd have likely made any Witch a terrible husband!"**

 **James laughed; and Slughorn looked at him quizzically. "Sorry, sir, but for some reason, your comment had me picturing you with my Aunt Muriel at one of our family gatherings. I probably shouldn't have laughed; since it was more scary than funny."**

" **Not as scary to you as finding out that she was quite a Beautiful Witch in her youth," Horace told him. "She was also as much a force of nature as she still is to this day; so I can assure you that there was never a chance that your great-aunt and I would have ever gotten together!"**

" **I'm sure that's for the best – for all of us," James answered. "Please don't ever tell my uncles about this little chat, sir. I do not ever want to see a new, hot, young version of their Aunt Muriel wheeze in their stores!"**

 **That joke earned another laugh from Slughorn; and James continued to chat him up until the old fool fell asleep in his chair. Once he was out for the count, James permanently-borrowed the contents of a particularly-nice double-malt, but left the empty bottle behind so that the Professor would just believe that he'd served the gift to his guests; confiscated a few other items that he accepted as payment for being Slughorn's guest of honor; and then he headed for his dorm room. Staying with Slughorn instead of hooking up with one of the Witches he could have gone off and played with instead had been a bit of a sacrifice, but then he'd had plenty of that sort of fun during the party – with three different Witches; so that was likely for the best anyway. He certainly didn't ever want to get a reputation for anything less than remember-forever performances when it came to satisfying the girls!**

 **The other guys in his room were all sleeping by the time he got there, but while he didn't care all that much about waking them; he managed to get to his bed without doing that; he stowed his Christmas 'gifts' in his trunk; and then flopped onto his bed.**

 **He'd had another brilliant night, and best of all – he'd done that while the Animorphhermit had apparently run off with his tail between his legs before even getting to the party; and then left his potty-trainer to attend it without him! Sure, he'd wanted to blast her for hitting him, but then he'd decided to just think of that as foreplay; since he was still convinced that it was only a matter of time before she'd be his – especially since he was going to make sure that the loser messed up with her again – as many times as it took for her to finally dump him forever!**

 **As he passed out, James was sure that his entire holiday was going to just keep getting better and better; while the loser would be wallowing in obscurity – probably up to his elbows in dirty diapers!**

 **Al was awake as early as always on Saturday morning. He got ready for their visit to Hogsmeade; but went to the Room of Requirements for his morning workout before meeting up with Rose for a morning walk and talk that included a bit of magical healing along the way to the Great Hall. She also gave him some of the news from the party, including Gwendolyn's problems with Slughorn and James, but they spent most of that time talking about their plans for the day and the holidays that were now less than a week away. He offered some healing help to Gwendolyn before breakfast too – which had been why she stopped by to see him on the way to her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table; and then the day in Hogsmeade was the top chat topic while they had that meal – with the Christmas dinner and dance a close second.**

 **While Gwendolyn had been at the Slug Club party, Al really had spent some time thinking about ways to make it up to her for not going to it with her – especially at the last minute. He'd worked up several ideas, but the first one he was actually going to do was something he put into action as soon as they'd gotten back together and had been set free to head for town with the group of friends and relatives that had been with them after they'd finished eating. He smiled as he made the sleigh appear once they were outdoors; he held out his hand to her; and then helped her to get up into the sleigh.**

" **Once the sleigh's full, that'll be my limit for pulling it to town," he advised everyone else as he pulled the first blanket out of his undetectable expansion bag and passed it to Gwendolyn. "It's entirely your choice whether you want to go in couples – or let the Wtiches get the ride and catch up with them in town."**

" **That's a tough one," Brandon answered before anyone else tried to offer a comment, "but I'll vote for making as many of the Witches in our group happy as possible – and some of them have hair appointments first anyway; so it really won't matter if some of us guys get there later or not."**

" **You could likely keep up with the sleigh if you get Al to put those charms on your shoes that make you lighter," Lily suggested as Jonah helped her up into the sleigh next and then stepped out of the way while Lily got under the blanket with Gwendolyn.**

" **I can do that – as long as you don't all try to hang on to the back of the sleigh," Al agreed. "At some point; we'd just end up getting stuck and go nowhere."**

" **Racing a horse and sleigh might be fun," Seth suggested. "Why don't you do that charm thing first and give us a head start?"**

 **That's exactlywhat they ended up doing; though the guys waited until the girls were all on the sleigh and Al was ready to change into his stallion form and hook himself up to it. There were some spectators waiting around to watch the show; and then they all had fun as the guys all ran for town while Al gave them that head start before getting the sleigh moving. While he wasn't looking to win any prizes, he was still competitive; and the girls were very happy when he caught up to their friends half-way to town; raced them the rest of the way to the hair salon; and only beat them by a few sleigh-lengths – just enough time for the guys to catch up and then help their girls out of the sleigh again while he got unhooked and changed back to his human form again.**

" **That was brilliant!" Gwendolyn assured him enthusiastically when they could share a hug and kiss. "Thank you!"**

" **You're welcome," he answered happily. "I'm glad that you liked part one of my plan to make things up to you for messing up our date last night."**

" **Well, it wasn't jewelry; but that was pretty good," Lily interjected. "We're early for our appointments, but they'll likely be okay with that – and maybe we'll get done early too and have extra time to shop after that," she suggested to Gwendolyn. "Thank him again for the rest of us; and then come on in while they go and deal with the boring shopping."**

 **Gwendolyn had fun doing that with Al before going on to have some hair play time with her friends; so Al was in a happy mood when he and Jonah paired up and got to work on the boring shopping – which wasn't a big deal when they only had a week to go until the Christmas holidays. They had other things to do, though, like pick up flowers for their dance dates. As usual, Al didn't buy any wheezes for himself, but they did take care of the orders from their younger friends; and then met up with the girls to handle the 'fun' shopping after that. They took their time; had a comparatively-late lunch; and then they eventually headed back to the castle with lots of time to spare before the girls needed to start getting ready for the Christmas dinner and dance.**

 **The extra time allowed Al to deliver orders to the Gryffindor tweens they'd shopped for; and then he went to spend some time in the Room of Requirements to get a mental break ahead of the dinner and dance. He had some play time while there too; and was ready for whatever the rest of the day would bring as he returned to his dorm room and then started getting ready for his date. He was still a bit early doing that because he hadn't wanted to be in the middle of the crush for shower time that happened ahead of every big school event, but while he had that extra time before meeting up with Gwendolyn too; he managed to stay entertained by going for a walk and offering a bit of holiday help to a few teens or tweens in need while on his way to Ravenclaw tower. He had a chat with Jonah when they crossed paths; talked with some of the other guys waiting for their dates in the hallway outside of Gwendolyn's home; and then he was happily and appropriately dazzled by his girlfriend when she met up with him.**

" **Wow!" he breathed as they shared a hug.**

" **Well, not speechless; but that's pretty good," Gwendolyn teased. "I love you, Al."**

" **I love you too," he assured her while holding out the corsage to her; and then keeping it when she indicated that she wanted him to help with attaching it to her wrist. "Have you had fun with your friends since we split up a few hours ago?"**

" **I have," she confirmed. "There is a lot of new gossip going around that's mostly from teen drama that happened in Hogsmeade; and we've had fun with our mini-makeovers. What did you do – since I doubt you sat around doing your nails with Ray and the other guys."**

" **I had some quiet time with a bit of magic fun mixed in after delivering our shopping orders; got ready for tonight; and then helped out a bit around the castle before coming here. It wasn't likely as much fun as you had, but I'm happy; and ready for the dinner and dance."**

" **Good," Gwendolyn said with a nod and smile. "You'd need to do much better than a sleigh ride if you mess up this party for me."**

" **I'm not done making up for messing up your last party," he reminded her. "I'll try to stay out of trouble tonight."**

" **Does that mean you've come up with a way to reverse the polarity on that built-in trouble magnet of yours?" Stephanie asked as she joined them with her date for the night – and one of Al's roommates; Terry Brookbridge.**

" **No, but I try to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best," Al joked in return. "You look beautiful tonight – and happy; so I'll guess that Terry's done well-enough for the start of your date."**

" **Hoping for the best isn't going to help you out of getting into trouble if you keep telling all of the other Witches around you that you think they look beautiful," Gwendolyn warned; and Al grinned at her.**

" **Would you believe that I was shooting for a second-generation opportunity to make things right for how badly my Dad and Uncle Ron messed things up with Stephanie's Mum and Aunt the year they went to the Yule Ball together?"**

" **Your Dad went to a Christmas dance with Stephanie's Mum when they went to school here?" Terry asked in surprise; and smiled when Al, Gwendolyn, and Stephanie all laughed.**

" **Al was just grouping them together with parents first for convenience," Stephanie answered. "His Dad actually went to that Yule Ball with my Aunt Parvati while his Uncle was with my Mum – and yes; they both apparently did totally botch those dates." She smiled at Al. "His Dad had such a horrid reputation for dating when he was a teen that it's a wonder those stories didn't make the History books too."**

" **I don't know if I'd like to have our History books filled with that sort of thing, but you must have fun with that. How many future Aurors did your Mum date while at Hogwarts?"**

 **Stephanie laughed again. "I hadn't really thought about that – and would have to ask Mum; since I don't know whether she dated any of the other guys that did go on to become Aurors."**

" **Al's Mum dated two future Aurors too," Gwendolyn advised them while grinning at Al. Her date for that Yule Ball was Professor Longbotom!"**

" **No way!" Terry exclaimed; and then joined in for the laughs. "Okay, I guess that's not so weird when she went on to marry the future Head of the Aurors; but that is still weird-enough."**

" **I think that Al's family has the best Hogwarts dating stories," Gwendolyn told him seriously – "and I'd say we have a chat topic for the walk to the Great Hall too."**

" **Start with the one about Al's Aunt dating Viktor Krum," Stephanie suggested. "I love that story." She laughed again at Terry's reaction. "Guys really don't talk the way Witches do," she declared. "You've been Al's roommate for four and a half years; and have never heard that story?"**

 **Terry shrugged. "I was lucky and started out in first year at the opposite end of the room from the trouble magnet – and it's been like that ever since. We don't actually talk all that often at all unless it's related to our assignments now and then or small talk when we cross paths in our dorm room or elsewhere around the castle."**

" **Well, we can get a chance to know you a bit better tonight," Gwendolyn told him with a warm smile. "We'll even try to take it easy on the Quidditch talk if you're not into Quidditch the way the rest of us are."**

" **I like Quidditch," Terry assured her. "I just don't want to play it."**

" **We can work with that – and have other friends that don't like to play Quidditch either; so we'll try to sit with some of them too – unless you have plans to sit with some of your friends or Stephanie's fourth-year friends."**

 **They didn't actually decide on that until they got to the Great Hall and found out that they were early-enough to get enough spots at the Ravenclaw table for a lot of their friends – including Rose, Brandon, Susannah, Seth, and most of the friends they'd sat with for dinner the night of the mirror network premiere of the Christmas musical. Terry and Stephanie ended up sitting across the table from Al and Gwendolyn; with the rest of their closest friends near-enough so that they could talk together before and during dinner. That meal was a major holiday event; and they spent more than an hour enjoying all of the great food and then some amazing desserts.**

 **There was a break after dinner while the Great Hall was set up for the dance part of the night. Gwendolyn had a Prefect patrol to do, so Al went with her; and they took advantage of a bit of alone time thanks to her patrol being in parts of the castle where there weren't supposed to be any teens or tweens during the Christmas festivities – and they didn't run into anyone either; since it was still a bit early for having any couples looking to sneak off for some private snogging time. They didn't have too much fun with their own bit of snogging fun, but they were both smiling and very happy when they got back to the Great Hall in time for the first Christmas song of the night from the Graves Robbers.**

 **I wonder if this will be our last Christmas dance for while we're at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn mused as they danced together with a group of their friends to the up-beat Christmas song. "Myra graduates this year; and she's the last member of the band still here; so they'll likely have better things to do around Christmas from now on – assuming she even stays with the band."**

" **Have you heard anything about her being recruited by one or more of the league teams?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn shook her head.**

" **No, but I think she'd take a job if one is offered; and she's good-enough to play in the show."**

" **You may not have helped her with that in your match against her," Toni suggested. She and Michael were the couple closest to Gwendolyn; and she smiled at her friend. "I know that Myra played well, but it didn't look that way from the score; and Peter had the shut-out too."**

" **I don't think that Myra's as good as Peter," Gwendolyn said seriously, "but she's better than quite a few of the Keepers currently in the show; so I do think she'll get an offer or two – and then she'll have to decide whether she wants a career in Quidditch or music; since it wouldn't be possible to do both full time."**

" **That'll be tough if it might mean messing things up for the other guys in the band," Toni suggested next.**

" **Al and I have talked about that before; and think that they'd be able to go on without her – even if they would have to drop the duets out of their shows."**

" **She could likely still do some things with them around her Quidditch," Al suggested. "They could work on new albums in the off-season; and she could do some shows with them during the summer and on weekends when she wasn't playing or busy with other team responsibilities. Teams can have as few as fourteen matches on Saturdays for an entire season. The Harpies only have sixteen weekend games – or nineteen if they make it through to the championship match in May. That still leaves a lot of open weekends for playing with the band if Myra wanted to do that part-time."**

" **You sound like Dad when you talk like that," Gwendolyn told him.**

" **Except for when it came to his own career," Al countered. "His suggestions for that fall apart every time when you remind him about that."**

" **True – but that doesn't keep him from trying to talk us into a music career anyway." She paused while focusing on the music for a few moments. "Myra sounds happy to be up there with her brother and the other guys. Maybe she will want to try to do both – or pick music instead of Quidditch. i guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens next summer."**

" **That could be especially-interesting with the Quidditch World Cup," Al offered next. "The bands are sure to be playing somewhere every weekend – maybe even through to the Quidditch World Cup championship match again."**

" **Would you pick the band option if it meant getting to see one of those matches every week next summer?" Toni asked Gwendolyn.**

" **No, but then we're hoping to get to go to some of the games anyway," Gwendolyn advised her. "Dad's sure to be busy helping his buddies out with the bands they all work with on top of their own music; and there is a chance that Mum could be working with the National team again too."**

" **We'll definitely go to the matches that England plays in if any of my cousins make the team," Al suggested. "Mum doesn't have her reporter job anymore, though; so we won't get to do that while she's working."**

" **That's half a year away, and not at all Christmassy," Toni reminded them. "Let's change the subject to something more festive like all of the extra Christmas shopping we get to do when we're home for the holidays a week ahead of Christmas!"**

 **The girls were happy to do that, and while Al had a lot of fun with Gwendolyn as they danced and played with their friends; he again spent some time quietly helping out around the Great Hall with keeping any seriously-nasty pranks from happening and messing up the dance for anyone. This time, that included two pranks aimed at him, but one of them happened while he was out with Gwendolyn while she took one of her turns doing a patrol of the castle. Christmas fun was what the night was all about, though; and most of the teens and tweens in the room got to enjoy some surprises along the way – with the biggest one being the band intermission entertainment.**

 **Wendy and Wanda Wintringham took to the stage for that; and they put on a forty-five minute show that included the Christmas songs they'd done on the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers album or the musical album, but they also did some other duets that were covers of other songs too – and they proved to be a hit with their audience! Al and Gwendolyn were able to be in the Great Hall for that part of the night; they danced together for all of the songs; and then they stayed out on the dance floor when the Graves Robbers took over again and kicked the party into high gear again after Wendy and Wanda wrapped up their 'set' with a pair of ballads.**

" **This works out nicely for us," Gwendolyn told Al and the rest of the friends they were dancing with. "Wendy and Wanda are getting mobbed over there by half of the younger teens and tweens in the room; and we've got more room to move around for a while!"**

" **Some of us prefer the crowds," Michael told her; pretending to look serious. "When we have this much room; I can't blame someone else when I step on Toni's feet."**

" **He doesn't actually do that very often – or at least no more often than I step on his," Toni said with a smile and shake of her head. "There are other Wizards around here that have that for a legitimate worry, though – including a few gits that are obviously having a bit too much Christmas cheer in their drinks tonight."**

" **Do we want to know who you're talking about for that?" Gwendolyn asked; and then laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Okay, it seems that only one of us didn't know – or notice. Should we be worried, Al?"**

" **I have no idea," he admitted. "Let's hope not; since any problems James and Ollie have are always my fault." He smiled at Toni when she laughed at that; though it was because of what he sensed she was thinking – not just the laughs that she'd joined in on with the rest of their little group. "You're right – and that's funny," he told her; and she laughed again while everyone else looked at them curiously.**

" **I was thinking that Ollie would have a tough time blaming Al if he has any surprises this Christmas like the one James ended up with after the last one," Toni explained – "especially if his children end up looking just like him,' she explained; and earned a small roar of laughter for that joke that was loud-enough to earn some attention from the other teens around them. "I'm surprised that you just admitted to picking up on that from me, Al. You don't usually do that."**

 **He smiled ruefully and shrugged. "I probably shouldn't have; but it was really funny. James always has an answer for how to blame me for everything, though; and there's a good chance that Ollie could do the same for that somehow too – no matter how ludicrous the explanation would need to be to make it work."**

" **Speaking of ludicrous – it might be time for a break sooner instead of later if they're going to keep acting like that over there," Gwendolyn suggested; nodding toward where James and Ollie were having their kind of fun with their dates and some friends.**

" **You could give them points for creativity with that dancing," Stephanie suggested. "I've certainly never seen anything like it before tonight."**

" **Which explains why their dates seem to be having some trouble following their leads," Gwendolyn added. "I don't really want to go there and risk messing up our fun, though; so let's try to ignore the stupid and get back to enjoying our own brand of dance fun!"**

 **Al was good with that plan; though it didn't keep him from knowing what was going on with James, Ollie, and pretty much everyone else in the castle. Along with the dancing and play time with their friends, Al did one last patrol with Gwendolyn mid-way between that moment and the end of the dance; and then he helped out with the clean-up once the Graves Robbers played their last song while Gwendolyn was back on Prefect duty for at least another hour. He still got to say goodnight to her because she 'caught' him out past the dance curfew – conveniently at the same time that Susannah caught Seth as he and Al had left the Great Hall together; so the two girls split up from their patrol long-enough to get their dates safely back to their common rooms for the night. The goodnight hugs and kisses had Al smiling as he headed up to his dorm room after that; he had a bit of guy chat time with Terry and a couple of the other guys who were there because they'd had inter-House dates too; and then he got ready for bed and crashed into nap mode for the rest of the night long before most of the teen couples in the common room came up to their beds too.**

" **Wake up!"**

 **James grunted as he was forced awake by the voice and a couple of not-so-gentle punches to his stomach.**

" **Wuzzup?" he mumbled groggily.**

" **Not you – or us," the annoyed-sounding voice advised him. "Your sofa disappeared; we hit the ground; and now you've got my arm pinned under you – so get off!"**

 **He grunted again as she tried to push him away from her but couldn't do that; and then she punched him again.**

" **Okay – I'm moving!" he groused unhappily.**

" **Ow!" she cried out when he apparently twisted her arm the wrong way while rolling to the side. "James – be careful!"**

" **Sorry," he muttered. "Okay now?"**

" **No!" she answered. "It feels as though you broke my arm!"**

" **Uh-huh," he mumbled while pulling the blanket around himself and rolling up into it until he bumped into something that stopped him from going any further. "Sorry."**

 **He passed out again; and was oblivious as the Witch he'd been with complained and half-yelled at him – though she did that quietly to make sure she didn't get any unwanted attention as she got dressed and gathered her things. She was no longer impressed to have gotten James Potter's attention; was feeling more guilty than happy about the choices she'd made since he'd started flirting with her at the dance; and was sure that she was going to regret her 'first time' when it had turned out to be nothing as magical or romantic as she'd hoped that it would be – especially with such a hot, popular Wizard! When she was ready, she took a long, last look at James as he slept on in complete oblivion to her; sighed; and then left the room and hoped that she'd be able to sneak back into her House without getting caught out around the castle so late after curfew.**

 **James slept on – and wouldn't even be able to remember her name when he woke up in the morning – just as he'd need to be reminded about messing up his date and half of the other stupid things he'd done once he was too drunk to remember anything he'd done during the last hour or so of the dance or anything else that had happened after he'd left with his chosen, unremembered playmate.**

 **After taking two days off, many of Al and Gwendolyn's friends needed to get serious about their studies on Sunday – and Gwendolyn also had a make-up Quidditch practice with her team because Peter wanted them to keep getting ready for their January match against Slytherin. There was still lots of Christmas and winter-time cheer and fun to be had too, but Al helped his friends a lot too; fit in the snow play fun between the morning studying and lunchtime while also meeting up with Gwendolyn to do that on her way back from her practice; and then they took the evening off as usual for their family fun night with Lily and Jonah. That proved to be a very quiet bit of play time because they were all tired out by then, but it was also great to do their last round of music play time ahead of the holidays – along with the rest of the 'lasts' like last mirror chats with their parents, Malorie, and the twins while they were all together and the last visit to the Owlery; since Winter would be staying at home for a few weeks once there with their last Owl Post of the year.**

 **During the last four school days of the year, Al had a very different schedule compared to pretty much everyone else. Sure, they all had their normal classes, and he had a full-slate for that, but he didn't have a single Christmas party to deal with while Gwendolyn had her team party on Tuesday afternoon; the Prefect party on Wednesday evening; and extra Prefect duties that kept her busy every day and usually until after curfew each night. While she was busy, Al spent his 'spare' time working ahead on his holiday revision as they were assigned more and more work; helped out around the castle whenever he could do that without attracting much attention to himself; and had a bit of fun here and there with Gwendolyn, their families, and friends when he could work that out too.**

 **Lily was busy with things like the joint team party she had on Monday afternoon with Jonah and all of their collective junior team mates; but she was busy with her own friends most of the rest of the time too as they all got ready for the holiday break. While he missed out on some fun; Al was glad to be far away from other holiday drama – especially when it came to anything to do with James or the Gryffindor senior team. James had been at the center of one of the top teen dramas from the Christmas dance, but while his date disaster was the top story; Al learned way more than he wanted to about the rest of that story – including from the Witch James had gone off with after the dance. It was a bit scary to him that he actually knew more about her than James did; since his brother still didn't really remember anything about her or what they'd done together until he'd passed out for the night.**

 **The Gryffindor senior team Quidditch party was another top gossip story – and nothing like the happy fun that Gwendolyn was part of for her team party on Tuesday afternoon. By comparison, James' party was a wild and crazy drunk-fest filled with pranks and wheezes and way too much of the kind of fun that the Head Boy and Head Girl shouldn't have allowed in the castle – yet did just that while attending the party and getting a bit tipsy too while James, Ollie, and the McClaggens in particular had more than a bit too much of every kind of holiday cheer! Al only had personal involvement in a bit of that because he woke up when his own player-roommates returned from that party and were a bit too loud and inebriated, but he didn't help them out at all; and being around them for the start of their morning after hangovers was the only really uncomfortable part of the situation for him – again because he didn't choose to help them out with those issues and reveal to his roommates that he could do that for them so easily.**

 **There were a lot of things he liked to help others with, but reducing the consequences of bad choices wasn't one of those things!**

 **While Al didn't get to spend a lot of time with Gwendolyn for most of the week, they did make a point of taking some time for themselves on Thursday – and did that in the Room of Requirements so that he could have the piece and quiet while they snogged each other sensless for an hour or so after dinner – until she needed to be back in her House for a Witches-only bit of play time ahead of the holidays. She needed to do that early because her Prefect duties weren't going to allow her to have the bedtime girl chat with her roommates – and she also needed to be packed and ready to go home early too. Al would have liked to spend more time with her, but since that wasn't an option; he spent that time doing a last bit of helping out around the castle – including some help for two tweens that would be staying behind for the first time; and finding out about some students that he could help out over the holidays by sending special gifts back up to the school so that they could get most-hoped-for Christmas presents that they were sure couldn't be possible for them.**

 **He ended his day with a bit of guy chat time in his dorm room that even Ray joined in for after deciding not to stay in the common room half the night with Cyndia, but while the other guys had a lot of packing to do; he pretty much had his done by then; so he provided a bit of entertainment for all of them through his portable mirror so that they could all at least listen to Christmas music being done on the most-popular teen music channel on the mirror network. Hanging out with the other guys meant staying up a bit later than he normally would, but he had fun talking with the guys he wasn't likely to see over the next two weeks; and he still managed to get to sleep well-ahead of the rest of his friends.**

" **Are you regretting not being a Prefect this morning?" Lily asked Al as she stopped by to share a good morning hug with him while on the way to her normal seat at the Gryffindor table with her friends. Rose, Ray, and Gwendolyn are all busy; and you're sitting here all alone."**

" **I'm not alone – especially now that you're here," he half-joked while also waving a hand to indicate the rest of the students in the hall with them so far. "I miss spending the extra time with Gwendolyn and Rose, but I don't miss any of the work they're stuck with this morning – and I'll be okay with not having the work on the train or the trip back here in the New Year. You look great! I love the combination of comfort and style."**

" **I wanted to look good for when we get to see Jaimie and Lorie again this afternoon."**

" **And it'll just be a bonus that Jonah wil want to cuddle with you the entire way home," Al teased; and then joined in to laugh when she rubbed a hand over his own plush-soft sweater.**

" **Pot-meet-kettle," she suggested. "Too bad for you that Gwendolyn will be busy in with her Prefect duties or in the Prefect car for most of the trip."**

" **Maybe he's planning on getting into trouble while it's her turn to patrol the train so she has to take him aside and snog some good behavior into him," Melissa offered; earning a round of laughs and giggles from the other girls still with Lily.**

" **That's a brilliant idea; but I should probably not do that and risk losing points for Gryffindor. We are right up there and in the running for the House Cup again this year."**

" **If you'd lose points for our House for bad snogging; I have no idea why Gwendolyn took you back," Lily teased; earning another round of laughs. "We have to go, though; so I'll talk to you later – and stop in for a visit or two on the train to help keep you from getting bored on the trip home."**

 **James got a lot of attention from his roommates as he walked into their dorm room - or the handful that were still there while the others were already likely in the Great Hall. He ignored the frowns and disapproving head shakes; went straight to his trunk; and hurriedly began getting the things he'd need over the next two weeks – starting with his Quidditch gear bag. He didn't put a lot of effort into the work; knew that he'd likely end up with half of the things he actually needed; and didn't care. His head was pounding; he felt horrid; and didn't even want to think about what a horror the train ride home was going to be – at least until he started feeling better again. He spotted one of the bottles in his trunk and pulled it out to take a closer look. He grimmaced, but opened it; upended it; and took a long pull of fire whiskey that burned all the way down and hit his tender stomach as if it was on fire. It was the worst sort of medicine, but he knew it would help sooner than waiting for the hangover to subside; and he added the bottle to his bag so that he could have another shot or two if needed along the way.**

 **As he thought about that, he added the bottle of double malt he'd been saving up for a special occasion too; since he might need an extra day or two before he could get one of his older friends to help him out with stocking his room at the Leaky for all of the holiday fun he planned on having over the next two weeks. That thought had him smiling dispite feeling so awful; since he'd certainly had a lot of fun while saying goodbye for the holidays to some of his favorite Witches over the past few days! That hadn't been new – though some of those Witches had been, but he was sure that this Christmas holiday was sure to be filled with more variety than his last two holidays!**

 **It said a lot about how good he was getting at believing in his 'alternate' reality that he didn't even think about Malorie at all in relation to that idea while still associating his past two Christmases with play time that had only been with one Witch. Then again, he wasn't really thinking clearly about anything in his current condition because it just hurt too much. He finished packing his bags; still managed to do that before half of the remaining guys were ready to go; and then he grabbed a change of clothes to go with the rest of his things and left the room to go and grab a quick shower before heading for the Great Hall – assuming he still had time to get something to eat after that before catching one of the last carriages to the train station.**

 **He didn't even notice that he hadn't said anything to any of the other guys; ignored them while lost in his own misery; and hoped that the shower – along with the shot of fire whiskey – would help him to pull himself together – though he still expected that he was not going to enjoy the trip back to London at all!**

 **Al's travel day home really was different for him while Gwendolyn and Rose were busy with Prefect duties, but he decided to have some fun with that instead of having any awkward moments while getting from the castle to the train station. When he was ready to go after eating breakfast; he opted to fly to the station – and took the long way around because he wasn't sure if he could get past the school defenses if he flew the more-direct route across the lake. It was still fairly-early when he did that, so he didn't attract a lot of attention for doing it, but it was brilliantly-fun; and he had the bonus of being at the station early-enough to stake out as many compartments as he wanted – though he opted to save six for his sister, cousins, and friends. He didn't have to wait long for the first takers for the 'extra' compartments; but it took until they were nearly-ready to head for London before his own travel buddies were with him – and that was definitely a change from the normal for him when he didn't have more Witches than Wizards with him.**

" **Well, the good news is that we have more room," Seth suggested as he stretched his legs out and could do that because nobody was in the seat directly across from his. "The bad news is that we probably won't get to spend much time with our favorite Witches while they're busy with Prefect duties."**

" **At least you have a Witch to spend time with over the holidays," Mark Goldstein told him. "My Christmas dance date didn't go nearly as well as yours did; so I'm out of luck."**

" **We've got a train full of Witches with us all day," Seth reminded him. "There's still hope if you want to try and hook up with any of the Witches you like between now and when we get to King's Cross."**

" **I'd make a joke about how much I like Susannah, but I've been on the wrong end of that sort of thing twice now; and just can't find that sort of thing funny anymore."**

" **I get that," Seth assured him with a hint of quiet compassion; "but I can't resist asking why you didn't suggest Gwendolyn instead of Susannah for that non-joke."**

 **Mark laughed and smiled at Al. "Honestly, I've no good reason for that – other than I don't want to mess with Al after the problems he had with Gwendolyn; and I'm not just saying that because she was a bit of a horror to be around while they were having that fight back in September."**

" **Don't remind me," Seth said with a faux-shudder. "That was the only time I was ever afraid of Chasers – and she was usually on my team during our scrimmages." He smiled at Al too. "Did she ever tell you that she used the back of my head once to bounce a pass to Stephanie during one of our scrimmages? That sort of thing is just not supposed to happen to Beaters!"**

 **Al grinned at him. "She didn't tell me about that one; but I did hear about some other plays that were a bit like that – or a bit too tough on Peter or Ryan."**

" **If Ryan draws her name for their family Christmas; he'll likely get her something really awful as payback," Seth suggested. "He did not have fun during our practices that entire time. I'm sure you don't want to talk about that, though; so maybe we should talk about anything else other than your old, personal teen drama stories."**

" **I'm okay with skipping any talk of my more-recent teen drama too," Mark advised them. We will need to figure something out. I'm used to just letting the Witches keep the conversations going all day for these trips home – and you know that I can't keep a conversation going in our dorm room for much more than ten or fifteen minutes, Seth."**

" **That's true," Seth confirmed for Al's benefit. "We really could be in trouble too; since I'm not into talking about the latest fashion, teen drama gossip, or most of the other things that Witches like to talk about most."**

" **We do have Quidditch in common," Al pointed out – "even if I'm not playing on a team this season."**

 **Seth laughed. "We probably shouldn't talk about that with you – especially when you're helping Rose out with her dreams for winning a league championship for the Cannons. Maybe Mark would like a job on her team; but I want to play for a team that has a real shot at actually winning some championships."**

 **Al shrugged. "She isn't going to hire anyone that doesn't want to be part of that team, but you really might want to reconsider how you feel about that; since I really do think that Rose is putting together a brilliant plan – and I'm not just saying that because she's letting me help out with doing that."**

" **Most of us just can't get past the century and more of Cannons futility," Mark said seriously; and Al nodded his agreement.**

" **I know, but all we're looking at is putting together a completely-new team – just as United has just finished doing. The history won't matter at all if we can do that." He smiled and focused his attention on Seth. "I could see you and Brandon on that team with Rose and me. That's four of seven good players right there; so is it really so hard to believe that we can't come up with three more?"**

" **That sounds great for as far as it goes," Seth told him seriously. "Unfortunately, Brandon and I would likely get paid more on any other team, so while you and Rose might be okay with taking the worst pay in the league; we're not going to do that – and neither will any of the other top players."**

" **My Mum is thinking about playing with us," Al reminded him. "I'd say she's a pretty good player."**

" **Your Mum is unemployed," Seth joked. "The Cannons would be a step up from that – especially if she's still unemployed in two and a half years when you're done at Hogwarts."**

" **Well, Rose is working on a plan for being able to afford the best players too, but that's still a work in progress; and I can't really talk about it."**

" **Well, if she does work that out, show us the money; and maybe Brandon and I will think about it more seriously," Seth offered – "though we'll still pick a real contender team over the Cannons even if they can pay more than they do for most of their players now."**

 **Their chat moved on from there, and it was a bit boring for them for a while, but they each began to have some visitors drop by not long after the train left Hogsmeade station and began the long trip to London. Those cameo visits were all fun – whether the other teens were dropping by to see Al or the other guys. Al and Seth got to have an early visit with Gwendolyn and Susannah as the two girls took an early patrol, but that was too-short; and then they had quite a long wait until their second visit in the early afternoon. Seth and Mark went on a couple of walks too, but Al only left their compartment for washroom breaks and was happy to stay in one place and away from most of the other students. That didn't keep him from sensing too much about what was going on around the train, but at least he didn't make any of those dark emotions worse by bringing out the worst in some of the Witches and Wizards that hated him most.**

 **Their trip home felt as though it took longer than normal to Al while he knew that it didn't, so he was even happier than usual when the train finally did slow down on approach to King's Cross; and he had his things ready to go and was among the first in line to get off the train – another change from his normal now that he wasn't sharing those moments with Gwendolyn. He loved getting to see his parents and the other members of their welcoming committee on the platform as they pulled to a stop; and it was even better to get off the train and be first to reach them for the welcome home hugs and kisses.**

" **Thanks for looking so happy to see us even though we didn't bring the twins with us," Ginny teased as she shared a long hug with Al.**

" **I am happy to see you," he assured both of his parents. "It's nice to get off the train too; since this has felt like a very long trip without having Gwendolyn with me for most of it."**

" **Would you like us to talk with Louis about getting you another chance at being Prefect?" Harry teased; and Al laughed.**

" **No, thanks. I have figured out that I really am happier without doing that or being team Captain – even if there are a few things that haven't been as much fun for me. Would you want to go back to being Head of the Aurors now that you've had some time to enjoy a nice long break from all of the responsibilities?"**

" **Maybe – if your mother started working full-time again and I had too much time on my hands."**

" **We've managed to keep busy so far," Ginny pointed out. "At the rate that Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose keep coming up with new toys and other inventions; I'll have an ongoing part-time job just keeping up with that for them."**

" **We really ought to be getting you a piece of those profits," Al suggested; and Ginny shrugged.**

" **Maybe we'll let you buy your own next new broom and call it even," she suggested; and Al grinned at her.**

" **I'm hoping to have my own custom broom invented by then," he advised her. "It's still going to take me quite a while, since I'm learning that broom-making is as much an art as a trade; but I do think that I can learn to do it pretty well if I keep working at it."**

" **Compared to some of the other things you've made already; I'd have expected that to be easy," Ginny told him seriously; and Al shrugged.**

" **I thought so too – until I got into it. There really is good reason for why the other broom-makers haven't figured out how to make brooms as good as the Lightningbolts. The magic in the brooms might be similar, but getting the balance you want without ending up with something that's uncontrollable or spells that work against each other is really tricky."**

" **We just get home and the best you can do is talk about broom-making with Mum and Dad?" Lily asked as she caught up with Al and nudged him out of the way so she could hug her mother while Jonah went to hug his father. "It's a good thing that my trip home was more exciting than yours." She smiled at her mother. "Are you hiding Jaimie and Lorie somewhere? I was hoping that they'd be here to meet us."**

" **We didn't want to bring them out in the cold," Ginny told her. "They are going to come over to our house for dinner, though; so you'll get to see them soon."**

" **And Al was just explaining to us that he wants to make his own custom broom instead of buying his own Lightningbolt when he's seventeen," Harry added with a grin for Lily that had her laughing.**

" **Good for him, but I still want my new broom for my seventeenth, so if you must spend some of the broom fund – use the money for his instead of mine."**

" **We'll keep that in mind," Ginny promised. "It's good to have you home. You look great, Lily."**

" **Thanks, but that's likely just by comparison to the hermit here," she joked. "He may be happier now; but he's getting even geekier with all of the extra studying he's been doing while leaving most of the work around the castle up to the rest of us."**

" **He does look a bit wiser," Ginny offered, "but I did just hug him too; and I'd guess that he's likely been working out every day too."**

 **Lily shrugged. "I'll let you ask Gwendolyn about that; since I have no intention of making comments on the hotness of my brother – especially when he looks so much like Dad."**

" **Gwendolyn and Rose might be a while before they'll catch up to us," Al advised his parents and Kirley. "They drew one of the Prefect jobs that'll take the longest – making sure that everyone gets off the train and nothing is left behind in the compartments."**

" **Is Louis mad at them?" Harry asked; and Al shrugged.**

" **I don't think so. If they get stuck waiting with the firsties at Hogsmeade station when we head back in January too, that might be a sign that he is; but the fifth-year Prefects get a lot of the worst jobs anyway."**

" **And Louis won't want to look like he's playing favorites with them either," Lily added. "What are we doing next? Maybe we should split up; and some of us could go on ahead if they're going to be too much longer."**

" **We're just doing a short visit to Diagon Alley so you can see your uncles at the store and maybe do a bit of shopping, but then we're going to pick up our dinner and head home," Ginny advised her. "Let's just wait for everyone. They're likely well on the way to being done that check of the train by now anyway."**

 **That was true, but it was still nearly ten minutes before Rose and Gwendolyn caught up with them – and then they headed out of the station in one large group before taking Muggle transit to the Leaky. The play time there lasted for about forty-five minutes, and then Harry, Ginny, and Kirley only had their four kids with them when they went back to the Leaky to take the Floo Network home. They didn't see James there either time they were in the Inn, but Hannah advised Harry and Ginny that James had checked in and had seemed happy-enough with his room. Once home, Al and Lily put their bags in their rooms; and then they ended up hanging out in the sitting room with Kirley while Harry and Ginny popped over to Chudley to get Malorie and the girls. Their plans had been adjusted after checking in with Gwenog before picking up their dinner, so they delayed that; and Harry didn't go to get their order until shortly-before Gwenog expected to be finished work and could join them.**

 **The fun level for all of them kicked up a few notches as Jaimie and Lorie became the center of attention for all of them; and Al and Gwendolyn shared cuddle time with each of the twins in turn as they were passed around to both the parents and teens in the house. While the baby cuddle and play time was really special; Al enjoyed getting to talk with Malorie in person too when they didn't have the short time limits they'd had when she'd visited Hogsmeade or even with their mirror chats. They'd both gone through notable changes since the first of September, and in her case; she was happily discovering that she could be a great new mother; juggle twins and her job; and even make some new friends along the way – Witches and at least one Wizard willing to see past the worst stories about her to find out that she was a really good person worth getting to know.**

 **Malorie didn't talk much about those new friends, but she did think about them as they talked about what she'd been doing since they'd seen each other in Hogsmeade a month ago; so Al learned a lot about them – and was happy for her for that and everything else that was going so well for her. Motherhood, work, and a bit of a social life came together for Malorie in part thanks to a lot of help from Harry and Ginny, but they were happy to spend as much time with their granddaughters as they could without over-stepping with Malorie; and they seemed to have worked out a happy middle-ground that worked for all of them.**

 **When Gwenog arrived, they sat down to eat in the dining room; and that was an all-new experience for Al too as he was put in charge of keeping Lorie entertained while she sat in her little rocker-carrier on the chair next to him. Lily and Gwendolyn had Jaimie between them; while Malorie got to have a break and actually sit down and enjoy her meal without any baby interruptions – or at least not any interruptions that she had to stop and deal with on her own. Harry had picked up Chinese food for their meal, so it took a while to pass bowls and platters around while they filled plates; they mostly talked about Gwenog's training day while doing that; and then their chat topic switched to holiday plans once they were all able to relax and enjoy the meal.**

" **Let's start with the weekend plans," Ginny suggested after initiating the chat transition from Quidditch news of the day. "Some of you are going to be as busy as always for the first weekend home; while Harry and I actually have less to do thanks to our lack of employment."**

" **You won't have to go to any of the Ministry of Magic parties!" Lily exclaimed happily. "That works for me!"**

" **If you'd like to stay with us tomorrow night, you're welcome to do that; but we actually have you and Al booked for a sleepover at the McCormacks so that you'll be there to help out with their family Christmas on Sunday. That one is for Kirley's side of the family, right, Gwenog?"**

" **Yes," she confirmed. "We'll get together with my side of the family a week from Sunday."**

" **When is the Harpies' Christmas party this year?" Gwendolyn asked. "Is it going to be with all of the families or just the team and VIPs?"**

" **The smaller party again this year," Gwenog answered. "We're doing that dinner on Thursday evening, and if our team wins tomorrow; we're going to give them that Friday off."**

" **Are you hoping for a Merry Quidditch Christmas?" Gwendolyn teased; and earned a round of laughs for that question.**

" **It's been a while since we've won both of our matches over the Christmas holidays," Gwenog reminded her. "Maybe the incentive of a day off will help – especially when we won't get to party all night on New Year's Eve with that second match on New Year's Day."**

" **I hope that works out – especially since it would be nice to have the extra day to spend with you," Gwendolyn said seriously. "We already know that Jonah and I will be here tonight since you have your game night curfew anyway; so what's the plan for tomorrow? The usual Christmas shopping and lunch at the Leaky before the Harpies' match?" She smiled at Malorie. "Will you be coming to play with us tomorrow too?"**

" **We aren't going to the game, but we might come for some of the shopping if the girls aren't too fussy in the morning," Malorie answered. "It doesn't sound as though you'll have much free time this weekend, but we can talk about setting up a play day or two for you to have with the twins next week – if you're not too busy with team practices and your holiday revision."**

" **Al won't have team practices," Lily offered with a grin for Al. "If you're working next week; he could likely babysit while Gwendolyn's at her practices."**

" **We can talk about that sort of thing too," Ginny assured them. "Have you set up your study sessions and Quidditch for Mondays and Wednesdays? We expected those would be best for you – and likely for most of your friends too."**

" **That's the plan," Lily agreed. "I'm doing my practices in the mornings and we'll study after the workouts too. Jonah and our Ravenclaw friends might miss some of the studying before they can get here; but I guess we can always do extra work after lunch if needed – or work on our own."**

" **Peter and Pauline are doing our practices those afternoons," Gwendolyn added. "Some of us will need all four of those mornings and then some to get our holiday reveision done, but Al is pretty much done his; so he'll likely just tutor the rest of us."**

" **You're done your revision?" Harry asked in surprise; and Al shrugged and smiled ruefully.**

" **I had more time for that than most of our friends."**

" **Maybe, but we all had more fun this week," Lily pointed out. "You'll still study with us so that you can hang out with Gwendolyn, and we get the bonus tutoring help; so that works out great for the rest of us too."**

" **It doesn't sound as if you planned that out very well," Kirley told Al. "I probably shouldn't comment, though; since I really don't want Gwendolyn or Jonah taking after me when it comes to their studies."**

" **Will you still feel that way if Jonah decides to go into music?" Lily teased; and Kirley laughed.**

" **Probably not; but now you're just trying to get me into trouble."**

" **Jonah can't play for the Harpies," Lily reminded him. "Aunt Gwenog won't mind if Jonah goes into music instead."**

 **Their conversation moved on from there, but while Al had fun with that; he really loved the play time with the twins – and he got to do that while having his meal because Lorie wanted to cuddle with him instead of just sitting next to him and watching the show. Gwendolyn and Lily ended up taking turns with Jaimie when she didn't want to be left out; and that helped to make their evening meal very entertaining. Al helped with the clean-up; followed that up with some more play time in the sitting room; and then he and Gwendolyn went along to do the bedtime routine with Malorie and Ginny while Kirley and Gwenog went home and Harry stayed with Lily and Jonah and helped them out with getting the sitting room set up for a Christmas movie and sofa sleepover night. Al stayed out of the way while Malorie nursed the girls; he and Gwendolyn sang Jaimie and Lorie to sleep; and then they said goodnight to Malorie and went home again with Ginny and got to the movie-watching part of their first-night-at-home entertainment. They all opted for hot drinks; they got comfortably-cuddled on the sofas; and then Lily got the first movie started.**

" **We know that you're not helping Malorie day and night anymore, but if that's what she goes through every time she needs to feed the girls and then get them back to sleep; I'm amazed that she isn't an exhausted mess," Gwendolyn told Ginny. "I'm tired out; and we were just helping with the cuddles and bedtime songs."**

" **But not the diaper changes?" Lily teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No – we left that for Al to do; since he didn't want to be in the room while Malorie was nursing anyway."**

" **The girls were a bit more fired-up than usual tonight," Ginny advised her. "Malorie still gets a bit of help every day, but she's doing brilliantly, and while she didn't need to do it tonight; she can use magic to multi-task now that's she's learned how to do that too."**

" **Jaimie and Lorie can't be as happy as they were tonight all of the time," Lily stated more than asked. "I was surprised they didn't get cranky before they went home. We have heard them when they're not happy during some of our mirror chats – usually the ones that end up being very short because of that."**

" **They have their moments – just as all babies do," Ginny assured her. "The four of you kept them entertained tonight, though; and there's a good chance that they'll sleep more tonight. Malorie will be happy with that if they only need one feeding tonight."**

" **I hope that they'll be happy in the morning too," Lily told her mother. "We're only home for two weeks; so I don't want to miss seeing them at all for even two of those days."**

" **We'll do the best we can with that, but you're the one who will be busy – not the twins. Most of their outing over the next two weeks will be with us – including some babysitting that your father and I do most weekdays so that Malorie can do her work."**

" **Doesn't she do most of that in her office?" Lily asked.**

" **She spends about half of her time there," Ginny advised her. "The rest of the time, she's out doing research at the Ministry of Magic, league office, or visiting about half of the league team offices or practice pitches." She smiled at Al. "You likely know more about that than I do."**

" **That's about it – except she's doing some of her research with the Quidditch News and learning about how everything works with the teams from the mirror network shows side of the business. We didn't really know anything about how that works with the league or the teams other than knowing that they all get a piece of the profits from showing the matches on the mirror network."**

" **That all seems like way too much work," Lily told him. "I am so glad that I'll just be playing Quidditch for the Harpies and won't have any of those hassles – assuming that Rose's plan actually works and you're not just wasting all of that money and effort."**

" **We really hope we're not doing all of this for nothing too," Al reminded her. "Rose is right that her plan to win a championship with the Cannons can't happen with the current owners, though; and there is the chance for a lot of upside that goes along with the risks we're taking."**

" **Well, at least you can be glad that Gwendolyn took you back – and can support you while you lose all of that money while trying to make that impossible dream happen," Lily teased.**

" **I knew I should have taken more time to think that over before making up with Al," Gwendolyn teased. "Now it's likely too late for me."**

" **It was likely too late for you back when you were babies or toddlers," Lily countered. "He'll likely be okay, though – especially if he keeps inventing new magical toys and other things every year. That all has to add up eventually; and you can hope he won't spend more on that Cannons' dream than he makes on all of those inventions."**

" **There is that," Gwendolyn agreed. "Speaking of that – how are the mirror network earbuds doing so far? I don't think I've heard much about the actual sales – other than they didn't sell many of them in Hogsmeade because of how much they cost."**

" **The sales are pretty good," Ginny answered, "but the company making them only has a limited supply so far; and they're barely keeping up with demand; so the bigger sales won't likely happen until next year."**

" **They will do well," Harry added. "I think that they're one of Al's best inventions so far – even if they're not nearly as flashy as the Animorphmagus toys."**

" **It will be great to have private mirror chats that everyone nearby to you could overhear before now," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'll like it for watching mirror network shows or listening to music by myself too; but that doesn't seem as amazing to me compared to our toys or RevisionWizard."**

" **I think you'll get what I mean after you've played with a set for a while," Harry suggested. "Ginny and I did that with the prototypes Al sent her. We were very impressed when we couldn't come up with a distance away from the mirror where they'd stop working – and you could still make and receive mirror chats using them; though you obviously couldn't see the person you were talking with while using them that way."**

" **Really?" Gwendolyn asked; and Harry and Ginny both nodded. "How does that even work, Al?"**

 **He shrugged. "Basically, the same way the mirror communicators or mirror network does – and it doesn't matter how far the mirrors are from each other for that either. The technical parts of that are really boring; so you'll likely be happier to just go with the fact that it works and leave it there."**

" **I know I will be," Lily agreed; and then grinned at her mother. "If I start calling you during the school days to ask for help with tutoring; it definitely won't be to get answers for tests I'm writing."**

" **It won't bypass cheat-checker spells," Al advised her. "I wouldn't try it."**

 **Lily sighed. "What's the point of being that smart if you won't outsmart our Professors?" she complained.**

" **You mean the way that James is usually a step ahead of them with his schemes?" Gwendolyn asked. "I may have temporarily lost my mind back at the start of October, but I'm better now; and I'm sure that I don't want Al to be anything like that."**

" **I'm only suggesting a little touch of bad here and there,' Lily assured her. "You might like that a lot too."**

" **That is too much information for at least one of the parents," Harry advised her. "Since you brought James into this conversation, though; I was going to ask Al about the Catapults' match next week. You didn't look very enthusiastic about going to it. Would you rather not?"**

" **You're going if I am," Gwendolyn advised Al before he could answer – "but I'd be okay if we didn't."**

 **Al shrugged. "I don't want to go, but we'll be at the Harpies match on New Year's Day; so I should probably be there for one of those matches." Lily snorted; and he smiled at what he sensed from her.**

" **As if he'll go to any of your Cannons matches – if Rose's plans work out and you're on that team."**

" **He'll need to show up for two matches a year," Al joked.**

" **I'll want tickets for those matches – even if I have to sneak out of Hogwarts to go and watch them," Lily told him seriously. "Beating James' team when I'm with the Harpies will be brilliant; but watching him lose to the Cannons would be a close second."**

" **Well, at least you think that future team of ours could beat his," Al deadpanned. "That's progress."**

 **That joke led their chat on from the original question about James' first match of the holidays; so Al didn't end up being offered other choices for that afternoon that he might be too temted to pick over doing what he sensed was right – even if that wasn't best for him. Their conversation quieted as they got into the movie and wound down from a long day too. Looking forward to some teen couple cuddle time after his parents went to bed didn't keep Al from proving that he reallywas the boring brother, and while he wouldn't be able to check back into his short-term memories and subconscious awareness of everything around him in the morning; he eventually knew that he was first to fall asleep – and do that before the end of the first movie. It wasn't as if he would have had any alone time for some quality Christmas snogging with Gwendolyn anyway, and the girls certainly had fun with some jokes about that after he fell asleep and again in the morning; so he was okay with how his day ended – and the way his Saturday began with cuddles and kisses was rather brilliant; if not especially-hot!**

 **James was feeling pleasantly-buzzed as he confidently made his way up to his room at the Leaky in the wee hours of Saturday morning. His day had been going brilliantly since getting 'home' for the holidays, and he was sure that trend would continue – with quite a bit of help from the hot, relatively-young Witch he'd invited along to spend the rest of the night with him when the party had begun to wind down.**

 **The team Christmas dinner and party hadn't been put on just for him, but he'd been treated like the guest of honor by the owners and managers; and he'd loved all of the attention from the VIP guests that were all getting on the James Potter bandwagon as the future for the Catapults – and their ticket back to the top of the league! He'd taken it easy on the drinking part of the fun tonight; but only because he'd been having much more fun with being merry instead – with two other Witches before hooking up with his current playmate. Sure, the dinner meal had been amazing, and rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful Witches and Wizards he was on his way to becoming one of had been brilliant, but the play time with the Witches was always something he was, um, up for; and he thrived on the risks involved – especially when many of the hottest Witches were either attached to one of those rich and powerful Wizards or in that class by their own rights and definitely dangerous to any Wizards that might try to play with fire and then not measure up!**

 **That hadn't been a problem for him all night, but then he also had better things to think about and do once he and his overnight playmate were behind the closed door of his room; so he happily forgot about everything else; and just got on with having a few more hours of brilliantly-hot fun!**

 **Having a week of holiday time ahead of Christmas made the start for their Christmas break different than when Christmas was 'early' in their break from school – mostly because they didn't have to try and fit all of their shopping in to one or two days – along with the first Quidditch match of the holidays and other family and friends fun. None of that changed the start to Al's day on Saturday morning; he was still the first to get ready for the day after the cuddles and kisses wake-up call with Gwendolyn; and he cooked breakfast for six with some help from his father and supervision from Jonah once he caught up to them – and while they waited for the girls in the house to finish playing dress-up. They had fun with that meal; Lily and Gwendolyn went with Ginny to help Malorie with getting the twins ready for a shopping morning in Diagon Alley while 'the boys' cleaned up from that meal; and then they all met up at the Leaky – where they were also gathering with other aunts, uncles, and cousins before going out to play in the stores for a few hours.**

" **I'm going to start calling that expression on your face the weirdness alert or something," Gwendolyn told Al quietly not long after they were reunited – and he'd been handed Jaimie for some morning cuddle time. "What's up?"**

 **Al shook his head; and his faint smile was more of a grimmace. "Poor choice of words there," he whispered. "James is staying here," he then reminded Gwendolyn – "and he's not alone."**

" **Well, it's definitely wrong of me, but my first thought about that is to suggest to your Mum that she go up there and invite James to come along with us this morning; and then go along to watch the show," Gwendolyn teased.**

" **All things considered; I'm not sure how I should feel about the fact that you might actually, really like to do that," Al only half-joked; and then laughed as Gwendolyn made the correct conclusions from that comment.**

" **One of us is going to pretend that we don't know as much as you apparently do about how James is starting his holidays,' she declared. "We decided not to bring the double stroller today and have those back or front pack carriers for the twins instead. Do I even need to ask if you want to carry one of the girls?"**

" **Probably not," Al answered; and then smiled at Jaimie. "Do you want to cuddle with me while we shop; go with Grandpa; or hang out with one of your favorite Witches instead?" he asked her – and then laughed at what he sensed from her.**

" **What's so funny?" Gwendolyn asked; and Al laughed again.**

" **Her translation of that question was 'blah, blah, blah' and while she has no idea what I'm saying; she loves me anyway,' he explained.**

" **Get used to it, sweetie," Gwendolyn advised Jaimie. "We don't understand half of the things Wizards say or do even when we're older – yet we still find a way to love them anyway."**

 **Their short bit of time at the Leaky seemed to be the start of a series of cameo moments for Al and Gwendolyn with different members of their family; friends that had come along to play with them; and other friends they met while wandering around Diagon Alley. They started out their shopping fun with Jaimie and Rose as their shopping buddies; but generally stayed near Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Malorie too – just as Lily and Jonah did while she took a turn carrying Lorie for a while. Highlights of those moments for Al included meeting up with Brandon, Landon, Alyssa, and their parents while they were out shopping, and while Landon was the odd-teen-out for that little bit of fun; his parents had fun with getting to see their older son and daughter with Rose and Hugo for the first time since they'd gone out on their respective dates at Hogwarts. Hugo hadn't been with them, but had joined them while that visit was going on; and seemed happy to have the bonus visit with Alyssa ahead of their lunch and Quidditch date.**

 **That was sure to be a fun first for their family too, but the shopping entertainment continued with some other special moments. Al wouldn't have included the diaper change he did for Jaimie as one of the highlights, but that did give him an excuse to switch twins and then spend the rest of the morning playing with Lorie while Jaimie spent some time with her grandfather and aunt. He actually managed to do a bit of shopping along the way too, but didn't pick up nearly as much as most of the other teens in their group; so he was going to work harder at that whenever they did get around to their next shopping trip. When it was time to head back to the Leaky for lunch, he was ready to get warm again and have some food; but wasn't looking forward to being anywhere near to James. That's why he volunteered to help with getting Jaimie and Lorie home, and while Malorie had been invited to stay for lunch; the twins had been ready to have their lunch by then; so Ginny got a lunch order to go from Hannah; followed Malorie, Al, and Gwendolyn to Chudley using the Floo Network; and then helped Malorie with getting the kids fed and ready for their afternoon nap before going back to the Leaky in time to sit down and enjoy the meal that Harry had preordered for her while she'd been busy.**

 **As usual, Al and Gwendolyn had lunch with their parents; Rose and Brandon sat with them – and with Hermione; and they all really enjoyed that break in the action before it was time to get going again and head for Exmoor stadium. It was cold, some snow or freezing rain was likely, and the Harpies had drawn the Kestrels instead of one of the top teams; but the stadium was still sold-out for the match and the concessions and souvenir booths were crowded because nobody was in a hurry to get to their seats. Al and Gwendolyn weren't in a rush to do that either; and they had fun wandering around with Rose and Brandon while their younger siblings paired up too – and provided a lot of entertainment for their parents, aunts, uncles, and other guests.**

 **They didn't have the entire family there for the match because Bill and Fleur were with the gang they were hosting at the United match. They were taking turns over the holidays; and had picked watching the Harpies-Prides match on New Year's Day for the game they'd watch Victoire play in – and take Louis with them to see. Al found it a bit strange, but now that Lucy was playing for United too; that shared connection had led to Bill and Percy spending more time together – and not just at the United matches. That change inevitably led to pondering the possibility that he could eventually have a better relationship with James, but if that could ever happen; Al wasn't able to sense or foresee that happening – and didn't think that it ever would!**

 **Game time wasn't going to be delayed because of the weather, so they eventually had to go and sit down in their seats; and it took a while to get settled in under blankets while also making sure that their drinks, snacks, and bags would stay protected and dry too. Gwendolyn ended up sitting next to Rose and Brandon; Al was glad to end up with Jonah and Lily next to him; and they completed their row for the block of seats they had with their group with Hugo and Alyssa. They had parents and other guests in the two rows behind them and the row in front of them; but the cold and wet kept them from taking their conversations much beyond the Witches and Wizards closest to them. As the teams were called out into the stadium and the match was quickly started; the conversation that Al and Gwendolyn were involved with was all about the new teen additions to their group for the day.**

" **Maybe I should have asked you out on a date years ago," Brandon told Rose as they watched the action on the pitch just ahead of the quaffle-toss. "It's been years since Mum and Dad bought season's tickets for the Harpies; so we don't usually end up with seats this good."**

" **Rose has great seats for the Cannons matches too," Gwendolyn teased. "Will you be going to that match with her too?"**

" **Maybe we could make a date to watch that from home and let Alyssa go with Hugo," Brandon offered. "If the weather gets much worse; we might wish we were watching this match from home by the end of the day."**

" **Maybe, but I'll still always pick watching a Harpies match live when we can do that," Gwendolyn assured him – "though I'd rather be playing today instead of just watching."**

" **I'd rather wait until I'm ready to play in the show," Brandon told her seriously – "and I don't hink I'm quite there yet. I definitely wouldn't want to start early and not do well. Maybe you could make the jump two and a half years early, since you've played well against some Chasers that are in the show now; but I don't think I should test my luck against most of the Beater duos in the show – especially when I've never flown on a Lightningbolt."**

" **Flying slower brooms is a legitimate issue," Gwendolyn conceded, "but a precedent has been set in Al's family; so I'd be okay with getting a new broom from Mum and Dad for Christmas – and then playing for the Harpies next summer when I'm sixteen. That might even work out for our team if Victoire plays for our National team and could use a bit of a break for a match or three."**

" **Do you think that'd work for me too if Aunt Gabrielle plays for France?" Lily asked; though she'd directed that more at her mother than Gwendolyn.**

" **You'll be fourteen – not sixteen," Ginny reminded her. "The league would never allow that kind of exception no matter how good you are – and no, there won't be a Lightningbolt under the tree for you this year either."**

" **I'll be almost fifteen," Lily countered, "and I still think it would be okay for you to give me the broom you would have gotten for James' seventeenth now that he doesn't need it anymore." She grinned at her brother while adding – "it's not as if Al needs one this season; and he doesn't want to start in the show early either."**

" **You're just interested in doing that because James did," Alyssa suggested. "I know he won his first two matches, and might do well-enough over the holidays now too; but I agree with Brandon and wouldn't want to start in the show before I'm ready to be one of the best players." She smiled at Lily. "You're thinking about how brilliant it would be to be out there playing today, but while you're talking about that; I was picturing you at the Harpies' Christmas party having milk and cookies while the rest of your team mates were having stronger drinks and more-exotic treats or foods."**

 **Lily laughed – as did everyone else listening in to that chat. "That's funny, but even if that might actually happen; I'd still pick getting to play for the Harpies – and now I really would like to do that even sooner than James did so that he couldn't keep throwing that in my face anymore."**

" **I get that," Alyssa agreed, "but don't forget that he's won his first matches; and you wouldn't start out next season against teams like the Cannons if you were playing for the Harpies. I'll wager James would razz you even worse if you start early and lose any matches."**

" **No doubt," Lily agreed. "Maybe I should wait a bit longer. It would be way better if I could start early and get to win one of my first matches against his team instead!"**

 **The match was on by then, but while Al listened in on the chats going on around him; he didn't get involved very often and was happy to watch the show and cuddle with Gwendolyn. Weather was a factor for the players as well as the spectators; and the Harpies and Kestrels were soon into a defensive battle where goals came slowly and sometimes needed a bit of luck to happen at all. In the first hour, the Harpies could only manage to earn two goals; and Vicky had a shut-out going into the second hour. As the match rolled on, the weather continued on with a frigid, dreary mix of icy-rain and snow that made it tough for anyone in the stadium to truly enjoy the Quidditch action no matter how glad they were to be there to watch the match in person. The Harpies continued to out-score the Kestrels, but only had a fifty-to-twenty lead after two hours; a seventy-to-thirty lead going into the fourth hour; and a one hundred to forty advantage when the match finally came to an end at the three-hour and fifty-one minute mark of the contest.**

" **Yes!" Lily shouted excitedly as she watched Gabrielle finally make the snitch catch to end the match and give their team the win. She hadn't been anywhere near the only spectator to see that catch, but it had happened quickly and without much of a chase for it thanks to a bit of luck; so the majority of viewers didn't know that the game was over until the whistle blew and the stadium announcer advised them of the catch. Mirror network viewers would have to watch the catch through replays since the 'live' camera hadn't been following the Seekers at all.**

" **What she said," Hugo agreed. "Can we go home now? It's going to be Christmas before my feet are thawed out again."**

" **Too bad for you," Lily told him with a grin. "Gwendolyn and I can just get Al to turn into a bear or something and use him to warm our feet back up again tonight."**

" **Do you ever regret becoming an Animorphmagus?" Alyssa asked Al. "You're sure to get teased about that sort of thing for the rest of your life."**

" **Would that be 'lives' instead of life?" Hugo joked. "He could have nine of them if he gets to have Kneazle lives now."**

" **That'd be better than the life-span of a bug," Lily suggested. "I might be okay with having nine lives – if I could be young and healthy for all of them – or start out young again with each new life."**

" **You'd likely want to be human too," Alyssa pointed out. "It wouldn't be as much fun to have those nine lives if you had to stay a kneazle to get them."**

" **That would make it tough to play for the Harpies," Gwendolyn offered. "I'm okay with rounding up our things and getting out of here sooner instead of later." She looked back at her father. "Are we going straight home from here?"**

" **We likely should," he agreed. "The post-game work for your Mum won't take long today; so we'll be able to have dinner sooner instead of later."**

" **That works for me too," Gwendolyn assured him. "Do you guys get to hang out together tonight too?" she asked Rose and Brandon.**

" **No," Rose answered. "Hugo and I are supposed to go and help out at the store until close. You're sure to have way more fun than we will."**

" **You'll be in a store full of wheezes and they'll have more fun?" Brandon asked in amusement. "That doesn't seem possible to me."**

 **Rose laughed. "Would you like to come and help me out with the sorts of jobs that I'll be stuck with – like cleaning Pygmy Puff cages?"**

" **I might like that," he agreed. "Let's check in with my parents first and see whether that's an option. We're supposed to be going out for dinner; but maybe I could get dropped off at the store after that."**

 **James had stayed up all night with his hot, enthusiastic playmate; they'd slept until noon; and then played for a while longer before she'd decided to finally go home and leave him to get on with his day. Knowing that his family had been downstairs having their game day lunch while they'd been busy had just made that noontime play even hotter; and then he'd made sure that he didn't make an appearance outside of his room until after they'd be gone and at the Harpies' match. While they were all hopefully catching their deaths in the lousy weather, he had an expensive little lunch for one on the room tab his parents were paying for anyway; and then he went on to do a bit of Christmas shopping – mostly to pick up some nice gifts for himself along with a few token gifts he'd need to appease some of his girlfriends and keep them happy and willing to play with him both over the holidays and once they were back at Hogwarts. He didn't expect to need any of them once he was working in the show full-time, but his options were limited at Hogwarts; so he'd play the game for as long as needed – and then move on once he was out in the real world and could have his picks of the best Witches and Muggle women whenever and wherever he wanted to hook up with them!**

 **By late afternoon, he headed for his room at the Leaky again; got cleaned up and ready for another team social event; and then he took the Floo Network to one of the owner's estates in time for the social hour ahead of dinner – getting there right on time as ordered so that he could again be paraded around to the VIP guests for a second night in a row – while also getting started on searching for his next group of hot, willing, holiday playmates!**

 **Getting out of Exmoor stadium took a while despite their interest in an early exit because nearly everyone else wanted to get out of the wet and cold too. The goodbyes didn't take long because they were all fairly-damp by then too; and then Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily on a side-trip home to get changed and grab their overnight bags before going on to the McCormacks. They were having another take-out, joint-family dinner and evening together, since Harry and Ginny didn't have the Ministry Christmas party to attend and Kirley wasn't doing much with his band before Christmas while some of the guys were busy with the musical at the Magick Hall. Even with the weather-shortened post-game action and their own delays getting out of the stadium, they still had to wait for a while before Gwenog was done work for the day; so it was past-seven by the time they sat down to that meal.**

 **Quidditch was the top news topic while they enjoyed the food, but they also talked about a lot of other things too – and had no trouble keeping entertained through until they cleaned up and then moved into the sitting room for some mirror network show watching and a second quiet wind down to another very busy day. Harry and Ginny stayed for one show; headed for Chudley to help Malorie with a slightly messed up bedtime for the twins; and then they planned on turning in early and resting up for the holiday fun still ahead of them.**

 **Kirley and Gwenog wanted to turn in early too, but they watched part of a second show with their four kids first, and then, while they went off to bed; Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah moved to the games room and got set up for another sofa sleepover night. This time, Al wasn't first to fall asleep, and he and Gwendolyn did get to have a quiet bit of snogging fun after Lily and Jonah crashed into nap mode early into the third show of the night; so they were both happy campers when they eventually snuggled close and wrapped up their first full day of Christmas holidays with a medium-length winter's nap.**

" **I would have really missed having you over here to make breakfast for us like this if you hadn't worked things out with Gwendolyn," Gwenog teased as she joined Al in the kitchen. He was busy, so she poured a cup of coffee and saved the good morning hug for when he could do that without messing up his cooking.**

" **That's the first time anyone has phrased it like that since we got home," Al advised her. "Everyone else just thanks Gwendolyn for taking me back and giving me another chance."**

 **Gwenog nodded and smiled at him. "That doesn't surprise me; but I have a different perspective on problems like that – even though in my case; that was a fight with my best friend and not a Wizard. I'm glad that the two of you didn't let your fight go on for years like I did."**

" **Our problems really were a lot like the fight you had with Wilda," Al agreed. "Maybe Gwendolyn wouldn't have gotten as mad at me if I'd been able to explain myself better from the start, but I didn't have much of it figured out at first anyway; which is why I messed up so badly with her."**

" **Have you figured it all out now?" Gwenog asked. "From what I've heard; you do still seem to be a bit bi-polar when it comes to what you want to do in your quest to be happy."**

" **It seems that way," Al agreed. "There's a chance that I won't be able to do everything I want, but I'll still try for that; and hope that I can convince enough people to have fun and be happy with me. If I can do that with the Cannons, then that'll be brilliant, but if I can't; then I'll do something else that is fun instead."**

" **So you definitely won't play for any other team now?" Gwenog asked; and Al shrugged.**

" **I doubt it," he agreed. "Rose might go along with some of my crazy ideas as long as her Cannons team can become one of the best teams in the league, but even she won't do that if we can't have fun and do that too; and I doubt that any other team would even consider putting fun first ahead of everything else – including the business bottom line."**

" **We have fun with the Harpies," Gwenog pointed out – "and we manage to do well-enough by our owners while we're at it."**

" **Do you really have all that much fun?" Al countered. "You love the challenge and excitement, and there are moments of fun when you succeed; but everyone on the Harpies teams put in a lot of pain and effort into getting to those moments of fun – and you don't have fun when you lose."**

" **I get what you want Quidditch to be for you, Al," Gwenog assured him. "It just isn't very likely that you can be successful in the show while also having the backyard scrimmage kind of fun. There's just too much at stake on a lot of levels, and as you've already just pointed out; not even Rose would be okay with just having fun if her team didn't win too. How would you work out that happy league idea for the twelve teams that don't get to be league champions every year?"**

 **Al grinned at her. "I only have to worry about making one happy, successful team," he reminded her. "If we manage to do that; it'll be up to the rest of the teams and players to figure out whether they want to be like us or not!"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "Nice dodge, but I'll let you off the hook; since you really don't expect to be able to change the entire league anyway. Do you have anything new that you can talk about for your plans with the Cannons; or is that all confidential now for anyone except you, Rose, and Malorie?"**

" **We will be keeping most of what we're doing as private as we can now, but there are some things I can talk about that I'm doing – like my studies into broom-making."**

" **That doesn't sound very exciting," Gwenog told him dubiously. "When it comes to brooms, I'm happy to find out what they can do; and don't need to know how they do it."**

" **I like studying everything about the how for pretty much all magic, but we don't need to talk about the details; since what I'm really interested in trying to do is get a broom to do more than it can right now."**

" **I'm sure that there's room for improvements, but the physical limitations of players affects their ability to handle much more than the brooms do now."**

" **I've some ideas for that on the training and equipment side of things," Al advised her; "but I think that there's a lot more that could be done with the brooms too. I'm still really just getting started, but have been wondering how many broom-makers have also been really good Quidditch players."**

" **I have no idea," Gwenog admitted; sounding thoughtful now. "For as long as I've played; we've always just tried to learn to do the best we can with the brooms available. I can't say that I've really ever had a wish list of things that I'd like my brooms to do that they can't do now." She smiled at him then. "Most of us never think that we've hit the limits of what our brooms can do anyway."**

" **I can imagine tricks that I can't do with any brooms that are out there now," Al said seriously. "We'll have to wait and see whether I can get good-enough at making brooms to design one that can help out with those tricks or not. It could be a while before I'll know enough to even figure out what might and might not be possible."**

 **Gwenog laughed. "Sure – since broom-making has only been progressing to where it is now for over a thousand years," she joked. "You'll likely need months of study to catch up."**

 **Those jokes pretty much wrapped up their talk about brooms, and by the time that Jonah joined them; they'd moved on to talk about the work that Gwenog needed to get done for the McCormack family Christmas. Al had the food ready by the time that Gwendolyn and Lily caught up with them; they enjoyed their morning meal; and then it was time to get to work for a few hours. Al's assigned jobs were all work that he got to do with Gwendolyn, so he was happy to do that with her – and they managed to have quite a bit of fun along the way. They took a bit of time near noon to freshen up and get changed if needed before Kirley's family and a few friends began to arrive. It was a work night for many of the parents, so they were having a mid-afternoon Christmas dinner; but Gwenog and Kirley started out their social hour with a snack buffet with lots of food options to keep even the most-voracious teen appetites appeased until they were ready for that meal.**

 **Gwendolyn and Jonah were in charge of hosting the teens and kids in the play room, but everyone was together in the sitting room for nearly an hour; and then it was kid play time for a while until everyone gathered together again to open gifts before dinner too – mostly so they'd have more time to play after dinner.**

 **The play time with Gwendolyn and her cousins was fun, and the family gift exchange was a nice bit of family-friendly entertainment, but then it was time to work for a while both before and after dinner as Gwenog and Kirley drafted volunteers to help with getting the food on the table and then cleaning up after they all enjoyed a bit too much food. Kirley didn't do much of that clean-up and instead hosted his family in the sitting room; so Al wasn't surprised when he and Gwendolyn were drafted again once they joined the rest of the gang there to help out with the Christmas music entertainment.**

" **We've won our first match of the holidays," Gwendolyn said as she picked the first song. "We're halfway to having a Merry Quidditch Christmas; so let's begin with that little sing-along." Al joined in for the song intro; and then followed Gwendolyn's lead with some harmony as she took care of the harmony and getting her family to join in on the singing.**

" **Have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas; may your team win twice! If they do your troubles will be out of sight. Have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas; score goals; catch the snitch! Do that or your fans will surely start to Bi... complain! And have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas now!" There were giggles from the youngest kids at the 'near miss' on using a bad word that had Al smiling; and Gwendolyn offered a side-long grin for him too because she hadn't missed that he hadn't even started to sing the word that would have rhymed with snitch. They were leading the song, though; and continued into the bridge.**

" **This is not like the olden days; golden Snidget days of yore! Modesty made us give that up; now the Snidget's safe once more! Through the years we'll always be together; 'round the Quidditch pitch. Cheering on our favorite team, Wizard, or Witch! So have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas now!" Gwendolyn played a tiny little instrumental before going into the bridge again.**

" **This is not like the olden days; golden Snidget days of your! Modesty made us give that up; now the Snidget's safe once more! Through the years we'll always be together; 'round the Quidditch pitch. Cheering on our favorite team, Wizard, or Witch! So have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas! Have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas! Have yourself a Merry Quidditch Christmas now!"**

 **There was a round of applause; and then Gwendolyn's Aunt Meghan had the first comment about it.**

" **We'll talk later if that works for the Harpies but messes up our Merry Quidditch Christmas for the Prides," she warned Gwendolyn; earning a round of laughs.**

 **Gwendolyn grinned at her aunt. "You don't actually think that I picked that song hoping that your team will win twice when you're playing against my Harpies in one of those matches, do you?"**

" **No, but if you really want me to have that Merry Quidditch Christmas; that's what will need to happen," Meghan countered. "We'll also need to beat your boyfriend's brother's team on Tuesday afternoon; so I'm surprised that you picked that song today at all!"**

" **It's Christmastime; so I won't even comment on the last part of that," Gwendolyn decided. "Remind me to take a look at re-writing that song to work better for Quidditch rivalry families, Al," she added; earning another round of laughs. "I think we'd better distract everyone away from Quidditch; so let's go with the Animorphmagus Christmas song next." She was already playing the introduction for that as she said it, and knowing what his job would be for that song; Al put his guitar down and got ready to make the first animal transfigurations. Gwendolyn slowed the song down a bit to give him time to keep up with the different animals that were included in rapid-fire succession when the song was performed at normal tempo.**

" **A dog or a kneazle would be lots of fun; but a spider or snake would send me on the run! Reindeer would be perfect for this time of year; while a grizzly bear won't bring us holiday cheer!" The laughs and fun strongly suggested that all of the animals were a hit with Gwendolyn's family – and not just because Al had all of his animal forms play with her while she sang the song – including when his bear cub lay on her feet to supposedly keep them warm as she began the chorus – or maybe because he needed a nap after that many form changes.**

" **It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! What animal will we see next? It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! I do hope it's not a T-rex!" That really wasn't much of a break for Al; and then he needed to leap, literally, into action again.**

" **A kitten or puppy would be very nice; and help me keep warm on a cold winter's night. We could play with a penguin on the snow and ice; or a horse-drawn sleigh-ride would be quite a sight!" The kitten leapt onto the back of the sofa in a graceful bound straight from bear form; the puppy gave Gwendolyn an ear-snuffle; and the penguin 'flew' to the ground and toward the outskirts of the room so Al had room to be a miniature horse that could play with the kids while Gwendolyn sang the second chorus.**

" **It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! No limit on the fun to be had! It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! Come join in on this holiday fad!" Al was already switching forms again as Gwendolyn moved on with the third verse.**

" **The dog ate my holiday homework last night; An elephant made a huge mess of the house! Mum and Dad won't believe me; though I swear that it's true! While the Wizard to blame just turned into a mouse!" Al ran under Gwendolyn's sofa in mouse form; earning a round of laughs as he 'hid' from all of the 'trouble' he hadn't actually caused in the other animal forms.**

" **it's an Animorphmagus Christmas!" Gwendolyn continued as she began the third chorus. "Filled with animals big and small! It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! I wish I could keep them all!" Al got ready for the last verse as he reappeared from under the sofa and changed forms again.**

" **Our Animorphmagus made one big mistake. Now his goose is cooked; and on my plate! I'm a little bit sad; but won't be for long – 'cause this smells delicious; and is sure to taste great!" She didn't pause as Al pretended to lay out as though he was on a dinner plate; but wrapped up her song with the final chorus. "It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! You've put on a great show – take a bow! It's an Animorphmagus Christmas! But it's over; 'cause you're dinner now!"**

 **Al and Gwendolyn earned a round of laughs and applause for their efforts; she hugged and kissed him when he sat down next to her; and then they continued their little 'show' with more songs that their family could sing with them. They did that for more than a half-hour; and then Kirley picked their last song for them when Gwendolyn advised him that she'd had enough – the original version of the love ballad they'd re-written for the Home for Christmas musical.**

" **You're trying to mess with us again by picking that one," Gwendolyn accused; and Kirley grinned at her.**

" **Yes, but even your Mum would love to hear you sing it; so I'll get away with it."**

" **Maybe for tonight," Gwenog agreed, "but if you mess up her dream of playing with the Harpies; I will remember this and it might not end so well for you later."**

" **I'll take my chances – and hope that you'll be happy for Gwendolyn if she does eventually come around and choose music over Quidditch!" Kirley suggested.**

" **We'll all remember that in a few years if we end up celebrating future Christmases with you in a jar on the mantle," Meghan teased. "I'd still like to hear your version of that song," she added; directing that at Al and Gwendolyn. "It's one of my favorites from that Christmas album."**

 **Gwendolyn had begun playing it by then anyway; and shifted around so that she and Al could face each other while singing it. She had the first verse, so Al just added some soft background harmony along with the second guitar part he played while she took the lead for that too.**

" **Outside the snow is falling. Merlin I wish that I was home! 'Cause I'm missing my family; while we're out here on the road. There's no place I'd ever rather be; but having you here helps to comfort me." The transition to the chorus was tender and heart-wrenching. "Though I can't face the truth – that I'm in love with you! But Merlin, if we could just let it be – a Christmas miracle could come of you and me!" Al had added in more harmony during the chorus; and then it was his turn to lead and sing the second verse.**

" **Sometimes I feel I'm falling; that I'm losing all control. But our destiny is calling; and what I hope for pays the toll. Wishing on a dream won't help me out; though I will always love you, I've no doubt! And I can't face the truth – I can't ever have you! But Merlin, if we could just let it be; a Christmas miracle could come of you and me!"**

 **They took turns with the bridge; switching melody with soft, non-verbal harmonies.**

" **I hope," Gwendolyn sang wistfully.**

" **And I pray," Al countered with a quiet tinge of hope in his voice; and then sang harmony as Gwendolyn joined in and they both sang – "that some day; you will see. And finally face the truth – that I'm in love with you! For then our hearts could truly be free; to have a miracle come of you and me! A Christmas miracle is here for you and me!"**

 **Singing duets with Gwendolyn was always special for Al; and he was happy to share in the bonus hug and kiss; and they were both smiling as that moment apparently lasted long-enough to earn some giggles from the younger girls.**

" **Wasn't that the album version?" Lily teased. "The kiss is supposed to happen at the end of that duet in the musical."**

" **We're taking artistic license," Gwendolyn joked in return. "Have you just volunteered to take over leading the music; or are we all ready to move on to some play time?"**

 **The majority of kids and teens opted to play; Lily and Jonah stayed long-enough to sing and play a couple of encore Christmas songs for the parents and grandparents; and then they were set free to play for another hour or so before it was time for everyone to head for their own homes – including Al and Lily. Ginny came for them; they did a side-trip to Chudley to do the bedtime routine with the twins; and then they went home and wrapped up their day with a bedtime snack and visit with their parents before they all headed up to bed so that they could get a good night of sleep ahead of a busy day of studying, Quidditch, and other holiday fun!**

 **James was in a great mood as he walked out onto the Catapults' practice pitch; and wasn't even annoyed to see Miya flying above him and getting an even-earlier start to her workout than he'd planned on having so that he could impress his managers and team mates. There was likely no way his weekend could have gone better, and tomorrow; he'd once again prove to everyone why he was the future of the Catapults! He watched Miya as she practiced stop-and-go moves with different variations at each stop, and appreciated the show, but while he could agree with some of his mates that she was hot, she had nothing but ice for him; and he seriously-doubted that it'd ever be worth the effort to thaw her out. She might be acting differently toward him, but he knew that all of the players on the team were treating him like crap for the same reason – they were all jealous!**

 **They had reason to be; since he was on the way to being the best player in the history of the game!**

 **The other players would be showing up soon, so he didn't stand around, but got onto his broom; and then leapt into the air. He buzzed Miya on the way past – close-enough to notice that she smelled great too; and then got right to his own flying warm-ups with speed and moves that were sure to impress everyone else as they arrived – unlike Miya's boring, repetitive workout that their Managers would be having all of them do later anyway. Seeing the reactions from the managers and players as they arrived was great; he waited until nearly a minute after Miya landed to do the same; and then it was time to get to work for a while.**

 **For the current Catapults, work was a relative term; but James didn't mind; since he was able to fly circles around all of his so-called team mates – mostly because Miya was the only other player putting any effort into the training at all. Miya practiced hard, but there was one other exception; since the Beaters were happy to try and bash his head in during bludger practice and their team scrimmages. He'd played against better Beaters, though; and those efforts just helped him to get ready for matches in which he was sure that he wouldn't get any help from them at all anyway. Despite the lack of help, he still caught the snitch three times; impressed the Wizards and Witches that mattered – including the reporters watching the show for most of the day; and had the bonuses of a VIP lunch break and offers for some future play time from two different Witches by the end of the afternoon when he needed to get cleaned up and ready for another dinner and party.**

 **He'd have to take it easy on that partying with a Quidditch match to win single-handedly on Tuesday afternoon, but then he'd have a week and a half to play day and night until he'd need to take another break from the partying to win his fourth match in the show. Those wins were a sure thing; the partying and play time with his pick of the hottest Witches was just as certain; and he was positive that this was going to be his best-ever-so-far Christmas holiday!**

 **Monday morning began quietly-enough for Al as he got ready for the day and cooked breakfast for four, but then he got busier after that as his study group friends gathered for their first holiday revision session and Lily had most of her team mates with her for the first junior team workout of the holidays – a workout that their parents helped her out with while he was busy with his holiday revision. Okay, his work was pretty much done, and he spent the rest of the morning tutoring with just a bit of his own work, but he got to do that with Gwendolyn; so he was a happy camper. Lily had a study session after her practice too, and Jonah eventually caught up with her, but they didn't get as much done before they needed to pack up in time for lunch – a meal that they couldn't push back until later because Gwendolyn had to move on to her own senior team practice for the afternoon.**

 **While Gwendolyn was busy, Al had a play afternoon with his parents, Lily, and Jonah. They went for a visit to Chudley after Gwendolyn went to her practice; tired the twins out until they were ready for their afternoon nap; and then they went to Diagon Alley to do a bit more Christmas shopping. Ginny took Jonah home after that, and then she and Harry had a quiet dinner for four with Al and Lily, but then Gwendolyn and Jonah were dropped off for another sleepover because they were spending the day with Al and Lily on Tuesday and were going to stay until Wednesday morning – though Jonah would need to pop home for his team practice that morning. Gwendolyn and Jonah arrived in time for all of them to go to Chudley for the bedtime baby fun with Malorie and the twins; Al and gwendolyn ended their time there by singing Jaimie and Lorie to sleep; and then they wrapped up their day with Muggle Christmas movies and a pair of teen-couple sofa sleepovers.**

 **Tuesday was booked for their major Christmas shopping day as well as James' match with the Catapults; so Al cooked a full breakfast for six with some help from his father; they cleaned up quickly; and then headed for their favorite Muggle mall in London so that they could play there for the morning. Al ended up spending most of that time with his father and Jonah; that allowed them to shop for their favorite girls as well as getting some of the 'guy' gifts; and then they met up again in time to get to the Leaky for the game day lunch with the small group they were taking to the Catapults' match. There was some bonus fun with that meal thanks to the rivalry with both Hannah and the group of Prides' fans going to the game with Neville or with Gwendolyn's uncle and cousins; so they were all in a great mood as they headed for Exmoor stadium again. They did the usual run of the concessions booths; went on to their seats; and got as comfortable as they could under their blankets with just minutes to spare before the teams were called out into the stadium.**

" **That can't be you next summer," Gwendolyn told Al quietly while grinning at him; "but I'd be okay with it if Mum would let me play next summer and Christmas."**

" **I'd hate that," Al told her as they both watched James lead the Catapults around the stadium before landing at center pitch. He smiled when that comment earned her full attention – even as she continued to watch the players and introduction of her aunt's team.**

" **You're saying that because I'd be busy training every day if I did that," she decided with a nod. "It can't be because you don't think I could do it."**

" **You'd have the training; the team events; and your revision," Al pointed out. "There's a good chance that I wouldn't see you very often at all if you do get to do that – and I'll add team curfew too; since I just thought about that little downside too."**

" **We'll have all of that to deal with when we're in the show," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I'm sure that we could work around all of that – just as we're learning to juggle everything else we want to do."**

" **We could," Al agreed. "The question is, though, whether we can do that and still have fun all of the time."**

" **You're learning to have fun doing things without me and I'm doing the same with things that I want to do and you don't; so I don't see the problem."**

 **Al shrugged. "There might not be any problems," he conceded. "I have the most fun when I'm with you, though; and not seeing you very much if you're busy with other things all of the time would leave me with a lot of time to fill up with doing other, less-fun things."**

" **I'm sure you'll be fine," she decided. "Would you like to make a prediction for this match before take-off?"**

" **The Catapults are going to have a bad day unless James catches the snitch. Miya won't be able to get much done on her own against Alice, Francine, and Daniella – or your aunt. Miya will be the only Catapults player even trying to help James, so if he manages to beat Erin today; he'll deserve a lot of credit for pulling that off."**

" **That doesn't sound like a prediction," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al shrugged.**

" **The odds are against James, but I expect that Erin has her own issues today; so I wouldn't bet against James today."**

 **Al knew that about Erin from what he could sense from her, but while she really wanted to best James because of her history with Ginny; she also didn't do anything stupid to try and force that victory. He was right about the Chaser miss-match too; and the Prides jumped out to an early lead that they continued to build on far more-quickly than should have been possible against the Catapults. Miya managed to slow them down as much as she could, and she even managed to score a goal in the first hour; but the Prides still took a seventy point lead into the second hour. Miya managed to earn two more, hard-fought goals during that hour while Alice, Francine, and Daniella added eight more for the one-sixty to thirty lead; so it wasn't looking good for the Catapults as they neared the end of the second hour – until it suddently did.**

" **Yes!" Lily exclaimed excitedly as she jumped to her feet and cheered for James while they were all watching him by then as he raised the snitch over his head in victory and had fun with an aerial celebration that was also something of a taunt for Erin while he did that in front of her. "He's still a git acting like that, but he's my brother; and is still undefeated in the show!"**

" **Don't you want to get up and cheer too?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al smiled wryly at her.**

" **I'll cheer on the inside," he offered.**

 **He didn't actually do that either, since he'd sensed everything about James' duel with Erin; and knew that his brother had been a complete rotter, but he had earned the win fairly; and truly did deserve credit for doing that despite the problems he was having with his team mates.**

" **We'll stay warmer that way," Gwendolyn suggested with a nod of understanding. "The good news for us, though, is that we can get back to the shopping again already – unless you'd like to wait around and get some autographs on your program or those trading cards."**

 **Al laughed. "If you mean that for getting James' autograph; I doubt that he'd write anything that I'd want to pass on to anyone for a gift next year."**

" **That sort of thing would make for a fairly-awful birthday gift for some unsuspecting tween," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's go with the shopping instead."**

 **They actually got to that sooner instead of later; Harry and Ginny went and got Malorie and the girls in time for dinner and some evening shopping entertainment that was meant to tire the girls out before bedtime; and then they all went back to Chudley for the bedtime fun with Jaimie and Lorie after getting most of their holiday shopping finished. Wrapping up their play day with a second round of Christmas movies and a sofa sleepover was brilliant; and Al and Gwendolyn even managed to have a bit of alone time for some snogging fun in his room – while supposedly just dropping off his purchases and doing a bit of gift wrapping.**

 **They were only four days into their Christmas holidays, and they still had four sleeps until Christmas, but they were half-way to having a Merry Quidditch Christmas now that 'their' teams had won their first matches of the holidays. Al didn't have Quidditch practices to deal with, and they all had a week and a half to go before the big, New Year's Day match-ups; so they could mostly focus on having Christmas fun for the rest of the week and through the weekend – and Al planned on doing just that!**

 **Having a happy Christmas was working out brilliantly for them so far; and Al had a good feeling that they'd all be able to keep the happy going – even though there was a wide difference among everyone he cared about the most for what made them happiest. That simple truth didn't keep him from hoping for everyone to find their own Christmas joy, and while he couldn't help everyone with that; he was going to do all he could to add to the love and joy for his family and friends – as well as keeping his own heart and soul filled to overflowing with that wonderful Christmas spirit!**


	53. May Your Team Win Twice

**Chapter Fifty-Three – May Your Team Win Twice!**

 **Wednesday began brilliantly for Al with his sofa sleepover wake-up call; though he and Gwendolyn kept that bit of playful fun quiet so that they didn't wake Lily and Jonah; and then he went to get ready for the day while she napped a bit longer. He was the breakfast-making assistant because his father beat him to the kitchen; helped with the clean-up; and then had fun for the rest of the morning with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends while working on their holiday revision. He had no pressure at all for that, but there was more work for OWL students; so some of their friends actually did have a lot to get done while they were home. He helped with that as much as he could; did some tutoring with Lily's team mates and friends when they joined in to study too after her Quidditch workout; and then they had everyone stay for lunch before Gwendolyn had to move on to her team practice and everyone else except Rose and Jonah moved on to get to their own plans for the rest of the day.**

 **While Gwendolyn was busy, Al and Rose went to Chudley to have a business meeting with Malorie; Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Jonah went along to babysit while they did that; and they all had a few fun hours together before it was time for them to split up for a while so that most of them could get ready for a special date night out. Malorie wasn't involved in that; but only because the main entertainment part of the night was to go and see the Christmas musical at the Magick Hall; they'd been sure that the twins wouldn't be able to sit through the entire show; and had set her up with tickets and babysitting services so that she could go and see the show on Thursday night instead. Harry and Ginny were co-hosting their night out as a family event, though; so Rose went home to get ready for her date with Brandon – and Hugo was taking Alyssa to the dinner and show too. Jonah opted to go home to get ready, since Gwendolyn was doing that from home too; and the McCormacks ended up meeting the Potters and the rest of their 'party' at the Leaky instead of making any side-trips just to meet up with dates first.**

" **We're going to be at a teen table?" Gwendolyn asked as she met up with Al and he was sitting at the table next to his parents instead of with them. "Are you taking a walk on the wild side tonight?" Al laughed and was already standing by then to welcome her with a hug and kiss.**

" **That might be more-true for our parents; since Mum and Dad decided that they needed to hang out with their friends for a change instead of a bunch of kids. We get to have dinner with Rose, Lily, Hugo, and their dates, though; so I think that we can manage to have fun too."**

" **We will," Gwendolyn agreed; "though I'm surprised that you picked a table right next to our parents; since at least some of them are sure to tease us about the brothers and sisters dating thing."**

" **Probably," Al agreed, "but the sooner we get past that; the easier it'll be for us in the long run."**

" **The long run?" Gwendolyn asked. "Are you making a prediction with that comment?"**

" **No, since four of us are Wizards; and the odds of one or all of us messing up are stacked against us; but I do think that we're each with a pretty awesome match right now."**

" **You do see some things you're not telling me about," Gwendolyn decided. "That was a diversion-answer."**

" **I see enough to be sure that we should change the subject," Al offered seriously. "Merry Christmas; you look amazing; and I love your new dress!"**

" **What have you been doing to just be getting around to that sort of thing now?" Lily asked as she and Jonah joined them.**

" **Maybe he's just gotten his ability to speak back again,' Jonah suggested with a grin.**

" **I suppose that could have been it," Lily agreed with a laugh; and then turned her attention to Al. "We still have a bit of time before everyone will get here; so I was wondering if James is here – in his room. I was thinking about running up and wishing him a Merry Christmas – just in case I don't see him before Christmas."**

" **He isn't," Al advised her, "and that's very nice of you, but even if he stops in while we're here; don't expect to interrupt anything when he's likely just busy with team business – and he'll have a training day curfew tonight too."**

" **His idea of team business and yours is very different," Lily pointed out with a grin; "and I don't think that any of the Catapults' players care about team curfew."**

" **Miya might be sticking to it – if she can," Gwendolyn suggested. "She still talks to Pauline fairly-regularly, so we hear some of the news from the Catapults; and their owners and managers apparently ignore their own rules a lot – especially when it comes to showing off for their VIPs and fans."**

" **That wouldn't necessarily be all bad," Lily suggested. "I'd be okay with a little bit more partying with the Harpies than they've allowed for a long time now, and Rose better not put Al in charge of that sort of thing for her Cannons team; since they'd never get anyone to play for their team."**

" **Maybe not, but the kids would love the play time – and the milk and cookies," Al offered; and grinned when Lily both laughed and then frowned at him.**

" **You so need to work on staying out of our minds," she told him half-seriously.**

" **I can't do that so easily with everyone," Al pointed out. "Maybe that'll get better as we get older and you learn how not to think so loudly."**

" **Can you hear what I'm thinking right now?' Lily only half-joked while actually trying to silently insult him; and Al laughed again.**

" **Yes, but let's change the subject – and you don't really mean that. The musical has been getting a lot of good reviews. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've done with it since last year."**

" **The sets are sure to be better with some money behind the show," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I hope they don't change it too much; but won't be surprised if they use some of the added music and scenes from the mirror network show now."**

 **Al was sure she was right, but was mostly-happy for the change in subject; and then they were soon busy greeting and chatting with the rest of the teens, kids, and adults joining them for the night out. Some of the teens and parents had fun with some jokes about going out on dates with parents or dating siblings, and Ron couldn't resist setting off a few holiday wheezes while they enjoyed their meal, but Al was able to have fun most of the time; and he and Gwendolyn really enjoyed spending that time with Rose, Brandon; and their four younger sisters and brothers. They'd all been to the Magick Hall before, but it was a first for going to see a theatre-type show; so they found the experience new and exciting as they first joined in on the social time before going into the main room of the building and then finding their seats in a magically-enhanced place that now looked very much like a Muggle theatre – though there weren't any private balcony boxes or other, more ornate features. There were premium, VIP sections with the best views of the stage, but while they had really good seats; they weren't in one of those sections.**

 **While Al and Gwendolyn were still with the teens once in their seats, they were also in the row ahead of their parents; so they were able to talk with them too as they waited for the show to begin; and Al got to enjoy their reactions to seeing the stage version of the musical for the first time. The next three hours were magical for him too, but he mostly-enjoyed all of the happy around him as he cuddled with Gwendolyn and enjoyed the amazing show that they'd helped to write and create. Gwendolyn had been right, and the 'new' version of the stage show included more of the scenes from the mirror network adaptation – including the Animorphmagus storyline change. All of those changes were accomplished through a mix of magical tricks and susing giant mirrors that surrounded the stage so that they could actually use scenes from the mirror network show as a backdrop – including footage that had not been used in that show either; but worked well to enhance the stage show. Even as he enjoyed the show, Al paid more attention to other things going on around him; and one of the most interesting was what he sensed from each of the cast members. They were now six days into the limited run of the musical; and that repetition of the live performances was affecting them. For some, stress was an issue; others were already getting bored – particularly if they didn't have big parts in the show; and there were other issues ranging from strains on relationships to envy or even greed.**

 **Al could observe even those darker emotions without seriously affecting his ability to enjoy the story, but it also gave him something to think about too; since there were common problems that applied to Quidditch teams as much as they did for theatre troupes or bands. As he considered that, he knew that the Weird Sisters were an exception to the norm for bands; and Quidditch teams rarely kept seven players together on the same team for very many years – even the most-successful teams. His own vision for a Cannons' team that could be an exception – and exceptional – might be unrealistic; but he still liked the idea of creating a team that was more like a family. That thought had him smiling in amusement; since he'd also want that family to be happy and exceptional. After all, the plans he wanted to make with Rose for the Cannons wouldn't work out very well for him if they had one or two players on the team like James!**

 **The show went on with no regard at all for his meandering thoughts; and Al knew that everyone in the audience was enjoying their full-immersion into the Christmas musical. He loved the story and music as much as always; the intermission was a new adventure that he had fun sharing with Gwendolyn; and the second half of the show was just as amazing and emotional for them as they watched the magical, musical adventure continue through to the happy ending and audience sing-along. After the final curtain call, Al would have been happy to head home, but some of the parents wanted to stay and make a point of meeting and thanking the cast. That was the right thing for them to do, and the teens all went along to do that with their parents, but while Gwendolyn had fun with that – including getting her program autographed by everyone; that was the one part of the night that just wasn't much fun for Al. He didn't talk about that with anyone, but the weird level went up for him – particularly when it came to some of the cast members and how they reacted and interacted with their adoring fans. There were things going on that reminded him too much of James; and he learned far more than he wanted to know about too many Witches and Wizards.**

 **It was late by the time they headed home, and Al and Gwendolyn had to say goodnight too as they headed home with their own parents and brother or sister for the night. AFter a long, busy day, sleeping was the most-popular activity to get to at the Potter home once they were there; so they didn't even bother with a bedtime snack and drinks before heading upstairs to do that. Al was last to get ready for bed, but was soon off to sleep once in his bed; and he was first awake on Thursday morning. He cooked breakfast for four; enjoyed that meal with his parents and sister; they did some chores around the house; and then headed over to the Burrow and spent the rest of the morning doing chores to help Molly get ready for the family Christmas. They worked until one; met up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah; and went out to play for a few hours – having lunch in Chudley with Malorie and then actually playing outdoors for a while before Al and Gwendolyn were dropped off with Malorie so that they could babysit the twins while she took a turn going out for dinner and to see the musical with the group of family and friends that were getting to do that on Thursday night. Lily and Jonah were at his house for the night and were in charge of the Harpies' babysitting services this year while the team Christmas dinner and party was going on; and Harry and Ginny had been invited to attend along with some of the other Harpies' veterans.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn were dropped off early-enough to help Malorie with the twins while she got ready to go out – and so that she could do most of that first and then nursing the twins not long before she was due to head out for dinner. That was a blast of fun for them because the girls were happy and interested in playing the little games that amused nearly-four-month old babies. Gwendolyn helped malorie when it was time to nurse them; Al took care of other chores while staying out of the way – including diaper changes as needed; and then Malorie finished getting dressed up at the last minute before they all had a bit of fun when her 'escort' for the evening picked her up. Al didn't offer any comments about what he sensed during that few minutes of fun; but he did really enjoy the entire scene – starting with answering the door and welcoming Patrick Towler into Malorie's flat.**

" **Merry Christmas, Patrick," he said quietly; his smile warm and welcoming. "Your timing is perfect. Malorie should be ready any minute; and Jaimie and Lorie are fed, happy, and all set to spend the evening with Gwendolyn and me."**

" **Merry Christmas to you too," Patrick offered with a nod as he stepped into the room. "I hope she'll need a few more minutes; since I came early to get a chance to play with Jaimie and Lorie before we head out."**

" **That can be arranged," Al assured him. "Have you fallen in love with the twins the way my Dad fell in love with Candice Starkey – sorry, Candice Jones – back when he was an Auror-trainee?"**

" **Probably – though my assignment to watch out for trouble with Malorie and the girls wasn't nearly as serious as what happened to Candice's Mum; and that still seems strange to even think about when I went to school with her – and with Brandon."**

" **Well, having an Auror-protector can be very comforting for a young Witch," Gwendolyn offered as she joined them and handed Lorie to Patrick once he was out of his winter cloak. "Now that their Grandfather has retired; it's nice to know that they'll still have that with you!"**

" **I'm okay with taking that job, but I only come around for visits because they're fun to play with; and having Harry Potter for a grandfather is still a big deal whether he's Head of the Aurors or not." He smiled down at Lorie; leaned close; and kissed her forehead. "You and Jaimie won't need our help anyway," he told her. "I have a feeling that you're both very special – and will be able to take care of yourselves."**

" **Maybe you could start a new baby-Auror training program," Al joked. "Nobody would ever suspect them of being undercover Aurors."**

" **That's funny, but I'll guess that Malorie – and every other mother of babies or toddlers – would have a problem with having their babies out on assignment infiltrating the homes of Dark Wizards and Witches," Patrick pointed out.**

" **I definitely would," Malorie agreed. "That'd be the one job that would worry me more than if the girls grow up to be Quidditch fanatics like most of the members of their Potter family." She smiled at Patrick. "You look way too good to be stuck going out with me tonight. Are you sure you're not actually on-duty and ordered to do this?"**

 **Patrick laughed. "I think that you look great, Malorie; and I'm glad that we were both given this night-out Christmas gift."**

" **Which is also looking like a Christmas set-up," Malorie added; and then turned her attention to Gwendolyn when she laughed.**

" **Do you know how my parents ended up together?" Gwendolyn asked; and Malorie shook her head. "Aunt Ginny set them up the first Christmas Eve after she started playing for the Harpies. Technically, she hired Dad to deliver a special Christmas Eve dinner to Mum, but he added in wine and flowers; they may or may not have spent the entire night together; and the rest is history."**

" **You still have time to run," Malorie told Patrick. "That story must be even scarier for you than me."**

" **You don't need to be scared," Patrick assured her. "We're friends going out to dinner and a show with a fairly-large group of family and friends; and we don't need to make it any more-complicated than that – even if we are being set up. If you're ready to go, I just need to spend a minute with Jaimie next; and then we can be on our way to London."**

 **Jaimie and Lorie were passed around then so that Patrick and Malorie both had time to say goodbye to them; they were left with Al and Gwendolyn; and then Malorie semi-reluctantly left with Patrick. They went outside; apparated to London; and then Al and Gwendolyn were officially in charge of Jaimie and Lorie for the rest of the evening.**

" **Do you think that your Mum is setting them up?" Gwendolyn asked as they sat down on the sofa and got ready to entertain the twins until they were ready for a nap – if they decided to nap at all before their normal bedtime feeding.**

" **Not that I know of," Al answered. "It's more-likely that Patrick was invited too because they really are becoming friends and Mum didn't want Malorie feeling like a fifth-wheel tonight."**

" **She could've gone with Aunt Muriel," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "That would've made for an interesting night out."**

" **I wonder if she is going tonight," Al mused. "She didn't go last night; so she might be doing that tonight. I didn't think to ask."**

" **It's one thing to have her with us at a Quidditch match; and something else entirely to have her offering her comments during a theatre show. Have you ever even gone with her to a Muggle movie?"**

" **We haven't, and maybe we should hope that she isn't going to any of these shows. Merlin only knows what she'd have to say about Mackenzie and Bristol."**

 **Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Well, we could hope that the mirror network version of the show comes on while we're at your family Christmas and get to find out."**

" **That might be really funny – even if we shouldn't think so, but that's already going to be an adventure for Jaimie and Lorie; so maybe we should save that up for another day – or year."**

" **Do you mean that because this will be their first Christmas with your family?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **This will be their first big family event," Al advised her. "They've been to a few dinners for birthdays over the past few months; but this will be the first time they've been at the Burrow with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins since they were born."**

" **I guess that we can't count the prenatal parties," Gwendolyn joked. "From what we've heard, though, your Aunt Muriel will keep anything she says around the girls baby-friendly – if not much quieter than normal." She grinned again then before adding – "I do still wonder what she'd have to say about the musical, though, so if you ever find out; let me know."**

 **They continued to chat, but Jaimie and Lorie wanted their attention too, so they happily played with the girls until they needed a bit of a nap; and the rest of their evening seemed to speed along at an unhurried, happy pace as they had some alone time for a bit of quiet snogging; took care of the twins as needed – including the 'bedtime' feeding and diaper changes; and they were cuddled on the sofa and ready for their own naps by the time Malorie and Patrick got home from the show. Malorie invited Patrick to stay for a drink and chat with Al and Gwendolyn; he and Al took care of filling drink orders while Malorie went to get changed; and then they were all back in the sitting room with Gwendolyn within five minutes of that little, temporary jump into being busy.**

" **You seem to have survived your first major babysitting gig with twins," Malorie observed and teased. "Did you have fun tonight?"**

" **We did," Al assured her with a nod and smile. "Twins are easier than babysitting Gwendolyn's baby cousin, Johnny, and the rest of the younger kids in her family; but I don't know how you manage to keep up with them day and night along with your job and everything else without just being exhausted all of the time."**

" **I get a lot of help from your family and some new friends," Malorie answered; "and then I'm still tired a lot of the time – like right now. Did they have their bedtime bottles early or late? I'm not sure if I'd rather have a nap first or wait up and get their night-time feeding out of the way before going to sleep."**

" **They were a bit late," Al answered while focusing his extended senses on the twins. "If I had to guess from what I sense right now; they might sleep until four or five. They didn't have much of a nap earlier and played with us a lot; so they're tired."**

" **Okay – nap time first it is," Malorie decided. "Is there anything I should know about from your play time with the girls?"**

" **We've had a quiet night," Gwendolyn assured her. "Al took care of the diaper changes too; so I got to have fun without any of the usual baby downside risks. How did you like the show? We didn't want to give anything away before you saw it; but I liked most of the changes from the original musical."**

" **I didn't even know that this show is different than the first one they put on at Hogwarts," Patrick told them.**

" **The story was changed for the mirror network version," Gwendolyn explained; "and then they used some of those changes in the new stage show."**

" **That was Gwendolyn's fault," Malorie teased and advised Patrick. "Al wouldn't have done that Animorphmagus scene in the mirror network show if she hadn't gotten him to do it because she thought it was such a brilliant idea. That was probably the biggest change in the story too; since they were rescued from that cabin in a different way in the original version. For this show, the special effects and sets were a lot better too; though I thought they'd done an amazing job at Hogwarts too when you consider that they probably had no budget at all and had to make or magic everything they did for the stage."**

" **Well, I thought the show tonight was brilliant," Patrick said sincerely. "You've had a really long day, Malorie. We should get out of here and let you get to that nap time while you can."**

" **You have to work in the morning too," Malorie reminded him. "I'd say you'll need the sleep too."**

 **Patrick shrugged and smiled. "I'm just working at Auror Headquarters this weekend in case anything happens that the Aurors need to deal with; so it'll likely be quiet all day."**

" **Dad always hoped for the best when he worked holiday weekends," Al told him. "Sometimes he even managed to not have any problems – a few times."**

" **Your Dad is one of the reasons for why I wanted to be an Auror," Patrick advised him, "but he's probably more of a trouble-magnet than you are; and the bad guys actually seem to be causing fewer problems since he quit. That seems weird, since we expected to be tested at least a few times to see if we could still handle any troubles without him; but that just hasn't happened so far."**

 **Al had agreed with that, but didn't mention other things he knew or suspected about what the bad guys were doing instead; since he didn't know whether Patrick knew about some of those things. They didn't talk for much longer anyway; Al cleaned up from their drinks; and then he and Gwendolyn took the Floo Network to his house. Patrick had seen them off too, but Al sensed that he would be heading for his own flat soon too – and that there wasn't anything more than a new friendship going on between Patrick and Malorie. His parents had gone to bed already by then, but had left a pillow and blanket on their 'usual' sofa sleepover sofa; so they took turns getting ready for bed; and then met up in the sitting room and got comfortably snuggled under that blanket. A bit of quiet snogging made for a fun end to their night, but they were tired; and it really wasn't long before they fell asleep and were out for the rest of the night.**

 **Christmas Eve Day began with a wake-up call for Al and Gwendolyn that came to them from the kitchen thanks to the smell of fresh-brewed coffee and the breakfast foods that Harry was cooking while Al had slept in a bit later than normal. With a parent in the other room, they didn't start the day out with a major snogging session; and they both headed upstairs to take turns getting ready for the day – though they ended up being able to do that at the same time because Ginny was finished getting ready for the day by then; and had Gwendolyn use 'her' bathroom while Al used the 'family' bathroom. He was in the kitchen fifteen minutes before Gwendolyn; had a fun chat with his parents; and then he and Gwendolyn traded stories about their babysitting or party evening while enjoying that meal. They had a busy day planned, so they cleaned up after that; headed for the Leaky; and met up with Kirley, Gwenog, Lily, and Jonah before venturing out into Diagon Alley to enjoy a bit of the Christmas craziness that was already going on there despite it still being fairly-early in the day. The four teens stayed close to their parents, but they were in two little groups as Lily and Jonah led the way into Diagon Alley.**

" **We had fun last night," Lily assured Al and Gwendolyn, "but I think I like it better when Jonah and I aren't in charge, so if you're going to be busy with Jaimie and Lorie on nights when the Harpies or Jonah's family needs babysitters too; we should probably let someone else do the job."**

" **If your latest plan works out; it won't be long before you'll be too busy playing for the Harpies to babysit," Gwendolyn reminded her. "When Jaimie and Lorie are a bit older; we could just bring them along if we need to babysit at our house – or yours."**

" **Aren't you expecting to be done with babysitting soon?" Lily asked. "You'll be sixteen this summer; so you could do that early-work plan too – and start with the Harpies this summer."**

" **You're forgetting about the Quidditch World Cup," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "If I take a job with the Harpies; I might not be able to go to many of those matches."**

" **If your Mum is named Manager; maybe we could both get jobs with the National team," Lily suggested.**

" **Let's wait and see who gets picked for the team before even thinking about that," Gwendolyn suggested. "Would you want to work for James if he's named Seeker? He is still undefeated so far; and you can bet that the Catapults' owners will be pushing to get him picked. It's been a while since they've had anyone good-enough on their team to get a National team invitation."**

" **That'd be scarier for you than me," Lily suggested; "but I wouldn't want him bossing me around all summer." She turned her attention to Al. "That does remind me to ask you whether James was still at the Inn or not. Do we know whether the Catapults are taking the day off?"**

" **James wasn't at the Inn when we got there," Al advised her. "I don't know whether he's at work or not. Mum and Dad talked to Hannah, though; so maybe they know."**

 **Lily shrugged. "I'll ask Mum later. It'd be nice to at least wish James a Merry Christmas, but I'll likely have to settle for sending a mirror message; and he'll likely ignore it anyway."**

" **You could pick up a Monster Christmas card and slip it under the door to his room when we go back out through the Leaky," Gwendolyn suggested. "If you leave it out of the envelope; that might make his return to his room very interesting – especially if he isn't alone."**

" **That's a fun idea," Lily agreed – "and don't say anything, Al. You're not supposed to get in the way of any fun we want to have as long as we're not putting anyone at risk of serious injury or worse."**

" **We never got around to officially working anything out for that," Al reminded her; "but that isn't something I have any business getting involved with – and you know the risks that go along with trying to prank James."**

" **I do," Lily agreed with a grin. "Do you think that Uncle George can help me turn a Monster Christmas card into a Howler too? I may as well make it worth the trouble."**

" **Do you want to suggest that to him; or work on making one yourself and then selling it to him?" Al asked; and smiled when Lily laughed.**

" **That's a good point. Maybe I'll keep that idea to myself for a while longer – and get you to help me with making a few Monster Howler cards to sell to our uncles after we're back at Hogwarts."**

 **Al was sure he'd be helping her to do that in the New Year, but their chat and play time in Diagon Alley moved on from there – and included a stop at the wheezes store. Lily still picked up a card for James that she eventually dropped off at the Leaky when they moved on to do the visiting friends part of their day. They had lunch in London too, but split up for some of the visits as the McCormacks and Potters had their own friends they wanted to see and drop off family gifts with before heading to their respective homes for the night. Al and Gwendolyn stayed together for all of those visits with one set of parents or the other in turn, but when it was time to go home for dinner; they said their goodbyes for the night ahead of their respective plans for Christmas Eve.**

 **For Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily, their Christmas Eve included a quiet dinner; a visit to Chudley with Malorie and the twins that included helping out with getting the girls tired out and off to bed for the night; but then they headed home again to wrap up their Christmas Eve with a bedtime movie before heading up to their rooms and then pretending to go to sleep while taking turns playing Santa and putting their gifts under the tree. Malorie hadn't wanted help to do that at her flat for the twins, but all three of them were included in the Santa visit at the Potter home too; and they were changing up their Christmas Day plans a bit so that Malorie could have her own Christmas morning with Jaimie and Lorie; and then come over with them for breakfast and to spend the rest of the day with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their family. Al was last to put his gifts under the tree, but kept busy while waiting for his parents and sister to have their fun by having a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn and surfing the wireless web on his portable mirror. He wasn't the last person in the house to go to sleep once he was finished his work in the sitting room; but tried not to think about what his parents were doing instead of getting the extra nap time.**

 **James didn't even comprehend the sounds of growling or the snapping of teeth as he walked into his room at the Inn a couple of hours after midnight on Christmas Eve – Christmas Day. He stumbled three steps into the room before realizing that he wasn't just doing that because of his current state of inebriation; and then it took several moments of peering down at his feet before he figured out that there was something trying to chew on his shoe. Another minute passed as he made his way to the bed with the Monster card still hanging onto his shoe and chewing away at it; it took him four tries and two nips on his hands before getting it off after flopping onto the bed; and then he tried to read it once he'd gotten the silly thing calmed down and purring contentedly.**

" **Have a Monstrously Merry Christmas – love, Lily,' he managed to read out aloud; and then couldn't manage a laugh as he tossed it away and onto the floor. That made the card angry again, but he didn't notice as it scurried unter his bed and grumbled while waiting for its next chance to go on the attack.**

 **He'd had a monstrously-hot Christmas Eve – at least until all of the Witches at the party had decided to go to their own homes for the night so they could spend Christmas with their families. That had been annoying and had led to the extra drinking that had made it tougher for him to get back to his room at the Inn, but he'd had a best-ever-so-far Christmas Eve; and starting Christmas Day sometime after noon would be just great too – even if he wasn't spending that time wrapped around a hot, willing Witch! Thinking about any of that for a while wasn't really an option; and he didn't even manage to kick off both of his shoes before passing out.**

" **Merry Christmas!" Al said happily as Lily walked into the kitchen. He turned his head and smiled as he watched her walk over to him. "I think this is a record for you; but let's not talk about why Mum and Dad will appreciate the extra sleep you've let them have this morning by not waking us up an hour or three before dawn."**

" **Merry Christmas to you too," she said as they shared a quick hug so that she didn't interfere with his ongoing cooking. "We're waiting for Malorie and the twins to open gifts; so there was no hurry this year. Don't get used to it – I hope that Malorie will let us share Christmas morning with the girls next year – and as many years as we can while they're growing up."**

" **We should probably wait for James to officially move out before turning his room into a guest bedroom," Al half-joked; and Lily grinned at him.**

" **He's promised that he won't be back," she reminded him. "All Mum and Dad need to wait for is the address of his new home so they can send his things there."**

" **Maybe he'll be looking for a place while we're home," Al suggested. "Did he send you any messages to thank you for your card?"**

" **No," Lily answered with a shake of her head. "I don't know if that means he didn't get back to his room to get it yet; or if there's some other reason why he wouldn't want to thank me for it."**

" **Let's not talk about those other possibilities either," Al suggested. "The kettle's been boiled if you'd like to start with a hot chocolate while you're waiting for breakfast – and the food on the table is fair game to snack on; since we have to wait for Mum and Dad to go and get Malorie and the twins too."**

" **They must be going to do that soon; or you wouldn't be this far along with the cooking."**

" **I hope so," Al agreed, "but I can keep everything hot if needed; and I'm actually not even half-way done right now."**

" **You're only cooking for five," Lily reminded him. "Jaimie and Lorie aren't quite ready to eat anything you're cooking right now."**

" **I have a couple of treats for them too," Al advised her; "but this is our only meal until Christmas dinner; so I am cooking extra."**

" **We'd need to skip breakfast if we had multiple Christmas dinners like we had last year," Lily suggested. "I'm glad that we get to have everyone at the Burrow today, though; since Grandma and Mum both think that we won't get to do that every year for much longer – or maybe even not again anytime soon."**

" **Nearly half of us – the cousins – will be done school by next Christmas," Al pointed out. "It is just a matter of time before we won't all be able to juggle home and away Christmases for the same years every time like our aunts and uncles have done most years until now."**

" **You included for that – unless you mess up with Gwendolyn again," Lily teased.**

" **We'll work something out every year," Al assured her – "especially when we have Jaimie and Lorie to think about now too when making our Christmas plans."**

" **I suppose,' Lily conceded – "though you won't have to worry about that for at least another couple of years – and I'll still have four Christmases at home after this one."**

" **Only four?" Ginny asked as she came into the kitchen with Harry. "Your father is hoping you'll live at home with us for at least ten or fifteen years after you're done at Hogwarts."**

 **Lily laughed and hugged her mother. "Merry Christmas – and I doubt that; since he likely expects that I'll either elope or get married within a month of graduating – just like you and Grandma did!"**

" **Reverse that; but just because we got married young doesn't mean that you need to do that too – especially when you don't even have a first boyfriend yet."**

" **I've got lots of time to pick the right Wizard, but for the record; I don't expect to get married right after my NEWT year because I'm hoping to be playing for our National team in the World Cup that summer."**

" **Your Mum might be in the running for that job if she's playing for the Cannons," Harry teased, "but we'd better get to Chudley and help Malorie with getting Jaimie and Lorie here instead of getting into a Quidditch chat."**

 **He and Ginny had best Christmas wishes and hugs for Al and Lily; and then they apparated to Chudley while Al continued to make breakfast and Lily kept him company. They were gone for fifteen minutes; used the Floo Network for the return trip; and then there was a lengthy round of hugs and kisses as Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie were welcomed and they all sat down to eat once Al had all of the food on the table. He ended up with Jaimie while Ginny and Lily shared Lorie; but both babies were happy to mostly watch the show and have their little breakfast treats while the parents and teens in the room enjoyed their morning meal and quiet Christmas morning chat.**

" **Okay – let's start with your stories from Jaimie and Lorie's first Christmas morning so far," Lily suggested to Malorie. "Did you open gifts with the early-morning feeding; or do that just before you came here?"**

" **They slept until four; and I've been awake since then – though they had a nap after I nursed them and we opened their gifts. Jaimie already spit up on one of her Christmas outfits, but I'm saving the nicest dresses for this afternoon and we picked up three extra sets especially for today; so we should still make it through the day without having to switch to their everyday clothes."**

" **You didn't have to change them both just to keep them as a matched set for us," Lily advised her. "What did Santa bring them – and you?"**

" **Clothes, assorted teething options, and baby-friendly toys for them; clothes, a box of my favorite chocolates, and a pair of earrings with their birthstones for me. I tried to make sure that Santa took it easy on them this year; since they're likely going to be spoiled by their family for the rest of the day."**

" **Definitely," Lily agreed. "Dad can always help you out with making their bedroom bigger if you need more room by the end of the day."**

" **It's enough work keeping up with cleaning the room they already have; so I don't want more to do, thanks anyway," Malorie told her seriously. "You manage to fit all of your things into your room without doing that – unless you have more to your room than what you showed me last summer."**

" **I like my room the way it is; but would need more space if I had to share it with a sister."**

" **Then I'll try to remember that for when the girls are a bit older; since their room is about the same size as yours," Malorie told her. "Their room is lots big-enough for now, though; and I don't plan on moving anytime soon – especially when it's so convenient to be able to take them downstairs with me when I go to work."**

" **Every set of twins I've ever met are different; but Fred and George shared a room through until they quit school and started their wheezes store," Ginny advised Malorie. "You'll have to wait and see whether they'll be the type to do everything together; or have their own interests and styles."**

" **As long as they both love Quidditch and the Harpies; I'm okay with whatever else they each love to do," Lily offered. "I don't want you to be a Seeker, Lorie, since I still plan on playing for the Harpies when you're old-enough to join the team, but you and Jaimie could be Beaters or Chasers. Gwendolyn would love to have you as her Chaser team mates!"**

" **What about Victoire?" Ginny asked. "Will you be having her retire by then whether she wants to or not?"**

" **She can semi-retire and work on the reserve team – or go into management," Lily suggested with a shrug.**

" **You're getting a bit ahead of things with those ideas," Harry interjected. "Let's get back to the stories from earlier this morning for Jaimie and Lorie. Did they like any particular gifts, Malorie? James was always into the gifts right from his first Christmas, but Al tended to latch on to a favorite; and Lily was about the same age as the twins for her first Christmas and was more interested in the wrapping paper, bows, and the lights and decorations on the tree."**

" **That just isn't fair for kids born late in the year," Lily complained. "I must have been more-interested in the gifts by my second Christmas."**

" **True," Ginny agreed; "but you still had fun with the boxes and gift-wrap for a few more years – especially when there were boxes big-enough for you to make into temporary play houses for you and your new toys."**

" **At least until James wrecked them with rampaging giants, trolls, or dragons," Al added quietly.**

" **I'm surprised that you remember him doing that," Ginny told him. "Is your long-term memory actually getting better too?"**

" **I don't think so," Al answered. "It's more likely that I've just gotten better at accessing my memories – or relevant memories to go along with what's happening or being said around me." He paused while pondering that; and then shrugged. "I haven't even thought about those Christmases when that sort of thing happened with Lily and James for a long time."**

 **Neither have I," Ginny advised him, "but I have been thinking about things like that over the past few months as we get to have that sort of fun all over again with Jaimie and Lorie. We're all sure to have lots of other Christmas memories pop up as we go along for the rest of the day."**

" **Probably," Harry agreed; "though some of us won't go quite as far back as others into those memories. My good ones didn't start until after I started at Hogwarts; and not all of those Christmases were memorable in a good way." He grinned when he saw the expression on Malorie's face. "Save those thoughts for when you can talk with the other girls," he suggested. "You're scaring the grandfather and uncle; and the twins are too young for those stories."**

 **Malorie laughed. "I don't plan on having that sort of chat with all of the Witches in your family either, but it is at least a bit funny that I was sure that last year would be my last, best-ever-so-far Christmas; and it turns out that I was totally wrong about that."**

 **Al really didn't want to think about that at all, but had sensed at least as much as his father had from Malorie; and was glad when his mother and sister helped to move the chat along to other topics. They enjoyed their meal; the Wizards cleaned up; and then it was time to open gifts in the sitting room. He held Lorie while they did that for some of the time while Lily led the effort to hand out the gifts, but then he had to take turns playing with his nieces while they all had fun together for more than an hour before it was time for Malorie to nurse her daughters while Harry and Al moved on to do some other chores that included getting things ready for their visit to the Burrow. There was still more time to spend together that included cuddles or naps for the twins and two out of three parents in the house to go along with more play time; and the last thing they did before heading for the Burrow was to feed and change Jaimie and Lorie – a job that Ginny helped Malorie with while Harry took Al and Lily over to the McCormacks so that they could get Gwendolyn and Jonah ahead of the family Christmas adventure.**

 **Getting everyone to the Burrow didn't take long once they were all ready to go, but then they jumped right into the family holiday fun because about half of their family members were already there; and the meet and greet alone took nearly twenty minutes by the time they talked with each person at least for a few moments and also took care of the work that included putting gifts under the tree and dealing with their own food contributions. Al was simply happy to do all of that with Gwendolyn; and then they were set free to hang out with their cousins while the parents and grandparents in the house mostly gathered around the Kitchen table and took turns working, visiting, or playing with Jaimie and Lorie. Most of the teen guys had gathered in the sitting room for a mirror gaming competition; so they joined in to watch that action while talking with Lily, Jonah, and a rotating group of cousins and their 'plus one' guests.**

 **There were more of those extra guests than Al had expected, but the additions just made the start to their afternoon more interesting; and he was glad to see that all of his cousins were having a happy Christmas holiday – something that actually was something new compared to every previous Christmas going back to when dating was first becoming something that the eldest of his cousins were beginning to think about doing when they were teens or tweens. That thought had him smiling, since Victoire hadn't been happy about any dating that Teddy did before finally falling in love with her, and while he thought about other examples too; his recent problems with Gwendolyn had him reminding himself to be grateful for having another happy Christmas with her – and to hope for the best for his cousins too.**

 **The cousin dating surprises started out with Molly and Dominique because they brought Jared Davies and Eddie Bones with them – and that was apparently even news for their parents and siblings. Rose and Hugo had time for their family to get used to the idea of them having dates too; but only because Brandon and Alyssa couldn't come over to the Burrow until shortly-before dinner while busy with their own family holiday fun until then. That didn't keep them from ending up in the family spotlight, but then Al was okay with all of those distractions; since it helped to cut back on the attention he got from his aunts and uncles while they were busy with newer, better news stories. Talking about the family gossip news was also part of the entertainment; and Gwendolyn was happy to get in on that fun with Lily, rose, and the other girls.**

" **I pick the Molly and Jared story as being slightly-bigger news today – even if Dominique and Eddie will get all of the headlines," Lily offered as she and Jonah sat down close to Al and Gwendolyn after finishing their latest turn at the mirror gaming. "Are they to be the next up-and-coming power couple at the Ministry of Magic?"**

" **There are lots of other young couples at the Ministry," Gwendolyn pointed out. "I'm biased in favor of the Quidditch story; and that one has the added bonus of sisters paired up with best mates."**

" **Jared's Mum dated Molly's Uncle Harry," Lily reminded her with a grin. "That's a fun side-story. Jared didn't go and play in the show, but he played Quidditch at Hogwarts; so that should still count as Molly dating Quidditch players too."**

" **How many Seekers does that give us now?" Rose asked. "Nine? Ten?"**

" **That depends on whether Lily wants to have us include Jonah in that list of family Seekers," Al teased.**

" **Either way – half of those Seekers are from your side of the family,' Rose pointed out – "though it's still funny that Molly and Lucy are both dating Seekers right now."**

" **True, but it'll be tough to put together family scrimmages with that many Seekers," Lily suggested; and then grinned at Rose. "It's a good thing that you and Fred are dating Beaters. We needed more of them in the family."**

 **Rose laughed. "That wasn't even something I considered when agreeing to go out with Brandon," she assured her cousin.**

" **Did you think about the potential for a Beater on your future Cannons team instead?" Lily countered.**

" **No, but I'm sure we'll keep getting teased about that too," Rose predicted. "We're getting off-topic; since this chat is supposed to be about Molly, Dominique, and their boyfriends."**

" **I can multi-task," Lily assured her. "Eddie and Jared are nice, and they all seem happy; so I'm happy for them."**

" **Me too; but they've still surprised me with those matches," Gwendolyn said thoughtfully. I can't really explain why I feel that way; but I do."**

" **Jared and Molly have a lot in common even though they're very different personalities too," Al pointed out quietly. "As for Eddie and Dominique, that four-year age difference likely just got in the way of things for them until now."**

" **Either that or he's been falling in love with her one goal at a time since she joined the United team and started scoring all of those goals on him in her matches against the Arrows," Lily joked.**

" **Let's ask him about that later," Gwendolyn suggested after joining in for the laughs. "That's a better line than what I was thinking."**

" **That Eddie has been waiting for Dominique because Victoire was already taken?" Rose guessed; and Gwendolyn nodded.**

" **I've never gotten a sense of that sort of thing from Eddie," Al advised them; and then turned his inner attention toward his cousin and her new boyfriend. "They've just discovered that they're attracted to each other for more than their connections to Teddy and Victoire."**

" **That's good to know," Rose said with a nod – "even if that's likely none of our business."**

" **Maybe not; but I'd love to know what Al senses about you and Brandon," Lily offered with a sly grin – "and about Hugo and Alyssa."**

" **Now you're in trouble," Gwendolyn teased. "You didn't have a problem telling us about your other cousins; so what do you do now?"**

" **Learn to keep my mouth shut?" Al answered. "Go for a drinks run?" he added and offered.**

" **With 'run' as the operational word there," Lily told him as he stood to actually do that. She held out her glass to him. "Make mine a double; and we'll let you off the hook."**

 **Gwendolyn still needed to tease him a bit more, but Rose was happy that he didn't offer any comments about her new relationship with Brandon – even as he sensed that she was curious too. He did think about that as they all moved on from there and had fun with their family and friends, and while he did sense a lot from everyone; he took more notice of what was going on with the cousins he didn't get to see every day when they were all at Hogwarts – even if he didn't get to spend much time talking with them while they had to fit in cameo visits around all of the busy fun they were all immersed in during the afternoon and evening.**

 **His extended senses helped with picking up a lot from his cousins that he didn't get directly from them, but while that could get a bit weird now and then, everyone was happy; so he didn't have any of the problems he ran into when he was around darker emotions or unhappy people. There weren't any major family news stories to celebrate – though Aunt Muriel advised Aiden that he ought to get around to asking his girlfriend to marry him soon before she decided to hex some sense into him. While his aunt had left everyone to assume that Shay-Lynn was the 'she' that would be doing the hexing; Al had been amused to sense that his aunt was thinking that she'd hex Aiden herself if he didn't do the right thing sooner instead of later. Aiden and Shay-Lynn were happy with their own near-term plans for the future, though, and while Al was sure they would get married eventually; he didn't get the sense that their family had any weddings coming up for the coming year – and not just because it was to be a Quidditch Cup summer!**

 **Quidditch was a factor for some of his cousins, but that had everything to do with players hoping to earn a spot on one of the National teams. That was a dream for every serious Quidditch player, but when he thought about that; he also tried to assess the chances of that happening for his cousins – or to foresee anything about that for them. He thought that Victoire had a good chance of getting an invitation; but didn't get that same sense from Dominique, Eddie, Lucy, Alex, or Louis. There were different reasons for that, ranging from the fact that Louis would only play in two matches before the teams were selected to tougher competition for Alex and the girls; but that only affected how sure Al was about what he expected would happen when the teams were picked. It was still fun to think about a National team filled with his favorite players, though – and it was also something that got talked about around the family too.**

 **Quidditch wasn't the only chat topic, and with more members of the group working at the Ministry of Magic; politics was part of the mix too – especially for Percy, Audrey, Jared, and Molly. While he didn't want a career in politics or doing anything at the Ministry, Al still sponged up all of that news too; and took particular note of a discussion about the war amnesty proposal that was making its way through the Ministry and was gaining support along the way. As his Aunt Muriel had deduced during the summer; Percy was a proponent of the idea of an amnesty, but while his wife, eldest daughter, and her boyfriend were all in agreement with him on that; Al knew that they were in the minority for their family – mostly because the majority weren't interested in forgiving their enemies and were sure that letting them out of Azkaban again would just lead to renewed trouble – or even another war.**

 **Those potential consequences weren't something that Al wanted to think about on Christmas Day; so he tried not to do that. Having fun with Gwendolyn and everyone else was easy-enough; and they had a really good day together. The afternoon play time was followed up with an amazing dinner that Brandon and Alyssa got to the Burrow in time to share with them. Al and Gwendolyn sat with Rose and Brandon next to her and Jaimie and Lorie between him and Lily; so the entertainment was as much fun as the food; and then he joined the guys for the clean-up while the girls headed into the sitting room to wait for them before opening gifts. Al only helped out because he could use his seashells, but Hugo and Jonah joined in using their medallions; and Brandon had turned seventeen in October; so Fred was the lone exception to the work crew; and he supervised and helped with the entertainment instead of going into the sitting room with the girls.**

 **The gift exchange was only happening after dinner this year because George and Ron were the only parents booked to work in the morning; and Charlie, Julianne, and their four 'kids' were staying the night – at Grimmauld Place with Victoire and Teddy. Al and Gwendolyn had saved up exchanging their own gifts, so they had a few more gifts to open than most of the others, but there were some other couples doing that too – like Rose and Brandon; so it wasn't too obvious or remarkable. The most-popular gift given and received of the evening was the magical earbuds that Al had made for everyone; and he got a fair bit of attention for that as word got around that he'd created them. Aunt Muriel's comments were most-entertaining for everyone, and while Al would have preferred to avoid her vociferous attention; he was also glad to find out that his aunt truly liked that gift and found it to be amazing.**

 **Their gift exchange wasn't quite the end of the night for everyone, but it was nearly-that for Al and Gwendolyn because they went along with Malorie when she needed to get the twins home so she could nurse them and get them to bed. They helped with getting all of their things home – including all of the Christmas gifts; Al worked around the flat while Malorie nursed the girls; and then he and Gwendolyn rocked Jaimie and Lorie to sleep while singing their lullaby with some cuddle assistance from his parents and sister. After a long, busy day, the twins were easy to get to sleep; Malorie was ready to sleep by then too while she could; and Harry and Ginny headed home with their four teens to drop off a load of boxes and bags there before going on to take Gwendolyn and Jonah home – and have a bedtime snack, drinks, and visit with Kirley and Gwenog that kept them busy until nearly eleven o'clock. Heading to bed after getting home was a unanimous choice for the four Potters; and Al actually got ready for bed first while Lily was busy with her pets – and then he was first to go to sleep too.**

 **He wouldn't rank their Christmas Day as a best-ever-so-far, but it had been really great; and he was looking forward to having an amazing second-half of their Christmas holidays!**

 **James went and poured himself a drink as soon as he got back to his room at the Leaky late on Christmas Day night; flopped into the armchair by the window that overlooked Diagon Alley; and frowned as he looked down on the deserted street – which he did on multiple levels; including egotistically. All of the shops were closed for the holidays, and while there were lights in the windows of some of the apartments above the stores; everyone was apparently in for the night – or still out celebrating the holiday. He'd still wanted to be celebrating the holiday, but Patricia had refused to 'go home' with him for the night, and while she'd made up excuses; he was sure it was entirely because she'd expected more than he'd given her for a Christmas gift and she was mad at him for flirting with one of her cousins.**

" **She'll be furious if she finds out that I did a lot more than flirt with her cousin," James said aloud while toasting his reflection in the window. He didn't smirk too; since he wasn't happy about being alone for the night with nothing to do – even if he had enjoyed that quick bit of fun behind Patricia's back right there in her grandparent's home!**

 **His Christmas Day wasn't ending as brilliantly as he'd expected, but the rest of his day had been pretty good. He'd slept until noon; taken his time getting ready for the day; and then he'd gone to Patricia's house to spend some time with her there before going with her family to her grandparent's home for their family dinner. They'd all been appropriately-impressed to have a Quidditch star in their midst – especially that hot, daring cousin of hers! He'd scored some nice gifts and a pretty good meal out of the deal too; so it was just the lack of a bedtime playmate that hadn't worked out as he'd planned and expected.**

 **That was likely one more thing he could blame on the Animorphloser. Patricia had likely expected a promise ring or even an engagement ring for her Christmas gift; so she'd been very unhappy with the Catapults' souvenir package that included his action figure and an autographed poster along with the rest of the gear. Sure, he'd gotten all of that stuff for free, but he'd signed the poster himself; so that alone was a valuable collector's item – and likely worth more than some stupid ring!**

 **Glancing over at his bed, he noticed that it was made and the gifts he'd left on it had been moved to the top of the dresser – where they were neatly-stacked and organized. The gift from Al and Gwendolyn was on top of one of the piles, and while that was entirely because of its size; James was annoyed to even see it and be reminded that they'd again sent him a very cool gift that he was sure to use simply because he was sure that everyone else who could afford a set of the magical earbuds would be using them too. He hadn't even opened the package yet, but Patricia had shown him the set she'd been given; and had him try them out with her portable mirror. Of course he'd never admit to anyone who gave him his new set, but then as far as his friends were concerned; he bought most of his own things except for the 'must have' school supplies, clothes, and his broom; since he had to stick with that part of his horrid family story now that he'd been using it for years.**

 **Getting up, he walked over to the dresser; picked up the new mirror game that Lily and Jonah had sent for him; and then loaded it onto his portable mirror. He poured a refill for his drink; took a large swallow; and then let the fire whiskey burn mask the burn of hot anger he felt as he also grabbed the stupid magical earbuds; opened the package; and linked them up with his mirror too. Draining the second glass; he filled it a third time; went back to the chair; and sat down with plans to play mirror games for as long as it took to be ready to sleep. Thanks to the fire whiskey, the amazing magical earbuds, and a very cool, challenging mirror game; he was soon immersed in the gaming action; and eventually couldn't even remember what he'd been hating the loser about – or care that he was spending the night alone.**

 **He was winning – just as he was winning in real life! That was all that mattered, so even if that meant being alone now and then; he was okay with that. He didn't need anybody; was sure to find more Witches or Muggle girls to play with whenever he needed that kind of fun; and knew that his life was sure to keep getting better as he wrapped up the last week of the year and headed into the New Year!**

 **Sunday began quietly-enough for Al as he woke; got ready for the day; and cooked breakfast for four. Having that meal with just his parents and sister was a quiet bit of fun; they all pitched in to do some chores; and then they headed for Diagon Alley to check out the post-Christmas shopping fun going on there – including at the wheezes store. They were able to do that for two hours; headed home for a light lunch; and then Al and Lily went to the McCormacks to meet up with Gwendolyn and Jonah ahead of the Jones' family Christmas adventure they were going to for the rest of the day. Harry and Ginny took them there, but then they went on to spend the afternoon with Malorie and the twins while their kids were busy.**

 **Their second Christmas celebration with her mother's side of Gwendolyn's family wasn't exactly the same as it had been a week earlier with the McCormack clan, but there were a lot of similarities for Al and Gwendolyn. They spent a lot of time entertaining her younger cousins; there was an early gift exchange so the kids had time to play with new toys and games until dinnertime; and they got to enjoy another wonderful holiday meal that included a lot of conversational entertainment. It was also a work night for most of the parents and there was a training night curfew for Gwenog and Candice too; so the evening music entertainment started and ended early – allowing parents and players to get home in time for curfew or getting their kids to bed on time.**

 **While they had an amazing afternoon and evening; Al was really looking forward to spending the night with Gwendolyn. That didn't have any effect on how efficiently he helped her cousins to get ready to go home when it was time to do that, but it might have affected their Christmas song choices; and they only played and sang three songs before passing the baton to Lily and Jonah for a turn. They were going to wrap up their day with a two-couple sofa sleepover too, so there wouldn't be a teen-rated-hot end to their weekend either; but Al was good with getting to have some quiet teen and sibling time instead – especially when he got to do that while cuddled with Gwendolyn!**

 **It wasn't really all that late by the time they got around to settling in on two sofas in the game room once everyone was gone and Kirley and Gwenog had headed for bed; so Lily picked a show on the mirror network; and the four teens had fun talking about their last round of Christmas fun.**

" **I'm officially Christmassed-out," Lily declared. "That's one problem with having a full week of holidays first – there's so much Christmas to be had that you get tired of it!"**

" **You hid that well all day until now," Gwendolyn teased. "Even your Christmas songs were cheerful tonight."**

" **Jonah and I had to follow your act with Al; so we had to do our best." She smiled at Al. "Nice job trying to skip the Animorphmagus Christmas song; but we couldn't let you off the hook when it's still so popular."**

" **You could have," Al disagreed. "I sure hope that I won't be asked to do that every year for the next century or more."**

" **Let us know how that goes for you when Jaimie and Lorie start asking you for it every year once they're old-enough to do that."**

" **And don't expect them to wait until they can say 'Animorphmagus' either," Gwendolyn warned. "They could be asking us for one of the 'aminal songs' by next summer."**

" **Speaking of next summer; did you guys find it odd that Candice isn't even thinking she has any chance at all to make the National team for the Quidditch World Cup?" Lily asked. "That's a lot different than it was with our cousins yesterday."**

" **That was different; but I wasn't surprised," Gwendolyn told her. "Candice knows what kind of player she is; doesn't try to be something she isn't; and is comfortable with doing what she's best at – being team Captain and helping Victoire to play her best. That's likely healthier for her than putting too much hope into something that isn't likely to happen."**

" **Won't you be one of those hopeful players for the next Quiddich World Cup?" Lily asked. "I know that I will be – even if I don't get to play some matches for the Harpies in my sixth and seventh year at Hogwarts!" She grinned at Al. "He'll be playing for the Cannons; so you should have a good shot at making the National team."**

" **Santini's played for Spain despite being on the Harpies," Jonah pointed out.**

" **True," Lily agreed; "but he'd never have gotten the pick if he'd wanted to play for England."**

" **It's a wonder he didn't move to France and try to get a spot on their team with Gabrielle," Gwendolyn joked. "I'd be okay with playing on our National team with Al – or maybe playing for Scotland with Aunt Meghan."**

" **There's an idea, Al," Lily told him. "Move to Scotland after you graduate. "They might take you on their team even if you're with the Cannons."**

" **Scotland – or on one of the islands – might work for us," Gwendolyn suggested; "but we'll likely end up somewhere in southern England instead. Are you still keeping an eye on that farm near Chudley; or has it been sold already?"**

" **It's been sold," Al advised her. "I didn't expect that it'd stay on the market for years; so I'll survive the disappointment."**

" **I still think that a place on the seashore would be nicer," Lily told them seriously – "or maybe a lake-house."**

" **Either would be nice," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I'd be happy with a place in the country like we have here or you have at your house; and we could always make a room indoors for a portable pool if you want to have year-round swimming."**

" **Now you have me picturing Al making you a beach room to go along with that pool," Lily advised her with a laugh. "Just remember that if you get him to do something like that for you; Jonah and I may decide to come and live with you for our last couple of years at Hogwarts – or longer."**

" **Would you really want to live with newlyweds during their first two years of marriage?" Jonah asked; and Lily laughed.**

" **Is that really even as weird as living with our parents?" she countered. "I'm happy to know that romance doesn't end when you have kids or teens; but it can still be awkward around home now and then – not to mention that I seriously-doubt that your parents went straight to sleep tonight when they didn't really look to be all that tired when they left us earlier."**

" **La-la-la," Jonah sang while pretending not to hear her. "You're scaring the kid, Lily. Cut it out!"**

" **Which part of that was scariest – the parents or Lily not having a problem with living in the same house with newlyweds?" Gwendolyn asked him.**

" **Possibly both – for Al and Jonah," Lily teased. "Al might still be doing sofa sleepovers with you after you're married if we were living with you."**

" **No, he definitely wouldn't be," Gwendolyn insisted. "It's funny that you didn't suggest that for you and Jonah, though."**

 **Lily grinned at her. "If I decide to pick Jonah for my boyfriend; there's a good chance that we'll stop doing sofa sleepovers before you and Al do – or that could happen even if I don't." She laughed; leaned close; and kissed Jonah when he started blushing. "Don't worry – you won't have a problem with that when the time comes."**

" **When?" Gwendolyn asked archly; and Lily laughed again.**

" **Okay – if," she amended. "I'll keep you posted on how that goes for us."**

 **The two girls carried their chat along from there without a lot of help from Al and Jonah, but they also began to pay more attention to the mirror network show; they eventually watched Lee's nightly monologue at the start of his show; and then they turned off the mirror and decided to get some sleep. Al was first to slip into nap mode; he was out for the night once he was off to dreamland; and didn't wake up until his normal early start to the day. He managed to get up without waking Gwendolyn beyond the drowsy stage; got ready for the day; and cooked breakfast for four with some help from Gwenog once she joined him in the kitchen. As usual; talking Quidditch was part of their cooking chat time; and the Harpies-Prides match was at the center of that conversation.**

" **Okay, Al, do you have something better for me this year for our first match of the New Year than you did for our match last year against the Falcons?" Gwenog asked after they'd exchanged the morning best wishes and she'd joined in to help with the cooking. "Meghan's team is a lot tougher this year; and we could use the help with our game plan."**

" **Have Aunt Gabrielle push Erin right from the start," he suggested. "I think that she's going to be vulnerable to making mistakes on Saturday."**

" **Why do you say that?" Gwenog asked.**

" **Because she may still be mad about losing to James," Al answered. "If she let's that loss bug her enough; she'll try too hard to get the win over the Harpies – regardless of how well her team is playing against yours. Push her, and get her worried about whether she can do that; and she might make mistakes trying to catch the snitch."**

" **That's something to think about," Gwenog admitted thoughtfully. "Don't you have any advice for our Chasers?"**

 **Al grinned at her. "I'd suggest that you put Rose in at Keeper on Saturday, but that would definitely mess with her plans for the Cannons; and Aunt Hermione would never sign off on letting her play while under-age – even if Uncle Ron would if she was doing that for his team."**

 **Gwenog laughed. "Vicky wouldn't like that recommendation. You think that Rose is better than she is already?"**

" **Better than Vicky is now? Yes," Al agreed; surprising Gwenog. "I don't want to see you push her out the door or anything; but you must know that she's having a tough time keeping up with the younger players – and that isn't going to get easier for her. You have the same problem with your Beaters, but that's not as obvious; since they've adapted their game to make up for that as best they can."**

" **You're not helping me out with a game plan for Saturday – and I'm not sure that I agree with you either; since you seem to have a bias against veterans with how you think about the game."**

" **I think that Mum can play for the Cannons," Al reminded her with a grin. "There's a chance I'm a bit biased; but don't think that I'm wrong. Alice, Francine, and Daniella match up well against our Chasers, but Aunt Meghan is slowing down too; so fast-moving plays might work better than messing around with a lot of passes – especially since slowly-developing plays give her time to recognize what's coming at her. She's better at avoiding bludgers than most Keepers; so I'd have our Beaters go after theirs and try to battle to a draw so they don't get the chance to hurt our players. Jensen and Stanley should try to go after Vicky and Hailey; since they're most-vulnerable on our team."**

" **Haven't you told me that Candice is most-vulnerable for that because she's slower?" Gwenog asked.**

" **I've said that she's likely to have a shorter career because she's slower and the other teams' Beaters will try and take advantage of that," he amended. "That hasn't been much of a problem for her so far except against the Falcons and when she's been hurt early in other matches and the hits add up. Candice never gives up whether she's hurt or not. Hailey really gets thrown off of her game if she gets hurt; and Vicky can really be hurt if the opposing Beaters know where to hit her."**

" **that's true for any player," Gwenog told him; and Al nodded.**

" **True," he agreed, "but Vicky's getting a record of injuries now; and other teams are trying to hit her where it's proved to hurt her most. If you want to keep her healthy; our Beaters are going to need to focus more on protecting her – or keeping the other Beaters too busy to bash Vicky at all."**

" **What a surprise – they're talking Quidditch," Kirley said as he walked into the kitchen. "Has Al helped you to fine-tune your game plan for Saturday?"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "I'm not sure. He's either helped – or I need to throw my plan out and start over."**

" **Was your plan very different from what we've talked about?" Al asked.**

" **Actually, yes," Gwenog admitted. "It's also a bit funny that you've suggested that I target the only two Wizards on their team; while I had other ideas about what to have my beaters do on Saturday."**

" **Maybe Al is trying to get you to leave the Witches alone because he doesn't want to see any of them get hurt," Kirley suggested. "Didn't he save Alice once when she played Quidditch at Hogwarts?"**

" **I'd be okay with it if nobody ever got seriously-hurt in any game," Al pointed out; "but my suggestions weren't based on that at all. Jensen and Stanley are good; so battling them to a draw would be a win for the Harpies because they're more-important to the success of the Prides than the Beaters are for most of the other teams in the league this season."**

" **Including ours?" Gwenog challenged. "That's a brave thing to say to a former Harpies Beater."**

" **Your team stats so far this season – and theirs – back that up," he advised her; though he knew she was aware of that anyway. Jensen and Stanley are currently ranked third for Beater duos. Tina and Calvin are best right now; but the number two pair is only ahead of Jensen and Stanley thanks to a lot of help from their team mates."**

" **You're still not giving Beaters much credit," Gwenog warned; and smiled when Al laughed.**

" **Sorry, but I'm usually getting complaints for giving Beaters too much credit for winning matches at school," he explained. "That's really only different this morning because of the Beater duos we're talking about – with the exception of Tina and Calvin. They're helping their team more than the other players are helping them so far. Without them; United wouldn't be doing as well this season as they are right now."**

" **Alicia's boy – and your cousins – have been doing well-enough with United too," Gwenog told him. "They haven't had most of the issues we expected them to have so far this season."**

" **We're already counting Alex as one of our cousins," Al offered. "They're all having fewer problems because of Tina and Calvin. Even the Falcons had trouble with their game plan against United because their Beaters got out-played."**

" **At the risk of dragging this Quidditch chat out for longer than I'll want; wouldn't you rank the Nott brothers at the top of the league? We don't have to like the way they play; but they get results."**

" **Actually, they're a Beater team that I'd rank lower than they are," Al answered seriously. "Their team mates help to soften up their opponents first with all of the dirty tricks and cheap shots; so they only look good because of that – and their own cheating."**

" **I'll agree with you on that one," Gwenog said with a nod. "Since Kirley doesn't want to talk Quidditch, though; what should we discuss instead? Music?"**

" **Let's get Al to tell us about his plans for the week,' Kirley suggested. "We already know about the New Year's Eve party, since Gwendolyn got those tickets for one of her Christmas gifts, and Al won't be doing one of the team teen days or Quidditch practices; so he'll have a lot of extra time to do other things while Gwendolyn's busy."**

" **That won't take long; since I don't have much planned at all," Al advised them with a smile and shrug. "Rose and I have a meeting with Malorie this afternoon while Gwendolyn's busy, and I want to make some time to play with Jaimie and Lorie while we're home; but haven't planned any of that yet – since I will have that free time on Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning. We will need to do our supply shopping sometime this week. Tuesday or Thursday will likely be best for that; but I was just going to do what I'm told for that and let Mum, Gwendolyn, and Lily decide on the when for that."**

" **If you're bored; you could always come over for some music play time in the studio," Kirley offered.**

" **It hasn't been so long since my last mess-up with Gwendolyn that I'd get in trouble again by doing something like that," Al told him seriously. "Thanks, but I'll pass on that sure-fire way of getting her mad at me again."**

" **Good plan," Gwendolyn complimented him as she walked into the room. "Dad, on the other hand, is on his way to being in trouble if he's going to try to get me into the studio through you." She was smiling as she said that; and hugged her father before moving on to hug her mother and share a hug and kiss with Al. "Would you have had that same answer if you hadn't known I was there?"**

" **Definitely," he confirmed. "Considering all of the bad publicity I've had this year; I'm surprised that your Dad is still trying to get me to do any music at all."**

" **That could be a problem – unless he's got some bad boy image in mind for your music career," Gwenog teased; and Al and Gwendolyn both laughed.**

" **Can you seriously picture Al with that image?" Gwendolyn asked in amusement. "I can't."**

" **I don't know about that," Gwenog countered. "Grow his hair out; put him in leather; and... nope, I can't see that either," she decided with a laugh.**

" **I wasn't thinking about giving Al a makeover anyway," Kirley told them. "Bad publicity isn't necessarily a problem; and if everyone heard Al and Gwendolyn sing an album full of their duets; they'd forget all about that drivel that Rita Skeeter is still writing about him."**

" **Is there something new today?" Gwendolyn asked. "I would've thought she'd have nothing to write about us so soon after Christmas."**

" **I haven't been awake long-enough to get around to catching up on the news," Kirley advised her, "but it is Monday; and Rita almost always has at least one bit of weekend update news for her favorite story-of-the-year. I'm sure that her year-in-review column at the end of the week will be fascinating too."**

 **Kirley wasn't foreseeing anything with those comments, but Gwendolyn decided to check on that using her mirror while waiting for their meal to be ready; and there was another hit piece directed at Al again that cited 'reliable sources' and had no basis at all in reality whatsoever. Gwendolyn and Lily talked about that for a while too; and then they all moved on to talk about anything else – including their plans for the rest of the day. For Al and Gwendolyn, their morning meal was just a fun segue that led straight into their study session – partly because their friends began arriving as they finished eating and Kirley offered to deal with the clean-up so they could get right to work on their holiday revision. Lily had to go home for her team workout; Jonah went outside for his practice once his Ravenclaw team mates arrived; and Gwenog went on to the Harpies' practice pitch for her first workout of the week.**

 **Al spent most of the morning tutoring his friends – and Lily and Jonah's when they joined in after their frosty team practices. Jonah had more time for that because his practice ended up being fairly-short; and Lily and the teens that Ginny helped her to get to the McCormacks only had an hour and a half to study before they wrapped up and stopped for lunch. Harry and Ginny were both there for that meal – and to help with the work; Al stayed to help with the clean-up while most of the other teens moved on and Gwendolyn went to her team practice; and then he headed for Chudley with Rose for their meeting with Malorie. Ginny went along to help with babysitting; and Harry and Kirley stayed with Lily and Jonah with plans to have a play afternoon with them while everyone else was busy. Malorie had fed Jaimie and Lorie by the time they got to her flat, so Ginny took over caring for her granddaughters; and Malorie took Al and Rose down to the office for their meeting.**

" **I thought that we could start with a review of where you are with your research so far; see how close we are to being on-track with our plan; and decide whether we want to make any adjustments to that plan for the first-half of the New Year," Rose told Malorie and Al. "We can talk about some of the details too, and Al and I are keeping up with everything you send us, Malorie; but I want to save the big planning for how we'll work out the deal to buy the team until next summer – when we'll have lots of time to deal with that."**

" **While we'll be so bored with nothing to do except, hopefully, get to have a lot of Quidditch World Cup-related fun," Al offered with a grin. He laughed as he thought about that. "I wonder if we could come up with some Quidditch-related Animorphmagus toys? Do the National teams have mascots?"**

 **Rose laughed too. "That's totally unrelated to this; but it's a great idea. Let's talk about that soon; since we'd need to get the rights for something like that as well as making the toys."**

" **Wouldn't you need one-hundred and twenty-eight toys for all of the teams?" Malorie interjected. "That seems like an impossible job to get done – especially when you're in your OWL year."**

" **It wouldn't be easy," Al admitted, "but if we could pull it off; we'd do very well with them – and make a lot of money this summer."**

" **This summer – and every four years," Rose agreed. "We're geting off-track, though; so let's talk about the Cannons. I know you've hit some dead-ends with the financials for the owners because of how they've got things set up, Malorie, but you've learned a lot about how things work between the league and each team; and we can work out some pretty good guesses about how they're likely doing."**

" **That one is easy," Al told her with a grin. "Your Dad is responsible for two-thirds of their ticket sales for the six Cannons fans – everyone knows that."**

 **Rose pretended to frown at him. "Funny, but not true," she said – "and you're not helping, cousin."**

" **He's not, but I did get my hands on a recent report that listed ticket sales so far this season with team totals," Malorie advised them. "It covered the Cannons first ten matches; so we do have the average sales per match. The only thing we don't have is the numbers for pricing because it isn't broken down to that level."**

" **We can work that out with several options," Al suggested. "I'd guess that they have more sales of the cheap seats – along with discount sales that go on in the days leading up to the matches. What's the average ticket sales so far this season – and how does that compare to the top teams?"**

" **Don't be too scared," Malorie warned before answering. "Their average is sixteen-hundred and seventy-three per match. There's a formula for the teams to split ticket sales done at the stadium; and they average another two hundred and nine per match from those sales. That number is so low because the other teams always have far-larger ticket sales. The top three teams average more than twenty-five thousand pre-sold tickets; so they get more than thirty-one hundred of the gate ticket sales."**

" **That is scary," Rose admitted; "but I like the numbers for the top teams – and that's where we want to take our team."**

" **We do," Al agreed; "but that's a huge difference – and explains why the Cannons aren't paying for top players," Al told her seriously. "Are the numbers that bad for mirror network revenue and sales for the various Cannons gear, souvenirs, and toys?"**

" **Yes," Malorie confirmed. "I haven't included the league cut for ticket sales either. They get five percent of that; and five percent of mirror network revenue. They don't get a cut of team gear sales; but get paid from the vendors – and make more money on league-branded souvenirs for things like match programs and league souvenirs. Teams get a bit of that too; but it's a small number compared to everything else."**

" **Okay," Rose said with a nod. "What dollar numbers do we want to put to those ticket sales to get our rough range – and what are we looking at for the other revenue streams?"**

 **Malorie picked up her portable mirror and searched for something she had on it before answering. "We'll have some issues with accuracy, but we could try five and ten galleons for a ticket price range. The top teams are likely higher, since they get many more premium ticket sales for sure; but nobody wants to give me those numbers. As for the mirror network; that's about double the ticket sales – with the same percentage average. The top teams might do a bit more because they get bigger audiences than the teams at the bottom of the league when they're playing against each other; but I can't quantify that either without better cooperation from the teams that they haven't been willing to offer so far. We'll have to guess at the team gear and souvenir sales to some extent. I've gotten hints that top teams get better deals than teams like the Cannons."**

" **We might need to consider buying our own companies to make all of the Cannons gear," Al suggested – "or at least buy everything and distribute to vendors ourselves."**

" **That's something to think about," Rose told him, "but I really don't want to get into that kind of planning today. If we go with Malorie's suggestion for five and ten galleons for our revenue range; we're only talking about a quarter to a half-million galleons per season for the Cannons. Add in double that for mirror network revenue; and we're talking three quarters of a million to one-and-a-half million galleons. That tells me that we'd really need to turn that around fast to cover the kind of expenses we're looking at just to buy the team – before we even start talking about paying for top players and everything else we'd want to do."**

" **True, but it'll make a huge difference on what the team is worth compared to the top teams," Al pointed out. "Malorie thinks the numbers for the top teams is higher – and I agree with her, but even using the same numbers; you're looking at a low-end of ten million and a high of nineteen or twenty million – and that doesn't count the playoffs. The top teams have up to three extra matches a season that are almost always sold out."**

" **And those matches are split forty-five percent per team and ten percent for the league,' Malorie advised them.**

" **Maybe we should buy the league instead," Al joked. "they seem to have a sweet deal – and we could likely run it at half the cost."**

" **Do you want to play Quidditch or be one of those pompous jerks that give the speeches at the opening day matches?" Rose asked him. "I do not want to change the plan that much, and in case you forgot; this is all about getting a championship or twenty for my favorite team – not about making a lot of money."**

" **But you'll be okay with it if we do that too," Al reminded her. "We know that teams like the Harpies do well-enough for their players and owners; so we need to figure out how to get a bad team there without going broke trying. I like this news quite a lot – especially if it means we can buy the team for a tenth of what other teams would be worth. I don't think it'd cost us ten times that to get the Cannons to the top."**

" **I'd hope not," Rose agreed, "but there's more than revenue that goes into the value of a league team. Have you found out much about their assets, Malorie?"**

" **A bit – and that's probably good news for you too. They rent the office – just as you rent this one. I found that out by accident while there one day when their landlord stopped by to deal with a problem they were having. They do own the practice pitch along with the hundred or so acres it sits on; but the owners have apparently made sure that the team assets are tied off from their own, personal assets – or other interests they may have."**

" **That might mean they're using it for a write-off too," Al suggested.**

 **Rose nodded. "Yeah, but it could also be because they have debts riding on it too. That could certainly work in our favor if they do; while a tax haven would be a problem depending on how much that's worth to them." She smiled at Malorie. "I'd say that's something to see if you can dig anything up on for us. The fact that they rent their office gives us a hint or two about their team expenses. Do you have anything else on that?"**

 **Rose's question kept the meeting rolling and into that side of the business for a while; they talked about things she'd learned from the team's office employees and even some of the players over the past few months; and covered a lot of other issues – like team and league issues with the Ministry of Magic. Most teens would have been bored within minutes, but they had fun; worked up Malorie's plan for the first half of the year; and then had some play time with Ginny, Jaimie, and Lorie once the twins woke from their nap and were fed again. Rose moved on first because she was meeting up with Brandon to have dinner and spend the evening at his house; Al went home with his mother in time to cook dinner; and then they shared that meal with his father, sister, and the McCormacks.**

 **That double-family meal choice had been made for convenience; the four teens enjoyed that time with all of their parents; and then they all pitched in for the clean-up before the McCormacks headed home and Harry and Ginny got to have Al and Lily to themselves for the rest of the evening. They had a quiet play night that included some mirror gaming and watching a couple of mirror network shows; and then they headed to bed early to get extra rest while they could.**

 **Tuesday was all about supply shopping – both for the teens and their back-to-school needs and re-stocking the food and supplies at home ahead of the holiday weekend. Harry and Ginny did the latter in the morning with help from Lily while Al stayed home and did some chores while also dealing with a holiday Potions assignment that required ongoing monitoring and daily steps to complete properly. They met up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah in Diagon Alley for lunch and took care of the teen supply shopping needs all afternoon; and then Gwendolyn and Jonah went home with Al and Lily for another sleepover ahead of their last study and Quidditch practice day of the holidays. They brought take-out food home for dinner; had another play night; and then the four teens had another pair of sofa sleepovers after Harry and Ginny went up to bed.**

 **Not all of their friends got their holiday revision finished on Wednesday morning, but most of them did; and Al and Gwendolyn had a lot of fun with Rose and the rest of their friends all morning. Lily and Jonah had their study time quantity reversed from Monday as he arrived late after his team practice; but then he and Lily had another play afternoon with their fathers that Ginny joined them for while Al headed for Chudley in time to have lunch with Malorie and then spend the afternoon babysitting the twins while she went out to do some field work for a few hours – and Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice. He had a blast playing with them all afternoon except for a short nap for the girls; he used bottles for the afternoon feeding before that nap; and surprised Malorie by having her dinner ready for her when she got home from work before heading home for the night.**

 **Their third quiet night at home in a row wasn't exciting, but it was a chance to make more happy memories to take back to Hogwarts with them; and Al and Lily had fun spending those hours with their parents until they headed for bed after watching Lee's nightly show. On Thursday, they did chores around the house to get ready for the New Year's Eve party that Harry and Ginny were hosting for Lily, Jonah, and a bunch of their younger cousins and friends; that kept them busy until lunchtime; and then they got together with Gwendolyn and Jonah for a play afternoon. That fun included some play time with Jaimie and Lorie while Malorie worked; an afternoon break at a cafe for hot drinks and snacks; and a minor blast of shopping fun at their favorite Muggle mall for an hour or so before Gwendolyn and Jonah needed to be home – and took Lily with them so she could go to the Harpies' teen day on Friday morning.**

 **Al would've liked to spend that time with Gwendolyn too, but he had fun getting his parents to himself for the rest of the day too. They went out for dinner at the Leaky; decided to catch an early movie; and then stopped in for a bedtime visit with Malorie and the twins on their way home. Getting to sing Jaimie and Lorie to sleep had been great for Al; they'd had a bedtime snack and drinks with Malorie once the twins were sleeping; and then they'd gone home to bed to get a good night of rest ahead of the late night they were all going to have on New Year's Eve.**

 **While his sister, girlfriend, cousins, and quite a few of his Quidditch-playing friends were busy with teen day for more than a half-dozen of the league teams; Al was happy to spend Friday morning helping out around the house and then having a quiet lunch with his parents. The fun level wasn't very high, but then it kicked up a few notches when they headed over to the McCormacks after lunch to meet up with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah there. He took an overnight bag because he was going to spend the night; while Jonah would be going home with Lily for their New Year's Eve party and major teen sleepover. They arrived first; visited with Kirley for nearly fifteen minutes before Jonah got home; and then it was another ten minutes before Gwendolyn and Lily got back from the Harpies' training pitch.**

" **Good day?" Al asked with a grin after Gwendolyn finished sharing a long, very-enthusiastic hug and kiss with him.**

" **We had a brilliant morning – and our day is going to get better from here," Gwendolyn assured him enthusiastically.**

" **Our team won our scrimmage!" Lily advised everyone. "Rose only gave up two goals; Gwendolyn scored five; and I caught the snitch over Aunt Gabrielle!"**

" **Congratulations," Ginny told them. "Jonah just finished telling us that he battled Erin to a draw this morning in his scrimmage."**

" **Yeah, but my team didn't win. We lost by thirty points. Ryan wasn't happy about that; but I think he played well against Alice, Francine, and Daniella. Aunt Meghan was just better against our Chasers." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "Maybe you and Al should sign up for the Prides' teen day next year just to mess that up for her."**

" **That'd be funny," Gwendolyn admitted; "but it wouldn't be worth getting turned into a bug over; so I'll pass."**

" **Did our team get into trouble for losing that scrimmage?" Al asked Gwendolyn. "That doesn't sound good when they have such a big match to play tomorrow."**

" **Mum joked about making their afternoon workout tougher, but she won't do that; and that win really was all about how great Rose played. Lily played great too; but got a bit of a lucky break too for that catch."**

" **I did," Lily agreed easily – "but it still counts!"**

" **It does," Gwendolyn confirmed with a smile and nod. "As for my battle against Victoire and Vicky; I do have a bit of an advantage because I get to watch them play in all of their matches; and they weren't ready for how much better I've gotten over the past year."**

" **They don't have time before this match; but Victoire will be working on learning some of the tricks you used on them today," Lily predicted. "She sure sounded impressed at lunchtime."**

" **If she makes it onto the National team this summer; maybe Gwenog will have you train with the team while she's busy," Ginny suggested.**

" **We've talked about that sort of thing," Gwendolyn admitted; "but I wouldn't want that to mess up getting to go and see a lot of those World Cup matches – especially if you do decide to do some summer travel and sightseeing around those matches too."**

" **That's something we can't really even work on yet," Ginny told her seriously. "We don't even know the locations for most of the matches – just the country for the championship match. Even when the other locations are picked; we won't know which place our team will play at until the draw is done for the first round – and then we'll have to decide what to do each week after that depending on which teams we end up playing against after that – for as long as we keep winning."**

" **You'll have some time before training camp too," Harry reminded her. "Al's told us that he wants to spend lots of time with the twins too; so we won't be gone for too much of those seven weeks unless Malorie brings the girls and comes for a week or two too."**

" **Your mother could end up being one of the Managers again," Kirley reminded Gwendolyn. "We won't know that until the teams are picked. I can tell you that I'm going to be busy every week with the bands. We still have a lot to work out; but we expect to get gigs every week – and I'm talking about for my band too as well as with the kids." He grinned then; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No, Dad. Don't even go there. Al and I will not be signing up to do any kind of concerts for you!"**

" **I didn't say anything," he protested with faux-innocence.**

" **I was reading your mind," Gwendolyn explained. "The only way I'll be working at any Quidditch World Cup match will be if the National team offers me one of the spots on the team – or maybe on the reserve squad for the team."**

" **That'd be brilliant," Lily interjected enthusiastically; and then smiled at Al. "Too bad nobody will see you play this year; or you might get invited to the team."**

" **Maybe you'll get to support your other brother next summer," Al suggested. "If he's still undefeated with both teams by the time they choose our National team Seeker; they'll have to at least consider him for the job."**

" **I hope to be undefeated then – and I've just beat France's National team Seeker," Lily reminded him. "Maybe they should give me the job!"**

" **Nice try; but that won't happen, Lily," Ginny assured her. "I doubt there's ever been any fourteen-year old players in a Quidditch World Cup match."**

 **Lily sighed. "Okay, but can I take Aunt Gabrielle's job with the Harpies during training camp while she's busy playing for France? I could just meet up with the rest of you every Saturday to watch those World Cup matches."**

 **Al knew she hadn't actually been joking about that, but didn't expect that his sister would be starting her career with the Harpies quite so soon – even if she might be talented-enough to do the job. Their chat moved on from there, though; they traded morning updates; and then Harry and Ginny took Lily and Jonah home with them and left Al and Gwendolyn with Kirley – though he didn't stay long before heading out to do some work with the band ahead of their New Year's Eve gig. Al and Gwendolyn were okay with being left alone for a couple of hours; took advantage of the opportunity for a bit of quality afternoon snogging; and then they eventually split up to start getting ready for the New Year's Eve party they were attending – and that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were once again headlining.**

 **Gwenog was home by then after setting her team free a bit early; she got ready for her night out too; and then she took Al and Gwendolyn to their party while Kirley took his turn to get ready for the Ministry of Magic dinner and party that the Weird Sisters were working – along with two other bands. The young adult and teen party was in London too; but not in the Magick Hall. As was often the case with Wizarding places in the city, the outside of this hall looked like a dump – and like an abandoned, condemned building to Muggles; but Al and Gwendolyn soon found out that it was quite nice inside. It probably wasn't cool, but they were among the first guests to arrive, and since the doors were open and there were other teens to hang out with; they didn't have a problem with being among the first guests in the hall – especially since that did include all of Gwendolyn's Weird Sisters' cousins that were either working the party or there for the party too.**

 **Since the hall was still mostly-empty, they attracted a lot of attention; but Gwendolyn made sure that Al had fun as she led him on a tour of the place and chatted up a lot of the other teens. They had about an hour to socialize before dinner; they eventually met up with Rose, Brandon, Susannah, Seth, and the rest of their friends; and they were all together at two tables when it was time to sit down for their last meal of the year. That was entirely because their parents had gotten their tickets in one big block; and had done that to be sure they'd be able to spend most of the night with their friends. Al ended up with Rose and Brandon next to him; and Susannah and Seth were next to Gwendolyn – and across from Rose and Brandon. Ray and Cyndia rounded out their table of eight; and the rest of 'their' group was at the second table – and behind Ray and Cyndia.**

" **Do you think they'll have different food for us compared to the over-age section?" Ray asked as he eyed the carts of food that were being wheeled out from the kitchen.**

" **What do you expect?" Brandon asked. "Steaks for them and hot dogs or hamburgers and fries for us?"**

" **With glasses of milk?" Seth added. "As far as I know, the tickets were the same price. The split is just because they're allowed access to the bar."**

" **It isn't tough to get around that," Brandon told them – "or at least that's what I've heard."**

" **Your grin suggests you may have done more than heard about that," Rose suggested; and Brandon shrugged.**

" **Maybe, but I am over seventeen now anyway; so I may go over there for a drink or two later – if you don't mind."**

" **We can hang out along that railing when you do that," Ray suggested – "and I'm sure we'd never have an issue with getting our drinks mixed up."**

" **Just be really careful with that sort of thing," Rose warned. "We wouldn't want to get kicked out of here tonight – and we do have the trouble magnet with us."**

" **No problem – we'll just have Al go somewhere else for a while to draw trouble away from us while we're having fun," Ray suggested. "He's likely sworn off of drinking anyway."**

" **I haven't," Al told him seriously; "but I can do that – and don't plan on doing any of that sort of partying tonight."**

" **Neither do I," Susannah assured him with a smile. "Mum would not be happy with me if I ended up on the front page of any newspaper or magazine for the wrong reason, and in case you haven't noticed, guys; there are quite a few reporters and cameras around this hall already."**

" **Al and Gwendolyn are more-likely to make front pages or covers," Cyndia suggested. "Speaking of publicity; should I even mention Rita's column from the Prophet today?"**

" **You just did," Gwendolyn pointed out. "What did you want to talk about from it? The rotten things she wrote about Al in her year-in-review; or the horrid things she's predicted for him in the New Year?"**

" **She didn't actually make any predictions," Al pointed out quietly. "The next year will only be horrid if I get what's coming to me."**

" **Everything she writes about you is ridiculous," Susannah told him. "You're rotten whether she's writing about you being seen with Malorie and the twins or for supposedly leaving them to fend for themselves while you're at Hogwarts. She thinks that you should be forced to care for them and take responsibility; yet hopes you'll be expelled and have your wand broken so you'd have no way of doing that in the Wizarding World."**

" **And let's not forget that all of her drivel is based on a lie," Gwendolyn reminded their friends. "We're supposed to be partying tonight, though; so let's drop that whole load of rubbish and get back to having fun!"**

 **Al was happy to go along with that suggestion – and hoped that they could do that at a party that was already starting to strain him thanks to all of the teen and young-adult emotional and mental drama that had him on sensory overload. Sure, most of the party-goers were happy – or thought that they were; but happy didn't always come from a good, happy place; and Al sensed all of the drama going on around him along with the pockets of love and happiness. The party was a true test of his own efforts to be happy regardless of what was going on around him, though; and Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends did all they could to help him have a good night.**

" **Do you wish that you were at the party that Al and Gwendolyn are at tonight yet?" Jonah teased as he handed Lily some paper towels and she cleaned up the small mess that Lorie had just made for her while they were trying to have dinner.**

" **Yes, and the funny thing is that Al would rather be here – even if he'd known ahead of time that he'd end up wearing some of Lorie's dinner."**

" **He'd have likely sensed the danger and avoided it," Ginny offered with a smile; "but you're right about that. That's why Gwendolyn got those tickets – so he'd have no choice but to go along with her. Al needs to get out there and learn to have fun at parties like that – even if it can be hard on him too."**

" **He does," Lily agreed, "but I'd have been okay if he'd been here for this little mess – even though that'd also mean letting him get away with extra-long turns playing and cuddling with Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **That's a fair trade-off for the extra diaper changes and clean-ups," Ginny assured her. "While you're finishing up with that, though; maybe we could get your cousins and friends to tell us all about their teen day fun with some of the other teams. You and Jonah have told us all about the Harpies and Prides. How many other teams had one or more of the rest of you?"**

 **Ginny's question turned their dinnertime chat to Quidditch for a while; they heard all about the teen day fun for three more of the league teams; and then the conversation rolled along and included talking about everything from the Christmas holiday fun they'd each been having to New Year plans for the teens when they headed back to Hogwarts. Harry, Ginny, and Malorie enjoyed listening while the teens had fun and they all enjoyed the meal; but then they were ready for a break from the noise level for a while once they'd finished eating and Lily led all of her guests into the sitting room while the adults took care of the clean-up and Jaimie and Lorie went along with Lily too so that they could help out with the entertainment.**

" **Maybe you should've gone out tonight too," Ginny told Malorie as they worked in the kitchen. "We would have been happy to babysit the girls."**

" **I want to be with them for their first New Year," Malorie said with a shrug. "Isn't that why you didn't go out tonight too – and invited us to come over?"**

" **Having you here is a bonus," Ginny answered. "This is mostly because it's likely the last New Year's Eve we'll get to have with Lily for a while. I doubt we'll be able to keep her from going to that teen party next year; and then Merlin only knows how long it will be before she won't need to be too cool to hang out with us at parties like this again."**

" **You're not hanging out with your parents tonight," Malorie teased; and Ginny and Harry both laughed.**

" **True, but then they're at the Ministry party tonight; so maybe they're too cool to hang out with us," Ginny suggested.**

" **They are amazing," Malorie agreed. "It's funny that I'm still getting used to how different it is in the Wizarding World for seniors compared to Muggles because of your parents – even though some of my Professors at Hogwarts were much older than they are."**

" **We hope that's going to be even more-different for your generation," Harry told her. "Aunt Muriel and Professor Slughorn are exceptions for their generation because of wars and other problems; but we can hope that'll change now – and we all have the potential for a very long life."**

" **Which might be fun if we can all retire at forty like you guys have done; and then stay young-looking for another century or so," Malorie offered. "I don't know if I'd like to be old and ill for decades."**

" **I wouldn't want that either," Harry told her seriously. "We're not retired, by the way – we just haven't decided for sure what we're going to do next. Taking the time off now is working out great, though; and I'd be okay with having this much extra time to spend with our kids and grandkids."**

" **Speaking of kids – how are you guys going to handle the matches tomorrow? Split up and go to one of the matches each?"**

" **We're going to James' match. Al and Lily will be at the Harpies' match," Ginny answered. "It would've been nice to spend that time with them; but they'll want to be with Gwendolyn and Jonah – and at the Harpies' match."**

" **I'd like to be there too, but it's going to be cold out tomorrow; so I'm okay with staying home and watching the match there with Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **We might wish to be home and warm by the end of the day tomorrow too," Ginny suggested. "I hope that James will have a good day, but if his team doesn't show up to play against the Magpies; he won't be able to keep winning every match before the other team gets the one-sixty lead."**

" **I understand why the other players are mad," Malorie said; "but I don't get why they're acting the way they are; since they'll just mess things up for themselves. I've visited all of the other teams while doing my research, and after the way they've handled things with James; I doubt that any of those guys will get offered jobs with other teams if they do get sacked by the Catapults at the end of the season – and pretty much everyone with those other teams think that they will be fired."**

" **That is a mistake," Ginny agreed, "but the Catapults haven't handled things well with their players either – except, for the most part, with James."**

" **He has nothing but good things to say about them in his interviews," Malorie pointed out.**

" **Their mistakes with James have everything to do with the partying and other vices they're introducing him to in the world of the wealthy and powerful," Ginny explained. "If he goes too-far down that road; he'll have a very short Quidditch career – no matter how good he is."**

" **He's told me all along that he wants that lifestyle," Malorie said; "so I still hope he does get everything he wants – and manages to get past all of the bad stuff without hurting himself too much."**

" **We want that for him too," Ginny assured her. "It's too bad he'll never understand how lucky he was to have you for a friend."**

" **We'll appreciate Malorie enough to make up for that," Harry promised with a warm smile. "She's likely had enough of Quidditch talk, though; so let's talk about how much grandparent babysitting services she'll need next week. I am going to be missing the kids a lot; so some bonus time with Jaimie and Lorie would help a lot with that."**

 **The meals were not exactly the same for everyone, but the teens were not given 'kiddie' meals – they all just had three entree choices that were ordered when the first course was delivered. Al enjoyed the food, but it was the dinner conversation and time with his friends that was the best part of that hour and a half of dining fun. The desserts were delivered a bit late, so the break between dinner and the start of the dance ended up being just a bit more than a half-hour; and that barely gave them time to get through the line-ups for washroom breaks and back into the main hall by the time the Graves Robbers took to the stage.**

 **Gwendolyn had Al out on the dance floor right from the start; they stayed out there for the first hour; and then took a short break that only lasted until they found out that Wendy and Wanda Wintringham were performing – and doing so for the first time as the music duo – the Weird Witches. They only performed a half-dozen songs, but Al thought they did great – and they were a hit with the teens. The older guests danced to the three ballads; but most of them skipped the fluffy-pop dance tunes that would likely play better to tweens and teens anyway. The Weird Kids on the Block took to the stage at eleven o'clock – when the mirror network channel covering their party went 'live' heading into the final hour of the year.**

 **Al sensed the trouble before the band played the first note of their first song; and knew there was no way out for him when they did start playing; and Gwendolyn grinned at him expectantly.**

" **I predict that the front-page headline for the prophet will have something to do with Al being an Animorph-party-animal," Lily declared as they watched the mirror in the sitting room as the camera followed Al as he flew around the hall in Falcon form. "Would anyone like to take that bet?"**

" **Not a chance," Hugo answered before anyone else could jump in. "It's hilarious and fun when he does that; but Al's going to hate getting that attention."**

" **He doesn't have to do it," Frederica interjected; and Hugo laughed.**

" **Do you really think he had a true choice? Gwendolyn loves it when he does that; and he'd have looked like a jerk if he'd refused after the band called him out and put him in the spotlight like that."**

" **I'll take the blame for this one," Ginny told them. "Lily's right; and I should've thought about that before making sure he had no choice but to go to that party. Rita will have her kind of warped fun with it too."**

" **No doubt," Lily agreed. She wasn't the only one laughing when Al landed; changed into the baby elephant that was called out in the next verse; and then proceeded to use his trunk to spin Gwendolyn and 'dance' with her. "The good news is that everyone watching this will hopefully have so much fun with his Animorphmagus act that they'll ignore anything that's written or said about it tomorrow."**

" **That'd be nice," Ginny said; but shook her head. "Unfortunately; everyone that wants to hate your brother will just claim that he was showing off to be the center of attention again – and happily believe whatever rotten things are said about him."**

" **Thanks for not stepping on my feet with that last dance," Gwendolyn teased when Al returned to her side after the end of the Animorphmagus song. "That would've really, really hurt!"**

 **Al smiled ruefully and shrugged. "You're welcome – and I'm glad you had fun with that."**

" **Didn't you?" Gwendolyn asked; and he shrugged again.**

" **I have fun in my animal forms," he hedged; and Gwendolyn frowned.**

" **Is there something wrong?" she demanded.**

" **Not yet," he answered. "That little bit of attention is going to cost me, but let's not worry about that now; and get back to having fun for the rest of the night."**

" **You think that you're going to have more trouble from that," Gwendolyn declared. "Why? Everyone here loved that little blast of Animorphmagus fun."**

" **Not everyone here – and certainly not everyone watching on the mirror network," Al assured her. "Don't worry about it. I'll survive another round of insults and jokes; and can hope that it won't last for more than a few days once we're back at Hogwarts."**

" **I'm going to hope you're wrong about that this time," Gwendolyn decided. "That might be delusional; but I'll start feeling guilty for dragging you here if I don't do that."**

 **Al laughed. "That sounds like a plan to me. Shall we dance?"**

 **Rita Skeeter got the news flash from one of her 'reliable sources' at Hogwarts while at the Ministry party; caught enough of the Animorphmagus song show by the Animorphloser to get all she'd need for a great New Year's Day column; and then headed for that party to find out what else she could find out about the loser's party animal nature. She was annoyed to find out that the party was sold out; she couldn't get a ticket; and her press credentials didn't matter to the Wizards on the doors because she hadn't set that up ahead of time with the rest of the reporters covering the party already. That didn't stop her; she used her own Animagus talents; and hitched a ride into the hall and party on the next person heading in – getting a ride on the Witch's handbag. She had to jump to four other kids before finally getting some luck and dropping to the floor next to the table she found the loser and his potty-trainer sitting at with two of their friends. She scurried under it; took her time climbing it and then waiting for a chance to climb on top without being noticed; and then she quickly hid in the centerpiece flower arrangement.**

" **Are we resting up for the big hug and kiss at midnight?" Cyndia teased as she and Ray joined Al, Gwendolyn, Susannah, and Seth at their table. "I suppose all of those animal changes tired Al out; but the rest of us should be ready to party all night."**

" **We have had a long day already," Gwendolyn reminded her. "I'm glad that we didn't have to go home when Mum left the Ministry party in time for her game day curfew; but I'm just as glad that Al and I will get to call his Dad for help getting home instead of waiting until my Dad is done with the band – or have one of my Weird Sisters' cousins help us after they're done tonight."**

" **Just don't call Uncle Harry at five-after-twelve," Rose told her as she and Brandon joined them – and he had a tray of drinks to pass around to everyone.**

" **Good timing," he told Ray and Cyndia. "We took a gues that you'd join us. Where'd you learn to dance, Ray? I've seen Ollie at a few dances now; and you definitely didn't learn from the same teacher."**

 **Ray shrugged. "From Mum to star; a lesson or three from some friends a few years ago; and I've learned more from Cyndia since we started going out." He grinned at Al. "I'd have thought you'd be more-impressed with the dancing elephant in the room."**

" **I was," Brandon assured him after joining in for the round of laughs – "though for some reason; that reminded me of the dancing pineapple lessons."**

" **That's funny," Cyndia told him, "but I thought that it was funny that I've only seen Al do any fancy dancing while in animal form. He must be able to do stuff like that in human form too – or am I wrong about that, Al?"**

" **Al?" Gwendolyn asked when he didn't answer; and then waved a hand in front of his face. "Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?"**

" **No," he answered quietly; but didn't look away from the centerpiece flower arrangement; reached into his pocket; and drew out two seashells that he was able to pick by touch alone. Using the first with precise control; he hit the object of his intense interest with a freezing charm; and then levitated the ladybug out of the flowers and onto the table directly in front of him. "Hello, Ms. Skeeter," he said quietly; and smiled as he sensed the reaction from Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends.**

" **That's Rita?" Gwendolyn demanded.**

" **Look at the markings," Rose told her. "I recognize them from the stories – and those old pictures from back when she confessed to being an unregistered Animagus." She smiled at Al. "Do you speak bug? Why is she here?"**

" **I don't; but can sense the why of it," Al answered. "She saw part of the Animorphmagus song on the mirror network; and is looking for more information to add to the party animal story she's going to write about me."**

" **Well, that must bug you," Brandon joked. "What'd you do to her to keep her from moving? Can you use a full body bind on something that small? I've never tried."**

" **I used a freezing charm," Al answered. "Tying her up in tiny little ropes might have been funny; but that might not end well for her if she tried changing back and the ropes didn't break."**

" **That's a splinching kind of mental picture," Brandon decided. "What are you going to do with her?"**

" **He's just going to let her go," Gwendolyn answered before Al could; and then she sighed. "I know – it's the way you are; but she doesn't deserve the kindness and will probably just be all the more-horrid toward you with her next columns."**

" **Probably," Al agreed; "but at least she'll have to make it all up instead of twisting anything she might overhear us say into something it wasn't." He smiled ruefully while releasing the Rita-bug from the freezing charm. "Before you go, Ms. Skeeter, you should know that I can sense the people around me. There are a lot of people here, so it took me a couple of minutes to locate you when I sensed too many 'people' at this table, but now that I know you still use your Animorphmagus form to spy on people; please don't try it around me again." He held up his levitation seashell between them. "It's a long way to the exits for someone your size, and I doubt you want to change forms right here where too many people would see; so I'm going to give you a lift. Have a Happy New Year, Ms. Skeeter. I hope that yours will be a lot better than the one you just so publicly told your readers that I supposedly deserve."**

 **With that, he activated his seashell; sent Rita on her way high above the heads of the Witches and Wizards in the hall; and made sure that she got safely to an open spot near the main entrance before letting her go. Everyone else at the table had watched Rita leave for as long as they could still see her; and were all looking at him when he returned his attention to them from Rita – though he still kept a mental eye on her and waited to see what she decided to do next.**

" **Trouble magnet," Ray told him with a grin. "You should've dropped her on-stage and had Brandon force her to reverse the Animagus change."**

" **I've learned that spell, but we don't actually get to try using it on an Animagus," Brandon advised him. "I have no idea whether I could do it or not – though it'd be funny if Rita just suddenly showed up on-stage like that."**

" **They come up with ideas like that; yet I'm the trouble magnet," Al joked.**

" **They are here at the same table with you," Susannah teased. "Can you tell what Rita's doing now? Is she leaving the party?"**

" **Not yet," Al answered. "She's trying to come up with a plan 'B' while also thinking some very bad things about me."**

" **That isn't a surprise," Rose told him. "Should we just get back to the partying; or do we need to tell Al what the rest of us would've done had we caught Rita spying on us before we do that?"**

 **Rita was furious! For only the second time in her life, she'd been caught while in her Animagus form – and the flashbacks to what had followed after her first capture had momentarily terrified her. The humiliation of it was infuriating; the fear was worse; and then the Animorphpotty had topped all of that off by simply letting her go as if she was nothing more than her animal form!**

 **Well, she would show him!**

 **The Animorphparty Animal headline she'd already envisioned was sure to be on the front page of the Daily Prophet in the morning, and if she couldn't get anything good to use in her column straight from the loser's own mouth; her confidential, inside sources would give her what she needed – or she'd just ad-lib and claim that they did. As she thought about that, she was suddenly sure that she smelled fire whiskey on his breath and he looked drunk. In fact, he'd been so far gone by the end of the night that he'd been kicked out of the party and his father was called to take him home – by the Aurors; since they'd been called to arrest the trouble-maker!**

 **Sure, they'd cover the whole thing up – and likely claim they didn't get the call at all to protect their former boss, but then their current boss' daughter had been partying with the loser too; so they had to keep her out of the headlines. Too bad for them that the World's greatest investigative reporter was there to shine her light of truth once again; and expose yet another attempted cover-up within the Aurors and the Ministry of Magic!**

 **She was having so much fun with that that she didn't see the hand coming down on top of her until it was too late – and then the lights went out!**

 **Al's head whipped around when he sensed the danger, but he was too far away; couldn't stop what happened to Rita; and earned a lot of attention as he stopped dancing with Gwendolyn; turned around; and ran toward the main entrance – pushing his way off the dance floor at first; and then just leaping into the air and changing forms so he could fly across the room. That earned him even more attention, but then he shocked the Wizard that he knocked out of the way when he changed back – but not before the man had swept the bug to the floor and stomped on it twice to make sure it was dead.**

" **What's the big deal?" he demanded; and grabbed Al roughly – hauling him up because Al had stooped to scoop up Rita's broken, near-lifeless body. Al's eyes were blazing brilliantly as he turned and unceremoniously knocked the bigger man away from him again.**

" **Back off!" he warned. "I'll cut you some slack because you have no idea what you just did; but I don't have time to explain; so just shut-up, watch, and learn!" With that said; he drew his wand; cleared the nearest dining table; and then kept Rita alive while forcing her into the Animagus change back to her human form.**

" **Merlin!" the Wizard who had crushed the ladybug exclaimed. "That's Rita Skeeter!"**

" **It is," Al confirmed while starting to work on saving her life. "Now, since you're the one who stomped her to bits; do you think that you could call for a Healer or two to help me out with keeping her alive, please?"**

" **What's going on at that party?" Jonah exclaimed. "They're not doing the Animorphmagus song again; yet that's gotta be Al flying across the room!"**

" **He's a bit early for midnight, but maybe he's trying to make the start of the New Year memorable for Gwendolyn," Lily suggested with a grin. That turned into a frown when they all watched Al change back into his human form; crash into a Wizard; and then stoop over and out of sight of the camera for a moment. They could see the Wizard he'd hit grab him and haul him to his feet; watched Al shove him away again; and then they watched in fascination as he drew his wand; cleared a nearby table; and then proceeded to make Rita Skeeter appear out of thin air. "Merlin!" she exclaimed.**

" **You'd better get over there," Ginny told Harry. "I'll call Teddy and get him to join you there."**

" **On my way," Harry agreed; and then he went to grab his cloak and boots before apparating to London.**

 **Ginny called Teddy; and had to wait for him to answer – and then get somewhere off of the dance floor at the Magick Hall so he could hear her – with all of them watching the ongoing drama at the other party while she waited for him.**

" **What's going on here?" one of the Witches that had been doing little cameo interviews demanded as she finally reached the scene of the unexpected drama.**

" **I squashed her!" the Wizard that Al had twice knocked out of the way advised her; still sounding shocked and horrified. "I didn't know – it was just a bug – she was just a bug. I smacked it – her – off the table; and then stomped on it a couple of times to make sure it was dead." His eyes went wide and round at that admission. "I didn't know! How could I have known?"**

" **Okay, I should be able to hear you now," Teddy said; and Ginny turned her attention to him.**

" **There's a problem at the teen party," she advised him. "We're watching it on the mirror network; and Harry's already on his way, but from what we've just heard, Rita Skeeter was there in her Animagus form; got crushed by a Wizard who thought he was just killing a bug; Al jumped in, forced her to change back, and is now likely trying to save her life. You should grab an Auror or two – and maybe a Healer or two too; and get over there!"**

" **I'm on it," Teddy promised.**

" **The party's sold out," the bigger, tougher-looking of the two Wizards working main-doors security at the party advised Harry – "and you're obviously not just out here for a little break from the fun."**

" **Apparently, you haven't heard that you've got a bit of a problem in there," Harry told them. "I was watching the party at home, though, and thought that you – and my son – could use the help." He already had his wand out; opened the doors while forcing the two security guards out of the way; and then he continued on into the hall while adding – "now if you'll excuse me; I'll get to doing that. Be so kind as to send the Aurors along when they get here in a minute or two."**

 **Since Al was at one of the tables nearest those doors, Harry didn't have far to go – it only took time to get there because he had to get through the dense crowd that was now surrounding his son and Rita Skeeter. Being famous did have some advantages, though, and when the Witches and Wizards around him recognized him; they moved out of his way and let him get through to his son.**

" **What's wrong with her?" he asked Al once he was at his side.**

" **Everything," Al answered. "I'm keeping her alive and doing what I can; but it's really bad." He hadn't looked away from what he was doing; and kept at it. "I could really use some expert help – and a bit more room to work. Could you help me out with that? I don't know if anyone's actually tried to go and get a Healer from St. Mungo's yet."**

" **You worry about keeping her alive; I'll deal with the rest," Harry assured him – and then proceeded to do that.**

 **The noise level at the Potter family and friends party had dropped to near-silence as the drama on the mirror network played out and they watched the scene that now revolved around Harry, Al, and Rita Skeeter.**

" **Mr. Potter – did we just hear your son correctly and he's trying to keep Rita Skeeter alive?"**

" **Yes," Harry admitted; "and he'd appreciate it if you'd all move back a bit and give him some space so that he can do that." He'd made a sweeping glance to include everyone closest to him; and then returned his attention to the Witch-reporter. "Why don't you move around to the other side of the table to be out of his way while still covering your story?" he suggested. "Aurors are on the way – and, hopefully, someone's called for a Healer already too."**

" **I did!" he heard from five different sources; and he nodded.**

" **Good – and thank-you," he called out. "We'll need the area between here and the doors cleared too; so please help us out with that as well."**

" **This is going to be a morbid question, but what do you think happened to Rita's human body if she really did get squashed by that Wizard?" Frederica asked.**

" **Our expert on that subject is a bit busy right now; so we may need to wait to find out," Lily suggested.**

" **Parts that are the same function would likely change back with whatever injuries she got from being squashed," Ginny advised them. "There's likely no way to know what damage might be caused from other parts of the animal that don't correspond to the human anatomy."**

" **There's Teddy," Hugo said; though most of them had already seen him by then because the camera had moved to follow the arrival of Teddy and the two Healers he'd popped over to St. Mungo's to get. The Healers hurried to Al's side; Teddy joined Harry; and then the camera and reporter focused on what was happening with Rita again; so they couldn't see what else was going on around them.**

" **Let's just try to listen in to what's happening," the Witch-reporter said in a whisper; and then the mirror network channel tried to amp up the volume – though that made all of the other noises in the hall much louder too.**

" **Please tell us what happened; and anything else you can tell us about the patient," the more-senior of the two Healers ordered of Al.**

" **Ms. Skeeter was in Animagus form – a ladybug; one of the Wizards behind us hit her and then stomped on her a couple of times; and after getting over here and forcing her to change back; I've been trying to keep her alive since then. Most of the bones in her body are broken; all of her internal organs have ruptures of varying severity; and when her shell was crushed; it caused a lot of nasty, deep cuts to her back from her neck to the upper-half of the backs of her legs. There are three skull fractures and some brain trauma; a broken nose and jaw; and damage to both eyes and one popped eardrum."**

" **How could you possibly know all of that?" the younger Healer demanded.**

" **This is Albus Potter," the older Wizard advised his younger colleague. "Have you not heard the stories about him? We obviously can't move her; so let's get more help brought here." He didn't ask for that to be done, but used his own mirror and then asked for specific Healers. "Okay, Al – what do you want us to help with first?"**

" **The primary internal organs," Al answered without hesitation. "Let me know which ones you can each take over as we go along – and watch for bone fragments. I'm trying to repair the heart; but could use some advice when you can help me with that too."**

" **Happy New Year," Rose said quietly; and hugged Brandon. There hadn't been a big countdown because the party had come to a stop; but she had kept an eye on the time even as they watched her portable mirror to catch all of the action going on around Al – just as many of the teens were doing around them.**

" **Happy New Year," Brandon answered; and then he shared a long, soft, lingering kiss with her. "It may be for all the wrong reasons; but we will remember this first New Year's Eve together for a very long time."**

" **No doubt," she agreed. "Happy New Year," she added – offering that to Ray, Cyndia, Susannah, and Seth. Gwendolyn had gone to try and get to Al; but they'd decided to return to their table instead of making the crowd problem around him even worse.**

" **To you as well," Susannah told her; and then smiled wanly at Seth. "Happy New Year," she told him; and then they shared a kiss too. Theirs was shorter; and then she returned her attention to the other four teens at the table with her. "From what we're seeing, this party is over. Do you think that we should just get out of here? We can split up if you'd like; or I'm sure that Mum and Dad wouldn't mind if you all came home with me – at least until we find out how things work out for Rita."**

" **Rose and I are supposed to head to our own homes after the party," Brandon advised her; "so I'd pick option two - as long as Seth and Rose want to do that too. I wouldn't want to start out the New Year by getting into trouble with either of them by going home with you by ourselves."**

" **Cyndia's staying at my house tonight; so I'll vote for just going home with her," Ray advised them. "We can get out of here, though; since it'd be way more comfortable to watch this show from our sitting rooms. Should we try to get to Gwendolyn to say goodbye?"**

" **I'll message her," Rose told him – "and I'll pick spending more time with Brandon instead of going home too – as long as Mum approves it and let's me do that."**

 **She and Susannah soon found out that their mothers had both been drawn into the drama at their own party; they ended up getting an escort to Susannah's home; and Ray and Cyndia got help from his parents too. Rose only exchanged one message with Gwendolyn; didn't learn anything new from her; and was sure that her friend wouldn't be leaving until Al did – and he very well might end up leaving and going on to St. Mungo's whenever they'd be able to safely move Rita to the hospital.**

 **Al didn't think about anything but the job at hand – not the time; the non-stop activity going on around him; or anything else that he continued to sense from everyone in the hall. He did still take it all in; but couldn't spare the effort to do more than focus his magic and healing on Rita. Most Witches and Wizards would find her injuries appalling – and they were that for sure. He'd dealt with some awful injuries before; but this was the worst for sure – even worse than what he'd seen with Stephanie or Ollie. That didn't keep him from being fascinated too – both with what had happened to her and everything he was learning as he worked with the team of Healers.**

 **That wasn't always good, since he learned a few things that he wished he hadn't – treatments that Healers apparently still used that should have been left behind in the middle ages. The Healers also seemed reluctant to try anything new; and he sometimes just needed to do what he thought was right; and work around the sometimes-clumsy attempts to help him. After getting Rita's heart as repaired as possible except for the time she'd need to fully-recover; Al moved on from injury-to-injury; healing what he could; doing more when the Healers could help with their advice and expertise; and leaving other problems to them when he had no idea what to do. Once the most-serious internal injuries were either dealt with or were being worked on by others; Al's next major job was the spinal cord and back-side of the ribs injuries. He had help with that too, but he worked faster than the Healers; and it still took a very long time to heal the hundreds of little breaks and fractures.**

" **Okay, we have that stabilized," Al advised the senior Healer who had been working with him most-often since the beginning. "What do you want to do next?"**

" **Let's reassess and see if she's stable-enough to move to St. Mungo's," the Wizard answered. He followed along as Al did that; and then nodded before Al offered his opinion. "Yes, the move would be awful for her if she was awake, but she isn't; and we can move her without causing any additional injuries." He smiled grimly at Al. "In case you haven't noticed; we've been at this for more than four hours. It's time to put fresh Healers on the job – even if you're not as exhausted as we are."**

" **Yes, sir," Al agreed; and he had needed to refocus his attention to catch up with the real world around him.**

 **The hall was far from empty, but at least two-thirds of the Witches and Wizards at the party had left; the crowd around the table included more Aurors and other Ministry officials than gawkers; and they all looked tired out and ready to go home – or at least get out of the hall.**

" **You should come along; help out with checking her over again once we have her in a bed at the hospital; and then help us to let the next group of Healers know about everything we've done and advise them of everything that's still left to be done and then monitored as Ms. Skeeter continues her recovery."**

" **I can do that," Al agreed. "Let me just check in with Dad and my girlfriend – and he can take us to St. Mungo's."**

 **Al took another quick, internal look at Rita; and then went over to the table that his father and Gwendolyn were sitting at along with Teddy, Susan, and two Wizards that he didn't know – and then sensed were a manager and editor from the Daily Prophet. Gwendolyn stood when she saw him approach; and welcomed him with a warm hug and just a soft, short kiss.**

" **We'll talk later about another messed up New Year's Eve," she whispered. "How are you – and how is Rita?" she asked in a normal voice that the others around the table could hear too.**

" **She's stable; and the Healers want to move her to St. Mungo's so that they can get another team of Healers to take over her treatment; and I'm still doing okay – for now." He turned his attention to his father. "They'd like me to go along and help out with that transition to the new team – mostly to tell them about everything I did so that they'll know what to keep an eye on as Ms. Skeeter recovers."**

" **If she's stable now; then I want you to stay far away from her until we get to the bottom of what happened here tonight," one of the Wizards – the editor – from the Prophet declared; standing up and glaring at Al. "I'd say it's rather suspicious, all things considered, that you just happened to be here to save the day yet again; and let me take a wild guess – we'll all have to take your word about how seriously she was injured. Did you do that to her yourself; or force that patsy claiming responsibility to do the dirty work for you? At least the entire world got to see you illegally use magic while under-age; and I'd say that's enough to at least get you expelled and your wand broken!" He smirked darkly at Al; and seemed pleased that his every word was captured by the same reporter and her cameraman.**

" **I don't really have time to defend myself when you won't believe me anyway," Al told him, but since editors are supposed to help their journalists to report the truth to the best of their ability; I'll leave you with this before I go – since you're sure I'm already in trouble for the audacity of using magic to save your top investigative journalist!"**

 **The man looked frightened when Al raised his wand; but then he – and everyone else in the room – went blank as Al force-fed all of them every memory he had of his personal interaction with Rita – everything. He put an arm around Gwendolyn and walked away without another word before most of the Wizards and Witches around him began to recover from the memory overload, but he helped Gwendolyn; and his father was right there with them as they left the hall. that feat of magic delayed the Healers as they got Rita ready to go, but Al didn't wait for them either; and Harry apparated them to St. Mungo's so they were there several minutes before Rita arrived with the Healers and two Aurors.**

 **He checked Rita's condition; they went along to the room she was put in; he helped with a couple of problems that had come up because of the move; and then he spent an hour with a small gang of Healers as Rita was passed off from the responding team to the Healers that had been brought in early for the day shift to take over her care. Harry and Gwendolyn only stayed with him for part of the time; they went to have a snack and drinks break; and then they met up with him in the nearest waiting room when he was done and finally set free by the Healers.**

" **Do we have time to go home for a nap; or should we just get ready for the day and move on to Diagon Alley for the sweets and treats supply shopping?" he asked; smiling tiredly as Gwendolyn met him half-way for a hug and kiss.**

" **We'll figure that out once we get you home," Harry told him.**

" **Especially since you might want to hide out until Sunday now anyway," Gwendolyn advised him. "You've obviously turned the trouble-magnet power up a dozen notches; since the fallout from last night is causing quite a storm this morning."**

" **If I'll be allowed back to Hogwarts," Al only half-joked; and Gwendolyn laughed and hugged him again.**

" **That is not going to be one of your troubles," she assured him. "We have people waiting to see us, though; so let's get out of here."**

" **They're on the way home now," Ginny advised the small group of teens that were in the kitchen with her. "Keep an eye on the mirror; since they still need to run the gauntlet of reporters and gawkers in the hospital lobby; and that's sure to be a bit of a show."**

" **No doubt," Lily agreed. "Now that we know Rita Skeeter is going to be okay, though; I think it's time to talk to you about never letting Al go out to parties like that one ever again. He's obviously too much of a trouble magnet to be allowed to do things like that – possibly ever."**

" **He'd agree with you – and want that," Jonah told her seriously. "It isn't fair for him, though; and I'd rather see all of the people responsible for those troubles stopped from messing with him instead." He nodded toward the mirror they were all watching. "At least he's been getting more good than bad since giving everyone at that hall his memories like that and then going on to the hospital. Even that jerk from the Prophet shut up after that."**

" **It didn't keep them from running with that Animorphparty Animal headline," Lily reminded him; looking angry now. "We'll see what happens with those special reports they've promised once they've gotten all of the details from the unprovoked attack on Rita."**

" **There they are," Ginny said with a wave of her hand; and they all quieted to listen in as reporters started firing questions at Al.**

 **Al stopped when he had nowhere else to go anyway with the crowd in the way between him and the exit. Questions were being fired at him from all sides; and he held up his hands as if in surrender while Harry and Gwendolyn flanked him protectively.**

" **I understand that you have a lot of questions for me," he said tiredly, "but it's been a really long night, and I just want to go home; so let's save some time and I'll just do the same thing I did earlier – and let you decide for yourselves what to think about what happened tonight."**

 **The noise level had dropped when he began to speak; the place went silent as he didn't wait and simply hit everyone with a repeat blast of his Rita-related memories; and then he walked away with is father and Gwendolyn while all of the other Wizards and Witches in the room were left blankly standing there and internally watching those memories play out.**

" **You changed the speed of that?" Harry asked quietly; and Al shrugged.**

" **Yes. It seemed easier than trying to push our way through that crowd if they all came back around too quickly."**

" **They'll think that we just disappeared," Harry pointed out; and Al grinned at him.**

" **Then let's make sure that we have," he suggested. "I really do just want to get home and be done with this for a while."**

" **Do you have any idea what time it is, young man?" Lily told Al with perfect imitation of their mother. "You were supposed to be home by one o'clock! Where, in Merlin's name, have you been?"**

" **Actually, I wasn't supposed to come home last night," Al reminded her with a tired smile as she moved on to welcome him with a fierce hug. "You've been awake all night too?"**

" **I napped for an hour or so," Lily answered. "You look ready to sleep for a week."**

" **That isn't an option; but I am going to need a couple of extra naps between now and when we get back to Hogwarts." He'd moved on to hug his mother by then; and he smiled ruefully as he stepped back again. "I tried to have fun and stay out of trouble, Mum – I really did."**

 **Ginny laughed. "Sit down. I'll throw something together for you to eat; and then you definitely need to go and get some sleep."**

" **I'd love the food, but if I go to sleep right after that; I might be out for the count until tomorrow," he advised her. "Maybe I should just stay up now and then go to bed after the match this afternoon – and then sleep until tomorrow."**

" **Let's get you fed and then decide what we're all going to do for the rest of the day," Ginny suggested. "Most of us haven't had much sleep, so even though you've also used up a lot of magical power too; the rest of us are going to have a tough time getting through the day too."**

" **We're heading back to Hogwarts tomorrow; so I don't want to miss any of the fun today," Lily told her. "We can always nap on the train ride – and you and Dad can sleep until Easter once we're gone."**

" **We wouldn't want to go into hibernation and miss out on the next three months with Jaimie and Lorie," Harry advised her. "Instead of going on about that, I'm going to help out with the cooking; and I'm sure that you want to hear Al's and Gwendolyn's party stories."**

" **There's more that we haven't heard from that all-nighter special news coverage?" Lily asked. "What else did they get into last night?" She smiled at Gwendolyn. "I loved your interview with that Witch-reporter."**

" **I did too," Gwendolyn admitted. "She asked some tough questions; but at least she was fair with me and didn't act the way Rita always does with us."**

" **There are some good reporters," Ginny told them. "I think that you've all been jaded a bit too much by Harry's opinion of them."**

" **I only feel that way about the vast majority of reporters," Harry protested. "You're brilliant; and I enjoy Lee's interviews quite a lot too."**

" **We'll give you that," Lily conceded; "but it wasn't one of the good ones writing that front page hit piece on Al – and we know it wasn't Rita; so I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting for a viral break-out of integrity to sweep through the ranks of the Daily Prophet reporters."**

" **There isn't anything we can do about that," Harry interjected. "I'm proud of what your brother did last night, and if nobody else can appreciate just how amazing Al is; then that's their loss." He smiled ruefully. "Okay – I'm done. What would everyone like for breakfast?"**

 **Lily led the way for putting in those preferred food choices, and their conversation moved on from there; but didn't wander far from the top news of the night. Al and Gwendolyn were both questioned for details that hadn't made the news; there was a general, modestly-morbid fascination with the damage that could be done to an Animagus while in animal form and that would carry through to the human body; and Gwendolyn and Harry each had some side stories about what went on around the hall while Al had been busy helping to save Rita's life. Breakfast was eventually served in the dining room, but it was done in waves as the teens and tweens woke up and joined the gang in that room.**

 **The changing members of the group in the dining room didn't affect Al's storytelling because he was among the first to eat; and then he eventually went upstairs to grab a quick shower and get changed and ready for the day. When he had finished doing that, he decided to lay down on his bed for a few minutes of quiet time; he closed his eyes; and didn't even notice when his mental lights went out and he crashed hard into unconsciousness.**

" **He's fallen asleep," Gwendolyn reported after going upstairs to check on Al when he hadn't come downstairs after his shower and she'd gone looking for him. "I didn't think he was going to manage to stay awake all day."**

" **I'd suggest that we find a way to thank Rita Skeeter for messing things up for Al yet again," Lily suggested, "but she's having a bad-enough start to her New Year; so we probably couldn't do anything that would even come close to getting stomped to bits by that Wizard."**

" **I'm mad at her because I won't have my favorite cuddle buddy at the Harpies' match now," Gwendolyn advised Lily. She sighed and shook her head. "I just can't be as nice about this as Al has been; but I need to stop thinking bad thoughts about Rita. No matter how much of a rotter I think she is; nobody deserves to have something that awful happen to them."**

" **So what do we do now?" Lily asked; directing that question at her parents. "We can't just take off and leave him at home while he's out like that."**

" **I'll stay with him," Gwendolyn decided and stated; and then sighed again. "I'm sure that you can find two volunteers to take our seats at the stadium." She smiled at Ginny's reaction. "You need to be at James' match; Lily has her cuddle buddy for the game; and I can spend some time with Dad after the game – whether that's here or at home."**

" **Okay," Ginny agreed; and then laughed at Gwendolyn's surprised reaction. "Harry stays here while you come with us for the sweets and treats supply shopping; and maybe we'll find something in one of the stores to thank you for making this sacrifice."**

 **Gwendolyn had agreed to do that; it wasn't really that long before they all got ready and either headed out to Diagon Alley or elsewhere for the teens that had other plans for the day. Harry took care of the clean-up while Ginny was busy with the kids; Kirley ended up meeting up with Ginny in London; and was able to spend some time with Gwendolyn while they shopped before bringing her back to the house while Ginny ended up staying in London with the kids and meeting up with the rest of their game-watching groups at the Leaky. Harry took care of getting the supplies that they came home with into Al's and Lily's rooms – or put away if they needed to go elsewhere; he and Kirley made sure that Gwendolyn had everything she needed; and then they headed for the Leaky and left her to take care of Al while he reamained in his deep, restorative sleep.**

 **Harry and Ginny enjoyed their lunch at the Leaky, but while they were looking forward to watching James' fourth professional league match; they also wished that they were spending the time with Al and Lily too – especially when they'd be heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday. Being tired might have been an issue too after staying up all night, but Harry had helped Ginny with that; so the lack of sleep was something they could wait to deal with – until after the kids went back to Hogwarts; if needed. They only had Molly and Arthur with them when they left the Leaky and headed to Bodmin stadium, but they'd picked up other tickets for Christmas gifts that they'd given to some of James' friends, so they had a small gang of teens around them when they eventually got to their seats.**

" **I'm glad that we're getting to see James play again," Molly told Harry and Ginny, "but it's so cold; we should've offered to stay with Albus while you were here."**

" **Gwendolyn's likely cuddled with him and having a nap by now," Ginny suggested. "She'll at least be cuddling with him and watching the Harpies' match – and maybe this one too." She was looking toward her parents; something caught her eye beyond them; and she frowned. "What are Bill and Fleur doing here? They're supposed to be at the Harpies' match today." That question got her parents' attention – and Harry's; they all turned to look in the same direction; and waved back when Bill and Fleur spotted them and smiled and waved. They were several sections away from them; so they weren't close-enough to talk.**

" **I'll guess that the Catapults have another surprise for their fans," Harry leaned close and whispered to Ginny; and she turned to stare at him.**

" **You think Louis is going to play today too?" she whispered in return; and Harry nodded.**

" **That'd be my guess," he confirmed.**

" **Why didn't they..." Ginny began to say; and then laughed. "Okay, dumb question; but I don't like that at all when it's someone else's secret," she declared.**

" **What secret?" Molly asked; and Ginny smiled and leaned close to her parents so she could pass along Harry's guess for why their eldest son and his wife were at the Catapults' match instead of the Harpies' match.**

 **They'd waited until nearly the last minute to get to their seats; so they didn't end up waiting long before that guess was confirmed – along with a whole team-full of surprises!**

" **Merlin!" Ginny breathed as they watched the 'new' Catapults' team fly out and around the stadium. "What'd they do – hire all of the students from their teen day?"**

 **Harry laughed. "Only five of them," he joked. "That must've been some scrimmage match yesterday!"**

" **That wouldn't be saying much if their players didn't even try while playing with the kids," Ginny suggested. "Considering how badly their season is going, I suppose they've nothing to lose, but their regular players aren't going to take this well; and the rest of the season is likely to be a disaster for them regardless of how well they play today. We know Tiberius, Brock, and Ollie well-enough, but who's the third Chaser – one of the Smith boys?"**

" **That'd be Roman," Harry answered. "Zack was Head Boy when Molly was Head Girl.**

 **Ginny smiled at him. "It's funny that you seem to know so much about Romilda's kids," she teased; and Harry laughed.**

" **You had more up-close and personal time with their father than I ever had with Romilda," he reminded her; and it was Ginny's turn to laugh.**

" **Blasting him with my bat-bogey hex or crashing into him at Quidditch matches doesn't count the same as Romilda trying to get you to fall in love with her; but I'll concede that neither of us was interested in them as potential boyfriend or girlfriend material back then."**

" **Maybe that's why we've never heard anything about James getting involved with their daughter," Harry suggested.**

" **That's possible," Ginny agreed; "and I won't comment on why she'd never need to try a love potion on James."**

 **Ginny didn't have to say anything else about the Smith family for a little while because her mirror chimed and she moved on to have a fun little chat with Fleur that included some jokes about payback for the secrets they'd kept with James and his deal with the Catapults. They didn't talk about any details for what Louis had worked out with the team, and Bill and Fleur didn't have anything to tell them about the McClaggens or Roman Smith – since Louis hadn't told them about any of that news. The Catapults had been introduced first, so they'd had time to talk while waiting for the Magpies to do their lap of the stadium; and they wrapped it up by the time the referee tossed the quaffle and got the match started.**

 **If the Magpies had been hoping for an easy win – either against the Catapults' players that hadn't tried very hard to play all season, or against a bunch of rookies when they found out about the big changes; they soon found out that they were up against a team that was very well matched to them. Louis gave up two early goals for a shaky start to his first match, and gave up five to just one goal for the Catapults before settling down and nearly-matching the Magpies' veteran Keeper, Geoffrey Hooper. Geoffrey was the difference for the Magpies against Miya, Roman, and Ollie; but the three young Chasers were also having early issues with uncoordinated offensive attacks and with their defense too.**

 **Even with all of the mistakes, it was a good match, though; and James' small fan club had a great time watching the contest roll on and on. That wasn't the case for the Harpies-Prides match, which was why Ginny didn't need to hold her mirror out in the cold for long when Gabrielle ended the match in just forty-two minutes after Erin made one of her infamous catch-attempt blunders that allowed Gabrielle to earn the easy, one-ninety to twenty victory far more-quickly than should have happened had the two teams played on and their Chasers and Keepers had battled it out to find out which team was better – at least for today.**

 **Being able to stay under their blanket helped with the cold; and they managed to stay reasonably-comfortable, and Harry and Ginny really wanted to be proud of their eldest son regardless of how he was choosing to act toward them, but they were also both very talented Quidditch players with deep-rooted ethics, and as the match rolled along; it was tough to watch what they were seeing from James. During the first couple of hours, the Magpies' Seeker managed to keep pace with James thanks to some help from his Beaters and while the McClaggen brothers needed to adjust to the faster speed of a league-level match compared to what they had known so far with Hogwarts competition; but that wasn't true as they headed into the third hour.**

 **The Magpies continued to maintain their lead after that with no more than a ten point drop and only one twenty point gain, but Harry and Ginny knew that James could have ended the match several times – and intentionally didn't. Al likely could've told them why James chose to do that, but the reason didn't really matter to them, and by the start of the fourth hour; it really wasn't much fun to watch James as he toyed with his opponent – even if the rest of the match competition continued to be pretty good. Miya, Ollie, and Roman couldn't make up ground on the Magpies' Chasers no matter how hard they tried; and they remained sixty or seventy points behind through the fourth, fifth, and sixth hours.**

 **A timeout was called by the Magpies near the end of the sixth hour, and while nothing obvious changed when the match resumed; James ended it four minutes into the seventh hour. The Magpies had been ahead by two-ninety to two-twenty; Brock McClaggen looked good on the play because James timed his run for the snitch to come immediately-after Brock had managed to wing the Magpies' Seeker with a bludger hit; and then James put on an over-the-top show of catching the snitch to earn the big, come-from-behind victory for his team.**

" **Finally!" Ginny said tiredly; and then smiled ruefully at Harry. "I mean – yeah! Way to go James!"**

 **Harry laughed. "He's celebrating enough for everyone," he pointed out with a nod to where James was taking a victory lap complete with flying tricks that were apparently meant to prove that he could've kept playing all night if he'd needed to do that. "Let's get out of here. Maybe Al's woken from his nap; and we can spend some time with him – and with Lily, Gwendolyn, and Jonah."**

" **That works for me," Ginny agreed.**

 **They both stood up; Molly and Arthur joined them; and they didn't wait for the teens around them to go too – though they did say goodbye to them; and expected that they'd be staying to try and talk with James, Louis, and the other guys once the post-match festivities were done. Ginny checked in with Kirley and Gwenog; they decided to pick up take-out for dinner on the way home; and the McCormacks were at the Potter home by then because Al hadn't woken. Malorie and the twins had been brought over by then too; so they had eight to feed – not including Al or the twins. By the time they got home with the food; the table had been set; it only took minutes to set the food out; and then they sat down to enjoy the meal – and talk about their respective afternoon and evening-so-far adventures.**

" **Should we start with the Harpies report; the Catapults' top Quidditch surprises of the week; or the unconscious Animorphmagus update?" Lily asked as they all filled their plates.**

" **I'd rather start with the Jaimie and Lorie update," Ginny answered while smiling at Lorie – the twin that had been put next to her while Harry and Lily had Jaimie between them. "Did you have a fun afternoon, sweetie? I'm sure it was much warmer for you than it was for your Grandpa and me out in that cold stadium."**

" **How could you have been cold at all when you were in such close proximity to the hottest Seeker to ever play the game?" Lily teased with a grin.**

" **I felt warm-enough most of the time while cuddling with her under our blanket," Harry interjected; and earned a round of laughs for the intentional misunderstanding.**

" **We caught that part of James' post-game interview while getting out of the stadium," Ginny advised Lily. "Let's not go there. I'm happy that he won again today, and I'm glad that the Harpies won too; but I'm finding it tough to look at either of those successes the way I normally do when I think about it compared to what Al did last night and this morning."**

" **Speaking of that; does anyone have a Rita Skeeter update?" Harry asked. "We haven't checked to see how she's doing."**

" **We've been checking," Gwendolyn answered. "She's still unconscious; the Healers say she's stable; and she could sleep for days after such an extreme round of healing." She smiled; but the expression wasn't one of amusement. "That works for me; since we'll at least be back at Hogwarts before she can write her next hit piece on Al."**

" **She'd have lots more to write about if she'd been here with us and caught you cuddling with Al in his bed like I did after we got back from Exmoor," Lily teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **Yeah, I'm sure she'd have been able to come up with something really juicy – despite the fact that Al's unconscious. I needed the nap, and while I didn't expect him to wake up; I wasn't going to sleep in the sitting room where I'd never hear him if he had woken and needed anything."**

" **I didn't mind," Lily assured her with a grin. "In fact; I really appreciate the precedent!"**

" **One that we'll let you remind us of Al and Gwendolyn setting – the next time Jonah wears himself out by saving someone's life," Ginny offered; and then turned her attention to Malorie.**

" **Did you have a good day with Jaimie and Lorie?"**

" **It's been a bit challenging today," Malorie answered seriously. "They wanted to keep partying today after all of the fun yesterday – and started that by getting up at four and staying awake until after their breakfast. They've had two naps since then, but they were both fairly-short, and as you can see; they're still wound up."**

" **Harry and I are getting run down now, but if you'd like; we could take the girls for a sleepover tomorrow night and give you a break before you get back to work on Monday."**

" **Deal," Malorie agreed quickly with a nod and smile. "Would you like me to pack their bags and meet you at King's Cross?"**

" **Al might like that – if he isn't awake soon-enough to stop in and see them tomorrow morning," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "He's going to be most-upset about missing out on spending time with them today – not missing the Quidditch matches."**

" **We could put them in bed with him and take pictures to show him on the trip back to Hogwarts," Lily offered with a grin. "That'd go nicely with the pictures I took of you before waking you up earlier."**

" **Why not just put all three of us in bed with him; and then you'd have a great start for another scandal story for Rita to investigate – once she's out of the hospital," Gwendolyn countered. "Thanks, but if you do take pictures like that; keep them to yourself."**

" **She probably couldn't do that," Ginny advised her with a laugh. "Too many of us would want copies of those pictures."**

" **Jaimie and Lorie included," Malorie agreed. "Before I get side-tracked, though; I had a few questions about the Catapults' match, Grandma Ginny. Did you know about Louis and the other guys ahead of time? I know that they won today; but can't see how that's a good move for the rest of this season. Their regular players have got to hate getting pushed aside for a bunch of Hogwarts Quidditch players."**

" **We didn't know, but Bill and Fleur did; and I'm sure that the other parents knew as well – or at least Ollie's and Brock's parents would have needed to know to give their permission to let them play today. Fleur told us that they offered Louis the chance to play after their teen day, so they obviously put the deal together quickly; and that will be a problem for their team."**

" **Ginny thinks that they just don't care about their other players anymore," Harry said while nodding his agreement. "They can't really play much worse than they have during the first-half of the season; and this did give them the chance to see their new prospects in action in the show with enough time left to search for other new players if they didn't like what they saw from Louis and the other guys."**

" **Did you like what you saw?" Lily interjected.**

" **Why don't you tell us what you thought of them first?" Harry suggested. "It'll be good practice for you."**

" **Okay," Lily agreed easily. "Louis gave up twenty-nine goals to an average trio of Chasers; and had a particularly-rough start to the match. That wasn't entirely his fault; since he had some issues with Chaser defense that was mostly cause by inexperience and having Chasers that haven't played together enough to be a decent trio. Ollie was the biggest problem for that, and in addition to being primary defender for more than half of the Magpies' twenty-nine goals; he only scored four and assisted on two more. He could be good-enough some day; but proved to me that he isn't ready to play in the show yet. On the other hand, Miya had twelve goals and ten assists, so she was in on every score; and I've underestimated her. She's better than I thought – and might be one of the best in the league right now – if not for being stuck on a team with two Chasers that aren't trying at all. Roman scored six, which wasn't much better than Ollie; but he had ten assists too; and was doing better the more he worked with Miya. The Catapults might be on to something if they're thinking about hiring him after he graduates this year."**

" **Ollie was on the wrong side of nineteen of the Magpies' goals," Harry advised her. "I'd say the rest of your assessment so far is spot-on."**

" **Yeah for me!" Lily said with a grin. "Next up – the McClaggens. They played pretty well onece they got up to game speed. That supposed-great play by Brock right at the end was rubbish, but they are going to be good; and I'll wager that the Catapults are going to take a chance on them." She smiled then before offering her Seeker assessment. "Finally, I do love James; but he could – and should – have ended the match in the third hour. I get that Arithmancy isn't his thing, and the lead was about the same from that point on; but the score would've looked much better for Louis and the others if the Magpies hadn't scored those last fifteen or eighteen goals. That was all about making himself out to be the hero of the day." She smiled when Malorie laughed at that last part of her comments and analysis. "Okay, poor choice of words for that today; but it's true all the same."**

" **And he'll likely get great press confirming that too," Gwendolyn suggested – "while Al will get shredded even worse than he already has been – even without Rita's expert opinions."**

" **Not all of the reporting on that has been bad," Malorie told her seriously. "I'm trying to hope just a bit that Al won't keep getting blasted over what happened last night. After everything he did for her, if Rita comes out of the hospital and jumps right into more rants about Al; she might end up getting a backlash from the public – and from all of those reporters and other witnesses that Al sent all of those memories to after the party and again at St. Mungo's."**

" **That would be really nice," Ginny agreed. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask us about the Catapults' match?"**

 **Malorie nodded. "Lily mentioned that James could've caught the snitch hours-earlier, and suggested the why for that; but do you agree – or was there some other reason for doing that?"**

" **James might be the only one to know for sure," Ginny answered. "He could've been trying to give his cousin and friends more time to show off, but they didn't really do that; and Lily's right that it would have looked better for them with a lower score – particularly for Louis. Twenty-nine goals is a lot – even in a match that was more than six hours long."**

" **There was one important difference today," Harry told her. "James could do that because he wasn't at any risk of having his team fall behind by one-sixty or more. That's a first for him; and looks good for at least some of his team mates today. They are all young; and have a lot of potential."**

" **I can see that," Malorie agreed, "but even if that's their plan; James, Ollie, and Brock still have a year and a half to go before they'll be done school. Doing this so early seems like a big mistake to me."**

" **It well could be in the short term," Ginny told her. "We don't really know what they're doing, though; so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. A team doesn't necessarily need to win matches to make money; and the Catapults are certainly getting a lot of free publicity out of this match."**

" **They do score points for getting teens with big Quidditch connections," Lily suggested. "Louis with his sisters; Ollie with his Dad and sisters; and even Tiberius and Brock's Dad played in the show – even if that was only for one match."**

" **Aren't you forgetting about James with his Mum?" Malorie teased; and Lily laughed.**

" **His Mum and his sister," she amended. "I will be the future Seeker for the Harpies."**

" **And you've already pointed out that your mother is the hottest Seeker in the history of the game," Harry added with a grin.**

" **You're allowed to have that opinion," Lily told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'll be happy to concede that she's been one of the best-ever-so-far – until I can win a few dozen championships and Seeker awards."**

" **You do know that you won't be allowed to boast like that when you come to play for my team, right?" Gwenog advised her.**

" **In public," Lily agreed. "We're allowed to brag all we want when it's just us girls."**

" **Don't mind us guys," Kirley joked. "Just pretend that we're not here."**

 **Lily actually pretended to do that for a couple of minutes; and then they moved on to talk about the Harpies' match; plans for the rest of the night that they changed up because of Al's continuing nap; and then they eventually cleaned up after they ate and moved into the sitting room to continue their visit so that they could be more comfortable – and watch the mirror network news and an evening Quidditch report that included a lot of talk about James and the Catapults. When Al didn't show any signs of coming to life before Jaimie and Lorie needed to be home for their bedtime, the McCormacks decided to go home; Ginny and Lily went with Malorie to help with getting the twins fed and off to bed; and Harry stayed and worked around the house – including getting Al's bags packed in case he didn't wake up until morning.**

 **When Ginny got home again with Lily, they had a bedtime snack and drinks while watching Lee's opening monologue for his show; and had a laugh as he made fun of Al and James – along with the rest of the news of the day that he poked fun at as always. They all stopped in to Al's room on their way to bed, but didn't stay long; and then they had another bedtime chat in Lily's room before splitting up for the rest of the night. The end to their Christmas holidays hadn't turned out to be anything even close to what they'd planned or hoped for, but they'd still, for the most part, had a brilliant couple of weeks together; and had good-reason to hope for an amazing New Year.**

 **With a little luck; Al would wake up in time to start enjoying that New Year with them – even if he'd only be able to do that with his parents for a few hours before heading back to Hogwarts!**

 **Scorpius smiled as he answered the mirror chat request from Lysandra.**

" **Is it time for our bedtime chat already?" he asked. "How time flies when we're counting down the hours until I'll get to spend a lot of time with you every day from tomorrow until the end of June!"**

" **I can hardly wait," Lysandra assured him; and she was smiling too. "Have I missed much since we split up and had to come to our own homes?"**

" **Not around here," Scorpius assured her. "I got a brag-message from James a little while ago; but you don't want to hear the details."**

 **Lysandra laughed. "Then I'll guess it wasn't to brag about winning the match for the Catapults," she suggested. "They'd have likely been able to win without him if you'd been playing instead of Ollie or Roman."**

" **I'd have never been allowed to do it," Scorpius reminded her. "Ollie and Brock are going on seventeen. I won't be sixteen until the end of August."**

" **You're still better than the lot of them," Lysandra insisted. "Maybe you'll get a chance to prove that to everyone in your match against Ravenclaw in two weeks."**

" **We'll see," Scorpius answered without much confidence. "Peter Boot is likely the best Keeper at our school this season; and I'm not going to have much help from my fellow Chasers to try and beat him – assuming I even get the chance to do that. G-Air doesn't exactly have a good record against Pauline."**

" **Try to be more-positive about that match," Lysandra suggested; and Scorpius laughed.**

" **Okay, I'm nearly-positive that my team is going to have trouble against Ravenclaw. Is that better?"**

" **No, but it was funny. Speaking of funny – did you catch Lee Jordan's nightly monologue? It was hilarious – especially when he picked on the Animorphpotty and James."**

 **My grandparents refuse to watch it; and I couldn't get away to do that on my own at the time. I haven't been here in my room for long. Mum and Dad apparently needed some bonding time tonight before they could leave me in peace and let me go back to Hogwarts."**

" **Well, the Animorphloser should apparently be arrested and sent to Azkaban – for saving the beetle bard after that other Wizard had been so nice to step on her and nearly put her out of our misery," Lysandra advised him with a grin. James is the Quidditch hero of the day; and apparently performed the bigger miracle by bringing the Catapults back from the dead. There were a dozen other jokes to go with those; but I liked them the best."**

" **I'll like hearing Rita's side of that story – whenever she recovers from getting squashed like that. If some of those claims I read and heard about prove true; then the loser ought to be in Azkaban."**

 **Lysandra frowned at him. "We need to get you away from your grandparents," she told him seriously. "That sounded way too much like them."**

" **You were just talking about him being in Azkaban," Scorpius reminded her; and she nodded.**

" **As a joke – and I'm good with making fun of him all we want; but that doesn't mean I want to start believing the lies that are told about him – and we both know that the loser didn't do anything to hurt Rita Skeeter. We'll never defeat their lot if we delude ourselves like too many of our parents and grandparents do when it comes to the Potty family and their supporters."**

" **Okay," Scorpius conceded. "You're right about that – even if admitting that really bugs me!"**

 **James staggered into his room at the Leaky; crossed over to his bed; and collapsed onto it. He had no idea what time it was; didn't really remember how he'd managed to get there from the victory party; and didn't notice Louis close the door behind him as he left – and met up with Deanna so that he could make sure that she got home safely too before going on to Shell Cottage – where he'd still need to pack his bags for the trip back to school before he could get some sleep too.**

 **While oblivious to his cousin and everything else; James' fire-whiskey-fueled musings were all about how brilliant his day had been – thanks to his own brilliance and talent! He'd been happy to wake up to the bad news for the loser in the Prophet – and that had been news for him because his own partying had gone private in his room before word of Rita's problems had reached anyone at the party he'd been at with the Catapults' owners and their rich and powerful friends and cling-ons. His first impression of that mess had come from those first reports in the newspaper; and he hadn't bothered to find out anything more about it – though he hadn't been able to avoid it entirely as it was gossiped about around the Leaky; with the Catapults; and around the stadium before and after the match.**

 **All that mattered to him, though, was that he was a winner; and the loser was being publicly-humiliated again – even if a few of the delueded around him chose to believe that the Animorphpotty was a good guy.**

 **That had been something he considered while dragging out the humiliation of the Magpies and their sorry excuse for a Seeker. A six-hour marathon match definitely made sure that everyone knew how brilliant he was – and they'd all remember his Quidditch performance for a very long time! His efforts had certainly paid off at the party. He'd hooked up with two super-hot and willing Witches; he'd been the star of the party; and his mates all owed him big time for getting them into the show – even if it had only been guaranteed for one match. They hadn't sucked, and had kept the score close-enough that he could keep the match going on and on for as long as he'd wanted; and he was very happy that none of them had dared to try and show him up. they knew who was really in charge, and as long as they continued to play their supporting roles; he'd be happy to let them do that while he was busy becoming rich and famous!**

 **His mind descended toward darkness as he succumbed to the fog of the fire whiskey, but he was ready for the plunge into the black abyss; and didn't care about the cost he'd pay in the morning when he needed to get up and over to King's Cross for the trip back to Hogwarts.**

 **His last trip back to that hated and despised castle of academic horrors!**


	54. Game Changers

**Chapter Fifty-Four – Game Changers**

 **Al woke up slowly; and that gave him time for his normal and extended senses to kick in gradually – which helped a lot with avoiding any disorientation as he soon realized that he'd slept for most of a day while recovering from all of the extreme magic he'd used on New Year's Eve and Day. As he listened to everything going on around him – the sounds of his father cooking breakfast in the kitchen and his mother and sister having some play time while getting ready for the day; he also assessed his own condition. He was still tired, and might need most of a week to fully-recover; but the extended winter's nap had helped him to deal with the worst of the effects from his extreme over-use of his magical power.**

 **He smiled as he got out of bed and saw that he was still wearing the clothes he'd put on after his shower on Saturday morning. When he went to get clothes so that he could go and try having another shower and then actually stay awake this time; he saw that an outfit had been chosen for him; and his bags had been packed already except for his bathroom kit. That had him idly wondering whether his parents had expected him to wake in time – and what the contingency plan might have been had he needed to sleep for another day or three. When he was ready to leave his room, he headed straight to the bathroom; didn't get stopped along the way because his mother and sister were still busy getting ready themselves; and kept his shower short because he sensed that breakfast was nearly-ready by then. Ginny and Lily were waiting for him when he got out of the bathroom; shared long hugs with him; and then stayed with him until he was ready to grab his bags and head downstairs with them. There were more hugs and some kisses in the kitchen; and then they sat down to eat with only about twenty minutes available to do that before they'd need to clean up and then head for London.**

" **Have I missed much while I was napping?" Al asked as they all began filling their plates.**

" **Haven't you already caught up on all of that just from using your super-senses since waking up?" Lily countered and teased.**

" **For a few things," Al agreed. "That doesn't work for things you're not concentrating on at all. I do know that I haven't been kicked out of school – or at least that hasn't happened yet."**

" **You won't be in any trouble for using magic," Harry assured him. "Everyone that you passed your memories on to yesterday understand what happened; and there were some Ministry of Magic officials there with us at the hall and hospital – including your Aunt and a handful of Aurors."**

" **How's Rita doing?" Al asked next; and smiled when Lily laughed.**

" **Sorry, but she really doesn't deserve to hate someone as nice as you," she explained – though he'd already sensed that thought from her.**

" **I checked a little while ago; and she's still unconscious," Harry answered. "The Healers don't know how long she'll need to sleep to recover from the extreme healing and while continuing to recover from her injuries."**

" **They haven't finished helping her with them already?" Al asked in surprise; and Harry shrugged.**

" **Apparently not. Maybe they decided that what you – and they – did had already taken too much out of her. It is possible to burn a patient out if you take the healing too far."**

" **Yes, but I made sure that didn't happen while I was helping her," Al advised him.**

" **Which is why you've missed out on the last day of your holiday," Lily guessed with a nod. "That makes sense."**

" **True," Harry agreed; "but we don't know whether the Healers that have worked on her since did the same," he pointed out. "I'm okay with letting Rita be their problem. How are you doing, Al? You're not back to full power yet."**

" **No, I'm not; but I'm doing okay. I think it'll be about a week before I'm back to normal again – depending on how much work we get dumped on us this week."**

" **This is your OWL year – you'll get dumped on," Ginny assured him. "I'd suggest that we could keep you here for another week; but you'd never pick that while Gwendolyn's at Hogwarts."**

" **Not even for an extra week with the twins?" Lily joked; and smiled at Al. "Yeah, you really missed out yesterday, but we've already set it up so that you can see them this morning before we go."**

" **Thank-you," Al said gratefully. "What did I miss with them yesterday?"**

" **They came over here after the Harpies' match and stayed for dinner and until Jaimie and Lorie needed to go home at bedtime – just in case you woke up and could see them," Lily answered. "Mum and Dad didn't get home from James and Louis' match until late, since it was a bit more than six hours of freezing-cold fun for them, but we scored a take-out dinner out of the deal; so the rest of us were okay with that."**

" **Louis played for the Catapults yesterday," Al said; and smiled in answer to Lily's grin. "Whom else? The McClaggens?"**

" **Tiberius, Brock, Ollie, and Roman Smith," Lily advised him enthusiastically. "The Catapults won three-seventy to two-ninety – thanks to James dragging out the match for about three hours more than needed." She laughed; and Al did too at what he sensed from her. "According to Lee; he's a bigger hero than you are for bringing the entire Catapults team back from the dead while you only managed to save one tiny little ladybug."**

" **James is finding a way to keep winning; so I'm happy for him," Al told her seriously. "That's a lot of goals for Louis to give up in one match; but I'll guess that had everything to do with putting three Chasers together that haven't worked together before. They'd be sure to make a lot of mistakes."**

" **They did," Ginny agreed. "That might have ended badly for the Catapults, but Miya kept that from being a disaster; and Roman was working pretty well with her after a rough first two hours."**

" **Don't be too happy for them," Lily warned. "I expect that James will be unbearable anytime we see him on the train or once we're back at Hogwarts; and I don't even want to think about how rotten they'll likely be to the Hufflepuff players between now and when they play them in February."**

" **Roman is Hufflepuff," Al reminded her; and Lily laughed.**

" **Okay, I wasn't thinking about that," she admitted. "He out-played Ollie by quite a bit too; but that won't matter to James, Ollie, and the McClaggens. They'll still give Hufflepuff zero chance of winning that match."**

" **Shouldn't that be a good thing for you?" Harry teased. "You do want to win the Quidditch Cup this year; and need that win to improve your chances."**

" **Yes, but you know that I'm talking about all of the bragging and the rest of the awful things James and Ollie do to the other House players and their supporters. I'd be able to be much happier for James – and like him a lot more – if he wasn't such a poor sport regardless of whether he wins or loses."**

" **Speaking of winning – did the Harpies win yesterday?" Al interjected.**

" **Yes – in about three-quarters of an hour," Lily answered. "Erin tried for another all-or-nothing catch; blew it; and left Aunt Gabrielle wide-open to get the win for us. We think that Erin was still mad about losing to James and was trying to be the hero instead of giving her team mates a chance to battle it out with ours to find out who was better."**

" **They didn't have as much time off between matches," Al pointed out. "Maybe she didn't think she could get through a long match yesterday. There have been a few exceptions for her; but Erin isn't able to play her best anymore after the first few hours of most of her matches."**

" **True, but you'd know that wasn't the case this time if you'd seen her reaction to losing," Lily told him. "She was screeching mad – literally."**

 **Their conversation didn't come to a screeching halt, since they were able to continue their chat while finishing up their meal and cleaning up; but it wasn't long before they needed to get to London. There wasn't time for a visit with the twins in Chudley, but they did go there on the way to King's Cross; they collected Malorie and the girls; and took them along for the trip to London. Al loved getting to have that time with them; the fun level kicked up a few notches when Gwendolyn joined them with Jonah and their parents; and they played with Jaimie and Lorie until the last minute when they needed to get on the train and on their way back to school. While having that fun with his nieces, Al didn't worry about anything else, and while he picked up a lot of bad feelings and malice around him at the station and then on the train; the girls had made sure that he was very happy by the time he sat down and got comfortable in the same compartment with Lily and Jonah while Gwendolyn went to the Prefect car for her first meeting of the New Year with the Heads and other Prefects.**

" **That's what you get for being among the last on the train," Lily told Al with a grin. "Now you're stuck with us all day instead of hanging out with your mates."**

" **Most of my best mates are in the Prefect car,' Al reminded her; "and you're two of our best friends anyway." He sighed as he looked out the window. They were already out of the station; and their family was out of sight. "I'd be okay with a boring trip back – and might even have a nap later."**

" **Were you lying to us about how you're feeling?" Lily asked; and Al shook his head.**

" **No. I really am okay; but I'm already getting worn down again even after just a few hours of busy."**

" **That doesn't sound okay to me at all," Lily declared.**

" **For you," Al countered with a smile. "I'm not that much quieter than normal for me, am I?"**

" **No, but you aren't usually interested in afternoon naps either," Lily pointed out. "Maybe I need to go and talk to Louis about getting a Prefect here to watch over you for the rest of the day."**

 **Al laughed. "That'd be great if Gwendolyn could do that, but please don't suggest that to him. I'd like to stay out of the spotlight today if possible. I'm already sensing more hate directed my way than I'd like; and hiding out in the Room of Requirements tonight isn't really an option."**

 **He hadn't been joking about that, but managed to stay happy during the long hours between leaving London and getting to Hogwarts. Gwendolyn, Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth all spent some time with him when they weren't doing other things, and that helped to make things fun too; though Al still took it easy and mostly stayed in their compartment except for two washroom breaks. He didn't even go for a walk; and managed to avoid seeing James at all – though he did mentally pick him out from the crowd a few times and learned more than he wanted about his brother's current state of mind and what he was doing to keep entertained.**

 **Gwendolyn and Susannah were assigned the firsties for their Prefect jobs once they arrived at Hogsmeade Station; They wouldn't let him stay with them out in the cold while they made sure that all of the firsties got to Hogwarts safely; and Gwendolyn sent him off with a hug and kiss when the last of the fifth-year students headed out – and then he just ended up hanging out with some of his room mates until Rose and Ray joined him. The welcome back feast was good, and Al enjoyed listening in as his friends traded holiday stories, but didn't join in much – not even when his friends wanted to know the rest of the story about what had happened with Rita Skeeter. After dinner, Gwendolyn had more Prefect duties, but he walked her back to Ravenclaw tower before going on to his own House; he did a short round of visits with some friends in the common room; and then he went up to his dorm room and got ready for bed.**

 **That wasn't a very exciting start to his New Year at Hogwarts, but by then, he just wanted to go back to sleep; and did exactly that simply because he could!**

" **Nightcap time – and you're buying, superstar!" Ollie declared as he walked into the sixth-year boys' dorm room with James and Brock.**

" **He means you," Brock deadpanned. "I'm only half of the next pair of star Beaters; but we're not superstars yet!"**

 **Ollie snorted. "At least you got to pick your Beater partner. "I got stuck with a couple of half-wit quaffle hogs – and still managed to score four goals in the show without any help at all from those two losers."**

" **Maybe if you'd be nicer to Miya; she'd be nicer to you – in more ways than just Quidditch," Brock suggested with a smirk. "Just for the fun of it, though; who would you pick instead? Your sister? James' cousins? If we do all get offered jobs with the Catapults; I sure hope it won't be an all-Wizard team. You're fun to have a drink with; but not much to look at!"**

" **Maybe Tina would trade you for Calvin with United; and then you could play with a team full of Witches," Ollie scoffed; and frowned when Brock laughed.**

" **Sorry mate, but that'd be a dream come true for me," Brock assured him – "though Alex might take offense to being included as one of the Witches. I'd be okay with him having Lucy if I could have the rest – including your sisters."**

" **Get those drinks ready quick, James. I think I'm about to be sick," Ollie complained and ordered.**

" **Can do," James promised; "but you didn't answer Brock's question – and I thought it a good one. Who would you want for Chaser partners? That might be something you'd want to have in mind if the Catapults do offer you a job – especially since they love Miya. You'd need a very good pick to get them to agree to fire her."**

" **Why don't you pick them – it's your team," Ollie shot back; and James laughed.**

" **Because I don't care," he answered honestly. "We did well-enough yesterday; you gave me all of the time I wanted to make that idiot of a Seeker for the Magpies look the incompetent fool he is; and I got to have another come-from-behind win. If we can keep doing that together, that's great, but if we can't; I'll be happy with any other six players that can do that for me."**

" **Only one superstar on your team," Brock deduced; and James grinned at him unapologetically.**

" **Isn't that usually the way of it?" he asked. "Average teams can have a bunch of pretty good players – like United is doing. The best teams are built around one exceptional player – and that's almost always the Seeker."**

" **Ollie will disagree with you on that, but Beaters know the score; and we're okay with that – as long as you do take us to the top of the league with you," Brock told him. "You might want to keep that kind of honesty to yourself with the players that do think it takes a team to win championships, though; since it can be a bit tough on egos to just come out and say it like that."**

" **That isn't hard on my ego – it's total rubbish," Ollie declared. "The Catapults would've lost that match yesterday if they hadn't replaced that pack of losers with us after we made them all look like fools on Friday morning."**

" **No – I'd have just needed to catch the snitch sooner instead of toying with that git all day," James countered. "Can any of the rest of you say the same if I hadn't played and they put their old Seeker in for the match instead?"**

" **Not when he isn't even trying anymore," Ollie conceded. "No team can do that."**

" **You could get the one-sixty lead," James countered; "so yes, you could."**

" **That is why you guys didn't want Al on our team," Brock offered – "since we're all being so honest tonight. Nothing messes up looking good for the scouts more than having a player like Al show the rest of us up."**

" **He doesn't show anyone up," James declared angrily. "He's nothing! A lying, cheating Animorphloser! Just look at what he did to Rita Skeeter New Year's Eve! He ought to be put down like we'd do to any rabid dog!"**

 **Brock held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, apparently that was too much honesty for you. I won't mention him again; and you can keep all of that rubbish to yourself – or share it with anyone else dim-enough to actually believe it."**

" **Keep that up; and you can go play for Rose on the Cannons' clown brigade," James warned; and Brock laughed.**

" **I don't want to play for the worst team in the league, but your cousin is one of the hotest Witches in this school; and I'd be totally okay with playing around with her!"**

 **The first week back at Hogwarts was a mixed bag of good and bad for Al. Spending time with Gwendolyn every day was brilliant, but they were both busy; and they had to do their own thing a lot too – especially for Gwendolyn with her Prefect duties and Quidditch team workouts. Al helped her with getting ready for her match against Slytherin with extra Chaser duels; but there were some distractions too – particularly once Rita Skeeter woke up on Wednesday; and then she had front-page hit pieces on Al starting with the Thursday edition of the Prophet. That ammunition brought out the haters at Hogwarts; and Al needed to spend more and more time in the Room of Requirements to get away from all of the darkly-gleeful emotions around him.**

 **He didn't like the problems that caused for Gwendolyn or anyone else close to him that got caught up in the mean-spirited insults and hatred, but tried to make up for that where he could. There was some good too, since there were more and more teens and tweens around the school that simply didn't believe Rita or the other haters anymore, and Al sensed those good feelings too; but that was also a classic case of the silent majority being no match for the out-spoken minority. While Al was tempted to return to his hermit ways, and he did skip a total of four meals in the Great hall between Thursday morning and Sunday night; he still studied with his friends most of the time; and enjoyed a fairly-normal weekend as they all studied, had some play time here and there, and wrapped up their weekend with the usual Sunday evening family fun night.**

 **While Rita happily ranted on to anyone willing to believe her nonsense in the Prophet or on the mirror network talk show circuit; life began to move on from that story at Hogwarts – mostly thanks to Quidditch. First up for the week was the Harpies' match on Wednesday night against the Wanderers at Bodmin stadium. As usual for a school night match, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends couldn't take the time off to watch the match, but they had Lily, Jonah, and their usual game-watching gang with them; and they all kept an eye on Al's mirror while getting their assignments done. Weather was a big factor for that match; goals for both teams came from luck as often as skill; and it took Gabrielle nearly three hours to catch the snitch and give their team the two-twenty to fifty victory.**

 **That win had Gwendolyn both fired up and looking to do more to get ready for her match on Saturday; and Al helped her out with that with even more extra practices on Thursday and Friday – even though that also meant that they both needed to stay up late on Thursday to finish their assignments; and they'd have more work to do on the weekend after her big game. Staying up late wasn't an option for Gwendolyn on Friday, since she had her game day team curfew, but Al ended his school week with bonus studying and a bit of toy making that helped him to wind down before going to sleep for a handful of hours before he was up and going again – and ready to cheer for his girlfriend and her team!**

 **Hogwarts had been in a deep freeze for most of the past week, but Al sensed just how cold it was outside as he got up and ready for the day on Saturday morning – and not just because that cold could be felt from the inside of the castle's thick stone walls. Dressing warmly wasn't going to be enough today; and he was glad that he'd picked up a gift for Gwendolyn that he was sure would help her out – and he'd bought extra to help some of his favorite spectators. That was the main reason for why he was ready early; went to meet up with Gwendolyn before breakfast; and then led her into an empty classroom along the way to the Great Hall so that he could give her that gift early – and hopefully stay out of trouble with his own House mates – including his sister.**

" **You're being very mysterious," Gwendolyn told him with a smile as he closed the door behind them and then sealed the room just to be sure that none of the Ravenclaw students around them in the hallway stopped to listen in. "I'm all for some privacy for your good luck hugs and kisses; but this seems a bit over-the-top."**

" **I want to give you your good luck gift now – and want the privacy because I don't really want to get blasted again by anyone in my House for helping your team out today – and not helping the team that they want to see win this match."**

" **Okay – and I promise not to mess that up for you," she assured him. "Can I open my gift now?"**

" **Definitely," Al agreed as he handed her a small box that he'd pulled out of his book bag. He smiled as she tore into the wrapping paper; opened the box; and then pulled out the undetectable expansion bag that he'd tucked into it. He laughed when she reached in; pulled out one of the packages she found in it; and then looked at him blankly.**

" **What are they?" she asked; and he grinned at her.**

" **A little Muggle invention. They've actually been around for a long time, I guess, but I only ran across them over the holidays while checking out a sporting goods store. They're little packets of instant heat; and I thought they'd come in very handy for you and your team mates today – even if they can only help to keep small parts of your bodies warm – like your hands and feet."**

" **That's brilliant, Al!" she told him enthusiastically before sharing a long hug and kiss with him. "How do they work?"**

 **Al shrugged. "Some kind of chemical reaction. The instructions are easy-enough, but they only last for a few hours; so don't try using any of them until right before game time. There are enough in there for eight for each of you; so you could either use them all at once and hope to stay warmer for a short match; or use four at a time for your feet and hands; and be able to use fresh ones later in the match if it's a long battle."**

" **I wonder if it'll be a problem to grab the quaffle – or the snitch – with these in our gloves?" she mused.**

" **Not if you put them on the back-side of your hands," Al suggested. "They'd likely work better in the palms of your hands – especially when you're holding your cold brooms, but I've never used them before either; so you might need to experiment a bit right before the match and decide what's best for each of you."**

" **They'll help out one way or the other; and I'm really glad that you got them for me," Gwendolyn assured him; and then smiled. "Since we have this bit of alone time; let's take care of those good luck hugs and kisses. That way, you can stay here at the castle too instead of walking me out to the stadium in this lousy weather."**

 **Al was happy to do that with her; they still managed to get to breakfast on time; and then he spent most of his time between then and the start of the match with Rose, Ray, and Cyndia. This game day was a bit strange for him because Rose had a boyfriend on the team now – and he ended up having a second, shorter good luck hug and kiss with Gwendolyn when rose needed to wish Brandon good luck as the Ravenclaw team got ready to head out to the stadium for their warm-up and pre-game meeting. Once Gwendolyn and Brandon were gone, Al and Rose went to the Room of Requirements for a while; worked on one of the Quidditch World Cup Animorphmagus mascots he was playing around with; and then they went out to the stadium shortly-before game time so that they wouldn't need to be out in the cold any longer than necessary.**

" **James!" Brock half-shouted; and he sounded exasperated as he then gave James' bed a hard kick. "Get up! You wanted this wake-up call!"**

" **I lied – go away," James groused; and Brock laughed.**

" **Fine – but your date for the match today is going to be furious; so don't expect to be having any fun with her later, superstar."**

" **Her loss," James retorted. "Go away – I'm trying to sleep."**

" **It off," Brock added under his breath; but he walked away and left James – and Ollie – to sleep all day if that's what they wanted to do while missing out on yet another Quidditch match.**

 **There was a bit of a crush at the stadium because nearly all of the spectators arrived at the last minute, but Al and Rose didn't have any trouble getting seats because Lily and Jonah made sure that their two teams were together on the border between their House sections; and they saved spots for Al, Rose, Ray, Cyndia, and some of their other friends. Al earned a lot of quiet thanks for his little packets of portable heat, but then he had some bonus help for Rose, Lily, Jonah, and himself as he kept their two blankets warmed with magic right from the time they sat down and got huddled under them. That wasn't something that he wanted to try helping everyone with, but then that spell was something that every Witch and Wizard could learn to do; and it wasn't his problem if not many of the other teens even tried to do that – let alone keep up that kind of spell throughout the entire match.**

 **Getting there late did have a lot of bonuses. The pre-game show was done while they were getting to their seats and settled in; and then they only had to wait minutes for Teresa and Kylie to invite the teams into the stadium. Slytherin was first, and Al was happy with that; since it meant just a bit less time in the cold for Gwendolyn and her team mates. All of the players made quick work of their laps of the stadium; Mr. Peakes had a very short pre-game chat with them; and then the game was on!**

" **Scorpius Malfoy reaches the quaffle first; and blasts straight for the Ravenclaw goals!" Teresa announced enthusiastically. "Gwendolyn McCoramck tries to block him to the outside; misses; and no – she uses her broomtail to knock the quaffle out of Malfoy's hand! She continues the flip; takes off after the quaffle – and she has it!"**

" **Or doesn't," Kylie interjected. "She passes to Stephanie Boot; and they both go on the attack while Mark Goldstein manages to block both of the Zabini brothers out of the play. Scorpius catches up to Stephanie; she dodges; and passes to McCormack. Gwendolyn goes in on goal; Rupert Avery tries to run into her; she pegs her broom; he misses – and she scores into the open center goal!"**

" **Yes!" Al exclaimed enthusiastically. "That was brilliant!"**

" **It was," Rose agreed. "Thanks for not jumping up. It's too cold out here today to do that – no matter how great the plays are."**

" **It is," he agreed. "I'd like to hope for a quick match, but Gwendolyn didn't like having that happen last year when that also meant not getting many goals or assists."**

" **They didn't have to go with our suggestion for Pauline," Rose reminded him with a grin. "In hindsight; it would've been better for us if they hadn't."**

" **Sometimes, I wonder if we'd be better off if we didn't bother to try and play for our House anymore," Al told her seriously. "That could work to our advantage when we get started with the Cannons."**

" **Except for the part where I want to win some Quidditch Cups just as much as I want to win league championships with the Cannons," Rose pointed out. "I get what you mean, and maybe you can train and keep getting better on your own; but most of us normal Witches and Wizards need the competition and experience to be our best. Just because you don't like all of the attention doesn't mean that you can't help us to get those awards – and you do like to win when you are playing and having fun."**

" **When we can do both," Al agreed. "What do you think about what we're seeing up there so far?"**

" **First impression? Slytherin isn't ready to play in this cold – or against Ravenclaw." She smiled as she turned her attention toward Brandon. "Brandon and Seth are focusing on their Slytherin counterparts to start; and that might be a good plan if they can keep Don and Monty too busy to pound on Gwendolyn, Pauline, and Stephanie."**

" **That would work for me too," Al admitted with a nod. "This kind of cold is something we need to work on for when we're with the Cannons. The more we need to wear to stay warm; the harder it is to play our best."**

" **We could just put you in at Seeker for those matches and win them in under a minute," Rose suggested.**

" **I wouldn't want to do that; but we could," Al agreed. "The only problem with that, though, is that our fans would stop buying tickets to those winter matches if they knew every one of them was going to be that short. That'd definitely mess with your plan to win and make money too."**

" **Good point," Rose conceded. "These little heat packs you brought are nice. Do you think that Muggles have something that'd work for the entire body?"**

" **We can look; but I doubt it – or at least they don't have something wearable. If they did; the clothing stores wouldn't carry all of that winter gear because the Muggles wouldn't need it."**

 **Rose nodded. "Yeah – that makes sense. Okay, how about an idea from your Animorphmagus bag of tricks? We can do things like shark-head Transfigurations. What about some kind of animal skin or coat that would keep us warm?"**

 **Al thought about that seriously for a little while as they continued to watch the game; since there were a lot of different possibilities that might work – if that kind of Transfiguration was possible.**

" **That might be something to try," he decided. "Some of the possibilities would be weird – like whale skin and blubber; but there are quite a few arctic animals with hides or fur that might work." He smiled as he glanced at his cousin. "How would you feel about covering yourself from head-to-toe in polar bear fur – and then being watched by tens of thousands – or even millions on the mirror network?"**

" **Better than I would about being covered in whale blubber," she joked. "I guess we'd have to see what we look like after doing it – and whether it worked; and would be worth the trouble. Any other ideas?"**

" **Well, we can't use magic the way we'd need to do to warm our clothes like I'm doing with this blanket right now; but if we could figure out a way to make clothes with built-in magic that could do it; then that'd be allowed – just as the magic is allowed for the rest of our gear."**

" **Within reason," Rose amended. "We can't use magical devices that would allow us to cheat – like making quaffles stick to our hands or something to attract or capture the snitch."**

" **This wouldn't be any different than having Impervius charms on our goggles," Al pointed out. "Keeping warm the way we're talking about doing it isn't that easy when we're talking about making it automatic. There are a lot of changes going on for players that affect how cold we get – including how fast we're flying. I don't know if we could find a way to regulate those changes or not."**

" **Okay, then let's just add it to our wish list for now; and maybe we can work on that sometime between now and when we're ready to play in the show."**

" **Aren't you ready to play now?" Al teased. "I heard that you won your scrimmage against the Harpies. If you'd been at the Catapults' teen day instead; you might have already had your first professional match!"**

" **No thanks, but since you went there; where's James and Ollie? Sleeping off another night of too much fun?"**

" **Yes," Al answered simply. "I don't get that, since James must be studying the other teams while training with the Catapults. They can replay matches from their opponents, though; and he can only watch his competition by actually watching these games."**

" **His ego has gotten even bigger since the holidays," Rose reminded him. "I doubt that he thinks that anyone can beat him now – even though he's never won against Pauline."**

" **Neither has G-Air; but that didn't keep him from shooting his mouth off all week," Al reminded her with a grin while watching the two Seekers for a few moments. "That Lightningbolt isn't giving him the overwhelming advantage he likely expected that it would."**

" **He hasn't figured out how to use it yet," Rose told him seriously. "Pauline will likely take advantage of the mistakes he's making eventually."**

 **Al agreed with her; and G-Air wasn't the only Slytherin making mistakes. Blaise and Davis Zabini spent a lot of time trying to bash Gwendolyn and Stephanie; and their attempts were generally a dismal failure. The girls were too fast for them; they got a lot of scoring opportunities when the boys missed those hit attempts; and they scored goals. That was particularly true for Gwendolyn; and she was having a brilliant match right from the start. So was Peter in goals for Ravenclaw, and while Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Mark scored eight goals on Rupert Avery in the first hour; Peter only gave up one goal to Scorpius – and stopped everything that Blaise and Davis threw at him.**

 **That scoring ratio didn't change much as the match rolled on. Ravenclaw earned seven or eight goals per hour; and Scorpius scored two more through the end of the third hour. Ravenclaw earned the one-sixty lead by mid-way through that third hour; Pauline backed off from trying to catch the snitch; and G-Air wasn't allowed to try and make the catch for the loss because Don knew that his team needed the win to have any chance of getting into the Quidditch Cup Race when his House already had two losses. He might have felt more-hopeful about doing that when Scorpius scored his fourth goal early in the fourth hour, but Gwendolyn was just getting better as the game rolled on; and she scored four of Ravenclaw's final six goals. Scorpius only managed one more, and while getting two in under a half-hour against Peter had been an improvement, it didn't make a difference; and Pauline ended the match at the three hour and thirty-nine minute mark when she caught G-Air making another mistake and took advantage of it to catch the snitch.**

 **The good news was that his girlfriend and her team won the match, while for Al; the bad news was that her team had won and she'd be busy for most of the day with the victory party in her House. Nobody wanted to stay outdoors for a long post-game celebration on the pitch, so Al didn't get much time to spend with her then either, but he helped her with some healing that included warming her up while congratulating her; and then he eventually walked her 'home' after they all had lunch in the Great Hall about forty-five minutes after the end of the match. After that, he opted for some quiet time in the Room of Requirements; he worked on his toys and broom making for a couple of hours; and then he spent the last hour or so before dinner helping out around the castle.**

 **Helping his fellow students continued to be important to Al, but he was being a bit more-cautious since the New Year; and tried to do more without being seen doing that by anyone whenever possible – including the teens or tweens he helped. That wasn't always possible – like when he was tutoring someone; but he could do other things with complete anonymity – and he was getting very good at doing that. Broken things would miraculously get fixed; new school supplies or other gear would simply appear where needed most; and little gifts would be there – even if that was simply to help cheer someone up who was feeling sad. His good deeds for the day helped Al to get through dinner – and he'd needed that because James and Ollie led the way with some Ravenclaw bashing that included heaping a lot of hate at Gwendolyn despite the fact that they hadn't even seen the match at all. By the time he finished eating; he was glad to be able to meet up with Gwendolyn; and they went on to the Room of Requirements with plans to spend the evening there on their own.**

 **Al would've been happy to talk Quidditch with Gwendolyn, but once they were alone; she was more-interested in having them snog each other senseless for a while; and he was even happier to go along with that plan. They had some music fun after that; watched the mirror network while cuddling and having a bit more snogging fun to wrap up their evening; and didn't really end up talking about anything serious at all. Spending those hours together had been brilliant; which was why Al wasn't happy when they crossed paths with James and Ollie while he was walking Gwendolyn back to her House ahead of curfew – the first time that had happened in months. They hadn't checked their maps – hadn't even used them for that in a long time either; but Al had sensed James and Ollie before they stepped out of a secret passageway and then pretended to look surprised to see Al and Gwendolyn there.**

" **Look, Ollie – it's the Animorph-hermit and his potty-trainer quaffle-hog!" James announced derisively; and Ollie laughed raucously.**

" **Well, she looks like a porker," he declared with a sneer. "What's up, quaffle-hog? Did the loser give you an Animorphlitter for Christmas? You should probably stop playing Quidditch for the next eight or nine months now if he did!"**

" **I watched most of your match against the Magpies – after my Harpies beat the Prides, so I can understand why you wouldn't want me playing for Ravenclaw in May; but it's a bit early for you to bother with your usual razzing and insults. Try saving all of that nonsense until the week before our match – and go back to leaving us alone," Gwendolyn told him dismissively; and smiled when her barb immediately had Ollie riled up. He took a menacing step toward her; and then stopped abruptly when she drew her wand and pointed it at his chest. "I'm still a Prefect," she reminded him. "You should probably just head back to your House. I'll be on patrol in a bit; and I'm sure you'd hate having me catch you out here past curfew." She shook her head in disgust when she saw James leer at her suggestively.**

" **I'm sure you'd have fun with us if you did," he told her. "By the time we were done with you; you'd forget all about the loser here. In fact, let's just skip all of that after-curfew foreplay; you can send him on his way; and have some fun right now with a couple of real Wizards!"**

" **That's enough, James," Al said quietly; and James laughed derisively.**

" **What will you do if I don't stop – or go as far as I want with your potty-trainer? Go back to being the Hogwarts Hermit? It's not as if you have anything else you can quit."**

 **Al sighed; but his eyes were sparking with emerald fire. "No, it seems that I've no choice but to remind both of you why you need to leave Gwendolyn alone."**

 **James and Ollie had time to open their eyes wide with shock as Al drew his wand; but then it was too late for them; and Al had them turned into a pair of mice. Gwendolyn watched on in amusement as he turned into a snow leopard; played cat and mouse for nearly five minutes; wrapped up that bit of fun with a disappearing mice act; and then he improved on that trick by changing them back to their human form while they were still in mid-air after he spit them out again so that they'd land on the floor fairly-hard.**

" **Try to get this through your thick skull, James. You're not winning anything – I don't want to play the game anymore. Go on and enjoy your rich and famous future; leave me to enjoy the happy life I want to make for Gwendolyn, our families, friends, and myself; and we won't need to have these sorts of problems anymore."**

" **I am going to destroy you!" James retorted, but while that was declared with deep conviction and hatred; he didn't even attempt to get up from where he was laying on the floor next to Ollie – and both boys were shaking uncontrollably.**

" **You're truly losing your way from the Light if you don't understand that would be impossible to do to anyone who is following that path," Al told him sadly. "Leave us alone, James. Nothing good will come of this vendetta of yours – for any of us."**

" **If you want me to leave you alone – die!" James told him spitefully.**

 **Al sighed again and reached out for Gwendolyn's hand. "I tried – again," he said quietly. "Goodnight, James."**

 **With that, he walked Gwendolyn home; went on to his own House from there; and went straight up to his dorm room. Gwendolyn had been happy with how he'd handled James and Ollie, but Al wasn't; and understood that he wasn't as far-along in his efforts to change his life as he'd thought when it was obviously still too-easy for him to lose his temper and do things that he'd really rather not. He might have felt bad about that, but he'd also kept a mental eye on James and Ollie; so he knew when they decided to keep the stupid going; stay out past-curfew; and try to go after Gwendolyn again.**

 **Gwendolyn had gone to her dorm room to drop off her guitar and book bag; picked up a few things to take along with her on patrol; and then she checked her map before heading out to meet Susannah for patrol – just to make sure that James and Ollie had learned the lesson Al had just taught them and gone back to their House. She was actually surprised to discover that they were nowhere near Gryffindor tower, but she wasn't worried about them; and had a smile on her face when she left her room. She sent a warning mirror message to Susannah while still on her way out of Ravenclaw tower; got one of her own from Al; and then she used her map once out in the hallway to avoid James and Ollie while meeting up with Susannah – and making sure that she didn't run into them too.**

" **What's going on?" Susannah asked once they were together. "This certainly isn't the first time that James or Ollie have been out past-curfew. Usually, you just want to leave them alone."**

" **I was okay with that while they'd mostly left us alone, but they got into it with Al and me just a while ago while Al was walking me home; and that didn't end well – for them."**

" **So they've decided to go after you now while Al's being a good little boy and is safely out of the way in his dorm room," Susannah surmised; and Gwendolyn nodded. "I can see that you don't want to ask for help, and I'll have your back, Gwendolyn, but don't forget that we are Prefects; and we'll need to follow the rules even with James and Ollie."**

" **That's actually why I'm surprised that they're still out here – and heading our way," Gwendolyn said; pointing to her map as she added the second-half of that comment. "Ollie's still on probation all year, so whatever revenge they think they can get away with tonight is a seriously-stupid risk that could get him booted out of here if we haul them off to Louis."**

" **I doubt they're thinking at all, and Louis has been a decent Head Boy for the most part; so I should feel bad that my first thought when you said that was to wonder if he'd let James and Ollie off the hook after James likely helped him with getting to play in that match with the Catapults."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Great – now I'm picturing having Louis reprimand me instead of them – but let's get ready for anything; 'cause they'll be coming around that corner in five, four..."**

 **She frowned when they suddenly stopped moving. They were still a few paces away from the corner; so they weren't waiting there to ambush them; and she exchanged an uncertain look with Susannah. Her mirror chimed with an incoming mirror message; and she laughed when she read it – and did that aloud for Susannah's benefit.**

" **Sorry, but I couldn't let them even try to do what they had in mind for you and Susannah. I love both of you too much."**

" **Where is he?" Susannah asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **If I don't look; we can pretend we don't know that he might be out past-curfew – and not being quite as good as we thought." She was already packing up her map; and started walking toward James and Ollie while putting it into her bag.**

 **Susannah went with her; and they both laughed at their first look at the two boys. They were in full-body binds, but Al had somehow managed to catch them perfectly in mid-stride so they hadn't just fallen backwards or forewards; their wands were at the ready; and their facial expressions were of dark, expectant excitement while you could practically feel the hatred shining in their eyes. Gwendolyn stopped as soon as they rounded the corner, and managed not to laugh; but she couldn't keep from smiling in satisfaction.**

" **Two dumb choices in one night," she told them. "I know that Seekers are supposed to have short memories, James; but we have already established that, while Al won't fight you for me; he will always be willing to protect me from you." She nodded in answer to the flicker of understanding in the eyes of both boys. "I'm glad of that; but neither of you deserve that kindness."**

" **What do you want to do with them?" Susannah asked.**

" **Let's levitate them over to Gryffindor tower and leave them with one of the Gryffindor Prefects," she decided with a sigh of regret.**

" **As long as we don't leave them alone with Rose," Susannah agreed.**

" **We can stay with her in the hallway; and she'll have a common room full of snogging couples to make sure they don't try anything once she's in there with them," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Rose will at least help them to keep their return there low-key. Some of the other Prefects might not."**

" **Okay," Susannah agreed. "I'll call her; and then we'll move them there – unless you want to release them from those body-binds and let them walk there with us."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "You're welcome to give the reversal spells a try; but don't count on that working for you."**

" **That'll make it a bit tough to get them back into their House without attracting a lot of attention," Susannah pointed out; and Gwendolyn shrugged.**

" **I expect that they'll be free again when they're no longer an imminent threat to us, but if I'm wrong about that; it won't be our problem once we've handed them off to Rose."**

 **Al was near the portrait hole in the common room when Rose went through it and out into the hallway. She didn't see him, but he smiled as he watched her go out to meet up with Gwendolyn and Susannah. He wished that he could have gone out with her and had a bonus goodnight hug and kiss with Gwendolyn, but he couldn't do that; and was only there to release the body binds he'd put on James and Ollie – and make sure that they didn't try anything else stupid before returning to their House. He knew when the three Witches were ready for him to release his brother and Ollie; hoped that they wouldn't follow through with what they were thinking; and set them free.**

 **Ollie sneered as he was set free; pointed his wand at Gwendolyn; and then gaped as it was ripped out of his hand before he could even get half-way through thinking the non-verbal curse he had decided to fire at her – at point-blank range. His wand shot through the gap between Gwendolyn and Susannah; and was three-quarters of the way to that end of the hallway before it stopped and quivered violently in mid-air.**

" **Accio wand!" Ollie shouted; and then looked even more-furious than he already was when it didn't budge.**

" **I don't think that it likes what you wanted to do with it," Gwendolyn deadpanned. "Could you please get that for us, Susannah – and give it to Rose until they're safely back in their common room? We wouldn't want Ollie to do anything that might get him expelled when he's that mad."**

" **It'd be worth it to finally shut that big mouth of yours permanently," Ollie spat venomously. "James may want to screw with you to destroy the loser; but I'll be happy to just see you both destroyed!"**

" **Young man, that is quite unbecoming of a Gryffindor," the Fat Lady told him primly; and Ollie laughed at her derisively.**

" **Oh shut it, you fat, drunk, dead old cow! Go have another nightcap and leave us alone!"**

" **Well – I've never!" the Fat Lady exclaimed; and Ollie laughed derisively.**

" **No doubt," he agreed. "There's likely never been a Wizard alive that would want to have anything to do with a hag like you!"**

 **The Fat Lady started to cry; and ran off out of her portrait.**

" **Well-done, Ollie," Rose told him scornfully. "That must make you feel so good to know that you can make the Fat Lady cry." She sighed and shook her head. "What's gotten into you? we haven't had any problems with you for months now. Please tell me it isn't just because Gwendolyn played a good match today against Slytherin! That'd be a ridiculous reason for the two of you to go after her."**

" **We have reason-enough – not that you'd care," James retorted. "You're one of the Animorphloser's deluded fools. Give Ollie his wand back; we'll be on our way; and you can all keep watching your backs – 'cause you'll need to do that from now until we put the lot of you out of your misery!"**

" **Don't worry; we will – and so will Al," Gwendolyn told him. She smiled at Susannah. "Thanks," she said as Susannah handed Ollie's wand to Rose. "We should get back to our patrol."**

" **More like get it started; since we'd just met up to do that when we had this little distraction," Susannah suggested; and then turned her attention to James. "Nothing else that anyone has said or done to you has made a difference so far, James, but you'll be seventeen in a couple of weeks; and you might want to at least think about making threats like that to anyone – let alone actually try to act on those threats. Your Dad was Head of the Aurors and my Mum now is; so you know how that sort of thing usually ends for the bad guys." She confused him by smiling at his reaction to her comments. "Your Dad may be conflicted about how he's dealt with you until now, but I can assure you that my Mum would not have that problem with either of you."**

" **That's good to know," Gwendolyn told her almost-conversationally. "It's so hard to be rich and famous if you end up in Azkaban. Infamous, yes; but not the greatest Quidditch player ever – unless they start up an inter-prison league or something!"**

" **You're hilarious," James retorted derisively. "go out on your little patrol, quaffle hog. We'll get around to having fun with you another night – or day; or maybe day and night for as long as it takes to destroy you and the loser both!"**

" **I'm thinking that he didn't hear a word you said," Gwendolyn told Susannah.**

" **It seems not," Susannah agreed. "We do have three witnesses to that threat, though; so he'd better remember that little fact even if he ignores the fair-warning."**

 **Al continued to 'listen in' as the girls wrapped up that confrontation with James and Ollie; fought to keep his own anger under control as they came into the common room; and lost that battle as he followed them across the room and into the stairway for the boys' dorms. They'd insulted Rose when she returned Ollie's wand; were having a lot of horrid thoughts about his girlfriend; and started spewing off to each other the moment they were alone on the stairs. They didn't know what hit them when he changed them into mice again; he turned himself into his male version of Holly; and then he chased them up the stairs and into one of the bathrooms where he played an extended, second-round game of cat-and-mouse before dropping them into two of the toilets out of his mouth; flushing; and then changing them back to human form right before they'd have gone on an extended journey into the bowels of the castle plumbing system!**

 **Sure, he'd need to go back to the drawing board in the Room of Requirements and try to start over with his love and joy plan, but when he walked away and left them in two puddles on the bathroom floor; he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about what he'd done to them – not even a little bit!**

 **With Gwendolyn's Quidditch match out of the way, and since he wasn't on the Gryffindor team; they both focused their attention on their studies starting on Sunday morning. They had lots of work to catch up on after taking Saturday off, but Al started his day with some quiet time in the Room of Requirements; and really did try to work on re-centering himself before getting on with the work that kept them busy for most of the rest of the day except for meals – and including some of their Sunday night family fun time while Gwendolyn and about half of their study group worked to get all of their weekend assignments finished.**

 **Their third school week of the New Year continued that trend toward more work and less Quidditch – though they also had their first Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to on Saturday. Add in a Harpies' match and Meg Rivers' twelfth birthday on Saturday too; and they had three very good reasons to work hard every day and get ready to take another Saturday off for all of that family and friends fun! There was only one tiny blip in their schedule during the week – Bristol's sixteenth birthday on Tuesday. While they didn't really spend any time with Bristol anymore, Al and Gwendolyn still got her a gift and made a brief appearance at her party after dinner – and then they moved on to their usual study session while too many of their fifth-year classmates chose to party over their own work.**

 **Al wasn't surprised by any of that, but then he was just glad to be away from the teen drama surroudning Bristol's special day. He did give Bristol one timely gift that he didn't tell anyone about and that she likely didn't even notice – a custom-made, James Potter memory-charm defense. James noticed when his attempts to 'nudge' her into staying out past curfew to play with him failed miserably; but not even he would be able to figure out exactly what Al had done – or why Bristol had simply gotten mad at him instead of going along with him as she'd done so many times in the past. Al doubted that Bristol was completely done with James, since she was still very-strongly attracted to him, but he had at least been able to make sure that any choices she made with him – at least for a while; would truly be hers to make.**

 **Working day and night – including after curfew in bed – helped Al to get most of his assignments for the week finished by the time he went to sleep on Friday night. He was up early on Saturday; ready to go before a quarter of his roommates even woke; and did his morning workout in the Room of Requirements before meeting up with Rose for their morning walk and talk – only the third they'd had all week while one or both of them had been busy with other things. They had a lot to talk about ahead of their trip to town, and while they had one more Hogsmeade weekend ahead of Valentine's Day; they didn't plan on leaving all of their holiday-related shopping until the last minute. Having a quiet start to the day helped Al with the drama in the Great Hall that was almost-all related to teen couple troubles, but he was still in a great mood when he met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast and they headed for town with Lily, Jonah, and a dozen of their friends.**

" **We get to have another sleigh ride?" Lily asked and exclaimed enthusiastically as Al conjured the sleigh again and then summoned blankets to help keep the girls warm.**

" **You do – unless you'd like to give racing me to town a try with any of the guys that want to do that again too," Al answered; and Lily laughed.**

" **Maybe on a weekend when it's warmer," she suggested. "I'll pick staying warm today instead – even if that won't be while cuddling with Jonah."**

" **You'll be warmer – but I'll be there first," Jonah told her with a grin. "Meet you in town!" he added even as he activated his own charmed medalion and took off for the gates at a run that soon had him practically flying along the lane.**

 **Al helped the other guys out while the girls were getting into the sleigh; they all took off too; and Al gave them the head start while changing forms and getting hooked up to the sleigh. this time, he let all of the guys win; they got together again in front of the Three Broomsticks; and then split up into groups to get started on their Hogsmeade adventures. Gwendolyn had shared a few hugs and kisses with him in thanks for the ride to town, but then she'd gone off with the girls to do the 'fun' shopping before all of the best sales were picked up by the other girls. While they were busy, Al went shopping with Jonah and Ray – and they started out with some Valentine's Day gift-buying instead of the supply shopping. They ordered flowers first; did the same with favorite sweets for their girls at Honeydukes; and then Al helped Jonah and Ray with other gifts for Lily and Cyndia.**

" **Maybe I should've done this shopping at Christmas too," Jonah told Al as they searched for the perfect gift for Lily, but had to do that in stores with limited options.**

" **If you want something specific; you could get your Dad to pick it up for you in London and send it to you," Al reminded him. "Did you have anything in particular in mind?"**

" **No – and that's part of the problem," Jonah admitted; and then grinned at Al. "The one thing she wants most this year isn't something I'd be willing to just give her anyway."**

 **Al laughed. "Lily wouldn't want you to give her the Quidditch Cup, mate. She'd want to earn it."**

" **True, but that still makes it tough to find something that she'd like when compared to her goals and dreams."**

" **So don't try to do that," Al counseled; and it was Jonah's turn to laugh.**

" **Sure, since you've such a horrid record when it comes to gifts for your girlfriend. Do I even want to know what you're giving Gwendolyn for Valentine's Day this year?"**

" **Maybe he's got an engagement ring for her this time," Ray suggested with a grin. "Gwendolyn has said that she wants to get married the Friday night after we get home from our NEWT year – and that's only two and a half years from now."**

" **I'm thinking about saving that one up for her seventeenth birthday," Al advised them – "though I may change my mind about that if she's getting a Lightningbolt that day too."**

" **That'd be a tough pick for top gift for Gwendolyn," Jonah teased – "but I think she'd pick the ring as number one."**

" **Unless the broom came with a job offer from the Harpies," Al amended. "James has a lot of players dreaming about getting to start in the show when they're sixteen now; and Gwendolyn and Lily would take those jobs if your Mum offers them."**

" **That'd be for this summer for Gwendolyn," Jonah reminded him. "That'd clear the way for that seventeenth birthday engagement for you if she gets the broom and job offer an extra year early."**

" **I've thought about that since last summer; and I don't think I'd want to be in the show early," Ray told them seriously. "Louis and Ollie didn't look that great against the Magpies; and I wouldn't want to start before I'm ready."**

" **You don't think that Louis is ready?" Jonah asked. "He's seventeen."**

" **He's eighteen now," Al reminded him.**

" **I don't think he's ready," Ray confirmed. "Rose is better already, and if he can't beat her anymore; I doubt he'll win against the best Keepers in the show either."**

" **Myra and Peter will likely end up in the show too," Al pointed out. "We'll definitely have a better idea of how well Louis compares to them by the end of this season."**

" **Maybe," Ray half-agreed. "That'll depend on how well the Chasers play too. Louis might not get enough competition against Hufflepuff; and too much from Gwendolyn and Stephanie."**

" **Don't tell Lily that," Al suggested. "She really wants that Quidditch Cup this year; and she will not be happy with the guys on our senior team if she doesn't get it!"**

" **Would this be a good time to remind you that she promised to blast you too if your House loses?" Jonah asked mildly; and Al laughed.**

" **That won't matter for me. The only thing I need to remember for the end of that match in May is that I'm supposed to run and hide regardless of which team loses."**

 **Jonah and Ray both laughed; they moved on from there; and got more-serious about the gift shopping. Both boys did eventually find nice gifts for their girlfriends; they went on to the 'boring' supply shopping after that; and then met up with the girls in time for the 'fun' supply shopping before going on to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. They were running a bit behind by then; had to rush through their lunch and then do another sleigh ride or magically-helped run back to the castle; and then hurry to get set up for both the game watching and the birthday party. Al and Gwendolyn had help for the party; and it started at the same time as the quaffle-toss for the Harpies-Bats match. Once the work was done, Al and Gwendolyn left the party hosting to Meg's brother, sister, and best friends; sat down to watch the game for a while; and were happy to cuddle on a sofa and take that break in the action.**

" **The weather looks lousy at Yorkshire," Gwendolyn said as they watched the action above the pitch – and it was hard to see very much through the wind-whipped snow-sleet mix. "It's cold here, but at least we got to town and back without getting dumped on or soaked."**

" **I'm going to enjoy staying warm and cuddling with you," Al assured her – "even if we can't see as much on the mirror as we can whenwe're at the stadiums for these matches. "It looks like everyone on both teams are having trouble with the weather."**

" **Didn't you send them any good luck gifts?" Gwendolyn teased meaningfully; and Al laughed.**

" **You could have – or just mentioned it to your Mum," he pointed out.**

" **I did tell her," Gwendolyn admitted, "but she's old-school; and likes her own tricks. She's come a long way – mostly thanks to your Mum and Dad; but you know she really isn't into very many Muggle things. I doubt that she'll ever want to get a car and learn to drive."**

" **Will you?" Al asked seriously. "Once we're over-age; a car would be slower than nearly anything else we could do magically instead – including flying our brooms."**

" **They're warmer to travel in during the winter," Gwendolyn pointed out.**

" **Yes, but we don't have to be out in the cold for long when we apparate – and don't have to worry about things like finding parking for a car." He paused while thinking about that. "I haven't used a Portkey in the winter very often; but I don't think the cold bothered me while in-transit – just while we were outdoors at each end of the trip."**

" **Cold isn't a problem with the Floo Network either," Gwendolyn added; "but I'll like apparating better once we're allowed to do that." Al laughed; and Gwendolyn smiled at him. "What's so funny?"**

" **I was just thinking that I won't mind not having James at home this summer. He'd have been unbearable if he was there and could just apparate everywhere – including into my room."**

" **I don't want to take that thought very far," Gwendolyn decided. "He doesn't care about any other rules except his own; so I doubt he'll care at all about apparating etiquette."**

" **Now you're scaring me just a little," Al admitted. "I'd like to hope that even James wouldn't be that lewd and crude; but I just don't know." He smiled ruefully. "You didn't want to go there; so let's get back to watching the game."**

 **They didn't stop their conversation to do that, but they did move on to talk about Quidditch; and eventually got into other chats with their siblings, cousins, and friends. The Harpies and Bats were having a tough day, but while the Harpies were out-scoring the Bats by quite a bit; the goals each had to be fought for – with the weather being a big part of that battle. Al and Gwendolyn watched most of the first hour; had some party fun with Meg after that for a while; went for a swim; and then watched more of the Quidditch match. They were packing up and cleaning up from the party before the game ended – and that didn't end well for the Harpies. Gabrielle and her Bats' Seeker opponent had been having more troubles trying to catch the snitch than the Chasers and Keepers were having with the quaffle; and it took a fluke play for the Bats' Seeker to catch it.**

 **Beaters the world over might want to claim that snitch catch for their own, but the play was caught on one of the mirror-cams; and everyone watching on the mirror network got to see the replay over and over again; so they all saw just how much of a fluke play it really was. The snitch got hit by a bludger; it was damaged; and basically fell into the lap of the Bats' Seeker – after he'd dodged that bludger. He hadn't been chasing the snitch at the time; Neither he nor Gabrielle had even seen it; and he'd only been able to grab it out of his lap because the snitch had a broken wing and couldn't just fly off.**

 **It did give the Bats a huge come-from-behind victory, though; and once again proved that anything could happen in Quidditch!**

 **The end of that match and Meg's party wasn't the end of the fun for Al and Gwendolyn – they just moved on to do their own thing after splitting up to have dinner in the Great Hall. Their Saturday evening entertainment included some toy making; a music practice; and a fair bit of teen-hot snogging. That kept them busy until Gwendolyn needed to move on and deal with her assigned Prefect duties for the night, and since she needed to get at that an hour before curfew this time; Al stayed in the Room of Requirements and spent the rest of that time playing around with his broom-making. He still made it back to his House on-time; went up to his dorm room after a short visit with Lily and some of her friends; and then he just got ready for bed and crashed for the night – tired out after a very long, fun-filled day!**

 **Taking Saturday off meant a work day on Sunday; and that became the trend of the last week of January for Al and Gwendolyn. Her Prefect duties and Quidditch practices were part of the busy in her life; while Al split his time between classes, studying, tutoring, and working on his toymaking and other projects. Having another open weekend didn't lead to having more fun because they wanted to get ahead on bigger projects while they could – especially when February was going to be a very busy month. Puting in more work didn't mean no fun at all, and in addition to the fun that usually came along with their magic play time; Al and Gwendolyn also had a Quidditch scrimmage, some snow play time, their usual Saturday night alone time, and family night on Sunday evening.**

 **By Monday – the last day of January; Al wasn't dreading the start of February; but he wasn't looking forward to the first big family event of the month – James' seventeenth birthday. Part of that was because of foresight and things that he'd been sensing – information that collectively gave him advance-warning of impending drama. Unlike with other times that had happened to him, there wasn't any uncertainty or major unknowns; so Al was very sure of what was going to happen. He was also sure that this wasn't a case of strengthening talents – it was all about the certainty of upcoming decisions for all involved.**

 **Knowing the future had good and bad parts to it, but when it came to James; that was generally-bad for Al; so he spent extra time in the Room of Requirements starting on Monday; and skipped some study sessions to do that and have the peace and quiet he needed when the dark emotions and thoughts around him became overwhelming. James might have been happy to know he was responsible for Al's need to do that, but he likely didn't even notice Al's absence; since he began celebrating his 'Independence Day' from his family on Monday – and did that day and night all week.**

 **Wednesday – his actual birthday – was the worst for Al; starting with breakfast. He'd been up early; started his day with a workout that helped him to get ready to deal with the drama of the day; and had a nice chat with Rose on the way to the Great Hall. He didn't try to wish James a happy birthday; and Lily delivered their gifts to him. She did that after Al and Rose were in their normal seats; so he sensed and heard all of the rotten that followed – including the parts that Lily only heard about later as the rumors started making the rounds. The workout and quiet time had helped; but when James gave those gifts away to his friends while insulting his family; Al couldn't completely hide the anger – even if he didn't care that James gave Ollie the gift that he and Gwendolyn had given him; and Ollie planned on having fun destroying it later.**

" **What have I missed that has you looking like that?" Rose asked Al in a whisper; leaning close so she wouldn't be overheard. "You're definitely not in your happy place anymore."**

" **I'm trying," Al assured her; whispering too. "James just gave those gifts away while making fun of Lily – and the rest of us."**

" **He's been insulting you and your parents all week," Rose reminded him; "but the giving his gifts away is new. Apparently the rich and famous superstar needs gifts worthy of his greatness."**

" **You've actually got that one spot-on," Al advised her; "but he's at least pretending to like the gifts from his friends."**

" **Do you know what your parents are doing for his big day now that he doesn't need a Lightningbolt?" Rose asked; and Al shook his head.**

" **No idea," Al admitted; and then grinned at her. "They have likely blown through the new broom budget by now after being unemployed for so long; so they likely can't get him anything really good instead anyway."**

 **Rose laughed. "We both know they'll do something else really nice instead."**

 **Al was sure she was right, but then it wasn't long until he found out what that was – while James didn't even bother because he ripped up the birthday card from their parents without even looking at it when it was delivered with the Owl Post – and didn't come with a gift. There were other gifts and letters delivered to him that he did open; and Al's anger-level rose as he mentally watched James give more gifts away to his friends – including the special, seventeenth-birthday watch from their grandparents – a gift that they'd given to all of their kids and grandchildren. Al knew that his older cousins had received those watches with varying degrees of gratitude and appreciation; but they all at least kept their watches and usually wore them whenever they were visiting their grandparents.**

 **He told Rose about those giveaways too; but didn't tell anyone about what he'd sensed of the contents of the envelope that James had shredded and thrown away. That knowledge hadn't come from being able to magically-read anything – he'd just somehow known what was important about it – a Gringotts letter advising James of a sizeable deposit into his vault that was from a trust fund that became his on his seventeenth. There was one additional gift that was only written about on the card because it was too large to send to Hogwarts, but Al tried not to think about how he felt about that; considering how horrid James was being about everything else he'd been given by his family.**

 **There was one thing he was sure of, though – whenever James found out that he'd been given Sirius' motorcycle; that would be one gift that he would not just throw or give away. None of that was really any of his business, and he'd known for a long time that James would inherit the motorcycle one day; since he'd also always been most-interested in it far more than Al or Lily ever were. All of that drama encouraged Al to get out of the Great Hall as soon as he was done eating; Gwendolyn spent a bit of time with him before their morning classes; and then he was happy to just stay busy for the rest of the day – including skipping lunch and dinner and mostly hiding out in the Room of Requirements.**

 **Gwendolyn, Rose, and Lily still kept him up-to-date with the latest James news, and he picked up more than he wanted when out and about the castle; but he didn't go anywhere near the party that Ollie and some of their friends threw for James after dinner. Lily made an appearance with Jonah; left again within minutes; and advised Al that he'd been right to stay away from the event that was definitely not a family-friendly activity! That party went late into the night; the Head Boy might have made sure that they got a pass on curfew for that; and Al was okay with not having that party move into the Gryffindor common room – or have to even see James again at all. He went to bed early; stayed awake and worked on his toys for a couple of hours; and then went to sleep shortly after Ray came up to bed after saying goodnight to Cyndia for a bit too long in a non-verbal sort of way.**

 **By Thursday morning, the gossip from James' party strongly-suggested that it had been an epic success – depending on your perspective and definition of a successful party. James wasn't around at breakfast to hear about it; but then neither were many of the friends that had attended it. Al eventually learned that class participation for those teens was a problem all day too; and James skipped lunch too while continuing to recover from what had already been days of too much of his kind of fun. There was more going on around the family other than James' birthday, though, and the Harpies' match against the Catapults on Thursday evening was next on the schedule.**

 **As usual, Al, Gwendolyn, and their study group friends set up their classroom for the game watching while studying too; and had Lily, Jonah, and their friends along for the fun. They found out that James was having another party too; and was bragging about how 'his' team was going to prove once again how useless their players were without him there to be their hero and savior! Al was all for cheering the Harpies for the win; but stayed as far away as possible from all of the horrid displays of bad sportsmanship from James, Ollie, the McClaggens, and even a little bit from Louis. They couldn't take the time off from their studies; but the Quidditch match was the focus of their conversation while they sat around their usual work table and studied while keeping an eye on the match.**

" **Lee's having fun," Rose said after their favorite game announcer cracked another joke about the Catapults that included a back-handed shout-out to Hogwarts while also suggesting that the best match of the month for the Catapults' players would be the one between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff two weeks from Saturday.**

" **Yes, but he's also likely right," Brandon suggested. "Susannah's House team only gets one Catapults player for that match, which doesn't seem quite fair; but I think that Gryffindor or Ravenclaw could give the Harpies a better match than the Catapults have in this one so far. Miya's the only player trying her best; and she's not going to beat the Harpies' Chasers on her own."**

" **She won't," Rose agreed; "but she's looking brilliant by comparison."**

" **Miya's getting a lot better because of that extra work too," Al offered quietly; and smiled when that comment got the attention of everyone at their table.**

" **You've been so quiet this week; I was wondering if you'd just decided to stop talking," Brandon joked. "I just thought she looked better because her team mates aren't trying."**

" **I'd rank her top-ten in the league right now – maybe closer to top-five." Al told him seriously. "That's my own opinion, and we don't know how other top players would handle the problems she's having with her team mates this season; but the pressure has definitely helped her to become a much better player than she was while here at Hogwarts." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "Maybe she just had it too easy in the seasons when she had some really great Chasers playing with her."**

" **I only played with her one season," Gwendolyn reminded him – "though I'm not disagreeing with you. She was a better player than she got credit for here – and that was in part because of her team mates. Peter and Pauline always got more attention than she did – and they played on five teams with her."**

" **Well, I'll wager that she'd like to have all three of you out there with her tonight," Seth suggested. "Brandon and I could do better for her team too."**

" **You could," Rose agreed; "but we all know that the McClaggens have those jobs locked up after they graduate."**

" **For as much trash-talking as they've been doing since Christmas; they'd better hope that's a done deal," Seth half-groused. "Their reps might not survive the hit if they don't end up with the Catapults."**

" **Let them keep talking themselves up,' Gwendolyn told them. "We'll have lots of motivation by the end of May, and while I'll feel bad if we end up disappointing Lily again this season; I won't feel bad for that lot of gits on the Gryffindor senior team."**

" **I heard that," Lily called out from the next table.**

" **You were meant to," Gwendolyn assured her with a grin. "Try not to get too mad at me – I am at least predicting that the Quidditch Cup will be decided by that match; so that could be good for your junior team."**

" **You're predicting that Lily's team will beat mine?" Jonah asked in feigned indignation; and both girls laughed.**

" **Not necessarily," Gwendolyn disagreed. "I'd be okay with our House winning the tie-break on points for the season."**

" **Now you're just messing with me," Jonah decided. "Either way; that'd mean having my team lose one of our last two matches this season – unless you'd like to win on points and lose your last match – and that isn't what you said."**

" **It isn't," Gwendolyn agreed; "but I actually might be okay with that too – even if it wouldn't be nearly as much fun as beating James and his team."**

 **Al sensed that she only wanted to believe that, but then it was fair to say that every serious Quidditch player wanted to win every match they played; and wouldn't prefer to lose a match even if that did mean still winning a championship. Even his own, over-active sense of fair play hadn't extended to intentionally losing matches – even though he had been happy with the tie he'd helped to earn against Gwendolyn's team back in their first year. He tried not to think about how wrong it was for him to cheer for her team over the Gryffindor teams she'd played against without him – and there would now be more of them than matches he had played in after their next match-up in May. As he thought about that – and continued to study and mostly listen in as everyone else talked Quidditch; he wondered that missing more than half of the matches he could've played in during his first five years didn't really bother him. Only having seven matches to his credit wouldn't look very impressive to the league scouts our of what could have been fifteen games, but then he wasn't interested in being scouted anyway; and that did help to play into Rose's plans for the Cannons. She didn't see it that way for her own school Quidditch career, but then she was to be the leader of their new team if she succeeded in buying the Cannons; so she could likely get away with having a brilliant school career.**

 **The Harpies didn't have a brilliant Quidditch match – they didn't need to do that. Gabrielle might have been ordered to let her team play for a while to give the fans their money's worth; since she didn't catch the snitch until almost three-quarters of the way through the second hour for the easy two-sixty to thirty victory – and she could have done that much earlier in the match without getting anything more than token resistance from the Catapults' Seeker. That might have seemed a bit too much like James' last match, but it wasn't; and the Harpies didn't try to run it up on the Catapults the way that a few of the other teams had done through the first half of the season. Miya scored all three of the Catapults' goals, but Victoire, Candice, and Hailey took it easy on the Catapults too with just those eleven goals when they could have scored many more if they'd pushed their hardest.**

 **The short match allowed the more-studious members of their larger group to get more work done by curfew, but then Al did more work while waiting for Astronomy class; and was done everything by the time he went to sleep a half-hour or so after getting back to his dorm room from a very frosty hour on the Astronomy tower. With their favorite Quidditch team having the mid-week match; Al and Gwendolyn didn't have any must-do extra activities for the weekend – though they did plan on working and playing hard anyway. On Friday, that meant studying when they could until curfew; they studied on Saturday morning; and then had an invitation-only pool party that they followed up with some alone time in the Room of Requirements on Saturday evening. Snogging was a big part of their fun plans for those few hours, but they also finished up two more of their Quidditch World Cup Animorphmagus toys; played music; and didn't really watch a mirror network show or three while having more fun with the snogging.**

 **Keeping busy helped Al to stay away from James and Ollie; and he really needed to do that because their ongoing partying – and the never-ending hatred they directed his way – just made being around them at all very unpleasant. Al also felt as though his own life was being affected by their actions – even when what they did really had nothing to do with him at all. That didn't mean his life was on-hold or anything – it was just the ongoing sense of impending drama that kept intruding on his thoughts and affecting his choices. For sunday, that meant spending some extra time in the Room of Requirements; he didn't help out around the castle as much as he tried to do most days; and the Sunday evening family fun night wasn't quite as much fun for him as normal – even with the mirror chat with Malorie and the twins that was always entertaining.**

 **One thing that was notable for Sunday night was the outgoing Owl Post with Winter. That was entirely because they sent their first major batch of Quidditch World Cup toys to his mother; and rose and Gwendolyn were as sure as Al was that they'd have a huge hit this summer – and might be able to sell millions of the toys at the Quidditch World Cup matches – especially if they could get one made for each country participating in the quadrennial competition. Sure, there might only be one hundred thousand spectators at the championship match, but there were sixty-four first-round matches and one hundred and twenty-eight teams; so that meant millions of fans for that round – and didn't include what would likely be tens of millions of fans watching those matches on the mirror network.**

 **By Monday, the teens and tweens of Hogwarts were talking about Valentine's Day more than anything else; though the Hogsmeade weekend ahead of the special day was news too; and James, Ollie, and the McClaggens were in the gossip news for their lack of love and good sportsmanship toward the Hufflepuff players – and all of the Hufflepuff students in general. Sure, they'd started that early anyway, but ramped it up as they counted down the days instead of weeks; and that gave Al more reasons to keep his head down; study and work hard; and keep out of the way of as much of that drama as possible. That wasn't always possible, since he couldn't avoid what he sensed whenever he wasn't in the Room of Requirements, but Al did manage to stay in a good mood – and have as much fun as he could with Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and the rest of their closest friends.**

 **With the Hogsmeade weekend and a very important league match between the Harpies and United on Saturday; work was still the top priority for Al – and he didn't even have the special Valentine-edition meeting of the Slug Club to attend on Friday. He did help Gwendolyn as much as he could with her effort to keep up with their OWL-year workload when she had a bit too much on the go with that meeting, her team practices, and Prefect duties; but he also had spare time for his own interests whenever she was busy. Their ongoing toymaking efforts were part of the extra work he did, but that was always fun for him; and so were the Quidditch workouts he did with Rose, Ray, Cyndia, and others – including one Seeker duel with Lily because she wanted him to start helping her again with getting ready for her matches in March and April.**

 **Putting in long days meant being tired out every night, but Al felt good about where he was at with everything he had on the go by the time he went to bed on Friday night – and did that hours before Gwendolyn would be able to get to sleep after her Slug Club meeting-party and the Prefect patrol that she was scheduled to do after the party ended. Some of his friends still thought he was crazy for his choices – particularly when it meant missing out on so much with Gwendolyn, but the longer they worked out what was best for each of them; the more he was sure that they were, for the most part, doing exactly what they needed to do for them to each be happy; and be happy together too.**

 **Gwendolyn and Susannah were out on patrol; they were nearly-done for the night; and were looking forward to getting back to their dorm rooms and going to bed for the handful of hours they'd be able to do that before getting up again and ready for their Hogsmeade weekend. They were in a fourth-floor hallway when they heard a muffled, angry shout; and they both stopped while trying to discern where it had come from.**

" **Yeah – I heard that too," Susannah assured Gwendolyn. She paused; and they heard another yell and aloud thud – from somewhere behind them.**

 **Turning around, they back-tracked; followed the ongoing yells and more thuds; and could hear schuffling feet and what seemed to be a struggle the closer they got to the source.**

" **I said NO!" a Witch shouted. "Revulsio!"**

 **This time, the sound that followed was a loud crash; there was a howl of pain; and then they heard a Wizard – a voice they both recognized – spit out some rather-nasty insults. by then, they'd reached the classroom door; Gwendolyn opened it; and they both had their wands drawn as they hurried into the room. They were surprised; but not as shocked as the Witch in the room was as she spun to face them. She'd looked ready to attack them until she saw who they were; and then she began to blush furiously and grabbed her torn-open blouse to cover herself as she backed away from them. Her expression turned to one of fear when Gwendolyn pointed her wand toward her; and then whirled around when the spells Gwendolyn immediately fired shot past within inches of her – and hit James full-on. He hadn't looked shocked – he'd been furious; and Gwendolyn's attack was actually a counter-attack to whatever he'd tried to do to the Witch while her back had been turned to him.**

" **Expelliarmus!" Susannah shouted, and while James was flung back into the wall that was right behind him by Gwendolyn's spells; his wand dutifully obeyed Susannah's disarming spell.**

" **Accio wand!" James countered; but his words were slurred; and the attempt failed.**

" **Incarcerous!" Gwendolyn said angrily; and didn't worry about what that might mean for James in his current state of undress – or care whether the ropes might be a bit painful to certain, sensitive parts of his body.**

" **Ow!" James howled. "Get these things off me, you B-Witch! There's nothing going on here that's any of your business!"**

" **I find that impossible to believe; since we heard the racket you've been making in here from half the castle away from here," she retorted; and then turned her attention to the Witch. "Are you okay?" she asked; her tone of voice now gentled and concerned.**

" **Yes – and I didn't need; and don't want your help," she retorted. "James is right – this is none of your business."**

 **Gwendolyn was ready to offer a hot retort to that load of rubbish, but Susannah put a restraining hand on her arm; and silently asked her to leave the Witch to her.**

" **That's up to you – for everything except for the fact that you're out of our House after curfew," she told her fellow Hufflepuff. "If you've no complaints to make against James; then get your things together; and I'll walk you back to our House."**

" **I don't need an escort," she declared; and Susannah shrugged.**

" **You're getting one anyway – "along with five points from Hufflepuff.**

" **Are you kidding me? After what he just..."**

" **...just what?" Gwendolyn asked as the Witch clamped her mouth shut.**

" **Nothing," she muttered. "What about him?"**

" **We have to call for help with him," Susannah answered; and then smiled at Gwendolyn. "Brandon's the only guy still out on patrol tonight – unless you want to call Louis instead."**

" **I'll call Rose and Brandon," Gwendolyn told her. "That'll be faster – especially if Louis is sleeping already."**

" **You can't call any guys to come here!" the Witch exclaimed; and Susannah shook her head apologetically.**

" **We have no choice," she advised her. "I can't leave Gwendolyn alone with James or any other Wizard we're dealing with as Prefects – just as the guys aren't allowed to be left alone with any Witches for things like this. I will help you to fix your top if you need and straighten this room up again."**

" **Then you should get at that while I call Rose," Gwendolyn suggested – even as she got her mirror out to do that.**

 **Susannah's House mate wasn't happy, but when Gwendolyn went ahead and made that call; she was suddenly motivated to pull herself together and gather her things so that she was ready to leave with Susannah as soon as Rose and Brandon joined them. By then, she'd pasted a fake smile on her face; her attitude toward Brandon was actually flirty; and she seemed oblivious to the fact that her reaction to the situation led all four of the Prefects to have a very low opinion of her. Susannah didn't let her stay long; they headed for Hufflepuff House; and Gwendolyn, Rose, and Brandon were left with James – who had been surprisingly-quiet while his chosen playmate for the night had still been in the room.**

" **Okay, she's gone – do your worst!" James slurred out. "I'll have the lot of you kicked out of here for this – and whatever else you do to me!"**

" **We're not going to do anything to you, James," Gwendolyn advised him sweetly. "In fact, Rose and I are even going to step out of the room before I release you from those ropes; since you are a bit under-dressed; and that would just be inappropriate. Your little playmate doesn't want to file any complaints; so you're only in trouble for being out past curfew."**

" **Again,' Rose added. "Congratulations, James – that's twenty-five points from Gryffindor this time around – and probably a detention too; though that's up to Louis or Deanna to decide tomorrow."**

 **James snorted. "Whatever. Louis won't do anything to mess things up for our match against Hufflepuff. I'm Captain, and if I don't play; I'll make sure he doesn't either."**

" **Just get dressed and shut it," Gwendolyn told him in disgust. "We'll be waiting in the hall for you," she added; nodding at Brandon before linking arms with Rose and turning toward the door. "Don't worry – you won't see anything you don't want to see – without a magnifying glass."**

 **James swore at her; Brandon laughed; and Rose waited until they were in the hallway to hug Gwendolyn. She was smiling; but there was a grim, serious look in her eyes.**

" **What really happened in there?"**

" **We can only guess," Gwendolyn admitted. "From what Susannah and I heard before getting here; James wanted to have more fun than his playmate did, and, fortunately for her; she was able to stop him when he didn't want to take 'no' for an answer."**

" **That's how he ended up in ropes?" Rose asked dubiously.**

" **No. When we got here, the Witch had just finished using a revulsion spell on him; and when she turned to see us coming in the room; he tried to blast her from behind. Susannah and I took steps to make sure he couldn't do that, and I was fairly-motivated; since our unappreciative young Hufflepuff had been standing there with her blouse ripped open – though I guess that we don't know whether that happened before or after James tried to go too far with her."**

 **Rose shook her head. "This just makes me feel sick."**

" **It makes me mad, but without any complaints; being out past-curfew is all we've got him for this time – again."**

 **James knew that too; razzed them the entire way back to Gryffindor tower; and then he sauntered off into the common room with Rose following him in while Brandon walked back to Ravenclaw tower with Gwendolyn – all of them finished their patrols for the night.**

" **You're back early," Ollie deadpanned as he woke up when he heard James rummaging around in his trunk. "I didn't expect to see you until morning. What happened? Did you tire out your little Hufflepuff hottie? She is a bit young yet – and you had her out way past her bedtime."**

 **James snorted. "She's a yeller – and that got us caught by the Prefect patrol."**

" **Seriously?" Ollie asked. "Pour me a drink too. This must be a story worth waking up to hear."**

" **Yeah; and I'm sure you'll love it – especially when you find out that it was the potty-trainer and her MacMutton sidekick that caught us."**

" **And you couldn't talk them into a threesome – or foursome including the Witch you already had on the go?" Ollie joked; laughing at his own comment.**

" **No, but I was hoping for the best when Gwendolyn tied me up. She's obviously into that sort of thing."**

 **Ollie laughed again. "You're leaving out some important details to this story," he deduced; and James shrugged.**

" **You don't usually want any of the details,' he reminded his friend. "It doesn't really matter. She tied me up; found out that the yelling was not a call for help, but another satisfied customer; and then the MacMutt took my playmate home while I was stuck to deal with the up-tight potty-trainer."**

" **They'd have called for help," Ollie pointed out. "Is that story going to fly on the gossip network tomorrow?"**

" **It will, and yes, they called for Rose and Brandon; but they didn't see or hear anything – other than seeing me tied up; and Brandon was likely just wishing he'd been me by the time my hot little playmate had finished flirting with him."**

" **And you didn't have a problem with her doing that?"**

 **James laughed. "Of course not. That just proved that she wanted more when they interrupted us and dragged her off. I have that effect on women."**

" **Not all of them – or you'd have gotten all three of them tonight," Ollie declared with a crude leer. "Better luck next time!"**

 **Al was awake early on Saturday morning; enjoyed his early-morning quiet time and workout in the Room of Requirements; and was glad to have had that chance to get centered and happy – particularly when Rose told him all about the adventures that she and Gwendolyn had shared at the Slug Club party and during their patrol. He had an extra hug and kiss or three for Gwendolyn because of that before and after breakfast, and since they'd had a temporary break in the winter freeze that had the school lane and road to town a bit of a mess; he went with a carriage instead of a sled for the trip to town – and didn't have a race that would have just kicked up mud and slush on the girls if he'd done that.**

 **Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose had appointments at the salon ahead of Valentine's Day, so Al said goodbye to Gwendolyn when they got to town; and he and Jonah paired up to do their supply shopping while the other guys split up into pairs or small groups to either do the same or to deal with last-minute shopping for the holiday. Al and Jonah had some Valentine-themed supplies to pick up along the way, but that was mostly for the first and second-year tweens they were shopping for – along with some orders for the girls. Thanks to the salon appointments and the need to be back at the castle in time for the Harpies' match; they needed to do most of the shopping – including the wheezes and sweets stops. They eventually found out that the girls took turns doing a bit of clothes shoppping too before meeting up with them at the Three Broomsticks for lunch, but while their visit to town was nearly-all work except for that meal; Al and Jonah were happy campers – particularly once they were reunited with Gwendolyn and Lily.**

 **Not everyone was going back to the school early. It was, after all, the Valentine's Day Hogsmeade weekend; but all that meant for Al was that he could take Gwendolyn and all of the returning couples with her in the carriage that he pulled back to the castle. They were back with time to spare for getting changed; distribute supply orders and treats; and then get the classroom set up for their game-watching fun – including the portable pool that Lily had suggested would help with keeping everyone entertained during what they all expected to be a long, tough match between the Harpies and United teams. Gwendolyn wanted to go for a swim once they had everything ready; so Al joined her to do that – along with Lily, Jonah, and a handful of other friends; so they watched Lee's pre-game predictions from the pool while enjoying the warm water and, for Al, the girlfriend in a swimsuit time that was always a happy place for him to be!**

" **Uh-oh – Lee's picking United for the win," Jonah said after they all heard him do that – and Lee had gone with the majority of his experts for that choice while only one of his experts picked the Harpies.**

" **Let's hope he'll be wrong," Lily told him. "We don't want to lose both of our matches this season to United – even if they need the win more than we do right now."**

" **They only need the win more for the race for number one," Gwendolyn countered. "Both teams will make the playoffs unless they have a total collapse between now and the end of the season. I think Lee's going to be wrong today – even if Dominique did use her birthday wish yesterday to wish for the win."**

" **I'd have wished for a spot on the National team," Lily offered with a grin. "That'd be a way better use of a birthday wish."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "That's a good point – and you'll have to ask Dominique about that sometime after the game. Will you be thinking like that for your next few birthday wishes?"**

" **Definitely," Lily agreed – "though I can't tell you what my next few wishes will be; or they won't come true."**

" **We could just ask Al," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "Maybe he already knows what your wishes will be – and whether they'll come true or not."**

" **If I could do that, and the answer was no to getting those wishes; she'd just change the wishes," Al pointed out. "I'm glad that I can't do that."**

" **I'm not even going to think about that much," Jonah told him. "My head might explode."**

" **That is a bit mind-boggling," Rose interjected as she and Brandon floated over toward them from the other end of the pool. "It's interesting that Al says he can't do that, but when you think about prophecies; the ones that come true often hinge on little choices that are made in the future."**

" **Or not-so-little ones," Al agreed; but then shrugged. "That's true, but the one thing we really don't know about that is how many confirmed prophecies there have been compared to prophecies that never happened at all."**

 **Jonah laughed. "Okay, at the risk of blowing my mind – what does that mean?"**

 **Al smiled and shrugged again. "Say you have one hundred prophecies, but you only know of one of them that came true. One correct prediction out of one hundred isn't very good odds. You might even be able to make one hundred random predictions and be right more-often than once fairly-easily."**

" **And you're saying that we don't know whether it's like that for prophecies," Gwendolyn surmised.**

" **We likely never will know," Al agreed and added. "It's not as though most prophecies are clear enough to pinpoint the when – let alone the where, how, and why of it; so we keep them in the Department of Mysteries and wait to see if something happens that fits any of the prophecies. That's all that some of the Witches and Wizards do in that Department – search for matches for events to prophecies."**

" **Maybe we should check there this summer and find out if they have any prophecies there about the Cannons," Lily teased; and then pretended to go into a trance. "When the orange and black ascend the throne once more; the flower-Witch guardian of hope will rejoice! She will shout from the top of the hallowed stadium of yore; and all in the land will hear her proud, ghostly voice!"**

" **You're hilarious," Rose told her dryly while everyone else around them laughed. "Be careful – with a sense of humor like that; you'd fit right in with the Cannons clown brigade!"**

 **Lily frowned. "Let's not go there. I've been annoyed with James all week; and that just reminds me of what a git he seems to be all of the time now."**

" **How can you say that about a guy that's so generous; he gives away his own birthday gifts to his friends in need?" Brandon asked; and then laughed at Lily's reaction. "Sorry – you did say that you didn't want to go there."**

 **Lily sighed and shook her head. "It's okay. I should be joking about that too – and the gift that Jonah and I gave him did at least go to someone who appreciated it."**

" **Ollie appreciated Al's gift," Gwendolyn told her. "We heard that it blowed up real good!"**

" **That's a line from an old Muggle comedy skit," Lily advised the friends that looked confused by Gwendolyn's choice of words. "We saw some videos of those skits on the Muggle internet years ago; and James thought it was hilarious. I doubt Ollie even knows where James got that from – unless he was shown those videos at our house."**

" **Okay, but now you've got me wanting to see them," Brandon told her. "What'd they do – blow stuff up too?"**

 **Lily laughed. "Actually, they pretended to blow up Muggle celebrities – though they used other members of the comedy troupe to impersonate those celebrities. We thought that it was one of those things that you see that are so stupid you just have to laugh at it."**

" **Maybe, but I'd be okay with a mirror network show that blew up our celebrities," Brandon suggested with a grin – "or maybe we could burn them at the stake instead."**

" **Who would you want to burn at the stake?" Gwendolyn asked; and then laughed. "Then again, Lee didn't pick my team to win today. I'd be okay with making him the first celebrity for that show!"**

 **Lily laughed. "Let's suggest it to our parents tomorrow night. Lee might think that'd be a fun addition to his nightly show. He could do his monologue; and then burn the celebrity of the day at the stake!"**

" **I know that some of you want to do it, but don't suggest Rita for the first celebrity," Gwendolyn told them with a grin for her boyfriend. "Al would likely just heal her again if Lee set her on fire or blew her up."**

 **That joke led to others; they had fun swimming around, watching a great Quidditch match, and just hanging out together. Victoire didn't likely get the message about Lee's prediction, and if she wanted to give her sister an extra birthday gift; she didn't do that by holding back in their match. As the game rolled on and on; it was clear to everyone watching that Victoire was motivated – and winning her Chaser duel with Dominique. She helped the Harpies to earn an early lead, and while it didn't grow very quickly; Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia couldn't get back to a tie or take the lead. Belinda was having a tough day; but then the defenses weren't winning on either side nearly as often as they'd like.**

 **Gabrielle and Alex were having an epic Seeker battle; so the match went on and on throughout the afternoon. There was no end in sight when they needed to pack up and go for dinner, so Al and Rose continued to watch the match on his mirror while they had that meal; and then they set up the mirror and sofas again after they finished eating – and had that done with just a bit of time to spare before the match did finally come to an abrupt end at the six hour and thirteen minute mark. This time, Gabrielle earned the win for her team; she beat Alex on a clean play; and the Harpies and their fans were thrilled to get the four-forty to two-ten victory.**

 **While they still had most of the evening ahead of them, Al and Gwendolyn didn't go off on their own – they stayed and had fun with their friends until Gwendolyn needed to move on to her Prefect duties. She walked Al back to his House first; and then he went up to his dorm room and worked on their toys for a couple of hours before deciding to call it a night and get some sleep. After taking Friday night and Saturday off; Sunday was all about working on weekend assignments, and while Al was far-ahead of nearly everyone else in their study group; he worked at least as hard as everyone else all day – including helping other teens and tweens in need while they worked in the library for a few hours. Some studying needed to be wrapped up after dinner; so they mixed work with their family fun night; wrapped up their weekend with another Owl Post that included more toy prototypes along with some Valentine's Day gifts for their parents; and then they all headed for bed when they got back to their Houses – ready to get a decent night of rest after a too-busy weekend – and ahead of Valentine's Day on Monday.**

" **Happy Valentine's Day!" Al told Gwendolyn enthusiastically as he greeted her in the hallway outside of Ravenclaw tower. His smile brightened when she laughed and took the last few steps to him.**

" **Are you trying something new to avoid our usual Valentine's Day troubles in the Great Hall?" she teased; and Al nodded.**

" **Absolutely," he confirmed. "I was tempted to have a special breakfast for two anywhere else too; but then you'd have needed to wait until lunchtime to get your Owl Posts from home."**

" **That's true," she agreed; and then shared a happy hug and kiss with him before he handed her the gift he'd been holding. "thank you." She looked past him; and waved at Rose. "You had time for your morning walk and talk too?" she asked; and Al nodded again.**

" **Yes; and that was a fun little surprise when Brandon got here while we were waiting for you. That's worked out well for them too."**

" **Good for them. Should we be worried about anything this morning?"**

" **Nothing specific; but I'm sensing so much weird around anything to do with James; let's just be careful all day and hope for the best."**

" **You can do that – and keep your fingers crossed like any good Cannons' player-to-be would; and I'll just be ready to blast him if he tries to mess with yet another Valentine's Day on us!" She'd been opening her gift by then; and had another, longer hug and kiss for Al when she saw what he'd gotten – made – for her.**

" **I think she likes her gift," Rose teased as she and Brandon joined them after giving Al and Gwendolyn that bit of space for their first bit of Valentine's Day fun. "What did he get you?"**

" **His and her Animorphmagus dolls," Gwendolyn answered; and then pulled them out one at a time to show them to Rose. "Do I want to know what my animal form is?" she mused.**

" **We could guess at that for a while first," Rose suggested. "I'll guess his and hers puppies." She grinned when she saw the expression on Al's face. "No – change that to Gwendolyn's favorite – his and hers horses." She frowned when Al's expression didn't change.**

" **Maybe that's part of the gift," Brandon suggested. "Gwendolyn has to figure that out."**

" **There aren't any instructions with them," Gwendolyn advised them after looking for them in the box. "Is that what you've done?" she asked Al.**

" **They're interactive," Al told her; and he seemed to be having a lot of fun. "Why don't you talk with them and find out?"**

 **Gwendolyn wanted to start walking toward the Great Hall first, but then she began talking to the 'Al' doll while handing the 'Gwendolyn' doll to Rose so she could play too. It didn't take them long to get the dolls to change to animal forms; but then they were eventually astonished when they discoverd that the dolls weren't limited to one animal form.**

" **Merlin, Al," Rose exclaimed after she and Gwendolyn went through a total of six animal changes with the dolls. "How many animal forms did you magic into them?"**

 **Al grinned at her. "All of the animals we've been working on for the Quidditch World Cup toys so far – plus a few of Gwendolyn's favorites."**

 **Rose laughed. "That's brilliant – and I hate the idea! You'd never sell any other Animorphmagus dolls or action figures if the kids only needed the one from now on."**

 **Al shrugged. "I wasn't really planning on making more of them, since it's a fair bit of work; but it might be possible to make the animal options like mirror gaming – something that could be bought and added to future versions of the toys – just as we add games to our mirrors."**

" **Okay, that might work," Rose conceded. She looked over at Gwendolyn's doll and laughed. "You have collars on the dogs?" she asked; and then proceeded to turn the 'Al' doll into its Samoyed Husky puppy form so that she could look at the tag. "It's a miniature version of the collar Al got from you," she advised Gwendolyn. "It even has the owner information!" She laughed again. "Does yours?"**

 **Yes," Gwendolyn confirmed; and then she laughed too. "Sapphire?" she asked Al; and he grinned at her.**

" **For some reason, all of your animal forms have your amazing blue eyes," he explained. "Sapphire seemed appropriate – and works with the name you gave me."**

" **Sapphire and Sabre," Rose mused. "I like it."**

" **Me too," Gwendolyn agreed; and hugged and kissed Al again. "Are there any other surprises with the dolls we should know about?"**

" **Yes to the surprises; but you'll have to find the rest of them yourself – or with some help from your friends."**

 **He really had worked in some surprises that he'd thought would be fun for Gwendolyn – including 'hiding' more gifts that would be summoned when each animal form was requested. Gwendolyn and Rose had found the dog tags, but they'd already missed noticing the 'bonus' gifts for the other animal forms they'd tried so far; and they didn't find any of the others before they needed to split up when they got to the Great Hall. Rose had been reluctant to return Gwendolyn's doll, but did that so that their Ravenclaw friends could continue to play with them at breakfast. After saying goodbye to Gwendolyn, Al focused his inner attention on everything going on around them – and in particular on James and Ollie so that he'd be ready for anything they might try while they were all in the Great Hall.**

 **Other than the usual hatred; Al didn't sense any imminent danger. That didn't help him to relax at all, but he tried to stay happy – and he did have fun with Rose and their friends as they enjoyed their morning meal and shared holiday fun that included everything from gifts being exchanged to the Owl Posts and some Valentine's Day wheezes that were mostly used for fun. There were three exceptions to that, and while none of those nastier pranks were aimed at Al or Gwendolyn; Al still silently put a stop to them before the tweens that were targeted could be hurt or embarrassed by the pranksters attempting to mess up their day.**

 **Monday was not the best school day of the week for spending time with Gwendolyn in their classes, but Al got together with her after breakfast for a few minutes before they moved on to their own classes; they had fun together in Herbology during second period; and then they spent most of their lunch break together after splitting up just long-enough to quickly have that meal. An afternoon of DADA and Ancient Runes with Slytherin was fun for Al despite the usual darkness he sensed from his favorite Slytherin haters; and then Al got to spend most of the rest of the day with Gwendolyn thanks to the Quidditch practice schedule working out for them this year. They still needed to study too, since their Professors hadn't given them the day off, but they worked until a half-hour before dinnertime; split up when the girls wanted to get ready for the special Valentine's Day dinner; and then Al met up with Gwendolyn outside of her House again for their second walk of the day to the Great Hall – third, if you counted the walk from the greenhouses after their Herbology class.**

 **Most inter-House couples were happy at dinner because they got to have one of the rare exceptions that allowed them to sit with their girlfriend or boyfriend for that meal. Al and Gwendolyn sat with Rose, Brandon, and most of their usual group of friends; but did that at the Gryffindor table because Lily managed to hold a block of seats for them - in part because she'd gotten ready for the dinner immediately-after her team practice – a workout that they had despite the holiday because the Gryffindor Captain insisted on doing that now that they were getting much closer to their match against Hufflepuff.**

 **Staying on alert for any problems continued to take away from Al's ability to enjoy their meal, but other than stopping a few more of the un-funny prank attempts; there weren't any problems during dinner. James and Ollie appeared to be busy with their own dates for the evening, and while they set off wheezes and tried to get in on a couple of those pranks that Al prevented; they completely ignored Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone around them. That lack of interest didn't ease Al's mind; but it did allow Gwendolyn to have fun – and he was able to enjoy the food and the conversational entertainment.**

 **While many of the happy couples in the Great Hall went on to take the night off from their work despite the fact that it was Monday and their assignments would just keep piling up on them; Al and Gwendolyn had all of their study group with them after dinner; and the only change they made to their normal study plans was to agree to end it an hour ahead of curfew so that the couples in the group could have a bit of time to celebrate ahead of curfew. Their work was more-fun thanks to shared Valentine's Day treats, and they had a bit more practical magic play time than usual too; but the first thing that Al did once he and Gwendolyn were left alone in the classroom was get his map out and check to see where James and Ollie were – and to make sure that they weren't simply lying in wait for any of their friends.**

" **It is possible that they're going to leave us alone," Gwendolyn suggested. "They wouldn't want to mess things up for their match on Saturday by getting into trouble tonight."**

" **That didn't stop James last year – or both of them the year before that," Al reminded her. "James is likely even less-worried about that now – after Louis let him off without detention on Friday night."**

" **Good point," Gwendolyn conceded; but then nodded at the map. "They're not together – even though they are out and about the castle. I'd have suggested that we add their current girlfriends to the maps too; but that might be even scarier for us than just not knowing who they're with in those rooms."**

" **Tonight or any other time," Al agreed. "They don't seem to be going anywhere right now, though; so they at least seem to be leaving everyone else alone."**

" **Then let's sit down and concentrate on you and me while we can," Gwendolyn suggested. "If they're saving something awful up for us; we want to be in a happy place when it's time to deal with them – though I am able to be surprisingly-happy anytime you play cat-and-mouse with them; so I'd be okay with it if they do try to do something stupid again."**

 **She didn't really give Al a choice when it came to the goodnight, Valentine's Day snogging she had in mind; and he was very okay with trying to end their special day on that happy, moderately-hot note. When it was time to pack up and walk Gwendolyn home to Ravenclaw tower; they were even able to have a bit of hope that they'd be able to get there without any trouble – right up until that wasn't true anymore.**

" **Ollie on the move," Al reported as they turned the first corner on their usual route to her House. He pointed to a spot on the map and added – "he can intercept us using that secret passage."**

" **What about James? Your arm's in the way and I can't see that part of your map."**

" **Not moving," Al answered.**

" **Maybe he's too busy to bother with us," Gwendolyn suggested.**

 **Al shrugged. "They only have the one map," he reminded her. "Ollie might have it."**

" **Okay," Gwendolyn agreed. "I guess it wouldn't be the first time he's gone after you on his own. What do you want to do?"**

" **I don't sense any danger," Al admitted. "Let's just keep going."**

" **Okay, but I'm keeping my wand in hand," she advised him.**

 **It didn't take them long to get to the hallway with that inter-connecting secret passageway. They were still more than a dozen paces away when they heard a loud rip; a Witch screamed; she shouted – "Get your hands off me!" – and then there was a loud slap. the Witch that had been at the dinner with Ollie ran out into the hallway; turned in their direction; and then screamed – "Help me!" She didn't stop; ran toward them; and hurled herself into Gwendolyn's arms – which she'd needed to open wide to catch her. They'd all heard the sound of heavy footsteps 'chasing' her; the slide to a stop at her yell for help; and then the sound of running as her 'attacker' apparently fled.**

" **Thank Merlin!" the Witch gasped; and then she stared at Al in fear; shrinking away from him and putting Gwendolyn between them. "Stay away from me!" she demanded. "Don't let him near me! They're all out to get me!"**

" **Calm down, Sarah," Gwendolyn told her. "You're safe now. What happened? Who was with you in there?"**

" **I don't know!" Sarah answered; and Al sensed that she actually believed that – thanks to a badly-done memory charm. "I was on my way back to our House; and he attacked me from behind!" She kept staring at Al in fear. "Quit looking at me! Don't let him see me like this! He'll try to mess with me too! Everyone knows that he's the worst sort of Wizard – ought to be in Azkaban if you ask me!"**

" **What were you doing out here by yourself?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **I was just... on my way back to our House," Sarah answered; apparently incapable of remembering what she'd been doing even a moment before walking into that passageway. She looked at Gwendolyn imploringly. "Help me! Take me back to our House – and keep him away from me! I don't want him coming with us – don't want him anywhere near me!"**

" **I think that this has gone far-enough," Al said quietly. Sarah only had time to open her eyes wider with fear; but then they glazed over and she stood there blankly while Al did what he could to repair the mess James' memory charm had made of her mind. There was no way to help her to remember everything that had really happened to her – James and Ollie had made sure of that even if they'd botched nearly everything else they'd done to her. He left her in that state while repairing her top; and then he and Gwendolyn both stepped back and she took his hand while they waited for Sarah to regain her awareness.**

" **What?" she asked in confusion as she focused in on Gwendolyn. "Where am I? How did I get here?" She looked from Gwendolyn to Al and back again; but there was no fear in her eyes now. "What's going on Gwendolyn? The last thing I remember; I was with..." she trailed off; and her face reddened. "Um, studying with a friend."**

" **We don't know exactly what happened," Al answered. "You came out of that secret passageway yelling for help. You were confunded for sure, so we fixed that; and now you're okay again."**

" **Confunded!" Sarah exclaimed. "I don't remember anything!"**

" **You wouldn't," Gwendolyn advised her. "There've been a lot of pranks and wheezes happening around the castle all day. You likely just got hit by one of them while on the way back to our House."**

" **I guess," Sarah said dubiously. "Can you walk me the rest of the way back? I don't want to be out here alone if the bullies have come out to play tonight."**

" **Sure," Gwendolyn agreed. "We can do that."**

 **Al tried to sense anything else going on around them as they resumed their walk to Ravenclaw tower; but couldn't check his map while they had company; and didn't sense either James or Ollie waiting for them anywhere. He didn't sense any danger either; and wondered at that a bit as they neared the entrance to Gwendolyn's House. There was still no sense of anything wrong; which was why he nearly missed the true attempt that James and Ollie were making to mess with him – and with Gwendolyn.**

" **Thank-you," Sarah told them when they were still a few yards away from the entrance. She reached into her bag; pulled out two foil-wrapped chocolates; and smiled winsomely as she then held them out to Gwendolyn. "They're not much of a thank-you gift; but I hope you'll like them as much as I do."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Those are one of my favorites too – thank-you; and you're welcome. I'm glad we could be there to help you."**

" **Me too," Sarah said with a nod. "I'll go on ahead. You don't need company to say goodnight to your boyfriend."**

 **She didn't wait for a response; and left them without a look back. Gwendolyn smiled when she turned her attention back to Al and saw him holding his hand out to her – until she saw the frosty expression on his face. "What is it?" she asked. "The chocolates?"**

" **Yes," he agreed. "They're what..." he began to say; and then he put his hand over the chocolates that Gwnedolyn was still holding and drew his wand before they disappeared from the hallway.**

" **Silencio! Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!"**

 **Al pulled Gwendolyn close; his shield blazed to life around them; and then there was silence as they could no longer hear the two-pronged attack.**

" **I was going to kiss you goodnight anyway," Gwendolyn teased. "You didn't have to do all of this just to impress me!" Al laughed; but she saw that he was having trouble controlling his anger. "I'm okay – and love you a lot."**

" **I love you too," he assured her. "James and Ollie, on the other hand; I'm not so happy with right now."**

" **Join the club," Gwendolyn invited with a nod. "Now what?"**

 **Al sighed. "Now we hurry back to our Houses so I'm not late for curfew. James and Ollie have already left the room."**

" **That's disappointing. We could track them down if you'd like to have another little chat with them."**

" **Not when I'm this mad," Al decided as he let the shield drop. He looked around the room; and his expression darkened again. "This is all so stupid! Even if their stupid plan had worked; did they really think that they could do anything to you before I'd find you – and them?"**

" **It's even dumber now that James is seventeen," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Something's going on with him to be messing with us again like this. Maybe he's doing so-badly with his classes that he knows he won't be back next year – and doesn't care if he gets kicked out either."**

" **I'd only be surprised if he was doing well when you consider how much partying he does; but I just don't know what's going on with him – though I ams sure that there's more drama coming from his direction."**

" **That sounds ominous, but at least it won't be because of anything he tried to do to me tonight; so I'll be grateful for that – and not stay up late and take a bonus Prefect patrol just so I can hunt James and Ollie down and blast them."**

" **That went well – not," Ollie declared angrily. "Why did I let you talk me into that when I could've just spent the night having fun with Sarah instead?"**

" **It was your idea – not mine," James reminded him. "Your plan worked – we just got the timing wrong on the Portkey."**

" **Ya think?" Ollie deadpanned. "Let's go get drunk – unless you want to just wait for the loser and kill him."**

" **I'll pick option three – go back to playing with my date and have a few drinks with her."**

" **She's still waiting for you in that classroom?" Ollie demanded; and James grinned at him.**

" **Always have a back-up plan," he counseled. "She's having a little nap; and will be all rested up and ready to go by the time I wake her up again!"**

" **I hate you," Ollie declared; and James laughed.**

" **You don't. Feel free to help yourself to a few drinks once you get back to our dorm room – on me. I don't expect to be back there tonight anyway."**

" **You're acting like you don't even care that this was a disaster," Ollie accused.**

" **I care, and would've been happy to mess around with the potty-trainer while destroying the loser, but what's done is done; and I'll have my fun tonight one way or the other." He smirked at Ollie. "It might not be too late for you. Head back to the common room and see if there are any broken-hearted Witches in need of comfort. If that doesn't look likely; try messing things up for one of the other guys – and then jump in and save the damsel in distress. Witches love that sort of thing!"**

 **Valentine's Day gossip was still the hottest topic on Tuesday, but Quidditch kicked up a few notches too; and that was entirely thanks to the trash-talking from James, Ollie, and the McClaggens toward any Hufflepuff they crossed paths with for any reason. Al hated all of that and was still fighting his anger issues with James and Ollie; so he returned to semi-hermit mode for most of the rest of the week – or at least he spent as much time in the Room of Requirements as he could. That didn't mean he was there on his own all of the time. He did one Quidditch workout with Rose and the rest of their usual group; a Seeker duel with Lily as she worked to get ready for her next match; and Gwendolyn and Rose each spent some time with him in there too – with toymaking and Cannons' planning being the work-play entertainment when they weren't just having their own, quieter study sessions.**

 **Roxanne's thirteenth birthday on Wednesday was one xception for Al, and while she didn't have a major party after dinner; Fred and Lily did have a party and study session; Al and Gwendolyn helped with the work; and spent some time at the party too before moving on to work with their own study group in their usual classroom. Everyone in their group had at least made an appearance at Roxanne's party, so they didn't miss out on much of the work time; but they still kept busy until it was time to go back and help Fred and Lily with the clean-up – and to retrieve Al's mirror and toy sofas. That was when they'd found out that they'd been lucky enough to miss out on James and Ollie's visit to the party; the two boys had already had a few drinks before showing up; and Fred had told them to leave after catching them trying to spike the drinks and set up some pranks.**

 **Al could relate to that sort of protectiveness for younger sisters; and he had been quietly proud of his cousin for standing up to James and Ollie.**

 **The last two school days of the week were only tough for Al because of the workload being dumped on the OWL-year students. Their Professors had apparently decided not to wait until after the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match to start the push to work harder between Valentine's Day and the Easter break that wasn't going to be a holiday for most of the OWL and NEWT-year students anyway. The countdown and drama around the big game was a mental issue for Al, but he skipped more meals; tried his best to stay spiritually-happy; and got ready for what he was sure would be an intense weekend. His senses about that continued to grow stronger through Friday night, but after a long, busy week with a lot of late nights, when Gwendolyn walked him 'home' and then went out on patrol with Susannah; he went up to his dorm room; got ready for bed; and then semi-forced himself to go to sleep while listening to music using his magical earbuds so that he wouldn't be bothered by any of the noises around him.**

" **Welcome to the party," Tiberius told Louis as his best friend walked into their dorm room. "Congratulations for not breaking game night curfew – unlike our illustrious Captain and his right-hand Wizard."**

" **Did you expect better?" Louis asked tiredly while sitting down on his own bed. "I wouldn't be here if Deanna wasn't dealing with the Heads' duties for me tonight."**

" **She loves you – though Merlin only knows why," Tiberius joked with a grin. "You're a lucky Wizard."**

" **I am," Louis agreed. "Let's hope we'll have some of that luck with us tomorrow. We'll need it if James and Ollie stay out partying for half the night again."**

" **From what Brock heard earlier; that's exactly what they'll be doing," Tiberius advised him with a nod toward his brother. "Team curfews and the other rules are for the average players – like all of us."**

" **I don't actually mind resembling that comment," Magnus joked; and smiled when Romeo laughed. "Go ahead and laugh; but we all know you're in the game because the Witches think that Quidditch players are hot."**

" **Or at least most of the hottest Witches think that," Romeo agreed. "I'll never be as good as James – or the rest of you, for that matter; but I'm okay with that – especially since I've no interest at all for playing in the show."**

" **Which brings us back to James – and why we put up with him at all," Tiberius suggested. "He's going to help us to get into the show."**

" **Rose would help you do that," Brock joked; and Tiberius laughed.**

" **Okay – James will help us get into the show on a team with a chance to win championships – not the worst team in any league in the entire world," Tiberius amended.**

" **That's true," Brock conceded. "You wanted us to get together before we head off to bed, though; so what's up?"**

 **Tiberius nodded to Louis. "It's our Head Boy's show. Did you have something you want to talk about for the game tomorrow?" he asked Louis.**

" **Yes. James has made it clear that it's up to us to step up if we want to impress the scouts, and we've been working really hard; but I don't like his game plan at all."**

 **Brock laughed. "What's not to love about it? We fly around and look good until he catches the snitch. It's a bit unsportsmanlike for him to make bashing Madison's head in the top priority for Tiberius and me, but we are Beaters; and that is part of the job – even if I'll feel bad later for doing that to such a hottie!"**

" **James should've made keeping Eldon and Calvin from bashing our heads in your top priority," Louis told him seriously. "You guys are the best Beaters in our school; but they're not that far behind you, and if I was telling them what to do to mess up our team; I'd tell them to go after me, Magnus, and Romeo."**

" **Me?" Romeo asked in surprise. "Why me?"**

" **Because if they can keep you and Magnus from passing to Ollie; they'll have an easy time against him. Ollie always takes the shot when he goes in on goal. The rare times he does actually try to pass, it's after he's already missed his chance; and then he usually tries to get an impossible pass to one of you that just ends up in a turnover anyway."**

" **That he then blames on us for missing," Magnus added with a nod. "We've talked about that before, Louis – and have been dealing with Ollie all season. Maybe you just need to stop worrying; we'll get a good night's sleep; and hope that we're as ready as James and Ollie insist we are."**

 **Louis laughed. "That's easy for you to say. Has Lily threatened to blast you if we mess up her dreams for a Quidditch Cup again this season?"**

" **What do you mean by again?" Tiberius asked; and Louis laughed again.**

" **Do you vaguely remember that I wasn't our team Keeker last year until Rose quit after we kicked Al off the team ahead of our last match?" he reminded his friend. "We didn't win that match – or the Quidditch Cup. Our senior team also lost every match the year before that – in her first year; while the junior team was undefeated."**

" **That was Olivia's choice – not ours," Tiberius countered.**

" **Maybe – but Lily doesn't care," Louis pointed out. "She's tried her best, and is six-for-seven so far as a junior player; yet hasn't won a Quidditch Cup yet. I get that; but then this is really about us – not her. James might still be able to get us into the show with the Catapults whether we win or lose, but how well we play tomorrow – and in May – could make a huge difference in how much we get paid and how good our contracts will be – especially if other teams put in competing offers to us."**

" **I'll agree with that," Tiberius told him, "but if we mess with James' game plan and he gets mad at us; we could mess up our main chance for those jobs that way instead. You know what he's like with anyone he thinks stabbed him in the back."**

" **Yeah, but I also know we'll get the blame if we lose too," Louis said with a nod. "I think that we need to work together and try to do what's best for our team and House – and ourselves. If the rest of you don't agree; then I'll shut up now. If not; then let's come up with some last-minute plans of our own."**

 **Tiberius looked at each of the other guys; and then smiled at Louis. "Keep talking."**

 **Al was not feeling happy as he got ready for the day on Saturday morning; which was why he was up early and planning on spending extra time in the Room of Requirements before meeting up with Rose for their walk and talk when it was time to go to the Great Hall. He knew that getting happy was going to be a problem; but then that was all he sensed for the day ahead – problems and family-related drama. He knew in advance that the first hit of drama with James was coming before it did; and he had to force himself to remain calm when James staggered into the bathroom where he was just finishing up getting dressed and ready to go back to his dorm room after his shower. He watched James as his brother stopped and stared at him in something of a bleary-eyed stupor.**

" **Loser," he managed to slur out; a sneer coming to his slack-jawed face. "Figures you'd be here."**

" **Yeah," Al agreed. "You look well-rested and ready for your big game today."**

 **James laughed. "I could beat Madison Whitless even if I was unconscious, but since you're here; make yourself useful and heal me again."**

" **No," Al told him bluntly.**

" **That wasn't a request, dog," James retorted. "Do it!"**

" **No," Al repeated. He was ready to go by then; and started to walk away.**

" **You're not leaving until I say so," james declared; pulling out his wand and pointing it at Al – though it was more-accurate to say he was waving it around; since he couldn't even stand without weaving around.**

 **He gaped when the wand shot out of his hand and over to Al's; stared stupidly as he was unceremoniously flung across the room and into the showers; and then he shouted when the cold water hit him and he had no choice but to stand under the stream because Al didn't let him move for nearly two minutes.**

" **That's more help than you deserve," Al told him angrily. "If you don't like it – don't demand my help for anything next time!"**

 **Throwing James' wand across the room – but not to his brother; Al walked away – and was proud of himself for not just turning his brother into the pig that he was and let him see if he could beat Madison in that form! The stop in his dorm room was just to put his things away and get the bag he'd already packed with everything he'd need for a cold-weather Quidditch match. He opted to go for a run to the Room of Requirements; did his morning workout; and then met up with Rose for their walk and talk.**

" **How bad was the start to your morning?" Rose asked. "You're supposed to be happier than I am today; since I really wanted to be playing in this match."**

" **I would've been happy to play today too," Al reminded her – "and you've been fairly happy most days over the past few months."**

" **Nice back-handed compliment for Brandon; but you're trying to divert me. What happened to you already to have you looking like that – or are you sensing trouble ahead?"**

" **James happened earlier; and I'm sensing a lot of not-fun drama ahead – not any danger."**

" **Well, I suppose our team could lose today and we'd still have a chance at the Quidditch Cup; so that could be why you don't sense any danger from Lily," she joked. "What happened with James?"**

" **He wandered into the bathroom just as I was finishing getting ready for the day; ordered me to help him out with some much-needed healing; and then I helped him out with a cold shower when he wouldn't take no for an answer and drew his wand on me."**

 **Rose shook her head and laughed – though not really with amusement. "Why am I not surprised? He partied all night and still thinks he can beat Madison today." She laughed again and shrugged. "Maybe he can; but that's just so stupid!"**

" **I thought so," Al agreed. "What's worse, though, is that the more he gets away with it; the more he'll be convinced that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it."**

" **You do realize that's pretty much a description of James' life so far, right? That's as true for things that happened when we were toddlers as it is now; and before you go there – those choices have always been his; and that's one thing that none of us can control. He could have made better choices – just as you could've made worse ones."**

 **Al grinned at her. "Like fighting to keep the team Captain's job?" he teased.**

" **No – I still think that was the right decision that you didn't make," she countered; grinning too. "Instead of going there, though; let's change the subject. You obviously need to work on your happy thoughts this morning; so let's talk about Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **I wish that it wasn't so cold out so they could come to the game and spend the day with us," Al offered; and Rose laughed.**

" **Well, that's not where I thought we'd go with that, and I know you've missed the girls a lot; but they will be able to come for visits soon – once we're past the worst of the winter."**

" **I appreciate your help, Rose, but I think that I'm the problem today. Most of what I'm sensing isn't even going to be something I'll be in the middle of, and it's definitely all James-related; but it's also messing me up." Rose considered that for a while; and they walked on in silence while she did that.**

" **Are you feeling guilty?" she finally asked quietly. She smiled at his surprised reaction. "You've said what you're sensing isn't about you, and that it is about James; so maybe you're upset because whatever is going on will be good for you – even if it's bad for him or anyone else."**

" **You might be right," Al conceded thoughtfully – "though I don't sense any good for me today."**

" **Don't tell Gwendolyn that, or you could start that out with no good morning hug and kiss; and that Quidditch match will be a lot colder for you if she decides not to cuddle with you today either."**

" **Heat wave!" Al said enthusiastically. "This is my island in the sun!"**

 **Rose laughed. "You're going to go with jokes from the Muppet Christmas Carol for this? Seriously?"**

" **Well, you didn't threaten to put me on the unemployment line; but it still works; since I really would be having an awful day if Gwendolyn got mad at me again. Thanks for reminding me that I do have a lot to be happy about – even when I'm feeling this messed up inside."**

" **You do," Rose agreed – "and you're welcome."**

 **Their chat rolled on from there; they eventually made it to the Great Hall; and were still early-enough to welcome most of their friends as they arrived and joined them for their morning meal. James and Ollie didn't show up, but Al and Gwendolyn eventually wished all of the other guys good luck before they headed out to the stadium – just as they did for their Hufflepuff friends. It wasn't as cold out as it had been for the match in January, but it was still below-freezing; and they were getting a dusting of snow with some strong winds; so they stayed in the castle as long as possible; and then joined the mass-exodus to the stadium along with most of the teens and tweens in the school. Lily and Jonah again picked out seating on the border between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections; and Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Brandon sat with them. Peter, Pauline, and most of the rest of their senior team joined them, but Seth was given a pass; and was allowed to sit with Susannah while she cheered for her team.**

 **They weren't there for long before Teresa and Kylie began their pre-game show; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to sit back and just listen in while staying warm under their blanket.**

" **Welcome to our second Quidditch match of the New Year!" Kylie announced enthusiastically. "We'll be half-way through the season by the end of today, and while all of the wins so far this season have gone to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor; at least one of your humble announcers is hoping that her House will change that today!"**

" **Make that two of us," Teresa interjected. "We don't want to pick on Gryffindor; but it's still fair to report that the students in three Houses will be cheering for Hufflepuff today!"**

" **And that support will be appreciated," Kylie assured her, "but it's cold out; so let's give our dedicated fans the Quidditch Cup update; invite the teams into the stadium; and get this show started!"**

" **We're with you for that too," Teresa assured her. "Ravenclaw is currently in the lead for the Quiditch Cup with three wins. Gryffindor is in second with two wins; Hufflepuff is third with two losses; and Slytherin is fourth with three losses."**

" **The order for the senior team competition is the same with one-fewer wins or losses each," Kylie added; "so the only changes possible in the standing today will be a move to first place in both competitions for Gryffindor if they win; and a possible flip between second and third for the senior team competition if Hufflepuff wins."**

" **That's right, Kylie, and while we promise to offer fair and accurate play-by-play announcing today; you've convinced me to at least cheer on the inside for your House team!"**

" **Then let's get to doing that by inviting them into the stadium first!" Kylie suggested. "Let's hear it for Hufflepuff!"**

" **Go ahead – let them stand around in the cold for a few minutes longer than we'll need to do that," James taunted derisively. "That's also the only way they'll be ahead of us for the rest of the day; so they should enjoy it while they can."**

" **Take your time embarrassing the Whitless wonder," Ollie told him with a smirk. "The rest of us want time to show off too."**

" **If you insist," James agreed – "though why you'd want to see her bare anything is beyond me."**

" **It's a wonder you can see the snitch at all when you're that blind," Brock told him.**

" **If you think so, then bash her head in like any good Neanderthal; and then drag her off to your cave after the match," James retorted. "Then I'll fly around for a few hours while you guys have your fun before winning the match for us."**

" **I doubt she'll feel like partying later today," Brock told him – "especially if I bash her head in."**

" **That's okay – we'll have our pick of the Witches at our party," Ollie assured him with a leer.**

 **They all paused as Teresa invited them out into the stadium; and James waved for them to follow him.**

" **Come on, boys – this is gonna be fun!"**

" **Leading the way for Gryffindor, we have Captain James Potter!" Kylie announced; taking over from Teresa. "He is currently the only undefeated Seeker in our professional league; and some of us hope that he won't continue those winning ways today!"**

" **He has gone on record with us guaranteeing a win for Gryffindor, though," Teresa added; "so we'll soon see whether he can lead his team to that promised victory!"**

" **We will," Kylie agreed. "Flying with James is Ollie Wood. As I'm sure you all know, Ollie played in his first professional Quidditch match over the Christmas holidays – along with James and Hufflepuff's Captain; and he's looking to remain undefeated in both leagues today too."**

" **That's true for our Head Boy and Gryffindor's Keeper; Louis Weasley," Teresa interjected. "He's flying in the second row with Chasers Magnus Finnegan and Romeo Remillard, and while they are the only two players on the Gryffindor team without a professional Quidditch match win to their credit; they will be trying their best to help their team to stay undefeated in our school league!"**

" **Tiberius and Brock have their team mates' backs today; they impressed everyone in that match with the Catapults; and may well do the same today – though I'll still try my best to hope that they won't!"**

 **Teresa laughed. "You won't be the only one doing that, but our Gryffindor warriors are landing; so let's take a break while Mr. Peakes gets this match started!"**

 **Al was happy to sit and quietly cuddle with Gwendolyn as the match started. They watched Ollie bash his way to the quaffle; try to fight his way to the Hufflepuff goals on his own while Magnus and Romeo unsuccessfully tried to block for him; and took a bad shot that Myra only opted to corral so that she could pass it on to Roman Smith instead of just letting it miss the goals by at least five feet. He wasn't in the loop for Gryffindor's game plan, but he could soon tell what each team was trying to do for their player match-ups and general game plans. He also listened in as the players around him talked about what they were seeing too; and then he also studied his own reactions and perceptions – particularly since his own analysis was different from nearly everyone else around him.**

 **Tory intentionally tried to pair up against Ollie, and while he was a much more physical player; they were a lot alike in that they each wanted to be the 'go-to' Chaser and take as many of the shots for their team as possible. They soon both seemed to be very happy to fight it out between them, and whenever one or the other of them had the quaffle; they pretty much just ignored their fellow Chasers. That didn't really work out for either of them; their Chaser team mates didn't fare any better against Louis or Myra at first; and it looked to be a defensive battle to most of the spectators with Louis and Myra trading saves and keeping shut-outs going through the first hour.**

 **What Al saw, though, was a lot of poorly-chosen shots on goal, and while there were a few good scoring chances too that Louis and Myra genuinely earned deserved credit for; the match only looked good superficially because the two teams were well-matched. As for the Seeker duel, James was clearly toying with Madison right from the start – as well as being crude, rude, and physically-hurtful as he tried to knock her around – or into bludger hits. Again, that likely looked competitive to most of the spectators, but James' biggest problem, from what Al sensed; was his hangover and lack of sleep. To his credit, that didn't keep him from dominating his Seeker duel, but as Al watched Madison, and compared what he was seeing to her first match; he was sure that her skill level had dropped off over the past few months.**

 **He guessed that had been because she didn't have a player as good as Alex to compete against in practices anymore, but then James didn't have that either; and Al knew that his brother's game was getting better – again, despite the self-inflicted problems. Sure, James was still, as far as Al knew, going out and training every day during one or more of his study classes, but Al was also sure that there'd be some point where James would either have to stop partying all of the time or start losing his skills and talent edge.**

 **Myra's shut-out came to an end early in the second hour; she gave that goal up to Magnus; and then she gave up a second goal to Ollie before Tory scored a goal near the end of the second hour in response to Ollie's goal – and to keep pace with him. The shots on goal for both sides kept piling up; but the two teams only managed to score one more goal each in the third hour. The fourth hour could've been a repeat of the third – except the shots on goal weren't exactly the same – even if the single goal in that hour for each team was the same. Louis and Myra were looking brilliant by then, though; and everyone in the stadium seemed very happy with the way the tough, hard-fought battle was going.**

 **Food was delivered at the start of the fifth hour, but while all of the spectators went out to the tables that were set up just outside the stadium to get food and drinks; James wouldn't agree to a time-out so the players could do the same – until near to the end of that hour; and after his team 'won' that hour with two goals while only giving up one to Hufflepuff. That break in the action took a while; and Al eventually sensed that James intentionally took as long as he could get away with for that time-out to try and mess with Madison – and the other Hufflepuff players.**

 **As Mr. Peakes got the match going again, Al then sensed that the break had been hard on all of the players – including James; but that worked for his brother too; since he immediately got serious about catching the snitch and ending the match. When James pushed his faster broom; Madison couldn't keep up. He still had to lose her four times before actually getting a true shot at catching the snitch that Al had been keeping an eye on throughout the match; he watched as Madison was 'allowed' to catch up so that James' catch would look more-spectacular than it was; and then she had to put up with James' in-your-face victory celebration and taunts.**

 **While he watched that wonderful display of bad sportsmanship, Al would have liked to pack up and leave the stadium; but he knew that the end of the match was really going to be just the start of the family drama of the day; so he sat back and waited for that part of the show to start.**

" **What took you so long?" Ollie asked as he flew over to James. "You told us you'd catch the snitch in the first minute after the time-out."**

 **James laughed. "I thought you might like a few extra minutes for one last chance to score with Myra," he joked. "She is graduating this year; so it's likely your last chance to do that – unless you're going to go into music instead of Quidditch."**

" **I could likely do that better than her too; but I'll stick with Quidditch. You'll need at least one team mate that can keep up with you – for all of the partying."**

" **Which we'll get to soon – unless I get a better offer," James told him. "Let's land – and find out just how impressed the Catapults' scout was with my – our – performance today."**

 **They did that – after finishing the victory laps that James had been doing when Ollie caught up with him; and then they happily bragged about how brilliant they were to everyone around them – including the Hufflepuff 'losers' and their families, friends, and fans. James had fun with all of that, but he really was only interested in talking to the Catapults' scout. He didn't need to wait long for that; and shook the Wizard's hand enthusiastically.**

" **So, are you wishing I was playing for our team next weekend?" he asked.**

" **Yes, I am," he agreed with a nod and smile. "That was Kevin and Laura Whitby's girl you were up against today, right?"**

" **That depends – are you thinking about recruiting her instead?"**

" **No, but it will make a difference for my report back to our Managers." He smiled then. "Speaking of them – I was ordered to give this letter to you today – if you won." He was grinning and waited expectantly while James quickly opened the envelope and then read the letter. He laughed heartily at the expression he saw on James' face when he looked up at him again.**

" **You – and they've got a deal!" he told them.**

" **Excellent. You can report for work on Monday morning. That'll give you time to deal with any arrangements you need to make here; and then..."**

" **That won't be necessary," James advised him with a grin. "I'll be ready to get out of here whenever you are." The man looked startled; and James laughed. "I was hoping the team would ask me to come and play for them now that I'm seventeen and it's my choice," he explained while drawing his wand and summoning his Quidditch gear bag from the locker room. You probably want to talk to the other guys; and I'll need to say goodbye to them; but I'm already packed and ready to go."**

" **What's going on?" Ollie asked as he walked up to them and waved a hand at James' gear bag.**

" **I just got that better offer," James answered. "The Catapults want me to come and play for them for the rest of the season. It's been fun, but I'm taking the job; so you'll have to handle all of the partying – and the Witches – without me for the rest of the school year!"**

 **Ollie opened his mouth as if to offer a protest; but then he just laughed and then hugged his best mate. "Good for you, James! I'm jealous, and wish I could go with you; but I won't be seventeen until May; so the only way I'd be able to join you would be if you could get the Catapults into the Championship match by then."**

 **James grinned at him. "I'll talk to the Catapults' Managers. If I could get us there; they might consider hiring you to play in that match too."**

" **How brilliant would that be?" Ollie asked. "Better than a Quidditch Cup by far, I'd say!"**

" **Unless our junior team messes up their last two matches; I'd say that's a done deal even if you missed that last match against Ravenclaw too," James joked. "There's no reason why we couldn't have our names on both trophies this year!"**

" **That's likely a bit optomistic," the Catapults' scout told them. "You may have noticed that we're well off-pace for even making the play-offs this season. We'd practically need to win-out just to do that – and most of your team mates are not going to be happy when they find out about this."**

" **They're not happy any other time this season," james reminded the man. "I'm fairly-motivated, though; so I'll see what I can do about helping our team to do just that!"**

" **Okay, Al – what's up?" Gwendolyn asked as they still sat and watched the post-game action on the pitch while everyone except Rose, Brandon, Lily, and Jonah had left and either gone down to the pitch or headed for the castle. "Something's definitely going on with you."**

" **Not with me – with James," he explained; and said that loudly-enough for the other two couples to hear. He nodded toward the pitch. "That's the Catapults' scout; and he's just offered James a big bonus to go and play for the Catapults for the rest of the season."**

" **What?" Lily exclaimed loudly; and then leaned in close to Al and Gwendolyn. "James is going to quit school today?"**

" **Let's just say that we're going to have great seats if we stay right here to watch the rest of the show."**

" **I should call Mum and Dad!" Lily suggested; and Al laughed.**

" **You're braver than I am, but then they love you a lot; so you can likely get away with it."**

" **Call Mum," Lily said; since she'd already grabbed her mirror.**

" **Hello, Lily," Ginny said after answering on the third chime. "Are you calling with the Hogwarts Quidditch report? Gryffindor must've won; or you wouldn't be smiling like that."**

" **They did – in just over five hours," Lily confirmed. "Two-ten to forty."**

" **That sounds good for Louis; if not so great for the Chasers," Ginny suggested. "It must be cold out up there. Why didn't you just wait to call us until you were back in the castle?"**

" **Because according to Al; the show here isn't over," Lily answered with an impish grin. "He's just advised us that James is about to quit school and go play for the Catapults for the rest of the season."**

" **What?" Ginny exclaimed loudly; and Lily laughed.**

" **That's exactly what I said!" she told her mother happily. "We really are a lot alike!"**

" **The school is still open to visitors," Ginny reminded her. "We won't be exactly the same if I come up there and you end up with a bat-bogey affliction."**

 **Lily laughed again. "Al would help me out, but you don't need to hex the messenger. Al said we'll have good seats right here where we are for the show; and I thought that you and Dad might like to watch."**

" **We'd like to know the rest of the James is quitting school story more," Ginny told her seriously.**

" **Do you have any more details than that, Al?" Lily asked him. "I got distracted by wanting to share the fun with Mum and Dad."**

" **The Catapults' scout gave James a letter not long after meeting up with him; it was an offer from the Catapults; and apparently one that James couldn't refuse," Al answered. "Some of those details are none of our business, but I can tell you that James has been planning for this; and he will be making a memorable departure very soon – or right now," he added as he sensed what James was doing next.**

 **Whizz-bangs began going off all around the stadium; and that got the attention of everyone who was still there – and was surely heard by everyone that had gone on ahead to the castle. A bright-red envelope appeared above center pitch and then grew to about five feet high by eight feet wide before it opened and a folded piece of parchment slid out and then opened up.**

" **HEADMISSTRESS MCGONAGALL, PROFESSORS, AND MY FELLOW STUDENTS; IT IS MY PLEASURE TO ANNOUNCE TO ALL OF YOU THAT I, JAMES POTTER, AM QUITTING SCHOOL EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!" the howler bellowed out in an ear-splitting shriek. "WHILE THE REST OF YOU WALLOW ON HERE IN THIS ACADEMIC HELL-HOLE; I'M OFF TO MY BRILLIANT FUTURE AS THE MOST FAMOUS SEEKER IN THE HISTORY OF QUIDDITCH!" There was a pause; punctuated by another blast of whizz-bangs; and then the howler continued to deliver its message.**

" **TO ALL OF MY FELLOW STUDENTS; MY PARTING ADVICE TO YOU IS THIS: GET OUT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! REJECT THEIR REALITY AND REPLACE IT WITH YOUR OWN! REJECT THE MINISTRY-APPROVED INDOCTRINATION; BREAK ALL THE RULES; AND LET ANARCHY REIGN!" There was another blast of whizz-bangs; and then the howler wrapped up its message.**

" **GOOD-BYE HOGWARTS – AND GOOD-RIDDANCE!"**

 **The raspberry rip that came next was followed by an explosion that rocked the stadium; the flash of light was blinding; and then the whizz-bang finale went on and on as James waved and strutted out of the stadium – accompanied by the Catapults' scout. The man seemed to be both stunned and amused – a reaction that most of the spectators were having to the show.**

" **Well, I'll guess that George will be impressed," Ginny said; and Lily turned her mirror around again so that she could see her mother. "That was as much a spectacle as they put on when they quit."**

" **I don't know – it seemed to me that he held back a bit," Lily said half-seriously.**

" **He was likely trying to find the balance between funny and horrid," Gwendolyn suggested. "the Catapults wouldn't be happy if he did anything awful-enough to make them look bad."**

" **That's true," Ginny agreed. "Do you think he's on his way home from there? He hasn't taken his apparition test yet; but I suppose his scout-friend might be able to side-along apparate him here."**

" **You know he won't do that," Lily answered. "That does have me wondering if he has thought about where he'll stay tonight – or until he finds a place to live."**

" **He could always stay at the Leaky again," Ginny suggested. "We'll let you know if and when we hear anything about that."**

" **How come Dad hasn't said anything?" Lily asked. "Is he in shock; or did he go off somewhere to yell in private?"**

" **I'm right here," Harry called out. "We're surprised – and aren't; but we're not shocked senseless. How's Al doing?"**

" **He's been weird – and now we know why," Lily advised her parents with a grin for her brother. "We didn't get blasted while James was on his way out; so I'll guess that Al's been acting like that because he thinks that his life around here just got easier."**

" **Guilty," Al confirmed; and smiled ruefully when that answer had Rose laughing at him.**

" **Don't let that bother you," Harry counseled. "We'll have to wait and see, but if this works out for the best for James – and for all of you; that would be great."**

" **The whizz-bangs seem to be following James," Lily reported. "I guess that the show here at the stadium is done."**

" **But it'll just be getting started at the castle," Ginny predicted. "Try not to have too much fun with that; do not, under any circumstances, take any of that advice from James; and call us later with all of the latest gossip."**

" **I'll do that," Lily promised. There was a round of good-byes and best wishes; and then she ended the mirror chat and put her mirror away.**

" **This has been fun, and we really did have great seats for the show, but if Al's done having fun; I'm ready to head back to the castle and get warm," Brandon told them. He smiled at Rose. "Is there any chance you'll want to skip most of the party and hang out with me for the rest of the day?"**

" **A really good chance," Rose answered; smiling too. "We need to make an appearance at the party to congratulate Louis and the other guys; but Al and I won't want to be there for whatever the party is likely to turn into after that blast of extreme ego and hubris."**

" **That's up to you," Lily told her. "I'll be there – and let you know what you miss; since that party is sure to be epic!"**

" **I'm surprised that you're so happy," Jonah told her; and Lily turned her attention and smile on him.**

" **Why wouldn't I be?"**

" **Don't tell her," Gwendolyn interjected; and then laughed.**

" **Tell me what?" Lily demanded. She glanced at Gwendolyn; but then she pinned Jonah with 'the look' and he answered her immediately.**

" **James quit," he reminded her. "Who will play Seeker for your House against Pauline in May? Kira Kirke is your senior team back-up, right?"**

" **He might still be on the school grounds," Lily said angrily. "Give me a ride, Al. I still have time to track him down and blast him!"**

" **Actually, you don't," Al advised her. "By the time we got somewhere that I could help you out with that; he'll be long-gone." He nodded toward the main stadium entrance. "We'd be lucky to get out of here in ten minutes with that crowd in the way."**

" **Summon your broom," Lily suggested next. "I'll fly there."**

" **No – and there's no point," Al told her quietly. "It's done; and blasting James won't make any difference."**

" **I'll feel better," Lily insisted. "You're the good kid in the family. I'm somewhere in the middle – and leaning toward the dark side right now."**

" **Then lean the other way and go back to being as happy as you were a minute ago," Al suggested. "You've a couple of matches to win with your team before we'll even know whether that last match will matter for the Quidditch Cup race or not."**

" **Two matches that we'll be hoping you lose," Gwendolyn teased. "You may hate what this means for your House teams; but I'm even happier than I was a minute ago."**

" **You should stop now before I decide to take my urge to blast someone out on you," Lily warned; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **I'm not worried," she assured Lily. "You shouldn't be either – or at least not yet. You have no idea what the other guys on your senior team will decide to do about this."**

 **Lily laughed mockingly. "I'll guess that James made Ollie Captain on his way out just now, and unless Louis and the other guys mutiny on a second Captain in one season; he'll be sure to make nothing but bad choices."**

 **Gwendolyn grinned at her. "Well, that's cheeery news! This day just keeps getting better and better!"**

" **Our son is the Seeker for the Caerphilly Catapults!" Ginny tried to exclaim excitedly without any success; and Harry laughed.**

" **I'll go out and get tickets for the rest of their matches this season in a bit – while you go and let Malorie know so she doesn't hear about it on the mirror network news tonight."**

" **Don't get too many tickets," Ginny warned. "If we go to many more matches than we're already doing; we'll be doing that full-time." She smiled and shook her head. "I should be angrier than I am, but to be honest; I'm relieved. He's made his choice; and that's the end of it."**

" **Or the beginning," Harry half-joked, "but if you think this is tough with kids on three teams; wait until you try to keep up with that and play with Al and Rose for the Cannons!"**

" **Well, Al at least thinks that spending that much time with me every week would be brilliant."**

" **You'd get to play with James and Lily at least twice a season each too," Harry pointed out. "They might not like that as much as you would if you beat them; but that'd be a lot of fun for us."**

 **Ginny's mirror chimed again; and she looked down at it for a long moment before even reaching for it.**

" **That's James," she advised Harry before picking it up and answering the chat request.**

" **Hello, James," she said as his image appeared in her mirror. "To what do we owe this recently-unprecedented surprise?"**

" **You've already heard," he stated derisively. "I was sure the loser would call and rat me out – fat lot of good it'll do. I'm seventeen; and can do whatever the hell I want!"**

" **You can," Ginny agreed. "Congratulations – both for the win today and the job with the Catapults."**

" **You don't mean that," James retorted.**

" **I'd have preferred that you stay at Hogwarts and earn your NEWTs, James, but that's obviously not what you want, so if this is what will finally make you happy; then your father and I wish you all the best."**

" **I don't need your best wishes or anything else," he told her scornfully. "You've picked the loser over me, and always have; so to hell with the both of you!"**

" **I guess that means you won't be coming home until you find a new place for yourself," Ginny pretended to deduce.**

" **I told you last summer that I'd never be back to that dump!" James reminded her. "I've only called to tell you to sod off; leave me alone; and, preferrably – sod off and die!"**

" **Before we do any of that; would you like us to pack up your things and send them to you once you've gotten a place to live?" Harry asked.**

" **Throw it all out or burn it," James said dismissively. "I don't want any of that rubbish."**

" **You don't want all of your clothes? Your video and mirror games and systems? Your computer?"**

 **James hesitated for just a moment; and then his expression hardened. "I don't want anything from you."**

" **Not even your motorcycle?" Harry asked; feigning surprise. "You've wanted that bike since you were old-enough to go for rides in it."**

" **What are you babbling about?" James demanded. "Are you just trying to mess with me?"**

" **You did get your birthday card, didn't you?" Harry asked mildly. "The Catapults took care of getting you that Lightningbolt; so one of my gifts to you was Sirius' motorcycle."**

" **There weren't any gifts – and we used the card for party confetti," James told his parents.**

" **Then I'm glad that we didn't send the key to your new Gringott's vault in that envelope," Ginny told him with a grin that was tinged with sadness. "Your father gave you the motorcycle; and we gave you the trust fund that we set up for you before you were born and upgraded the security level of your vault – since you were going to need that with your job with the Catapults eventually."**

" **You've never said anything about a trust fund before," James stated skeptically. "Throwing some pittance and a shitty old motorcycle at me won't make up for giving Grimmauld Place away to the family Prince and Princess."**

" **Well, one hundred thousand galleons might seem like a pittance to you or any other seventeen-year old Wizard or Witch, James, but it's in your new vault anyway – along with the rest of the money that had been in your old vault, and you just need to tell us where to have the key – and anything else you want – sent; since we won't send something like that by Owl Post."**

" **I'm sure that your grandparents would be happy to take care of that for you," Ginny added; and tried not to laugh at the slack-jawed expression on James' face.**

" **Fine," he finally bit out; and tried to sound angry and disgusted despite the shock that was still easy to see on his face and in his eyes. "I'll let Grandpa know where to bring my things in a few days – but I'll need that key sooner so that I can get some money out of Gringotts."**

" **We'll drop that off with him in a bit – and you can let my Dad know where to meet you," Ginny advised him. "I love you, James. Good luck with the Catapults."**

" **I won't need luck," James retorted. "Good-bye; and don't bother trying to call me again – you won't be able to once I've wiped out the permissions for your connections to my mirror."**

 **He ended the chat with that; Ginny sighed; and put her mirror down again.**

" **It might not be forever," she suggested quietly. "Percy was only lost to us for a couple of years."**

" **We still have him with us," Harry told her gently. "Let's go over to Chudley; you can give Malorie the big news; and we can play with Jaimie and Lorie for a little while."**

" **Let me call Malorie first and make sure that's okay with her. You can go and get that key; and we'll drop it off with Dad on the way there – and give them the good-bad news too."**

 **Al would have preferred to skip the victory party altogether, but Rose had been right that they needed to make an appearance – even though not even Louis really cared at all about their offers of congratulations – and those moments were brief and not any fun for either of them. By the time they got to their common room, Lily was in better spirits again; and she had better luck with having fun – even when she congratulated Ollie and found out that he did now have the Captain's badge – a parting gift from his best mate.**

 **While that party was technically a victory celebration, there wasn't much talk about the Quidditch match; since everyone wanted to talk about James' big departure. Al was not surprised to see, hear, and sense that most of his fellow Gryffindor thought that the show had been brilliant; and they were impressed with him – and receptive to his parting message too. That didn't mean that he expected anarchy to suddenly break out at Hogwarts, but there were a lot of teens and tweens that at least wished that they could follow James' lead; and be as free as their hero of the day seemed to be. That emotional turmoil was yet another reason for Al to get away from Gryffindor tower as soon as he could; Rose went with him; and they met up with Gwendolyn and Brandon before going on to the Room of Requirements so that they could hang out together while also getting Al the quiet he needed after too many hours of sensory-overload.**

" **If this is how we're going to reject their reality and replace it with our own; I'm good with the plan," Gwendolyn said as she cuddled with Al on one of the two sofas he'd envisioned while creating the room they required.**

" **That could be the mantra of the school year for half the students around here," Brandon suggested. "You don't like what James did today, but he really only did something that most of us have at least thought about doing now and then when we're sick of all of the rules and the never-ending work around here." He smiled at Gwendolyn. "Tell me you wouldn't be tempted to tell the Professors to sod off if your Mum asked you to come and play for the Harpies a year early."**

" **You're seventeen," Gwendolyn countered. "Would you do that if you got offered a job in the show today?"**

 **Brandon laughed. "Today? No. Before I started dating Rose? Yeah – I might have done that."**

" **I wouldn't leave early and then spend a year or more apart from Al," Gwendolyn answered in return; and then paused as she thought about her answer. "I get tired of all of the work too, but no; I wouldn't do that sort of thing to our Professors or insult Hogwarts like James did today."**

" **Would you still feel that way if you were in James' place?" Brandon persisted. "You're one of their favorites. Slughorn is likely the only Professor that was still treating James well this year. He smiled at Rose's reaction. "Yeah, most of his problems with them have been self-inflicted; but I'm just talking about James' perspective. We were firsties together; and I remember what he was like back then – and how well he was treated by the Professors too."**

" **I'd actually like to hear some of your firstie stories," Gwendolyn told him, "but before we go there; let's get rose's report on the party-so-far in Gryffindor tower. What's the latest gossip? Have all of the Witches gone into mourning now that James is out of here?"**

" **Lily and I haven't," Rose joked. "There are some disappointed or angry Witches; but you'll be happy to know that Ollie, Brock, Tiberius, and Romeo are generously offering to comfort those poor, heart-broken girls." She smiled ruefully at Al. "The top news story for the team is that James passed his Captain's badge on to Ollie. He's strutting around as if he's just been promoted to King of the castle, and while Al and I didn't talk to him; we've overheard enough to know that he's being an idiot. By dinnertime; I doubt that any of us will even recognize the Quidditch match that'll be gossiped about in the Great Hall compared to the one we saw in the stadium today."**

" **There was a Quidditch match?" Brandon asked; feigning shock. "I thought that we all just went out there to have some fun while seeing James off to play in the show!"**

" **That'll likely be the only thing that's remembered about that match ten years from now," Gwendolyn predicted; and then laughed. "Actually, that might be true already."**

" **Why do you say that?" Brandon asked; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.**

" **We're here instead of in a team meeting," she pointed out. "Peter didn't say a word about it; and I didn't even think about it until just now."**

" **I didn't think about that either," Rose admitted. "I'm glad that you're here with us instead."**

" **We are too," Brandon assured her. "Peter might not have forgotten, Gwendolyn. He could just be waiting to find out anything he can about what will happen with the Gryffindor team. James may have officially left Ollie in charge as Captain, but if they have a fight over that; it could be a few days before we find out how that plays out."**

" **At the risk of helping your team out; I don't think it'll matter whether Ollie's in charge or not," Al suggested. "Four out of six of the guys are all-in with James now; and they aren't going to mess that up by asking for help in May from Lily or me."**

" **I'm not even sure anymore that Louis thinks they'd need the help," Rose advised him. "He did only give up four goals in five hours today – and only gave up ten goals in his first two matches so far."**

" **Peter's only given up five," Gwendolyn countered; "but we get your point. "You are likely right; and Ollie's always believed that he's the best Chaser in the school."**

" **The problem I see with that will come if our match in May is a must-win for Gryffindor," Brandon offered. "Ollie might be delusional; but the other guys can't possibly believe that they're enough better than our team that they can get a one-sixty lead on us. They haven't even scored sixteen goals so far this season, have they?"**

" **No," Rose answered. "They've scored ten and given up ten." She shook her head and sighed. "I don't want to start bashing our team – especially when they have won their first two matches."**

" **That's okay," Gwendolyn assured her. "We can go back to talking about James. Where do you think he'll be spending the night? His friends are all at Hogwarts; he promised that he was never going to go home again; and I doubt he's rented a flat or house quite yet."**

" **I'll guess the Leaky again," Rose offered first. "We'll have to wait and see about what kind of place he gets. James has always bragged about mansions and servants, but I doubt that he's ever actually looked into how much everything costs; and he does have a history of being a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to spending his own money."**

" **James will spend money on himself," Al reminded her. "He might decide to start out with a flat before getting his mansion; but it'll be the best he can find quickly; and he'll hire servants – or try to get a House Elf."**

" **Mum's not in charge of House Elf Liason anymore, but she has lots of friends there; so he might not have any luck with that," Rose suggested. "I'll feel sorry for anyone who signs on to work for him."**

" **Let's try looking on the bright side for all of this," Gwendolyn suggested; and smiled at Al. "You need to get to a happier place; so don't feel guilty about the best parts of all of this for us – like nearly a year-and-a-half less time with James around us than we would have had if he's stayed and tried to earn his NEWTs. I'll be happier without all of the rude, crude, and worse he's thrown my way pretty much since we started dating."**

" **That will be better for you – for us," Al agreed. "We're sure to have a fair bit of drama at least until after James' match with the Catapults next weekend, but he is doing what he wants; so I should just stop stressing about any of this. It doesn't matter what I think about any of it; and what James decides to do from now on is none of my business – as long as it doesn't affect us – or anyone else that we care about."**

" **Who do the Catapults play next weekend?" Brandon asked.**

" **The Arrows," Al answered quickly. "They're still in the top-eight right now; but are having a tough season."**

 **Brandon nodded. "I thought that Lee and Susan would help them more this season now that they're back together again, but even though they've got one of the best Keepers; they have too many other issues to do very well against the best teams."**

" **That's true," Rose agreed, "but if Miya's the only other Catapults' player to show up for that match; James won't get five hours to catch the snitch no matter how well she plays."**

" **Whatever happens; I'm sure that'll be the most-watched Quidditch match around here next Saturday," Brandon suggested.**

 **Al was sure he was right about that too, but while he listened on as Gwendolyn and Rose talked with Brandon about all of the news of the day and other things – like their plans for the rest of the day and weekend; his mind wandered off as he continued to process everything he'd sensed during the rest of the day and meshed that with some ongoing foresight and insight. That didn't really help him out with discovering how everything would play out in the short and longer term, but he did start feeling better. They packed up when it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner; and then Al had Rose with him for that meal – and the drama, gossip, and sensory overload that he had to deal with through until he and Gwendolyn returned to the Room of Requirements – this time on their own so they could have some fun that included music, a bedtime mirror chat with his parents, Malorie, and the twins; and a brilliant snogging session.**

 **They packed up their gear when it was time for Gwendolyn to meet up with Susannah for her patrol duties; he walked her home; and then passed through the Gryffindor common room as quickly as possible so that he didn't need to deal with the still-ongoing party other than to wish Rose and Lily a goodnight. He got ready for bed right away even though it wasn't that late; watched a mirror network news report that included a segment about the news from Hogwarts regarding the Catapults and their offer to have James play Seeker for them during the rest of the season; and then he started to work on one of his toys – something he needed to keep doing to have any chance of getting one-hundred and twenty-eight of them ready in time for the first round Quidditch World Cup matches. He was doing that when Ollie sauntered into the room; but put it down and focused all of his attention on his brother's best mate.**

" **It figures – you're playing with dolls, hermit. "What's the matter, loser? Are you too good to party with your fellow Gryffindor – or did you just need to spend the entire day crying now that everyone knows that James is the hero in your pathetic-excuse for a family and you're the zero?"**

" **Rose and I stopped in at the start of your party," Al reminded him. "We moved on once we'd had enough fun."**

 **Ollie snorted derisively. "You wouldn't know fun if it bit you in the arse. I do, though; which is why I'm putting up with the stench that is you – to pass along the special going away gift and message that James left just for you."**

" **You don't want to do that," Al warned; and Ollie laughed raucously again.**

" **Yeah – I really do," he disagreed. "James wants you to know that he's still going to destroy you; turn your potty-trainer into his personal pet; and then he'll go after everyone you care most about and make their lives a living hell too!"**

" **He'll be busy getting that done while becoming rich and famous," Al deadpanned. "Thanks for passing that along." His focus on Ollie became intense; and Ollie took a step back before stiffening his back against the fear Al sensed within him. "James isn't here, though, so if you're thinking about helping him out with this pointless vendetta of his; it won't end well for you."**

 **Ollie laughed again. "You're so wrong about that," he declared. "I have my party to get back to now, though, so here's..." he trailed off when he reached into his pocket and didn't find what he was expecting to grab and toss at Al.**

" **Sorry to disappoint you; but I decided to just save time and get that gift from you myself." He smiled when Ollie's face reddened and he could sense the rage building within him. "Be glad that you don't get to find out what's in that little box. If that stupid plan had worked, I'd have gotten mad; and then we'd have been having another one of those chats that I'm sure you don't want to have with me."**

" **Give it back!" Ollie demanded.**

 **Al laughed. "So that you can just give it back to me?" he asked.**

" **Give it back – or I'll make sure that everyone knows you're a thief on top of being a lying, cheating, stinking, rotten loser."**

" **Well, I wouldn't want that," Al told him; and smiled grimly as the box appeared in the air in front of Ollie. He didn't feel bad when Ollie grabbed it; and then had time to exult in his victory before Al put a shield up around him – and the gift exploded.**

 **Okay, 'exploded' was too-strong a word for what really happened, but then he'd had to make a bit of a guess about what would have actually happened – had he really returned James' 'gift' to Ollie. It was the results that mattered, though; and he watched and waited as Ollie first tried to hold his breath, his eyes wide with shock and fear; pounded pointlessly on Al's shield with his fists; and then screamed at him before collapsing onto the floor. Al waited until he sensed Ollie's confusion as he began to realize that he wasn't being affected or hurt by what had been released within the shield; and then he dropped the shield and smiled at Ollie.**

" **From your reaction; I'll wager that whatever was in that real gift would have been unpleasant for me. You make it really hard for me to play nice, Ollie, but I choose not to be like you and James – and you ought to be glad of that instead of hating me."**

 **Ollie scrambled to his feet; his face flushed with fury as he realized what had happened. "You..." he spat out – "I'll kill you!"**

 **Al sighed inwardly, but didn't hesitate as he defended himself; disarmed Ollie; and bound him.**

" **You're welcome," he said next; standing up and walking over to Ollie so that they'd be eyes-to-eyes. "For once in your life, Ollie; try to actually listen to what I'm telling you. Do you know what would have happened if I'd just sat there and let you try to kill me? You'd have died – not me! News flash – you don't have to believe you owe someone a life-debt to still be bound by the magic of one! Tell everyone else what you want about what happened when you tried to ambush Ray and me, but we both know the truth, and while you were unconscious at the time; I absolutely did need to save your life after your reductor curse rebounded on you."**

" **You're lying!" Ollie spat; and Al shook his head.**

" **I'm not, and, thankfully for you; I'm also not going to let you find out the truth of it the hard way."**

" **Doesn't that make the lie conveniently unprovable!" Ollie sneered. "Let me go; give me back my wand; and I'll be happy to prove that!"**

" **Your wand is currently on your bed," Al advised him. "I'll release you now too," he added even as he did that; "but I won't be letting you kill yourself just because you really would try to prove me wrong – and then die in the attempt." Ollie took a swing at him; and Al caught the punch in the palm of his hand; twisted the wrist; and had Ollie on his knees.**

" **I don't want any of this, Ollie. Leave me alone; stay away from me – and from Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, Ray, and all of our friends! We both know that you have no intention of coming back here for your NEWT year because James is going to get you a job with the Catapults. Go have fun with that – and getting ready for your own dreams of a rich and famous future instead of wasting my time with these pointless attacks. In four months, you'll be out of here; and then you can avoid seeing me at all for at least a couple of years – intil Rose and I get to the show too and start playing for the Cannons." He let go of Ollie's hand and stepped back.**

" **Add that to the list of things we're going to pay you back for a thousand times over," Ollie told him vehemently. "I won't stop messing with you; James and I are going to destroy you, the potty-trainer, your parents, and anyone else idiot-enough to pick you over James!"**

" **Are you even listening to yourself?" Al asked him seriously. "Even Draco Malfoy felt guilty after nearly killing your Mum when they were all here at Hogwarts."**

" **What nonsense are you spouting off about now?" Ollie demanded; and Al sensed that he actually didn't know the full story about what had happened to his mother.**

" **You know that your mother was nearly-killed by a cursed object while at Hogwarts," Al explained. "She'd been Imperiused to carry that cursed object into the castle from town, but her friend tried to stop her; the package tore; and just a touch of the object was enough to land her in St. Mungo's for nearly a half-year. Scorpius' father had been behind that plot – an attempt to kill Professor Dumbledore. My Dad went after Draco for doing that to your Mum after finding out for sure that he'd been the one that had been responsible; and then, while they were having a duel over the matter once Dad caught up with him; Draco at least professed to be sorry." He paused and let that all sink in – though he also sensed that Ollie was already working on excuses for why he shouldn't believe the story.**

" **My point, Ollie, is that even a Death Eater could feel horrid about something he was responsible for doing to an innocent bystander. What does that say about you and James that you don't care about the people you've hurt trying to destroy me? Did Stephanie deserve what you guys did to her? If you think so; then you should also think that what happened to your Mum was fair too. How about if you'd killed your own cousin with that snake-wand?" He shook his head at what he sensed from Ollie. "Go back to the party; have a few drinks; and before you know it; you'll be convinced that you're not a selfish, horrid, compassionless monster."**

" **Make me," Ollie retorted childishly; and Al shrugged.**

" **Okay,' he agreed – and then did that by silently levitating Ollie an inch off the floor; and then sent him out of the room and all the way to the common room before releasing him again.**

 **Once Ollie was out of the room, he sat down on his bed again; went back to work on the toy; and spent a lot of time thinking about James and Ollie. He tried to sense and foresee any time in the near or more-distant future when he wouldn't have problems with them – when they wouldn't hate him anymore. It was a bit depressing when he didn't get any sense that could happen, but that didn't mean it never would; and he didn't get hung up on it. There really were happier things to ponder, and even though he couldn't resist the urge to feel a bit guilty too; he really was looking forward to the certain break from having James anywhere near him. His brother was officially out of the school; Al wouldn't be home until near the end of June; and he was sure there was no chance at all that James would stop in for visits to Hogsmeade or for any of the remamining school Quidditch matches now that he was free of the school – and his family.**

 **The drama surrounding James was far from being done affecting him, but by the time Al put his toys away and went off to sleep while most of his room mates partied on with their Quidditch heroes until late in the night; he was still starting to feel much better about how good the rest of his school year would be, and, as always, like any good future Cannons player; he was going to keep his fingers crossed and hope for the best!**


	55. Mostly Quidditch March

**Chapter Fifty-Five – Mostly-Quidditch March**

" **I see you've read Rita's column already this morning," Al told Rose as she met up with him in the hallway not far from the portrait hole. She'd made it to the common room first; and had started heading toward the Room of Requirements while he'd still been on his way back to their House.**

" **I have," she agreed; the expression on her face grim and unhappy. "Her spies here at the school must've given her the heads up about James, but there were only about three nuggets of truth in that part of her column; and everything about her interview with James was total rubbish."**

" **You don't think that Mum and Dad made him walk away with just the things he had in his gear bag when he quit school?" he asked. "James does have one of the undetectable expansion bags. I'll guess that he had his trunk and everything else he had here in it before going out to the stadium – except for Blizzard. I'll check later and see if he's still here or not – and then find out what to do with him if he is here."**

 **Okay, I'll give you that," Rose conceded; "but we know your Mum and Dad have helped him a lot; and he definitely isn't starting out with nothing except the money he's earned with the Catapults so far this season."**

" **I know, but Rita's never cared about the facts. The way she's spinning this story is even more-ridiculous than usual. Making this into an indictment of Hogwarts because the best and brightest would rather quit as soon as they're over-age instead of being taught rubbish and indoctrinated to never think for themselves was a stretch; if not as funny as James' need for fresh air because of the stench of Animorphpotty that's so pervasive; it's probably seeped into the castle walls by now."**

" **You shouldn't be having fun with this," Rose told him; and Al smiled and shrugged.**

" **I knew it was coming – and she'll have more of it as the week goes along. There's nothing I can do about it; so I may as well just go with the flow and maybe make fun of the nonsense now and then along the way. How was the rest of your night? Some of my roommates – including Ray – might not make it to breakfast this morning. That must've been some party!"**

" **It was," Rose agreed. "I'm glad that I wasn't on-duty until the end of it; or you'd have been helping me out with some healing. Too many of our House mates decided to stay up late; and I'll wager that most of them will regret it sooner or later today. We worked our tails off last week; and we'll still need to study most of the day to get our weekend revision done."**

" **When we add in the bigger projects that are due next week," Al agreed. "It might be scary to ask this, but how is Patricia doing – or Bristol and James' other girlfriends? That must be something getting talked about in the girls' dorms."**

" **But not among the guys?" rose countered; and Al grinned ruefully.**

" **Not in any way that I want to talk about with anyone."**

" **More Witches for the rest of the boys?" Rose guessed – "and possibly some Wizards thinking that they won't have to worry about James trying to mess around with their own girlfriends."**

" **Those would be two of the nicer thoughts going around," Al added with a nod. "I know that Valentine's Day didn't go well for Patricia, and she'd hate the sympathy from me; but she does love James – even if that's for some warped and opportunistic reasons. We have nearly two and a half more years here at Hogwarts; and it must be dawning on her that her happily-ever-after dreams for a rich and famous life with James might not survive that much time apart."**

" **I'd say it was unlikely to survive even if James stayed and strung her along for another year and a half," Rose pointed out; and then sighed. "Okay, Patricia had a tough night – but not before she tried to party half the night and pretend that she was happy for James. Anna will be there for her; and Merlin only knows what'll happen next for Patricia. I'd say the separation from James will do her a world of good."**

" **We can hope that it will – for her sake," Al agreed. "Are you and the other Prefects expecting anarchy to begin today?"**

 **Rose laughed. "Maybe tomorrow," she joked. "The Anarchists partied hardest last night; and might not be feeling up to the task for a day or two. I expect that Louis and Deanna will talk about that in our Prefect meeting this afternoon; and I won't be surprised if we have some extra patrols added if there are many more problems than usual."**

" **I'll spend more time keeping an eye on things too," Al offered; "but there's a good chance that there won't be any students willing to make the jump from thinking that James' ideas are good ones to actually trying to be rebels without a cause."**

" **It is really tough to get an uprising started when the masses are, for the most part, happy and well-cared for."**

 **That comment led their chat off in a new direction; they had fun together; and then Al had to deal with more drama and too much emotional turmoil while having breakfast in the Great Hall. After that, it was time to get to work; and that really did take all day – in part because Gwendolyn had a make-up Quidditch practice during the last-half of the morning and the Prefect meeting after lunch. Al helped other friends with some tutoring while she was busy, but also spent some of that time helping other teens and tweens around the castle. Gwendolyn, Rose, and most of their study group friends needed to work in the evening; so family fun night was more of a bonus study session with just a bit of fun mixed in – like for the bedtime mirror chat and lullaby entertainment with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie that included a funny, but not-particularly beautiful choral version of Al and Gwendolyn's lullaby that was a bit too loud and occasionally off-key to actually help the twins to sleep.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn had mirror chats with their parents too, but those conversations were superficial with too many friends around to talk with them freely. when it was time to pack up for the night, Al and Gwendolyn did that a bit early; they had Lily and Jonah with them for the trip to the Owlery; and then they had extra work to do there because in addition to sending Winter with her weekly Owl Post; they got Blizzard ready to go too – and used an undetectable expansion bag for his cage so that Blizzard could take that with him for his own delivery. They sent both owls home to Harry and Ginny; but that was entirely so that they could send Blizzard on to James whenever he was in a place where he could keep Blizzard and, hopefully, take care of him too.**

" **Don't worry," Lily told Al. "James will have servants to take care of his owl for him. Blizzard will be just fine."**

" **If he's lucky-enough to get servants that will show him a little love too," Al agreed. "I'll miss seeing him around here or at home – and so will Winter."**

" **I wasn't thinking about that," Lily admitted. "How do owls handle things like that when they're split up from their mates?"**

" **Maybe they have special meeting places while out doing Owl Posts," Jonah offered."**

" **That might not be far from the truth," Lily said thoughtfully; and then grinned. "If Winter ends up in a family way during mating season; we might actually get the answer to that question – along with some owlets!"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "It is so wrong; but my first thought about that was a mental picture of James' twins each getting one of Blizzards' owlets as gifts on their first birthday."**

" **Wrong – and funny," Lily agreed; laughing too. "Speaking of Jaimie and Lorie – let's not ever do that group lullaby sing-along. They could be scarred for life after we inflicted that on them tonight."**

" **They didn't like it," Al admitted; "but I don't think it'll cause any permanent damage. We're sure to have more sunday night study sessions for the rest of this year, though; so they may have to put up with those sing-alongs now and then."**

" **I'm sure not going to tell our musically-challenged friends that they should never sing again," Gwendolyn assured them. "We could think about other bedtime entertainments other than singing on the nights we do have the full gang with us – and we do sing them to sleep on other nights too."**

" **Them being the twins or your study buddies?" Lily asked and teased.**

" **Sometimes it's both," Gwendolyn answered. "Now that we're on our own for a little longer, though; are you having any issues around here that you didn't want to talk about around the others?"**

" **Not compared to Al," Lily answered. "We've had a few run-ins with our favorite Slytherins, but they're all just talk; and know better by now than to mess with us."**

" **They're afraid of messing with you," Jonah amended with a grin. "Nobody ever seems to be afraid of musicians."**

" **I'm a musician," Lily reminded him; and Jonah laughed.**

" **True, but you're your father's daughter first and a Quidditch phenom second; so they don't think of you as a weak, artsy-type of Witch. Half of the Slytherins don't likely even know that you're getting to be such an awesome guitarist."**

" **That's a bit over-stated; but thanks," Lily said while giving him a quick hug. "Getting back to Gwendolyn's question – we're not having any problems. It's a bit annoying to hear some of my roommates and other friends gushing all over how brilliant and hot James is; but most of that nonsense should die down once we get past his next big match with the Catapults."**

" **We hope," Gwendolyn agreed; and then grinned at Al. "If James makes the National team for the Quidditch World Cup; would you make a James version of those toys?"**

" **And if you did; what animal would you make him?" Lily added. "A field mouse?"**

" **We're doing National animals," Al reminded them. "The toys we've made for England are a lion and lioness."**

" **Then making one mouse on the team would be brilliant," Lily declared. "That'd give the lions and lionesses something to play with!"**

" **Could we do the magic that would have them eating the mouse and then spitting it out?" Gwendolyn asked winsomely. "That'd be even better!"**

" **You're both very bad," Al told them; though he'd joined in for the laughs. "I really don't think that we should go there – especially when there are lots of National animals that other National animals would love to have for dinner. I don't think that the Quidditch World Cup organizers or the individual countries' leaders would find that sort of thing amusing."**

" **That's true for politicians in general," Lily said dismissively. "They'd be brilliant wheezes, though!"**

 **Lily and Gwendolyn had more fun with that idea, but they eventually made it to the hallway outside of Ravenclaw tower; it was time to say goodnight; and Al went straight up to his dorm room after walking back to Gryffindor tower with Lily. He didn't go off to sleep right away because he wanted to get started on the next batch of toys they wanted to have ready to send with Winter in a week, so he did that for an hour; and then crashed into nap mode for the rest of the night.**

 **James, Quidditch, and the Catapults still topped the gossip news around Hogwarts – and throughout the country too, but while Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends needed to yet-again step up their work efforts during the last full week of February; the first Quidditch news of the week was actually from the Gryffindor team. Ollie's Captaincy wasn't challenged by the other guys; and he then gave Kira Kirke the Seeker job and didn't bother to find a replacement for her on the reserve squad. Everything about that was weird for Al thanks to what he sensed from everyone on the team. Brock hadn't expected to get the job anyway; Louis and Tiberius had apparently decided that they'd be better off letting Ollie lead, since they could take credit if they won their last match – or let their new Captain take the blame if they lost the match without James there to win it for them. Kira was thrilled, but more than a little delusional to think that she was ready to play against a Seeker as talented as Pauline; and Ollie was both delusional and disgusting for believing he was as talented as James – and sure that playing nice with Kira would lead to an entirely-different kind of play time with her off the pitch.**

 **While that was the big news by dinnertime on Monday, the Harpies were up next for the Quidditch spotlight – at least with the fans of the team. They were playing against the Kestrels on Tuesday night; so the evening study session for Al, Gwendolyn, and their group included Lily, Jonah, and their friends; some extra cousins and friends; and a mirror set-up that allowed them to keep an eye on the match from most of the worktables as well as the sofas that Al set up for anyone that either finished studying early or decided to slack off for the night. The weather wasn't a huge factor for a change, but it was still cold; and night matches could be tough even when it was warm and comfortable for playing the game.**

 **The Kestrels came to play too, but other than a slow start to the match, once the Harpies got warmed up; they proved that they were the better team. That didn't mean a quick end to the match, though; so all of the teens and tweens watching the match and studying with Al and Gwendolyn were able to enjoy the entertainment – and be slowed down with their studying thanks to regular distractions while watching particularly-brilliant plays. There were also more time-outs than usual for most matches for various reasons – including a referee time-out due to minor bludger damage to a goal that needed to be repaired; which was why the match was still going on when it was time to pack up ahead of curfew.**

 **Al walked Gwendolyn home and got back to his dorm room in time to catch the end of the match; and Gabrielle's victory was welcomed; but a bit of a let-down after an otherwise brilliant match. When she ended the game, the Harpies had been ahead one-seventy to fifty. The Kestrels' Seeker went for an ill-advised, high-risk snitch catch; he botched the attempt about as badly as Al had ever seen; and Gabrielle scooped up the easy catch in his wake. Al wasn't alone in his dorm room by then, so he talked about the match with some of the other guys; he worked on one of his toys; and then went off to sleep not long after Ray got back from saying goodnight to Cyndia in the common room – something that seemed to be happening later and later every night the longer they continued dating.**

 **By Wednesday, the rest of the week was open for Al and Gwendolyn; and the gossip network was buzzing with James-related stories as they counted down the last three days ahead of his big match on Saturday. They weren't planning on taking the day off - or even the entire afternoon – on Saturday, but they did still work hard straight through until near-curfew on Friday night just to keep up with the loads of assignments and reading from their Professors. There was some play time too; but they squeezed that in around the work. Al did his Seeker duels with Lily while Gwendolyn was busy with her Quidditch practices or Prefect duties. She had a bonus workout with Al, Rose, Ray, and Cyndia on Wednesday afternoon; and Al and Gwendolyn had one bit of snogging on Thursday night – along with some bonus hugs and kisses during their Astronomy class.**

 **On Saturday, they had a study morning; Gwendolyn missed the second-half of that while busy with Quidditch; and then they gathered in their study classroom after lunch and set up for a mixed study and play session that included getting the sofas and mirror out for the game watching; a portable pool ready for anyone interested in swimming; and a small area with just a few worktables for the too-studious among them. That little group included Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah. Brandon and Seth were with them at the worktable too; but weren't seriously-interested in studying. They had everything set up by the time Lee and his team of experts unanimously picked a Catapults win regardless of whether the rest of the team showed up to play with James and Miya or not.**

" **I know that it's wrong to wish for a Catapults' loss today – especially since Miya is a friend; but I can't help but feel that way just a bit," Brandon said as the Arrows were called out into the stadium; and they watched Eddie Bones lead the way for his team.**

" **That wouldn't affect the greatest ego – I mean, Seeker – to ever play the game," Gwendolyn told him with a smirk. "As always, James is the hero if he wins; and it's someone else's fault if he loses."**

" **The wind changed directions and he was overcome by the smell of Animorphloser wafting down to Bodmin stadium all the way from Hogwarts," Al offered deprecatingly; and earning a round of laughs.**

" **Rita would love that line," Rose suggested. "Don't let that one get to Ollie, though; or he'll use it in May if he can't pull off that sure-thing win for the undefeated season."**

" **That'd be the least of my worries after that match," Al reminded her; and Rose laughed.**

" **Lily and Gwendolyn won't really blast you," she assured him; and Al laughed.**

" **Of course not – only one of them will do it. The other will be a member of the Quidditch Cup champions' team and very happy."**

" **What a surprise – James is leading the way for the Catapults," Rose said with a nod toward the mirror. "Have they made him Captain? I can't see from that view whether he's wearing the 'C' or not."**

" **We'd have heard about it if he was," Seth suggested. "He'd likely take the job too, but the Catapults shouldn't give it to him. He ought to be busy-enough trying to win all of his Seeker duels for the rest of the season."**

" **What will the Catapults need to do to make the playoffs?" Susannah asked; and then smiled. "Yeah, I know that Quidditch isn't my thing, but if they're huge underdogs; the Catapults will earn a lot of fans if they can turn things around that quickly – especially if James and Miya have to mostly do that on their own."**

" **That's true – and they'd deserve the credit," Rose admitted. "The Catapults have six wins and eleven losses going into this match. Last season, the cut-off for making the playoffs was thirteen wins, so if it is that low again this season; the Catapults would need to win all of their remaining matches – including this one."**

" **So James would need to be undefeated for the season too," Susannah added. "If you go by his record here; the odds would be against him."**

" **None of that will matter anymore," Al advised her. "We'll have to wait and see if he can make that miracle happen or not, but James knows full-well the risks he's taking to his future in the show by quitting school early; so he will play his best."**

 **The match was about to start; so they watched the opening plays and then continued to chat while four out of six of them got back to their studies. As far as Quidditch matches went; it wasn't really much fun to watch – unless you were an Arrows fan. Their team jumped out to an early lead; and Miya was the only reason that they didn't earn the one-sixty lead within the first hour. she played brilliantly; managed to get in on nearly every defensive and offensive play; and even managed to score four goals on Eddie despite getting no help from her Chaser team mates or Beaters. It wasn't until the one hour and thirty-nine minute mark that the fun ended for the Arrows and their fans.**

 **The score was one-sixty to forty at the time, and the big mistake that ended the match was thanks entirely to the Arrows' Seeker. His team was still forty points away from the one-sixty lead, but he started to get over-confident; sure that he'd soon be sitting back and letting the rookie braggart catch the snitch for the loss – unless his Manager opted to run it up on the Catapults instead. Either way, he slacked off just a bit; lost his focus; and got hit by a bludger from one of his own Beaters after James dodged it – and then went on to catch the snitch with another flashy, show-boating move that looked spectacular; but would get him beaten against a better Seeker.**

" **One down – six to go," Rose offered as they took a break from the work and watched James' victory 'dance' as he flew around the stadium and taunted the Arrows' players and fans.**

" **We'll have to wait and see about that," Gwendolyn told her. "There have been seasons when the eighth-place team only has twelve wins. I'd have to check, but it's possible that the record for that might even be lower – depending on how well the top two or three teams do; or if the worst teams lose most of their matches."**

" **The lowest number of wins for a league championship since the start of the twenty-four match season is sixteen," Al advised them. "We'd likely need to go through all of the records for every season to get that other number."**

" **Sixteen with the playoffs wins?" Rose asked; and Al nodded; and then smiled. "No, that isn't a stat for the Cannons. When they won their championships; they were one of the best teams in the show."**

" **You did just say that the Catapults might need to win out to tie that record, though," Susannah pointed out. "Are you making any predictions?"**

 **Al laughed. "Yeah – I'm predicting that we'll turn the mirror off or change the channel so that one of us doesn't have to watch James' post-game boasting."**

 **After making that prediction, Al let his friends have fun with that; but knew immediately that they were going to leave the show on; and 'prove' that his Divination skills weren't infallible. James didn't disappoint with his bragging and bravado; he offered some insults; and boldly predicted a winning season for the Catapults. While he couldn't tune that out – or what he sensed from everyone around the castle as many of them watched the entire post-game show; Al did get back to his work; and only took a break when Gwendolyn wanted to wrap up early-enough to have a swim before they'd need to pack up for dinner.**

 **They found out that there was a victory party going on in the Gryffindor common room when they stopped in there to drop off books and other gear and pick up things they'd want for their evening plans, but they didn't join in at all; and Al was glad to go on to the Room of Requirements with Gwendolyn after having dinner – and then spending the rest of the night playing music; making toys; and, for an hour or so, snogging each other senseless!**

 **Harry and Ginny had taken a small group of family Quidditch fans to the Catapults' match – including her parents, Jared Davies, and Molly. Roger and Cho Davies were there at the match too, but in the Catapults' season's tickets section; and several blocks of seats away from where Harry had been able to get the best tickets still available a week ahead of the match – and shortly before word got out about James and the match was sold out. They'd gone out for lunch at the Leaky; enjoyed the comparatively-short match – if only thanks to the results; and then Harry and Ginny had gone on to Chudley to visit Malorie and the girls – getting there not long after the twins woke from their afternoon nap.**

" **You missed your Daddy's match?" Ginny teased as she took possession of Jaimie after Harry had already picked up Lorie and was happily cuddling with her. "The Quidditch for the rest of the match wasn't really very good; but James did win the day for his team – and he's now the youngest player to ever start his rookie season with five or more straight wins."**

" **What was your record?" Malorie asked; and Ginny smiled at her.**

" **I had eight wins before my first loss; and it wasn't a record. I also had a much better team behind me than James has with the Catapults. He may not want to have anything to do with us, but it's okay for us to be proud of him for what he is doing right now in the show. It is rather remarkable."**

" **You sound surprised," Malorie advised her.**

" **I am," she admitted candidly. "We've always known that James has the talent, but until this season; he's usually allowed his own anger and over-confidence to beat him. He's got it all together right now, and while he's gotten a few breaks of good luck too; he's still found a way to win. Whatever happens with the Catapults this season; it is going to be interesting to watch – and I do hope that James is successful."**

" **Even if he beats your Harpies team?" Malorie teased; and Ginny and Harry both laughed – which got the twins giggling and gurgling happily too.**

" **Now let's not get silly here," Ginny answered. "Son of mine or not – I'll be cheering for the Harpies if they end up facing each other in the playoffs. We've already had our two matches for the regular season."**

" **We could probably get you tickets for the Catapults' side of the stadium for that match if you and the girls wanted to cheer for James instead of watching that match with us," Harry offered.**

" **We'd rather sit with you," Malorie assured him. "Our only problem with that sort of thing this season will be if we could go to nice-weather matches where the Catapults and Harpies are playing at the same time."**

" **At least one of us will be at all of James' matches," Ginny assured her – "at least until I start playing for the Cannons."**

" **Have you officially taken the job?" Malorie asked; and Ginny shook her head.**

" **No, but after today; I'm liking the idea even more – especially if I can play with Al and Rose; and still get chances to spend time with James too."**

" **Maybe you should wait and see how good their team will be once the Managers and owners replace the players that aren't helping out now," Harry suggested. "You thought that the McClaggens were playing a bit too well last summer; so you might not want to play against them when they're trying their best."**

" **True, but James isn't the only Wizard or Witch in our family with a big ego; and I am very tempted to find out if I'm still good-enough to be one of the best Seekers in the show."**

" **I've no doubt about that at all," Harry assured her; and then grinned down at Lorie. "If your Daddy and Grandma were playing against each other in the show; who would you cheer for, sweetie?"**

" **If Grandma is playing for the team paying my wages; I'd hope they'd cheer for the Cannons," Malorie offered. "There are two of them, though; so I suppose they could take turns – or just cheer for both of you."**

" **Teddy used to cheer for all of the players when he was a toddler," Harry told her. "The girls won't find any of this fun, though, so why don't the two of you have fun chatting; and I'll just sit here and play with them."**

 **That's exactly what he did; they spent the rest of the afternoon with Malorie and their granddaughters; and then Harry picked up take-out while Malorie and Ginny took care of feeding the twins; they enjoyed that quiet little meal; and then Harry and Ginny went home to wrap up their busy day with a cuddle and a movie night.**

" **I've decided to put you in charge of keeping our new superstar under control."**

 **Ritchie Cootes turned and smiled at his boss and friend, Daniel Maddock. The Catapults' Manager had been a veteran player when Ritchie had been a rookie with Jimmy Peakes; had moved on – and up – from there through the ranks from scout to Manager; and had mentored him along that same path.**

" **I was fairly-sure that you'd do that," Ritchie answered; returning his attention to where James was having fun flirting and partying with a group of VIP party guests that included several extremely-attractive Witches. "He's got the biggest ego we've probably had on the team since before you started playing; but you can't deny that he's got the talent to match."**

" **You're right on both counts," Daniel agreed, "but that doesn't make it any easier to put up with all of his nonsense, so until – or if – he grows up; he's going to be your problem. Our owners will sack me if I deal with him – 'cause he'd be the most-expensive pet donkey they've ever owned."**

 **Ritchie laughed. "I'll do my best to keep him from driving you crazy," he promised. "You may need to hire more assistants if the owners insist on hiring his Gryffindor team mates."**

" **Ollie Wood's boy will be worse; since his big, fat ego doesn't match his talent," Daniel suggested. "The Weasley kid will be fine as long as he doesn't get caught up in the partying with his cousin; and I can work with those McClaggen boys. They'll be better than you and Jimmy if we can get them focused on the job."**

" **They're better than we were right now," Ritchie admitted. "You have to like our chances for getting back to the top of the league again. I don't think that they quite give us all of the pieces yet; but we'll be a lot closer to a championship over the next couple of years."**

" **We'd better be," Daniel advised him seriously. "By himself, young Mr. Potter there might already be paying off for the owners, but even if he makes money for them; they won't be happy until they get that title – and then they'll want more of them after that."**

" **Wouldn't we all?" Ritchie countered; and then laughed. "Maybe you'll get a shot at an even better championship this year. If James keeps winning; you could be our next National team Manager."**

" **If that'd mean spending the summer babysitting him; I might just pass," Daniel told him. "I wouldn't pick either of us for that job, but then we are doing the best we can with the hand we've been dealt; and the owners haven't left us many options for dealing with our team."**

" **They haven't," Ritchie agreed. "If we keep winning, though, the guys may come around – especially if they get the chance for one more shot at the league title before they're looking for new jobs with other teams."**

" **That'd be brilliant, Ritchie, but if we really thought that we could win a championship with this team; we wouldn't be doing everything possible to put together an entirely-new team."**

" **Let's hope we don't end up with an entirely-new team – or that'd include replacing us too," Ritchie joked.**

" **That's a certainty if we can't give the owners and fans what they want this time around. "I'd say we've got two years – maybe three; which brings me back around to my first comment. Do whatever it takes to keep that boy under control and hopefully winning matches for us. Like it or not – he's the key to our job security."**

" **Okay," Ritchie agreed, "but if I succeed; I want a big raise to go along with that job security."**

 **By Sunday morning, the Catapults' victory was a fading story, but gossip about James continued – particularly thanks to the social news in the paper and on the morning mirror network shows that included reports about James' partying and other post-match entertainments. Al wasn't able to ignore all of that, but he also didn't get involved or talk about it with anyone other than Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, and Jonah. Fortunately; he was too busy anyway. Studying with Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends was part of that, but while Jonah had a bonus practice with his team to get ready for their big match that was now less than a week away; Lily got him to do a Seeker duel with her in the Room of Requirements. When Gwendolyn had her Prefect meeting after lunch, he spent that time doing good deeds around the castle; and then they studied until dinnertime. They took the evening off for their family fun night; and then wrapped up their weekend with the visit to the Owlery that included sending the next batch of Quidditch World Cup toy prototypes to Ginny so that she could continue to work on that project for them with the company that made the toys.**

 **Monday was the last day of February, and since it wasn't a leap year; it was also the first day of Hugo's fourteenth birthday celebration. Rose had extra help with Hugo's party from Brandon and Alyssa, but Al and Gwendolyn helped too; and they did the set-up for the party after last class – while Hugo was busy with his junior team practice. That extra work and the party made keeping up with their assignments tougher for all of the OWL-year helpers and party-goers, but then that was just the first party that Al and Gwendolyn helped with. On Tuesday, Melissa Wood's party was at the same time – though that was mostly so that their Ravenclaw friends could attend after their team practice. Gwendolyn missed almost-all of that party while at her senior team practice; but had helped Lily and Ray with the set-up. The 'second-half' of Hugo's two-day celebration was included in Melissa's party, but that was mostly just some jokes and a gag gift; and he made sure that bit of fun they had with that didn't intrude on Melissa's special day.**

 **Their involvement with Ron's forty-second birthday was only through the gifts they'd sent and a morning mirror chat; but Al and Gwendolyn helped out again on Wednesday afternoon because Lily was hosting Riley's thirteenth birthday party – again after their team practice and through until dinnertime. That party was the one that Al spent the least time at, but that was entirely because Riley had a different group of friends; and the older teens in his 'family' didn't need to be there to help him have fun with them. After three days of too-much birthday fun and too many late nights keeping up with their studying workload; Al, Gwendolyn, and their friends were glad to have things mostly get back to normal for the last couple of days of the week ahead of another busy Quidditch weekend!**

 **James was smiling brilliantly as he reached the door to his new flat; opened it; and then stepped into the wide, airy entrance hall. It wasn't a huge space – like the one at Malfoy Manor; but he thought that it was a huge step up from the hovel that had been his childhood home! He dropped his bag onto the floor; took his shoes off; and enjoyed the cool comfort of the gleaming hardwood floor. The hall was empty, but then the previous tenants had only moved out on the weekend; and then the place had been cleaned and a bit of painting had been done on Sunday and Monday so that it would be ready for him on the first.**

 **The layout of his new flat was still unfamiliar to him, but James was very happy with his choice – the best that the estate office in Diagon Alley had available on short notice. For what it was costing him; James was sure it was likely one of the best they had of the properties they worked with or managed; but it was just the next step up for him – until he was ready to pick out his mansion and join the ranks of the ultra-rich! From the entrance hall, he wandered into the dining room; on to the kitchen from there; and then into the sitting room. Every room was empty, but he'd already started buying furniture; and the first delivery was on the way – the bedroom suite that he'd need to be able to spend the night there without needing to conjure something for the night instead. He'd bought some furniture for the sitting room and a small table and four chairs for the kitchen too; and would worry about the rest as he had time to deal with all of that – when he wasn't busy with the Catapults or all of the partying!**

" **This will be perfect – for now," he told himself aloud as he walked into the sunroom that was wrapped on two sides by tall, wide windows; and there were skylights in the ceiling to let in even more light. The view was far from spectacular, but there was a bit of greenspace between the buildings on 'his' street and the buildings behind them – along with courtyards that, for his building, was a public space that all of the tenants could use – and that he didn't expect to visit at all; unless there was a good party going on! He smiled when he caught sight of a good-looking woman out in one of the other courtyards across from him and a couple of buildings to his left. Then again, maybe the view was better than he expected – or would be once it was warmer out and the girls in the neighborhood started wearing fewer clothes.**

 **His smile brightened again as he took that thought of scantily-dressed Witches and ran with it – wondering if he could get one of the Witches he'd been playing with since escaping Hogwarts to come over and spend the night helping him out with a bit of a private house-warming party for two. That was certainly more-appealing than spending his first night there alone, but he'd need to take care of those pesky deliveries and getting that furniture set up first – and then he could see what he could do about getting an appropriately-hot playmate to have fun with once the work was done.**

 **Maybe he should have hired his first servants already so that he wouldn't have needed to do the work – and might have had that playmate as well! There was a knock on the door; and he went to answer it. Time-enough for all of that; he decided. As he accepted his first furniture delivery; James was sure that this was just the start of a brilliant future – living a life that should have been his all along; and that would show everyone why he was destined to be the greatest, most-famous, and richest Quidditch player ever!**

 **Gwendolyn smiled as she met up with Al, Rose, and Brandon in the hallway outside of the Ravenclaw tower entrance – and while she watched Lily and Jonah as they were sharing an apparently-happy moment just a couple of paces away from Al.**

" **Let me guess – Lily decided to surprise Jonah with a good luck snogging – I mean gift," she joked; earning a round of laughs.**

" **I'm pretty sure that he technically started the snogging in thanks for the gift," Brandon offered. "She's not dating him, though, so you, Rose, and the other Witches in the castle who do have boyfriends have nothing to worry about like the guys do with Al and his gifts for you. At the rate he's going; he'll be buying you houses by your NEWT year."**

" **Well, we are going to get married the night we get home from our NEWT year; so that is possible," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al. "As for having Lily motivate my brother to play his best today – I'm okay with that, but her House and team mates might not agree; since they'll be cheering for slytherin again today."**

" **I'll be cheering for my friends," Lily advised her; and Gwendolyn turned her smile on Lily and Jonah as they joined their little group.**

" **Even if a win for our House today might cost you the Quidditch Cup?"**

" **No – then I'll hex everyone that messed that up for me again this season," Lily declared. "We're Witches – consistency is not required."**

" **Well, at least I'll be in good company if that happens and I need to run for the hills," Al offered.**

" **Maybe," Lily agreed, "but if you're all running off in a pack; that'll just make it easier for me to track the lot of you down. I really do wish Jonah the best for today, though, and I hope he wins; since I'd rather go out and find out which of us has the best team next month than not have that match matter much – or at all."**

" **We're only starting the second-half of the season," Brandon reminded her. "Every match still counts."**

" **And you can be sure that Slytherin and Hufflepuff will come to play in their matches. They can't win the Quidditch Cup anymore this season, since one of our teams is sure to have at least four wins; but one of their teams could get to three wins if they can win-out."**

" **I'll pick the under on that – for both of their teams," Lily predicted. "Let's get to breakfast. We want Jonah to be ready for a tough match; and I've no doubt that Slytherin will try to back up all of that bragging they've been doing this week."**

 **Al was sure that Lily was right about that, and the Slytherin guys continued to shoot their mouths off while they all had that meal in the Great Hall, but Al sensed that most of them were not nearly as confident as they pretended to be; while Jonah and his team mates were all feeling pretty good about their chances – while keeping their mouths shut and not getting into a verbal battle with their meanest rivals. He stayed with Gwendolyn for a while once in the Great Hall so that he could be sure to wish all of the Ravenclaw junior players good luck, but then he joined Rose at their usual spots at the Gryffindor table – once she'd finished doing the same with Brandon. The big match was the top gossip topic; though teen and tween dating drama was as much a part of that as the Quidditch. After breakfast, he met up with Gwendolyn and some of their friends; opted for some magical play time in their usual study classroom; and then they headed out to the stadium a half-hour or so before game time so they could get seats along the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor border.**

" **Warning – Ollie Wood and gang heading our way at ten o'clock," Rose leaned in and whispered to Al and Gwendolyn. "The good news is that our new senior team Captain is actually showing up to watch one of the other matches."**

" **And that's the bad news too," Gwendolyn deadpanned. "I was hoping that we'd be done with their game time nonsense now that James is out of here."**

" **Maybe Ollie has nothing better to do now that his best mate has moved on – and up in the world," Lily suggested. "This does give him a chance to step out of the shadow of greatness and try to show everyone that he isn't just a legend in his own mind."**

" **He'd be okay with only being the best Chaser in the history of the game," Kathryn offered with a grin. "I'm not sure how he works that out when he's got the third-best Chaser record in our family; but he manages to do that somehow."**

" **James has advised us to reject reality and replace it with our own. Ollie's just taking that advice to heart!"**

" **Well, we're about to find out what his reality will be for this match," Rose suggested. "I hope you've stored up enough happy to deal with it Al."**

" **And I'll hope that he doesn't try to stop any of the rest of us if we decide to blast Ollie," Gwendolyn added with a laugh.**

" **No doing anything that might get you suspended from our last match," Pauline warned her.**

" **I wouldn't miss that match for anything," Gwendolyn promised; and then laughed again. "Who wouldn't want the chance to play against the best Chaser in the history of the game?"**

 **The girls had time for a couple of bonus jokes before Ollie and his entourage reached them – and took a block of seats three and four rows behind Al and Gwendolyn. Al would have preferred to avoid any annoyances from Ollie; but wasn't surprised that he couldn't resist the urge to try and prove that he was the better Wizard by publicly-insulting Al, Gwendolyn, and anyone else he chose to pick on during the match. They didn't even need to wait for the start of Colin's pre-game show before he started in on his brilliant game analysis.**

" **Okay, you asked for it; your Captain and leader is here; and we'd all be happier if we'd stayed at the castle and skipped this sorry excuse for a Quidditch match!" Ollie declared grandly. "While the mouse that roars is still busy searching for his list of catch phrases and platitudes so that he can put a happy spin on all of the suck we're about to witness; let's get ahead of him and talk about the Quidditch Cup race; and then take a look at the no-talent players and teams we'll be watching – if we don't collectively just have a nap instead!"**

" **I thought that the Quidditch Cup race was already over," Tiberius told him; and Ollie laughed.**

" **It is – unless the Animorphpotty-sister blows it for us. "That's a tough call; since all four junior teams are full-up with no-talent wannabes. We'll just have to hope that spending so much time around the Animorphloser won't rub off on her – even if the stench of Animorphpotty surely has." He was smirking maliciously as he said all of that; but then stared daggers at Lily when all she did was laugh at him. "What's so funny, Loserette?" he demanded; and she laughed again.**

" **Weren't you trying to earn a round of laughs with all of that?" she countered; smiling at him enthusiastically. "Congratulations – you succeeded!"**

" **I rest my case," Ollie declared. "She's too dim to know when she's being insulted. Way to go, Craptain Potty-sister!"**

" **I'm not dim," Lily countered – "I'm just enjoying the entertainment that comes with spending time in your substitute reality. I can hardly wait to hear how the Quidditch Cup race is over already when we're in second-place to Ravenclaw for the tie-break. If I mess up as you seem to think that I will; that'd mean that you'd need to beat Ravenclaw in May by one hundred and twenty points – plus whatever points Jonah's team might gain in their win over us or the points I'd lose with those hypothetical junior team losses."**

" **Thanks for pointing out some of the ways you're likely to blow the season for us, but in the event that you do manage to suck less than the other teams and win a match or two; I've no doubt that our senior team will be undefeated. There's only one team in the school with five undefeated professional Quidditch players!"**

" **Four," Lily corrected – "or is James going to come back in May to play that match with you and then stay to write his exams?"**

" **It'll be five on the trophies," Ollie spat back; and Lily grinned at him.**

" **That's the spirit!" she encouraged. "At least you're talking about winning trophies instead of just the senior team award! I'm hoping that our House will win a couple of trophies too!"**

 **Al couldn't resist laughing at that, and knew that some of the teens and tweens around them got the barb in Lily's comments; but nobody called her out on that; and Ollie didn't catch the insult. He did go on to offer an insulting review of the Quidditch Cup race that was also delusional; he moved on to offer a ridiculous assessment of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams and all fourteen players; and he dragged that out so long that Colin more than caught up with him by the time he was finished – so he was able to move right into the match play-by-play and alternate-reality analysis of the action going on above the pitch. For his part, Al's analysis was different from both Ollie's warped insults and what was being discussed around him.**

 **As he thought about that, he understood that it was the biases of each of the Witches and Wizards around him that created blinders to some of the things they would otherwise see, but he knew that he had those biases too; and wondered at why he seemed to be able to shut them off and be more-objective – when he didn't let his own emotions get in the way. Remaining in a happy state of mind helped for sure, but he suspected there was more to it than that; and knew that he should spend some time figuring that out – since it could be an advantage that would help his future Cannons team!**

 **What he saw in this match right from the start wasn't significantly-different from what Gwendolyn, Lily, Rose, and the rest of their friends talked about. The differences were in favor of Slytherin, though, and while he didn't like a lot of what he saw from their players; he could appreciate that their strategy worked well against Ravenclaw – and that showed up on the scoreboard. Meg Rivers did a great job avoiding bludgers and cheap shots, but she had to give up goals to protect herself; and Slytherin's Chasers and Beaters took advantage of those openings when they could. The Slytherin bullies didn't have any effect on Alyssa; but fared better when they tried their luck against her less-experienced Chaser partners. For their part, Bryson and Chris did the best they could; but took unnecessary hits while trying to prove they were tough-enough to go head-to-head with their Slytherin opponents.**

 **Slytherin scored the first goal, and managed to get a tie again after Ravenclaw scored the next two, but then they fell behind again; and couldn't close the gap again as Ravenclaw earned a two-goal lead and then kept at least one ahead after that. While the rest of the team battled it out for every ten points; Jonah and Andrea were in a tough, fierce Seeker duel. Al knew that better than most of the spectators because he sensed what was going on with both Seekers – and knew that they were pushing each other to the limit as they went all-out to try and catch the snitch at every opportunity. They each had some good chances too; but managed to battle to a draw – right up until the end of the match.**

 **Ravenclaw had a narrow one-hundred to seventy lead three-quarters of the way into the second hour. Al sensed the winning play setting up; and idly wondered what kind of nastiness might go around about him if certain teens in his House knew that he could've been a really good sport and shouted out a game-saving warning. He didn't do that – even if it would have been better for Lily and her dreams of a Quidditch Cup; and instead just watched the show as Katrina bashed a bludger at Andrea; the Slytherin Seeker dodged it; and then Jonah perfectly-timed his next race to catch the snitch – and won the match for Ravenclaw on a good, clean play!**

" **That was fun, Ollie," Lily turned around and told her fellow Gryffindor Captain. "Spot-on with your analysis as always – in your alternate universe. As for everyone else – I now return you to your regularly-scheduled reality where Ravenclaw is still undefeated – and now has a two-hunred and fifty point lead in the Quidditch Cup race over our House!"**

" **And just like any good Animorphloser-sister; you're happy for them instead of giving a damn about what's best for your House!" Ollie shot back loudly to be heard over the roar of laughter – and the cheering going on from all of the happy Ravenclaws in the section next to him.**

 **That's a load – coming from you," she shot back. "If you cared about anyone but yourself; you'd give that Captain's badge back to Al – and wouldn't have stolen it from him for James in the first place!"**

" **James was voted Captain by everyone in our House!" Ollie declared angrily; getting to his feet and glowering down at her.**

 **Lily laughed derisively. "That's a load too," she retorted disdainfully. "Just because Al didn't demand a true count doesn't mean that some of us don't know that he actually won that vote."**

" **You're lying!" he spat vehemently. "James won that vote!"**

" **Sure he did – once you substituted your reality for ours," she countered. "Don't worry about facts, though, Ollie. After today, I couldn't possibly have any motivation to want to win our last two junior team matches; so you won't have to worry about backing up all of your boasts today in a winner-take-all match against Peter and his team in May!"**

" **Shut it, potty-sister!" Ollie spat; and Lily laughed again.**

" **Yes sir, Captain, sir!" she said with a salute. "I'll go and have fun with my friends; and you can go back to your special reality where you're the best-Chaser-ever sidekick to the best Seeker in the history of Quidditch!" She smiled at him sweetly then. "Oh, and if he actually answers one of your mirror chat requests between now and whenever I see James again; tell him that I still love him – and that he's still a hippogriff-sized git for me!"**

 **Lily turned away from Ollie then, but Al was ready when he sensed Ollie lose his mind. He and Gwendolyn had been standing by then too – first to cheer for Jonah; and then while they started gathering their things while also enjoying Lily's bit of banter with Ollie. He had to drop the blanket he'd folded, but half of their friends didn't even notice that he'd done anything until Ollie's wand landed in his hand – though they did all hear Ollie shout – "Reduct...oh!" The last two syllables came too late to do any good, but even as he turned to face Al with hate and fury clearly on his face and in his eyes; he tried to step back at what he saw in Al's eyes – and fell back into his seat.**

" **Don't," was all that Al actually said to Ollie. He turned toward Louis; threw Ollie's wand to him; and then went back to packing up without another word for anyone. Gwendolyn did give him a quick hug once they were ready to go; but then they headed for the pitch while ignoring the argument going on between Louis and Ollie in the wake of that foiled attempt to blast Lily.**

 **Lily sat at one end of the two worktables they'd shoved together for their team meeting; and waited for everyone else to sit down on the other stools.**

" **Before you get started; the rest of us want to thank you for all of that post-game entertainment with Ollie," Kathryn told her with a grin. "It must be nice to get away with goading him on like that. It seems that Al's handy to have around now and then – even if he is too-nice to be serious boyfriend material for most Witches!"**

" **Maybe Lily would make a brother trade with you – Ollie for Al," Melissa suggested.**

" **It sounds more like she'd rather trade James for Ollie if she likes bad boys," Roxanne teased.**

" **Do you need any of us guys here for this meeting?" Hugo asked. "We can leave if you want to talk about that sort of thing until lunchtime."**

" **We can save that for our bedtime chat instead," Lily decided after taking a drama-pause to think about it. "You're welcome, Kathryn, and that was fun; but no – I don't want to trade either of my brothers for Ollie."**

" **Now that we have that settled – let's talk about the Ravenclaw team," Hugo suggested. "That match was a lot closer than I expected. Did Slytherin get that much better; or have we been over-estimating our Ravenclaw friends?"**

" **Your girlfriend is one of those friends," Lily reminded him with a grin. "Don't you know her well-enough to know exactly how good – or bad – she is?"**

" **Are you talking about Quidditch yet?" Roxanne asked.**

" **You'd all better start doing that – or I'm out of here," Hugo warned.**

" **If you insist," Lily agreed – "though we'll try to have fun too."**

 **Al didn't make a beeline for the Room of Requirements after doing the post-game visit at center-pitch with Gwendolyn, but he did go there with Rose after they walked Gwendolyn and Brandon to Ravenclaw tower; and he sighed in relief once they wre there and he could get away from the mental cacaphony that included a lot of bad thoughts directed his way from Ollie – and even from Louis and the other guys on the team because they were half-convinced that he and Lily were responsible for intentionally goading Ollie into a rage.**

" **You did the right thing – including when you walked away," Rose told him earnestly. "Ollie ought to be kicked out of here again just for trying a curse like that on Lily; but I doubt that Louis will give him anything worse than a slap on the wrist – thanks to you."**

" **I've had my fill of seeing Witches I love being blasted like that." He shook his head and sighed again. "Staying happy seemed to work so well for me at first – even with all of the awful that went with doing that; but it seems to get harder and harder to stay happy when I keep getting pushed by gits like Ollie. Maybe Dad's right and it's just impossible. The supposedly new and improved me seems to be ending up exactly like the old me."**

" **I liked the old you quite a lot," Rose teased, "and you're having some problems; but you have changed, Al. That doesn't mean you have it all figured out. I know you want to be happy all of the time – fill your spirit with love and joy. I get that, but we're human too; and the other emotions come with the territory. You're most-worried about mad – for good reason; but you probably can't just turn off every other emotion. It's how you handle all of them that matters, and when it comes to that; you really were brilliant out there while dealing with Ollie."**

" **Which is why I'm so universally-loved right now," Al deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure that if we'd stayed; Louis would've given detention to Lily and me instead of Ollie."**

" **Rose laughed. "Well, the two of you are potentially messing with his own brilliant Quidditch career. I could see how that might annoy him!"**

" **You have the truth of that nailed," Al advised her seriously. "That's one more thing that I'm not liking very much as my abilities get stronger – finding out too much about people I care about. Louis plays nice most of the time, but he's more like James than I'd have ever guessed even a couple of years ago."**

" **I'm sure that's true of me too – especially after I proved that so emphatically last fall."**

" **That isn't the same – and I was as much at fault as any of us for not being able to explain or even fully-understand myself why I needed to make those changes. I'm glad that we're better now, but sometimes I feel as though the only thing I've accomplished is to help James get everything he wants while just making things tougher on the rest of the people I love most."**

" **Well, that seems very perceptive to me," Rose offered; and Al knew she was being mostly-serious. "Just don't forget that he'll be the competition when we're in the show and playing for the Cannons. If James does well between now and then; so be it. After that, though; you'd better focus all of that love, joy, and happiness on our team – no matter what that means for James, Ollie, Louis, and the other guys you're trying to help with all of these sacrifices this year."**

 **James felt as though he was making a major sacrifice as he sat down in the sitting room of Ritchie Cootes' home and got ready to spend the afternoon watching Quidditch with his Assistant Manager, Miya Davies, and a small group of Ritchie's friends. The VIP luncheon they'd attended had been fun, and he was sure that he'd be having some fun later with one of the Witches he'd met there; but he was not really interested in watching Quidditch matches when he could be having fun doing anything else!**

" **You're here because your last assignment for doing a game analysis was a dismal fail," Ritchie advised him with a sardonic smile. "Show me that you can do better today; and I won't drag you over here to watch these matches with us again – unless you want to do that because we have fun together."**

" **Is that why you're here, Miya?" James asked.**

" **For the fun? Yes," she agreed. "I learn a lot too. You might find it tough to believe, but some of these old guys actually know a lot about Quidditch – and about the players we have to go up against." She smiled at him; but it was polite – not warm or friendly. "I hope you'll learn something today too; since it'd be nice if we could avoid a stay in St. Mungo's after our match against the Falcons in two weeks."**

 **James shrugged. "I've already got that covered," he advised her. "Brand and the Nott brothers are thugs – and not very bright. They managed to bash my head in during the last match they played against me at Hogwarts; so I predict that they'll try the exact same play – and this time; I'll be ready for it."**

 **Miya nodded. "Okay, they likely will try that – except for one difference. Brand won't try to catch the snitch if they succeed. That isn't the Falcons' way. They may try to soften you up for a few hours too; since they wouldn't want your day to be over too soon. Do you think you can still avoid that play if you're battered and bruised by the time they're ready to try and put you out of your misery?"**

 **James shrugged. "I'm not fourteen anymore and fly a faster broom that I already know how to use better than Brand ever will. Don't worry – I know what I'm doing."**

" **Well, the Harpies-Magpies match is about to start," Ritchie interjected. "Let's find out if that's true."**

 **Al and Rose had gone to the Great Hall for lunch – mostly because he wanted to make sure that Ollie didn't try starting anything with Lily again. He would have liked to skip that meal, and it wasn't fun being around some of his favorite haters; but he didn't stay there long before moving on to their study classroom to set up for the Harpies' match. Gwendolyn didn't go with him, since their House victory party was going to resume after lunch; but they did share a quick hug and kiss before splitting up again; and she planned on joining the inter-House game-watching if the Harpies match lasted long-enough for her to do that. Since she wasn't there for the start of the match, and neither was Brandon; Al and Rose sat together – and opted to do that at a worktable so that they could do a bit of bonus studying while watching a match that should be a near-certain win for 'their' team.**

" **Maybe we should've left everyone here and gone to the Room of Requirements to work," Rose suggested not long after the match started and the noise level in the room went up quite a bit each time good plays were cheered for or the Magpies' players were jeered. She smiled at Al. "Isn't it about time for you to stop watching Harpies matches and follow the Cannons instead?"**

 **Al laughed. "Actually, I've been thinking that we'll need to start watching more matches from all of the other teams soon," he advised her. "Next season for sure; since we'll want to build up our own player and team profiles. We can look at what the Cannons have too; but I wouldn't count on that being very useful for us."**

" **I wasn't thinking about that while making the joke," Rose admitted. "Merlin – that's a huge job! There are one hundred and fifty-six matches a season – not including the playoffs."**

" **Times an average of three to three-and-a-half hours per match – plus the twelve Hogwarts matches and any other schools in Europe we'd want to keep an eye on for future league talent," Al added. "We couldn't do the last part of that ourselves; but we'd need to hire scouts eventually anyway."**

" **Would we?" Rose asked; and she was grinning again. "We could just make sure that the Cannons become a family dynasty."**

" **That might work – if our kids all want to play Quidditch when they grow up too, but if Gwendolyn and I have daughters; she'll want them to play for the Harpies. We will still need scouts, though; since that isn't just about our team – it's getting a heads up for future players on the other teams – and to attend the other league matches too. It changes now and then, but I'm pretty sure that the Harpies are currently using four scouts."**

" **Okay, I get that," Rose conceded; "but you're talking about taking things to an entirely-new level for our plans to hire that many more people by the start of next season – not to mention that they'd need to be Witches and Wizards with talent for the job."**

 **Al laughed again; and Rose looked at him quizzically. "Sorry, but my first thought on that was to start out with offering Mum and Dad those first two jobs," he explained quietly so that they wouldn't be overheard by the other teens and tweens in the room. We do have quite a few Quidditch experts in the family – or with close friends – to choose from. Mum's still tossing around the idea of a Witches-centric Quidditch news site for the wireless web. Maybe she could combine the two – and make that a bit cheaper for us. We could just hire her as a consultant or pay for reports."**

" **That's something to think about for the next couple of years – until we want her to come and play Seeker for us," Rose offered. "Let's talk more about that later. Getting back to the Quidditch watching – I don't think we'll be able to keep up with every match. We aren't even keeping up with all of the family matches – or we'd be in here watching every United match too. I certainly don't plan on watching every Catapults' match – especially once we get closer to writing our OWLs."**

" **I'll likely watch all of them," Al advised her. "That might be different next season – especially if we get to play Quidditch for Gryffindor again. I might get to do that – if they make you or Ray Captain next year."**

" **Unless they don't come back for their NEWT year; it'll likely be Ollie or Brock getting that job," Rose pointed out. "I'd like to think that Brock would give us a chance; but Ollie never will."**

" **We'll see," Al told her quietly. "After seeing the Catapults go after getting James to quit school early; I'm going to guess that they'll try to do the same with Brock to get both brothers on their team next season; and with Ollie because he'll ask James to help make that happen for him."**

" **You don't think that either one of them will come back for their NEWT year?" Rose asked.**

" **I wouldn't place my wagers on that side of the bet," he answered seriously. "Not only do the Catapults want to buy a Championship; Brock and Ollie will also be making those choices during a Quidditch World Cup summer. That's all going to seem like a lot more fun than coming back here for another year while their best mates are out in the real world having fun."**

" **If they'd give us a shot at sixteen; I'd be tempted to quit if it meant playing on the National team," Rose only half-joked. "Unfortunately for me; I suspect that Belinda already has that Keeper job for England."**

" **You're likely right about that," Al agreed. "Vicky's playing well, and might be hoping for another chance at a Quidditch World Cup; but Belinda's playing better."**

" **The Harpies have a better record," Rose pointed out.**

" **Yeah, but they also have a better Chaser defense. Belinda faces more shots on goals."**

 **A goal that Victoire scored diverted their attention because Lily pointed it out to them so that they could watch the replay; and their own conversation was side-tracked while they were drawn into the game talk going on with the gang sitting around on the sofas and chairs with Lily. The Harpies had an early lead that they kept, but the Magpies played better-than-expected; and kept the match close. Gabrielle was in a good Seeker duel too; so the match rolled on for most of the afternoon. Gwendolyn, Jonah, Brandon, and Seth joined them early into the third hour; so Al and Rose wrapped up their studying in favor of some cuddle time with their respective girlfriend and boyfriend. They eventually got to watch Gabrielle earn the big, two-ninety to one-ten victory a bit-past the mid-way point of the fourth hour; and then they had time to watch the post-game show before packing up and heading to the Great Hall for dinner.**

 **Quidditch was done for the day after that – for Al and Gwendolyn, and they took the rest of the day off for some alone time; but then it was back to studying on Sunday; and Gwendolyn also had a make-up Quidditch practice to go along with her Prefect meeting, other duties, and all of the studying that kept her busy until shortly-before curfew. Al had more of his own studying done, but he did other things while Gwendolyn was busy – tutoring, some toymaking, and a short Seeker duel with Lily. Their family fun night had to be fit in with the studying again, but they had as much fun as they could; and they were happy – if too tired – by the time they headed for their beds for the night.**

 **There were still nearly six weeks to go until the Easter break that Al, Gwendolyn, and their OWL year friends wouldn't be going home for anyway, but even with a late Easter; the Professors still seemed to pile on the work as if they were running out of time on the school year. That meant more pressure even on the very best students; and Al tried to spend more time helping Gwendolyn when she began to feel overwhelmed with her own insanely-busy schedule. They didn't have days of birthday partying to do on top of the work during the second week of March, but they did have one party on Wednesday – and it was one that Al and Gwendolyn were involved with again as they helped Ray and Lacey put on a special evening for Cyndia's fifteenth birthday after dinner on Wednesday.**

 **Quidditch was part of that fun because the Catapults were playing the Bats at Yorkshire, but Cyndia's party was centered around a portable pool; and a section of the room was still set aside and dedicated to studying for everyone that needed to mix their birthday fun with keeping up with their never-ending assignments. Al and Gwendolyn helped with the set-up and clean-up, but they didn't get to spend much time playing – and left that to Ray to lead while he and Cyndia pretty much took most of the night off – or at least waited to do their studying until after they went up to their dorm rooms.**

 **While Al was busy keeping up with everything, he still kept an eye on James' match – and found what he sensed around him from a different group of teens than he usually had around him for Quidditch matches very interesting. At one end of the spectrum for what he sensed, Lacey was a good example of teens that could appreciate James' Quidditch skill while still disliking him and wanting nothing to do with him. At the other end; some of Cyndia's friends were crushing on James and daydreaming of what it might be like to be his girlfriend – or more. Compared to all of that, the actual Quidditch match wasn't very good. Miya was the only other player on the Catapults' team other than James to show up again. She only managed to score two goals in the one hour and eleven minutes that it took James to catch the snitch; and the Bats' Chasers scored nine goals while trying their best to unsuccessfully get to the one-sixty lead. Unfortunately, their Seeker wasn't up to the task of keeping James away from the snitch; and James made getting that win look too-easy.**

 **There was one thing about that mid-week blast of too-much-busy – Al and Gwendolyn didn't have a Quidditch match to get back to Hogwarts for on Saturday; so they could spend as much time as they were allowed in Hogsmeade! Before being able to do that, though; they still had to get through all of the work on Thursday and Friday – and their Professors dumped a ridiculous amount of new revision on them for the weekend too! That didn't bother Al – he just stepped up his game and kicked his work into another gear – including helping Gwendolyn, Rose, and their friends to keep up too. They all stayed up late each night; Al and Ray studied together in their dorm room until late on Thursday night – both after curfew and after Astronomy class; and Al worked by himself after curfew on Friday night while Ray was busy with Cyndia and Gwendolyn and Rose were busy with Prefect duties. When he eventually went off to sleep, though; he was ready to take Saturday off and enjoy a play day with Gwendolyn, their family, and friends!**

" **Are you ready to go and surprise your aunt and uncle?" Ginny asked the twins as she worked on getting Jaimie dressed and ready to go on an outing.**

" **They'll love this surprise a lot more than the surprises you just had for Grandma and me," Harry added with a grin. He already had Lorie dressed; and she cooed as he cuddled her in his arms.**

" **No doubt," Ginny agreed. "Do you want the snowsuits, Malorie? We could wander around Hogsmeade while we're there if you'd like to do that too."**

" **Are you allowed to do that with Al and Lily in town?"**

 **Ginny laughed. "They'd let us spend the day there – or do anything else – if it meant getting to play with Jaimie and Lorie for most of the day."**

" **That's an idea – Hogsmeade weekend babysitting services," Malorie suggested. "If I actually had something else to do all day today; I'd think about giving that a try."**

" **Well, we could still give the kids some extra time with the girls; and Al and Lily won't even mind if we hang out with them for a while too."**

 **They still had some work to do before they were ready to head up to Hogsmeade. Now that the twins were a bit more than six months old, getting them into their winter gear was a bit of an adventure as they made a game of it with lots of wriggles and giggles involved; but they eventually were able to head out – and arrived at the Three Broomsticks with enough time to order a first round of drinks and then go outside to meet Al and Gwendolyn. They arrived first because she got a ride to town on Sabre – and he didn't do a sleigh or carriage because the weather was half-decent; and Al didn't want to be stuck doing the horse-and-carriage trick every Hogsmeade weekend for another two years if his friends just began to expect it every time.**

 **It was just an added bonus that he and Gwendolyn got to have some extra time with Jaimie and Lorie without sharing them with Lily, Jonah, and the rest of their friends!**

" **Thank-you," Al said simply; smiling happily as he took Lorie into his arms and hugged her. "You're getting so big, sweetie!" he exclaimed. "You're only this big in my mirror," he added; holding his thumb and forefinger apart and then using them to tickle her. "How much have you grown in the last two months?"**

" **One size in baby clothes," Malorie advised him. "Grandma Ginny and I weeded out their newborn clothes and donated them already."**

" **Most of them," Ginny agreed. "We kept a box of some particularly-nice things to pass on to other babies in the family; and kept a few things as mementos to give the girls when they're older."**

" **Do you have boxes of stuff for Al, Lily, and James too?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **Definitely," Ginny agreed – "though I sent James' mementos when my Dad took his things to James' new flat. I don't have as many things for the boys as I kept for Lily, but in James' case, he was hard on his things; while Al still has the things he loved the most – like his books."**

" **I was actually thinking about my books the other day while hiding out in the Room of Requirements," Al advised her. "In a way, they were my way of escaping back then the way the Room of Requirements is for me now."**

" **You're saying that it was exactly the same?" Harry asked him as they headed back into the Three Broomsticks instead of waiting out in the cold for Lily, Jonah, and the others.**

" **I knew it was an escape back then," Al answered; "but now I can look back and realize that I was sensing things around me just a little bit – and couldn't anymore if I wasn't within a few feet of other people."**

" **That explains why you were such an empathic kid," Ginny suggested. "Speaking of, and while we're here; you should check on the twins and see how they're doing. They've passed their check-ups so far with flying colors; but it never hurts to double-check – and take advantage of that special little talent of yours."**

" **Let's do that first," Al offered. "Lily won't like it if the girls are busy when she wants her time with them."**

" **We're going to hang out around town for a few hours," Ginny advised him. "She'll have time to play – and we might even let you babysit for a while and Malorie and I will go play dress-up with the other girls."**

 **They actually did that – eventually. Al used his special talents to check Jaimie and Lorie; including a check of how their magical talents were progressing; they had a nice visit in the Three Broomsticks; and then they headed out to get the fun or supply shopping done. Harry went along with Al, Jonah, and the twins; and they got to do the boring shopping – though Jaimie and Lorie provided a lot of entertainment; and got paid in hugs, kisses, and treats. Al knew in advance when their fun was going to be interrupted by another blast of unwanted drama; and he gave his father and Jonah the heads up right before the 'author' of that imminent trouble walked into the Apothecary.**

" **Rita Skeeter alert in fifteen," Al warned his father while continuing to select the packages of potions ingredients on the lists he was filling for their usual group of relatives and friends.**

" **I wonder what might have brought her to town today?" Harry asked rhetorically while looking down at Lorie – who was hanging from his chest in her little carrier.**

" **I'm only surprised that it took her so long," Al said with a shake of his head. "Her network of informants around here and at Hogwarts must've started calling her an hour ago."**

" **Probably," Jonah agreed; "but this is the first time she's tried to talk to you directly since..." he stopped and then grinned ruefully. "Okay, maybe she's needed some time to recover from that last visit."**

 **Rita looked well-enough when she walked into the Apothecary then; but she paused and hesitated for a moment when she saw all three Wizards look her way – and without any sense of surprise. She visibly seemed to stiffen her back; and strode toward them with purposeful, but unhurried steps. That took several drawn-out moments because they'd been mid-way into the store by then; and that was just strange for Al too because he sensed what Rita was thinking and foresaw where this little drama moment was heading.**

" **Good morning, Rita," Harry said as she took the last few steps and then stopped just a pace away from them. "It's nice to see that you're up and around again – if not to see you here."**

" **Ms. Skeeter, to you," she retorted; "and I wouldn't have spent months in recovery if not for your Animorphloser of a son!"**

" **That's true," Harry agreed. "You'd have been dead if not for him. You've a funny way of repaying a life-debt, Rita, but as usual; I appreciate the entertainment we get from your columns – right before we use them to paper our Owl and Pygmy Puff gages."**

" **Your son was responsible for those injuries that nearly killed me!" she spat; and now she didn't even try to hide the hatred she felt for Harry and Al. "That's just given me one more reason to make it my mission to destroy the lot of you!"**

" **Why don't you just ask your pointless questions and then go away and get on with trying to do that with your mighty quill?" Al suggested. "We'll answer them; you'll call us liars; and that'll be the end of it until your next hit piece."**

" **What's the matter, loser? Are you getting tired of reading the truth about yourself and having everyone hate you?" Rita sneered; and Al laughed.**

" **I'm definitely tired of the drama, and some days aren't much fun; but I am happy, Rita; and I still have a lot of love and joy in my life."**

" **I see that," Rita offered with a sneer and glance at each of the twins. "Is this the first time you've been out in public with your Animorphlitter since Christmas? It must be nice for you to have one Witch to take care of them and another to mess around with while you're at Hogwarts and neglecting your parental responsibillities."**

" **For the record – again; they're my nieces. I love them; speak with them on mirror chats pretty much every day; and yes, this is the first time they've come here to visit Lily and me – and some of our other friends – since we got back to Hogwarts in January," Al answered; and then focused his attention on Rita. "They're beautiful, amazing children, Rita. Why don't you just leave them out of this vendetta you have joined James for against me?"**

" **They're illegitimate freaks!" Rita retorted; and then took a step back when Al's eyes blazed in angry response.**

" **You really don't want to keep insulting my nieces," he warned quietly.**

" **Are you threatening me?" Rita half-screeched; getting the attention of everyone in the shop. "What's the matter, loser? Does the truth about this mongrel litter you've made with that dog of a mudblood hurt?"**

" **It's your lies about us and these base and crude insults that make me angry – and make you so unhappy," Al answered. "I'm not threatening you, but since you don't seem to be taking my warning seriously; I'm going to explain it to you – and then I'm sure you'll be much happier."**

" **There's..." Rita began; but then her eyes opened wide as Al pointed his wand at her – and then went blank for several long moments. Al had his wand put away again by the time her eyes were clear and alert again. "What did you do to me?" she demanded.**

" **The explanation I promised – and a little bit of happinesss," Al answered.**

" **You're lying!" she declared; and then her mouth twitched several times as she was forced to smile; tried to stop; couldn't; and then chirped out a girlish little giggle. "What did you do to me, you Animorphfreak?" This time; she started to laugh and couldn't stop.**

" **Cheering charm," he advised her. "A very special one that you're really going to learn to appreciate; since you're so insistent on telling everyone the truth. This cheering charm will kick in every time you lie, use bad words, or offer any intentionally-cruel insults." He smiled when he saw tears start rolling down her face as she continued to laugh even harder while her eyes were ablaze with fury and hatred. "By now, you're likely figuring out that you only need to think those lies or insults," he continued. "Thinking, speaking, writing – it's all the same to that little gift. Don't worry, though, Rita – it won't affect you at all when you're being kind, happy, and keep love and joy in your heart!"**

" **I don't think she's feeling the love at all right now," Harry pointed out. "How long will that charm last?"**

 **Al grinned at him. "I gave it my very best, Dad; so I'm hoping it'll last for years – maybe decades." He smiled when Rita's eyes widened and that answer actually shocked her out of the laughing fit. "You're welcome," he assured her.**

" **You..." she managed to spit out before the bad thoughts sent her off into the giggles again.**

" **Love and joy," Al suggested. "Give it a try. You may find out that you like it a lot!"**

" **I..." Rita tried to say between the giggles; but couldn't manage more than that. She glared venomous daggers at him; and then turned and fled. Al turned his attention to Jaimie and Lorie; and both girls were giggling too.**

" **Was that fun, girls?" he asked them.**

" **Brilliantly-fun," Jonah answered with a laugh. "Can you get into trouble with the Aurors for using cheering charms on someone?"**

" **I doubt it – and would want to be there if Rita shows up at Auror Headquarters and files a complaint," Harry suggested. "She'll likely find someone who can reverse it, though; so it'll just be a matter of time before she'll be back to her normal, unpleasant self."**

" **I wouldn't count on that," Al advised him; and he was still grinning. "She'll try to get help, and I'm sure she'll figure out a way to still write her rants against us even if she has to giggle like a loon all day to get her columns written; but I'm still going to hope that it'll eventually make a difference."**

" **There are still a lot of things that she can be honest about while being hurtful too," Harry pointed out.**

" **True," Al agreed;"but Rita is going to have a tough time mixing the lies in with the truths – especially if she tries to do mirror network interviews."**

" **That wouldn't go well for her," Harry agreed. "The fun with that is over, though; and we should likely get back to your shopping if you want to get done by lunchtime."**

" **Rita – what a surprise!" Ginny said as she practically ran into her least-favorite reporter after stepping out of one of the shops – leading the way with Malorie and the rest of the girls behind her.**

" **Get out of my way," Rita spat angrily. "Your son just attacked me; and I'm on my way to the Aurors to have him arrested!"**

" **Albus attacked you?" Ginny asked skeptically. "You seem completely unharmed to me."**

" **He did!" Rita insisted; and was emboldened when she didn't start giggling like a school girl. "He used some sort of blasted cheering charm that makes me go into fits anytime I tell the truth!" She started to laugh again; but managed to wheeze out a – "see?"**

 **Ginny started to laugh too. "I do," she agreed. "There's just one problem with your accusation, Rita. If that's true, then the first part of what you said is a lie; and the last part is the truth."**

" **But that'd mean that Al didn't blast her with a cheering charm that sends her into fits – of laughter – whenever she tells the truth," Gwendolyn pointed out. "If the first part is true, though, then that means that he blasted her with a cheering charm that kicks in when she lies."**

" **You don't know..." Rita stammered – "you horrid..." she spat between giggles – "potty-trainer!" The laughter had her doubling over and then dropping to the ground; but she glared up at the group of Witches with fury in her eyes.**

" **It works for saying mean things too?" Lily guessed. "Al had better get me one of those charms for my bracelet! I so want one!"**

" **Me too," Gwendolyn agreed; and then watched Rita speculatively. "Al was very happy when we left the boys to do some fun shopping. What did you do to have him do something like this to you?"**

" **You admit it!" Rita wheezed; and Gwendolyn shrugged.**

" **I haven't talked to him, obviously; but I absolutely can believe that he blasted you with a cheering charm that kicks in when you tell lies or insult someone. I'll guess that he'll admit it too. Cheering charms aren't illegal, Rita. We've all been taught them and have used them. You didn't answer my question." She paused again as if trying to read Rita's mind. "Could you have insulted the twins – right there in front of them?"**

" **I did noth..." Rita spat out before the giggles hit again.**

" **If that's the truth; then we're back to the start where your first comments were a lie," Lily pointed out. "That'd be that Al did nothing to you and you're not going to file a complaint with the Aurors." She laughed then. "Either Al is brilliant – or had nothing to do with whatever has gotten into Rita."**

" **I'll pick brilliant," Gwendolyn suggested. "What do you think Rita?"**

 **Rita glowered at her while waiting for the fits of laughter to subside. "I think that we'll see who is still laughing once I've finished destroying the lot of you!" she declared.**

" **No laughter that time," Lily pointed out. "Doesn't that make what you're saying a lie for your attack claims to be true?"**

" **That will make it tough to explain to the Aurors," Ginny suggested. She held her hand out to Rita; and the other woman grabbed it and allowed Ginny to help her stand before apparently coming to her senses and yanking her hand free again. "Good luck with filing that complaint and whatever else you do about this. I'm already looking forward to reading your next column – and any interviews you do." She grinned then. "I'd send chocolates to thank you for all of the entertainment we'll get out of it; but it seems that'd just be redundant."**

 **She walked away then; leaving Rita to glare at her while the girls that had been standing around with her moved on too. None of them saw the change in Rita when she went from rage to temporary insanity; and then were a half-dozen paces away when Rita drew her wand and shouted – "Crucio!" while pointing her wand at Ginny's back. She gaped when a massive, shimmering shield surrounded the entire group of Witches; her wand flew out of her hand; and she watched in shock as it soared over the top of that dome shield; stopped in mid-air in front of the Apothecary; and then hung there until Al Potter hurried out of the shop and grabbed it even as he turned toward Rita – and his mother, girlfriend, sister, and the others.**

" **You're making it very, very hard for me to keep love and joy in my heart, Rita," he told her as he dropped the shield around some of the Witches he loved most in the world. "I'm supposedly horrid, but you, oh great bearer of truth and justice, are the sort of Witch or Wizard we should all aspire to – even when you try to attack someone from behind with an unforgiveable curse? Weren't you having enough fun picking on babies earlier? You needed to step down to an even lower low?" He stopped for just a moment to hug his mother before continuing on toward Rita. There was a large group around them now – including his parents, sister, and friends. Rita still looked furious; but he sensed that the sanity had returned; and he held her wand out to her.**

" **You should go now, Rita, but in the future, if you have a problem with my Mum, try doing something honorable about it – like challenging her to a duel." He paused; and then pinned her with his own fiery glare. "After this; I will be happy to stand as her champion – though I expect that she'd accept the challenge and duel you herself." He laughed at what he sensed from Rita then. "Sorry, but I am as much my mother's son as my father's; and you're a fool to even think that you're a match for her."**

" **I think that's enough, Al," Ginny told him; but then she focused her attention on Rita. "Don't forget to include this part of what happened here today when you file that complaint to the Aurors. I'm sure that when they weigh the seriousness of Al's cheering charm against your Cruciatus Curse; you will come out on top as the winner of that little contest!"**

" **This is not over!" Rita spat.**

" **After nearly three decades of dealing with your attacks on me and my family; I didn't expect that it would be," Ginny assured her. "As Al said, though, anytime you want to get together and settle your real or imagined grievances with me the old-fashioned Wizarding way; I'll be happy to have that duel with you – if you think you can handle attacking me when it isn't an ambush from behind."**

 **Rita opened her mouth to offer an apparently-nasty retort, but couldn't even manage a word this time before breaking out into another fit of laughter.**

" **Do you think she was about to offer up more truth, lies, or insults?" Malorie asked Ginny while watching Rita witha mix of amusement and satisfaction. "Let's get back to the shopping. I'd help Jaimie and Lorie buy their Uncle Al a pony for this, but he can just be one if he wants; so maybe we'll get him some favorite sweets or something."**

 **Her comments earned a roar of laughter that was nothing like the mad giggling and looney laughs coming from Rita; and then they walked away – along with some other friends that had come to watch the spectacle. The girls wanted to talk about it with Harry, Al, and Jonah too, but then they eventually got back to their shopping – and Al got to keep playing with one or both of the twins until they all ended up getting together at the Three Broomsticks to have lunch together. Harry, Ginny, and Malorie only had Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah at the same table with them, and the rest of their cousins and friends had to sit at other tables as they became available in different parts of the dining room; but they enjoyed that last bit of in-person family time before the twins were ready to go home for an extended afternoon nap.**

 **They took their mother and grandparents along; and Al and Gwendolyn ended up spending the rest of their time in Hogsmeade with Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth while Lily and Jonah went to hang out with their own cousins and friends. The Rita Skeeter story was really still just beginning to become big news around town and at the castle; so Al had to deal with regular questions, jokes, or insults. By the time they needed to head back to the castle; he was ready to do that – and have a visit in the Room of Requirements until dinnertime. The rumors were wild by the time they went to the Great Hall; and some of them were barely-recognizable to anyone that had actually been true witnesses to either end of the drama between Rita and the Potters.**

 **Al didn't want to deal with all of that drama beyond what was unavoidable; so he made himself scarce for the rest of the weekend. He and Gwendolyn spent Saturday evening in the Room of Requirements – this time with a group of couples so that they could watch shows on the mirror network and have some swim time in the portable pool. On Sunday, Gwendolyn had a make-up Quidditch practice and her Prefect meeting and some extra weekend Prefect duties; so Al split his time between studying and doing more quiet, mostly-unnoticed good deeds. Lily had a bonus team practice too, but that only affected Al because she didn't do a Seeker duel with him too. With all of the other diversions, Gwendolyn, Rose, Brandon, Ray, and Susannah all needed to study after dinner on Sunday night; so Al helped with tutoring; and they had another family night that had to be worked in around their work. By the time they made their weekly visit to the Owlery and got back to their respective dorm rooms; Al was ready to just crash and nap – and did exactly that to get rested up for the second-half of the month.**

 **As the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff junior teams got into the two-week countdown to their big match; the fans of the game had other opportunities for gossip and entertainment thanks to two of the league matches for the week – the Harpies-Cannons game on Wednesday night; and the Catapults' highly-anticipated match against the Falcons. The gossip about the mid-week match was all about insulting the Cannons and making predictions about how long Santini would be able to keep the match going while getting his last chance of the season for some up-close-and-personal time with the object of his unrequited love. For the Catapults and Falcons, though, the gossip was often mean-spirited – and usually between Gryffindors and Slytherins. For the Slytherins, they were all sure that Brand Bletchley and the Nott brothers were going to destroy James Potter; and they had fun describing in detail just how badly they were going to maul James – and every other Catapults' player. Ollie and the McClaggens led the way for James' defense; which generally involved assuring everyone that James would make the three Slytherin alumni look like the morons they were.**

 **Staying out of all of that drama was easy for Al, but he didn't avoid being talked about around the castle – especially after Rita's daily hit pieces on him – even after her one attempt at doing a mirror network talk show interview. That had failed spectacularly after the interviewer had the audacity to out-smart her when she tried to pretend that the cheering charm only worked when she told the truth, and hwen she was caught in the lies; hilarity ensued. Lee made fun of her too, and Al knew that writing the horrid things she did about him must've been ridiculously-hard for Rita while trying to do that during fits of uncontrollable laughter; but he'd have still preferred that she'd just leave him alone.**

 **All of that added up to more time in the Room of Requirements or working in their study classroom, the library, Potions dungeons, or the greenhouses. The workload continued to be a strain on all of Al's friends; he helped everywhere he could; and added in Quidditch play time to help Lily with getting ready for her big match; or just to blow off some steam with Rose, Ray, Cyndia, and a few other friends that knew of their Quidditch play time in the Room of Requirements. He was busy every day from well-before dawn until midnight or later, but even with all of the drama and lack of sleep; Al started to feel better every day – happier for sure.**

 **That wasn't because of the Harpies' win on Wednesday night – he didn't even stay up to see the end of it. Sure, the six-hunndred to seventy victory was great for the Harpies, but Santini got what he wanted too – nearly the entire night with Gabrielle. It took her nine hours and twenty-two minutes to finally out-race Santini to the snitch, so with time-out breaks; the match hadn't ended until shortly-before Al woke up on Thursday morning. He had definitely been happier after that compared to the teens that had used the match as an excuse to stay up all night, but their Professors had not been impressed with teens and tweens falling asleep in their classes; and that was an especially bad-choice for all of the students that had to stay up late on thursday for their Astronomy class.**

 **Work and Quidditch were still the focus of Al's life through the end of the week; he studied late on Friday night too; had a full study session on Saturday morning – even while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice; and he was more than ready for a break by the time they went to lunch in the Great Hall. They'd voted to take the rest of the day off, and while not everyone was interested in the Catapults-Falcons match; most were; and the others were going to come along for the fun because they set up a portable pool too. Al and Gwendolyn did most of that work; and they were among the first to cuddle on a sofa and start watching Lee's pre-game show while waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive. Everyone was there by the time Lee got around to predicting a win for the Falcons; though there were nearly as many swimmers and game-watchers as they got ready for the over-hyped battle.**

" **Is this the first time that Lee's voted against James?" Gwendolyn asked Al. "I'm not disagreeing, since it looks bad for the Catapults – at least on paper; but Lee does have a pretty good record for his picks pretty much every season."**

" **It isn't," Al answered; "and this could be a little hit to that record."**

" **You're predicting a win for James?" Gwendolyn asked with a mix of surprise and amusement. "Is that just brotherly good-sportsmanship?"**

" **Brand and the Nott brothers haven't played against James since his fourth year," Al reminded her. "He was flying a Firestorm 250 and got beat by his own anger issues as much as by that bludger. I don't have to like all of the trash talk going on between them – or around here; but there's a very good chance that James is going to make them look the fools today."**

 **When the match got started, that prediction didn't look very good or likely. Five of the Catapults' players simply played dodge the bludgers and Falcons. Miya tried to defend on her own – and quickly began to pay the price as the Falcons realized what was happening and keyed in on her – double and triple-teaming her in an ugly display that pushed hard against Al's 'happy shield' right from the start. They scored goals at will too – but didn't even try that hard to do that; since it was apparently much more fun to beat up on the Witch instead. James was in a crazy Seeker duel too, but unlike Miya; he had a very different strategy for his battle with Brand. Al didn't like watching that either, but also couldn't argue the effectiveness of James' game plan as he used his own team mates to protect himself.**

" **He's using his own guys as obstacles to avoid Brand and the Nott brothers!" Lily exclaimed as she caught on to what James was doing. "That's so wrong – even if they are being a bunch of gits for throwing him – and Miya – to that pack of Falcons' wolves."**

" **It's working, though," Jonah pointed out. "He's gotten clear of Brand three times already. If he gets one of those chances when he's spotted the snitch; it'll be all over."**

" **Unless his own Beaters start joining in to help the Nott brothers," Fred offered. "Those guys look really mad right now – especially that guy that just took the bludger hit that James dodged around him to avoid. I'll guess he didn't warn the guy it was coming."**

 **The match was ugly – as horrid as anything they'd watched because it was so one-sided – right up until it wasn't. Al saw the final play coming together, and while he'd hated a lot of what James had done too; he didn't feel bad for Brand Bletchley when he tried to block James into a brutal bludger and blind-side cheap-shot combo hit from both of the Nott brothers that James dodged while Brand took both hard hits – and then had to watch as James blasted off and caught the snitch while he was entangled with Theo Nott. For his part, while James held the snitch high in victory; he also made a beeline for the referee; and then he stayed with the suddenly-fearful Wizard as they flew to center-pitch and landed. Miya caught up with them, but the rest of their team mates landed closer to the team benches – and seemed to be almost-hoping that the Falcons would try to start something with James – which they did as they all landed at center pitch and Brand and the Nott brothers led the way for that confrontation.**

" **Your Mum and Dad are there, right?" Gwendolyn asked quietly as they watched the Falcons face off against James.**

" **Yeah,' he agreed. "I won't be surprised if Teddy and Victoire happen to be there too."**

" **The Harpies do have the day off," Gwendolyn agreed. "Oh Miya – don't!"**

" **She barely looks able to stand," Brandon said. "Please tell me she's not going to get into a post-game brawl with all of the Falcons!"**

" **Okay – we won't tell you," Rose half-joked; though they all quieted to listen in as the reporters got near-enough to pick up the angry shouts being exchanged between James and some of his favorite former-Slytherin haters.**

" **Here we go!" Lily declared in fascination as Brand, Theo, and Gregor all rushed James and Miya; their team mates right behind them.**

 **CRACK!**

 **Teddy appeared just as Gregor and Theo were trying to take running swings with their Beater bats at James and Miya.**

" **Revulsio!" James shouted; and smiled in dark satisfaction as all seven Falcons were shoved away from them.**

" **Stay back!" Teddy warned as the now-livid Falcons' players regrouped and looked ready to attack again. He made that order at the same time that Miya shouted – "Protego!" and put a surprisingly-strong shield up in front of herself – and James and Teddy.**

 **That would have looked more-impressive except that as her shield appeared; a massive one that bi-sected the entire pitch between the Falcons and Catapults appeared too – and put an end to the potential brawl.**

" **It's totally wrong; but that's really disappointing," Lily admitted candidly. "I think that James and Teddy could've taken them."**

" **I'd say that Miya was ready to lend a hand too," Gwendolyn pointed out. "That may have been a short match, but she got beat up pretty badly and still managed to put up a shield that good."**

" **It's too bad that James won't appreciate the effort," Al said quietly; and nodded toward the mirror. "That's good to see with him and Teddy. Maybe James is on the way to fixing things with Teddy – if not with the rest of his family."**

" **He'll be having the Falcons' players tracking him down later if he doesn't stop acting like that and taunting them," Gwendolyn suggested. "I doubt that Teddy's interested in giving him twenty-four hour protective services."**

 **Al thought that she was right – at least about James needing to stop acting the git, but that didn't happen during the post-game interviews; and he didn't have any trouble convincing her to go swimming with him instead of watching that display of poor-sportsmanship on both sides. He didn't even want to watch that; and was glad that they were nowhere near the center of that action.**

" **Hello, Miya," Harry said quietly; smiling warmly as he and Ginny crossed paths with her as she was slowly making her way toward the Catapults' locker room by herself after only staying for as long as necessary on the pitch. She'd been glad that the reporters didn't want to talk to her, and while her team mates all got attention for the wrong reasons – including James; she was too-hurt to stick around and didn't want to watch how any of the other players were handling the post-game interviews and ongoing exchange of insults and worse. She was surprised to see James' parents.**

" **Hello, Mr. Potter – Mrs. Potter," she offered tiredly; but painted a smile on her face. "Did you enjoy the match?"**

" **We never enjoy matches when the Falcons are playing," Ginny said gently; stepping forward and putting a hand on Miya's arm. "I've been where you are right now more times than I want to remember too; which is why we came back here to see you. Would it be okay with you if Harry helps you out? You may have heard that he has a talent for healing – if not quite as spectacular as Al's talent."**

" **You want to help me?" Miya asked.**

" **You stood with James just now; and have all season," Harry answered. "It's the least we can do to thank you – especially when I know he's never done anything to deserve that kindness from you."**

 **Miya smiled. "I learned about being a good team mate from some really great friends – and I'd be grateful for the help; since I feel worse than I've ever felt before after a match – including my first match against the Falcons or any matches against Slytherin."**

" **I'm pretty sure I said something like that after nearly all of my matches against the Falcons," Ginny told her as Harry stepped forward and put a hand on each of Miya's forearms.**

" **Except for that record snitch catch match," he suggested while closing his eyes and assessing Miya's injuries. There were tears in his eyes when he opened them again. "You should've been Gryffindor to be this brave. I'll do my best, but this might still hurt a bit; so be prepared."**

" **Is it that bad?" she asked; and Harry shrugged. "I've seen worse; but you've picked up a lot of injuries – including fourteen broken bones and some internal bruising. If you'd prefer; we can find somewhere to do this where you can lay down and I can put you to sleep until it's over."**

 **Miya shook her head. "I'd like that, but you likely want to keep this quiet – especially from James. Let's just get it over with."**

 **Harry didn't disagree with her – or confirm her assertion; and just got on with healing her as painlessly as he could. That wasn't entirely possible, and she paled and cried out softly one time; but then it was done; and she sighed in relief. She laughed when Harry seemed incapable of resisting the urge to hug her.**

" **Tell your Mum and Dad they've reason to be very proud of you today," Harry told her seriously. "Sometimes, like today, that happens without putting any points on the scoreboard at all."**

 **Miya laughed again. "Thanks for reminding me. None of these wins so far with the Catapults feel good to me like when I played for Ravenclaw – or the losses; for that matter. I do hope that'll change, but after today; I'm sure that won't happen until the owners finish making the changes they have planned for the team."**

" **I expect you're right," Ginny agreed. "I'm also sure that you're going to be a really great player – and your parents were pretty good too back when I played against them at Hogwarts. Keep doing what you're doing and everyone will see that."**

" **Thank you," Miya said sincerely – "and thanks for the healing help. I was expecting to spend at least the rest of the day at St. Mungo's."**

 **Ginny grinned at her. "You could always pretend that you were there if you need a valid out to skip the party," she suggested. "The Harpies never partied like that; but the Catapults are one of the teams that like to celebrate; and you're likely already tired of that sort of thing."**

 **Miya shrugged. "Not yet; but then I don't party the way James does; and there are some decent Witches and Wizards at those parties too." She looked at her watch. "I'd better go and get cleaned up. Thank-you again for helping me."**

" **Anytime," Harry promised. "Hopefully, by the next time you play the Falcons, you'll have a team around you that won't let this sort of thing happen to you again."**

" **We can hope," Miya agreed.**

 **Ginny had a parting hug for her, but then she and Harry left the stadium; went to Chudley; and had fun with Malorie and the girls for a while so that they could also talk about the Quidditch match with Malorie and help her out with two too-fired-up babies before moving on once Jaimie and Lorie finally went down for a late-afternoon nap. They went out to dinner in London; decided to go to a movie; and then they went out for a late dessert before going for a walk that just happened to take them past James' new flat.**

" **This is quite a coincidence seeing you boys out here tonight," Harry said; stopping and turning to face the three young Wizards leaning against the step railings leading up to the building directly across the street from James' flat. "What brings you out to this part of the city tonight?"**

" **Oh look – it's Mum and Pop Potty!" Gregor Nott spat with a dark, malicious sneer. "Get lost, old man. What we're doing is of no concern to a half-blood freak like you!"**

" **An unemployed, penniless freak, from what we've heard," Theo added; and then leered at Ginny. "Tell you what, Pop Potty; we'll help you out with that. How about two knuts for an hour with this blood-traitor wife of yours? You get a bit of money for a crust of bread or two; and she'll get the chance to finally be with some real Wizards." He joined in with Gregor and Brand to laugh at his own insult and disgusting offer.**

" **Your father used to make lewd offers like that to me twenty-five years ago," Ginny advised him. "I'm no more-impressed now than back then; but not surprised that you'd have to pay to get any Witch to do that sort of thing with you."**

 **Gregor stepped forward, his face turning red with anger; and took a swing at her. He was smiling maliciously right up until his hand struck the small shield that Ginny defended herself with and they could all hear the breaking bones. He howled in rage and pain; Theo and Brand jumped forward to stand on either side of him; and they drew their wands and pointed them at Ginny.**

" **You're dead!" Theo promised; and then gaped as his wand disappeared – along with Brand's and Gregor's wands. All three young men were thrown back onto the steps then; and pinned against them in what would have been comical postures if Harry had been in any mood to be amused.**

" **She's not," he told them ominously. "Congratulations – you've managed to step on my last nerve. I only stopped to strongly advise you to go away and not even think about attacking James tonight – or ever, but you had to go and insult Ginny; attack her; and now threaten to kill her! I honestly didn't think it was possible, but the three of you are even dimmer than your parents!"**

" **Keep talking," Brand taunted. "You're a dead man walking, potty-freak!"**

" **I've been told that – a few thousand times," Harry advised him. "Until then, though, I'd appreciate it a lot if you'd just leave me, my family, and well, everyone else in the world alone."**

" **Forget it!" Theo spat. "You were nothing when you were Head of the Aurors; and you're less-than-nothing now! Let us go and return our wands. We'll put the both of you out of your misery and be done with it!"**

" **We won't be done with it until we wipe out the rest of the potty stench from the world," Brand amended. "We'll still need to kill their loser kids – and let's not forget the Animorphpotty-litter. We can't let them grow up and keep the potty-stench alive!"**

 **Harry suddenly laughed; pointed his wand at the three Wizards; and watched on as their eyes collectively glazed over for several long minutes. It took him longer to do the job than it had taken Al with Rita; but he and Ginny were both grinning as they waited for the boys to come around again – and she'd guessed at why he'd laughed and what he'd chosen to do.**

" **What's so..." Theo demanded as his eyes came back into focus; and then stopped when he saw that Harry wasn't laughing anymore. He noticed that he wasn't being held against the steps anymore either; and scrambled to his feet. Gregor and Brand were only a moment behind in joining him; and they all looked ready to rush Harry and Ginny – even without their wands.**

" **You really shouldn't have threatened our granddaughters,' Harry advised them; still grinning; and trying not to laugh at what he sensed was inevitable now.**

" **That wasn't a threat – it was a promise, potty-freak!" Brand insisted – and then gaped as he began to giggle the moment he offered the insult.**

" **Cut that out," Gregor told Brand. "You sound like a little girl!"**

" **I... can't... stop!" Brand wheezed out in gasps. 'You!" he added; pointing at Harry.**

" **Me," Harry agreed. "Cheering charm."**

" **A cheering charm," Theo exclaimed; laughing too. "You really are pathetic, Poppa-potty!" His sneer vanished when he started to giggle too.**

" **A cheering charm that kicks in whenever you say – or even think – bad things about me, Ginny, or anyone else in our family – and I mean anyone!" Harry explained; and then laughed when Gregor began to laugh too. "You didn't have to prove that to me; but thanks for giving your brother and friend the demonstration." He waved his wand and the three wands he'd banished reappeared and hovered in front of Brand, Gregor, and Theo. "You wanted your wands back, but before you take them; know that the cheering charm kicsk into an even higher gear if you try attacking any of us. You'll be..." He watched as Gregor lunged for his wand; had time to point it at him; and then collapse to the ground in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. "Well, I'd say you get the point. From now on, any insults, hatred, lies, or attacks against us will bring on the giggles, boys; and you will not be able to even try to hurt my family again. Go home and leave us alone."**

" **This is not over!" Brand declared; the first to recover from his fit of the giggles.**

" **That's entirely up to you," Harry told him. "All of the extra cheer and laughter in your life might be very good for you." He stepped closer to Brand then; and let the fire in his eyes blaze out. "Messing with my family again will not be good at all – or end well for you." he assured the young man.**

" **Let's go home too," Ginny suggested. "If these boys keep giggling like that; we'll rouse half the neighborhood."**

" **Okay," Harry agreed; taking the hand that Ginny offered to him. "Good night," He told Brand, Theo, and Gregor. Try not to be too mad at me about this. I was actually being kind; since what I really wanted to do was make that cheering charm kick in if you so much as have a nasty thought about anyone or anything. If you hate this; imagine what it'd be like if you'd break out into giggles for even thinking about bashing someone with a bludger – or swatting a fly!"**

 **He and Ginny walked away then; and didn't need to look back to know that the three angry Wizards were both glaring at them and looking stunned and horrified by Harry's parting comments. When they were out of sight of the boys, they apparated home; and wrapped up their busy day with a happy little, clothing-optional celebration for two!**

 **While Al was totally out of the loop for what was going on with his parents and brother on Saturday night; he did enjoy spending the evening with Gwendolyn after their play afternoon and dinner in the Great Hall. They needed that break because Sunday was another busy study day; and there were a lot of teens and tweens in need that Al tried to help out as much as possible. He did most of that work while Gwendolyn was busy with her Prefect meeting and other duties, but he offered bonus tutoring for other kids while doing research with his own group in the library or while working in the greenhouse for an hour and nearly two more hours that they spent in one of the Potions dungeons.**

 **They had a gang with them Sunday evening, so the mirror chat with Harry and Ginny did not include story time about their confrontation with Brand and the Nott brothers – or the private celebration that followed. The visit to the Owlery was short because they were running out of time ahead of curfew and Gwendolyn needed to go out on patrol, but they still spent a little time with Winter before sending her on her way home; and had another dozen toy prototypes to send with their usual letters. Al walked Gwendolyn home; Lily went with them to see Jonah home and have that extra bit of time with Al for the walk to Gryffindor tower; and then he went straight up to bed – and studied for another hour before being ready to get some sleep.**

 **The countdown to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff junior team match was on in earnest by Monday morning; and Al and Gwendolyn were among the Quidditch fans around the school who were looking forward to the double-header matches on Saturday. Lily's game was first, of course; but the Harpies had a big match against the Arrows too; so they were planning on taking the entire day off from their studies yet again. That meant more work from Monday to Friday, and for Al, that included two extra Seeker duels with Lily; extra tutoring; later nights; and not very much sleep all the way through to Friday night – when he wrapped up his work for the school week an hour-past curfew; and then spent another hour working on two of the new Quidditch World Cup toys before needing to crash and nap until morning.**

 **He was still up early on Saturday; did his workout in the Room of Requirements; and met up with Rose and Lily for the pre-game walk and talk on the way to the Great Hall ahead of breakfast. Lily was in a happy mood; was even happier when Al handed her the good luck gift before she hugged and kissed him; and then he hugged Rose while Lily began tearing wrapping paper on her way to discovering what he'd made for her.**

" **Is this what I hope it is?" Lily asked with a laugh as she held up the peace sign charm; and Al laughed.**

" **Yes, but use it with care – and the effects will only be temporary – a day or two at most."**

" **A day or two of truth and kindness from some Wizards and Witches would be very nice," Lily advised him. "Thank you!"**

" **You're welcome," Al assured her. "That isn't anywhere I expected my journey toward love and joy would go, and I'm sure that Rita doesn't appreciate my gift for her; but I still feel pretty good about the whole idea of cheering others up and replacing all of those dark emotions with laughter."**

" **It is nicer than hexing or cursing them," Rose suggested.**

" **Or eating the people you're mad at," Lily added with a grin. "That's more fun to watch; but maybe I shouldn't feel that way about such things."**

" **Probably not," Al deadpanned. "You look happy this morning. Are you feeling pretty good about how you'll do today?"**

" **Are you?" Lily countered; and Al laughed.**

" **I always feel good about your chances in any match you play in, Lily. That doesn't mean you will win; and I'm not going to make any predictions, guarantees, or promises."**

" **Which just reminds me again about how pointless Divination is if you're never going to use it for anything important – like predicting the winners of Quidditch matches."**

" **If I could do that; you'd just want to try and figure out a way to beat the predictions that didn't go your way," Al suggested.**

" **I definitely would," she agreed. "You've talked about that sort of thing before – and if we really don't know about the prophecies that don't come true; then maybe it's time we did – starting with me figuring out a way to beat every prophecy you make that involves me losing a Quidditch match."**

" **You'd never be able to micro-manage the future to the extent needed to do that," Al advised her. "Instead of getting hung up on that, though; let's talk about your match today. The weather is going to be pretty good for the end of March. That won't be a factor today – or at least I'd say it's one in Hufflepuff's favor."**

" **Why do you say that?" Lily asked; sincerely curious.**

" **Lee and Greta are likely their best players this year," Al answered. "Bad weather is tougher on Beaters when it comes to accuracy for their bludger hits – or even hitting the bludgers in especially-windy conditions. Your Beaters are the weakest members of your team; so it won't help them as much."**

" **I'd have picked John and Drew as Hufflepuff's best players," Rose interjected; and Lily nodded her agreement.**

" **Me too," she said and then laughed when it was obvious that Al didn't agree. "Drew was best Chaser in their first match; and John gave up two fewer goals than Meg did – and that was against three pretty good Chasers."**

" **They'll be up against three even better Chasers today," Al reminded her – "and your Chasers are better defenders. I hope you are ready for Lee and Greta, Lily, 'cause if you're not; you won't have the advantages you do have once they've softened your team up for an hour or two – or more. You can't count on your Beaters doing the same to the Hufflepuff players. I doubt they can even battle their opponents to a draw."**

" **With the good news there being that Al will be happy to help you and your team mates out with some post-game healing if needed," Rose suggested with a grin. "If Ollie shows up to do another play-by-play; he may need the work to channel the pent-up energy."**

" **Or he could just use it to cheer Ollie up a bit," Lily countered. "I'd be okay with that."**

 **Al didn't really want to do that; and hoped that Ollie would just leave them alone – or that Louis and the other guys would make a stand and tell him to do that; since they should want to cheer for Lily and her team for the win if they seriously wanted a shot at one more Quidditch Cup victory before Louis and Tiberius graduated. He didn't really need to wait long to know whether he'd be dealing with the unwanted bonus entertainment, but Al managed to have fun with Lily and Rose during their walk and talk; the breakfast conversation with Rose and their friends was fun – even the parts that were just about the teen and tween drama that had nothing at all to do with the Quidditch match. He met up with Gwendolyn after breakfast, it was nice-enough out for him to take her for a horseback ride before the game; and they had a visit with Hagrid along the way – the first out at his cabin that hadn't been after either Care of Magical Creatures or Herbology classes when they were outdoors anyway. They were at the stadium early; and among the first to get to their seats.**

" **Why do you look so happy?" Gwendolyn asked Jonah when he sat down in the row ahead of where she was sitting in the aisle seat next to Al – though he was on the Ravenclaw side of that aisle. "Did you give Lily a boyfriend for a good luck gift?"**

 **Jonah laughed. "No, but that'd be a brilliant idea – if I thought there was a good chance she'd accept the gift instead of returning it. She did like the gift that I did give her, though; and I'm happy because I think this is going to be a very good day for her."**

" **You're not supposed to want that," Alyssa told him from where she was sitting in the same row as Gwendolyn – and behind Jonah. "We want to cheer for Hufflepuff today."**

" **We do," he agreed; "but I'll be cheering for Lily and our Gryffindor friends too. I'd be okay with finding out which junior team is best this season in our match against Gryffindor next month."**

" **I actually think that you should be cheering for Gryffindor," Al advised them; getting the attention of all of the Ravenclaw players that were there so far – including Peter and Pauline.**

" **There must be some logic there," Peter suggested.**

" **There is," he agreed. "If Lily loses today; she will be on a mission to win her match against Jonah and his team. That ought to scare any sane Wizard or Witch. I'd much rather play that match against her when she doesn't have that kind of motivation."**

" **As though that will be easy anyway," Jonah countered; and Al laughed.**

" **I didn't say that – only that it'd be scarier. If you beat her team; you'll know that you deserve that junior team title."**

" **Not to mention that your last match would also be a must-win for Lily to keep her Quidditch Cup dream alive," Gwendolyn pointed out with a nod. "Your teams can each afford to lose one match and still have the Quidditch Cup come down to our senior team match in May; but that match won't matter if Lily's team loses two matches."**

" **You really do look at the game differently than most of us do," Peter told Al seriously. "I really was thinking that we want Hufflepuff to win today. Do you look at league matches that way too?"**

 **Al shrugged. "Yeah, but then I'd always like to see the best two teams play for the championship. When you think about that; it doesn't happen even half the time; since it isn't that unusual for the first or second place team to lose in the first or second round of the playoffs." He looked across the pitch to the Slytherin section of the stadium. "We can't complain about how things have worked out for us while we've been here; but it's been a while since the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match in May has been the one that mattered most for the Quidditch Cup."**

" **Says the Wizard from the House that has only finished last in the standings once in over two-hundred years," Pauline told him.**

" **That almost happened the year my Dad was Captain," Al advised them. "Mum saved the day for him when he wasn't allowed to play in the final match of the season and she played Seeker instead."**

" **And beat our House team to do that," Pauline reminded him. "Your Mum was a fair Quidditch player, so if your Dad and her team mates back then really thought that they were in danger of winding up in last place; then they obviously didn't know her that well."**

 **Al laughed. "Maybe not; but Dad got to know Mum a lot better starting shortly after that match ended. That was the first time they kissed."**

" **Really?" Pauline asked. "I don't remember hearing that part of the story before."**

" **Maybe your Uncle permanently blocked it from his mind – or used memory charms,' Al suggested. "He was rather fond of my Mum at the time; and not happy with my Dad for messing things up for him."**

 **Pauline laughed. "I am so going to need to ask Uncle Dean about that. Remind me to do that the next time we talk to them," she added; directing that at Peter and Stephanie.**

" **Deana or Teresa might know," Stephanie offered, "but I'd say things worked out for the best."**

" **There are a lot of ways we could take that,' Gwendolyn told her with a grin. "Let's go there!"**

 **Al stayed out of the fun that ensued, but he did enjoy the entertainment as the girls talked about what might have been if 'Uncle Dean' had ended up with Ginny instead of Harry. It didn't really matter to them that Dean wouldn't have been their Uncle anymore, but logic wasn't required; and they had as much fun with discussing who his father might have ended up with instead; whether he and Lily would have had Thomas for a last name or Potter and a different mother – and looks, in Lily's case. They'd moved on by the time he had to start putting up with Ollie when he showed up with his team and entourage, and while they ended up being six rows behind them; that didn't keep Ollie from trying to mess with Al and Gwendolyn.**

 **It just meant that he needed to annoy more of his fellow Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students to do that.**

" **Welcome to the resumption of the Gryffindor Quidditch season," Ollie announced grandly. "For those of you who were as fortunate as I was to miss our junior team's first match of the season against Slytherin; you'll soon wish that you were sleeping in until noon instead of watching this one!" He paused; but didn't get much of a round of laughter – or even many smiles. "Tough crowd!" he declared; unfazed. "I just call 'em like I see them, though, so don't shoot the messenger – and don't get your hopes up too high for our House; since it's very likely that Captain Potty-sister will come out here today and lose the Quidditch Cup for us."**

" **You hope," Gwendolyn whispered to Al with a grin. "Maybe our House should be cheering for Lily in both matches just so that we could have a great chance to watch that towering ego try to back up all of his idiotic bragging."**

" **No comment," Al said; but his grin was as much of a true response as Gwendolyn needed to know that she might have hit on a potential winning strategy – at least for the Quidditch Cup and senior team titles; if not for Jonah and his team.**

" **While we wait for the mouth that roared to get started; let's do the Quidditch Cup update – not!" Ollie had continued. "Since all of the junior teams are so pathetic this season; the only competition that matters is for the senior team title; and Gryffindor has already won that award – even if the other Houses haven't figured that out yet!"**

" **Are you guaranteeing a win against our team in May?" Pauline asked him sweetly. "That will be a winner-take-all match – for your House."**

" **What's that supposed to mean?" Ollie asked; and Pauline laughed.**

" **We'd still win the senior team title with a tie; since we're well-ahead on points." She laughed again. "In fact, you should probably promise to win big; since you'll want to best us on points too. That was a big deal to you and James back in your first year – insisting that you won the junior team title on points even though you only won one match."**

" **You didn't deserve to win," Ollie shot back. "You only beat us by ten points!"**

" **We didn't," Pauline reminded him. "Slytherin had two wins – and won the points tie-break over us. You did at least win your match against them, but then so did we; and I didn't have a problem with coming in second that year."**

" **Good, then you won't be disappointed when that happens again this year," Ollie spat back with a sneer. "If you like losing so much – go sign up with the Cannons and be all the loser you can be once you're out of here in June!"**

" **Peter and I might think about that, but Rose wants to be the Cannons' next Keeper, and we like her a lot; so we wouldn't want to mess up her dreams by doing that. I'm sure we'll find another team interested in hiring us, though; so we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best."**

 **Al turned around and looked at her more because of what he sensed from her; and then started to laugh. "I love you," he told her when his laughter got Pauline's attention.**

" **You do?" she asked girlishly; and Al nodded while Gwendolyn pretended to punch him. "Why?"**

" **At this moment, it's a secret," he answered; still grinning at her. "I'd never dream of spoiling the surprise for anyone." Pauline saw what he didn't say in his eyes; and laughed too.**

" **Thanks; and I love you too – in a brother or cousin sort of way."**

 **Lily stood at the player entrance to the stadium; she had Hugo next to her; and her Chasers and Beaters in the two rows behind her. Colin hadn't been at his pre-game show for very long, but she was fired up; and couldn't sit around in the locker room anymore.**

" **Maybe you should go out and do a few laps around the school grounds," Melissa suggested to her. "You're so wound up right now; you might take-off faster than your broom when Colin gets around to calling us out into the stadium."**

" **I'm saving up all of my energy for the match," Lily told her seriously. "This is our last chance to win a Quidditch Cup as junior team players, but more-importantly for us today; we do not want to lose and give your cousin good reason to insult us for the rest of the year!"**

" **That'd be more like forever with Ollie," Kathryn advised her. "It's an even bigger deal for those of us who might not get to play on the senior team for the next couple of seasons."**

" **Speak for yourself on that one," Melissa told her with a grin. "If we actually get to have fair tryouts for the senior teams again starting next season; I have every intention of besting Ray and Cyndia at tryouts."**

" **But not Al?" Roxanne teased; and Melissa laughed.**

" **I'd love that; but it hasn't been so long since the last time I saw him play that I actually think that I could do that." She grinned then. "I'd be okay with you and me being his Chaser partners the next two seasons, though; and that isn't an impossible dream."**

" **It isn't," Lily agreed, "but work on that after our season is done; and get focused on this match right now instead of daydreaming about playing around with my brother."**

" **We're ready, Lily. STop obsessing; and let's just go out there and have fun!"**

" **Have fun and win," Lily amended. "I'm okay with multi-tasking if we do both."**

" **Deal," Hugo told her. "Can we have a shut-out too? Please?"**

" **For us or them?" Kathryn teased; and Hugo laughed.**

" **Do you really want to give Hufflepuff a shut-out? I think that's against the rules for Chasers to want that for their opponents."**

" **Good point," Kathryn conceded. "We'll try to help you out with getting that shut-out; but it'll mostly be up to you – not us."**

" **Finally, the mouth that roars has finished his pointless Quidditch update and gotten around to the team introductions!" Ollie declared as Colin called for Gryffindor. "Captain Animorphpotty-sister leads the way with her kissing cousin, and our junior team Keeper, Hugo; who has joined the incestual ranks of the sisters and brothers dating sisters and brothers! I know, that's ridiculous and gross for all normal Witches and Wizards; but I suppose it makes it easier for family holidays."**

" **Keep talking, Ollie," Brandon encouraged quietly so that only Rose, Al, and Gwendolyn could hear him over the crowd, Colin, and Ollie. "I'll remember all of this when it's our turn to play in May."**

" **Do I ask Al to use a memory charm on you so that you won't – or play fair and hope for the best?" Rose teased; but they all quieted again after the short round of laughs so they could hear Colin – and were unable to avoid Ollie's nonsensical introductions.**

" **There's nothing more to be said about the potty-sister or the least-talented Keeper in our House; but then that's true for our junior Chaser trio. My baby sister, cousin, and the Wheezes-Weasley cousin of the potty-sister are sure to impress us – with their total lack of talent or skill! Finally, bringing up the rear, is the worst Beater duo in the entire school – which says a lot; since all of the junior team Beaters suck by comparison to Tiberius and Brock." He smirked in the direction of Rose and Brandon; though they didn't look back at him to see that. "Then again; that's true for the other senior team Beaters too – and you don't need to look any further than the Witches they're dating to know what a bunch of losers they are!"**

" **Your new non-intervention policy better include not healing that git after our match against them," Brandon warned Al seriously. "I can take the insults directed at Seth and me, but he's just asking for it when he starts messing with the Witch I'm falling in love with."**

" **What?" Rose asked; her eyes going wide as she focused all of her attention on him; and he grinned at her.**

" **I'm falling in love with you," he repeated; and then laughed when she hugged and kissed him.**

" **I rest my case," Ollie declared loudly. "Get a room! Some of us only ate recently; and don't want to puke!"**

 **Lily stood on the pitch after landing; and watched as the Hufflepuff team took its turn at flying around the stadium while Colin introduced their players. Unlike her too-sportsmanlike younger brother, she didn't have a problem with being friends with some of those teens and tweens while also being able to want to beat them in their match today! She did think about what Al had told her during their walk and talk; and she had gone over all of that with her team mates too during their pre-game meeting. He was pretty good at analyzing Quidditch, but she still wasn't sure he was right about his assessment for this match.**

" **You play your best when you're having fun," Hugo leaned close and whispered. "We're ready, so smile; and let's have as much fun today as we do when we're just messing around with Al, Rose, and the others. Al is right about that being what really matters most."**

 **Lily laughed. "I'd suggest that you sign up to play for the Cannons with them; but you're too good to spend your entire career being Rose's back-up."**

" **I'd be able to play during the seasons she takes off when she's ready to have a family," he only half-joked. "I can't play for the Harpies either; so which team do you think that I should play for?"**

" **I don't know," Lily admitted. "There are teams that would be lucky to get you, though; so I'm sure you will play in the show too." She pretended to frown at him. "Now stop trying to distract me when I have a Seeker duel – and Quidditch match – to win today!"**

 **Al couldn't tune out all of the distractions, drama, or the cacophony of mental and emotional 'noise' going on around him, but when the match started; he focused most of his attention on the action above the pitch. Despite Ollie's ongoing nonsense; he thought that the Quidditch battle was brilliant – particularly for his sister and their team!**

 **The battle was defensive at first as Hugo and John traded save-for-save, but Gryffindor score the first goal of the match, and as Hugo continued to keep his early shut-out going; that affected the entire Hufflepuff team. Drew led their Chasers as they threw everything they had against Hugo, but while John only gave up three goals in the first hour; Hugo saved everything; and Lee Johnson tried changing up his team's game plan to try and break through – which meant taking attention away from trying to help Luke Summerby in his battle against Lily.**

 **Making that change didn't seem to be working for Hufflepuff through the second hour, and in fact; it seemed to throw their team off of their game. Kathryn, Melissa, and Roxanne scored five more goals on John; Hugo kept his shut-out going; and Gryffindor took an eighty-to-naught lead into the third hour. Lee and Greta didn't give up on their plan 'B' as the score climbed; and it wasn't looking good for Hufflepuff – until Greta got a solid bludger hit in on Hugo that also cost him his shut-out and gave Drew his first goal of the match. Unfortunately for Hufflepuff, that game-changer didn't come until near the end of the third hour, and while Hugo was feeling the pain; the adjustments his Chasers made allowed him to keep playing well. That was the only goal he allowed as they headed into the fourth hour; and Gryffindor's lead had grown to one-forty to ten.**

 **When Hufflepuff earned the first goal of the fourth hour, Ollie began spouting off about how the comeback was on and that Lily was going to snatch defeat out of the maw of victory now that her team mates had spotted her the lead. Al was just amused by that; and Ollie once again looked the fool as Gryffindor earned the next two goals; and were just two more goals away from the one-sixty lead. That real and imminent risk was what led to the abrupt end to the match.**

 **Luke Summerby had been playing well – and with his usual, defensive style. Al knew when he decided to go for an all-or-nothing attempt to catch the snitch. He thought that was a mistake for Hufflepuff, since even if they fell behind by more than one-sixty; their best bet for a win was still with their Beaters; but that didn't seem to be something that the Hufflepuff team had discussed; since their Seeker seemed desperate to try and earn the win for his team before it was too late. Whatever the reason, Luke went for the catch; Lily defended against a 'safe' chase; and when Luke missed the catch by at least five feet when he got the angle and speed wrong; she scooped up the comparatively-easy catch to earn the three-ten to twenty victory!**

" **Yes!" Al shouted as he stood and cheered for his amazing sister. He felt the joy from her; and loved getting to see that expressed in her face as she spun around and faced the Gryffindor section with the snitch raised above her head.**

" **Lily – DUCK!" he heard Greta shout; but already had his wand out; and deflected the bludger harmlessly away from his sister – and anyone else. He smiled because Lily had reacted instantly to the warning and the bludger probably would have missed her anyway; and then laughed when Gwendolyn hugged and kissed him.**

" **Sorry – you only get half-points for saving the damsel in distress this time," she teased. "Greta gets the rest of them."**

" **And then points for Hufflepuff for good sportsmanship," Al added; and then laughed again. "Oh wait – I can't do that."**

" **You can't; but I can," Rose advised him. "Ten points for Hufflepuff," she added; making that official.**

" **And for the record, Greta hit that bludger well-before Lily caught the snitch," Brandon added. "I think that Seth and I should be glad that we'll graduate before she can play with the senior teams."**

" **She'll love that compliment," Gwendolyn assured him. "Let's go and congratulate Lily and her team – unless you'd all like to sit around and listen to Ollie explain how he got his entire match commentary so brilliantly-wrong!"**

 **The post-game fun on th epitch didn't actually end up lasting for very long because Colin announced that lunch would be served in the Great Hall in a half-hour as he wrapped up his post-game recap; and most of the teens and tweens in the stadium were ready to go back to the castle and have that meal. Al would have liked to spend the entire afternoon with Gwendolyn, but the celebration that followed that lunch break in the Gryffindor common room was for Lily, Hugo, Roxanne, and their team mates; so he felt obligated to do more than just make an appearance – especially now that James wasn't there to try and mess the party up for him.**

 **Ollie did try to add his sort of 'fun' to the mix, but for a change; he was pulled aside and told to cut it out by Tiberius and Brock – shortly after Kathryn yelled at him for insulting her Quidditch talents despite the fact that she'd scored one more goal in the match than he had in his first two of the season! While Al was happy for his sister, cousins, and junior team friends; he didn't really enjoy the party. Fortunately, there was a Harpies' match to watch. Lily could multi-task watching her team battle the Arrows while partying too, but Al sat at one of the work tables; used his magical earbuds as much as possible to hear Lee's play-by-play over the cacophony in the room; and tried to stay out of the way of the Gryffindor students that did feel the need to let loose for a few hours – or the rest of the day.**

 **The Harpies and Arrows were in a tough battle from the start, and while he would have preferred to watch the match while cuddling with Gwendolyn; Al was glad that the match rolled on through the afternoon – and that the Harpies managed to keep a modest lead from the mid-way point of the first hour through to the end of the game. Having a short break between matches along with the extremely-long match against the Cannons likely affected all of the Harpies players, but the action above the pitch was still fierce, exciting, and non-stop! It also continued as they needed to head for dinner in the Great Hall, so Al and Rose watched the match on his portable mirror while they ate; and was still going on when they were done; so they met up with Gwendolyn, Brandon, and quite a few of their usual game-watching friends and headed for their study classroom so that they could watch the rest of the match – and spend the entire evening together.**

" **This is much nicer," Gwendolyn told Al as they cuddled on one of the sofas once they had everything set up. "I'm happy for Lily and her team, but these House parties seriously mess with the you and me time – especially when we don't get that many chances for that when we're so busy with everything else."**

" **We didn't have any major drama moments at this party, but I still can't really get into the parties they have in our common room," Al advised her. "I watched this match almost the entire time – and used my magical earbuds so that I could tune out the party noise overload."**

" **Maybe you just need to get your dolls out and get the other kids to play with you," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin. "You always have fun doing that with the little kids at parties we have at home with our families and friends."**

" **I don't think that'd be quite the same; since it's the types of games that go on around here that I don't like to have anything to do with; and trying that would not help my already-messed-up reputation."**

" **I still have hope that everyone else will come around one day," Gwendolyn told him seriously. "I don't know what it'll take, since your Dad saved the Wizarding World; and that didn't help him with the Wizards and Witches that want to hate him for their own selfish reasons."**

" **That's probably too much to hope for," Al suggested. "Even Lily has her haters; and she's adorable." He smiled when Lily turned her attention toward him and away from the Quidditch match.**

" **Jaimie and Lorie are adorable," she advised him. "I'm ready to move on to being talented, beautiful, and popular, thanks anyway."**

" **You've proved to be all three today – if not particularly-popular among our Hufflepuff friends," Al offered. "It was really great to see you happy and fired up again when you were playing in that match. I didn't think that your Slytherin match was nearly as fun to watch."**

" **I was mad at you at the time," she reminded him. "Maybe I'd have been happier if I'd known you'd actually showed up to watch that match."**

" **Maybe," Al conceded. "You may not want to be adorable anymore, but I'll wager that your Harpies fans will adore you as much as they still love Mum when you start having that kind of fun on their team in another four years or so."**

" **Or less," Lily suggested. "James played the summer after his OWL year, but I could play the Christmas matches in my fifth year – and that's less than two years from now!"**

" **Mum better put me on that team too if she gives you that chance," Gwendolyn told her; and Lily laughed.**

" **I don't have a problem with that. If we could get Rose to do that with us; she might even change her mind and give up her silly, impossible dream for the Cannons!"**

" **That isn't going to happen," Rose advised her; "and I still don't think your new plan for starting early with the Harpeis is a good idea for you either."**

" **Don't you think that I'd be brilliant?" Lily demanded.**

" **Maybe," Rose hedged. "You'd have a lot more at stake than James has had with the Catapults. Sure, the wins look great for him, but that's on a team with a seriously-lousy record this season without him. The Catapults' owners and managers had nothing to lose by putting him in and everything to gain just from his last name. That won't be true for you and the Harpies – not to mention that their holiday matches are usually against two of the other top teams in the league."**

" **I'd still win," Lily predicted. "There is no way I'd try and lose; since James would never let me live that down."**

" **No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "Rose does have a point, though; and I'd say your bigger problem with that will be whether Mum would even offer us the chance to play at all. She won't take anyone else out of a match just because I'm her daughter or because you're one of her best friend's kids. She'll put the best team she can into every match. We won't get the chance to train with the team; so that alone puts us at a disadvantage."**

" **Stop trying to mess with my new plans," Lily told Gwendolyn and Rose. "James is having a brilliant start to his professional Quidditch career; so I need mine to be even better!"**

" **You have already won as many Hogwarts Quidditch matches as James did," Al advised her – "and you've done that in just three seasons."**

" **I have?" Lily asked in surprise; and Al nodded.**

" **He has one tie too, but since he won't be here for the last match of this season – or next year; his school record is seven wins, one tie, and eight losses. I've only played in seven matches; so you're already a win ahead of me too."**

" **And even if Al gets to play during his past two years here, as long as you're on those teams too and don't miss any matches; he won't be able to catch up," Gwendolyn added. That'd be four more wins right there!"**

 **Lily laughed. "You really don't want to give me that kind of motivation," she warned. "When we're both playing with the Harpies; make those sorts of predictions all you want, but I don't even need to remember that prediction until next May when all I need to do is ask Al to remind me about it a couple of weeks ahead of that match!"**

" **Now you're trying to get me into trouble," Al pretended to complain. "Leave me out of your inter-House gamesmanship, please."**

 **They didn't do that for him, since Gwendolyn and Lily thought that it was more fun to tease him, but they did get back to focusing more on the Quidditch match; and had a lot of fun watching the rest of the epic battle between their Harpies and the Arrows – right up until it wasn't fun anymore. They were nearing the half-way mark of the eighth hour when one of their Harpeis' Beaters miss-hit a bludger at the Arrows' Seeker while he was in a race for the snitch with Gabrielle. She had to dodge it; that gave him the opening he needed to make the catch; and that was how the Arrows earned an important, come-from-behind win for their team and fans!**

 **While they still had lots of time before curfew, Al and Gwendolyn stayed with their friends instead of going off on their own for some alone time – mostly because they were comfortable and not really interested in putting in the extra effort that would have been needed to go to the Room of Requirements or elsewhere only to turn around soon-after and return to pack up Al's things ahead of curfew. Instead of doing that, they watched the post-game show for a while; switched to a mirror network variety show after that; and eventually wrapped up their day when it was time for the Prefects in the room to get started on their patrols or other duties in their respective Houses. Al walked Gwendolyn home; Lily and Jonah went with them; and then he got to have a bit of brother-sister time with Lily while walking back to their own House. He went straight up to his dorm room after that; worked on his toys for an hour; and then crashed into nap mode before even a quarter of his roommates had come up to bed too.**

 **As seemed to be the case more often than not now, it was back to the serious work again on Sunday; and it seemed to Al that they all just got busier during the last five days of March. On Sunday, that meant a lot of studying and tutoring for him; with minor entertainment here and there that included a Seeker duel with Lily; and multi-tasking the family night fun and mirror chats with a fairly-serious study session that they did in one of the Potions dungeons instead of their usual study classroom. Lily wanted the Seeker duel to start getting ready for her match against Jonah in April; yet hadn't wanted to force her team to have a bonus practice just a day after their big win over Hufflepuff. Al did that – and his extra, non-studying activities while Gwendolyn was busy with her make-up team practice and Prefect meeting and duties, but he had a lot of his own work to do too; and ended up staying up for more than two hours past-curfew to get everything on his to-do list for the weekend finished.**

 **There was more fun to be had on Monday; and that was entirely because it was Rose's sixteenth birthday. Al had fun and did his part to make her day special; yet he also needed to step back this year and let Brandon take the lead when it came to making sure that Rose had a best-ever-so-far sort of birthday. Doing that included going for the morning walk and talk with Lily after giving Rose gifts; and then letting Brandon take over when they met up with him in the hallway outside of the Gryffindor portrait hole. He got to be there at breakfast for Rose's birthday fun that included the Owl Posts from her parents, grandparents, and most of her aunts and uncles. Making their classes fun wasn't really an option, but they still managed to have a good day; and Brandon helped Rose's day get better with a surprise picnic lunch for two that kept her entertained while the rest of the students in the school were busy in the Great Hall.**

 **Having a major party had to be worked into the after-school study schedule, but Brandon wanted to do more than Al and Gwendolyn might have without his involvement; so they helped him out with making that happen – with a lot of help from their family and friends. As soon as they were free from last class; Al and Gwendolyn went straight to their study classroom; set up for a party that included using the portable pool; got all of the drinks and snacks ready to go – including a large birthday cake; and then they let Brandon host Rose's party once he brought her to it. A study area was set up too, but Al and Gwendolyn were the only two teens or tweens to spend very much time doing their work – and they only studied for about half the time between the start of the party and dinner.**

 **Brandon had pretty much offered an open invitation to Rose's party; and Al liked seeing a great turnout – even though that meant more work for him. He was also glad that there was very little drama. Ollie didn't make an appearance – even though everyone else on the senior team did stop in on the way to their team practice. Lily and Hugo brought everyone on the junior team with her when they joined in on the fun after their practice; and they especially-liked getting to go swimming after a damp, chilly workout. There were quite a few Ravenclaw friends; more Hufflepuffs than Al would have expected; and everyone had fun – even when the classroom got a bit crowded toward the end of the party. That proved to be a bit of a problem when it came time to clean up and still get to the Great Hall for dinner, but Al and Gwendolyn had extra help for that part of the work; and they were only a few minutes late getting to that last meal of the day.**

 **While the party was over at that point, Brandon still made sure that Rose had fun for the rest of the evening – even when they were studying with Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their usual group. They had to work hard too, and didn't wrap up early so that Brandon and Rose could go off for some alone time, but then they were Prefects; they just happened to be booked for patrol together; and Al was sure that they'd manage to find some time for a bit of birthday snogging while they were out and about the castle for an hour or two after curfew! That wasn't an option for him, but he did walk Gwendolyn home; kissed her goodnight; and then he went to his dorm room and stayed up late working again so that he could keep up with everything he was juggling – including one special project that he needed to have done by month's-end.**

 **Rose's birthday was in the past as Al got ready for the day on Tuesday, but he was expecting another long day; since their bonus entertainment distraction of the day was James' next match with the Catapults – against the Kestrels. He knew that most of his friends would likely stop watching every Catapults' match eventually, but pretty much everyone in the school wanted to keep watching the matches for various reasons; and Al expected that to continue at least until James lost his first professional match. He spent some time thinking about his brother and Quidditch while going through his morning routine, but when he met up with Rose in the common room after returning from his morning workout; he switched gears and had a bit of fun while helping her out.**

" **Good morning," he said quietly; smiling brightly as he hugged his cousin – and then helped her out with a minor feat of fatigue-banishing healing. "You're welcome; and I love you."**

 **Rose laughed and had a bonus hug for him before stepping back and smiling too – a sight to see compared to the look of near-exhaustion that had been on her face just moments earlier.**

" **I love you too," she assured him. "Yes, no, no, and none of your business," she joked; pretending to be reading his mind and answering his unspoken questions.**

" **I knew that," Al countered; grinning too. "Brandon did a good job making your day special yesterday; but that could make it tough for him to top it next year." He laughed; and Rose looked at him curiously. "Sorry, but my first mental picture there was of Brandon giving you two Beaters for your future Cannons team next year – or maybe the year after."**

" **That would be brilliant," Rose agreed after laughing too. "For the record, though, dating Brandon has nothing to do with the Cannons for me."**

" **No – that'd just be a brilliant added bonus," Al offered. "We're a bit overdue for working on our plans for the Cannons – and I'm not talking about everything Malorie's doing; but let's save that for another time when we can actually focus on that for more than a half-hour."**

" **I thought we were doing pretty well with that," Rose said seriously. "What have you been thinking about for that lately?"**

" **Everything, I guess," Al admitted. "We want to try and take a fresh look at everything about how the game is played; so I'm trying to keep an open mind as I think about that – and try to look at everything from every side – no matter how ridiculous that might seem."**

" **That's rather vague," Rose decided; and Al smiled and shrugged.**

" **Okay, for one example; I've been thinking about what can and can't be spelled into a broom – or other equipment. You can't use magic that would affect your opponents – like maybe a built-in cheering charm, but we can use things like water-repelling charms; so I've been looking at that in relation to pretty much every spell out there."**

" **Well, that's just more of the work you've wanted to do on equipment, but if you have some new ideas; we can definitely talk about them. Anything else?"**

" **Yeah – a lot," Al agreed. "Which is why we don't really have time this morning – not to mention that some of it is really boring too. Do you really want to talk about things like different ways I've been thinking that we can make sure that the Cannons actually make money too along the way to winning your championships?"**

" **I like the sound of more than one championship, and we can make time to talk about stuff like that too; but I plan on leaving the boring business stuff to Malorie – and anyone else we need to eventually hire to do that stuff for us. Our jobs will be to win those championships."**

" **Then let's move on; and I won't scare you with my thoughts on a longer-term plan that includes working out how we'll keep things going with the Cannons while also making time to have our future families," Al teased; and Rose laughed and then punched his arm.**

" **I'm only sixteen, Al. Don't get in any hurry for that sort of thing with me because I won't be interested in having kids for a long time!"**

 **Al really didn't want to scare her, so he went along with a subject change; they enjoyed their walk and talk; had breakfast with their friends; and then got back to work again starting with their first class of the day. They were busy all day; Al split his time between studying and a Seeker duel with Lily while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice between last class and dinner; and then they set up their classroom for an evening of multi-tasking so that they could study and watch the Catapults' match – and do that with room for Lily, Jonah, and most of their usual game-watching gang.**

 **Watching that match was second to the studying and tutoring for Al, but he didn't miss any of the action either – and there were some great Quidditch moments to watch despite the fact that five of the Catapults' players continued to sit back and just pretend to be playing while giving their opponents no competition at all. That was what made Miya's efforts so extraordinary. Al wouldn't take anything away from James either, since he had to work hard too without any support from his team mates – particularly the Beaters; but he at least only had one Seeker to battle against. Miya had three Chasers to compete against; she practically played Keeper too; and still had to face the Kestrels' Keeper whenever she did get past their Chasers and got a scoring attempt.**

 **Al knew that with all of that against her; she was playing brilliantly. That didn't show up on the scoreboard, since the Kestrels outscored her three-to-one, but it was amazing that she scored any goals at all; and the Kestrels' Chasers would have scored twice as often or more if not for her brilliant, tireless, defensive stands. He knew that James wouldn't give her the credit due, but Miya was the reason that James still had the chance to win the match for the Catapults when he finally caught the snitch at the two-hour and thirty-six minute mark of the match to give the Catapults the two-ten to one-seventy victory. That catch, and his entire Seeker duel had been brilliant, but while Al could and did appreciate that; the rest of James' gamesmanship was something that he didn't even want to listen to during the post-game recap and interviews.**

" **They've a good shot at making the playoffs if they can win their last three matches," Lily said as she watched James being interviewed and didn't really focus on the assignment she was supposed to be working on. "Maybe if he'd shut it with all of that boasting and try to be nice to his team mates; they might decide to start playing again. It's not as if they're likely to get many more chances to reach the playoffs – especially after the way they've acted this season."**

" **I doubt it'd save their jobs even if they could win the championship," Jonah suggested. "James would get all of the credit for that; and they'd still be replaced."**

" **Probably," Lily agreed; "but if they help him win; at least they'll have that championship – and maybe a shot at getting on with one of the other teams. If they keep going on like they are again today; their next jobs will be working the concessions booths at the stadiums – if they'd even get hired to do that!"**

" **Then they should do that regardless of what James does," Hugo offered. "We probably won't know until the Easter holidays for sure whether winning out will be enough for the Catapults to get into the playoffs; but the odds are certainly better for James now than they were a month ago."**

" **If you guys don't get back to your studying; the odds will be against you for getting those assignements done before curfew," Rose called out to them. "Get back to work – and let us do the same!"**

 **That 'order' wasn't immediately followed, but they did do more work than mirror-network watching after that; and work was what Al and Gwendolyn did through until the end of the month on Thursday night. Their classes, studying, and Quidditch topped the list for what kept them busy, but while they didn't get to have as much fun; they wanted and needed to work hard because April was going to begin with a lot of play time opportunities – including April Fools' Day on Friday; and a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday!**

 **Friday would also mark the start of the two-week countdown to the Easter holiday, so while Al and Gwendolyn wouldn't be going home for that break, and wouldn't be sharing that time with their families for the first time ever; Al was also sure as they wrapped up March and then started April with their midnight Astronomy class on thursday night that their school year adventures were just going to get better and better – beginning with his own plans to make that happen around Hogwarts beginning first-thing on Friday morning!**


	56. OWL-Year Easter

**Chapter Fifty-Six – OWL-Year Easter**

" **You remind me of someone I know this morning," Lily told Al as he led his sister and cousin out into the hallway after meeting up with them in the common room. "I know," she added; snapping her fingers – "me!"**

" **Maybe that's his April Fools' Day joke for this year," rose suggested. "He's going to spend the entire day acting like you."**

 **Al grinned at them; and then produced a pair of snap dragons for them – flowers that appeared in his hand out of thin air.**

" **Thank-you," Lily said as she accepted her flower, "but this is your fourth time doing them; and you weren't this fired up about them the last three times."**

" **I'm especially proud of these," Al advised her; and held out two bits of what looked like puking pastilles to them. "You're going to love this – I hope."**

 **He watched expectantly as Rose and Lily each fed one of the treats to their snap dragons; and then joined in for the laughs when they all watched them turn into 'Rita Skeeter'-headed flowers.**

" **I never tell a lie!" Lily's flower declared at the same time that Rose's flower announced – "Every word I've ever written is the whole truth and nothing but the truth!" There was a momentary pause; and then both flowers began giggling uncontrollably. There were three teens in the hallway joining in for the laughs by then too; and Al smiled brilliantly as Lily and Rose each took turns to hug him – though that was weird too as he had madly-giggling flowers then try to snap at him once they were close enough – even though they temporarily had Rita Skeeter heads.**

" **Al – these are so bad – and brilliant and funny!" Rose told him.**

" **I'm calling them Herbimorphs," Al advised her. "That one is my personal favorite; but they'll change into other famous Wizards and Witches too; depending on the bits of pastilles they're given."**

" **Including our Mums and Dads?" Lily asked; and then laughed at the answer she saw in Al's face. "Come on – you've gotta let us try them too!"**

" **Okay," Al agreed; "but you should wait for each change to wear off; or that can get a bit freaky when they get mixed up."**

" **That sounds like fun too," Lily suggested. "How long does each change last?" she asked next; but then didn't have to wait long to find out because the two flowers changed back as soon as the mad giggling ended.**

" **That varies, depending on what each of them has to say," Al answered. "The shortest are only about a half-minute; and the longest is a bit under two."**

" **How did you get the voice so perfect?" Rose asked next. "Just from memory?"**

" **Yeah," Al agreed. "That's obviously a problem for Wizards and Witches I haven't met or because they're historical figures; so I just made them up – or used voices I've heard of actors pretending to be those people. I tried to make all of the lines funny; but we'll see how that goes as the day goes along. I don't exactly have a reputation for being funny."**

" **No – because James has taken credit for some of your funniest little pranks," Lily pointed out; and then grinned. "I wonder how he'll do that this year?"**

 **Al shrugged. "Maybe Ollie will take credit as his helper on the inside," he offered. "I really don't care if they take credit, but I do have other plans for these Herbimorph flowers and pastilles; since I think that Uncle George and Uncle Ron will like the idea a lot for a new line of wheezes. I'm going to send a set of them to Mum on Sunday night."**

" **They'll love that Rita version for sure," Lily predicted. "Now let's have the treats that'll turn these flowers into our parents. I really want to see what you came up with for them!"**

 **Al was happy to help her out with that; Lily did the changes for their parents; Rose did the same with the pastilles for her parents; and that's what they played around with during their entire walk and talk on the way to the Great Hall that included a trip to the same alcove that Al used every time for a boquet of the snap dragons in memory of their Uncle Fred. He hadn't just done a handful of these flowers; and all of the students and Professors at Hogwarts got the chance to play with the biggest April Fools' Day joke because he'd set out little vases of them along all of the tables in the Great Hall – along with bowls filled with random, assorted pastilles for them to experiment with while having their meals. That was for every meal too; since he replenished those supplies of Herbimorph treats ahead of the lunch and dinner meals.**

 **The fun for the day didn't just end with playing with the flowers; though that was the most fun for Al – particularly when he did that with Gwendolyn and their friends. He knew that the flowers were a hit as the day went along; and many of the catch phrases he'd used for the flowers started getting used by the teens and tweens – even during classes. Merlin's "What, in my name, is going on around here?" was probably used most-often, but James' "I reject your reality, and substitute my own!" was a close second. Not every famous person Al had picked was a hit, but that was more because his chosen famous villains freaked his audience out. Voldemort was, admittedly, creepy-looking; but his "me-who-must-not-be-named" line still earned laughs.**

 **Al's snap dragons weren't the only April Fools' Day joke or prank going on around the castle – even if they were the one that everyone wanted to talk about the most and continue to have fun with. He didn't get involved with most of those other pranks, but Al did step in a half-dozen times over the course of the day to stop pranks that wouldn't have been funny in any good way. Those pranksters never knew how their warped sense of fun was stopped; and the intended victims never knew that they'd been saved from anything at all either.**

 **While having fun was a big part of their day, the school work continued all day too; and the weekend assignment load was just as heavy as always. That's why Al and Gwendolyn still put in the work and stuck with their afternoon and evening study plans instead of taking time off to play like many of their friends and classmates did once they were finished their classes for the week. Gwendolyn had Prefect patrol duty with Susannah, so they wrapped up a bit early so the girls could do that; but Al ended his day by staying up late and continuing to study and do a bit of toymaking too until most of his roommates caught up with him and they were all ready to get some sleep so they'd be rested and ready for their day in Hogsmeade.**

 **By comparison, Saturday morning started out quietly for Al; and then just kept getting better as he moved along from getting ready for the day to his morning workout; walk and talk with Rose; breakfast in the Great Hall; and then a horseback ride to town with Gwendolyn that ended with some horsing around with Jaimie and Lorie once they met up with them outside of the Three Broomsticks. This time, they didn't get to spend the entire morning with Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and the girls, but they did get to have fun together without any drama from Rita Skeeter or anyone else. They also didn't have a Quidditch match to get back to the school to watch – or at least there wasn't any matches that were on their 'must-watch' list for the rest of the season. Having their visit with the twins was a highlight of the day for Al and Gwendolyn, but then they also ended up spending most of their time in town with Lily and Jonah instead of their friends; and that was really great too.**

 **The girls did some fun shopping while Al and Jonah took care of the boring supply shopping, but they were together for the rest of their shopping, they went for an hour-long hike that took them out of town where they could do a bit of exploring; they had a late lunch at the Three Broomsticks; and eventually headed back to the castle with enough time left before dinner to get cleaned up and distribute their supplies purchases to their first and second year relatives, team mates, and friends. Getting that break from being at Hogwarts had been great, but Al and Gwendolyn were also very happy to go off on their own after dinner and end their day off with some quality alone time that included music time; mirror network show watching; and a fair bit of teen-rated-hot snogging!**

 **Having that time off proved to be even more-important to them as they got back to work again on Sunday. Studying was the top priority during the last half of the weekend, but Quidditch was a close second – whether that was because of make-up or extra team practices for some of the school teams; or heightened interest in the final month of the league regular season and the race to earn one of the coveted eight spots in the playoffs. Al's Quidditch fun was a scrimmage in the Room of Requirements while Gwendolyn was busy with her team practice; but he played Seeker against Lily instead of Chaser; and that gave other friends a chance to try their skill against Rose or Hugo.**

 **That bit of play time helped to make all of the work easier too – as did the family fun time they mixed in with their evening study session; and that was pretty much how their entire first week of April went for Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their friends. With just two weeks left until the Easter break, their classwork included tests, major projects that were due to be handed in; and group or individual presentations that needed to be done in front of their classmates and Professors. Even for the best students, the tests, public speaking, and deadlines added some pressure; so the little breaks to have just a bit of fun kept them from getting too stressed out.**

 **Al had short Quidditch breaks nearly every day, but while he had fun with a Chaser duel with Gwendolyn on Monday and a Seeker duel with Lily on Tuesday; the shortest Quidditch break of the week ended up being the Harpies match against the Wasps on Tuesday night. The extra set-up that needed to be done in their study classroom didn't take longer than the Quidditch match; but it wasn't shorter by much. There was some real luck involved in the win for the Harpies, but they were happy to take the thirty-one minute, one-seventy to ten victory. After two long matches, Gabrielle was happy to earn the early snitch catch – even if it was more about the luck than skill this time; and it also was sure to help them out as they headed into their very-important Easter weekend match – especially when that match was going to be against the Falcons!**

 **The Quidditch interludes continued during the rest of the week, but while those moments were just breaks in the busy for Al; the Hufflepuff-Slytherin junior team match and the Catapults upcoming battle against the Wanderers on Saturday were the top two stories on the school gossip network. While the Catapults still had a chance to make the league playoffs, Hufflepuff and Slytherin could only play their match to decide which team would finish last in the junior team standings – and try to help avoid that last-place record for the Quidditch Cup race too. Not having more than that riding on the match kept it from being as exciting as the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw matches would be as they'd be vying for the junior, senior, and Quidditch Cup titles.**

 **While that was true, Al and Gwendolyn were still motivated to work hard all week and then take Saturday off again to play – or at least get to watch a couple of quidditch matches with their friends. Getting there meant working late every night; though Gwendolyn and the other members of the Slug Club weren't able to get quite as much done as Al did because they had their Easter club meeting on Friday evening. That worked out for Al, since he was able to spend the evening in the Room of Requirements; study, work, and kick everything up into a higher gear than he'd ever do around anyone other than Gwendolyn, Rose, Lily, or Jonah. For their part, Gwendolyn, Rose, and their other Slug Club friends still got to do something they enjoyed, and now that they'd been working on that part of their relationships; they were okay with excluding Al from a few hours of socializing with teens that, for the most part; were interested in being leaders, popular, and successful.**

 **The one change that did mess things up for Al and Gwendolyn when it came to school Quidditch during the last third of the season was that the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections were across the stadium from each other – which meant that they couldn't sit on the border with their combined House mates. Fortunately for Al – and Rose – this season; they weren't on their House team; so they could at least sit with Gwendolyn and Brandon for the Hufflepuff-Slytherin matches – even if that wouldn't be something they should do for the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw junior team match; and they wouldn't be able to do for the final match of the season anyway.**

 **Gwendolyn, Brandon, and Jonah had to sit with their teams for the match, but so did Lily; so it felt odd to Al to not have his sister or the rest of their Gryffindor friends around them – even as they also had some fun with that before Lily and Jonah needed to split up shortly before Colin started his pre-game show. The best part of their game-watching plan, though, was being sure that they wouldn't have to deal with Ollie and his game-time idiocies at all – though that didn't keep Ollie from sitting even closer to Lily and her team mates and friends so that he could annoy her instead. Al kept a mental eye on them, but didn't get any sense that Ollie was going to risk getting into trouble again – though that didn't mean he wouldn't lose his temper and do something stupid anyway. Al hoped for the best, though; and happily cuddled with Gwendolyn and got ready to enjoy the Quidditch entertainment as Colin started out his pre-game show with the Quidditch Cup and junior team statistics for the season so far.**

" **I don't like this update as much as the last one," Gwendolyn told Al as Colin advised everyone that Gryffindor had the points tie-break lead for the junior team competition; which put Ravenclaw in second place. Hufflepuff was third and Slytherin was fourth, but unless they battled to a tie; the winner of their match today would decide which House would take that third-place spot for this season.**

" **True, but Ravenclaw still has the points tie-break for the Quidditch Cup and senior team titles," Al reminded her.**

" **Yeah, but only by ten points for the Quidditch Cup," Gwendolyn countered. "We have Lily to thank for that."**

" **I wouldn't worry about the points," Al advised her. "It'll only matter with our junior teams if Lily or Jonah have to choose trying to catch the snitch for the loss; and it's too early to even know if it'll be an issue for the senior team match or not."**

" **You are suggesting that Lily and I should play for the big win or the narrow loss, though," Jonah pointed out. "That's a tough choice for both of us – try to run it up if we're in the lead; or cut our losses if we're way behind."**

" **For our matches, every ten points of difference in the scoring is a twenty-point swing in the tie-break points difference," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Al's right; but we'll talk about how our teams should handle the situation when we don't have Gryffindors sitting right here with us. They might not be getting along with their senior team and Captain right now; but they'd definitely need to talk about something like that with Lily."**

" **If we know what's good for us," Rose agreed with a smile. "Al and I will just hope that our team wins both matches so that points won't matter."**

" **How often does that actually happen?" Stephanie asked them. "We won both matches last season; but haven't we either split the matches or had at least one tie over the last – well, pretty much since there were junior teams?"**

" **The odds are with a split," Al admitted; "but then you've done it twice in your first three seasons; so maybe the odds don't matter for you. The top-two Houses don't normally have undefeated records for both junior and senior teams going into their final matches either; so that's different this year."**

" **I don't even think about Hufflepuff or Slytherin for that," Stephanie admitted. "That's weird, since Hufflepuff has won lots of titles too."**

" **Slytherin used to win the Quidditch Cup a lot," Al advised her. "It's just been a long time now since they've had much success."**

" **We're okay with that trend continuing indefinitely," Gwendolyn assured him. "If they ever start playing fairly; then maybe we'll think about letting them win another Quidditch Cup or two – if they can earn those wins over our teams without all the cheap shots and dirty tricks."**

 **Al agreed with her on that one, but then they soon found out that fair play was not part of the Slytherin game plan against Hufflepuff. If imitation really is a form of flattery, then Derrick Selwyn's efforts to have his team play like the Falcons did that and then some. As the match started, it was soon clear that he, like the Falcons, didn't care about the early score. He wanted to pound on the Hufflepuff players and worry about the score later. If they'd tried to do that fairly against Lee and Greta, they likely would have failed, but the Slytherin strategy was all about cheap shots and dirty tricks – at least for all of the guys. The Witches on the team had their moments too; though that was mostly in helping to set up cheap shots or create diversions to help hide those dirty plays from Mr. Peakes.**

 **Those efforts didn't pay off for them at first; and Hufflepuff's biggest advantage was at Keeper. Lee and Greta helped a lot too, but since Derrick was more-interested in bashing Hufflepuff Chasers than in defending his own goals; he let in more goals than John did for Hufflepuff. Al knew early on that the hits would eventually add up for the Hufflepuff players; so he hoped for a short match for their sake – and didn't get that. Hufflepuff earned the early lead and kept it as the match rolled along, but they never came very close to earning the one-sixty lead; and their scoring advantage slowed and eventually reversed as the minor injuries mounted for the Hufflepuff players that Slytherin was targeting.**

 **On the fair, Hufflepuff side of the match, Lee and Greta got some clean hits in on a few Slytherin players too, and were able to defend themselves well-enough; but they couldn't defend their team mates from anywhere-near every cheap shot and dirty trick. They did make a big difference anyway, though; and contributed to why the match continued on and on – particularly with their efforts to keep Andrea Avery from catching the snitch. Al knew from watching her duel with Luke Summerby that Andrea might have ended the match fairly-early if not for, in particular, Greta's efforts to knock her off her game – if not off her broom! That made their Seeker battle fairly-entertaining, and while Andrea wasn't above crossing the line between fair play and cheating; she was still the 'nicest' Slytherin playing in the match.**

 **Hufflepuff grew their lead through the first two hours; battled to a draw for the third-hour scoring; and then Slytherin began to slowly catch up in the fourth. Professor McGonagall had lunch served on tables outside of the stadium at the end of the fourth hour; and both teams agreed to a food and drinks time-out just minutes into the fifth hour. While Al and Gwendolyn didn't need to help with getting the teams fed and watered, so to speak; they did go along with Jonah and met up with Lily and some of their Gryffindor cousins and friends to have lunch together – and then hang out for a while too while eating their sandwiches and other treats from the pitch sidelines near the Ravenclaw section of the bleachers.**

" **I hate to see it happen, but Slytherin's game plan is working out for them – just like it does for the Falcons," Lily suggested as they watched Drew miss a scoring atempt and then take a hard hit from Derrick Selwyn.**

" **Note to us – don't let them keep their matches going against us until past the time when they've pounded us to the point where we can't play our best anymore," Jonah offered.**

" **I doubt that we'll have to play against Derrick next season," Lily pointed out. "That doesn't mean that we won't have it worse with Rupert Avery and his mates; but I doubt that Derrick can beat Rupert in tryouts – unless he plays much differently than he does in the matches we've seen him play so far."**

" **His style hasn't kept him from earning..." Jonah began; and then laughed. "Okay, he's been team Captain the last two seasons; so I guess he only needed to win his tryout in first year."**

" **Were you about to suggest that a Slytherin had Al's over-enthusiastic gift for good sportsmanship?" Lily teased. "That'd be funny – if totally unbelievable."**

" **I wouldn't say unbelievable for every Slytherin," Al told her seriously. "There are decent Wizards and Witches in Slytherin – including some that pretend that they're not because they need to do that to protect themselves."**

" **Don't go messing around with how I feel about my favorite villains," Lily warned half-seriously. "I'm not in the emood – especially when I've already had to put up with more than four hours of Ollie's idiotic game commentary. He's in a bad mood too; so you're lucky that you haven't been stuck with him acting like that – and he's only two rows behind me this time."**

" **I am glad that I'm missing out on that," Al admitted easily. "You'll get to miss it while playing in your match, though; and it's a safe bet that Ollie will be in fine form for that game."**

" **No doubt," Lily agreed. "He's taking that whole substituting his own reality thing way too far. Louis and the McClaggens might even tell him to sod off – if they weren't worried that messing up with James' best mate might mess things up for them with the Catapults."**

" **The only thing that would mess that up would be if they get on the team and mess up James' plans to be the best, richest, and most-famous Quidditch player in history," Gwendolyn suggested. "If they help him win; he'll let them tag along."**

" **Unless they start getting too popular and famous too," Lily amended. "James will only be happy if he's the star – not that I'm sure he's really, truly happy even then."**

" **That's tough to do when you're always afraid that there are other witches and Wizards around that are better than you," Jonah said quietly and more-seriously. "Most of us learn to accept that and find our own place in the world. I don't know if James will ever figure that out."**

 **Lily grinned at him. "Maybe true, but speak for yourself on the middle part of that; since I have every intention of being rich and famous too – and at least a bit more rich and famous than James; if only because that'll drive him bonkers!" she turned her attention to Al when he laughed. "I'm not joking," she assured him; and he nodded and smiled.**

" **I know. That laugh was because of the mental picture I had with your comment that had you and James second and third to Grandma Ginny, star Seeker for the Cannons, on that list."**

" **She might be famous again if she does that; but she won't be rich," Lily predicted. "I still seriously-doubt that even if you and Rose do pull off your plan for the Cannons that you'll actually be able to afford Mum – or any other really good players."**

 **Al nodded again. "Good – then we have you, and everyone else, right where we want them," he suggested. "If not even our favorite people believe in us; then what we're going to do is going to surprise everyone."**

 **That semi-boast wasn't something the girls could let go without having some fun with it at Al's expense, but they eventually got back into watching the match; and they ended up staying together until it ended just minutes short of the end of the fifth hour. By then, Slytherin had narrowed the Hufflepuff lead to just forty points, and while they were only catching up very slowly; it was obvious that most of the Hufflepuff players were slowing down – and doing that faster than the Slytherin players. Luke Summerby was one of those tired, hurt players; which was why Andrea's snitch catch looked more-impressive than it actually was – though she deserved a lot of credit for how fiercely she'd played for nearly five hours to get to that best-chance to catch the snitch. She beat Luke cleanly on the play; he didn't have any real chance of stopping her once Andrea had caught him going the wrong way; and she made no mistake as she caught the snitch and handed her team the three-sixty to two-fifty victory!**

 **The Catapults and Wanderers had drawn the late match on Saturday, so even though their school match had been a long one, there was time to have some fun with the post-game festivities at center pitch. They didn't spend a lot of time offering their congratulations and condolences, since the Slytherins weren't being good sports as victors, and the Hufflepuff players were very disappointed – as well as tired and sore; so Al and Gwendolyn moved on and had lots of time to get their classroom set up for watching James' match. The rest of their friends caught up with them in time for the pre-game show; but that wasn't as much fun to watch as Lee's shows always were – and he wasn't doing the Catapults' match because he was busy with the 'A' game of the day.**

 **Lee might have preferred to cover the Catapults' match, since it was probably watched by more mirror network viewers thanks to James; and there was news for the team too as the match began; and everyone watching found out that the Catapults' Keeper had decided to show up and actually play his best – apparently deciding to take advantage of the chance to make the playoffs again regardless of how he felt about James or how the team managers and owners were treating the rest of their players.**

 **Since the other guys on the team didn't just jump onto the James Potter bandwagon with him; Al expected that their Keeper hadn't told them ahead of time that he was going to do that; but his efforts went a long way toward making Miya's job easier. That didn't mean that she out-scored the Wanderers' Chasers, since she still didn't get any help from her own Chaser partners or Beaters. That didn't help her Keeper either; so the Wanderers still managed to score too-many goals. What the extra help did mean, though, was that the Wanderers couldn't build a one-sixty lead that would have put the match out of reach for James to earn another come-from-behind victory.**

 **James wasn't able to get that win for his team until they were into the fourth hour of the match. Because of the late start time; that happened while the Hogwarts students were in the Great Hall for dinner; and Al watched that happen while sharing his portable mirror with Rose. There were a lot of portable mirrors tuned into that match; so there was a round of cheers for James when he earned the two-sixty to two-ten victory that put his team just two wins away from a likely spot in the playoffs.**

" **Sorry, Al," Rose whispered. "James is still the favorite Potter son for at least another week or two."**

" **I don't have a problem with him being the favorite son forever," Al reminded her. "Right now; I'd settle for being the son that everyone leaves alone and forgets about – and I'm not just saying that because it'd help your plans for the Cannons."**

" **You're serious about wanting that, Al, but it will be impossible for us to reach those goals and get everyone to ignore you – no matter how much you want to wish for the anonymity."**

" **That'll be worse if we have to go through James and the Catapults to earn those championships," Al added. "We've already gotten to see what the reporters do with family rivalry stories like Victoire and Dominique."**

" **And that one will be nothing by comparison to you and James," Rose agreed; and then grinned. "I'm counting on that to help us sell more tickets!"**

 **Al laughed. "I'd file a complaint; but that's in my plans too. We won't have this match to get back to after dinner now. Did you and Brandon set up any plans for tonight if we didn't have more Quidditch to watch?"**

" **No, but I'm sure we can find something to do," Rose assured him. "We don't have music or a big mirror for watching shows; but we still manage to have fun when we're on our own."**

 **Al didn't want any additional details about that, but then he was happy to go off and spend the rest of the evening with Gwendolyn. They played around with a couple of songs they were working on; finished up two of the toys they wanted to send on Sunday night with the weekly Owl Post; and then they spent some time fairly-soundly snogging each other senseless before Gwendolyn needed to move on to her in-House Prefect duties and Al walked her home before moving on to his dorm room and a bit of work and studying before bed.**

 **Sunday was another study day, and they had a lot of work to do, but it felt different to Al this year too; since they were working toward the Easter break with the same deadlines as they'd had every year; but they wouldn't be going home on Friday – and would have ten days off with no classes while staying at the castle. That change in the norm for their Owl year didn't really affect them on Sunday, but it did affect the way Al, Gwendolyn, and their usual study buddies approached their studying during those last four days of classes ahead of the holiday. As testing, project deadlines, and class presentations were finished; the Easter holiday assignments and new major projects were dumped on them, so instead of waiting to get started on that work; they kicked their studying up into another gear to get as much of that holiday revision finished as possible!**

 **The studying, Quidditch fun in the Room of Requirements, and the rest of the work Al was doing wasn't the toughest part of his school week. Having to say goodbye to Lily was what really affected him most – that, and knowing that he wasn't going to get to share the Easter holiday with his family for the first time in his life. He wasn't the only OWL student dealing with that issue; and he didn't even have it as tough as some of their friends. Ray, for instance, was going to both be away from home for Easter and be apart from Cyndia too; since she was going home. He was at least going to have Gwendolyn with him for the week; and he was very grateful for that – and for having Rose and the rest of their friends with them too. That impending separation made their Thursday a bit tough, and while Al got to spend a bit of extra time with Lily after last class while having a Seeker duel and after dinner when she and Jonah stopped in for a visit with Al and Gwendolyn in their study classroom; he ended up staying awake for quite a while after their Astronomy class; and didn't sleep very well when he did get around to having some nap time.**

 **Friday morning started out quietly-enough, but Al still felt a bit sad; and it was definitely strange to be getting up and not needing to finish getting ready to travel – especially when all of the younger teens and tweens, and maybe a third of the older students, were going to be leaving the castle soon for the ride home on the Hogwarts Express. He still got ready for the day as normal; did his workout in the Room of Requirements; and then he and Rose had Lily with them for the morning walk and talk before breakfast. The weird and sad kicked up a few notches for him while having that meal; and then he and Gwendolyn – along with some other friends – went outside to say goodbye to their younger siblings, friends, and cousins when they needed to catch carriage rides to the train station. Lily and Jonah were among the first quarter of students heading out; so Al and Gwendolyn still had lots of time before their first study session of the holiday; and they decided to go for a walk with Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth instead of hanging around to watch the rest of the exodus from the castle.**

" **We'll be okay," Gwendolyn teased after Al sighed – something he'd done a number of times since saying their last goodbyes to Lily and Jonah. "I'm going to miss getting to spend the week with my Mum and Dad too; but staying here will be something of an adventure too. This is the first time we've been here for a week when we haven't had classes. We've gotten a good head-start on our revision; so we'll have some time to play too – and won't be busy with all of the family stuff we'd have had at home."**

" **I'd tell you that there won't be time to play," Brandon told her, "but you really have gotten ready for this week so much differently than Seth and I did with our study mates last year; so I've no doubt that we'll have more free time than most of our friends will have over the next week."**

" **As long as we do the daily work we've scheduled for ourselves first – as much as possible," Rose suggested. "We'll mess that up if we get too distracted."**

 **Brandon grinned at her. "No early morning snogging sessions – got it!"**

" **Fortunately for us; that still leaves a lot of the day open for when snogging would be allowed," Seth offered; grinning too. "Peter has booked extra practices, but he and Pauline have even more revision dumpe don them for their NEWT year than we have for fifth and sixth-year; so I don't think they'll push us too hard."**

" **I'd be happy to get some nice weather for those workouts," Gwendolyn told him. "This hasn't felt like much of a Spring so far this year."**

" **Probably because it hasn't been," Rose said with a nod and shrug. "I still wish that I was playing for Gryffindor this season; but I haven't missed all of those winter practices that go with the job."**

" **Of course you haven't," Brandon interjected – "you've gotten to practice indoors where it's warm and comfortable!"**

" **We get why you want to keep that little secret," Seth added; "but it's tough knowing that we could have practiced indoors all winter – and done it all of the years we've been here; if we'd only known about that sooner."**

" **If everyone knew about it; that place would be so busy that we'd be lucky to get a turn once a month," Susannah pointed out. "I'm actually surprised that Al can use it as often as he does without it being tied up by other students."**

" **It does get used by others now and then," Al advised her. "I just use it the most. You're right about how tough it would be to get time in there if everyone knew about everything the Room of Requirements can do, though; so I hope that never gets out – and it's taken us years to figure out what we know about it so far."**

" **So far?" Seth asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.**

" **I have no idea what limits there are on that place. For all I know, the only limit is the Wizard's or Witch's imagination."**

" **It can't create it if you can't imagine the need for it," Susannah added thoughtfully. "Then there's also the issue of need. Would it give you a room that you didn't truly, actually require?"**

" **Now you're both starting to make my brain hurt," Seth half-joked. "Does the Room of Requirements do nothing if you try to ask it for something you don't need?"**

" **That might explain why it doesn't get used by most students here," Rose mused. "We know about some of the successes; but I doubt that most of us would admit trying to use it and failing – regardless of the reason for why it didn't work for us."**

" **How is it that the Room of Requirements has been here so long; and yet we seem to know so little about it?" Brandon asked seriously. "I've never heard about anyone even being taught that magic here; yet somebody obviously knew how to do it at one point – probably one or more of the school founders."**

" **There is old magic that we no longer know how to create," Al pointed out. "Some of that has been allowed to happen for good reason; others because the magic was extremely difficult, and possibly couldn't be passed on by greater Wizards and Witches to less-talented students; and then there are still more magics that we can do but don't really understand. i don't know which is the case here. For all we know, this could be like wand-making or being an Animagus – something that only a few people have a true talent for doing."**

" **Or something that's kept secret from most of us," Rose added with a nod. "There are lots of examples of magic that is jealously-protected by old Wizarding families. In this case, if that was something that was only known by one or more of the founders; then that might be a magic that's been lost to us."**

" **Because there aren't any living descendants of the founders?" Susannah asked – "or at least none that we know of for sure."**

" **That ought to seem strange too," Brandon suggested, "but then most of our Professors don't have children either; so maybe that's not really strange at all."**

" **We really don't know much about the personal lives of the founders – or most of the Professors that have taught here since then," Rose pointed out. "I'll grant you that it's weird that we don't know more; since they did found a school. You'd think that it would have occured to them to write books about their own lives – and also write about all of the magic they knew. Even with that, there's a lot we don't know the 'how' of – even if we do know about the magic that still works even now; like the moving staircases."**

" **That is awesome magic, but a bit pointless; and occasionally annoying," Seth told her. "They should have made lifts for the castle instead of moving stairs – like at the Ministry of Magic."**

" **Maybe the Ministry of Magic had stairs back then," Brandon suggested. "I don't even know how long it's been where it is now; but it wasn't likely anything like it is now compared to more than a thousand years ago."**

" **Yet this castle, for the most part, is," Seth countered. "Maybe it's past-time for a remodel."**

 **That idea sent them off on a chat about what they might each like to see in a 'modernized' castle. Al had fun with that too; but was mostly-glad for the distraction that kept him busy and entertained instead of missing his family and wishing he was going home instead. They eventually met up with the rest of their study group. While they worked, Al and Rose led the way to try and help Ray to cheer up after having to say goodbye to his sister and girlfriend; and they had a pretty good morning – even if that did include doing a fair bit of studying. Gwendolyn, Brandon, and Seth had their first Quidditch practice of the holidays after lunch, so while they were busy with that, Al and Rose did some toy making and work on their plans for the Cannons; they had a mid-afternoon break with their friends; and then studied until dinnertime – with that work being done in the greenhouses and library instead of their study classroom.**

 **By the time they went to the Great Hall for that meal, Al was back to wishing he could be home; and he hoped that Lily, Jonah, and their families were having a great start to their holidays without him.**

" **Welcome home!" Ginny told Lily as they shared an enthusiastic hug. "You look great!"**

" **I'm glad to be home – and so do you," Lily said as she moved on to hug her father next. "I'm also glad that you're both still unemployed. "It's much nicer to have both of you here to meet us now that you can do that."**

" **We like that quite a lot too," Ginny assured her – "though it's funny that now we can be here; you're the only kid coming home for Easter this year."**

" **You're going to share Jonah and me with his parents this week to make up for that," Lily advised them more than requested; earning a round of laughs from all of the parents around them.**

" **Will Hugo and Alyssa be doing that to help their parents too?" Harry asked; and Lily shrugged.**

" **That's up to them – as long as whatever they do decide to do doesn't get in the way of showing up for their team practices."**

" **We won't miss your practices," Hugo assured her. "Our parents also don't get the week off; so we'll have lots of time to hang out together."**

" **Maybe we could even meet up with you and Jonah and go out on a double-date," Alyssa suggested – "though I may have to work that out with Mum and Dad; since they're not sure about letting me do things like going to Muggle movies or malls. They only let me do that at Christmas because Brandon and Rose went with us."**

" **So there is at least one benefit to having your brother date Hugo's sister," Lily teased; and Alyssa rolled her eyes.**

" **Don't go there. I'm hoping to get a break from that – especially when Brandon and Rose are still at Hogwarts."**

" **They seemed to be taking that better than Al was," Lily suggested next. "I think that he's most-upset that he won't get to spend time with Jaimie and Lorie this week; but he was definitely feeling homesick this morning when he said goodbye to us."**

" **This is going to be our first Easter without him," Ginny reminded her. "We'll miss him too."**

" **You could always go and visit him in Hogsmeade," Lily suggested. "I'll skip that trip if you do go, since I just left there this morning and don't want to hurry back; but I'm sure that Jonah and I can find something to do." She grinned then. "Maybe James would like to invite us over and show us his new place!"**

" **Has he talked to you since quitting school?" Ginny asked. "You haven't said anything about it to us if he has been keeping in touch with you."**

" **He hasn't – though I send him a mirror message once or twice a week just to let him know I'm alive. He never answers; but he hasn't deleted my link either the way he's done with you guys and Al."**

" **Change of subject," Harry advised and then asked – "was that Ollie I just saw getting off the train a few cars down?"**

" **He was on the train," Lily reported. "Kathryn wasn't thrilled that he decided to come home; but I wasn't surprised. Ollie wasn't working very hard before James quit, but he's doing even less since then; and I doubt it's even worth his time to bother taking his sixth-year final exams." She grinned then. "You do know that he thinks that the Catapults will let him play in the championship match this year if James can get them that far, right? He turns seventeen that week; so he could quit school too and do that."**

" **Somebody mentioned that to us back in February," Ginny answered. "Does he expect to be named to the National team the week after next too?"**

" **If he does, and then doesn't get picked; he'll just blame it on Al," Lily suggested and answered. "That's something that he's learned to do nearly as well as James."**

" **Al's obviously learned more than we knew about if he's so good that he can influence the selection of the National team all the way from Hogwarts," Ginny offered with a laugh. "You're ready to go, though, so let's head over to Diagon Alley. We're meeting Malorie and the twins there; and then we'll eventually pick up take-out and head home for dinner – all of us."**

" **Do I get to keep Jonah overnight too? We could pretend that he's borrowing Al's room when he stays with us this week."**

 **Ginny laughed. "That's funny and a bit scary for the parents; but you've forgotten that James moved out. We've turned his room into a teen hang-out room that can double as a guest room when needed."**

" **That sounds brilliant," Lily told her – "though I'm surprised you've even managed to empty that bottomless mess so quickly; let alone get it cleaned and completely re-done."**

" **We boxed up the mess and sent it to James as-is," Ginny explained. "The cleaning after that only took two weeks."**

" **But might have taken half a year if we weren't unemployed," Harry added and joked. "It wasn't fun, though, so don't trash it while you're home this week."**

" **We won't," Lily assured him. "Was that a 'yes' to keeping Jonah tonight?"**

 **Dinner in the Great Hall had seemed even stranger than lunch had for Al with more than half the students away from the castle, but unlike at Christmas; the remaining students were still at their own House tables; so the biggest difference was that it was quieter for him on all levels. He didn't miss the extra mental 'noise' at all; but it was definitely weird to sit at the end of their usual section of the Gryffindor table and have no fourth-year neighbors. He and Rose still had fun while enjoying that meal, but he was happy to move on and meet up with Gwendolyn after they each finished eating – and they were taking the evening off with plans to spend most or all of those hours on their own. They started that out by going outside for a walk by the lake, and while it wasn't hot and sunny out; it was at least dry and only a bit on the cool side as they stepped out of the castle and began walking along the path toward the lake.**

" **The top thing I'm going to miss about being home tonight is not getting to have a sofa sleepover with you," Al advised Gwendolyn. "I'd suggest staying out past curfew and doing that here, but then you'd have to turn us in; and we'd likely end up with detention or something."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Louis likely would make an example of us," she agreed. "You're not going to get him a job in the show; so you don't get any special treatment – and he can't play for the Harpies; so I'm no good to him at all either. The Harpies do have their Easter match tomorrow; so you're likely right about what we would have been doing at home. Do you think that Jonah will be staying with Lily?"**

 **Al grinned at her. "Possibly in her room; though I'll guess that Mum and Dad have turned James' room into a guest bedroom by now; so he could stay there – if they're not having a sofa sleepover."**

" **Do you think there's an 'if' about that – especially when you just implied that Lily would be okay with having Jonah stay in her room if she could get away with it."**

" **She likely will get away with it – and do that before we will," Al suggested.**

" **Only because you're too nice for that sort of thing – though I'll keep hoping that you'll meet me half-way on that eventually."**

" **Now you want to elope the first chance we get after you turn seventeen? I like that idea a lot – except for the part where it'd mean we'd be spending most of our NEWT year in separate dorms and Houses – even if we did get a place to live for that summer; and your Mum didn't turn me into a bug."**

" **I wasn't thinking about getting married a year earlier than we've already talked about," Gwendolyn advised him, "but since you seem to think that Mum would turn you into a bug for that; I'd best not really scare you with what I was thinking about instead – even though you know what that is anyway."**

" **Yes – and that might have something to do with why I'm thinking about changing into a fish when we get to the lake and going for a nice, cold swim," Al joked. "Let's change the subject before I really need to do that. I have been thinking about Jaimie and Lorie; since we're missing out on seeing them this week. Maybe we should see if we can come up with an Easter song for them – like the Easter songs that Muggles have for kids."**

" **The Animorphmagus Easter Bunny song?" Gwendolyn suggested; and Al laughed.**

" **I'd be okay with not having any new songs about me," he advised her. "Something bunny-related might work, but I didn't really have any specific ideas with that; and we could write about anything to do with Easter."**

" **You're a basket case at Easter?" Gwendolyn suggested with a grin.**

" **I might be right now – if you weren't here with me," Al admitted. "We might be able to work something out for a song that has something to do with eggs in a basket. I don't know."**

 **Gwendolyn didn't come up with anything serious on the fly either, but they had fun with the idea for a kids' Easter song for a while; and that helped to distract Al until they were ready to head inside and go on to the Room of Requirements for the rest of the evening. They had some real music play time once there; worked on two new toys; and then they cuddled on a sofa; watched some mirror network shows; and snogged each other senseless until shortly before curfew. While she didn't have patrol at curfew, they were both back in their dorm rooms on time; Al only stayed up long-enough to do some work while waiting to be ready to sleep; but then he still crashed into nap mode for the night long before any of the other guys in his dorm room came up to bed from the common room too.**

 **Saturday wasn't going to be an entire day off for Al and Gwendolyn, since they had a Potion to make that required daily maintenance to keep up with and a plant in Herbology that needed to be tended every day too, but they were going to Hogsmeade in the morning; and planned on watching the Harpies' match in the afternoon. Al didn't really notice the extra quiet around Gryffindor tower first thing in the morning, since he was usually up and on the go before most of the other guys anyway, but it was definitely quieter at breakfast without most of the younger kids; and he was glad that he also didn't have long lists of supplies to pick up for the usual gang of younger cousins and friends – a fact that would make the visit to town more fun. The best part of his morning, though, came when he first got to town with Gwendolyn; and found out that Malorie and the twins had come to surprise them with an Easter weekend visit!**

" **Neigh!" Al whinnied enthusiastically as he slowed and stopped in front of Malorie. She was holding both of the girls, and while Gwendolyn slid off of his back; he leaned his nose in and nuzzled each of the twins before pretending to lick Malorie and then taking a step back and changing forms while all four Witches laughed or giggled at him.**

" **I think that Uncle Al loves your Easter surprise," Malorie told her daughters.**

" **I do," he assured them as he stepped forward again and she handed Jaimie to him. "We thought that you'd be too busy today with going to the Harpies match and whatever else is going on around the family to come and visit us."**

" **We do have a busy day," Malorie admitted; "but they miss you too. I know that sounds silly; but I think it's true all the same."**

" **I really do miss you a lot," Al advised Jaimie as he hugged her tightly and she giggled and cooed happily at him. "By the time we get home for the summer; you'll be walking around – or nearly-so."**

" **Maybe not quite that soon; but you could see that happen before you head back to school in September," Malorie suggested. "We've only got about an hour before I'll want to get them home for a pre-game nap. Do you want to go in and sit down; or wander around town?"**

" **Let's go around town," Al suggested. "Jaimie and Lorie will find that more interesting – and it'll help with tiring them out. How have you been doing this week? We haven't really talked about you very much on our bedtime chats with you and the girls."**

" **You've been busy with the studying," Malorie said with a shrug. "I'm doing okay, and everything is going great; but we've had a too-busy week. Jaimie and Lorie have been needy; and I'm getting worn out."**

" **Then that sounds like tonight would be a perfect opportunity for them to have a sleepover with Aunt Lily," Gwendolyn suggested seriously. "You could get a night off; and..." she stopped at what she saw in Malorie's expression; and laughed. "Okay – you'll want them home for Easter morning tomorrow. Lily is home all week, though; so tomorrow night could work instead – and maybe be even better for you; if they're too fired up from all of the Easter fun."**

" **That's an idea," Malorie agreed. "From what I heard yesterday, she's going to be very busy this week; but she does want to spend time with Jaimie and Lorie too; so a sleepover might actually work for her." She grinned then. "Then again; maybe she'll be too busy having sleepovers with Jonah. She kept him last night – and I doubt they were in separate rooms – especially now that you have that awesome game room slash guest bedroom."**

" **Mum and Dad turned James' bedroom into a game room?" Al asked; and Malorie smiled ruefully.**

" **Um – surprise?" she joked. "Yes," she confirmed. "It has a really great sectional sofa that has a built-in sofa bed on one side; and some new Muggle and magical gaming gear. I'm sure that Lily and Jonah were planning on a sofa sleepover in there last night, and unless they leave the door open; that's not going to be quite the same as a sofa sleepover in your sitting room or your tent."**

" **No, but it sounds brilliant," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically. "Now I really wish we could've been home this week!"**

 **Malorie laughed. "I'd comment on that, but you're likely each holding very good reasons for why you should keep on being good while at Hogwarts. This may all be working out amazingly for me so far; but starting your own family in your OWL year wouldn't work out for you – not to mention that it'd mess up your plans for a Quidditch career with the Harpies."**

" **She means you for that last part," Al teased. "We'll be good, but even if we did mess up; we'd be blessed in the Light to end up with miracles as brilliant as Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **You won't have that problem," Malorie declared; and smiled when Al laughed.**

" **We're not infallible," he assured her. "I sure learned that when I messed up with Gwendolyn last September, and before that; everyone said that we were the perfect couple."**

" **You still are," Malorie insisted seriously. "The rest of us might tease you about it – and be at least a little jealous; but we still see what you have together – just as we see it with your parents – and I mean both sets of parents; though that is a bit different for Gwendolyn's Mum and Dad."**

" **Thank you," Gwendolyn said sincerely. "I'm not hoping for regular fights with Al, but I do think that we're a better couple now that we've worked through those problems; so I'm glad that we did go through that mess."**

" **That's true," Al agreed, "but if we've only got an hour with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie; let's leave all of that serious stuff behind and just have a bit of fun together instead."**

 **All four Witches were happy to do that with him; they started out with the 'fun' shopping so that they could keep the twins entertained; and they spent a bit more than half of that hour with Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth too; once they caught up with them after taking the slower walk to town with most of the other fifth and sixth-year teens. Al didn't want to say goodbye when it was time for Malorie to take her girls home, but he was grateful for the Easter gift of that time with them; and he managed to stay happy as he and Gwendolyn got back to the supply shopping once they'd shared a long round of goodbye hugs and kisses with his nieces. They shopped until shortly before noon; had a quick lunch at the Three Broomsticks; and then headed back to the castle in time to set up for the Harpies' match against the Falcons.**

 **Brandon and Seth invited some friends since they didn't have any of their younger game watchers around and had the room, so that made for some bonus entertainment; and gave Al, Rose, and Susannah a chance to get to know some of Brandon's and Seth's friends a bit better too – even though they had gone to school with the older teens for nearly five years now. Al and Gwendolyn still sat on the same sofa with Rose and Brandon, but the conversations going on around them were intertwined; and they had fun talking about everything from Quidditch and their trip to town to home and what they were each missing out on while staying at school.**

" **I'd hope for another marathon match today, but that never ends well for the Harpies against the Falcons – even when they win," Brandon told Rose; though he was moving a conversation along that included a half-dozen of the teens around them – including Al and Gwendolyn. "If we were home; Mum would be talking about coming out of retirement and having a go of it with Aunt Gwenog against the Nott brothers."**

" **She's still pretty good," Seth offered; "but I don't think she's good-enough to keep up with the other Beaters in the show anymore."**

" **She still manages to out-play us now and then," Brandon countered; and Seth shrugged.**

" **She knows some tricks that we don't yet, but in case you haven't noticed; she can't play her best for very long anymore."**

" **Neither can my Mum," Gwendolyn advised them seriously. "I don't know whether she could get into game shape again with some serious training. She might be able to do that, but I doubt she will; since it really is tough for Witches to play Beater and be great at it. She'd never try a comeback unless she was sure she could help our team win."**

" **Maybe she'll change her mind about that if Rose gets Al's Mum to play for the Cannons," Brandon suggested; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **Unless she can win a championship with the Cannons; I don't think that Mum will be impressed. Don't tell me that you're starting to believe in Rose's impossible dream too!"**

" **Danger!" Seth warned; and Brandon laughed – along with most of the teens around them.**

" **I think that Rose's dream is brilliant – if impossible," Brandon answered; earning more laughs. "That doesn't mean that I don't think that the Cannons would have a much better team – even with just the three players she seems to have convinced to go along with her plan to turn her favorite team around."**

" **We didn't get to play against Al and Rose last season," Mark Goldstein interjected, "but they played great in the two matches they did play in; so you could be right about them being better than what the Cannons have now." He smiled at Al. "Do you think your Mum can still be good-enough to play in the show?"**

" **She trained last summer with James and Lily – since she was unemployed anyway," Al advised him. "Yeah, I think she's still one of the best Seekers ever. Nobody even seems to ask those sorts of questions about players like Viktor Krum; and he's older than my Mum."**

" **He's also kept playing all of these years," Seth pointed out.**

" **True," Al agreed, "but that might only mean that he's getting worn out by comparison to my Mum."**

" **You didn't say how well your Mum did against James and Lily,' Mark offered. "Was that to protect her reputation – or theirs?"**

" **James and Lily are both undefeated so far this season," he reminded Mark. "How well they did in practices doesn't count; but it does seem as though they both learned a lot from Mum – and from Dad; since he took a turn now and then too."**

" **That was a pretty good non-answer," Brandon told him. "I'm going to guess that he's protecting the siblings' reputations on that one; since I doubt that his Mum would care. She's already won more awards than most Seekers could ever hope for – and she only played for seven seasons."**

" **Your Mum won some of those trophies with her," Al reminded him. "Mum's the first person to tell you that she couldn't have done nearly-so-well without everyone on the team doing their best too."**

" **The Harpies will need that kind of teamwork today to survive this match," Rose interjected; nodding toward the mirror. "We should all try to figure out ways to beat the Falcons – or at least those of us wanting to play in the show should do that."**

" **James made short work of them," Seth said seriously. "Gabrielle should just do what he did."**

" **James took advantage of Brand and the Nott brothers trying the exact same play they used in their last match against him here," Al advised him. "They ought to have known better than to think he'd just get his head bashed in again – especially now that he's doing a good job keeping his anger under control during his Quidditch matches."**

" **He's winning," Gwendolyn said with a shrug. "Let's see if that stays the case when he loses."**

" **He won't be able to do that this season if he wants to make the playoffs." That comment came from Lisa Cornfoot – one of the few teens in the room that didn't play Quidditch – and hadn't wanted to play despite having two talented older siblings.**

" **The Catapults might make the playoffs," Gwendolyn admitted, "but their last match of the regular season is against United, and if they do win that match; it'll be because United wants them to get in instead of one of the other teams trying to get that eighth spot."**

" **If James and Miya continue to be the only two players showing up for the matches; I'd want that match-up in the first or second rounds," Rose offered with a nod. "Their Keeper tried in their last match, but they still got out-scored two-to-one. That won't cut it in the playoffs – especially if they're up against the number one team in the first round."**

" **Who would Al cheer for if the Harpies end up playing against the Catapults in the playoffs?" Seth asked.**

" **I'd wish James the best; hope for the worst for him and his team; and cheer for the Harpies," Al answered; and then shrugged. "I don't really like the Catapults. What they're doing this season might be great for James; but I think that the way they're treating the rest of their players is rotten."**

" **I like the way United handled things with their team," Brandon told him. "We might never know whether all of their old players were ready to step aside, but if they have any problems with playing on the reserve squad; you never hear about it."**

" **They have treated their players a lot better, and I doubt that they pushed anyone out; but Al's made a point before that they might be making a mistake by having the old players stick around," Gwendolyn said with a smile and nod for Al. "We'll have to watch them and see, but he could be right; and the new team could just end up being a younger copy of the old team."**

" **Would that be a bad thing?" Susannah asked. "They've been as successful as the Harpies over the past couple of decades."**

" **They've done well since Belinda took over from her Dad too," Al answered, "but I think they'll need to develop their own style to stay successful – not to mention that my cousins – and Ray's – have different strengths and weaknesses than the players they replaced. What worked for the old team might not work for them."**

" **I don't see that," Brandon admitted. "They'll be one of the top three teams this season, and haven't had any bad losses; so they should just keep getting better with a bit of experience."**

 **Al shrugged. "I don't want to bore the rest of you with statistics, but there are issues."**

" **Then don't go there," Seth told him. "We definitely don't need to talk Arithmancy while watching this match."**

 **Most of the teens in the room might not want to talk about it, but Al spent a lot of time thinking about those little details while watching the Harpies and Falcons get into another Quidditch battle that was really tough to watch as the Falcons went all out trying to pound on the Harpies and knock each of the players out of the game. Part of that included looking for strengths and weaknesses in both teams that might be useful to know for the Cannons in a couple of years, but he also enjoyed trying to figure out game strategies and individual plays that were being tried out on both sides to gain advantage – whether that was to score goals; catch the snitch; or, for the Falcons, new ways to beat up on the Harpies.**

 **The Falcons were very successful for their primary goal of hurting the Harpies' players that they hated so much, but Victoire, Candice, and Hailey were able to score goals; and Vicky only gave up one goal. While all seven Witches on the Harpies' team took too many hits, Gabrielle kept that from getting really ugly by catching the snitch at the one hour and twenty-three minute mark of the match. Al knew that she did that on a new, designed play that had been meant to take advantage of Brand's ego; he totally bought Gabrielle's fake spiral out of control after he hit her with another cheap shot; and then she caught the snitch while he was too busy gloating to realize that he'd just lost the match – and his Seeker duel.**

 **Getting out of that match with the two-forty to ten victory didn't come without some pain for the Harpies, but then some of the teens watching the match with Al and Gwendolyn seemed to be in pain too – when most of them joined in on the study session that Al and Susannah pushed for instead of switching to the other match of the day. That wasn't as much fun as goofing off for the rest of the day would have been, but getting the work out of the way before dinner meant getting to have some alone time with Gwendolyn after dinner; so he was motivated to get the work done. They needed to do some of that work in one of the Potions dungeons and the greenhouses, so they weren't stuck in the classroom all afternoon; and Al and Gwendolyn timed the visit to the greenhouse so that they could also go for a walk outside before dinner too. Spending another evening together was a great way to wrap up the day, but even though they couldn't have a sofa sleepover together; they still managed to make the best of the time they did get to have – including having fun with a fair bit of moderately-hot snogging! Eventually, when it was time to be back in their Houses, Al walked Gwendolyn home; went on to his dorm room; and then played with his toy-making until he was ready to get some sleep.**

 **James was in a great mood as he escaped the game-watching 'meeting' at Ritchie Cootes' house; went back to his flat; and got ready for the dinner and party that he was attending at one of the Catapults' owners mansions. The morning Easter Adventure that he'd been required to attend to suck up to the team sponsors and keep the fans happy hadn't been a total bore, and he'd enjoyed the adoration of the little kids – as long as they didn't get too annoying or pushy; and the luncheon with those sponsors had worked out nicely thanks to a bit of fun with a hot, young executive assistant. The game-watching had been a bore, but while it was disappointing that the Harpies won; he'd been glad that he hadn't been stuck watching that match all day and night; so partying for the rest of the day was an option. When he was ready, he called Ollie; invited him to come over early; and then had drinks ready for them by the time his best mate arrived; since they had time to hang out together for a while before going on to the dinner-party.**

" **Welcome home," James told Ollie as he handed him the drink and they sat down on the sofas that faced each other with a long, low, glass-topped table between them. "I hope you're rested up and ready to party all night!"**

" **I am – though I should probably blast you for leaving me stuck at Hogwarts with the stench that is the Animorphloser while you've been out here having fun for the past couple of months!"**

 **James laughed. "Blast me; and you'll have no chance of playing in the Championship match in May – or our match on Wednesday afternoon."**

" **What!" Ollie exclaimed; and James grinned at him. "You're welcome – unless you're too busy to practice with us on Monday and Tuesday to get ready for that match against the Cannons."**

" **As if either of us need practice to beat those talentless gits!" Ollie scoffed dismissively. "I suppose we're supposed to keep this a secret?"**

" **Yeah, but you'll have fun with that when everyone finds out – and when you get back to Hogwarts."**

" **I wouldn't bother going back if I could get Mum to agree to lettting me quit now," Ollie groused. "She's delusional; and thinks that I'll go back in September. When you get our team to the championship; I plan on getting out of that castle of Animorphpotty horrors at about one second past-midnight on my birthday!"**

" **You should at least wait and see if the Catapults will offer you a bonus to come and play in that match," James suggested. "That's the only reason I stayed to play in that match against Hufflepuff – and it worked."**

" **I'd ask you about that; but you've already told me that you won't tell me about your deal with the team."**

" **You can't do that either," James reminded him. "I get that – even if it seems dumb. The other players won't get paid as much as we will – not to mention that I've likely sold more toys and the rest of their team gear and souvenirs than the rest of the team combined for the entire season. All of the players in the show know that the stars get paid more, but they might freak out if they knew the actual numbers."**

" **You don't want to share the wealth?" Ollie joked.**

" **We can't all be rich and famous," James countered. "I'm not charging you for the fire whiskey – that's enough sharing for me!"**

" **You likely got that bottle as a gift anyway," Ollie suggested; "but I'm all for being one of the rich and famous with you. I'm glad they want me to play next week too – though that match would be more fun if we'd get to pound on the loser and his pet weasel."**

" **Is she still hooked up with Brandon?" James asked; and Ollie nodded.**

" **Yeah; though Merlin only knows how he can stand to be anywhere near her. I get the urge to puke anytime she's closer than a hundred feet."**

" **Well, that'd make it tough to play against her if they do ever end up on the Cannons clown brigade."**

" **I'll just puke on her – and then score the goal," Ollie declared.**

" **Maybe you should've done that at tryouts last September," James suggested with a grin; and then he laughed. "Better yet, if we get to play United in the championship; you could try that against your sisters!"**

" **They have that effect on me too," Ollie agreed. "It probably isn't even against the rules."**

" **If you could do that without magical help," James agreed. "Using puking pastilles would be considered illegal use of magic."**

" **It might be worth the penalties," Ollie mused – "and they wouldn't be able to use magic to clean up."**

" **Unless they called a time-out," James agreed. "It isn't very likely we'd play United in the finals, since we need to win our last match of the season against them; and then we'd likely end up playing them again in the first or second round."**

" **You'll need to beat Alex early in both of those matches," Ollie predicted. "Even if the whole team shows up to play for a change; the rest of them are no match for United. It'll be all on you."**

" **I'm okay with that," James assured him. "After all of the crap we've put up with from your sisters and my cousins; I'm really going to enjoy destroying their hopes and dreams this season!"**

" **I just wish that I could be there to help you out with that!" Ollie declared fervently. "now, to more important matters – will there be any particularly-hot Witches I should be watching out for at this party?"**

 **Lily had been enjoying a great first day of the holidays! That had really started after getting to London on Friday. The shopping and play time with Jonah, their parents, Malorie, and the twins had been great; the take-out dinner at home had kept the fun going; and spending most of the night in the new game room – guest room that had included a brilliant sofa sleepover with Jonah and a fair bit of snogging had been awesone too! A special breakfast and play morning in London had gotten Saturday off to a great start; lunch and the Harpies' win had been brilliant – especially getting to share that with Malorie and the twins too; and then there'd been some more play time until Gwenog was done work; and it was time to say goodbye to Jonah while he went home with his parents for the rest of the day.**

 **Having her parents to herself after that was when she finally started to truly miss having Al there with her – even as it was great to temporarily be an only child too! She'd both loved and hated that during the two school years that Al had been at Hogwarts ahead of her, but it felt different this time – and that was entirely because this was going to be the first time that she didn't get to share the Easter holiday with him. Those mixed emotions must have been noticeable; since her mother brought up what she was thinking about so much as they settled in around the kitchen table to have dinner – another meal that Al hadn't helped to cook.**

" **You look a bit like Al did last September – or pretty much anytime he's apart from Gwendolyn for more than a few hours," Ginny teased. "Are you sure that you're not dating Jonah and just haven't noticed?"**

" **I'm sure," Lily answered with a wry smile. "This is about missing Al; not Jonah. Easter is just not going to be the same without him here."**

" **That's true," Ginny agreed, "and we miss him too; but we've been through this before. Having Al away from home isn't even the only first for this Easter. It's the first Easter where this isn't even James' home anymore."**

" **Do you think that the Easter bunny will still visit him?" Lily joked; and then sighed. "I should likely feel bad about how differently I feel about not having James here compared to how much I miss Al."**

" **James hasn't given you reason to feel differently about him than you do," Ginny offered gently. "We'll just have to settle for loving him and hoping that he'll come around eventually."**

" **It's no wonder you're getting sucked into Rose's impossible dream – you have some impossible dreams of your own!" Lily half-joked.**

" **Your perspective on our problems with James is different than mine – or your father's. Right now, we'd settle for James being happy while not hurting anyone else to get there."**

" **That would be nice; but I doubt he can be truly happy at all until he's ready to let go of the jealousy and hatred he's got for Al – and anyone else he decides has wronged him."**

" **Doing that isn't easy for any of us," Harry offered seriously. "You likely didn't want to take this chat somewhere this serious, though; so maybe we should talk about something a bit happier – like what we'll do tomorrow night to keep Jaimie and Lorie entertained while they're here for their sleepover."**

 **Harry's attempt to lighten the mood worked; they enjoyed that meal and the rest of the evening together; and wrapped up the first half of their Easter weekend with a quiet evening that included watching a Muggle movie and Lee's nightly show in the sitting room before they headed up to bed early-enough to get a good night of rest ahead of what was sure to be a very busy Easter Sunday!**

 **Al hadn't really thought about what Easter morning would be like for him at Hogwarts, and when he did wake to find a large Easter basket at the foot of his bed filled with treats and gifts; he was glad that he woke early – if only because it gave him a chance to put some of the gifts in his trunk and only leave out about the same number of treats and gifts as the other guys in his room had – still a few more than some; but no more than Ray and some of the other guys. He also added a few treats or gifts to the baskets that had been left for some of the guys – baskets that had obviously been put together by the Professors; and given to the boys who didn't get gifts sent to them from home.**

 **That bit of anonymous giving helped to get his day off to a happy start; he went to the Room of Requirements for his morning workout; and then he met up with Rose for their morning walk and talk. He had a gift for her too; they had fun talking about their plans for the day – which was to mostly have a play day with only the must-do work on the projects that needed daily maintenance. There were more gifts to share with Gwendolyn when she met up with them in the Great Hall; Al was happy to see that Brandon had an Easter gift for Rose too; and then they had fun with their Gryffindor friends while having that first meal of the day. The entertainment included some Easter wheezes, but while Al had considered doing another mass treat for everyone; he'd decided against the idea – and hadn't really had the time to work on what would have still been hundreds of little gifts despite having some good ideas for things that could be done at Easter that would have been just as much fun as his previous attempts at having some fun with all of his fellow students.**

 **Since they had a cool, damp start to the day, once they finished having breakfast; Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone in their study group decided to get the work out of the way first; so they did a round of stops at the greenhouses, a Potions' dungeon, and the library before wrapping up a last bit of work in their usual classroom. They went outside to play and hang out together after that until lunchtime; had that meal in the Great Hall; and then Al and Gwendolyn led an open scrimmage at the stadium that attracted enough players to have two matches. Rose, Brandon, Seth, Ray, and Pauline joined their team; they won the first scrimmage fairly-convincingly against the team that Peter put together; and then they sat back and watched the show that Louis, Myra, and their teams put on for all of the spectators that had come out to watch the fun.**

" **I am so glad that Pauline won't be going to play with Rose and Al on the Cannons," Peter joked as they relaxed in the stands and watched the second scrimmage already in progress – after they'd taken off their gear and moved up to get a better view.**

" **They won't have Gwendolyn either," Pauline pointed out. "Thank Merlin that she has her own dream for the Harpies!"**

" **Or at least has the sense to stay far away from the Cannons," Peter added with a nod and smile for Gwendolyn.**

" **I really need to write all of this down – so that I can remind the lot of you about these jokes and insults after we win our first championship with the Cannons," Rose told them.**

" **Maybe you should start a report for that in RevisionWizard," Al suggested. "Then you could just print off copies and send them out to everyone."**

" **That's an idea," Rose agreed half-seriously. "It'd likely mean using up cases of parchment; but it'd be worth it."**

" **You won't need to do that," Gwendolyn assured her with a grin. "If you do ever get that championship in another century or two; we'll have RevisionWizard all set up so you can just send that report to other mirrors – no printing to parchment required!"**

" **Maybe I'll make that a list – and start with putting that crack in the top-ten," Rose decided. "Keep it up; and everyone's mirrors will need memory charm upgrades just to have room for that report!"**

" **That'd be fun for all of us," Gwendolyn suggested. "In fact – send out that list every decade or so; and we can all be entertained by who makes that top-ten on your list while we're waiting around for that impossible dream of yours to happen!"**

" **Now you're just trying to get all ten spots on that first list," Brandon protested; and then nodded toward the Quidditch action going on above the pitch. "Instead of going on about the Cannons; let's talk about our bonus chance to watch some of Gryffindor's professional players. We do need to be ready to play them next month; so do any of you have suggestions for how to beat them?"**

" **File a protest?" Seth suggested. "Are professional players allowed to play Quidditch for amateur or school teams?"**

" **They were allowed to play in their match against Hufflepuff," Pauline offered – "and against Slytherin too for James."**

" **Maybe that's just because nobody asked about it," Seth countered.**

" **Or maybe Slytherin and Hufflepuff didn't want to risk playing against the Gryffindor players that might get picked for a new team if those guys weren't allowed to play," Pauline told him seriously; while grinning at Al.**

" **In Hufflepuff's case; they couldn't file a complaint anyway – not without risking losing Roman too if Mr. Peakes agreed with them," Peter added. "You might be thinking that getting the McClaggens out of the match would be good for you and Brandon, Seth, but don't forget that Gryffindor has a pretty good back-up Beater duo in Fred and Orlando. We do want what's best for our team in that match – even if Gwendolyn really would rather compete against Al and find out which of them is best this season."**

" **Don't you want to find that out about you and Rose?" Gwendolyn challenged; and Peter laughed.**

" **Actually – no," he admitted honestly. "I'm okay with waiting until Rose and Al are playing for the Cannons before going up against them in a real match."**

" **Maybe that's the real reason for why James quit school early," Brandon suggested; and he was grinning at Pauline. "He didn't want to risk losing another match against Pauline."**

" **Did he lose last year?" Pauline asked innocently. "He won our Seeker duel and was the hero of the match from everything I've heard about that day."**

" **From what I've heard lately, he won that match; and I'm pretty sure that Ollie was the top Chaser and scorer on the day too," Peter offered. "It's just a gross miscarriage of justice that our names are on the Quidditch Cup for last season!"**

" **I'd agree with that," Rose told him with a grin – "but the miscarriage of justice was self-inflicted; and wasn't because of anything you and the other Ravenclaw players did."**

" **Are you sure that you don't want that chance to play against Rose after that back-handed suggestion that she would've out-played you last season?" Seth asked Peter.**

" **No – and she did out-play me, mate. Have you forgotten that she was top Keeper last season?" He looked toward Louis and watched as he gave up a goal to Tory; though he didn't seem to be playing his best – and probably should have been able to make that save. "Some of us don't have a problem with admitting that we aren't the best Quidditch player in the history of the game – or even in our own school or House. I'd be very happy to be part of a great team and maybe win a championship or three."**

" **Haven't you already done that?" Al teased with a laugh; and it took a moment for that comment to register with everyone else; since they'd all been on the same league championship train of thought.**

" **Okay – that's funny; so let's add that I'd be okay with having a career in the show as good as what we've had here at Hogwarts."**

" **Let's try to get one more Quidditch Cup championship before you go off and try to do that in the show," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'm getting some new ideas for how to do that too; but maybe we should save that up for when we don't have so many Gryffindors – or future Cannons players – around us."**

" **You've seen something in this scrimmage?" Peter asked curiously; and Gwendolyn nodded and smiled.**

" **Yes, but I'm serious about waiting until our next practice – or sometime later when it's just us Ravenclaws around."**

 **She'd grinned at Al, and he knew that was, in-part, because he knew what she was thinking; and had seen the same things that she'd seen – opportunities with Louis and some of the other guys that she could help her team take advantage of and that hadn't been something they'd noticed in Gryffindor's first two matches. Their conversation moved on after only a couple of attempts to get Gwendolyn to talk anyway; and they watched the entire second scrimmage before moving on to enjoy the rest of their Easter Sunday afternoon. The special Easter dinner was really great, and after enjoying that meal; Al and Gwendolyn moved on to have a quiet evening in the Room of Requirements that included music, mirror chats with their families; and a fair bit of snogging before wrapping up their holiday weekend with a visit to the Owlery and their usual pre-curfew walk and good night hugs and kisses.**

 **Lily walked into the kitchen on Monday morning and smiled tiredly at her father as she carried Lorie over to him and then they both got in on a first good morning hug and kisses with Harry.**

" **Tough night?" he asked; and Lily laughed quietly.**

" **I'm wondering this morning why James isn't an only child – and let's not even talk about how Grandma survived raising seven kids without losing her mind!"**

" **You had a long day yesterday even before the babysitting," Harry reminded her. Easter morning here, a lunchtime Easter dinner with Jonah's family; and then our little Easter dinner here. Jaimie and Lorie were wound up too; which is why they were so fussy for you last night."**

" **They were good-enough," Lily countered – "they just didn't want to sleep much."**

" **My point is that you're not tired this morning just because of the twins," Harry continued. "We had days like that with you and your brothers – and you get used to it." He laughed then. "Think of last night as training for your future career with the Harpies – except without the bludgers."**

" **I suppose that finding a soother in the dark could be a bit like finding a snitch," Lily joked. "This was a long night, and I am tired, Dad, but I hope we can have sleepovers with Jaimie and Lorie a lot this summer – especially if we can give Malorie those breaks. How much sleep does she average a day? Four hours?"**

" **Probably closer to six now – and that's getting better," Harry answered. "Malorie's learned the art of napping when the twins do – at least some of the time. I'm sure that she'll be happy to let you and Al have the twins over for sleepovers this summer – and your mother and I have had them here for a night once every week or two. We're still working that sort of thing out with Malorie as we go along."**

" **Will you try to take them one at a time eventually too?" Lily asked; and Harry shrugged.**

" **We haven't tried that yet; and it might depend on what Jaimie and Lorie want. Some twins are just too close; while others like to have some time apart from their twin. I think that it'll be the first for them; but it's likely too early to tell that for sure."**

" **I hope that they will be close," Lily told him seriously, "but let's not go there; since that'll just get me thinking about Al and James – and not in a good way for James."**

" **Okay," Harry agreed. "You have your practice and study session this morning. I'll stay for that while your Mum takes the twins home, and we'll have lunch here for as many friends as you'll have staying for that; but we haven't really talked about any specific plans for this afternoon or evening. Are you going to be with us; or do you expect to set something up with some of your friends instead?"**

" **I was thinking about doing that tomorrow – and maybe even having a camping night if the weather will cooperate," Lily answered. "We'll have a gang here for studying and practice on Wednesday and then James' game in the afternoon; so that could work out for us."**

" **We don't have many tickets for that match, but I suppose Hugo's invited Alyssa; and Ron will have an extra couple tickets that Rose won't be using that he's likely let Hugo have as well."**

" **I don't know about the last part of that, but Hugo did invite Alyssa," Lily confirmed. "Jonah and I want to invite them for sure; but I don't know what we'd do with a gang of teens – especially when so many of our friends don't really spend time in the Muggle world the way we do."**

" **Your mother and I can go along if you need the magical support," Harry assured her, "but maybe you should just think about doing something that doesn't include Muggle entertainment in London – like a hike or some sightseeing or a trip to the seashore."**

" **It's a bit too early for swimming in the sea at Shell Cottage," Lily pointed out. "I suppose that a hike or sightseeing might be fun – if we were going someplace really good. Any suggestions?"**

 **Harry had several; and they talked about that – and then had Ginny and Jonah join in when they caught up with Lily and Lorie after getting Jaimie ready for the day too. They eventually sat down to have breakfast; enjoyed that last bit of play time for the day with the twins; and then they had to get busy again with some work before Ginny took the twins home; Jonah had to get to his own team practice; and Lily had to welcome her team mates and get ready for some Gryffindor Quidditch play time. There was work and studying to be done too, but they still had most of their Easter break from Hogwarts still ahead of them; and they were all looking forward to having a really great week together!**

 **Being at Hogwarts over the Easter weekend had been strainge for Al, but it really felt different to him on Monday morning when he got up and ready for the day – and didn't have a full-slate of classes on his schedule for the week. Instead, he did his workout in the Room of Requirements, had a morning walk and talk with Rose; enjoyed breakfast in the Great Hall; and then got started on finding out what it was like to spend a school week making up his own work and play schedule – or at least doing that with his friends. Gwendolyn still had Prefect duties and her team Quidditch practices to work into that schedule, but Peter booked the early-afternoon time slot for his team; and they were able to study all morning and after Gwendolyn's Quidditch workouts too. They even got into a routine; doing their Potions work first thing after breakfast; doing research in the library after that; and then moving on to their study classroom until lunchtime. Herbology was worked in after Gwendolyn's team practice, and since she couldn't work with Al while doing that – and Brandon was busy too; Al and Rose used that time to work on their Cannons plans, toys, or other semi-play entertainments.**

 **Even with the work they got done during the last four days ahead of the holiday; Al and Gwendolyn – and the rest of their friends – stayed busy every day. They had some time to play too, though; and that included taking about half of each evening off between dinner and curfew. On Monday evening, Al and Gwendolyn spent that time having a couples' pool party that was a great way to wind down from a long, busy day. On Tuesday, the play time included a Quidditch scrimmage for a morning break; and Al and Gwendolyn were on their own for the last half of the evening. That play time for two wasn't as great as the camping night that Lily hosted at home with Jonah and three other teen couples, but then that could be said about the rest of their day compared to the play day that their younger siblings and friends got to have while they were busy getting ready for their all-important OWL exams.**

 **The gossip network at the school was busy with stories related to James and the Catapults thanks to their afternoon match against the Cannons; and Rose and Al had to put up with a lot of bad jokes and insults about James' certain-victory over their future team – as if a win for James today was somehow a personal defeat for them. While they had to put up with that at breakfast and dinner; Al and Rose kept busy with their studies all morning and avoided most of their usual haters; and then set up their classroom for the game-watching that they planned on mixing in with studying and breaks to go for swims in the portable pool that they also decided to set up. Gwendolyn still had her team practice, so she wasn't there for the pre-game show; and didn't hear about the big news of the day until later. Al, Rose, and everyone else in the classroom with them did hear it, though; and the news that Ollie was playing in his second match with the Catapults was big news for them too.**

" **You actually look surprised," Rose told Al. They were sitting at a worktable; and wanted to get their work finished so that they could, hopefully, have extra cuddle time with their respective boyfriend and girlfriend once they were finished playing with their Ravenclaw friends.**

" **That happens now and then," Al assured her and then grinned before adding – "though that usually happens a bit sooner than for everyone else."**

" **Do you think it's a good idea?" she persisted.**

" **That depends on your perspective," he answered seriously. "I'd say it's a bad idea for Ollie, but then I'm biased; and don't think he's ready to play in the show at all."**

" **Some of us don't think he's ready to play Hogwarts Quidditch,' Ray interjected. "That said; the Cannons are probably the best team for him to go up against. Even he won't look too horrid by comparison."**

" **You're giving him more credit than Al is," Rose advised him. "Assuming the Catapults' third Chaser doesn't pitch in to help, and if Ollie plays the way he normally does; he could easily end up as fifth-best Chaser in this match – and that wouldn't look good for him."**

 **Ray shrugged. "He'd just blame everyone else; and would likely get away with it – unless James doesn't win the day for the Catapults. If that happens; then I'm sure that James would have no trouble throwing Ollie under the Knight Bus – along with the rest of the team."**

" **Maybe, but this does suggest that the Catapults are seriously considering hiring Ollie," Susannah suggested; getting attention for actually jumping in on a Quidditch conversation. "I don't know nearly as much as the rest of you do about Quidditch; but I honestly don't get that at all – unless all the Catapults care about is the last names. If you just look at this year's graduating class for Quidditch players, and wanted to build a championship team; would you pick James and Ollie – or Peter and Pauline? We know they send their scout to our school matches; yet that guy must be clueless – especially if they based offering a job to James on last season."**

" **He worked for them the last two summers," Al reminded her. "From what Mum and Dad were told; James' job offer had a lot to do with the fact that he was able to beat their old Seeker in every scrimmage from the start of training camp last year – and he was doing that on his Firestorm 250 before they got him the new broom. As for Ollie; I don't see what they do – unless that is all about the last name. Getting Oliver Wood's only son on their team could be worth a lot to them – and Ollie could be a really good player if he'd stop trying to be something he isn't."**

" **Well, James has managed to turn his fortune around," Rose offered. "Maybe Ollie will be able to do that with the Catapults too."**

 **Al didn't foresee that, but they all did watch the start of the match with interest to see what the Catapults would try to get Ollie to do. The early-answer for that seemed to be nothing at all. Miya won the opening race for the quaffle; passed it to Ollie; and he tried to go in on the Cannons' Keeper on his own despite the fact that Miya got open and he could have passed to her for at least a chance to set up a better scoring play. He didn't do that; didn't get to the goal; and basically coughed up the quaffle – though he tried to make it look as though he took a shot that just got blocked. That opening play didn't quite set the tone for the match, but it was a hint of things to come – at least for the Catapults.**

 **Cannons' Quidditch was not the standard to which all other teams and players aspired; which was why it was so strange to watch a match in which the Cannons' players looked so good by comparison to everyone except James and Miya – and James only looked good because Santini was the one quality player on the Cannons' team; and he was as motivated to win his Seeker duel against James as he had been in their first match-up. Miya looked awesome by comparison because nearly-everything she accomplished was done without any help from her fellow Chasers or her Beaters. Ollie was included in that because while he was happy to take passes from her; he didn't try to help her out at all – and usually just got in her way except for when she intentionally used him to mess up the Cannons' defense.**

 **Unfortunately for anyone watching the match that actually knew a lot about Quidditch; it wasn't a quality display of the sport that they were treated to by the two teams. Sure, there was a lot of scoring and it would have looked exciting to the novice fan – or even fans that just liked to see a lot of goals being scored; but the goals really just emphasized the low level of talent among all of the Chasers and Keepers except for Miya – since she had to make extraordinary plays to score any goals at all. In the first hour, the Cannons scored eight goals; Miya scored three; and Ollie earned one easy goal on a brilliant play and pass from Miya. Al, Rose, and most of their friends studied through all of that and well-into the second hour before their Ravenclaw senior team friends joined them; and then they took a break to sit on the sofas and watch the rest of the match.**

 **By the end of the second hour, the Cannons had increased their lead to one-seventy to eighty; and Miya had all four of the second-hour goals while Ollie hadn't managed to earn a second goal yet despite getting some great chances to do that – again with a lot of brilliant help from Miya. Al didn't know if James was starting to panic as the third hour rolled along and the Cannons closed in quickly on the one-sixty lead, but he suspected that had been true; since James' catch of the snitch came on a rather spectacular-looking, high-risk play. There had been just two minutes left in the third hour, and the Cannons were just one goal away from the one-fifty lead after earning the two-sixty to one-twenty advantage on the most-recent goal. James caught sight of the snitch; went all-out to try and beat Santini to it – and keep him from blocking it too; and did that by taking a dangerous, steep angle of attack that would've ended in a crash had he messed up the play. To James' credit; he got the dangerous play right; it looked spectacular; and it gave the Catapults the huge, come-from-behind win by ten points – keeping their playoff hopes alive – even if the match hadn't offered any other reason to believe that they'd be able to beat a team like Puddlemere United in their final match of the regular season.**

" **Boo!" Rose called out; earning a round of laughs.**

" **You can at least get away with that; since your team lost," Gwendolyn told her. "The rest of us are supposed to cheer for James and Ollie."**

" **Do we have to?" Brandon pretended to whine. "They're Gryffindor; and we still have to play a match in May against Ollie."**

" **Good point," Gwendolyn conceded. "We can boo them too; and leave it up to the Gryffindors to pretend to cheer for them."**

" **Most of our fellow Gryffindor won't need to pretend," Al advised her. "Now we wait a week and a half to find out what United will do."**

" **You don't think that it'll be up to James?" Rose asked; and Al shrugged.**

" **Do i think that he could beat Alex? Yes, but if he does that before United has a one-sixty lead; it'll be because the United Managers either mess up or decide that they want to help the Catapults into the playoffs."**

" **We've hashed that one out before," Gwendolyn told him. "We know that United would need that win to have a shot at first place over the Harpies and Prides. Working that out along with trying to determine which teams will get the last two spots seems to be a bit too much to control on the final day of the season."**

" **That's likely true," Al agreed. "The question they'll have to answer a week from Saturday is whether they'll try anyway."**

 **While they could speculate about that, they'd all have to wait until the final day of the regular season to find out that answer, and with the Catapults' match over and done with; Al was more-interested in having some girlfriend-in-a-swimsuit time; and didn't have a problem convincing Gwendolyn to go for a swim instead of watching the post-game show. That didn't keep them from hearing the best – or worst – moments from those interviews; and James' take on the match was fairly-awful; or at least Al thought so. He enthusiastically claimed that he'd been toying with Santini all afternoon; had waited until the Cannons believed they were on the brink of victory; and then he put on the big show at the end just in time to crush their pathetic, ridiculous hopes that they could actually win a match against his Catapults' team.**

 **Ollie's claim that he'd been in on that plan all along and that he'd been toying with the Cannons too was flat-out ridiculous, but that didn't stop him from bragging about how great he was – despite the fact that he was fifth-best Chaser on the day. Their pre-game predictions for how he'd handle explaining a badly-played match hadn't quite hit the mark, but then he had come up with something better; and he was very happy to help James out with making fun of the Cannons – including referring to them as the Cannons' clown brigade. James' apology to his Uncle Ron had been wheezes-worthy, but while Rose was sure that her father would be entertained by that; she hadn't been amused. Al was sure that she'd feel that way about every match James played against her team from now on, but that would also give her a lot of new motivation for when they were playing for the Cannons; and he promised himself that he'd help his cousin out with having some happy days at the Catapults' expense – purely for altruistic reasons only, of course!**

 **Taking the afternoon off for her practice and the Quidditch match and swim time meant that Gwendolyn and her Ravenclaw team mates all had work to do after dinner, but Al stayed with Gwendolyn for that; they just cut back on the play time before curfew; and Gwendolyn did some work on her own after she was done with her Prefect duties for the day. The final two days of the school week were filled with more studying; Quidditch practices or scrimmages; some outdoor play time; and a mirror network show-watching evening on Friday that included some mirror gaming for the guys that needed something more-exciting to do for a while before getting around to the couples' cuddle time and Witches' choice shows. Al and Gwendolyn hosted that bit of fun, and took care of the clean-up before curfew, but they were also back in their dorm rooms on-time; went to bed early; and wanted to get a good night of rest ahead of their second chance of the holidays for a visit to Hogsmeade.**

 **Lily was fired up as she got up and ready for the day on Saturday – and that was entirely because she was going to be getting together with Jonah shortly after breakfast and they'd be spending the day together after being apart for Thursday and Friday. They were going to spend the morning doing their back-to-school shopping; have a play afternoon with their parents, some family, and friends; and then they were going to spend the evening with Malorie and the twins before heading back to Hogwarts again on Sunday. By the time she reached the kitchen, Harry and Ginny were both there; breakfast was nearly-ready; and food was already getting set out on the table while she did the first round of good morning hugs and kisses with them.**

" **Keep looking like that every time you're apart from Jonah for a day or two; and you'll have to give in and make him your boyfriend," Ginny teased as Lily moved from hugging her to hug Harry next.**

" **If Al and Gwendolyn had been home; we wouldn't have had that problem," Lily suggested. "That won't be a problem this summer or at Christmas; so let's take a look at that again in another year."**

" **Okay, but even your Uncle Ron didn't..." Harry began; and then laughed. "Okay, I guess it did take him seven years before he dated Hermione; so that comparison just doesn't work – yet."**

" **That's a comparison you wouldn't want to make and have me start dating anyone right now," Lily pointed out; and then it was her turn to laugh.**

" **You just worked out that your aunt and uncle dated for four years," Ginny stated; and laughed too. "I can't tell from your expression whether you're thinking about getting married right out of Hogwarts like your grandmother and mother did; or whether you don't want to do that and enjoy the single life for a while first – the way pretty much all of your uncles did before settling down and having their families."**

" **That's because I don't know," Lily admitted with a smile and shrug. "Do you think that Jonah loves me enough to wait around until we're thirty or forty to start dating?"**

 **Ginny grinned too. "that depends on whether you're talking about him waiting to date you or start dating in general. Ron and Hermione – and my brothers – all dated other Witches or Wizards before falling in love and getting around to the bonded for life thing."**

" **Do you really not know what you want, Lily?" Harry asked her seriously; though he was smiling too. "You are a lot like your mother, and while I was a clueless idiot when I was your age; she knew what she wanted for her own future – even if there was more than a little doubt about whether we'd survive and have a chance to make our dreams come true."**

" **Not to mention whether your father ever would get a clue," Ginny added with a nod and laugh.**

" **I just don't want Lily to miss out on everything we did if this is only about Al and Gwendolyn being together too."**

" **Would you still be wondering about that if I told you that I'm worried about being more like James than Al; and that's why I'm not in any hurry to start dating?"**

" **If that was true; it'd be a legitimate reason for being careful," Harry agreed, "but then you're also talking about something that doesn't necessarily require dating – as your brother has demonstrated a bit too-often for our liking."**

" **Meaning that he's done that more-often than never," Ginny interjected. "This is getting weird for at least one of us, though; and not just because Harry might be the only father in the history of the Wizarding World to have any issues at all with his daughter not having a boyfriend when she's fourteen going on fifteen!"**

 **Harry laughed. "That's weird to you, but sofa sleepovers with a Wizard who isn't Lily's boyfriend is perfectly-normal?" he asked in amusement. "How things have changed since the first time we fell asleep on the sofa at the Burrow for the first time and were worried about getting blasted by your Mum."**

" **We're grandparents and barely forty," Ginny reminded him. "Maybe she had valid reasons for her rules."**

" **Rules didn't make any difference – and James was at Hogwarts at the time," Lily pointed out. "This conversation is getting a bit weird for me now too, and since I don't have any intention of giving you any additional grandchildren anytime soon whether I start dating today or when I'm thirty; we really don't need to go there. We can talk about more-interesting things – like whether there might be any end-of-holidays sales on at the stores in Diagon Alley."**

 **Harry and Ginny were happy for the change in subject; they enjoyed their meal; and then cleaned up and headed for London so that they could meet Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah there before getting started on that supply shopping adventure.**

" **I love you!" Al told Malorie once he was back in human form again; and he laughed when Gwendolyn slapped his arm even as he continued to step forward and hug Malorie before taking custody of Jaimie while Gwendolyn already had Lorie by then.**

" **In a sister or cousin sort of way," Malorie added; as if by rote now; and both Witches laughed too.**

" **Yes, but I'll need to figure out a way to thank you for coming to visit with us again two weeks in a row like this. It makes missing out on being at home so much easier!"**

" **I'm sure you'll be able to do that this summer when you help me out with some babysitting and sleepovers with your nieces,' Malorie suggested. "Lily will like the help too; since the girls wore her out after their first overnight stay with their aunt."**

" **We heard about that," Gwendolyn said with a nod and smile. "I doubt that Al will have that problem. He'd be happy to sit up and play with them all night if needed."**

" **I would," Al agreed, "but I can't do any self-healing outside of Hogwarts until I'm seventeen; so I'd have to pretend that I wasn't tired out."**

" **That's not entirely-true," Malorie pointed out. "You can self-heal faster than most of us without your wand – and you have done some emergency healing and other magic outside of school too."**

" **Not to mention the exceptions for our toy-making," Gwendolyn added. "How long can you stay today? Do you want to go into the Three Broomsticks; or do something else?"**

 **Malorie shrugged. "We're not in any major hurry today. I want to tire them out this morning; get them to have a nap after lunch; and then we'll be going out for dinner and spending the evening with your parents, sister, and brother so that Lily can spend time with the twins before heading back to Hogwarts tomorrow. Speaking of Lily; we're probably going to try and make it three weeks in a row for our visits; since we may come to the school with your parents to see Lily's and Jonah's last junior team match. That'll be a long day for the twins with a Harpies or Catapults match to go to too; but we're going to give it a try unless they're having a bad day – or the weather is lousy."**

" **Maybe you should definitely bring them if they're having a bad day – and leave them until we're done exams," Gwendolyn teased. "Would you like to spend a month at school with your uncle and aunts, Lorie?"**

" **Sorry, but you'll have to wait until summer – and I might think about getting two nights off in a row; but I'd never be able to be apart from them for weeks or months!"**

" **Then I hope we can all do some traveling this summer and get to see our National team play some amazing Quidditch matches," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "That'd be even better if those matches are in some places around the world that we haven't visited before."**

" **Which would be everywhere except our own country for me," Malorie advised her. "That is something that Grandma and Grandpa have talked about with us; but we haven't made any plans because the schedules for the Quidditch World Cup aren't out yet anyway."**

" **Most of the teams will be announced next week," Al told her. "The picks for England, Scotland, and Ireland will be done on Monday. All of the venues for the matches are known – we just don't know the team match-ups for the first round yet; and the matches after that depend on which team wins each of those games."**

" **Your parents are sure that at least one of your cousins will get a spot with England; and they do want to go and see as many of the matches as they can,' Malorie said with a nod for Al's comments. "I'll take my vacation time when I can do that; but will have to keep working the rest of the summer."**

" **Maybe we'll make some of those matches part of your job," Al suggested; and Malorie laughed.**

" **How exactly would you justify that?" she asked skeptically; and Al grinned at her. "The next Europe Cup is in twenty-twenty-five," he answered. "We could make getting an invitation to that for the Cannons part of our plans for the team; and then you'd have reason to research international Quidditch competitions to find out everything teams need to do to participate in those tournaments."**

" **Rose's impossible dream of a league championship with the Cannons isn't enough for you?" Gwendolyn asked in amusement. "Now you want to win the Europe Cup with them too?"**

" **I'd love to do that – and get our entire team picked for the next Quidditch World Cup too," Al admitted seriously. "We should probably try to get that done before Lily graduates; and it'll be the two of you doing stuff like that with the Harpies instead."**

" **What makes you think that we wouldn't want to do that in twenty-twenty-six?" Gwendolyn challenged. "Lily has her own new plans for the Harpies thanks to James; and she might get noticed by the selection committe for that team."**

" **Do you think James has a chance for this year?" Malorie asked. "He's certainly made an impression this season."**

" **He has – and does," Al assured her; and then turned his attention to Jaimie. "What do you think, sweetie? Should they pick your Daddy to be our National team Seeker this year? That might be a bit scary for me; but it'd be brilliant for you and Lorie."**

" **As brilliant as it is for both of you to have Quidditch World Cup champions for your mothers," Malorie agreed.**

" **One of those Witches is their grandmother," Gwendolyn reminded her. "That's already an awesome claim to fame for them."**

" **Is that a prediction for the future?" Al interjected and teased. "Rose will be happy to hear that."**

" **I am," Rose agreed; smiling brightly; and knowing that Al had said that because he'd sensed that she was there with Brandon, Seth, Susannah, and a few other friends. "Do we have extra shopping buddies today?"**

" **We do," Al agreed; and handed Jaimie to her. "We can get to that now that you've caught up with us. Do you want to start with the fun shopping?"**

" **I'd rather do the fun shopping and leave the boring supply shopping to you," Rose answered seriously. "You could take one twin, since they're the same size; so we don't need both of them with us to shop for clothes."**

 **That half-joke eventually led to them actually doing that; and Al was sent off with Lorie while the girls all went to have fun for a while. Brandon and Seth chose to do their own thing; but Ray and Michael agreed to go with Al despite the serious danger to their reputations to be hanging around with Al and Lorie. They started with the Apothecary stop, and while Al did get razzed and insulted by some of the other guys; the Witches all thought that Lorie was adorable; and they soon found out that the shop owners all felt the same way – and Lorie scored a lot of free treats from them – though Al more than made up for those little tokens with his own purchases. Ray was impressed by all of that – and didn't mind helping Lorie out with the treats that she was still too-young to digest properly.**

" **I don't want to get one of my own anytime soon; but you have to admit that there are some benefits to having her along with us," Ray admitted to Al. "You could have had a half-dozen dates too – if you were single."**

" **Don't tell James that; or he might reconsider and take responsibility for his daughters," Al joked; and then smiled ruefully. "Did I say that out loud?"**

" **You did," Michael confirmed. "Those weren't the sort of Witches he'd be interested in – other than that most of them were very pretty."**

" **You're likely right about that," Ray conceded; "but we don't want to get ourselves into trouble by taking that line of thought any further either. Those girls did remind me that my girlfriend will be back at Hogwarts tomorrow night; and I should probably look for an 'I missed you like crazy' gift."**

" **That's a great idea," Al assured him. "Maybe you could put together some kind of crazy mix of treats or something else along that crazy theme."**

 **Nuts about you and nuts without you?" Michael offered. "That might work if she likes nuts."**

" **Well, she is dating Ray," Al teased. "I like that idea too."**

 **They had fun with that; got help from the girls to eventually put that together; and spent about half of the morning with all of them together before eventually going to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Malorie stayed to do that with them too; and then took Jaimie and Lorie home for their nap while Al and Gwendolyn headed back to Hogwarts with their friends. Their holiday revision wasn't quite done, but the only job they had left was the practical part of their Herbology assignment; and their main, major plant project would continue after they were back to classes again – though they only needed to continue to care for them as they moved on to the next steps in learning to grow and handle the more-dangerous plants.**

 **Since they were outside anyway, they took care of their plants before heading into the castle; they split up to deal with their supplies; and then they got together again and went outside for a Quidditch scrimmage. That kept them entertained for an hour and a half; Al and Gwendolyn followed that up with some quiet time in the Room of Requirements that included some toy making; and then they spent the last night of the holidays before all of the students would be back again on their own too. Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride after dinner; they walked by the lake in human form too; and then they returned to the Room of Requirements for some music fun and a fair bit of absolutely-brilliant snogging!**

 **James scooped a slice of pizza out of the box he'd put on the coffee table between himself and Ollie; sat back onto the sofa; and took a large bite.**

" **All of those fancy meals we get to have at those parties that the owners and their friends take turns having are great; but I love all of the fast food I can get around here," he told Ollie after swallowing and before taking the next bite.**

" **I prefer the pizza to most of that fancy food they feed us – especially when they have those tiny little portions. They're the perfect size for Witches that we want to look good in those little black dresses; but I need real food – especially after playing Quidditch for hours or training all day."**

" **Well, you haven't trained today; but can hope that you'll get the chance for a little exercise later tonight at this next party," James suggested with a meaningful leer. "You really need to work on that part of your game, mate. Most of those Witches that you should want to hook up with aren't looking for a boyfriend or husband – they already have one or more of those. They just want to have a bit of fun and that's the end of it."**

" **I've had some of that kind of fun," Ollie insisted; and James snorted.**

" **You'd have a lot more fun if you'd just let them have their way with you and then move on to the next Witch," he retorted. "You get way too attached to any Witch you take a fancy too – and that's a total turn-off for the Witches I have the most fun with."**

" **Easy for you to say," Ollie said dismissively. "You won't be going back to that castle of Animorphloser horrors for another month."**

" **The Catapults did promise to bring you back for the championship match once you're seventeen and can quit without your parents' approval. Rest up; 'cause we're going to get lucky a lot once we're league champions!"**

 **Ollie laughed. "Then you'd best hope that you don't get named to the National team or you'll be too tired to play Quidditch all summer too."**

 **James grinned at him. "I'd have no problem with keeping up with both – and I'd have a brilliant time with so many more Witches to choose from while doing that. I'm not getting my hopes up; since the loser will likely find a way to mess that up for me too – even though I'm the obvious choice to be our National team Seeker!"**

" **You are," Ollie agreed. "I ought to be on that team with you; but I'll wager that my sisters and your cousins have likely slept their way onto the team; so I'll have no chance."**

 **James grinned at him. "I don't know – we could ask and find out how many Witches are on that selection committee."**

 **Ollie snorted. "With my luck; they'd be hag-of-the-month ugly. There's always the next Quidditch World Cup in twenty-six, and by then; everyone will know I'm the best Chaser in the world!"**

" **I suppose that's a worthy goal – if you haven't got what it takes to be the best Seeker instead," James razzed; and Ollie offered a rude hand gesture – his favorite from among the non-verbal Muggle insults that James had taught him over the year.**

" **Keep that sort of thing up; and maybe Louis, Tiberius, Brock, and I will take jobs with another team – and then you can try to keep winning every season with that lot of losers you've got right now."**

" **I've managed to do that so far," James reminded him dismissively. "It'll be more fun with all of you on the team too; but I could do it with any six players – no matter how bad."**

" **Then why not go play for the Cannons?" Ollie shot back. "They've already got the worst record in the league – for the last century and more; so they'd be the perfect team for that."**

" **It's way more fun to humiliate them instead – and what we did in this last match is nothing compared to what we'll do to them if the loser and his pet weasel actually manage to get jobs with the Cannons. When we play them; I'm going to keep those matches going for days and let the McClaggens put them both into their beds in St. Mungo's – but not until they've taken them apart a little bit at a time."**

" **Sounds good to me; and I'll be happy to run it up on them while they do that and you fly around and wait to catch the snitch!"**

" **I like it," James agreed. "Let's find out what the record is for most points scored against a team in a single match – and do that to them just to rub it in!"**

" **Maybe that's what we should've done on Wednesday," Ollie half-groused.**

" **You wouldn't have been able to do that with Miya and that other moron playing with you," James said seriously. "When you do start full-time in the summer, Miya better get with the new program; or she'll be looking for a new team to play for no matter how much the managers and owners love her."**

" **She's nearly as bad a quaffle-hog as the loser," Ollie declared. "Maybe she's hooked up with that old fart that Louis will be replacing; since he was making passes at her all week and almost never tried to get the quaffle to me during that match."**

" **He's only interested in one last chance at a championship before he's put out to pasture," James retorted dismissively. "The other guys might actually get on the James Potter bandwagon for the rest of the season if they figure out that we're on our way to the top; but we'll see what happens – and then I'll win our matches one way or the other."**

" **Do that," Ollie told him. "The last thing I want to do is get stuck at Hogwarts for two more months. I need that championship match so that I can get out of that place the minute I'm seventeen!"**

" **You could quit either way," James pointed out – "though I'd stay for that match against Ravenclaw and go for the grand exit with a stadium full of witnesses!"**

" **That's an idea," Ollie mused with a nod; and then shook his head. "I'd rather win a league championship; so let's stick with plan 'A' and do that instead." He grinned then. "Besides, whizz-bangs in the middle of the night will be impressive too – and I'd have the bonus of my howler waking up half the school!"**

" **Whatever works for you," James told him with a shrug. "Just don't forget to personally say goodbye to your favorite Witches – if you know what I mean. That was definitely the best part of my last week at Hogwarts."**

" **You mean that it wasn't winning that match against Hufflepuff with your best mate?"**

 **James laughed. "Winning that league match with my best mate wasn't even the best part of that day for me," he advised Ollie. "That Witch I brought home with me from the victory party was all that and then some!"**

" **I noticed that earlier in the night," Ollie claimed with a leer. "For some reason, she didn't want to come home with me with my parents and sister home too; so she settled for you instead!"**

" **You have a rich fantasy life," James countered with another laugh. "Try to make that real for you tonight – especially since you do have to go back to Hogwarts for another month and this'll be your last chance at some truly-hot Witches!"**

" **You would know; it would be clear; that magic brought you here," Lily and Jonah sang with a beautiful, soft harmony as she rocked Jaimie and Ginny did the same with Lorie. Both of the babies were sleeping; and Lily smiled happily at Jonah.**

" **That was easy," she whispered. "Congratulations to all of us for doing such a great job of tiring them out!"**

" **You did do that," Malorie agreed. "Now let's get them into their beds before they change their minds and decide that they want to wake up and play with you some more. They've done a pretty good job tiring some of us out too."**

 **Jonah stepped out of the way so that Lily, Ginny, and Malorie could take care of getting the twins tucked into their crib – though he kissed each of them goodnight first. With all of the goodnight kisses from grandparents, mother, and aunt too; it was a wonder that the babies didn't wake again; but they each seemed content as they were tucked in and then everyone left their bedroom and moved into the sitting room again.**

" **We need to get Jonah home soon," Ginny told Malorie as they each sat down on sofas or chairs, "but before we get out of here; we should talk about what you need for work babysitting next week. You're likely ready for a day off from all of the family time tomorrow, but Harry and I will need some time with Jaimie and Lorie next week while we're getting used to having no kids in the house again until near the end of June."**

 **Malorie laughed. "I could probably work a field trip into my schedule on Monday morning or afternoon if you need some baby time," she offered.**

" **Actually, you likely can't," Ginny disagreed. "Monday is going to be a big Quidditch news day with the announcements of the National teams selections – unless you'd like to go to that press conference. We're just going to watch it on the mirror network; so we could watch the girls if you wanted to go and do that. You wouldn't be able to get much work done at the Ministry of Magic or with any of the league officials tomorrow while they're busy with that; and even the staff and players for most teams will be more-interested in that news than they'll be with their training."**

" **I wasn't thinking that it would be a problem for my work," Malorie admitted; and then grinned. "Maybe we should get together and all watch that on the mirror network. Al did suggest that he and Rose might get me to go to some Quidditch World Cup matches for work this summer."**

" **He did?" Lily asked. "I love the idea; but why would that have anything to do with your job?"**

 **Malorie laughed. "He thinks that I should learn how teams deal with international competitions so that I'd be ready to organize that for the Cannons if they get invited to the next Europe Cup in twenty-twenty-five."**

" **If that gets you and the twins to more matches with us this summer; I'm okay with that – no matter how delusional that sounds. I'd even pick the Catapults to get that inext Europe Cup invitation over the Cannons – though they'd be far from my first choice for that honor."**

" **Aren't the Harpies always going to be your first choice for things like that?" Ginny asked.**

" **Yes, but I'd be happier to pick them if I could play on that team with them. I'll be seventeen; and could do it!"**

" **So could Gwendolyn," Jonah added. "I'd pick that team too."**

" **Even if you got offered the job to do that with the Cannons?" Malorie teased. "You are on Rose's short list for future Seekers – just in case Grandma Ginny doesn't take the job – or only wants to play with Al and Rose for a few years."**

 **Jonah smiled and shrugged. "I still haven't even decided whether I will try to play in the show, but even if I do; I'll still be a Harpies fan forever."**

" **That's fine with me," Lily assured him – "as long as you don't lose our Seeker duels on purpose when my team plays whichever team you sign on with when we get to the show."**

" **He wouldn't keep any Seeker job for long if he did that," Ginny assured them. "Getting back to what we were talking about, though; we can do that on Monday, Malorie – and Harry and I can come here so you don't need to pack the twins up to go anywhere. Do you have anything booked for the rest of the week that you'll need babysitting help for while you're busy?"**

 **They talked about that; Lily spent some time talking with Malorie about nothing particularly-important; and then it was time to say goodbye and for Harry and Ginny to get Jonah home. There was another visit at the McCormacks before they moved on and took Lily home; and then they gathered at the kitchen table to have a bedtime snack and back-to-school chat.**

" **Congratulations – we've managed to get through an entire holiday without any major drama moments at all!" Lily told her parents with a grin. "I'm sure that has nothing at all to do with the trouble-magnet being at Hogwarts instead – or James being out on his own now."**

" **We haven't heard about any trouble for Al at Hogwarts either," Ginny reminded her; and Lily shrugged.**

" **He does manage to stay out of trouble now and then, but until he manages to get through an entire school year without any major problems; he's still a bit dangerous to be around."**

" **Is that an attempt at getting hazard pay added to your allowance?" Harry teased.**

" **Would that work?" Lily asked hopefully in return after joining in for the laughs with her mother.**

" **No, but we did add in a bit extra with the money we'll send back with you," Ginny advised her. "You picked up the birthday gifts you wanted for everyone between now and the end of term, but you'll have Hogsmeade weekends; and might want to do something extra here and there – especially now that it's getting nicer out and those visits to town will be more fun than they are in the winter."**

" **We only have two Hogsmeade weekends left, but I'm sure that I can find something to spend that extra money on – even if it's just for a new outfit or two for me," Lily promised with a grin. "Will you start working on your plans for the summer holidays once the teams and schedules are announced next week? Al and I would like it if you could let us know what we'll be doing sooner instead of later this year."**

" **We can do that," Ginny agreed, "and probably should; since we'll need to talk with both of you – and Gwendolyn and Jonah – about what you'll want to do too – particularly when it comes to Quidditch training or summer jobs."**

" **That'll be easy for Gwendolyn and Jonah; since she'll likely be the next Ravenclaw team Captain; but I don't know what we'll be doing with that for Al and me – or Rose, Hugo, and the rest of our friends that will be old-enough for the senior team. You can bet that Ollie won't be recommending any of us for the Captain's job; and I doubt that Al would take the job again even if he did get offered it."**

" **Probably not," Harry agreed. "Your Mum and I would be happy to help you out with Seeker duels, and you'd be able to get six Chasers easily-enough, so if you can get Fred and Orlando too; you could have pretty good workouts – even if you don't have four Beaters. Al might not think that it's fair, but he and Rose are heading into sixth-year, so if you all get the chance to play next season; it's probably past-time for you to start training with the best players you can get and not worry so much about helping everyone else out too."**

" **You're right – Al won't like that," Lily joked. "I agree with you, though, and even Al would admit that he has more fun when he's competing against the best players."**

" **Especially when he's having Chaser duels with Gwendolyn," Ginny agreed. "Talk about that with your brother, cousins, and friends; and get back to us on that soon," she added. "Some of them are going to have work issues, and while we can make some trips home from the traveling we want to do; we can't just pop home whenever we want to do that from other countries."**

 **Lily grinned at her father. "Actually, we could; but I suppose that even Dad would get tired out if he had to pop back and forth to side-along apparate a bunch of us."**

" **I would," Harry agreed – "not to mention that you might not like the experience. There is a reason for why your Uncle Ron doesn't ever want to do that sort of thing with me ever again; and it can get a bit messy when someone gets sick."**

" **Okay, but you must want to be home for at least a couple of days most weeks this summer," Lily suggested. "None of us want to go weeks without seeing Malorie and the twins."**

" **We don't,' Ginny agreed, "but we're hoping to work that out so that they're with us for enough of the matches that we can get away for a couple weeks at a time and do some camping and sightseeing. I'd like to work out some time with Luna, Rolf, and the boys too if we can work that out with them. We've had a few visits with them since last summer; but you and Al don't get to see them very often."**

" **That would be great too," Lily agreed. "Lorcan and Lysander will be at Hogwarts with us starting in Al's NEWT-year; but I doubt we'll hang out together very much – especially if they don't get sorted to Gryffindor."**

" **We'll see," Ginny said with a smile and shrug. "I expect that you and Al will both make sure that they at least get a good start to their first year – and they may need the help too; since Hogwarts is likely going to be even more-strange to them than for most firsties compared to what they're used to while on their expeditions for most of every year."**

" **They'll be fine," Lily predicted. "Is there anything else you want to talk about with me for the rest of this school year? Al may have gotten through Easter without any teen drama; but we are heading into the danger zone – if the last four years are any indication."**

" **This will be the first one without James there to cause any trouble for Al, and most of his favorite Slytherin haters are still on probation; so let's hope that you'll get through these last two months without any major problems," Harry suggested; and Lily laughed.**

" **How many times will we say something along those lines before we just give up and concede that the trouble is inevitable with Al – sort of like it is with you?" she asked rhetorically.**

" **I've had some trouble-free years now and then," Harry protested.**

" **Have you really?" Lily asked half-seriously. "This year, your eldest son quit Hogwarts and basically disowned his family. We all got hit by the big scandal last year; but you ended up unemployed because of that. You've had problems with James too for each of the three years before that; and we haven't even gotten started on all of the work-related trouble you had either from the bad guys or from your own favorite haters within the MInistry of Magic, the press, or elsewhere. In fact, in which year of my entire life did you actually go twelve consecutive months without any trouble?"**

" **Or in his own lifetime so far," Ginny added; and she smiled at Harry. "Honestly, I'm having a tough time coming up with an example, honey. She might be right about that for you – and for Al too."**

" **You can both make fun of us for it; but Al and I are still going to keep on hoping for the best – and I definitely want his last two years at Hogwarts to be better than mine were."**

" **Do you think he means his OWl and sixth years?" Lily teased – "or the year he spent camping with Aunt Hermione instead of going to Hogwarts?"**

" **Either would apply well-enough," Harry assured her. "None of us that went through that want to see any of our kids or grandkids have to face those sorts of dangers – preferably ever."**

" **I don't want that either," Lily assured him, "but while I may not be the student that Al is, I have paid attention in History class; and know that we're already overdue for the next round of that kind of trouble – whether it's from Dark Wizards, Goblins, or other magical creatures."**

" **Maybe, but we can try to change too," Harry suggested. "I think that we need to change if we want to keep our magical world protected from Muggles. There are about two billion more Muggles now than there were at the end of the last war – not to mention millions more Wizards and Witches. Add in all of the Muggle technology; and another war with Dark Wizards might be impossible to hide from the Muggle World – and then Merlin only knows what might happen after that!"**

" **I've changed my mind," Lily declared. "Let's all hope for the best with Al – and you."**

" **That sort of thing would mess up your future brilliant career with the Harpies," Ginny offered; and Lily laughed.**

" **Yes, it would," she agreed. "I like a lot about the Muggle World; but they may never be ready to accept anything about our magical world – or at least most of them can't do that."**

" **There are still lots of countries around the world where they aren't even allowed to try," Harry reminded her. "There are some places where even the families of Muggleborn Witches and Wizards are Obliviated to hide the Wizards and Witches from the Muggles in their countries."**

" **We can wish that wasn't necessary," Ginny told him seriously, "but it is tougher to keep our magical world hidden; and the consequences to Witches and Wizards in those other countries are quite a bit more dire than they were back when all Muggles did was burn Witches at the stake and we could just apparate away while hidden by the flames."**

" **This is right up there with the strangest back-to-school chats we've had so far," Lily advised her parents. "How did we get from allowances and summer plans to burning Witches at the stake?"**

" **I have no idea," Ginny answered. "You'll be focused on Quidditch next week, but once you have that last match out of the way; you need to concentrate on your classes and getting ready for your exams. It will be tougher for you this year with the extra optionals; so you don't want to leave the exam studying to the last minute."**

" **Maybe we should go back to the non-academic scary stories," Lily joked. "I'll be fine with my exams, Mum – and don't plan on dropping any classes until sixth-year."**

" **Would you like to pre-negotiate those before Al gets his OWL results in August – and then keeps on with all of his classes?" Harry asked; and Lily laughed.**

" **Okay," she agreed. "I'll take five; and go with dropping Astronomy, Care of magical Creatures, Herbology, and History. I'll keep on with Arithmancy, Charms, DADA, Potions, and Transfiguration." She laughed again at the expression on her mother's face. "I don't want to take Astronomy and History because they're boring; and I don't want my Quidditch career cut short because I get eaten, poisoned, or seriously-injured or killed by any plants or magical creatures."**

" **Hogwarts has never actually lost any students in either of those classes," Ginny pointed out. "I don't like your plan for that at all – especially when I know you could do well even if you kept on with all nine classes you're taking this year."**

 **Lily shrugged and smiled ruefully. "Okay – we can fight about it when the time comes in a couple of years," she suggested. "Then I'll drop any classes I don't want once I turn seventeen that September and can do that – unless the Harpies make me an offer I can't refuse like the Catapults did with James."**

" **Now you're scaring the parents for sure," Harry advised her. "James didn't listen to us, but we hope that you'll keep in mind that Quidditch is a dangerous job; and even the best players get knocked out of the game and have short careers. Having your NEWTs makes a big difference when it comes to finding a second career after Quidditch." He grinned then. "Look at me – I'm still unemployed after losing the only gig I've had since leaving Hogwarts."**

" **You could always study for those exams and take them anytime you want," Lily reminded him. "There's no age limit on that testing."**

" **That's true," Harry admitted, "but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as playing with our kids and grandkids is right now; so I'll pick the having fun option."**

" **So I should take your advice while you ignore it?" Lily teased. "That sounds like something I can use against you when we do get around to making that deal for my sixth-year classes!"**

" **You might be right about that," Ginny agreed. "I should see about getting Hogwarts to accept Harry as a student again – and he could take his NEWT year with you – or maybe take his sixth-year over again too; if Professor McGonagall thinks that would help him with getting his NEWTs."**

" **Five classes and I promise not to quit school early to go play for the Harpies," Lily offered; and her parents both laughed.**

" **I'll think about it," Ginny answered.**

" **If this is what it was like with you and your Mum, Ginny, I really was oblivious back then to have never noticed."**

" **You were that; but it wasn't like this with Mum and me. I was the one that tried not to cause trouble for her when she had so many problems with some of my brothers."**

" **You were the Al in your family?" Lily asked; feigning shock. "I never knew that!"**

" **In a way, I was a bit like Al – when it came to how I acted at home most of the time. That wasn't exactly the same, since I would stand up to Fred, George, and Ron even when I was little; but I tried to stay out of trouble – at least compared to my brothers. I was likely somewhere between you and Al for what I was like at home."**

" **She was like you when it came to flying brooms and Quidditch," Harry added – "or so I've always been told." He looked down at his battered, cherished old watch. "We should get to bed soon. Why don't the two of you go have a bit of girl chat time; I'll clean up down here and check on the owls; and then we can call it a night."**

 **That's what they ended up doing; and it wasn't all that long before they were all in their beds and winding down from their last full day together for the Easter break. Sunday was going to be a travel or transition day for them before Harry and Ginny would be kid-free for another couple of months, but they all had a lot to look forward to too – whether that was school or league Quidditch matches; fun at school or home with family and friends, or whatever other adventures they were all sure to have through until the start of the summer holidays. All joking aside, they were also hopeful that they'd have an exciting, but trouble-free end to the school year too, and while the odds for that might truly be against them; it would be a welcome change compared to the previous rounds of end-of-school-year drama they'd dealt with in Al's first four years!**

 **They didn't have any answers to what would happen in the coming weeks and months, but they had enjoyed a brilliant holiday together; and could at least take all of that love and happiness with them so they'd be ready for anything that might happen either at home or at Hogwarts!**


	57. Quidditch Winners and Losers

**Chapter Fifty-Seven – Quidditch Winners and Losers**

 **Al, Gwendolyn, and their core study group friends didn't have much of anything to do on Sunday because they were done their holiday revision, but they spent the morning working anyway – even if that was just with magical play time that included practicing spells they'd need to have perfected for practical exams. There were lots of other students working hard all day, but most of those teens were using the last day to try and play catch-up after having a bit too much fun during the rest of the week. While the students on the Hogwarts Express were cooped up on the train all afternoon; Al and Gwendolyn led the way for a fun little Witches against Wizards Quidditch scrimmage; they played outdoors for most of the afternoon; and only split up in time for the Witches to go back to their dorm rooms and freshen up for dinner in the Great Hall – and their reunion with younger siblings and friends. Al met Gwendolyn for the walk to the Great Hall; but took a detour and went outside to wait for Lily and Jonah to arrive so that they could welcome them back before they'd all split up while having that meal.**

 **Lily was glad to be off of the train once they were in Hogsmeade, and excited about being back at Hogwarts – or nearly-there; but she was not happy; and she glared daggers at Ollie when she caught sight of him push his way to the front of the line and climb onto the next carriage. She was furious with him because he'd tried messing with her; she'd blasted him; and then he'd run off to file a complaint with the Prefects – two of the Slytherin Prefects! They'd then happily given her ten hours of detention and took ten points from Gryffindor – while Ollie had stood there grinning at her maliciously as he intentionally tried to ruin the Quidditch season for his own House!**

" **Don't blast him again," Jonah warned in a whisper. "Ten hours of detention in five days will be tough-enough."**

" **More like nearly-impossible," Lily groused. "How am I supposed to train for our match, keep up with all of the assignments for nine classes; and add in at least two hours of detention work a day too? By the time we get to Saturday; I'll be too tired to play my best!"**

 **Jonah grinned at her. "Would this be a bad time for me to suggest that I send Ollie a thank-you card and gift?" he tried teasing; and then hugged her when she glared at him next. "I love you," he told her quietly. "I'll also do whatever I can to help you."**

" **Do you have a batch of Polyjuice ready so that you can pretend to be me while doing my detention for me?" she asked; and Jonah laughed.**

" **No, and while I love you; it would just be weird and wrong for me to try and be you."**

" **You really are a lot like Al – and that should probably scare me," Lily suggested half-seriously.**

" **That scares you; while going up against a sixth-year Wizard and then facing down two Slytherin Prefects wasn't a problem at all. No, I'm not confused."**

" **I expected you to take that as a compliment – even though it wasn't meant as one," Lily advised him; and Jonah shrugged.**

" **Yet it was one all the same; since you do think that Al is amazing – even if he is somehow also a boring trouble magnet. At least you don't have to worry about me being a trouble magnet too. I barely even get noticed in our little group of siblings, cousins, and friends."**

" **Al wishes he could do that," Lily pointed out; and Jonah laughed.**

" **Yeah, and when he tries to do that; he gets all sorts of attention for being the Hogwarts Hermit."**

" **Let's not go there, or I might start thinking that my problems today are all Al's fault."**

" **Okay," Jonah agreed with a nod. "We could talk about your game plans for next Saturday instead."**

" **Thanks for trying; but I'm just not happy right now. Honestly, Jonah; how can anyone act like Ollie does toward his own House and House mates?"**

" **In his case; because he learned from the master," Jonah answered. "This shouldn't surprise you, Lily. Ollie's decided to hate pretty much anyone that has anything to do with Al or even refuses to believe him – or James. There's a good chance that he doesn't care about the Quidditch Cup either. Did you notice some of the things he was saying that made it sound like he doesn't expect to be at Hogwarts for much longer? When does he turn seventeen? Do you think he'd quit the way James did if he could do that and the Catapults were still alive in the playoffs?"**

" **He didn't say anything about that," Lily answered. "Maybe I was getting too mad at him; but I didn't notice anything he said that suggested he wouldn't be here for that match in May at least."**

" **That was just in the way he said some things – like excluding himself in context of what he was saying or talking about winning a championship; but leaving that ambiguous instead of specifying the Quidditch Cup or senior title – not to mention not including you and your team as part of those 'winners' while doing that."**

 **Lily shrugged. "Let's ask Al about that when we get to the castle," she suggested. "Maybe he'll know something that we don't about that."**

 **They agreed to do that; waited for their turn for a ride to the castle while moving on and talking more with the friends hanging out around them; and then they got to see Al and Gwendolyn even sooner than they'd expected when they were waiting outside for them. Lily couldn't help but smile when Al wrapped her into a fierce hug after meeting her half-way between the entrance and where the carriages were being unloaded. She had to push away to get him to let go; and she nodded at the expression she saw on his face.**

" **Yeah, and then some," she stated. "Ollie had it coming to him; and I ought to blast him again for being such a rat-fink git!"**

" **I love you; and it's going to be okay," Al assured her.**

" **That's basically what Jonah's been saying now and then since I got that detention," she advised him with a side-long nod toward Jonah. "It's not helping."**

" **It likely is – just a little," Al disagreed; and then smiled before leaning close and whispering – "I also think you're going to make Ollie look like the idiot he is when you win that match on Saturday." He joined in when Lily laughed and hugged him enthusiastically.**

" **What?" Gwendolyn demanded; and Lily laughed again and hugged her next.**

" **I can't tell you," she declared happily. "Anything I repeat about that might get used against me in my match against Jonah on Saturday."**

" **We'll talk later," Gwendolyn warned Al. "It's good to have both of you back. We've missed you a lot."**

" **It seems so; since you were out here waiting for us," Lily agreed. "Let's go in now. I haven't eaten much since blasting Ollie and getting into trouble for it, but I feel much better now; and I'm hungry."**

 **She led the way with Jonah at her side; Al and Gwendolyn followed; and they mostly talked about the trip from home and London until they split up to sit in their normal spots at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. Rose had talked with him about Lily's problems with Ollie – and had heard about them from Hugo and Alyssa because they'd arrived on an earlier carriage after spending most of their time on the train with Alyssa and her Ravenclaw friends. Their meal wasn't a major feast, but it was a bit more than the normal fare; and Al enjoyed the food and dinner conversation until it was time to move on again – which for him was to meet up with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah and head for the Room of Requirements and their usual family fun night.**

 **They didn't have as much time for that as usual because Gwendolyn had extra Prefect duties; and needed to get started on that an hour ahead of curfew. A long, catch-up chat; mirror chats with their parents and with Malorie and the twins; and a bit of music play time all helped them to have a happy evening together; Jonah went 'home' with Gwendolyn; and Al and Lily had some brother and sister time while visiting the Owlery and sending Winter off with the weekly post that included yet another batch of World Cup toys. There was a short blip in the fun level when they got back to their common room and Ollie called out some insults at them, but he didn't get any laughs; found out that nobody was happy with him when his insults for Lily also included an admission that he'd ratted her out and put her at risk of missing the final junior team match of the season; and he definitely hadn't liked it when Lily called him out on being a rat-fink in front of everyone – especially when he – the great and powerful Ollie Wood – had been bested by a lowly third-year Witch and had needed a couple of Slytherin Prefects to come to his aid and punish her instead of taking care of himself!**

 **Al hadn't stayed around in the common room after that; he'd gone up to his dorm room and got ready for bed; and then worked on a couple of different projects while waiting for the visit from Ollie that he was sure was inevitable. That didn't happen immediately, so he worked on his broom-making skills for quite a while; and then put it away when he sensed that Ollie was on the move and heading his way. By the time James' best mate arrived in the room with him; he'd switched to using his mirror and was looking up the schedule for National team press conferences; since some of those Quidditch World Cup team announcements would be coming during the night for places where it was already Monday morning. He put his mirror down and faced Ollie when he strutted into the room; his expression dark and dangerous.**

" **Is this your new plan to mess with me – to have your dog of a potty-sister try to insult and embarrass me in front of everyone? She's lucky that I didn't blast her and left her fate to the Prefects for attacking me like that on the train!"**

" **You mean that you're lucky you didn't try that," Al corrected; and Ollie glared at him.**

" **Are you threatening me?" he demanded. "I'll..."**

" **No," Al interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I was just stating the obvious, since Lily is her father's daughter in more ways than you can imagine; and you're no match for her, Ollie. Why are you bothering to stop in here?" He paused; and then nodded as he picked up on what Ollie was thinking about in response to that question. "Okay – message received," he stated. "Feel free to tell James that I love him and wish him good luck – whether he makes it to the playoffs with the Catapults or not."**

" **As if I'd pass along your lies to him!" Ollie spat; and then glowered when Al shrugged.**

" **Then tell him nothing. I don't need to have James know any of that to choose how I feel about him and how he's doing so far with his new career in the show."**

" **You'll care when we're done destroying you – and tearing down everyone deluded enough to have anything at all to do with you!" Ollie spat.**

 **Al sighed. "Do what you think you must; I'll stop you every time; and you'll only hurt yourself in the end," he told Ollie solemnly.**

" **Yeah – you've done a great job proving that, hermit," Ollie offered with a sneer. "At least your potty-sister has some fight left in her – unlike you. Maybe I'll spend some quality time teaching her a Witch's proper place in the world while James has his way – in every way – with your ugly hag of a potty-trainer." Al paused and continued to pick up on everything Ollie was thinking and feeling before responding.**

" **You're expecting to be out of here once you're seventeen next month," he stated; and that assertion startled Ollie. "Trying to mess with me a few more times before you go won't work – no matter how often you repeat those same old threat-promises. If you do get to play in that league championship match; you should probably spend all of your time between now and then training to be ready for it. Whichever team you end up playing against if the Catapults make it to that match won't be the Cannons; and you'll need to score a lot more than two goals while giving up ten if you're going to help James have enough time to win the match before your opponent has a one-sixty lead!"**

" **I was just messing with the Cannons," Ollie retorted angrily. "Everyone saw that!"**

" **Great," Al answered. "Then you're all set! I'd love to see you play that match against United; but that wouldn't be possible."**

" **Why not?" Ollie demanded. "Don't you think that James can win on Saturday?"**

" **If he does, then United will likely end up third for the regular season; the Catapults would be seventh or eighth, depending on tie-break options; and that'd make it much more-likely that they'd face United again in the second-round – if they make it past the first-round. There likely isn't any combination that would have both teams reach the championship match; so James would need to win two matches against your sisters' team – and do that without your help."**

" **You're saying he can't do it," Ollie accused; but Al shook his head.**

" **No – though the odds are against him; and you should be the one hoping that he can't do that."**

" **That's absurd," Ollie scoffed.**

" **If James can win a league championship with the current Catapults' team; then why should the owners and managers bother with hiring you, Louis, the McClaggens, or anyone else?" he countered. It'd be a lot cheaper for them to just keep the team they have and let James keep winning that way for as long as he can – and James would love being the hero every week."**

" **We've already got..." Ollie began; and then clamped his mouth shut and glowered at Al.**

" **Good for you," he told Ollie, "but if you're done insulting me for the night; I'd like to get back to what I was doing before you decided to stop by for this not-so-fun little visit."**

" **We'll be done when I say we are – and that'll be when your dead, buried, and feeding the worms!"**

" **Okay, but that won't happen for you tonight, so would you like to go willingly; or should I just help you out of here again?" Al asked conversationally." He paused and then nodded toward the door. "Two of my roommates will be here in about thirty seconds. Your choice."**

 **Ollie offered a handful of crude insults; and then stalked out of the room – but not in time to avoid being seen exiting it by the other two Wizards. When they joined Al in their room; he had to answer a few questions, but he didn't make a big deal about Ollie's visit; and didn't offer up any of the details about what he and Ollie had talked about. His lack of story-telling skills kept that chat short; he got back to his wireless web surfing; and eventually went off to sleep for the night before half of his roommates were ready to come up to bed from the common room.**

 **The resumption of classes at Hogwarts on Monday wasn't nearly as exciting as it was for the first day of classes each September and January, but while that was in part because they'd only had a week off and the push would now be on to get ready for exams; it was the Quidditch World Cup National team announcements that was the top gossip topic for all Quidditch fans in the castle. Al was probably even more excited about that than most teens and tweens; since there were quite a few people that he cared about in the running for spots on two of those National teams. That didn't affect his early morning routine, but it was the main chat topic at breakfast; and then Quidditch had to be pushed to the side while attending their morning classes – where their Professors got right back to dumping a heavy workload of new assignments while also accepting their holiday revision reports and projects and dealing with the students that didn't get that work done.**

 **Staying focused on their school work got tougher as they neared the end of their last class of the morning – and the start of the Ministry of Magic and League press conference where the National teams would be anounced for England, Ireland, and Scotland. As soon as they were set free for their lunch break, Al was one of the first to have his portable mirror out; he had Rose, Ray, and a few others watching with him; and they were in time to catch Lee's expert panel predictions for the players they'd each pick for one or more of the three National teams. The actual press conference didn't get started until noon; and they were able to be in the Great Hall by then – though Al wished he could have watched the announcements with Gwendolyn.**

" **Do you want to make your own quick picks before we find out?" Rose asked Al.**

" **Not a chance," he assured her. "Feel free if you want to give it a go, though. A lot of players have tried really hard this season to earn one of these spots; so there could be picks from more teams than usual this time compared to past Quidditch World Cup teams."**

" **I get that," Rose agreed, "but when that's done; it doesn't always work to throw those star players together – especially when it comes to the Chaser trios and Beater duos."**

" **That's true," Al agreed. "Should we add getting the entire Cannons team picked to the next national team to our plans +for the team? That'd be fun – especially if Mum was on that team too. That would have to be a first in Quidditch World Cup history to set that record with two different teams!"**

" **Will you hope for an undefeated season that year too?" Rose asked. "That would be brilliant to do in just our second season!"**

" **I'll hope for that in our first season – and every other year too," Al only half-joked. "Everyone seems to forget that I actually do like to win as much as anyone else – I would just really like to be able to do that without all of the drama; and wish that everyone would also remember that Quidditch is just a game and supposed to be fun."**

" **We can have all of the fun you want – as long as we get to win some championships too," Rose assured him with a grin. "Okay – here we go!"**

 **That was true – and wasn't; since the Ministry and League officials felt the need to drone on with a few speeches first. While that was boring, it also worked out for Al because he was half-done his lunch by the time they began the team announcements; and then they started with Scotland instead of England – which allowed him – and Rose – to finish eating; and then meet up with Gwendolyn and Brandon before they got around to the picks for England's National team. Gwendolyn's Aunt Meghan got picked for Scotland again, but she was the only member of that team that they had a personal connection with; and they had no favorite players on Ireland's team this year. Nobody in the Great Hall was leaving while those announcements were going on; so Al stood next to Gwendolyn; and Brandon offered his lap to Rose so that she could be comfortable.**

" **Yes!" Gwendolyn cheered enthusiastically when her mother was named team Manager again; and Al was happy to celebrate with her while leaning over to share a happy hug and kiss.**

" **Your team is in first place heading into the last matches of the regular season," Seth said; "but I thought that they'd offer that job to one of the other managers – like maybe United, the Prides, or even the Catapults; since they've had a miracle end to their season – if they pull off that last win on Saturday."**

" **I think there were other worthy managers this season too," Gwendolyn assured him; "but I'm glad that Mum has the job – especially if it means I get to go to all of our National team matches!"**

" **What if she offers you a job this summer to train with the Harpies instead while she's busy?" Al teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **Then I'd likely do that during the weekdays – and then go to the World Cup matches on Saturdays," Gwendolyn decided.**

" **You're going to have a very lonely summer," Brandon told Al with a laugh.**

" **Don't laugh too hard at that," Al told him. "Rose may get drafted to help out with wheezes booths all summer."**

" **If her Dad will hire me too; I'd be okay with that," Brandon assured him; and then looked confused when Al laughed at that.**

" **Sorry, but my first thought for that was that Uncle Ron would be happy to do that – and then have the two of you work whichever two booths were furthest apart from each other – like China and the Americas."**

" **Okay, so we'd want to be more specific if we do end up with those jobs," Brandon decided.**

" **I likely will get drafted at least for the first few rounds," Rose agreed, "but I don't really want to do that all summer, so if I can get out of that in the later rounds when Dad and Uncle George don't need as much help; I'll try to get out of it. There are other things that I want to do this summer."**

 **That was all of the time they had for that quick little chat because the players were announced in fairly-quick succession – and there was a fair bit of good news for their families and friends. Belinda was named Keeper with Vicky as her reserve team Keeper. The Chaser picks were a bit of a surprise except for Victoire; but that was mostly because of the combination as the selection committee apparently thought that it was a great idea to put Victoire together with Rachel Rosier and Francine Longbottom. The reserve Chasers were Alice Longbottom, Miya Davies, and Dominique; so the Prides picked up two of those six spots. Nobody was surprised when Calvin and Tina Johnson were picked for the team Beaters; and the Prides got another pair of feathers in their team cap too as Jensen and Stanley were named to the reserve squad as next-best Beater duo in the league.**

 **Finally, it was time for the Seeker picks; and Al knew before the announcement was made that it was going to be a brilliant day for his brother – and that he was going to want to spend a lot of time in the Room of Requirements for at least the rest of the day. There was a roar of cheers that was much louder than the cheers that had gone up for the other Hogwarts alumni when James Potter was awarded the Seeker job for England's National team; and Al didn't get the sense that many of the teens and tweens even thought that it was at all strange that James got the nod over Alex Jordan when he was named to the reserve squad – despite the fact that he'd won all of his Seeker duels against James while they'd been at Hogwarts.**

" **You're just cheering on the inside, right?" Gwendolyn teased; and Al laughed.**

" **Yeah – that's it," he agreed; smiling ruefully. "It's too late to escape; but let's get out of here and be anywhere else until we need to move on to our afternoon classes."**

" **We can do that," Gwendolyn agreed, "but if you think that's weird for you; imagine what Mum must be thinking right now. She's going to have to deal with him all summer – and count on him to win matches for our team if we want to get a shot at winning the Quidditch World Cup this summer."**

" **That isn't weird – it's scary," Al suggested – "and it's possible that she'll have even more trouble trying to get Rachel to play nice with Victoire and Francine."**

" **I must not have been paying attention to the Chaser stats for the Prides," Gwendolyn toldhim while nodding at his comment. "I didn't think that Francine was doing better than Alice this season."**

" **She's at the top of the league standings for assists," Al advised her. "The selection committee obviously hopes that she'll be the playmaker for Victoire and Rachel."**

" **Okay, that makes sense," Gwendolyn agreed. "What do you think about the team?"**

" **I think that it's a good thing that your Mum got the Manager job. There are enough big egos on that team that it is going to take a strong manager to turn them into a team that can be a contender this summer."**

 **By then, she had her things ready to go; they headed out of the Great Hall with Rose, Brandon, and a few others; and Al had to deal with a half-dozen insults and some not-so-nice thoughts and feelings before they were able to escape and head outside for a while. The fresh air and short walk helped a bit, but Al had a tough time getting through the afternoon classes; and he was happy to go on to the Room of Requirements after last class – and stay there through until he needed to get to their study classroom after dinner. He wasn't alone all of that time, but Gwendolyn was only with him part of the time; and she went for dinner in the Great Hall. Getting away from the mental noise didn't mean escaping the news of the day, and while Al tried to stay out of the Quidditch conversation; he couldn't avoid hearing most of what was being said about their National team – or all of the personal put-downs directed at him despite the fact that james' successes shouldn't have anything to do with what people thought of him.**

 **Teddy's twenty-fourth birthday on Tuesday wasn't much of a diversion for Al, but their mirror chat with him was entertaining; and it gave Al, Lily, Rose, and everyone else that gathered around Al's mirror before breakfast the chance to also congratulate Victoire for making the National team. While that had been a fun cameo moment, Al didn't have fun at breakfast; so he continued to spend more time in the Room of Requirements – incluiding at lunch and dinner; and while having a Seeker duel with Lily to help her with getting ready for her big match on Saturday. They couldn't spend a lot of time doing that, since she also had her detention time to serve, but as her stress level climbed; Al started to help her out more on Tuesday night too – first with some tutoring after curfew; and then with morning healing sessions that helped her to make up for being exhausted after working day and night to try and keep up with everything.**

 **That added diversion helped Al a lot, and while he was up early every day and still awake late each night; he actually felt better as the week rolled along. Having the final day of the regular season for the league on the same Saturday as the last junior team Quidditch match of the Hogwarts season was going to make for a very busy day, but that also helped to divert attention from the National team stories – except for the obvious speculation about how that news might affect the Harpies' match against the Tornados and the Catapults-United game. Al expected that both matches would just be more-intense, but his focus through to the end of the day on Friday was all about Lily and helping out with whatever she needed to be ready for her big match against Jonah and Ravenclaw.**

 **He couldn't help with her detention, but she got the last hour of that done on Friday after her light team workout that she cut a bit short to be able to do that by dinnertime too. The tutoring and healing helped most, but Al made sure that Lily got extra hugs and treats when needed, and while he wasn't normally the cheerleading kind of Wizard; he made sure that she knew he was confident that she was going to have a brilliant final match of the season.**

 **Since he was putting in all of that extra time, keeping up with his own work wasn't really a problem, and while Lily and her team mates turned in early on Friday for a game night curfew; he worked until normal curfew; and got even more of his weekend revision finished once in his dorm room – while Ray and most of the other guys stayed in the common room and played mirror games or hung out with girlfriends until long after he eventually went off to sleep. That had all added up to a very long, tough week, but Al was happy when he did go off to sleep; and more than ready to have what he hoped would be a brilliant day off! They'd have to wait and see how much time he'd get to spend with Gwendolyn, since they'd be sitting in their own House sections during the match and one of them would have a victory party to attend, but he could hope for the best for that; and he was sure that at least one Quidditch victory would help to take the first half of his weekend from good to great!**

" **I can hardly wait until I'm in the show and will get twenty-seven of these gifts a year!" Lily teased as she hugged Al and then accepted his good-luck gift.**

" **If Gwendolyn was here; she'd tell you that he won't be able to afford to do them anymore once he's playing for the Cannons," Rose suggested; earning a round of laughs.**

" **Careful – or you'll end up having your own one-liners at the top of that list you're making of Cannons jokes and insults," Lily warned. "For the record, though, I don't actually believe that, but don't get too excited; since I think there's a big difference between having a better team that could make money and a championship team. Some of the teams with the worst records in the league make money because they do other things to make their fans happy."**

" **That's true," Rose conceded. "We'd just like to do both with our team – and will." She grinned at Al. "Your brother wants to add getting our team picked for the next Quidditch World Cup to our plan; and that wouldn't happen with an average team."**

" **He's said the same thing about the Europe Cup," Lily reminded her. "Let me know how he does on that current Potions assignment. There's a chance he's botched it; and the fumes are affecting him in a delusional sort of way."**

 **By then she had the gift opened; and had another enthusiastic hug for him.**

" **Ruby snitch earrings," she advised Rose while showing them to her.**

" **That's a not-so-subtle suggestion that Gryffindor's got this match won," Rose teased. "How very un-Al-like of your brother!"**

" **It is," Lily agreed, "but it's working for me; so I'll guess that he knew exactly what I needed this week."**

" **No comment," Al answered with a grin. "Feel free to have fun out there with your friends – and I mean that to be with Jonah and your Ravenclaw friends too."**

" **I want you to have fun too," Lily told him; "which is why I want both of you to sit with Gwendolyn and Brandon in the Ravenclaw section today."**

" **What?" Rose asked in surprise; and Lily grinned at her.**

" **You heard me. We can all guess at what Ollie will try to do during the match today. I don't want you to have to put up with him again; so go and cheerfor all of us and have fun with your boyfriend and girlfriend. Ollie will still be a git; but you at least won't have to put up with him trying to mess with all of us."**

" **I'll take the deal," Al assured her. "Thank you!"**

 **This time, it was his turn to initiate the happy hug; Rose hugged her too; and then Lily changed her earrings before they headed out on their walk and talk. When they got around to talking about how Lily was feeling; Al helped her out with a bit of healing; though the good night of rest had really been enough for everything except a few, mild aches and pains from a tough week of training. They split up once they were in the Great Hall; Lily was kept busy with her friends and all of the well-wishers; and Al and Rose enjoyed their morning meal and all of the Quidditch and teen drama chat until it was time to meet up with Gwendolyn and Brandon. They were very happy with the news that they'd been told to watch the match together by Gryffindor's Captain, but there was one little detail of their game-watching plans that Lily hadn't known about – the fact that her parents, Malorie, and the twins were coming to watch as much of the match as they could until they needed to be at James' match in the afternoon – if the junior team match lasted that long.**

 **The two couples ended up having Susannah and Seth with them for the walk to the school gates when it was time for them to be opened for visitors to come and watch the game; and Al used mirror messages to coordinate that with his mother so they were all there at nearly the same time. While the game-day visit was to be a surprise for Lily and Jonah, Harry and Ginny had their own surprise for Al and Gwendolyn because they brought Kirley with them so that he could watch Jonah's last junior team match too. Al had loved that surprise – and getting to see how happy Gwendolyn was to have her father there too. Gwendolyn even hugged her father first before getting in on the welcome to Hogwarts cuddles with Jaimie and Lorie, but Al didn't get the twins to himself; since Rose and Susannah were happy to take turns with them too as they had fun with that initial round of greetings and then started to walk toward the stadium.**

" **Your Mum wishes she could be here too," Kirley told Gwendolyn as she walked with him while Al was escorting Lorie and she happily babbled at him while Jaimie had picked having Harry carry her instead of Rose or Susannah.**

" **Let's hope that the sacrifice will be worth it and the Harpies will be league champions by the time she comes to watch my match in May," Gwendolyn told him with a grin. "That'd be brilliant to have her team win that weekend and then have Ravenclaw win another Quidditch Cup to following Saturday!"**

" **You mean Gryffindor, right?" Ginny teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No, and considering all of the crap we've been putting up with from Ollie and the McClaggens; you might want to think about cheering for us too."**

" **There is no way I'd do that anywhere near Lily," Ginny advised her. "Those boys are far from the first Gryffindors to act like that – particularly against Slytherins; but I'll still have to support my House even when a few of the players might not deserve it."**

" **Well, you'll have to do that today from the Ravenclaw side of the visitor section if you want to hang out with Al and Rose," Gwendolyn advised her with a grin. "Lily ordered Al and Rose to sit with Brandon and me so that they wouldn't have to put up with Ollie being a git to them all day."**

" **That works for me," Kirley assured her; and he was grinning too. "Is there any chance that you'll be able to sit near-enough to us to be able to talk during the match?"**

" **There is if we can snag those seats nearest the visitor section before anyone else does," Gwendolyn assured him. "Maybe we should go and try to do that while Al and Rose help Jaimie and Lorie with their little surprise for Lily."**

" **You want to help Lily with that kind of motivation?" Brandon teased. "We need to get you away from Al more often if all of that extreme good sportsmanship is wearing off on you."**

" **It's all part of my master plan," Gwendolyn joked, "but we can't talk about that around all of these Gryffindor; so let's see what we can do about at least getting to watch the match and have fun with our Gryffindor – and Hufflepuff – guests."**

" **Well, you do have two guests that won't be sorted into any House for another ten years and a bit," Susannah teased, "but Seth and I can help you out with that too – and Peter and Pauline will likely want extra seats if they're going to have the rest of your team and their friends sit with us too."**

 **They still had time to talk while walking to the stadium, but then they split up once there; and Al and Rose led the way around to the Gryffindor locker room; and then Rose went inside to get Lily and bring her out. The surprise had obviously been sprung already when Lily came running out of the locker room and hurled herself into her father's arms – though she ended that rush gently and had Jaimie giggling as she was squished between her grandfather and aunt.**

" **This is a brilliant surprise!" she told them happily. "I didn't think that you'd come when the Harpies and Catapults are both playing today!"**

" **We wanted to see your last junior team match – and we can do that now that James isn't here to insist that we'd just embarrass him by showing up for Quidditch matches," Ginny told her as she was hugged next. "You need to focus on your match, though; so spend the time you do have with the twins; and we'll talk later – if we can."**

" **I can do that," Lily agreed; though she hugged Malorie and thanked her first; and then took custody of Jaimie.**

 **That really was just a few minutes of fun, since Lily needed to get back to her team and game preparation, and after she went back into the locker room; everyone else headed into the stadium and caught up with Gwendolyn, Kirley, and the friends that were already gathering around them in the seats that were in the corner of the Ravenclaw section that bordered both the Hufflepuff section and 'their' side of the visitor section. Al had never sat very close to either of the visitor sections that flanked each side of the section of seating reserved for the Professors and other VIPs that also divided the rival visiting fans, but that only felt different because of getting to sit near his parents, Kirley, and Malorie. He loved getting to hold Jaimie or Lorie once they were in their seats; and he started out with Jaimie after carrying Lorie all the way from the gates.**

 **He immediately earned a lot of attention because of the twins – and because his parents and Gwendolyn's father were there, and while there was a lot of animosity from what he sensed aroud him; there was a lot of curiosity too as he was watched by a lot of the teens, tweens, and adults all around the stadium. Some of his favorite Witches were pushing him around a bit, but since everything they were ordering him to do was brilliant; he was happy to be ordered to sit in the seats directly behind his parents; Malorie was next to his mother; so he sat behind Ginny; and Gwendolyn was behind Harry so that she could talk easily with both of their fathers. They still had a bit of time before Colin's final pre-game show of the junior team season; but they had no trouble keeping themselves entertained.**

" **The stadium looks exactly the same as it did when we played here; but it feels so different," Ginny told the teens behind her while looking back and smiling at them.**

" **That's no surprise to me," Gwendolyn offered. "You've played in some pretty amazing places since then, Aunt Ginny."**

" **I have," she agreed, "and having hundreds of spectators instead of tens of thousands makes a difference; but it's more than that. This stadium is all about the history of just four House teams that have always played here. That's very different for the league stadiums – or any of the other Quidditch stadiums around the world. There's just a different feel here – more like a team practice pitch than one of the big stadiums."**

" **Well, if you miss the good old days; maybe we should talk to Professor McGonagall about having an alumni Quidditch match every year," Rose suggested with a grin. "We could invite past players to play a match against the senior team Quidditch Cup winners."**

" **Maybe against Quidditch Cup winning teams from the past?" Gwendolyn offered. "Wouldn't this be the twenty-fifth anniversary for a certain Gryffindor team that won the Quidditch Cup in the ninety-six ninety-seven season?"**

" **It would be," Ginny agreed – "and I hadn't thought about that at all until you mentioned it. Do you think it's a good omen for Lily's chances this year?"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "In this match? Maybe. For the Quidditch Cup – no." She emphasized that by nodding across the stadium to where Ollie was arriving with his entourage; and had paused while apparently looking for where Al and Rose were sitting. "Ollie isn't the Captain that Uncle Harry was; and he doesn't have a back-up Seeker nearly as good as you." She laughed when she saw Ollie expand his search for Al and then enjoyed the jaw-dropping surprise on his face when he finally spotted them – and the special guests they were sitting with.**

" **Should we all wave?" Rose teased; and she was grinning too as Ollie's expressions switched rapidly before settling on a dark scowl while glaring daggers at Al. She laughed when Lorie did that for her as if on command; and then her aunt and uncle waved in response to a wave from Louis when he turned to see what had gotten Ollie's attention.**

" **Louis looks tired," Ginny observed. "Is he getting stressed about his NEWTs along with being Head Boy and playing Quidditch?"**

" **We don't really talk much – other than at Prefect meetings," Rose answered. "He's seemed okay; so maybe he just had a late night – and I don't mean that in a partying sort of way."**

" **I wouldn't have thought that he had a reputation for partying around here anyway," Ginny told her – "though I might have believed that he was tired out from staying out late in the Heads' office with Deanna. He seemed to be well-and-truly caught by her when we saw them at Christmas."**

" **He likely is," Rose agreed. "Louis likes parties more than I thought he would – or has in the past; but I mostly meant that because we're all getting serious about our OWL and NEWT exams now; and he wants to do well on his exams – even as he wants to impress the scouts and have a good final Quidditch match too."**

" **Don't we all," Peter offered – "and I don't mean that we hope Louis will do well in that match!"**

" **Would you still feel that way if we could set up that alumni match; and you had to play against Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's team?" Rose teased; and Peter laughed.**

" **I think that everyone on our team would love that," he answered seriously. "Who else was on that team?"**

" **Your Uncle Dean was one of the Chasers and my Dad was Keeper," Rose advised him. "Mr. Peakes and the Catapults' Assistant Manager, Ritchie Cootes, were the Beaters; and the other Chasers were Katie Bell – Ollie's Mum, Demelza Robbins – Ackerley, and Aunt Ginny – though she played Seeker for the final match that season. Brock and Tiberius' Dad played Keeper for one match; but that didn't end so well for their team."**

" **Or for your uncle," Ginny added with a grin. "Keepers should not try to play Beater at the same time in a match!"**

" **That team had four players that went on to have careers in the show?" Peter asked; and then laughed. "I'd still be okay with playing in that match."**

" **Five," Ginny advised him. "Cormac wasn't in the show for very long; but he did play in one match."**

" **Everyone says that Dad and Uncle Harry could have played in the show too if they hadn't joined the Aurors after the war instead," Rose added. "You could end up with more than four players from your team in the show over the next few years."**

" **We could," Pauline agreed; "but Gryffindor already has five professional players on their team this season – and they don't even have the best players in their House on that team this year!"**

" **She must mean that Lily has the best players in our House on her team," Al interjected with a grin; and earned a round of laughs.**

" **Sure – let's go with that," Pauline agreed easily. "We knew that Uncle Dean played for Gryffindor; but it's his last season that we heard about from our parents and their friends."**

" **Probably because they liked having Ginny as Captain more than Angelina or me," Harry offered. "I may have been Captain that year, but I got my head bashed in by one of my own players in one match and was suspended from the last one of the season; so everyone else on the team gets credit for winning the Quidditch Cup – especially Ginny."**

" **And we've always thought that Al inherited his saving the day or damsel in distress from you," Brandon joked. "The history books must have all of those facts from the war totally messed up!"**

" **That's true," Ginny told him; "but Harry and I took turns saving each other. Al and Gwendolyn are definitely a lot like us when it comes to that."**

" **I'd say that's true for Quidditch too," Rose suggested. "It looks like Colin's about ready to get started. Any last-minute predictions? Don't be shy about that just because we're in enemy territory, Gryffindors!"**

" **Let's howl our support for our Gryffindor junior team pack of dogs!" Ollie declared with a malicious sneer. Leading the way is the Animorphpotty-sister, and we should likely expect the worst today; since not even her lying, cheating, unemployed parents or the Animorphloser himself are on our side of the stadium to support her today! No – they're over there cheering for the enemy while the Animorphpotty is having visitation time with his litter of puppies!"**

" **Do you really need to spew all of that hate again today?" Kira asked him. "Al and Gwendolyn aren't here for you to try and bug with all of that nonsense; and the rest of us don't want to hear it – especially when you're insulting those two adorable babies."**

" **They're Animorphfreaks, just like their father!" Ollie retorted.**

" **Your best mate is their father," Kira corrected. "Everyone with at least two brain cells to rub together knows that; and that won't change no matter how many times you – or James, Rita Skeeter, and others – tell your stupid lies."**

" **How would you know?" Ollie demanded scathingly. "Were you there? Getting in on a doggie three-way with them?"**

" **You're a pig," Kira declared. "No – I was at King's Cross when those memories of Rita's so-called interviews with Malorie were passed along to everyone who raised their hands and wanted them. I can also think for myself, Ollie, and anyone looking over there at Al with his nieces can see that he's an amazing uncle, and if he had gotten Malorie pregnant; he'd have just taken responsibility and been just as brilliant a father!"**

" **You're clueless and obviously one of the deluded Animorphpotty-lovers," Ollie declared in disgust. "You're also messing up my team introductions; so why don't you shut it and let me get back to it!"**

" **Not if you're going to keep insulting my friends," she retorted; and looked around at the other teens – her team mates. "Won't any of you stand up for our junior team mates?" she demanded. "Not even you, Louis? You'll just sit there and let him tear down your own aunt, uncle, and cousins? For Merlin's sake – you're Head Boy!"**

" **Why should he defend that lot of liars and losers?" Ollie shot back angrily. "It isn't his fault that he's related to the Chosen Chump and the Animorphloser!"**

 **Kira stood up; turned around; and slapped Ollie across the face – though she couldn't do that as hard as she'd wanted because she'd had to lean to the side to do that from the seat she'd had in the row ahead of Ollie.**

" **I've had it with you!" she declared hotly. "There's a very good chance that none of us would even be here if not for Harry and Ginny Potter – and everyone else that fought the Dark Lord! Al is the kindest, best Wizard in this school! You, on the other hand, are so bloody jealous of them because you know you'll never be a tenth of the Wizard they are, so you'll say and do anything to try and tear them down just to avoid facing reality!"**

" **Get out of here!" Ollie snarled. "We don't need traitors on our team either; so don't bother coming back again!"**

 **Kira laughed scornfully. "Thank you! I was sick and tired of fending you off anyway – and it hasn't been any fun practicing with your team since James left – and I only put up with him because he is a pretty good Seeker and I learned a lot from him – even if he's as lewd and disgusting as you are when it comes to how he treats Witches. Enjoy the rest of the match, Ollie; and good luck in your first match as Captain next month!"**

" **Problems?" Gwendolyn leaned close and whispered to Al. "You're not even watching the action out there at center pitch."**

" **Kira just blasted Ollie – and slapped him – for starting out his pre-game team introductions in his usual way with some bonus insults for Mom, Dad, Malorie, and the twins," he answered in a whisper that only she'd hear. "He retaliated by kicking her off the team."**

" **I can see why that might distract you. Is Kira okay?"**

 **Al nodded. "I'd say she's happier than she's been in a while – though she's still having some bad thoughts about Ollie – and the other guys on the team for just sitting there and doing nothing again to at least defend Lily and the rest of their junior team players."**

" **Well, they may wish that they had once it sinks in that they don't have any Seeker at all for their last match – and Ollie will never, ever swallow his pride and offer the job to you or Lily."**

" **He wouldn't," Al agreed; "but then he doesn't expect to be here anyway; since he'll he'll be quitting school on his seventeenth birthday to go and play in the championship match with James and the Catapults instead, right?"**

" **Is that sarcasm?" she teased. "I'm so proud of you!"**

" **Well done, Captain," Brock told Ollie quietly after Kira had walked away and had gone in search of her best friends – none of whom usually wanted to be anywhere near Ollie Wood.**

" **Thank you," Ollie said immodestly; and then frowned when Brock laughed.**

" **That wasn't a compliment," he advised his friend.**

" **It ought to be," Ollie interjected quickly. "We're better off without traitors like that on our team – or any Witches at all, for that matter!"**

" **Whatever you say, Captain," Brock told him. "Some of us are interested in finding out who you plan on getting to play Seeker for us now that you've just fired our only remaining Seeker – and you'll need to find someone who can last more than five minutes against Pauline Boot! Will you ask Lily – or your favorite Animorphpotty to take the job?" He smiled when Ollie swore and glared at him. "Honestly, Ollie – that didn't even cross your mind before you tossed her off the team?" He laughed again and shook his head. "Maybe you can appreciate how ironic it is to have you do this today; and we went through this same thing with Olivia last season – twice. She took the hit and got James back on the team after he quit; but didn't do anything after she tossed the Animorphloser off the team and then Rose quit – and that didn't end well for her or for our team. Olivia at least had Louis and Gina to put into that match against Ravenclaw. Who do you have to replace Kira; since we all know you'd never pick either of my first two suggestions?"**

" **Maybe I'll put Tiberius in at Seeker," Ollie retorted – "and have Fred and Orlando play Beater if you want to keep shooting your mouth off. I'm sure that you'll do a great job showing off to the league scouts from the bleachers!"**

" **I couldn't catch the snitch if it was tied to the pitch on a string," Tiberius told him. "Don't threaten my brother, either; unless you'd like the rest of our practices this season – and once we're all with the Catapults – to go badly for you too."**

" **You're defending Brock?" his date for the game asked; the tone of her voice low and she sounded offended. "That's a problem for you; but everything else he's been saying is perfectly okay?"**

" **Sure it is," Ollie told her derisively. "He agrees with me about all of that; while you've apparently been infected with the dreaded Animorphpotty mass-delusion virus."**

" **Do you agree with him?" she asked Tiberius.**

" **I don't know," Tiberius hedged lamely. "I wasn'teven listening to most of what he said because I was too busy having fun with you."**

" **You're full of it," she declared; and began to gather her things. "I should've listened to my friends instead of falling for your load of hippogriff dung. Go find yourself some other Witch to string along – if there are any left here at Hogwarts that don't already know better than to stay away from the lot of you!"**

" **Wait for me," Brock's date told her. "If these guys don't think that Witches should play Quidditch; then I'm one more Witch that doesn't want to play with them either!"**

 **Tiberius and Brock looked stunned as their dates walked away without a backward glance from either of them; but Ollie just smirked and shrugged them off.**

" **Good riddance to them!" he declared. "Now – where was I? The match is about to start; so I guess that I'll have to introduce the rest of the losers – I mean, players – as we go along!"**

" **Or you can just shut it," Tiberius told him ominously. "You've already caused enough trouble for all of us for one day!"**

 **While Ollie's morning wasn't going very well for him; most of the spectators were having a great morning as Mr. Peakes got the match started and the two teams leapt into the air – and the Quidditch action went red-hot right from the start! While the pace of the battle was fierce and there were a lot of scoring attempts; Hugo and Meg were playing brilliantly as they traded big saves and they each had a lot of help from their Chasers and Beaters too. Al was happy to sit back and enjoy the show while playing with Jaimie and Lorie – which they wanted to do most of the time unless something going on around them caught their attention for a few moments. He talked with Gwendolyn and everyone around them too; kept track of everything going on in the match; and filtered and processed the mental information overload that he couldn't avoid in a large crowd of fired-up teens and tweens.**

 **Nothing about the match was boring, but it seemed like a very defensive battle as Gryffindor only managed one goal against Meg and Hugo had a shut-out through the first hour. Al and Harry took a break early in the second hour to take the twins to the washroom for a diaper change, and while they got razzed about that by the teens sitting with them; Al sensed that opinions about him were changing all over the stadium as he was watched for an extended time while with his nieces in public. That didn't affect how he acted with them – it was simply obvious to anyone who wanted to actually see what was going on that he had a lot of love and joy to share with Jaimie and Lorie.**

 **He felt a lot of love and joy for his favorite Gryffindor and Ravenclaw junior team players too – especially as they fought on with no end in sight; and he got to have another hour with his parents, Kirley, Malorie, and the girls. Meg and Hugo had the same results for that second hour; so Gryffindor only took a twenty-to-naught lead into the third hour. Al wasn't hoping for an end to the match anytime soon, but time for watching the Hogwarts Quidditch match began to run out for their little group of visitors, and when it was time for them to move on to their pre-game lunch plans at the Leaky; Al and Gwendolyn had to make the tough choice to walk out to the gates with them and take the chance that they wouldn't miss out on anything really good – like a game-ending snitch catch. They helped out with getting Jaimie and Lorie's things together with about fifteen minutes left in the third hour; Rose and Brandon decided to go along; and they had a lot of people watching them as they headed for the exit and left the stadium.**

" **If I give you some money; can you get some treats for Jaimie and Lorie at the Leaky or the match this afternoon?" Al asked Malorie. "I think that I owe them for spending all of this time with me today."**

" **You're not talking about the play time," Malorie guessed intuitively. "Have they helped to change the way some of the teens and tweens around here think and feel about you?"**

" **Yes," Al agreed simply. "I still have more than my fair share of haters; but I'd say that we made a bit of progress today."**

" **That's good to know," Ginny told him. "I wish that we could have spent more time with Lily, but she was just home for a week; and we can have a mirror chat with her later whenever she and Jonah get around to deciding which of them is going to win their Seeker duel today. They're both playing brilliantly; so that could take a while."**

" **Especially if the scoring stays so low," Gwendolyn agreed. "Both teams have pretty good Chasers; so I've been surprised at just how well Meg and Hugo are playing."**

" **Your cousin is playing brilliantly," Ginny told her with a nod. "She's also getting more tough shots than Hugo so far too; but you'll have to wait and see if they start tiring out soon. They've already faced a lot of shots on goals."**

" **I wish we could stay to watch the rest of the match," Harry offered. "Maybe we should have decided to split up."**

" **You can get updates from the kids while we're busy with lunch and James' match," Ginny advised him; "but you are coming with us – and the twins need this break between matches. We'd just end up missing both matches if they get too cranky and bored."**

 **Al knew she was right about that, but still would've been happy to keep his nieces for the rest of the day if he could've done that, but since that wasn't an option; he enjoyed the last bit of time he had with them; they exchanged a lengthy round of goodbye hugs and kisses; and then the four teens watched their visitors leave the school grounds and then apparate away to London. They hurried back to the stadium after that; found out that they'd missed another Gryffindor goal; and Lily's team had taken a forty-to-naught lead into the fourth hour. They settled in to resume their game-watching; spent most of the next hour doing that; and then they took another break – and helped with time-out food and drinks for both teams as the food tables were set up outside of the stadium at the end of the fourth hour.**

 **Hugo had given up his shut-out during that fourth hour, but Ravenclaw hadn't been able to get a scoring streak going; and Gryffindor had scored three on Meg to take their lead up to seventy-to-ten when they took that time-out. Al and Gwendolyn had help for getting snacks and drinks to the teams, but they did that first; Al passed along the hugs, kisses, and good luck wishes from their parents and nieces to Lily; and then he and Gwendolyn went to get food for themselves not long after the match was on again.**

 **By then, it was time to start watching league Quidditch matches too, and since they wanted to follow both the Harpies' and Catapults' matches; they needed to use two mirrors to do that – and Al had them try something different so they could each hear both matches. Splitting up their sets of magical earbuds allowed them to each listen to the announcing for one match with a left earbud and the other with the right, and while it took a bit of practice to focus on the cacophony of noise that included all of the noise in the stadium; Gwendolyn got the hang of it quickly-enough – and that was just normal for Al with just a bit of extra noise to add to what he already processed all of the time anyway. The multi-tasking kept them busy; and the Quidditch action in all three matches continued to be fierce – though that was in somewhat different ways.**

 **For the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, the fifth hour was marked by a definite transition that was in Gryffindor's favor as the slightly-younger, less-experienced Ravenclaw players tired out while Gryffindor's Chasers and Keeper in particular proved that they were better-prepared for a long, drawn-out battle. By the end of that fifth hour; they'd extended their lead to one-ten to ten, and while Meg still did very well to only give up four goals on a lot of quality shots; Chris and Bryson in particular were having trouble even getting decent shots in on Hugo; and he stopped even Alyssa's best scoring chances. That was a fun battle to watch; and Hugo and Alyssa seemed to be having as much fun as Lily and Jonah were having with their Seeker duel – which really was a non-stop contest of wills between two extremely-talented players!**

 **There was a battle of wills going on in the Harpies-Tornados match too; with the toughest rivalry going on between Victoire and Rachel – a fact that the game announcers commented on over and over again in light of the fact that they'd need to play together on the National team beginning the week after the league Championship match. What that match didn't have from the start was stellar goals-keeping – at least compared to Hugo and Meg; and the Harpies had a sixty-to-fifty lead going into the second hour of their match. For the Catapults and Puddlemere United; there were two top stories – all of the Catapults' players showed up to actually play right from the start; and United seemed to be more-interested in the match score than in winning because Alex strictly played defense and didn't try to find and catch the snitch himself even once.**

 **While Belinda was clearly the better Keeper right from the start, most of the United players seemed to be thrown off by the simple fact that they actually had seven players trying their best against them instead of what they'd expected to get. That had everything to do with why United only managed to earn a seventy-to-thirty lead over the Catapults in their first hour of gameplay against a team that they'd expected to dominate and overwhelm. While Al couldn't sense anything from Exmoor stadium, he was very observant; it was clear to him that the United managers were trying to play the numbers game to get the best position in the playoffs for their team; and he thought they were taking an unnecessary risk. The one thing he couldn't know for sure was whether they wanted a big lead to try and earn first-place; or keep the match close and intentionally help the Catapults into the playoffs.**

 **All three Quidditch battles rolled along through the sixth or second-hours as they headed into mid-afternoon. The early trends in the two league matches continued, but Gryffindor stayed stronger than most of their Ravenclaw opponents, and while Jonah kept trying to best Lily and catch the snitch; he was running out of time as Gryffindor took a one hundred and forty point lead into the seventh hour; and his Chasers had only managed one more goal against Hugo. The one-sixty lead came surpriseingly quickly thanks to a turnover that allowed Kathryn and Melissa to earn two quick goals in under a minute; and then Lily backed off from trying to defend the snitch; and left it up to Jonah whether to play on or try to catch the snitch for the loss. The Gryffindor Chasers didn't back off, but Meg redoubled her efforts; and she only gave up one more goal before the Seeker duel went white-hot.**

" **This is it," Gwendolyn declared quietly as Al got her attention and she turned to watch Jonah chase after the snitch while Lily seemed to just be following along in his wake without trying to stop him. "He's making the right call; but it sucks for our House."**

" **It does," Al agreed sympathetically; and then frowned at the change he sensed from his sister. "Oh, Lily – no!" he muttered under his breath, but there was nothing he could do about the irrational choice she'd just made; and Gwendolyn only had time to glance at him quizzically before turning back to the Quidditch action in time to watch on as Lily suddenly used the draft she'd been in behind Jonah to slingshot past him and catch the snitch at the last moment while he looked stunned.**

" **Okay, that sucks worse," Gwendolyn declared; and Al leaned close and hugged her.**

" **She's already sorry," he advised her while still whispering. "I think she lost her mind for a moment – had a flashback to last season when she lost the junior team title on points."**

" **She had the three wins – that didn't matter," Gwendolyn pointed out; and Al nodded.**

" **Yeah," he agreed; but nodded toward where Lily was sharing a fierce, mid-air hug with Jonah. "Like I said – she's sorry about doing that to Jonah now. Unfortunately; she can't take it back."**

" **She can't take back that three-hundred point scoring swing either," Gwendolyn advised him; and still didn't look happy.**

" **Don't hate me; but it's a six-hundred point swing," Al advised her; and he was truly unhappy to give her that news. "That three-twenty points-difference puts Gryffindor at plus thirteen-hundred; while the negative drops Ravenclaw to plus six-seventy. You'll need to win your last match by three-twenty or more."**

 **Gwendolyn stared at him; but didn't doubt his numbers because she'd done the Arithmancy by then too. "Merlin!" she exclaimed.**

" **Merlin, what?" Rose leaned in and asked.**

" **Al just let me know just how much Lily's catch sucks for Ravenclaw," she answered. " We'll need to win by three-twenty or more in our last match in May."**

 **Rose looked surprised for a moment, but then she nodded; and both smiled and shook her head. "Yeah-boo?" she offered next. "I should be happy for our House, and would've loved that kind of a lead if Al and I were playing in that match; but I'm having problems with this."**

" **Problems that you should get over before you get to the show," Brandon told her seriously; and then smiled at the reaction from both Witches. "Come on – we wouldn't even be having this discussion if Jonah had tried to play on and hoped that his team could get back into this match and Lily had won their duel anyway! In fact, if we had been in her position; we'd have wanted to have Jonah earn the big points win – maybe an even bigger one; since their senior team does have some issues." He laughed; and then leaned closer so that he could talk with just Al and their girlfriends. "You do know this might actually be good for us, right? If Ollie thinks that six-hundred-and-whatever points lead is insurmountable; he might not try to do something smart – like ask Lily to play Seeker for the senior team in that match. I'll pick Pauline over anyone else he'll choose."**

" **He'd never do that no matter how big or small the lead," Rose assured him; but she grinned while Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No, but he does have better options that he won't likely go to," Gwendolyn offered – "like Riley or Hunter."**

" **Maybe we should stop talking about this now," Brandon suggested. "You're just full of good – bad – ideas."**

" **We should get out to the pitch anyway," Al suggested. "Our junior teams played brilliantly; and I want to help all of them out; since this has been a really tough game."**

" **Are there more-serious injuries than anything I saw?" Gwendolyn asked in concern.**

" **No, but the minor injuries have added up; and that's even tougher for your team; since the loss hurts too after trying so hard all day."**

" **Then let's go and do that," Gwendolyn agreed.**

 **It took a few minutes to gather their things and make sure they didn't leave any garbage mess behind; and then they headed out to the pitch.**

" **Finally!" Ollie declared with a sigh of relief. "I thought that horror show would never end! Let's go have a drink and get the party started!"**

" **Seriously?" Brock asked. "You're team Captain. Don't you think that you should go out there and congratulate your sister, cousin, and their team mates for a job brilliantly-done?"**

" **They didn't lose the Quidditch Cup for us," Ollie retorted. "That just proves that both teams sucked as badly as I've been telling all of you all day long!"**

" **They've given us a six-hunred and thirty point lead going into our final match of the season," Magnus advised them quietly. "Ravenclaw doesn't just have to win now to earn the Quidditch Cup; they'd have to win by a lot."**

 **Ollie snorted. "They're not going to win at all; so the points won't matter."**

" **You're very sure of that for a Captain without a Seeker," Tiberius told him.**

" **Bash Pauline's head in; and they'll be without a Seeker too," Ollie countered. "James is right – you've all been riding his broomtail while he's gotten the wins all season. If you want to be great; then step it up and prove we can win without him!" he waved a hand at Louis. "Have a little faith in your team mates too. Do you really believe that Louis could give up that many goals – let alone get beat by Peter, the Potty-trainer, and the Boot-licker litter – I mean, little – sister? If Louis can't do that; then he shouldn't bother trying to play in the show and go get a job selling souvenirs at the stadium while the real Wizards play the game!"**

" **We do all need to step it up," Brock agreed – "starting with you finding a decent Seeker for us so we don't have to forfeit the match. My original point wasn't about us, though – it was about congratulating our junior team because, despite what you've been saying all day; they actually did play a brilliant match!"**

" **So go do that," Ollie retorted. "I'll go and get started on the partying, and while your at it; maybe you can hook up with Rose the Weasel and go play for the Cannons clown brigade instead of a real team like the Catapults. I'm sure they can find someone with a bit more sense to play Beater with Tiberius; since you're obviously clueless to think that match was anything more than a really bad theatre show."**

" **Give it up," Tiberius told his brother. "He's gone all-out and rejected everyone else's realities and substituted his own."**

" **You should try it," Ollie told him with a smirk. "You might find out that you like the freedom that comes with breaking free of the brain-dead, deluded masses."**

" **We're not deluded," Tiberius assured him as he stood up and got ready to leave with Brock. "We're blatant, unapologetic opportunists – just as you should be. We'll follow James all the way to the top of the league – if he can get us there." He nodded out toward the pitch. "They helped to give us a shot at getting to the top and win another Quidditch Cup; so I don't have a problem with thanking them for that – regardless of what I think about any of those kids." He turned his full attention back to Ollie again. "You wanted to be Captain, so if you help to get us the rest of the way to that Quidditch Cup, you'll get the credit due you too."**

" **And get the blame for the loss if you don't," Brock added. "Welcome to management, mate!"**

 **The post-game action on the pitch was a crazy mess of too much of everything for Al as he stayed with Gwendolyn and they did everything from congratulate Lily and her team; console Jonah and his disappointed players; offer quiet bouts of heling for all fourteen teens and tweens; and keep up with the two league matches still in progress. Both of those matches were heading into their fourth hours by the time the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams headed for their locker rooms and the remaining spectators moved on to the castle or off the school grounds as needed. Al and Gwendolyn stayed at the stadium, but that was entirely so they could spend more time together before they'd be splitting up for the parties that were going on in both Houses for their junior teams. They'd decided to wait for Lily and Jonah; and that's why they were sitting outside of the stadium when the Catapults-United match came to an upsetting sort of end – for United.**

" **James caught the snitch!" Gwendolyn declared in amazement; and then laughed when they heard cheers coming from the castle, locker rooms, and other places around the school grounds. "That must be the first time he truly beat Alex in a match!"**

" **It is," Al agreed; "but I'll put that loss on the United Managers," he advised her. "They didn't let Alex try to win today because they were playing the numbers – and likely waiting to see how the other matches played out. They may be okay with losing today, since they'll likely end up in third-place; and will be happy to have the Catapults in the top-eight instead of one of the other teams. That still sucks for Alex; since I think he's better than James."**

" **I do too, but since you don't want to watch that post-game show; let's turn that off; and just watch our Harpies match instead."**

 **Al was happy to do that, but they didn't escape the other match entirely; since the news was soon worked into the game commentary; and the impact on the playoffs implications was thoroughly-discussed by the experts and during some random interviews. They talked about James' big win some more with Lily, Jonah, and all of their team mates; since they stuck together for the walk back to their Houses; but Al was the lone Gryffindor still with Gwendolyn, Jonah, and his team mates for the last part of the walk to Ravenclaw tower while Lily led her team to the Gryffindor common room. That was something else that worked for Al too, since he got to have a few minutes alone with Gwendolyn while the Ravenclaw junior team went on ahead of her for their grand entrance; and then he missed out on the first round of crazy in the Gryffindor common room – as well as avoiding being noticed by nearly-everyone as he quietly joined Rose and sat down to continue watching the Harpies' match.**

" **Have you been keeping up?" Rose asked; and Al nodded while also pulling out his magical earbuds for emphasis.**

" **The Tornados are playing great, but the longer this match goes; the better our chances are. Aunt Gabrielle can out-last their Seeker."**

" **True, but I hope this match isn't too long; or that'll be tough on both teams heading into the first round of the playoffs," Rose suggested. "How's Lily doing? She's been busy; so I haven't talked to her yet."**

" **She's better now – and so is Jonah," Al assured her. "The match is over and done with; so there's no point in her letting it bug her anymore; and she'll learn from this mistake."**

" **Is it really a mistake?" Rose asked. "This did work out pretty well for our House; and Ollie's got nothing he can use to blame Lily if we don't win the Quidditch Cup now."**

" **Going for the big win wasn't the mistake," Al told her seriously – "it was acting as though she was willing to let Jonah catch the snitch for the narrow loss and then ambushing him with that last-second change of heart. He'd have been okay with it if she'd just been fair and told him up-front that she needed to try to play for a big win."**

" **Okay, that was a bit unfair – since she did do that," Rose conceded. "Trick plays are part of the game, though; so I'm still a bit on the fence about that one."**

" **This wasn't the same," Al insisted, "but it doesn't matter because I doubt that Lily will ever break that unspoken trust with someone she cares about so much ever again – and Jonah will not stop trusting her over this one mistake."**

" **That sounds good. Do you want to talk about James' match next – or at all? Half the partying going on around here is for that win – not the one our junior team earned."**

" **I really don't want to talk about it," Al decided. "James got his team into the playoffs; earned some rookie Seeker records along the way; and is due all of the credit he's getting for that. He's also still an enormous ego on legs with a seriously-bad attitude."**

" **He wouldn't be anywhere near the first player in the show like that – and that bad boy thing might keep working for him for a long time," Rose suggested; and Al smiled and shrugged.**

" **Let's hope that it doesn't last more than a couple of seasons; since we'd hate having James and his team beat ours twice a year once we're in the show too."**

" **That is so true," Rose agreed. "Since you don't want to talk about James, though; maybe we should talk about picking out a nice gift for Kira. From what I've heard around here; she really went all-out sticking up for you and the twins."**

 **Rose went on to tell him some of the rumors he hadn't heard yet; they continued to watch the Harpies' match; and had a bunch of fun little cameo moments with Lily, Hugo, their other favorite junior team Quidditch players, and some friends. Rose and Lily were both surprised when some of the stories going around the common room about Al were actually positive – and almost-entirely about something cute that he'd been seen doing with Jaimie and Lorie. There were some father-son diaper changing jokes that stunk worse than the messiest of diapers, but that was all fun too; and that trend continued as they headed for dinner in the Great Hall.**

 **The Harpies match was still on then; it moved into the sixth-hour while they were having that meal, and while the Harpies continued to hold a small lead; there still didn't seem to be any imminent risk of an end to the match. Al and Rose were talking about getting together with Gwendolyn, Brandon, and anyone else interested in some inter-House game watching, but that didn't end up being a problem when Gabrielle put on a brilliant play that totally faked-out her Tornados' opponent; she chased down the snitch unopposed; and made a spectacular catch to give the Harpies the four-sixty to two-eighty victory! That had happened shortly before dessert was served; so they also had time to watch the first round of post-game interviews and the game re-cap; and then they got together with a bunch of their friends to decide what to do for the evening.**

" **Okay, should we go back to the House parties; split up for an evening of couples-alone-time; or hang out together tonight?" Rose asked.**

" **I vote for an invitation-only pool party," Al offered quietly. "We could even do that in a couple of groups, if Lily, Jonah, and their team mates want to party for a while longer and then take over the pool in a couple of hours, we can use it first; let them have it when they're ready; and move on to do sometime else until shortly before curfew."**

" **I like that idea a lot," Lily assured him. "The parties are for us; so we really should at least go back to them for a while longer."**

" **And then we can pretend that we're too young to keep partying with the older teens," Jonah suggested.**

" **That'd work," Brandon told him; "but what's Al's excuse. He was likely partied out an hour before dinner!"**

" **I thought that he was supposed to avoid all parties for the rest of his life after that mess at the New Year's Eve party," Alyssa teased. "I vote for the House party – pool party combo – and I'm totally saying that because I like seeing Hugo in a swimsuit!" She laughed when Hugo blushed; and offered a quick hug and kiss.**

 **Alyssa also set the trend; and Al's suggestion was approved by all before they split up again to either get what they needed for their private pool party or to rejoin the House parties for a while first. Al and Ray were first to get to their classroom; they had the pool set up and the water nicely-warmed by the time their friends and cousins began arriving; and then it was time to play for a couple of hours. They weren't all in the pool the entire time, but Al and Gwendolyn joined in for the first swim; an Aqua Quidditch match; and more swimming near the end of 'their' time before the younger teens and tweens began to arrive; and then were ready to give the pool up to them and go on to do their own thing for the rest of the night.**

 **Those decisions had been different for each couple, but while Al and Gwendolyn decided to go off on their own; he'd set up his mirror and quite a bit of furniture at the other end of the room from the pool; and some of their friends decided to stay and hang out together while watching mirror network shows and mostly talking about school and league Quidditch – along with all of the gossip going around from all of those matches. Moving on to the Room of Requirements gave Al a chance for some mental quiet too, but after a long, eventful day; they were happy to cuddle on a sofa; have a bit of quiet, playful snogging fun; and then just rest and talk quietly about their day – and what they might expect in the coming month as they got ready for their OWL exams; she got ready for her final, winner-take-all Quidditch match; and they'd have the bonus weekly entertainment of the league playoffs over the next three weeks. It was definitely going to be strange to have family members to cheer for on four of those playoffs-bound teams, but they'd still cheer loudest for the Harpies; and only hope for the best for their relatives on the other three teams.**

 **Gwendolyn was on patrol at curfew; so they wrapped up their alone time so that they could help with packing and cleaning up from the pool party; Gwendolyn and Jonah ended up walking Al and Lily home; and then Al went straight up to his dorm room while Lily stayed in the common room for one more 'victory lap' before she planned on heading up to bed too. Al got ready for bed before any of his roommates joined him; he did a bit of toymaking and wrote up some ideas for the Cannons' project; and then had a bit of guy chat time with the three friends that did join him when they'd had enough fun for the day too. it was still comparatively-early when he did get to sleep, but after taking the day off; he wanted to be rested up for what was sure to be a long busy study day on Sunday – especially for friends that didn't get enough work done to keep up; or had other responsibilities like make-up Quidditch practices or Prefect meetings or duties to fit in around all of the weekend revision work.**

 **Ollie was in a foul mood as he sat up in his bed; took another drink; and ignored the Quidditch news recap show he'd picked on his portable mirror. Nobody had wanted to really party with him; he hadn't had any luck hooking up with any Witches hot-enough to deserve some quality time with him; and even his best mate had blown off having a mirror chat with him earlier – after ignoring his attempts to call him for hours before finally calling him in response to one of his dozens of mirror messages and giving him about thirty seconds of his precious time while showing off the super-hot Witch he was expecting to take home with him after the victory party.**

 **While he was stuck at Hogwarts with the Animorphpotty and the rest of the losers!**

 **James had promised to talk again on Sunday – as long as it was after-noon; but Ollie had wanted someone to talk with about the horror that his day had turned into – and get some advice about how to handle his current problems. James was too busy to help him out with that; thought that he'd simply called to offer his congratulations for getting 'his' team into the playoffs and making Alex Jordan look incompetent in the process; and hadn't wanted Ollie to mess up his own brilliant day with any Hogwarts-related crap.**

" **Well, James, if you were helping me out as any best mate should in my time of need; what would you tell me to do about all of this?" Ollie asked himself derisively.**

" **Start by pouring us another drink; and then tell me all about your problems," he self-answered in perfect imitation of his best mate's voice and attitude. He drained his glass; and refilled it. "Aren't you going to offer me one?" the imaginary version of his best mate demanded; and Ollie laughed.**

" **You've likely had enough at that party anyway," Ollie answered with a dismissive wave of his hand that had him spilling a bit of his drink onto his bed – though he didn't notice. "This is about me, remember?"**

" **Right – I'll try to remember that," inner-James promised.**

" **Let's see – my number one Quidditch problem is that your hand-picked back-up Seeker, it turns out, is a closet Animorphloser-lover; and I had to kick her off the team at the start of that crap excuse for a Quidditch match this morning."**

" **As you should have," his imaginary-James declared approvingly. "No problem there so far!"**

" **Except that I don't currently have a Seeker to play in our match against Ravenclaw," Ollie pointed out.**

" **So what? You won't be here because I'll get the Catapults to the championship match; you'll play in that game instead; and then we'll be too busy celebrating our league championship to give a damn about what happens in that match the following weekend!"**

" **You think that I should do nothing; and leave the guys hanging and short two players with less that two weeks before the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match?" Ollie asked.**

" **Do you care if you do?" inner-James asked in amusement.**

" **Well, not really," he admitted; "but they're already ticked off at me. I couldn't even get any of them to come drinking with me tonight!"**

" **You won't have that problem for much longer," inner-James assured him. "There's always a party going on out here somewhere; and Quidditch stars are always welcome!"**

" **Good to know – doesn't help me out while I'm still stuck in here with the Animorphloser. He's part of the problems today too. Your parents, the Mudblood Mommy, and the Animorphlitter were all here for the first few hours of the match today – before they went on to apparently go to your big match."**

" **The loser actually brought his puppies to the match?" inner-James crowed gleefully. "Rita Skeeter will have fun with that in her columns this week!"**

" **Probably," Ollie agreed; "but all of the Witches around here thought that they were all so cute and adorable that they've been annoying me to death with all of the Animorphloser-love stories going around here – and I've been flat-out called a liar at least a dozen times for defending you and trying to remind everyone that those brats aren't adorable – they're abominations!"**

" **We'll be league champions in three weeks," inner-James reminded him. "The loser will be Cannon-fodder. Did Lily let her not-my-boyfriend win today; or did they go for the tie instead the way any good Animorphpotty-lover should?"**

" **She faked Jonah into thinking she'd let him catch the snitch for the close loss; caught it herself; and then has been pretending ever since to feel bad about going for the big win instead," Ollie answered with a sneer. "The guys are happy to have a six-hundred and thirty point lead over Ravenclaw going into our match, but they're a bunch of idiots, James. They're going on about a tie-break instead of just deciding that we'll go out and take the win and the Quidditch Cup so that the points wouldn't matter!"**

" **They'd better change their attitudes about that by the time they join us with the Catapults," inner-James advised him. "I want winners on my team. If they want to be like that; they can go play for United – they're into trying to play the numbers instead of the game!"**

 **Ollie laughed. "I'm pretty sure that Louis doesn't want to be Belinda's back-up – even if Tiberius and Brock would both be happy to get behind Tina and back her up – against a wall or bed!" His inner-James laughed raucously at his joke – and he appreciated that after not getting any laughs all day no matter how hard he'd tried.**

" **That's funny – though their standards for Witch-hotness aren't all that high. Will there be anything else? I'm sure that I can find something more interesting to do – even if that's just having some fun with the Witches you keep hanging around in this cluttered mess of a mind. Those memories of Lacey in a swimsuit from a couple of summers ago would be fun to play with!"**

" **Keep your imaginary paws off of her!" Ollie warned; but joined in when his inner-James just laughed.**

" **I'm just a fire-whiskey-fueled halucination – though I'm still seriously getting bored with this, so if there's nothing else; I'll be going now."**

" **You never told me what you'd do about my Seeker problem," Ollie pointed out; and his imaginary best mate shrugged.**

" **You actually need to ask? I'd pick me to be Seeker. That's what the best players do – they choose themselves to do whatever it takes to win!"**

 **James glared at Ritchie with blood-shot eyes as he stomped into his own kitchen and flopped into a chair at the table. His assistant manager was going to end up being unemployed if he kept pestering him even on his days off, but Ritchie hadn't given him a choice about waking up and getting cleaned up and ready for the day.**

" **Okay, I'm here – why are you?" he demanded.**

" **I'm here because our boss made you my problem," Ritchie advised him. "You're my problem today because you wouldn't listen to me last night when I suggested that you take it easy on the partying; and I knew you wouldn't be ready for everything you have on the schedule for today."**

" **It's my day off – sleeping all day was the only thing on my schedule," James shot back; and Ritchie laughed.**

" **There are no days off during the playoffs, James. We have six days between each match to get ready for the next; you have more training; extra work to do with press conferences and mirror network shows; more social events – mostly luncheons and dinners; and you'll need to study everything about your opponents when you're not busy with the rest." James rolled his eyes and groaned. "Don't give me that. Do you want to be rich and famous or not? All of this goes with the territory, and if you think this is bad; wait until you find out what it's like for a Quidditch World Cup run and you have all of that and need to learn whatever you can about teams and players you've never even heard of before!"**

" **Fine – whatever," James groused. "So what's on my busy schedule for today?"**

" **A luncheon with sponsors and fans at one; a mirror network interview at three; dinner party from six-to-nine; a spot on Lee Jordan's show after that; and then some studying that you can do in bed; since that'll be after curfew."**

" **That doesn't sound too horrid," James decided. "I don't know why you think I need to study anything for our first-round match. Erin Connelly is a washed-up has-been. I beat her once; I'll do it again – and as many times as needed before she figures that out and puts herself out to pasture."**

" **We're in the playoffs now," Ritchie reminded him. "It won't just be about beating her – it'll be about doing that before the Prides have a one-sixty lead. There's no doubt that Erin can be messed with, since she has a short fuse, but if she keeps it together, she can still beat you – or keep you from catching the snitch until it's too late. They are the number two team for a reason, James; and I seriously-doubt that you want your first league playoff match to end in a loss – especially when you've been undefeated in your first eleven matches in the show!"**

" **I don't want that," James assured him; "but you should have more faith in me."**

" **No player, in the history of the game, has ever won every match they played in," Ritchie reminded him. "This isn't about faith in you – it's about getting you as ready to play your best as possible; and then giving it our all win or lose."**

 **James grinned at him. "Maybe I'll be the first to do that,' he suggested; and then scowled when Ritchie laughed.**

" **Sorry, and you're welcome to go for that from your start in the show, James; but we both know you've already lost matches while at Hogwarts. Jimmy is still my best mate; and my kids went to school with you – not to mention that our scouting reports do go back all the way to your firstie year there."**

" **Thanks for the reminder," James said scathingly. "Blame the losses on the Animorphloser – not me!"**

" **We had to deal with worse when we were at Hogwarts," Ritchie reminded him. "Learning from mistakes and facing adversity can make us stronger and better."**

" **You're losing me," James warned. "Save all of that nonsense for someone gullible-enough to believe it. Is there anything else you want to throw at me; or is it nearly time to get to this luncheon? Maybe there will be some Witches there worth nibbling on for a while!"**

 **Quidditch news was still at the top of the gossip network on Sunday; the league playoff match-ups were most-talked-about; the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match recaps and teen drama stories were next-best; some fans and players were looking ahead to the Hufflepuff-Slytherin senior team match on Saturday; and at least a few dozen teens and tweens had fun speculating about who would end up being Gryffindor's Seeker for their final match of the season. It was also the first day of May; and that fact alone seemed to remind quite a few students that their all-important end-of-term exams were now just weeks away instead of months; and that was an especially-big deal for the OWL and NEWT-year students.**

 **Al, Gwendolyn, and their usual study group friends worked all day – though not only on their studies. Gwendolyn had her make-up team practice during the late-morning time slot; the Prefects in their group had their meeting with the Heads after lunch; and Al split his time between toymaking and helping out around the castle while Gwendolyn was busy. They didn't have a Quidditch scrimmage because their junior team players needed a break after a long day on Saturday, but the evening study session was mixed in with family fun night; and that was the entertainment highlight of the day for them – whether that was thanks to the mirror chats with parents, Malorie, and the twins; or because Lee's nightly show was so much fun. The interview he did with James wasn't always fun for Al, but it was funny – even the parts that were funny in a horrid sort of way.**

 **By the time Al headed for the Owlery with Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah to send Winter off with her weekly Owl Post, Al was thinking a lot about the Battle of Hogwarts anniversary, and while that was on Monday; some of the fiercest fighting had happened on May First, and as they walked to the Owlery and then on to their Houses; he could imagine the scenes of destruction and death far too-vividly. His goodnight hug and kiss with Gwendolyn was done with a bit more effort and love; he reminded quite a few people that he loved them – even when it freaked them out and he got razzed about it; and it took him quite a while to get to sleep – which gave him time to do a bit of extra work so that he had something more to do than just revisit a past that he only knew about through his family, some friends, and the history books.**

" **You're doing more snap-dragons?" Rose asked Al as he met up with her part-way between the Room of Requirements and Gryffindor tower. "I thought you'd decided to switch and do them on April Fool's Day every year.**

 **Al shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I had an idea for them for today and decided to do a bouquet of them in the alcove. I only made up a few extras for some of the war heroes kids – and the Professors too."**

" **What do these flowers do?" she asked.**

" **An assortment of the original wheezes from back then,' Al answered while holding out a small bag of the little plant treats. I won't spoil the fun for you; but try one of the red ones; since I'm rather proud of that one."**

 **Rose opened the bag and did that; and then laughed when her snap-dragon ate it; turned away from her; and spit it back outagain and up into the air – where it exploded into a miniature whizz-bang explosion.**

" **How did you manage to make that one?" Rose asked.**

" **The whizz-bang wasn't that tough to miniaturize," Al answered seriously. "It was tougher to make sure that the snap-dragon wouldn't just shoot it at someone; since I didn't want it going off in someone's face."**

" **I've never even tried to actually make any whizz-bangs," Rose advised him; and Al smiled and shrugged.**

" **You can just ask your Dad to send a box of them – but you could make them if you wanted. That magic is actually not very tough to learn compared to most of our OWL-year work."**

" **Maybe not," Rose conceded; "but a whizz-bang boquet could be a very popular new wheeze – especially if they can set off those minature whiz-bangs over and over again. What else do you have in this little bag of tricks?"**

" **It'll be more fun if you just experiment and have fun with that today," Al suggested. "We should try to call Victoire as early as we can get everyone together. She'll likely go to work early to get ready for her first-round match on Saturday."**

" **That'll be a fun way to spend her birthday – with an extra-tough training day – and extra homework to do too."**

" **We can hope that I'll have that problem with my birthdays starting in about three years," Al suggested with a grin. "Victoire and I will both pick the work over getting our birthdays off because we didn't make it into the playoffs at all."**

" **You're just saying that because you don't like parties," Rose told him; and Al laughed.**

" **Everyone seems to agree that I shouldn't attend parties anymore, but it isn't that I don't like parties – I just don't like all of the trouble that comes my way at most of them."**

" **I'd file a complaint; but you're not really wrong," Rose teased. "Let's swing by the alcove; stop to meet up with Gwendolyn and Brandon; and gather anyone that wants to join us to wish Victoire a happy birthday so that we can do that before breakfast in the Great Hall."**

 **They did that; shared some fun and sad moments with their family and friends; had breakfast; and then needed to get to work for the rest of the day as their Professors took their exam preparations to the next level yet again. Quidditch season was done with for the junior teams, so Al didn't have extra workouts with Lily, but he did still have some Quidditch fun with Rose, Lily, and some other friends when they needed a break from the work. There was a lot going on around Hogwarts, but Al tried to stay busy and out of the news while other stories became hotter chat topics – including everything to do with the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match and the teen dramas going on around that. There weren't any special events going on during the school week until Friday; and Al tried his best to downplay his own sixteenth birthday – though that was tough to do when he received a half-dozen Owl Posts and was offered a lot of birthday best wishes from more teens and tweens than he'd have expected.**

 **He didn't let any of that get in the way of his school day; studying after last class until dinnertime wasn't a problem; and his own study plans for the day didn't change until Gwendolyn and Rose surprised him with a 'real' birthday party after dinner. They'd decided that they needed to do that for him this year, but they had also made it invitation-only; so there were only teens and tweens at the party that truly wanted to share a few happy hours with him. They swam; had some music fun; played games; and had some snacks, drinks, and a birthday cake. Al managed to get through the party without any drama at all; and Gwendolyn led him off an hour or so ahead of curfew so that she could wrap up his special day with some fairly-brilliant birthday snogging before walking him home and then going out on her Prefect patrol with Susannah.**

 **While he'd have been just as happy to study all evening instead of having a party, Al loved everyone for making the effort to give him such a special evening. He couldn't just leave the work undone until Sunday, though, when they were already going to be taking Saturday off, so once he was back in his dorm room and ready for bed; he got his mirror and books out; and worked on his weekend revision for a couple of hours – and kicked that up into his highest gear to get as much done as possible before needing to call it a night and get some sleep. With a total of five Quidditch matches to follow on Saturday; he was sure that he was going to need to be well-rested to keep up with all of the action!**

 **Game day at Hogwarts was almost-always an exciting time – especially when the weather was good; but Al had to work at getting centered and happy as he got ready for the day and then went to spend some time in the Room of Requirements that included a meditative martial arts workout. Rose and Lily were both with him for the morning walk and talk; and then he and Rose had fun with their breakfast adventure that included a lot of Quidditch and teen drama gossip entertainment. There was some bonus entertainment for Al from what he sensed around him, with the highlight for that being an explanation for why Ollie hadn't made it to breakfast – and likely wouldn't be at the Quidditch stadium either.**

 **That news had come from the thoughts and emotions of the McClaggen brothers. He'd needed to wait until they actually thought about Ollie, but while he couldn't approve of what they'd done to their Captain and team mate; he could at least commiserate with their motivation for doing it. They apparently hadn't needed to do more than offer to have a few drinks with Ollie to get him started on the way to extreme inebriation, but they had gotten creative to make it appear as though they were keeping up with him for the hours it took to get him far-enough along to pass out; and then they went out of their way not to disturb him in the morning – and managed to do all of that without raising the suspicions of any of Brock and Ollie's roommates. Al didn't talk about what he'd learned with Rose, Gwendolyn, or anyone else; and he tried not to feel guilty that Ollie wouldn't be at the match and likely offering his usual insults, crude jokes, and ridiculous play-by-play.**

 **He was also a very happy camper when Gwendolyn, Brandon, Seth, and Jonah advised them that they'd be sitting with their favorite Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in support of Susannah's House; and had approval for doing that from Peter – or from himself, in Jonah's case. They were part of a fairly-large gang of teens and tweens that went outside after breakfast and mostly played around near the lake before heading to the stadium. Decent, if not sunny, weather made it comfortable to be outdoors without a lot of heavy clothing or cloaks; so the stadium seating filled up early; and they got a bit lucky to pick seats along the border between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff that allowed them to sit together in a block of four rows that spanned the aisle dividing the students in the two Houses. Al and Gwendolyn ended up in the row behind Rose and Brandon; while Susannah was in her section, but next to Rose; and Seth sat with her. Lily and Jonah were next to Gwendolyn, but they mostly talked with their younger friends and Lily's team mates as they waited for the match to start.**

" **Do we need to send gifts and thank-you cards to Louis or any of the other guys to thank them for sitting somewhere else today?" Gwendolyn asked Al when she saw Louis and Deanna making their way up to seats that were closer to the Slytherin section than to them – along with the rest of his team mates and their dates for the game. "If Ollie does show up; he'll sit with them instead of by himself and near us."**

" **You don't need to send gifts – they've done that for their own reasons – to keep Ollie from messing things up with the Witches again," Al advised her; and she looked at him expectantly.**

" **You're not telling me everything," she accused.**

" **No, and I'll be okay with it if that bit of gossip doesn't get out onto the school grapevine. Let's just be glad of the reprieve and try to enjoy the match today."**

" **Are you expecting trouble?" Gwendolyn asked next.**

" **I expect Slytherin to play the way they normally do; and that's going to make for a tough day for our Hufflepuff friends."**

" **Our friends on their team don't exactly want to be friends with us anymore; but we can cheer for them anyway – and for Myra and the other guys," Gwendolyn suggested. "I hope they'll do well too; since I really don't like the way nearly everyone on Slytherin's team plays the game."**

" **Neither do I," Rose leaned back and offered, "but they do help us a lot – by giving us a taste of what we'll need to deal with from teams like the Falcons."**

" **So you're saying that you hope that Slytherin never starts playing fair?" Brandon asked; and Rose laughed.**

" **That might happen before the Falcons do that," she admitted – "and I don't want to hear any jokes about either being more-likely than a Cannons' championship!"**

" **No need to – now," Lily told her. "Will you add that zinger to your list too?"**

 **That joke diverted all of them for a while; Teresa and Kylie started their pre-game show; and they talked about the Quidditch Cup and Senior team standings while their announcers provided that entertainment – and then the teams and players Smith got another shout-out for his one match with the Catapults, but the accolades for the players on both teams were slim pickings; and Teresa and Kylie tried to have more fun with other commentary – including Kylie's expanded ranking of Wizard hotness for the match. Mr. Peakes made short work of his moment in the pre-game spotlight; and then he got the match started a few minutes early.**

 **Al tried to enjoy the show, but just couldn't do that – even when he got to watch really good plays mixed in with a lot of really rotten gamesmanship from the Slytherin team. They'd really worked on their cheap shots and cheating; and were having far too much fun trying to bash all of the Hufflepuff players. One thing that was different from the Falcons with this Slytherin team was that they didn't just sit back and let Hufflepuff score goals without care for them doing that. In fact, Scorpius led the way and out-played Roman Smith while the Zabini brothers had fun pounding on Tory and Jonah Finch-Fletchley. Scorpius was playing tougher too, and getting in some cheap shots along the way, but he was smart about doing that; and didn't get caught in the act even once by Mr. Peakes – though Al saw or sensed every cheap shot and foul inflicted on the Hufflepuff players by every Slytherin player.**

" **Scorpius has taken his game to a new low," Gwendolyn told Al quietly after seeing one particularly-painful hit that he made while passing Tory as he switched from offense to defense – a hit that would have been legitimate if not for the 'accidental' punch that Tory likely hadn't even seen herself – though Al knew she'd felt it in a sensitive area.**

" **It's the company he's keeping," Al suggested. "He thinks that adding some toughness to his game will help him against the best players in the other Houses."**

" **Well, he's right about that," Gwendolyn conceded, "but I'd still never want to win by cheating."**

" **Me either," Al agreed. "How would you defend yourself against a cheap shot like that? Tory obviously didn't see it coming."**

" **I probably wouldn't have from that angle of attack either," Gwendolyn admitted thoughtfully. "Knowing it's a risk from Scorpius is an advantage, but that kind of pushing and shoving is part of the match; so I'd likely just have to take the hit and play on."**

" **You might have to take the hit," Al agreed; "but you might be able to change where you took that hit – catch it on your hip or one of your pads. Just a tap of the brakes as if you were going to peg your broom would lift your body just a bit – and still allow you to continue on if you were fighting for position."**

" **That sounds easy-enough – for you," Gwendolyn told him with a smile. "A bit too much, though; and I'd be into the flip – and possibly more-vulnerable while inverted."**

" **That's true," Al agreed; "but I just meant it as an example to be thinking about those hits in three dimensions instead of two. Any shift away from the intended target of those sorts of cheap shots will reduce the risk of real injury – or inappropriate contact."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Are you worried about me taking hits like that strictly for decency's sake?" she teased.**

" **Not only for that; but it is a factor in why I hate seeing Wizards play like that against Witches," Al admitted.**

" **I don't either; but it's a fact of the game for Witches. Working on positioning moves to do a better job of taking those hits is a good idea, but it's tough to practice; since you wouldn't cheat like that to help me learn how to do that."**

" **I won't," Al agreed, "but we might be able to come up with a way to do that where you wouldn't be at risk of getting hurt. Let's talk about that another time and see what we can come up with."**

 **Their chat moved on, but the game-watching didn't get any easier. The hits on the Hufflepuff players kept piling up, and while the scoring was close through the first hour; the minor injuries started affecting each of the players a lot – if in different ways. Myra only gave up four goals, but she'd taken a lot of hits with every save; and was slowing down fast. Tory didn't score any goals because she was soon too-timid after getting hit every time she touched the quaffle. Madison took the hits and played on with fierce determination; but the cheap shots from G-Air also gave him openings that he just hadn't been able to take advantage of early in the match as Madison was still fast-enough to recover from those hits and get back into the plays. Roman dealt with Scorpius better than Jonah handled Davis; but that was mostly because Scorpius didn't get away with any cheap shots against Roman and saved that up for helping Blaise with bashing Tory instead when he could do that.**

 **Slytherin took a thirty-to-twenty lead into the second hour, and as their hits kept coming; Scorpius began to out-pace Roman. The score climbed to eighty-to-forty by the end of the second hour; and the match went downhill for Hufflepuff from there through until G-Air ended the match with just minutes to go in the third hour. By then, Scorpius had led his team to a one-forty to fifty lead; Roman had scored four of Hufflepuff's five goals; and Tory had only managed one while Jonah had been blanked – though he had earned three assists. G-Air won his duel with Madison, but it had taken yet another dirty foul to get that chance to catch the snitch; and Mr. Peakes hadn't caught the cheap shot thanks to the interference run by Don Rosier that kept the referee from noticing anything. G-Air's follow-up celebration was James-worthy and then some, but Madison ignored him and flew straight to the ground – ready to just get off of her broom and deal with her team's third loss of the season.**

" **That stinks," Gwendolyn declared quietly. "Two-ninety to fifty; and those gits probably earned two-hunded and fifty of those points by cheating."**

" **Two-thirty," Al amended. "Scorpius scored six of his ten goals with clean plays – though that doesn't count the fouls he got away with on defense."**

" **Well, I feel so much better," Gwendolyn deadpanned. "Do you want to offer to help our Hufflepuff friends in front of everyone; or sneak around to the locker room and wait for them there?"**

" **I'll pick option two," Al answered seriously. "Slytherin doesn't deserve our congratulations; but that's up to you whether you want to do that or not."**

" **It isn't, actually," Gwendolyn advised him. "Peter's ordered us to play nice with both teams regardless of which team won today."**

 **Since Brandon and Seth had those same orders, and Susannah wanted to help console her Hufflepuff friends; Al went along out to center pitch; joined in and played nice – even when most of the Slytherins were obnoxious toward them; and then he and Gwendolyn left the stadium and went around to the Hufflepuff locker room. They had to wait for a little while before the seven players caught up with them; and then Al had six happy Hufflepuffs when he offered to help them out with the aches, pains, and a couple of more-serious, but easily-treatable injuries. Tory was not happy – and tried to refuse his help.**

" **No – thank-you," she said icily when Al had finished with everyone else and she couldn't avoid him anymore. "I'm fine."**

" **You're not," Al disagreed; but stayed at arm's-length while focusing his attention on her; his eyes filled with compassion. "You have two cracked ribs from where Scorpius punched you and he and Blaise kept hitting you there – among other places they tried to focus their hits against you."**

" **He punched me? That's what happened?" Tory demanded; and Al nodded.**

" **Yes. He hid the foul perfectly, and you obviously didn't know what he'd done; but we saw that hit from where we were sitting." He took a small step closer and caught her gaze again. "Please let me help you," he asked gently. "If you think you hurt now; getting your gear off will really, really suck, Tory."**

 **She sighed. "Fine – but this won't change anything with how I feel about you!"**

" **As long as it changes how rotten you feel right now; I'm okay with that," he assured her.**

 **She tensed when he put his hands on her arms; her eyes widened with the shock as he let his healing power rush into her; and she flinched when they all heard the cracking bones as he healed them – but didn't feel anything more than pressure as he kept the area numbed while doing that. He healed the rest of her injuries; and then stepped back again and took Gwendolyn's hand.**

" **Thank you," he said simply. "We'll get out of here now."**

 **Some of Tory's team mates grinned at him, but she didn't; and he and Gwendolyn really did leave then and head for the Great Hall; since lunch was going to be served soon and the Hufflepuff players still needed to get cleaned up and changed before getting to the castle for that meal too. Al stayed with Gwendolyn as long as he could; ate quickly; and then left the Great Hall to go and get their classroom set up for the Quidditch match-watching that was starting with the Harpies and United matches while the Prides had one of the late matches against the Catapults. He'd wanted to get away from the mental cacophony in the Great Hall, but while the emotions coming from around the Slytherin table had been the worst; there were dark emotions coming from a lot of Hufflepuffs too – all of them offended at the loss that Slytherin had needed to so overtly-cheat during to get their tainted victory.**

 **Gwendolyn hadn't come with him, but she was with the first group to join him; and was happy to sit down with him on their usual sofa because he had most of the work done by then and he was watching Lee's pregame show. They talked about all of the Quidditch matches with their friends; everyone that had wanted to come was there by the time the Harpies-Magpies match started; and they had the United-Tornados playing on a half-dozen portable mirrors – though there was general agreement that the match between the third and sixth-place teams would likely be the better match. Al just planned on cheering for his favorite players; and hoped for the best for his cousins and older friends of their families.**

" **What do you think of the expert picks for today?" Gwendolyn asked Al quietly. "You didn't offer an opinion."**

 **Al smiled and shrugged. "They might have them right – or not."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed quietly. "That's not very helpful. You don't even want to offer an opinion for the Wasps-Falcons match?"**

" **I don't even want to watch that match – especially since I hit my limit for that sort of sportsmanship about five minutes into the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match."**

" **How are you going to handle teams and players like that when you're up against them in the show?" Gwendolyn asked seriously; and Al smiled a bit grimly.**

" **Possibly rather badly," Al answered. "It'll be tough-enough to deal with them trying to bash Mum, Rose, or anyone else on the Cannons' team; but it'll be even worse for me to sit back and watch them do that to you or Lily with the Harpies."**

" **You'll have to learn to deal with it," Gwendolyn advised him. "We don't have to like it, but it's part of the game; and I'm willing to take the bad with all of the good – not to mention that it does feel great when you win matches over gits like that!"**

" **True, but it hurts even more when you don't – or at least that's what our Mums tell us."**

" **Yes, but they had your Dad to help them out with the pain – and I'll have you," Gwendolyn reminded him; and Al grinned.**

" **That might depend on whether your next game is against my team after one of those bad Falcons' matches,' he suggested. "Rose might not want me helping your team once I'm working for the Cannons."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "You'd help me anyway – or else," she warned. "That's funny, though; and you've managed to dodge actually answering my original question. I guess we'll just have to watch the games and find out what happens!"**

 **Al was happy to do that with her – and with everyone else in the room too. For the 'main event' early match; the Magpies came to play, and they fought very hard; but the Harpies were obviously better right from the start of the match. Both Keepers were playing brilliantly, so while the Harpies out-scored the Magpies by three-to-one; that also only translated into a thirty-to-ten lead through the first hour; and a sixty-to-twenty lead by the end of the second. While that battle continued on Al's larger mirror; the United-Tornados' match got Al's and Gwendolyn's attention a lot on his portable mirror too. That match was even more-fierce, but the great goals-keeping was only happening with Belinda, so while the Chase trios were well-matched; United scored goals regularly while Belinda had a shut-out going through the first two hours.**

 **Vicky would have known how Belinda was doing if she checked the stadium scoreboard that would be keeping track of the other matches for the fans watching the Harpies-Magpies match; so that might have had something to do with why she continued to play a brilliant match – even after Alex ended the season for the Tornados in the third hour with a great snitch catch that was sure to make the quidditch highlights replays for the rest of the weekend. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey kicked their game up another notch; and widened their lead to one-hundred to thirty by the end of the third hour, and while that match rolled into the fourth; the portable mirrors in the room were switched over to the Prides-Catapults' match. That battle began a lot like the United-Tornados game, and while all of the Catapults' players showed up and tried their best; Meghan was the hot Keeper in that match; while Alice, Francine, and Daniella were having a lot of success with some quality Beater support from Jensen and Stanley.**

 **While the Prides jumped out to a strong, early lead during the first hour of their match, and James appeared to be having fun doing his best to taunt and anger Erin Connelly; Gabrielle was obviously wearing down her Magpies' opponent as the fourth hour of that match wound down – right up until she flat-out beat him with a snitch catch that was at least as good as the one that Alex had made to earn the win for his team. By then, the score had been one-forty to just forty; so that catch gave the Harpies a two-ninety to forty victory; and sent the Harpies through to the second-round of the playoffs!**

 **With that match finished; they switch the bigger mirror over to the Prides-Catapults' match, but most of them still used their portables to watch snippets of the post-game show for the Harpies for a while; and then switched over to the Wasps-Falcons' match once the first round of interviews and the post-game recap was finished. Except for James and Miya, despite the fact that the other Catapults players had shown up and were actually playing hard; the Prides were dominating the match – and it didn't look good for James and his team. The Prides had a fifty-to-naught lead by the end of the first hour; it was one-hundred to ten by the time they needed to go for dinner in the Great Hall; and they all made that a very quick food break before hurrying back to their study classroom and continuing to watch the matches still in progress – which was easy to do because Al had sealed the room instead of packing everything up before going to dinner.**

 **Miya had only managed to earn her second goal of the match by the end of the third hour thanks to Meghan's stellar Keeper performance while the Prides' Chasers had fifteen goals between them. That was great for Prides fans, but Al also appreciated just how brilliantly Miya was playing – especially when her new-found Chaser 'help' actually seemed to slow her down as the two Wizards wasted a lot of time trying to score goals without helping her at all. That effort on their part was a total fail; and Meghan stopped everything they threw at her – which made Miya's accomplishments that much more amazing. She scored her third goal of the match early in the fourth hour, but Francine and Daniella answered with two more; and then it was time for the Seeker duel to go white-hot.**

 **The mirror network didn't show the start of the race for the snitch between James and Erin on the 'live' view; so they didn't get to see the start of that race until the replays were shown later; so they only got to catch the last ten seconds or so before the snitch was caught – as James and Erin both went all-out on an extremely high-risk play. Al got the flash of foresight just ahead of the end of the match; but couldn't do anything more than watch on with everyone else as James caught the snitch; he and Erin both tried to pull out of the sweeping, curving dive; James basically bounced off Erin to avoid crashing; and sent her spinning out of control and crashing into the stadium seats – and the Witches and Wizards sitting there while he flew off with the snitch held high as he started to do a victory lap without even looking back to see what he'd done. He was on the other side of the stadium before he even noticed that the crowd had gone silent as everyone was focused on where Erin had crashed and the obviously injured Prides' Seeker and possibly more than a dozen spectators that had been caught up in the crash.**

" **Merlin!" Gwendolyn exclaimed – and she wasn't the only teen or tween in the room to vocalize their shock.**

 **The mirror network was showing the scene; so they all saw when Harry apparated into view from wherever he'd been in the stadium; and he went straight to Erin and knelt next to where she'd landed in a tangled, unconscious heap. Al felt a strong sense of déjà vu as they watched his father apparently assess Erin's injuries; put her into a body-bind to protect her injuries; and then simply apparate out of sight again – taking her along for the ride to St. Mungo's.**

" **Well, he didn't borrow a broom; but the rest of us see where you get your saving damsels in distress thing from," Brandon joked; trying to break the tension in the room.**

" **You didn't know that before now?" Gwendolyn asked. "Uncle Harry's had a long history of doing that sort of thing – starting with Aunt Ginny in her first year here at Hogwarts."**

" **Actually, he and my Dad saved my Mum from that troll in their first year," Rose reminded her, "but let's not get started on that again. We've already decided that Uncle Harry is still way ahead of Al when it comes to rescuing Witches." She nodded toward the mirror. "That's at least three Seekers he's saved. How many does Al have?"**

" **I thought you didn't want to go there," Gwendolyn teased. "Al's saved two from James; so he's one ahead of his Dad on that one."**

" **Okay, but for those of us who dont' know, and assuming you're talking about Al's Mum for one of those Seekers; whome else did he save?"**

" **Aunt Gabrielle," Rose answered. "He saved her during the Tri-Wizard Tourney back in his fourth-year here during the second challenge. Aunt Gabrielle was Aunt Fleur's loved one that she was supposed to rescue from the bottom of the lake."**

" **So being a trouble-magnet really does run in your family," Seth declared. "Was your grandfather a..." he trailed off; and then shook his head as his grin turned into a frown. "Sorry, mate."**

" **It's okay," Al assured him; "and yes, that sort of thing has run in our family – though in my Grandpa James' case; I'm pretty sure that Grandma Lily saved him."**

" **From himself," Lily added. "There are more Medi-Witches and Wizards arriving now. That's not a good sign."**

 **They all watched on as the focus of the post-game action was on the medical triage going on at the stadium. All of the remaining Prides' players could be seen helping out where they could; comforting both the injured spectators and their families or other loved ones; and earning a lot of new fans along the way. Miya was the only Catapults player to join them; and she eventually ended up sitting with a young brother and sister and taking care of them while their parents were both being treated for injuries that had been worse because they'd apparently protected their kids with their own bodies – or at least that was the story being told by one of the reporters on the scene.**

 **Those stories were heartwarming despite the seriousness of the situation at the stadium, but on the flip side of that; James' ongoing post-game celebration and interviews were awful to watch – or at least Al thought so. He wasn't sorry that Erin crashed and was seriously-injured; blamed it all on her being an old, washed up has-been; and shrugged off the spectator injuries while suggesting that if they'd been on their feet cheering for him like they should have been; they'd have been able to dive out of the way and been fine. The other five Catapults' players didn't go that far, but they looked and sounded like a bunch of hypocritical gits for jumping on the James Potter bandwagon and celebrating their huge, upset victory after spending most of the season doing nothing at all to help their team – a fact that likely had a lot to do with why they weren't up to playing nearly as well as the top players in the league.**

 **Al didn't want to watch any of that nonsense, but they continued to watch the post-game show until all of the injured Witches and Wizards had either been healed or moved on to St. Mungo's for further treatment. Once that was over, they switched to the Wasps-Falcons' match on the bigger mirror; Al watched that for only a few minutes; and then invited Gwendolyn to go on to the Room of Requirements with him to do anything other than watching the Falcons pound on the Wasps' players – which they were doing so successfully that they'd already sent one Wasps' Chaser to St. Mungo's; and most of his team mates were playing injured too.**

 **Gwendolyn had agreed to do that with them; the mental and emotional quiet helped Al to get re-centered again; and the cuddle time with Gwendolyn went a long way toward putting some happy back into his life. There were some soft kisses and caresses too, but neither of them felt as though a major snogging session was appropriate; and it was enough to just be together and wind down from a long, emotional day. They went back to their study classroom in time to help with the clean-up ahead of curfew; Al walked Gwendolyn home while most of their friends hurried to their own common rooms so that they could continue watching the epic battle between the Wasps and Falcons that was only still going on because the Wasps wouldn't give up; and Brand wouldn't catch the snitch to end the game – even after he could do that for the win once his team had reduced the Wasps' lead to under one-hundred and fifty points again after being down big early in the match.**

 **While most of his fellow students couldn't resist watching that trainwreck of a match – including Lily and Rose; Al still didn't even want to keep up with the score for that match once he was back in Gryffindor tower; he went up to his room; and got ready for bed. All of his roommates were in the common room watching the match, so he got several toys out and started working on more of the Quidditch World Cup Animorphmagus mascots that they were also starting to customize now that all of the National teams had been chosen. He was an hour into that work when he sensed Ollie's approach; he had time to put his toys away; and had his mirror out and a music channel picked instead of the Quidditch match. Ollie was unsteady as he walked into the room; and Al sensed that he was well on the way to ending his night by passing out – something that he'd hopefully make it to his dorm room and bed before doing it.**

" **So – music does soothe the savage beast," Ollie slurred drunkenly while sneering darkly at Al – though it had taken him about ten seconds to process what he was seeing and hearing once he was even able to focus his attention on Al at all. He scowled when Al laughed. "That's an insult, Animorphidiot!"**

" **Yes, but it's one of your funnier insults; so congratulations – I like it!"**

 **Ollie snorted. "You're such a loser – unlike James. Is that why you're hiding in here, hermit? Can't stand having everyone find out that he's been right all along? He took the number two team to school today; he'll make fools out of United again next weekend; and then we'll wrap up our undefeated rookie season by destroying your precious Harpies!"**

" **We?" Al asked innocently. "Don't you mean that James will do all of that? You'll be here; getting ready to lead your team to Quidditch Cup victory over Ravenclaw the week after the league championship match, right?"**

" **We – our team – my team!" Ollie stammered and slurred.**

" **Got it," Al agreed with a nod. "For a moment there, it sounded as though you were planning on quitting school too – and abandoning your mates less than two weeks before your big match. If the Harpies do make it to the championship match – and the Catapults do too; I'm sure that Victoire will be relieved to know that she won't have to go up against one of the only undefeated Chasers in the entire league!"**

 **The sarcasm was lost on Ollie; and he smirked at Al. "I'm the only undefeated Chaser in the league. It should be me playing on the National team – not Miya or Victoire!"**

" **Roman's undefeated too," Al reminded him; "and Miya's on the reserve squad for the National team. Victoire won the top Chaser award for the league, but you are undefeated, and have scored six goals in the show and five so far with Gryffindor, but that only ties you with Roman near the bottom of the league standings; and you're currently in seventh-place for the Chaser rankings at Hogwarts – for the senior teams."**

" **That's rubbish!" Ollie declared angrily.**

" **If you say so," Al agreed amiably. "You do still have one match to go, though, while Scorpius and Roman have played their third match; so you could move up to fifth, or maybe even fourth – if you can out-score Mark - though he's quite a bit ahead of you for total goals and assists."**

" **You're just spouting off nonsense," Ollie spat angrily. "I'm the best player at Hogwarts!"**

" **You are – as long as you keep substituting your reality for the one the rest of us live in," Al amended; smiling as he watched Ollie try to process that barb.**

" **Keep laughing it up, loser," Ollie snarled. "James and I are going to be league champions, rich, famous, and loved by everyone! You'll be Cannon fodder – and then you'll be dead!"**

" **That's true – though I'll hope to play on the Cannons' team for a long time; and that it'll be a century or two before I pass into the Light."**

" **You should just kill yourself right here and now," Ollie told him. "That'd be better for you than what James and I have planned for you."**

" **Careful, Ollie," Al warned. "You'll be seventeen next week; and talk like that can land you in Azkaban."**

 **Ollie snorted. "As if anyone would believe a cheating, lying git like you!"**

 **Al sighed. "Whatever, Ollie. Have you had enough fun for tonight? You've pretty much covered all of your usual repertoire of insults now; and I'd like to get back to having some peace and quiet in here."**

" **Well, if that's what you want – I'll stick around and make your life miserable!" Ollie declared.**

" **You can't do that," Al advised him; and Ollie snorted.**

" **Watch me," he taunted.**

" **No," Al answered. "Stay if you want; but I'm done with listening to you." With that said; he waved his wand while Ollie jumped back, tripped, and fell over backward; put up a shield around himself and his bed, trunk, and night table; and pretended to go back to using his mirror while ignoring Ollie.**

 **He continued to do that when Ollie scrambled to his feet again; tried to blast his shield but couldn't focus his magic or even say the curses clearly-enough for them to work; and then stand there and shout at him for a few minutes before giving up and stalking out of the room – though he did that in a drunken, unbalanced way that had Al sure he really would pass out soon – whether he made it to his own dorm room and bed or not. Once Ollie was gone, he dropped his shield; got his toys out again; and worked for a while longer until he started to hear quite a few of the guys heading up the stairs; and knew that the Falcons had won their match over the Wasps – an accomplishment that they had no right to be proud of at all! By the time that he was joined by two of his roommates, Al had his things put away; he talked with them about the Falcons' match for a few minutes while they got ready for bed too; and then he turned out his light and went off to sleep.**

 **With the first-round playoffs matches decided, and half of the senior teams finished with their Quidditch season too; only the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams were still focused on Quidditch by Sunday morning – and that wasn't true for the entire Gryffindor team; since their Captain hadn't booked an extra practice to help with getting ready for their match in three weeks. Gwendolyn had a make-up practice with her team, but Al only had some Quidditch play time while taking a short break from all of the studying. Weekend revision was the focus of teen andtween efforts for nearly-every Hogwarts student; though that work went better for the prepared few than it did for the procrastinators that were finally catchin on that they couldn't get a week's worth of revision finished in a few hours on Sunday morning or afternoon.**

 **Al, Rose, and Susannah led their group study sessions; they worked all morning in their study classroom; split their afternoon time between the Potions dungeon, the Quidditch scrimmage at the practice pitch, and some work in the greenhouses before dinner. The evening study time was once again mixed in with the family fun night; and that got even more-entertaining as some of the other teens in their group had mirror chats with their parents too – which kept that fun going for hours as they took turns having those chats with their parents. Talking with Malorie and the twins was still the best part of that for Al, but he liked hearing about news from his friends' homes too. Ending the weekend with the visit to the Owlery and walking Gwendolyn home was a short, but nice break before bedtime, and then Al pretty much went straight to bed and off to sleep after he got up to his dorm room; and he really needed the extra sleep after another too-busy weekend.**

 **The busy weekend trend was going to continue for the second weekend of the month because they had a Hogsmeade weekend as well as the second-round playoffs matches, but Al, Gwendolyn, and all of their favorite teens and tweens had a lot of classwork and studying to get through before taking another Saturday off to play in town or in and around the castle. While Al was able to concentrate on his studies more than most of his friends, he still had time to play with his toymaking; he had two Quidditch scrimmages thanks to the extra, open practice pitch time slots; and he continued to help out around the castle wherever he could – and as quietly as possible while helping other students in need. He worked late every night; helped Gwendolyn as much as he could while she was too-busy with studying, Quidditch, and Prefect duties; and he put in extra time on his toymaking after curfew because they were closing in on deadlines that needed to be hit so that those toys could be made in time for the first-round matches that would be happening on the Saturday after they got out of Hogwarts for the summer.**

 **By Saturday morning, Al was ready for the day off, but didn't actually do that right away. He got up early, followed his usual morning routine; and then did some bonus toymaking work before meeting up with Rose and Lily for their morning walk and talk. Breakfast was an adventure in teen drama gossip; and the first Hogsmeade weekend since the Easter holiday was the first opportunity for some teens to try to take new relationships to the next level with a 'real' date day in town. Al and Gwendolyn had a date in town too – with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie. That's why Al gave Gwendolyn a speedy ride to town once they'd gotten together after breakfast and had been set free for the day. Malorie's visit to Hogsmeade wasn't a surprise, but she had a bonus surprise for them when she offered to leave Jaimie and Lorie with them for the morning while she went to do some work at home, and while Al was happy to accept the babysitting gig; he had to share the twins with Lily – and with Rose, Susannah, and quite a few of their friends. Malorie stayed with them until Lily and Jonah caught up with Al and Gwendolyn, but then she headed for home again; and left Al and Lily to work out a twin-sharing deal.**

" **This is brilliant!" Lily said enthusiastically as she held Lorie and smiled happily. "It would have been fun to spend the morning with Malorie too; but I'm glad that we can actually help her out today too."**

" **Mum and Dad would've watched them for her – or Grandma would have done it," Al pointed out. "They're a lot closer; so this is all about giving us time with Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **Then we should get all three of them a little thank-you gift," Gwendolyn suggested. "They have a big Quidditch match to watch today. Maybe we can get something that they can have while they're doing that."**

" **Maybe we should've brewed up some Polyjuice and changed into them so you and I could have gone to that game instead," Lily suggested with a grin. "I'm sure that Al would've been happy to keep the twins here with him while we did that."**

" **How would you handle taking more doses to keep up the disguise?" Al asked her. "Put it in their bottles and hope you get them given to you often-enough? You'd also need someone to change you into diapers and baby clothes before Malorie gets back here to pick you up. I might even be able to sneak Jaimie and Lorie into Hogwarts, but unless you're going to have them be you too; you'd be in trouble if you don't get back to the castle and signed back in again on time."**

" **You don't have to go and point out all of the flaws in my brilliant plan," Lily pretended to grouse while pouting. "Maybe I just really miss getting to have Mum and Dad cuddle with me like they do with Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **Jonah will be happy to cuddle with you while we watch those Quidditch matches this afternoon," Al told her. "I really don't think that you'd like to be a baby again – especially with the awareness of a teen."**

" **I suppose," Lily conceded. "Can we split up for the shopping now? We'll take Lorie and go have some fun; and you can take Jaimie and do the boring supply shopping."**

" **That doesn't seem fair for Jaimie," Gwendolyn told her; and Lily shrugged.**

" **We can switch that up on the last Hogsmeade weekend. Al will make sure she still has fun."**

" **I will," Al promised Jaimie and then kissed the top of her head. "Do you want to hang out with us, Jonah; or do your own thing."**

" **I'll stick with you," Jonah decided. "We do need to get all of our supplies picked up in time to have lunch and get back to the castle for the Quidditch-watching fun."**

 **That's what they ended up doing, and while the girls went off to play with their friends; Al and Jonah got busy with the supply shopping while letting Jaimie entertain them along the way. With three weeks to go until exams, there were a lot of the boring supplies to pick up – mostly because there were things that their cousins and friends needed for end-of-term projects and presentations along with the usual quills, inks, parchment, and Potions supplies. Al and Jonah still managed to get all of that done by the time they met up with the girls; they picked up sweets and treats together; and then they were at the Three Broomsticks early so that they could have lunch before Malorie came for the twins. Jaimie and Lorie scored some ice cream while they had lunch along with some soft food that they could eat, and while Al and Lily cleaned them up; they didn't fool the Mum or grandparents when Harry and Guinny came with Malorie to get the girls.**

" **You've likely spoiled their lunch," Malorie declared; though she wasn't quite able to pull off the angry Mum look while trying to hide the grin.**

" **How did you catch us?" Lily asked curiously; and Malorie laughed.**

" **Your look of pious innocence, for one thing," she answered; and then pulled out Lorie's soother and showed it to Lily. "It also takes babies a while to completely get rid of the evidence from inside their mouths unless you brush their gums and what few teeth they have so far."**

" **Not to mention the fact that their a bit hyper for having such a busy morning without naps," Ginny added. "Did they sample some sweets too?"**

" **They score free sweets for being so adorable," Lily advised them. "If I was that cute; I'd never need to pay for sweets again!"**

" **You were just about exactly that cute at their age," Harry advised her – "and you were given your fair share of free sweets too; though I have suspicions that the shop owners just like to get you hooked young and then make a lot of money off of you once you can afford to buy from them."**

" **That would be devious – and apparently works," Gwendolyn suggested. "Are you glad that you'll be at the Catapults' match today instead of the Harpies?"**

" **We are," Ginny answered; indicating herself, Malorie, and the girls. "We've decided to have Harry go to the Harpies match – especially after what we saw from them last weekend against the Wasps."**

" **Haven't you hit your quota for saving damsels in distress this month?" Gwendolyn teased; and Harry laughed.**

" **I wish that I could save them from what's likely coming today, but I'll have to settle for helping them after the match – and making sure that the Falcons don't try any post-game trouble."**

" **We'll hope that Aunt Gabrielle gets another chance to end the match early," Lily offered. "You need to get to your lunch, though; so let's get to the goodbye hugs and kisses; and then we need to head back to the castle so that we can set up for our Quidditch-watching afternoon."**

 **They did that; it took about ten more minutes before they were ready to split up; and then all of the teens with Al and Gwendolyn headed back to Hogwarts in one big group. There was still lots of time to get back; split up to drop off supplies and pick up what they wanted for the game watching fun; and then they met up in their usual study classroom. Al had help for the set-up; they got the pool ready too; and had snacks and drinks out on tables too by the time Lee and his experts offered their game day predictions for the Harpies and United teams to win.**

 **What followed during the rest of the afternoon and evening was a display of good, bad, and truly-ugly Quidditch. The Harpies-Falcons match was a horror to watch as the Falcons pounded mercilessly on their Harpies' opponents while all seven Harpies players put everything they had into scoring as many goals as possible; defending each other; and trying to catch the snitch to end the brutal battle above the pitch. Gabrielle couldn't get that game-ending catch early, though; and the hits kept piling up as they fought on all afternoon and into the evening. When the Catapults' match against United started, it was soon clear that almost all of the good was with the United team; and all of the bad was with the Catapults – along with small glimmers of good from Miya as she was the only player on her team showing any signs of being truly-competitive against Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia.**

 **One competitive player wasn't enough, and even though James was able to keep up with Alex; his side of their Seeker duel was not good; and it was clear that he was sneaking in some cheap fouls just to keep his duel with Alex closer than it really was. The biggest early difference in the match was Calvin and Tina Johnson. They'd really come to play with their best game; and they managed to slow down three of the Catapults' players with early bludger hits that soon had them more worried about getting hit again than about scoring goals or making saves. Miya fought hard and never gave up for a moment on any play, but the score started to pile up for United; and they slowly built on their lead with unwavering determination.**

 **Both matches were still going on when it was time for dinner in the Great Hall; so Al just sealed the room again; they all watched both matches on portable mirrors while having that meal as quickly as they could; and then they were back in the study classroom again. The Harpies had earned their one-sixty lead much sooner than United did, but the Catapults' Managers – and likely the owners too – made an unusual choice once it was clear that there was no chance for a comeback for their team when, by then, they had three players that were all but totally incapacitated and useless to them. Alex had backed off from trying to catch the snitch for quite a while; the Catapults' manager called for a time-out; and then James ended the match by catching the snitch for the three-twenty to two-hundred loss!**

" **Yeah!" nearly everyone in the room cheered while there were a few that shouted out a "Yeah – Boo!" and one "Yeah – Boo – Yeah!"**

" **Make up your mind," Gwendolyn told Al with a grin.**

" **I did," he insisted. "The cheers were for our cousins and friends on United; and the boo was for James."**

" **Because of the loss – or because he was probably being a total git to Alex all day?"**

" **No comment," he answered with a grin. "James has caught the snitch in every match he's played in this season, and can blame this loss on the rest of the team – and being ordered to make the catch for the loss; so he'll be a happy camper."**

" **No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "Let's turn your portable mirror off. You don't want to watch that post-game show."**

 **Al agreed with that; put his mirror away; and they cuddled close and tried to enjoy being together; since watching the rest of the Harpies' match was not at all fun. The official game time when Gabrielle finally caught the snitch was seven hours and fifty minutes, but with numerous time-outs; it was nearing ten o'clock. The final score of four-ninety to eighty was a testament to just how brilliantly the Harpies had played even with all of the injuries that had been inflicted on them. That was obvious to everyone watching as all seven Witches hurried to fly down to the pitch and get off of their brooms. Brand had been furious at once again being bested by Gabrielle, but he didn't go after her right away – he waited for his team mates; they all landed; and then they attempted yet another post-game fight.**

 **As always, that was a foolish decision; Harry and Teddy put an end to it as they appeared at center pitch too; and then Harry took out his pent-up anger by rather publicly healing all of the Harpies – including their exhausted managers and support staff! Al was happy to silently cheer for that; Lee's post-game show was very entertaining; and then it was time to pack up; walk Gwendolyn home; go on to his own House with Lily; and then up to his dorm room to wait for what he knew by then was yet another, inevevitable visit from Ollie. He had time to get ready for bed; do a bit of work on one of the toys; and then have his portable mirror tuned in to a random mirror network show before Ollie sauntered into the room. This time, he actually had a drink in hand; but hadn't been drinking long-enough yet to be drunk.**

" **Don't be too happy about James' match today, loser," he declared pompously. "That was all part of the plan to destroy you!"**

" **Wasn't winning the championship the plan last week?" Al asked mildly; and Ollie scowled at him.**

" **You think that I'd tell you what our real plans are for you, Animorphidiot? When we're done destroying you and everything you care about most; you aren't going to know what hit you!"**

" **So the loss today isn't part of your plan," Al deduced; and laughed at Ollie's reaction. "You did just tell me that you won't tell me your plans for destroying me," he pointed out. "Don't worry – the rest of your statement didn't make any sense either; since if you could destroy everyone I care most about; I would see all of that happen." He laughed then. "That'd be bad for James, since I love him, but you're safe, Ollie; 'cause I honestly don't even like you."**

" **Laugh it up, loser. You're nothing but the Hogwarts Hermit that everyone makes fun of; while James is the only Seeker to ever go undefeated in his rookie year – and that's just the start of our brilliant future!"**

" **He isn't," Al advised Ollie, "but James has had a brilliant start to his career; he has set some rookie records – like most consecutive wins from the start of his season; and he's one of the few Rookie Seekers to ever be named to a Quidditch World Cup National team. I'm happy to give him full credit for what he has done, Ollie; and I'm proud of him for that – if not for his never-ending displays of horrid sportsmanship."**

" **You're wrong – I looked it up!"**

" **Look again. There have been quite a few Seekers to win all of their Seeker duels in their rookie season – though he has the best record with just the one loss."**

" **He didn't lose!" Ollie spat; and Al laughed.**

" **Did something happen after the match that I didn't hear about? A forfeit or something? Last I heard, the Catapults are out of the playoffs; and the Harpies will be playing United. Aren't you proud of your sisters? I'm certainly proud of my cousins and Aunt Gabrielle too!"**

" **My sisters and your cousins are losers!" Ollie declared stupidly. "James is just waiting for the rest of us to join him so we can go out and prove that to the world!"**

" **Does that mean that he won't try to win the Quidditch World Cup this summer? If he isn't even going to try; he should just step down and let Alex play instead."**

" **He beat Alex – twice in three weeks!" Ollie reminded him; and Al nodded.**

" **He did win both Seeker duels," he agreed. "Alex is the Seeker going to the championship match, though; and I doubt that we'll ever know whether United lost that last regular season match on purpose. Helping the Catapults into the playoffs did work out for them today, though; so I have reason to be suspicious of that first loss."**

" **You're just trying to tear James down," Ollie accused.**

" **I'm not – and I've already told you that I'm proud of his accomplishments on several occasions now. I also didn't say that's what happened – only that it was possible. You're the one who keeps insisting that I can't love someone and be proud of them while also disliking some of the things they do."**

" **That's because I know you lie about everything," Ollie spat back. "You've been trying to ruin James' life since before you were born!"**

" **James definitely believes that," Al stated. "Is that lie or truth; since I lie about everything I say to you."**

" **Don't play your Animorphidiot games with me," Ollie shot back. "You're nothing but a rabid mongrel dog; and we're going to put you down – and put the rest of us out of your misery!"**

" **Okay – good luck with that," Al told him with a shrug. "Will this be your last visit; or will you be sticking around after your seventeenth now that you won't be playing in the league championship with James next weekend? Could your plan 'B' be a grand exit after your Quidditch Cup winning victory over Ravenclaw in two weeks? That's maybe a bit too-much like what James did after the Hufflepuff match; but I suppose you could change it up enough to make it work for you."**

" **What I do with my life is none of your business, loser!" Ollie told him scathingly. "Now your just babbling nonsense!"**

" **Possible, considering the source," Al agreed; and then nodded at Ollie's glass. "You're empty. I'd say that a refill is in order; since you're celebrating James' losing Seeker duel victory. If I don't see you before next Tuesday; Happy 17** **th** **Birthday, Ollie." He laughed; and Ollie scowled at him darkly. "Sorry – I was about to tell you that I hope you get what you wish for; but I'd better not do that – just in case you wish me dead."**

 **Ollie burst out with a bark of laughter too; and then sneered at Al. "That'd be a wish that I can hope would come true!"**

 **Al smiled and shook his head. "Actually – you wouldn't. I have no idea at all what might happen if you made a wish like that and it was somehow granted while you owe me a life-debt. If it snapped back on you; that wouldn't end up being a very good day for you at all. Wish for being a rich and famous Quidditch player. That one is probably a lot safer for you."**

 **Ollie needed to shoot his mouth off for a while longer, but he eventually got thirsty again; sauntered off; and went back to drinking alone until he passed out – mostly because none of his mates wanted to drink with him when they needed to be ready to study all day on Sunday – and some of them wanted to have extra Quidditch practices even if Ollie thought that was a waste of time. Once he was alone again, Al worked on one more toy; traded a few mirror messages with Gwendolyn while she wrapped up her curfew patrol; and then he crashed and napped for the rest of the night.**

" **Keep your daughter far away from that one," Daniel Maddock told his Assistant Manager quietly as he stepped up next to Ritchie and waved at James with his flute of champagne.**

" **Kylie's been at Hogwarts with him since starting there," Ritchie reminded him. "She's safer there now that he's out here with us."**

 **Daniel laughed quietly. "You're likely right about that; but summer holidays will be here soon."**

" **True – and he'll be busy with the National team for more than half the summer – and then we'll be right into our next league season when he gets back."**

" **If the team makes it very far into the competition," Daniel pointed out. "Our boy over there won't be the only problem that Gwenog will be dealing with on that team. I'm glad that it won't be me dealing with it. I'm ready for a break this summer – and we've only been saddled with James full-time for a few months!"**

" **I know what you mean – since you've made him my problem," Ritchie reminded him. "Maybe Gwenog will have better luck getting him to focus on the Quidditch more than the Witches this summer."**

 **Daniel laughed. "I'd say it's more-likely that she'll send him back to us as a woodlouse in a jar – especially since he'll have too many distractions just from the Witches on that team."**

" **Some rather beautiful Witches too – though two of them are his cousins; and he likely has more to worry about from Rachel Rosier than from Gwenog if he tries messing around with her."**

" **Careful – you're a happily married Wizard," Daniel joked; and Ritchie laughed.**

" **I am," he agreed. "That was just a statement of fact. Callie saved me from myself; and I'm never going to mess up what I have with her."**

" **Good plan," Daniel approved. "Maybe that's what our young superstar needs most right now – a good Witch to settle down with."**

" **He's not ready for that – and may not be for a long time," Ritchie told him. "Just look at how he's handling things today. By looking at him right now; you'd never know that we lost that match."**

" **We did?" Daniel deadpanned. "I guess that I can stop mentally working on my game plan for the championship match against the Harpies. Why didn't anyone tell me?"**

" **Because we thought that you were living in our reality – the one that James rejects and replaces with his own."**

" **Well, you can't blame me for wanting to visit that reality where he leads our team to league championships every season and the world is filled with hot, naked Witches."**

" **You're skipping over the parts where all of those Witches are totally devoted to James; and he single-handedly wins all of those championships – or does it despite us; but have fun with the dream if you must."**

" **Is that part of it much different than our reality?" Daniel asked.**

" **In our reality, we didn't win the championship this year and the Witches all have their clothes on here; so yeah – I'd say there's a difference or two."**

 **There were just three weeks left until exams; and Al was aware of that fact more than most of his fellow students as he got his day started on Sunday – and that was entirely because it was something that a lot of teens and tweens around him were beginning to stress about. He wasn't stressed, but he did promise himself that he would help out even more around the castle – though he didn't plan on doing that through any of the groups that might earn him attention that he didn't want – like the peer tutors. While he spent a lot of his day studying with his own group, Al started to keep that promise by doing some tutoring while Gwendolyn was busy with her make-up team practice and Prefect meeting; he helped out three tweens in need of various things that just magically showed up for them; and he saved a firstie from a Peeves prank with neither kid nor poltergeist finding out that he'd been responsible for putting a stop to the prank.**

 **There was a bit of fun here and there for Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their friends, but an outdoor play break in the afternoon after some work in the greenhouses was short; and the family fun night was mixed in with the evening study time – and it was now clear to them that they'd need to do that work every Sunday night through to the end of exams. The visit to the Owlery and walking Gwendolyn and Jonah home was a nice end to the day for Al and Lily – though it also wasn't quite the end of the day for Al; since three of his roommates wanted help with some bedtime tutoring that kept Al awake until about an hour and a half past curfew.**

 **The school week leading up to the League Championship match was a blast of early-morning to late-night work for Al and Gwendolyn. That reality was getting a bit repetitive now, but even the most-reluctant OWL-year student understood that it was crunch time for them; since those exams didn't just affect what they'd be able to take in sixth-year – they affected what you'd be allowed to do as a Witch or Wizard out in the real world once you were over-age and could use magic outside of Hogwarts. There were other factors that some of those students wouldn't think about – like the sorts of jobs they'd be able to get if they didn't do well on their OWLs; but what they did stress about was enough to motivate those teens.**

 **While Al and Gwendolyn were busy all week, they didn't have any added distractions as they worked to get everything done so they could take Saturday afternoon and evening off to watch their Harpies try to win another league championship; and they definitely weren't invited to Ollie's seventeenth birthday party on Tuesday.**

 **Okay, they wouldn't have been invited to it – if there had been a party for him!**

 **Ollie had expected one, but other than getting some best wishes and a couple of little gifts from his friends, and a few Owl Posts from his parents, sisters, and other family members; there wasn't anything special being done for him by his team mates, friends, or younger sister. Al wasn't involved in any of that, but he couldn't avoid what he sensed from around him; so he knew more than he wanted – and more than Ollie did about why his special day was nothing like the non-stop partying that had filled James' special day in February. The specific reasons that each of his friends or his sister had for not even bothering to set up a party for him didn't really matter. It all boiled down to the fact that while James and Ollie weren't very different in how they treated everyone around them; James could help his friends – if they put up with him; while nobody thought that Ollie could do the same because he didn't actually have the talent to back up his ego. Kathryn was the one exception to that, but while she didn't have any opportunistic reasons for how she felt about Ollie; her disinterest in doing anything nice for his birthday had everything to do with how horridly he'd been treating her all year.**

 **Somehow, that lack of universal celebration for Ollie's special day was all Al's fault in Ollie's chosen reality, but while Al was aware of that addition to Ollie's mental reasons for hating him; he didn't have any confrontations either – mostly because he was busy from before dawn until two hours past curfew. Ollie would have stopped by for another nasty chat on Tuesday night, but Al hadn't been alone in his dorm room when Ollie had gone past because he was tutoring three of his roommates; so they'd saved him from another round of insults – and that alone had made the efforts to help them worthwhile. Al couldn't bring himself to feel bad for Ollie; though it was sad – and the whole situation said as much about James and the rest of Ollie's friends as it did about Ollie himself.**

 **Classwork, studying, and tutoring was what Al focused on for most of the rest of the week; and he didn't even have any Quidditch workouts or other play breaks while keeping up with all of the work and putting the extra effort into helping other students. He did make a bit of time every day for quiet breaks in the Room of Requirements; and he continued to work on his toymaking to meet the deadlines they had for getting the master copies done and the toys into production. Keeping that busy meant being tired out by the end of each night, but that allowed Al to sleep well; and the sense of ongoing accomplishments felt pretty good too – even if the fun parts of his day mostly came from the joy he felt while doing all of that work with some of the people he cared about the most.**

 **They didn't take Saturday morning off – though Gwendolyn had her normal team practice for the first time on a Saturday in a while for the last half of the morning. She studied with Al and the rest of their study group, and when Gwendolyn couldn't do that with him; Al mostly tutored his friends – and their study group was expanding as more of their OWL-year classmates wanted the extra help with finishing assignments and projects while studying for their exams too. They put the work aside for the rest of the day when it was time to go for lunch in the Great Hall, though; and then Al met up with Gwendolyn after that meal so that they could get the classroom set up for watching the championship game. They were expecting that match to be a tough, possibly-long battle; so they set up the pool too; and had extra seating because there were extra inter-House couples interested in joining them instead of watching the match in their own Houses. They had the work done with about fifteen minutes to spare; most of their friends and relatives were already there by then; and Al and Gwendolyn opted to go for a swim first instead of sitting down to watch the rest of the pre-game show and what would surely be a too-long opening ceremony with all of the usual, tedious and pointless speeches.**

" **I wish we could be at that game, but this is pretty nice too; and we wouldn't be able to go for a swim at the Quidditch World Cup stadium," Gwendolyn suggested to Al as they floated close together and enjoyed the warm water. Rose, Brandon, Susannah, and Seth had been among the friends to opt for the swim time before the match; and they were all nearby too.**

" **You'd need a bigger pool if you did want to have one there," Brandon suggested with a grin. "That might be an idea for future Quidditch matches – a pool instead of a pitch."**

" **A shark-infested pool?" Seth offered. "That'd give you some motivation not to fall off your broom!"**

" **Or fly too low," Susannah added. "Some sharks can leap out of the water surprisingly-high."**

" **Isn't the game already exciting-enough for you?" Rose asked them. "Would you be allowed to bash bludgers at the sharks too? You may as well bring back the golden snidgets into the game if you're going to do that sort of thing."**

" **I wasn't thinking about it like that," Seth assured her – "and I was really just going for the laughs. Landing in a pool might be better than hitting the pitch, but I've never tried to swim with all of my gear on; so maybe that wouldn't be a good idea either if you'd just sink to the bottom."**

" **That wouldn't be good," Al agreed. "As for Gwendolyn's original comment; I'll pick the girlfriends in swimsuits over being at the stadium – though I'd love to be there and spending time with the twins too."**

" **You'll get to see them next Saturday," Gwendolyn reminded him – "maybe even the next two Saturdays; if they come to the last Hogsmeade weekend too."**

" **Malorie's bringing them to the game?" Susannah asked; and Gwendolyn nodded and smiled.**

" **Yes. They'll be sitting with Al, Lily, and Rose if they can get seats close together in that corner of the visitors' section; but they'll be cheering for me and the Ravenclaw team."**

" **They will?" Rose asked. "Why wouldn't they be cheering for Gryffindor? Don't they want their Aunt Lily to win the Quidditch Cup this year?"**

" **They'll be there to cuddle with her – and possibly protect Al from getting blasted regardless of what happens," Gwendolyn hedged; and Rose laughed.**

" **Nicely-done – not that we'd have passed on anything you might have said to Ollie and the other guys on the team. Aren't you even a little worried about the big secret Seeker surprise that we're all going to be amazed by next weekend?"**

" **We would – if we thought that Al, Lily, Riley, or Hunter were that surprise," Gwendolyn admitted. "That doesn't seem to be the case, though; and we won't be talking about our own guesses with anyone before the match."**

" **The really scary part of that comment is that they have four great choices that could do the job," Brandon suggested.**

" **Scary for the other Houses; sad for us that our senior team Captain is too full of himself to admit that he needs help and asks for it," Rose added.**

" **Well, you can't be the best player in the history of the game and do that," Gwendolyn pointed out. "James should've just learned that it actually does take a team to win league championships after last weekend, but I doubt that he has; and we already know that Ollie's in a reality all his own to be able to actually look at his own record and believe that's a match for his ego."**

" **He's undefeated this season too – just as James was up until last weekend," Seth reminded her with a grin. "Now that he has four wins in a row; he's on the way to proving he's the best player ever!"**

" **Good for him; but we'll be doing our best to put an end to that winning streak next Saturday," Brandon told him seriously. "Ollie, Louis, and the McClaggens might have guaranteed jobs in the show; but we have to impress the scouts too if we want to get on with a good team after our NEWT year."**

" **Insert Cannons-related joke here," Gwendolyn teased; and earned a round of laughs.**

" **That one is going on my list for sure," Rose advised her. "I like it!"**

 **That joke also sent their chat off in a new direction; they enjoyed the water-play time; and then they got out of the pool, dried off, and went to sit down and watch the game in time for the quaffle-toss. Lee and his team of experts had been split on their predictions for the match winner, but while Al was cheering for the Harpies; picking one team over the other for a prediction was silly; since they were too-closely matched for that to be more than a guess or wishful thinking. He was fairly-talented at Divination; and he didn't try to make a prediction. He did enjoy watching the match with Gwendolyn, Lily, and everyone else; and it was a brilliant battle to watch right from the beginning as Victoire led her Chaser trio while Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia pitted their balanced teamwork against Victoire, Candice, and Hailey.**

 **The action above the pitch was fast-paced and non-stop as the two teams took turns on offense and defense; and it was the defenses winning the battles as Belinda and Vicky were both in top form and saved nearly everything – even against two of the top Chaser offenses in the league. Sure, they were motivated with the league championship on the line, but as the shots on goal piled up; they just dug in and fought even harder to defend their goals. In the first hour, Belinda earned a shut-out; and Vicky only gave up one goal. By the end of the second, Victoire finally got one quaffle past Belinda; while Vicky only gave up one more – a goal that Olivia earned for United thanks to a lucky deflection. Belinda didn't give up another goal during the third hour, but while Vicky gave up two more; the forty-to-ten lead that United took into the fourth hour was still insignificant.**

 **All of the game-watching fans at Hogwarts needed to head to the Great Hall for dinner while the big game was still in full-swing; and United had a sixty-to-thirty lead as Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their gang left their classroom to go and have that meal. Al had sealed the room again, since it didn't look as though the match would be ending anytime soon; That status didn't change during dinner; and the score only changed by ten points – another goal for Victoire that cut the United lead to just twenty points.**

 **Getting everyone back to the classroom after dinner took a while because some of their friends went for an after-dinner walk or did other things first, but they were all there again for the end of the match. Dominique scored another goal for United to give her team the thirty point lead again, but while the duel between the Chasers and Keepers was being won by United; Gabrielle ended the match at the five hour and fifty-five minute mark with a flat-out win in her duel against Alex on a brilliant play that proved to everyone watching that she was still one of the best Seekers in the Wizarding World! Including the opening ceremony and three time-outs, the 'real time' of the game was over seven hours; so it was almost a relief to have it come to an end – even if that was also disappointing for all of the United players and their fans.**

 **Al, Lily, and Rose could feel for Dominique, Lucy, and the rest of their friends on the United team, but they were happy for Gwenog, Victoire, and 'their' team; and they spent the rest of the evening celebrating the win with their cousins and friends. For Al and Gwendolyn, that included more pool time; some music fun that their friends danced to while they provided the songs and entertainment; and some bonus treats that Al had held back in case they'd needed bonus celebration snacks. They still packed up ahead of curfew; Gwendolyn and Jonah walked Al and Lily home for a change; and then Lily joined the party in the common room for the Harpies' fans; and Al went up to his dorm room and got ready for bed. He was on his own in the room; and sighed when he sensed Ollie's approach – though he wondered at what kept motivating Ollie to keep coming back for more when their chats never ended with Ollie feeling good or happy. Short of forcing himself into Ollie's mind or having Ollie 'loudly' think about that, he wasn't going to get that question answered; but it did give him pause to consider that motivation just in case something positive could come out of the unwanted encounters.**

" **I figured you'd be in bed already," Ollie said with a sneer as he walked into the room. "They ought to kennel you at night!"**

" **Hi, Ollie. How are you tonight? Have you had a good day?" Al offered mildly.**

" **You're still alive, so no; but I'll be very happy if you'll do me a favor and die right here and now!" Ollie declared. "Better yet, change into a bug; and I'll stomp on you. Rita Skeeter would love that bit of payback!"**

" **Would you still like to try that if I turn myself into a bug the size of an Acromantula?" Al asked. "You might want to be more-specific about what you ask for with my animal Transfigurations." He paused and then added – "and you really should stop spreading other Witch's and Wizard's lies. Rita got swatted and stomped on in her ladybug Animagus form because she was mad at me for catching and releasing her – and then she forgot to pay attention to what was going on around her. Everything else I did was covered by mirror network channels; and I was helped and watched over by those Healers from St. Mungo's."**

" **I'll beleive Rita over you every time," Ollie spat; and Al grinned at him.**

" **You can definitely trust the truth from her now," he agreed meaningfully.**

" **Because you made it so she breaks out into fits of laughter every time she tells the truth?" Ollie demanded.**

" **Lies – and nasty thoughts," Al corrected. "I could let you try it out for a while if you'd like. That might be enough to convince you – not to mention that it's easy enough to test for which of us is telling the truth. Next time you see Rita, just ask her to tell you a few blatant lies or use some bad words. She might be able to fake a laugh while telling the truth; but she won't be able to stop the laughs from my cheering charm until it wears off – in a year or decade or two."**

" **You're lying" Ollie said obstinately; and Al smiled as he tested out a new seashell and Ollie's eyes glazed over for just a few blinks of an eye.**

" **Am I?" he asked; and Ollie scowled.**

" **Are you deaf too? Yes, you..." he stopped; his mouth twitched into a smile; and a girlish giggle escaped before he clamped his hand over his mouth. That was it; and when he felt the urge to giggle pass; he opened his mouth and – started to giggle madly.**

" **Are you having a few bad thoughts about me right now?" Al asked innocently. "Yes, I think so," he answered as Ollie continued to giggle and glare at him. Al let him do that for a handful of long moments; and then triggered the seashell again. Ollie's giggles stopped while his eyes lost focus again; and then he was back to glaring at Al. "Would you still like to believe Rita? I could put that cheering charm back on and let it run its course. That version only lasts for a day or two."**

" **Do that to me again; and I'll be filing a complaint with Louis," Ollie warned. "We'll see how funny you think you are when you're in detention for the rest of the year!"**

" **For a cheering charm?" Al asked. "I doubt it – and you wouldn't want to file that complaint with anyone while any lie you tell would send you into fits of the giggles."**

" **I'd have nothing to worry about," Ollie declared; and Al laughed.**

" **Really? I can think of dozens of questions to ask you if I get hauled into the Heads' office that you likely wouldn't like to answer while affected by that cheering charm."**

" **You can ask any question you want – I wouldn't have to answer," Ollie shot back.**

" **True, but you'd look guilty for refusing to answer; and you wouldn't be able to get away with the lies. I wouldn't want to do that anyway, Ollie. It would be nice if you'd think about this a bit; since maybe you'd see that I'm being kinder to you than James ever is to you."**

" **Now you're talking crazy," Ollie declared. "James is my best mate!"**

" **He is," Al agreed, "but let's be honest, Ollie – you're the one being the best mate; not James. You're there whenever he wants your help; you've protected him – even when that got you suspended for refusing to tell anyone that you got that snake-wand from James; and I could list a lot of other things that have all been you helping James. He'll only be there for you if it's in his best interest. If not – you're on your own."**

" **How have you been kinder to me? By playing your Animorphmagus games with me?" Ollie demanded.**

" **I know everything you've done to me, Gwendolyn, everyone else I care about, and a lot of the other things you and James have done here since I started at Hogwarts. I've defended myself and others from you, but other than the time you were using Polyjuice to frame Gwendolyn and me, how many times have I ratted you out? We only did it that time because catching you doing that was the only way to prove we hadn't done any of those things that you'd done while pretending to be us."**

 **Ollie snorted. "How about every time we've gotten into trouble?"**

" **Take some time to think about that," Al suggested. "The answer is actually never. I didn't even call you out last September when I won that vote for Captain by seventeen votes." Ollie laughed; but Al saw the flash of honesty in his eyes. "You're the only person I've told that to," he added. "Gwendolyn, Rose, and a few others have their doubts about that vote, and Lily's accused you of lying about it; but you and I know the truth for sure – even if you didn't know that exact number."**

" **You're lying again," Ollie declared half-heartedly.**

" **I don't need to debate that with you – I can sense how you're feeling, Ollie. All of that hate for me started because you wanted to hate me because your best mate does. Do you remember my first year – back when the pranks that you and James pulled on Ray and me worked so brilliantly?"**

" **Yeah – those were the good old days," Ollie offered in a half-joke. "What about them?"**

" **You still hated me even when you could get away with those pranks and I didn't stop them. Why? Other than being on the junior Quidditch team with you; we didn't hang out together and didn't really even need to see each other if you hadn't come looking to make trouble for me. You did start getting mad at me for doing well at Quidditch, but if you'd tried to work with Rose and me that year instead of against us; we'd have likely been a brilliant Chaser trio."**

" **That's a load of hippogriff dung," Ollie told him; and Al shrugged.**

" **My point is that you helped James with those pranks before you had any reason to be mad at me yourself; and that's affected how you feel about me since then. You still hated me when the pranks succeeded; hated me more when they didn't; and would still hate me if you could blast me now and get away with it."**

" **So you're saying I'll only be happy when you're dead," Ollie offered. "I can live with that!"**

" **I'm saying the problem is you – not me," Al explained. "You can't change who I am and what I can do with the talents I've been blessed with. Other than our connections through James – and the connection we could have had through Quidditch; you've no reason to care a whit about me or how well or poorly I do at anything. If you'd never pranked or ambushed me; I'd have never needed to defend myself; and you'd have no reason to hate me for doing it. If it wasn't for James; would you even hate me at all?"**

" **Definitely," Ollie insisted.**

" **Do you hate every other student in this castle who has a better academic record than you have?" Al asked next. "How about the Quidditch players with more Quidditch Cups, junior or senior titles, or individual awards? Do you hate all of the Keepers? Every Chaser that's ever stopped you from scoring a goal or scored one on you? How about the teens that are better at Fanged Frisbee? Do you hate Tiberius and Brock because they're better Beaters than you? Do you hate James because he's a better Seeker or faster on a broom than you are? How would you have felt about him if he'd been a Chaser instead – and better than you? All of these questions are about how you feel about the talents of others around you – and the only thing you have control over for any of it is how you choose to feel."**

" **That isn't the same at all," Ollie declared. "You're responsible for every bad thing that's happened in my life!"**

" **Try doing everything you've done to me to Tiberius and Brock," Al suggested. "Then come back to me when you're done; and let me know how you feel about them. I can see all of this from your perspective, Ollie. That's why I don't hate you right back – and that is very different from not liking you at all. That's simply because you've given me no reason to like you – except for the fact that you've been James' friend and done the things I've already mentioned."**

" **You've never deserved to be treated well," Ollie stated.**

" **You don't really believe that," Al deduced from what he sensed. "James' hate for me started from before I was born because he went from being the center of our family's world to having to share the spotlight with me. Later, it was because I was the quiet, good, obedient child while he liked to push the limits. When we were a bit older, he hated me if I could best him at anything – games, education, whatever. I stopped trying to do that – and actually cheated to intentionally lose games. He still hated me; so that didn't make any difference. Finally, I got to Hogwarts, and once we were both able to use magic; I eventually decided that I wasn't just going to let him push me around or beat me up anymore – mostly because you both escalated the attacks on me to dangerous levels. It was one thing to get a black eye – and then lie about it to my parents because James would pound me again if I ratted him out; and something altogether different when I started to end up with broken arms and everything that's followed since that first Halloween night here."**

" **What a sad story," Ollie offered sarcastically. "Would you like to have a good cry now?"**

" **No," Al assured him. "I'd just like you to understand that all of what's happened between James and me started out with what boils down to a toddler's temper tantrum over not getting all of Mum and Dad's attention anymore. Does that justify trying to use all of those cursed objects on me or others – or any of the other attacks you helped James with over the years? If you want to be a Dark Wizard, then I guess that all makes perfect sense, but if you're truly of the Light; then all of that should horrify you as much as it does the rest of us!"**

" **All of that – all of it – is on you!" Ollie insisted.**

" **No, it isn't," Al disagreed. "Telling yourself that won't make it so." He paused for a long moment; and then decided to take a bit of a risk. "Try and take everything you've ever done in your various pranks, ambushes, and attackes; and picture Lacey Finnegan as the target – and then play those scenes out where they end the way you'd hoped – with me or other seriously injured or dead."**

" **Why would I do that?" Ollie demanded; but his face had paled a bit just at the first thoughts.**

" **Because you love her," Al explained. "If you can picture any of those scenes with her in them instead of people that you don't care about and not be horrified; then, well; you're likely already a Dark Wizard and it's too late for you."**

" **I am not a Dark Wizard!" Ollie declared.**

" **Yeah – I know that," Al advised him. "That is where this kind of hate will lead you, though, and just in case you didn't know; that's exactly where James' anonymous gift-giver wanted to lead you – into the Dark."**

" **What?" Ollie demanded; and he looked shocked. "How do you know about that?"**

" **The same way that I know why those gifts stopped coming to James – and no; I did not send you cursed objects and the rest – like the Polyjuice – to use on me or anyone else. You're not the first Wizard or Witch that the enemies of my family have tried to unwittingly use against us. Actually, you're not the first person in your family to be used that way – though in your Mum's case; the attack was meant for Professor Dumbledore." He thought about that and smiled a bit grimly. "I hadn't considered that before; but it may be more than a coincidence that you were used to try and attack me with cursed objects when it was your Mum chosen to try and help the Dark Lord attack my namesake."**

 **Ollie actually looked troubled now; not just mentally-shocked.**

" **I don't believe any of that," he tried to tell himself.**

" **That last part is just pure speculation," Al assured him, "but the rest is true; and James hasn't been sent another of those anonymous gifts since a year ago this past January or February – I'm not exactly sure when he got that gift – only when he tried to use it."**

" **On you and Gwendolyn at Valentine's Day?" Ollie guessed.**

" **No – he was trying to get rid of a different problem he was having back then; though he'd hoped that I'd get caught up in the curses and the rest of the nasty surprises that had been put on the object while trying to save his primary targets."**

" **I didn't hear about any attacks – James didn't say anything about anything like that!"**

" **You didn't hear about it because it was so awful that I stopped it before he could use it. As far as I know, Uncle Bill is still working on destroying the thing safely – or they've just stuck it in the Gringott's vault where they put all of the cursed objects that they can't fix or destroy."**

" **A nice story – and probably all another load of Hippogriff dung," Ollie told him.**

" **Believe it or don't," Al told him. "You must know that James hasn't gotten any anonymous gifts since then – or at least none of them since last September. You know how they were sent; and would've known if any more of them arrived."**

" **You stopped the person sending the gifts?" Ollie asked scathingly; and Al shook his head.**

" **No – Dad and the Aurors had been investigating the matter of those cursed objects for a while – and Dad dealt with it."**

" **So you ratted James out – that's another lie for you!"**

" **I stopped James from using that thing and possibly committing murder, Ollie. He didn't get into any trouble because he hadn't actually gotten to the point of acting on his stupid, horrid plan. Dad already knew about his involvement – and yours – in what he was investigating; so I didn't talk with him about anything he didn't already know."**

" **Yet you had no trouble ratting me out and getting me suspended."**

" **You mean attacking you and setting you up, right? You were just an innocent victim; so I couldn't have ratted you out,' Al said; reminding Ollie of his own version of that story. "No, I didn't rat you out – the container you'd held that wand in broke because of your reductor curse; there was venom residue in it; and that's how they knew you'd been in possession of the wand – along with some other evidence. By the time Professor McGonagall talked to me after Madam Pomfrey and I finished your first round of healing; there was no way to keep you from getting into trouble."**

" **You kept James out of trouble," Ollie pointed out.**

" **So did you," Al reminded him. "I hated doing that as much as I hated saying nothing about those cursed Fanged Frisbees and everything else that I know about. That is something you should consider more-seriously now that you're seventeen. Doing things like you've done around here won't get you a detention or suspension – it'd land you in Azkaban."**

" **I'm so scared!" Ollie pretended to gush girlishly.**

" **I'm not trying to scare you – I'm simply stating a fact. You and James are both proceeding with your vendetta against me at your own peril now – and I'm not the danger you should be worried about when you know that all of the things we're talking about here are considered crimes by the Ministry of Magic."**

" **You're a crime against every true Wizard and Witch!" Ollie shot back. "We're just trying to do the Wizarding World a favor!"**

" **Like Voldemort was trying to do by killing my Dad – starting when he was a bit more than a year old?" Al countered. "He was guilty of being named in a prophecy that didn't end well for the Dark Lord; and thus needed to be sentenced to death. What's my true crime, Ollie? Being a better Quidditch player than you? A Wizard with some talent? Because I'm James' younger brother? You have similar issues with how you feel about all of your sisters; so should you sentence them to death too? Where does something like that end?"**

" **In your case; badly for you," Ollie declared. "Count on it!"**

" **Would you like to use that cheering charm again for a moment and find out whether you truly believe that to be truth or lie?" Al offered. "I can sense that you don't really need to do that; but it'd be good for a laugh – literally."**

" **You're a freak!" Ollie declared; but not really with any vehemence. "Thanks for the bedtime fairytales – now do us all a favor and go to sleep – permanently!"**

 **Good night, Ollie," Al said quietly; paused; and then smiled ruefully. "Before you go, there is one more thing – I have been lying to both of us about something; so I should come clean and tell you the truth."**

" **Yeah? What's that, loser?"**

" **I am still able to love you, Ollie – in an older brother who hates my guts and wishes me dead sort of way."**

 **Ollie stared at him incredulously for a few long moments; and then barked out a laugh. "I repeat – you are a freak!"**

 **The league Quidditch season was over; the countdown was on for the last week leading up to the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match that would decide the winner of the Quidditch Cup and senior team title winners; and there were two weeks left to the start of the end-of-term exams when Al woke up on Sunday morning. He was thinking about all of that while getting ready for the day and doing his meditative workout in the Room of Requirements, but Sunday was also Kirley and Gwenog's eighteenth anniversary; so he had Rose and Lily with them for the morning walk and talk that included meeting upwith Gwendolyn, Brandon, and Jonah along the way to the Great Hall. Actually getting to offer their best wishes to Kirley and Gwenog proved more-challenging than they'd expected it to be – until the Witches in their group decided that Gwendolyn's parents must've melded the League Championship celebration with their anniversary fun; and that they likely didn't really want to know why Kirley and Gwenog weren't answering their mirrors.**

 **Speculating on that theory wasn't something that Al was interested in joining the girls for, but they eventually had to split up to have breakfast; and while Gwendolyn tried to call her parents a few times while they studied after breakfast; they didn't get around to that mirror chat until after her bonus Quidditch practice with the team – and after they'd finished having lunch and could round everyone up again to have that bit of fun with the happy, apparently tired-out couple. They were having a happy day – possibly too-happy for the parents of two teens; and no details on that were requested or offered. They weren't doing anything special for their anniversary – or at least not going away or even having a party; and that was entirely because Gwenog was going to be too busy with league, Harpies, and National team responsibilities as she wrapped up the just-ended season, rushed to get things going for the next one; and started training with her National team.**

 **All of that work almost made OWL exams seem easy by comparison, but Gwendolyn did have her Quidditch match ahead of her still and the Prefect duties that would continue through until they were back at King's Cross on the Hogwarts Express; and Al had his own, self-imposed responsibilities that collectively kept him busy too. For Sunday afternoon, that meant tutoring and other good deeds for Al while Gwendolyn was busy with her Prefect meeting; an outdoor play break when they got back together; work in the greenhouses; and Potions dungeon time after that and through until they stopped to have dinner. Sunday evening was a near-repeat of all recent Sunday nights except for a bit less family fun time; and then Al wrapped up his weekend with an hour and a half of dorm room tutoring time before calling it a night and getting some sleep.**

 **By Monday, their class time each day was almost all about exam preparation with just a handful of student presentations to watch; and time allowed for the procrastinating students to have one last chance to finish overdue assignments and projects to salvage a few extra marks here and there. The study load was even heavier, but while Al worked as hard as always on exam-prep assignments and tutoring; he also helped everyone in their group to get more-focused on being ready for practical exams. Helping Gwendolyn every day was important too; since she worked even harder at her team practices; and Peter had them do nearly-double the normal workouts on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Add in two Chaser duels for even more training; and it was no surprise that they were both busy all day and stayed up late every night.**

 **The only fun break for their week was on Wednesday evening; and they did take a bit of time off from the studying to help Ryan celebrate his fifteenth birthday. Gwendolyn helped Katrina and Meg set up that party for him; Al was one of the worker-volunteers; and they ended up taking nearly two hours off between the set-up, actual party time, and the clean-up shortly before curfew. They had fun with that, but also needed to stay up even later after curfew, and for Al; that included studying and tutoring until nearly two o'clock.**

 **Thursday night was just as late because of their second-to-last Astronomy class of the school year, but on Friday; Gwendolyn had her early game-night curfew; so she had no choice but to go to bed early – and on-time. While Brandon and Seth had to do that too, Al, Rose, and Susannah didn't; they worked with the rest of their study group until normal curfew; and then Al studied and tutored in the Gryffindor common room and his dorm room for another few hours while the girls were on Prefect patrol. Staying up late again after such a long week ensured that Al was wiped out when he did finally decide to crash and nap, but he was ready to take as much of the day off as needed for the game watching; celebrations; and any other fun he might get to have with Gwendolyn when she wasn't busy playing Quidditch or having fun with her team and fellow Ravenclaw.**

 **The start to Al's morning on Saturday was exactly as-quiet as Al needed it to be; he was on his own while having a shower and getting ready for the day; the workout in the Room of Requirements allowed him to get happy and centered; and he had fun with his morning walk and talk with Rose and Lily. They met up with Gwendolyn, Brandon, and Jonah; Al's and Rose's good luck gifts – 'Gwendolyn' and 'Brandon' Animorphmagus action figures that were dressed up for England's 2026 National team were a hit; and a bit of magical healing for Gwendolyn made sure that she would be at her very best by game time. Al had fun with Rose and their Gryffindor tablemates at breakfast; they walked Gwendolyn and Brandon out to the stadium when they needed to be there – along with Susannah and Seth; and then Al, Rose, and Susannah met up with Lily and Jonah; and eventually made their way out to the school gates in time to meet their game day visitors.**

" **You've come today too!" Jonah exclaimed excitedly when his parents appeared just outside of the gates first; and then walked onto the school grounds. They were both smiling as they were greeted with enthusiastic hugs and kisses. "This is brilliant!"**

" **It is," Lily agreed, "but do we have to tell Gwendolyn? She's already fired up enough; and that's not a good thing for my hopes to win the Quidditch Cup this year!"**

" **She'll be at least as fired up to see Jaimie and Lorie," Gwenog predicted. "I needed a break from my National team reality; so I decided to take the day off."**

" **Though she brought work with her too," Kirley added. "Do me a favor and don't mention the J-word to her."**

 **Gwenog frowned at him. "Do you really want to go there already?" she warned; and Kirley held up his hands in surrender.**

" **I rest my case," he told the five teens. "Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and the girls will be here in a few minutes. They would have been here first; but had a last-minute diaper disaster or something."**

" **Would that end badly if it happened while in the middle of apparating?" Lily teased.**

" **Only if you splinched the diaper," Gwenog suggested, "and if you're that bad at apparating; don't bring baby along with you and take the Floo Network or some other form of travel instead."**

 **The wait for the rest of their guests ended up being closer to ten minutes, but they had a fun chat; another round of hugs and kisses; and then they headed for the stadium so they could surprise Gwendolyn before they needed to go and get to their seats. This time, Rose and Susannah went ahead to pick out the best seats they could get for everyone; while Al, Lily, and Jonah stayed with their parents, Malorie, and the twins. Jonah went into the locker room to get Gwendolyn; and Al loved getting to watch her reaction to the bonus surprise – and was happy to get in on the extra hugs and kisses too.**

" **I'm really sorry in advance, Lily, but this is so brilliant; and your team doesn't stand a chance today!"**

 **Lily sighed dramatically. "I was afraid of that. Should I just blast Al now; or wait until our senior team has officially lost the Quidditch Cup for me?"**

" **Try cuddling with Jaimie and Lorie a lot today," Gwendolyn suggested. "They'll help you feel better, and if this match goes on long-enough; maybe you'll just be too-happy to want to blast anyone."**

" **Would you be happy if you lost the Quidditch Cup today?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No – I'd likely be blasting Al; but then I have a match to play; and can't cuddle with him – or with Jaimie and Lorie."**

" **I'd suggest that you could multi-task if you used one of their backpacks," Harry suggested, "but that's probably a bad idea for during a Quidditch match; and Malorie isn't likely ready to watch the twins play in their first Hogwarts match quite this early."**

" **Would that only be because Hufflepuff isn't playing today?" Ginny teased. "We probably shouldn't get started on which House they'll be sorted to today either, and Gwendolyn needs to get back to her team; so let's just give her the time with Jaimie and Lorie before she needs to do that."**

" **And maybe a second or two more with Gwenog and me," Kirley added. "Gwenog hasn't seen you in person since the end of the Christmas break, Gwendolyn."**

" **It's seemed like forever," gwendolyn told her mother. "Is that why you're here – or have you already turned James into a woodlouse; and need to hide out from the Aurors?"**

" **You forgot to warn her not to use the J-word," Jonah advised his father; and both comments earned a round of laughs.**

" **We're not going to go there," Gwenog advised her daughter. "I'm taking the day off; and I'm going to have fun – even if that's at least in part to keep me from doing anything I shouldn't to any of my new National team players!"**

 **Al sensed the truth of that, but didn't comment; and just enjoyed those moments with Gwendolyn and their families before she needed to run and they went into the stadium to meet up with Rose and Susannah again. Having Kirley and Gwenog with them for the match had changed up their original plans, and while Al, Rose, and Lily were sure to get razzed about it by their Gryffindor friends and cousins; they once again sat in seats on the border between the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and visitor sections so that they could all be together and Kirley, Gwenog, and Jonah could cheer for Gwendolyn and her team. They once again earned a lot of attention as they settled into their seats and got ready to watch the last Hogwarts pre-game show that Teresa and Kylie would do together; and Harry, Ginny, Gwenog, and Kirley even had a few visits from Professors as they arrived to watch the game too.**

 **While they waited for the Quidditch fun to begin, Al happily played with Jaimie while Lily shared Lorie with Jonah and some of their Ravenclaw friends. Rose sat on the other side of him from Lily; she had the aisle seat so she could still talk with Susannah in the Hufflepuff section; and they all had fun chatting with the five parents in the row in front of them. There was a long pause in that conversation when the pre-game show started; Teresa and Kylie had fun warming up the crowd with a lively re-cap of the season so far that was mixed in with jokes and banter that created a festive air in the stadium for when they were finally ready to introduce the teams.**

" **Let's hear it for Gryffindor!" Kylie called out cheerfully. "Leading the way, you'll notice that we have a masked mystery, and I get to reveal the secret that we've all been waiting to find out about for weeks now, so without further delay; Gryffindor's Seeker for this final match of the season is – Ollie Wood?!"**

 **Al started to laugh quietly at the reactions from everyone around him to that grand revelation that was received by the spectators in about the same way that Kylie had announced it – like more of a confused question than an excited exclamation.**

" **He's an idiot!" Lily declared angrily. "He couldn't catch a snitch if it was still locked up in the box!" She turned and glared at Al. "Did you know?"**

" **Yes," Al admitted; and took the punch on the arm without flinching. "Don't get mad at me. It wouldn't have made a difference if I'd told you; and it wasn't my secret to tell."**

" **Maybe not, but it's also a stupid secret to keep," Rose told him. "Pauline must be having a good laugh right now."**

" **She wouldn't be the only one," Jonah interjected; though they could all hear the laughter breaking out all over the stadium – a fact that Ollie had yet to notice as he flew around while smiling brilliantly and waving the 'mask' he'd been wearing like a victory flag.**

" **The good news is that Ollie Wood is your secret Seeker-opponent," Peter advised his sister after they'd all finished laughing at the big reveal.**

" **The bad news is that you'll have to put up with that git until we can get at least a one-seventy lead," Stephanie added.**

" **With more good news being that he won't be bashing on you instead," Pauline pointed out. Brandon and Seth are going to need to change up their game plan and watch my back. Have any of you heard anything about Ollie having any talent at all for being a Seeker?"**

" **No," Gwendolyn answered first, "and if he was any good; I'm sure he'd have had lots of Seeker duels with James over the past six years. That hasn't happened."**

" **Okay, then give me your quick best-guess as to what they're doing," Pauline prompted.**

" **Ollie will try to knock you out of the match; or make things so awful for you that we can't win by enough to win the Quidditch Cup," Gwendolyn told her seriously. "He's betting that we'd never score enough goals against Louis before he can beat you up – probably with help from Tiberius and Brock."**

" **What do we do to defend that?" Peter asked; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.**

" **Pauline can ignore the snitch – Ollie can't catch it anyway; play dodge the bad guys; and wait for us to get that big lead we need."**

" **And once we get it; Brandon and Seth can help you out with catching the snitch – and maybe making Ollie wish that he hadn't come up with this supposedly-brilliant game plan!" Stephanie added. "I like it!"**

" **Half of it is your idea; so no suprise," Pauline teased. "The good news for all of us, though, is that the rest of us love the plan a lot too!"**

 **The revelation of the Gryffindor secret Seeker didn't go as expected for Ollie; and he wasn't still smiling as he landed at center pitch with his team mates. Louis, Tiberius, and Brock had earned cheers – particularly when Kylie talked about their numerous awards; and then there wasn't much to be said about Magnus, Romeo, and Roland Baxter – Ollie's NEWT-year replacement at Chaser. Al had a lot more fun while the Ravenclaw team was introduced; Jaimie helped him out with cheering for Gwendolyn and the rest of their Ravenclaw friends; and Teresa very-proudly talked about her House team that included seven of the best players in the history of their House. When they landed, Mr. Peakes got right to the fair-play speech; Ollie managed to get through the Captains' handshake without doing anything dumb; and then Pauline had to fend him off with both hands when he apparently tried to give her a good luck hug and kiss.**

" **That would've been you if you'd been on the team and still fighting with Gwendolyn," Lily joked; and Al laughed.**

" **Would I have had that fight with Gwendolyn at all if I'd been Captain instead?" he asked. "You can't mean that I'd be in trouble with her for trying to hug and kiss Pauline; since I'd have put you in at Seeker for this match – not me."**

" **Now you're lucky that you're holding one of my nieces; or I'd be blasting you right now," Lily advised him half-seriously. "I could've been the first Seeker in school history to win four matches!"**

" **Shutting up now," Al decided; though he was still grinning.**

 **His temporary silence didn't keep everyone else from having some fun with him, but Al was happy to play with Jaimie and Lorie as the game got started and watch the Quidditch action above the pitch. He'd rarely watched an actual, 'real' match with Gwendolyn's mother; so that was an added bonus; and she really got into the match too. Having that expert analysis was something that all of the teen players around them were happy to have; and his own mother had fun doing that with Gwenog. That gave Al at least a glimpse into what that part of the game might have been like for them when they played together during Ginny's first five years in the show – or when Gwenog was her Assistant Manager for the two seasons she came back to play in while Gabrielle was pregnant with Riley and Caylee; but that also gave Al a chance to compare what they had to say about the match in progress to what he sensed and thought about the match from his own perspective.**

 **He watched everything that was going on right from the start, but that was like watching two different matches. In the first, Gwendolyn, Stephanie, and Mark clearly out-played Magnus, Romeo, and Roland, but they still needed to try and get the quaffle past Louis; and his cousin was playing a brilliant match right from his opening save. Peter was playing a great game too, but he had the advantage with his Chaser defense too; and the early shots on his goals were almost-all low-quality attempts that he had no trouble stopping. In that 'other' match, the Seeker duel wasn't really a duel at all – though Ollie tried his very best to make it look like one. Al sensed that Pauline didn't even try to look for the snitch; neither did Ollie; and what was really going on between them was a strange sort of mid-air dance where Pauline played dodge-the-Ollie – and the bludgers that Tiberius and Brock tried to bash her with; while Ollie taunted her; tried to hit her as often as possible; and made a bunch of fake runs for the snitch that she didn't even bother to try and defend against.**

 **Novice Quidditch fans might not see what was really going on in that duel, since Ollie and Pauline were always on the go, but while that Seeker duel was just a farce; the battle between the Chasers and Keepers was real-enough – though the advantages were all with the Ravenclaw players. In the first hour, Louis managed to hold Ravenclaw to just three goals on nearly-double the shots; and Peter stopped everything. The Ravenclaw shut-out held through the second hour; while Louis only gave up one goal each to Gwendolyn and Stephanie. Magnus finally managed to score Gryffindor's first goal on Peter about a third of the way through the third hour, but the Ravenclaw Chasers scored four on Louis – including one goal on a penalty shot that they were awarded because of a nasty little foul from Ollie as he took a break from his Seeker duel to pretend that he was chasing the snitch while really taking a run at Gwendolyn.**

 **By then, Al was long-since being kept very busy while multi-tasking the game-watching with taking care of the twins; he'd done the father-and-son diaper change thing once; taken the twins for a walk and some visiting to keep them from getting bored; and helped them to play with their toys when they wanted to do that for a while too. As they headed into the fourth hour; most of the spectators had figured out that Ravenclaw was going to keep playing for the big win they needed to earn the Quidditch Cup points tie-break; and the Gryffindor fans knew that their secret Seeker would only keep that from happening if he could incapacitate Pauline – though nobody seemed to know how Ollie planned on having the match end if nobody caught the snitch.**

 **Lunch was served at the end of the fourth hour, and when Ollie and Peter agreed to the time-out for food and drinks; Ravenclaw had a one-thirty to thirty lead. Peter had given up two more goals, but one had come on a freak deflection of the quaffle that had bounced straight to Roland; and he'd been the most-surprise Wizard or Witch in the stadium when he'd actually earned the ten points for his team. Al helped out with getting Jaimie and Lorie fed, but he didn't help the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw teams; and stayed away from the team benches even though he would have loved to spend just a bit of that time with Gwendolyn. The lunchtime adventure with the twins was still a lot of fun, though, and once they were fed; the two girls were ready to be cuddled and have a nap once they were back in their seats and watching the match roll on through the fifth hour.**

 **Ravenclaw's drive for points was feeling like a marathon by then – especially for Louis. He gave up another four goals in the fifth hour, but Peter only gave up one; and Ravenclaw was closing in on the one-sixty lead as they took a one-seventy to forty lead into the sixth hour. Louis didn't give up or even break, but Gwendolyn kept getting better compared to everyone else as the game went on and on; and she scored three of Ravenclaw's four goals – including the one that gave her team the one-sixty lead. The two-ten to fifty lead that they took into the seventh hour didn't change the Gryffindor game plan – that happened after the next goal early in the seventh hour. That had a lot to do with Teresa happily pointing out to the spectators that Ravenclaw could now win the Quidditch Cup tie-break if Pauline caught the snitch, and Al had been able to sense that Ollie hadn't believed that at first – and had then started to panic as he realized that his game plan was falling apart.**

 **From that point on, Ollie had Tiberius and Brock focus entirely on trying to pound Pauline while he did everything he could think of to keep her from even having time to look for the snitch. That was likely the only strategy open to him, but Ollie – and the McClaggens – also had to deal with Brandon and Seth as they switched up and did their best to defend Pauline and give her some chances to win the match and the Quidditch Cup for their team! Those changes didn't completely switch up what Al had been categorizing as two different Quidditch matches because Gwendolyn did not let up on Louis; and the Gryffindor Chasers did keep trying to get back into the game; but Gwendolyn and Peter flat-out won those battles. Watching his girlfriend play so brilliantly was a lot of fun for Al; though as the match continued through the seventh hour; he again needed to help out with keeping Jaimie and Lorie entertained once they woke from their naps.**

 **There was another round of diaper changes; another adventure walk; and more play time with toys. By the start of the eighth hour, Ravenclaw had a two-sixty to sixty lead, but nobody could tell whether Ollie and the McClaggens would find a way to stop Pauline from ending the match; or if she'd find a way to endure the pounding she was taking and find a way to catch the snitch. Gwendolyn and Stephanie combined to score three more goals on Louis before getting that answer; and it came with some help from the Beaters. On the Gryffindor side of the bludgers, it was Tiberius and Brock attempting yet another double-hit attack on Pauline that was set up perfectly while Ollie bashed and distracted Pauline. Brandon and Seth had an answer to that attack, though, and while Seth intercepted the first bludger and bashed it straight back at Tiberius; Brandon deflected the other bludger just a little bit – and it hit a glancing blow off the side of Ollie's head that sent him reeling and left him dazed and disoriented.**

 **He didn't recover before Pauline blasted off after the snitch she'd been tracking and waiting for a chance to break free of Ollie and chase; and she didn't waste the opportunity as she put everything she had left into that catch – and then practically collapsed onto her broom instead of holding it up victoriously and celebrating with a victory lap. That ended the match at the seven-hour and forty-five minute mark; and gave Ravenclaw the four-forty to sixty victory; the undefeated senior team title; and the Quidditch Cup tie-break win too!**

" **Would you like to get out there and help with some healing – or should I?" Harry asked Al with a grin as they watched all of the players pretty much head straight for the pitch.**

" **I don't know if Ollie would want help from either of us; but we can both help out with that if you'd like," Al answered. "Jaimie, Lorie, and I definitely want to get out there and congratulate their Aunt Gwendolyn!"**

" **Shouldn't you be running away by now?" Jonah joked; and Al laughed.**

" **If Lily's still mad after this many hours of cuddle and play time with the twins; I should probably stay and at least let her take her best shot – though I hope she'll let me pass Lorie on to someone else before she does that."**

" **As if she'd be at risk behind your shield," Lily scoffed. "I'm not going to blast you, Al, and I'm happy for Gwendolyn, Jonah, and their team mates; but this really sucks to try so hard and go three years without winning the Quidditch Cup!"**

" **We'll try again next year," Rose told her. "You do still have four chances. Al and I are down to just two."**

" **True, but if you win two more; I'd need to win all four to beat Al – though at the rate he's been going so far; he'll only play in two or three more matches anyway."**

 **That joke led to more, mild Al-bashing as they packed up and headed for the pitch. Al didn't get to have the first hug with Gwendolyn because he held back so that she could do that with all four of their parents first. Lorie had some giggles and kisses for both of them as she got in the middle of their cameo bit of celebration; and then she ordered him to go and help Pauline – and anyone else that needed healing while she continued the hugfest and celebration with their families and friends.**

 **Harry did help Al with that job, and while Al helped Pauline first – as ordered; Harry started with Ollie; helped Louis next; and then they worked their way through the rest of the players. Al finished up with Gwendolyn – and then they got razzed for wrapping up her healing session with a long, happy hug and kiss. After a nearly-eight-hour-long match that had been about eight-and-a-half hours including time-outs; the post-game fun on the pitch had to be kept fairly-short so that the players could hit the showers and everyone else could either leave the school grounds or head back to the castle for dinner in the Great Hall. Al stayed with Gwendolyn until she headed for the locker room; and then he had Rose, Lily, and Jonah with him when it was time to walk out to the gates with their parents, Malorie, and the twins. Their last round of goodbye hugs and kisses were shorter than Al would have liked, but the twins had already been out on a too-long adventure; and it was time to get them home – and their parents had plans for the rest of the day too.**

 **Once they were on their own again, Rose put a comforting arm around Al; and they followed Lily and Jonah back toward the stadium. They were half-way there when Al sensed Ollie heading their way from the stadium – and knew that he was heading toward the school gates – and through them toward the rich and famous future he believed was his destiny. It wasn't much longer before they all saw each other; and Lily stopped when they were just a few paces apart.**

" **Are you leaving, Ollie?" she asked; and he sneered at her.**

" **Yeah – I've made sure that you didn't win even one Quidditch Cup as a junior player and Captain while James and I had two; so my work here is done, loserette!" he declared.**

" **Is that what happened?" Lily asked; pretending to look outraged. "Was the Catapults' scout happy when you told him about that brilliantplan? Was Louis in on it? The McClaggens?"**

" **That's just a news flash for you," Ollie declared conspiratorially. "Nobody else will know; and I'll deny it if you go around spreading the rumor."**

" **Don't worry, Ollie – your secret is safe with us," Lily promised. "I may not have won a Quidditch Cup yet; but I'll take my record over yours; since I at least earned my wins with a lot of help from my friends; while you and James got your Quidditch Cups thanks to your sisters, our cousins – and Al and Rose for one of them. James has done well this season, though; so maybe that'll happen for you too when you're with the Catapults next season."**

" **I helped the Catapults win two of those matches this season," Ollie insisted.**

" **You did," Lily agreed, "but James won those matches. "I'll look forward to watching you show us that you're the best Chaser ever; and I'm sure we'll love those high-scoring matches where you earn all of those one-sixty point leads and take the pressure off of James. That's going to be brilliant!"**

" **We'll finish the job that James started this season," Ollie insisted. "By the time we're done; you'll all be a forgotten memory before you even have a chance to bring your pathetic Quidditch skills to the show – if you actually could get a job even with the Cannons clown brigade or the about-to-be Has-Been-Harpies!"**

" **Well, good luck with that," Lily told him. "I'd tell you that I'll miss you; but won't."**

 **Ollie snorted; and then turned his attention to Al. "Watch your back, loser. Payback has still just barely-begun."**

" **Good-bye, Ollie," Al answered. "Maybe we'll see you around the Quidditch World Cup circuit this summer – if you're not too busy getting ready for next season with the Catapults."**

" **You'd better hope not," Ollie advised him darkly. "It'd be a shame if you came down with a bad case of dead while visiting one of those other countries – not!"**

 **Al shook his head and looked at his watch. "You'd best get going again. The school defenses will be going up again soon, and if you've offiicially quit; they'd be set off if you're still here when that happens."**

" **Well, I wouldn't want to miss that and get stuck here!" Ollie said derisively. "I'm sure there's a party going on somewhere that James and I can go to while you're not having a party in the Gryffindor common room. I'm out of here!"**

 **He offered them a one-fingered farewell; swaggered off; and didn't look back. Lily and Jonah resumed their walk toward the stadium; Al and Rose followed; and they picked up the pace so they wouldn't be late for meeting up with Gwendolyn, Brandon, and their team mates. They saw Louis, Tiberius, and Brock leave their locker room for the castle; but they didn't cross paths; and none of them even waved at them – though they definitely saw them. While the Gryffindor team obviously wasn't going to be entering the Great Hall as one group; the Ravenclaw team was together – and Al and Rose weren't the only teens waiting for them when they came out of their locker room.**

" **I thought that we'd be the biggest fan club waiting here for you," Lily told Gwendolyn as Al got to share the first hug with her. "You're only second or third place for that."**

" **That's okay with me. It's been a long day, and even with Al's help; there's a good chance that I'll fall asleep during the party tonight."**

" **Well, when you do that; rest easy," Lily told her with a grin. "Ollie's quit school; and we just passed him on his way out to the gates. Now that he and James are both gone; it will probably get downright boring around here!"**

" **Wow – that's a news bombshell," Gwendolyn declared in amazement. "Do you know whether he said goodbye to anyone? Does Kathryn know?"**

" **I have no idea," Lily admitted. "She definitely didn't say anything to us about it after the game when we were all out there at center pitch. I'll send you a mirror message once I find out at dinner."**

" **The only thing that surprises me about that news is that he didn't leave with a bang the way James did."**

" **He would have – if Gryffindor had won," Al advised them quietly; so that he wouldn't be overheard by the other teens gathered in three other groups. "That plan didn't work out; since it's really tough to have a victorious, grand gesture when you don't win the big game or prizes."**

" **That doesn't make me feel better about losing the Quidditch Cup again this year," Lily advised him.**

" **Will it help to know that he'll have to make his own way to London?" Al asked. "James left with the Catapults' scout; and likely got a side-along ride to London. "Ollie will have to walk to town and take the Floo Network to wherever he's going."**

" **No, but I hope he has a miserable rest of the day," Lily answered. "We need to get to dinner, though; and I'm sure that our Quidditch Cup champions are about ready to eat just about anything in sight; so we should likely get them fed before they start thinking that they'd like to find out if Animorphmagi taste like chicken or beef."**

 **Ollie felt freed as he cleared the Hogwarts gates, but as he looked up the road toward Hogsmeade; that elation was short-lived. He hadn't expected to be leaving Hogwarts with almost-nobody noticing, but his grand exit would've looked stupid after his team blew it for him and lost the match – and the Quidditch Cup with it! The Catapults' scout had been polite with him, but there was no big bonus offer to quit school early and join the team – not that he'd seriously-expected that now that the Quidditch season was over. He should've thought about getting a side-along with someone, though, but it was too late for that; so he sighed; hiked the strap of his bag into a more-comfortable spot on his shoulder; and started hiking to town.**

 **His expected best-day-ever-so-far didn't improve when he got to the Three Broomsticks; they didn't believe his story; and he had to wait for nearly a half-hour for them to check on him with the Headmistress before they'd allow him to use the Floo Network to go anywhere. He'd been tempted to just get on his broom and fly to London, but after spending eight hours on his broom; the last thing he wanted to do was get on it and spend hours flying all the way to London. They did eventually let him leave, though; he went to the Leaky; and then took the Knight Bus to James' flat. The rest of his brilliant plan fell completely apart then when James didn't answer the door; didn't answer his mirror chat requests; and didn't respond to his mirror messages.**

 **So much for that best mate surprise and an invitation to some fancy dinner and all-night party!**

 **He refused to just take the Knight Bus straight back to the Leaky – that would've made him look the idiot; so he hiked back to the Leaky; booked a room with Hannah; and was relieved when she simply offered to open a tab on his name alone – which was a good thing; since he'd blown almost all of his spending money for the rest of the term on the boxes of whizz-bangs that he hadn't ended up using anyway. He'd need to wait until Monday to visit his vault at Gringotts – unless James would get around to answering his messages or calls and help him out until then – as he should have been there to do for him anyway!**

 **Going up to his room; he dropped off his bags; went back downstairs again; and had dinner for one that he could put on his room tab – in case he really did need to conserve his meager funds to survive until the bank opened on Monday morning. With nothing else left to do, he returned to his room; tried to get through to James a dozen more times; and then gave up; lay down on the bed; and ended up having a nap – until morning.**

 **The gossip network was running in hyper-mode by the time Al and Rose sat down in their usual spots at the Gryffindor table for dinner – after staying out of the way while Gwendolyn and Brandon made their victory entrance into the Great Hall to the cheers of their fellow Ravenclaw and maybe a quarter of the rest of the students in the room. News of Ollie's quiet exit from Hogwarts wasn't immediately the top story, but word got around quickly – mostly-thanks to his team mates – the only six students to find out about it before Al, Rose, Lily, and Jonah. With Romeo at the table with them, he was the source for that story with his fellow fifth-year Gryffindors; and it was quite a while before Rose had to admit that they'd seen Ollie on his way out while returning from saying goodbye to their game-day guests.**

 **Surprisingly, most Gryffindors were not all that upset about losing the Quidditch Cup and senior team title to Ravenclaw; and their six remaining team players were given a lot of support. Al had mixed feelings about that, since they'd all gone along with James and Ollie all season, but they were far from the only self-centered players at Hogwarts; and they had still managed to have a winning season as well as playing their best against Ravenclaw in a marathon match. That didn't mean that he wanted to go to a party after dinner. Instead, Al walked Gwendolyn to her House; hoped that she'd have fun at her victory party; and then he headed for the Room of Requirements where he spent the rest of the evening until curfew working on his toys and other pet projects.**

 **Wrapping up his day in his dorm room after curfew; Al got ready for bed; used his magical earbuds to listen to music; and spent quite a while simply thinking about everything that had happene during the day; and doing a bit of planning for his final four weeks of the school year. He didn't want to jinx himself by hoping to get all the way through to the trip home to King's Cross without any trouble or major drama, but that would be a brilliant change from his first four years; and it would be especially-nice to be able to write his OWL exams without any major distractions – or time spent in the hospital wing!**

 **Mentally keeping his fingers crossed and hoping for the best; he eventually drifted off to sleep long before the Ravenclaw party ended, and while that might just prove that he really was boring; he was sure to be one of the best-rested students at Hogwarts when it was time to get back to the exam studying on Sunday – and be ready for the big push that every teen and tween in the castle would be focusing on before they'd be out of time and actually into the annual stress-fest that they'd all be obsessing over for two and a half of the final three weeks of the term.**


	58. Extra-Ordinary Wizards&Witches

**Chapter Fifty-Eight – Extra-Ordinary Wizards and Witches**

 **The final week of classes leading up to the start of the end-of-term exams at Hogwarts was all about getting ready for those tests – including on the Sunday after the big Ravenclaw Quidditch Cup win. That didn't mean that nobody had any fun at all – just that the studying came first for nearly every teen and tween in the castle. That was true for Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone in their still-expanding study group, and they did have more friends and classmates joining every day as time was running out; and even the least-enthusiastic student wanted to do well on the exams for the classes they wanted to keep taking in sixth-year!**

 **Quidditch wasn't completely forgotten as they really got focused on academics, since there was gossip from the game on Saturday – particularly regarding Ollie's departure from the school, and lots of Quidditch World Cup news too as the National teams got ready for the first round of that competition; but that was just part of the bits of entertainment that kept most teens and tweens from getting too-stressed about their exams. For Al, he wasn't really stressed about exams at all, but he was busy; so his morning workouts helped; and so did the little play breaks he took with Gwendolyn and their friends. Most of those breaks, including his morning workouts, were outdoors; he loved every chance he had for Tai Chi on the cliffs overlooking the lake; and Quidditch scrimmages or Chaser duels with Gwendolyn were always a fun way to change things up before getting back to the studying.**

 **As the week rolled along, the last Hogsmeade weekend became much more important to the older teens, but it was also just going to be a serious supply run for most of them; since taking the entire day off from studying wasn't an option. Al and Gwendolyn had one other, rather important, event ahead of the weekend, though – her sixteenth birthday on Friday. With exams beginning on Monday, they couldn't exactly take the day off to celebrate her special day, but Al did plan a party for her; and recruited lots of help to do the work and take care of inviting quite a few teens and tweens; since Gwendolyn had a lot of friends through Quidditch, being a Prefect, and one of the best-liked students in her House. Al had all of that ready by the time he went to sleep late on Thursday night; but he started out Gwendolyn's birthday on Friday morning by meeting up with her outside of Ravenclaw tower with a gift in hand and Rose and Lily along to help with the first round of birthday fun!**

" **Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn!" they chorused when she stepped out into the hallway with Toni, Renee, and a handful of friends. Jonah was there too, but back in the pack a bit; and with a couple of his roommates.**

" **Thank-you," Gwendolyn said as she walked up to Al; and then they shared a hug and kiss before she took the gift he held out to her. "How are you this morning?"**

" **I'll let you know after you decide whether you like your gift or want to hex me," Al joked with a smile; earning a round of laughs.**

" **I've only done that once – and that was without even looking at the gift," she reminded him. There was a pause as they all watched her open Al's gift; and then another round of laughs when she lifted out a gaudy, over-sized 'Sweet Sixteen Sweetheart necklace and laughed too while frowning at him. "Maybe I spoke too soon," she added ominously; and then laughed again when the necklace disappeared.**

" **That was just for the laughs," Al advised her. "Look at the bottom of the box." She did that; found the envelope; and pulled out the 'gift card' that was inside.**

" **One week, all-expenses paid holiday in Bulgaria," she read aloud. Seven days and nights of camping; adventure; and parents-provided tickets to the Quidditch World Cup Championship match on Saturday, August 6** **th** **!" There were more laughs and some whistles when Gwendolyn had a much more-enthusiastic hug and kiss for Al; and then she stepped back and grinned at him.**

" **Will we have our families with us for that holiday?" she asked; and Al grinned too.**

" **We will – for the Quidditch Cup matches on each of those weekends," he agreed. "Our parents agreed to let us go off on our own adventure from the Sunday after the semi-final match until the Friday before the Championship game – and we'll have our own tent for the entire week even when we're with them at the Quidditch World Cup campground in Bulgaria."**

" **Can Jonah and I come?" Lily teased; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **No, but we are setting the precedent for you; and might consider having you stay with us for a night or two on the weekends."**

" **I can work with that – if I can't get Mum and Dad to let me have my own tent with Jonah too," Lily decided.**

" **What's the problem with that?" Rose asked. "He's not your boyfriend; so they shouldn't mind at all if you go camping with one of your best friends!"**

" **Thanks – I'll try that line out; though it won't likely work. From the looks of that grin on your face; I'd say that you're going to use this when it comes to going to those matches this summer with Brandon – especially if you get stuck working wheezes booths at all of them."**

" **Definitely," Rose agreed; and then laughed at the matching grin on Brandon's face. "Dad will freak, but he can't say much; since he went off camping with Mum for most of a year when they were Brandon's age."**

" **They did have my Dad with them," Lily reminded her; and then laughed. "Forget I said that; since I really didn't need that mental picture of Dad staying in your tent all summer – or maybe Al doing that instead."**

" **Consider it forgotten," Rose agreed. "That would just be weird, scary, or both."**

" **We can all do that," Gwendolyn told her, "but before I forget, Al – thank-you! This is going to be brilliant!"**

" **You're welcome," he assured her. "Let's head for the Great Hall, since we're blocking traffic; and you can open Rose's and Lily's gifts along the way."**

 **Gwendolyn was happy to do that; they all enjoyed that blast of birthday fun; and Al stayed with Gwendolyn for as long as he could before he and Rose needed to go and sit at the Gryffindor table when breakfast was served. He missed out on almost all of Gwendolyn's meal-time birthday fun, but he ate quickly; and then was ready to go over to her again shortly after the Owl Post arrived with five packages for her. He made sure that Rose knew to eat quickly too; and she went and sat with Brandon when he went over to stand behind Gwendolyn before she got around to opening her first gift.**

" **Is there something I should know before opening my Owl Posts?' she asked Al; though she could see that he was excited.**

" **Nothing that you won't know once you've done that," he assured her. "I've just had the feeling that I'll really want to be here while you're opening these gifts; so we're just here to witness the fun."**

" **Then I'm sure that this is going to be brilliant," she decided as she began opening the small package from her parents. She opened the box when she got to it; laughed when there was a little bag inside with a drawstring that needed to be opened; and then she shouted excitedly when she looked inside and saw what was hidden in there – loudly-enough to get the attention of a lot of students and Professors all around the hall.**

" **It's a Lightningbolt!" she exclaimed excitedly; and then laughed happily as she reached into the undetectable expansion bag and pulled it out – something that looked impossible; since the bag was comparatively-tiny. "Merlin, Al – they got me a Lightningbolt this year instead of next!" She jumped up; hugged and kissed him; and then joined in on the laughs that erupted all around them. There were cat-calls too; and quite a bit of applause from her fellow Ravenclaw.**

" **Do you think they're applauding the kiss – or the fact that you'll have that broom for next season?" Brandon joked.**

" **I'll guess the broom," Al answered before Gwendolyn could. "That is good news for your House team next year."**

" **It's just too bad that she can't lend it to me next season too," Lily lamented as she and Jonah joined them. "Did your birthday just go from good to great?" she asked; and Gwendolyn smiled brilliantly. "Yes, it did," she assured her. "I've gotta call Mum and Dad!"**

 **She sat down while getting her mirror out of her book bag; called them; and wasn't surprised when Gwenog answered on the first chime.**

" **Thank-you!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "This is brilliant, Mum! I thought that I had to wait until next year!"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "We've never told you that," she advised Gwendolyn. "That's been the trend for Al's cousins – starting with Teddy; but we've never told you that."**

" **You haven't?" Gwendolyn asked; trying to think about that; and Gwenog shook her head while still smiling.**

" **You've thought so, and we've never disagreed with you or your friends while talking about it; but we never insisted that you'd have to wait. Surprise!"**

" **I love you!" Gwendolyn told her. "You too, Dad," she added. "Thank you!"**

" **You're welcome," Gwenog and Kirley both assured her. "How has the rest of your morning been going?"**

" **Great – and I can tell that you know it; since you're grinning like that and Al mentioned that his gift came with parental approval."**

" **After a promise or two," Gwenog agreed; and was still grinning at her daughter as Gwendolyn looked up at Al. "Don't worry – we didn't make him take any unbreakable vows or anything too serious."**

" **Instead of going there," Lily interjected; "the younger teens here want to thank you too, Aunt Gwenog. Will the Harpies be giving Gwendolyn a summer job training with them too?"**

" **Yeah – which is why we're not worried about that holiday with Al; since she'll be busy training with the team instead," Gwenog teased. "Seriously, though, we aren't going to do that sort of thing with the Harpies – though we did talk about it after the Catapults have gone there over the past year with six teens now. Glynnis and I don't think it's a good idea – at least for underage teens. We've hired seventeen-year old players in the past – teens that didn't stay in school for their NEWT year; but we don't even want to do that anymore; since we think that finishing school is important – particularly when it comes to jobs and careers after Quidditch."**

" **We'll talk about that later," Lily told her with a grin. "I can't best James' start to his league career if you won't hire me early!"**

" **We'd be okay with you having a full, undefeated season the year after you graduate," Gwenog advised her. "Wouldn't you rather start later and win a league title for your rookie season?"**

" **Not compared to winning a league title at sixteen," Lily disagreed; and Gwenog laughed.**

" **You wouldn't be able to do that; since that match would be in May; and your Mum would not let you leave school early. Sorry, sweetie. I love you, but if you insist on trying to do that and quit school when you're seventeen; you'll have to do it with a different team."**

 **Lily truly didn't like hearing that news, but they moved on to have fun with the rest of that mirror chat; Gwendolyn talked with her father for a few minutes; and then she opened the rest of her gifts before they all needed to get to their first classes – which were also their last classes of the school year! Al spent as much time with Gwendolyn as he could, including about half of their lunch break time; they had a full study session after last class until about a half-hour before dinner; and then they all took time to get ready for dinner and the party that Al was hosting for Gwendolyn after dinner. He'd needed to eat quickly; move on to the classroom; and get everything set up for the party while Lily and Jonah took care of entertaining Gwendolyn until they brought her to the classroom too. A lot of the party guests were already there by then; she was welcomed with a round of happy birthday cheer; and then the party was on!**

 **While Al did host the party and do a lot of work; he played with Gwendolyn, their families, and friends too; the entertainment included swimming, games, and a dance; and he and Gwendolyn provided about half of the dance-time music while Jonah took care of the rest with some help from Lily and a few Weird Sisters' cousins. Wendy and Wanda Wintringham were two of the entertainers; so everyone at the party got to hear a preview of the songs that the new, soon-to-be-a-sensation duo, the Weird Witches, would be doing when they went out on the Quidditch World Cup concert tour with the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids on the Block.**

 **They had a great turnout for the party, and while some of the older teens or younger tweens only stopped in for cameo visits; the classroom was usually a bit too full; and it really did feel like a party. It was also a gathering without any of the bad kind of teen drama; and Al got teased about that more than once for actually attending a party where he didn't attract any trouble. He was sure that had more to do with James and Ollie both being out of school now; but didn't mention that to anyone – and he was just grateful that he could pull off that party for Gwendolyn without having it turn into a disaster for any reason.**

 **Partying past-curfew wasn't something a Prefect could condone, so they wrapped things up with time for the clean-up; Al got lots of help with that; and then he walked Gwendolyn home – and had Rose and Lily with him because that's what they all decided to do instead of splitting up when there wasn't any time left for even a bit of minor snogging fun. Gwendolyn pretended to be a bit sad about that, but she'd had a brilliant night; and was very happy as she kissed Al goodnight and then went on to her House and what would likely be an extended birthday party girl chat recap with her roommates. By then, Al was just ready to go back to Gryffindor tower with Rose and Lily; he wished them a good night too; and then went up to bed and off to sleep.**

 **James looked around as he followed Ollie into his best mate's new flat. He was carrying two pizza boxes while Ollie had the rest of their take-out food order.**

" **It's not quite as nice as your place; but it's home," Ollie offered; though he still sounded proud of his new place.**

" **You won't be bunking with me and cramping my style anymore; so I'd say it's brilliant," James told him enthusiastically. "I am seriously overdue for having Witches spending the night with me instead of you!"**

" **It was only five bloody nights," Ollie countered. "I've gone longer than that without snogging a Witch."**

" **Which sucks for you," James assured him. "I like my place a lot; but you'll like being right here in Diagon Alley." He put the pizzas down on the kitchen table. "Did you go out and buy all of this furniture today? I expected that we'd be conjuring chairs tonight."**

 **Ollie looked a bit sheepish as he answered that question. "Most of the stuff is gifts from my family," he admitted. "I should probably hate that; but don't mind saving the money; since I don't start actually getting paid by the Catapults until next month."**

" **So enjoy the vacation while you can," James suggested. "you can have fun everyday while I'm stuck in National team hell with the Potty-trainer's Mum bossing me around as if she's Queen of the World instead of a washed-up old windbag."**

" **I'd rather be on that team with you," Ollie told him seriously; and James laughed.**

" **No, you really wouldn't," he disagreed. "I'll wager it'd be an even-worse horror for you to have to train with your sisters every day, and if the Queen Mum doesn't get what she wants; there are punishments – as if we're all a bunch of toddlers needing to be scolded. I've wanted to curse that B-Witch a hundred times a day at least!"**

" **I should've said that I'd rather be playing on the National team with you, Louis, the McClaggens, and a couple of other players that would make doing that fun – and give us an actual chance to win the Quidditch World Cup. You'll have to win every match to give this National team a chance to even get past the first round."**

" **No doubt," James agreed. "The Queen B-Witch has us wasting most of our day with training that's totally pointless for professional players. She's acting as if we're all brand-new to the game. We've even had lessons about Quidditch rules!"**

" **Seriously?" Ollie asked; and James nodded.**

" **Yeah – and it's just going to get worse. We'll be forced to attend lectures by some git from the Ministry of Magic on how to act as good and proper ambassadors for our country; and whatever other nonsense they want to demand of us just for the honor of wearing the National team robes and 'doing it' for our country!"**

 **Ollie laughed. "Isn't that why you accepted the invitation – so you could go around the world 'doing it' for your country?"**

" **Yes, but I've already checked on that for our first-round match-up; and the Minister of Magic for Moldova – the team we'll be up against – has a hag-of-the-month-ugly daughter who is too-old for me anyway; and the Minister of Magic for Italy only has sons – though his wife is reasonably-hot."**

" **I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding other hot Witches to play with while you're in Italy," Ollie predicted. "I've got fire whiskey or ale – what's your choice?"**

" **Let's go with the ale," James decided. "We don't want to be too happy when we head out in search of a Witch for you to bring back here so that you can have some company for your first night in your new flat!"**

 **Al was fired up right from the time he woke on Saturday morning – and that had everything to do with their visit to Hogsmeade that was going to include a last visit with Malorie and the twins before he'd be into exams and wouldn't see them again until it was time to head home for the summer. He got ready for the day; had his morning workout by the lake; and then he had fun with both the morning walk and talk with Rose and breakfast in the Great Hall. Gwendolyn's birthday was in the past, but it felt as though they were still celebrating while doing the horseback ride to town; and then they spent two and a half hours with Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie while picking up their supplies and then having an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Saying goodbye was tough, but there were extra hugs, kisses, and cuddles; and that was going to have to hold Al and Lily over for nearly three more weeks.**

 **Going back to Hogwarts much earlier than normal was a bit of a let-down, but the studying was important even for Al and Gwendolyn; and getting critical for their less-prepared friends. Al put a lot of time into tutoring during the rest of the day and weekend – and did that both with his study group and helping other teens and tweens around the castle. Most of that help came while Gwendolyn was busy with Prefect duties or after curfew in the Gryffindor common room, but while that got him some attention; nobody bothered him about it because the help was appreciated and needed – even when it came out of the blue just when it was needed most. The first OWL exam of the week was Charms on Monday, so it wasn't one that Al was worried about at all; and he really had fun with the practical exam practices with Gwendolyn and their friends.**

 **The preparation for the written exam wasn't nearly as much fun for most of Al's friends, but he did what he could to make that part of the studying entertaining; if not fun or easy – and yes; it was possible to be entertained in a scary, academic sort of way. Some fun breaks were fit in when needed – including two Quidditch scrimmages; a short swim in the lake; and family fun night on Sunday that was part of the studying before they wrapped up early for Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, Susannah, and the other members of their group that wanted to go with the good night of sleep ahead of their written exam on Monday morning. Al was first to go off to sleep; he had no trouble resting peacefully and well; and he was in a great mood when he woke on Monday and went through his usual routine before meeting up with Rose for their morning walk and talk.**

" **Mum was more stressed about our exams than I was when I talked to her last night," Rose advised Al. "Maybe we'll find out in September or November if I still get stressed about Quidditch; but I'm not worried about our exams today."**

" **That's funny, since maybe we should both be worried about that now that Gwendolyn has her new broom," Al joked. "She'll have nearly a year to get used to it by next May."**

" **I'll hope to get one for my birthday next year; and we'd both get them before that match too."**

" **Maybe I'll have my own broom invented by then," Al suggested. "That'd be a bit too early for when we'll need it for the Cannons, but some game testing would be a good idea."**

" **Not if you crash out of the match," Rose disagreed. "You'd better be sure about how good your broom is before I'll want to fly one – or use them with our Cannons team."**

" **I wouldn't do that if I couldn't get it working perfectly – and wouldn't use any broom that wouldn't be better than the Lightningbolts. We do want advantages that make us better."**

 **Rose nodded and smiled ruefully. "I don't even know why I'm feeling obtuse about your idea, Al. I Wouldn't even think twice about buying any broom that comes out that's better than the Lightningbolt. It might be that I'm worried that I won't be good-enough to use the kind of broom you want to design."**

" **There will be lots of players that won't be able to use it – if I can make a broom do everything I want it to do. That does remind me that I wanted to talk to you about adding different exercises into our training this summer – and next year; if you or someone else we can work with gets to be our next Captain."**

" **What do you want to do?" Rose asked.**

" **Basically, Muggle gymnastics," Al answered seriously. "We should build on the martial arts training that Dad did with us last summer, but if we could improve everyone's flexibility, strength, and agility; we'll all be able to do more-extreme tricks with our flying and Quidditch."**

" **Are you going to start doing handstands on your broom at one hundred miles an hour?" Rose asked whimsically; and Al laughed.**

" **No, but doing extreme tricks could lead to injuries for anyone not physically fit – and I am thinking about doing things that would look a lot like gymnastics on a broom."**

" **As if some of your tricks don't look like that already," Rose stated. "I have enough trouble playing Keeper against you as it is; so maybe this is a really bad idea for you to get a whole bunch of Chasers trained to do things like that – especially any Chasers we might end up playing against in the show!"**

" **Other Chasers will want to learn from us – if we're lucky and do a great job with our plan for the Cannons. We're still just talking about my wish list; and I have no idea whether I'll be able to get a broom that can allow me to do the tricks I imagine. The suggestion for training would help any player anyway, and if I can make an amazing new broom; we'd want that training before trying to learn how to do those tricks on brooms."**

" **Okay, but do you know anyone who can teach us?" Rose asked. "Don't tell me that your Dad is a closet gymnast." She laughed. "Now I'm trying to picture him doing those routines with those long ribbons."**

" **Rhythmic gymnastics," Al supplied. "No, I'm pretty sure that isn't one of Dad's hobbies – unless he's taken it up since last September. I could lead that part of the work-outs."**

" **You're the closet gymnast in the family?" Rose asked in surprise; and Al grinned at her.**

" **I read a book or two on it and watched some videos on my tablet," he joked – but actually meant that as the truth.**

" **Well, that'd make you an expert," Rose agreed with a laugh. "Show me what you've got!"**

 **Al handed her his bag; grinned; and did that – a tumbling routine that he did using the rest of the available hallway and that ended with a double-layout with a full twist.**

" **Well, you didn't stick the landing," Rose called out; "but that was impressive anyway."**

" **You don't need to stick the landing when you're on a broom," Al pointed out as he walked back toward her and then took his book bag back again and put the strap over his shoulder. "I also don't plan on trying out for the Olympics; so I don't think it'll be a problem."**

" **Okay," Rose agreed; "but I should warn you that James is sure to make jokes about the Cannons' Circus instead of the clown brigade if you start doing too many tricks like those – or if you use your broom as a trapeze bar!"**

" **That's an idea," Al joked. "Maybe we could design a play where we switch brooms in mid-air!"**

" **That seems pointless, but have fun with that if you must; and Gwendolyn's likely crazy-enough to try something like that with you."**

" **I wasn't serious about that," Al assured her, "but I'll keep what you said in mind; since I can picture designed plays that might look like a circus. As long as we earned goals, though; would you care? Circuses are fun!"**

" **So are clowns – except for people that have a clown phobia; but that doesn't mean I want to be on a team that's the joke of the league. If I wanted that; I could just try to get a job on the current Cannons team and not bother with all of the work we're doing."**

" **You'd make the team better by doing that; but your dream is bigger anyway. If you went to work for them on the cheap; I wouldn't be surprised if they just traded you to another team and you got stuck working for the same wage for a team you don't want to be with while they pocket some profits for nothing."**

" **Note to us – give ourselves no-trade contracts!" Rose joked. "Speaking of trades, from what Gwendolyn's Mum said last night; she'd like to trade James to one of the other National teams."**

" **James might have been okay with any other manager for the team; but Aunt Gwenog is likely going to have problems with him all the way. It's too bad that James won't see what a chance he has with this version of our National team. Belinda and Victoire are going to love playing on the same team again; Tina and Calvin could be one of the best Beater duos in the world; and Francine and Rachel may do better together with Victoire than they even know could be possible – and that's especially-true for Rachel."**

" **Sure, because she'll play brilliantly with the rival she hates the most," Rose interjected.**

" **Rachel will compete against Victoire more than play with her; but that might just work for them. There have been Chaser trios that work together even when they don't like each other all that much."**

" **That doesn't happen very often, but I suppose we're only talking about keeping it together for a couple of months; and they do all want a shot at the big prize – even James."**

" **He does; but he also wants to be the only hero to make that happen; so he won't like it if Belinda, Victoire, or anyone else tries to steal the glory from him. That attitude is going to be a problem on a team full of star players."**

" **That doesn't sound good for our team," Rose decided. "Maybe I'll be glad to be working wheezes booths – and I probably won't get to cover that match; since Dad is talking about having Brandon run one with me on our own – or with local teens helping; since Brandon is over seventeen and can do magic."**

" **We know where the first round matches are," Al reminded her. "Pick your favorite place to visit and try to get him to assign that match to you."**

" **That's a rather good idea," Rose told him enthusiastically – "that, and your idea to go camping with just you and Gwendolyn that I'm going to talk Mum and Dad into letting me do with Brandon while we're working those matches!"**

 **Al laughed. "You'll be working every match that your Dad does," he predicted. "Either that; or he'll make sure your tent is right next to a bunch of campsites full of Aurors or something."**

" **Now you're scaring me," Rose told him.**

" **Then my work is done; since you're not even worried about our first OWL exam!"**

 **Rose laughed. "I wasn't worried before we started this walk and talk," she reminded him. "You didn't have any work to do to help me with that."**

 **While they'd both known that; their time together did help them with getting ready for their exam; and they were both in a great mood as they had breakfast and then met up with Gwendolyn and some other friends for the walk to the room that was being used for the written part of their Charms exam. Rose had a few minutes with Brandon for some good luck hugs and kisses too; but then he had to get to his first exam too. There were some obvious differences to all previous written exams that Al noticed right away when they walked into their examination room – though nothing was a surprise. The most-obvious was the presence of an official examiner from the Ministry of Magic; and the absence of their Charms Professors. The official from the Wizarding Examination Authority could get help from the Hogwarts Professors when needed, and for their first exam; Professor Vector was helping – probably because there were no optionals exams scheduled for the first two Mondays of the exam schedule.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn were with Rose, Ray, and Susannah as they chose a group of desks to sit at; the exam booklets on each desk were another obvious difference thanks to the Ministry of Magic logo and the rest of the official-looking information on the top page – including the large O.W.L. that caught the eye immediately; and evoked a sense of fear in some of the students in the room. That was something that Al didn't guess at – he could sense it. Getting everyone seated didn't take very long; and the noise level was lower than normal too; since the Ministry official began urging them to get to their desks and be quiet not long after Al and his cousin and friends had been sitting down. Once that was accomplished, there was an introduction; explanation of the OWL exam procedures; and warnings about cheating and the serious risks involved in doing that on any OWL or NEWT examination. Once that was done; their examiner let them get at it; and Al didn't waste any time doing that; though step one was reading a page of instructions before getting to the first questions of the exam.**

 **They had three hours to write the exam, but Al wasn't worried about running out of time. He did work quickly, though; and was grateful for having such a great memory; since that did help a lot when it came to choosing answers to true and false or multiple-choice questions. That was true for speedy reading and comprehension, but the standardized testing did not include 'trick' questions. As long as the student had a good understanding of the subject they were being tested on; there weren't any problems with the exam itself. There were also no attempts to mess with the students with things like time-wasting sections with few marks put ahead of sections with the bulk of the marks. The exam was divided into sections with near-equal marks; and that breakdown had been included as part of the first-page instructions.**

 **Once he was into the exam, Al tuned out everything else around him – though that wasn't exactly what he did – it was more like he continued to process and store all of that 'noise' while focusing on the exam. The testing of his knowledge was very thorough; and encompassed everything they'd learned during their first five years. That didn't mean they needed to remember every single tidbit they'd ever learned so far – it was more along the lines of ensuring that they had a solid knowledge of the basics that were needed to use Charms safely – and make it possible to learn more advanced magic that could go very badly for the unprepared Wizard or Witch.**

 **While he was aware of everything around him, Al was still a bit surprised when he finished the exam in just a bit under two hours. He thought about relaxing and looking it over, but knew that wasn't necessary; so he quietly collected his things and got up and ready to go. There was some good and bad attention for him as he walked to the front of the room and handed in his exam; and he knew that the Ministry official was surprised because he was smiling and looked happy instead of upset and defeated – which was apparently how teens were supposed to look when they gave up so early and just quit trying. He attracted more attention as he left the room, and since he had about an hour of free time before Gwendolyn, Rose, and the others would be done; he went outside and decided to relax and have a bit of fun with an Animorphmagus-eagle flight around the castle grounds. He was back in the hallway outside the exam room with ten minutes to spare; sensed that Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah were all just checking over their own exams by then; and knew that they were all feeling really good about how well they'd done. There was some information he sensed about his own exam from the examiner; but nothing that he'd talk with about anyone – though it did feel pretty good to know that he'd aced that part of his first OWL!**

" **Ow!" he pretended to exclaim when Gwendolyn punched him before stepping into a hug. She laughed; and then kissed him to make up for the punch.**

" **Be glad that every fifth-year student in the school isn't punching you on the way out," Gwendolyn suggested; and then there was a round of laughs as Rose, Susannah, and Ray all reached in to hit him too. "You are not supposed to finish writing an exam that hard in half the time alotted!"**

" **It was only two-thirds," Al protested; and Gwendolyn punched him again.**

" **Don't quibble over a half hour with me," she warned; though she was smiling too. "I love you, Al; but that was very, very annoying!"**

" **It was," Rose agreed, "but there was one good thing about it – we knew that we wouldn't run out of time after seeing him leave. I might have started to worry if I saw him still writing as furiously as he did during that first two hours in the last quarter-hour."**

" **I suppose," Gwendolyn conceded grudgingly. "What have you been doing for the last hour? Waiting here?"**

" **Not at first. I went out for a fly for a half-hour or so," he admitted; and then stepped back quickly when Gwendolyn tried to punch him again.**

" **Let's get to the Great Hall," she suggested. "Everyone will want to talk about this exam at lunch; but I'd like to move on and get ready for the practical exam this afternoon."**

 **Doing that wasn't really an option because some of their friends wanted to ask questions about the exam – mostly hoping for reassurance that they'd done better than they thought – or to confirm worst fears for the pessimists in the group. Al tried to be gentle; but was always honest – even when it was bad news. The mood in the Great Hall was tougher to deal with than it had been at breakfast, but not unexpected; and Al was able to deal with that as he ate quickly and then met up with Gwendolyn for the last half of their lunch break. He took her for a horseback ride to help put a bit of extra happy in her life; and they eventually went to the hallway outside of the room being used for the practical exams for Charms.**

 **This test wasn't much different from previous practical exams – except that they had Ministry officials administering the exams; and there were exam 'stations' set up so that a dozen students could be tested at a time. That was something that the students didn't see for themselves until they were in the room, but could deduce from the start; since twelve teens were invited into the room in the first group. That was done alphabetically, so Al, Gwendolyn, and most of their best friends had a bit of a wait ahead of them – something that became more-obvious when it took nearly twenty minutes before the second group was called. Rose and Ray were least-impressed with that, but they all managed to keep entertained while they waited – and some of that fun came from post-exam chats with other friends as they left the room and wanted to talk about how well or poorly their exams had gone. Gwendolyn and Susannah ended up in the same group when they were called in, but Al didn't get to talk with them after they were done because he was in the next group and only had time for a quick hug with Gwendolyn in passing.**

 **After waiting for about half of the allotted exam time for the afternoon, Al found the actual testing a bit anti-climactic. His examiner tested him on everything from color-change charms to Summoning and Banishing demonstrations. He aced everything; earned bonus marks that were apparently offered for an advanced Charms demonstration that was above-and-beyond the required demonstration of proficiency; and then he was the first to be done in his group and was set free to go and meet up with Gwendolyn again. They continued to talk about the exam; stayed to help keep Rose and Ray happy as they waited until near the end to take their exams; and then they took a break outdoors before getting to their study classroom so that they could resume their exam preparations – this time with History as the subject they needed to focus on for their second day of exams.**

 **Raise your hand if you'd rather be writing NEWT exams today instead of going through a day like we've just had today," Victoire joked as she headed toward the locker room with Belinda and the rest of their National team and reserve squad players. She laughed when nobody did.**

" **Is that because of fond memories; or in sympathy for Louis?" Dominique asked.**

" **Gwenog's been her boss for years now," Belinda reminded her. "Maybe she knows something we don't – like that there will be tests at the end of our training time before we can go out on the road with the team."**

" **Not that I know of," Victoire told her. "I'd actually guess that Gwenog is pushing us this hard because she likes our chances this year – and she'd like to win another Quidditch World Cup as much as the rest of us would like to win our first."**

" **You mean the half of us that will be playing in those matches," James offered with a malicious smirk and glance at Alex. "The rest of you will still be looking to do that in four years – or never."**

" **We won't get there without everyone," Victoire disagreed; "and everyone on the team gets their names on the trophy – and in the record books."**

" **Maybe you can't," James countered. "I could get there with me and six Inferi on brooms!"**

" **Not if they went after you first," Dominique retorted. "Give it a rest, James. It's been a long day; and the rest of us don't want to listen to more of your bragging – or get into fights with you."**

" **You just don't want to lose a fight – and the truth hurts," James shot back; and scowled when Dominique laughed.**

" **No – we're just used to working with grown-up, professional wizards and Witches, James. You're not the only player by far to act like this while trying to mess with us during a match; but that's meant for opponents – not your own team mates."**

" **I can't help it," James told her. "You're all deluded fools; and it's just too-easy to laugh at you for actually believing that you're more than warm bodies to stick on the other six brooms while the best Seeker in the history of the game goes out and wins that Championship for – well, for me!"**

" **Would you like the Ministry of Magic to re-name the country too?" Vicky asked in dark amusement. "What would you call it instead? Potter Land?"**

" **He's likely thinking bigger," Dominique offered. "Potter World or Potter-verse!"**

" **Laugh it up, my deluded future vassals," James told them angrily. "This summer, I'll win the Quidditch World Cup; and after that – every championship I compete in!"**

" **Well, if that's going to be our future; the rest of us should just retire now," Belinda suggested. "So much for my hopes for a re-match against Victoire and her team next May!"**

" **I don't have a problem with beating your team – and Alex – anytime you want to lose a championship match again; though you'll have to take your turn. I want to give all of the other teams a chance to get beaten too."**

" **Even the Cannons?" Francine asked.**

" **They'll have to settle for getting destroyed twice a year – especially after the Animorphloser and his pet weasel join their clown brigade!"**

" **Well, good luck with that," Francine told him. "The rest of us will look forward to seeing how brilliantly that works out for you, James."**

" **I'd say it's more likely that you'll be crying into your cups and wishing you were one of the other lucky six players on my team – like you are right now; though I've no idea how you got picked. The best player on your team couldn't even keep from falling off her broom in your last match against me!"**

" **She crashed, and all of those spectators got hurt because you bashed into her to save yourself," Francine told him; and she was angry now. "You've a real knack for putting Witches you compete against into the hospital. Well-done, you!"**

" **Thank-you," James retorted scathingly. "Now shut it; or maybe you'll be next."**

" **Don't bother, sis," Alice told Francine. "He really doesn't care a whit about anyone but himself. That makes him incapable of blaming himself for anything bad while taking all of the credit for anything good."**

" **I am the source of all things good and right," James declared pompously.**

" **I rest my case," Alice told the others.**

" **The rest of you are a case – a baker's dozen of head-cases!"**

 **History was not an easy OWL exam for most fifth-year teens, but after their Charms exams; all of the OWL students at least had a better understanding of what to expect for the rest of their exams. They also could look forward to only having the morning, written exam for History on Tuesday; since there was no practical exam for that subject. For Al, the rest of his afternoon and evening on Monday was all about tutoring his friends, but while he did his best with that; it was too-late to help any friends that hadn't already memorized a lot of the facts and figures they'd need to know for the exam.**

 **Actually taking the test on Tuesday was nearly exactly the same as the Charms exam had been for Al. He finished early; got punched again for doing that; and then moved on to the next subject – though this time; that happened after lunch as they got to work on Herbology. There wasn't really a routine from then on, but there was a rhythm. They studied when they weren't taking written or practical exams; there were some play breaks mixed in when they needed a break; and Al helped out everywhere he could – though he had most of his focus on helping his fellow OWL students. On Wednesday, he aced his Herbology exams; managed to do that without getting bitten, scratched, or otherwise injured by the plants during the practical exam; and then he went on to wrapping up his week by acing his Divination and DADA exams.**

 **Four or five OWLs in five days – or three or four more than that, if you counted the practical exams separately – had worn down most of the fifth-year students by the time they were finished their DADA practical exams on Friday afternoon. That's why Al, Gwendolyn, and only a few of their study friends were together for their study sessions before and after dinner. While many of the teens and tweens around the castle were thinking about having the weekend off before their next exam; the most-serious students knew that they needed to keep going all weekend – especially for the teens that had five more exams on their schedules. Gwendolyn and Rose hadn't needed to take the Divination OWL, but they all had to write both optionals that were booked for the second week of exams.**

 **They all also had Jonah's fourteenth birthday to celebrate on Saturday, and would be taking some time off to do that with him on Saturday afternoon; so that was one more good reason to keep working whenever they could do that. Since they didn't have most of their study group with them on Friday, the subject focus was with getting ready for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. That was hardly the most-exciting way to spend the evening, but those were going to be two of the toughest OWLs; and that was true even for the very best students in their year! Gwendolyn, Rose, and Susannah all had Prefect duties to deal with at curfew, so they packed up early-enough for them to do that; And then Al stayed up late and did some other work from his bed – some final toymaking that needed to be done by Sunday night – though that work was simple modifications to master copies of a few of the toys that had already been completed.**

 **Saturday morning started out with bonus fun as Al and Rose had Lily with them for the morning walk and talk; they had a stop at Ravenclaw tower so they could meet up with Jonah and get his birthday celebration started; and then Al was out of the loop for the rest of Jonah's birthday breakfast fun. He also moved on from the Great Hall to their study classroom; they worked all morning with a focus on getting ready for their Transfiguration exams; and then he spent the afternoon helping Gwendolyn with Jonah's outdoor birthday party; since they did most of the work for that with some help from their friends while Lily was in charge of keeping Jonah entertained with games, swimming, food, fun – and liberal doses of hugs and kisses!**

 **A bit of play time was mixed in with the party work, but that didn't end up happening for Al and Gwendolyn for very much of their afternoon because the guest list for an outdoor party tended to be a bit tough to control; and the food and drinks required regular re-stocking. The birthday cake was large – and was still, somehow, demolished by the ravenous pack of teens and tweens before either of them even got to grab pieces of it for themselves. They did go for a short swim; played Fanged Frisbee for a while; and caught part of the AquaQuidditch match; but they also kept the party going; added in a bit of study time; and had to clean everything up again when it was time to head back into the castle to get ready for dinner – which for many of them included the need for a shower and change of clothes.**

 **Once the party was out of the way; it was time to get back to the exam studying; the 'normal' exam routine resumed for the rest of the weekend; and the study breaks were almost exactly the same as they'd been a week ago after their visit to town – a Quidditch scrimmage, swimming, and family fun night after dinner on Sunday. Al sent his second-to-last Owl Post of the school year home with Winter before curfew on Sunday night; walked Gwendolyn home; and then wrapped up his weekend with an early bedtime so he'd be rested for their Transfiguration exams on Monday. He wasn't very popular with some of the Gryffindor fifth-year students for doing that instead of staying up late and helping them to cram for those exams, but he did still need to do his best on his own exams; and couldn't do that if he was too-tired from pushing himself beyond his limits!**

 **Harry and Ginny snuggled on the sofa in the sitting room; watching Lee's nightly show; and enjoying the quiet time after a busy weekend that had included a sleepover for the twins on Saturday night so that Malorie could have a break on a night when she could actually go out and have fun with her friends. They'd had Kirley, Gwenog, Ron, and Hermione over for dinner to finalize as much of their summer plans as was possible without knowing what would happen with the Quidditch World Cup matches beyond the first round – and knowing where the championship match was being held. They'd had a lot to work out, since Gwenog was busy with the National team; Kirley had work with the bands every week; and Ron, of course, was going to be very busy with the wheezes booths – especially during the first couple of rounds when they'd have booths at the matches and campsites in sixty-four and thirty-two countries around the world.**

 **While work was going to keep four of them very busy, Harry and Ginny were going to help out with making as much of the summer fun for all six kids and some friends; and would have hlep from at least one or two of the other parents for two of the three vacation weeks they'd decided to put together for the kids. Picking the first and last week of the Quidditch World Cup tournament had been easy; and the week they were going to go on holidays for between the fourth and fifth-round matches would be done on the fly – and would entirely depend on whether England was still in the running for the championship; and where the matches would be held if they were still playing both weekends. Hermione and Kirley were going to help out on the first and last weeks when they could; Ron would take days off here and there; and Gwenog would be busy with the team for as long as they were still in the hunt for the big prize!**

 **They'd gotten input from the kids too, since they had to juggle everything they wanted to do too – whether that was Quidditch training, work, or other family and friends time; but they didn't expand that effort too much to the rest of the family. Ginny was sure that they'd get lots of family time just through the Quidditch World Cup matches; since parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all sure to get to some of the matches that Victoire and James would be playing in; and they'd have friends along too – including the other proud families of the other players on the team. Malorie and the twins were included in their plans too; and they'd made sure that they wouldn't go more than five days without being able to spend time with them while also making sure that holiday time wouldn't get in the way of Malorie's job.**

" **Lee's needing to dig deep for material tonight," Ginny suggested as Lee wrapped up his opening monologue. "That's good for us, right?"**

 **Harry laughed. "It was; but Al still has two weeks to the end of the term; so you've likely jinxed us now. Maybe you should have suggested to him that he could've done a monologue to speculate about what kind of trouble Al would get into this year."**

" **Lee would have fun with that, but are you getting bored to actually suggest that we help him – or anyone else – with messing with our family? What exactly did you picture with that for something new and worse to happen for Al anyway?"**

" **I was just going for the joke," Harry assured her; and then grinned. "Al doesn't need any help with getting in trouble. He has a gift for it!"**

" **Just like his father. I'm still going to hope that things really will change for the better now that James isn't at Hogwarts. That's probably an awful thing for a mother to say about one of her kids, and James should've made better decisions instead of blowing off the rest of his education; but Al's final two years should be better now. Everyone razzes him about being a trouble magnet – even us; but Al isn't the problem anymore than you were back when we were kids."**

" **That truth didn't keep us from making fun of ourselves," Harry reminded her. "We are hearing enough from Hogwarts to be sure that Al's life there is a bit better."**

" **Well, Jaimie and Lorie have that effect on everyone," Ginny suggested. "We're happier whenever we're with them; and all of those teens and tweens got to see that side of Al at the matches we went to with them."**

" **They've helped," Harry agreed. "James has been doing well without being around Al too, though; so maybe they'll both be okay."**

" **Not if Gwenog gets fed up and turns James into a bug," Ginny told him seriously. "I'm not actually worried about that, but James is getting away with the way he's acting so far because he's winning, and the moment that stops; he's going to have trouble. I am worried about him – as usual. I've talked about James being like Percy, but he isn't in one very important way – Percy at least believed he was doing the right thing for other Witches and Wizards. James just can't seem to get past being a self-centered little boy."**

" **Let's try to stop beating ourselves up about the way James has chosen to act, honey," Harry told her gently. "We've probably made lots of mistakes, but the one thing we couldn't do is make the choices he's made – and will continue to make – for him. For all we know, what he is doing will be exactly-right – for him."**

" **Thanks, but we both know it ultimately doesn't work that way. Let's change the subject. We've got the holiday times set up, but we should start doing a bit of research and plan out what we'll do with the kids – at least for the first and last week; since we do know where we'll be. Do we want to do a lot of sightseeing; look for extreme entertainment; or take it easy and just hang out around the campgrounds and play?"**

" **That's a tough one; since we'll be trying to entertain babies, teens, and adults," Harry offered thoughtfully. "Extreme fun won't be something we can do with Jaimie and Lorie; so maybe we should see if we can work that into the second week we'll be taking off – since they won't be with us for those weekdays. Our first week plans are also only tentatively in Italy. If we get a really great location for the second-round; we may want to move on sooner instead of later."**

" **That's a good point," Ginny agreed. "We can make plans for Bulgaria," she added; and then grinned. "If we come up with really great things to do; maybe Al and Gwendolyn will decide to hang out with us most of the time too!"**

" **Would you if we'd had that chance when we were their age?" he asked; and then laughed. "Okay, we did have that chance; but I've long-since conceded that I was an idiot for leaving you at home. While I'm thinking about that, though, we should suggest to Al that he make up a Muggle-repelling charmed seashell – unless you'd like to give that a shot. Using their wands in other countries while underage might not go over very well."**

" **That's a good idea," Ginny approved. "We will need to work out their magical travel with them – unless they're going to try to hike all the way from some starting point to the campsite for the championship match."**

" **Gwendolyn could ride," Harry suggested with a laugh. "How far can a Witch travel on a good horse in a day? Fifty or a hundred miles?"**

" **Is that an Animagus thing? I didn't even think about that being an option for them. I also have no idea about what kind of magical transportation is available in Bulgaria. For all I know, they have buses, trains, and Merlin-only-knows what else."**

" **We could leave them with a pair of bikes too," Harry reminded her. "We've time to help them work that out, though; so let's start with Italy. We can at least look at a day or two of sightseeing or something starting on the Sunday – or even before the match on Saturday morning."**

 **Ginny was happy to do that; they came up with some ideas thanks to a bit of surfing on Ginny's Muggle tablet and portable mirror; and then they eventually went to bed. They didn't have a bunch of exams to write, but the did have a busy week booked that included three part-days of grandparent babysitting services; and they were looking forward to getting everything ready for what they hoped might be a best-ever-so-far summer holiday!**

 **The second week of OWL exams pushed the limits of even the best students in fifth-year; since nearly-all of them had exams every day thanks to having Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures as the optional exams on Tuesday and Thursday. Transfiguration was up first on Monday, though, and since that was one of Al's very best and favorite subjects; he was the Wizard that his Gryffindor friends wanted to have help them to pointlessly try to cram for the exam at breakfast – and again at lunch; though he could hardly help them with actually being able to perform the magic on their own! It did take him two hours and ten minutes to ace the written exam; and his examiner had been thinking that his practical exam had been one of the best she'd ever seen in all of her years with the Examination Authority.**

 **Tuesday was a half-day for exams, but started out for Al and Gwendolyn with a morning mirror chat with Kirley to wish him a happy 51** **st** **birthday. They couldn't do much else to help him enjoy his special day, but then Gwenog was busy with the National team; he was busy helping his band mates with getting ready for the summer tour for the Weird Sisters and all three of the 'kids' bands; so he wasn't even going to be having a dinner or party this year. He likely did still have more fun than the students taking their OWL for Arithmancy – and not even Al could claim that writing and acing that exam was birthday-party exciting!**

 **The majority of his classmates would say the same thing about studying for Astronomy on Wednesday – especially when that meant studying in the afternoon and evening for the written exam; and then going out after dark to get ready for the practical exam that they'd be writing on Wednesday night. Al and Gwendolyn didn't feel that way, since they had a lot of fun with the after-dark studying, but then they did actually manage to help her with getting ready for the exam along with the cameo kissing moments that had a lot to do with why they were so happy by the time they needed to be back in their own Houses for the night. Al's written exam for Astronomy was his fastest, but that had everything to do with his exceptional memory; and he didn't even get punched about it; since Gwendolyn finished a half-hour early too.**

 **Having to wait until late-evening to take their practical exam for Astronomy was tough, but that was mostly because they couldn't really do much more to get ready for it; yet moving on to studying for Care of Magical Creatures risked messing things up for more than a few of Al's classmates. They did still work on that after lunch – starting with some actual, hands-on work with the animals that they were able to do under Hagrid's supervision. They spent the rest of the afternoon after that studying for the written exam; and then it was back to Astronomy for the evening – including one last bit of cramming that Al tutored after dark and before they all needed to be at the Astronomy tower. That was another exam that was done in groups, but it was also a bit longer; there were more adult Witch and Wizard Proctors administering the thorough examination; and Al was kept busy the entire time helping his fellow students – both before and after his own exam. Nobody would have been surprised to know that he impressed with that exam too; and he was sure he'd earned a perfect mark plus bonus points by the time he was finished impressing the Wizard who Proctored his exam.**

 **Even Al had issues with a late exam and then the Care of Magical Creatures written exam on Thursday morning; which was why that exam was his longest so far – a fact that had panicked some of his classmates when he didn't give them the early-warning that time would be up soon. He only finished with fifteen minutes to spare, and wasn't the first to leave the classroom; since three teens simply gave up early and handed in partially-completed exams. Being a bit tired didn't keep Al from making sure he'd done his best; so he was happy by the time he was done. Fatigue had a lot to do with why their practical exam in the afternoon was the strangest of them all for Al – and most-dangerous for some of his classmates.**

 **Madam Pomfrey would likely miss all of the patients that she didn't get because of that exam, but while Al waited to take his exam, he helped friends and classmates that needed healing after taking their practical exam. Most of the injuries were minor – burns from Fire Crabs or bites and scratches from other magical creatures, but Al was happy to help; and it kept him busy while waiting to take his own test. Some self-healing made sure that he wasn't too tired to do his best with everything from correctly-identifying magical creatures; taking care of the creatures that were selected for him by the Examination Authority official that had wanted to personally test him with tasks that were tougher than for most of the other students; and he also healed 'his' Knarl – and that left his examiner stunned when the normally, highly-suspicious, hedgehog-like creature apparently befriended Al – even after going berserk when Al offered it the milk that he hadn't really needed to do to distinguish it from among the hedgehogs.**

 **While Al stayed after his own exam to continue helping his classmates with any healing needs; he also switched mental gears to start getting ready for the Potions exams on Friday. Their last exams of the second week were part of his motivation for helping his classmates with their healing needs; though not all of them took advantage of that chance to get on with their studies instead of lining up in the hospital wing for treatment. Spending the rest of the afternoon playing or going for a swim would have been more fun for Al and Gwendolyn, but they didn't do that; and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in one of the Potions dungeon classrooms. Al did make one unpopular choice – he wrapped up his stutdying and tutoring more than an hour before curfew; walked Gwendolyn home; and then went straight to his dorm room after that, got ready for bed, and crashed for the rest of the night.**

 **Making that choice for himself when he could sense the needs of others so strongly had been tough for Al, but knowing his own limits was something he was learning to deal with; and the Potions exams were not something to be undertaken while exhausted. While Gwendolyn had been happy to wrap up her night early too, Rose and Susannah had stayed up until curfew with Brandon and Seth; and then they'd gone to bed not long after that – which was why Al didn't need to start out his day on Friday with any healing for any of his favorite Witches. The extra sleep he made time for proved to be very important too. It made taking the written exam comparatively-easy; he finished forty minutes early; and then he absolutely crushed the practical exam in the afternoon – a multi-part exam that was done in stages that tested each student's ability to create three Potions – including one that was required to complete another – or at least to strengthen its potency.**

 **The Draught of Peace was the toughest part of that afternoon of extreme Potioneering; and it wasn't all that peaceful either – thanks to the explosions that happened at least once with every single group being tested. That was also distracting, since even if you were in one of the other classrooms doing one of the other Potions; you still got to hear those explosions and that put a lot of stress on quite a few of the teens. Al's biggest issue with that wasn't his own anxiety level – it was dealing with what he sensed from everyone around him. He still managed to successfully complete all of the Potions; his Draught of Peace was likely potent-enough that it would be considered an illegal substance by Muggle authorities; and he was sure that he'd earned another Outstanding OWL by the time he went to celebrate the end of another exam week with a swim break in the lake with Gwendolyn and most of their study group friends.**

" **I heard that you were still going to school here," Lily teased as she took the last few steps toward Al and then sat down next to him on the dock. Jonah was with her; and sat down too. "Didn't you want to play AquaQuidditch too?"**

" **It's been a long week; and I didn't want to work that hard – even at a game," Al answered. "You look happy. Good exams today?"**

" **Today – and all week," she agreed. "I won't get straight O's like you will, but I am happy with how I've done; and I'll get O's in the classes I like best. I've missed you, bro. Let's try to spend some time together this weekend – and next week. You only have Ancient Runes on Monday, and won't have to tutor everyone like you've been doing every day for the past month or more; so you should be able to hang out with me – with us – at least a little."**

" **I can do that – if we can work out our respective study times. You still have one tough exam left for Monday too."**

 **Lily shrugged. "We'll work at it this weekend; but I'm ready for Transfiguration. That is one of my best classes too." She nodded toward the AquaQuidditch match in progress. "Who's winning?"**

" **Gwendolyn's team – seventy-to-twenty. For some reason, the guys keep getting distracted; and don't seem to care whether they score goals or not."**

" **I wonder why – not," Lily joked. "Do you want to come and swim with us? I'd like to play in the next match too, but don't want to wait to cool off."**

" **Sure," Al agreed – "as long as you don't want to have a race across the lake and back."**

 **Lily laughed. "Why bother doing that with you anymore? I don't have a chance in pretty much any race with you now that you can just change into any animal that would be faster than humans."**

" **Except broom races," Jonah offered. "There aren't any animals faster than a Firestorm or Lightningbolt, are there?"**

" **Not non-magical animals," Al agreed. "Broom racers have still been known to have troubles with dragons while flying over the dragon reserves."**

" **Yeah – the getting eaten kind of trouble," Lily added with a laugh. "I'll stick with Quidditch. Bludgers hurt; but they can't sink their teeth into you – or roast you in your team robes!"**

 **They continued to chat while getting ready to hop into the lake; had fun playing together – and with Gwendolyn, their cousins, and friends until near-dinnertime; and then Al had to get back to study mode again after having that meal. Their study group was very small- just the members of their study group that were taking Ancient Runes; and that allowed them to get a lot done before wrapping up for the night ahead of curfew. Gwendolyn had Prefect patrol, so she walked Al home; went to do that with Susannah; and he went up to his room and had a bit of magic play time – including working on the Muggle-repelling seashell that his mother had suggested might come in handy when he and Gwendolyn went off on their own during the week ahead of the Quidditch World Cup championship match. He still went to sleep earlier than most of the teens and tweens in the castle, but even though he only had one exam left to go; he still needed to rest up and recover a bit from doing a bit too much – using up a lot of magical power – over the past two weeks.**

 **Their final weekend at Hogwarts of the school year was actually a bit quiet for Al. Ancient Runes was sure to be a tough exam, but it was also a subject that you either learned and got good at – or didn't. Learning the runes 'languages' was tough, but once you did; reading them was not really any different than reading a book in any other language that you knew – except for the fact that it could be quite a bit more-dangerous! What that meant for Al, though, was that his study time was really just tutoring others; and he didn't mind taking extra study breaks for Quidditch, swimming, or just hanging out with his family and friends. He and Gwendolyn even took an hour and a half off on Saturday night for a moderately-brilliant snogging session! On Sunday night, his tutoring was more for Lily's classmates, but they'd gotten together so that they could multi-task their family fun night too; and his Ancient Runes study buddies didn't really need any extra help – or even the extra study time by then.**

 **Wrapping up their weekend with the usual visit to the Owlery was fun – especially since it was Winter's last trip home ahead of the summer break; and Al and Gwendolyn were both happy about that milestone – and the fact that they'd be home for the summer too in less than five days! She had another Prefect patrol, though, so he had the escort for the walk to Gryffindor tower again; and then he went up to his dorm room after just a few short visits in the common room – all of them to offer a bit of help and answer some exam-related questions. He was on his own in his dorm room, but most of his roommates were playing in the common room; and only a few were studying – whether that was for Ancient Runes or for the Muggle Studies exam on Tuesday. Al stayed up for a little while, but still went to sleep early; and he was in a great mood by the time he got up and ready for his final OWL exam.**

 **Taking that test really was tough. He took his time to make sure he got everything right; went over it a second time; and stayed right to the end – in part so he could leave the room with Gwendolyn, Rose, and the rest of their friends. He was grilled about questions from the exam after that and during lunch, but after that; it was time to play for the rest of the week! After months of work leading up to their exams; that seemed like a switch to an entirely-different life, but Gwendolyn was happy to help Al out with having fun, and as the afternoon rolled along; they had lots of help with that – especially from the teens and tweens that finished their last exams and were done for the week too.**

 **Quidditch scrimmages and playing in the lake were two of the entertainment highlights of the afternoon, but while they were happy to hang out with their friends; Al and Gwendolyn took Monday evening off for themselves. They went to the Room of Requirements; had some music time; and then snogged each other senseless for most of that time between dinner and curfew! That alone time was just the start of what Al and Gwendolyn both hoped could be a lot of time together all summer. They still had four days to go before getting to their holidays, though – including their travel day on Friday; and that gave them lots of time to keep the fun going – even while Gwendolyn still had to deal with her Prefect duties and the annual Slug Club luncheon that she'd be doing without Al.**

 **On Tuesday, while the last exams were being taken, Al and Gwendolyn spent the morning having a Chaser duel; going for a walk around the grounds that included a visit with Hagrid; and then they were with some of their friends – and indoors – when some rain rolled through the area. The wet weather didn't last for long, so it was nice-enough by the end of their lunch break; and just in time to let them get ouside and playing again. There was an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage; a lot of water play time in the lake; and more games out of the water. Gwendolyn talked Al into joining in on a couple of those games while in Animorphmagus forms; and they all had fun with that too without any major issues with the bad kind of attention that he still got a bit of from some of his favorite Slytherin haters.**

 **All exams were done by late-afternoon, but while the studying and work was done for the students at Hogwarts; Al still found teens and tweens in need of help. For some, that was all related to going home, but the problems ranged from missing possessions to emotional issues. Al couldn't do a lot to help students dealing with unhappy feelings about heading home or teen drama issues, but he did what he could – even if that was simply a kind word or the appearance of a treat out of nowhere. He was, apparently, a talented finder of lost or stolen things; and those possessions just happened to show up out of nowhere too – or the teen or tween looking for those things miraculously remembered where they'd been lost and could go and find them without his help. Most of that help happened without even needing to stop what he was doing, but Al spent a bit of time actually, actively helping out while Gwendolyn was busy with other things during the rest of the day.**

 **On Tuesday evening, Al and Gwendolyn were back outdoors for a while; they followed up that play time – including a horseback ride – with some teen hang-out time with their siblings, cousins, and friends in their study classroom; and then Al spent the last hour before curfew helping out around the castle while Gwendolyn had Prefect duties. After curfew, Al got started on getting his trunk and bags ready for the trip home; had some chat time with a couple of the guys doing the same instead of leaving it to the last minute on Thursday night or Friday morning; and then he had a bit of magical play time as he played around with a couple of projects that he'd likely need to shelve until September – especially since he wouldn't be able to work on them without getting approval to use the magic from his parents. That wasn't a problem for nefarious reasons – he just wasn't ready to talk about those ideas with anyone yet; and he wasn't immune to having an ego that kept him from risking looking the fool for ideas that didn't work out to become an awesome invention!**

 **Getting extra sleep was an option, and with some self-healing, by Wednesday morning; Al was pretty-much totally recovered from taking eleven OWLs. That worked out great, since they had a very busy play day! It was brilliant to spend most of that time with Gwendolyn; though she had the Slug Club end-of-term luncheon to attend while he had lunch in the Great Hall and then had to find other entertainments while waiting for her for another hour and more. They went for a swim after that; joined in for a Quidditch scrimmage; and then swam in the lake some more until dinnertime. Gwendolyn had a Prefect meeting and semi-party after dinner too; but they still had a chance for some alone time after that – and went to the Room of Requirements to get that privacy; and give Al a break from all of the mental noise too.**

" **You look more relieved than happy to have me alone," Gwendolyn teased as they walked into the Room of Requirements and Al closed the door behind them. "Tough evening? You looked fine when we were having dinner."**

 **Al smiled ruefully and shrugged. "It all adds up as the day goes along; and the teen drama around here is building up quite a bit as some of our fellow students have relationship issues. I think that I empathize more now than I have before; since I never, ever want to be apart from you for even days let alone weeks or months – not for any reason."**

" **Mum might turn me into a bug if I was in as bad a mood all summer as I was last September," Gwendolyn suggested.**

" **Then I'd better not mess up again while we're at home this summer – or ever; if I can manage that." He grinned then. "That's a nice lead-in to something I did want to talk with you about."**

" **You think that talking about me being mad at you is a good place to start a new train of thought? Should I be scared?"**

" **No," he assured her. "I want to talk with you about our sixth-year classes before shocking my parents and sister when I tell them that I don't plan on taking eleven classes next year."**

" **You don't want to take all of your classes next year?" Gwendolyn asked in surprise; and Al shook his head.**

" **That's why I wanted to talk with you – though we don't have to do that now if you'd rather leave it for another time. As long as we do work out what we want to do before our Hogwarts letters come out."**

" **You're doing so great in everything; I'm surprised that you don't want to keep on with all of your classes," she told him seriously.**

" **So are you, but you've said you won't be taking all ten classes next year," Al pointed out. "I've always said that I'll probably take all of my classes, but now that we're nearly to the point of needing to make those choices; I realize that I don't want to do that anymore. There are other things I can do with the extra time that is more-important to me – like spending time with you when we're not just studying day and night."**

" **Okay, so you want to talk about what we both want to keep on with next year," Gwendolyn stated; and Al nodded. "Well, lets start with the easy picks. For me, that's Arithmancy, Charms, DADA, Potions, and Transfiguration."**

" **I wasn't sure if you'd want to take Potions next year," Al advised her. "There are some NEWT-level potions that are fairly-awful; but I guess it's good to learn all of the poison antidotes. That's five. How many did you want to take in total? Seven or eight?"**

" **I should ask you that question," Gwendolyn told him. "I'll also want to know what you want to do with the extra time. We probably shouldn't just spend all of that time snogging each other senseless – though that would be fun!"**

" **It would be nice to have a bit more you and me time too, but I was thinking about Quidditch training and work. I also think that there are some classes that I'm better-off either not taking or learning more about those subjects on my own."**

" **Hagrid might have a problem with you studying Care of Magical Creatures on your own," Gwendolyn joked; and Al laughed.**

" **That's one class on the other side of those two options. I love the class, Gwendolyn, but I also don't plan on a future, second career as a Dragonologist or doing something else with Magical Creatures. I really don't need to take the advanced level. Divination falls into the other group. I'm going to sound like a git, but I've grown well-beyond the material they teach here; and it's a waste of my time to keep taking the class."**

" **You're right – that is a bit egotistical – and true. I don't want to get eaten or maimed by any of the creatures we'd learn to handle in sixth and NEWT-year; so I'm okay with that. You're down to nine with that. Dare I ask if you're thinking the same thing for Astronomy?"**

" **I am," Al agreed. "You may be shocked that I have History lumped in with subjects that I can self-learn from here."**

 **Gwendolyn feigned shock. "You're thinking about going from eleven classes to seven?"**

 **Al grinned at her. "Six – if I drop Ancient Runes too."**

" **Merlin! Your Mum's going to drag you off to St. Mungo's to get your head examined!"**

" **Maybe she should; since I'm also half-tempted not to take Herbology either. We likely need an expert for the Cannons, but Rose likes that class; and I have to settle for being good at it."**

" **Are you thinking about all of this in relation to your plans for the Cannons?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **It's a factor," he agreed. "We have two years left to get ready to play in the show – and I don't just want to be good, Gwendolyn. Training for just a few hours a week isn't going to cut it if I want to get there – and that isn't even talking about the other things I want to do; like design and build a new kind of broom. I can't just get that done in time for my first season with the Cannons. I'll need time to test a prototype and do everything else that'll be needed to have a great broom within the next two years. I joke about that, but it's taken an entire company of broom makers decades to take brooms from the Firebolt to the Lightningbolt; so my own goals are more than a bit audacious."**

" **You're serious," Gwendolyn decided – "about only taking five classes."**

" **Well, if you hate the idea; you could still take all ten of yours," Al offered. "That'd give you and Rose a shot at five academic awards that I wouldn't be eligible for anymore – as well as top student. I don't think they usually give that one out to someone taking so few classes."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Now I get it – you're just trying to get out of the spotlight! Good luck with that. If you only take five classes; your haters will insist that you must've failed the other six OWL exams."**

" **History, Astronomy, and the four optionals are only one class a week each," Al pointed out. "That's only a quarter of the class time each week – not quite that; since Astronomy is at night; so we have twenty-one classes per week. That's why I'm seriously considering dropping Herbology too. That'd take me down to thirteen classes a week. Add in some upgrades and improvements for RevisionWizard; and we really could cut our school work by more than half."**

" **Do you really think that your Mum will go for that?" Gwendolyn asked next. "I'm not sure that I won't have a problem with my Mum if I ask to only take five classes."**

 **Al shrugged. "Mum will likely be disappointed, but honestly, Gwendolyn, what can she say about that after how James' sixth-year went? Sure, I could do all eleven classes, but that isn't going to help me to get where I want to be in two years. Training and doing the other work I want to do will – not to mention that we can make some money along the way."**

" **Five," Gwendolyn repeated. "I was thinking seven or eight was radical!"**

" **You can still do that," Al reminded her seriously; though he was grinning. "Having you take five classes with me is likely bad for the Cannons anyway. If you trained with me every day; you'd get so good that we wouldn't want you to play for the Harpies with Victoire! Best that you go with your own plan!"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Thanks for giving me the perfect argument to use on Mum!" she hugged and kissed him happily. "So – is that our plan then? To talk our parents into letting us take five classes instead of ten or eleven?"**

 **I like it," Al assured her, "but let's keep it to ourselves – unless you want to talk about it with Rose and Susannah too. I definitely don't want this to become a huge gossip story around here or at home before we'll have no choice but to deal with it there."**

" **I vote for saying nothing until at least after the Quidditch World Cup championship match," Gwendolyn told him. "We'll get our letters that week; and I don't want to find out that our parents have a problem with our plan – and ground us from going to those matches until we come to our senses!"**

" **Or cancel your birthday gift," Al added. "I feel better talking about this with you. It's all seemed to make sense for me in my head for quite a while now; but it still makes sense to me now too."**

" **I'm still working on that," Gwendolyn advised him. "You've always been so interested in learning everything about magic; that part of this doesn't make sense for me."**

" **That's where the self-learning comes in," Al reminded her. "We've been well-taught on how to do research and do independent study. I'm just ready to take that to the next level on my own – and you could do that too. There's no rule against buying all of the sixth-year textbooks. We'll get that list in August. If you want to go on with Ancient Runes or anything else on your own; you can do that."**

" **Will you?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **Not specifically for Ancient Runes. I'd like to keep learning everything I can about other things, though – like Healing. That's a job I could see myself doing after Quidditch. I'd be okay with learning more music too – other instruments."**

" **As long as Dad isn't getting to you," Gwendolyn warned. "Rose does not need a one-man band to entertain the fans with before or after Cannons' matches!"**

" **Right – I should learn how to be a clown too," Al joked. "I'll add that to my to-do list for the Cannons."**

 **That joke sent their chat off in a new direction; they moved on to have a bit of snogging fun; and enjoyed that last bit of alone time they'd get to have before getting home again. They were back in their Houses on time ahead of curfew; Al went to bed before any of his roommates joined him in their dorm room; and he did some work with his Cannons project on his mirror before being ready to go to sleep for the night. The decisions that he and Gwendolyn had made were important for those plans, but while parental approval was still pending; Al actually felt pretty good about that – and thought that his parents would understand. They'd also know that he really wasn't looking to slack off – simply to work harder on other things.**

 **There was one other change that Al was going to make for the end of the school year; and he had mixed feelings about that choice as he got up and ready for the day on Thursday morning. His workout by the lake helped with sticking with what he knew was best for him, but that didn't make it easier to advise his girlfriend that he was not going to attend the end-of-term feast and awards ceremony – particularly when it meant not being there to celebrate her own awards and accomplishments. He also expected that all of his haters and more than a few other students would take his actions in the worst possible way. If he truly didn't want to be caught up in the game where awards were the prize that everyone was vying for; then he needed to take his own stand; and choose not to participate – whether he was still awarded those trophies and medals or not!**

 **The only other person he talked about that decision with was Rose; he did that during their morning walk and talk; and only included her in the loop because she'd deal with the feast-time fallout with their friends; and deserved the fair-warning. Gwendolyn and Rose both understood – though they didn't agree with him. They didn't hold that against him as they went on to enjoy their last play day before heading home; and they were able to have a lot of fun together as they played Quidditch and other games around the school grounds; went swimming several times in the lake; and made the rounds to start saying goodbye to friends that they wouldn't see again once they were home for the summer – unless they just happend to cross paths at home or while out on the Quidditch World Cup circuit. All of the girls wanted to get ready for the feast starting an hour or more before they needed to be in the Great Hall, so Al used that time to grab his book bag; add in some drinks and treats; and then head for the Room of Requirements to be gone and out of the way before anyone noticed that he wasn't getting ready for the feast or going to it with Rose or Gwendolyn.**

" **Did you lose Al?" Lily asked as she stopped to hug Rose and wish her good luck. She was with a few of her roommates; so Rose leaned into the hug so she could whisper the answer.**

" **He won't be here."**

" **Of course not!" Lily declared quietly. "Why didn't I know this already? He's decided to get his inner hermit on instead of being here to accept all of those awards he doesn't want."**

" **Pretty much," Rose agreed. "He feels bad about not being here for us; but the other guys will appreciate the extra food for them."**

" **You could snag his share of the desserts," Lily suggested – "or get them for me to have later."**

" **I doubt we'll run out of food," Rose assured her. "Congratulations in advance for all of those awards you're about to win."**

" **You too," Lily told her; theyhugged again; and then Lily moved on to go and sit with Hugo and the rest of their third-year Gryffindor friends.**

" **Is Al hoping that if he doesn't show up tonight that the awards will go to the next top-two students?" Toni teased while nodding toward the Gryffindor table and smiling at Gwendolyn. "That plan isn't going to work."**

" **It won't," Gwendolyn agreed, "but he is trying to do what he thinks is right for him – even if the rest of us think he's a bit mental about accepting the awards and honors he's earned. "Al really does mean that. He doesn't have a single award on display anywhere in his house. They're all packed up and stored in boxes in his room."**

" **Why not just toss them out then?" Toni asked; and Gwendolyn shrugged.**

" **Good question. He'd likely feel guilty if he just trashed them – and what can you do with old trophies other than put them on a shelf and have people look at them?"**

" **Well, maybe he could come up with something to make out of them," Michael suggested. "Let's not bug Al about this too. We're all part of the reason for why he feels the way he does about these awards. His friends razz him about over-achieving; his haters and anyone who is jealous of him bash on him or worse; and this is one thing he can't win no matter how hard he tries to be nice to everyone."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "I agree, Michael; but you can't honestly expect me not to razz him about the one thing you've pointed out that he can't win at no matter how hard he tries!"**

" **You've noticed that Prince Animorphpotty isn't here?" Lysandra stated more than asked Scorpius; and he nodded.**

" **Yeah. Do you think they'll get Princess Potty-trainer to accept all of his awards this year; or have his pet Weasel do it instead?"**

" **I don't know what they do when that happens," Lysandra admitted. "Maybe the awards just show up wherever the student is at the time – which would likely be in the Prince's Hermit Hideaway tonight – or maybe they just leave them on the student's bed."**

" **Well, whatever they do; I'm not surprised by this stunt. He'll get even more attention for himself by not being here. Prince Potty pretending that he doesn't want all of those awards the Professors will still givehim anyway. It's a wonder they haven't started a trophy room in his honor by now!"**

" **And then make Slytherins polish them when they give us detentions," Lysandra added. "At least he won't win any Quidditch awards this year – thanks to James and Ollie."**

" **No – they made sure that Princess Potty-trainer and her team will win all of them instead," Scorpius groused. "James did almost take the Catapults all the way to the league championship pretty much entirely on his own, though, and he made the National team too; so I probably shouldn't bash him – especially when he all but handed the Quidditch Cup to Ollie. It wasn't James' fault that his best mate is an idiot."**

" **Would you have preferred having the Quidditch Cup go to Gryffindor?" Lysandra asked.**

" **I'd have preferred that it go to Slytherin," Scorpius said seriously, "but yeah; I'd pick that over giving it to either the Prince or Princess of Animorphpotty!"**

" **That's true for all of the academic awards the Professors are about to shower all over them," Lysandra suggested. "We outght to get all of them; but not even Slughorn will dare to mess with the royal couple or their families."**

" **He ought to be more-worried about ours," Scorpius declared darkly. "When it's finally payback time for all of these deluded fools; we'll definitely want to make dealing with this lot a priority – once we've retaken all that is rightfully ours!"**

 **Al had been right – and Rose wasn't very happy about that as she sat next to Cora with Ray and Cyndia across from them; and wished that Al was there with them. He deserved to be there; and it stunk that he'd become so sick and tired of all of the rotten that he'd choose to skip the awards celebration and feast entirely instead of being there and getting recognized for his talents and accomplishments! As Professor McGonagall welcomed them and eventually invited their Transfigurations Professors to get the academics awards started; she just didn't feel as excited about them as she should – not to mention that she had nobody next to her that she could punch in the arm when she was runner-up to Al for more of the awards than she'd win! She didn't like knowing that there would be no Quidditch awards for them either – though that had bugged her pretty much every day since the first of September.**

 **The awards ceremony didn't start out on a high for her either. She had fun watching Lily stick her tongue out at Jonah when he won the third-year top prize for Transfiguration while she was runner-up; and then Al won the award for their year – and Gwendolyn was runner-up. That fun family fact earned some laughs, but Rose still felt weird when no award showed up on the Gryffindor table for Al – and she had no idea what would happen with his awards. Potions was up next – apparently a reverse-alphabet order for the awards this year; and Rose earned her first award of the night – as runner-up to Al for that class.**

" **Save up the punches and give them to him later," Ray suggested; and Rose laughed.**

" **That's a brilliant idea," she agreed. "Maybe I'll save them up for tomorrow and then just randomly smack him when he least expects it on the train ride home."**

" **Or spread them out all summer," Cyndia offered. "That'd be funny if they just kept coming out of nowhere every week or two."**

 **That whispered bit of fun didn't last long as they quieted to listen and watch as the awards continued to be announced. The Professors ended up doing a reverse order of the core subject awards first, followed by the optionals; and announcing all of those awards took quite a while. Frankly, by the time all of the individual subject awards were handed out, Rose was more than a bit annoyed with her cousin; since he'd won top student for nine of his eleven classes; and was runner-up in the only two she'd won – Herbology and History! She'd then also only won four of the runner-up awards – in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, DADA, and Potions. Gwendolyn had been runner-up in Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Charms as well as Transfiguration; and Susannah had been runner-up for Divination – regaining that award after Lysandra Lestrange had been runner-up to Al in fourth-year.**

 **Her two wins likely had everything to do with being runner-up for top OWL-year student, and Rose hadn't been surprised when Al was top student in their year again; but she did have the competitive drive to win; and felt a bit guilty for resenting Al just a bit for always being just a bit better than she was in most of their classes. That felt worse for knowing that she was likely a factor in why Al didn't want to be at the feast; and it wasn't his fault that he could sense the way she was feeling when it was just one of his many talents. She wasn't the only teen feeling that way – she wasn't even the only cousin to be annoyed with one of the Potters! Lily was top third-year student as well as tops in three classes along with the Transfiguration runner-up award; and Hugo was top student runner-up too with two top awards for Herbology and History too – another coincidence as well as what was sure to be a shock for their parents; along with a runner-up award to Lily for DADA.**

 **The rest of their cousins – not including James, of course – did well too; though not even Louis won top overall student or runner up this year. Fred was actually next-best for the cousins with a total of three academic awards; while Louis and Frederica tied with two each. Rose suspected that Louis' grades suffered thanks to being Head Boy and the Quidditch drama and distractions, but Deanna still did very well; and she was the top NEWT student for the year as well as winning a handful of other awards. Once Professor McGonagall finished awarding those top student prizes; the fun was mostly-over for Rose; and she did not really want to watch the Quidditch awards part of the ceremony – even as she was happy for her Quidditch-playing friends.**

" **Finally – we get to the really-important awards!" Lily declared enthusiastically – if quietly; and smiled when her girlfriends laughed.**

" **The funny part of that for me is knowing that most of you believe that's true," Denise told her with a grin. "Maybe that's really why Al didn't come tonight – he's afraid that you'll hex him when the Quidditch Cup is awarded to Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor."**

" **Maybe," Lily agreed, "but I've decided to give him one more chance next year. If he doesn't come through for me, though; I am seriously considering turning him into a bat-bogey and let him spend next summer hanging out in a dragon's nose – possibly a dragon that roasts and eats his own bogeys."**

" **That's kinda gross," Melissa offered.**

" **And funny," Kathryn added – "especially since James and Ollie would think that would be brilliant!"**

" **They would," Lily agreed, "but here we go with the junior awards; so let's hope that we win them all!"**

 **Gwendolyn was in a great mood as Mr. Peakes got started with the junior team awards – and chose to start with the Beater duo awards. That didn't make for a great start for the junior team for Gryffindor; but it did go well for her own family as Lee and Greta won the top Beater duo award for Hufflepuff and Katrina and Andy were the runner-up Beaters. That had been one of the awards that they'd needed to wait for the announcement to know who won, but that wasn't true for most of the Quidditch awards. Hugo had clearly been the best junior Keeper, and only a few teens and tweens were surprised when Meg won the third individual award for Gwendolyn's family as second-best Keeper. Drew Summers won the award for top Chaser; and Kathryn and Melissa were co-runner-up winners in another of the comparatively-rare ties for individual awards.**

 **Roxanne won the next award for Gryffindor thanks to being the playmaker for her team and earning the most assists on the season; and then Lily and Jonah wrapped up the individual awards for the junior teams as the top-two Seekers and also earning the most points at four-fifty and three-hundred points respectively. The junior team award appeared in front of Lily; and Jonah got the runner-up award for Ravenclaw before Mr. Peakes was ready to move on to the senior team awards.**

" **Congratulations!" Gwendolyn told Brandon and Seth when their awards for runner-up Beater duo appeared on the table in front of them. "I'd have picked you over the McClaggens, but they did play a match for Mr. Peakes' favorite team this season; so he's totally biased."**

" **Tiberius and Brock probably are the best duo this year," Brandon advised her with a smile and shrug. "If you're shooting for our votes to be Captain next year; you've already got them. Sucking up isn't required."**

" **Peter did okay as Captain this year – for a Wizard," Seth joked; "but we like having beautiful Witches boss us around a lot more!"**

" **Susannah might not find that very funny," Gwendolyn warned; and Seth laughed.**

" **I like having her boss me around too," he assured her. "Susannah and Rose know that Brandon and I only love you in a Quidditch sort of way!"**

 **While that might actually have been at least partially-true; Mr. Peakes had a lot of love for the Ravenclaw senior team players. He went on to award the top Keeper prize to Peter; and Louis was his runner-up. Gwendolyn and Stephanie were the top two Chasers in the school; and Pauline was top Seeker. Gwendolyn was a little amused when James was runner-up; though that was only because he had a very different reason for missing the banquet than the reason for why Al wasn't there. Stephanie also won the award for most assists; while Gwendolyn and Pauline were first and second for the scoring title with five-hundred and ten and four-hundred and fifty points respectively.**

 **The awards for top senior team and the Quidditch Cup weren't a surprise, but Gwendolyn felt a lot of pride as Ravenclaw officially won both awards – and the runner-up awards for both appeared in front of Louis – since Gryffindor's Captains had both quit school. She felt bad for Lily to have now gone three years without a Quidditch Cup, but that eight win and one loss record was still impressive; she already had more wins than James did in his entire school record; and was almost-certain to best Al's record even if he did play in his final two seasons; since she'd likely be on those teams too. With those last Quidditch awards handed out, though; it was time for all of the students to find out which House was going to win the biggest prize of the year!**

" **What's your pick for House Cup?" Cora asked Rose quietly as Mr. Peakes returned to his seat and Professor McGonagall stepped forward to make that announcment. "Will it be Slytherin two years in a row? Will we get it back?"**

" **I don't think it'll be Slytherin again," Rose answered. "It probably won't be Ravenclaw either. They had a bit of trouble last September; and have been behind on the House points ever since."**

" **So it will be us or Hufflepuff," Cora deduced. "And the winner is..."**

 **They both quieted as Professor McGonagall congratulated everyone; went on to announce that Ravenclaw had come in fourth with seventeen hundred and seventy points – a number that would have won the House Cup in other years. Slytherin was third with eighteen-hundred points; and then there was a long pause and some kind words for both of the top two Houses before Professor McGonagall awarded the House Cup to – Hufflepuff! They'd piled up an astounding nineteen-hundred and twenty points; while Gryffindor had fallen just short with eighteen-hundred and ninety points. Rose's first thought on that was to realize that Gryffindor would have ended up in first place if their senior team had won that last match and earned those extra points – a fact that added to the long list of injustices she blamed on James, Ollie, and the other guys who had picked their own self-interest over what was best for their House.**

" **It's too bad Al isn't here to see this," Gwendolyn suggested as they clapped and cheered for Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.**

" **Well, Slytherin didn't fare all that well," Toni pointed out; "but it has been a pretty good night for the rest of us."**

" **It has," Gwendolyn agreed. "I'm not complaining, but our Quidditch win last month has turned out to be huge."**

" **What do you mean?" Brandon asked; and Gwendolyn grinned at him.**

" **Hufflepuff won by thirty points," she pointed out. "If we'd lost that match; Gryffindor would have won everything tonight – including the House Cup."**

" **Merlin!" Brandon said fervently. "Rose is going to be put out – likely already is!"**

" **No doubt," Gwendolyn agreed. "We know why Louis and the McClaggens went along with James and Ollie, and Rose isn't likely to say anything, but even if this all works out for them; it sure seems as though they've sold out their House to get a shot in the show through James and the Catapults."**

" **Then they'd better hope that they don't have too many of the Gryffindor alumni playing in the show now decide to take offense and have more motivation in their matches against the Catapults – especially when some of those players are on teams like the Harpies and United," Brandon suggested.**

" **Don't forget the Prides," Gwendolyn added – "and half the other teams; though some of those Gryffindor alumni are managers or have other jobs with those teams."**

" **I doubt that any team will have a problem with getting motivated to play against the Catapults," Seth told them. "James is a walking, talking motivation for every opponent he faces. We'll be lucky to get past the first round of the Quidditch World Cup without having him start an international incident!"**

" **We're up against Moldova in the first round; so we don't likely have to worry about going to war with them thanks to anything James might do," Gwendolyn pointed out. It's much more-likely that Mum will turn him into a bug for being such a git."**

" **Maybe that's just because she doesn't like working with Wizards," Seth offered. "Your Mum is a bit biased when it comes to Witches and Quidditch."**

" **She is," Gwendolyn agreed, "but that has nothing to do with the problems she's having with James. That's all about his ego and attitude. Maybe the Catapults don't care if their players do whatever they want, but Mum doesn't run her teams like that; and she doesn't want to work with players like James."**

" **The Harpies are league champions – they can demand and expect more," Brandon pointed out. "The Catapults are likely willing to put up with a lot to get back to the top from the basement of the league."**

" **I think they'll eventually figure out that the price James will demand of them will be too high," Gwendolyn predicted. "Here comes the food, though; so let's dig in while its hot!"**

 **The peace and quiet in the Room of Requirements didn't extend to Al's own mind; and he had a lot to think about as he skipped the feast and awards ceremony. His substitute dinner wasn't worth even thinking about, but he couldn't keep from thinking about how things were going in the Great Hall for Gwendolyn, Rose, and everyone else he loved most. While he felt a bit guilty about not being there for them; there were other things to do and think about that kept him busy. On the thinking side of his self-entertainment; he spent some time – again – considering all of the reasons for his decision to completely change up the direction of his education at Hogwarts from what he'd imagined for himself – and the ramifications that would come of it.**

 **Not even being eligible for most of the academic awards hadn't been a factor in that decision; but it would be a bonus! He laughed at the notion of telling his parents that, among other reasons, he didn't want to take any classes that Rose bested him in anymore – though that wouldn't work out very well if she did do that in one of the five classes he did really want to take. There were sure to be problems too, since he would be disappointing parents and Professors, and the news would give his favorite haters all-new fodder to mess with him about; but none of the risks he came up with changed the rightness he felt to his core that assured him he was doing exactly what was right for him.**

 **On the 'do' side of his solitary fun, Al started out with his broom making. He was getting pretty good at the magic that went into creating brooms like the Cleansweep and Comet; he'd stripped away the magic and rebuilt his 'test' brooms dozens of times now; and he was able to play around with other magics – though there were limits on how far he could go with that without actually building an entirely-redesigned broom. He had started to play around with some toy design creations; but he was going to spend some time during the summer looking for and choosing the materials he wanted to use for making 'his' new broom. Even when it came to things that might seem simple-enough – like picking out the types of wood for the broom handle and tail; Al was trying to look at everything from outside of the norm – and including from a Muggle technology perspective and the magical properties for other Wizarding World devices – like wands.**

 **The notion of having brooms that chose the Wizard or Witch just as wands did might seem fanciful and unlikely; but Al still loved the idea; and incorporating Muggle manufacturing techniques with a magical adaptation to improve quality seemed like a good idea to him too. New ideas came with the need to consider all of the consequences, though, and while individuality was part of the nature of wands; that also made them inconsistent and unique – something that wasn't necessarily a good idea with brooms – particularly for brooms that would be purchased for use by many Witches and Wizards – like school brooms. Then again; that didn't happen with any of the premium brooms; and there likely was a market for high-end brooms that could become an extention of the Wizard or Witch in exactly the same way as a wand.**

 **Maybe Al was on a roll for making big decisions as they ended the school year, but the visions of a brilliant, new broom seemed very clear to him; and he knew exactly where he was going to take his broom making and design ideas to get them from mental vision or toy prototype to reality! He felt as great about that choice as he did about the one he and Gwendolyn had made regarding their plans for sixth-year; and all of that was certainly helping to make for a best end-of-year feast night for him too – not that it would take a lot to best his previous four years! That revelation for his brooms happened early and still left him time to play with other things; since he couldn't exactly start work on that project without the materials he'd need; so he moved on to play with other magics and projects he had on the go – including ideas for new toys and other magical devices. That kept him busy until he was sure that the feast was wrapping up; and then he packed up and got ready to go and meet up with Gwendolyn to spend a bit of time with her before they'd both need to be back in their Houses for the night.**

" **Congratulations!" Al said quietly as he met up with Gwendolyn on the first floor. They weren't on the main path to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor towers; and she'd met up with him after trading mirror messages and picking a spot to do that where he wouldn't have to deal with a lot of razzing from other teens and tweens.**

" **You too – though you weren't there to get those awards. Everyone wants to know if your trophies appeared in your hermit hideaway. Did they?"**

" **No," Al answered simply. "Maybe I'm in trouble for skipping the feast, or maybe they do something else with awards that aren't accepted in person. James couldn't have received his runner-up Seeker award either; so maybe they send them by Owl Post."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "They'll need a bunch of owls to haul all of yours; so it'd make more sense to give them to you and let you deal with it instead."**

" **Should I put my Quidditch gear on in the morning?" he joked; and Gwendolyn laughed again.**

" **Maybe your shoulder pads – though Rose actually only has five reasons to punch you this year. Susannah and I were runner-up for the other five awards that you won." She grinned then. "That's another good reason for going with our plans for school next year – it'll be less-painful for you after the awards ceremony; and you might actually think about going to it if you're not going to have to worry about getting punched by your cousin!"**

" **I don't know if I'll go to any awards ceremonies again," he advised her. "They end badly for me more-often than not; and I don't really agree with the way academic awards are done here anyway. Quidditch is a game, and there are winners and losers. I get that well-enough, but I don't think that there should be one or two winners when it comes to our studies. Those awards could just as easily be for levels of achievement that every student could at least have the opportunity to earn – an award for every student that achieves an Outstanding grade for each class; or an award for earning straight-O's."**

" **Okay, so if you feel that strongly about it; try to do something about that instead of just protesting by not showing up," Gwendolyn suggested. "If you succed, though, don't be surprised if Rose has some more punches for you; since she'd have a much better chance of winning more of those awards if she goes on with all ten of her classes next year!"**

" **That's all something to think about," Al decided. "Rose would likely be in the majority for students that want to compete for a top prize just as we do in Quidditch."**

" **It is easy for the student that wins most of those awards to be so magnanimous," Gwendolyn pointed out. That doesn't mean that the awards ceremony couldn't include more recognition for the things you're suggesting – though I wouldn't want that to turn an already-long ceremony into an all-night marathon."**

" **That's a good point too," Al conceded. "The more I learn; the less I seem to be very sure at all about what I know."**

" **Maybe not; but I do like where you think you want us to go next, and I wouldn't want a know-it-all for a boyfriend anyway. Wizards like that are practically impossible to control and get to do whatever you ask of them!"**

" **Did you do that with our plans for next year so brilliantly that I didn't even notice?" Al teased.**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "I have thought about doing that more than once before you brought it up, Al, so for all either of us know; I did do exactly that!"**

 **James sat back in the corner of one of the sofas in his sitting room; his legs stretched out on it; and a glass of fire whiskey in his hand and resting on the back of the sofa. Ollie was sitting upright on the other sofa; had a drink too; and they'd just settled in after going out for a late dinner together – a last chance to hang out before James left for Italy in the morning with the National team for their first-round match. He'd had a lousy day – a lousy week – of training with the team; and needed the best-mate sanity time before he'd be forced to put up with all of the stupid and play nice while they were out in public and bieng ambassadors for their country!**

" **I know that you're dreading this trip; but I wish I was going – and on that team with you," Ollie told him – again.**

" **I tried to help you out with that," James reminded him – again. "Two matches in the show just wasn't quite enough to make a difference with the committee making those picks." He smirked at Ollie then. "Blame your Dad. If it hadn't taken him so long to figure out how to have a son instead of daughters; you'd have been born sooner."**

" **Is that a back-handed compliment for your own father?" Ollie countered; though he'd briefly, irrationally considered comparing James' own record on that insult in defense of his own father.**

 **James laughed. "I doubt that had anything to do with him at all. It's just too bad that Mum didn't get her daughter second instead of third; since that'd likely have been it and the world would have never had the Animorphloser inflicted on them at all!"**

" **A nice thought; but you don't want to talk about your family," Ollie told him. "What will you be doing tomorrow while I'm stuck here at home?"**

" **We leave ridiculously-early; have a stadium walk-through and a light work-out all morning; a VIP luncheon; more work in the afternoon; a VIP dinner-party; and then a ridiculously-early game night curfew. If I'm lucky; I'll get lucky a time or three and make some new, intimate connections with my fans. Putting up with Queen B-Witch and my team mates will just be a horror."**

" **That sucks for you, but it'll be worth it when you win the Quidditch World Cup – and every match on the way to that trophy – for our country," Ollie insisted.**

" **I want to win that for me," James advised him; "but I'm having my doubts that it'll be worth it to win it with this pathetic excuse for a team. Six more weeks of this; and I might just be a total nutter by the time I get to training camp with the Catapults!"**

" **You're a nutter right now," Ollie joked with a snort. "No difference there, mate!"**

" **Says the Wizard that grew up with one of the Witches who are driving me insane," James retorted. She's next-worse to the Queen B-Witch; and she sure has a broomstick-up-the-butt issue when it comes to following in your father's footsteps on the National team. I'd say she's far more-likely to do that and lead us to defeat than to lead us to the championship victory!"**

" **You'd say that about everyone else on the team," Ollie pointed out. "Ignore all of them; go out there; and win every Seeker duel. do that; and the whole world will see that you're the best player in the world – and you'll go into next season still undefeated with twenty-some-odd straight Seeker duel wins!"**

" **Twenty-four," James advised him thoughtfully. "The same as a full, undefeated regular season. I like the sounds of that a lot!"**

" **Then you should go for it," Ollie declared seriously. "Win the Quidditch Cup; then come back here; and we'll win the league championship for the Catapults!"**

" **That sounds brilliant," James admitted – "except for the part where I have to put up with all of the baggage I'll have to drag along with me for the next six weeks."**

" **Maybe you could accidentaly lose your luggage while in-transit," Ollie suggested. "If you do, give me a call; and I'll be happy to catch up with you and play in that match tomorrow – and I'm sure that we could find five more players willing to help us out with that!"**

" **Now that's a brilliant idea worth talking about," James said enthusiastically. "How could we make that happen? Have there ever been international Portkey accidents?"**

" **Our last attempt at that didn't work out for us," Ollie reminded him; "but if you could switch out the Portkey; I suppose you could send the rest of your team somewhere else – like the North Pole or the middle of the ocean. The problem, though, is that they'd have their wands and could escape easily-enough and come back again."**

" **Not if I dropped them off in a dragon's nest or something," James suggested with a vicious grin. "It's so hard to save yourself after you've been cooked and eaten!"**

" **The dragon would likely get sick if he ate my sister," Ollie predicted. "That'd be an awful thing to do to a dragon!"**

 **Those jokes led to others; they sat up and drank until late; and then Ollie ended up passing out on the sofa while James managed to make it into his bedroom before crashing into unconsciousness too. By then, he didn't even care about the fact that the Animorphloser would be back home from Hogwarts for the summer; though he and Ollie had talked about how he was going to put up with his family and the loser when they were certain to show up for the Quidditch World Cup matches. That was just one more thing that he hated about playing for this version of the National team, and hwile the hangover would make things worse for him in the morning; James didn't care and was just glad to get a few hours of the blissful blackness that was his refuge from all of the horrors in his life that were inflicted on him by the Animorphloser and his deluded followers!**

 **Al was back in his dorm room before any of his roommates, and he was glad of that; since that gave him time to pack the box-full of trophies that had been left on his bed – likely shortly-after the awards ceremony had been completed. There wasn't a note; he didn't seem to be in trouble; and his extended senses advised him that the box had been delivered by one of the House Elves. It would have been better had they just kept those awards and re-used them next year, since they'd just end up in his closet with the rest of his awards, but that would have been too much to hope for; and he had been glad that they hadn't just shown up in the Room of Requirements instead while he'd been trying to avoid them and had been having fun with his magic instead.**

 **Pretty much all of his packing was done, but he picked out what he was going to wear for the trip home; packed his book bag with the things he'd want with him on the train; and then he played on his mirror once he finished getting ready for bed. He also had a fair bit of chat time with his room mates once they started to arrive – some of them needing to get started on their packing after procrastinating all week. Ray wasn't among the first, but he didn't stay up with Cyndia for as long as normal; and he had some packing to get done too. Al kept him company while he got started on that; and put his mirror aside while having that chat with his best mate.**

" **I'd suggest that we should try to get together more-often this summer; but we haven't even done that much together around here lately – or at least we haven't done that when we weren't just studying our brains out," Ray told him.**

" **We'll have our Quidditch workouts," Al reminded him; "and I expect we'll see you now and then at Quidditch World Cup matches too; since your parents will want to see at least some of Belinda's matches."**

" **They haven't said anything to me; but I expect we'll be at the match on Saturday," Ray told him with a nod. "If I get to bring Cyndia; I'll be a happy camper."**

" **I'm hoping to be a happy camper a lot this summer," Al half-joked. "Doing that for three out of the next six weeks is going to be brilliant!"**

" **For you," Ray agreed. "Gwendolyn will be with you for all of that time – and likely more than half the time when you're home too."**

" **We'll need that home time for everything else we want to do – like our Quidditch training. It'll be August before we know who will be our next Captain; but we'll want to be ready for tryouts regardless of who gets the job; and I'm going to keep hoping for better for our last two seasons and school years."**

 **Ray laughed. "You say something like that every year – several times a year," he reminded Al. "I won't say more, since you're not home yet; and I don't want to jinx us even at the last minute."**

" **I appreciate that a lot, mate; and I'm not going to predict a trouble-free summer for myself; since I could have issues with James through until the Quidditch World Cup championship match if our National team stays in the running to the end – and then with the start of the league season after that."**

" **Whether he wins or loses," Ray agreed. "Winning might be worse for you – if good for our hopes for the team."**

" **That's true," Al agreed. "If James keeps giving Gwendolyn's Mum a hard time; that won't be fun for us either."**

" **Maybe that's not all bad for you. Gwendolyn's Mum might have drafted her to work with the team if James hadn't been on it too – and then she'd have been busy for more than half the summer working with her instead of being able to go on holidays with you!"**

" **That sort of this has been joked about – that, and training with the Harpies while Victoire's busy with the National team. We've been told that the Harpies won't be hiring under-age teens for training – even if other teams follow the Catapults' lead on that now that they've had some success with it. Lily's very disappointed."**

" **Well, Rose could always offer her a job with the Cannons instead," he suggested. "Do you think she'd take it if you let her play once she's sixteen?"**

 **Al laughed. "That's a tough one. I don't know if she could choose between besting James' early start and playing for the Harpies if she had to choose one or the other."**

" **I still don't think that I'd leave school early," Ray said seriously. "Why is it that so many teens seem to be in a rush to get out of here and grow up? I can't be the only kid who actually sees all of the work that goes along with being a grown-up and having to be responsible for everything from paying the bills to, well, whatever else. I'm in no hurry to get there!"**

" **Not even if you get to play in the show with Cyndia?" Al teased; and Ray laughed.**

" **Nice try, but I couldn't leave early and do that with Cyndia anyway. She's a year younger; and her parents would never let her leave school early. We also have no idea whether I'll still be dating her by September let alone in three years when she'll be done at Hogwarts."**

" **All true," Al agreed; "but that was just a what-if question."**

" **Then I'd still say no," Ray answered. "Having to get out there and take care of myself starting in just two more years from today is scary-enough. Let's not speed that up by even a year!"**

 **Al didn't actually disagree with that, but then he could take care of himself already if needed; so his perspective was different anyway. Some of the other guys chimed in on the subject, though; and it was a while before Al and Ray weren't part of a larger conversation – as in not until Ray had gone and gotten ready for bed and returned to their dorm room. The wind down to sleep from there didn't take long, and while some of the guys stayed up late; Al was sleeping with lots of time to get rested before needing to get up early and ready for the trip home.**

 **Harry was awake early; ready for the day; and cooked a special breakfast for two while Ginny took her turn grabbing a shower and getting ready for the day too. He had everything ready by the time she joined him in the kitchen; and they sat down to enjoy the meal and go over their plans for the day and weekend.**

" **Well, we're already an hour ahead of schedule," Ginny teased. "Maybe we should have had the twins stay with us last night and try to tire you out!"**

 **Harry grinned at her. "We tried to do that without their help," he reminded her. "I can't help it; and it's going to be great to have the kids home with us for the next ten weeks or so!"**

" **It will be," Ginny agreed. "I don't mind getting an early start to the day. We were going to be a bit rushed; so this will just make it a bit easier to have everything done by the time we need to be at King's Cross."**

" **I was thinking that we could pop over to Italy and get the campsite set up early," Harry suggested. "We could go there by around noon our time to check in; and it wouldn't be a big deal to get the extra international Portkey for a quick round-trip."**

" **That would make it easier for tonight. Let's see if we can keep ahead of schedule and fit that in. Have you started in on the yard chores already? We don't want to come back home to a jungle in a week."**

" **Yes," Harry agreed. "The lawn's already trimmed; and I'll get on the gardens after we clean up from breakfast. You know I did the de-gnoming yesterday; the weeding won't take long; and there won't be much to pick from the vegetable garden."**

" **Probably not; but we'll either need to freeze whatever you do get or give it away before we leave," Ginny told him.**

" **Malorie's got that friend in Chudley – Ruth – who doesn't have very much while trying to take care of her kids. We could make up another little package for them."**

" **That works for me," Ginny approved. "I could pop over there with that; and bring back the bags Malorie has ready to go for our trip."**

" **Okay – and that'll make our main trip to Italy easier if we don't have to haul all of the luggage along with all of the parents, kids, and grandkids. Do you want to do that little supply shopping run then too?"**

" **I may as well," Ginny agreed – "though if we're going to be in Italy for a while this afternoon; I could see about picking up a few things at one of the markets there instead."**

" **That might be more than we have time for unless we do that first and then check into our campsites," Harry pointed out. "We'll be setting up five tents if we try to get all of that done – including the tents for your brother and for the McCormacks."**

" **I should see if Mum would like to come with us for that too, then," Ginny suggested. "She might like to get their tent done early too."**

" **She might like to do that; take Aunt Muriel along; and stay there instead of running back and forth," Harry suggested. "We could handle collecting any of the extra kids if Mum was going to do that for Ron and Hermione or George and Angelina."**

" **Hermione and Angelina are getting their own kids," Ginny advised – reminded – him. "We'll only have ours, Gwendolyn, and Jonah."**

" **Speaking of our kids; do you think our eldest son will be on-time for his Portkey to Italy?"**

 **Ginny shrugged. "I have no idea. He's fighting Gwenog every step of the way to this first match; so I won't be surprised if he causes her more grief yet again today." She shook her head. "I don't know how Gwenog will put up with him all summer. Now he's pretending that Alex is winning all of their Seeker duels because he's resting up for the match tomorrow, and if he wins; he'll likely just get worse and refuse to do anything Gwenog tells him to do. I've got a bad feeling that he's going to push Gwenog too far; and that won't end well for James."**

" **Don't worry – whatever happens, if it's bad for James; it'll somehow all be Al's fault."**

" **That's too true," Ginny agreed with a nod and frown. "We can't do anything about that; so let's move on. We've got the chores around here to finish; that supply run; and our own bags to finish packing. We have money for the trip – and for the kids; including some Muggle Euros in case we need that while in Italy; and we need to pop over to Kirley's and get their tent."**

" **I can do that while you go to Chudley," Harry offered. "Kirley will be heading out fairly-early with the bands; so I'll do that sooner instead of later."**

 **They continued to go over their schedule from there; finished their meal; and then they cleaned up and got to work. Al and Lily wouldn't be home until late-aftenoon, but then they'd be heading straight out on their first holiday adventures of the summer; and they had high hopes for a best-ever-so-far kind of holiday!**

 **Al was the first Wizard in his dorm room to wake and get his day started by hitting the showers and then getting his things ready to go out to the train. He didn't try to do his usual morning workout, but he and Rose did have their last walk and talk on the way to the Great Hall for their early breakfast; and he had a lot of fun getting to Hogsmeade station with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Brandon. They caught one of the first carriages to the train; reserved a half-dozen compartments once there; and then they waited for their siblings, cousins, and friends to catch up with them. Al was really glad to get that time with Gwendolyn before she needed to head for the Prefect car with the rest of the Prefects; and then he ended up with Lily, Jonah, Hugo, Alyssa, and Cyndia in his compartment – a choice that Lily made for him so that they could talk about their imminent summer holidays.**

" **You did it, Al!" Lily told him as the train pulled out of the station and began picking up speed as it headed for London. "I'm so proud of you for getting through the end-of-term without any major fights, teen drama, or quality time for you in a hospital bed!"**

" **Now you've gone and done it – I'll likely be on my way to St. Mungo's straight from King's Cross," Al teased.**

" **You can't do that," Lily advised him dismissively. "We have a brilliant week of holidays to get to in Italy and wherever we end up going for the second-round match." She grinned at him then. "You wouldn't want Gwendolyn to be there all alone with all of the hot, young Italian Wizards that'll be at that first-round match!"**

" **With James there in the country; they might be more worried about their own Witches," Al suggested. "Will you be checking out the guys there? Maybe we'll need to keep an eye on you."**

" **I'll definitely be checking out the guys," Lily assured him, "and that's none of your business; unless you'd like to spend some quality time with one of my bat-bogey hexes."**

" **Does that mean that Jonah is free to check out the girls?" Hugo asked; and grinned when Lily gave him 'the look' and shook her head.**

" **You really don't want to go there, cousin," she warned. "I have that new cheering charm with the extreme honesty twist; and you would not want me to use it on you and then start asking questions about what you think of the Witches around us while Alyssa's with us too this weekend."**

" **That would only be a problem if I tried lying," Hugo reminded her with a smile and shrug. "I may get into truble now and then for telling the truth, but I'll take that over trying to lie to Alyssa and messing up that way." He shrugged again and laughed. "I think it has something to do with seeing Dad get into trouble for messing up that way – unless Mum caught me doing stuff like that when I was little and I just don't remember it."**

" **Your Mum does have a finely-tuned instinct for knowing truth from lies," Lily conceded. "It probably has something to do with working for the Ministry of Magic for so long."**

" **Are you suggesting that Ministry of Magic officials lie about things?" Alyssa asked with feigned incredulity. "That's scandalous!"**

" **That's probably more the norm than not," Lily countered. "The place would likely fall apart if everyone suddenly started telling the truth. Even Minister Shacklebolt likely lies on a daily basis while pandering to his enemies."**

" **How did we get to politics from your opening joke about Al staying out of trouble?" Jonah asked. "Wouldn't you rather talk about what we're going to do in Italy this weekend – or about the match we'll be watching tomorrow?"**

" **Al's likely more-interested in getting to spend the next week with Jaimie and Lorie," Lily suggested. "He'll be too busy babysitting to have any teen-rated fun."**

" **Maybe that's why your parents are going to let them camp on their own," Jonah suggested with a grin for Al. "They'll have two junior chaperones – and will be too tired by bedtime to do more than sleep!"**

" **That's funny – but probably not true," Lily told him. "Malorie isn't going to be ready to be away from the twins for an entire week anytime soon. Al and Gwendolyn might get to have them for a sleepover here and there – just like we did at Easter. He's sure to do better with that than I did."**

" **I think we did great – even if we were also really tired the next day," Jonah told her. "You're doing an awesome job being their aunt."**

" **She is," Al agreed. "There will be lots of things we can do with the twins while we're in Italy or wherever else we go too. Sightseeing; playing at the seashore; shopping; and more. The only thing we can't really do with them is any extreme fun like amusement parks. That might be something we can do before or after some of the other matches – or back at home."**

" **Date day at our favorite amusement park!" Lily suggested. "I'm in!"**

" **I don't know if I'll be able to do stuff like that," Hugo advised her. "Rose isn't going to work all summer for Dad and Uncle George; but Fred and I might not get much time off at all – not even after the Quidditch World Cup is over."**

" **They won't work you seven days a week," Lily assured him. "Your Mum would never allow it."**

" **We'll see," Hugo said a bit dubiously. "You might be right about that for Mum; but then she wouldn't have a problem with me doing lots of chores around the house and yard on any days off she might make Dad give me – and the wheezes work would be easier."**

 **Lily laughed. "That's a good point," she conceded. "I could have a chores problem at home too – especially if Al's going to be in Chudley a lot during the weeks when we're home."**

" **I'll keep up with my chores," Al promised. "Rose and I will only be working with Malorie for two days a week when we're home – though we have other things we want to do too." He nodded toward Hugo. "You'll be busy for the next two or three weeks, and for the week leading up to the championship match; but your Dad will have lots of help for the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds – help from overage Wizards and Witches who can help more than you or Fred can. You might end up with more time to play than Rose will have."**

" **That's a cheery thought," Hugo told him; and he was grinning again too. "Maybe she'll be too busy to train all summer – and then I can win the Keeper job at tryouts in September!"**

 **Al laughed. "After what happened last year; I expect you'll at least get the chance to try to best her – even if she's named Captain."**

" **I wish I was still going to get the chance to try to best James for the Seeker job," Lily offered. "It's no wonder he quit early – he was likely sure he'd lose to me at tryouts!"**

" **That might have been a contributing factor," Al agreed. "He'll be in trouble when you get to the show if he still insists on underestimating you."**

" **He'll be in trouble long before then if he keeps doing that with every other Seeker," Lily offered. "I just hope that doesn't happen this summer; since it'd likely mean the end of the Quidditch World Cup run for our National team if he does mess up and get beat by one of the other top Seekers in the world."**

" **Will you cheer for James or Aunt Gabrielle if our team ends up playing against France?" Jonah asked.**

" **I'll cheer for the Witch – and hope that our team gets the one-sixty lead before she beats James," Lily answered with a bright smile. "James won't like it, but I think that Belinda is going to do very well, and if Victoire and Francine can work with Rachel Rosier; they'd be brilliant too."**

" **Calvin and Tina are going to surprise a lot of the other teams," Al predicted. "Beaters don't get a lot of chances to play on our National teams. They'll do their best with this chance they're getting."**

" **Is that true?" Lily asked him seriously. "Aunt Gwenog has been on quite a few National teams."**

" **Only when you include being team Manager," Al pointed out. Most Beater duos in our country only get selected to one or two National teams. That shouldn't really surprise you when it's almost impossible for any Beater duo to stay at the top of the league for more than a few years in a row – let alone being the best for a dozen years. That isn't true in quite a few other countries, but you're still more-likely to get more opportunities if you play one of the other positions. Jonah's aunt and grandmother have both played for Scotland far more than the average number of times."**

" **That's true for Viktor Krum and Bulgaria," Jonah added with a nod. "This'll be eight for him, right?"**

" **Yes," Al agreed. "He's got a good team to work with again this year too; so they're definitely a top contender to make the finals again this year."**

" **What are some of the other top teams?" Alyssa asked him. "We hear about the teams from home and Europe; but not so much from the rest of the world."**

 **That question took them deep into a Quidditch World Cup discussion of some of the other top teams from the 'rest of the world' as they settled in for the long train ride home. Al was glad to spend lots of time with Gwendolyn when she was able to hang out with him while not taking her turn to go out on patrol – and the Prefects and Heads really didn't have any trouble from the teens and tweens that were more-interested in getting their summer holidays started than in getting into any trouble that might mess that up for them. While he stayed in the compartment for most of the trip, he and Gwendolyn did do one walk of the train so they could say some final farewells for the summer, but they didn't drag that out; and mostly talked with her friends. He helped two teens while out doing that – silently and without them even knowing that he'd been lending a magical hand.**

 **As always – except for the year that he'd passed out for a few days – that journey felt like another ending and beginning to Al. In this case; he and Gwendolyn would be moving on from earning all-important OWLs to the more-advanced magical studies. The next year was going to be a very big deal for the plans that Rose had for the Cannons and that Al would continue to assist with as they helped Malorie to transition from research and planning to actually talking with the Cannons' owners about buying the team. The Quidditch World Cup adventures would, through their toys, help them out too – and they hoped to learn a lot by paying more atention to how the competition worked too – something that they didn't do when they were younger.**

 **There was a lot that Al sensed and foresaw that they could look forward to – as well as dangers from the Witches and Wizards that hated him most, but the good feelings were winning out – at least for now; and Al had very high hopes that seemed to grow stronger the closer they got to King's Cross! Part of those feelings were definitely because he was excited about getting to spend a lot of time with Jaimie and Lorie right from the start of their holidays, but there was more to it than that; and he was ready to take his joy and happiness to the next level – which also meant taking his own dreams for the future and putting them a bit higher up on his list of priorities.**

 **First up on that revised to-do list – have a brilliant, remember-forever kind of summer with all of the people that he loved the most!**


	59. Home & Away Holidays - Part One

**Chapter Fifty-Nine – Home and Away Holidays – Part One**

 **Al looked around with avid interest as he held Gwendolyn's hand; and they landed softly on the ground on a rise overlooking the valley that was nestled into the mountains of north-western Italy. Hidden quite well by the surrounding peaks; it was quite a sight to see the bustling Wizarding village; the sprawling campground in the fields beyond; and the Quidditch Cup stadium that would get a lot of sunlight during the day; but would then be over-shadowed by the mountain it was built at the base of on the western side of the valley.**

" **Wow!" Gwendolyn breathed. "This is beautiful!"**

" **It is," Al agreed. "This isn't at all the same; and yet it's a bit like Hogsmeade and Hogwarts with how it's hidden among the mountains."**

" **The village is a bit bigger – but then so is everything else," Gwendolyn offered; looking up at the mountains towering high above them. "A lot bigger!"**

" **Their village may be a lot like Hogsmeade – except they make most of their money on the Quidditch stadium instead of from supporting a school."**

" **Let's get going to the campground," Ginny interjected; getting everyone's attention. "The tents are set up; but you'll want to put your bags away and then likely go exploring for a little while until we're ready to have dinner."**

" **Will we have time to eat?" Rose asked her mother – "or do we need to get to work at one of the booths right away?"**

" **Food first; then expect to work late," Hermione answered. "Your father's going to be jumping around to keep up with the booths at some of the other first-round sites; and he's expecting to put you and Brandon in charge of one of the campground booths here."**

" **Well, if we'll be in charge; maybe we should draft Al and Gwendolyn to help," Rose teased as they all got moving toward the campground entrance.**

" **Thanks, but no thanks," Gwendolyn told her. "We might help for a while if you really do have need of us; but wheezes are not our thing. It probably has a lot to do with being on the wrong end of them far too many times for most of them to be any fun for us."**

" **Most of the World Cup wheezes are fun," Rose reminded her; "but I was just joking. Dad and Uncle George will have hired a lot of teens from Italy and elsewhere – most of them through the schools and their mail order business – so they'll all be big fans of the wheezes too."**

" **A fact that ought to be scary," Al pointed out half-seriously. "That many wheezes fanatics in one place with tens of thousands of potential targets for their pranks is likely a dream come true for most of them!"**

" **No doubt," Rose agreed. "Why did you want to come with us?"**

" **We're here for the family and friends fun; the holiday adventures; and what will hopefully be some really great Quidditch," Al answered while smiling and looking over at Jaimie and Lorie. They were in their backpack carriers; and his parents had them because they were most-experienced with using international Portkeys. Malorie was next to Ginny; and was carrying the bag that she took everywhere that had all of the kids' necessities – in a handy-dandy undetectable expansion bag that could fit everything from diapers to their double stroller in it.**

" **They'll also be busy-enough helping out with the babysitting tonight," Ginny told Rose. "While we're getting to our tents; I'll remind all teens and toddlers that you're to at least stay in pairs; keep your mirrors with you – if you have them; and be careful. By the time this campground is full - likely by tomorrow morning sometime; it's going to be crowded and busy. There are sure to be a few, shall we say, opportunistic Wizards and Witches around looking to take advantage of others; and we dont want any of you to end up as victims of those petty crimes."**

 **Lily grinned at her. "They'd better not mess with those of us who have one of Al's special cheering charms," she suggested. "It's so hard to lie and cheat when you break out in girlish giggles with every fib!"**

 **Ginny laughed. "That's good to know, but just in case you see your older brother around – don't use that on him, Lily. He is playing Seeker for our National team; and we wouldn't want him giggling throughout that match tomorrow – especially if that would make it impossible for him to catch the snitch!"**

" **Okay, Mum, but James really is much nicer to be around when I've used my other cheering charm on him before, and from what we've heard lately; he could really use some cheering up right now too."**

 **That comment took their chat off in a Quidditch direction for a while, but they were back to talking about their campground and everything they saw around them once they were through the main gates and heading toward the cluster of campsites they'd booked not far from the lake that took up about half of the southern side of the valley. They were also next to the campsites being used by the National team and their famlies, but Harry advised them that James' tent was about as far away from theirs as was possible; and it was pointed out to them so that they could avoid it whenever there was a chance that James would actually be at his tent when not busy with the team. It didn't take the teens long to put their bags into their rooms in the different tents; Al and Gwendolyn took over watching Jaimie and Lorie once they'd met up again; and then the 'kids' all headed out to do a little tour of the campground while the parents dealt with getting dinner pulled together – which mostly meant picking up food and drinks from the campground booths and getting tables set up in the area around the Potter and McCormack campsites for them to sit at so they could enjoy the spectacular evening view while having that meal.**

 **After weeks of exams and months before that getting ready for eleven OWLs; Al was happy to explore and play with Gwendolyn, the twins, and everyone else. Dinner was an adventure too as they enjoyed Wizarding campground staples as well as local cuisine that was all-new to them. Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa all needed to go and help out at the campground wheezes booths after they ate, but everyone else got to help with the clean-up – or with taking care of the twins; they went on to the field where the campground and Quidditch World Cup entertainment was juste getting started; and then they watched the concert that was headlined by the Weird Sisters – though there were two other bands that were on-stage first before Kirley nd his mates put on their show starting at around ten-thirty.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn still spent a lot of time with the twins – including taking them dancing with them, but they also took them back to Malorie's tent when they were ready to go to bed for the night about half-way through the Weird Sisters' concert. They took that shift so that the parents could enjoy the show that was meant for the 'oldies' crowd while the concert scheduled for after the Quidditch match would be for the younger generation – with the Weird Kids on the Block headlining that show. Taking care of the twins had the added bonus of giving them a chance for some alone time that they took advantage of for a bit of summer holiday snogging, but they also ended up missing out on spending some time with Gwenog when she was able to catch the tail-end of Kirley's concert once she was done with the team – and right before she headed for her own tent and the team curfew that was only later than normal because of the time change from home that would've made an early curfew too-early for the players.**

 **That time change affected all of them, but it wasn't a huge problem; and the parents didn't have any trouble getting their teens to turn in by one o'clock local time. Al and Gwendolyn, and Lily and Jonah, ended up having sofa sleepovers in the Potter's tent, but while they really didn't want to wake Gwenog; that was just a side-benefit for Gwendolyn and Jonah; and it was the nap time with their favorite cuddle buddies for the first time since Christmas or Easter that was most-important for all of them. They wouldn't be doing that every night, but the first night of their summer holidays seemed like a good-enough excuse – reason – for the cuddle-time celebration!**

 **The excitement for the start of the Quidditch World Cup competition was in the air on Saturday morning, but Al started his day with a morning workout by the lake that Harry joined him for – a welcomed and really special surprise for Al – and for the early-morning spectators that got to watch the little show from their campsites or elsewhere. Harry and Al worked together while cooking breakfast too – and did that for eleven – including Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie. That was a fun meal; they cleaned up; and then they split up and got on with their day. For Gwenog, that meant getting to work with her team. Kirley needed to work all morning too, but that was with his band; and they needed to move their gear to get ready for their Saturday night concert at one of the other Quidditch World Cup sites – while also helping out with getting the Weird Kids on the Block set up for their show after they'd played elsewhere on Friday night too.**

 **Ron, his kids, Brandon, and Alysssa were all working wheezes booths or getting set up for the booths in the stadium; so Hermione was the only member of their little family who was able to go with Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and their group of kids to do a bit of sightseeing while waiting for the staidium gates to open at noon for the big game. That didn't give them a lot of time, but they popped over to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius for their first stop; and then they did a Wizarding tour of Rome that was Knight-Bus-worthy for speed and a blast of information overload that only Al was able to keep up with for every little detail. They got back to the campground with time to freshen up; gather what they needed for a day of Quidditch watching; and headed for the stadium.**

" **Okay, gossip fans; let's talk about the famous people we see here – and the fashion hits and misses!" Lily suggested whimsically.**

" **If you'd like," Gwendolyn agreed. "to my right, we have the one and only daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter! She's sporting a lovely, comfortable-looking shorts and top ensemble, and hwile the hat clashes a bit; we'll give her points for National team pride!"**

" **Funny, but I was thinking more about the other families – or maybe other famous spectators. All of the team players seem to have a good turnout of family supporters. Minister Shacklebolt is here with his family too."**

" **This won't sound right, but I can't think of any famous Witches or Wizards that I know of from Moldova," Jonah told them. "There might be a few from here in Italy that I might recognize if they come to the match; but most of the famous people we know are from home."**

" **In our own Houses," Gwendolyn added with a grin; and was then distracted for a moment with an incoming mirror message. "Speaking of famous people – Dad's on his way into the stadium; so he should be here in a bit once he makes his way through the crowds to get to us."**

" **That's good," Jonah said with a nod. "He was hoping he'd get back in time. While Lily's on the look-out for famous people; is there anything new that we should know about the Moldova team – or gossip about ours?"**

" **Didn't we already get the latest on that at breakfast this morning – from your famous Mum?" Lily asked.**

" **There have been VIP events and other activities this morning while we've been busy," Jonah reminded her; and then laughed. "Didn't I hear at least a few suggestions that James could start an international incident if he kept acting the way he has while training with the team? Maybe we're already at war with Moldova and don't know it!"**

" **We're not at war," Al assured him – "though we can hope for a great Quidditch battle today. Moldova might be a big underdog according to the experts; but you can never be sure what'll happen when every match is a win-or-you're-out competition."**

" **You almost sound as though you'd like that to be different," Lily told him; and Al shook his head.**

" **There'd be no way to have a different type of competition with this many teams in just one summer; and I don't see a world-wide league starting up anytime soon. This is just a different kind of challenge for Quidditch players – and I like the idea of a group of underdogs coming together and doing something great!"**

" **Of course you do – you want to play for the Cannons," Lily countered.**

" **Something that he's one step closer to doing after today," Gwendolyn added with a nod for the James Potter Animorphmagus toy that Lily was entertaining Jaimie with while they talked and waited for the match to start.**

" **They do seem to be selling well," Lily agreed as she looked around the stadium. "How many action figures will Al need to sell to buy a Quidditch team?"**

" **Millions," Al answered seriously. "More like hundreds of millions; since we only make a little bit on each toy. Rose and I will be able to get investors to help with that, though; so don't feel as though you need to buy more of them today just to help us out."**

" **We bought both team sets," Lily reminded him. "I'll likely get a set for every team we play against – plus a few others that I'd like to have; like the set for France and Aunt Gabrielle's team."**

" **Aunt Fleur can't go to both matches for this round, but maybe she'll be able to do both in other rounds – if the matches that England and France play in are in time zones that are different-enough to do both," Al suggested.**

" **Maybe we could do that too," Lily said enthusiastically. "That'd be brilliant!"**

" **That could happen – depending on the matches that two of our favorite teams draw if they both make it through this round," Gwendolyn suggested. "I'd like to do that if we could and catch one of Aunt Meghan's matches."**

 **Those comments actually reminded Al to get his mirror out and do a quick check of other matches already in progress in countries and time zones to the east. He also checked the first-round schedule; and found out that there were two other matches in their current time zone that were starting at the same time; but anywhere from none to four matches in each time zone to the west – and the last matches wouldn't even be starting until late-night local time. Al had been a bit surprised to note that two matches had already ended, but they hadn't involved teams that he was all that interested in following – at least not yet; and he'd need to read the match statistics and reports to know more than the headline scores and winners. All first-round matches seemed to require an opening ceremony, and as host country; Italy's Ministry of Magic and their version of the magical sports department led the way with goodwill speeches and the rest of the usual, boring nonsense that seemed to fill the lives of politicians and government officials the world over. Al was happy to play with Jaimie and Lorie for that half-hour of mind-numbing verbosity; and then, finally, it was game time!**

 **Al hadn't talked with anyone about what he'd been sensing for the match, since while there was good and bad in what he foresaw; the bad wasn't really going to mess with his own, personal happiness; while the good was going to be very good! That was true for the National team right from the quaffle toss; Victoire won that race; and with two quick passes; Rachel Rosier got to have a good scoring chance that the Moldova Keeper barely managed to save. That first, minor victory didn't last long; and Victoire scored the first goal for England just nine minutes into the match – and things went downhill for Moldova from there while Belinda stopped everything their Chasers threw at her and was playing a brilliant match!**

 **In the first hour, Victoire, Francine, and Rachel combined to score seven goals; they had the all-important one-sixty lead thanks to ten more goals in the second hour; and then the rout was on. That was entirely because James backed off from trying to catch the snitch after that; but the Moldova Seeker didn't try to catch the snitch for the loss during the third and fourth hours while England went on to score twenty more goals to take their lead to three-seventy to naught. The teams had a mutual time-out shortly into the fifth hour; the Moldava Seeker was apparently ordered to go for the catch for the loss; and then the match started to go bad almost immediately after the re-start.**

 **While James had tried to catch the snitch for the win when he had decent opportunities during the third and fourth hours; he suddenly decided that he wasn't going to allow the Moldova Seeker to win their Seeker duel even if that was a catch for the loss. By then, most of the Moldova players were too worn down to even put up much of a defense; and Victoire, Francine, and Rachel continued to score a lot of goals despite not wanting to run it up on their already-defeated opponent. Al knew that James was supposed to back off; could sense Gwenog's growing anger and the irritation from his team mates; and he could also sense when the spectators began to turn on England's team too. The score was five-twenty to naught when Gwenog finally lost her patience; called a time-out; and brought her team in so she could have an up-close-and-personal chat with her egotistical Seeker.**

" **Did you get hit in the head with a bludger that I didn't see happen to you?" Gwenog asked James; and he smirked at her.**

" **Nope – I'm doing just fine – having a blast up there!" he assured her. "If you're tired out; take a nap. I'll be happy to win this farce of a match for us when I get bored with embarrassing that sorry excuse for a Seeker that Moldova was dim-enough to give the job!"**

" **We've already won the match; and I've been ordering you to back off for hours now," Gwenog ground out through clenched teeth. "Do it! This competition is tough-enough without trying to play matches for hours-longer than necessary."**

" **No," James told her bluntly; and he wasn't smiling anymore. "I'm not going to intentionally lose Seeker duels anymore just because you – or anyone else – doesn't want to hurt our opponents' feelings. If you don't want to run it up on Moldova; tell Belinda to start letting them score a bunch of goals – and have your quaffle hogs back off too."**

" **I'm not asking, James," Gwenog advised him. "You can do as ordered by your team manager – me; or you can watch the rest of this match from the bench!"**

" **Do that; and there'll be a new Manager by next week," James warned. "Be a good, not-so-little has-been, Queen B-Witch; and leave the Quidditch to the only real player you've got on this team! I'll get back to toying with that fool; and put their team out of their misery when I'm good and ready to do so!"**

" **That's it – you're done!" Gwenog advised him. "Sit down, James. Victoire; please advise the referee that we'll be continuing the match down one player."**

" **I'm not sitting down," James declared hotly. "Conjure yourself a rocker; sit down; and shut it, you batty old windbag. You do not want to mess with me!"**

" **Go on without him," Gwenog told the rest of her team. "Wrap this match up as quickly as possible; and I'll deal with your stubborn, young team mate." She confronted James when he tried to go with the others; and he stopped when he felt the wand tip poke him while putting a motherly-looking hand on his shoulder. "Play nice for all of the nice Witches and Wizards watching us, James; or you'll be watching the rest of this match from a jar – and I'd feel bad about not being guilty for doing that to one of my best friend's sons!" she warned in a quiet, deadly-serious whisper while glaring at him.**

" **You are so going to be fired when I'm done with you!" he hissed back. "When everyone finds out that you've benched me for being too good; they're going to call for your head on a platter!"**

 **Gwenog shrugged. "I doubt that, but feel free to say what you want to the reporters after the match and file your protests with the officials in charge of our National team at the Ministry of Magic. If they do keep me on, though, you'll either start to do things my way, James; or you won't play in another match!"**

 **James laughed derisively. "Save your threats for Victoire and the other fools that put up with you on the Harpies," he told her. "Once you've been sacked; I'm sure that the next Manager will take the hint and let me do whatever it takes to win that Quidditch World Cup!"**

" **We're representing our country," Gwenog reminded him. "Winning even one of these matches means nothing if you don't do it with honor."**

" **Something that everyone insists only applies to the Seeker," James countered acidly. "Nobody else has to slack off or play their worst to be good sports."**

" **That's part of the game for Seekers," Gwenog advised him. "If you wanted all the glory; you should've won your Seeker duel against your supposedly-lousy opponent hours ago. Now, if you're done whining, go away; and let me watch the rest of this match – which will, hopefully, be over very soon!"**

" **Mum's benched James!" Gwendolyn exclaimed quietly. "Merlin!" She looked from the action resuming above the pitch to where her mother was standing and blocking James from getting back into the game too; but returned her attention to the Chaser battle.**

" **He's lucky she didn't turn him into a bug," Al whispered in response. "Let's hope that the Moldova Seeker ends this quickly; and then I'm going to get out of here – and take Jaimie and Lorie with me if that's okay with Malorie. I don't want to be here for the post-game ugly that is sure to be coming next."**

 **They didn't have to wait too long for that to happen. Rachel scored one more goal despite the fact that Victoire and Francine were trying not to score any goals; and then the Moldova Seeker tracked down the snitch at the six-hour and fourteen minute mark to end the match with a final score of five-thirty to one-fifty. Most of their group wanted to stay for at least some of the post-game festivities, but Malorie was okay with sending the twins off with Al; Harry agreed to go along to help while Gwendolyn stayed to watch the imminent train wreck; and most of the spectators seemed to want to stay for that too despite the fact that it had already been a long day and there was a concert waiting to start back at the campground. Harry and Al didn't try to talk about the end of the match while still in the crowd at the stadium; but Harry did want to do that once they were out of the stadium; on their own; and on the way back to the campground.**

" **Should your mother and I be worried about James – or the rest of us?" Harry asked; and Al shrugged.**

" **That depends on what you want to worry about," he answered. "This isn't going to end well for James, Dad. He should have done the right thing and backed off hours ago, and that was bad-enough; but he's about to find out that he really doesn't have a clue about Ministry of Magic officials and politicians."**

" **You think he'll be off the team," Harry deduced; and Al nodded.**

" **I think it'll be his choice, but yeah; I don't think he'll be able to admit that he was wrong and start playing nice with Aunt Gwenog." He laughed; and then shook his head. "Sorry – this isn't funny, but if our team can still get past this and win the Quidditch World Cup; he'd still get his name on the trophy for playing in this match – even if he quits."**

" **Would he?" Harry asked; and Al nodded.**

" **Yes. That's what happens for players that get injured and miss matches – or reserve players that step in for one or more matches; though they're listed as reserve players too if they do both."**

" **I knew that," Harry assured him, "but I can't think of any cases where a player quit the team; so I don't know if that same rule would apply."**

 **Al shrugged. "I guess that is my interpretation of the World Cup rules, but they seem to be fairly clear – if a Wizard or Witch plays in even one match; they're included as part of the team at the end – and that's win or lose when it comes to the record books."**

" **Okay," Harry agreed. "You may be right. If you're sure James is going to try to blast Gwenog in a big, messy, public way; you're probably right about how that'll end for him too. Kingsley will not be happy if he makes our team and country look bad – especially when there were likely millions watching that match."**

" **You're welcome to watch Lee's post-game show and see for yourself, but if you don't mind; please use your magical earbuds. I really don't want to mess up what's otherwise been a pretty amazing first day of our summer holidays."**

 **Harry actually decided to do that – listening with one of the earbuds while they made their way back to their tent. Jaimie and Lorie had napped during the match, and they'd had dinner at the stadium too; so Harry and Al played with them while waiting for everyone else to return; they headed over to the field for the concert after that; and Al and Gwendolyn had as much fun as possible while dancing and playing with their families and friends. The post-game team drama led to a muted celebration when they returned to the campground; James was conspicuously-absent when the players from both teams were called up onto the stage and cheered by their respective fans; and then Gwenog just wanted to sit down and relax once she was done her work for the day – and while Kirley was gone and playing his second concert of the weekend with the Weird Sisters.**

 **When the Weird Kids on the Block drafted Al for some Animorphmagus fun, he played at that for a nearly-eight-minute-long, extended version of the song; entertained the crowd with a total of thirteen animal form changes; and wrapped that up with some fun with Jaimie and Lorie that also marked the end of their concert fun because Malorie took advantage of the opportunity to take them back to their tent and get them wound down and off to sleep. This time, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley helped out with that; while Al and Gwendolyn stayed and had fun through until the end of the concert. They headed back to their tents after the Weird kids wrapped up their set; the girls went to have a bedtime chat in the McCormack's tent while Harry, Al, and Jonah took care of a bit of work around both campsites; and then Al spent a few minutes saying goodnight to Gwendolyn before they split up for the night – ready to just get some sleep – and do that in their own beds. They'd have been happy to have another sofa sleepover; but decided not to push that on a night when Gwenog was not in a good mood – and Gwendolyn wanted to be there for her mother while her father was still out and busy with his band work.**

 **On Sunday morning, Al had his father with him again for another morning workout by the lake, and that peaceful start to their day was really needed as they moved on to have breakfast and deal with the fallout from James' post-game rants on Saturday night. That was all about the bad press, but while reporters like Rita Skeeter tried to spin the story in James' favor; most of the publicity was bad for James; and their team and country took a hit too from the international press. Instead of enjoying a day off with her family, Gwenog spent the morning dealing with a meeting with her team and a group of Ministry of Magic officials. James tried to have her ousted as Manager; failed in that bid; and then quit when advised that he could either play on the team under Gwenog's rules – after offering a public apology for embarrassing their team and country; or be relegated to the reserve squad until he was ready to act as a proper ambassador for their country.**

 **Gwenog had not been happy with that victory, but she couldn't be un-happy about not having to deal with James anymore either. While she'd been busy with that, Harry, Ginny, and Kirley had changed up their plans for the day; they'd all played in and around the campground all morning; and then they went out for lunch once Gwenog could join them. By then, they knew that England's second-round opponent was going to be Senegal; and that match would be played in Egypt. Gwenog needed to start getting ready for training her team for that match starting on Monday, but she still took the afternoon off first; they went to the seashore; and played in and around the water for the rest of the day until going out for a late dinner on their way back to the campground. Gwenog would be home for work from Monday to Thursday, but the time change worked to her advantage; and she was able to spend the night in Italy with Kirley.**

 **That was also the excuse that the Potter and McCormack teens used for having another sofa sleepover, but while the parents accepted that line, they hadn't really believed it; since they'd already collectively decided to stay in Italy until Tuesday morning before moving on to Egypt and the campground they'd be staying at there for the rest of their first week of holidays. While Gwenog worked with the team – and her new team Seeker, Alex Jordan; Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Malorie took their kids sightseeing for the entire day on Monday. The four teens in the group helped out a lot with Jaimie and Lorie while they checked out some of the great attractions of both Wizarding and Muggle Italy; they were able to do that until going back to the campground for a late dinner with Gwenog once she was done work and could pop back over for one more night with them; and then they wrapped up their time in Italy with a campfire that lasted until Gwenog needed to be in bed for her training day curfew.**

 **Kirley went home for a day on Tuesday, but didn't do that until after he helped Harry, Ginny, and the other parents with moving their collective camping gear to Egypt and getting everything set up again at the new campground. While their new, temporary home-away-from-home was another campground; there were few similarities to the one they'd left in Italy. This campground was a magically-protected oasis out in the desert – though not in quite the same way that Muggles would think of a natural Oasis; since the water was magically-produced on a regular basis by the Wizards and Witches that worked there – or by the campers themselves as needed for personal use. It was also much-hotter out in the desert; they needed to adapt for that; and that was especially-true for taking care of the twins.**

 **While they had to deal with those heat-related challenges; the rest of their week was also brilliant! The highlights of their days included outings to some of the greatest wonders of the ancient world – all of them awe-inspiring and humbling for all of them as they revisited a past that put their own, comparatively-short lives into new perspective. For Al, his little inventions seemed very small compared to the great deeds of ancient Wizards, Witches, and Muggles. That grand scale comparison was inspiring too, though; and his mind soared with ideas that were far-grander than even Rose's supposedly impossible dream – a dream that didn't seem at all impossible to him! Their little tourist group changed up a bit from day-to-day, but Harry and Ginny were a focal point for all teens and kids; and Al and Gwendolyn just got to have a bit of extra fun with their cousins and friends when they were able to come and play for a day or two too.**

 **The wheezes cousins and one or more friends each got to have a day off from helping out with getting ready for the thirty-two second-round matches, so Fred and Roxanne came to play on Wednesday; and Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa joined them on Thursday – and then stayed to help set up the booths at the campground and stadium on Friday. Hermione took those two days off from work so that she could spend some of that time with them too; and they had more friends come to play starting on Thursday too. In fact, it seemed that everyone with tickets to the second-round match wanted to spend extra time in Egypt to take advantage of the visit to be a tourist too; so the campground was nearly-full by Thursday night.**

 **Susannah and Seth were two of those tourists and game-watchers; and they were there because the trip and tickets to the second-round match were gifts that were given to Susannah for her sixteenth birthday. Her family and friends had all been in on some part of that gift – or combination of gifts; and Al and Gwendolyn were happy to help their friend out with celebrating her happy day. The other teens and toddlers in their group helped out with that too; so Susannah had a best-birthday-ever-so-far kind of day on Thursday – and was sure that would be true for her entire four-day birthday getaway!**

 **A final day of sightseeing fun on Friday wrapped up with some play time at the sea; and then it was time to get into Quidditch mode again – or at least have fun with the Quidditch World Cup entertainment that was on the schedule for Friday night in the campground. That did not include any of their favorite bands, but the Graves Robbers and Weird Witches were going to be two of the bands on Saturday night; and the bands that had been selected to play on Friday night were still a lot of fun to watch – if very different from the music they were used to listening to back at home because they were from Egypt, Senegal, and two other African countries. Al and Gwendolyn also wrapped up their day by taking care of Jaimie and Lorie for the night to give Malorie a break – the second time they'd done that during the week; and that gave them another opportunity for a sofa sleepover so they could keep an eye on the twins while also allowing Harry and Ginny to get some sleep. They didn't have to worry about keeping Lily awake because she ended up having her own sofa sleepover with Jonah – in his tent. They were able to do that because Gwenog had gone to bed early for her game night curfew; and Kirley hadn't gotten 'home' from his concert until the wee hours of Saturday morning.**

 **Game day on Saturday also meant the near-end of their first week of holidays, but they didn't go out and do anything extreme or exciting; since they were all ready to have a semi-quiet morning at the campground while relaxing and waiting for the start of the match between England and Senegal. They kept an eye on some of the matches that started in Asia or Oceana at different times of 'their' current morning, but didn't watch any of those matches too-avidly. Al and Gwendolyn mostly played with the twins and any of the other teens that could hang out with them; they went for one long swim; and they all had a quick lunch on the go before heading over to the stadium in time to pick up drinks, snacks, and souvenirs on the way to finding their seats. The stadium wasn't right next to the campground, but it was hidden out in the desert too; so it was also very hot out – even with some magically-supplied heat relief. That was the first topic of conversation as they waited for the match to start once they were in their seats.**

" **We'd best hope for a short match today," Gwendolyn suggested as she sat next to Al; but they didn't cuddle close since it was too hot for that – and not in a teen-rated, snogging sort of way! "The players are going to need regular time-outs to stay hydrated; or they'll just fall off of their brooms from heat-stroke."**

" **The heat could be an advantage for Senegal in a long match," Al agreed. "Your Mum will be ready for this heat, but even her experience won't help if Senegal's Seeker can keep the match going all afternoon. The heat will wear our players down; and then they won't be ready for the desert cold after dark."**

" **We're still learning to deal with that; and we've been here for days," Gwendolyn said with a nod of agreement. "Do you think that Alex is ready? He must be feeling some pressure – and we know for sure that James will be out with the I told you so's if Alex loses any matches the rest of the way."**

" **I think that Alex is going to take this opportunity and run with it," Al advised her seriously. "Everyone has been going on about James and Mum, but only a few reporters seem to remember that Alex's Mum is a Quidditch Cup champion too. If James had played nice, he might have been able to help us get to the championship; but I actually like our chances better now – and I'm not just saying that because I'll like the lack of family drama every week a lot too."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "That's just an added bonus – though I'm honestly a bit surprised that James and Ollie didn't get tickets so that they could sit behind us and offer their usual form of brilliantly-delusional game commentary!"**

 **James sat on a sofa in Ollie's flat because he wanted a break from the news hounds that had been hovering around his own flat in search of endless comments about everything from his exit from the National team to predictions for the team's chances of success without him. He and Ollie were on their own – mostly because he didn't want anyone around to watch the match that he should've been playing in while the Queen B-Witch had to watch from home instead! He was still furious that those pompous Ministry officials had sided with her – even when he'd threatened to quit; and then left him with no choice but to do just that to prove he hadn't been bluffing! Instead of groveling and begging as they should have; they'd simply accepted his 'resignation' and allowed the B-Witch to replace him and give Alex the job instead.**

" **Look at that game time temperature!" Ollie said; interrupting James' dark musings. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the lot of those gits will fry their brains out; and then they'll come begging us to take over the team and play the rest of the way through to the championship!"**

 **James laughed. "Nice thought, but if they fry their brains; they'll likely lose too."**

" **Well, that'd at least prove to everyone that you were right to stand up to the Queen B-Witch," Ollie pointed out. "I don't know if they'll lose today, since Senegal is probably as bad as Moldova; but after putting up with so much crap about how brilliantly my B-Witch sister played; I'll be happy if they can bash her head in – even if they don't manage to humiliate our team too!"**

" **I'll hope for that for the lot of them – and cheer for that humiliation thing too," James retorted darkly. "I'm well-rid of the lot of them anyway. We've got another week for partying when we're not busy with all of that promotion nonsense with the team; and then we'll have the full time in training camp to get ready to destroy all of the other teams on our way to our first league championship!"**

" **I'll drink to that!" Ollie offered enthusiastically – "and to the ill-luck for all of those gits on our National team that are going to regret messing with you!"**

" **Here, Here!" James declared with as much enthusiasm as his burning anger would allow; and the slug of fire whiskey did nothing to dim his rage.**

 **While he continued to hope for the worst for England, as the match began; he soon only had more to hate from nearly every play. Ollie tried to help, but didn't; and James turned most of his attention inward and entertained himself with visions of paying back each and every Witch and Wizard that had ever messed with him – whether that was from destroying their Quidditch dreams as he became the most-famous player ever to putting the lot of them where they all belonged – in boxes buried next to the Animorphloser!**

 **England's second-round match went about as perfectly as possible for any team. Belinda continued to be un-beatable in goals; Victoire, Francine, and Rachel proved to be a dangerous combination despite Rachel's combative competitiveness toward Victoire; and Tina and Calvin continued to prove that they were one of the best Beater duos in one of the premiere Quidditch leagues for a reason as they kept all of the Senegal players looking over their shoulders and worried about where the next bludger attack would come from when that likely felt as though those hits could come from anywhere. Finally, Alex played a brilliant match; and ended the game with a clean, emphatic snitch catch at the two-hour and twenty-two minute mark of the match to give England a two-eighty to naught victory – as well as a ticket to one of the third-round matches!**

 **Al had loved watching the match, but he also spent a lot of time taking care of the twins; and they needed extra help because of the heat that made them irritable and cranky – though Malorie had fun with suggesting they were cranky because their father wasn't playing for England anymore. The relatively-short match gave them time to head back to the campground and cool off with a swim, but they didn't do that for long because the swimming hole was soon too-crowded to be fun; and Jaimie and Lorie were ready to have a nap before dinner and their evening entertainment. Al and Gwendolyn took another turn at babysitting during and shortly after dinner, but then they had the night off; and got to go and have fun with their teen friends – or at least the teens that weren't working wheezes booths or busy performing at the concert.**

 **Although the Graves Robbers were the headline band for the night; Al and Gwendolyn's entertainment highlight of the evening was getting to watch the Weird Witches – Wendy and Wanda Wintringham – for their first time seeing them in a 'real' concert. Yes, they'd seen them at school too, but the big-stage and audience ambiance was a lot different; and their two younger friends were a huge hit. They also, apparently, stole the hearts of all sorts of like-aged Wizards; they were adored by the teen and tween Witches; and they did a great job of warming up the crowd for the Graves Robbers – including doing a two-song segue with their older 'cousins' that were show-stealing moments too! Al and Gwendolyn stayed to the end of the concert; headed back to their campsites with all of the parents and teens still standing; and gathered around the campfire at the Potter campsite that was already in progress with some of the other parents that had been ready to sit and wind down without all of the partying and dancing.**

 **Gwenog was one of those parents, but Kirley was still at his concert with the Weird Sisters; and would be out late again. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah sat together on a blanket near their parents; and Lily and Jonah began toasting some treats in the fire while Al was content to cuddle with Gwendolyn and mostly listen to the campfire chat already in progress.**

" **Vicky was joking with me about being glad that we didn't try to recruit Belinda," Gwenog was telling Ginny, "but while she's playing brilliantly right now; that would've been a waste of our time."**

" **She's wanted to follow in Oliver's footsteps since she was old-enough to start dreaming of playing for United," Ginny agreed with a nod and smile for Lily. "We can relate to kids wanting to do that."**

" **Except the boys can't follow in your footsteps," Lily offered; and her grin was for Jonah. "Belinda's lucky that her Dad wasn't playing for one of the teams that doesn't usually hire Witches."**

" **I doubt that Oliver would have played for one of those teams," Ginny advised her. "He always had Witches on his Gryffindor teams; and wouldn't have put up with a team full of Witch-bashing gits."**

" **Aren't the Harpies that in reverse?" Lily pointed out. "You should come up with something nicer – though if Al messes up yet another Quidditch season for me again this year; I'm definitely going to turn into a Wizard-bashing git for sure!"**

" **It's only the second of July," Al reminded her. "Let's have some fun this summer and not worry about Hogwarts Quidditch beyond our training plans."**

" **Says the Wizard that plans on spending more than half the summer working on Rose's plans for the Cannons so that you can go and play on that team – in two years," Lily countered. Here's an idea – put that much effort into our Gryffindor team!"**

" **I've been doing morning workouts every day," Al offered. "You're welcome to join me for that."**

" **If you want to start doing those exercises at a reasonable time of morning; maybe I will," Lily answered. "You are far too fond of watching the sun come up – which really makes no sense back home when it's cloudy more-often than not."**

 **Al shrugged. "I wouldn't want to do that right after breakfast; and we can't normally hold off on having that meal until nine or ten o'clock."**

" **They've co-opted our chat," Ginny told Gwenog. "Is Vicky feeling a bit old this past week while training with all of the kids?"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "Yeah, a bit. That doesn't keep her from wishing she was out there playing in these matches, though; and I can relate to that; since I've had the urge to play again instead of just managing teams."**

" **Don't tell Rose that," Gwendolyn warned. "She'll offer you a job with the Cannons so you can play with Aunt Ginny!"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "She could offer; but that won't ever happen – even if Ginny does temporarily lose her mind and sign up with them."**

" **I have managed to have fun while being unemployed for more than a year now, but Quidditch World Cups always bring out the urge to play again in me too; so we'll see if that wears off before Rose will be ready to play in the show – and if they manage to pull off their plans for the Cannons."**

" **And I'll hope that everything works out brilliantly for Rose," Malorie interjected with a smile. "I really like my job; and would hate to have to go looking for another in two years."**

" **You'll have a job for life if you can help Rose make her plans happen," Al advised her. "I think that you're doing brilliantly so far; and we're going to have fun with that work this summer!"**

" **What are you going to be doing?" Gwenog asked; and Al grinned at her.**

" **We can't tell you," he teased. "You'll have to wait for all of the surprises we're hoping to spring on everyone in a couple of years."**

" **It'll take a lot to surprise me," Gwenog assured him, "but you're young; so have fun with that."**

" **Don't have too much fun with trying to surprise Gwenog," Ginny told Al with a grin – "especially while your on that teen holiday with Gwendolyn the first week of August!"**

 **That half-serious admonishment led to some more jokes directed at Al, but he took that opportunity to go back to shutting up and just listening to the conversation. He and Gwendolyn also stayed up late; and were still at the campfire when Rose and Brandon got back from the wheezes booth they'd been running all evening in the campground. He got drinks for them and some leftover snacks they could toast; and then it was time for a bit of teen wind-down time.**

" **We're done with the full-time work for Dad now," Rose advised Al and Gwendolyn. "Brandon's going to keep running a stadium and campground booth next weekend too, and I might help out a bit; but we won't be helping out with getting ready for the third-round matches."**

" **That's good – since Brandon will need some free time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for our Ravenclaw team workouts," Gwendolyn reminded them with a nod and smile. "We haven't even been up on our brooms during the past week; so we already have some catching up to do if we want to be ready for tryouts in September."**

" **Are you expecting to have trouble keeping your spot on the team with the new batch of fourth-years?" Brandon asked.**

" **Now that Peter and Pauline have graduated; I expect a big turnout; and don't plan on being surprised out of a spot on the team by anyone. You and Seth had better be ready to defend your spots too – especially if Katrina and Patrick train together all summer too."**

" **I should have thought about that before telling Peter to nominate you for Captain instead of me," Brandon joked.**

" **If you end up as Captain; what would you do if Katrina beat Seth at tryouts?" Gwendolyn teased.**

" **Feel bad for Seth; and try my best to be a good Beater partner for Katrina," he answered with a shrug. "They're good, Gwendolyn, but have a bit of faith in Seth and me; 'cause I think that we're still quite a bit better than Patrick and Katrina – and they didn't play together last season. That's a real disadvantage for them."**

" **That's true," Gwendolyn conceded. "It may take them a while to play well as a duo again."**

" **You've lost most of your team from last season," Brandon told Rose. "Do you expect to have a big turnout for tryouts for Gryffindor too?"**

" **Yes, but then we don't even know who will be Captain."**

" **Do you think that Ollie made any recommendations before quitting?" Gwendolyn joked. "I doubt Al will get another chance, but I can't see them giving the job to Romeo."**

" **Fred might be considered for the job," Brandon offered. "He'll be OWL year; and did well-enough as junior team Captain."**

" **And he's a Beater too," Gwendolyn added. "That's a bonus for Beaters everywhere!"**

" **It is," Brandon agreed, "but then you only have your own Mum to blame for setting the bar so high for Beaters."**

" **And your Mum," Gwendolyn reminded him. "Beaters rarely succeed without being a great duo. It's too easy for other teams to gang up on one Beater if the other can't watch his or her back."**

" **That's true, but let's move on from Quidditch talk," Brandon suggested. "We've all likely had our fill of that today."**

" **What would you like to talk about instead?" Rose asked.**

" **How about possible date days or nights for while we're home? Al and Gwendolyn have been playing all week; but we've worked a bit too hard – even if we've had fun doing that together."**

" **We haven't gotten to do as much sightseeing as I'd have liked while we've been here – and in Italy," Rose told him with a nod. "Al and I will be working with Malorie on the Mondays and Tuesdays when we're home, and we all have Quidditch on Tuesdays and Thursdays; but maybe we could do something on Wednesdays."**

" **We're likely going to have camping nights on Mondays and Wednesdays," Gwendolyn advised them. "You could do that with us."**

" **Will you have Lily and Jonah with you too?" Brandon asked. "It's still weird for me to have Alyssa hanging out with Hugo when we're all together here."**

" **Probably," Al agreed; and then shrugged. "We could always set up two tents. Our brothers and sisters might even like having their own space now that we're all getting a bit older."**

 **Brandon laughed. "That might actually be scarier for me."**

" **Not as scary as that would likely be for Hugo," Rose suggested with a laugh. "He's practically terrified of ending up with a dating reputation like Dad's; and that'd include the year he was camping with Mum while they were on the run from the bad guys during the war."**

" **I don't know why he bothers worrying," Gwendolyn told them half-seriously. "Facts don't get in the way of your family stories; so why does he think it'll matter for him – or the rest of us either?"**

" **It won't," Rose agreed; and then seemed to ponder the idea for a moment. "Honestly, I think that Hugo feels that way because of empathy with Mum. Dad does still mess up now and then; he sees what that does to Mum; and doesn't want to be responsible for doing that to any other Witches."**

 **Brandon laughed; and then smiled ruefully. "Sorry, but my first thought was about how impossible that was for any Wizard, but since he's dating my sister; I should probably just wish him luck and hope for the best."**

" **Careful – that's getting dangerously close to the Cannons' motto," Gwendolyn warned. "The next thing you know; you'll actually be seriously-considering signing up."**

" **We're talking about Wizards messing up; and you want me to go there?" Brandon asked. "Thanks, but I don't need that kind of help!"**

 **That didn't keep the girls from teasing him about that for a few moments, but their chat and the campfire wound down from there; they doused it when ready to go and get some sleep; and Al and Gwendolyn ended their last day in Egypt with another sofa sleepover.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn had been able to have a lazy play day with their family and friends on Sunday before heading home – and getting there early-enough to unpack and do some chores around the house and yard thanks to the time change that still had them home by mid-afternoon. The chores were done at their own homes as they split up to spend their first night of the holidays when they were actually in their own houses and rooms, but Gwendolyn did go home with Al for long-enough to check out the new game-guest room and hang out with Al while her parents and brother went on home ahead of her. While Al would have been happy to stay with Gwendolyn, they were actually going to spend most of an entire day apart; and that was entirely because of his work plans with Rose and Malorie.**

 **He was looking forward to that work while getting ready for the day and doing his morning workout in the back yard. He cooked breakfast and had it ready by the time his mother and sister made it to the kitchen; and had a fun chat with his father without needing the help with the cooking. They all headed over to Chudley when it was time for him to go to work; Harry, Ginny, and Lily took custody of Jaimie and Lorie; and took them home for some play time while Al and Malorie went downstairs to her office and got to work once Rose joined them.**

" **So, oh great Cannons-owner-to-be; what's the plan for this summer – and for me once you're back at school in September?" Malorie asked Rose. "Other than keeping up with the latest news from around the league and Ministry; I think that I've pretty much hit my limit on what I can do on the research side of things."**

" **This summer, I want to take all of that research and turn it into a plan for approaching the Cannons' owners and negotiating to buy the team," Rose told her seriously. "That won't be an every day thing for you, since we'll want to take that slowly, quietly, and carefully; but we have other things that we want to do too – like getting ready to make deals on everything from ticket sales to mirror network adverts to merchandising."**

" **If you make deals for any or all of that and then don't get the team; that'd be a huge risk," Malorie pointed out; and Rose nodded.**

" **Yeah – it would be. If we get the team, though; the payoff would give us what we'll need to turn the team around."**

" **We'll know whether we have a deal on the team more than a half-year ahead of our first season," Al pointed out. "Make up an excuse for why we're looking into making those deals for starting in that season; since we definitely don't want to buy up anything we don't need before then."**

" **Clients with new products under development?" Rose suggested. "That isn't even actually a lie."**

" **That might work for the adverts or merchandising," Malorie agreed; "but not so much for buying bulk ticket sales."**

" **Travel business," Al offered simply. "GO Magisports could either get into that themselves or help someone else start up a company. Ticket sellers get a hefty discount or commission. We could scoop that up for ourselves."**

" **With just tickets for Cannons matches?" Malorie asked with a laugh. "Who'd believe that?"**

" **We wouldn't need to specify that to look into making deals and getting prices worked out," Rose pointed out. "Part of that deal will be with the team anyway; since we'd want to buy up their full, potential allotment of seats. I don't mind taking a cut of ticket sales for the other teams; but our goal here is to have most of that money coming into our company – or businesses that we own or control."**

" **The real benefit for us will be if we can get multi-year deals in place before we turn the team around," Al added. "Five or even ten year deals could be huge – especially for anything that loses money for others now – like tickets that never get sold at all or adverts spots on the mirror network that don't get sold for Cannons matches – or have to be sold at big discounts."**

" **You're both a bit scary," Malorie told them. "Have I mentioned that lately?"**

" **Not lately; but often-enough," Rose answered. "We're ranging a bit too broadly right now. Let's focus on the team for a while. Al and I have looked at everything you've given us on the business side of things for the Cannons; and think that we'll be looking at somewhere between four and six million galleons to buy the team."**

" **You said that without even looking worried," Malorie advised her. "Should I be asking for a raise this summer?"**

" **We can talk about that today too if you'd like," Rose agreed; "but what do you think about those numbers?"**

" **They'll likely think that four is too low," Malorie answered. "Is that where you'd want to start with your first offer?"**

" **No, I'd want to start even lower," Rose advised her. "We may not know the exact financial details, but we can sure take a good guess at how much they're likely losing every year based on what we do know – even if they're paying everyone other than Santini the league minimums for players. Our goals may be really high; but we need to look at our offer from their perspective – and they'll be thinking about those losses five and ten years out from now. That would add up to millions of galleons for them too; so that's money they wouldn't have going out of their vaults as well as an expense they believe we'll have going forward for years even if we can eventually turn the team around."**

" **Okay, I get that," Malorie said with a nod. "They won't take us seriously if we offer too low, though; and we'll have a tough time getting them to take me seriously in the first place."**

" **I've been thinking about that problem," Al told the girls. "Malorie would need to be careful about how she talks about it, but she could drop some information on the owners that might help with that – hints that the GO Magisports investors have ties to our inventions and are looking for investments to spend their profits on. We could also start investing in small companies – even if we start them ourselves."**

" **Do you have new inventions you want to start making yourself?" Rose half-teased; and Al shrugged and smiled.**

" **I might decide to make custom brooms myself – or at least start up my own company. Other than being connected to magical sports and entertainment, though; there doesn't have to be any other limits. If either of you have ideas for businesses that are geared toward Witches, for instance; I think we should look into that sort of thing too." He smiled at Malorie. "Maybe you'd like to think about sports-related investments that would work for parents and young kids – sports programs or family-friendly activities or day trips."**

" **Now we've really gotten off-track – though I love those ideas."**

" **We're not actually off-topic," Al disagreed. "This is about building credibility with the owners. They really do need to believe we're legit, and while they may neglect their team and fans; they may still care enough to want to make sure that new owners won't just throw all of the team history away and change everything – including the name."**

" **Maybe they'd believe the investors are closet Cannons fans?" Malorie teased. "We can't tell them she's one of their biggest fans; or they'd be able to figure out which of their six fans I'm working for!"**

" **Funny, but you could tell them that your investors are big fans of Quidditch and respect the grand history of our league," Rose suggested. "Playing up being inexperienced investors might work for and against us, if they think they can take advantage of us; but that's something to consider too."**

" **Malorie could probably mix that up nicely," Al offered seriously. "She's an inexperienced negotiator, but smart and informed; and she could catch on to any attempts to mess with her investors."**

" **I like that idea too," Rose assured him. "Let's switch up a bit and talk about what we know about each of the owners. How we handle those big egos might have everything to do with how successful we'll be with buying the team from them."**

 **The conversation that followed took a while; since Malorie had gathered a lot of information on the owners. Making their plans didn't come together in just an hour or two, but they did make progress; and were very thorough with everything they did. After working all morning; they went out for lunch with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and the twins; wrapped up their work by mid-afternoon; and then Al and Rose went back to his house; they set up two tents out by the Quidditch pitch and near the portable pool that Lily had already set up; and then they helped out with making dinner while waiting for Gwendolyn and Brandon to join them. Jonah, Hugo, and Alyssa would be camping too – and had picked the second-tent option; so Harry and Ginny were going to have eight teens for dinner and the overnight camping adventure.**

 **Having that meal together and then following it up with a brilliant play evening that included a Quidditch workout that Harry and Ginny did with the teens and some cool-down in the water play time after that had been a wonderful way to wrap up their first full day at home of the summer. The camping was really great too – and that was entirely because Al and Gwendolyn spent the night in his room while Rose and Brandon were in one room for the night too instead of trying to have sofa sleepovers instead. That had been thrilling for Al and Gwendolyn as they made that transition, but while that was new and exciting for them; that wasn't for any reasons beyond being together in a bed behind a closed door – something that they'd have been doing anyway in just a few weeks when they were on their holiday in the week ahead of the Quidditch World Cup championship match.**

 **Tuesday was another work day for Al and Rose, so Gwendolyn and Brandon went to do their own thing for the day after having breakfast with everyone; Harry and Ginny took care of the twins again; and had extra help for that because Lily, Jonah, Hugo, and Alyssa stayed and spent the day together before Jonah and Alyssa went to his house for dinner and their evening Quidditch practice with the Ravenclaw senior team players and some extra hopefuls who had been invited to train with them. While Al had fun with Rose and Malorie too; he loved getting to play with Jaimie and Lorie too; and Malorie came home with Al and Rose for the rest of the afternoon to join in on the play time; stay for dinner; and then tire the twins out by watching the first Gryffindor Quidditch practice of the summer.**

 **Al had trained with his cousins for what felt like his entire life so far, but having Lily, Hugo, and Fred working with himfor the senior team was different; and so was being the 'senior' cousins along with Rose. They also had Ray, Cyndia, Melissa, Kathryn, and Orlando come over; and Roxanne was the only younger teen to join them because they didn't invite anyone else. What they did do instead is have most of the parents there; Harry and Ginny helped with the training; and they had other parents helping out too – or joining in to play with them during the scrimmage. That made their workout more like play time scrimmages at family and friends gatherings; and that was a complete change for Fred and Orlando from their past-year of training with the team.**

 **So was Al's introduction to gymnastics as part of the training routine; though he started everyone out with very basic activities. He'd also needed to demonstrate why he thought that it was something they should add to their workouts, but he had fun playing with that; and impressed everyone with some very acrobatic tricks that more-than-explained why working on their flexibility and body control could take their Quidditch skills to a new level! That part of their play time was still just a small part of the overall workout; and it was the flying, position practices, and scrimmage that took up most of their time. For the scrimmage, Harry played Seeker against Lily; Al, Ray, and Cyndia played with Hugo at Keeper against Melissa, Kathryn, and Roxanne with Rose playing Keeper for the Witches team. Ginny and Angelina worked with all six Chasers, so while the three younger Witches had a tough time against Al in particular; the better Keeper and expert trainers went a long way to making for a fairly-evenly-matched scrimmage battle.**

 **Rose led the way as they wrapped up their practice by making plans for the rest of the summer that included drafting parents to help out with the rest of their summer training. After all of the busy; it seemed very quiet when everyone else went home and Al and Lily were on their own with their parents for the rest of the night. That gave Al his first chance to check out the new game room; they watched Lee's nightly show there; and then Harry and Ginny left Al and Lily to stay up later when they were ready to head for bed. Al liked that bit of hang-out time with Lily too, but they didn't stay up late either; since they had a busy play day planned for Wednesday.**

 **For Al, his play day began with some toy making – this time; it was to work on AnimorphMonsters that they wanted to have ready for the Halloween season. Ginny and Gwendolyn played with him on that while Harry, Lily, and Jonah played outside; they went out for lunch; and met up with Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa for that meal and then an afternoon play day at the seashore that was also a date adventure that continued through a fast food dinner and a movie night before they headed home and the eight teens had their second camping night of the week.**

 **Thursday was a chores day for Al and Lily, but they had some family and friends play time too; Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose had some more toymaking fun with Ginny; and their friends and cousins didn't head home until after lunch – in part because they all had things to get done at their own homes before they all headed to Mexico on Friday for the next round of the Quidditch World Cup and England's match there against Peru. Getting the lawns, gardens, and housework done wasn't really all that tough when they worked together and could do a lot of the work with wands or charmed jewelry or seashells; and it felt great to spend that time together too. It was just the four of them for dinner, but then they had another gang over for the second Quidditch practice for Gryffindor. Their guest coaches were Ray's mother and uncle; and while they focused on helping the Keepers and Chasers; Lily got to have extra attention working on her Seeker skills while Fred and Orlando spent some time doing their own thing ahead of the scrimmage that was a near-repeat of Tuesday night except that they had a bit less parental guidance and did more of a real match – though they did that with just two Beaters playing against everyone.**

 **Friday was the day the kids were most looking forward to by then, but they couldn't leave too early because of the time change, and since they didn't want to be falling asleep by early-evening; Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily stayed up late and then slept in a bit to help out with a big time change that they'd only be dealing with for less than three days before heading home again. Al was still awake too early; he did an extended morning workout; and they only cooked a light breakfast because they'd be in Mexico in the morning local time; and would likely still have three meals before the end of their first day there. They did eventually get together with everyone going to Mexico with them – including the wheezes owners and workers; and they used six Portkeys to get everyone to Mexico. While some of them needed to get to work, Harry, Ginny, and the kids and grandkids they were taking care of for the day had time to go sightseeing before they could even get into the campground and set up for the weekend; so they spent the morning doing a Wizarding-Mexico tour; the girls led the way for lunch and a bit of shopping in an open-air market; and then they popped over to their campground and got their tents set up before meeting up with some of the parents and working teens to have dinner together.**

 **Kirley and Gwenog couldn't have that meal with them; but then they were too busy with the team or band most of the day and evening. For Kirley; their band – and the other 'kids' bands were all playing in concerts in the Americas both days, and while the Weird Sisters were in Argentina for Friday night; the Weird Kids were in Mexico for the night; and the Graves Robbers and Weird Witches were in Canada – and they'd all be in one of the other locations for Saturday night. Al and Gwendolyn were on babysitting duty for a lot of Friday, and while they caught parts of the concert at the campground too; that was still going on really late for them – at least according to their internal clocks; so they were happy to go back to their tent and put the twins to bed before cuddling on a sofa and eventually falling asleep for the night.**

 **The Quidditch World Cup competition was starting to get very serious now that they were already down to the top thirty-two teams; so the Quidditch talk going on around the campground was fun and serious – particularly for the rival fans for England or Peru. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get into that sort of thing; but they did enjoy having breakfast with Gwenog and getting the latest news about the team from her. A bit more sightseeing was possible after breakfast too, but they also kept track of other Quidditch matches that were already in progress – including the match that Scotland won before the morning was half-over local time; and the one that France was still trying to win by the time they went to the stadium and settled in to watch England and Peru battle it out for the chance to advance to the fourth round!**

 **This time, England had drawn a match against one of the other top-ranked teams. That was only a bit of a surprise with only thirty-two teams left in the competition, but it did happen; and it added a bit of excitement to the competition to have matches where a top-ten team was sure to be out of the race for the big prize by the end of the day! Since they were in Mexico, it was no surprise to Al that Peru had more fans at the stadium, and they were noticeably-louder too, but he was quietly-confident in 'his' team; and felt pretty good as the match began and they happily cheered for their favorite players. It was hot in Mexico – just as it had been in the desert stadium in Egypt a week ago; and it was likely that the team did better from the start in this match because of that experience. Peru was certainly ready to play in the heat; and Al soon knew that they expected to be able to out-last any team from 'the North' when it came to handling the relentless heat of the afternoon.**

 **The heat certainly affected Al and Gwendolyn. They needed to take regular breaks to help with the twins; keep them cool; and give them entertainment distractions when they became restless and cranky. Frozen treats on a regular basis were part of that effort, but they played games, went exploring; and Al even had a bit of Animorphmagus fun with Jaimie and Lorie when they got particularly-cranky because they'd been too hot to nap for more than a few minutes at a time as the game wore on throughout the afternoon. The twins were not impressed when Aunt Gabrielle won her match to help France advance to the next round, and while the Quidditch action in Mexico really was brilliant; they weren't appreciating Belinda's shut-out through the first three hours of the match either. That also meant that they weren't disappointed when Peru finally broke that shutout in the fourth hour, but England already had a one-sixty lead by then; they only lost that advantage temporarily; regained it again; and then never lost it through to the end of the match.**

 **Since Peru had believed that they could outlast England right from the start, their Managers didn't worry about that lead – and the Peruvian players continued to battle hard and keep that lead from getting ridiculously out of hand as they fought on through the fifth and sixth hours. By then, the time change was having a serious effect on the fans that had come to the match from England, since early-evening in Mexico was next-day early morning for them! Peru was likely counting on that too, but England's players didn't falter – even if it might seem so for Belinda as she gave up two more goals by the time they fought on through the sixth and seventh hours. Victoire, Francine, and Rachel scored more, though, and they had a two-hundred and twenty point lead heading into the eighth hour.**

 **By then, while everyone in their group was getting tired, the worst heat of the day had passed; and Al and Gwendolyn sat close and tried to be quiet as Lorie slept a bit restlessly in Al's arms. Jaimie slept too – and was with Malorie after deciding that she'd had enough of being passed around and just wanted her Mum for a while. Al didn't say anything as he sensed the approach of the end of the match, but he did have mixed feelings about that; since it really had been a brilliant battle – and he could feel for the players and fans that were about to be disappointed. Getting bombarded with those emotions didn't keep him from enjoying Alex's brilliant play that earned him the catch and win for England – and that really was an amazing feat of flying after a nearly seven-and-a-half hours-long Seeker duel!**

 **Final score for the match – four-hundred and ten to thirty!**

" **I want that to be me in four more years!" Lily said quietly-enough that only the teens and parents closest to her could hear. "Your Mum said she doesn't want to hire me when I'm underage, but I'll be seventeen at the start of sixth-year; and she could hire me for all of the holiday matches for the rest of that year and my NEWT year!"**

" **What about Alex?" Gwendolyn asked. "He's doing pretty well; and he'll still be young in four years."**

" **I expected you to mention Pauline instead of Alex," Al told her; and she laughed quietly.**

" **There's that too; though I should likely pick my future team mate ahead of both of them."**

" **Future sister-in-law too," Lily added.**

" **Have you and Jonah got some news you haven't shared with us?" Gwendolyn teased; and it was Lily's turn to laugh.**

" **No, but Jonah is still at the top of my potential boyfriend list – and well ahead of the other guys on points. You know I meant that for you and Al – unless you have some news for us; and you don't expect to marry him the Friday night we get home from your NEWT year."**

" **That's still part of my future plan," Gwendolyn agreed. "We'd definitely want to have a week or two for a honeymoon before I start my brilliant career with the Harpies and Al goes to play for the Cannons."**

" **We can be okay with him having a brilliant career with the Cannons too," Lily advised her – "as long as that doesn't get in the way of our even-more-brilliant careers with the Harpies! Getting back to my original comments, I'm not Al; and won't feel bad for Pauline, Alex, or any of the other Seekers in the league that I beat out for that Seeker job on the National team – and I want to do that for at least as many Quidditch World Cups as Aunt Gabrielle has played in for France!"**

" **This is five for her, right?" Jonah asked; and Lily nodded.**

" **Five and counting. She's playing brilliantly; so she could play in a few more after this one."**

" **That'd be twelve more years," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Don't you want Gabrielle to retire in about four more years?"**

" **Don't let logic get in the way of my dreams," Lily joked. "I'm not planning on letting that get in the way of my plans to play for the Harpies until I'm Aunt Muriel's age!"**

" **Why did I just get a seriously-scary mental picture of Mum coming out of retirement to play with you guys on that Harpies team when she turns one hundred?" Jonah asked.**

" **I don't know why that's scary," Lily countered with a grin. "Your Grandma Catriona could likely still give half the players in the show a run for it if she wanted to play again!"**

" **Now you're scaring me for real," Jonah insisted; and Lily laughed.**

" **Do you think that Jaimie and Lorie will feel that way if their grandma comes out of retirement to play for the Cannons?"**

" **Will you if she does; and plays so brilliantly that she gets invited to play for the National team again?" Jonah countered; and grinned when she suddenly frowned at him.**

" **That isn't funny," she decided.**

" **It is," Gwendolyn disagreed, "but don't worry, Lily – we are talking about her playing for the Cannons."**

" **James played for the Catapults and got the nod over Alex and the other Seekers," Lily reminded her. "Santini played for Spain again – though they were out in the second-round. James might underestimate the Ministry officials, but I wouldn't put it past them to pick Mum over me if her comeback would play better for the National team than mine – especially after the mess they've had with James."**

" **Would you want to play for our National team again, Aunt Ginny?" Jonah leaned back and asked.**

" **I wanted to be out there playing for them today," Ginny advised him seriously. "I'm also not much older than Gabrielle, and Lily thinks that she can play for at least another dozen years; so let's not let that fact get in the way of her dreams either."**

 **Al enjoyed that chat as it continued; they watched the post-game festivities; and then headed for the stadium exits and the campground. The celebration concert began shortly after they arrived, but Al and Gwendolyn skipped the first two bands while staying at their campsite and watching over Jaimie and Lorie as they slept through what was the early hours of the morning to them. They did that intentionally, and had a nap too; since they were sure that the girls would wake up and be ready to party at something near their normal morning wake-up time. Jaimie and Lorie did that ahead of schedule; that cut down on the nap time for Al and Gwendolyn; and they headed to the concert with the twins and got there shortly-after the Weird Sisters took to the stage. By then, the rest of their gang had already been awake for nearly twenty-four hours, so there was just a short transition time that they spent together; and then Harry, Ginny, and most of the other parents headed for their tents and beds along with all of the teens and kids; while Al and Gwendolyn stayed up and partied with Jaimie and Lorie.**

 **The Weird Sisters were the last band of the night, but since most of the partiers still standing by the end of the show were on home time for them anyway; the party continued around campsites and the food booths and concessions stands that stayed open late – or all night. Al and Gwendolyn took the twins to visit their favorite band after the show; they 'helped' with packing up – which meant that Al and Gwendolyn helped while Kirley and his buddies played with Jaimie and Lorie; and then they wandered around the campground after walking Kirley back to his tent and sending him off to bed. Jaimie and Lorie hadn't been able to get a full night of normal sleep, so they needed a nap by around five o'clock local time; Al and Gwendolyn put them to bed; and then had another sofa sleepover nap too for a few hours.**

 **James woke at the crack of noon; wished that he hadn't; and needed quite a while before he was even aware-enough to realize that he was alone in his bed. Looking around hurt, so he gave up on trying to do that for a while; and listened for any sound of company in his flat. It took a while longer to decide that all was quiet, but that didn't make him feel better; since it meant that the hot, willing playmate he'd brought home with him from the party on Saturday night hadn't wanted to wait around for him and had left without saying goodbye – or at least without doing that when he was in any condition to notice or remember.**

 **That was likely for the best, since he didn't feel, um, up to entertaining any Witches at the moment, but nature was calling him in a different way; so he fought through the pain of the hangover and eventually managed to stumble his way into the master bathroom. Once he'd dealt with that necessity; he took a foul-tasting potion that he now kept in stock; cursed Malorie for not telling him the secret to making her wonder-cure for hangovers that was actually quite good; and then flopped on his bed again and waited for the cure he did have to take effect – though that also didn't work as quickly or as well as Malorie's cure. When he was ready to pull himself together, he took a shower, got ready for the day; and then got a drink and snack and sat down to finally check the Quididtch news to check on the scores for the matches he hadn't been interested in watching all night when he had that hot, willing Witch to have fun with instead!**

 **He was disappointed to find out that England had beaten Peru – and ticked that Alex had been allowed to keep trying to catch the snitch for the win for more than seven hours! Apparently, the Queen B-Witch's rule for backing off to be a good sport only applied to him! Well, at least he'd be the center of attention on Monday when the Catapults introduced their new team at the opening of training camp press conference and fan luncheon! That was going to be brilliant, and then he was going to spend the entire season showing everyone that he was the best player in the world – and that the Queen B-Witch was the loser – and probably just another pawn that the Animorphloser had used to mess up his own life yet again!**

" **I am going to destroy the lot of you!" he told himself aloud. "Whatever it takes; you are all going to pay for everything you've done to me!"**

 **With those happy, dark musings to keep him company; James got on with his day – and only looked forward toward his certain, inevitably-brilliant, rich and famous future!**

 **Unlike their weekend in Egypt, their visit to Mexico needed to end early on Sunday so that they could still be home again by late afternoon – especially for the parents with jobs to get back to on Monday. That also meant that everyone really only got to have naps before waking again, but Sunday was also Harry and Ginny's twenty-third anniversary; so they had a special breakfast with most of their extended family and a few friends – including the McCormacks. That had been a busy blast of fun that included some gifts and special breakfast treats for the couple of honor; and then they all got to have just a bit more play time before packing up their tents and gear and taking their Portkey trips home.**

 **They'd also known all of the fourth-round match-ups by first thing in the morning, so when they got home; Gwenog got right to work on planning for England's match against Canada in Finland. While she did that, and Kirley had to deal with some band work ahead of their fourth-round concerts too, Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed with Al and Lily; and they took care of the chores and unpacking at the Potter home and yard while Harry and Ginny only needed to deal with their own personal belongings while getting a work-free day as part of their anniversary fun. They eventually went over to the McCormacks house; the kids did some more work there; set up a tent; and then had a take-out anniversary dinner with their parents before Harry and Ginny were sent home for a kid-free night – a last gift for their special day from the McCormacks and their own kids!**

 **Al was glad to have that bonus time with Gwendolyn, but they didn't stay up late and take advantage of that opportunity beyond enjoying the bonus sofa sleepover in the tent after they all decided to turn in for the night and catch up on the sleep that they didn't get in Mexico. He didn't think about whether his parents just went home and slept or not too, but then Al wasn't thinking about much of anything by the time he fell asleep not long after snuggling on one sofa with Gwendolyn while Lily and Jonah did the same on the other sofa in the tent sitting room. Once he was asleep, he was out for the rest of the night; and didn't wake again until near his normal early-morning wake up time.**

 **Starting his day with a morning workout in Gwendolyn's back yard was more-fun than normal because she joined him for that – and wanted to start learning the Tai Chi forms that he was not just doing some days as part of his daily excercise but was something that Harry was continuing to teach his Gryffindor team mates too. They had fun with that; a bit of minor, early-morning snogging after that; and then they finished getting ready for the day and joined Gwenog in the kitchen to help her out with making breakfast. They had to eat quickly, Gwenog went off to work with both the Harpies and National team; and Kirley and the kids took care of the clean-up; did some chores; and then met up with Harry, Ginny, Malorie, and the twins when it was time to head for Exmoor stadium and the opening day of league training camps. They had time to pick up drinks and snacks; get to their seats; and then settle in while waiting for the first of too many speeches.**

 **While they waited, the four teens kept Jaimie and Lorie entertained; they eventually had some cousins and friends to hang out with too; and they talked Quidditch most of the time – though they had to do that quietly while the boring speeches dragged on for nearly a half-hour before the politicians and league officials finally gave up the stage to the team introductions! Al and Gwendolyn had fun with all of that, and while there wasn't any major news for the Arrows, Bats, or Cannons; that certainly wasn't the case for the Catapults – and they had the first big news of the day as they introduced their team. Louis had the honor of being first – and he attracted a lot of attention from the reporters and spectators; since he was as good-looking as his father along with some nice touches of Veela-heritage good looks from his mother. Miya Davies, Roman Smith, and Ollie Wood were up next, and while Miya and Roman did their laps rather conservatively – though they looked happy and excited too; Ollie tried to do a bit of showboating; took too long; and nearly messed up his landing. He had Louis to thank for making it look as though he was just being welcomed enthusiastically instead of crashing into his team mate.**

 **Tiberius and Brock did a bit of showboating too, but were more-successful at looking tough while wielding their Beater bats; and they had a much-more-controlled landing onto the stage. Finally, it was time for James' grand entrance; and the Catapult's Manager made sure that he got it – and that everyone knew that he was the star of their team. Al honestly tried to be happy for his brother, but that was tough to do when what he sensed from James was so rotten and dark; and that got worse when James caught a glimpse of Al holding Lorie up so she could watch her father fly around the stadium and then land on the stage. Listening to Malorie enthusiastically tell her daughters that they were watching their father and that he was the Seeker for one of the best Quidditch teams in the league wasn't tough for Al – it was just a very odd counterpoint to the hatred he sensed from within James.**

 **He also knew that James was sure that the Catapults had the top Quidditch story of the day with five new players, but Al knew he was wrong about that; and waited excitedly for what he actually thought was the best story of the day – news that he was sure that not even Gwendolyn knew about. Before getting to that surprise announcement, they watched on as the Falcons, Harpies, Kestrels, and Magpies were introduced. The buzz of voices in the stadium rose dramatically when Meghan Rivers stepped out onto the stage with her team manager; and got louder when she was introduced as the Prides new Assistant Manager.**

" **What's going on?" Gwendolyn asked in stunned amazement, and when she saw the expression on Al's face; she punched him. "You've been keeping secrets!" she hissed in a whisper – and then her eyes went wide as her own mention of the word 'secret' clicked home and she suddenly knew the secret he'd been keeping for two of her team mates. "Merlin!"**

 **By the time she said that; Meghan was getting to introduce her replacement at Keeper – Peter Boot. He didn't fly out by himself because Pauline was also invited into the stadium with her twin by the Prides' Manager; and they earned a roar of cheers as they flew around the stadium – both of them smiling brilliantly – and holding hands as they landed on stage and then went on to hug their team managers.**

" **Stephanie must be around here somewhere," Gwendolyn said; and then had a funny-looking smile-frown for Al. "We are so going to talk later – and I apparently need to do that with several people."**

" **Including your aunt?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.**

" **Definitely – and Mum and Dad if they knew! Wow! What a newsflash this is!"**

" **It's a game-changer for the Prides," Al agreed. "Erin isn't here," he added quietly. "That might mean that she didn't choose to give up her job for Pauline."**

 **Gwendolyn frowned for real this time. "That'd be too bad, since she has done her best for the Prides since joining them after your Mum took over as Seeker for the Harpies. I wonder if that also means she's done with the team; or will be their reserve Seeker?"**

" **They already have Brandon," Al reminded her. "The Prides likely offered her a different job with the team; but we'll likely have to wait and find out about what she's doing until we can talk to your Aunt – or one of our friends on the team."**

" **They really could have a great team now," Gwendolyn suggested. "Peter will be at least as good as Aunt Meghan – maybe better; and Pauline has been one of the best Seekers at Hogwarts for the past seven years. She'll be brilliant with the Prides!"**

" **Peter will be too," Al added with a nod. "Look how happy everyone else on the team is. That might simply be because they don't have to keep the secret anymore." He laughed when Gwendolyn punched him again.**

" **Hit him once for me too if that's what I think it's for," Lily told Gwendolyn; and then laughed too when Gwendolyn did that for her.**

" **Don't hit me too many more times," Al warned. "I don't want to drop Lorie if my arm goes numb."**

 **With two big news stories for everyone to talk about, Al could get back out of the little blip of spotlight he earned as word got out that he'd known about Peter and Pauline's new jobs. There were, obviously, no changes for Puddlemere United; and the only real news through to the end came from the Wigtown Wanderers – and that was news for Al – though he got the mental heads up shortly before the announcements. The Wanderers had two announcements. The first was hiring Myra Graves as their new Keeper; and the player they apparently planned on anchoring their team of the future around. Their second big announcement was to reveal that they'd hired Erin Connelly to be their new Seeker. Gwendolyn had teased Al about that, since he'd told her that Erin hadn't been there, but while she'd had a point; that had been because he hadn't 'looked' for her within the locker rooms or elsewhere within the stadium. Erin did her best to look happy, and she got an enthusiastic hug from Myra when she joined her on-stage; but Al didn't get a sense that she felt happy as she made the transition from one of the best teams in the league to one of the teams that was having a brilliant year if they made it to eighth-place.**

 **As always, the Wimbourne Wasps were last; they didn't have any new players; and that was a bit of a let down – especially for the fans of the team that were looking for a change for the better for their beloved team. With the players all revealed it was time for the reporters to have their turn talking with the players and managers, so while that was going on; Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of their little gang toured the concessions booths; picked up quite a few gifts and souvenirs; and had fun with some friends and relatives that they crossed paths with while having that fun. Al picked up action figures or dolls for all of his new player-friends; versions of the toys for his favorite returning players; and helped out with getting too many gifts and treats for the twins.**

 **When it was time for the luncheon, Al wasn't surprised when they got to do that with the Prides this year; Gwendolyn had a lot of fun with Peter, Pauline, and pretty much everyone else on the team – along with Stephanie, her parents, and the other VIP guests. That kept them busy for more than an hour – particularly because some of that play time was with Jaimie and Lorie; and they were a hit with everyone else in their group. Al and Gwendolyn were both drawn into a round of good luck hugs and kisses when it was time for the Prides' players to move on to their afternoon training; and then they headed back to Al's home with their original, smaller group so that they could have a play afternoon. Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa joined them for that fun; they played Quidditch for a while; swam a lot; and then the eight teens eventually got the tents set up for another camping night before moving on to have dinner with Harry and Ginny and then spend the evening playing and having a campfire starting at dusk.**

 **While the campfire entertainment was a change from a week ago; the rest of their week from that point on rhymed a lot with their second week of holidays. Al and Rose had a work day with Malorie on Tuesday; their respective Quidditch workouts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings; and their 'date day' on Wednesday was at their favorite Muggle amusement park. Having Brandon and Alyssa along for that made the day just that much better; and the only thing that Al didn't have much time for during their third week of summer holidays was work on his toymaking or any other project. Friday was different too, but only because they got up early; they were ready to travel by eight o'clock; and headed for Finland so that they could get an early start to their round-four weekend – and the week of holidays they were taking between the fourth and fifth-round matches. They were at their campground by late morning; were allowed to set up their tents early; and then they went out for lunch and an afternoon of sightseeing.**

 **A big Quidditch match on Saturday was exactly the same as the past three weekends had been, but there were quite a few differences for their adventures in Finland too. First up; they had fewer relatives with them – mostly because the aunts, uncles, and cousins couldn't come to every National team match; and they also had some cousins going to the matches that France or Scotland were playing in instead. Louis was into his training camp and busy with team work on the weekends; and not all of the aunts and uncles could take every weekend off form work. They had fewer friends with them too, but Al and Gwendolyn got to spend time with Ray and Cyndia because they were able to be there for the weekend; and Lily and Jonah had Denise and Colin Creevey to hang out with because their parents had gotten tickets to the match because England was playing against Canada – their mother, Natalie's home country. Their maternal grandparents were Muggles, so they wouldn't be there too, but Denise and Colin were still excited about getting to see some of the best Quiditch players from a country that they had family links to – and had visited once every couple of years as they rotated family visits in Canada or England every other year.**

 **Harry and Ginny had the extra parent friends too, but they only had Malorie with them while doing the sightseeing on Friday afternoon; and then the teens entertained themselves for most of the late afternoon and evening before and after dinner while the parents and grandparents had a chance for some fun with their friends. The sightseeing had been a blast for Al and Gwendolyn, but they enjoyed joining in on the entertainment around the campground that was once again different from their first three weekends thanks to l0cal food specialties, some different games and other teen and kid-rated entertainment; and even the concert was different because the stage was shared by bands from Finland and Canada – groups that they didn't yet know anything about; but soon became fans of since that concert was definitely geared toward teens and tweens.**

 **The time change worked in their favor for staying up late; so Al and Gwendolyn did that with their friends – after taking a long turn taking care of Jaimie and Lorie after dinner with help from Ray and Cyndia. They only got to spend a little time with Gwenog between when she was done work with the National team for the day and her game night curfew; and they only saw Kirley when he got back from his concert and went straight to bed with just a few words with the only sofa sleepover couple that was still awake by then. While having a late night was easy; the early-morning wake-up calls weren't as popular – though Al still got his day started at near-to-normal time; he did his morning work-out with Gwendolyn and Harry; and then it was father-and-son chef time while Gwendolyn took her turn getting ready for their play and Quidditch fun day. They had fun with their families for that meal; Harry and Ginny led another sightseeing adventure for the rest of the morning with quite a few of their friends' families joining in; and they toured the historic Wizarding wonders of Finland until it was time to have lunch and then head for the stadium.**

 **Al was discovering that he enjoyed trying new foods more than most teens while doing so much traveling to new places, so that meal was another fun adventure for him too; followed by another round of souvenir shopping with the twins that included getting more toys for them to play with – in another year or two once they were old-enough to actually play with their action figures instead of teething on them! Their seats were in the section set aside for England's fans; they were there and ready in time for another pre-game round of politicians and Quidditch officials' speeches. That was a bit of boring to get through in an otherwise brilliantly-fun day; and then it was time for the Quidditch-watching part of their busy play day!**

 **James glared at Ritchie Cootes as he walked into his own sitting room and saw that his Assistant Manager was watching the Quidditch World Cup match between England and Canada on the mirror.**

" **Must you inflict that on me in my own flat?" he demanded crossly; and wasn't happier when Ritchie turned it off before answering.**

" **No – I can keep an eye on the match on my portable while you're busy impressing the kiddies," he answered. "Try not to spend more time flirting with their mothers this time. Kids don't like that sort of thing, and one of these days; you'll get the wrong sort of husband and father angry with you too – and that could end badly for you!"**

 **James laughed. "Some of those mothers want a bit of excitement in their lives, and if they're hot-enough; I don't have a problem with helping them out!"**

" **You don't have a problem with entertaining every Witch you take a fancy to," Ritchie pointed out. "I'm not going to bother warning you about that sort of thing every time you go there, James. You'll either work that out for yourself; burn out; or worse."**

" **You're a bit of a pessimist, aren't you? I'll pick the option where I'll still be impressing the Witches in a century!"**

" **I seriously doubt you'll still be impressing the young Witches by then," Ritchie pointed out; "and I don't want even a mental picture of a guy like you at one-hundred chasing around Witches like my dear old grandmothers!"**

" **That's gros, and no – I definitely plan on still having fun with the young, hot Witches no matter how old I get," James assured him. "You've obviously forgotten about the part of my plan where I'm rich and famous. I'll have no trouble with impressing the Witches!"**

" **You still need to get there first," Ritchie pointed out. "The team owners didn't expect you to win a championship for them last season; though you still got their hopes up there at the end. They were then looking forward to you representing the Catapults on the National team, and while you seem to have convinced them to blame Gwenog McCormack for that mess; it is one more chance that you had for fame instead of infamy. You'll only get so many chances, James; and you'd do well to remember that!"**

" **How can I forget when you keep badgering me so bloody often?" James retorted. "I am not going to end up like you, Ritchie, I don't need you projecting your failures on me, and if you don't stop mothering me soon; you'll be looking for a new manager gig too!"**

 **Ritchie laughed. "Rock meet hard place," he joked. "You'll get me fired if I do my job as ordered; or the owners will fire me if I don't and you both don't win championships for them and embarrass them by blowing off too many of your responsibilities, showing up to them drunk, or geting caught messing around with the wrong Witch. It's a good thing that I have my family and friends around to be there for me when the job risks seem higher than back when all I had to worry about was bludgers and the rest of the dangers of the game!"**

" **Sucks to be you – including the parts that you seem to think are good for you," James declared with a snort. "Let me know how long all of that family and friends stuff lasts after you're sacked."**

" **And you were calling me a pessimist," Ritchie countered. "You've no faith in anyone but yourself."**

" **That's true," James agreed. "Most of you poor, deluded fools don't get that, but I learned that lesson early; and I'm better-off for it!"**

" **I think that some Witches and Wizards are better off on their own," Ritchie told him seriously. "Others – like me – are better off surrounded by loved ones that make me a better person than I am without them. It's a bit early for you to know for sure which type of person you'll want to be for the rest of your life."**

" **Slughorn told me something like that last year at Christmas," James said with a nod; and then grinned. "I thought it rubbish then; and my opinion hasn't changed after hearing it again!"**

 **Ritchie laughed. "The validation of your opinion isn't required for actual facts, James – though in this case, it actually is how each of us feels that makes for the truth of the matter; and it's possible that won't be the case if those beliefs change."**

" **Maybe your next job will be teaching at Hogwarts if you keep having such deep thoughts," James suggested with a sneer. "Let's get out of here, and if I'm lucky; I won't hear a thing about the National team that is not to be named while we're out trying to get the peasants to part ways with their nice, shiny galleons!"**

 **England's fourth-round match was a lot of fun for their fans to watch, but it ended up being rather strange too. The Chaser battle was brilliant and close, but Belinda stopped everything that the Canadian Chasers threw at her; while her counterpart wasn't able to do the same against Victoire, Francine, and Rachel. The lead for England grew slowly, but by the time they took a time-out at the end of the fourth hour; they'd gained a two-hundred and twenty point lead. The strange happened soon after that as the fifth hour of the match began. England scored a quick goal; Alex nearly ended the match with a brilliant play that the Canadian Seeker barely-blocked; and then, apparently with visions of a blow-out loss dancing in his head; the Wizard turned right around and made the catch for the two-thirty to one-fifty loss at the four hour and eight minute mark of the match!**

 **Now, in his defense, that was likely the best outcome for his team at that point, but his Seeker duel victory did not go over well with his team mates, manager, or fans; and Al did not like being around for the nastiness that went along with that bit of Quidditch drama – even as it was good for his National team and their fans. That abrupt end to the match allowed Harry, Ginny, and the other parents to take their teens and kids back to the campground for dinner; the evening entertainment there started early; and they all played for a second night until late – including Jaimie and Lorie; since they'd had naps during the match and were ready to party and celebrate with all of their favorite people!**

 **Al was really glad to spend quite a bit of that time with them because Malorie was taking them home on Sunday while he'd be on holidays for the week with his parents, Lily, Gwendolyn, Jonah, and some other cousins and friends. He and Gwendolyn also took care of the twins overnight; Al had them with him in the morning for his workout by the campground fjord; and they were his taste-testers while he cooked breakfast on Sunday. By then, he knew that England's fifth-round match was going to be a family feud too with Victoire up against her Aunt Gabrielle – though Alex would be the one actually having the Seeker duel with his Harpies' rival. While they talked about that match-up while having breakfast; the bigger part of that conversation was all about how they were going to fit their holidays into getting from Finland to Belgium for that match.**

 **Harry, Ginny, and the other parents had intentionally left their itinerary open, so they could do just about anything; and they had fun discussing their options. While Jaimie and Lorie were going home for the week with their mother, when the decision was made by the majority to have an extreme entertainment week; they also decided to pack up; move to the campground that was going to be used for the fifth-round match between England and France; and they decided to make their first extreme adventure Disneyland Paris so that they could take Jaimie and Lorie - and Malorie – with them for at least part of that adventure too. They had to do the work to pack up first; take Portkeys to Belgium; and set up a few tents there before moving on to France and their Disney theme park fun; but they still had most of the day to play after that – and Al and Gwendolyn had a blast!**

 **First up for them was the kid-friendly fun with Jaimie and Lorie – and the rest of their families as they stayed close together and did everything from kiddie rides to watching some of the shows going on around the park. When the twins needed a nap; they went to do some extreme rides with the other teens; stayed with Rose and Brandon while doing that – and with the other teens when they could all stay together for different rides. There was more play time with Jaimie and Lorie after that until dinnertime; and then Malorie took them home with help from Harry while everyone else got to spend the rest of the evening doing extreme rides until they wrapped up their day with the park closing festivities. Harry was back with them for more than half of that fun; and it took all of the parents to get their kids rounded up and back to Belgium.**

 **While sightseeing was something that Al loved to do a lot too; an entire week of extreme Muggle amusement park entertainment was brilliant too! On Monday, they spent the day at the largest amusement park in Germany. On Tuesday, it was one of the oldest amusement parks in the world in Austria, and while that wasn't as extreme as the other parks; they did have a wonderful family and friends play day there too – and non-stop extreme fun would have been too much anyway! They spent Wednesday at a seaside park in Spain; switched things up on Thursday with an extreme adventure park day that included a lot of physical activities ranging from zip lines to tubing on a river; and then they wrapped up their week on Friday at the top amusement park in Belgium before returning to Wizarding World fun by late Friday afternoon back at the campground as they got ready for another round of extreme Quidditch and having fun with tens of thousands of other Witches and Wizards.**

 **The best part of the rest of the day for Al was getting to see Jaimie and Lorie again; he and Gwendolyn played with them a lot right from the time they arrived with Malorie after Harry again popped home to help her out with getting them to Belgium. Malorie hadn't been on her own with the twins all week – she'd gotten babysitting support when working from Grandma Weasley; and Patrick Towler had visited several times too – though he normally spent time with Malorie and the twins at least a couple of times a week anyway. Malorie was still happy to have Al and Gwendolyn take care of the girls for a while as she got settled into their tent and had some time to hang out with the other parents – even if she was the youngest in their group. Their dinner was picked up at the food booths, but they were all together for that meal; and then they had a blast at the campground concert that once again was headlined by the Weird Sisters. They played last; followed bands from France and Belgium; and that was one of the reasons for why Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their day by babysitting the twins and keeping them for a sleepover while the parents once again stayed up and played late.**

 **Having a fifth weekend of Quidditch World Cup action wasn't getting to the point that they were wearing out from all of the fun, but Al still felt a sense of deja vu as he repeated his morning routine of an early-morning workout; helping out with making breakfast for a small gang; and then having a morning of sightseeing fun – all of which he did with Jaimie and Lorie; as well as doing most of that with Gwendolyn and as many of their group of families and friends as possible. Their morning adventures were all about Wizarding Belgium; learning more about that proud heritage from going and seeing as many of those historic sites as possible in just a few hours was brilliant; and then it was time for the one match that was going to be very tough for them regardless of whether England won or France managed to get the victory and advance to the semi-finals.**

 **Gwendolyn and her family had been disappointed when Scotland had been ousted in the fourth-round, but that hadn't been the same – and Scotland hadn't been a top pick this year anyway; and had done better than expected to get that far into the competition. That wasn't true for England or France; and everyone was predicting an epic battle. Fortunately – or not – that didn't end up being what happened at all. Belinda and France's Keeper began playing brilliantly, but Tina seriously-injured Gabrielle's Keeper team mate barely-more than half-way through the first hour; the rout was soon on after that; and Alex was able to keep Gabrielle from ending the game before England had the one-sixty lead no matter how hard she tried to get that quick snitch catch. He backed off once Victoire, Francine, and Rachel had that lead; they still scored three more goals after that; and then Gabbrielle caught the snitch for the one-ninety to one-fifty, heartbreaking loss.**

 **The mid-air hugs from Alex and Victoire likely didn't help her to feel better at all, but that was entertaining; and earned all three of them a lot of love from the spectators watching the show. Having such a short match was both disappointing for the fans of the game and great in a way too; since that meant that England's fans had a lot of extra time left in the day to celebrate! Al and Gwendolyn were happy to do that with their families and friends – especially when that meant that they also got to spend extra time with Gwenog once she was done with the post-game activities with the team. Playing games, swimming, and even having a little nap with the twins had all kept Al and Gwendolyn busy for the rest of the afternoon. They were not on kid control for the rest of the day after that; they had a blast hanging out with Rose, Brandon, and the rest of the teens in their group with just some intermittant interaction with the parents; and the Graves Robbers and Weird Witches were again two of the bands this time around.**

 **The Graves Robbers part of the concert was particularly-special because it was the first time that they'd seen them do a show since Myra's job with the Wanderers had been announced, and while she was apparently still going to play with the band when she could once into the Quidditch season; the Graves Robbers were going to go on without her too once she was busy with her full-time job. That meant that this might be the last time they'd get to see Myra playing with the band, so Al and Gwendolyn stayed to the end of the concert; and made sure that they made as many great new memories as possible before heading back to their tents and ending their day with another sofa sleepover.**

 **By Sunday, they were actually just ready to head home – and did that instead of trying to do more sightseeing or any other type of holiday fun. They did still take their time having breakfast and packing up, and not everyone in their group decided to go home early, but Harry, Ginny, Kirley, Gwenog, and Malorie all took their kids home by Portkey; and were back at their respective homes by late morning. Al and Gwendolyn – and Lily and Jonah – split up for the rest of the day then too – something that felt very strange after spending the past ten days with them. Having some alone time with their parents was nice too, though, and while Al and Lily spent some of that time doing chores with them too; they also went swimming a couple of times; played a bit of Quidditch; and had a couple of home-cooked meals together that really was a nice change from the campground or amusement park fare that they'd enjoyed a bit too much!**

 **While the time zone change helped out with getting home just a bit earlier, they'd already had a long day by the time they finished up with the post-dinner clean-up, so Harry and Ginny did a bit of work in the office that was mostly about personal finances and paying bills; they had a bedtime visit with Al and Lily in the game room; and then left their kids to wind down with some sister-brother chat time while they watched mirror network shows that included a Quidditch sports report and Lee's nightly show.**

" **Were we this busy during the last Quidditch World Cup summer?" Lily asked. "Maybe it's just that I'm older; but it feels as if we've been going non-stop for the past month – and that isn't going to change while we're home for the next five days."**

" **It definitely won't for me," Al agreed with a nod. "Along with everything else we have booked; I need to get a bit more serious about my holiday revision; Gwendolyn and I need to finalize our plans for our holiday between next Sunday and the championship match; and I need to find some time for keeping up with the toymaking for next Halloween and Christmas."**

" **Don't remind me about our revision," Lily told him. "I am not at all motivated to do that work."**

" **You could wait until after the Hogwarts letters come out; but I'll want to start working ahead on my sixth-year reading once I get the new books and RevisionWizard updates."**

" **Do you have anything major coming out for that this year?" Lily asked; and then laughed. "Never mind – I don't really want to go there tonight either. Let's talk about Quidditch. Do you want to start with that news about the Catapults and how their training camp is going? The one reporter didn't sound too impressed."**

" **We can talk about that; but I'll likely sound like a git for picking on the Catapults," Al offered with a wry smile. "They do seem to be making some mistakes with what they're trying to do, though; and we'll have to wait and see whether that becomes a problem for them."**

" **I can start with bashing them if you'd like," Lily told him. "After last season, they should've started over with their reserve squad too; and they'll have issues if their team doesn't have any serious competition in their workouts and scrimmages."**

" **That's going to be a problem for everyone on the team – especially when there are players on four of the top teams in the league getting competition from the best players in the world all summer," Al agreed and added. "I've mentioned before that I don't think that Louis is quite ready for the show yet; and now he's got an even tougher challenge without decent training competition or a good Keeper trainer. Peter Boot, for instance, is really blessed to get to train under Gwendolyn's aunt – and I think that he is ready for the show."**

" **What about the McClaggens?" Lily asked. "They're good – and should do well-enough."**

" **They are and will; but their problem is that they're not as good as they think they are. If they start working hard; they'll get there and might be a top-five Beater duo in the show. I don't know what will happen with them; and they've changed quite a bit over the past few years. In my second-year, after James kicked Brock off of his junior team; Brock trained with us off and on for the rest of the year and we got along pretty well. He's changed since then; and I'm not sure whether he and Tiberius care about much else than what they want for themselves – and they probably won't worry too much about what they have to do to get it."**

" **Which for right now means riding James' broomtail to what they think will be the top," Lily said with a nod and frown. They could've pushed to have you or me play Seeker last May, but they were worried about doing that and getting James mad-enough at them to keep them out of the show – at least with the Catapults. They might have been right about that; but that choice really sucked for me."**

" **It wasn't good for them either," Al reminded her; but Lily shook her head.**

" **They didn't win the Quidditch Cup either, but I really don't think that match ended badly for them at all. Brock and Tiberius looked great to the scouts; Ollie claimed that he managed to last more than seven hours against the best Seeker still at the school despite being a Chaser; and Louis could blame his lack of Chaser support for giving up so many goals."**

" **Which is another of their problems right now," Al pointed out. "The only way they can have those sorts of excuses now will be if they start turning on each other anytime things don't go well."**

" **Then it's a good thing that the Catapults are going to go undefeated this season – just like Mum did with the Harpies the year of the Firestorm!" Lily reminded her brother with feigned enthusiasm.**

" **There is zero chance that the Catapults will be undefeated," Al predicted seriously. "James seems to be fixated on winning every Seeker duel, so as long as he is allowed to do that win or lose; he'll be happy – and will blame anyone else he needs to throw under the Knight Bus to justify why he couldn't catch the snitch for the win before it was too late."**

" **You're right about finding scapegoats," Lily agreed; "and I'll pick his best mate to be the frontrunner for that job too. He'll never have as much talent as James, but thinks he does; and won't play well with Miya and Roman when they do better than he does."**

" **Gwendolyn's Mum says that Miya is improving even more while training with the National team. I think that she'd prefer to have her on the team instead of Rachel."**

" **I'd have thought that she'd pick Dominique or Alice ahead of Miya," Lily admitted; and Al shrugged.**

" **All of their reserve Chasers are really good, Lily, but Miya's got something special when it comes to a never-quit attitude. I actually think that she should've gotten that third spot over Rachel, but the Catapults likely spent their efforts on getting James considered for the job instead."**

" **Should I warn Gwendolyn that you're sweet on one of her former team mates? You haven't asked Rose to recruit Miya, have you?"**

" **No to both parts of that; and you wouldn't have even commented on that if we'd been talking about a Wizard. I think that Roman and Miya could do well; but they'll likely need someone other than Ollie as their third if they want to be part of a top Chaser trio."**

" **Who do we have in the next graduating class at Hogwarts that might be good-enough to replace Ollie – or do we even have anyone that would be interested in playing on James' team?"**

" **Mark Goldstein will be the only NEWT-year Chaser for Ravenclaw; ditto that for Jonah Finch-Fletchley for Hufflepuff; and Blaise Zabini will be in his NEWT-year with Slytherin. We don't have any seventh-year Chasers in Gryffindor with any serious chance of being in the show now that Ollie's quit a year early."**

" **Well, Jonah's played with Roman, and Mark's played with Miya; so I guess either are a possibility; but I can't see Blaise Zabini playing with them. He's more-likely to end up with the Falcons – if he wants to play in the show at all." She sighed and shook her head. "We probably shouldn't speculate on Ollie's demise from the Catapults before he's even lost a match for them. Let's switch and talk about the match we'll have against Bulgaria next Saturday. How do you think Alex will fare matched up against Viktor Krum?"**

 **That question, and talking about that match was more fun for Al; and they ended up chatting until shortly-after Lee finished his monologue and first interview before they were ready to head for their beds. Al wrapped up his day with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn; and then he did some of his holiday revision because he'd gotten the urge to get on with it and worked for more than an hour before being ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.**

 **The next four days at home was all about work or Quidditch training for Al. He worked with Rose and Malorie on Monday and Tuesday; had a summer revision study session with Gwendolyn, Rose, and Brandon on Monday evening along with the play time and camping night; he worked hard during the Tuesday evening Quidditch workout that Uncle George and Uncle Ron led as acting team coaches for the night; and then he stayed up late working on toys and doing more revision. There was more toymaking on Wednesday and Thursday mornings; a supply shopping trip on Wednesday afternoon; and more revision and their second camping night after dinner on Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, Al and Gwendolyn packed for their vacation; the Gryffindor Quidditch practice was coached by Ginny and Angelina; and then Al wrapped up his day with some broom making work in his room. While traveling the world, he'd been quietly picking up different woods and materials for where he was taking his broom making ideas, but while he got started on that; he didn't get all that much done; and expected that he wouldn't really take that work to the next level until he was back at Hogwarts.**

 **On Friday morning, Harry, Ginny, and the kids all got up early; they finished getting ready to head to Portugal; and finished up a last round of chores before going to get Malorie and the twins and then meet up with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah before taking their Portkey to the sixth-round campground that was next to the stadium that was well-protected from Muggles. Setting up camp was especially-fun for Al and Gwendolyn because they set up 'their' tent along with the others; had their own campsite; and were going to be in that tent by themselves for the night! Part of their entertainment for the day included getting teased about that, but then they also had fun spending the afternoon doing some sightseeing with about two-thirds of the group that they'd be spending the weekend with – including Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa.**

 **As with some of their other weekend adventures, their mini-tour of Portugal was by magical means and guided by a local Wizarding tour company – which meant getting a lot of information through cameo visits that didn't allow for in-depth exploration. It was also hot in Portugal; so they all went for a long swim once they were back in their campground. Kirley and Gwenog couldn't have dinner with them while busy with the team and band, but they had extra family and friends with them by then for that meal as everyone converged on Portugal to watch Victoire, Alex, and the rest of their National team go up against Viktor Krum and a tough, heavy-hitting Bulgarian team. Harry and Ginny were happiest to have Luna, Rolf, and the boys with them for not just the weekend, but the entire week of holidays they were taking through until the championship match. Al was glad to see them too; though he and Gwendolyn didn't really spend much time with the Scamanders other than at dinnertime on Friday because their boys were more interested in doing other things with some of the younger teens and kids their own age. They did spend time with Jaimie and Lorie, including taking them for an evening swim; everyone went to the concert that included the Weird Kids on the Block; and then Al and Gwendolyn surprised everyone when they agreed to keep Jaimie and Lorie with them for a sleepover in their tent – a choice that both ended one line of razzing and started up an entirely new one.**

 **All of the joking around just added to their fun, and while they were really looking forward to their first holiday on their own; Al and Gwendolyn really were happy to keep the twins with them and get just that much more time with them before they wouldn't see them at all for most of a week – and Jaimie and Lorie loved having that little adventure with their aunt-to-be and uncle. Getting to that part of their night didn't happen until near the end of the Weird Kids' concert, but that worked out great for Al and Gwendolyn too because it wasn't very hard to get Jaimie and Lorie ready for bed and tucked in for the night. Their own bedtime routine once the girls were sleeping was quite a bit different; more exciting; and quite a bit hotter – which was one good reason to have the twins there to keep that from getting to be too much fun! There was some snogging playtime involved, though, they didn't get to sleep until an hour or so after their junior campers had crashed for the night; and then they loved cuddling together in one of the two bedrooms and going off to sleep in each other's arms.**

 **Game day on Saturday was different for a few of the members of their group because Harry and Ginny had a limited number of VIP tickets for a morning meet and greet with the two teams. Al and Gwendolyn were drafted to be two of the kid-control helpers, and while Jaimie and Lorie were not two of the kids invited to go along; Lorcan and Lysander were; Hermione and Kirley were the only other parents; and Lily and Alyssa were sent along by Hugo and Jonah when they had to pick two out of four of them for the adventure. They headed for the stadium at ten o'clock to do that; and eventually ended up out on the pitch; since that's where the organisers had decided to hold the event that was limited to just two hundred Witches and Wizards. Al and Gwendolyn had Lorcan and Lysander with them; and they started out with getting in line to meet the members of their own National team.**

" **Hey, strangers," Victoire said with a bright smile as they got to talk with her first. "I've barely even seen you since Christmas!" That was directed at Al and Gwendolyn, but then she turned her attention and smile on Lorcan and Lysander; and they both looked dazed and dazzled. "You guys are getting so tall!" she told them. "You aren't starting at Hogwarts in September already, are you?"**

" **A year from September," Al provided while the boys were temporarily speechless. "We're hoping they'll be sorted to Gryffindor so they can play on our junior team."**

" **That sounds great," Victoire said approvingly. "We have to keep this moving along, but do you need some autographs?"**

" **I'm supposed to get Jaimie's and Lorie's posters signed," Al answered; handing them to her. Lorcan and Lysander decided to go with getting autographed quaffles for each team."**

" **We brought them, right?" Lorcan asked; and Al smiled and nodded – taking the first out of his undetectable expansion bag and handing it to him next before getting the other one for Lysander.**

" **That probably works better for you when you're on your expeditions so much of every year," Victoire suggested. "You'll have a souvenir that you can actually play with."**

" **that's what Lysander said," Lorcan advised her with a shy smile. "We want to be Chasers just like you – and Al and Gwendolyn."**

" **I'm really glad of that," Victoire told him with a grin. "It's much harder to do autographs on snitches; and let's not even talk about trying that with bludgers!"**

 **The boys had laughed; their time with Victoire only lasted a few more moments; and then they moved on to get six more sets of autographs with more cameo moments that ranged from barely thirty seconds with Rachel to about two minutes with Francine and Belinda because they got both of them at the same time. They repeated the process with the Bulgarian team; Viktor Krum offered some nice comments for Al and Gwendolyn; and they had fun with all of that – though Ginny and Hermione apparently had much more fun with Viktor – and got to have a short visit on the sidelines with his wife and kids too. Al and Gwendolyn weren't involved in any of that at all, but then they were busy-enough anyway; and then it was time to head back to the campground for a while before having lunch and going back to the stadium in time for the big game.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn were not on the guest list for the birthday luncheon that Harry and Ginny put on for Neville, but that was only for a handful of friends that were there for the match too; and the kids were left to fend for themselves – which meant going to the food booths and choosing their own food for that meal. Al and Gwendolyn did that with Malorie, the twins, Rose, and Brandon; while Lily, Jonah, and some of their cousins and friends were in another group. They had fun with that; met up with the rest of their bigger group in time to go to the stadium; and then they did the usual run of the concessions booths that included getting more toys and souvenirs in addition to the snacks and drinks before going to find their seats and settling in to enjoy the second-to-last match of this year's Quidditch World Cup. It truly was that too; since Australia had already won the other sixth-round match by then in a short, too-easy battle that had rhymed just a bit with England's win over France thanks to an early injury to one of the best players on their opponent's team.**

 **Jaimie was with Al and Gwendolyn as the match began at around one-thirty – after another round of speeches and team introductions that took far too-long – especially on a very hot day. The Bulgarian players were a big and tough lot; and their game plan from the start was to intimidate and push around the comparatively-smaller players – something that truly was a fact; since there were five Witches on England's team. They were able to push – and bash – quite effectively, but that didn't intimidate their opponents; and the Quidditch skills advantage went to England at every position except Seeker – and that started out as a draw for Alex and Viktor. The battle between such different playing styles was fascinating for Al – and all of the spectators – to watch, and while the Bulgarian players competed in a way that looked a bit like the Falcons, and they did throw in some cheap shots and fouls here and there; they didn't seem to be looking to intentionally, seriously injure their opponents – just to wear them down.**

 **The results on the scoreboard weren't much different from a Falcons' match; and Victoire, Frncine, and Rachel scored five goals in the first hour; six in the second; and had the one-sixty lead by the end of the third hour in part thanks to Belinda's brilliant shut-out performance to that point. Unfortunately, the hits added up exactly the same as in a Falcons' match too; so Belinda's shut-out ended early in the fourth hour; and she gave up two goals by the start of the fifth. That was how Al and Gwendolyn got 'hired' by Gwenog as team assistants. Gwendolyn got the mirror messages about that; Ginny got involved and helped them to get from their seats to the sideline benches that had been assigned to England's team; and by the time they got there, Gwenog had gotten one of the high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials at the match to give Al and Gwendolyn underage magic use exceptions so that they could help out with the 'work' for the rest of the match.**

" **You must be glad that you're working for the National team today," Ginny teased with a grin for Gwenog. "You'd never be able to hire a Wizard if this was a Harpies' match!"**

" **Funny and true," Gwenog agreed; but wasn't smiling. "Al, what can you tell me about Belinda's injuries? It's obvious that she's hurt."**

 **Al closed his eyes and focused on their team Keeper. "Nothing's broken," he reported. "Something's keeping her from having full movement to the right, but I can't tell what for sure from here – just that it hurts her to do it; and her muscles lock up when she tries."**

" **Is that why we're here?" Gwendolyn asked with a pretend frown. "You really only want to hire me for my boyfriend's healing talent?"**

 **Gwenog and Ginny both laughed. "I'll love sharing all of this with you too," Gwenog assured her, "but yes; that's exactly what I'm doing. You do hope that our team wins too, though; so don't be mad at me."**

" **I'm not – and will try to help out here and there too," Gwendolyn promised.**

 **Ginny headed back to her seat then; Gwenog called her time-out soon after that when Belinda nearly gave up a third goal; and then they all had quite a bit of fun as the team landed; gathered around on the benches; and Al and Gwendolyn began passing out drinks and snacks as a cover for what Al was really doing – healing each of the seven players. Each of those seven cameo moments was very different for Al. Victoire and Francine were happy, enthusiastic recipients of his healing magic that had not only their injuries dealt with but washed away any fatigue as well. Belinda had been happy to take advantage of his efforts; but was surprisingly ungrateful. At the other extreme, Rachel hated to even have him touch her; and only accepted the healing because Gwenog ordered it – and she still hated Al after he'd healed her as thoroughly as the others simply because he could do it!**

 **Viktor Krum and his team mates were surely surprised when the match resumed and all of their hard work to that point seemed to be for naught, but that didn't keep them from pounding on – literally. Their efforts became a bit more-overt after that; which was why Al's services were required more frequently too – about every two hours or so; and linked directly to a major drop in skill level for one or more of England's players. The second time-out was specifically to heal three broken ribs that Alex got from a foul by one of Bulgaria's Beaters that had come at the edge of a Beater bat. He still healed all seven players each time; so that effort did start to wear him down – especially as the heat of the day affected him too. Victoire, Francine, and Rachel continued to build their lead, but Bulgaria still got to Belinda a goal or two at a time – with that happening after each time they managed to get a particularly injurious hit or series of hits in on her to affect her playmaking abilities.**

 **At the end of the sixth hour; England had a three-hundred and twenty to forty lead. After eight; it was four-thirty to sixty. There was no doubt that the spectators watching the match at the stadium were getting their money's worth of entertainment; and nobody left the building as the match rolled on deeper and deeper into the night. Despite the big lead for England, Bulgaria didn't give up and Viktor did not try to catch the snitch for the loss. They might have figured out what was going on with England's team by then – even if they weren't sure how their opponents were being so effectively treated on the sidelines during time-outs, but they also seemed to have collectively decided to battle on and prove that they could out-last any other team just because of sheer will and determination that more-than matched their physical size advantage.**

 **By the end of the tenth hour – which happened well after midnight with the time-outs included; Al was beginning to think that they might out-last him! He had to push himself hard to get through the next round of healing when Gwenog called for it; Rachel and Belinda had been most-in-need for his help; and he tried not to be annoyed by the fact that they each continued to have unpleasant feelings toward him instead of just being grateful for the help. They might not be keeping track, but Al knew that they'd both have been out of the match by now if not for his healing interventions. If that had happened; this match would have been going much differently by now! He did get through that time-out; and then he sat down on a bench and quietly watch the Quidditch action resume while letting Gwendolyn handle a few things that needed to be done to clean up from the snacks and drinks part of that break.**

" **You've pushed yourself too far," Gwendolyn accused when she sat down next to him and put an arm around his waist for support.**

" **Yeah, but it's worth it – or hopefully will be if they can win this match and get to the championship match."**

" **Even if you sleep through the first half of our holiday – my birthday gift?" she asked half-seriously; and Al smiled at her tiredly.**

" **Yeah, even then," he assured her. "If that does happen; we'll pick another week in August and try again."**

 **Gwendolyn grinned at him. "Do you think that you could hold out until we're on our way tomorrow; we'll tell everyone that you did fall asleep for most of the week; and then get two weeks of holidays out of the deal?"**

" **They'd likely let us take a second week if we really wanted to do that without the tricks. We'll have more of a problem with finding time to actually take another week off – especially when our friends are going to want to do more training to get ready for tryouts; and there will be three Harpies matches to watch – with two of them on weekdays because of the late start to the season because of the Quidditch World Cup."**

 **While they continued to talk quietly, they got more-focused on the match again; and it really did continue to be amazing! By then, Viktor had been defending the snitch for more than seven hours – a brilliant feat for any Seeker against a player as good as Alex – especially when his opponent was out there flying around as if the match had just started after each healing session with Al. That actually ended up being the deciding factor in the match – and it was because Bulgaria called a time-out to try and deal with one of their own injured players – a Chaser that Tina had caught with a full-on bludger hit that had likely broken his arm. Yet another round of healing mid-way through the twelfth hour – less than an hour and a half since his last efforts – had been almost-more than Al could handle, but he managed to do that while keeping a tired smile on his face; and he even earned some laughs when Gwendolyn playfully punched him for getting a hug of thanks from Francine after healing her again.**

 **It was Alex's extra energy from his healing that ended the match at the eleven hour and forty-one minute mark – that, and a well-timed bludger hit from Calvin that Viktor barely managed to dodge while Alex leapt into yet another race for the snitch. This time, Viktor couldn't catch up in time, and while Alex's catch wasn't particularly-spectacular; it was still a brilliant end to a remember-forever Quidditch match! Al and Gwendolyn cheered along with everyone else in the stadium – and that included the fans of both teams; and they loved getting a pitch-eye view of the celebration in the air above them – something that 'their' players could do because they weren't as exhausted as Al was thanks to his help over the past eight or nine hours. he definitely did not want to be in the spotlight at center pitch, though, and while Gwendolyn was a bit disappointed; she chose to go with him instead of staying with her mother; and they were off the pitch before any of the fourteen players landed. They didn't try to fight the crowds to get back to their seats, but instead went to get drinks and snacks from the concessions booths; Al scored some end-of-night sales for souvenirs he could use for gifts once back at Hogwarts; and they waited quite a while until Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their group could catch up with them.**

 **There were a lot of hugs and kisses with that reunion; Al carried Lorie when they headed for the campground; and then there was another round of hugs and kisses for him before he went into his tent with Gwendolyn; she tucked him in; and he passed out for the rest of the night while she went back out to rejoin their family and friends for the celebration concert and party that was just getting going despite the fact that it was closer to dawn than midnight by then. That also meant that it was already Harry's forty-second birthday, so that celebration started; Neville's birthday fun continued because his special day was still going on; and the concert included shorter-than-normal sets from the Weird Witches and Weird Sisters – the first time that they'd played at the same show during one of England's matches.**

" **Al's going to wish he'd been awake for this," Gwendolyn predicted as she watched Wendy and Wanda perform the first of a two-song segue between their part of the show and the Weird Sisters' set – songs that they seemed thrilled to be doing with their father and his band.**

" **He will," Lily agreed, "but this concert is being shown on mirror network music channels; so your Dad could likely get a copy of it for him to watch once we're home again."**

" **That's a great idea," Gwendolyn agreed. "What do you suggest I do the rest of the week if he just sleeps until next Saturday?"**

" **You could just come on holidays with us," Lily offered. "Mum and Dad haven't told us too much about it, but with Luna, Rolf, and the boys along; I'll guess that this will be an adventure week with lots of hiking and nature-watching."**

" **They do other things now and then too – don't they?" Gwendolyn asked. "I'd have guessed that your holiday will be geared toward having fun with Jaimie and Lorie; and all-day hikes will be tougher if you need to take turns carrying them over rugged terrain."**

" **Good point," Lily said with a nod. "You're likely right about that." She grinned then. "Maybe Mum and Dad will change our plans anyway. Nobody from our country is going to be popular in Wizarding Bulgaria this week. They were really hoping to have their team in the championship match after finally getting a turn to host it this year."**

" **Let's call that one payback," Gwendolyn suggested. "They played in the ninety-four championship match that we hosted."**

" **True, but we still had one of our league's National teams in that match – and we won," Lily reminded her. "I seriously-doubt that Bulgaria will think it's the same at all."**

" **I'm glad of that," Jonah offered; and then smiled when that comment got the attention of both Witches – and a few of the others hanging out with them.**

" **You're obviously on a different train of thought than I am," Lily told him; and Jonah shrugged.**

" **Yeah, but you likely don't want me to go there; since I was thinking about how differently this match might have turned out if James had still been playing with the team today – yesterday. That would have been a news story because of the Quidditch World Cup history between your Mum and Viktor; and I have no idea whether Mum would have still tried to recruit Al if James had been here instead of Alex."**

" **Good points – and no, I really don't want to go there," Lily decided. "Let's not mess up our celebration. I also don't want to feel guilty for liking our National team a lot more without James than with him."**

 **She then went on to change the subject; get back to the partying; and they continued to do that until past-dawn when the parents rounded them up and they went back to their tents to have a nap for a few hours.**

 **Al must have had some personal motivation for self-healing because he managed to be among the first to wake up on Sunday morning. Gwendolyn had climbed into bed with him after getting back to their tent, but didn't wake as he got up and ready for the day. He could sense that most Witches and Wizards in the campground were sleeping after the all-night Quidditch and party, but he still did his morning workout; went for a walk with Jaimie and Lorie to entertain them for a while after they woke up – which gave Malorie time for a bonus nap; and then he got started on cooking a late birthday breakfast in his parents' tent not long after he and the twins had some fun giving Gwendolyn her wake-up call – and then he dropped the girls into bed with Grandma and Grandpa so that they could have some birthday fun with their grandfather too.**

 **Celebrating Harry's birthday had been the plan for the day – even for Al and Gwendolyn. The marathon Quidditch match had changed up those plans for the morning, and then they also needed to pack up their campsites after having breakfast; but then they had a fairly-large group with them for a play afternoon that included a lot of sun and fun at the seashore; some shopping in an historic seaside city; and an amazing seafood dinner before it was time for the non-vacationers to head home; and for everyone else to move on to Bulgaria. For Al and Gwendolyn, that meant having Harry go with them for their Portkey trip to drop them off at a Wizarding campground near Burgas on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. Harry didn't stay long – he just made sure that they were able to get their campsite without trouble; walked with them to it; and then apparated away to the campground that everyone else was starting their holidays at near Varna – and also on the Black Sea coast.**

 **Those goodbyes and a last pair of best birthday wishes didn't take long, and then Al and Gwendolyn were on their own to set up their tent and campsite. They did that; took a tour of their campground; and then they went for an evening swim in the sea before going for a sunset walk on the beach. All of that was brilliantly-fun to be doing on their own for the first time when they didn't have some sort of supervision at least nearby to them; and that was more-true as they went back to their campsite and started up a campfire for two. They earned some attention for their musical self-entertainment; had a group of four teens stop by and hang out for a little while; and had fun with that because they didn't use last names with the introductions; so they were able to have that bit of fun without being looked at through the different lenses that many Witches and Wizards used when looking at kids of famous people.**

 **After a brilliantly-fun weekend, they didn't want to stay up late again – and that was only in-part because of the excitement of being on their own for the night too. That was a factor along with being tired, though, so they doused their campfire by a bit after eleven; and wished their evening companions a good night. Their most-recent time zone jump actually made that feel even earlier than it was, but after Gwendolyn had only had a nap on Sunday morning and while Al was still recovering from his extreme healing during the Quidditch match; they needed to go to bed as much as they wanted to do that. Being tired didn't keep them from having some fun while getting changed and ready for bed. They had a fairly-brilliant snogging session after that too once in bed; and then they eventually cuddled close sometime between the end of July and the start of August.**

 **Their holiday for two was just beginning, and they had five days of fun and adventure to look forward to as they started what always felt like the second-half of the summer for Al – whether that happened on a weekend or not; thanks to his father's birthday. While having fun on their holiday was what they were going to enjoy most; there was a lot more to look forward to in August – including while they were in Bulgaria. Their Hogwarts letters would be arriving on Thursday – four weeks before they'd be heading back to school; and the championship game on Saturday was obviously going to be the Quidditch highlight of the summer.**

 **Sure, they were slightly more than half-way through their summer, and they'd already packed a lot of fun and adventure into those first five weeks, but Al and Gwendolyn had every reason to hope for an equally-brilliant second-half of their home and away summer holidays – even if they would be spending most of that time at home instead of traveling the world. As long as they got to spend most of that time together; they were sure to have fun, though; and they were definitely going to do their best to continue to make this holiday a remember-forever, best-ever-so-far kind of summer!**


	60. Home & Away Holidays - Part Two

**Chapter Sixty – Home and Away Holidays – Part Two**

 **Al and Gwendolyn spent two days in and around their seaside campground – and three nights. A lot of Gwendolyn in a swimsuit time was especially-fun for Al; but then the Gwendolyn in short little night-dresses was even hotter! They managed to do a bit of sightseeing; spent a morning in Wizarding Burgas; and went out for dinner on Monday night at a seaside cafe. They had campfires on Monday and Tuesday evenings too; spent more time with other teens at the campground while doing that; and then they headed inland on Wednesday morning with some apparating help from Harry and Ginny instead of trying to use local Wizarding transportation. Their second campground was in the Balkan mountains, and after having a visit with Harry and Ginny; they set up their campsite; and then spent a lot of the day hiking up onto one of the mountains that surrounded the campground.**

 **Being up in the mountains was quite a change from the seashore, but they had a blast on Wednesday as they explored and got to experience some breathtaking mountain vistas as they climbed and then descended back down to their campground again by dinnertime. They cooked their own dinner – or Al did; since this was Gwendolyn's birthday gift; and then the campfire fun came with a new group of friends that were just as oblivious to their identities as the teens in the other campground had been. It was cooler in the mountains at night, so cuddling by the fire wasn't just fun – it was a necessity. In addition to their own music; Al and Gwendolyn got to hear some campfire stories from their new friends; and then they wrapped up their night with more bedtime entertainment for two that was still hot even with the need for warmer night clothes and extra blankets.**

 **Thursday began early because they had another big day of nature exploring planned, so they did their morning exercises; Al cooked breakfast after getting ready for the day while Gwendolyn took her turn having a shower and getting ready too; and the Owl Posts from Hogwarts arrived by the time they sat down to eat.**

" **Should we be excited – or worried about those conversations we'll need to have with our parents in a few days?" Gwendolyn teased as she opened her envelope and pulled out the contents that included both a Prefect badge and the Ravenclaw team Captain's badge.**

" **You're team Captain; so maybe that'll be enough good news for your Mum to off-set the bad when we tell them that we only want to take five classes this year. Congratulations!"**

" **Thank you," Gwendolyn said after laughing at his answer to her question. "I'm not really scared – and I think what we're going to do is brilliant for us." She laughed again as she glanced at the Hogsmeade permission form. "We might want to get these signed before that chat, though – just in case we're wrong about how our Mums and Dads will take the news!"**

" **That would be awful if we were the only sixth-years who couldn't go to town until we're seventeen," Al agreed.**

" **Which wouldn't be until after the last one for my birthday."**

" **It won't be a problem," Al assured her. "I'll be disappointing Mum – and probably Grandma and Aunt Muriel too; but I really do need to focus on what I want for my future; and NEWTs in those other subjects just aren't necessary."**

 **Gwendolyn had nodded; but held up her report to him. "Nine O's and one E," she advised him. "Thank-you again; since my report wouldn't be nearly that good without all of your help last year."**

" **You're welcome," Al assured her. "I'll help this year too – we just need to make Quidditch our priority."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "Why didn't you start doing that last year? We'd have avoided that whole mess we had last September if you had!"**

" **I don't have those problems this year. James is likely still finding ways to blame me for everything bad in his life, but that doesn't need to affect my life at home or Hogwarts anymore; so I don't have to worry about my own goals clashing with his – at least for the next two years."**

" **No, but you will need to worry about following his two-win season; and I definitely don't want you to win three matches this year!"**

" **You don't want that; but we'll be shooting for it – and I'm not just saying that because Lily will turn me into a bat bogey if she goes yet another year without a Quidditch Cup."**

" **Your House has four players moving up to the senior team this year," Gwendolyn reminded him. "it's more-likely that your problems with that will be from the junior team."**

" **The other teams have the same problem," Al pointed out. "You'll need three new junior players; Slytherin will need that many – and more to get more-competitive; and Hufflepuff could end up with five new players. Greta and Drew will be the best returning payers – though I guess we don't really know how good their reserve squad players were last year."**

" **Do we have that many Quidditch kids starting in September?" Gwendolyn asked.**

" **No, but there are a few. They're enough younger than us that I don't know how good they are – or even if any or all of them want to play Quidditch. Most of us do; but there are exceptions."**

" **True," Gwendolyn agreed. "I should be more-interested in who the other team Captains will be – and the Heads and new Prefects too. Being Prefect might not be much fun with one or two Slytherin Heads."**

 **Al wanted to know all of that too, but since they were on their own; it took longer to get that information – and Gwendolyn collected most of it while they were out exploring more mountain trails; a couple of caves; and having a picnic lunch at a lookout point with a spectacular view of the valley and river below as well as the mountains to their west. It was no surprise that the Quidditch news came in first; and Al was happy to be told that rose had been named Captain of Gryffindor's senior team. Roxanne got the nod for their junior team; and Chris Madley got the job for Ravenclaw's junior team. They were a bit surprised when Greta was named junior team Captain for Hufflepuff over Drew Summers; but decided that Lee Johnson and Mr. Peakes must've both voted for the Beater over the Chaser. Jonah Finch-Fletchley rounded out the team Captains for the three Houses they found out about by the end of the day; and Al and Gwendolyn liked that pick for Hufflepuff too.**

 **On the Academic side, Rose had been thrilled to advise them that Brandon had been named Head Boy. That was another minor surprise; while nobody would be surprised that Vanessa Smith was named Head Girl; since the popular Hufflepuff Witch was also one of the best students in their year too. The news for the new fifth-year Prefects took longer to get out too; and they didn't find out about that for the Slytherins either – though they would learn that before September First; since Brandon would be sent everything he'd need to work with Vanessa to get ready for their duties as Heads. Rose again provided the news to them that Fred and Cyndia were the new Gryffindor Prefects. Stephanie checked in with Gwendolyn to trade the news about being Captain or Prefect; and she also provided the news that Patrick Thomas would be a Ravenclaw Prefect too – following in Deanna's footsteps for that honor. The Hufflepuff Prefect news came from Susannah – along with letting them know that she'd earned straight-O's too. Justine Finch-Fletchleyand Ricky Peakes were the new Prefects for her House; and Ricky was only a surprise because he wasn't one of the top students in Hufflepuff.**

 **All of the Hogwarts letters news was fun, but it was still their mountain exploring adventure that was the highlight of the day for Al and Gwendolyn; and they didn't really talk much about school at all by the time they got around to having dinner back at their campsite and then wrapping up the holiday-for-two part of their vacation with some campground entertainment and another campfire before heading to bed for the night. The goodnight snogging was quiet, soft, and playful; but they were also tired out after two days filled with a lot of physical exertion; and they went off to sleep far-earlier than most of their neighboring campers.**

 **They didn't have a huge move to make on Friday morning, since they were in the same area as the brand new Quidditch World Cup stadium that was also going to be the newest stadium for league matches in Bulgaria that teams like the Vratsa Vultures would be using starting in just a week. The stadium was hidden near Vratsa in the Balkans too; and the temporary campground was set up just outside of the impressive new building that could seat one hundred and twenty-five thousand spectators. Harry, Ginny, and their gang were making the move to that campground on Friday morning too, but Ginny popped over to get them shortly after Al and Gwendolyn had finished breakfast and had their gear packed up; so they were first to get to their campsites. They got their tent set up again while Ginny went to help with getting their gear, teens, and kids moved too; and then all of the parents and teens got to work on their larger-group camp set-up – and kept busy with that until near-lunchtime.**

 **Al and Gwendolyn got to have some play time with Jaimie and Lorie too, but it was the fun that came along with being with so many of their favorite people again that made the work easy and entertaining. They all pitched in to pick up food for their lunch from the food booths; enjoyed trading holiday stories while having that meal; and then they went out and around the campground to get in on the games and shows that were going on to help with entertaining the tens of thousands of Quidditch fans that were arriving for the biggest Quidditch event in the WizardingWorld! Playing with their nieces, cousins, and friends all afternoon was another change for Al and Gwendolyn after four days on their own – or around other campers that they didn't know, but that just added to the excitement that Al could sense so strongly in nearly everyone around him – and it was a feeling that was infectious as they all looked forward to having a brilliant weekend!**

 **There was another big change for the weekend music entertainment that everyone who had been to any of the other matches knew about from experience – the concerts were being held at the stadium! That was exciting just because they were going to get an early look at the place from the inside, but that was going to make it a bit tough to have a dance too if the stadium was even half-full – not to mention that the bands would need a completely different kind of stage show if they had an audience on all four sides of the stage. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get any details about that because Kirley was as busy working with the bands as Gwenog was with the National team, but Harry and Ginny did have tickets for everyone; so once they had another meal that was pulled together from a bunch of different food booths; they 'buddied up' and headed for the stadium.**

 **James had a smile pasted on his face as he sat in one of the VIP box seats with the Catapults' owners and the rest of their VIP guests as the concert was about to start on Friday night. He would have been thrilled to be there for real – if it had been for any other reason than because their National team was in the Quidditch World Cup final. That should have been 'his' National team, but the Queen B-Witch had taken that away from him after already screwing him out of the Seeker duel win that he'd deserved – and she'd certainly done all of that at the Animorphloser's behest!**

 **The Animorphloser that he knew was somewhere in this very stadium with the family he'd stolen; holding hands or cuddling with the Potty-trainer that James was going to use as one of his tools to destroy the loser; and with the rest of the deluded Witches and Wizards that needed to be destroyed right along with him simply for being too-stupid to deserve to live after picking the wrong side!**

 **Now, he was all but being forced to be here for the weekend and the championship match that he should have been playing in by the Catapults' owners because if the National team won on Saturday; he'd be given the chance to be part of the awards ceremony as one of the players that had actually participated in one of the matches. James thought that just put him in a horrid position. If their team won the championship match; he'd be named as one of the winning Seekers. If they lost; he was now expected to play nice – despite the fact that he could have won it for them if they'd sacked the Queen B-Witch and just let him do his own thing instead! He'd definitely want to shout that news for all to hear – and make sure that everyone knew it was all thanks to the Animorphloser! He was almost-sure that being able to do that would be worth not having his name on the twenty-twenty-two Quidditch World Cup!**

 **There would be other chances for earning that prize – and he'd make sure that the Animorphloser's lackeys wouldn't have the chance to mess with him again while winning the next eight or ten Quidditch World Cups!**

 **His mirror chimed with a message; he retrieved it from his pocket and glanced down at it.**

" **I C U! Hope U R having fun too! Love, Lily."**

 **He didn't send a response; deleted the message; and didn't try to look around for his ex-sister. She'd made her choice; and he was done with trying to save her from the loser. As far as he was concerned; she was just another enemy combatant to be destroyed – and her mirror messages and attempts to have mirror chats with him were yet another attempt by the loser to mess with him!**

 **A beautiful, young Witch approached their VIP section; drawing his attention; and when she saw him watching her appreciatively, he smiled encouragingly as she obviously recognized him; he suddenly had something better to do – and was soon working on setting himself up for a much more entertaining night or weekend than anything the loser could ever hope for or figure out how to do – not that he'd ever get the chance to have that kind of fun with any Witches as hot as the girls that were lined up half the time to get a chance to be with the soon-to-be greatest Quidditch player in the history of the world!**

" **Well, he does apparently read my messages," Lily told Al, Gwendolyn, and Jonah as she put her mirror away – "even if he won't answer them."**

" **It says more about how he really feels about you that he hasn't deleted your link to his mirror," Jonah reminded her; and then nodded toward where she'd spotted James. "Maybe he was just distracted and couldn't answer right now."**

" **Sure, that's likely it – not," Lily said after laughing. "I'm surprised he's here. James will hate it if our team wins tomorrow – especially if Alex gets that win for us; and he likely won't be allowed to be horrid to everyone on the team if they lose and he can declare that he'd been right and they should've fired your Mum instead of picking her over him."**

" **I'm not going to worry about option two there; since I don't think that our team will lose tomorrow," Jonah told her seriously. "Unlike James; everyone else still playing on our team knows how hard it is to get to this match; and won't blow this chance."**

" **The Australian players know that too," Al pointed out quietly. This is their first Quidditch World Cup final since back in the nineteen-sixties."**

" **I'm sure they do get that too," Jonah agreed; "but that isn't going to be enough to get the win tomorrow. The real championship match was last weekend. Australia isn't as good as Bulgaria; and everyone will know that by the end of the match tomorrow – including all of these home-country fans that are hating on us for winning that match!"**

 **Al thought that Jonah was right about that, but stayed out of the rest of that chat because Lorie diverted his attention and wanted him to play instead. The concert wasn't an all-night festival – it was more like a Muggle event – though there were three bands booked for the night. The opening act from Bulgaria; the second from Australia; and then the Weird Sisters were the third and final band. They had a lot of fun watching the show; though Jaimie and Lorie needed a lot of attention and entertainment diversions – even if that was simply dancing in the aisles with them. They each had short naps too, but couldn't sleep well with all of the noise; so they were also exhausted and just a bit cranky by the time they headed back to their campsites. Malorie had lots of help with getting the twins off to sleep once there while others gathered around a few different campfires to wind down their night with a bit of fireside fun; and Al and Gwendolyn eventually joined the same campfire that Lily and Jonah were at with some of the other teens and tweens while the parents were at another one – at Harry and Ginny's campsite.**

 **They stayed up late; had fun with the other teens; and then wrapped up their night with a bedtime visit with their parents before heading into their own tent again for the night – and pretty much going straight off to sleep not long after they were both changed and ready for bed. The lack of any major snogging had nothing to do with parents in nearby tents – they were just tired out; and wanted to be ready for what was sure to be a very long, busy, and exciting Quidditch World Cup championship day!**

 **Al woke up early, but enjoyed the quiet cuddle time with Gwendolyn for a while and just let his mind wander. Thanks to both his memory and ever-expanding magical talents; he could remember his four previous Quidditch World Cup championship matches experiences – starting with the twenty-oh-six match that had been when he was just a few months old. That thought had him smiling; since this start to his day was quite a bit different than that one – which was likely a very good thing; since Gwendolyn would not be impressed if he'd woken up wet and in need of a diaper change!**

 **As he thought about those experiences, there were good and bad moments for each of those events in his life, but the good far-outweighed the bad; and he felt grateful and blessed to have been able to have so many opportunities that most Wizards and Witches around the world could only dream of experiencing even once in their lives – and this would be his fifth championship match in just sixteen years! He eventually needed to get out of bed; only woke Gwendolyn for a few moments that included a soft kiss and quiet encouragement for her to go back to sleep while she could; and then he went and got ready for the day; had his morning workout; and then woke Gwendolyn when it was time to meet up with his father and help out with cooking breakfast for a small gang.**

 **Quidditch was the top chat topic during that meal, and Al and Gwendolyn were glad to get that time with Gwenog – knowing that she'd be busy for the rest of the day – and likely wouldn't even get to spend much time with them at the celebration after the match – regardless of whether that was a celebration for England or Australia. She was off to work soon after they finished eating; Al and Gwendolyn were assigned to kid control instead of the clean-up; and they went out into the campground with Jaimie, Lorie, and a group of teens and kids to search for fun and adventure while others took care of some work around their campsites – or headed off to work in one of the campground or stadium wheezes booths. It was easy to keep everyone busy and entertained all morning by playing games and going for a swim later in the morning as it got hot out; and then they were all together again for a quick lunch before heading to the stadium again for the big show!**

 **As the throngs of Witches and Wizards converged on Bulgaria's amazing new Quidditch stadium; Al should have anticipated the sensory overload that would come for him with one hundred and twenty-five thousand fans. He thought he was prepared – and found out that he wasn't. That impact on him was something he wrestled with while simply trying to deal with what felt like a roar in his mind, and while the effect wasn't exponential because of having more than double the fans compared to many of the other matches; there did seem to be an added excitement factor because of the magnitude of the event compared to earlier rounds. Whatever the reason; that many people in one place was tough for him to deal with – though he managed to hide that fact even from Gwendolyn while they first wandered around the concessions booths and then eventually went on to their seats.**

 **The opening ceremony was an extended event, and the only politician to earn an honest roar of approval from all of the spectators was Kingsley Shacklebolt – and that was entirely because he kept his speech fun, to the point, and short! That wasn't true for the other leaders and officials; so the only other part of the opening ceremony that was entertaining was a bit of music and dance showcase of the home country culture that preceeded the team introductions. That's why it was around two o'clock by the time the match finally got started.**

" **Well, if Alex catches the snitch in the first five minutes; we'll at least have something to talk about after the match," Gwendolyn suggested as they watched Victoire win the opening race for the quaffle.**

" **For those of us who didn't have a nap during those speeches," Lily added with a nod for where Jaimie was napping with her head nestled on Al's shoulder. "Malorie just needs to get a copy of those speeches; and she'll have no trouble from now on getting the twins off to sleep at nap time!"**

" **More likely that they'll just recognize it and start crying in protest," Malorie leaned forward and offered. "They didn't do enough of it during that ceremony, but we've talked before about having pregame entertainment in our league; and that part of the show did seem to go over well with the audience. Maybe that would work at home too – as long as it wasn't too long."**

" **And depending on what the entertainment choices would be," Gwendolyn added. "I can think of one issue – those musicians and dancers were probably volunteers. At most, it likely only cost the organizers a ticket to the match for each of them. Our league officials might be too-stingy to actually pay for good entertainment."**

" **I still think that Quidditch matches are too unpredictable," Lily told them seriously as she focused her attention on the Seeker duel. "A bit of fun before a match is fine for an average match; but too much when there is a marathon match – like the one we had last weekend; and nobody wants to be stuck in the stadiums during really awful weather for extra time at all."**

" **We've talked about all of that before too," Gwendolyn offered with a nod of agreement for Lily's points. "It is still something to think about."**

 **That little chat diversion from the actual game-watching discussion didn't last much longer because they all had reason to cheer for their team when Victoire earned the opening goal for England. Nobody watching the match knew it at the time; but that tiny, ten-point lead was all of the leeway that Belinda would need to work with for the rest of the match. The Australian players threw everything they had at her; but didn't get anything past her as she played a match-of-a-lifetime sort of game – and had lots of support from her team mates. In the first hour; Victoire, Francine, and Rachel scored seven goals. In the second; they had six more; and earned the one-sixty lead just twenty-three minutes into the third hour.**

 **Alex was once again able to back off and simply wait for best-chances to end the match; which left the Australian Seeker in the tough position of defending the snitch while being unwilling to catch it for the loss. Their country, fans, and Managers were likely hoping that the Australian players could out-last England and fight their way back into the match – given enough time to do it; but while Bulgaria managed to bash their way into earning some goals against Belinda; that didn't happen for Australia. England took a two-seventy to naught lead into the first time-out at the end of the fourth hour; they worked up a designed play to try and help Alex get the snitch catch; and then they went out and pulled off that play brilliantly just eight minutes into the fifth hour!**

 **Unlike the match against Bulgaria; England wasn't universally-cheered for the four-twenty to naught victory, but their own fans were happy to cheer for their team; and even the Australian fans couldn't argue that they'd been fortunate to be there for a brilliant Quidditch performance by a team that had unequivocally-proved that, at least for this year, they were the best Quidditch team in the world! Al and Gwendolyn had cheered along with everyone else in their group; and then life got weird for Al during the awards ceremony – though he had time to help out with diaper changes and other issues with the twins while the stage was again set up at center pitch and the initial, post-game press frenzy was used to keep everyone entertained for about twenty minutes. The weird was entirely thanks to James, and, more-specifically; what Al could sense from him when he was part of England's entire team when they were brought up onto the stage along with the entire Australian team – which also included the Managers, reserve squad players, and support staff.**

" **Hey – should you and Gwendolyn be out there?" Lily teased; and Al felt as though he shuddered on the inside just from the thought of that.**

" **No, we definitely shouldn't be," he assured her. "If you really want weird, though; James thinks that he should be named MVP." Lily wasn't the only Witch or Wizard turning to stare at him.**

" **You're just messing with me," she decided; and then laughed – "or not. Since you brought up the MVP, though; who is your pick?"**

" **Belinda – no question," Al answered. "Victoire was brilliant too, and might get the nod because she had over one hundred goals; but Belinda's the reason we earned so many one-sixty leads."**

" **Well, at least he picked two of the Witches," Gwendolyn teased. "I'll have to pick the Harpies' player; but you are right about how brilliantly Belinda played."**

" **I'd like to vote for the Seeker, but Alex isn't going to get the pick because of all of those one-sixty leads," Lily offered. "Note to me – earn more snitch catches for the win when it's my turns on the National team!"**

" **Some come-from-behind wins would be good for that too," Jonah suggested. "That worked out well for your Aunt Gabrielle a time or two for the trophies on her shelves at home."**

" **It did," Lily agreed. "The results are in, though, folks, so let's listen in; and find out which of our favorite players will win those individual awards!"**

 **The important awards for the fans of England's team were, obviously, the Quidditch World Cup prize as the number one award; there was a lot of support for Belinda and Victoire when they were named Co-MVP's thanks to a split decision by the committee; and then there were some individual awards presented for everything from best players at each position to awards for good sportsmanship and perseverance. All of those awards could be won by players on any of the competing teams; since stats were apparently calculated on a per-match average; but only one award went to a player on a team that exited earlier than the third round. Belinda was top Keeper; Victoire was top Chaser and scorer; and Francine was the Quidditch World Cup playmaker with more than one hundred assists – thirty-five more than Victoire had; and those numbers were tops on a per-match basis too.**

 **When it was time for their team's players to receive their championship medallions and trophy, Al couldn't help but think that James did deserve an award – for unsportsmanlike, hate-filled thoughts while acting like a victorious egomaniac despite the fact that he'd only played in the first match and had then had a temper tantrum and quit. More-charitable thoughts weren't really any nicer; since James wouldn't be impressed if anyone told him that he really deserved his medallion most for quitting and giving Alex the chance to help their team the rest of the way to the championship. Regardless of what he thought about James, though, his brother had been named to the National team; played in a Quidditch World Cup match that the team had won, in part, because he'd at least been a match for his Seeker opponent; and that earned him the right to his award.**

 **He really wasn't even being consistent or fair about that with James. Rachel Rosier was having thoughts that were just as dark despite the fact that she'd played well and been a big part of their team's success. In her case – actually, in James' case too – the hate was directed toward everyone else on the team that she believed had only won their accolades by holding her back. Apparently, it was possible for some Witches and Wizards to never be happy with even great accomplishments if there was even one person ahead of them when they reached those pinnacles!**

 **With that last round of awards, it was time to party – and that was happening in the stadium too as the first band took to the stage within minutes of the players and officials leaving the stage and heading into the stadium – either to locker rooms or elsewhere. By then, Al was ready to get out of his seat for a while; quite a few of the members of his group of families and friends felt the same way; and they headed off in different directions – to go for washroom breaks, walks, or visits to concessions booths for more food and drinks.**

 **The celebration concert ended up lasting until eleven o'clock; they stayed for the entire show because some of their favorite groups each had short sets as England's contribution to the festivities; and then they headed back to the campground where the party continued late into the night. That wasn't true for Al and Gwendolyn. They helped out with getting Jaimie and Lorie into their beds; had a bit of campfire fun; and then headed for their tent by a bit after midnight because Al had hit his limit of mental and emotional 'noise' and just needed to crash and nap until morning.**

 **James had hated watching 'his' National team win the Quidditch World Cup without him leading the way. he hated having to play nice during the awards ceremony. He'd hated watching Belinda and Victoire earn awards that should've been his; and he'd thought that it had been ridiculous to award the Quidditch World Cup top Seeker award to Viktor Krum based on some idiotic calculation that apparently put him ahead of Alex or the Australian Seeker because he'd caught five snitches for wins; and only lost the sixth match after a marathon battle while his team had been down big for most of that match. To James' mind, that had been silly; and there had only been one Seeker in the entire competition that had been undefeated – and that was James Potter!**

 **Now, he didn't care about any of that. His Quidditch World Cup medallion was aroundhis neck – the only thing he had on; and the hot, athletic, and flexible Witch he'd hooked up with at the party the Catapults' owners hosted after they'd gotten bored with the concert at the stadium was giving him much-more-interesting things to do and think about instead!**

" **Go ahead, loser – keep trying to mess up my life,' he thought with smug satisfaction. "I end up on top – even when I don't!"**

 **He laughed at his mental double-entendre; that had an entertaining effect on his playmate; and then he was lost to the fire and carnal pleasures that were one of his favorite rich and famous perks!**

 **The party was over by Sunday morning, but the fun continued for Al and Gwendolyn as they had a bit of quiet snogging fun while waking up; they got ready for the day; and then went to get Jaimie and Lorie to help Malorie out with them while waiting to have breakfast with everyone once they were all ready to have that meal. After a week in Bulgaria; another day of sightseeing wasn't really needed for Harry, Ginny, and all of the parents and kids that had been on that week-long holiday with them, so while they had a last blast of fun around the campground; they also packed up and got ready to take their Portkeys back home again. The time change allowed them to get home by late-morning local time; Ginny helped Malorie with getting the twins home and their own bags into their flat; and then she headed home too – getting there in time for a lunch that the McCormacks were doing with the Potters so that they could make plans for the week ahead – a week that would include opening day for the league Quidditchseason on Saturday along with other activities that needed to be fit into their schedules. Back-to-school shopping for books, clothes, and school robes needed to be part of that chat; which was why Al and Gwendolyn had to deal with their own, as-yet-unannounced plans from the start of that part of the lunchtime conversation.**

" **Harry and I don't really have any limits on when we can help our teens with the first round of back-to-school shopping; but they have Quidditch practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights; Al will be working with Malorie on Monday and Tuesday; and I don't know whether Gwendolyn and Jonah have other plans for other days," Ginny offered as a lead-in to the shopping part of the planning.**

" **Actually, Malorie and I will only be working on Monday while Rose is away on holidays with her parents, Hugo, Brandon, and Alyssa," Al advised her; and then smiled ruefully. "This is probably the time for Gwendolyn and I to talk to you – all four of you – about the classes we want to take for our sixth year."**

 **Lily laughed. "What's to talk about? You'll be going for eleven NEWTs over the next two years; and Gwendolyn will have ten."**

" **Actually, we won't," he disagreed; and that simple statement earned everyone's attention.**

" **Why am I suddenly very afraid?" Ginny asked. "Am I about to seriously-regret letting James get away with his years of academic mediocrity?"**

 **Al laughed. "I hope not, and we still plan on trying our very best, Mum; but we've decided that we only want to take five classes this year."**

" **Five!" Ginny, Gwenog, and Lily all exclaimed in near unison. "Did you both fall off a mountain last week – or go diving a bit too long without a bubble-head charm?" Lily added; looking truly astonished.**

" **No, we've been sure of this since June," Gwendolyn advised them.**

" **Since June," Ginny parroted. "And you've just decided to spring this on us now?"**

 **Gwendolyn grinned at her. "We were a bit worried that you and Mum might cancel my birthday holiday if we talked to you before then," she only half-joked. "There are reasons for why we want to cut back on our classes, though; and we think that they're good ones."**

" **We're also not actually cutting our class time in half or more," Al advised them. "Arithmancy is the only optional we want to keep taking; So we'd drop Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and, for me, Divination. We don't want to take History or Astronomy either, but the only class that we won't be taking that is also more than one class per week is Herbology – so we're only talking about seven or eight periods per week that we'd have for study classes instead."**

" **Only six or seven; not including the night class for Astronomy,"Gwendolyn added.**

" **But you love Astronomy," Ginny protested – "and you've done brilliantly in all of the other classes too! Why not continue with all of them – or at least a lot more than five?"**

" **Arithmancy, Charms, DADA, Potions, and Transfiguration are all subjects that will help us either in our Quidditch careers or in life," Al answered. "I'm going to leave the Herbology expertise to Rose for anything that will help our future plans with the Cannons, since she really does love that class; and the other classes I can self-teach now whenever I've the time or interest to do that in the future."**

" **But that doesn't give you the NEWTs," Ginny pointed out; and Al nodded; but shrugged too.**

" **True, but as we've talked about before; there's no age limit on taking those exams; and I can do that on my own too if I decide that I want to do that sometime in the future."**

 **Ginny took a deep, calming breath and then smiled at Gwenog. "Okay, would you like a turn?"**

 **Gwenog laughed. "You're doing well-enough; and I'm still deciding whether to turn your son into a bug for helping my daughter to do so well at Hogwarts only to – if I'm reading this right – convince her to drop half of her classes."**

" **He wants to help me start training a lot more for Quidditch," Gwendolyn advised her. "We've got less than two years now to be ready to play in the show; and we both want to take our training to new levels. We can't do that with ten or eleven classes. You know we've done well in all of our subjects; but we've also spent an insane amount of time with our studies to get there. We want to spend hours a day training; and Al wants to work on other projects that are more-important to us."**

" **Like what?" Gwenog asked; and Al answered that question.**

" **Everything we're already doing that is making money for us," he began. "I'm also ready to take my broom making to the next level and start trying to design my own. I have other projects that will hopefully be future inventions for the Cannons team or to help make more money for our plans for buying the team; and I'm also thinking about asking Madam Pomfrey to mentor me to learn more about healing." he focused his attention on his mother. "Other than Herbology, which I admit is worthwhile to learn about; advanced Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures really have very limited – or no – practical, everyday use. Gwendolyn and I likely learned more about History this summer than we'd learn all next year; and that's nothing that we can't teach ourselves simply by buying the books and doing more exploring around the world. Astronomy is something I love; but I don't need the classes to do that either; and at the risk of sounding too full of myself; I'm beyond NEWT level Divination. I really don't want to spend another two years holding back what I can do in that class to avoid scaring the other students – or the Professors."**

" **What he said, without the Divination thing; and I only love the Astronomy classes for the hugs and kisses with Al anyway," Gwendolyn added and joked.**

" **Well, I hate the idea!" Lily told them. "I was all set to look brilliant for pre-negotiating only taking those same five classes starting in my sixth year; and now you've just turned me into a future copycat!"**

" **Well, if you've already done that; then Al and I are the copycats – not you," Gwendolyn pointed out; and joined in when Lily laughed.**

" **Okay – you win!" she declared. "I'm so glad that you both liked my brilliant plan!"**

" **How much of this new plan of yours is about trying to look like a normal student?" Harry asked quietly; directing that at Al. "It isn't right if you're just doing this to pretend that you're less than you are."**

" **That was likely more-true about last year," Al advised him sincerely. "it was as-true that I wanted to get out of the way and let James and others go for their dreams when it really mattered most; but that isn't what this is about, Dad. You know that I have real dreams of my own; and it's time for me to get serious about going for them. The rest of my education is only part of that – and I'll still do my best in all of those five classes. If I want to be successful with Rose, Malorie, and the Cannons, though; I have to put more effort into that than I did last year." He smiled ruefully. "i also want to do my best at that along with having fun playing the game; and I'm not even close to getting to where I think I can take my game if I do all of that work."**

" **You don't think you're close to your best," Gwenog paraphrased. "Merlin, Al – you must know how good you are already!"**

" **I really don't want to sound like an egomaniac," Al insisted, "but I think I can be an innovator-type player – like the Vratsa Vultures and their long-goal innovation; except to a completely different level."**

" **you mean like Gwenog was as a Beater?" Kirley suggested.**

" **Turning opponents into wood lice wasn't innovative," Gwenog advised him – "it was vindictive."**

" **We all know what Kirley meant," Ginny told her; and then sighed. "Okay, Al. I already know that Harry will leave this one up to me; so you have my approval – and we'll send a letter with you; since your Professors are not going to believe that without written proof."**

" **And possibly some mirror chats," Harry added with a grin.**

" **What do you say, Mum?" Gwendolyn asked; looking just a bit nervous now – but hopeful too.**

" **I say forget it!" Gwenog answered; her expression stern and serious. "You're taking all ten classes – and that's final!" She glared at Al when he started laughing.**

" **I love you," he told her. "You could have a brilliant career in acting if you ever get tired of the Quidditch thing!"**

" **You're messing with me?" Gwendolyn demanded; but she joined in on the round of laughs while Gwenog gave up on her attempt to continue the ruse. "That's just wrong for something this important to me!"**

" **Is it – thatimportant?" Gwenog asked; and this time she was being quite-serious.**

" **Yes," Gwendolyn assured her just as seriously. "You already have a really great Chaser trio, Mum. I won't deserve to be on that team if I can't be at least as good as Victoire – and I'd prefer to be better!" She smiled at Al. "I can get there with Al's help just as I've done better in our classes with him than I did without before we started dating and studying together – or last September. I'm okay with making more money with our toymaking or anything else we come up with too; and I'll already be busier than Al from the start of September with my Prefect and Captain responsibilities. We're not going to be slacking off, Mum. If anything; we'll be busier."**

" **Busier together; and likely unsupervised a lot of the time," Gwenog pointed out suggestively; and Gwendolyn smiled at her.**

" **Cover your ears, Jonah," she told him without looking in his direction; and he earned a round of laughs when he did. "To be blunt, Mum, we haven't gone there, and don't have any intimate – I mean, imminent – plans to do so anytime soon, but when we are ready for that next step in our relationship; you know there's no way you could actually stop us regardless of how much supervision we have or how many classes we do or don't take." She waved a hand at Jonah. "It's safe now," she advised him; pretending to raise her voice without actually doing that.**

" **In more ways than one," Lily added with a grin.**

" **That's enough commentary from the peanut gallery," Ginny advised her.**

" **Your plan is approved too," Gwenog advised Gwendolyn.**

" **Don't I get a say?" Kirley asked; and Gwenog laughed.**

" **No. You are not going to make your approval conditional on any music-related provisions!"**

" **Yet you're okay with their plans for extra Quidditch training," Kirley pointed out. "That hardly seems fair."**

" **I'd likely agree with you – if they'd come to us with this and wanted to spend all of that extra time honing their musical talents instead; but they didn't do that."**

 **Kirley sighed. "Well, there's still a tiny little glimmer of hope for Jonah, since he still hasn't picked Quidditch too; but that's still very disappointing."**

 **That was pretty much the ned of that part of the back-to-school discussion; so they moved on and made their plans for the week while they finished their lunch. Kirley and Gwenog took their kids home after that for the rest of the day; and Harry and Ginny put Al and Lily to work on chores both in the house and around the yard for most of the afternoon. Al got teased about that being directly-related to his academic news bombshell. They still had fun together while catching up on the work; took breaks to cool off with short blasts of portable pool fun; and wrapped up their work in time to have dinner and then spend a quiet evening together before heading up to their beds early. That was mostly because they were a bit off to local time after a week in Bulgaria, but they were also just tired after a very busy wrap-up to the Quidditch World Cup competition!**

 **The travel adventures for the Potter family was finished for the summer, but after being away from home for so much of the first six weeks of their summer break; Al was glad to be home for the final not-quite-four-weeks that they had left until September First. Working with Malorie on Monday had been fun; though they didn't get a lot done without Rose there too. They mostly worked on ideas for building GO Magisports' reputation within both the Wizarding community in Chudley and the Quidditch league fellowship too – which was, at the Owners and sporting officials levels; a very closed group that didn't easily let in outsiders. In addition to the work, they had lunch with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and the twins; Al got to play with Jaimie and Lorie once he and Malorie wrapped up the work by mid-afternoon; and then Gwendolyn and Jonah came over for the night while Gwenog was busy trying to cram a summer of training camp preparations for the Harpies into five days – though Glynnis had still worked with the rest of the team while Gwenog, Victoire, Vicky, and Gabrielle had been busy.**

 **Kirley dropped his kids off an hour or so before dinner, so Al and Lily had time to play with them for a while – starting with a swim in the pool. The girls talked shopping with Ginny while they had that evening meal; and then they had some Quidditch and portable pool play time in the evening before heading indoors for the night. With just the four teens, they decided not to set up a tent; and went to hang out in the game room instead. A double-sofa-sleepover on a sectional sofa was a fun, new little adventure for the two teen couples, but they watched some shows and played a few games with Harry and Ginny first before sending them to their room for the night and getting on with the sofa sleepover fun. The rest of the night wasn't camping-on-their-own kind of brilliant, but Al and Gwendolyn still loved the overnight cuddle time – and getting to hang out with Lily and Jonah too.**

 **The shopping trip on Tuesday started out in Diagon Alley. Kirley met up with them, but the only other cousins they ended up having along for the day were Fred and Roxanne. Angelina brought them; and with only six teens to clothe and buy books and supplies for; they got through everything on their list for Diagon Alley by late-morning; moved on to their favorite Muggle mall in time for lunch at the food court; and then they took care of pretty much all of the clothing needs for all six teens by the time they needed to be back home again in time for dinner and Quidditch practices. Ginny opted for a take-out dinner instead of trying to cook ahead of the Gryffindor team practice, and since Fred and Roxanne were going to be at the practice anyway – and George was busy with the store; Angelina, Fred, and Roxanne joined them for that meal too.**

 **The Ravenclaw practices weren't going to change now that Gwendolyn was officially Captain, but that wasn't true for the Gryffindor workout – mostly because other Gryffindors had been finding ways to get in touch with Rose as word got around that she was going to be the new team leader. While she was on holidays with her family; Ron and Hermione brought Rose and Hugo to the practice; they arrived early; and that gave Rose time to talk with Al in person for the first time since he and Gwendolyn had talked to their parents about their revised plans for sixth year – and she'd wanted to go there before talking Quidditch with him.**

" **I don't know if I should thank you or be annoyed that you got away with only taking five classes," Rose told him with a faux-frown as they headed out to the Quidditch pitch on their own with their gear bags. "I'm jealous; but then I didn't have any trouble convincing Mum to let me drop two classes. She was relieved that I didn't try to drop five."**

" **As long as you still took Herbology; I'd have been okay with you dropping more," Al joked. "I really didn't want to go on with that one."**

" **Despite the fact that you do seem to have a way with all living creatures – including plants," Rose pointed out. "Don't get me wrong – I don't have aproblem with you spending more time getting ready for our brilliant future with the Cannons. I just wonder if I should have done the same."**

" **You want both," Al told her seriously. "You can do it; so why not go for it? We are all still working on figuring out what's best for each of us. I'd have been okay with Gwendolyn wanting to take more classes too if she'd wanted to do that."**

 **Rose laughed. "I was tempted to keep all ten just for the chance to win some of those awards you kept besting me for, but I can't do it all – not and be a Prefect and team Captain too."**

" **The classes you're dropping free up enough time for that – even if it only means one more study period for the week during the day. You'll be glad that you don't have the late nights for Astronomy – and you need to have more of those to keep up with the assignments for the NEWT level classes."**

" **I'm still surprised that you didn't want to take that one too – even if that is just for fun for you."**

" **What I want to do instead will be more fun," Al reminded her. "Speaking of fun – do you want to make many changes to our team training for the rest of the summer? We're going to have some players that won't be ready to keep up with some of the things we've been doing during our practices in July."**

" **I want to do the same physical training – including your gymnastics for beginners," she answered. "We may need to break out into smaller groups for the position trainng; since some of our friends won't be able to keep up with a full-speed workout; and then we'll likely need to play it by ear for the scrimmages."**

 **They talked about all of that in more detail until Lily, Hugo, Fred, and Roxanne joined them; they were all ready to go by the time their friends and new player-hopefuls arrived – usually with one or more parent in tow; and then Rose got her first practice as team Captain started! Harry led the Tai Chi workout; Al was in charge of rudimentary gymnastics; Lily led the flying workout; Fred handled bludger practice; and then they had parental coaching for position training. The scrimmage was one play match, but with substitute players moved in after every two or three goals – or with every snitch catch for the Seekers. When they were done; Harry and Ginny had snacks and drinks for everyone; the teens had some cool-down play time in the portable pool; and that fun included an hours-early mini-celebration for Ron and Hermione's twentieth anniversary on Wednesday. There were gifts, just a bit of roasting, and a lot of best wishes; and then the happy couple returned to their vacation with Rose and Hugo; and would be celebrating their special day without a major family and friends event. By the time everyone else left, Al and Lily needed to help out with the clean-up of the back yard and kitchen, and after a long busy day of shopping and Quidditch; they pretty much just headed for their beds once that work was done and headed off to sleep.**

 **Wednesday was a work day at the Potter home. For Al, that meant doing some chores; and then playing with his mother and girlfriend as they had fun with some toymaking. He also did a bit of work on his broom making; and amazed both Witches with where he was trying to take the craft – into a cross between how brooms and wands were currently made – incorporating features from both. The first step was to begin crafting the broom handles; marrying the different woods with the different cores as well as shaping them into his own design that he envisioned a certain way both for comfort and the potential for doing previously-unimagined tricks. That work – even with the use of magic – took time; but he was able to put six different broom handles-to-be together with the different cores he was going to use; and got each of those handles into the shapes he wanted before wrapping up that part of his work day.**

 **It wasn't all work and no play. They went for several swim breaks; enjoyed a lunch barbeque and 'real' dinner; and had another evening Quidditch workout before wrapping up their night with another teen-couple sofa sleepover in the game room. On Thursday, they started the day with a special birthday breakfast for Ginny; had a work morning; and a play afternoon. Harry hosted a birthday dinner party for Ginny, but while there were some extra guests including Arthur, Molly, Aunt Muriel, Malorie, and the twins; most of the guests were also there with their Gryffindor Quidditch playing kids. Gwendolyn and Jonah were there too – along with their parents; but they headed home again right after the meal so that Gwendolyn and Jonah could practice with their Ravenclaw team.**

 **Having a gang of teens in the yard for a birthday Quidditch workout probably wouldn't rate very high on the fun scale for most Witches, but Ginny was a rather big fan of the game; and she had fun mentoring – and playing with – Al, Lily, their cousins, and friends. There was some fun to be had with the adults as well; and Jaimie and Lorie did their part to make their grandmother's day special too – including letting her take each of them for a near-ground-level ride on her broom while pretending to have a Seeker duel with Lily using one of the old, large, stuffed toy snitches. The twins were two-and-oh in that battle against the Witch who hoped to be Gryffindor's next senior team Seeker; so they were very happy with their bit of Quidditch fun with their grandma and aunt!**

 **As for the actual Quidditch workout, Rose was very happy too. She had an even better turnout for the practice; all of her 'trainers' kept the work fun for everyone regardless of their current skill level; and the entire atmosphere was completely different than team practices had been under James' laissez-faire guidance when he took over the team from Al. They still got teased about the Cannons on a regular basis, but just as Al had come to love her plan for the Cannons; she was growing to love his plan that would make every workday with their future team fun and exciting. They were also blessed with a very talented group of players for the senior team, and the only thing that was going to be tough about that was knowing that only the seven best would be playing on their team – though having really great competition for the reserve squad was going to be brilliant too!**

 **When the practice was finished, they had the usual swim, snacks, and drinks break time together. That was shorter than usual; Al and Lily cleaned up after all of their guests left; and then they grabbed overnight bags, wished their parents a good, kid-free night; and then took the Floo Network to the McCormacks so that Ginny could wrap up her special day with a kid-free night! Getting a bonus camping night with Gwendolyn and Jonah was great for them too; and they had extra fun with that because they arrived to join in on an impromptu teen campfire with extra Ravenclaw or cousins campers. Gwenog hadn't been able to stay up past her training curfew for that, but once Kirley helped out with getting the fire started; he didn't stay up to supervise either; and left the older teens in charge of keeping the non-party under control.**

" **Can we still talk about Quidditch now that we have Gryffindors around the campfire with us?" Katrina teased. "We wouldn't want to do anything to mess up our season before we even get to tryouts!"**

" **We could talk about league Quidditch," Al suggested – "or is that banned between you and your Harpies' cousins too?"**

" **Mum's really fired up this week, and that's despite the fact that she isn't playing on the team anymore; so that should be all that the Harpies' fans need to know to be afraid this year," Katrina suggested with a grin. "Your brother had best be ready to play on Saturday; or the Catapults might be in for a bad surprise."**

" **If James gets surprised in a bad way; it'll be his own fault," Lily declared. "He knows that he's never won a match against Pauline – even if he keeps on about winning their last Seeker duel despite losing that match; so he should know he'll have to play his best to even have a chance of besting her to earn an actual win."**

" **Let's not be silly," Stephanie interjected. "It took Pauline all day and half the night just to best Ollie Wood – and he's a Chaser! James should have no problem on Saturday against her; since he is the best Seeker ever in the history of the game!"**

" **Will you be going to as many Prides matches as possible from now on?" Lily asked her. "That'll be fun to do if you have seats near to Katrina and her family. Wave to Mum, Dad, and the rest of the family and friends they'll be sitting with across the stadium from you in the Catapults' section."**

" **We haven't compared tickets to see if we're sitting close together; but Mum and Dad did get season's tickets. Magnus will likely use mine to take dates to the matches I can't go to during the school year."**

" **Your parents bought tickets for the Catapults now too?" Ryan asked her. "How many sets of season's tickets do they have?"**

" **Just two," Lily answered. "The collective family has tickets for United and the Cannons too; but they're sharing them so that they'll have at least some family members at all of Victoire's, Dominique and Lucy's, and Louis and James' matches."**

" **And the Cannons?" Ryan prompted; and Lily laughed.**

" **Those tickets are for Uncle Ron and anyone else that he can get to go along and share the pain with him. He does get lots of takers for six matches a season now – plus some other matches because of the team the Cannons are playing; and he has Rose and Hugo with him for three or four matches – depending on how many matches they get to play during the holidays."**

" **Dad never has a problem getting people to take the extra tickets when they're available for Prides matches," Katrina said seriously. "Talking about that isn't very exciting, though, so maybe we should offer early predictions for opening day and see how close we get to Lee's expert predictions – and with what actually ends up happening."**

 **She had some takers on that suggestion; their campfire chat rolled along; and Al quietly enjoyed the cuddle time with Gwendolyn while they had fun with her cousins and their friends. They put the fire out at eleven-thirty; were in their tents by midnight; and the only downside for Al and Gwendolyn to having all of the extra campers was that they slept in their own rooms instead of cuddling on a sofa or together in one of the bedrooms. That was likely silly, since all of their friends knew that they'd been on their own in a tent for a week of holidays, but it was still too-weird; and they just weren't ready to take that next step – or at least Al wasn't ready.**

 **The big group of teens for the camping adventure meant lots of teens to feed at breakfast, so Al was up early; did his morning workout with Gwendolyn; and then he got ready for the day and headed for the kitchen to get to work. Gwenog and Gwendolyn both eventually helped him out with that, but while everyone else ate; Al just kept cooking until even the bottomless pits of the teen Wizards' stomachs were filled and he could eat quickly and then help with the clean-up. He and Lily went home after that; and it was a chores day for the McCormacks and Potters as they wanted to get all of that weekly work out of the way ahead of their opening day Quidditch adventures. That work wasn't exciting, but Al and Lily had fun with their parents; mixed in a bit of swimming and food breaks when they could; and were pleasantly-worn-out by the time they headed for their beds – and did that early-enough to get a good night of rest so they'd be ready for their families and friends' Quidditch play day.**

" **Game night curfews! What are they good for? Absolutely nothing!" James half-sang; half-grunted in a bad imitation of a Muggle song that he only-vaguely remembered; but that had apparently, somehow, stuck with him.**

" **You're just mad that we were told to stay away from the Witches tonight and not bring any of them home with us," Ollie accused; and James nodded his agreement.**

" **Definitely," he agreed. "Stupid rules like that shouldn't apply to Wizards like me. I could play all night and still best any other Seeker – and Pauline could barely out-play you back in May when you've no talent at all for catching the snitch!"**

" **Well, I've some news from home that might cheer you up. The Animorphloser and his Potty-trainer are apparently only going to be taking five classes for their sixth-year!"**

 **James snorted. "Where did you hear something that stupid?"**

" **From Kathryn," Ollie answered. "They've apparently made up all sorts of excuses; but I'll wager they just got lousy marks on their OWLs and couldn't take more than five!"**

" **You're cut off!" James told him. "Were you drinking before you came over here too?"**

" **I'm serious!" Ollie insisted – "and I'm likely right too. You've always said that the loser has had to suck up to the Professors to get his straight O's; so why is it so impossible for you to believe that he didn't do so well on his OWLs? Maybe he couldn't con or bribe the Ministry of Magic officials; so he finally got the marks he deserved."**

" **We heard that he won all of the awards again at the end-of-term feast – even if he didn't show up to accept them," James reminded him.**

" **True, but that's done by the Professors – and the OWL marks don't come out until August," Ollie pointed out. "Believe the lies if you want; and I'll choose to believe that they've finally been caught-out for the frauds they are!"**

" **You haven't told me what those lies supposedly are," James pointed out.**

" **That they only want to take five classes so they can work on Quidditch training and other things instead – probably like their stupid songwriting or making Animorphlitters or something."**

 **James laughed. "They could quit school and train for Quidditch full-time and would still suck," he declared. "The Potty-trainer looked like a right-fat-old-cow when I saw her with the loser last weekend; so it's likely too late for the litter thing."**

" **Well, if that's true; then she'll likely be done at Hogwarts by Easter," Ollie suggested with a snort. "My point, though, is that they won't be winning any top student prizes with only five classes – no matter how much sucking up they do with the Professors. Your Slytherin buddy will love that news."**

" **Scorpius will like that," James agreed. "If he can get a half-decent team for Slytherin this year; he might even manage to win a few matches too – now that the best players in our school have left and will be playing for the Catapults."**

" **As if he'll have much luck with that," Ollie scoffed. "None of the teams at Hogwarts have any real talent now that we're gone."**

" **Andrea's got some talent," James disagreed. "She's probably going to beat G-Air at tryouts in September.**

" **Have you gotten sweet on her?" Ollie asked with a sneer; and James laughed.**

" **She's a kid," he answered dismissively. "There's some potential for hotness there; but she'll need some time to grow into it – if you know what I mean. Check back with me in a few years; and I'll let you know if I've changed my mind about making her one of my playmates."**

" **That might be a very dumb idea; but it's your funeral if you end up with an entire clan of Dark Wizards coming after you!"**

" **They all love me – it's my pathetic excuse for a family that they hate nearly as much as I do," James retorted. "We've even got a bunch of them coming to our match tomorrow."**

" **Great! Maybe they'll have seats right next to our families! That'd be fun!"**

" **Only if they kill mine off in the brawl," James suggested maliciously. "Now that'd be a great good luck gift for us!"**

" **Do you expect the loser to be there?" Ollie asked next; and James shrugged.**

" **I doubt it. He'll likely be at the Harpies match with his potty-trainer, Animorphlitter, and the litter-carrier – just as they were at the championship match last weekend."**

" **Then they'll be at our match against the Harpies for sure," Ollie pointed out, "but I suppose that'll be their last chance to stink up one of our stadiums until Christmas; so we'll survive the torture."**

" **Let's not go there; since I'll likely have to put up with my entire stinking family at that match. "Do you have a date lined up for the victory party tomorrow; or are you going to pick out your playmates once we're there?"**

 **Al hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about their plans for who would be going to each of the opening day Quidditch matches – mostly because he didn't want to do that. There were only two matches for their family to deal with for the cousins; but three teams to support – and it was going to be strange to be cheering on opposite sides of the stadium as well as not getting to share that fun with the group going to the Catapults' match instead. He didn't have three kids on three different teams to deal with the way that Bill and Fleur did; but then that would be the exact problem that his own parents would have if they ended up with kids on three different teams too.**

 **He was happy about going to the Harpies' match with Gwendolyn, and Lily and Jonah would be there too; but he would have liked to share that fun with Malorie and his nieces too. Some personal chiding was required over that, since it really was wrong of him to dislike Malorie's choice to teach Jaimie and Lorie to support their father despite the fact that he denied them and wanted nothing to do with them. Sure, she had her own, private motivation for that too, but that didn't diminish the fact that she was right to teach her children to be proud of their father and heritage. They could do that and still love their Uncle Al too; so he really was letting his inner git out – even if he only did that internally and kept those wrong-headed thoughts and emotions to himself.**

 **Before they could get to Exmoor stadium for the championship game re-match; Al started his Saturday with a morning workout that his father joined him for; they got ready for the day; and cooked breakfast together. Ginny and Lily joined them for that meal; they had fun while enjoying that first meal of the day; and then they needed to do some running around for the rest of the morning – errands that ranged from delivering tickets to some game-watchers that couldn't be at the Leaky for lunch first to a visit to a farmer's market for fresh fruit and vegetables – along with a couple of bonus home-baked treats. They all went to Chudley when it was time to help Malorie with getting the twins to the Leaky; and then they had a very large group there for that pre-game celebration before they needed to split up and either go to Exmoor or Ilkley stadium.**

 **Without the twins along, and since he already had a lot of Quidditch World Cup souvenirs and toys that would make great gifts for when he needed them at Hogwarts; Al didn't buy very many things except for drinks and snacks as they ran the gauntlet of concessions booths before going to their seats. They hadn't needed to hurry, since they were at the top match of the day; and the opening ceremony was certain to be too-long and tedious. Despite that bit of downside to being at the re-match between the Harpies and United; Al was still in a great mood – if with a touch of weird to go along with that. Kirley was their parental supervisor for the rest of the day – depending on how long the two matches lasted; but they were also missing several sets of parents that were either at the Catapults-Prides match or were in the United section in support of Dominique and Lucy. Aunt Muriel was over there – though they could still hear her clearly often-enough; and Al could 'hear' her all of the time if he chose to focus on that instead of just putting the 'noise' into storage along with everything else.**

 **They didn't get Grandma and Grandpa Weasley either; since they'd opted to support Louis for his first opening day match – as did Bill and Fleur. With those tickets all available; Harry and Ginny had offered the extras to others. That worked out for Al and Gwendolyn, since they got Rose and Brandon; and Hugo and Alyssa were able to sit with Lily and Jonah. Brandon's parents got two of the tickets too; and the rest went to other friends and their kids. For the most part, that was all fun for Al and Gwendolyn – and gave them something to do while waiting for the opening ceremony boring to be over so they could get to the Quidditch fun!**

 **Al was interested in assessing all of the players when they were called out into the stadium; and he was looking forward to finding out how the National team players would do after not only the high of being Quidditch World Cup champions; but getting used to playing with their own teams again. That was likely to be toughest for Victoire, Belinda, and Alex; but Dominique might have issues too after training all summer with Alice and Miya – two players that had different styles from Lucy and Olivia. Belinda had played so brilliantly all summer; that was going to be a tough act to keep going through the grind of a twenty-four match season – especially when she basically hadn't had a break in more than a year.**

 **Fortunately for all of the spectators watching, it was game time; and they were about to find out the answers to those and any other questions they had about their favorite team or teams!**

" **The Prides obviously didn't get the memo about how this is supposed to be the Catapults' year – or that one of our kids is playing in his first opening day match; and is supposed to win," Bill joked as they all watched Francine race back onto defense after scoring another early goal on Louis – the third for the Prides already in just the first twenty minutes.**

" **They don't even look like the same team that the Catapults played against back in May," Fleur offered; and she didn't look happy to see Louis get off to such a rough start in what was still considered his rookie season; since he'd only played in the one match last Christmas.**

" **It's the attitude," Ginny advised her. "Peter and Pauline are the only new players; but they've changed the way everyone else feels."**

" **The Catapults should have that going for them too; but they don't seem to be working off the same game plan so far. That goal had to have come off of a blown Chaser assignment for, um, Francine to get that wide-open for that pass," Bill stated and suggested.**

" **Miya, Roman, and Ollie are definitely having issues," Ginny agreed. "We've talked about that at home; and have wondered if they were going to have issues because of a lack of competition on their reserve squad – at all positions. Alice, Francine, and Daniella just keep getting better; and that isn't just because Alice and Francine trained with the National team all summer."**

" **Francine was their playmaker too," Harry pointed out as Francine went in and took another shot on goal that Louis saved. "They're changing that up today for some reason."**

" **Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Bill exclaimed when Ollie swooped in to retrieve the quaffle before Miya could; bumped her; and then knocked the quaffle straight to Daniella; who happily took it and scored an easy goal while Louis didn't even have a chance to defend.**

" **Play nice," Ginny warned quietly; since Ollie had his own cheering squad of family and friends sitting just a couple of rows away. "New Chaser trios always make some mistakes like that."**

 **Bill laughed. "Sure let's go with that; since the alternative really isn't being nice."**

 **Bill wasn't the only spectator thinking bad thoughts, but the Catapults weren't the same team they were a year ago either; and Miya led the way with fierce determination as she and Roman fought back while Ollie continued to be their team's Achilles' heel while trying to single-handedly prove that he was the best player out there. Peter gave up his first goal soon after that turnover goal; and Miya and Roman managed to trade goals with their Prides' counterparts so that they were only down eighty-to-forty after the first hour. Unfortunately for them, Ollie got angrier the longer he went without scoring a goal while Miya and Roman continued to have some success against Peter; and that led to him giving up more goals on defense with a lot of turnovers and blown plays. After two hours, the score was one-seventy to eighty; and Ollie had been the defending Chaser of record for all but three of those Prides' goals.**

 **While that battle was going on, the Seeker duel looked brilliant – from the point of view of the spectators. For Pauline, it was a horror of rude and crude insults and offers; dirty, rotten, and well-disguised cheap shots from Jamaes to go along with attempts by the McClaggens to do more than just soften her up – they were hunting for her head! She'd expected as much for all of that, but didn't get mad; and just dug deep and kept pushing her hardest while her team tried to earn the all-important one-sixty lead that would make her Seeker duel a moot point. Alice, Francine, and Daniella came close to that goal by the end of the third hour as they increased their lead to two-fifty to one-ten. It then took them three tries to get the one-sixty lead and keep it because Miya kept fighting to get that all-important lead back down to one-fifty; but the Prides earned and kept that lead by the end of the fourth hour.**

 **The final game changer after Pauline backed off wasn't that lead – it was when Jensen Scott got mad at Ollie for taking a cheap shot at Daniella; and put Ollie out of the match and on his way to St. Mungo's with a bludger hit that Ollie didn't see coming and wouldn't remember later when he woke up in his hospital bed. The loss of one of their Chasers led to the Catapults' manager greenlighting James' catch of the snitch for the loss; and Pauline was happy to sit back and let him do that at the four hour and forty minute mark to hand the three-ninety to three-sixty victory to the Prides.**

" **Better luck next time, loser!" James taunted while waving the snitch in front of her face as if it was some kind of trophy. "You may have thought that you were hot stuff at Hogwarts, but you're in the show now; and you'll be lucky to even win a Seeker duel against the Cannons and that fool, Santini!"**

" **If they all want to catch the snitch for losses like you just did; I'm okay with that," she retorted. "Now if you'll excuse me; I've a win to celebrate with my team – and you've a best mate to go and visit at St. Mungo's!"**

" **Newsflash – James catches the snitch for the loss," Lily reported. Final score – three-ninety for the Prides; three-sixy for the Catapults."**

" **Yeah!" Gwendolyn offered quietly with a grin – "I mean b... Yeah!"**

" **You're allowed to cheer for your former team mates and aunt," Lily advised her. "We won't hold that against you."**

" **That was the right thing to do after Ollie got knocked out," Jonah offered. "The Catapults would've never gotten that lead back to one-fifty or less with only two Chasers."**

" **They did it with two Chasers earlier – twice," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I'd have thought about giving them a chance to try."**

 **Jonah shrugged. "You're a bigger risk-taker than I am. I'd have taken the small loss this early in the season instead of risking a bigger one – especially if that might have meant that Pauline caught the snitch for the extra one-fifty."**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "I wasn't even thinking about that – and I was cheering for Pauline all the way. You're right – they did the right thing for their team."**

" **Well, it does allow James to keep his Seeker duel win streak going," Lily pointed out. "I'm sure that he's happy about that!"**

" **He might be happy, but the team owners won't be," Rose predicted. "James got them to the second round of the playoffs without much help at all last year; and they must be expecting a championship now that they've replaced all of their old players."**

" **I hope you won't expect that when you're a team owner and replace all of the old Cannons' players," Lily teased. "You are going to need a lot more patience than that!"**

" **A whole lot more," Gwendolyn added.**

" **If that's true; shouldn't the two of you be cheering for United today? The Harpies are defending league champions, and if they keep on winning; why would they need to replace anyone in two and four years?"**

" **Is that some sort of reverse psychology again?" Lily asked suspiciously. "I am not going to go and play for the worst team in the league – I am going to play for the Harpies!"**

" **Do you really think that the Cannons will still be the worst team in the league after Al and I have been on the team for two years?" Rose asked seriously. "Put the jokes aside for a minute; 'cause I'd really like to know what facts you're basing that belief on. Al's Quidditch record? Mine? Your Mum's if she comes to play with us too? What?"**

" **More than a century of historical futility," Lily answered a bit too-glibly.**

" **That isn't fair; and you know it," Rose countered.**

" **Okay," Lily agreed. "Then I'll base my beliefs on the fact that the Cannons don't have enough fans to pay for a team full of good players, and as the Catapults have just proved; it's easy-enough to beat any team that only has a couple of really good players." She shrugged and smiled at Rose's reaction. "You asked. Maybe you and Al could even afford to lose money for a decade or two and try to get a couple of winning seasons, and that might earn you a few more fans willing to buy tickets to your games and maybe pick up a poster or two as well; but I don't get why you'd think that'd be worth it when you could both do well for yourselves on other , competitive teams."**

 **Rose sighed. "I'm so glad that Al and I have enough faith in what we're doing to keep going with all of the nay-sayers, but let's not go there; and just enjoy watching this match."**

 **Al had been doing that – and they got to enjoy nearly two more hours of that brilliant Quidditch battle before Gabrielle won her Seeker duel with Alex – possibly because he started to run out of gas after playing seven matches in six weeks. To that point, United had held a small lead, but while Belinda gave up eleven goals in that six-hour and seventeen-minute match; Vicky had played nearly as-well and had only allowed fourteen goals – only about two per hour. Gabrielle's catch had been moderately-spectacular and a clean beat over Alex; which Al sensed had felt really great to her after having to take the loss for France against Alex in their Quidditch World Cup match-up.**

 **With time-outs and the pre-game ceremony, it was heading toward eight-thirty by the time Kirley led his group of teens out of the stadium; and they went on to the Potter's home to meet up with everyone already there from the other match. A take-out dinner had been brought home; leftovers had been saved; and the post-games celebration continued around a campfire while the late diners enjoyed their meals and everyone talked Quidditch until they were ready to move on to a bit of campfire music and storytelling fun. Gwenog caught up with them when she was done work with the team; the campfire began to wind down from there; and then it was just, rather suddenly, over when the majority of their guests collectively decided to go home. Al and Gwendolyn – and Lily and Jonah – had to say goodnight to each other, but Al and Lily would be going along with the McCormacks to Katrina's birthday party on Sunday; so that wasn't too sad – and none of them stayed up for much longer anyway. Al and Lily helped their parents with the campfire clean-up; they had bedtime drinks and a short chat in the kitchen once the work was done; and then they headed up to their beds and were either off to sleep by shortly-before or shortly-after midnight.**

 **Al had not been to the Rivers' home very often – even since dating Gwendolyn. He was looking forward to the birthday celebration with the McCormack-Rivers side of her family; and he knew before they arrived that there were going to be quite a few friends of the family there to help celebrate Katrina's fourteenth birthday. One of those 'friends' was Fred; and his cousin seemed to be very happy to be spending the day with Katrina – something they hadn't done on Saturday while she'd been at the Prides' match and he'd been part of the two groups of Weasleys and friends at Exmoor stadium.**

" **You're just in time!" Meg told them enthusiastically. "We're going to get a scrimmage started. Can I pick both of you for my team?"**

" **We'd love that," Gwendolyn assured her with a warm smile. "Give us a chance to wish Katrina a happy birthday and say hello to some of the others; and then we'll be there for you."**

" **Yes!" Meg exclaimed; and then ran off – probably in search of other recruits for her team.**

" **We should be honored that she picked us," Al told Gwendolyn after she was out of range to hear him. "There are sure to be some Prides' players stopping by today. She might have been able to recruit a trio of professionals."**

" **She has picked two future professionals," Gwendolyn reminded him; "and I'd be okay with a Chaser duel against Alice, Francine, and Daniella. We'd do better than the greatest Chaser in the history of the world did against them yesterday."**

" **Even if we're up against Jensen and Stanley?" Al asked with a nod toward the road end of the long laneway that led up to the house. "Maybe they're just here for a cameo visit."**

" **Daniella and Gina are Katrina's cousins," Gwendolyn reminded him. "I don't even think about that most of the time; but they are second or third cousins – or something like that. I'm not very good at all of that second cousin, once removed sort of thing the way most of the pureblood snobs are taught to be practically from birth."**

" **I wonder how often your aunt and uncle get together with Daniella and Gina's parents?" Al mused.**

" **Probably more-often than your parents are getting together with your Dursley cousins this past year," Gwendolyn teased. "Do you miss going another summer without seeing them?"**

" **Not really," he admitted; "but it is sad that we can't have much of a relationship with Dad's side of the family." He laughed; and Gwendolyn looked at him quizzically. "Sorry, but for some reason; that thought led to one about the similarities between my Grandma Lily and her sister..."**

" **...And yours with James," Gwendolyn interjected and finished with a nod and laugh. "James would be horrified to be compared to your great-aunt, but that's actually a lot the same; and I could picture it being exactly the same if he had one or more of our kids dropped on his doorstep in the middle of the night by complete strangers."**

" **Now that's a Terror Tours-worthy thought," Al said with a bit of a shudder. "I am so glad that we have Lily to help us out with that should anything ever happen to us where we'd have that sort of awful need."**

 **They didn't dwell on that thought; moved on; and did a bit of socializing until Meg rounded them up along with the rest of her team to get the first scrimmage of the day going against Ryan and the team he was allowed to choose from 'the leftovers' once Meg had her team. In addition to Al and Gwendolyn, she'd picked Katrina and Fred for her Beaters; Robin Ackerley for her third Chaser; and Lily for her Seeker. Ryan didn't do too badly, since he got Jonah for his Seeker, Jensen and Stanley at Beater, and Daniella and Gina Rivers at Chaser along with Alyssa Graves as a last-minute addition when she got there with Hugo – two of Katrina's 'friends' guests. That still left some fairly talented teens and tweens on the sidelines; but Al was sure there would be more scrimmages; since that was normal for pretty much every Quidditch family around the league. It didn't take long to get ready to go after that; and then it was game on!**

" **I concede defeat," Kirley told Gwenog quietly as he joined her again on the pitch sidelines; handed her a drink refill; and then sat down in the lawn chair next to her.**

" **Were you in imminent danger of losing at something anyway?" Gwenog teased; and then noticed the direction of his gaze; and laughed. "You're giving up on your dream of getting them into a music career?" she deduced; and he nodded.**

" **Yes. They're brilliant together – and could be at music too; but honestly, Gwenog, have you ever seen anything like them when they play together like this?"**

" **It's amazing to watch Harry and Ginny with their Seeker duels," Gwenog suggested; "but no, I've never seen two Chasers that talented and so connected and aware of each other all of the time."**

" **And that's not even mentioning how much fun they're having while doing that," Kirley pointed out in a tone of voice that got Gwenog's attention.**

" **Where are you trying to go with this?" she asked.**

" **I'm wondering how long you'll need before giving up on your dream for our little girl too," he answered in a near-whisper so he wouldn't be overheard. "He can't play for the Harpies; and she'll never, ever be that happy playing the game with anyone else – ever."**

 **Gwenog laughed. "Fortunately for me, our daughter wants to play for the Harpies – and wouldn't want to end up on the worst team in the league no matter how much fun she might have doing that with Al!"**

" **Is that what you can honestly see if they were two of the Chasers on that team? How about with them, and Rose, and Ginny at Seeker – or Jonah? Except for the Harpies; what team in the league wouldn't be thrilled to build around that much talent – and be sure to have a great chance to win it all?"**

" **You're skipping over the fact that Gwendolyn has her own dreams to play for the Harpies," Gwenog repeated. "Those what-ifs don't matter."**

" **Your dreams for that feed off of each other," Kirley suggested. "She'll go and play for the Harpies regardless of what her heart must be telling her; so it's going to be up to you to decide whether that dream is still so important to you that it's worth what she'll have to give up to follow it."**

" **You know exactly what you're asking of me without just coming out and saying it," Gwenog accused; and Kirley nodded and smiled a bit wistfully.**

" **Yeah – I'm asking you to concede defeat and give up on one of your dreams too."**

" **Says the Wizard that might still have a chance at his dream happening with our son," Gwenog pointed out; and Kirley laughed.**

" **I'm still in denial about that one, but I'd say that Jonah and LIly are exactly like Harry and Ginny; and I'm going to need to live with the fact that our kids will only love music – not want to make a career out of it."**

 **Katrina's birthday party rolled on all afternoon, and in addition to the Quidditch, swimming, and other games; there was a late-afternoon barbeque dinner; gifts for Katrina to open; and all of the usual birthday sweets and treats that helped to keep even the hungriest teen or kid Wizards well-fed and happy. Al and Gwendolyn had a brilliant afternoon – including winning that first scrimmage while Lily and Jonah battled to a Seeker duel draw and the match was ended on time so others could get playing time. Al enjoyed the Gwendolyn-in-a-swimsuit time a lot; they got in on other games; and helped out with some of the work as needed – mostly before and after dinner.**

 **While they really did have a brilliant afternoon, it was also a work and training curfew night for a lot of the guests; so the bigger party wrapped up not long after dinner; and Katrina was only keeping a handful of friends for the rest of the night. That didn't include Al and Gwendolyn or Lily and Jonah, so when Kirley and Gwenog were ready to head home; they took the four teens with them; apparated to the Potter home first; and had a little chat and visit with Harry and Ginny before going on to their own home with just their own kids. After a busy weekend, having a quiet few hours before bedtime at home was a nice way to end the weekend – or Al thought so; and he had fun with his parents and sister before heading to bed and doing a bit of studying – wrapping up one revision project; and reading ahead in one of his sixth-year textbooks on RevisionWizard.**

 **By Monday, Al and Lily were down to about two and a half weeks left in their summer, and with the late start to the league Quidditch season; time seemed to compress even more than normal – in part because the Harpies were only going to have the one weekend match while the other two would be on weekdays so that they could still play three matches before school started. The countdown was on for everything – Al's work with Rose and Malorie; the toymaking deadlines they had to meet before the end of the summer; summer revision and reading ahead to get ready for the new school year; and making time for family and friends before the kids would be gone until Christmas!**

 **Thanks to all of that and more; Al had a very busy week. There was a lot of fun mixed in; and that started on Monday morning when Lily decided to start doing the morning workouts with him – something she'd decided she needed to do to help with her Quidditch. That made for fun starts to every day – including on the days when Gwendolyn joined them; but Al had a lot of work to do too. On Monday and Tuesday, that was working with Rose and Malorie. Their Monday night camping ended up being in the campground they liked to use near Chudley; and Al and Rose had Gwendolyn and Brandon with them for that – along with lily, Jonah, Hugo, and Alyssa in a third tent. While the campfire and camping was the fun highlight for those two days; the entertainment highlight of the week was their date day on Wednesday that included hiking, sightseeing, and lunch and dinner out before heading home for the second camping night of the week – this one at Al and Lily's house.**

 **Al and Rose were happy with their team Quidditch practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings; and Al was happier-still with the progress he made during his toy and broom-making work on Thursday and Friday morning. Malorie's nineteenth birthday was on Friday too; so Harry and Ginny hosted a toddler-friendly party for her during the afternoon so that Jaimie and Lorie could celebrate the day with their mother – and then Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were given custody of the twins for the rest of the day and night; while Malorie was sent off to celebrate the rest of her special day with Patrick and some other friends while also getting to have a kid-free night. Jaimie and Lorie kept their grandparents and babysitters entertained and busy all evening; they stayed up late; and then crashed hard and slept all night – something that was a huge bonus for the four teens having the sectional sofa sleepovers while the twins slept in the game room with them!**

 **Harry and Ginny had booked their second-to-last open Saturday of the summer for their back-to-school family and friends play day. That wasn't anything formal – just an open invitation to drop in and have some fun for a cameo visit – or the entire afternoon and evening. In addition to babysitting in the morning, the four teens helped out with getting ready for their guests; set up extra tents for a teen camping night; and then got to have fun for most of the rest of the day with their combined families and friends. Kirley and Gwenog came over for the day; most of the aunts, uncles, and cousins at least made an appearance; Malorie came over and then spent the afternoon with them – and with Jaimie and Lorie before taking them home again once they were tired out after dinner; and the friends that stopped by included Ministry of Magic and Quidditch families – with most of those visits shorter and fit into their own busy weekend schedules.**

 **Ron and Hermione also had the first match of the season for the Cannons to attend in the afternoon, and they had two teen couples with them for that; but they came over for the rest of the day after their team lost that match in under three hours – an outcome that Ron hated a lot; but Rose couldn't help but be secretly happy about; since every loss over the next season would hopefully help to make the Cannons a less-expensive team to buy from their current owners. While the Quidditch at Exmoor stadium wasn't going well for the Cannons fans, the Quidditch play time was brilliant for Al and Gwendolyn for a second weekend in a row; and they again impressed everyone playing and watching as they won their scrimmage again; and had fun playing around with new tricks and plays that left Chasers and Keepers alike looking constantly surprised and amazed at just how often they were successful with their scoring attempts.**

 **While Al and Gwendolyn spent almost all of the afternoon and evening within the confines of the back yard; Al felt as though their day was broken up into a whole series of cameo moments – some of them high-energy action like the Quidditch fun, pool play time, or other games they joined in on; and others were quieter chats with small groups of adults, teens, or kids. Throughout all of it, though, the happiness and love made the overall experience really special – and that continued on through the evening with a lot of campfire fun and then the teen camping adventure that a lot of their friends were happy to get in on – along with all of their Hogwarts-bound cousins. Al and Gwendolyn had Rose and Brandon in their tent along with Ray and Cyndia, and Seth and Susannah. There were three other tents; with between four and eight teens and tweens in them as well; so Harry and Ginny had quite a gang with them for the night – and then for breakfast in the morning.**

 **The rest of their night was brilliant, and Al had fun again in the morning too; but also had a lot of work thanks to helping his parents to feed that gang of cousins and friends. Parents that got to enjoy a kid-free night eventually came for their teens – though it was heading toward noon by the time Al and Lily were once again on their own with Harry and Ginny. Gwendolyn and Jonah went home too; and the rest of Sunday was all about having some quality time with their own parents – one of the last chances they'd have to do that before heading back to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny didn't have anything planned at all for the rest of the day; they played all afternoon; had a quiet, barbeque dinner; and then they had a lazy evening indoors before heading to bed early so they'd be ready for the Harpies' second match – this one against James and the new Catapults!**

" **Will you be okay playing your best against your Auntie Gabrielle; or would you like me to play Seeker for you today?" Ollie asked James as they got ready for their match against the Harpies.**

 **James snorted. "Worry about playing your best against Victoire," he retorted. "You still go goofy around her – and she's only a quarter-Veela! See what you can do about not getting your head bashed in too, since we'll be back to training again tomorrow; and I won't be able to sit by your bedside all night like I did last time."**

" **You spent more time with those Medi-Witches than with me," Ollie retorted; "so I'd say that worked out well-enough for you – not to mention how impressed the other Witches were with your selfless dedication to your best mate."**

" **Sounds more like self-serving dedication to me," Brock interjected; and James laughed again.**

" **It works; so feel free to call it what you want."**

" **Speaking of going goofy around Witches – do you think that you could possibly keep the Harpies' Beaters from bashing in my head; or will that be too much to ask while you're mooning over them?" Ollie asked derisively. "It's so hard for the rest of us to play our best with our brains splattered all over the pitch."**

" **You'd need to have one first for that to happen," Brock shot back – "and it's not our fault if you're too slow to dodge a bludger."**

" **And too dim to know better than to try cheap shots against the girlfriend of one of your opponent Beaters," Tiberius added.**

" **What are you gossiping about now?" Ollie demanded; and Tiberius and Brock both laughed.**

" **We watched the game again – like we were supposed to do; and Jensen bashed your head in not long after you got away with a fairly-nasty foul on Daniella," Tiberius answered. "You put yourself in St. Mungo's Ollie; so don't blame us or anyone else for that one."**

" **Keep telling yourselves that," Ollie scoffed. "How many of the Prides players did you knock out of the match? Oh yeah – none! I had to do some bashing because the two of you were too busy ogling the Witches to do your jobs!"**

" **Enough kiddies," Daniel Maddock told them as he strode into the locker room; ready to lead them out to the player entrance ahead of their team introduction. "You're not going to learn to play as a team by fighting amongst yourselves; and you need to forget about past matches – win or lose – and focus on the job at hand!"**

" **Yes, sir!" James offered insincerely with a jaunty salute. "I've already forgotten everything! Now, what did you want to talk to us about?" He smirked when Ollie, Tiberius, and Brock all laughed.**

" **Laugh it up," Daniel told him; "but remember this: our owners want wins and winners! You need to start delivering those wins – and doing that against the other top teams in the league!"**

" **I'm still undefeated in my Seeker duels," James retorted.**

" **Great!" Daniel offered with a hint of sarcasm. "Do you think that your paymasters will be impressed if you win twenty-four Seeker duels this season but all of those personal victories are for match losses? It's called teamwork people! You're about to go out there against the defending league champions; and it's time to step up your game – or shut it and start doing as you're told until you've earned the right to have something to brag about!"**

 **Al and Rose worked with Malorie on Monday morning; Harry, Ginny, and Lily picked them up in time to head for the Leaky for their game day lunch; and then they headed on to yorkshire stadium with everyone going to watch the Harpies-Catapults' match with them – though they would again be doing that in two groups. This time, Al and Lily got to have Harry, Ginny, and the twins with them – and with Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah; while Malorie opted to go with Aunt Muriel as she – Aunt Muriel – seemed to think that she'd have more fun with that group of family and friends supporters for Louis and James. While he was sure that she could, potentially have a bit too much fun with that – and possibly at James's or Ollie's expense; Al couldn't help but find that amusing even before anything happened at all!**

 **He was happy to get to spend the afternoon with Jaimie and Lorie; and he wasn't the only one having fun as they got ready to watch the game. Lily dressed the twins up with one in Catapults' colors and the other in support of the Harpies; Grandma Ginny took pictures; and the girls were a hit with all of the spectators around them. When the two teams were introduced, Al had to deal with some weird thanks to James, Louis, and their team mates; and it almost seemed as though there were two partial, different teams stuck together. On one side was Miya, Roman, and Louis – all of them serious, focused, and more than a bit worried. On the other, James led the party; there were no worries; total disdain for their league champion opponents; and way too much confidence that was not based in the real world where everyone else lived. Then the match began; and it really got both entertaining and weird!**

" **THAT'S RIGHT, MR. REFEREE!" Aunt Muriel shouted; her tone angry and outraged. "MY VICTOIRE OUGHT TO GET TWO PENALTY SHOTS FOR THOSE DIRTY, ROTTEN HITS!"**

" **Maybe we should've sat over there," Gwendolyn suggested with a grin for Al while they listened to Muriel tell everyone what Ollie's great-aunt had told her about him – and didn't seem to care that Ollie's parents, younger sister, and some friends were sitting just a few rows away from her.**

" **I doubt we'll miss anything really good," Al offered in return – and they didn't have to wait long for that to be proved true.**

" **JAMES POTTER, THAT IS NO WAY TO TALK TO YOUR LOVELY AUNT GABRIELLE! I READ LIPS, YOU KNOW; AND YOU'RE NOT TOO OLD FOR ME TO WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP AS WAS NEEDED NOT ALL THAT MANY YEARS AGO! IF YOUR SWEET, BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRLS WEREN'T HERE TODAY; I'D HAVE A STERN WORD OR TWO FOR YOU THAT WOULD MAKE YOUR EARS BURN!"**

" **Have I mentioned lately that Mum should hire Aunt Muriel to be at every Harpies match?" Gwendolyn joked; earning a round of laughs as they watched James turn red with anger while Muriel continued muttering about him loudly-enough to be heard for at least a mile or two in all directions. "Would we want to know what he said to Gabrielle to get her that steamed up?"**

" **Probably not," Ginny advised her.**

" **I've always thought that the gossip she hears from all of her friends about players, managers, and referees was scary," Jonah offered. "This is the first time I've heard her blast someone and talk about things she knows first-hand."**

" **Yeah – and James better keep that in mind; or he's going to be in for a very bad day!" Lily added.**

 **She was right about that, but Aunt Muriel's outrage – and over-the-top admonishments – didn't keep James or Ollie from taking their match-play to new lows. Al actually sensed that her shouts and insults egged them on to be even more-obnoxious toward all of the Harpies' Witches. In James' case; that didn't lead to any game-ending mistakes, but Ollie's hot head led to mistake after mistake that led directly to a lot of goals for the Harpies. As with his first match, the angrier he got, the more he tried to do it himself, and since he tried to match up against Victoire as often as possible; she had an easy time of it making him look the fool both on offense and defense. The McClaggens both earned a shout-out or three from Muriel too; and that definitely messed with their game play. Their parents and sister were in the Catapults section too; and their father definitely didn't appreciate Muriel's reminder that he'd once bashed in his team Captain's head with a bludger – while playing Keeper at Hogwarts. That comparison to Tiberius and Brock was a bit much, but earned a roar of laughter that even the victim of that bludger hit laughed about too.**

 **What wasn't a laughing matter for the Catapults and their fans was how the actual match was going for them. All of Ollie's mistakes piled up – in the form of Harpies' goals. Miya and Roman tried their best to fight back, but Vicky was playing a good match; and they didn't have much luck even getting past the Harpies' Chasers. Vicky didn't have a shut-out going for very long, but her Chasers were outscoring their opponents three or four to one – with that being six-to-one in the first hour. Victoire led the way to the one-sixty lead by early in the fourth hour – and it only took that long because Louis was playing his best – even though the score didn't seem to show that at all. By the end of the fourth hour; the Harpies were up by a score of two-forty to forty. An hour later, it was thirty-one goals to just six of them for the Catapults, and when the match ended at the five hour and twenty-two minute mark; the Harpies had built their lead to three-hundred and thirty to seventy.**

 **Gabrielle had long-since backed off from trying to defend the snitch, but James hadn't tried to make the catch for the loss; and she'd nearly-ended the match and their Seeker duel twice during the fifth hour and once in the sixth to that point. Al knew when James made his own choice to go for the catch for the loss; knew that he'd been given no orders to do so from his manager; and knew that his brother would still come out of the loss looking brilliant for remaining undefeated in his professional Seeker duels despite losing his most-recent three matches in a row; including the playoffs match in May. You'd never know that his team had lost by the way he paraded around with the snitch out-stretched above his head; and he got up in Gabrielle's face and started razzing her too.**

" **You should retire before they put you out to pasture," James told Gabrielle with a sneer – "not that Lily will do any better against me when she replaces you!"**

" **Thanks for the advice," she answered, "but I still love to play; so I won't be retiring anytime soon. Congratulations on catching the snitch too. I'm looking forward to our next match – especially if Aunt Muriel will be there and as much fun as she was to listen to today!"**

" **Someone ought to put that senile, decrepit, old windbag out of our misery," he declared.**

" **I MAY BE A SENILE, DECREPIT, OLD WINDBAG, AS YOU SAY, BOY; BUT YOU'RE A... OH BOTHER! TELL THEM TO COVER HIS DAUGHTERS EARS WHILE I SPEAK ILL OF THEIR FOUL-MOUTHED GIT OF A FATHER!"**

" **It seems she really can read lips,"Gabrielle joked while James turned red again and glowered at her.**

" **Do you think she'll be able to read your lips if you pucker up and kiss my..."**

 **A bar of coarse brown soap appeared in the air in front of James' face; he shut his mouth; batted it away angrily with the hand that was still holding the snitch; and then flew away without a backward glance.**

 **Al felt more than a little guilty for enjoying everything about that Quidditch match a bit too much, but that didn't keep him from enjoying the take-out dinner that the parents opted to have instead of cooking a late meal; they had that meal at the campground near Chudley; and then the four teen couples spening the night there volunteered to keep Jaimie and Lorie for the night too. They took the twins swimming after the parents all went home; had a campfire that included music by Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah that put the girls to sleep; and then they all headed for bed by midnight – to one bed for each of the two older couples; and two sofas in the other tent for the younger pairs.**

 **On Tuesday, Al and Rose worked with Malorie all morning; they had lunch in Chudley with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the campers; and then Harry and Ginny had eight teens with them for a play afternoon at home. They swam; played Quidditch; and enjoyed a lazy afternoon; Gwendolyn and Jonah took Brandon and Alyssa with them when they went home for dinner and the Ravenclaw Quidditch practice; and Al and Lily had Rose and Hugo with them to do the same except for with their Gryffindor team. Ron and Hermione came over for dinner too, but with just over a week to go before the kids would be heading back to Hogwarts; Ron didn't stay for the practice and instead went back to work at the store for the rest of the evening.**

 **While Al had a blast with the team workout, the next-best parts of his week were actually the work sessions he had with his mother, Gwendolyn, and Rose on Wednesday and Thursday as they pushed to get their summer toymaking projects finished – and he did some more work on his broom making too. This time, the work was closer to an all-day thing both days – though they took regular breaks for snacks, meals, or swimming fun. On Wednesday evening, there was another eight-teen camping night in Al and lIly's back yard; and Lily had the extra playmates on Thursday until the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors again needed to split up for their last official team workouts of the summer – along with end-of-summer mini-parties.**

 **For the workout and party at the Potter home, all teens and parents were invited; the practice ended up being a short one; and the party included a campfire at dusk that rolled on until eleven o'clock – when most of the parents needed to take their teens home ahead of the last work day of the week. Most was not all because Rose and Hugo stayed; Gwendolyn, Brandon, Jonah, and Alyssa came over after their team party; and they had a bonus camping night because they could – and because they wouldn't see each other much through until they headed back to school – except for at the Harpies' final match of the summer against the Prides. It was midnight by the time they were in their tents for the night, but before they headed for their rooms; Al, Gwendolyn, Rose, and Brandon got drinks and sat down on the sofas to have a bedtime chat.**

" **Can you believe that we'll be back at Hogwarts one week from tonight?" Rose asked. "I'm ready; but I honestly don't feel all that rested the way I have after most other summers."**

" **At least you're ready," Brandon told her. "I've some revision to finish; and I'll need to get together with Vanessa at least one or two more times before we'll have everything ready for our duties as Heads."**

" **I don't like how much time you'll need to spend with such a smart, beautiful Witch," Rose teased; and Brandon hugged her more-closely.**

" **I love you," he assured her. "You've nothing to worry about from any other Witches."**

" **How much running around will you be doing this weekend?" Al asked them. "I heard your Mum say something about a visit with your Granger grandparents before you head back, Rose, but we did our family thing last weekend; so you won't have that too."**

" **We'll be with Brandon's family on Saturday; and in London on Sunday," Rose advised him. "Dad will likely try to get out of that except for having dinner with us; but he'll be busy on Friday and Saturday anyway; and Mum can always find more work to do."**

" **Maybe they should retire too," Gwendolyn suggested. "We've certainly had more fun with Al's parents this past two summers."**

" **You could say the same about your parents," Rose pointed out. "Your Mum didn't get to have any holidays this summer."**

" **No, but Quidditch World Cup glory lasts forever; so she's happy to take that instead – and she did have a lot of fun along the way to that trophy."**

" **Even the parts where James drove her batty?" Rose teased; and Gwendolyn frowned.**

" **Let's not go there. I am so glad that we won't have to deal with James and Ollie this year. They're the Catapults' problem now; and we're going to..."**

" **...do nothing to jinx the start of yet another school year!" Rose interjected; earning a round of laughs.**

 **That funny non-joke was the end of any talk related to James, Ollie, or any potential troubles that might remain for them at Hogwarts, but they did talk about plans for the weekend and final seven days of their summer holidays; they enjoyed the wind-down time; and then headed off to their beds – doing that in two rooms now that they were pretty much past the weird stage of doing that with cousins in the same tent. Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their night with a bit of very quiet snogging fun, but then they went off to sleep; and were happy to do that for a few hours while wrapped up in each-other's arms.**

 **Rose, Brandon, Hugo, and Alyssa headed out not long after breakfast to get started on their own adventures for the day, but Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed until lunchtime; helped out with some chores; and Al and Gwendolyn did a bit more toymaking with Ginny too before they had Kirley join them for lunch and then he headed for home with his own kids so that they could work on getting their place ready for their Saturday family and friends play day. Al and Lily had their own chores to get done on Friday afternoon, since they'd be at that party with their parents too; so they helped out with the last round of the house and yard work that they'd have for the summer; mixed in a bit of play time here and there; and then they had another quiet evening at home before turning in early while they had the chance to do that.**

 **That last blast of domestic duties was just one of many 'lasts' of the summer that started on the last Friday of the summer for Al, Lily, and the rest of the Hogwarts students. On Saturday morning, Al and Lily were dropped off at the McCormacks to help out with the rest of the party set-up while Harry and Ginny took care of some running around that included picking up Malorie and the twins so that they could spend the afternoon with the McCormacks too; and that was one of the last chances that Al and Lily would get to have for some time to hang out with Kirley and Gwenog when they wouldn't also be around a gang of other Witches and Wizards – especially since Gwenog would be busy all week with the Harpies and their mid-week match against the Prides on the last day of August.**

 **The actual party started with guest arriving shortly before noon; and then it was another whirlwind of fun that was realy a series of entertainment moments strung along throughout the rest of the day. An eat-when-you-want lunch was followed by Quidditch scrimmages, pool play time; yard games; cameo social moments; and a sit-down barbeque dinner. Al and Gwendolyn got involved in all of that; helped out with some of the work; and then wrapped up their day by helping out with the campfire music that, for a nice change, did not include or require Animorphmagus play time for Al – mostly because the collective family and friends group decided to give him a break on that. Then again, they had a good turnout of Weird Sisters aunts, uncles, and cousins too; so music from Wendy and Wanda, and some of the Graves Robbers and Weird Kids also helped a lot with just keeping everyone too busy with other musical distractions.**

 **The campfire continued on past-midnight, since it wasn't a work day for most parents, but the McCormacks and Potters were both going to have quiet family days at home on Sunday, so when it was time for Al and Gwendolyn to say goodnight; they were actually going to be apart for more than twenty-four hours – a rarity for them during their brilliant summer holidays. That didn't lead to a drawn-out goodbye, since they had work to do as well as they joined in for the post-party clean-up of the yard before Harry and Ginny took their kids home. It was heading toward one-thirty by the time that the Potters got home, so they pretty much went straight to bed; with three out of four of them agreeing to sleep in and have a mid-morning brunch on a lazy day when sleeping in was an option.**

 **Al went straight to bed too, but woke not much later than normal on Sunday morning. He got ready for the day without waking anyone; went out to the Quidditch pitch with a drink and snack; did his morning workout there; and then simply sat on one of the benches and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a long time. He knew when his father got up and moving around; brewed coffee; and then came outside to join him.**

" **Did all of the owls go out for a fly in the fog; or did you go back downstairs last night and send Winter with an Owl Post for Gwendolyn?"**

" **They went out to play," Al answered. "I'm actually surprised that they're not back already and ready to get some sleep. The fog is burning off fast now, but it was hanging lower not long ago while still being clear at ground-level. I love getting to see that happen – when it looks as though there's a low ceiling on the entire world."**

" **Or at least our little corner of it," Harry agreed. "Do you need to be magically burned-out now to ever sleep in even when we stay up late? What'd you get – five hours of actual rest?"**

" **About that," Al agreed with a nod and shrug. "I got extra sleep on Friday night, but this has more to do with being a morning person; and I can go for quite a while on five or six hours of sleep a night."**

" **That'll come in handy over the next two years – even with only five classes. Is there anything you want to do today – or need to do before heading back to Hogwarts?"**

" **I have everything except the sweets and treats that we usually leave until a day or two before we go back. I thought that we were going to do that on Wednesday morning before the game, but we can do that today if Mum and lily have the urge to go shopping."**

" **I was thinking more along the lines of anything you might need for your toys or broom making," Harry told him, but if the girls want to do that; we can either go along or do our own thing instead."**

" **There may be some things I'll need after we're back to school for the broom making, but I have rounded up enough wood for a few different prototypes. I've been collecting most of that all summer and keeping it stacked up in one of my undetectable expansion bags."**

" **Will you make brooms for your mother and me too if you end up with something really good?" Harry half-joked; and Al grinned at him.**

" **Maybe. I am doing this as part of our plan for the Cannons. If you and Mum sign up; one of my brooms will hopefully be a really great part of the deal for all of our players."**

" **Do you think that what you want them to do as a Chaser will be as useful for all of the other positions?"**

" **Not everything," Al admitted. "Some – maybe most – players won't likely be able to do everything I want my broom to do, but then the more I get into this; the more I'm sure that what I'm trying to do really will make the brooms more like wands – where the only limits might be the Wizard or Witch using them."**

" **Some wands are more powerful than others," Harry told him seriously.**

" **Maybe – or they can just channel different amounts of power," Al suggested. "I'm partly talking about imagination as well as talent. If I get what I want out of my broom designs; they won't have the limitations that other brooms have built into them."**

" **Like how fast they can go; acceleration; and other movement limitations?" Harry asked. "Those limits are usually imposed for good reasons – including our human, physical limitations."**

" **I'm working on that too," Al assured him; "but no limits doesn't mean that the rider has to exceed his or her own capabilities – and maybe they won't be able to do that anyway. A less-powerful Wizard or Witch can't exceed their magical limits."**

" **Actually, I think that they can," Harrydisagreed. "I've seen Wizards lose control of their magic; and St. Mungo's has many long-term patients who are there by their own hand."**

" **Okay," Al conceded. "I wasn't thinking about that quite the same way, but I guess that we have lots of examples where broom riders have crashed because of using a broom that they weren't good-enough to fly safely." He paused while thinking about that. "I still want to make my brooms the way I'm imagining them; but I suppose that I could make them with an option to put limits on them – like there are on the Firefly brooms."**

 **Harry nodded. "That would likely be for the best if you do get to the point of making them to sell in stores instead of just for the Cannons. How long do you think it'll take you to make those first prototypes?"**

 **Al shrugged. "I'm just going to wing that one for now; since I don't even know what my schedule will be yet. I'd like to get one ready to test during this school year – including in Quidditch matches; if I can get one to work reliably-enough to do that. I definitely need to have any bugs worked out long-before we'd need them for the Cannons' players in our first season with the team."**

" **That would be a bit risky," Harry agreed. "Your mother never took new tricks into a match until she had them perfected in practices. You'll have that issue too on top of making sure the brooms don't do anything they shouldn't."**

" **Training our players to use them will take time too," Al mused. "I guess Rose and I will need to talk about that; since we'll need to know for sure who those other five players will be early-enough to do that. A month of training camp won't likely be enough."**

" **That might be a bit of a problem; since you can't exactly sign players before you've bought the team and closed that deal," Harry pointed out. "You're looking to have that done by a year from this coming Christmas; and then you still have a lot to do before you'll know how much you can afford to pay those players – unless you're looking to take even more risks for that on top of everything else you're doing."**

" **Are you getting nervous about that as a potential future investor?" Al joked.**

" **Not nervous," Harry answered. "I think that this is going to work out brilliantly for you and Rose – and for your investors and everyone else that gets involved. That doesn't mean that the risks aren't real, though; and you could have some tough years before you get to the payoff for all of the hard work. You know that already from how much time passes between the work you do on your inventions and actually starting to get paid."**

" **That might have been tough – if I wasn't living at home or at Hogwarts and had to pay my own way," Al pointed out. "Thanks to the toymaking and everything else; Rose and I won't have to worry about that once we're out of school and need to pay our own bills either; so it's okay if it takes a while for us to start having more money coming in than going out for the team and GO Magisports."**

" **Speaking of; will you be doing much work with Malorie this week? It sounded as though you were pretty much done last Tuesday."**

" **We are, but will still have a meeting tomorrow morning,' Al answered. "Rose and I are going to focus on school and Quidditch; and trust Malorie to do the rest this year."**

" **That works for me – we'll get to have lots of grandparent babysitting opportunities with the twins."**

" **You and Mum will," Al amended. "I wish that I could do that too; but I'll have to settle for seeing them on some Hogsmeade weekends and maybe at a few Quidditch matches too."**

" **We'll talk about that with you after you're back at school and have your schedule," Harry suggested. "Roxanne will still be on the junior team, so we might come to her first match – especially if George and Angelina are doing that too. The November games might depend on the weather; and we definitely won't bring the girls to the matches in January or February."**

" **I'll like having the twins come to Hogwarts on the days when we'd actually be able to spend time with them anyway instead of when we're playing in matches."**

" **You're sure you'll make the team?" Harry teased; and Al laughed.**

" **Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. That is something that I've thought about a lot this summer – especially since we've had the extra players training with us. You know that part of the reason for why I didn't fight James over being Captain or on the team last year was because of what I sensed was best for him – and for Louis and some of the other guys too. I can sense those possibilities with others, but it's different now; and I really don't feel the urge to step out of the way to make room for others to play instead."**

" **It is okay to put what's best for you first now and then," Harry reminded him. "You have Rose, Lily, and your friends to consider too. Your choices last year did affect them, and while they could have fought their own battles without you; that was true for James, Louis, Ollie, and the others last year too; so you did, at least in part, pick the winners and losers by your own actions."**

" **Yes," Al agreed. "Now we'll get to see whether the winners I picked take advantage of that or not now that they're out on their own and I have nothing to do with what happens for them next."**

" **That's seemed to have hit a bit of a roadblock for the start of the season; but those problems are of their own making. Even Louis seems to have started out thinking that playing in the show would be easy after watching James do so well last spring. You've been right about him – and he isn't ready quite yet. A year or two on the reserve squad behind a really good Keeper would have been better for him than what he's doing this season."**

" **He could have had that last season – against Rose," Al pointed out. "Giving up that many goals in his first two matches should be a wake-up call – though he's only part of the problem for that; and not the biggest part of the problem. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any sense that they'll have any luck fixing Ollie's attitude anytime soon."**

" **I don't want to say anything ill of Ollie; since I still feel guilty for being partly-responsible for letting James lead Ollie into so much trouble. He does have to start taking responsibility for his own actions eventually – just as James ought to do sooner instead of later – or never."**

" **They already do that – when it's for something they want to take credit for," Al half-joked – "and I'll always be around to take the blame for everything else."**

 **They didn't want to talk about James or Ollie; so they changed topics; enjoyed that bit of father-son time; and then headed into the house when it was time to cook the food for their brunch. Ginny and Lily decided that they did want to do a bit of shopping; Malorie was happy to let them take Jaimie and Lorie along for a couple of hours while she did some chores around her flat and office; and so they were a group of six when they went to play in their favorite Muggle mall. They had Jaimie and Lorie tired out and ready for their afternoon nap by the time they were dropped off in Chudley; they went on to have some Quidditch and water play time; and then they went with an easy dinner with some leftovers before wrapping up their lazy day with some mirror network show watching in the sitting room before going up to bed after staying up to listen to Lee's nightly monologue.**

 **On Monday morning, only having three days left until they'd head back to Hogwarts didn't seem like nearly-enough time to wind down the summer even as Al was looking forward to getting back to school and being allowed to use magic every day. The morning meeting with Malorie didn't take long; they spent more time playing with the twins than they did with working; and then they went out for lunch with Harry, Ginny, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah before Rose moved on to hang out with Brandon. Since Gwenog was busy getting ready for the Harpies' match on Wednesday afternoon; Gwendolyn and Jonah stayed for the rest of the day with Al and Lily; they played around the house and yard for the rest of the day; and wrapped up their day with some play time in the game room and an early sofa sleepover so they'd be ready to have fun with Jaimie and Lorie on their first birthday on Tuesday!**

" **Happy sixteenth, Scorpius," James said in greeting as he was led out onto the garden balcony at Malfoy Manor by one of the servants. "You look happy; so I'll guess that you're having a good day."**

" **I am," Scorpius agreed; "and thank-you. I didn't expect you to look so happy. Aren't your managers making your life miserable right now?"**

" **I'm happy to be away from all of that idiocy for a while – and with Witches and Wizards that don't go around being deaf, dumb, and blind to what's really going on around them like most of the fools I have to deal with every day."**

" **We still have our fair share of fools to put up with," Lysandra advised him. "Hundreds of them; starting in another couple of days. Be glad that you don't have to go back to Hogwarts on Thursday."**

" **I am," James assured her, "but if you end up in any of the loser's classes; feel free to take him out for me – in a permanent, accidental sort of way!"**

" **There's no 'if' about that," Lysandra told him. "We're sure to have three or four classes with the Prince and Princess of Animorphpotty – as much as we hate those daily tortures."**

" **You haven't heard? They're only taking five classes this year," James advised them; and then laughed at their reactions. "I'm not kidding. Ollie got it from his sister first; but Louis heard about it from the family too. Ollie insists that they either bombed their OWLs because they couldn't bribe the examiners or that the loser has fathered another litter of puppies and they'll be too busy to take more classes through until they'll have to quit around Easter holiday time."**

" **That's funny; but what do you really think is going on?" Scorpius asked; and James shrugged.**

" **Don't know; don't care," he answered seriously. "Like I said – if you get the chance to help him out with a nice case of the dead; feel free to help me out with that. Otherwise; I don't care what the loser is doing as long as he's far away from me!"**

" **We'd love to help you out with that, but don't get your hopes up; since we're not interested in messing up our own lives by getting expelled for daring to mess with the royal couple," Scorpius told him. "You probably don't need our help anyway. It's just a matter of time before you'll figure out how to finish him off – and the rest of your family too. Your parents have been unemployed for more than a year. It can't be much longer before they'll be broke and homeless."**

" **It has been fun finding out that Aurors are apparently good for nothing at all," Lysandra added with a smirk. "If the former Head of the Aurors can't get a job doing anything else; then we ought to just get rid of the lot of them!"**

" **Not yet, but they must be well on the way – especially after going to all of the Quidditch World Cup matches and going on holidays for half the summer while doing that," James answered. "This is Scorpius' day, though; and I'm sure that he'd rather talk about anything else other than discussing my pathetic excuse for a family – especially now that I'm well-rid of them!"**

" **We could talk about Quidditch," Andrea suggested; smiling brightly at James as she walked up to them. "I hope that you brought your broom. We're going to have a scrimmage later; and I'll be happy to win a Seeker duel against you – since none of those gits playing on the other teams in the show can manage to best you – even if you still have issues with the rest of your team."**

 **James laughed. "You haven't won any of our other duels this summer,' he reminded her. "What makes you think that you'll get lucky tonight?"**

" **You might want to be a bit more specific," Andrea suggested with a grin. "My Dad's here too; and your reputation precedes you!"**

" **Quit scaring the friends," Lysandra told her. "James might be able to help you one more time with getting ready for tryouts. G-Air hasn't managed to best him in any of their matches; so maybe he has a secret or two he can share with you that'd help you out this season."**

" **That's a tough one." James pretended to ponder the question. "Do I help you out with that; or hope that he makes the team and then see what happens if he ends up playing against Lily in November?"**

" **That's easy – you help me," Andrea told him. "I'll have a better chance of besting her, but if she plays against G-Air and wins; then your wins over him won't count for as much."**

" **And if you can't best her?" James asked; and Andrea shrugged.**

" **Then G-Air is still just the reserve squad Seeker – and your sister can't claim to be as good as you by besting a Seeker three years older than she is."**

" **Which is what you'll be able to claim," James pointed out; and she laughed.**

" **You weren't supposed to notice that part," she teased. "G-Air wants to play in the show, though; and that might be tough for him to do if he can't show off for the scouts this season."**

" **That's a good point," James conceded. "Okay, I'll help you out – call it an extra birthday gift for Scorpius; since I'm sure he'd rather have you on his team too."**

 **James didn't actually have any 'real' secrets to pass along to Andrea about G-Air; and was more-interested in the extravagant dinner and fine wines than playing around with a fourteen-year old Witch – no matter how much hot potential she had going for her! She was a fiery competitor, though, so their Seeker duel was fun; and he did teach her a couple of new tricks – even if he didn't really help her out with a sure-fire way to beat G-Air at tryouts. He ignored his training day curfew; stayed and played until midnight; and then managed to get home without splinching himself despite being more than a little inebriated.**

 **He could have stayed the night, but just the thought of that had brought up memories about what had happened a year ago during the night after Scorpius' birthday. Those thoughts stayed with him; he needed a few more drinks to get past the anger and hate to the point where he could pass out; and he embraced the darkness where not even the Animorphloser could intrude and try to mess with him!**

" **I seriously-doubt that my first birthday was anything like this," Malorie told Ginny and the other Witches sitting with her as they watched Al and Harry run along next to Lorie and Jaimie as the two girls proved to be naturals on their toy brooms while racing each other and chasing after a large, pink, fluffy snitch that was part of their toy Quidditch set. They'd opened those gifts not long after getting to grandma and grandpa's house so that they'd have the toys to play with for the rest of the day – and because grandpa was especially fired-up to get to do that with them!**

" **If you were flying around on the brooms at your house when you were one; it's no wonder your parents got freaked out about your magical talents," Lily teased. "They're doing brilliantly too. How do they compare to James, Al, and me for our first birthdays, Mum?"**

 **Ginny laughed. "Jame's birthday is in February," she reminded Lily. "His indoor flying led to some repairs; and it was a bit tough to decide how good he'd be until we could take him out to play in the back yard. Al was slower getting going – as if he was studying everything about it; but he also didn't have any near-falls that I can remember either. You were a bit of a daredevil; and needed to be caught fairly-regularly until your skills caught up with your fearlessness."**

" **So they're somewhere between Al and me; and we can't really compare them to James' first time on brooms," Lily summarized. "That, by the way, does sound like Al, but he plays around with new tricks more than any of us; so that seems weird too."**

" **Not really," Ginny disagreed. "You just don't see him working out those tricks ahead of time. I doubt he ever shows them to anyone except maybe Gwendolyn before he has them nearly or totally perfected."**

" **He works a lot of that stuff out in his head first," Gwendolyn told them. "His memory comes in handy for stuff like that; and no, he doesn't usually work on those tricks entirely from scratch with me – though he will do that to help with ideas I have."**

" **Doesn't James do that too?" Malorie asked; and Ginny thought about that for a moment before answering.**

" **That's different for him," she answered seriously. "For the most part, his talent for that sort of thing has more to do with variations on tricks he's learned from others – and putting together new combinations of them. His tricks can look all-new; but I can't think of any off-hand that are truly something I haven't seen before with other players." She smiled at Malorie's reaction. "That's still a nice talent to have – and he has a lot of talent to go along with that. For the most part, I'm that kind of player too."**

" **How can you say that, Mum?" Lily asked. "You have all sorts of tricks credited to you!"**

" **I have all sorts of tricks credited to me that I mostly learned from your father or adapted from tricks he came up with first and that we then perfected together. He's the one in our family most-like Al when it comes to thinking up new tricks; and I'm not sure that there's ever been anyone quite like your younger brother for that."**

" **So Al isn't a risk-taker like Lily, but he's got the best, most-extreme tricks you've ever seen; and still he somehow manages to have the reputation of being the most-boring of Wizards," Malorie offered with a sardonic grin. "Who, in your family, does that make him most like?"**

" **Believe it or not; I'd say that Al is most like my father," Ginny answered seriously. "I never appreciated that when I was a kid, but my Dad is a very strong Wizard; he looks at the World differently than most; and he has a curiosity about everything that is very much like Al's – though his curiosity with all-things-Muggle used to be very embarrassing for me when he was trying to teach himself how Muggle devices worked. Thankfully, Hermione in particular helped him out with that a lot over the years; and he rarely has any of those awkward moments anymore."**

" **Maybe Gwendolyn should be afraid if Al's like Grandpa," Rose told them with a teasing grin for Gwendolyn. "He had seven kids!"**

 **Gwendolyn laughed. "This is totally wrong to say, but I can't resist; since Rita had that lovely column this morning reminding us that Al already has two kids who are a year old today. By the time we get around to having our kids; I'll likely only need to have one or two to get him to seven."**

" **You're right – that totally is wrong," Ginny assured her. "Rita seriously needs to stop picking on the twins if for no other reason than because a lot of Witches read her columns; and they're generally very protective of kids."**

" **I don't know how she manages to write those hit pieces at all if she still has to giggle her way through them," Lily said with a shake of her head. "Al's cheering charm must still be working; since she still isn't doing any mirror network talk shows; and she definitely would be out there bashing him if she could tell her lies without breaking out into those fits every time she tries."**

" **You're likely right; and I've heard that she can't work on her columns at the newspaper offices," Ginny advised her. "Let's change the subject. When Harry and Al are tired out; we should take the girls for a swim and get some drinks or frozen treats into them. I doubt they'll nap with all of the excitement; so we should just try to keep them going until they drop, and if Malorie's lucky; they'll sleep through the night once we do have them worn out."**

" **As long as we cut them off from the drinks early-enough," Malorie agreed. "Lorie does not like getting too wet at night; and Jaimie still rarely sleeps through when her sister wants that kind of attention."**

 **That bit of practical information was a real-enough issue for Malorie with her girls, but their chat moved on quickly to other things; and it wasn't long before they all went back to playing with the birthday girls and everyone else that was there for the afternoon. That was mostly friends of the teens in the family, but the extended family and some friends began arriving in time for dinner once they were done work for the day. Malorie had invited Patrick and two other Witch friends and their kids, since they were all next-closest to Jaimie and Lorie after their Potter family, Rose, and their great-grandparents; and then there were a few Potter family guests – like Kirley and Gwenog.**

 **Jaimie and Lorie played on their brooms a lot with help from quite a few teens and adults; they loved to play in the pool – again with lots of support; and everyone had fun with their birthday dinner. The cake and ice cream adventure that followed their meal was quite messy for some of them; and then they all enjoyed the entertainment that came with two adorable one-year old girls trying to figure out how to open their gifts and all of the special moments that went along with that part of their night.**

 **It was a work night, but that wasn't a problem for the end of the party. Jaimie and Lorie managed to keep playing for nearly another hour after they finished opening their gifts; and then they needed to be taken home and put to bed. Al and Gwendolyn were part of the group that helped Malorie with getting the twins and all of their new things back to their flat; they got to have one last chance to sing the girls to sleep before they'd only be able to do that through mirror chats until Christmas; and then Malorie only had Patrick with her after that to help with the work she still needed to do while everyone else headed home. For Al and Gwendolyn, that meant his home; and they ended up having one last teen camping night because the girls thought that was a brilliant idea when they had the Harpies' match on Wednesday afternoon anyway; and Al, Brandon, Jonah, and Hugo were happy to go along with the change in plans!**

 **There was still party clean-up work to be done around the yard and house; Ron and Hermione stayed for a while to hang out with Harry, Ginny, and the kids – though Ron had split his evening between the party and the store until closing; and then the eight teens headed for their two tents not long after Ron and Hermione went home; and they wrapped up their second-to-last day of summer with some quiet teen time and then the all-night cuddle time with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend – though Lily still wasn't ready to make that fact official with Jonah even after an entire summer of dating in all ways except by title.**

 **Al was first to wake on Wednesday; he did his morning workout alone; got ready for the day while everyone in the tents slept on; and then he headed for the kitchen and got to work on breakfast for ten. Harry joined him and helped out; they had everything ready by the time Ginny and the rest of the teens caught up with them; and they had fun with that meal before cleaning up; doing the work needed to pack up the tents and camping gear; and dealing with a couple of other chores before they were ready to head for Diagon Alley and pick up their perishable school supplies and anything else that had been added to their lists for that last round of shopping. They had lots of parents join them for some or all of that shopping; had more parents – and Malorie and the twins – catch up with them for lunch at the Leaky; and then they headed for Exmoor stadium to watch the Harpies-Prides match – a last blast of Quidditch and family and friends fun that all of them thought was a brilliant way to wrap up a summer that had begun with a brilliant first-round Quidditch World Cup match!**

 **The good news for everyone watching the match was that they got to watch a brilliant Quidditch contest for a bit more than four and a half hours. Depending on your perspective, the great or bad news was that Pauline won the day – and her Seeker duel with Gabrielle – for the Prides; helping her team to a two-twenty to forty victory. As the score suggested, the Keepers both played brilliantly against two of the best Chaser offences in the league even as the scoring chances were plentiful and often-brilliant despite the lack of actual goals scored on the stingy Keepers! Al and Gwendolyn had enjoyed having that brilliant afternoon together, and not even Gwendolyn could be too-disappointed in the loss when it also meant that two of her former Ravenclaw team mates had won and played an amazing match to do that!**

 **It did begin to feel as though time was up once they left the stadium and headed for the Potter house. Kirley, Malorie, and the twins went along with Harry, Ginny, and their four teens; they all stayed for dinner; and Gwenog joined them as soon as she could after wrapping up work at the stadium. Having a late dinner allowed Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah to have just a bit more play time with Jaimie and Lorie; they loved getting to have that last blast of family fun while enjoying the meal together; and then they split up for the rest of the night with Malorie taking her girls home; and Kirley and Gwenog doing the same with their kids so they – and Harry and Ginny – could have some alone time with their own kids before they'd be gone until the Christmas holidays. Al and Lily still had to help with the dinner clean-up; but then they moved into the sitting room to get comfortable ahead of the annual back-to-school chat.**

" **Tell Al to be good and not mess up my Quidditch Cup dream again this year; and we should be good to go," Lily told her parents seriously. "We're good to go for everything else."**

" **We don't need to check over your holiday revision; talk to you about playing nice with each other; or discuss being careful to avoid bullies and our usual group of Slytherin haters?" Harry teased; and Lily laughed.**

" **Mum helped me finish my revision a couple of weeks ago; I've read ahead – if not nearly as far as Al has; and if he doesn't mess up that Quidditch Cup thing; we'll get along fine this year."**

" **You didn't comment on the bullies or Slytherins," Ginny pointed out.**

" **That's because those gits have more to worry about from us than the other way around. I have perfected my micro-bat-bogey hex, you know. The bad guys really don't want to try messing with me!"**

" **Or the brother," Al added with a wry smile. "I'm surprised that you don't want to talk allowances, Lily."**

" **As long as Mum and Dad send money from my vault when I need it for Hogsmeade weekends; I don't really need an allowance anymore – not that I'll turn one down – and I did know that you have stopped getting one. That shouldn't be any different for us than it is for other teens with summer and holiday jobs – even if James didn't see it that way."**

" **Well, if you spread that news around the school; I'm sure that Rita will have fun with some new hit pieces about how we're so poor after being unemployed for more than a year that we can't even afford allowances for our kids anymore," Ginny joked.**

" **Is there anything about our family that Rita isn't totally clueless about?" Lily asked. "She looked the fool with that column this morning about Al and Gwendolyn only being able to take five classes this year because they'd done so poorly on their OWLs."**

" **One of the few times that leaked documents from the Ministry actually helped us," Harry joked. "Confidential records for underage Witches and Wizards don't apply if the bribe is big-enough."**

 **Al shrugged. "Gwendolyn and I would've been happy to show those reporters a copy of our reports for the asking."**

" **They'd have just been altered coming from you," Lily pointed out. "This worked out much better – for you and Gwendolyn. Rita's having another bad week."**

" **She is," Ginny agreed. "Let's actually talk about Hogwarts for a bit. You'll only have one day of classes this week, but you'll have your schedules on Friday; so we'd like to talk with both of you on Friday night sometime so we can get those schedules and hopefully do a bit of planning for the next month or two. We know you only want to see us if we bring Jaimie and Lorie along, but we have a lot of time on our hands now; and want to see you now that you're allowing us to do that."**

" **I didn't like it when James wouldn't let us come to the Quidditch matches because he was too cool to have his Mum and Dad there," Lily reminded her. "It wouldn't be fair for me to do the same to you – or to Jaimie and Lorie. That might not be a big deal for them now; but they will be four during my NEWT year; and might remember some of those matches when they're older."**

" **I'm sure that they will," Ginny agreed. "You remember some of my Harpies matches the year I played while Gabrielle was off and pregnant with Caylee."**

" **Jaimie and Lorie will be busy if they have to keep up with Grandma playing for the Cannons and Aunt Lily playing for Gryffindor," Al teased.**

" **I know that I'll have fun with that," Harry offered. "It might be scary for Hugo, Jonah, and the other younger guys still at Hogwarts when your Mum's posters start going up on the dorm room walls; but they'll likely have fun with that – in a weird sort of way."**

" **Hugo would likely just beat his roommates to the joke and put her poster up himself," Lily suggested. "I've already had to deal with that sort of thing with james' posters last year; and I'm sure there will be more of that this year – including girls wanting to mess with Kathryn and Melissa with Ollie's posters or action figures."**

" **Don't forget about Louis," Al reminded her. "We've had to deal with posters of Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy as they each started playing in the show; so your girlfriends will likely have posters of him too."**

" **Is this where you expected a chat about Hogwarts to go?" Harry asked Ginny; and she laughed.**

" **No. I was more-interested in how their class timetables would work out for them – and the events calendar they'll get for the school year too. We can make some good guesses about a lot of the Hogsmeade weekends and game days, but we'll know for sure in a couple of days; so we may as well just wait – and then make our plans for the fall after that."**

" **Do you need to work in romantic holidays around our schedules?" Lily teased; and her parents both laughed.**

" **That's a great idea!" Ginny declared enthusiastically. "Someplace warm in the winter for a week or two would be brilliant!"**

" **Then you should go for that while you can," Lily encouraged – "especially if you'll be stuck playing for the Cannons in another two years. You won't be going on winter getaways once you have that job!"**

" **Now you're trying to mess with Rose's plans," Al accused. "Are you sure that you want to do that when you're one of the other Seekers on her list?"**

" **That's a tough one," Lily pretended to ponder. "I'd really hate to see Mum mess up her Quidditch legacy by taking that job; but I don't want Rose pestering me about the job either. I'll think about that and get back toyou."**

 **Their chat moved on from there; they really didn't talk about anything important; and eventually headed up to their beds. al and Lily both still needed to pack up the purchases they'd made during their morning shopping in Diagon Alley; they took turns having a last bit of private chat time with Harry and Ginny in turn; and then Al wrapped up his last day of summer with a bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn and some textbook reading on his mirror until he was ready to get to sleep.**

 **It took a while for him to get to sleep because he was thinking about past trips to Hogwarts and start-of-term problems as well as trying to sense and see ahead for any potential problems. In first-year, he had to worry about his prank-master brother. In second-year; it was being kept off the Quidditch team; followed by more issues in third-year from James and Ollie as they took their hate to new lows. The fourth-year problems mostly started mid-way through the year with the news of Malorie's pregnancy; but he'd still started the year out with Ollie's ill-advised ambush and suspension; and he definitely didn't want a repeat of the awful start to his OWL year and how tough it had been to go through all of that drama with Gwendolyn and the rest of his friends.**

 **When he was finally able to sleep, though, he felt pretty good about the coming weeks and months, and unlike pretty much every other year; he didn't have any serious worries. There was a lot of excitement, though; and he had high hopes for a best-ever-so-far kind of school year.**

 **Okay, his personal bar for that was, admittedly, set pretty low from a no-trouble standpoint, but he was going to be a future Cannons player, so he crossed his fingers; and hoped with all of his heart for the best!**

 *****End of ATE-Yr5*****

 **A/N: Look for Year 6 in this story in time for Christmas 2018, and while you wait for that to arrive; check out my original fiction by googling Heirs of the Magi to get to the blog or for links to the books at Smashwords or other e-book retailers! I hope you've enjoyed this birthday gift for Harry's 38** **th** **!**


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